The Sun.
London, England, 1840-03-11 00:00:00

PRICE sd.

ever produced so great an impression in Parliament as
this consummate speaker. Lord Brougham, too, is by no
means wanting in the true Demosthenic vigour, but he,
is, generally speaking, too pleonastic ; and instead of
demolishing his antagonist by one crushing blow, often
loses sight of him altogether, in his eagerness to set off
his own Inexhaustible resources to the best advantage.
The great secret of popular oratory is conc'seness and
simplicity. Go straight ahead, and never deviate from the
subject !natter-in-hued, for a mix©d audience, such as
the House of Commons, is notoriously impatient of
digression. We subjoin a spirited sketch of Demos-
thenes rising to answer the Ambassadors of Philip at
Thebes

" Behold him in the council-room. His adversaries,
the ambassadors of Philip, have finished their address ;
they have set forth the rights resources of their master,
the madness of resistance to him, the advantages of his
alliance. Their task is an easy one. They have preju-
dice and selfishness on their side. They see that their
highest demands, their most eager wishes, are anticipated
by the concurrence of their auditors. They sit down in
security. He rises to answer them. .The collective wis.
dom, the senators (though in Thebes they were not abso-
lutely wise, inasmuch as they were not hereditary) dispose
themselves to hear him. They had long' known him by
his renown, and therefore looked upon him with interest,
and were even inclined to listen to him. But it was the
interest not of doubt, but of curiosity;—that of the twelve
nien, honest and true, who have made up their minds from
the very outset, and have therefore leisure to amuse them-.
selves with the declaration of an aspirant counsel. He
has begun—but •is it really he? The mighty master of
words, the wielder of the democracy, the consummate
rhetorician ? Bet where are his tropes and figures ? How
is it that he has brought us nothing but simple truths, arid
left all his artifices behind him ? He has uttered but haif-
a dozen sentene:s, and already is he grappling with the
main body of his 201:jed. This "is strange. Their cu-
riosity becomes earnestness. They look about them for a
moment, and then their attention is rivetted on him, once
for all. Sentence upon sentence the speaker strikes home.
The strokes tell. The metal, so cold but even now, is
warmed through. The warmth becomes beat. It is hot
—red hot. It burns vividly. It is all over in a glow. He
sees that they are at the right temper. He works and
welds them at his will. But a few strokes more, and be
has made of that dull metal a meet and high-wrought in.
strument—a sword of proof—ay, and more. He has ear.
ried home that sword in triumph, and has armed with it his
countrymen, defenceless else, but now terribly furnished
for their warfare. Often before bad he stimulated the
public spirit of the Athenians. But this was little compa-
ratively—he has now created that of the Thebans. Truly
his triumph over Python is as full of high sentiment and
as godlike as that of Apollo himself, though it live not yet
in sculpture." . _ _

While on the subject of Demosthenes, we may ob-
serve that Lord Brougham was taunted, in a late num-
ber of the " British and Foreign Review," with his ig-
norance of Greek, for having translated the word " E3si"
—which occurs in one of the great orator's speeches—
by "it were well." 'When we first met with this acctss
sation, we had no means of answering it, not having the
speech in question at hand to refer to ; since then, howe
ver, we have procured it ; and now have no hesitation in
saying, after an attentive perusal of the whole sentence
that his Lordship's translation is the very aptest that
could possibly have been given, expressing the author's
meaning to a nicety. " British Birds" is an amusing
review of Mr. Yarrell's able publication on this sub-
ject. The details respecting nest building are exceed-
ingly curious. Ihe notice of " Joanna Baillie's
Plays" is readable, but the theme is somewhat hack-
neyed. In the criticism on " Emerson's Discourses"
the Reviewer indulges in several pertinent strictures
on the want of originality in American literature. It is
certainly at present but a mere copy of that of the
mother-country ; but then it should be borne in mind
that our literature is the slow growth of centuries, while
the United States are but a nation of yesterday.
" Robin Hood" is a clever essay on one of those few
themes which never weary an English reader. The
historical portion of this essay, as distinguished from
the purely legendary, suggests much interesting matter
for reflection. On the " Postage Stamps" is a season•
able article, to which are affixed, by way of appoodix,
some designs for stamp covers by Messrs. Sievier and
Whiting. Of these designs, the best appears to us to
be that by Mr. Sievier, whose object has been, first to
secure (as much as the subject would admit of) the
Revenue from fraud by imitations of the stamp ; and
secondly, a rapid and cheap mode of providipg for any
possible required consumption.

FINE ARTS.

PANORAMA OF BENARES.

We went yesterday to a private view of this Pano-
rama, which is far superior to that of Versailles, which
is exhibited in the same place, whether as regards choice
of subject or skill of execution. The picture is taken
from the river near the centre of the semicircle, whence
the whole of the Holy City—for such Benares is con-
sidered by the Hiudoos—is seen at a single glance.
The high banks are adorned by an immense num•
ber of temples, and pagodas of all sizes and
forms, some painted or gilt, and others of the
colour of stone ; and on the summit and brow of the
hill behind, stand the stone mansions of the wealthy
nabobs and merchants, together with numerous mud
hovels belonging to the poorer classes. These are all
mixed confusedly together, yet the whole forms an im-
posing spectacle teeming with variety, and heightened in
effect by the luxuriant foliage of trees. Lower down,
on the immediate bank of the river, there are large
flights of steps which descend from the temples,
to say nothing of several elegant, bat somewhat fanciful-
looking pavilions. The river itself—the well-known,
sacred Ganges—is crowded in all directions with craft
of various descriptions ; in one place, we see the large
budgerow gliding along the broad stream ; in another,
the bolios of the rich natives dancing buoyantly on the
water ; here, huge ferry-boats crossing from shore to
shore ; and there, cotton and baggage heats carrying their
produce to the crowded mart. Theopposite shore of the
liver is formed of a low and level sand-bank, near which,
close to some tents, one or two elephants are repre-
sented bathing. In mid-channel we see a sort of raft,
on which is placed a dead body, which two vultures are
busily devouring ; and at no great distance from this
unsightly object, a huge alligator rears his head, just
above the surface of the river. As a painting, this
Panorama deserves great praise ; the lights and shadows,
in particular, on the Ganges, are pourtrayed in Mr.
Burford's most effective style.