The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-05 00:00:00

THE MAN AND TILE SNAKE.

A FABLE.
(Respectfully Dedicated to the Swiss Confederation.)
Once on a time, as .zEsop tolls,
A hind, in winter's iron weather,
Found on the bare and wind-swept fells,
A snake, its mils frost-bound together.

He raised the creature from the ground,
And was about to fling it by,
When 10, some spark of life he found
Still glowing in its evil eye.

The clown, whose large compassion ranged
E'en to that reptile most unblest,
Sudden his idle purpose changed,
And placed the serpent in his breast.

Under his kindly bosom's glow,
Slowly the stiffened coils out-drew;
The thickening blood resumed its flow,
The snaky instincts waked anew.
The man was glad to feel awake,
The crawling life within his vest :
For to have harboured e'en a snake
Is pleasure in a gen'rous breast.

Sudden he stops—with shriek and start ;
Then falls a corpse all swoll'n and black !
The snake's fell tooth had pierced the heart,
Whose warmth to life had brought it back.

Well, simple Switiers, had it been,
Had you of this old fable thought,
When, tracked by justice, close and keen,
Your mountains young Napoleon sought—

Asylum 'mid their snows to claim,
From France's King, against whose crown
His hand had reached, with daring aim,
In scuffle scufilingly put down.

The shelter of your rocks you gave
To him and to his desperate cause ;
Nor asked, was he true man, or knave,
Blameless, or guilty by the laws.
Enough that harbour he required,
Enough that harbour you could give :
The panting fugitive respired,
And 'neath your Alps was free to live.

France asked him of you; you refused :
She threatened ; you defied her might :
For years your mountain-screen he used,
Wherewith to hide his schemes of night.

At length full-flushed with power he stands—
Power, to your sheltering kindness due;
And turns the parricidal hands
Which you kept free, to strike at you ! Punch

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR CASTLE, APRIL 4.

Her Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince Consort
rode out on horseback yesterday afternoon, accompanied
by the Prince of Wales, Princess Alice, and Prince Alfred.
In attendance were the Hon. Eleanor Stanley, Colonel the
Hon. A. N. Hood, Captain Du Plat, and Captain Grey.
The royal dinner party in the evening included the
Prince of Wales, Princess Alice, Prince Alfred, Princess
Leiningen, the Dean of Windsor and the Hon. Mrs. Wel-
lesley, Captain Grey, and Major Cowell, R.E.
The Queen and Prince Consort, accompanied by the
Prince of Wales, walked in the Home Park this morning,
sod visited her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent at
Prop:ll°re.
Princess Alice visited the Princess of Leiningen.

Viscount Palmerston left London yesterday for
Windsor Castle.
The Duke of Newcastle left London on Tuesday
evening for Clumber Park, Notts.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mrs.
Gladstone left town on Tuesday evening for Brighton.
The Lord Chancellor will be prevented from
giving the usual reception to the judges and members of
the bar at the dommencement of Easter Term.

THE EX-ROYAL FAMILY OF FRANCE.—Her
Majesty the Queen Marie Amelie and his Royal Highness
the Duke de :Montpensier, accompanied by the Marchioness
de Beauvoir, Gen. Dumas, Col. Velarde, and a numerous
suite, arrived at Grillon's Clarendon Hotel, Albemarle-
street, last evening, from Claremont.
THE LATE BARONESS STRATHEDEN.—The Lord
Chancellor, Lord Stratheden, and other members of the
family, left town early yesterday morning to assist at the
funeral of the lamented baroness, at Hartrigge, Roxburgh-
shire. The funeral is appointed to take place to-day.

We regret to learn of the death, on Sunday, at
his residence, 9, Devonshire-terrace, Hyde-park, of Thos.
Keogh, Esq., Secretary to the Board of Inland Revenue,
aged 64.

