The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-28 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 28, 1847.

cessity of a national system of education. The new
Parliament have all the materials for the erection of
a noble structure.

narrative of the first journey of the kind, these two
volumes by Sir George Simpson command a very
considerable share of attention; nor are they, with the
exception of certain indications of monomania, in
regard to the Emperor Nicholas and Siberia, of a
character unworthy of a very general and distin-
guished approbation.

NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY ROUND THE
IV ORLD. Two Vols. By Sir George Simpson.
Often as this terraqueous globe of ours has been
circumnavigated, it remained for the Governor-in-
Chief of the Hudson's Bay Company's territories in
North America, Sir George Simpson, to be the first
individual who should travel round the earth overland.
The narrative of this remarkable journey is contained
in these two handsome and interesting volumes. Sir
George announces on the title-page, that his pere-
grinations were as far back in date as the years
1841 and 1842 ; and he apologises in a manner
for the tardy appearance of the work by
telling us in rather indifferent grammar, in
the preface, that his numerous occupations, of an offi-
cial character, have heretofore "precluded hiin from
bestowing an earlier and requisite attention to the sub-
ject." Although we cannot accompany the author in
all the sentiments expressed by him during the course
of his lucubrations, we are perforce carried along with
him in imagination during the whole of his curious
progress through Europe, America, and Asia, fas-
cinated by the bonhommie of his style and allured by
the singularity of his proceedings. For example, we
are lothe to hearken to his extravagant eulogiums
upon the Imperial monster of the North, whom he
mentions in this wise :
" The present Czar's personal qualities, physical, and
intellectual, and moral, must induce every man's judg-
ment to acquiesce in the homage which his feelings are
constrained to pay. Nicholas," he continues, " is uni-
versally allowed to present the noblest mould of form and
feature, to be the ablest and most laborious sovereign of
the age, and, what is higher praise than all in an indi-
vidual of his exalted station, to set before his people the
brightest example of all the domestic virtues."
At first such egregious toadying of a man univer-
sally execrated by civilised nations is incomprehen-
sible, but a cursory glance at a map of North
America will speedily explain the enigma ; it will
demonstrate the wherefore of such unexampled civi-
lity on the part of the Governor-in-Chief of the
Hudson's Bay Company, by revealing the contiguity
of their magnificent possessions to the enormous ter-
ritories colonised by the lieges of the Emperor
Nicholas. Sir George Simpson seems generally to
keep what is termed in sea-faring parlance his
" weather-eye open." Even in his dedication he
evinces a wholesome reverence for their High
Mightinesses, the Directors of the Hudson's Bay
Company. And upon a precisely similar, and ex-
ceedingly comfortable, and decidedly accommodating
principle, he becomes the earnest panegyrist of his
Imperial Majesty the Despot of all the Russias. Not
only this, but he degenerates into the extenuation of
the preternatural cruelties perpetrated in the icy wil-
dernesses of Siberia ; nay, he proceeds to such outrage-
ous lengths in uttering encomiums on the very pater-
nal Government of St. Petersburgh, that he holds up
the system of banishment into Siberia as one emi-
nently in accordance with the dictates of wisdom and
philanthropy, and rather serving as a model for imita-
tion than otherwise. Protesting, therefore, in
language as emphatic as we can just now select
against this miraculous malversation of truth, and
expressing our abhorrence alike of the man who
wields the sceptre of the infamous Catherine with
such congenial brutality, and of the system by which
he consigns so many thousands of our fellow-creatures
to the lingering agony of expatriation in the wintry
wastes of Siberia, we turn from this disagreeable
portion of Sir George Simpson's narrative to the
pleasanter passages, in which he depicts his wander-
ings and ponderings in many remote quarters of the
globe. At the outset we cannot resist expressing our
admiration at the inextinguishable good humour of
our author throughout the whole of this remarkable
journey. When other men would have become
