The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-11-09 00:00:00

Ettcratur. POETRY. THE POPLIN WEAVER. (From Air. Starkey's Theoria.) I'm loth to awake ye, Art, my dear ! But the steps of a stranger are drawing near : Up the ricketty stair they come, Making, I think, for our wretched room:— Rise, Art, rise! the last shilling 's spent— Art, it 's the sheriff—the rent—the rent See, daylight has lit on the window-sill — Art ! is it you to be slumbering still? Ye knew that at last we must quit, or pay, Though ye didn't expect the distress to-day? Rise, i Art, rise ! the last shilling 's spent — Art, t 's the sheriff—the rent—the rent ! At the door !—oh, a month to make up what 's due! The landlord he knows, Art, your word is true; — If he saw how we strive, he'd put off the sale— - 'Twas the will of God that the trade should fail! Rise, Art, rise! the last shilling 's spent— Art, it 's the sheriff—the rent—the rent! In days gone by, it was Ireland's pride To be decked in the web that our looms - supplied : Those were the times, Art, that ye took me home, And told me that love would make business come. Rise, Art, rise! the last shilling 's spent— Art, it 's the sheriff—the rent—the rent ! It's hunger, Art, that has made ye weak — What can I think of, your fast to break ? Here, Art, here is my wedding-ring--- The lodgers will lend on the blessed thing ! Rise, Art, rise ! the last shilling 's spent — Art, it 's the sheriff—the rent—the rent I God forgive me I my heart is torn To drag ye from bed this bitter morn: The bed that they're coming to seize, and sell — Where I've nursed and prayed by ye, sick and well! Rise, Art, rise I the last shilling 's spent— Art, it 'a the sheriff—the rent—the rent ! VII. How silent he sleeps! not a stir, or breath! Poor famishing husband, you're worked to death ! At the shuttle before and after the sun — And a morsel of meal when the day is done ! -Rise, Art, rise I the last shilling 's spent— Art, it 's the sheriff—the rent—the rent ! Arm. Dead ! —Oh, my God ! it is over at last— The wearisome struggle is past—is past ! The heavens be praised ! 'tisn't you need fear— 'Tis your widow that 's desolate, husband dear ! Rise, Art, rise, to the happy skies, Where the tears are wiped from the poor man's eyes ! SKETCHES OF A TRIP TO THE CONTINEN r, s- ITALY, AND EGYPT. BY EDWIN BEET, ESQ. No. XVIII. (Written for the Liverpool Standard.) In my return to Palermo from Agrigantum with my kind-hearted friend and good Samaritan Williams, we visited some Saracenic hot wells. The waters are from 80 to 90 degrees of heat ; vast volumes constantly gush forth, and the rooms are clouded by steam. The pillars and arches of these wells are picturesque and antique, and resemble those of a Saracenic bridge near the Ele phantine bone cave, in the vicinity of Palermo. We also passed close to the lofty Monte Camarada, seen for many miles, and slept at Alcarra. The mode of travelling by latiga is not unpleasant, except when crossing the preci pitate beds of rivers, steep-descending valleys, or ascend ing sudden elevations, when a false step of either of your mules might be dangerous to life or limb. The latiga is much like our sedan-chairs, only the supporting poles, instead of being carried by human hands, are fastened into the sockets of the harness of the horses or mules ; and the jolting frequently causes you to strain vigorously, and hold fast with pertinacity, or you would be thrown with violence against or upon your companion and bro ther voyager, who faces you. A muleteer and a stout lad are generally the conductors, who walk and run at about five miles an hour by the side, or before and behind the latiga. My journey with Mr. Williams was made very pleasant by his interesting narrative of his eight years' residence in Sicily : the frequent dangers he was exposed to by the noxious air in the sulphur mines—often obliged to run to the entrance of the mines for air and life. In one instance two of the natives were prostrate in suspended animation, and, by almost superhuman exertions, he dragged them one in each hand to the entrance of the mine, and then fell senseless and fainting himself. Many anecdotes he related of the ignorance and superstition, often fatal, of the native Sicilians (true fatalists), who, by their bigotry, perished rather than avoid the dangers besetting their perilous employment ; as our miners, too careless to carry Davy's safety-lamp, are so frequently blown up by fatal explosions. The leading features in the landscape of Sicily are the constant succession of hill and valley, dried-up rivers in the summer, and the vast cacti plants along the highway sides, growing from 13 to 15 feet in height, and nearly two feet in circumference. Our verdant English hedges are here in Sicily, as in Italy, almost unknown. I was sadly disappointed in what I expected to be the soft Sici lian vespers, as in several of the churches I heard the most boisterous Stentorian vociferations and bellowings, which, after the scientific and polished strains of the eunuchs and choir at Rome, grated on my ears with hor rible discordance. In a paved court near the Senate house and Post-office, there are 48 tablets, with various Roman, Italian, and Arabic inscriptions, fixed into the walls ; and the dried-up fountain, with its disgusting nude gigantic female figures and sea-nymphs, is more a nuisance than an ornament to the city. Sunday morn ing was a noisy time : all the markets busy—sturdy fel lows crying. out their commodities. Three gentlemen and two ladies I observed drinking cooling drinks at a krthing a glass : it was iced and spiced water, rolled about in a curiously suspended cask, to cause a sparkling effervescence. The lottery-offices I have noticed sell a great many tickets on the Sunday. " Better luck on the better day," these voluntarily-taxed merry people expect. The tables of the money-changers in the streets and shops are open and busily employed on the Sunday. Strolled into another gorgeous church : found a very small con gregation of about four (the number that attends Boyle's Lectures at Bow Church), and the priests laughing. One of the tablets above alluded to had this inscription on it : DEAE NEMES 1.. M GELLIVSCAE. EX.IM DIVO CLAVDIO RES . PANHORMIT. This tablet to the goddess Nemesis, who is said to he the daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, or from Ocean and Night. Adrastus, King of Argos, first raised an altar to her ; and Rhamnus raised a magnificent temple to her at Attica. A temple in the Capitol at Rome was also dedi cated to this goddess. She is figured with a stern coun tenance, a whip in one hand, a pair of scales in the other, and is supposed to have the power of punishing those who escape human justice. There is also a very curious Phoenician inscription upon a stone at Catania; but your type will not express it, otherwise it would much interest the antiquary. I was rather surprised to hear two violins twanging away vigorously on the Sunday morning : look ing in at the open window, I saw lots of young people, lads and lasses, being taught dancing. I must not omit stating here the obligations I owe to Mr. Marsden, the American consul, who, with his lady and son, during my stay at Palermo, shewed me much kind attention and hospitality. How happy was I in hearing, once more in recovered health, the English Church service in the large saloon of Mr. Marsden's palace, from the balcony of which there is a delightful view of the bay, and generally a refreshing breeze blowing off the sea. I played many games of chess with this ex cellent gentleman, but he was too good a player for me, my only shadow of a victory being now and then the satisfaction of seeing him profoundly reflective. In one little church down near the sea-side, I was ra ther startled in observing that one of eight large beauti ful pictures was stated to be .a copy by an Englishman who had stolen the original; the copy being so clever, it was sometime before the theft was discovered : the inscription underneath the picture states the fact so little honourable to our countrymen. Mr. Godwin had been long a resident in the island. It was very singular that in a conversation we found we had resided many years at the Isle of Wight, the garden of England, and that many persons were mutually known there by us. How strange are the sensations that arise in the mind when a casual rencontre abroad brings together persons who have the same associations of ideas, know the same persons, recollect the living and the dead, who are far away, or for ever removed across the " bourne from whence no traveller returns ;" and as I wrote to the " Bard of Colour," so