The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-13 00:00:00

THE WOLF lx SHEEPS CLOTHING,

SHEPHERD—What you say is very surprising. My
dogs bark at night, I know ; but I cannot understand how
their barking can frighten the peaceable people you speak of.
This however is certain, it does not frighten my sheep.
They never feel half so secure as when they hear the voice
of their faithful friends, who, to do them justice, are con-
stantly on the alert. Ido not know what business gentle..
men have to be prowling about my fold at night—if they
will do so, they must take their chance. Before I got these
dogs, my affairs were in a most deplorable condition.
I was almost reduced to beggary—my sheep wore
st•len and slaughtered without mercy, in spite of a that I
could do. But since I took them into my service, every
thing goes on prosperously ; my flock has multiplied beyond
all belief, I have paid off my debts, and am now respected
and courted by my neighbours, who formerly used to turn
up their noses at me.—But pray when did you be-
come a member of the Association for the Protection of
Property ? If my memory serves me right, you lately
belonged to a very different society. Are not you one of
the gentlemen that used formerly to visit my fold every
night, and worry my sheep ?

WOLF—Why ye—ye—yes. I cannot deny that we have
got a bad name, and if the truth were told, we have in
some degree deserved it ; but we are quite altered now—
we have laid aside all our old habits, repented of our former
sins, and as we have now a new nature, we hare taken a new
name ; we are entirely reformed.

SHEPHERD—Reformed! Oh, oh! you are reformed are
you ? lam afraid it is but a sham reform. What proof
can you give me of your sincerity ?

WOLF—Do you perceive no change in my appearance ?
Is not that enough so satisfy any reasonable person ?.
SHEPHERD—Far from it ; I am not such a fool as to
trust merely to appearances in a matter of such import-
ance. I see, indeed, you have attempted to disguise your-
self, but the silliest of my lambs would discover the cheat
in a moment. You cannot conceal those glaring eyes and
frightful jaws.

WoLF—I assure you, Sir, we mean to do what is right ;
—we do upon my honour.
SuErHERD—Upon your honour! the honour of a WOLF!
Ha! ha ha !—that's a good joke !
WOLF—AII we want is a fair trial—only give us a fair
it4nl

SHEPHERD—Give you a halter! If you had had your
deserts, you would have been hanged long ago, every one
of you. Your whole.lives have been spent in acts of rob-
bery and murder; and yet you have the impudence to talk
of a fair trial. It may be very fair to you to let. you into
my fold, but will it be fair to my sheep ? When you have
devoured them, it will be poor consolation to me to think
that I gave you a fair trial. But what is this I hear ?
There is a commotion in the fold. My sheep begin to be
uneasy at my holding parley with their sworn enemy, and
if they should suspect that I mean to betray them, they
will, to a certainty, unite with the dogs to whom they are
much attached, and then woe betide both you and me. So
get you gone instantly, or you shall be knocked on the
head without farther ceremony. You are a set of con-
victed felons, a cruel, rapacious, blood-thirsty crew, one and
all of you. It bodes no good when such as you call your-
selves the protectors of property ; and much as I disliked
you in your real character, I dislike you ten times more in
your new disguise.

EAST SURREY ELECTION.---An impotent at-
tempt at opposition has been got up in this district by the
Tories, and the champion of conservatism appears in the per-
son of one Mr. Richard Alsager, an illustrious obscure of no
" mark or likelihood." Verily Toryism must be at a dreadful
discount, judging by the representatives it puts forth. Mr.
Alsager is precisely of the calibre of Mr. Farebrother, the
powerfully supported candidate for Lambeth. The one con-
siders " a large and rising family " a qualification for a Mem-
ber of Parliament; the other finds a passport to political life
in being a retired Captain of the East India Company's Ser-
vice I The superannuated commander will find that he has
lost his reckoning and is out of his latitnde. Major Beauclerk
and Mr. Briscoe are sure of their return, and Mr. Alsager will
soon find that the electors are all sager than, to vote for him.
DISSENTERS OF IRELAND.—An immense meet-
ing was held on Wednesday evening at Ebenezer Chapel,
D'Olier-street, Dublin, the Rev. J. B. M'Crea presiding, the
aggregate assemblage being little short of a thousand. After
the ordinary service, the following resolutions were passed,
nemine contradicente

