The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-02 00:00:00

PROFESSOR WILSON.

The Professor has given the best kind of reply to the
report which some silly one sent abroad, that his mind
had suffered an eclipse. He " leads off" in the new num-
ber of " Blackwood," and " beautiful exceedingly" are the
bright gems of poetry which drop, with apparently care-
less, and certainly prodigal, profusion from his pen. We
do not mean to say that the first article of " Blackwood"
has the Professor's name to it ; but it is as certainly his as
if his 11,1111 C were printed all over it, in every variety of
type that Miller has ever cast, or Ballantyne pressed into
the service. There is perhaps less of strong jocularity than
there used to be in the flights of Christopher North, but
in other respects he is unaltered. Ever wilful, often
wrong, but almost always striking, and exquisitely fanciful
beyond—far beyond—what could be reached by any other
living writer. His usual humour we do not miss in this
leading article, but it is slightly changed as to its reckless
force, and (we think) none the worse for this, but contra-
riwise, better. Then, as to the flow of his poetic prose—
"'Tis sad by fits—by starts 'tis wild ;"
but ever soaring into regions where the sunshine strives
with the loftiest clouds, and broken rays of sublimely
brilliant lustre are the result. The following, we suppose,
may be taken as an allusion to the circumstances of the
poet himself. It is from page 577 in the new number of
" Blackwood."

" The Poet's Home !" We have a poem of our own, if the
hon. gentleman will allow us to call it so, with that title
lying by us, five thousand lines of blank verse, which we
shall leave to our executors, with permission of our moths
and mice. We are satisfied with our popularity as a " war-
bler of poetic prose," not the sole point of resemblance,
surely, in us to Sir Philip Sidney ; and look forward with
pleasing apprehension to our posthumous fame as a poet,
when, by some fortunate chance, some indefatigable anti-
quary, in course of a lifelong dedication to the restitution
of decayed intelligences, shall dig up our remains. Mean-
while, let us expand our wings, and, crushing through our
cage, be off like an eagle to the mountains,
" And set the prisoner free."
A simple line, but glorious, and we bless the name of mercy
as we cleave the clouds. Higher than the Andes we hang
over Westmorland, an unobserved, but observant, star.
Mountains, hills, rocks, knolls, vales, woods, groves, single
trees, dwellings, all asleep! 0, lakes ! but ye are, indeed,
by far too beautiful ! 0, fortunate isles ! too fair for
human habitation, fit abode for the blest. It will not hide
itself—it will not sink into the earth—it will rise, and
risen, it will stand steady, with its shadow in the over-
powering moonlight, that one tree! that one house ! and
well might the sight of ye two together—were it harder—
break our heart. But hard at all it is not, therefore it is
but crushed.—Morning Post.

'fun
STORM.—The wind blew a gale from the
west yesterday, and during the day occasional heavy
showers of rain fell. We have not experienced such a
stormy day since the hurricane which did so much damage
in October last year ; but, fortunately, the high wind of
yesterday has not done very serious injury in the metro-
polis. The inconvenience to pedestrians was very great--
umbrellas afforded no shelter from the rain, for it was im-
possible to hold them up, and on the bridges and open
spaces the wind dislodged many hats and bonnets from the
heads of the wearers ; and it was difficult for passengers to
proceed to and fro. The river was in commotion all day,
very few ventured out in small boats, and the steamers
on their way up were constantly getting athwart the tide,
and were detained for some time. The Grand Tar/c, from
Boulogne, was detained for upwards of an hour in the pool,
in consequence of the storm, and the difficulty of getting
her in a straight position. The Greenwich steamers were
often in the same predicament, and the sudden gusts and
squalls, and the desire on the part of the captains to avoid
collisions, frequently put them hy. There were few ar-
rivals or departures of shipping yesterday, and there is no
doubt the storm has been severely felt at sea, and that the
next account will. bring tidings of many losses. The Perth
steam-ship left her moorings at Wapping for Dundee soon
after one o'clock. The passage of this fine vessel to Scot-
land will be a boisterous one.

