The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-02 00:00:00

THE MAGAZINES.
BLACKWo9D.

Of all the will, extravagant, and unfounded arguments
in favour of the corn-laws we find the most r( markable
in the article entitled " The Roman Campagna." It is
to be regretted that so fine a subject for description, and
one too so well treated, with this exception, by the writer,
has been disfigured by political bias, and attempts to
prop up a baseless theory by facts which have as little
to do with the importation of foreign grain as the cap-
ture of Rome by the Gauls. Speaking of this wilder-
ness at ound the walls of the Eternal City, the writer
justly says, "Its appearance produces an extraordinary
impression on the mind of the beholder. All is silent,—
the earth seems struck with sterility—desolation reigns in

every direction. A space extending from Otrictili to
Terracina, above sixty miles in length and on an aver-
4ge twenty in breadth, between the Appenines and the sea,
containing nearly four thousand Equare miles in the
finest parts of Italy, does not maintain a single peasant."
And a little further on—" The tew living beings to be

met at the post houses have the squalid melancholy look
which attests permanent wretchedness, and the ravages
of an unhealthy atmosphere." This is all correct, excep
as regards the universal desolation to the extent men

Between the Pontine Marshes and Rome there
are several towns, among others Velletri, Frascati, and
Albano, with not a little agricultural cultivation; but it is
the conclusion drawn from the present deplorable condi-
ton of a small portion of Italy to which we object..
Home had no corn-laws; Rome imported grain from
Lybia and Egypt, the plain of Rome was converted into
pasture land, the peasantry were driven away, the army
could not be recruited with freemen, and the barbarians
conquered the mistress of the world. The Cobdens of
that period ruined the empire by throwing the " bold
peasantry, a country's pride," out of employment. This
Camplei a di Roma is a mere speck as compared with'
the rest of Italy—a small strip running along the sea-
shore, and its depopulation could have no perceptible effect
in diminishing recruits for the army. The depopulation
was not produced by the importation of foreign grain,
and the decay of agriculture, but by the malaria, which
commenced before the establishment of the empire, and
has been increasing ever since. During the mo-t
fl air skiing times, mention is made of it : during cer-
tain seasons it was considered dangerous to reside in
certain oistricts around the city, and in the time of
Augustus, the Pontine marshes appeared to have pos-
sessed nearly the same character as at present. The
journey of Horace to 13rundusium leaves no doubt of
the fact. When ho passed the night at Forum Arpii,
evidently much against his will, he declared war against
his belly (ventri indico helium), because the water. as now,
was must unwholserne (tet-rrima), and his slumbers
were constantly interrupted by the croaking of the fen
frogs, which still infest the lozality. The writer, there-
fore, must find out some other cause for this desolation
than the absen aof corn-laws ; but so bent is he on his
theory, that ne forgets other people can reason as well
as himself, and asserts that the policy vf the different
Roman Pontiffs may still be regarded as the cause why
nu improvement has taken place., " It is so," he says,
" because the weakness of the Papal Government, yield-
ing, like the imperial, in ancient days,, to the cry for
cheap bread among the Roman populace, has fed the
people from time immemorial with' foreign grain,
instead of that of its own territory." Cheap bread,
.heretore, has done all the mischief ; but if cheap bread
really is the cause, will the writer explain how it hap-
pens that in the plains of Lombardy, and in the Legations,
more especially in the district of Bologna, bread is -very
cheap, and the country is in the very highest state o,
agriceltural cultivation ? We fine nothing in the other
articles that require much notice. " L's all for the bet"
is concluded, and the " Student of Salamanca.' has
reached the fifth part. We hope the sixth will be the
,ast. A contributor with the signature "N. N. 'P." has
furnishtd a translation of the 24th book of the Iliad, in
English hexameters, and says he would not be reluctant
to attempt the completion of an Iliad in the same verse
We sincerel) hope he will not give himself the trouble,
for it would never sell. Homer has been translated in
various ways, but none, except the version by Pope, is
r,adable. The rest have all sunk into oblivion, and we
ere sure this would be the fate of a translation in English
nexasieter. As many readers may be d -sirous of' know-
ing the opinions of North on Peel's plans, we give the
°flowing extract from " Ministerial Measures," ' simply,
remarking that the little word if, appears to be a great

Fart rite :

" Of the probable fate of this measure we shall venture no
opinion.. The enormous amount of private business which of
late years has been brought before the Houses of Parliament
—the importance and the number of the internal improve
inents which depend upon their sanction, and in which almost
every man of moderate means has a stake, are strong proba-
bilities against any immediate dissolution of Parliament, or
an appeal to the judgment of the country. But there is no
policy equal to truth, no line of conduct at all comparable to
consistency. We have not hesitated to express our extreme
regret that this measure should have been so conceived and
ushered in ; both because we think these changes of opinion
ou the part of public men, when unaccompanied by sufficient
outward motives, and in the teeth of their own recorded
words and actions, are unseemly in themselves, and calculated
to unsettle the faith of the country in the political morality
of our statesmen—and because we fear that a grievous, if not
an irreparable division has been thereby caused amongst the
ranks of the Conservative party. Neither have we hesitated
—after giving all due weight to the arguments adduced in its
favour—to condemn that measure, as, in our humble judg-
ment, uncalled for and attended with the greatest risk of dis-
astrous consequences to the nation. If this departure from
the protective principle should produce the effect of lessening
the tillage of our land, converting corn-fields into pasture,
depriving the labourer of his employment, anr; permanently
throwing us upon the mercy of foreign nations for our daily
supply of corn, it is impossible to over-estimate the evil. If,
on the contrary, nothing of this uhould take place—if it
should be demonstrated by experience that the one party has
been grasping at a chimera, and the other battling for the
retention of an imaginary bulwark, then—though we may
rejoice that the delusion has been dispelled—we may well be
pardoned some regret that the experiment was not left to
other hands. Our proposition is simply this, that if we can-
not gain cheap bread without resorting to other countries for
it, we ought to continue as we are. Further, we say, that
were we to be supplied with cheap bread on that condition,
not only our agricultural but our manufacturing interest
would be deeply and permanently injured; and that so com-
mercial benefit whatever could recompense us for the sacri-
fice of our own independence, and the loss of our native re-
sources." •

