The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-26 00:00:00

as a minister Of the Gospel ought to Le." Sometimes Mr
Close does not postpone the punishment of the audacious
travellers who decline to purchase his wares, but calls them
to a sense of duty upon the spot. In one flagrant case, for
instance, in which a lady would have taken a copy of the
Tales had not "her husband screwed his mouth, and made
eo many proud grimaces" that she had not the courage
to complete the purchase, the poet's blood boiled, and he
cried—" Never mind, sir ; you shall not have a book o f
mine at any price; but when a poet of Westmoreland has
the misfortune to bow low again to you, you will show him
a little more courtesy, which becomes one man to another•
God help us, poor worms of earth—how we can sneer at
each other l" It may be well conceived that the proud pas •
senger to whom these noble words were addressed was seen,
as the train moved away, lost in "a state of speechless
amazement." A similar lesson might well have been read
to " a weak youth who fancied himself a gentleman," who
had the audacity to pitch the poet's handbills out of the
carriage window, and even to make use of disparaging lan-
guage with reference to the books mentioned on them. But
we are told that " on being informed that at home he was
called " Silly Simon," and beneath our notice, we made the
soft youth a low bow, but hope that when his fond mamma
hears of the freaks of this her' pet lamb,' she will teach
him better manners," The ladies of Kirby-Stephen almost
invariably smile upon Mr Close, and it is seldom that ho
has to make such an entry as this :--" Met Lady Howard,
at lewd the Hon. Mrs Howard, of Levens Hall, near
Milnthorpe, but her ladyship was in a bad humour, nor
would look at our bills or books; and the tall footman,
who seemed too great a gentleman for us to approach, he
could not scarce speak to us." Unpardonable as
such conduct might well be deemed, it elicited nothing
more from the ill-used poet than a shrug of his shoulders ;
but the indecent familiarity of another lady, who addressed
him as "Johnny," and wanted to know what he had got
under his arm, drew down upon her a well-merited re-
proof. The idea, as he says, of such a liberty being taken
by "a lady whom he had known in the days of her poverty;
a lady who had stood at her washing-tub like a certain
poet's little wife—and, we say, a lady not half so qualified
to be a lady as the said little wife I" It is sad to think
that such people exist, and still more melancholy is the faot
that their occasional rudeness is likely to drive Mr Close
from his secluded station, and compel him to take to writing
" for the London Press." Perhaps, however, it is as
well that the picture ho draws of his daily life on the
platform is not too enticing. Had it been brighter, other
great men might have been induced to follow his ex-
ample, sod the neighbourhood of a literary celebrity might
have become a bugbear to travellers. Imagine the feelings
of a visit to Albury on being peremptorily requested to pur-
chase "Mr Tupper's last poem, sir," with the alternative
of being annihilated by a stream of poetic lava on the occa-
sion of the author's next eruption I But if our poet is some•
times exposed to annoyance in his native place, ho obtains
ample amends from distant and foreign admirers. Having
sent a copy of his works to the Prince of Wales, he is proud
to say that he received an answer without delay, to the effect
that his royal highness was much obliged to Mr Close, but
was compelled to decline accepting hia present. Almost as
gratifying as this "royal letter of thanks " was that in which
the Secretary of the Emperor of the French actually condo-
scended to state that his Imperial Majesty was too busy to
be able to look into the book .vhich Mr Close had sent him.
After reeeiviag so glowing a testimonial from the Tuileries
it is not wonderful that the poet expects " that our
Most Gracious Queen will use her royal prerogative
and whisper in the Minister's ear, ' Let the Poet Close have
justice. Give him his pension, else France will cry, Shame
on Victoria I Shame on the Prince of Wales I and Shame
on the Prime Minister " Such an interference on the
part of B oyalty would have taken place long ago, he thinks,
had it not been for " Privy Purse Phipps or Pipps," whom
ho styles "a veritable carpet knight, a lieutenant who has
titles, and never fought a battle except with a fat turkey,"
and who " refused to allow the Queen to see the last Christ-
' mas book, with the grand poem—ln memoriam of the late
Consort." He hopes to meet him some day face to face,
and to tell him " a piece of his mind ;" and he also
looks forward to an interview, but of a pleasanter
nature, with Lord Palmerston, to whom, in the interval,
he regu arty sends his -successive works and his por-
trait, to remind him that he is "still alive and pulling
at his coat tail." It is gratifying to see that his spirits
are not permanently affected by the troubles through
which ho has gone. At times, it is true, he becomes de-
jected, and fears that as
- -

The Princes all of Scotland, they
Left Robert Burns to die ;
So Poet Close need not expect
A higher destiny.

