The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-19 00:00:00

ITALY.

The Parma Gazette of the 10th publishes a decree
of the Duke, which, after reciting that the misrule
existing at present in the department of public in-
struction calls for a serious reform, particularly in
so far as concerns the superior schools, where some
professors take it upon themselves to instil per-
verse and subversive maxims into the minds of
their pupils, instead of exhorting them to
fidelity towards their legitimate Sovereign, enacts-
1. The suppression of the superior schools of Parma
and Piacenza, without suspending, however, the
payment of the stipends to the professors until fur-
ther orders. 2. The nomination of a commission of
enlightened men, to he entrusted with the re-organiza-
tion of the said establishment, and with an inquiry into
the religious, moral, and, above all, political conduct
of the professors and other officials.

CITY OF LONDON MECHANICS

INSTITUTE.

On Monday
.evening Dr. Cromwell delivered an
important and interesting lecture on the Antiquities
of the British Islands. The lecturer having briefly
alluded to the condition of the Aboriginal inhabitants,
proceeded to offer a few remarks on the Tumuli, or
Barrows, and the articles found therein ; these were, for
the most part, of brass, some of stone, or flint ; tho:e of
iron were of the British Roman period; these instru-
ments from their shape, by adapting the handle,
might be used for domestic or military purposes, as
occasion required. In the Wiltshire Barrow, three
feet below the surface, the remains of a dog had been
found, end six feet lower down those of a man, sup-
posed to have been a hunter, which reminds us of
,he lines of the poet—
Lo, the poor Indian! whose untutor'd mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind;
His soul proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or milky way;
Yet simple nature to his hope has given,
Behind the cloud-topt hill, an humbler heaven;
Some safer world in depths of woods embrac'd,
Some happier island in the watery waste,
Where slaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold.
To be, contents his natural desire,
He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire;
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dog shall bear him company."
Silbury Hill, in Berkshire, was the largest hill
mound in Europe, and on examination was found to
resemble the great pyramid of Ghizeh, the top of each
being flat ; they were used doubtless for similar pur-
poses, as a monument to the dead, and as a high altar
for the worship of God. Of the rock fortresses, Dun-
barton, Dunamose, and Windsor were examples ; of
the hill fortresses, Old Sarum was perhaps the
most ancient, having been successively held by Bri-
tish, Roman, Saxon, and Norman, and was improved
in Alfred's time. These, with many other inte-
restimg matters, were ably discussed by the lecturer,
and the subject was illustrated throughout by refe-
rence to numerous effective and highly finished dia-
grams. The lecturer, in dilating on the importance
of antiquarian research, remarked that in the absence
of this many important passages in the Scriptures bad
been poorly rendered by commentators, and their
strength and meaning obscured.

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DEATH OF AN OLD WATERLOO OFFICES.--Major
Basil Jackson, a very old officer, formerly connected
with the Royal Staff Corps, died a few days since at his
residence in London. He had been in the service close
upon forty years, and had been in the enjoyment of
half-pay since 1834. Major Jackson saw an immensity
of rough service in various parts of the globe, and
decorated with a Waterloo
amongst other honours be Was