The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-10 00:00:00

LI T E R&T USE.

IMLAMS POEMS 4/ND SONGS.
Cunningham, London, 1841.
Imlah's muse is a lively, romping jade,
full of animal spirits, and of so decidedly ardent,
social, and vigorous a turn of mind, that when-
ever she attempts anything like pensiveness or
sentimentality, she always gives us the idea that
she is shamming, and we are sti•onre.,dy tempted, in
consequence, to laugh outright in her thee. Our
author's genius, ildeed, seems wholly opposed to
melancholy. Ile is most at home in the bold,
dashing, off-hand war-song, the sprightly ballad,
or the festive lyric. Now and then he essays
the pathetic ; but if he cries with one eye, he seems
to us to be laughing with the other, like some gay
needy youth when endeavourieg to put on a long
face at the funeral of his .guardian who has just
left him a fat legacy. The majority of Mr.
Imlah's poems are on Scottish. themes, .and well
calculated they are, by their earnest simplicity,
to ensure the favourable suffrages of his country-
men. In some places, where the author speaks
out from his heart without any regard to effect,
he reminds us of Burns; but oftener we catch the
manner of Hogg—his buoyant fancy, and easy
melody of versification. This is no slight praise,
and were the age less disregardful of works of
this sort than it-is, is, we should have no hesitation
in predicting Mr. Imlah's popularity: But, alas,
the current of public opinion is setting strongly
in an anti-poetic direction, and nothing goes down
now but statistics and slight prose works of ac-
tion. A select few may still turn an attentive
car to the music of the singing-birds of Par-
nassus, but the undiscrimating many are far better
pleased with a Newgate Calendar romance, a dis-
sertation on the steam-engine, or a pamphlet on
the Corn-laws. We have observed that the
greater portion of Mr. Imlah's poems is on. Scot-
tish subjects ; we may add that the best of them
are on these themes; and we quote two, which,
we think, will satisfy our readers that we have
not overrated his abilities :
SCOTLAND FOR EVER !

O ! grand was the onset and gloriously ended,
And reek'd the red earth with the blood of the brave,
bete the armies of nations in battle contended,
On the field doom'd for thousands—one wide gory grave;
In the heat of that fight for a loved mountain land,
A shout there arose—which forget we can never,
And the " Vice l'Empereur I" for " Napoleon le Grand,
Soon quailed to the war.cry of " Scotland for ever 1"
They thought of their far distant mountains and valleys,
And their kindred, that circled the blazing turf Gres,
They thought of the days of brave Bruce and wight Wallace,
They felt and they fonhelike the sons of such sires ;
And the brow ef no traitor the:Bonnet shall shade,
The Tartan shall covtr a coward's breast never,
But honour bhall hallow the Plume and the Plaid,

When cheer'd to the onset by " Scotland for ever!"

Then wreathe for our warriors garlands of glory,
Fill the bowl to the brim—let it flow to their fame,
And loud let the minstrel's strain swell at their story,

Who have won for their country so noble a name;
Yet still as we raise high the song and the shell,
Shall th© dead of that day be forgotten?—no, never,
Grcen—green be their graves on the field where they full,
And their names beremember'd with " Scotland forever 1"
N'AN FIER GAEL.
We come from a country of well proven worth,
The mountains of Morven—the Alps of the North,
Where the hills are historic from far distant day,

And each strath and each stream has its legend or lay.

Thu' years have swept past since from Albyn we eamc—
Tho' changed be our habits—our hearts are the same,
And will here, e'er the bowl with the song and the tale,
Be at home on the hills and the glens of the Gael.

Strike up on the 13,1gpipe some Pibroch whose peal
Shall kindig within us the old Highland z'al,

Whose tvi:d native slumbers shelf tire us, as when
It mustered from mountain, arid gathered from glen ;
With some lov'd Chieftain's COronach now shall we melt,
And feel all the grief that our fathers have felt ;
Then blithe let the strain be when " Hoigh I" for the
Haill,"
We strive with strong arms in the Game of the Gael.
Then praise to the Plume on the brows of the brave,
That never has stoop'd to the crouch of a slave—
And whether it wave in the revel or raid,

The cloak of Clan Aibyn, still prosper the Plaid I
To the cap of our country give dignity due,
The helmet of heroes—the Bonnet of blue?

