The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-07 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEAIBER 7, 1863. al

into them. The damp
walls and ceilings, the bad
condition of the drainage, and numerous other evils,
continue to render these abodes about as deleterious
to health, comfort, and even life, as could well be im-
agined.. No wonder a poor infant died of the effects
of t'ne impure air in one of these wretched tene-
raents. Dr. PEARCE has recommended the most
extensive attention in the way of cleansing and
-renovating the places, and it is to be hoped that all
these wise measures will be at once adopted, and
the greatest care exercised for the future to prevent
the recurrence of these fearful calamities. Five
children and their parents crowded into a small
room in hot weather, with the little air that pene-
trated into the apartment laden with impurities, is
an awful thing
t) contemplate. It is only surpris-
ing that more victims did not swell the ranks of
the little sufferer; but it is astonishing how much
the human frame can endure. Yet if fatal results
did not ensue in many cases, the bad seed was
germinating, and in a short time its deadly influ-
ence would be seen. The weak would go forth from
that spot to drag out a wretched existence, and
shortly pine away and perish. Those who were

strong enough to shake off the recent overpowering
effects of the blighting atmosphere will still be far
from uncontaminated. The outbreak of disease will
have been avoided perhaps, but the pernicious effects
will be deeply implanted in the system, and harm
will have been done by the sojourn in these sad
localities, and other similar ones, that long years may

not eradicate. Thus, from generation to generation
the •urea descends, and, to a great extent, the
chances of health for the future are sadly impaired.
To think this to happen through carelessness is
dreadful, but it becomes of graver moment to notice
indifference supervenes when action, s?ontaneous

and decided, is so urgently called for ands() impera-
tively needed. In the account given some time

back of the miseries endured by some dwellers in
these loathsome abodes, it was equally painful and
provoking to hear of the shuiliing and unwilling-
ness of the responsible parties. Whatever was
wanted something else must be attended to, and
the urgent entreaties and indignant remonstrances
of the parties concerned produced no effect, and
gained no favourable response. Besides the want of
drainage and the faulty state of all sanitary arrange •
ments, additional nuisances were obtruded upon the
lodgers. A rag shop, where eight pigs are kept,
and a copper employed to melt fat, are very un-
called-for applications. An order is required for
their removal, and, of course, such things are diffi-
cult to attain, and there are few who can or will
find time and exercise patience to procure them.
In acme of the back rooms a pony and donkey have
been kept. No wonder that those who inspected
them have declared that they are not At for human
habitation. It is really scandalous that such
abuses should exist at all, but that they bhould go
on from day to day, and yet no notice bo taken by
the proper authorities, is almost incredible. Even
if some alterations for the better are made, it can-
not be forgotten that it was only compulsion that
has made any one attend to this urgent distress.
Until life was miserably sacrificed in the midst of
most wretched inflictions, no representations could
induce any authority to mitigate the evils that
pressed upon the poor, the sick, and the children
with a severity that strong men could not have
endured. It must be feasible to make such emen-
dations or alterations in the present system as shall
ensure the non-recurrence of fatal grievous casual-
ties. No respectable or humane person but will re-
joice at the assistance afforded him to inspect or
receives report of the state of the dwellings of the
poor, who are crowded into places that more closely
resemble holes than habitations. A writer on the
dwellings of the poor in London very truly put the
case in its significent bearings before the reader, by
uggesting that to understand the position of the
dwellers in the wretched tenements they should be
visited and examined. Then a true opinion could
be formed of the discomforts, and it is argued if a
passing glimpse so disgusts and dispirits one,
"should we not pity the fate of those who are des-

tined to have no other homes than these till they
are called upon to enter the common home of our
race." Some such considerations as these would do
much good among the class well calculated to
render essential service to the cause of improve-
ment. The bulk of the work and the onus of the
responsibility rest with those who are actually or
actively concerned in the affair. Common justice
demands the rectifying of the practice that bids
twelve shillings a week be charged for places that are
not fit to go into, much less to live in. Solemn
warnings have been given, and surely it is not too
much to expect attention to be paid to them before
they are reminded of their duty by the terrific

visitations of—
" The painful family of death,
More hideous than their Queen I"

LITERATURE,

The Glorious Noctes Ambrosiance,

The Master-piece of Professor Wilson. A New
Edition, in Four Volumes. Vols. I. and 11.
Wm. Blackwood and Sons.

