The Sun.
London, England, 1828-12-01 00:00:00

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" On the Catholic Question" is a dull review of
two dull speeches on that most novel and in.-
teresting of all -topics. It is really a very dis-
tressing literary infliction. " Flies" is a pleasant
piece of humour ; we hope to see more from the
same pen. "An Old Maid's Story"—a woman's
production, sans doute—is a pretty sentimental
talc, with a mild vein of pathos running through
it. It presents a striking contrast to the Inas-
culine- energy of " Buy a Broom." " Three
Years at Oxford" is capital; replete with
drollery and sarcasm. Were not Mr. Lockhart
too deeply absorbed with his forthcoming trans-
lation of " Don Quixote,"--;-which we strongly
suspect will be by tar the best we have yes had—
to be able to attend • to minor considerations, we
should suppose that this article was -penned by
him ; in proof which we give the following rich
and racy extract :

College ! how different from school ! Never believe a
great, broad-faced, beetle-browed Spoon, when he tells
you, with a sigh that would upset a schooner, that the
happiest days of a man's life are those he spends at school.
Dues he forget the small bed-room occupied by eighteen
boys, the pump you had to run to on Sunday mornings,
when decency and the usher commanded you to wash?
Is he oblivious of the blue chalk and water they flooded
your bowels with at breakfast, and called it milk? Has
he lost the remembrance of the ;Yorkshire pudding, vul-
garly called choke-dog, of which you were obliged to eat a
pound before you were allowed a slice of beef, and of
which, if you swallowed half that quantity, you thought
cooks and oxen mere works of supererogation, and totally'
useless on the face of the earth ? Has the fool lost all re-
collection of the prayers in yon cold, wet, clay-floored eel-
ler, proudly denominated the chapel ? has he forgot the
cuffs from the senior boys, the pinches from the second
master ? and, in fine, has he forgot the press at the end of
the school-room, where a cart-load of birch was deposited
at the beginning of every half-year, and not a twig left to
tickle a mouse with, long before the end of it ? He talks
of freedom from care—what a negative kind of happiness !
Let him cut off Isis band, he will never hurt his nails.
Let him enclose an order for all his money even unto us,
and no more will he be troubled with cares about the
Stocks—no more will he be teased with calculations on the
price of grain. All that raving about school-boys, is per-
fect nonsense•—it is the most miserable period of a human
being's life. Poor, shivering, trembling, kicked, buffetted,
thumped, and starved little mortals ! We never see a large
school but we feel inclined to shoot them all, masters,
ushers, and door-keepers included, merely to put them out
of pain.

The remainder of the articles in these two
numbers we must lump together in one word of
comment. When they are political, they are
full of maniacal ravings, without judgment, with-
out taste, frequently without meaning; when,
however, they treat on humourous subjects, they
are of a superior nature, and the tales are fraught
with interest and incident.

MONTHLY_ MAGAZINE.
We are sorry to find that this sensible and
usually shrewd periodic-al has completely changed
its politics ; that is to say, from a calm sedate
style of thought and expression, it has suddenly
veered round to the Ultra-Tory side of the ques-
tion, and in its opening article on " The. Bruns-.
wick Clubs" has put forth a furious diatribe
against the Catholics, and all immediately or re-
motely connected with them. 'We the more
regret this precipitate change of opinion, from
the
,eircumstance that the article in question (a
remarkably able and spirited one) professes to be
one only of a series of similar papers, which are
to be put forth from time to time in this Maga-
zine, and which, if written with equal ability,
must have considerable effect • on the public
mind. What .can the writer mean by treating
with callous indifference the present convulsed
state of Ireland ? Does he see no gathering
cloud on the horizon, no indications of an ap-.
proaching tornado ? Burke, in his inimitable
speech on Economical Reform, spoke in the
same way of France. He spoke of its settled

- LONDON 11IAGAINE.
The. London Magazine for this month is un-
usually good, but we have not room to do jus-
tice to its articles till to-morrow. We may
observe, however, in the meantime, that the
article on Copyright, being a review of Mr.
Brougham's excellent work on Literary Pro-
perty, is written with much discrimination. and
judgment.

