The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-07 00:00:00

FRASER'S MAGAZINE.

Morgan Rattler has resumed his rambling remarks
on Horace and others, with an interest fully equal to
that which pervaded the first notice. This was only
what might have been expected from a critic of
taste and judgment ; for, of all the Latin poets, Horace
furnishes the most animated descriptions of the
human passions, and at the same time the most play-
ful fancy. He has nothing sour in his whole cha-
racter ; he praises wine, but wine only to modera-
tion ; he invokes his friends to enjoy themst4ves, only
to render life more agreeable, by using the "gools
the gods provide,"; not by abusing them ; and even
in his Satires he points out the follies and vices of
mankind with such a compassion for human weak-
ness, that he rarely gives offence by harshness, while
at the same time he renders virtue beautiful and vice
hateful. Some of the translations given in the pre-
sent notice show a knowledge of the author, and
furnish favourable specimens of versification—among
others, we may mention the translation of the Ode in
which Horace recounts his cowardly flight from the
field of Philippi. The three following verses will
enable the classical reader to judge for himself:—
Pompey, that wert the first my heart to share ?
With whom full oft I've sped the lingering day,
Quaffing bright wine, as in our tents we lay,
With Syrian spikenard in our glistening hair.
With thee I shared Philippi's fiery flight,
My shield behind me left, which was not well,
When all that brave array was broke, and fell
In the vile dust full many a towering wight.

But me, poor coward, swift Mercurius bore,
Wrapp'd in a cloud, through all the hostile din,
While war's tumultuous eddies, closing in,
Swept thee away into the strife once more.
" A Holiday Trip to Gravesend and Rochester " is
an amusing story, embodying historical accounts of
these places, very suitable for the enlightenment of
cockneys. The notice of Thiers' partial " His-
tory of the Consulate and Empire of France"
under Napoleon is just. While he is admitted to be
a spirited writer, and his accounts of battles graphic
and interesting, the selfish national vanity which he
displays, and the injustice he does to every character
in any way opposed to his hero, are not overlooked.
There is, says the reviewer, " no subject on which
M. Thiers displays more malevolence, and ignorance,
and misrepresentation, than on the right of belli-
gerents to search neutral vessels," but he has not yet
read the third volume, for in that the ex-Minister
throws all his other faults as a historian into the
shade. The merits and demerits of the work are
thus summed up—" It is the production of a brilliant
Bonaparte partizan, who would again set the world
in a blaze, for what is most sillily called the glory of
France." On the Maynooth question Regina is
very melancholy and desponding ; her darling state
coachman is driving to perdition, she will no longer
travel with him, and has absolutely left the " con-
cern." The growlings of Blackwood, and the awful
forebodings of Fraser, prove, independent of our
own conviction, that Peel is still an admirable driver,
and that the old worn-out Tory party just require
such a whip. Peel and the Irish Protestant Church,
according to this far-seeing prophet, are alike
doomed :
" What are we to gain—what is Ireland to gain by
increasing either the numbers or the condition of such
priests as Maynooth has hitherto sent out, and must
continue to send out, so long as they shall be forced to
depend for their subsistence afterwards upon the volun-
tary offerings of their flocks ? Nothing. You must
s u stillr e dl oaorkm
yt o, a tnhde
epxe
pa
es
ra
inetn
ecel a shs a ts'o rnroetc rtuaiutgs
htot 3ru•s utrh taotn a-
peasant priesthood, however highly educated, is any where,
unless liberally provided for by the civil Government, to
be trusted.

" On the whole, then, we cannot but regard this peace-
mtking measure of the Conservative Government as a
signal failure. It has done nothing, it never will do any
thing, towards conciliating the class that are to be bene
fitted by it, or withdrawing their attention from other
things. The Repealers accept it as an instalment, and
laugh in their sleeves all the while ; for they not unfairly
calculate that, through the indignation which it has ex-
cited, both here and elsewhere, in the breasts of Protes-
tants, it will facilitate rather than impede the final
triumph of the cause which they advocate. Meanwhile,
there is universal distrust in the Conservative camp. All
confidence in public men is shaken ; and the general
feeling seems to be, that, though matters may go on
smoothly during the continuance of the present Parlia-
ment, a terrible crisis awaits us. Let us hope that it is
not so; and, better still, let us be prepared.
" since the preceding pages went to press, Mr. Ward

i v
,~~~~~

has proposed his amendment, which Sir Robert Peel re-
sisted, and the House of Commons threw out. Be it ow
yet we confess, that as far as our perception of right atut
wrong goes; we really do not unclerstat:d the md/47
d the proceeding. The Minister who did not oriiiiriFiTiple to
assent, a few years ago, to the plunder of one-fourth of
the Irish clergyman's property, in order to give it lathe
Irish landlord ; and who has no hesitation now in rob-
bing, by Act of Parliament, the Protestant people of
England and Scotland, that he may have wherewithal to'
endow permanently a Homan Catholic college in Ire—
land, need nut, one would think, be very tender about
applying the remaining funds of the Irish Church to any
purpose which may seem to be desirable. He has not a
shred of principle on which to rest his present obstinacy;
for the principle, if partially conceded by the Whigs,
has been altogether given by himself. Morever, our
readers need not trouble them,.elves to speculate largely
about this matt. r. The Irish branch of the united
Church is doomed. A Conservative Government has
signed its death warrant, and Sir Hubert Peel, if be be
Prime Minister a few years longer, will do the office of
executioner."

