The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-10 00:00:00

Wiley's New Tongued Gold Pen.

About metallic Pens we must acknowledge our-
selves to be very fastidious. Beyond that—we have
an old-fashioned predilection for the "grey gooEe-
quill." Were we still in those—" teacup times of
city,lheoi soulr
we
net hd ahnha ovioend
re as wte :ee daysrt l
shrewd thereh or
ef w r
da ewwu asa sPy iscvisaonsntdl
ythelaemtctowrriee
should cling to the use of the goosfquill, if only for
the sake of splitting it, paring it, and nibbing it pre-
cisely to our liking. And this with all due apprecia-
tion for the extraordinary skill evidenced, in their
various ways, by ena:nent houses like those of Gillett,
of Perry, and of Mordan in the combination of
durability and flexibility in the fabrication of
steel pens, guld pens, and pens of mixed metals,
as substitutes for the time-honoured but now
almost wholely abandoned luxury of a goosequill. A won-
derful little box has just now come to hand, however, from
a manufactory at Birmingham, the contents of which
almost reconcileus to the notion of a permanent abandonment
henceforth of the quill as a writing implement. Wiley's
gold pen, but mere especially his gold pen armed (in the
scoop of it) with a magical little tongue of the same facer-
rodible metal, seems to us to realise, in very truth, for the
first time, the possibility of writing currente calamo ! Its
advantages are numerous, and the chief among these advan-
tages deserve at once at our hands, every simple and explicit
enumeration. In the first place, then, Wiley's New Tongued
Gold Pen obviates altogether the necessity of that
principal source of delay hitherto in writing--
the perpetual dipping of the pen-point into the
Standish for a fresh supply of ink. Armed with
one of these pens, a ready writer has but to take a single
dip into the inkstand (holding the pen there, in the ink, tor
just one passing instant), and thereupon he can write, rff-
hand, according to the English idiom, "on end," according
to the Yankee idiom, "at a streak—" without another dip of
the pen—not several lines only, but several sentences. The
economy, here, both of time and of labour,. must be obvious
upon the instant. Added to this immense and distinguish-
ing advantage, Wiley's gold
pen appears to us to combine
all the other advantages with which the steel pens of Gillett
and the gold pens of Mordan have long familiarised us.
To wit—those of flexibility, of durability, and, in the
latter instance, in the instance, that is, of Mordan's
exquisite gold pens, of incorrodibility. So far as we are
enabled to judge, from the specimens here submitted to
our judgment, all varieties of hands may be supplied, ac-
cording to choice, by the manufacturer. It is true that
not a pen in the box is what we should pronounce precisely
suited to ourselves. Our choice being for the very broadest
nib manufactured. That, however, we are perfectly aware, is
an exceptional peculiarity. For the ordinary run of
writers, any hand almost, might, we are satisfied, be readily
suited from this one collection hard, very hard, like
Wackfurd Squeere's—soft, "very soft" (with a giggle) like
his daughter Fanny's, who, it may be remembered by the
readers of Nicholas Aickkby, hinted to the handsome young
usher (by that giggle and by those words) that her heart was
soft, and that she wanted a pen to match I Those who
have much writing to do, and who are in consequence of
that not unwilling to find some comfort, some facilitation,
some economy both of time ani labour, in the mere process
of writing, will certainly do well at any rate to try these
new-tongued gold pens If Wiley's of Birmingham. They
are certainly interesting enough to be turned to, while
new to the writer, as mere curiosities—and, as certainly, in
the majority of instances, they are likely, when once
written with, to be treasured and habitually used, until old,
ate pocket companions. The simple ingenuity of the tongue
is something quite exceptionally remarkable.

M. NADAR'S GIANT is certainly the largest bal-
loon ever constructed and probably the strongest;
in point of fact it is a double balloon, one inside the other ;
both are made of silk of the very best quality From the
crown of the balloon to the bottom of the car is nearly 200
feet, and the greatest circumference of the balloon is about
300 feet. It is pear-shaped, as usual ; but below the
larger balloon is a small one, attached to the stalk, so to
speak, which is
placed there for the purpose of receiving
the gas as it dilates in the upper part, and so preserving it,
instead of allowing it to escape into the atmosphere as here-
tofore, thereby enabling the aeronaut to remain in the air
apparently as long as his provisions hold out. The car is
the most novel part of the machine. Its appearance is that
of a fourwheeled caravan, and it is unsinkable in water.
The interior is divided into six compartments. At one
is the captain's cabin, with a berth, and beneath the
berth a receptacle for luggage; at the other end the pas-
sengers' cabin, with three berths. The other compart-
ments are—l, larder; 2 dressing-room ;3, photographic-
room; 4 printing-office; all of them well stocked with
materials.—Once a IVeelc.

CANDIDATE FOR BODMIN.—At the next general
election Mr. C. Locock Webb, barrister-at-law, will
be a candidate for the represenia'ion of the borough of
Bodmin in Parliament. Mr. Webb is a Liberal-Conserva-
tive, awl is somewhat of an authority on mining and rail-
way questions, the former being a subject of much interest
in Bodmin, from the many neighbouring miles existing in
that legality. The learned gentleman is the author of two
pamphlets, one on "Railways, their Accounts and Divi-
dends," the other on " The Condition of Ireland and on
Government Aid for Carrying Out an Efficient Railway
System." _ _ _

STONEWALL JACKSON AND LEE !—Talking of the
just admiration which the English newspapers accorded to
Stonewall Jackson, a Confederate one day expressed to
Colonel Fremantle
,vide his " Three Months in the Southern
States") his astonishment that they should have
praised so highly his strategic skill in outmanoeuvring Pope
at Manassas, and Hooker at Chanceilorsvide, totally
ignoring that in [nth cases the movements Were planned
and ordered by General Lee, for whom (added the
Southerner) Jackson had the most " child-like reverence."
Lady Don is playing at Bath.