The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-01 00:00:00

THE SIB N, LONDON, SATURDAY ErENI

table. Years now elapse without certain esteemed
diplomatists from friendly nations receiving that
honour; and we have had, but a few weeks since,
the example of the representative of a great foreign
Power leaving this country, after a residence of thirty
years, without obtaining audience of leave. The re-
cently introduced rules of etiquette at Witidsor have
been a source of astonishment to all civilised Europe,
there it only on account of the exclusion of all men
of literature and science." But though we fear it is
too true that literary and scientific men are too often
excluded from the courtly circles of Windsor, dwarfs
and aboriginal Indians, and such like Curiosities, have
not been slow to find a welcome there. " A New
Chapter in the History of Napoleon Bonaparte" is a
plain, straightforward account of the writer's attempt
to connive at the French Emperor's escape at
Rochefort; matters were all but brought to a satis-
factory termination, when Napoleon, to the astonish•
ment of all his friends in that town, announced his
intention to be guided by the counsels of General
Savary, and embark for England in the Bellerophon.
The impress of truth is, we think, visibly stamped on
this narrative, which we would willingly subjoin, were
it not too long for the purposes of quotation. Miss
Cook is one of the most cheerful and buoyant ver-
sifiers of the day, but we know not that she has yet
produced anything more touching, and, at the same
time, natural, than the following " Forest Thought:"—
The fine old oak bath passed away, its noble stem hath
shrunk,
Till roving footsteps speeding on, leap o'er the sapless
trunk ;
Its glory hath departed, and the wrestler with the storm
Is crumbled, till it yields no home to keep the squirrel
warm ;
But bright green moss is clothing it, all soft, and sweet,
and fresh,
As true as when it first entwined-the sapling in its mesh,
It leaveth not the ruin spot, but beautiful to see,
It ysarneth still the closer to the old gray tree.
I know this heart must wither, and become as dead a thing;
It will not heed the winter• cloud, nor feel the sun of spring;
In low decaying solitude, this form ere long shall fade,
And moulder 'neath the grave-sod, like the tree in forest
glade.
Oh ! let me hope that some kind thoughts will turn
toward my name,
And glowing breasts that love me now, will love me still
the same.
Let gentle Memory fill the home where once I used to be,
And cling to me like green moss to the old gray tree.
"A Discourse of Puppies" contains some good points,
but there is an air of pedantry about it, and a con-
stant attempt at saying smart things, which are some-
times very far-fetched. " The Wolf and the Lamb"
is a story from the pen of the indefatigable author of
" Peter Priggins," whose genius would show to
greater advantage if he would trust more to his own
resources, and less avowedly imitate the style of
Theodore Hook. From an article entitled "Two
Military Executions in Spain," we quote the follow-
ing affecting passage :

, frequently bestow upon the veriest needy, accompanied
with phrases that spoke his contempt of human nature,
his particular nature included."
The story proceeds to show how inevitable crime
is under the system of training to which young St.
Giles is submitted; by imperceptible degrees fate
drags Mai oh rrorri to (Ail, Until sit last he is the
robber of young St. James. We will conclude the
notice of this story by an amusing extract, which
may please our readers :
"We cannot say—and in truth it is a ticklish questiott
to ask of tfcJst wilti tire best qualified to give an answer,
if there really be not a comfort in substantial ugliness :
in ugliness that, unchanged, will last a man his life ; a
good granite face in which there shall be no wear and
tear. A man so appointed, is saved many alarms, many
spasms of pride. Time cannot wound his vanity through
his features ; he eats, drinks, and is merry, in despite of
mirrors. No acquaintance starts at sudden alteration,
hinting in such surprise, decay and the final tomb. He
grows older, with no former intimates—churchyard
voices !—crying, ` How you're altered !' How many
a man might have been a truer husband, a better father,
firmer friend, more valuable citizen, had he, when
arrived at legal maturity, cut off—say, an inch of his
nose. This inch—only an inch !—would have
destroyed the vanity of the very handsomest
face ; and so, driven the thoughts of a man from
a vulgar looking-glass, a piece of shop chrystal—and
more, from the fatal mirrors carried in the heads of
women to reflect, heaven knows how many coxcombs
who choose to stare into them—to the glass of his own
mind. With only such petty sacrifice, he might have
been a philosopher. Thus considered, how many a cox-
comb may be within an inch of a sage ! True, there
was an age when wise men—at least a few of them—
glorified in self-mutilation, casting sanguinary offerings
to the bird of wisdom. But this was in the freshness
and youth of the world ; in the sweet innocence of early
time. But the world grows old ; and, like a faded,
fashionable beauty, the older it grows the more it lays
on the paint."
There is a little poem of some interest, which we
will insert for the entertainment of our readers :

