The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-27 00:00:00

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418 3 11

MODERN FRENCH MANNE RS.

By this time I became aware of a truth which had
dawned on my mind, that the French common people
have lost much of that grace of manner which once
distinguished them above all other people. More
courteous than the Italians they could not be ; but,
while their manners were more artificial, they were
more playful and winning. All this has changed. I
did not remark the alteration so much with regard to
myself as in their mode of speaking to one another.
The " Madame" and " Monsieur" with which stable-
boys and old beggar-women used to address each other,
with the deference of courtiers, has vanished. No
trace is to be found of it in France. A shadow faintly
exists among Parisian shopkeepers when speaking to
their customers; but only there is the traditional
phraseology still used ; the courteous accent, the soft
manner, exist no longer. I speak of a thing known
and acknowledged by the French themselves. They
want to be powerful ; they believe money must
obtain power; they wish to imitate the English,
whose influence they attribute to their money-making
propensities, but now and then they go a step beyond,
and remind one of Mrs. Trollope's description of the
Americans. Their phraseology, once so delicately,
and even, to us more-straightforward people, amus-
ingly, deferential (not to superiors only, but toward
one another), is become blunt, and almost rude.
* * Perhaps more than any people, as I see
them now, the French require the restraint of good
manners. They are desirous of pleasing, it is true ;
but their amour propre is so sensitive, and their
tempers so quick, that they are easily be-
trayed into anger and vehemence. * * *
On board these long, narrow river-steamers
I found the same defects : the air most agreeable
to a traveller, of neatness and civility, was absent.
There is, however, no real fault to be found, an I I
should not mention this were it not a change ; and
I sincerely wish the French would return to what
they once were, and give us all lessons of pleasing
manners, instead of imitating and exaggerating our
faults, and adding to them 'an impress all their own ;
a sort of fierceness, when displeased, which is more
startling than our sullenness. As I said, this has no
reference to any act towards myself; but the winning
tone and manner that had pleased me of old no
longer appeared, and it was in the phraseology used
among each other that the change was most remark-
able.—The Young Widow.

GREAT FOOT-RACE FOR 201.—Yesterday a very
large number of persons assembled at the Beehive-
ground, Walworth, to witness the race between Bad-
cock, of Birmingham. and E. Smith, of London, both of
whom have acquired some notoriety. The contesting
distance was one mile. In betting Badccck was the fa-
vourite, Smith's friends being very shy and cautious.
At the start Badcock took the lead, which he maintained
and came in a gallant winner, his opponent and his
friends appearing much discomfited and chagrined at the
result.

Yesterday a match of cricket was played between
the Islington and Finchley Clubs, at Garrates- ground,
Copenhagen-house, which terminated in favour of Isling-
ton, they winning by one innings and 89 runs.
GROUSE SHOOTING.—We have a rather indifferent
account of the sport upon the Monmouthshire hills, the
extraordinary drought of the spring, conjoined with the
unlawful proceedings of the biped poachers having made
the birds exceedingly searce.—Cambrian.
MERCHANT SEAMAN'S ORPHAN ASYLUM.--les-
terday the general meeting and autumn election of this
charity was,held at the London Tavern, for the admis-
sion of four girls and eight boys into this institutiou.
The chair was taken by Captain Nelson, the treasurer.
A report of the Committee was read, from which it ap-
peared that, owing to an improvement in the finances, a
double number of children were admitted at this elec-
tion. The amount realised at the last annual festival
was 669/. ss. 6d., in which were included 50/. from the
llonourable Sidney Herbert, M.P., and twenty guineas
from Joseph Somes, Esq. Sixty boys and thirty girls
were then in this asylum. At three o'clock the poll
closed, soon after which the names of the successful
candidates were announced, when a vote of thanks was
passed to the chairman, and the business of the day ter-
minated.

VISIT OF PRINCE WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA TO LIVER-
POOL-LIVERPOOL, MONDAY.—His Royal Highness
Prince William of Prussia arrived at the Adelphi Hotel
last night, en route from Scotland. He left Glasgow on
Friday, slept at Carlisle on Saturday, and yesterday
proceeded to Lancaster, whence, after having taken a
view of the castle and the localities generally, he came
by railway to Parkside, and thence to Liverpool. On
his arrival at Lime-street station, he was met by the
Prussian Consul, in full uniform, the Mayor, and Mr.
Alderman Bramley Moore. His Royal Highness, ac-
companied by the Mayor and two of his suite, then pro-
ceeded in the Mayor's private carriage to the Adelphi
Hotel, where he dined, the President Von Garlach, a
Prussian judge, forming one of the royal dinner party.
His Royal Highness took a tour through the town this
morning, viewing the principal objects of interest with
as careful an inspection as his limited stay would admit
of. He started from the Adelphi at seven o'clock, ac-
companied by the Mayor and others members of the
Corporation, and took his departure for Warwick Castle
at half-past eleven o'clock A.M., by railway. His Royal
Highness, after leaving the Adelphi Hotel, visited the
Brunswick Dock, the Custom House, the Royal Mail
steam-ship Britannia, steamed along the line of docks in
the Redwing, visited the Waterloo and Prince's Decks,
the Fish Market, the Assize Courts, and, finally, passed
through the beautiful suite of rooms at the Town Hall.
From Warwick Castle the Prince will proceed to
Hampden, and thence to Drayton Manor, where he will
make a brief stay with Sir Robert Peel.
DETERMINED SUICIDE ON BLACKFRIARS-BRIDGE.
—Last evening, about a quarter to six, a respectable.
looking young man committed suicide by throwing him-
self off the balustrades of Blacktriars-bridge, near the
centre arch, when the deceased immediately sunk, the
tide running down strongly at the time, and was never
afterward seen. The deceased was observed to mount
one of the recesses with the apparent intention of look-
ing at the craft on the river, and nothing particular being
observed in his manner no notice was taken of him until
he was suddenly seen to jump up on the balustrade, and
before any assistance could reach him he had precipi-
tated himself into the river. Boats immediately put off

