The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

LITERATURE.
7'llE PH AN7'O _ll WORLD. By A. Calmet.
Edited by the Rev. H. Christmas. 2 Vuls.
The eloquent author of " The Cradle of the Twin
Giants" has here presented us with an admirable
tran,lation of a most interesting work—a work which,
while it fascinates the lovers of the marvellous by its
very title.—''the Phantom World 1" will furnish the
thoughtful and inquiring philosopher with abundant
matter of in' crest iu the many investigations
_into the
truth or falsehood of supernatural apparitions which
it contains. If the authors deductions he calculated
to dispose his readers too strongly to a belief in the
supernatural, the editor's introduction will, perhaps,
exercise a counteracting influence. Of the author
we find the following interesting account in the intro-
duction :
" Augustine Calmet was bora in the year 1672, at a
village near Commerce in Lorraine. He early gave
proofs of aptitude for study, and an opportunity was
pq,e-dtly offered for devoting himself to a life of learning.
In his s'xteenth year he became a Benedictine of the
congregation of St. Vannes, and preseouttal his theolo-
gical and such philosophical studies as the time allowed
with great success. He was speedily eppointed to teach
the younger portion of the community, and gave in this
employ teen: such decided vatiJaction to his superiors,
that ho was soon marked fur preferment. His chief
study was the Scriptures, and in the teTenty-second year
of his age ho was appointed to the sub-prior of the
Nlonastry of Munster, in Alsace, where he presided
over an academy. This academy consisted of ten or
twelve monks, and its object was the investigation of
Scripture. Client was not idle in his new position. Be-
sides communicating so much valuable information as to
make his pupils the best Biblical scholars in the coun-
try, ho made extensive collections for his Commentary
on the Old and New Testameets,' and fur his still more
celebrated work, The History of the Bible.' These
materials he subsequently digested and arranged. The
`Commentary,' a work of immense value, was published
in separate volumes from 1707 to 1716. His labours at•
traced renewed and increased attention, and the offer of
a bishopric was made him, which he unhesitatingly de-
clined.
"In 1718, he was elected to the Abbacy of St.
Leopold, in Nancy; and ten years afterwards to that of
Seuoues, where he spent the remainder of his days. His
writings are numerous; two have been Already men-
tioned, and so great was the popularity of his Comtnen-
teries, that they were translated into no fewer than.
six languages within ten years. They exhibit
a favourable aspect of the author's mind, and give a
very high idea of his erudition. One cause which
tended greatly to the universal acceptability of this work
was its singular freedom from sectarian bitterness.
Protestants ae well as Romaniats may use it with equal
satisfaction; and accordiegly it is considered a work of
standard auiherity in England as much as on the con-

tinent."
Such is the character given of Calmet, one of the most
popular of whose works was this " Phantom World."
Its popularity is not surprising when the very com-
prehensive and most attractive nature of its contents
is token into consideration. Almost innumerable ap-
paritions, authenticated and fictitious, of angels, and
demons, and spirits, from those recorded in the Scrip-
tures down to the ghost-stories of modern times, are
here related and examined, and although, in the opi-
nions of many readers, Calmet will be found leaning
to the side of credulity, his summing- up of contra-
dictory opinions is on the whole judicious.
