The Sun. — London, England, 1852-12-25 00:00:00

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. PLYMOUTH, FRIDAY. li a 'r he General Steam Shipping Company's ship Iti , r uillger, Captain Lane, arrived at this port this 'lg. Her dates are—Calcutta, October 14 ; 1 . "'rag 21 ; Point de Galle, 21 ; Mauritius, No ilnber 6 ; Cape, 20 ; S t. l e l ena, 28 ; A scens i on , il.ceraber 2 ; St. Vincent, 12. She brings news Guth, °ll the Cape 1A days later than the Queen of the which left November 6, and arrived at Ply mouth December 13. c aptain Lane has made the passage out to Cal ott,ta and home in the shortest time on record. L bb fY the Cape Town Mail of November 20, we 7 t 4 that the war had ceased, though peace was ° reported. lie the frontiers the Kafirs are exhausted, but :Gaika chiefs still refused to submit. Cattle are c 1) but one or two of the robbers shot, and a rurtlon of the booty retaken. t he line between King William's Town and the laalo is t ranqu il, but Oliphant's Hoek is infested I Caffres. f ie Ple Hottentot chiefs are reported to be dissatis qtcvith Uithalder. Sandilli, Stock, and Tola are ives, and Macomo is reduced to extremities. The Tambookie chief Syolo has surrendered ; the ''Olambie chiefs have been transported to Robben and . reli has sent a few cattle in token of friend- P, and Chosso has delivered up 80 stand of 18. for General Cathcart left on the 16th of November, dthe " Sovereignty," with 2,000 men, to adjust ' 4 ,,erences between certain tribes. 41 _ 44 e reorganisation of the Caffre police has been n ulndoned, and Colonel Eyre is made Brigadier fo4ll claims for Government supplies are to be ° „„Iliwith discharged. The northern districts are Bering greatly from locusts. .tte Mauritius Price Current of November 6 ;Ya the sugar market was dull. Very fine yellow, t ° ll l 4.50 to 4.70 ; fine, 4.30 to 4.40 ; good, 4 . 1 5 o 4.25. The quantities shipped to November this J a ar and last are about equal. Freights, 50s. to Exchange—Treasury bills, 30 days, 1 per cent. g u ano plentiful. The trade to Madagascar was to °pened soon. 'he Australian steamer had not arrived at the C ape when the Harbinger left. 1113 -e Sarah Sands, four-masted screw-steamer, . I lied from the Cape on the 11th of November for Melbourne. The Lauriston screw-steamer left Cape Verde on the 10th of December for the Cape and Bombay. The screw-steamer Mauritius arrived on the 11th December at Cape Verde, bound to the Cape and C alcutta. 11 1 Table Bay—the Styx, waiting for the English mails. 7, In Simon's Bay—the Hydra and Castor. Ascension—the Tortoise, Teazer, and Athol, Cl the West Wind, with emigrants, detained 10 Is for coals. 1 : 1 1e mails, in charge of Captain Curtis, were t aken t to the post-office and despatched by the mail in, which arrives at Paddington at 4.15 a.m., t he letters for Plymouth having been assorted and 'elivered within two hours after the arrival of the mcket. The Harbinger left for Southampton at 4.30 p.m AMERICA. ARRIVAL OF TFFF, BALTIC. LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY, 11-30 P.m. By the United States mail steam-ship Baltic, rastock commander, we have advices from New ;,..c'rk to the 11th inst. She did not, however, sail ," 13 3. New York till the 12th inst., and has expe-' fenced very violent weather during the whole pas f...l4°. e . She brought 250,000 dols. in specie on • ght. The Baltic passed the Arctic, hence for New 'c'rk, at 2-30 p.m., on the 13th mst. • Congress had been in session for a month, but fe3rond passing an appropriation of 600,000 dols. 4 . °l ' current expenses, and deciding to impeach a ` ( lrraer Minister for treason, little business had been ~ The committee in conference on the Tehuantepec propositions had reported a bill granting the con "vazt for constructing the route to Senor Bellarge. A. spirited debate took place in the House of Representatives at Washington on the Whig pro position to refer that part of the President's mes sage relating to the tariff to, a select committee. Sortie of the Democrats seemed to favour the move blent, while others were directly opposed to it. • Mr. Gorman, Democrat, gave notice of his in rtion to introduce a bill impowering the Presi t to confer the rank of Lieutenant-General, ,_"_kloh was, however, met with cries of objection, ' 43 . l dst which the House adjourned. Telegraphic accounts from New Orleans, dated Dec, 8, announce the arrival at that port of the ,steamer Philadelphia, with California advices to the 16th of November. The news is said to be of a highly important character. The city of Sacramento had been almost entirely destroyed by fire. Nearly every house was burnt, a nd many lives lost. Destructive fires had also furred in San Francisco and Marysville. The Philadelphia sailed in' company with the l i teamer Illinois, for New York, which vessel had The and a quarter million of gold dust on freight. Ike loss by the fire at Sacramento was estimated at 10 ,000,000 dols. During the nine days that had !lapsed from the occurrence of the fire to the depar ture of the steamer, 350 buildings had been erected. The San Francisco fire broke out on the 10th Nov., and. the loss was estimated at 150,000 dole. The e fire occurred on. the 7th Nov., and de stroyed a great part of the town, but the estimated mount of damage done is not recorded. The San 41 Francisco markets were very unsettled. The Gardiner Investigation Committee had left for the mines. From Mexico we have telegraphic accounts, via New Orleans, to the 26th of November. The re volutionists in all parts of the country were said to be progressing. The defeat of General Bianca _N/as confirmed, and Sonora had been declared ' - adependent. No battle had taken place be tween General Uraga and General Valadez, the leader of the Federal troops, as reported • but the l atter was in a fortified camp, and have been sum moned to surrender. The situation was very criti- Zal, and there was but little pocsibility of assistance li ueing rendered from the capital. The people of ‘iadala Lake had received Uraga with the greatest enthusiasm ; his forces was nearly 4,000 men. Ge nerals Mesia and Robelledo, with 1,100 men, had Pronounced in favour of the plan of Guadalaxara, aft also had the States of Tamaulipas and Gauna iliato. Judge Conkling, United States Minister of Mexico, arrived in the city of Mexico on the 14th of No l'ember, but had not yet presented his credentials. It is stated that the steamer City of Pittsburgh, destroyed by fire at Valparaiso, was insured for 80 ,000 dollars in London. A private letter received at New Orleans by the Cherokee, Havanna states that Captain Gray and the late crew of the ship Lady Suffolk had been released. THE FRENCH EMPIRE. The Moniteur contains the Senatus Consultum, Which was adopted on Thursday by the Senate, by 64 votes to 7. The throne, in case of want of " heir direct, legitimate or adoptive," descends to Jerome Napo 'eon Bonaparte, uncle of the reigning 'Emperor, 411 d to his son by the Princess Catherine de Wur toraberg. The basis of the Constitution is de clared to remain untouched, so that the modifica tions introduced apply to the prerogatives of the Emperor and the Imperial family, to the situation of the Senate and the attributions of the Corp s Legislatif. The Emperor has full power of grant amnesties. He is the President of the Senate. Then comes a very important article by which the Emperor not only can make alliances, but con clude commercial treaties, and settle tari ff s , whi ch neoome law by simple decree. Thus, then , is taken away from the representative body its old right of sanction of commercial treaties, and this right is thus 'hsposed of :—" A faculty so exorbitant is incom- Patible with the dignity of the Empire ; it displaces t he right, without profit to the nation. Customs sti pulations inserted in a treaty of alliance are always t illed by high political questions, which the Chief Of the State is alone competent to settle. Not only may the Emperor alone regulate tariffs, but alone order public works and enterprises of general inte rest by Imperial decree. The budget of expense shall b e voted " by Ministries "—that is to say, the var Whole sum d ema nded for the administration of the , A Department, or of the Interior, or Publii works, or Marine, shall be taken in the lump, or so rejected ; so that should the Corps Legislatif venture to call in question an item of army expert 'ltilre' for instance, it could do so by no other means than that of refusing the supplies, and be it self dismiss e d the same day. It is settled, too, that th e mem b ers are to be salaried, while the Senate enforces on its own account the privilegeas sumed by th e E m p er or of conferring pensions of equal amount on all