THE NEW MONTHLY.
Popular names, with their " lengthened sweetness
long drawn out," constitnte the chief attraction, as
usual, of Colburn ; for we are treated in this number
with additional " Echoes from the Backwoods," by Cap-
tain Levinge, good chattering echoes of their class—a
continuation of the " Privateer's-Man," by Captain
Marryat, forming a reminder of a bye-past style of
novel writing—more about " The Travels and Opinions
of Mr. Jolly Green," hodge-podge vagaries, half-
French half-Cockneyism, like a grisette in a Denstable
bonnet—another chapter of " Beauchamp," by the in-
exhaustable G. P. R. Tames, describing a struggle near
a river, and ending with true melodramatic effect,
" both plunged in together into a deep pool, and disap-
peared for an instant in the water "! ! !—tresli " Lights
and Shades," by W. H. Maxwell, cleverly written and
sparkling.—new pen-and-ink sketches of Lords Stowell
and Eldon—but whew ! let us take breath after such
a long-winded catalogue. Of poetry' there is no defi-
ciency, videlicet a nondescript bit of comicality, by
Charles Booton, entitled " The Raven," in which
moral aphorisms are deduced from a bird's bill, instead
of a doctor's. If imitators may be taken as a criterion
of the originality or genius of the prototype, then was
.lEsop one of the most genuine originals, and one of
the loftiest intellects that eve! inhaled oxygen, or
strutted forth upon the, earth a—rational biped. Nor
can we regard this estimation of his character as
too eulogistic. We would back that helot, with
his hump-back and his ragged garments, against
the wisdom of any ten lexicographers that can be
picked out of any university, in any generation ; we
would wear his effigy, graven upon a precious stone,
upon our finger, as about the noblest symbol of human
intelligence. His words were rugged and misshapen as
himself, hut they contained thoughts of singular eleva-
tion ; they were jewels buried deeply in the mire, but
they wi-re worth digging for any day out of the three
hundred and sixty- five. To return, however, to our
magazine lyrics, Edward Senealy sings us "An Irish
Romance," and his hands stray among the stringsi
with
no little felicity ; while J. E. Carpenter—(n reality he
sweetest ballad-writer of his day)—attempts something
very pretty indeed about a calm at sea, but fails most
signally in the effort. How such balderdash, in the
shape of metre, can ever' be claimed by a writer
of remaunts like Carpenter, we cannot conjecture.
We suspect Master Apollo is hoarse with carolling
overmuch, in which case he should remain silent for the
mince. Of Mrs. Butler's three poems we shall say no-
thingsince field flowers occasionally have their deficiency
thus are the corn poppies brilliant but - scentless. A
"Gallop to Gretna" is a reminiscence of a power, nowlike
Saturn's, extinct ; it gives a spirited description cf one of
those boarding-schoel flights which, by a stern parliamen-
tary enactment are at the present moment little better
ti: en " fights of imagination." One other contribu-
kw and our notice of the New Monthly will terminate.
Pe tee' Priggins gives us a new adaption of the fable res-
pecting " Town and Country ;" somewhat inferior to
his ordinary gossip, though still animated with his
affection fol. fun and his loathing for the unprincipled.
The foregoing' enumeration of articles will give some
indication of the variety and merit of the March number.

BENTLEYS MISCELLANY.
Mr. Maxwell, as author, and A: r. Leech, as artist,
open the present number with a contWuation of " Brian
0' Linn." Mr. N. A. Wells follows, with an'amusing
account of a month's residence at Madrid; and then we
have a paper of sterling historical 'Ale from the pen of
D. W. C. Taylor, entitled "Chesterfield and his Times."
The following passage, with which the i.Naper concludes,
is a just estimate of the character of Chesterfield:—
"His own character was factitious; and he therefore re-
garded the characters of others as artificial, and he set about
their examination as if habits of mind were subject to the
same laws as costume and decoration. The world was to him
a huge masquerade ; he played the part of the most accom-
plished diplomatist of the-. French and fashionable school.
There was calculation in his frivolity, and intense selfishne-a
in alibis actions. He was an actor in a drama; and his
whole ambition was concentrated, not in the success of the
piece, hnt of that special portion which it was his choice to
maintain. Systematic frivolity, the sacrifice of principles to
appearances, a contempt for humanity, an opinion that men
were instrumenit to be employed and women creatures to be
deceived, a heartless indifference to all the obligations which
can arise from sympathy and affection; such were the ele-
ments of the philosophy which Chesterfield professed, and
on which he stedfastly acted.
"A great philosophical experiment was tried by the states-
man whose career we have been contemplating ; the sfish
theory of morals as preached by Hobbes, and practically
expounded by Ruchefpucauld, was tested in actual life, with ,
every advantage it could derive from elegance grace, and
refinement, contrasted with a grossness of prevailing manners
bordering on brutality. How did it succeed ? There is no
more. lamentable failure in our history. Chesterfield never
gained a triumph. Baffled as a statesman, disappointed as a
•1/4- politician, sager-attenuated as a leader of fashion, rejected