The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-11 00:00:00

" ' All cold and all serene,'

" Were I to live a thousand years, I should never'
never forget that moment. For years I bad been in-
timate with the mind of Byron. His wondrous works
bad thrown a charm around my daily paths, and with
all the enthusiasm of youth I had almost adored his
genius. With his features, through the medium of
paintings, I had been familiar from my boyhood ; and
now, far more beautiful, even in death, than my most
vivid fancy had ever pictured, there they lay in marble
repose.
" The body was not attired in that most awful of habi-
liments—a shroud. It was wrapped in a blue cloth cloak,
and the throat and head were uncovered. The former
was beautifully moulded. The head of the poet was
covered with short, crisp, curling locks, slightly streaked
with grey hairs, especially over the temples, which were
ample and free from hair, as we see is the portraits.
The face had nothing of the appearance of death about
it—it was neither sunken nor discoloured in the least,
but of a dead, marble whiteness—the expression was
that of stern quietude. How classically beautiful was
the curved upper lip and the chin. I fancied the nose
appeared as if it was not in harmony with the other fea-
tures; but it might possibly have been a little disfigured
by the process of embalming. The forehead was high
and broad—indeed, the whole head was extremely large
—it must have been so, to have contained a brain of such
capacity.

`• But what struck me most was the exceeding beauty
of the profile, as I observed it when the head was lifted,
for the purpose of adjusting the furniture. It was per-
fect in its way, and seemed like a production of Phidias.
Indeed, it far more resembled an exquisite piece of
sculptor than the face of the dead—so still, so sharply
defined, and so marble-like in its repose. I caught the
View of it but for a moment ; yet it was long enough to
have it stamped upon my memory as

" ' A thing of beauty,'
which poor Keats tells us is a joy for ever.' It is in-
deed a melancholy joy to me to have gazed upon the
silent poet. As Washington Irving says of the old sex-
ton, who crept into the vault where Shakspeare was en-
tombed, and beheld there the dust of ages, ' It was some-
thing even to have seen the dust of Byron.'
" Amongst the persons engatred in the performance of
the office of removal, I noticed one—a tall, thin man,
who spoke little, and seemed absorbed in grief. He
would scarcely allow any one to touch the corpse—and,
with his own hands, he composed the head in its new
resting-place. The words, My dear Lord !' were fre-
quently uttered by him, whilst performing his melan-
choly duties. It was Fletcher—Byron's faithful valet.
This man afterwards told me the particulars of the noble
poet's death, and gave me a lock of his hair. Fletcher
did not long survive his beloved master."

As a counter-description we may give a brief sketch
of Southey.
" The personal appearance of Robert Southey was very
striking. He was, as I have intimated, tall and slightly
built. His forehead, rather receding, and not, phreno-
logically speaking, indicative of great acquirements, was
surmounted and partially shaded by an abundance of
white, silvery hair, combed upwards, and forming a very
striking contrast with his jet black, magnificently arched
eyebrows, beneath which glowed [that is the best word
to express what I mean] two of the most brilliant dark
eyes I ever beheld. Their beauty did nut consist so
much in their brilliancy, as in their deep, contemplative
expression. His nose was remarkably aquiline, so much
so, that it approached to the beak formation. But it
was in the mouth, which, after all, is the most expres-
sive feature of the human face, that the peculiar charm
of Southey's looks lay—the upper lip was finely curved,
and slightly projected over the lower—but it is in vain
to attempt a description of it. Nearly every painter
has failed to transfer it to canvas—indeed, I have never
seen a good likeness of the Laureate, for it was no
easy matter to catch the ever flitting lights and shadows
which, with every changing emotion, passed over his
countenance."

