The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-12-12 00:00:00

e in Le to this iting In iting Ayes the eadt 3ssel iday The over wice ness one gers nen. the y ig of In 'own I on s on leck ople were he next that out her. lgth she her, she gers )me ead. Her the had and jots nan He sing s in l in me- .nce one and heir on the 'der aw y of in lard the ne nti- no- :rds less nld ing :ed, Dec. 12, 1843. Etterature. in d 7th pa ing VARIETIES. A TRIFLE FRONI SoYER. — The Irish Rebellion bad its goose cooked at the Clarendon Hotel.--Punch. TRY IT.—The more a man works, the less time he will have to grumble about hard times. An ancient arrow head was lately found in the very centre of a huge mahogany tree, which was felled in Hon duras. The Standard says the present Pcpe " would be the greatest villain, were he not the greatest blockhead, in Europe." HUMAN LlFE.—Many who find the day too long, think life too short ; but short as life is, some find it long enough to outlive their characters, their constitutions, and their estates. A PRETTY IMAGE.—Leaves are light and useless, idle and wavering and changeable ; they even dance ; yet God has made them part of the oak. In so doing, He has given us a lesson not to deny the stout-heartedness within, because we see the lightsomeness without. PLAY UPON Woans.—A poor drunken loafer was picked up in the street, by the watchman, when the fol lowing decision was made •, there is no sense in his head, no cents in his pocket, and a powerful scent in his breath : he was of course sent to the watchhouse. A MONSTER WRIT.—In the list of causes in the Se condaries' Court is one in which the Sheriff of Middle. sex sought to recover from one of the securities of an of ficer in his service the amount forfeited in consequence of an alleged breach on the part of the officer. The writ, the learned Secondary told the jury, was 47 yards long. LITERARY REMUNERATION IN THE EIGHTEENTH CEN TURY.—Some of our most approved standard works went begging from publisher to publisher—some were only accepted by a sort of accident at last. Prideaux's " Con nexion between the Old and New Testaments" was, for instance, bandied from hand to hand, between five or six booksellers, for two years. By one publisher the author was gravely told " that the subject was dry ; it should be enlivened with a little humour." MISSING—THE GREAT SEA SERPENT.—Had on, when last met with, a bunch of sea-weed round its neck, a seal skin coat, with a very long tail, and " continuations" of a most extensive character. He had been going lately to very great lengths ; but his friends fear that he may have come to an untimely end, for when last seen he appeared to be almost at his last extremities. He need not be afraid to make his appearance again, and unfold himself without scruple, but he must embrace the present oppor tunity, or he is for ever lost.—Punch. IMMORTALITY.—Some of the houses in Edinburgh are eleven stone ; high, and in one of these near that exquisite green slore from the Castle-esplanade Johnson visited Boswell ; and here also David Hume the historian and philosopher, resided for many years till he removed into the oldest square of the New Town. A recent traveller toiling up the stairs asked an old woman, who was con veying a pitcher of water to her aerial domicile in the building, whether she could tell him in which story David Hume lodged. "Dawvid Hume ! Dawvid Hume ! (re plied the old woman)—l hae been here this echteen year, and never mind sic a name. Dawvid Hume is no on this stair." To which he gently replied, in Toot's phraseology, that it was " of no consequence," and beat a retreat. INCREASE OF OUR HABITS OF PROVIDENCE.—The value of the property insured against fire in the United Kingdom was, in 1831, rather over £526,000,000 ; by 1841, it had increased to £682,000,000, being an increase of nearly 30 per cent. in ten years. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to estimate rightly the amount of contingent or deferred wealth (if we may so express it) provided by the invaluable system of life insurance • but it must be enormous, and the social benefit beyond all calculation. Another kind of provident accumulative agency, however, is more readily to be stated in figures, viz., that of savings banks. This system began in 1817. From a very humble origin, it spread to an extent which has exceeded all anticipatioas, By the year 1831, there were 429.503 depositors, whose deposits amounted to £13,719,495; by 1841, there were 841,204 depositors, whose deposits reached the sum of £24,474,689 ; and by 1846, there were 1,108,546 depositors, whose deposits _amounted to £33,694,642, or about £3O from each depo sitor. The sum would be greatly increased, were it not for the facility afforded in Scotland by the joint-stock banks. Such banks take in deposits, and allow interest on very small sums lodged with them ; so that the savings bank system is not largely adopted in Scotland. It is supposed that the amount deposited in Scotch banks is not far short of £30,000,000, and that about one-half of the depositors are persons in the same ranks of life as those who deposit in savings banks elsewhere.—Cornpa nion to the Almanack. COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGE OF THE CONQUEST OF ECINDE.—At a dinner given on Saturday week to Sir Charles Napier, at Limerick, the hero of Scinde thus alluded to the commercial advantages which the conquest of that country will produce :—" Gentlemen, the geogra phical position of those countries is this—the Punjaub is like a lady's fan (and a very pretty one too for the Queen of England), the fine rivers forming the sticks of the fan. Now, these rivers all join their waters at a place called Mittun-Kote, which may be called the pivot, and whence the whole flow in one grand river to the ocean. There are about 2,000 miles of water-carriage thus presented to British commerce, and the countries through which these rivers flow are rich. But this is not all. This great line of water carriage from the Hymalayas to the sea, and running north and south, is crossed by a land commerce, sunning from the west to the east, from Herat to Delhi, and other great cities of India. This land line crosses the water line at right angles near Mittun-Kote. These caravans cro s s thy , wLilt. the Ameers ruled Scinde, they being hostile to commerce, and possessing both banks of the Indus for about 400 miles up the stream from its mouths, effectually shut up the whole course of all these great rivers to their sources amidst the roots of the Hymalaya mountains. The con quest of Scinde opened the Indus and all its tributary rivers to their sources, and thus not only are they free to commerce, but the Indus, which was before an impedi ment to the transverse line of commerce that had to cross it, now becomes a help, and supplies those caravans with steamers at Mittun-Kote to take their loads in exchange for British manufactures, which will thus be carried up those great rivers, and then spread over all those coun tries through which they run, and into Central Asia by the caravans arriving at Mittun-Kote. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PAST AND PRESENT STATE OF ENGLAND.—If we would study with profit the history of our ancestors, we must be constantly on our guard against that delusion which the well-known names of families, places, and offices naturally produce, and must never forget that the country of which we read was a very different country from that in which we live. Could the England of 1685 be, by some magical process, set before our eyes, we should not know one landscape in a hundred, or one building in ten thousand. The coun try gentleman would not recognise his own fields. The inhabitant of the town would not recognise his own street. Everything has been changed, but the great fea tures of nature, and a few massive and durable works of human art. We might find out Snowdon and Winder mere, the Cheddar Cliffs and Beachy Head. We might find out here and there a Norman minster or a castle which witnessed the wars of the Roses. But with such rare exceptions, everything would be strange to us. Many thousands of square miles which are now rich corn land and meadow, intersected by green habzerows, and dotted with villages and pleasant country seats, would appear as moors overgrown with furze, or fens abandoned to wild ducks. We should see straggling huts built of wood and covered with thatch where we now see manu facturing towns and seaports renowned to the farthest ends of the world. The capital itself would shrink to dimensions not much exceeding those of its present suburb on the south of the Thames. Not less strange to US would be the garb and manners of the people, the fur niture and equipages, the interior of the shops and dwell ings. Such a change in the state of a nation seems to be at least as well entitled to the notice of a historian as any change of the dynasty or of the ministry.