The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-06 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Dublin University Magazine.
There is a second article on Rienzi, which is
forcibly written. A most unfavourable view is
taken of the character of the Tribune in this
paper ; it is said that he " abandoned himself to
acts of tyranny, cruelty, and spoliation." If, as
is here asserted, Sir E. Lytton has drawn too
flattering a portraiture of his career in his brilliant
romance, it will occur to some readers that the
writer of this sketch has gone to the other extreme.
It is stated that he " estranged all parties, lost the
esteem and confidence of all," by his unfair con•
duct in many instances, particularly in the unjust,
cruel, execution of Pandolfo di Guido, and the dis-
missal of Anibaldi from his command ; and even, it
concludes, " during the better period of his political
career, Rienzi is a striking example how much in
reality imagination is a dangerous, inefficient gift
when it stands isolated. Practical intelligence and
resolution in human affairs can alone save and re-
generate a State." " Vonved the Dane, Count of
Elsinore," is continued. This instalment contains
some exciting chapters. The trio of friends, who
are the forlorn hope of the condemned outcast, wait
upon the King, where they meet with worse than
failure, inasmuch as their ill-timed remarks and
injudicious advocacy of their claims infuriates the
Monarch to such a degree that he became almost
frantic with passion. Further on the heroic young
wife visits her husband in prison, and, in obedience
to his directions, she proceeds to the dwelling of his
grandfather to obtain from him some important
gifts that were to effect his liberation. This story is
told in a very impressive style, and is a great
attraction to the magazine. " The Informer" is a
tale of Irish life, that presents nothing new or par-
ticularly striking, but that reveals some traits of
character which, unfortunately, are too often
observable. Notwithstanding the horrors that
occur the story at last is satisfactorily concluded,
and it is well worthy of perusal from its animated
descriptions. There is a sketch entitled " Three
Days at Killarney," and to those purposing a visit
to those romantic regions, these pages will be of
interest and utility. The programme here given
of the sight seeing, it is observed, will well occupy
the day, and the objects here cited are so numerous
that there is no reason to doubt the truth of the
assertion, that they filled our day with incessant
occupation, and as ceaseless enjoyment. At the
end of these amusing pages it is said that, "re-
viewing our whole experience at Killarney, and all
its varieties of mountain, lake and woodland
scenery, we were as much struck by its forests
as by aught besides ; but we should add,
by way of explanation, that we are as fond
of trees as ever a Hamydryad that haunted the
woods of Thessaly. The mantle of foliage that
clothed the form of nature before us was
broidered with every hue of the rainbow and with
every caprice of pattern ; green of course was the
prevailing colour, but green, from the duskiest
black to the most faded white—no " bull" this, for
the dark green and the pale by contrast appeared
in very deed like the cheeks of day reposing on the
lap of night." " Our Political Chorus" contains
some appropriate remarks on the national defences,
which denounces in proper terms of scorn and con-
tempt the Manchester peacemakers. The following
passage concludes the article in a spirited manner:—
The Review on the 23d of June was a splendid success.
The value of the display is the proof it give that the warlike
instincts of the British race are as fresh and vigorous as
ever. There were above 20,000 men, the bone and marrow
of the middle classes, representatives of 130,000, who have
already come forward at their country's call. The incle-
mency of the weather during the preceding six months is,
doubtless, the principal cause why the entire levy has not
yet shown a much longer muster-roll. Two hundred thou-
sand, only half the number of Volunteers in 1805, is the
least sum-total the country should be content with ; and in
our character as Chorus, we loudly call for " more men."
It is, in truth and in effect, loyalty and patriotism which
make the Volunteers, one and all, the heartiest defenders of
their Queen and country. From its very nature, a volun-
teer
force must remain in its:own country, and is, therefore,
strictly a defensive force, not menacing our neighbours,
and opening no vistas of foreign military glory to ourselves;
and just as the most powerful fleet at sea is the British
specialty for war, an armament of volunteer riflemen should
be regarded as our national land specialty, for further secu-
rity at home, even during times of peace.
An immediate effect of the success of the Review and the
National Shooting M atch has been a large augmentation to
the force ; the Royal rifle shot on Wimledon Common is
echoing round the remotest hills of the land by volleys from
many thousand new weapons. A volunteer guard com-
posed of 200,000 of the flower of the youth of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, will be a better guarantee for peace thax
the thousand influences said to lurk in interchange of

national commodities; and as mankind are governed by
fear as well as by reward, let us, while we buy and sell
freely with foreigners, keep, Deo adjuvante, our "powder
dry." There will be no need of a second Waterloo, when
the nations trio junta in uno that fought under Wellington,
shall have peaceably mustered a larger force for de-
fence than the great duke commanded ; so let us rejoice,
that—

" Still the thick battalions come and come,
As though all England, the long pent-up store
Of her deliberate valour would outpour ;
Not flaunting in war's trappings, rich and gay,
But all in sober green and working grey,
0 Lady of the Land! thy feet before."

