The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-05 00:00:00

BENTLEY.

The valuable and interesting notes of a five years'
residence in South Africa, entitled " The Cape and
the Kafirs," are concluded in this number, and we
part• with regret from their talented author, Mr.
Arthur W. Cole ; a more amusing travelling com-
panion it has seldom been our lot to meet with, and
the Cape colonists may consider themselves fortunate
just at this moment, when they are exposed to the
attacks of Exeter-hall an the one hand and of the
croehetty and impracticable Colonial Secretary on the
oanthder, alntgihnaavlingasuarnchpianonL
energetic,i\,r. C
well-informed,n
Cole. His
defence of the conduct of the colonists "on
the convict question " is triumphant, and
completely shatters all the arguments which Earl
Grey has put forth in his attempted justification of
his unwarrantable conduct. The fact is, the Cape, in
common with all our other colonies, is governed a
great deal too much. The colonists should be suffered
to manage their own affairs (more particularly those
appertaining to their relations with the savage tribes
on their borders) in their own way. Laissez faire
should be the principle of the Colonial Minister, as
well as of the Minister of Trade and Connmrce.
Professor Creasy continues his series of " Unsuc-
cessful Great Men," his hero for the pre-
sent month being Vercingetorix, the Chieftain
of the Gauls, who organized the most formidable
coalition against the Roman invaders of Gaul that
the Romans had ever encountered, into whif.th his
perstiasive eloquence induced even the 2Edui to enter ;
who, n more than one occasion, defeated even Ces3ar
-hinatilf, and who was not conquered until the latter
had enlisted and organized a force of heavy German
cavalry to aid the Roman legions in their struggle ;
Vercingetorix was at once the Kossuth and the
Kosciusko of his age and time. The interesting cor-
respondence of the Count de la',Marck is continued;
the present instalment relates to the intrigues which
followed the death of the Count de Maurep as, and
which terminated in the elevation of the most in-
competent of financiers, M. de Brienne, Archbi shop of
Toulouse, to the post of Finance Minister of France.
The number opens with a well-written biographical
notice of Thomas Babington Macaulay, the greatest
English historian who has appeared in the 19th cen-
tury ; this notice is illustrated with a portrait, en-
graved from a drawing by Mr. Eddie, which is a most
characteristic likeness of our great poet—statesm an--
historian. The " Notes on New Grenada" are in-
teresting, and the "Twelve Black Statues" is a hu-
morous dramatic misadventure, humorously told.
There are several reviews of new books in the present
number.

MA RIONETTES.
This amusing species of dramatic performance by
automata, which is announced as shortly to astonish
London playgoers with mechanical Macreadys, Keeleys,
Marios, Grisis, and Teglionis, is by no means new.
The literary reader will at once call to mind the famous
puppet-show in Don Quixote, where the Knight of La
Mancha becomes so excited by the performance as to
rush to the rescue of the Spanish knight and the
Moorish maiden, and cuts down the fierce Boabdil of
Grenada, greatly to the terror of the showman. This
was a marionette theatre, then common in Spain, and
so described by Cervantes. The puppets, or mario-
nettes, of Mr. Powell will also be familiar to the readers
of the Spectator, where Addison complains of Mr.
Punch and the Italian Opera drawing away people of
fashion from " The Distressed Mother" at the theatres,
and there are numerous papers in the Guardian, in
which Sir Richard Steele, writing as Bickerstaff, got
up a humorous quarrel between himself and Mr.
Powell, the manager of the marionettes. At Rome,
in the Via Tor di None, there is or was a theatre of this
description, in which plays were performed by figures
the siza of children, who closely imitated, in vivacity of
gesture, energy of action, and brilliant musical execu-
tion, their larger and living prototypes. Ben the voice,
speaking behind the scenes, was thrown, as it were, into
the puppet, and made to seem to proceed from it, by an
exceedingly clever ventriloquism. We know not who-
hor whether they will be manoeuvred after the fashion of
h
where the voice proceeds from under the
stage.eorse I
art
Riga,•
S Paeree, marionettes are of this description,
In Russia, at St. Petersburgh, in the Michael
Ploschadge, or Grand Duke Michael-square, there is,
hard by to the French theatre, a company of mario-
nettes, who ply their vocation nightly, greatly to the
delight of wondering audiences. About 23 years since,
a theatre was erected in the Argyle Rooms, for similar
purposes to that with which Mr. Simpson is about to
astonish the town; but, unfortunately, the rooms were
tt
destroyed by fire, and with them perished scenery,
dresses, decorations, actors, and all, before the public
curiosity had been gratified.

