The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-21 00:00:00

MRS'. LINCOLN.

Howard, the well-known—we had almost said
the notorious—correspondent of the New York
Times, has described Mrs. Lincoln, wife of the
President elect. We give his pen and ink sketch
for the gratification of our fair readers :

" Certain metropolitan journals, with hatchets to
sharpen, have erroneously attributed to Mrs. Lin-
coln the features of a Juno, the form of a Venus,
and the wisdom of a Minerva. This we cannot
endorse, nor can we agree with certain other
unscrupulous newspaper men who accuse Mrs.
Lincoln of all that is coarse, ungenial, and
unrefined. Mrs. Lincoln does not chew or snuff,
does not dress in outre style, does not walk a
la Zouave, does not use profane language, nor
does she on any occasion, public or private, kick
up shindies. These negatives are necessary, be-
cause, the affirmative of these propositionshad been
sent broadcast throughout the land. Mrs. Lincoln,
as she appears to the humble, and somewhat peripa-
tetic individual who represents on this occasion the
dignity of the Times—is a middle-aged lady, of—
well say 40 or perhaps 38 years of age.
"On the top of her head, the place where the
hair ought to grow—the hair does grow, and
very luxuriantly, too, of a dark brown colour,
and elastic fibre. Her head is large and well
developed, presenting the organs of firmness and
language in a highly-developed and well-matured
condition. Her forehead is broad ; her eye clear
and intelligent, and rather blue than gray ; her
nose is—well, not to put too fine a point on
it—is not Grecian ; her mouth is large, well
shaped, and capable of great expression, while her
chin rounds gracefully, balances properly, and goes
in a quiet way towards the indorsing of our opinion
that she is a decided—not obstinate—woman. Her
form inclines to stoutness, but is well fashioned and
comely, while her hands and feet are really beau-
tiful, indicating, as does the well-shaped ear, that
she has come from a race of people who were well
born. Her carriage is good, her manners are plea
sant, her greetings are affable, and, without doubt,
her intentions are correct. That Mrs. Lincoln goes
to the White House, versed in the goodly knowledge
of housewifery and substantial living, rather than
skilled in the cunning tricks of politics, and biassed
with the excitements of Washington life, is a
feature for congratulation, rather than for deprQ-
cation. She started with Mr. Lincoln when he
was a poor young man, with no more idea of being
called to the Presidency than of being a cannibal ;
she has pursued a quiet home life, rearing and
educating a happy family, cheering the man of her
choice as he passed through the stormy scenes of
life, and content if in all things she made, what
few women do make, a good wife and a competent
mother. She has been suddenly called to fill an
unaccustomed position. To it she goes, taking with
her her sound substratum of common sense, her
natural tact, that great aider of us all ; the esteem
of all who knew her at her old home, and the best
wishes of every decent woman in the land."

CAPTAIN BROOKE.—We have made inquiries in
reference to the announcement made in the Bengal Hurkaru
of the death of Captain Brooke, nee Johnson, the represen-
tative of Sir James Brooke at Sarawak, and find that letters
have been received here from that gentleman up to the
23d January, and as the communications from Sarawak
to Calcutta is via Singapore, any later intelligence would
have come at the same time by the mail for England. The
report, therefore, must be in error.—London and China
Telegraph.

The Hon. Mrs. Yelverton is about to publish
either a story or narrative (for Mr. Bentley's advertisement
does not say which). The public will be very curious to
see this production from the pen of one about whom so
much interest has been excited.

RIFLE PRACTICE ExTRAORDINARY.—TheLondon
Irish corps had yesterday their weekly rifle practice at their
range Child's-hill, Hampstead. At two o'clock the mem-
bers adjourned from the range to dinner, and on their
return it was proposed, in order to fill up the time until the
arrival of the musketry instructor, that six bottles should
be procured and suspended one at a time from the targets,
the entrance being one penny per shot. Five gentlemen
entered, Messrs. M'Swiney, Bigg, Chattock, Morton, and
C. Williams. The firing commenced at one hundred yards,
and eight shots were fired at that range, and four at 150.
Notwithstanding a heavy gale which was blowing, each
gentleman broke a bottle, Mr. Chattock breaking two. The
character of the practice will be better appreciated when i
understood that at either range the bottle appeared no-
thing more than a minute speck. Such precision must be
not less gratifying to the volunteers themselves than to
those who take an interest in the movement.