FEARFUL THUNDER STORM.—" Early in the
morning of Friday last (writes a Correspondent of the
Greenock Advertiser), Inverary was visited by a thunder
storm, accompanied with heavy rain and hail. Between
five and six o'clock, a.m., a peal was heard of tremendous
loudness, which was instantly followed by a noise like the
failing of rocks or heavy stones. It was evident to those
who heard the sound, that a thundersbolt had struck down
some place within the town. Accordingly, when day dawned,
the Church spire and the Highland and Lowland churches,
which are situated on either side of the spire, presented a
scene of fearful devastation. The portion of the spire
over the dome, being a tapering solid building of about
eighty feet in height, vas entirely demolished ; the greatest
part of it being precipitated through the roofs into the areas
below, shivering into fragments a great portion of the seat•
ing of both churches, also the pulpit and precentor's desk
of Gaelic Church : several other masses of the stone
were projected in all directions to distances from 20 to
100 yards, some of them having made their way through
the roofs of the neighbouring houses. One piece of
stone, about a cubic foot in dimensions, was hurled into
a bed-room in the George Inn, through one of the win-
dows, shattering to pieces the window sash, and the bed-.
stead within the room. On the south-east side, the whole
street was strewed with broken stones and mortar, to
the distance of about twenty yards. In the main street,
leading to the Church from the N.E., there were several
large fragments of stone scatterred here and there ; and
most of the glass in the windows of the Churches, and
many panes in those of the houses in the immediate neigh-
bourhood, were broken. The electric fluid seems to have
first struck the vane and iron work supporting it, and from
thence to have been conducted to the dome by an iron rod
which passed through the centre of the spire, connecting
the several blocks of freestone composing it ; and, from the
dome, to have followed the flue of the stoic, twisting and
shattering it into innumerable fragments, and next to have
run across the front beam of one of the galleries, and escaped
through the solid wall at the 'N. W. corner, making a pas-
sage for itself, by displacing several large stones. The in-
jury done in the interior of the Churches is very consider-
able ; and this is the more to be regretted, as the English
Church had been very recently re-seated, painted, and
otherwise neatly fitted up. Owing to the early hour at
which, providentially, the occurrence took place, no lives
were lost, and no person was even injured. Had the catas-
trophe happbned during any part of the preceding day, the
consequences must have been serious, and the loss of life
great, it having been the market day, arid the streets around
the Church being constantly crowded."
We fear we must bid a long farewell to the delight-
ful weather with which we were favourud up to the com-
mencement of this week. On Tuesday we had during the
night a smart frost, and a fall of snow of several inches,
which did not entirely disappear till the sun was well risen.
Indeed, patches were here and there visible, even in town,
as late as nine in the morning. Wednesday and Thursday
were cold with showers, and Thursday night, as Tuesday
night had been, was oxceedingly boisterous. Friday there
were showers, but on the whole, though cold, the day was
fine.—Bilaningham Journal.
This is .a busy day throughout England and Wales,
as the elections for Municipal officers for the year ensuing
are in course of proceeding. We are glad to hear from the
country papers that the Reformers seem every where to be
fully prepared for the struggle.
We have this week hail a sudden transition from tie
genial warmth of summer to the biting cold of mid-winter.
The whole range of mountains on our north, from Lang-
dale Pikes to Harter Fell, and Howgill Fells, on our north-
east, have been snow-clad since Tuesday morning. On
Wednesday we had a keen visitation of frost, which was
succeeded on Thursday by a violent tempest of wind and
rain the whole day ; yesterday it was a good deal abated,
but we had severaly heavy showers of hail and rain. The
Leeds Union coach was considerably delayed by th 6 hurri-
cane on Thursday evening ; the horses could not be driven
forward, and it was with the utmost difficulty the driver
maintained his scat. A large tree was blown down in the
neighbourhood of Crooklands.—Kendal Mercury.
Charles the Second, when any one remarked that
it was a fine day, used to say he was sure it was raining at
Tavistock. In modern times this imputation has devolved
upon Manchester.
An ancient miter, speaking of his favourite county,
Devonshire, says, that " she can lice better of herself, withr
out being beholden to 'the rest of the kingdom, than that
can subsist without being obliged to her."