The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-07 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

ST. JAMES'S. 3 Yob. Vii, rtinier, London, 1844.
As this is merely the repubiication in three
volumes, of a tale that has already appeared in suc-
cessive Numbers of Ainsworth's Magazine, and been
the subject of more than one monthly notice in The
Sun, we need say nothing more of it on the present
occasion, than that it is not unworthy of its author,
though, as a whole, it can scarcely be reckoned
among his most successful productions. It is decidedly
inferior in portraiture of character, and skill in the
handling of plot, to " Crichton," and in graphic vigour
to " Rookwood," but it is superior to the " Miser's
Daaghter," and worth at least a whole cart-load of
such coarse, flash romances, as " Jack Sheppard."

EpliEmEirLOES. Newby, London, 1844.
There are many reflections scattered
throughout this volume, whit.:
Ills a collection of essays
—or rather fragments of essays..--copied out, appa-
rently, from the author's common.p,zce book. A
great variety of subjects is discussed, ailed among
them is that of " Clerical Celibacy and Auricular
Confessions," to both of which practices of the Romish
Church the author professes himself decidedly hoe.-
tile; and to do him justice, we must say that he gives
good and sufficing reasons for the faith that is in him.
We have been pleased with the following remarks,
which occur incidentally in a sketch of Soult and
Wellington :—" In reading history we are almost
tempted to believe that the chief end of Government
in promoting internal quiet, has been to accumulate
-eater resources for foreign hostilities. Bloodshed
st,;ple of history; and men have been butchered
and countries ravaged, as if the human frame had
been constructed w;:.h such exquisite skill only to be
hovered with fertility only to
mangled, and the earth
attract the spoiler."

IRISH BEGGARS.—The first thing that gives the
stranger an idea of the poverty of Ireland, is the im-
mense numbers of mendicants who besiege him for a few
pence. They meet him wherever lie goes ; they cross
his path in all directions. They are generally most
deplorably clad. Clothing, properly speaking, they have
none. Your philosophy is puzzled to know how they
continue to keep together the mass of rags which is
attached to their persons. You are afraid they will drop
off their backs while soliciting your charity. I could
not resist the suspicion, that many of the Irish mendi-
cants are actually in love with their rags, and that to put
them into a suit of new clothes would be to render them
altogether miserable. Of this I am quite certain that
they would never rest satisfied until they 'had made a
number of holes in their coat ; for a coat would seem
to them incomplete without a few holes in it. You
are struck with the fact, that many of the large per-
forations which you see in their apparel are very easily
susceptible of being mended, and that if they were
patched up, the appearance of this class of persons
I would be greatly improved. The use of the needle,
however, is comparatively unknown to the Irish mendi-
cant. :nature has not made him a tailor, and he has no
notion of attempting to set at nought the purposes of
nature. Than, he thinks, would be a reflection on
her. He seems to ..11(1 a peculiar pleasure in his tat-
tered garments. You wilt always see more holes in an
Irish beggar's coat than bal.:2ns on it. And yet, amidst
all his rags, there is the absence :I that actual misery in
the Irish mendicant which you sec in the English beggar.
You are surprised at the jolly-looking ~;_nd often ruddy
countenances which you see associatedMh so much
outward seeming. wretchedness. No one can be half an
hour in Ireland without being impressed with the convic-
tion, that the Irish possess constitutionally all the elo-
ments of happiness, and that, if their social condition
were but ameliorated, they would be the happiest people
on the face of the earth.—lmpressions of Ireland and
the Irish.
A very serious accident was admitted into the Sus-
sex County Hospital early on Thursday morning. At
about half-past two that morning several men were em-
ployed in removing some earth on the railway near Hay-
ward's Heath ; and as the engine used on the occasion
was passing from one set of rails to another, it knocked
dowi; the breaksman, John Hobbs, a fine muscular fellow
about 24 ytsttrs of age. The engine passed over his arm,
and while he vat falling must also have caught his head,
on which a large scit;;,' wound was inflicted, laying bare
the bones of the skull on 112 e left side. The poor fel-
low's right thigh was also broker;, and the right arm was
so smashed that it was necessarily amputated imme-
diately he was brought in at half-past five. Hobbs is, of
course, in a dangerous state.—Brighton Guardian.
BOROUGH OF MORPETH.—A seizure of pepper, be-
longing to three respectable tradesmen, having been
made by the officers of Excise stationed there, about five
weeks ago, and a report of the proceedings, calculated to
do them serious injury, having been industriously circu-
lated, it is right to mention that the article so seized has
been tested in the usual manner, and that the owners
have received an intimation, during the present week,
that it is genuine and unadulterated.— Tyne Mercury.
INFANT SAPPIIO.—The concert given under the
patronage of the Mayor and Mayoress, at Clifton, on
Saturday last, was numerously and fashionably attended;
and on Monday, such was the anxiety evinced to be pre-
sent at the closing performance of this interesting little
warbler, that the Assembly-room, Prince's-street, was
crowded in every part, 1,100 persons being present.
The Infant Sappho is now at Bath, but will, we under-
stand, pay another visit to Bristol.--Bristol Mercury.
The public will be glad to learn that ar. arrange-
ment has been made, by which the letter-bags between
this city and Oxford will be carried by the Prince of
Wales coach in place of by carts. This will amount to
a restoration of the old Oxford mail, the absence of which
has been severely felt upon the road.— Worcestershire
Chronicle.
CIDER AND PERRY.—SO plentiful is cider and
perry this year, that both articles are now being offered
in this town at 255. per hogshead, and many of the pub-
licans are retailing it at ar. and 3d. per quart.— Worces-
tershire Chronicle.

