The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-21 00:00:00

ANECDOTE OF DR. JOHNSON.

On the day of my introduction, he was ask'd
to dinner at my father's house, in Soho-square,
and the Erudite Savage came a full hour before
1,;, time. I happen'd to be with my father, who
was beginning his toilette, when it was an-
non:iced to him that the Doctor had arrived.
My sire, being ore of the tributary princes who
did homage to this monarch, was somewhat
flurried ; and, having dress'd himself hastily,
took me with hi-:: into the drawing-room.
On our entrance we found Johnson sitting in
ajauteria of rose-coloured satin, the arms and
hp of which (of the chair, remember, not of
the Doctor,) were of burnish'd gold ! and the
contrast of the man with the seat was very
Otriking ;—an unwashed: coal-heaver in vis-a-vis
could not be much more misplaced than John-
son thus deposited. He was dress'd in a rusty
twit of brown cloth dittos, with black worsted
stockings ;—his old •,•dlow wig was of formid-
able dimensions : and the learned head which
sustain'd it roll'd about in a seemingly paralytic
tgotion ; but, in the performance of its orbit, it
inclined chiefly to one shoulder,—whether to
the right or left, I cannot now remember ; a
fault never to be forgiven by certain of the
Troaddleri, who think these matters of the
utmost importance.
He deign'd not to rise on our entrance ; and
wit stood before him while he and my father
talk'd. There was soon a pause in the colloquy;
and my father, making his advantage of it, took
hte by the hand, and said,—" Doctor Johnson,
this is a little Colman." The Doctor bestow'd
a slight ungracious glance upon me, and, conti-
nuing the rotary motion of his head, renew'd the
previous conversation. Again there was a pause ;
—again the anxious father, who had fail'd in
his first effort, seized the opportunity for push-
ing his progeny, with—" this is my son, Doctor
Johnson.' The great man's contempt for me
was now roused to wrath ;—and, knitting his
brows, he exelaim'd in a voice of thunder, " I
ice him Sir I"—he then fell back in his rose-
eolourY. satin fauteuil, as if giving himself up to
vatintation ; implying that he would not be fur-
ther plagued, either with an old fool or a young
one.

The gigantic Johnson could not be easily
thrown out at window,—particularly by my
tinder-sized Sire ; but ho deserved to be
" quoited down stairs, like a shove-groat shil-
ling;" not exactly, perhaps, for his brutality to
the boy, but for such an unprovoked insult to
the father, of whose hospitalities he was par-
taking. This, however, is only one among the
numerous traits of grossness, already promul-
gated, in which the Bolt Court Philosopher com-
pletely falsified the principles of the Roman
Poet

--" ingenuas didieisae fideliter artes,
ErnoMt more*, nee unit egme ferns."

After this rude rebuff from the Doctor, I had
the additional felicity to be placed next to him
at dinner : he was silent over his meal : but I
observed that he was, as Shylock says of Lance-
lot Gobbo, " a huge feeder ;" and during the
display of his voracity (which was worthy of
Bolt Court), the perspiration fell in copious
tfrops from his visage upon the table-cloth :
the clumsiness of the bulky animal, his strange
costume, his uncouth gestures, yet the dominion
which ha usurp'd withal, render'd his presence a
phenotoenon among gentlemen ;—it was the in-
cursion of anew species of Barbarian, a learned
Attila, King of the Runs, come to subjugate
polish'd society.—Colman's Random Records.

BORDER SKIRMISHES OF THE SCOTS

AND ENGLISH.