senators. Such are the modi cationg introdiieNl into the co nstitution by the s • en ' ;;( 3 by which it ‘vill be that the Emperor under lows et m.troul tliau Louis XI V. at the moment he made use of the memorable exclamation , 1 Vetat, &est, moi." There exists now a complete 324 aepinery for raising taxes such as the old monar- ------ - 7 - issa Dorf , lle. •A-n nie " q uip ; 31r ,i virtho, Prer all- Contra" written by Lee. Ths..e+. of am n araph er „ delignb be on will Gardne r o'tivelith• ,d Nlad wa its the' 5 en titiedt; aim TeeN" uncle; . Beady 6ntoraili" er of r/equi"' mist fit.. in possw L taking , e ar, them rea "o°uldt that.t: f caP 0 I to there 01, rk LIS; ions. fit ,4 the r i ° l33 t ,oulet ith. an d - , o , ronl heal and deny ca l oon „ Th , ilbrie' • nco , 12 • ' t the e reo l-5 0 )likely 'l9 and there e Ible, )fa r t rin d pri ;eted ;11 , o ut g ° ,o/ , per reo i, stana l b Eng' li v ido 35 32 0. Ii r 6 THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 25, chy never possessed ; so that with unlimited means of obtaining money, and no control over expendi ture, and with power to alter tariffs, order public works, and create companies, the Emperor enjoys greater power than _ever fell into the hands of the most absolute of his predecessors. The Pope and Tuscany have acknowledged the Emperor. The Constitutionnel states that the Emperor has given a second sum of 10,000 f. to the Mayor of Compiegne for the foundation of Salles d'Asile in that town. The Freres des Ecoles Chretiennes hate also received 2,000 f., and several old soldiers different sums amounting to 500 f. M. Duchesne, formerly responsible editor of the Peuple, who in 11 different prosecutions had been condemned altogether to 30 years' imprisonment and 80,000 f. fine, has just been released from the prison at Bell Isle, in virtue of the late amnesty for offences of the press. The Senate met yesterday, at half-past one o'clock, pursuant to adjournment, to discuss the report of M. Troplong on the Senatus Consultunt for the modifica tion of the Constitution. M. Mesnard, as usual, in ~he chair. Another article has been added to the pro ' ject, so that it now consists of seventeen instead of sixteen clauses. The new article is to the effect that Lieutenant-Generals admitted on the half-pay list may be named deputies. The Commission, more over, has added a few words to the 7th Article, which specified that the French Princes, that is, the Princes of the Imperial family, were of right senators at the age of 1S years ; the words now added are, " with the assent of the Emperor." In virtue of another amendment, the allowance of the deputies is increased to 2,500 f. instead of 2,000 f, or 7,500 f. for the year, independently of ex- tordinary sessions. Some new suggestions have been proposed to the Minister at War, with the view of rendering the army more efficient." The author of the plan, whose name not made public, proposes to convert the 25 regiments flight infantry into rifle corps, but without the expense ttending a change in the staff. The idea is to corn- r ose those 25 regiments of three battalions each battalion to consist of six companies, four of chasseurs wearing the same uniform and armed in the same man ner as the Chasseurs de Vincennes, and two companies of Chasseurs-Tirailleurs, to be substituted for the existing carabiniers and voltigeurs. The author of this plan would further substitute the red trousers of the men for grey cloth, as better calculated for troops employed as an advanced guard or as flankers. The Four-and-a-Half per Cents. closed at 106 f. ; Three per Cents., 82f. 10c. ; Bank of France, 2,930 f. - - THE CONTINENT. SPAIN. Advices from Madrid have been received dated the 19th. The only points of interest they contain are a statement that the Moderate electoral com mittee continue to hold frequent meetings. The Heraldo states that Messrs. Bravo Murillo and Bordin had left Madrid in r post-chaise for France. The 19th being Sunday there was no Bourse. Duke's warlike ac hievements. We say this—al though we do nA )t at all like that mention of Na poleon as "The , War-Fiend." We were in hopes we had got over the days when Boney was syno nymous in the Laii id of John Bull with Boguey. It would seem othcri vise, however : for here, in 1852, we have an Englis h author talking of Napoleon the Great as the I Var-Fiend, and a French author (Victor Hugo) calling " Napoleon the Little" (as he terms him, but Napoleon the Third as he has been designated. - by nearly 8,000,000 of his fellow countrymen) m ore hard names than can be found in Lear's Curse or Timon's Malediction ! But passing this by, and reverting to this death-chaunt over " The Hero's Funeral," we come with the " Procession to the Cathedral." Subsequently we have the " Fare well," and " St. Paul's," and " The Burial ;" and after the " Conclusion," " Nature's Analogy," and " Moral Contrast," and " Patriotism," and " The People," and " The Hero," and then really the end, entitled " Final Apostrophe." The descrip tion of the interior of the Cathedral is surprisingly graphic, even to the minute reference to the vaulted dome— "Bacheled. o'er with beads of golden light " a touch as true as any line or gleam in a daguerreo type. So, too, that allusion— "As the wind-bowed plumes were bending, High o'er his coffin-lid depending, How life and death together seemed to be, And awed the gazer like a mystery." It is exact. One more quotation and we have done. It is the earnest and fervid passage dedi cated to the glories, and the duties, and the privi leges of PATRIOTIS/1. " And Thou, environ'd with thy zone of waves, Nursling of waters ! whom old Ocean laves, As though He lov'd to hear his billow-roar Champion the rocks which sentinel thy shore ; Intrepid Isle ! whose amaranthine bays Bloom in the light of Heaven's approving gaze ; Defender of the Faith in Christendom's great heart ! Well may we proudly think on this clay what Thou art ; And, pond'ring o'er th' imperishable past, See Glory's halo round thy hist'ry cast ! Let Patriots boast of thine and thee, Of Commerce, Arms, and Chivalry, Of princely homes, of palaces-halls, Of Culture, and whateer recals How lofty will can dare, and lion-heart can do, When Trafalgar became an ocean- lVaterloo : 'Tis right to let such feeling reign,— And, when dead ages breathe again, O'er the harp-string of the soul Like a lyric rapture roll. And their proud boast is purer still, If Thou thy mission-work fulfil, As dauntless champion of the Truth to stand And brighten Europe like a beacon-land, By teaching tyrants, who would crush the mind, 'Tis sacrilege !—for GOD is there enshrined. Thus, sacred law and liberty unite A Prince's sceptre with the People's right And in the bulwark of a bold-voic'd Press, Nations can utter forth their nobleness, Who find in scripture, when it frees the soul A Magna Charta which sublimes the whole !" We could find many other portions of the " Poem" equally worthy of being extracted ; but the fragments already excerpted must surely suffice to show the scope of the de sign—proving it, as we have before remark ed, in every respect worthy of its author, of the author of " Satan," and " Luther," and " Woman," and " The Messiah," and " Oxford," and " The Omnipresence of the Deity," the Rev. Robert Montgomery. The Burial of Wellington. —An Elegiac and Tributary Poem. By Nicholas Michell. Tegg and Company. ' Altogether, we cannot but think these verses dis tressingly weak, and in some parts painfully com mon-place. They were evidently written with over precipitation. For in the account given of the procession for example, it is rather unluckily said— " Warriors from foreign lands ye see; Proud Austria sends her chivalry." Austria having done nothing of the sort, from the circumstance of her still sulking over the brutality of the brewers' draymen, in their conduct one fine day towards Marshal Haynau. There is one good couplet about the Old Duke—namely, that in which Mr. Michell calls him— " A Nestor with his locks of snow, Miltiades without his woe." But a single meritorious couplet cannot compensate for sixteen pages of very indifferent rhyming—tall ing us among other things, that on the 18th ultimo, " Old Thames more smoothly seemed to flow," " Each low-drooped flag to droop more low," when they seemed nothing of the kind, but were just "pretty much as usual." Everything con sidered, these elegiac verses reflect but a feeble lus tre on the name of the ingenious author of " Ruins of many Lands." Wellington—His Death—His Funeral. An Ode. By Andrew Park. Mackenzie. Mr. Andrew Park is already favourably known a§. the writer of " Songs for all Seasons," as well as of " The Queen of Merry Eng land," besides being a welcomes name as an agneable contributor to our periodical litera ture—otherwise, his present effusion might have been passed by unnoticed like similar stanzas upon the same subject, provided by the crowd of " illus trious obscures" for the popular delectation. Re membering what Mr. Park has done before now, we can forgive the absence of any very noteable merit in this somewhat monotonous production. As affording an example of its tone, we subjoin one of the least indifferent passages : " Behold along the people-crowded Strand, The dauntless warrior borne in silence on— Saving the muffled music of each baud, That thrills the air with melancholy . tone. In homage due, the great of every land Give more respect, than if from regal throne Some pompons king, in all the world's array, Were from his gorgeous palace borne away !" The rest of the ode is equally uncoloured by any novelty either of idea or expression. By W. C. The Death Chaunt of Wellington. Bennett. 