The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-17 00:00:00

COURT CIRC ULAR.

His Royal Highness Prince Albert presided yes-
terday afternoon at a meeting of the Royal Commis-
sion for the promotion of the Exhibition of the Works
of Industry of all Nations, to be held in the year
1851. His Royal Highness arrived at the new Pa-
lace of Westminster soon after three o'clock, attended
by Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. Alexander Gordon. The
Commissioners present were the Earl of Rosse, Earl
Granville, Lord Stanley, Lord Overstone, the Right
Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Sir Richard Westmacott,
Sir Charles Lyell, Mr. Barry, Mr. T. Bazley, Mr.
Cobden, M.P., Mr. Cubitt, Mr. Eastlake, Mr. T. F.
Gibson, Mr. John Gott, Mr. Pusey, M.P., and Mr.
R. Stephenson.
Mr. Scott Russell, secretary to the Royal Com-
mission, attended. Colonel Reid and Dr. Lyon Play-
fair were present.
The Building Committee had a meeting in the
morning, which was attended by Mr. Cubitt (chair-
man), Mr. Barry, Mr. R. Stephenson, Mr. T. L.
Donaldson, and Mr. Brunel. Itlr. Digby Wyatt,
Mr. 11. Wyld, and Mr. Owen Jones, were present:
The Building Committee had an interview with
the Royal Commissioners.
The meeting of the Royal Commisssion broke up
about seven o'clock.
A Cabinet Council was held yesterday afternoon at
the Foreign-office, at which the Lord Chancellor at-
tended. Lord John Russell, the Marquis or Lan,
dpoawlmneer,stthoen,EaEralrolf AGlrineyto.,
tShier
eGheaonreg:llor Grey, Viscount
Palmerston,
the Ex-
chequer, the Earl of Carlisle, the Right Hon.
Labouchere, Right Hon. Fox. Annie,. and other Minis-
ters, were also present. The Council sat two hours.
The Earl of Arundel and Surrey and Dr. Tancred
had an interview with Earl Grey yesterday, at the
Colonial-office.

MANSION HOUSE.—The Lord Mayor vest, rday'
entertained at dinner the Deputy and Common Council of
his ward, with the trustees of Dame Anne Bacon's charity.

DEATH OF MRS. GLOVER.