Bentley's Miscellany.

Victor Guadre continues to criticise the conduct
of the English Parliament and Government in his
satirical fashion. The indefatigable Ouida contri-
butes a long story on the only subject on which his
prolific pen can dilate—viz., the military at country
quarters, their conquests, and flirtations. Were
the tale under notice condensed into one-third of
its length, it would be amusing without being
tedious. As it is, one would require to be caged in
a roadside inn on a wet day to enjoy it in its en-
tirety. Part one of " Once a Child," by Monks-
hood is superior to his other entertaining chapters
of " Mingle Mangle" :
" The Norfolk Islander was ones a child. The systema-
tic, wholesale poisoner was once a child. The hoary Fagins,
the rugged Bill Sykeses, the blackest blackguards and
worst reprobates of society—shunned by her, banned by
her, sent out of the world by her—each of these sovereigns
in scoundrelism was once a child. Nero, whose name is
become a byeword for all that is base, brutal, bloody,' was
once a child. The historian records of him—after saying
that ' the loss of his fierce and brutal father, when he was
but three years old, was certainly no matter of regret,' and
that his mother, Agrippina, had a princely sense of the
duty which devolved upon The .hild was docile and
affectionate, apt to learn, and eager for praise.' "
" Curious Mesmeric Experiences in California'
relate to a certain gentleman who, having involun-
tarily entered into a deep state of mesmeric rapport
with a criminal about to suffer the extreme penalty
of the law, undergoes that unpleasant operation in
spirit. To enjoy and understand this description
thoroughly requires more faith than we confess to;
many are, however, more sensitive on this point,
and will believe and appreciate it. " A Visit to
Charles Dickens," by Hans Christien Andersen, is
highly complimentary to Mr. Dickens. There is
a sketch of the history of Mademoiselle de la
Valliere, one of the mistresses of Louis Quartorze,
also the continuation of Gurney, or Two Fortunes,
by Lindley Costello.

Colburn's United Service Magazine.

The Unzted Service opens with a Paper on " The
Defence of London," a subject on which many
articles have already been written, and which is so
inexhaustible that we may look forward to a con-
tinuous succession until the long-threatened inva•
sion comes at last. In the chapter on " The Naval
Articles" we find a history of the ambiguous articles
of the time of Queen Anne and George I. down to
our own : _ _

The sentence passed upon Admiral Byng was referred
to the twelve judges, who pronounced it legal ; but Admiral
tho Hon. John Forbes, who was then a Lord of the Admi-
ralty, and whose duty it was in that capacity to sign the
death warrant, refused to do so, entering at the time a
written protest, which protest has taken its place among the
historical facts of the period, and conferred upon him im•
mortal honour. _ _ _

The strong common sense contained in that document,
coupled with the general feeling that Byng had been
rigorously, though unavoidably. sentenced in accordance
with the terms of the Articles of War, which admitted of
no milder interpretation, brought about the act 19 George
111., cap. 17. This act, passed in 1774, gave a court-martial
discretionary power to substitute for death "such other
punishment as the nature and degree of the offence should
be found to deserve ;" but this mitigatory power only ex-
tended to the twelfth Article of War, and it was left to
her most gracious Majesty to introduce the same qualifica-
tion, with reference to every other article in the code.

Admiral Byng's judicial murder brought about a
revision of the statutes, and it was found advisable
to grant a discretionary power to courts-martial,
the service not appreciating the encouragement
which Voltaire informs us was held out to them by
this execution when he writes of the English
Government, " Its ont tue un admiral pour encou-
rager les autres :"

But unqualified severity was far from being the only
objectionable feature connected with the Articles of War
laid downin George the Second's reign. They did not reach
many weighty offences, and courts martial were continually
at a loss to know how far they were justified in condemning a
prisoner of whose guilt they were often morally convinced.
A man was perhaps charged with the commission of a,
certain offence not strictly cognizable by any particular"
Article of War, and they could only fall back upon the 36th
Article, referring to " all other crimes not capital," which
were to be punished "according to the laws and customs in
such cases used at sea," wkich laws and customs admitted
of a variety of interpretations:
The powers of a court martial were also restricted in
the way of imprisonment to a term of two years.

We find another article on the subject of defences
relating to the United Kingdom in general. " A
Russian Account of the Campaign in the Crimea"
is continued, and the general naval and military
intelligence completes the number.

Macmillan's Magazine.

This magazine is scarcely equal to its former
numbers. Two lengthened poems occupy a con-
siderable space, which are greater in intention than
execution. The editor, Mr. Masson, contributes a
paper on Thomas Hood, in which he renders due
honour to the humourist and the poet. The fifth
and sixth volumes of Mr. Froude's History receive