The Sun.
London, England, 1829-09-01 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

The " Autobiography of Jehanguir," in the
present number of this IVlagazine, is curious and
entertaining. The subject of it was, it appears,
Emperor of Ilindostan, and during the course
of a long and bustling life, met with an infinite
variety of strange adventures. The narrative is
ably written. " Bishops' Sleeves" is a smart
quii on the present very prevalent influence of
large sleeves. We give a specimen of the
writer's manner ;
" Another, and directly opposite, fashion now prevails.
The arm is confined in a bag. Confined, did we say?—
Yes, as Ulysses confined the winds, in a bag, confined to
make a great blow out for the purpose of the adventurer.
Two bags of huge dimensions, of the same material as the
body of the rob, envelope the arms. They are called
'Bishops' sleeves,' from their resemblance to those worn
by the dignitaries of the Church. Fashion, in its wildest
flight, might have some determinate object in view. The
ruffle might have been considered ornamental to a fine
arm. It might be compared to the capital of the Co-
rinthian column. The naked fashion might have ori-
ginated in female vanity, ambitious to display tie sym-
metry of a beautifully rounded limb ; but how shall we
account for this hideous fashion of bishops' sleeves? It

is deformity personified. The finest figure, thus encum-
bered, loses all trace of human proportions, and might be
mistaken for two pillow-cases hanging on a stick, so small
is the space into which the waist is compressed between
these appendages. A cry was lately raised that the Church
was in danger. Have the fair mounted bishops' sleeves as
a signal of their determination to use their arms in its sup-
port?
Our countrywomen have been reproached with
coldness and reserve ; any body now may, without diffi-
culty, creep into their sleeve. Pity has its favourite
dwelling in the breast of women. In that abode distress
is ever sure to meet with sympathy, and the heart sus-
ceptible of love will beat responsive to the call of charity.
After long meditation, I fancied I had found in this ami-
able disposition of the sex a solution of the mystery. Sir
Isaac Newton, on the discovery of one of the most abstruse
secrets of nature that ever cote within the reach of that

extraordinary man, did not feel snore pleasure. Oh!
amiable woman, I exclaimed, you have heard the cause
assig+,,d by our statesmen for the distress now prevalent in
the manufacturing districts; you have heard it ascribed
pro:iocti, and declare their inabi-
l't. to su::ply a 010. dc. What tit isdom of Parliament
:.ot yoo have : your sagacity
Ia• dist -v; red t th, rim-tim;oh.o t is stock
on haul would remove the evil, Unit your humanity has
applied the proper and certain cure. To your honour and
glory you have adopted bishops' sleeves, in order to relieve
the stores of the manufacturers of the masses of
,goods with
which they are bursting ; for this lanname, generous, anti
patriotic purpose, you have imposed a great expense upon
your husbands and fathers, and inflicted upon yourselves
a cruel injury in the disfigurement of your persons. It is
the sacrifice of female vanity to a sense of public duty,—a
generous devotion, that puts the loftiest and most disinte-
, rested of our patriots to the blush. The chaste nuns of
Quedlinberg, who slit their noses in defence of their vir-
ginity, were not actuated by a purer spirit than you have
evinced in the cause of the distressed. When Curtius
leaped into the gulf, did he display a more patriotic ardour
than the female who plunged her white arm into the wide-
yawning bishop's sl; eve to be swallowed up in the deep
and dark abyss? It was a spirit like this that inflicted
with her own hand the mortal wound upon Arria, and
drew from her the expression—' It does not pain, my
Ptetus.' A spirit like this forced the burning coals down
the throat of the wife of Brutus, the virtuous daughter of
Cato. The bishop's sleeve operating in consumption like
the power .loom in production, the surplus manufacture,
thought I, will speedily disappear ; every fair purchaser
will now tell in the market equal to three of former times;
and in the prophetic language of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, I exclaimed, The transitory cloud that now
lowers upon the country will pass away, leaving the sun
of its prosperity to shine out in all its original resplendent
lustre."'

" Sketches of Brussels in 1829" are agree-
able, and pleasantly diversified in matter.
" Sporting Scenes in India" will be read with
interest by all East Indians, as well as country
gentlemen, who are prone to the sports of the
field. The cursory notices of jungle snakes,
tigers, and other agreable tenants of an Indian
wood, are introduced with much effect. " Lines
on the Departure of Emigrants for New South
Wales" are from the well known pen of Thomas
Campbell, and are worthy of his transcendant
genius. Altogether the number is an excel-
lent one.