The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-07 00:00:00

THE MONTHLY PERIODICALS.

BLACKWOOD.—" A Religious Novel" is the title
of the first article met with, and it is stated that the
literature of an age does not always represent the
manners of that age. The work here under consi-
deration is Miss Wetherall's new book, called
" The Old Helmet," and those who have not read
it may gather a good idea of its purposrt from this
paper. The meaning of the title of the book is a
" patronising synonym for the helmet of salvation,"
and the young man who is the hero of the tale
wears a figurative armour, which makes him safe
under all circumstances. An unfavourable opinion
is entertained by the writer of this criticism as to
the effect likely to be produced by this book. " We
are happy to think," he says in conclusion, " that it
does not describe all young ladies as they are, but
does it foreshadow what any circlo amongst us
may come to ?" " Sir Brooke Fossbrooke" is pro-
ceeded with, and the infamous Colonel Sewell goes
on with his plots, and pursues his schemes with the
most perfect sang froid and recklessness. Lucy is
a very pleasing girl, and shows much sense and dis-
crimination in the difficult position in which she is
placed. The peculiar old man who is the hero does
not figure in the pages of this instalment, but will
doubtless return speedily to appear in the denoue-
ment of the strange story. " Memoirs of the Con-
federate War for Independence" are still continued,
and in this portion we find a chronicle of
the great battle of. Fredericksburg, which
is sure to he very interesting to readers.
Au article on " Reform of the Bank of England"
may be especially commended to notice, and it
would be well for the prosperity of the community
if its terse arguments, solid sense, and practical
observations were duly attended to by those in
high places. This periodical has the credit of tak-
ing up this subject of bank reform with spirit and
energy, and we cordially concur with the conclud-
ing remarks of this excellent paper. It is said that
the commercial classes are beginning to awake to
the disastrous consequences of combining a fossilised
monetary system with an ever-expanding trade.
The great question of monetary reform, it is said,
must be satisfactorily settled as surely as the waters
of a river will in due time reach the sea. "It may
be opposed, and it will be opposed ; for to many
powerful parties the worship of the Bank Act is as
productive of gain as the worship of the statue of
Diana at Ephesus was to Vemetrius and his fellow-
craftsmen, but sooner or later the opposition will
fail, and the principle of freedom and fair competi-
tion will replace in banking, as it has already re-
placed in all other forms of trade and industry, the
present pernicious system of restriction and mono-
poly." " Miss Marjoribanks" is continued in a very
interesting part. Lucilla is equal to the emer-
gencies of comparative poverty, as she was to the
responsibilities of wealth, and determines to stand
her ground, which is the wisest thing she can do.
The character of this young lady is very well de-
picted, and her decision and energy stand her in
good stead when she has to settle her own course,
for though many-wishers and officious advisers
spring up in this crisis of her life, the heroine of
Carlingford found, as many have done before
her, that she must act alone and be the arbiter
of her own destinies. " Cornelius O'Dowd on
Men and Women, and Other Things in Gene-
ral " furnishes us with the usual dissertations
on affairs public, political, and domestic. " The
Position of the Government " is the last sub-
ject dealt with, and no very flattering or favourable
views are entertained of its prospects. Certainly it
does not require the subject to be treated by an
opponent, for the mistakes and misfortunes of the
Ministers to be set forth and exhibited, for no one
who knows anything of affairs but can recognise
looming in the distance, if not actually present, dark
clouds which presage evil days for those in office.
The conclusion arrived at from the unpromising
state of affairs is that a " Government so feeble, so
entirely distrusted by its own friends, cannot long
go on. Let us hope that it will not leave behind it,
when it relinquishes office, such a legacy of troubles
as must render good government, under the consti-
tution as it now is, impossible in this country."
FRASER'S MAGAZINE.—A lengthened article on
" The Jamaica Problem" opens this number, and
enters very fully into the consideration of the West
India question, which has created so much commo-
tion during the last few months. Leaving the fierce
dispute as to the conduct of the Colonial Governor and

