The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-30 00:00:00

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STA.NDARD.

mends thg starting point of the Canal at Ecaoes,
and the route thgnee south-westward, being
ideitically the same line as that selected by
Paterson more than a century and a half ago.
This canal would be only twenty-two miles in
length, and-it could be executed, it is said, for
£1,000,000. So much for the scheme of Pater-
sa27W-114—WEI s, without doubt, a man of great
commercial knowledge and extensive experience
in the monetary and mercantile affairs of the
world, as was evinced by his famous Darien
scheme, and still further, by the fact that he was
the founder of the Bank of England.
To return from this protracted digression to
the hook of Mr. Tomes, it will be found to con-
tain much readable information, and albeit that
the railway project, its prospects of success, and
the banquetings and junkettings, duly solemnised
at its opening, form rather more than a due pro-
portion of its contents, and are painted with
rather too golden a hue, the book is a pleasant
one to read.

Hogg's Instructor. Edinburgh : James Hogg.
The October number of this periodical calls for
pore pointed observation than has been afforded
to it by us for some considerable time past. In
,:,addition. to the miscellaneous matter with which
pit is generally filled, the present number contains
An article on the " Noctes Ambrosianze" of Pro-
fessor Wilson, under the title of " Christopher
:North in Dishabille," and it is from the pen of
the'_Aev. George Gilfillan. This reverend litera-
teur has, on more than one occasion, taken up
gie physical, moral, and religious character of the
late Professor as the subject of his criticism, and
here we have him essaying the same topic once
more. In writing upon so inviting a theme as the
Professor's mental endowments, the critic exercises
a right which is quite open to him ; but in so
frequently recurring to it he is apt to lose sight
of the fact, that he may have long ago exhausted
the topic so far as he is capable of treating it.
He is likely, under such circumstances, to repeat
himself, and in doing so weary the patience of
his reader, and probably to amplify and exag-
gerate faults which he had committed on previous
occasions. This seems pre-eminently the case
with Mr. Gilfillan in his treatment of the great
man who, for so many years, was so bright a
light in our intellectual hemisphere. From the
first he appears to have been but imperfectly
acquainted with Professor Wilson's person and
literary habits, and that little knowledge he has
obviously eked out by the scandal and small
gossip of the tenth-rate literary circles of the
Scottish metropolis. From these sources he has
imbibed the idea that Wilson was not sound in
his religious views—that he was very irregular in
his habits—and coarse in his tastes. All these
things Mr. Gifillan has at different times and in
various ways insinuated or declared ; and in this
paper we have the same stuff trumped up once
more. An artful mode of endeavouring to reduce
genius to the level of the reviler, is the disin-
genuous trick of conjuring up a false accusation
against the object of attack, that he may feebly
rebut it—to give revived currency to an obsolete
slander that he may enter a hesitating caveat
against its authenticity. Mr. Gilfillan tells us
" We remember, although dimly, when the name
of Wilson was a byword and a hissing with the
majority of the Scottish public. A mad imitator
of the Lake poets—fonder, however, of the poetry
than of the water (the italics are Mr. Gilfillan's)
of the lakes—a companion of gipsies, smugglers,
flying tailors, blacklegs, and blackguards of all
kinds—a disgrace to the moral philosophy chair—
the unworthy successor of Dugald Stewart and
Thomas Brown, &c., &c. Such, literally, were
the terms in which, as far down as 1831, we

heard grave and learned seigniors, schoa-
masters, ministers, Edinburgh lawyers, and
others, talk of this noble spirit." 'in
what particular conventicle these ministers,
schoolmasters, and lawyers held forth in such
terms it is of course impossible to say. If ever
such calumnies were uttered, their falsehood is
too well known to require exposure ;. and what
good end is to be attained by parading such dis-
creditable untruths before the public ? From
personal knowledge we can aver that, if the
malignant sillinesses above referred to did find
utterance, it must have been in the secret pre-
cincts of some Independent " School for Scandal,"
of which the repeater of the slander may,.for what
we know, have been a licentiate ; but they never
found currency in the best informed and high lite-
rary circles of Edinburgh. A. similar inclination
appears to animate Mr. Gilfillan in his hesitating
defence of Wilson against the long exploded
accusation of drunkenness, very likely originated
by some of the "grave seigniors" with whom
Mr. Gilfillan was familiar in his youth.
As Mr. Gilfillan sits readily in judgment upon
the literary delinquencies of others, let us see in
what guise he exhibits his own hobby. He says
of the Ettrick Shepherd, " Hogg himself was a
rich field, not so much from his genius as from
his vanity, egotism, and complacent glorying
absurdity ; but Wilson was at great pains with
the field, he has trenched,. drained, dunged it,
and the result is the unparallelled crop of sense,
nonsense, shrewdness, stupidity, ineffable coarse-
ness and magnificent poetry which flourishes in
the " Noctes.' " The figure assumed by Cie
critic is not a very happy one, and he has worked
it out in a most clumsy fashion. Dunging a very
ordinary field may indeed produce a crop of such
husky corn as Mr. Gilfillan proves to be, but it
will not, we apprehend, even under the direction
of a Wilson, ensure the production of such pure
grain as the Ettrick Shepherd. One other remark,
and we shall quit this gentleman. When quoting
illustrative poetry, it might be worth his while to
quote correctly. We opine he will search Gay in
vain for such a line as
How happy with either, were the other away !
although he might with little trouble encounter
such a distich as
How happy could I be with either,
Were t'other dear charmer away !

