The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-14 00:00:00

Ice
led
nt
ire

That it is deei. eerie te have seine national testi
raonial to commemorate the introduction of printing
into England, and in honour of William Caxton, the
earliest English printer."
Mr, JOHN MURRAY, the eminent publisher, briefly
Seconded the resolution.
His Excellency Mr. BANCROFT was called upon to
gPat'Pose the second resolution, and said that, as the deni
"eft, of another clime, who had traversed the At
-""t'a, the chiefest or his feelings were engaged for those
t°,l7 lanes, which enshrined the glories and montimented
e great spirits of England, and strong as his feeiiegs
would be for the old home of his forefeet). rs, and anx-
t°ui as he would be tread the ground famed in history
r the struggles which it had witnessed for liberty and
re
baall°wo, there were no places which laid so deep a hold
inn his affections as the spots where the holiest feelings
ru been excited, and where the best aspirations had
It len uttered, and the chief of these was the Abbey as
eattainster.—(Loud cheers.) But while stating these
demanded
he was aware that there were other claims which
Z
his notice ; but while he fully acknowledged
Zose claims he could not but attend, in the first instance,
,_the precise object of the resolution which be heel to
FPPuse, and that was, that the site chosen for the statue
should be placed towards the western front or the Abet y.
Vieat.) But in proposing the site of a statue to '
the memory of William C• xt ,n, could
e he forget
great claims which that eminent individual hae
11Port the gratitude of the world? Caxton! NN hat had not
!aton done? He had made the English language the
_e
Ocal
instrument of almost every heart, he had give,
the man of Sc oleo the power of diffusing his
over the world for the benefit of mankind—he had
with depth,
!babied all who touched the British lyre
tir earnestness and genius, to find a home in the all- c
fie °NI who were capable of appreciating the 'beatiti-
,auld the true. Already had the British tongue per-
ed every land—through the agency of the press it had
, "anted every region of North America, from the
'est north to the extremest south—it had reached
14.3 Cordilleras
and had passed the Rocky Mountains
•n ever\
Press
existnid"e in every town, and almost
ladeage of the United States. Was there not thcn every
Of thee of
to lend a helping hand to promote the object
kit the meeting.—(Cheers. It should be recollected,
ute. ens koisti Americans had a part in all the its-
the enS in all the lefty recollections of
th tr ()rig People—froth them the Americans derived
Origin, to theta they traced their glory, and among
Pie
rested the bones of their ferefa Biers ; the British
rleet: had no glories of olden date in which the Ae
the. were not entitle) to participate, the places where
tagi had achieved their fame were hallowed in the
"a of the Americans by the deeds of his ancestors and
hale;ssociations of his early life. For all these reasons
aih:..:t that there was every inducement to adopt the site
which he
would propose in the following resolution be thii‘t the proper site for any work of art would
Of that' West front of Westminster Abbey, at the eno
-r,7 new Victoria-street."
,11,9 resolution having been second. d by the Rev. H.
who briefly explained his own idea of the
lats Of monument monument which ought to be adopted, and which
lr. .7ea already fully staled to the public in The Sun,
gt,e,'• Buckingham and several other gentlemen sug-
axpaiaas that the resolution had better be framed so as to
abbe the the neighbourhood instead of the front of the
ezesi and the resolution having been framed so as to
jet
resoßiev: Jona
Abe
the Wish, it was unanimously adopted.
HUNTER
4..rh ution then proposed the follow-
' (three hat; a General Committee be requested to act
ntitalsa-e'llg a quo) um), with liberty to add to their
rs, and that the following constitute a Sub-Com-
treed, to determine e nature, site, and details of the
ot any work thof
Charles Barry, Esq , R.A.
"
Etty, Esq., 11.:1..
Sir Riceard Westmacott, R.A.
"The Dean of Westminster."
discussion ensued, in which Mr. S.
11:ailli,thMi5 it lung
r.
Jerdan, the Chairman and several other
soletrleo participated, and ultimately an amended re-
no me was adopted, the eff. ct of which wee that the
a!Otatetin,e,ll and gentlemen named constitute a general
• fona "ae, to promote the object, and to decide upon the
9tier_itna the character of the memorial, three to form a
fair 11,:' tn,..! and that Mr. C. Barry, R.A., Mr. Etty, R.A.,
the R. vvestmacott, R.A. the Rev. H. H. Millinan, and
detaie”'ll of Westminster, constitute a sub committee, to
Tillestne the merits of any work of art.
resolution was at length carried unanimously.
▪ repre. 141:1aar, a gentleman who stated himself to be
hoe
toseraetive of the press in the Unites, States, b gg,ed
name „rg"Pose a resolutitin to the effect, that as the
People,-b `Axton was not the sole possession of one
of hati " was the cowmen property of the whole family
the ilf.ns, and especially as it was a household word in
twin _tilted States, that measures should be taken to ob.
„ ‘,F,titributions from that country.
the Refit Public subscriptions in aid be received; that
Cot a's H. Milman be the treasurer, and Mr. H.
e the sec„
secretary"
kelt% resolution having been seconded, was carried by
teehe gluon, and amidst the loudest expressions of good
g•
eh, R „
kept. Rev ti• H. Almult IN moved the thanks of the
_ .
Seeatidewo the Noble Chairman, and the motion being
Mis Loeb Mr- S. C. HALL,
s ienced in
h's oba;salP returned thanks, and in the course et'
eatr rvations, after expressieg the pleasure which he
presidine, said that 'his was not altogether
seanrrea honour, for he'had. since the meeting had eons
lisbirad, received the present of a box, which he ex-
