The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-20 00:00:00

M, Meissonier's Two Napoleon Pie'. res,

The pictures that have most attracted attention
are two by Meissonier—one " a Retreat in MA,"
and the other " the Emperor at Solferino," This,
I believe, is the first time this painter has treated
military subjects, and in the opinion of competent
judges he has obtained wonderful suocess,
and shown a talent which no one suspected hies of
possessing. Under a cold, cheerless sky, covered
with mist falling in sleet, you see a nuMber of
horseman riding along at a slow pace.- It
is the Emperor, followed by his Staff, while a
column of the army follows at some distance.
the sulject is the campaign of 1844, in which
Napoleon's g:e iis showed itself greater than,
perhaps, at any time during his wonderful career.
The ground they ride over is broken np into deep
ruts by the heavy artillery, or trampled into small
hears of•mud, coloured by the hall-melted snow
which covers the distant plain, tot yet trodden
under foot by the troops. Nithi,3g can be more
dreary than the scene; the garments of the mien
era soaked through with sleet, and the men them-
selves broken down with long fighting, long
watching, and forced marches. we perceive
that no sound is heard but the horses' hoofs and
the monotonous tramping of men's feet ; and not
one of the numerous staff that ride behind the
Emperor but whose countenance tells a tale of ex-
haustion and almost of despair. The Emperor him-
self, mounted on a white horse, his hat down to his
eyes, his right hand with the riding whip hanging
from a thong round the wrist thrust into the breast
of his grey overcoat, which reaches to his face, and
is closely buttoned round him, rides a pace or two
in front. His features, firm and fixed as stone,
betray no fatigue and no consciousness of the inele.
ment sky and the dreary field. His lips are firmly
pressed together, and his eyes look inward, as if, still
unconquered, and not yet exhausted in resources, '
he was conceiving some new plan of battle. Nothing
can be more intensely resolute than the expression
of that face ; but it expresses no hope of success—
nothing but the fierce resolve to struggle to the very
last. He moves on wrapped up in his thoughts, and
insensible to all around. The officers of his Staff fol-
low him, their uniforms wholly or partly covered by
thick cloaks, or overcoats, brown, blue, grey, old or
new, close buttoned, or loose, like that of Ney, who
is easily recognised in his old brown surtout fastened
only by a single button, which you see must shortly
give way. The horses are as tired as the riders,
and it requires close attention to the bridle to keep
them from falling. So far as we ca❑ perceive, the
faces of these men are thoughtful, almost despond-
ing, pale, but still determined like their chief, but
like him, too, hardly hoping. In spite of the moral
energy that still supports them, two or three among
them cannot hold out, and the heads moving with
the pace of the horse, or drooping to saddle bow
show that there is a limit to human strength, and
that sleep has overpowered them. No ono
speaks to the other, and the only sign of life
is where a young office; in a Hussar
uniform rises a little in his stirrups, and looks
back at some object behind. At a distance a
column of infantry is moving along the whitened
plain on a line parallel to the Staff ; and, though the
whole picture is not much larger than the lid of a
small box, the eye can easily detect the drummers
with their instruments at their back, and the shakos
of the mounted officers above the column.

Another picture of the same dimensions, and by
the same hand, " L'Empereur (Napoleon III.)
Solferino," is almost equally worthy of attention.
It is not a battle piece in the strict sense of the
word; and there are no masses of men mingling in
a deadly conflict, nor is the ground encumbered
with heaps of slain. The prominent figure is the
Emperor on horseback, with his Staff, watching
from an eminence which commands a vast plain the
tide of battle as it ebbs and flows. Under the height
en which he stands men are working a battery of ar-
tillery ; and an army is in movement alongtheheights
that bound the horizon. The Emperor bends slightly
forward in his saddle. Some of the officers of the
Staff show much curiosity about what is passing
yowler, and try to guess on the fate of the day from
the Emperor's features, evidently in vain; but the
rest evince no such impatience, but stand ready
to execute any orders given to them. A few dead
bodies, Austrians, as may be seen from their white
coats and light blue pantaloons, are lying here and
there. In the picture the Emperor is only a few
inches high, but the resemblance is striking, and
some persons think it is more life-like than any
portrait yet made of him.

