The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-03 00:00:00

I
-- 44

Blackwood.---Already in our leading columns
we have taken occasion to refer to the slashing
article in reference to "The Dispute with America,"
contained in the July number of Blackwood. No
less than three other political papers are comprised
in the same instalment of our old Edinburgh con-
temporary. One of these rather• curiously retro-
spective, being a sort of literary, historico-anti-
quarian narrative of " A Special Embassy in 1698."
Another of them, decidedly anticipative in its cha-
racter, having reference to the probable or possible
future of •" Greece and Italy." The remaining
one being, so to speak, a species of laborious digest
of the " Crimean Report and Chelsea Inquiry."
This last mentioned, by the way, suitable exclu-
sively to such persons as may have a relish for
what the Right Hon. Baronet the Member for
Carlisle has curtly called "pottering over Blue-
books." Another sample of "The Scot Abroad"
introduceo us to certain specimens of that genus un-'
der the deliberative-aspeot of "The Man of Coun-
cil." Anotlier(the second)portioxi of"TravelsitiCir-
cassieleeps; if not " the fear of Ihe'ltussians,:!
before mit- eyes; the liolVeS'a,nd—aSpirations' of 4,lre.
heroic race' yet &ellining a belief bi Schamyl, the.
Warrior Prophet-Or the CaUcastill- There is- a
fragment of verse at page: 25,•among the contents
of this July number of Blackwood--;-a fragment en.
titled." A,nosr .Storm," ,audp,signed "Musa," of
*hich, alas. ! we can only asay that;. to our mind, it
'is certainly'" not worth Musa" if. gruffy old Ebony
will but allow the .pun to pass ! ',For-assuredly we
look for better verse than this about " The Snow
Storm" in' pages adorned-by the' tilimic beauties:
-of Moir, ' anti 'AIT and' -I.4tten,' and Barrett,
and'" last; 'not least;" -13.'Sinat7iohs T Besides the.
productions in press' and verse already mentioned,
there are two'other contributions to the July' nitm;
ber before us in the pleasant, and to us, we are
..confess it, ever-acceptable
form Of—there reading. It is 'with plea-
sure that we' announce that one of these
comprises:- -a • few more chapters (making
the .‘f very brief serial) the
Aongludingpartion-of the' strange revolutionary tale
entitled '.t Metamorphoses:;' -It.'is with i3leastire,
we say, that .we intimate the,concluslon of Viis
story, and for this simple reason, -that the story is
altogether, to our thinking, strangely unsatisfactory.
We are glad to be well rid of it, and that too so
suddenly, and; we must acknowledge, so unex-
pectedly. Not a character in the tale but in some
way or other is repulsive Victor, Adrienne,
Count, Countess, Nicotte, Roussel, each and all
being simply abominable. Not so with Mrs. Oli-
phant's charming novel " The Athelings, or the
Three Gifts"—about the only horrid personage in-
troduced as yet, into which is that intolerable
Yankee Prig—Foggo Silas Endicott, who " does "
the travel-department for the Mississippi Gazette,
and "lives " sonnets, and then "writes 'em " un-
der the generic heading of "Experiences!" The hero
and the two heroines of the narrative—the reci

pients evidently (as we intimated last mouth) of
" The Three Gifts"—Charlie (endowed with
strength), Agnes (with genius), and Marian (with
beauty), gain wonderfully on our affections as we
proceed. "The Book" has been accepted (on cer-
tain conditions) by the mysterious publisher, Mr.
Burlington. " The Friends of the Family"—
agreeable but acidulated Miss and hes
old bachelor brother, brown burly Mr. Foggo----
are duly introduced to the reader's notice, and, if
we are not very much mistaken, Mr. Foggo is des-
tined to be a bit of a favourite with us all ! 'What
though he is, what we fancy Mr. Thackeray, and
no other than Mr. Thackeray has called, iu some
delicious little droll delightful verses, in a recent
number of liousehold Words, (verses entitled
simply "Neighbour Nelly")—" A Square-toes and

('~T t

_1

who are not yet tired of c‘ Rev elat:ons of the
War' may be attracted by a, criticiser on M. de
Bazaucourt's recent work, and the who find
amusement in the search for trie,.h umorous may
discover entertainment in the. papeerimmediately
following it, which convey relative
to Mr. John Tubbs and-itertain Me gibers of his
Family." The poetical contributioms consist of
some verses by J. E: Carpenter,, which scarcely
equal the average of this pleasant ,song writer's
compositions, and one of Jamas ~Payn's spirited
ballads from English Llistory.:,. The present one is
in celebration of the burial of the Black Prince,
whom the minstrel describes as
" The fastest friend to England,
The fiercest foe to France,
The kindest heart in Christendom,
And the most gallant lance."
A very interesting paper on Mrs. Browning's
poems concludes the number: This notice ren-
ders full justice to the early productions of this
true poetess, yKlipse writings deserve to be more
widely kno.wa ancLapproPiated•

