The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-02 00:00:00

TIM MAGAZINES, •
BLACK' WOOD.
For a very eccentric and really valuable ranee
descriptive of a " Visit to the Vladika of Monte-
negro,'' we are grateful to Blackwood. Before
perusal the title itself was an attraction, after perusal
the contents formed a delightful compensation. The
Vladika of Montenegro ! We can fancy nineteen out
of twenty readers puzzling over the words=
bewildered both as to the nature of the former, and
the locality of the latter. Thotbands indeed, are
ignorant of the character, and occasionally of the very
existence, of certain secluded portions of this globe,
and those portions not merely secludtd by remoteness,
as Sabrina Land or Patrocino, but secluded in central
parts of Europe, and in the very nucleus of civilisa-
tion. Of' the little principality of Montenegro,
situated in European Turkey, beunded on the north
by ligrzs,govina, on t-,e south-east by A lb.mia, and
on the west by Dalmatia and the Adriatic, scarcely
anything is known, excepting that its inhabitants are
warlike barbarians, governed by an ecclesiastical
prince. Traffic is talintained in all the surrour,d-
ing ,countries; vessels from all quarters ef tlie
globe float in the Venetian gulf; Zante and Corfu
are separately the centres of mercantile transactions;
from the Levant to Lesbos, from Byzantium to the
Danube, and thence to Carlstadt, the tide of inter-
course is constantly flowing, and yet, amidst the
whirl of land-carriage and steamship, trader end
traveller, the mountainous frontiers of Montenegro
sill remain uncrossed, and its people are left behind in
the onward march of civilisation. There is something
affecting in this moral and geographical isolation. A
deep interest is aroused by the knowledge of the
absence cf all regenerative prospects to a section of
the European population. Hence it is that the nar-
rative contained in the October number of Blackzoood,
being a description of the interior of this prii:cipidity
by a recent visitor, has exercised over ourselvt's such
a peculiar fascination. Leaving the Anstrian :gar-
rison town of Cattaro, the writer, as one of a large and
miscellaneous party, entered the territories of the Greek
bishop, or Vladika of Montenegro, and was hospitably
received by that potentate in his capital city of Zet-
tinie. Thy description of the country and its com-
munity, given in the narrative of this interesting ex-
pedition, is most agreeable from its naturalness and
vivacity. According to the eye-witness himself, the
frontiers of Montenegro are so peculiarly precipitous
and rugged, as to be rendered by nature absolutely
impregnable ; the soil is scantily scattered over solid
rocks, and is so singularly barren as to require the
utmost industry to extort from it v meagre crop of
grain; the Mon tencgrini are a hardy and gigantic race,
averaging upwards of six feet in height, armed
to the teeth even in moments of temporary tran-
quillity. The women are subjected to the most un-
mannerly customs, being compelled to engage in agri-
cultural and manufacturing pursuits, as well as in
household duties, while their huslana and brothers
are occupied in a ceaseless and predatory warfare,
now in one direetian, now in another. The
character given by our narrator of the reigning -
Vladika is singularly prepossessing. Of enormous
proportions, measuring indeed considerably more than
seven feet in his stockings, this warlike bishop attests
even in his personal appearance the dignity of his
position ; though surrounded by rude and illiterate
subjects, be betrays remarkable intelligence, and
through the instrumentality of the "übiquitous
Galignani" preserves an intimate knowledge of all
the occurrences which are transpiring beyond the
precincts of his dominions. Invested with despotic
power even from his eighteenth year, the Vladika is
nevertheless characterised by a marked amenity in
hiadeportment and a winning affability in conversa-
tion. Upon the parapets of the tower overlooking
Zettinie the writer observed a striking testimony of
the lack of refinement among the Montenegriej,
namely, a multitude of human heads impaled aa
staves, the beads of those followers of Islam stn slain
in battle, and against which people the semi-bar-
barous, semi-religious subjects of the Vladika wtge
an eternal and relentless warfare, bearing before them
in their bloody expeditions their national barmier—the
peaceful cross of Christianity ! .The contemplation
of these facts inspires us with the hope that some
endeavours may be ultimately made to modify the
condition of a people so valorous and zealous as the
Montenegrini—a hope that some external or internal
force may, in the end, conduce to the politie4l and
social re-organsation of these mountaineers;' peace
and domestic happiness may replace the bloudshed
and uncivilised habits to which they have
been hitherto accustomed. For opening to
their contemplation a region so unnoticed a
this principality of Montenegro, the readers of
Maga will be indebted to its contributor. The trans-
lation of Schiller's fantastic and glorious "Dance,"
though elegant and new, is not worthy of a moment's
comparison with the masterly tmaslation given in
this same magazine some years back from the pen of
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.
" Around thee in vain the word its harmonies utters,
If thy heart be not swept on in thestrearn of the st;rain,"
is a golden version of a golden original. There are
seven delicious poems from the portfolio of Miss
Barrett in this number. One of them "A Man's
Requirements," is an exquisite adjuration—spoiled by
no forced conceits, but welling up with music and
eloquence from the fountains of the heart. What a
world of trysting memories are stored in that simple
verse :

