The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-06 00:00:00

THE MAGAZINES.

TILE UNION:

" A Transatlantic Editor " is 'the title of a most hu-
morous Yankee sketch in the present number of the
Union. Mr. Washington Wolfe Lick is the publisher,
proprietor, and editor of the " Citizen of the West "
newspaper, published in an uncertain town in the uncer•
lain territory between LouiFiana and Texas. Mr Lick,
in his journal, has libelled a certain Mr. Abel Wright
and a Mr. Herman, who determine to inflict corporal
punishment on their traducer, but who are personally
unacquainted with him, and with each other. The re-
mainder of the story is so good that we must give it in
the very words of the narrator:—
Mr. Lick was seated at his desk, engaged in skimming
over the contents of a number of newspapers, or rather
culling choice morceetus for the next Citizen. A loud knock
was heard at the street door. Lick started at the sound and
then listened attentively. The door was opened. lie heard
a gruff voice growling out something, but could not distin-
guish what ; and immediately heavy and hasty steps were
heard ascending the stairs.
_ . _

" Alia! here comes the freeman !" exclaimed the editor,
and darting to the fire-place, seized .the poker and shovel
(tongs there were none) which he deposited—oh sacrilege!
in the editorial desk; then seating himself on the high
stool, he plied his pen intently. The steps grew louder; the
stranger would be in the room in another instant.
" He's coming," quoth Lick; " and there's only one lucky
thing, he don't know me.
The heavy and hasty gentleman, who was no other than
Mr. Abel Wright, put his foot upon the topmost stair, and
without knocking, rushed into the room, armed with a beau-
tiful " cowhide," and roared out, " Hullo here! is your name
Lick ?".

The editor slowly raised his eyes from the paper, and sur-
veyed the enemy with a bland look. "If you wish to see
➢lr. Lick, sir,"—he deliberately commenced.,

" Slice me into sandwiches and smash me into sosengers !
if you don't answer plain and spry, l'll bring this here to
bear upon you ;" and he flourished the cowhide before the
wily Lick.
" You wish to see the editor, sir ?" said Lick, coming
down from his seat and going towards the door.
"Yes, sir; call him up. Say a gentleman has called to
pay a bill."
;4 Yes, sir," answered Lick, "glad to escape in any manner
from within range of the formidable weapon. He stood out-
side the door for an instant, hesitating whether he should
turn the key upon Mr. Wright and lock him in, or seek
safety in flight, when lo ! he was startled by another loud
knock at the street-door. It was opened. Some one entered
hastily, and again was Mr. Lick inquired after. The idea
instantly flashed across his mind that this must be Mr. An-
drew Herman. Here was a dangerous situation. To go back
was madness—to go forward was like rushing into the lion's
jaws. It was, however, necessary to decide quickly, for the
enemy was now ascending the stairs. In another moment
they were face to face. Instead of a cowhide, this second as •
sailant rejoiced in the possession of an enormous cudgel. As
the editor imagined, it was Mr. Herman ; and if ever a man
testified his intention by his look, it was plain that the said
Mr.. Herman was bent upon committing assault and battery
upon some person or other. He seized the luckless Lick
roughly by the collar, and, without uttering a word, had
already raised his cudgel high up in the air, in order that it
might descend with the utmost violence on the person of
that worthy, when the latter, with a forgiving and good-
natured smile, said, I presume you wish to see the editor of
the Citizen ; if so, please to go to the room above."
"Oh ! beg pardon. Slight mistake of mine. Up stairs, I
see." With a chuckle of infinite glee, Lick straightway pro-
ceeded to the coffee-room on the opposite side of the road, to
wait the issue of his stratagem.
Meanwhile, Mr. Abel Wright prepared himself for the re-
ception of the editor, and hearing sonic one ascending the
stairs just after. Lick's departure, he, naturally enough, sup-
posed it was that gentleman coming. Placing himself close
behind the door, and twisting the thong tightly round his
hand, he stood prepared to deal a " clencher" the mo
ment his fancied libeller should enter. Mr. Herman
presently bolted into the room, and was saluted, on the
instant, with a tremendous whack across the shoul-
ders, and 'in the next Mr. Wright was favoured with
a smart tap on the head from the other's cudgel.
As may be imagined, a tremendous contest ensued, and the
hide and cudgel were plied stoutly. No words passed for
some time, but the epithets of " infernal scamp, rascal,scoun-
drel, villain," &c; presently, however Mr Wright beginning
to get the upper hand, exclaimed, " You blighted scoun-
drel. I'lliteach you to abuse honest men ;" to which Mr. Her-
man replied, " Put anything in your humbugging paper
about me, and skin me alive! if I don't break every bone in
your body." On hearing this, the former gentleman began
to think there must be some mistake in the matter, and
prompted by a sudden thought, he exclaimed, " Is your name
Lick ?"

Thinking this a fresh and most deliberate insult, Herman
recommenced using his cudgel, and another desperate en-
counter ensued. Everything in the room was overturned—
editor's desk, stool, fender, files; ink spilled, bottle broken,
&c. ; at last, having thoroughly exhausted themselves, the
combatants stood panting, and glaring savagely at each
other.

" Hear me," gasped Herman; " you skin-flint lightning-
driver, every time you put my name in your paper, you
shall fare like this."

