The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-25 00:00:00

CANNING IN RETIREMENT.

The period which he spent at Hinckley, during the
interval which elapsed between his retirement from office
after the duel with Lord Castlereagh, and his entrance
upon. the Lisbon embassy,was a remarkable epoch in
his life. It was with him undoubtedly a season of corn-
paratWe'seelusion; brio it was one ,ulso of great and sue-
Cessfut-preparatiow, •• Re-lived, at Burbach, a little
*Wage distant about a • toile • from, town, which he had
sought mainly for the benefit of his eldest son, whose
health was in a most precarious condition, and whom
he had placed under the care of the well-known Mr.
Chesshyre.
But this interval, though spent in retirement, was
fraught with preparation. There is a walk, as beautiful
as it is secluded, stretching from Burbach towards the
village of Stoke Golding, known as Canning's walk.
Along this he was seen, morning after morning, wending
his way, always alone, absorbed in thought, and not un-
frequently thinking aloud. He invariably declined hav-
ing a companion for his walk, disliked amazingly being
interrupted in the progress of it, and to any chance sa-
lutation by the way, his invariable reply was a silent
bow.

It was his hour of study. He was then forging wea-
pons for the coming fight, inspecting his stores, and po-
lishing his armoury. No weather deterred him. Through
shower and sunshine he paced rapidly on. What sub-
jects might not these long silent walks elobrace! In
them how many a topic, argument, simile, invective, re-
buke, was deliberately sought out and carefully laid up.
Of the exquisite and elaborate finish bestowed on many
of his speeches, who shall show how much may be traced
to the severe scrutiny and repeated revision of his soli-
tary rambles I The music of his periods, the easy
flowing language with which he rounded the most un-
manageable details, the remark of caustic irony. and the
flash of cutting sarcasm, the epigrammatic point of a
crushing reply, when a word more or less would have
marred its lorce,—these are excellencies which could
not have been attained, in the perfection which he pos-
sessed them, without long and severe study. Was this
his workshop
_ _ _

About a mile and a half from Burbach stands an old
hall to which soma interest attaches as being the resi-
dence which peculiarly attracted Canning's attention,
and which he was most desirous to purchase as " an
asylum for his old age." Alas !

Th,! offers which he made to induce tiro, infatuated
possessor to part with it were beyond its value, aad can
be justified only by the extraordinary predilection which
Mr. Canning had conceived for it. The more you
examine Wy ken Hall, the greater difficulty you experi-
ence in discovering its attractions for the statesman. It
is a quaint old building in the Elizabethan style, with
huge and somewhat unshapely wings, much dilapi-
dated by time, and when I saw it, rapidly sinking to
decay from continued and undeserved neglect. Ir stands
close upon the horse-road leading to Stoke Golding, in
an exposed and rather bleak situation. On each side
of the principal entrance are two yew trees
of prodigious growth and great age, which throw a
sombre air over the building, and materially darken the
lower rooms. A plantation rises on one side, and some
unsightly farm- buildings on the tither. In the back-
ground is the straggling, fithy, poaching village of Stoke
Go.din,;, perched on the sonntnit of a high hid, !oppcd
with itb handsome church and spleml:d spire. In the
feregrour.d is a home view of pasture land, skirted to
the left by Burbach Wood, and embracing to the right
the tow❑ of Hinckley, its parish church and tapering
spire.

\Vyken Hall is now a farm-house ; the little lawn be-
fore the prineip tl entrance Is converted into a fold yard.
Poultry ravage the pleasure garden—weeds fl9urish ad
libitum in the plantation—the litter of a large farm is
scattered thickly around the premises ; and not one
feature does it present, within or without, to corrobo-
rate the fact that it was once the coveted residence of
one of the most accomplished of British statesmen.—
Metropolitan.

BARITES MANUFACTORY.---1.11 the midst of
the sublime and romantic scenery of the Glen of Sannox,
Arran, and on the edge of a precipitous rivulet of the same
name, has been discovered a rich vein of barites. Last
year a manufactory for the article was erected on the spot.
The quarry is about a hundred yards up the rivulet,
whence the ore is brought to the manufactory on a wooden
railway. The ore is first washed from any mixture of
earth, by means of a stream formed by some rude stones
placed across a water. fall, and it is then ground into a fine
pulp. It is afterwards put into square wooden frames,
where it is again well washed, when it is rem ,ved to the
b:,ilers, where, being mixed with sulphuric acid, it is
boiled with steam, and the ferruginous scum which arises
in the process is carefully removed. It is then run off into
troughs, and dried in a drying-house, kept at a high tempera-
ture, till it becomes so solid that it can be cut into an oblong
brick form. It is then removed into a cooler house, where
it is dried thoroughly, when it is ready for packing into
barrels, or removed to the dyeing-house to be dyed to any
shade which may be desired. The machinery erected for
the tnanufactory cost upwards of 3,0001., and with its aid,
ten workmen are enabled to turn out about four torts of pre-
pared barites daily. This rovtteriai is now c:itensively used
instead of white lead to form the body of paints, and for
r•tany purposes is preferable. At about a quarter of a mile
front the manufactory is the cooperage, close on the sea-
shore, whore three men are employed in making barrels for
packing the barites; and close beside it workmen were
busily engaged in making a jetty into the sea, for the pur-
pose of forming a quay, by which the managers will be
enabled to load vessels to convey their manufacture to the
mainland, without the present teoublesome sys.t?w pr;•
having recourse to small boats to carry it otAt to the deep
water.—,fCilmarnoo Journal,
• •