The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-15 00:00:00

CHANGES,

The Hon. Captain and the Hon. Mr. Ryder Burton, at
Brizhton, from their seat in Kent; Lady Le Poer French,
at Woodhouse, near Loughborough, from Cheltenham ; the
Countess of Winterton and Lady Charlotte Turner, at Bath,
from their seat, Shillinglee Park, Sussex; Sir Edward Mos-
tyn, Bart„ and Lady Mostyn, at Leamington Spa, from
their seat, Falacre, in Flintshire ; the Hon. George Byng,
M. P., at Brighton, from his seflt, Wrotham Park, Herts.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Winchester and
Lady Cecilia Paulet are still residing at Margate, but are
expected in a few days at the town mansion in Cavendish-
square. _ _

The Duke of Norfolk has left town on a tour. His
Grace is expected in town again about the end of the month.
The Earl and Countess of Lichfield left town yes-
terday for their seat, Shugborough Park, Staffordshire.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne and
Lord Holland left town yesterday on a visit to her Majesty at
Windsor Castle.

Mr. Hope has left Mansfield-street on a visit to
Lord and Lady Beresford, at Betsworth Park, Kent.

Mr. E. St. John Mildmay left town yesterday for
Brighton.

Sir Thomas and Lady Munro have arrived at Far.
rance's Hotel, from Adderly Hall, Drayton, Shropshire.
The Right Hon. C. Poulett Thomson is staying at
Manchester.

Lord and Lady Methuen, and Sir John Cam Hob=
house, are among the late arrivals for the winter at Torquay.
Clarence House, which has been undergoing a
course of embellishment and repair, is now complete in it:im-
provements. The edifice has been painted stone-colour to
correspond with the Duke of Sutherland's mansion. Her
Royal Highness the Princess Augusta will return to Clarence
House from Brighton the second week in January.
His Highness
,the Prince of Oude left town on
Monday fir Dover, en route to the Continent. His Highness
will not be absent more than a month.
His Excellency Reschid Pacha and suite are not
expected in town from Paris until Monday or Tuesday next.
Sarim Effendi will not leave the seat of the embassy, in Sus-
sex-place, for Constantinople, until the middle of the ensuing
month.
The Earl of Sefton was sufficiently recovered yes-
terday to take an airing in a carriage and four in the Regent's
Park, accompanied by the Countess.
The Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch intend to take
an extensive retinue with them to Naples, where their Graces,
who will be accompanied by Viscount Emlyn, son of Earl
Cawdor, intend to winter. The object of the Duke and
Duchess in visiting Italy is the hope of restoring to health
their eldest son, the Earl of Dalkeith.
The latest accounts received at the residence of the
Right Honourable Cutlar Fergusson, in Porttnan•square,
leave no hopes of his ultimate recovery. The opinion of the
Parisian physicians, by whom he is attended, we understand,
is that the Right Honourable Gentleman may linger some
time longer; but no expectation is entertained that he
will be able to return to England. Some of the domestics
who atttended the Judge-Advocate-General to Paris have ar-
rived in town.

COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.—A drama in two
acts, called the Royal Oak, was last night performed at this
theatre. The piece is not a new one, as it was brought out,
we believe, some years ago at the Haymarket Theatre. The
scene is laid, as the title of the piece denotes, after the battle
of Worcester, when Charles is closely pursued by his enemies,
and there is, of course, no lack of " hair-breadth 'scapes ;"
lint the piece is wanting in interest, and there is an absence of
that tact in its construction, so essential to insure success.
Two songs, introduced by Miss Rainsforth--" Rest, warrior,
rest," and " Over the water to Charlie"—were mainly instru-
mental in carrying the piece on smoothly to the conclusion.
Hisses, however, occasionally burst forth ; and on the termi-
nation there were strong symptoms of disapprobation. Some
judicious curtailment might do it service ; but we doubt much
if any alteration can make the Royal Oak attractive.
A Carrickmacross correspondent informs us that,
through the exertions of our very active and efficient officer
of police, Thomas R. Barry, Esq., a notorious gang of thir-
teen robbers (who have been for the last twenty years com-
mitting the most daring robberies of cattle, sheep, pigs, fowl,
butter, &c., in the counties of Cavan, Louth, Meath, Armagh,
and Monaghan), have been arrested and committed to jail.—
Dublin Packet.
Two men named Western and Pearse were brought
before the Magistrates, charged with undermining a new house
building in Exeter, and nearly destroying it. Western is a
foreman, and Pearse a stonemason ; there had been several
pieces of money deposited in the corner-stone of the house,
and the prisoners had dug under the foundation, taken out the
stone, and, robbing it of the money, had replaced it, greatly to
the injury of the building. The Magistrates fined them, under
the Wilful Damage Act, eight pounds and costs, or three
months' imprisonment.—Exeter Post.
Last evening an inquest was held at the Cock and
Castle public-house, Kingsland, on the body of Sarah Ward,
aged fifty-five years, who had terminated her existence by
hanging herself. From the evidence it appeared that the de-
ceased had been servant and housekeeper to Mr. Pierson, a
retired merchant of considerable property, residing at Kings_
land, and, owing to the bodily infirmities under which her
master had laboured, and his in consequence being unable
to look after her, she for some considerable time past gave way
to habits of intoxication. A respectable female had lately been
placed in the house, and from the keys of the premises being
placed in her hands, the irregularity of the deceased was con-
siderably checked, and her manner became a good deal al-
tered. On Saturday week she took up a carving-knife, and
said she would stab herself through the body with it, as she
felt satisfied she would be hanged some time or other. On
the following Friday Mr. Pierson died, and on Sunday morn.
ing last the deceased was found suspended by a cord from the
roof of her bed, quite dead and cold. Mr. Pierson, son to the
late master of the deceased, said he had no doubt whatever
the deceased had been in the habit of plundering his late
father of property of every description, and that, having some
qualms of conscience on the subject, that this, together with
the _fear of the discovery of her conduct at the death of her
master, and being suddenly deprived of her usual quantity of
drink. combined to derange her mind, and led to her final act
of self-destruction. Tho jury concurred in this opinion, and
returned a verdict of " Temporary insanity."

