The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-09 00:00:00

THE LATE SIR DAVID WILKIE

- - -
The TolloTvi
address of condolence has been transmitted
from the President and Council of the Royal Academy to the
brother and sister of the late distinguished member;._
Wilkie, ;11e To 1
il°:nist asero Wilkie,f the Esq., the brother, and Miss Helen
late Sir David Wilkie, R. A.
" The President and Council of the Academy, although re-
luctant to obtrude on sorrows too recent and severe to admit of
present alleviation, yet cannot resist the anxious desire they
feel respectfully to manifest to the family of the late Sir
sympathise in the loss they
David Wilkie how deeply they
have sustained by the lamentable and untimely death of that
great fainter.
" Connected with him for many years, socially and pro-
fessionally, as an import ant member of their body, the Aca-
demy arc fully sensible how much they have been indebted
to his valuable services, as a man and an artist. They
largely participate, therefore, in the grief and regret which
have been so generally excited by an event that has deprived
the artists and his country of one of their most distinguished
ornaments.

" The President and Council are well aware that time alone
can assuage the sufferings of affeetion under such a bereave-
ment; but they sincerely hype that when calmer feelings
shall succeed to more acute emotions, the relatives and friends
of this eminent man will derive much consolation from the
reflection that, although he has been unhappily cut off in the
full vigour of his powers, he lived long enough for his fame ;
that his works are known and admired wherever the arts are
appreciated ; and that he has achieved a celebrity unsurpassed
in modern times."
Another address, similar to the above in sentiment, but dif-
ferently expressed, was conveyed at the same time, through the
Royal Academy, to 111 r. and .11Irs. Wilkie, from the great body
of practical artists. This document was signed by upwards of
two hundred of the profession, amongst whom were many of
the most distinguished professors of the arts in the United
Kingdom.

Patronized by their Majesties the King and
Queen of Hanover, and their Royal Highnesses the Princesses
Augusta and Sophia, her Serene Highness the Princess Esterhazy,
the Princesses Mary and Rosa, her Grace the Dowager Duchess
of Bedford, and their Graces the Archbishop of Canterbury and the
Dukes of Norfolk, Devonshire, and Manchester. in addition to the
above distinguished patronage to the newly invented Spectacle
Lenses and Invisible Operative Voice Conductor, the Messrs. S.
and B. Solomons, opticians and aurists, 39, Albemarle street, Pic.
eadilly, and 76, King William-street, Bank of England, feel great
pleasure to state that their valuable inventions have also gained the
sanction and unqualified approbation of above four hundred of the
principal members of the medical profession ; as also of numerous
individuals of high distinction, who have been greatly benefited by
their use. Immediately these improved Spectacle Lenses are
placed before ex trem.: imperfect vision, it is at once brought back to
Its natural and original state, every object becomes clear arid dis.
fillet, and the most minute particle is seen, either by day or candle-
light, with case and distinctness. Their Voice Conductor, by
which thousands of deaf persons have been greatly benefited, is not
the least perceptible, not more uncomfortable, than having a pielce
of wool in its place, and the faintest whisper at a public asserati
is heard with exact distinctness.-39, Albemarle-street, opposite
the York Hotel, and 76, King William-greet, Bank.—No con.,
nalog Fitb ptriolo of 'alit MAC.

LONDON, Juts B.—Wind this day at noon, N.W.
DEAL, JULY 7.—Wind, S.W., fresh breeze.—Arrived the
Portia, Hatchard, from Pernambuco. Arrived from the River
the Thomas Yates, for Port Phillip • Claremont, Demarara
Royal Albert, Quebec ; Lord Redesdale, Malta. Sailed the
Orpheus, for Ceylon. Arrived the Washington, from New-
castle fur Calcutta.
LivEaroot., JULY 7.—Wind N.W. to S. S.E.— Arrived
the Robert Whitenay, Bartlett, from Valparaiso, sailed 31st of
March ; James Wright, Jamaica ; Neptune, Newfoundland.
Sailed the Eliza Keith, for Havannah ; Don Juan, Newfound-
land; Enchantress, Venice. Arrived off, the Earl Grey, from
Calcutta ; Hindostan, Bombay ; Abbots, Reading, Valparaiso ;
Greece, Antigua. The Swahara, from New Orleans, which
was aground in Prince's Basin, was got off last night without
damage and into Dock. The side of a large ship which
had been burned, one of the iron knees taken from it showed
the }night between decks to have been 7i feet, was passed 9111
ult., in lat. 36, lon. 73, by the Alearns, arrived at this port.
CowEs, Juan 7.—Arrived the Levenlass, Wright, from
Havannah; Vulcan, London, for Westward. The Union, from
Sunderland to Bordeaux, has put in here leaky.
POOLE, JULY 7.—Arrived William, Hagan, Newfoundland.