soured by the petty calamities incident to the tra-
veller, he continues the same blithe, cheerful, viva-
cious being he proved himself to be on starting. The
hobbles resulting from insufficient conveyances, from
lumbering carriages that refuse to budge an inch
further through the mud, from restive horses that
suddenly, in the very crisis of a roadside dilemma,
throw up their heels, snap their reins asunder, and
gallop "over the hills and far away," from ignorant
guides, uncleanly lodging, and unpalateable fare, only
prove fresh provocatives to the facetiousness of Sir
George Simpson. Instead of bewailing the incon-
veniences attendant upon his out-of-the-way pere-
grinations, he seems, on the contrary, to have revelled
in the consciousness that a thousand casualties were
perpetually conspiring against his comfort. Sir
George displays a wonderful aptitude for seeing things
in their ludicrous light, and he avails himself of this
capacity upon every reasonable and unreasonable oc-
casion. Besides this, he is a keen observer of animal
and vegetable nature—of the picturesque in scenery,
and the characteristic in town life and village
life. His chapters flow, one after another,
each presenting a different spectacle to our con-
templation, like the sliding glasses in the
galantee-show. Every page, moreover, reflects
upon its surface, so to speak, the trees, and the waters,
and the mountains, and the houses, and the human
beings actually seen by the writer as he proceeded
onwards, as vividly as on the disc of a camera
obscura. A better idea, however, may be afforded of
the character of the work under consideration by
giving a condensed description of the route taken by
the traveller, than by referring to the prominent
features of his narrative, or the most conspicuous
characteristics of his style. Having embarked on the
4th of March, 1841, at Liverpool, on board the
British steamer " Caledonia," of 1,300 tons, and 450
horse power, Sir George Simpson proceeded in a
westerly course from the mouth of the Mersey. After
encountering a variety of adventures, such as only
occur to voyagers on the tempestuous Atlantic—
catchingranreci,
Pre-
sident" a glimpse of a whale, getting involved in the
same
disappeared,hurricane
mistakingi n w h i c h tah
fie
eunfortunate
r"
and a star for a " revolving light"—they entered the
harbour of Halifax on the 18th of March. On their
veryide n t' '
way thither they had passed by the Great Bank of
Newfoundland. From Halifax they "steamed'' on to
Boston, where they disembarked from the " Cale-
donia," and, leaving that pleasant city with as much
dispatch as possible, proceeded by railroad first to
Lowell and then on to Nashua. Nashua is described
by our author as one of the most precocious towns in
that most precocious of all civilised countries, America,
having sprouted into maturity with the rapidity of a
mushroom. Thence he hastened forward by a coach-
and-four to Vermont, and, exchanging that convey-
ance for a sleigh, clattered on towards Montpellier.
The party, however, were not destined to reach that
assemblage of villas without a preliminary stoppage
on the road, in consequence of the vehicle sticking
perversely in the mud, and the horses bolting no less
perversely, and defying their pursuers until after a
" chase of several miles." On leaving Montpellier
they at once crossed into the Canada territories, reach-
ing Montreal by passing over the ice of the St. Law-
rence. Their journey then appears to have assumed a
rather formidable character, seeing that they had to
travel slowly up the river in canoes, stopping now to
dine, now to bivouac, and now to diverge through
the thickets around the portages—a portage being
that portion of the banks which is situated between
the summit and the bottom of a cascade or a rapid.
Arrived at Lake Superior, Sir George expatiates at
some length on the riches imbedded in the vicinity of
the Thunder Mountain, were the soil is prolific in its
deposits of copper, tin, gold, and silver. Leaving Fort
William behind them the travellers paddled up the river
Kaministaquoia,-passing severally through the Lake la
Croix, Lake la Pluie, and the Lake of the Woods.
Here they pressed forward to the Rat Portage, to Fort
Alexander, hard by Lake Winipeg, to Assihiboine
river, and onwards across the gigantic prairies, by
Fort Ellice, Fort George, Kootanie Fort, and Fort
Colville, until their arrival at Fort Vancouver—a
spot latterly invested with extraordinary interest, be-
ing situated on that river Columbia in the Oregon
territories so long disputed by England and America.
