The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-21 00:00:00

ETCHINGS FROM LIFE.—No. VI.

DIRECTIONS FOR MIAKINLi LOVE; or the NEW TRE-
MAINE : addressed to MEN OF REFINEMENT.
Lord Nam.—Are you in earnest Doctor
Dr. Incubus.-111y Lord, I speak in the grave and experienced
spirit wherewith Swift imbued his " Directions to Servants"—
that notable manual which bath hanged so many' footmen.
The Combination, a Comedy, 15i 9.

I.—ln commencing courtship be good enough to -
attend to the following " Directions," drawn, I can
assure you, from the experience of a long and not in-
observant life :—lf your mistress be an antique, praise
all that is modern ; if ugly, extol some handsome
female friend ; if parsimonious, put four lumps of
sugar in your tea.

2.—Smiles, you may remember, are numbered by
Chesterfield among the " undoubted proofs of good
breeding," of course then you-will grin at every op-
portunity, more especially when your mistress is dis-
cussing sentiment. N:B. Do not wait for your own
jokes, or you may be placed in an awkward predica-
ment, like a friend of mine, who having made a rash
vow never to laugh but when he had said a good
thing, was apprenticed to gravity for life.
3.—Should your mistress be insulted in your pre-
sence, behave like Cengreve's Captain Bluffe, with
true Cluistian indifference, or it may so happen that
hostilities may be commenced against your nose..
This, you'll allow, is awkward.
4.—Guess your mistress—when she playfully pro-
poses the question—to be about ten years older than
she chooses to acknowledge. You may add that
she bears an extraordinary likeness to your great
aunt, by the father's side.
s.—Should she ask you for some sentimental
book, lend her Colman's " Broad Grins."
6.—And always call when it is likely that her
hair is in papers.
7.—Do not fail to keep a bottle of Hunt's Match-
less Blacking in your pocket. In case of hysterics,
it makes an admirable smelling-bottle. Sir T.
1.4 is never without it.

S.—Engrave the name of your mistress on the
wall of every public-house you visit. Genteel at-
tentions of this nature never fail to please.

9.—ln walking the streets, be sure you hold your
umbrella in such a manner that the rain may drop
periodically down the back, or alight on the shoulders,
of Your mistress. This will not only keep up an
agreeable stimulus, but furnish room for such tender,
remonstrances, as " Curse you, keep-your umbrella
further off."2/Vec vox hominem sonat, oh, dea certe!
10.—When you approach a sweep, give your mis-
tress every reasonable chance of coming in contact
with him. Surely, surely, you would not wish to
keep all the good things to yourself.
11.—Should you be anxious to appear unusually
instructive or original, you may remark that London
is foggy in November, and that wet feet are apt to
give one cold.
12.—1 n escorting your mistress to the various
places of amusement in the metropolis, do not omit
Bow-street, the Old Bailey, the Tread-mill, and the
Fives-court. There is nothing like a taste for the
picturesque.
13.—When requested at dinner to assist your
mistress to " the least bit more," generously accommo-
date her with a platefull, abundant enough for Goliah.
This will lead the company to conclude that she is
a suppo-
,,piotsiosensesed of—what
xceeding exceedingly
yg is called—"
ratiryiiigto a
avi
twist
rgin 0:';
nice sen-
14.—Always speal with your mouth full.
15.—Should your mistress he more than com-
monly addicted to sentiment,she will czxact a kindred
feeling from yourself, to testify v.:bich, omit no op-
portunity of acquainting her ;with the variations in
the Consols, or the price of Oil Gas Shares.
16.—Always speak '',;ithout reflection, or you may
chance to talk sens!,.
17.—1 f y‘nr mistress abhor dandyism, it
scarcely liecessary to remark that you should use
Mact'ssar oil and wear stays.
18.—You will of course be rejected the first time
you "pop the question." This is the way with the
sex, who can no more help vacillating than a lobs-
ter can help turning red when boiled. I married
my first wife (as good a creature as ever breathed)
after having been thrice rejected : with• respect to
my second, she, poor soul, was a little in liquor at
the time, so I lay no great stress on her compliance ;
my third and fourth, however,_ expressed such a de-
testation of me altogether, that I was married to
both within a month from my first proposals. Do
not then despair, but remember that women, like
heresy, adore persecution.
19.—Should your mistress be nervous, take the
earliest opportunity of throwing down the tongs and

poker. - -
20.—God bless me ! I had very nearly closed
these " Directions" without recommending you to
cultivate an extensive, or what Sterne calls " a
goodly," circumference. Remember the Strasburg
traveller, who bewitched a whole town by the
enormity of one feature only. Remember, too, Gar-
gantua, who, when asked by his Queen what were
his pretensions to the honour of her hand, said
nothing, but pointed to his shoulders, which were
received in evidence accordingly. Hercules, as you
may perhaps recollect, was nothing without his dim en,
sions ; with them he got a name—a mistress—and a
thumping: why, then, should not you get the
same f—But enough : dixi, I have done.

