The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-01 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

Mr. Poole, the author of " Paul Pry," leads
off the present Number with a new prose story
entitled " Phit,eas Quiddy, or Sheer Industry,"
which, if we may judge from the chapter before
us, is intended to illustrate the career of a
shrewd, selfish adventurer, who begins life without
a sixpence, but by constantly attending to the
main chance, obtains immense wealth. The story
opens with spirit, and the incidents, obvious and
familiar as they are, are worked up with singular
ingenuity. Mr. Poole is an excellent Magazine
contributor, for he writes with point and preci-
sion, and in his attempt at the humorous, keeps
always on this side exaggeration. There are evi-
dent symptoms of pains-taking in his " Phineas
Quiddy," and this, after all, is the true secret of
success, for in nine out of ten cases, the work
that is dashed off in haste is read with indiffer-
ence. " Canaletti in London" is a picturesque
site, tch of the recent architectural improvements
in the metropolis. Nash, of course, comes in fur
a con siderable share of the writer's attention;
but w.a think his talents as an architect are over-
rated, for his taste was almost uniformly de-
fective, and his conceptions wanting in dig-
nity and simplicity. " Indecision" is a short,
neatly written story, inculcating a useful moral
:Lesson. The " Molten Calf " is by Mrs.
G ore. It is a smart prose sketch, and hits hard
at the money-getting propensities of the day.
"B. tjazet Gag" ridicules the absurd quackeries
of so.'ne of the managers of our minor theatres in
very happy style. Mr. Jerrold, the author, is
always at home in the sarcastic. The peculiar
abilities of the illustrious Gag are thus cleverly
glanced at :—" It is his peculiar genius to con-
dense—to merge the tremendous in the insigni-
ficant. He would, at four and twenty hour's
notice, get up an earthquake in a needle-case ;
turn a gutter into the storm-lashed Bay of Bis-
cay ; produce the Great Plague of London in one
patient, and that one a child from the Small-pox
Hospital; give you for the Falls of Niagara a
water-spout down a ladder; act the battle of
Waterloo, giving a distant view of Brussels by
lamp-light in a sentry-box ; and, did the Cham-
berlain permit the experiment, represent all the
locusts of Egypt with not more than half a
dozen of the industrious fleas." A " Day at
Tivoli" is not amiss in point of manner, but the
theme is backnied. From the lively and appa-
rently accurate account of " Russia in 1841," we
quote an anecdote of the Emperor Nicholas, and
his favourite French comedian Vernet :
At St: Petersburg'', as well as in Moscow, the French
theatre is preferred to the great national theatres, and
the Czar himself is an assiduous frequenter of it. The
French company sustained a great-loss by the death of
Mademoiselle Bras, an actress formerly attached to the
Vaudeville in Paris. This lady is said to have been ho-
noured with the especial favour and protection of the
Emperor Nicholas. A comic actor named Vernet is a
great favourite at St. Petersburgh, and has received fre-
quent marks of the Imperial satisfaction.
One day as the Emperor was walking in the streets of
St. Petersburgh, accompanied only by his brother, the
Grand Duke Michael, Vernet happened to pass. The
Czar had seen him on the preceding evening in a new
character, and had been greatly amused by his perform-
ance. His Majesty accosted him, saying—
' " Vernet, I must compliment you on your performance
of last night. You were excessively droll."
" Sire," replied the actor, " I feel too highly flattered
by your Majesty's approbation."
"I should like to see you play the character again,"
returned the Emperor. " I was much amused—so much
so, that I could not suffer you to pass without expressing
the gratification your performance afforded me."
, The Czar walked on, but Vernet stood riveted to the
spot, perfectly astounded by the honour conferred on
him. He was suddenly restored to his self-possession by
feeling on his shoulder the heavy hand of a Commissioner
of Police, and at the same moment a thundering voice
uttered the word " Halt."
" What meant this ?" exclaimed Vernet.

4C 2 arrest you. It is forbidden to accost the Emperor
in the rt;blic streets."
" I did nu t accost the Emperor. His Majesty accosted

me."
" Accost you, indeed ! a likely story, truly ! You
Frenchmen have so much assurance, you think you may
do anything. You are n.,y prisoner, so come along—no
resistance !"
In spite of his earnest remonstrances, Vernet was
dragged to the guard-house, where he was confined for
four-and-twenty hours.
On the following evening the actor again played his
new character, and the Emperor applauded him with in-
creased warmth. At the termination of the play, when
the Czar was leaving his box, he saw a man standing in
the lobby, and evidently waiting for him. He immedi-
ately recognized Vernet.
" Ah, Vernet !" exclaimed the Emperor, " 'have been
as much amused as on the first night. lam enchanted
with your talent."
" I am most grateful for your Majesty's gracious in-
dulgence ; but I humbly entreat that your Majesty will
never again stop ,me in the street to honour me with
your approbation. '
" And why not ?"
" Because your Majesty's kind condescension cost me
twenty-four hours imprisonment. I was arrested by a
Commissary of Police, and falsely. charged with having
presumed to accost your Majesty, in the street."
" I sin very sorry to hear that, Vernet. I will inquire
into the matter."
Early on the following morning Vernet received a
visit from the Commissioner of Police, who came to beg
very humbly that he would pardon the mistake which had
led to his imprisonment.

