The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-13 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, SUNDAY.—This morning the Queen and
Prince Albert, and the Counts Mensdorf, attended by the
Countess of Dunmore, Hon. Misses Stanley and Hamil-
ton, Lord Rivers, Hon. C. A. Murray, Mr. Ormsby
Gore, Lord C. Wellesley, and Sir E. Bowater, attended
Div:ne service in the Royal Chapel of St. George. The
Rev.lMr. Gore officiated in the first part of the service. The
lion, and Rev. Mr. Cust, and the Rev. Mr. Markham
(Canon in residence), took the communion service. The
latter gentleman preached 4.most eloquent sermon, from
the 4th and sth verses of the 15th chapter of St. Luke's
Gospel. The "Te Deum" and " Jubilate " were Dr.
Boycein A. The Sanctus, "Hyrie Elieson," and Creed,
King's in C ; and the Anthem, " Behold, 0 God, our
defender, and look upon- the face of thine anointed,"
(Elvey). The verses sung by Master Foster, Mr. Harris,
Mr. Turner, and Mr. French. Dr. Elvey presided at
the organ.
Yesterday morning the Queen and Prince Albert. ac-
companied by the Duchess of Rent and the Counts
Mensdorf, and attended by the Royal suite, reviewed in
the Great Park, the Royal Hors:. Guards, under the
command of Colonel Richardson and Lieutenant-Col.
Smith, and the 15th Regiment of Foot, under the com-
mand of Lord C. Wellesley. Her Majesty and the
Prince wore the Star and Riband of the Order of the
Garter. His Royal Highness was habited in a Field
Marshal's uniform, and the Counts Mensdorf in those
of Austria. The Royal party returned at eleven
o'clock to the Castle, and in the afternoon took an
airing in the park and forest drives, her Majesty and
the Prince being on horseback. The Hon. Miss Paget
left yesterday, and Colonel Richardson, Lieutenant-
Colonel Smith, and Major Draught, had the honour of
joining the Royal dinner circle yesterday evening.
Her Majesty the Queen Dowager, accompanied by
the Duke and Duchess of Saxe Meiningen, the Here-
ditary Prince of Saxe Meiningen, and the Prince and
Princesses of Saxe Weimar, attended Divine Service yes-
terday afternoon in Westminster Abbey. The Countess
Brownlow, Hon. Miss Ann Gore, and Earl Howe were
in waiting on her Majesty; and Madile. De Kaas and
Baron D'Erffa were in waiting on the Duke and Duchess
of Saxe Meiningen.

The Queen Dowager attended Divine Service yester-
day morning in the Chapel Royal St. James's. The ser-
mon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Hook. The prayers
were read by the Rev. Dr. Wesley ; the lessons by the
Rev. Mr. Hall, and the communion service by the Rev.
Drs. Sleath and Wesley, and the Rev. Mr. Hall. Thu
service was Boyce.in A, the Sanctus in 1), Dupin's. The
anthem was, " The Lord is King " (Arnold). Sir G.
Smart presided at the organ.
The Bishop of Norwich, the Clerk, and the Dean of
Hereford, Deputy• Clerk of the Closet, were in waiting.
Her Majesty was attended by the Countess of Brown-
low, Hon. Miss Gore, and Earl Howe.
Among the Nobility were the Duke and Duchess of
Beaufort, Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, Lords liar-
rowby, Wilton, Effingham, Canterbury, Eiiot, Norreys.
Sydney, Duncannort, Alford, and Cantilupe.
The Duke of Cambridge, and the Princesses Augusta
and Mary of Cambridge, attended Divine Service yester •
day morning in Grosvenor Chapel.
The Duchess of Cambridge visited the Queen Dowager
yesterday at Marlborough House.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, attended
by Major Stephens, went to the Horticultural Fete at
Chiswick on Saturday. His Royal Highness afterwards
honoured Lady Ravensworth with a visit at her residence
at Fulham.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George,
and the Princess Augusta of Cambridge, attended by
Lady Augusta ,;;omerset, and Major Stephens, honoured
the Marchioness of Ailesbury with their company, on
Friday evening, at the ball given by her Ladyship at
her residence in Grosvenor-square.
Mr. Lambert and Mr. Byrne had interviews with
Lord Stanley, on Saturday, at the Colonial office.
Her Majesty has been pleased to present the Piper
of his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex with a very
handsome Scotch mull fir his performance at the Bal
Costume. It is shaped as a powder-horn, and is ele-
gantly mounted in silver ; on the top is a splendid cairn-
gorum, set in a double border of the thistle chased in
silver. The end is finished with a silver thistle, having
a large amethyst in the centre. On an escutcheon is the
following inscription, " Presented by the Queen's com-
mand to Donald Mackay, Piper to his Royal Highness
the Duke of Sussex, in commemoration of his having
played before her Majesty at the State Fancy Ball given
at Buckingham Palace, May 12, 1842."
The Pipers of the Dukes of Buccleuch and Sutherland
have been honoured with similar presents.
Lady Peel left town on Saturday for Drayton Park,
Staffordshire.

