The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-13 00:00:00

FINE ARTS.

A PLAN OF THE TOWN OF WELLINGTON,
PORT NICHOLSON.
Port ofLambton Harbour, or Port Nicholson, New Zea-
land, comprehending about one-third of the water front-
age of the town of New Zealand, 4-c. Hulmundel.
These are two showy delineations, published
by the New Zealand Company, of the town they
have partly founded, and intend to found, *at
Port Nicholson, New Zealand. The plan of the
town looks on paper most magnificent; such re-
gular streets, noble quays and wharves—such
splendid squares, canals, and basins, are quite '
ravishing. The view of the harbour undeceives
us a little, for that shows us steep hills running
almost to the water's edge, and leaving only a
very small margin of ground adapted for culti-
vation between the hills and the sea, while there
seems no creek, harbour, or river to break the
continuous beach, and afford shelter or a conve-
nient landing-place to boats or small craft. The
" Plan" shows a noble wharf, the " View," a
beach on which the surf continually rolls. The
latter is what now exists, the other is what the
speculators hope to make it when they have
tempted a large number of persons to go thi-
ther, and give the Company 20s. or 12s. per
acre for the hills, which, in comparison with the
land skirting the beach, sold at the same uni-
form sums, may be worth, perhaps, a penny an
acre. The Wakefield scheme of colonization,
indeed, seems admirably calculated to give an
immense bonus to the first purchasers, and make
every successive race of purchasers, or swarm of
emigrants, contribute to swell the wealth of those
who have the first choice. Both Plan and View,
but particularly the Plan, seem well calculated
by their pictorial charms to serve the purpose of
the New Zealand Company.

THE TOWER OF LONDON.
(TRANALATED FROM THE FRENCH.)
0 grey-walled London Tower !
Symbol of thrall and power—
Moated, and bastioned, and curfew-belled—
Had not fair Thames's flowings,
And silver-winding goings,
By thee been long enough dark-sentinelled ?
Long, long enough
O'er the great Saxon city and its crowd,
Its merchant princes and its women proud,
Had not thy feudal frown
Flung its black shadow don ?
O blood-dyed Tower I
Why rose no vengeful hour
Wielding the People's axe or red-winged lightning,
To rend in twain thy seats,
Bastilles, and tow'rs, and tyrannous retreats ?
Why rose not God's oppressed—
God's people starving on the plains and stones—
And all thy turrets with their fire-brands bright'ning
Struck for their father's groans ?
Told by no feudal drum,
That hour delayed is come,
Iron-crowned William, England's Norman King !
How to-and-fro doth reel,
Thy belfry-bell with its appalling peal !
How doth the fire-sheet spring,
Its red Gomorrah-flames around thee flinging;—
How doth the dread incendiarism spread,
Hearsing in flames the crimson-slaughtered dead
While the deep donjons to the topmost walls—
The Kings in their bright halls—
The charnels and their ghostly spectre-brood—
Burn in that fiery shroud.
0, London Tower I
Sad-sailing down old Thames's dusky stream,
While sleep-ward Evening's heavy eyelids ached,
O'er one who voyaged in a pensive dream,
Thy scenes and deeds to dim remembrance waked:
Thy fearful dramas—thy forlorn 'alarms—
Thy altars worn away by prayer and tear—
Men's agonies and sweats, and strifes of arms,
Crowded his eye and ear.
Dark-storied Tower !
At night's high noontide hour
Grim jailors came and dressed a funeral block,
Where in a hall obscure
A child and woman, beautiful and pure,
Knelt down imploring God,
Fair as two angels praying.—Forward stepped,
Armed with an ax c, a headsman dark and dread,
Bound he the eyes of that sweet child who wep
Then cleft the bright-haired head.
Stained Tower ! another night
Locked in embraces bright
On a white velvet bed serenely sleeping,
With eyelids like closed lilies stayed from weeping,
An infant King, with his young beauteous brother,
Dreamed of their happiness, and home, and mother.
A lamp above them shone :
Two shadowy forms in funeral folds of gloom
Sprang towards the couch, and with the murd'rer's
arm
Sealed those young darlings' doom.
Tower, from thy fire-strewn wreck
Infamous Gloucester, the Third Richard King,
Seized blood-red from his nephew's hands his sway
There, most seraphic lady, sweet Jane Grey
Laid on the block her virginal white neck.
But the fierce storm-fire, void of reverence
Sweepincr thine arches like a fiery main,
Spares not the very hall that once held France—
Held kingly Jean.
Proud Tower ! the smoke immense,
Like sable draperies roll o'er thy rifts ;
Thy front, uncrowned of its magnificence,
Shows to the sun but nakedness and clefts :
Palace of ancient kings and golden reigns,
What of thy pomp or royalty remains ?
Old Tower now wrecked in dust,
To utter ruin thrust,
Thy cannons, and thy mortars thunder-voiced :
Splendid as sun-rays, thy ten thousand arms ;
Thy fasces, fusils, stores of war untold,
Thy steeds caparisoned in steel and gold,
Thy iron-vestured chiefs with sword and shield,
Thy black-plumed Prince and war-gods of the field;
But deaf oblivion in one common hole
Ignobly tombs the whole.
Titanic Tower! 'tis thus
Citadel ruling other ditadelsl—
own annihilation truly knells
The fall of thousand forts less glorious:—
For, ever-flocking round thy sovereign feet—
Bowed hosts of towers, o'er-shadowed by thy wings!—
In the terrific flame
That shook thy giant frame
The people saw thy hoary-streaming head
Roll to the spot, where 'neath the keen-edged axe
Thy captives' rolled and bled.

