The Sun. — London, England, 1844-04-01 00:00:00

MAGAZINE DAY. n .4 WOOD'S MAGAZINE. -The recent Irish discussions in the House of Com mons form, as might be expected, a prominent subject of consideration in the present Number of this Ma gazine. The article, like most articles of a similar nature in Blackwood, is full of fallacious statements, and is plenteously endowed with impudtnce—to a degree- indeed that renders it positively amusing. Thus, the writer gravely assures us that the last Governme n t had just the same power to redress the wrongs of Ireland, as is possessed by the present ; though it is notorious that the Whigs could seldom se cure a majority of even nine on Irish questions, while the Tories boast of one just ten times as numerous! Again, with e qua l grav it y , h e s t a t es th a t " the bias of the 'gentry and of the aspiring of all ranks is towards Protestantism," contemptuously regardless of the- well-known fact that the proportion of Ca tholics to Protestants in the sistef-country is at this moment far greater than it has 'been for the last hundred years! On the subject of the recent State trials in Dublin this reckless Tory par tisan is not merely enthusiastic, but breaks out into such bursts of rhapsodical frenzy as would justify the application of a strait-waistcoat. He describes the prosecution as "the mightiest of spectacles which human grandeur can unfold !" and adds, " the trial was made, and with .what perfection of success the reader knows, for let us remind him that the perfec t2.°ll, We speak of l ay as much in the manner o f t h e trial as in its result—in the sanctities of abstinence, in ac ,Ile v holy f o rbearance to use any one of the many decent f l o i lt i tie , a in th e reverence for the sublime equities . The holy fo r b earance " o f th e Crown was cethretain.li exhibited in a most unequivocal fash i on, b y strikin g off of the ten Catholic jurors ; and, as for "the sanctities of abstinence," who does not remember the sanctim • e• sanctimonious "abstinence" w hi c h the Attorney- General when, in his official capacity as chief icator and guardian of the law, he sent a chal nge to Mr. Fitzgibbon ! ' But the article is scarcely worth the labour of refutation; for, from first to last, it is replete with misstatements and contradictions, which are put forth with a free-and-easy indifference, savouring of the most intrepid effrontery. Horace once spoke o f t h e first navigator as being a man "cased in triple brass ;" had the poet lived in these days, ',he would have found in the writer of this arti cle on " Ireland," an individual possessed of quite as much brass as the earliest mariner. The "Pirates of Segna" is a wild melo-dramatic tale, whose scene is laid in Venice, in the earlier part of the seventeenth century. Th e Slave Trade" is a painful document, drawn up from materials furnished by nn English clergyman, who was himself on board a cruizer that Captured a Brazilian slave-ship, where not less than four hundred and seventy negroes, men, women, andchildren, 'were found chained together like dogs, in a cabin only thirty-seven feet long, and three feet and a half high. And this occurred under the vertical sun of the tropics ! In " Moslem Histories of Spain" we find .some curious particulars respecting the Arabs of ',Cordova, one of whose most eminent rhetoricians possessed, it seems, an "ocean of language." What a treasure this man would have been to the Tories in the House of Commons, who so often find it neces sary to follow the example of their Chief and talk 'against time 1 The " British Fleet" is a biographical 'memoir of the late Earl St. Vincent, who, though `usually just in his conduct towards the officers under . his command, was not always so, for he once refused .an appointment to a "favourite" Captain, because he had been guilty of the crime of matrimony, he him self having perpetrated the same act not two months before. ! The biographer's description of the famous battle off Cape St. Vincent is very •aPerited and graphic, and will remind the - reader of some of Southey's sketches of 'naval actions in his " Life of Nelson." The " Me moirs of a Statesman" fall off in interest this month. We have far too much of the prison of St. Lazare, and the hero's adventures therein. " Two Nights in Southern Mexico" impress us with a very vivid notion of the pleasures of travelling in that paradisaical re gion: The writer describes himself as forming one =of a party who journied a hundred miles from Mexico through a country rarely "trodden but by native feet, and in the course of this agreeable expedition, •he was half suffocated by fogs, bitten to within an Inch of his life by musquitoes, cuffed and clawed and pinched by a drove of gigantic apes, frightened out of his wits by a thunder storm, hurled headlong from a cliff which gave way beneath him, and all but drowned in a mountain torrent which took charge of t his d esce nding person! Pleasant variety this for two nights' travelling ! We subjoin the author' s account of the attacks made on him by the mosqu itoes and apes during his bivouac in a low valley : "It was somewhere about midnight when I was awakened by an indescribable sensation of oppression from the surrounding atmosphere. The air seemed to be no longer air, but some poisonous exhalation that had • suddenly arisen and enveloped us. From the rear of the :ravine In which we lay, billows of dark mephitic mist • were rolling forward, surrounding us with their baleful influence. It was the vomito prieto, the fever itself em biedin the s h ape of a fog. At the same moment, and while I was gasping for breath, a sort of cloud seemed to settle upon me, and a thousand stin gs , needles, were run into my hands, face,neekr_ikeintoredev-heroyt part of my limbs and body that stre w te a h s ed not triply guarded by clothing. I instinctively and closed them; clutching by the whose droni n g , actifoonrthhumndy . singing. enormous musquitoe s , hund reds s nd o s f almost .deafened me.noise now The air was literally filled by a • dense swarm of these insects ; and their repeated and veno mous f stings the agony caused by It was a perfect plague was indescribable. Illock was slung some ot gypt. Rowley, whose hare t.ton,gue ; I heard him 9 yards from mine, soon ga ve . and swearing, with kicking and plunging, spluttering been . ludicrous s a vigour and energy that wo uld have under any matters were just then too other circumstan ces • but moment a s serious for a laugh. At that cream —but a scream of such terror and an guish as I never heard or beforeo f . women in their hour of ae- since—a scream as b ony and extr eme p er il, soun ded within a few paces of • and as I did us. I sprang o u t o f my h ammoc k, so, two white and graceful female figures • darted or r th bat h a rath er flew by me, shrieking—and oh in Dios eart-rending tones—fo r ' Socorro Socotro For .c . Help ! help l" Close upon the heels of the E iives, bounding and leaping along with enormous strideshi, and springs, came three or four dark objects, they certainly possessed ; b u t so hid eous an d h orr ibl e , sosu unnatural and, spectre-like was their aspect, that their sad n encounter in that gloomy ravine, and in the almost dark ness t h at surrounded us, might well have shaken th e strongest nerves. We stood for a second, Rowley and myself, paralysed with astonishment at these strange appearances ; but another piercing scream restored to us our presence of mind. One of the women bed either tripped or fallen from fatigue, and she lay a NNlit e , heap, upon the ground. The drapery of the other was in the clutch of one of the spectres, or devils, or whatever they were, when Rowley, with a cry of horror rushed forward, and struck a furious blow at the mon • ster with his mucketto. At the same time, and almost without knowing how, I found myself engaged with another of the creatures. But the contest was no equal '2ne. In vain did we stab and strike with our machettoes ; . our antagonists were covered and defended with a hard bristly - We, which our knives, although keen and Pointed, had great di ffi culty in penetrating ; and on the Other hand we found ourselves clutched in long sinewy -a_ ,wteerminating in hands and fingers, of which the utellsitheureitlis sharp and strong as an eagle's talons. I - creaturee •orrible claws strike into my shoulders as the seized me, and d • pres sed in as in the h drawing me towards him, • half •hug of a bear ; while his hideous half-man to visa ge his i on Was grinning and snarling at me, and u thin six g, W hite teeth m e , were snapping and gnashing inches of my face." BE Y'."S7C/TLAN Y. In the present ehapters of his‘?CEdPListsuiorlsoinggy !lon' Life," Mr. Murray, - whe " on the of Lon • subject of Auctions, takes the opportunity of doing justice to the immortal George Robins, by far the most original geniu s of the day, and who unques -. t:Aionably should have occupied a foremost place in _ M. Horne's " Now Spirit of the Age." We have long been familiar with the advertisements of this great master of the descriptive, and have been lost in ' astonishment at the splendid imagery and wonderful . p ro digality of i nvention that characterise them. 1. ou cannot, says the old roverb " make a silk Purse out o f a sow's ear, p , " but Geor ge —th e alter of thi s ads Scott of auctio Walter a proo f of the utter fallacy . , ge.