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

THE SUFFERING FAMILY,

Among the numerous charities of London there
is one just now which is more particularly appeal•
ing to public sympathy—one for which that sweet
Songstress, no less remarkable for her Benevolence
than for her Genius—Jenny Lind—has recently
contributed her all-powerful aid—the Royal Hos-
pital for Incurables. In a kindred spirit the popular
authoress of "Hope Evermore" (a name peculiarly
significant for her of present success !), Mrs. Gordon
Smythies, has just published a charming little
poem written in aid of this most invaluable hospital.
The poem is pathetically entitled, "Incurable." It
contains a graceful little tale of the rival loves of
the fascinating Brillante and the fair and charitable
Eva. From the introduction we quote the follow-
ing heart appealing lines, which can hardly fail to
meet with a fitting response from our readers
Incurable! Oh, ponder on that word,
You, who in rosy health and radiant life
Bask in the sun, like summer flowers stirred

By gentle zephyrs I—Ponder on that strifo
Between th' immortal soul and mortal frame,
That in the humble home of Want and Woe

Rent the poor heart, when calm-eyed Science came,
And whispered that dread word of doom ! And, oh I
Think then, how paled the cheek of wedded truth I
What gushing grief, by manly pride suppres t !
How stricken down, th' all hoping heart of Youth,
What sobs convulsed fond woman's faithful breast,
While " The Doomed" murmured, " Lord, thy will be done!
But, must I be a burthen to the end ?
Oh, Father ! for the sake of thy dear Son,
Provide the shelter, and raise up the friend I "
The prayer was heard—and never earnest prayer,

Swift winged by Faith, was known to miss the throne

Of Grace and Mercy I Nor, arriving there,
Has failed to bring the heavenly blessing down;
And good men's hearts were stirred, and the great need
Of " The Incurable" engrossed the mind
Of Science's darling son--lamented Reed !
The modern Howard I lover of his kind I
But still thy spirit, gen'rous Reed, survives ;
" The Suffering Family,' released from care,
Dwell in the peaceful home that grows and thrives,
Longing to shelter all The Cureless there.
Father, and Friend, of this great charity,

"Too soon for Friendship, not too soon for Fame,"
Thou wert called home I What tears were shed for thee!
When to thyself the cureless sickness came,
And the long labour of thy love was o'er,
And Sorrow's Friend was borne, where Sorrow is no morel
Much has been done—but much remains to do;
Nine-tenths, alas 1 of those who seek our home,
The " Cureless," Hopeless I with their weight of woe
(Shunning, with decent pride, the union's gloom),
Implore, in vain, the shelter of the walls
Of our most Christian Hospital, whose halls
One day, we humbly hope, shall yet contain
All the poor victims of a cureless pain,
As Mrs. Smythies very justly remarks in her pre-
face, the charity for which she pleads has especial
claims on public sympathy. " Great bodily pain is
hard to bear, even when 'Hope, the charmer, lin-
gers still behind,' and when troops of friends' sur-
round the sufferer, and all that wealth and skill can
do to soothe and solace is done. But what must be
the anguish, the misery, the despair of those who
are dismissed (through a dire necessity) from hos-
pitals devoted to the cure of disease, and who,
hcuseless, penniless, friendless, find themselves dis-
missed as Incurable,' and know not whither to
turn, or to which shelter to crawl, to await the per
haps tardy but inevitable doom." As tending to
alleviate such affliction, we most heartily wish the
Royal Hospital every success, and we have great
pleasure in commending Mrs. Smythies' very
graceful little poem, both for its individual claims
upon our attention, and for the philanthropic sen-
timents which animate it.

PARISH RATES AND GIN PALACES.—Hogarth
painted side by side, and as connected by human
communications, the pawn-shop, the gin-shop, and the
workhouse, and George Cruikshank may do the same to-
day, and with equal truth to nature—that is to say, human
nature. There is no place in the world where labour so
abounds as in London; no place in the world where men,
no matter of what class, if willing to be sober and useful,
have so many chances of success in life, yet the poor•rates
range from a few pence to many shillings in the pound,
as we pass from parish to parish, and we have
always a population of paupers in our workhouses
sufficient to form a strong colony, provided their physical
and moral stamina were in proportion to their nurabenrs.
God forbid we should make a wholesale charge of vice
ewaithd
profligacy against the whole mass of unfortunate
men
which hospital and workhouse experiences makes
familiar. It is on the ground, however, that the foks who
lso for the
pay for the necessary expenses of the State,
b p
unnecessary results of indulgence in a aleafyulaappetitt—
that we claim for parochial authorities some share in the
power to regulate the issue of licenses for places aPPrepri-
ated to the sale of intoxicating drinks.—Citg Press.
gaasgedG
ienorhgise
avocations,Jenkins ina
CAPTURE OF A STURGEON IN THE MEDWAY.__
nyligloiaci
rsh:ees let: Tvjubi
arrii
ed Rochester-bridge,
ei :
Early yesterday mornwiansge,n
fisherman, of Rochester,
Limehouse•reach, a short distance below
he succeeded in capturing an unusuaEll
which, after some difficulty he landed. The fish, w sturgeon
one of the largest ever caught in an
?and its
ill
1,. is teerrm, elsd'aas
found to measure exactly seven feet,
- ht is 1701hs. The sturgeon being
I‘vvhtaonieetni::::h:
weight
royal" fish, belongs by ancient charter
Rochester, and on receiving it his worship as; ivoinacYo°froor-f
in the cum..
for-
warded it as a present to the Prince of
tody of thebeing
water bailiff, the fish delivered alive at
Marlborough-house yesterday afternoon. This is the second
large sturgeon captured in the river Medway
within a very
short time, the last royal fish
caught by the same
being
fisherman who effected t •
his capture,