65, Cheapside. Among the most meritorious effusions on the one mournful and absorbing theme of the hour, we would decidedly class this simple, eloquent, and effective " Death-Chaunt of Wellington." The opening stanza is singularly striking and dramatic : " Whom bear you thus with heavy tread, With arms reversed, and brows deprest?' " ' Comrade, we bear the mighty dead In glory to his place of rest. A nation throngs the city's ways, In grief for him whose race is run ; On, in dark state, beneath their gaze, Comrade, we bear great Wellington.' March—slowly march—hark ! in the hush, I hear Assaye's hurrah, and Badajos's cheer." Each separate stanza, it will be observed, is an epoch in the career of the departed warrior—the refrain glorifying his renown by the inspiriting mention of his principal military achievements. Thus—in the first, and still more obviously in the second stanza it will be perceived that the author advances from Hindostan to the Peninsula : " Yes—o'er him let the trumpet wail,' And round him roll your muffled drums ; In this last hour who now shall fail In open grief for him who comes? Its solemn swell the Dead-march pour, In grief for him whose deeds are done ; Grief, let the mighty cannon roar, As on we bear great Wellington. March—slowly march—hark ! in the hush, I hear Victoria's shout, and Salamanca's cheer." Again—in the third stanza, allusion is made no longer to the great pitched battles, but to the vic torious assaults upon the hostile fortifications : " On-13ar him on to where they sleep, Our greatest, whom we name with pride ; Lay him by Moore, in slumber deep ; Lay him by Abercrombie's side. Nay—place him by the only one Who fixed, with him, red victory's smile ! Room for the dead, by him who won For us Trafalgar and the Nile ! On—bear him on—hark ! in the hush, I hear Toulouse's charge and St. Sebastian's cheer." Before the fourth and closing stanza, the ear has be come accustomed to the changing metre ofthe refrain insomuch that the effect indeed proves very har monious and beautiful. " Throw wide the doors ; dust unto dust ; O'er him the yawning marble close ; Give him to death, with trembling trust, Calm in his last stern cold repose. In reverent silence, in the gloom. Brooding beneath the mighty dome, Conqueror, to share the conquered s doom. Leave him to fame in his last home. March—comrades, march—hark ! in the hush, I hear Quatre Bras' hurrah and Waterloo's fierce cheer." And so—with the climax of warlike success the Death-Chaunt is brought to an appropriate and brilliant conclusion. A Dirge for Wellington. By Martin F. Tupper. Within nearly two hundred lines, or, more cor rectly speaking, verses , i t was scarcely possible that Mr. Tupper—Martin Farquhar Tupper, the thought ful and poetic sage who has penned that most sug gestive work entitled " Proverbial Philosophy"— could do otherwise than evince the brightness of his abilities and the force of his imagination.* Through out the lament is forceful and pathetic—sometimes rising to a dignity of woe consonant with the occa sion. In the celebration of the Great Duke's victories we cannot understand the energy or merit of a merely bald enumeration—as where (stan za xv.) are mentioned thus— Barossa ! Talavera ! Vittoria !" --- That, we take it, is scarcely poetry—it is neither rhyme nor reason. Again, too, we are startled by BELGIUM. The bill for the ratification of the commercial convention between Belgium and France has been adopted by the Belgian Chamber of Representa tives, by a majority of 62 to S. Sixteen of the members abstained from voting. ITALY. We learn from Turin, under date of the 21st, that on the termination of the general debate in the Senate the previous day on the civil marriage law, the several sections were taken into consideration, on the first of which M. d'Azeglio proposed an amendment to the effect, viz.:—" In the case o. citizens who profess the religion of the State, the marriage contract shall entail no civil effect till after the religious ceremony." This amendment, destructive of the principle of the law, was rejected. The article itself was then put to the vote, and lost by 39 against 38 votes. This decision will probably lead to the rejection of the whole law. A deep silence ensued on the announcement of the numbers, the sitting was im mediately ended, and the public retired with a dis appointed air. The Prince of Monaco has issued the following pro test :—" We, Florestan I, by the Grace of God, Sovereign of Monaco. By our protest of the 13th and 29th of Sept. 1848, we had informed the Foreign Powers, parties to the treaties of 1814 and 1815, of the events which had taken place in our principality, as also of the decree of the King of Sardinia, of Sept. 18, 1848, which stipulates that the communes of Menton and Roccabruna shall be occupied without delay by his Government, in order to be provisionally administered according to the laws in force. We have subsequently protested against a new decree of the King of Sardinia of the 20th of December, 1848, which subjects the communes of Menton and Roccabruna to the jurisdiction of the tri bunal of Nice ; as also against all the acts infring ing our Sovereign rights. Since then the tribunal of Nice, disregarding our rights, being called upon to pronounce on questions of expropriation on the ground of public utility, pronounced, on the 14th of July, 1852, a judgment to the effect that the town of Menton hav ing, by the law of the 18th of September, 1848 , been subjected to the authority of the King of Sar dinia, the town of Menton was bound to apply to that Sovereign for the declaration of public utility, as being the successor of the Prince of Monaco. The judg ment pronounced in the name of the King of Sar dinia, and by magistrates named by him, implies the sanction of the Sardinian government, and obliges us to protest, not only against the pretension of Sardinia to ad minister justice in a country depending from our sove reignty, but also against the pretension of despoiling us of the said sovereignty, and giving us a successor in virtue of a treaty which can neither modify existing trea ties nor impair our rights. It behoves us, by the present protest, to defend these rights, which are not taken into account, and the principles which guarantee re spect and inviolability to established sovereignty against unjust encroachments. Hence we again protest against the occupation of the towns of Men ton and Roccabruna by the troops of the King of Sardinia, and against the intervention of the Sardi nian Government in the administration of these communes. We address ourselves with confidence to the powers who have signed the treaties of 1814 and 1815, which regulate the territorial limits of Europe, and we pray them to defend and protect the principles of those treaties violated in our sovereign rights. Done at our hotel in Paris, Decemer 2, 1852. (Signed) " FLORESTAN I." HORRIBLE MUTILATION OF AN INFANT. - About seven o'clock on the evening of Wednesday last, a female named Sandon, who resides in Pye-street, passed thrOugh the Horse Guards on her way home. She was accompanied by three young children, and having reached the Parade the Park, the youngest, named Mary Ann San(lon, four years and a half old, left her side, and to obey a call of nature placed herself over the horizontal railings immedi ately beneath one of the windows of the War-office. The poor child had scarcely been there a moment when she gave a loud scream and ran to her mother, who found, on exa mination' that blood was flowing profusely from the in fant's body down her legs to the ground ; upon which she was instantly taken by her mother to Charing cross Hospital, where she lies with scarcely any hope of recovery. On her arrival she received the prompt attendance of Mr. J. E. Adkins, the house surgeon, and that gentleman, on inspection, found that the poor infant had been injured by a deep incised wound inflicted by some sharp instrument, and which had evidently passed from the dorsal vertebrae, extending towards the navel, and in its course cutting completely through the most deli cate portions of the body. Such a horrid case has never yet come under the notice of the officers of the hospital, and should their skill and exertions succeed in effecting a cure, (of which however there appears scarcely the shadow of hope) the highest credit will attach to the institution. From all which can be gathered from the infant it would appear that some miscreant (whether below the railings or on the surface does not appear) had suddenly dashed the weapon into the body of the child. Police constable Lush 198 A, upon whose beat the outrage took place, was upon the spot shortly afterwards, and immediately repaired to the hospital, to make inquiries, and afterwards with Mr. I ns pector Sheppy, proceeded to the War Office, but no in telligence could be gained as to the perpetrator of this dia bolical outrage. Since, the most indefatigable exertions have been used, but without effect, to elucidate the mys tery in which, at present, this extraordinary circumstance is involved. SHOCKING DEATH OF A WOMAN.