The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-02 00:00:00

ENDOWED SC:IOOLS.

Oi the motion that tho orders of y should be left
till after the notice of motion relative to education.
Mr. ADDEKLEY mot d—" That this house, having
considered the Minute of Council of the 11th of March,
1864, on endowed schools, is of opinion that it does not
meet the objections made to the minute oPthe 19th of May,

(I EFT SPEAKING.)

Classic Prize-Fighting,

. As described by Statius in his Thebaid, eccord,
mg to the epitome of the Roman Poet's description •

by a North British Reviewer :

As soon as Adrastus has proclaimed that the boxing-
match is to begin, which he does by commending the
prowess shown in boxing as " bellis et ferro proxi,ma
virtu-," Capaneus rises like the Homeric Epeios or the N tr-
gilian Dares, puts the lead-weighted gauntlets on hands as
hard as they, and asks for an opponent, intimating that he
would rather have had a Theban, whim he might fairly
have killed, instead of being olAiged to shed the blood of a
citizen. Alcidamas, a young Spartan, rises at last, to the
surprise of all but his compatriots, who know that he is a
child of the palm Ara, having been trained by Pollux:
" Ipse deus pos.uitque mantis et brachia finait
Materiam (suadebut amor): tune imps locovit
Cominus, et simili stantem miratus in ira
Sustulit exultans, nudumque ad pectora pressit."
The passage is not altogether easy ; but we suppose the
meaning to be that Pollux had moulded the rudimentary
gristle of his young favourite into bone and muscle, had
stood up with him repeatealy, and had been so charmed
with his spirit and endurance 'as to catch him to his breast
and embrace him then and there. Now let us think of
Virgil's notice of Dares' victory over Bates, or Entellus'
companionship with Eryx, and we shall be better able to
appreciate this unseasonable attempt to interest us by
minute word-painting in the antecedents of a personage on
whom the eye is only meant to rest for a second or two.
Capaneus is indignant, scornful, and affectedly contem-
tuous ; at length, however, his languid sinews swell, and
he stands up to fight. They confront each other, the one
like what Tityos would be if the birds would suffer him to
rise; the other so young as co arrest the sympathies of the
spectators, who tremble at the prospect of seeing him bleed.
" Quern vinci haud quiequam, saavo nee sanguine tingi
Malit, et erecto timeat spectacula voto."

At first they are prudent and cautious, sparring rather
hit ing : " explorant ese itus hebetant que terendo." Alci-
damas continues this Fabian policy, and keeps his fury in
reserve, " differet animum :" Capaneus becomes enriged,
and expends both his hands recklessly : " ambas consumit
bine lege manus." The young Spartan has the advantage,
parrying his opponent's hits, while he sometimes goes into
Mtn (the word is Statius' own, " intrat,") like a wave
breaking on a rock, and finally plants a wound on his fore-
head. Capaneus hears the shout of the spectators, but is
unconscious that blood has been drawn; at last, however,
he puts up his hand to his brow, when the sight of the
stains makes him more furious than a wounded lion; he
rushes on Alcidamas, who is driven before him, preserving
his coolness nevertheless.

"Non tamen irnmemor artis,
Adversus fugit, et fugiens tamen ictibus obstat,"
The mad (ilia soon exhausts them both, and they pause
to take breath; and the poet takes breath too in a short
simile:

" Sic übi Tonga vagos lassarunt aaquora nautas
Et Signo do puppi dato posuers parumper
Brachia, vix requires, jam vox ciet alters remos."
The giant makes another rush, bat his nimble adversary
first elludes him and then butts him over, " sponte rums
mersusqus humeris," knocking him down again as he is
rising, till he is alarmed at his own success. The A/gives
raise a shouu which the shores and woods but faintly echo;
but Adrastus sees that Capaneus is not beaten, but only
made more dangerous, and interposes to prevent murder
from being done.
" Ite, ofo, socii, furi : ite, opponite dextras,
Festinate, furit, palmamque et pi mania ferte :
Non prius effracto quam misceat ossa cerebro
Absistet, video: muriturum auferte Lacona."

Tydeus and Hippomedon with some difficulty hold
Capaneus, telling him that he has conquered, and that it is
graceful to spare a vanquished foe who happens to be an
ally; but he thrusts aside the prize, and complains that he is
not allowed to beat the minicn to a mummy, and send him
back thus to his patron. The Spartans. welcome their
champion, and indulge in a distant laugh at Capansus'
blustering; and so the scene is ended.

We feel that this summary has done but little justice to
the real points of the narrative, which is at once far more
ingenious, and for that reason. possibly more tedious,
than our plain prose can make it. Almost every line
contains some terse, pointed expression; not a few of
them are distinguished by graphic and picturesque touches,
which we have been compelled to omit.

