The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-29 00:00:00

Foreig* Courts.

BRUSSELS, Aug. 27.
The King of the Belgians, accompanied by the
Duke and Duchess of Brabant, visited Bruges a
few days since, to witness a grand military festival
organised by a regiment of lancers quartered in the
city. The royal family met with a most enthu-
siastic reception on arriving at the place where the
sports were held, and also on their return to
Ostend. The King appeared to be in good health.
On Wednesday last, the anniversary of the death
of King Louis Philippe, the Belgian royal family
were present at a mass commemorative of the de-
ceased monarch.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge is
not expected to return from Germany until the second week
in the ensiling month. '

Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cam-
bridge and the Princess Mary will leave Rumpenheim
towards the close of next month or early in October. In
the succeeding month the Royal duchess will go to Brighton
to pass a few weeks.

The Princess of Servia has left Paris for Venice.
His Excellency the Portuguese Minister has just
left town for the Continent on leave of absence. The
Chevalier d'Oliveira remains in London as Charge'
d'Afaires.

Frances Anne, Marchioness of Londonderry, was
prevented receiving company at Wynyard last week, owing
to a severe indisposition, which has now abated.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Ailesbury have
been entertaining a select party at Jerveaux Abbey, their
seat in Yorkshire.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Waterford in-
tend to leave Homburg at the end of next month on their re-
turned home.

The Earl and Countess de Grey leave town to-
day for Studley-park, near Ripon, for a few weeks.
The Earl and Countess of Clarendon and the
Ladies Villiers are expected to return home towards the
end of the following month from Germany,
The Earl of Annesley has arrived at Weisbaden,
whither he has proceeded for the benefit of his health.
The Right Hon. Sir George Grey has arrived at
his seat, Fallodon, Northumberland, from Scotland.
Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir Frederick and Lady
Grey have joined the party visiting the Right Hon. Edward
Ellice, M.P., Mr. Ellice, M.P., and Mrs. Ellice, at Glen-
quoich, Invergarry, N.B.
The Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P.,
is daily expected in town from Geneva. Lady Emily Peel
is enjoying greatly improved health this year, and will in
all probability remain at their villa until the close of the
autumn.

Sir William Codrington has returned to Dod-
ington from Filey.

Lieutenant-General and Mrs. Beckwith have left
Brown's Hotel, Dover•street, for Silksworth House, Sun-
derland.

MEMORY WOODFALL, THE FATHER OF MODERN
REPORTING.—It was his practice to go down
early to the House of Commons, and secure for himself a
favourite corner in the front row of the strangers' gallery.
There he sat the long night through, never budging from
his place, solacing himself, as he grew faint, with the in-
digestible but portable dainty of a hard-boiled egg, and
with his eyes and his attention fixed upon the various
speakers, but without taking a single note : the appearance
of a note-book or pencil would have led to immediate
expulsion by the sergeant-at-arms or his messengers.
He would absorb, as it were, the whole scene passing
before him, and would reproduce it on paper, to the extent
of several columns, in time for the publication of the
following evening. In this way he gave a character to the
Chronicle, which raised it far above all its contemporaries.
Other papers, of course, followed in his wake ; literary men,
blessed with good memories, became in great demand, and
were liberally paid—as literary pay went in those days—to
devote their nights to the gallery of Parliament, and their
days to writing out as much of what had passed there as
they could recollect ; but, so long as he had to encounter
only single reporters, Woodfall out-distanced them all.
Some of them might be equal to him in one part of the
work, others in another ; one man might remember as much,
another might express it as elegantly ; and a third might re-
produce it with as much despatch; but Woodfall had the
union of all three, to an extent which none of them could
match. In that feature which was most apparent to the reader,
and in which they were most interested, some of his con-
temporaries were woefully behind him. It was no uncom-
mon thing for some of them to be seven days in arrear with
their parliamentary debates. As the memory of each un-
written day's proceedings grew dim with the fresh overlaid
stratum of the subsequent debates, it may be imagined that,
when they did at last appear, it was in a vapid and colour-
less form. Woodfall, on the contrary, was always methodi-
cal, and always punctual ; the debates were never delayed
beyond the following evening, so that members going down
to the house might purchase on the way the report of what
they said on the evening before. The very perfection to
which he had carried his system led to its downfall. He
could not be beaten by individual skill, he might be over-
powered by numbers. If he did the work of six men, the
obvious resource of a rival was to engage six men to do the
work, and this way was not long in being struck out.—
From London Editors, in _London Society for September.