• • • •
" Southey's favourite attitude was that of lying back
in his chair, his elbows resting on the arms, and the tips
of his forefingers placed on the inner portion of his eye-
brows, over the surface of which they continually tra-
versed, his eyes being closed excepting when he spoke.
The conversation, at one time, turned on Byron—a tick-
lish subject for both Cottle and Southey. The latter
said, somewhat egotistically, I thought—but that was
Southey's weak point No man can honour Byron's
'
genius more than myself • but I fancy I prevented him
doing as much harm as he might have done.' "
So little is really known of Mrs. Hemans, that the
chapter which treats of her will be perused, no doubt,
with avidity by every blue-stocking in the land. She
must have been a charming person. Ex.
I cannot well conceive a more exquisitely beautiful
p.s
norofisaof
it
possible for words to convey to the reader any idea
the matchless, yet serene beauty of her expression. Her
glossy waving hair was parted on her forehead, and ter.
urinated on the sides, in rich and luxuriant auburn curls:
there was a dove-like look in her eyes, and yet there
was a chastened sadness in their expression. Her com-
plexion was remarkably clear, and her high forehead
looked as pure and spotless as Parian marble. A calm
repose, not unmingled with melancholy, was the charac-
teristic expression of the face; hut when she smiled, all
traces of sorrow were lost, s:rd she seemed to be but
little lower than the angels'—fitting shrine for so pure a
mind 1 Let me not be deemed a flatterer or an enthu-
siast, in thus describing her, for I am only ono of many,
who have been almost as much captivated by her per-
sonal beauty, as charmed by the swe•tness and holiness
of her productions. If ever poems were the reflex of the
beauties, personal and mental, of their writers, they were
indeed so in the case of Mrs. Hemans.
"We talked of L. E. L. Mrs. Hemans said she had
received several letters from her, containing pressing
invitations to visit London. A place I never was in,
and never wish to be,' she observed. My heart beats
too loudly, even in this quiet place. and there I think it
would burst. The great Babel was not made for such
as me.' "
• • • • • •

" Come—l will show you my poetic mint,' she said—
and she led the way to a room over the one in which we
were sitting. It was a very small place, but neat almost
to a fault. There was no author-litterings. Everything
was in order. An open letter lay on the table. She
pointed to it, and said, laughingly :
" An application tor my autograph, and the postage
unpaid. You cannot imagine how I am annoyed with
albums and such matters. A person, who ought to have
known better, sent me an album, lately, and begged a
piece from me, if it was only long enough to fill up a
page of sky-blue tinted paper, which he had selected for
me to write upon.'
" In incidentally referring to her compositions, she
said : They often remain chiming in my mind for days,
before I commit them to paper. And sometimes I quite
forget many, which I compose as I lie awake in bed.
Composition is less a labour with me than the act of
writing down what has impressed me, excepting in the
case of blank Verse, which always involves somethine
like labour. My thoughts have been so used to go in
the harness of rhyme, that, when they are suffered to
run without it, they are often diffused, or I lose sight,
in the ardour of composition, of the leading idea alto-
gether.'
" Mrs. Ileman's voice was peculiarly musical, and I
would have given anything to have heard her recite
some of her own poetry; but I did not dare to hazard
such a request, and feeling that I had intruded quite
long enough on her time, I after a short time took my
departure.
" I must not omit to mention, for the especial benefit
of my fair readers, that Mrs. He:nans' dress was simple
enough. She wore a white gown (I really am not learned
enough in such matters to say whether it was of cotton
or muslin), over which was thrown a black lace shawl—
on her head was a cap of very onen net-work, without
flowers or ornament of any kind."
We have quoted sufficient to show that there is plea-
sant reading in this work:—it will gratify curiosity
about eminent people, and its own literary merit ought
to
make it live far beyond the season. As we are " no-
. if not critical," we may remark that Mrs. Fry has

been dead for some months;—here she is spoken of as
yet living.

A Portrait of Coleridge, from a sketch in oil, by
Washington Allston, the American, embellishes this
work. It has never before been engraved, and is, be-
yond all doubt, the best likeness we have yet seen of the
author of " Genevieve" and 1° Christabelle."

