The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-08-22 00:00:00

tatraturr. POETRY. CHOPIN'S PLAYING. The pale wizard's fingers With magical skill, Slake apisic that lingers In memory still. To Paradise nearer, And seems a thanksgiving, From all that are living With ecstacy thrilling, The heart-tones distilling, There wild bells are tinkling, Through space resound lowly And shooting stars twinkling: Pathetic and holy. Great meteors are rushing, Like a chant of the fairies soft strearnlets aro gushing, The harmony varies, Through meadows of flowers, With long drawn whisperings, And deep shady bowers, Out of life's hidden springs, Fall of .music the maddest, Till the wizard awaking, The sweetest, the saddest, With every nerve shaking, Men's ears all entrancing Pours a last peal of thunder Now nightingales breathing ; Now fierce oceans seething ; So his magical fingers, The wild cadence dying, With exquisite skill, To heaven in flying, Make a music that lingers Bears the soul of the hearer In memory still. _ Fraser's Magazine. VARIETIES. The love of glory can only create a hero ; the contempt of it deates a great man. Lord Clarendon derives his descent from Oliver Crom well, through his mother, Theresa Parker, who was the great-great-granddaughter of Frances Cromwell, the Pro actor's youngest child. At the sale of the Pembroke collection of coins, a penny of Offa, king of Mercia, sold for ten guineas, whilst a penny of Cynethryth, his queen. produced £3l ; and a ryal or half-sovereign of Henry VII., so rare that the pre sent coin is believed to be the second or third known, sold or 100 guineas. The present year has this singularity, that it is divisible by no fewer than thirty different numbers, viz. 2,3, 4,6, 7, 8,11, 12, 14, 21, 22, 24, 28, 33, 42. 44, 56, 63, 77, 84, 88, 132, 154, 16t1, 231, 264, 308, 462, 616. 924. Next year will be the square of 43; while we have not had a " square" year since 1764; and the next which will occur will be 87 years after next year. namely, in 1933. SINGULARITY IN NITMDERS.—A correspondent of the Manchester Guardian says, " Perhaps many of your readers may not have observed, that if you multiply any given number by itself, say B;—thus 8 et 8 = 64, then take one from the multiplier and add it to the multi plied, the product will always fall short by one of the for mer product. Thus 1 from 8= 7, 1 added to 8= 9 ; 7 s 9 . = 63. And this rule appears to extend to all num bers, large or small." STAMMERING WlT.—Stammering (says . Coleridge) is sometimes the cause of a pun. Some one was mentioning n Lamb's presence the cold-heartedness of the Duke of Cumberland, in restraining the duchess from running up to the embrace of her son, whom she had not seen for a considerable time, and insisting on her receiving him in state. " How horribly cold it was," said the narrator. " Yes." said Lamb, in his stammering way, " but you know he is the Duke of Cu-cum-ber-land." Once, during the Peninsular war, when the Duke of Wellington was fast asleep after a hard day's march, he was suddenly roused by his Aide-de-Camp, with intelli gence that the enemy were at hand. The officer who brought the intelligence was ordered in. " Your detach ment has been hotly pursued since morning ?" "It has, my lord." " Are your men fagged ?" " Completely worn out." " Then the French must be dead beat too ; they won't attack to-night. Good night, Sir;" and the Duke was again asleep before the Aide-de-Camp and the officer were well out of the tent. Tun " WHITE LADIES."—Those who are acquainted with Worcester will recollect a rambling old house in that town, built on the site of an ancient nunnery, and known as the " White Ladies." It is famous in history as the house from which Charles 11. made his escape from Cromwell's army. There are still remaining parts of the old nunnery, from one end of which, through a closed arch, tradition has invariably asserted that a subterranean passage extended to a crypt in the cathedral, a distance of at least half a mile. The tradition has been partially con firmed by the discovery of traces of the passage in the vel ars of houses in the High-street. About 40 years ago an attempt was made to explore it by Dr. Prattinton, but his progress was interrupted by noxious air, and from that time it has been closed. It will now, however, by the kindness of the proprietor of " White Ladies," be again opened, and is more systematic process made to unravel the mystery, under the direction of the British Archaeolo gical Association during their ,congress. Excavations will also be made in the ancient cemetery of the nunnery, the site of a stone sarcophagus having been ascertained. The greatest interest is felt in Worcester as to the result of these proceedings. IDENTITY OF DIAMOND AND CORE.—Mr. James Nay smith, of Bridgewater Foundry, Patricroft, near Man chester, has tested, as it were, and proved the fact, of the dentity of diamond and coke, by the discovery that the minute laminated crystals or crystlets of coke are capable of cutting glass with the true diamond clearness of cut, or without merely scratching. No other setting too is necessary to prove this fact, than the crumbling consis tency of the coke itself in mass ; so that a fragment of coke, switched at random across a pane of glass in the sunshine, is sufficient to exhibit not only the depth of the clear cut, but the prismatic colours in all their purity and beauty. Ground to impalpable powder, Mr. Nay smith, as intimated in the Mining Journal, has found that coke constitutes what we may call the true " dia mond paste " for sharpening razors,—probably, indeed, f We may venture to say so, the only secret of the dia mond pastes so largely advertised, if they merit even so worthy a supposition. The adamantine properties of black oxide of manganese, and its peculiar affinities, in duced an ingenious chemist to suggest its strong analogy to carbon : is it possible that it too, when in fragments, much more firmly crystalline as it is in mass than coke, may cut glass with practical facility ?—Builder. MILAN.—This city now the capital of Lombardy, is known of old foundation. The precise date can scarcely be ascertained ; but it was an emporium of cheese and corn before the Christian era. The city was twice razed to the ground—first by Attila, king of the barbarous Huns, who invaded the Roman empire in the fifth cen tury ; and afterwards by Frederick Barbarossa, emperor of Germany, who vowed not to leave one stone of it on another, because the inhabitants—whom he had obliged to appear before him, by way of satisfaction for a previous rebellion, with ropes about their necks—had, after his departure, paraded his own image through their streets, equipped in a similar fashion. Redbeard—such was the meaning of the emperor's surname—kept his word ; and Milan has been taken, with more or less injury, by every conqueror from Charlemaghe to Napoleon. During the ages of tilt and tournament, Milan was celebrated for the manufacture of armour, to the durability and beauty of which all the historians of those times testify ; but when knightly fashions passed away before the invention of gunpowder and the advance of military science, the town returned to its earlier and more pacific commerce in cheese and corn, to which later centuries have added silk. Yet is cathedral, entirely built of snow-white marble, is still the admiration of all lovers of architecture ; and its traffic n the commodities we have enumerated confers an almost equal distinction on Milan in the eyes of the commercial world. Loan BYRON'S VANlTY.—During the residence of Lord Byron at Venice a clerk was sent from the office of Messrs. Vizard and Co., of Lincoln's Inn, to procure his ordship's signature to a legal instrument. On his arrival, the clerk sent a message to the noble poet, who appointed to receive him on the following morning. Each party was punctual to the minute. His lordship had dressed him self with studious care; and, on the opening of the door of his apartment, it was evident that he had placed him self in what he thought a becoming pose. His right arm was displayed over the back of a splendid couch, and his bead was gently supported by the fingers of his left hand. He bowed slightly as his visitor approached him, and ap peared, anxious that his recumbent attitude should remain undisturbed. After the signing of the deed, the noble ord made a few inquiries upon the politics of England, in the tone of a finished exquisite. Some refreshment which was brought in afforded the messenger an opportunity for more minute observation. His lordship's hair had been curled and parted on the forehead ; the collar of his shirt was thrown back, so that not only the throat, but a con siderable portion of his bosom was exposed to view, though partially conualeel by some fanciful ornament suspended round the neck. His waistcoat was of costly velvet, and his legs were enveloped in a superb wrapper. It is to be regretted that. so great a mind as that of Byron should de rive satisfaction from things so trivial and unimportant, but much more that it was liable to be disturbed by a re collection of personal imperfections. In - the above inter view, the clerk directed an accidental glance at his lord ship's lame foot, when the smile that played upon the visage of the poet became suddenly converted into a frown. His whole frame appeared discomposed ; his tone of af fected suavity became hard and imperious ; and he called to an attendant to open the door, with a peevishness sel dom exhibited even by the most irritable.