The Sun.
London, England, 1820-12-12 00:00:00

SITAKSPEARE'S LAMENESS,

Tradition has brought down to our day so few
facts relating to him " who wrote for all time,"
and so little is known of him. notwithstanding the
grubbing search made into 'his history, that any-
new light thrown on him personally will doubt-
less gratify as much as it will surpriie. The
novel fact is derived from internal evidence=-
t. e. the best—for it is from himself. That he
Was lame we cannot doubt, after a perusal of the
following passages in his Sonnets :
So then I am not taw, poor, nor despis'd
Whilst that this shadutil doth such substance give,
That I in thy abundance am sullied,
And by a part of _all thy glory live.—Solt.

Again, in Sonnet lxxxiiii.—
Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,
And I will comment upon that offence:
Speak of my lantepess, and I straight will halt,
Against thy reasons making no defeence.
Shakspeare's' is a sacred name, and this evi-
dence, with regard to him, may be.received with
gravity, which, with many other Poets that we
could name, would certainly not meet with the
Larne fate—we allude to the evidence of lameness
detected in their Sonnets !

It is due to Mr. Henry Neele (author of, Odes
and other Poems, and of the Lecture on Shaks-
peare, delivered at Stratford last year), to state,
that he originally promulgated the idea in a Life
of Shakspeare, which, although still in manu-
script, the literary world are by no 'means unac-
quainted with. In addition to the. passages from
the Sonnets of our immortal Bard which are se-
lected above,' there are several others quoted in
Mr. Nvele's Memoir. Among them is one which
migsht have been consideredmetaphorical, if it
were nut supported .by others :
" As a decrepit fatber takes delight
To s-ee his active ...hilt! do (feeds of youth,
So I. made. lame by fortune's dearest spite,
Take all my Comfort in thy love and troth.'

Again, in another-Sonnet, speaking of those
VOW had reprOached him with this misfortune, he
says—
" I may -be straight, tho' they themselves be bevel."

Tiu THEATRE.-The -second appearance o

Mr. VANPENHOFF at Covent-Garden Theatre,
last night, was creditable to his feelings as well
as to his talents. He has evidently attended to
the suggestions of public criticism, and in some
respects has modestly availed himself of them.
Still we think that he should throw more of ma 7

jesticgrace into his demeanour, as the abstract idea
of a King induces the imaginatiim to demand a de-
portment- somewhat, above that of mere ordinary
life. The language and the sentiments of Poetry
are of an elevated character,, and, of course, there
sliduld be correspondence in expression and
gesture, without stiffness or formality. It is' not
mere common old age, but Royal old age which
the part of Lear demands, and which, no doubt,
was intended by the POet. lie was well receiv-
ed, and is likely to become a popular favourite.
ROYAL COBOURGH 'THEATRE.—The season
closed last night at this convenient and elegant
Theatre, after a success well merited by the
'talents of the Performers, and the liberal spirit
of the management. 'Mr. T. 1) COOKE, the
Stage-manager, took leave of the audiencein an
appropriate Address, which he delivered with
proper firmness, and which was very warmly ap-
plauded by a numerous audience. The Address
glanced at the 'opposition which the Cobourgh
'Theatre had experienCed, and Modestly alluded
to its, triumph over it, auisin4 from ,-the Pa-
trOnag,e of the PahM.. The. Theatre is situated
in a. kiud of new world, and we hope, that so
ra-
tional a source= of ainuseinent will attract the at-
tention of its inhabitants, and allure them from
the Mischievous seductions of politics and Party.-;

Two remarkable lights,' of the nature, appa-
rently, of the, Aurora Borealis, were observed on
Monday evening in the sky near ftotherfield, in
Sussex ; one in the •soirtit-east, and oue in the
north-east by east. They were, at first, taken
for distant fires, but after a closer examination,
the flashings of the true northern lights appeared
in them ; they Jasted for nearly two hours, when
the sky became cloudy, and they were no more
seen. •

The flock of Cachemire goats, which were im-
ported into France in 1819, aid placed at the
north east of Toulon, 'has been removed to a
tnore cOngenial, climate at St. Quen, near -Paris.
The flock, 175 in number, was embarked on the
7th of October. at Arles, and arrived on the 2.1(1
ult. at St. Oden, without the, loss of a single
animal. The kids born in 'France• from this

lock are abundantly covered with the Inagni-

ficent down of which the .Cachcmire shawls are
manufactured, and they'are superior in strength
and appearance to ,the indigenons kids of the
same age, which leaves no doubt of success from
the naturalization.

, A most interesting paper, by Sir Ilumphry
Davy, was recently read tit the Royal Society,
on the magnetizing influence of galvanism, in
which various- new and curious. experithents on
this subject were detailed, which clearly esta-
blish the fact, that the galvanic, fluid, directed
in a proper.manner, is capable of communicating
magnetic propertiesto bars of steel. If steel 1)0
or rods :be 'exposed to the galvanic current,
placed in the'direetion of the magnetic axis, no
effect 'follows ; but if they be plaCed parallel
with the magdetic equatof,- they become' mag-
netic—the end plued to the west becoming
north' of the pole of the new magnet, and that
towards the east becoming the south pole. And
so great ,is the: galvanic influence in producing
this effect, that it exerts its power at a distance
of, some -inches (even 10 or 12) ; so that, if the
steel- bar be moved in a circle round the course
of the galvanic current, but always kept parallel
to the magnetic equator, it becomes magnetic.
These experiments were made in the Laboratory
of the Royal Institution, and also at the London
Institution: _ _

STREET ROBBERIES.—IR consequence of the
numerous Street Robberies committed -in open
day, in various parts of the Metropolis, particu-
larly on every public o'c'casion, Lord SIDMOU.TII
has attached fifteen of the Bow-street patrol, un.,
der two conductors, to, each of, the . following
Police Offices :—Queen-square, Marlborough-
street) and,Hatton-garden.