—Macaulay's History of England. THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA.—The theatre of our Eastern conflicts was now to change to Bengal, the rich est, most populous, and most powerful of all the sub divisions of the Mogul empire. Suraj-u-Doulaht, the young nabob of that province, was rash, ignorant, and unfeeling. He threatened to extirpate the English, and thought that would be as easy to accomplish as to ex press his wish ; " for," said he, " there are not ten thou sand men in all Europe, and how can they retaliate ? " On some pretext for being displeased, this prince moved his powerful army towards Calcutta; and as he ap psoached the gates, the governor, the few military, and all who could, flew to the ships in terror—a terror not unfounded. When the last boat had pushed off the nabob's troops were entering the town, and there were ' still one hundred and ninety Europeans who had no means of eseape. These took refuge in the fort, where they were assailed by the nabob's troops, to whom, after a gallant but vain defence, they were compelled to sur render. Their number was now reduced to one hundred and forty-six ; and, as the evening drew on, the guards marched them to a small chamber, which had served as the prison of the fortress, and was called the black-hole. It was a room eighteen by fourteen, ill-ventilated by two small windows, which were barred with iron, and which opened into a verandah. Mr. Holwell, who was a mem ber of Council, and the chief of the English there, re monstrated against the cruelty of forcing them into so small an apartment; but the officer of the guard threatened to cut down any man who refused to enter, and the prisoners, seeing that it was useless to resist, suf fered themselves to be packed in, which being done, with difficulty, the door was locked. The night was the 19th of June, and was even more sultry than is usual at that time of the year there. Many of the prisoners were suf fering from their wounds—some others, soldiers, were in flamed with arrack, which they had been drinking in the fort. The horrors all endured are too dreadful to be de tailed. They tried to burst the door, and seek relief from the scimitars of the guards. Mr. Howell offered one of the inferior officers, who showed some sympathy for their fate, 1000 ruuees, if he could get them distributed into two apartments. He went to t r y ; but on his return said that the Nabob was asleep, and no change could be made. The sum was now doubled, and he tried again, but re turning, he said that nothing could be done, that the Na bob was still asleep, and that nobody could dare to waken him. There was now no hope. The air was pestilential, some were suffocated, others were trampled to death, and there was a frantic struggle to get near the windows. The officer who had been before appealed to, forced in some skins of water through the bars, but this seemed only to increase their misery. The contests for the liquid were most fearful ; and the soldiers without, with a demon feeling, held up lights to see and enjoy the gestures of the combatants.—Some sought, by incentives, to tempt the guards to fire upon them ; others were raving mad ; and amidst this wailing scene, the only cry that was not one of horror, was that of prayer. At two o'clock only 50 were alive ; and when Sarajah awoke, at six in the morning, and gave orders for the door to be opened, only twenty three were taken out alive, ghastly and insensible.— Plackwood' litalla,:ine. EXTRACTS FROM MR. MACAULAY'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. THE FAMOUS JUDGE JEFFREYS _ . He was a man of quick and vigorous parts, but constitu tionally prone to insolence and the angry passions. When just emerging from boyhood he had risen into practice at the Old Bailey Bar—a bar where advocates have always used a license of tongue unknown at Westminster Hall. Here during many years his business was to exa mine and cross-examine the most hardened miscreants of a great capital. Daily conflicts with prostitutes and thieves called out and exercised his powers so effectually that he became the most consummate bully ever known in his profession. All tenderness for the feelings of others, all sense of the becoming, were obliterated from his mind. He acquired a boundless command of the rhe toric in which the vulgar express hatred and contempt. The profusion of maledictions and vituperative epithets which composed his vocabulary could hardly have been ri valled in the fish-market or the beargarden. His counte nance and his voice must always have been unamiable. But these natural advantages, for such he seems to have thought them, he had improved to such a degree, that there were few who, in his paroxysms of rage, could see or hear him without emotion. The glare of his eyes had a fascination for the unhappy victim on whom they were fixed. Yet his brow and his eyes were said to be less ter rible than the sava7e lines of his mouth. His yell of fury (as was said by one who had often heard it) sounded like the thunder of the judgment-day. These qualifica tions he carried, while still a young man, from the bar to the bench. He early became Common-Serjeant, and then Recorder of London. As a judge at the City Sessions he exhibited the same propensities which afterwards, in a higher post, gained for him an unenviable immortality. Already might be remarked in him the most odious vice which is incident in human nature,—a delight in misery, merely as misery. There was a fiendish exultation in the way in which he pronounced sentence on offenders. Their weeping and imploring seemed to titillate him vo luptuously, and he loved to scare them into fits by dilating with luxuriant amplification on all the details of what they had to suffer. CLOSE OF THE TRIAL OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. The jury retired at dark. All night long the solicitor for the bishops, with a body of attendants, watched the door of the room in which they were confined, to pre clude any communication or supplies. As day broke a little water for washing was taken in to them, which they tapped up like famished hounds. Nine were foracquittal, three for conviction. This minority soon dwindled to a solitary unit, but the unit was formidable. Michael Ar nold, the brewer to the palace, had been heard before the trial wringinc , his hands and crying, " Whatever I do I must be half ruined ! If I say Not guilty,' I shall brew no more for the King ; and if I say Guilty,' I shall brew no more for anybody else." He now threatened to hold out, but Thomas Austin, a country gentleman of good estate, who had conscientiously taken notes all through the case, after vainly challenging his stubborn fellow-juror to argument, at length exclaimed, " Look at me. lam the largest and strongest of the twelve, and before I find such a petition as this a libel, I will stay here till I am no bigger than a tobacco-pipe." At ten the Court again met ; the crowd was greater than ever. The jury appeared in their box, and there was a breathless stillness. Sir Samuel Astry spoke. " Do you find the defendants, or any of them, guilty of the misdemeanour whereof they are impeached, or not guilty ?" Sir Roger Langley an swered, " Not guilty." As the words passed his lips, Halifax sprang up and waved his hat. At that signal benches and galleries raised a shout. In a moment ten thousand persons, who crowded the great hail, replied with a still louder shout, which made the old oaken roof crack, and in another moment the innumerable throng without set up a third huzza, which was heard at Temple Bar. The boats which covered the Thames gave an an swering cheer. A peal of gunpowder was heard on the water, and another, and another, and so in a few moments the glad tidings went flying past the Savoy and the Friars to London-bridge, and to the forest of masts below. As the news spread, streets and squares, market-places and coffee-houses, broke forth into acclamations. Yet were the acclamations less strange than the weeping. For the feelings of men had been wound up to such a point that at length the stern English nature, so little used to out ward signs of emotion, gave way, and thousands sobbed aloud for very joy. Meanwhile from the outskirts of the multitude horsemen were spurring off to bear along all the great roads intelligence of the victory of our church and nation. Yet not even that astounding explosion could awe the bitter and intrepid spirit of the solicitor. Striving to make himself heard above the din, he called upon the judges to commit those who had violated by clamour the dignity of a court of justice. One of the re joicing populace was seized. But the tribunal felt that it would be absurd to punish a single individual for an of fence common to hundreds of thousands, and dismissed him with a gentle reprimand. READING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDULGENCE IN THE TIME OF KING JAMES. The Saturday passed over without any sign of relenting on the part of the government, and the Sunday (May 20, 