The Sun.
London, England, 1833-02-01 00:00:00

NT AOAZINE DAY.

NEW it MAGAZINE.
The best paper in this number is " Asmo-
deus at Large," whose serious we have always
preferred to its humorous portions, for this rea-
son, that they possess more nature and feeling.
The sprightliness of the writer is seldom more
than mere trifling, and scarcely even elicits a smile ;
his pathos springs pure from the heart, and in
the present instance redeems, and even invests
with an air of novelty, what would otherwise
be a very common-place love tale. The papers,
we see, are concluded. We are sorry for it.
They have shown some little invention, much
and various thought, and at times a worldly
sagacity that more than counterbalances the pert,
and we might even add, coxcombical trifling that
here and there pervades them. We believe they
are by Mr. Bulwer ; at least, we think, we can
trace in them something of the mannerism of
" Paul Clifford"—a tale which, in point of in-
vention (that rare faculty), to say nothing of its
arch, racy strokes of humour, ranks among the
foremost tales of the day. Augustus Tomkin-
son—and we know not that we can give the
character higher praise—is almost worthy to vie
with those Mercutios of ,petty larceny—the
matchless Spanish rogues of Mendoza, Mateo
Aleman, and Quevedo. One sententious apho-
rism of the " exemplary Augustus" is worth a
thousand of the clever common-places of " Pel-
ham," which (though we may shock conven-
tional prejudices by saying so) is an infinitely
more vulgar novel than " Paul Clifford." " The
Politician," is slight and sketchy, with very
much the air of a leading article, though not of
the first order. The writer very properly argues
that " Church Reform should precede every
other measure in the present Session." 11iss
Martineau's "Illustrations of Political Economy"
is an able, astute inquiry into the merits of one
of the leading spirits of her day. Mr. Elliott
and Miss Martineau are the two most marked
" signs of the times" we know of. At no
former period would they have been listened to,
but the game is now in their own hands. From
the anecdotical (it aspires to no higher praise)
memoir of Ibrahim Pacha, whose name, just
at present, is first on every one's lips, we extract
the following interesting passages :
" Ibrahim is without doubt "a man of remarkable
talents. His mind is alike subtle and energetic. He is
totally free from prejudice, adopts your ideas with silent
rapidity, and his career demonstrates his military genus.
His ambition is unbounded ; his admiration of European
institutions and civilization great ; but he avoids, with
dexterity, shocking the feelings and prejudices of ti e
Moslemin. A mystery hangs over his birth—he is said
to be only an adopted son of the present Pacha of Egypt,
but this is doubtful ; at army rate, the ntmost confidenc,
prevails between Ibrahim and his professed father. The
Pacha of the Holy Cities is a great voluptuary; his
indulgence, indeed, in every species of sensuality is
u❑bounded. Although scarcely in the prime of life,
his gross and immense bulk promises but a short term
of existence, and indicates a man sinking under over-
whelming disease, and incapable of exertion. His habits
are sumptuous : he delights in magnificent palaces and
fanciful gardens, and is curious in the number and beauty
of his Circassians ; but his manners are perfectly Euro-
pean. He is constantly in public, and courts the con-
versation of all ingenious strangers. His chief counsellor
is Osman Bey, a renegade Frenchman, and an able man.
Less ttan twenty years ago. Ibrahim Pacha passed his days
in sitting at a window of his palace with a German rifle,
and firing at the bloated skins borne on the backs of the
water-carriers as they returned from the Nile. As Ibra-
him is an admirable marksman, the usual effect of his
exertions was in general only to deprive the poor water-
carriers of the fruits of their daily labour : sometimes,
however, his bullet brought blood, instead of the more in-
nocent liquid—but Egypt was then a despotic country.
It is not so now. It is not known among us, that the old
Paella of Egypt and his son, in their rage for European
institutions, have actually presented their subjects with
The Two Chambers,' called in the language of the Levant
(be Alto Parliamento,' and Basso Parliamento.'
These assemblies meet at Cairo ; and have been formed by
the governor of every town sending up to the capital, by
the order of the Pacha, two good and discreet men to
assist in the administration of affairs. The members of
the ' Alto Parliamento' have the power of discussing all
measures ; but those of the 'Basso Parliament's' are per-
mitted only to petition. Their Highnesses pay very little
practical attention to time debaters or the petitioners, but
always treat them with great courtesy. Yet they are very
proud (especially the elder Pacba) of the institutions ;
and the writer of this article has heard Mehemet Ali more
than once boast that he has as many Parliaments as the
King of England.' In the meanwhile these extraordinary
events have wrought singular revolutions in manners—n e
have for the first time a Turkish Ambassador in England."
" The Aigulets of Anne of Austria" is a leaf
from one of the gossiping historiettes of the
French memoir writers, which form such de-
lightful after-dinner or tea-table reading. One
of the greatest luxuries we know of, is to sit
sipping and reading alternately a cup of coffee and
a page of that piquant mixture of shrewdness
and self-conceit, old Sully. " Ixion in Heaven"
is full of that absurd affectation which sickens us
so in Mr. D' Israeli's "Young Duke." Has
the ambitious author of Vivian Grey (as he de-
lighteth to entitule himself) no other idea of
Olympus than that it is a sort of Burlington-
house ball-room ? Can he find no more suita-
ble or classical employment for the sedate;
Homeric Juno, than to place her at a card.
table on Olympus, cutting out peacocks' wings
from gilt-edged note-paper ? Why, even a lady's
maid in these times would turn up her nose at
such an occupation I Possibly, however, Mr.
D'lsraeli intends only to be singularly sprightly
and original ; but even so, he should be con•
sistent in his flippancy. " Private Theatricals",
is dull, and, what is worse, long. " A Disser-
tation on Servants" is readable and judicious
" Conversations with Lord Byron" contains
scarcely a thought worth remembering. But all
poets have their prose sides. Lady Blessington's
apologies for his Lordship will lose much of
their good effect, after his scoundrelly attack on
Rogers (which, it seems, after all, is genuine,
though we doubted it at the time), an attack
which no genius, no spleen, nothing short of
absolute insanity on the part of the perpetrator,
can soften or palliate.

