The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-10-26 00:00:00

Ettcraturr. VARIETIES. Eloquence is the expression of conviction, -actual experience. A GREAT DIFFERENCE.—Mr. Fox used to say—" I never want a word, but Pitt never wants the word, to express his meaning." LIFE AND DEATH.—" Life is sweet and death bitter," said Sir Anthony Kingston to Bishop Hooper at the stake. "True, friend (replied Hooper) ; but the death to come is more bitter. and the life to come more sweet." ORDER.—Whitfield's habits were singularly nice and cleanly, upon the principle that everything about a minis ter should be "spotless." He was known to say that he could not die easy if his gloves were out of place. He had the gentlemanly love of order, which required his table to be elegantly spread even if only a loaf, or his favourite dish, a cow heel, were to be set upon it.—Fraser. CIIRISTIAN versus PAGAN ART.—The exclusively ec clesiastical character of early Christian art, is the grand feature which at once destroys all analogy between this art and the creations of Pagan antiquity. In Hellenic paganism, we behold the triumph of humanity. The hu man form in its most ideal beauty is the type of all things divine. Christianity starts at once with the peremptory condition of a renunciation of individual beauty and strength. Christianity counted sensual beauty as nothing : she regafded the mind alone. She permits the human form only as the incorporation of some hidden thought divine. In the one instance, the form was all in all; in the other, it is the expression: The heathen delighted in naked bodies, for every single part might convey the sen sation of beauty. The face sufficed for Christian art, as solely expressive of divine beauty.—Blackwood. WIIAT KNOWLEDGE CAN DO.—Modern Europe, as we now regard it, cannot but keep its intellectual standing— cannot but continue to advance; still, whether this shall turn to her real advantage, and produce correspondent moral results, and so tend to the eternal welfare of man kind, is another question, for the solution of which the duties of the Church come under our especial considera tion : for, though knowledge is power, it is power for evil as well as for good; and correct morals alone can render acquirements advantageous to ourselves or others, and prevent intelligence from becoming a curse rather than a blessing : for guiding mankind aright, the Church must not only keep pace with, but be in advancement of, the age. Wr• mii. tempta tions of i with whom we have to deal, and we must know the wants, the feelings, the illi fi minister to t icta intelligently, or we shall be talking to the winds.—Church of England Review. SNAKE VITORSHIPPING IN WESTERN AFRICA.—The snake is also a fetish or idol here; and houses are built in several parts of Dahomey for the accommodation of snakes, where they are regularly fed. These houses are about seven feet high in the walls, with conical roof, about eight feet diameter, and circular. The snakes are of the boa constrictor tribe, and are considered quite harmless, al though I have my doubts upon it. They generally leave this house at intervals, and when found by any of the natives are taken up and immediately conveyed back to the fetish house, where they are placed on the top of the wall, under the thatch. It is disgusting to witness the homage paid to these reptiles by the natives. When one of them is picked up by any one, others will prostrate themselves as it is carried past, throwing dust on their heads, and begging to be rubbed over the-body with the reptile. After taking the snake up, a very heavy penalty is incurred by laying it down, before it is placed in the fetish-house. Wherever a snake is found it must be im mediately carried to the fetish-house, whether it has ever been placed there before or not.—Dunean's Travels in Western Africa. MR. Peer's REMEDY FOR THE MONETARY CRISIS OF 1793.—At this period (1793) the mercantile world were greatly alarmed by an unusual stagnation of trade, an ex traordinary demand for money, and the refusal of the usual accommodation at the bank in the discount of bills. These effects were chiefly produced by a boundless spirit of commercial enterprise, exceeding all ordinary means of support, and calling for a supply of capital within the power of but few to afford, and by a sudden diminution of orders from the foreign markets. It appeared, however, on examination, that great numbers were affected by the immediate want of credit whose real property was amply sufficient to meet every want and to satisfy every claim ; but, as this property could not, with adequate expedition, be converted into money, such persons were unable to answer the current demand upon them, and were placed in a state of equal distress with those who were really in a state of insolvency. Thus pressed, a committee waited upon Mr. Pitt, to whom they represented the serious, dis tress of the commercial world. Having closely investi gated the subject, and being fully aware of the mischiev ous consequences of this temporary evil, if some effectual relief were not immediately afforded, Mr. Pitt introduced the business to the House of Commons, and a committee was appointed to take it into consideration. On the 29th of April the report was made to the house, which proved the causes of the prevailing distress to be such as have been stated above, and recommended the adoption of Mr. Pitt's plan of relief, which proposed to issue Exchequer bills to the amount of £5,000,000 sterling, to be intrusted to the management of commissioners, who were to ad vance it'tipon the credit of goods to be deposited in ware ' houses appropriated for their reception ; which goods, if not redeemed before the first of May, 1794, were then to be sold. The interest to be paid upon the sums lent was at the rate of £3 16s. per cent. The measure experienced some resistance from the opposition, who readily ascribed the distress which called for it to the war—that fertile source of every evil which seems to associate itself, in their minds, with every measure of policy, and with every topic of discussion. It received the Sanction of the house, who passed the necessary act in a few days, and the re sult established the wisdom, of the application, for the re lief granted fully answered every purpose. Credit was re stored, trade increased, and commerce flourished, to the great improvement of the revenue, while not a sixpence was lost by the well-timed liberality of parliament.—Gif ford's Life of Pitt. AN IRISH FAMILY MANSION.—It was a racketty place, as any one could see. The lodge gate stood wide open, emblem of the family hospitality ; and, hanging by a single hinge, proclaimed that, as in most things Irish, there was a screw loose. The house was a pale-faced, rakish, moist -looking edifice, showing in its cracked and neglected plaster the crow's feet of premature age. It was a kind of devil-may-care tenement that set the pro prietors at defiance, and was plainly given to dissipation and late hours. You could see at a glance it was a house that had never made both ends meet. Even in the morn ing there was a debauched and maudlin look about it, as if it had been up all night ; and the dishevelled shrubbery, coming down in a long strip of faded green and yellow on either side, looked a tawdry, half-ragged scarf, hanging untied round its neck. There was not a single flower to stick in his button-hole, but the frowsy herbage came up like an unshaved beard to its chin. No female band was there to train it into taste and neatness ; in a word, it was in the forlorn condition of an Itish Bachelor's Hall. The windows of both drawing-room and dining-room opened to the ground, affording great facility for the ingress of equestrians • as it was a standing joke at Farrelstown to raise the sash and ride into one of those rooms, and when the servant answered the drawing-room bell, he found, belike, the visitor riding about the room. The reader is not to suppose that the carpets suffered much from these incursions ; for, alas ! they were long past injury ; and, in fact, had been so roughly treated by the feet of man and beast, that the little which remained had retired for protection under the table, leaving only a very ill-condi tioned border timidly peeping out of the sanctuary. The dining-table itself had suffered severely, and exhibited various impressions of horse-shoes upon its surface; it . being a frequent practice to " school" over it after dinner. In fact, to ride over Farrell's mahogany was a sort of test of manhood and horsemanship, which few aspiring youths cared to forego. On one occasion, on a frosty day, a few couple of hounds being in the stable, they ran a drag through the house, throwing off in the dining-room, taking the up-stairs country, so through the suit of bed rooms, and down the back-stairs into the kitchen. It is recorded by one who described this '• night with Farrell's hounds," that all the field were up in the bed-room, that there was some tailing in the passages, and a few falls in the attics ; but they all shut up at the back stairs, except the master, who was well up at the last.—Scraps and Sketches of Irish Life. ORIGIN OF THE PICKWICK PAPERS.