It. is like the realisation, at last, of the Quadratare
of the Circle—(that magic circle of the Great Pro-
fessor's wit and wisdom, the good brown glossy
supper.table in that old Tavern, whilom at- the back
of the Register-office, in the City of Edinburgh)---
the issue of this popular edition, in Four Volumes,
of the world-famous Noctes Ambrosiance. The pub-
lication of such a work, in such a form, at such a
price, and that, too, piecemeal, part by part, volume
by volume, so as to place the edition within reach of
all classes of the reading community, is, in simplest
truth, to our mind, nothing less than an event in
modern literature. For what, in point of fact, are
these Noctes Ambrosianoe ? It is not simply, as
above intimated, that the work is the Great Work,
the undoubted Master-piece of John Wilson, under
his familiar pseudonym of Christopher North. It
is that the Noctes constitute in reality about the
most remarkable literary production of an age that
we now look back to as in some sort Augustan in
its character. Among all the literary productions
of that remarkable period, the Noctes, as a whole,
for the diversity of its merits, for the comprehensive-
ness of its survey, for its abounding fun and
frolic, its glittering wit, its racy humour, its
frequent bursts of an eloquence alternately
tender and masculine, its prodigality of whimsical
conceits, its interminable freaks and flights of the
imagination—stands forth pre-eminent. Master-
piece though it is, it appears to have risen
gradually, and as one may say without any delibe-
rate premeditation. It grew up, so to speak, like
an oak, from the acorn and the sapling. Neverthe-
less, it partook, in the rapidity of its development, that
is when it had once really begun growing in earnest,
of the nature of Jack's beanstalk in the fairy tale.
And this, with more aptness in the similitude than
might be at first apparent—conducting those who
climbed it to a region quite as marvellous and as
far removed above the grosser atmosphere of this
nether world of commonplace ! It is noticeable of
the Noctes Ambrasiance that they were produced in
the very middle of the period which has now elapsed
of this nineteenth century. Between 1822 and 1835
they were begun and ended. Christopher, it is true,
dressed in his "Shooting Jacket" afterwards. Chris-
topher, later on, in his old age, like other veterans,
went " Under Canvass." But Christopher in his
prime, in his glory, in the heyday of his wonderful
powers, in the halcyon epoch when his every
faculty was at its best, Christopher with the
crutch handy at one elbow and the steaming jug at
the other, Old Kit North seated at the board of Mr,
Ambrose, the tavern keeper, with Bronte coiled at
his feet upon the hearthrug, with Timothy Tickler
on one side, (that hale and venerable giant with the
silver hair and the ruddy cheek!) and The Ettrlck
Shepherd on t'other) that wonderful Shepherd who
was as far beyond his flesh and blood prototype as
Shakspere's Falstaff must have been beyond his!—
the Christopher North, the North that is of the
Noctes Ambrosiance, " flourished" as the good old
phrase has it, about 1822-1835. As a conversa-
tional record, as a collection of table talk—the book
is as wonderful in its way as Boswell's. Only that
here the talk is in Dialogue, not in Monologue.
And, what is more, it is a continuous and protracted
succession of extraordinary dialogues among inter-
locutors, two at least among whom (North and
the Shepherd) would have been worthy of being
interlocutors with Dr. Johnson. All this converse
of the Noctes, moreover, being the pure out-pouring
of one man'd imagination. The play of the Great
Professor's genius throughout these Scottish
