The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-01 00:00:00

TAIT'S MAGAZINE.

In his political article this month Tail, while hitting
equally hard at both Whigs and Tories, takes .the
opportunity of introducing the following compli-
mentary-allusion to Lord Howick His Lordship
is a man from whom we expect much. - lle hi.:
talent, courage, moral earnestness, character—ill the
well-wearing qualities of mind andi heart on which a
nation may rely. With strong hereditary claims tue
the leadership of Reformers, he is establishing an
independent title of his own, on the broadest and surest
This compliment is not undeserved.'
fol,l
Throughoutndat foundations." "the session, while the Whigs have been.
nodding night after night on the Opposition benches.
in a state of sulky inactivity and torpor, and the
Tories have been playing the coward's game of ex-
pediency, rescinding to-day the vote of yesterday;
and covering theMselves with shame and obloquy,
Lord Howick has been distinguishing himself by bis
zeal, boldness, and manifest sincerity in the cause
of political and commercial reTorm : and the most
enlarged, statesmanlike sentiments that have been
enunciated in Parliament since its opening in Fe-
bruary last, are those that have fallen from his lips.
He has gone far beyond the majority of his party
in the manliness and prescient sagacity of his political
utterances ; and, on the important question. of the
Irish Church, spoke out in the true spirit of an en 7
lightened statesman, who " sees, as from a tower, the.
end of all." Alluding to the existing state of par-
ties in the House of Commons, Tail proceeds to
remark that Whigs, as well as Tories, are decidedly
in a " false position." This is perfectly true. Both
appear to he equally the hapless victims of circum-
stances, and fear to express themselves otherwise than
in a timid, hesitating, equivocal manner. The truth
is, the age is rapidly shooting a-head of them ; they
feel this, and know not by what means to retrieve
themselves in popular estimation. While the business
of legislation is conducted in almost every instance on
Whir'e. principles, the Whigs themselves are in ths
lowest state of political decrepitude ; and. the Tories-
are regarded in no better light than as a set of slaves
dragged sulkily and reluctantly at the chariot-wheels
of triumphant opinion. The r‘ Earth Stopper" is a
graphic sporting sketch, apparently from the life, and
is the production of Mr. Mills—the legitimate Ines
cesSor of the late Nimrod. The "Rose of Tistelon”
is a notice of a tale translated from the Swedish -at:
Emilie Carlen, and oll'ends grievously in point
length. " Bon Gaultier and his Friends" is a series
of lively after••dinner dialogues, written for the most
part withltiet and vigour, but recalling ton often the.
recollection of the inimitable " Noctes" of glga-

wood. " Young Scotland," one of the speakers, talks
well, but he is not for an instant to be compared with
" Old Scotland," so worthily represented by Chris-
topher North. There are several snatches of verse
interspersed through the dialogues, from among
which we select a poem on the Interment of Tho-
mas Campbell." who, it may be remembered, was
buried a month or two since in Westminster Abbey :
See, what eager throngs are pouring inwards from the busy

street !
Lo, the Abbey's hush is broken with the stir of many feet !
Hark ! St. Margaret's bell is tolling, but it is no common clay,
To that dull and rueful anthem, shall be laid in dust to-day !
In von Minster's hallowe.! corner, where the bards and ages

rest,
Is a silent chamber waiting to receive another guest.
There is sadness in the heavens, and a veil against the sun ;
Who shall mourn so well as Nature when a poet's course is run ?
Let us in and join the gazers, meek of heart and bare of brow,
For the shadows of the mighty dead are hovering o'er us now.
Aonls that kept their trust immortal, dwelling from the-herd

apart,
Sod.; that wrote their noble being deep into a nation's heart,
_flames that, on great England's forehead., are the jewels of
her pride,
Brother Scot, be proud, a brother soon shall slumber by their

side I
Ay, thy cheek is flushing redly, tears are crowding to thine eyes,
And thy heart, like mine, is rushing back where Scotland's

mOnntains rise ;
Thou, like me, hast seen another grave would suit our poet well,
Greenly braided by the breckan, in a lonely Highland dell,
Looking on the :solemn waters of a mighty inland sea,
Jr; the sita4w of a mountain, where the lonely eagles be :

'Thou hait seenthe kindly heather bloom around his bed,
Heard the loch and torrent mingle dirges for the poet dead ;
Brother, thOit past seen him lying, as it is thy hope to he,
Looking, froth the soil of Scotland, up into a Scottish sky !.
It may be, such grave were better,—better, rain and dew
should fall,
Tears of hopeful love to freshen Nature's ever-verdant pall ;
Better that the sun should kindle on hisgrave in golden smiles,
Better than, in palsied glimmer, stray along these sculptured

. -
aisles ;
Better after times should find him,—to his rest in homage

bound,—
Lying in the land that bore him, with its glories piled around !
uch, at least, must be the fancy that in such a time must

start,—
For we love our country dearly,—in each burning Scottish

heart;
Yet a rest .s ()Teat so noble, as awaits the minstrel here.