ATLANTIC COMMUNICATION.
MR. NPGEACHY'S (OF JAMAICA) PLAN FOR A
MORE RAPID COMMUNICATION BETWEEN
GREAT BRITAIN AND A MERICA, THE WEST
INDIES, AND FOR EXTENDING IT VIA
PANAMA TO CHINA AND THE EAST.
,(From the Jamaica Dispatch, March 11.)
A project of a most comprehensive nature, gigantic
as well in its details as in the vast benefits to commerce
and civilization which it embraces, has been conceived
and planned by Edward M‘Geachy, Esq.., Crown Sur-
veyor in this island ; and it is with no little pride that
we tire enabled, from this distant, but not unimportant,
section of the British Empire, to submit to the notice of
the British people the details of a scheme, which appears
to be as feasible as it is fraught with importance to the
commercial interests of the empire.
The importance of rapid communication between
Britain and her distant dependencies has been already
acknowledged in the strides which she has made towards
this grand desideratum iu the overland route to India,
and her steam navigation to America, and the Western
Archipelago ; but still the wonders of steam are but as
yet in their infancy.
The present arrangements, which are carried out by
the Royal Mail Steam Company, and the Halifax
steamers, have brought the West Indies and. the United
States within a reasonable distance, and as easy commu-
nication has been established between Great Britain and
Mexico, and the various settlements along the northern
coast of the South American continent.

The object of M`Geachy's plan is to unite, on a more
comprehensive system, the western world with Europe
by means of railways and steam navigation in a manner
that Rill greatly abridge the time now occupied in tra-
velling between the old and new world, whilst it will open
a communication between Egypt and distant countries at
present only approachable by circuitous routes and the
ordinary system of navigation. Mr. M`Geachy's plan has
also this ar:vantage, that the means of putting it into
effective operation already exist in a very considerable
degree, and the capital necessary to be raised for the
purpose of completing its details will therefore be pro-
portionably far less than at first sight its stupendous
objects would seem to demand.
In Mr. M`Geachy's plan the island of Jamaica and its
railroads, and Captain Liot's project for crossing the
Isthmus of Panama stand prominently forward, and the
maenificent vessels of the Steam Navigation Company
will be eminently useful in carrying out the project,
should it, as we have little doubt it will, be eventually
adopted. Mr. M‘Geachy proposes to vary the present
route between Jamaica and Great Britain by a diver-
sion through the United States and Halifax, so never-
theless as to reduce the period of communication to a
maximum speed of 14 days. He propo-es, if we rightly
comprehend his plans. to make Montego Bay the sta-
tion for the steamers which are to be the medium of
communication between the island and Great Britain.
The mails, and passengers of course, would be trans-
mitted by the railway now in course of projection, from
Kingston to Montego Bay, and a steamer, would bear
them thence to Batabano i❑ the island of Cuba, from
which a communication by railway is already esta-
blished to Havannah. Another line of steamers stationed
at the latter port, would take up the line of cominunica-
tion to Tampa Bay, in the State of Aortda, and
railways between that place and Charleston, New York
and Boston, to St. John'•, New Brunswick, would be
met by steamers at the latter place, which, plying be-
tween that port and the western coast of Nova Scotia,
would convey the mails and passengers to the terminus
of a railway concluding at lialifax, from whence they
would be embarked for Bantry Bay, in Ireland, which
Mr. M`Geachy proposes as the British packet station.
Mr. M`Creaehy estimates the time expended in this
route at 14 days 5 hours between Kingston (Jamaica)
and Ireland; thus:—
From Kingston to the west end of Jamaica,
say Montego Bay, by the projected railway 5 hrs.
To Batabano by steamer
Batabano to Havannah, by railway 2 do.
Havannah to Tampa Bay 44 do.
Tamps Bay to New York, by railway 3O do.

Jamaica to New York
New York to Halifax

125 do.
24 do.

Jamaica to Halifax

149 do.