his administration during the suppression of the re-
bellion, the writer examines carefully the whole con-
dition of the island and its people, especially as
regards the black population. In conclusion, he
remarks that it is quite possible, and even probable,
that the negro race in the British colonies—possibly
in the United States also—is doomed to die out in
degradation, " because in our passion and our pre-
judice we refuse to recognise patent facts, to
acknowledge and proclaim that the negro is a child
and must be taught as a child, governed as a child,
coerced for his good as a child, borne with as
a child; because, in fine, with a great responsibility
towards him, entailed upon us by our ancestral
sins and our sins against him, we have quietly
thought to discharge the one and free ourselves
from the other by giving him his liberty and set-
ting him adrift. . . By generations of servitude
we utterly unfitted him for self-government and
self-guidance ; we then suddenly and without pre-
paration threw him on his own resources and his
own control. If our prognostics should unhappily
be realised and the Creole negro shall disappear,
his ruin and extinction will lie at our door, and
may be about equally divided between those who
were his masters and those who claimed to be espe-
cially his friends." Our old friend and favourite
A. K. H. B. resumes his pen, and gives us
thoughts on " Beards in the Pulpit," as a type of
the gradual relaxation of the extreme rigidity of
the Scotch Kirk. We have recently heard some-
thing of the change going on in the minds of some
of the leadingmernbers of the Presbyterian Church,
and judging from this paper, by one of the initiated,
the movement has extended further than was sup-
posed on this side of the Tweed. " The Minister's
Sandy and Jess" us carries again to a manse in
the North, but this time it is a pleasant
though touching story of domestic life, chequered
by that great, though common, trouble of a son's
inclinations not tallying with his father's wishes.
However, all comes right at last, although the fair
gentle mother sleeps in the grassy kirkyard before
the family reconciliation comes about. A paper
on " Clubs" will find more favour with gentlemen
than with ladies. " Such a community," it says in
conclusion, " is also useful for clearing the brain of
preconceived opinions, for interchanging knowledge,
for testing impressions, for verifying facts; and it
constitutes a standing censorship, with the power of
executing its decrees. Its equalising effect, by ele-
vating, not lowering, is another unqualified good.
Thanks to railways, a man of limited means can
travel as comfortably as a man of ten thousand a
year ; thanks to clubs, he can dine as well, and in
society to which the man of ten thousand a year is
eager to belong." " The Domesday Book of Hamp-
shire" will interest the antiquary, and there are
among the remaining articles a "Memoir of Admiral
Smyth," and a paper on " British Conchology."

TEMPLE BAR.—" Land at Last" is continued, and
t is a relief to find that the wetched wanderer is at
rest, and the career of the ill-starred Margaret over.
Annie Maurice comes out as a true friend in the
emergency, and so also does the eccentric William
Banker. Lord Caterham is startled by the appear-
ance of the downright visitor who breaks in upon
his selfish epicureanism, and, in reply to his invec-
tives against his ill-used wife, tells him that there is
one who breaks up marriage ties more effectually
even than the Divorce Court, and that one is—
Death ; adding that the dread guest was now pass-
ing the threshold of the refuge where Margaret lay.
The wicked young man might have derived a useful
moral from the news which assailed him when,
arriving at the spot indicated, he found her gone
whom he had come to seek. " The Lodgings at
Knightsbridge" is concluded, and is a very interest-
ing sketch. The manner in which so many dif-
ferent characters arc connected in the lodgings is
very ingenious, and it would be well if all deserving
ladies were as fortunate as Winifred. " Archie
Sewell" is continued in its usual eventful style.
" A True Bohemian"; is a sketch of one who led a
sad career, but whose brightest moments were his
last in some respects. Robert Green, with talents
worthy of a better fate, led a wild life, and came to
a wretched end prematurely. All his gay apparel
gone, and even his clothing vanished, all but a
ragged shirt, " patient and penitent the poet,
successful author, dramatist, prepared for death.
lie died at the house of a poor shoemaker,
whose wife crowned his pallid brow with a wreath
of bay leaves, and payed four shillings for a winding
sheet and six-and-fourpence for his interment.
In a note which Greene wrote at the foot of a bond
which he gave the shoemaker, he begged his wife to
settle the amount due, because he would have died
in the streets had it not been for the timely succour
thus received from these poor people. "In and
about Drury-lane" contains some curious anecdotes
of theatres and theatrical celebrities. " A Real
Casual on Casual Wards" is a sketch that is very
appropriate at this time, and we find many sad de-
tails concerning the treatment of the unfortunate
casuals. It is truly stated here that many remedies
are proposed for the unsatisfactory- state of work-
houses, but only one solution can be found, and that
is to rectify the inequality of the metropolitan
parochial burdens. " Give London a uniform poor-
rate and the rest follows ; withhold it, and jobbing
will be perpetrated ; charity misplaced, and
clamorous rogues lie and fatten, while the honest
poor languish and starve." "The streets of the
World" have again Glasgow for their locality.
" Sonnets of Sorrow," by Mortimer Collins, have
two subjects, calm and stormy. The last lines on the
advent of the brighter season are pleasing and hope-
ful—

