The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-04 00:00:00

MAGAZINES-(CO►NTINUED.)

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.

In " 'rhe Marchioness of Brinvilliers, the Poisoner of
the 17th Century, a Romance of Old Paris," chapters 22,
23, and 24, Mr. Albert Smith very ebly sustains the in-
terest of this highly-wrought story. We are glad to fall
in, again, with some of his notes on the topography of
Paris, under the aspects which it may be supposed to
have exhibited at the date of his story. The Hotel de
Cluney is very picturesquely- conceived and well made
out ; and the debauched revels within its walls, in which
Lauzun, the Abbe Dubois, and other historical profli-
gates figure, afford situations of fearful interest for the'
exhibition of the beautiful, but guilty heroine of the tale,
and her paramour, Sainte Croix. Tohn Leech's illustra-
tion, of which the subject is the unexpected rencontre of
these parties with the miscreant, Exili, is capital, both in
drawing and conception. The poetry of W. Y. 8.,
Will Jones, the Rev. W. Flo*er, &c., is generally good.
We have too little respect for professional criticism—
that is the opinion of actors upon the acting of their con-
temporaries—to be much disappointed at the poverty of
Mr. Carter's " Outpourings;" but there is one racy scene
in them which is worth giving. It is as follows—the
scene is laid at the Crow-street Theatre, Dublin :
" But when a new Lord and Lady Lieutenant visited the
theatre for the first time, Pat's peculiarities became most
diverting.
" Pat Mooney 1' shouts a voice in the gallery.
" Halloo !' answers Pat, from the opposite side.
" Voice—Can you see 'em, Pat? (Meaning the Lord and
Lady Lieutenant.)
" Pat Mooney—l can.
" Voice—Well, what's he like?
" Pat Mooney—Oh, mighty like a grazier or middle-man.
Any way, he has got a good long nose of his own.—(Loud
laughter, in which his Lordship joins.)
" Voice—ls he clever, think you?
"Pat Mooney—l'd lie sorry to make him sinse.keeper.—
(Laughter again.)
" Voice—Does he look good-natured?
" Pat Mooney—Well, -he does, and enjoys a joke, too—
Heaven bless him !—like a gentleman as he is.
" Voice—Then we'll not have to send him back?
" Pat Mooney—No, I don't think we shall. We may get a
worse.—( Roars of laughter.) They say he's mighty generous,
and means to spend his money amongst us like a prince.
" Gallery—Bravo ! bravo I We'll keep him, then—we'll
keep him. Three cheers, lads—three cheers for the Lord-
Lieutenant !—( Cheers and laughter.)
" Voice—Well, and what's she like, Pat?
" Pat Mooney—Oh, nothing particular. She'd not frighten
a horse.—( Roars, her Ladyship joining.)
" Voice—ls she tall?
" Pat Mooney—Wait till she stands up.
" Voice—May be she's stout, Pat ?
" Pat Mooney—Faix ! you may say that. It isn't the likes
of her lives on buttermilk.—( Roars..)
" Voice—D'ye think she's good-natured?
" Pat Mooney—Oh, I'll engage she is. She has the real
blood in her, and there's plenty of it.—( Roars, and Bravo I'
from the gallery.)
" Many Voices—She'll do, then, Pat?
"Pat Mooney—Och ! she will—she will. I'll engage for
her Ladyship.
" Voices—We may keep her then, may we.
" Pat Mooney—Och the longer the better—the longer the
better.—( Roars.) It's her Ladyship that'll speak the good
word for the man that's in thrabble, and never let the decent
woman want, that's in the straw—God bless her !
" Gallery—Bravo! bravo ! Three cheers for her Ladyship !
—three cheers for the Lady Lieutenant ! (Cheers and
laughter. )
" Pat Mooney (seeing the Lord Mayor)—My sowl to ye !
Dan Finnegan, is that you ?
" Gallery—Ah 1 ah I Is that you, Dan Finnegan ?—is that
you ?—( Hisses and laughter.)
" Pat Mooney—Faix ! it's good for the likes of us to see you
down among the gintry there, Dan Finnagan !—( A loud laugh,
at which his Lordship does not seem particularly pleased.)
Och you needn't look up so sour at us I Many's the good
time you've sat up here yourself;—you know it is, ye ould
vinegar bottle !—( Roars.)
" Voice—. Sure the world's gone well wid you, any way.
Dan Finnagan. Ye hadn't them white kid gloves
" Pat Mooney—No, nor that grand cocked hat there
" Voice—No, nor that white wand, ye cormorant ! when
you kept the chandler-shop, and cheated Mike Kelly out of a
farden's-worth of pipes, and
" Gallery—Ah ! ah ! Who cheated Mike Kelly ?—who
cheated Mike Kelly ?—( Great confusion, during which the
orchestra strikes up. )"

