The Sun.
London, England, 1828-08-20 00:00:00

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PARTINERTIIPS DISSOLVED.

Henry Co Of New Burlington-street, and John
Silk Buckingham, of the Strand, some time joint proprie—
tors of tho periodical publications, called The Athena.wn„
Sphinx and Oriental Herald—John Grace, Rizdon Grace,
and Edmund Mann, Bristol, maltsters—J. Field, Thozna.
Whetnall, and Andrew Faulds--James Mottram and John
M'Dougall, Manchester, tailors—John Hill and Thomas
Aveling, Piccadilly, oilmen—Junes Nairne and William
Fogg, Pernambuco, commission merchants—Henry Mason
and Edmund Leeds, Norwich, coal merchants—Ann Llo)cl
and Frances Norris, Camberwell, schoolmistresses—John
Dear and James Dear, Huntingdon, grocers—Nicholas
Price, Walter Gilbert Price, aed John Williams, Oxford-
street, silk-mercers--Samuel Rabone &Id Edward Rabone,
Broad-street--Henry Gosbell and Ebeneeer Gosbell, Chis-
well-street, straw-plait dealer,.--William Bomber and
bomas Boucher, Rochester, hoymen.

LITERATURE.

CONFESSIONS OF AN OLD MAID.
LONDON, 1828.

There are three distinct epochs in the life of
an Old Maid. The first is full of romance and
sentiment, when in the pride of youth, and it
may be of beauty, she dismisses her suitors by
platoons, and sooner than close with an offer i!i
the slightest degree questionable, feels that sh.:
can afford to wait. The second is a more
rational epoch; the first freshness of feeling has
gone by ; the spinster has learned to think ; the
atmosphere of the world has struck to her ; and
she begins seriously,and at times,distrustingly to
meditate on her isolated condition. The third
is the age of disappointment, when hope,
youth, beauty, and with them all the amenities
of life having departed, nothing is left bur
snuff, scandal, and green tea. During the first
period, the old maid is sentimental, during the
second considerate, during the third selfish.
She sets out with love, and ends with devotion ;
or, if a woman of strong feelings, 'not unfre
quently with hypocondriasm, like a respected
virgin of our acquaintance, who every morning
before breakfast fancies herself a tea-pot, and
makes a point of standing for ten minutes as.
such, right opposite the fire-place. A. decided
old maid is not easily to be mistaken. She is
usually tall, thin, and stately ; wears high-heeled
shoes, and is neat to the minutest point in dress.
She is fond of silks that make a rustling when
she walks, carries her head high, tosses it back
when displeased, and is much given to cards.—
In manner she is reserved, with a slight admix-
ture of hauteur; tells long stories, and quotes
unmercifully from Pope. She dates from her
first visit to Court, when his present Majesty
(whom she still mentions as a wild but well-
disposed young man), was pleased to compli-
ment her appearance. Her countenance is
somewhat peevish, though the traces of benevo-
lence are discernible, and on her upper lip them
is a slight—a very slight—indication of mous-
taches, in short
gentlewomen should
shave to convince us that
s he just
after
rshouldeu
s seainvxogh
All sifo
et
y. . Such is the extreme—the
Ultra old maid; in her second stage, say from
thirty to forty-five, she makes a rationally attrac-
tive companion ; and in nine out of ten cases is
single from her own free choice. Her chief
fault at this period is, that she regrets too keenly
the past, and anticipates too sensitively the future.

Flet quoque ut in speculo rugas obaervat aniles
Tyndaris, et secum cur sit bit rapta, requirit.

The author of the " Confessions" before u:=.
has illustrated his old maid through the three
epochs which we hare just defined, with con-
siderable freedom of comment. But his
picture is not so much a likeness as a caricature.
No lady, accustomed—as he describes his heroine
to have heen,—to the refinements of aristocra-
tical society could possibly descend to the level
of an Irish sheep-stealer ; she could never so far
from such
forget herself as to mistake his vulgarity for wit.
work of
his bombast for imagination. Thatoillidnar‘telasins es
°l:es:yarreefitnheed
of elegance, that consummate tact and arpbperebhigehn:
bornsion ofl
lady, would
v,,tasteoul whichd
preserve
of this mis -
contamination. The reason
a takemalies
hand,that the :oCn
eo Confessions"
of the
The outline, notwithstanding,
correct ; but the filling
dwelt
gross, forced, and
Her little foibles are unnatural. on illi-
berally, and with too great a penchant for the
much . so so, that
ridiculous ,the analysis loses
ri
its effect. We have
-0 space for extracts,
nor, indeed, does the work require it, inasmuch
it is made up almost wholly
of comment
we may however recommend the scene of the
Old Maid's i ter;
n levy with her lover after a lapse
of thirty-five years; the contrast between her sen-
sibility and his selfishness is richly laughable,
and what is better still, consonant to truth and
nature.

It is said that a renewed effort will be made
during the next Session of Pailiament to obtain au act to
Imemd (which atlo,O
haso 01.
never per annum, and
that
tnalsle the Governors of Bridewell and Bethlem Hospitals
to employ the whole of their resources in the support of
poor lunatics of all descriptions. It appears that the in.
tome of Bridewell (which has some time since ceased to he
i
yet had it,
full complement of patients) may be estimated at 20,0001.
per
annum, arising from funded property, lands, and •
houses ; and it is computed that adequate means will Le
'n hospital)the inc ou mayi of be
Besetthi estimated
thus provided for meeting all the wants of the county for
its lunatic poor.