FRASER'S MAGAZINE.
As a matter of course, Fraser is quite de-
lighted with the present prospects of his party
The Whigs being on their last legs—in articulo
mortis—he thinks there is now every chance of
the speedy advent of a political millennium. The
" End of the Beginning" is a curious diatribe,
whose object is to show that the distress of the
country is almost wholly attributable to the in-
capacity of the Whigs, and that with their re-
tirement from office a new and improved state
of things will necessarily commence. The ar-
ticle is excellently adapted to the tastes of Tory
readers, for whose express edification it is writ-
ten, but more impartial people will be apt to treat
some of its statements with contempt. The
" Journal of an Autumn in the Country" are se-
lections taken ap-hazard from a literary com-
mon-place-book. These selections are critical,
anecdotical, and descriptive, and evince both
taste and ingenuity. We differ, however, from
the author's remark, that " every person ac-
quainted with the lives and writings of Gray
and Walpole is unavoidably struck with
the resemblance between them," for never were
two authors more unlike each other, in their
habits, not less than in their genius. Gray was
stiff, reserved, scholastic, and of thoughtful and
Somewhat melancholy temperament; Walpole,
sprightly, social, foppish, and a mere smatterer
in point of knowledge. The one was sensitive
to a degree ; the other as heartless as those are
apt to be who have spent theirbest days in fashi-
onable society. Gray was a poet; Walpole was
a satirist, and a would-be wit. Gray's prose
writings are remarkable for their free, and easy,
and elegant flow; Walpole's for their terse
smartness, and constant affectation of brilliancy.
The one turned a trembling, ever-vigilant ear to
—what Wordsworth so beautifully calls—" the
still, sad music of humanity;" the other had no

regard for, no sympathy with, any other world
han that of aristocracy. Speaking of memory,
the author says :
Strength and tenacity of memory are regularly for-
gotten in ancient panegyrics. Quintilian measured the
genius by the memory. Pliny, in one of his letters,
mentions a Greek philosopher who, having delivered an
extempore oration, could immediately repeat it without
a single error. Seneca, when a young man, was able to
recite two thousand words in the order in which they
had been pronounced. The anecdote of Cyrus, who re-
membered the name of every soldier in his army, seems
to belong to romance. An Eastern warrior of savage
renown—Hyder Ali—supplied by his memory the de-
fects of education. He was unable to read or write ;
and having desired his secretary to indite a letter for him
upon any occasion, he directed him to read it aloud ; he
then ordered another person to do the same, and any
variation or descrepancy was punished by the death of
the scribe. Let us examine memory under more pleas-
ing aspect. _ _ _

It was the practice of Gassendi to recite every day six
hundred lines in various languages. He could repeat
six thousand Latin verses, and the entire poem of Lu-
cretius. He recommended the habit to others in very
alluring terms, assuring them that the memory retained
its vigour and health only through exercise. In very
early life, he used to say, acquire as many beautiful
verses as you can ; they not only amuse the mind, but
inspire it with dignity and grandeur of sentiment. We
notice the same habit in other men of great scientific
and philosophic reputation. Galileo—who attributed
the fluency of his style to the diligent study of Ariosto—
repeated very large portions of that poet and romancer,
Tetrarch, and genii. Adam Smith—an unpromising
illustration—enriched his .memory with numerous pas-
sages of great beauty from the works of ancient and
modern poets, and was fond of introducing them into
conversation. Leyden, the accomplished friend of Scott,
had a very peculiar memory. Dr. Abercrombie was in-
formed by a gentleman who knew him well, that he
could repeat correctly a long act of Parliament or any
similar document after having once read it. But this
faculty was rendered comparatively useless, and often
positively injurious, by a total absence of analytical
reason or judgment. Leyden could recollect the whole,
but not the parts. If he wished to recal a particular
fact, lie could only accomplish his desire by repeating
.the composition from the commencement, until he
arrived at the passage for which he sought. Bishop
Jewel was remarkable for his power of recollection. The
martyr Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, upon one occasion
wrote down forty Irish words, which, after reading over
three or four times, Jewel repeated in exact order, both
backward and forward ; and Lord Bacon having read
ten lines from Erasnihs, he repeated them in the right
and in the wrong connection.
The author adds that " memory seems to be
the necessary companion of genius," which we
doubt, preferring rather to agree with Cobbett,
who declares it to be one of the most mechanical
of faculties. George the Third had a singularly
retentive memory, yet no one ever suspected him
of genius. In his cursory remarks on the me-
moirs of Martinus Scribbens, the author greatly
overrat es the wit and power of this well-known sa-
tire. Itisat best but a tame, elaborate affair, and
no more to be compared to " Gulliver's Travels"
than a wren to an eagle. The observations on
Burnett are excellent, and so are those on
Shakspeare, whose glaring faults of taste it is
now the fashion to cry up as exquisite beauties.
In the " Chapter on Tailors" a just measure is
taken of the subject. We could have dispensed
with the chapter, however; for who can be in-
spired when a tailor is his theme ? "Budget of
a Blue Jacket" is just passable, and no more.
In " The History of Samuel Titmarsh " there is
much humour and vivacity of dieogue. " The
Dissenting Convention at Manchester" is a
coarse, vulgar attempt at sarcasm and irony.
The writer lays clumsily about him with an
Irish bludgeon, and imagines he is doing skilful
execution with the light rapier of Mercutio.