DEATH OF MR. ALDERMAN BIRCH.—This
gentleman expired on Friday at his house in Guildford..
Street, Brunswick-square. The deceased Alderman was
a writer of no
mean importance ; his farce of the
Adopted Child will hold its place on the stage while taste
for nature is cherished by an audience.—British Queen.
CALVIN S PERSONAL APPEARANCE.—A
letter preserved in the archaeological collections of
Great's gives us a graphic picture of Calvin's personal
appearance. "He resembles an old hermit of the The-
bald, emaciated by vigils and fasting, his cheeks colour-
less as that of a corpse ; but his brilliant eyes glow with
an unearthly fire. His figure is slightly bowed ; the
bones seem bursting through his skin ; but his step is
ready, and his tread firm."

FROM THE FRENCH PAPERS.
A young woman, elegantly dressed, and accompanied
by a femme-de-chambre, having dined at the forty sous
restaurant, in the Rue Vivienne and Passage Colbert,
the day before yesterday, was detected in pocketing one'
of the silver forks she had used, and was taken before a
Commissary of Police. While under examination, the
keeper of another restaurant, in the Rue de Honore,
having heard of the incident, and been four days before
robbed by a person of similar description, hastened to
the Commissary's-office, and there found lying on the
table the lost plate, which had also been found at the re-
sidence of the delinquent. She was unable to exculpate
herself, but protested the innocence of her femme-de-cham-
bre, who, in fact, was totally ignorant of the thefts of her
mistress. The latter was committed to prison, while the
former was discharged.
Two evenings ago a man decently dressed entered a
shop on the Boulevard Montmartre, and while pretend-
ing to buy some lamp-shades, contrived to secrete various
other articles, unperceived, as he thciught, by the young
woman who served at the counter, and who was alone.
.She saw, however, his manceuvres, and managed to call
in a worthy cobbler, who searched the thief, but could
find nothing in his pocket. The man blustered, and as-
serted that he was porter of a house in the Rue Bergere,
and .
requested the cobbler to go with him there, and
ascertain honesty. They set out together, and ar-
rived at No. 27, which the rogue said was his dwelling,
and politely opening the door showed the cobler in first,
but instantly closed it upon him, bolted out of the gate-
way, and was no more seen.
Some days ago the men employed at the Chateau de
Jonchere, near Brie-Comte-Robert, in rebuilding the
dairy which had been constructed out of an old tower,
uncovered a coffin which lay near the foundation. This
was no extraordinary occurrence, as the building had
been part of an ancient convent. The Count de V—,
proprietor of the estate, had the coffin opened, and
within was found the dried remains of a body wrapped
in a monk's dress with a large battle sword by its side.
The head of the corpse was laid on a stone, and on one
of the fingers of the left hand was a ring turned brown
by age, and bearing the impression of a coat of arms, on
which were charged twe lions superposed. This was no
doubt one of the Seigneurs of the time of Louis XIII.,
some of whom, as is well known, after passing a dissolute
life, ordered themselves to be interred in convents in the

