The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-13 00:00:00

THE LATE MR. BRITTON.

The third ordinary meeting of this society took place
yesterday evening, at their rooms, 16, Grosvenor-street,
under the presidency of G. G. Scott, Esq., when, after the
usual formal preliminaries,
Mr. DIGBY WYATT took occasion to allude to the loss
the institute had recently sustained in the lamented death
of Mr. John Britton, on whom he proceeded to pass a
warm eulogium. From a paper which he held in his hand
Mr. D. Wyatt recalled the more prominent features of
their late distinguished associate's career, and applauded the
energy and earnestness of purpose that had converted the
ignorant rustic into the accomplished writer and eloquent
and instructive speaker. Mr. Britton was, it appeared,
born in 1771, in a Wiltshire village, of parents so poor as to
be wholly unable to develope or properly cultivate his great
natural abilities. At an early age he was apprenticed to a
wine merchant in London, but soon displayed his inborn
activity and zeal for literary pursuits. Au anonymous
contribution of his accepted in the Attic Miscellany deter-
mined his future career, and his earlier efforts consisted
of song-books and other trifles compiled for Fairbur ,
the Catnach of his day. Subsequently, taking amo e
ambitious range, he got up stories of Pizarro, Cortez, and
Columbus, and the difficulties he here experienced in
the mechanical process of book-making constituted one
of the most amusing chapters in his autobiography. In
1801 be got employed on a work illustrating the beauties of
his native county, which had a large sale, and was shortly
afterwards selected to do all the British topography for

" Rees's Cyclopmdia," for which work he wrote in
all eight hundred quarto pages. He next published this
great work on the architectural antiquities of his country,
on which was expended 17,0921., and of which 1,300 copies
were sold at prices varying from 231. 12s. to 431. On his
" Cathedral Antiquities" 19,0001. was expended ; and an-
other work of his on Normandy and a third on London, in
both of which he was joined by Mr. Pugin, had great and
merited success. Of the last named work 1,000 copies
were sold. It was a curious fact, however, that the two
of his productions which had the greatest success related
to topics wholly apart from his ordinary pursuits. Of his
" Lecture on Railways" 5,000 copies were sold, and an
octavo of 139 pages on the " Pleasures of Human Life"
sold 2,000. Mr. Britton died on the Ist of the present
month, at the advanced age of 86, having in the course of
his long literary career written 11,000 pages, caused 1,700
line engravings to be executed, and directed the outlay of
115,0001. The result of all this labour and outlay had been
to give new life to the topography of this country. Before
Mr. Britton's time, they had only the dull opaque county
histories, and the words of Grose, Gilpin, and Twodale
Price; but their lamented friend had introduced quite a
new style, and to him were they mainly indebted for the
present satisfactory position of their topographical litera-
ture. Mr, Wyatt concluded his obituary notice with a
suggestion that a subscription should be raised for the
erection of a tablet to their deceased friend's memory in
Salisbury Cathedral, which was unanimously and promptly
responded to by the meeting.
The remainder of the sitting was occupied by the read-
ing of Mr. Janson's paper on the architectural peculiarities
of Heidelburg Castle, which was interesting only to a pro-
fessional audience.

MARKET NEWS.—tThis Pay)

HAY MARKETS.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, 2/ 15s to 4/ 03 ; clover do.,
lOs to 51 03; and straw, 11 45 to 11 8s per load.
A fair demand.
CUMBERLAND.—Meadow hay, 2/ 163 to 4/ 4s; clover
do., 3/ lOs to 5/ Os ; and straw, 1/ 4s to 1/. 9s per load.
Trade steady.
WHITECHArEL.—Meadow hay, 21 15s tc 4/ O: ; clover
do., 3/ lOs to 51 ss; and straw, 1/ 4s to 11 8s per load.
Supply tolerably good.

Naval and Military tnte ;-,e.