—London Anecdotes. MELANCHOLY FATE OF A DISCOVERER.—Costigan was a young Irishman, whose mind was set upon exploring the Dead Sea, and giving the world the benefit of his discoveries. It would have been a useful service ; and be had zeal and devotedness enough for it. But he wanted either knowledge or prudence ; and he lost bis life in the adventure, without having left us any additional informa tion whatever. He sent a small boat overland, on camels' backs, to the Lake of Tiberias, and in this he set forth (in an open boat in the month of July !) with only one at tendant—a Maltese servant. They followed the Jordan, entared the Dead Sea, and reached its southern end, not without hardship and difficulty. But the fatal struggle was in returning. The wind did not often favour them ; and it once blew a squall that they tlxriav overboard what ever came to hand : and the first thing that the servant threw over was their only cask of fresh water. They were now compelled to row for their lives, to re:lieh the Jordan before they perished with thirst; but the sti2 scorched them from a cloudless sky, and the air was like that of a furnace. When Costigan could row no further, his servant made some coffee from the water of the lake : and then they lay down in the boat to die. But the man once more roused himself, and by many efforts brought the bdat to the head of the lake. They lay helpless for a whole day on that burning shore, unable to do more than throw the salt water over each other from time to time. The next morning, the servant crawled away, in hopes of reaching Rihhah, which .he did w ith extreme diffi cu l ty. He sent Costigan's horse down to the shore, with a supply of water. rile poor young man was alive ; and he was carried to Jerusalem in the coolness of the night. He was taken care of in the Latin convent there ; but he died in two days. During those hours of lingering, he never spoke of his enterprise; and not a note concerning it was ever found among his effects. Any knowledge that he might have gained has perished with him ; and no reliable nformation could be obtained from his servant. Costi gan's grave is in the Armenian burying-ground ; and there I saw the stone which tells his melancholy story. 1 Ile died in 1835 ,—Min Martinemes Eastern Travel. STRICTURES ON THE SEX AND PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE SPHINX.—The Sphinx has been a much-misrepresented monster. First, all travellers have, until late, combined in depriving him of his gender: he is masculine, my good lady, and not one of your sex at all. Witness his beard, which has lately been grubbed up. Now a beard is not an adjunct of even an Egyptian gentlewoman. Next, tourists have talked twaddle by the bucketful about this Brobdig nag's " solemn beauty, mild benignity, serene repose." All humbug—not one word of truth in the whole of it. As an honest man, I will tell how he really appears. View him in profile, take a side-glance at his battered face, and noseless physiognomy—you have the :maw of a superannuated baboon in a judge's wig. Now take him in front, face him, anti behold a beau-ideal of the ghost of Old Antiquity. Yes, he has braved the brunt of centu ries—their characters are written on his brow. Father of countless sphynxes, he has buried almost all his offspring, and now seems but awaiting the desolation of his old com peers, the pyramids, to conge time, and glide into eter nity.—Dublin University Magazine. _ _ SOCIAL INFLUENCE Or CHRISTIANITY.—Supposing a government to act systematically from motives and on principles in accordance with the Christian rule, what an impulse would not be given to the sense of those duties and responsibilities, on the due discharge of which, simul taneously with the exercise of their rights, depends the welfare of society. The owner of land, the master of the factory, instead of considering the labourer and the artisan as mere instruments for raising corn or spinning cotton at the least possible charge—instead of doling them out their daily wages only as oil to make the machinery work, would take an interest in their welfare, provide for their comforts and recreation, and, above all, would bestow on them the most precious of all gifts, occasional leisure to attend to those higher and more enduring interests, which are equally the patrimony of the poor and the rich, and of which the abridgment of manual labour, resulting from the progress of mechanical inventions, would appear pro videntially designed to promote the cultivation. This, in Christian countries, is no doubt already realised in many a farm and many a loom, where the landlord and the ma nufacturer pursue their calling, under a due sense of their responsibility as the stewards of God, which it is un doubtedly intended those who have more should be to those who have less. But if, in addition to this beneficial influence, thus individually, yet partially exercised, that of the public authorities of the state were to be brought into action, who can say to what a pitch of prosperity a land thus governed might not attain ? These general conside rations may suffice to show in what manner the national character may be affected by the doctrines acted upon by governinents in respect to the ' material' interests of a na tion, and how intimately the welfare of the labouring classes is connected with the religious sense entertained, by their rich employers, of the responsibility attached to the possession of wealth ; that is, how deep an interest the people have in the Christianity of their rulers.—Morier's Letters. THE NUNNERIES OF ROME.—Some establishments are so closely kept, that mortal eye can never see the intima penetra dia. The " Sepulte vive," for example, i.e., the buried alive," establishments of this kind. The young creature, as a part of the ceremonial of a d m ission, is laid alive in ier coffin ; and, when once admitted, she is in fact as if dead and buried to her friends ; for she is never allowed to see again father or mother, brother or sister ! Once a year. on an appointed day, the parents of the " buried alive" may attend the nunnery ; and the young creature within may hear their loved and familiar voices, but she must not see them ; and, as no kind of intercourse is ever permitted, she can never know whether they are living or dead, except as she hears or does not hear their voices on that day. If a parent has died during the year, the abbess assembles the nuns ; she tells them that the parent of one of them is dead, and desires that all pray for the soul of the departed ; but she never re veals the name of the dead, so that all the nuns are left in a state of agonising suspense till the one day comes round, and all listen catch the tone of their parent's voices, and the absence of the longed-for voice tells the tale of the bereaved recluse ! Such, at least, is the ac count the Romans give of these establishments; which thus seems the climax of cruelty, rending and agonising the hearts of the inmates under the pretence of a desire to wean them from the world. But that which concerns our present subject is the veil of secrecy that covers all within such establishments as these. There may be—l must not say that there is—there may possibly be the most frightful vice—there may be the most ruffian violence —there may be the veriest climax of profligacy—there may possibly be all this and the public never know it. History has recorded the fact, that in the apartments of the inquisitors of Spain there were found 62 young women, who had been corrupted and ruined by the inquisitors, and kept there where the public could never know it. The French soldiery flung open the Inquisition, and re vealed the secret. There is no security in Italy against the same evil in a very large proportion of the nunneries ; for every crime of earth and hell may possibly be rife throughout their cloisters, and the cry of injured inno cence and outraged virtue, stifled within the walls, remain 1 unheard by the world without. While we were at Rome, an abbess of one of the nunneries rushed forth fanatically and opening the gates, plunged into the fiber, and there sought in its deep waters to drown the memory and the remorse of the past ! We were surprised at the pains taken to deny and conceal this fact, though known and witnessed by hundreds. The ecclesiastical could not bear to hearit mentioned.—Rev. Hobart Seymour's Pilgrimage. THAT FLU I E !