- By a s i ngle flourish of his magic pen ne can manufacture a palace out of a pig -stye ; con vert a h orse - pond into a translucent lake dotted with islands and bordered with fragrant shrubs and flowers ; and conjure up a n o bl e mansion fit "for the residence an M.P." in a spot, where to the dull, unimagina tive eye of matter-of-fact nothing is visible but a tumble-down cottage, with an i mper f ec tl y d eve l ope d wa.sh-hou se attached' to it ! Then, mark the necro mantic powers of his language ! With what exquisite grace and freedom purling streams and winding rivers now. in SMALL CAPITALS through his advertisements; . and stately palaces rise in all the dignity of italics , with" nothing wanting to render them absolute peace • tion, but the smallest possible outlay of money 1 It is a remarkable fact that " hard and soft water" , abound in all the. " premises" which George is com missioned to dispose of; the rents, too, of the estate are invariably paid with punctuality ; the climate is peculiarly " favourable to longevity ;" ' and moonlight falls there with a softness and a beauty such as are witnessed in no other part of Christendom. We would not wish to alarm the modesty of this • gifted being —men of genius are always shy and bash ful—but we would humbly venture to suggest to the R o bi ns that he owes it to his own fame to repub , lish his advertisements in one or more volumes, in • order that remote posterity may know of what bril liant flights of imagination the n i ne t eent h century . Was capabl e . The "Fortun es of the Scattergood Family' improve as they proceed, because the author trusts more to his own resources, and less to an imita tion of Dickens. The scene of the first representa tion of. Mr. Glenalvon Fogg's melodrame at a minor theatre is adroitly and humourously touched off. `lleditations at a Kitchen Window by a Hungry latsit 4 '' is it mart; awl - humoured Fern, whose oh-- racier is sufficiently indicated by its title. In " Noctes Neetarm," a dialogue between two thirsty souls, a Cantab and a whiskey-drinker, we detect here and there the jovial, off-hand manner of Father Front. The " Gaol Chaplain" is somewhat dull and prosy this month. Mr. Bunn's " Legend of the Revolution" is a very clever humorous poem of the German school. We quote some remarks on print-shops, from the " Physiology, of London Life" : "Stop here—let us take a lesson in the fine arts at one of these gorgeous print-shops—take care of your pockets and flatten your nose against the middle of the window. No (Me heedlessly passes the print-shops ; a look at them costs nothing, and there is always something to please. The wealthy and great go inside the shops, pay for prints, and possess them ; the vulgar and penniless stay outside, criticise the engravings, and enjoy them ; so trivial, after all, is the difference between the man who has money and the man who has it not. The sporting print-shops attract us ; one sees what is going on it the hunting world, without crossing a horseback or going to Mellon. There they are—magnates of the chase, in hunting panoply, their dogs, horses, and the whole materiel of the chase. Next the characatures while away ten minutes, not without much risible emo tion ; the inimitable H. B. puts forth all his powers of • humorous ridicule to amuse us wayfarers of the streets; Brougham the Proteus of politicians, is pulled . into ludi crous postures by a string in the hands of the Duke of Wellington ; Palmerston, as Cupid, blows bubbles, that, as he blows them, break into empty air ; Peel , as Phae ton; drives his triumphant chariot, oblivious of the melt ing influence of the sun of public opinion. Our rulers are, by the pencil of this witty artist, made ridiculous, and we laugh contentedly, in the confidence of our'own security. At Cockspur.street, the Haymarket, Bond street, and Pall-mall, we have displayed before us the classical engravings of the day. Here Turner's extra ordinary and incomprehensible experiments in colour, resolve themselves into subject, and become legible un der the hand of the translator. The exquisite dogs of Landseer, with their human faces, are dispersed upon the wings of the multiplying press. Raphael and Cor reggio live over again in the soft, luscious, lithographic productions of the German school of engraving ; Fanny Elssler, Dumilatre, Taglioni, in their chosen pas, bound through the sustaining ether; Wellington, in dresses he roic and academic, as like and as unlike himself as it is possible for the same man at one and the same time to be, smiles and scowls upon the admiring spectators; Peel's bland, immoveable, and gentlemanlike features are not wanting. We see iu the windows of print-sellers what a nonentity is fame. Here, in the evanescence of a transitory popularity, statesmen have their places in the windows, as on the Treasury Bench; when they are in Opposition, they are deposed from the post of honour in the centre of the printseller's window, and stowed away, no longer marketable, in the unenviable obscurity of the portfolios in the back-shop. The grave has hardly closed on the remains of a royal duke, or other illus trious personage, than he lives again for the mob of gazers at the print-shops, and continues offered for sale until somc other great personage appears, whose linea ments become, in life or death, saleable commodities. Even kings are treated with hardly more ceremony, by those great potentates of Cockspur-street and •Pall-mall. His Majesty of Prussia frowns upon us in all the dignity of his huge moustache, for a week or ten days after he has quitted our shores, when he is deposed from his window, and Espartero reigns in his stead. Queen Christina puts the Regent out of' countenance, and the window, and Narvaez or Bravo, or whoever is upper most for the day compels her Christian Majesty to re tire into the back-shop, and waste her sweetness in a portfolio. The print-shops, properly regarded, are not mere galleries of the arts, bat popular pictorial histories of England, the Continent, and, in a word, the world." NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. The character, habits, personal peculiarities, &c., of the Emperor Nicholas are minutely described in this Number, by a writer who, it appears, has been some years resident in Russia, and has had many opportu nities of picking up Court gossip. He represents the Czar as one of the handsomest and most symmetrical men of his age, upwards of six feet in height, stately and severe in his demeanour, and greatly addicted to frightening honest people out of their wits by the sternness of his Imperial stare. His acquirements are more than respectable; he speaks French and German with perfect fluency, has a passable know ledge of English literature, but is so little acquainted with our insular character and habits that he is con stantly falling into error, whenever England is the theme of his conversation. His brother, the Grand Duke Michael, is equally uninformed on this point, so much so that when "he meets the clergyman of the British factory of St. Petersburgh in the streets, he addresses him in English with, .' Ah, G—d d—n your eyes, how are you ? " This he means as a courteous salutation, and of course the discreet parson acknowledges it with becoming pride and thankful ness.. There appears by all accounts to be much that is 1 . melodramatic in the character of Nicholas ; like Louis the Fourteenth, he is a sort of made-up man, and ;exhibits his warlike propensities to cor siderable advance tage at reviews, though we do not learn that he has ever found courage enough to head his armies in the field, or that his campaigns have ever extended be yond the parade ground of St. Petersburgh. lie has not yet achieved in person even the capture of a pig sty, and must, therefore, be considered as a less expe rienced warrior than the gallant Major Sturgeon, whose daring assault on the old sow at the head of the City Light Horse, has immortalized his memory. " Recreations in Natural History" are devoted this month to an account of the habits and physical pecu liarities of the elephant, of whose sagacity , several curious anecdotes are related. " Social Nuisances" is an anathema against lap-dogs, in the justice of which we cordially concur. "Their selfishness is de testable," observes the author, " they engross the snuggest chairs in the room, secure the best morsels, and drink up all the cream at breakfast, without the least regard to the duties of hospitality, or the com monest principles of politeness.' But this is not all; notwithstanding the aristocratic circles in which they move, they are the most vulgar dogs in the kingdom, and make a point of turning up their noses at such of their brethren as have not had the good fortune to be educated in the drawing-room. In an essay on the 'l l Rights of Dramatic Anthers," occur some speculations on the causes of the decline of Comedy among us. The question is one by no means difficult of solution. Our national manners and feelings have been so much toned down of late years by constant intercourse with the Continent, and the steady march of refine ment and intelligence, that those marked distinctive traits of character, which are the aliment of the Comic Muse, are no longer to be found among us. One man is now just for all the world like another man; we have become sophisticated, and present no marks for the shafts of wit and humour. True, our social, literary, and political coteries still 'furnish ample food for ridicule, but it is the business of Comedy to deal, not with masses, but with individuals. " The Emi grants of St. Thomasso" is a passable poem, from the pen UMrs. Gore . ; and wesan extend no higher praise *. Horace Smith's "Moral Alchemy," which is a lan guid imitation of Wordsworth's didactic manner. "April Fool's Day all the Year Round" •is a sprightly essay, whose execution is as ingenious as its conception. " Lady Londonderry's Journal" is full of entertaining gossip about Athens, Palermo, Naples, and the society to be met with in these cities. " The Wedding Day" is one of Ingoldsby's diverting legends, and exhibits some of his raciest touches of sarcasm and drollery. In hunting about for ex tracts, we can find none better suited to our circum scribed space than this pleasing poetical apostrophe to "The Laurel :" Oh ! the willow may wave o'er the mouldering grave, For a scorner of valour is she, But the type of renown is the evergreen crown, That is form'd of the bright Laurel-tree ; His green leaves have shed o'er the brow of the dead, tie halo of lasting renown, For the mighty of earth, in their pride and their worth, Were wreathed by the bright laurel crown ! Peerless and changeless—oh ! long flourish he, The pride of the nation—the green Laurel-tree. Then hail to the Laurel—the evergreen King? For a monarch undying is he; An emblem of fame, from past ages he came, And still sacred his branches shall be : For him lives the warrior, his life