The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-30 00:00:00

111E7 ROPOLITAN G 08.51 P-7 hursday.

The most prominent characteristic of London life just
now is " the car rattling o'er the stony streets " piled up
high with boxes of the Noah's ark class, baths, perambu-
lators, and all the other impedimenta of a modern British
family taking flight from the metropolis. Formerly these
cavalcades were not seen much in the heart of London
itself, but were confined to certain districts such as Pad-
dington, the New Road, Belgravia, Shoreditch, &c. But
now that the railway companies have carried their lines
over the Thames, now that Ludgate-hill and Charing-cross
and Cannon-street are termini, Fleet-street and the
Strand, previously overcrowded, are blocked still
more. The flitting will go on for another fortnight
or three weeks, and then we may look for quieter times.
The final settlement of the chief measure of the session has
permitted not a few of our legislators to take their depar-
ture, even though Parliament is still several days from
prorogation. True, a large proportion of the estimates
remained unvoted, but the guardianship of the public
purse is generally left to a few M.P.'s who have a taste for
figures. It is only when some scandal turns up, such as
that about Mr. Layard and the Salviati Company (which
proved no scandal at all), that our representatives as a
body shew much interest in protecting our pockets.
Ordinarily the bulk of them feel at liberty to leave
town as soon as the last great party divi-
sion of the session has been taken. The Whips
of course are glad of empty benches then. Provided they
can get enough members together to form a House, the
fewer there are the better, because the less chance will
there be of objection to the estimates.
It is a matter for real satisfaction that the present
session will witness the passing, not only of a first-class
political,butalso of two first-class social, measures. For the
last four years politics have been so urgent that social
reforms, which after all are the real work of Parliament,
have been neglected. But this year will see not only the
Irish Church disestablished, but the law of bankruptcy
reformed, and the telegraphs in the hands of the Govern-
ment. When the law lords insisted upon taking the
Bankruptcy Bill into Select Committee, commercial
men were in despair. But their lordships, with all their
minute criticism, have found very little to alter, and so
the measure will go through, and Sir Robert Collier will
have the satisfaction of seeing his name recorded in the
statute book. The truth is the Peers themselves have of
late years become concerned in tbia measure. "Plunging"
has brought so many coronets to Basinghall-street that
the wearers thereof naturally have an interest in the law
of bankruptcy which they did not feel in quieter and less
rapid days.

There is a rumour that the Queen intends visiting Ire-
land this summer, and so witnessing with her own eyes the
effect of Mr. Gladstone's "message of peace." I need
hardly say that that visit would in itself be such a
message. The Irish would be loyal enough if their
loyalty had more to feed on, and the more frequent
presence of the Sovereign would have prevented many an
angry oration, many a treasonable meeting. The Prince
and the Princess of Wales are on their way to Wildbad,
for the benefit of her Royal Highness, who is in somewhat
delicate health. It does not appear that either the Prince
or the Princess will be present at the marriage of her
brother, the Crown Prince of Denmark, with the Princess
Royal of Sweden.
Mr. Gladstone's offer of the Deanery of Durham to Dr.
Temple shews that we have made some progress towards
liberality and common sense during the last ten years.
It is just about a decade since the famous " Essays and
Reviews " appeared. At first they excited no attention ;
but the more bigoted and narrow-minded of the religious
journalists discovered heresy in the book, denounced it
vehemently, and of course made it sell by thousands.
Assuming that two or three of the "Essays" did contain
some questionable theology (though the Final Court of
Appeal decided that they did not), yet no charge of
unsound teaching could fairly have been brought against
Dr. Temple's "Essay." It was nothing more than a
sketch of the education of the world as manifested in Holy
Scripture. But though his contribution was thus harm-
less, and though it was expressly stated that he was
responsible only for what he had written, and had written
it without concert with the other essayists, the bigots made
him responsible for all that the remaining six had said,
and he was involved in one general condemnation. Even
Convocation condemned the "Essays" as a whole, refusing
to discriminate between what was sound and what was
unsound. Since then the keenness of the controversy has
been blunted, and the injustice to which Dr. Temple was
subjected has been made clear. It was a graceful act of
reparation on Mr. Gladstone's part to offer his fist
valuable piece of preferment to the Master of Rugby. Of
course this consideration was not the only motive. Dr.
Temple has been one of the ablest supporters of the
Premier's Irish policy; he has also given material
assistance to the Government in the develop-
ment of their educational seheme. That ho should
have refused £3,000 a year for doing nothing, on
the ground that he has so much to do at Rugby, shews
how much higher is the tone which influences public men
now than formerly. Of old a sinecure was the summit of
a man's ambition ; now hard work is the chief attraction.
The effect of this new and better spirit must lead ere long
to the suppression of sinecures. If all our ablest men
Prefer industry, the nation will hardly be content to see
the lucrative posts of the Church filled by drones.
The Prince and the Princess of Wales have expressed them-
selves in the warmest terms as to the reception which was
given them at Hull on the occasion of the opening of the
Docks. The event was one of momentous importance to
the borough, and, in connection with the royal visit,
excited the greatest enthusiasm. As there are many Danes
in Hull the Princess met a number of her countrymen,
which added much to the pleasure of her visit. She
was altogether greatly pleased, and exclaimed with girlish
glee, " Hull is seven times better than Manchester."
It was a subject of general remark last week that the
Solicitor-General should have appeared at the Middlesex
Sessions in the Carington-Murray case. I believe the
hon. gentleman's fee on the occasion was 300 guineas—
not a bad day's work for even one of our leading lawyers.
Three years ago Sir John—then Mr.—Coleridge was
retained on behalf of Mr. Waters, Lord Shaftesbury's
steward, at the Central Criminal Court, when his fee was
250 guineas. The lower the court the higher the fee, is
evidently the motto upon which the hon. member conducts
his professional duties.

