The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-25 00:00:00

THE WORLD OF LONDON.-A NEW
SERIES.

Mr. Fisher Murray is already favourably known
to the public by his papers on London, which ap-
peared from time to time in Blackwood. Mr.
Murray is a shrewd observer, and descants on men
and manners in a bold, sarcastic, quaint style, which
is exceedingly amusing. Take the following on the
power of Parliament, as an example :
" Something awful is there in contemplating in ima-
gination the power of Parliament.
" What corner of the near or remote world is not, or
has not been, at one time or another, influenced by its
deliberations, its orations, its enactments ?
" Over what class or denomination of men does not
its mighty power extend ?
" Nothing is too large for the grasp of its long hand,
nothing too little. Sceptres it wrenches from the
hands of kings, and seizes pickpockets by the collar.
Dynasties are by: its • might overthrown, and stalls of
octogenarian applewomen ; princes it binds in chains,
and emancipates the quadrupedal captives of the dog-
trucks. Its fiat sends forth havoc and desolation over
distant lands, and at home forbiddeth little boys to play
at taw upon the pavement ; it changeth whatever it
listeth, and whenever it listeth changeth what it hath
changed.
" It bringeth in an Act to amend an Act, and an Act
to amend the amendment, and maketh an Act to explain
an Act, passing all understanding I
"It taketh the crown from the head of one man, and
putteth it upon the head of another ; and maketh every.

body swear allegiance to the same.
"It changeth its religion, enacting that everybody
shall believe that it hath changed, Not from false to true,
or from true to false, but from true to true ; and every-
body that doth not so believe, or pretend to believe, it
hurteth in their lives, liberties, and properties.
" It putteth at will its hand into the pocket of every-
body, taking therefrom gold and silver, nor disdaining
brass, telling everybody that this it doeth for his protec-
tion, and every body submits, and hath no remedy. It
laughed' inits sleeve, and cajoled', and coaxeth, and
waxeth wroth with everybody ; it giveth anybody leave
to live upon everybody, and enacteth that anybody who
is not living upon everybody may live how they can ;
it maketh anybody to be everybody, and everybody to
be nobody.
" It babbleth for six months in the year, more loqua-
cious than fish-retailing fag of Billingsgate ; and al-
though it pretendeth to speak in a whisper, yet is indig-
nant if its talk be not retailed next morning over all the
town.
" It beginneth what it calleth its business when men
of business are asleep. It babbleth droningly through
the long hours of night, and the short hours of morning,
and goeth to bed when it hath levied enough taxes ; the
world in general then getteth up, to slave, and strive,
and struggle to pay the taxes, and laboureth all day, till
night, when Parliament getteth up, goeth to the House,
babbleth, and le vieth more and snore taxes ; and this
it doeth eternally, a machine of perpetual tax-motion !"
Mr. Murray, however, can be serious when occa-
sion requires and many of his reflections show that
he is a deep thinker, a philosopher, and a philan-
thropist. After describing the miserable abodes of
the artisans in the metropolis, and expressing a wish,
that capital, now so superabundant, could be directedtowards the improvement of the dwellings of the
working classes, he proceeds :
" But, unless a man is either:wealthy or a pauper, no
oare is taken to give him a decent abode ; humble in-
dustry may hide its head where it can ; as long as it is
in working order we take no heed of it ; but the minute
it is demoralized, or depauperized, we have the most
elegant model-prisons to correct it, and the most beauti-
ful union workhouses to lock it up in!
" If a poor working-man cannot afford to pay 201.
a-year, it is impossible
for him to get a comfortable
home ; and then, it will be in the outskirts, at a distance
from his business, where builders can afford to cover an
acre of ground with decent cottages ; but no man
thinks of making his fortune by building in the heart of
London, decent cottages, one on the top of another."
This is one of the best books that has been pub•
lished on London just such a book as Washing-
ton Irving might have produced on the subject, in
the days when he wrote " Salmagundi." All persons
who intend to snake the great metropolis their place
of abode, should not only read but study it.

BURNS'S FIRESIDE LIBRARY. PETER
SCHLEMIHL, THE SHADOWLESS MAN.
By CHAMISSO.
This is a reprint of the history of the renowned
Peter, who sold his shadow to a certain mysterious
Gentleman in Grey, and f?und the want of it ever after-
wards. The present editionis illustrated with some
spirited wood.-cuts. From the Appendix by the pre-
sent editor, we extract the following account of the
circumstances which induced Chamisso to write this
strange tale :
" The origin of Peter Schlemihl is to be ascribed in a
great degree to circumstances that occurred in the life
of the writer. During the eventful year of 1813,
when the movement broke out which ultimately freed
Germany from the yoke of her oppressor, and precipi-
tated his downfal, Chamisso was in Berlin. Every ono
who could wield a sword hastened then to employ it on
behalf of Germany and of the good cause. Chamisso had
not only a powerful arm, but a heart also of truly Ger-
, man mould ; and yet he was placed in a situation so
peculiar as to isolate him among millions. As he was
of French parentage, the question was, not merely whe-
ther he should fight on behalf of Germany, but also whe-
ther he should fight against the people with whom he
was connected by the ties of blood and family relation-
ship. Hence arose a struggle in his breast. I, and I
alone, am forbidden at this
exclamation
to wield a sword I'
Such was frequently his ; and instead of
meeting with s3mpathy on account of his peculiar situa-
tion, he was frequently doomed to hear, in the capital of
Prussia, the hoed-quarters of the confederation against
France and Napo;eun, expressions of hatred and scorn
directed against his countrymen. Ile was himself too