But a few, a very few, days have elapsed since we
briefly recorded a tribute of respect paid by the public
to the professionel and private merita of Mrs. Glover,
on the occasion of her beneth at Drury-lane Theatre.
The enthusiasm then manifested b:v- an audience
era eeling that iatenense area from floor to ceiling
proved that the talents of the distinguished artist,
who was about to bid farewell to her friends area
patrons, had been appreciated, and her moral worth
understuod, by a public, who are apathetic in ap-
pearance only, and whose manifestations of feeling,
therefore, s hen they do occur, are the more valuable,
because so rare and so emphatic. To the poignant
pleasure afforded by filet noble exhibition of public
sympathy there was but one drawback—but one
alloy. In our capacity of spectators we did not then
see occasion to mention what had otherwise come to
our knowledge—that the evidences of extreme suffer-
ing manifested by Mrs. Glover on that evening—
her inability to go through her part, except
as a mere shadow of her former self, and
the substitution of an apologetic speech from Mr.
Leigh Murray for the address which had been written
for her by a well-known and talented amateur of the
drama—arose not merely from the emotion natural
on a farewell night after more than half a century of
active public service, but also from extreme phy-
sical debility, the result of an attack of illness of
a wasting character, which had already confined that
venerable lady to her bed for many days. In fact,
it was only the determination of Mrs. Glover herself
not to disappoint the audience, who had been invited
and attracted for many weeks before., that overruled
the remonstrances of her friends and family against
her appearing at all. She was then utterly unfit to
appear on the stage in her professional character, and
the most serious alarm was felt lest there should be
some sudden and fatal catastrophe. The result of
the struggle of feeling she then underwent, super-
added as it was to the physical causes which had un-
dermined her strength, was, that Mrs. Glover sank
under the disease which had bsen consuming her,
and quitted this life on Monday night. Although in
the ordinary course the death of a public performer,
however suggestive of a public loss, does not call
forth an expression of sympathy through the recog-
nised organs of public feeling and opinion, the case of
Mrs. Glover may fairly be regarded as an exception ;
for she had outlived, not in her tenure of existence
alone, but also in her professional talent, at least one
generation of admirers ; and she was as much a study
to the younger members of her profession, and a
living monument of past forms of histrionic expres-
sion to the public at large, as in her youth and ma-
turer age she had, in her admirable impersonations,
presented a type of living manners. Whatever may
have been the tendency of custom in such matters,
there can be but little doubt that in the case of Mts.
Glover it ought to be disregarded. Art has not too
much honour in this country; and Mrs. Glover was
an artist in the most emphatic sense of the word.
To what a remote period we must cast back our
glance in recording the commencement of Mrs.
Glover's career ! She herself formed a sort of histo-
rical link in the succession of the heroes and heroines
of the drama. She inherited the blood of Betterton,
and she was the contemporary of George Frederick
Cooke, the Kembles, Siddons, Miss O'Neil, and Ed-
mund Kean. She outlived them all ; and such was
the vitality of her talent that even in her last per-
formances at the Strand Theatre, prior to her retire-
ment, there was a vigour and a verve, a vivid reflex
of pristine comic strength and humour, that afforded
pleasure to a young, uncongenial, and exacting race
of play-goers, almost equal to that which she had
given to her own proper contemporaries in her prime.
Mrs. Glover (Julia Betterton) was the daughter of
an actor named Betterton, who was descended from
the great actor of that name. She was born on the Bth
of January, 1781. Her father held a good position
as an actor on the London stage, as the
play-hills of the period sufficiently testify,
and the child was brought up (as most of
our great actors and actresses have been) "at the
wings." She was even in infancy sent on the stage
in such parts as children are used to fill. At a very
early age her father's position obtained for her an en-
gagement. She became attached to the company of
Tate Wilkinson, for whom she played, at York, the
part of the page in The Orphan, and she also ex-
ercised her juvenile talents in the part of Tom Thumb,
for the benefit of George Frederick Cooke, who on
the occasion doffed his tragic garb and appeared in
the character of Gluindalcar. Another character
which she played successfully with Cooke was that of
the little Duke of York in Richard the Third-, into
which, it is recorded, she threw a degree of spirit and
childish roguishness that acted as a spur on the great
tragedian himself, who never performed better
than when seconded by his childish asso-
ciate. As the young lady advanced a little
in years she undertook parts suited to her sex ; but her
earlier successes were in purely tragic parts—a fact
which may be surprising to the superficial observer,
but which is not so extraordinary if we remember how
much the success of her best characters in later life
depended on the touches of pathos she threw into
them. At the time to which we refer the provincial
theatres were a school of acting. To have secured a
high position in one of the dramatic " Circuits" was a
passport to the London theatres. In the year 1796
Miss liAterton had reached such a point of eminence
that she was employed to fill the first parts both in
tragedy and comedy at Bath, then one of the chief
preparatory schools. Her success led to an offer of

10/.. a week from Covent-garden, the engagement to
be for three years, with an increase of 1/. each year.
Ultimately, she was engaged for five years, com-
mencing e.t 151. a week, and rising to 201. a week. In
these days, when actors of the first class ask and re-
ceive twice or thrice as much per night as Miss Bet-
terton then received per week, it may not be uuin-
structive to recall the fact that the above terms were
then considered as something extraordinary and even
exorbitant.
Mrs. Glover, still Miss Betterton, first appeared in
London on the 12th of October, 1797, fifty-three
years ago, as Elvira, i❑ Hannah More's tragedy of
Percy. She was decidedly successful. Her next
character was that of Charlotte, in the West _lndian,
and on the 231 of November she played the part of a
heroine in a new piece by
.the same author, Cumber-
land, called First Impressions. She was egain most
successful ; and she had so advanced in public favour
that when, shortly after, Mrs. Abington returned for
a brief period to the stage, she was able to hold her
ground against that counter attraction ; it being fur-
ther recorded that Mrs. Abington herself was among
her admirers. Miss Betterton then married Mr.
Glover, and continued on the staff of Covent-garden
until the year 1801.