LOAN COMPANIES,

TO THE EDITOP OP THE SUN.

San—My attention having recently been drawn to an
article in your Journal in favour of a Life Assurance Com-
pany, upon a new and better principle than any hitherto
established, I could not but be struck with the project that
followed of another, which I have long considered a g►aod
desideratum in this country. I allude to a ".Loan" Com-
pany first set on foot with a capital of half a million ster-
ling, and to be covered by a Royal charter.
None but those who have experienced it can form an 3
idea of the difficulty there is for men of the first character
and respectability to obtain advances of money when re-
quired, owing to the fastidious pertinacity with which
hankers and capitalists confine their transactions to particu-
lar kinds of securities only. Thus it often happens that
men, whose property is locked up in foreign bonds to a great
amount (and convertible into cash in the market at half an
hour's notice), cannot raise a single shilling upon them, and
thus are compelled, when pressed, to dispose of them at an
enormous sacrifice ; or, what is much worse, to throw
themselves into the hands of those sharks of advertising
money lenders who infest this metropolis. Others again
are perfectly free from debt, but have not the power to
mortgage their estates, which may be entailed, and numbers
there are who have only a life-interest in their incomes.
Indeed, it is well known that first-rate bankers will not ad-
vance even upon French Rentes, Dutch, or Russian Stocks,
though inuchabove par. To obviate thesedifficulties nothing
can be more deserving of public support than the proposed
Company, and which, under proper and liberal man 'ge-
ment, must yield immense profits to the Directors and
Shareholders. They should be ready to advance to all who
need it, without confining themselves to this or that kind of
security, provided only it be adequate to the risk, and cal-
culated accordingly. lam sure it would be a great moral
benefit, and save from embarrassment, and not unfrequentl3
total ruin, numbers of nobility and gentry whose estates are
thus circumstanced. They should be required to insure
their lives, and a fair and moderate interast be Lmanded of
them for the accommodation rendered.

I believe that such institutions prevail on the Continent,
and also in the United States of America, and if so, surely
ireat commercial country they must, be more parti-
cularly needed.
The Bank of England is of no use to any but great mer-
chants, and besides, will not lend a less sum than 2,000/.,
which few private individuals want.

Your most obedient servant,
A CONSTANT READER.

London, Nov. 9, 1838

SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY,

EXETER-HALL.

This great Society last -night commenced its performance
for the season by giving the whole of the oratorio of Samson
—n thing which had not been done in the memory of the pre-
sent generation, nor, indeed, we believe, since the days of
Handel himself. ,To revive the works of " the mighty mas-
ter" in their entire state, and thus to enable the public to con-
template the grandeur of their structure, and the beauty an d
symmetry of their proportions, is a double undertaking, for
which this Society deserves the gratitude of every real lover of
music, even though the attempt may sometimes not be entirely
successful.

To perform this oratorio is a more arduous task than some
of those:which the Society has successfully accomplished
Its forte lies in the performance of choruses ; and
some of those oratorios, of which choruses form the
principal feature, have been produced at Exeter-hall in a
manner, which we are inclined to believe has hardly ever been
surpassed. Sampson contains several choruses of the most
sublime description, particularly—" 0 first created beans,"
" Then round about the starry throne," and " Fix'd in his
everlasting seat;" and these were given last night with great
precision and magnificent effect. But Sampson possesses more
of a dramatic character than any other oratorio that we are
acquainted with, and consists of a series of scenes carried on
is recitatives and airs of a highly impassioned character,
requiring an energy, variety, and depth of expression,
which the solo performers of last night were unable to
impart to them. The recitatives, instead of being de-
claimed with the force and clearness, and almost the ra-
pidity of spoken language, were drawled out in a kind of
psalmody, which reminded us of the descriptions of the
old French school of the days of Lull' ; awl their intoler-
able tediousness was not relieved by the airs, which, though
smoothly and chastely sung, lacked animation and warmth.
The singers seemed to think that, because Samson is an
oratorio as well as The 2lffssiah, it requires the same stjle
of performance ; but the human passions which form the
subject of the one piece must be expressed very differently
from the sublime contemplation and deep devotion which
characterise the other. The generil effect of the performance,
therefore, notwithstanding its excellence in some particulars,
was heavy • but we trust that a further study of this great
work will lead to a more complete development of its beauties.
The hall, as is usual, was crowded. Two thousand per-
sons at least mutt have been present.

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1838.