The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-09 00:00:00

TIM SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENTING, JANUARY 9, 1864.

a particular branch of knowledge is to be acquired,
it is essential that the master should himself be a
proficient in it. A mere smattering will not do;
he should be rooted and grounded in it, or he can
never urge on his pupil and speak with that autho-
rity which the occasion demands, and which supe-
rior attainments can alone command. As we find
here particularised in the remarks before us, there
is a great advantage in a University education, on
account of the "mental training" it imparts; and
by these examinations those who do not expect to
gain those advantages can yet profit in some
degree from the sp'rit that there rules pre-eminent.
Some of the flashy writers of the day, and
some of the grandiloquent orators, would do well to
con over the passage in this address which apper-
tains to the merits of conciseness and simplicity.
This faculty seems to have disappeared from among
us in many quarters. So long es the sentences are
Milted and the language flowery, the composer
thinks he is doing wonders. " Fine writing," it
may be, but not characterised by sense, solidity, or
discretion. It is this which makes it so very impor-
tant that in early life a proper training be exercised,
and the greatest care be taken to effect the desi-
deratum that is known, is thoroughly and effi-
ciently acquired, and so obtained as to be of service
to the learner when he has quitted the halls of study,
and in the great highway of the world has to put
his theories into practice, and to prove the value of
the studiea of early life. Lord STANLEY then went on
to say, that exactness was a sure test of knowledge
being properly rooted in the mind, and that many
who, though they understood every subject they
talked about, would find the difference if they tried
to write on some of them. The Archbishop
of YORK said that there " was no test of
knowledge like the pen," and he was right,
for it is impossible to put in other people's
phrases and to borrow ideas so easily as in talking.
Lord BACON'S remarks that " Reading makes a full
man, speech a ready man, and writing an exact
man," is full of meaning, and all who wish to be
grounded in their acquirements and to set others
in the right direction, should follow its suggestion.
The notion that examiners should as little as pos-
sible choose the questions which only test the
memory and do not work the mind, is a very good
one, and the noble lord laid great stress upon it.
" You don't want to know what a boy has learnt,
but what use he can make of it," said he, and surely
this is the aim, end, and object of all examinations.
The youthful prodigy or the slow one at school ex-
hibitions seldom, if ever, turns out the shrewd ob-
server, the deep thinker, or the practical worker in
after life who benefits society with his thoughts, his
discoveries, or his suggestions. The " cramming "
system is ruinous to all who attempt it; it is a waste
of labour for the present, and does great injuries as
regards the future, for it creates a distaste for learn-
iug that is disastrous in the extreme to the pros-
pects of the student, and fatal to the chance of his
attaining distinction hereafter, or even maintaining
his ground among those of a mediocre proficiency.
The examiners say, in their report, that the candi•
dates would do better, and gain more credit, if they
confined themselves to one or more of the " optional
subjects," and did not take so wide a range. It is
to he hoped that this advice will be extensively fol-
lowed by those to whom it is given, for nothing is
so bad, in every sense of the word, as the practice
now so prevalent of attempting a great deal in a
very superficial manner. Lord STANLEY very
properly repudiated the idea that these examina-
tious led to " cramming." That he observed was
just the show and counterfeit of knowledge that
would impose upon parents who had forgotten their
early training, but never could deceive an ex-
aminer who knew hie business. After some words
on the subject of "overwork," which he
truly said was never " good work," Lord
STANLEY concluded his very comprehensive
speech by adverting to the necessity that existed
for using every exertion to improva and progress.
Manchester stood higher than the average, but still
far more might be done. "The will was not want
ing ; all that was needed was to keep alive a strong
and healthy public interest in the matter." This
address has certainly given every encouragement
to the efforts now made, and it is earnestly to be
trusted that the excellent advice here given will be
followed, and the wise principles inculcated will
take root in the minds of those whom it imme-
diately concerns, for their purport is to make men
of usefulness to society, and .not showy scholars,
whose glory fades away.

The National Shakspere Committee,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

LREUTER'S TELEGRAM.]