LITERATURE.

ROMANTIC BIOGRAPHY OF THE AGE OF
ELIZABETH. 2 Vols. Bentley, London, 1842.
In these volumes we have a series of brief biogra-
phical sketches of some of the most remarkable per-
sonages who flourished during the reign of Elizabeth.
The sketches are introduced by a sort of preface,
wherein the author apologises for the occasional
sprightliness, of his narratives, observing, "we have
endeavoured to extend to the literature of fact, some
of the gaieties which are more usually associated with
the literature of fiction, without abandoning the gra-
vities which necessarily belong to diligent research,
and minute accuracy of statement." Doctor Taylor
has acted wisely in apologising for, what he terms,
his " gaieties,' for assuredly they are such as call for
an apology, being, in truth, among the heaviest por-
tions of his work. Indeed, had he not directed our
attention to the circumstance, we should never have
discovered that there was the slightest particle of
gaiety in his biographies, for bad puns, quaint con-
ceits, and ponderous attempts at drollery ought rather
to take rank under the head "gravities.' Doctor
Taylor is a sober, sensible, and, generally speaking,
dispassionate writer, who brings a fair share of know-
ledge to every questk n that he discusses; but, as for
sprightliness or waggery, he has just about as
quick and relishing a conception of them as an
elephant has of dancing a minuet. The very weight
and verboseness of his style are fatal to his attempts
at the jocular. If we except this blemish, we know
of no particular objection that we can urge to the
volumes before us. They treat of some of the most
bustling characters who figured during a trying
period in English history, in a lucid and intelligent
manner ; and though the additions they make to our
stock of information are by no means extensive, yet
the matter is well digested, the different hypotheses
ingeniously supported, and a creditable tone of im-
partiality is maintained throughout. Among the
memoirs, is one of the Earl of Leicester, the well-
known favourite of Queen Elizabeth, whose character
—as D'lsraeli has justly observed—is one of the most
mysterious in our historical annals. Doctor Taylor,
with praiseworthy diligence, has collected all that is
known of him, and for much of his information he
has been indebted to the singular and calumnious
chronicle, entitled " Leicester's Commonwealth,"
which is supposed to have been written by the Jesuit
Parsons, one of the most extraordinary men of the
age in which he lived. The Doctor, with his usual
clear, strong sense, exhibits a wholesome distrust of
the calumnies of this man ; yet he does not wholly
repudiate them—nor, indeed, can he with any pro-
priety, for they show a close acquaintance with the
private habits of Leicester, and were pretty generally
credited by his contemporaries. The memoir of
Parsons is interesting, but the author has done but
cold justice to the subject of his biography. This
indefatigable Jesuit was a man of the most
commanding energy and fortitude of character,
and was hardly less wily and cautious. His
influence in the cabinet of Spain, and at the
Vatican was, at one period of his chequered career,
almost omnipotent ; and nothing could surpass his
indomitable perseverance when he came over to
England as a Missionary to encourage the spread of
the Catholic faith. Beset by spies at every step of
his progress, exposed to dangers of the most for-
midable nature, his order rigidly proscribed, and his
presence in the kingdom more than suspected, he was
forced to adopt all sorts of odd disguises—one day he
was " hale-fellow-well-met" with a common soldier;
the next, he was dressed as a peasant, and sitting
among bigoted clod-hoppers in a village ale-house ;
now, he was a country squire ; and now, he was
disguised as a travelling pedlar. But amidst all
his dangers, amidst all the strange chances that befel
him—in all the trying situations into which he was
thrown—his coolness and self-possession, and above
all, his determination to persevere in the objects of
his mission, never once deserted him. He bore up
manfully to the last, and only quitted England when
the discovery and execution of his brother missionary,
Campian, convinced him that he had not a chance
left of success. As an author, Parsons was volumi-
nous, and by no means scrupulous in his assertions,
or in the arguments by which he supported them.
His " Leicester's Commonwealth" has been already
mentioned ; and of his work on the " Succession to
the Throne of England," suffice it to say that it pro-
duced a wonderful sensation at the time, and—to
quote Dr. Taylor's appropriate observation—" was
the storehouse whence the Regicides, in the days of
Charles 1., drew most of their arguments."