Isas e`k made out of the oak taken from the house which
bieitee.axtoo's Printing-office. His Lordship also ex-
alt.• aUsiatill enamel of the portrait of Caxton, done by
The me from an illurninatien in Lamoeth Palace.
eting then broke up.
AJESTY'S De THEATRE. —Her Majesty the
thee,,
.!vager, uccompanh.
pereittar.• d by their Royal Highnesses
.Weiraar, and
Grand Luke Duchess of Saxe
his serene e slid Grand
honoured the his Highness Prince Edward,
on Satui day eeetii at I ler Majesta 's heave,
included the Countess°o wan hi r pr Royal suite
the Browslow,esence. The
• rg, e Hon, Miss s the Countess,de
Asset.-
Beust, and the Baron`)mouEarl. Howe, the Count
ss
occupied by Geriera'P"sar. The Queen's box,
Wheatley, and the ' Sir Herr y WheiqeY, Con .e
Don
Monte the Misses WheaileY•
Francisco attended by
;,leerPis also present, .the
'to,
L uy• Amongst the company were
Louis
'tont apoteon, the Duke and Duchess of ,
b.
,the: the Duke of Beaufort, the Marquis of Aites-
trtY, the Marquis of Huntley, Marquis of Clrricarde,
the Marquis and Marchioness of Ely and. ,
Ladies Anna and Caroline Loftus, Earl of
of hsdale, Earl of Falmouth, Earl and Countess
thl Wilton, the Earl Granville. Viscountess(3
kingannon and Miss Irvine, Viscount, aind:
tolle, Lord Arthur Lennox, Lord Gerald Fitzgerald.
44'1 Otho Fit zeeralti, Lady Willoughby (11,:resby,
1.031341.1111 s Pitaarerce, Lady Begot, Lord Southetniaz. ,
r d Lady F Tommie, Sir Ralph and Ladyfii
Gardner, r€
Barard, Lady Palmer, Lady Ede and Miss Wing
.F., ti,
ihii.n Nicola Admiral Count Heiden, Baron re-
the-elr' prince3'T oubotskoi, the Marquis G. Visconti,
k; Hon. tar, Lord Major, Lady Carrot and the
as sea Carrol; SiriL William Massey Stanley; the H. n.
,te-kes Macduriald, the Hon. Captain Foley, Hon. R.
Ikrthar, de Berg, M. C. de Koudrieffsky, Sir George
Cg Wel I, Bart., General Upton, Colonel T. I‘Jo. d,
eatcTo Meynell, R.N.; Captain Reynolds, Captain
sea.'",, Captain Ryder Burton, Mr. Phillips, Mrs.
"'Liss Grant, Mr. Broadley, Mr. 0. Morgan, Mr.
)40etou Trelawney, M.P., and Mrs. Trelawney, Mr.
nekton Milne Mr. and Miss Hollord, Mr. Barr
y
alyM : •
lacer -I
ka. AL ITALIAN OFERA, COYENT-GARDEN.—Her
thiiieetr and his H Highness Prince Albert honour. d
b. theatre with their presence on Saturt lay evening. Her
J,e3t3' was attended by Viscountess Jocelyn, Batoliess
]?„''‘'eth, Lady Caroline Cocks, Lord Cainoys, Lord A.
bi get, and Colonel B eiverie. There were alai present
Dll 0)11 Highness Prince George of Cambridge, his
Celleucy the Hanoverian Minister, her Grace the
ewager Duchess of Bedford, the Marquis of Douro,
Dowager Couutess of Essex, Countess Pouiett,
~,,""Ulltess of Cardigan, Earl Bective, the Earl of Str,ali-
rre, the Earl of Orkney. Viscount Duppli n, Lord
Lord A. St. Maur, LOld and Lady Russniore,
• A. Lennox, Lady G. Codringeon, Lady Blanche
Somerset, Lady W. Powlett, Honourable W. E. Fi z•
Maurice, M.P., the Honourable A. Upton. Honourable 'l'.
-Worteseue, Lady Wilmot Horton and Hon. Miss Mun-
son. Colonel and the Hon. Mrs. Fitzgibbon, lion. Lady
Willoughby, Hon. Sir Edward and. Lady Butler, H n.
Miss N. Hill, Hon. C. Neville, Sir W. and Lady Moles
worth. 3 Lad • Jodrell, Lady Augusta Baring. Lady arid
Lady
Littler, Sir Alexandt rand Lady
Miss Macfarlane,
BPearman, Sir J. Clifton, Bart., Sir 'l'. Winnings
n,
i
Bart, M.P. : Sir R. Lynche 810.-se, Bart. ; Sir Henry
• •
)bux, Bart ; General Sir Arthur Clifton, sir Henry
.ebb, Sir M. Shaw Stewart, Sir Charles Ibiietson, Sir
James
gales Hogg, Bart. M P and 'Lady ; Mrs. Bates and
akladame Vander Weyer. R. Sanderson and Hon. Mrs.
'Cuderson, H. Baring, Esq. M.P.; Charles Buller, Esq.
ale.; Mrs. Dennistown, i a Morris, Esq. M.P.; Colonel
--`ka„3x ; Delafield, Esq.; A. Webster, Esq ; Mrs. Si.i•-
bitian Smith, General Dixon, T. Miles, Esq. M.P. ; J.
4-aterson, Esq. M.P.; Mrs. Henry Bainbridge, Major
.• , Mrs. Mountjoy Martin, Cornwall Legh, Esq.,
."‘,,ra &c.
dutiful
Spring is gone ; the Summer is come I
-autiful as Spring is, and delicate anti poetical her
ehildren—the snow-drop, the violet, the primrose, and
Lila cowslip—w have seen and loved
Ash
once more,
-."b„od We will noel onger regret them. As they came arid
Passed away amid the lingering chills of winter, we wed-'
Cooled them, and we mourned over their departue. No
taaort like Spring makes us so sensible by its fleeting
nanties of the fleeting time; but Summer is the season
of full blown enjoyment, and now let us enjoy it. The
rat, Wise Monarch of Jerusalem exclaimed in review-
the
these very things, " Come on, therefore, let us enjoy
igood things that are present, and let us speedily use
:iethcreatures like us in youth. Let us fill ourselves
the se?riatlY wine and ointments, and let no flower of
with r-ng Pass by us. Let us crown ourselves
rose s,
buds before they be withered." That was
Wisdom in Solomon's time, and it is wisdom now. It is
*AVM to grasp the good that is before and mound us,
_ not to waste time in lamenting what is gone, or may
the72on be ;
B°-ag. And June seems the season made for
Universal rejoicing of all the creatures of existence.
extlea country is arrayed in its fullest yet newest beauty.
The trees are once more thick with leaves—leaves of the
moat delicate freshness. It is, as Spenser says, wherever
tg;ea
atirri our eyes, " a leafle luxurie." The ground is
,I:ed with deepest grass, and the birds and insects,
7•_m Q flowered
which are moving, singing, and blowing over
*c:thole fate of nature, are countless.
I.l..%?zirEamicE ON THE AFFAIRS OF PORTIITGAL..."'"
tWesoaturday afternoon, at four o'clock, the repre,tnta-
CourtQf France Spain, and Portual at the British
ee, assembled at the Foreign Office, Downing- street,
4-4
.__held a conference with Lord Palmerston, the Sea
De,.:;_rY_ Of State for Foreign Affairs, on the affairs of
faZifti• The oonferenee bruke up soon after five
-.%••••Obiserver.