—Mr. G. T. Brent, the deputy coroner for Middlesex, held an inquest yester day, at the Great Western Beer-house, Hampton-street, Harrow-road, Paddington, touching the death of Mrs. Ann Susan Baxen, sixty-one years of age, a widow, re siding at 3, Eating-place in the same locality, which occural in the following dreadful manner :—lt appeared from the evidence that on Tuesday forenoon last, between eleven and twelve o'clock, the deceased went out upon the flat roof of an outhouse, 'which was accessible by the stairs window, for the purpose of placing some recently purchased fish to dry on the slates. She was observed by a Mrs. Jones, a lodger in the same house, who was in the washhouse at the time, to stagger for a moment, and fall, with a dreadful shriek, on the pavement of the yard below, a height of about thirty feet, where she lay bleeding and insensible. Mrs. Jones's daughter ran out to her aid, and some more assistance being procured, the deceased was re moved into her own room, but she only survived a few minutes. Medical assistance was sent for, and upon the arrival of a surgeon it was discovered, ou examining the injuries, that the rough, pebbles with which the yard is paved had completely forced in the skull in small portions over the left eye, which in turn severely lacerated the brain, thereby causing almost instantaneous death. It was supposed that as the roof was without any railing the poor woman became dizzy, and so fell forward. The coroner and jury, after remarking on the dangerous and imprudent act of the unfortunate deceased in venturing out on such a place, returned a verdict of "Accidental death." _ _ _ _ A POOR BUT HONEST MAN.—Yesterday afternoon week, a man named Ellison, employed by the Hudders field Improvement Commissioners to scrape the roads, was fortunate enough to find two Bank of England and one Huddersfield Banking Company's notes, each of the value of 51., and a promissory note for 291. ).Bs. 6d., while pursuing his employment near the gas house in the Leeds-road. Mr, John Sykes, superintendent of pa viers, passed soon after, and Ellison mentioned the cir cumstance to him, and wanted to transfer the notes to him. Mr. Sykes, however, declined. telling the man to 1: - .(•:1 - , th e Lehman and he would try i ent,rortml 1 n.n 01111,1 1 - 1\ fr. J wl ~~t \night, of Lane, applied fur them, and, having deserilo2d the notes, &c., they were handed to him, when, at the request of some of his friends, he gave . Ilison 2s, for his honesty and trouble. _RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE. DUNDEE AND ARBROATH. The half-yearly general meeting of the shareholders of she Dundee and Arbtoath Railway Company was held on Wednesday at Dundee—Mr. R. Stocks, of Abden, in the chair. From the report by the directors, laid before the meet ing, it appeared that the revenue for the half-year end ing the 31st of October, 1852, amounted to 14,1841. 18s. 10d., being an increase of 695/. 4s. 3d. over the corres ponding period of the previous year. The working expenditure (being 441 per cent. of the revenue) amounted to 6,3201. 2s. 84d., showing an increase of 3151. 2s. 54d. The passenger duty, feu duties, and other charges, amounted to 1,8051. 3s. 7d. ; and there was thus left for dividend 6,0591. 12s. 64d., of which 1,1661. 13s. 4d. was required for dividend at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum on guaranteed stock of 46,6661. 13s. 4d. The directors recommended that out of the balance the ordinary shareholders should receive a dividend of 14 per cent. (or 31 per cent. per annum), which would leave 1,3921. 19s. 24d. to be carried to next half-year's account. It was also mentioned that, during the past half-year, the directors had settled by compromise one of the most important claims applicable to by-gone years, forming a charge against the reserved revenue account ; that the line is gradually being re placed with rails and sleepers more suitable to the weight of the locomotives now used by the company ; that the joint passenger station at Arbroath is nearly completed ; and that arrangements are in progress for the acquisition of the remainder of the ground required for the terminal station at Dundee. The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the report, said the shareholders would observe that the line had earned for the last half year fully 4 per cent. per annum ; but the directors, considering that there might be a fall ing off during the winter half year, had recommended that the dividend should be at the rate of only 3.1 per cent. per annum, the surplus being carried forward to next half year. He (the chairman) could not, of course, say whether such a diminution might take place or not ; but the seven weeks already elapsed showed a very favourable result, the increase during that time amount ing in all to 2711. Is. 9d., or about 401. a week. There had been an increase every week, with the exception of last week, in which there was a slight decrease. Their prospects for the current half year were therefore more favourable than the directors had ventured to anti cipate ; and if the returns continued to be as favour able as they had been, it would be a very agreeable matter for the directors to recommend a dividend of 2 per cent. instead of 1/. But in the meantime it would be safest to divide only 11, and carry the balance for- ward. Mr. J. MACKAY seconded the motion, expressing his conviction that the course adopted by the directors was the more judicious one. However, he considered that the Fhareholders had the prospect of receiving a larger dividend for the future. The report was then unanimously approved of. The CHAIRMAN then mentioned that one of the direc tors (Mr. R. Ferguson) had resigned. He proposed that Mr. George Armitstead, merchant, Dundee, should be elected to fill the vacancy. This was seconded by Mr. ROBERT MILN, and unani mously agreed to. Mr. MILN moved a vote of thanks to the directors. The motion was unanimously agreed to, and the meeting separated. EDINBURGH AND BATHGATE. A special general meeting of the Edinburgh and Bathgate Railway Company was held in Edinburgh, on Thursday. The object of the meeting was to consider a report by the committee appointed at the half-yearly meeting, held in September last, to consider the terms of the proposed compromise with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company. Major Shairp, of Houston, presided. The report stated that the committee, after adver tising for claims against the company, proceeded minutely to investigate the expenditure, and care fully to estimate the outstanding liabilities connected with the construction of the line. The result was the conviction on their part that the report of the former committee on the same subject, showing the total expenditure to be 254,0001. was substantially correct ; and, consequently, that the acceptance of the offer of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company would infer a total sacrifice of capital and past-due rents of upwards of 37,0001. The committee were also of opinion that the terms proposed by the lessees (the Edinburgh and Glas gow Company, viz., a fixed rent of 9,5001. per annum, commencing from 31st July last, were inadequate to im plement the statutory obligations incumbent on the les sees, without provision being made for payment of the ar rears of rent, which, in accordance with the rate of their own offer—if taken even from 31st Jan., 1850, nearly three months after the period of possession being taken by them of the main line—would amount, as at 31st July last, to upwards of 23,7501. The report then states that a claim had been lodged by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company for 5,722/. 