The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-23 00:00:00

MORNING EDITION

pints out many excellencies, althOugh, in the
present notice, the mention of them-might ap-
pear too minute. On the whole, the y.ortrait is
life-like and forcible, and the details are marked
with the utmost fidelity and care.
The back-ground is properly adapted to give
effect to the flesh, and (with the furniture), is,
we are told, accurately copied from the chamber
in which the Prince is TOresented standing, and
which was fitted up under the iminediate.direc-
tion of his Royal Highness for a picture gallery;
nor could anything be better chosen for the
walls of such an apartment .than the coiout of
the panels. They are. painted in the Arabeaque
pattern of crimson (very much subdued), upon a
ground of neutral tints, with which the hangingS
and carpets, though varied and rich in colour,
harmonise well.

WRECK OF THE HOPE, STEAMER ON
THE COAST OP AFRICA.
Lithographed by Moose,.from a Painting by Huaahvs.
The ill-fated vessel, the Hope steam-ship,
having on board seventy-two persons, of whom
thirty-three were passengers, consisting of six
women, ten children, and fifteen gentlemen,-was
wrecked upon the coast of Africa, south of the
Bay of Algoa, on the Bth of March last year,
under circumstances the most appalling that
can be conceived, from which, however, all were .
rc scued, through the skill, energy, and courage
of the Captain (Mr. Baddeley) and his officers,
and by the extraordinary patience and subordi-
nation of passengers and crew. In a violent
storm the vessel was driven upon a reef of
rocks, about two hundred yards distant from
an iron-bound shore, and several casks of brandy
being stove in by the rolling of the ship,
the spirits flowed into the engine-room, and the
hold and main deck were speedily a mass of
flames. In this awful situation the Captain col-
lected all the people upon the quarter deck, and
having exhorted them to calmness and obedience,
which they readily promised and faithfully ob-
served, took effectual measures for extinguishing
the flames. But the ship was rapidly filling,
and must- soon go down. The jolly-boat had
been washed away ; and, therefore, as the only
means of enabling the people on board to reach
the shore, a raft was hastily constructed, upon
which forty-one persons, comprising all the wo-
men and children, were, although not without
great difficulty, lauded in safety. After much
suffering and personal exertion.on the part of
the Captain and his officers, the remainder of
the party were taken ashore, before
.the wreck
ultimately foundered.
• Mr. Henry Whitaker, who served at the tithe as
second officer, made upon the spot a drawing of
the terrible and magnificent scene, when the
burning vessel was beset by billows, of which
the navigators of the temperate zones can form
no conception, except from some siich represen-
tations as are furnished in the print before us.
The conduct of Mr. Whitaker at the time of the
wreck was such as to give a peculiar interest to
the publication. In the letters of Captain Bad-
deley to the Directors of the Steam Navigation
Company (the proprietors of the Hope), pub-
lished in the Cape of Good Hope Go-
vernment Gazette, 27th of March, 1840,
and: republished by the London Press, in June
last, expressed, in the strongest terms, his gra-
titude to Mr. Whitaker for his courage and fide-
lity under the most trying circumAances. "When
the main deck was in a sheet of flame," said he,
" my officers, Mr.-Whitaker, and Mr. Minter, re-
ft s t le..ve my s-de, and avail themselves of
ti.e chance which the raft offered, of preserva-
tion, from a terrible death." When the frst party
had been landed in safety, the rope mill was
intended to pull back the raft to the wreak was
broken, and the last ch:inm of preservation for
those on board seemed totally cut off. 13ut the
Captain and Mr. Whitaker ventured in one of
the boats tLat had been stove in, and could hardly
float upon a garden pond, to make for the shore,
amidst rocks and surfs, aggravated by the fury
of a tropical tempest. They were dashed upon
the rocks and severely injured, sometime elaps-
ing before the Captain was restored from insensi-
bility. Mr. Whitaker, however, the publisher
of this print, succeeded in recovering, the raft,
whereby the remainder of the crew and passen-
gers were eventually brought off.

POLY TECHNIC INSTITUTION.

A new exbib:f on commences this day at this place of
amusement and instruct;on, which will probably attract
for some time those who are desirous of witnessing the
progress of a discovery which has already excited not a
tae interest. Mr. Beard, the patentee of Walcott's
Reflecting Apparatus,. by which likenesses are taken on
the principle of the Daguerreotype, for some days has
been exhibiting the process in one of the rooms'of the
estabYshruct,t to a limited circle of his acquair.tances
and to persons connected with the press, precious to
the public exhibition. The proceEs is extremely simple.
The room in which the 11..‘nesscs are taken is at the
top of the building, and has sky-Ights with coloured
glass,-so as. to give the favourable light for the ope-
ration. The individual whose actress is to be taken
places himself on a chair which is fitted with ma.
chieer:. for ke3ping the head in ore position, the opera-
tor puts a small plate, properly prepared, in a camera
obscura in front of him, and in a few seconds the plate

is withdrawn, and submitted to the same process as that
used in photogenic drawing. In some instances, the
likenesses which we saw taken yesterday were uncom-
monly correct. But a grezit deal depends on circum-
stances, for if the patient is either nervous, or in-
clined to smile, or screws up his features to a
solemn pitch, the portrait comes forth with these
characteristics strictly defined There is also some
nicety required in- submitting the plate to the
operation of the mercury. By proper management,
however, we have no doubt the art may be brougl t to
great perfection, and the most str.king likeness pro..
ducted. According to the French papers, Louis Phi-
lippe and his family underwent the operation at the
Tuileries some da3s ago, and highly pr .iced the inge-
nuity of the artists, who took their portraits at one sit-
ting of five seconds, instead of five sittings, as formerly,
of half an hour each.