of renown, His glory gives nerve to the brave ; There's fame in his breath, and his boughs after death, ----- Are the emblems we carve on his grave Peerless and changeless, immortal shall be, The pride of the nation, the green Laurel-tree. Though brave be the Laurel, we love him the most, That he blooms net alone for the strong; That his bright leaves are hung, for the Bards who have sung, Whose voices were mighty in song ! Oh ; A song in his praise, shall be heard when the days Of our warriors and minstrels are o'er, When he yields then the fame of an undying namo, Like the Bards and the Heroes of yore! Peerless and changeless,—oh ! long flourish he, The evergreen monarch—the green Laurel tree. and a verdict - 6 iiiiqUalifikl condemnation is pro nounced upon all of them. Poor Lord Ellenborough! He seems doomed to find opponents among Tories as well as Whigs; and, as if he had not quite enemies enough already to contend against, he has contrived, according to Fraser, to render himself obnoxious to the entire Council of Calcutta, by designating them as " old women," 'and the Lord Bishop as ' the greatest old woman of them all !" This, it must be confessed, is black—the Bishop will no doubt think it Atheis tical—still, we hope the Governor-General is not wholly without the pale of pardon, even though he may have presumed to question the absolute wisdom of a Calcutta Prelate. " A Fine Day in the Strand" is a hackneyed - subject, dressed up with tact and adroitness. The historical and other associations connected with this great thoroughfare are touched on lightly and pleasantly, and with a gusto that would have gone far to win the heart of old Johnson. Other quarters of London possess their local peculiari ties, but the Strand is cosmopolitan. Regent-street is the favourite resort of whiskered dandies, and foreigners who live by their wits—Chan cery-lane, -of grave, fox-like lawyers—Cornhill, of shrewd, flinty men of business—Paternoster-row, of publishers, on whose shelves slumber in unmo lested serenity innumerable unsold copies of Mr. Robert Montgomery's poems—but the Strand is the resort equally of all classes. Here may be seen at some hour or other of the day, Peers and pickpockets, authors and actors, men of fashion and men of busi ness, lawyers and politicians, to say nothing of a stray bishop or two looking as sleek and comfortable as cows in a clover field. To our thinking, the Strand, with its constant bustle, cheerfulness, and endless variety of objects, is the place of all others best suited to the tastes of the genuine Londoner. The " Luck of Barry Lyndon" is the continuation of a tale by Titmarsh, and is penned in a spirit of acute observa tion and racy humour. In the notice of " Mrs. Grant of Laggan and her Contemporaries," occurs the follow ing remark, which we notice for the purpose of pointing oat its inaccuracy :—" The most celebrated.authors of our country have been silent and, embarrassed in ge neral society." Now the very reverse of this is the fact. Burke was notorious for his colloquial powers —Johnson spent at least one half of his life in con versation—Coleridge and Scott were unrivalled as talkers—Burns fascinated all who met him in the social circle—Sir James Mackintosh owed half his fame to his conversational abilities—Sheridan softened even attorneys by his flow of wit and humour—Moore, when in the vein, talks quite as well as he writes —Professor Wilson, it is said, even better—and we all remember the panegyrics lavished by his contem poraries on the free and easy chit-chat of Ben Jon son. The truth is, a full mind must - relieve itself in some way or other ; this is one of the primary neces sities of its nature ; and conversation is the easiest and pleasantest means it can adopt of pouring forth its stores. Doubtless " a still tongue maketh a wise head," but such wisdom is of the lowest order, being nothing more than a man's own consciousness that he possesses a dull, dry, unimaginative, and scantily furnished intellect. Be sure that no one maintains a reserved demeanour in company who has ought to say worth listening to, unless, indeed, he has been a re cluse half his life. In nine cases out of ten, the pos session of a faculty implies its exercise. We subjoin from "Military Tableaux" a graphic sketch of Napo leon as he appeared at the battle of Wagram : " As the feeble remnant of our'regiment was formed in line, only fifteen yards behind where he had stationed himself, I was for several hours enabled to observe the man who then wielded the destinies of Europe in his own grasp. He was surrounded by a numerous staff, and at tended by ten or twelve orderly officers; who, drawn up in line, stood motionless within reach of his voice. On the right were the guards inclose column, and with ordered arms; their artillery was on their right. As we were nearest the Emperor, we looked upon ourselves as his personal guard on this occasion. He wore, as usual, his grey great-coat over the plain uniform of the chasseurs of his guard; rode a small white Arabian, and held a light riding-whip in his hand. His face, while we could ob serve him, betrayed none of the emotions he might be supposed to feel at such a time, but seemed perfectly calm and collected. He listened quietly and attentively to the reports brought him, and issued all his directions in a similar manner. If he had an order to send, he sotffia called netelry loudly, wehaon af ' op : O n ! da forward to ao d ' s bfi o er r s d to o i ? if : o n tr a h n ed c c ur ft right h. w t ,dthheeh o e ic n tah t v h ei neligneg i, orderly .vien n. deliberate officer had manner, a n n o n t e seizedr, t he the Emperor exact meaninga,d his de o d r order er i ?o i repeated ihem over again, add • f e n p t a e h t e e s zl words, ing, as before, 6 7?epetez:' if satisfied that * 'w ord lafn s their import was fully understood, he briefly said, ' A z 11e ' and the officer instantly start e d o ff at the best speed he could command. That under the empire French horseman ship was as indifferent as ungraceful is sufficiently well known to all who recollect the French cavalry of the period. " By degrees our station ceased to be secure; from the first, and as long as the battle, though raging fiercely , along the whole line, had remained stationary, we had received an occasional shot from the batteries near Wagram, which lay exactly in our front. The success of the Austrian right wing, however, brought us shot from the left; and they continued to advance even from the very rear. Several shot struck among the guard and round the ground on which the Emperor was sta tioned; but he never moved from a post whence he had the whole battle-scene spread out like a panorama before him. He was, indeed, as little disturbed by the reports from his marshals as by the shot of the enemy: the news that' the Austrians had turned the left wing of the army,' that they ' had defeated the corps stationed to protect the bridges,' seemed to make little impression on him; though it greatly disquieted the officers of his staff. Only once I observed a striking change in his manner. He had desired an orderly officer to ' bring up the sixty pieces of light artillery of the guard, and the forty extra pieces attached to the same corps;' and as they did not immediately arrive, he rode impatiently along our front, striking his boot with the riding-whip, and repeatedly taking snuk" -- THE ARTISTS' GENERAL BENE VOLENT INSTITUTION. The Twenty-ninth Anniversary Dinner of this ex cellent institution took place on Saturday evening, at the Freemasons' Tavern, Great Queen-street, when upwards of 200 gentlemen sat down to dinner. Sir R. H. Inglis, M.P., presided. the most excellent description, The dinner was o f and the viand s , o f which there was no scarcity, vied with all former at tempts of the proprietor of this establishment to give satisfaction. Sir R. Inglis and the members of the Committee entered the spacious hall about half-past six o'clock, immediately upon which the demolition of the good wa l s l s e un c g lo i t n h Alr. T. Cooke, Mast er things of this life commenced. ehxacveinligenbtesetnylweibthydrawn, the Benedictus M'l)ermott, and Messrs. Hawkins and Broadley. The health of the Queen was then drank with four times four, amid great cheering. The CHAIRMAN then proposed the " Health of the patron of the institution, Prince Albert."—(Cheers.) He believed th a t hi s Royal Highness was not only one of the patrons of the arts, but was one of the most enlightened artists of the present day.—(Cheers.) " Long life to th e Q ueen a nd the Prince." Her Majesty, f rom th e proudestfiQr us first en t D o o t w h a e g epr specimen. r' domestic and s oc i a l v i rtue The CHAI RMAN th en p ro p o sed the " Health o f th e had exhibit e d th e e '— seon ( f C te l v i e e nil. e yo rs m ) eriHf, —(Cheers)—and since she had been withdrawn from public life by a calamity that all must deplore, she had shown herself the most strenuous supporter of every charitable institution throughout the country. —(Cheers.) 'There was no case of misery ever came before her Majesty that she did not immediately take into consideration, and give relief. The toast was drank amid much cheering, with three times three And one cheer more. The CHAIRMAN then proposed the " Health of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and all the Royal Family." He truste I that what the Edwards had achieved in war would be an example to his Royal Highness in Teter times to adopt by the means of peace.—(Cheers.) The CHAIRMAN then proposed the " Army and Navy," which was most enthusiastically drunk, amid great cheering. The CHAIRMAN then proposed the next toast, which might be considered the toast of the evening—" The prosperity of the Artists' General Benevolent Insti tution."—(Great cheering.) I t was perhaps pre sumptuous on the part of one who appeared for the first time among them to attempt to state the merits of the object they had in view; but when he re collected that out of 8,6001. a-year they had relieved 860 cases of distress, he could not but feel grateful and delighted at the course they were pursuing. From the funds they had obtained they had in fact relievei poverty and distress..