The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-31 00:00:00

HISTORY OF THE MAMMALIA.

" In previous volumes," says the editor of
admirable series of Shilling Volumes, " we have given
a full account of 'the elephant,' 'the horse,' and the
dog;' the importance of these animals in the service of
man, and the interest attached to the account of them,
justified, as we thought, the devotion of a volume to
each. To the history of the Monkey Tribe ' we
have also given a volume ; and we now propose, in as
short a compass as possible, to complete a Sketch of
the History of the Mammalia.' " This " sketch" occu-
pies six of the little shilling volumes, and no wonder,
when we consider the vast multitude of which it treats.
To give an idea of the contents of this work we can-
not do better than enumerate the subjects to which
each volume relates. Vol. I. describes to us the
important "family" of Felidm (or cat tribe) ranging
from the lion to the lynx, the "family" of Ursidm, in
which we count no less than twelve kinds of bears,
&c., and the " order" Marsupialia, which treats of
opossums, kangaroos, and other creatures of their
kind. Vol. 11. tells of wolves, hyaenas, weasels,
hedgehogs, and bats, and the other members of their
several " families" and "orders." Vol. 111., after de-
scribing the hippopotamus.and the rest of his' order,"
the peccary hog, and others of the "family" of Suidm,
treats of the " extinct fossil species," the mastodon,
&c , and then introduces us to a different race
again divided into " families"—the porpoise fa-
mily, the whale family, and the seal family.
Vol. IV., includes the order " Rodentia," (gnawing),
of which are squirrels, rats, mice, beavers, &c., and
the several " families" of the porcupine, chinchilla,
paca, and hare ; the order " Edentata," in which are
the sloth, and the ant-eater. Vols. V. and VI., com-
prise the Ruminative order from the camel down-
wards ; from this summary the comprehensive nature
of the work will be seen. Its very great attractions
as a book for the young may be surmised from the
fact of its containing not far short of a thousand
engravings, representing the various animals and
scenes described in the letter-press ; for example, on
one page, we see a representation of a tiger springing
upon a buffalo, and in another a specimen of ancient
Egyptian ploughing. This work, which abounds in
anecdotes and interesting descriptions, is of course
designed for readers of all ages, but its pictorial
contents render it, in our opinion, an inestimable
treasure for the young—even for the denizens of the
nursery to whom the alphabet is unknown.

MEMORIALS OF THE CIVIL WAR. Edited
by Robert Bell. 2 Vols.
From sundry references occurring in these vo-
lumes, and in the recently published work of Eliot
Warburton, it would seem that Mr. Bentley must be
in possession of a perfect treasury of manuscripts.
The future historian of the Civil War will find
more abundant sources of information in New Bur-
lington-street than in the British Museum, and very
valuable and right welcome will these documents be
to that future historian. In waiting for his advent,
however, it is not fit that matters of such national
interest should be wholly withheld from the public.
So thinks Mr. Bentley, and, accordingly, he
gives us at intervals some specimens of these
largely
yus memorials.from
mthatcollectionElio
Wianrbuhritson,,b.Almi
borrowed
of Prince Rupert," and in the two volumes now before
t
us Mr. Robert Bell, the talented biographer of Can-
ning, introduces to our notice a variety of interesting
epistles illustrative of the stirring period of the Civil
\Var. The valuable characteristics of this collection
are best described in the words of the editor. " These
volumes," he tells us,
"Embrace the period of the Civil War and the
Restoration, and contain a mass of original Letters from
nearly all the famous men who were actively engaged in
the struggle—the Fairfaxes, Cromwell, Fleetwood, David
Leslie, Hugh Peters, Hammond, Hutchinson, Bucking-
ham, and many others. Crowded with minute details
and individual experiences, they bring us closer to the
actual vicissitudes of the flying campaigns—from the
hoisting of the Royal standard at Nottingham, to the
imprisonment of the King at Carisbrook—than any
previous publication. Written for the most part on the
instant, under the walls of besieged towns, in the Com-
mittee-rooms of the House of Commons, on the field of
battle, or in the midst of councils of war, they are dis-
tinguished by a freshness and freedom seldom found in
documents of a more formal and elaborate character. In
some cases—such as Rushwortt's account of the forcible
entry of the London Apprentices into the House of
Commons—these letters afford circumstantial relations
of particular facts which have not hitherto been so com-
pletely described ; and in other instances they reveal
secret opinions and feelings which exercised an important
influence unon the conduct of public men. Fairfax's
share in the Restoration is here, for the first time, dis-
closed in full. The Correspondence also incidentally
illustrates the Personal History and Social Life of the
times."
These " Memorials" form an interesting appendage
to Mr. Warburton's admirable " Memoirs. ' Mr.
Robert Bell is far less loyal in his predilections than
the above-mentioned writer. He does not scruple to
denounce the tyrannous ambition and the vacillating
cowardice of the unhappy King. Some original
letters of Oliver Cromwell's in this collection will be
read with interest. That sagacious foresight which
afterwards exercised such a beneficial influence
on the destinies of the Commonwealth is
visible in these compositions, vide the following, as
Mr. Bell calls it, "curious relic in Cromwell's hand-
writing, urging the youth of Huntingdon to contri-
bute muscles and money to the common cause :'
COLONEL CROMWELL'S LETTER TO THE BACHELORS AND