I now address my friends Marsden and Godwin, at Palermo— - Distance divides us now ; but o'er my soul Past scenes return—a solemn wandering train. The wheels of life roll onward to the goal, And we perchance may never meet again. The friend who now in sadness pens this lay, Departing for Britannia's far-famed shore, Hears in the breeze of night some spirit say, Bid them farewell. for we shall meet no more. And my good worthy friend, Williams, after a regretful adieu, and anticipating a meeting at Liverpool, I found since, upon inquiry, had only returned to see the faces of his affectionate family, and to die. Eight years of expo sure to the noxious atmosphere of those sulphur mines of Sicily had done their work, and brought on prematurely the silver hairs of age, and the once robust constitution was shattered. But the change of climate is at all times trying; this I myself experienced, for ne ver b a yi ng h a d any thi ng approaching to a fit of fainting before, neverthe less I fell senseless on the floor the fourth week after my arrival in England. This arises frequently, I have been told, from sudden change of climate, and that of Si c il y , Malta, and Egypt, is very different from the climate of this island. I returned to Naples by steam-boat, and had an equally favourable passage, crossing in about twenty one hours. I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Har vey, brother to T. K. Harvey,, the poet, and we soon got intimate and friendly, journeying together to Naples from Sicily, from Naples to Leghorn, thence to Florence. Some account of our journey to the gay city of Florence must commence my next chapter. VARIETIES. A letter-writer of the New Orleans Mercury says : !` We had a charming passage round Cape Horn, losing four persons and having four births during the trip."— Which was the charm ? PROOF OF MARRIAGE.—Before the revising barrister, the other day, a witness being asked how he knew that a man and woman were husband and wife, replied, because he had often heard the lady blow the gentlemAn pp.' evicloce was held t 9 ViIIaWAYV :--- • A pack of foxhounds costs about £5OO per annum in meat and meal. A hunter, to be kept in good condition, must have at least three good feeds of oats a day. Grey hounds that are kept for running have regularly new laid eggs given to them, to keep them in wind, besides having the best joints of meat, such as legs of mutton, &c. A VERY MEAN MAN.---“ I've known some very mean men in my time. There was a Deacon Overreach, now; he was so mean he always carried a hen in his gig-box when he travelled, to pick up the oats the horse wasted in the manger, and lay an egg for his breakfast in the morning."—The "Old Judge," in Fraser's Magazine. A Pools. GENTLEMAN.—Next to a fallen Christian, a poor gentleman is, perhaps, the most pitiable object that walks the earth. "He cannot dig, and to beg he is ashamed." Let all who possess the means of showing kindness, impose a double tax on their own tendency to indifference and selfishness in alleviating a woe like this. It will be both appreciated here, and rewarded hereafter. Poynder's Literary Extracts. TILE PARROT Si sr gentleman the other day, visiting a school at Edinburgh, had a book put into his hand for the purpose of examining a class. The word " inheritance" occurring in the verse, the querist inter rogated the youngster as follows :—" Wh at is inheritance ?" Answer : "Patrimony." " What is patrimony ? Answer : " Something left by a father." " What would you call it if left by a mother ?" Answer : "Matrimony." " JERUSALEM SHALL BECOME HEAPS."—Now, in digging for the foundations of the new church which is erecting at Jerusalem, the workmen have discovered that Jerusalem was literally, according to the prophecy of Micah, a place of " heaps." They have had to dig forty feet deep before they could reach a sure foundation—forty feet of masonry was obliged to be buried in the loose soil of that strange land. THE FIRST FORGED NOTE.—Ten new and separate Acts—all denouncing the punishment of death for differ ent acts of forgery or embezzlement of notes and bills— nassed the legislature in quick succession ; making the English Statute Book a dreary wilderness of blood. And still the prevalence of these offences increased :—and im mediately after the passing of the last-mentioned act for the protection of the Bank of England, the first forged Bank of England note was presented for payment by Richard William Vaughan, a Staffordshire linendraper.— Lord Nugent. DECIPHERING POWER OF PRINTERS.—You tax me with illegible writing; but I fear I cannot amend it, for 1 must not stay to shape my letters, and I have, I believe, got a bad habit from the facility with which the printers here make it out. I verily believe if I shut my eyes, or flung the pen at the paper, so as to make any kind of mark, the London printers would know what I intended to say. They always sent me back my manuscript with my printed proofs for correction ; and I actually have repeatedly been unable to make out what I had written until I referred to the same article in print.—Gerald Griffin. INDIAN CAMP-FOLLOWERS.—An Indian army is always attended by an extraordinary number, of men, women, and children. These are ten times more nu merous than the troops themselves ; so that when the whole employed force amounts to two hundred thousand men, there are in the field at one moment, though in different parts of the country, two millions of human beings who derive their subsistence from the military ex penditure alone of the company. The march of even a small army thus includes an enormous assemblage ; and its usually slow progress, not more than ten or twelve miles a day, keeps up a continuous excitement in the ter ritory through which it passes. RAILWAYS IN INDIA.—It is scarcely possible to look upon the results of establishing railroads in India, with out something of the enthusiasm which belongs more to poetry than to statistics. But, "in the Golden Penin sula," there spreads before the Englishman a space of nearly a million anda quarter of square miles, inha bited by about one hundred and thirty-four millions of souls, with a sea coast of immense extent, washed by two oceans, and bordering on vast countries of hitherto unex plored opulence. The resources of Birma, Siam, and the Eastern Archipelago, have been scarcely touched by the hand of man. Savage governments, savage nations, and savage indolence, have left those countries almost in a state of nature ; yet it is within the tropics that the true productiveness of the earth is alone to be looked for. Our long witers, our mountains, and the comparative sterility of Europe, prohibit that richness of produce which only waits the hand of man in the south, and it is only when the industry of the European shall be suffered to throw its strength into the Asiatic soil, thAt man will ever be able to discover the true extent of the bounties provided for him by creation. The three great divisions, or rather three zones of India—the country comprehending the great northern chain of mountains, the belt of plains, from the foot of the mountains to the head of the penin sulas, a breadth of twelve hundred miles ; and the penin sula itself, a territory extending from thirty-five degrees north latitude to the equator—give every temperature and every product of the world. The mighty rivers intersect ing this region, the Indus, the Ganges, and the tributa ries, will soon be occupied by the steam-boat ; and the railway, running through immense plains, on which the harvests of thousands of years have been suffered to perish, will soon develope the powers of the people and the fer tility of the soil, by opening to India the market of all nations.—Blackwood. THE EXTRA-TIDY HUMBUG.