The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-24 00:00:00

OUR AMMUNITION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR, —ln The Sun of the sth instant I read, under the
heading of "The New Long-gun Range," that practice
was made at Shoeburyness with a two-groove 63-pounder
rifle-cannon on Mr. Lancaster's principle. This two-
groove rifle-cannon has been called at one time "an
elliptic-bore," at another time a cannon of "a particular
bore," and again at the third time " the oval gun." This,
I suppose was done to make it intelligible to the public.
In page 6, figure 12, of my pamphlet on projectiles, the
transverse base of the figure will truly and clearly ex
plain the mystery of the elliptic, partic.flar bore, oval
cannon. It is now about sixteen years ago when I, by
the request of Sir William Bowyers Smijth, Bart., M.P.,
gave Mr. Lancaster, gun-maker, Bond-strcet, one of my
elongated rifle percussion-shells ; and it was about the
same period that I successfully tested my four-groove
one-pounder rifle brass cannon at Woolwich, in press nce
of Lord Hardinge, the present Commander- in. Chief, the
late Admirals, the Earl of Camperdown, Sir Thomas
Hardy, and several other officers of high rank of both
the naval and military services. Lord Hardinge was
pleased to write to me afterwards, saying that he was
convinced that my principle of rifle-cannon and its pro-
jectiles would lead to the most important results.—Your
obedient servant,

J. NORTON.
Victoria Hotel, Cork, 19th August, 1854.

MR. W. S. WOODIN'S ENTERTAINIVIENT
-"THE, CARPET BAG AND SKETCH
BOOK."

The gifted and accomplished polyloguist, Mr. Woodin
commenced, on Monday evening, the 14th inst. His
metropolitan fame preceded him ; and the number and
quality of the assembly which greeted him upon his first
appearance in Brighton, and th continually-augmenting
receipts, from night to night throughout the week, at
the doors of the Banqueting-room in the Pavilion, give
promise that he will be induced to extend his projected
series to a season.
Mathews was a great artist, strictly sui generic.
Such also is Woodin. They may stand at the same
elevation in art. But each stands upon a different
platform, and must occupy a (iistinct niche in the
temple of fame. Comparison is out of the question.
Mr. Woodin's sketches of character are all ably
delineated : several of them are pictures of ex-
quisite delicacy and masterly force. They are
all amusing—nay, mirth moving. They draw forth, at
the first, a gush of laughter from his visitors, which
rushes on in a continuous stream of cachinnation to the
end. We must, however, caution our readers not to be
taken in by our able actor, as to one leading feature Of
his performance. They may be assured that the ?maniere
Legere which he assumes in his interlocutory addresses as
the entertainer, cannot be a characteristic of the man.
It must be regarded as a studied piece of acting as elabo-
rate and finished as the full-length portrait of Sir Benja-
min Bungle—(and what an excellent work that is !) But
Mr. Woodin himself—the natural Woodin--is, undoubtedly, 1
a grave, deep-thinking man, who lays aside, for the oc-
casion, that impressiveness which a profound and power-
ful intelligence must stamp upon the natural manners
and deportment. The disguise of polished lightness
which is worn in his well-acted part of the evening's
host, is seen through, in many passagestle This is
tpro-
minentlye obvious in the half-length of man of h
Last Century. There the force, depth, and power of
the artist is manifest—the gravity, the severiey of his
natural mood is marked in the surpassing vigour of the
work, as—if we may compare such things—the mental
power of Titian is stamped upon his portrait of Ignatius.
It is seldom worth while to make mention of the pro-
gramme in noticing an entertainment, but Woodin's
programme stands alone in the world of programmatic
literature. It is unique. It is witty, and of rich
humour. We recommend every visitor to be provided
with a copy. Nay, more, we recommend invalids, who
cannot partake of the entertainment itself, to procure a
programme. They have a crown's worth of healthy
laughter, and of somewhat classical merriment, for six-
pence. The book will ever be worth keeping, when the
tce
ienoptnte rbwt
yaih ens
onmmre
eenvtri
evi tsespdeel
icfnt
tvhi
el
el r
rebefeee
rerel et
ki
emccete
inoeifnb
aeerpf e
otdhs
tehb
rising
temi
nol
giut
stgl
eec
nr,
ieteri xac
—Brighton Examiner.

MAIL BAGS AND RAILWAYS.—The Lords of Hon.re-
sury, upon the recomiuendation of the Right .
Via-
s
count Canning, her Majesty's Postma4ter-General, have
awarded Mr. John Dicker, inspector of mails, the sum
of 5001., as a compensation for his invention of an appa-
ratus for transferring mail bags to and from railway car-
riages at full speed without stopping, a working model
of which, in the Exhibition of 1851 (class 5), was greatly
admired, and for his personal exertions in the successful
application of his improvements on various lines of rail-
way.

There was no truth in the statement which appeared
in some newspapers yesterday that Caroline Harrison,
who underwent amputation of the right leg on Monday
night at ten o'clock, the operation being performed by
Mr. South, was dead. On inquiry at St. Thomas's Hos-
pital yesterday it was stated that the unfortunate woman
was going on as favourably as could be expected ; she,
however remains in a very low condition. The Surrey
Gazette, received yesterday, states that a woman, name
unknown, both legs broken, has died since the dect-
dent ; but does not state when or where. No such death
has taken • place at either of the great metropolitan
hospitals. At Guy's Hoipitai tliethree cases there are
progreesing favourably.