The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-04 00:00:00

perpetual oscillation between the two. As Voltaire
says of Charles the Twelfth, we are apt to carry
our virtues into their kindred. vices. Obstinacy is
much easier than rational firmness, extravagance
or parsimony are much more practicable than a
wisely regulated expenditure, and in all things the
medium course is not only the safest but the most
difficult. The writer asserts that for the leading
idea throughout the article he is indebted to
Archbishop Whately, though his own pleasant style
is easily recognisable in its treatment. He begins
by recordin. g how a little girl being lectured on the
evils of daintiness, announced, with the triumph of
conscious virtue, that she had "eaten the grounds
of the tea," and he finds many older and wiser
examples to keep the youthful and zealous but mis-
taken martyr in countenance. He thus describes
what he calls a secondary vulgar error:—
One class of the errors into which men are prone to run
under this natural impulse are those which have been
termed Secondary Vulgar Errors. A vulgar error, you will
understand, my reader, does not by any means signify an
error into which only the vulgar are likely to fall. It does
not by any means signify a mistaken belief which will be
taken up only by inferior and uneducated minds. A vulgar
error means an error either in conduct or belief into which.
man, by the make of his being, is likely to fall. Now,
people a degree wiser and more thoughtful than the mass,
discover that these vulgar errors are errors. They conclude
that their opposites (i.e., the things at the other extremity
of the scale) must be right; and by running into the oppo-
site extreme they run just as far wrong upon the other side.
_Mere is too great a reaction. The twig was bent to the
right—they bend it to the left, forgetting that the right
thing was that the twig should be straight. If convinced
that waste and sauciness are wrong, they proceed to eat
the grounds of their tea; if convinced that self-indulgence
is wrong, they conclude that hair-shirts and midnight flog-
gings are right ; if convinced that the Church of Rome has
too many ceremonies, they resolve that they will have no
ceremonies at all ; if convinced that it is unworthy to grovel
in the presence of a duke, they conclude that it will be a
fine thing to refuse the duke ordinary civility ; if convinced
that monarchs are not much wiser or better than other
human beings, they run off into the belief that all kings
have been little more than incarnate demons ; if convinced
that representative government often works very imper-
fectly, they raise a cry for imperialism ; if convinced that
monarchy has its abuses, they call out for republicanism ;
if convinced that Britain has many things which are not so
good as they ought to be, they keep constantly extolling
the perfection of the United States.
There is one point of taste on which we must differ
from our essayist. He never misses an opportunity
of sneering at the author of " Childe Harold."
Thus he says, "You enthusiastically admired 'yron
once; you heartily despire him now. You once
thought Festus' finer than Paradise Lost,' but
you have swung away from that. But for a good
many years you have heard of Wordsworth, Shake-
speare, and Tennyson, and this taste you are not
likely to outgrow." Of course tastes and critical
judgments must materially differ, but for any one
deliberately to profess contempt for all the poetry
of Byron shows either a remarkable deficiency of
appreciation, or an absurd affectation of singu-
larity. " A Last Word on Lord Macaulay "
is a carefully written article, which, while
withholding extravagant eulogy, passes a high
eneonium on the rare gifts and marvellous in-
dustry of the great man we have lost. The calm-
ness and cultivation of Lord Macaulay's intellect
were, in the opinion of the writer, of great service
to the literature of his generation. Even the ab
sence of that ardent creative genius which was not in
the possession of the historian, the essayist, and the
critic, was, in some degree, beneficial, according to
his theory. " Lord Macaulay's elaborate polish,"
he says, "has proved, we think, exceedingly valua-
ble to our rapid, perplexed, and somewhat inco-
herent age." In another place he writes as follows,
after referring to the extravagant length to which
some of Mr. Carlyle's followers carried their leader's
theories—" Against such feelings, which were in-
deed the natural product of an age of intense men-
tal excitement, remarkable scientific progress, and
strongly developed egotism, an antidote was found
in Lord Macaulay. It was an immense advantage
to have at the head of our literature a man who
spoke moderately, who wrote fastidiously, whose
enthusiasm was never intemperate, whose judg-
ment was never excited. This great potentate in
letters opposed to the license of speculation and the
riot of the imagination, a simple theory of morals, a
simple system of politics, and a simple code of
criticism. Many new men and things he did not
recognise, that were both good and true ; that he
did not recognise them arose, possibly from some men-
tal defect; but this very narrowness of intellectual
sympathy enabled him effectively to stem the
current." Further on, he adds, " Macaulay, with
his historic culture and his English associations,
could not become a political dogmatist. He re-
garded with hearty admiration the rough adjust-
ments, the intricate compromises, the balanced
inconsistencies, which are so unmeaning to the
strictly scientific intellect, but on which old and
historic societies must rest." Those who have not
met with the volumes comprising the miscellaneous
writings of Lord Macaulay, will read with interest
and admiration the poem quoted at the close of this
article, written in August, 1847, shortly after the
illustrious author had lost his seat for Edinburgh
by his consistent advocacy of the .Maynooth grant.
As the writer of the article before us justly observes,
the verses should be taken as a warning that it is
dangerous to expose ourselves to the shafts of the
immortals. Doubtless some of those whose eager-
ness for the great man's defeat has hardly been
atoned for by their subsequent welcome, will look
back on that occasion, as they read these lines,
with less satisfaction than they then experienced.
The story of " Ida Conway" proceeds with interest,
and leaves its fair heroine in distress and
perplexity. Another story from the pen of
of G. Whyte Melville, recounts the adventures of
the aspirants to the hand of the fair Clothilde,
daughter of the Emperor Maximilian and Mary of
Burgundy, whose name has been so conspicuous
in history and romance. " Gryll Grange," by the
brilliant but eccentric author of " Headlong Hall,"
proceeds, and recounts the success of the Greek
play. A criticism on Professor 0 wen's recent work
on Palmentely will interest the scientific reader ;
and there are also papers on the financial condition
of Turkey, a subject of some importance to modern
politicians ; and the " English Pompeii," as the
Roman remains of Uriconium, in Shropshire, are
called. " The Chronicle of Current History," a
new feature in this magazine, is continued, and
~- gives an able summary of passing events.
Len _

