The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-05 00:00:00

SOUTH-EASTERN, RAILWAY‘

With respect to the effect of the advance of fares on
this railway, the Dover Chronicle has the fol ov.ing
statement :—" On the Ist of September the South-
Eastern Company raised their pssenger fares—say, at
an average, 20 per cent. This advance, it was no doubt
calculated by the directors, would increase their returns
in a corresponding ratio. What has been the result of
their extortion ? The returns for passengers, for the
week ending August the 29th—the last week of the low
fares, showed 9,098/. ; while the week ending the 19th
of Septeinber, when the high fares may be said to have
come into full operation (both weeks being on a par as
to the travelling season), the returns for passengers had
fallen to 8,768/. ! It is true that for the first week of the
rise; and before the public were aware of it till they
reached the pay. table, there was an increase in the re-
turn for passengers of some 5001. over the preceding week;
but after that, the returns steadily declined ; thus prov-
ing the great fact' that low fares are the most profit-
able after all.

" With the Soath-Eastern increase of fares, not only
has a decrease of passengers taken place; but many of
those passengers who were wont to travel in first-class
carriages now travel by the second, while former second-
class passengers now go in third-class carriages. Our
steamers to and from London now carry large freights;
and many of the most respectable families, who, but for
the unwarrantable increase of fares, would have travelled
by rail, now go by steam, while coache' and omnibuses up
the old road are now daily filled from the same cause.'

