The Sun.
London, England, 1829-09-23 00:00:00

" BEAUTIES" OF NEVNASTLE-PPON-
TYIIE.

EX FllllO DARE LUCEIt.

This i 7( doubtful ground for " sunny skies and
meandering meads." The credit of Newcastle—
if it ever luid any for such things in Cockney
land—has long since foundered in the " Pool ;"
and the black practices in the coal-market have
so clouded_ its green faux, and .darkened its
picturesque reputation, that there is now little
chance, by mere description, of retrieving them.
For aught that will be believed, the town is but
an immense lump of Walls-end, the country
round a collection of pits and trap-holes, and
the very air a fluid of fog, gas, and smoke. From
Limehouse to Putney bridge this is the general
feeling ; and there is not a man who, I dare say
would think of it, except in connection with
coals, smut, and smoke. And thus are the good
looks, and really very good looks, of an interest-
ing country to be cried down, because it sends
more of coal than any thing else to London ; and
its beauties voted away by a sort of clamour, as
unfair as it is untrue. Much has h,een said of
poetic justice, but we submit that there can be
no greater claim upon the knight-errantry of a
versifier than a plain stripped of its verdure, trees
of their leaves, grass of its colour, and the very
atmosphere of its tenuity; and all this by war-
rant only of what is most properly termed " a
gratuitous assumption." Where are the thou-
sands whose pens would start from their ears at
the suggestion of a cruelty or the infliction of
an oppression ? Here is Nature herielf calling
out for vengeance. We take it for g t anted, ill
this generous country, she will no • want a
champion ; but, pending this metrics vindica-
tion, it might not be amiss to lift up oulk prosing
voice in one word, and that in the fiumbleq
way—expostulation. Is it quite fair thus to take
away a reputation by inference; for a refutation
is a reputation, although it be for green trees
and mossy banks ? That sort of sentiment
which is so active within us all, half morbi,
.. . ...

half prophetic, which figures to itself the like-
ness of a place as soon as it is mentioned ; those
feelers which are put find' by the fancy, the
tirailleurs which scour the ground in advance,
and bring back reports of its shape, look, and
situatiou, are not always safely 'to be trusted.
Their work is too quick to be accurate, their
colours too evanescent ; and their outline, being
without model, very untrue in nine cases out of
te❑ to nature. After all this it may be guessed
that we mean to say that the country round
Newcastle is not what it is supposed to be ; and
that, but for the puffing of a small volcano here
and there—the door of those dusky chambers
which contain the real treasures of the place—it
is as smiling and as fair as any part of this
blooming land. There is the same alteration of
height and plain, the same cultivation ; and, with
the exceptions, the same free air. There are
spots in the landscape outside the town which
are nowhere exceeded for beauty. The country
houses of the resident gentry—though not so
numerous as more South—are still to be seen
thickly enough studded to give effect to the
prospect. The habitations of the better class of
farmers are very comfortable and clean, but the
peasantry who come more closely in cont:lct
with the coal seem to belong more to the artificial
district than the natural one.

The town of Newcastle has advantages for
trade in its situation which are too well known
to be repeated here. Its appearance from the
outside is any thing but inviting, particularly in
the approach through the dirty and straggling
town of Gateshead. But, if it be like a lump
of coal to look at, it possesses within all the heat
and fire which that cheering mineral gives out
upon a nearer approach to it. There is a groat
deal of commercial spirit and enterprise in the
place. To say nothing of the raw materials, coal
and lead, its trade in soap, glass, &c., is very
extensive. The trade in the former article has
increased greatly within a few years, and contri-.
butes even now a very large proportion of the
whole of the duties paid upon the article to the
Excise. The coal and lead trade arc said just
now to be very dull ; for, notwithstanding the
enormous prices—considering the cheapness of
carriage and cost of production which the con-
sumers in the metropolis pay for coals—the re-
turns arc generally said here not to be remune-
rative. The cause is said to be that too many
pits have been opened, and more of the material
has found its way to market than, according to
the system, was intended. The whole mystery
of this most mysterious traffic is before the
public, in the evidence given before Parliament.
The lead trade does not pay, because the Eng-
lish article is undersold in the market by the
Spanish lead.
Their public institutions are of a most praise-
worthy and public-spirited kind. They have a
respectable library, administered upon liberal
principles, and a small museum, which in one
department, that of birds, is really rich. Thia
room, however, is not large enough to contain
all their treasures ; and it is in contemplation to
build a larger one. To these places strangers
have access ; and the politeness of the librarian
and his assistant must merit the thankfulness of
those who make him a visit. There is an Aca-
demy of Arts very spiritedly supported, where
some of the pictures of the best artists of the
day arc exhibited. It would be well that such
institutions were more general.
But the topic which engrosses more attention
here is the projected rail-road between this town
and Carlisle. An Act of Parliament has already
been obtained, and the work will be proceeded
with immediately. Its prospectus holds out very
plausible prospects of all the advantages which
must arise from connecting the two seas at either
side of the island. House-rent is high, but the
necessaries of life are moderate. At Durham
one every where meets with the figure of the
famous ox ; but, lest the flesh of this overgrown
animal should be rank, nature has kindly given
the mustard, the bane and antidote ; for there
that flower of stimulants flourishes. If, how-
ever, in the Bishopric, one has boiled beef and
mustard of the best, here we have washing and
firing of the cheapest.

How great a change has occurred in the value
of property mace the peace may be conjectured from a lab
4ale at Lanark. The property' consists of eight acres of ea•
cellent land, bannded on the north by the estate of Baror,
ald. During the war the proprietor was offered for
~0001; again, by the out-going tenant of the Clydesdal
ion, 1,600/. Last week it was sold by auction for 9001
Of the little wall-fruit of which there was an.
preepert, still has has ripened, either in this country
in France, owing to the :cold, rainy, and ungenial seasoi
with which we have unfortunately been visited.

General L A FAYETTE has imported frou
south Atneriea two birds, male and female, calk
4‘ Homo," which are now at his estate, near Paris.
bird, which is wild in South America, becomes speedily:
tame as the domestic. 1;w1, and thrives in our clitmttet,
hocco is as large as a small turkey, and its fish
,aid to he exquisite. The female iu the possession •
General LAFAVETT3 has laid six eggs, but they wt,
broken by accident. It is thought, however, that it w.
soon lay again, and that the breed may be propagated to
great eatt*—Literar# oa,:cao,