SPAIN.

MADRID, lAN. 9.

The budget for 1864 has been published. The
increase of receipts is stated at 167 million reals.
The Finance Minister proposed to realise the
bonds of the purchasers of national property, to
impose a new tax upon travellers by railway, and
to levy some further imposts.

FRANCE.

PARIS, JAN. 9.

MM. Berryer, Gouin, and 011ivier have already
spoken at the debates in the Corps Legislatif upon
the supplementary credits. M. Vintry will reply
to-day.
The four Italians recently arrested came to Paris
from Italy, and not from England, as was reported.
A telegram has been received here from Constan-
tinople of the Bth, stating that the Porte has pro-
tested against the vote of the Roumanian Chamber
for the secularisation of convent property.
The rumour of the plague prevailing in Persia

was incorrect.

BOURSE, Jaa. B.—The market has been heavy,
and the limited amount of business done shows a
decline on the closing rates of yesterday. Threes,
for the Account, are now at 66fr. 65c. Mobilier
has remained firm. Railway Market quiet, and
former quotations in general well maintained. The
market continued weak to the close, and left off as
follows :

41 per. Cents. 94 eo
Do. end month
3 per Cents
Do. end month 66 70
Credit Mobilier 1018 75
Do. end month 1022 50
Bank Shares 3300
Credit le oncier 1220
Roman 74 -
RAIL`

Italian Loan 69 --
Do. end month 66 25
New ditto
Do. end month - --
Russian
Austrian
Spanieh Threes —
Rome Debt .. 49 75
Deferred

'AYS.
Cash. Account.
982 53 .. 980 --
952 50 .. 955

Orleans
Northern

New ditto
Lyons and Mediterranean 933 75 .. 937 50
New ditto BB6 25 ..
SJuthem .. 658 75 .. 660
Western
Eastem
Sardinian
Austrian
Lorrbard
North of Spain
Saragossa 595 .. 597 50
Ditto to Barcelona

and ascertained that, about 3 o'clock on the morn-
ing of the Ist, small bodies of natives fired upon
the cioap, inflicting no loss, and making off as soon
as the guns were turned upon them. lam greatly
indebted for the success of the operations described
above to the cordial co-operation of Commodore
Sir William Wiseman, and to the indefatigable
exertions of the officers under his command.
" I have, &c.,
" D. A. CAMERON, Lie4.-Gen.
" Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.8.," &e.

LITERATURE.

SVvia's Lovers. By Mrs. Gaskell. Illustrated

edition. One vol. Smith and Elder,

The new volume of Messrs. Smith and Elder's
illustrated edition of popular novels contains Mrs.
Gaskell's very enthralling tale of " Sylvia's Lovers"
—a tale well adapted to demonstrate the peculiar
powers of that gifted writer. Sylvia herself is a
charming compound of rustic coquetry and pas-
sionate tenderness, bearing a faint resetn-
blance in these characteristics to that most
attractive of all Mrs. Gaskell's heroines,
unrivalled Mary Barton. The scene of Sylvia's
story is the north-east coast of England, about a
century back, at 'a time when the most iniquitous
and un-English press-gang wus in vogue. One of
the earliest chapt'rs, " Home from Greenland,"
describes in the heart-stirring language of simple
truthfulness the exuberant delight of the wives
and mothers of the fishing town when the whal-
ing vessel containing those most dearly-
loved is within sight of shore returning from
a six months' expedition to the Northern Seas.
Very vividly and powerfully, and even passionately
is the scene portrayed when the brave sailors on
landing, before they can reach the out-stretched
arms yearning to embrace them, are seized upon
by the lurking ambush of the press-gang and car-
ried off for years of foreign service under the very
eyes of their friends and families. In describing
scenes like these Mrs. Gaskell's earnest eloquence
of style, inspired as it is by strong sympathetic
feelings, acquires a peculiar force. We will not
betray the secrets of the story to those who may
happen to be unacquainted with it. One of Sylvia's
lovers is a gallant tar, the other a landsman, and
not a very worthy specimen of his class. The
latter loves, not wisely, but too well, and
shrinks from no treachery in order to win the day.
Some of the minor characters, especially old Kester,
are drawn with great spirit. The volume is illus-
trated by some half-dozen engravings of a peculiarly
uninteresting style. They are tame and common-
place by the side of Mrs. Gaskell's vivid and life-
like pen-and-ink descriptions.

