The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING-, MARCH 13, lB5l.

fJ4 clividod, at a time when unanimity of feeling ought

Th..! Frontier Times, of Jan. 21, says :
S>nce the defeat and death of the traitor Hertnanus, nt
Fort Beaufort, on the morning of the 7th inst., there has
been no agvressive movement on the part of the enemy,
either in British Kaffraria, or within the limits of the
colony. His Excellency, it is well understood, is con-
centrating as large a force as he can muster at head
quarters, to assail the enemy. In the mean time, the
Kafirs, it is supposed, arc closely watching his proceed-
' ings, and will probably make a desperate effort to inter-
cept the supplies, which must in a short time be sent to
the two posts, Fort Cox and Fort White, with which all
communication have been cut off for some weeks. If
they should be unsuccessful in this attempt, and his Ex-
cellency should be sufficiently reinforced to be able to
follow up any success by vigorous severity, they will in
all probability overrun the colony. Their first rush will
be tremendous, and will be withstood only by the most
populous towns and the largest fortified camps. Look-
ing, then, to this obvious probability, it is earnestly
and anxiously recommended that all the small lagers
that may exist throughout the country should be at once
abandoned, and that all preparations be cotnplet id with-
out delay in every town and village to repel the enemy,
fur in the precent state of affairs, no man residing in any
of the border districts can count upon his safety for a
single day.
The Cape of Good Hope Observer, of Jan. 28,
says :
The intelligence from Kafirland is that the Governor
would move, it was supposed, yesterday morning, upon
an encampment of the Kafirs on the Debe Flats, between
Fort Cox and Fort White. It is trusted by all that the
Kafirs will here attempt a decided stand. The desultory
operations of last war were the strength of the enemy.
They scarcely once offered our troops a hope of entering
into fair contest with them. Wearisome marches and
counter-marches, with the position of our nimble-footed
enemy very often unknown to us, were the character-
istics of the contest. The Prophet has so far worked
upon their hopes this time, that Hermanus and his
people had the boldness to attack oven the town of Fort
Beaufort, avid they happily met with a fit repulse. He
has, it is said, held out hopes to them of successfully en.
countering the troops on the open field—a proceeding in
which the military power of the civilised man, when
opposed to that of the savage, will not fail to assert its
superiority.
The prospect, thus, of some effective proceedings
against the Kafirs appears nearer. The speedy arrival
of the volunteers sent from the west had much encou-
raged his Excellency, and they would form probably a
part of the force with which Sir H. Smith would proceed.
The movement, it is stated, was of the greater import-
ance, as it would convey relief and the means of com-
munication to Forts Cox and White.
A letter from Graham's Town, of which an extract is
published below, speaks very despondiegly of the ex-
tent of the disaffection attributed to the float ntota
The people et the station cf Theopolis are said, it is
feared upon unexceptional authority, to be disaffscted to
the English, and to be engaged in some conspiracy
against them. The number of persons at this station is
not large, certainly, but each addition is painful that is
made to the distrust which exists between the several
portions of the community in the cast.
From rat River reports arc more favourable. The
Frontier Times states that 400 Hottentots are in camp
at Buxton, under Field-Cornet Botha, and 300 are at
Fort Armstrong. Or the loyalty of these no suspicion
is mentioned, a circumstance in the highest degree en-
couraging. Field-Cornet Botha is the officer named in
his Excetieney's recent proclamation, commented upon
last week.
Some particulars of the proceedings at Theopolis are
given (rein the Frontier Times.
The employment of the press-gang at Graham's
Town for the compulsory s,rvice of coloured persons
only, is a most unfortunate business. There can be no
doubt that on the coloured people at this time, within the
border depends much of the safety of the colony. Some
fears are entertained of their faithfulness, exaggerated
perhaps, but yet having at least a measure of Lan:ta-
ttoo. Hence the present is not a time, if any time may
be permitted for the purpose, to make any improper dis-
tinctions between the races, or to tempt them to view
the whites otherwise than as friends and equals.
It will be seen that there are references above,
which want of papers preclude our rendering clear.
The latest intelligence received from the interior
districts is to January 22, but supplies nothing of
importance to add to the foregoing.
Arrangements had been made further to facilitate
and induce the ear dment of volunteers.

