The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-21 00:00:00

THE SUN

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tion, the reviewer illustrates his meaning by giving
the following curious and novci eataligue, :
Coventry—was the eldest son of a Judge of the Common
Pleas, and heir to a handsome forune. Oxlbrd.
'inch—son of al; eminent ba,rris!et— one of an ancient

aL(i c.

sCnguishefi famille de ii yobs. ;No universitY
meotio7ed either here or in Collins.
Littleton—a Jinni deicendatt of the great Chief Jus7
tice—son of a Welsh Judge, and hair to a goo 6

e,tate. Oxford.
Lane—of obscure origin—neither pedigree nor place of

education ascertained.
Whitelocke—only son of an eminent and wealthy Judge
of the King's Bench. Oxfor 1.
Herbert—son and heir of a country gentleman of noble

descent. English University.
Clarendon—son and heir of a considerable squire, and
nephew of a Chief Justice. Oxford.
Shaftesbury—born to a baronetcy and 8,003/. a year—
an immense fortune two centuries ago; an Earl and
Cabinet Minister before he became Chancellor.

Oxford.
Bridgeman—son to a bishop, and heir to a good fortune.

I;atubridge.
Nottingham—son and heir of an eminent and wealthy
barrister, who was Recorder of London and brcther

to Lord Keeper Finch. Oxford.
Guilford—second son of the heir to a barony—but began
the world in great poverty, and in his rise to the
Seal owed little or nothing to his birth. Cambridge.
Jeffreys—younger son of a poor Welsh gentleman, who
wished to bind him apprentice to a shopkeeper.
No public school nor university.
Maynard—eldest son of a considerable squire. Oxford.
Trevor—second son of a very poor Welsh gentleman,
but nearly related to Jeffreys. No public school
nor university.
Somers—son of a country solicitor. No public school
nor university.
Wright—son of an obscure clergyman. Cambridge.
Cowper—heir to a baronet of good estate. No public
school nor university.
Harcourt—heir to a very honourable family, but mi-
serably impoverished through the civil wars. Ox-
ford.
Macclesfield—" could not distinctly tell whether he had
a grandfather;"—his father a country solicitor. No
public school nor university.
King—son of a provincial shopkeeper. Leyden.
Talbot--eldest son of a bishop of noble descent. Oxford.
Hardwicke—" son of a small attorney at Dover, of
respectable character, but in very narrow circum-
stances." Never at public school or university.
Northington—heir to a genteel family, but the estate
grievously encumbered. Oxford.
Camden—his father was a Chief Justice, but died poor
when he was only ten years of age. Cambridge.
" Charles Yorke, the second son of the great Lord
Hardwicke' was born on the 10th of January, 1723,
in a splendid mansion in Great Ormond-street.
His father, then Attorney-General, and making a
larger income than had ever fallen to the lot of an
English barrister, continued near forty years after-
wards to fill the highest offices of the law, accumu-
lating immense wealth, and able to make a splendid
provision for all the members of his family. Yet
Charles, even under the enervating influence of a
sinecure place which was conferred upon him—from
a noble love of honourable distinction, exerted him-
self as strenuously and perseveringly as if; being
the son of a poor Scotch clergyman, who could
give him nothing beyond a good education, he had
depended entirely on his own exertions for his
bread, and for his position in the world."—Vol. v.,
p. 367. Cambridge.
Bathurst—second son of an eminent politician, created
an Earl, whose coronet eventually descended to him
long after he had won for himself the Barony of
Apsley. Oxford.
Thurlow—son and grand.ion of country clergymen ;
could carry his descent no higher—used to say
among fine people that he believed the founder of
the family was a carter, Cambridge.
Loughborough—son of a Scotch judge, and heir to a
small estate. Edinburgh.
Erskine—third son of a very poor Scotch Earl ; entered
at Cambridge in his 26th year; may be said to have
been wholly self educated.
Eldou—younger son of a provincial tradesman. Oxford.
Thus, out of thirty Chancellors or Lord Keepers,
scarcely twenty had had " a regular gentleman's
education." By way of completing the list, the
writer afterwards mentions the three illustrious suc-
cessors of Eldon ; thus :
Lyndhurst—son of a celebrated Royal Academician.
Cambridge.
Brougham—representative of a very ancient and honour-
able family, but inheriting a diminished estate.
Edinburgh.
Cottenham—second son of an eminent physician, who
rose to a baronetcy, of which the Lord Chancellor
is now heir presumptive. Cambridge.
The whole of this article is crammed full of anec-
dotes, and shows in a conspicuous manner the enter-
taining character of the volumes penned by Lord
Campbell. We trust that, notwithstanding the
numerous exceptions taken to his books by the
Quarterly, that the Noble and Learned Lord will
receive in good part the hint with which the criti-
cism is brought to a conclusion, namely, that he
should, in his leisure hours, undertake the production
of " The Lives and Adventures of the Attorney
Generals who have not been Chancellors." Lord
Campbell has literary abilities such as should not be
allowed to run fallow. On finishing the article on the
