The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-10 00:00:00

WORDS WORM. ON POETRY.

(From Professor Wilson's Works.)
Of all poets that ever lived Wordsworth has been
at once the most truthful and the most idealising ;
external nature from him has received a soul, and
becomes our teacher ; while be has so filled our
minds with images from her, that every mood
finds some affinities there, and thus we all hang for
sustenance and delight on the 1.,w0m of our mighty
mother. We believo that there are many who have
an eye for nature and even a sense of the beautiful
without any very profound feeling ; and to them
Wordsworth's finest descriptivepassiges scent often
languid or diffuse, and not to present to their eyes
any distinct picture. Perhaps sometimes this ob-
jection may be just; but to paint the eyo is easier
than to the imagination—and Wordsworth, taking
it for granted that people can now see and hear,
desires to make them feel and understand. Of his
pupil it must not be said—

" A primrose by the river's brim
A yellow primrose is to him,
And it is nothing more ;"
the poet gives the something more till we start at
the disclosure as at a lovely apparition—yet an ap-
parition of beauty till that moment seemed to us but
an ordinary bunch of leaves. In these lines is a
humbler example of how rzcondite may be the
spirit of beauty iu any the most familiar thing be-
longing to the kingdom of nature ; one higher far
—but of the same kind—is couched in two immortal
verses—

"To me the humblest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that too often lie too deep for tears."
In what would the poet differ from the worthy man
of prose if his imagination possessed not a beautify-
ing and transmuting power over the object 3 of the
inanimate world 1 Nay, oven the naked truth itself
is seen clearly but by poetic eyes ; and were a Bumph
all at once to become a poet, he would all at once
become stark-staring mad. Yonder ass licking his
lips at a thistle, sees but water for him to drink in
Windermere a-glow with the golden lights of setting
suns. The ostler or the boots at Lowood, inn takes
a somewhat higher flight, and for a moment, paus-
ing with currie-comb or blacking brush in his sus-
pended hand, calls on Sally the chambermaid for gra-
cious sake to look at Pull-wyke. The waiter, who
has cultivated his taste from conversation with.
Lakers,learns their phraseology, and declares the sun-
set to be exceedingly handsome. The Laker, who
sometimes has a soul, feels it rise within him as the
rim of the orb disappears in the glow of softened
fire. The artist compliments nature by likening
her evening glories to a picture of Claude Lorraine
—while the poet feels the sense sublime

" Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man;
A motion and a spirit that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things."

THE OUTWARD BRAZIL AND RIVER PLATE MAIL.—
The Royal Mail Company's steam-ship Medway, Capt.
J. Hammack, left Southampton yesterday with the
monthly mails for the Brazils and River Plate, 134
passengers (among whom are Count Bellinghansen, B.
Oliveira, Eq., &c.), a full cargo, specie of the value of
71,1331., and jeweltery to the amount of 42,0001.
IRRIGATION (AP SEWAGE.—Dr. Southwood Smith,
Professor Way, and Mr. H. Austin, of the General
Board of Health, have gone as a deputation to Milan
to inspect works of irrigation there, with a view to the
important question of the application of sewage to
agricultural purposes, in connection with tl'e great
metropolitan sewage problem in particular, and the
utilisation of the sewage of towns in general.
SOME DISTINCTIONS OF CASTES.—To the Brahmins
all animal food, save that of fishes and kids, is forbidden ;
yet in some districts they will readily partake of the
flesh of any animal whatever, if only, as in the case of
other Hindoos, it be not killed with their own hand.
The Rajpoots eat fish, mutton, and venison ; fowls, beef,
and pork are held in abomination. Many castes follow
the same rules. With some, however, pork is the fav-
ourite diet, beef only is prohibited. Those who. shrink
from the pollution of eating the flesh of domestic poultrywill eagerly devour that of the jungle fowl, which differs
from the game cock only in size. All Hindoos consider
themselves defiled by contact only with feathers ; among
the tribes at the foot of the Himalayas, who are in
other respects strict Hindoos, this prejudice does not
exist. An earthen pot is polluted beyond redemption
by being touched by one of an inferior caste ; a
int tal one suffers no such deterioration. Coolies will
carry any load, however offensive, upon their heads ;
bid them carry a man for a few paces, and, though it be
a matter of life and death, they will answer you that it
is the business of another caste. The Rohillas will sub-
mit to be flogged within an inch of their lives with a
leathern martingale, but to be struck with a whip or
cane would be ten indelible disgrace, and very likely to
be resented with a bullet or a stab. Spirituous liquors °
are in general allowed only to Pariahs. In some• arts
of Southern India the Brahmins partake of them with-
out scruple. Among the Nairs of alalaJar the women
enjoy a plurality of husbands. Among the Tetiyare on
the same coast, those within the degrees of consangunity'
possess their wives in common. Many castes are only
to be known from one another by thecnt and colour of
their clothes, the shape and arrangement of their tria-
lkets, or some other equally fiivoloue and unimportant
• distinction,--iminu on Caste.

MAD MERRIMENT IN A PANIC.—The Nero York Tri-
bune thus describes the scene in Wall-street, on the very
pay of the bank suspensions :—" Notwithstanding the
universal cry of rain, Wall-street was as full of jollity as
if the whole street had been inoculated
j with Mark Tap-
e;met
n wasn'thtt9
,
were worth
a g i the-
as though
leyism. Men laughed and cracked jokes about their
deposits in banks which had saspended, and about their
powderdeposits t ion
blowb ank si t
iandnto
in railroadstini
ts whichi
ri
maa
threatened general suspension of payment
gantic practical joke. It was as if a person should affcct
•
Next
ft, othbee 1 ri, gh
t:ibi
irgoekhec fie a tt'h
apte rss
oo
mn aellny ,e
iaguhdh
hiunr ohnaea's
go:: ne.
to regard amputation of the neck as an excellent jest.
Nn
under: and hadn't got a dollar left, seemed to be the
jolliest fact for contemplvtion.
TIIIIGS.--We adopt various modes in making ourselves
familiar with travellers by appearing to them as mendi-
cant!, by engaging to be their guides, and even by acting
as pimps fo: them. The woman I mentioned to you is
for the last purpose : she attracts a traveller's attenton
immediately, and fascinating him in her enchanting con-
versation, sue leads Lim ap rt from the road, and then,
pretending to be tired, she sits under a tree and takes
out a tinder-box from her bag to strike fire for smoking.
In the meantime, one of us arriving there, theth traveller
naturally dislikes such an intrusion ; bhutsbanedwoormall
pacifies him by tailing him " he i
as if by accident
obnusinetiss alter aY
shrloi
ttthleer
fire,, an and taking
and
talk at leisure.''
During this talk, it the traveller is, not
~ enough cif his
of her dress as naturally very soon
removes such a part
awndilithsrunwgeowaibllousmt hoi'kjs.
attracts his whole attention,. and. then. any one of us,
guard in smoking and talking, &c., sae,
• handkerchief like this (exhibiting a long silk
trirowing a . knot)
over Lis
.
handkerchief with a
pull which brings him down senseless.—Lutfullah's
-lutobiography.