LITERATURE.
RAA ORPE. One roL

The motto on the title-page—a line from Ba!zee,
" I had commenced an insensate struggle ; I com-
batted misery with my pen,"—sufficiently indicates
the purport of this volume. It is the history of an
author. A fertile theme for the pen of the romanci't,
and one of which he not unfrequently avails himself.
In this instance, however, it is not only as a ro-
mancist, but also as a moralist, that the writer of this
fiction has selected a literary hero; the adventures of
Percy Ranthorpe serve, not only to " adorn a tale,"
but also, and very effectually, to " point a moral "
and convey a useful lesson. Man of genius though he
was, to a certain extent, at least, the hero—this Percy
Ranthorpe—is no all -perfect ideal ; neither does he
possess all the attractive attributes generally assn
ciated with the poetic character. He is represented
rather as a very natural personification of a class, of
which, doubtless, many members are DOW existing:—
" A creature, not too bright or good,
For human nature's daily food;"
endowed with considerable talent and even genius,
and also possessing no little ambition and no little
self-conceit. In the narrative of his arduous career
up that terrible acclivity—the bill of fame—is very
vividly pourtrayed, most of the various phases of an
author's early life, and the dangers and difficulties
that crowd his way. In the preface we are told that
" Ranthorpe" was written five years ago, and
The author has employed the interval in following
Boileau's advice, " Vinyl fois sur le inct er, remltez
l'ouvrage," and " Polisse: souvent et souvent effiicez,"
so well that his composition has doubtless consider-
ably
improved in style, and considerably diminished
in quantity. Originally intended to fill the pre-
scribed three volumes, "Ranthorpe" is now con-
densed into some three hundred and fifty pages, yet
is nevertheless likely to afford as much interest
and amusement as many of its competitors of
greater weight. The writer himself admit, that such
e great change in the structure of his work has occa-
sioned many faults in the arrangement of the details,
which to a certain extent must have been unavoid
able. The most conspicuous evidence of the con-
densation of the narrative is the variety of person-
ages and incidents, with which it is crowded, but
to the general reader, this feature will he rather
an attraction. To the general reader we can
cordially recommend it, it is full of animation
and activity, the interest never flags. The variety
of scene and character is almost boundless ; for ex-
ample, we are introduced to the poet first in his
hard-workin? obscurity ; then we follow him
as the " lion into the boudoirs of fashion ; we see
him forget the humble tone of his early life to fall
at the feet of some heartless coquette, and then,
after finding him repulsed with scorn, we follow
the frrtunes of the lady through her eventful and
instructive career. It is useless, however, to attempt
to give even a summary of the variety of adventure:
detailed here. But "Ranthorpe" has a higher attrac-
tion than the power of affording mere amusement—it is
interspersed with many beautiful thoughts, and many
reflections pregnant with moral truth. A useful
lesson, too, as we have said before, is conveyed in the
history of its hero. Even at the risk of diminishing
our approbation and regard for the young poet, his
biographer has been careful to expose to us his faults—
faults rather incidental to his position than to
his character. The titles of the three first " hooks"
into which the history is divided, sufficiently indicate
the moral which it conveys— " The Poet's first
struggles," " The Lion," " The unsuccessful Au-
thor." The publication of his first book of poems—
" The Dreams of Youth"—obtains for the young
author no inconsiderable celebrity—he is wel-
comed in those circles where every novelty is
received with avidity —he literally descends
from the garret to the drawing-room, from
the poet he sinks into the lion. In this
incident of his career is very naturally pourtrayed
one of the casualties so often fatal to successful
genius. Escaping from the jaws of despair, he is
carried amid the vortex of dissipation—the Scylla
and Charybdis which guard the path of tame. In
pourtraying this period of his hero's life, the authsor
introduces a chapter on " the aristocracy of intellect,"
which is well worthy of attention. He premises that
there are two aristocracies, one of birth and one of in-
telligence. To the former he allows much, too much
indeed ; for instance, he observes, " the aristocracy
of birth is not the figment certain democrats proclaim.
A thorough bred hunter is not a hack." To this
comparison we most certainly object ; true we agree
with our author, that between the " two nations"
there may exist as great a difference in beauty of
person and refinement of mariner as there does be-
tween the two quadrupeds he has mentioned; but
surely the cause is a very different one, and is attri-
butable not to birth, but education. The following
remarks upon the anxiety which individuals of each
aristocracy evince to receive members of the other
are full of truth :
" Whatever future changes may produce, there are at
the present day two potent eristecraeies, both swarin'tig
with nreciimptuous parvenus, despicable and d• spiced:
p orvenus (let it never he forgotten) of intelligence as well
as os staliee ; men who aspire to qualities they have no
claim to: eunuchs of ambition!
" S-ciety is brimful of absurdities, which no ridicule
will rewither ; and of this kind is the absurdity of th,
members of one aristocracv cons, nting to become parvenus
in the other: authors degrading thoinselves into parvenus
of station, and lords descending into parvenus of intelli -
gence—this indeed is a misconception sometimes fated;
always ludicrous. Lords consent to be lords; and, before
attempting to be authors, rigidly scrutinise your claims
and title- deeds! Yon are proud of your own blazonry,
and ridicule the pretensions of the parvenu ; but you
become equally ridiculous when aiming after the blazonry
of mental aristocracy—the titles of books; unless, indeed,
you have the gift of genius to secure your position.
" Authors consent to be authors ; and before attempt-
ing to ' move in the first circles,'. unless your position
call you there, rigidly scrutinise what it is you want
what is your aim, and whether this society and its
demands be comptible with the mission or your lives.
Do not degrade yourselves by abdication of a rightful
throne for a baffled attempt at usurpation of a foreign
one.
" Either there is dignity in intellectual rank, or there
is not: if there is, no other rank is needed; it' there is
not, Ito other 'sink can give it ; for dignity is not en
accident, but a quality."

