The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-16 00:00:00

PREACHERS AND PREACHING.

LITERATURE.

...„....____
The following letter has been addressed to a irprieras
contemporary : of -Bohemia; or, Phases of London Life.
Sir,—One Sunday morning about a month ago If
Classes." B E.
2 vols. Whitty, anther of "The Governing
my wife raid, "Let us send the children to St. Smith and Elder.
Margaret's to hear the Archbishop of preach
yet producing
I
This is a work of a sinoular and original kind,
on behalf of the SOciety for Aged Ecclesiastical displaying no inconsiderable ability on the part of
Cripples, which is to celebrate to-day its three the writer,a degree of disap-
of the reader. It is entitled "A Satirical
pointment and dissatisfaction in the mind
hundredth anniversary." So the children went, I
though the parents, for reasons immaterial to men-
' net before him as h s object a spirit of depreciating
Novel," and truly the author seems to have
lion, could not go with them. "Well, children Novel,
sarcasm. It is maintained throughout, and thereby
how did you like the Archbishop of --, and what
loses its effect, for i'; naturally 10-es its point. We
did he say about 'the Aged Ecclesiastic A Cripples?'
are doubtless bound to suppose that the opinions
Here the children—for it was during their dinner
—attacked their feed. with great voracity, but
never a word could we get out of their mouths and characters are not those which the author '
rnar
about the spiritual feast of which they had just
I g nee should be, but whit are, and that in portray-
pa, raken. No! not even the text could the brie
and them in ;heir true colours, he has had the
out. The more they Were pressed-the mors y
they g m laudable ambition of effecting by ridicule what
could not be done by moralising. But it is clues-
b'ushed and hung their heals over their plates, tiouable if his work will produce tny such effect.
until at last, in a rage, I accused them of having
In the first place, he does not strive to impress any
fallen asleep during the service. This charge threw
my firstborn on his defence, and he sobbed out the definite principles. He shows us a mournful pano-
rama of the worldly, the selfish, the dishonest, the
truth, for by this time their eyes were full of -tea's. vicious, the idle, and the vulgar minded; but,
" Why, papa ! we can't say what the Archbishop
of -- sail, because we could not hear a word he
said. He is very old, and has got no teeth ; and,
do you know, I don't think he has got any tongue
either, for; though we saw his lips moving, we
could not hear a single word." On this I said no
more, but I. thought a good deal of "the Aged
Ecclesiastical Cripples" and their veuerable advo- though we may gather from occasional passages
that his admiration is given to a higher class of
motives and actions, he does not even imply it, or
lead his re viers' to do so. In the second place,
with very few exceptions, all his charactsrs are of
this class. He scarcely snows us a glimpse of real
goodness and simplicity. It may be doubted, from
, his pages, whether he believes in their existence in
cate, and, being something of a phil &gist, [ tn.. the every-day world of business and politics. But
' dulged in dreamy speculations on the
possibility of setting aside these considerations, the book is a
my wife had not roused me f
an alphabet composed entirely
from mof labials /
dream b and if lively picture, or rather a series of pictures,
y
some mere matter-of-fact question I almost think 1 of social life. There is little direct story. It is
should have given my reflections to the world in more a collection of sketches, which somewhat per-
the shape of a small pamphlet entitled "The Lan- plea the realer with their entanglements. There is
gunge of Labials, or how to preach sermons without one serious fault, however, to be found with the
the aid of either tongue or teeth ; published for style--its occasional want of refinement. Satire
the benefit of the Society of Aged Ecclesiastical need never be coarse -and the keenest weapons are
Cripples, and dedicated, of course by permission, to usually the most highly polished. This will render
the Archbishop of ---." many passages distasteful to the reader, and the
a
Now listen to another story. A friend of mine author would do well to revise his productions
in future. Notwithstanding its
a Scotch Presbyterian, comes up to town and says,, more carefullyfaults, the book will probably have many admirers
"I want to hear Spurgeon; let us go." Now, I am
—those who wish to amuse a passing hour with lively
supposed to be a High Churchman, so I answered,
sketches of the faults and follies of ethers, and those
" What, go and hear a Calvinist—a Baptist—a min
who appreciate the ability without being very cri-
who ought V> be ashamed of himself for being so, tical as to the way iu which it is employed. An-
near the Church and yet not within its pale ?'
" Never mind, come and hear him." Well, we went other class, those who seek the startling and un-
common, will find many s, et:es and histories in
yesterday morning to the Music-hall, Surrey Gar-
these volumes suited to their taste. They -cer-
dens. At'first I felt a strange sensation of wrong- taiuly display originality and ability, a quick
doing. It was something like going to a morning
theatrical performance on Sunday; nor did a terrific eye to detect the vices and follies of the social sys-
gust of wind which tern, and a skilful band to depict them. There is sent the Arcticßegions, erected
only wanting the spirit to find the diamond in the
out of laths and pasteboard in a style regardless of
charcoal as welt as tie dross in tlle gold,. the
expense, flying across the water of the lake, tend to basis of solid principle and the superstructure of
cheer a mind depressed by the novelty of the scene.
Fancy a congregation, consisting of 10,000 souls, taste, a plot better moulded and a style more fully penned , to
care-
streaming into the hall, mounting the galleries,
among present w render the author remarkable
humming, buzzing, and swarming—a mighty hive of riters of fiction.
bees—eager to secure at first the best places, and at
last any place at all. After-waiting more than half
an hour—for, if you wish to have a seat, you must
be there at least that space of time in advance—Mr.
Spurgeon ascended the tribune. To the hum and
rush of trampling of men succeeded a low concen-
trated thrill and murmur of devotion, which se( med
to run at once like an electric current through the
breast of every one present, and by this magnetic
chain the 'preacher held us fast bound for about two

