The Sun.
London, England, 1834-07-01 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. Colburn.

After its wonted fashion, the New Monthly has reached
us at the eleventh hour. Like the Irishman's race-horse,
it comes in, " driving all before it." We invariably receive
the other periodicals in seasonable time for notice ; but
this, we suppose, is too well-bred to be punctual. As we
have barely leisure to glance over its contents, we must
necessarily be brief in our remarks. It looks a clever
number. The first paper is a quiz on Sir Egerton
Brydge's lately published " Memoirs." It is by Theodore
Hook, though we have seen abler, certainly more sparkling
papers from his pen. The only characteristic touch in it,
is the sketch of an elderly gent., who has a great fancy,
in common with the majority of Londoners, for looking
out of his window, at the crowds in the street, " with his
nose flattened against the pane,"—a naive sketch, such as we
have seen a hundred times. " The Squire of Old England,"
is an able portrait, though drawn with too flattering a pen-
cil. Fielding, in Squire Western, was much nearer the mark.
By the bye, why does the author sneer at Fielding for
knowing little or nothing of country life ? Surely he should
be aware of the fact, that our first novelist spent the prime
of his manhood in the country—that he himself was " a
'squire of high degree"—a fox-hunter to boot ; and spent
his wife's fortune in keeping open house for all his sporting
neighbours ! It was not until he had lost all his " acres"
that he settled in London, and turned author. Had he
Rot met with, and been intimate with a Western, he could
not have pourtrayed such a character. He drew from life,
not from invention. Hence his immortality. The " In-
fernal Marriage" has all the sparkling, buoyant, and some-
what flippant. vivacity of D'lsraeli's Vivian Grey and
Young Duke. " Ode to Mr. Owen" is stiff and wire-
drawn. One or two thin ideas are beaten out over a sur-
face of two pages. Besides, the writer is too palpable an
imitator of Hood. " Sketches of Human Folly" are ten-
derly and courteously comprised in half a dozen pages.
The theme is a prolific one, and might fill a volume. We
quote three smart epigrams from " Martial in London."

THE LONDON UNIVERSITY.
As late the Lord Mayor, from the regions of barter
Went up to the King for a Corporate Charter,
Quoth Jack (playing billiards), " I guess it won't do :
He'll meet with his match--for the King has his cue."
" Very true," cried the Marker, who stood near the place,
" The King has his cue, and the Mayor has his mace."

HERALDRY.
Where'er a hatchment we discern,

(A truth before ne'er started),
The motto makes us surely learn
The sex of the departed.
If 'tis the husband sleeps, he deems
Death's day a " felix dies"
Of unaccustom'd quiet dreams,
And cries— In ecelo Quies.
But if the wife, she from the tomb

Wounds, Parthian like, " post tergum,"
Hints to her spouse his future doom,
And threatening cries—Resurgant!

WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.
As late the Trades' Unions, by way of a show,
O'er Westminster Bridge strutted five in a row,
" I feel for the bridge," whisper'd Dick, with a shiver,
" Thus tried by the snob, it may sink in the river."
Quoth Tom, a crown lawyer, " Abandon your fears ;
As a bridge, it can only be tried by its piers."

ENCYCLOP2EDIA OF GEOGRAPHY. Long-

man and Co.

We have little to say of this elaborate publication, beyond
what we have already said. The present is the fifth part,
and bears, in every page evidence of the same skill and
diligence that characterised its predecessors. The numer-
ous wood-cuts are delightful specimens of the art.

THE COURT MAGAZINE. Bull and Churton.

Though beautifully embellished with a portrait of Lady
Louth, and a fine view of Lowther Castle and its adjoining
woodland scenery, engraved by Wallace, from a drawing by
Daniel, the " Court Magazine"—considering that the sea-
son is summer—is somewhat heavy this month. Several of
the articles are very fine, however, particularly " Horace
Leslie," the " Rivals," and Rene Aliva's remarks on Mr.
Bulwer's " England and the English," which we consider
excellent. On the whole the number before us is a good
one, and not the less agreeable that Mr. T. Haynes Bay-
ley has enriched it with one of his most amusing poetical
effusions, well worthy the attention of those youthful scions
of the aristocracy who resolve that their offspring shall be
able to lay claim to a hereditary taste for stage perfor-
mances. We regret that we can only afford space for the
following :-
46 Oh ! beautiful Miss Fuggleston, I cannot go to sleep ;
Oh! exquisite Melpomene, I cannot cease to weep;
It is no common lover sues, I'm one of the elite,
And I lay my title and myself most humbly at your feet.

I've seen you act in Tragedy and tear yourself to bits,
I've seen you act in Comedy in artificial fits ;
Aria, I've seen you act in Farce, in Fautakams and bunts,
Displaying a pre-eminence that nobody disputes.

I've seen you, in a dying scene, fair flat upon your back ;
I've heard you sing so very loud, I thought your voice would crack;
And is not this enough to make me wish for such a wife ?
Accomplishments like these must shed a charm o'er private life."

METROPOLITAN. Saunders and Otley.

We have read more attractive numbers than the one now
lying before us, though it,is still above mediocrity. The
chief fault we have to allege against it is the inordinate—
the preposterous length of " Jacob Faithful." This one
article alone contains nearly as much matter as a small-
sized duodecimo volume, and nevertheless has neither be-
ginning nor end. We do not say that it is not lively, but
only that there is too much of it. To be dosed with vi-
vacity is as bad as to be dosed with dulness. Captain
Marryatt, we trust, will be more merciful next month.
" Chit-chat" is, as it always is, amusing. " The Ministry"
takes part rather too cordially and inconsistently—consider-
ing the general line of policy which the Metropolitan ad-
vocates—with the late seceders from the Cabinet. Of a
surety, Mr. Stanley has shown himself no real friend to the
Church by his retirement. Far better he had remained by
the side of those who desire honestly to reform it, than taken
up his position with those who would keep up all its an-
cient and most inveterate abuses. The time is coming
when the ex-Secretary for the Colonies will find that he
has made a grievous error in judgment. " Sicilian Facts"
are novel, and even startling. We may extract the ghost
story on some more leisure day.

THE
‘ASIATIC JOURNAL.—Parbury, Allen, 6. Co.
There is a manifest improvement in this Magazine for
the present month. The articles arc shorter and plea-
santer than usual. The " Moral System of the Chinese"
is a good paper, and contains many moral aphorisms which
other Kings and Emperors would be nothing worse to re-
member, more than the Monarch of the Celestial Empire.
present number contains no fewer than thirteen arti-
to,