The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-03 00:00:00

TEIE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY MORNING, NOVEMI3EIt 3, 1846.

THE MAGAZINES.

the Life of a Literary Blackguard." It is the exten-
Llie O:ograpliy- of the nuforiuus " Pietro Are-
tino," as given in the commencement of that great
Biographical Dictionary issued by the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and which if pro-
perly supported by the public might even yet be a
splendid national work. And a wonderful " black-
guard" this same Pietro was unquestionably ; a
villain, a poltroon, a debauchee, a parasite, a mercenary
swordsman under Giovanni Medici, a public mendi-
cant when residing in Venice, an insolent charlatan
in the very title-pages of his books, a calumniator, a
liar, a publisher of infamous sonnets and obscene en-
gravings—a fellow who abused his friends when they
were overwhelmed with misfortune, and who after a
life illustrated with the perpretration of almost every
imaginable atrocity received extreme unction when
stretched upon his death. bed, and perished with that
brutal jest upon his lips, that, seeing his body was
now well oiled, his attendants would do well to keep
the rats from eating him ! The writer of this article
in the magazine observes at the outset that he intends
it to cor.stitute a kind of literary scarecrow. He
had remarked " a battered leaden statue of a half-
naked man on horseback," in the area fronting the
Edinburgh courts of justice, and finding that
it was erected to the memory of the " pious"
and " unconquered" King Charles the Second,
he declares that the very sight of it was " enough to
make any man, for the moment, a republican." Con-
ceiving that a wholesome moral might be extracted
from the contemplation of such a sculptured effigy,
and that some sound lessons in government might be
drawn from the mere inscription, he looks for an
analogous memento and warning in the department
of literature. For the nonce he hits upon Pietro
Aretino; and undoubtedly he could not have selected
a more appropriate scoundrel. There is something
infinitely astonishing in the history of this remark-
able person. Perfectly uneducated, and without even
the semblance of good principles, he adventures, at
the ripe age of five-and-thirty, upon the fabrication
of a literary celebrity. Without genius, without
even any very remarkable talent, without being
scholarly, without patronage, without money, without
character, he nevertheless fabricated for himself a
fame which extended over every portion of Europe,
and penetrated even into Asia, and assumed a con-
spicuous position in the dawning of the sixteenth
century. He was the, friend of Titian, of Tinto-
retto, and of nearly all his most illustrious
contemporaries ; be was the correspondent of the va-
rious Italian princes, of the monarchs of Germany,
France, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and England ; he
was the stipendiary of all the leading statesmen of the
time ; he frequently received bounties from the cof-
fers of Sultan Solyman, and drew largely upon the
spoil of Barbarossa the pirate. lie styled himself
"The Scourge of Princes" while penning the most
pitiable and sycophantic petitions to the different so-
vereizns ; he signed himself " Peter the Truthteller"
at the end of documents laden with falsities ; appended
to his name the epithet " The Divine," though his
whole life was notoriously mean and vicious; and at
other moments called himself " Peter, by the grace
of God a Free Man," though he battoned on the fickle
favour of kings. Anything more astonishing, whether
for deliberate audacity, for utter degradation, or for
flagrant immorality can scarcely be adduced in the
whole range of letters. The contributor has done
well in producing this biographieal paper ; it will
serve a high purpose ; it will be the warning he de-
sires it to be, and will demonstrate by the gloomy
contrast of crime, the lustrous purity of virtue.
" The Belle " is concluded with much sprightliness,
and we have a promise of the termination of Mrs.
Gore's story in December. Among the poetical con-
tributions for this month we cannot discern a single
verse worthy of commendation. " The Dove "is so
weak and tame in its nature that we conjectured it
must be what Bottom calls a "sucking dove," S--me
of the rhymes are especially vile, for instance the
second and fourth " bind ' and " joined," which
imply a cockney euphony, as thus :
" Hail, emblem of the dearest tie
That human hearts can bind,
Love's all-devoted constancy
When kindred souls are fined !"
" The Fairy Ladye's Love," again, reminds us of
the everlastingly still small voice. The translation
from the French of Augusta Barbier, in which
France is typified as a mare, and :Napoleon as a
demon-rider, breathes terribly of the orange peel and
sawdust of Franconi's. The best verse is that descrip-
tive of France, young, vigorous, and untainted, at the
period of the Republic :
" The eye of fire set in her slender head
Shot forth a tameless ray ;
Reared up erect the whole world she dismayed
With her shrill savage neigh."
An elaborate analysis of Dr. Brown's " Ethical Lec-
tures," and a careful review of Dr. Alexander's
" Switzerland and the Swiss Churches," together with
several other literary notices of less pretension,
complete the light literature of Tait for November.
The political article for this month is almost as great
a curiosity as in October; it is now, however, con-
fined to the consideration of Irish destitution and our
foreign diplomacy. With reference to the present
condition of Ireland, Tait gives rather too bitter a
home thrust to both landlords and peasantry—it de-
clares that "every Irishman is from this moment a
pauper or a semi-pauper, supported half by work,
and half by extras from the parish"—the landowners
praying for grants to improve their land by- drainage,
and so forth—the peasantry pleading for grants to
pay them Government wages for Government employ-
ment. Supposing it were literally true that all
Irishmen were paupers, this is surely not the
moment for the announcement of that pain-
ful fact, for flinging the reproach in the
teeth of our countrymen across St. George's
Channel. The Irish are starving ; let us wait till they
be extricated from that abyss before we dream of
balancing the interests of the state. The observations
which follow upon our foreign relations are singular
enough. We transcribe one paragraph
The function of Government, in regard to foreign
affairs, is the same as its function in regard to domestic.
Its sole office is to protect the citizen or subject in the
free exercise of his lawful rights, and compel hi m to dis-
charge his lawful duties. The merchant, or any other
person who ventures abroad for profit or pleasure, re-
tains his claim for protection upon his native Govern-
ment. The merchant, or other, who remains at home,
but engages in negotiations with subjects of other Go-
vernments, or with subjects of his own resi dent abroad,
must, if they refuse to fulfil their engagements, endea-
vour to force them through the
ministry of his own. The
limited business of Government, outside of i'ts own domi-
nions, is to take care that the persons and pr operty of its
subjects are safe. To this end fleets and milit;ary stations,
on distant shores, are maintained, in order ti in the police
of the high seas may be maintained, or aid kept at hand
in the vicinity of barbarous tribes who re. fp:-,ct not the
laws of civilized, nations. To this end cons, ifs are main-
tained in great trading ports and inland emporia. and
diplomatic envoys at seats of government. The in,'
floss of our admirals and commandants at -our military.
stations is to serve as a substitute ha. police in regions of
the world's surface where there is no est ablished go-
vernment ; to protect all Britons, travelling: on their
lawful occasions by sea or by land, from assaults of
pirates or robbers at all times ; from assaul.;s of national
forces with whom we may be at war; from aggressions
on the part of belligerents when neutral. 'The business
phßo
o,f)rmilontuietsertifder iso;osmnausnbudjllveshetoto
s: nt o see that justice be neith. ?.t. denied nor
unduly withheld, nor sold at an extortionate price to
limits
t se are business i t stow v:tlh ihcehof
w .t
residents arehe b ua3pai rt.
promotetheiwithin
gr
r
ness of diplomatic agents (by whatever name known), at
seats of government, is to care for the personal immu-
nities of their fellow-subjects within the territories of
the Government to which they are accredieed; to nego-
tiate for the reform of -any laws or ordinances militating
against the interests of their country; to watch any alli-
ances or hostilities which the Government near which
teS7veetratr}a-,4opeanrdtotalavroet.,3rtrtioctgteinves
they are, may contract or engage in; and,tinder the
e
teFtrirconeretalhgsant might be the result of the one,
British subjects that might p
uponaff directione s suchur ocfe ah
or any accidental dangers to
rteheeeepderfsioenms athned
epLoepre. ty of