Colby). n' s critical state of our
,relationS with America:bringsfOrtkan.cldeontributor
:/Portfire) who cautions 4144.13n1L oil' the danger of
underrating, the, AmeriCVls,,wholia ' • however, it is
adthitted.".Nve:were never; in a :bettor condition to
whip." _TN " English in Igingrelitif" describes
The recent cainpaignit.l that'vrovjace.anif the causes
which led to its want of successk. -The, difficulties
lying in. the way, of An amalgamation of " The
Royal and t4eAp4i4n ,A,riny 7, 4re...discussed seria-
tim, and pi.bnpunced, inSufAcjw4 objections to the
measure.. Attention is airawiil ;:to tlte: praiseworthy
efforts of the Nationlil Lifeillo4.lnatittition, and
Admiral Taylor's sclreme-fo."-Thd.Preserwation
of Life 'at. WM:" 'The institution' of ." The Le-
gion of Henour,7
.is,traced `,i4o,it-s,,fitilittle bub-
bling spring, in-a:conversation of thfa: first consul
at Malmaison," and the feeble Opposition it met
with described, the writeznexpressing,approval of
the introduction of the pray 'distributing de-
corAtiire
,honours among, og jjadiers 7 and sai-
lors, as" being, .to be,". attended with
great , ad-Valkiagetfi,- in services. Tue
Advance :.GAttc•ir! ,tis ,Lirstrai,niscence of the
. flank march on. Balaklavaand.,
,jogatJLer with a
narrative of the proceedings of NBouaparte in
Alexandria," will be read with interest by general
as well as military readers. To a descriptive paper
ou "The Court of Prussia" succeeds an account of
"Central America" and its various States, suffi-
ciently acceptable at the present time. "Notes on
Military Science," "Leaves from Western Africa,"
and "Journals of the late Major Macready," are
continued, and afford a fund of instruction and
entertainment. The editor, in his portfolio, com-
plains of the neglect shown to the claims of Sir G.
Brown and other distinguished officers engaged in
the late war, and offers some well-deserved stric-
tures on " The Foreign Legion," whose cowardly
attacks on our soldiers he intimates will not be
submitted to. Having enumerated its delin-
quencies, "How long," he very properly asks,
" are the people of this great country to be thus
bearded, insulted, and dragooned by Lord Pan-
mure's precious auxiliaries ?' The number con-
tains the usual amount of military and naval
intelligence.

Bentley's Miscellany.—An opening paper called
" Current Events," takes a brief review of the
chief topics of the month—political,. literary, and
dramatic, from the evacuation of the enemy's ter-
ritory by the allied armies, to the performances of
Madame Ristori, notforgetting to chronicle, among
the great events of the month, the publication of
the fortieth volume of " Bentley's Miscellany."
Dudley Costello's story of " The Joint-Stock
Banker" is continued, the 13th chapter bearing the
ominous title of "A Step in the Wrong Direct i
Mr. H. Ainsworth's romance of " The Spendthrift"
also progresses in a very surprising manner. Clare
Fairlie, the daughter of the dishonest steward,
makes her father promise to pay his victim's
debts. Its readers will no doubt look forward with
curiosity to its continuance. The American diffi-
culty of course intrudes itself in the table ;of con-
tents. The present paper is enlivened by an ex-
tract from the Montreal .Advertiser of May 31,
showing the light in Which the Canadians regard
their mischief-making neighbours. Lord Cock-
burn's memorials furnish a subj9ct for an agreeable
literary paper ; and a criticism on the, recent
volume of the memoirs of Sir Robert Peel is not
without interest. " Clara Elliot" is the title of a
story by the author who writes under the guise of
Miss Halliwell, an elderly schoolmistress, and
forms a continuation of the last story of " The
Elopement," and also contrives to join together
the threads of several former tales. Monkshood's
article is, as usual, last, not least, in the magazine.
His " Pro sings about the Essayists and Reviewers,"
treats this month of one not unknown in the lite-
rary world, William Gifford, of whom ho draws a
striking but most unpleasing portrait, as " a
waspish little gentleman."

Tait's Edinburgh.—The number for July con-
tains several interesting articles. The first as may
be guessed from its title, " Labour and Life," is
on a subject of political economy, and takes into
consideration what is the amount of "a fair, day's
- work." A paper on Meteorology is continued
from the June number, arid gives an interesting
account of the nature and effects of hail and gla-
ciers, entering 'also on the important subject of
electricity. The electric light, it is suggested, most
probably only awaits the discovery of some cheaper
method of obtaining it, to be adopted in the; place
of oil or gas for the purposes' of domestic life.
Some surprising statistics of the descent of ineteoro-
lites, or stones that fall from the sky, are given at
the conclusion of this instructive paper. "Tangled
Talk" has some striking thoughts skilfully expressed
on some of the common places of ordinary exist-
ence. Many might profit by the wise suggestion
given in the division under the head of Principiis
Obsta.. A sket,h of the: earnest and toilsome life
of the late Dr. Kitto is given' in the course (.1
which there is a description of the plague anal in-
undations at Bagdad, during his residence there.
A critical article on Poets and Poetry brings
before the reader's notice several different classt s
of poetical composition. Winifred Mowbray, or
Queen Mary's Maiden, is concluded in this month's
number, and there are several other articles of
general interest.

The Oxford and Cambridge is not less acceptable
for being less pretentious, • Among its contents
maybe noticed a review of i‘ The Life and Charac-
ter of Marshal. St. Arnaud," and " A Study iu
Shakspere"—the latter being especially deserving
of perusal. " Timon of Athens' is the subject
selected ; and, in addition tc• -some general light
thrown on the principal character, we have useful
morals deduced from the entire play--.-a thoughtful
reperusal of which,. by the way, the essay is well
calculated to insure.