The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-17 00:00:00

trti Ebttton

WELSH MIDLAND RAILWAY.
(THIS DAY.)

A meeting of the scripholders in this company was
held this day, at the London Tavern, for the purpose of
receiving the report of a committee appointed to wind
up the affairs of the company.
Lord Hereford took the chair.
The SECRETARY, having read the advertisement con-
vening the meeting, proceeded to read the report, from
which it appeared that the Bill had not passed the
Standing Orders' Committee, and that although the
directors did all in their power to retrench the expenses,
still the demand of the engineers and solicitors remained
unsettled. The report concluded by stating that it
had been resolved to dissolve the company,
which had been accordingly done, and that 15s. a
share would be returned to the shareholders.
The CHAIRMAN then rose to address the meeting.
It was the wish of the directors of the company to court
inquiry, and to seek the strictest scrutiny into their con-
duct. The delay in giving the shareholders the full in-
formation as to their circumstances was owing to ina-
bility to get in the accounts of the claimants. More-
over they were anxious to promote the formation of a
new and good company. The enormity of the accounts
was as much reprobated by the directors as by any of
the shareholders.—(Hear, hear.) It was proposed to
resist those claims at first ; but the board found it would
be necessary to review all the transactions, such as con-
tracts with other companies, &c., and it was considered
more politic, toto endeavour to make arrangements than
to oppose them with all the means in their power.
He stood there on the part of himself and his brother
directors to give any individual present full and imme-
diate explanation as to the past proceedings of the direc-
tors, which he had no doubt would be satisfactory. In
conclusion, he trusted that a searching inquiry would be
made, and this inquiry the directors demanded as a
right.—(Hear, hear.)
The SECRETARY then read a statement of the liabili-
ties, in which was one item of payments of over
20,0001. to Mr. Baxter, as well as large demands still
due to bim.

Mr. GEORGE Jos said he regretted that printed
copies of that report had not been made, as the details
were too numerous and various to be retained. After
the enormous expense that had been gone to, a little
more might have been incurred for this purpose.
The SECRETARY, in reply to a question, said that there
would be a balance of 20,0001., after paying the 15s. a
share, but the accounts were not yet arranged, and the
assets were not certain.

Mr. MAIIBERT said that he was sure that they must
all be struck with the amount of the charges brought
against the company. Enormous as were railway
charges in general, these exceeded allj lothers.
One thing should give them great satisfaction. From
the explanation they had just heard from the chairman,
it appeared that they had to deal with honourable men,
and who had the same interests with themselves. He
felt satisfied that they would do all in their power to for-
ward these interests.—(Some dissent.) Now, as they
had heard from the chairman that the directors were de-
sirous of inquiry, he would take the liberty of asking a
few questions. In the first place he would ask, why
5,000 shares had not been disposed of ? and, in the next
place, how many shares the directors held originally ?
Mr. ARERS, in reply, stated that the 5,000 shares al-
luded to were not allotted from a consideration that it
would be better to reserve a certain number of shares
for the proprietors of the land through which the line
was to pass, as well as the canal proprietary. With
respect to the second question, there was a minute on
the books that the directors should be compelled to take
one hundred shares.

Mr. MAUBERT said he would now ask how many
shares were held by the directors ?
Several directors here stated that they held not only
the number of shares originally allotted to them, but a
considerably larger number. Some stated they held as
many as 350.

The deed giving power to the directors to extend
their line and constrtict new branches was read by Mr.
Baxter, to show that the directors were authorised in
enlarging their line beyond the limits laid down in the
prospectus.
In reply to a question,
The SECRETARY read a list of payments already made
to Mr. Baxter, amounting to 20,0001.
The CHAIRMAN, in reply to a question as to the re-
maining debt of 21,000/. to Mr. Baxter, for which that
gentleman had offered to take 7,0001., said that they did
not believe that the amount of Mr. Baxter's demand
would amount to the sum claimed, and the first intention
of the directors was to resist that demand.
Mr. BAXTER said it was the first time that he had
heard of the intention of the board to resist the claims
he had made. He would beg leg leave to state
what had occurred between him and the directors. (Mr.
Baxter here entered into a long detail, the purport of
which was, that when his account had been made out
he was himself surprised at its amount, and sug-
gested that it should be taxed. He also stated, that
when the affairs of the company became so very bad
he had offered to make a deduction even from the
taxed bill of costs, which, however, he would not
have done had he been aware of the intentions
entertained by the directors, and stated, in conclusion,
that he would not demand the full balance remain-
ing.—(" Hear," and cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN explained that his meaning was, that
it was the original intention of the directors to resist
the payment of Mr. Baxter's demand, but from the
moment they entered into communication with Mr.
Baxter they abandoned that intention.
After a protracted discussion, it was finally
agreed that the report should be printed
for circulation amongst the shareholders, and the pre-
sent directors should be continued in office till the affairs
of the company had been wound up.
Thanks were voted to and acknowledged by the chair-
man, after which the meeting separated.