The
in Earl ofABERDEEN, Sir GEORGE
Mtranar, and Mr. HERMES, visited the Duke of WEL.
LINGTON on Saturday, at the Treasury.
Several gentlemen interested themselves yester-
day at the Home-office, in favour of the. Rev. PETER
FENN, ordered for execution this day for forgery, and had
interviews on that subject with Mr. PH tu.ars, the Under
Secretary. The LORD CHANCELLOR had a very long con-
ference with Mr. Secretary PEEL yesterday afternoon, it
was understood, on the same subject.
•
There appears to be some reason for imagin-
ing that Lord MELviLr.E will not remain at the Admiralty
long; that he merely holds office there until some arrange-
ments are finally agreed upon by the Ministry; and the
general opinion is that Sir GEORGE COCKBURN is to he
First Lord : but upon what authority the report is nobody
knows, though there is an evident evasion of the plain
question at the Admiralty, Lord MELVILLE is at present,
in Scotland, and is expected in town in eight or ten days'
time, when something will probably transpire that will
throw a light on the subject.—Morning Herald.

institutions, its flourishing finances', its energe•
tic monarchy ; yet scarcely was the ink dry upon
his paper when a revolution broke out, which
discrowned the Bourbons; shook the country to
its foundation, and reduced it to a state of
anarchy from
.which it has not yet recovered.
This is high. authority, for an error of judg-
ment, and the writer perhaps fancies that
he has -a right to be mistaken, if kept
in countenance by so prophetic, sagaci-
ous,- and philosophic a Statesman .as " The
Dinner Bell." With regard to the style of
the Brunswick Clubs, it is remarkably rapid
and . animated, but when it comes to speak of
Lord Darnley, it indulges in .a,..groisly offensive
strain of vituperation which . cannot be too se-
verely censured. " Hannah Bint" is one of
Miss Milford's interminable Village stories ; it
is marked however by that lady's usual felicity
of pastoral description, and will repay perusal.
Echard's Contempt of Clergy" is a sensible
comment on an obsolete work, introdueed
with some pithy observations regarding. the prose
writers of. that most posing period in English lite-.
rature, the reign of the execrable and unprincipled
Charles IL " The Winter Cruise" is a readable
tale, and the analytical sketch of Roussean., an
article that. has
.evidently.cast both time avid
trouble. We give the following extracts from
last paper, not so- much fOr their merits as
for the writer's earnest, though perhaps erro-
nevus, conviction of their truth :
R9tisseau's invariable defect was the substitution of
feeling -for principle. He had few speculative opinions
independently of sentiment ; this with him was every thing;
it made him the leading writer of his age, and' it made him
a wretch. He seemed altogether to throw overlioard the
notion that man is as- much a emature of reason as of sen-
Sibility; he objected to Hume that he was' dispassionate,
and to. Voltaire that he was a wit—as if such pecidiarities
were not strictly within the province of nature, as much,
and even more so, than his own forced and heated fancy.
But he paid the penalty—and a dreadful penalty it was—
of this infirm quality of mind. After burrying from place
to place--front Geneva to the Hermitage, from the Her-
mitage to the Boromean islands ; after being driven from
one country With contempt, and received in another with
enthusiasm ; after wandering for years over, Europe, and
even venturing into the extreme -recesses of Wales—this
poor, wretched Misanthrope:--alone, forlorn, deserted in
his age, owning kindred with none, -rejecting pity with
scorn, and repaying kindness with distrust ; a pensioner,
yet professing independence ;"a slave, yet a braggart of his
freedom—returned once again to Paris, from which, after
a brief, restless stay, he finally set out for one of the adja-
cent provinces, there to close his eyes and die.
As ttuen characters of the Eloise are unnatural, so also

We have authority to state that the MASTER
of the Mitts has not been suffering under any organic dis-
ease. 'His medical friends, among whom are some of the
highest names, all concur in opinion that the indisposition
of the MASTER of the Rot.r.s is to be-attributed to an ad-
ventitious access from cold and fever of that local irritation

to which he has been exposed since he.underwent a serious
operation some time past ; and they are not only confidently
of opinion that the increased irritation is gradually subsiding,
but they see no reason why the local irritation itself should
not ultimately yield to the cautious and regulated use of
medicines.—Morning chronicle.

MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF CIVIL. AND
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN THE COUNTY OF LONGFORD.--
The most numerous County Meeting we have ever wit-
nessed, was assembled in the parish chapel of Longford, on
Tuesday, 25th November. Upwards of 20,000 persons were
assembled, and not the least tumult or breach of the peace
did not occur. At eight o'clock in the morning, Lord Vis-
count FoitnEs rode into town, from Castleforbes, with the
intention of presiding as Chairman of the Meeting. The
resolutions intended to be passed, were submitted to hint for
inspection there was one of them that went to give a vote
of thanks to O'Corinzr.r. and the Catholic Association, to
which he would not subscribe, and a division arose. The
Gentlemen of the Committee would not give up their point,
for they knew the popular feeling too well, and that the
meeting could not be held and pass over unnoticed the ser-
vices of O'Coizzott.r. and the Association, In consequence,
they rejected hie Lordship as Chairman, and although the
Brunswickers counted on a signal failure, the men of Long-
ford have had a triumph of principle, which does them
eternal honour.—At two o'clock, RICHARD Moon's O'FAa-
, RILL, Esq., .was called to the Chair, amidst loud demon-
strations of applause. Several orcellent speeches were made,
and the Meeting broke up without the slightestinterreption
of harmony._.Dublin Morning Register.
COMMEMORATION OF RAY.—The Two
Hundredth Anniversary of this celebrated Botanist and
-Naturalist was held on Saturday by a public dinner at the
Freemasons' Tavern, on which occasion about 130 Noble-
men and Gentlemen attended. DAVIES GILBERT, Esq.
Al, P., President of the Royal Society,,was in the Chair.
REV. PETER VENN.--ThiS unfortunate cul-
prit, on parting with a friend yesterday, placed in his hand
a written document, on which he delivered his opinions on
the 'subject of forgery ; they Were, of course, aVerse to exe-
cution for such offence.

The workmen, in .sinking a cesspool near
some of the houses building by Colonel CLAYTON, at
Great Marlow, dug up the bones of two human beings.
From the position in which they were placed, and no re-
mains of coffins being discovered about them, they are sup.
posed to have been murdered and deposited there many
years since.—Berkshire Chronicle.

ANTIQUE GRECIAN SEALS.—There is in
the possession of a gentleman at Dnnse, an Antique Grecian
Seal, of most exquisite workmanship, entire, and in com-
plete preservation, and excelling all modern engraving.
The subject is Hercules strangling the Nemean Lion. It
was formerly the property of Jottli DUKE of Lauderdale.
-.,Caledonian Mercury.