IiL.IC:K

until the whole has been devoured. Maxwell continues
his i3rian 0-Linn," at,(l the "Ili:tilt:Lir Recui-
leetions of Paris. The Faubourg St. Germain is the
subject of his present paper, and admirably does ha
sketch the characteristics, physical and moral, of the
old aristocracy, who since the revolution of 1830
have voluntarily relegated themselves to that quarter.
The process of amalgamation, however, is rapidly
going on ; the poverty of these proud, but poor ex-
clusives, forces them to wink at the mesalliances which
their children contract with the rich Bourgeoisie of
the other side the river, and ere twenty years are past,
the ancienne noblesse will be extinct as a social class.
They are bigoted without being religious, and their
morality is of that peculiar character which dis-
tinguished the Court of Louis XIV., or that of our own
Charles II.; but their society is the most delightful
in the world.

Curious and most charming is the article entitled
"Luigia de Medici"—an article conceived and written
in a gentle and loving spirit. For those individuals
who are not familiar with Florentine biography it
may be as well to premise at once; that the beautiful
maiden whose name is here mentioned was the fourth
daughter, and the seventh and youngest child, of
Lorenzo the Magnificent and his wife Clarice Orsini.
Consequently, the ever-memorable and ever-glorious
Cosmo de Medici, him whom the grateful citizens of
Florence christened Pater Patrice, was the great-
grandfather of Lu: gia. The purpose of the writer is one
which cannot fail to enlist all the sympathies of those
who can sympathise with the sorrows of one of the
most extraordinary geniuses Italy or the world ever
saw. It is to demonstrate the fact that Michel
Angelo Buonarotti—the sculptor, the architect, the
painter, the poet, that wonderful man, merely to
mention whom Sir Joshua Reynolds conceived to be
the most fitting and dignified mode of terminating
his lectures as President of the Royal Academy—it
is to prove that the heart of this great man loved in
his youth, that it loved with an ardour proportioned
to the intensity of his high nature, that his affection
was not improbably reciprocated, that the object of
his devotion was none other than Luigia
de Medici, and that her premature •decease
tended to confirm arid enhance the austerity of the
character of Michel Angelo. More obscurity, cer-
tainly, does not exist in the biography of any man of
comparable celebrity with reference to the early de-
velopment of his disposition, and the tribulations to
which he was subjected at the very outset of his
career, than that which shrouds the history of the
boyhood of Angelo. It is generally regarded as
questionable, whether the passion which he himself
indicates in his writings was real or supposititious. It
is presumed by many that his poetical productions
were rather the embodiment of his vagrant medita-
tions than the outpourings of human emotion. The
theme of his verses—
" The form of beauty and the soul of grace,"
is conceived by the majority of scholars to have been
a merely visionary object of his adoration. From
these prevalent opinions the writer in Blackwood
altogether dissents; and, although Buonarotti was
most scrupulous never to reveal the name of the being
to whom his poetry was particularly addressed, or, in-
deed, to indicate, in any way, the identity of her
whom to have loved under his circumstances
would have been regarded as a grievous presumption,
this writer, from a variety of collateral circumstances,
is persuaded that it could have alone been Luigia. In en-
deavouring to "carry his point," he quotes largely from
the delicious sonnettos and madrigales of Michel Angelo
—pieces which, supposing his chisel and brush to have
been wholly inactive, would inevitably have acquired
for him a very considerable celebrity as an emulator
of the fame of Petrarch. It is in truth, solely because
their lustre is eclipsed by the transcendent glory of
his creations in high art, that these poems are now so
little appreciated, and so generally unknown. After
a perusal of those sonnets it will be impossible for the
most fastidious to gainsay the merits of Buonarotti
as an author, and but few will be adventurous enough
to deny that they were dictated at moments when his
whole soul was excited with positive admiration, with
actual trepidation, or with real woe. Living under
the roof of his patron, the Magnificent Lorenzo, and
forming one of his household, Michel Angelo never-
theless conquered himself so far as to have main-
tained a strict silence upon what was nearest to his
heart. The Laura of Petrarch, the Caterina of
Cameens, the Eleonora of Tasso, the Beatrice of
Dante, exercised no more fascination over the minds
of those great poets than did Luigia over that of
Buonarotti. To that devotion the affection of
Abelard for Heloise was most earthly, that of
Rousseau for Madame Wens most inane,
that of Waller for Sacharissa most fantastic.
And when we remember the premature death of
Luigia immediately before the downfal and banish-
ment of her once illustrious house; when we call to
our recollection that noble epitaph written by him
upon her dissolution, and which the writer in Black-
wood calls, with much truth, "sublime"—words that
are placed in the mouth of the deceased—" I was a
mortal, now lam an angel. The world knew me for
a little space, and I possess heaven for ever. I rejoice
at the glorious chanze, and exult over the death which
struck, to lead me to eternal life !"—when we remember
these things, and remember also that pathetic exclama-
tion of Michel Angelo—" Children I shall not have,
except the works I shall leave behind me," we cannot