In one chapter, entitled the " Secrets of Physics and
Chemistry," he records many marvels as astonishing
as any supernatural legends, which may be ascribed
to natural causes ; and here he remarks—" It is true
that the oftener we examine into what have been taken
for apparitions, the more satisfied must we be that
nothing is found real, extraordinary, or supernatural;"
but, on the other band, he expresses as his conviction
that " we must in these matters keep the medium
between excessive credulity and extreme incredulity;
we must be prudent, moderate, and enlightened; we
must, according to the advice of St. Paul, test every-
thing, examine everything, yield only to evidence and
known truth." A little further on he thus
enumerates the subjects touched upon in the
first portion of his work, and pronounces
his own judgment upon them. " After having
made this exposition of my opinion concerning the
apparitions of angels, demons, souls of the dead, and
even of one living person to another, and having
spoken of magic, of oracles, of obsessions, and pos-
sessions of the demon ; of sprites and familiar spirits ;
of sorcerers and witches ; of spectres which predict the
future; of those which haunt hoasei,—after baying
stated the objections which are made against such
apparitions, and having replied to them in as weighty
a manner as I possibly could, I think I may con-
clude that, although this matter labours still under
very great difficulties, as much respecting the foun-
dation of the thing—l mean as regards the truth and
reality of apparitions in general—as for the way in
which they are made, still we cannot reasonably dis-
allow that there may be true apparitions of all the
kinds of which we have spoken, and that there may
be also a great number very disputable ; and
some others which are manifestly the work of knavery,
of mischievousness, of the art of charlatans, and
fi,xibility of those who play sleight-of hand tricks.
I acknowledge, moreover, that iniquitous preposses-
sions, simplicity, superstition, excess of credulity,
and weakness of mind, have given rise to many
stories which are related, that ignorance of pure phi-
losophy has caused to be taken for miraculous effects,
and unlawful magic, which is the simple effect of
natural magic." After making all these allowances
for fraud and credulity, Calmet's belief in the possi-
bility of supernatural apparitions is unshaken, and
the readers of his fascinating book will no doubt
agree with him in secret, although, perhaps, but few
will venture to express such a conviction—the ulti-
matum arrived at by a perusal of the " Phantom
World" being, that spirits can, with the per-
mission of Providence, appear to men, but
that they very seldom do so appear. The
second portion of the work possess es a more
horrible interest; it is a dissertation- on those tradi-
tionary vampires and vroncolacas respecting whom
so many revolting stories have been circulated. The
absurdity of such tales, and the non-existence of the
monsters upon whose existence they were founded,
is here very forcibly demonstrated. The " Phantom
World" is worthy of a perusal by the thoughtful,
and inquiring, as being an incidental chapter in " the
proper study of mankind," while the lovers of the hor-
rible and the wonderful will find in it a horrible and
wonderful attraction. The reading public are al-
ready greatly indebted to Mr. Christmas for the
very interesting and excellent manner in which he
makes them acquainted with interesting and excellent
works.

THE CONSERVATIVE MAGAZINE. No. I.
This, the first number of u new monthly magazine,
which upholds the cause of Protection with the same
power and smartness as Fraser's Magazine was wont
to uphold the cause of Boroughmongwring in 1832.
Indeed, it strongly reminds us of what Fraser was in
its early and palmy days, and were either poor Ma-
ginn or "Morgan Rattler," choicest of good spirits,
still alive, we should have suspected that they had
something to do with the management of this slashing
periodical. Its literary articles are of a high order of
merit, and both Blackwood and Fraser must look
well about them if they hope to hold their own
against this new candidate for Conservative patronage.

THE PALLADIUM. No. IL
The second number of this new monthly fully
maintains the high character which the publication of
the first number has acquired. The opening paper
on "Agriculture and Free Trade," by an East Lo-
thian former, is one of the most masterly political
essays we have ever perused. We should much like
to see this essay published separately in a cheap form,
and widely circulated among the tenant-farmers,
whom it could not but enlighten as to their true in-

HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO CASTLE
HOWARD.
CASTLE HOWARD, AUG. 27.

At a season of the year when every one who can
seeks relief from the routine of ordinary life and
official duty her Majesty the Queen, leaving as many
of the cares of state and as much of the pomp of
royalty behind her as possible, travels northward to
her quiet retreat in the Highlands of Scotland. The
same instinct which sets her subjects in motion in
quest of health and amusement—which sends our
legislators to the moors, our professional men to
Switzerland or the Rhine, and even our shopkeepers
to some well-beloved place by the sea-side, acts alike
upon the Queen and the Royal Family. The declin-
ing year and the close of a busy season warn all
closes, while " autumn's pleasant weather" enables
them to de so, to dedicate some portion of time
to change of scene, to seek pleasure in the fields,
and throwing away some at least of the formeli-
ties of society, to enjoy life by living according
to fancy, and ignoring as much as may be that
hard word, necessity. Her Majesty's subjects
have an obvious advantage over her in the
facility with which they can gratify their
vacation longings. When once the back of an
ordinary Englishman is turned upon his street-door,
and the family abode is confided to the care of his
housekeeper, he takes his departure in some cab or
omnibus, and straightway all trace of him is gone.