"6 Resolved,—That we have heard with the deepest sorrow
the resolutions passed by a few persons called deputies at
Ebenezer Chapel, Birmingham, in reference to the address of
the Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel to the electors of Tamworth ;
forasmuch as we conceive that on matters merely secular
Christians ought not to array themselves in open hostility to
the higher authorities (Rom. xiii., 1) ; that it is contrary to
the usages of society and the precepts of Scripture to employ
to rulers language studiously offensive (Rom. xiii. 7.) ; that
the candid promises of statesmen claim a fair trial (1 Cor. xii.,
7.) ; and that the rejection of a legal privilege merely from a
suspicion of the reluctance with which the King's Ministers
may concede it, were a demonstration of most ungodly con-
tempt for the sovereign dispensations of Divine Providence.
(Proverbs, xxi., 1.)
66 Resolved,—That we feel it our duty to express, in the
most emphatic manner, our dissent from the resolutions above
referred to ; and our conviction that they are repugnant to the
feelings of orthodox Noncomformists throughout the empire."
RATHCORMAC TITHE INQUEST.—(Extract of a
letter from our Irish Correspondent. )--I am assured, that as
one result of this important investigation, two county of Cork
magistrates have been arrested (names not mentioned.)._.
Times.
Jr

ohn Brag, the man who stabbed his brother, as
mentioned in our last, and who was committed to York on a
charge of manslaughter, at Thongsbridge, died on Monday
last, as is supposed of a broken heart. The father of the two
unfortunate men is likewise in a very precarious state of heal+i-
-Halifax Express,
_a.
On Tuesday (Dec. 2321 as IT.,:r. William Livock,
was
head clerk in the brewer;
-:, rtobert Sheriffe, Esq., of Diss,
returninir 4.eom 'lading Market, the evening being dark,
in. 'pkssing through the bounds of Keuninghall, he was shot at
from behind a hedge; the ball passed so near him as to be
sensibly felt, but providentially without doing him any injury.
--Norwich Mercury,

A shepherd, whose fold was continually exposed to the
depredations of a band of wolves from a neighbouring wood,
at last procured some dogs of an excellent breed to protect
his flock. These brave and faithful animals did their duty
so well, that not a wolf dared to come within sight of the
fold, which, from being a scene of nightly ravage and terror,
was now become the seat of peace and happiness. This
state of things was by no means satisfactory to the wolves.
They lived by plunder, and without plunder they must
starve. The employment of dogs to take care of the sheep
was, they said, an encroachment on their prerogative—an
innovation to which they could not submit ; and unless the
old system were restored, it was clear the whole race of
wolves would soon be extinct. To avert so dreadful a
calamity, they had recourse to the following expedient.
They called a general meeting, at which it was unani-
mously resolved that the dogs were an intolerable nuisance,
that the sheep were evidently intended by nature to be the
property of the wolves, inasmuch as nothing agrees so well
with the stomach of a wolf as mutton ; that they must get
possession of the fold by hook or by crook, and that, for
this purpose, one of their number, properly disguised, should
be deputed to wait upon the shepherd, in order, if possible,
to prevail upon him to dismiss the dogs and take the wolves
in their stead. Accordingly a wolf, distinguished for cun-
ning and plausibility was selected to carry this project into
effect. He clapt a sheep's skin on his back, and off he set
upon his hopeful expedition. Meeting the shepherd at the
door of the fold, he thus accosted hint :
WoLP—(bowing very low)—I have been deputed by
the Association for the Protection of Property, to pre-
sent their most respectful compliments to you, most worthy
Sir, and to say that, feeling as they do, the deepest in-
terest in your welfare, nothing would give them so much
pleasure as to have the honour of serving a gentleman for
whom they entertain so high a regard.
SHEPHERD—I am very much obliged to the Association
for their kind intentions, but my property is sufficiently
protected already. I have a set of capital dogs, and—
WoLP—Ah, Sir, there is just the point on which we
differ—those hateful dogs—You will never do well until you
rid yourself of those cursed animals. The neighbourhood, I
assure you, is scandalized at their behaviour. They keep
up such an everlasting barking that peaceable people cannot
sleep in their beds. It was only the ether night that some
gentlemen, friends of mine, as they passed this way, looked
over the wall, merely to gratify a little innocent curiosity,
when those savage beasts flew at them like tigers, and com-
pelled them to run for their lives. It is quite shocking.
We therefore hope that you will discharge the dogs, and
we will most willingly undertake the guardianship of your
flock.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH.-(THIS DAY.)

PRUDHOMMS V. FRASER.
Mr. EARL moved in this case, which was an action for libel
brought by the French cook of Earl Grey, against the proprie-
tor of Frazer's Magazine, and in which a verdict was had for
the plaintiff—damages 501., for a rule to show cause why the
verdict for the plaintiff should not be entered for the defen-
dant ; or that the verdict should be confined to so much
of the declaration as the Jury had found to apply to
the plaintiff, and be entered for the defendant, as to the
residue of the declaration. The object of the application
was, in order that the defendant might be entitled to certain
costs, which would follow from the granting of it by the Court.
The Learned Counsel entered into a detail of the circum-
stances, which were published at some length at the time of
the trial in our paper, and cited several authorities in support
of his application.
The COURT took time to consider, as the question was one
of some importance.