" Mary, Queen of Scots and Lord Brougham " is a-
critical refutation of the opinion adapted by Hume, and
vindicated on singularly insufficient grounds by Lord
Brougham, of the guilt of Mary, touching the mysterious
death of her weak and profligate husband, Darnley. Of
this and all the other high crimes alleced in her lifetime
against the unfortunate, but bigoted, Queen of Scotland,
we should suppose that no candid reader—now that
Prince Lubanoff has given to the world the completion
of his long and laborious, hut most satisfactory, investi-
gation into her history—will hesitate fully to acquit the
ill-starred mother of our first James. An interesting
memoir of the late Rev. R. H. Barham is accompanied
by a good likeness of our lost " Thomas Ingoldsby,"
and a pretty ballad by the same gifted writer, now, alas!
mute within the tomb. ➢irs. Homer's "Story of a Pic-
ture" is a clever trifle.

THE OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE REVIEIV.

A grave number, but containing matter more interest
ing than the table of contents would seem to promise.
The papers follow in this order :—" Ireland—the Endow-
ment of the Catholic Clergy;" "Wealth and Want," a
revi©w of Mr. D. Urquhart's work ; " The Progress of
Organic Chemistry ;" " Adolphus's History of England."
"Latitudinarianism" is a severe critique upon a " Bill to
enable Her Majesty to Endow New Colleges for the ad-
vancement of Learning in Ireland ;" " Memoirs of the Lady

Hester Stanhope"; (4 che ! jam sates"—we are tempted
to exclaim, This endless lady will be the death of us). A
review of " Etudes sur les Orateurs ; par Timon, (Brux-
elles, 1834) is made a vehicle for a severe, but not alto-
gether illiberal estimate and analysis of the political cha-
racter and the forensic pretensions of Earl Grey. With
regard to the latter, its eulogium is at once unqualified,
frank, and elaborcte. We have been both amused and
startled by the following passage in the article on
"Wealth and Want:"—

" Mr. Urquhart's defence of villenage is able and successful ;
and those who object to it that the term itself proclaims that it
was only the inhabitants of towns, riles, who enjoyed its bene-
fits, and that consequently the rural population was in a state of
slavery, overlook the fact that to every village or hamlet, how-
ever small, the term was applied ; indeed, up to this day, in the
midland counties, " town' is the appellation invariably given
by the common people to every congregation of cottages ; and
Mr. Urquhart's assertion that England was divided into
milites, freemen, rustics, or villeins, and slaves, just as to-day
England might be said to be divided into esquires, tennants,
labourers and convicts,' is borne out by the results of the re-
searches of such men as Sir Francis Eden and Sir Francis
Palgrave. The truth is that the feudal system was the most
perfect form of society that the world has seen since the
theocracy of the Jews ceased ; for in it privileges depended
upon the performances of duties, whereas now they are too
commonly regarded as a ground of immunity from it. Lands
were granted, honours conferred ; but it was not for the ex-
altation of the unit so much as for the benefit and defence of
the community."