The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-13 00:00:00

THE SUN,

THE EARL OF CARLISLE AT
MORPETH.
MORPETII, SATURDAY.—Yesterday evening the
Earl of Carlisle delivered a lecture in the Town• hall
of this ancient borough, under circumstaric-s of con-
siderable interest. A few days ago, it being known
here that the Noble Earl was shortly about to visit
his relatives, the Hon. and Rev. F. R. Grey and
Lady Eliz ibeth Grey, at the Rectory in this town,
the committee of the Mechanics' Institute, of which
his Lordship is the patron, assembled and passed a
resolution inviting him to avail himself of the occa-
sion of his visit to give a lecture on whatever subject
he might choose to the members of the institute at
large. The resolution was duly communicated to
the Noble Earl by the secretaries, and in the course
of a day or two elicited from his Lordship a courteous
reply to the effect that he had not had time to prepare
an original lecture, but offering to read his lecture on
the " Poetry of Pope." The committee gladly em-
braced this proposal, and the necessary arrangements
were made for the occasion.
The Noble Earl arrived here by the mail train on
Wednesday night, after attending the banquet given
that day at Newcastle npon-Tyne to Mr. Ord, and
immediately proceeded to the rectory, where he
joined the Countess of Carlisle and the Dowager
Countess Granville, who are also at present on a visit
there. On the following day his Lordship, ac-
companied by his agent, Mr. Fenwick, of Nether-
ton, visited the magnificent new church of
St. James, the foundation stone of which
was laid by him a few years ago, and which has been
erected by voluntary subscriptions collected under the
auspices of the pions zeal of his brother-in-law, the
Hon. and Rev. F. R. Grey, the rector of this town.
They also inspected, under the guidance of the Rev.
Mr. Lowe, the new Roman Catholic chapel built re-
cently in Aldgate, on a beautiful site which was for-
merly part of the garden belonging to the residence of
,ge,rpe
cr et
epda ruant
do reyr t
ht
eo
superintendence
Lord Collingwood, one of our naval worthies.
Yesterday
Townnarenbrugh, was brilliantly lighted up for
ofifnesiorldj
John evHenailnl
the occasion, and by eight o'clock, the hour appointed
for his Lordship's arrival, was completely filled by an
audience of nearly 300 persons, consisting of the mem-
bers of the Mechanics' Institute and their families and
friends, including the wealthier classes and a great
number of the trading and operative inhabitants of the
town, all of whom were admitted by ticket. The
raised bench from which his Lordship spoke was
adorned with several choice bouquets of flowers, the
votive offerings of ladies in the town. Sherd; after
eight o'clock the Earl of Carlisle, accompanied by his
sister, Lady Elizabeth Grey, entered the hall, and
their appearance was the signal for a round of en-
thusiastic cheers. The principal members of the
committee occupied seats in the immediate vicinity of
the chair.
On the motion of Mr. WILSON, librarian, Mr. A.
Charlton, the deputy-judge of the Manorial Court
Leet and Court Baron in this town, was called to the
chair, and briefly introduced the Earl of Carlisle to
the meeting.
His LORDSHIP then proceeded at once to read the
lecture on the poetry of Pope, which he delivered in
the winter of 1850 to the members of the Mechanics'
Institute at Leeds, as will be still in the recollection
of our readers. To numbers, however, of the present
audience the subject had all the freshness of novelty,
to others, who had previously perused it in print at
the time of its first delivery, the interval that had
since elapsed was sufficiently long to reinvest its se-
cond reading with considerable interest ; but the
pleasure and the charm of listening to it from the
lips of its amiable and accomplished author were on
this occasion new alike to all. The thorough ac-
quaintance with his theme which the Noble Lord ex-
hibited throughout, his nice and delicate criticism, his
profuse but still judicious selections from the writings
of the great author whose merits he was expounding,
and the unaffected warmth and feeling of his elocu-
tion, kept the interest and attention of his auditory on
the stretch for nearly a couple of hours, while the in-
teresting quotations which he gave in illustration of
his subject moved them ostensibly to admiration, to
laughter, and to tears. The lecture was frequently
interrupted by the plaudits of the company, and on its
conclusion, which was loudly cheered,
The Rev. W. AYRE rose on behalf of the com-
mittee, and, addressing the meeting, said he had been
requested to propose a vote of thanks to the Noble
Lord for his kindness in reading to them the lecture
to which they had listened with such delight and sa-
tisfaction.—(Cheers.)
Mr. CLEMITSON having seconded the motion, it was
carried by acclamation.
The Earl of CARLISLE then rose and said—Ladies
and Gentlemen, you must allow me, in a few words,
to express my very deep sense of the honour I have
just received at your hands, in the first place to the
mover and seconder of the late resolution which they
have so considerately brought forward and so very
kindly as regards myself, and to yourselves for the
prompt and cordial manner in which you have re-