May they merit and meet ever honour and hail,

Th.; PlUme, Plaid, and Bonnet—the Garb of the Gael I

3 Vozs.

THE SCHOOLFELLOWS.
Bentley, London, 1841.
The idea of this story is a good one, and it has
been skilfully worked out. The two schoolfel-
lows, who are its heroes, and from whom it de-
rives its title, are—the one, a rich, well-connected
youth, son and heir of a country Baronet, of an-
cient descent, and great local influence; and the
other, the only child of a lady who has been
seduced, through the means of a sham marriage,
by a scoundrel, who afterwards is tried and con-
victed of forgery, but, escaping from confinement,
persecutes the innocent victim of his intrigues
and her illegitimate son, for years, until he is
finally removed to the colonies by the Government
for whom he had consented to act as a spy. Pain-
fully conscious of the stigma attached to himselfand
his helplessmotherby this conection, young Man-
ning—such is the name of the Spy's son—becomes
even in his boyish days, the unresisting slave
of his rich, high-born schoolfellow, Mandeville,
who has accidentally discovered the secret of
his birth, and threatens to expose him, unless
he will consent to be his drudge—that is to say,
write all his school exercises for him, assist him
in the annual scholastic examinations, and allow
him to carry off the prize. To this Manning,
though not without a sore struggle, consents ; and
at Cambridge, \whither in clue time the school-
fellows are sent, the same system is pursued,
Mandeville so working on Manning's sensitive
apprehensions, that the poor youth, instead of
trying to secure college honours for himself, is
compelled to assist his task-master in securing
them. When they afterwards meet in London,
Mandeville still exerts his despotic influence, and
is mean and unprincipled enough to take credit
for the authorship of certain popular works which
Manning has written, but which he dare not ac-
knowledge. This constant sense of slavish de-
pendence on a man whom lie fears and despises,
produces a mostblig,hting effect on the unfriended
and obscure youth's mind ; he toils, and toils in
vain, to procure a competence for hhnself,and throw
off his tyrant's iron yoke ; but, at length when
he has become almost desperate, his luck takes
a turn ; Mandeville commits suicide ; Manning's
prospects begin to brighten ; the competence he
so long coveted, he obtains; and ultimately he
is enabled to marry the girl to whom he
had for years been attached. Such is a brief
abstract of a tale which possesses much of the
gloomy power of Godwin, and in its contrasts of
character exhibits more than ordinary tact and

ingenuity. Mr. Johns, the author, proves by his
forcible delineation of Manning, that he un-
derstands the subtle workings of the human
heart, and can trace its hidden springs of
action. Some of his chapters, however, seem
to have been thrown off in a great hurry,
for in one place we find Manning called
" Henry," and in another " Charles ;" and his
mother, now answering to the name of " Mar-
garet," and now to that of " Edith." These are
ncgligences which a little patient attention would
have rectified ; and we point them out, by way of
a friendly hint to the author, who should bear in
mind that if a thing is worth doing, it is worth
doing correctly. Verbum sap.

GIDEON GILES.
Hayward, London, 1841.
Gideon Giles is a tale by Mr. Miller, published
every fortnight in sixpenny parts, ten of which
have already made their appearance. It is an
amusing story, and deserves especial praise for the
beauty of its descriptions of rural scenery and
habits, with which the author is manifestly well
acquainted, and on which he dwells with great
satisfaction. We cannot say much for the plates,
in illustration of the story, for they are little, if
at all, above common-place.

NATURAL. HISTORY OF BRITISH AND
FOREIGN Q UADRUPEDS.
Thomas, London. 1841.