NAUTICAL FACTS.—A writer in the New Quar-
terly Review states that the average number of wrecks
of British merchant ships a year is 600 1 The average
sum lost above two millions and a half sterling ! The
average' of lives lost, the lamentable number of 1,560 ;
but the wrecks of fifteen out of every twenty are attri-
buted to some incompetency or other on the part of the
master.
PRESENT TO THE KING OF THE Fessrm.—We
have had the pleasure of seeing a copy of the National
Atlas, splendidly bound in green morocco, and decorated
with the royal insignia, which is to be presented by the
Lord Provost of Glasgow to the King of the French, in
grateful consideration of the honour paid by his Majesty
to the city of Glasgow, in the person of the Lord
Provost, on the occasion of the late visit of his Lordship
to Paris.—Glasgow Citizen.
MONSTER PUMPKIN.—There is now growing in
the garden of Mrs. Noake, at the Old Bush Inn, Wom-
bourn, a pumpkin measuring in circumference 5 feet
2 inches, and estimated by competent judges to weigh
upwards of 801bs. This vegetable monster was reared
from seed obtained from Mr. Lowe, seedsman, of this
town, and grown in the open ground without forcing.—
Wolverhampton Chronicle.
EXTRAORDINARY I3ATCH or WHITING. —On
Thursday afternoon, as one of our fishermen, named
Mitchell, was drawing with a seine net in Seaford for
mullet, smelts, and other small fish, -lie observed a spec-
tacle which our oldest fishermen declared to be unpre-
cedented, namely, large shoals of whiting skimming,
or, as our fishermen call it, " scoling " along the surface
of the water after the manner of mackerel and pilchers.
He succeeded in netting 72 score, which were brought
in yesterday morning, and fetched from 3s. to ss. a score.
Whiting are generally taken with the hook and lie at
the bottom of the water. Our fishermen look upon the
circumstance of their coming to the surface is such large
quantities as an extraordinary fact in the history of
fishing.—Brighton Herald.
lilr. George Wilson, late chairman of the Anti-
Corn Law League, has lately been made one of the di-
rectors of the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company.
Report states, and we have no doubt it is correct, that
the post of general manager has been .offered to Mr.
Wilson, with a most handsome salary. This onerous
post, with its salary, Mr. Wilson has, it is understood,
declined.—Leeds Mercury.
The merchants and manufacturers of Blackburn
engaged in the India trade met together last week to
consider the effect of the East India Company's sal: mo-
nopoly on British interests. Mr. D. G. Aylsviti, of the
house of Aylwin and Co., of Calcutta (author of a
pamphlet on the Indian salt monopoly), and Mr. Stoc-
queler, honorary secretary of the salt trade in this
country, attended, and- made some instructive state-
ments on the subject in hand. Resolutions were payed,
condemning the monopoly, and pledging the meeting to
efforts for its removal.—Leeds Mercury.
THE COBBLER'S LAST STALL.—A cobbler, with
his wife and family, have lately installed themselves
1 within the hulk of an old steamer which plied, not long
since, between Liverpool and New Brighton Fern. The
hulk is situated on the sands between Tranmere and Rock
Ferry. It seems this novel specimenof a cobbler's stall is
a regular " stall-off," adopted for the especial purpose of
avoiding the paymeut of parish -rates and other taxes
which the cobbler, as the year waxed on, had found to
wax most disagreeably burdensome, and to bear bim
down altogether; so at last he quitted the land, with its
swamping parishs, and has resolved to see if he cannot
now make a more successful attempt at keeping " afloat"
on the water.—Liverpool Times.
DEATH OF THE BARON DE BODE.—The Baron de
Bode, whose claims on the British Government to a sum
of money, amounting to nearly a million, have so long
been before the public, died on Friday evening, at ten
minutes past nine o'clock, at his residence, Is, Grove-
end-road, St. John's Wood. The death of the Baron,
.was quite sudden, After taking a glass of water. he
:was observed to look pale and be tremulous, and in a
.few moments more fell down and instantly expired.
He had been complaining of illness for nine or ten days
previously, brought on, it was supposed by his family,
by mental anxiety in connexion with the further hearing
of his case, which is appointed for next month ; but the
illness was not at any time deemed such as to cause
any anxiety, and he had so far recovered on the day
previous to his death, that his medical adviser suggested
:to bim the propriety of taking an airing in the carriage.
The Baron was in his seventieth year. ' Though his
means were comparatively limited, he kept two car-
riages and several servants. He has left three sons, the
eldest of whom has been abroad for some time, bat is
on his way home, Their ages vary from twenty to
thirty. The relatives of the Baron ascribe his death
to the anxiety of mind consequent on the continued
prosecution of his claims.
THE HISTORY OF MARY ANNE WELLINGTON, THE
SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER, WIFE, AND WIDOW, by the Rev.
R. Cobbold, author of '. The History of Margaret
Catchpole," is just published, and at a time when so
much attention has been directed to the soldier's con-
dition, nothing can be more seasonable than the ap
pearanee of such a work, which affords, from the best
authority, the fullest information respecting his career,
from his enlistment to his discharge. Besides posses-
sing the advantaoi of being a faithful narrative of
events taken from the lips of the individual whose
stirring adventures it records, and who still survives, the
story of Mary Anne Wellington will be found to be one
of such sterling interest as must make her claims as a
heroine fsr superior to those of any imaginary one.
We may, therefore, confidently predict for the book a
popularity as extensive as that of " Margaret Catch-
pole." The work is dedicated, by express permission, to
her Majesty the Queen Dowager, who (as well as the
Duke of Wellington), has been, we understand, a most
generous benefactor to the heroine.
WENT orr HALE-SHAVED.—An amusing incident
occurred in one of the barber's saloons yesterday. A
foreigner had been in the occasional habit. of calling to
get shaved, though at distant intery ils of time, hut often
enough to make himself known and appreciated. It
seems that he always made as an excuse for not p tying,
that his money was at the railroad. when he would step
out with the pretence of going after it. but did not
make his appearance until six weeks or two months after,
when he came back an entire stranger, with a he •vy
black beard, in order to be shaved. Yesterday. being
duly enconsed in the high-back chair and well latnt-re.l.
the barber-wag proceeded to • the operation, and Wing
shaved just one-half his face, chin, &c., thus addressed
him :—" Stranger, have you got any money to spare
this morning ?" Somewhat surprised, the stranger re-
' plied, " I have three cents., but I am going up to the
railroad, and I will hand you the balance directly." The
barber coolly wiped off the soap, and replied. " Phase to
go now, and I will shave the other three cents. north
when you return." With a shower of oaths, breathing
vengeance and the law, the stranger "sloped," present-
ing a grotesque appearance, one side of his face lc:Ade
black and the other white. He has not made his appear-
ance since. —Springfield Gazette.
CONVICTION or A GAMING.-HOUSE KREPHR.—
NRWCASTLE•ON-TYNE, THURSDAY.—The police of this
town have recently ascertained that a gambling-house
has been open, d in Grainger-street, one of the principal
thoroughfares, and that considerable sums were lost at
rouge et noir, French hazard, and chicken hazard. The
keeper of the house was said to be well
.kmiwn on ihe
turf, and a resident in London; and the whole arrange-
ments have been made on a scale much more expensive
than has usually prevailed out of the metropolis. The
authorities being desired to suppress the nuisance, about
midnight last night two policemen, ire plain clothes, con-
trived to obtain admittance. The porter, however, re-
cognised them, and endeavoured to stop their progress,
but without success. They rushed up stairs, and found
a number of persons playing at hazard, with heaps of
gold and silver before them, and dice, counters, &C.,
strewed about the room. The surprise occasioned a good
deal of alarm to the gamblers, who ran about the house
in great confusion, and endeavoured to bide themselves,
but unavailingly, as the names and addresses 'of the
whole were secured. This morning Benjamin Hunt—so
the keeper of the house called himself—was brought be-
fore the borough magistrates, and was fined 27/., which
he paid. The other delinquents will probably be suffered
to escape. Their names have not been allowed to trans-
pire.
VESTRY MEETING EXTRAORDINARY.—On Thurs-
day last, a meeting was called in the vestry room. of
West Teignmonth, for the purpii:e of granting a new
church rate, and other business. The parishioners. who
were present at 11 o'clock, commenced bti4int-sg by call-
ing Mr. Field to the chair. A twopenny rate wag pro
posed, passed, and entered. just as the absentees !up
seoted themselves, who were rout•ti antntyed by the to
"'•
mess of the rate, tt bong much I e:e. triun usual. 'l' he
next proposition was, that the beadles be disrni,setl, as
owing to the decreased eongregatien, they are no longer
in requisition. This also passed ; it being agreed that
their salaries should he paid to the texten. whose salary
is his whole dependance, his fei s being almost gone,
through the incumbent's proceedings, and as he is get-
ting old in the service of the church, the parishioners
have thus testified their approbation of his conduct. It
will also be recollected, that the incumbent th.eiebt
proper to displace the clerk from his twat p,siti,ai in
the church, some few months since. in dircet of p•:s tion
to the feelings of the perishinto N. A resoluti•ei wa,
therefore proposed, that the clerk should look to the in-
cumbent for his salary, being his serva-it, and not the
servant of the par, ; although the vestry eolisid red
that they seer' fully" justifi ,d in following this course.
yet, as the clerk we, an 01,1 end faithful servant et the
parish, they agreed, dissenters as well as chu. rchmtn? to
- o)ntinue his salary. -
.•