regard this incident in the history of letters without
the most peculiar interest. We are grateful to the
writer of Blackwood for this elegant contribution, and
to the editor for its insertion. In two other respects,
however, this month, weare disappointed with "Chris-
topher North." We are disappointed with him for the
admission of such articles as those entitled " Advice
to an intended Serialist" and " Things in General "
into the generally fastidious Maga. We re-
member well a dinner being given some
few years ago at Edinburgh to Mr. Charles Dickens,
we remember " Christopher North" was in the chair,
and we particularly well remember how that same
" Christopher North " uttered a well-deserved pane-
gyric upon Mr. Dickens for the genius evinced in
his writings, and especially for the gentleness and
morality with which that genius was coupled. Hence
we are surprised at what here appears to us to be a
kind of second-hand tergiversation on the part of
" Christopher North." He forgets his former eulo-
giums upon "Boz," and falls foul of him by proxy !
The paper called " Advice to an Intended Serialist "
is one of the most vulgar pieces of personality and
abuse we remembered to have ever encountered. It
is evidently intended to be most caustic and funny,
and it is in reality nothing more than slang and bal-
derdash. It is an attempt to hold Charles Dickens
up to the derision of the public, and it wants even the
redeeming quality of candour " Boz" is never
once mentioned ; the serialist who is supposed to be
the recipient of the advice is evasively de-
signated Mr. T. Smith. There is, however,
no mistaking the person against whom the
article is written. The words, "It was the kitten
began it," &c., prove sufficiently an intended pasqui-
nade upon the opening of the is• Cricket on the
Hearth : ' and Mr. Bingo's " Good—Right—Har
mony preserved—Glad to join you—Cup of existence
—Gall at bottom," is an evident travestie of Jingle.
Of the intense vulgarity of the article we should not
be enabled to give a fitting sample without transcrib-
ing a considerable portion of it; which we should be
sorry to do. " 'Tworn't Huggs, 'twore the kitten"
—"that's my rum un"—" won't you take a drop of
summer —" I thought you might vont somethink
'cos you vos a treadin' on my toes I" We could
scarcely credit that such nonsense was really printed
in the pages of our venerable Ebony, and were fain
to turn for corroboraticn to the wrapper, where, sure
enough, there was the portrait of the old sage, sur-
rounded by his immortal garland of thistle, and above,
in legible characters, No. CCCLXXIII. The paper
headed " Things in General " has likewise
several blemishes, but with these it has
many sensible and sagacious observations.
The reflections upon the Montpensier marriage, for
example, are shrewd and timely. The remarks upon
the English press in general, and upon the London
daily press in particular, are deserving of especial
attention. But when the writer expressly goes out
of his way to call the eminent members of the British
Association "twaddling ninnies," and speaks of the
"childish inanity" of their exhibitions, we conceive he
is stepping somewhat out of his province He says
that scarcely anything is to be heard at such annual
assemblages except " senile garrulity, the gabble of
ignorant eulogy, or virulent, envious depreciation and
detraction." And this is said, moreover, with a vivid
recollection of the masterly address of Sir Roderick
Murchison, with the admirable tribute uttered by
Lord Palmerston, and with the attendance of such
men as Herschel, Oersted, and Buckland at the
late meeting in Southampton ! Senile garrulity!
Twaddling ninnies I The writer is, moreover, ex-
ceedingly morose with Mr. Dickens. He quar
refs with the first number of "Dombey and
Son," because of Mr. Chick humming to himself
Right tol loorul ; and yet he, himself, in page 635,
obliges the reader with "sow, wow, wow, wow!"
He objects to the painful minuteness of Mr. Dickens's
style of description; and yet, in page 626, he him-
self tells us that he took with him into the country
"a stock of Lee's port and sherry—six pounds of real
tea—threec‘vairnteci-ocoeln
lear b,
straw
poundsos pt t
spice-box,
e bottles
ba mustard,oobf
xo
,uwathnitds
eyst—cf.four of anchovy paste
contentso &r teh'oafs
Again, hisif anyheo nlarder,ies
excited to indignation by Mr. Dickens giving us such
za
innde yweitthheahhiimghsel
yl f fillse
raens
tei nn
gt i r eh
acro ugmunre,sodfetl
vee.rme
da ghay-
an elaborate account of a race between two watches,
himself (the writer) to his (the
wanrit e
sensible wherein the said dog is addressed as " a little sinner,"
as " doggy," and by other equally
sib
t i tahl en sd.
q
When we find him at another moment
quoting that
comical comical passage about Dombey's son, who, lying
in his cradle with his little fists curled rip
and
clenched, "seemed in his feeble way," says "Boz," " to
be squaring at existence for having come upon him so
unexpectedly," when we find the writer transcribin
this in large letters, placing three notes of admiration g
after it, and calling it " the brutal idea of a prize-
fighter," we perceive that lie has no 't
capaci y what-
ever for appreciating what is extravagantly humour-
ous. In other respects this article is pleasant and
readable. " Prussian Military Memoirs" is an agree-
able contribution. The " Marlborough Dispatches,"
and " A New Sentimental Journey, are continued
with spirit; and these, with a trenchant criticism on
" Mohun Lars Life of Dost Mohammed Kl'aa," and
a laborious inquiry into the " Operation of the Eng-
lish Poor-laws, compose a very varied and rather
unequal number of Blackwood.