(lfear, hear.) The present institution was not one of those which was supported by the great body of the people, but it was kept up pre-eminently .by the artists of England— (Cheers)—and such being the case, they had not only a claim on those who were the supporters of the arts in England, but on those who supported them abroad.—(llear, hear.) While this institution had been enabled to give so much relief, it had considered not only the case of the receiver, but the giver.— (Cheers.) The instances which he had brought before that meeting lie hoped were sufficient to prove that the institution ranked high among the institu tions of the country. The Hon. Gentleman con cluded by proposing the toast, which was drunk amid much cheering. Mr. H. S. TnoweroN proposed the next toast, which was " The Health of the Chairman." It had been his happiness to know the lion. Gentleman from his earliest infancy, and, from that time to the pre sent, he had ever found him a supporter of the I ine Arts.—(Cheers.) The toast was then given, and drank amid loud plaudits. Sir R. INGeis returned thanks, and, in doing so passed a high eulogium upon Sir Martin Archer Shee, whose health he proposed, and which was drank most enthusiastically. The following , toasts were also proposed and drank : —" The Commissioners for Protecting the Fine Arts ;'? " The British Institution, and other Societies E LONDON, NT ON AA, Vp,-14 LINT G, ►.PRXY.: ., 16414. AINSWORTH'S MAGAZINE. Mr. Horne, the author of the New Spirit of the A g e," a work just published, is most mercilessly lashed by a critic in this Magazine for presuming to sit in judgment on his contemporaries. He has, it seems, been guilty of the crime of overrating some living writ:rs and underrating others—a heinous atrocity, for which he ought to have known that he would be sure to bring a hornet's nest about his ears. We have not yet read his work, and cannot therefore undertake to say how far the present severe strictures on it are just or otherwise; but if it be really true, as Tait asserts, that he has placed Dickens as a no velist above Cervantes, Fielding, and Scott, he has shown how utterly unfitted he is for the task of dis criminating and dispassionate criticism. Boz is by many degrees the first writer of fiction of the day ; there is no one who even approache s him i n the power of delineating eve r y-d ay lif e an d c h arac t er; b u t, t o compare him with the creator of the brave, self denying, high-minded Don Quixote, who even in his wildest flights of eccentricity never once loses his hold on our veneration— with Fielding, whose quiet strength and grace of style, various scholarship, and constructive faculties are so remarkable—or with Scott, that unrivalled master of the picturesque, whose rare fancy, humour, invention, learning, are only equalled by his b on h omnz i e , k now l e d ge o f th e world, and intimate acquaintance.with . those hidden springs which Set the puppet man in motion compare Dickens with these consummate noxelists, for the purpose of setting him above them, is to push the language of panegyric into downright absurdity. Boa can depict all that lies on the surface of character with infinite felicity; 11-3 can unmask a common place hypocrite ; place before us with startling truth a vulgar ruffian, or a pert Cockney coxcomb ; and throw wonderful life and exactness into ordinary dia logue; but here his power stops. He cannot pourtray man in the more elevated phases of his nature ; he be longs essentially to the low Dutch school of art; and when he attempts a flight above this, he makes as sorry an exhibition as Phaeton did, when he essayed to drive the chariot of the sun. His archness, humour, and worldliness ' though limited in their range,. are admirable ; he has descriptive faculties, too, of no ordinary excellence ; but we must protest against his sentiment, which is too apt to run into flowery mawk ishness, as when he represents the idiot Smike dying to soft music, amid visions of angels an 3 spring dai sies ; attributes to the gin-drinking Miss Nancy the finest and purest sensibilities; and converts a kind hearted little girl into a paragon of impossible per fection. The Hermit of Cripplegate" is a tale by Charles Oilier ; it is told with vigour and simplicity, and turns upon the novel fact of a gentleman having shut himself up in solitude for forty years, in conse quence of his life having been attempted by his own brother. To make his seclusion more complete he se lected London as his residence ; and there was wis dom in his choice, for under circumstances of poverty and affliction, there is no solitude so complete as that of a crowded metropolis. In the present chapters of " St. James's," the trial of political strength between Marlborough and Harley is represented in Mr. Ainsworth's most effective manner. In the amusing " Elliston Papers," the editor places before us sundry specimens of the poetical addresses that were written for the purpose of being spoken on the opening of Drury-lane in 1812. Among the unsuccessful com petitors we find the name of " Joseph Hume." Surely this cannot be the great financial oracle of St. Stephen's ! We all know that he is a perfect master of numbers, but we never yet heard that they were tuneful ones. The " Suppressed Comedy" gives a pathetic account of Mr. Bell's sufferings and lamenta tions in consequence of the abrupt withdrawal of his Mothers and Daughters. This play being highly successful and much belauded by Mr.. Bunn, that high-minded manager, with a magnanimous disre gard to his own interests, " above all Greek, above all Roman fame," withdrew it from the stage after the first night of representation, and it has never since been permitted to tickle the midriffs of a Drury-lane audience ! This conduct on the part of the Lessee is really most inexplicable, but we fear the mystery will never be cleared up till that great day when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed. A " Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla," is one of Leigh Hunt's light, graceful essays. Alluding incidentally to the Sicilian fountain of Arethuse, he tells us that it is now a public wash-tub ! "To what base uses may we not return, Horatio!" Conceive a set of squat, red-armed washerwomen ducking dirty shirts and collars in the fount beloved of the Muses ! Of course, there is a Mangle close by. The subjoined sketch of the Rape of Proserpine may perhaps amuse our readers : "We have kept the most beautiful of the Sicilian mythic stories to conclude with—for such, doubtless, is the Rape of Proserpine. It is full of the most striking contrasts of grandeur and beauty; both heaven and hell are in it—the freshest vernal airs, and the depths of Tartarus; and the hearts of a mother and daughter beat through all. It is a tale at once of the wildest preter naturalism and the most familiar domestic tenderness. The daughter of Ceres is gathering flowers, with other damsels of her own age, in the Yale of Enna, intent upon nothing but seeing who shall get the finest. Sud denly, in the midst of the violets and jonquils, a clang is heard like the noise of a thousand caldrons—the earth bursts open, and a rapid, majestic figure appears, like a swarthy Jupiter, who, sweeping by Proserpine, whirls her with him into his chariot, and prepares to rush down through another opening. The nymph Cyane has alone the courage to bid him stop, and ask him why he dares to take away the daughter of Ceres. He makes no answer, but, knitting his brows like thunderbolts, smites the fountain over which she presided with an iron mace, and dashes down through it with his prey. It is the King Of Hell himself, tired of celibacy, and resolved to have the fairest creature on earth for his wife. The cries of Proserpine become fainter as the earth closes over them—but they have been heard by Ceres, who comes, with all the speed of a divine being, to see what is the matter. She can discern nothing; the tranquillity of the scene is restored—Cyane has melted away in tears. The goddess seeks everywhere in vain—she travels by day and by night, lit by two flaming pines from Mount Atna. At length she learns who has got hec daughter, and, by the intervention of Jupiter, Proserpine is allowed to come to earth and see her. The mother and daughter are half drowned in tears, half absorbed in delight, and Jupiter would prevent their separation, but is not able—for Proserpine has eaten of a fatal fruit, compulsory of her continuance with Pluto, and all that can be done is to stipulate for her being half a year with her mother, on conditioi of her being a good wife during the other half. Ceres makes a virtue of the necessity, seeing that her daughter is married to the brother of Jove—and Proserpine is content to divide the throne of Tartarus, and walk in gardens of her own, splendid, though underground. The ancient poets made these gardens consist of all the flowers which she had been accustomed to gather in Sicily." ILLUMINATED MAGAZINE. Mr. Jerrold's allegorical " Chronicles of Clover nook" are here resumed ; it is impossible not to ad mire the vigorous power of fancy that pervades them,. but we fear that they do not possess sufficient direct- ness and obviousness of meaning to please the genera lity of periodical readers, who are apt to turn with impatience from whatever taxes thought. Yet the author has written few .cleverer things, and certainly none whose moral tone is so sound and elevated. The ".Orphan Milliners, a Tale of the West End" is by Miss Camilla Toulmin ; it is forcibly and unaffec tedly written; and is illustrated by an engraving, which represents a groupe of emaciated girls toiling like slaves at their needle by midnight in order to meet the demands of fashion—that smooth but inex orable tyrant who laughs to scorn all the claims of humanity. " Sketches of Parisian Life" convey a livily idea of the dandy of that over-refined capital. In the essay on the " Belles of England" we find a brief biographical notice of the famous Duchess of Marlborough—the conqueror of the conqueror of France, and who ruled her terrified sovereign with a rod of