Anecdotal Memoirs of English Princes. By W. H•
Davenport Adams, author of " Memorable Battles
in English History," &c. Two Vols. Newby.
In these two very interesting volumes Mr.
Davenport Adams has given us some of the most
attractive chapters from the Romance of English
History. The pen of no fiction-writer, however
sensational his powers, can equal the marvels of truth.
The extraordinary vicissitudes crowded into a few
short years, in some of the lives here recorded, are
almost incredible. They are, of course, familiar to
all acquainted with English history, and yet they
are well worthy of re-pet usa , especially when set,
forth in the simple and interesting manner in
which they are here arranged. This book,
says Mr. Davenport Adams, is designed " not
for the critic or the scholar, but for that much-
suffering individual, the general reader." The first
Prince whose history is here recorded is Edward of
Woodstock—the memorable Black Prince—the last
is Frederick Louis of Hanover, the father of George
111. The biographies are not confined only
to the Princes of Wales, the Duke of Glou-
cester, the youngest son of Charles 1., the
Duke of Mt,nmouth, " the darling of the
English People," James, Duke of York, and others
of Equal interest and importance are very judi-
ciously included in the list. In turning over the
records of the last Stuart King, it is curious to ob-
serve that James 11., by his two wives, Anne Hyde
and Mary of Modena, had no less than sixteen
children, and yet, in the next generation, the
Royal Stuart race became extinct—Sic transit gloria
munch !

Lost and Saved. By the Hon. Mrs. Norton. One

Vol. Hurst and Blackett.

A cheap edition of Mrs. Norton's recent novel
will be welcome to many readers. As we criticised
the work at length on its first appearance, we have
only now to notice its attractive appearance in its
new form, embellished with a very charming fron-
tispiece by Millais. Very charming does Beatrice
Brooke appear in this picture, but the artist, pre-
Raphaelite though he is, has sadly idealised his
theme. The scene which he intended to pourtray
is that trying women• of temptation when poor Bea-
trice, returning home " weary, dusty, discouraged,"
found Frank peevish, sick, and suffering. With
the child asleep in her lap, the wretched mother con-
templates the idea of suicide, and all who have read
the story will remember that simple touch of nature,
when the child slipping from her lap awakens all her
maternal love and anxiety the very moment after she
had been planning the death of the little innocent !
Can any one recognise in Mr. Millais' very elegant
and exquisitely attired mother and child a glimpse
of the weary, dusty, disheartened mother, and the
sick suffering baby ? It is a pretty picture, a
charming picture indeed, but it is not Mrs. Norton's
despairing Beatrice.

The Medical Circular ; a Journal of Practica
Medicine, Surgery, and Therapeutics.

The Medical Circular begins a new and improved
series with the new year. Conspicuous among
its contents will henceforth appear timely extracts
from the case-books of" practical men—" men who
cannot find time to sit down to prepare a course of
six or twelve lectures for this or that journal; but
who would not regard it as a tax upon their time to
transcribe from their daily records of cases, some
which will serve to elucieate a successful mode of
practice or confirm or refute a suppused medical
tact." Such examples, from trustworthy sources.
cannot fail to prove highly interesting and benefi-
cial to the various members of the profession. The
Mediccil Circular has long been in the habit of
uffering, tnrough its summaries and translations, a
reflex of all the medical knowledge of the da)
throughout the whole country. This excellent
and useful practice will be continued in the
new series, with a synopsis of the spirit of the
Periodicals, reviews of Medical norks, and a
general summary of all interesting intelligence.
The editorial remarks which introduce this new
number of a new series, are written in a spirit of
fairness and genuine esprit de-corps, which augur
well for the merit and success of the new enter-
prise.