The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-02 00:00:00

TAIT.

A pleasant and susceptible nature has George
Gilfillan, and admirably does he evince these charac-
teristics of his disposition with independence of taste,
originality of illustration, and uncommon vigour of
language. His pencil in the present number of Tait
is devoted to the portraiture of Leigh Hunt. Every
one who has ever revelled over the bonhomniie of the
"Indicator," who has mused over the pensiveness of
"Rimini," who has smiled with a sensation between
that of pleasure and derision while partaking of the
"Feast of the Poets," who has thrown down upon
the ground with scornful impetuosity that miserable
ebullition of spleen and vanity, entitled " Byron and
his Contemporaries," will refer to this contribution
with curiosity. The writer has discriminated the
pervading subtleties of the nature of Leigh Hunt; he
has shown him, as he really is, a being of " elegant
and airy littleness," but no literary mastodon. He
has depicted with faithful accuracy the genial dispo-
sition of Hunt, his natural gentleness and suavity,
his predisposition to think well and speak well of all
created things, his enduring love for freedom of
thought and for the mental irresponsibility of each
man to his neighbour. In looking at the sunny side
of his theme Gilfillan has given us a kind
of instinctive Daguerreotype—he has eulogised the
eternal smile which seems to pervade the writings of
hunt, and has defined with a very singular felicity the
many amiable phases of that author's character. But
in the antithesis of that same character he has seen
nothing scarcely but a blank, and has consequently
there spoken little to the purpose. He has failed to
recognise in Leigh Hunt that intellectual, or rather
moral chiaroscuro which imparts to his name such a
mournful individuality. Mr. Gilfillan has not recog-
nised the concavity, while he has fully appreciated
the convexity. Ile sees everything to admire in
the conservation of Shelley's friendship, and in the
imprisonment for political independence, but he sees
scarcely anything worthy of reprobation in covering
the memory of a dead benefactor with contumelies!
We cannot possibly coincide with this contributor to
Tail in regarding an act of such remarkable turpitude
with anything approaching to lenity. In the dark-
some and pathetic glory which invests the closing
scenes of the career of Lord Byron, the recollection
of that base "stab in the dark" from a hand
_which
had been grasped in that of the traduced stands forth
still with the same aspect of callous and impassive
cruelty. Time may have weakened the public ex-
pressions of indignation, but time can never, as long
as the memory of that incident endures, lessen the
public sense of indignation. We should have ab-
stained from commenting upon a passage in the his-
tory of letters so debasing and so irredeemably vile
as this, but that Mr. Gilfillan has endeavoured to ca,t
fresh obloquy upon the glorious but mournful memory
of Byron, where another was alone culpable. It is not
by attempting to scoff at the chivalrous undertaking
of that great but fallen man for the regeneration of
Greece, it is not by attempting to deride that beautiful
and adventurous scheme that the celebrity of Leigh
Hunt can beeleansed from a tarnish more lasting
than the blowl-gouts upon the fingers of Lady
Macbeth ! It is not by calling the withering and
sleadly irony of Thomas Moore mere " insolence"
(fiat ingratitude can he erased from the pages of
.‘ ilyron and his Contemporaries." Though we can-
not, if course, expect the maxim, " De mortuis nil
nisi &vane to be acceded to in biography, and
history, and criticism, we nevertheless look for the
practice of its, twin adage, " De mortuis nil Piai
verum." No one expected Leigh Hunt to com-
promise the acknowledged independence of his cha-
racter by penning an eulogium upon the extraor-
dinary man who perished at Missolongbi ; but no
one, at the same time, anticipated such an outpouring
Hof acidity and effervescence upon a heart that was
stilled for ever, and a brain that had lost its sentience.
..Enough of this, however. The political article ap-
pended tti the October number of Tait is dictated in a
tone of most unwelcome and inapposite flippancy, and,
beyond this, is most coarse and careless in its selection
.of adjectives. We are by-no means inclined to be over
lastidious— literary prudery is, in fact,,pur most
especial abhorrence; but when
. we find this writer
in rat
Magazine. companno the • unfortunate
F

