The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-15 00:00:00

THE AiIIE.RICAN PRESIDENT.

President Lincoln and Vice-President Hamlin
dined with Mr. Spaulding, the representative from
the Buffalo District of New York State, on the
28th ult., in company with General Scott, Gover-
nors Seward and Chase, and several other distin-
guished persons: In the evening Mr. and Mrs.
Lincoln held a levee at Willard's, and received a
very large number of ladies and gentlemen, includ-
ing senators and representatives, army and navy
officers, and members of the diplomatic corps. At
half-past 10 o'clock an immense throng was gathered
in front of the hotel, the Marine band playing
" Hail to the Chief." Three cheers were called for
Abraham Lincoln, and given with a hearty will and
repeated. After many calls for Mr. Lincoln he
appeared, when three more enthusiastic cheers were
given for him. Mr. Lincoln bowed several times
to the multitude, and when silence was restored he
spoke as follows :
"My Friends,—l suppose that I may take this as
a compliment paid to me, and as such please accept
my thanks for it. I have reached this city of
Washinghton under circumstances considerably
differing from those under which any other man
has reached it. I have reached it for the
purpose of taking an official position among the
people, almost all of whom were opposed to me and
are yet opposed to me, as I suppose. (Several voices,
No ! no!' Other voices, Go on, Sir ; you are
mistaken in that, indeed you are.') I propose no
lengthy address to you now. I only propose to
say, as I did say yesterday, I believe, when your
worthy Mayor and Board of Aldermen called
upon me, that I thought much of the ill-
feeling that has existed between you and the
people of your surroundings and that people
from among whom I come has depended, and
now depends, upon a misunderstanding. (Several
voices.—' rhat's so,' and applause.) I hope that if
things shall go along as prosperously as I believe
we all desire they may, I may have it in my power
to remove something of this misunderstanding—
(cires of ' Good,' and loud applause)—that I may
be enabled to convince you and the people of your
section of the country that we regard you as in
all things being our equals, in all things entitled
to the same respect and to the same treatment
that we claim for ourselves—(cries of ' Good,' and
loud applause)—that we are in no wise disposed, if
it were in our power, to oppress you or deprive
you of any of your rights under the constitution of
the United States, or even narrowly to split hairs
with you in regard to those rights—(loud and pro-
longed cheering); but are determined to give you,
as far as lies in our hands, all your rights under
the constitution, not grudgingly, but fully and
fairly. (Cries of ' Good,' and applause.) I hope
that by thus dealing with you we shall become
better acquainted and be better friends. (Cries of
Good,' and applause.) And now, my friends, with
these very few remarks, I again return my thanks
for this compliment, and bid you good night."

THE IMPROVEMENTS IN THE STRAND AND THE
NEW CaußTroF Lew.—The preliminary arrangements for
the extensive improvements, which are to be effected
in the Strand and its vicinity, and the acquisition of the
site for the new courts of justice are nearly completed;
this extends from. Clement's Inn, along the south side
of Carey-street as far as Bell-yard, and in depth from
Carey-street. Lincoln's Inn-field's, to the Strand, which
will give the building a south frontage from Temble Bar to
St. Clement's Church. The number of houses which will
have to be pulled down in the Strand, Bell-yard, Serle's-
place, Ship-yard, New and Old Boswell-courts, Newcastle-
court, Clement's-lane, and Carey-street, exceed 220, and
the estimated cost of purchase is £750,000 ; in addition
nearly an equal number of houses will be required for the
approaches, which will include the widening of the Strand
between St. Mary's and St. Clement's Churches. By the
removal of these narrow and inconvenient thoroughfares,
Holywell-street and Wych-street, and a new street extend-
ing from Catherine .street, Strand, will be constructed
across Clare-market into Carey• street, which will be
widened by the removal of houses on the north side,
The total amount required for the undertaking will exceed
£1,600,000. _

. ,
]JULWICH COLLEGE.—At a meeting of the gover-
nors of this college, held on Tuesday last, the Duke of
Wellington in the chair, Mr. Henry S. Roby, M.A., Fel-
low of St. John's College, Cambridge, and Senior Classic
of his year (1853), was elected to the Under-Mastership of
the Upper School, rendered vacant by the preferment of
the Rev. Alfred Povah to the Rectory of St, OlaTe's,
JJart-
street,

LITERATURE.

