The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-01 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

Some sensible remarks, appear in this Number
headed " The Censorship of the English Drama,"
which, as the majority of our readers know, is'a
power delegated to the- Lord Chamberlain and his
deputy, the Licenser: The remarks have been sug-
gested by the singular circumstance of a new comedy
in five acts, " Richlieu in Love," having been for-
mally prohibited by the officials—after it had been
accepted by Mr. Webster, and advertised to be per-
formed at the Haymarket—on the plea that "it was
unfit to be represented, because it was calculated to
bring the Church and State into contempt!" As we
have not seen the piece, we cannot, of course, under-
take to say how far this plea is tenable or otherwise;
but who can possibly imagine Church and State to be
in danger of being blown, to atoms by a broadside
from a Haymarket comedy? The idea seems to us
pre-eminently absurd, and could only have insinuated
itself into the imagination of a man blest by Provi-
dence with the very thickest of skulls. The writer
of the remarks who tells us that he has read the pro-
hibited pfay,- expressly states that no 'man in Eng-
land, except the Licenser himself, could point out a
single passage, situation, scene, or combination of any
kind, which bears such a construction as that, on the
pretext of which this play has been sentenced to per-
petual ostracism from the stage. If this be really
the case, the :sentence, of prohibition is as arbitrary as
it is ridiculous ; but we are not at all surprised at it,
for Shakspeare has long since assured us that—
" Man, vain man,
Dressed in a little brief authority
Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven
As make the angels weep."
In the " Letters from Hong-Kong and Macao,"
"we find some diverting. characteristic sketches of
Chinese customs and manners. The Chinaman is, it
appears, as proud of his tail, as an opera-dancer of her
heels, " and a very favourite mode of punishment
used by the English, was to cut them off, when the
poor curtailed Celestial went away as disconsolate as
the fox in the fable." The Chinese are also great be-
lievers in omens; "like our forefathers,' says the
author,' " they associate misfortunes with the appear-
ance of comets, and pay no slight attention to all
signs and wonders in the sky. The kT'overnor of
Canton, when I arrived there, was in deep mourning
for an eclipse of the Emperor's sister, the moon !"
" Many Happy Returns of the Day" is a gracefully
versified, poem, from the pen of Miss Eliza Cook.
" Enquire Within ; or, the Confessions of a Key-
hole," contains, inter alas, a satirical sketch of that
very common character, a confirmed invalid—one of
the most teasing and irreclaimable of bores. In
general it may be taken as a rule that all " confirmed
invalids" are as tough as whipcord, and—to use a
genteel expression—" stick like bricks" to life. If
they happen also to be annuitants, they are, as a
matter of course, immortal, like Godwin 's St. Leon
—the first annuitant on record. Mrs. Trollope's,
story of the " Butt" is somewhat too long-winded for
our ~taste.. We are glad to meet with Ingoldsby.
again, who, in the " Lord of Thoulouse," exhibits his
worldly comic tumour to great advantage. This Lord,
and his friend the Marquis Rigmaree, are anxious to
see how their respective spouses—both of whom are
prim and 'pious ladies—are getting on during their
absence; and accordingly they go to consult a con-
juror, wo delights their optics with the following
most edifying spectacle :
He takes from a shelf, and he pops on his head,
A square sort of cap, black, and turned -up with red,
And desires not a syllable more may be said ;
He goes on to mutter,
And stutter, and sputter
Hard words, such as no men but Wizards dare utter.
" Dies mies !—Hocus poem—
, Adsis Demon ! non est jokus !
Hi Cocolorum !—don't provoke us
A desto !
Presto !

Put forth your best toe.!"
And many more words, to repeat which would choke us.—
Such a sniff then of brimstone I—it did not last long,
Or they could not have borne it, the smell was so strong.
A mirror is near,
So large and so clear,
If you priced such a one in a drawing-reom here,
And was ask'd fifty pounds, you'd not say it was dear ;
But a mist gather'd round at the words of the Seer,
Till at length as the gloom . •
Was subsiding, a room
On its broad polish'd surface began to appear. .
And the Count and his comrade saw plainly before 'em,
The room Lady Isabel called her " Sandman."
They start, well they might,
With surprise at the sight,
Methinki I hear some lady say, "Serve 'em right:"
For on one side the fire
Is seated the Prior,
At the'opposite corner a fat little Friar;
By the side of each gentleman, easy and free, '
Sits a lady, as close as close well may be,
She might almost as well have been perch'd on his knee.
Dear me! dear me!

Why one's Isabel—she
On the opposite side's La Marquise Rigmaree
To judge from the spread
On the board, you'd, have said
That the parie quarree had like aldermen fed,
And now from long flasks, with necks covered with lead,
Theywere helping themselves to champagne,white and red.
'fobbing and nobbing,
And nodding and bobbing,
With many a sip
Both froth cup and from lip,
And with many a toast followed up by a "
—The Count, by' the way,
Though he sees all they're doing, can't hear what they say,
Notwithstanding both he
' And Mar-quis Ilipnaree
Are so vex'd and excited at what they can see,
That each utters a sad word beginning with D.