Sir George Simpson had in this manner crossed the
American continent by a road of five thousand miles
in the brief period of twelve weeks. Instead of being
exhausted by this enormous distance, he made eccen-
tric excursions first northwards to New Archangel
and Sitka, in the Russian territories, and then south-
wards to Port St. Francisco, to Monterey (since then
the scene of a battle), and to San Barbara, in Cali-
fornia. From the latter harbour he made an elliptical
course, touching at the Sandwich Islands, and re-
turning to the Russian settlement at New Archangel.
Thence he moved directly across the Pacific,
pas-
sing the extreme point of the promontory of Kam-
stchatka, entered the port of Okotsk. The narrative at
this point is so wonderfully dismal in the depicted cold-
ness and desolation of those northern regions, that we
shall content ourselves with a mere enumeration of the
• • and
principal stages of his subsequent journey. Having
boated up the river Okota, he went on horseback,
through pine forests, to Yakutsk, downwards by
the Lena (one of the vastest rivers in the world),
passing by the gold country near the Yenisei, and
reaching the capital, Krasnoiarsk ; thence to Tomsk,
to Omsk, to Tobolsk, and to Ekaterineburg, in the
centre of the Uralian mountains, where there are in
abundance amethysts, diamonds, topazes, gold, silver,
iron, and platina, principally the property of M.
Yaltovleff and Count Demidoff. Lucky Demidoff!
lucky Yakovleff! the silver spoons in your mouths
when you were clothed in swaddling garments must
have been encrusted with precious stones, and as large
as soup ladles ! On to Kazan, on to Novgorod (where
is the largest fair in the world), on to Moscow (the
phoenix of cities), on to St. Petersburgh, down the
gulf of Finland, down the Baltic to Hamburgh, and
then to London, where Sir George Simpson arrived
just at the close of the October of 1842, having jour-
nigd round the world, overland in the wonderfully
short time of nineteen months and twenty-six days !
Wonderfully short, however, it cannot long continue
I
to be regarded, seeing that steam promises soon to
render the route a trip of comparative facility. As a

EXHIBITION OF PICTURES AT
WESTMINSTER HALL.
Government is at length eliciting the artistic genius
which has hitherto remained comparatively dormant
among our fellow-countrymen. The screens in West-
minster Hall sufficiently testify that the munificence of
the Legislature has not been misdirected. Only one
question forces itself upon us as still problematical, after
a prolonged inspection of the paintings—What will the
State do with the intellect it has thus summoned into
development? Will it, like the fabricator of Franken-
stein, abandon the spirit it has evoked at the very mo-
ment when the power and ambition of that spirit is
attested? We cannot think that this generous movement
will be productive of such miseries as a conclusion like
that would necessitate. There is a glorious but mournful
warning on the wall—No. 15—one of the latest, and
certainly one of the best of poor Ilaydon's—" The
Banishment of Aristides, illustrative of the Injustice
of Democracy!" With that visible manifestation of the
woes incident to the atelier before us, we cannot dream
that the Government will encourage merely to forsake.
From the multiplicity of the productions suspended in
Westminster Hall, one hundred and twenty distinct paint-
ings, it would be impossible to give an accurate analysis
of the merits of the collection from the recollection of a
single inspection, and within the compass of a
single notice. The remembrance of a first visit to
an exhibition so novel and so copious in pro-
mise as the present, is necessarily one of the most
embarrassed and confused that can be conceived. Sup-
posing due attention is paid to each individual composi-
tion, the recollection of the whole would necessarily be a
combination of excellencies and blemishes, of incidents
and emotions, of hues and distances, and groupings and
passions. Bearing this in mind, we principally confined
our attention to those pictorial creations the predominant
talent of which has been in a very signal manner pro-
claimed by the combined judgments of the Marquis of
Lansdowne, of Sir Robert Peel, of Samuel Rogers, of
Richard Westmacott, of Richard Cook, and of William
Etty. Looking then to these directly, we were irresist
ibly reminded of the proverbial impossibility of making
any selection of this character in such:a manner as to sa-
tisfy any single individual,with the exception, of course, of
the successful competitors and their particular friends.