BANDON AND BANTRY RAIL-
WAY.—(THIS DAY.)
The requisite number of shareholders to constitute the
dissolution of the company having attended to-day,
the chairman declared, the company to be legally dis-
solved.

METROPOLITAN SE WAGE MA-

NURE COMPANY.—(THIS DAY.)
The first public meeting of the shareholders in this
company was held to-day at the British Hotel, Cock-
spur-street.

J. C. B. WARREN, Esq., having been called to the
chair, congratulated the meeting on the success
with which they bad been able to struggle through
Parliament, notwithstanding that they had had the aid
of no men of title, but they had had able leaders and
men to aid them whose opinion in science was attended
to.

The SECRETARY then read the Report of the Directors,
which stated that though they had made some conces-
sions in their plan to prejudices, it was substantially
still the same. The Company would begin its operations
at King's Scholar's Pond, pipes being carried on to
llounslow. After alluding to Mr. Martin, the projector
of the company, and the claim he had on the share-
holders for compensation, the report congratulated the
meeting on the certain prospects of a remunerative
return.

Mr. NEISON moved that the report read be received
and adopted.
Mr. PROPERT seconded the motion.
Messrs. Jellico and Owen Jones were appointed
auditors to the company.
Mr. SMITH, of Deanston, then addressed the meeting,
and stated at length the experiments which had been made
to ascertain the practicability of their scheme, and
demonstrative of the certain good effects which would
follow its application. He gave notice that he would
move at the next general meeting of the Company, that
the half-yearly meetings in future should take place in
May and November.
Mr. MOORE, the Secretary, entered into his own
twenty-three years' experience of the good that would
result from the adoption of the Company's scheme, cor-
roborative of the remarks which had already fallen from
Mr. Smith.

A vote of thanks was moved to the directors, and the
meeting then broke up.

, „ 0
LITERATI 14E;c. - -: <el
THE SYBIL'S SPELL. \A FQI 1C 1:21
This little metrical story is a lit
itiippE.A" -
too delicate and gossamer-like for Iht taele
brous hands of criticism. If it be dissected, or
tumbled about much in the crucible of that same un-
compromising criticism, we shall find the bloom come
off it like the powder from the pinions of a butterfly.
The story itself is a trite old story enough ; never-
theless it is handled with a grace that imparts to it
almost an air of newness. A baron roving on a
hunting expedition in the woods surrounding his
castle, comes upon a "simple forest maiden," loves
her and is beloved—goes to the wars—is all but
betrothed to a haughty lady during his
absence—returns homewards in a torment of
doubt—his heart luring him towards his former
ladye love—his pride and his honour towards his
latter ladye-love. Here it is that the writer of this
little poem has clothed the old legend with a novel
and not inelegant appendage. The Baron's hesita-
tions are dissipated by a sybil's spell—the said sybil
having, with fairie agency, disclosed to him, in a
kind of visionary panorama, the terrible consequences
which would result from any rash step in the way of
(as poor George Farquhar bath it) " committing
matrimony." Need we explicitly state the winding
up, of the fragile line spun by the romancer ? The
Baron leads the simple damsel, in her russet dress,
from cottage to castle, his bride. Alfred Tennyson has
given a most delicious version of this story, founded
upon a real, but romantic incident in the life of one
of the ancestors to the noble house of Burleigh. Sir
Bulwer Lytton has given the antithesis of the story—
and beautifully has he given it—in his " Lady of
Lyons." Associated with such predecessors, " The
Sybil's Spell" could scarcely fail from dwindling
into insignificance, especially when certain literal
absurdities insinuated themselves into the text. Such
for example as the lines—
" Young Baron, bast thou yet atoned
To one thy words have shatter'd ?"
That unfortunate expression necessitates the ridicul-
ous consideration, that the words must have been
" devilish hard words," and the individual shattered
by them, frightfully brittle ! Then, again, we have a
specimen, so true, of bathos, or the art of sinking in
poetry, as would have warmed the heart of Martinus
Scriblerus—where the Sybil ends her solemn warning
with the exclamation—
" Go—young man, beware!"
In another part we have the couplet—
" Then came a wakeful' thrill across him,
Then did a shadowy murmer toss him."
The rhyme, too, occasionally smacks of the veritable
cockaiene ; ex. gr. _