PROGRESS OF THE REFORAIATION IN RA-
TOITH.—On Tuesday last, the 11th inst. PEaliu
who bad been for forty-one years Clerk of the Church of
ltatoath, renounced the errors of the Reformed Church,
and embraced the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith. He
was received by the Rev. RICHARD CAROLAN, P.p.
Dubliyi Morning Register.

A misunderstanding has recently taken place
between His Majesty's Commissioners for the Affairs of
Taxes, and the Commissioners acting under the Assessed
Tax Act, for the hundred of Risbridge, in consequence of
atsliseessHeduntdaixTecis:
two London sportsmen being convicted before a Magistrate
and Commissioner in two mitigated
for shooting. without a licence, and the other penalty for
giving in a false place where they said they had taken 2ut
a certificate. The Board of Taxes, however remittrA the
penalty, and ordered the money to be returned. This act
Blinaavred,rethrfusoeudgitlot: iiegnln
Inspector tuosru usual
has, we understand, given such offence to the convicting
Magistrate, that the other Commissioners of
penalties each,—one
assessment ; and consequently none of the
since April, have as yet been collected. Au application was
ia
also°°::::ynorwderi with
fhti hne
the district, to, obtain the signature of the Commissioners
acting for Thedwastre and Thingoe, which they also re-
fused.—Suffolk Herald.

TUE LATE. MISIZDF.It AT OXFORD.—The
a indignation
strong feeling
measuse subsided, anbdyhtohrirgoirmerxrciditeaffd
aiinr,thh:stoiwn town
and neighbourhood of Oxford a
in consequence of an opinion which be.
i4l to prevail among many of the better-informed inhabi_
tants, that the death of the unhappy female was the result
of accident, and not of violence. Independently of the
presumption in favour of this opinion, which arises from
the improbability that any monster could be found capable
of wilfully inflicting such a wound as that to which her
death was attributed, there are medical men in the town
who, after an attentive consideration of the evidence, have
not hesitated to, express their opinion that no murder has
Ibeen committed, but that her death was attributable to na-
tural causes—probably a fall, and a consequent rupture of
an internal blood-vessel, to which she would be rendered
peculiarly liable by the excitement arising from the great:
the nnan.
quantity of brandy she had drank. The advocates for this
While she was
view of the case argue, with reference to the evidence of
time, was appre..
the two medical gentlemen who were examined on the in-
quest, that they were both young men, and that, however
competent to the discharge of the ordinary duties of the
whasu t u
strictly
to Vperdinveastde
private,
profession, it was possible they might not be the best to
decide in a case of injury of se peculiar and novel a nature.
It is, indeed, expected by many that the body will he ex-
humed and re-examined. Notwithstanding this partial,
change of opinion, the Magistrates have not relaxed in
their inquiries. The witnesses examined on the inquest
have
clue had been obtained. It is true on that day
Wir.rAsms, who was alone with the woman
lying senseless in the streets for some
eaxsatheineedxabmyinthatimon;
not known what are the grounds of sus • •
p.teion against him.
It appears, however, the result , hJs commitment for
further examination. P.,,

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The abortive issue of Lord Harrowby's visit to

Windsor, if we had not made it known before,

would have been shrewdly divined from Lord Gode-
rich's attendance on his Majesty at the same place
yesterday. His Lordship returned at about four in
the afternoon ; and a Cabinet Council was imme-
diately held. No other particulars have as yet
transpired. In the mean time, councils and
debates are not wanting on the other side.
—A meeting of Lords Eldon, Westmoreland,
Melville, Mr. Peel, and even Sir J.
.Beckett,
is said to have been held at Lord Eldon's
house on Thursday. The resolutions proposed or
taken there are of course concealed. We may add,
that this worthy conclave may save themselves the
trouble of putting themselves in readiness : nobody
is likely to send for them.—Times.
Afte.r the breaking up of the Cabinet Council on
Wednesday evening, the result of the deliberations
was sent off to the King, at the Royal Lodge in
Windsor Park ; and his Majesty's sentiments upon
the same were communicated in London yesterday.
The consultation of Lord Viscount Goderich with
the King yesterday scarcely lasted an hour. This
was the first personal interview which the Noble
Viscount had with his Majesty for eight days past;
the last audience which his Lordship had of the
King was yesterday se'nnight, when his Majesty held
a Council, and when it was said the Minister ten-
dered his resignation. After the return of the Noble
Viscount to town last evening from Windsor, it was
generally reported that the differences which had
existed had amicably terminated, and that his Lord-
ship would continue in office. On Wednesday Mr.
Huskisson sent an express to bring Mr. Sturges
Bourne to town, from his seat in Hampshire.—
Morning Herald.