Nor otherwise to those whom endless care
Weighs to the earth, await the bridal feast,
Even to the mourner summer shall return.
This popular and by this time firmly-established
Magazine, published henceforth by its new proprie-
tor, Mr. Bentley, of New Burlington-street, gives
evidence not only of sustained but of increased
vigour under its new management.

DUBLIN.—" The Folk Books of France" fur-
nishes its usual summary of lively and peculiar
composition. " Not wisely, but too Well" becomes
more exciting in this instalment. Kate meets her
old acquaintance, and is imprudent enough to pro-
mise to do so again. A third part of " Garrick"
brings before us some notable theatrical anecdotes.
" Number Five Brooke-street," introduces Mrs. Lefel
to the intimacy of the Hall, and she pursues her
career of flattery and dissimulation with great ad-
dress. An interesting sketch appears of Percy
Bysshe Shelley, his life and character, which will
please the reader. "All in the Dark" is continued,
and the chief point of this month's part is the quar-
rel between William Mowbray and his aunt, which
produces eventful consequences. There is an article
on the " Rinderpest in England," in which it is said
very truly that things often fall out differently from
what is expected, and the Reform Bill, which was
supposed to engross all notice at the commence-
ment of the session, was put aside for the discus-
sion on the apathy of i'therabinet respecting the
cattle plague. The writer of this paper truly states
that the principle of compensation has been agreed
to after a struggle against theories, preju-
dices, and selfishness. A great many details are
here given, and anecdotes recorded respecting the
nature and progress of this fatal disease, and the
conclusion arrived at is that "isolation and slaughter
are the only steps to be taken with safety." We
may write now as the classic poet wrote of the
same pest--
The learned leeches in despair depart,
And shake their heads, desponding of their art,
Till warned by frequent ills the way they found
To lodge their loathsome carrion under ground.

LONDON SOCIETY.--This entertaining periodical
is as pleasing as ever, and furnishes abundant mate-
rial for thought, study, and amusement. The first
subject met with is a very interesting sketch of
Cambridge life, and tells of the struggles which a
poor sizer had to encounter before he could com-
plete his preparation for the examination, which
resulted in placing him as the senior wrangler. An
undergraduate less richly endowed with the gift of
learning, but better favoured by capricious fortune,
insisted upon this weary, worn-out youth assisting
him in his efforts to obtain a degree, and in return
for the kindness he declared he would provide him
with fire and light, the dejected student having to
pursue the studies that were to bring him fame and
fortune by the lamp that lit the stairs of his col-
lege, you xolled by alter the days when these

•
court

HER MAJESTY.
WINDSOR. CASTLE, March 6'eso
The Queen, accompanied by her Royal Wein m.
the Princess Helena, went out driving this raoruinb7
attended by the Duchess of Roxburghe.

ril°
Th© Princess of Wales took a carriage A

yesterday.
prima
In the evening their Royal Highnesses the 0
and Princess of Wales, accompanied by their Sereiine
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Hoheul°
went to the Prince of Wales's Theatre.

