The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-01 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

Most cockneys love, or fancy they love, the country,
and all that belongs to it. We say, fancy, because
in seven cases out of ten, their notions of the pastoral
are mere delusions, and terminate in disappointment.
Johnson has: art entertaining essay on this subject in
the " Idler," wherein he reads a useful lesson to such
town-bred folks as may be smitten with a penchant
for the rural. The . same theme is dextrously
handled in the Number' \before us, in an article on
" The Love of the Comity," whose writer ft -
serves, "the mere desire of change causes manTa
town-mouse to metamorphose himself for months into
a country mouse. This class provincialise themselves
for one half the year, merely because they have been
metropolitans for the other. They are fully as happy
in returning to town in February, as in returning to
the country in June. Their enjoyment of life, like
the amusement of dancing, consists entirely in
changing places. They have been so long in Harley-
street, that they must go down to Hants ; and then
they remain so long in Hants, that they must go
back to Harley-street. Thus they swing between
town and country, like a pendulum, and if ever they
settle, it is in the suburbs. —lt'seldom happens that a
cockney ever quits town to establish. himself in the
country, without cursing the hour he ventured upon
such an experiment. He takes a picturesque cottage,
say, with a fine garden, and a meadow or two. Ere
long he finds that his cottage is damp, and overrun
with insects ; that his garden—notwithstanding he
digs, trims, and hoes it himself—grows everything
but what it should grow ; and that his meadow is a
dead swindle, the soil being suited to nothing but
weeds and rank grass. If he ventures upon an after-
noon nap in his cool, shady summer-house, earwigs
creep into his ears, gnats sting him through his small-
clothes, and blue-bottles settle upon his nose. Town-
bred men should be slow of indulging in a pen-
chant for the country, for it is an expensive
enjoyment, as much so, as when a sailor—no un-
common case, --by the by—suddenly discovers, and
acts on the discovery, that he is a born genius for
farming. The " Barnabys in America" represents
this hopeful family floating on a full tide of success
in New Orleans. The Widow's promise to write a
hook praising everything transatlantic, has en-
listed all classes in her favour. The slave-owners,
in particular, are enraptured; Mrs. Barnaby receives
invitations by the score ; and is every where lion-
ized as the great English genius. There is infinite
caricature in ail this—for Jonathan is no fool, what-
ever Mrs. Trollope may hint to the contrary; still,
the extravagance is exceedingly diverting. The
" Elm Tree" is a poem in Mr. Hood's serious
style. It is not devoid of fancy, and there are
thoughts in it of no ordinary character; but the
manner is too quaint, and the versification, in places,
offends the ear by its ruggedness. In Mr. Horace
Smith's " Short Rides in an Author's Omnibus,"
we find this sensible, aphoristic reflection—" We go
on, age after age, expatiating upon the certainty of
death, and the uncertainty of life, notwithstanding
all which, many of us live as if we were never to
die, while some there are who die, as if they were
never to live." " Reminiscences of a Medical Stu-
dent"—a series of papers evidently suggested by the
" Physician's Diary" of Blackwood—describes the
tragic end of a man who, having made certain me-
chanical discoveries, which threw hundreds of work-
men out of employment by restricting the demand
for hands, was invited to a public dinner by the ma-
nufacturers Of a northern district, when the follow-
ing incident took place
In a certain district in the North of England, in the
neighbourhood of a great manufacturing town, there are
several extensive paper works. The proprietors of these
having been induced to try Mr. Basil's patent, were so
well pleased with its working, as to invite him to a public
dinner before his leaving the place,
He after seeing his ma-
chines put in action.
had received many threatening
letters fr6m those whom his invention had, for tl:e time,
deprived of their living, and he was given to understand
that a combination, for his destruction, was afoot among
them.

This, however, did not in any degree affect him, and
without taking the slightest notice of it, or even making
any precaution, he went to the party, amid the hootings
of an immense crowd of labouring people, of every de-
scription, that beset the neighbourhood.
The hall in which it was held was the ball-room of one
of the principal hotels in the place. It had two large
windows opening to the street, and two into a wide grassy
space in its rear. These latter were thrown open to ad-
mit the air. About forty gentlemen dined, and the even-
ing had passed in toasts and complimentary speeches.
Mr. Basil was remarked to preserve throughout a calm
and habitually
such as to depress the general hilarity. How much then
melancholy expression, though not at all
were the company surprised when, on a sudden, they saw
him start into a listening posture, while his face assumed
a look of surprise, anxiety, and deep attention. Presently
his feelings appeared roused to a pitch of extreme excite-
ment, and, while every eye was fixed upon him in silent
wonder, he apologised to the chairman, stating, that
under the open windows he heard a voice speak, and a
name mentioned, which brought to his memory scenes
long since past, and raised
in his mind a curiosity of
Ilia he could not resist the gratification.
Thereupon; rising, he went quickly to the window,
and, bending forwards, looked out. The next instant he
staggered rapidly back, and u ttering a scream so strangely
loud and thrilling that the glasses on the table quivered
and rang, fell senseless on the floor.
All immediately
They found his face covered with what appeared to
them a quantity of sprang up and flew to his assistance.
mud, especially his eyes were com-
pletely filled with it. Those parts of the features not
reached were of a burning scarlet hue, and his black