—Without disputing the proverb which pronounces cleanliness to be next to godli ness, I fear I must class some of the extra-tidy folk in the ranks of the minor humbugs. In every two or three houses you will find one which boasts a room which is only opened to be cleaned. Such a freezingly neat place. It makes you shudder, like a boarding-school state parlour, or a dentist's reception room. The grate, which looks as cold as the North Pole—the bright poker, which never stirs up a flickering blaze—the gaudy books, not intended to be read—the prim chairs, never placed there to be sat down upon—the sleek sofas, never meant to be rumpled by a luxurious lounger—the very genius of chilly, formal, finnikin Humbug haunts the place like a frost. Were there a speck of dust visible on the gaudy carpet, you would shake it from your feet as you turned away to look for other quarters, less tidy, but more comfortable, with fires you can poke and sofas you can sleep on after din ners. It is, however, on the whole, perhaps, rather a good plan to give up one room in a house to the ravages of a super-extra-tidy woman, if you can keep her tolerably quiet in the rest. But beware of the Humbug of " put ting to rights." Beware of finding, after your return from a day in the country, your study or your writing room a perfect chaos of neatness ; all the books arranged with reference to their bindings, the gaudiest boards of course occupying the most prominent places ; and all your stray papers, memoranda, jottings, and hints, to be ela borated in future pages, swept recklessly off to the dust hole, on the charge of being a mere " lot of rubbish of papers lying littering about the room." An ill-natured literary friend of mine states that he is in the habit of in diting his most valued lucubrations on paper cut in all manner of fantastic forms. He finds that the women of his household take it for patterns of unknown costumes, and of course hold it as sacred as negroes do their Fetish. There are some men absurdly finnikin in their personal habits. It was no later than last autumn that I chanced to encounter a gale of wind in a steamer in the Irish Channel. It came on at night, and by dawn axe sea was running high ; dead lights on all the cabin-windows, a wooden covering over the sky-light, top-mast and yards on deck, and the good ship pitching bows under. Stea dying myself in my berth, I looked round the gentlemen's cabin. There were a couple of miserable candles, hardly kept steady by their leaded sockets, flickering about on the table, while by their dim and uncertain light half-a dozen fellows, in various stages of incipient and conva lescent sea-sickness, were staggered about before little dancing swaying mirrors, hung from the berths, with ra zors in their hands, cutting and slashing away at their chins, slicing off the skin, and leaving the beard, but still impressed with the conviction that they were shaving, and that shaving was an operation quite indispensable, even for one day in a gale of wind, on board a Cork steamer. With a sigh of pity for the unhappy Humbugs, I turned round and went to sleep again.—Natural History of Humbugs. WANT OF A LAW OF COPYRIGHT STARVES THE LITERATURE OF THE UNITED STATES.—The political theorist would say beforehand, that under the proposed copyright law the people would be deprived of cheap books : and this is one of the popular delusions that expe rience must dispel. The present laws do indeed make books very cheap, if cheapness is to be estimated only by the cost per copy, and if legibility, convenience, durabi lity, and honesty are to go for nothing : and if the price which a whole nation pays for such books in many serious losses, is also to be excluded from the calculation. The present laws encourage the rapid manufacture of such books as will sell ropily. Novels and light reading of all kinds are thus multiplied, to the exclusion of more valua ble books, which sell slowly ; and in consequence, an en tire nation becomes infected with the depraved appetite of mawkish school-girls. But these novels must be printed at the lowest rate ; for being unprotected, some one will bring them out as cheaply as possible, and he who does so will command the market. Thus book-making becomes a mean and debased art ; and books are crowded upon the public, at prices merely nominal ; having much the appearance, and sharing the fate, of newspapers, which perish in the using. At the same time, these worthless books affect the prices of all books. Valuable works re quired for libraries must be printed with the least possible investment of capital, or not printed at all. If any one undertakes such publications, he must stint the editor, shave the paper-maker, grind the printer, starve the stitchers, and make the binder slight his work. This is the kind of " living" which the report of Congress says is furnished to thousands of persons by the republishing of English work ; and such'it must be, where every publisher has to make books to sell. The books thus published are dear at any price ; and the best works do not get before the public at all. No choice American editions can be found of Burke, of Gibbon, of Hume, or even of Robert son, the historian of the continent ; but if one imports such an edition, he finds himself taxed at the Custom house to pay for the miserable thing he refuses. You look in vain for an edition of Jeremy Taylor ; and if you import that of Bishop Heber, you pay a guinea to the Customs to sustain the privilege of American publishers to publish it if they choose. The writings of Lord Clarendon cannot be had in an American edition ; your importation is taxed, because at some future day it may be convenient for some one to get up the whole in one volume. The same is the case with the whole works of Milton, Dryden, and many others quite as essential to libraries : but the case is still more provoking with the better class of modern works, such, for instance, as Alison's " History of Europe." Unda a copyright law, it could be published in New York from the English plates, and scla almost as cheap as the poor affair now in the market, which cannot be better, be cause it would be immediately ruined by a less expensive rival reprint. Yet, if I import a copy, to save my eye sight, I must pay for refusing this. Thus every time an American bays a foreign book—and such books are bought by thousands—he is paying for the broad privilege of booksellers to make the books they import ; a privilege which they do not in general care to use, except in the C§§e of new pfd vWi it ePliemexal wvecif.--Macitwoq, THE PRETENTIOUS HUMBUG.—Jack Cotherstone is a good fellow enough, but he will set up, not exactly for a millionaire, but for the possession of—" no matter : some thing handsome, comfortable, quite enough, my boy, to keep the pot boiling, and a little over." I called on Jack the other Sunday afternoon. He had just dined, and was in the act of mixing a comfortable glass of humble gin and-water. He had heard my foot on the stairs, and I caught him in the very act of smuggling the lowly com pound into the cupboard. " Just in time, my boy, for a glass of wine—some port. I got it by mere accident ; but I rather flatter myself you will find it slightly the thing —vintage of eighteen." And in spite of my declared pre ference for the liquid vulgarly and familiarly denominated Old Tom, Jack bolted out of the room to order the girl to bring up a special red-sealed beaker. 1 heard the outer door shut and open before she returned, but attributed it to some peculiarity in the construction of the house, which placed the entrance to the cellarage next door, or possibly over the way. At length the damsel re-appeared, empty handed. " Please sir," depositing a half-crown on the table ; " please sir, 'tad gone three, and the waults was shut ; but—" Jack's awfully black looks stopped her. Oh, Humbug ! how you punish the victim you delude ! Natural History of Humbugs. A SCENE IN IRELAND.—What carts are these passing along like the baggage trains of a retreating army ? I was soon at their side—These are emigrant convoys ' • the last of the season or nearly so—l counted six, loaded with women and children, who, wrapped in cloaks but mostly bare headed, sat upon their chests and boxes. The men walked by their side, and were of all ages, from striplings to the sexagenarian —some women as old as this were in the carts: age will not be parted from youth, for in no country under heaven does family affection more power fully reign. On all sides round the carts were their iron and tin cooking utensils—yes, these people could evi dently cook, and well knew the value of such vessels, being of an order far above the first poor family I had seen. But precisely such as these, Ireland can least afford to part with. These people had wended their way from Roscommon. Children at the breast were among them—lovely creatures, smiling at a fate hidden from their view. Throughout the entire band there was not a sad countenance. Hope seemed to struggle if not with joy, yet with resolution, at leaving a land in which they felt so little security, and so much sorrow ; and yet these people have turned their backs upon millions of acres of better land than any to be found in Canada—land still lying as nature formed it—rich and productive ! And why are these lands still waste? Ask the proprietors, (if you can find them) ; inquire into the Court of Chancery; solve the riddle if you can, and clever indeed will you be if you can find it out. —People's Journal. EFFECT OF NON-PROTECTION OF HIS WORKS UPON THE AMERICAN AUTHOR.