The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-25 00:00:00

A PLAGUE OF FOG.

Aristophanes, when he put a certain invocation into
the mouth of Socrates, must have been under the influ-
ence of some such meteorological conditions as those to
which, for several weeks past, New York has been sub-
jected. In the " leafy month of June" we might, with-
out over-sanguine anticipations, have looked for a fine
day or two ; but we have thus far been treated to little
more than " a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours."
The protracted fog and the never-ending drizzle are teach-
ing us, in a word, what it is customary to regard as at
once the main English incentive to ennui and excuse for
•
suicide Aristophanes makes even the clouds themselves so
' exasperated with the dull, encircling mists, that they pro-
pose to scatter and dissolve them, to the end that
they may " shew themselves to the earth in their immor-
tal beauty." The Greek satirist may have been a little
uncertain in his science, but he had a just conception of
the effect of fogs and mist upon the spirits and temper of
mankind. These are elastic, as he knew, and, with an
occasional relief from pressure, return with ease to their
normal cheerfulness. But when, as of late on our Atlantic
seaboard, days and weeks follow each other enlivened by
the scantiest and most transient gleams of sunshine, and
bestowing as staple weather a succession of dismal fogs,
relieved by steady down-pour, Aristophanes may have
doubted, as we do, whether there might not be limits to.
human endurance. There is a melancholy conso-
lation in reflecting that others have • passed
through worse vicsisitudes than those which have
lately disturbed ourselves. In London one .expects to
hear of dense fogs as matters of course, so that accounts
of extraordinary phenomena of the sort that reach us, as
occuring in that city, excite little wonder or attention.
But even in beautiful Paris such things now and then
have been. An old journal of the reign of Henry 111.,
published in French, says that "on Sunday the 24th of
January, 1588, there rose over the City of Paris and its
environs so dense a fog, lasting from noon until the next
day, as never was seen before within the memory of man.
It was so black and thick that two persons walking
together in the street could not see each
other, and were compelled to provide them-
selves with torches, in order to recognize
one another, when it was not yet three
o'clock. Very many wild geese, and other flying
creatures of the air, were found where they had fallen
bewildered in the courtyards of the houses, having dashed
themselves against the buildings and the chimneys." This
was nothing, however, to the great fog of 1783, which
spread all over Europe, and lasted for something like two
months ; or to the fogs at Lima, which are said to have
lasted in some instances for half a year. In the latter
city, however, it seldom or never rains, so that the fog, by
moistening the soil and preserving the freshness of the
vegetation, is a blessing, and not an unmitigated
annoyance. Some philosophers tell us that we
ought to find comfort in our recent affliction,
in the probability that it is caused by the
Gulf Stream, which, by being deflected nearer
and nearer to the American coast, is gradually altering
the climate, and making it mild and soft, like that of the
south-western counties of England. But those who have
been off Newfoundland will have an uneasy apprehension
that the climate of that damp locality, rather than of
Torquay 'or Bournemouth, is what such a change would
bring us ; and certainly late experience gives colour to
the fear. The theory that we are indebted for our obsti-
nate visitor to the proximity of icebergs is plausible
enough in a scientific sense, although not corroborated by
incoming ships. In either case, the grounds for con-
gratulations are slight, since on both hypotheses we can
only look to be made uncomfortable without any
visible corresponding advantage. A third possible
cause is even less agreeable to contemplate. We
know that the phenomenon is produced by the meeting of
two currents of air of unequal temperature. It is con-
ceivable, then, if not probable, that by some as yet mys-
terious process, two such currents have established a con-
stant friction in the neighbourhood, so' that our atmos-
phere may be reduced to a state of chronic murkiness, and
fogs be with us much more frequently than we have been
accustomed to see them heretofore. Lieutenant De Haven,
of the United States Navy, during his expedition in search
of Sir John Franklin, saw, we are told, what appeared a
similar instance. At the northern extremity of Welling-
ton Channel he beheld a dense fog-bank, motionless and
suspendedin the air—a " water- sky, " rising above the Polar
Sea discovered by Dr. Kane in 1854. Very much such a sky
seems of late to have hovered over New York, and we can
only still'cling to the hope that we shall get rid of it be-
for the Fall season fairly sets in. The French always
associate London with melancholy vapours, and the weep-
ing sky typifies for them the conventional gloom of the
English character. When the choice drama of "Jack
Sheppard " was adapted and brought out at the Porte St.
Martin—the principal scenes being in the London streets
—it was christened Les Chevaliers de la Brouillard "

" The Knights of the Fog "—and dun-coloured gauzes
were stretched across the stage to give proper effect to the
action. If the atmosphere of New York does not quickly
change for the better, we shall eventually eclipse the well-
won reputation of London, and usurp in the estimation of
the lively Gaul the place she has hitherto occupied. The
capital of perfidious Albion will no longer be to his mind
the synonym of sadness and weariness of spirit—the dis-
tinction will be fairly wrested away by the foggy triumphs
of Manhattan.—New York Times.

NEW IDEAS IN OLD VIRGINNY.—The times change
and the men change with them. What would the men
of Virginia. who grew to greatness on her rich tobacco
crops in the old days, say to the sight of the people of the
old State huckstering for the Northern market on straw-
berries and green peas ? They would have thought it a
small business and beneath the Virginia dignity. Strange
are the ideas of dignity. Why is it more dignified to
cater for one appetite than for another—why nobler to
fill the old clay pipe than the dainty china dishes that set
off the rare piece of colour combined of strawberries and
cream ? Now this answer of the supposed old Virginia
gentlemen would only chew once more-what a set of old
fools made up their generation ; for after all their dignity
was according to their account at the bankers' ; and a
man with a hundred acres in strawberries and green peas
will make more money than the old farmers did with five
hundred acres in tobacco.—New York Herald.

" LOTHAIR ' AND MR. GOLD %UN SMITH.
The Nation very naturally comes to the assistance of
Mr. Goldwin Smith. It condemns " Lothair "as a trashy
novel, and makes a point of overlooking the wit, the
knowledge of the world, and the keen observations on
social and political affairs, with which the book is literally
crammed. The wonderful sketches of character are ne-
cessarily only an odious feature in the work, since they
include a portrait, as Mr. Goldwin Stnith is pleased to
assert, of Mr. Goldwin Smith himself. The Nation refers
to Mr. Disraeli's satire as " praise in disguise "—disguised
so thoroughly that it even deceived Mr. Goldwin Smith,
and led him to write a letter such as a quarrelsome school-
boy might be ashamed of in his cooler moments. Why
should Mr. Smith have resented " praise in disguise ?"
Why abuse the writer who praised him ? Either the
Nation or Mr. Smith must be wrong—and it would be
strange if there really were any difference of opinion be-
tween these authorities.—New York Times.