The chief topic of interest in sporting circles is the
approaching Anglo-American boat-race. The Harvard
men are actively training daily over the Champion
Course at Putney. From what I have seen of them at
their work, I venture to predict that they will hardly
prove so formidable a crew as was expected. Their
physique is admirable, but their form at present bad.
They adopt the fashion in vogue on the Tyne, but
unknown on the Thames, of the stroke taking the water
on his left, and the bow on his right ; the latter working
with his left hand uppermost. Their pace is now about
thirty-four strokes per minute. Kelley's coaching, and
the exchange of their own boat for a lighter one, which
Messrs. Salter are building, will, no doubt, soon increase
their speed. In their opponents they will meet the pick of
the University, and if the Oxonians do succeed
in beating them they will be the first amateurs that
have ever done so. The acceptance by Brown, the
American champion, of the challenge to' the world given
by Renforth, who asserted the supremacy of the Tyne over
the Thames by his defeat of Kelley last year, is likely to
prove an aquatic event productive of even greater excite-
ment than the contest between the Universities. When
the two will try conclusions is not yet decided, but the
Tyne is to be the scene of the struggle, the prize being
four hundred pounds and the honour of being stylod
the champion of the world.
The picture season is fast coming to a close. One after
another of the chief exhibitions is putting up its shutters,
and the Royal Academy closes on Saturday. Its hun-
dredth year has been,l believe, the most successful of any
that it has held except 1851 and 1862, the years of the two
International Exhibitions. From the first day to the last
the noble rooms of this the finest academy in Europe have
been crowded, although the number of competing collec-
tions was never before so large. I fear, however, that
congratulations mast end here. It has not been a good
year for art so far as picture buying is concerned. The
literary world and the art world are-still sorely depressed,
though money is at a little over 2i per cent.
The Royal Academy of Music is an institution of which
the world knows little. It is of somewhat less than half
the age of its m ore illus trious sister. It has about twenty-five
male, and fifty female, students. They have their exhibition
in the shape of an annual concert, which took place a few
days ago in the Hanover-square Rooms. The pieces con-
sisted of selections from Beethoven, Rossini, Bach, and
other masters, and of six works by students, of which,
perhaps, the best was that by Mr. Shakespeare. Mrs.
Gladstone gave away the prizes.
In dramatic matters the chief event of the week has
been the production of Mr. W. S. Gilbert's "An Old
Score" at the Gaiety. It is well spoken of, and though
rather too sketchy, is one of Mr. Gilbert's best efforts.
Mr. Brougham's farce " Among the Breakers," at the
Strand, is absurd enough to suit even that extravaganza-
loving house. Mr. Chatterton has secured for Drury-lane
Dioh Boucicault's new play "Formosa, or the Railroad
to Ruin," and so has cut out Mr. Vining at the Princess's.
The St. James's Theatre closes on Saturday, after a bril-
liant season of Offenbach's music, if large and fashionable
attendances and handsome profits constitute brilliancy.
Some persons will think that public morals would have
benefited if the closing had taken place a good deal earlier.

In literary matters the chief event is the very serious
illness of Dr. George Macdonald. This gentleman has
for many years been in very delicate health, and a few
months ago was laid up with a violent attack of haemorr•

ha,g.e from the lungs while on a lecturing tour. He
recovered from that, and after lecturing and
writing and otherwise working very hard, started
for a yachting trip to the Shetland Islands and
Norway. During the cruise he was taken so alarm-
ingly ill that he had to be conveyed to the nearest port,
which was Shetland. He remained there for some time
in a sorely-depressed state. After rallying a little he was
taken to London, and he is now in Derbyshire, very weak.
It would be a great misfortune to literature if Dr. Mac-
donald were laid aside permanently. Few men have
made so much and deserved progress of late years as he
has done. His " Robert Falconer " is one of the ablest
novels written in the present generation; and his contribu-
tions to Good TVords and other periodicals have been gene-
rally very valuable.

Mr. Longfellow, after remaining on the Continent long
enough to avoid the dinner which the Goldsmiths' Com-
pany intended to give him, has returned to England, and
has been staying at Oxford. Mr. Tennyson has returned from
Switzerland, utterly disgusted with his trip. Wherever
he went he was mobbed by other tourists. If he put his
head out of his bed-room door, be found a number of girls
hovering abDut in the passage waiting for a glimpse of the
author of " The May Queen." On one occasion one of the
gentlemen of Mr. Tennyson's party found his hat gone,
and another substituted for it. He made a great hue and
cry, and discovered that the missing article had been
taken in the belief that it had covered the brows of the
Laureate. A still more disagreeable incident occurred. A
well-known literary man, who accompanied the poet, had
kept a diary in which he noted down from day to day the
leading events and principal topics of conversation. This
diary can nowhere be found. It is supposed that some
very 'cute person has got hold of it, and that some equally
enterprising American publisher will bring it out at New
York, where they are accustomed to sharp practice.

I hear that Mr. Robert Buchanan, who is now in th•
Highlands, has written a poem having a metaphysical
cast, which is pronounced by his friends to be the most
ambitious effort he has ever made, and which is expected
to give rise to a great deal of criticism. A cheaper edition
of Charles Dickens's works is expected to be issued at an
early date.

MISCELLANEOUS NETVS.