The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-29 00:00:00

THE GREAT EXHIBITION.

yesterday 3,1941. 13s. was taken at the doors, and
67,170 persons entered the building. Of these a very
large party came from the town and neighbourhood of
Reading.
The eclipse of the sun which took place yesterday
seems to have inspired the Executive Committee with
formidable apprehensions of the diminution of light
which was likely to take place in consequence. From
an impression that the 67,000 visitors who flocked there
would have to grope their way through a darkness
hardly visible, they had all the gas lumps in the interior
put in requisition. Some amusement was caused by this
excessive, amount of precaution fur a great transparency
like Mr. Paxton's palace of glass.
The South-Eastern Railway brought up a special train
from Reading, enaged by Messrs. Barrett, Exall, and
Andrews, engineers, of the Katesgrove Iron-works, con-
taining about 1,200 persons. Upwards of 230 of these
were the clerks, workmen, and boys employed by that
firm, each of whom had been presented with a free ticket
to convey them to the Great Exhibition. They were
brought by steam-boats from the terminus to West-
minster-bridge, where they formed into procession, and,
headed by a band of music and banners, marched to the
Exhibition, singing in chorus some spirite,d, and appro-
priate verses, entitled " The Working Man, the words
of which were written, and the music arranged, by one
of themselves. The party will again visit the exhibition
to-morrow, as will also a body of 2,000 persons from
Woolwich.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—I so cordially agree with the remarks of a
"Legitimate Railway Invester, contained in a letter
published in The Sun of July 24, that I beg to add my
testimony to the advantages derived by railway proprie.
tors from your well-timed advice, not to sacrifice their
property to the Bears, justly so called. Like your cor-
respondent, I have invested a portion of my property in
railways, amongst others in Midlands, and I feel the
greatest confidence that the present depression in these
shares arises from temporary causes only—the usual
traffic on that important lino being diverted; the fact
being, that excepting to London there is very little
traffic, nearly the whole setting in one current, to the
neglect of the lateral traffic. This will, however, soon
cease, and we shall see Midlands 201. to '25/. per share
higher than they are at the present time. If the Bears
fail to alarm the timid holders, their trade is gone.

Your obedient servant,
HABIUS CUNCTATOR.

July 26, 1851.

RIVAL STEAM-BOATS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—A statement having appeared in your journal of
July 19, respecting a new steam-vessel, called the
Tourist, in which it is said that she has " beaten the
Jupiter (belonging to this company), hitherto consi-
dered the fastest boat on the Thames," I am requested,
through the medium of your columns, to deny that the
Jupiter has ever been beaten in speed by any vessel,
and that, to set at rest any doubt on this head, the pro-
prietors of the Jupiter are ready, on any day that may
be agreed upon between themselves and the propriotors
of the Tourist, to try their comparative speed by run-
ning either from Brunswick-wharf or from Gravesend
round the Nore-light and back.
Your early insertion of the above will oblige,
Yours, obediently,
W. DOBSON, Secretary.
Star-office, Gravesend, July 24.

LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH-COAST

RAILWAY.
Traffic—Week ending July '26, 1851 ... £13,866 19
12,503 16
Traffic —Week ending July 27, 1850 •-•
53,564 13
Total of the half-year, to this date, 1851 ...
Total of the half-year, to this date, 1850
Week en 47,855
... 47,855 0
Total number of Passengers 89,431
89,431
Passengers .••
..l. X
26,.1.f 11,331 1 11
.351 ...
... ... 2,535 17 6

diftlo3, '81686501,91751 14 .
Goods
•July -8, 1851.
London Terminus,
Total miles open,
SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.
T0a118.5.0.1,
17.a.14 ;
Gross tragic receipts for passengers
and goods, week ending July 26,
1831 ... ....420,014 6 6
Ditto, July 27, 1850 ... ... 15,010 4 7

Increase in 1851 £5,004 1 11
London Terminus, July 26, 1851.

