The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-02 00:00:00

THE RISLEYS IN PARIS.

The llisleys are at present performing at the Porte
St. Martin, at Paris, and their popularity in France sur-
passes, if possible, that which they attained in this
country. All the Paris papers speak in terms of the
utmost enthusiasm of their wonderful performances.
Galignani's Messenger thus speaks of their debut:—
" At the Porte St. Martin, the only novelty of the week,
properly so called, is the wonderful performances of Mr.
Risley- and his two children, charming little boys,
who, though scarcely past the age of infancy, go
through a series of feats, so agile, so graceful, and
withal so extraordinary, as to make the spectator
wipe the glass of his binocle a second time, to make
sure that he is not looking upon something that dreams
are made of, instead of two little Americans and their
father, who have crossed the Atlantic to prove to the
good folks of London and Paris that the most wondrous
and surpassing tours of activity and strength are not in-
compatible with the most fairy-like elegance and grace.
Mr. Risley and the two little marvels presented them-
selves, in obedience to the general demand, at the fall of
the curtain, to receive special manifestations of favour at
the hands of the public generally, and more particularly
of the fairer portion, who literally loaded their two little
favourites with flowers. The house is nightly crowded
to witness these most remarkable performances, and we
may predict to Mr. Risky and Co. as prolonged a sea-
son of popularity in Paris as in London.
At the conclusion of the Parisian engagement we un-
derstand they proceed to fulfil an engagement at Brussels

LETTER TO SIR J. GRAHAM.
MY DEAR SIR JAMES,—I perceive from the works of
those daily law-breakers, the reporters of Parliamentary
speeches, that you have the right—a right solemnised by
law—to burglariously break and enter into every pack-
age, bundle, letter, note, or billet-doux, sent through the
Post-office. Yes; you are permitted this high privilege
by the Act 1 Victoria (whom God preserve!).
I protest, Sir James, that henceforth I shall never
think of that crowning pile in St. Martin's-le-Grand,
without seeing you in imagination working away with a
crow-bar, smashing red and black wax—or, by the more
subtle agency of steam, softening wafers, diat the letter
may open its lips, and yield up the contents of its very
heart to the Secretary of the Home Department.
lam not a squeamish creature, Sir James. I have
not what is called by the world false modesty—a mo-
desty, I presume, to be classed with false ringlets and
false teeth, and therefore never used but when the real
thing is. wholly departed. No; I have seen too much of
the world to care a great deal for its turned-up noses
and the ugly mouths it may make at me. Nevertheless,
Sir James, there is a point between philosophy and
apathy. Yes—the rhinoceros has his tender part—l
have mine: so tender, and withal so vital, that I cannot
get rid of it. Were I, like Achilles, vulnerable only in
ono heel, I would instantly cheat fate of its malice,
have my limb amputated, and laugh securely at destiny
on a wooden leg. This, Sir James, I would do; but a
man cannot take the weak parts of his heart away as
dexterously as a careful housewife removes the fly-blow
from meat. Hence my eomplaiut.