But he soon recovers from his unwonted fit of depression.
The wondrous struggles of Jean Paul, he says, have
often cheered him up. " For his fate was like our own ;
he lived among people who called him a fool, among a
set of barbarians who could not understand his book ;
but when once he got 20 miles from home he was astonished
to find himself a famous man, a great man I And at last
his time did come, and we wait for ours." For a long time,
he says, _Punch spoke ill of him, but at length that old gen-
tleman and' father of all the critics" relented, and wished
him success. O:her and weaker antagonists he intends to
crush, remarking that "it is too late insthe day for mush-
room gentry to joke with us; they had better play with a
Bengal tiger." A certain vioar, it appears, once
said of him in scorn, " Poor John, ho can do
no harm. His writings are harmless." " But of this
error, our author indignantly exclaims, " our readers will
judge." And undoubtedly, if conceit, vulgarity, servility,
and insolence can supply writings with the power of doing
harm, Mr Close has every reason for impugning the vicar's
judgment. Far from being harmless, they may fairly claim
a more than ordinary share of noxious qualities, and, if he
cultivates their demerits with assiduity, he may justly look
forward to their taking a prominent place among nui-
sances.

THE "EXAMINER" ON LORD PALMERSTON ON IN-
SULAR POSITION.--We are indebeted to Lord Palmerston
for the unexpected discovery of the dangers of an insulated
position. A frontier of sea used to be considered an ob-
stacle to attack, but Lord Palmerston has found out that it
offers facilities, and that, of all European countries, Eng-
land is the most exposed to the danger of invasion. At the
meeting of the Wilts Volunteers, Lord Palmerston, in a few
words, corrected all the false notions that have hitherto pre-
vailed as to the safety of insularity—" We differ in many
things from the great Powers of the Continent. We live on
an island accessible to any invader who might chance to land
on our shores at almost every point of our large maritime
eircumterence. We, therefore, cannot pretend to defend
ourselves as continental States may do, which, being
accessible in only one avenue of attack, by one valley
or by one pees, may successfully fortify their vulnerable
points, and by stationing there a military force may think
themselves secure hone invasion until they can collect a
large army to resist the invading enemy." It follows from
this that if England had been joined to France, instead of
separated by the Channel, she would have been all the safer.
In that case there would have been a frontier of hill and
dale, upon which fortresses would have been placed to de-
fend approaches, just as we see them between France and
Belgium, and France and Germany, where the invader
cannot drop in without straying elf the guarded roads.
The invader is not a foreign gentleman with a carpet-bag,
who can traverse open fields, and make his way across
country. The invader is a very big enemy, with propor-
tionate artillery, ammunition, baggage, and horses to drag
them, for which purpose roads are as necessary here as on
the Continent, and very awkwardly planted would the
invader of our country be if he chanced to land on our
shores where there were not great roads to the interior
which would bear the passage of the material of an army.
A common country road would soon be cut up and de
stroyed by the guns and waggons required for a division
of 30,000 men. But that is difficulty No. 2. Difficulty
No. lis disembarkation. It is sue,posed that a landing is
an easy matter as it is seen to be performed on beaches like
Brighton, Deal, Hastings, where people have only to
jump out of the boats and take care not to
get wet. But it is rather a different affair where
the impedimenta of war are concerned, heavy guns,
munitions, and horses to be got safely to land in a very
limited tide-time, and in weather never long calm, We say
nothing of opposition, we do not imagine gunboats dashing
amongst the boats employed in the lan ing, running down
some and shooting down others—what we are now consider-
ing are the difficulties of even the unopposed disembarka-
tion of a large army with its material. There are long ranges
of rocky coast, like Purbeck in Dorsetshire, upon which a
punt can hardly be shoved ashore except in calm weather,
and where there is a prabticablo beach it is generally over-
hung by cliff, the ways up which, not fitted for artillery bag-
gage waggons, &c. If Lord Palmerston were to ship himself
to try the experiment, with nothing to carry but an umbrella,
and taking the chances of weather, he would find that the
shores of England are not as " accessible at almost every
point" as he supposes. Let him try it at Portland Bill, or
in his neighbourhood, in Christchurch bay, or St Albans.
What we maintain is, that the invader of this country
would find the same difficulties he has to encounter on
the Continent, and something more. Wo have no for-
tresses in the interior, but did the continental fortresses
ever atop the marches of Napoleon ? He left them behind.
He always found open country enough for the passage
of his troops, and seldom troubled himself with sieges.
There is not a country in the world so well fitted for
defence as England, intersected as it is with hedge-rows,
and with earthworks half ready made. And supposing an
enemy to have got over the great difficulty of landing, he
would find before him impediments to his march hardly less
surmountable than those of mountain passes, though not
so apparent. And why do we not see ourselves as others
see us; or is it the opinion on the Continent that " we
live in an island acces-ible to any invader who may chance
to land on our shores ?" What was the argument of the
French Government when its co-operation for the pro-
tection of Denmark was wanted ? " You," said Napoleon
111., "may propose this safely, because you are secure
against attack in your insular position, and can wage a
maritime war; but France is open on the side of Germany,
and would have to bear all the stress and weight of the
war." But to bring the question to a short test, is Lord
Palmerston of opinion that England would be in a position
of greater security if no seas separated her from the Conti-
nent ? Should we be safer if we lay alongside France,
with only a lino cf fortresses to guard the frontier
approaches?