The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-11 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

LITERATURE.

ETHEL STAN.
Moxon, London, 1841.

Ethelstan is a " dramatic chronicle," so its
author modestly calls it, disclaiming the more
ambitious title of tragedy, of the days of our
Saxon forefathers, a gallant race of men of whom
Mr. Darley, in his preface, speaks with enthu-
siasm. " Surely," says he, " a nobler people
never existed ! By them were the great tables
of constitutional law rough-hewn and engraved;
by them was civil freedom first established, and
not for themselves alone, but all nations, as each
has, or shall, become fit to receive it." We cor-
dially agree with our author in his praises of the
old Saxon race. They were indeed a high-
minded, adventurous, and, considering the state
of European civilization at that period, an en-
lightened people, who have been most unjustly
considered as inferior to the Normans, their con-
querors and oppressors. Sharon Turner is almost
the first of our historians who has done them
.justice; and we have often wondered, on perus-
ing his interesting and carefully considered his-
tory of the Anglo-Saxons, that some of the many
stirring incidents therein recorded, have not yet
furnished a theme for the pen of the poet or the
novelist. The wild adventures of the Sea-
Kings, which Mr. Turner has related with such
animation, would form an excellent subject for a
prose romance; and we would recommend Mr.
Ainsworth to direct his attention to this episode
in our early chronicles, for, if we mistake not, he
would turn it to excellent account. In the play
before us, Mr. Dailey has sketched two of these
Scandinavian prince-pirates, in the persons of
Froda and Dorm, but they occupy a very subor-
dinate station among his dramatis personce, and
indeed are pourtrayed merely in water-colours,the
artist having devoted his whole strength, both of
conception and execution, to the development of
the character of his hero, Ethelstan, the Saxon
King of Wessex, who is represented as labouring
under the deepest remorse for the murder of his
brother Edwin. But the principal charm of the
piece is its poetry, which is full of nature and
simplicity, as will be seen by the following pic-
turesque and heart-felt description :
.Ethelstan. Pleasant, in these dim woods where Quiet
dwells,
To bold sweet under-talk with her, whose voice

Spirit-like, whispers us beneath the bcughs,
Herself unseen ! Pleasant with light foot-fall
To press rich Autumn's bed of russet leaves,
Make the warm-smelling moss give out its odour,
And here, unbonneted, in sunless noon,

Drink the green air, refreshing both to sense
And soul world-wearied I----Blest the Woodman sure

Who lives his lusty life out hefr, and whistles it
Lark-like away, the blither nearer heaven !
Perchance he hath his hut among these bowers,
His wife beloved and babe ?—some one that smiles

Cheer thee ! when drooping he goes home at eve—
Bat Ethelstan 1 crown'd Ethelstan !!

FINE ARTS.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF MASTER HUM.-
PHREY'S CLOCK.
Tyas, London, 1841.
A series of Plates illustrative of the chief inci-
dents and characters detailed in Boz's last prose
work. A Part is published monthly, and contains
four engravings, of which those that we have
seen, are entitled to praise for the ingenious man-
ner in winch the different subjects are handled.

ACCIDENT TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE
ALBERT.—The following account of the alarming accident
which occurred to Prince Albert, in the gardens of Buek-
ingham Palace, on the morning of Tuesday last, may be
relied on : —lt appears that his Royal Highness was walk-
ing in the Royal gardens, in the company of her Majesty,
the only attendant present being the Hon. Miss Murray,
one of the Maids of Honour in Waiting upon the Queen.
It not being understood by Colonel Bouverie and ,Lieu-
tenant F. Seymour, the Equerry and Groom of the Beet-
chamber in Waiting upon the Prince, that his Royal High.
ness intended to skate that morning, they were not, as
usual, in attendaece upon the Prince, who had left the
Palace with her Majesty without their knowledge.
After walking for a short time with the Queen
on the margin of the lake, his Royal Highness put
on his skates and left her Majesty, who remained watch-
ing the movements of the Prince from the gar-
dens. He had not been on the ice more than two or
three minutes, when, as he was proceeding at a rapid rate
towards the spot where the:Queen was standing, and had
reached within about three or four feet of the water's
edge, the ice suddenly broke, and, instantaneously, he was
immersed in the water. His Royal Highness immediat -dy
rose to the surface, when her Majesty, pith great presence
of mind, joined her hard to that of the Honourable Miss
Murray (telling her to stand firm and botray no fear),
and, extending her right hand to that of the Prince,
dragged him to the shore. Her Majesty manifested the
greatest courage upon the occasion, and acted with the most
intrepid coolness. As soon as the Prince was safe on dry
ground, the Queen gave way to the natural ernotione of
j:y and thankfulness at his providential escape. The
Prince then lost no time in proceeding to the Palace,
where a warm bath was immediately prepared, and his
Royal Highness, within an hour afterwards, was suffi-
ciently well to receive the King of the Belgians upon his
Majesty's arrival from Claremont. The ice in the centre
of the lake being nearly a foot in thickness, some surprise
has been created that the accident should have occurred ;
but it appears that the keepers ;appointed to attend to the
numerous and various aquatic birds which are preserved in
the gardens of the Palace, had broken the ice all along
the sides of the lake, to enable them to take the water dun-
mg the frost. These portions had again become slightly
frozen over since they were broken at an early part of the
morning. This was unknown to the Prince or the Queen,
and hence the accident occurred. There were no persons
present at the time, connected with the gardens, to point
out the danger to his Royal Highness. Yesterday morn-
ing the Prince was suffering from the effects of a slight
cold; but beyond this, his Royal Highness has sustained no
inconvenience.