TH,
jtut
Luc)
,Lu
Y —Arrived
-rvie7vd.eTtihtTehheßeFo
B OFFSCILLY,
aTsl.;Chieftain,sapnhn oyr,usß,oAbfieroo,
Monte
re
oCin‘h,
Bae
o.a
.r
badoes ; Minerva, Furlong, Jamaica; Lucy, Cherry, An-
tigua ; Pocohontas, Higgins, New Orleans. Put back the
M
Feliza, for the auritius. -
PORTSMOUTH, JULY 7.—Wind strong.—Arrived the Lord
Goderich, London, for Hobart Town ; Jane, Slavers; ditto
ditto, New South Wales; Ann, Newcastle, for Malta; Frome,
Chatham, for Dalhousie; Nurna (transport), London for
Westward.
DOVER, JULY 7.—Arrived the Juno, from SbielOs, for
Fecamp, with loss of topmast, sails, &c., and other damage.
OFF SALCOMBE, JULY 5. —TheManner, Harrison, Quebec.
GLOSTER, JULY 6.—Arrived the Enigo, from Malta.
MILFORD, JULY 6.—Arrived the Hebe, Partridge, from
Sydney, for Cadiz.
Conic, JULY s.—Arrived the St. George, Langlois, from
Gaspe, sailed 12th ult. Sailed Samuel Abbott,Guard, for Cuba.
SuNnEaLANn, JULY 7.—Sailed the Robinson, Everett,
for Quebec.
Ore YARMOUTH, JULY 9.—Th Ocean, Higgins, from
Bremen, fur Baltimore.

GREAT BATTLE. -- As the steward on
Wooden Onstead, Roxburghshire, was employed a few
days ago, in a turnip-field belonging to Captain Scott,
fiercely attacked by no less than seven ferocious
lI
mightthevic-
timwholeconsequencesnumber.
e have
At the Insolvent Debtors' Court (Tuesday),
been.—Edinburgh te
ei sn
impossible— nu rtgoh say what
Post.
the insolvent, who had been a hairdresser, &c., in Great Wind-
mill-strert, Haymarket, was opposed by Mr. Cooke for Mr.
Goring, an attorney, and by Mr. Woodroffe, for a Mr. Briggs.
It appeared that the insolvent was, besides a hairdresser, a
blacking-manufacturer. Mr. Woodroffe asked him whether he
was not something of a " painter?" The insolvent said he
painted " black eyes." When a gentleman got a black eye, he
could so paint it that it could not be known for
a few days. Mr. Woodroffe read the following sort of
a " card," which the insolvent acknowledged :—"Acci-
dents—Ladies or gentlemen meeting with a black
eye, can have the same effectually concealed by an application
quite harmless, by S. Collins, Queen's Head-court, ind-
mill-street, Haymarket, next door to J. Burns's, Queen's
Head Tavern. N. 13. Ladies and gentlemen attended at
their own residences." He said that his charges varied. Ile
charged a respectable person 2s. 6d.; but his charge was from
6d. to 2s. 6d., which depended, not on the blackness of the
eye, but the respectability of the party. The Court adjourned
the case for a service, but intimated that the insolvent would
be remanded.
D u DLEy.—lt is utterly impossible, unless the
voting is to be reduced to a mere farce, nominally in the hands
of the voter, really in those of the landlord or master, to delay
the ballot or the question of the suffrage beyond another session.
There ate nearly 25,000 inhabitants in Dudley, and about 700
voters. Mr. A. Smith was drawn into the town amidst the
acclamations of the inhabitants, and at the nomination the
show of hands was in his favour by nearly ten to one. 6,000
persons at least must have held up their hands for him.
Mr. A. Smith having only arrived in the town on the
evening before the nomination, did not canvass, and, indeed,
had no time to canvass, a single elector ; notwithstanding
which he polled 189 unsolicited, unasked votes. It is trus
that Mr. llawkes polled above 400 votes ; but what was the
case ? More than half the number of those who voted for the
Tory stated that it was entirely against their own inclinations,
and
otinthtehseei
worstdayof declared, lmthaeirolsitvwesi.th
Do
ouns
far ectssess,ps4that
yi9tiwwaus the
the ballot?

