The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-20 00:00:00

a riding-whip. They wore stiff stand-up collars, and ful
trousers, showing the boot at the instep fastened with
straps. The prince was scarcely to be distinguished from
a well-dressed private English gentleman, except on State
occasions, when his display threw that of the greatest
magnificos into the shade.

Lord Alvanley's stout proportions and round face, with
its little nose, immediately attracted my friend's attention•
From him he glanced to the tall figure and smiling features
of Lord Petersham. The others, in turn, came in for a full
share of his scrutiny.

My friend's attention was again absorbed by the conver-
sation. In a fow minutes he turned once more, and again
noticed the dandies clustered about, gazing on his
with as much wondering cutiosity as so many learned
savants might have exhibited at suddenly having presented
to them a wild specimen of the genus ltonto of an entirely
new species. They rapidly moved away, and began to
look at other things as soon as they found they had at-
tracted the stranger's observation. person

He had, he said, taken especial pains to be wall dressed,
when he made up his mind to attend the levee of such 3
connoisseur in personal decoration, and the beau's friend!),
manner of bringing him amongst the most select of his
little court had not only particularly gratified him, but put
him entirely at his ease. Noticing, however, the singular.
behaviour of his companions, he could not help feeling
rather annoyed as well as somewhat alarmed.

"Remember," continued my friend, " that my career as
a man of fashion had scarcely commenced. I was but &
youth. I felt a morbid anxiety growing upon me that now
shaped itself into a fear that I had committed some egre-
gious blunder while making my toilet, and at once grew
very rod and uncomfortable.

"1 speedily moved to another part of the room, and
tried to quiet my disturbed thoughts by an examination of
some rare Dresden on a side table. From this I was pre-
sently aroused by an exclamation of surprise from my host,
and looking towards him had the satisfaction of perceiving
that he and Prince Esterhazy were intently observing Ina
through their eye-glasses, the rest of the company doing
the same thing, and that he looked with an expression_of
mingled concern and amazement.

" My dear fellow," he exclaimed, advancing nearer to me,
with his glass to his eye, the others following example•
Aw, whore did you pick up that extraordinary affair you
have put on your back. I protest I never saw anything 6°
singular."

"Most singular, indeed," cried Lord Yarmouth.
" May be it's an heir-loom ?" suggested Lord Fyfe.
" Coeval with Alfred the Great, at least," observed Lord
Al vanloy.
"Exactly !" said Lord Wilton.
"Exactly," echoed another.

The Prince laughed good-humouredly, as he added, "It
is not your fault, mine goot sir; you shall not be to blame,
because a devoid-of-conscience-influencing tradesmen de-,
ceive you when you do him the honour to purchase of him
his delusive fabrics."

" Is there anything the matter with the coat ?" my friend
inquired, in a dreadful state of confusion.
" Coat !" exclaimed Beau I3rummell.
" Coat !" cried his friends in chorus, all in extreme
astonishment.

"For Heaven's sake, sir, don't misapply names so aborain"
ably ! ' cried the host loudly, and every one continued to
scrutinise the garment ; " it's no more like a coat than a
cauliflower—if it is, I'll be, d—d."

There was a wild laugh, which enraged the young RIO':
teur of fashion more than the extravagant commenting;
and he was meditating a hasty retreat from his unpleasant
position—indignant with what he considered insurmount-
able criticism—when th4e door suddenly opened, and the,
valet announced some very great lady, whose name I have
forgotten.

" I was piqued, perhaps," continued my friend, " for they
must have known whose son I was, and the rank, too, t°
which one day or other I must attain ; the intervielc,
however, had the wholesome effect of curing one °f
dandyism ; and though, as you know, I was a servant-
man-about-town, I thought more of politics, sports of all
kinds, and hunting and racing, than of the pupperi" of
useless folly,"

Every now and then there is in the midst of all
these random recollections a naiveté on the part Of
our author quite refreshing in its way. A 5
where speaking about Lord Byron, he re"
marks —" When Byron and myself commenced,
our several careers, we had a good many tastes
and feelings in common, however much we leg
have differed in other respects. Although never
approaching his talent for poetry"—surely a noble
and affecting admission on the part of Mr.
Grantley Berkeley !—" I was fond as
,3
youth of poetic versification." And so on. 11
might multiply instances like this one very readily,
upon merely lightly turning the pages of either of these
two concluding volumes of the work, 'twixt finger
and thumb. The passage just given about Byron,.
however, will surely suffice. Towards the close
of the work the veil of the inner room
of the. sanctuary of home is dropped : and our ante'
biographer allows himself in direct violation of an
the instincts of his own genial and cordial nature to
indulge in taunts, sarcasms, and vituperations vex,'
much akin indeed to the hallucinations of Alr'
Whalley, M.P. for Peterborough. It is upon 3
theme, however, that to some minds appears to be
always somehow suggestive of what Mr. Cobden
happily termed a craze. We pass it by, therefore,
with a sense of wondering regret. We prefer
looking back to the world of agreeable pages Pre-
ceding these same final pages of the last volume
of the work—these pages darkened by the
shadow of a domestic trouble out of which
has sprung up this most fantastic hallucination.
We prefer listening to Mr. Grantley Berkeley When
he is in his kindlier moods, when he is not splutter-
ing personalities over his blotted pages, as if fr°l°
an ill-nibbed pen with ink darkened beyond its cus-
tomary tomary depth with the gall of bitterness ! We like
him best when the smile and not the sneer is on i.is
lip : and when in his racy telling of an aliecdcte, w
can almost hearfrcim the printed page the contagleua
;
peal of his laughter. Regarding him solely in tll3
light, his name is borne by us very agreeablY ~,
our remembrance.