—But the nation pays for its cheap books more dearly still, when you consider the effect of its present system upon its literary men. It forces this class of its citizens to " make brick without straw." For the reasons I have shown, the books from which authors collect their materials are not to be found at home, and can only be imported at an aggravated ex pense, and often with great delays and trouble. Think of my waiting ninety days in New York, to procure a work like ' Lord Clarendon's History of the Rebellion !' Now, I hazard nothing in saying that many an American author has given up projected works of great importance, from the discouragement of similar delays; whilst proofs are manifold, that the chief defects of valuable works actually produced in America may be traced to such inconveniences. The patient author often confesses as much in his preface, without seeming to know that his country, in stimulating the almost exclusive publication of trash, and taxing him to support such publications, is the fostering patron to which he owes his difficulties. Thus does America nip her young genius in the bud ; and when it perchance comes to flower and fruit, she is not behind-hand with a blight. The unknown production of the American author is brought into a depressing competition with works which have been tried in England, and found certain of success in America. The popular British author, whom the public have long demanded, is furnished at the lowest price—while the yet unheard-of native aspirant, who can only hope for a limited patronage, and cannot dispense with his copyright, must of course be paid more. Whilst all the poems of Mr. Tennyson, or his betters, may be had for a dollar, the maiden effort of an American youth cannot be furnished for much less. Of course. his country has crushed her child, under the weight of an unnatural disadvantage; and in proportion as he is worth anything, the chances are less that he will persevere against such odds. I know of a man of sterling genius, whose early writings attracted the notice of Maga, who has long since ceased to write for the public, in conse quence of the evils I now depict. His country may thank herself that he has not taken rank with the first English authors of his class. But the same system which thus deprives American authors of natural patronage, destroys their chances abroad. Until their own country relieves them, by putting foreign works on a level with theirs as to chance of success, England gives them no copyright, and they cannot get aid from her as heretofore. Cooper and Irving were encouraged by England under a different state of things ; and it is safe to say, that under present circumstances there will be no more Irvings and Coopers. lam surprised that American scholars submit with such equanimity to grievances under which genius must languish and emulation dies.—Blackwood. WINDOW GARDENING.— Another Point respecting which plants suddenly transplanted to a room receive a check, is the difficulty of supplying them with sufficient light. While they were kept in pits, in the nurseryman's care, they must necessarily have been placed close to the glass, and thus had the surface of their leaves fully exposed to the light, which was necessary to stimulate them to perform their proper functions.. In a room, on the con trary, they receive only a side light ; and the leaves being forced to turn themselves, so that the light may fall upon their upper surface, the plant either grows out of shape, or the leaves take a very odd and twisted appearance. This is another of those evils attending window gardening which it is extremely difficult to guard against ; and, in fact, as long as the plants are kept inside a room, so as to have only a side light, it is almost impossible that the colours of their flowers should be as vivid, and the shape of their plants should be as good, as when they are grown in a green-house. Something may, however, be done in choosing a favourable situation, even when plants can have only a side light ; and windows having a south or south-east exposure are the best, as they not only have the light longer every day, but it is also more intense, and the plants have the advantage of enjoying the warmth of the sun—an advantage the want of which cannot be sup plied to them by any artificial means. It has been said that flowers never attain their proper colour unless they can enjoy the light of the sun for five or six hours every fine day ; and that, in proportion as the quantity of sun light they receive is diminished, the plants lose their vigour, and the flowers their brilliancy. The light of the sun being of so much importance to the health of plants, it is evident that window gardening is more likely to be successful in the upper part of a house than in the lower part ; and that plants are more likely to be grown successfully in an attic than on the ground floor, unless the street in which the house is situated happens to be very wide. In the business part of Paris, it is by no means uncommon to see a complete garden of plants, in pots or tubs, on the leaden roof of a house, particularly collections of carnations, ranunculuses, and tulips • and some years ago, in one of the closest streets of Paris, there was a garden of fruit trees cultivated with complete suc cess on the leads of a house—one cherry tree in particular producing every year seven or eight pounds of fine cherries, and an apple tree a large crop of apples. In some parts of London, small gardens of plants, in pots, are kept on the leads ; and some years ago, there was a Paul's of this kind kept on the leads of a house in R. Paul's Churchyard by Miss Kent, author of the Flora j Domestics,ourn Journal. other works.—Miss Loudon in the Peo ple's THE LIVERPOOL STANDAR& @ritual fittorellanp. p Alderman Wood is about to resign his aldermanic gown, and accept the clerkship to the magistrates at Guildhall. Lord Sandon made an excellent speech on Wednesday at the Lichfield Diocesan Church Extension Society. The Dean of Ely has walked, with an umbrella up, through the tube of Lord Rossel's leviathan telescope. Three persons were nearly poisoned to death, last week, through eating holly berries. The Derby Mercury mentions that green peas are now growing in a garden at Wirksworth. Baths and washhouses are to be erected at Bristol, at a cost of £6,500. More rain fell during the last month than in any month of October for six or eight years past. WAR STEAMERS.—Eight or ten steamers are ordered out to sea with the greatest dispatch. The Royal Thames Yacht Club are going to take up seriously the charge of smuggling brought against the Due de Stacpoole. At the Oxford County Court, last week, a baker was ordered to pay 2s. 10d., the value of a dinner which he had spoilt in baking. It appears that the lead mines of Thomas Wentworth Beaumont, Esq., in the counties of Northumberland and Durham, produce annually about 12,000 tons of ore. Some unfledged swallows were found last week in a nest built on an outhouse at - Goldsborough, near Knares borough. Mr. Hudson secretary to the Leeds Mechanics' Institu tion has received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from one of the German universities. Mr. Etty's famous picture of Cleopatra, so long the property of Mi. Farren, has been purchased by Mr. La bouchere for the sum of one thousand guineas. The Rev. Dr. Riddell, Roman Catholic Bishop of the northern district, died on Tuesday at hls residence in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of typhus fever, which he had caught in his parochial visitations. Within the last few days, Scawfell and Skiddaw, and some of the neighbouring mountains of less elevation, have occasionally, for short periods, appeared in their wintry garbs of snow. At the Bank of England on Wednesday, there was an arrival of gold to the amount of upwards of £209,000. This makes nearly a million which has been received during ten days. At a large meeting in Carnarvon, last week,—the Mayor in the chair,—a resolution was passed, approving of the offer made by the Fleetwood Steam-packet Com pany to run a first-class steamer between the two ports. A gong, taken in the Chinese war, has been placed in the castle yard at Tynemouth. The hours are struck upon it ; and the sound is frequently heard at night while the clock at Shields is striking. Lieutenant Waghorn has been obliged to give notice that his establishment in England, India, &c., " will cease on the 24th of December next." The competition of a powerful company has entailed this necessity upon Mr. Waghorn. MODERN STAR-READING.