The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-16 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Queen, attended by the Countess of Burlington,
rank an wrintz in the Parks yesterday afternoon in a car-
riage and four.
viscount melbourne and the Judge-Advocate General
had audiences yesterday of her Majesty.
Her Majesty honoured Covent-garden Theatre with her
presence last evening. Her Majesty was attended by the
Duchess of Sutherland, the Countess of Burlington, Hon.
Miss Murray, Earl of Uxbridge, Lord Gardner, Sir Fre-.
icrick Stovin, and the Hon. Colonel Cavendish.
Her Majesty the Queen Dowager, accompanied by the
Princess of Hohenlobe, took a drive yesterday in abarouche
and four.

1 tie Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, accompanied 1)
the Princosscs Augusta and Mary of Cambridge, took at,
icing to Caen Wood yesterday afternoon.
The Duchess of Kent has appointed Lady Charlotte
Dundas, daughter of the late Earl of Zetland, and Lady
Panny Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, to be
Ladies of the Bedchamber to her Royal Highness.
Lord Belhaven, the Rev. Dr. Gordon, the Rev. John
Bruce, the Procurator, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Hog, and Cap-
rain Trotter, a Deputation from the Committee of the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, had an in-
-ervipw with Viscount Melbourne yesterday ikDowning-
street.

ne Earl of Scarborough, the Military Secretary to the
Commander of the Forces, and Mr. Labouchere, had in-
terviews with Lord John yesterday at the Home-office.
Messrs. W. Young, Lewis Wilkins, Huntingdon, and
Alex. Stewart, had an interview yesterday with the Mar-
quis of Normanby at the Colonial office.
The Belgian Minister and Sir John M'Neil transacted
business yesterday at the Foreign-office.
Mr. Adolphmt had an interview yesterday with Viscount
Melbourne in:Downing-street.
Chancellor of cue Exchequer left town on Satur-
day for Tunbridge Wells.

Despatches from the Right Hon. Stewart Mackenzie,
GnrPrtior of Ceylon, were received yesterday at the Co-
lonial Office.

FIRE ON BOARD A STEAMER.--OR Sunday
night, about eleven o'clock, a fire broke out on board the
Starlight iron steamer, at her moorings off Cbeyne-walk,
Chelsea•• Considerable damage has been done to her
deck, and to the engine and machinery. It appears
that the Starlight, which is a very unlucky boat, har-
ing once sunk near Blackfriars-bridge, and on another
occasion lost her rudder, had been under some repairs
at Deptford, and her cabins decorated and provided
with new seats and cushions for the purpose of tak-
ing the Marquis of Normanby and a party of his
friends to Richmond She came up on Sunday night from
Deptford, and the stokers having failed in properly extin-
guishing the fires caused the accident. The Starlight was
unable to proceed to Richmond yesterday, and the Mar-
quia of Normanby and his friends went by another vessel.
Much surprise was manifested at a party of the metropo-
litan police leaving their duties on land and going off to
the vessel some time after the fire was extinguished and elf
danger was at an end. They were told by the people
belonging to the Starlight that their services were not re-
quired. They, however, insisted on stopping on board and
taking charge of the vessel.

K MAN CHARGED WITH POISONING HIS
WlFE.—Yesterday at Lambeth-street John Clifton, a
journeyman tailor. was placed at the bar before Mr. Hard-
wick, and charged on suspicion with having administered
poison to Caroline, his wife, and from the supposed effects
of which she died at an early hour that morning. After
strong circumstantial evidenCe of the deceased having come
unfairly by her death had been adduced, the prisoner was
remanded until Wednesday.
CABBAGE.—In one week the enormous quan-
tity of upwards of seven thousand dozens of cabbages have
been cut in the immediate vicinity of Wakefield, fcr va-
rious surrounding markets ! The cabbage in the hands of
the tailors has not been taken into the calculation.
FALSE CHECKS.—At Marylebone office yes-
terday, a dashingly-dressed man, about thirty-five years of
age, giving his name and address George Gordon, No. 1.
Derby-street, Mayfair, and who is said to be a aporting
character, was brought up in custody from the Albany-
street station-house, and placed at the bar before Mr. Raw-
linson, charged with having defrauded various persons by
means of fictitious checks. He was remanded till Wed-
nesday._ _ _