Night's Entertainments at the hostelry of Good-
man Ambrose, is surely as marvellous a display of in-
tellectual vivacity as any literature in the wide world
can show. From the mere versatility of the power
revealed throughout the Noctes Ambrosiam, and
that, moreover, with an almost bewildering con-
fusion in the very order or rather disorder of the
revelation of the versatility, we know hardly where
to turn for anything like a parallel. There has
been mention made very recently in the discursive,
and too often superficial, even be it said, of fribbling
Reminiscences of Lord William Lennox, of a
Swell Dinner, of more than a quarter of
a century back, down at Greenwich, where
Edmund Kean, the Tragedian, was entertained
as the hero of the night by the late
Earl Fitzbardinge, and where that Protean actor
" in his time," in a very brief interval indeed upon
that evening, played many parts," to the wonder•
ing delight of his patrician host and associates.
Declaiming fragments of Othello, and Richard 111.,
and Sir Giles Overreach, singing to his own accom-
paniment on the piano a simple English ballad,
fencing as in the death scene of Hamlet, dancing as
Harlequin! A jumble and medley of performances
—nevertheless—as nothing to those of Christopher
North in the Noctes Ambrosiance. Intellectual feats,
chiefly wonderful where they are achieved nominally
by the Shepherd. Professor Wilson, in these Nights
of Ambrose, plays with a thought as Shakspere plays
with a word. It is perpetually a marvel of mental
jugglery we are watching in .the play of converse
among these inexhaustible imaginary interlocutors
—so many dazzling feats, as it were, of high-art
legerdemain. And the work, in its way, is a very
microcosm. It sweeps the whole horizon of know-
ledge. The ball of wit kept up on the perpetual play
of these conversations—as the glittering shaft of a
fountain " shaking its loosened silver in the sun"
might do with some rosy-golden fruit—is, so to
speak—orbicular. It comprises within itself all that
is typical of this varied world of human life.
Religion and polities, literature, art, science, sports
and pastimes, prose in every imaginable style,
poetry pathetic and humorous, all are here heaped
together in profusion and confusion, littered out in
them inexhaustible dialogues "in most admired
disorder," ranging, in the tone of them, not simply
from the grave to the gay, or from the lively to the
severe, but rising one while to tragical power (as in
the Shepherd's narrative of his Dream in a Hell, or
his account of the Military Execution he had once
witnessed), and sinking at another to the fantastic
babble of burlesque (passim) continually crossing to
and fro, the boundary line between the sublime and
the ridiculous. That Christopher North was the alter
ego of Professor -Wilson, every body knows; and,
knowing, delights to bear in remembrance. That
Timothy Tickler was the Professor's uncle on the
mother's side, good, worthy, excellent, old Mr.
Robert Sym, sometime Writer to the Signet, born
in 1750, retiring into private life in 1775, and
dying in 1814 at the patriarchal age of ninety four
—it is pleasant and interesting to learn from the
Editor's preliminary announcement• The Pre.
face, that is signed simply "J. F. F.," dated
from " West Park, St. Andrews," as far back
as the 18th of July, 1855, when the Noctes
were first collected together. Above all, it
is agreeable to bear in mind while enjoying the
" witching hours" of these Noctes, that in James
Hogg, the author of the "Queen's Wake," is dis-
cernible the actual living germ, or faintly-indicated
outline of a prototype of the immortal Shepherd of
those aforesaid Noctes Ambrosiance. But it is the