The Governor had appoi❑ted Friday, February 7,
as a day of fasting and humiliation, in consequence of
the wan—Daily News.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
SLOUGH STEEPLE CHASES.
WEDNESDAY.

Free Handicap SteepiCchc;;;;:of 5 sous. each, with 20
added; the winner to ray 5 sov!:. towards expensei.

About 4 miles.
Mr. Vevers's Volatile, aged, 9;t 10Ib ...(Sadler) 1
Captain Fraser's Kilkenny, aged, 10;t 101b...(Frisby) 2
Mr. IL Thomas's llensburgh, lOst 51b... (Sail) 3
Betting-5 to 4 agst Kilkenny, 2to 1 agst Rens-
burgh, 4 to 1 agst Volatile, and 5 to 1 apt The Hunter.
Won ly six lengths, and about the same distance be.
t acen second and third. The others did cot pass
the post.
A Selling Race of 3 sow. each, with 20 added. the win.
nr to say 3 cove. towards expenses. About 4 miles.
Mr. J. Darby's Cowslip, lOst 71b ...(S,yfort) 1
Mc. G. Gray's Outcast, 1 Ist (Land) 2
Mr. Smith's Tamworth, lOst 71b•
(Burrows) 3
Farmers' Stakes of 1 soy. each, with LO added; I Ist 71b
each; winner and professional jockies extra. About

3 miles.
Mr. Shu Ale's Chronometer, 12st 31b... ...(Rackley) 1
Betting—Even on Widow M'Crea. Won in a canter,
the othcqs having gone the wrong course.
DONCASTER SPRING MEETING, 1851. _

The following is a list of the horses that have arrived
for t';e ensuing races:—
* Mr. Cunningham's ch g Quadruped, aged; *:slr. El-
more': b g' Mulligan, aged; Mr. J. H. Kemp's br g
Hope, aged; *Mr. J. Darling's b h Bedford, 5 yrs; Mr.
Atkinson's Chieftain, 5 yrs; *Mr. Walker's b g Cadeby,
aged; *Mr. Higgins's b m Maria Day, aged; Mr. Jamie-
son's b f Merriment, 2 yrs; Mr. H. Stebbing'a b c Knook
Knoll, 3 yrs; Mr. H. Stebbing's br f by Ithuriel out of
Miss Norton, 2 yrs; Mr. H. Stebbing's b c Guardsman,
3 yrs; Mr. Farrar's bl c Viscount, 5 yrs; Mr. G. Bar-
ton's b f The Little Fawn, 3 yrs; Mr. G. Barton's bl f
Madame Wharton, 3 yrs; Mr. Allen's ch c The Saxon,
3 yrs; Mr. Jones's ch c by Faugh-a-ballagh, dam by
Liverpool, 3 yrs; Mr. Lister's b m The Wharfdale Maid,
aged; Mr. Foster's ch m Nanny, aged; Mr. Phillips's
b g aged; Mr. Wiley's br f Eliza Middleton, 4
yrs; Mr. Eddison's h c Slang, 4 yrs; Mr. W. Wright's
b f Miss Flyaway, 3 yrs; Mr. B. Eddison's ch c by
John o' Gaunt out of John Cosser's dam, 3 yrs; Mr. T.
Lister's br f Nsncy, 3 yrs; Mr. Armstrong's b c Har-
leiton, 5 yrs; Mr. T. Lister's Lady of the Grove, 3 yrs;
Mr. Lawson's b h aged. (Those to which an
ssteriLk is prefixed are engaged in the steeplecase.)
Boxes are also engaged for Lord Eglintou's Belus and
Pepinia, Mr. Dawson's Old Claret and Reversion, Mr.
Stotas br h Witchcraft, Mr. Hutton's Psycho and Dame
Tattle, Mr. Gardner's Little Queen, Mr. Osborne's Abd-
el-Kader, Mr. Lamplugh's standard and The Wild
Hero; and numerous others from John Scott's, Wad-
low's, Osborne's, John Shepherd's, C. peck's, J.
Dawson's, &c.

