The Sun.
London, England, 1824-11-09 00:00:00

[NEW TIMES.),

Consols yesterLy were nearly stagnant. Dur-
ing the whole of the day they only varied from
96 to 96i, at which latter price they closed.—
The expresses from Paris brought the price of
Itentes there on Saturday something better than
they were the day preceding ; but they are still
only 102.15.,which, though a very high price com-
pared with what they were at two or three years ago,
is now regarded as by no means extraordinary.—
The silence of the American Papers, in relation
to the rumoured successes of Bolivar, seems to
have cast a damp on the South American Securi-
ties, most of which were very heavy yesterday,
with a slight depression in their price since Satur-
day. Mexican Bonds, which opened on Satur-
day morning at 668, closed yesterday at 668,
and Colombian, which on Saturday were 82i,
were yesterday 81 These prices, however, are
not likely to remain long stationary ; for decisive
news from South America may shortly be ex-
pected, and according to its complexion these
Securities must experience either a marked de-
pression, or a considerable advance in value.

[THE PUBLIC LEDGER.]
The Paris Papers, which arrived last night,
display an extraordinary dearth of news. They
represent the King as dividing his time between
affairs of state, the bracing pleasures of the chace,
and visits to the charitable institutions of the
metropolis. The Journals, we observe, are less
warm in their panegyrics than they were at the
commencement of the reign ; not that their zeal is
cooled,or that the King has relaxed in his efforts to
merit them ; but lest praise, from frequent repeti.
tion,might have the a ppearance of flattery. Charles
has fully justified the early encomiums that were
lavishly paid him, and we try to persuade our.
selves that he will merit them to the last. In-
deed his character which seems to be in the highest
degree amiable, and to form a perfect contrast
with that of his cousin of Spain, cannot fail to
conciliate, in an eminent degree, a people pro.
verbially social, like the French. Even the ar-
dour of his religious feelings, which to all appear-
ance is as remote as possible from fanaticism, and
is not assumed from policy, but from a sincere
conviction, serves to animate his good intentions,
when mere worldly wisdom might play the
Parasite. We pay hint this tribute because
it is his due ; and every one must see
his accession has been a sign of national
concord on France ; whilst it has imparted to
the rest of Europe increased confidence in the
continuance of peace. On his ascending the
Throne, party spirit was at its height, and even
threatened, at no distant period, a fearful explo-
sion. It disappeared almost in a moment, or at
least lost its rancorous and menacing character ;
and for, this service alone, he has a title to the
utmost gratitude of his subjects, who really can
boast at this time of possessing a mild and equi.
table Government.

[MORNING lIERALD.I

If we recollect right, there used to be, and
may, perhaps, he still, an annual vote of public
money for the purpose of widening the streets of
Dublin ; and we dare say there was also a snug
Board of Commissioners, with Secretaries, Clerks,
&c., to see that the whole was expended econo-
mically and properly. Though we may not, per.
haps, be advocates for quite so much machinery
upon the occasion, we wish we could see something
of the same kind adopted in London. A sum of
from 20 to 50,0001. a year, dedicated to such a
purpose, might be very beneficially laid out in rid-
ding the metropolis of many of the narrow dirty
streets, lanes, and alleys, with which it is at pre-
sent infested, and would add greatly to the health
and comfort of the inhabitants, as well as of all
persons, both natives and foreigners, resorting to
it for pleasure or business. It would be need-
less to point out the many, or even the promin-
ent objects to which such sums might be most
advantageously applied. It strikes us as extra-
ordinary that there should be no member of
the Government who appears to thing such
an object worthy of his attention. i t is en-
tirely a false and vicious taste which leads states-
men (British statesmen, at least) to suppose that
the domestic government of the country is be-
neath their notice. Every one seems to look to the
Foreign Department as the only objects of am-
bition ; just in the same way that we find pet).
ple proud of being able to write Greek iam-
bics, who cannot write or express themselves ac-1
curately in their own language. We ure not in-
sensible to the great improvements which have
taken place of late years in the Metropolis. The
New Street, incongruous as it is in some re-
spects, will hand down the name of its architect
to posterity as one of the ornaments of his
country. But it is extraordinary that while ar-
chitecture has been so much encouraged by the
increase of buildings, not only in the Metropolis,
but elsewhere, so much bad taste should still
exist In its application. It is truly mortifying,
for instance, to see such a building as has just
been erected at the corner of Spring-gardens.—
It is private property, wo • -suppose, and
therefore the owner and his architect, who-