The author of this work, Mr. Fennell, tells us
that it has been his object to make its perusal as
agreeable and lively a recreation as a walk
through the Zoological Gardens, to which end
he has purposely avoided, what he calls, " the
solemn and melancholy strain," so often affected
in works of this nature. We think he has been
successful in his efforts, 'for his volume is abun-
dantly seasoned with curious characteristic anec-
dotes, and to the charms of a sprightly, fluent
manner of narration, adds a careful, and compre-
hensive view of the peculiar appearances, habits,
and uses of the higher class ofanimals in general.
We regret, however, that he has seen fit to sneer,
no indirect manner, at the authority of Buffon,
who will always be held in respect for the dili-
gence with which he accumulated facts, and the
patience and perseverance with which, even when
beset by difficulties, he prosecuted his favourite
zoological studies. In his account of the lion,
Mr. Fennell repudiates the popular notion of his
courage and magnanimity, :on which the poets—
a set of fellows who lie as fast as a horse can
gallop—have always laid such stress; and ob-
serves that the animal is, on the contrary, trea-
cherous and cowardly in his nature; and speak-
ing of the tiger, he assures us that "in his tre-
mendous jaws he can carry off a buffalo, almost
without relaxing from his usual speed"--an asser-
tion, tho jaqice of which we must, with all de-
kTrilioW°ele whooafrezodoleosgily7ws
Ceff'llee Mr. Fennell, beg leave to doubt.
will
lo
findob roete ut
answer
taminucahclatO
their purpose in this volume.

Til E SUN"‘ 1,0

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOUUNA LS

(From the Globe.)
The Poor-law Amendment Bill was last night, on
the motion of Lord John Russell, read a second time
--a majority of 147, out of 255 Members, affirm-
ing, by their votes, the principle of the ,new law,
and the propriety of continuing its operation. The
debate, although lengthy, elicited nothing new in ar-
gument. The subject has well nigh exhausted the in-
genuity of opponents, who arc now driven to gather up
fragments of the fragile weapons they formerly dis-
charged ageinst the Bill, and to hurl them with all the
force their feebleness can collect against the measure
now before Parliament—with what result within doors
the division of last night attests. As the advocates of
the Bill included the most distinguished men of the two
great parties, we may safely assume that their sup-
port is sincere—the result of conviction, derived from ob-
servation and experience, that the new law has wrought
extensive good to all classes of the communi. y. if
the debate produced nothing new in argument, it
furnished new and striking illustrations of the lengths to
which popularity-hunters will proceed in the path of ab-
surdity, and the sacrifices of consistency they will make
to the passions and prejudices of the multitude, in order
to obtain the object of their ambition. On the other
hand, we see the difficult position in which the iodivi-
dual is placed, who, in the prosecution of an impera-
tive duty, undertakes to arrest the course of evils which
have gradually incorporated themselves with the habits,
and have ministered to while they created many
of the vices and miseries of the poor. The Government
by which the New Poor-law was introduced, and un-
der which its machinery has been wrought, has
been placed in this difficult position. Nothing but
a firm confidence in the principles of the law, and
in the urgent necessity which demanded its intro-
duction, joined with a consciousness of their own
integrity in its construction and administration,
could have sustained them. The opponents of the
change have had much to recommend them to the par-
tiality of their auditors. They appealed to their hu-
mauity—and in behalf of the poor! They exercised
their powers, lifted up their voices, and employed their
pens, In behalf of the destitute, who had no other
friends, and of the helpless, who had no other helpers!
There is something in such an exhibition that is calcu-
lated to prepossess the mind in favour of such advo-
cates—to hold them up in a light of very advantageous
contrast, either w ith the selfishly indifferent, who " care
nothing about the poor," or with the " cruel oppressors
of the poor," who introduced and employ the law as
the instrument of their oppression and cruelty !

(From the Stantlard.)

