The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-26 00:00:00

late the cheap country excursion has drawn off its cus-
tomers. A more wholesome and not less Effectual
stimulant than spirits is found in the fre,h and exhila-
rating breath of the fields arid the woods. Can any
right-thinking man hale. a doubt as to what our choice
should be between such alternatives? Which:is the pro-
fanation of the religion of Christ—which the outrage to
morality—the employment of a few to give the 1 %bearing
class the same pure enjoyment on the Sunday which the
rich have at command, or the adoption of a rule wh'.cli
practically imprisons those toil- worn multitudes,
and drives them to the momentary, but mi-
serable and ruinous relief of intoxication ? " Very
plausible," some shrewd and well meaning formalist may
observe ; " but what if the Sunday trains only change
the scene of intoxication ? What if the city dram shops
are deserted only that the fair face of the country and
the solemnity of the Sabbath may be desecrated by city
debauchery ?" Yes, if—. But what says the witness
we have referred to ?
" Last summer (when the Sunday trains were run-
ning) I found no occasion to have any extra constables at
Jock's Lodge, the public-houses being less frequented,
and no breaches of the peace committed. The same
applies all around Edinburgh. The Nergvent at Mussel-
burgh reports that he saw no increase at the public-
houses in his district, neither did he see more drunken
ness th7n on former occasions.
" It is quite true that the Sunday trains lead many
from the town churches ; but it is equally true that
many attend the churches in the country with their aged
parents, who were never able to do so before. Some of
these places of worship are those they attended in child-
hood."
lie adds a comparison well worthy of the attention of
the Edinburgh guardians of working-class morality :-1
" I have often contrasted Edinburgh and Glasgow
with London, Liverpool, and Birmingham. In the two
former places there is scarcely any opportunity afforded
the labouring classes to see the beauteous works of na-
ture in the country; but ample facility to waste their
time in public-houses, become drunkards, outcasts, and
ultimately food for the police. On many occasions I
have walked and rode about Edinburgh and the suburbs
on a Sunday evening, and counted no less than 60,
70, 80, and on one occasion 125 intoxicated persons, in
my perambulations of about three hours. Now, looking
at the latter places on a Sunday evening, you may see
hundreds returning from the country—some with their
wives and families—and scarcely one amongst them
the least intoxicated."
In reply to these and similar statements, Bailie Mack
and Bailie Duncan, the champions of Sabbatarian re-
strictions on their poorer neighbours, had little to urge
except that the council should think of the state of its
funds in reference to the expense of going before Par-
liament, and that the railway directors bad done nothing
contrary to law. "If these gentlemen were wrong, they
were amenable to the laws of the country." Ohl Bailie
Mack, is there nothing wrong amongst us—nothing that
needs redress except what is done against the laws of
the country? Are all things to be endured which an
" action of declarator in the Court of Session" cannot
remove ? What do you suppose petitions to Parliament
were intended for, Bailie Mack? Really, most respec-
table of civic dignitaries—approver of things as they are,
and conservative of your own comforts and privileges,
whatever may happen to those of others—your right-
eousness savours more of the righteousness of the law
than of that which the Gospel enjoins.

SIR ROBERT PEEL'S NEW POR-
TRAIT GALLERY AT DRAYTON MANOR.
This magnificent gallery, which has been for some
time in course of erection, is not entirely completed ;
and has recently received within its walls a large
number of valuable historical portraits, which, added
to the chefs-d'oeuvre in that line of art previously in
the possession of Sir Robert 'Peel, render the col-
lection altogether one of the most remarkable in the
kingdom.
The gallery itself is attached to the south-east angle
of the mansion, and forms a wing 100 feet long in ex-
tension of the north front, the style of architecture being
of the Elizabethan period. An arcade extends along the
three sides of the building, and this is surrounded by an
entablature with an attic' upon e hich are small
carved pinnacles, which break the outline of the building.
The exterior is further decorated by four stone statues,
somewhat larger than lee, the two towards the south
or garden front representing Rubens and Vandyke, and
the two towards the north representing Reynolds and
Lawrence. The gallery has no windows, but there is a
glazed sash door at the south-western extremity, which
leads on to a new terrace, about 160 feet long and 19 feet
wide, which is decorated with a stone balustrade, vases,