ever they may be., had a right to make
it what it is ; but still, one cannot but
wish, for the credit of the Metropolis, that such
prominent objects were not so tasteless and de-
generate. We know of few things that would
do more credit to the Government, at a season of
prosperity like this, than to set about weeding
the town of its nuisances and excrescences—
making thoroughfares where they are most want-
ing, and rooting out uncleanly habits, by buying
up and reforming narrow dirty places. As a
matter of general police, none could be more va-
luable than a plan that would by degrees extir-
pate the hiding-places of looseand dissolute cha-
racters, at the same time that it produced better
dwellings, and with them habits of cleanliness and
health. Instead of a Committee of Taste, we wish
we had a Committee of Utility, whe would give
their minds to this subject upon an enlarged and
general scale. It has hitherto been a great mis-
take on this head, to have confined our improve-
ments to what is called the Court end of the town.
As all the town pay taxes, all the town should
be benefitted by their expenditure. And if
Saint Giles's, the lower parts of Westmin-
ster, and the neighbourhood of Shoreditch,
Spitalfields, and Whitechapel were survey-
ed, the necessity of what we allude to would
be apparent, and much might, by degrees, be
done to reform those parts of the town, and, in
time, render the whole metropolis at once re-
markable for the splendor of its public buildings,
and the general comfort of its private dwellings.
These, we repeat, would not be objects unworthy
of Statesmen—who, if they are classically in-
clined, will find in the histories both of Greece
and Rome, as well as in earlier ages, models and
precedents enough for the task we are wishing to
impose upon them.

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]
On Saturday last Ave alluded to a subject dis-
cussed in the lase number of The Edinburgh
Review, to which the public attention, both in
France and England, has been a good deal di-
rected of late, we mean the regulation of Succes-
sions. Hostile as we are to the partition of a
country into small possessions, we could not help
observing that such partition was uniformly to he
found in certain stages of civilization, in how few
hands soever the property might be, and we could
not therefore help suspecting that it was dependent
on other causes than the Law of Succession. The
custom of primogeniture too seemed to us to de-
mand either a rude slate of society, which
would allow the younger children to vegetate
along with the other retainers on the family pro-
perty, or extensive colonies, to theadministra-
timai
appointed. of
owhtiec(lL the offspring of proprietors might
be NVeseer that in a country like
England, in the present day, primogeniture
could not possibly subsist without extensive colo-
nies, fir humanity would force the parents to
divide their property among their children to pre-
vent the misery which would otherwise await
them in an age in which gentle blood, without
wealth, would be universally ridiculed. The
army, in time of war, might furnish subsistence
for a number of them ; but a country cannot be
always at war, and peace would again plunge them
in poverty. Though in Old France primogeni-
ture, in the English sense, existed only in one
or two provinces, the colonies and army were in-
adequate to the support of the younger children
of the Nobility, who, according to Sir James
Stewart, a writer well acquainted with most
countries of the Continent, were in a most
pitiable condition. He speaks of them as " poor
and ragged, wandering up and down their fathers'
lands, chasing a wretched hare or a partridge."
I find nothing (he says) more affecting to a
good mind than to see the distress of a poor
Nobility in both sexes. Some have proposed
trade for this class. Why do you not trade ?—.
I answer for the Nobility, because in order to
trade I must have money." If primogeniture
requires the existence of extensive colonies,
extensive colonies again are incompatible with
good Government in the country which possesses
them, to say nothing of the necessary maladmi-
nistration in the Colonies themselves. Viewing,
therefore, primogeniture as incompatible with
civilisation and good government, seeing countries
in a high state of cultivation in which the law of
equal succession prevailed, as Holland, Belgium,
Switzerland, and part of England, seeing on
the other hand large countries split up into
petty occupancies in which primogeniture
prevailed, we were satisfied that the ingeni-
ous author of the article in The Edinburgh Re-
view had failed in this investigation to display
his usual sagacity, and were longing to see the
subject taken up in a proper manner, when the
fourth Number of The Westminster Review
came into our hands, and supplied us with
that for which we had been so anxious.—
The last article in that Number has done
ample justice to this most interesting ques-
tion, though we are sorry to perceive in it
a tone occasionally bordering on asperity, when
examining some of the most objectionable posi-
tions of his opponent. In a philosophical dis-
cussion, where there is not the slightest reason
for suspecting
an opponent of mulls fides, harsh
expressions or a tone of contempt ought carefully
to be suppressed, because by arousing self-love,
or fostering passion,
they in so far indispose to
the reception of truth. 'Weh notice this unneces-
sary severity,
because Ave are sorry to see any
such imperfection in one of the most masterly ar-
ticles which ever appeared in any periodical work
in this or any Other country. We hardly ever
saw an instance of a more Complete demolition
of the grounds of a hostile opinion.

