The Sun.
London, England, 1824-05-10 00:00:00

IFROM THE BRUSSELS PAPERS:I

-Fit.NKFonT, MAY 3.—The numerous arrests
Which have taken place this winter, as well at Munich as at
other cities in the kingdom of Bavaria, excites great attention in
all tiermany. It is affirmed that, among the persons arrested,
there are several who, by their rank in society, and the em-
ployments they have filled, belong to the principal classes in
Bavaria.
Letters from Pera have been communicated to us, of which
the following is an extract :—" The Ottoman Government had
resolved to employ the Janissaries in the intended expedition
against Greece ; but as soon as they were informed of it, they
manifested their discontent so loudly, that it was necessary to
ti;) this project. Another means was then tried ; secret
Instructions were sent to the Aga, in consequence of which he
declared to the Janissaries that great rewards would be given
to those who would make the campaign against the Greeks as
-voloreeera. This appeal had no satisfactory result—only 20
or 30 individuals having stepped forward, in the hope of getting
a good sum of money.
iNtrgiET.3, MAY 6.—The ceremony of the baptism of the
young Princess of Orange took place at the Vague the day
before yesterday, in the great Church of St. James; she was
christened by the names of Whilhelmina Maria Sophia Au-
gusta.
A bankruptcy of a very extraordinary nature has thrown the
town of Enghien into consternation. The bankrupt, with his
wife:and children, has embarked at Havre on board a packet-
boat fir New York.
It is said that the Bank of Brussels, after the example of that
Of England, will lend money on mortgage at three per cent.
--The Prussian Governor of Munster has issued an ordinance,
which, after a preamble enforcing the necessity of accustoming
• young people who frequent the public schools, universities, &c.
to a regular and simple mode of life, commands the keepers of
coffee-houees, billiard-rooms, confectioners' shops, &c. in towns
where there are such schools, and in the immediate vicinity, not
ens receive any pupils of these establishments, unless accom-
panied by their parer.ts, tutors, or masters, and when the regu-
lations-of the school permit. But as .students who take long
Walt s should not be prohibited from going into a public-house
for refreshment, a certain distance from each school shall be
fixed, beyond which the prohibition shall not extend. If
..the student should have noisy and riotous meetings at home,
the persons with whom they lodge shall inform their masters.—
The chief director of the schools shall send to the royal Con-
.sietory in two months an account of the regulations which each
..of them shall have laid down for his establishment.

We regret to state that Lady AMHERST met '
.swith a most unfortunate accident, on Saturday
the 13th of December, while riding from Cal-
cutta to the Park at Barrackpore. r'Her Lady-
ship fell from her horse, and was compelled to
~„,turn to Calcutta, where on her arrival she was
a)1,.4:; we are happy, however, to state, though
:severely bruised, when the last departure took
Place, her. Ladyship
was nearly recovered.--(In-
-than and. British Observer or yesterday.)
Amongst the passengers about. to take their
-
.departure for.lndia, is
Major-General GEORGR
„Dlctc, of the, We under-
-,Bengal establishment..
stand that the gallant. General proceeds in the
Fairlie, Captain A ldham. We are happy to find
• that the General's visit to Europe hag so far re:
-.stored his health as to enable him to return ; and
we congratulate the East India Directors and
service at large at the.opportunity that is likely
'to be affo.ded of benefiting by Isis skill and
perience. -Major-General DIOK was seconti in
,command of the army under Sir. DAVID OCHTEIi
LON Y during the second campaign in Nalmtd,
and commanded the light brigade of the divisjon.
Of the Bengal army, under the immediate .Mn'.
.mend of the Marquis of HASTINGS during 1114
rjahrattucampaign,--(Mid.)

FOR THE SUN.

GROTTO OF ANTIPAROS.