MAIDS, 2ND AUGUST, 1643, FROM HUNTINGDON.
" Sir,—l understand by these gentlemen the good
affections of your young men and maids, for which God
is to be praised. I approve of the business, only I desire
to advise you that your foot company may be turned into

a troop of horse, which, indeed, will (by God's blessing)
far more advantage the cause than-two or throe com-
panics of foot, especially if your men be honest, godly
ni-n, which by all means I desire. I thank God for
stirring ❑p the youth to cast in their mite, which I
desire may be employed to the best advantage; therefore
my advice is, that you would employ your twelve-score
pounds to buy pistols and saddles, and I will provide
four-score horses; for 400/. more will not raise a troop
of horse. As for the muskets that are bought, I think
the country will take them of you. Pray raise honest,
godly men, and I will have them of my regiment. As
for your officers, I leave it as God shall or bath directed
to choose, and rest,

" Your loving friend,
" August 2nd, 1643. " OLIVER CROMWELL."
Among the many interesting episodes with which
the editor has illustrated and enlivened this epistolary
collection, one of the most attractive is the account of
the siege of Lathom House, so ably defended by the
Countess of Derby. " This siege of a valiant lady in
her castle," says Mr. Bell, "excited universal sym-
pathy. It threw a solitary glow of personal interest
upon a corner of the great war; it was like a scrap
of old romance let into a framework of coarse, violent
reality." After Lady Derby had exhausted every
expedient for gaining time, and after she had
indignantly rejected every proposition of surrender,
Colonel Rigby, the commander of the besiegers, re-
solved to proceed to extremities; he collected a quan-
tity of powder and manufactured it into grenadoes,
which he could fling upon the garrison as opportunity
suited. We leave Mr. Bell to relate the stirring
scenes which followed _