—In the preface to the cheap issue of this publication Mr. Dickens gives the following account of their origin. "I was a ybung man of three-and-twenty, when the present publishers, at tracted by some pi:ces I was at that time writing in the Morning Chronicle newspaper, waited upon me to pro pose a something that should be published in shilling numbers—then only known to me, or I believe to any body else, by a dim recollection of certain interminable novels in that foam, which used, some 25 years ago, to be carried about the county by pedlars, and over some of which I rememter to have shed innumerable tears, before I served my apprenticeship to life. When I opened my door in Furnival's-inn to the manageing partner who re presented the firm, I recognised in him the person from whose hands I had bought, two or three years previously, and whom I had never seen before or since, my first copy of the magazine in which my first effusion—dropped stealthily one evening at twilight, with fear and trembling, into a dark letter-box, in a dark office, up a dark court, in Fleet-street—appeared in all the glory of print; on which occasion by-the-bye,—how well I recollect it!—l walked down to Westminster Hall, and turned into it for half an hour, because my eyes were so dimmed with joy and pride, that they could not bear the street, and were not fit to be seen there. I told. my visitor of the coinci dence, which we both hailed as a good omen: and so fell to business. The idea propounded to me was that the monthly something should be a vehicle for certain plates to be executed by Mr. Seymour, and there was a notion, either on the part of that admirable humorous artist, or of my visitor (I forget which), that a "Nimrod Club," the members of which were to go out shooting, fi s hi ng , and so forth, and getting themselves into difficulties through their want of dexterity, would be the best means of introducing these. '1 objected. My views being defer red to, I thought of Mr. Pickwick, and wrote the first number ; from the proof sheets of which Mr. Seymour made his drawing of the club, and that happy portrait of its founder, by which he is always recognised, and which may be said to have made him a reality. I connected Mr. Pickwick with a club, because of the original suggestion, and I put in Mr. Winkle expressly for the use of Mr. Sey mour. We started with a number of twenty-four pages instead of thirty-two, and four illustrations in lieu of a couple. Mr. Seymour's sudden and lamented death be fore the second number was published brought about a quick decision upon a point already in agitation ; the number became one of thirty-two pages with two illus trations, and remained so to the end. My friends told me it was a low, cheap form of publication, by which I should ruin all my rising hopes; and how right my friends turned out to be, everybody now knows." " Boz," Mr. Dickens' signature in the Morniny Chronicle, and ap pended to the monthly cover of this book, was, he adds, the nick-name of a pet brother, and adopted by him as a 119 M de plume. CROMWELL, CHARLES 1., AND NAPOLEON. (From the Churela , of England Review.) We give Merle d'Aubigne every credit for the motives which have induced this " Vindication." The attempt to rescue the memory of one whom he conceives to have been a good as well as a great man shows the impulse of a generous mind, and with this we hope we can sympathize; but we are sorry for the manner in which the attempt has been made and the animus betrayed in making it. We are perfectly willing to admit that many of the actors in this revolution, however misguidei, believed that they were doing that which was acceptable to God ; but this does not destroy the real character of their deeds. It is said that England derived immense constitutional advanta ges from the struggle : the same may be said more or less of all revolutions. We are told that the fear of his father's scaffold made James 11. abdicate the throne, and thus saved the effusion of much blood ; it must not be forgo. ten, however, that it has been asserted that Louis XVI. never would have suffered but for the precedent. We have no high estimation of the Stuarts generally : we believe, with Burnet, that they bore misfortunes better than prosperity, yet we desire to pay that respect to misfortunes borne with dignity which we cannot yield to prosperity un lawfully abused. Of this unhappy race, however, Charles I. is the most to be admired as a man, and the most to be pitied as a king. Although his extravagant notions of the royal prerogative forced him into positions which required for their maintenance such doubtful expedients as his adver saries interpreted into proofs of deliberate perfidy, it ought to be remembered that his notions of prerogative were, with him, a part of his religion ; and that the ex pedients, which left for him the character of insincerity, were after all such as many a prince has employed, re ceiving commendation, from historians for his policy, In the relations of domestic life, Charles was as exemplary as Oliver; in the refinement of the Christian gentleman, he was greatly superior ; in sagacity and statesmanship, he was ir.finitely his inferior. It may be true, that the one idea of Cromwell's political life was the maintenance of Protestantism ; it is not true that the sole aim of Charles was the introduction of Popery. On this fragile ground Merle d'Aubigne has built a theory of wicked in tentions, compensated by divine judgments, and frustrated by pure and siugleminded men, which must perish at the slightest touch of truth, like a child's house of cards — which, indeed, the very breath of his own angry invective is sufficient to destroy. In his estimation of Cromwell as a statesman we can better agree. In the foreign policy of his Protectorate, he added another instance to the few which the world has seen of a power wisely and conscientiously exercised which had been doubtfully attained. In the domestic govern ment of the country, he exhibited great moderation and sagacity. Like Napoleon, he was the only man who could coerce the wild and anarchial elements of a revo lutionary condition into order. Like Napoleon, his per sonal ambition expressed itself in enlarged measures, re sulting in national prosperity. Like Napoleon, the very necessities of the times permitted, and even required him, to attain the successive steps to supreme authority. There was, however, this striking difference in the cases of these two great and singular men—that one availed himself of a social condition which he found in existence—the other helped to create it. We believe that, in the outset of his career, Cromwell was honest and sincere. As the successive scenes of this great national tragedy opened, he learnt more fully the important character he had to play, and saw more clearly the power he must ultimately attain. With the temptation came the fall. It is utterly contrary to all historical evidence to say that he was indifferent to his own aggrandizement ; or that he did not skilfully seize every opportunity for its attainment ; and it is only at the expense of religion it can be said that his motives and his actions in his way to power were the pure results of Christian faith or consistent with Christian practice. REASON, REVELATION, AND TRADITION.—I draw the distinction between the revelation from heaven and the interpretations of men as strongly as possible. I place my reason between the two. To revelation my reason submits implicitly, as my bounden duty and best privilege. To the conclusions, the decisions, the decrees, the creeds, the inferences of men who are uninspired, my reason never submits in the same manner; it only conforms and acquiesces on different principles. Tradition shall be weighed and examined ; its evidences shall be received, its legends rejected. I will pay respect, and homage, and deference, to every teacher who would persuade me, with seriousness and earnestness, to consider an opinion, a comment, or an interpretation. I will esteem such testi mony as next in value to Scripture itself ; and if I am compelled to reject the interpretation it submits to me, I will do so with sorrow and reluctance : but, while I learn from all, and value all, I will submit my reason to none of them, as I submit to the inspired revelation. I demand the much-abused, much-derided, and much-ridiculed pri vilege of the unlimited right of private judgment—that is, of the right and power, uncontrolled by any human un inspired authority whatever, of exercising; as an individual responsible to God alone, the principles of reasoning on all religious matters, and arriving at conclusions which believe to be supported by evidence. 1 place reason where it ought to stand, at the right hand of revelation. I maintain its inferiority to the Scripture—its submission, in all cases, to the authority of evidence—and its equality with all, which, like itself, is uninspired. Bold as this assumption is, it is the only true mode of reconciling all discrepancies.