' wood. WE are lad to see Mr. Lamb's writings are the seotiments-tthose, atjeast, which profess to adapt
again. Though a quaint, be is a fine philoso7
thcmselvei•to reality: They are7!.:ouched, as we before ob-
. served, in.-sweet and honied 'language. yet inculcate the
,•.
phical author,--fullq' a certain arch-recondite pernicious morals. bubble up with apparent
humour, that n one else of the present day can
tness front a good:and 13'e-heroic:a heart, yet are tainted
ci'
s, :4;alljoYer With miasma. Vice is taught to lisp the send-
menu
of a generouswisdom.; the language of the Cecro-
qpitl.
.His Elia is the-, most original work:.
•that•has appeared in 'England for the -last 100 pian Pallas is mouthed by the Cyprian Venus; Eloise
• years. "An Execution in Paris" has but one prates of chastity, Saint Preux of reason, and both of the
charine of patriarchal innocence and simplicity. It was
recommendation—it is written by the modern upon a principle pretty similar to this, and at least with
Pythagoreo,L
ceptel sincerity, that the GracChi complained of sedition.—
•
i It has been the object with many undeubted moral authors
PART U.
•to paint the fascinations of vice in the most alluring
colours, in order to contrast it afterwards with the penal-
ties it must pay perforce to virtue, and thus to work out a
more obvious and impressive homily. This is not the case
with Rousseau. Vice, throughout his Eloise, robed in
the garb of modesty, is triumphant; she is even pitied, and
monopolizes the tears due to her celestial adversary. Who,
except by the determined-efforts of a strong mind, can bear
for an instant to condemn Madame de IVolnaar—the beau-
tiful—the sensitive—the confiding? Who can forget her
high-wrought, impassioned youth, her
.exceeding love of
nature, of art, of all, in short, that contributes to the
grace, the ornament, and the simplicity of existence ?
Even up to the present moment, . though years have
elapsed, fashions have changed, and literature has diverged
into new channels, She is ever visibly before us. The
rocks of Meillerie breathe of her—Clarens is eloquent of
her name—Vevay whispers it through all her woods—and
the evening breeze, as it sighs over the blue waters of Ge-
neva, repeats the last parting that rent the souls of herself
and her unforgotten lover. . She has a distinct—a sepa-
rate—an undivided existence in our memories: for the
Eloise, be it observed, is not a book to be laid aside with
childhood; it grows with our grOwth, and strengthens
with our strength ; we abjure its principles, but, despite
'ourselves, we hug its sensibility to our hearts; and even
n hen we repudiate it as the true Liber Amoris, or Book
of Love, it puts forth new claims to our admiration • by its
exuberant fulness of ideas, its ingenious sophistry, and
faultless style. We own throughout its pages the presence
of a powerful and analytical mind, that has studied—,
deeply studied—the origin and progress of even its slightest
emotions, and noted them down, fresh as they rose, one
after the other, from patient and acute investigation, with
.all the overwhelming earnestness ofsincerity.

One word more. Rousseau has been frequently styled
the champion, the apostle of freedom. Mr. Hazlitt, in
pal ticular, who in his clouded moments lias much of his
manner, has thus loved to designate him. This is certainly
a saving clause, with nothing to disturb its effect but the
circumstance of its utter falsity. The philosopher's inde-
pendence, like his sentiment, was purely a factitious feel-
ing. It was not the healthy, progressive growth of reason,
but the forced production of sophistry. It could stoop to
be the slave of the most effeminate, demoralizing vices,
and—to adopt a sporisman's phrase—watt begot by Irrita-
bility out of Selfishness and Egotism. Ete different is the
nature of the true apostle of liberty. The materials of his
magnanimity originate with himself, they are beams re-
flected from the sunny purity of his own heart, and are
mixed up with, and eve a tone and colouring to, his most
trifling actions. To be the true asserter of public freedom,
the man himself must be free. No unworthy suspicions,
no rash misanthropy, no prurient fancies, no truckling to
sensuality, simply because it is clothed in the borrowed robes
of sentiment, must be permitted to interfere with, or in-
fluence his opinions. His mind must tower above the
ordinary level of mankind, as much in conduct as in in-
tellect. It is not enough that he possess the ability to dis-
cuss ; he must add the heart to feel, and the disposition, to
practise, the mighty principle in its minutest as well as in
its most comprehensive sense, for by. the union of wortk and
genius alone—either of which, when disjoined, is useless.—
is the world's conviction ensured. • Milton, whose ethics
were so sublime, whose daily habits were so stainless, spoke
from the heart when he declared himself the sworn foe to
despotism; the Tell of private life gave abundant evidence
of the public patriot; the moral influence of Washington
as a dictator, was the necessary consequence of his worth as
a man; but Rousseau, tkough he fled from clime to clime,
the fancied martyr to his virtue and his independence, wrote
only from the promptings of an excited, a distrustful, and
a dissatisfied mind.
*7 * *