The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-01 00:00:00

'WEDGWOOD'S HOSPITALITY.

From his first occupation of Etruria Hall his establish-
ment had been that of a country gentleman of good estate ;
as his fame and consequently his necessary hospitality in-
creased, his establishment was likewise added to. In 1794,
seven male servants, a large proportion of maid-servants,
and these headed by a housekeeper, attended on the family
and its incessant round of guests. The Hall must have
often borne the appearance of a first-class London hotel
during the season. Guests ever coming and going, visi-
tors from the works, neighbours and friends. Foreigners
from every country were occasionally there, and distin-
guished Englishmen formed a large proportion. Wedg-
wood had a strong sense of fitness and convenience, and
without wasteful expenditure or ostentation, he had
made his house a." comfortable place." Guests might
well like to come and linger. In the cheery sitting-
rooms, so full of light and warmth, they found the loveliest
works of art—vases, bas-reliefs, cameos, medallions,
and many other treasures of choice workmanship—on
the harpsichord the newest music, on the shelves the
newest books, as bills remaining show. Each day at
three o'clock the dinner table was laid for unexpected as
well as expected guests, for it was known who might
arrive before or after the meal was served. By the master's
desire the service of the table was often changed. This
week Etruscan painted plates and dishes adorned it, next
simple cream colour, a third the grape pattern, or some other
variation. To-day the salt-cellars were jasper with Flax-
man's bas-reliefs, to-morrow black basaltes of exquisite
form, or vessels resembling shells. The dessert would be
served in dishes formed as autumnal loaves, or in those
modelled from the antique. Even the cook had moulds
for her puddings, her fruits, and her jellies, of various
kinds. Such was the master's taste.
The frontispiece of this superb and crowning volume
of the 'work gives us a portrait of Thomas Bentley,
the indefatigable and invaluable coadjutor of Josiah
Wedgwood.

Reminiscences of a Bengal Civilian. By William
Edwards, Esq., Judge of her Majesty's High
Court of Agra. One vol. Pp. 342. Smith, Elder,
and Co.

" From my first entrance on the active duties of
an Indian civilian's life," says Mr. Edwards, " I
cherished the desire, should I ever retire from the
service, to compile a narrative of my own time."
Little did Mr. Edwards then imagine of what a
romance and what . a tragedy that narrative would
be composed 1 He had carefully kept notes of all
the interesting events which transpired during the
first year of his residence in India. Those papers
were, however, lost in the great rebellion of 1857,
which more than compensated for the loss of those
materials by itself affording matter of far more
momentous interest. The narrative of the perilous
escape of Mr. Edwards, Mr. and Mrs. Probyn, and
their children, and one other companion—the only
survivors of the massacre of Futteghur !—is of en-
thralling interest, and is written with the simplicity
of truth.

THE COST OF THE ELECTION COMMISSIONS.—The
salaries payable in connection with each of the election
commissions amount to about £2O per day. Shorthanding
in connection with each commission costs also about £lB
per day, and allowances to witnesses and miscellaneous
expenses amount to at least £5 per day more. Altogether
the cost of each commission may be sot down at about £45
per day, perhaps £5O per day would be nearer the mark.
As each commission will probably sit about 50 days, the
aggregate cost of each will approach £2,500, making
£lO,OOO altogether for the four commissions.—Observer.
ACCIDENT TO THE LONDON AND BRIGHTON COACH.
—An accident occurred on Friday to the stage coach which
runs between London and Brighton. The vehicle left Pic-
cadilly in the morning, and had got as far as the Clayton
Tunnel, when the horses shied and became unmanageable,
owing to one of two itinerant boy musicians, who were
stonethrowing at each other, having run in front of them.
After much plunging the horses dashed the coach against
a bank and overturned the vehicle, about a dozen of the
passengers being more or less injured—though none, it is
hoped, fatally so.

The honours destined for those gentlemen who
are mainly identified with the Atlantic Telegraph expedi-
tion will comprise knighthoods for Mr. Canning and Mr.
Glass, the latter of whom, we regret to say, is in a bad
state of health. The same distinction has been offered to
and declined by Captain Anderson, of the Great Eastern.—
Sunday Gazette.

THE CAPTURES OF SUPPOSED FENIANS IN
LIVERPOOL—MichaeI O'Brien, Charles Campbell,
and William Carey, the suspected Fenian agents, who were
recently arrested on the charge of being found in illegal
possession of a quantity of muskets, swords, bayonets, and
a phosphoric mixture, were again brought before the Liver-
pool magistrates on Saturday. Mr. Walter, the prosecut-
ing solicitor, asked for a further remand, on the ground
that the case was not yet complete ; but Mr. Cobb (who
appeared for the prisoners) objected to this, and contended
that ample time had been afforded to the police for getting
all necessary information. Mr. Mansfield, the presiding
magistrate, thought that as the depots of Government
stores were very numerous throughout the country, more
time might be necessary to ascertain from which the arms
had been taken. He therefore granted a remand for another
week.