iron. " Levy Papers" is a whimsical exposure of some of the trickeries of legal pettifoggers. The theme is a tempting one, and the lash cannot be laid on in too severe a spirit. The " Chaunt of Death" contains a striking image or two, and we subjoin it accordingly : " I am not of earth, but spirit born, Yet the wide world owns my sway; Its pomp and its might I laugh to scorn, For all must my will obey. I visit the halls of dazzling light, Enter the loftiest domes, And all is anguish, and all is night, Where the King of Terror comes. " I reign o'er the waves of the mighty deep— I ride on the stormy wind— On every shore where breakers sweep, My ruthless track you find. I soar on the . wings of the pestilence— Am heard in the tempest's crash— And when earth is veiled in gloom intense, I sail in the lightning's flash. " Yet oft in loveliest guise I dwell, — On the light of the clear blue eye, On the blooming cheek, set I my spell,— They wither—decay—and die. And often I lurk in the night-wind's sigh, And steal in the youthful breast, — And gently, calmly, and silently, Doth that spirit sink to rest. " And I smile as I mark the youthful brow Bent over the midnight page, And list the fond enthusiast's vow At the shrine of Bard and Sage, When I have doomed him to sure decay, And know, while his bays are green, That his toil-worn frame shall pass away From earth, and " no more be seen." " I care not for pomp or glittering crown, Serf and Lord are alike to me— For the mightiest king must bow him down To a mightier king than he. I speak! and the loftiest head must bend. From creation's earliest dawn I have reigned, and my reign shall only end With the last of woman born. " All things of earth—of air—of sky— Must yield them unto me, And the vast and glittering worlds on high Shall my parting conquest be; For the heavens shall melt and pass away Ere the work of death be done, And the Sun himself shall see decay Ere my earthly race be run. " The universe with my fame hath rung Since my banner I unfurled, • And my parting requiem shall be sung 'Mid the ruins of a world. Lord over all with life and breath! The same triumphant chime That sounds the dirge of the monarch, Death, Must sound the knell of Time." • FRASER'S MAGAZINE. Notwithstanding its Toryism, which is notoriously of an inveterate character, this Magazine speaks out on the subject of " Lord Ellenborough and the Affairs of India" with a boldness, and even fierceness, that could scarcely be exceeded by the sourest member of that unhappy party whose hard lot it is to sit shivering on the Opposition side of the House, uncheered in this, their season of gloom, by the slightest prospect of again basking in the sunny paradise of office. Not only is his Lordship accused of a " bad temper," " haughty disposition," and " insufferable self-con ceit," but Fraser deliberately adds that, " by the pe culiar constitution of his mind, lie is quite unfit to be entrusted with the chief management of the affairs of India !" His proceedings in Sinde and elsewhere are then canvassed in A strict, minute spirit of inquiry, established for the Promiition of the Fine Arts ;" " The Artists' Annuity and Benevolent Fund ;" ".The - Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, Directors, Honorary Se cretary, and Officers of the Institution ;" " The Ladies ;" " The Stewards and the Stewards elect." We cannot conclude this notice of the dinner without expressing our admiration of the manner in which the musical department was conducted. It is only necessary to mention that Mr. T. Cooke, Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Hobbs, Mr. Broadley, Miss Alley maine, and Master 11‘Dermott, were engaged. Sir R. Nous, before quitting the chair, stated that the subscriptions for the institution amounted to upwards of 5001.-(Cheers.) The Chairman having retired, the hilarity of the meeting was kept up to a late hour. The following were some of the most important per sons present :-T. Phillips, R.A. T. Uwins, R.A., P. Hardwick, R.A., C. Barry, 11:A., Charles Land seer, A.R.A., Thomas Webster, A.R.A., Thomas Creswick, A.R.A., Sir W. Ross, R.A., P. M'Dowell, A.R A., C. R. Cockerell, R.A., W. Tite, Andrew Robertson, W. Brockedon, 11. Corbould ; and, among those who may be classed as subscribers, we have been enabled to collect the following :- British Institution, fourth donation, 501. Sir George Hayter, fourteenth donation, 10/. Richard Cook, Esq., RA., eleventh donation, 51. ss. Robert Burfield, Esq., 51. ss. Sir G. T. Staunton, 51. Lord Bexley, third donation, 5/. Sir John Swinburne, thirteenth donation, 101. Duke of Sutherland, eighth donation, 101. 10s. Duke of Northumberland, twelfth donation, 101. 10s. Benjamin B. Cabbell, Esq., nineteenth donation, 51.55. Lady Chantrey, third donation, 201. T. Phillips, Esq., R.A., twenty-sixth donation, 51. ss. J. H. Mann, Esq., sixteenth donation. 5/. ss. Sir W. Ross, R.A., fourteenth donation, 51. ss. Geo. Jones, Esq., RA., twenty-second donation, 5/. ss. C. R. Cockerell, Esq., R.A., twentieth donation, 51. ss. Sir M. A. Shee, P.R.A., nineteenth donation, 5/. ss. S. Jones Loyd, Esq., third donation, 101 W. Wyon, Esq., R.A., sixth donation, 51. ss. H. S. Thornton, Esq., 10/. Charles Barry, Esq., R.A., sixth donation, 5/. ss. Henry Graves, Esq., seventh donation, 51. ss. In this list we have doubtless omitted many valu able contributors. The meeting then adjourned, after spending a most delightful evening. We must not forget to sax,that the arrangements on behalf of all parties were ex cellent. RAILWAY BUSINESS IN PARMA. MENT. FRIDAY, MARCH 29. Guildford Junction Railway Bill, read a third time and passed. - Norwich and Brandon Railway Bill, read a third time and passed. Midland Railways Consolidation Bill, report considered, amendments agreed to, and Bill to be engrossed. York and Scarborough Railway Bill, read a third time (Queen's consent signified), and gill passed. Delabole and Rock Railway Bill, •rder for reading the Bill a second time read and discharged, and Bill withdrawn. Delabole and Rock Railway, No. 2, reports from Select Committees on petitions for private Bills and on Standing Orders read, and another Bill ordered to be brought in by Sir John Yarde Buller, Mr. Pendarves, and Mr. Trelawny. i4wquay Harbour and Railway Bill reported, and recom mitted to the former Committee. Taff Vale Railway Bill, read a second time, and committed and referred to the Committee of Selection. South-Eastern, Canterbury, Ramsgate, and Margate Rail way Bill, reported, and report to lie on the table and to be printed, FATAL ACCIDENT at CAMBRIDGE. Every one who recollects the chief circumstance which caused the death of his Royal Highness the late Duke of Or leans will be struck with the similar nervousness displayed in a melancholy accident which has just occurred at Cam bridge, and which had an equally fatal termination. On Thursday Mr. Edward Jones Fox, of St. John's College, and a son of Dr. Fox, of Bristol, was driving a phaeton and pair along the Trumpington-road, in which were three of his friends, when on coming near the stone bridge the horses began to pull too strong for him. He attempted, instead of pulling them in gradually, to stop them by a sudden and powerful check, for which purpose he put his leg across the reins; whilst he was in the act of doing so the reins broke, and the horses made off at full speed. Mr. Fox leaped unfortunately from his seat, and fell to the ground. The other gentlemen kept to the carriage and managed by degrees to stop the horses. Colonel Glover and his son were walking on the road at the time of the accident, and came up to Mr. Fox, who :they thought had landed safely on his - feet at first, althOugh he instantly fell to the ground. They . raised him up, and perceived there was a profusion of blood where his head had lain for the mo ment. He walked"for a few paces, and declared he could not go on any further, and they laid him down by the bank on the way side until further assistance arrived. Mr. Bailey Turner, a surgeon, coming up at this time in his gig, the unfortunate gentleman was placed alongside of him, and con veyed towards Cambridge, with the intention of stopping at the hospital. He became, however, unmanageable, from the strong convulsions into which he fell, arid he succeeded in throwing himself over the wheel. He was then taken into the house of Mr. 'Walters, architect, where he was put to bed and attended to. Dr. Haviland and Messrs. Sudbury and Johnson, surgeons, afforded every medical as sistance, but in vain : he expired at eleven o'clock the same night. An inquest was held on Friday, before Mr. Cooper, the Coroner of the town, when it appeared that the names of the gentlemen who had been in the phaeton on the occasion, and who luckily escaped unhurt, were Watson, Dobson, and Gordon. The first-mentioned had endeavoured, but in vain, to assist Mr. Fox in restraining the horses in the first instance, by pulling the rein next himself. It was then that Mr. Fox, determining to pull in at any risk, and put his leg across the reins, met with the melancholy accident which occurred. Mr. Charles Davis, landlord of the King's Head, the owner of the horses, as well as his ostler, George Trace, were examined, and from their evi dence, it appeared that the harness was good and service able, and that the horses had been constantly driven, both ix single and double harness, without any accident ever having taken place with them. The dreadful occurrence took place between three and four o'clock, and it appears by Mr. Sudbury, the surgeon's, evidence, who saw deceased about a quarter of an hour after he fell, that a collapse of a couple of hours took place, when a re-action followed, and, with the consent of all the medical men present, he was bled. Mr. Sudbury, in continuation, stated that, for the next hour, ho seemed to improve—his breathing was better, but there was no return of consciousness. He remained in much the same state till about half-past ten, becoming gradually worse during that time. There was afterwards a great hemorrage from the nose ; the discharge continued from the ears. Death was caused by a fracture at the base of the skull, producing