and the drags were put in use, but up to a late hour last
night the body had not been found. His hat was picked
up, but it does not afford any clue to who the un-
fortunate person was. The name " Binden, maker, Cam-
berwell," is on the lining.
THE OPENING Or THE ROYAL EXCHANGE....-We

are given to understand that a meeting of the Joist
Committee for the affairs of the Royal Exchange is to
take place on Friday, the 30th instant, to receive the
report of the progress of the works, and to fix the day
upon which everything connected with the opening of
the Royal Exchange is to be completed. On the day of
the meeting of the Committee inquiry will be made as
to the cause of the hitherto unaccountable delay which
has taken place in the preparation of the building for
the reception of the merchants and traders, to whom
that delay has been so serious an inconvenience. Eight
months ago it was announced to the public, that if the
weather should prove favourable, the building would be
ready for business in June. How then, ask numbers of
our fellow-citizens, happens it, that although no obstacle
of any kind has presented itself, and although the
weather has been most auspicious, doubts arc expressed
as to the completion of the works before the termination
of another month ? It is positively asserted in the City,
that without any extraordinary exertion on the part of
those who are responsible, the merchants might have
been " on 'Change" two months ago ; and people say it
is hard to suppose that any public body or set of
trustees, would so far neglect their duty as to wink at
the violation of the contracts. The meeting of the
Joint Committee on the 30th instant, hoWever, will ex-
plain all about it.
ACCIDENT ON TIIE LONDON AND BRIGHTON RAIL-.
wAy.—As the last down train, on Sunday night, was
proceeding in the neighbourhood of Balcombe tunnel,
William Johnson, Jackson's stoker, while engaged in
emptying a sack of coke on the tender, overbalanced
himself and fell off. His right arm unfortunately fell
across the rail, and the wheels of the train passing over
it crushed it in a dreadful manner. The train was im-
mediately stopped, and the sufferer was conveyed by
means of one of the engines and a single carriage with
all possible expedition to Brighton. On arriviag at the
terminus the poor fellow was placed in a fly and sent to
the Sussex County Hospital, where amputation of the
limb was performed, and the sufferer remains in a very
precarious state.
3,367, and
week of and via Calais,
BOULOGNE AND CALAIS.—The number of persons
who passed to and from France via Boulogne during the
500. we week eTnhdeingnulamsbt
numbers
Thursday, wasthe c
3
last year were, Boulogne 2,446, and Calais, 696.
FIRE AT HANDFORD HALL.—Between eight and
the Lamb-fair Farm, at Handford Hall, brokein this out on
town,
neighbourhood. the immediate
nine o'clock
premises, which are of great
which created on
extraordinary Thursday evening,
neighbourhood. The
ex-
tent, are surrounded by a water-
_ _course and pale-fence.
The farm servants had left work about an hour when the
alarm was given. The flames
were seen issuing from a
stood large straw-stack which _ in a corner of the yard,
close to the fence, and immediately adjacent there was
a range of corn and hay-stacks,
forming a direct
line of communication with the far hm- ouse, the
barns, granaries, stables, and other outhouses. A
large number of persons who were assembled at the fair
quickly collected, and the engines were brought from
Ipswich, together with the police and a party of the
4th Light Dragoons. By zealous and well-directed
efforts, the flames were prevented from extending to the
corn-stacks, which, owing to their position, must have
inevitably spread destruction over the whole of the pre-
mises. The straw-stack was, however, wholly con-
sumed, but the loss is inconsiderable. It has been ascer-
tained, from examination, that the fire originated in the
fence, a portion of which is charred, close to the spot
where the straw-stack was situate. This fact raises the
presumption of wilful design, but as yet no clue has been
obtained to account for the outrage, nor is any person
suspected.—lpswich E.tpress.
THE Moons.—The accounts from the numerous
sporting grounds in the county continue to represent the
sport as unusually excellent, notwithstanding that the
weather has not been, as a whole, for the past eight
days, particularly propitious. The quantity of birds
arriving at, and passing through, the city, on their route
to all parts of the compass, is enormous, and almost
bey2nd precedent.—Perthshire Advertiser.
VEGETABLE DIET.—Dr. Lambe, now in his
eightieth year, states that he has lived on a purely vege•
table diet since 1804, and has brought up a large family
on the same plan with success.—Medical Times.