The Sun.
London, England, 1823-06-14 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICE.

MEMOIRS of WILLIAM HAYLEY, Esu. the Friend
and Biographer of COWPER. Written by Iltraszt.r.
From this Work, which is just published, and
which will, no doubt, excite considerable atten-
tion, we extract the following passage as a fair
specimen of the Author's own idea of his pro.
duction:--
The life of a Sequestered Student, fond of books and pri-
vacy, in all the periods of his existence, seems, at first, to offer
materials for nothing more than a short and simple History;
but incidents, very singular in themselves, and productive of
consequences no less extraordinary, befel the subject of these
Memoirs ; and though ever devoted to retirement himself, he
had so much intercourse with many, the most memorable cha-
racters of his time, that a fair and full account of him must
inevitably be a work of considerable extent and diversity :"
and such, indeed, it appears to be.
Born of an ancient and opulent family, the Au-
thor possessed the means of cultivating a taste for
literature, without having been, at the same time,
compelled to stoop to the drudgery of an inferior
occupation for support : whilst with an urbanity,
highly creditable to himself, he never failed to
foster and encourage the efforts of those who were
placed in circumstances of a less auspicious kind.
From the station which he enjoyed in Society,
nayley often found himself in the possession of
influence, which it was one of his highest gratifi-
cations to employ on the behalf of others ; and
the reader of this work can scarcely fail of being
struck with this as the most prominent trait in
hia amiable character—a constant tendency to
acts of the most disinterested friendship. Bence
his continual solicitude for the welfare and suc-
cess of his youthful associates ; his almost ro-
mantic efforts to raise from obscurity an estimable
youth, who had entered his service in a menial
capacity, but who, by his means, attained to on
honourable station in ,the service of his Country,
and among many minor kindnesses, which it
would be difficult to enumerate, that pension,
which, but, that his sun had set, would doubtless
have proved a most important solace to the de-
clining years of his beloved CoWper.
Bayley was, it appears, the grandson of Thos.
llayley, Dean of Chichester ; his father, a man of
large property, embarked in a militarrlife, and
was, in consequence of his services, offered a
baronetcy, by the Duke of Newcastle, which he
declined. Dying early, he left his son William,
the subject of these Memoirs, then a child of five
years, heir to his possessions.
Entering into life, under such circumstances,
Hay ley must have been exposed to many temp-
tations, but for the affectionate care of his ami-
able mother, of whose highly estimable worth he
appears to have been duly sensible. Ills educe-
cation began at Eton, from whence he removed
to Cambridge, which he quitted at the age of
twenty-two, and ever after devoted himself to
literature. As a gentleman and a scholar, his
connexions appear to have been of the very
first order, and, in the work before us, we have
many entertaining anecdotes of remarkable per-
sons, who have rendered themselves conspicuous
by their talents or their history.
In these Memoirs, the Author has given us an
account of the progress of his studies, and of his
compositions, with extracts from his Dials his
Gin-respondence, and 114 unpublished Poelrg. The
Editor has also introduced some interesting let-
ters respecting the justly admired Cowper. We
lament that our limits forbid us the pleasure of
extracting, but in a work so multifarious
and di-
versified, this could avail but little. We must
therefore content ourselves- with cordially re-
commending it to the perusal of our readers, as
the most instructive and pleasing piece of auto-
biography which has, for a considerable period,
come under our notice.

THE SUN.

SOLE3I QUIS 1)ICE8I; FALSUIII AUDICIT

LONDON,
SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1323.

The great length at which we have given a
Report of the interesting Meeting at the London
Tavern yesterday, and the pre-occupation of a
large portion of our columns by a Law Case,
preclude the possibility of our giving insertion
either to the Parliamentary Debates of last night,
or to the Foreign Intelligence received by us
this day. These are, therefore, postponed
till Monday, from a conviction that the orris.
sion will be excused by our Readers, under
the extraordinary circumstances in which we
,have been placed by the important share
which we took in yesterday's proceedings,----

and respecting whir' we 1.11011 shortly give some
further explanations.

The principal articles of foreign intelligence are,
a Proclamation by the Spanish Regency to the
Nation, which still offers no hint of forming a
liberal Constitution, and addresses only threats
to the Constitutionalists ;—an article in a Bayonne
Paper, which seems to indicate that France is
already meditating an attack upon Portugal.;—
and a Dispatch from Major-General Count
GUILLEMINOT, detailing some operations of the
Duke d'ANGouLEstE's Army. The following
mysterious paragraph, brought by the Dutch
Mail, is Ikon reflection too important to be
omitted, though we withhold all comments upon
it for the present, and probably until we have
been furnished with more explicit and authentic
particulars respecting it :

" BERLIN, MAY 27.—Unexpeeted events which are said to
have taken place in Russia, are at this time the chief subject
of conversation. Private letters have been received direct
from St. Petersburgb, but speak, however, on the subject
with extreme reserve, and mention no particulars. According
to the reports in Circulation here Tery serious occurrences

have taken place. It is said that a conspiracy has been
discovered, in which several families of the first rank are
reported to be implicated. It is affirmed that an ecclesiastic
gave information of the existence of the plot to the Empress
Motbcri who was the first to acquaint her son."

Our Correspondent in the City writes that
he 64 has just seen a Gentleman who arrived this
morning from Barcelona. He. saw MINI there,
who was preparing an expedition for the fron.,
tiers of France. He demanded of the inhabit-
ants of Barcelona 5000 cockades, and several
thousand rations for his troops, which were im-
mediately furnished. Five hundred of the
women of Barcelona had formed themselves into
a corps, dressed in jackets, and armed w itit
pikes, fully determined to lose their lives in the
defence of their City. The above Gentleman
states MINA's Army to be abditt 34,000 good
troops and, well disciplined. lie is of opinion
that the War is only on the eve of commencing,
and that the Spaniards have at. the present mo-
ment about 100,000 thousand welt disciplined
troops." We cannot, of course, vouch for the
accuracy of the foregoing statement.
Our friend in the City also states that the ex-
presses from Paris have brought the French
Funils 87. r. 50c. ; and Spanish, 42. -

We beg to refer our readers to the important
case of the K Ixc V. JOLLIFFE, a full report of the
proceedings in which will be found in another part
of our Paper. From the length and importance
of the proceedings at the City of London Tavern,
yesterday, we are not able to enter into any ob-
servations on the case at present, but shall avail
ourselves of the first opportunity to do so.