He may travel earth or sea, but as long as he commits
no crime and pays his way, he passes quietly and
unobtrusively along. Not so the Qaeen. Whatever
desire she may have for privacy, and however
effectually she may secure it at Balmoral, she cannot
altogether escape observation on her way there. Ac
cordingly, her annual visits to the north are suffi-
ciently in the nature of a royal progress to justify the
publication of their details. Last year she took Ire-
land in her way. This season she travels through by
railroad, resting on her way at Castle Howard, and
in the ancient Palace of Holyrood at Edinburgh.
Castle Howard, the seat of the Earl of Carlisle, will
be honoured by her Majesty's presence from to-night
till Thursday morning ; and as it is one of the finest
places in England, some description of it may not
prove uninteresting.
The ancient family mansion was Hinderskelp
Castle, but this structure having been destroyed by
fire its barbarous name perished with it, and the new
building which was erected on the site of the old.was
appropriately and proudly called Castle Howard. It
is about 16 miles north-east from York, on the road
to Scarborough, and was built from a design by Van-
burgh. The style of it much resembles that of Blen-
heim, though the plan differs materially. There is
something rather heavy in the effect which it pro-
duces, the broken outlines, the varying elevations of
the roof, and the fantastic chimneys, statues, and
domes with which it is surmounted, being deficient in
grace, but as a whole the building has a sufficiently
imposing exterior, and certainly does not merit the
harsh terms in which Arthur Young speaks of it. He
says :—" The house loses the grandeur as well as the
beauty that ought to attend so large and extensive a
building in the want of unity of its parts, which have
as little beauty in themselves as connexion with each
other. The front, however, of the new wing will be
light and elegant—an advantage which serves for little
else but rendering the rest of the building the more un-
pleasing." Such isYoung's estimate of the architectural
pretensions of Castle Howard. At the time he made his
tour in these parts there were many things to ruffle a
traveller's temper and disturb the calmness of his
judgment which do not exist now-a-days. Ac-
cordingly we are not surprised to find duly recorded
by him, under the head of " Roads," the following
entry :—" To Castle Howard infamous ; I was near
being swallowed up in a slough." His estimate of
the park is nearer the truth. "It possesses extraor-
dinary beauty from the remarkably tasteful manner
in which it is wooded, and from the natural lay of the
land, which undulates in such a manner as to se-
cure a' succession of the fineet perspectives. The view
from the north front of the Castle is particularly
splendid, the eye being carried over it beautiftil lake
to distant slopes and rich woodland heights, which
realise to the mind the very
.perfection of English
scenery." The park timber is of goodly size, and
" ancestral" in its character, as the name of the fa-
mily might lead one to expect. Some old oaks of
great girth, their huge branches still putting
forth leaves, add much to the picturesque effect
of the scenery, and recall to the imagina-
tion those remote times when forests were a
reality in England, and forest laws were enforced
with all the rigour of feudal authority. From time
to time efforts have been made to heighten the natural
beauty of the park by the erection in different places
of ornamental edifices. There is a mausoleum, cir-
cular in shape, terminating in a dome, and surrounded
by a colonnade of Tuscan pillars ; an lonic temple,
with four porticoes, and fitted up in a costly manner
with marble ; a small pyramid, various fantastic arch-
ways; a pillar commemorative of the building of the
mansion, and an obelisk dedicated to the glory of the
great Duke of Marlborough. So many objects of a
miscellaneous character, however elegant in them-
selves, produce a disagreeable effect upon the eye, and
almo't justify Arthur Young's censure, when he pro-
nounces them to be "in a style so heavy and clumsy
as to be perfectly di-tgusting." The obelisk is finely
placed at the intersecting point of two noble avenues,
the stately trees of which surround it on every side,
except where it may be seen to the best advantage.