The chapter following Ranthorpe's precipitate retreat
from the theatre, after the failure of his tragedy,
vividly pourtrays what many must have felt. It is•
called " Aipiration and Inspiration," and points out
the terrible difference which exists between them.
With an extract from the suggestive remarks, we
must take leave of " Ranthorpe,' in the hope, how-
ever, of ere long again meeting with its author.
" There have been few men of gernus, I fancy, who
have not had their moments of despondency. Exaltt d
by the contonplation of Beauty, and the hat-m.4ll(ms
witcherius of Proportion, Vol have Ittok,d upon their
own efforts with disgust ; aspiring after perfection they
have doulyed their capacity to attain it, and questioned
themselves narroAly as to whetht r they have not mis-
taken th,- aspiration, common to so many, for the in-
spiration given to so few. The very superiority of mind
which enables them to conceive p.rfection, only tb. more
readily detects the distance which separates their works
from it.

'• In these moments of despondency, when with bitter
iro,iy a man iiiterrogat-s himself and says—Am I
what
I thought myselt ? and receives only d,
irk,vague
answers—th, n, should failure come as confirmatiorthe
thought of suicide arises, and is eagerly clutch, d at by
despair. To such despondency a few noble sprits
have succumbed: spirits woo had endued the goading
evils of poverty, envy, and neglect—endured them to a
frightful extent, but never suffered them to quell their
giant energies.
.‘ They wrong us who believe we quail before the
ordinary ills of hie! We have more than a common
coil, age to endure; the history of our heroic predecessors
amply shows it. Our lives are chequered ; but because
our path is on the stony highway., where thorns and
flints pierce our bleeding feet, have we turned aside?
Have we ceased the combat when wounded? No; if the
path be stony, are there n..t flowers growing on the
hedge? If the path be (Ink before us, have we not an
inner lamp to guide us safely onwards? Ay, a lamp
whose smallest glimmer irradiates the world with beauty !
By its light we Balk, and walk cheerily; by its rays we
are warmed and gladdened in the depth of winter nights,
when perhaps the last dying embers flicker on our deso.
late heaths. We may be poor, but we are never abject;
we may be neglected, but we are not unhappy until we
neglect ourselves! It is only when this inner lamp is
quenched, or when we look on it as some false will-o'-
wisp, that all the glory of our mission fades away ; and
then what wonder if we arrest our steps and die blas-
pheming? Ans,ser, Chatterton! Gilbert! Haydon I
To have passed a life of cherished hopes and
visionary efforts, and to find at last that they were based
on air! To have forsaken all this bounteous world affords,
to teed the hungriest vanity, or greediest sense, and to
find that you have been a dupe, a miserable dupe! To
hear the ceaseless roll of waters as they break upon the
shore, and know how great the busy joyous world they
s:.eak of; yet to feel like some poor stranded barque that
had tempted the rough waves in youthful confidence, and
now lies broken and deserted on them! To feel that
everywhere around you men are happy, busy, and you
alone wi, bout an aim—you alone purposeless, hopeless,
joyless —you alone wasted! And in this despondency to
reed the delicious reveries and bounding hopes which
once were your.,; to renal the lonely walks, on summer
eves, along sequestered streams, where your busy fancy
struck out many a gilded pageant of the future; to recal
your mid tight studies, when with burning head and
fulling eyes you peered into the secrets of the great
Departed ; and then to look upon your present state,
aitniess and joyless! To awaken from the dream of life
to find that inner lamp was false, a mockery of your
hopes! This is misery—this is despair mighty enough
to quell the stout, st heart!

"-And this clespl]irsilzed Percy Ranthorpe, and he
vsolved to die!"

FINANCIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By
Thomas Doubleday.
A peculiar interest attaches itself to this remark-
able work at the present moment, seeing that every
endeavour is now being made for the reparation of a
protracted injustice. The national mind, we do
firmly believe, is ripe fora comprehensive reorga-

nisation of that most injurious system of taxa-
-1 tiun which has for so long a period tended
to paralyse the industry of the population.
Mr. Doubleday has described the atrocious origin and
the malign influences of the national debt of England
in his financial history of the country, and he has
described them with such admirable perspicuity as
to their gradual development, and with such wither-
ing sarcasm as to their producers, as to afford him, in
our opinion, a right to the title of a patriotic phi-
lanthropist. It is a curious circumstance to re-
flect upon the monetary and social condition of our
Anglo-Norman ancestors under the sovereignty of
the Plantagenet, when the revenues of the monarch
and the state were derived in a particular manner
from his territorial possessions—when the royal
beeves and the royal harvests were carried to his
shambles and his granaries from his own pasture and
arable land, and were not wrung from the pittances
of the wretched artizans, earned by the •de-
nial of their domestic comfort and the perpe-
tual sweating of their brows. Until the aristo-
eratic ambition, and the feudatorial avarice had
beaten down the buttresses and desolated the orchards
of the religious establishments ; until the lords of the
soil had g!utt( d their coffers with the most unprin-
cipled and profligate spoliation, and had by the con-
tngion of their exqmple rendered their lord para-
mount, the King, the participator in their corrupt
and execrable proceedings, the miseries of a poor-
law were unexperierced, arid the labour of the land
untaxed. Those are the circumstances which do, in
a very great measure, render the olden times, in corn-
pad-on with ours, the golden days; those, at least,
are the antique customs which we would willingly
see revived by the disciples of Young England;
those are the immunities which must, in a very
great measure, have compensated our forefathers
for the scientific advantages reserved for a future
generation. While, indeed, we have been blessed
with the art of printing, we have been cursed
with the woes of taxation ; while our activity
has been promoted by a magic-dragon of steam, our
strength has been undermined by the horrors of the
nightmare of the National Debt. The creation and
growth of these monster evils are well and compre-
hensively described by Mr. Doubleday. From the
first dawning of the debt until its accumulation
in 1711 to a principal of 16,394,7021. ls. 7d., in
1739 to a principal of 46,954,6231. 3s. 4d.,
in 1748 to a principal of 78.293 3131. is. in
1775 to a principal of 135,943,0511., in 1783 to a
principal of 257,213,0431., in 1797 to a principal of
413,140,832/., until its extension in these latter times,
after the wars against France—wars forced upon us
by the pertinacious egotism of Pitt—to a terrific total
of 800,000,0001. How such miseries have been

entailed upon the industrious population of
these islands is readily to be comprehended,
when we recal to our recollection the expenses of a
protracted war, the odious subsidising system of
William Pitt, and the monetary suction of the
nobility. Mr. Doubleday has, in his present compo-
sition, becc:me in a very great measure the impartial
historian of English Finance • at the same time it
must be acknowledged that his style is throughout
impassioned, but this earnestness arises from the
ard.ur of his patriotism. In writing these brief
ob.ervations we are in no manner disposed
to dismiss a volume so remarkable and
valuable with a few cursory remarks. We are
only solicitous to direct the attention of the
public, as speedily as possible, to a very extra-
ordinary and perspicuous work, recounting the in-
justice and incompetence of bygone statesmen. As
we shill repeatedly hbve occasion to refer to the ar-
guments of Mr Doubleday, either for the purpose of
coinciding with them, or refuting them, we shall
abstain from entering upon their general analysis.