Taste is so variable in its nature, so diverse in its mani-
festation, and so impossible to reduce within arbitrary
rules, that its definition has baffled even the astuteness
of Alison. It has even pronounced its own fickleness
by merging into the adage, chacun a son gout—that
adage, moreover, showing in a remarkable manner that
each man has son gout—his particular taste. Art, how-
ever, is anything but simply a thing appreciable by what
is commonly called taste. Taste cannot make an exe-
crable picture a masterpiece, nor distort a masterpiece
into a monstrosity. The genius of art appeals irresis-
tibly to persons of all imaginable tastes (so-called),
though it appeals to them undoubtedly through an ex-
traordinary number of different channels. Still wherever
the genius of art is imprinted:upon the canvass, there,
be certain, is attracted the admiration of those who are
competent to appreciate the productions of that art; and
precisely from such a consideration are we prepared to
express our supreme astonishment at the classification
of the nine pictures to which prizes have been awarded.
We are amazed at the particular classification, and we
are satisfied the public will be amazed likewise. Fore-
most among the " Premiums of Five Hundred Pounds"
is No. 17, " Burial of Harold at Waltham Abbey," by
F.R.Pickersgill. Supposing the visitor were taken blind-
fold from the entrance-gate of the hall, and relieved from
the bandage opposite this Prize A, No. 1, we do not
hesitate to say, that his surprise would be that the pic-
ture by Mr. Pickersgill is considered by the Fine Arts
Committee as the best painting in the exhibition—nay,
we do not hesitate to say that his predominant sentiment
would be a sentiment of disappointment. For
a moment we do not deny that the " Burial
of Harold" is clever—comsummately clever—but
we do assuredly protest that in our estimation it is very
far indeed from being the masterpiece in the exhibition.
The grouping is anything but graceful, presenting as it
does the curve of so many buttocks around the corpse of
the slain monarch; and, saving the sombre green of the
female dress and the glittering mail of the soldier, the colour
is feeble. Immeasurably beyond this in point of subject
in point of inspiration, and in point of drawing, is the
painting by G. F. Watts, No. 28, " Alfred inciting the
Saxons to prevent the landing of the Danes, by en-
countering them at sea." The vestures of the great kings
as he steps upon the plank of the galley, seem to be
caught up in the storm of heroism, and the Saxons
respond tojthe trumpet tones of his voice by their daring
visages and the appropriate energy of their movements.
The conception is grand and truly historical, but the
colouring is miserably deficient. No. 31, " The Battle of
Meanee," by Edward Armitage, is a spirited battle
scene, suggested by the school of Horace Vernet,
but for anything in the shape of poetry, of ingenuity, of
truthfulness to nature, or of power in the portraiture of
passion, it is a blank. Very different is the 11th pic-
ture as marked in the catalogue, " Edward'
Generosity to the People of Calais during the
Siege of 1346," by Paul Falconer Poole. The
incident chosen by the artist is one of the noblest in the
history of our common country. Edward 111. and the
Black Prince are represented in the centre of the pic-
ture distributing alms to the poorer inhabi-
tants of Calais who have been thrust out of the city
gates, to the number of seventeen hundred, by Jean
de Vienne, the Governor. The composition of the
entire picture is masterly, and domestic passion shines
out :conspicuously in the different groups. The
whole is conceived in the loftiest style of art,
and the combination of colour is marvellously beautiful.
J. Noel Paton has a dainty and imaginative picture
(No. 24), " The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania:'
it is swarming with invention, both bewitching and
fantastic. Another noble limning is that of " Wisdom"
(No. 95.) by James Eckford Lauder. Several of the
unrewarded paintings struck us as:evidencing superior
ability.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge, ac-
companied by the Princess Mary, and attended by the
Baroness Hammerstein and Mr. E. St. John Mildmay,
honoured the exhibition of oil paintings, in Westminster
Hall, with a visit on Saturday afternoon. Her Royal
Highness was received by Mr. Eastlake, who accom-
panied the illustrious party through the hall.