A small body of three hundred men was as-
sembled, unequal, from their inferior number, to
do more than observe the enemy, who moved
forward with their full force from Jedburgh to
.Melrose, where they spoiled the splendid con-
tent, in which lay the bones of many a heroic
Doug Ls. The Scots were joined in the night
by' the Leslies and Lindesays, and other gentle-
men from the western part of Fife ; and appa-
rently the English learned that the Regent's
!brief' were increasing, since they retreated to-
'wards Jedbuigh at the break of day. The Scots
manoeuvring to gain the flank of the
enemy. They were joined, near the village of
Saxton, by Sir Walter Scott of Bucelough,
with his folloters, by whose knowledge of the
ground and inexpe*ience in irregular warfare the
Regent was counselled to simulate 3 retreat.
The English 11,..!6^.,1, formed, and rushed hastily
to pursue, so that encountering the enemy un-
awares, and at disadvantage, they were totally
defeated. The two leaders fell, and very many
of their followers, for the victors showed little
mercy ; and the Liddisdale men, who had come
with the English as friends, flung away the red
crosses which they had brought to the battle, and
made a pitiless slaughter among the troops whom
they had joined as auxiliaries. Many prisoners
were taken, on whom heavy ransoms were levied,
particularly on an Alderman of London, named
Read, whom Henry VIII. had obliged to serve
in person in the wars, because he refused to pay
his share of a benevolence imposed on the city,
it appearing that though the King of England
could not invade a citizen's property, he had
despotic power sufficient to impress his person.
King Henry was greatly enraged at the loss
of this action, and uttered threats against Angus,
whom he accused of ingratitude. The Scottish
Earl little regarded his displeasure. "Is our
brother," he said, " angry that I have avenged
on Ralph Ewers the injury done to the tombs
of my ancestors ? They were better men than
he, and I could in honour do no less. And
will he take my life for that ? Little knows
King Henry the heights of Cainitable. I can
*cep myself safe there against all the power of
Enland."—Dr. Larciner's Cabinet Cycle-
prdia, Vol. IV.

Tx]: KING'S MIALTII.-011 this interest-
ing topic one thing seems undeniable,—either that no
belletin should have been issued, or, that one having bean
found necessary, a further daily offici'al announcement
should have taken place, till all cause of apprehension bad
been see at rest by authority ; and this was and is the
mere necessary, from the equivocal, not to say alarming,
terms in which the bulletin of Thursday was worded.
Besides the feelings of personal interest towards the Sove-
stews, which are as universal as they are justly merited,
the mode in which the public are affected in various ways
by the uncertainty which pervades the subject is moat se-
rious cad important. To look only to the Stock Ex-
shange..there the public securities are kept in a most
tlectuatul and feverish state, which, if it affected only the
gamblers is the market, would not be of so much conite-
venes, though even in that respect it is to be lamented
that gambling should thrive on such a topic. But besides
this the moment is most critical to what is called the spring
trade of the country, the progress of which an alarm of
the nature alluded to paralyses to an extent which none but
those who are engaged in it can in any degree calculate.
The topic, therefore, is ono on which no degree of lancet_
tabsty should be allowed to prevail; awl, ware it only to
Rasp She hundred tongues of Rumour, an authentic and re-
sponsible annonnesment should either quiet or confirm the
Oaf ait which the tams nurse has created. —Mom Paper.

LONDON,
WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 21, 1830.

THE KING'S TIE ALTII.

Sir FREDERICK WATSON, Secretary of the
Royal Household, arrived in town this morning
from Windsor. The accounts brought by Sir
FREDERICK of his MAJESTY'S health are, we
understand, of favourable nature. The KING
Wag better this morning than yesterday, wad
experienced less difficulty in breathing.
No Bulletin had been received up to three
o'clock, and it was consequently expected that
none would be issued this day.

The news of the -illness of his MAJESTY has
excited considerable interest in Paris. The fol-

owing are extracts :

Pants, APRIL IS.—The total amount of the troops
destined to join the expedition, which will arrive in the
environs of Toulon between the 25th and 29th inst. we
are informed, will be 33,750 men—namely, 30,025 of
infantry ; 600 cavalry ; 1,900 artillery ; and 1,225 en-
gineers. The number of horses and mules for the cavalry,
artillery, and waggon-train and baggage to be embarked,
will he 2,450. To the above may he added, 30 horse and
70 foot gendarmes; 100 deputy commissaries; and 200
men employed as clerks, secretaries, attendants upon the
Field Hospitals, and other supernumeraries, divided into
two companies.
The departure of the Minister of War is definitively
fixed for to-morrow.

The Chamber des Mises en Accusation has decided that
there are no grounds for prosecuting the editor of the
Drapeau Blanc, and M. Henrion, advocato,—the former
for publishing, and the latter for writing an article, en-
titled " Pe l'lnevitable Dissolution de la Chamhre, et,
d'une Ordonnance d'Elections." Dl. Madrolie, author of
the " Memoire du Roi," is to appear before the Tribunal
of Correctional Police, to answer a charge of insult against
the Magistracy.