—Whatever the faults of our hero [Oliver Goldsmith], we have seen that at least he was generous— (borrowers mostly are so). He passes a florist's garden, and spends the greater part of the loan he has received in pur chasing costly roots, which he sends to his uncle. Thus re lieved of unphilosophical superfluities, he sets off from Leyden —one guinea in his pocket, one shirt on his back, and flute in hand. That flute—we beg pardon for so cur sory and slighting a mention of that flute. What was our friend without it ? That flute, dear mischief! had been his solace and perdition. Woe, and thrice woe, to any man constitutionally indolent, with his own way to make in this hard life, who takes to the flute ! Slow will be his advance in the world with his fingers on those fatal stops ! That flute—deadliest of all the friendships the sizar had made at college —at every new insult he had received from man, at every fresh disaster he had provo ked from fortune, that flute had furnished inauspicious vent for " blowing off" what otherwise might have been salutary " excitement." It was as much as Ulysses could do— what with stopping the ears of his seamen and having himself lashed to the mast—to save his ship from the Sirens. But when one is not Ulysses, and one carries a Siren always about with one in one's pocket, shipwreck must be the habitual incident of life. With this flute he then sets off on a toue—the man who had tried in vain to be a scholar, a clergyman, and a lawyer, and ought now to be hard at work in qualifying himself for a doctor! Travelling on foot, the flute—(fiat justitia, for once not all perfidious)—opens to him the hospitality of humble roofs. He sees the world to the sound of his own music. Through Flanders, France, Switzerland, and parts of Italy, he pursues his wanderings, and boasts that "he examines mankind and sees both sides of the picture." So at last he fights (or rather flutes) his way towards England and steps on shore at Dover. No more flute playing, now, poor vagrant. No doors open here to that disreputable Siren.. him wandering " without friend or acquaintance, without the knowledge or comfort of one kind face, in the lonely, terrible London streets Suddenly, from the unpro fitable employment of feeling the pulses of patients who are more likely to be feed by him than to fee, he is wrenched aside into that of assistant at the academy at Peckham. " May I die by an anodyne necklace," saith he (speaking out of his own heart, though in the lips of another), " but I would rather be under-turnkey at New gate !" With the most morbid desire that man ever had to be treated with respect, our poor friend sets to work to command it in a way peculiarly his own. "He plays all kinds of tricks on the servants and the boys (ot which ho had no lack of return in kind)—tells entertaining stories —and amuses everybody with his flute." That accursed flute !—Edinburgh Review. THE SOCIAL AND MORAL POSITION OF WOMEN IN CHINA. — Even amongst the females of the highest ranks, few are found who can read or write ; their education is confined to the art of embroidery, playing on a horrid three-stringed guitar, and singing; but the obligation of obedience to man is early inculcated, and the greater por tion of their time is spent in smoking and playing at cards. The women of the poorer classes have no education, and can be considered but little better than beasts of burden. A man of that rink will walk deliberately by his wife's side, while she totters under a heavy load, and frequently may she be seen yoked to a plough, while her husband guides it ! Those of the lower classes who are good-look ing, according to Chinese ideas of beauty, are purchased by the rich at about twelve or fourteen years, for concu bines, and are then instructed according to their master's ideas. The Chinese cannot at all comprehend the Euro pean mode of treating ladies with respect or deference, and being naturally superstitious, attribute to devilish arts, practised by the fair sex, the just appreciation we en tertain of their value ; in short, they consider European ladies have an influence somewhat similar to that ascribed to an evil eye by Italian superstition. Chinese domestics have a very great objection to reside in a European family, over which a lady presides : and an old tradition of theirs curiously coincides with their superstition about our fe males—' That China should never be conquered until a woman reigned in the far-West." Some say that this prophecy was never heard of, until they were conquered by the army of Queen Victoria. Be this as it may, they all contend that it is to be found in some of their oldest works. Many traditions are extant in China relative to women ; and amongst other legends, the horrible practice of deforming the female f o ot is thus said to have com menced :—the wife of one of their ancient emperors was found by her lord and master near the apartment of one of the great officers of the court, who had the reputation of being handsome. Receiving from the emperor a torrent of abuse for her misconduct, she pleaded, in her defence, that it was not her fault, but that of her feet, which were so very large, they took her to the spot sorely against her will. The emperor immediately ordered the forepart of h e : feet to be amputated. Such is the origin of the crip pled foot% b which from this time became the fashion. * * arbarous taste is most unaccountable in This horrid an... 4 natural foot of woman is a nation where the un,: li ator,t e d high instep is equal to the the very model of beauty ; sole rivals that of the Andalusian, and the arch of the fo g t becomes re- Arab ; the ancle, which in the distorter. -*. of course voltingly thick, is symmetry itself. Such a to,. ' can only be seen among the lower classes. The wa, 6 ` e " male character seems to be completely changed by the barbarous practice in question ; for the countenance of a Chinese beauty is always void of animation, and some what expressive of the suffering which her ligatured feet may produce, while the countenances of uncrippled females are full of vivacity. In the course of conversation with Lum-Qua (the celebrated Chinese artist), who is an ex ceedingly intelligent man, I asked his opinion of an Eng lish belle then in Canton, and his reply was truly charac teristic of the Chinese ideas of beauty—" Her face is too round, her eyes too blue, too large ; she's too tall, and too plump, and feet so large she can walk on them."—Dub lin University Magazine. THE SALE AT STOWE. (From the Times.) This magnificent seat of the Duke of Buckingham is being dismantled of all its beauties. Last week the auc tioneer was at work. Under the lofty arch which crowns the long avenue from Buckingham, and opens the first view of the splendid Palladian facade, has lately passed a daily cavalcade which, except in its utter absence of style, might remind one of the road to Epsom on a Derby day. Barouches, flys. stage-coaches, " busses" pressed from the metropolitan service, and every gradation of " trap" down to the carrier's cart hastily emptied of groceries, dragged to Wolverton, and filled with the unfortunate holders of return tickets to town. constituted a dreary antithesis to the corte'ye which so lately brought Royalty to Stowe. An elaborately circuitous road conducted the impatient visitors to the park front, before which, in the vast amphitheatre formed by its side colonnades, so often the scene of rural festivities, the enemy encamped. One might imagine that a great county picnic ::ad suddenly gathered at Stowe. Even stalls were there. From the branch of a noble beech hung a huge pair of scales on which venison was weighed. An advertisement posted on the front door particularized the very moderate prices at which a buck, a half, or a quarter might be obtained. In the distance were fallen trees, timber waggons, and ex tempore sawpits. The extensive edifice was a human hive. • The house was well set out for the distinguished visi tors. Neither Louis XVIIT., nor the Duke of Orleans, nor Queen Victoria, nor any o,f the great ones of the earth, whose visits are recorded with pillars and with trees planted by their own hands, saw Stowe so nobly arrayed as the British public have seen it this week. The bride was dressed for the altar, the victim for the sacri fice. No thrifty coverings, no ghostly brown holland, no neat patterned chintzes were there. King Mob had it all of the best,—the richest damask furniture and the newest state hangings ; only, as that personage rode literally roughshod through the palace, and brought with him cartloads of gravel, there was just an attempt to save the carpets from excessive trituration. In the state dining room were set out 60,000 oz. of gold and silver plate ; one was involuntarily reminded of the weight, for the scales were at work there also, and men were weighing and noting down lot after lot. On a table 20 yards long and on a dozen sideboards stood forests of vases, cande 13bra, epergnes, groups, goblets, tankards, and every other form and variety of plate, from the elaborate de signs of Italian artists to the simple elegance of the Old English school, and the pretentious richness of the last generation. Among fifty other pieces of historic value, the