Another Matrimonial Hoax,
4.-

A few weeks ago an advertisement appeared, signed by
a young lady who adopted the name of " Pauline" stating
that she was desirous of finding a suitable partner. This
announcement attracted the attention of an enterprising
young Irishman, who is employed as a clerk in a large
establishment at Leeds. He replied to the advertisement,
stating that he was a young man of 22, that his prospects
were favourable, and that he was anxious to ally himself
in matrimony with a lady apparently so eligible as the lair
Pauline described herself to be. This delicate epistle he
addressed to Kathkeale, is Ireland, to the address named
in the advertisement, but instead of using a plain enve-
lope, ho enclosed his reply in one of the busine so
envelopes of the firm. The letter duly travelled to Ire-
land, and no such personage as Pauline having been dis-
covered, it was duty returned through the Dead Letter
Office. The cashier of the firm at which M. M— was
employed opened the letter bag one morning, and saw this
epistle, and also observing that the envelope bore the busi-
ness address of the firm, he opened it,and diecovered John's
secret. By way of trifling with the tender affections of the
clerk, who was ruling up certain entries in the ledger at the
opposite desk, he heartlessly determined to play John a trick.
Several choice spirits were taken into the secret, and as the
result of their deliberations, a lady at Leicester was induced
to personate the fair Pauline, and this faithless female actu-
ally wrote to Mr M—, inviting him to meet her at Manchester.
Scene, the secluded area of the Victoria Station; time:one
o'clock p.m. Our broth of a boy hastened to keep tryst, but,
to his great disappointment, no Pauline presented herself.
A few days afterwards be received a very self-reproachful
letter from disconsolate Pauline, in which• she earnestly
apologised for not being able to keep the engagemen,, and
arranged to meet him at Liverpool last Saturday. Our young
Irish friend swallowed the bait, and off he set for Liverpool.
His destination was Frederick-street. Arrived at that de.
lightful locality, John asked of a decent-looking Irishman
if he knew where No. 16.5 was. " Oh, yes," said his brother
from Erin, "it is a public •house " "Then perhaps you
are aware whether a pretty girl called Pauline B
lives there ?" asked our simple-minded Leeds friend.
"'Pon my soul," answered his friend, " that I cannot
say, be gorrah," John : "If you will gP and ask the
question I have no objection to stand a drain." Murphy:
4; Faith, is it courting you are ? trooth I will go and see."
- Murphy soon returned from the gin palace, with the
welcome intelligence that Mr J. from Leeds, was
to walk in. Arrived in the house, our friend was warmly
welcomed by a Liverpool gentleman, who had been let into
the secret, and whom, for the sake of particularity, we will
call Mr Jones. The enamoured swain—" I believe you
have a young lady, a Miss Temple, residing here?" Mr
Jenes--, Yes, we have, but she is out at present, but will
return in a few minutes—pray sit down." Mr
,c Then she expects me ?" Mr. Jones : " Oh, yes, she ex-
pects a gentleman to call." Mr M--: " Then I will
trouble you to ring for a glass of good stone ale." Mr
M— obtained his beverage, and at this moment a num-
ber of gentlemen entered the room by one door, and a bevy
of ladies by the other, until some fifty " friends" of the
bride expectant were present. Mr Jones then opened
the ball by introducing Mr M— as the gentle-
man from Leeds who had come to look after their Pauline,
and the inamorata was received with a welcome more en-
thusiastic and overpowering than what he had bargained
for. During n brief lull, Mr Jones read a doggrol poem on
the subject of Mr M--'s disappointment, upon which the
latter made a dash for the door, but this had teen previously
secured, and tee bashful young Irishman was handed back
to his chair. Then commenced the fun. Mr M-- first
turned pale, then flushed with anger, as verse after verse of
his Lament were recited, and then he was adjudged to pay
glasses round. The youthful Irishman's heart at length
tailed him. He shed bitter tears, invoked the aid of the
police, but, alas I these guardians of the peace were not
to be found. Mr -- then said, " Pray let me out ; I
have only half-a-crown, which you shall have, and 1 can
get home with my return ticket." His quondam friends
declared he must fork out a crown, and on his declaration
of his inability to produce a coin of that denomination, the
ruthless friends of the deceitful Pauline called out for the
whitewash and the brush. Mr now became thoroughly
alarmed, end he threw his half-crown on the talile, but this
was speedily "melted" in drink. Then commenced the
spree. The women seized our llauslet tricnd, dragged him
abeut the room, disarranged his hair which had been beau-
tifully curled and scented, and tormented him until he
bellowed again with pain and rage. At length ho was al-
lowed to "make tracks" for the railway station, but the
Mohawks were in his rear, and they chased him relentlessly
, through the streets. A " bobby," who turned up
when he was not wanted, thought Mr must be a thief,
and attempted to arrest him, but Johnny, like a second
Johnny Gilpin, distanced all his pursw.r.-, and wended his
way to Leeds.—Leeds Times,