—Rev. Dr. Townsend. SAM SLICK'S DESCRIPTION OF A MACKEREL FISHERY. —Well, when our friends the mackerel strike in towards the shore, and travel round the province to the northward, the whole coasting population is on the stir too. Perhaps "there never was seen, under the bles ed light of the sun, anything like the everlasting number of mackerel in one shoal on our sea-coast. Millions is too little a word for it; acres of them is too small a term to give a right no tion ; miles of them, perhaps, is more like the thing ; and when they rise to the surface, it's a solid body of fish you sail through. It's a beautiful sight to see them come tumbling into a harbour, head over tail, and tail over head, jumping and thumping, sputtering and fluttering, lashing and thrashing, with a gurgling kind of sound, as much as to say, " Here we are, my hearties ! How are you off for salt ? Is your barrels all ready ?—because we are. So bear a hand, and out with your nets, as we are off to the next harbour to-morrow, and don't wait for such lazy fellows as you be." Well, when they come in shoals that way, the fishermen come in swarms, too. Oh, it beat & all natur—that's a fact ! Did you ever stand on a beach, Miss, or on a pasture, that's on a river, or on a bay, and see a great flock of plover, containing hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of birds, come and light all at once in one spot, where a minute afore there warn't one ? Well, that's the way with humans on the fishery stations. Take Crow Harbour, now, or Fox Island, or any of them places, whenever the fish strike in, they are all crowded right up in re minute, chock full of people from all parts of these colonies and eastern states of Ame rica, in flats and boats, and decked vessels, and shallops and schooners, and pinks, and sloops, and smacks, and every kind of small craft.—Fraser's Magazine. 01 FAITH.—The same truth was implicitly held by the orthodox, before the errors arose, as was held and ex plicitly professed by them after the errors were refuted ; and, although controversy may render the articles of our faith more clear to the understanding, and may teach us to use more guarded, more precise language, so as to pre vent misunderstanding by others of the doctrines which the Church holds, yet nothing is added thereby : the faith is one and the same, as the Church is one, from the first century to the last. The Nicene and Athanasian creeds, which were successively framed by the orthodox to meet the errors of rash and gectarian teachers, did not propound new articles of faith ; but affirmed, in words selected to meet the innovations of heretics, the Catholic truths con tained in the apostle's creed, and those still shorter for mularies, which the primitive Church used, all deduced from the Scriptures. There is no progression in the sense of change—none which would imply any addition to, or all of which rest wholly and exclusively upon the word of God. The Council of Constantinople, in re-enacting the Nicene creed with the addition of a few words, confessing more largely than before to the person and offices of the Holy Spirit, was careful to state that they held the same faith as the Nicene fathers, and prohibited, by an express canon, any future addition to the creed handed down to them. The main error in the Church of ROM is its daring innovation : novelties of various kinds were brought in from time to time, some to please the people, some to please the priests, many we know not how; and being introduced, however wrongly, however ignorantly, have been retained and justified. To all these innovations the Council of Trent gave its deliberate sanction ; and the Pope, in defiance of the canon of the Council of Con stantinople, embodied the most objectionable of these novelties in twelve new articles which he added to the Nicene creed—articles which none can possibly rest on Scripture, or on the faith of the primitive Church, and which, being peculiarly and vitally important to the Pa pacy, Rome would fain regard as Catholic : therefore, she has put the Catholic doctrines ou the same footing as these innovations ; and looks no higher than the Council of Trent for giving authority and ecclesiastical sanction to all doctrine.—Church of England Review. A RUN UPON THE BANE.—Among the many runs upon the bank which have been recorded, the following is perhaps the most remarkable. The Duc de Choiseul, during the American war, hazarded a project, which, had it been suc cessful, would have injured the credit of the establish ment, and, for a period, destroyed the energies of the nation. Aware of the importance of this corporation to the state, and that Great Britain owed her success in war partially to the bank, he conceived the idea of using all the efforts of France to destroy the power of the company, trusting,that a triumphal close of the contest between the two countries might be produced. Some millions of livres added to the zeal of the French emissaries, who dis covered a period when the bullion was somewhat low, and spread reports calculated to injure the reputation of the corporation. Collecting all the notes which they could possibly procure, they poured them into the bank, and carried away the gold with a parade which attracted the attention it sought. The old cry arose of a run upon the bank, and in a few hours the whole city wo in motion. volumes of paper were presented and gold received in ex change. The consternation of the directers was in pro portion to the suddenness of the attack. The alarm, far from being quieted, became every day more general. Post chaises p oure d i n f rom the p rov i nc eg." The applica tion for specie became more urgent. There was no mode of judgi ng t o w h at extent an attempt so unprece d ente d and unexpected might be carried. The efforts of the na tional enemy seemed prospering, and for some days Eng land appeared t o b e on t h e brin of the greatest evil which could happen. Time was necessary to collect specie, and people were employed day and night to coin money. All the gold which by any stratagem could be gathered was brought into the bank. The method of paying by weight was discontinued ; the sums claimed were delivered with greater deliberation ; and the money placed guinea by guinea upon the ta'Jle. For nine days this fever conti nued, but the method adopted by the directors, with con current circumstances, gave time for the production of a large supply of gold. All the demands were met ; the claimants, finding there was no cause for doubt, resumed their confidence in the bank, and the scheme of the Duc ileChoinul prof ed ineffectual.—HiBt.qf Bank qf England. Till LIV ERPOOL STANillAitii. (genera! Aliarlianv. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has, it is said, agreed to postpone for a month the payment of the hag duty by the growers of Keut. _ _ TiTrits.—The corn averages for regulating the rent charges for the present year are, wheat, 7s. Ord. ; barley, 4s. ; oats, 2s. £3ld. Chartley Hall, near Stafford, the seat of Earl Ferrers, was destroyed by fire on Tuesday morning. The furni ture, library, and armoury were all destroyed. The Government Emigration Commissioners have ap pointed a vessel to leave Deptford, for Port Adelaide, South Australia, with 130 emigrants, on the 22d Nov. On Saturday week, Lady Ashley was presented at Bradford, by the short time committee, with a fine paint ing of her noble husband. A verdict of manslaughter has been returned at Hull against a man named Cunliffe, for killing a man named Hall. The two had quarrelled, and Hall, during a fight, received great injury, of which be died. At a late meeting of the Cleveland Agricultural Society, at Guisborough, Yorkshire, the Earl of Zetland stated that on his Scotch estates he had not one tenant with an acre undrained. IMPORTS.—In a letter in the Times of Saturday, signed " Spectator," it is stated that the value of corn and flour imported into Great Britain during twelve months is no less than twenty-five millions of pounds sterling. The office of Lord Provost of Edinburgh goes a-begging ; and efforts are being made to induce the present provost to remain in office, though he has already exceeded by a year the triennial period for which he was elected. The " separate system," which obtained so much favour in the recent congress on penal discipline at Brussels, is the system which will he adopted in the new gaol in Leeds, as well as at the House of Correction in Wakefield. Her Majesty, "in consideration of the piety, eloquence, and learning of the late Dr. Chalmers," has gr mted a pension of £5O a year to his widow, and £25 a year to each of his five daughters. The Corporation of . the city of London on Thursday re solved to present the freedom of the city in a gold box to James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, in testimony of his ser vices to commerce and civilisation. A farm at Andover was, on Friday night, set on fire by a fire-balloon, which a lighted on one of the barns. A large quantity of produce, several buildings, and many trees were destroyed. The Leeds Intelligencer states that, " incredible as the thing may appear, the liberal town council have declared that they will not elect any man for alderman who was guilty of the high crime of voting in favor of state-assisted education." The academic visit of Lord John Russell to Glasgow is to be taken advantage of by the Lord Provost and magis trates, for the purpose of resolving as to the best means of bringing the state of the money market under his lord ship's notice. DOING BUSINESS.