" In no society in Paris is that light, frothy, cham-
pa;ne like
essence, ca11&•d French fashionable chit-chat,
bandied backwards and forwards in such lively and witty
battledoor banter, as in this, It is as different frcm its
counterfeit in other regions, and more especially in other
countries, as light French wines are from Engiish brown
stout. Some there are who ma 4 prefer the latter ; but
still even they must own that it is heavy. To attain to
the necessary perfection in this most glittering orna-
ment of good French society it is required to be alive to
everything passing—to be ignorant of nothing, past,
present, and future—to touch lightly upon all subjects
with ready versatility, and as lightly let it fall again—to
find the right word for every thought, for every circum-
stance, for every feeling, for every shade of rank or po-
sition (and the word chosen must be sharp as a needle's
point, if it be not expected to recoil back upon its utterer
with all the heaviness of its bluntness)—to err not in the
slightest shade—to skim gently over the whole surface,
and yet in skimming catch the cream. And nowhere is
this perfection attained in so eminent a degree as in the
salons, where men and women can causer of the society
of the Faubourg SL Germain—nowhere has this rapid
flitting of witty conversation, this ease and grace in
flattery and repartee—this babble so smooth, and yet so
cutting, so light, and yet, in the materials necessary for
its fabrication, so solid, so heterogeneously and yet so
nicely compounded, appear to have been so complete a
study, and with such successful results, all unstudied as
it appears. Are little children taught to converse as
they are taught to learn grammar? We almost might
suppose so, to see what masters they are in the art, whea
they are grown up."
Alfred Crowquill discourses pleasantly upon a
subject which, as Christmas approaches, is to many
persons anything but pleasant, " The Little Ac-
count ;" and W. Jerdan gives us a pleasant comedy
of errors arising from the circumstance of Lords
Yarborough, Harhorough, and Scarborough being
once upon a time all located in the same hotel. He
entitles it " Titular Confusion ; the Borough-title
Terminus." We have a very graphic account of the
ceremony of " Taking the Veil" at Naples, by the
author of " Italian Scenes." It is valuable, as show-
ing the light in which the educated and polished
classes in Catholic countries look upon these cere-
monies. In this instance, the nun was of a noble
family. The elite of the beau monde of Naples at-
tended the ceremony as they would have attended an
opera or any other spectacle. During its progress
the Papal Nuncio who officiated made audible com-
plaints of the draught of cold air from the gratiNg of
the convent to which he was exposed, and requested
the abbess to have the doors and windows closed, and
to hasten the toilet of the new nun, and at its con-
clusion the invited guests assembled in the hall of the
convent :