THE DRUM.
Yonder is a little drum
Hanging on the wall,
Dusty wreaths and tatter'd flags
Round about it fall.
A Shepherd youth on Cheviot's hills
Watch'd the sheep, whose skin
A cunning workman wrought and gave
The little drum its din.
0 pleasant are fair Cheviot's hills
With velvet verdure spread,
And pleasant 'tis amid its heath
To make your summer bed.
And sweet and clear are Cheviot's rills
That trickle to its vales,
And balmily its tiny flowers
Breathe on the passing gales.
And thus hath felt the Shepherd boy
Whilst tending of his fold,
Nor thought there was in all the world
A spot like Cheviot's wuld.
And so it was for many a day,
But change with Time will come,
And he—(alas ! for him the day !)
He heard the little drum.
" Follow," said the drummer-boy,
" Would you live in story ;
" For he who strikes a foeinan down,
" Wins a wreath of glory !"
" Rub-a-dub and rub-a-dub,"
The drummer beats away—
The Shepherd let his bleating flock
On Cheviot wildly stray.
On Egypt's arid waste of sand
The Shepherd now is lying,
Around him many a parching tongue
For water 's faintly crying.
0 that he were on Cheviot's hills
With velvet verdure spread,
Or lying 'mid the blooming heath,
Where oft he'd made his bed.
Or could he drink of those sweet rills
That trickle to the vales,
Or breathe once more the balminess
Of Cheviot's mountain gales.
At length upon his wearied eyes
The mists of slumber come,
And he is in his home again--
Till waken'd by the drum.
" Take arms ! Take arms," his leader cries,
" The hated foeman's nigh;"
Guns loudly roar—steel clanks on steel
And thousands fall to die.
The Shepherd's blood makes red the sand,
"Oh water—give me some !
" My voice might reach a friendly ear,
"But for that little drum !"
'Mid moaning men—'mid dying men,
The drummer kept his way,
And many a one, by "glory" lured,
Did curse the drum that day.
"Rub-a-dub and rub-a-dub,"
The drummer beat aloud—
The Shepherd died, and ere the morn,
The hot sand was his shroud.
And this is glory ? Yes ; and still
Will man the tempter follow,
Nor learn that glory, like its drum,
Is but a sound and hollow.

" At another execution that I witnessed, a charac-
teristic incident occurred. It was in Navarre, at a period
of the war when the system of reprisals was carried to
great length by both parties. The Carlists had been
committing some atrocities, murdering prisoners, or
something of that kind, and by way of retaliation, twenty
out of a number of prisoners whom the Queen's troops
had recently made, were to he shot. The victims had to
be chosen by lot, and for this purpose they were brought
out of their place of confinement. A wretched-looking
set they certainly were. Although they had not been
very long prisoners, the state of squalid misery into
which they had sunk was really pitiable. They were of
all ages, from lads of sixteen to men of sixty, or who, at
least, looked as old as that, being perhaps prematurely
aged by the life of privations they had led, and by the
sufferings of their captivity. There was no lack, how-
ever, of fine, stalwart fellows, with bronzed faces, mus-
cular forms, bushy beards, and hair hanging in long
curls over their necks ; models of Spanish mountaineers,
whose iron frames enabled them to bear up against all
hardships. The varieties of dress were strange and
striking enough. The poor devils had none of them too
much clothing, and what they had was, for the most
part, worn and tattered. Here might be seen a man with
a full, dress coat, the facings soiled and greasy, a strand
or two of an old tarnished epaulette dangling from his
shoulder, hempen sandals, and a pair of linen trousers,
formerly white, completing his costume. This was an
officer, but many were not even so well off as that,
Jackets with a sleeve or the collar tern off were
abundant, shirts by no means numerous, and shoes very
rare. There was one old fellow amongst them who at-
tracted my notice particularly, He was just the sort of
man one sees in pictures of Napoleon's vielle garde, with
soldier legibly written on every one of his features, and in
every movement of his upright, miiitary figure ; his
hands and face weather-beaten to the colour of maho-

gany ; his gaze stern and fixed ; his thick iron-gray
moustache covering his mouth, and the points descend•
ing almost on his breast. lie had evidently made a sort
of attempt to furbish himself up for his melancholy pa-
rade. His old uniform jacket had had the dust knocked
out of it, and was buttoned close up to the chin, as well
as the intermittent buttons would allow ; his forage-cap,
or rather what remained of it, was placed on his head
with a certain air of smartness, and his tattered shoes
were fastened with bits of twine. Pipe-clay and blacking
had of course not been at his command."