HOME AND 17 S INFLUENCE. A Novel. By
Me Hon. Adela Sidney. 3 Vols.
The title of these volumes is a recommendation in
itself, and when we have said that, the tales which
they contain effectively carry out the moral which
that title seems to convey, further commendation is
almost needless. It would be well if a larger portion
of fictitious literature were devoted to a similar pur-
pose, and insoired by as amiable motives, as are these
volumes by Miss Sidney. However much it may be
customary to regard novel-reading either as a sad
waste of time, or, at best, only as a means of making
a few hours pass pleasantly, we are inclined to think
that works of this class, not individually, perhaps, but
collectively, exercise a not unimportant, and might
exercise a most beneficial, influence upon the morals
and the disposition of the community. Historical or
political romances are, doubtless, useful in their way,
as tending to impress certain facts more indelibly in
the memory, by means of familiar association and
kindly sympathies ; but their influence is immeasur-
ably less powerful than that exercised by the un-
pretending domestic novel. Always supposing such a
novel qualified to execute effectually its important
mission, namely, teaching by example. To do this it
is necessary not only that some good lesson should be
irculeated by the moral of the tale, but also more es-
pecially to render the example available, it is im-
perative that the characters and conduct of its heroes
and heroines should be truthfully and naturally pour-
trayed ; and then, according as they are good or evil,
they may serve as an incentive and a warning. His-
torical romancist though he was, such lessons abound
in the pages of Sir Walter Scott. We may ponder
with admiration, reverence, delight, or a thousand
kindred emotions, over his narratives, of the gallant
doings of the old crusaders, or the varied fortunes of
modern monarchs, from the doughty Richard to the
callous Mary, or pedantic James; but we turn with
a sympathy ever glowing, and an interest ever new,
•to study the histories of his humbler characters—fic-
titious they are called, but we know them to be
realities—and from those histories how many lessons
may we not learn 1 For instance, a hundred elabo-
rate orations, a hundred eloquent panegyrics, upon
the various excellences and beauties of those two most
necessary anti not incompatible virtues, resolution and
humility, must inevitably fail in producing a hun-
dredth part of the effect which would the perusal of,
perhaps, the most beautiful of all Scott's beautiful tales
—the " Bride of Lammermoor " There, in the odious
character of the imperious Lady Ashton, and the
pitiful weakness of the gentle and yielding Lucy, its
tair readers more especially, may see the fatal effects
of two opposite extremes and become more anxious to
discover that happy juste milieu which avoids them
both—excluding alike wilfulness and weakness.
Innumerable such lessons of this kind may be found
in the pages of the great novelist; and, notwithstand-
ing their manifold attractions, it is for such lessons
that they are chiefly valuable. And such or similar
lessons we are always glad to find in the works of
our modern novelists, and it is because they aspire
to fellow in the same course that we gladly welcome
Miss Sidney's otherwise unpretending tales. To
extol the happiness, and illustrate the beneficial in-
fluences of domestic life, is a peculiarly appropriate
subject for a work which, like this, is chiefly designed
for the younger and fairer members of the community.
The early studies of kings are chiefly directed
towards obtaining a knowledge of the countries
over which they are to rule, and in gathering
from the records of other sovereigns lessons
tend
rienf
ndli
,kitxnrepae,
ameninieroc, eefwrtakylsfeloitfrootui
ticitudluri eaeil
thesri
fye
nfeteuha future
mfr guidance;tehsfteouirrdiste the
sovereignty—
the gi and
gwhnt:aledn-
the little empire of home. These three volumes con-
tain three tales—pleasing tales, pleasingly written—
" Beatrix," "Dinah," and " Clemence. Of these the
last is by far the most interesting, and is an exquisite
romance.ise liablet
o f t
the
eo
heroine,som o objections, c
her heroic
and I
the
conduct
u
self-
sacrifice, isc ee,i,)rrhhiaefpr
ohs
-eenrdrooot s verypurify
nms wise,
oaimustneray,okyneinnvlbedit. if natural •
but then we must remember "he never errs who sa-
crifices
The
leseoootreisimcni
atonecobaenoaril
occasioned
ehoni
dtoendsfi
ea)
hied'
recreation,st`
fles
IDlrt,
kiin nenafilaleyfuh,te'tutb'vthoil
uecteiater: perhaps likely to be of most
finding,
on,
terriblelrtds dhialso
forciblyne, g domineering
consequences
p o ur theur to
nryrimdms l
tapeeiwisomni
sryhtpatiareonhenrhde.t.
lessons. The object of the whole is to prove, in the
concluding words of one of the tales, "that happiness
is of a quiet nature—that all the7hcahitpahpitnnthseesosnfi pleasure—
the excitement of fame—bear
thorns ; but that existence is concealednl
only
when
virtue and love shed their lustre over an united and
intellectual home."

THE NATURAL; uF THE BALLET
GIRL. By Albert Smith.
The cloak of Buffon has been a very long while
falling, and Albert Smith has caught it without any
doubt: It sits admirably on his shoulders—may he
wear it just so long as it shall not become threadbare!
After flaying the execrable, and detestable, and most
atrocious, and most abominable race of "Gents"
alive, after punishing the whole genus of "Gents"
with a sort of literary "tar-and-feathering," Albert
Smith changes his theme from the grubs, as he very
expressively terms the "Gents," to the butterflies, as
he no less expressively terms the " Ballet Girls."
But his labour in this second chapter of his facetious
" Natural History," is not the labour of destruction.
or scarification, or ridicule, or s dire. To the honour
and good taste of the author, be it said, the poor
"Ballet Girls" may here find their palliation, if not
even their panegyric. On this account the little
book before us, anent the danseuses, is right welcome ;
it is a blithe, sparkling humourous sketch behind the
cenes, and it is a very great deal more—it is the
enunciation of a kind word, and the expression of a
generous and honourable sympathy for an abused, and
we do believe, a wrongfullly slighted class. We
cannot afford a better notion of the gentleness of sen
timent which imparts such a pleasant flavour to the
out-pourings of the present brochure, than by giving
the following defence of tne moral characters of the
members of the corps de ballet.
" The Ballet-girl is very fond of finery. ja a po,i.

tion where so much depends upon effect, this passion is,
, in some degree, excusable ; and for Loin reason effect is
the great end desired. She believes in the jewellery of
the Lowther Arcade to a great degree ; that emporium
'
stands. higher with her than ever did the firm of Storr
and Mortimer with its warmest and most wealthy pa-
trons. And herein lies her greatest danger. The hand-
some presents mane to some of these girls—who work
so very hard at so very small a salary—might well turn
their heads ; as might the offers of a splendid settle-
ment or estalishment, contrasted with their, in most
cases, very humble homes.
"But they have all got mothers, who are the ladies-
patronesses of strange bonnets and abnormal dresses.
The more rigid ones come to the theatre every night to
fetch their daughters home, and are allowed by the
stage-door- keeper to stand inside his lodge, and near the
fire in winter. And in no manner will they permit any
one else to see their young ladies home, unless he pays
them very great attention, or is their proper accepted
admirer. And even then he must, to find great favour
in the eyes of the mother, be somehow or other con•
netted with the profession.
"And indeed the of of the CoryphCe in marriage
is not altogether to be taken out of the theatre—gene-
rally the reverse. A very large proportion of the young
persons now enumerated in the corps de .ballet of the
various houses as Miss' Such-a-one, are married. And,
married or single, we speak advisedly in saying that
nothing can be more exemplary than the conduct of the
ballet generally, taken as a mass. Many of them—in
several instances two or three :inters—contribute in a
treat degree to the support of their family, either by
their salaries (which may be averaged at a guinea
a week in the more respectable theatre-), or by teaching
dancing on their own account. An intimate acquaint-
ance with the internal economy of a theatre, and the
fortunes of those assisting to form its company, enables
us to state earnestly that amongst no other class have
we witnessed more domestic devotion, or readiness at
411 times to proffer mutual assistance, in the event of
accident or other misfortune, than in the corps de ballet;and that in contradiction to the notions of the Gents,
by no others have we seen any transgression against
propriety, or advances even supposed to be questionable,
more eff.ectually repulsed. We do not deny that there
are several who cannot lay claim to a reputation en-
tirely unblemished ; but is as false as it is uncharitable
to suppose that the attributes of those few are alike
characteristic of the entire class."

