The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-02 00:00:00

of his waistcoat pocket, in black and white, with a long nel and its officers, and unanimously chose Sergeant Ber-
list of presidents, vice-presidents, secretaries, treasurer, nadotte for its commander.
committee-men, judges, conditions, prizes, and so forth.: " Having accepted this new dignity, he assembled the
On entering the show-room, whose proximity was audi- regiment and thanked his comrades for their confidence,
bly made known to us by the reiterated barking of the of which, he said, he felt and would prove himself worthy.
competitors, and the howling which followed the applies: " Above all,' he thus concluded his speech, I must
tion of the whips of their owners, we could hardly avoid impress it upon you, that without discipline no military
laughing, not less at the assembled bipeds who crowded body can subsist, and if lam to command you, and to
the room, than at their quadrupedal friends upon the table. operate efficiently for your welfare, you must promise
One old gentleman, with a white waistcoat and black me absolute, implicit obedience.'
silk smalls, relieved by a huge bunch of gold seals de- " That we cried the men, with one voice.
pending from the most prominent part of his person, '6, It follows of course then,' resumed the sergeant-co-
held a pug under each arm, whilst be criticised the lonel, that whoever does not instantly obey my orders,
points of a remarkably beautiful little tsrrier then shall be punished according to the laws of war. Do you
upon the table. A tall, thin, sickly-looking man, swear this ?'
who, as I was Unformed, was a peer of the realm, was " We swear it !' responded the soldiers,
busily engaged in discussing the comparative beauties " Bernadotte immediately tookli company—the one to
of a black and tan, and a red and white spaniel of the which he belonged, and on which he could reckon impli-
King Charles's breed, who, to do them no less than jus- citly—put himself at its head, led it to the prison, and
tice, appeared to enter completely into the spirit of the brought out the officers, with whom he proceeded to the
thing, and growled, and barked, and flashed fire at each front of the still assembled regiment.
other from their large, round, antelope, eyes, with all "' Soldiers,' said he, taking the hand of the colonel,
the apparent jealousy of two contending beauties at an you have, of your own accord, conferred on me the
assize balL Running about our feet were all sorts and command over you, and sworn obedience to me : I now
sizes of the canine race ; bloodhounds, Irish grey- command you to recognise again your former colonel
hounds, terriers, wiry and short-haired, silky-legged and officers. Let us not disgrace a good cause by rebel-
spaniels, but not a cur of low degree ; all had their pe- lion and disorder. My command is at.an end—l resign
digreei, and well-attested certificates approved their ho- it to our former chief.'
nourable birth. " The latter, however, had seen too much, and was too
" Notwithstanding the ludicrous nature (to us, at least), well informed of what was going on in Paris, and
of the exhibition, not a muscle, either of the dogs or throughout all France, to accept the proffered command
their generous protectors, was discomposed ! all was again. He declined it, and with most of the officers
conducted in a business-like English manner, with true quitted the regiment, of which Bernadotte then assumed
John Bullish gravity and decorum; nor, when a very fat I the command."
man, with a red carbunclated nose, uncovering a quart
pot, which he had hitherto concealed with a silk hand-
kerchief, placed it on the table with a little stunted dog
peering out, was there a single countenance in the room
irresistibly disposed to laughter, save our own. The little
stunted doc, himself, to all appearance a puppy of three
weeks old, but who was, in fact, arrived at the respect-
able age of two years, having recovered his liberty,
scrambled over the hedge of the quart-pot, and with
great gravity waddled round the table, paying his re-
spects as he went to other little stunted dogs, who, how-
ever, not being quite so stunted as himself, appeared to
regard him with no great cordiality.
" Of the extraordinary force of the sporting passsion
among even the working, or business classes of London,
we may take as an illustration the revelations of Mr.
Basil, in evidence before the Commissioners of Bank-
ruptcy.