On Monday morning last, as the Rev. Michael
Staunton, rector of Chertsey, in Surrey, was driving
through the above village in a one-horse chaise, accompa-
nied by his servant, the horse, a very spirited one, suddenly
became quite ungovernable, and started off at full speed,
defying the efforts of the Rev. Gentleman and his domestic
to restrain him ; and we regret to state that the animal had
not proceeded many yards before the chaise came in con-
tact with a four-wheel waggon, and the concussion threw
Mr. Staunton and his servant to the ground. The Rev.
Gentleman had the misfortune to dislocate his right
shoulder, and was severelybruised about the head and face.
He was instantly,conveyed to Mr. Harcourt's, the surgeon,
where every possible assistance was rendered him. For-
tunately, the servant escaped with but trifling injury.
THE MOORS.—Game is said to be very plen-
tiful upon the moors in this neighbourhood, and abundant
sport is anticipated.—llalifax Guardian. Our sporting
friends will be happy to hear that the prospects of the en.
suing grouse season are very flattering upon the generality
of the Perthshire moors. The report from the game-
keepers at the principal shooting lodges is, that the fa-
vourable weather at,themost critical part of the hatching
season, in the early part of June, had caused fewer casu-
alties than bad been experienced for many years ; and the
coveys were both numerous and already as strong on the
wing as has been seen on the 12th of August. This for-
ward state of the young birds will likely prevent the re-
turns of killed the first day equalling those of former years,
but it will be greatly in favour of the true sportsman and
the permanency of the sport.—Perth Courier.
MARQUIS OF DOURO.—The Marquis of
Douro and his Lady arrived at Granton, at five o'clock nn
Monday afternoon, by the General Steam Navigation
Company's steamer the Leith.

A NOTCH-POTCUI PlE.—The Editor of the
Northampton Courier says, " Just before our putting our
paper to press we met with an accident, which knocked
three columns of abolition, temperance, foreign news, pa•
tent medicines, coal mines, singing books, beef, cattle,
beautiful ladies, mulberry-trees, and various other articles
into pie."

THE LATE Loss OF LIFE IN CIIELSEA
REACII.—On Thursday last a Waterman of the name of
Connorton, belonging to the London-bridge steam-packet
wharf, discovered the body of a young man entangled in
the paddles of the Diamond Gravesend steamer, which was
moored in the river abreast of the Custom House. After
considerable difficulty he dragged it into his boat and con-
veyed it ashore. Shortly after the body was owned by the
relations, who are persons of respectability living in Guild-
ford-street, Vackfriars road, as being one of the unfortu-
nate sufferers who were capsized in a six-oared cutter three
wee ks ago off Chelsea. The body had been in the water
nearly twenty-one days, and was in a dreadful state of de-
composition. On the same evening information wac for-
warded to Mr. Payne, the coroner, who held an inquiry
into the circumstances of the case, and the jury returned a
verdict of " Accidental death." A reward of 201. was
offered for the discovery of the body.
PENNY POSTAGE.—The petition from this
town for a uniform penny postage, received no fewer than
95,127 signatures in less than two days. There is great
distrust prevailing as to the disposition of Ministers to
carry out the measure in its integrity and simplicity.—
Manchester Times.

The steamer Actmon, Capt. Main,
made the
passage from Liverpool to Greenock in the extraordinary
short time of seventeen hours and ten minutes, on Monday
last, the Bth inst., and landed her passengers at Glasgow+
in nineteen hours and three-quarters, being the quickest
conveyance on this line ever known.

PROVIDENTIAL INTERFERENCE.--A few
days since a daughter of Mr. Braithwaite, engineer to the
Eastern Counties' Railway, three pears of age, fell from
the nursery window in the upper part of the mansion,
Hare Hall, Romford, upon some paved stones, without
receiving the slightest injury.—Esser Herald.
The Countess of Sandwich has been appointed
Lady of the Bedchamber to her Majesty, in the place of
the Marchioness of Breadalbane, who has been compelled,
by the delicate state of her health, to resign.
BURGH OF POLLOKSHAWS.—EDUCATION.--
The population of this burgh, as ascertained by a recent
Census is 4,580.