" Having got his in terials ready, he sent a furious
message to Lady Derby, summoning her peremptorily to
surrender. The heroine was standing amongst her
soldiers when this message was delivered. Receiving
the paper on which it was written from the hands of the
envoy, she tore it up, and exclaimed that the proper
reward for Rigby would be to be hanged at her gates.
"Tell that insolent rebel,' she continued, 'he shall
neither have person, goods, nor house; when our strength
and provisions are spent, we shall find a fire more mer-
ciful than Rigby's, and then, if the providence of God
prevent it not, my goods and house shall burn in his
sight ; and myself, children, and soldiers, rather than
fall into his hands, will seal our religion and loyalty in
the same flame.' Apprehending, from the determined
spirit of this answer, that Rigby would immediately open
a fire upon the castle, her Ladyship, whose valour was
quite equal to her eloquent expression of it, resolved to
be beforehand with him; and, at four o'clock the next
morning, her soldiers issued out of the eastern gate
upon the desperate design of endeavouring to secure
the ditch and rampart. It was a choice of deaths. The
cry amongst them was, We must either kill or be
killed.' The horror of the crisis inspired them with a
courage and devotion beyond all ordinary calculation.
There was one mortar-piece which had raked them
piteously, and which they feared more than all the rest
of the enemy's guns. From its dreadful mouth issued
those flaming grenadoes which, tumbling in showers of
fire upon the heads of the beleagured garrison, produced
the most terrible results. The first thing they did was
to make for the trench where this mortar-piece lay
guarded by fifty soldiers. After a quarter of an hour's
fighting, they won the sconce, gained the rampart,
levelled the ditch, and drawing up the iron monster by
ropes, dragged it into the house. Having accomplished
their object, they looked down upon Rigby with scorn.
It was a jubilee to witness the mad glee with which the
poor soldiers danced round this fearful trophy when they
had got it safely within doors, and saw it lying dumb
and harmless at their feet. The historian of the siege
says, Now (exulting over the mortar) neither ditches
nor aught else troubled our soldiers; their grand terror,
the mortar-piece, which bad frightened them from their
meat and sleep, lying, like a dead lion, quietly among
them; every one had his eye and his foot upon it, shout-
ing and rejoicing as merrily as they used to do with
their ale and bagpipes. Indeed, every one had this
estimation of the service, that the main work had
been done, and that what was yet behind was a mere
pastime.' "
And they were right, for the siege was shortly after-
wards abandoned. The specimens we have given
will be sufficient to show the interesting and im-
portant nature of this work. It is embellished with
engraved portraits of the Earl of Essex, Lenthall, the
Speaker of the house of Commons, Sir W. Waller,
and a full-length representation of Oliver Cromwell,
taken from a rare allegorical print by Faithorne, entitled
" The emblem of England's distractions, as also of
her attained and further expected freedom and happi-
ness, per H. M. 1658." This portrait, which has
been beautifully engraved by Jos. Brown, represents
the Protector in complete armour, crowned with
laurel, holding in his right hand a drawn sword,
bearing on its blade three crowns ; his left holds forth
an open volume, we presume a Bible.

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.--Last evening Mr. Staite
again exhibited to the public generally, the unrivalled
brilliance of the new light. His apparatus for this
occasion was carried to the summit of one of the
piers of Hungerford Suspension-bridge, that, namely, on
the Middlesex shore, and thence he threw the radiance
of his magnificent discovery now along the bridge to the
mullitudes that watched from the Surrey shore the effects
of the illumination, now upon the buildings which form
Hungerford-market, and now upon the water front of
Somerset-house, and upon Waterloo-bridge and the
steamers passing up the river ; but wherever it lighted,
the beam dazzled the beholder, whilst it discovered to
those who controlled it the minute characteristics both
of dress and of architecture. The power of the light,
however, is well known, and to those who wish ocular
demonstration, an opportunity will be afforded at the
same place during the remainder of the week. But
what is interesting to all who desire the progress of
scientific discovery, and the application of it to the uses
of society is, that Mr. Staite has been most successful
in effecting and maintaining the relative adjustment of
the two points, or opposite
poles, which occasion
luminosity. This has been one grand desideratum, which 1
we believe he has attained through means of the electric
the
current itself, so that it is self-acting, and by apparatus
even more economical of mechanic contrivance than we
last night had the opportunity of witnessing. His efforts
are now turned towards making his discovery economi-
cally applicable, and they have hitherto been most suc-
cessful. It may be interesting to those who saw the
brilliance of his light last night, collected as it was into
one focus by a reflector thrown behind, to know that the
power of:itis estimated at 750 candles. His apparatus
constructed for domestic use gives a light equal to from
eight to forty candles, with this singular advantage,
that the blaze can be produced and retained under an
airtight glass shade, so as to
ignition. prevent the possibility of