At morning's dawn,
She heard the horn."
And at other moments the verse is encumbered with
the most awkward redundancy of language; as in
the following :
"hidden by their bubbling showers,
And swelling foam, that roaring mocks
The bending of the fragile flowers,
That stoop beneath the glowing stream"—
et cetera, et cetera. Has not the bloom-dust come off
our literary butterfly ?
E CH

OES FROM THE BACKWOODS. 2 Vols.
By Captain R. G. Levinge.
We have so repeatedly had occasion to /lake these
Sketches of Transatlantic Life" during their piece-
meal publication in Colburn's New Monthly Magazine
that it is unnecessary to enter into any minute exa-
mination of their merits. As the author very judici-
ously observes in his preface, it is matter of astonish-
ment, and should be matter of regret that so little is.
known and apparently so little cared for our posses-
sions in New Brunswick. Everybody knows some-
thing, more or less, respecting the internal condition
and external relations of almost every other portion of
the American continent ; but of the provinces of New
Brunswick—provinces " containing many millions of
excellent land, magnificent rivers, inexhaustible mine-
ral wealth, and most exthnsive coalfields"—scarcely
one individual in a hundred knows anything
whatever. These two sensible, picturesque,
laughter-moving, sprightly volumes, are descriptive
of the scenery, illustrative of the society, and indica-
tive of the affluence of this same unnoticed, but most
noticeable territory. One literary advantage, there-
fore, is assured to the reader—the book possesses sin-
gular novelty. Of the existence in its pages of many
other literary advantages we can give our most de-
cided, and, we trust, somewhat decisive voucher. The
writer has penned his chapters quite con amore—he
evidently relishes his own narrative—he engages in
all sorts of surprising and healthful adventures—he
lets the reader into a thousand geographical and colo-
nial secrets ; and so pleasant withal and off-hand are
the descriptions, that it is scarcely so much reading
so many sheets, of letterpress as hearing Captain
Livinge himself tell all about (what Harry Lorrequer
would call) his " wanderings and ponderings."
Nor is our author merely an agreeable scribe—
he is an excellent draughtsman as well. His sketch-
book is alternately embellished_ by the pen and,
by the pencil. " The air hole,"—namely, a fracture
in the ice when sledging over it, and the consequent
engulphing of a horse is gloriously delineated.
hoever can thoroughly enjoy the tales of an ob-
servant traveller will be loth to abandon the perusal of
these delightful volumes.

THE ECLECTIC REVIEW.

No. 111. New

Series.

As the Latin derivation of name (eclecta) would
indicate, the contents of this periodical are generally
the choicest cullings in prose composition. Besides
this the subjects of which its articles treat are usually
very well timed and appropriate. In the number for
September, however, there are two contributions
which are terribly after date, we mean criticisms
upon Burton's Life and Correspondence of Hume,
and upon Shepherd's Life and Correspondence of
Foster. For a monthly publication these notices
appear to us to have been singularly procras-
tinated. For a quarterly review it would be
different. The two preliminary volumes of Mr.
Grote's " History of Greece are submitted to a care-
ful and judicious analysis. We conceive the re-
viewer is tolerably justified in protesting against the
learned commencement of Mr. Grote's work, namely,
the chapters referring to." Legendary Greece," as al-
together unnecessary to the development of Grecian
history. The references to the mythology of that
classic region should, unquestionably, be as succinct
and incidental in the opening of its national history
as the references to Druid ceremonials and superset-
tions in our English historians. Mr. Grote, how-
ever, evinces so much earnestness, originality, and
erudition in describing attributes of the Heathen
deities; and in tracing the the origin of the Grecian
mythes, that we can scarcely regret his very admi-
rable blunder of judgment. Now that the
Ministerial intentions, with reference to the
systematic education of the multitude, still
continue enveloped in obscurity, and that
we are abandoned to our conjectures, the
strictures upon Dr. Hook's proposition will be exa-
mined with interest. We cannot but think the paper,
entitled " The Irish Church—Ministerial policy,"
miserably one-sided. If such feelings be fostered
and cultivated, religious enthusiasm can scarcely fall
goal to which nations are strugglin in
tohfedegrgeanned W rating into sFctarian fanaticism. hat is
this age of enlightenment ? Is it not the goal of
civil and RELIGIOUS liberty f And despite all the petty
bickerings of prejudice, that glorious goal will, under
the blessing of Omnipotence, be gained ! " Mexico
and " Blair-Athol," as described by Thompson and
Trench, form the subject of two welcome articles in
this instructive number of the Eclectic Review.