1688) arrived,—a day long remembered. In the city and liberties of London were about a hundred parish churches. In only four of these was the order in Council obeyed. At St. Gregory's the declaration was read by a divine of the name of Martin. As soon as he uttered the first words the whole congregation rose and withdrew. At St. Matthew's, in Friday-street, a wretch named Timothy Hall, who had disgraced his gown by acting as broker for the Duchess of Portsmouth in the sale of pardons, and who now had hopes of obtaining the vacant Bishopric of Oxford, was in like manner left alone in his church. At Serjeants'-inn, in Chancery-lane, the clerk pretended that he had forgotten to bring a copy, and the Chief Justice of the King's Bench, who had attended in order to see that the Royal mandate was obeyed, was forced to content himself with this excuse. Samuel Wesley, the father of John and Charles Wesley, a curate in London, took for his text that day the noble answer of the three Jews to the Chaldean tyrant—" Be it known unto thee, 0 King, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou bast set up." Even in the chapel of St. James's Palace the officiating minister had the courage to disobey the order. The Westminster boys long re membered what took place that day in the Abbey. Sprat, Bishop of Rochester, officiated there as Dean. As soon as he began to read the declaration murmurs and the noise of people crowding out of the choir drowned his voice. He trembled so violently that men saw the paper shake in his hands. Long before he had finished, the place was deserted by all but those whose situation made it necessary for them to remain. Never had the church been so dear to the nation as on that day. The spirit of dissent seemed to be extinct. Baxter from his pulpit pronounced an eulogium on the bishops and parochial clergy. The Dutch Minister, a few hours later, wrote to inform the States General that the Anglican priesthood had risen in the estimation of the public to an incredible degree. The universal cry of the Nonconformists was, that they would rather continue to be under the penal statutes than separate their cause from that of the pre lates. SPECIMEN OF A CRIMINAL TRIAL IN 1685.-BAXTER, TIIE CELEBRATED NONCONFORMIST. When the trial came on. a crowd of those who loved and honoured Baxter filled the court. . . . Two Whig barristers of great note, Pollexfen and Wallop, ap neared for the defendant. Pollexfen had scarce begun his address to the jury, when the Chief Justice broke forth,—" Pollexfen, I know you well. I will set a mark upon you. You are the patron of the faction. This is an old rogue, a schismatical knave, a hypocritical villain. He hates the Liturgy. He would have nothing but long winded cant without book ;" and then his Lordship turned up his eyes, clasped his hands, and began to sing through his nose, in imitation of what he supposed to be Baxter's style of praying,—" Lord, we are thy people, thy peculiar people, thy dear people." Pollexfen gently reminded the Court that his late Majesty had thought Baxter deserving of a bishopric. " And what ailed the old blockhead, then," cried Jeffreys, " that he did not take it ?" His fury now rose to madness. He called Baxter a dog, and swore that it would be no more than justice to whip each villain through the whole city. . . . Baxter himself attempted to put in a word ; but the Chief Justice drowned all expostulation in a tor rent of ribaldry and invective, mingled with scraps of Hudibras. "My Lord," said the old man, " I have been much blamed by Dissenters for speaking respectfully of bishops." "Baxter for bishops," cried the judge, " that's merry conceit indeed. I know what you mean by bishops; rascals like yourself. Kidderminster bishops, factious snivelling Presbyterians." Again Baxter essayed to speak, and again Jeffreys bellowed,—" Richard, Richard, dost thou think we will let thee poison the court ? ; Richard, thou art an old knave. Thou hast written books enough to load a cart, and every book as full of sedition as an egg is full of meat. By the grace of God, I'll look after thee. I see a great many of your brotherhood waiting to know what will befall their mighty Don. But, by the grace of God Almighty, I will crush you all." . . . The noise of weeping was heard from some of those who surrounded Baxter. Snivelling calves !" said the judge. THE RECENT CONTINENTAL CONVULSIONS AND THE RELATIONS BETWEEN RICH AND POOR (From Baron Alderson's Charge at Chester.) That man must have looked on with , careless eyes who had not observed the transition state in which society uow was, or who had failed to see the imminent peril which hung over the whole civilized world. In the language of prophecy, and to which in this peculiar season of the year our church especially called our attention, we hear of wars and rumours of wars—nation is rising up against na tion, and kingdom against kingdom, and the powers of the world seem to be shaken. Europe, during the past year has been convulsed to its very centre—its ancient dynasties were overthrown, and its rulers sought a refuge from the fury of those over whom they had swayed the sceptre. Even the mightiest fabric among the ecclesiasti cal powers seemed to be crumbling to pieces ; and he who had presumptuously claimed to give and to take away kingdoms was now a fugitive from his own people. In our own kingdom something of these mighty movements had been felt, but, blessed be God, the shock had not been one of a very serious kind. There had, no doubt, been reasons for this. The causes of anarchy which ex isted abroad had not been felt here. Our people lived under free institutions, and they knew it, and, knowing it, they h a d ma nifested a general desire to maintain those institutions_ We had also a monarch whose public conduct deserved their approbation , a nd that appro bation he rejoiced to say, had been manifested of late in devoted attachment and ardent loyalty.. Our poor bad been subjected of late to deep distress and to much privation ; but, though poor, they were sound at heart, and he regarded this as a good indication for the future. There was, h owev er, the reverse of this picture. Recent events had tended to elevate the labourer in the scale of society ; the general spread of education had ex- Till LIVIIRPOOL twitted itself to him, and placed him in a position to feel more acutely his intellectual superiority and his physical wants, without at the same time enabling him clearly to distinguish the causes of the latter; and it was on a po pulation thus half instructed that evil men attempted to work their mischievous designs, and to sever those bonds by which society could alone exist in cordial union. They had tried to persuade them that a general feeling existed amongst the rich to act towards them as oppressors, and that an organic change in our laws was the only preserva tive against a condition of absolute slavery. One of the means employed by these men to promote their designs was the calling together their unfortunate du?es, in order, as they said, to discuss their grievances, but really to enforce upon them the necessity of an entire change in our several systems, and the acquisition of certain political rights, which were to redress all wrongs and to render them again comfortable and happy. The inculcation of such doctrines would however, always be attended with its legiti mate fruits; and, from the experience of other nations, he felt justified in saying they would aggravate and not dimi nish the privation they were called upon to sustain, and the distress they were unhappily suffering. The learned judge then, in order to show that the possession of politi cal rights was no indication or guarantee for the posses sion of physical comforts, referred to certain documents which had been published in Paris, demonstrating that during the French monarchy, previously to the revolution of 1789, the physical comforts possessed by the poor greatly exceeded those possessed by them subsequent to that event. It had been assumed, on very competent authority, that the physical comforts of the poor might be safely judged of by the quantity of meat consumed by the population ; and, taking this as the criterion, the sta tistics of Paris gave the following result :—ln 1789, du ring the period of the old monarchy, the quantity of meat consumed was 1471 b. per man : in 1817, after the Bourbon dynasty had been restored to the throne, sub sequent to the revolution, it was 1101 b. 2oz. per man ; and in 1827, the medium period between the restoration of the Bourbons and the present time, the average was still about 110Ib. ; while, after the revolution of 1830, it fell to 981 b. lloz., and at this period it was in all pro bability still less. These statistics at least showed that prosperity and political rights on the part of the poor slid not always exist together, and this was the truth he wished to make clear, and not that political rights in themselves were not to be desired or enjoyed