The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-25 00:00:00

PINE ARTS.

Paul Delaroche 's great painting, now exhibiting at
the School of Fine Arts, Paris, represents Ictinus,
Apelles, and Praxiteles, judging the world of art. The
great painters, artists, and sculptors, of all ages, are
grouped upon benches. The face of Apelles is that of
Delaroche himself.
LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC.
It is proposed that to prevent the effluvium which
arises from the decomposition of bodies, the coffin should
be filled up with Plaster of Paris, which, mixed with
water, and poured into the coffin in a liquid state, be-
comes in a few minutes fixed and hard, and prevents
every escape of effluvia. The additional cost would not
be more than 2s. or 3s. for each funeral.

The tenderest roses may be preserved through the
winter, if by thatching and burying'their roots and
stems, the earth about them is protected from the frost.

COURT-

7-FASiIION/113X.E.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Thomond returned
to Belgrave-square early in the week.
The Marchioness of Queensberry is expected to arrive
to-day from Kinmount Flouse, Dumfries-shire.

The Earl and Countess of Wilton left Grosvenor-
square, on Thursday, for Strathfieldsaye, the seat of the
Duke of Wellington.
The Countess of Jersey arrived in town on Thursday
evening from Brighton.
Lord Fitzroy Somerset has returned to town from visit-
ing Lord Hill at Hardwicke Grange.
Lord and Lady Seymour have arrived at Naples for
the winter.

Lord Ashburton returned to the Grange from Eath
House on Monday last.
Lord Stanley left Knowsley yesterday for town.
misCELLANEOI7I3.

The oriental ingredients which enter into the com-
position of our Christmas mincepies are supposed to have
a reference to the offerings made by the wise men of the
East ; and it was anciently the custom to make these
pies of an oblong form, thereby representing the manger
in which, on that occasion, the sages found the infant
Jesus.

The gulf of Cronstadt on the 3d instant was entirely
free from ice ; an unusual instance of mild weather in
Russia.

The slip on the Croydon Railway is now cleared, and
the Brighton trains pass through without interruption.
The most rigid winter on record was that of 1709.
All the rivers and lakes were ice-bound to the bottom ;
birds and beasts were strewed in the fields, and human
beings perished by thousands in their houses.
A Worcester Paper states that the females greatly
preponderate over the males in England. We are not
surprised at this, for the Tory old women alone abound
in prodigious numbers.
There was a great display of excessive Tee-totalism in
the streets last night ; and the president of a Temperance
Society in the East, was discovered stretched full-length
in a gutter in Cheapside, overpowered, no doubt, by the
nervous excitement arising from green tea.

DREADFUL ACCIDENT ON THE
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.

(BY EXPRESS.)

(Latest -particulars.—From the Reading Mercury.)
It is with feelings of deep regret that we have to record
one of the most lamentable railway accidents that, we
believe, has ever occurred in this country, and which
took place this morning on that part of the Great
Western Line, called " the gullet,' the deepest part
of the Sunning-hill cutting, rather more than two miles
from Reading. It appears that during the interim
that elapsed between the passing down of the goods train
about midnight, and the arrival of a similar train at half-
past six this morning, the embankment of the south side
of the gullet, and about one hundred yards east of the
wooden bridge, gave way, completely covering about
forty yards of the south or down line of rails. This un-
fortunate occurrence being unobserved by the police-
man at this district, no intimation of it could possibly
be conveyed to the driver of- the approaching train, con-
sequently, on the arrival of the luggage train, at about
half-past 6 o'clock, a most terrific scene occurred. The train
which was progressing at its accustomed pace, and con-
sisted of twelve or fourteen waggons, two trucks, and the
engine and tender, was suddenly thrown off the rails, and
partially shattered to atoms. The engine, which was
called the " Hecht," ran into the mass of earth, in which
it was more than half buried, while the tender and passen-
ger trucks were turned over and jammed against the
waggons immediately behind. The consternation at this
moment, amid the expiring yells of some of the passengers,
and the shrieks of others less injured, may be more easily
conceived than detailed. One of the most distressing
features, perhaps, of this awful scene, was the lament-
able cries of an aged father, who saw his son, who had
accompanied him in this unhappy journey, literally
crushed between the tender and the truck, and instanta-
neously killed. Another of the sufferers, apparently an aged
man, was so shockingly mutilated, that his countenance
was entirely indiscernible. Information of the dreadful
catastrophe was conveyed to Reading as speedily as pos-
sible, and several medical gentlemen were shortly on the
spot. There were about thirty passengers, including
some females, nearly the whole of whom were more or
less injured ; about twenty were brought on to Reading,
in a carriage sent up for that purpose, and their appear-
ance, on their arrival at the station, was of the moat de-
pressing character.
It is a remarkable fact, that neither the driver of the
engine, nor his assistant, sustained any injury; the con-
ductor and the guard also escaped unhurt, although the
former, we believe, was thrown from his seat over to the
bank, upon which he fell with great force. The guard
was thrown upon the opposite embankment, and the
other officers were saved by leaping from their places.
By about half-past eight o'clock a great number of
persons had reached the spot, and the most active exer-
tions were made to extricate the poor fellows who were
lying dead beneath the wheels and among the shattered
fragments of the trucks. This, however, was a work of
great difficulty as well as hazard ; and several hours
elapsed before the heavy trucks were raised.
The removal of each presented a spectacle too horrible
to be described ; five of the unhappy men were extri-
cated without much delay, but the remaining three were
so entangled with the wheels and shattered trucks, that
they were for a long time unapproachable. One of
these, a decently dressed mechanic, was taken in the
waist by the tender and the truck, in an upright posi-
tion, his back being nearly severed by the crash. They
were all at length removed to a small hut in the London-
road, where the eight bodies were deposited and covered
with straw. One of them appeared about 18 years old,
while the others, so far as we .could judge, were from
about 20 to 30 years of age, except one man, who, as we
have before stated, though not recognisable, must have
been somewhat older.