" This was a complete morning soirée, in which all
was done on the most liberal and handsome scale,
nothing could be more recherche, or more profuse, than
the refreshments that were handed round every instant;
ices, jellies, creams, cakes, bonbons, every imaginable
species of sweetmeat was there, in a style that would
have shamed many a ball room. To my astonishment,
there was even punch a la Romaine, a fact which went
far to prove to me that the nuns were much less igno
rant of the ways of the world than I had imagined. The
reunion was row all vivacity and animation, the society
had arnalgamate3, the ladies apparently determined to
make up for the silence of the preceding two hours,
laughed, and sipped ices, and chattered with S nimitable
rapidity; the cavalieri on their part were all gallantry
and attention, while two or three went round the circle,

presenting every one with a little brochure of compli
mentary verses addressed to the nun, which had been as

usual composed and printed for the occasion; I glanced
over them, and saw that they were in the same strain as
the predicts, a recapitulation of the Epithalamium, in
rhyme. Suddenly the usual cannonade of petards was
fired off, before the convent gates, stunning us, like a
park of artillery, filling the whole room with smoke, and
silencing every one, and everything, for the moment ;
but it was only for the moment, for no sooner was it
over when the noise of tongues and glasses began again.
It was nearly one o'clock, and no one seemed disposed to
move till the nuncio's equipage drove up to the steps,
when he rose, and as the sposa stooped to kiss his hand,
he presented her with a beautiful silver crucifix, which
he requested her to keep as a memoria, and then he bid
adieu to the abbess and the rest."

