The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-05 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGEN,

OXFORD, MARCH 4.—This day a Congregation was
holden for granting degrees, &c., when the following were
conferred
BACHELOR IN CIVIL LAW. ,•—• G. M. Giffard, New
College.
MASTERS OP ARTS.—E. N. Sealey, of Christ Church ;
Rev.' G. D. Wheeler, Wadbam College ; T. R. Smythe,
Brasennose College ; Rev. J. Baron, Queen's College ;
Rev. A. Oake:ey, New Inn Hall.
BACHELORS OF ARTS.—H. C. Claughton, of Brasen-
nose College ; S. Hanley, Wadham College ; A. R.
Tawney, Merton College ; J C. Sealey, Merton College.
The Aldrichian Professor of Medicine commenced his
course of lectures this day.
The Regius Professor of Divinity has, in consequence
of severe indisposition, been obliged to postpone his public
lectures till Thursday the 18th inst.
The election of Proctors for the ensuing year took place
yesterday at the respective Colleges, to whose turn it
came, when the Rev. W. Tireman, Fellow of Magdalen
College, and the Rev. J. Fdey, Fellow of Watlham Col-
lege were chosen.

MOCK REFORMERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sir,-Li herewith enclose you the copy of d latter
written by our immaculite Member, Peter Ainsworth,
wherein his reasons are given for his abandonment of
his principles. As you have noticed some of them as
coming from Sir Robert Peel, I think they are not less
worthy your notice as emanating from the now Member
for Bolton. You may depend upon it the independent
electors of Bolton will relieve him from misrepresenting
them the first opportunity that occurs.—Respectfully,
Bolton, March 3, 1841. J. M.

[core.]
Dear Sir,—l received your letter on' Monday last,
and the petition from Bolton in favour of Lord Mor-
peth's Bill, which I presented the same evening to the
House of Commons. I- should have written to you
earlier, had I not intended to speak on the debate, but
as I was unable for two nights to catch the eye of the
Speaker, I hasten to lay before you the grounds of my
opposition to Lord Morpeth's Bill. Last year, you
are aware, I supported Lord Stanley's Bill for reform
and amendment is the Irish registration. The Go-
vernment then decidedly opposed the principle of that
Bill; this year, the same Government have not only
admitted the principle, but Lord Morpeth publicly
declared he should be happy to go along with Lord
Stanley, as far as he was able, in improving the system
of the Irish registration. However different this lan-
guage may he to that which assailed Lord Stanley's
Bill last year, I should have preferred the Government
taking up this important question, and I should not
have hesitated giving them my support, had not their
Bill, whilst it adopted a mcde of registration almost
similar Lord Stanley's, introduced clauses which gave
a new Reform Bill to Ireland, rejecting altogether the
principle of the Reform Bill of 1832, and creating a
new constituency, based upon a .5/. rating to the poor.
The Reform Bill comprehends two descriptions of
franchise, viz., one for boroughs, the occupancy of
houses of a certain value ; the other for counties, a
qualificaticn based on property as well as population.
The Government Bill recognises the principle of
population only. If carried into law, land-
lords would be enabled to create any num-
ber of voters on their estates, and we should again
witness, as under the 40s. freeholders, a subdivision of
farms, and the revival of a system in Ireland, injurious
to the moral and social improvement of her people. I
have another objection to this Bill. I think it would
give additional weight to the agricultural interest in
Ireland. In looking over the division of last year on
Mr. Villiers' motion for an inquiry into the present
system of the Corn-laws, I find only ten Irish Members
out of forty voted in its favour. The .50/. tenact ty
clause in the English Reform Bill has been considered
a great -Won to the agricultural interest ; I am not dis-
posed to increase that influence by the adoption of a .5/.
rating franchise to the poor (two-thirds of which rate
is payable by the landlords), and thereby to create a
numerous and dependent county constituency. With
these main objections to Lord Morpeth's Bill, which, in
my opinion, will never even pass the Commons, I could
not consistently give it nay support.
I beg to remain, dear Sir,
Most respectfully your's,
P. AINSWORTH.

To. J. Winder, Esq., Bolton.
House of Commons, March 1, 1841.

THE WEATHER.