12s. 10d., for furnishing advances of money, &c. The directors of the Edinburgh and Bathgate Company had advanced a counter-claim of s tation-accommodation, &c.; but this dell-land had been rejected by the other party, who claimed payment forth with. In conclusion, the committee claimed a legal judgment in their favour, finding that the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company are bound to lease the line of the Bathgate Company; though, on the other hand, a finding has been pronounced, to the effect that suffi cient grounds were not stated by the Bathgate Company to authorise instant decree being pronounced for imple ment of the'statutory obligations on the lessees without inquiry into the facts on which the parties are at variance. In these circumstances, if the shareholders were of opinion, with the committee, that the offer of the Edin burgh and Glasgow Company was inadequate, and at variance and inconsistent with the provisions of the com pany's act, they suggested that the proceedings in Court should be forth With resumed, and effectively prosecuted, until a decision was obtained. From several of the conclusions in the report, par' cularly as regards the sum of 37,000/. alleged as the probable loss to the Edinburgh and. Bathgate Company, involved in the acceptance of the offer by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company, Mr. Clark, a member of the committee, dissented, holding that the sum of 31,0001. was the proper one. The discussion on the report was long and contradic tory, but the result only is of any importance. Mr. CLARK moved that this company agree to accept the offer of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company, to the effect of fixing the capital of 237,5001., being a sum cor responding to an annual payment of rent of 9,5001., com mencing on the 31st July last, on the understanding that all cliims on either side previous to that date shall be held as passed from and entirely discharged ; and also that unless the above qualifications shall be assented to by the lessees within a month from this date, the whole proposal for implement shall be held as terminated, and shall not be founded on in any future proceedings. Mr. SMITH, W.S., seconded the motion. Mr. CULLEN moved as an amendment, that the direc tors shall instantly proceed to bring the actions now in dependence with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Company to a conclusion. Mr. WEBSTER seconded the amendment. Upon the vote being taken (the directors declining to take any part in it), the motion by Mr. Clark was car ried by ten to seven. The meeting then separated. THE EXTRAORDINARY DEATH AT MORTLAKE.—Yes terday, Mr. W. Carter resumed the inquiry at the Two Brewers, Mortlake, respecting the death of Harriett Eliza Thornton. Mr. Harry Smith Pulmer, surgeon, deposed that on Sunday night the husband of the deceased requested him to come directly to visit his wife. He found her lying on a bed, dead. She had been so for some hours. He found, on examining the head, that there was a contused, lacerated wound at the back of the right ear, the upper part of the cartilage of which was nearly divided. There was a wound in the scalp, which had not reached the bone. He found no other cut wound, but a number of bruises, which, ex cept the small ones on the face and temple, were of an old date. The blood on the pillows was congealed ;it was of a florid colour, or what is termed arterial blood. He saw bloody water in the washing basin. Ho noticed spots of blood on the stand, and marks or traces of blood on the toilet-cloth, appare:tly made by fingers which had been wiped on it. There was also a carelessly rolled up towel, wet witli discoloured blood. The deceased had no cap on her head, and her hair was completely matted. There was no appearance of a towel having been used to the cut wound. He found at the foot of the bed traces of blood to the fireplace, and marks on the mantleshelf, as if smeared by the hand. At the head of the bed wal a quantity of blood lying in a pool, and near to the corner of some moulding projecting from the bottom of a box there might have been half a pint of blood. There was a mark of blood on the edge of the box. The deceased might have lain some time after her fall fr . = the bed in a senseless state, and after that might have recovered so far as to get up, pass the fire-side, and then have thrown herself on the bed, and died. He considered the wound not done by any cutting instrument, but by some blunt substance against which she fell. The jury returned the following verdict :—" That the deceased died from haemorrhage, from a lacerated wound accidentally caused." ELOPEMENTS AT BLANDFORD.—Two elopements have lately caused a great deal of conversation in this neigh bourhood. The first (which has occurred some weeks) is connected with many sad and painful circumstances, and touches the honour of a most estimable family, so the less said about it the better ; but the other, and more modern one, was a spicy little affair, and may be mentioned without disparagement of any of the parties concerned. Not a thousand miles—(we believe that is the convenient mode of beginning the story of an elopement)—not a thousand miles from the beautiful domain of Milton Abbey, there lives a highly respectable agriculturist with, at least, ono fair daughter, who was wooed, and, as we shall by and bye show, won by an enterprising young farmer. Against the match there was, apparently, not the slight est objection. He was an active, good man of business, was respectably connected, and his family had intermarried with that of the lady, yet still the papa's consent could not be got. As the young couple had made up their minds to have each other, the father's objection was of no avail—not even in delaying the match —and on the night of Thursday week the young lady con signed herself to the arms of her lover, and was driven off by him to Salisbury, in a rather unpoetical vehicle—the waggon of the village blacksmith. At Salisbury the chains were riveted, and the twain were made man and wife, and the young bridegroom, to show his spirit, returned and showed himself at the Blancher(' dinner, where he was complimented upon his " pluck." We have a few words to add. The bride's father—" fathers have flinty hearts —refuses to be reconciled. Come, Papa, it's Christmas time ; kiss your daughter, and take your spirited son-in law by the hand. Give them a father's blessing, and rely upon it that those who have begun life so energetically, will never bring disgrace on your family or on themselves. —Sherborne Journal. THE CHIEF Goon.—Crcesus placed the chief good in riche ; Peri ander, of Corinth. in honour ; Socrates, in knowledge ; Plato, in idea ; Orpheus, in beauty ; the Crotonian, in bodily strength ; 'Tirades, the Milesian, in the union of prudence and knowledge • Pittacus, in benevolence ; Aristotle, in the practice and operation of virtue ; and Epicurus affirms that happiness is the chief good, and virtue the only happiness. LITERATURE. WELLINGTON.-POETICAL TRIBUTES.. Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington. By Alfred Tennyson. Moxon. According to an ancient if not honoured cus tom, a barrel of wine is (at least nominally) annually supplied to the Poet Laureate of England by the reigning Sovereign. The in spiring liquor, however, is only Malmsey—and not a draught " full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene." It would seem, indeed, from a ra ther sad experience,lhat the bay garland is neither to be culled in Downing-street, nor pilfered from among the bow-pots of Mayfair. We all recollect, or many of us at any rate recollect, how the lyre of Wordsworth jangled as discordantly as the tinkling wires of Boileau when the Prince Consort was elected by Cambridge University to the high post of Academic Chancellor. Death called Alfred Ten nyson to the position vacated by the author of " The Excursion." Death may be said, moreover, to have first elicited a court-offering from the poet of "In Memoriam." For we pass over as of no account the incidental and almost parenthetical " Dedication," by Tennyson, of the seventh edition of his " Poems" to " Revered Victoria :" the dedi cation in which the bard, addressing himself to the Queen, says, with the metaphor of a housemaid " Take, Madam, this poor book of song ; For though the faults are thick as dust In vacant chambers, I could trust Your