The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-15 00:00:00

CRYSTAL PALACE. GREAT CHORAL to observe, has a very fair chance of taking his
PERFORMANCE of Madrigals, Part Songs, Choruses,
&c., by the Vocal Association, O'NE THOUSAND PER- place again as one of the national representatives
FORMERS, under the conduct of Mr. Benedict, on WED-
NESDAY NEXT, August 17th, commencing at half-past —this time, however, not as member for the metro-
Two. Admission, One Shilling. politan county of Middlesex, nor yet for the im-

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Under the Management of Mr. Charles Kean.
' THIS EVENDTG, THE WIFE'S SECRET. Mr. and
Mrs. C. Bean.
To conclude with A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

maculate borough of Dover, but for that good old
Devon constituency that so often sent Mr.
RALPH OSBORNE'S political godfather, the
late CHARLES BULLER, to the House of Commons,
namely the borough of Liskeard. In the event of
Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE'S return for which, we shall
probably next session have the delight of listening
once more to his " wild shreik of liberty" from the
back benches behind the Goverment, unless the
hon. gentleman be by that time doomed to another
interval of " dumb forgetfulness"—forgetfulness of
all his constitutional vivacity and love of frolic—
by consenting to wear anew that gag or padlock, a
minor office in the Administration.

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Lessee. Mr. J. B. Buckatone.
THIS EVENING, HALLOWE'EN.
THE CONTESTED ELECTION.
After which, OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND.
To conclude with A NABOB FOR AN HOUR.
Commence at 7.

NEW THEATRE - ROYAL, ADELPHL
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Benj. Webster.
THIS EVENING, the performances will commence with
THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.

Followed by the new burlesque, THE BABES EN THE
WOOD. Messrs. C. Marshall, Paul Bedford, C. J. Smith,
Mourne ; Miss Woolgar and Miss K. Kelly.
Acting Manager—Mr. Wm. Smith.
On Thursday, August 18, for the Benefit of Mr. W. Smith,
Acting Manager, THE WRECK ASHORE : Mr. Billington,
P. Bedford, Stuart; Mr. W. Smith, Mr. Eburne, MissWoolgar,
and Mrs. Billington. After which, THE DAUGHTER OF
THE REGIMENT. Marie, Miss Rebecca Isaacs, for this
night only ; assisted by Messrs. P. Bedford, Garden, More-
land, Mrs. Chatterley. And The Babes in the ti% ood.
Doors open at a quarter-past six—Commence at seven. Box
Odloe open from 10 to 5 -no charge for booking. No fees to
servants permitted. A registry kept of all articles found.

But that Mr. FITZROY is really abont to em-
power Mr. HAWKSLEY to make such a horrible
mess of the whole project for cleansing the Serpen-
tine—doing this at a cost to the nation (just to
begin with) of £17,000, at a cost of all comfort to
the frequenters of Hyde-park, and at a cost of
all health and convenience to the unfortunate and
unoffending inhabitants of Bayswater—but for all
these evil results of a preposterous engineering
crotchet, we should be disposed to say not another
word about it. We are heartily sick of the entire
subject, as doubtless our readers are also—we are
sick of hearing, and reading, and writing
about Mr. FITZROY'S obstinacy and Mr. HAWKS-
LEY'S self-sufficiency in regard to this absurd,
and, before it is any way commenced, utterly
unpopular plan of filtering and refiltering
the dirty water the particularly ingenious
scheme of pumping that dirty water out
of, and carefully pouring it back again into, the
still more more dirty, old, rotten, cavernous bed of
that pretty but pestilential stagnant lake called the
Serpentine.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE,
Lessee and Directress, Miss Swanborough
THIS EVENING, THE MAID WITH THE MILKING
PAIL,
After which, A SCHOOL FOR COQUETTES. Misses
Swanborough, Oliver, and Lavine.
Followed by THE VERY LATEST EDITION OF THE
LADY OF LYONS.
Commence at 7 o'clock.

VERDI'S OPERA OF MACBETH. The
whole of the first Act of this Opera, now produced
for the first time in this country (the remaining three acts
being in course of rehearsal), is sung nightly at the CAN-
TERBURY HALL CONCERTS.
THE DELEPIERRE FAMILY,

consisting of three Juvenile Violinists, viz., Jules, Juliette,
and JuliaDelepierre, aged, respectively, FOUR, SIX, and
EIGHT years.

The perfect execution by these Lilliputian Artistes of some
of the most difficult and brilliant Solos, Duets, and Trios eve:
written for the violin, has excited mingled wonder and admi-
ration in Continental Musical Circles, and drawn forth enthu-
siastic tributes of praise from the Public Journals of France
and Belgium.
They will perform TWICE EACH EVENING, in addi-
tion to the usual Entertainments.

THE WEATHER.-SUN OFFICE, AUGUST 14.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
74—highest since noon yesterday.
66—lowest this morning and during the night.
69—this day at noon.
BAROMETER-29.90—falling.

