The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-31 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

neat painter, but one whose genius is ant yet gone-
rally recognised, Paul Falconer Poole, will be found
to have contributed to the collection two works
which in time (perhaps when he has unhappily beeli
withdrawn from us, like Etty, by death) will be
among the glories of our national art—we mean his
impressive representation of " Job and the Messen-
gers" (No. 39), and his great picture of " Solomon
Eagle in the Plague of London" (No. 5), one of the
noblest creations that ever marked the capacity of
an English artist. Leslie's " Scene from the Vicar
of Wakefield" (No. 20), will likewise, as a display of
excellence in an entirely different department of art,
secure to itself the scrutiny of those who ca❑ really
appreciate what is natural and humorous. Indifferent
as may be the general appearance of the colouring, a
faint pink pervading the picture and predominating
rather unpleasantly over all other hues, the work, as
an illustration of GoLlsinith, is happy to a miracle,
from the fly-trap on the ceiling, and the orange-hold-
ing portraits on the wainscot, to the Hon. Miss
Skeggs and the most decidedly dishonourable Lady
Blarney. Two specimens of Turner will win the
admiration of every discerning eye, one (No. 7) re-
presenting " The Whaler," and another (No. 16) a
masterly display of his rare and unequalled power,
depicting " The Burning of the Houses of Parlia-
ment." In one part of the gallery we noticed, more-
over, Creswick's lovely little jewel of a picture (No.
37), "The Terrace, Haddon-hall, Derbyshire;"
elsewhere Herbert's (No. 14) " Christ and the
'Woman of Samaria," and several admirable speci-
mens of William Milner. Altogether, as we have
before intimated, the collection displayed on the walls
of Mr. Wass's Gallery, is such as cannot fail to win
the admiration of all who visit it, provided only they
do so with a judicious estimate of British art, and of
the genius of those painters who are among the num-
ber of our contemporaries.

FESTIVITIES AT LOWESTOFT.

