The Sun.
London, England, 1833-05-06 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Duchess of GLOUCESTER, the Princess AUGUSTA,
and the Princess Sothis, took an airing together yesterday
in a carriage. _

The Duke d'ORLEANs has arrived in town from the
Continent. His Royal 11;ghness, accompanied by Prince
TALLEYRAND, took an airing in a carriage yesterday, and
paid visits to the Duke of DEVONSHIRE, Earl GREY, &C.
The Duke of BRUNSWICK visited the Duchess of KENT
and the Princess VICTORIA on Saturday.
The Duke of SUSSEX visited the Princess AUGUSTA on
Saturday.
The Duchess of KENT and the Princess VICTORIA,
and their Royal Highnesses' Household, attended Divine
Service yesterday at the King's Palace at Kensington. The
Service was performed by the Dean of CHESTER.
Prince GEORGE of Cambridge, accompanied by his
Preceptor, the R. Mr. Wools, left town on Saturday,
for the Palace at Windsor.
A Cabinet Council was held at two o'clock yesterday
afternoon, at the residence of Viscount ALTitoitr, in
Downing •street, which was attended by the LORD CHAN-
CELLOR, the Marquis of LANSDOWNE, Earl of RtroN,
Earl GREY, the Duke of RICHMOND, Earl Of CARLISLE,
ViSCOUIIt MELBOURNE. Viscount PALMERSTON, Viscount
ALTHORP. the Right Hon. CHARLES GRANT, Mr. Secre-
tary STANLEY, Lord HOLLAND, Sir JAMES GRAHAM,
and Lord JOHN RUSSELL.

The Council broke up about half-past five o'clock.
A Cabinet Council was held at the residence of Vie-
count ALYHORT on Saturday afternoon, which was at-
tended by the whole of the Cabinet Ministers, who were
occupied in deliberation three hours.
A deputation of Irish distillers had au interview with
Viscount ALTHonr and Sir FRANCIS DOYLE (one of the
Commissioners of Excise), at the Treasury, on gaturday.
The Lords of his Majesty's Most Hon. Privy Council
had a meeting on Saturday morning at the Council Cham-
ber, Whitehall to hear two petitions from Jersey.—.
FRANCIS GODFRAY and PHILIP LE GALLAIS and others.
One of the appellants had been suspended from the office
of Advocate by Sir JOHN DE VEULLE.
The Lords present were, the Lord President, the Lord
Chancellor, the Master of the Rolls, the Chief Justice
of the King's Bench, Viscount MELBOURNE, and Sir L.
SHADWELL.

The Hon. \VLILIAM BATHURST was the Clerk of the
Council. Their Lordships adjourned soon after two
o'clock.
Prince TALLEYRAND and the Hanoverian Minister
visited Viscount PALMERSTON on Saturday, at theForeign-
office.
Viscount kI,TEIORP entertained a party of the Members
of the House of Commons at dinner ou Saturday, at his
residence in Downing-street. Among the company were
the Earl of KERRY. Lori NEWARK, Lord RUSSELL, Sir
ROBERT 1.) c: - -
MAN, J. W. BULLER, CAREW, CHILDERS, PHILIP
HOWARD, INGHAM, Peers, LEFEVRE, PONSONBY, RO-
BARTS, ROLFE, HENRY STANLEY, WILBRAHAM, BUL-
TEEL.

DESCRIPTION OF BRITISH SHIPS AT
THE Time OF CASATOS INVASION.--• • " Their bottoms
were fl titer thon those of the Roman vessels, that they
might be the better accommodated to tide-harbours and to
a shoal coast; and they were elevated both at the prow
and the poop, bemuse that mole of building was then
deemed best adapted to our stormy seas. They were con-
structed wholly of oak for strength ; the anchors were
secured by iron chains instead of cables ; and the sails
were made of skins and thin leather, either because the
people were not acquainted with the use of linen, or be-
cause it was erroneously supposed (and this was thought
by Cassia more likely) that no weaker material could
withstand the winds to which they were liable in these
parts. It was by disabling their rigging that he defeated
them ; and this he effscted by affixing keen bill-hooks to
long poles, and catching with these the ropes whereby
their sales were fastened to the mast ; this hold having
been caught, the Roman rowers put forth all their strength,
and when the tackling was cut the ship became unmanage-
able. Thus the Romans obtained a victory which they
knew not bow to seek by any other means; for the beaks
of their galleys could make no impression upon the strong
oak timbers of the Gauls and Britons; and, even when
they set up towers, the enemy looked down upon them
from their lofty poops, and threw their weapons with ad-
vantage. An opp inane calm enabled CASAR to complete
his success, when the ships which had saved their cordage
endeavoured to make off; and of two hundred and twenty
sail of which the allied fleet consisted, so few escaped, that
their naval force was in that action destroyed.—Southey's
Naval History of Evland.
THE INFLUENZA.—The alarmists have be-
gun to raise the most absurd and groundless apprehensions
in the public mind, on the subject of the present epidemic,
and we hear of maladies of all kinds and of all colours that
are to follow ir, but especially of the " white plague,"
which is at once the newest and most dreaded. We are
told that this visitation is to come from the east, in the
track of the influenza. Now we have received very recent
medical journals from Berlin, and we have examined those
of Paris, into which news relating to such matters is
always speedily copied, hut in neither have we been able
to find anything to justify the coming of any pestilence;
on the contrary, the only form of diseases of any consider-
able prevalence seems to he the grippe, or influenza, such
as we now have among us, and occasional cases of cholera
and dysentery. But again, we are told that the records of
past epidemics show that visitations of plague and other
malignant diseases have been gensrally preceded by in-
fluenza. We take leave to deny this. Influenza, exactly
such as the present, has been known almost as long as we
have any medical records ; it was particularly prevalent in
the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, hut was scarcely
heard of in the sixteenth ; thus it has traversed Europe in
1510, 1557: 1564, 1580, and 1591: then we lose it
011675. bnt nave it again in 1709, 1732.3, 1743,
1'762. 1767, 1775,
and 1781-2. Now a reference to the
chronology of other epidemic visitations will show
that no such proximity existed between them and
the above, as to admit of their Using looked upon either
as cause and effect, or in any other light which would
lead us to apprehend that the appearance of the one is
likely to be followed by that of the other; indeed, the
17th century (in the course of which influenza appeared
only once) was remarkable not only for the " great
plague" of London, but for three other of the most for-
midable epidemics ever witnessed in this country. As to
the rest, so far as regards the metropolis, the influenza has
been " plague" enough, without looking for another ; it
has been a hundred-fold more prevalent than cholera was,
and we are inclined to believe has proved fatal within the
last fortnight
disease carried off in London within an equal period.
to a greater number of persons than that
Certainly this holds good with respect to the upper and
middle classes of society, among whom a large number of
aged persons have fallen victims to it. The increased
mortality of the metropolis during the present epidemic, is
strikingly exemplified by the weekly accounts of the
burials ; that
ending April 16, exhibits an increase over
the preceding of 266 ; that ending April 23, anothi r
increase upon the above of 209 ; that of May 1, a farther
increase of 165—making the entire increase in the number
of funerals last week equal to 610, and this, too, within
the limits of the bills of mortality. The epidemic is now,
however, rlpidly
on the decline, though a considerable
number of relapses have occurred, and many continue to
linger under its effeete,..—Medical Gazette.