The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-03 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

Mr. Theodore Hook's story of " Fathers and
Sons" progresses with its wonted spirit, more
,').specially as regards the character of the
intr4uing housekeeper, Mrs. Smylar—what
an appropriate name for a woman of her turn of
mind!—whose covert and persevering efforts to
gain the affections of her unsuspecting master,
Colonel Bruit', are described with infinite clever-
ness and vivacity. It is in pourtraying worldly
;)ersonages of this stamp that Mr. Hook's chief
fecte lies. His sentiment—whenever he attempts
it, v,'hich is far too often—is invariably a failure.
tc Deb,for and Creditor"—a trite theme for a
magazik.e essay—has some good hits 'at the
general in lt,rratitude of mankind. We have been
pleased w:tl.
the justice of this observation—
'gra:efull when it costs them nothing
to
and ,-tt is as much as ought to be ' Nble en
so are;
411
ex-
pected from humakity. No one can like a bore
in any case; yet who so great a bore as he whose
very presence reminds you that owe more than
you can pay, or the mar whom you expect will
call upon you for Urge sums which it is incon-
venient to book up." " Bequeathed
Heart" is an improbable and extravagant tale, by
Mr. Peake, turising upon the circumstance of
an enthusiastic young Irishman, who, when
abroad, bequeathed his heart to the cele-
brated Italian singer, Gabrielli, on forfeiture of
ten thousand pounds, to be paid from his estates,
in the event of his executors not complying
with the extraordinary terms of his will. The
story has no merit in , the way of description or
language, to redeem its absurdity. "Foreign
Sporting" has rather too much of. dry, minute
detail, to be generally acceptable. Nimrod
should enliven and vary his themes a little by
seasoning it with pleasant, appropriate anecdotes,
or sketches of character. " Time's Changes" is
a poem of an average order of merit. "Thoughts
on Prefaces" eulogises with good taste and dis-
crimination the masterly prefaces by Dr. Johnson
to his Dictionary and his edition of Shakspeare.
It has lately been the fashion among some of
our periodical critics to speak disparagingly of
the genius of this illustrious man, yet of all those
who underrate him there is not one worthy to
" loose his shoe's latchets." A " Passage in the
Life of Orlando Scrubb" is a caustic description
of a crafty, unscrupulous attorney, and closes
with a whimsical piece of roguery played off by.
Scrubb on a legal neighbour and rival. This in-
cidect is very smartly told. " Might against
Right " is a story founded on the patriotic, but
unavailing struggle made by Hofer against the
French invaders of the Tyrol. The story is
somewhat tamely written. From Hood's poem,
" A Tale of a Trumpet," we quote the following
grotesque account of a deaf woman :
She was deaf as a house—which modern tricks
Of language would call as deaf as bricks—
For her all human kind were dumb,
Her drum, indeed, was so muffled a drum,
That none could get a sound to come—
Unless the Devil that had Two Sticks !
She was deaf as a stone—say one of the stones
Demosthenes suck'd to improve his tones ' •
And surely deafness no farther could reach
Than to be in his mouth without hearing his speech !
She was (leaf as a nut—for nuts, no doubt,
Are deaf to the grub that's hollowing out—
As deaf, alas! as the dead and forgotten--
( Gray has noticed the waste of breath,
In addressing the " dull, cold ear of death"),
Or the Felon's ear that was stuff'd with Cotton—
Or Charles the First, in statue quo;
Or the still-born figures of Madame Tussand,
With their eyes of glass, and their hair of flax,
That only stare whatever you " ax,"
For their ears, ybu know, are nothing but wax.
She was deaf as the ducks that swam in the pond,
And wouldn't listen to Mrs. Bond,—
As deaf as any Frenchman appears,
When be puts his shoulders into his ears ;
And—whatever the citizen tells his son—
As deaf as Gog and Magog at one !
Or, still to be a simile-seeker,
As deaf as dog's-ears to Enfield's Speaker !
She was deaf as any tradesman's dummy,
Or as Pharaoh's mother's mother's mummy,
Whose organs, for fear of our modern sceptics,
Were plugg'd with gums and antiseptics.
She was deaf as a nail—that you cannot hammer
A meaning into, for all your clamour—
.
There never was such a deaf old Gammer
So formed to worry,
Both Lindley and Murray,
By having no ear for Music or Grammar !
Deaf to sounds, as a ship ant of soun.dings,
and
particle,
Deaf to verbs, and all their com
Adj,ctive, noun, and adverb!
.and
• Deaf to even the definite article—
No verb it rttes age was worth a pin,
L Though you hired an earwig to carry it in !