FURTHER COMMUNICATION WITH
NORTHERN EUROPE.
A feat of locomotion, unprecedented in the Eastern
Counties' territory, was performed on Tuesday and
Wednesday last, with a view to signalize this year's
Lowestoft Regatta, which was otherwise abundantly dis-
tinguished beyond the anniversary of this time twelve-
month. At seven o'clock on Tuesday morning, Mr. D.
Waddington, M.P., chairman, and others of the direc-
tors, together with Mr. Gooch, of the locomotive depart-
ment, and Mr. G. Richardson, the coaching superin-
tendent, started in a special mixed train of ten carriages
from the Shoreditch terminus, and arrived at Lowestoft,
the extremest eastern point of England, distant from the
capital 126 miles, in a few minutes over three and a half
hours. Even this speed, calculated as it was to astonish
the somewhat lethargic philosophers of the Fens, would
have been exceeded, but that the line was in several
places impeded by excursionist traffic, entailing the ne-
cessity of shunting between Cambridge and Ely; and a
considerable time was also lost between Norwich and
Lowestoft owing to the cheap trains, laden with an enor-
mous number of passengers, proceeding to the regatta.
Oa arriving at Lowestoft the party were met by Mr.
Pete, Member for Norwich, chairman of the Norfolk
Company, and by Lord Alfred Paget, lately become a
director of the Eastern Counties, who had proceeded
thither the previous day in his beautiful craft the Mona,
which however met with no competitor for the 50 guinea
cup, and the Noble Commodore of the Royal Yacht
Squadron set sail for Cowes in the evening.
The directors and their friends inspected the lions of
the place, now of a magnitude and completeness that,
coniedering they arc but the growth of yesterday, can
hardly be credited by those at a distance, notwithstand-
ing the engineering skill and the continuous liberality of
the means well known to have been expended upon them.
The contrivances in particular for the accommodation of
the Danish cattle trade, which, though commenced but a
few months ago, has already attained an importance alto-
gether beyond the most ex travagant expectations that could
have been formed, elicited great admiration from those
who saw them for the first time. No less so did the un-
usual number of religious and educational institutions,
compared with the population; and among those peculiar
to Lowestoft is that of Colville-house, situated on the salt-
water Lake Lothiog, for imbecile children of the upper
classes, where Dr. Foreman is most successfully carrying
out a new treatment of mental complaints in young sub-
jects, having been induced to select that neighbourhood for
his experiments by Mr. Peto, whose donation of 1,0001. to
the Idiot's Asylum is but one of the many evidences of
the special interest that gentleman takes in the alleviation
of the disorders more immediately referred to. The staple
of Lowestoft, the fishing trade, being universally pros-
perous both this and last season, the resident inhabitants
were in the best possible frame of mind for the apprecia•
tion of the compliments bestowed on the natural and ar-
chitectural beauties of their town, whose buildings vie
with those of many of the older and more fashionable
watering places—the Royal Hotel in particular, on the
Marine Parade, the great boast of this part of East An-
glia, being an establishment rivalling the most famous
hostelries of Brighton, Bath, or Cheltenham.
At this house, on Tuesday evening, a splendid dinner
was provided by Mr. Howett, the proprietor, in the su-
perb new bauquetting-hall, at which upwards of 100 sat
down, under the presidency of Mr. Peto, who, in the
course of one of his addresses, which were for the most
part necessarily of a local character, communicated some
facts of general interest in connexion with the subject of
iec:eased extension of our commerce in the north of
Europe, and which consequently deserve a wide-spread
publicity. In reply to his health, proposed in very elo-
quent terms by Mr. Waddington, M.P., who happily eu-
logised his well-known enterprise, far-sightedness, and
munificence, in various parts of England, especially on
the site ot that day's festivities, in which nearly all the
leading gentry of Norfolk and Suffolk had participated.
Mr. PET°, after gracefully disposing of the personal
portion of the compliment, and disclaiming the unqua-
lified disinterestedness of the motives ascribed to him,
inasmuch as his own interest was identified with that of
his immediate friends and neighbours around him, ad-
verted at considerable length to the greatly increased
development of the cattle trade between the north of
Europe and Lowestoft. Ile remarked, that he re-
garded the advancement of the latter locality, on which
ho had set his heart most intently, with the utmost con-
fidence from the moment he had fixed his eyes on the
distant shore opposite, and felt that its trade must be
theirs if sought. They were all aware that within the
lust few months a new route had been opened to Den-
mark, and with the best results. By next Saturday he
trusted to be on his way to Norway, there to arrange
for the construction of the first line of railway in that
country, forming a connecting link with the capital of
the former kingdom; and as the best evidence of the ear-
nestness and honesty of the Norwegian people, he might
mention that before they permitted them (the contrac-
tors) to move a step, the commissioners had deposited
in the National Bank a quarter of a million sterling as an
assurance that no risk would be run. By the next
regatta dinner ho hoped to announce that a railroad
was in rapid progress between Copenhagen and Chris-
tiana, as well as between the former capital and those parts
on the Danish shores with which Lowestoft had re-
cently commenced a direct trade. If, by these means,
there were brought into operation new facilities of inter-
communication between the nations; and that St. Pe-
tersburgh, for instarce, was placed three days nearer
London than at present, ho hoped his good friends of
the city of Norwich would take advantage of the cir-
cumstance, and by carrying to other countries the arts in
which that city was still unrivalled, as she had ever been
unsurpassed, would nobly emulate those foreigners to
whom they themselves were originally so greatly in-
debted ; for he need hardly remind his hearers that it
was to the emigration of the ingenious and industrious
Flemings from their own country and their settlement in
Norfolk, that Norwich owed its early pre-eminence, still
sustained amidst all vicissitudes, in pursuits so
long identified with her celebrity, and thus
reciprocate the obligations their forefathers had
incurred at the hands of the ingenious and accom-
plished strangers of the Low Countries. It was the duty
of all, as it was evidently the instinct of the great majority,
and the tendency of the age, to go forward; and he was
proud to think that those in that neighbourhood showed
no disposition to stand still, much less to retrograde.
If, some very few years ago, he had told them that, from
the spot on which he stood, he could send a question to
the port of Chester, and receive an answer within an
hour and a half, as was the case last week, they would
have thought it high time to send him to Thorpe Asy-
lum; but it, on Saturday next, he should set out for Nor-
way, and having consulted and arranged with the autho-
rities of that kingdom and of Sweden and Denmark,
for bringing all three into closer proximity, and be able
to communicate that lie ,had done so by the 17th, he
thought he would have supplied proof that what had
beers lately done in the way of economising time and dis-
tance was hardly more remarkable than what might bo
anticipated in the same direction.
It is unuceasary to add that the Hon. Gentleman's
speech was received with all the enthusiasm to be ex-
pected from an assemblage of Lts personal friends. Most
of them, in common with the great bulk of those arri-
ving in Lowestoft that day, had met rather to observe
the progress of the works he bad suggested so wisely,
and was carrying out so triumphantly, than to criticise
the strictly marine entertainment to which they were os-
tensibly invited, though these were of a character suffi-
ciently gratifying to the amour propre of the proverbially
daring; grid skilful mariners of this coast, whose manage-
ment of the " yawls" constitutes an unique feature of
sea craft. At night the front of the Royal Hotel was il-
luminated with great brilliancy, and fireworks were dis-
chbairogae
tedr” community.
inafashionhighly creditable to the skill of the
The special train returned at eight o'clock yesterday
morning, in the pleasantest manner possible; and, in-
cluding a more than reasonable stay at Ely and Cam-
bridge respectively, accomplished the entire distance in
three hours and three-quarters—a celerity, as before
stated, previously never attempted on this line, and the
facile attainment of which is a fact of the highest im-
portance taken in connexion with the forthcoming deve-
lopment of the railway system in the north of Europe,
as indicated by Mr. Peto.