The facts that transpired in the discussion of Mr.
M•Leod's case, last night, illustrate, in a remarkable
manner, the danger of leaving unsettled all disputed
poim sof international relations: It now appears that
the question of the seizure of the Caroline has never
et been adjusted, though surely nothing can be
imagined mere capable of a simple arrange.
meat than the case in question. The fact
that the Caroline was employed in a piratical war
against the British territory, and that.. in order to
defend her Majesty's dominions and her subjects, it was
necessary to seize the vessel, is unquestigued, and, in-
deed, admits of nu question. Whether it was right
to seize her in the waters of the United' States is the
only topic of inquiry ; and this, in our view, could
not be a djfficult topic to deal with. If the American
authorities affirm, contrary to the fact, that the law
and government of the States were in 'full vigour at
the port from which the Caroliue erin% ed arms,
provisions, ammunition, and reinforcements to the
pirates at Navy Island, they acknowledge that the
States prosecuted an undeclared war against Great
Britain. If; on the other hand, they admit, as truth
would compel them to admit, that the Caroline was
sent from a port that had renounced the law and govern-
ment of the States, they have no cause of quarrel,
for the port in question for the time constituted
de facto no part of the Union. In punishing her
own enemies, Great Britain was only chastising
their rebels. The neighbour who pursues a
burglar into another's house, and seizes him
there, surely commits no wrong to him whose
house he may unceremoniously invade, but rather ren-
ders him a service. But, however the question of strict
law might be decided, there was still to be considered
the necessity of the case. It was accessary to the safety
of her Altjesty's territory, and for the protection
of her subjects, that the pirates of Navy Island should
be deprived of the vessel that constantly supplied them
with whatever they wanted from the New York shore.
Now, in cases of necessity, it is permitted to supersede
the authority of strict law, as houses are often pulled
down to prevent the extension of a fire ; all that can be
expected in such cases is that the party who suffers loss
shall be compensated to the full amount of the injury
sustained. If, therefore, the parties interested in the
Caroline and the authorities of New York felt them-
selves guiltless of wrong in the matter, they ought to
have demanded compensation for the loss of the vessel,
and an apology for the insult offered to their soil, and
it would not have humiliated the British Government
in the slightest degree to render both.
(From the courier.)
According to notice, Lord Stanley proceeded last
evening to question the Secretary for Foreign Affairs
about the untoward incident which has arisen to jeo-
pardise our relations with the United States—in the
arrest, imprisonment, and approaching trial of Mr,
/Sl' Leod, a British subject, on a charge of murder. The
result of this trial, those best acquainted with the con-
struction and official quality of the judiciary tribunals of
the separate states of the Union, as well Its with the
state of morals and the unbridled passions of a too
depraved and excitable population, are disposed to
regard already as a foregone verdict of guilty against
the innocent and incarcerated party, and after sen-
tence we are told that execution must surely fol-
low. And, indeed, it needs but slight consideration
to induce the same conclusion in the minds of all men
who reflect on the enormity of the original outrage
committed on the person of this loyal and unoffending
citizen, for those who have not hesitated to kidnap are
little likely to he so dainty of conscience as to stop
short of his judicial murder. Leaving out of sight for
the moment the disloyalty and dishonesty of the pretexts
on which Mr. M'Leod was arrested, we are hound to
say it, although with deep regret, that the fixed convic-
tions, practical or theoretical, of every man and every
writer, of whatever country, who has followed the work-
ings of the State judicial system in America, stand re-
corded in the sentence almost universally pronounced that
in cases involving party interests or enlisting political pre-
judices, to go no further, it would be as reasonable to ex-
pect grapes from thistles as justice from State tribunals
as now constituted. There is but one Court in the United
States whose decisions command respect and are entitled
to confidence, and that is the Supreme Court of Judi-
cature of the Federal Republic. Unhappily it can
have no action on the present occasion, for the state of
New York has taken the initiative and the right of
jurisdiction into its own hands, and we know with
what jealousy State's rights, as against Federal rights,
are pleaded and insisted on, so that exactly in pro-
portion with the notorious partiality and corruption of
these State tribunals is their supremacy within the
State asserted, and will be asserted, even in defiance
of that just claim to superior attributes on questions
of general and international interest, which, accor-
ding to the Constitution, are inalienably assigned
in theory to the Supreme Court of the Union.