Of whom are under 5 years of ag►e 722
Do. above 5 and under 12 776
Do. Do. 12. 3,082_4,580
This population being almost wholly of the working
classes, many parents are so poor as to be utterly unable
to afford the cost of education. Of the 776 between the
ages of 5 and 12 years, 234 only are receiving education at
the expense of their parents, and at least two-thirds of the
children have, until very recently, been receiving no other
instruction than has been afforded by the Sabbath schools.
This very lamentable state of educational matters has at.
tracted the attention of some benevclent individuals, by
whose exertions 114 of the youngest of the children have
been placed in the various schools in the town—the expense
of their education being defrayed by the heritors of the
parish—and an evening school for the children who are at
work, or unable to attend the day schools has, about six
weeks ago, been opened as an auxiliary, to assist in con-
nection with Auldfield and burgh Sabbath Schools, and
will be supported by private contributions. In this school
one hundred children, of all religious denominations, have
been placed under the superintendence of Mr. James
Boyd, teacher, assisted by four monitors from the Sabbath-
schools, who receive instruction in reading, writing, arith-
metic, English grammar, and geography.— Glasgow/Japer.
READING FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL,—The
Rev. Francis Valpy has announced, in a letter to the Mayor
of this borough, his resignation of the situation of Master
of this school : we understand the Rev. Gentleman has
been appointed head-master to the Burton-upon-Trent
Free School. This resignation has already brought three
candidates into the field: the Rev. W. B. Young, M. A. ;
the Rev. F. Fawkes, curate of St. Mary's, in this town ;
arid the Rev. R. Appleton, chaplain to the county gaol.--
Reading Mercury.
STABBING A PDLICEMA N.--On Sunday after-
noon, between four and five o'clock, as police constable
Farraby, 38 D, was on duty in flinde-street, Dorset-square,
his attt ration was attracted towards four reputed thieves,
were conducting themselves en the footpath in a very
riotous and disorderly manner. Ile endeavoured to secure
them, when one of the party, a lad named Divine, kicked
him on the legs, and then ran off, pursued by Farraby.
who seeing him take refuge in a house entered, when he
was met in the passage by Divine's father, who ran at him
ith a large open clasp knife, and stabbed him with it in
the ear, which was cut completely through. The police-
man made his way back to the station (his assailant having
escaped by a door at the rear of the premises), bleeding
prclusely, and the wound was immediately dressed by the
divisional surgc:m. flad the knife been directed only an
inch higher, the constable would, in all probability, have
been killed on the spot.

FINE A 1% TS.

PORTRAIT OF THE DUKE OF
WELLING JON.

We were favoured last week with a private view of a
full-length portrait of the Duke of Wellington, painted
by Lucas, and intend,,d shortly to he engraved by
Cousins. In this portrait his Grace is represented in a
sort of hall-dress uniform, blue turned up with red, as
master of the Trinity House. He is supposed to be
standing in a balcony near a column, with the Report of
the Dover Harbour in his hand. In the back-ground
is the Tower. The attitude of the Noble Duke is none
of the freest or easiest, but the skill of the painter has
in a great measure surmounted this difficulty. The
arms are folded across the breast, the figure is remark-
ably firm and upright—indeed almost rigid ; and the ex-
pression of the countenance denotes calm reflection.
Possibly his Grace is speculating on the possibility
of the return of the Tories to power—though, by-
the-bye, that can hardly be the case ; for if so,
his face would exhibit more of sullenness and des-
pondency, than of calm thought. The likeness is one
of the most striking that has yet been painted of
the Noble Duke ; and, what is somewhat singular, and
adds to its value, it is not in the slightest degree a flat-
tering resemblance. All his years and wrinkles are
given him, without reserve or stint. The colouring of
the picture is chaste ; but it is with the countenance
that the artist has taken most pains : and he has fully
succeeded. We should not omit to notice the admirable
manner in which the " Wellington" boots are painted—
we ought rather, perhaps, to say polished, for they wear
all the appearance of having been anointed with War-
ren's " easy and shining" blacking. The stiff, glossy
look of the leather is indeed managed with consummate
skill. This able portrait is, we understand, to be hung
up in the great hall of the Corporation of the Trinity.

LITERATURE.