Among the nobility and gentry who attended the
private view were his Grace the Duke of Wellington, the
Duke and Duchess of Bedford, the Duke and Duchess
of Northumberland, the Duchess of Sutherland, the
Ladies Caroline and Constance Leveson Gower and the
Hon. Miss Ellis, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Mar-
chioness of Ailesbury, the Marquis and Marchioness of
Westminster, the Marquis and Marchioness of Exeter*
the Earl and Countess Craven, the Countess Dowager of
Morley, the Earl and Countess of Morley, the Earl of
Rosebery, the Countess of Pembroke and the Hon. Mr.
and Mrs. Sidney Herbert, the Earl and Countess of
Leven and the Ladies Melville, the Earl Compton, the
Earl Fortescue, the Earl of Wilton, the Earl of Ripon,
the Countess Waldegrave and Lady Laura Waldegrave,
the Earl Granville, the Earl of Powis and Lady Lucy
Herbert, the Earl and Countess of Shelburne, the Coun-
tess Grey and Miss Copley, the Earl of Minto and
the Ladies Elliott, the Countess of Selkirk and Lady
Katherine Douglas, the Earl and Countess of Elles-
mere, the Earl of Clanwilliam, the Countess Cowper,
the Earl Waldegrave, Viscount and Lady Ma-
rian Alford, Viscountess Canning, Viscountess Jocelyn,
and Lady Ashley, Viscount and Viscountess Brackley,
Viscountess Mahon, Viscount and Viscountess Folke-
stone, Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston, Viscount
Anson, Viscount Ranelagh, Viscount Jocelyn, Viscount
Morpeth and Lady Mary Howard, Lord and Lady Col-
borne and the Hon. Miss Colborne, Lady Holland, Lady
Frederick Bentinck, Lord Robert Grosvenor, Lord and
Lady Wharncliffe and the Hon. Miss Stuart Wortley,
Lady M. Pleydell Bouverie, Lord Ashley, Lord North-
wick, Lady de Dunstanville, Lord Harry Vane, the
Ladies Mary and Elizabeth Waldegrave, Lady Sher-
brooke, Lady Caroline Lascelles and Miss Lascelles
Lady Wenlock and the Hon. Mrs. Stuart Wortley',
Dowager Lady Wharncliffe, Lady Dover, Lady Wil-
loughby D'Eresby and Lady Carington, Lord Glcnelg,
Lady John Russell and Lord Ribblesdale, Lord and
Lady Dalmeny, Lord Seymour, Lord de Manley, Lady
Fuller, Lady Hume Campbell, Lord Holland, the Ladies
Elliot and the Honourable Mrs. Elliot, Lady Catherine
Cavendish, Lady Louisa Pennant, Lady Louisa Tenison,
Lady Jane Ogilvy, Lady William Powlett, Lady and
Miss Parke, Mr. Baron Parke, Honourable Captain
Devereux, R.N., Honourable H. T. Liddell, M.P.,
Honourable C. Howard, the Honourable Misses Baring,
Honourable Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Melville, Honourable
Mr. Warrender and Miss Warrender, Honourable W. 0.
Stanley, Hon. George Herbert, Hon. Mr. and Mrs. J.
Talbot, Hon. Mrs. Gurdon, Hon. E. Phipps, Hon. Mr.
and Mrs. Hely Hutchinson, Hon. Mr. and Mrs. George
Clive, Hon. Mrs. Lechmere, Hon. Mrs. Cunliffe Oflley
and the Hon. Miss A. Crewe, Hon. Mrs. Villiers, Hon.
W. Cooper, Hon. J. S. Wortley, Right Hon. E. Strutt,
Right Ron. T. D'Eyncourt, Right Hon. E. J. Stanley,

Sir R. B. Phillips, Sir James and Lady Graham, Sir
Alexander and Lady Duff Gordon, Lady Davy, Sir W.