One of the South Western Steam Packet Com-
pany's steamers landed at Southampton last week 150 tons
of butter from Franco. Four or fivo of theso steamers
leave French
porta every week laden with daily produce.

_
dint Chtgar
lit

HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL., Sept. 28.
The Queen went out, accompanied by Princess
Louise, and attended by the Marchioness of Ely.
Princess Christian drovein the afternoon, attended
by the llon. Mrs. 11. Ponsouby.

Prince Christian went out deer-stalking.

The Grand Altarpiece forliVes'minsterAbbey

----.--.

The magnificent specimen of mosaicby Dr. Salviati
for Westminster Abbey is now complete, and its
exhibition in the Jerusalem Chamber has elicited
nothing but the most unreserved praise. The sub-
ject is " The Last Supper," the size of the work being
12ft. Gin. by sft. sin., and the whole set in a splen-
did entablature of alabaster, carved in the style of
the surrounding architecture. Christ is represented
in the centre of the table, with the Twelve Disciples
on either hand, except Judas, who is apart from the
others, and is represented with downcast eyes as
he hears the Saviour exclaim "One of you shall betray
me ;" whilst the others are appealing towards the
Redeemer, saying, " Lord, is it I?" As a work of
art, this specimen of modern mosaic work is one of
the most remarkable ever placed before the wonder-
ing eye of the lover of the good and beautiful. The
combination of the tiny cubes of colour in the rich
groundwork of bright and shining gold produces an
effect so perfectly astonishing that at first it
would seem that we were gazing on a glorious
specimen of an old Italian oil painting, and
not a specimen of modern mosaic. It is a subject
of much gratification that the Dean and Chapter of
Westminster has secured such a splendid specimen
of art for the venerable abbey, and well would it be
in an artistic point of view if the introduction of
mosaic work was made much more general than

is. The Wolsey Chapel at Windsor, decorated by
Dr. Salviati, shows in a most remarkable manner
the grand effect to be produced by mosaics which,
unlike many of our great frescos, are imperish-
able. We have nothing but unmeasured praise
to award to Dr. Salviati and the whole of the artists
engaged in the production of the work, at the same
time wishing that the taste for the art which he has
taken such pains and labour to revive may extend
iu every direction where artistic decoration is re-
quired.

Mn.

BRIGHT'S MOS'

for a redistribution of the el
expressed thus, namely, that
" 145 borbughs,
with
79,000 electors,
1,350,000 population,
paying
£367,000 income-tax,
have
215 members;

POWERFUL ARGUMENT

lectoral districts may be best

while 109 boroughs,
with
485,000 electors,
9,305,000, population,
paying
£5,240,000 income-tax,
have
181 members."

TONIC SOL-FA ASSOCIATION.—This association
repeated at the Crystal Palace on Saturday the concert
which it gave on Sept. 19. The pieces were admirably
rendered, and were received with great applause by a very
large audience.

The Nain Jaune says that the property of Dr.
Glandier, where Madame Laffrago poisoned her husband,
has just come into the possession of the Carthusian monks.

His Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
has kindly promised to become the patron of ,the Irish
branch of the National Lifeboat Institution, and to contri-
bute £lO a-year in aid of its funds.

THE LATE DISASTER OFF BOULOGNE.—We are
requested to state, by the French Lifeboat Society, that it
has no lifeboat at Boulogne. There is a local lifeboat so-
ciety there, which acts independently of tho central insti-
tution at Paris. All the lifeboats belonging to the French
National Lifeboat Society are organised precisely like those
of the National Lifeboat Institution of England.
COLUMBUS AND CERVANTES. —Commemorative
slabs of marble have just been placed on the houses at
Valladolid which had been inhabited by Christopher
Columbus and Cervantes.

A VEGETABLE KING.—The annual ceremony of
crowning the king of the pumpkins at the Central Markets
Paris, took place on Friday. The vegetable which obtained
the honour this year weighed 258 pounds, and measured 10
feet 4 inches in circumference. It was grown at Gouesso
(Seine et Oise).