—A poor woman, living at Stockton, having been robbed of £3B, applied to an astro loger of the village to detect the thief. The star-reader instantly, on seeing her son, declared Wu the thief, which hg §994 wfter confessed,. INCENDIARY FlRE.—Five large wheat stacks, and some of the outbuildings of Kentwood Farm, at Tilehurst, have been destroyed by an incendiary fire. The damage done to the property, which is insured, is estimated at £2,000. SINGUEAR DISCOVERY.—Workmen have been recently repairing the interior arches of Durham Cathedral. In the thickness of the transept arches they have found a fire-place, and chimney of large proportions. CHILD STEALING.—At the Chelmsford quarter ses siong, on Friday, a girl, aged thirteen, was sentenced to seven years' transportation for stealing a little girl three years old, which she had been intrusted to nurse. It is said that the late Professor M'Cullagh was pre paring an edition of Butler's " Analogy," confirming the original arguments in favour of revelation by the modern discoveries of science. Last week, after.a harvest supper at Grantown, Inver nessshire, the whole of the shearers (20) were taken ill, and still lie in a dangerous state. It is supposed that some one must -have poisoned the food. Owing to the pressure of the money market, the ship builders of Sunderland have proposed to reduce the wages of their carpenters from 275. to 245. per week. A strike is the consequence. • A circumstance, with reference to the high rate of interest, has been made known in the city. A number of eight months' bills have been sent over to Holland, discounted there at, the rate of four per cent., and the proceeds promptly received in gold by one of the steamers. On Sunday morning week, a most desperate affray took place near Devizes between the Marquis of Ailesbury's keepers and some poachers, and which has since termi nated fatally to one of the latter. A verdict of " justi fiable homicide " was returned at the inquest. The Custom-house officers finding thirty bottles of brandy on board a yacht, belonging to Mr. Oliver, have seized it. The owner considered himself entitled as a member of the R.Y.C. to have on board such a quantity of spirits. The oaks throughout England are said to have borne an unusual quantity of acorns this year, and it has been sug gested that farmers should cause these acorns to be ga thered.for the food of their pigs, as the crop of potatoes is so scanty. A Norfolk paper states that the Mayor of Yarmouth celebrated the Thanksgiving-day on Sunday fortnight, by giving a sumptuous collation to upwards of 400 of his friends in the Town-hall after church ! Toasts being given ! ! A colony of Highlanders, amounting to about 1,000, have purchased two entire townships in Marion county, lowa. They take their own mechanics and artisans with them, and have selected the site for a town. About 3,000 more are expected to join them next spring. A meeting of Mr. Peter Borthwick's creditors took place last week, when it was agreed among them that he should set aside £1,500 per annum for their benefit. He was described as a barrister, and his insolvency is attri buted to election expenses. . . The Duke of Marlborough has caused an official circular to be sent to his tenantry, giving them leave to destroy hares and rabbits on their farms by any means except guns. For this concession he expects they will preserve the winged game, for which he reserves to himself the exclusive right. A diabolical letter was received by the mayor of Roches ter on Monday morning, couched in abusive and disgrace ful terms, and ending with the recommendation to insure his life, as well as his house, warning him that both were in danger. A similar disgraceful epistle was sent to Capt. Baker. The fog was so dense in London on Tuesday evening, that foot passengers required to be provided with torches, and the omnibuses, cabs, and other carriages, though fur nished with lights, were forced to proceed at a very slow pace, as otherwise they were continually in danger of running against each other. A most alarming fire broke out on Friday, in the ex tensive premises of Messrs. John Black and Co., rope and sail makers, at Lancefield, near Glasgow. The value of the stock destroyed is estimated at £3.000, and that of the buildings at between £3,000 and £4,000 ; but we are glad to learn that both are insured. A letter from Lord Cloncurry was read by the Lord Mayor, at the Mansion-house Police-office, on Monday, detailing the tricks of agents for foreign lotteries, and showing that they frequently sold fabricated tickets, and that if English holders happened to draw a prize, the illegality of the purchase was pleaded against papment. The Morning Post states that orders have been given at the Woolwich dockyard to prepare the Plover schooner to sail in search Of Sir John Franklin, if within the next ten or twelve days the government shall receive no intelligence of that officer and his exploring expedition to the arctic regions. MORTALITY OF CHILDREN.—Not fewer than 140 chil dren have died in Doliglas since the Ist of October. Mora than thirty-seven that attended the Infant School in North John-street have died within a few months. This great mortality is caused chiefly by scarletina, which has been equally prevalent and fatal in England.—Manx Liberal. On Thursday, Dr. Bowring, 111. P. was proceeding in a gig with his brother to the Bridged Ironworks, Gloces tershire, of which they are proprietors, when, in a narrow secluded lane, they were attacked by three armed men, who robbed them of £l,OOO, which they were taking to pay wages. Two of the scoundrels have been appre hended, with £7OO in their possession. One of the ruffians shot the horse dead, to prevent any alarm being given. The Nottingham Journal states that a singular fraud has been successfully attempted by some lace-workers, who have given to cotton the appearance of silk. The silk thread is dissolved by a mechanical process, and after the cotton thread has been drawn through the solution thus obtained, it has the gloss and appearance of silk thread, from which the eye cannot distinguish it. The Mornzny Post says that the applications made at the present time at the Treasury Chambers, by persons anxious to obtain appointments to vacant offices in the gift of the government, are so numerous, that it has actually been deemed requisite to station some policemen or door keepers in the passages or avenues, in order to restrain the impetuous ardour of the numerous expectants. An importation of eight packages of potatoes has taken place in a vessel which arrived in London from Lima, the produce of South America. It will be recollected that we had occasion, about twelve months since, to notice one or two arrivals of this vegetable from that quarter of the globe, but none have heretofore taken place during the present year. The B irkenhead iron steam-transport, Commander Ingram, is ordered to be expedited, by extra exertions on the part of the dockyard men, as her services are required without delay to proceed to Plymouth, ship meal for Cork, and 60 riggers from that dockyard for Pembroke, whence she proceeds to Cork to discharge her cargo of meal, thence to Kinsale, and embark troops for Bristol. THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA.—On Thursday, a court of directors was held at the East India House, when the Right Hon. the Earl of Dalhousie was sworn in as Governor-General of India. His lordship afterwards dined with the directors at the London Tavern, Bishops gate-street, when they were honoured with the company of her Majesty's ministers and many other distinguished personages. EXTENSIVE FORGERY IN LONDON.—OH Thursday, information was received at the Mansion House, that an eminent banking-house in Lombard-street had been de frauded of £1,360, by means of a forgery. The parties, it is supposed to lull suspicion, obtained the money in notes to a large amount, one being for £ l,OOO, No. 85,9430, January 1, 1847. The Forresters have obtained a clue to the guilty parties. At the Central Criminal Court, London, on Monday last, William Ashcroft, alias Jameson, a respectably dressed man, aged 39, described in the calendar as a coop er, was indicted for unlawfully placing large stones upon the Eastern Counties Railway, so as to endanger the safety of persons travelling by and upon the said railway. The prisoner was found guilty, and sentenced to be imprisoned for two years. IMPORTS OF BREADSTUFFS.