FRENCH WlNES.—Messrs. Mann Nephews beg tin
announce the Third Edition of Mr. W. Ray Smee's 1331/1:
phlet on " French Wines at One Penny per Bottle Cuetet-
Duties" is out of print, but the Fourth Edition will be pub-
lished as soon as possible, with a preface, shelving the re-
duction to one penny for all light cheap wines is preferable
to 2d., as decided upon by the Government.
DEATH OF MRS. GERALD MASSEY. We have t°
record the death, on Tuesday last, of Mrs. Jane 3fasseAll
wife of Gerald Massey, the poet, who at the time of her ne:
cease resided with her husband and their two children
Water End, near Berkharapstead. The deceased lady wag
possessed of rare_ accomplishment; and was only in tb°
prime of life, being between 30 and 40 years of age-
DEATH OF MR. S. WILDERSPIN. We annOtille°
with regret the death of Mr. Wilderspin, which took place
at his residence, Westgate, Wakefield. The deceased
one of the pioneers of the educational movement. For Ye°
before the importance of the subject was acknowledged b°
laboured to obtain an extension of infant schools for thel)001";
His efforts were restricted to no portion of the kingdom, bur
extended to all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland-
a long time his labours were carried on under great difficTe
ties and obstacles, but they obtained recognition from t°
late Sir Robert Peel ; and an annuity, which was P°l-11
from Government and partly the result of public subser'r
tions, was obtained for him.—Leeds Mercury.
tOOIC ,
DESTRUCTIVE FIRES.—This morning afire d
fire
place in the premises of a block-maker and smith, situate,
in St. George-street, St. George-in-the-East, and destres.ren
the basement and considerably damaged tie upper port by
of the building. A number of inmates were rescued gr
the fire-escape men, after much exertion. Anotheralso took place at Mr. Holmes's, a carpenter, at pottl;
lane, Notting-hill, and was not extinguished until tfire
contents of tht4 workshop were destroyed. And t' No-
happened in the coachhouse of Mr. C. Fox, a carman' able
9, Seymour-yard, Marylebone, which also did consider
damage. jn
PARLIAMENTARY REPORTING IN AUSTRALIA.--i.
addition to the reports of the proceedings of the Pao'.
el_
ment of Victoria, Australia, which are given in t4° do-
bourne daily newspapers, there is in future to be an ;a
pendent record published at the Government
office. To furnish this special report three reporters.
viously connected with the staff of the Melbourn4
A Sus'
have been engaged by the Government. The 1007
of
ment was to come into operation at the commencenie!in
the session of 1866. From the aspect of political affel.r.
beet
Victoria at the date of last mail there is every Pr°l_,,x.
that the session will provide them with plenty of A
The Government reporters will be perfectly untrammenn
in the discharge of their function; their sole duty being__':
give a faithful report of the discussion; free from a n_lrv?.
political or personal bias. Messrs. T. R. FladleY7
Robinson, and H. Willoughby are the reporters wh
undertaken this responsible task.—Leeds
FIRE AT THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH, GORn
n SQUARE On Sunday night some alarm was caused
r"
.11;5
dou-square, Tottenham-court-road, owing to a rcTeetiteoyai
raised that the Apostolic Church was on fire.
Society's escape and the engines promptly attendericlia,
fire was confined to the destruction of some linen 0e1P.,0
Mr. Westland Marston's new comedy,
there
"Favourite of Fortune," has been produced by fr. 3 8°
at Glasgow, with success. This comedy is to be rel3°:: ba
in Liverpool, and, after these provincial rehearsals, v,"
presented to a London audience on Easter Monday'
in be
It is confidently reported that a libel fog
prosecuted against the Rev. Dr. Macleod at the next wee.
b.ut the
of the Presbytery of Glasgow.—Glasgow Morni7l9 *Pu