The Sun.
London, England, 1832-08-01 00:00:00

MAGAZINE DAY.

MONTHLY MAGAZINE.
A clever number, light and discursive ; just
the pleasant, lounging reading, in short, for
summer weather. " Domestic Manners of the
Spanish" displays some practical knowledge, and
bears out, in many respects, the truth of
Washington Irving's graphic sketches in his last,
and not his worst work, the Alhambra. 4, Spe-
cimens of Death ; the Pluralists," is exceedingly
well written. We would extract it for the bene-
fit of our readers, but unfortunately our limits
will not permit. " The Bagster Case" contains
some sound thinking, and takes an enlarged and
appropriate view of the subject. " The Young
Widow of Bremen" is a tale worked up to a de-
gree of painful interest ; it would melo-drama-
tize well at the Surrey. " Germany" is a very
sensible article ; we quote the following sketch
of the reigning King of Prussia :

" As we were leaving the gardens, two officers crossed
our path, one of whom, a tall lank figure, who with
downcast eyes, the arms folded behind the back, walked a
little in advance of the other, forcibly arrested my atten-
tion. The expression of his countenance was melancholy
in the extreme, while the well-squared epaulettes, com-
pressed waist, swelling chest, and the scrupulous care with
which every part of his uniform was arranged, proclaimed
the military dandy. It was the King Frederick William,
and his aid-de-camp Baron Von S----,

" I confess I was struck with the pensive and abstracted
air of the monarch. " Quel air reveur," I remarked to
my companion, an old French general officer who had
kindly taken upon himself the office of cicerone in my
perambulations around Berlin. " C'est qu'il improvise
une uniform," he replied with a smile; " to-morrow the
Gazette will convey an order to make some alteration in
the tenue' of the Guards." What the great Frederick
did for tactics, his successor, Frederick William, nick-
named Der Schneider Konig,' has done for military cos-
tume —it has been the constant study of his life. Neither
the vicissitudes of his country, the toils of the camp, nor
the wiles of diplomacy, have been able to divert him from
his favourite pursuit; and it is only justice to say, that
the dress of the Prussian army is in the best military taste,
uniform throughout, and a-piece with the elaborate drill-
ing of the men, and the science and instruction of the
officers. Napoleon testified his surprise at the immense
' savoir' of his Prussian Majesty on this important point,
although he complained sadly of being constantly impor-
tuned both by Frederick and the Czar Alexander with
such frivolous questions as, ' What quantity of padding
was requisite fur a hussar's jacket ?' or to give an opinion
on the form of a Hulan's shako. Certes,' said the Em-
peror one day to General Rapp, ' had the French army at
Jena been commanded by a tailor, it would have been a
second Rosbaelt.'

" Numerous and profound are said to have been the col-
loquies on military uniforms between George the Fourth
and Frederick William ; and to the valuable hints acquired
in these ' entretiens,' may be attributed the splendid ap-
pearance of some of our crack cavalry regiments. Great
is also said to be the impatience of our naval dandies for
the appearance of the naval uniform of Prussia (for like
Austria, this power, since the arrival of the model frigate
sent out by our King, is ambitious of becoming a maritime
State), they look to the genius of the Prussian Monarch
to deliver them from the present hermaphrodite rig with
which they are so disfigured and dissatisfied.
" The anecdotes related of the ridiculous importance
which this Prince attaches to military costume would fill
volumes. One of them only we shall venture to quote.
Frederick, some years ago, was passing the Curzeit either
at Toplitz or Carlsbad. Early one morning a Prussian
estafette was observed to leave the place ' ventre a terre.'
The coy diplomatique was immediately en movement ;
up went the hopes of the war party—down went the Aus•
trian Metalliques—three of the first bankers at Leipsig
and Vienna stopped payment—Metternich was at fault--
Rothschild in a fever—and half a dozen English honour-
ables, attaches to the different legations in Germany, went
into galloping consumptions from twenty-four hours hard
writing—an event unexampled in their diplomatic career.
At the expiration of a week, when nothing less than an-
other seven years' war was expected by every one, the
Berlin Gazette tranquillized Germany, by publishing the
order of which the estafette was the bearer, and which
his
After Guards,
all,r it is fortunate for Prussia
and compress their waists
was nothing more or less than his Majesty's commands to
two
ierncthhees
smallershak ()
that her Monarch has no more expensive taste. A Pom-
padour, or a palace, would be much more costly hobby-
hones ; for in justice to him We roust say, that economy
and
freaks."
good taste go hand in band, and preside over all his

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.
(( Tom Cringle's Log" is told this month
with more than common vigour, and with a
power of condensation that proves its author to
be practised in fictitious narrative. " Hesiod"
contains some eloquent and acute snatches of
criticism on this ancient and little-read Greek
poet. " Christopher at the Lakes" is an account
of another mountain ramble by Professor Wilson.
So long as he writes as he does at present, with
blended humour, fancy, and feeling, may the
worthy Professor illustrate in his own person the
perpetual motion, and ramble on for ever. His
description of the horrid process of shaving at
a village inn on a Sunday morning, in order to
be in time for a pleasant nap at church, is amus-
ing and graphic. Of his razor he says with
amusi>
a exaggeration, " the back of the blade
is an inch broad, but eye can no more see its
edge than a quadrille of angels dancing on the
point of a needle." " Eliezer the Sage, arid

Eliezer the Simple," is a splendid tale, full of
Oriental imagery, strange adventures, and high-
wrought eloquence of diction. Judging from
internal evidence, we should say that it was from
the pen of the Rev. G. Croly. There are
numerous touches in it that remind us of the
" Angel of the World." The notice of " Cha-
teaubriand" is clever, but too laudatory. It
is monstrous to put this writer on a level with
Sir Walter Scott. " Upper Canada" is a dry,
statistic account of a useful, but heavy book.