MAGAZINES-(CONTINUED).
HOOD.

" Ignez do Castro" is brought to a conclusion
and, though a drama of singular inequality, is, never-
thele,s, a very clever performance. The author has
transported his whole soul back many centuries, and,
with the intuitive faculty of a poet, discriminated
characters whose bodies have long since crumbled
into dull clay. There is always a marvellous fascina-
tion in reading any work of an historic° romantic
cast, whether it be a novel, a drama, or what-not;
and that fascination is in beholding revived to us
hearts that have years upon years before ceased
to beat, and features that have dwindled into
dust. To discern the possible causes of
some striking incident recorded in history,
to scrutinise in the cabinet some personage with
whom we are only familiar as the occupant of a
throne, the champion of a populace, the captain of an
army, or the counsellor of a Parliament, and to watch
the household movements of those hitherto only dis-
played to us in their public capacity, constitute the
principal charms of historical romance, and in a
manner elevate it above all other species of imagina-
tive composition. In selecting this style of pen-
craft, however, a writer entails upon himself a
heavy responsibility; he renders himself accountable
for all the misapprehensions of facts formed by his
reader; the memoirs of the past great and good are
committed in a measure to his care; he may become
at pleasure the moral assassin or the apotheosist of
some illustrious name. The dead and living alike
look to him for an honest narration of occurrences,
and a candid exposition of bygone humanity.
Unless an historical romancer be armed with
the panoply of impartiality, he degenerates into
a garbling gossip ; and unless that impartiality
be again tempered by intrepidity and self-con-
fidence, the author sinks under the burden of
his self-imposed responsibility. Mr. Jones has
clad himself with this armour of impartiality, and
animated himself with this courage. In this respect
his tragedy is singularly successful. We are grati-
fied to observe that " Ignez de Castro " is about to
be republished separately. " A Word with Dr.
Johnson " is a most audacious assault upon the
judgment of the monster critic,- Samuel Johnson ; and
that, too, on his monster criticism, William Shak-
spere. The impeachment, however, thus ventured
upon is one sustained by its own inherent
ju.stict. There are no plausibilities about
the arguments employed against the great
Doctor; but simple hom.-truths. Nor is this paper
a mere castigation of a blundering criticism—it is a
splendid panegyric upon the greatest poet the world
ever saw; and, -according to the German enthusiasts,
the greatest poet the world ever will see! We com-
mend those who are blessed with a curiosity in litera-
ture (we don't mean one a ti Disraeli) to peruse this
~ Word with Dr. Johnson," commenced in the two
i preceding numbers of Hood's .11agazine, and con-
leluded in the number far Oct ,her. "Blanche Neville"
and " Nell Gwvnne" are continued, and the plot
of each gets more and more, delightfully entangled.
The residue of this periodical is dedicated to certain
unset jewels, some of which, however, turn out, on
investigation, to be mere glass and tinfoil. Never-
theless there are some excellencies among these frag-
ments, as, for example, the three " Sonnets for the
Times," addressed to the Champions of Civil and
Religious Liberty. We observe tiat this author has a
most lamentable facility, month after month, of mur-
dering his admirable Rural Sonnets by alterations,
which we regard a 3 anything but improvements.
" Let well alone" is a sensible maxim.