—A. culprit from Dundee, who at Perth was tried, convicted, and sentenced to banishment last Wednesday evening, officiated on the previous morn ing in Dundee, as hangman's assistant, at the execution of Thomas Leith. He had £5 for his services, of which he gave his counsel £2 to defend him on his trial. JUNENILE OFFENDERS.—It appears that there were 561 prisoners tried for felony at the West Riding Ses sions during the year 1846. Out of this large number there were only twelve who, on account of their age, would have come within the operation of the Juvenile Offenders An if that statute had then been in existence. MURDER OF MAJOR WALDSTETTEN.—The three mur derers who strangled Major Waldstetten, with the con nivance of his own valet, have been taken. They have confessed their crime, which they committed for . the purpose of obtaining possession of the large quantity of cash which he major had in his possession. The three men are brothers. _ _ _ FORCE OF — THE SEA.—The force of the waves at the Bell Rock during the late gale from the south-east, as in dicated by the marine dynamometer (records of which are daily registered), was 28471 b., or upwards of one-fourth of a ton, per superficial foot, being the greatest result ob tained since October, 1844, when a nearly similar force was indicated.—Caledonian Mercury. HORSES KILLED BY EATING WHEAT.—Two valuable horses. the property of W. De Capel Brooke, Esq., of Market Harborough, died a few days since from having eaten a quantity of wheat which had been left in sacks in the straw yard, to which the horses had access. Two others that also partook of the wheat narrowly escaped the same fate. The Birkenhead iron steam-frigate, Commander In gram, is having the damages caused by her collision with the brig Horatio repaired in. dock. She seems to have had her starboard sponson stove in, and a portion of the wheel next it carried away. The Birkenhead is receiving a coat of composition to prevent the adherence of rubbish on her bottom. SHOCKING ACCIDENT, WITH Loss OF LIFE.—A poor woman, who lives at Tollpuddle, near Blandford, Dorset, left an infant, six months old, in the cradle while she went a short distance. During her absence a ferret got into the cradle and picked out the child's eyes, and hit the tongue off. The consequence was the death of the child within an hour. WHEAT FROM VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.—The vessel, Lydford, arrived in the St. Katharine Docks, from Laun ceston, Van Diemen's Land, has brought, besides a cargo of wool, and other merchandise, 2710 bags of wheat ; and the Sydney, from the same place, has brought 720 bags of wheat and 50 bags of flour, the production of that distant colony. . ESCAPE FROM PRISON IN JERSEY.—OnThursday, two porters took into the prison a new bureau bedstead, and brought out an old one, in which a debtor named Wake, son of Sir Wm. Wake, was secreted. They car ried their load into the heart of the town, without excit ing any suspicion, and the prisoner got clear off. He escaped to St. Malo by the steamer.—Jersey News. NAVIGATION THROUGH A Foci.—The Direct Ferry Company at Shields have made trial of a plan for the guidance of their steam-boat across the river in a fog. Fire-lamps are placed in small boats that are moored on the line of transit, and the flames are mirrored in the water. The reflection is made from a considerable dis tance, and serves as a guide to vessels. The device has proved successful. The steamer Vanguard, on her trip from the Clyde to Dublin, on Sunday week, came in collision with the Mi nerva steamer. The latter had her stem completely d - molished, and the Vanguard was dreadfully shattered in the starboard bow, the iron plates of the hull and the timber works of the gunwale being stove in as if they had been sheets of pasteboard, and great part of the fore deck being carried away. THE DECIMAL COIN.—The first of these new coins, agreeably to the plan of Mr. Sheil, will be a two-shilling piece. The design has been completed by Mr. Wynn, of the Royal Mint, and displays great chasteness and artis tical taste. The obverse will display a figure of her Ma jesty, the head being surrounded by a wreath of laurels. The reverse will be a gothic design, but until the coin is completed any detailed descriptien would be premature. POULTRY.—In Aylesbury the sale of ducks realises £15,000 a year; in Norfolk and Cambridge the small far mers pay their rents with the product of their poultry. Mr. Bayley stated at a meeting lately held in St. Alban's, that in nine years he sold £Bl,OOO, and that in the same period he and his father sold conjointly £200,000 worth of poultry, and also that during those nine years he paid £3OOO in wages. In Kent and Surrey £300,000 is received for poultry. Pools OLD ENGLAND .— The following is an extract from the London Times of Wednesday :—" It cannot be pleasant to any one whose heart is of the common mate rial, to go on day after day expostulating with sufferers on the folly of their demands, and announcing that the na tional agony must have its course, but honour will admit of no other alternative. Sorry are we to say it, but the truth must be spoken. The country is poor; England is actually poor, in the grossest and most tangible sense." DESPERATE ROBBERY IN WESTMINSTER—DEATH OF THE SUFFERER.—A murderous attack was made on Mr. Bell Chambers, who was found about six o'clock on Mon day morning week, in a dreadful state, on the pavement, , in Westminster, with his pockets ransacked. He lingered for a few days, but died on Monday. An inquest was held on the body on Tuesday, and adjourned in conse quence of two men being in custody, against whom there is a strong suspicion. THE JESUITS IN BRISTOL.—It is reported that the order of Jesuits are about shortly to assume the management of church matters amongst the Roman Catholics in this city. They have undertaken to liquidate the existing debts on the Roman Catholic places of worship ; and likewise to advance the necessary funds to the Bishop of the " Western District," for building a." Cathedral" in Bristol, for which the purchase of a site has already been concluded. — Bristol Journal. A SECOND CHATTERTON.-011 Sunday last, William Rawlinson, a lawyer's clerk, aged 17, at Westminster, poisoned himself with prussic acid. He has been for some considerable time studying chemical works, and other philosophical matters, and was in the habit of lock. ing himself up in his room, for the purpose of preventing his friends molesting him. his inattention to his business was so great that he was discharged on Saturday, and his father had threatened to destroy all his books. A PHILOSOPHICAL BAKER.—Mr. Mathews, of Bristol, author of a tract, " The Philosophy of Bread-making," has been lecturing in various places on that subject, to crowded audiences. He illustrates his theory by making a loaf, and baking it in a glass oven, heated by common gas, on the lecture-table, and then dividing it amongst his audience. The loaf is made in about a minute, by mixing a small quantity of his baking powder in the flour, and adding cold water. The baking process takes about half an hour. A PURCHASE OF MONEY.—One of the motives for the visit of Baring to Paris has been ascertained to be the buying up the English gold and notes held by the Banque de France. The coffers of money, every changer and banker, have been ransacked ; and it was said yesterday that, save in the pockets of our countrymen, not a single bank-note or sovereign could be found in all Paris. The effect of this razzia was so unexpected, that, in four-and twenty hours, the value of English gold had risen six per cent., a phenomenon unexampled since the war.—Paris correspondent of the Atlas. In the Registration Court, in London, on Wednesday, the revising barrister animadverted most severely on the bills of expenses sent in by overseers and vestry clerks, and refused to allow them, as a robbery of the public. As an instance of his cutting down we give the following " St. Botolph, Aldgate ; registration, 1847 ; preparing list of voters (740), £7 Bs. ' • paid printers £l7 ; lists of claims (71) and objections (217), £2 18s.—Total, £27 65." In handing this bill to the vestry clerk, the barrister said that, instead of £27 65., he should only allow 20s. (Sen sation.) Most of the remainder were served after the same fashion, the revising barrister holding that vestry clerks were already paid for their services and had no fur ther claim, and that overseers could only claim what they actually disbursed. DEPLORABLE` OCCURRENCE.-Mr. Wm, Yarworth, brother of Richard, who was shA at Piff's Elm some years since, unforttinatefy fell into the river at Usk on Friday se'nnight, and Was drowned. A sad fatality seems to attend this family. Richard was shot; George, his brother, was killed about three years back by his waggon going over him; and now the present lamentable affair; they were three very fine young men, and the feelings of the wife and aged mother on the sad occasion are most disti•a§sing.