The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-08 00:00:00

The St. 'Tames's.

The general belief in the existence of great men,
and the differences of opinion as to the sense in
which " great " is used, have in this number fur-
nished materials for an amusing paper. Carlyle,
according to the writer, stickles for " earnestness
and sincerity." Emerson defines a great man as
" one of great affinities, who takes up into himself
all arts, sciences—all knowables—as his food; who
can spare nothing; who can dispose of everything."
Mr. Ruskin believes that "the first test of a great
man is humility;" whilst Professor Ranke
con-
siders that the title of great "belongs only to those
who have fought, not merely for private, but, at
the same time, for great general interests." The
writer then canvasses the pretension of heroes of
different grades, notes their shortcomings, and thus
vindicates the cause of mediocrity. " This exalta-
tion of heroes—this sycophantic homage to great
names, repeated from generation to generation, till
they are depressing, has become detrimental to the
best interests of humanity. It breeds habitual con-
tempt in one class of people for the pursuits and
actions of another ; it tends to encourage the absurd
popular notion of some "coming man, who, "him-
self alone," in any emergency is expected to set
things right ; it tends to discourage the recoßnition
and the ready acceptance of the fact shown by the
experience of the last two centuries, that associa-
tion, organisation, and a division of labour, are the
truest means that can be adopted for the material
and moral progress of mankind ; it praises the past
at the expense of the present ; it compares the
moderns with the ancients,
y to give the paim.
to the latter ; in a word, it is an incubus upon civil-
sation itself," The article on „ Dancing in all
Ages" will be found interesting
. One of rho most
singular of these exercises was that practised in
Bohemia under the name of the Death Dance.
"The dancers assembled ;
couples to merry tunes,

Temple Bar.
As yet the interest of " Captain Dangerous" is
admirably sustained, and the tale bids fair to be the
very best of Mr. Sala's productions. In this num-
ber the adventures of the hero among the Blacks
come to an unpleasant but scarcely unexpected end;
Comforted,
to i with
hbe
h a
oh ia‘
new demijohn"ghowever,
eerd in by
the
his afflictionek that respectable fraternity being pounced upon by
a " mob of constables," aided by a file of grenadiers;
Master Dangerous (who has now attairK4 the ripe
ago of 12) valiantly breaks the head of one of the
latter wof
fnberantdilyl n
Quaker, he writes to the King, and his MajeafY is
gracious enough to laugh at his effusion, and through
" the intercession of a foreign lady, that was his
favourite," he remits the youngster's sentence to
.he
ey and
fs i i s
dead.
good sen-
tenced
transportation for life "to his Majesty's plantations
in North America," whither he is now about to pro-
ceed, having been bought by "Sir Basil Hopwood,
a rich merchant and alderman of London, who paid
a certain sum a head for us to the King's Govern-
ment for taking us to. America, where he might
make what profit he pleased, by selling our wretched
carcasses to be slaves to the planters." This part
of " Aurora Floyd" is also excellent. She is mar-
ried, and is content (if not happy, but there is a
storm brewing in the distance, In " A New View
of Shakspere's Sonnets" Mr. Heraud expounds his
view of these much-discussed and imperfectly-under-
stood poems. " Back to Scotland" is an amusing
account of a Scotchman's impressions of his native
land on returning after a long absence. There is a
biographical and critical notice of " Winthrop
Mackworth Praed," who died at the age of 36, and
who, the writer thinks, would, had he lived, have
rivalled Macaulay in Parliament and Tennyson in
poetry. " Burke's Australian Explorations" are
touched on, and the poem " Drowned ! Drowned! "
is above average merit.

The Popular Science Review.
The third number of this useful periodical opens
with an article by M. de Quatrefages on the
Phosphorescence of the Sea," in which that very
singular and beautiful appearance is accounted for.
The first requisite for its presence is, that the
water be in motion.