gifts of Royal personages and distinguished men, stood a vase, formed from snuffboxes presented by the cities and corporations in Ireland in 1779 ; the mace of the old corporation of Buckingham, purchased by the Buckingham Conservatives and presented to the Duke as an everlasting possession ; and the Chandos Testimonial, for which the gentry and yeomanry of the county lately subscribed, we believe, £1,500. The galleries of family portraits and collections of family memorials seem to connect all the great men and all the great achievements of modern Europe with the names of Chandos, Temple, Cobham, Nugent, and Grenville. But, beyond the somewhat extensive circle of family affection, the original portraits of famous men and women here assembled are of the greatest interest and value. Here, too, is the victor's portion in the spoil of celebrated sieges, the memento of historical friendships, and the favourite gem of Royalty or beauty. In the Manuscript room is the most extensive and valuable collection of Irish documents anywhere to be found. For the pictures, marbles, bronzes, antiques, articles of vertu, curiosities, china, glass, and wines, we leave them to the auctioneer, and his catalogue of 5,000 items. And everything is to be sold. The fetal ticket is every where seen. The portrait of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the first founder of the family, by Holbein, is now lot 51, in the 21st day's sale. That every other an cestor should go the hammer, whether by Van Dyk, or Lely, or Kneller, or Gainsborough, or Reynolds, follows of course. But there is one item of which no preparation can remove the shock. The Chandos family is descended from Francis Brandon, eldest daughter of the above Charles Brandon, by Mary, daughter of Henry VII., and Queen Dowager of France. Some time since certain savages or dillettanti at Bury exhumed that Mary Bran don from her grave and took from her head a lock of silken hair, which thus constitutes a visible link between the present Duke of Buckingham and the throne of these realms, to :which he has a reversionary interest. That lock of silken hair, in its glass case, is now to be sold to the highest bidder. Can we say more to show the extent of the devastation ? After this it is idle to mention that the Temple of Friendship is rifled of its illustrious tenants, and they are all to be sold. We repeat that everything goes. In two month's time there will not remain in that vast house one pewter spoon, one cracked cup, or spoutless tea-pot, to give a last vestige of hospi tality to the last vestige of the ducal interest in Bucking hamshire. The Morning Post states the general circumstances that have led to the sale :—" The bona fide debts of the duke are variously estimated, but I believe about one mil lion and a half sterling is within the mark, and may be considered approximating to the true amount. The cre ditors for this enormous sum are, as I understand, with scarcely an exception, amply secured on mortgages, which extending over every acre of •land on the family estate, (with the single exception of the Chandos property,) amounting to about £17,000 per annum, as well as on the mansion of Stowe itself." The Post represents the Mar quis of Chandos, a young man of five-and-twenty, as urg ing his father to the most ample sacrifice of the entailed property, the most direct courses, and the most manly openness. During the past week Stowe was thronged with visitors of every degree, from the ducal carriage rider to the suburban butcher in his taxed cart. On Mon. day rough measures were required to exclude several per sons who had got in without authority. The articles sold on the first days have been principally china ware and objects of vertu. From the terms of the advertise ment, it appears that the sale is expected to last, at least, till after the 25th of September. The Spectator says : " Our contemporaries do not deal with the cause to which the disaster is popularly assigned, an inordinate greed af ter land, inherited by the present duke from his father, a desire to grasp at every purchaseable acre, in order to ac quire for the ducal demesnes a princely extent of terri tory. According to report, it is not through munificence, but through a species of covetous grasping, that the princely dignity of Stowe is handed over to the bailiff, and its ' rural felicity' ends in the squalidest of town mi series, a sale by auction." THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. EFFECT OF DISTURBANCES. There is one class of society especially concerned in putting down such knots of ruffians as those who have been recently arrested by the police. Let the industrious artizan and labourer, in whose names they profess to act, show that they utterly disavow their proceedings. The labouring classes may feel secure that the cause of tran quillity and public order is a poor man's question above all. Alodern Chartism is a crusade against the savings bank, the cottage, and the shop. If all the towns in the kingdom were burnt to ashes to-morrow, the Duke of Buccleuch, Baron Rothschild, and Mr. Morison, could make their escape and begin life again with favourable prospects elsewhere. The United States disavow no one in human form with dollars to pay his way. Australia and New Zealand present excellent openings for those who can get there. But what would the poor do in such a case ? They must perish in the fiery ring with which they had encircled themselves. For them there is no escape. Cultivated to the top of its power, and with all the resources of commercial credit at the command of its inhabitants, England must yet import food ; and, that it may import it, must pay for it in one way or another. What, then, would be the fate of those who were left behind, if the bonds that hold society together in England were violently rent asunder and destroyed ? The example of Paris, and the unprecedented sufferings endured by the poor in that city since the revolution of February,—suf ferings which have driven them to cast themselves on the bayonets of the soldiers, and before the fire of the artil lery, in utter recklessness of their miserable existence, — should be a warning to all the humbler classes in this country how they permit themselves to be deceived by political adventurers, who are merely speculating on their sufferings to attain their own base ends of gain or noto riety. Modern Chartism cannot succeed in spreading universal conflagration over the country ; but, should the measures adopted by the police and the Government not prove sufficient to eradicate the pestilence, let the labour ing classes consider what will be the immediate conse quence to themselves in the shape of diminished employ ment and lower wages. As society stands at present in England, if public confidence be shaken never so little, and whether the apprehension arise from abroad or at home, the first consequence is that workmen must be thrown out of employment. This is no new discovery, but a solemn truth, of which we have had but too recent experience. At the present moment, happily, the mills are beginning to work again, and, d es pit e a ll th e trou bl es upon the continent of Europe, trade is recovering its equilibrium. Artizans . are beginning t o b e em pl o y e d, poor-rates are beginning to be lightened. One week of modern Chartism in Liverpool and Manchester, or even should there be a well-grounded apprehension that such a spirit had got abroad, and all this would be changed. Let the labouring classes look to it in time. If th e y w ill not help themselves, the power, if not the will, may be deficient in others. We earnestly recommend all persons in the great towns of the kingdom, who in any way may have become informed of the haunts or proceedings of these pothouse conspirators, to give timely warning to the police. The rest may safely be left to the public authorities. enteral liatsttlianv. On Tuesday, a surgeon, at Whitehaven, named Dick, was drowned whilst bathing. The Wesleyan Methodists have decreased nearly 3,000 in number during their last year. Considerable quantities of butter have lately been im ported into London, from Havre, and other French ports, It is:stated that there are 14,328 deaf and dumb persons in Great Britain. The Annuity Tax martyrs in Scotland are recovering their liberty by the aid of a subscription. If you want sympathy, break the law ! At Appleby assizes, the Rev. W. R. Robinson, aged 39, teneed of the late Rev. Dr. Robinson, of ClAton, was sentenced ur teen years' transportation, for forgery. labour committee of Bradfo r d are The reproductive fa rm employing 50 men on a sma ,. they have taken, and have many more applications for 9n i ,s) , FO!li,ent. Baillie Stott, who is a prisoner in the jail at Edinburgh for nonpayment of the " Annuity Tax," sports his gold chain of office during his imprisonment. THE PROTECTOR UMBRELLA.