—Hereford Journal. DistimsslNG ACCIDENT.—A son of Mr. Alfred Power, late the Assistant Poor Law Commissioner for this dis trict, and now commissioner in Dublin, shot his sister dead last week. An attempt having been made to break into the house, Mr. Power loaded a brace of pistols in case of further attack, and put them in what he considered an " out-of-the-way place. His little son found them, and, having no idea they were loaded, called out to his sister, " Mind your eye, or I will shoot you," drew the trigger, and the ball went through her heart.—Worcester Chronicle. LAND RECLAIMED FROM THE SEA.—A few days ago were offered for sale, by the Nene Outfell Commissioners, at Wisbech, 960 acres ofland, in 27 lots, being their por tion of between 3,090 and 4,003 acres that have been gained from the sea by the completion of their great work. The lots varied from seven acres to 180; and the reserved bid for the several lots varied from about £l5 to £BO per acre; and though none of the lots were actually sold at these prices, above £6O per acre was bid for lot 24, con taining 103 acres, and for some of the smallest lots higher prices were offered. ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR.—MOII - wasthe forty-second anniversary of the great victory of Trafalgar, at which Nelson fell, and by which the com bined naval armaments of France and Spain perished. The last signal which Nelson made has become immortal,— " England expects every man to do his duty." It is a curious anecdote, not so generally known, that as he first proposed the signal, it was, " Nelson expects every man to do his duty." Sir Thomas Hardy, devoted as he was to the glory of his chief, suggested the emendation, which Nelson at once adopted. INSTANCE OF PATIENT IND ['STET. —The Nottingham Journal states that Mr. John Munro, of Paisley, a tailor, has completed a bed or table cloth, eight feet two inches square, and composed of 3,570 small pieces of fine cloth of different colours, very tastefully and ingeniously joined together in a variety of national, emblematical, and fancy devices. Mr. Monro devoted three hours a-day after his ordinary work had been finished, for five days in each week, during eleven years and four months, in the patient prosecution of his self-imposed task. Two hundred pounds have been offered for the cloth, and refused. MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT ON WHITTON SANDS.—On Saturday evening last, about five o'clock, as the sloop Ashton. Johnson, master, was proceeding from this port up the river, she grounded on Whitton Sands, when Mrs. Johnson, being on deck at the time with an infant in her arms, was thrown overboard, and both child and mother met a watery grave. Captain Johnson caught hold of her gown as she was falling, but could not rescue her, as from the weak texture of the garment the piece came out in his hand. He also caught hold of her foot, but, unfortunately, her shoe came off, when she sank. She has left a family of nine children to lament her untimely end.—Hull Ada. PRINCELY PRESENT.—Si; Bellingham Graham, the Vice Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron, has pre sented one of his yachts—the Medina—to his late sailing master, on his quitting his service. The Medina, 44 tons, is well found and fully equipped for sea, and cannot have cost Sir Bellingham much less than a thousand pounds , within the last eighteen months. His other yacht, the Flirt, of 132 tons, is being lengthened in the bows in Mr. Joseph White's yard ; she is to be ready for a voyage up the Mediterranean in January. The Fairy schooner, of 143 tons, Sir Hyde Parker, Bart., and the Ariel schooner, of 118, Almon Hill, Esq., are both fitting at Cowes, for the same destination. Tint HARVEST IN KENT.—So bountiful have been the crops of wheat in the neighbourhood of Faversham from the late harvest, that in many instances as much as eight quarters an acre have been reaped ; and the respected vicar, the Rev. Mr. Collins, in a very eloquent discourse on Sunday last, stated that as much as ten quarters of wheat had been grown on a single acre of land, and fourteen quarters of barley on a like portion. That the above are not solitary instances may be known by the fact, that from a single acre selected from a field of wheat on the farm of Mr. Collard, at Reculver, ten quarters and three bushels were the amazing produce, which was proved with great care for the purpose of deciding a considerable wager.—Kentish Observer. THE MAURITIUS.—The arrangements of 1825 which admitted sugar the produce of the Mauritius to English consumption at the same rate as that of the West Indies gave an enormous stimulus to production in the island. Thus the total exports of that article in 1825 amounted only to 21,793,7661 b. from the Mauritius; in 1845 its exports of sugar to Great Britain alone were 80,218,0961 b. In the face of production thus unnaturally stimulated, and the measures of 1846, there has been a gradually decreas ing stock of labour in the colony, and the necessity for instantly confronting the competition of slave countries. The Mauritius has lately proved the ruin of everybody connected with it, as the list of recent failures too mourn fully testifies. STATISTICS OF PAUPERISM.—The population of Swe den amounts to about 3,500,000 souls, and has only three mendicants in every 400 persons, while in Norway they reckon 5 out of every 100 ; in Denmark, 4 ; in Wurtem berg, 5 ; in Switzerland, 10 ; in Italy, 13 ' • in France, 15 ; and in the British Islands collectively, 17, although in England separately there are only 10. In France the number of foundlings supported at the expense of the state was, in 1844, 123,394, demanding an annual outlay of 6,707,829 f. 12c., or 54f. 6c. a-head. In Paris the cha ritable establishments afford relief to 95,000 paupers. At Berlin the number of mendicants has become doubled between 1822 and 1846; the number of families in that capital supported by charity has increased from 2.990 to 3,445. In London, it is computed, there are 25,000 per sons who daily practise mendicicy or robbery. The report of the Parliamentary committee on Sunday trading in the metropolis has just been issued. It esti mates that about 5,000 tradesmen, with about 15,000 journeymen and boys, out of the metropolitan population of a million and a half, are deprived " of the benefits of the day of rest." It finds that the present law, which only punishes on proof of an article actually sold, is prac tically a nullity ; and that the present observance of the Lord's Day is, therefore, the effect of public opinion or good feeling. Still they consider this feeling inadequate to protect that portion of the community, who, by cir cumstances and situation, are placed within the tempta tion to buy and sell on Sundays ; and they recommend that exposure for sale, and not the actual sale, should be the criterion of legislation.' Necessary food they, how ever, advise should be allowed to be exposed at certain hours. - How THE POOR EXIST.—The following extracts from the reports of intelligent parties will serve to show how England is deprived of her strength—the flower and beauty of her youth. " I was called," says Dr. South wood Smith, " to a room in Whitechapel, so dark, that in broad daylight I was obliged to have a candle to see the patient ; the closeness and stench of the room gave me the instant feeling of sickness. The weather was very hot, and yet the patient was lying with a parched tongue in a burning fever. Think what it must have been to pass a night in that room—a night of fever." Those who will not listen to the living may not refuse the testimony of a voice, speaking as from the grave. Mr. John Johns, who died from fever, caught in visiting the sick in Liverpool, says, " In one small cellar, without a window, I saw 18 persons in fever lying on wet dirty straw. In one house I counted 81, in another 61, in every stage of fever, on filthy straw in the corners." A meeting—convened by the mayor in compliance with a requisition —was held at Newcastle-on-Tyne, on Satur day, in order to pass a vote of confidence in the existing banking establishments in that town. The speakers showed that all the existing banks in the town were in possession of ample funds to discharge the whole of their obligations, and that the effects produced by the with drawal of deposits would be felt, not by the banks, but by the commercial classes, merchants, and tradesmen generally, who look to the banks for that accommodation which they have been aceustomed to receive in transact ing their business, and which has been necessarily cur tailed of late, in consequence of the pressure of the times. Confidence and credit are the wings of commerce. With out confidence in his ability to dispose of the manufac tured article no man would devote his energies to its pro duction ' • and his means of disposing of it would be ex tremely limited indeed did he not possess the power which credit affords of transferring his productions to other markets than that which his own limited locality might supply. DREADFUL MURDER.