The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-19 00:00:00

notwithstanding, of being deco thinkers and great
observers, and considers that tlough they searched
in rain themselves they prepared the ground
fdt ttthers3 Witchcraft was another grand decep-
tion, and an elaborate account of a trial which,
ended in the execution of three persons, affords a
painful testimony to the wilful blindness of some
of the wisest of that age in this respect. The
author professes a fervent admiration for Queen
Elizabeth, 31' limo failings he admits, but whose
moral and political greatness he insists upon. He
tells us of the perils she encountered, the enemies
she subdued, the victories her leaders achieved—
" When that great fleet, invincible,
Against her bore in vain,
The richest spoils of Mexico,
The stoutest hearts in Spain." _ _

And fit), after a chapter of miscellaneous infor-
mation, nor author closes his pleasant volumes
with the following observations :
" And here we must conclude, and let the curtain fall
on the great and golden age, amid whose scenes we
have long led our reader. We have been to the
theatre and the bear garden, the tavern, and the cow t.
We have stared into crystal phials, with blear eyed
alchemists ; listened at trials to witches confessions, and
mixed with thieves and gipsies. We have seen bullies
trapaur and gallants talk Euphuism, seen the child at
his horn book, and the scrivener at his parchments ; the
street tumbler of the day, the comedian, the tooth
drawer, and the juggler, hava all passed before us. We
have gaped at white satin revellers, and footed a measure
at the mark ; we have seen the mountebank selling his
drugs, and the tobacconist adulterating his medicines.
In some places, for want of room, we have been brief ;
in other pages, perhaps, wrung from want of
judgment. For being brief we may be pardoned,
for being tedious we must claim forgiveness. To
photograph an age, to fix on paper perfect images, not
merely of its street crowds, but of the children at the
hearth, and the guests at the alehouse, is, however, an
undertaking so difficult, that one success may, we tru,t,
compens4te for a thousand failures."
Adventurous though the attempt may be, and the
more so from the very fact of the life-like portraits
on the great dramatist's pages, the author has
proved himself fully equal to the task, and has
shown, as though in au extended panorama, all
the varieties of metropolitan existence in that
gay and stirring age. Those who desire to
study our national existence as it was in the
Shaksperian era, will find in these pages informa-
tion and amusement, research and description, wit
and wisdom, most pleasantly and profitably
mingled.

The Poetical Fr orks of Robert Burns. Edited by

the Rev. R. A. -VVillmott. Routledge.
The complete works of the author of " The
Cottar's Saturday Night" are collected in this
volume, edited by the Rev. Robert Aris Wilmott,
who has superintended the publication of several
volumes of poetry. A compendious memoir is pre-
fixed to the poems, and tha notes which are placed
at the foot of the page are likely to be of great
assistance to a reader unacquainted with the pecu-
liarities of the language. A glossary is appended,
which will also prove of service. The volume is
handsomely bound, and illustrated by John Gil-
bert with numero us engravings.

THE DAiVUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES.

(From the Times' Correspondent.)
SUNDAY, 6 P.M.

