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

THE PENNY MAGAZINE.

It is with pleasure we perceive that this old favourite
has improved, not merely in dimensions, but in its lite-
rature. The articles, for one thing, are more diversified,
and are written in a more sparkling and readable man-
ner than heretofore. Besides which, the illustrations,
though scarcely so numerous, are infinitely superior both
in design and in workmanship, The three enigmas,
drawn by William Harvey, are dainty tokens of the
pictorial character of his imagination. " Historical
Scenes" are excellently written ; and the little article
headed " Robinson Crusoe," will be perused with inte-
rest by every one who retains any school-boy recollec-
tions, since it appears, from that article, that the name
of Defoe's renowned voyager is still very prevalent in
Essex. From the flourishing appearance of the Penny
Magazine, we are almost tempted to imagine that the
editor has discovered for it the elixir of life: it bears the
aspect of a literary Rosecrucian.

OLD ENGLAND'S WORTHIES. Part V.
In a former notice we have fully commented on the
advantages of a publication of this kind for the en-
lightenment of the multitude. By holding out to the
;resent generation the more remarkable personages of
a past generation, not only is experience gleaned through
books with impunity to ourselves, but a flame of emula-
tion is kindled within our bosoms likely to incite us to the
avoidance of bad and the achievement of good. Our
fancies are moreover developed by the appeals made to
them by such narratives ; and our minds are brought
into operation upon the skeletons of the mental opera-
tions of the illustrious dead—namely their lives. Those
we conceive to be the peculiar advantages of biography,
as a part of education. What instructive lessor's, for
example, are there not to be collected from the per-
formances and the vicissitudes of such beings as Eliza-
beth, Shakespere, Raleigh, Camden, Bacon, and Ben
Jonson, whose d m .Imirs occupy the present number
of " Old Englan 's Worthies?,

THE PICTORIAL GA LL 811 Y OF ARTS.
Pail XVII.
What with a profusion of clever woodcuts and a mass
of explanatory letter-press, part seventeen, makes alto-
gether a goodly show ; a moment's examination of the
pages will, however, convince any one that it has like-
wise something "that passes show." It is entirely of an
architectural character this month, and the style in
which that art is treated is a strange combination of
elabi,rateness and simplicity. When completed, the
book will be the choicest cullings from many other
sources ; it will be, in itself, the condensation of a whole
library.

OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE REVIEW.
The most interesting article in the present number is
on the •• Present State of Greece." The author is
evidently very well informed on the subject, and is per-
fectly aware of the intrigues of M. Piscatory and of the
utter want of principle in his tool and agent, Coletti, to
whose keeping the destinies of this unhappy country are
for the present committ,d. An article on M. Michelet
is, as might have been predicated, a furious and most
unjust attack upon that talented writer ; even as a
swindler fears and hates a policeman, so does a Jesuit
fear and hate M. Michelet ; and the extravagant eulo-
gium of Dr. Pusey, with which this r-ticle opens suf-
ficiently marks the author as, if not actually a Jesuit,
yet as something very nearly approaching to one.
From the series of papers on " German Political Poets"
we extract the following spirited version of a poem by
Freiligrath—

Contrasting the present King of Prussia with Frederic
the Great—the man of good intentions with the man of re•
solute action; and though it seems to us by no means pro-
bable that the hero would have done the work the poet gives
him to do, the whole character of Frederic is apprehended in
Germany so differently from our notion of him, that there is
little to surprise us in this view of it.
A SCENE IN ELYSIUM.
The scene took place in paradise some little while ago,
Old Fritz jumped up and rubbed his hands at what he saw
below ;

He struck his sword-hilt angrily, and, striding up and down,
At last met Blucher and Von Stein, but did not cease to frown.

To Zeithen and to Winterfelt he beckoned to come near,
And Gneisenau approached with them the royal words to hear;
And Keith, the doughty Scot, came up, Schwerin and Scharn-
horst too,
And many a name of warrior fame from Prussia old and new.
Then with an uncelestial oath to all around he said,—
. It just has struck me I am dead—yes, sirs, entirely dead
Why am I not now back again at Potsdam and Berlin?
Would it not be a time for me—say, Scharnhorst and
Schwerin ?

" How I would seize and manage it ! no more as autocrat ;
No, no, my friends, another time, another task than that;
Too bright was once the light my name shed on my fellow-men.
For 'Le to be in thought and will the man that I was then.

4, No, all that I have done and worked byprecept and example,
(The glories of thirteen, methinks, are no unworthy sample ;)
Should but the broad foundation be on which with joy to raise
The strong and high state •editice of present better days.

"Days that will not in patience stand with treason seated by,
Days, that no longer can endure the-liar and the lie;
A time that will not live on words, however smooth they be,
A time that must breathe out at last, breathe deep, and utter
free.

" That German people! so deceived, and no one there to
right them!
Their rights by traitors filched away, and no one there to
fight them I
No one to claial the due, or send the debtors to Gehenna;
No one to tread with manly heel on Carlsbad and Vienna.
" I'd burst the diplomatic net that holds the fools in awe !
An open German parliament, a single German law I
And everywhere the free free word as spoken and as writ,
As God is true, and I a King, I would accomplish it.

" 'Twould be a thunderbolt !—what then ?—a year or two of

storm ;
And the crooked would fall straight—confusion yield to form ;
Blow after blow should do the deed ; I could because I would ;-
-A king may well defy the kings, when for his people's good.
" And then, the tempest past, my land would glisten in the

sun,
A strong and free new Germany—a Germany made one;
With one bright iris spreading earth, from shame and sorrow
freed,
A prince's and a people's league—a German league indeed.
" The People is a noble stream, and he who, wisely brave,
Can cast his clear untroubled glance within the rolling wave,
In jubilee is raised and borne triumphant to his goal,
But merciless the waters rush o er every craven soul :

,Twould hold me up—'twould bear me on—say, Blucher,
would it not!
A more than ever people's king, how enviable a lot!
And then to rest bewept and blest by all the brave and good
. . The fine old warriors bowed assent, and cried, "Yes
sire, you would."
The paper is signed " R. M. M.," and we presume is
from the pen of Mr. Monckton Millnes. Lord John
Manners contributes a ballad on the fall of the Knights
Templars, and we have a glorious paper on the " Con-
vivial Entertainments of the Greeks," reminding us
strongly of the rollicking style of poor Maginn. Al-
together there is much pleasant reading in the present
number of the Oxford and Cambridge.