—For some days, a man named William Wilson, a marine-store dealer, Gravesend, had been quarrelling with his wife, to whom he had only been married a short time. The quarrel, it aepears, com menced on Monday morning, when, after abusing his wife for some hours, he left the house, and did not return un til midnight, but, after going to bed, he continued his abuse, which induced his wife to leave the bed, and she sat up the rest of the night. The murderer did not get up until 10 o'clock on Wednesday morning, When, after par taking of breakfast, he left the house, and did not return till half-past 12. He was then "rather fresh," but not intoxicated. His wife remonstrated with him upon his l i conduct, and high words again ensued, which continued for nearly two hours, when, upon his wife saying he was a disgrace to society, he took up a large stick, and said, " Now we will see who shall be master," upon which he aimed a fearful blow at her head, which took effect imme diately under the left ear. The poor creature immediately. fell down, exclaiming, "lam a murdered woman." Me dical assistance was immediately procured, but the poor woman soon died. DARING BURGLARY AT BOROUGH FEN.—Between the hours of one and two o'clock on the morning of Saturday week, the dwelling-house of Mrs. Hilliam, at Borough Fen, near Crowland, was entered by three ruffians. They effected an entrance by taking out the pantry window, and proceeded up stairs to the bedroom door, which was locked and bolted. The noise made by forcing open the door awoke the graund-daughter, who was sleeping with Mrs. Hilliam, and is very infirm. The villains having made their way into the room masked, and having a lighted candle and cudgels with them, began to pull the bed-clothes off the bed. The young woman screamed out, when one of the fellows seized her, and swore he would cut her throat if she did not hold her noise. The pulling off the bedclothes awoke the old lady, and made her conscious of her situation, when she at once got out of bed and ran down stairs, with the intentiun of alarming the neighbours. The fellows missing the old lady, one of them followed her and seized her by the throat as she was unlocking the front door, and threw her down, swearing that he would murder her if she made any alarm, and there held her until the others had plundered the bed room of ten sovereigns, twenty shillings in silver, a quan tity of copper coin. two teaspoons marked " E,' one tablespoon marked "A. G." a pair of silver-mounted spectacles, a bunclKof keys, some writing, ft.—Lincoln shire Chronicle, Oct. 26, IS4/. A POPE'S LEGATE IN ENGLAND.—The Dublin corres ondent of the rimes, in noticing an extra convocation of he Irish Catholic bishops on the 19th instant, gives the ollowing as one of the rumours why the convocation is held a month before the ordinary period. It is to the effect. that a communication had been received by Arch bishop Crolly announcing that a negotiatien is in progress having for its object the appointment of a Cardinal Legate, who is to reside in England, and who is to be the medium of communication between the Court of St. James's and the Vatican, upon questions involving the government of the Roman Catholic church in Britain and Ireland. In this office, it is added, the Legate will be assisted by the experience of Archbishop Nicholson (late of Corfu), who is to act as secretary to the legation. The project, it is sain, will, inter alia, form part of the deliberations of the Irish prelates 4 the ensuing meeting; and its success will in a great measure depend upon the course that that body may think fit to adopt with r-gard to it. AN EXCITING QUADRILLE.—M. Jullien has announced a " Swiss Quadrille," one part of which is described by ttina - as follows :—" A village fete is in course of celebra tion.—The sun sets and night comes on.—The spring, the period when the dreadful avalanches fall, has arrived, and the thunder-like noise in the distance interrupts the fete, and warns the villagers of the near approach of the awful visitation.—The sound of the fitful wind and the drift ing rain, mingled with the wild cry of the eagle and other affrighted birds, are sure tokens of the coming storm. —The terror of the people increases with the violenc of . the tempest ; and the mountain torrent bursts its banks,- threatening to overwhelm the devoted village. This con vulsion of the elements detaches the overhanging aval tnche, and with an awful crash it bounds down the moun tain side, carrying destruction in its path.—The village bell rings, a shout resounds through the valley, and the joyous chorus of the assembled villagers announces their escape from the threatened danger." Truly Mr. Jullien must have no small idea of his powers of musical expres sion if he expects to effect all this by his band ; and the question arises how, if effected, people are to find courage to dance amid these appalling circumstances. " Nero fid dling while Rome was burning" was nothing to it. THE DRAPERY TRADE.—We lately mentioned the agitation set on foot by the retail drapers in favor of 37 inches to the yard. The wholesale houses, it appears, have taken counsel's opinion on the legality of the pro posed measure, and have received the following opinio n from Sir D. Dundas, the solicitor-general, and, Sir g. Thesiger, the late attorney-general, in answer to a gat.- • ment submitted tothem :—" We are of opinion, that all ----- contracts for the sale of goods and merchandise by any other than the imperial standard measure are in violation of the sth and 6th Wm. IV., cap. 63, which repeals so much of the former - acts as allowed goods and merchandise to be bought or sold by any measure established by local custom or founded on special agreement. Contracts to sell by the yard of 37 inches, being in our opinion illegal, cannot be enforced at law. We are further of opinion, that any combination of tradesmen, for the purpose of compelling manufacturers or dealers to sell by any other than the imperial standard measure, through the influence of threats, whether direct or indirect, of withdrawing their custom, or inducing others to do the same, is illegal ; and that all parties engaged in such a combination, are guilty of a misdemeanour. The statement discloses evidence of such a combination, and we think that the parties con cerned have rendered themselves liable to be indicted for a conspiracy." • MODEL LODGING-HOUSE IN THE MINT, SOUTHWARK. the labouring classes, has been opened in Mint-street, adaptedswtina th e Soc i e t y similar rfotr. formerly tth hef 0. a rs pe f ui u rw r p n iol i is t ce u h: r i e nthh w gaev a te r hr e oeb h oec o me u ons s n e pdb , re a in n g d spacious, lofty, and well ventilated. The interior ar iwpearenarnkP model oysdrlbeetivlodging.house, for the accommodation of s Labouring Classes. Each n l Z o°r:- : saf: s nAsua e t P tdhyehn a rnem:e rate bed ; and the bedsteads bei n ng is person provided kith very little attention is required to keepl them .11 a clean: state. On the ground-floor there is a well-assorted li brary of upwards of 500 volumes, to which the inmates have access gratuitously, and three weekly newspapers and periodicals are also provided. The establishment is quite full, and several applicants for admission have been refused, for want of room. The inmates consist princi pallyzraode f Iron, of persons who work in the Borough and Billings gate markets, and at the various wharfs in Tolley-street. Another establishment on a similar plan is in course of construction in the same neighbourhood; and one for the exclusive accommodation of single women of good cha racter, who obtain a livelihood by needlework and other light employment, will be opened early in the ensuing year. This last will be under the immediate superinten dence of a committee of ladies. MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.—On the shore about four miles below Dunoon there is situated a lovely little villa, the summer residence of a gentleman as amiable and generous as the spot he has chosen is lovely and romantic. It is the only residence seen in the neighbourhood for some little distance. Immediately behind, the earth has been excavated, and the ground rises precipitously to a consi derable height. One evening lately the family had all retired to bed, without observing anything unusual. About the middle of the night the gentleman awoke, and, feeling thirsty, rose for the purpose of obtaining a drink, but, finding: that there was no water in his room, he went out to a spring immediately behind the house. He had no sooner returned and shut the door behind him, than a most unearthly noise was heard, resembling that produced by the shock of an earthquake. He went to the door, found that he could not open it. In this st a te of matters , having armed himself properly, he got out by the front window, and, proceeding to the door, found that a COM.. plete avalanche of earth had come down upon the house, and that the door by which he had so shortly before en tered was blocked up, the earth reaching to the height of five or six feet. Had he been but one minute later in en tering the house he would, no doubt, have met an instan taneous death. The labour of ten men were required during the whole of the following day to remove the earth. It is a fortunate thing that the house was not swept en masse into the sea. The cause of the accident is consi dered to be the working of tke water through the channel of some old drain which had loosened the earth, and sent it down upon the well-nigh fated edifice.