The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-03 00:00:00

THE SPORTIN G MAGAZINE.

Two capital conceits form the illustrations of the
August number, " Success to the Secret," and " The
ComOiments of the Season"—the said compliments being
nothing less than a brava of grouse painted by Han-
cock. Surely such complit vents are ever welcome, like
the cup of sack dispatch( ,d per Bardolph to Sir John
Falstaff. There are som e rare articles too in the
Sporting Magazine, sue: ti as would prompt the
hermit of Vauxhall, hims( :If, to induct his lower extre-
mities into buckskins anzl tops, and to sport " pink "
one day in the week at the least. " The Sportsman's
Dressing Room" for the nonce, would give even the
dispeptic a longing for an amble over the stubble. John
Mills continues his'" Life, of a Foxhound" with excel-
lent spirit ; there is a freshness and originality
about the second cha ptar quite exhilirating. Whe
will discredit the notion of dogs having aanguage
of their own, after reading the conversation between
Ringwood, the hero, and. `Trimbush, the old adept in the
chase? Who would not carol with Linton?—
The moors! the mow's! the joyous moors!
When autumn displa; Is her golden stores—
When the an orning's breath
Blows across, the heath,
Oa the main ttain-side,
'Tis gladness to ride,
At the peep of dawn o'er the dewy moors!
At this iniatory season, wh en the young sportsman, like
Aurora, in Shakspere, " stands tiptoe on the misty
mountain's top" with expectation, this magazine will
prove a welcome instructor, and we will engage that the
aspirant will not find his tutor in the smallest degree
churlish or superficial. The number is in most respects
seasonable and clever.

a::7 •

MONTHLY PRIZE ESSAYS.

What has attracted our especial perusal in this
second number of a new adventurer among the periodical
literature is an essay upon. " The Works of Charles
Dickens." We have read it very carefully, and are
forced to pronounce it mast ogregiously flippant : it is the
very coxcombry of critic ism.. First of all, it is merely a
trifle beyond nine pages, :Ind. the possibility of analysing
the works of such a variteyr _fts_Dickena, _m_aine pages,
appears to us about as reaionable as the compression of
the Iliad into a nutshell. Secondly, the writer assails
the writings of Dickens as being of a decidedly immoral
tendency, and if that; be not the very prudery
of literary squeamishness, then Archer's Sermons
are only fitted for the shop-windows of Holywell-
street. Thirdly, the writer throws himself into a
violent fit of excitement and indignation at the dinner of
tripe devoured by poor ',Crotty Veck upon the door-
step of Mr. Alderman Cute ; " Delicacy," says he,
" would have prompted us to turn away till the old man
had finished his dinner !" Fourthly, Dickins is called
something little short of an advocate for Drunkenness,
from such circumstances as that of Dick Swiveller
moistening his clay till it becomes of a slippery
and uncertain consistency ! Fifthly, Miss Haredale and
Dolly Varden are discovered to be identical characters:
and so on "to the end of tire chapter." We will not
insist upon the arrogance of such opinions, or of their
moral absurdity: they are their own counterpoise. In
a rather grandiloquent piece of metre, called " The
Dead and the Dying," there is this solemn expression,
of an angry spirit:—

" - Slapping round mine ears
Those cursed wiags !" &c.
in other words, actually boxing his ear! Th© other
contributions are, however, in a great measure devoid of
these blemishes, and if the publicaticn be judiciously
impervised it will prosper.

THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE.
We are glad to see a letter quoted here, from the
Mark Lane Express, in which the writer says " Sir
Robert Peel has conferred a great boon upon the coun-
try by a repeal of the corn-laws :—I cannot believe Sir
R. Peel would have consented to remain in the House
of Commons to assist in carrying out other commercial
reforms, if he had not the good of his country at heart,
and more particularly so after having submitted to the
most insolent and degrading language that ever fell
from the lips of man." The mere admission of such
sentences into a professedly agricultural periodical is a
point gained in favour of justice and fair-play, which
latter, as everybody knows, is a jewel. It is satisfac-
tory also to observe a very great modification in the
reprehensive language employed against the obnoxious
freedom of importation to foreign grain. Though a
considerable reduction is declared to have taken place
recently in the prices of grain the Farmer's Magazine
acknowledges that "it would be unfair " to attribute
that roduction altogether to the Parliamentary realisa-
tion of Free Trade. We welcome this spirit of con-
cession cordially, and expect before very long to find
the Protectionists among the warmest admirers of the
late League. "Wonders will never cease." The
Farmer's Magazine for August is commendable.