sweetness." Death, then, we repeat, first woke the voice of the celebrant of " The Princess" to the fulfilment of his office as Poet Laureate—the Death of the Duke of Wellington. Alfred Tennyson has in the " Ode" now familiar to the multitude of his admirers scarcely justified what might have been expected from one of his deservedly eminent reputation. We say this distinctly and re g retfully —distinctly, because we are very grievously disappointed—re gretfully, because we are among the number of those who regard with unaffected and affectionate admiration the more exquisite outpourings of his sensibility. Blind we are not to his faults ; but we yield to no one in his regard in the fulness of appre ciation. We are too grateful for the pleasure his muse has yielded us during so many years past, to be indifferent to that meed of praise which is his due. We cannot forget the " May Queen," any more than we can lose a recollection of the " Gar dener's Daughter." We listen always with a kind of rapture to the tones of the " Talking Oak," as with a kind of awful joy to the passionate lamenta tions of " St. Simeon. Stylites." We remember how deliciously our writer's tongue has repeated the oft-told tales of the " Sleeping Beauty," and of the " Lady Godiva ;" and if we recognise too much affectation in the " Lady of Shaloti;," we linger with delight over the record of the romantic for tunes of " Lord Burleigh." Has he not sung among the pine woods and the everlasting snows of the north the dirge of " Oriana," and among the spice-gardens of the beautiful south the glories of the " Good Haroun Alraschid," and can we read either without a renewal each time of all our early enthusiasm ? Enough, however. It is sorrowingly, as among those who look upon very many of his exquisite writings with a warm and genuine admiration—that we express our deliberate opinion that in all respects this " Ode" is unworthy of Alfred Tennyson. Its non success appears to be another instance of the fatality attendant upon the effusions of a Poet Laureate. Several fine phrases and melodious lines there are in it, of course—that was inevitable. But, taken as a whole, it is, to our thinking, utterly unsatis factory. There is a pathos in the allusion to the " good grey head," and a certain vague sublimity (though fantastic and Tennysonian withal) in the recommendation that for the name of the departed warrior we should ever " Preserve a broad approach of fame, And ever-ringing avenues of song." Undoubtedly the best passage in the " Ode" is the following " Not once or twice in our rough island-story The path of duty was the way to glory. He that walks it, only thirsting For the right, and learns to deaden Love of self before his journey closes, He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting Into glossy purples, which outredden All voluptuous garden-roses. Not once or twice in our fair island-story, The path of duty was the way to glory. He, that ever following her commands, On with toil of heart and knees and hands, Thro' the long gorge to the far light has won His path upward, and prevail'd, Shall find the toppling crags of Duty scaled Are close upon the shining table-lands To which our God Himself is moon and sun." Yet all that about thistles " bursting into glossy purples," that " outredden all voluptuous garden roses," loveLy though it undoubtedly is as a meta phor, is, surely, strangely, glaringly inappropriate in a funereal memento of the Duke of Wellington ! It is like playing on the castanets over the tomb of Achilles. Better, because grander, and, there fore, more ,apposite to the subject is the mention of the " shining tale lands to which our God himself is moon and sun"—clos ing the above quotation. There is, scattered through the " Ode," an iteration of— " Honour, honour, honour, honcur"— intended, no doubt, to be lyrical, bit which to us is little short of being simply ridictlous. Again, however, in brief, we would here content ourselves with saying that Tennyson has failed, utterly and distressingly failed, in his ostentatiois but empty commemoration of Arthur, Duke of Wellington. and The Hero's Fun3rci. A Poem. By Robert Montgomery. Routledhe. Considerably better are the verses here pre sented. to the public by one of the most suc cessful writers of our generaion. " The Christian Life," now in its fotrth edition ; cc Luther," now in its sixth, ;" cc OZord," now in its eighth; " Woman," now in its 3ighth ; " The Messiah," now in its eighth; " Satan," now in its twelfth; and " The Omnipresence of the Deity," now in its twenty-fifth—th e latter, indeed, having run through four more editions the even one of the most triumphant effusions of the age, we mean " The Course of Time," by Robert Pollok—suffi ciently evidence the estimation in which are held by many thousands the abilities of Robert Montgomery. From his indisputable popularity will. this very nu merous class of admirers, we doubt not but this " Poem " the latest of his many productions, will compete with the most fortunate of its predecessors in circulation-r - the more so, unquestionably, from the extraordinary attraction of its theme at the present moment, namely, the funeral obsequies of the nation's hero, Wellington. The production— and more cannot be said of it—is in every way worthy of it. 3 author, worthy o f the author of " Satan," worthy of the Rev. Robert Montgomery. Upon the title-page are aptly inscribed those ma jestic words from Handers Anthem, — His body is hinted in peace, But his name liveth evermore," words which resounded so sublimely on the 18th of last Novem ber, of St. Paul's under the dome Cathedral. Upon the fly-leaf, moreover, are tran scribed those touching an d a pp ro priate passages from Holy Wr it, from Iniah and. Samuel—the first" The Man, and ;he Man of War , Th mightyeJud g eand the Prohet, and the Prudent And the A ncient and t i e H on ourable Man." (Is. iii. 2 & 3.) The second The Ki ng lifted up his voce and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people 'welt And the King said unto his servants Know ye not tt a t th ere is a Prince and a g reat man fa' llen this day in Israel ?"—(2 Sam. iii. 32-38.) It must be observed, likewise' th a t the effusion is gracefully de dicated b y the writer thus : " To her, who numbers morE than twenty relations, near and dear, that have fought auc served under Arthur, Duke of Wellington, the following *tempt is affectionately in scribed by her husband. Different from Mr. Tenayson's (which is It has the form less), th e re is construction ik the production of Mr. Mon Montgomery beginning, the middle, and the end, as recommenthd by Aristotle. After a solemn " Introduction," wherein our author commemorates the debt,— " A shielded Empire to her , av i ou r owes When grey-haired Glory Ads its last repose Under the crypt, where storied banners w ave Their drooping pageant o'er some public grave :" there coiner a " comparison' of the two mightiest of the warrior sons of England, where it is happily said : " The first became the Nelson of a w a s, The second prove d our Welli, by sea ; And both were weapon'd by Almighty hands, To guard the island-fortress of the free : Nor when the bomb-shell blazed, a nd rolled the culverin From iron lips of death its thunder and its din." Afterwards are described "Night Scenes on No vember 17," then " Midnight, then " Dawn," then " Morning ;" and so, by a natural sequence, we arrive at the hour when " Therrocession Forms." Speaking of " The Charger," Mr. Montgomery, after a little colloquialism about " the boot and spur," has a very felicitous expression, as may be perceived from the subjoined " A groom-led Charger, riderless, Comes drooping in its loneliness, As though the meek-eyed Creature felt Funereal sorrow through it melt. And, who that saw the boot and spur, And did not feel his life-blood stir, When that denuded steed a typo was made to be How glory is the garb earth puts on vanity ! " Then comes "The Military Scene," then the " Funeral Car," then " A Living Spectacle," then " European Homage," then " Veterans and Mourners,"—in which last-mentioned division of his theme the writer epitomises with admirable succinctness the most memorable of the great 8 5 2. the apparition of that Boguey of our father B—— " 0 thwarted France, in thy worst hour The scourge and curse of man,- 0 fell incarnate lust of power, Thou baffled Corsican, — Yell out his praise, whose trophied life Was crowned by crushing you, And sear'd your hydra-heads of strife In branding Waterloo I " There is a nervous povier in the last two lines or verses—but why attempt to " fright the isle from its propriety" by summoning up, again the Corsican apparition As well dream of alarming a sensible man• at mid-day with a