DOLMAX'S MAGAZINE.

The third Number of this periodical opens with au
article entitled " The Genesis of Christendom, or the
Beginning of the Middle Ages," the first of a series
of sketches designed to illestrate the history of that
obscure period. A more unpromising subject for the
pages of a magazine could ln.rdly have been selected,
for whatever records of the age remain present little
else than an uninterrupted scene of barbarity,
anarchy, and bloodshed. At the same time, it must
be admitted that the task, though not a pleasing, is a
most useful one, and the author has rendered the
article palatable by quotations from our best modern
historians. This number likewise contains the -
biography of that arch impostor, Joseph Balsamo,
better known as Count Cipliostro, whose ordi-
nary impostures weninfor many years the w der of
Europe. The nature, ectent, and success, of ,is im-
postures at this day seem incredible. " Fashion and
fanaticism combined to elevate Cagliostro to Adegree
of general celebrity and estimation rarely attained by
even illustrious men. Portraits of him adorned fans,
rings, and snuff-boxes, medals—boxes and medals
were cast of him—and beneath his bust were to be
read the words Le devin Cagliostro.' " The vaga-:
bond was born at Palermo, in 1743, and first gamma
notoriety by pretending to a knowledge of the " Sack
art." He sub,equently visited most of the European
cities, which he laid under contribution, and his ad-
herents comprised persons of every class, even the
highest. " Taking the secrets of fremasonry for a
grand work whereon to erect a gorgeous superstruc,.
ture of mystery and imposture, he became the
apostle of a new sect or degree, to which
he gave the name of the Egyptian rite, and of which„
pretending to be the grand cophte, or master, he sue--
ceeded in establishing lodges over all Europe." He
renewed all the absurdities of the middle ages, and.
declared his knowledge of the philosopher's stone, and'
to the possession of a powder by which youth could
he successfully maintained, and death successfully
kept at bay. But the grand instrument of fraud was
the masonic system. Cagliostro was initiated at
Frankfort-on-the-Maine into the mysteries Ipf the
German illuminati, which is thus described :
" The candidate is conducted through a gloomy cor-
ridor into an enormous hall, of which the roof, walls,
and floors are alike covered with black cloth, picked out
with flames and snakes. Three sepulchral lamps at in-
tervals emit a dying glare, which enables him to distin-
guish piles of human remains, and a sort of altar entirely
formed of skeletons. Here he is abandoned to his re-
flections for eight consecutive hours, at the expiration of
which, enter phantoms, clad in shrouds, who, after wan-
dering for a time in dead silence, disappear through
trap-doors, from the invisible opening of which exhale
the most pestiferous odours. The candidate passes twenty-
four hours in that darksome vault ; his energies are en-
feebled by a long fast ; he beholds three cups
filled with greenish beverage ; he essays to
drink, but turns with disgust away. At length
arrive two seeming ministers of death. They
bind the pallid brow of the candidate with a
ribbon steeped in blood, place in his hands a metal
crucifix, and hang certain amulets round his neck. He
is then stripped, his clothes are thrown on a funeral
pile, and crosses are traced with blood upon his body.
In this state of suffering and humiliation, he is ap-
proached by five spectral figures, armed with huge
sabres and enveloped in bloody draperies. Their faces
are veiled—they fall to the ground, and remain for an
hour as if absorbed in prayer. At the
.expiration of
that time plaintive accents are heard. The pile is fired.
The garments of the candidate are consumed thereon.
A colossal figure is seen to advance, and the five pros-
trate men appear to fall into the most terrible convul.
sions. A trembling voice now articulates the oath
which is to be taken by the candidate. He is made by
it to swear, under the most awful penalties, that he will
renoance every natural tie, forswear allegiance to all
human authority, and respect l'aqua toffana, the
deadliest of all poisons, as the grandest medium ever
discovered for ridding the earth of the enemies of truth.
The obligation having been taken, a candelabrum, with
seven lighted tapers of black wax, is placed in front of
the candidate. He is then plunged in a bath of blood
and made to swallow a draught of it. A cold sweat
seizes him ; from a state of delirious frenzy be falls
into insensibi ity. . . . The ceremony is over, and
a warm bath and a repast composed of various roots
gradually restore him to his senses."
Such are the hideous rites which the besotted
votaries of superstition have practised even in the
eighteenth century. Cagliostro, after a run of
twenty year at length fell into the hands of the
tioinan Inquisitors, and died in prison in 1795.
The remaining articles we have not space to ob-
serve upon. As a fair specimen of the poetry of this
number, we select the following " On a Wild Flower
rom the Grave of Burns" :

S, e this wild flowret cull'd on the bard's lowly grave,
Where its tribuLo of fragrance it modestly gave—
'Tis the symbol of him o'er whose relics It bloomed,
The songster of nature, by nature entombed.
Like this flowret, he grew all uncultur'd and wild—
Untutor'd by man, he was Nature's own child;

And the dear fragrant sweets of his own teeming soul
Breath'd gently around, without guide or control.
The sweet scent of the plant has now faded away,
But the songs of the Minstrel of Scotland shall stay ;
And fancy shall hasten its homage to pour
O'er the grave ‘A here once blossom'd this wild desert
flower.