The descriptions of the domestic and artificial (that
is stage) life of the " Ballet Girl," is as lively as it is
doubtless faithful, from the enthusiasm with which
she listens to the bang-bang of the tambourine in the
hands of the ballet master, to the delight with which
she and you hearken to the "glow-glow' of the cham-
pagne, when poured out in those long and distract-
ingly narrow glasses at the White bait-house down
at Blackwell. In the masterly picture of Van Am-
burgh, in the den of the great lion, by Edwin Land-
seer—in this year's exhibition of the Royal
academy—may be discerned first at the foreground,
on the ledge, as it were, outside the bars of the iron
cage—a piece of orange peal—a torn play bill—a
scrap of laurel—and a bunch of flowers; Those little
adjuncts are inimitably introduced, suggesting by
symbols, as they do, the atmosphere in which Van
Amburgh and his tame wild beasts are visible. Hem-
ming might have taken a hint from Landseer, and
thrown a bit of orange peal, a torn play bill, a scrap
of laurel, and a bouquet, into the wood-cut on the
title page, for they equally represent the atmosphere
breathed by the Ballet Girl, and betoken the precise
character of this agreeable volume.

A PRACTICAL TREATISE 01V THE TEETH

AID GUMS. By 14 illiam
Mr. Wardroper in his intelligent and remarkable
little treatise upon the structure and diseases of the
teeth and gums, has stricken a severe blow at what
he calls on his title page " the pernicious practise of
indiscriminate tooth- drawing. The purpose of the
arguments employed in this publication will conse-
quently be must welcome to the multitude who
are liable to the excruciating torments of this dental
disease. Mr. Wardrope attacks all the old systems
hitherto practised by surgeon-dentists ; he attacks
them boldly, but, at the same time, he attacks them
with extraordinary skill, and with much apparent jus-
tice. His reasoning is not based upon some crochet
born in his own imagination—it is founded upon the
anatomical principles established by the great and il-
lustrious John Hunter. It will be useless, therefore,
for any one to deride the propositions of the author
as those of a charlatanic innovator. .A single sen-
tence extracted from the preface will show the origi-
nality, the keenness, and the common-sense that may
be expected in the treatise. " The only remedy," says
the writer " in nine cases out of ten for the toothache,
especially when the tooth has been affected with
caries, has been extirpation, and that, too, recom-
mended by all the leading men in the profession, as
the only efficacious alternative. This, when seriously
reflected on. appears to be almost as ludicrous as that a
man should stiffer amputation of the head as a cure for
the headache." We recommend the pamphlet to the
notice of all sufferers, and, generally, to the conside-
ration of all practitioners.

FINE ARTS.

EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS AT THE BRI-

TESTI INSTITUTION.