The infamous practice of stopping up or divert-
ing .ancient roads and footpaths, by country Jus-
tices, continues to increase; so much so, that we
have seen sonic provincial journals lately, in which co-
lamn after column is filled with nothing but notices of
such things being done. We call it an infamous prac-
tice, because, though there certainly may be, and are,
some few instances in which roads have become use-
less, and, therefore, might f►irly be dispensed with,
yet, in nine cases out of ten, these stoppings up and
diversions are solely for the benefit of individuals,
are corrupt jobs on the part of the Magistrates, who
are, in fact, often little better than virtually perjured,
and, therefore, doubly disgraced by lending themselves
to such iniquitous proceedings. Considering how
much the population has of late years increased every
where, and how much locomotion has become im-
peded by enclosures, canals, and other obstacles, one
can hardly imagine that there can be many instances
where roads and footpaths exist which can have be-
come wholly useless, or which are not liable, by
change of circumstances, to be again required for the
public use. But, to judge of the matter by the fre-
quency of these jobs, one would be led to imagine
that half the roads of the kingdom are useless, and
that, in proportion as their whole number is dimi-
nished, that of those supposed useless ones increases.
It is a pity that gentlemen of education, as they are
presumed to be, when they undertake the important
duties of Magistrates, do not recollect that it is the
interest of the King's subjects at large—those of
the many, not of the few—which it is their duty to
consult. Instead of which, in the practice we are
discussing, they generally are either the dupes of
private misreffesentations, or unblushingly lend them-
selves
to serve private interest at the expense of the
public. It is the privacy with which these jobs are
at first done that forms one of the main objections
to them. The practice at present is to meet in se-
cret the convenient hands to do the job, coming
sometimes from a distance, and, after hearing one
side of the question only, order the road or footpath
to be stopped up, or diverted as the case m9v be;
after which a notice is given of the thing being dori.?
and that any one who objects to it may appear at
the next Quarter Sessions (fifty miles off, perhaps)
and oppose it. Is not this, in its very nature, the
greatest mockery and injustice? Take the case of
the poor labouring man, who has, day after day, been
in Ole habit of traversing the condemned road or
footpath, going to and returning from his labour—
and who, perhaps, that he may not in future walk in
sight of my Lord's lodge or plantations, is condemned
to walk every day half a mile out of his way—is there
no injustice done to this man, and to the many hun-
dreds who, in the course of the week, perhaps travel
the same road ? And is it not worse than a farce that
grave Magistrates, gentlemen acting under the so-
lemn obligation of an oath—and combining, as they
ought, but often only think they do, integrity and good
sense—to tell this man that there is no wrong without
a remedy ; and that his wrong may be remedied, if,
without sixpence in his pocket, and a starving family,
he will travel to the Quarter Sessions, spend a week
there, and fee lawyers, if lawyers are to be found
who will be feed with moonshine ? Now the error
here evidently is in two individuals being armed with
such a power, and being permitted to exercise it in
so objectionable a manner. If the thing is to be done
at all, we see no reason why a Jury of the imme-
diate neighbourhood should not be called together
to pronounce their judgment upon it. At any rate,
it is the first proceeding of which public notice should
be given—not the last ; and, whether the forms of
the law: require it or not (which we have heard it
said that they do), an honourable man will shrink,
for the sake of private ends, to deal with public
rights and accommodation, without giving those in-
terested a full opportunity, on the spot, of showing
cause against a project which, let it be remembered,
is in all cases prima facie wrong.—Thid.