My Share of World. An Autobiography. By
Frances Browne. Hurst and Blackett. 3 vols.
This is a superior novel, and one that is sure to
interest all who like a reflective book, one that
seems to lead away from the everyday common
ant beaten track, and to bring before us the hidden
motives of men's actions, and the secret spring of
their doings. There are a number of people in-
troduced to us in these pages. The story is told by
one who led a desolate life; whose childhood
knew no mirth ; whoseyouth was beset with trials,
and whose manhood was doomed to disappointment.
At last wealth came to him; but too late; he had
seen the blossom of his hopes withered, and the
summer of his life's happiness had sunk into the
winter that is followed by no spring on earth.
There is something very touching about Lucy. We
meet her amid sunshine and flowers, in her native
element. It is sad to follow further and note the
cruel change that supervened, when she was unfor-
tunate enough to marry the cold and harsh George
Fenton. The latter is a finished sketch of man
who immersed in business cares for nothing else,
and disregards all the finer feelings of our nature,
and scorns and condemns all the high and heaven-
ward tendencies, all that would tend to undervalue
his cherished stores. Frederick Favoursham had
to face the world alone, and the account here given
of his various adventures and manifold attempts is
most entertaining. His companions are also well
worthy of notice ; the gay and giddy Harry and the
wild impulsive Lavance. The latter is a very ro-
mantic individual, and we cannot fail to feel an in-
terest in him, notwithstanding his reckless bear-
ing and extravagant conduct. Even in his wild
devotion to the cause of the Empire there was a
heroism that redeemed its inconsistency and shed
a halo over its danger. He said truly that there
was a deal of imagination wanted for true hero
worship. In speaking to his young friend,
Frederic, he would often disclose the
hidden and mysterious motives that ruled his
incomprehensible life, end tell of the dreams that
lit up that life with lustre and infused spirit and
splendour through the length of its dreary days.
" When the history of our party comes to be writ-
ten, he said its great strength and vitality will be
found in the fact that it had less to do with prac-
tical principles that concern men's homes and
holdings than with the high and hazy side of our
nature which we call the imaginative, the limitless
and indestructible realm of genius and of
dreamers, the sky of life in which its rainbow rise
and its lanets go down. What is it that gives
the ruins of our empire such life and force, in spite
of the last battle, the Congress of Vienna, and the
grave that lies so far amid the waves of the Atlan-
tic. There is nothing to bind us together but a
name and a memory. That party has a story
which takes hold on the memories and imagina-
tions of men, because it owes its origin to genius
and not to fortune, and sets forth the eternal title
of mind to rule and reign. So the most established
thrones are troubled with the silent dread of it as
a power that is to be. Russia has dreams of it in
her long wintry nights. It makes Austria shake
in the old shoes with which she tramples Italy."
The end of this strange man's career was very me-
lancholy, though, in the abstract, he died in a good
cause—seeking to redress the wrongs of a maiden
he had known in her bright days, and who had
been kind to him. The first sight of Lucy after
marriage was very painful for her early lover. The
clever and scheming George had failed and had to
recommence life as employed and not employer,
hence all things wore a changed and faded aspect
for Lucy. Instead of her bright early home of
Rosebank, she was dwelling in a gloomy villa;
and for her airy muslins she had a dingy
dress of Preston stuff. A sadder change was in
herself. The fountain of sight was losing life and
power, and fast hurrying down on her the
night that knows no morning." Her death was
very sad, and most painful to dwell upon ; but,
considering the circumstances of the case, much
may be found to mitigate and palliate her last
action, for she was broken-hearted, and knew and
felt that no hope was hers on this side of the
grave. It was the mental not the bodily darkness
that overwhelmed her. " Her days were threat-
ened by a calamity the most terrible in the list of
human ills; yet this was not the overbalancing
weight; Lucy could have borne and lived through
it as well as the rest of the luckless thousands
picked out for the night duty in this inglorious
campaign of ours. It was the failure of her trust
in him who had been the chosen of her youth, the
