The Sun.
London, England, 1823-08-02 00:00:00

imoitHING

There appears of. late something like.an op-,
proaCh-to tranquillity in Ireland. But few out.
rages are recorded:, in the Nawspopers, stud ,the

Addresses of the Circuit-going Judges to the
Grand Juries are on the whole satisfactory. No
doubt these learned persons were at all times dis•
posed to administer impartial justice, without
distinction of rich or poor. But hitherto this prin-
ciple, though acted upon, was discreetly kept in
the back ground—perhaps lest it should make the
lower classes insolent, to be informed that they
were equal in the eye of the law to their superiors
in condition. Now, however, this principle is pro-
claimed with a degree of emphasis and ostenta-
tion, which naturally makes one look out for
some cause. The probability is, that the Irish
Judges have had their inspiration from some high
quarter—whether the Castle in Dublin, or the
Cabinet here, we shall not determine--nor is it
of any moment. The great and salutary point is,
that those Reverend expounders and administra-
tors of the law studiously impress upon the
poor people in Ireland, their right to have,
and upon the Magistrates and other subordinate

authorities their duty to give, strict and impartial
justice. Another great improvement among the
people is the new regulation for the meeting of
Magistrates in Petty Sessions, once or twice a
wee, to hear and deterthine differences between
the poor. 'This regulation has many advantages.
The presence of several Magistrates is a security
for unbiassed justice.. A single magistrate may be
influenced, or if he is not,-the,party disappointed
Ulll suspect, unfairness in an unchecked indi-
vidual-6 ,suspicion which the decision of se.
veral Magistrates in. agreement with each other,
will in general prevent. That, however, to which
the tranquillity of the country,'so far as it is
tranquil, is ascribed by the Irish themselves,
is the physical force of the police, and the
powers with which this force is invested 'by law.
Now it is very likely that the nature of this
sort of peace- may be mistaken—and that the
peace which it produces may he regarded as the
natural forerunner of an improving state of com-
fort and content among the Irish poor.' Far from
it. The existence of the present police establish.
meta in Ireland is utterly incompatible with the
least Advance towards prosperity. The peace
which it produces is mere exhaustion under
an overwhehningreontrouling power. The rate
imposed by the C.;ortstabulary Act alone, , is so
enormous, that it has completed the ruin of the
renters or occupiers of land, whose condition was
hard enough already. We•have seen letters from
Ireland, in which this Police Tax is described as
a new rent placed upon the shoulders of the occu-
piers. But its weight does not fall upon them
only, but upon the landowners and the clergy„:....
It must evidently be impossible for an Irish
tenant to pay his rack rent, tithes, rates imposed
by Grand Juries, and this Police Ta x , for the sup-
port. of a large and particularly expensive army--
for we'believe the estimate for this police is consi.
derably greater than for the same quota of his INlU-
jesty's troops'. Now the King's taxes must be
Judd. The:county rates,' we are told are also ex_
traeted by one Halms or another. he rate for
the support of the' police must, of course be paid
---perhaps in preference. Defalcation, then,
there 'must be by this time, and it falls of
necessity upon the landlord and the clergy,
---How wretched is the state of Ireland !
That which preserves the peace of the country,
carries with it wretchedness and insolvency.
IVe do not say, that the tremendous burden
heaped upon Ireland, in order to preserve quiet
by sheer force and pressure„ can be diSpensed
with. But what a melancholy tranquillity is that
under the operation of ‘vhiesit landlords must go
without' rents, the clergy without tithes, the
faimers or renters of land, struggling half-rnined—
asid•the labourers, of course, in a state of idleness
and starvation.

MARBLE PONDS OF PiRSTA.--This natural
curiosity consists• of certain pools, or 'plashes,
whose indolent waters, by a slow and regular
process, stagnate, concrete, and petrify, produc.
ing that beautiful: transparent stone commonly
called Tabriz, marble, much used in the burial
places of Persia, and in their best edifices.
These ponds are- contained.within the Circumfer.
one of a mile, and their position is distinguished
:by.heaps of stone, which have accumulated as
the excavations have incressed:. Thopetrifactive
process may 1> traced from its cornmencent to.
its termination : in one pafrt,,the water is clear;
in a second; it appears thicker and stagnant; in
i a third, quite black ; and in ts_ last stage it is
white like a hoar. frost. Where the operation is
complete, a stone thrown on its surface makes no
impression, and a man may walk over it without

~vetting his shoes. Such is the constant tend-
ency of this water to become stone, that when it
exudes from the ground in bubbles, the petrifac-
a!__. _ _

tion assumes a globular shape, as if the bubbles
of a spring, by a stroke of magic,' had been ar-
rested in their play, and metamorphosed into
stone. The substance thus produced is brittle,
transparent, and sometimes richly streaked with
green, red, and 4'opper-coloured veins. It ad-
mits of being cut into very large slabs, and takes
a good polish. So much is this stone looked on
as an articlq of luxury, that none.but the King,
his sons, and persons privileged by special fir.
man, are permitted to take it.

Scioximit is derived from senior, age, formerly
giving the only title to rank and precedence °;
rhence also senate, an assembly of old men or a
council of elders,
VALET.— Bore!, in his Glossary, says, that the
term " valet" was anciently applied to the King's
eldest son ; and hence the valet, or knave, fol-
lows, the King and Queen hi a pack of cards.
ENTLCMEN.-411 au ancient statute of Edward
ILL there is ft distinction taken—the simple-
homme and the gentil-bonnie, which has led the
ingenious Mr. Barrington to conjecture, that the
sin/pie-how/le is John or Thomas, who bath no
surname ; and in contradiction, he who bath a
surname, or family name (from the word gees,
which sometimes signifiesfantity) is styled genlil.
bomme. Surnames are of no great antiquity in
this country, the sons being formerly distinguish-
cotileihr father,ytheir aCshristian names joined to that of
s
George, the son of John. Hence) Williamson'
Johnson,icce
1‘11:alitoi, the son of William ;
bony, of the common people in
Wales have no surnames to this day.