The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-23 00:00:00

Foreign Courts•

PARIS, Oct. 21.
A Council of Ministers was held yesterday at St.
Cloud, the Emperor presiding.
The Kiug of the Greeks was present at the Opera
Comique last night, to witness the representation
of the "Domino Noir."

M. Drouyn de Lhuys, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
gave a grand dinner yesterday to the King of the
Greeks. The Ministers, several members of the
Diplomatic Body, of the Senate, of the Legislative
Body, and of the Council of State were present.

" We are assured," says the Nation, " that the
Emperor has offered to Marshal the Duke do Mala-
koff the place of Governor of the Invalides, but that
the marshal has declined the honour, preferring to
retain his present position,"

BERLIN, Oct. 20.

The King will leave Berlin on the 26th inst. to
open the Pomeranian Railway. His Majesty will
be present at a banquet at Stralsund on the occa-
sion, and afterwards will proceed by sea to the
Island of Rugen, where he will pay a short visit to
the Prince of Putbus.

THE RETURN OF HER MAJESTY TO WINDSOR.
—Her Majesty the Queen and Royal family, accom-
panied by the members of the Court, are expected to arrive
at Windsor Castle from Balmoral next Wednesday. Yes-
terday the Hon. Mr. Ponsonby, the Controller, visited the
Castle, where everything is being prepared in readiness for
the arrival of the Queen and Royal family.

The Duchess of Hamilton (nee Princess Marie of
Baden) and Lady Mary Hamilton arrived last night at
Elamilton House, Arlington-street, from Paris. __ _

The Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P.
and Lady Emily Peel, left Whitehall-gardens on Tuesday
morning for Dublin, where they intend passing several
weeks.

The Earl of Chesterfield is expected to leave
town to-day or to-morrow for his residence at Newmarket.
The Marchioness of Ormonde arrived at Kil-
kenny Castle, Ireland, a few days ago to pass the winter.

The Marquis of Exeter left his residence in
Grosvenor-square, yesterday afternoon, to join the Mar-
chioness and Lady Victoria Cecil at Worthing.

The Earl of Harrowby and Viscount and Vis-
countess Sandon arrived at the family mansion in Gros-
venor-square yesterday, from Sandon Hall, Staffordshire.

SUDDEN DEATH OF GEN. MACN EIL.—We regret
to announce the sudden death of General Roderick
Macneil, Colonel of the 78th Regiment of Foot, who ex-
pired shortly after eleven yesterday forenoon, at his house
in Hyde-park-gardens. The deceased general was a Penin-
sular and Waterloo officer. He was at the battle of Corunna,
and subsequently served in the Walcheren Expedition in
1809. After seeiag active service in Swedish Pomerania
and Holland in the years 1813 and 1814, he took part in the
campaign of 1815, including the battle of Waterloo. For
some years he held the command of the 78th Highlanders,
with which regiment he proceeded to India. In recognition
of his long and meritorious services, the deceased general
was in 1855 appointed colonel of the Bth (Bing's) Regi-
ment of Foot, and, on a vacancy occurriog in the 78th, he
was transferred to that regiment. He entered the army as
ensign in March, 1808, and obtained the rank of general in
December last year.

THE ARCHDUKE MAXIMILIAN is fully resolved to
go to Mexico, if the majority of the inhabitants of
that country will consent to accept him as their Sovereign,
and matters have been so skilfully managed by Marshal
Forey that they are likely to do so. The relations between
the Emperor Napoleon and the Archduke are extremely
intimate, and it is said that the former has promised his
enterprising protege to leave 5,000 French troops for a cer-
tain number of years at Acapulco and some other place on
the west coast of Mexico. The Archduke Ferdinand Maxi-
milian is a goodnatured man and clever withal, but he is so
ambitious and vain that he is not a favourite in Vienna. For
some years his Imperial Highness has had very little per-
sonal communication with his brother, the Emperor, and
the public attribute his Imperial Highness's rare appearance
at this Court to family dissensions.

MR. W. PERRY, of North Audley-street, has just
carved out of a piece of an old oak beam of Shakespeare's
house at Stratford-on-Avon a bust of the poet, with con-
siderable success.

