The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-01 00:00:00

AINSWORTH'S 3IAGAZINE.

A writer who signs himself " Uncle Sam," and
who seems thoroughly to understand the habits and
peculiarities of Brother Jonathan, contributes an
amusing paper in this 'Nunlber, under the title of
" An Aristocratic Dinner-party in New. York." The
dialogue of the different guests is highly comic, being
a strange medley of self-conceit, . national prejudice,
and the most prolix, matter-of-fact assertions, ex-
pressed in a style half-English, half-Yankee slang.
Though somewhat overcharged, perhaps;- yet there is
an air of reality about - this dialogue, that at once
conveys the idea that it is no mere
,effort of a humor-
ous 'fancy, but based on truth. Cooper, in his " Eve
Effingham," has. described a somewhat similar party,
and set his aristocratic New Yorkers slang-whanging
—to use an appropriate Jonathanism—in a very
similar Spirit. ' Me " Miser's Daughter"-'--which, if
not the best, 13 one of the author's best fictions—has
• a lively description of a, supper-Party at a popular
aetress,'s; where a battered old beau, Sir Singleton
Spinke acquits himself just in the manner that might
lie expected.from his years and occupation. The illus-
trations, by George Cruikshank, are in his most care-
ful, and dexterous „style, with less. mannerism than
usual. The Siege of Radicofaui" is a whimsical
poem, penned in that light, tripping, irregular metre,
chiefly anapestic, which Tom Ingoldsby has rendered
so popular of late. It will not, however, bear an
instant's comparison with the legends of this sterling
humourist, for it is deficient in breadth and vigour,
and seldom rises above smartness. " That's Near
Enough" is an arch little prose essay; in which a
useful lesson is read to random talkers who repudiate
strict accura -;37- ofstateinent, as though it were unworthy
of their c mversational powers. The " Old Family
Place" is the commencement of a poem by Mrs. Norton.
ft is tinge l with melancholy, but there is no affectation
in its pensiveness, which seems to rise naturally and
spontaneously - from the heart. In general, we are
great admirers of the poetic genius of this accom-
plished lady, who combines the feeling of Mrs. Mac-
lean with the rich and figurative diction of Mrs.
llemans. The "Jewish Marriage" is a story whose
great( st recommendation is, that it is short. " A
Paper on Puffing" is an excellent theme marred in the
treatment. The " Songs of Italy" contain one or
two able translations from -Tetrarch. The introduc-
tory observations on sonnet-writing are perfectly
just ; hut how is it that, • in speaking of our English
sonneteers, Mr, Kenealy makes no mention of Words-

worth, who is almost the only poet among us who has
succeeded in rescuing from `insipidity this most diffi-
cult species of composition ? to
-Anacreon, the author speaks of his " richness of
imagination:' - hypacflibal:• Otitis O':7Atla
creep possessed an drcif aria epettive; but limited
fancy ; but as for a with imagination, this
was a quality , which-.he waynglaringly de-
ficient. "- Mary -o'.l3tien: .as - atA litdi•s*tory,• told by
Lady Harriette D'Orsay with feeling and simplicity.
:" Windsor Castle" is the commencement of a new
work of fiction from the prolific pen of Mr. Ainsworth.
It.promises,well, and, is cleverly, and profusely illus.-
' trate(' .by Tony Johannot. Visit to the City of.
the -Kali's" describes.: the present aspect of the once
renowned city of Bagdad, so dear. to all the lovers of
the Arabian -Rights: We quote a passage or -two,
giving account of a visit of ceremony paid by -the
author and his fellow-travellers to some' of the prin-
cipal authorities of the city • . •
Ali Pacha received us in a capacious time-worn tent,
on the floor of which water had been thrown to cool the
air, till it formed so many puddles. He was a very fine
old man, very fat, but his eye animated, his forehead
good, his aspect benevolent, and manners courteous. He
vva:: very-anxious that we should see his guns and war-
like preparations ; and when he rose to walk with us,
his appearance partook highly of the ridiculous. His
full trousers did not reach to his ankles,
.and made him
look like a fat boy just breeched ; a light and almost
transparent mashallah, or cloak, was thrown over his
shoulders, the train of which was upheld by bearers, '
while the inverted cone which his figure represented,
was terminated by a pair of European shoes, which did
not tally with the oriental poitibns of his habiliments.
We next visited the General commanding the troops,
who was honoured by the title of Sarltosh Pacha, or
the drunken pacha, a poor, weak, debilitated-looking
wretch, who had won his title by , his habits, and his
rank, by a mad feat of courage, in capturing a Russian
officer. The ceremonies of visits over, we had time to
proceed to a somewhat hurried exploration of the ba-
zaars, khans, jamis, colleges, and other curiosities of this
renowned city, but which- have been too often made the
objeCt of description to detain us long on paper. The
ctipolas'of some of the jamis are superbly decorated with
coloured 'briek- work, laid in Mosaic, as are also some of
the menarehs. •The houses are flat-roofed, and the roofs,
whither in summer the inhabitants repair to sleep, are
surrounded by a low wall. The evening hour displayed
to us no small number of beauties, both of. the lily and
the ebony kinds, and who, loving the sunset and the
long shadows of the date-trees, stole occasional glances
from their circumscribed domiciles that overhung the si- '
lent river banks with a quick eYe and elastic step, some •
what after the fashion of the jerboa of the plain, but
with the lustrous glance and a movement of grace which
belongs to, woman only. .
It is only on arriving at Bag7idad, that the European
coming from the north, either by the Tigris or the Eu-
phrates, feels that he has at length. got fully and really
into-the East. -He has passed towns that are oriental,
houses and garments that are oriental, and jamis and
menarehs that are oriental, yet the very greensward
and every flowering plant reminds him of home ; but, at
Baghdad, there is no longer any greensward , and the
rich deep green of the long forest of palm-trees that he
has, met, with the bright bl )gloms' of pomegranate and
orange bursting into view below, lend to what else is
oriental that only which can fill up the cup of hiS antici-
pations ; and no where does the sun set so beautifully—
in such a clear, vivid, blue green attnosphere—awbehind
a boundless level of forest palms.
BUt with those-exceptions, which belong to nature and
not to art, Baghdad,•like most Mohanimedan cities, is no
longer what it was ; its 'very magnificence is ruinous,
and its ruins are crumbling into dust. The condition of a
MOhaminedan city is, now-a-days, the picture of Moham-
medanism itself ; and in no one place in the East is there
any stay to the universal decaythat pervades everything,
except where the civiliiation of Christianity is rising
,upon the ashes of a faith which has involved in sanilar
ruin the mind of man, the edifices, which he constructs,
and the-country that he inhabits.