RAILWAY NEWS,

WITH A

CONDENSED ACCOUNT
OF

RAILWAYS,

good ROADS, Canals, and Navigable Rivers, by diminishing the
expense of carriage, put the remote parts of the country nearly on
a level with those in the neighbourhood of a town, and arc the
greatest of all improvements.— A DAM SMITH.

The roads or track ways of the ancient Britons were a single
line of atones laid down from one town to another, and although
our ancestors used war-chariots and other wheeled carriage.,
yet they did not level the soil nor cut out the earth, but con-
tented themselves with a single line of stones, more as an indi-
cation of the route than as a channel upon which their chariots
might be driven. These ancient British track-ways are to be
found very perfect upon Dartmoor, and in many parts of the
kingdom—they have been confounded with the Roman road, but
their origin is more ancient—a single way of stones is always
British, the Roman road is a more elaborate structure, and our
modern road-making is a very small improvement upon their
art. The Roman roads ran nearly in direct lines, and were
made as level as this direction would permit ; they were made
high in the centre and sloping tothe sides ; the bed was formed
of layers of sand, gravel, and cement ; the crest was paved with
large stones, were forty Roman feet wide, with paths on each
side; they ran in grand trunk lines from east to west, and
north to south, with branches to the principal stations—thus
the Watling-street ran from Dover through London to Chester.
The Ermin-street from London through York to Edinburgh,
with a branch line passing the wall of Severus to Carlisle. The
Fess WAY commenced at Camelodunum, on the north coast of
Devon, went through Bath, and fell into the Ermin-street near
Lincoln. The Ikneld Way ran from the south coast of Dorset
to Norwich ; thus the island was intersected with trunk lines of
road. These roads were used by the Saxons, Danes, and Nor-
mans, and very little improvement was made by them in the
public highways. The feudal nobility of the period subsequent
to the Norman conquest, fearful of too rapid a communication
with their fiefs, discouraged all attempts to make the roads
passable. Cardinal Wolsey improved the approaches to his
own palaces and the Royal residences, but the dignitaries of the
Church, actuated by the same selfish motives as the lay Barons,
did not improve the public highways, excepting so far as they
were useful to bring the good things of this life to the convents
and monas!eries. The suppression of the religious kouses, and
the distribution of the plunder of the Church lands, induced
the wealthier nobles who received a part of the spoil, to endea-
vour to connect their newly-acquired possessions with their an-
cient territories, and they all at once found that the ancient
highways were no longer good enough for their travelling, so
that in the reign of Philip and Mary statute 28 was passed.
The preamble of this Act states " that the roads were tedious
and noisome to travel upon," and enacted that the
inhabitants of the parishes should each work four days
during the year upon the public highways. This Act
originated the "statute labour." James I. anti Charles
I . issued proclamations for the regulation of the roads ;
but it was not until the restoration of Charles 11. that any im-
provement took place. Before this time, passengers and goods
were conseyed upon the backs of horses ; but the rapid increase
of wheeled carriages compelled an amendment of the old sys-
tem. By the 16th of Charles 11. cap. 11, passed in the year
1683, the system of turnpike trusts was introduced, and a
morey payment upon the principal roads substituted for the
yearly contribution of labour and horses. Three toll-gates wire
erected upon the road from London to Cambridge, and the
principle cf levying toll for the repair of the way upon the
party using the road, instead of compelling the parishes to re-
pair it, was established. Very little advance, however, was
made until after the defeat of the Pretender ; when the great diffi-
culty the Government found in the transportation of men and
stores to Scotland, ind aced them, in 1748, to improve the roads.
Since that time the turnpike system has been gradually ex-
tended, so that from the year 1750 to 1839, nearly 4,200 Turn-
pike Acts have been passed, 23,787 miles of road made, divided
into 1,231 trusts, having upon them 4,900 toll-gates ; and the
amount of revenue derived for keeping the roads in repair
1,500,0001. Notwithstanding this extended sptero, and the im-
provements made in road-making by Messrs. Telford, M`Adam,
and J. M'Neil, and the extreme depression of manufactures,
from the year 1823 to 1830, and consequent want of employment
of the operatives, which enabled the turnpike trustees and pa-
rish officers to obtain labour at a cheap rate, for the improve-
ment of the roads, so that Great Britain could boast of the best
constructed roads in the world, and although our canal com-
munication saved much time, labour, and expense, yet our heavy
taxation, the increased competition of foreigners, the rapid in-
crease of our large towns, the value of individual time, and the
increased application of steam as a motive power, made the
people of England seek some more rapid mode of travelling ;
and the attention of our civil engineers was directed to the ex-
tension of the formation of the tram road ; and the use of steam
as a tractive power. The result of their labours is the present
system of railroads.