The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-29 00:00:00

PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

A report that the labourers on the Plymouth Break.
water were to be all discharged, having caused consi-
derable anxiety, we are glad to find, by the following
letter, that rumour had much exaggerated the reality.
" Woodside, 13th Nov., 1841.
" Sir--•I hi' to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of yesterday's date, respecting the discharge of 150
men employed on the Breakwater works, and have the
gratification of stating in reply thereto, for the infor-
mation of the Governor and Guardians of the poor, that
only a few extra men are intended to be discharged,
who were, previous to their entry, told they could not
be employed for want of funds during the winter months.
• " I am, therefore, discharging them by degrees, that
the distress apprehended by the Governor and Guar-
dians may not be incurred ; and I am glad to remark,
that many, if not all, of those already discharged, have
obtained work elsewhere.—l remain. Sir, your obe-
dient servant, " W. STUART.
" Air. It. Bernard, Workhouse."
—Plymouth Journal.

THE BOOKBINDER and the POET

(From the Manchester Times.)
An old Scotch bookbinder, hearing an author
spoken of in terms of high commendation, ex-
claithed, " Hoots ! Ony stupid body way write
a book, and ony stupid body may prent a book.
but it takes a clever fallow indeed to bind a
book ! " Our townsman, John Dickenson, is
one of the " clever Mows" that can bind a
book but he has a much higher appreciation
than the old Scotchman had of the powers re-
quired to write a book, for he was one of the
first to discover that John Critchely Prince
was a poet of no mean order, and to his friendly
zeal was owing in no slight degree the publica-
tion of productions so extraordinary, considering
the education and circumstances of the writer.
Burns owed the publication of the Kilmarnock
edition of his poems to the farmers in the neigh-
bourhood, and used to point with pride to the
name of one who had subscribed for twenty co-
pies, the only name higher on the list being that
of the Countess of Eglinton, who subscribed for
twenty-one copies. What the " Farmer in Co-
vington Mains" was to Burns, the " Bookbinder
in Angel-court" seems to have been to Prince,
and the Poet has thus gratefully and gracefully
recorded his obligations :

• 'TO MY FRIEND JOIIN DICKINSON.
True-hearted Dickinson ! can I forget
Thy warm, impetuous friendship, and how prone
Thou wert to solace me when first we met,

And I was coinless, hopeless, and unknown ?
No ! for the generous feeling thou bast shown

To me, an humble minstrel, in. my need,
My harp, with feeble but with faithful tone,
Shall tell thee that I cherish every deed.
Let me bear witness that thou hast, withal,
Though rudely earnest, an inquiring mind,—
Pity for human suffering and thrall,
And love for things exalted and refined.
May Heaven afford thee, to thy latest hour,
The joy of doing good, and ne'er deny the power !
A handsome and generous tribute was paid to
the genius of Prince on Monday night by Mr.
Vandenhoff, who expressed the delight he had
experienced in perusing the volume which had
accidentally fallen into his hands. While, with
a voice " musical as Apollo's lute," the tragedian
recited one of the finest passages, we observed
John Dickenson drinking in the sounds with un-
disguisable rapture ; and the poet, who was pre-
sent, must have felt similar emotions to those
which Burns felt when some fine lyric of his,
married to immortal tune, proceeded, in enchant-
ing strain, from the lips of beauty.