The Second Wife: a Novel. 3 Vols. Hurst and

Blackett.

This story possesses so many features of interest
that the reader who is not pleased with one portion
of its contents will find no difficulty in meeting
another more suited to his taste. An unusual
number of heroines appear, but it is to the merit of
the author that the individuality of each is pre- .
served. Although they are some of the same age,
and of equal station, the distinction is marked, and
one cannot serve as-a copy to the other. The vary-
ing shades of disposition are depicted, from the
giddy, trifling Georgy Bloomfield to the reserved
and haughty Miss Mainwai ing. The fine lady of
fashion, the Countess of Armadale, is a contrast to
the unsophisticated and timid Blanche, while the
chief character, the second wife, Edith, is an ad-
mirable impersonation. Firm in purpose, kind of
heart, giffid wish considerable penetration, and,
4bove all, possessed of high principles, she was not
likely to pass unnoticed in any spere, still less in .
the peculiar one iu which she was placed. •The
arrangements of the plot are very skilfully devises)._
and if anything could naturally ccincltiO to A1k0,,,
step Blanche took, certainly the events ;narrated,
would do so. It is not, however, gtnerally deemed •,!:
advisable to introduce into the pages of romance a
subject such as forms the groundwork of this novel.
Those needing a solemn w.ainiug, or a strikint
illustration, would not seek them in light reading ;
and the indignation which conduct such as Vivian's
and others must excite, loses its ferLe when merely
brought before us iu the guise of fiction, and con-
fused in the in;nd with the follies of fashion and
the mere comuion-place details of ever day. AlNie
and beybud these considerations, it may be urged.
that forms ot fath demand an undivided attention
if one is to pass censures on the modes adopted by
their devotees to carry out their peculiar
(' purposes, and it stems wanting in respect
to introduc3 them in the way here described.
Apart from these thought 4, the story con-
tains many m, rits. As before remarked, .
the points of attraction are not few nor far
between. It is not, therefore, probab!e that
it will fail in affording entertainment The
election which is introduced forms a subject of in-
terest and excitement. The friends Mainwaring
and Egerton are placed in a strange position as rival
candidates, and the vexation of Egerton when he
finds himself victorious is amusing to contem-
plate. • Lord St. Ormonde presents au in-
stance of an excited temperament, worked on
by superstitious fears. Major Aubrey is a
clever sketch of a vain and selfish man. Al-
gernon Tere is of a higher order of merit, and
the little that is said of him attracts admiration.
Some of the secondary characters display great
skill iu delineation, and form no mean auxiliaries to
the elaborate plot of the story.