As may. be suppoed, the extraordinary circumstance of
each accusing the other of the same offence at last induced
an explanation, and, when the mystery was cleared up,
great was the wrath and mortification of these amiable gen-
tlemen, on finding that the object of their vengeance had
escaped scot •free, while they each had received a sound
thrashing. Great, on the contrary, was the glee of Mr.
Washington Wolfe Lick, as he saw, from the window of the
coffee-room, his fiery visitors emerge from the house, flushed
and heated by their exertions ; their hats broken, necker-
chiefs untied, dresses disordered and countenances expressive
of the direst exasperation and chagrin.
Two days after this occurrence, Messrs. Wright and Her-
man
were summoned to the Back-street police-office, at the
instance of Washington Wolfe Lick, editor and proprietor of
the Citizen of the IVest newspaper, charged with having en-
tered the house of the latter in his absence, and created an

uproar and disturb nice therein ; and also with having broken,
damaged, and spoilt a desk, stool, and sundry other of the
property of the said Lick. Fined twenty dollars each, and
costs.

The illustration to this story,. by Mason, is almost as
good as the tale itself. The point of time chosen is that
just before the first meeting of Wright and Herman,
when the latter is in the act of opening the door of the
editor's room. The interesting adventures of the " Deal
Boatman " are continued, as are " The Sketches of Bri-
tish Landladies," and " The History of the Jesuits."
We have the commencement of the " Adventures of a
British Serjeant in the Auxiliary Legion in Spain,from
1835 to 1840," which promise well ; and a variety of
other amusing articles. This is a good number of the
Union.

COLBURIV'S UNITED SERVICE,
The present number contains an admirable assort-
ment of professional and amusing articles. No one
understands better the art of mixing tho duke with the
utile than the editor of the United Service Magazine.

THE ALMANACK FOR THE MONTH.
G. 4. A'Becketi.
A condensation of b
fitn, frolic, whim, and wit of the
last four weeks.

THE COMIC _HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
By G. A. A' Beckett. No. 11.
,the present number,
Merrily does Mr. A'Beckett in
rattlelb
merrily,
to
ruyglh h, n theoset
the Historyof
ies
of England, from the days of
eit
William the Conqueror • but,
truthfully. Take the follow-
ing
Ethelredatr
ri
those
account of " King Canute reproving his Courtiers"
as a specimen:—
" One day, when in the plenitude of his power, he caused
the throne to be removed from the throne-room and erected,
during low tide, on the sea-shore. Having taken his seat,
surrounded by his courtiers, he issued a proclamation to the
ocean, forbidding it to rise, and commanding it not, on any
account, to leave its bed until his permission for it to get up
was graciously awarded. The courtiers backed the royal
edict, and encouraged with the grossest adulation this first
great practical attempt to prove that Britannia rules the
waves. Such a rule, however, was soon proved to be nothing
better than a rule nisi, which it is impossible to make ab-
solute when opposed by Neptune's irresistible motion of
course. Every wave of Canute's sceptre was answered by a
wave from the sea, and the courtiers, who were already up to
their ankles in salt-water, began to fear that they should
soon be pickled in the foaming brine.
" At length the monarch himself found his footstool dis-
posed to go on swimmingly of its own accord, and there was
every prospect that the whole party would undergo the
ceremony of an immediate investiture of the bath. The
sovereign, who was very lightly shod, soon found that his
pumps were not capable of getting rid of the water, which
was now rising very rapidly. Having sat with his feet in
the sea for a few miutes, and not relishing the slight spe-
cimen of bydropathic treatment he had endured, he jumped
suddenly up, and began to abuse his courtiers for the mess
into which he had been betrayed by their outrageous
flattery."
The illustrative woodcuts aro laughter-moving ex-
ceedingly.

THE• MIRROR. Edited by Percy B. St. John.

This, the oldest and the best of the cheap weekly
periodicals, is now, under the able editorship of
Mr. Pere/St. John, raised to the dignity of a monthly
magazine; and, considering the immense quantity of
matter contained in it, the Mirror is by far the cheapest
magazine published ; and, with regard to matter, the
name of the editor is alone a sufficient guarantee that
none but the productions of first-rate literary talent
wik find admission to its pages. The present number is
in a great measure devoted to the conclusion of a French
tale, which the editor is obliged to finish to keep faith
with former subscribers, but we are glad to find, that,
in his address to his readers, he declares that henceforth
"it will be his rule never to have more than one
a ext in betliheivs'ineg ample."ountry
con-
tinued article; nor will he ever resort to translations of
literary FrenchFrench
talentrom tn, c
and
romances,
dt o t
ofisl
pre, to is
l his columns,
In addition to this French tale we have the opening
chapters of a Texan romance by the editor, which are
full of striking incident, and promise well.

THE PATRICIAN.
The Patrician for this month opens with the family
history and genealogy of the gentlemen who have
been created Peers or Baronets by the Administration
of Sir Robert Peel. Under the head " Curious Trials
connected with the Aristocracy" we have the history of
the celebrated ejectment case between James• Annersley
and the Earl of Anglesey, and under that of " Celebrated
Peerage Cases," we have the remarkable cases of the
Earldom of Banbury and the Earldom of Huntingdon ;
three of the most interesting and romantic histories
ever recorded, and which prove that
" Truth is strange, stranger than fiction."
We doubt not but that the genealogical studies of Mr.
Burke must have made him acquainted with many such
interesting family histories, and we hope that from time
to time he will, in the pages of The Pat, ician, give the
public the benefit of his researches. We would, how-
ever, suggest to him the propriety of not confining him-
self to the British aristocracy. The family histories of
the aristocracies of France, Spain, and Germany would
furnish him with many a " true" romance not less in-
teresting than those he has already placed on record.
This is the best number of The Patrician that bas yet
appeared.