J. Newton, Sir Frankland and Lady Lewis, Sir Ed-
mund and Lady Head, Sir A. F. Barnard, Sir J. Beau-
mont, Lady Inglis, Sir Stratford and Lady Canning and
Miss Canning, Lady Morgan, Lady Bell, Sir George
Shee, Sir H. Willoughby, Lady Clerk and Miss Clerk,
Lady East, Sir Robert and Lady Price, Sir William and
Lady Heathcote, Sir J. M. Brackenburg, Sir Adolphus
and Lady Dalrymple, Sir Edward Cust, Sir W. Middle-
ton, Sir Denham Norreys, Sir William Allan, R.A., the
Bishop of Winchester, the Bishop of Madras, his Ex-
cellency the American Minister and Mrs. Bancroft, the
Right Honourable the Speaker and Mrs. Shaw Lefevre,
Mr. and Lady Theresa Lewis, Madlle. Jenny Lind,
Count d'Orsay, Mr. Alderman Moon, the O'Conor Don,
M.P., Mr. Bodkin, M.P., Mr. Baillie, M.P., Mr. Chute,
M.P., Mr. R. M. Bellew, M.P., Mr. Stafford O'Brien,
M.P., Mr. Hume, M.P., Mr. W. Hutt, M.P., Mr. Wat-
son, M.P., Mr. Henley, M.P., Mr. Denison, M.P., Mr.
Christie, M.P., Mr. Q. Dick, M.P., Mr. R. Vernon
Smith, M.P., Mr. A. Hope, M.P., Mr. Ricardo, M.P.,
Lieutenant-General Ellis, Major-General Bowles, Col.
Deuglas Pennant, Captain Napier, R.N., Rev. H. Mil-
man, &c.

COURT CIRCULAR.
The Queen and Prince Albert, the King of the Bel-
gians, the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court, and the
domestic household, attended Divine ser►ice yesterday
in the private chapel, in Buckingham Palace. Prayers
were read by the Hon. and Rev. C. Leslie Courtenay.
The sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Liddell.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge
and the Princess Mary visited their Majesties the King
and Queen of the Belgians yesterday, at Buckingham
Palace.

Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, Prince
Alfred, the Princess Royal, the Princess Alice, and
the Princess Helena, took their usual airings yesterday,
in the royal gardens.
The Queen and Prince Albert went, on Saturday
morning, to the Royal Academy to inspect the marble
statue of her Majesty by Gibson. Her Majesty and his
Royal Highness were attended by Lady Caroline Cocks,
Major-General Bowles, and Lord Alfred Paget.
The Queen and the Queen of the Belgians, accom-
panied by Prince Alfred-and the Princess Alice, took an
airing on Saturday in an open carriage and four. Lord
Alfred Paget, Equerry in Waiting, attended on horse-
back.

His Royal Highness Prince Albert rode out on horse-
back on Saturday, accompanied by his Royal Highness
the Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar, and at-
tended by Colonel Bouverie, Equerry in Waiting.
Prince Albert visited her Majesty the Queen Dowager,
at Marlborough House.
His Majesty the King of the Belgians held a diplo-
matic levee on Saturday, at one o'clock, at Buckingham
Palace. It was attended by Count de St. Aulaire, the
French Ambassador, Count de Noailles, Secretary,
and Monsieur de Rabaudy, Chancelier of the
Embassy ; Count Dietrichstein, the Austrian Am-
bassador ; Baron de Cetto, Bavarian Minister
Baron do Moncorvo, Portuguese Minister ; Count de
Kielmansegge, the Hanoverian Minister ; Baron de
Hugel, the Wurtemberg Minister ; Chevalier Bunsen,
the Prussian Minister ; Prince Lowenstein, Secretary of
Legation, and Count Redern; Le Commandeur Marques
Lisboa, Brazilian Minister ; and M. Piexoto, Attache
to the Legation; Count de Reventlow, the Danish Mi-
nister; Col. Iturregui, the Peruvian Minister; Prince Cal-
limaki, the Ottoman Porte Minister; Mr. Bancroft, Ame-
rican
Minister; and Mr. J. R. Brodhead, Secretary of Le-
gation; Count Schimmelpenninck, Netherlands Minister;
and M. Stratenus, Conseiller of Legation; Senor I.
