The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-04 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

The several useful and popular works now issuing by
Messrs. Cassell are continued with unabated spirit. ?he
Illustrated Bunyan is a really beautiful work. The Popular
Educator will be a useful friend to mat), a poor student,
while The Illustrated History of England and The Popular
Natural History afford information in the shape of animated
and agreeable reading. The Social Science Review contains
a variety of useful gapers, the most prominent of which are
those on the diseases of overworked men and violent deaths
and suicides in France. The Gardeners' Weekly Magazine
is, as usual, overflowing with information, and the Post
Magazine Almanack will be found of great service by the
commercial community.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, Jan. 2.

The Lora Mayor's procession yesterday was a
splendid success. It attracted immense crowds to
the streets, and excited universal admiration. The
weather was anything but favourable. The old
year had departed in the midst of a tempest, blow.
ing a gale, and raining torrents. The storm had
ceased, however, when the New Year dawned, but
the atmosphere was still heavy with clouds and fogs.
The sun refused to show himself during the whole
day, and all nature seemed to be in a suiky mood.
It would have been a pity if the show were spoilt
after all the efforts made to render it an epoch in our
civic history. But it really only wanted sunshine
to make it perfect in its way, to brighten the ban-
ners with their golden mottoes, to Improve the
glitter of the liveries, and to enable the great gilt
coach, spears, battle-axes, and armour to reflect their
splendours to the best advantage, and to answer
fully all the purposes, national, educational, and
festive, for which they were designed. In this living
panorama the rising generation saw the ancient
nationality of Ireland fitly represented. They had
a picture of the age when " gallowglasses main-
tained and upheld the fame of Irish bravery ; the
chivalrous days of the armour•clad knights, the
troubled feudal times, when the Mayor, with sword
in hand, led the resolute as well as the eloquent
corporators, the hattleaxe guard, and the citizens,
to repel the raid of some predatory feudal lord, or
law-despising chieftain." The Freeman adds that
the show also represented the march of civilisation,
the progress of the useful arts, and the municipal
adoption of the best means of promoting the health
and welfare of the citizens, and protecting their
lives and property. Judging from this pleasant de-
scription of the symbolic nature of the procession,
the revival of the primitive Irish or feudal times
would be no improvement on the present. It would
fare ill with the " Monster houses," stored with
piles of the costliest goods, if the O'Byrne, the
O'Toole, the Donoghue, the O'Connor, the O'Reilly,
or the M'Swiney could come into Dublin periodi-
cally at the head of their gallcwglasses and kerns,
and make a clean sweep of their contents, galloping
off to their mountain fastnesses before the valourous
Lord Mayor and his eloquent corporation had time
to buckle on their armour or marshal their battle-
axes. It is said that the M'Swiney, ancestor of the
present Lord Mayor, was captain of the gallow-
glasses in the army of the O'Neil, King of Ulster;
but even the present worthy representative race can
scarcely wish for the revival of a system which
would have rendered for ever impossible the rise of
each mercantile houses as the one of which he is
himself the head and in which Dublin now abounds
--a system under which life and property were
utterly insecure. Theexhibition, however, will be
useful if it lead the people to prize more the bless-
ings which they owe to the powers represented by
the modern parts of the procession—the mounted
police, the Hussars, and the fire brigade. The last
body, under its commander, Captain Ingram, made
an imposing appearance, and constituted the most
striking and picturesque part of the procession. It
was arranged thus :—First appeared the City
Marshal, then the Hussar videttes, followed by the
splendid band of the 10th Hussars. After a select
body of mountain police—magnificent men, under
Inspector Boyle—then came the fire brigade, 80 or
100 in number, a body whose physique and outfit
excited universal admiration. They had four fire-
engines, each drawn by two horses, and seven
fire-escapes, whose lofty forms reared " like a herd
of giraffes pursued by a host of salamanders." .The
firemen wore red coats, loosely fitting white trou-
sers, and helmets, bearing their axes and other
tools for extinguishing fires and cutting off the ad-
vance of a conflagration. They and their horses
were decorated with ribonds and rosettes, while flags
waved from the tops of the fire-escapes. After the
brigade came the officers of the corporation in their
carriages; the Waterworks Committee, with its
chairman, Sir John Gray. Several ex-Lord Mayors
in their carriages, with state liveries, the carriages
of the high sheriff of the city, Mr, Wm. Bergen,
the recorder, the outgoing Lord Mayor, the incom-
ing Lord Mayor; then came the incoming Lord
Mayor, in the' gold coach," drawn by six white
horses. At intervals in the procession appeared
banners, macebearers, knights in armour, men -at-
arms, javelin men, &c. A number of private car-
riages followed the procession. The novelty of the
arrangement, and the unwonted splendour of the
pageant, made the Ist of January quite a gala day
for the people, and won loud and general applause
for the publicspirit and tasteof the new Lord Mayor
who has the good sense to see that such displays
are ridulous, unless they are got up, not as ceremo-
nials that custom requires, and that must be got
through somehow, but by a man who fully enters
into their spirit and design, and is determined to
secure all the conditions of success " regardless of
expense." It should be mentioned that, as a branch
of the ancient house of " Mr. Swiney of the Battle
Axes," of Donegal, the Lord Mayor bears in his
arms the battle axes.

The scene in the Council Chamber was very ani-
mated, when the procession, which started from the
Mansion-house in Dawson-street, reached the city
hall, the old Royal Exchange—a handsome build-
ing adjoining Dublin Castle. Among the ladies
present were the L.tdy Mayoress and her daughter.
The Town Clerk having read the minutes of the
last meeting, they were signed by the Lord Mayor.
The Town Clerk announced that the next business
was to inaugurate the Lord Mayor for 1864. Mr.
Peter Paul M'Swiney then made and signed the
usual declaration. The lion. J. P. Vereker next