THE THACKERAYAN PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE.—We
all know what that philosophy is. It might be summed up
in the brief formula—" Man is a humbug, There is nothing
but insincerity and disappointment in the world. Life is a
sad dog, and therefore let us make fun of it." The said
" fun," one need hardly remark, is no fun at all, but rather
a despairing defiance of the death's-head which we are con-
stantly bidden to contemplate. The merriment of an ancient
Egyptian in presence of the same memento mori set on the
festive table, or of roysterers in a city stricken by the
plague, must have had very much of this character. We
are at a loss to see the benefit or the pleasure of such
" philosophising." It is neither true nor fascinating.
THE BLUE BOAR AT ITS LAST GASP.—A relic of
Old London is now fast disappearing—the Blue
Boar Inn—or the George and Blue Boar, as it came to be
called later, in Holborn. For more than two hundred years
this was one of the famous coaching houses, whence stages
went to, and whore they arrived from, the North and Mid-
land Counties. It is more famous still as being the scene—
if Lord Orrery's chaplain, Morrice, may be credited—where
Cromwell and Ireton, disguised as troopers, cut from the
saddle-flap of a messenger a letter which they knew to be
there, from Charles the First to Henrietta Maria. They
bad previously intercepted a letter from the Queen to her
husband, in which she reproached him for entering into a
compact of reconciliation with Cromwell and his party.
This letter was sent on, and now they intercepted the reply,
in which Charles spoke of them as rogues whom he would,
by-and-by, hang instead of reward. According to Mor-
rice, this sealed the King's fate. Such is the legend con-
nected with the Blue Boar, Holborn, which is described, in
Queen Anne's reign, as "situate opposite Southamp,ton.
Square.' "—Atheneum.
HUNG BEEF.—A bullock came by its death a
short time since in the fields hereabouts in a very remark-.
able manner. It appears that the animal was grazing by
the side of a ditch, over whicl. were growing some withey
trees, and while nibbling the leaves off a tree, with its head
between two branches, the bank on which its fore feet were
resting gave way, and the beast's head became fixed in the
fork of the tree, When discovered it was quite dead, having
accidentally hung itself.— West Sussex Gazette.
MR. BRIGHT AND THE WAR IN AMERICA.—
The following extract from a letter of John Bright,
E;=q., M.P., to a gentleman in New York, dated Rochdale,
Sept. 26, is published in the .Aeto York _Herald :—" I need
not tell you how much I rejoice in the prospect of a ter-
mination of your grievous War, and how much I hope%
that your independence of the slave power is now secured.
There is much angry feeling on your side against the
country, and there is cause for it. Nevertheless, our Go-
vernment has stood firm against the propositions for media-
tion or recognition from France, and its conduct in some
respects contrasts favourably with that of the Emperor of
the French, and this I hope your people will not forget.
The iron-clad ships are not allowed to go out on their
piratical career, and Mason, the Southern envoy, has left
London in disgust. I hope this will show you that every..
thing is not bad in England."

OUR MODERN PLAYGOERS, according to the
Saturday
Review, love poetry after the fashion of a lady
described in one of those humorous papers with which, in
their day, the brothers Smith enlivened the magazines.
In the days of courtship, the lady has professed to be an
adorer of poetry, and on the faith of this profession her
husband, a few weeks after marriage, reads Milton's
" Lytidas." She finds the effusion tedious, but when re-
proached with inconsistency she bravely defends herself by
asserting a predilection for something "funny," and asking
her husband to read "Peter Pinder " or the " Tour of
Doctor Syntax."
MRS. TROLLOPE'S NOVELS.--The following ig
list of them :—" The Refugee," " Jonathan Jeffer—
son Whitlow," "The Romance of Vienna," " The Vicar
of Wrexhill," "The Widow Barnaby," " 2,1icha,,1 Arm-
strong," " The Factory Boy," " One Fault." " The
Widow Married," a continuation of "The Widow Bar-
paby," and "The Barnabys in America," "Chesterfield ;
or, the Youth of Genius," " Hargrave," " Jessie Phillips,"
" Lauriston," " Tremordyn Cliff," " The Robertses on their.
Travels," "The Blue Belles of England," " The Ward 01
Thorpe Coombe," " The Attractive Man," " Petticoat
Government," " Father Eustace," "Uncle Walter," " The
Clever Woman," "The Three Cousins," " Mrs. Mathewes,,
" Gertrude, ' and "Fashionable Life in London and Paris.
QUEEN MAR. By JULIA KAVANAGH, Author
of "Nathalie," " Adele," &c. Three Vols.—lt is
some little time since we have had to welcome a novel frog'
Miss Kavanagh, and it is gratifying to find from " Quell
Mab" that her pen has lost none of its power to ctiarro;
Queen Mab is likely to prove one of. her most popular work
.;
The story is at once inter eating, original, and touching. !.1'3,,u4',
Miss Kavanagh's well-known skill is the portrayal
_ur:
character has never been more vividly exemplified. Que,eili
Mab herself, the heroine, is an exquisite creation, 50,d bent
l'c'ther
charm all readers, while Mr. O'Lally and John and
Ford are hardly less successful sketches among the
well-drawn personages of this remarkable tale,