It might sometimes be desirable to acquire political rights, even at the expense of suffering ; but all he would urge on his poorer friends was, that before they disturbed the peace of the country they should sit down and inquire what would be the cost to themselves—whether the intro duction of confusion and anarchy into our complicated social system for the sake of a doubtful good would not render them less happy and comfortable in their circum stances than they had previously been. He believed that no rational man acquainted with the circumstances of the country would hesitate as to what course he ought to pur sue, but would see it to be his interest as well as his duty to remain quiet, and seek such changes as he might deem desirable, not by physical force, but by an appeal to con stitutional means only. This brought him to the second point on which he felt it his duty to address them, viz., how to provide a remedy for the evils to which he had alluded, and the effect of which he had briefly attempted to de scribe. Now, he believed that our safety lay in education —education rightly directed. We must teach the people not only their duty to God but also to their neighbours, and, if we did this., we need not fear for our future tranquillity. But how was this to be done ? Why, much in the same way as a good father would teach his own children. We must do it uniformly in a kind and affectionate manner, in such a manner as to convince them that we love them, and that we are seeking their good, and not our own. This was the mode in which a father instructed his children, and this was the way in which the poor must also be instructed; for, having convinced them that we loved them, it would be comparatively easy to communicate those lessons of wisdom which it was of im portance they should learn. The manufacturer must thus teach his workmen, the tradesman must thus teach his apprentice, and the clergy, in their more extended sphere, would inculcate the same lessons on their respec tive flocks. Being thus prepared, he thought the people would readily be brought to understand that the mcumu lation of capital in the manufacturing districts was a blessing to the workmen, by providing a fund, like that of Joseph in Egypt, out of which years of scarcity might be provided for, and the workmen saved in some measure from deprivation of work, even when trade itself was prejudiced by the fluctuation to which it was subjected. Then also would the poor more readily learn that the possession of large estates, not used merely for the purposes of luxury and pri vate gratification, was a blessing to the poor, in pro moting the establishment of schools, churches, and other institutions calculated to ameliorate our social condition ; and, on the other hand, they would learn that the subdivision of land, as practised in France, where there was no law of primogeniture, was one of the greatest sources of misery that could possibly exist. (His Lord ship here referred to the evils occurring to France from the constant subdivision of land, and the constant addition to its proprietors—creating, according to French authors, millions of distinct properties, the effects of which, in im poverishing the national resources, he detailed at consi derable length.) He would only add one word more on this part of the subject. They had winter before them, and distress at the present season of the year, and under present circumstances, it largely prevailed. He need not, therefore urge on them (the grand jury) the importance of sympathising with the poor, and embracing every op poi-I.unit) of miLigating lliciL privation, For a ff ording au opportunity of exercising virtue in this manner might be one reason why Providence permitted so much suffering; but, by availing themselves of such means of doing good, we might r e alize the truth of the poet's sentiment,— . " The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower." --..•.--- THE SIGN OF " THE FLOWER-POT." (From the Life of Theodore Hook.) There resided at Sunbury, in a large house, an elderly gentleman, a bachelor, of somewhat eccentric disposition, whose ruling passion was for his garden. This, albeit prodigality was by no means a besetting sin of the pro prietor, was kept in the most admirable order, and deco rated, regardless of expense, with a profusion of orna ments in the very height of su Durban fashion—leaden cupids, slate sun-dials, grottoes of oyster shells and look ing-glass, heaps of flint and over-burned bricks, denomi nated rock-work ; and beyond all, and above all, with a magnificent vase filled with a flaming cluster of fuschias, geraniums, and a number of plants with brilliant blossoms and unntterable names, which faced the entrance. Here, one fine afternoon, when the flowers had reached their achme of refulgence, Mr. Theodore Hook pulled up his dennet. A powerful tug at the bell brought a sort of half-gardener, half-groom to the gate in double-quick time. _ _ _ " Take the mare round to the stable, put her in a loose box, and rub her down well. I'll come and see her fed myself in a few minutes : none of you rascals are to be trusted I" So saying, the young gentleman threw the reins to the domestic, marched leisurely along the broad, brown sugar looking walk, dexterously cutting off here and there an overgrown carnation with the lash of his driving whip, and entered the hall. Giving another tremendous jerk to the bell-wire in passing, he walked into the dining-room, the door of which happened to be open, took up a maga zine, and threw himself at full length upon the sofa. A tidily-dressed maid-servant appeared at the summons. " Bring me a glass of brandy-and-water, my dear, and send Boots.' " Boots,' and brandy-and-water,'---La, sir !" ex claimed the astonished girl. " You may fe,ch me a pair of slippers yourself, if you like ; so make haste, and you shall have a kiss when you come back." Duped by the authoritative air assumed by the visiter, it would be indecorous to suppose another motive, the attendant disappeared, and speedily returning with the slippers, observed, " If you please, sir, I have brought you a pair, but they are master's, and he is rather particular." " Particular : Nonsense ! where's the brandy-and-wa- " He never leaves out the spirits, sir; he always keeps the key himself, sir, in his own pocket." " He must be a deuced odd sort of fellow, then : send . him here immediately." " Master is dressing, sir; he will be down directly," was the reply ; and accordingly, after the lapse of a few minutes, Mr. - made his appearance, in full evening costume. " My good friend," commenced Hook, without raising his eyes from the paper, " allow me to observe, that the rules of your establishment are a little inconvenient to travellers : I have been here above a quarter of an hour, and have not been able to get so much as a glass of brandy-and-water—bring one immediately—hot ; and let me know what you have got for dinner." " I really beg your pardon," said old Mr. —, as soon as he could find words; " I really beg your pardon, but I am at a loss—" "Soaml, my good man—for a glass of brandy-and water—bring that, and another for yourself, and. then I shall be happy to hear whatever you have to say." " But. air, you must permit me to state—" " I was never in such a detestable house in my life," exclaimed Hook, starting up ; " what do you stand chat tering there for, instead of attending to my order ? am I to be kept here starving all night ?. Bring the brandy and-water, d'ye hear." The old gentleman was struck positively speechless ; his face purpled, he seemed in imminent peril of choking with the sudden conflux of ire, indignation, and astonish ment. " Why, the fellow's drunk !" pursued Theodore ; " disgracefully drunk, at this time of day ! and in his own parlour, too ! I shall feel it my duty, sir, to lay a statement of this inexcusable conduct before the bench." Mr. -- sprang to the bell. " John—Thomas —turn this impudent scoundrel out of the house 1" The arrival of the servants necessarily led to a 4 explan ation. Nothing could exceed Mr. Hook's regret ; wh a t could be done ? What apology could be made ? He was a perfect stranger to Sunbury ; had been directed to the " Flower-pot 'as the inn affording the best accommoda tion ; and on seeing what he imagined to be a gigantic representation of the sign in question at the garden gate, he had naturally entered, and acted upon that erroneous impression. This was the unkindest cut of all. To find a stranger reclining in full possession of his sofa and slip.. pers was bad enough; to be treated as a dilatory innkeeper was worse ; and to be taxed with insolence and intoxica tion was still more trying to a gentleman of respectable character and excitable nerves ; but to hear the highest achievements of art he possessed—the admiration of him self and friends, and the envy of all Sunbury, his darling vase, compared with which the " Warwick" and the " Barberim " were as common wash-pots—to hear this likened to an alehouse sign, was a humiliatjon which dwarfed into insignificance all preceding insults. Bat as to whether Hook contrived to sooth the anger ho had pro. 