My one weakness--for weaknesses, strangely enough,
are like wives; no man, whatever the truth may be,
thinks it proper to own to more than one at a time—my
one weakness, is a disgust, a horror, that any man
should dare to profane the sanctity of my letters! I
know not—for if a man can save a bit of self-flattery
out of his weakness, it is so much virtue got, as one may
say, out of the fire—l know not if this aversion may not,
in some degree, arise from my love of mankind, and, con-
sequently, my annoyance at seeing it in a paltry, pitiable
condition, pushing its brazen nose where only its brass
can protect it. Be this as it may; when I learned this
morning that you, Sir James, made yourself a sort of
horse or ass hair sieve, through which the correspond-
ence of men was passed, that, if there, the daggers,
pikes, and pistols of the writers might be duly deposited
in the State vessel appointed to detect them—l confess
it, I felt in a paroxysm of passion, for the proper ex-
pression of which no words have as yet been fashioned.
And for this just reason. I know that my name was
too much noised in the world to escape even the ears of
Cabinet Ministers. Hence, I felt assured that my letters
—and the thousands I receive!—had all of them been
defiled by the eyes of a spy; that all my most domestic
secrets had been rumpled and touzled, and pinched here,
and pinched there—searched by an English Minister as
a shuddering modesty is searched at a French Custom-
house. My first feeling, Sir James, was intense indig-
nation; and then I vehemently slapped my breast, and
so, giving the virtue a jerk, pity came uppermost.
Then I thought—how can I and Sir James ever meet
again? When we met, I was wont to don a crimson
waistcoat, worked with all sorts of impossibilities in
gold; to wear a Court coat of cut chocolate velvet, and
silk stockings shining like glass. Knowing that the
vulgar were taken by such things, I always went among
Cabinet Ministers dressed to the amazement even
of tailors. Sir James, you know my secret, and how
in that dress can we meet again? Deny it not; you
must know it, for you have read Mr. Nathan's letters
long before they came to my unconscious hand—letters
demanding of me, I will not take upon myself to say how
many times, payment for the hire of that crimson waist •
coat and chocolate velvet coat. This is one case; I might
cite a hundred. ,

At length, I took comfort. A true chemist will ex-
tract sugar even from the cudgel he has been beaten
with. Sir James has, I thought, ill-used me, but never-
theless, from his very shabbiness will I extract the
sweets of patronage. I will dedicate to him my " Com-
plete Letter Writer," and for this reason—a reason
stringent as an iron hoop.

As Sir James Grahatia has the whole run of the Post-
office—as he has the unquestioned fingering of all the
letters of the Queen's subjects—he cannot but possess
a most refined, most exquisite taste for the graces
of epistolary composition. Yes ; he above all men,
from his large reading of the subject, will take and
hug to his bosom—if Ministers own such physical
vulgarities—" Punch's Complete Letter Writer." He will
appreciate its many-coloured style; he will acknowledge
it as a work to supersede all works of the sort hitherto
written; he will—perhaps in his place in Parliament,
and so save a considerable sum in the way of advertise-
ments—declare of the book, that no family should be
without it; and that every gentleman's library, having
all else, yet wanting it, has nothing!
Therefore, Sir James, it is with the profoundest
opinion of your experienced ability to judge the sur-
passing merits of the volume—a volume for the world—
that " Punch's Complete Writer" is dedicated to you,
By your old acquaintance,
PUNCH.

Be it known, Sir James, that the aforesaid letters will
be published every week until the conclusion of the pre-
sent—" Punch's" seventh—volume.—Punch.

ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE FROM PRISON.—On Tues-
day morning last, shortly after six o'clock, William
Warren, a private in the 41st Regiment, who stands
committed for trial at our City Sessions, for robbing
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Richard England of various ar
tides of jewellery, &c., made a most daring attempt to
escape by jumping from the top of the gaol upon the
covering of the iron bridge connecting the new prison
with Westgate, by which means he succeeded in reach-
ing the parapet on the debtor's side, and from thence
leaped to the ground, a distance of nearly 30 feet, and
fell on the footpath leading round the east tower. lle
was immediately secured by the governor and turnkey.
The prisoner, though much shaken, is doing well, and
has sustained no material injury beyond breaking his
ankle.—Kent Herald.

At four o'clock on Saturday morning a fire broke
out at the Sun public-house, Gray's Inn-lane, the upper part
of which extends over the entrance of the Holborn Union
workhouse. The inmates had tied the bedding together to
effect an escape from the second-floor window, but three fire-
escapes•arrived in time to extricate part, while others, in a
state of nudity, escaped over the houses. There are two sta-
tions of the Society for Preventing Loss of Life by Fire—one
at the Foundling Hospital, and the other at the south end of
Bedford-row.