'Along the best of England's children, can he no unworthy bier.
Hark; a rush of feet They bear him,—him, the singer, to

his tomb;
Yonder what of him is mortal lies beneath yon sable plume.
Tears along mine eyes are rushing, but the proudest tears

they be,
That on manly eyes may gather,—tears, 'twere never shame

to see ;
'Tears that water lofty purpose ; tears of welcome to the fame
Of the bard that hat% ennobled Scotland's dear and noble

name.
Sadder, sadder, let the anthem yearn aloft in wailing strain.
Not for him, for he is happy, but for us and all our pain
lliler; louder, let the organ like a seraph anthem roll,
Hymning to its home of glory our departed brother's soul
Ile has laid him down to slumber, to awake to nobler trust,
Give his frame to kindred ashes, earth to earth, and dust to

dust !
Louder yet, and yet snore loudly let the organ's thunder rise!
Hark-! a louder thunder answers, deepening inwards to the

skies,— _
Heaven's majestic diapason, pealing on from east to west.
Never grander music anthem'd poet to his home of rest.

FRASER'S MAGAZINE.

Mr. Horace Twiss's recently published " Life of
Lord Chancellor Eldon," which has attracted public
attention in no ordinary degree, is reviewed at con-
siderable length in this .Sumber, and with a tact and
Spirit that denotes the hand of a practised writer.
The fairness and moderation, too, of the criticism are
not .among its least recommendations. We con-
fidently expected—knowing well the high Toryalarac-
terof Fraser—to have seen it stuffed full of the most
futiome eulogiums on Lord Eldon ; instead of which,
while it does justice to his merit, it points out his de-
feets frankly and boldly, with a conscientious regard
tv truth of portraiture. Commenting on Mr. Twiss's
hasty remark, that the Chancellor's powers " were of
. that rare and standard order from which a whole
generation is fain to take its impulse," the Reviewer
appropriately observes, " his position was essentially
tees of resistance, and that only. It was impossible,
then, that he could give an impulse to a generation.
One might as well say that a breakwater gives an
impulse to the billows, or the fortifications of a city
to the artillery discharged against it." This is an
apt and faithful illustration of the character of Lord
Eldon's political system. He deemed it his duty as
s:statesman, not to accelerate, but to check, as far as
in him lay, the inevitable progress of events ; to
defend the existing state of things, and oppose him-
self to every species of innovation. He had no faith
in Reform theories, whether legal or constitutional,
but wad desirous to leave the world in his old age in
the same condition in which he faund it in his youth.
Had he lived in the days of witchcraft he would
never have consented to abolish the statutes against
it; would have maintained the legality of general
warrants as an integral part of our " glorious con-
stitution ;" and would have given " one cheer more'
in favour of the doctrine of constructive treason.
That he was clever, learned, and conscientious all must
admit, but none can say that he was a great man, in
the comprehensive sense of the term. The elements
of greatness were not to be found in his composition.
He had no enlarged conceptions—no generous enthu-
siasm—no foresight ; his views were limited—his na-
ture distrustful—and, instead of turning a hopeful
eye towards the future, he was ever casting a fond
look back upon the past. Abuses of every kind, pro-
vided they had antiquity to recommend them, always
found in him a staunch supporter; and he was really
so defend the most monstrous paradoxes, if they hap-'
pened to accord with his political prejudices. A bet •
ter man never lived—a worse statesman never inflit•
sawed the destinies of a kingdom. Like his master,
George the Third, whom he resembled in his worldly
craft and inveterate obstinacy, his private presented a
striking ontrast to his public character—the one being
as irreproachahle as the other was glaringly defective.
flewever, he is now gone to his account, and far be
it from Its to treat his memory with undue harshness.
Throughout his long political career he acted uni-
formly according, to the dictates of his conscience,
and committed a world of mischief with the best pos-
sible intentions. Alluding incidentally to Lord El-
Jan's residence at Oxford, and the system of classical
study pursued at that university, and also at our
puldie schools, the Reviewer says—" As to the odes,
essays, and the like, in Greek and Latin, we knowasio
aecnpation on which the human intellect can be more
lamentably prostituted." What, indeed, can be more
absurd than to compel a boy against the grain to corn-
pase Circe!: and LAtin alcaics, sapphics, iambics, &e.
We laugh at the idea of his being made an English
poet on compulsion, and yet we strive to make him
a poet• in a dead language by dint of a strenuous
process of flagellation ? This is a species of scholastic
iiigatry that needs a thorough reformation. The
Lectures of Professor Keble considered with refe-
rence to some of the Latin poets," is a ram'sling
essay, written in a•fluent style, full of imagery, bat
V.itliout any direct object that we can perceive. In
the article on the " Marquise de Sevigne," we have a
hiographical sketch of this accomplished lady, the
heartless viyacity of whose famous letters—so illus-
trative of the character of the age in which they were
written—liorace Walpole has imitatel with marked
fiwee,s4. " A Fine Day in Piccadilly " is a gossiping
account of the numerates changes that have taken
place in this fashionable thoroughfare. Among other
singular metamorphoses, the well-known public-house,
the " Hercules Pillars," whore Fielding's Squire
Western put up on his visit with Sophia to London,
has, it seems, been transformed into Apsley House,
the present town residence of the Conqueror of Na
aoleon. Thus the site has an historical as well as a
literary celebrity attached toll, The "Luck of Barry
Lyndon " is at length brought to a close. It is an
amusing tale, and will, we suppose, be re-published
in the usual three volume form. From "Military
Tableaux " we quote an account of the battle of
Dennewitz,foUght between the French and Prussians
in the year 1813 :
" Early in the morning an aide-de-camp of the Crown.
Prince of Sweden" (the reader will recollect that Berna-
dotte commanded the allied army of the north during
the campaign of 1813) " brought General Borstell an
order to remain in observation before Wittenberg; but
the roar of artillery, which had for some time been
heard in the direction of Dennewitz, was now gathering
thick and fast upon the ear, and calling loudly upon us
to hasten to the aid of our. countrymen. Tell 'his Royal
>Flighness,' said_ General Borstell to the staff-officer,
• that the battle is raging in the direction of Lower Gers-
.Atorff ; there it is that result must be decided, and
there my duty
.ealls'the -in consequence.' Events jus-
tiflaci reqoltition but his answer shows the
little harmony that existed' between the allied troops and
eornmanders during the 'early part of the campaign of
1813, the total want of confidence reposed by the Prus-
sians in Bernadotte, as well. as the low and dangerous
kbb to which subordination had fallen in eonceci
,tvilb of which a skilful enemy might have taken the ituest
fmal advantage.