pedestals, &c. This terrace joins on to other terraces
surrounding three sides of the mansion, the whole of
which are embellished with a profusion of marble and
stone vases, &c., harmonising well with the building, and
supporting the character of its architecture.
The new gallery is entered from the south side of the
entrance corridor of the mansion, through an ante-room,
by wide folding doors of carved oak. The north end of
the gallery, which is first entered, is somewhat separated
from the main building by a spacious arch, richly or-
namented with carved oak pilasters, archivolts, pendants,
&c. Through this arch the visitor enters. The gallery
is divided into three compartments by groups of 16 mar-
ble colums and pilasters. The ceiling is deeply carved
and elaborately ornamented with the trusses, frets, pen-
dants, and panelling which characterised the Elizabethan
period. In the cove are thirty heraldic lions with
shields, bearing the initial letters of the names
of Sir Robert and Lady Peel and of their children ;
these lions are shaped as consoles supporting
the roof ; the spaces between them are panelled
with enrichments of foliage and fruit formed into
bands, the horizontal portion f the ceiling being tra-
beated and deeply panelled and ornamented with scrolls
and pendants. At the springing of the cove is an en-
riched entablature, which, with the cove and the whole
of the ceiling, is of varioas shades of oak and walnut-
tree wood. The walls are painted of a neutral greenish
colour, and the skirtings are of a ainscot. The floor is
bordered with an inlaid band, of a small pattern; con-
sisting of oak, waltnut-tree and ebony woods. The co-
lumns and pilasters above alluded to are of the Doric
order. The capitals and bases are of white veined Ita-
lian marble ; the shafts each consist of a single block of
Belgian marble, of variegated colour. The pedestals are
panelled, and composed of the same marbles. The pic •
tures are lighted from above by horizontal skylights in
the roof, so placed that every part of each picture is ad-
vantageously seen from the proper points of view.
This recent addition to the mansion has been erected
from the design of Mr. Sydney Smirke, F.S.A. It was
finished at the close of last autumn.
The subjoined is a list of the principal portraits con-
tained in the gallery :
Viscount Hardinge, by Lucas.
Sir David Wilkie, by himself.
The Right Hon. W. j. Gladstone by Lucas.
The Right Hon. Henry Goulburn, by Pickersgill.
'I he Right Hon. Sir James Graham, Bart., by Lucas.
The late Lord Abinger, by Sir Martin A. Shee, P.R.A.
The late Earl Grey, by Lonsdale. This full-length
portrait of the above statesman has been recently pur-
chased by Sir R. Peel of the widow of the artist.
The Earl of Aberdeen, by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
This picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy, in
1830, the year of Sir Thomas Lawrence's death.
Tne Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel, Bart., by Sir Thomas
Lawrence.
Lady Peel, by Sir Thomas Lawrence ; a companion
picture.
The late Sir Robert Peel, Bart., by Sir Thomas Law-
rence.

Lord Lyndhurst, by Pickersgill.
The late Sir William Follett, by Say.
The late Lord Erskine, by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Lord Brougham: a most admirable likeness of the
Noble and Learned Lord.
Sir Frederick Pollock, by Say.
The Right Hon. Sir George Canning, by Sir Thomas
Lawrence.
Lord Stowell, by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
The Czar Peter : an original of that extraordinary
potentate.
The late Right Hon. William Huskisson, by Sir
Thomas Lawrence.
The Duke of Wellington, by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
A full-length, representing the Noble and Gallant Duke
standing on a raised ground, wearing a military cloak,
and having a telescope in his hand. This portrait was
in the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1825.
The late Earl of Eldon, by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Edmund Burke, by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Judge Blackstone. This portrait of the above cele-
brated Judge was purchased by Sir Robert Peel the year
before last, at the sale at Castle Priory, the seat of Mr.
W. S. Blackstone, M.P:, near Wallingford.
Lucas. LW
Therl
The late Earl of Liverpool, by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Highness the Duke of York, by Sir
His late RoyaldliasnataPnlietty,, byby
sGaa;:sborough.
William Beechey.
Shaksßpeigrhe: laino ne
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tAe
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portrait Sir George
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the
immortal Cockburn,
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bard.
The late Lord Byron.
Southey, the poet, by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Cowley, the poet, by Sir Peter Lely.
Otway, the dramatist; thin portrait was painted by
Mary Beale, a pupil of Sir Peter Lely.
Fuseli, by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Cuvier, by Pickersgill.
Samuel Rogers, the poet, by Lucas.
MGibson,
Arthur
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ire
the
husaewr
Murphy,
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urt
portrait
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himself.
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The late Sir Francis ChantryGeddes.c kersgill.
Benjamin West, the artist.
by Jackson.
nolds.
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Professor
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fenebs
Philipes rlo y , theK Owen, m
omas Lawrence.
Bart., by Sir Martin A.
Shee.
Dr. Buckland, by T. Philips, R.A.
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chemist.
yihkef
eeospmrri
sodr dramatist,
h.b y Sir Joshua Rey.
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THREEPENNY THEATRES.—The Lord Chamberlain
has intimated to the proprietors of these theatres in
England his determination to withdraw the licence from
them unless they raise the prices of admission-6d. being
the lowest price to be taken. We believe Mr. Miller, of
the Adel*, has received a similar notice ; at the same
time stating that the rise must take place on and after
the Ist of January next.—Glasgow Herald.
UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE.—In the night of Monday
week, the 14th inst., when the frost was most intense,
deep thunder was heard in this city, and the flashes of
lightning were extremely brilliant. We observe that the
same electrical phenomenon was noted at Shrewsbury
and Welshpool on the same night and early on Tuesday
morning. At the latter place the thunder was very
near, the report rapidly succeeding the flash.—Hereford
Journal.