glory of Professor Wilson to have entirely sur-
passed, to have utterly eclipsed by his imaginary
creations " Tickler" and the " Shepherd," the
veritable living and breathing originals. One
only speaker, intellect, presence can wo find here

n no one oL3greE n surpassed or eclipsed. Through
:he noble utterances, the comprehensive genius,
:he lordly form of Christopher North, we

recognise the grander voice, the wider mind,
the loftier aspect of John Wilson, of Black-

wood's Magazine. None but himself could be

his parallel. Honour to the great Professor's

memory. He was a Saul amongst the men of his
generation by a head and shoulders. The swifter

running, the roe-like leaper, the daring swimmer,
the adroit angler, the stripling, the youth, the

man of middle age, endowed with larger
and keener capacities than other men to enjoy the

delights and glories of life—came in the fullness
of time, and in the fullness of his great powers, to

enjoy yet more (happily during many long years
of honour and respect among his fellow men in
Edinburgh) the admiration and the affection of yet
'mother generation of men, of a select portion of

that youth of a nation Disraeli, the younger, has
finely called the Trustees of Posterity ! A younger
generation, whose delight it was to hang upon
the burning words that fell from the lips of John
Wilson, as for so loug and memorable an interval
the Professor of Moral Philosophy in the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh. The silvery yellow hair, the
stalwart manly frame, the ringing accents, the
flaming eye, even the slovenly sit of the rusty old
professorial gown hanging awry upon those broad
shoulders, are still borne :tenderly and lovingly
in recollection. Gone though he is from amongst
us, he yet lives, this noble creature, this true
man, this brave, bold critic—he yet lives in the Noctes
Ambrosiance. Open the pages anywhere, and you re-
cognise as vividly as you would that of an old friend,
whose voice greets yqu through the half opened
doorway, you cannot but recognise, upon the instant,
the strong full tones of the voice of Professor
Wilson. Hear him thus, through the lips of the
Shepherd, breathing forth that wondrous descrip-
tion of—

A SODGER—THAT IS AN 01,FISHER-a' wavin
wi' white plumes, glitterin wi' gowd, and ringin wi' iron—
gallopin on a grey horse, that caves (tosses) the foam frae
its fiery nostrils, wi' a mane o' clouds, and a tail that flows
like a cataract; moustachies about the mouth like a de-
vourin oannibal, and proud fierce een, that seem glowerin
for an enemy into the distant horrison—his long swurd
swinging in the scabbard wi' a fearsome clatter aneath
Bellerophon's belly—and his doup dunshin (bumping)
doun among the spats o' a teeger's skin, or that e' a leopard
—till the sound o' the trumpet gangs up to the sky,
answered by the rampaugin Arab's 'ha, ha,' . . . leddies
free balconies, startin up, and, wi' palpitatin hearts, sendin
looks o' love and languishment after the Flyin Dragon 1"
On opening the book upon the chance of lighting
upon some homelier passage, what have we lighted
upon but a glorification of good eating, enough to
make our mouth water as we note the gusto with
which thb Shepherd smacks his lips over it as he
discourses :

" Cauld beef and greens send up in their steam your soul
to heaven . The greediest gluttony becomes a virtue.
Eating for eating's sake the most sacred o' household
duties. The sweat drops that stand on your brow while
your jaws are chinkin' is beautifu' as the dew on the moun-
tain at sunrise. The music o' knives and forks like that o'
'flutes and soft recorders ;' and think, sir, oh think I hoo the
imagination is roosed by the power o' contrast between the
gor-cock lyin' wi' his buttered breast on the braid o' his
back on a bed o' brown toasted bread, and whurrin awa in
vain doun the wund afore the death shot, and then topsal-
teerie, head-over-heels, ;in the blue lift, and doun on the
greensward or the blooming heather a battered and bluidly
bunch o' plummage, gorgeous and glorious still in the
death-thraws, your only bird o' Paradise I"

Or, for a touch of the broadly humorous, let us
plunge with Tickler and the Shepherd into the
seething salt water for a strong swim against the
turmoil of the wash caused by a passing steamer :
Tickter.—Keep your mouth shut, James, till we're out
of the swell.
Shepherd.—Em—hem—umph—humph—whoo—whoo—
whurr—whurr—herrachvacherack.
Whsy whsy whsy whugb. —whugh
shugh—shugh—prugh—ptsugh—prugh.
Shopherd.—lt's lang bin' I've drank sae muckle saut
water at ae sittin'—at ae soomint, I mean—as I has
dune, sir, sin' that steamboat geed by. She does indeed
kick up a deevil o' a rumpus.
Whoo whoo whoof— whtoo whroo—
whroof—proof—ptroof—sptrf
Shepherd.—Ao thing I maun tell you, sir, and that's gin
you tak the cramp noo, you maunna expeck ony assist-
ance frae me—no, gin you were my ain faither. This
bates a' the swans 1 Confound the James Watt,
quoth I.
Enough, we close the book with a sense of gratitude
mingled with our admiration. We breathe a beni-
son upon the memory of John Wilson. We place
among the classic favourites upon our bookshelves
—within easy reach whenever we list to turn to
those pages through the eloquent voices from
which we can even hear the beatings of a great
human heart—the Noctes Ambrosianos.