I s

ycung Queen of Spain with a certain lady o!'hatti
Baby-
lon, who shall be nameless, we conceive e
roprieties of a free press are, to a very great extent,
violated. Mere nicknames and scurrilities are muddy
weapons of assault, which stick to the hands of those
by whom they are employed, without injuring, in
the slightest particular, the person against whom
they were intended to be ejected. The writer in this
periodical is aroused to indignation by the match-
making schemes of his Majesty King Louis Philippe.
Nor when the diplomatic chicaneries of Count de
Bresson are remembered can this indignation cause
any astonishment. Instead, however, of battling the
question of this alliance with logic, or of employing
even the shadow of an argument, le writer proceeds
with a rather reprehensible alacrity to assail the cha•
ratters, and to vituperate upon the policy of the Or-
leans family. The King himself " only differs from
a tallow-chandler in having to do with ministerial
portfolios, &c."—he " has the smirk of a mercer or
man-milliner showing off his wares." The Queen,
again, is derided—and for what ? Why, for her
piety! Her Majesty has committed no public griev-
ance ; but, simply because the recent proceedings o:
the French Government are distasteful, Queen Ame-
lia—one of the gentlest, least offensive, and most
angel-hearted of sovereigns—must be scoffed at as a
psalm-singer, and a patroness of missions to
the Heathen." We deeply deplore the appearance
of such sentiments in the columns of our enlightened
and liberal contemporary. The talent and the gene-
rous freedom of opinion in Tait's Magazine always
elicits our esteem, and hence we are the more earn-
estly grieved at such little ebullitions as the fore-
going: they are not consonant with the high character
already acquired by that publication. It was upon a
precisely similar principle that the imperial family of
France was traduced in lampoons, and even lengthy
calumnies, about the commencement of the present
century. It was in such a false and ungenerous spirit
that a work, in several volumes, intitled "The Revo-
lutionary Plutarch," was published by Mr. J. Murray,
crammed with the most barefaced lies, and with the
grossest insinuations—a book in which the princes of
the imperial family, from the Emperor Napoleon
himself downwards, were aspersed as ruffians and
out-throats, and the princesses as "no better than they
chould be." We mourn these unwarrantable modes
of expressing annoyance at any national pro-
ceeding. We have, as the readers of TLe Sun
are already perfectly conscious, no sympathy
whatever with the recent machinations of the French
Ambassador at Madrid, but, at the same moment, we
-ee no utility in any dereliction of propriety in the
manner of protesting against those machinations. Mrs.
Gore pursues her new fiction, " Temptation and
Atonement" with a vivacity most propitious and a
fancifulness most alluring. We are not presented
with the lees of a mind exhausted by incessant exer-
tion ; a new vintage of romance seems to be opened
with the story of which these chapters are the con-
tinuation. An article on " Trees" is a delightful and
curious composition, but the idea seems to have been
suggested by a very similar contribution, published
many months back in the Dublin University Magazine,
and hence its novelty is rather detracted from. It
may, nevertheless, be an unintentional plagiarism.
"The Belle" is a clever and lively sketch, sparkling
as champagne, but not more heady than the juice of
gooseberries. "The World a Sepulchre," and "The
Field of Morat" are charming and nervous verses,
and are worthy of a nook in Tait's Magazine. Other
contributions of superior and inferior merit make up
the average bulk cf this sterling periodical.

The weaving of Brussels carpets, coach-lace, terry
velvets, and similar fabrics, hitherto only practicable by
manual labour, and at a considerable cost of money and
time, is now about to undergo a complete revolution, by
the introduction of power looms, invented by Mr.
&Levier, F.R S., by means of which the use of the wires
hitherto indespensable in this sort of weaving is done
away with. In the old method of weaving it was neces-
sary, in order to form each series of terrys or loops that
extend the whole breadth of the fabric, to introduce a
wire while weaving, and after the loop was formed over
the wire to draw it out. By Mr. Sievier's process the
loop is formed by a simple arrangement of the machinery,
so much so, as to reduce the expense of production nine-
tenths of its present cost. It is unnecessary to state that
th• public n ill derive great advantage by this invention.

DEATH OF EARL WALDEGRAVE.—We have to an-
nounce the death of Lord Waldegrave, which took place
on Monday last at the family seat in Somersetshire.
Leaving no family, the noble deceased is succeeded by
his uncle, the Hon. Captain Waldegrave, R.N., C. 8.,
now the Earl Waldegrave, whose eldest son, Viscount
Chewton, married Miss Pym, and his daughter,
Lady Maria, married William Brodie, Esq.,
second son of Sir Benjamin Brodie, Bart. George
Edward Waldegrave, Earl Waldegrave, county of
Northampton, Viscount Chewton, and Baron Walde-
grave, of Chewton, in the county of Somerset, ands
baronet, was born Feb. 8, 1816; he succeeded his father
as seventh Earl, 30th July, 1835; married 28th Sep-
tember, 1840, Frances Elizabeth Anne, daughter o
John Braham, Esq., and widow of John James Henry
Waldegrave, Esq. The family name was anciently
written Walgrave; it is derived from a place in North-
amptonshire, and we find so far back as the year 1205,
J.bn de Walgrave serving the office of Sheriff of
London. The present earl was born in 1788, and mar-
ried on 10th August, 1812, Elizabeth, eldest daughter
of the late Samuel Whitbread, Esq., who died March 1,
1843.

