The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-03 00:00:00

might choose in time of need. It is said that
the Germans would be the safest, " whereas the
friendship of France, though doubtless very plea-
sant and desirable, inevitably suggests the kind
of uncertainty that attends domestic relations with
a tame tiger•."

Dublin University Magazine.

" An Only Son" is continued at some length, and
the character of Keane Burk itt comes out in a very
conspicuous manner, he seems the embodiment of
selfishness and greediness. The sketch here is a
very adroit one, and doubtless this crafty hero will
figure prominently in these adventures on a future
occasion. "Scenes and Customs in the West Indies"
furnishes us with some very readable remarks on
Jamaica. This island is worthy of notice, and we
do not often meet accounts of it. Idleness appears
to be very prevalent in the place. " Fresh butter
and fresh fish are seldom used, though the former
is easily made, and the latter abounds in the rivers
and on the coasts, It is easier to bring dry salt
fish from America, and import salt butter, which
not unfrequently resembles the unctuous yellow
deposit which is applied to railway carriage
wheels." Nothing can be more absurd than the
pretended independence of negro servants who will
not pay any attention to the ringing of a bell. They
will sometimes insist on having the prefix of Mr.,
Mrs, or Miss, to their names. " Heigh, deur call
me, like daag ho crit ; me no go, me no daag."
"Ministers of the Devil" is a very amusing paper
that treats of some striking peculiarities in the
mode of cookery. It was remarked by some body
who knew what he was about, that God sends meat
but the Devil sends cooks." The proverb, it may
seem, has a deeper foundation, in fact, than has
commonly been imagined. Taken in its more lite-
ral sense it points to spoliation of good vic-
tuals, by ill-starred notions of cookery. None
but the Devil could have suggested to Soyer
the horror of a red herring pie, or potatoes
mashed with cod-liver oil ; and surely it must have
been the Devil if not Moloch himself who put into
Liebig's head the horrible notion of extracting the
red juices of raw beef and mutton by cold muriatic
acid, and calling the product " soup. " Ohr Minor
Macaulays" is a little sketch that is admirably exe
cuted, and contains some striking truths regarding
many of the glaring errors into which those fall
who are more copiers than originators. Without
any Lieu-I:pity the writer adduces some instances in
which the mistake in wade of attempting more in
show than can be carried out in substance. The
following passage will speak for itself :
" But while indulge genie is one good rule of authorship,
no quid nimis is another. An author, above all things,
must not appear to ride his Pegasus too hard. Spare the
whip and use the reins, is good advice to the young
Phaetons of fancy, who wish to let out all their powers,
and so betray the effort under which they are composing.
The half, in these cases, is more than the whole—the good
thing unsaid is the reserve of power, which should always
be kept in for some future emergency ; and the reader should
be sent away wishing for more, and not fatigued by the
prodigality of the banquet.
"We have singled out Mr. Windsor as an instance of
the style which errs by excess of illustration ; but a glance
at the periodicals of the day will show that, as the fault is
a common one, it calls for some correction. It arises from
the incessant appetite of the public for something smart
and lively. The travelled volubility of Mr. Walter Thorn-
bury, Dr. Doran's annual appearance with a volume or two
of chit-chat about royalty, Mr. Jeafferson's books about
doctors or novelists, stuffed out from the rag-bag of an in-
dustrious literary cheffonier, are all the results of Macau-
lay's over-picturesque style. The best cure for this man-
nerism is to send ambitious authors to study English in
the school of Mill, Hallam, Dean Millman, and Helps.
Sometimes eloquent, alway s lucid, always natural, these
four writers, however they differ in other respects, agree in
this, that they have carried down the style of writing Eng-
lish, as Addison and Locke left it before Johnson spoiled
its simplicity with Latinisms, or Carlyle with Teutonisms.
We look to the writers of the present day in a spirit of wise
Conservatism to keep to the traditions of the past, as these
four writers have done, and to hand down that sacred trust,
a nation's language, unimpaired, to generations yet un-
born."

" The Month's Chronicle" presents the reader with
the usual quota of informatien regarding the chief
events that have lately transpired at home and
abroad. Some very just observations are made on
the " Budget," which tend to prove that unneces-
sary clamour was raised on behalf of Mr. Glad-
stone's measure, but that has been so often the case
that few can marvel at the reiteration of such
infatuation when there was a so-called popular
question to be traded on, and the enlightenment of
uneducated millions conveniently served as a war-
cry for disappointed financiers and patristic dema-
gogues. " Modern Pre-Raphaelism" contains some
very wise criticisms on the extreme lengths to which
the followers of the new fashion have gone, and
many may derive instruction from this carefully-
written essay. There are some other articles of
varied interest in this number, and some verses
which are pleasing but do not present anything
very striking.