The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-30 00:00:00

LITERATURE, &C.

We learn from the Athenceum that a new work by
Professor Gervinus, on Handel and Shakespeare, is
creating great interest abroad.—Herr Freiligrath, the
German poet, so long resident in England, his
definitely settled at Stuttgardt.—Professor Reinhold
Pauli, the German historian of England, has been
elected to the -Upper Chamber of the North German
Parliament, as member for the University of Marburg.
—A firman has been granted for a new English
paper in Constantinople, to be called the Levant
Times.

The Orchestra contains the following :—Mr. Costa
has been on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of
Wellington, the past week, at Strathfieldsaye. We
e glad to know that he is restored to his wonted good
health.—A correspondent at Boston sends word that
Leotard fell from the trapeze on the evening of the
11th instant, and sprained his ankle so badly that he
probably will be unable to perform for five or six
months.—Victor Hugo contributes an etching to a
forthcoming volume, " Sonnets et Eaux-fortes." The
poet is a zealous amateur artist, and drawings by him
are frequently seen in his friends' houses. One of
them, representing John Brown of Ossawattomie on
the gallows, was published as a lithograph some years
ago.—lt is reported that the Boucicaults are about to
retire from the stage.

SPAIN.
The province of Galicia has declared for a constitutional
monarchy. Meetings have been held in all the large
towns, demanding the immediate convocation of the
Cortes, and the establishment of a definite Government.
The people of We maritime province complain greatly
that commerce suffers by the uncertainty which now
vrevaile.

ERUPTION OP MOUNT ETNA.
The outbreak of Mount Vesuvius has been accompanied
by the much rarer event of a convulsion of the great
Sicilian volcano. The British vice-consul at Catania
telegraphs that at five o'clock on Friday evening a magni-
ficent eruption of Mount Etna broke from the summit.
Etna is twice as high as Vesuvius, and, like all largo
volcanoes, its eruptions are few in number, and generally
very violent. This is the seventh outbreak during the
present century. In 1830 several villages were destroyed,
and showers of lava reached near to Rome, a distance of
some 300 miles. In 1832 the town of Bronte was destroyed.
The last eruption began in February 1865, and lasted until
the followinar July.

MR. REVEHDY JOHNSON AS AN ANTI-SLAV/MOLDER.
Attention is called in the Anglo-American Times
by the " Father Dickson " of Mrs. Stowe's " Died'
to the well-marked anti-slavery character of Mr.
Reverdy Johnson's opinions. Many former American
Ambassadors have—as Mr. Stevenson and Mr.
Dallas—been either themselves slaveholders, or in
sympathy with the slaveholding party. Mr.
Adams was an exception to this, and now
we have Mr. Johnson, whose speech made
against slavery created much noise at the time.
Ho declared in it that !slavery was founded neither
on morals nor on Christianity, and he pronounced
against the Southern Confederacy, on the ground .
that it was intended to perpetuate the system obtain-
ing in the South. Twenty years since Mr. Johnson
defended a minister who was charged with aiding a
slave to escape. A slave woman escaped from Mary-
land,
the State in which Mr. Reverdy Johnson
resided, and which he represented in the
United States Senate. The Rev. C. T. Torrey
was arrested and tried for aiding in the escape.
The anti-slavery friends, knowing that he would
be tried by a slave-holding judge and a
slave-holding jury, determined to secure the services
in his defence of the ablest legal advocate in Mary-
land, as the only hope of saving him from prison ;
and they were successful in obtaining those of Mr.
Reverdy Johnson, the present Ambassador. But his
influence and knowledge and eloquence were
unavailing. Mr. Torrey was sent to prison, and
died in prison.