compression of the brain. Witness attended him some time ago, and he fancied that be had a disease of the heart, which was, in witness's opinion, ima ginary. The deceased was of a nervous temperament. The coroner was of opinion, with respect to the amount of a deodand, that no blame whatever, was attached to Mr. Davis, or to any one in his employment; in fact, he was not pre pared to say, that there should be any deodand, as the acci dent resulted, not from the horses becoming affrighted, but fright of tho deceased, and his having jumped out. In ac cordance with this opinion, the jury returned a verdict, " That the deceased, being frightened at the breaking of the reins, threw himself from the phaeton, and falling on the ground, received a concussion of the brain, from Which injury he died." The inquest was attended by a great many mem bers of the University, friends of the deceased, who was an exceedingly promising, generous -hearted, and amiable young man, and universally beloved and esteemed by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. It might have been deemed a strange circumstance that one of the best drivers of his age in England should have evinced such want of tact and pre sence of mind on such a trying occasion, had not Mr. Sud- bury, his medical attendant, testified to the fact of his nervous temperament. SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. BLACKBURN STEEPLE CHASES—MunsDAY. Sweepstakes of 15 sovs. each, 5 ft, vith 100 added ; 12st each Three miles. Mr. Ward's Commodore (Mr. Loft) 1 Captain Bradley's The Romp 2 Four others were not placed. Sweepstakes of 10 sovs. each, h ft, 70 added. Heats, one mile and a half. Mr. Bretherton's Mareng o, aged (Owner) 2 1 1 Mr. Hollinshead's Little Peter 1 0 4 Mr. Hornby's Paul Pry, 5 yrs 3 2 2 Mr. Loft's Ovid, 5 yrs 0 3 3 A Sweepstakes of 3 sovs. each, p.p., with 15 added, list each, one mile and a half, was won by Mr. Crofton's Fair Penitent. MALTA, MARCH 17.—MELANCHOLY AFFAIR.—On Thursday . week last the English brig Chieftain, Captain Reay, arrived here from Spalatro, bound to Hull, with a cargo of bones. The object of her ptitting in here was to be enabled to change her crew, by the advice of her Majesty's Consul at Fiume, they being in a high state of insubordination, as also to obtain a legal opinion us to the consequences o f a fatal circumstance which recently occurred, in which the captain is the actor, and of which the following is a narrative : Whilst loading at Spalatro the crew, which had been on shore, returned in a state of intoxication. Between ten and eleven P.M., the master was aroused by the carpenter (a man b'jthe bye of very questionable respectability, who requested his immediate attendance on deck to silence the people who were in a state of mutiny. Reay put a pair of loaded pistols into his pocket and went on deck. Here the circumstance, which cost a man his life, becomes involved in obscurity. The carpenter, the only person who appears to have the slightest knowledge of the fact, himself one of the principal; rioters, swears that the captain levelled his pistol at the cook, and shot him. The captain was arrested and tried, and though not positively acquitted, the proceedings were, ac cording to the law of Austria, suspended, for want of suffi- ' cient evidence, and the mau released from durance. The question is, will the criminal courts at home take cognizance of this offence? • Of ourselves we are unable to answer the question, but should lean to the opinion that the nnhappy man has nothing to fear, even if they should do so; for it is a remarkable fact, that the whole crew, although mutinously disposed, declared, when on their oaths, that the treatment experienced by them front Reay on every occasion was kind and indulgent—thus leading to the conclusion • that the unfortunate tragedy was purely accidental. The vessel has sailed for Hull. PRINCE ALBERT,—The Princess Alice returned to Dover yesterday morning, bringing back Captain Seymou r , Sir Edward Bowater and Colonel Bouverie only accompany ing the Prince to Germany. The Prince was received at Ostend by the King of the Belgians. His Royal Highness, after passing the night at Ostend, left ;yesterday morning at half-past six A.m., for Brussels, by special train, and it is ex pected he will reach Gotha by to-morrow (Sunday), where he will remain a few days with his brother and the other members of his family, and thence proceed to Coburg for the arrangement, it is said, of some important business. The Prince will return to England on the 11th of April ; and the Princess Alice is ordered to be at Ostend on the 10th, to bring him across. The King of the Belgians is expected to land at Woolwich on Monday.—Dover Chronicle of Saturday. Goon OLD AGE. — Siace the 16th December, 1843, to the 25th March, 1844, twelve individuals have been in terred at Ripon, and one at Kirkby Malzeard, whose united ages amount to 1,125 years, viz.—Widow Brown 82, Mary Tuting 83, Widow Whittaker 84, George Wharton 112, Ben lamin Dearnley 84, Wid ow Pi c k ersg ill 90, J o h n R u dd 7 0, sabella Brown 84, Widow Smith 90, Miss Clough 95, Wm. Myers qo, Richard Almon 85, Lawrence Nelson 76.—Total _ NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. ' • PonTsmotrnr, MAacn 30.—The Admiralty yacht Black Eagle, Mr. S. B. Cook master - commanding, has been in the harbour all the week, - and rumours have been industriously circulated, and generally believed, that her Majesty and Prinde Albert were coming on a visit to Cowes on Wednes day last. The rumour, of course, died with the day. It was then reported that the Black Eagle would remain in this harbour until the Lords of the Admiralty paid their usual periodical visit of inspection to this and Plymouth Dock yard. All such reports, however, were pat an end to this evening by the Black Eagle sailing out of harbour about five o'clock rat., having on board the Right Hon. K. L. Cony, one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and the lien, S. Herbert, Secretary to the Admiralty, with Captain Brandreth. They proceeded from this port to Cowes, for the purpose of select- • ing a spot for the erection of a pier for the accommodation of her Majesty on the beach at Osborne; from Cowes they will proceed to Devonport on a visit of inspection to that, dock yard, and ultimately to Holyhead, to facilitate the accelera tion of the Irish mails. By the new naval regulations masters in the Royal navy, prior to being appointed to situations in the Royal dock yards, are to be promoted to the rank of commanders. Sir Joseph Douglas, master, *ill be among the first promoted, and appointed Master-Attendant of Deptford Dockyard, as a reward for his distinguished services whilst in command of a merchant-ship at the commencement of the war with China, and for which the honour of knighthood was conferred upon him by her Majesty. The Collingwood, 80, sister to the Vanguard, was docked on Tuesday to have her copper cleaned and be got ready for her pendant. She has discharged some of her ballast, and is already fitted as an advanced ship ; her cabins, &c., are all fitted, and she will be comm i ss i one d i n the early part of May. Captain Henry Eden is appointed to the command of her. Captain Eden was flag-captain of the Impregnable, 104, under Sir Graham Moore, when Commander-in-Chief at Devonport. The s Pestonjee Bomanjoe, transport, Lieutenant W. Still, agent, arrived on Tuesday from the West Indies with the re maining companies of the 59th Regiment (six. officers, 267 men, 23 women, and 38 children), under the command of Captain Boughty. The Pestonjeeßomanjeo left Spithead on the 21st of January, and made the voyage to liarbadoes and back in somewhat less than two months. She came into this harbour on Wednesday, and landed her troops at the Royal Dockyard, whence they immediately marched to Fort Cumberland, there being insufficient accommodation for them in this garrison. Five of the soldiers died on their passage home from dysentery, and several are still suffering from the same complaint. The Apollo troop-frigate, Commander William Maclean, arrived at Jamaica on the 22d of February, in 30 dip from Gibraltar, having on board the 48th Regiment. After land ing them at Kingston, she was to embark the 2d battalion of the Rifle Brigade for Quebec, whence she would bring home the 68th Light Infantry to this port. The West India squa dron were lying at Port Royal on the 23d of February., and consisted of the Illustrious, 72, Captain Erskine, flag of Vice- Admiral Sir Charles Adams, K.C.8., Commander-in-Chief; the Imaum, 72, Commodore Sharpe, C.B. ; the Spartan, 26, Captain the Hon. C. Elliott ; the Eurydice, 26, Captain El liott; the Hermes, 3, steamer, Lieutenant-Comnmder W. Carr ; and the Helena, 16, Commander Sir Cornwallis Rickets. The Helena was to proceed to Rio Janeiro, and thence to the Cape of Good Hope. . . . . . . . . The British Sovereign transport is ordered to the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius, and Ceylon, with detachments of the 12th, 27th, 90th, and 91st Regiments. • The Hecate steam-vessel, Commander Bower, will shortly leave the river Shannon for the African coast. The steam squadron consisted of the Stromboli, the Tartarus, the Comet, and the Dwarf. Lieutenant Chamberlain has assumed the command of the Dwarf, vice Nicholls, drowned. The Rhadamanthus steam troop-ship, M'Lean master, may daily be expected on her way to Woolwich from Cork. The Firefly steam-vessel is commissioned by Capt. F. W. Beechy, for surveying service. The Philomel, 10, Commander Sullivan, on the 15th of January was surveying near the Falkland Islands, crew all well. It was expected she would remain there till June. The Madagascar, 44, Captain Foote, is orderecthome from Ascension. The Thames convict-ship, 42, is daily looked for at Spit head, on her way to Bermuda as a depOt. The Emerald tender returned on Wednesday from Woolwich. The Drake lighter arrived from Devonport on Thursday, with stores. The Nautilus, 10, Lieutenant-Commander Tringham, sailed on Tuesday, to protect the fishery on the coast of Sussex. The Vestal sloop, Captain Talbot, sailed from New York on the 27th of February, destination unknown, supposed to be Canton. The Belleisla and the Rattlesnake troop-ships are on their passage to England from China. The Winchester, 50 ; the Cleopitra, 28; and the Pilot, 16, were in Simon's Bay on the 18th of January, the latter going to China. The Vindictive, 50, was at Callao on the 7th December. The North Star, 28, Capt. Sir E. Home, was at Port Wel. lington, New Ze aland, on the 20th September. The Vernon, Capt. W. Walpole, came mat 4' the Mediter ranean for England on the 15th inst. The Iris, 26, Capt. Mundy. called at Madeira on the 19th of February, on her way to China. The City of Poonah, for Madras, is at Spithead, and will sail on Monday..... In HarbourL-The St. Vincent, the Victory, the Victoria and Albert, the Pestonjee Bomanjee, and the Echo and Fear less steam-vessels. In Dock—The Prince Regent, the Rodney, the Athol, and the Lily. At Spithead—The City of Poonah. DEVONPORT Batten 29.