The Sun. — 1851-08-12 (London, England)

LEE. Our obituary notices the death of a remarkable person, Mrs. Harriet Lee, at the very advanced age of ninetyfour. Much of the literature of the last century is passing away ; but the gathering time will come when the works of two sisters, Mrs. Sophia and Mrs. Harriet Lee, will be in the selection for perpetual preservation. These names will be conspicuous among the " celebrated women of England." They are, perhaps, better known as the authors of the " Canterbury Tales." The tale of " Kreutzner," by Mrs. H. Lee, inspired the genius or. Byron. He formed from it his tragedy of Werner, and in its preface acknowledged that " the germ of .Lnuc" that he had written was discernible in that I"Pulatreto romance." It must be for other hands to distribute each sister her own share of their pop9larhweor: Cantragedy, comedy, and more particularly n 'fit we think terbury Tales;" upon which latter chic her reit was to know Mrs. H. Lee, and to enjoy . their united fame will rest. Those whosogy r atificatioa markable conversational could trace in her Powers' ilect, her vigorous clear depth of judgment and and intellect, of arrangeand comprehensive memory, ills of genius without mont, that combination of th,e, which the tale of " Kroutzne: could not have been Writmodern literature and art morn rirntercommuuion of friendship ten. The wider field of can scarcely admit of 0 Mrs. Porter, who died in cur , sisters wrote.g e recently lamented the loss among authors which belonged to the age in which the of one of thes®, xiss Jane 'der to have brich t bat cons' been in the which we canna residence of eminent persons. More eminent friends she in the elder portion of the Kemble mourned years 'l7'°'and I- vo Siddons John %-enao,e. One yet survives,Rogers, the friend vives, S. . . and correspondent of Mrs. The two sisters Were the first to predict the H. Lee. A • , eminence of Sir T. Lawrence, who in his after life, in 1 dement of their kindness,and • l of „know 8 his regard and friendshp, presented to them the portraits of Mrs. Siddons and John Kemble, and the more valuable portrait (one of his very best) of their friend General Paoli. Mrs. Lee retained her large and clear faculties to nearly the last moment of her life.—. Bristol Gazette.  memory yALITY m BißlNGuAm.—Never within the prisoners,o fany a living person has the calendar of assize for the county of with Mr. j Warwick presented so meagre a number of lessusgticaevemcaantiac. A logue,of crime, than that placed before county containing a Population of nearly 500,000 inhabitants in the course of live months furnished only thirty-two criminals for trial. Of these there were—From the county generally, 24; from Birmingham, 8. If this condition of things is extraordinary as regards the county, it is even more astonishing so far as Birmingham is concerned. About 250,000 persons, or one-half of the population of Warwickshire, are congregated in the borough and its suburbs. In such a dens;,, community good and evil must necessarily commingle; the facilities for the commission of crime must be numerous; and yet in half a year only eight offences have been perpetrated amongst us of sufficient importance to be sent before the first criminal tribunal of the realm. With one-half cf the population of the county, Birmingham furnished only one-fourth of the prisoners for trial. The cases too were of the slightest kind. One of manslaughter was a boy who killed another lad by throwing a stone. That the offence was not a very serious an was also indicchteadrgefor perjury, The other cases consisted of a one may be inferred from the sentence, which was four days' gr housebreaking, two two robberies, and a case of bibmuu trpgr liastheimprisonment. nial el wasinjot.o s eAbi cutting and wounding. There was no aggravated ooreunteateetr,infige murder, and, singularly enough, only one base coin, for the manufacture of which Birmingham -13irminghunt lourntlne time bad an unenviable reputation.