---
Vacancies, Promotions, and Appointments

in the Civil Service.

(From the Civil Service Gazette)
FOREIGN OFFICE —The Vice-Consulship at Guayra,
Venezuela, has become vacant by the death of Mr. Arthur
C. Kortright, salary £3OO.

WAR, OFFlCE—Deputy-Assistant Commissary-General
Edward Turnbull, from half-pay, has been appointed to be
deputy-assistant commissary-general, vice Wrentmore,
deceased. Mr. Edward Lionel Scott has been appointed a
temporary clerk in the accountant-general's office, London.
Mr. Edward Stoney has been appointed an assistant-war-
der, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mr. James Gunn has been
appointed civil assistant in the Survey Department, Edin-
burgh. Mr. Frederick Joyce has been appointed civil as•
sistant in the Survey Department, Dublin. Mr. Francis
John Thomas Walsh has been appointed civil assistant in
the Survey Department, Dublin. Mr. Samuel R. White-
home has been appointed a clerk in the Commissariat De-
partment, Jamaica.

THE ADMIRALTY—The office of clerk of the cheque,
Greenwich Hospital, has become vacant by the death of Mr.
R. Haig; salary, £5OO. A vacancy for a lieutenant in
Greenwich Hospital has been caused by the death of Lieut.
B. J. Loveless, salary, £230. Mr. Edward Chas. Algernon
Capel has been appointed a clerk in the Dockyard, Malta.
ADMIRALTY REGISTRY—Mr. E. D. Campbell has been
appointed a clerk, London.

EDUCATION OFFICE—Mr. James MacKenzie has teen
appoixited an inspector's assistant, London. Mr. William
Taylor has been appointed an inspector's assistant, London.
THE POST OFFICE—Mr. Geo. P. Lindley has been ap-
pointed a temporary clerk, London. Mr. William Foxell
has been appointed a clerk at Stoke-on-Trent. Mr. Wm.
Clarke,has been appointed a sorting clerk, Derby.
POOR•LAW BOARD—Mr. Alfred Douglas Adrain has
been appointed a supplemental clerk, London.
PAYMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE—Mr. Alfred Harrison
has been appointed a clerk, London.
REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S OFFICE—Mr, Thomas Hartwell
Mayhew has been appointed a clerk, London.
COURT OF PROBATE—Mr Henry A. Walbancke has been
appointed a copying clerk. Mr William James Heard,
supernumerary clerk, has been promoted to be a general
assistant clerk, vice Mr Herbert Francis Lascelles promoted.
Cus rolls—Mr J. Coyle, examining officer, Cardiff, has
been promoted to be examining officer at Falmouth. Mr
Charles Innes has been appointed clerk at Greenock. Mr
Samuel Longman has been appointed supernumerary clerk,
London Docks. Mr. Charles Pugh has been appointed
examining officer, London. Mr Thomas Cameron has been
appointed outdoor officer, Greenock. Mr John Hartley has
been appointed outdoor officer, London. Mr Michael Moy-
lan has been appointed outdoor officer, London. Mr Wm.
Fry has been promoted from 4th to 3d class, outdoor officers,
London. Mr James Johnston has been promoted from sth
to 4th class, outdoor officers, London, Mr R. T. Lilley has
been promoted from sth to 4th class, outdoor officers, Lon-
don. Mr William Moatyn has been promoted from sth to
4th class outdoor officers, London.
INLAND REVENUE—Stamps and Tax Branch—Mr
Charles Mahony has been appointed clerk in the Comptrol-
ler's Department, Dublin. Mr George Jolley, supernume-
rary surveyor of taxes, has been promoted to be a surveyor,
and appointed to the Monmouth district. Excise Branch

