The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-02 00:00:00

if we remember rightly, remarked on the ceremonious
grarity of the Yankee character, which has little of the 1
freshness of natural youth about it—a consequence,
no doubt, of the people's exclusive and inveterate at-
tention to business and the accumulation of money.
The writer was delighted with the ladies of New York,
whose appearance he thought extremely prepossessing.
" They are so infinitely superior to the men," he ob-
serves, "that one cannot help wondering how such
very pretty girls should have such exceedingly ordi-
nary-looking mortals for fathers and brothers." The
" Tempted" is a story which does not rise above
mediocrity. Our readers, perhaps, may be amused
with Mr. 'Murray's suggestions to lodging-hunters,
and we subjoin them according :
If, then,'you like your landlady, and her terms, be as
liberal as you can afford ; have a care of extras, and be
as rigorous as you please in settling what you shall have
to pay for them; but it is judicious, in the matter of
rent, not to attempt putting on the screw ; for if you
put on the screw, your hostess, depend on't, will take off
the lock !

Insist upon having a street-door key ; this puts an
end to all sorts of nonsense about regular hours, and also
is an act of humanity towards the poor servants who
may be compelled, after the labour of the day, to await
your return from the play, opera, or evening party, half
the night ; if there is any demur upon this head, you may
rest assured that you will not find yourself comfortable.
It is by no means necessary, or, indeed, desirable, that
you should be out late at night ; but it is essential that
you should he master of your own hours, and absolute in
your comings and goings ; for, if you are not permitted
the social comforts and cheering influences of a home, it
is hardly necessary for you to put yourself under petti-
coat government.
Insist, also, upon having cupboard keys, and begin as
you will find it necessary to end, by locking everything
up. No doubt the landlady is strictly honest ;we could
not doubt it for a moment ; Betty, too, carries in her
face a perpetual open letter of recommendation ; think
what a sin it would be to throw temptation in the way
of the rigorous virtue of Mrs. Smith, or to endanger, by
promiscuous gin-bottle, or casual tea and sugar, the
immaculate character of Betty ; therefore, I say, lock
up—lock up.
The most curious phenomenon attendant upon London
lodging-houses we have ever noticed, is that of sponta-
neous consumption.
Supposo a bottle of brandy arrives from your wine-
merchant—(of course I mean the public-house at the
corner, but wouldn't say so, except confidentially) ; you
mix one tumbler, which just empties the neck of your
bottle, replace the cork, put it in the cupboard, and
lock it up ; you dine the next day with your friend
snooks, the celebrated traveller ; the third day Snooks
dines with you upon tripe and onions ; dinner over, you
unlock your cupboard with all the confidence of a gen-
tleman " not so easily done," taking out your loaf-sugar
and brandy-bottle ; holding the latter up to the light,
you observe with surprise and horror that the brandy
has spontaneously sunk in the bottle at least a guar-
tern. You say nothing about it, lest Snooks should
have the laugh at you, and conclude not to mention it
to your landlady, lest she might think you a mean fellow.
This is what I call spontaneous consumption.
In like manner, when you purchale a pound of five-
shilling mixed—your landlady's canister holds exactly a
pound—you press it well into the canister, and find on
shaking it, that the contents do not make any noise—in
fact, the canister is full ; you breakfast ith Snooks, who
is starting for Timbuctoo next morning, and return
home to tea ; taking down your canister, to accept the
polite invitation of Ridgway and Co., whose bill request*
3ou to " try their five-sl.illings mixed," 3ou give it a
shake, and discover that it rattles !

This is another case of spontaneous con,umption.
This mysterious law of nature affects sugar, which in the
course of a couple of days we have known to evaporate
horn a pound of ninepenny down to not enough for
breakfast ; butter oozes imperceptibly through the sides
of your boat, so that you cannot for the life of you
make out what has become of the pound ) ou paid for the
morning before yesterday ; coals, though of a heavy
nature, tly off with woundrous rapidity, if you lay them
in yourself ; if your landlady provide them, you have
only to wonder how coals came to be worth a sixpence a
scuttle-full.
Lodging-houses, litre other commonwealths, have their
peculiar taxes, levied " towards carrying on the war,"
upon the subjects of her Majesty, Mrs. Smith, and ge-
nerally collected by Betty. This amounts to from five
to ton per cent. upon every article you require, or have
occasion to send out for, and is something in the nature
cif a broker's fee, or transfer-tax. A pound of mutton-
chops pays from a penny to twopence, according to the
ta.qte of the landlady—twopence if she cuts it fat ; deli-
cacios, such as fowl, game, or fish, considerably higher—
the tax;ktion in these cases proceeding upon thi-- income-
tax print; le, that you can afford it ; a lobster is charged
in your weeLly bill not so much according to its fresh-
ness as your °lvo._ ; cabbages are taxed according to the
greenness of the vegetable, and of the lodger.
Thus, whichever way you go to work, you are sure to
be " done ;" lay in your ovn consumables, they disap-
pear by spontaneous combustion ; send Betty for them ;
they pay Mrs. Smith's tax ; you can take your choice.

ALVSWORTH'S MAGAZINE.