He has surely now done his best or his worst
with Professor Wilson, and had better leave him

Hand-Book of Natural Philosophy. Part I. By
Dr. Lardner. London: Walton and Maberly.
This hand-book is, as we are told in the pros
pectus, intended for all who desire to attain an
accurate knowledge of physical science, without
the profound methods of mathematical investiga-
tion. In pursuance of this object, the various
subjects introduced are treated in an eminently
popular yet strictly accurate manner. Abstruse
and pedantic terms and formula are studiously
avoided, and the rationale of the matters treated
of is strictly logical and accurate, without being
obscured to the general reader by a profuse array
of technical jargon. To the practical mechanic
and artisan this hand-book must prove highly
valuable.

Evangelical Christendom : its State and Pros-
pects. Loudon : Partridge, Oakey, and Co.
The October number of this periodical contains
highly interesting communications in relation to
the state of Protestantism in the different countries
of Continental Europe. The narrative of pro-
ceedings recently held by the Evangelical Alliance
at Lyons, is full of matter deserving of the most
earnest consideration ; as are also the reflections

on the visit of Queen Victoria t°
sidered in a religious point of vi..e.l
visit, the. writer in the magazine , ern (
and kr ,portant results to the cauP::
on the Continent generally, and rifliyoft'
ticula r. The Paris conference'dig fel'
Chris tians forms, however, the 1°,1,4 sesell,
the :number, and in discussing ;oil
whicl was gathered from all (I,ctiteuhlie
globe, there is necessarily conies
amo tint of valuable information ?or exl
and prospects of Protestant truth
of •the world.

-11161

THE 8EG64')...00'110
I
MANY years since,_ when 0 Itti.
about twenty years.of age, 11010 ‘si
spend Sunday with my mothers' pit
Versailles, this being the only dijsioclis%
could leave Paris. I generalli pees .71
the Barrier, and thence I toolc;llogitept
the public carriages. omy mother-14 S
I happened to be- too early for' orOrtod,46
used to stop and converse witil'illoricosy,
name was Anthony, and wilcoxitiOve
station at the Barrier de Pas 0041.#
voice he solicited alms from evelto
with a degree of perseveranaet,' .0 O r,"
astonishing. I generally Pile
out inquiring. whether he '
partly because I got into the
and partly to get rid of his:
day in summer, as I waiteu-
found Anthony at his usual
accustomed form of petitioT
Heaven, bestow your alms
Messieurs„ Mesdames,. the
gratefully received."

- While Anthony was. in
his exclamation into the e`
came within the reach of his
many of respectable appear'
had a pleasant expression
very well dressed,. and it mig.
that he was a man in good
was a fit subject for a begg
his advances, proclaiming
poverty, and soliciting relief
" You need not be a begg
replied the gentleman, " whi
of ten thousand crowns !"

You are pleased to jest,
" By no means," said die
was so serious in my lifel
friend. You perceive that 1,,/ sre
I tell you that I have everit''' 0
may desire."
" Ah, sir, you are a fortunate 511sie be;
" Well, my friend, I would are dob3g'ff
I had sat and begged, as yo 8.01141*
" have no other means of obt
" Are you lame 7"

!,tt

" No, -sir."
" You are not blind, nor deaf' raj
are not dumb, as every Passe-bil
Listen ! I shall tell you
words. Some fifteen or twenty
a beggar, like yourself ; at lengt'
that it was very disgraceful to
of others, and I resolved to aball'
ful way of life as soon as I P°
quitted Paris, and went into
begged for old rags. The peoPlei
to me, and in a short time I re,
with a tolerable large stock 04
fair p,
collecting, until, to my great
ou
enabled me to purchase rags,

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