scooped turnip and a sheet, like the ghost in the country churchyard. We don't understand how it happens that some people can't for the life of them bespatter one man with panegyric unless at the same time they are per mitted to throw the mud of abusive epithets and petulant vituperations at another. Turning from this flaw, however, to a beauty close by, we meet in nearly the next stanza with this noble and thrilling (because natural and unaffected) lamentation : " Bewail, ye cliffs, that, white and hoar, By castled Dover stand — Alas ! that ye shall see no more Our Nelson of the land !" Enough has been said of, and extracted from, Mr. Tupper's " Dirge" to attest that, if it adds not one leaf of bay more to his coronal, it in no way withers or depreciates the verdure of the garland won by his " Proverbial Philosophy." Elegiac Stanzas. Suggested by the Funeral of Arthur Duke of Wellington. By H. J. Staples. Pickering. Unpretending as this effusion is in its character —according to its title simply purporting to be a few " Elegiac Stanzas"—it is, nevertheless, in its feeling graceful, in its manner persuasive, and in its tone elevated. Several passages are very admi rably expressed. Almost at the outset the author exclaims, to our thinking finely— " Hark ! to the tramp of steeds—the measured tread— Grandeur's approach I to wait upon the Dead !" Speaking of the Great Duke's most memorable achievement, he continues in another part by ob serving that the Hero— " Bade Anarchy's and Plunder's reign to cease, And TVar's dread visage wear the smile of Peace." Recalling the prolonged glories of that great career, the writer apostrophises the shade of the departed Chief thus exquisitely— " When thy bright, glowing Autumn's sun had set, Thy Summer splendours dug - teed round thee yet. When Winter's snow upon thy brow was seen, Spring's freshest dews still kept thy laurels green." Without any assumption of superior excellence, these " Elegiac Stanzas " reflect credit upon the intellect and the sensibilities of Mr. Staples, who, we observe, is in her Majesty's Ceylon Civil Ser vice, and has, therefore, not been inspired to any momentary enthusiasm by mere professional predi lections. His words appear to us to have been dictated simply by the ardour of a patriotic admi ration. Mourn for the Mighty Dead. Mackay. 13y Charles A noble outburst of sorrow—deep, and true, and strong in pathos—worthy of Charles Mackay, the author, and of the subject—the Duke of Welling ton. Brief as it is, it is the best of all to our thinking ; and, regarding it as such, we have re served any mention of it to the last, when we can gratify ourselves and our readers by its quotation. The words are set to music by Sir Henry Bishop, and those who have rendered themselves familiar with their solemn andaffectingmelod.y, are capable of appreciating the truth, that they are such words as should have resounded.. over the tomb of the stoic warrior of Britain—such words as could alone have fallen from the lips of one who is more now than Barry Cornwall was in his day, one who is incomparably the greatest English Lyrist of his generation. As the most conclusive testimony that our praise of this admirable dirge is in noway ex aggerated, we give it entire as follows—perfect in its eloquent simplicity : " Mourn for the mighty dead, Mourn for the spirit fled, Mourn for the lofty head Low in the grave. Tears such as nations weep Hallow the hero's sleep ; Calm be his rest, and deep,— Arthur the brave ! Nobly his work was done— England's most glorious son, True-hearted Wellington, Shield of our laws Ever in peril's night Heaven send such arm of might ! Guardian of truth and right— Raised in their cause. Dried be the tears that fall ; Love bears the warrior's pall— Fame shall his deeds recal— Britain's right hand ! Bright shall his memory be ! Star of supremacy ! Banner of victory ! Pride of our land !" Perhaps the first is the best of the three stanzas ; and yet where all are good any implied exception might not unjustly be regarded as invidious. WELLINGTON-PROSE TRIBUTES. Life and Character of the Duke of Wellington, By Lord EllesMere. John Murray. A singularly interesting biography of the de parted warrior—condensed into the compass of a few pages—and from first to last strictly anecdotal in its character. Unimportant though it may ap pear in the size, and even the manner of its publi cation, the brochure will, nevertheless, furnish many valuable hints to the future historian—all the facts mentioned in it (some of them new and curious) being given on the authority of a personal and intimate friend of the deceased, a man no less eminent in letters than in his position in the patronage of art and his distinguished rank amongst our national patricians, the Earl of Ellesmere. The " railway readers " are under obligations to Mr. Murray for having placed within reach of all a volume so valuable, as well as attractive as Lord Ellesmere's Memoir of the Duke of Wellington. By Charles Wellington. A Historical Sketch. Phillips. Longmans. It is unnecessary to comment here upon the merits of this impassioned eulogium upon the Con queror of the Peninsula, extracted from the mas terly " Life of Curran," written by Mr. Commis sioner Phillips, and now printed in a separate form. To do so were surely superfluous, seeing that we had the satisfaction of ourselves printing the chapter in extenso in The Wellington Sun, on the Day of the Duke's Obsequies. Sufficient for us here to notice the fact of its present re-appear ance. The Wellington Souvenir : A Golden Record. 1852. Simpkin and Marshall. A very beautiful memento of the eath and Funeral of Wellington—perhaps them os D t graceful and elegant souvenir of the occurrence that has yet been published. It is exquisitely printed and embellished, the lette-press and the engravings being alike—golden. Indirectly, the little book is a souvenir of the golden year 1852, as well as of the magnificent interment of the Duke in our Metropolitan Cathedral. We//ingtonia , na. Selected by John Timbs Ingram and Cooke. As with the " Sketch" by Mr. Charles Phillips, we took occasion on the 18th of November to speak in deserved terms of praise of Mr. John Timbs's selection of anecdotes, entitled " Wel lingtoniana." The different incidents appear to us admirably well chosen, and are chronologically arranged. The volume reflects credit upon the taste and judgment of the compiler of " Laconics," and author of " Popular Errors 'Explained." Wellington : the Place and Day of his Birth Ascertained and Demonstrated. By John Murray, A.M., L.L.D. Trinity College Press. Reference has been frequently made in our columns to the ingenious and we think unanswer able arguments advanced by Dr. Murray in refer ence to the disputed question of the day of the Duke's birth, and of the very spot having the honour of being his birthplace. These arguments—which by the way are simply facts —are her reconsidered by s the author and rearranged. They appear to u conclusive. Sermons.—lt would be rather difficult, we fancy, to enumerate one quarter of the sermons and dis courses pronounced upon the memory of the Duke of Wellington. Several of them are highly meri torious, and among the m may be mentioned one by Dr. Croly, the reverend poet of St. Stephen's, Walbrooli ;—another preached at Eynsford Chapel, Kent, by the Rev. J. Whittemore ;—and a third, originally intended as such, by T. BinneY, but which the author expanded into an essay on " Wellington," considering him as " warrior, sen ator, and man," and estimatm g both his p ublic and his private character. Pictures.