The Sun.
London, England, 1836-11-01 00:00:00

FINE ARTS.

We have just seen an engraving, entitled " Robinson
Crusoe reading the Bible to his man Friday," which
is from a painting by Fraser, exhibited, if we mistake
not, at Somerset House, a few years since. The en,
graver is Mr. Lewis, who must have spent much timi
on his task, as is evident even on a first glance. The
figure and attitude of Crusoe are admirably dchned ;
nothing can be more easy or more like life than the
latter, particularly as regards the position of the right
arm. The hermit is represented as seated in a rustic
chair, expounding the Scriptures to the half-tamed
savage Friday, who looks up to his prer:eptor with an
expression of deep reverence : his kneeling posture, and
the submissive bend of the head, as if he were listening
to some one whose superi(rilty he felt in his inmost
soul, are full of the rigl):t expression. This engraving,
from its deep, bros:.‘d masses of light and shade, and
the vigour with which it is everywhere executed, would
frame admirably.
" Greenwich Pensioners commemorating the Battle
of Trafalgar," is engraved by the same gentle,man who
executed 14..1e painting from ‘1 hich it is takeo, Mr. John
Burnett—a skilful artist, to whom we are also indebted
for the well-known engraving of the Chelsea Pensioners
reading a newspaper containing the official account of
the Battle of Waterloo. The 'present production is full
of character. A vast num.'der of figures are introduced
prominently in the foreground, and each has that air
of individuality aborit him that leads us to conclude he
is a portrait from. life. One timber-toed old fellow,•in
particular, w}-,o is seated at a corner of the table, smok-
ing a blael stump of a pipe, and
.evidently rubbing up
lra re'collection of the battles in, whj,ch he has been en-
,o.ed under Nelson, is so like life, that we can scarcely
,persuade ourselves that we have _not seen the, original
pacing the court-yard Of Greenwich Hospital. On the
this engraving is worthy to -vie with the very
best that has appeared for years.

Colonel Lyster, of the Guards, has been appointed
a Gentleman Usher to his Majesty.
Lord Henry Fitzmaurice, brother of the late Earl
of Kerry, intends to take the title of the Earl of Shelburne
instead of that of Kerry.
Despatches were forwarded yesterday from the Fo-
eign Department for Lord Ponsonby, at Constantinople ;
or Lord Durham, at St. Petcrsburgh ; and for Mr. Vil.
iers, at Madrid.
On Tuesday night Mr. Carter, the surgeon, •of
Billericay, not finding Phillip Suckling, his groom, in the
house, proceeded to put up his horse for the night, when
the groom entered the stable in a state of intoxication,
and seeing his master thus engaged, seized the pitchfork
then in his master's hand, and attempted. to wrest it from
him. Mr. Carter endeavoured to defend himself as well as
be could, but in the scuffle he fell to the ground. The as-
sistant, hearing cries for help, came to Mr. Carter's relief,
end he was felled to the ground 'ay a blow from the pitch-
fork. Curtis, the constable, being near the spot, came in,
and found all three lying on the ground, the blood flowing
from the assistant's head, Curtis had great difficulty in se-
curing the groom, who resisted violently, nor did he succeed
before receiving several severe blows on the head. He was
taken before the magistrate, but Mr. Carter would not press
tbn charge arrinst him, resting satisfied with discharging
him.—lpszt2ch Journal.
Lord and Lady Willoughby d'Eresby, after a long
visit at Drummond Castle, have arrived at Grinisthorpe,
Lincoln, where they will sojourn for some time.
HOMICIDE.—An occurrence of a very serious and
fatal nature took place on Tuesday night in the neigh-
bourhood of Biggar. Three young men called at a farm-
house, one of whom was the sweetheart of a female servant
in the family. The young men went away together, but
the one particularly alluded to returned, against the wish of
his companions, to mention something to the young woman,
and meeting the master in the barn yard, the latter dis-
charged a pistol at him, and shot him dead. The deceased
was the son of a respectable carpenter in Biggar, whose oc-
cupation he also followed. It was past midnight when the
occurrence took place, and next day the farmer was taken
into custody, and conveyed to Lanark gaol.—Edinburgh
Advertiser.