Albert Smith puts in a pleasant plea for Boulogne,
between which and Margate, Ramsgate and Brighton,
he draws a comparison more after the manner of
Boz" than of Plutarch ; and Dr. W. C. Taylor gives
us a " Biographical Sketch of Sarah, first Duchess
of Marlborough," a portrait of whom, engraved by
Cook, from the original picture by Sir Godfrey
Kneller, at present in the gallery at Althorp, illus-
trates this number. The other illustrations are by
Leech—the first, a scene from Cooper's new novel of
" Captain Spike ;" the second, a scene from "Brian
O'Linn."

points
si.e
g a r
d uponing
es—va e mean
So far unquestionably the writer has en.rEtmzierroaptel
some of the princip 11 responsibilities and dustipeasinofatnhae
agents of the Foreign Department ; but he has en-
tirely
importante
n c r o aeb
wbieb overlooked
the
Spanish
rr verymarriage
e
the preservation of the balance of power in
and the prevention of the violation of solemn treaties.
The balance of European power is endangered by
Francethi s alliance
; a
solemn between
treaty the
irsoyv
violated
l at
ed familiesby od
if
the stipulations of the one signed at Utrecht ; and
when England protests in dignified and decisive terms,
France evades the interference, first by an ungene,
ais
silence, and secondly by a deceitful subterfuge. Ne ver
nation.
had England more cause for complaint or ind jg_

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.
Bentley opens this month with the first chapter of
a new novel by Cooper, entitled " Captain Spike; or
the Islets of the Gulf." The scene is laid in America
in the present day, and in the opening chapter we. i
have an account of the sailing of Captain Spike in I
his good ship Molly Swash, from Manhattan. The
Swash is a suspicious sort of craft, which has in.
former days been employed as a privateer, and Cap-
tain Spike himself seems to be more of a smuggler and
pirate than of a regular trader. His mate, Mulford, is
evidently intended to be the lover of the tale, and thi ,
heroine, Rose Budd, is, with her aunt, embarked k a
the Molly Swash. The crew are rough and read y,
and old Josh, the negro steward, is the " funiry "
man, at least of this chapter. The Molly Swash, in
sailing through the passage of "Hell Gate," is pur-
sued by a boat containing two men, whose approach
it is evident Captain Spike has some reason to dread;
and in endeavouring to avoid them, he runs his vess el
upon the Pot rock. We are glad to meet
with Cooper at sea once more. It is his
native element, and even in this single chapter bei has
managed so to enlist the interest of the reader:, that
having once begun it, it is impossible to lay iti dawn ,

TAIT.

. ,
A perfectly astonishing title is given to the fore-
most article in this number of Tait--" Faasages in

servative party in its defence ? If so, his evident
to ex ,;.,;,01,,tte
.t.obert Peel, or to drive
him beyond the pale of Conservatism, may be ac-
counted for."
The fact is, the party has discovered that the con-
verse of the Duke of Richmond's celebrated boast is
true—that Sir Robert Peel can destroy the party, but
the party cannot destroy Sir Robert Peel—that with-
out him they can do nothing, but that without them
he can do everything, and that at this moment he occu-
pies a prouder position, and possesses more real power
as a statesman, independentC of all party, than he ever
could have occupied or possessed so long as he remained
a mere party leader. The opening paper of the num-
ber on the "History ofEtruria" is a valuable contribu-
tion to archaeological science, and it is followed by a
dream of horrors entitled "Nightmare on the Rails."
Imagine yourself riding at the rate of 100 miles an
hour on an express engine, with a driver who during
the journey has been seized with a fit of insanity and
has thrown off the stoker and killed him, and you may
have a faint idea of the horrors conjured up by the
writer of this paper. The story of the "Rector's
Daughter" is concluded, and so are Colonel Mitchell's
strictures on the " Principal Campaigns of Napoleon."
Napoleon is to Colonel Mitchell what water gruel
was to Gervase Skinner when in the lunatic asylum—
his " favourite aversion" and like Gervase Skinner,
he loses all power of self-control when the name cD
his " favourite aversion " is mentioned. He thus
sums up what he calls the " Bastard Caesar's real
character."
" The impartial reader of history will then see, that
this boasted man, at all times as callous of heart as desti-
tute of principle, possessed but moderate talents, was
presumptuous and arrogant in the hour of prosperity,
timid, destitute of resources, deficient in firmness—his
high station considered deficient even of personal
courage in the hour of adversity."
The very violence of this tirade destroys its effect, and
it is marvellous that Colonel Mitchell, who on other
subjects can write sensibly enough, will suffer his
prejudices so to override his judgment when Napoleon
is the theme of his discourse. That he can write
sensibly this very paper affords abundant evidence.
Take the following on the effects of the system of
purchasing commissions in the British army as an
example :