—Mr William Moxey, officer, Reigate division, Sussex col-
lection, has been appointed to London, East, Ist division,
London, East, collection. Mr Leonard Leigh, officer, Lon-
don, East, Ist division, London, East, collection, has been
appointed to Reigato division, Sussex collection. Mr Chas.
East, second clerk, Dorset collection, has been appointed
first clerk, Dorset collection. Mr Edward Dowling Stanley,
2d class assistant, London, North, collection, has been ap-
pointed Ist class assistant, Invernry, Ist division, Aberdeen
collection, •Mr James Finn, 2d class assistant, Northampton
collection, has been appointed Ist class assistant, Bridgend,
3d division, Argyle collection. Mr Warwick Henry Mann,
2d class assistant, Plymouth collection, has been appointed
Ist class assistant, Tullamore, Ist division, Birr collection.
IRELAND-Mr John E. Madden has been appointed
jcniar clerk to the judge of the Landed Estates Court.
THE EAST INDIES —Mr T. B. Tracey, assistant magis-
trate and collector at Azimgurh, has been appointed to offi-
ciate as a joint magistrate and deputy collector. Mr A.
Mackenzie has been appointed to be assistant to the magis-
trate and collector of Shahabad, and to exercise the powers
of a sub-magistrate of the 2d class. Mr G. M. Carrie has
been appointed to be assistant to the magistrate and collec-
tor of Naddes, and to exercise the powers of a sub-magis-
trate of the 2d class. Mr J. Stewart has been appointed to
be assistant to the magistrate and collector of Bhaugalpore,
and to exercise the powers of a subordinate magistrate of
the 2d class. Mr G. E. Wakefield, assistant commissioner,
has been appointed to officiate as deputy commissioner,
Sirsa, N.W.P. The Rev. T. Y. Mitchinson has been ap-
pointed chaplain of Subathoe, N. W.P.

COMIC
ssinger rsuddenly
VOCALIST.
—AMRshoArt. tßim.neT
favouriteTaogLizTLltNhGisSWOßTa,
became totally deprived of sight, and consequently of the
extremity, Jot y A of
iC supportinglesharhrloosretlfn wife, and family. In this
, of the Oxford Music Hall,
opened a subscription list in his hall, with the view to raise
the nucleus of a small capital with which to start Mrs.
Hollingsworth in business. The general esteem enter-
tained for the unfortunate artist, together with the vivid
recollection of genial talents unobtrusively displayed, elicited
a very handsome response from friends and strangers, but
still not to the full extent commensurate with the benevolent
object contemplated. It is desirable that the fulfillneil
the intention to place Mrs. Hollingsworth in a self
pptorot-f
sil
jog position should not longer be delayed; and
subs-ciiPt
in addition to those already made at the Oxford Music all,
may be paid to the publisher of this paper, and will be duly
acknowledged,

\AMJ
kfr
C 4
1/4_ xi

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Nov. 6,
Their Royal Highnesses Princess Helena and
Princess Louise, attended by Lady Caroline Bar-
rington, and Colonel H. F. Ponsonby, went to
London yesterday evening
.and honoured the per-
with their
formance at the Adelpht Theatre

presence.
Her Majesty the Queen drove out in the after-
noon.

The Prince and Princess of Wales.

SANDRINGHAM, Nov. 6.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, his
Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Prussia,
Major Teesdale, and Count Furstenstein went out
shooting yesterday at Wolferton, till the rain,
which was very heavy, put an end to the sport.
Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales and
the Crown Princess of Prussia, attended by the
Countess of Morton and the Countess Hohenthal,
drove out.

