The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-02 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

M. Dedel, the Netherlands Minister, had an audience
of his Royal Highness Prince Albert yesterday at Buck-
ingham Palace.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent visited her
Majesty yesterday afternoon.
The Hon. Colonel Grey has relieved Colonel Arbuth-
not in the duties of Equerry in Waiting on her Majesty;
and Major-General Sir Edward Bouverie has succeeded
Colonel Wylde as Equerry in Waiting on his Royal
Highness Prince Albert.

His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge,
left town on Tuesday, to honour the Earl of Cardigan
with a visit at his residence, Dean Park.
Lady Fanny Howard has succeeded Lady Charlotte
Dundas, as the Lady in Waiting on her Royal Highness
the Duchess of Kent.

Despatches from the Governor of the North American
Colonies were received yesterday afternoon at the Colo-
nial-office. Despatches were also received in the morning
at the Colonial-office from the Governors of the West
India Colonies.

LONDON MECHANICS' INSTITU-

TION.—DEATH OF DR. BIRKBECK.
The General Quarterly Meeting of the Subscribers to
this Institution was held last evening in the theatre of
the Institution, Southampton-buildings, Chancery-lane,
for the purpose of receiving the Report of the Secretary
for the first quarter.
Dr. TURNABOUT took the Chair, and called oa the Se-
cretary to report, which commenced by expressing the
sorrow of the Committee in having the painful duty to
announce the lamented death of Dr.Birkbeck,the late Pres-
ident of the Institution. The Report then set forth the ac-
counts of the Institution, recapitulating the various dona-
tions recently made to the Institution. The Secretary con-
cluded by reading two letters, one from Alass Birkbeck,
and the other from Dr. Birkbeck himself", written but a
few hours before his death. The letter from Miss Birk-
beck was to' announce the death of her lamented father,
which took place yesterday morning at six o'clock. It
appeared that the lamented. Doctor had called Miss Birk-
beck to his bedside late on Tuesday evening, and dictated
to her the note alluded to. It expressed his wish to
have been present at the forthcoming anniversary
of the Institution, stating that he had read the programme.
and that he felt confident of its success. This was in
allusion to the concert which :was to have taken place
this evening.—Mr. Spickett, at the conclusion of the
Report, rose and said, that he felt they would be guilty
of an ill-feeling, and a want of proper respect to their
late revered President, if they proceeded to the con-
sideration of the Report then. He therefore submitted,
that they should defer its consideration till next Monday
fortnight.—The Chairman, in putting the motion, said
he was sure they were too much absorbed in their feel-
ings of regret to be in a position to consider the Report.
—The motion was agreed to, and the thanks of the
meeting having been voted to the Chairman, the meet-
ing adjourned. The theatre was extremely full.

COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.
Anew ballet divertissement was produced at this thea-
tre last evening under the title of The Wooden Leg. The,
curtain draws up, and discovers a ship at anchor in one
of the Highland lochs. This scene (the only one of the
piece) is a perfect picture, and was loudly applauded.
The location, of course, affords ample opportunities for
the exhibition of a series of picturesque groupings of
blue jackets and highlanders; and when we state that
the piece has been produced under the superintendence
of Mr. Oscar Byrne, our readers will at once understand
that the most has been made of these opportunities. A
pas de deux by Mr. and Miss Marshall at the opening,
and another by Mr. Gilbert and Miss Bailin at the close
of the piece, were each much applauded; and Mr. T.
Ridgway, by his humorous acting and dancing as a bag-
piper, elicited shouts of laughter and applause. The
piece, which is excellently put upon the stage was per-
fectly successful. The house was well filled.

SUICIDE.—On Tuesday afternoon, between two
and three o'clock, Mr. Thomas Germaine, a gentleman
of independent property, who resided at No. 2, West-
moreland-place, City-road, put a period to his existence
by shooting himself through the heart with his own
sporting gun. For some days past the unfortunate gen-
tleman has been much depressed in spirits. It is sup-
posed that he committed the act while in bed (as he was
only partly dressed), and that he discharged the gun
by placing the trigger at the foot of the bed. Ile was
about 52 years of age. !Hs wife died several years ag

THE MAGAZINES.

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.