—Vice-Admiral Sir D. Milne, Commander-in Chief at this port, has returned from leave, and re-lioisted his flag on board the Caledonia, 120, on Thursday morning. The Tortoise store-ship, Commander Finlaison, was paid advance on Thursday week, and sailed on Thursday for Ascension, where she will remain. First-Lieutenant Stewart, Royal Marines, has taken his passage in her for duty at that island. The Larne, 18, Commander Brisbane, sails on Thursday for the coast of Africa. The Devon lighter sailed on Saturday, with stores, for Holyhead. The Pluto steam-vessel, Commander Crozier, arrived on Tuesday, to have her defects made good. In Harbour—Caledonia, San Josef, America, Pluto, and Confiance steamers, and Adventure transport. In the Sound—None. SHEERNESS, MARCH 29.—The Ganges, 84, is completed, with the exception of coppering. She will go out of dock in about a fortnight. The Amazon, 42, was docked on Wednesday. She will have her topsides cut down, and receive traversing guns fore and aft. The Speedy cutter, Commander George Beaufoy, has re ceived orders to refit, to relieve the Skylark on the northern coast of Scotland. The St. Lawrence (late Shannon), 46, was undocked on Saturday, having been sized with the marine glue as an ex periment. _ _ The Emerald tender arrived on the 22d, and sailed on the 25th instant. The Raven cutter, Lieutenant-Commander John Stephen, sailed yesterday for Plymouth. The Fantome, 16, has been undocked at Chatham and masted, and will be commissioned is a few days. The Daedalus, 42, was towed to Woolwich on the 22d, where she is rapidly being cut down to a corvette ; numerous hands are employed upon her ; she is ordered to be completed with all dispatch, and is expected to be ready in about six weeks. The Cygnet brig is repairing in the North Dock. The Vulture is not yet ready for commissioning. Captain Superintendent Fisher is still confined to his resi dence, though sufficiently recovered to be enabled to carry on the duties of the dockyard. _ _ Harbour—Camperdown, Ocean, Raven and Speody cutters, and African steamer. In Dock—Ganges, iEolus, Amazon, and Cygnet. At the Nore—None. PROMOTIONS. • Captain—W. A. Willis, for meritorious service in command of the Frolic. _ _ Retired Captains—C. T. Thurston, C. Tyler, W. HOl / flan, and John Forbes (1812). Lieutenant—F. Robinson. APPOINTMENTS. Captains—H. Eden, to the Collingwood ;P. W. Beechy, to the Firefly. Lieutenants—A. J. Woodley (1840), from the Growler to the Gorgon,. E. A. T.-Lloyd (1842), of the Vernon (addi tional), to the Geyser; R. Lowcay (1815), of the Poictiers, to the Bonetta. Masters—R. Fuller, to the Stromboli ;F.F. F. Taylor (acting), to the Alert. Surgeon—L. T. Cunningham, to the Tortoise. Mates—C. Shipley, to the Excellent; C. M'Gregor, of the Caledonia, to the America; J. Cartwright, of the Caledonia, to the Cyclops. Assistant-Surgeons—C.:D. A. Newman (1829) re. appointed to the Lucifer ; J. M'Craith, M.D. (1836), to the Bonetta ; C. C. Easton, late of the )Etna, to the Sparrow ; H. H. M'Kenzie (additional), to the Penelope. Master's Assistant—T. B. Reed, to the Victory. Clerk in Charge—M. S. Winter, to the Firefly. Clerk—J. T. Jennings (additional), to the America. Naval CaLlet—C. Bullock, to the Lucifer. Gunner—T. Rooke (gunner's mate of the Illustrious), to be gunner of the Imawn. COAST GUARD. Appointment—Lieutenant C. W. Poynter, R.N., to com mand the Sylvia revenue cutter, vice Lieutenant T. Brewer, R.N., whose period of service has expired, and re-appointed to a station. COWES, ,ISLE OF WIGHT. FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON INTELLIGENCE. At the annual general meeting of the members of the-Royal Yacht Squadron, which is fixed for the 11th of May, at tho Thatched House Tavern, St. James's, there are seven can didates to be ballotted for; and it is expected that, at the least, twelve vessels will be added to the squadron this season. The Black Eagle was at Cowes on Saturday, and landed Lord Louvain, Captain Corry, Mr. Corry, the Hon. Sydney Herbert, and two other gentlemen. They proceeded, to-day, for Plymouth. OSBORNE, A ROYAL RESIMINCE.—The arrange ments for the taking of Osborne for her Majesty, were finally _closed on Friday, and the agreement signed. It is only taken for one year, with an option of purchasing, at a certain fixed if approved; in fa c t, on the samepric price, terms a rms thea endas u,e of originallyth at period, stated as agreed on, the details only t). sintends taking rumoured that a house her Royal in t High ness o l the Duchess of fk It en the neighbourhood. THE ISLE OF WIGIIT JOINT-STOCK BANK.—This establishment, which was formed on that of Roe and Blash ford's of Newport (better known as Sir Richard Bassett's), it, appears has suffered severely by the conduct of their ma naging directors, having, in less than two years, lost the whole of their paid-up capital. The shareholders have (find ,ing themselves such considerable losers, involved in law suits and their issues contracted) resolved on closing the concern on Saturday next, the 6th April, in favour of the National and Provincial Bank of England, which will open on the same premises on that day. The losses in the Island by the last three banking establishments, have been im mense. The Right Hon. the Speaker of the House of Commons gave his past Parliamentary dinner this season, on Saturday, at his esidence, in Eaton-square. The Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Lord Howard, Lord James Stuart, Hon. R. Colborne, Colonel Paget, Mr. John A. Smith, Sir George Btrickland, Bart., Mr. Trelawny, Mr. Ainsworth, Mr. Wynn Ellis, Mr. Vesey Dawson, Mr. Evans, Mr. Protheroe, Mr Gisborne, Sir C. Napier, Mr. Hume, Mr. Towneley, Captain Pechell, Mr. Pulsford, Mr. Mintz, Mr. Stanton, and Mr. Hindley, constituted the party. THE LATE ACCIDENT TO LORD CANTALTJPE.—naIS Lordship, who is confined in the mansion of the Lord Cham berlain, in Upper Grosvenor-street, from the effects of the recent accident, while hunting at Melton, by which he in jured one'of his eyes, is going on favourably, and his me di ca l attendants consider the sight will be soon restored, but for the present the Noble Lord isitept in darkness. . DUTCH AND FLANDERS, MAIL. BRUSSELS, MARCH 28.—The Chamber of Repres tatives continued the discussion of the project of law rea tive to the examining jury. M. Lebeau delared that he would support the plan of the Government. He observed that it was the Catholic party that, in 1835, obtained the nomination of the members of the juries for the Royal preroga tive. He then proceeded to show that the Chamber of Representative, had always shown a partiality in favour of the Catholic University, and against the rniversity of Brussels. At the close of his speech, M. Lebeau having made an observation on an opinion of M. Dumortier, that Honourable Member retorted with such warmth, that he was called to order by the President. M. Dumortier, instead of attending to this (tall, declared the conduct of the Presid, , nt to be arbi trary, which excited a tumult that it would be difficult to describe, at length on the repeated desire of the whole assembly, and a declaration of M. ',Owen that he had the highest esteem for the character of M.. Dumortier, the latter retracted the offensive expressions which had fallen him. The Chambers soon afterwards adjourned. AMSTERDAM, MARCH 28.—The Handelyblud to-day has another long article earnestly recommending to its readers not to let the day pass without Subscribing to the voluntary loan, and quotes from another journal a very impressive address to the same effect. THE HAGUE, MARCH 26.—1 t is thought that his Im perial Highness the Grand Duke Alexander of Russia, who is new at Weimar, may very probably pay a visit some weeks hence to the Hague. THE HAGUE, MARCH 29.—The Steals Courant con tains, in the Dutch and French language, the boundary treaty between the Netherlands and Belgium. ROTTERDAM, MARCH 27.—We learn that in , the last few days very considerable sums have been subscribed in this city to the voluntary loan. The different journals contain articles from several towns respecting the readiness of the inhabitants to sub scribe to the loan, but the official joarnal does not state the total result of the subscription, which was finally closed on the 28th Mard i BaussEi.s, MARCH 29.