Our readers will find in another column an sea
count of a Meeting held yesterday, at Stockwell, for
the purpose of adopting measures to counteract a
Bill which is about to be introduced into Parliament
for dividing, allotting, and enclosing the commons,
common fields, and waste grounds, &c. of Battersea,
Wanthavorth, and Clapham. The gentlemen op-
posed to the measure observe, that the dividing of
all commons and waste grounds is highly objection-
able with reference to the comfort and welfare of
the body of the people, who are thereby deprived
of pleasant walks and sports on which they can re-
create themselves in the open air, and driven into
public houses. Thirty or forty years ago there was
hardly a village in this part of England which had
not its common. Through a dirty spirit of avarice,
the landholders have availed themselves of their
power as legislators to divide nearly all these spots,
and thereby gained an additional income at the ex-1
pence of the health and happiness of the people.
Within our recollection, the public have been ex-
cluded in this way from numberless places in the
neighbourhood of the metropolis. We consider the
principle on which these spoliations proceed, to be
highly objectionable in every sense of the word,
and to argue a lamentable disregard, on the
part of the Legislature, of the weli-being of the
people, who are considered but as dust in the ba-
lance. Can we wonder that fanaticism and sour,
mess of disposition should gain the upper hand among
the lower orders, when such an incessant war is
waged by the rich against those exercises and re-
creations which keep the body healthful and the
mind cheerful ? A diseased body is the parent
of fanaticism ; and both body and mind must
be diseased, where occasional exercise and re-
creation in the open air are not to be obtained.
To a foreigner who sees London for the first time
on a Sunday, the view of-the multitudes of bilious-
looking people, with a sinister or gloomy, expression
of countenance,l who issue from their various Ebe-
11ezer or Sion Chapels, is almost enough to throw him
into despair. But the opponents to this contem-
plated measure stated another objection, namely,
that the effect of dividing commons has been every
where to create redundant,, population. and_troerivairs)e
the poor rates. a With respect. (said M . ar-
chard) to
the proposal, that no building of s
hie than 10001,
thm beift, erected on the c.omimoei(ii,
ii
was well known,
monall commonse
lices; 1 soon be into
it
wouli and what w
a proprietor from bwasinclosed
to
Prevent
wading whatever sort of

house he pleased upon his portion? He called upon
the meeting to reflect upon the consequence of erect-
ing wall houses. All small portions of land were
devoted to building—the most profitable mode of
disposing of them. An immense population of
poor would become parishioners, and the parish rates
would necessarily sustain an alarming increase. In
Bromley an inclosure of common was some time
ago carried into effect, and the consequence was,
that many of those who were induced to vote for it,
had so much reason to regret the redundancy of a
poor population which the measure drew together,
as to declare, that they would give 1,0001. each for
a repeal of it. There was a similar case at Bexley,
and in Chelsea, where but a very small portion of
land was inclosed, the rates at once rose from nine-
pence to fourteen-pence. At Hornsey and Norwood
the annoyance and inconveniences were likewise in-
tolerable from the same cause. . . . .