Isturiz, the Spanish Minister, and the Chevalier Pedro-
rena, Secretary of Legation; Senor Mora, the Mexican
Minister, and M. J. de Lizardi, Attaché to the Legation ;
Baron de Beust, the Saxon Minister; Mr. Colquhoun,
Diplomatic Agent for the Hanse Towns; Count Adrien
de Revel, the Sardinian Charge d'Affair6s; Baron de
Rehausen, Swedish Charge d'Affair6a; M. de Koudriaff-
sky, and Baron de Nicolay, Secretaries to the Russian
Legation.
The reception was also attended by M. Van de Weyer,
the Belgian Minister • Mr. Charles Drouet, First Secre-
tary of Legation ; M. Delepierre, Secretary of Lega-
tion ; Mr. Castellain, Consul for Belgium ; Count de
Lalaing, and le Vicomte de Yonghe.
The diplomatic corps having assembled in the library,
their Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians
entered the apartment, when their Excellencies were
severally presented by M. Van de Weyer.
The King was attended by Major de Moerkerke,
Aide-de-Camp ; and the Queen was attended by the
Countess Vanderstraten, Dame du Palais.
The Countess de St. Aulaire, wife of the French
Ambassador, and the Countess Dietrichstein, wife of
the Austrian Ambassador, were presented to her
Majesty the Queen of the Belgians on Saturday.
The Queen and Prince Albert, and the Queen of the
Belgians, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, the
Princess Royal, and the Princess Alice, honoured the
performance at the St. James's Theatre, on Saturday
afternoon, with their presence. The royal suite con-
sisted of the Marchioness of Douro, Lord Alfred Paget,
and Colonel Bouverie.

Her Majesty and Prince Albert, accompanied by their
Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians, honoured
the performance at the Royal Italian Opera House, on
Saturday evening, with their presence. In attendance
were the Marchioness of Douro, the Countess Vander-
straten, Lord Byron, Major de Moerkerke, Lord Alfred
Paget. and Colonel Bouverie.
Her Majesty the Queen Dowager and his Royal High-
ness the Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe Weimar, at-
tended Divine service, yesterday, in the Chapel Royal,
St. James's. The prayers were read by the Rev. T.
Helmore, and the Lessons by the Rev. J. C. Haden.
The sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Wesley. The
chant and service were by Sir George Smart. The
anthem was "In thee, 0 Lord" (Weldon). Sir George
Smart presided at the organ. The Bishop of Norwich,
Clerk of the Closet, attended.
The Queen Dowager was attended by the Dowager
Lady Clinton and Earl Howe. Among the nobility
present were Ladies St. Germans, Wilton, Fortescue,
and Ebrington ; the Duke of Beaufort • the Marquises
of Anglesey and Ormonde ; Lords Bandon, Fortescue,
Wilton, St. Germans, Ebrington, and Falkland.
The Duke of Wellington, the Duke and Duchess of
St. Alban's, and Sir Fred. Trench attended the early
service in the Chapel Royal. The Rev. Dr. Wesley
officiated and preached the sermon.
His Royal Highness Prince George visited her Ma-
jesty the Queen Dowager yesterday at Marlborough
House. _ _

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge attended
Divine service yesterday in Grosvenor Chapel.
Their Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge and
the Princess Mary attended Divine service yesterday
morning in St. Michael's Church, Chester-square.
Baroness Hammerstein and Baron Knesebeck were in
waiting on the Royal Duchess.
Their Royal Highnesses the Hereditary Grand Duke
and Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar honoured Viscount
and Viscountess Palmerston with their company at din-
ner on Saturday, at their residence in Carlton-gardens.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge honoured
Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston with his company
iu the evening.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, attended by
Baroness Hammerstein, Baron Knesebeck, and Mr.