Weymouth 1
Baden-Baden
Warwick September 6
Bridgwater 8
Leicester
Doncaster

Brecon l9
Richmond
Royal Caledonian Hunt 21
Monmouth 22
Alancheater Autumn
NewtnarketFirdt October 27

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

LONDON, June 20.--Wind this day at noon—South-
West; fresh breeze and fine weather.
CARDIFF, June 18.—Wind S.W.—Sailed—Chetah, for
Hong Kong—Jane Littlefield, for New York—Argo, for
Trinidad.

STA;;EA, Tune 18.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Oberon,
from Caldera.

CLYDE, June 18.—Wind S.—Arrived—Radama, from
Sgua la Grande. Sailed—Britannia, screw steamer, for
Naw York.

FALMOUTH, June 19.—Arrived—Chushane, from Ha-
vannah. _ _

PLYMOUTH, June 17.—Wind W.—Arrived—Belmont,
from Quebec.
KINGSTON, June 18.—Wind S.—Sailed—Express, for
Barcelona.

(BY MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)
rsosma—oSueedrunlsoeus, from
GRAVESEND, Monday Morning;
Arrived. June 19—Ann Stanton, from Riga—Niard and
2o—Gustaf
fortpa faNwlanNi
Natal—Brenda,
fromsa ,
Br from
e.vn
ga
ay—Rescue
e u e
110, from Christianstadt—Spitfire, from RegGeffotatrean—Eliza
Era,
—Norma,
frßomelizse—tezAtina_tre3ai,arfgroamretC.:die.
Amoy—Juno, from Memel—Pocahontas, from New York
cordia and Catharine, from Randers—Danneborg, from
from stock.
11107nli.to—Stella, from Dantzic—Z:.emengen,
essteaAmer, 'f—or
:as,tesatmeaemr,erfortocraCica Cadiz—Europa, steamer,
from jamaica. gricola,
m
for New
s!eievc; 7,1;
June
June
for Leghorn—Kaffraria, for steamer, for
pa
York—a—Meaeunriitni:

DELL, Monday Morning.
Passed—Amnia' E
ship, from the west, for London—sk-
dale, from London,
for Mont roal—Erroraanga, trom Shields,
for Alexandria—Ann, of Teignmouth, from the north, for
thP west—Brenda, screw steamer, from I,,ndon, for Malta.
Anchored—Louise, of Carnarvon, from the north, for the
west.

We have to announce the death at Paris of M.
Roubier d'Herambault, deputy at the Legislatice Body for
the circumscription of Montreuil-sur-Mer (Pas de Calais).
He was in his 67th year.
M. Salaz.A. de Alta:area°, lately the Spanish
Commissioner at Peru, has passed through Paris on his
way to Madrid.
Rear-Admiral Tardy do Montravel, Governor of
Guyana, has received permission to return to France on
leave, and is now on his way home.
A fete took place three days back at Saint-Gras
tien (Seine-at-Oise), the summer residence of the
Princess Mathilde, on the occasion of the presentation by
her Imperial Highness of a splendid banner to the Orpheo.
nist Society of the commune. The houses were dressed out
with flags, and triumphal arches bearing the Princess's
initials were erected. The benediction of the banner was
performed by the cure, and the gates of the villa having
been thrown open, the day was spent in the park and
grounds.