DIVIDEND-DAY AT THE BANK OF ENGLAND,
EAST INDIA, AND SOUTH SEA HOUSES.
Notice was issued on Saturday at the above establish-
lows, and the transfer-books opened on the undermen.
y dividends will be paid as fol-
lows,
INDIA. HOUSE.—The dividends on East India
Stock will be in course of payment to-morrow, Tuesday,
the 6th of January
.m.stant, under the 11th section of the
Act 3d and 4th William IV., cap. 85, and the certifi-
cates will be ready to be delivered on that day. The
transfer books for
.the said stock will be opened on
Thursday, the 15th instant.
BANK OF ENGLAND.—Notice is hereby given, that the
January dividends will be paid to the public, in the Ro-
mtioennetd
tunda of the Bank of England, on Thursday next, the
Bth instant, and that the
. transfer-books for the following
securities, due the sth. instant, will be opened on the un-
dermentioned date, viz.:—Consolidated Three per Cents.
on Friday, the 16th instant;
. Three per Cent. Annuities,
1726, on ditto; New Five per Cent. Annuities on ditto;
and Securities for Terms of Years, ditto.
SMITH SEA 11
.S •OU F —The dividends on South Sea
Stock Annuities will be paid on Thursday next, the
Bth instant, and the transfer-books opened on Friday, the
dtahtaets:t—he January
16th instant.

foundationniit'A of some whWolemsfLhoisr —Nearly the
Ln wtliteh it. He purchased a
iyth him to be identified
alms-
houses for decayed oil-painters, and it is believed that he has
years. It appears to
erection of a monu-
ment hworkingeena
point for
ot
fh
highis obi
ambitionect f9r
with
with the establishment of such
inan institution, and he has
fortunejM .isWle?t Tfour RthiceE
directed 1,0001.
hisl,oomole.mtoorbyeinexeponenndexe
piece of ground at Twickenham for the purpose of erecting
these almshouses twenty years ago, at the time of making
his will, designing that this glorious memorial of his genius
should be raised amid the beautiful scenery of that locality.
The only remarkable circumstance attending the bequest is,
that he should exclude watercolour painters from partici-
pating in its benefits. His oil pictures, comprising forty or
fifty of his finest works, are left to the National Gallery, on
condition that within ten years a room be set apart exclu-
sively for their reception. Among them are the renowned
" Hannibal, .
" the " Hail, Bain, and Speed," the two large
pictures of " Carthage," the Teineraire," the " Burial of
Wilkie," an early picture representing a "Frosty Morning,"
remarkable for its truthful effects, and his celebrated
" Death of Nelson," the quarter-deck of the ship filled with
figures, and the finest representation of a sea-fight that was
ever painted. His stock of watercolour drawings and en-
gravings, which is of great value, will be sold. He always
bargained for fifty first-proofs of every plate that was en-
graved, and many of these arenow extremely rare.—Literary
Gazette.

THE BANE FORGERIES IN YORKSHIRE.—Mr.
Scott, the manager for the Yorkshire Banking Company, has
written to the local journals, informing them that it has
been ascertained, after much and careful investigation, that
the late forgery of the 5/. notes of that company has been
confined solely to those purporting to have been issued from
pthaeidDionncLaseteedrsb,raßnrcandfboardnk;
Manchester, Some of the notes have been
Sheffield, and Hull.
Five persons are in custody charged with having uttered the
notes, but it is expected that there are other guilty persons
Still ;t large,