The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-18 00:00:00

LITERATURE.
LIFE AND TIMES OF FRANCESCO
SFORZA, DUKE OF .111 L N. With a Pre-
liTinary Sketch of the Ili4ory of Italy. BY W.
Li,rquhart. Blackwood, Edinburgh and London.
The eminent man who forms the subject of these
memoirs was the son of a peasant of Ur.sugua, the
founder of the last dynast's., of Dukes of Miler. He
rose, by ins own exertions, from the meanest station
to the most exalted position in the state. Clenius is
always worthy of attention, whatever has been
the nature of its works or the period of
its achkeements. Although great faults are
imputed to the illustrious individual, his greater
merits tower aloft among distinguished characters of
every age. To study the events which called forth
such actions as his were, to peruse the detail i of the
manner in which he surpassed his talented friends and
ov'e,.come his redoubtable enemies, must surely be e
ino,t deeireble occepeti :n for those who heve the de-
sire o become acquainted with the annals of heroes.
It will be seen by the attentive observer that a great
man of the pet must not be judged by the same laws
or measured by ;Lsret::', standard that would be suit-
Arle for a great man of rho present. It is just and
proper to r.ndertli:ni the country in which he lives,
and in:ein.:rs by which he is modelled before we
presume to criticise, the cle,recter of any master
spirit. 11, nce the advantage of a work like the pre-
sent, in vs Lich it is dex'ercusly made manifest hoW
the celebrVed clan was situated as regarded
thcepe..c.uliar state of the eivilizition of his time.
() his g,neral character it would he superfluous to
say [noel?, weer having detailed and discussed the prin-
cipal :maims of his life. I, will no', I ;hick, be denied
tha'. he wa.s.encl,wed with all tho great and most of the
goe:d quel.ities that gene rally fall to the lot of mankind.
cw.leirehr:isvng,
tee`
abilities Were onlahrliys
sway to
and displayed by
the various
.circumstAnceN in which he was placed; the
to fame tefore his mar-
riage with Mance I:Lich—the perseverance with which
he struggle.d againiit adversity from that time till the
deaqh of his father-in-law-_the great military shill and
political sagacity by which he succeeded, notwithstand-
ing false friends and dengerous enemies, in placing hint'
self on the throne of .Lilv.n—the firmness by which he
secured himself, combined with the moderation which he
exhibited in his now to-iiien—the policy by which,
after having made himself arbiter of Italy, he laid the
foundation of thirty years' peace and prosperity, show a
combination of active and reflective powers rarely to be
found in ono person. Mucatori, one of the deepest read
and most impartal of Italian historians, gives his opi-
nion in the following words:—' The more we reflect on
the actions of this unrivalled Prince, the more readily we
acknowleige, notwithstanding the opinion of Berne, that
for many centuries Italy has not produced so re-
nowned a hero as Sfoizi, in whom there was a rare
combination of wonderful valour with uncommon politi-
cal sagacity. twenty-two battles which he gave, be
always ended by being conqueror, and be was never
conquered by any. His father, Sfoiza Atteccdcla, having
risen from the lowest station of life, began to build the
fortune of his family, but his son Francisco proceed-
ing with gigantic steps, advanced it in such a manner,
that he came to b 3 at the head of the most noble
duchy of Milan, and the proud city of Genoa, and to
attain such a fame that he certainly deserves to be
compared with the greatest captains of antiquity, end
reckoned amongst the most illustrious people in the
history of Italy. With respect to his moral qualities,
it must be acknowledged that his memory is tarnished
well by undeniable acts of treachery and intrigue
as by the suspicion of deeds that few men of the pre-
sent age dare do. In palliation of these,
it must be
recollected that his lot was cast in an age when the
acts recommended in the Prince, and the discourses
of Machiavelli were by many thought to be essential
to success in public life, and that the main ground of
the suspicions against him is the evil practice of the
times. If it be true that men's characters may be
.
known from those of their associates, his friendship
with some of the brightest ornaments of the fifteenth
century aftbrds strong testimony in his favour, and
there is none of his misdeeds for which he might
not plead the excuse that is said to have beer!,
always in the mouth of one of the greatest heroes of
antiquity. If we mus.t sOmetirne3 do wrong for tbe
.
sake of a Sovereignty, it is most glorious to do wrong;
hut, in other things, we should always act righteou3l.Y.
Thus of Francesco Sforzi, it may truly be said thet
his good deeds were his own; his evil ones were those
of the age in which be lived."

DETERMINED SUlClDE.—Yesterday morning Mr.
Alderson, the proprietor of the Woolpack Tavern, in 1V00.0.-
street, Cheapside, was found dead under the following Cir-
cumstances:—The deceased had been suffering from VI
severe indisposition for a considerable time, which gave rise
to great depression of spirits at intervals. He was unable to
shave himself, in consequence of which he was attended bif,
a barber, who called yesterday morning for the purpose °f
pursuing his usual avocation, when the family were anable
to obtain admission to the Ceceased's room. The door a'as
cut from m
ome e,atrhteoir ear, a
view. razor
One in
forced open, when the body of Mr. Alderson, with his throatohfisu lire anddr,awanedrs,weltering in 11!
was standing open in the room, and partially filled
from a chwei'ti;
blood, from which it is supposed the unfortunate man, after
cutting his throat, must have held his head over the drawer
r
until from weakness, occasioned by the loss of blood, he leg e
backwards into the middle of the room. Dr. Southwood, ();
Fare-street, was in immediate attendance, but life was found
to be quite extinct.

