The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-10 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The National Magazine.—Au attractive
illus-
tratetl weekly periodical so entitled has just now
made its appearance. Another of the cheap tirst-
clas< serials latterly become so very popular among
the masses—a publication (we may term it) some-
where midway between Tiousehohl Words and the
illustrated News—about lialf the price the Athe-
moon, and a great deal more than double the pre-
tensions of the Loudon Journal. It is the pro-
per. y of a Company (Limited) this new periodical.
Its editors appear before the subscribers under the
responsibility of an avowed partnership. 13oth of
them popular writers both successful drama-
tists. These same adventurous entrepreneurs iu the
conducting of the literary and artistic melange en-
titled The National Magazine, being no other than
John Saunders, once upon a time editor of the
• _People's Journal, and Westland Marston, author
of "Anne Blake," and " The Patrician's Dhugh ter."
Au initial number can scarcely ever be regarded as
a fair criterion. Yet from it may at least be gleaned
sown faint idea of the production newly inaugu-
rated. The introductory number before us may
be accepted at once, therefore, as so far eminently
satisfactory. Without being anything very remark-
able in any one particular, it is throughout for the
most pL,rt singularly meritorious. It comprises
withie its sixteen pages the ilui ed charms of
novelty, variety, instruction, and entertainment.
To be plain—Number I. of the National Maga-
zine contains a most characteristic and expressive
woodcut engraving (what may be called a "speak-
ing likeness"). of the Poet Laureate—" Alfred
Tennyson." An admirable portrait, drawn
upon wood by Morin, and carved upon
wood by Linton from one of Mayall's
most successful photographs. Accompanying which
sketch of the " human face divine " of Tennyson-_
we have a very charming and subtly appreciative
criticism upon the genius and writings of the
Poet Laureate, a criticism evidently from the pen
of Mr. MarSton himself, and one none the less
wPlConie from the fact of its being "jewelled"
and " flowered " over, so very plentifully, with
"the most exquisite pearls and roses of quotation.
Another whole-page illustration is—No. I. ,of
" Specimens of the English School of Painting'
a clever wood-cut copy from Bellin's splendid en-
graving of " The Salutation," by Sir Charles
Eastlake. A capital descriptive article upon
" Biarritz " we are disposed to father upon that
delightful, sparkling, France-loving, and yet tho-
roughly English feuilletonist, Mr. George Augus-
tus Sala. Whether it-be his or not, it is entirely
acceptable, singularly graphic, and eminently hu-
morous. Here is a pretty group selected from
the throng of bathers in the Vieux Port. It is
the description of a French Papa giving a first
bath to his little darling :
" Here come a husband and wife, also from Bayonne,
which is only five or six miles distant. The Bayonnaises
are famed for their beauty, and justly ;—is she not pretty,
with those brilliant black eyes, the clear brown skin, and
folds of glossy hair ? Husband and wife swim out toge-
ther ; then she returns, and a maid appears at the edge of
the water with a small child wrapped in a shawl. They
have two children, one about four, the other some two
years old. - and no one but papa must give them their first
bath. We will watch the youngest., who spins into its
father's wet arms, and, being in mortal dread of the water,
seizes his black board with • both tiny hands, and presses
its small soft face against that hairy shrine. And here I
must say, that whatever opinion we may hold of the
French as a nation or as individuaie, there is no man or
woman, more especially the latter, who can see a French-
man and his child without admiration.
" Our bearded friend, with many caresses, strokes the
small arms, loosens their hold, and, considerably to his
comfort, succeeds in placing one round his neck and bolds
the other. You can see, as he stands there, that he is
pointing out those boys swimming so fearlessly, the men
jumping from the rock, the ladies floating with their
gourds. Thou he calls one of the bop,' who comes leaping
towards him to make baby laugh,—for any French boy
seems at any time ready to play with any baby ; and soon
we have baby stretching out its arms to the boy in the
water. Meanwhile papa himself will wash the wee face,
rub the little limbs as he walks slowly on; baby is soon in
the water, and the first bath is taken in the most satisfac-
tory manner. This gentleman came with carriage and
servants to give his children their first bath ; but Jean
Baptiste and Leontine—" baigneur" and " bainieuse"—
are every whit as tender and as careful that btheir boy
Arthur shall not contract any dread of water, and that his
first bath at three years old.shall not frighten him. Ask
them how it is that they can swim and float, and dive
and progress in that very extraordinary manner, com-
ing towards you like the ghost in the 'Corsican Bro-
thers,'—treading the water I think they call it,—they will
say that the key to the whole affair is, ne pas avoir
peur,'—have faith, and you are buoyant."
Another and a very remarkable attraction in this
initial number is an account penned by no less emi-
nent a hand than that of Sir David Brewster, a
scientific and yet popular account of the history of
that very exquisite invention "The Stereoscope."
Besides which the National Magazine (No. I.) has
a sttangely original and. sin4lllarly enthralling
little story, entitled "Tnclo'George, or the Family
Mystery," contributed by _Wilkie Collins, author
of "Basil," "After Dark," and other romantic pro-
ductions. Sundry minor effusions--two of them,
so to speak, of a merely promisory character—
completing this inaugurative instalment of the new,
twopenny, weekly, illustrated periodical. The suc-
cess of which is all but a matter of absolute cer-
tainty, if die editors of it only carryout to the letter
the ingenious scheme foreshadowed in their very
curious and very ambitious advertisement.