—The novelty of this in vention is, that by unscrewing the handle the umbrella is fastened so as to prevent its being used by any person but the owner. Mr. George Cornwall Legh, M.P., has accepted an in vitation to a public dinner at - Macclesfield, oa the 13th September. The Lancaster Guardian says that Lord John Russell offered to M. T. Baines, Esq., M.P. for Hull, the Under- Secretaryship of the Home Department, but the honour was declined. Parsnip 3 sown in September, will produce an abundant crop, be fit for use early in June, and of superior quality to those sown in Spring, and would be found an excellent substitute for the potato. While the labourers were employed digging a reservoir in connection with the railway station at Holyhead, they found the remains of an elephant within a few feet of the surface. The bones were in a good state of preservation. So severely cold has the weather been this week in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, that there was ice formed, and seen and broken on Monday morning between six and seven o'clock, round the edge of Duddingstone Loch, opposite and near the manse. A rural tailor, on a visit to Newcastle on Monday, got tipsy, and rambled about until he found himself at home, and, pulling off his clothes, lay down in a pig-stye. The police finding the garments next morning, smelled a mur der, until t hey found the naked man among the swine. BlLBERRlES.—Bilberries have been more plentiful this year than they were ever known to be. Upon the moors of North Dean, Yorkshire, gangs of women and children of sixty and 100 each have frequently been seen gathering this wild fruit. It is the intention of the Lords of the Treasury to place the business of the Stamps and Tales under the Board of Excise, by which arrangement the salaries of a chairman, deputy-chairman, and commissioners will be saved to the public purse. A few days since two monster casks of sherry, contain ing together 900 gallons, and the value of which, duty paid, would be about £l3OO, arrived from Cadiz at the St. Katharine's Docks. The usual size is about 110 gallons. The first of the new decimal coins, in conformity with the plan of the present Master of the Mint, has just been completed. It is a two-shilling piece, bearing the profile of the Queen on the obverse. On the suggestion of Prince Albert, it is be called a " florin." The policeman who in part caused the late fatal acci dent on the rail at Shrewsbury, by making the signal all clear when the line was obstructed, has been tried and found guilty of Manslaughter. Sentence—three months' imprisonment. The two chairs used by her Majesty and Prince Albert, on the occasion of their visit, two years since, to the Duke of Buckingham, at Stowe, were bought at the sale for the Marquis of Chandos, considerably below their value, at 8 guineas each. The extensive and beautiful estate of Copgrove, includ ing the mansion house, near Boroughbridge, the property of the late Thomas Duncornbe, Esq., was last week sold to James Brown, Esq. of Leeds, an opulent clothier, who, a few years ago, purchased, for about £lOO,OOO, the Ros sington estate of the Corporation of Doncaster. EXTRAORDINARY PEDESTRIANISM.—One Of the most extraordinary pedestrian performances ever attempted, that of walking twenty miles in three hours, was accom plished on Thursday, on a measured mile near Hounslow, by a young man named Westhall. A large number of the aristocracy were present. On Sunday last, a man who was driving an omnibus in London. suddenly dropped dead while his horses were proceeding at a rapid rate ; but luckily a passenger who was on the box seized the reins, and thus probably pre vented a serious accident to the carriage and those whom it was conveying. Many of the metropolitan guardians of the poor are in clined to establish model lodging-houses, with a view to improve the condition of the poor, and to diminish the poor-rates ; and in the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields application is about to be made to the ratepayers, for power to commence the erection of one of these houses. MURDER.—On Saturday week George Watson and Thomas Reid, employed at the Birtley iron-works, had some angry words, during which Watson raised a bar of iron and struck Reid on the head, which laid his skull open. He expired in a few minutes. Watson has been committed for trial. The Aberdeen Journal mentions that, a few days since, a woman laden with a creel of peats, who was returning home to the farm of Letterewe, accidentally fell, and the weight of her burden kept her down, so that she was strangled, and was found dead by some persons who subsequently went in search of her. At Cumberland Assizes, Joseph Todd, the man who shot Mr. Jackson, a farmer, through the heart, at Pen ritb, as detailed in our last, was acquitted, upon the grounds that he was labouring under a fit of jealous frenzy at the time, that the shot was intended for another, and that the gun might have gone off accidentally. Mr. Thorneycroft, the first mayor of the newly-incor porated borough of Wolverhampton, has announced his intention, as a token of gratitude, to invest a sum of £lOOO, the interest whereof is to be expended in purchas ing blankets and flannel, which are annually to be distri buted to poor widows and other poor persons. The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated on Monday night, in the House of Commons, that the Earl of Shel burne (son of the Marquis of Lansdowne), having resigned his appointment as a lord of the Treasury, the government had determined, in compliance with the recommendation of the committee on expenditure, that the vacancy should not be filled up. KNOWING BETTER THAN THE DOCTOR.—A poor Irish man called fur relief at St. Peter's Hospital, Bristol, a few days ago, and complained of being ill ' • when the nurse offered him some physic, hut Pat said he did not want it. The nurse declared that he did, for the doctor said so. " Arra, whist," was the reply, " I know better than the doctor; 'tisn't physic I want at all, but sausages and tag." Lieutenant Munro was on Tuesday liberated from New gate. Before his release an application was made to Mr. Baron Alderson at chambers for a summons to be directed to the Governor of Newgate, to show why he refused to give up the prisoner to certain sheriffs' officers who hela an execution against him, but the learned judge refused the application, and the debt was subsequently settled. THE LATE ANABAPTISM AT WINCHESTER. —The Guardian states that the Rev. C. J. Proby, Rector of St. Peter Colebrook, has been suspended from all clerical functions in the Church of England. It appears that Mr. Brand, the Baptist minister, who rebaptised him, is an old and intimate friend of Mr. Proby both in India and at home. SUMMARY PUNISHMENT.—An effectual means for pre venting depredations has been adopted in ore of the Lon don parks. Any person who plucks a tree (9 or a flower is made to draw the roller for a certain time, or to give his name and appear before the magistrate. The former is generally preferred ; but as it subjects the individual to the laughter of all the lookers-on, it is not liked. An application to the postmaster-general has been nu merously signed at Peterborough, requesting the trans mission of letters from Hull, Wakefield, Manchester, Yarmouth, and other places (chiefly in the north) may be so arranged that they be not first taken to London! which makes it a two days' post, and causes much loss and in convenience. DECAPITATION.—On Saturday last a melancholy and fatal accident occurred at the steam saw-mill, Nairn. It appears that the workmen were engaged in the immediate vicinity of the saw, when one of them stooped down, for the purpose, it is thought, of adjusting the log; but in doing so his shoulders came in contact with the saw, which instantly decapitated him—completely severing his head from his body.—Elgin Courier. A single woman, named Ann Wright, of Birch-row, Radford, aged 29, a silk-winder, has committed suicide under the following circumstances :—She fancied a Wes leyan minister preaching in Nottingham had fallen in love with her, though he had never spoken to her. On being, after considerable reasoning, convinced by her friends that there was no foundation for such an idea, she retired to her bedroom and cut her throat with her father's razor. During a heavy storm of thunder and lightning, last week, the dwelling-house of Mr. Sidford of Bishopstone, was struck by the electric fluid, which forced two of the grates out of their places, passed round one of the rooms, melting the bell-wires, and proceeded up the chimney, in which it exploded, wholly demolishing that portion of the building. At Fovant, so heavy was the roin, that the water was three feet deep in the road. On Friday a young man, named William Waldron, died at Kensington, London, under the effects of cholera. Mr. Wakley (coroner) said that the case was one of de cided cholera, and considering the dampness of the pre sent season, it would be advisable for persons to take a great deal of spice, —for instance, a good deal of cayenne pepper. He did not believe that cholera was contagious, and he considered that if the stomach be well supplied with wholesome food, it will not be susceptible to cholera. SIR TATTON SYRES.