The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-22 00:00:00

SATAN-A POEM.

Extract from the Second Edition of Mr. Montgomery's
Satan :

How calmly beautiful this blessed morn !
The sky all azure, not a cloud abroad,
A sunny languor in the air, the breeze
Gentle enough to fan an Angel's brow ;
And thou, the lord of beauty and of light
Enthroned, how oriently thy splendours shine,
And make a loveliness where'er they fall !
Hark ! on the stillness of the Sabbath air,
From tower and steeple floats the mellow chime
Of matin bells ; how sweetly solemn mounts
The pealing incense ! up to Heaven it glides,
As though it heralded a people's prayer.
Their ebbing music, all uncharm'd, some feel ;
While others, in its wafting decadence,
Hear dream-like echoes from the far-off shore
Of childhood, where a twilight sadness woos.
• a • O • .0 s.

A churchyard ! 'tis a homely word, yet full
Of feeling ; and a sound that o'er the heart
Alight shed religion. In the gloom of graves
I read the curse primeval, and the Voice
That wreak'd it, seems to whisper by these tombs
Of village quiet, that around me lie
In green humility :—can Life, the dead
Among, be musing, nor to me advance
The spirit of her thought ? True, Nature wears
No rustic mourning here: in golden play
Her sprightly grass-flowers wave; the random breeze
Hums in the noon, or with yon froward boughs
A mut-Wring quarrel wakes : and yet how oft
In such a haunt, the insuppressive sigh
Is heard, while feelings that may pilot years
To glory, spring from out a minute's gloom !

Mind overcomes me here. Amid the hush
Of stately tombs, of dim sepulchral pomp,
And monumental falsehoods, piled o'er men
Whose only worth is in their epitaphs,
I fear thee not, thou meditating one !
Infinity may blacken round thy dream
Perchance, and words inaudible thy mind
With shadowy bodements fill; but worldly gauda
Entice thee ; whisper'd vanities of thought
Arise, and though Life lose her glare awhile,
Ambition tints the moral of the tomb.—
'Tie not so here : th' uncheated eye can dwell
On few distinctions, save of diff'ring age;
The heart is free to ponder, and the soul
To be acqUainted with herself alone.
And more development of Man is found
In such calm scene, than in the warring rush
Of life.—l watch him thus, and mark
The swelling pomp of immortality
That lifts the soul, and makes Hereafter plain !
Or, darkness, from the unapparent dead
That wheluis the spirit with a cold despair.
Nature begins ; and in the white-roll'd shroud
The ghastly nothingness of Death appears.._.
And then, a knell, Time's word-awaking tongue,
Rings in the soul, and by a new-turn'd grave
He paints a mourning vision ; sees the tears
Telling of many a day's remember'd joy
Down cheeks of anguish drooping ; and can Lear
The careless mutter of the broken clod
Upon his coffin echo.—Then, the dream !
The solemn dream ! of where a spirit-home
May be, and what is an Eternal World.._
Thou mortal ! ask th' interminated sky,
The mystic wind, the ever-murm'ring deep,
And all that night and day around thee dwells_.
Doth nought reply ? The Elements all dumb ?
Then ask thy soul, and God himself replies!
I thank thee, Life, and all thy sceneful realm,
Wherein such vassalage of mind abounds,
That thoughts of death are exiled from the heart
Of many, till the hungry tomb doth gape.
Still onward fool mankind, and thus become
The sole omnipotent that sense obeys.
And ever, when thou heat'et some true divine
Of Nature's teaching, of Hereafter tell,—
Then crown him, darkly spiritless and cold!
Oh! THINK not, Worldling, or thy soul would say,
The man who hangs on every smiling hour
A coward proves to questionings of thought;
While he who dares with an undreading eye
To fathom his own nature, in the grave
Descend, Eternity's deep gates unbar,—
May, faith-arm'd, look in the Almighty face,
And grow familiar with an Angel's smile !

SURREY THEATRE.—A new musical farce
was produced here on Monday night, and has since been
repeated with some salutary abridgments, called Barney
Brallaghan, or Meet me by Moonlight. The piece was
got up for the purpose of exhibiting to the public in a
wider range the talents of Master Bunxx, to whom was
assigned the part of Barney Brallaghan. The farce of
the Review, or the Wags of Windsor, followed, in which
Master BURKE was admirable as Looney JP Twolter.
Ihe Beggar of Cripplegate closed the amusements of the
evening.

A CONCLAVE We VIRTUOSI.—On the first
of April (of all the days in the year), the gamekeeper of
Sir J. JouNsost caught a very fine bird of the eagle
kind, measuring four feet across the wings when extended,
and it was immediately determinist to hand over this
beautiful specimen of the regal birds to the new Museum
at Scarborough. An influential officer of the Museum
was accordingly waited upon.' and, of course, gladly un-
dertook the charge. He hastily summoned a few of the
most select of the Virtuosi of the town, and they pro-
ceeded to the Museum to make arrangements for the kill-
ing, stuffing, and permanent accommodation of the rara
aria. One ger.tlema❑ proposed that the bird should be
immediately killed ; another that the killing should be
postponed until they had found an appropriate situation;
a third, that they should tie his legs before determining
what more to do with him. This plan was adopted,
well it was they did so, for the bird having sonic
powerful claws, had already begun to show that he knew
bow to use them on the heads of the conspirators against
his life and liberty. The gentlemen then proceeded to
discuss the mode of putting to death this beautiful bird,
which created a warm debate, and occupied considerable
time. But here, oh reader ! it becomes us to stop and
to bring to your recollection the old distich—
'l"wixt the cup and the lip,
There is many a slip.
For his majesty having overheard the base design of his
enemies to put Lim to death, and perceiving that there
was nothing between him and the clear blue sky but a
little glass, thought his native freedom worth a struggle, •
and immediately took flight, cutting through the weak
impediments with us much ease as if he had been a
nine-ponicier shot from a long gun ; thus leaving his
kind friends to make merry over Lis departure,— York
Courant.