PEDESTRIANISM AT THE REDHOUSE.
Battersea was on Monday the scene of an unexampled
occurrence in pedestrianism. Dead heats for sellingers
have been threefold, and for most of the minor turf
events, memory will serve to recal the like occurrence.
But in a fourteen-mile race between a pair of bipeds,
such a result is a long way beyond the memory of that
respectable personage " the oldest inhabitant" of any-
where. Caarles Westhall has so often appeared before
the public, that a supplement of a daily journal would
about hold his detailed performances, and no more. Old
Smith, of Ipswich, first burst upon the world as a " fest
one" some four years since. They were matched yes-
terday for 501. to walk seven miles, and run seven miles,
succestively; and in consequence of frequent interrup-
tions on the turnpike, they selected the enclosure at the
Itecliaouso. Battersea, for the contest.
THE MATcli.—At three o'clock the pair started to
walk the seven miles, kept well together, neither much
in advance, hut alternately
leading for four miles. At
that time the pace, considering that the ground was
slippery, and the men walking on turf, was terrific.
About this period it appeared io tell on Westhall, for
got a lead, which he gradually increased till the
seven miles were completed by him 100 yards in ad.
' vance. Time, 58 minutes! The men, immediately on
arriving at the mark, went cif at a run, Smith's 100 yards
giving him nearly 170 advantage, when Westhall changed
his ayle of going. At about two miles, Westhall, by dint
of great exertion, came up to Smith and pasted him .
The old 'an persevered, and Westhall seemed at about
the third inile of the running in a little difficulty • but both
kept gamely to their work, keeping so close that, when-
everh one slackened, the other for a time took the lead.
This occurre3 at least twenty times during the la.t four
place, Westhall leading
miles of the race. Finally, the last round of the enclo-
errautaebisotgru;gbgalet tools
about 120 yards from home
smith got to him, and at the straight run for the finish
'lN:lilt' 'Il l strong; a
desperate
the 'long racc ended with the closest thing ever seen. The
referee, a most respectable and unimpeachable man, pro-
nounced it a dead heat ! Total time, 1 hour and 44 mi-
nutes! A decision which was assented to by many y who
were nearest the goal, among whom the general opinion
was, that a more decided tie hail scarcely ever lozna seen
in the shortest of sprint races.
A prize of 51., given by Mr. Ireland, the proprietor
of- the ground, was then run for, di.tariee 120 yards.
Mayne (Mile-end), J. Petterson, Jesse Smith, en,! Lee
(a novice), appeared at the post. They started level,
and Mayne won a good retie by a couple cf yarde,. The
weather real unfavourable, but the attendance gun&

ANTICIPATED VISIT OF HEIL MAJESTY TO PEAT_
namm—lt is now fully anticipated that her 111,jesty will
honour Pembroke Dockyard with her premaice on the cca-
sion of the launch of the Victoria, first rzCc, which it is ex-
pected will take place very shortly. Should her Majesty
honour the neighbourhood with her proseqce, the Earl of
Cawdor will plo.;;e his seat, Stc,ckpole •court, at the disposal of
her Majesty. The do;k-yard streng:h has been increased to
8i) men.—Adcertistr.

-- -
Extraordinary virtues are ever defAmed by those
who want the courage to imitate them.—•Eli=u cook's
Journal.

- -
A CAUTION.—Never nod to an acquaintance at an
auction. We did so once, and when the sale closed we found
four broken chairs, six cracked flower pots, and a knock-
!creed bedstead knocked down to us. What we intended as
nods to a friend, had been taken by the auctioneer as bids for
the kitchen furniture.

LITERATURE.

