The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-26 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM arrived at the Foreign-office on
Monday night, during the time the Ministers of the Five
Powers were assembled on the affairs of the Netherlands,
and bad an interview with Viscount PALMERSTON. The
conference lasted till an early hour yesterday morning.
The Dutch Minister on a special mission visited Vis-
count PALMERSTON yesterday afternoon, at the office of
the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The Russian Ambassador, the Prussian and French
Ministers, the Austrian Miniscer on a special mission, and
the Austrian Ch,rge d'Affaires, assembled at the Foreign..
office yesterday afternoon, to hold another conference with
Viscount PALMERSTON. At 6 o'clock their Excellencies
left for their respective residences.

The Haase Towns' Minister transacted business yester,
day at the Foreign-office.

It has surprised the friends of Lord PAL-
NIERSTON that he never before thought of betaking himself
for a seat in Parliament to his native county (Hants),
where his paternal estate lies, and where Hs influence and
claims are the most legitimate and safe. This would have
been wiser policy in the first instance than submitting
to a second rebuff at Cambridge, or trying his hand alter-
nately at Lambeth and at Truro.' The Noble Lord has, we
perceive, at length taken this course by entering the lists
against Mr. FLEMING, whose notorious enmity to Reform
drove him from the seat which he is now endeavouring to
regain ; and though we are no admirers of the whole of
Lord PALMERSTON'S official career, we heartily wish him
success when opposed to Mr. FLEMING and the Hampshire
Tories, who, from the time of " Old GEORGE ROSE,"
have been the foremost and most uncompromising in ad-
herence to every species of public abuse.—Morn. Paper.
FALMOUTH, SEPT. 23.—1 wrote this morn-

ing in haste on account of time being limited. I have
since been informed that MIGUEL'S squadron was driven
southward of the Tagus by stress of weather, the first divi-
sion of SARTORIUS'S squadron went in pursuit ; the
second resumed the blockade off the bar of Lisbon, to be
strengthened by the London Merchant steamer, and other
small vessels from the Douro. Two brigs of war received
orders, and proceeded for the blockade of Figueiro on
the 16th.

An absurd rumour was circulated yesterday in
the City, to the effect that Don MicuEL's agent was in
treaty with the General Steam Navigation Company in
Lombard .street, for the hire of four steam-vessels to be
sent to Lisbon. Considering the state of MIGUEL'S trea-
sury, the chance of his obtaining steam-vessels from this
country is, we should think, as slender as the probabi-
lity of his obtaining the co-operation of our Government.
Private mercantile accounts from Oporto re-
present that the natives of Oporto have, on account of the
bombardment, evinced much discontent. On the other
hand, we can positively state, from sources which may be
relied upon, that 40 forty-two pounders have been for-
warded from London to Oporto, with full 500 cavalry--
namely, 60 horses from London last week; 110 ditto,
from Nantes, by the brig Jules ; 150 Hanoverian and
Mecklenburg horses, from Bremen, per ship Emulous, of
350 tons ; 120 ditto, from Portsmouth ; 60 core from
London—Total, 500. Besides these, 550 old soldiers
frcm England, and 950 men of the Foreign Legion, paid
off in Belgium, whom the agents of Don PEDRO contrived
to secure on the frontier, so as to cause no umbrage.
Three thousand muskets were shipped from London, with
abundance of clothing, &c., provided by the first makers.
Don CHAVIERE, the Aide-de-Camp of the Emperor, out-
does his 111A3EsTv's conduct and sang froid during the
attack, as well as that of Don BERNARDO SA, who, con-
cealing his wounds, held his sword in his left hand, and
remain Al an hour on the field of battle. The brother of
Don BERNARDO SA was killed on the 23d August, al
Vallango. A great deal of the wine at Villa Nova had
been previously removed to Oporto, and was in perfect
safety.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.--The following pas-
sage from the pen of the gifted Baronet will be read with
melancholy interest at the present period. It is charac-