Bentley's Miscellany.
Victor Gouache, of the Outremanche correspon-
dence, tires of England, and has taken a step with
the rest of the world over to Italy, where he
criticises everbody and everything ; but his letter
does not come upsto some of his former ones when
treating on the British Constitution. The adven-
tures of Bel and the Dragon, by Dudley Costello,
is clever in its way and amusing. "The Story of
Francesco Novello da Carrara," is continued.
There is a statistical paper on New Zealand, but
which for brevity deserves a place in a geography
rather than a magazine. "Recollections of an
013 Salt," is a review on a work written by Ad-
miral Jurieu de la Graviere, entitled, " Souvenirs
d'un Amiral." To use the phrase of the reviewer,
he canters through the two volumes, and we think
that any reader who takes the trouble to accompany
him in this ride will feel repaid for his pains, and
feel a desire to read at length the gallant French-
man's straightforward narrative, although it be
not over complimentary to perfidious Albion. The
first two chapters of a talc entitled " The House
Blaswick" are published this mouth, the merits of
which we shall be better able to judge as the story
progresses. Part the third of " Once a child,
never a child, and alwayi a child," by Mingle
Mangle, is equal to the first two parts and is
written with the same feeling and ability which
usually characterises the writings of Monkshood.
A chapter on Voltaire at Ferney, and one of Onida's
long send-you-to-sleep stories, bring us to the con-
clusion,

Colburn's New Monthly Illagctzine.
A lengthened paper on "Northern Africa " is
the first that meets the reader in this number. It
gives us full particulars as to the natural products
and animal tribes, and is founded on a recent French
work from the pen of Jules Gerard, the famous lion
hunter. The writer of this article, in conclusion,
expresses his opinion that many years must elapse
before Algeria becomes a source of profit to the
French Government. This conviction seems to be
very generally felt, but nevertheless there is as yet
no reason to despair of its ultimate success, although,
as the writer before us observes, the French do not
seem to be naturally adapted for colonisation. The
interesting but melancholy story of "East Lynne"
is advancing rapidly. Much progress is •madenne
this instalment. The ill-fated Richard Bare recog-
nises inell vhiseoni s.
the Capt. Thurn, for whose
Capt.
suffering, in the treacherous Francis
Lady Isabel, weakly and wickedly believing
herhusband
Levison's false assertions respeEctains,j
Archibald Carlyle
awnidthßthaerbfaaritahlielsasrge,ueflsite,slefarovming Lynne along
overwhelmed by the blow which thus unexpectedly
the briefln his "Notes on
, whose inheritance
falls upon him. Sir Nathaniel, •
career of Don
father brought him Note-worthies," discusses
. of the military
genius
so of Austria,
huisst ria
jgoenh
than solid profit. A more empty fame
on the quaint old Fr vary
pleasant paper
"cite there au poete, a
l'
ench town of Arles,
entertain the reader. artis.te, au revery," will
the old Gallo-P
—man • The
historic associations or
vivid imagination of Cheity forcibly impressed the
titularly struck by th .ateaubriand. lie was per
"wh :re Christian e Alyscamps, or necropolis •
Pagan remains." ~grerations Lad reposed upon
said the ill, have not met in my wander-
ings,"lstrious author, " any place that
so tempted me
Nicholas Michell as
a place to die in as Arles.'
gives us a traveller's reverie on a
mummy of Thebes, expressing the thoughts that