" Mr. Basil stated that he was a hide and skin mer-
chant in Leadenhall-market. On the evening of the 18th
May last he went to the Swan Inn, in the Old Kent-
road, where he drank with Mr. Calf till eleven o'clock,
and then went afterwards together to the King's Arms,
in the Kent-road, where he had more drink ; from thence
they went to a house called the Waterford Arms, where
deponent had 71. in Champagne ; at four o'clock in the
morning proceeded to a gaming-house, 11, King-street,
St. James's, where he lost, at hazard and
-roulette,
172/. 10s., when he paid 122/. 10s., and gave an I 0 U
for 50/., which he paid at twelve o'clock in the day, de-
claring his opinion that he had not lost it fairly, and was
informed that Flash was the proprietor ; and, when he
afterwards met him at the Royal Mortar, in the London-
road, telling him what he lost, and that it was unfair,
Flash did not deny that he was the proprietor, but
laughed, and said I had had it.
" The witness underwent a long and severe cross-
examination, wherein ke stated that he had, from twelve
years of age, been accustomed to play at skittles, and
toss for 5/. or 10/. ; he had even tossed for a quantity of
wool, and whether the parties were to give him 500/. or
nothing, and he fortunately won ! Ile even played at
skittles when a man at each side of the frame held a fine
string at each end, so contrived as to pull the pins down
as the ball was thrown, so as to make it appear that the
pins were thrown down by the ball. He always carried
1,0001. in his pocket, and was ready to toss for a cool 100/.
at any time, and once engaged to go in a balloon with a
man of the name of Snooks, and would have tossed for
1001. in the balloon ! He knew that gaffing' meant
tossing, and that a halfpenny with two heads or two tails
was called a gray,' but never used one. He' was a
married man, and had had two wives ; he was the father
of six children—indeed he was a grandfather."

TAIT'S MAGAZINE.
In his political article this month, entitled a "Re-
trospect of the Session," Tait observes :—" IVe take
leave of the session of 1844 with the pleasing persua-
sion that it has rendered, in a left-handed way, a fair
contribution of useful service to the popular cause.
It has been to the Ministry one of retribution—to the
people one of instruction and preparation. It has greatly
weakened party ties, and damaged the prestige of high
party names." This last remark is true to the letter.
The effect of the session just passed has indeed been
to weaken " party ties," by demonstrating the folly
and inconsistency of party, and its utter inability to
legislate in a comprehensive, national spirit. Hence-
forth neither Whigs nor Tories will exercise much
influence over the public mind, which has at length
become fairly weary of the assumption and hollowness
of both factions. The " Burns' Festival" is an ac-
count, somewhat overcharged, of the late gathering
on the banks of the Doon of the admirers of this
truly national poet. The details are spirited and cir-
cumstantial, but we could have wished that the
writer had dwelt less upon the faults of Burns, for,
from all we can gather from his numerous biogra-
phers, they were by no means of a flagrant character,
but were such as ought to have been forgotten long
since. Poor Burns never committed a fault half so
grievous as that which his own countrymen com-
mitted when they left him to die in all but absolute
penury, neglected and broken-hearted. " Our Hearth
and Homestead" is a clever domestic sketch from the
pen of Mr. Mills, a writer whose sporting sketches
are fully equal to those of the late Nimrod. " Life
of Lord Chancellor Eldon" is an impartial notice of
Mr. Twiss's recently-published Memoirs of this over-
rated statesman. From the " Feast of the Poets" we
quote some pleating stanzas, entitled the " Beautiful
and True :"
The Beautiful and True, dear love,
The Beautiful and True,
Oft they meet to part, but yet
They never say, Adieu !
The stars, how gloriously they greet
•
But then, as morn comes on,
Heaven's pavement to their glittering feet,
Is echoeless and lone.
Brightly they dance away, but still
Such partings yield no pain ;
For ne'er they bid adieu, until
They 've sworn to meet again,
Dear love,
They 'ye sworn to meet again !