'yoked, and' to win a way as was his wont, into the good' gt•aces of hie victim—or whether this last affront proved irre medial* and. be was compelled to seek further enter tainment for himself and horse at the " Flower-pot " mince, unfortunately our informant is at fault. etnera The executors named by the will of Lord Melbourne are Lord Brougham and Mr. Edward Ellice. Jenny Lind has promised to sing gratultougyat a con cert at Birmingham for the Queen's Hospital. On Sunday night week, during the heavy gale,. a stone fell from one of the houses in Edinburgh on the head of a young woman, who was killed instantly. Richard Harris, Esq., M.P. for Leicester, was origi nally " P.D." in Sir R. Phillip's printing-office, in the town which Mr. Harris now represents. The Master of the Rolls has continued the injunction' to prevent any buildings being erected on the open space in Leicester-square, London. A sale of property in Monmouthshire, beloneing to the Duke of Beaufort, took place on Tuesday and Wednesday last, and realised £45,000. The increase of vagrancy in the metropolis has aroused the attention of the civic authorities. Combined action of all the unions is proposed to check the evil. HOMICIDE.—A quarrel took place at Newport, on Thursday, between John Collins, a hauler on the tram road, and an Irishman, named Richardson, which resulted in the death of the latter. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has received from " R. K." half notes for £3O on "account of income-tax." He has also received from "an African slave-catcher" £57, which will be paid into the Exchequer. A meeting of the Oxford and Cambridge University Club has been summoned for the 15th instant, to deter mine whether William Smith O'Brien, Esq., M.P., has merited expulsion or not. On Saturday week the steam-ship Glenalbyn came into collision at the mouth of the Humber with the brig Fate, when the latter instantly sunk. The crew were saved by leaping on board the steamer. Nearly three million pairs of gloves have been imported into this country in the first ten months of the present year, the glove makers here being meanwhile in an appal ling state of destitution from want of employment. The postmaster has issued a notice that, on and after the Ist of January next, the transaction of money order business on the Sunday will be entirely discontinued throughout England and Wales. A. poulterer at Spalding, Lincolnshire, is preparing to supply the London markets with Christmas fare, by fat iening upwards of 3000 geese, which daily eat 21 sacks of oats. On Tuesday week, Sheffield fair day, upwards of 800 of the licensed victuallers and their friends, of Birmingham, paid a visit, by special train, according to previous ap pointment, to their brother bonifaces of Sheffield, by whom they were hospitably received and entertained. THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE TOWN CLERK OF GREENOCK.—The trial of John Thompson, for the attempted assassination of Mr. Grey came on on Monday, in the High Court of Justiciary, and ended in the conviction and sentence of death on the prisoner. Forged £5 notes (which chiefly purport to be of the Newcastle Branch Bank of England) are in extensive cir culation ; and it is stated that an immense number of counterfeit fourpenny pieces are in circulation in different parts of the country. Lieutenant W. H. Rushbroke, of her Majesty's ship St. Vincent, at Portsmouth, has been bequeathed the magnificent fortune of £lO,OOO per annum, and a large sum in cash, most unexpectedly, by the late Lord Mid dleton. . . . Jenny Lind will sing, gratuitously, at a magnificent concert at Exeter Hall, on Friday, under the patronage of the Queen and Queen Dowager, for the foundation of Mendelsohn scholarships. The concert will consist of 500 performers. An elegant marble monument, with a suitable inscrip tion, has been lately erected by the heritors and parish ioners in the church of Lunan, to the memory of Walter Mill, the last Scottish 'martyr, who, under Popery, suf fered for his adherence to the Protestant faith. Mr. Smith O'Brien has a son in the college for the deaf and dumb at Rugby. Master O'Brien is between 9 and 10 years of age, very intelligent looking, and remarkably quick at comprehending anything communicated to him by the usual signs. On Sunday morning week, an old woman named Hol man, living at Crediton, was found dead in her house, with a box placed on her chest and other articles of fur niture piled upon her. Her premises had been robbed and everything portable was carried away. STEAM NAVIGATION.—A contract will shortly be entered into between the Admiralty and the Indian and Australia Steam Packet Company, for the conveyance of the mails between Singapore and Sydney for a period of seven years. A very numerous meeting was held at Bristol, on Mon day, in favour of the early closing movement. The mayor was called to the chair. The Bishop of the Diocese wrote to regret his inability to attend. Lord Teignmouth, several clergymen, and other gentlemen, delivered ex cellent speeches. A meeting of the Society for the " Protection of Agri culture" was held on Thursday last, at the society's offices, in Bond-street, London, the Duke of Richmond in the chair. The proceedings consisted principally of a vote of 100 guineas to a monument to the late Lord G. Borttinek. _ Mr. George Bennett, the well-Known tragic aut., 11,ia written a play, called "The Justiza ; a Tale of Arragon," which is to be produced at Birmingham. The heroine is to be performed by Miss Cushman ; and it is said that the part is well fitted, in both situation and writing, to the capabilities of that accomplished actress. The traffic on the Caledonian Canal is daily increasing. On Wednesday there were no less than 13 schooners, one brig, and five sloops, in the basin and Muirton Locks, besides the fine barque Mersey, of Liverpool, which ar rived the preceding evening. This large vessel measures 364 tons register, but carries upwards of 600. A WOMAN KILLED BY A LAMB.-011 Sunday morn ing as a female named Hannah Dawson, of Methley, Yorkshire, 81 years old, was crossing a field in the occu pation of Mr. Farrer, of the Rose and Crown lnn, at that place, she was attacked by a tup-lamb, and so much injured that she died on the following Tuesday. A perfectly white rat was caught at the Sheffield work house last week. It was then confined in a squirrel cage, and turned the wiry drum as naturally as a squirrel; but it died on Monday last. Since the capture of the animal, two other rats have been seen, one of which is perfectly black, and the other black and white. A meeting has been held at Hereford to establish a c)unty school farm, in which as many boys and girls, the children of agricultural labourers, should be instructed in agricultural pursuits as the quantity of land would em ploy and subsist. The high sheriff presided, and a com mittee was appointed to carry out the suggestion. There has been a marked decrease in the number of cholera cases daily during the past week, both in the me tropolis and in Scotland. The number of fresh attacks reported in London on Thursday was only one, in the provinces also one, and in Edinburgh, Leith, and other Scotch towns, 14, being the smallest return since the dis ease attained its height. SUNDAY SHAVING. — The curate of Upton-on-Severn has laid informations against the local barbers for follow ing their calling after the hour of half-past ten o'clock on Sunday morning. The informations are laid under the 29th Charles 1., and a case came on for hearing a few days ago. The defendants were discharged with a cau tion. DISTRESSING SUICIDE OF A SOLICITOR.—On Monday se'nnight, John Langley, Esq., attorney, of Harrington place, Bath, committed suicide in his private office by firing a loaded pistol into his mouth. The unfortunate gentleman, who was advanced in years, was in no pecu niary difficulties, and no cause beyond that of nervous despondency can be assigned for the dreadful act. As a means of reform, a member of the Town Council of Durham, at a meeting last week, said he would keep down the increase of the nefarious, low, filthy, and dirty public houses. In Durham, he said, they had 120 or 130 public-houses open already for the reception of guests, and every means was used to induce young men of the lower and middle orders of life to go to these places. On Sunday week, Nehemiah Smith, son of the late King of the Gipsies, died in his tent by the side of the road leading from Kislingbury to Gayton, in which neigh bourhood he was well known. He had been ill sometime, but, although advised by a medical gentleman to go to a more comfortable abode, he refused to be removed. On Wednesday week he was buried in Kislingbury church yard. A REALLY INDEPENDENT LABOURER.