teristic of the author:—" I must refer to a very early pe-
riod of my life were I to point out my first achievements
as a tale-teller, but I believe some of my old schoolfellows
can still bear witness that I had a distinguished character
for that talent at a time when the applause of my compa-
nions was icy recompense for the disgraces and punish-
ments which the future romance writer incurred for being
idle himself, and keeping others idle, during hours that
should have been employed on our tasks. The chief en-
joyment of my holydays was to escape with a chosen friend
who had the same taste with myself, and to alternately re-
cite to each other such wild adventures as we were able to
devise. We told each in turn interminable tales of knigh...
errantry, and battles, and enchantments, which were con-
tinued from one day to another, as opportunity offered,
without our ever thinking of bringing them to a conclu-
sion. A.s we observed a strict secrecy on the subject of
this intercourse, it acquired all the character of a concealed
pleasure ; and we used to select for the scenes of our in-
dulgence long walks through the solitary and romantic en-
virons of Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crags, Braid I fills, and
similar places in the vicinity of Edinburgh ; and the recol-
lection of those holydays stills forms an oasis in the pil-
grimage which I have to look back upon."
ANECDOTES OF SIR WALTER SCOTT.-
Sir WALTER always disliked the acrimony of disputation;
he never, like Dr. JonssoN, entered the lists as a cham-
pion for the palm of conversational honour; he never
talked for victory, but rather as a relaxation from severer
studies, and in order to amuse and promote kindly feel-
ings ; and he was always remarkably attentive to those
who were diffident, gently encouraging them and drawing
them on to take a share in the conversation, with a kind-
ness and consideration that was truly admirable. As a
public speaker, he was graceful, easy, and fluent. He was
in the habit of composing with singular ease and fluency,
and he seldom altered his first ideas or language. He ge-
nerally finished about a sheet or sixteen pages of the novels
per day, and the original manuscript is in a fair and legi-
ble hand, with scarcely any alterations. The most bril-
liant scenes and dialogues in " Guy Mannering," the
" Antiquary," " Tales of my Landlord," &e. are written
out in this manner with scarcely any interlineations, and
apparently without any hesitation. The full flood of
his ideas seems to have been poured forth from his
excited mind with wonderful freedom and facility ;
awl on one occasion, it is related of him, that when
he was dictating to a friend (being unable to write from
recent indisposition) one of the dialogues in Ivanhoe, in
which Front de Bceuf is the hero, he rose up from his
chair, in the animation of his fancy, and acted the scene
which lie was describing, giving that part of the dialogue
which belonged to Front de Bceuf with extraordinary
force and vivacity, and with every suitable accompaniment
of tone, gesture, and manner. He evinced the same fa-
cility in the composition of his poetry. Like many other
great men he was distrustful of his own talents, and not at
all conscious of their wonderful extent ; or rather he tried
his performances by the severe test of his own exquisite
taste, and was more humbled by the deficiencies which lie
discovered than exalted by what he had actually performed.
Sir WALTER SCOTT'S father was cut off by the same
malady, and about the same age as his son, who, it is sin-
gular, had always a dread, which the event has unhappily
realized, that this disease would overtake him in the de-
cline of life. Yet he was of a remarkably strong consti-
tution, enjoyed in gerwral robust health, was of moderate
habits, and took regular exercise. It was his practice to
rise in the morning about seven or earlier, and, with the
interval of breakfast, to apply to his literary studies until
one or two o'clock, when he went out to walk with his
dogs for his companions, with whose gambols he was much
amused, nor was he in the habit of allowing his valuable
time to be much interrupted by visitors, who, though they
were treated with extreme courtesy, were allowed after
the first day to find their own amusement. He took
great interest in adorning the grounds around Abbotsford,
by planting, &c., and in the course of his walks he always
carefully surveyed the progress of these improvements.—
Edinburgh Evening Courant.

The -popular author of" Stories of Waterloo,"
is about, we understand, to publish a work entitled," Wild
Sports of the West," being the personal experience of the
writer in hunting, shooting, fishing, &c. in the West of

Ireland. This, it seems, is to be interspersed with legen-
dary tales, anecdotes, narrations of facts in natural history,
descriptions of scenery, &c. &c.
SCOTTISII CLANS.—So powerful at one time
was the family of Nithsdale, in the neighbourhood of Dum-
fries, that no less than 70 gentlemen's seats, all MAXWELLS,
might he counted between Cosincon and Caerlaverock ;
shout one half of which still remain in the occupation of
regslar descendants.

A tremendous fall of the Dover Cliff, amount-
!rig to some thousand tom?, took place on Friday afternoon,
just beyond the Castle; it made a breach through the road
to the sea. No accident occurred, we are happy to state,
from the fall.

CORONER'S INQUEST.-011 Monday evening
an inquest was held before Mr. CARTER, the coroner,
.And a highly
Last, Greenwich, on the bodies of RICHARD MEE, aged
respectable jury, at the sign of the Ship. and
tour years, and JosErg! AIRE, aged three years, the chil-
dren of JOSEPH MEE, a fisherman, many years a resident
at Greenwich, and well known on the Thames, who were
drowned in the Thames.--. Verdict, Accidental death.

FINE ARTS.

LANDSCAPE ILLUSTRATIONS to the

SCOTCH NOVELS. PINTS 4 and 5.

There are numerous striking engravings in
these numbers, neither of which is a whit infe-
rior to its predecessors. The view of the Solway
Firth, to which Sir Walter Scott throughout
his poetical and prose works makes such re-
peated and such graceful allusions, is very ably
engraved by Finden, from a painting in water-
colours, by Copley Fielding. The female por-
traits too, which we suppose are to be considered
as landscape sketches, in accordance with the
spirit of Lord Byron's description of one of his
heroines,

" Dudu was a soft landscape of mild earth,
Luxuriant, budding,"
give a very felicitous idea of the originals, as
we find them described in the Scotch novels.
Flora Mac Ivor is the truest and best conception.