—At Guildford assizes, on Satur day, this celebrated race-horse was the subject of an ac tion. The plaintiff was Mr. Kennedy, a gentleman of fortune, and the defendant was Mr. Clark, a gentleman who had been long acquainted with the turf. In 1847, the plaintiff purchased the horse for X 1,350, and in June, in this year, the parties to the action met, and had some talk about it, from which the defendant imagined that he had bought the horse. He removed him from the plain tiff's stables, and entered him as his own horse at Hamp ton races. The plaintiff tried to get the horse back, but failing in that, brought the present action for damages. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff—damages £B5O. CAUTION.—A CLERICAL IMPOSTOR.—The Glasgow Examiner, of Saturday, gives details of the mode in which "a grave-looking man, who describes himself as a preacher from Jamaica," has been duping the citizens of Glasgow. "He appeared to have African blood in his veins, was somewhere about forty years of age, and wore a hat of the most approved Episcopalian form, and pre sented all the outward appearance of a minister of the Gospel." He introduced himself to several gentlemen in Glasgow, and other introductions followed. He preached, prayed, and collected money, pretending it was for a school in Jamaica ; but it appears that the cash which he obtained by day he spent amongst - the most disreputable characters in the evening, for which purpose he disguised himself by putting on different attire. DREADFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION.—FOURTEEN LIVES LOST.—On Tuesday morning last, a lamentable explosion took place at Murton colliery, about nine miles from Durham. The catastrophe occurred soon after noon, in the " Polka" pit, and is ascribed to what is called a " blower," or accumulation of foul air, which had been ignited by some of the candles used by the workmen. After the report of the explosion was heard upwards of sixty men and boys who had been working in the same district of the pit in which it took place, but further from the mouth of the shaft, collected together, and endea voured to reach the mouth of the pit. They finally effec ted their escape. The explosion was of a violent nature. The body of a boy named Haddock, who was employed close to a man named Noble, (also killed,) was found 40 or 50 yards from the body of the latter. In all fourteen lost their lives, four only by the explosion, and ten by the effects of the after-damp. Three horses were also killed. The pit appeared to be perfectly safe just before, and was well ventilated. The depth of the part where the explo sion took place is 220 fathoms. The pit was but slightly damaged. THREE CHILDREN AT A BIRTH : —A poor woman, named Hapsom, residing at 50, Little George-street, Hampstead-road, London, has been delivered of three children all are going on as well as can be expected. A SMART REPROOF FOR A JURY.—During the Dur ham Assizes, a charge was preferred against a prisoner for having assaulted a policeman at Winlaton, with intent to do him grievous bodily harm. The jury returned a ver dict of guilty of a common assault. Mr. Justice Cress well, in sentencing the prisoner, said, " He had no doubt the jury had returned such a verdict as they were bound to return, in the exercise of such talents as God had blessed them with !" LIGHTING THE NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.—On Thursday night experiments for the purpose of testing a new system of gas burners, with which it is proposed to light the interior of the new houses of Parliament, were made in Trafalgar-square. A branch, containing eight burners, for consuming common gas, was introduced into the refleztor at the south east corner of the square, and which threw a most brilliant light, by which small print could be read at forty paces. Burma WELL PRESERVED.—Last week, while some men were digging in a mossy ground on the farm of Achilty, belonging to Mr. Ross of Kinnahaird, they dis covered, about three feet under ground, a cask, one-half of which was quite sound, and found to contain a quantity of butter. Some parties conjecture that it was hidden during the rebellion of 1745, by some cautious person, alarmed at the depredations then committed by the scat tered forces.—lnverness Courier. AN OPEN GAOL.—A spectacle of rare occurrence in these dangerous times was presented to the inhabitants of Tretford on Saturday. The keeper of the Borough Gaol suspended a white flag from the topmost window of the prison -house, and, throwing open all the doors, afforded an opportunity to those whose feelings might be too ten der to view the victims of vice and crime in the solitary cell, to inspect the interior of the place without an inha bitant. ENGLISH AND IRISH REAPERS.—In some parts of the country a feeling of jealousy amounting to violence has sprung up between these parties, and the Irish have been driven away. At Hatfield, an Englishman, named Ed ward Swain, was ferociously killed by one of a party of Irish, whilst sitting in a public-house with a number of companions, but taking no part in a disturbance between the native and strange reapers. At Doncaster the disputes prevailed for a week. EXTRAORDINARY CASE.—A few weeks ago, when the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards were stationed at Not tingham Barracks, two of the privates quarrelled, and one bit the other in the finger. The wound festered, and at length the man's whole body became affected, the bones, denuded of flesh, protruding through the skin. The suf ferer lingered until Monday, when he was relieved by death. The case has excited great interest in a medical point of view. The Government have very wisely determined to take early precautions to prevent the cholera from spreading to our shores, in the event of any case occurring in ships afloat. They have ordered the Benbow and Devonshire, old line-of battle-ships, to be immediately prepared as hospital-ships, to receive Cholera patients from merchant vessels ; and another ship, the Iphigenia, is also to be fitted as a cholera hospital-ship, should necessity require additional accommodation. MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE.—Thomas Hall, a youth of nineteen, is in custody at Nottingham, charged with having wounded, with intent to murder, his sweetheart, Francis Green, by whom he had had a child, by discharg ing a pistol at her. The statement of the priQoner is, that he purchased the pistol from a man in the street, and, not knowing that it was loaded, cocked and snapped it at the young woman, when it exploded, wounding her in the neck. The unfortunate young woman now lies in the hospital in a very dangerous state, the ball not having at present been extracted. EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE.—A few days since, a la bourer fell down a shaft of the tunnel at Retford, 130 feet deep. Of course those who saw the accident naturally concluded that the unfortunate man must have been dashed to pieces, but, singular as it may seem, he fell into the sump hole, in which was about six feet of water, and did himself but little harm ! When he fell he was sense less, but was at once rescued from a " watery grave," by two men, who were on the spot at the time. Since then, the man has resumed his wonted employment, and seems none the worse for his perilous descent. A DINNER IN THE THAMES.—A young man named Coombs, having provided himself with some patent ap paratus, on Friday, undertook to light a fire and cook and eat a dinner in the Thames, the possibility of which seemed a matter of doubt to many spectators. Having moored a kind of floating teatray out in deep water, near the Chain-pier, Chelsea, he plunged into the stream, pro ceeded to light his fire and cook his dinner, which he not only accomplished with great ease, but also ate it with great gusto. to the astonishment of upwards of 3,000 persons. More than an hour had elapsed ere he had pre pared and taken his coffee, after which he floated to the surface, amidst the plaudits of all assembled. DIVORCE.—The divorce bill of Miss Field, or rather Mrs. Brown, has been thrown out of the-House of Lords. Miss Field, who by the death of her father was possessed of about £40,000 in money, and an income of £1,200 per annum, and who will be mistress of twice as much at the death of her brother, was, with the latter, under the care of a Mr. Brown, she being seventeen years old and he fifty-two. He persuaded her, by threats and otherwise, to marry him, and he published false banns, for which of fence he is now undergoing imprisonment. The result of the Lords' decision is, that the girl will be handed over to her husband the moment his term of imprisonment expires, and he will become master of her and her pro perty. . _ _ . . EXECUTION.