ITIIE GERI-11,4NY AND AGRICOLA OF
TACITUS. With English Notes. By the Rev.
John T. White. Longman, Brown, Green. and
Longmans.
Editions of Tacitus, the incomparable historian of
antiquity, cannot, to our thinking, issue from the
press too frequently. As a perfect model of style in
prose composition, as the most admirable prototype
that could, perhaps, be selected from the literature of
any tongue, in regard to the graces of narrative,
Tacitus must ever be welcomed by the judicious and
discerning. The learned and reverend editor has,
therefore, acted wisely in choosing his text in parti-
cular for annotation. In extracting his " Germania"
and his " Agricolee " from the mass of voluminous
records in which they are, as it were, imbedded, Mr.
White has exercised a no less laudable discretion.
Each of these masterly productions has, with all its
astonishing condensation, the indisputable merit of
completeness. The one affords a comprehensive view
of the origin, the geographical position, the manners,
and the people of Germany, net exactly of the coun-
try known now-a-days as Germany, but what
was formerly known by that designation,
namely, the land beyond or on the eastern
bank of the Rhine, Germania Transrhenana. The'
other relates the memorable career and achievements
of Julius Agricola, accompanied (a matter of no
small interest to us English !) by a description of
Britain, and an account of the famous defeat of the
Caledonians. Those who have in any way endea-
voured to appreciate the beauties of Tacitus will re-
qaire no reminder whatever of their splendour; they
will cherish a vivid remembrance of the felicities of
his ripened and eloquent diction, the charms of his
episodical illustrations, the force of his onward moving
and picturesque narrative. Who can forget his
graphic portraitur 3of the German people :—"lpse
eorum opinionibus accedo, qui Germanise populos,
nuilis aliarum nationum connubiis infector, propriaua
et sinceram et tantm sui similem gentern exstitisse
arbitrantur. Unde habitus quoque corporum, quam-
quam in tanto hominum numero, idem omnibus : truces
et ccerulei oculi, make conicei magna corpora
et tantiCin ad impetum valida." A minutely
finished and exquisitely coloured enamel of the ap-
pearance of the ancient Germans could convey no
more brilliant picture than those closing syllables.
Again, how perfect in its minute exactitude that
mention of the personal aspect of Agricola—" Quod
si habitum quoque ej us posteri noscere velint, decentior
quam sublimior fait : nihil metes in vultii: gratia oris
supererat." Surely, after its kind, this is us marvel-
lous a portrait in pen and ink as any ever traced by,
the hand of Minasi. The notes appended to the vo-
lume by the rev. editor are laboriously lucid and ex-
plicit, betraying more than once, without one vestige
of ostentation, an intimate acquaintance with most of
the masterpieces of classic literature.

CHAMISSO'S PETER SCHLEMIIIL. With
a Vocabulary and copious Notes. By Faith Le-
bahn. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.

Adelbert von Chanaisso should have survived until
now, instead of dying in 1830, that he might have
witnessed this very splendid tribute to his
abilities. A Frenchman by birth and educa-
tion, he nevertheless rendered himself so pro-
found a master of the Teutonic language as to
have produced one work at least worthy of being
numbered among the masterpieces of German litera-

ture. The wonderful history of "Pater Schlemihl,
the Shadowless Man," had been many years familiar-
ised to the reading population of Europe before its
author had breathed his last; but, honoured as he had
been by reiterated translations, it was reserved for
Falck Lebahn to confer upon Chamisso the greatest
glory yet accorded to him as a writer. lie has se-
lected " Schlemihl" for a standard classic of his
tongue, as the model for the acquisition of the Ger-
man language, just as " Telemaque" has been the
model for the acquisition of the French language,
fragments of " Quixote" of the Spanish language,
or stories from the " Decameron" of the Italian lan-
guage. The laurel crown thus placed by scholars on
the head of Fenelon, of Cervantes, or of Boccaccio,
has been at length placed also on the temples of
Chamisso. The author of this posthumous corona-
tion, moreover, is no other than Falck Lebahn, a Ger-
man grammarian, who has already done so much
towards imparting a knowledge of his mother
tongue to Englishmen. We are rejoiced that the
wonderful history of the " Shadowless Man" has been
thus put to an account so peculiarly admirable, and
been employed for a purpose for the furtherance of
which it is so excellently adapted. We have always
considered that the selection of an entertaining class
book, through which to break up the difficulties of a
language', was the accomplishment of half the labour
of tuition. The imagination in its perusal aids the
judgment, and the dryness of mere rules of syntax
and prosody becomes lost in the interest of the narra-
tive. No story more admirably calculated to secure
these advantages could have been chosen than the
story of the strange and surprising adven-
tures of " Peter Schlemihl." The student
will hurry on in his task-work in his
anxiety to watch the unbending faithfulness of Ben-
del and the rascally knaveries of Rascal. The bird's-
neat cap rendering Peter Schlemihl invisible, the
inexhaustible purse of Fortunatus endowing him with
incalculable wealth, the seven-leagued boots enabling
him to perambulate the globe in five minutes, are
all incidents that arrest the fancy and stimulate the
curiosity of the reader. The horrid consequences to
poor Schlemihl of having sold his shadow to the
abominable old gentleman in the grey coat, only tend
to rouse the attention to a more engrossing vigi-
Ilene. Added to which the melancholy close of the
love passages, first with Fanny and afterwards with
Minna, imparts to the fiction a pathetic charm,
blended with its many grotesque and fantastic pecu-
liarities. The horror with which the narrator re-
counts his first interview with the grey devil, who
afterwards deprived him of his shadow, when he pro-
duced from his pocket so many incongruous articles—
eine Brieftasche, ei t Fernrohr, ein Teppich, zwanzig
schritle tang wad zehn bred,: ein Luftzelt von derselben
Grosse, and alle daze gehorigen Stang en end Eisen,
!—cannot be forgotten as among the more hu-
morous portions of the narrative; and these portions
seem to us to indicate most vividly the quiet sense of
fun with which Chamisso contemplated his fantasy
throughout the major part of its composition. Ap-
pended to "the present edition of " Peter Schlemihl,"
are, as the title-page truly proclaims, very " copious
notes," accompanied by an elaborately compiled voca-
bulary. Altogether the volume is deserving of every
commendation ; and we doubt not will tend very
considerably to confirm Falck Lebahn's already
widely-extended popularity.