"Lore me with thine hand stretched out
Freely—open-minded !
Love me with thy loiteling foot
Hearing one behind it."
What strange but exceeding beauty there is in
those lines upon "A Dead Rose :"
" The sun that used to light thee,
And mix his glory in thy gorgeous urn,
Till beam appeared to bloom, and flower to burn—
If
shining now—with not a hue would dight thee.
" The dew that used to wet the,,,,
And, white first, grow iticarnardir.,ed, because
It lay upon thee where the crimson was—.
If dropping now—would darken where it met thee.
" The fly that lit upon thee,
To stretch the tendrils of its tiny feet
Along the leaf's pure edges after heat—
If lighting now—would coldly overrun thee.
" The bee that once did suck thee,
And build thy perfumed ambers up his hive,
And swoon in thee for joy till scarce alive—
If passing now—would blindly overlook thee."
" Maude's Spinning" is a plaintive tale, told with
the most simple, and hence the most touching, pathos,
in seven brief verses. Miss Barrett has an intense
love for nature—who can doubt it after her exulting
allusion to those young days—
" When the sun and I together
Went a-rushing out of doors!"
She regards the veriest leaf as a jewel, she invests
the grass and the flower-stalks with a gory more
lasting than their own, and " the green blood dancing
in their veins" finds a sympathy flowing in her bosom.
Hence it is that she can apostrophise them with such
a tender reminiscence :--

" Oh, the birds, the trees, the ruddy
And white blossoms, sleek with rain!
Oh, my garden, rich with pansies!
Oh, my childhood's bright romances!
All revive, like Hector's body,
And I see them stir again!"
"Elinor Travis" is concluded, and that with some
vigorous writing. A capital bit of pleasantry is,
"A New Sentimental Journey,"and would have tickled
the ribs of that pensive hypocrite, Lawrence Sterne
himself. " The Conde's Daughter" is another read-
able tit-bit,---one cf those bits of literary comfits and
barley-sugar Christopher North has such an insinuating
way of placing on the public palate. "Wild Sports and
Natural History of the Highlands" is a contribution
which will be devoured with more relish, possibly,
than any other at this particular season, when Egg
and Manton have marched forth upon the heather.
To " Letters and Impressions from Paris " we can
moreover refer every one with a confidence of its
wiling away the next wearisome hall.-hour. It is a
trip to the French metropolis without the perils of
rail and steam-boat. In this admirable number of
Blackwood, however, commend us to the " Vladika
of Montenegro."

FR ASEI?.
The opening article of Fraser on the " Commercial
Relations of the Indian 'Archipelago," is one which
our enterprising merchants, and manufacturers will
read with great interest, There can be little doubt
but that our new settlement at Labuan will become
a second Singapore, opening up to us the commerce
of the vast Indian Archipelago, contabling, in the
opinion of the Orientals, upwards of 12,000 islands,
which,stretching eastward from the Straits of Malacca
to beyond the longitude of Torres Strtas, cnstitutes
one of the richest and most extraordin divisions of
Asia, inhabited by a race fond of commercial pur-
suits, anxious to exchange the rich products of the
islands (camphor, spices,
_ gold, and jewels) for British
manufactures,
and who, in consequence of t'Ae
destruction of the piratical establishments of the 'sul-
tan of Borneo by the British fleets, will be viewed
to pur-ue their vocations in comparative peace,. The
writer expresses a hope that the establishment at Le-
buan may influence even the piratical sulijects of the
Sultan of Borneo and the savage inhabitants of the
interior to substitute industry for thr, practices of
barbarism, when they shall find comr.lerce more per-
manently profitable than piraoy and war. That such
'Will at no distant period be the race, is rendered ex-
ceedingly probable by what -we know has taken place
in Mr, Brooke's territov, at Sarawak :
4( Aready
beholdl the 1-` in 111 r. Brooke's territory of Sarawak we
J actuated by a strong desire to accumu-
late 7,eaith ,and though they have not yet relinquished
their savage propensity to destroy the member of a
neighbouring tribe in order to possess his cranium, it is
quite clear that they are yielding to the softening in-
fluences of civilisation, and adopting gentler and more
amiable manners.
"As vet_ norhnna ;t t,