—At a recent meeting of the Guardians of the Cleobury Mortimer Union, Henry Tudor, a resident in the parish of Wheat hill, voluntarily came and paid £1 ls. 6d., the amount of relief advanced to him while unable to work from the dis location of his arm. The Guardians present immediately subscribed the amount, and returned it to Tudor, and ex pressed their admiration of his sterling honesty. A cornfactor at Thirsk, of the name of Cariss, was on Monday committed for trial on a charge of uttering seve ral forged bills of exchange to the - Yorkshire Banking Company. One was for £36 18s., another for £l9B, and a third for £157. During the signing of the depositions, the prisoner was left in charge of the doorkeeper, whom he induced to accompany him to his lodgings, and whilst there the prisoner went up stairs and escaped by a room window, and has not since been heard of. MR. JOHN MUSTERS.—This gentleman, so well known in the literary world as having married Lord Byron's " Mary," is, we regret to hear, in a state which precludes all hope of his ultimate recovery. As a first-rate sports man, he many years kept a pack of hounds and hunted in the adjoining county of Nottinghamshire, and for two years hunted the North Wold hounds. His gentlemanly manners in the field, and his hospitality at his mansion, gained him innumerable friends as `• Handsome Jack." FIFTY MILES IN FOUR HOURS.—A trotting match took place, on Thursday last, at Hatfield, in which a horse, the property of Mr. Richley, was backed to trot fifty miles in four hours and a half ! The horse had been running for a lone time in one of Mr. Richley's omni buses, between London and Waltham Cross. When the match was made, the horse was taken from the omnibus and put to rest. He performed the task (resting for five minutes at the end of every ten miles) in four hours and thirteen minutes. MURDER IN A LUNATIC ASYLUM.—A melancholy oc currence took place on Monday morning, in the private lunatic asylum kept by Dr. Brigstock at Derby. One of the inmates, a youth of respectable connexions, and who was considered rather as a harmless idiot than a madman, was allowed to sleep with another inmate named Tomlin son without any keeper in the room. On Monday morn ing Tomlinson was discovered murdered by his companion, who had inflicted several dreadful wounds on him with a board taken from the bed. A verdict of wilful murder was returned at the inquest. Two sermonswere preached on Sunday, in Birmingham, "'On the merciful' and kind treatment of all dumb animals, but more especially that of the horse," by the appoint ment of the governors of the Free Grammar School of King Edward VI., in Birmingham, of trustees under the will of the late Thomas Ingram, Esq. A Pot,PricAL EYE TO BUSINESS.—When Mr. Denison was speaking at Barnsley, a worthy knight of the " three balls rose up, and began to ask the honourable gentleman several questions. A cheerful-faced linen-weaver, who was standing at the edge of the crowd, bearing him, called out—" Don't yo pledge yersen, Mestur Denison, to that pop-shop chap, watever yo do." This excited consider able laughter. THE BAIRN BEWITCHED.—About a fortnight ago, a South Shields matron, having a child whose growth was stopped by the witches, resorted to a charm to release her offspring from their spite. A sheep's heart was procured, and stuck full of " bran new " pins, while a darning nee dle was thrust through the centre. It was then put down to the fire at the witching hour of midnight, and the child was held at a little distance, and its mother read the Bible until it (the heart, not the " babby " or the Bible) was burnt to a cinder. The charm so far has had no percep tible effect ; but the good woman says she is not surprised, for she fell asleep while she was reading the Song of Solomon !—Newcastle Journal. MURDER.—A shocking murder was committed on Tuesday, at the village of Broughton. near Pershore, Worcestershire. A young girl, named Mary Ann Staight was sent by her aunt, Mrs. Richards, to a huckster's shop to purchase a few articles. Having bought what she wanted she left the shop about five o'clock in the evening, and proceeded homewards, having to pass along an un frequented road. She never arrived home, and nothing was heard of her until the next evening, when a little boy, named Turvey, discovered her lying dead in a ditch, with her basket of groceries lying near her. On lifting up the body it was found that the girl's bonnet was cut through, and her skull fractured by a blow from some heavy instrument. Suspicion has fallen upon a man named Robert Pulley. _ _ _ STARTLING INTRUSION.—The Perthshire Advertiser states that a publican and farmer were, on Saturday week, gravely conversing in a stable, at Newburgh, on the probability of the house being haunted by evil spirits, when an ox, which had been startled by a horse, and had run madly through the town, sprang from an elevation on to the roof of the building, which instantly gave way be neath his weight, and his hinder quarters fell through, scaring the poor fellows below nearly out of their wits ; for they believed that one of the demons of which they were conversing had arrived bodily, to resent their intru sion on his chosen domicile. The ox hung by his fore quarters, his fore legs projecting over the eaves, bellowing loudly, and cut a most ridiculous appearance. A couple of butchers, having secured him with ropes, contrived to release him from his elevation, and, as he was still much infuriated, they slaughtered him on the spot. THE COLLINGWOOD ESTATE. — The noble estate of Collingwood, situate in the parishes of Whittingham and Alnham, Northumberland, was put up for sale at London yesterday week. It was chiefly tithe-free, and the land tax redeemed. It comprised 1960 acres of arable, mea dow, and pasture land, the rental being about £2045 per annum. It was purchased by the Hon. Henry Thomas Liddell, of Eslington House, for £60,000, being at thirty years' purchase on the rental. The next property was a tithe rent-charge of £261 is. 4d. per annum, in lieu of tithes, secured upon the estates of the Duke of Northum berland, Ralph Carr. Esq., the Hon. H. T. Liddell, and Thomas Clennell, Esq., situated in fie pa: of Alnham. It was knocked down for £6450. The last property was an estate called Blakehope, being a part of Cheviot Hill, and containing about 1300 acres of sheep walk, being tithe-free. The estate is bounded by the Breamish river, and is let at £llO per annum. It produced £3250. The Monmouthshire Merlin relates an attempt to de fraud a publican by some pretending prophets at New port. Two men left a third, their companion, at the pub lic-house for the night. In the morning the lodger was found by the landlady stretched upon his bed apparently lifeless. Shortly afterwards his two friends made their appearance and said,—" You have a dead man in the house !" The woman said it was so, and asked how they knew it ? " Oh, it has been revealed unto us by the Angel of the Lord !" said the prophets. The husband, who appears to have been more wide awake than the wife, and who had been quietly listening to this, then said, " Oh, I see, T see !" and fetching a moderate sized walk ing -stick, he ran up to the corpse, to which he applied his stick so effectually that the corpse sprang out of bed with one bound, huddled on its clothes with as little delibera tion, and darting down stairs, joined his brother prophets, and the three decamped with the least possible delay. OLD AFFECTIONS REVIVED.—An old townsman of Brighton, reduced in circumstances, has recently become a man of wealth. In his youthful days he formed an attachment with a lady, who, owing to circumstances not within our knowledge, became the wife of an American emigrant. They prospered in worldly puisaits, and lie many years afterwards died, leaving her in possession of his property. Meanwhile the swain of Brighton became successively the husband of two ladies, both of whom died. The fact of his being a widower reaching the ears of his Transatlantic first-love, she commissioned a friend coming to England to deliver him a letter, stating her circum stances, and expressing a desire that he should a third time be hound in the chains of matrimony. The widower replied to the letter, and by return of packet, received from the widow a check to defray the expenses of a voyage to America, whither lie at once departed •, and his son, now living in Brighton, has just received a letter, stating that the widower and widow have just become husband and wite. GALVANISM.—The following is extracted from the Court Journal of January 29.