RICHARDSOIV'S GEOLOGY.
Badliere, Loudon, 1842.
• In a modest and judicious preface, Mr. Richardson,
after stating the reasons that induced him to under-
take the present work, says:—"in submitting this
volume to the public, the reader is respectfully re-
minded that it is one of the most elementary cha-
racter; that it is designed merely as an introduction to
others of far superior merit ; and that the highest
objects of the writer will be attained, if by means of
its pages, the reader should become acquainted with
the admirable reasonings of a Buckland; and many
other geologists, of .whom science and literature may
be justly proud." Mr. Richardson's diffidence has
here caused him to underrate the importance of his
work. It is not merely of the " most elementary cha-
racter," but discourses in a learned and scientific
spirit oa all matters connected with geology, and will
instruct those who are conversant with the pursuit,
quite as much as the novice. Another recom-
mendation that the volume possesses is, the uniform
clearness and simplicity of its style; it is nowhere
defaced by technical and pedantic terms, such as com-
pel' one to be constantly referring to the dictionary,
hut it is written so as to be intelligible to the most

Ma. LYEL IN AMERICA.—Mr. Lyel, the eminent
English Geologist, now on a tour through the
United States, has been lecturing on the falls of
Niagara. He supposes that the country above the
falls was, at one time, the bed of a great inland sea,
of which the lakes are but small remains ; that the
barrier at the falls has been much reduced since the
mighty waters commenced their leap from its sum-
mit ; and that the falls are receding, and the cliff's
lowering, so that, should the world last long enough,
there will he no falls at all at some future time. The
condition is consolatory to those who would not have
the earth deprived of such an august feature, and it
makes the calculation safe as regards the reputation
of the philosopher. At a period 760 years hence, he
calculates that the fall will be lower by 40 feet than
its present height. The loss is a little over half an
inch yearly, so that the present generation need not
fear any great degradation of the scene during their
pilgrimage.—American Paper.
The Earl of Wilton's splendid yacht, the Tarifa,
is fitting out at Portsmouth, to convey his Lordship and suite
to Hamburgh, whence the Earl proceeds to Dresden, to invest
his Majesty the King of Saxony with the Order of the Garter.
His Lordship is not expected to embark for three weeks, and he
will be absent about a month on his special mission.
The inhabitants of Conde-sur-Noireau, the birth-
place of the late Admiral Dumont d'Urville, have given his
name to one of the streets at the town, and have opened a sub-
scription for a monument to be raised in it to his memory.