The engineer, with great presence of mind, shut off
the steam before leaping from the engine, by which an
explosion was prevented. The whole of the up and down
trains were delayed at Twyford and Reading, until a pas-
sage could be effected, which was not until nearly mid-day.
The total number conveyed to the hospital is 17,
being twelve men and five women ; thirteen were imme-
diately placed in bed, more or ess seriously injured,
combining fractures and dislocations ; but, with one
exception, no amputation will be necessary : the
most serious are two or three spinal cases, the inju-
ries being so severe, that there is little hope of their
recovery. The other four, although much hurt and
bruised, will shortly be enabled to proceed on their
route to Bristol. Fortunately there were fewer pa-
tients in the Hospital than has been known for some
weeks past, from which circumstance every accommoda-
tion and assistance was readily afforded the unfortunate
sufferers. We would submit that the passenger trucks
should be placed in a less dangerous situation than that
in which they are generally (being attached to the engine),
had they been placed behind the luggage waggons, this
afflicting loss of life would, in all probability, have been
avoided, as several of the last waggons retained their
positions on the rails without receiving the slightest
damage.

The names of the deceased we have not yet learned ;
but, from their appearance, they are principally mecha-
nics and labourers, and veers journeying towards Ciren-
cester and Bristol. The inquest, we believe, will be held
this evening.

-7-,
SCENE IN A CHURCH.—The following ludi-
crous scene occurred a few weeks ago, at a village
church not a hundred miles from Stallingborough. The
clergyman, observing a boy in the gallery behaving in
an' unbecoming manner, reproved him. An old and
worthy member of the church, in the plenitude of his
' zeal for order and decorum, instantly jumped up, and
called out, " Bring the rascal down, and I'll kick his
No sooner was the threat uttered, than the young
urchin was dragged down, and handed over to the tender
mercies or the old zealot fur the honourof "God's house,"
who, having come out of his pew to meet him, took him
by the collar, and very plentifully applied his foot to the
boy's posteriors, to the no small amusement of the con-
gregation, and the moral benefit of the offender, whom
he told to " Go in peace, and sin no more."—Lincoln
Mercury. •
BRISTOL SUGAR MARKET, DEC. 23.—The
business during the past week has been so trifling that it
is impossible to give quotations—in fact both buyers and
sellers are waiting till after the Christmas holidays. The
offices will be closed to-morrow and remain so until
Tuesday, the 4th of January.—Western Times.
The noise made by the fall of the fish-market at
Bordeaux was so great, as the local papers state, that the
horses of a diligence, going at some distance, were so
panic-struck that they all stopped short, and one of them
fell. The wooden pillars which supported the roof-were
evidently too weak, and also had become rotten at their
bases. Most of the marble benches were broken by the fall

THE DYING PUSEYITE.
A CHRISTMAS SCENE.

DEAR S—, I write with a trembling hand. Our dear
\V— died yesterday. His last moments were marked
by that intense enthusiasm which he always displayed
upon the new principles -he had adopted. N— was
by his bed-side, and had an opportunity of seeing how
deep-rooted his doctrines will strike in young minds. I
can say no more. I have tried to embody this sad but
sublime death-bed scene while warm in my memory.
Eheu unica !—Extract from Letter, Oxford, Dec. 22.

(IN THE METRE OF MILTON'S " AGONISTES.”)
God, all men are thy Sons : but some far higher
Are so ordained and solemnly elected :
Thy chosen servants these,
Fully impregned with thy empyreal fire,
By whom thy wise decrees
Are duly furthered, and in part effected,
Such was thy white-robed Christ
Who left the shining throne—
The sumptuous Heaven-halls that were his own—
And in the likeness of a man by birth,
Ministered upon earth.
And such art Thou—
Awful young Spirit of surpassing lustre !
O'er the proud-swelling cluster
Of whose full life, and pulses, and sensations,
And fiery-flighted Hopes and Aspirations
Death's hand is sweeping :
For in thy palmy days,
How like a prophet-teacher,
Or solemn Hebrew-preacher,
Forth from thy lips God's gospel-truths were driven,
Like trumpet-songs of seraphs rolled through Heaven.
E'en now, when deathy faint,
Half between earth, and half the empyrean—
How teem thy lips, young Saint,
With the full grandeurs of a glorious paean !