THE POETICAL WORKS OF OLIVER
GOLDSMITH. With Thirty Illustrations.
Cundall and Addey.
Numerous as are the editions already existing of
these classic po3ms, the sweetest fruits of the genius
of .Oliver Goldsmith, there is yet room for more—
especially when they come to us, like the present,
with so many graceful and characteristic embellish-
ments. Upon the illustrations here given to the
" Traveller," the "Deserted Village," and the fugi-
tive pieces by which they are happily followed, the
delicate and congenial fancies of John Absolon, of
Birket Foster, of James Godwin, and of Harrison
Weir have been employed. Each of these draughts-
men has performed his part in the labour of love to
admiration. The frontispiece, by Foster, is an ex-
quisite little sketch of Auburn—" Sweet Auburn."
in one page "the hollow sounding bittern guards its
nest," in another "the swain responsive to the
milk-maid sings ;" here the noisy geese are gab •
bling o'er the pool," and here again " the village
statesmen talk with looks profound." Scarcely a
line but suggests an engraving to itself, and of these
suggestions the very best have been realized. We are
rejoiced to see that similar editions of others among
the English classics are in preparation, and anticipate
with satisfaction the issue in this gui4e of the " Vicar
of Wakefield," the " Seasons" of Thomson, and the
poetical works of Gray and Cowper. The series is
entitled to very general encouragement.

BORtE VAC TViE: a Thought Book. Collected,
arranged, and edited by James Elmes. Longman
Brown, Green, and Longmans.

A lovely little bijou of a volume, printed after the
bygone fashion,with scrolled initial letters, and capitals
to the majority of the nouns substantive, with a
wood-brown medieval-looking binding, and brick-red
edges—such is the external appearance of the Bore
Vacivx. Internally the book is precious, being a col-
lection of thoughts culled from the writings of " the
wise spirits of all ages and all countries, fit for all
men and all hours." Charles Lamb would infallibly
have kissed it, as he did his dear mouldy old folios.
" Thoughts," saith Jeremy Collier, " take up no
room : when they are right they afford a portable
pleasure,which one may travel with, without any
trouble or incumbrance." And thoughts like these
are here in abundance, gathered up from the lore of
ages by the scholarly hand of James Elmes' a learned
man, who tell; us, very touchingly, in his preface
how his love of letters has hed to struggle against the
great calamity of blindness, as it does likewise in the
case of two illustrious historians, now living, a
Frenchman and an American, Thierry and
Prescott. Weighed down by the sorrows of his
most grievous intirmitv, Janice Elates has, nevertLe-
less,contrived to gather together, in what he very beau-
tifully calls his " spicelegium of golden thoughts," the
wisdom of many varying generations. The book is
to general literature what the " Thumb Bible" (a
work also published by the Messrs. Longman) is to
biblical literature exclusively. The mere enumera-
tion of the great men who here speak to us in their
own words—poet-, annalists, divines, essayiste, novel-
ists, philosophers—would be a labour cf needles, ex-
tent in the present notice, seeing that our aim is to
commend all readers, but especially all tbiakera (for