Two years afterwards Mrs. Glover transferred her
services to Drury-lane, and at the close of the season
she was engaged by Bannister, the then manager, for
three years. His death prevented the completion of
the contract, and Mrs. Glover returned to Cavent-
garden. In 1813 she again appeared at Drury-lane,
afterwards at Covent-garden, and subsequently she
made an engagement at the Haymarket, of which
theatre she continued, we need scarcely remind our
readers, the most distinguished ornament for many
years. We need not enter into the causes which led
to her secession from Mr. Webster's company, be-
cause we are inclined to believe that it arose from
misunderstanding on both sides. She was engaged
by Mr. Anderson, when that gentleman commenced
his brief and inauspicious management of Drury-lane
Theatre; hut she left the company under circum-
stances in nowise discreditable to herself, and enlisted
under the banner of Mr. IV. Farren, at the Strand
Theatre, whither she attracted choice audiences, when
it was known that she was about to play for the last
time in all her great characters. Here she took, a
short time since, her professional farewell, followed
soon after by her personal farewell and benefit at
Drury-lane Theatre.
It has been too often the fate of female dra-
matic artists of the first rank to be unfortunate in
their domestic relations. Beyond recording the fact
that the domestic life of Mrs. Glover was long embit-
tered from no cause depending on herself, we do nut
consider ourselves justified in referring to her private
misfortunes. They were made the subject at one
time of judicial interference; and those who seek
for such details can easily find them. In all that de-
pended upon herself, she was an exemplary member
of society, discharging her duties as a wife and a
mother in a manner to re-enforce with those who
knew her the respect commanded by her professional
talent. Her sons and daughters have appeared be-
fore the public in various ways, and always is a
manner to do credit to their parent.
Mrs. Glover's early professional life was spent as
a tragic actress. In this capacity she was always
more than respectable : in fact it was here that sbe
laid the foundation of her professional position. But
nature had marked her out for comedy, in which she
trod the highest walks, with a talent so unique as to
leave but little hope that her place will be sup-
plied. The best proof of her genius is, that al-
though we refer to her performances within the
memory of the most youthful of playgoers, we can
speak, not so much in the way of retrospect, as of
the vivid examples which must be fresh in the
memory of all. Her Mrs. 'Candour, her Nurse in
Romeo and Juliet, her Mrs. Heidelberg, her Widow
Green, her Old Lady Lambert, were models of the
highest order of comic acting, combining breadth of
humour with refinement of detail unexampled and
unapproached among contemporary actresses. Mrs.
Glover also possessed the merit of being able to elevate
the ephemeral creations of the farcical dramatists by
endowing them with an individuality worthy of more
permanent productions. It was an extraordinary in-
stance of the vitality and perpetual self-renewal of
true dramatic talent, that she was thus able to hold
her place, and satisfy the demands of a younger and
less critical age, and yet ever suggest the desire to
see her over and over again in her own proper crea-
tions. Even during her last series of performances
she showed no abatement of her pristine vigour or of

the perfection of her dramatic art ; and it was a silent but
an emphatic tribute toher talent that, afterhaving been
as child and woman above sixty years on the stage, her
departure should at last have been looked upon as
sudden and unexpected. She was so fine, so perfect,
even in her advanced years, that you could net bring
yourself to think her removal co near at hand. She
has departed from among us covered with the honours
award,- d to art in this country; and when we consider
her long public lif., the pleasure she has given to
hundreds of thousands, and the moral examples she
has enforced by her admirable delineations cf charac-
ter—delineations implying a knowledge of life, and a
sympathy with human nature, not enough counted in
our estimates of histrionic performers, we are almost
tempted to regret that the customs of society restrain
and modify the expression of a regret at her decease,
which, we are sure, is participated in by all who are
cognisant of her professional ability, and by those who ,
only thus receive the assurance of her private worth.

WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.
(From the Daily News.)
It is exactly a hundred years since Westminster-
bridge was opened. It occupied twelve years in
building, and cost 218,000/., with 170,7001. additional
expended on approaches. It is pretty generally known
that the bottom courses of the piers of this bridge
were laid or built upon floating chests, or caissons,
which when loaded were sunk into the bed of the
river. These caissons form the sole foundation for
the superincumbent masonry which is unsustained by
underpiling, or any other support than that of the
shifting sand or gravel upon which it rests. The de-
fects and dangers of this mode of building were dis-
covered even prior to the opening of the bridge.
" In the months of May and June, 1747, the western
pier was perceived to settle very gently at first, but so
much faster towards the end of July, that it was thought
absolutely necessary to take off the balustrades, paving,
and part of the ballast that lay over the said pier and
the two arches adjoining. By the continuation of the
settling, these arches lost their regular semicircular
figure; considerable openings in the joints showed the
arches to be in danger, and some of the stones both in
tile fronts and soffits were split and broken—one of them
actually fell out, and another was taken cut to prevent
its falling."
Such was the report of the architect, M. Charles La-
belye; and thus we see that even before the bridge
was finished, it became necessary to rebuild two of its
arches. At different periods since, the whole of the
structure has more or less settled or given way.
Costly works have from time to time been under-
taken to secure it, without advantage. From 1810 to
1838, 83,0001. was expended on the bridge; and be-
tween 1838 and 1844 it cost no less than 82,000/.
additional, and proved then to be in worse repair
than ever. In 1846, it will be recollected, it was
necessary to close the bridge entirely. Extensive
operations were undertaken in order to secure it.
Rows of piles were driven into the bed of the river
at very great expense to prevent the materials about
the caissons from being underwasbed by the cur-
rents ; 30,000 tons weight of stone and material was
taken off the bridge, and the roadway was lowered
very considerably. All without avail. The bridge
has continued to settle ever since. It is at the
present time in a perilous, if not an insecure con-
dition : condemned by the engineers, and aban-
doned by everybody. The question now appears to
be what is to be done ? The IVestrninster-bridge
Commissioners possess property of the clear value of
6,880/. a year. Their accumulated stock amounts at
the present time to about 22,0001. It is obvious that
22,0001 will go a very little way to build a new
bridge. It is obvious, also, that if a new bridge is to
be built on the site of the old one, it would be neces-
sary to erect a temporary bridge in order not to stop
the important line of communication between West-
minster and Lambeth, whilst the new bridge was
constructing. But even a temporary bridge would
cost more money than the Commissioners appear to
have in hand. It is the duty of the Westminster-
bridge Commissioners to maintain the communication
undisturbed. They appear to feel this responsibility.
After looking at the question in all its bearings, they
thought it right to consult the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer. They proposed to the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer to surrender their property to the Govern-
ment or Parliament, if either of those authorities
would relieve them of responsibility. Sir Charles
Wood declined. The Commissioners have, therefore,
done the next best thing which the circumstances en-
abled them. They have caused a Bill to be laid be-
fore the House of Commons authorizing them to
build a temporary bridge parallel with and immedi-
ately adjacent to the present structure. This tempo-
rary bridge is proposed to be of wood : a contractor
will undertake its erection for 25,000/., the materials
being reserved as his property when_it is removed.
Upon the temporary bridge being opened, and the
communication secured, the present stone structure
will be entirely demolished. The question will then
arise as to its rebuilding. Money must be provided for
the purpose, and there will probably then be some
discussion as to the site. The House of Commons
appears to doubt whether this arrangement is
the best that can be made. The Westminster-