ceived what they proposed. I assure you, when I
Sound that it would he acceptable to the members of
the Morpeth Mechanics' Institute and their friends to
hear me read a lecture, I felt quite justified in em-
bracing the opportunity which a short visit to this
town put in my power to comply with a request so
ob.iginely made.—(Cheers.) I felt also there was
somwthing not woolly inappropriate in a lecture
which had been read for the first time among those
who witnessed the close of my political life—my old
coestituents of the West Riding of Yorkshire—being
repeated among those who witnessed the commence-
ment of my political life, my first constituents in the
ancient borough of Morpeth.—(Loud cheers.) With
reference to the lecture itself which I have had the
honour of reading to you, it has been once or twice said
to me, " Do you think that the audiences you assemble
to beer your lectures would be likely to relish a lecture
on the poetry of Pope ; and might it not be better to
compose a lecture which more directly tended to pro-
mote the cause of moral improvement ?" Now,
with respect to this matter, I have only to say—first,
with regard to any want of sympathy in my
audiences, I always feel inclined to believe that where
there is the real presence of beauty or delicacy, or
fine and high feeling, it is always sure to strike a
responsive chord in all human bosoms--(Cheers)—
and if I wanted my assurance corroborated on this
point, I em certain I should find it in the very atten-
tive and intelligent hearing which you have given to
my lecture this evening. With reference to the other
point, as to the absence of any direct purpose of mo•
ral utility in the topic I have chosen, I certainly do
not with to assign to works of fancy or the composi-
tions of poetry any higher place than they really
occupy. But as we see in the physical earth on
which we tread, among all its abundant stores of
useful and substantial products—its stone, its coal,
its iron, and its lead—there are also veins of more
precious, shining metal, its gold and silver, and as
even in its darkest recesses and its deepest fissures
you will find sparkling gems and precious stones,
its diamonds, its rubies, and its garnets, so I believe
that among those matters which more directly
minister both to our temporal advancement and
our spiritual progress, while we give them their just
and lawful supremacy, the Supreme Architect of
nature, the Founder both of the material and the
moral world around us, has wished that we should
en
joy and appropriate to ourselves the sparkle and the
ply of life—all that is contributed by the rich stores
Of h fancy,pre preference
btoy,.thhuet
in gorgeous
conjunctiondreams
witho p o etthr ye
moren ot
teri al, intelle'lettluaall
grave and essential matters which minister to our ma-
cheers.) It is with
and spiritual growth.—(Loud
reluctance to ht
kaynodu for a little while to indulge in
these feelings that I have felt no
thejraacheful objects of pursuit, not
those more light
would
those of real import-
ance,ng to place
be not wholly inappro-
audiencaw
but thinking it
little poetry.—
audiences to diversify the la
humdrum oc, •
daily lives with a little fancy and occupations of our
(Renewed cheers.) The
always wished to draw around me
thoseare
es which I have
with mechanic's institution?, the working connected
ous portion of the community, becauseleaa.nd labori-
to express my sense of the real dignity ofulYabsvoished
(Cheers)—and of the important part which it uric;
both in advancing our national greatness, and the
general amelioration of rtrankind.—(Loud cheers.)
I wished to evince my respect for those who con'_
tribute either by the strength of their sinews, or
by their ingenuity and resource to the com-
fort and well-being of the community, and by coming
among them, to show bow much I feel that we are all
members of the same community, and that we have
all the same great end before us, that of contributing,
as far as we can, in our day and generation, to the
prosperity of our common country, and to advance
the great work of human progress.—(Cheers.) I am
sure among the institutions which in our day are
distinguishing themselves in this onward course, it
will always be a great gratification to me to hear of
the prosperity of the mechanics' institute of this town-
For reasons dating through some centuries no e, I
have a right to feel strongly interested in this town ;
that interest his been confirmed by
the uniform
kindness I have always e p,rl ; 'ed among you, and
I wish that both in
your ordinary occupations and in
the rational amusements with which you diversify
our daily life, you may
onest
" h, i
all aucli liberal pure(?vely, and of good report," and that ,
institutioes may flourish among you
to the very almost.—(Cheers.)
the kindness irst.—(Cheers.) I shall not forget
beg psrmis,jowit which you have received me, and I
n to
take my leave of you with every good wish for
your happiness and wellbeing, and
more especially for the prosperity of your valuable
institution.—(Loud cheers.)
The proceedings,
ing and harmonious which were of the most interest-
minated, and the character throughout, then ter-
company then left the hall.

Lord Portman, Lord-Lieutenant of Dorset, has sig-
nified his intention of enrolling the militia forthwith.