emptiness of the treasury in which she thought so
much goods had been laid by for many years that
broke the woman's heart. How wonderfully like
my mother she looked when I saw her for the last
time. Does the soul leave its truest impress on
the countenance when parting, and thus make
manifest resemblances never seen till then ? Were
it so, or not, life has nothing like the last look of
those dead faces we are giving to the clay. Oh !
that we could read the resurrection in them ' • but
they are sealed with the everlasting secret of the
grave, and with its safety too ; theirs is a composure
not to be shaken by our storms and troubles. Time
or tears will never wither the beauty we laid in
the Derby churchyard, where Lucy sleeps with her
own people." Thui, on the eve of becoming pos-
sessed of enormous wealth, did Frederic Favour-
sham follow to the grave the early object of his
youth's love, who had been his dream since he first
entered on he life of men. It was not to be won-
dered at that from that day a shade of the dark
and silent night in which Lucy slept should ever-
more haunt his steps and darken his retrospect of
existence. It was only when remembering her
pure and pious nature, he could look beyond to the
bright morning which might see their reunion an
the spirit-land, that any hopes of happiness could be
his. The descriptions of the Dimsdales is very admi-
rably done they are of a class that is essentially of
the earth—earthy in all their doings. It is thus
said of them, " The Dimsdales wanted for no ma-
terial of elevation, they had wealth to spend and
spare, free access to the best exhibitions and enter-
ments, a rare [collection of artistic objects, includ-
ing some fine pictures, a private library which few
noble houses could equal, new books always coming
in, not to speak of the thousand currents of intelli-
gence which meet and circulate round the newspaper
press, yet their minds never rose above the shop-
keeping level. In religion or politics, art, and
literature, whatever paid best was the best to them.
They had no words, no ways, no notions of their
own, all was said chalked out and set down for
them by the world they lived in." Frederic was some
time in the uncongenial atmosphere of this house,
and he had leisure to reflect on the insufficiency of
all that the world can offer if the mind cannot
appreciate the glories of intellectual elevation or
the soul respond to the beautiful in art and nature.
Some other characters are finely, sketched, Miss
Clarkson serves to illustrate a thorough woman of the
world, cold, sharp, and shrewd in all her dealings,
and while she made a pretence of fine feeling, she
was always ready to desert her dearest friends in
the hour of peril. Some of the set or clique who
surrounded the Dimsdales are more or less enter-
taining in their brief sketches. This novel can be re-
commended to all who wish to peruse a solid work,
one that does :),not at all appertain to the brilliant
but ephemeral class, that is read one hour and for-
gotten in the next, but one that dwells in the mind
andi lingers in the memory. It brings before us
men in all the varviug positions of life, lingering
in poverty, rolling in wealth, immersed in
business, speculating in commerce, indulging in
day-dreams, and giving way to idleness and rest-
less habits. In the same way we meet with vari•
ous women. The gentle Lucy, whose bright
morning saw so sad a termination, the speculating
Miss Clarkson, the coarse but clever Mrs. Campbell,
the mild and goodhearted but weak and vain
Milly. the frivolous Mrs. Hartley, and the miserly
aunt Grizzle. This is more truly a page of the
world's history than many another autobiography,
as it does not confine itself to the joys and sorrows
of any particular individual, but goes on to
tell of his friends and acquaintances in their
wide-spread ramifications and innumerable connect-
ing links. This is a true epitome of life, where one
sows that another may reap, and the hopes of one
are fulfilled to the bitter misery of another. Fre-
deric Favoursham never shunned the world of his
fellow men, but mingled among those with whom
his lot was cast. Hence the record of his eventful
career cannot prove aught else but entertain-
ing, natural transcript of life in its day of
mingled light and shade where no joy is
too bright not to be overcast, and no sorrow
too great to be irremediable, if looked on with
the eye of a Christian. " My Share of the World" is
therefore replete with varied and vivacious reading,
with vigorous sketches, of life-like delineations,
eloquent passages, and
d interesting events. As
such, it is most probable that it will obtain a great
success, being far above the average merit of novels.