bridge Bill has been referred to a Select Committee,
and, from all we hear, the Select Committee is not
entirely disposed to report favourably of this
temporary plan. The public will probably agree
with them in thinking that something better might
be done. For some years past different plans have
been before the public, and these are some of them.
Mr. Barry, when first he commenced the new palace,
was inclined to think that it would be disfigured and
obscured by the existing structure. He accordingly
proposed a plan for a new bridge to harmonise with
the House of Lords and Commons. We remember
the plan at the National Gallery some years ago, and
very beautiful it looked on paper. But the public
faith in Mr. Barry and his estimates has been, like
the Westminster-bridge piers, a good deal shaken ;
and however it might harmonise with the new Houses
of Parliament, it is doubtful whether a gorgeous
gothic bridge, with Pugin-istic panellings and
narrow-shouldered warders, would harmonise with
the present current of the public taste. If all we
hear, too, is true, Mr. Barry's own faith is not quite
so firm its the effect of his building as it was. He
has become aware that its beauties are best unfolded
by close and microscopical examination, and he is
consequently not so particular about its general
effect being hidden by the bridge which he formerly,
considered so terrible an eyesore. We shall, there-
fore, probably be saved the "gothic bridge." Another
plan, which was mooted in 1846 or 1847, was a plan
for a bridge from the end of IVhiteeall-place to an en-
tirely new street on the shore directly opposite. Under
the auspices of Mr. Hawes this plan made consider-
able way untilthis Lambeth' constituents took serious
objection to it. 1 hey resolved, first, that the pro-
jected bridge would be much too close to the Hun-
gerford Suspension Bridge ; second, that it would se-
riously interfere with the rights of property in the
IVestrninster Bridge-road, which at the present
moment is one of our busiest thoroughfares. After
making aims noise, this project was abandoned with-
out reference to Parliament. Another plan, pro-
posdead, we believe, by Sir Howard Douglas, late
Ai, for Liverpool, was to transfer the site
of Westminster -bridge to Lambeth-stairs, and
to form a new line of communication between
Milbank and Pimlico, a project which, as our Lon-
don readers know, is being partially adopted now.
There seem several considerations in favour of this
plan ; the most serious objection to it is inconvenience
to the direct traffic between Charing-cross and Sur-
rey. It cannot be doubted that the larger number of
the vehicles which pass from the west-end to the
other side of the river, or vice versa, come from above
the neighbourhood of Charing-cross. There would
be, no doubt, additional inconvenience in obliging
these vehicles to go half a mile further down the
river before an opportunity was offered them of cross-
ing it. Another proposed site for the new bridge is
from the end of the little street cared Derby-street,
which runs out of Parliament-street into Cannon-
r w.
o This would be an excellent site as regards the
traffic, and a very short communication would open a
way from the Lambeth side into that present great
artery of Lambeth, the Westminster Bridge-road.
But it is objected that the curve in the river adds
considerably to its breadth at this particular point, and
that the cost of the bridge if placed there would conse-
quently be considerably enhanced. There is, we believe,
validity in this objection, though on other grounds
the position would be most desirable. Whatever
course
_is taken—whether it is determined to waste
00/ in building a temporary bridge, or whether
a new bridge shall be built in another situation, the
line of communication being maintained by the old
one whilst the new bridge is erecting—whichever of
these courses is pursued, the one great essential,
money, is absolutely necessary. We shall be anxious
to learn the result of the Committee's deliberations
upon this point—whether they consider the work so
far a national one that Parliament ought to make a
grant towards it, or whether they intend that the
construction of the new bridge shall abide the distant
period when the WestminKer Bridge Commissioners
may have funds enough to set about it. We only
hope the report will be fortheornieg sufficiently early-
to enable Parliament to consider the question this
session, for this seems to be a matter which ought not
to be delayed.