On Saturday afternoon we were much gratified
with the collection of pictures by Italian, Spanish,
Flemish, Dutch, French, and English masters, tem-
porarily suspended on the walls of this excellent in-
stitution by their munificent proprietors.. Every-
body knows that a " private view" implies a more
Vi numerous assembly of spectators than is,sible on
what is characterised, by way of distinction, as a " pub-
lic view." We were prepared to find a tolerable at-
tendance of visitors, but we were at once gratified
and disappointed at the number of distinguished per-
sons by whom we had been preceded. Our gratifica
don arose from the evidence thereby given of the
appreciation of the master. pieces of true art, and of
the visible denial that English sight-seers are only t.)
be tempted by novelty—no matter how vulgar
.and
contemplible that novelty may be. Our disappom. t-
ment, on the contrary, originated in a more selfish
feeling, inasmuch as -the throng prevented our ob-
taining that unembarrassed view of the paintings
which is so essential to their due estimation. After
the pictorial creation of the artist has left. his
atelier—ripe with genius and blooming with Inge:_
nuity—the most important requisite foi'the mani-
festation of its beauty, is, unqueitionably, the
point from which it is regarded. With one
or two fortunate exceptions we were baffled in our
endeavours to regard the pictures, now hanging upon
the walls of the Institution, in a proper light—and
this, from the number and curiosity of those who,
like ourselves, were engaged in the pleasant task of
inspection. What little, however, we were enabled
to distinguish has satisfied us that the present col-
lection is scarcely to be surpa-sed in variety or value
by any one of its predecessors. Some of the most
valuable among the private galleries of England have
given up tor a time their treasures for the decoration
44 the apartments of the British Institution. Among
the l.roprietors of these paintings, indeed, may be
enumerated her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen,
the Marquis of Bute, the Duke of Welington, Sir
Robert Peel, Lord Northwick, Sir W. W. Wynn,
the Earl of Ellesmere, the Right Hon. H. Labou•
there, the Royal Academy, &c. &c. Among the
most striking specimens of the Italian masters is a
Guido (No. 13), being a representation of " St.
Peter," of marvellous inspiration, and of that
bold yet delicate colouring which is the chief
characteristic of that immortal maestro a
, " David " (14), of Guercino—a little jewel of
Claude (16), " The Landing of St. Paul," though
somewhat faint and decayed in tone : a portrait of
Ignatius Loyola, by Titian, with a haunting, pensive,
meditative, jesuitical countenance, such as arrests
attention and fastens indelibly upon the memory.
One small picture of an unpretending character (68),
a mere group of cattle standing in the foreground in
a piece of water among sedges and rushes, and backed
by a dingy waste of clouds, is a wonderful represen-
tation of nature, but to say that it is a Cuvp is to
say that it is wonderful. Among the most celebrated
paintings in the collection are the "Ratcatchers," by
Wilkie ; the portrait of "Hunter," the anatomist, by
ofwMithr. the portraits of
Sir Joshua Reynolds, and the portrait of "Lady
the Duke of
dlio;ltfornom,"
Peel," by Sir Thomas Lawrence. An original
John Murray,
is one c.f the mostextra-
illoe.norliesat master. "The
beingwHao rgdasrt,th,:e(iDlle4u9cß)h,eeg.sgs thea
orproperty
Opera,. Bolton;
Walker, the original Macheath ; Miss Fenton, after-
wards
vone.tihai.tsagtoufegtz,
&We
a. ,t,
Water-Seller,"
lee
rs,t,a,
hirsute . water-seller himself
to the boy who is. going to drink, and from the glass
of limpid water itself to. the. stone pitcher, with the
othrdeinaorldy pireacgesgebdy,
drops trickling . down its. sides—the painting is a
brilliant transcript of reality. Dance's " Garrick as
Richard the Third (131) ;" the " Orpheus," of the
same artist (152) ; the " Lady and Boy with Fruit,"
by Rubens (91), a picture of delicious beauty for
colouring ; and a large landscape (22) with figures
and cattle, by Cuyp, are amongst the most conspi-
cuous in dimension, and the last mentioned in merit
also, in the Exhibition. The cool green scenery of
llobbima; the rich and glowing tones of Sir Peter
Paul; the quaint odd naturalness of Teniers, espe-
cially in the " Robbers plundering a Farm-house,"
(73) ; and most of all, in the Clown who is just going
to be pinked to the heart's content by one of the pilla-
gers; the gleaming and effulgent sun snatches of
Claude; the animation of Wouverman, as in the
" Battle-piece," (20) where the centre-figure of the
wounded horse evidences the " power" of the master
in a significant manner; and the force and vigour of
Rembrandt contrast in a wonderful way upon the
walls of the Exhibition .rooms of the Institution.
The collection is moo volneil,-, and most interesting.
==sisamossa=,

Mr. Henry Meesitn 114 s opened very commodious and
elegant rooms at George street, Hanover-square, for
the exhibition of works of art, where he has recently
favoured us with a private view of three very interest-
i•.g paintings. The first is a- large gallery picture
by Sir G. Hayter, " The Christening of the Prince of
weles.7, This is in the glint, s beet style, and for the'

truthfulness of delineation the portraits are unrivalled ;
we were particularly struck with the fine likeness of her
Majesty, who forms the centre of a group—the
youthful and queenly matron, surrounded by the nobi-
lity and clergy of the British Isles. The architectural
part of the picture, comprising the interior of St.
George's Chapel at Windsor, is finely drawn, and as a
whole, it bears an historic character, the value of which
time will materially increase.
Th-re is a great contrast between this gorgeous dis-
play of purple and gold, and the touching expression of
the " Dawn of Love," the name given to an exquisite
morceavx by the young, but highly talented artist,
Mr. Thomas Brooks. Nothing can exceed the air of
chastened, yet delighted, consciousness which the face
of the sweet girl in the foregroand discloses; while he,
who looks to find

"Responsive glances in her smiling eyes,"
`is equally interesting; th..re is un archness, and yet a.
dt pill of feeling, in those same eyes which is equally an
excuse and an incentive to his intense and absorbing
admiration. This is one of those meritorious and suc-
cessful etfors that exalt the scenes of humble lite to a
more h.illowed and poetic region than the finest clas,ie
can ever occupy in ibis coun•ry. The landscape, too,
is in excellent keeping with the figures of the youthful.
lovers, the distant hills fade gently away into the clear
blue sky, while the foreground discloses one of these quiet
nooks

"Where innocence, alone with love,
May dream of years of blissand calm repose."

The very dog, crouched at his master's feet, seems to
wait fir the denouement, as if spill bound by the

" Blessed stillne-s of that witching hour."

Mr. Meeson has an eXc.4lent engraving of this charm-
ing picture, executed in the very spirit of the oriAinal b -
Mr. W. H. Simmons, and we msy sat-1y predict an ex-
tensive popularity fbr this beautiful pastoral.
• We have space for hut a brief notice of " Goodall's
Soldier's Dream," the very beau ideal of Campbell's
affecting ballad of that name. The figure of the weary
soldier is conceived in the highest style of art, and the
romance of breathing love,
"Suspended in mid air,"
tells a story that will be responded to by every heart
acquainted with Scottish country life. How truthful are
the lines the poet has put into the mouth of the tired
warrior as he rests on his hard couch in the bivouac—
" I flew to the pleasant fields, traversed so oft,
In life's morning march, when my bosom was young ;
I beard my own mountain goats bleating aloft,
And knew the sweet strain that the corn reapers sung."
Ah ! there are many in this hard-working world who,
like the poor soldier, dream of such things with delight—
" These visions of our early days—too bright and pure to last."
The handling in this picture is very superior ; the aerial
character of the vision, drawn by mimic fancy, in the
poem is pourtrayed by the painter with such power that
you are at once presented with the reality of home and
all its endearments. We consider the •• Hanover Gal-
leries" will prove an advantageous mart for artists and
connoisseurs ; and we congratulate Mr. Meeson on the
eclat with which his rooms will be thrown open to the
public.