—The monthly return of the Commissioners of her ,Majesty's Customs gives the following as the quantity imported into the United King dom in the month ended 10th October, 1847 :—Total of corn and grain, 1,169,804 bushels; total meal and flour, 1,639,255 cwt. Of the former, 390,870 bushels were of wheat; and of the latter, 959,090 cwt. were of wheat , meal or flour. John Ward, a youth of nineteen, has killed himself for love. A young woman to whom he was deeply attached died. Ward was much affected. A few days since he was Missed from his employment, and was found at his home, near Gravel-lane, Southwark, suffering the greatest agony from arsenic which he had swallowed. In his pocket a paper was discovered containing these words, " I cannot live in this world any longer without my dear Elizabeth, so place me in the grave with her.—John Ward. A public meeting was held in London on Wednesday, to found an asylum in which idiots might be kept and educated. The Lord Mayor presided ; among the speakers were the Rev. Mr. Champneys, Mr. George Thompson, M.P., Mr. David Wire. Mr. ohn Wilkes, Chairman of the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum, And several medical gen tlemen. Sir Charles Forbes began the subscription by sending a donation of a hundred guineas, and other gen tlemen sent promises of support. EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE.—A person in busi ness died lately at Glasgow, whose life was insured for £30.000. immediately after his death this sum was laid claim to by three families, consisting each of a wife and children ; and what is singular, the one family seems not to have been cognisant of the other. Each marriage was celebrated by clergymen in the city, and the wives have been maintained in a respectable manner. He was in the habit of living at a time in each house successively. HARD PUSHED.—The Times of Thursday, in replying to a speech of Lord Winchelsea on the cheerless pros pects of the country, indulges in the following most im probable retrospect. " The fact that we have been obliged to pay for our corn in gold is owing to the exist ing want of a full and free exchange of commodities—a want which we owe, and shall owe for some time, to the old system of mutual prohibitions. Had the foreigner found us a regular customer for his corn, he would have become a regular customer for our manufactures." STATUES.—A proposal from Mr. Mlles to erect a statue of Nelson in Norwich has been accepted. The statue is to be seven feet high, and to cost 700 guineas. The bishop is interesting himself in favour of the project. The same artist has been selected by the Board of Ord nance to execute the full length of the Duke of Welling ton, to be placed in the Tower of London. In Edinburgh, twenty-four Waverley figures are still required to com plete the Scott monument. Another Waverley ball is to be got up to raise the sum required, £lOOO. — The Builder. THE MODEL PENNY.—On Wednesday the new model penny was issued from the mint for circulation, and a number of men who obtained a' quantity made a plentiful harvest by retailing them at twopence and threepence each. They are a very neat coin, about the size of a farthing, the centre being formed of silver, having on the right side a profile of her Majesty, and on the obverse the Roman numeral 1., surrounded with a rim of copper, I inscribed " The Model Penny." Five-shilling pieces, with gold centres and silver riw WIC %LOC ai n Niu ciple, lc MBAR 941 CHARACTER OF A CORPORATION.—Speaking of the Town Council of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the Newcastle Advertiser says—" Glance over the reports of the pro ceedings of the year, and you will find never-ending dis cussions about matters which business-minded men would quietly settle in a very short time, and perfect indifference to questions of real social importance." This unenviable character of a Whig-Radical corporation at Newcastle would appropriately apply to other Whig-Radical Town Councils. On Friday, Mr. Deffell, aged seventy, a West India merchant, head of the firms of J. H. Deffell and Co., and John Deffell and Son, went into an apothecary's shop, in London, and, pretending to be a doctor, induced the young man to let him have a bottle of prussic acid. He gave it a jerk, which sprinkled a quantity over his face, and, it is supposed, he swallowed a few drops. He died ten minutes afterwards. It appears that he had been con siderably distressed at the pressure of the times, but he was not at all in embarrassed circumstances. MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.—Last week, a gentleman tra velling by the Birmingham• train which arrives at Rugby at 2 a,m., had been sleeping, after which he awoke under the impression that one of the passengers had insulted his wife, and the gentleman became so excited that he threw open the door of the carriage and precipitated him self on the line. By a miraculous intervention he escaped with the infliction of a few bruises, and arrived at the station shortly after the departure of the train. He de scribed himself to be the captain of a vessel lying in one of the docks in London. VERY LIKE A WHALE !—A rumour has been rife in this town that it is her Majesty's intention to take up her abode amongst us for a portion of the summer season. Castle Mona has been named as the residence chosen for the future occupation of royalty ; and it is said a person high in authority has been lately inspecting the premises for his royal mistress. The determination of the queen to reside in this island is said to have been come to from the representations made by her Majesty's physicians as to the enervating nature of the air of the Isle of Wight, and its consequent unfitness for their royal patient. —Manx Liberal. SUCCESSFUL RESULT OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COM PANY'S ARCTIC EXPEDITION.—II is known that in July, 1846, the Hudson's Bay Company despatched an expedi tion of thirteen persons from Fort Churchill, in Hudson's Bay, under the command of Dr. John Rae, for the purpose of surveying the unexplored portion of the Arctic Coast, at the north-eastern angle of the American continent. This expedition has now returned, after having traced the coast all the way from the Lord Mayor's Bay, of Sir John Ross, to within a few miles of the Straits of the Fury and the Hecla, thus proving Sir John Ross to have been cor rect in stating Boothia Felix to be a Peninsula. LIBEL.—Mr. Alfred Ormonde, the publisher of a weekly paper at Douglas, called the Manx Cat, has been found guilty of a libel on Mr. John Duggan.—Mr. Far ghar, publisher of the Mona's Herald, has been convicted of libelling Mr. Dumbell, an advocate of the Manx bar. The offence was the insertion of a letter in the Herald, charging the plaintiff with fraud and incompetency. The defendant proved that he was ignorant of the insertion of the letter in his paper, and that he published an apology as soon as he discovered it. The defendant, Fargher, was sentenced to three months imprisonment, and to pay a fine of fifty pounds and all costs. We have not heard the sentence in the other case. _ _ --- FATAL CASE OF STABBING.—An awful event occurred on the night of Tuesday, on the public highway in the township of Bowling, near Bradford. Two men, both in liquor, met, a few angry words passed between them, a fight and a scuffle ensued, and one stabbed the other to the heart with a pocket-knife, which caused the poor fel low's death in a few minutes afterwards. The unhappy victim was James Hudson. The man w'to stabbed him is Thomas Ridehalgh, a stonemason. The deceased has left a wife and four children, and Ridehalgh a wife and one child. The deceased was about 20 years of age, and the prisoner is 27. A verdict of wilful murder has been returned against Ridehalgh. On Monday, at the Mansion-house, a gentleman ap peared before the Lord Mayor, and cautioned the public against a Pole by whom he had been taken in. The Pole, who hawked jewellery, had sold a watch to the gentleman in question, representing he was an agent for a company who did not require immediate payment, but would be satisfied to receive it at the rate of a trifle per week or month, as most suitable to the convenience of his custo mers. Under these circumstances, a watch was left with the applicant which was worth no more than £4, or at the most £4 10s. ' and the Pole departed gratified at the, sale. No more was heard of him until about three weeks since, when the purchaser was astonished at receiving a London lawyer's letter for the sum of twelve guineas, and imme diately afterwards the copy of a writ. _ _ ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES IN BRISTOL.