hours. It is not my purpose tb give a summary
of his discourse. it is enough to say of his
voice that its power and volume are sufficient to
reach every one iu that vast assembly ; of his lan-
guage, that it is neither highflown nor homely;
of his style, that it is at times familiar, at times de-
climatory, but always happy and often eloquent ;
of his doctrine, th.tt neither the Calvinist nor the
Baptist appear in the forefront of the battle which
is waged by Mr. Spurgeon with relentless animosity
and with gospel weapons against irreligion, cant,
hypOcrisy, pride, and those secret bosom sins which
so easily beset a man in daily life ; and, to sum up
all in a word, it is enough to say of the man him-
self that he impresses you with a perfect conviction
of his sincerity.
But I have not written so much about my child-
ren's want of spiritual food *hen they listened to
the-mumbling of the Archbishop of and my
own banquet at the Surrey Gardens, without a de-
sire to draw a practical conclusion from these two
stories, and to point them by a moral. Hera is a
man not more Calvinistic than many an incumbent
of the Established Church who "hutsb!esan.d mura-
-1 bles," as old Latither sitYs, over his liturgy and
text. Here is a man who says the complete im-
mersion, or something of the kind, of adults is ne-
cessary to baptism. These are his faults of doctrine,
but if I were the examining chaplain of the Arch-
bishop of I would say,—" May it please your
Grape, here is a man able to preach eloquently, able
to fill the largest church in England-with his voics,
awl, what is more to the purpose, with people.
And mayit please your Grace, hero are two churches
in this metropolis, St. Paul's and Westminster
Abbey. What does your Grace think of inviting
Mr. Spurgeon, this heretical Calvinist and Baptist,
who is able to draw 10,000 souls after him, just to
try his voice, some Sunday morning, in the nave of
either of those churches? At any rate, I will an-
swer for one thing, that if he preaches in Westmin-
ster Abbey, we shall not have a repetition of the
disgraceful practice now common in that church of
having the sermon before the anthem, in order that
those who would quit the church when the arid
sermon begins may he forced to stay it out for the
sake of the music which follows it."

But I am not, I am sorry to say, examining chap-
lain to the Archbishop of -- ; so I can only Feud
you this letter from the devotional desert in which
I reside, and sign myself,

HABIT.A.NS IN Sicco.
Broad Phylactery, Westminster.

Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches. T. Carlyle.
Vol. I.
Charles O'Malley. Ely Clrsrles Lever
Gihapman and Hall.
These two popular editions of twopopular writers
in most opposite styles and subjects are continued
with credit. The Letters and Speeches of Cromwell,
edited by Mr. Carlyle, is a work well known and
widely circulated. Though the opinions expressed
in. it have been often challenged, its value as a
standard historical work is indisputable. Ttippre-
sent volume is the first of three, which will com-
plete the work, and will be issued monthly.
Charles O'Malley is completed in this volume, and
will no doubt afford as much entertainmen4io the
lovers of the humorous as it did on its first appe tr-
ance. The illustrations, by H. K. BroWne, ara
not the least among the attractions of the volume.

SIR JOHN AVNEILL AND COLONEL
TULLOCH.

Vol. 11.