The Island of the Saints: a Pilgrimage through
Ireland. By Julius Rodenberg, author of " An
Autumn in Wales." Chapman and Hall.
This is a very entertaining little work, and it is
particularly interesting, inasmuch as it brings before
us the opinions of a foreigner regarding Ireland.
It is observed in the preface that " the majority of
works about the land of the saints have had the
defect of being written by Eoglishmen ; and it is
as fair to accept their verdict as it would to to
judge of Italy from an Austrian point of view. "It
may not be generally known that the appellation
of the land of the saints was given to Ireland i❑
consequence of the early establishment of Chris-

tianity in that country. This work is well
written throughout, and conveys a very clear idea
of the country, which was traversed by the traveller.
It is always desirable to peruse the early impres-
sions of an intelligent mind possessed of a great
people, and hence this book will possess attractions
to many, when the actual information afforded
by these pages, either from personal observation or
from previous acquaintance with works of travel
concerning it. This volume is a translation, but
it has been admirably executed, and at times one
could fancy it was quite original from its freshness
and force of expression. There is a great variety
in the accounts we meet with. A wedding and a
funeral, with all kinds'of wild schemes of fun and
frolic, and with some of those fierce expressions of
rage and anger in which that impulsive nation so
loves to indulge. This vacillation of temperament
is thus described—" I could see from the wild sousd
of complaint and woe that they were not feigned--
but really came from the heart; and again, I was
forced to admire the nature of this people, who can
pass at a bound from the loudest delight to the
deepest consciousness of paipful desolation, and to
whom fate gave in addition to the unspeakable
wretchedness it reserved for them the most en-
viable levity, which in an hour forgets all that
has happened, and all that may happen."
It must be mentioned that the author is prejudiced
on the side of the Irish quite as much as other
writers have doubtless been against them. For
example, in describing his departure from Killer-
ney where he saw two weeping maidens departing
from thence to America, he exclaims " The Irish
have become the strangers and slaves in their own
country. The English govern the land, and the
Irish serve in it, some still gnashing their teeth,
others having grown dull long ago, but the ma-
jority of them still feel the yoke, although they
know, and we know only too well, that their
kingdom is destroyed and can never be established.
again." When we remember some of the dis-
graceful scenes and occurrences in Ireland when
men were shot down in broad daylight among a
crowd of witnesses, and yet no after efforts of the
friends of the deceased can bring the guilty to
punishment, because the unhappy victim has offen-
ded some of the prejudices, or broken some of the
laws of that most tyrannical of all classes the
rabble, when this is recalled it may safely be
affirmed that oppression and injustice are not con-
fined to one class in the country. There is a good.
deal of lively detail mixed up with these remini-
scences. The meeting with Mr. Maerie is most
amusing, and the serio-comic dilemmas into which
that worthy man was constantly plunged are most
ludicrous. In the final trip the traveller
again met with this quaint individual; he was then
in the full horror of riding a leaping donkey,
which at last threw him off. His consternation
was great and he exclaimed, " I did not wish to
ride, but it was of no use; I could not get rid of
that ene•armed scoundrel, I must mount his
donkey. A man is not safe of his life in this
miserable glen, cannons are fired, I am led past
fathomless abysses, I am forced to climb up pre-
cipitous walls, and last of all, I am mounted on a
donkey. May heaven punish me if I ever get
on one again." Those who would meet with
a desirable account of the country and its
inhabitants, in which intelligent remarks blend
with striking descriptions, cannot do better than
possess themselves of this little work. It does not
aim at anything remarkable, but it successfully
carries out its intentions of affording us a glimpse
of the " Land of the Saints," which is done
entirely con amore, in a spirit which would even
have satisfied the poet who sang of the " loved
island of sorrow," 'in such touching strains. A.
glowing enthusiasm for the country seems to
pervade the mind of the author, and thus he
seems native to the soil and kindred to the people
as he dwells on their troubles, and dilates on
their sufferings. Whatever is written with feel-
ing must impress, and the sentiments here ex-
pressed are evidently genuine, and bear the stamp
of reality.