INVENTION OF MILLS.—The earliest mills were
hand-mills. [Think of that, Bob Travers !] In
Egypt, in Arabia, in Palestine, and even in Greece, it was
the young girls who turned them. There is still shown at
Mecca, in a beautiful house which passes for having been
that of Khadidje, a cavity, where, according to tradition,
Fatime, surnamed the Splendid, the daughter of Mahomet
and the wife of Ali, turned her mills. The wives of the
Arab scheiks still at the present day pursue this painful
occupation. Under the reign of the son of Clovis, Saint
Radogonde, Queen of France, herself ground all the flour
which she made use of during Lent. The invention of
water-mills is ascribed to Mithridates. A certain fact is that,
at least, they existed in his time. Among other proofs, some
charming verses of Antipater of Thessalonica are quoted :
—" Ye who have hitherto been employed to grind our grain,
let your hands henceforth repose. Sleep, 0 woman, undis-
turbed. It is no longer for you that the birds announce
the coming of the claws. Ceres has commanded the Naiads
to perform your labours. They obey, and swiftly turn a
wheel which rapidly moves the heavy millstones." The
Romans did not give water-mills all the perfection of which
they were capable till Constantine had abolished slavery.—
Re Court Chronicle.

RICHARDSON, THE GREAT NOVELlST.—Richard-
son has had, and still retains, an extraordinary
influence over the imaginative literature of France. He
never loses sight of the conduct of history, and, though
inferior to Smollet and Fielding in his delicacy of treat-
ment, we recognise a fine order of art. The conceptions of
character in Lovelace, Clarissa, Clementine, are founded in
the preference of generals to particulars; that is, they are
enduring types of great subdivisions in the human family,
wholly irrespective of mutations in
scene and manners.
The knowledge of the world manifested in the creation and
completion of such characters is
subtler and deeper than
Smollett or even Fielding exhibits in his lusty heron and
buxom heroines. Despite the weary tediousness of Richard-
son's style, the beauties which relieve it are of a kind that
bear translation or paraphrase into foreign languages with
a facility which is, perhaps, the surest test of the inherent
substance and cosmopolitan spirit of imaginative writings.
The wit and hardihood of Lovelace, the simplicity and
nd;vete of Clarissa, the lofty passion of Clementine, find an
utterance in every language, and similitudes in every civi-
lised race.—Air Bulwer _Lytton in" Blackwood" for Sep-
tember.

TILE HOP CROPS IN KENT AND SUSSEX.—The
proverbial precariousness of the hop crop has been
fully exemplified in the hop-growing districts of Kent and
Sussex during the present seasen. Only a few weeks
ago the prospects of anything like a good crop were any-
thing but bright, and in many of the plantations it was
expected that the crop would be a complete failure. About
three weeks ago, however, an unexpected change for the
better took place, and the seasonable rains of the last few
days have come most opportunely to the rescue of the plant.
These showers have proved of the greatest benefit, having
almost completely cleared the plant of the vermin with which
it was previously infested,and in many gardens the bine, thus
invigorated, has taken quite a fresh start, and thrown out
a considerable quantity of burr on the lateral shoots, which
is now rapidly coming into hops. The high wind of Thurs-
day has blown the plant about a good deal in some plan-
tations, but the damage thus occasioned is quite inconsi-
derable. The warm sunshine by which the recent rains
have been succeeded will prove highly favourable to the
development of the hops; and should it continue, the hop
planters will be agreeably disappointed in the crop obtained.
Picking has already commenced in numerous gardens.
The hops as yet picked, however, are rather inferior in
quality,