—At Chelmsford, on Monday, Mary May, who was convicted at the last Essex Assizes of the murder of her brother at Wix, by poisoning him with arsenic, for the purpose of obtaining the allowance from a burial club at Harwich, in which she had entered his name without his knowledge, was executed in front of the county gaol. After her condemnation the miserable woman, who was 38 years of age, formed the design of starving herself to death, and for a time obstinately refused to take any food, but hunger at length subdued her, and since then she has taken her meals regularly, and slept soundly, sullenly denying her guilt, and treating her fate as a matter of indifference. Strong suspicion was excited that the un happy woman poisoned several of her children. AN ARTFUL ROBBERY.—On Saturday evening, about eleven o'clock, a very artful robbery was committed in the shop of Mr. David Habbershaw, grocer, Waterhouse lane. It appears that while Mr. and Mrs. Habbershaw were in the shop attending to some of their customers, a man rushed in crying out for protection, pursued by four men, all of whom followed him into the shop and pre tended that they were quarelling with him. They all ap peared extremely violent, swearing that they would have the man out of the shop. A scuffle ensued, and Mr. and Mrs. Habbershaw interfered in behalf of the man who was assailed. Ultimately, however, they all went into the street, and, in a short time afterwards, Mrs. Habber shaw, to her extreme astonishment, found that her pocket had been picked of her purse containing £3 and two half sovereigns.—Hull Packet. ONE OF THE GOVERNESS ADVERTISING GANG. — At Marlborough-street on Wednesday, John Smith, as he calls himself, but whose real name is Whiting, son of a deceased auctioneer of Bury St. Edmunds, was brought up, charged with felony, and with having for a length of time gone about representing himself to be Lord Alfred Hervey, M. P. for Brighton. From communications made to the magistrate, it appeared that the prisoner for about three years has been carrying on a system of fraud and immorality to an incredible extent. At one time he was riding about town in a carriage with footmen and coachmen, assuming the names of more than one noble man. A lady mentioned to Mr. Hardwicke that the pri soner had passed himself off to her as Lord George Ben thick, and that she believed his representations from see ing his stylish carriage and servants. One part of the prisoner's system appears to have been to reply to adver tisements for governess's situations ; and numerous ap pointments with young females were found in his posses sion. The prisoner was fully committed on two charges of felony. A COMICAL FOREMAN.—At Radnor Assizes, in the trial of Thomas Watkins, charged with stealing a pair of hames, the property of Edward Bird, Mr. Allen replied to the defence, by contending that if the prosecutor was to be believed, lie had never lent the harness to Powell, and therefore the prisoner could not have borrowed them. The foreman of the jury here arose and said, " It is im possible that he could have ploughed without them." — Mr. Allen resumed, but it was evident that his observa tions were not attended to by the jury, for they were al ready busily engaged in consultation. In the midst of the learned gentleman's address, the foreman again in terrupted him by saying, " There ! we have had enough o'that ! we shanna find him guilty !" For a moment the learned gentleman looked confounded—he, however, took the hint, and in a few words concluded. His lordship then summed up the evidence, and the jury, without a moment's hesitation said, " We find a verdict that the prisoner borrowed 'em."—The judge : Is the prisoner guilty or not guilty ?—The foreman : Not guilty, my lord. After the lapse of a few minutes, he again ad dressed the court by saying, Have you done with us, my lord ?—The judge : Yes, the jury are discharged, and the county thank them for their services.—The foreman : Oh ! but I beg your pardon, your honour, a'nt there no pay ? (Laughter.)—His lordship did not reply.—The foreman (with indignation) : By God, it's a shabby consarn ! I'll be d—d if I ever come here again.—The court then rose, amid much laughter, the business being concluded. PAYNE'S TIMBER-PRESERVING PROCESS.—A second most successful experiment, to test the uninflanimability of wood prepared by Payne's process, took place a few days since, at Westminster, in the presence of the Lord Mayor ; the Speaker of the House of Commons ; Lord Dudley Stuart, M.P. ; Lord Ebrington, M.P. ; and many scientific gentlemen. The experiment consisted in expo sing to the agency of flame two wooden cottages of similar dimensions, the one Paynized, the other unprepared. In the interior of each, and simultaneously, about 7 or 8 lbs. of dry shavings were ignited. The Paynized struc ture resisted this severe ordeal three several times, being merely charred at the termination of the trial. That un prepared was consumed to the water's edge by the first charge, during the time these ineffectual attempts were being made to destroy the other. The mode here presen ted of preserving life and property from fire, is worthy of consideration. The cities of Liverpool, Manchester, and other great centres of population, are much interested in, the subject. Apart from the accidents to which property is always subjected from fire, we observe that in various parts of the world, especially in the West Indian planta tions, where the towns and factories often consist entirely of wood, incendiaries have lately succeeded in the wilful destruction of valuable property. An additional reason may therefore be urged in favour of a careful investigation of the matter by the authorities, by the Fire Insurance Companies, and by the public. The qualities of Paynized timber to resist the destructive agencies of the dry rot, of the white ant, and even of the augur worm, and its applicability to the general purposes of railway con§truc tion, are already well known. August it, 18451. At the Carlisle Assizes, on Thursday, J. Murray, aged 26, was found guilty of bigamy, having married Martha Sanderson, his first wife, whom he had married only three years previously, being still alive. The case was remark able as showing the facilities afforded by the Scotch law, for what is commonly called Scotch marriages, for decep tion. The first marriage was celebrated by the landlord of a public-house, the second by a toll-keeper. The ce remony consisting only in their declaring themselves to be man and wife in the presence of a third party. The pri soner was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment and hard labour. Loss OF THREE LIVES.—On Monday, the Isleworth regatta was held on the Thames. At a ball at the Water men's Arms were three young men, named Edward Bol ton, aged 22, William Smith, 19, William Pendry, 25, and four others named Mancey, Wicker, Baylis, and Bolton, a younger brother of the beforementioned Edward Bolton. Between four and five o'clock these young men decided upon having a row up the river before going to work, and for that purpose unloosed a skiff that was made fast to a barge moored off Ashby's cement works. They had pro ceeded up the river and neared the railway bridge, when William Smith stood up in the boat, and the others com menced rocking the boat. This caused her to ship a quantity of water ; she swayed on one side, and instantly turned bottom upwards, immersing the whole party in 15 feet of water, it then being the top of the tide. All the men could swim except Pendry and Wicker, who had a wooden leg, and Smith was a noted swimmer. Several boats with drags were soon on the spot. In the mean time Mancey, who had got to shore safe, seeing that Wisker, the one-legged man, must sink if not assisted, nobly swam out and brought him to shore, as he also did the younger Bolton. The three first mentioned young men were un fortunately drowned. PALEY'S NATURAL THEOLOGY.—A startling article, under the signature of " Verax," appears in the current number of the Athenceum, charging Dr. Paley as a pla giarist, and that his celebrated treatise on " Natural Theology," is nothing more than a copy of the writings of a Dutchman, who flourished about one hundred years before our author. " Verax" says, and we think truly, " that there is not probably one out of a thousand of Dr. Paley's readers who does not believe the treatise on Na ture Theology' to have been entirely suggested by, and carved out of the natural sources of Dr. Paley's mind — that he had collected all the materials, and arranged them according to his own ideas of method, and that he was in the fullest sense of the words an original thinker and illustrator of this department of human knowledge." In support of the charge several parallel extracts from both works are given. To show further the connexion between " Chamberlayne's Christian Philosopher" and " Paley's Natural Theology" the plan of both publications is given in parallel columns. They are almost complete in their identity, and prove how closely Paley has followed the Dutch philosopher. There can be no doubt that the as persions here cast upon the doctor's reputation will cause much literary excitement. EXTRAORDINARY CREDULITY.