" The science of war is a sealed book to the officers of
the British army ; they rise by purchase and interest,
and not by merit. The language having no military
literature, no means of professional study are open to
those who might be desirous of acquiring knowledge ;
the minds of the best, therefore, remain uncultivated
and deprived of those strengthening and invigorating ;
elements which necessarily result from knowledge, study,
information, and the power and habit of reflection to
which those endowments give rise. Men of 11'0 genius,
guided by the brilliant light of inspiration, may not
require such artificial aids ; but even genius is improved
and enlarged by knowledge, and, above all, the mass at
men belong to the ordinary class, and it is for this class
that the institntiens of a country must be calculated.
Men of high, lofty, and commandirg genius, belong to
the rare production of nature. Able men, on the con-
trary, are to be found at all times, and in all countries,
and in no country more frequently than in Britain ; but
they are not, and cannot be, above deriving benefit from
knowledge ; and the system of preferment, which sets
study and information at nought, which deprives an
army of the best qualities its very officers might possess.
and gives rank and almost boundless control over the
fi,rtunes of soldiers to the mere possessor of wealth, re-
gardless of his deserts, which are as often low as high,
must ever be as injurious as dishonourable to a great and
enlightened country."
Nothing can be more admirable than this, and it is
greatly to be regretted that Colonel Mitchell does not
always write thus. " Mr. Roebuck" is the contem-

porary orator for this month ; and in th• way of fun
we have an admirable quiz npon the high German
school of novel writing in the story of " The New
Werth€r." We recommend its perusal to all those
learned gentlemen who prose about aesthetics. They
should go to Bonn at once, and join Herr Stein-
hausen's wsthetical teas to understand the science

properly. The other papers of this number are a
more than average merit.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND THE
DUKE OF LEINSTER.
If Lord John Russell thought only of courting or
keeping up popularity in Ireland he would never have
written the letter to the Duke of Leinster, published Ly
the Dublin Evening Post, and copied into this journal on
Saturday. That letter is a frank and honest, rather than
a political document, and yet excites the wildest appre-
hensions, and provokes the loudest outcries, is that which
relates to the supply of food. " Food within everybody's
reach, and at a moderate price," is the demand with
which the priests, demagogues, and people of Ireland
are thundering at the door of the Cabinet. Lord John
Russell answers that the demand cannot be complied with.
The embarrassment with which we have to contend lies
in the fact that food is scarce, and therefore that some
must go with short allowance. Ireland, with a large
portion of her population living upon Government
wages, will be sure to obtain at least her usual
share of the common stock, but if, in addition.
she had food brought to her by the instrumen-
tality of Government, at a price lower than the
market price, it is quite certain that she would gain the
advantage by a grievous injustice to the rest of the em-
pire. In some parts of Ireland, however, and more par-
ticularly in the rural districts of the west and south,
there is, properly speaking, no food market. The pea-
santry, receiving land in return for their labour, in lieu
of wages, have hitherto grown their own food, and no
class of dealers has arisen by whose agency they might,
at a time like the present, obtain food from a distance.
Imagine thousands of purchasers suddenly demanding
bread or meal in a village, Vi h ere a solitary huxter could
scarcely find a dozen customers before. An unex-
pectedly large monster train has been known to clear out
the bakers' shops even of Brighton, and to raise bread
for a few brief hours to a famine price. What, then,
must be the result in remote districts of Ireland, where
the ordinary machinery of supply is so slight and
inadequate, when there comes a demand sudden and
vast enough to try the resources even of a metro-
polis. In a country full of enterprise, like England,
the commencement of extensive public works calls at
once into existence a host of small dealers, by whom the
wants of the labourers are supplied. Every battalion of
railway navigators has its camp-followers. The same
thing takes place, and will still further take place, in the
more advai ced prosperous districts of Ireland, and if in
any of those districts competition does not speedily
cause food to be supplied in sufficient quantities at a fair
market price, it is for the gentry, the clergy, and other
educated persons to take measures for correcting the
evil. What is needful for a single parish may without
great difficulty or sacrifice be done by its own inha-
bitants, while to provide thus for ten thousand parishes
would far exceed the powers of any Government. But
fur districts in which society is less advanced, and where,
as we have said, no food market can be said to have
existed hitherto, Lord John Russell and his col
leagues think it necessary and safe " to create
a provision brads at fair mercantile prices," by
the esta64,lneent of Government depots. Of the
extent of this necessity we are Lot in a condition to
judge, but it is evident enough that the Government
cannot, even upon the most urgent necessity, turn pro-
vision merchant without serious consequences. It cannot
emu on the trade in food upon a small scale, nor can
it precisely- determine beforehand the limits within
which it will operate. Lord John Russell, however
is fully sensible of the perilous nature of the experiment
and will doubtless proceed with caution. Meanwhile,
his appeal to the landowners and others who have loca
influence in Ireland, to do their part, ought to be effec-
tual