Ma. EDITOR—Among the many caverns and
grottos which the persevering curiosity of man has discovered,
that of Antiparos is one of the most singular and most beautiful.
Though from some ancient inscriptions it appears to have been
visited both by Greeks and Romans, yet the natives of the
island looked upon it with more fear than curiosity ; and it was
with considerable difficulty that some of them could be per-
suaded to accompany the French Ambassador, N. de Nointel,
who re-discovered the cavern in the seventeenth century. it
was visited, and fully described, at a subsequent period, by
Tournefort, the celebrated botanist, who considered it as one of
the most extraordinary and beautiful natural curiosities he had
ever seen. The French Ambassador and his suite, consisting
of above 500 persons, spent three whole days in this grotto, and
one of the company has given of it the following description :
" After we had landed on the island, and walked about four
miles, we came to a hill, in the side of which yawned a horrible
cavern, which by its gloom struck us with terror, and almost
repressed curiosity. Recovering from cur first surprise we boldly
entered, and had not proceeded far when we discovered what
the ignorant natives called the statue of a giant; but which
was in fact merely a .parry concretion, formed by the water
dropping from the roof of the cave, and by degrees hardened into
figure which their fears had transformed into a monster.—ln-
vited by this extraordinary appearance, we proceeded further
into this subterranean abode. In our progress new wonders
struck our eyes. The spars formed into trees and shrubs, pre-
sented a kind of petrified grove ; some were white, some green,
and all receded in proper perspective. They struck us with greater
astonishment as we knew they were productions of nature, which,
hitherto in solitude, had, in her playful moments, arranged the
scene as if for her own private amusement.

We had, however, as yet seen only a few or the wonders of
the place, and were introduced merely inn) the portico of this
amazing temple. In one corner of the half illuminated recess,
here appeared an opening about three feet wide, which seemed
to lead to a place totally dark, and which we were informed con-
tained only a reservoir of water. We threw down some stones,
which rumbling along the side of the descent for some time,
the sound seemed at length quashed in a bed of water.
Our candles being lighted, and the whole place completely
illuminated, never could the eye be presented with a more bril-
liant or a more magnificent scene. The whole roof hung with
solid circles, transparent as glass, yet hard as marble. The
eye could scarcely reach the lofty and noble ceiling ; the insides
were regularly formed of spars, and the whole presented the
idea of a superb theatre illuminated by an immense profusion
of lights. The floor consisted of solid marble, and in several
places magnificent columns, thrones, altars, and other objects
appeared, as if nature had designed to mock the curious pro-
ductions of art. Our voices, upon speaking or singing, were
magnified to an astonishing loudness ; and upon the firing of
a gun, the noise and reverberations were almost deafening.--
In the midst of this noble amphitheatre there arose a concretion
of above fifteen feet high, upon which mass was celebrated, the
whole place being lighted by about four hundred lamps, whilst
the beautiful pillars that rose up around the altar appeared to
be candlesticks, and many other natural productions presented
some resemblance to the various ornaments employed in deco.:
rating the altar.
Below even this spacious grotto, there seemed to be another
cavern, down which I ventured, and descended about fifty
paces by means of a rope. I arrived, at length, upon a small
spot of level ground, where the bottom appeared to (Wier from
that of the amphitheatre alone, being composed of clay, and
yielding to pressure, into which I thrust a stick, the depth of
LIC feet. In this cave, however, as well as in the grotto above,
vast numbers of the most beautiful crystals were formed, one of
which particularly resembled a table.
Upon our egress from the truly wonderful grotto, we dis-
covered, upon a rock near its mouth, a Greek inscription partly
obliterated, containing the names one of Antipater, and of seve-
ral others, who are supposed to have visited this natural
curiosity."
Accordino. to Tournefort, the access to the grotto is both
terrific and dangerous, but the beauties of the place make
ample amends for the danger and fatigue of reaching it. The
grotto is about forty fathoms high, and not less than fifty in
breadth. The roof forms an arch tolerably well shaped ; and
the eye is every where delighted by an almost infinite variety
of figures of a crystalline marble, or rather alabaster, transpa-
rent, and of a snowy whiteness, representing bunches ofgrapes,
festoons, spears, hanging curtains, fluted pillars, &c. &c. some
of them, adds this celebrated botanist, present so beautiful and
exact a representation of the head of cauliflowers, that one might
imagine nature had designed to thew how she proceeds in the
vegetation of stones ; a process which he seems fully inclined
to credit. For, speaking of the island of Antiparos, and of its
grotto, he says, This island, however contemptible it may
appear, contains, nevertheless, one of the most beautiful things
in nature, anti which demonstrates one of the greatest truths in
physics, and that is the vegetation of stones."
The island of Antiparos, the ancient (Hiatus, is situated two
miles W. of Paros, once so celebrated for its beautiful statuary
marble. It is a mere rock. on which there is one village, of
which the inhabitants feed upon the little barley which they
cultivate upon some of the less barren spots.

A. P.

SYSTEM OF CLASSICAL EDUCATION.