The authorities at the War Department have, we un-
derstand, determined to increase the forces of the COM.
missariat officers en the China station, orders having been
issued that a number of persons connected with that
branch of the army phall bold themselves in immediate
readiness to embark for Hong Kong.
_

The following circular has been addressed to the army

at home and abroad :

" Horse Guards, Jan. 7.

" In reminding commanding officers of regiments that
they are held responsible that in the dress and equip.
ment of their regiments nothing be adopted which is not
sanctioned by her Majesty's regulations, or by special
authority as an exception, his Royal Highness the Gene-
ral Commanding-in-Chief is pleased to direct as follows :
"The tuft of the men's forage cap is to be dark blue
for all regiments of infantry, except light infantry and
rifle regiments, which are to be of the same colour as
the forage cap, viz., green.
"Chin straps are to be worn—peaks only to be used
on the stations prescribed by regulation. The forage-
caps of officers and men of light infantry and fusilier re-
giments are to bear the Arabic numerals, surmounted by
a bugle or grenade, as the case may be ; the officers' iu
embroidery, the men's in brass, as by pattern lodged at
the Army Clothing Department.
"The knapsacks of all regiments are to have the num-
bers in Arabic numerals, 11 inches in height, painted in
white in the centre of the pack. Light infantry, fusi-
lier, and rifle regiments are to have the bugle or grenade
in white paint over the number of the pack. This does
not apply to flank companies.
"Number-plates for the knapsacks of every regiment
will be furnished by the Director-General 'of the Army
Clothing.
"It is lo be distinctly understood that there are only
two orders of equipment for general parade, viz. :-Ist.
Review order, full dress, but without knapsack. 2d.
Marching order, when the full equipment of the soldier
is to be carried, the greatcoat folded at the back of the
pack, and mess-tin on the top asahown in the illustration
given in the circular memorandum, dated Horse Guards,
Oct. 3, 1854. The upper edge of the knapsack should be
on a level with the lower seem of the collar of the c,at.

"The larger pouch to hang about four fingers below
the elbow ; the small pouch to be worn in front, on the
right side.
" The bayonet to hang on the right hip, and not too
far to the front.

" Without special authority to the contrary, the chev-
rons of non-commissioned officers are not to be worn on
arms' except in the cases sanctioned by the Queen's
regulations.—By command.
" G. A. WETHERALL, Adjutant-General."

The troops belonging to the corps of Royal Engineers
who have been for some time past engaged, under the
direction of Captain H. Schaw, R.E., in making the
necessary preparations for the destruction of old
Rochester-bridge, have completed the excavation of a
shaft on one of the piers of the bridge from which the
arches have been removed by manual labour. At the
base of the shaft two galleries have been driven, in which
to deposit the gunpowder used in destroying that part
of the works. The progress made by the troops has been
such that it is intended to blow up that portion of the
bridge this afternoon, when six charges of gunpowder
will be deposited in the galleries and fired simultaneously
by means of the voltaic battery. Each of the charges
will be about 501 b. weight. The explosion will take
place at the time of high water, and will be under the
general superintendence of Col. H. Sandharo, director of
the Engineers' establishment. General Sir John Bur•
goyne, G.C.8., Inspector-General of Fortifications, will
be present to witness the undertaking. The destruction
of a much larger portion of the bridge will take place by
the Royal Engineers on Thursday next.
An order has just been issued from the War Depart-
ment, by which the various barrack serjeants of all bar-
racks in the [united kingdom are authorisad to draw a
daily ration from the sevens' contractors, subject to the
same conditions as respect 'the rest of the troops. In
all future contracts this order is to be made obligatory.

The head-quarters of the Army Works Corp; under
Sir Joseph Paxton, removed yesterday irom the offices
in Whitehall-yard to 3, Spring-gardens, the premises
recently occupied being, it is said, intended for Lieute-
nant-General Sir Colin Campbell, the Inspector-General
of Infantry.
The following table shows the British fleet n commis-
sion and how stationed on the Ist of January, 1857, as
compared with the last year of the war, Jan I, 1856. It
is compiled from official sources :