A Council of Ministers was held on Friday, after which
the King transacted business with the Prince de Polignss.
The Marguis de Pastoret, Chancellor of France, had the
honour of a private audience of his Majesty.
It is with pain we refer our readers to the account given
under our London head, of the serious indisposition of
his Britannic Majesty. A letter dated Thursday, seven
o'clock, states that the disorder was water on the chest,
and, consequently, great difficulty in breathing. We
heartily hope that the papers of Friday, which will reach
us to.day by estafette, will bring us more favourable ac-
eon n ts. —Paris Advertiser.

A codicil annexed to Napoleon's will was thus worded :
—" We bequeath to the son or grandson of General Du-
gommier, who commanded in chief the army of Toulon,
the coin of 100,000 francs. We, under his authority,
commanded the artillery, and directed the operations of
the siege. This is an acknowledgment of the affection
and friendship which that brave and intrepid General
showed us." Captain Adonis Dugommier claims the
legacy ; but he is opposed by the widow of another son,
and by the husband of a (laughter of the legatee. The
case wee brought on Friday before the Tribunal de Pre-
miere Instance, when, after hearing the advocate of M.
Adonis Dugommier, the tribunal postponed the affair for
a week, for the pleadings of the other parties.
(I.RIVATE CORRESFONDUCCE.
MADRID, APRIL S.—Our Government has just re-
ceived an extraordinary courier with despatches from Ha-
vannah, and dated from the latter end of last month.
Their contents are of the greatest importance.
The despatches first announce the bad success of the
mission given to M. Philip de Castro to the Haytian Go.
♦ernment, relative to the reclamations of the Spanish
Government. M. de Castro is Intendant of the province
of San Yago, in the island of Cuba, and had been chosen
for this mission because he is a native of St. Domingo :
he had taken with him, as his secretary, his own brother,
I)on Francois de Castro, a man of great talent, and for-
merly the Editor of the Gazette of Porto Rico, under the
Constitutional Government. The only thing certain about
the result of the mission up to the present day is, that it
has cost about bOO,OOO, and that the affair is not more
advanced than before.

The Captain-General of Havaitnah, M. Vives, enters
into long details about a pretended conspiracy which was
to take place there. It was thought at first that this plot
was a mere act of folly, and had no solid basis ; but since
the arrest of about twenty individuals, the affair appears
to have taken a character of gravity much greater than it
had been imagined. According to the information given
by General Vives, the conspiracy was fomented by a❑ as-
sociation existing at Mexico under the name of the "Black
Eagle." A considerable number of Spaniards of the Penin-
sula, as well as several inhabitants belonging to the first
families of the island, had a share in the plot. This cir-
cumstance has occasioned new arrests, amongst which are
M. Abreu, a man who enjoys a capital of 500,000 piastres,
and is the proprietor of very extensive coffee plantations ;
M. Castaneds, head clerk of the Account-office ; three
men of the law, such as Messrs. Rafaelin and Rojo, &c.
M. Vives finishes by announcing that he continues to take
very rigorous measures. It appears that the conspirators
intended to proclaim the island independent, under the
appellation of " Republic of Cnbauacan," the original name
of the country.
(PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE•)
Cann, Aran. 2.—During the morning of the 27th
of March, the .ship of the line the Hems, set sail for the
Havannali, under the command of the naval Brigadier
Don Fernandez tie la Pena. This vessel escorts several
others which transport troops to the island of Cuba. They
are five in number, four American and one Bremish, and
have on board the regiment of Naples, under the orders of
Colonel Alvarez, and a battalion to recruit the different
corps which are at Cuba. They form altogether a body
of 1,573 men.

TouLori, Aram 12.—The ships belonging to the
"41 o.lTyy which are to form a part of the expedition,
are all tr, harbour, except the Marie- ,Thirere, which is

w fitting out. They have already formed their lines, in
order to avoid all kind of disorder and confusion. They
are S 7 in number, amongst which arc five of the line._
Courier Irancais.

New York Papers to the 25th of March have
been received last night, from which the following
are the most important extracts, being the basis
of a new Constitution for Colombia :
(From the New York Journal of Commerce, March 23.)