—Scotch paper. THE ALLOTMENT, SYSTEM IN WoncEsTEnsinaE.— Lord Lyttleton, as president of the Worcester Labourers' Friend Society, has issued a lengthy circular to the pro- , prietors of allotments in the county. conveying the pro position for concentrating the system, and bringing the whole of the several parcels of allotment in different parts of the county under one control and manag ement. To effect this object his lordship proposes that the example set in the Stewponey allotment system, established by Mr. Foley, M.P., in connection with the Stewponey Agricul tural Society, should be followed, by appointing an agent, whose duty it shall be to superintend and manage all the allotments in the county, the allotment land to be rented by trustees of landed proprietors, and underlet by the lat ter to the allotment tenants, and the salary of the agent to be paid by an assessment on the allotment land of Bs. per acre in addition to the rent, making 2s. additional rent for every allotment of a quarter of an acre. Lord Lyttelton, after divulging the nature of the proposed Pla: . thus concludes his letter to the proprietors of allotment land :—" The question, therefore, which I venture to Pub to you is, whether you would be willing, instead of letting the land which you now let in allotments directly to the occupier, to let it to the society, to be by them underlet in . the manner which I have described to those occupiers. We cannot ask you to do this on any plea of direct advan- • tage either to yourself or to the occupiers. I have, in deed, endeavoured to show that it wo u ld i n no d egree b e injurious to them, and that, in fact, they would be in about the same position as before ; and with respect to yourself, as landlord, I hope it has also been made clear that while you would be circumstanced as before with re gard to the selection of, and control over your tenants, you would have a better security in the persons of the. trustees of the society for the rent than the occupiers can give, and much trouble would be saved to yourself or your agent in the management of the land and the collection of the rents. But Ido not mean to hold out any such con sideration as the motive which we wish to set before you • for complying with this request. I address you, as a friend to the allotment system, to comply with it as the means of extending over the country generally the bene fits of that system, and chiefly in districts where there do not exist landowners with the same active goodwill towards it which you have shown in the establishment of your own allotments!' SHOCKING CRUELTY BY A MOTHER.—On Monday last, a case of the most flagrant cruelty was investigated by the magistrates at the Hull police court. Immediately prior to the rising of the court, a police-officer brought in a little lad in his arms, with a chain fastened to one of his legs, weighing upwards of 281bs. He was a fine healthy looking lad, about ten years of age. The mother and the elder brother of the child were placed in the dock, and the following facts were deposed by the several witnesses. It appears that their mother, whose name is Charlotte • Bilton, is a widow, residing in Queen's-square, Blanket row, and the other prisoner, who is her eldest son, is a clerk or traveller in the employ of Messrs. Clay and Squires of this town. About eleven o'clock this morning a man named Pearson, who lives next door to the female prisoner, gave information to the police that a boy was being very cruelly treated in a house in Blanket-row. Inspector D'Orsey immediately went to the house, in company with Pearson, and on examining a garret, found the lad chained to the wall in a corner of the room. He was lying on an empty mattress. He asked the female prisoner the reason for such treatment, and she said her eldest son had done it by her orders, because he was an unruly and mischievous lad, and that he had been chained there for a fortnight. The room was in a most filthy condition, in consequence of the poor lad not having access to a water closet during the whole of the time. The inspector asked the lad, in the presence of his mother, what he had had to eat during the time, and he said he had had nothing but bread and water, and sometimes a little coffee. He also stated that his mother had fre quently beaten him since he was chained up. The inspector immediately took off the chain, and brought the lad to the police court. Pearson, who had given the information to Inspector D'Orsey, stated, that he had frequently heard chains rattling in the next room, but did not think the lad was chained up. He had several times seen him let down a kind of rope from the window, which he had made by tying pieces of string together, and hoist up pieces of bread which the lads gave him from the street below. On several occasions, also, he had heard the sound of blows, apparently inflicted on the lad, and had also heard him cry. The lad had several times told him through the window that he was hungry. The mother., on being called on for her defence, admitted that her son had chained him up by her orders. She said that he was the worst lad in her family, and that she had no other means of keeping him in the house. Some time ago he had stolen nine sovereigns from one of her lodgers, and she had tried every means of reforming him, but without effect. The lad was asked by the magistrates if he really did steal the sovereigns, and he stated that he had done so, but that his other brother had made him do it. She was ordered to find two sureties in £5 to keep the peace for the next three months. The lad was ordered to in sent to the Charity Hall.---kfull Packet.. THE TRAGEDIES OF LOW LIFE. It is a trite remark, that " truth is stranger than fic tion," and would not be so treated as a truism were it known what fearful, frightful illustrations it receives be neath that calm, quiet under-current of common life which covers so much of secret misery and wasting woe. Take the humblest and most wretched haunts of poverty —track some child of misery to the hovel or the attic which is called home—trace out the history of that past which has led to so wretched a present, and there will be the materials of a tale more moving than aught that the wildest fiction ever conceived, or the boldest pen depicted. That this is not matter of imagination, but is sober, sad reality, our readers can easily be satisfied—a short story will show them that they, in their daily walks, pass con stantly the " heroes" or the " heroines" (mockery of ideas!) in the tragedies of low life. Not long since, a poor girl—a mother—and if wife, a deserted one—lost, by the stoppage of a small theatre, the employment she had there for some time past received as a ballet girl, and the manager left in her debt for some arrears of her wretched pittance. What misery is disclosed in these short facts ! It sketches the shadowy outline of some sad tale, which fancy will not be slow in filling up with colours, alas ! most sombre. What early errors or early wrongs (and both, perhaps, were combined in her fate) led her to the life of the ballet girl ?—the very ability for which, as it involves the possession of some accomplishments, indi cates a once happier state. What lingering wretchedness must have been hers—deserted, defrauded, deprived even of her hardly-earned subsistence, a prey to sickening sor row, embittered even to agony by recollection, and aggra vated almost to distractioi*by the bitter contrast between the gaiety of the theatre, with its crowd of well-pleased countenances, and the gloom of her home ! What a heart-rending agony must have been hers, poor girl, as she went through her wearying round of trivial, yet tor turing labour upon the stage, amidst her fond thoughts of the " little one," of whom her earnest hope would be that it slept I How little could the crowded spectators con ceive of the heart that was hidden under the flimsy tawdry and the giddy gaiety of the " ballet girl," and what keen pangs of silent, sharp endurance were hers, as she " tripped it lightly" on the mimic scene !—what a mask for misery was the smiling face or glittering eye that sparkled in the glare of the " foot lights." Ah ! all that sparkle and spangle, all that glitter and glare—what a horrid mockery of the misery they concealed ! Perhaps a keen observer might detect beneath it all the wildness, the unnatural brightness of eye, which betokened the desperation of despair ! Who knows what the " ballet girl" endured ! perchance preserved from the last resource of wretched ness only by that slight, yet all-powerful tie, which wound itself round the mother's heart. But she had more to en dure. The iron must enter yet deeper into her soul. De prived of her employment, what alternative had she, save starvation—or worse ? The former, for herself, perhaps, she would have preferred. But her child—could she see it starve ? Hearts of mothers, say ! She lodged in a wretched room, at ss. a week. There she sat, hour after hour, day after day—brooding over her misery—wasting, wearing away, in woe. At length nature could endure no longer ; she put forth her hand and stole—stole an article from the scanty furniture of her room—stole, that her babe might not starve. Who shall say what sharp strug ples she passed through ere she seized the trumpery thing which seemed to tempt her to take it, arid hurried forth in the dark to procure a few pence that might stave off her sad fate some short time—and in that time what might occur !