Mr. Odo Russell arrived at Sandringham yester-
day afternoon.
The Prince of Wales and the Crown Prince of
Prussia, with Admiral Seymour, Major Teesdale,
Count Furstenstein, and Captain Leucadon, went
out shooting to-day. The Princesses drove out.

The Prince of Wales will not spend his birthday
at Windsor Castle, bat will entertain the members
of tie royal family and, it is believed, the Queen,
at Sandringham.

A large party are expected to arrive by special
train to-marrow.

The tenantry and school children will partake of
the hospitality of the Prince of Wales on Monday.

The Duke of Argyll, accompanied by the duchess
and family, is expected to arrive in town on Tuesday from
Inverary Castle, N.B.
The Duke of Sutherland arrived at Stafford
House, St. James's. from Tarbet, N. 8., yesterday. The
duchess and family have arrived at Lilleshall Park, Salop.

The Duchess (Dowager) of Sutherland is daily
improving in health.

The Marchioness of Salisbury and Ladies Cecil
have returned to Hatfield House, Herts, from visiting Mr.
Hasting Russell, M.P., and Lady Elizabeth Russell at
Oakley Park, Beds.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Ailesbnry have
arrived at their residence in Pall-mall from Savernake Park,
near Marlborough, Wilts.

We are informed that there is no foundation for
the statement that the Countess Dowager of Tankerville is
suffering from indisposition.

Lord Brougham is expected to leave Grafton-
street today or Monday for Paris, on his way to Cannes,
where he will pass the winter.

Count Merlin and M. de Bonville have left the
Brunswick Hotel, Jermyn-street, for Brussels.

Mr. and Lady, Charlotte Watson Taylor and
family have arrived at their residence in Grosvenor-squaro
from Erlestoke Park.

General and Madame de la Veire have arrived
at the Brunswick Hotel, Jermyn-street, from Paris.
The Earl and Countess of Lincoln's departure
for the Continent has been prematurely announced. The
countess has been indisposed, which has delayed the in-
tended movements of the family.

The Earl Brownlow and Lady Marian Alford
have arrived in town from Ashridge Park, Harts, and on
Monday go to Southampton. They will embark on the
following day for Madeira, where they purpose to reside
about six months.

The Earl and Lady Constance Grosvenor have
arrived at Calverley Park, Cheshire, from visiting Sir Ed-
ward and Lady Caroline Kerrison, at their seat in Norfolk.

The Earl and Countess of Darnley have arrived
at Clifton Lodge, county Meath, from England.

STORM, Oft CHEMICAL WEATHER. GLASSES, have
been known for more than a hundred years. They
used to be sold on old London-bridge. They are kept for
sale at this day at most instrument makers' shops, and also
by many country jewellers, Admiral Fitzroy has [recom-
mended their use in his" Weather Book." The composi-
tion of the matter in the storm• glass is kept secret by the
makers; but receipts are nevertheless published. The
composition given in the " Weather Book" is, " camphor,
nitrate of potassium, and sal ammoniac, partly dissolved by
alcohol, with water and some air, in a hermetically sealed
glass vial. Other receipts are given in various works, and
the writer has known a very good storm-glass made by
simply dissolving camphor in spirits of turpentine, and
putting the saturated solution, with excess of camphor, in
a common corked vial." As the use of the storm-glass is
so general, and is recommended on so high authority as
that of Admiral Fitzroy as an aid in judging of probable
forthcoming changes of the weather, the recent experiments
upon its action,by Mr. C. Tomlinson have considerable in-
terest and importance. This experimenter has found that
the indications of the so-called storm-glass as to weather
are totally worthless—that, in fact, the weather has no

effect upon it whatever, except so far as changes of the
weather are accompanied by changes of temperature, the
crystalline appearance in the storm-glass being influenced
by the latter alone.