—Dur ing the past week, for the first time probably since the Reformation, two Roman Catholic missionaries (Jesuits, we believe) have preached three times daily to crowded congregations of all denominations, at the various Roman Catholic chapels in our city, devoting themselves between the hours of service to the examination of the school children. It may fairly be presumed that the greater proportion of these audiences went to indulge a natural but dangerous feeling of curiosity. The Roman Catho lics assert that between 40 and 50 conversions have been the fruits of these missions. It is said that one of the Italian missionaries alluded to above, was the principal instrument in the conversion of the celebrated Mr. New man.—Bristol Journal. MELANCHOLY SUICIDE.—On Friday, an inquest was held nt Shepton Mallet, on the body of Dinah White, an interesting-looking young person, occupying the situation of ladies' maid, in the family of A. C. Phipps, Esq. It appeared in evidence, that she had been about to be mar ried to a young man living in the same town, after a court ship of upwards of three years. All the preparations for the wedding had been made, when, without any reason being assigned, the above individual discontinued his visits, and formed a matrimonial connection with some other girl. This circumstance had such an effect on the mind of the girl that her faculties became quite unsettled ; and, in a fit of temporary derangement, she cut her throat with one of Mr. Phipps's razors. She was quite dead .when found. THE MAID AND THE MAGPIE IN REAL LIFE.—On Thursday, a magpie flew in at the open window of a dressihg-room at Skene House, and ingeniously contrived to pick a ring, belonging to Lady Agnes Duff, from the upright stalk of a ring stand, and fly off with it in its bill. Lady Agnes's maid, who was alone in the room at the time, and witnessed the theft, without being able to pre vent it, was filled with consternation. The ring she knew was a valuable one—worth 40 guineas —and she naturally feared that the story of the magpie would hardly be ac cepted as a satisfactory account of its disappearance. A workman, to whom she communicated the alarm, had seen the bird fly out, and observed that it first perched on the top of a rack of wood. By great good fortune, they found, on going to the place, that the ring bad been dropped, and was lying on the ground.—Aberdeen Herald. The Strand is likely to become another Paternoster-row for publishers. The celebrated house " over against Ca therine-street in the Strand," originally Jacob Tonson's, afterwards Andrew Millar's—then the elder Cadell's (Millar's apprentice), and lastly the younger Cadell's,—is again a bookseller's shop. Messrs. W. and R. Chambers, r c n y er in ; and in addittion to the Mr. John W. Parker, of Cam bridge,—inhoef O ag x e f e o e r y d—or r th r e at o be x r fo a rd bra p n u c b l ii i coafthioinms—wfor h r. av o e rr al h so as e r s e ta m b o li v s e h d ed fr a o L m on A d m on en agency the Strand we are now to have Mr. John o t the e E Strand dnbur Mr. Parker will still continue to make O x f or d his prin. r He a n l ry seat." Parker, T ci scattered among a variety of booksellers ; but Mr. Par ker's " new branch shop " will, of course, concentrate the business. THE BANK RETURNS, The Morning Herald of Saturday, says " The ' other securities' in the hands of the Bank of England have increased to the large sum of £20,409,897. In October, 1846, this item stood at £12,175,968. Two effects, then, have been produced by the late operations of the Bank. By making money scarce, it has disabled bankers and brokers from carrying on their business in the usual manner; and has com pelled multitudes to come to its shop. At the same time, under the sanction of the Government, it raises the rate of interest to eight per cent. And this is ordered by the Government, under the advice of the Bank Directors themselves, and of Mr. Jones Loyd ; persons who are above all thers deeply interested in raising the value of money ! And now let the result be observed. First, the public is cruelly harassed, by being deprived of the usual accommodation. But see how the Bank itself fares : In October, 1846, it had twelve millions of Stock, Bills of Exchange, &c., paying it an interest of 4 or 5 per cent., or £500,000 or £600,000. It now holds twenty millions of these other securities ;'—which, at the prescribed rate of eight per cent., will pay it the enormous revenue of £1.600,000 per annum." THE CHOLERA.—The following extract from the work of one who has had the greatest experience in cases of cholera perhaps of any man living, may be useful at the present moment ; it is from the work of Dr. Searle, late of the East India Company's Madras Establishment, on Cholera, &c. :—" Remedy in Prevention :—From the force of circumstances in which some persons are placed, in despite of their best endeavours to prevent them, de rangements of health will, nevertheless, take place ; in which case, in the majority of instances, the following pills will be found a most excellent remedy :—Calomel Socotrine aloes, and Castile soap, of each twenty grains, made into twelve pills. One taken at bedtime for an adult person for one, two, or three nights, or the half of one reduced to powder and mixed with a little jelly for a child, will reduce the secretion of bile, and tend thereby to purify the blood, open the bowels, and excite all the functions ; and in thus acting, will, with suitable absti nence, materially prevent the accession of cholera or any disease ; and further, should it fail in so doing, it will, such essentially to t n re ev a e t r m th e e n i t es a s s , tbpreeeapasree may yctbue found allythe require." FAILURES IN SCOTLAND.—The failure of Campb e ll, of Islay, (reported on Friday) would have been severe l y felt by the Glasgow banks , but they hold securities upon mwaoyre f or other his estates, which are not entailed, and of far greater va lue than his liabilities, which are about £600,000 . A no tion prevails that dr. Campbell was connected with a large house of the same name in Glasgow, which is erro neous, as he was altogether disconnected with commercial affairs. His stoppage is caused by investments in land, shire speculations, and expensive style of living. Being a near kinsman of the Duke of Argyle, he maintained a " tail " in proportion to his relationship with his grace, which was both great and expensive. It is reported that a noble lord residing in Lanarkshire has also suspended payment. His liabilities are not stated, but he is known tole connected with some very extensive distilleries, and held shares in several railways connected with his part of the country. A baronet, also residing in Lanarkshire, figures in the list of bankrupts as a timber merchant, namely, Sir Wyndham Carmichel Anstruther, who in herited, only a few years since, a fine estate yielding a large income. It thus appears that the Scotch aristocracy are suffering from the seyerity of the tiple§ Mil WI their Inclettutdc Nov. 9, BA i eilltiollS INSTANCE OF SAGACITY IN A HORSE.-",t -, has beet said that " pres erva ti on i s th e fi rs t l a w o f nature," and never was that proverb more strikingly or more curiously illustrated than in the case of a horse few days ago. A contractor on the railway, at Sparkford• bought two horses, which he put into a field with a bull, the latter, taking a dislike to his neighbours, gored one of them to death, but the other horse became so frightened that he leaped into an old saw-pit which was in a corner of the field, and buried himself up to his head in mud and sawdust. The bull followed him to the pit's mouth, and there stood during the whole night watching his victim cowering beneath him in the pit. In this position they were found on the following morning by the owner of the horses. As soon as the horse perceived his master, he leaped out of the pit and ran to him for protection, ex hibiting feelings of gladness at being delivered from the clutches of the dreadful bull.—Exeter Post. THE KNIFE.