—" It is now about four years since that we informed our readers, it was to be regretted galvanism was not more extens' y used as a remedial agent. We have every reas to believe that our advice was attended to; for, in comparatively short time, Mr. Halse's residence was wded with the elite of fashion and their less fortunat ellow-sufferers ; and we feel confident, judging fro the astonishing remedial effects it has produced ourselves, after all kinds of medicines and hydropa y had failed to impart any benefit, that the public will lank us for our recommendation. We were delights o notice, a short time since, that Mr. liaise was patro sed by the Lord Bishop of London and Sir Charles C , his lordship's physician. Mr. Halse's great reformein the galvanic apparatus, and his improved method gfiapplication, justly entitle him to rank at the head of is profession. We again recommend our readers to give galvanism a fair trial. Mr. Halse's residence is at 22, Brunswick-square, London.—See advt. THE CITY OF DURHAM.—The present popular Mayor of Durham, 'William Henderson, Esq., the clergy, the magistrates, and many of the influential inhabitants of that town, are anxious to introduce the Sanatory Act into that place, with a view to the conservation of the public health. Some of the citizens are opposed to such a step, which they conceive will entail upon them an ad ditional tax in the shape of rates. The cost of the con templated improvements in sewerage, &c., is stated at from £5300. Some, however, propose to collect all the contents of the sewers for manure, which in one year would cover in value the highest sum stated for the new sewers. The Commissioners propose to lay on an addi tional 4d. in the pound upon all houses rated at more than £5. The Dean of Durham has very liberally offered a donation of £2OO, which is calculated will cover the expense of introducing the provisions of the Health of Towns Act. There are few towns in the kingdom which are more in need than Durham of the benefits of the act in question, and none certainly where an extensive sys tem of sewerage could be more efficiently carried out. SCREW VERSUS PADDLE-WHEEL.—TiIe accounts given of the Sampson's performance, both under canvas and steam are truly wonderful, and must be highly gratifying both to her constructor and engine maker. It must, how ever, be remembered that this vessel is nearly 1300 tons, with engines of 467 horse power, and yet she carries a battery of eight guns ! Paddle steamers can never be made available for broadside fighting ; but here is an enor mous disproportion between the size and armament. Our mechanical ingenuity must now be directed to the im provement of the screw propeller, and its adaptation to vessels of war, for that is obviously the only form of pro pulsion by steam which can be properly applied to men of war. The Plumper and Reynard, screw-propelled steam vessels, the tonnage of both together not exceeding 1,000, carry between them 20 broadside and four pivot guns, while their united power of engines is only 120. It is true they will not steam so fast, but they will sail as well or better. It is, therefore, a serious consideration whether we can afford to keep up such expensive vessels as the Sampson, in preference to such comparatively cheap ones as the Reynard and Plumper, who, at one-third the ex pense, carry three times the number of guns. and can. moreover, fight in close action, which the Sampson cannot. —Hampshire Guardian. IMPROVEMENTS IN GUNS AND PISTOLS. — We have inspected some new inventions and improvements in fire arms, patented by Mr. J. C. Smith, of Birmingham, and which have been submitted to his royal highness, Prince Albert, to the authorities of the Horse Guards, Admiralty, Ordnance Office, &c., as well as to many distinguished naval and military officers, and have received their gene ral and in most cases their unreserved approbation. The guns are so constructed as to be capable of priming them selves at each discharge, and with such facility and regu larity as to insure such a constant, rapid, and efficient supply of the means of exploding the charge in the barrel, as to give it an immense superiority over the common gun. Instead of a " nipple," which is the conductor to the charge, there is a "touch-hole" nearer the centre of the barrel, by about two-thirds, the communication being immediately at the back of the charge. Appended to this touch-hole, at the side, where the pan would be in a flint lock musket, but only much more compact, is a small wheel or revolver, and this is connected with the hammer or cock of the gua by a slight lever ; this lever then acts upon a tube or magazine running back from the touch hole towards the butt-end of the gun, the magazine con taining the caps or detonating boxes with which the gun is primed. These being forced along by a spiral spring of German silver, the action of the cock, on being drawn back to the full, places the detonating box on the touch hole, and discharges it, and consequently the contents of the gun, by the action of the trigger. As there is no nipple, the cock or hammer, instead of being hollow, has a spill or striker, and it is by this spill, striking the deto nating box on the touch-hole, that the gun is fired. The whole thing is most simple and perfect, although difficult to describe. The caps, which explode by the striking of the hammer, are altogether a new and most ingenious in vention. They are about one-fifth the size of the cap usually manufactured, of precisely the same material, but so altered in form and concentrated in power, as well as smaller in size, that thousands could be kept in the same space in which hundreds of the old caps are now placed; they are of an oval shape, and, as we have before said, are drawn singly by the action of the cock to the touch-hole by full -cocking the gun. When the gun is half-cocked, the touch-hole is entirely protected, as also when the gun, is full-cocked ; and when the hammer or striker is down, the spill also protects the touch-hole from the dirt and wet. ANOTHRR ATTEMPT AT MURDER AT CARDIFF.—On Tuesday, the town of Cardiff was again the scene of another diabolical attempt at murder. The victim on this occasion was an Irish woman. It appears that she had been fetching sand down by the wharfs, rnd whilst returning with it about three o'clock p.m. s ome one sud denly pounced upon her from behind and s t a bb e d h er under the right arm with some sharp instrument—proba bly a knife. The poor thing is considered out of danger. No clue can be had of the villain. A CONFESSION.—On Friday much amusement was caused in the Westminster County Court by the candid confession of a lawyer's clerk that he had told a lie. It appeared that when the summons was left at the office of the defendant in John-street, Adclphi, the clerk told the officer that his master was in Paris, and had been there for six weeks. The plaintiff swore positively that on the morning the summons was served he saw the defendant go into his office.—The Judge (to the clerk) : Then you told the officer who served the summons an untruth. when you told him your master was in Paris ? Clerk (with great sang froid) : Yes, it is not an unusual thing to tell an un truth in an attorney's office.—Judge : Then your master will have to pay the money on the let of January. DEGRADING FEAT OF MILITARY OFFICERS.—At the magistrates' office, Bristol, on the 25th ult., John Need and Charles Churchill, two officers of the Rifles, were charged with willfully breaking a marble slab from the door of Mrs. Phillippart, Portland-square, and with breaking down a portion of the iron railings from oppo site a void house in Cave-street. John Need was also charged with stealing a brass knocker from the house of Mr. M'Dowall, Queen-square. The evidence on this nightly frolic having been gone through, the mayor said it was a case which the magistrates felt bound to send before a jury ; they would, however, take bail; the de fendant's own in £lOO, and two sureties in £5O each. Mr. M'Dowall expressed great reluctance to prosecute, but the magistrates said he must. INGENIOUS FRAUD.