ALTERATION OF POLICE DISTRICTS.—Some ma-
terial alterations are contemplated in several of the
police districts of the metropolis, which are at present
widely scattered and badly distributed. Sir James Gra-
ham has issued orders to the Chief Magistrate at Bow-
street to make a survey of his district, in order to ascer-
tain its extent, and the second clerk and messenger
hite2d measuring it during the ensuing week. On
Thursday :,And Friday last Mr. Henry, one of the Magis-
trates of Quec,.-.seuare, was closeted with Mr. Hall, the
Chief Magistrate cif tn‘: metropolitan districts, for several
hours, examining
each tith,f_s districts by the " Post-
office Directory," and preparing :eport to be presented
to the Home Secretary. As far as w© can learn it is
intended to increase the Bow-street district'. by,adding
Leicester-square, Pall-mall, Haymarket, St. ° alms's-
street, and part of Piccadilly ; the present district being
bounded by the east side of St. Martin's-lane. It is very
clear that the Bow-street district will bear increasing,
for its size, as compared with any other district in the
metropolis, is most absurd. It would appear almost
impossible that three Magistrates should find anything to
employ their time in a district scarcely a mile squaw--
commencing at Temple -bar and finishing at Charing-
cross, bounded by the Thames, and running up St. Mar-
tin's-lane to Broad-street, St. Giles's, thence along Hol-
born to the top of Chancery-lane, and concluding in
Lincoln's Inn ; while two Magistrates have to do the
duty of districts like Marylebone and Clerkenwell many
miles in extent. Yet it is a fact, that Bow-street has a
groat,(,,r number of night charges than may other office
in the metro 9litan districts, owing to the fertility in
?
Drury-lane and iles's for pugnacity. On Monday
mornings there have beers continually from 50 to 75 night
charges, many of which, however, ought not to have been
sent before the Bench. The Bow-areet district will,
however, well bear enlargement, and we have little doubt
such is the intention of Sir James Graham with respect
to it, as well as Queen-square.
HIGHWAY ROBBERY.—A farmer named Lishmart,
of Feuwick, Stamfordham, Northumberland, was on the
29th ult., whilst riding upon his horse, dragged from
the hack of the animal by six men (disguised), who
robbed him of two pocket-books, containing 1051. in 5/.
notes of the Bank of England and of the Union Bank of
Newcastle-on-Tyne, a stamp receipt for 1001., and two
receipts of the Northumberland and Durham District
Bank for 2001. and 500/.
REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF LONGEVITY.—JOhII
Richards, who has attained the astonishing age of 110
years, is now staying at Mr. Heslop's, the Bricklayers'
Arms, New Queni:C•street, Portman-square. Although
the old man has long passed the term Scripture assigns
as the duration of human 111 C, his faculties are little
impaired, and his appearance is thz;:. of a hale man of
seventy or eighty. For more than forty years he followed
the occupation of a sawyer ; he has known poverty,
suffered no little from accidents, and not very long age
was run over. Notwithstanding all this he looks as if
his life was not yet at its close, and his cheerfulness is
as remarkable as his years. The evening of his days,
or it might be more proper to say the midnight (a clear
midnight it is), is rendered ednifortable,througl_i the
liberality of a gentleman in his native county, Devon-
We trust Richards will equal the longevity of Parr or
Jenkins.
EDUCATION.—Last evening a public meeting was
held at Trinity Chapel, Trinity-square, Southwark, for
the purpose of taking measures for the promotion of
" popular and unsectarian education." The announce-
ment that Mr. Pritchard, the late British Consul at Ota-
heite, would attend, drew together a large concourse of
persons. From statements made by the Rev. James
Sherman, a Dissenting mihister, who took the chair, it
appeared that British schools had been erected in the
neighbourhood, in which some hundreds of children were
in course of instruction. Still much remained to be done,
as thousands were labouring under the sad effects of ig.
norance. Large subscriptions in aid of educational ex.
tension had already been received, and grants had been
made by societies. Mr. Pritchard gave a long biogra-
phical account of himself, from the time he engaged as a
Sunday-school teacher till the recent disturbances at
Otaheite. At the close of his address a collection was en-
tered into, and a subscription of 2501. was announced.
At an election dinner, lately, a voter said he had
never received a bribe to the extent.of a farthing. " Oh
Smith, how can you say so?" observed another voter,
" when I know that Mr. W. sent you a hare."—" Aye,
that's true enough ; but it was full of maggots."--
". Well, then," was the rejoinder, were not bribery,
it was corruption."
GUANO.—IMPORTANT.—We understand. by war-
rant from the Right Hon. the Lords -Commissioners of
her Majesty's Treasury, dated the 17th ult., guano, im-
ported from Ichaboe, or other places on the west coast
of Africa, in British ships, and sold for the first time, -is
directed to be passed free of the auction duty of one-half
per cent., hitherto charged on the sale of that article,
I and that the Commissioners of Excise have issued dime-
ir officers accordingly.—Liverpool Courier.