garb of monks, thinking by this mark of penitence to

Lnsure their salvation.
The Tribunal de Premier Instance had before it yes-

terday a snit for a separation from bed and board, which
excited great interest. Mme. de N- had been con-

demned to imprisonment for adultery a short time since,
as we had occasion to mention, and her husband, an of

ficer of hussars, had been seriously wounded in a duel
with her seducer. The lady now demanded the guar-
dianship of her only child, a daughter, on the ground of
her sex and age, and the profession of her father, which
was deemed incompatible with the proper education of
the child. Her demand was refused, on account of the
cause of the separation, aggravated by a letter which the
mother had addressed to her child, who is only four
years old, and unable to read it, containing bitter reflec-
tions upon the conduct of the father towards her. The
Court added lo its judgment an injunction that the mother
should not be allewed to visit or see the child.

A working jeweller, named Maisognon, living on the
Quay Pelletier, who has lend led a disorderly life, fre-
quently ill-treating his wife because she would not give
him the money she earned to spend in his debaucheries,

came home two evenings ago in a state of intoxication,
and, irritated by her threats that she would sue for a
separation, he took up a knife and stabbed her in several
places on the shoulder and side. While they were strug-
gling, their daughter, only eight years old, in endeavour-
ing to appease them, was also seriously wounded. The
sight of the blood he had spilt so far brought Maisognon
back to his senses, that he rushed out of the house, went
to the Prefecture of Police, and entering the huissier's
room, called upon the persons present to arrest him,
for he had murdered his wife. He was secured ; and,
on inquiry being made, committed to prison. The poor
woman lies in a desperate state, but the little girl is not
in danger.
The Temps, in reply to the contradiction given by the
ministerial evening journals to its statement relative to
the workmen employed on the fortifications of Paris,
says :—" Whether it be the rains, or whatever other
circumstance may be the cause, a portion of the work-
men usually employed upon the fortifications are without
occupation. They have been accustomed to receive from
3f. to 3f. 50c. per day ; they may not have received their
discharge perhaps, or will not act upon it, for the rate
of wages which they have received has disgusted them
with less productive employment. They do not
organise themselves in bands to ravage the en-
virons like roomier road thieves, and this we never meant
to assert; but they get together wherever they can
find shelter for the purpose of passing away the time
which they cannot employ otherwise, and it is easy to
conceive what may result from their public-house meet-

ings. A patrol of ten men was laiely attacked by a
band of these workmen, and we repeat that the com-
mune of Bercy, dreading, without doubt, the nocturnal
and other disturbances likely to result from such a state
of things, has applied for and obtained the presence of a
company of infantry (we are assured that we might have
said two companies), as a garrison for the maintenance
of tranquillity. Such are the facts to which we attach
credence, notwithstanding the contradictions of the Mi-
nistry, which is not always acquainted with what is pass-
ing in Paris, and appears to be completely ignorant of
what is passing at the barrieres."
_ _ _