NEW PROJECTED RAILWAYS.
(From the Gazette of Last Night.)
RAILWAY DEPARTMENT, BOARD OF TRADE
WHITEHALL JAN. 31, 1845. ,
Notice is hereby given, that the Board constituted by
the Minute of the Lords of the Committee of Privy Coun-
cil for Trade, of the 24th of August, 1844, for the trans-
action of railway business, having had under considera-
tion the following schemes, for extending railway com-
munication in the south and south-west of Ireland,viz.:—
The Cork and Bandon,
The Dublin, Carlow, and Wexford,
The Dublin, Wexford Waterford, and Carlow,
The Dublin and Wicklow,
The Great Southern and Western—Cork and Lime-
rick Extension,
The Great South-Western (Ireland) Direct,
The Kilkenny Junction,
The Waterford and Limerick ;
have determined on reporting to Parliament in favour of
the

Cork and Bandon,
Great Southern and Western—Cork Extension only,
Watex ford and Limerick,
subject, as regards the portion of the line between Lime-
rick and the Junction with the Great Southern and
Western Extension line, to equitable arrangements for
securing to the Great Southern and Western Company
full accommodation for the purposes of the Limerick
traffic going in the direction of Dublin and Cork:
against the

Great South West (Ireland) Direct;
and recommending the postponement, until a future
period, of the
Dublin, Carlow, and Wexford,
Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, and Carlow,
Dublin and Wicklow,

Kilkenny Junction
and the Board having further had under consideration
the following schemes for extending railway communi-
cation in the Manchester and Leeds district, viz.,
The Barnsley Junction,
The Leeds and Bradford Extension to Skipton and
Colnc,
The Leeds and West Riding Junction,
The Leeds, Dewsbury, and Manchester,
The Manchester and Leeds—Heywood and Oldham
Extensions,
The Manchester and Leeds—Burnley Branch,
The Manchester, Bury, and Rossendale--Ileywood

Branch,
The West Yorkshire,
have determined on reporting to Parliament in favour
of the

Barnsley Junction,
Lecds and Bradford Extension to Skipton and Colne,
Leeds and West Riding Junction,
Manchester and Leeds—Heywood and Oldham Ex-
tensions,
Manchester and Leeds—Burnley Branch ;
and against the
Leeds, Dewsbury, and Manchester,
Manchester, Bury, and Rossendale—Heywood Branch,
West Yorkshire:
and the Board having further had under considera-
tion the
Charnel Valley Railway scheme (from Macclesfield
to Tarnworth and Derby, with a branch to the Pot-
teries),
have determined on reporting to Parliament in favour of
the said scheme.

DALHOUSIE.
C. W. I'ASLEY• G. R. PORTER.
D. O'BRIEN. S. LAING.

The following was publishedionffiaoSe,unppoluesmeeonft
Lords,to last
aeor ol aoi
night's London Gazette
" I Lord
Peeresses,r d
on m b
Januaryun,s-
-n 31. 1845.
4,
Aannouncing their intention of
o a
being present on the occasion of the opening of Parlia-
ment on Tuesday, the 4th of February, will have places
reserved for them in the House of Lords, if the announce-
ment be made at this office before five o'clock on Mon-
day, the 3d February. No lady can be admitted into the
except by a ticket from the Lord Great
body of the House except in full dress. No strangers
will be admitted,
Chamberlain. The doors will be opened at 12 o'clock.
" WILLOUGHBY DE EItESBI, G.C."
TOTNEB.—The result of the last Parliamentary
revision is now made apparent by the judgment of the
Court of Common Pleas, on the disputed cases. This
judgment places sueh a decided majority in the hands of
the Liberal party, as removes all doubt as to the result
of any election under this revision. Mr. Barry Baldwin,
it is generally believed, does not intend to contest the
seat. Mr. Baldwin is wise. ' We congratulate tho Tot-
nes Liberals on the result of their united efforts.--
Western Time,.