—A few weeks ago, a gang of gypsies took up their abode on Osmotherley Common (North Riding of Yorkshire) ; and George Leng, a man near seventy-eight years of age, who resides on a small farm belonging to R. Haynes, Esq., and which is situated just in the locality where those insidious gentry had " pitched their tents," has had the misfortune to be come the dupe of their base stratagems. It appears that a female belonging ter this party, taking advantage of the old man's credulity, persuaded him that a " pot of gold," containing £7OOO, was hid in one of his fields ; and in order that he might become the possessor of this valuable treasure, it was requisite for him to advance £4O. Elated with joy at the idea of becoming a "gentleman" in his declining days, the old man used every effort to get this amount collected together. Not being able to raise more than £l7 10s. - he began to despair of success ; but the - female, ever anxious to promote the welfare of her fellow creatures, and taking into consideration the poverty of the old man, finally agreed that by having the money delivered up to her, she would carry out the process. After the agreement to these arrangements, it was proposed that the gypsy female and her dupe should meet in the field at an hour when the rest of mankind had retired to rest, and then the old man should take possession of his hidden treasure. Punctual to the appointed time, the old man took his spade and pickaxe, and repaired to the field ; but as for his gypsy " friend," her harvest was finished. Like those " stray birds" which visit us in the pleasant months of summer, and then take their departure for a more genial clime, she had taken her flight with the wings o f the morning, leaving the old man to declare his loss, and to mourn over his folly. A LONDON SEWER.—A general meeting of her ma jesty's justices and commissioners of sewers was held on Thursday, Lord Morpeth in the chair, when the follow ing startling fact came out. The clerk read the report of the surveyor on an examination of the sewers in the Kent and Surrey district. It said :--•' When we had proceeded to the man-hole, about 40 feet from the side entrance.. opposite No. 12, Friar-street, Blackfriar's-road, the safety lamp we were provided with went out; the air was so foul as to be incapable of supporting combustion. We were deterred from again lighting it, as, had we made the at tempt, an explosion must inevitably have occurred. At this point, myself, the superintendent of the Rushers, and the man who accompanied us, were seized with a fainting sensation ; the superintendent became alarmed, attempted to rush back, and fell fainting into the water, at thisplace upwards of two feet in depth. It was some minutes beiore we recovered him, as we were in total darkness , , and ourselves affected by the foul gas. All the silver and copper money, our watches, and almost every article of metal that we had about us, were coated with a peculiar dark livid tint. The Friar-street sewer is of modern construction • it was built by order of the late commis sioners, in the latter part of last year." Mr. Chad wick said this was an example of cases of a frequent kind , met with where the sewers emitted the foulest odours. This sewer was only built last year, by the late commissioners, which the present commissioners had no power or means to remedy, unless their new bill before parliament were passed into a law. Several commissioners expressed their astonishment that a sewer should have been so recently and imperfectly constructed, and urged that every means should be used to get their new bill passed in the present session of parliament. MAGISTERIAL INJUSTICE.—A case was tried at Devizes on Saturday, remarkable for the relative _positions occu pied by the prosecutor and prisoner. Mary Anne New man, the prisoner, a woman of unimpeachable character, even upon the admission of the prosecutor, Mr. Williams of Braydon, lived in his service as cook. She was indicted,. together with Jane Goddard, the one for stealing and the other for receiving property stolen from Mr. Williams. The facts were these :—Goddard came to the presecutoes house, and asked him to buy some corks she had in her basket, or to give her something to eat, by way of alms. He would, however, do neither, and ordered her off the premises. He went into an outhouse to watch her, while Mary Anne Newman, the cook, being unaware of what had passed between Goddard and her master, entered into conversation with the woman Goddard. Goddard said she had seven children, and had no victuals to give them. The cook's heart was touched by the pitiful story, and she gave the unfortunate woman some broken victuals , the exact amount of which we are enabled to state with the utmost precision. They consisted of three pieces of rough bread and four slices of rusty bacon. Goddard then went away, but, as she was passing out, Mr. Williams emerged from his place of concealment, and questioned her as to the way in which she became possessed of the broken victuals he saw in her apron. She admitted that she had received them from his servant. Mary Anne Newman, on the other band, acknowledged at once that she had given the scraps of food, but said she had done so out of charity. Mr. Williams then gave both her and Goddard into custody, and a magistrate—the Rev. J• Hawkins—was found, who, upon this. evidence, actually committed the poor girl for trial. We need scarcely say that the jury at Devizes brought in a verdict of not g uilty. Mr. Justice Coleridge, the presiding judge, heartily con curring in the propriety of the verdict, and animadverting in severe terms upon the conduct of those who had placed the innocent girl in a position which would be synonymou s with disgrace, were it not sometimes occupied bY'person s as guiltless as herself. Meanwhile, the poor girl spent some two or three months in gaol, while the master , Arb° prosecuted her, and the magistrate who committed her, were at large.— Times. A FASHIONABLE SWINDLER AT SUNDERLAND. — A n affair has lately transpired at Sunderland which has cre ated much gossip. The history of the matter is shortly this :—A young lady, daughter of a respectable Sundeir; land tradesman—goes to Scarborough some few mo ot h ago, for the season. It becomes believed at Scarbora°_,g whether through the lady's own report, or that of tithe r '' it does not clearly appear—that she is an heiress ! Forth with sundry speculative gents commence dangling of t ". the now beautiful and wealthy lady—rich ladies are alvoY," beautiful—amongst the rest, a suitor clothed in purPl and fine linen," who dubbed himself an Indian officer,°%. the son of a nobleman ! This gallant gentleman , rather young nobleman, carried the lady by storm tid was ravished by her beauty and accomplishments , could not wait another day till she became " his a vgl A clergyman (so called) appears, under a special linen'ei (which he carried no doubt in his pocket, as it was pet he and the delighted pair were, supposedly to ?" e ~, lady, bound in the silken bonds of matrimony. Th e riage is sent, with all pomp and circumstance, to the U derland and other neighbouring papers, and the haerl pair, after a short tour, do themselves the pleasure, a n d' others the happiness, of paying a visit to the relati ve friends of the lady at Sunderland. A course of feasting o, gone through by all those connected with the familYte. so& uad become honoured by their new relative, and p re !' cooks are sought at any cost to prepare all the Mica. of the season. The affectionate father presents the. 18t1; with a gold watch, as a bridal gift, value £ 4O, w hic h s happy husband is much delighted with, and resolvsee ding send it off to his own engraver, to'have a suitable In tion placed upon it ! Apartments are taken at the v leotl: o ; hotel, and the ever-bustling host has to rack his in en_ eo ly for viands, costly and rare, on which to feed this heo: nd a pair. Well, at length, mine host's bill is to pal , c e n ts, cheque for £34 odd, upon:a first-rate firm, as arnlY Sh re wd in London, is tendered. Mine host, a notoriously Stling.. wight, is " much obliged," but would like " Bank o ', a sh land " better. At length, the too happy.father would coo the cheque, and all are smiles and happiness agt!ol, ca ds pair now must depart : they are going where atitk e py " the officer," and a reluctant consent of the They.l' goy 6 ' friends is at length given for their departure. d but where ? oh ! where ? They have not sinceTbreofbaettprer of ; but we regret to add, the cheque has ! ; tbel placed it in his banker's care, suspecting n otion ° , rik i a g pass it to London, and—it returns with tiered the words written across it, which, on l!re,`,, la de ready clerks were found to be "No Effects." e . 1 .1 as° nouement stands ' thus:: the officer has got has h ready; companion, minus her wealth, which s bring the lady is done out of everything—the imoncloctpayr s t a confederate of the scam, and the watch notehlaevsig yet t n tb z returned from the engrav e r —the friends e v the luckrelative, who is a swindler—and unfi luckiest fellow, has got the watch 1,--Zturha ni hrOUSCfr*