A singularly impertinent and illogical letter,
however, published this morning in the columns of
our leading contemporary, and republished by our-
selves in another part of our impression of this
evening, a curiously pert and inconsequential argu-
ment of the whole matter, penned by Mr. HAWKS-
LEY himself, constrains us to revert once more, as
briefly as possible, and very unwillingly, to a sub-
ject that has really become long since quite intole-
rable.

WIND, W.N.Westerly ; fresh, with rain in the morning ;
but the weather cleared up, and the day was beautiful.

AUG. 15.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
72—highest since noon yesterday.
62—lowest this morning and during the night.
65—this:day at noon.

Altogether, Mr. T. HAWKSLEY'S letter will be
found, upon examination, to be, from beginning to
end, one of the most ill-judged communications
any one could well contrive to pen, who has just
inveighled an administrator, entirely and
avowedly ignorant in the matter, into the pre-
cipitate adoption of an experimental scheme,
that is no sooner explained than it is scouted
on all sides as glaringly ridiculous in design
—certain to be ineffectual in its operation—
aud inevitably tending to lead, insidiously by
little and little, to a most extravagant and ap-
parently a never-ending expenditure.

To illustrate at once the shallowness of Mr. T.
HAWKSLEY'S argument let us particularise one or
two of his assertions. For instance, speaking of
the actual condition of things in regard to the
liquid about to be subjected by him to such an
elaborate and expensive system of perpe-
tually securing periodic filtrations, he asserts
" that the water of the Serpentine does not hold
much organic matter in solution, but, on the con-
trary, is essentially clear, sweet, and inodorous"
Then why, in the name of all that is rational, why
not leave this exquisitely " clear, sweet, and inodo-
rous" water alone? Why spend £17,000 in doing
so very deliberately what is so wholly unneces-
sary ? Why dream of filtering what is so essen-
tially pellucid and translucent P Mr. HAWKSLEY
says emphatically—" Let there be no mistake on
this subject [that is precisely the very thing we
want, by the way !—let there be no mistake on this
subject.] lam speaking of the water"—and, re-
collect, that speaking thus of the water he has de-
scribed it as " essentially clear, sweet, and inodo-
rous !" If it is all that—why then, in the name
of common sense, leave it alone ! Don't spend a
sixpence of that I:l7,ooo—don't talk another instant
about an ornamental building, about stationary
engines, about three-fourths of an acre of gravel,
for the purposes of filtration. If the water is, as
Mr. HAWKSLEY declares it to be, " essentially
clear"—if it be, as he says it is, essentially " sweet"
—if it be, as he asser:s it to be, essentially " in-
odorous,"—surely we have all there that we can
any of us want to have ! We have already
if we are to believe Mr. HAWKSLEY, we
have at this moment essentially clean-sweet-
inodorous water in the Serpentine. In which case,
we certainly can have no requirement whatever for
Mr. HAWKSLEY and his filter -beds, and his steam-
engines, and his pumping apparatus, and all his
exaggerated " much ado about nothing" in the
way of filtration and re-filtration. To go to the
expense of £17,000 to clarify water that (to begin
with) is so perfectly diaphonous, would be about as
ludicrous as to "paint the lily," or to " gild refined
gold," according to that notion of SHAKSPERE'S.

In fact, Mr. HAWKSLEY proves too much. Yet,
as though all this were really not enough for his
purpose, in the event of self-stultification, he re-
commends those " excited " persons, as he imper-
tinently designates those who have the exceeding
temerity to dream of differing with him in opinion
in regard to a plan, the first and most certain
result of which is to put money into his own
pocket! He recommends those " excited " people
"to go to the house of the Royal Humane Society,
on the north bank of the Serpentine, there
borrow a glass or a bottle, take a boat and pull
off from the side, then (if their prejudices will
allow them, for they need not be alarmed) view I
taste, and smell the water ; afterwards filter some
of it through a piece of white blotting paper (this
can be obtained properly folded at any respectable
druggist's) ; put some that is filtered and some that
is unfiltered under a good working microscope, with
Dr. CARPENTER'S or some other standard work on
microscopic forms by their side ; evaporate a quart
or more of the water very slowly, and at a low
temperature, so as to bring down all the inorganic
salts and all the organic matter ; weigh the dry
residue in a small platinum crucible, ignite and
weigh again (the difference of the, two weighings
will consist of organic matter and some gases
combined with the inorganic salts), and then''
[after all this and it pretty nearly takes
one's breath away to read a sentence that
has not yet come to an end], "and then," says
Mr. HAWKSLEY triumphantly, these excited
correspondents " will then, it may be, learn
what they do not seem to know, that neither sen-
sibly nor chemically is there much that is wrong
with the greatly abused water of the Serpentine,
ra
ingdh
tt I
131 a the
yt
thet esimple little that is
process
w wrong may
ltra be
tien.::eadsielytismett
we are really and truly going to expend forthwith
£17,000 sterling (and we don't know how much
purifying afterwards) for the purpose of
water that
is already so pure, so " clear," so " sweet," so in..
dorous," so translucent altogether, that it is almost
a matter of impossibility to discover any impurity
in it whatever, by all sorts of chemical tests, and by