CUARACTER OF LORD ELGlN.—Wherever he
went, and it was his tate that in the four different
spheres in which his lot was cast the same rLlations were
constantly reappearing, it was his fixed determination that
the interests of the subject races should be protected from
the impatience or violence of his fellow-countrymen—the
emancipated slaves of Jamaica, the French Canadians, the
Chinese in their dealings with the European residents, the
Indian population in its dealings with the Anglo•lndian
conquerors. That he had no bluochhed on his hands was
his pride in Canada. "No human power shall induce me
to accept the office of oppressor of the people" was his sin-
cere resolve in China. The order to burn the Imperial
Palace at Pekin was wrung from him by the severest sense
of the necessity of the crisis. When in India, the protec-
tion of the Indi,,ns Was the constant source of solicitude to
him. The Atria determination with which he carried out
the execution of an English soldier for causing the death of
a native was of itself enough to mark his strong sense of
what was due from the Viceroy of India to the interests of
the conquered race. " His combination of speculative and
practical ability," so wrote one with deep experience of his
mind, "fitted him more than any man I have ever known to
solve the prob' eta how these subject races are to be governed."
It may be that in these acts he merely served to represent
the growing humanity and justice of the age ; but it is a
great Loon to mankind when the best tendencies of the age
find a congenial soul in which to take root and bear fruit;
and such a soul, in every sense, was that of Lord Elgin.
It might almost be said that the sense of responsibility far
the classes confided to his care, especially of those who
were comparatively friendless, was to him a kind of
reli-
gion—an expression of his sense of the justice and love of
God for all his creatures. And it may be remarked how,
trom this religious sense of the duty devolved upon him, it
came to pass that, if there was any subject which more
strongly moved his indignation than another, it was the
sight, whether in toreign lands or in our own, of Christ'ani. y
invoked, or of the influence of the teachers of religion
brought to bear, against the general claims of justice and
humanity on behalf of those who might be regarded, in
race, or religion, or opinion, aliens from ourselves. —Xort4
Br itish Review.
Tut: EXODUS FROM LIVERPOOL.—The emigration.
the
ehnaegneAdrsc4t:'
cabin
oa2bc9i
nasuhpaidapsas:f
thesfertiosmiviiea b
abatement,
portte
me oft:
and,Liverpool
as
heretofore,
majority without
of a n
thosey
leaving the Mersey are natives of the sistperasitslme,oannthdtthheerier
cabin passengers ; to
destination the United93o
steerage
18butius
shin,
d
17
405
d
ships,
faintthild'eltso,elt total sQ4B:ainlstlegheheedinrpl:3B:;:aotdtihN withe
el wUs steeragehn
opt South and
Wales, Vtha3at
os:ft witheeler6ras, g 7, e924a95n71:: de3aesrEslaesgnneggleai cabinrsnsh
d
and 1,1 7 '
thes44 Unitedcabi aPa 88
States;egpassengers—makingl.B4.9a2 English,
566 Scotch, 9,353 Irish,
anti to Victoria, 3 shi
1 G2rmans, &c., went to
246 foreigners NA3B Scotch, 114 Irish, and
went to Canada; G' English, 40 Scotch, and
217 Irish went to Queensland ; 80 English, 51 Scotch, 267
Irn-h, and 2 Germans went to New South Wales; 426
English went to Victoria, and also 103 Scotch, 593 Irish,
and 37 foreigners--mating a total of 4,033 English, 601
Scotch, 10,508 Itish, and 1,402 foreigners. The number of
" short ships"sailing, " not under the Act," to the United
States were 10, with 732 passengers; to Canada, 1 ship,
with 17
passengers ; to New Brunswick, 1 ship, and 19
I,ass-ngeis ; to Nova Scotia, 1 ship, and 33 pasengir3 ; to
Victoria, 1 stip, and 25 passengers ; to New South Wales,
1 ship, and 16 passengers; to the West Indies, 1 ship, and
12 passengers ; to South America, 4 ships, and 75 pas-
sengers; to Africa, 1 ship, and 35 pass;n:gc-rs—making
total of 21 ships, and 904 passengers. A total emigration
from the Mersey for the past mantis of 18,302, The num-
ber of passengers who lest Liverpool in April was 22,241.
This is accounted for by the fact of the great exodus from
Ireland direct to the United States, during April. being in
Liverpool the busiest emigration month of the year.
A NEW WORK ON THE AMERICAS !—Viscount
Berry is preparing a work on North and South America,
which will narrate the emigrations of the various European
nations—Dutch, Spanish, English, and FlcLob.... into 4.tno
ries, from the biztcenth century.