In the dissertation on " Homer and the Ho-
merithe" which is here continued from the last
Number, Mr. De Quincey—for we suspect that
he is the author—strenuously contends for the
" absolute integrity" of the Iliad, in opposition
to the theory of some of the German commenta-
tors. It was scarcely worth his while to enter
at so much length into the question, for it is one
that has been long since set at rest by the com-
mon sense of the learned world ; and indeed no
one can peruse the Iliad with attention, without
seeing that it is throughout the harmonious pro-
duction of a single, vigorous, imaginative, well-
proportioned intellect. The character of Achilles
alone—as fhe author justly remarks—" has an
ideal finish and a divinity about it, which argue
that it never could have been a fiction, or a gra-
dual accumulation from successive touches. It
was raised by a single flash of creative imagina-
tion, it was a reality seen through the har-
monizing abstractions of two centuries; and it is
in itself a great unity which penetrates every
section where it comes forward, vitli an identifi-
cation of these several parts as the work of one
man." In Mr. Aird's " Churchyard Eclogue"
there are some striking thoughts, and a power of
versification that proves the author to have a
true ear for the various melody of rhyme. " Phi-
losophic Nuts" is a clever sarcastic notice of a
work lately published under this quaint title. In
some of its passages we think we can detect
traces of the manner of Christopher North,
whose versatile and vigorous pen has been most
unaccountably idle forseveral months. "Sketches
of Italy" will amuse those who are easily pleased,
but the theme is a terribly hacknied one, for who
has not already read, in verse as well as prose,
all he cares to read on the subject of Italian
scenery, manners, antiquities, and so forth?
The " World of London" sketches the various
classes of Irishmen in the metropolis with great
minuteness, but in rather too prejudiced a spirit.
There is truth, however, in the following ob-
servation—" You hear many complaints from
Irish gentlemen of the aversion and hostility
with which they imagine they are regarded by
Englishmen; to hear them talk you would ima-
gine that all England was in a conspiracy,against
them to crush their rising talent, and to put
them down. Never was prejudice so unjust. An
Englishman deals with the adventurers of other
countries in a spirit worthy his commercial cha-
racter; he examines him, and if he finds he suits
the market he buys him; if otherwise, he will
have nothing to do with him." In " Modern
Schools of Art in France, Belgium, and Swit-
zerland," we find several details respecting the
most eminent living French painters. The author
commences by asserting that the exhibition at
Paris was this year far superior to that in Tra-
falgar-square, not only in manual execution and
the special technicalities of art, but also in the
poetry of painting, sculpture, and design; and
then goes on to give brief biographical and criti-
cal sketches of several of the most celebrated
French painters, foremost among whom he
ranks Horace Vernet, of whom he says, " his
delineations possess all the vigour of Rubens
without any of that illustrious master's exagge-
rations, and his colouring, in many instances,
shows that he has been a careful student of the
great Fleming's best qualities. He is not only
very bold, but very rapid in his execution, and
anecdotes are told of some of his feats in painting
against time that are quite surprising." The
" Hints to Authors" are excellent—more parti-
cularly the introductory portion, wherein the
author launches his fiercest fulminations against
those abandoned wretches who neglect to pre-
pay the post, and who " to make the paltry
saving of a penny, force their correspondents to
an outlay of two-pence." For such wretches
there can indeed be no hope of salvation. The
hottest seat in Tophet is their destined lot for
ever. The account of the " Tower of London"
is mere common-place twaddle,,dished up pretty
much in the style of a local Guide-Book. From
the " Tittle-Tattle of a Philosopher," we quote
an account of the writer's—who was one of the
Professors of the University of Leipsic—inter-
view with Napoleon, about the time of the cele-
brated battle which took place in the immediate
neighbourhood of that city :
At length the day dawned on which the great Napo-
leon himself was expected to honour Leipsic with his
presence. He did not appear, however, until three days
after the time appointed ; and meanwhile the chief
authorities of the town were moved about from place to
place, and kept almost continually on their feet. We
had, indeed a most weary time of it during these three
clays. At length •the great man arrived, and gave us
an audience in the King of Saxony's palace in the
market-place. Here the domineering character of the man
displayed itself most conspicuously. He came burning
with wrath against the University, and almost the first
words he uttered were—" Where are the deputies of the
University My. colleagues and myself immediately
came forward, when he overwhelmed us with a torrent
of invective,, on account of some students who had en-
listed in the corps of Luckow's volunteers—as if the
students had been schoolboys, who could not take a
single step without the permission of the Senatus Aea-
demicus. He then turned to the mercantile authori-
ties, and demanded—" How many millionaires have
you in Leipsic ?" (he alluded to francs, but those in-
terrogated thought that he meant dollars) ; and when
it was answered him that there was not one, he clapped
his hand upon his pocket with a sarcastic leer, as much
as to say--I'll find out a method to make them render
up their coin. Avarice and the lust of dominion seemed
to be the only passions of his soul.
When the audience was at an end, and Napoleon was
departing, one of my colleagues ventured to step for-
ward to address him. The Emperor started back, ap-
parently doubtful what the intentions of my friend
might be. For so timorous was this great man grown,
that he lived in the constant dread of assassination ;
and when I was at Konigsberg I remember his once
leaping out of a boat in the middle of the Pregel,
and making for the shore, because he had observed a
movement among the crowd upon the opposite bank
of the river, and imagined that an attempt was about
to be made upon his precious life. But on the pre-
sent occasion, when he discovered that the Professor
had no dagger in his bosom, and merely wished to
mollify the tiger with a few civil words, he grinned
scornfully in his face, and then turned his back upon
him. And this was the great man who had made the
world his footstool, and whom all the nations wor-
shipped as a perfect god ! To me he appeared to be
nothing but a drill sergeant, who had a certain knack
of railing the rabble into obedience to his will. Nei-
ther in his demeanour nor in his language was there the
smallest trace of dignity or grace. Terror was his only
talisman.

The colossus was now tottering on his pedestal, but
he had not yet fallen. He collected his strength for
one last desperate effort, and assembled all his forces
in the neighbourhood of Leipsic. My house was in
the outskirts of the town, and commanded a prospect
of a large portion of the battle-field. Cannon-balls
and hand-grenades flew around us on all sides, and
many peaceful inhabitants were struck dead in the
streets. The hot tide of battle then set in upon the
city itself, and raged furiously within its narrow pre-
cincts. But the brave Allies were at length victorious,
and before nightfall I had the satisfaction of witnessing
from my windows the flight of the discomfited foe. And
what a flight it was! Pell-mell they went—neck and
heels, by scores into the ditches which intercepted their
ignominious retreat.;;Napoleon himself escaped by blow-
ing up a bridge in his rear, and thereby consigning to
death or captivity many of his devoted train.