MARRIAGE OF MADLLE. VICTOTRE BALVE.—
This favourite vocalist has just been married at St. Peters-
burgh to Sir John Fiennes T. Crampton, K.C.8., her Ma-
jesty's Minister at the Court of Russia. Sir John, who
succeeded as second baronet on the death of his father, the
late Sir P. Crampton, Surgeon-General to the Forces in Ire-
land, in 1868, was formerly Minister Plenipotentiary to the
United States, and is now in his 53d year, having been
born in 1807.

LANCASHIRE REFORMERS' UNION.—Mr. Bright,
M.P., has promised to attend and address a general meeting
of members of this union, to be held in the great room of
the Free-trade Hall, Manchester, on the evening of the
12th instant. Mr. Bazley, M.P. and other gentlemen, will
also address the meeting upon the reform question.
The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of
the Western College, at Plymouth, took place yesterday,
amidst much rejoicing. The college was established in
1752, to educate young men for the Christian ministry
amongst Congregational Dissenters. It at present contains
20 stuents preparing for the university; and facilities are
afforded for the admission of lay students.

THE WAR-OFFICE.—The following is a correct
list of the successful candidates for clerkships, in the order
of their precedence :—R. H. Granville, H. .4. Platt, T.
Briant, D. F. F. Richardson, C. Morton, S. C. Rochat, J.
Young, C. L. Sutherland, E. B. Falwasser, D. Piggot, A.
A'Beckett, and T. P. Hincks. The number of competitors
was 50, and not 40.
Mr. Glassford Bell, sheriff-substitute of Lanark..
shire, has assented to the request made to him to deliver
the inaugural address on the erection of the monument at
Yarrow to the Ettrick bard. The inauguration is fixed to
take place on Thursday, the 28th of June. Mr. Glassford
Bell enjoyed the intimacy of the poet, and was privileged
with his services as one of his contributors when he edited
the Literary Journal.
Professor Owen delivered the ninth lecture of his
course on fossil mammalia at the Museum in Jermyn-street,
on Friday. Of the extinct carnivore that waged war with
the abundant stocks of ruminant creatures once occupying
this country, Professor Owen spoke of an ancient real
" British lion," of a British bear and a hyena, the evidences
of whose destructiveness are distinctly visible in the bone,
caves of this country. The next lecture will be delivered
on the 20th April.

hpaavraetiboenesnamreadbeeinfognreTtha
The official programme of the arrangements which
Alton Towers is published pre-utht intoe .
toxeter, and the Earlin the oof
local Shrewsbury'spapers entry
Great
Tedboobuyrhteheed,infherabgitiavnintsgofietalttonre,
day's festivities.
county town, at the e noble earl will give two balls in the
and Shirehall, on the • , evenings of Tuesday
by Wednesday next. The b
the aristocracy
and that on yand the leadinc,
oinhabitants of the county,
tradesmen. Wednesday by his lordship's
tenantry and
The India
telegram
paper currency to be
-
will b© effected throughintroduced, states that "the issue
commissioners of the Bank of Eng-
land." This is doubtless
official correspondence on thae mistake. According to the
have boon fully given in thalebject, the details of which
managed by commissioners specially the issue will be
The Master of the Calcutta Mint willa appointed in India.
will also be public functionaries. Thel'a one,
and the others
are simply to supply the notes.—Tinesl`3itank,lof England
THE SPRING.—The fruit crop in City Article.
neighbour-
hood of Southampton and throughout
south of England is likely to be the larges greatnowpar of the
This arises from the backwardness of the season,n othayter s*
ted the trees from budding and blossominghas
prevented by prema-
turely, and their being damaged severe weathr. The
backwardness of the season is shown by the late appear-
ance of the nightingale this year. Woolstone, a village on
the eastern bank of the Itchen, near Southampton, is
famous for its nightingales, and the night their first spring
notes are heard in the beautiful woo is and gardens sur-
rounding Roseland, in that village, the residence of Mr.
James Tucker, is always recorded by that gentleman to
mark the nature of the season. Last year the nightingale
was heard at Roseland on the 12th of March, while this
year it was ho"
Ay for the first time last Sunday, the let of
AprU,