The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-05-04 00:00:00

mud, in the most deplorable plight, while his comrogr

grinning at him like so many laughing hyenas

some undisguisedly mocking t

e prostrate self

*-elected

m they repudiated, and others affecting to hide

their satisfaction by turning their backs upon him. The
puzzle is, what could have induced the little artful dodger,
cunning as he is, and well versed in sharp Parliamentary
practice, to place himself in such a position ? We all

that—

Quo: deur cult perdere prizes demenfat ;
but seldom does a man go so stark mad at once as Lord
JonN did on the Militia Bill rabies. The only excuse tha
ca

e trumped up for him by his friends is, that a " court
intrigue" compelled him, nilly-willy, to commit the folly
of which he was guilty. It is said that he was commanded
to put Lord DERBY in a minority by all means, fair or
foul, in order that a colourable excuse might be given for
refusing Lord DERBY the request he would immediately
be forced to make, to dissolve Parliament, on the plea that
in the

present unsettled condition of the continent the

country could not be left without proper defences pending

a general election, and without a government having the
confidence of the people. This is the best excuse that can
be invented by the friends of the ex-Minister ; but bad is
the best. Overweening vanity was the real cause of
Lord JOHN'S
.faux pas —" vaulting ambition that
o'erleapt itself." Silly man, to suppose that "My
Right Honourable Friend," the Baronet of Netherby'
would permit the many-coloured mantle of PEEL,
which would suit so well his own broad shoulders,
to descend quietly and hang on the lanky back of the
puny representative of the House of Bedford. Not he ;
JAMES of the slippery tongue has a notion that he has
a right to be leader of the free lances, and he seems
determined to maintain it. The canny Baronet kept well
out of this dirty disaster; he bides his time; and the
chances are, that he will, ere long, be elected captain of
the free-thinking, free-booting brotherhood in the House
of Commons, vice Lord JOHN, ignominiously dismissed
the service.

The good old days of festivity, ball, and rout have once
more returned to gladden the hearts of the Londoners.
Not for many a long year have they had so brilliant a
season as the present. The truly generous and princely
Tory aristocracy seem resolved to vie with each other, as in
the times before cheapness and stinginess were considered
respectable, and principles of economy prevailed in each
household as well as in politics. The gallant Duke of Non,
TIIIIMDERLAND throws open the portals of his all but regal
halls. The Marchioness of SALISBURY, and the Countesses
of DERBY and MALUESBURY issue cards of invitation by the
thousand to their superb salons. Miss Buttnrrr Courts,
and other ladies of wealth and fashion, follow the example of
the high nobility. Thus, what with numerously attended
levees and drawing-rooms, and magnificent entertainments
of an s)rts, given in West end and City, London presents
a very different aspect from what it did under the shabby
reign of the cheese-paring Whig-Radical clique.
Among the memorable festivities of the week, the most
memorable were the double marriages of the scions of
the two princely houses—one Whig and one Tory ;
the proud house of ►SUTHERLAND and WESTMINSTER,
and the equally proud house of WYNNE, of Wynn-
sta

Nothing could exceed the pride, pomp, and
circumstance attending these nuptials. The QUEEN
herself was present at the first, although she took no
part in the ceremonial. A carpet was spread from Suther-
land-house to the Chapel Royal for the corteze to pass
over, ana altogether the pageant was the most costly and
atwl

sh on record for any personages under the rank of
prince. The blushing bride herself, the Lady CONSTANCE
LEVESON GOWER, looked blooming enough, and would
have appeared to yet greater advantage, had she not been
placed in junta-position with her mama, the still splendid
Duchess of SUTHERLAND ; but the bridegroom wore an
exceeding epooney aspect, and was altogether a melan-
choly specimen of our " old nobility," as Lord J. MAN-
NERS would say—though the Earl GROSVENOR nobility
cannot boast of half a century's age. Young WYNNE
and his fair cousin and bride had their share of grandeur
on the same auspicious morn, although their wedding
ceremonial was less ostentatious than that of the Lady
CONSTANCE and her lord. Let us hope that so fair a
commencement may have as happy a conclusion ! So say
all of us, Whig and Tory.

So the Crystal Palace, that gigantic glass edifice, is
coming down at last. The fiat has gone forth, and it
must vanish and evaporate, and " leave not a wreck be-
hind"—at least, in Hyde-park. On Saturday,—the anni-
versary of the inauguration in it of what was ridiculously
called the great free-trade festival of all nations,—the work
of demolition commenced. Thus will perish Sir JOSEPH
PAXTON'S transparent gimcrack. By the way, it appears
that a new idea has been conceived about it, more absurd,
If possible, than all the preceding ideas of conservatories,
museums, and the rest. Some bright genius has found
out that it would make a glorious tower, after the model
of Babel, 1000 feet high ! Oh, Jupiter ! It is proposed
to build it up to resemble in form the Eddystone Light-
house, but to go up, up, up, almost to the height of Olym-
pus. It is said that Messrs. Fox and HENDERSON have
given their opinion in favour of the practicability of this
plan, and that thoughts are entertained of the project.
So that marvellous wagtail WAGNER remains still under
a cloud, and is not yet visible to mortal eyes, or audible to
mortal ears. The Court of Chancery envelopes her in its
awful misty veil ; and, if reports in Westminster-hall be
well founded, she is not likely to be released from its deli-
cate attentions. This tremendous German bulbul, who is
said to stand nearly six feet in her stockings, and to have
a forty-Gaist power of vocalisation, has not been able to
give a plain answer to Mr. LUMLEY'S unmusical accusa-
tion ; and, therefore, the probability is, that she will have
to go back to her delightful "faderland" without the £lOOO
par month which she thought to claw, and without asto-
nishing the unsophiscated natives here; and:that we shall
have to conclude she is only a "lark"—an imaginative
" mocking-bird"—a fabulous harpy. Oh, for one day of
my gallant friend Col. Surritortr's dictatorship, that we
might rid the country of the whole troop of '• foreign im-
portations," who prey upon our credulity and walk off
with our money !

it is refreshing to turn from the contemplation of exotic
monstrocities to the consideration of native beauties ; and
at this moment London displays such varieties of objects,
the product of national genius, and the work of national

arts, that one is really puzzled to decide where to stop, in
order to give expression to admiration.

There are the Water-colour Gallery, the new Water-
colour Gallery, the National Institution of Fine Arts, the
Amateur's Gallery, the Royal Academy, the British
Artist's Institution,*all open, tempting the eyes to feast on
lovely scenes, the intellect to draw instruction from exqui-
site paintings of real and imaginative things, and the
mind to cull delight and refinement from the charming
illustrations of ennobling feelings and fine human senti
ments. The Water-colour School of Painting is thoroughl]
and entirely British, is unrivalled, and is magnificent
W• can point to it wits
match it. No Eno
without visiting th

." pride, and defy all the world to
shman ought to come to London
Water-colour Galleries. In the
see the beautiful landscapes taken fresh

Old." he will

s face, by Fripp, the stor

a imaged with

ffect by Copley Fielding, the country _
owns reflected to the life by Hunt, whose
--,pd her Majesty to forget her dignity,

scenes

)ud, long and hearty, the tranqi...
of Hardinge. In the "New"

mounta

erb and g

r and elaborateness

one ar

I never equa

splendid of

st ;";" The A.

,ransferred to

be enehantec

s bouquets of freah-gat

.st and

see the green

laden cor

N with

INrAR-