310ATTEL1' CHRONICLE.
The chief causes that led to the failure of the
Swan River settlement are here briefly Oamed
et in au artie3.e on the sibject'of Auetralia. Mr.

Peel, it seems, and several other colonists who
went ont with him, received such enormous
grants of land that it was impossible to bring
them into cultivation, and dispersion was the ne-
cessary consequence. " Other • evils," we are
told, " ensued; the easy acquisition of land mad
every man become a landholder. . Labour was
not to be had for any price. Each nian,lisolatstd
and kept to his own resources, soon fell into dis-
tress. Mr. Peel, who had taken out three hun-
dred emigrants, sixty of whom were able bodied
labourers, had been obliged to make his own bed,
to light his own fire, to fetch water from the
river for himself! His labourers now wanted to
hang him, because he could not take them back
into his service. He was obliged to run away
and hide himself till they were carried off to Van
Diemen's Land, where they obtained work."
This great fundamental error has been rectified
in the new settlement of South Australia, which
was established on a wholly different plan, and
is consequently now in a thriving condition. "It
was colonized," we are told, " as lately as the
year 1836, and on the wide, waste plains where
its first settlers fixed themselves, abundant har-
vests are growing. Adelaide, the principal town,
possesses 800 stone or brick houses, forming
squares• and streels ; it has schools, a college,
churches, chapels, markets, and banks, three or
four newspapers, various societies, a theatre, an
.exchange, and six thousand. inhabitants. There
are a dozen shops in one street that would not
disgrace the Strand or Cheapside. Yet four
years ago, the site of this town was a desert,
600 miles distant from any civilization." This
is pretty well for a beginning ! " Kirk Contro-
versy" is an explanatory account of the origin,
progress,.and present aspect of the ecclesiastical
disputes now raging so fiercely in Scotland. We
have read this account with some attention, but
must honestly confess our inability to understand
what our Scottish brethren are squabbling about.
" The Fight With the Dragon" is a spirited trans-.
lition of a poem by Schiller. " Physiognomical
Speculations" are a series of ridiculous remarks
on the countenances of our three last Kings, a
brace of Georges, and one William. Speaking of
the Fourth and fattest. of the Georges the writer
observes, " the very outline of his figure bespoke
a high-toned intellect!" It bespoke nothing of
the sort, but merely a well-made, gentlemanike
dandy. " Gleanings from Richter" contain a
few striking and poetical thoughts, and not a few
crazy, metaphysical ones. We select at random
a few of the better class:—
TIIE
LONGINGS OF Love.—The longings of love bank like
a ijromethean vulture on the heart ; but they wound only to
ennoble.

-.
THE BIRTH-HOUR OF GENIUS.—" When the halcyon
broods," said the ancients, " the sea is calm." When, on the
other hand, the phoenix and paradise-birds of humanity brood,
the ocean of Time rises in roaring billows ; but they dwell on
high places and altars of the sun, and their offspring fly over
the sea. _ _ _

BUTTERFLY IN A CHURCH.—Hinder him not, whether he
fly in the narrow church or the temple of the universe—he
preaches too.
COMING TIMES.—CaIm and peaceful—like a child in its
cradle, rcrked by the billows of a great flood—dwells the germ
of the Future within the stormy Present. At length the time
arrives ; the floating Moses-child is borne to the firm land,
grows up, and becomes, perhaps, a deliverer and a law-giver.
To THE WISE.—Who is the greater—the wise man who,
elevating himself above the tumult of time, remains an uncon-
cerned spectator, or the wise man who, from the height of
tranquillity, boldly casts himself into the battle-throng of his
age? It is sublime, vi hen the eagle soars, through the storm,
upwards into the blue firmament; but sublimer still, when,
floating in the azure above the campy of vapour, he dashes
through the storm-clouds and alights on the crag where, in their
eyrie, his unfledged little ones dwell and tremble.
CHILDHOOD AND OLD AGE.—Gaily around dances the
child oti its crutch ; painfully along creeps the old man on his.
Children alike—what distinguishes them ? The one remem-
bers—the otlwr hopes.
linroast.—Every age may be regarded as a good estate en-
cumbered with numerous debts and law-suits. If ye would
act as wise proprietors, rest not satisfied with fertilising the
soil—sweep the incumbrances off also.
TEARS OF SORROW AND OF JOY.—Only in the myterious
twilight-transition from one emotion to its contrary do men
shed tears, whether of sorrow or of joy. Thus Heaven sends
dew at two periods only—during the morning and the evening
twilight.