THE PRINCE OF WALES'S LEVEE (This DaY)'o
Ms Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, acting tho
behalf of her Majesty the Queen, held the first levee of t
season, to-day, at St. James's Palace. As so long 5 till'of
has
elapsed since the last levee, and as many dial:el-
importance have taken place in theinterim in many del): °f
ments of the Stat© tho names of a very large nutal)°,ith
gentlemen anxious for presentation have been lodged.„.ary
tho Lord Chamberlain, in compliance with the ctistn";flee
regulations. Amongst them are many gentlemen who j
the last last levee of the season of 1865 have been eleceDcl
to seats in the House of Commons, officers of the army"
°
navy who have obtained promotion, clergymen ii1)0
whom ecclesiastical preferment has been conferred, anir",,jtl)o
new sheriffs for the various counties of Englandand ti
who entered upon their official duties last month•
be
arrangements for the reception of the gentlemen noto
presented have undergone some beneficial changes, ll
confusion is likely to occur at any of the levees 11'1.g
may be held this year. His Royal Highness Will 11°1dt the
next levee on Monday, the 19th inst , at which, as 30-i ba
levee hold to-day, all presentations .to the Prino
considered equivalent to presentations to her Aisi°

personally.
rer:
THE PRINCE OF WALES'S THEATRE.---11e
formances at this theatre were honoured last oVelI, , 70a
the Frince presence of their Royal Highnesses the ito
Princess of Wales, who were accompanied by her r
soD°
Highness the Princess Hohenlohe, the Hon. 311'6.
and Colonel Keppel.
Ge
THE NEW ROYAL APPOINTMENTS. Major-l;
Sir Thomas Myddleton Biddulph, K.C.8.,
been appointed one of the keepers of her Majese 0-
Purse, in the room of Colonel the Hon. Sir Charles "I;ior
mont, was formerly connected with the 54th or Wre6t
folk Regiment of Foot. He was created K.C.B- a
He has been for some time Master of the Housell°''.46:o.
Extra Equerry to the Queen. Lieut.-General the ""vor,
lrie
Charles Grey, who is associated with him in the ene'et.
ship of the Privy Purse, is the brother of the ttr
and heir presumptive to the earldom. Ho wasarYie
1836 to the eldest daughter of the late Sir Thou' father
Farquhar, Bart. He was private secretary to hiS
And
the late Earl Grey, when First Lord of the TreseurJo' tig
had a seat in the House of Commons from 1831 to 1,0,
member for High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. 11°06
came a major-general iu the army in 1854. For s°ll'
h °
e was private secretary to the late Prince Consell'e
jor-General Sir John Clayton Cowell, K.C.8., 0 °con
Sir T. V. Biddulph in the royal household, has I)°`',/•—..13.
fleeted with the Royal Engineers. He received his P..
. _

last year.
GALLANT CONDUCT.—Yesterday, at
t, e 1339 oi
-
salty Court, Dr. Lushington awarded one-third of
•"";oci
t(o a number of men who put off in higgers and 5: had
3rovernment and other stores to that amount ill e ,
called the Venus, which was on her voyage to S 11- of
and saved the crow and passengers, at the groat
their lives.
Our facetious contemporary, Fun, may nd it
gratulated now, not only upon the secure st 3-0 it
has taken, but upon the really brilliant sliceef
has achieved. Its number of to-day (N 0.43,0, la'
New Series) completes its First Volume and
niences its Second—with Tom Hood as its fiu'be,
with Bruton and other congenial cirolls-°f tujel
pencil as its illustrators, with the Brothers P3g3i
as its engravers, and with a throng of capit3le%air
cal contributors clustered about the editorial c
their
shooting the folly of the hour as it flies With
flying goose-quills.