DEATH OF LORD MOUNT SANDFORD.--We have
to announce the demise of this Irish Peer, who expired
on Friday ranrning last, at Stowey, Somersetshire, at the
extreme old age of ninety years. The deceased George
Sandford Baron Mount Sandford, of Castlerea, county
Roscommon, in the peerage of Ireland, was fourth sou
of Mr. Henry Sandford, by the Hon. Sarah Atoore,
eldest daughter of Stephen, first Viscount Mountcashel.
He was born May 10, 175 G, and suceeefei his nephew
Henry, second Lord, who was brutally killed in a riot at
Windsor, on the 14th June, 1828. The late venerable
Pt er was unmarried. His brother, Henry Moore Sand-
ford, was created a Peer of Ireland in 1800, with re-
mainder in default of male issue to his brother and their
male descendants. On the death of the late Lord's
nephew, befoul alluded to, the title and family estates
devolved, according to the limitation of the patent, to
the deceased. Ilis Lordship had retired from public lite
for a long series of years. He was formerly in the
army, having held the commission of captain in the 18th
Dragoons, and subsequently represented Roscommon in
Parliament. By his Lordship's death the title becomes
extinct, and the estates of his Lordship in Ireland revert,
we believe, to his nieces, Mrs. Wills and Mrs. Paltenharn,
the latter lady being wife of the Hon. and Venerable
Archdeacon Pakenhatn.
DEATH OF BARONESS MUSEX.RRY.—After a short
illness, and in the prime of life, on the 25th inst., in Me r-
rion-square, to the overwhelming bill:Won of her sor-
rowing family, and the deep regret of all who knew her,
Louisa, Baroness Muskerry, of Springfield Ca: tle, in the
county of Limerick.—Dublin Evening Mail.
SUDDEN DEATH OF AN OLD CITY SERVANT.
Mr. Payne held an inquest on Wednesday, at the Sugar
Loaf, Great St. Helen s, on the body of Joseph Bruce,
aged sixty-eight. The deceased had been for thirty
years a servant at the Mansion-house, and was recently
gatekeeFer at the Royal Exchange. On Tuesday last,
while walking along Gracecliurch-street, he burst a
blood-vessel in the lungs, end died in five minutes. Ver-
dict, " Natural death."

GREAT STEEPLECHASE MATCH FOR ONR THOUSAND
POUNDS.-A steeple chase match has been made between
a Noble Earl, connected with the turf, and J. R. Coin-
wall, E'q , the conditions of which are, that both parties
shall, in the month of December next, ride a four mile
steeple chase match over the Market Harborout,h
country for 5001. a-side ; Mr. Cornwall to have the
choice of time and place; .horses to be bond fide their
own property.. _ _

PEDESTRIANISM.—J. ROBINSON AND C. BOON
The anxiously louked• for struggle between these
" flyers" took place on Wednesday on the Wahall road,
about three mires from Birmingham. It will be recol-
lected that James Robinson, late of llucknell, but now
of London, known as " Cannes Pet," was matched, for
25/. a side, to run 120 yards with Book, of Stafford,
whose fame stands A 1 among his local friends. At
half past two the men showe,l on the ground, a bcauti
'ul level bit of sound earth, at the top of an acclivity-,
the rain having delayed the match to that hour. They
started from the fall of a hanokerehiet, Robinson getting
off with a lead, which at sixty yards he bad increased to
a couple of strides ; at a hundred Book had stolen a
march upon him, and was within a yard, and the race
terminated by Robinson getting home first by a foot
only. The betting fluctuated strangely. A little before
the race 5 and 6 to 4 was talked of on Book ; at the
ground a level 1001. was laid ; and at starting 5 to 4 was
offered on Robinson.

STOPPAGE OF CITY THOROUGEFARES.—Wednesday
a notice was issued at the Office of Sewers, that during
the month of October thefollowing thoroughfares will be
stopped, viz., Lawrence Pountney-hill, Lawrence Yount-
ney-lane, Duck's-foot-lane, Cloak-lane, Bell-yard, Grace-
church-street, Little Bush-lane, Bride•lane, Poppin'a-
court, Hosier-lane, Shoe-lane, and Old Fish-street
during the formation of sewers.
FALL OF A MANUFACTORY AND Loss OF LIFE.--
Bitween eleven and twelve o'clock un Wednesday morn-
ing the inhabitants of Barfield were alarmed by a loud
crash followed :by cries for aid, occasioned. by the falling
in of a buildineused as a rope mat manufactory. The
building consisted of one large room on the basement,
and another immediately over it. From ten to fifteen per-
sons were usually employed in theppper room. In the
rear of the factory iS a plotlaf ground which has been
excavated to a considerable depth for building purposes,
and the wall of the manufactory nexttto the t xcavated
ground having given way, nearly the entire building
fell into the hollow. The scene that presented itself to
the lookers-on was heartrending in the extreme. Many
of the workpeople were lying around, partially buried
amongst the falling rubbish. A number of persons were
(111tekly engaged in extricating the sufferers, several of
W9"rn e“ re conveyed to the ii.firmary seriously injured.
The bodies of a man and a girl, both quite dead, were
afterwards dug out of the ruins. It has been aseertained,
that there were leven persons at work in the manufac-
tory when th? accident occurred—namely, four men.
three wcmen, and fuer children. Nine out of the num•
ber arc more or less injured. One man has a broken
leg and bead severely inured, and another of the Nee
several ribs fractured an - to arms dislocated. Tw.
of the women and one of the children have sustainer
soma severe injuries, but the remainder of the persons
who were within the building have escaped with compa-
ratively bat slight injury.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
SENTENCES AND SESSIONAL RESULTS'.
Subjoined are the sentences which were passed upon
the
.prisoners, at the termination of, and during the
sessions, to which is appended other adjudications and
results :