The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-12 00:00:00

scoundrels who, conscious of superior strength,
beat and injure their helpless companions of the
weaker sex on the smallest provocation, or
frequently without any reason whatsoever.
In two instances —in the assaults on our
Most Gracious SOVEREIGN, and also the
wanton destruction of public monuments, the
power of sentencing to corporal punishment has
proved most efficacious. The offence in either
case has been almost entirely eradicated since the
consequences have become known. Let, then, a
law, similar to that which protected the QuEEN,
be enacted in favour of her humblest female sub-
ject. Let corporal punishment be one of the pe-
nalties attached to brutal and unmanly vio-
lence to a female or a child, and let the
chastisement follow speedily on the offence.
But inasmuch as such a power could scarcely be
entrusted to one or two magistrates, let there be
a power of empanelling a jury of five persons
(chosen as in County Court cases), who must con-
cur with the magistrate or magistrates in the
sentence. Such a jury might be obtained almost
immediately, and the punishment following at
once would strike terror into the hearts of all
such cowardly ruffians. •

A generous and manly enterprise has recently
• been adventured upon by a body of gentlemen
' engaged in the high intellectual toil of literature.
Allusion is here made to the Athenaeum Institute
lately established. According to the explanations
given the other afternoon, on the occasion of the
meeting convened in Sackville-street, Piccadilly,
it appears that of anything at all approaching to
mere eleemosynary assistance the new' institution
will be entirely independent. It is gratifying to
observe in this another indication of that nobler
spirit which his been latterly growing up among
the professional ranks of lettered Englishmen. It
was remarked with some degree of exultation by
THOMAS Moon; when referring to the circum-
stance of the " Corsair" being inscribed to him
on its first appearance, that the time was at length
arriving in earnest when Dedications would be
addressed not as of yore by poor poets to Noble
Lords, but by Noble Lords to poor poets. A
similarly upward tendency is happily discernible
elsewhere than through the medium of Dedica-
tions, though in those the rise of the literary
labourer has become sufficiently conspicuous. In
regard to this it is only necessary to take the most .
popular author of his age by way of illustration.
Out of all his different works we can only discover
two inscribed to great ladies of the creme de la
creme of Belgravia--" Martin Chuzzlewit" in-
scribed to Miss BURDETT COUTTS, and " Dombey
and Son" inscribed to the Marchioness of NOR-
MANDY—but each not so much a tribute to wealth
or rank as a token of personal friendship. Among
his other eminent productions, what are the names
we find emblazoned by CHARLES DICKMTS in the
respective Dedications ? One, " The Pickwick
Papers," is inscribed to a lawyer and dramatist--
another, " Nicholas Nickleby," to a scholar
and tragedian—another, " The Old Curiosity
Shop," to the venerable Poet of Memory
—another, one of the little Christmas Books,
to a celebrated reviewer another, the best
of all, " Devln COPPERFIELD," to a lady and
gentleman otherwise unknown to the general
community. How immeasurably superior is all
this to those melancholy displays of fatuity and
obsequiousness which transformed the writer into
the sycophant, or, more correctly speaking, de-
graded the votary of the Muses into the mendi-
cant flatterer of the accidentally illustrious ! It
was in those days that the position held in society
by the man of letters was about tantamount to
that of the poorer class of clergymen described
by Mr. MAeA n As, who were contented, in the
presence of turtle and venison, to satisfy the
cravings of hunger with corn-beef and carrots,
swallowed almost furtively at the sideboard.
They rubbed elbows with jockeys and prize-
fighters in the ante-room of the man of ton, and
were esteemed fortunate if they were permitted
the honour of shaking hands with the valet-de-
chanthre. Poetry then was associated with the
garret and the unpaid milk-score. People talked
of Grub-street, and bought of CATNACH. Besides
all which, authors were not ashamed to uncover
themselves to the mere ermine, irrespectively of
any regard to its whiteness—ready at all times
to lower the laurel to the strawberry-leaf.
Happily, those times have long since passed
away, though the records of them are unluckily
not altogether forgotten, as we should rejoice to
dream that they ultimately might be, if only in
consideration of a respect for the desecrated dig-
nity of literature. Instead of the evidences of
meanness, such as even the " glorious JOHN "
was not unfrequently driven to by the miserable
habits, or, let us say in his instance, bitter exi-
gencies of his generation—we have those tokens
which have already been alluded to, namely, self-
respect on the part of men-of-letters, and a just
I
recognition of the honest pride of toil-worn inde-
pendence.

It is a source of exultation to us, whenever we
are enabled to observe some fresh manifestation of
this love of independence in the conduct of the
professional cultivators of literature. It was
because we perceived the sense of this refined and
elevating principle lying at the bottom of the
whole scheme of the Guild that we were disposed,
from the very outset, to hail its birth and de-
velopment with sentiments of such peculiar and
unaffected satisfaction. We saw that it origi-
nated with men eminent in literature themselves.
We saw that it first grew up from a passing sug-
gestion in what in after times will be regarded as
the classic shades of Knebworth. The earliest
propounder of the problem, the solution of which
(we mean the possibility of the ulterior success of
the whole enterprise) yet remains to be rendered
apparent, was himself one who might be viewed
impartially as a not unfitting type of the entire
class in all its loftier departments. Those who
eagerly acceded to the proposition, emanating in
the first instance from his benevolence, were some
of them among the most distinguished of his
literary and artistic contemporaries. And so the
entire scheme may be said to have sprung origi-
nally from the midst of the very class it was pro-
posed by this means to save from the mournful
chances of a poverty the result rather of mis-
fortune than of improvidence. Aware of
this, we welcomed the organisation of the
Guild, as we have observed, with no common
or wavering satisfaction. Scarcely less rejoiced
are we to observe the commencement of an under-
taking as generous in purpose as the Guild,
though scarcely calculated to prove of such mate-
rial advantage to the less fortunate among the
followers of Art and Literature—we mean this
plan of the Athenaeum Institute, which will afford
the class referred to many most desirable facilities
for insurance. In order to secure the privilege of
becoming a member of the newly-established In-
stitute, nothing more is required than an annual
guinea by way of periodical subscription. Each
member, however, will be required to insure his
life for any sum up to 1001., that being the limit
granted by law to all benefit societies—and it is
under the Benefit Societies Act that the Athenaeum
Institute has been formally established. Oppor-
tunities will, however, be at all times afforded to
such members as may be solicitous to insure to a
larger amount than that which we have just spe-
cified. What we admire chiefly in the whole en-
terprise of this Institute, originated, as its title
intimates, for the advantage of " authors and men
of science"-`what commands for it, at once, our
very cordial assurance of sympathy in the way of
encouragement, is the fact that, being peculiarly
it esCleilet
ssu
altogether, p 0 rtiu,,o.and i
charactern ai n
manner
its n
na
er
rr a np
eg
re
emmepntto ,
rily, the mere notion of receivino. aid by eleemo-
synary assistance. stablishmen; of this kind,
we take it, ought tosscure the earnest support of
those who are really interested in the advancement
of the independence of Literature. That support,
we rejoice to observe, it is already in a fair way of
obtaining—many of the popular writers of the day
haying
already inscribed their
names upon the
books
the Institute, and these having been
of
coupled even now with those of several influential •
Members of the Lower Home of Parliament.
Conspicuous among both, will be observed the
name of the Right Honourable Gentleman the
ex.-Chancellor of the E
xcheq uer who, according