The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-03 00:00:00

THE METROPOLITAN.

As there is a perceptible struggle for improvement
in this miscellany we are disposed to regard it with
the eye of hope and encouragement. Apart from the
lighter and more ephemeral of the contributions there
are one or two that betoken a more aspiring spirit.
We cannot but feel amused at the pertness with which
a Mr. Ritchie—not Leitch Ritchie—remarks, " Like
Babington Macaulay, WE delight in illustrations."
Certainly that is the only and the most shadowy re-
semblance. We like not the tone of the scrambling
criticism upon Tancred ; there is in it a sarcastic fri-
volity quite unbefitting the character of a reviewer,
as where that fiction is termed " an aristocratical
Pickwick." The remark reminds us of an equally
sarcastic, an equally undeserved, and a much more
caustic observation uttered very recently in our hear-
ing in regard to Mr. Disraeli's abilities, namely, that
he is a millionaire in point of intellect, but that he is
rich only in counterfeit coin. Mr. Disraeli is un-
doubtedly mistaken as to the regeneration of mankind
only through the infusion of the pure Caucasian
blood, and the re-elevation of the Hebrew race to the
pinnacle of human authority ; he is mistaken in those
visions, and as a proof that he is, we commend him
to the perusal of the twelfth verse in the fourth chapter
of the prophet Isaiah. But, erroneous as we believe
his expectations and yearnings to be in this parti-
cular, the sneers with which they are greeted are
assuredly not the welcomes due to his genius. The
biographical paper upon Cardinal Wolsey is nothing
better than a string .of quotations from Cavendish and
Galt. The articles written in allusion to America
are among the liveliest in the Metropolitan, and pro-
mise well for the advancement of the character of the
publication.

COLBURIV'S UNITED SERVICE.
This is an extremely interesting number, it con-
tains more than the usual su quantity of narratives of
The
"Perilous
account
f the h
Adventure,
e bothby Floodwith
h
and Field."w planet Neptune,
it opens, exhibits the wonderful triumph of analytic
science, which led two gentlemen,
of h
strangers
labours ersto each
other, and each in total ignorance
the other, to investigate this most intricate problem,orsof
and confidently to predict, not merely the existence
of such a body, and its distance from the earth, but to
calculate its position in the heavens, and each inde-
pendently to arrive at the same conclusions. It
would also afford a singular corroboration of the
Newtonian doctrines, if any additional evidence in
their favour were required. It forms an additional
link in the chain that comes within Kepler's law—
a law that has already led to the discovery of
the smaller planets or asteroids—and extends
the known limits of agronomy to nearly
three times the former distance, and opens
the way for new discoveries in still more remote
regions. "The predicting and finding in this case
were not the fruits of accidental finding, persevering
scrutiny, nor telescopic power, but the magnificent
consequence of a judicious exertion of profound
thought and transcendental reasoning." So remarks
the writer of the article in question ; and, indeed,
there is not in the history of science an event
more striking, or circumstances more curious than
those connected with the discovery, the history
of which is now given. We shall let the writer speak
for himself. As to the result, he says ;-
4, Thus, then, by a. prefound computation based on
very slight data the closet mathematician has been
armed with more than magician's power, and not only
'pointed out the place in which a new planet must tie
found, but also limited the space in which to search for
it, weighed its mass, determined Its diameter, figured
its orbital circuit, and numbered the years of its revo-
lutioai
around the contPi Limnnary
Tko egiafitiwnt to.