Where the effects of natural beauty have been relied
upon the park is delightful, but the attempt to
heighten the effects of scenery by artificial embellish-
ment has not been very successtnl, and the stranger
will find at least as much within the Castle as with-
out it to engage his curiosity and gratify his tastes.
There is something singularly imposing in the
spectacle which the mansion of one of our great no-
blemen on such occasions as this presents. The im-
mense extent of accommodation, the huge domestic
establishment, the suites of noble apartments dediCated,
to state, and the atmosphere of comfort and luxurious
elegance which pervades the rooms appropriated to
the quiet tenour of family life—all these things
crowd upon the mind of a visitor as he enters the
great hall of Castle Howard and surveys its lofty
ceiling, its massive columns, and richly decorated
walls and staircase, and as he passes thence through
a long series cf apartments filled with paintings and
sculpture, with costly and rare marbles, with splendid
tapestry, and with whatever else the cultivated and
high-born esteem precious. The rooms are well-
proportioned and excellently arranged, both as to
position with reference to each other and their ge-
neral keeping. The dining-room is ornamented
with bronzes, with slabs of Sicilian jasper, an urn
of green porphyry, and ancient busts. The saloon
above-stairs has some beautiful tables, and on its
walls and ceiling classical subjects are painted. The
drawing-room is adorned with rich tapestry from the
designs of Rubens, with pillars of green porphyry,
and'with busts and bronzes. The pavement of the
blue drawing-room is mosaic. The state bed- room is
hung with fine Brussels tapestry, after the designs of
Teniera, the chimney-piece is highly ornamental, and
&along the other embellishments of the apartment is a
painting by Canaletto, of the Doge of Venice marry-
ing the Adriatic. Then there is the breakfast- room,
the museum and antique gallery, 160 feet long, con-
taining a vast assemblage of curiosities, and several
other apartments, all decorated with the works of
great masters. The most celebrated picture in the
collection is the Three Marys, by Annibale Cs-
racci. It once belonged to the unfortunate Philip
Egalite, and having been, during the first French
revolution, brought over to this country with
several others, passed into the hands of the
Carlisle family. The apartment in which most
of these pictures are now hung is called the
Orleans Room. The collection of paintings by Ca-
naletto is very large and fine, one apartment being
entirely filled with them. Among the works of art
may be noticed a very extraordinary picture, by Ma-
beuse, of the Adoration of Christ by the Wise Men;
the Entombing of Christ, by Ludovico Caracci ; a
portrait of Snyders, by Vandyck ; St. John the
Evangelist, by Domenichino ; and some fine family
portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Sir Thomas
Lawrence. Two conspicuous objects are pointed out
to the visitor in connexion with the present amiable
and accomplished representative of the Carlisle
family--a monster address, some 400 feet long, pre-
sented to him on retiring from office as Chief Secre-
tary for Ireland, and a splendid memorial of attach-
ment:presented to him by his constituents after being
defeated in the representation of the West Riding.
From the style, in which Castle Howard is embel-
lished let us revert to the character of the reception
prepared for her Majesty. That reception is to be a
private one, and not extravagantly or absurdly mag-
nificent, though suited to the exalted station of the
guest and the noble rank and ancient family of her
host. The Earl of Carlisle has invited a
select circle of friends to Castle Howard, who are to
have the honour of meeting her Majesty. Among
the company are the Duchess of. Sutherland and her
daughter, Lady Constance Leveson Gower, Lady
Dover, the Hon. Miss Ellis, the Hon. Miss Diana
Ellis, the Hon. W. and Lady Caroline Lascelles the
Hon.Mr .
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