—His Royal Highness Prince Albert did not land at Ostend the. day before yesterday till nine o'clock in the evening. Ile was received and conducted to the Palace by General D'Hane. Yesterday morning, at seven o'clock, the Prince left Ostend, and arrived at Malin° at half-past ten. His Majesty King Leopold received him at the station, and set out with him, intending to aceompany him to the Prussian frontier, or at least to Verviers. The Chamber of Representatives fixed its sitting to-mor ro* at ten o'clock, because it means to conclude the debate on the examining jury in that sitting, and than adjourned till after Easter. The question of the intervention of the Chambers in the formation of the jury will be put, and it is believed that it will be carried in the affirmative by a majority of about ten votes. The discussion will be ended by a compromise with out any Ministerial crisis. A letter from Maestricht says :—" The Government ap pears to have some apprehensions for the tranquillity of the province of Limburg. It has withdrawn the troops of the contingent from Ruremonde and Venloo, and placed them i n the fortress of Maestricht . These troops have been succ ee d e d in these two cities by the garrison of Maastricht, composed entirely of Dutch soldiers." The Moniteur publishes the text of a draft of a project of law, relative to the establishment of free entrepOte at Ant werp and Ostend, of which we spoke two days ago. This draft has been submitted to the opinion of the Governor of that province, of the Chamber of Commerce, and of the Di rectors of the Customs. lately THE KING OF - Oscar Crown Prince and now King of Sweden, was born at Paris, on the 4th of July, 1799, and is, therefore, now in his 45th year. He accompanied his father to Sweden in 1810, where the title of Duke of Sodermanland was conferred on him—a tide borne by Charles XIII. previously to his accession to the throne. Count Cederstrom was ap pointed governor to the young Prince, and a private tutor at the University of Lund, Mr. of Ta.nnstrom, was charged with the immediate superintendence of his studies. The poet Atterbom was entrusted with the bask of making him familiar with the Swedish language, Which Oscar was soon able to speak like a native. On his father's accession to the throne, the Chancellorship of the University of Upsula, previously held by Charles John, was conferred on Oscar, who shortly afterwards was entered there as a student, and has, at various periods of his life, by munificent donations, and in many other ways, given unquestionable proofs of the interest he feels in the welfare of that venerable insti tution. His military education, meanwhile, was not neglected, and his musical taste has shown itself in the composition of an opera, besides a great number of songs, dances, marches, &c. ; we are not, however, aware whether in these works he has manifested much more than the average genius of Royal composers. His military career commenced in 1811, when he was nomi nated Lieutenant-Colonel in the Bvea Lifeguards. He followed his father to Germany in 1814, and had there, for the first time, an opportunity of seeing something of active service. • In consequence of the finen es s of the weather yes terday, the steamers were unusually crowded, and the iron steam-boats above bridge, and the water - moil's steamers below bridge, carried upwards of 50,000 persons, during the day, to Chelsea, Greenwich, Woolwich, and other platen. The people were flocking to the steam-boat piers ii great numbers, until sunset. Greenwich Park was very full of visitors ' • and Richmond, Gravesend, an d o th er p l aces to which the Londoners resort on fine Sundays, presented a very busy appearance. There were not less than /My steamers engaged in carrying passengers. At the Adelphi pier, Strand, which has been lately enlarged and improved, 11,000 persons landed and embarked during the day. FREAKS Or A HORSE.—A. circumstance, of an unusually strange character occurred at. Bromley, Sent, on Thursday - afternoon, which happily terminated without serious in A horse, while being cleaned in the stables of Mr. Paw ley, of the White Hart Hotel, became restive, and started into the street, proceeding through the village at a furious pace. Being suddenly checked, he returned, and rushed into the front entrance of the hotel, and, after plunging and kicking for some time, bolted through a long passage, ascended two flights of stairs, and finally made his way into tLe assembly-room, where the door was imme diately closed on him. After breaking a few tables, chairs. &c., he was finally secured, and with great difficulty coa veyed down stairs to his old quarters. Mn. O'CoNNELL.—In consequence of Mr. O'Con nell's pre-engagements in Ireland, his visit to Nottingham, which had been fixed for Easter Tuesday, is postponed to a future day. The Marquis of Bute, who has been slightly in disposed at Cardiff Castle, is now convalescent. We hear that a marriage is on the tapis between the Dowager Countess of Essex, the once charming song stress, and Mr. Henry Groville, lately attached to the British Embassy at Paris.—Court Journal. _ Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston entertained his Excellency the Russian Minister and Baroness Brunnow, Marquis of Isionnanby, Earl of Besborough, Earl of Auck land and Hon. Misses Eden, Viscount and Viscountess Pon sonby, Lord Elphinstone, Sir Augustus and Lady ilbinla Foster, Mrs. Lamb, and a distinguished circle at dinner, on Saturday last, on Carlton-house-terrace. Her Ladyship had an assembly afterwards, when among the visitors were the French Ambassador and Countess de St. Aulaire, Duke de Glucksburg, the Turkish Ambassador, Duke of Leeds, Marquis and Marchioness of Clanricarde, Marquis of Heed fort and Ladies Mary and Olivia Taylour, Marchioness of Sligo and Ladies Browne, his Excellency Count Pollon, Baron Hugel, Earl and Countess of Clarendon, Viscount Mahon, Viscountess Pollington, Lord Beaumont, besides many other persons of rank and distinction. HORRID CASE OF CHILD..MURDER.—On Saturday an inquest was held at the Marquis of Westminster, Bel grave-road, Pimlico, before Mr. Higgs, on view of the body of a fine new-born male infant, which was discovered bratally murdered in some waste ground in the above neighbourhood. Thomas Thornsett, a man in the employ of Mr. Cubitt, the builder, proved finding the body of the unfortunate little innocent, about ten o'clock on Taesday. It wad wrapped up in a piece of calico and a part of an old shawl. The head and face were dreadfully disfigured by violence. The spot where the body was found is about four yards within a high wall in the Belgrave-road. Mr. David Wilson, surgeon, of Eccleston-square, Pimlico, deposed that he had examined the body of the child ; it was full grown. There was a violent blow on the forehead between the eyes, and other bruises about the head and face. The umbilical cord was not tied, proving that the mother was not professionally attended at the birth. Witness has no doubt the infant was born alive, and had been destroyed by violence. The jury returned a verdict of "Wilful Murder against some person or persons unknown," and recommended that a reward should be offered by t heparish A forT SUICIDE: the About bu theinhumanotnine l o ek, murderer. ATTEMPT last night, an alarm was given by some individuals, on Black frians-bridge, that a woman had leaped from the parapet into the river. Some policemen on duty immediately proceeded exertion perilous position. ucc ed She ili was rtecidng t t h o e tl u ie nf p o l rt ae u e ila a t n e d w af om te a r n gr fro ea n t l her rl pe conveyed to a public-house in the vicinity of the bridge, where efforts were made fur her recovery, which proved suc cessful. Her circumstances in life, if we may judge from the clothes she had on, were very distressing, and we have little doubt that poverty had been the cause of her infatuation. T o o great praise cannot be assigned to the police, by whose praiseworthy exertions she was rescued from a watery grave. SHOCKING CASE OF BURNlNG.—Yesterday after noon, between four and five o'clock, an accident of e most serious nature occurred to a little girl named Reed, residing with her parents at 55, Battesland-street, East-road, Hoz ton. It appears that Mr. and Mrs. Reed had been induced by the fineness of the weather to spend a day at Greenwich, and for that purpose had entrusted the care of their children to a neighbour's servant, who most incautiously left the child amusing itself by tossing up an orange. In a few minutes afterwards she was attracted by the screams of the child, and, on entering the kitchen, she met the child screaming most piteously with her clothes all in flames. The servant, fortunately, had the presence of mind to roll the hearth-rug round the child, and extinguished the flames, but not before she was burnt in a most shocking manner. The general supposition is, that the orange must have fallen in the fire, and the poor little girl, in endeavouring to regain it, must have set her clothes on fire. The little sufferer wee immediately taken to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, whore she now lies in a most precarious state, with slight, if any . hopes of her recovery. The feelings of the parents on hearing et the accident ma , -be better imagined than described. ME LATE EXTENSIVE COACH ROMISBY.--OXPOILII, FRIDAY.—The examination of Richard Elliott, who was Le. I mended from- last Saturday on suspicion of being concerittd in the late coach robbery of 1,500 sovereigns, was regjinied this morning at the county gaol (where he has been in cus tody since yesterday week), before Dr. Marsham and Mr. Sheppard, of Denton-house, two magistrates of the county. •The examination was again strictly private. The prisoner was provided with an eminent counsel (Mr. Ballantine, from London), but he, as well as the prisoner's solicitor (Mr. la. binson, also of London), were refused admittance. La conse quence of the strictly private manner in which this business is conducted, it is very difficult to obtain the information we could desire to lay betore our readers. We are, however, in formed that in the examination to-day nothing new has transpired, and that the .prisoner is again remanded to Thursday next. The magistrates intimated to him that pre vious to his being committed, he might avail himself of this services of his counsel and solicitor, as at the last examina tion they would be allowed to be present. Although only sr few witnesses gave their evidence, the examination lasted (rota ten o'clock to four in the afternoon. DEA= or Mu. JOHN BURN.--We regret to an nounce the death of Mr. John Burn, a worthy and excellent man, who expired, in his 68th year, at Manchester, on Wetl nesday. Most of our coinmercial readers arc acquainted with a practical work of the highest value, which he publish.l periodically, called " Burn's Glance." It gives, in a tabular form, a coup d'ceil of the annual imports and exportio of this country, and has often been quot 111 Parliament as a dud• and autlagity.kii , erroa %%end.