The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-04 00:00:00

M.are,

orders while the crew were reefing topsails. It is scarcely
intelligible to us who know the present English navy, as we
think of the roars of laughter with which the squadron
would hail the news that Sir Colin Campbell had been ap-
pointed to the Royal Albert. To ueclerstaid Blake's suc-
cess, we must attribute to him not only an inherent genius
for the sea, but an essential affinity with the character of
seamen, which caused his crew to rei:ognise in him abrother
spirit, and cordially exert their efforts to assist him in his
task. For it is perfectly certain that, at first, he must have
been under great disadvantages. He must have been de-
pendent on captains, lieutenant 4, or masters for the whole
seamanship of the very ship in which he sailed. In our day,
no ordinary man would be considered likely to be a'flrst-
rate seaman who should enter the service 2S late fts twenty;
and genius, like everything else, must submit to certain
funtiameatal natural laws."
The struggles of Van Tromp and Blake, the death
of the stout old Dutchman in his cabin from a
musket ball, and the 'death of Blake himself a few.
years later, also in his vessel, just as the ship was
entering Plymouth Sound, are full of in-
terest, and those who have not met with Mr.
Dixon's able work, will find in this article fuller -'
details of the brief and glorious career of the -
great Admiral, than ordinary histories present:-
Mr. Buckle's "History of Civilisation" receives As
severe analysis. It is to be regretted that the ability '
and research displayed by this author should be
marred by the falsity and dogmatism of his principles.
of reasoning:. "Iron Bridges" is the title of an in-
teresting paper which recounts the various inventions
and improvements, from the first experiment across
the Severn to the .f test development of the pre- -
sumption of modern seienee--Mr. Boyd's project . of
a bridge across the Channel from Shakspeare's Cliff
to Cape Grinez. Speaking- of the wonderful variety-
of useful purposes to which this metal is applied, fltek`i
writer quotes the saying of Francis Horner after
inspecting a steel manufactory, that "Iron is not only
the soul of every other manufacture, but the main-
spring of civilised society;" and the 'till more em-
phatic assertion of John Locke, " that notwith-
standing man's advancement in knowledge, we •
should, were the use of iron lost among us,
be in a few ages reduced to the wants and
ignorance of the ancient savage Americans, so that
he who first made known the use of that contemptible
mineral may be truly styled the father of arts and
author of plenty." This somewhat startling asseve-
ration does not appear so extravagant when we take
into consideration the multifarious purposes for ,
which iron is indispensable.
"The superiority of this metal over all others Consists In
the vast number of purposes to which it can be advantage-
ously applied, and the various modifications of which it is
susceptible in the process of manufacture. There is no other
metal which coulq be so worked up as to serve equally well
for a needle and as shot for a ninety-eight-pounder gun;
as a sergeon's lancet and a five-ton Naysmyth tilt hammer;
as the spring of a watch the size of a shilling, and the hull
of a Leviathan steamship ; and which is alike indispensable
is the construction of a pair of scissors and an electric tele-
graph, a steel pen and a railroad, a mariner's compass, and a
tubular bridge. T. e iron machines of our manufacturer. are
driven by the iron steam-engines of Watt, and their products
are distributed over iron railroas!s by the iron locomotives of
Stephenson. Intelligence is telegraphed to and from the
ends of the earth by means of the iron wire. Our Crystal
Palaces are built of glass framed in iron. We have iron
roofs, iron houses, iron chnrches, iron bedsteads, iron light-
houses, iron ships, iron palaces, and iron bridges. In short,
we now seem to be in the very midst of M. Wors.aae's t Iron
Age."'

The life of Wycliffe is one little known, and scarcely
likely to be more so. It is remarked, in the inte-
resting article on this subject, that many who have
exercised the largest influence on the minds of their
fellows have left little behind them but a name.
The very personality of Homer is disputed.
In modern days, how meagre is the biography
of Shakespeare l " Wycliffe, the patriarch of the
Reformation, has been compared to the voice
of one crying in :the wilderness' a voice, and
nothing more—a mighty agency which is
known only in its effects." The brief memoir of his
career, and the extracts given from his writings, will
attract many who have never met with any details
of the life and labours of this herald of the Reforma-
tion. "A paper on Shipwrecks" gives some curious
and instructive details of the losses at sea, and on
the coast, the supposed causes, and the avoidable
dangers. "An Essay on the Britishi Museum" will
be attractive to the studious. An article on the
absorbing topic of the day, "The Condition and
Future of India," is written with ability and impar-
tiality.