" The order to march was instantly the sod-
but nwo ilmtveenß-StA left to
diers were in the act of cooking,
prepare, still leas to enjoy the frugal meal ; the soup was
thrown- away,, and the half-beiled meat nuked into
camp-kettles, and the arms quickly grn,p,,4l: Orr
course
ley straight on, over stubble fields and broken ground,
nr.d almost always at a double-quick step,
moment staff' officers were arriving and urging us
to
every
speed and:increased exertion. The roar of artillery was
every moment growing louder and louder, dust and pers-
piration had already disguised every countenance be-
neath impenetrable masks, when, about eleven o'clock,
we loud ourselves on the right of the line, and joined
in the action. Our arrival tended greatly to revive the
spirits Of the other brigades of Bulow's corps, no longer
'Ale to-Withstand the continued assault of such vastly
superior foes. Before us we could see nothinF, as the
soldiers said, but the sky of the French ; and we
really perceived the enemy standing on several lines,
while to retain an equal front with them we wore obliged
to bring .not only our second line, but our reserve also
into front line. /The battle of Dennewitz certainly does
the Prussian soldiers great honour, for the French were
at least double our number, as we had not more than
40,000 men in the field. They. were also superior to us
is artillery, for our brigade had generally.from twelve
to twenty guns rattling at us, and could only reply with
two six-pounders that stood near our battalion,"and with
four other field-pieces posted some three battalions to
Qur left ; and, as Stated, we fought without a reserve.

" At four o'clock in the afternoon the battle seemed,:
indeed, to be against us ; some of our corps began gra-
dually to fall back, and officers remarked that victory
was not to be achieved against such an overwhelming
superiority, and that the contest was only maintained till
night should enable us to make good our retreat. We,
therefore, resolved to keep well together during the
darkness, and not to allow the retrograde movement to
break into a wild and confused flight. It seemed, in-
deed, impossible to effect anything against the imposing
masses of the enemy, and for ten French shots we could
hardly count the report of a single Prussian gun. One
of the field-pieces near us had been dismounted ; and
the sister, to conceal her affliction, perhaps, from public
view, had , discreetly retired. Our situation seemed
gloomy and depressing beyond description, when a single
quarter of an hour completely changed the aspect of
affairs.
" Clouds of dust were seen in rear of our right wing;
they were occasioned by forty pieces of Russian and
twelve pieces of Swedish artillery, that had outstripped
the slow march of the Crown Prince's army, and now
arrived to our aid. Passing at a round trot through
the intervals of our line, they unlimbered about a hun-
dred yards in our front, and opened a fire that seemed
to shake the very firmament. The French, who proba-
bly thought themselves already victorious, were as much
depressed as we were elated by this unexpected change.
Our spirits rose, indeed, to absolute wildness ; the drums
beat the charge—as far as I could learn, without any
order—the bugles sounded the advance, and the bands
struck up ; joy and cheerfulness were boundless and
universal. Every man urged his neighbour forward ;
Hurrah ! now we have them,' was the general cry, and
on we pressed in God's name. Exhausted as our bri-
gade was, the soldiers exerted their last breath in efforts
to join the onset ; and, as if by miracle, the French were
totally overthrown."