We are sorry to have to record a file in the quiet
little village of Frant, near Tunbridge Wells, which was,
no doubt, the work of an incendiary. On Wednesday
night, about nine o'clock, a large harp, the property of
Sheffield Grace, Esq., filled with hay, corn, and straw,
was discovered to be on fire, and was soon in a complete
blaze. There being no hope of saving any part of it, all
exertions were directed to sa,.e the building contiguous,
which, we are happy to say, after two or three hours' in-
cessant labour on the part of the inhabitants and poor of
the parish, was effected. There being plenty of water,
the fire was subdued in the adjoining lodge, and confined
entirely to the barn. Providentially the wind aided the
exertions of the people, as the little that was stirring blew
directly from the house, and in a great measure from the
lodge ; had there been a strong wind at the time in the di-
rection of the house, the whole must have been consumed,
as the flames were very rapid, and rose to a great height.
Great exertions have been used to trace the miscreant, but
we believe as yet without effect. We understand that it is
not supposed to be caused by any one in the parish.—
Brighton Gazette.
At an early hour yesterday nv,,,rning the keeper of
the Receiving House of the Royal Humane Society on the
bank of the Serpentine apprehended two men with upwards
of 60Ibs. weight of eels in their possession, which they had
speared in that part of the river where the bed is being
cleared.

MYSTERIOUS DIS AprEARA NCE.—On Friday
night, information was given to Inspector Fryer, of the B
division of polices -o'-; the singular and mysterious disappear-
ance of a gentliramn named Overa, residing as No. 5, York
Street, Steney. It appeared that on that evening, Mrs.
Overa w•lnt to chapel, leaving her husband at home, and
on her return she found that her husband had gone out, and
in few minutes afterwards she perceived a slip of paper on
the table, which had very recently been written on by her
husband, as the ink was not perfectly dry. It was addressed
to his wife, and commenced by saying—" When you will
find this I'll be no more, and I'll take great care that no
person shall find or know where my body will be." This
intimation very naturally alarmed his wife, and she at once
sent to the nearest station-house to give information of the
the police, and a description of his person, so that if they
met him they might detain him. It seemed that Mr. Overa
had resided for many years in the East Indies, where he
had realised some property, and latterly has expressed strong
desires to go back there. For several weeks he has been
in a melancholy and dejected state of mind, and there is
strong reason to suspect that he seriously contemplates? th e
act of self-destruction. No tidings have yet been obtained
Mr. Hards, of Lewes, Sussex, has invented a method
of measuring a ship's progress, by which the heaving of
the log may be dispensed with.

_ .
Shortly before seven o'clock on Ft-1(1%y night an ex-
plosion took place at the newly-erected gas-works at Dun-
stable under the following circumstances :--It is supposed
that while the inspector of the
works was at tea, one of the
three men whom he had le
f" in charge incautiously ap-
proached too near the ti':oe-hole with a lighted candle,
when, shocking to r,elpie, a frightful explosion took place,
and in an instant toe whole works were blown into frag-
ments. Two of the three men left in charge of the works
were blown ',tit° a field on the opposite side of the turn-
pike-road,, which is situated on the London and Birmingham
line ; these men were killed, and not a feature was visible
Winch could be identified. The other man was conveyed
to a public-house called the Gasometer ; he is not expecteti
to survive. One of the sufferers resided in the town, wh,nse
name is Seeley, and has left a wife and five children to de-
plore his loss. To-morrow (Monday) was the d.ly fixed
for lighting the town with gas. The gasomete..• had not
been filled more than half an hour when the erplosion took
place. Had the accident happened an hc,ur earlier, hun-
dreds of lives would have been sacrificed, as the good people
of Dunstable had mustered numerously to witness the fill-
ing of the gasometer, and had but just departed.
POTASH FROM BEET-ROOT.—The beet-root, says
a French paper, is about to acquire an additional title to
the attention of agriculturists, by the new produce which,
besides molasses and sugar, it is now found can be extractedt
from it. One of those productions, potash, will be, like
sugar, the rival of an exotic commodity. M. Dubrunfant
has been the first to discover the means of advantageously
extracting this substance from the residuum left after the
distillation of molasses, and which have hitherto been
thrown away after the separation of its alcohol. To give
some idea of the importance of this new source of national.
wealth, it will sufficient to say that the quantity of potash
yielded by M. Dubrunfant's process is equal to one-sixth of
the quantity of sugar extracted from the beet-root : thlis
admitting the fact that 80 millions of pounds of indigenous
sugar are annually produced, we may expect to obtain from
the primary material J 4 millions of a saline substance, equal
in every respect to the best potash imported, besides alcohol,
and other prodUctions. At the present .rate of prices the,
value of this quantity will be about 'eight or nine millior ,s
of francs, and these facts furnish an additional argument 'for
the protection of our indigenous sugar against foreign 9
=-
petition.