THREE BOYS SHOT.—The little town of
Yeovil has recently been thrown into a state of great ex-
citement, by a report that a man named Hodder had shot
three boys, which turned out to bc too true. It appeared
that Hodder, who is 72 years of age, has ikcently married
a young female aged 17, and a number of the boys of the
town bad been in the habit of greatly annoying him by
epithets intimating that he had dyed his hair before mar-
riage. This annovance so irritated the old man that he
discharged his loaded gun at a party of the boys who were
engaged in this occupation, and three of whom were
wounded, one of them, named White, seriously. Hodder
has since been in custody, and has undergone one exami-
nation before J. Newman, Esq., and been remanded to
await the result as regards White, who, we understand,
lies in a dangerous state.—Exeter Post.

An extraordinary chase and capture of a fox
took place on Saturday, the 30th ult. A hound and a
cur, the property of Mr. Joseph Harrison, of Brownrig,z,
unkennelled a fox in Melfell, a large plantation of 370
acres, the property of H. Howard, Esq., of Greystoke.
After running for two hours the cur returned home, but
the hound continued the pursuit. Reynard at length
broke cover, took away through Gowbarrow Park, to the
Lake of Ullswater, and sought refuge on the boat-house
landing, the dog " Ratler" close to him, though quite
exhausted. Old reynard then leaped into the lake as a
last resource, where he was taken by a boat, after a chase
of three hours. He weighed fifteen and a half pounds.—
Carlisle Journal.
COURT OF ALDERMEN.—A Court was held
yesterday for the dispatch of public bu-iness. Mr. Al-
derman T. Wood presented a petition from Mr. Marriott,
of the Ward of Farringdon-Without, against the return of
Mr. Wells as a Common Councilman for that ward. The
petition was ordered to be taken into consideration next
Court- day. Sir James Duke presented a petition from
Mr. George Ledger, one of the late candidatev for the
office of Bridge-master, complaining of the gross depra-
vity exercised at the late election for Bridge-master, as
instanced in the cases of perjury by persons who polled
without being liverymen. Alderman Brown, Sir Peter
Laurie, Alderman Thompson, and others, spoke on the
subject of the petition, and complained in strong terms of
the flagrant abuses which prevailed at elections in the
city for civic offices. It appeared that at the election for
Bridgemaster many persons had polled who were discovered
afterwards to be perfect strangers. On the motion of Sir
James Duke, Mr. Ledger's petition was referred to a
Committee of the whole Court. A petition also was pre-
sented against the return of Mr. Cousins as representative
of Coleman-street Ward, when, after some discussion, the
Court was cleared, and, on the admission of strangers, the
Town Clerk intimated that the election, as regarded Mr.
Cousins, was void. The Lord Mayor forth.with issued a
precept for a new election.
~ _
The total eclipse of the moon on 6aturday morn•
ing was not visible here, from the cloudy state:of the atmo-
sphere,.-Edinburgh Courant,

DON. WEDNESD t Y, F.

GREENWICH RAILWAY

COMPANY.

The first Half-Yearly General Meeting of the Pro-
prietors of the Greenwich Railway Company was held
at one o'clock yesterday at the London Tavern, Bishops-
gate-street, Wm. Shadbolt, Esq., the Chairman of the
Company, took the chair.
The Report of the Committee of Directors for the
year 1840 was then read. It stated that the traffic of
the last half-year showed an increase in the number of
passengers of 80,241, as compared with the same
period of the year 1839 ; and an increase of receipts
from passengers of 2061. Is. There now remained in
hand a surplus of 7,7441. 7s. 2d., out of which the
Directors recommended that a dividend of 7s. should
be paid on each original share.
Reports from the engineers and other officers were
afterwards read.

Mr. HOMER, of Birmingham, moved that the Report
be printed and received ; and the motion having been
secceded was unanimously agreed to.
A sum of 2501. was voted to Mr. Ackerman, the
Secretary to the Company, for his exertions in their
service.

J. M. Childers, E q., M.P., and Messrs. Corney
and Boner, were appointed Directors for the ensuing
year ; the two first gentlemen having been re-elected.
The thanks of the Proprietors were then voted to the
Di cetors, and the Meeting separated.