RAILWAY ACCIDENT —3tAShaOn-1111der-LYne, a
few days since, a ycuth named George Knott, whilst at-
tempting to get upon the break.van of a luggage-train be-
longing to the London and North-Western Company, wasei
unfortunate as to slip down with his legs between the spok
of one of the wheels. Less than half a revolution of the
wheel would have cut off the legs against a horizontal lever
across it, but the guard with great presence of mind in"
scantly pulled home the break, lucked the wheels in a eta"
tionary position, and though the train, then running at the
rate of twenty miles an hour, could not be brought to s!
stand till it had glided along the rails more than a hundred
yards, this prompt action of the guard will probably bsv°
saved the life of the youth. When taken up all his clothes
had been torn off with dragging along the ground, on
thigh was fractured, and the integuments were rubbed f:)1,,
the knee and ankle to the bone. Mr. J. G. Harrison,
Manchester, railway surgeon for the district, afterwards
attended to the injuries, and expresses a belief that the
youth will recover, notwithstanding his serious injuries.
Knott is a railway clerk, and the son of a respectable ilia'
keeper at Ashton.

The trade accounts Irons the provinces for the Past
week continue to show a tendency towards increased activa
and firm prices in all parts of the country. At Manchester
business has been affected by the hesitation consequent upon
the speculative excitement in the Liverpool Cotton-market'
but the general demand for goods is unabated. The Binning-
ham reports are still uninterruptedly favourable. In the
iron trade the transactions are very large, both for American
and home supply. Metals of all other kinds are likewise
firm, and the prospect of a diminished production in conse-
quence of the want of labour at the Barra Burra mines seems
already to have influenced the rates for copper. The Not-
tingham repo. is state the prevalence of great confidence as to
the prospects of the manufacturers for the entire year, the
market being particularly influenced by the sanguine ac-
counts from the United Slates. In the woollen districts
there has been augmented firmness, coupled with a con-
tinuance of the confused and unsatisfactory feeling occa-
sioned by the possible contingencies in connexion with events
in Australia.

MARHIED.—On Thursdar-, the 15th ule., at Floyd's
Fork, Jefferson county, Mr. Thomas Stafford to Polly Goben•
The bride is 19 years old and the bridegroom 77. He weigh
some 300 pounds. and is so fat as scarcely to be able to waiki
and when in bed raises himself or turns over by
means
pullies fastened to the ceiling. He went to the city la 3
waggon to procure the licence, and on his return was met by
the young bride at the Forks of the Road, where the par_
joined them in wedlock, the ceremony being performed 111
the waggon.

leans Crescent, of the 19th ultimo, has the following
GENERAL LopLz STILL ALIVE!—The New Or
crediblypara
hgeraipsh yne informed,
them etl returnedan and
as Cuban
reason
to b elprisonersbelieve,
et
thatstates that
neral Lopez was not garrotted, but that another individual,
a notorious criminal, who very much resembled Lopez, was
the sufferer in the tragic scene at the Plaza de Arm as. Our
informant states that Lopez is confined in one of the drlll
geons of Havannah, were, without light, without clothing,
solitary, and scantily fed, he is daily subjected to the most
excruciating tortures. Spanish invention, it is said, has
beat put to the rack to invent tortures sufficiently refined for
this scourge of royalty in the Antilles. Without endorSing
the:story, we give it for what it is worth."
GREENLAND SEAL FISLIERY.—PETERHEAD, MAY
15.—The following vessels, at the seal fishery, are reported
by three of the crew of the Joseph Green, arrived in the
Milinka, from Greenland :—Agustina, of Peterhead, 29th
April, 14 tuns; Columbia, ditto, 3,000 seals; Commerce,
ditto, 5,000 ditto; Ltarnilton Ross, ditto, 100 tuns; Mary A.
Henderson, ditto, 60 ditto; Panona, ditto, 60 ditto; XantherS,
ditto, 100 ditto; Abram, of Hull, 50 ditto; Swan, ditto, 60
ditto; St. George, dittc, 800 seals. The Joseph Green, of
Peterhead, was last at Greenland on the 20th of March;
while taking the ice, during a gale from N.E., master and
three men drowned.

THE COMMITTEE OF EDUCATION.—It appears from
as official document that last year the amount of grants by
the Education Committee of the Privy Council to normal and
elementary schools amounted to 142,229/. Bs. 9id., and 13
the preceding year to 160,0971. 7s. 10-Act.
We are requested to state that Mr. Anderson is
prevented from attending in his place in Parliament, and to
other business, by severe indisposition.