The following letters published in a Parliamen-
tary paper on Ivriday, complete the correspondence,
part of which has already appeared in The Sun:—

" 63, Eaton-square, 24th Feb., 1857.
"My Lord,--In acknowledging the receipt of your
lordship's letter of the 20th inst., I have the honour to
express my obligation to her Majesty's Government for
the recoguition of the cervices rendered by Sir John
M'Neill and myself, and for the expression of your
opinion of their value.

"It 'affords me also the utmost satisfaction to find
that, atter the severe and very unusual test to which the
report of my colleague and myself has been exposed, it
should at length have been honoured by the approbaticn
of her Majesty's Government.
" As, however, it would neither be in accordance with
the motives which induced me to undertake this service,
nor the high opinion you have expressed of its value, to
accept any reward of the nature proposed, I beg respect-
fully to decline any pecuniary recompence whatever.—l
have, &c.,
(Signed) " ALEX. M. TULLOCH, Col.
" The Right Hon. Lord Paumure, &o."

THE NE IV HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.

( Prom the Building News. )
-
Many of the internal portions of the structure are
now completed, and the upper portions of the Victoria
and Clock towers are proceeding, externally, as rapidly
as the 8f3a3011 will allow and the hazardous nature of
their works admit of. The scaffolding is now erected to
its full height for the setting of the crowning portions of
the turrets at the angles of the former tower, and the roof
of the latter is nearly completed. In the interior, the
Peers' staircase is now finished, and is a perfect gem of
architectural design in the style of which it is composed.
The spanerdls between the 'lb; of the groining of the roof
have been coloured blue, of the richest ultramarine, and are
studded with go'den stare, that relieve the quiet light and
shade of the•mouldings of the roof, which are very judi-
ciously left in one colour—that of the stone itself. The
bosses, clasping the various intersections of the ribs, are
embeltished with emblazoned shields, surrounded with
foliage in great variety. The Peers' corridor, leading
directly to the House cf Lords, is now also completed.
The roof of this communicating passage is constructed of
a pointed arch, the form of which is peculiar to the Tudor
period, and is divided into compartments, havinggsrteaatinaedd.
sitQiouneeutindVeari
nc Victoria
onerisi a enthroned,
glass inserted in them, which has at once a pleasing
effect, and serves also to light the corridor very-
effectually. In the Prince's chamber very
vances have been made. Mr. Gibson's colossalgroup,
nowof the
entirely
n tprin-
cipalir e ly
representingaying be e n
placedh e r
in Majesty
po
room,
sitting on a throne,
finish eadrc.beTe
Tile
on oQnueeseindeisofrotphreersoo
holding the sceptre in her right hand, s
d,and from her left
ipsosut:dpeonodetteariglahutreblywaresattaht.ue
of j otvereignd leo
nstuhp;
left by Clemency ; the former bolds
theua laatswordan and ba-
lance, and the latter has a
shembed sword in her left
side upwards of
hand, and an olive branch, emblematical of peace, ill her
right. e figure,of the Queen is • each
The whole are carved
from the purest I locks of statuary mart
7 ft.each. The
8 ft. Irgh,
of Carrara could aff,,rd and as a great work of ideal
c n wh.ch the Queen sits is
ecuipture deserves great praise. The back of the throne
ded by lions, , x-
cithuoasrerioens
me- in front of the
primitive of Bilthsti treugih- eat courage. In on the
footstool er..; sea-,orses,
Ocean, and inserted in r surrounded
thatatuhde
redestal are bassi reliett
back
ground, in faint relief, the
~;,,,efirucibqolencilunnaa
etrhee: three
nsoi sides
and
df
theth e
ras'eful alt.:, I eying theinnites ofthe 1 ;
e.ectr.ct telegraph, and
i4:am-engine, the
.owns
of useful objects. Around the
other represeetall
, p pared for then), eight of Mr. Theed's
wails, in PaneL ' re
-been fixed, t getter with two
I beautiful works have ,
__ .
Edward VI., an I Maly in the larger panels
paintings of
above them The former ire exqui-ite producticns of
.
the sculptors
5.5
' art, and have heels euczess(u'lye a erotYPnd
.1
from the original models. The
The -übjects on-
-I:ibond respectively, " Ed card VI. sizi.ing the Ch. r,,er
1 lor Chri4',.z Ilcspital," " La iy Jane Grt,y,'"l:3asti.at
Catherine of Aragon appealing to Henry
Sir Walter Raleigh vprtading the Cloth for
Queen
E:';zlheth,”. 'Tie Death of Sir Philip Sidney,"
,Q'l:rebei'
e:''' 'i
en: Mary licking back on France," and tie " Mur-
der of David Il,izzio in the prepense of Mary Queen of
Scots!: The two Paintings to which we have advertel
are stiff, *liberate, a, d Holheinish in their character, and
by having a somewhat deep plinth at bottom, somewhat
eestroy the Ofect aid propel tiou of the oblong panels in
R ilcl, tilt:, a:o placed.

