The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-03 00:00:00

THE MAGAZINES.

The chief attraction in the current number of Blackzcood
is a poem by George Eliot, " How Lisa Loved the
King." The original of the story is found "in the bright
pages of Boccaccio,' " and is quite in unison with the
romance indigenous to Southern lands. George Eliot has
presented it to English readers with characteristic skill,
although the verses are occasionally unequal. It is
doubtful if she will ever reach the same eminence as a
poet which she has attained as a novelist ; but scattered
through the poem there are some beautiful passages.
Thus Lisa dreams how heavenly it would be
" To love some hero noble, beauteous, great,
Who would live stories worthy to narrate."
She finds this ideal hero in the king
" Whom her soul worshipped, as far seraphim
Worship the distant glory."
In other parts the expression does not always render justice
to the thoughts, and the rhymes are not always perfect,
as, for instance, in " palm" and "harm," and "her" and
" were." Still the poem as a whole is far above the average
of magazine compositions. The second part of "Sir John
Lawrence" treats of an eventful period—the storm of 1557,
and this instalment is interesting and exciting. It is truly
said that the verdict of his countrymen has been confirmed
by the experience of the years which have succeeded the
mutiny, and Sir John Lawrence of the Punjab "must
ever stand out as one of the foremost characters of Anglo-
Indian history." The writer on" Convent Life " considers
that it is singular the recent case should have come before
the public at a time when "never since the Reformation
has conventual life been so interesting to the body of
English women, and when the cloister has assumed a reality
as a possible sphere and refuge in contrast with that
sentimental dreamland which it seemed to the
youthful readers of Mrs. Ratcliffe and her successors."
A new story is commenced, called, "A Year and a Day."
It promises to be interesting, but there are too many
changes of scene, and too many characters introduced in
this the first part of the narrative. The style is good, and
the descriptions throughout the varied scenes are most ex-
cellent. Arthur Corbet is sketched in a life-like manner,
and his virtuous indignation when he finds that his future
career has been decided without his own opinion being
taken is very natural, and furnishes the most amusing
passage in the story. "The Progress of the Revolution
is the political article, and it takes the most extreme view
of the Irish Church question. The chief cause of com-
plaint is the apathy of the nation, and the writer endea-
vours to rouse it by the declaration that the battle of
the Constitution is at this moment going on. The
concluding advice that is here given is alike
mischievous and impolitic. The bishops are exhorted
to organise in every diocese such assemblies as have met
to deliver their minds in Ireland. " Would the Govern-
ment," it is asked, "be able to stand against such a
gathering? "No, it would shiver their
majority in a
day." The wisest of the Conservatives well know the
contrary to be the case, and recognise the dangerous ten-
dency of such extreme views. Equally extravagant is the
assertion that if the bill pass in its integrity "England
will discover, when it is too late, that she has ceased to be
a great constitutional monarchy." Most readers would
rather endorse the opinion expressed by the old politician
in " Coninsgby," when he said that the " British Consti-
tution was tolerably safe at all times."
The readers of the Churchman's Shilling Magazine
will not lack subjects of interest. May itself, the month
in which, according to Leigh Hunt, " pleasure is a duty,"
is among them. It has always been a favourite theme for
poets and essayists; and the earlier writers in prose and
verse, so far from exhausting the subject, seem only to
have supplied the text for their successors. So wide and
varied is the list of the May chroniclers that a pleasant
and entertaining collection of songs, anecdotes, and quo-
tations may readily be gathered from amongst them.
Such a task Mr. Watson Dalby has undertaken in his
paper on " May and its Memories," which ranges from
Chaucer to John Clare, from the " Maypole " of Herrick
to the shrubs in St. James's Park. May has not been
without its special catastrophes. Spencer Perceval was
shot in the House of Commons on the 11th of May ; and
in 1517 fell the " Evil May day," as it was called, when the
national jealousyof foreign workmen broke out, and in the
subsequent riot many persons were murdered. This tragic
affair resulted in the execution of fifteen apprentices, for
the London apprentices were always foremost in the fray
in those days. Several hundreds of them were sent to the
Tower on this occasion, but were released on the interces-
sion of Queen Catherine. "My Clerical Substitute "is a
true story, giving a very efficient warning to clergymen
as to the clerical deputies they employ. The hero of the
present misadventure obtained an assistant through an
agency which promised strict inquiries as to character,
&c. The gentleman who was sent to him had let
rnaDart-
moor Prison six weeks before,
e
the acquaintance of the interior of Milbank
,private frauds
cester Gaols, besides committing
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tlvahhteeolwytrhtiitaleilFslnetigywissitlal'tri that the case is analogous to that of sani-
tary legislation. We cannot make persons healthy by
Acts of Parliament, but we may remove the causes of
disease by their aid. In the same way we cannot legislate
the drunkard into a sober man, but we can prevent the
sober man from becoming a drunkard. " Surely we who
are our brother's keeper ought to recognise in the .power
a duty—in the- possibility a solemn and bounden (Nita*

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