Mr. Ainsworth's tale of " Saint James's" is here
brought to a close. The last scene is a quarrel be-
tween Bolingbroke and the Earl of Oxford, in the
p.eesence of Queen Anne, which is described with
mo:e easy, natural vigour than any other incident in
the `cork. The author has made as much of his sub-
ject as it was possible to make, but the period is not
one very suited to the purposes of romance. The
politics of the day were mean and tricky, without the
slightest particle of elevation and comprehensiveness,
and the statesmen were worthy of the politics ; the
manners of the Court and aristocracy were cold, pre-
cise, and formal ; and the prevailing literature was
not less stiff and artificial. It is evident that there
is little here for romance to work on—romance which
loves the showy and the picturesque, and which de-
generates into mere common-place if it have not
vigour and variety of character. Instead of being
surprised that Mr. Ainsworth has made so little of
his subject, we are surprised that he has made so
much of it. But if his Saint James's "be deficient
in the elements of romance, not so his " Revela-
tions of London," which abound in them to over-
flowing. The present chapters are full of startling,
melodramatic incident, but we must honestly confess
it is not much to our taste, for we have no relish for
diablerie, unless—as in the instances of Peter
Schlemible and Undine—it is made to illustrate and
work out some wholesome principle—to inculcate
some great moral truth. This was the redeeming
metit of Godwin's St. Leon, one of the grandest
conceptions to be found in modern literature. " A
Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla " contains some
thoughtful remarks suggested by the " Sicilian Ves-
pers, with which every reader of history is familiar ;
and also a passing allusion to " Young England,"
from which we infer that Mr. Leigh Hunt is strongly
.disposed to sympathise with the views of that rising
party. The "Governor's Daughter " is an interest-
inK story, the scene of which is laid in the province
of
_New Mexico. An " Anecdote of Old Townahend"
is a uassable bit of gossip, which should have been
told with more humour. The " Man with a Griev-
ance" is A pleasant essay, full of point and archness.
There is strict truth in the following remark :
" All are fieh that come to the net of a man with a
grievance. He is not particular about his listener,
but a listener he must catch. In a case of despera-
tion, the crossing-sweeper or the apple-woman—what
sufferings will sad humanity undergo for a penny !
,r2nust be seized on as a recipient of the story of his
.yfrongs." A " Triad of Sonnets," suggested by Wil-
so.'l's picture of Solitude, evince considerable promise.
The sketch of a solitary grass-grown dell, where the
" ageci trees look fatherly," and which seems as
though "it had not altered since the world was
made," very vividly and poetically pourtrayed,
tpromett:leus Vinctus is a clever ironical parody
of tEschylm's noble drama. Daniel O'Connell is
Prometheus, And the chorus is composed of fishwives
and repealersa Viscount Maidstone is the author of
this amusing :squib. A " Night in a Fog" contains
Que or two good theatrical anecdotes, which we sub-
join. The first alludes to the elder Kean
Among other anecdotes of this actor, which Mr.
Muh'igatawny Jackson's schoolmaster bad preserved,
was 0,-to of his having, when at the zenith of his fame,
ordered' at Ford's, a house at the corner of Vinegar-
yard, Di airy-lane, a plain joint and pudding to be gob
ready dai,ly for such of the poor actors as might choose
to partake' of it. He also told a story of the great
actor's setting off for Bath, accompanied by his secre-
tary, in his private carriage, who, as night came on, fell
asleep.
Tor yards morning, and while still at some dis-
tance from the town, lie awoke, and was astonished to
Ind that Kenn had left the carriage. Ho immediately
sopped the postboys to inquire if they had seen him
get out, but they pleaded ignorance. The secretary in-
staotly left the vehicle, and wandered into the fields, de-
scribing Mr. Kean to the few hinds he met, as a little
man wrapped in furs, &c., and offering a reward to any
one who, could give tidings of him. But no one had
;seen him. The postboys, who had their cue, begged of
IWm to get i nto the carriage, and drive to the nearest inn,
which the to.„Y,rified young man did, after ho had made
they fields echo with the cry of Oh, Lord Hamlet I
What ho my Lcrd Hamlet !' the character in which
Heart was to make his appearance ; but no Lord Hamlet
answm ed. They there on ; when just as they were
about to enter the inn-yard, anoth,ir carriage and four
drove l'uriously up, and, to the astonishment of his secre-
tary, Kean descended, accompanied by a travelling
. edlar, whom he had met on the road. This man con-
tin •sed with him while he remained at ,natli, drinking
chan. 'Par' and feasting sumptuously every day at his
own e. Kean absolutely brought him ip to town in
his ca,„ 'sine, setting him down in Bow-street, ,one cold
Novembe yr morning, saying to his secretary, as he did so,
Put your • hand in your pocket, and the first th ing you
touch, giv c; him.' The young man did as tie was
directed, an, I the result was; the pedlar left them some
tenorl, tweet) ' pounds better off than when they met.
Yes,' co utinued the barrister, though Edmund
icsan had man v failings, he had some good qualities to
atone for them': and amongst them great and uncalculat-
ing generosity. Ah he went on, was present at
the greatest audience ho ever drew—=,ilialt was at his
funeral. His sot t was chief mourner,
of the pall-bearer .s, and about a hundred or tri:eadfrYatonre
frater-
nity Wowed. I t was a very ,ehort distance frown
Ihouse to the chat whyard, but Richmond-green was a sea
, 'lf heads. Some r thousands of people were present.
..ele and on the stage
I 'es, I saw the la it of him. both th
(t, tie, detni-negro :looked, as he spoke, pathetically) I
r„ \ember it as (but yesterday. For many years le
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