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

COLBURN'S UNITED SERVICE,

The present number contains an admirable assort-
ment of professional and amusing articles. No one
understands better the art of mixing tho duke with the
utile than the editor of the United Service Magazine.

THE ALMANACK FOB THE MONTH.
Edited by G. A. A'Becketi.
A condensation of fun, frolic, whim, and wit of the
ast four weeks.

THE COMIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
By G. A. A'Bechett. No. 11.
Merrily does Mr. A'Beckett, in the present number,
rattle through the History of England, from the days of
Ethelred to those of William the Conqueror ; but,
albeit merrily, not the less truthfully. Take the follow-
ing account of " King Canute reproving his Courtiers"
as a specimen:—
" One day,' when in the plenitude of his power, he caused
the throne to be removed from the throne-room and erected,
during low tide, on the sea-shore. Having taken his seat,
surrounded by his courtiers, he issued a proclamation to the
ocean, forbidding it to rise, and commanding it not, on any
account, to leave its bed until his permission for it to get up
was graciously awarded. The courtiers backed the royal
edict, and encouraged with the grossest adulation this first
great practical attempt to prove that Britannia rules the
waves. Such a rule, however, was soon proved to be nothing
better than a rule nisi, which it is impossible to make ab-
solute when opposed by Neptune's irresistible motion of
course. Every wave of Canute's sceptre was answered by a
wave from the sea, and the courtiers, who were already up to
their ankles in salt-water, began to fear that they should
soon be pickled in the foaming brine.
" At length the monarch himself found his footstool dis-
posed to go on swimmingly of its own accord, and there was
every prospect that the whole party would undergo the
ceremony of an immediate investiture of the bath. The
sovereign, who was very lightly shod, soon found that his
pumps were not capable of getting rid of the water, which
was now rising very rapidly. Having sat with his feet in
the sea for a‘few miutes, and not relishing the slight spe-
cimen of hydropatbic treatment he had endured, he jumped
suddenly up, and began to abuse bis courtiers for the mess
into which he had been betrayed by their outrageous

flattery."
The illustrative woodcuts are laughter-moving ex,
ceedingly.

THE MIRROR. Edited by Percy B. St. John.
This, the oldest and the best of the cheap weekly
periodicals, is now, under the able editorship of
Mr. Percy St. John, raised to the dignity of a monthly
magazine; and, considering the immense quantity of
matter contained in it, the Mirror is by far the cheapest
magazine published ; and, with regard to matter, the
name of the edieor is alone a sufficient guarantee that
none but the productions of first-rate literary talent
wit. find admission to its pages. The present number is
in a great measure devoted to the conclusion of a French
talc, which the editor is obliged to finish to keep faith
with former subscribers, but we are glad to find, that,
in his address to his readers, he declares that henceforth
"it will be his rule never to have more than one con-
tinued article; nem will he ever resort to translations of
French romances to fill his columns, believing ample
literary talent, and to spare, to exist in this country."
In addition to this French talc we have the opening
chapters of a Texan romance by the editor, which are
full of striking incident, and promise well.

THE PATRICIAN:
The Patrician for this month opens with the family
history and genealogy of the gentlemen who have
been created Peers or Baronets by the Administration
of fir Robert Peel: Under the head " Curious Trials
connected with the Aristocracy" we have the history of
the celebrated ejectment case between James Annersley
and the Earl of Anglesey, and under that of " Celebrated
Peerage Cases," we have the remarkable cases of the
Earldom of Banbury and the Earldom of Huntingdon ;
three of the most interesting and romantic histories
ever recorded, and which prove that
" Truth is strange, stranger than fiction."
We doubt not but that the genealogical studies of Mr.
Burke must have made him acquainted with many such
interesting family. histories, and we hope that from time
to time he will, in the pages of The Patrician, give the
public the benefit of his researches. We would, how-
ever, suggest to him the propriety of not confining him-
self to the British aristocracy. The family histories of
the aristocracies of France, Spain, and Germany would
furnish him with many a " true" romance not less in-
teresting than those he has already placed on record.
This is the best number of :Tke Patrician that has yet
appeared.

RAIL WAY REGISTER.
The Railway Register of this month opens with an
admirably written article on the "Report of the Com-
izissionere QA gotropolitwa A§ilway Ternahai," in which