I saw two birds, like Faith on wings,
Meet o'er the waters blue ;
0 they could part like hopeful things,
Nor breathe a last adieu.
I saw a warrior, armed for fight,
Quit his lady fond and true.
But their lips first held a meeting bright,
And thus they bade adieu
I saw two ships part company,
O'er the ocean's sparkling foam,
And the " Outward Bound" sang a song of glee,
And the " Homeward," a song of home,
Dear love,
And the " Homeward," a song of home
O Minnie, thy words may breathe, "Farewell !"
But thy voice hath a binding thrill,
Whose latest sound shall wreathe a spell
To keep thee present still.
The touch of thy hand when kind and fond,
And thy smile, and thy waving hair,
And thy soft deep eyes, with their hopes beyond
The gloom of each passing care,
Shall haunt me still, and when thou art gone
I will live in a dream of thee,
And with thee will rove when the night comes on,
Through the grove to our trysting tree,
Dear love,
Through the grove to our trysting tree.

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

We have here another record of " Conversations
with the late Mr. Beckford," but the record is of

little public interest, consisting chiefly of slight,
sketchy criticisms on the Fine Arts, remarkable
neither for vigour nor ingenuity. The author of
" Vathek" scarcely deserved the literary celebrity he
acquired, and which continued unimpaired up to the
close of his long life ; for, though clever and accom-
plished—as hundreds of English gentlemen are of
whom we hear nothing—he was decidedly not a man
of genius, and his far-famed Arabian romance is
chiefly worthy of note from the early age at which it
was written. It exhibits the fancy and animal spirits
of boyhood, but is common-place in point of construc-
tion, feeble in the delineation of character, and in its
descriptions evinces more of exaggeration than of
graphic energy. Moreover, it is too much an echo of
the Arabian Nights, and its incidents are constantly
reminding us of the-marvels related by that queen
of story-tellers, the Princess Scheherazade. The
"Miners"
is a narrative of deep tragic interest, and
illustrates the injurious and demoralising tendency of
the old combination laws. Its chief defect is that the
characters are all of a repulsive order; the heroine, in
particular—the deliberate assassin of her husband—is
a personage with whose sufferings it is impossible to
sympathise. In the " Robertses on their Traiels,"
we find one or two animated scenes, touched off with
Mrs. Trollope's usual breadth and coarseness. "Lights
and Shades' ' are the recollections of a veteran officer
on d
half -pay. They are replete with bustle and
variety, but are by no means. serupuloiis in their
adherencelnk t,o probability. "Confessions of an Italian
h n eeper, ' though professing to be founded on fact,
plaoviet,s wofet.hsuespberAcit, much more to do with romance
than. reality,
which the lash ilgsaa
ofrfieinnddtihevifdoruals
which has lono,
"Social Piracy" Many of
so fo
ft the
e A incidents
h ru z
z i
......r refer to
triteto the
theme,ex-
sincelivelya deservedlyl ost a
pepatl theice
satirical
latolas stnarrative,
nu-
merous novelty.
class
spong-
ing on their
in fact, prey on
plena crawls hir move.
These human leeches
e m
withw dinners,hot
h are
invitations,r ec o n s
voracitytan t
01 constantly
c.
cs h, arnkds :
exact description may be found in all great towns
and cities,
which theyandare the pests of the social circle in
,The ' Non missura cutem nisi
udo, ' of which Horace saks, is an
Thomas Browne.e
the Encouragement
of Hearts" is a graceful little
essay, penned in of their character. - "Society for
the fanciful ton
augment slionwlay, a kindly and catholic spirit, and in
of its speculations not unlike Sir
going, and who ciann
the following rem We have been much pleased with
willark :—" There is no crevice so nar-
row that goodnot ooze through it, and gather and
thet
ure' r‘ s w h who issuedbest
and flow
of the tislaiyt cwanhefroerceitiwtsilwl asytobpy.,,degrrreoems,
full broad stream. Once set good
his established habit ReminiscencesefatofofththeelsactehoKolinofg
theof Sweden"—
oneßevolution
those numerous military adven-
turers
quote an entertaining anecdote or two :
"Bernadotte's
forenoon in bed,
generally rode out in frequently
tolyf the
of living was extremely simple. To
of t of temperance he owed the astonish-
ing conservation
I.ennefiranlelyw, hesethpears,seadnd
his person and his robust health.
