The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-06 00:00:00

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SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.,/ -;_ c\-,_,`. ' -_,
.
C fIRONICI4E.—The mutability of times, fasli •ns, \.l ""•,„\\ •; --n4--
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wants, habit'', cud modes of thinking, has recently `....227!
received a threefold illustration of a very curious t '4(l \•, I S .1k :.1 N.
character. We are simultaneously required to dis-
cuss the expediency of abolishing or remodelling three
ancient offices—the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, the
Lord Chancellorship of England, and the Laureates
ship—on the ground that they are no longer is
unison with our political and social condition, or that
the due performance of their respective •duties has at
length become superfluous, impossible, or ridiculous.
Lady Morgan's clever. and instructive Letters will
show how increased facilities of intercourse between
London and Dublin, with'the resulting subordination of
the Castle to the Cabinet, have gradually reduced the
substantial powers of the Irish Viceroy below those
of an ordinary Secretary of State, and converted his
proconsular rank into an idle and expensive pageantry.
Law reformers of all parties are agreed that the
highest professional eminence is not the appropriate
reward of party services, and tbat, if the Great Seal
is still to be retained as symbolizing the constitn-
tional union of the judieial and the political element,
a fall half of the labour and patronage prescriptively
devolving on • its temporary possessor must be ,de-
tached from it. With /regard to the Laureateship,
doubts seem to be entertained in many quarters, and
have been variously expressed by our contemporaries,
whether such a prize is honourable or degrading to lite-
rature—whether' in short; if it were suppressed, poetry
()tight to play the Alegrtt or the Penserosa=to give
vent to her feelings in a congratulatory ode or in an
elegy. Sir Walter Scott, in allusion•to the-grant'of
the office (together with that of Royal -Historio-
grapher) to Dryden in 1670, .observes, "Thus was
our author placed at the head of the literary class of
his countrymen, so far as that high station could be
conferred by the favour of the Monarch." But it
may fairly be questioned whether the appointment
was ever considered in this light, even by monarchs,
much' less by the public. The names of Diyden,
Southey, and Wordsworth are hardly saficieot to
neutralize the unfavourable impression left by the
Shadwells, the Cibbers, and the Pyes.
" In twice five years the, ' greatest' living poet,
• Like to the champion in the fisty ring,
Is called on to support his claim or show it,
Although 'tis an imaginary thing."
But the more substantial Laurel, which was annually
freshened by Canary, was never held by the
.same
tenure as the Belt: the poetic (unlike the pugilistic)
champion was under no obligation to keep the ring
against all comers ; and his original duties were un-
luckily such as (with rare exceptions) the "greatest
living poet" would have repudiated with disdain.
Perhaps the most elevating point of view in which a
poet can be contemplated is that in which Milton is
placed by Johnson :—" I cannot but conceive him
calm and confident, little disappointed, not at all de-
jected, relying on his own merit with steady con-
sciousness, and waiting, without impatience, the
vicissitudes of opinion, and the impartiality of a
future generation." Compare this with the distress-
ing picture, drawn by the same hand (in the Life
of Dryden), of a court poet, obliged to supply " in-
auguratory gratulations, nuptial hymns, and funeral
dirges," at the shortest warning—unable to wait (as
was the well-known habit of another master of the
craft) for his imagination, and consequently dispens-
ing with it altogether or supplying the deficiency
with bombast. How often, in such emergencies,
must the most practised verse-maker have found him-
self in the very dilemma which gave occasion for the
happiest repartee in the language—.we mean, of
course, that of Waller, who, when Charles 11. ob-
-erved that his panegyric on the Usurper was better
than his congratulation to the restored Monarch, re-
plied, "Poets, sire, succeed better In fiction than in
truth." In the olden time it was a part of the Lau-
reate's duty to compose the royal masques and inter-
ludes as well as the birthday odes and congratulatory
tddresses; and one of the severest mor-
tifications inflicted on Dryden, through Rochester's
i ifluence, was the appointment of Crowne to write
" Callan'," a masque acted by the lords and ladies of
the Court in 1675. It has been invidfously observed
chat court-poets, who came into fashion conternpora-
aeously with court-jesters, are now equally out of
late ; and that, if the precedents set by antiquity are
to be implicitly followed, the great corporations are
s well entitled to their Laureate as the Crown.
Elkanae Settle was Poet Laureate to the City, and is
i nmortalised in that character by Pope—
" Though my own aldermen conferred the bays,
To me committing their eternal praise."
The heads of many feudal houses, also, might have
exclaimed exultingly, with Mrs. Warren, "We keeps
a poet." Nay, so fallen apparently were the pro-
fessors of the Divine Art in Fielding 's day, that this
inimitable satirist bas ventured to include one of
them amongst the humble dependents of the squire
who hunted Parson Adams :—" The gentlemen of
curlike disposition who were now at his house, and
whom he had brought with him from London, were
an old half-pay officer, a player, a dull poet, a quack
doctor, a scraping fiddler, and a lame German dancing
master." Yet let us not be over hasty in drawing
inferences from such indications, which are utterly • -
inapplicable to the present times, and must be used •
with extreme caution as aids tewarda an accurate
or philosophical appreciation of the past. The
poets of the nineteenth century can afford to smile
at the comic exaggeration of the novelist ; and no
literary man need now shrink from accepting the
tavours of royalty from fear lest a dishonouring re-
turn, in the shape of flattery or servility, should .be
exacted from him. It has transpired that the vacant
~flice was first offered (with an intimation that no
poetic tribute need be paid) to a poet•full of years
old honours, who, from character, fortune, social,
position, liberal patronage of ,the fine arts, and, con--
,cant sympathy with struggling genius, is pre-emi-.
oently qualified to give it dignity and importance, It
has been gracefully declined by him on the plea of
age; but the bare offer will do good, if only by an-
nouncing that the detur digniori principle is to be ob-
served in future, and that there is a positive eagerness in
nigh quarters to make even the ornamental append.
ages of the Crown subservient to the intellectual pro-
gress of the people. Not long since we hazarded an
opinion—which we see no reason to modify—that the
distribution of a limited number of small pensions by
the Government for the time being is not calculated
to raise men of letters as a class. But an honorary
appointment, purified of the eleemosynary taint by
being pressed upon the acceptance of the author of
the " Pleasures of Memory," stands upon a totally
different footing; and in the full confidence that it
will speedily receive as well as confer fresh lustre, we
cordially give our vote for preserving unimpaired the
time-honoured institution of the Laureateship.

