7 FEBRUARY 1835, Page 19

The only chances of success for a new Magazine are,

either surpassing excellence and brilliancy in its matter and style, that shall at once win the admiration of the seekers for literary excitement and the connois- seurs of authorcraft ; or its treating of subjects and addressing a class of readers unrepresented or poorly treated in periodical literature. The Alchytnist is in neither of these categories: its matter is not so original, its manner not so striking, as to enforce attention. Its prose has the conventional smartness of magazine-writing, and its verse is smooth and elegant. This is all we can say of the First Number.