THE RHINE, LEGENDS-TRADITIONS-

HISTORY
Br Jisigrir SNOIT'E, ESQ,
2 Vas. Bro. Westicy.
It appears surprising, in this book-quacking age, that
the vast store of Rhinish Records have not been col-
lected, full as they are of the wild and wonderous tales
of lawless Lords and fairy elves. We thank Mr.
Snowe for this most agreeable addition to our fire-side
library. He has performed his task well, his diction
is pure, and in good Saxon-English ; he writes with ease
and perspicuity ; his work has also the merit of drawing
a clear and marked distinction between the historical
and the merely superstitious traditions narrated by
other writers. The battles of the early civilization of
Europe were fought on the Banks of the Rhine ; and
we have here, in fact, the records of the habits, man-
ners, and modes of thinking, marking its earliest pro-
gress, in all the charms of the Arabian Tales of the
Thousand and One Nights. The Rhine, the beauteous
Rhine ! how many bright and pleasing thoughts does
its very name bring to our green isle of memory !
The least imaginative traveller must have desired to
Possess some account of the wild legends casually
told, as he slowly progresses up the broad Rhine,
marked as it is on every mile of its course by some
tale of fairy, popular superstition, or burden of old song,
and scenes of desperate adventure for love or glory.
The work is embellished with various quaint wood cuts,
and many plates in a new style of art, termed Zinco-
graph, which appears superior to its sister-art, Litho-
graph, in its clearness of line. Indeed, the frontispiece
would scarcely be surpassed by a steel engraving ; it is
also beautifully drawn, and does much credit to the
artist, whose name, Butler, we do not recollect to have
before seen to illustrated books. The work is well
printed, and got up in a style which makes it a capital '
parlour book.

GRATTANS LIFE AND TIMES. 2 lots.

London, Colburn, 1839.
The object of these volumes, as the Editor observes in
his preface, is to present a sketch of Irish affairs at the
period of the revolution of 1782, when Grattan was at
the height of his celebrity, and foremost among the
stirring patriots of his day. This sketch is given chiefly
through the medium of public documents, and the
epistolary correspondence with their friends in England,
or those who played a leading part in the great Irish
revolutionary movement ; the Editor contributes but a
scanty amount of original matter, which was perhaps
advisable, inasmuch as great historical incidents are
best, or at least most emphatically, related by those who
were personally concerned in them ; and also because
his own style is so loose, and slovenly, and verbose in
many places, that the less we have of it the
better. What, for instance, is to be said
for the following passage, which is one out of
many similar ones that we could adduce ? The
Editor, it should be premised, is speaking of John
Forbes :—" In the midst of this political chaos, one man
remained unmoved, unterrified, undaunted John
Forbes—he was steadfast and inflexible from first to
last ; he stood by the principle throughout. This indi-
vidual was incorruptible ; he was one of the most ami-
able and estimable of men ; mild and gentle in his man-
ners, but firm and-honest of purpose." Now surely if a
man is " unterrified," there is no need to add that he is
" undaunted ;" and if he be " steadfast and inflexible
from first to last," it is equally needless to tell us that
he " stood by the principle throughout," and was " firm
and honest of purpose !" Slip-shod verbosity like this
may be scrawled by any one who has mastered the first
rudiments of grammar. It is a fine sample of what
Sheridan justly called, " easy writing, but d—d hard
reading." Mr. Grattan, however, can do better when he
pleases, as is evident in the following sketch of Yelver-
ton, one of the most effective speakers in the Irish
Parliament :—" Mr. Yelverton was a first-rate speaker.
His style was short and strong ; he never wandered
from his subject, either to the right or the left. He
was endowed with a masculine understanding, and saw
the strong point of every thing. He was deficient in his
tones and manner, and he wanted taste. Unfortunately,
he was too fond of conviviality, and that not always in
the most elevated society. Ilis fault was indolence; like
Proteus, he loved to lie at ease in his cave ; but when
pressed and fairly brought into action he was superior
almost to any man of the day. He had a great volume
of voice, a rich flow of ideas, a rapid imagination, and
an austere pathos. Mr. Grattan compared him to the
rolling of the Atlantic wave, three thousand miles in
depth. He did not speak much in Parliament, and had
no ambition to excel there. But when he lighted up,
and let himself out, nothing could be finer. His dig-
nity and loftiness of mind were very striking." The
most generally entertaining portions of this work are,
the Editor's brief hut spirited sketch of the public career
of Wilkes ; and his illustrious father's account. of the
character of Lord Chatham's eloquence in the House of
Peers.