The commissioners appointed by the seven Pow
ers to investigate the condition and requirements
of the Danubian Principalities, and to suggest the
best mode Of re-organising them, will soon be as-
sembled at Constantinople, whither several of them
are already on their way, and where it is said that
their first conferences are to be held ; and it is not
improbable that the commencements of their deli-
berations may revive the interest of the European
public in the fate of those provinces—an interest
that at one time was lively, but which latterly ap-
pears to have died away. Independently of the
political importance they derive from their situa-
tion, and from the conflicting pretensions of which
they have been, and, in fact, still are, the object,
those principalities will not be considered—at
least, not by persons who have had oppor-
tunity of becoming personally acquainted with
them—as undeserving of interest, and even of
sympathy. It has been rather too much the
fashion of late to pass a sweeping condemna-
tion upon the Moldo-Wallachiau—to depict the
lower classes as irretrievably idle, ignorant, and
sottish, and the higher orders as, without excep-
tion, dissolute and corrupt. There is exaggeration
in this view, especially as regards the peasantry ;
and, moreover, sufficient allowance has never been
made for the depressing and corrupting influence of
domestic tyranny and foreign occupation. Freed
from the presence of a foreign soldiery, and endowed
with a just and honest Government, there is no
reason why the natural advantages of those pro-
vinces should not be developed, and the moral
standard of their population raised. Relieve the
peasant from the feudal exactions which, nomi-
nally abolished, in reality press upon him to this
very day ; lift him out of the misery which often
drives him to seek oblivion in drink ; let him
feel that the result of his labour will be a bene-
fit to himself, and not to some wealthy pro-
prietor or grasping middleman, and there is no
reason or precedent for saying that ho will not
work willingly and improve his habits. As re-
gards the higher classes, and especially the aris-
tocracy of the provinces, it is, unfortunately, too
true that, as a body, their moral character is very
bad. But there are honourable exceptions to this
rule ; and the example of corruption has been set
for many years, and especially latterly in Wallachia,
by a Government which unblushingly, and almost
openly, resorted to the basest means of maintaining
a power the object of which was not the welfare of
the many, but the gratification of the cupidity and
ambition of a few.
The extent of the powers with which the com-
missioners from the seven Governments are invested
has not, I believe been positively defined, or at
least it is not publicly known. It is understood,
however, and generally believed, that, notwithstand-
ing the high diplomatic rank of some of the dele-
gates, which would seem to imply a capacity for the
final and complete adjustment of the question, their
duties will be limited to investigation and report,
and that upon these the Paris Conference will re-
assemble to deliberate, from its judgment, and fix
the bases of the re-organisation. It is to be hoped,
and, indeed, can scarcely be doubted, that in the
very first place the extremely defective organic
code in force since 1831, the imperfect and ambi-
guous wording of which has opened the door to
abuses which its framers perhaps did not contem-
plate, will be entirely remodelled, if another be not
substituted for it. A complete revision of the pre-
sent territorial arrangements and of the relations
between the landholder and the peasant is urgently
called for, and will doubtless be strongly recom-
mended by the commissioners. Taking this fur
granted, we come to another question, which has
lately assumed great prominence, and which ex-
cites the strongest interest in the Principalities—
namely, their union under an hereditary reignine.
Prince. This idea, which does not appear to be of
very ancient origin, has been eagerly embraced in
Moldo-Wallachia, where it has found numerous
and enthusiastic partisans, and where, indeed, it
has so engrossed the public mind as to throw into
the shade other proposed changes which are
certainly equallti. desirable. Carried away by
visions of future independence and augmented
power, some of its advocates seem to imagine that
such a union, especially if under a foreign Prince,
would necessarily entail the amendment of every
abuse and the immediate prosperity of the country.
Some of these ardent imaginations appear to have
beheld in the realisation of their darling project the
sudden transformation of the ill-cultivated, road-
less, war-blasted Principalities into an Eastern
Belgium, a model for surrounding nations. This
is going too fast. The union of Moldavia and
Wallachia would, I admit and believe, be beneficial
to both ; but, should it not be conceded, much
might still be done for their good, and they might
become prosperous although still divided. A let-
ter from Galati in a German newspaper has just
informed us of a new political party iu Wallachia,
which adopts as its programme-Ist, the union of
the Principalities under the suzerainte of the Porte
—that suzerainte to be exercised in conformity with
the ancient privileges of the province ; 2d, a foreign
Prince as ruler ; 3d, a national assembly without
property qualification ; 4th, Ministerial responsibi-
lity ; stb, liberty of the press. This can hardly be
considered a now party, for the differences aro but
slight between its principles and those of the
Liberal or Rouman National party, which for some
time has been numerous and popular in Wallachia.
The chief difference is in the 3d article. The Na-
tional party in Wallachia has, I think, hitherto in-
clined to a property qualification, not only for can-
didates but for electors, but the question has
scarcely been seriously discussed among them, any
more than that of one or two representative Cham-
bers. A few young men, most of them of demo-
cratic leanings, may have prematurely busied
themselves with these questions, but the majority
have postponed them for future consideration.
Ministerial responsibility is considered, by all but
a small corrupt clique, as quite indispensable, and a
free press is warmly desired. But the union of
the provinces is the great change most anxiously
coveted and loudly clamoured for, and the most in-
tense anxiety is felt to know whether the European
Powers will grant it.
The views of the seven Powers on this question
are now, with one exception, no secret to the
world. France, Russia, Prussia, and Sardinia
are favourable to the union. Turkey and Austria
strougly oppose it. England alone preserves an