Over the Straits ; a Visit to Victoria. By Louisa
Anne Meredith, author of " My Home in Tas-
mania," &c. Chapman and Hall.
This is an animated sketch of a visit to Vic-
toria, written with spirit and vivacity, and while
it is only of a simple style, it yet here and there
contains graver subjects of reflection, and points
a moral occasionally. For instance, in the fol-
lowing remarks on cruelty to animals, when the
authoress observes—" To me the most mysterious
part of the Almighty's scheme—so far as it be-
comes manifest in our daily lives, is the absence
of some imperative prevention of cruelty to His
dumb creatures ; and it is my fixed belief, that
they are thus left at our mercy to give us the
power of doing wrong or right—comparatively
independent of human intervention and control
in this life," but amenable to how severe a tri-
bunal in that which is to come ; and again,
" Cruelty to animals is a subject that nineteenths
—nay, nine hundred and ninety-nine thou-
sandths of the general population do not seem
to comprehend. Many persons, very
kindhearted' people, too, in the world's estima-
tion of things on the surface, men who subscribe to
all manner of charities (with their names in print),
and women who are affected even to floods of tears
by the fictitious woes of a popular novel, can pla-
cidly gaze upon palpable severe animal suffering
without any sensation whatever. The clay their
frames are fashioned of must, one would think, have
been too hardly baked to receive impressions from
without, and the undisguised astonishment with
which they hear any remonstrance or intercession
for the wretched victims, evidences the shock which
so novel an idea creates." It is always peculiarly
satisfactory to meet with such sentiments expressed
in a form where they can be widely disseminated,
and considered upon by many readers. In nothing
does the innate depravity of human nature become
more painfully manifested than in cruelty to any-
thing living, be it of the human race or only of the
inferior class of animals; the real Christian can never
profane the religion he professes as to torture the
creatures formed by his Maker, without whose will
no sparrow falls to the ground unseen, and who has
taught us that all our doings without charity are
nothing worth. How beautifully has the poet ex-
pressed this feeling in these lines—

" He prayeth best who loveth best
All things, both great and small.
For the great God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."
There are mans traits of character described in
these pages that are most amusing and interesting
to peruse, and a very fair idea of the country 10
presented to the stranger, so that on the whole
there is reason for the authoress to indulge in the
hope expressed at the conclusion that " the perusal
of these small adventures may have afforded to all
who have thus accompanied us in our excursion
over the Straits some reflection at least of the plea.,
sure we derived from it, and here we bid thela
for the present a kind farewell."

Familiar Illustrations of Scottish Character. BY
the Rev. Charles Rogers, LL.D. Houston an 4
Wright.
This volume presents us with a large collection
of miscellaneous anecdotes, illustrative of Scottish
character, and more especially of the native wit
and humour which is often a strongly ,marked
feature of the northern idiosyncrasy. The anther
tells us in his preface, that he has entertained the
idea of publishing a volume of this kind for maul
years, and lately he has made it his practice to note
down such anecdotes as he deemed worth preser-
vation. He has besides searched every accessible
work which was calculated to increase his stores,
and has received large contributions from friends
and correspondents. He has in this undertaking
set two objects before him. Firstly, to pourtray the
native character and sentiments during the last
century, and secondly, " by presenting a budget of
healthful anecdotes, to supersede many current
stories of an exceptional character, and to show
that abundance of wit may be procured without
having recourse to humour tinctured with PO; ,
fanity." ln both these attempts he has achieved
a very creditable degree of success, although sow°
of the anecdotes given are scarcely worth insertion.
One drawback to the enjoyment of the reader is
found in the continued use of initials and dashes'
which have a most unsatisfactory effect. In cases
where courtesy or discretion rendered the omission
of the name advisable, it would have been better t°
have dispensed with it altogether, and saved the
perpetual iteration of " The Rev. Mr.
F. " Professor H.-." Principal L.
Mr. M.---," &c. The author has divided Ill'
collection under various heads, such as " The
Ecclesiastical," "The Collegiate," "The Muni'
cipal," "Puns and Rep tee," &c. Some of the
most curious instances of popular credulity are
given in the chapter on Modern Superstitions. 1"'„
is often the case, some of the sharpest retorts 117
met with among the peasantry and simple o'l'.
We quote a few of these anecdotes as fair sPI-
mens of the collection.

ME MINISTER'S WIFE.
" The follqwing anecdote hr.s been associated with t 1
name of more than one clergyman's helpmate. The
ster had been entertaining at dinner a clerical friend froln
some distance. The evening was unpropitious, and the
friend was invited by the minister to remain during n'g''ht,.
and had accepted the invitation. They walked togatheY
minister
some time in the manse garden. At dusk the
askM his visitor to step into th® manse
would give directions to his man servant in regar.
to his friend's conveyance being got ready in the Torn..
ing. As the stranger entered the manse, the minister 7
wife mistook him for her husband in the twilight, she
raised the pulpit Bible, which chanced to be on the lobby
table, and bringing the full weight of it across the strangc:r:
shoulders, exclaimed emphatically, ' Tako that for asking
that ugly wretch to stay all night I' How the ikly.lo.oke.(l
while hed
on discovering the Wunder is pot related but tilE visitor 1