The Sun.
London, England, 1835-02-02 00:00:00

MAGAZINE DAY.

BLACKTVOOD—T. Cadell.

" When wilt thou leave fighting o' days, and foin-
ing o' nights, and begin to patch up thine old body for
heaven ?" is a question which no Doll Tearsheet will
dream of asking our venerable friend, Christopher
North, for many long years to come ; albeit, one of the
jolliest fellows that ever handled a cork-screw, or
emptied a punch-bowl. True, Christopher sometimes,
'in common with other great men on the down-hill side
of life, is overtaken by a fit of drowsiness after dinner ;
and when in that happy state in which mankind begin
to comprehend aright the use of two eyes in glancing
at a single object, is apt to affect an extraordinary
piety—quotes Bunyan instead of Anacreon—and once
when requested for a song gave fifty stanzas of Stern-
hold and Hopkins's divinest psahnody, in a mistake
for " Willie brewed a peck o' maut ;"—but notwith-
standing these things, and his frequent use of a crutch,
we may say of Christopher, as (lid a greater autho-
rity of a Prince in Israel, " his sight is not dim, neither
is his natural force abated." He is as prolific
of his wit, his wisdom, his satire, his criti-
cism, his poetry, his fancy, and what is a thousand
times better than all put together—of his ambrosial
" Noctes," as he was in the very heyday of his youth,
when the world thought he had passed the bright
meridian of existence. In fact, we begin to think that
Christopher is not quite so old as he pretends—that he
has no more need of a crutch than we have ourselves,
and that his old-fashioned costume is assumed for the
purpose of throwing the maid-servants off their guard,
and may be, exciting the envy of all the young fellows
by a vigorous progeny, which would do no discredit to
the prolific powers of the martyr of the poisoned shirt.
Twins on the Ist of February—one of the coldest,
and, with the exception of December, one of the least
vegetative months in the year—may well provoke the
spleen of our London fashionables, most of whom
suffer the severest throes in giving a " local habitation
and a name" to one ricketty heir to the family honours.
In exchanging his rifle for a double-barrelled gun,
Christopher North appears not to have had the least
intention of having an additional pop at the Whigs ;
now that they are legitimate game for all sports-
men in the confidence of the Court. On the

contrary, we hardly remember the month in which
the Tories were left so destitute of all assist-
ance, of a rabidly Conservative character. The
first number opens with an article on " Church
Reform," based on the correspondence of Lord John
Russell and the Bishop of Exeter ; in which, strange
to say, the writer admits abuses to have crept into the
Church—calls Reform " an excellent word" in a style
as earnest as that of Foist ars mistress, when conning
over the word " occupancy ;" and does not give ex-
pression to a syllable against the expediency of some
plan of Reform, which would silence the Radicals, and
remove the squeamish scruples of orthodox Churchmen
of tender consciences. In the " Letter from a Libe-
ral Whig" and the article on the " Irish Church,"
there is, it must be confessed, but poor appearances of
a conversion to liberal sentiments ; but for all that,
there is evidently a strong inclination to conciliate the
public—to work upon its more generous sympathies in
order to procure for Ministers what is called " a fair
trial," or in other words, allowing them to instal them-
selves so firmly in office, that nothing far short of a
revolution in the country can remove them. This
conduct is in accordance with the wily policy
of the Tories. " Let us but once get fairly
into the saddle," say the Conservatives, " and

then we will show the monster Lin.' use we can
make of a curb and a double rein : if the pub-
lic kick when we drive the rowel into its flanks, why,
we can soon bring it on its haunches without breaking
our girths or losing our balance. The, trouble is to
mount—no whipping, we pray you ! Pat the creature
on the neck, and on with a pair of winkers instantly--
leave the correction of the animal to us, when we get
securely in the saddle." The Tories think that their
only chance of continuing long enough in office, to
make sure of their places, is by abstaining from all
expressions of triumph, and Blackwood wisely adopts
this course ; but for all that, the people will not be
charmed into a state of meek quiescence--although
their choice of a House of Commons makes it a matter
of the most perfect indifference to them, in what way
the Tories comport themselves.

The " Noctes" are, as usual, full of " high imagin-
ings," stirring fancies, poetical descriptions, and dark,
deep metaphysical inquiries, elucidated in Professor
Wilson's happiest style and manner. The subject of
the present Number is the relation between matter and
spirit, and the proofs we have of the existence of the
latter, drawn from natural causes. The Shepherd is
silent listener at first, but breaks out, towards the
close, in a dissertation on the transmigration of souls,
which would have charmed the heart of Pythagoras,
had he lived to boast of such a disciple. The article
is altogether a collection of literary gems, such as only
Professor Wilson could gather together in such a space.
" William Pitt, Part II.," is an able paper, but dis-
torted by the Tory bias of the writer, which has led

him to mis-state facts, and to draw the most absurd
conclusions from them. " The Christian Bride," by
Thomas Aird, " The Huguenot's Farewell," by Mrs.
Hemans, and " The Continuation of Nights at Mess,"
are all papers of great merit. The second number
opens with an excellent article on " Ancient Scottish
Poetry," with some curious selections from the poems
of Dunbar, a bard of nature, who flourished in the
beginning of the sixteenth century—to the superiority
of whose genius Sir Walter Scott has borne testimony.
" The Cruise of the Midge" is continued in the
author's happy, but peculiar vein of quaint descrip-
tion. " The Magic Key" is a stirring story, and will
be read with great pleasure. Both numbers contain
other papers hardly less worthy of praise than those
we have noticed, but we want space for their particular
enumeration. On the whole, remembering that Black-
wood is twice himself this month, we have more than

the average quantity of literature, and less than the
usual supply of politics—a most happy change in the
interior arrangement of illaza.

THE MONTHLY REPOSITORY—CharIes Fox.

There are several very stirring and very able articles
in the present number of this respectable periodical.
The opening paper on the Elections is particularly
worthy of commendation. " Devoutly is it to be
hoped," says the writer, " that no false delicacy, no
foolish fear of being called factious, no vain expecta-
tions of future opportunity, will interfere with that
immediate decision of the great question between the
Ministry and the people, which is so aptly provided
for by the forms of Parliament. The battle can never
be so well fought as on the first two topics that must
necessarily engage the attention of the House, viz.,
the choice of a Speaker, and the Address. The first
is not a mere matter of form ; nor, now that the tran-
sition has been accomplished from a nomination Par-
ment to a representative one, can it be again treated as
only a question of convenience for the despatch of busi-
ness. There is nothing henceforth, to interfere with
the appointment of a man who, while qualified by his
experience and attainments for the routine duties
of the ,office, shall also be qualified, by his
principles and character, to represent the reformed
House of Commons ; who shall be in sympathy with
the majority of that House ; and who may, therefore,