The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-25 00:00:00

Sarawak, is one ; Charles Lamb, the essayist, is an.
other, and Samuel Warren, the barrister and novelist
is another. The civilizer of Borneo is lauded, and
justly, for his expedition into the East India Archi-
pelago; Mr. Warren, for his simple and majestic
fiction of " Now and Then," and Charles Lamb—
dear Charles Lamb—for his exuberant fun, his un-
forced pathos, and his odd, sparkling, quaint, capital,
boundless wit. One quotation from the private cor-
respondence of Elia, we are grateful to the writer for
bringing to our recollection. It is a fragment from a
letter to Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet, and is so
overflowing with humour—that dry, sly, chuckling
humour in which Charles Lamb was absolutely, and
will for ever be unrivalled—that we transcribe it here
without one word of comment, and certainly without
one syllable of apology:—
" I have not a thing to say; nothing is of more im-
portance than another; I am flatter than a denial or a
pancake; emptier than Judge ----'s wig when the head
is in it; duller than a country stage when the actors are
off it; a cipher—an 0! I acknowledge life at all, only by
an occasional convulsional cough, and a permanent
phlegmatic pain in the chest. lam weary of the world,
and the world is weary of me. My day is gone into
twilight, and I don't think it worth the expense of
candles. My wick hath a thief in it, but I can't muster
courage to snuff it. I inhale suffocation; I can't distin-
guish veal from mutton ; nothing interests me. 'Tis
twelve o'clock, and Thurtell is just now coming out
upon the New Drop, Jack Ketch alertly tucking up his
greasy sleeves to do the last office of mortality, yet can-
not I elicit a groan or a moral reflection. If you told me
the world will be at end to-morrow, I should just say,
Will it?' I have not volition enough left to dot my is,
much less to comb my eyebrows; my eyes are set in my
head; my brains are gone out to see a poor relation m
Moorfields, and they did not say when they'd come back
again ; my skull is a Grub-street attic to let—not so
much as a joint stool left in it; my hand writes, not I;
just as chickens run about a little, when their heads are tfl:
O for a vigorous fit of gout, of cholic, toothache!—au
earwig in my auditory, a fly in my visual organs; pain is
life—the sharper, the more evidence of life; but this
apathy, this death! Did you ever have an obstinate
cold—a six or seven weeks' unintermitting chill and sus-
pension of hope, fear, conscience, and everything? Yet
do I try all I can to cure it; I try wine, and spirits, and
smoking, and snuff in unsparing quantities, but they all
only seem to make me worse instead of better. I sleep
in a damp room, but it does me no good; I come home late
o'nights, but do not find any visible amendment!' "
That reminiscence of Lamb too is,delightful about
his dissuasion to Manning as to his visiting China,
where he added—" Some say they are cannibals, and
then conceive a Tartar-fellow eating my friend,
and adding the cool malignity of mustard and
vinegar !" Besides the everlasting " French Revo-
lution in 1848" there is a political theme in the pre-
sent number of considerable interest—" Italy ; its
State and Prospects" a subject of peculiar interest
just now,: from the victories of Carlo Alberto in
Lombardy, and the reconciliation of Pio Nono and
his people at Rome. It is not unagreeable to turn
from the contemplation of these bewildering move-
ments on the continent of Europe to such topics as
"Animal Psychology" and the "Result of German
Philosophy"—topics which are severally treated with
a master hand in the British Quarterly. Other ar-
ticles, of a very different character, are contained in
the current number of the North British Review—
the most valuable of which are those respecting
" Mrs. Fry's
" Mrs. Somerville's Physical Geography," " Tenny-
Revolution of 1848."
" Oliver Goldsmith's Biography,"
Life and L b " and, of course, that
0 fiat: Labours,"
Church
rc h
inexhaustible theme journalists, "The French
Review there are man
written effusions. yell-timed and cleverly
of • England-
past quarter are of Altogether
superior ability, the Reviews for the
though there
are none of the more illustrious writers of the age
distinguishable amon
2- the contributors.
~ r____