Edmund Mildmay, honoured the performance at the
Opera House with their presence on Sa-
turday jetaliaveninng.
The Committee on Education of her Majesty's Most
Honourable Privy Council held a meeting on Saturday,
which was attended by the Lord President of the
Council, Lord John Russell, the Earl of Clarendon, the
Earl of Minto, the Earl of Auckland, Viscount Mor-
peth, the Right lion. Sir George Grey, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, and the Right. Hon. T. B. Macaulay.
Mr. Kay Shuttleworth was in attendance.
Sir R. Ferguson had an interview with the Earl of
Clarendon on Saturday.
Mr. Wyse had also an interview with the Noble Earl.
The Marquis of Salisbury had an interview with Sir
George Grey, on Saturday, at the Home Office.
The Chairman of the Customs had an interview, on
Saturday, with the Earl of Clarendon.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.—His Royal Highness
Prince George of Cambridge honoured the performances
at her Majesty's Theatre on Saturday evening with his
presence. The Queen's box was occupied by a party of
the royal household. There were also present—the
Prince Louis Napoleon, the Conde de Montemolin, at-
tended by Don Juan de Montenegro and Don Francisco
Merry, his Excellency the Comte de St. Anlaire, the Count
Louis de Noailles, Baron Nicolay, Count Strogonoff
the Marquis and Marchioness of Donegal, the Marquis
of Huntley, the Marquis of Ailesbury, the Marquis of
Douro, the Earl of Lonsdale, the Earl and Countess of
Sheffield (who occupied her Majesty the Queen Dowa-
ger's box), the Earl of Munster, the Princess Juka
Gagarin, Count de Barke, the Prince Troubetshoi, Lord
Templemore, Mademoiselle Olga de Lechner, Lord and
Lady Charles Wellesley, Lady Quentin, the Count de
Revel, M. C. de Koudriaffsky, Lord Otho Fitzgerald,
the Lady Clementina Villiers and party, Lady Hastings,
Lord Ernest Bruce, Lord Southampton, Lord Gardner,
Lord Harry Vane, Lady Howard, Mr. Broadwood,
M.P., Mr. Barry Baldwin, M.P., the Right Hon. the
Lord Mayor, Lady, and the Misses Carroll, Sir H.
Webb, Sir W. and Lady Fremantle, Sir R. Howard, Mr.
Bridgeman, Hon. Miss Irving, Mr. T. Duncombe, M.P.,
Colonel Wildman, Mr. Bateson, M.P., Hon. General A.
P. Upton, Hon. G. Byng, Mr. H. Baring, Sir G. Womb-
well, Major Baring, Colonel Bowers, &c.
THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, REGENT'S PARE.--
The third promenade of the season at the Zoological
Gardens, Regent's Park, was well attended on Saturday.
The stillness of the day gave great effect to the very ex-
cellent selection of music performed by the band of the
Grenadier Guards. Much has been done of late to make
these gardens attractive, both on the promenade and on
ordinary days. In the former a great improvement has
been effected by the substitution of one large band for
two or three small ones. The public, who can only hear
one at a time, are much the gainers by the change. The
efforts of the present management are unceasing to ob-
tain the rarest and most ?urious animals which our com-
merce brings constantly within the reach of
science; and
their endeavours are nobly seconded by the liberality of
their chairman (Lord Derby), himself the possessor of
the finest zoological collection in the world.
FATAL ACCIDENT WHILST BATHING.—Last even-
ing between six and seven o'clock, a youth, named Alfred
Hurley, residing with his parents at No. 14, Lawrence-
terrace, Vauxhall-road, was drowned whilst bathing in
the river off Thames Bank. It is supposed he must have
been seized with the cramp, he being an expert swimmer,
as he suddenly sunk when about thirty yards from the
shore, and was not seen to rise again. The drags were
procured, but the body has not been recovered.