CURIOUS STAGE DIRECTIONS appended to Dry-
den's perversion of Shakespeare's "Tempest

"The front of the stage," says the copy of 1669, "is
opened, and the band of 24 violins,with the harpsichals and
theorbos which accompany the voices, are placed within
the pit and the stage, While the overture is playing, the
curtain rises and discovers a new frontispiece joined to the
great pylasters on each side of the stage. This frontispiece

is a noble arch, supported by large wreath'd columns of the
Corinthian order. The wreathiugs of these columns are
beautified by roses wound around them, and several Cupids
flying about thorn. On the cornice, just over the capitals,
sits on either side a figure, with a trumpet in one hand and
a palm in the other, representing Fame. A •little further
on, on the same cornice, on each side of a compass-pedi-
ment, are a lion and a unicorn, the supporters of the royal
arms of England. In the middlo of the arch are several
angels, holding the king's arms, as if they were placing
them in the midst of the compass-pediment. Behind this
is the scene, which represents a thick cloudy sky,
a very rocky coast, and a tempestuous sea in perpetual agi.
tation. This tempest (supposed to be raised by magic) has
many dreadful objects in it, as several spirits in horrid
shapes lying down amongst the sailors, then rising and

crossing in the air ; and when the ship is sinking, the
whole house is darkened, and a shower of fire falls upon
'em. This is accompanied with lightning and several claps
of thunder to the end of the storm."

MR. ALEXANDER SMITH'S DEFENCE OF PLA-
GIARISM.—(From a paper on " Literary Work," in
Good Words).—" The main body of the poem, or the novel,
or the essay, consists necessarily of ideas which the writer
did not originate—which ho found ready made to his hand,
which have, in one shape or the other, been used before;
and his merit consists in the new forms in which he is able
to work up the old material. He calls in the worn coin
iot
thought, melt& it down in secret crucibles, and re-issues
Thought
bearing a fresh superscription and a new vsluel.
pytso r works
hold of
mine,oisur
asdanew thoughts so
thoughts, yours,
and
workseverybody's
with; but
them th abret sortoeu-claa t
with his clays. The world does not nee
The
much as it needs that old thoughts
he is provided • with clay ;if a man
man makes bricks,
paints a portrait, he is allowed sitter, canvas,. and pigments.
artist is not required to provide his own materials. If a
t melting down of old
To make a fine statue there is a great
111 a poem for instance,
is felt as a disturbance, because it is devoid of the sweetness
of acquaintanceship and association." This is explicit,
• and cool. The touch of deprecation of novelty of
bronzes. Absolute novelty of idea,
candid,
idea, in a poem for instance," is charmingly simple
and characteristic. But Mr. Smith not only propounds
his theory, h' repeats and insists upon it, Again, he:
says The thought is only a part of the poem or the
essay, and the commonest part. What in a work of art is
really valuable is the art. Tlis statue that is only worth
mthe attwereigdhoetsofnoit metal is very
ts
z much a
lie
in
tpnooo
idea st statue indeed.
ni ntdheee The
use
.
is made of the idea. In literature, the how a thing is said
is of more importance than the thing itself. A thought,
no more than a human being., is independent of this.
Thought, if left to itself, will dissipate and die. Style
preserves it as balsams preserve Pharaoh. Fine phrases
are, after all, the most valuable things."
EXCELLENT PLAN FOR PREVENTING THE Ex
TENSION OF FIRES IN BUILDINGS, suggested by
Mrs. Lockhart, of Kensington.—Like most good sugges-
..

tions, it is very simple. The plan is to raise the doorways
a few inches above the flooring, so that when water is
thrown in at the windows of any floor, it cannot run out
of the apartment. In this way the floors above the fire
can be kept from igniting, and the conflagration isolated
in the place where it originates.

MR. ANTHONY TROLLOPE, it has lately been
well remarked by one of our weekly contemporaries,
is one of the few novolists who make us forget the labour
of criticism in our enjoyment of their books. He throws
off his novels with the ease of a man writing to some friend
the latest gossip of his circle; and seems as much amused
with the foibles and humour s of his characters as if he
were laughing at persons he had seen and heard, and not
at the creatures of his imagination.