—Besides other works of art d e di c ated to the memory of the old Duke and already noticed in these columns, cur sory reference must here be made to two wate r - co lour drawings now "on view" at Mr. Ackermaus', representing the " Lying in State," and " The Burial," painted by Louis Haghe —as well as a masterly oil painting on view" at Messrs. Graves', being Sir George Hayter's picture of " Wellington visiting the Effigy and Personal Relics of Napoleon." It should not be omitted, that Mr. Walesby has just produced a number of smaller copies of the late lamented Count D'Orsay's admirable equestrian statuette of Field Marshal, Arthur, Duke of Wellington. Christmas Books. By Charles Dickens. Chap- man and Hall. Without any question the most exquisite volume for Christmas ever published. Not merely the cheapest, but the most exquisite. It comprises those five stories now so familiar to the English households, about the merits of which, too, there has been so much wrangling in the way of criticism. Cavillers are rife who are eager to depreciate the value of these tales, w r itt en f or the fire-side, by that genial and original genius to which we are all of us, old and young, indebted for so much happi ness. These curmudgeons appear to be anxious to bring their literary tomahawks down upon the skull of Ariel : their fingers seem to itch for the scalp of Robin Goodfellow. And while they are waging war as they imagine of the most deadly character, while they are lumbering their bludgeons round, they are actually only dealing empty blows upon the air—whew ! there is Puck sailing away on a blow-ball, and "my dainty Ariel " swingin g into security by the ringlet of a honeysuckle. The simple matter of fact is this. There-has been a vast quantity of bluster about four at least of the stories contained in this charming volu me — t h e dissentients among the public, or at any rate among the reviewers, declaring that they are effusions in every respect unworthy of Charles Dickens, and derogatory to the importance of imaginative literav ture. About the first of the five tales we believe there has not been one individual rash enough to raise a finger, except in benison. But about its four successors all sorts of horrible sarcasms have been uttered, written, printed, and repeated. Yet they have managed to survive notwithstanding ! And. they will manage to survive, we fancy, yet some little while longer. The reputation of Charles Dickens has not altogether faded away under the weight of the scorn provoked by his innocent little books, published at intervals, about the season of Christmas. The reason of all this, we take it, has been simply the fact that the critics were, from first to last, in a slight degree mistaken. They were for judging a ditty by the laws of an epic—they were for dissecting a daisy with the axe, and the saw, and the wedge, required to fell an oak—they werefor con trasting the anatomy of a humming bird with that of a condor. Here were stories, unpretending, harmless, merry,sad, tender, solemn, andpathetic in sentiment —stories that one would fancy to be rather told than written—stories intended by their author for the uncriticising ears of hdliday folks gathered round. the crackling fire at yule-tide—judged rigidly and. severely by all the iron laws ever contrived by the cruelest philosophic Rhadamanthus. The thing was absurd, and the public felt it be so instinc tively, and every one has consequently turned with derision or indifference from those formal diatribes directed against the Master-Nove list of the Age, the author who has been re cently called by Lord Denman, " perhaps the greatest favourite the public ever had." And so the stories so fiercely assailed have lived as freshly as ever in the popular recollection—and so Charles Dickens, whatever some reviewers may have al leged against him, is as dear as ever to the hearts of his countrymen, and, let us add too, of his coun trywomen, although he has written " The Chimes," and " The Cricket on the Hearth," and " The Battle of Life," and " The Haunted Man !" As to the " Christmas Carol" there are not two opi nions about that. We can't easily forget what was said of it once upon a time in the Dublin University Magazine, by Mr. Thackeray, under h i s nom-de plume of Michael Angelo Titmarsh—when he de clared that he had heard the same comment upon Charles Dickens in connection with the " Christ mas Carol,"—a comment uttered at different times by two ladies unacquainted with the fact of each other's existence, and that one comment—" God. bless him !" For ourselves we can never speak in measured terms of that little volume which has been embalmed with so many tears and glorified with so much laughter. It is among those golden glories of literature, which are our dearest treasures —one of those admirably compacted masterpieces which are equivalent in prose to " those jewels five words long" (in poetry,) " that, on the stretched forefinger of all time, sparkle for ever"—associating in our minds the " Carol" of Dickens, with the " Vicar of Wakefield " of Goldsmith, and the " Rasselas" of Johnson, and the " Robinson Crusoe" of Defoe, and the " Candide" of Voltaire, and the " Picciola" of Saintine, and the "Raphael" of Lamartine, and the " Elizabeth" of Cottin, and the " Paul and Virginia" of Bernardino de St. Pierre. We don't so much admire it—admire seems a weak word in its regard—as we love it. And while the name of its author is endeared to us by the blithe remembrances of " Pickwick," and the varied fortunes of " Nicholas Nickleby," and. the enthralling interest of " Oliver Twist," and the passion of " Barnaby Rudge," and the pathos of the "Curiosity Shop," and the humorous piquancy of " Martin Chuzzlewit," and the tender episodes of ' Dombey and Son," and the abounding beauties of every imaginable description combined in the inestimable pages of " David Copperfield"—of all, to our thinking, the masterpiece—yet with scarcely any one of his effusions do we asso ciate more affectionate sympathies, blend ing together the emotions . of the author and of the reader, than with this little story of the " Christmas Carol," a jewel of a book, brief as it is, capable of building up any other man's reputation. Whenever we turn over its leaves we have one feel ing towards Charles Dickens predominant over all others—that of gratitude. Grateful to him, more over, are we, though of course in a very consider ably lesser degree, for the four other tales in which he has given play to the more amiable promptings of his imagination. Here we remember little Dot and that comical rascal Boxer—there little Britain, or that strange, grotesque creature, Tilly Slowboy. We should never have got to the end of our enu meration, however, if we persistedin attempting any thing like a detailed particularity as to the various personages introduced. Enough for our present pur pose to reiterate the opinion already expressed, after critical deliberation—that the volume here published. by Messrs. Chapman and Hall (a firm celebrated as that of the original publishers of Charles Dickens) is, without any doubt whatever, a w t it c h h in ris t t h m e as re . ach of the the mostlovers n e a v b e l re fiction plated Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology. By J. F. W. Johnston, M.A., F.R.SS.L. and E. Sixth Edition. Blackwood. We are glad to meet with a new and improved edition of this most valuable and popular work —of which work ten thousand copies have already been sold at home, and very many more in the United States, and . in the British pro vinces. The scientific principles upon which the art of culture depends, " have not, hitherto," says Mr. Johnston, " been sufficiently understood or ap preciated by practical men ;" and he adds that, " Agriculture can be brought to that comparative state of perfection which other arts have attained only by availing itself, as they have done, of the many aids which science affords to it." Those aids are here, to a great extent, placed within the reach of the practical farmer. Here he may learn, first, what chemistry, geology, and chemical philosophy may do for agriculture ; and, sec ondly, the various proper ties and peculiarities of soils, plants, &c., are both theoretically and practically explained. Several chapters are devoted to the pastur age, feeding, and rearing of cattle ; another to " milk and its products," in which is given an analysis of the compositi on of milk, &e. So clear and comprehensively are the explanations here set forth, and illustrated when necessary by diagrams, that the information of thi s volume is easily attainable by all, while to practical farmers it must be invaluable. The Carpet Bag and Sketch Book Polka. By C. Colmar. Addison and Co .) London. The title of this lively piece of music will at once suggest its origin. It proceeds from the pen of Mr. Colmar, the young pianist, who has recen tl y obtained so much popularity by his brilliant play ing in Mr. W. S. Woodin's inimitable perform ances at the Adelaide Gallery, an d s i nce it e mbraces some degree of originality as well as con siderable vivacity, it ought to b ecome a favourite in the drawing-room. The 44 Carpet Bag and Sketch Book" is an entert a i nmen t peculiarly adapted to the drawing-room, and, of course , an y accompany ment bit in the shape of music should be scored for the piano, a circumstance which Mr. Colmar has not lost sight of in his polka. It is his first essay in this style of composition, and we hope it will not be the last. If we are not mistaken, Mr. Colmar, like his friend, Mr. Woodin, has a long career of usefulness and prosperity before him. [ADVERTISEMENT.] —Holloway's pills for the Cure of Headaches, Bile, and Indigestion. — Extract of a letter from Mr. W. Folkes, Chemist, Hyde, near Manchester, dated 10th September, 1852. 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