Chancellors, we turn over the leaf, and come
upon a castigation of " The Memoirs of Viscountess
Sundon," recently published—a frightful castigation.
Mr. Robert Montgomery could scarcely have winced
more at the onslaught made upon him by Mr.
Macaulay, through the pages of the Edinburgh, than
Mrs. Thompson must inevitably do at the exco-
riating sarcasms of the Quarterly. We turn with a
sensation of indescribable relief from the bitterness of
this criticism to the gentleness of the one which fol-
lows, on "The Memoir of the Life of Elizabeth
Fry." The beneficence of that amiable and most
estimable woman is reflected in the manner of the
reviewer—a manner deliciously suave and genial.
Mr. Broderip's " Zoological Recreations," a reprint
of some twenty papers originally inserted in the New
Monthly during the editorship of Theodore Hook,
are warmly eulogised, and in the course of the pane-
gyric an interesting account of the extinct monsters
which inhabited the earth prior to the creation of
man is given. Next is a brief commendation of the
efforts now being made in our populous cities for the
erection of cheap and decent " Lodging-houses ;" a
generous allusion to the evils of negro slavery, in an
article headed " The Friends of the African ;" a se-
rious inquiry into the system adopted towards the" Pen-
tonville Prisoners," and a humourous comment upon the
"Accumulations of Capital" in reference to the late
monetary crisis. When the reviewer eluci-
dates his theories by accounts of Bamboo and Co.
trading with the East Indies, and Cockleshell and
Co. trading with the Mauritius, we begin to suspect
a certain identity between himself and a fascetious
quidnunc who cracks his statistical jokes in the
columns of a daily contemporary. In the paper upon
"Pius IX." we can find nothing whatever to com-
mend; it could scarcely have been expected, however,
that a Tory should be able to sympathise in any
manner with the Great Pontiffical Reformer. Of the
final contribution, namely, the remarks upon the various
"Ministerial Measures," we may speak elsewhere at
a better opportunity. We must observe, however,
that the scurrilous and defamatory attack contained in
it upon Father M'Dermott, of Strokestown, has been
utterly refuted (like the groundless calumnies of
Lord Farnham and Sir Benjamin Hall) by the letter
of " the Dove of Elphin " and the very conclusive
document signed by twenty-eight respectable mem-
bers of the maligned priest's congregation. This is
another argument for the employment of tem-
perate language when a criminal act is by
no means proven. Several evenings back we
noticed the inadequacy of the strictures contained
in the Westminster Review on the " Occupations of
the People," and the admirable " History and Exposi-
tion of the Currency Question" which follows, has
already been commented upon very largely in another
department of our journal. We would observe of
the latter article, in conclusion, that it is indisputably
one of the ablest and most comprehensive papers that
has anywhere appeared on the fallacies and incon-
gruities of our deplorable monetary system. Several
other contributions have reference to some of the
more important political topics of the day, two of the
most prominent being the "Popular Colleges," and
the monstrous practice of " Bribery at Elections."
Until we obtain the ballot we are satisfied that nothing
at all approaching to a fair representation can be an-
ticipated. Hitherto that great boon has been with.
held, because it is supposed to be of too aristocratic a
complexion for the householders of the United King-
dom. Too aristocratic forsooth I Which we should
like to know is the more aristocratic proceeding—
selecting a member for some exclusive club in Pail-
mall or Waterloo-place, or choosing a senator to
the popular House of Parliament ? (using.
" aristocratic" here, be it observed, not in a Pick
wickian but a strictly Johnsonian sense). There is
nn interesting inquiry into the different plans
which have been latterly proposed for ensuring
the " Preservation of Food," and a forcible argument
upon the " Economy of Railway Traction." Per-
haps the veriest curiosity in the way of a scientific
problem whieli still remains unsolved is that of aerial
travelling. Since Henson 's patent glimmered out, the
notion of periodical transits through the atmosphere
has been marvellously depreciated. One failure, how-
ever, L., pot enough to demonstrate the imprac-
ticability of anything to which scientific principles
are applicable—nay, nor a thousand. Every one has
read of the failure of the experiment made by the
flying philosopher in
" Rasselas," and every one has
heard of the failure of the experiments of Mr. Henson,
but every one has heard too of the equally signal
discoinfiturez of Watt in the fabrication of a locomo-
tive steam.
this very moment rushing. in 1111 directions over Great
engine, phdyet there are steam-engines at
Britain, over the European pontineot7 and over the
continent of America, burrowing under tunnel,
shooting through bridges, tearing along via-
ducts, and ploughing along the principal rivers
and the seas and oceans of the whole
globe I What can yet be said about the possibilities
of " Aerostatiou" may by avid in au iatpiligmit