—Another specimen of ingenious fraud has been discovered at the Bank of England. A. few days ago a note for £lOOO was presented for payment. The inspector examined it, found it genuine, looked to the numbers of the stopped notes, and seeing that th e note presented was not among them, two £5OO notes were given in exchange, for which gold was procured almost immediately. On the following day it was dis covered that the leading figure of the number had been dexterously changed, and that 94825 was altered to 04825. It required the eye of a chymist to detect the change ; and as no blame can be attached to the inspector, we presume the "rest" will be reduced by the amount paid in error. The note thus sent in formed one of a series of which a bank clerk was defrauded a few years ago. FALSE LIGHTS. — The Times of Monday has a trium phant article upon some supposed recovery in the cotton trade, as proved by an increase in the exports of cotton goods. We are not aware of the amount of this increase, or of the description of the goods exported,—a matter of some importance, for, if the increase is principally in cotton twist, and not in cotton cloth, it is the reverse of a favourable symptom, because it proves that the weaving of cotton, which employs men, is on the increase in the countries to which the twist, which employs little human labour, is exported. The exportation of twist is but the next step to the exportation of the raw material (cotton wool), which would scarcely prove an advance in our manufacturing industry. Be this, however, as it may, a month's improvement proves little against the evidence of years of depression. The receding tide always sends back a wave or two, which seems to belie its retreat. CONCESSION TO ROMANISM. — The Rev. Dr. Drew , _ in a published letter, calls the attention of the Poor Law Commissioners to an invidious and unreasonable conces sion made to the wishes of the Romish prelates. The rev. Doctor says, "Those prelates have claimed, and had their claims allowed, ' that Roman Catholic paupers, in mates of workhouses, should be privileged to abstain front work upon eleven holy days in the year !' As these amount in number to nine holy days more than are claimed by Protestants, it must follow that during nine days in the year Protestants must work while Roman Catholics enjoy the Irish luxury of idleness. I may ob serve that a Roman Catholic prelate once admitted to me, that the non-working holy days did not amount annually to six in his church—still six is, confessedly, too many. Suppose the able-bodied male paupers amount to 100,000 in number, and that their daily labour might be averaged at is. each, for the benefit of the workhouses, here, on these nine days, annually, the large sum of £45,000 is lost to the country !" EXTRAORDINARY PARSIMONY. — On Saturday Inspec tor Hepworth. of the Leeds police, was called to remove to the workhouse an old man, blind, lame, and in a state of mental derangement, named James Brown, who has for a long time subsisted by selling nuts, and by occa sional relief out of the poor-rates. His dwelling was in Wheeler-street, Bank, and he had contracted the notion that his neighbours intended to rob him. Brooding over this idea, his conduct became very violent, and when the police inspector found him he was at a shop in the neigh bourhood of his house. He desired to be taken to the Mendicity Office, and was anxious that a small bag which he carried in his coat pocket should be left with the shop keeper. Upon the bag being opened it was found to contain £2B 7s. 6d. in crowns and half-crowns, most of them quite black on the surface ; having evidently been hoarded for a considerable period of time. His house, in which he lived alone, was in a most filthy condition and it is said that he never suffered any person to go in to clean it. Up stairs, at the foot of his bed, two sacks were discovered, containing 10 stone of copper coin. GENERAL THANKSGIVING. — A correspondent of the Times makes a suggestion (which we should be glad to see followed up) that a day should be set aside fur a national acknowledgment of the freedom from revolu tionary violence which, through the mercy of Providence, this country has enjoyed. The following is an extract from the letter :—" May I venture to ask, would it not be an act highly worthy of our Sovereign, and calculated to promote the best interests of this country, to appoint a day of general thanksgiving, and on it to go herself to St. Paul's Cathedral, or Westminster Abbey, and join ' the great congregation' in offering praise to ' the King of Kings' for his unspeakable mercies to our land ? And if on that day only a tenth of what such a revolution in England as has happened in France would have cost us all were given as a thanks-offering to Almighty God, and expended in feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, what joy and gladness would, in the midst of a trying winter, be diffused among the poor and needy throughout the length and breadth of the land, and ' God, even our own God, would give us His blessing,' in the times of trouble and danger which lie before us." DREADFUL FLOODS IN SCOTLAND—DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY. —On Saturday and Sunday week heavy snow and rain fell in the southern districts of Scotland, and all the ri vers and streams became swollen to a terrific extent. At Lamington, on the Caledonian line of railway, about 36 miles on this side of Glasgow, the wooden railway-bridge which there crosses the Clyde has been washed away, the embankment on each side having been carried away by the river. At Crawford, about nine miles further, on the same line, another wooden bridge across the Clyde has been carried away in a similar manner. The passengers to and from the trains have of course to leave the train at the re spective places, and get across the country in the best way they can. The district for miles was one sheet of water, and such an extensive or destructive flood is not remem bered. At Carstairs, the junction station of the Caledo nian and Glasgow Railway, the station-house was so fear fully inundated that the officials with difficulty escaped, while in the luggage warehouse scores of bags of corn and other articles were washed out and greatly damaged. The loss will be most serious. On the line near Carstairs em bankments, bridges and about four miles of the railway were swept away, and three trains which were on the fine at the time were of necessity stopped, the engines and car riages of which were obliged to be dragged to a distance by horses, &c. No accidents happened to the passengers. AWFUL APPARITION.—On Tuesday, as a matron, in Huxter Row, was stirring up a goodly potful of kale, she was surprised to find her chimney take to smoking in an unusual manner, to the great detriment of the flavour of her soup. The nuisance continued to become worse and worse, till she began to conjecture that the wind had surely taken to blowing perpendicularly. While she stood on the middle of her floor, gazing at the fire-place, amazed and anxious, down came a mass of soot, and another, and another—some sweep had evidently mistaken the chimney which he had been employed to clean. She screeched out at the top of her lungs, but the soot continued to pour down continuously, and she was about to run from the house, when down came something which she instantly recognised to be a living creature. Oh, horror ! it was hairy, had sharp eyes which winked incessantly, and was black all over, except where it showed a set of teeth, which grinned savagely at the terror-stricken lady. It sat on the lid of the kale-pot, amidst a mound of soot, in a posture which resembled that which a human being might be supposed likely to adopt in similar circum stances. The old lady bolted, leaving the apparition to preside over her dinner, and when she disappeared the visitor jumped from his resting-place and sprung among the shelves, where, in graceful order, the old dame's crockery had been arranged, and which he knocked dawn and smashed in a manner which would have done Hugh Fraser's heart good to behold. The dame soon returned with assistance, when it was discovered that the intruder was a monkey, which had escaped from the attic window of an adjoining house, clambered along the roof, and slipped down the chimney.—Aberdeen Herald. FLOODS IN THE NORTH.—During the last six or seven days in the northern counties of Cumberland and West moreland, heavy rains, sleet, and snow, have fallen almost incessantly, both day and night, and in consequence, on Monday, the lakes, rivers, and streams were but once or twice before known to be so flooded and swollen, having overflowed their banks and covered the adjacent low grounds to a fearful extent and depth. On account of the flood rising so gradually, time was allowed for the exer cise of precautionary measures for the safety of live stock and other property. Still, it is to be feared that in mountainous districts there will be a very serious loss amongst the flocks of sheep, for several at various places were seen hurried away by the flood, and the quantity of large trees and other wreck which came down the rivers was, indeed, immense. In several localities large breadths of soil have been washed away, and the encroachments made by the flood on many estates are of a very serious nature, and will require large sums of money for making embankments, &c. All the millers, whose mills are stopped from grinding, several of the weirs having been washed down, and others living en the margins of the rivers, were obliged to flee to the upper apartments of their dwellings and to sit up all night. About 1 o'clock on Monday morning the flood rose to such a terrible pitch that live stock were obliged to be driven away more inland for safety. Fortunately no account has yet come to band of the loss of human life. Fears were entertained for the stability of the bridges on the rivers Eamont, Lowther, Eden, Calden, and other streams. About mid night on Monday the storm again arose with double fury, the wind blowing from the east a perfect hurricane, and the rain at the same time falling in torrents, so that the flood was terrifically increased, and additional damage done to a great extent. On Tuesday the storm and flooda aubsided. •