•

On Saturday last, a Gentleman named TI a LT.,
delivered an Introductory Lecture on Education at Willis's
Rooms, before a very numerous body of Literary Gentlemen.
If we may credit the statement made by this Gentleman at the
onset, his system must be of a very extraordinary nature,—at,
least its effects present a novelty altogether so extravagant, and,
indeed, incredible, that Mr. Hall ought to consider himself as
fortunate in not living in times less enlightened than the present.
Mr. Hall has stated, that under his system, a Gentleman who
was totally unacquainted with Latin, not having even com-
menced the study of it at school, acquired so much knowledge
of the language in 7 days as to enable Wm to undergo an ex-
amination in the whole of the first book of Virgil's Zneid—
not only touching his ability in translating it in grammatical
order, but, what puzzles us- more, both in 'the parsing and
scanning ! Mr. Hall further stated, that this examination
took place in the presence of twenty Gentlemen of literary
eminence. As we understand that this Lecture will be
followed by others, wherein Mr. 11. promises a more full
developement of his system, we decline any comments for
the present ;
.but we must, however, do him the justice to state
that he very fairly offered to undertake the same task, by instruct-
ing any other individual presented to him by any number of Gen-
tlemen then present. As to the system itself, it appears that the
essence of the old plan is preserved, and many observations
were certainly so just, that we think they may be very benefi-
cially adopted in practice. Mr. Hall deprecated in very strong
terms the custom of putting boys to learn the Latin Grammar
before they know any thing of the English ; and he noticed
that girls far excel boys in this respect, because there being no
inflections in English nouns .to guide them as to case, they are
compelled to ascertain it on abstract principles, from which a
boy, learning Latin, is excluded. .Mr. Hall's mode of commu-
nicating the words of • this language is by means of the roots,
wherein he avails himself of tile associat)en presented by their
incorporation into English words as an aid to the memory. He
very severely commented upon, and strongly censured, the mere
memorial course usually pursued in schools. The whole of
this lecture was received with the most gratifying and distin-
guished approbation.—Among tile company present we ob-
- served Professor Millington, Sir Horace St. Paul, Bart. M.P.,
David G. Gilbert, Esq. 'M.P., Sir G. Cockburn, Bart., Lord
Dillon, Sir Peter Laurie, General Thornton, the Hon. Douglas
Kinnaird,
.Lieut.-Col, Ackton, Dr. Gilchrist, W. H. Bosan-
quet, Esq., F. Goldsrnid, Esq., the Rev. Dr. Wardlaw,' Basil
Montague, Esq., Dr. M‘Donnell, &c. ece,

---
HACICNEY•COA CII OFFICE..-On Friday, No.
781, a hackney-coach was had up at this office,
upon a summons before the Cotrunissioners, to
answer for charging a gentleman back carriage
from Marsh-gate. Coarhee maintaininE.r, that
Westminster-bridge being. Macadamised, consti-
tuted an out-skirt, and therefore entitled him to
a back fare to Charing-cross. The Commissioner
-held, that if Macadamisinz altered the Act of
Parliament, then, any one, passing Regent-street)
or St. James's-square, would be liable to a back
fare, and .fired coachee ten shillings.

THE ARMY.

,~.~_.

On Friday the Leighton Blizzard trcop of Bedfordshire yeo-
manry cavalry assembled at Leighton Buzzard to perform their
annual ex,rcise. On Thursday the w!iole of the Bedfordshire
'regiment was inspected by Colonel V!se, who declared his en-
tire approbation of the soldicrlike appearance and correctness
with which this troop performed their manoeuvres.
The 2d division of the 94th Regiment of Foot, is ordered to
embark at Greenock,, on board the'.Alarquis of Huntly tran-
sport, tor Gibraltar.
The 2d division of the 94th (Cumberland) Regiment of In-
fantry is ordered to embark at Portsmouth, on board the Prin-
cess Royal transport, for hullo:.
The 2d (or the Queen's Royal) regiment of foot, now in Ath-
lone, is ordered to march front that station to Dublin, and to
embark for England, on board the transports that convoy the
54th regiment from Portsmouth to Ireland.
It is understood that the Bth (or King's) regiment of Infan-
try, which is ordered home, after being relieved in the lonian
Islands by the lah (Royal Irish) regiment of foot from Malta,
will replace the 34th regiment at Portsmouth.
WINDson,
AIA 9.—lt is expected that the two regiments
now at Windsor will be shortly removed. We understand the
Royal Horse Guards will he succeeded by the 2d Regiment of
v
I Life Guards, and the 75th by the 2d, or Queen's Royal.

Commissions in the Northumberland and Newcastle Yeomanry
Cavalry.
Lieut. Henry Bell to be Captain, vice Richard Bell, resigned ;
Cornet Robert Healey to be Lieutenant, vice Bell, promoted;
John Wilkie Himsw•orth, Gent. to be Cornet.