A CHILD STARVED TO DEATH BY ITS PARENTS.
—A man named Richard Hook, and Elizabeth Bubb, sister
of his deceased wife, Lave been committed to Gloucester
county prison for trial at the forthcoming assizes on the
charge of causing the death cf Maria hook, aged four years,
(laughter of the male prisoner, by keeping her without proper
food and raiment. The parties live at Churcham, in
Gloucestershire, and it appears that the mother of the ill-
fated child die•l two years u•go, from which period her sister,
Elizabeth Bubb, the other prisoner, had lived with Hook to
look after his household afl•sirs. The deactsehafesreec(dolukeilei%l.sattis.Nw. the
.t
youngest of Hook's children, and it appeared from the evi-
dence of numerous neighbours of Hook that the child had
upon it except an old
been grossly neglected by its unnatural parent and the
woman Bubb. The witnesseosagnsetdtaitietehdradttluiraiittnwtghe child was ge-
uest that they
tsnii :telt
rianl
ogl
.); i
linansaat
ciNvi,eiayie
rfd,o,irrut.iNitohsutriasl state. and
clothing
r,
ecottong Je t
o ffrock.
the
child,l'h e littletiiey creature‘vere m et waswi continuallyth
a r
request
Bosns, of rl;ll'ee:)ebduY
food. When the neighbours spoke to Hook cryingabout his
was opened after
perfectly healthy, and that the
deathi,,vrociuv ledabn3ti.
that
3na
idt r
it
hhnee
ui
srutl(o)bwml.
ena,
els:ulurslgsi
,nae s
-port. 10 -p Se erN•e rn , w
attention h o
cause of the child's death was the want ro3f:
saenndtet(ht the
anneceaspsapreiaersaonteleife.
of Tehxetrbeonciley,
weighed, and found to weigh only 61b includingh
when examined, pre-
vi ne
stg a whicht
edi tb
.)‘‘-' a:I r. wrapped,
Barnett, one o case
emaciation. It was
The having been fully in-
.:oronersfortG-olouccloetls:
the
tershire, a verdict of " Manslaughter " against Bubb and
Hook was returned.

health,tti zareiin
boor
The Era Newspaper of Saturday next Rill COn-
ftoarri Probable W
unr:s.a-I\aTlrebiltb.eatrical Fund Dit,iiiiieerrioal
timunerrespaotrt
Ascotof the Speeches delivered at the
D • Touchstone's Prophecy
Royal Thames Yacht Sail-
ing Match--and full particulars of the Great Mill for Cham-
pionship of England, with the Era's Remarks concerning the
Referee's Decision. Sale of the Era 10,000 per week.
Order of all Newsmen in. Town or Country.
THE Hon DUTY.—We are authorised to announce
that Mr. Hodges has relinquished further proceedings with
his Bill for substituting au acreage for the Excise duty on
hops, in consequence of an intimation from the Chancellor
of the Exchequer that the session was too far advanced to
give him any chance
...... object.Ba:trinii.nail:V:ie.citlai,eial
that in Sussex great uneasiness is beginning to be felt re-
specting
, e,itipcactoicrdnitn: to the In
specting the payment of the second instalment of the 1848
duty, which is due in November next, and that an agitation
is about to be setaonndfmoootsftosrulbeteasislafuilligmlotds reeornfr
stone Journal.
OxyG EN
ei(i?r:ciiisucs;
causes
ottihnu;rlrntooi
ettaitCneisni
inhale
eLstEartt.c4, .
stimulus to the
refreshing sleep.
Of°ldr'rxiaiatc6:3:iiise:•utuea'arr:lgedden:lB)aiiiitilingall,tllllYll:tlhivtr:shv 1
himself
inch always succeeds any
exception of the general
uwera.k;lleases w
European
seaurlaeemliwashoteh,at‘e,ed
bheiesnmemordreieodf
posical prostration.
practice upon 15 Epulr,o,
in the last stage of the disease, and
theo
t has
ilnloesv
e.
rty•
I *instance recovered.—Allen's Indian
Mail.

COUNTY COURTS. —A return has just been pub-
lished giving an account of the amount received by the
I.reaury from the treasurers of the several county courts in
England and Wales, from their e.,tablishment to the Ist of
March, 1850. The amount so received is 21,5C01., the
wh,le of which has been advanced to the treasurers of
county courts, the funds in whose hands have been insuffi-
cient to defray the liabilities oflate courts of requests in their
respective districts or the expenses incident to the holding of
county courts in the same.
DESTRUCTION OF F
ARM PRODUCE.—On the after-
noon of yesterday a tire broke out upon the premises of
Mr. G. Little, Farcet nn (where a steam-thrashing ma-
chine was being med)• five miles from Peterborough, and
live large stacks of corn, three of wheat, and two of beans,
were consumed. The property was insured in the Sun
Fire-office.