MURDEROUS ATTACIC UPON A MAIL GUARD.—
Yesterday morning, about three o'clock, a most savage
attack upon the guard of the mail-cart which is dis-
patched at midnight from Biggleswade to Ware was
made by two men, about two miles from the town of
Stevenage, in Hertfordshire. From the accounts of the
occurrence which have reached the Post-office in St.
Martin's-lc-Grand, it appears that, at this lonely point of
the cross-road, Morris (the guard) observed two men
rush up to th e cart, the one to the head of the animal
he was driving, and the other to the body of the mail-
cart. In an instant he felt the reins torn from his hand,
while the ruffian grasped his throat and dragged him
out of the vehicle. In order to protect the letter
bags with which he was entrusted, he made a
desperate effort to free himself, so that he
tents; but the villains, no doubt anticipating h
might regain possession of the mail cart and its, con-
is object,
rushed upon him with redoubled fury, heating him
unmercifully, and endeavouring to rob him; they tore
open his pockets and rifled them, without, however,
finding any booty. In the meantime the horse, finding
himself at liberty, bolted, and rushing forward, could
not be stopped until it had nearly reached Barnet, where
the bags were found quite safe. Some parties irom a
distance having witnessed the flight of the animal by the
moonlight, and fancying that something was wrong,
they went in search of the guard, who was found in a
most disabled state near the spot where the attack was
made, the robbers finding themselves foiled in their
attempt, having previously made off: About four months
ago an attack was made upon a mail-guard not far from
the same spot, when the robbers obtained 14s. from the
pockets of the party they attacked. Every exertion is
being made by the authorities to trace the villains.
inquestA FEMALE.--
MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF A Y
Yesterday Mr. Wakley, jun., heldoaUnN n
Lord Hill, North Wharf-road, Paddington, on Margaret
Fitzgerald, a dressmaker, aged 24. Mrs. Charlotte
Gordon stated that deceased, who assisted her in the
millinery business, left her residence, No. 17, North-
street, Lisson-grove, to visit some friends in Queen-
street, Edgeware-road, on Friday evening, She did
not hear of her afterwards until the following day, when
she heard that she bad been killed near Maida-hill.
Constable Moriarty, 191 was on duty at Maida-hill
between eight and nine o clock on Saturday morning,
when he observed a cab, with deceased in it, turning
into Edgeware-road. She was disputing with the cab-
man about the fare. The latter complained that he was
driving her about all the morning, and that
she
would
neither pay him nor say where she lived. He then
drove on, and in a few minutes afterwards witness
heard a scream, and looking towards Maida-hill saw
deceased lying on the road, while the cab drove on.
When he went up to deceased she was quite insen-
sible. He stopped the cab sid had her removed to
Dr. Greenwood's. The driver's badge was numbered
462, and his cab 2,248. Coloner—Where is the cab-
man? Southern, the summoning officer--.I could not get
his address, as the badge-office
.was closed on Saturday
and Monday. Dr. Stevenson sr!ttended deceased the
moment she was picked up- She was insensible and
speechless. She never rallied, and died at half-past
three on Saturday afternoon. He examined the body
after death. Inside and below the left knee and above
and below the left ear there were wounds ; there was a
large fracture of the skull, which produced effusion of
the blood on the brain, and that caused death. How
those wounds were inflicted he could not say. After
some discussion between the coroner, the jury, and the
friends of deceased, the inquiry was adjourned to enable
the police to produce the cabman.
THE BRITANNIA. BRIDGE.—On or about the 20th
of June is the period spoken of as a probable time when
the floating of the tube may be expected to come off.
A party of jack tars from the Sailors' Home, Liverpool,
have reached the locality, and are barracked on the
banks of the Menai, and these will be under the direc-
tion of Captain Claxton, to whom the arduous task of
floating the tubes has been confided. The scientific
world looks forward to this grand operation with much
interest, not unmixed with anxiety, but yet with confi-
dence; and it is expected that numbers will personally
satisfy themselves of the success of this certainly Her-
culean task.—North Wales Clworack.