METROPOLITAN.
A better number than usual. " Chit
Chat" bears out its title, being lively and de-
sultory, without fatiguing the reader. The name
is a taking one for a Magazine article, though it
is difficult to write readable " chit-chat." A
man might acquit himself of a novel in three
voluMes - with far more facility, for " easy
writing," as Sheridan quaintly said, is but too
often " damned hard reading." " Catullus and
Petrarch" is an elegant sample of the common-

place in criticism, from the practised pen of'
Mr. Moore, whose humour, after all, is his re-
deeming quality, and that by which he will be
best known to posterity. The " Twopenny I'ost-
boy," still lives, and deserves to live—for ever.
" Recollections of a Diplomatist" is dry, and
far inferior to the former article that appeared on
the same subject. " Discovery of a New Lan-
guage," by Dr, Bowring, is barely readable.
" Portugal" is a very clever, seasonable article,
and contains much useful information. "To
the Memory of Sir Walter Scott" is a pleasing
monody, more affectionate, however, than poe-
tical. "On the French Cavalry" is a valuable
paper, wholly of a practical character, and
drawn up with considerable ability. " How to
Write a Fashionable Novel" is a lively dramatic
squib. We cordially agree in the writer's opi-
nion of a particular passage in Eugene Aram.
The " Pacha of many Tales" is an arch enter-
taining rhodomontade of the Munchausen
school, told with a gravity worthy of Gulliver,
whose adventures, says Hawksworth, took in
more than one Bishop. " Amusements of the
Pacha of Egypt" are, in point of intellect, of a
highly aristocratic character. En voici.
The only objects worth seeing in the vicinity of
Cairo, though very different in their nature, are—let.
The ancient sepulchres of the caliphs, which by
judges are considered as the purest specimens of Saracenic
architecture ; their elegant domes, peering above the
groves of cypresses, and glittering in the sun, produce a
magical effect. 2d. The shabra, the favourite palace of
Mohammed Ali, about three miles from Cairo, on the
banks of the Nile. The palace itself is small, but the gar-
dens are vast and magnificent. In tie middle of an orange
grove is a kiosque, one of the most elegant and fantastic
creations that, even in the East, the eye can light on. As-
cending by a magnificent flight of marble steps, you enter
a beautiful portico ; when this portico is past, a beautiful
quadrangular colonnade of white marble is discovered,
surrounding a piece of water, upon which there are two
or three barges, gilded in the most costly manner, and at-
tached by silken cables to the columns. A highly orna-
mented balustrade surrounds the whole, from which seve-
ral flights of steps lead down to the water, guarded by
statues of crocodiles, of colossal dimensions. Off this co-
lonnade are several splendid apartments, the entrance to
which is concealed by purple curtains of silk and gold,
that beautifully contrast with the dazzling whiteness of the
marble columns.
"It is here that the Pacha comes to repose from the toils
of the divan, and to recreate among his women. Happy
the Circassians who are admitted to the kiosque—it is
considered as the highest mark of favour that their
haughty master can show them. The Pacha takes great
delight in rowing them about the piece of water, and, tin
reaching the middle he upsets the bark, lightly clad in a
calico caftan and a juba. He has no difficulty in reaching
the colonnade by swimming, where he throws himself on
a heap of luxurious cushions spread for his reception, and
contemplates the scene with an air of mock gravity, while
the black eunuchs are seen precipitating themselves from
the balustrade into the water, to rescue the half-drowned
Odaliskot.
" How strictly in character with Turkish barbarity is
this cruel diversion of the Pacha's! Mohammed's virtues,
it would appear, are after all, but merely supeifi ial, for
ii we only penetrate their polished exterior, we discover a
core of unleavened barb iristn. Lle all his countrymen,
he looks upon the loveliest pat t o the creation as the mere
instruments of his brutal pleasures, as interior beings in
the scale of creation, brought into this world to please him
by their beauty, and to gi atify his caprice.
" What a fine subject for a picture in the hands of a
skilful painter the above scene would make! The splendid
kiosque with its marble colonnade, the black forms of the
eunuchs skimming the glassy surface of the wave, to
rescue the terrified Circassians, who, in their fright, ex•
pose those charms which modesty seeks to conceal ; while
the haughty Pacha is seen on the luxuriant couch, feasting
his eyes on their half-naked warms, and enjoying their
cries.