—she might again have employment—then she could redeem what she had stolen and restore it. Sad sophistry ! But ere it be censured too severely, let it be recollected she was starving. She was detected. The usual result followed. The picture presented at the bar of the police court was most touchingly, sorrowfully sad. " A thin, delicate-looking woman, dressed in faded black" (death had added its dark shadows to her dismal story), " with a child in her arms." . . " She said she and her child were in great distress, and that she took the ar ticles, intending to redeem them the moment she could get a little money. She was engaged as a ballet-dancer at the Theatre which she quitted about a month ago, the manager being in her debt; and although she had made repeated applications for the money, she could not obtain it. Since she had left the theatre she had been gaining a scanty subsistence for herself and child by nee dlework. Her salary as a ballet-dancer was 6s. a week." The magistrate (honour to his heart!) sighed over the poor girl's story (which everything her landlady said con firmed), and said " her situation was to be deplored," so much so that he only fined her 6d., in addition to the va lue of the article purloined—and this her poverty pre vented her paying, so she was " locked up ;" but late in the day some female friend or relative—perhaps some sis ter in misery—paid it for her and procured her release. Who can wish to weep over imaginary sorrow ; when com mon life furnishes such stories of real woe ? Let those who have leisure for " sentiment" search out some of these sons and daughters of suffering humanity, and learn the luxury of relieving them. FUDGE.—The word Fudge was hardly enough for our great lexicographer to notice. It was known, however, to our language long before his friend, Goldsmith, made such ample use of it in his " Vicar of Wakefield ;" for D'lsraeli says that in " Remarks upon the Navy," pub lished in 1700, is the following anecdote :—" There was, in our time, one Fudge, captain of a merchantman, who, upon his return from a voyage, how ill so ever his ship was fraught, always brought home his owners a good cargo of falsehoods ; so that row, aboard ship, the sailors when they hear a great falsehood told, cry out, ' You fudge it.' " STRANGE PROBABILITY.—There still exists a lineal descendant of Zingis, and the Tatar khans of the Crimea, in the person of Katti-Gheray Krim Gheray. He was born among the mountains of Caucasus, and his acquaint ance with Scottish missionaries led him to examine, and his researches to embrace, the religion of the Saviour : he is well known in this country, having studied at Edinburgh, where he found his way to the heart of a daughter of a north Briton, who loved him for the dangers he had past, and accompanied him to the Crimea in order to ensure him happiness for the future. A curious event may fol low this marriage. Should the prophet be pleased to call Abdul-Medshid to the bowers of paradise and the bosoms of the houris, and the male line of Turkey become ex tinct, the throne falls by right to the family of Gheray. Such an event is not impossible ; and, if the grasping hand of Russia be not extended to prevent it, we may yet see, and smile at the recollections it will recall, the des cendants of the chief of a Tatar horde and the wandering daughter of a private Scottish gentleman, seated together on the throne of the Paleologi.—Church of England Review. CAGLIOSTRO.—The last and perhaps the most renowned of the Rosicrucians, was, according to a historical insinua tion, implicated in that notorious juggle of the Diamond Necklace, which tended so much to increase the popular ' hatred towards the evil-doomed and beautiful Marie-An toinette. Whether this imputation were correct, or whe ther the Cardinal Duc de Rohan was the only distin guished person deluded by the artifices of the Coun- • tess de la Motte, it is certain that Joseph Bal samo, commonly called Alexandre, Count de Caglios tro, was capable of any knavery, however infamous. Guile was his element ; audacity was his breastplate ; delusion was his profession ; immorality was his creed ; debauchery was his consolation ; his own genius—the genius of cun ning—was the god of his idolatry. Had Cagliostro been sustained by the principles of rectitude, he must have be come the idol as well as the wonder of his contemporaries ; his accomplishments must have dazzled them into admi ration, for he possessed all the attributes of a Crichton. Beautiful in aspect, symmetrical in proportions, graceful in carriage, capacious in intellect, erudite as a Benedic tine, agile as an Acrobat, daring as Scoevola, persuasive as Alcibiades, skilled in all manly pastimes, familiar with the philosophies of the scholar and the worldling, an orator, a musician, a courtier, a linguist,—such was the celebrated Cagliostro. In his abitities, he was as capricious as Leo nardo, and as subtle as Machiavelli; but he was without the magnanimity of the one or the crafty prudence of the other. Lucretius so darkened the glories of nature by the glooms of his blasphemous imagination, that he might have described this earth as a golden globe animated by a demon. Fashioned . in a mould as marvellous as that golden orb, and animated in like manner by a devi lish and wily spirit, was Balsamo the Rosicrucian. Be tween the period of his birth in 1743, and that of his dis solution in 1795, when incarcerated in a dungeon of San Leo, at Rome, Cagliostro rendered himself in a manner il lustrious by practising upon the credulity of his fellow creatures. Holstein had witnessed his pretended suc cesses in alchemy. Strasbourg - had received him with adulation, as the evangelist of a mystic religion. Paris had resounded with the marvels revealed by his perform ances in Egyptian freemasonry. Molton gold was said to stream at pleasure over the rim of his crucibles ; divination by astrology was as familiar to him as it had been of yore to Zoroaster or Nostradamus ; graves yawned at the beck of his potent finger ; their ghostly habitants appeared to his preternatural bidding. The necromantic achievements of Doctor Dee and William Lilly dwindled into insignifi cance before those attributed to a man who, although ap parently in the bloom of manhood, was believed to have survived a thousand winters. Accident had supplied Cagliostro with an accomplice of suitable depravity. In the course of his eccentric peregrinations among the con tinental cities, he had formed the acquaintance of a female remarkable for her consummate loveliness and her bound less sensuality. Married to this Circe, the adventurer began to thrive beyond his most sanguine expectations. It must be remembered, however, that in his nefarious proceedings, Balsamo was aided by a faculty of invention almost miraculous in its fruitfulness, and occasionally al most sublime in its audacity. By these means, he ulti mately became the most astonishing impostor the world had ever beheld, with the solitary exception of Moham med. As a forerunner of a disastrous revolution, the ap pearance of this fantastic personage in the capital of civi lisation was at once dismal and prophetic. Uncon sciously, he was the prophet of disaster. Uncovciously, he was the prelude, half-solemn, half-grotesque—of a bloody and diabolical saturnalia. History, both profane and inspired, tells us that when the Euphrates forsook its natural channel, and the hostile legions trampled under its gates at nightfall.; when the revellers of 13elshazzar, drunk with the prolonged orgies and haggard with the shadow of an impending doom, staggered through the marble vestibules and out upon the marble causeways, rending their purple vestures in the moonlight, there was weeping among the lords of Chaldea,—" Wo ! wo ! vvo !" was wailed in the streets of Babylon. A similar destiny awaited Paris, but as yet a very different spectacle was vi sible ; as yet the carousals of the metropolis were at their zenith ; as yet the current flowed in its ancient channel ; as yet the woes of the empire were not written on the wall of the palace. Festivities were never conducted with more magnificence than immediately before the downfall of the monarchy and the general desolation of the king dom. The pomps of religion, the pageantries of the court, and the munificence of the nobility, were never before characterised by so much grandeur and profusion. The church, the sovereign, and the oligarchy were crowning themselves for the sacrifice.—Blackwood's, Magazine. , 1 4t