The Sun.
London, England, 1821-04-30 00:00:00

POLITICAL.. DELUSIONS.

"Mn. CLIFFORD.—Among the many facts that
. . , .
I .ascertaindd, not the least important was, ' that common
fame was a.-reinmon liar.' Mr. Clifford had brought me ac-
(panted with all the tricks,'frauds„ and•deceptions of the public
PreSs : and, to convince me that almost the whole of the ;public'
Press of that day (1801) was venal and corrupt, he proved to
demonstration, by some practical' • experiments, that, fora few
pounds, any thing, however absurd,rmight be universally pro-
mulgated; particularly if the absurdity, was in favour of the
ruling poWers. For instance, he-wrote a paragthpli, the greatest
,hoax that.ever was, in praise of the mildand ariii.able man-
net's, the courtesy, and. the humanity of Harry Dundas. • Now,-
Said he, to show you how this will be promulpted by the
venal Press, and how -it will he swallowed by •Joilti Bull, live
me five shillings, and .I will-put it into the hands of one
of the runners for collecting information.. for • the papers, and -
you shall see it in all the newspapers, both in London and the
country. I produced,the-croWn piece immediately, and out- t
came in one of the Morning, Papers, the next day ; .and as he
had predicted, it was copieu into all the London and Country
Papers. Then as to public opinion, and the popularity of the..
I.eading characters of 'the day ; 31r. Fox,' to •svit,
los a hip-aired timesdeclured to me, that this.great Westmin-
ster patriot was never drawn home
.in his
.carriage from the
:hustings in his life, by the populace, without .the pevSons who
drew him being' regularly hired and paid for it ;--and that he
would undertake to have me, or Mr. Waddington drawn through.
the. streets of London, from Wifitechapel to Piccadilly for the
same sum," (305.)--[illemoirs of Henry Hunt.]

LORD ByttoN's TRAGEDY.—(Lijunciion with-
draton.)--It appears, by the following commu-
nication, that the representation of the Tragedy
is to be permitted, until the question raised as to
the right of property is. decided by a Court of
Law., .An interest ,excited under such circum-
stances cannot fail of proving beneficial •:to the
treasury of the Theatre : '
cc 111174.1tAr v. Et.LisTox.--,The question, as to Mr.t.I,T:IS-
-I`ON'S right of respresenting Lord I;1'Itt):5' Trapily,:of M
RINO FiumEno' on the boards of Drury -lane Thcilrg, is, we..,
utulorstwid,ta bt,decided ' by a Coat of -Law ; 'the
tivdt.ps,place, Mr. Li.r.tsTo is, under t4c.Auglority of
the"Loß thiASTCELLOR, to be permitted to ,continuA its per-
formance.", .

TIE
SPARTANS.—A Spartan mother, affer the
first news of a battle, went out otthe city to ob-
tain more intelligence. A messenger *came and
informed her that her two sons. were among the
slain. " Wretch!" said she,". I did inCiiiire the
•fate- of my sons, but that of my country." When
told that Sparta was victorious, she exclaimed,
" Then I rejoice in the death of my sons.":—
XERXES, at the head of" half a million of men,
wrote thus to LEONIDAS, " Surrenderiyour arms."
LEONIDAS, who cominaded only three hundred
Spartao, returned this anSwer," Conie and take.
them."---Just before the' battle of ThermOPYl,
a Spartan soldier came .anal reported that the.
Persians were so numerous, that tl,eir clouds of
arrows darkened the sun. "So much tlop bet-
ter," said LEO:VIDAS, " for we shall fight in the
shade." .•

The storm of thunder and lightning with which'
the metropolis was visited on Thursday night ex-
tended over the Isle of the Counties of
Sussex, ;Hants, Middlesex, Surrey, EsSex, Ox-
ford, Norfolk, &c. The peals of thunder were
loud and in long succession„ and the lightning
was extremely vivid, but we do not find from
the provincial papers that they We're attended-
with any •damage to the inhab4ants'or their 'Pro•;,
pert,