NORTRUsIBEBLAND AND CUMBERLAND RAIL-WAY.—
A Meeting of the Railway and Canal Committee was holden
at the Moothall, Newcaatle.upon.Tyne, 'on Friday last, and
was numerously attended. We understand that Mr. Chap.
Man presented to the Meeting a detailed report both as to the
cost of a railway and the cost of acanal, and also as the pro.
babie revenue front each : and that the Committee ordered
Printed and circulated previously to their next
Axed for Saturday, the 20th inst. It is said
tiliecaisttirbenrgr.:CtwtEajcpbtielnllltn now estimates the expence of a railway at
2382'W",.0r about 4,0001. per mile, and that of a canal at
0001., or about 14,0001. pebr mile.
the 24th, tilt., towards ten o'clock at night,
a terrible conflagration. took place in the commune of Quite
y
(Nord). Seven dwelling.houses and. some stables fell a prey
to the devouring element, in spite of the greatest efforts wade
8
to resist the progress of the flames.

FOR. TIM SUN.

EDDA.
FABLE V.—Formation fAx Asia and of EMLA.

MR. EDITOR—Great, indeed, were the things
that had been done, said Gangler, but what is the
origin of the men that now dwell upon the earth?
liar replies,—,-As the sons of Bore were one day
walking along the sea shore, they found two
logs of wood, and taking them up, from the one
they made a man, and from the other a woman.
The first of the sons of Bore gave them life and
a soul ; the second gave them reason and motion,
and the third bestowed upon them not only hear-
ing, and sight,and speech, but also clothed them,
and gave them a name. The man was named
Aske, and the woman Em ; and from them de-
scended the human race, to which a dwelling
place has been assigned in the vicinty of Mid-
gard. Here the sons of Bore built in the midst
of the world, the fortress of Asgard, wherein
dwell the gods and their families. Here have
been performed many marvellous deeds, both upon
the earth and in the air. liar added, in this spot
stands the Palace of Odin, which is named The
Terror of Nations. When Odin there sits upon
his sublime throne, he embraces at one glance all
the courtiers of the earth ; sees all the actions of
men, and understands all that he sees. His wife
is Friggia, the daughter of Fiorgun; and from
this marriage has issued all the family of the
gods. This is truly a divine race, by which the
ancient Asgard was built. Hence should Odin
be called the universal father ; since he is truly
the father of the Gods, and of men, and of all
the things which his power has brought forth.—
The earth is both his daughter and his wife. By
her he has had Asa-Thor, (or the God Thord
the first born of his children. Strength and
valour ever attend this God, which is the reason
that he is triumphant over all that has life.
This fable, Mr. Editor, is truly interesting,
since it contains the notion of the Celts concern-
ing the formation of the human race, which, as
recorded in our sacred books, is made to spring
from a male and a female, created soon after the
earth had been brought into an inhabitable state.

Agard, the strong citadel of the gods, is evi-
dently the Olympus of Homer, and the Giants
of the Celts are no less evidently the Tita►►s of
the Greeks. It can scarcely be denied that both
of these nations derived their mythological fables
from one and the same source, or from ancient
oriental traditions. The only difference, or
rather the cause of the difference, existing be-
tween them,• must be simply attributed to the
embellishments with which these fables were
decked by the brilliant fancy of the Grecian
Poets, whilst the less fauciful nations of the
North preserved them In all their original sim-
plicity of form.

The notion that the earth, called by the Celts
Trigga or Ereya, was at once the daughter and
the wife of the supreme god, is very ancient,
and prevailed among all the Celtic tribes. The
Druids taught that the supreme god was the
active principle—the soul of the world, which,
by becoming united with matter, had fitted it
to produce the inferior deities, men, and all
other animais. This idea the Poets expressed
in a figurative manner by the supposed marriage
of Odin with Treya. it is highly probable that
this Scandinavian divinity was the same which
the Germans venerated under the name of
Bel-thus, or the Earth, and to which this people
had consecrated some of the islands that now
form a part of the kingdom of Denmark. A. P.