SHOCKING ACCIDENT.—A labouring man met his
death yesterday morning, in a manner that shows the need
of most careful circumspection in crossing a railway on foot.
Shortly before 11 o'clock be was waiting at a level crossing,
at Smithy-bridge, on the I,..eashire and Yorkshire line,
better Littleborough and Rochdale, whilst a goods train
was passing. A s soon as he supposed the road was clear
he attempted to cross, apparently not seeing an express
train to Manchester, which came up at full speed and went
over him, so that his head was completely severed from his
body.
THE CATTLE TRADE.—NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE,
Tuesday, March 19.—Fat cattle, 1,213 ; sheep, 4,450 ; pigs,
660. Trade steady at full rates. Prices :—Beef, 6s t'
8s 3d ; pork, 6s to 8s per stone ; sheep, 8d to 81d per lb.
Derby, 19th.—There was a fair show of fat beasts at to-
day's market, and the demand proved steady at the full
currencies of last week. The show of sheep was tolerable,
and with a moderate inquiry samples sold at former terms.
Of calves the supply was better, and late rates were sup.
ported. Fat pigs were a tolerable show, and moved off at
late terms. Prices :—Beef, 7d to 71d ; mutton, Bkd to 9d;
calves, 7d to 71d ; pork, 6451 to 6id per lb.

A SCOTCH VIEW OF MR. SPURGEON' AND HIS
SERVlCES.—Yesterday an outrage on religion, a shock to
right feeling, and an insult to the Deity, 'were combined in
the scene witnessed at the Corn Exchange. Yesterday,
the thoughtless, from sheer want of thought, the idle from
idlest curiosity, the pious from mistaken zeal, the
irreverent from sympathy with an irreverent youth,
patronised, by their presence, and rewarded with their
silver, the man who, with a temerity that inspires the
reflecting with awe, does his high-handed sacrilege at
the altar, and with merry pun and flippant jest makes
merchandise of the things of his Father's house. Yes-
terday, in this Christian town, and in the face of its
sober Presbyterian feeling, a grown boy, full of reverend
irreverence, and with little to commend him beyond the
fact that he dare do, in the name of his Maker, things
from which devouter men skrink back appalled, had the
temerity—and rightly viewed an awful latitude of temerity
it was—to charge for the preaching of redemption, "to the
reserved seats two shillings, to other seats one shilling, and
to the promenade sixpence." Is not the high name of reli-
gion traduced; are not the vital interests of our faith en-
dangered ; is not the public sentiment scandalised by the
effrontery which, in a pecuniat y sense, makes of a service
an exhibition, and of the pulpit labours a performance.
Soberly, seriously, sorrowfully, we ask those who patronised
yesterday's outrage on the counsels of him who said re-
proachfully, " Make not my father's house a house of mer-
chandise," whether it is in the power of open and professed
scoffers to do religion one tithe so much injury as is done
by a single preaching on the terms of "reserved seats two
shillings." —.D undee Advertiser. .
THE STUDY OF ENGLISH AT OXFORD AND CAM-
BRIDGE.—The University and College authorities seemed
to take it for granted that men coming into residence were
fully masters of the English language ; that they required
no course of study in so elementary a matter as the art of
reading, writing, and speaking their native tongue ; and
that they must just do as others had done before them in
preparation for the prayer-desk and pulpit—trust to the
light of nature" in writing and delivering sermons ; or,
if hard pressed, they might compile, " adapt," borrow,
beg, or hire. Consequently little or no encouragement
was given to any proposals to supply these defects.
Several Professors of Divinity had tried, but in vain,
to get their men to do what was done in all the Scottish
Universities,—write and deliver trial sermons. An emi-
nent elocutionist, Mr. Plumptre (a member of the English
bar), had just commenced work at Oxford ; and an English
Lectureship had been founded at Cambridge ; but both were
of origin too recent to be at present taken into account.
Certain it. was, that, while those in influential positions
spoke of elocution as mere "spouting," while undergra-
duates had every inducement to devote themselves exclu-
sively to classics and mathematics, and while the most
accomplished English scholar found himself no better off
in examinations than the man who sent up his papers full
•f errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, there was
but little hope of any extensive measure of improvement in
our University systera.—(Lecture at the Royal Institution,
by the Rev. A. J. D. D'Orsey, of Cambridge.)
THE READING-ROOM OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
—lmportant modifications are now in process of being
effected in the arrangements connected with the reading-
room of the British Museum. Owing to the very consi-
derable augmentation in the number of readers, the new
room, spacious as it is in dimension, is found to be inade-
quate for their accommodation, and the trustees have
consequently in consideration the peacticability of ap-
propriating an additional room for their use. It is,
moreover, intended to increase the number of assist-
ants, the present limited staff having been found
incompetent efficiently to comply with the nume-
rous demands made on their attention, more especially
as a strict surveillance is absolutely necessary, on account
of the disgraceful dilapidations and defacements many
valuable works have sustained. Duplicates and triplicates
of the books commonly in use for reference have already
been placed on the shelves accessible to the frequenters of
the room ; and the divisions in the centre, where the
voluminous catalogues are arranged, have been conspicu-
ously labelled to facilitate research. Since the opening of
the new reading-room no less than 25,000 persons have ob-
tained tickets of admission for the purpose of study, and the
applications to the principal-librarian are daily increasing
in number.