LITERATURE.
A LITTLE EARNEST BOOK. By William
Wilson. Barton and Company.
Several circumstances have caused us to look with
no ordinary complacency upon this charming little
effusion. It is on a favourite subject, namely, on
Poets and Poetry. It is written throughout in a mood
of graceful and modest appreciation of all that is -
really beautiful. It is in itself, moreover, an agree-_,
able blending of prose and versification. Added to all
which considerations, it is illustrated with some choice
tailpieces by Kenny Meadows, and some exquisite
wood engravings by Alfred Crowquill ; while the
entire volume is rendered yet more attractive by the
circumstance that it is dedicated by permission to Sir
'Edward Bulwer Lytton, one of the most illustrious
authors in the whole range of our national lite-
rature. Speaking of the last-mentioned cir-
cumstance in his preface, Mr. Wilson re-
marks very emphatically, that "he ventures,, with
especial pride, to call the attention of his readers to
the dedication, for he considers himself honoured by
the permission kindly and delicately granted to in-
scribe this little book to the greatest of our living
authors," adding gracefully enough—" Great names
with hallow song." It will be difficult for even the
most cursory reader of the work bef,)re us to deny
the intelligence of its author, sprinkled as every page
is with so many evidences of his eclectic taste, and
with so many proofs of the originality of the fruits
of his meditation. In one part of the very opening
chapter it is observed by him very finely, that "God
always utters his eternal truths in poetry throughout
His Book." As a definition of poetry itself we find
it called a little further on epigrammatically, but no
less truly, The Beautiful. "Poetry,' says the writer,
may be termed The Beautiful, as that is the source,
or fountain, of all true and living poetry—the ,t
palpably and ideally beautiful—the beautiful in 7.
thought and in action." Further on he exclaims, in
beholding the smile of
a tone of enthusiasm,
Nature - to.,
"GTOhDe
iPnoneattiusree.v”er
Of
fspired by ,
he speaks also in terms of befitting admiration. "All
nature," he says, " is a beautiful and wonderful poem,
and the imagination to which it gives wings is above
and beyond reason. ' Yet beautiful and wonderful
though the poem of nature is to his comprehension, he
is forced, immediately after that declaration, to Be-
knowledge thet "the mightiest poem in creation is
man." His reflections upon this subject flood his
whole soul with an exquisite and all-embracing hu-
manity, insomuch that he avows with some solemnity
that even in regard to those who are apparently the
most vitiated and debased, "Not to recognise the
Divine in the human is not to know God." It is nobly
and accurately proclaimed in another chapter that "the
true poet is ever the advocate of freedom," a fact exem-
plified in a thousand instances from the idylls of
Theocritus to the songs of Longfellow. Everywhere,
in the loftiest and the lowliest
places alike, our author
finds some object with which to sympathize, some
theme capable of exciting his enthusiasm. On the
mountain top, under the shadow of a tree, by the
margin of a stream, leaning against a country stile,
wandering along the sea shore, he discovers new
sources of delight, and new causes for the outpouring
of his admiration. Occasionally his otherwise lucid
and scholarly diction may be blurred with some
awkward coinage, as where (p. 57) he speaks of
Shakspere's " aloneness?' Sometimes, again, as in
the very title of his volume—" A Little Earnest
Book upon a Great Old Subject"—he is guilty of
somewhat reprehensible affectation. But altogether
the work under notice is so evidently the utterance of
sincerity, that it is impossible not to be charmed by
its simplicity both of manner and expression. As ex-
amples of Mr. Wilson's rhythmical ability, we may
give the sonnets addressed by him respectively to
Shakspere and to Bulwer Lytton :

SONNET TO SHAKSPERE.

Mighty upraiser of the heart of man!
A stream of thought and fancy clear he winds,
Through feeling, gaining mastery o'er all minds;
Guiding and ruling as no other can.
Well may we deem that thou art God-inspired—
Great Nature is the plaything of' thy choice,
. .

The Beautiful speaki in thine every voice,
The light of thy great mind the Globe has fired.
Our own dear Shakspere! Poet of the World!
We should do all to use thee for our good,—
Spread through all lands thy wondrous mental food—
Whose power shall cease not 'till Time's wing be furled.
Most comprehensive soul of any clime;
Subjector of the Universe, and Time!