FIRE IN MANCIIESTER.—On Monday morn-
ing last a fire broke out in the warehouse of M essre. Crafts
and Sta, American merchants (a large and lofty build-
ing in George-street and Nicholas-street), which, from
the rapidity with which it spread, and the value of property
destroyed in so short a time, is, we believe, unexampled
in Manchester. The premises consisted of a warehouse
occupied by Messrs. Crafts and Steil, which fronted
Nicholas-street and George-street, six stories in height,
30 yards long and 13 yards wide. It seems that a man
whose duty it is to open the warehouse was proceeding to
clean out at a private room, when, about seven o'clock, he
heard a loud report, resembling that of a cannon, and
which appeared to him to proceed from the cellar. He
immediately hastened thither to sec what had happened,
and then found that the end of the hot water pipes resting
in that furnace from which the warerooms were warmed,
had burst, and in the explosion had scattered the burning
coals and cinders in the furnace, all over the cellar, which
contained a considerable quantity of dry goods. These
caught fire, and were burning when the man entered the
cellar; and he immediately attempted to extinguish the
flames, but they spread so rapidly, that he was speedily
obliged to desist; and he escaped with some difficulty, his
whiskers and hair being singed ; and in less than
ten minutes afterwards, the fire had found its way up
the well holes, and burst out at the top of the
warehouse. He instantly gave the alarm. The
total damage is supposed to be from 16,000/. to
18,000/. All that is left of the warehouses is the wall
fronting St. James's-street, and a small portion of the
wall in Nicholas-street. In concluding our notice of this
fire, we have to state, that the warehouse of Messrs. Bar-
bour and Brothers, in Portland-street, was set on fire, on
Monday morning, by the same means—the bursting of the
hot-water pipe ; and that the warehouse of Mr. Alexander
Henry, York,street and Portland-street, was also net on
fire, on the same day, in the same manner; but, in both
cases, the flames were immediately extinguished. A hot-
water pipe in the warehouse of Mr. Isaac Hudson, whole-
sale haberdasher, &c. 114, Market-street, also burst the
other day, in a similar way; and these are, in all proba-
bility, not the only instances of the kind—indicative at
on nf et
the
eo f the
necessity
ssiextremetr eng of
ssoinv ri e
mty
eoafn s t
bh
eei e
ds Le. nv frost,
sed tand also
o prevent
the recurrence in future of such accidents.—Manchester

Guardian.
THE GREEN PARK.—The metamorphosis of
the Green Park, which has already been carried to a con-
-0 low.rtion s of
As thet
the
edgiplrs,oepairurnngingtnedasig;,,
al levelling lfii If
ings° "lupe otherso f
vi,ttiiti
siderable extent, is still being actively proceeded with
under the direction of the Commissioners of Woods and
Forests. A number of labourers are busily engaged in
hewib
ehhhivaci grlhdthel cc:yr:dr
a.epn
a Large
iron
ppaorrkt i:fiennsci of "
advances the park will scarcely be known as the for-
mer " Given Park" (not spot) in " Memory's waste,'
lions ; and the numerous foot-paths which diverged
preparatory to being covered with young hwave"bmeePnieetenlcYlosweidll
from the St. James's Park entrance to
gravel 11 de
y Park Cor-
ner have all disappeared, one broad
walk in lieu
of these having been formed down the
centre from the
sentry-bcx at the back of York-house to the triumphal
arch at the end of Grosvenor-place. The greater part of
the south-side of the Green-park, k, which used to be the
resort of nursery maids and children, will be thickly planted
with trees and shrubs, f •
orming a thelter to the north and
east points of Buckingham
Palace; the appearance of which
will, by the alterations in
progress, be very much im-
proved; and the loyalty of
lwill, d b I •
the peop.e ou t ess, in-
duce them readily to acquiesce in the partial inclosure of
this " lung" of the metropolis. Several other parts of
the Park will also be planted with a variety of ornamental
trees and shrubs, which will render its appearance from
Piccadilly in the summer much more pleasing to the oyo
than formerly.
Mr. William Hone, the author of " The Every
Day Book," and other publications, is now, at the age
of sixty years, disabled, by bodily infirmity and the effects
of two paralytic seizures, from providing the means of
supeortin • •g himself and his dependent family. For the
last five years the post of sub-editor of the Patriot news-
paper was his sole dependence ; and this he would have
continued to retain, had he not been thus incapacitated
for discharging the laborious duties of the office. Some
of his friends who admire his talents and esteem his
Christian character, have formed themselves irto a Com-
mittee, for the purpose of raising contributions for secur-
ing to him an income sufficient to save him from penury in
his declining years. Among ethers arc—Mr. Alderman
Pirie, Freeman's-court, Cornhill, the treasurer; Thomas
Piper, sen., Esq. ; Thomas a il. Ch
~ s, Esq., and Apsley
Pellatt, Esq., who ar© trusteese.Ca b 'or
m ri ge Paper,