A SUBMARINE PRESCRIPTION.—.-Amongst the
uses to which the Atlantic cable has been put is one
which would hardly be anticipated. A correspondent com-
municates to us a telegram which he received from a
patient who, being seized with a renewed attack of an ill-
ness from which he had suffered in this country, and for
which he had been successfully treated, telegraphed to his
old medical attendant for directions. These were returned
by the same channel without delay, and we hope they
may have prospered, and that the proper remittance will
follow by an early packet. This prescription will rank
among the curiosities of telegraphy.—The Lancet.
ELECTRIC BULLERS.—An Austrian chemist,' M.
Leinelbroek, has discov!ered a way of enclosing electricity
in small glass capsules, which will explode under the in-
fluence of the slightest shock. The capsule is enclosed in
a steel cone, so that if shot from a rifle it will enter tho
flesh, and the explosion which follows is sufficient to kill a
man. Experiments have been made on oxen and horses
with perfect success, these animals having fallen down as
struck with lightning. Even the slightest injury inflicted
by this means is said to have caused death. We do not
warrant the truth of this statement ; but, admitting it to
be correct, we fail to see the advantage of the invention,
since in war the chief object to be aimed at is fortunately
not killing, but disabling the enemy.--The Mechanics'
Magazine.

ROSSINI'S " MASS" AND " HYMN TO THE EM-
PEROR."—Rossini has, during his summer sojourn
in Passy, finished the orchestration of his " Petite Mosso
Solennelle," which was twice performed with pianoforte
accompaniment at the house of Coant Pillet Will (Rossini's
banker). The great master's last work is a " Hymn hla
l'Empereur," for barytone solo, with choral and orchestral
arrangement and incidental military baud. It is hoped
that this work will be performed at the opening of the
Paris Exhibition. During that season possibly the
"Messe" may be heard too, if the choice of the solo singers
is to the liking of the maestro.—Musical World.
AN M.P. AN AMERICAN NEWSPAPER CORRESPON-
DENT.—The New York Home Journal, of September 12, says
that Mr. Thomas Hughes, the author of " Tom Brown at
Oxford;" has just become the special London correspondent
of the. New York Tribune. In accepting the engagement,
Mr. Hughes writes :—" I have always wished to have the
chance of constant speech in your country, to which I am
much attached, and where there is as much misunder-
standing about England as we have here about you."

The Moniteur du Soir, in its weekly bulletin,
says :—" The journals of Canada have raised awarm
controversy respecting the extradition of a defaulting cashier
of the Bank of France, who had fled to that country. It is
known that all the formalities prescribed by the law have
been observed in this instance. After inquiry and decision
by a competent judge the order for the delivery of the pri-
soner was regularly given by the Governor-General of the
British Provinces. The excitement which has been caused
by this affair, and which refers to the points of procedure
raised inopportunely by the counsel for the accused, seems
to have arisen from considerations foreign to the question
itself. The essential points have been authoritatively ex-
plained in a letter addressed to the principal Canadian
newspapers by the lawyer who represented the British
Crown before the Montreal court."
THE MOORS AND FORESTS.—CRIEFF.— Good sport
is still enjoyed at grouse and black-game shooting
on the moors of Corriemuck-loch, Glenquoich, and Drum-
omt ohne
rd
gameCastl e.h a
vLea rhgeee
hb a ginsaodfe ptahret r ildageet s,f
ew wildd
adyusck so
n, at nhde
lands of Innerpefrmy, belonging to the Hon. Capt. Drum-
mond. Several very good stags have been killed during
last week by W. Cunliffe Brooks and the Earl of Mar.
Mr. W. Cunliffe Brooks also killed his third royal stag, a
very large one, with an admirable head. It, was shot in
the right place at 00 yards, whilst going at full speed.
It was afterwards photographed, es it had fallen dead,
by Mr. Vernon Heath, who has been collecting materials
for his illustrations of the " Lady of the Lake." Mr.
T. Everett Millais, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Ashworth, each
killed a good stag ; the first-named gentleman accom-
plished his stalk during a hurricane of wind and rain.—
The Seaman.

A CLEVER TRICK.—On Friday evening last a
number of colliers, near Chesterfield, whose stock
of the " indispensable"
was exhausted, and who were, as
the saying is, "on the spree," resorted to the following
ingenious expedient to replenish their bottle. Tho leader
of the gang first putting into the bottle (which contains a
gallon) half a gallon of water, went to the Iforns public-
house, near Chesterfield, and called for half a gallon of gin
stating that they had already half a gallon in the bottle.
The unsuspecting landlord immediately measured out
the desired quantum, but the men showing no inclina-
tion to pay ho desired his gin returned—a request they
complied with most willingly, coolly walking off to en-
joy the half-gallon of "gin and water" they had so cleverly
obtained.
wEsToN,s RETREAT.—The public will hear no
further contention respecting a license for Westou's Re-
treat at Kentish Town, as the Midland Railway Company
have purchased the property.