THE LARGE TORTOISE.—One of her Majesty's
servants arrived on Monday afternoon at Woolwich Dock-
yaid, to take charge of the large laud tortoise, known to be
at least 179 years old, brought home in the Geyser, steam-
sloop, from the Cape of Good Hope,
as a present for the
Queen, and returned to town with it at four o'clock.
CAPTURE OF PORPOISES AT MONTROSE,--On
Sa-
turday a rather unusual spectacle was witnessed in the
Basin. Six porpoises were seen exercising their gambols in
and about the led of the river; some person, who happened
to be there, got a boat and gave chase. One person took
off his clothes and followed them with a boat-hook, with
which he destroyed the whole half dozen. They were large
animals, three of them measuring from 9 to 11 feet in
length. The other three were only about half that size.—
Ediaburyli Witness.

LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPE.
The great difficulty of constructing specula for re-
flecting telescopes lies partly in the matter and partly
in the form. The metal, to mak.s, a proper mirror,
must be white, with a brilliancy at once high and
fasting. These qualities are best ensured by a
combination of c,,ppiyr and tin, in the proportion
of funr equivalents of copper to one of tin.
Any departure from this definite combination is
sure to be punished by the tarnishing of the compound;
and yet the temptations to depart from! it are so
great that even Herschel himself was fbreed to yield
to then,. The metal, when thus compounde 1, is so
brittle, that not only a slight blow, but even a sudden
increase in temperature w ill make it split ; and even
when debased by a larger mixture of copper, the
heat generated by the friction of the tool in grinding
has marred all the previous success of the artist,
and ruined in a moment the efforts of weeks of
toil. The casting of large specula in metal of this
standard might at first seem hopeless, since the
slightest inequality of expansion in cooling must in-
evitably spoil the work ; and Lord Rosse's first device
was to attack the enemy in detail. He constructed
his speculum piecemeal. His first mirror of three
feet was cast in sixteen pieces. Each piece was fixed
upon a back of an alley composed of copper and
zinc, in the proportion of 2.75 of the former to one
of the latter, which compound has the fortunate
property of expanding and contracting in the
same degree as the speculum metal itself. When
the soldering and polishing were accomplished, it was
found that an available plated speculum was the
result, and that, by diminishing the number and size
of the joints, the slight imperfections arising from
diffraction, occasioned by its piecemeal construction,
might be made almost imperceptible. Still these
could not be diminished without enlarging the plates,
and the plates could not be enlarged without in-
creasing the risk of flaws. The final triumph
therefore, remained to be achieved in the casting of a
vast solid mirror of this brittle substance, and forcing
its coy nature to yield unqualified submission to the
behests of science. The great question was, of what
to make the mould ? Sand, which E awards had
recommended, was found insufficient. The edges of
the metal cooling in the mould became solid ere the
centre had lost its fluidity. The plates were, there-
fore, full of flaws, and flew in pieces in the setting. A
solid mould of cast iron was next tried, with a jet of
cold water on its lower surface, but this plan cracked
the mould itself. The third was nearer the aim—a
mould with an under surface of iron and sides of
sand. But here a new difficulty arose. The air
could not escape through the iron disc, and large
holes were left in the metal, thus saved from one im-
perfection at the cost of another. But, nevertheless,
a great step had been made. 'The grand ques-
tion had resolved itself into the problem of
finding an exit for the air ; and this trou-
blesome captive was set free at last by em-
ploying a bottom of hoop iron layers, tightly packed
together in an iron frame, with their edges up, but
smoothed by turning or filing to the proper curvature.
The interstices were:small enough to retain the metal
and suffer the air to escape. Thus, at last, a solid
speculum of three feet in diameter was successfully
cast. But the casting gives only the rough block,
which is yet to be ground and polished into a mirror;
and the polishing was hitherto a work regarded with
still greater apprehension than the casting. The
operation had to be performed with the hand, an in-
strument which can never be precisely regular
in its movements and pressures, especially when re-
peated often through a long space of time.
Lord Rosse's improvement of this part of the process
consists in substituting mechanical for human agency.
The speculum is made to revolve slowly in a tank of
water, to prevent the extrication of heat by friction,
and the polisher is worked on the mirror with long
and quick strokes. It is of the same diameter as the
speculum, intersected with transverse and circular
grooves, not exceeding half an inch of surface, covered,
when the polishing is to be effected, with two strata
(a hard and soft) of resin and turpentine, smeared over
with rouge and water mixed to about the consistency of
cream. The whole machine is worked by steam, and the
effect of the grinding is noted by observing the reflec-
tion of the dots in the dial of a watch mounted on a
mast at the top of the high tower, in the lowest room
of which the grinding is carried on. The tower is, as
it were, the tube of a telescope; the watch, the object ;
and the inchoate speculum the mirror. Trap-doors
in the intervening floors of the tower are thrown open
when the observation is required ; and, when the dots
are seen in sharp definition, the grinding is complete.
The polishing is effected with perfect certainty and
precision in six hours.—Dublin University Magazine.