concession. Many of his chief colleagues, in each of these
instances, would have blindly rushed upon destruction. His greater
sagacity foresaw the gulf and turned away, choosing to win the courage
of relinquishing his life's opinions, than that of courting the dangers
of resistance. And in these three famous instances of Sir R. Peel's
life, we have the true elaboration of his own character. He was by
education and preference a Tory; by necessity he became a
Progressionist.

While we have felt it our duty to write the last paragraph, we
cheerfully record our admiration of Sir Robert Peel's great talents, of
his moral integrity, of his very exemplary private life, and, we
believe, of his firm attachment to his country and its institutions. He
is another memorable instance of what the children of democracy may
become in England, with adequate talents and exertions. Sir R. Peel owed
much to his wealth, to his associates, and to his early opinions. But
far beyond the factitious influences derivable from such sources, he had
great elements in himself. When his heart and mind received free
permission from his policy to display themselves, they were of the
highest order. Such a man is not easily made: of his loss we are only at
present very imperfectly able to appreciate the consequences, one of
which, we fear will be a mischievous re-formation of the Protectionist
party, and, if we read the auspices aright, his death will not improve
the Ministerial Whigs.

The motion on Wednesday night, in the House of Commons, not to proceed
with public business that evening, in honor of the memory of Sir R.
Peel, was as becoming to the House itself as it was to its mover, Mr.
Hume. It is a poor recompense to a bereaved family, we are aware; but it
is such a tribute as has not always been granted to even greater men,
and to some of the blood royal. In due time the public feeling will
doubtless imbody itself in more tangible and permanent forms; and when
that occurs, it will not be the least of the monumental honors of the
deceased, that the gratitude of the widow, the orphan, the neglected
genius, and suffering worth, will lead many to shed their tears on the
bronze or marble effigies of him whose like England will not easily see
again.

[From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal.]

SPONGES.

About three centuries and a half before the Christian era, the question,
Are sponges animal or vegetable? was proposed by Aristotle, who, unable