TAIT'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
" Finality " is an argument on a question

which needs none, namely, whether the Reform
Bill can halt where it is. Of course the writer

deprecates all idea of its finality, and insists on
the prompt application of the ballot. Of the
present Ministers, he says, " they seem to be
assorted like nine-pins ;if one be impinged
upon, it commonly knocks down the others.
They have no common mind, no community of
sentiment or opinion—no determinate princi-
ples of action—no recognised or coherent sys-
tem of policy—and hence each does precisely
that which seemeth good in his own eyes, with-

out regard to the position of his colleagues,
or the consistency and stability of the
general Government." We give this merely
as our friend Tait's declaration of politi-
cal faith, without at all subscribing to it
ourselves. We are less heterodox in our opi-
pions. " A Vision of the Old Year" is an elo-

quent specimen of sounding versification. " Ode
to John Gulley, Esq.," is quaint and irregular,
like one of Peter Pindar's appeals to the Royal
Academicians of his day. " Taxes on Know.

ledge is a useful paper, drawn up with great
skill and ability. The various embarrassments
almost necessarily consequent on an author's
publishing a darling epic or romance, on his own
account, are dwelt on in a manner that cannot
fail to put a salutary check to all such rash re-
solves. The evils of indirect taxation the author
points out as follows :
" The evil effects of indirect taxation are, indeed, great
and manifold. Indirect taxation hinders trade, operating
u a contraction, or partial prohibition of the sale of any
taxed commodity. Indirect taxation falls most unequally
upon the rich and the poor ; oppressing the poor, and
allowing the rich, comparatively to escape. The propor-
tion of the poor man's income, or that of one of the middle
classes, taken from him by indirect taxation, exceeds the
proportion of the rich man's so taken, to an extent that is
little suspected. We shall show this to be the case in an
early number. Indirect taxation occasions always a great
loss to the payer, between the sum which he pays, and
that which the Exchequer receives—of which we have
shown one example—without any person gaining by that
loss. Indirect taxation causes a great expense in the col-
lection, grievous annoyance and t xpense to manufacturers,
and all the evils of smuggling. Lastly, indirect taxation
can easily be evaded altogether by the very classes who
ought to hear the heaviest share of the national burdens,
forasmuch as they and their fathers were the persons
who occasioned them. A nobleman or gentleman can,
when he chooses, step into the steam-boat, on his way
for Brussels, Boulogne, or Paris, and wave "adieu" to
taxation and to his friends on shore, at the same time.
Nay, some of the rogues have-the effrontery to avow their
principal object in going abroad with their families, to be,
to escape the burden of the taxes and high prices of this
country ; the prices being high, solely, be it recollected, on
account of the indirect taxes, and the restraints thrown on
trade. When all these concomitants of indirect taxation
are considered, who will defend so viscious a system?
There are only two reasons for maintaining the present
system of indirect taxation ; not good reasons, but such as
will insure that system being kept up as long as possible.
First, by indirect taxation, the amount taken is concealed.
The tax lurks unseen in the price of every article pur-
chased, and so excites no murmurs, however really op-
pressive. Secondly, were anything like the amount now
taken from an individual in the indirect way to be de-
manded directly by the tax-gatherer, there would not only
be serious murmurings about the amount, but inquiries
into the manner in which the sums demanded were to be
disposed of. Concealment would anon be impossible. John
Bull would insist upon knowing the wherefore, and to
what purpose, so much of his money was wanted. Con-
ceive John's looks while reading the following items of a
tax account, which be had previously ascertained, by a