[ADEDVIETROTIRSEXOEFNT2ke
SUN.
THE
Balfe's " reply " to my " statement " is
singular in having made its appearance before
any " statement" of mine had been published.—(See
Notice to Correspondents in this day's Morning
Post.) It will not easily be credited by the public
that I should consent to sing, at her Majesty's, or any
other theatre, without the fullest assurance that the part
of " Edgardo," to a certain extent identified with any
dramatic reputation, I may possess, both at home and in
Italy, should not be taken from me, and entrusted to
one who, though he may be no doubt justly styled
" that great public favourite," has never yet attempted
the part, and is, perhaps, not altogether adapted
to the performance of it. It is, however, for
the public to decide whether, what decidedly assumes
the aspect of a foreign cabal against an English artist,
shall or shall not be successful. lam unwilling to credit
the general reports, that jealousy, in a direction
where it could least be expected, has succeeded in
effecting this most unlooked-for catastrophe. It
would certain* appear hard that an artist should
be driven from the public service, not because
he has been unsuccessful, but because he has
had "the good fortune to please the public " toe
well! " In conclusion, I have to reiterate my state-
ment, that the clear understanding at the period of
my engagement was, that I should perform in the
character of " Edgardo," that I should never have sung
at all under any other understanding, and that I can only
attribute the management's apparent change of pur-
pose to the public's great kindness on Saturday
evening, and the small envies and jealousies this may
have excited.
With the renewed assurance of my deep regret that
any step on my part should appear derogatory to the
rights of the subscribers or the public,
I remain, Slr, your obedient servant,
J. SIM
109, Great Russell-street, Bedford-squareS , REEVES.
25th May, 1848,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—I keep a news-room in the town, having a con-
siderable number of subscribers, and am also a news-
agent, supplying many daily papers. I take among
others a late edition of The Sun for my news-room. It
is the only one in the town, and is eagerly sought after
for its well known early and authentic intelligence on all
subjects. Now, it is but just you should be aware that
if anything of more than usual interest is looked forward
to, the non-arrival of the paper on that day amounts
almost to a certainty. So surely do I calculate upon
this, that against the opening of Parliament, any impor-
tant debate, or matter of interest, I am in the habit of
taking two or three copies from different agents, not
that I actually want more than one, bat to guard, as far
as I can, against an otherwise almost certain disappoint-
ment. Nor does this precautioa always answer the pur-
pose intended. Last Monday's paper was eagerly
sought after by sporting men, for its expected Derby
prophecy, and, as usual, not a copy made its appear-
ance. You have probaly had similar complaints to this
before, but I doubt whether you or the newspaper press
generally are aware of the extent of the evil. I have
lost daily papers three or four days in a week—not sent
—I would expressly mention—in a wrong direction,
otherwise they would be returned by next post. This
rarely happens.
I have written to the Postmaster-General on this mat-
ter more than once, and my complaints have been re-
ceived with courtesy, and inquiries made, but attended
with no result further than to exculpate two out of the
three parties who alone can be concerned, namely, the
news-agent and the local postmaster. I think if the
same pains were taken to discover the purloiners of
newspapers as are given to the detection of stealers of
letters, the true delinquents would be more frequently
brought to justice.
I enclose five stamps, and shall feel particularly
obliged by a copy of the paper mentioned, should one
remain in the office. Not one has yet been seen here.
I am, Sir, yours very respectfully,
FREDERICK WARD.
Stratford- on-Avon, May 24,1848.

His Excellency Sir Henry Bulwer, the British
Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Madrid, who
arrived in London yesterday morning from Spain, bad
a lengthened interview with Viscount Palmerston in
the afternoon.

SIR JAMES Ross's EXPEDITION:--" Enterprise, off
Aberdeen, Wednesday.—I drop you a line to say good-
bye. The pilot is just leaving, and now we start fair for
the ice on our own bottoms. The heavens have certainly
smiled upon us since we started. The pilot says he
never saw such a run of fine weather; we outsell the
.
In,
hervestigtao lotorc,asne. We ar
and are continually
all surprisedtnually
obliged
at this, toshorist, for shorten
for
was generally imagined that she would have the heels
of us. We are all quite well, and in the best of spirits.
Our ship's company behave capitally, and work in ex-
cellent style—in fact, we could not be better off in that
way. I must now bid you adieu. I will send you far-
ther news of our expedition by the whalers in autumn."
NEAR A HUNDRED PERSONS POISORED.—BRISTOL,
MAY 24.—This city was yesterday the scene of an ex-
traordinary and alarming event—that of upwards of a
hundred persons being seized almost simultaneously with
alarming symptoms, through eating of a poisonous berry,
called the jatropha. Messrs. Visger, Miller, and Co.,
who are large manufacturers of a peculiar kind of oil,
which is extracted from these berries, are in the habit
of importing large quantities of them, and recently had
a cargo arrive, in a vessel called the Miranda. This
ship has been discharging her cargo, and yesterday the
packages of berries were being removed from the wharf
on the quay to the manufactory, when one of them, by
some means, broke, and its contents were cast out and
scattered about the streets. A number of children and
some grown persons ate a quantity of the berries, and
immediately became so alarmingly ill that it was found
necessary to place them in the infirmary, and under the
care of various medical gentlemen in the city. The
greatest apprehensions were felt for the results, not
fewer than 100 persons having been thus violently at-
tacked with illness. However, in the evening it was
announced that a considerable number had been effec-
tually cured, and the remainder of the sufferers were
convalescent.

We have had a week of the finest weather, says
our Ulverston correspondent, that could possibly have
been wished for; alternate beautiful showers, gentle
breezes, and a good average of sunshine. Crops never
looked more promising.—Cumberland Parquet.
After some time of remarkably dry and warm
weather, says our Keswick correspondent, we have had
within the past week a copious fall of rain. Every
description of crop has a vigorous and healthy appear-
ance, and should the weather continue favourable the
earth already gives promise of abundance.—Cumberland
Parquet.