Very often, indeed
gave audience and here however, from eight o'clock, he
transacted busiziess. About two, he
greatfre
paired to his favourite retreat, the elegant little palace
of Rosendal, built
fitted up and furnished,l himself in the park, and tastefully
rarely visited the where he sometimes dined. He
dined with the gentle le of the Queen, who regularly'
In general, the ien and ladies in attendance on her.
three men, courtiers i
Kingofs dnned in company with only two or
scholars, foreigners, distinction, high bfficers of state,
whom he wished to, and other interesting persons, with
d
converse. He seldom went to the
theatre, chiefly
with the Swe ish becauselan he was not sufficiently conversant
he spent either in writing,
.The last hours of the day
" With pleasure iting, or in the family circle.
and
with just pride, the thoughts of
Charles John dwelt upon his earlier career, and he fre-
quently spoke withc.fondness of the time when he held the
very lowest military ran 'Lorsque j'etais sergeant,' or
' A cette époque je venais d'etre nommil °Meier '—were
expressions which I have often
an astonishing memory for old heard him use. He had
comrades and acquain-
tance, and when I was first introduced to him, I had to
give him all the information 1
number of his old companions
concerning a great
in arms. On
them, who fell into distress, he many of
conferred substantial fa-
vours, but he adopted the prudent
per-
mit any of them to come to sweresolution, notto
en. On this point he
has been so consistent that he had
about him but a single
General Frenchman, his foster-brother, Camps, and that
as far as I know, none of his relations, who are people of
good property, ever came to Sweden.
adhered so firmly. to this principle,
a great number of
Had not the King
Frenchmen dissatisfied with the
government of the elder
branch of the house of Bourbon, would gradually have
found their way to Sweden to
importune their former
appointments, general with applications for
of which would have been mortifying the granting
"Though the King, as I have alreadyto the Swedes.
observed, gene-
rally lay long abed, he was attentive to his health, rarely
rode on horseback, scarcely ever w
little went a-hunting and in
general ' n
general exposed himself to
fatigue
as possible,
still he could upon occasion, in spite
his age, endure
more than even the younger of his of
, attendants liked to
encounter. In great manoeuvres, ave seen the King
for several successive days, passing
eightl h
horseback, and distinguished by hisnobl or ten hours on
e military bear-
ing, and the great simplicity of his
dress, among the
brilliant uniforms of his numerous staff. His frequent
journeys to Norway were often performed with the ut-
most celerity, in winter, in the most intense cold, and on
roads, which at that season are not always
" I shall here introduce one trait from the
best.
Bernadotte's
life, which does him great honour, and attests
, and
dests as well his
integrity as his powers of persuasion
which he always exercised upon those around
the influence
the breaking out of the revolution in
1789, dhim. At
Bernadotte
had recently been appointed sergeant by his captain.
This captain, a native of the same pro •
province as himself,
and who wished him well, had often reproved him for his
fondness for the revolutionary ideas which
t h were gradu-
ally gaining anddg him tha they could not
lead to any good ; declaring that he was ' u
vaise tote, ' and, in spite of his superior educe:. e maud-
ion and
acquirements, he would come to nothing.
When the
troubles actually commenced, and order discipli
ne
were d n
were banished from the army, several regi •
ments deposed
their officers, or refused to obey them, and elected others
out of their own midst. The regiment to which Berna-
dotte belonged followed this
example, arrested its colo: