The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-04 00:00:00

UNITED SERVICE MAGAZINE.

We find here, among other articles,aprivaie Jour-
nal of the late Sir Thos. Picton, kept with great regu-
larity during 1809 and the four following years. We
looked into it with some curiosity, but were greatly
disappointed in our expectations, for it contains not
one single trait of character, being, in fact, a mere
dry, dull summary of proceedings from month to
month, to which not the slightest public interest is
attached. The account of the " Conspiracy of the
Russian Nobility," on the accession of the present
Emperor to the throne, is related in a most careful
and circumstantial Manner. We quote the following
passage, which corroborates what we stated yesterday
in The Sun, respecting the conduct of the Etnperor
Nicholas when the news of the breaking out of the
conspiracy first reached him
- The Marquis de Custine,-in his recent book on Rus-
sia, gives us a dialogue between himself and the Em-
peror Nicholas, in which the former alludes to those
events, as having furnished an occasion on which the
latter had distinguished himself in the eyes of all Europe
by his firmness and his courage. It is difficult to tell
how much per cent. of the unmeasured flattery which
the Marquis showers on his Imperial host is intended as
waggery, as undoubtedly, from the subsequent portions
of his book, we must judge a large portion of it to be ;
but it appears that the Emperor took all this adulation
as genuine. His behaviour on this occasion is the sub-
ject on which Nicholas is said to be most accessible to
flattery, and we may therefore readily imagine the one
on which he is most generally flattered. It is cited both
by his admirers and his detractors, anti not, perhaps,
inaptly by either, as he found here the opportunity of
displaying the most salient features of his character,—
both good and bad. We shall leave to the reader the
appreciation of which predominates. The resolute firm-
ness, the energetic activity, which be displayed, saved
not only his absolute crown, but his life ; uncertain as
he was what mines might explode beneath his footsteps,
he disdained all compromise, and boldly cast the die for
' unlimited power or utter ruin. On the other hand, in
the face of his army, this man, who for years has never
quitted his uniform, who idolises all that is martial,
who looks in stature and in port a Cceur-de-Lion, as
soon as his faithful force began to act, retired thus far
from the scene of action as to place himself in indivi-
dual safety,—thus affording us a spectacle of moral
courage and firmness, and physical timidity, not inse-
parable, though seldom united. From this day's beha-
vious his friends and foes deduce arguments to assert
his courage or his cowardice, but it would appear that
he is endowed with that species of the former which is
really valuable in a leader of men, but deficient in that
personal valour which is quite unconnected with the for-
mer, but which men are apt to prize, both in themselves
and others, as if it were a quality less common,"

TAIT' S MAGAZINE.
Mrs. Gore—one of the most prolific as she is one
of the most brilliant novelists of the day—here re-
sumes her story of " Blanks and Prizes," which is
more remarkable for the ease and vivacity of its
style, than the freshness or the individuality of its
character. Doctor Toddles is a passable portrait, but
the rest of the personages have few, if any, strong
distinctive peculiarities. " Music" is, as the author
justly calls it, " a rhapsody," rather than a poem.
The lines are slovenly, and the sentiments much too
exaggerated in their character. A " Summer at
Port Philip" gives apparently an impartial account of
the present state of things in that remote colony,
where, we are told, " the possession of five thousand
pounds enables a man to make a rapid fortune." Not-
withstanding this statement, we should conceive that
a man with such a sum in his possession would act
far more wisely to turn it to account in his own coun-
try, than to speculate with it in such a distant, half-
formed colony as that of Port Philip. " Sketch of
the Irish Great Debate" in the House of Commons
last month is moderate in its tone, but somewhat
heavy. A few apt sketches of character, which
might easily have been introduced, would have added
greatly to its interest. The writer justly observes
that the political and religious temper cf the House
is much improved of late years, and that angry bursts
of bigotry and intolerance are no longer received with
favour. We quote the following passage from a read-
able essay entitled "A Gossip on Sensuous Influences."
The reference in it to "Napoleon and the village
bells of Brientz"—it should have been Brienne—is
taken, word for word, without acknowledgment, from
the " Old Manor House"—a story which appeared in
Blackwood's Magazine some seven or eight years

since :
" Beethoven loved to wander forth by himself. The
hollow moanings of the coming storm, the whistlings of
the agitated trees, the flowing stream, the gushing
waterfall, the song of birds, the hum of voices, and the
thousand things which fall upon the ear, filled him with
delight, and imbued him with those wild and wondrous
combinations which astonish and please every lover of
music. The grand compositions of Handel were sug-
gested by the hum and noise of London, as he himself
states in a letter to Lady Luxborough; while Gluck,
the composer of the operas, Artaxerxes,' Demetrius
in Venice,' and "rhe Fall of the Giants,' was accus-
tomed to have his piandotte carried, on a fine day, into
some beautiful meadow, fancying himself more capable
(f composing when under the influence of flowers and
sunshine. Sarti, the Imperial. Chapel Master at St.
Petersburg, loved the mysterious gloom of a badly-
-I:glited room; and the eloquent Bossuet, and the no less
brilliant Curran, prepared for their oratorical display by
wild and extemporaneous airson the violoncello. Music
is a sensuous influence which powerfully excites the
mind; even the,philosophic Bacon found his ideas more
rife, and his capacity for writing increased, by having an
organ played in the adjacent room; and, happily, music
is not limited to the pealing tones of the organ, the soft
breathings of the lute, the stirring appeals of the
trumpet, or the lively strings of the violin—there is
music in the passing breeze and gushing rill, in the
song of birds and hum of bees, and in the village bells,
as they echo along the plain; and even on the battle-
fleld has their influence been felt: for who forgets the
anecdote of Napoleon and the village bells of Brieutz?" lie