He instanced the eases of some gentlemen who had
taken houses upon the impression that no inclosure
would take place ; but who were scarcely set-
tled in their habitations, when they were sur-
rounded by miserable 'receptacles." We may
thus see the working of the Poor Laws with re-
ference to the population. Whenever the population
becomes any where redundant, the increase of the
rates necessarily draws the attention of the persons
of property to the circumstance, and sets them on
devising means for arresting the progress of the evil.
The experience of one place, too, is made to serve
as an example to another, and avarice, one of the
most powerful of the passions which agitate the hu-
man breast, is brought, in the case of the rate-payers,
into collision with the avarice of the dividers of the
wastes. The Poor Laws present thus a ready means
for arresting the evil of a redundant population, and
supply a motive to parishes which are in a sound
state for preserving themselves so. A slight altera-
tion in these laws is, however, required. It often
happens, at present, that proprietors of small pieces
of ground set at defiance the rest of the parish, by
building cottages, by which they increase their own
incomes, while they diminish the incomes of their
neighbours, through the increase of rates caused by
a redundant population. This evil must be met by
giving a power to parishes to tax cottages. If pro-
perty is made responsible for the maintenance of all
who have a settlement in a parish, it is necessary
that property should have a power of guarding,
against the abuse of improper creation of settle-
ments. It is highly proper that those parishes which
have made sacrifices for freeing themselves from their
redundancy, should be protected against the abuse
to which we have alluded. That in the next Ses-
sion a measure will be proposed and carried for the
improvement of the Law of Settlement, by render.-
ing it more strict, and by giving Proprietors a dis-
cretionary power to tax cottages is, we think, ex-
ceedingly probable.—Morning Chronicle.
We have at present nothing to add to the state-
ments which we have already been enabled to lay
before our readers upon the subject of the happy
state of our precious and most hopeful Administra-
tion. Lord Goderich, as we yesterday announced,
will continue Prime Minister for a few weeks
longer. His Lordship went to Windsor yesterday
to lay before the King the result of the Cabinet
meeting on Wednesday; and on his return to town,
another Cabinet Council was held at the Foreign
Office.—Morning Post.
In the columns of one of our contemporaries we
find the followieg remarks :
" Should Lord Goderich and the whole of the present
Ministry remain in power, it appears to us likely that at
the ensuing Session of Parliament, they will be hard run
by the present opposition, on the Navarin affair—the Ca-
tholic Question—the Corn Question, and on that of re-
ceiving so many goods from foreign countries, with little
or no tax attached—for instance, cotton, which only pays
a halfpenny a pound, when it may as well pay sixpence—
wool in a similar proportion—silk only threepence, when
it ought to be at least sixpence or one shilling ; and some
of the newspapers are goading on the Ministry to a free
trade in corn, that is, to levy no tax on the importation
of corn, when the tax ought to be at least 30 per cent.,
or even perhaps 50 per cent., considering the different
state of this country, with respect to interest of debt and
government expenditure, to other countries."
If the only questions on which the present Mini-
stry can safely be attacked, are such as stated in the
latter part of our contemporary's remarks, no one
we think can entertain a doubt of the prolonged
existence of the present Government, since sure
are, that it would be diffieolt to find ten Members
of the House of Commons, or even two men in their
senses any where, who hold the same opinion as
that expressed by our contemporary, when he says
that the conduct of Ministers is likely to be called
in question, " for receiving so many goods from fo-
reign countries, with little or no tax attached," and
instances cotton as an article on which the duty
(which is 6/. per cent. and not a id. per lb.) " might
as well" be raised to about 90 per cent., and sheep's
" wool and silk in a similar proportion." That it is
the duty of Ministers to afford every facility to the
introduction into this country of such articles, upon
which depends the employment of so numerous a class
of the population as the manufacturers, no one can
for a moment doubt, even though it could only be
effected by the sacrifice of some part of the revenue
derived from that source; but, in the present in-
stance, has such been the result ? On the contrary,
a reduction in the duty on any article has invariably
been followed by an increase in the consumption, to
an extent in many .crises, equal to supplying the de-
ficiency—as in wines. And if we may judge by the
Revenue Accounts published this year, it would
seem that, notwithstanding all the reductions that
have taken place, the amount of duties received has
not been less than heretofore, Our contemporary
of course, is not aware that an increase in the price
of cotton to the extent of one half of duty proposed
to be levied by him, has invariably had the effect of
checking the consumption in a great degree. And
be it remembered that in placing our own manufac-
turers in a worse situation than those of foreign coun-
tries, we in a great measure deprive the mercantile
interests of an article of commerce as important to
them, as it is advantageous to the country at large!--
which will be the more manifest when we remind
our readers, that any thing which derives its princi-
pal value from the labour bestowed on its manufac-
ture must be doubly profitable both to the artisan,
who is thus enabled to obtain employment, and to
the merchant, who barters such goods for luxuries,
to the consumption of which the manufacturer in
his turn contributed, and which luxuries (highly
taxed as they are) are the much more legitimate
articles from which to obtain a revenue. These
remarks apply equally to sheep's wool and silk.—
The allusion to the Corn Question also, is sin-
gularly unfortunate on the part of our contem,
porary, as we think he would find some diffi-
culty in pointing out a Journal which has ad-
vocated the admission of corn entirely without
a protecting duty. Arid, with regard to the share
which the present Ministry have had in the Corn
Question, we would inform our contemporary (for
he appears profoundly ignorant of the fact), that
tire Cern Bill, which was unsuccessful in its pro,
gress through Parliament last Session, and from
which there is little chance of deviation in the next,
provided that whenever the price of corn was not
greater than to afford the agricukarist a fair return
for bic capital embarked, a duty of more yharr 100
per cent. shonld be levied, and not " 30, or even,
perhaps, 50," which this 'writer has so judiciously
recommended. If any proof were wanting to make
good the above assertion, we need only state that
the present price of the best foreign wheat in the
market is not higher than 35 shillings a quarter,
freight and all charges of landing included, while
the duty on such wheat is at this time forty shillings
and eightpence.—New Times.

MOUNT RADFORD PARK.—The whole of
these extensive grounds, lately purchased from Sir THOMAS
BARING, and which for many years have formed a useless
park, attached to a generally uninhabited mansion, will
shortly he appropriated, with the exception of one or two
spots, to private residences..--Taunton Courier.