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COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE:

A new comedy, in fire acts, entitled London
Assurance, wes produced, for the• first time, last
night at this theatre. We understand that it is
the first dramatic attempt of a young writer, by
name Morton ; and if so, it is highly creditable
to his talents, for it evinces considerable tact
and knowledge of stage effect. The plot—which
in places is somewhat confused and perplexing—
is as follows :—Sir Harcourt Courtly (Farren) is
a rich, vain old man, who, despite his years and
infirmities, affects the follies and vices of a youth
of fashion, and is specially solicitous to be
thought a favourite of the fair sex. At the open-
ing of the play we find him engaged to be mar-
ried to a young girl, Grace Harkaway (Madame
Vestris), whose guardian, a jolly elderly Norfolk
squire (Bartley), has just come to town, with
the view of inviting the Baronet to his
country seat, Thorpe Hall. While he is
preparing to quit Sir Harcourt Courtly's
house, a smart, flippant young man (C.
Mathews) enters, and introduces himself to the
Norfolk squire, as Mr. Dazzle, a friend of the
family, and is, in consequence, included in the
invitation given to the Baronet. This part of the
plot is rather obscure, but we gather that Dazzle,
who is a mere London adventurer, has contrived
to ingratiate himself with Sir Harcourt's son and
heir (Anderson) by assisting him out of a scrape
into which he had got one night in consequence
of a drunken lark, totally unknown to his father,
who had imagined him to be a model of pru-
dence and propriety. Having received the invi-
tation to Thorpe Hall, the Baronet hastens to
avail himself of it, but is preceded by his son
Charles and Dazzle, the former of whom hastens
to fall in love with his father's intended, Grace
Harkaway ; and when he meets the old man,
boldly denkes that lie is in anyway-related Whim,
but that his name is Augustus Hamilton—... highly
improba')le incident, savouring more of broad farce
than comedy. Meantime, the Baronet continues
his courtship, but, just as he is accepted, his
fickle fancy is diverted by the charms of a lively
married woman, Lady Gay Spanker (Mrs. Nes-
bitt); who, by the dexterous manoeuvring of
Dazzle, is persuaded to induce the old fop to be-
lieve that she is in love with him, in order that
by so doing, she may assist his son's suit to
Grace Harkaway, her friend and neighbour. As
may be supposed, the Baronet falls into the trap
so artfully laid for him ; and has already de-
cided on the place and time of his elope-
ment with Lady Gay, when an officious
bustling attorney, Mark Meddle (Harley), who
happens—by some means or other, which .ive
do not profess to understand—to be at Thorpe
Hall at the time, reveals the plot to the husband,
Mr. Adolphus Spanker (Keeley). An eclair-
cissement immediately takes place. The indig-
nant husband is prevailed on to send a challenge
to the supposed seducer of his wife ; but the joke
being explained betimes, all the parties are re-
conciled; the old Baronet, finding that he has
been made a dupe throughout, resolves on refor-
mation, and, in proof of his sincerity, resigns
his claim on Grace Harkaway's hand to his
son Charles ; and the play concludes
with his reading a fine moral lesson to Dazzle,
whose character as a London adventurer—and
this gives the title to the comedy—leas been dis-
covered, through the agency of a bailiff who had
followed him and the supposed Augustus 1-1
-mil-
ton, to Thorpe Hall. Such is a brief outline of
the principal incidents of a play, in which there
is much more of promise than of positive perfor-
mance. The plot is neither ingeniously con-
ceived, nor dexterously unravelled; and as for
the chief personages, scarcely one of them can
put for th the slightest claims to originality. The
foppish old Baronet is but a modernized version
of Lord Ogleby ; Lady Gay Siinker, the
rattling, off-hand horsewoman, is a revival of
Constance in the Love Chase; her husband is a
Jerry Sneak, moving, however, in higher lice,
and consequently with the more absurd traits of
the character softened off; Meddle is a corn-
pound of Marplot and Paul Pry; and as
for the sporting squire and the adven-
turer Dazzle, they arc such as are familiar
to all who have the slightest acquaintance
with our modern farces. In what then, it may
be asked, lies the great recommendation of the
comedy? We answer, in the uncommon spright-
liness and archness of its dialogue, which
abounds in sallies of humour, sometimes of wit,
and evinces a point and power of ready repartee
of which few living dramatists are capable. Not
unfrequently we meet with a sentence turned
with all the sparkling polish of the School of
Scandal; and sometimes, it must be added, with
a co arse allusion worthier of the days of Con-
greve than the present. The comedy was received
with great approbation by a crowded house, and
was singularly well acted throughout. Farren
played the part of the old beau with a gentle-
manlike ease and self-possession that showed the
consummate artist; Mrs. Nesbitt was spirited
and effective as Lady Gay—though in one or
two places she over-acted the part, and substituted
boisterousness for vivacity; Mathews made a capi-
tal cockney adventurer, and was as glib of tongue,
and ready of suggestion as could have been
wished; Bartley, as the squire, displayed a truly.
orthodox English jollity ; and Keeley and Har-
ley did all that could possibly have been done
for characters unworthy of their abilities. The
scenery throughout was in excellent taste; in-
deed the comedy seems to have been got up
without regard to expense, and was announced for
repetition every evening. We conclude with
saying that if it really be the first dramatic effort
of a young man, it is—so far as the dialogue is
concerned—the most promising effort we have
Witnessed of late years.