The Sun. — 1838-12-01 (London, England)

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1838.  MAGAZINE DAY.  BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.  There are two remarkably clever criticisms in the present Number of Maga—one on Kenyon's Poems," which we noticed a few days since in The Sun ; and the other on Mr. Tupper's " Geraldine," which professes to be a " continuation" of Coleridge's weird fragment of " Christabelle." The critic is singularly severe on this miscalled " continuation," the arrant failure of which he exposes in the most agreeably savage manner possible—and no wonder, for assuredly Mr. Tupper is not the man qualified to work out Coleridge's imaginative idea, the difference between " Christabelle" and " Geraldine" being exactly the differienee between the true and the false Florimel. " Affairs in the East" is a diatribe of a most lugubrous tendency. The writer is filled with all sorts of hysterical fancies. First he td wrongiinag sideinesheofhtehaersHthiemßaluayssaisa;nnderxutm, thbaetatNinigehotolasarismasboonuttltioe borrow the Ogre's seven-leagued boots, and make a hop, step, anidr a l rsbdeurspatch a nu ghto Constantinoplessian hfleet to the: " British shores," for the purpose, of course, of setting fire to Sheerness ; battering down all the bathing-machines thirdly, u mp that f r he em i s S aboutt Pe t e to at Gravesend ; taking forcible possession of Alderman Harmer's house and grounds at Erith, and perhaps giving the worthy Alderman himself the knout, or banishing him to Siberia ; and, worst of all, of pillaging London, and laying it in ashes! This last fancy frightens the writer all but into fits, and he exclaims in an agony, " indomitable moment the enemy's fleet is seen approaching the British shores, valour will not give discipline to a man of war's crew. Patriotism will not, in the decisive hour, supply the want of preparation and organization." Now we entreat the as riter, as he values his health and digestion, to lay aside all these nervous imaginings. He need fear nothing, were even the Russian fleet within an hour's sail of Love. grove's whitebait hotel, at Blackwall ; for have we not the Court of Alderman, with the Lord Mayor, armed with the city mace, at their head, to defend us—to say nothing of the City Light Horse, and the Lumber Troop ? What stand could Russian troops make against warriors like these? Or what chance would a Russian line-of-battle ship have against the terrific cannonading of the City state-barge? We have treated " Afflirs in the East" in a spirit of ridicule, because, though we deny not the ability with which some parts of it are written, it is, as a whole, unworthy of serious refutation, being evidently put forth with no other view than to terrifythe more long-eared of the Tories. " Poems, by John Kenyon," is a favourable and acute criticism, but why does the Reviewer go out of his way to sneer at the caricatures of IL B. ? He calls them " timid drolleries." Now they are by no means " timid," but merely more refined and graceful in their character than any similar works of art we have yet had. Alluding incidentally to Junius, the Reviewer observes that " his letters avant imagery?' Surely this is not the case. So far as our recollection serves us, they have imagery--of a rhetorical order at least—in abundance. " Legendary Lore" is a tale told with grace, and in a truly poetic spirit. " Extracts without comment, from our Two Vases," contains severa! poems of a superior character. Among the best are " Mountain Memories," by Mr. Simmons ; and the " Tragedy of the Lac de Gauba," by Mr. Milnes. We cannot, however, praise the translation in Latin Sapphics, of Campbell's " Holienlinden." It is neither a correct nor a spirited version of the original. torinstance, in rendering the line " who rush to glory or the grave," the translator uses the word " decus," which t ilverywell can hardly express "glory"—least of all, military glory ; and ri\i tamen a r ot aifsn furor,tprosaic.the e c i combat ine ba The substitutes " media in pericla," for the " grave," which, besides ieebeensstline n i pass e whole,be in is vague, " forai g t s on, fortest !"e which deepens, ye brave!" The " Murdering Banker," is a passable tale, and no more ; and " War in disguise," another of those eccentric articles, which are meant to act as an alarm-bell to the Conservative party.