"(No. 4.)
" War-3fnee, Feb. 28, 1857.
• " Sir, —I have the honour to acknowledge your letter
of the 21st inst., in reply to mine of the 20th.

"I should not have thought it necessary to add to
this correspondence had it not been for the interpretation
which you have put upon a passage in my letter, and
which I feel it to be due bosh to yon and myself to cor-
rect.

" I certainly had no intention whatever to place a
money value on the advantages derived from your re•
port, and on a careful review of my letter to you, I can-
not help considering that such a construction of its terms
is somewhat i.trained and hypercritical.
" All that I aimed at v. as to convey to yon, in the
most courteous manner, the offer of the Government,
and to signify my regret for my own personal omissions
in this matter. "I have, &c.,
" Sir John M'Neill." (Signed) " PANMURE.

"(No 5.)
"Granton-house, Edinburgh, March 2.
"My Lorl,—l had the honour to receive this morn-
ing your Lordship's letter of Feb. 28, in which you in-
formed me that all 'you aimed at in your latter of the
20th ult. was to convey to me, in the most courteous
manner, the offer of the Government, and to signify your
regret for your own personal omissions in this matter.
"This assurance has afforded me the greatest satisfac-
tion, and I deeply regret that the proceedings in regard
to the commission with which I was connected have not
been such as would have entitled me to assume that your
Lordship's inteulions were friendly or courteous, t%ough
the terms in which you expressed them appeared ►o
imply a different weaning. "I have, 411 t:%,
"JOHN Wig EILL.
"The night Hon. the Lord Panmure, G.C.8., &c."

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE NORTH KENT RAILWAY.
—On Thursday night, as the 12 30 train from L.,nd,m
was passing the Spa-road nation, a sudden jerk was felt
by the passengers, and on the arrival of the train at New-
cross station the chief guard, \V. C. Jones, was missing
from his box n.xt the tander. The station-master and
the night watchman isumediato-ly went ap the line, and
a few 3ards from the Spa-read station they found the
body of the unfortunate man lying on the rails, deadand horribly mutilated. An is
cineAt was hell on 'atur-
day. The Spa•road station-mast, r stated that he had c-
ea,ionally seen the deceased get out of his brake and g
a!ong the steps of the carriages to see that all was right,
and had rein,alstiated wi hhiln on tl,e danger of iv) doing.
A verdict of " Accidertal death" was returced.
DISEASE AMONGST THE COWS OF LONDON.—It hur-
log been reported that a fatal epizmtic di6ea'e iegf/P„r;li
pre-
vailing muongst the Cows of Lnndon, and that the
Ge.
of the diseased animals is sold for human
vtheerurtengattlisoatvise,
airtnidcteitniaon itreesetffircitsion iotf:tdehde_ tgtht:ef
I:nuenaita.n constitute the ii
inquiry
;Ira:" bbyaot,bewecounrsduenr.isqtainciroVbseneleihendtisreun,,steedd
to Dr. Greechotv.— The Lancet.