The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-19 00:00:00

brown morning suit, a pair of old shoes by way of
slippers, a little shrivelled wig sticking on the top
of his head, and the sleeves of his shirt and the
knees of his breeches hanging loose." No wonder
that Beau BEAUCLERE: adds—" A considerable
crowd of people gathered round, and were not a
little struck by this singular appearance." There,
too, at another time—hardby that same No. 1,
Inner Temple-lane immediately outside Inner
Temple-gate, in the Strand, appeared that strange
spectacle of J OHNSON'S hilarity, described as having
been witnessed by BOSWELL about midnight on
Monday, the 9th of May, 1773. When Dr. JOHN -
SON, writes BOSWELL, " burst into such a fit of
laughter that he appeared to be almost in a convul-
sion ; and in order to support himself, laid hold of
one of the posts at the side of the foot pavement,
and sent forth peals so loud that in the silence of
the night his voice seemed to resound from Temple
Bar to Fleet Ditch." " This most ludicrous ex•
hibition of the awful, melancholy, and vener-
able JOHNSON," writes the biographer, " hap-
pened well to counteract the feelings of sadness
which I used to experience when passing from

him for a considerable time :" Adding,—" I accom
panied him to his door [No. 1, Inner Temple-lane],
where he gave me his blessing." But that house
—classic ground, trodden as it was familiarly by
the footsteps of SA..IIUEL JOHNSON—was destroyed
last year, by reason of its dilapidation. The stair-
case of the old house has been preserved,
as a relic of the Great Doctor, to be kept
and shown as such henceforth in the Crystal
Palace at Sydenham. But the house itself and
the contiguous tenements have been removed—
have been destroyed—are now replaced by an en-
tirely new pile of buildings.
Here is our precedent. These new houses in
Inner Temple•lane have been just now re-christened:
They will henceforth go by the name of Dr.
Johnson's-buildings.

In the intended revision of our street nomencla-
ture, why not take this incident really and truly as
a rational precedent ? Why not consecrate
classic ground, here and there, all over our metro-
polis, by affixing to it some appropriate name of
immortality ? , Why not, for example, let the
street disgraced by the infamous cudgelling of
JOIIN DRYDEN by the clubs of hireling bravos,
compensate for that brutal 'indignity by receiving
henceforth the name of the great Laureate P A
glance through LEIGH HUNT'S " Town" would be
sufficient to suggest scores of other revisions quite

as appropriate. We commend the notion to the
good taste and judgment of our Commissioners of
Metropolitan Improvements.

COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
MARCH 19.

ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON INTELLIGENCE.-A
good many of the members have already got their
yachts ready. Lord Colville, Lord Godolphin,
James Maxse, Esq., P. Percival, Esq.,•Admiral Wal-
pole, Capt. Ponsonby, and several !other members,
have been at, the Squadron•house this week.

RAILWAY COMPETITION.—The directors of the
South Coast Railway take passengers from Cowes
to London, or from London to Cowes for 45.; this,
includes the railway carriage, the omnibus from
the rail to the Portsmouth pier, the pier dues, and
the steamer to or from Cowes. Two-day return
tickets are only ss. for 3d class; Bs., 2d class, and
10s. for Ist class—everything included. In Cowes
there is as much excitement as during a contested
election. The walls are covered with posters, and
the shop windows are filled with bills. Special
steamers are employed, and express trains, the dis-
tance from London to Cowes being done in three
hours and a half. By goods train the charge has
been, to linendrapers and others, 2s. 2d. per cwt.
This is now very much reduced.