A letter from Baden-baden says—" The works of the
Strasburg and Baden railroad, between Kehl and Appen-
wyr, are so far advanced that next summer the road be-
tween Kehl and Obs, the last village before reaching Ba-
den, will, it is expected, be open to public use. This
will certainly be the most productive and important part
of the whole line, particularly during the finer portion
of the year, and will bring incalculable advantages to
Baden, by conveying into our mountains a great number
of foreigners, particularly French. Obs is three-quartors
of a league from Baden, but as the road is to run along
the valley, there will be no great difficulties to encounter,
and a company is said to be forming to execute it."
The widow of General Count Rapp had since his
death been in the receipt of the usual military pension
assigned to the relics of officers of his rank, but in conse-
quence of her subsequent marriage with the Duke de
Melfort, in 1831, the Treasury refused to continue the
payment, on the ground that her present husband was a
foreigner, and thereby she lost her quality as a French-
woman, and with it her right to the pension. An appli-
cation was made to the Council of State, but as a
question was raised as to the nationality of the Duke de
Melfort (who is the direct eldest descendant of the Drum-
monds, Dukes of Perth, in Scotland, and Melfort in
France) the Council referred it to the Tribunal de Pre-
miere Instance. The case came to a hearing at the sitting
of yesterday, when it was proved that the present Duke,
though a descendant from James Drummond, Duke of
Perth, who came over to France with James 11., the
family of the present Duke had long acquired the quality
of French citizens, which they had not forfeited by any
subsequent act, and therefore the marriage of Countess
Rapp with the Duke did not deprive her of her quality
or rights of a Frenchwoman, notwithstanding it was
celebrated in England. The Tribunal gave a decree ac-
cordingly.
The sale of the fine collection of paintings belonging
to the late Count de I'erregaux is concluded. The com-
petition was very great, and the room was crowded to
overflowing each day. There were only 69 pictures,
and yet the amount they produced was 441,5281. The
works of the Dutch and Flemish masters were most in
request. A splendid Andrea del Sarto fetched only
2,550 f. The Crossing the Ford, by Karel du Jar-
din, 26,300 f. ; and a Sea Fight, by G. Vandervelde,
were knocked down at 22,100 f. The Departure for the
Chase, by A. Vandervelde, went at 26,850 f. ; a
Cuyp, at 18,100 f. ; a Landscape, by Bothe, at 21,200 f. ;
the Song Broken Off, by F. Miens, at 22,1001. ; the En-
trance into the Wood, by Hobbima, at 23,000 f. ; and
the Spy, by Philip Wouvermans, at 35,100 f. The mo-
dern paintings were not so successful. The Campo
Santo, by Forbin, reached only 599 f. Among the
French pictures, reuze's Cupid went at 7,500 f., his
Psyche, at 8,550 f., and a Head, by Girodet, at 3,155 f.
Many of the lots were purchased for England. Nothing,
it was said, was purchased for the Royal Museum.
In the night of the 4th inst., as M. Vienne, a gentle-
man of property, at SL-Pierre-de-Chaudica (Isere), was
travelling to Lyons, he was stopped near Bron by five
footpads, severely beaten and robbed of 450 f. This at-
tack was made at the same spot where the Lyons and
Turin diligence was plundered a few nights before by
five men, probably the same, for whom the police are
still in search.
A melancholy accident happened at Aire, in the Pas-
de-Calais, a few days since, where a journeyman brewer
fell into a vat of boiling beer, and was scalded to death.
He has left a widow and three children in great distress.
The Temps states that a portion of the workmen em-
ployed on the fortifications of Paris now form bands of
robbers, who every night carry on depredations in the
company
yse of infantry
marauder." at
s
environs. " The commune of Bercy," it adds, " has
jiutsstowobntaiexnpeednslee,avtoe
ptorosteupeptoirt agtaanciosmt
Two evenings ago an omnibus, driving along the Rue
Mauconseil, ran against a cart laden with leather,- which
a man was delivering into a warehouse with a two-
pronged fork. The shock threw the poor fellow out, and
by his fall both prongs were driven into his throat. One
artery, of them divided the carotid
nand t caused
o o k
place
Ia his
cen instant
o
death
A di n The
ne r o driver rdievaefr the
aonfd d n
mo omnibus
personss was arrested.
Sun-
day last, according to annual in
custom, in honour of the
h
Abbe de l'Epee, founder of the Paris Institution. T
President, M. Berthier, totallye
deaf and dumb, made, by
the usual signals, an impressive addroefss to
etlsitrzEnazi
of a society for assisting deaf
favour
of who
g and dumb .persons
might happen to be without resources.
At St
• Va lr ler, in the Drome, a few days since, a con-
cert was given in a vessel on the water, and large crowds
of people were collected on the banks, and on a small
suspension-bridge, to hear the music. Suddenly the
flooring of the bridge gave way, and all the persons on
it were precipitated into the stream. Providentially only
three lives were lost, two young girls and a child ; the
rest were rescued amidst the utmost confusion.
The medal hitherto given to all the Deputies, and
which admits the holder to all the public establishments,
is to be changed for another which is now strikingoo off
ne side
at
the mint. It is of a large size, and prese
hile on the other is a group of
the effigy of the King, !v
allegorical personages, the principal figure of which is
Legislative FraE.:;...

LICENSED VICTUALLERS' ASYLUM. -The
election of a successor to the Society's esteemed friend,
Mr. Adams, of Queen-street, Pimlico, as chairman of
the Institution for the ensuing year, took place on .Fri-
day, when Mr. Stennett, of Rod Lion-street, Holborn,
was chosen by his brother trustees and the governors
for that highly distinguished office. The warm and
hearty congratulations which were offered to Mr. Sten-
nett on his election, evinced very strongly the high esti-
mation in which the board holds that gentleman.