TITE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Slft,—ln your Paper of yesterday there are
some remarks upon the University of London, writ-
ten in a very friendly spirit, but founded upon erra-
neous information in some very important particulars.
From the interest you take. in the welfare of the
Univerity, you will, I am sure, be glad to receive
correction of those errors from one who has ac-
curate means of information.

In no instance did a Professor receive his appoint-
ment with any stipulation as to a salary or guarantee:
the only grounds which any of them have had for
claiming a remuneration beyond the fees of their
pupils were, that some individual members of the
Council had said in conversation, or in correspond-
ence, that salaries would be given for a few years;
and a paragraph in the " Second Statement by the
Council," stating that to most of the Professors
moderate salaries N‘ould be allowed for the first three
years ; this statement, hoWever, was published after
two-thirds of the Professors were appointed.

Some time before the opening oi the University
the Council determined, in lieu of moderate salaries
to most of the Professors, to give a guarantee of
300/. to all, except those who had been specially in-
formed, before they were appointed, that they were
to be remunerated solely by the fees of their pupils.
The Council informed those Professors some months
before the lectures commenced, that the sum of
300/. would be guaranteed to them for the first
session. Last May they were informed, that the
same sum had been guaranteed to the same
Professors for the session 1829-30, and last
month a similar notice was given of the same
guarantee for the session 1830-31 to the same
Professors, with the exception of some with whom
special arrangements had been entered into; thus
fulfilling all that had ever been held out, and putting
the most liberal interpretation upon the terms of the
supposed pledge. But I have only yet stated a part
of the liberality of the Council towards Professors.
To one, the circumstances of whose appointment
called for a larger pecuniary assistance, they have
given a guarantee of 500/. for three years, and to
another they have given a guarantee of 4001. for
three years, because certain communications be-
tween him and an individual member of Council
appeared to warrant such a decision in his favour
upon a liberal arid generous consideration of the na-
ture of the communications; although, in strictness,
the Council were under no obligation to pay so large
a sum. Again, in the case of the Professors of
Modern Languages : they were told, previously to
their appointment, that they were to receive no
s,dary nor guarantee ; and it was expected that, if
they had not pupils to occupy all their time at the
University, they would increase their incomes by
private tuition. But the Council, with a kind
consideration for the feelings of the gentlemen
who bad been appointed Professors of Italian,
Spanish, German, and the Oriental Languages,
quite unsolicited, agreed to guarantee 2001. to
each of them for the first year, to relieve them
' from the irksomeness of private tuition, and to en-
able them to devote their thoughts more exclusively
to the University. The Council expected that by
the end of the first Session, these Professors would
be so well known that they would have full classes,
and would consequently derive a good income from
the University. Their classes were very small the
first Session, and the Council presuming that the
experiment had not been fairly tried, determined
to guarantee 2001. for a second Session to each.
The Council now however think that the experi-
mem has been fairly tried as regards Italian,
Spanish, and German, and that a continuance of
the guarantee to these Professors would be a misap-
propriation of the University Funds.
To the Professor of Oriental Languages a salary
of 1501. has been awarded for the next Session, be-
sides his proportion of the fees of all the pupils he
may have.
From this statement you will perceive that you
have been quite misinformed on the subject of the
Professors' guarantees, and that the Council have
been greatly misrepresented in several recent publi-
cations in other newspapers.
You say that the class of Jurisprudence has not
been attended; which is also a mistake. The Profes-
sor has lectured thii year for the'first time, and has 30
pupils—which, considering the nature of the subject,
and its novelty as a branch of education, may be con-
sidered a very respectable attendance.
If you wilt refer to the last annual Report of the
Council, you will find that the establishment of a
Day School, in connection with the University, is
under consideration, and it is not improbable that
such a school will be opened in October, where
pupils will be systematically trained for the University.
There may be defects in the system of the Uni-
versity, but the alterations which have been made
since the lectures commenced, shew that the Coun-
cil are not wedded to any preconceived notions, but
are ready to modify their plan of instruction accord-
ing as experience shall point out that different ar-
rangements are called for by the circumstances in
which the University is placed. The Council cannot
act upon what might abstractedly be laid down as a
right course of instruction in the several departments
—they must be guided, in a great degree, by
what the public will take, and they can only gra-
dually lead the public to the perception of a better
system. The value of an academical education is
so little known to the great body of the inhabitants
of London that it will be sometime before the advan-
tages of the University can be properly felt. That
they will be appreciated more and more every year
there cannot be a doubt and as the University has
now 620 students, and has received above 10,200/.
of fees for the present Session, its promoters have,
I think, great reason to say that it has been
at this early period eminently successful; and
they may indulge the most confident anticipa-
tions of future success, provided every Professor
will labour earnestly in his particular calling to
establish a reputation with the public for pro-
found knowledge of his subject, and for assi-
duity and skill as a teacher. By so doing the
Professors will be following the most certain
course for securing an ample pecuniary reward
for their labour. But most of them must bear
in mind, that the reputation has yet to be
earned—that they have hitherto no right to
expect more from the public than a disposition
to believe that the fact of their appointment is a
pledge that they are accomplished men, and capable
of being excellent teachers—they must redeem the
pledge, and the sooner that is done, the more rapidly
will their emoluments be increased.—l am, Sir,
Your very obedient Servant,
A PROPRIETOR.