But that which is not possible by a government is
possible by individual and social exertions. Every one
who travels through Ireland observes the large stacks of
corn, which are the produce.of the late harvest. There
is nothing to prevent the purchase of grain by proprie-
tors or by committees, and the disposal of these supplies
in shops furnished on purpose with flour at a fair price,
with a moderate profit. This has been done, lam as-
sured, in parts of the Highlands of Scotland, where the
failure of the potatoes has been as great and as severe a
calamity as it has been in Ireland.
" There is, no doubt, some inconveniences attending
even these modes of interference with the market price
of food. But the good overbalances the evil. Local
committees, or agents of landowners, can ascertain the
pressure of distress, measure the wants of a district,
and prevent waste or misapplication. Besides, the
general effect is to bring men together and induce them
to exert their energy in a social effort directed to one
spot; whereas the interference of the State deadens
private energy, prevents forethought—and, after super-
seding all other exertion, finds itself at last unequal to
the gigantic task it has undertaken."
As to the other question touched upon in the letter,
namely, the revolution which must take place in the
agricultural system of Ireland, it is alarming to think of
the rapidity with which we are hurrying on to another
season without any clear conception of what we are do-
ing or ought to do. What is to be the substitute for
the potato? Carry the Irish people through the present
winter, by the expenditure of five or six millions of
money, and how are they to live next year? how are they
to get through next winter ? If public works withdraw
hundreds of thousands from the cultivation of the soil,
what kind of harvest shall we gather in next autumn ?
These are questions which Lord John Russell cannot
altogether leave to be settled by the respectable persons
who compose the Agricultural Society of Ireland. Lord
John Russell may have reason to regret that the negli-
gences of a long series of Governments have thrown upon
him the tremendous responsibilities of guiding, so far as
a statesman can guide, a social revolution. But let him
not mistake h;s position. The whole industrial economy
of Ireland will have to be settled on a new basis, and no
preliminary investigations for which a Government pos-
sesses resources above those of private persons can be set
aside as beyond its province.—Chronicle.

AN OMNIBUS MlSHAP.—Thursday morning, an
omnibus, newly painted, was on its road to the owners •
at Peckham, the vehicle being drawn by a single horse.
Whilst the animal was crossing the Surrey Canal-bridge,
at the bottom of George street, Albany-road, Camber-
well, it missed its footing, and the weight of the omnibus
being too much for the horse to stand against, it slipped
down the incline of the bridge, and, on getting to the
bottom, and slewir.g suddenly round the towing-path,
backed over the bank, and fell into the canal. The horse
instantly became su'pended to the pole, where he -
mained kicking And plunging for some time. Fortunately
the driver succeed,d in jumping off the box before the
vehicle got into the water. The police and other parties
having gone to the man's assistance, the horse was re-
leased, and the vehicle was drawn out of the canal.