—The quiet vill ag e of Throwley, near Favefsham, near which is the seat of Lord Harris, MI S been the scene of a most tragical occurrence, from the effects of which a man of the name of Richard Cox has died. On Wednesday the ploughing-match of the Faver sham Agricultural Association took place at the above village, which caused a great many of the agricultural population to meet together, and after the match a part)" of them adjourned to the public-house,' when a dispute arose between the deceased and 'a labourer of the name of Spillett, which ended in a fight outside the house. It appears that the deceased h a d o bt a i ne d th e a d vantage of Spillett, and had got him on the ground, when the latter, it is supposed, took out his knife and stabbed deceased in several parts of his body ; from one of the stabs deceased's entrails protruded. He expired on Friday morning. Both the deceased and the accused were men of very bad character. SALE OF HUGHES'S MAMMOTH ESTABLISHMENT. The most important part of the collection was sold by Mr. Tattersall on Thursday. It took place upon the Waterloo ground, where ample opportunity was afforded for testing the merits of the animals. There were about f: eei r y t si y;r s ou t n gu g ei n horses as of ex.e various gre descriptions, te eal e besides l. se i, ve h ral e ponies. The greater part realized average prices, varying Of from ten to fifty guineas. For Spitfire, a piebald entire pony, ten hands high, purchased by the Earl of Lon s s dai i l i e d h h i heat price, which was fifty ettilleaS. elephant Romeo, a male of large size, : .s tdvv„ for one hundred guineas, the same sum being paid for Juliet, a beast of truly mammoth proportions, known at DrurY lane as Jenny Lind. These animals were said to have originally cost £lOOO. They were sold to Mr. Batty, of Astley's Amphitheatre, who, in addition, purchased the " Mammoth Dog" at £l2 10s. and eight of the camels. A general meeting of Poor-law Union Surgeons was held on Wednesday, in London, to consider the necessity of a reform in the present system of medical relief. The chair was taken by Dr. Burton, of Walsall. The speak ers were very numerous ; they dwelt chiefly on the inade quacy of the remuneration. There were several striking illustrations of its lowness :—Mr. Pearson, of Prescot, said that in his union, wi.h a population of 14,700, th e 25,000, x offi N ce ; r fo r r ece ßa ive info X r B d o , ; 4 f ,000 0r , St x . 2 H o e ; le a n n s d , p f o o p r ur Woolton, Little Woolton, Hale Wood, Hale, and SPa. e t with a population of 7,000, he received £lO. Last spring he took the fever, and was obliged to engage an assistant at £5O, himself receiving £10; and not then being allowed to throw up his office.—Mr. Ebsworth observed, that in union:hp o d r to o his union veterinary surgeons were paid a much higher rate of remuneration than the medical officers of the kNeloenpwt,ehaeaclhul allowing oinng horset o x2f w osr hi pt c he h re he belonged, the officers 4 l hiss 6 cases xßpAeNn Gs last eEspwße y or e ec a Ez E , DSI was Nth Ge paid. —year.A f. but r a r purpose iu o m p per r f foraaa ttendingn n horse, um N, b t an d , be , the usual sum for drugs for every 100 persons, it world be found that one medical man in the union, who br,, . Ballantine, a practising barrister at the Central Criminal Court, has drawn down the indignation of the public by carrying a manoeuvre ill behalf of a prisoner he was defending beyond all bound of legal trickery, although they are generally allowed to be pretty extensive. The case forcibly reminds us of Mr. Charles Phillips in defending Courvosier. It appears one William Tarrant had taken ten lambs from a field near. Uxbridge, and had sold them ; and he was now tried for the theft. When he was arrested, he admitted that be had taken the lambs, but said he did so at the desire of Roadnight, a farmer's son, who had awakened him by throwing gravel at his window in the night. Some gra vel was found on the sill of Tarrant's window; but the chief fact on which Mr. Ballantine relied to confirm his client's story was, that Roadnight had not bee n prochle' as a witness for the prosecution, although he had been seen about the court that day. This, of course, 10 0 ,!f s e 4 as if the counsel for the prosecution we r e consc ious "'" Tarrant's defence was true, and had not dared to bring forth all the evidence. The Recorder fastened upon this striking trait of negative testimony, and summed up se favourably for the prisoner that the Jury acquitted him. After the trial it was discovered that Roadnight had been subpoenaed by the prisoner, and was not in attendance far the prosecution. On this the Recorder censured Mr. Ballantine for having deceived him, but perhaps the counsel for the prosecution were almost equally blameable for not having taken steps to secure the evidence of Roadnight. FRENCH AND AMERICAN OCEAN STEAMERS.-The r i ss c e a l ns. American l i n i e t s , i ss c t o es n taam t t i e n e d u r s e i s nf r d ao e m c i paragraph d New e d l y i I n , o f i a rnk v ot the c ompetition between the English mail steamers, and the o F G f r l e o n b the e c h , E t a n h n g a d l i t sAh th mv e ee Bremen are about to be discontinued, having been p und very unprofitable; but we do no t find any corroboration of the stalement in any New York paper. 11l as tip American vessels have succeeded, however, the Frenc. n are much worse, so far as the duration of their voyage Is concerned ; none of them having occupied less than seven teen, and some as much as twenty days. For two or three months past, they have started from New York the Cunard boats left Boston, in the hope, no doubt, that they would be enabled to anticipate the latter, at all events, in the French capital and ports ; but on every oc casion they have failed to do so ; letters from New York, via" Boston and Liverpool, having reached Paris, Rouen, and Havre, before those sent on the same day, direct from New York to Cherbourg. We find from Lloyds List, that the French steamer, Union, which sailed front New York on the 30th September, the day before the de parture of the Britannia from Boston, arrived at Cher bourg somewhere between the 20th and 25th ult. The Britannia experienced bad weather and unfavourable winds, which must have been common to both vessels, but made her passage in a little more than fourteen days; and her letters would reach Paris on the 18th ult., three days at least before those sent by the Union. After these repeated failures, we imagine the managers of the French line will, at all events, abandon their direct competition with the English boats, and fix their departures at periods intermediate between those of the Boston line. JENNY LIND AND THE COTTAGERS.—It seems that Miss Jenny, being one of those young ladies who much delight to see what can be seen, whilst staying at the Bath Hotel ordered out her carriage, and, accompanied by her friend Mrs. Grote and other parties, took a drive, for the purpose of enjoying the beautiful scenery for which our much-favoured neighbourhood is so celebrated. Amongst other places thus visited, was the picturesque village of Henbury ; and here, as a matter of course, the party W ere shewn the Henbury C o tt ages. J enny was much grati fied, nay, positively enchanted. She praised the neat arrangements of this peaceful spot, in whose very quie- - tude and simplicity she seemed intuitively to spmpathise. Having taken the round, and surveyed the exterior of the buildings, she at last entered one of the dwellings, where she was received by two of the aged occupants. The old women were busily employed with their knitting , whilst high above them, in a cage; a prisoned blackbird warbled its wood-notes wild, making the lowly cot re sound with its charming melody. The old cottagers and Jenny were soon on intimate terms ; she examined their knitting. and chatted away in a most affable manner. " What a beautiful bird is yours," she at last remarked. " Yes, my lady, 'tis indeed a pretty creetur ; we calls un Jenny Lind." "Oh ! indeed," remarked Jenny, with a smile; " 1 fear you are too complimentary to that person; have you ever heard her sing ?' "La ! no, my lady ; i,t; ain't the likes of we as she would care to sing to. " Then would you like to hear her, do you think ?" "Ah !" that I should indeed," was the reply of one. " And I, too," said the other ; " she must be a dear creetur." " Well, then," said the fair questioner, as , something very like a tear glistened in her clear blue eyes; " I am Jenny Lind, and I shall be happy to gratify you ; whereupon she immediately sang one of her pretty melo dies, to the great delight of her aged auditors, who, with many protestations of thankfulness, vowed that they should " long remember the day when the sweet young lady paid . 'em a visit."—Bristol Mirror. EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.—A parliamentary document was on Thursday issued containing accounts of exports to and imports from the British West India colonies, the East Indies, Ceylon, China, &c. for each of the past seven years, ending the sth of January last, as also the number of ships that have entered and cleared for those places during the same period. The aggregate value of British and Irish produce and manufactures exported the British West India colonies in the seven years, was respectively, 1840, £3,574,970 ; 1841, £2,504,004 ; 1842, £2,591,425 ; 1843, £2,882,441; 1844, £2.452,409 ; 1845, £2,789,21 1, and 1846-7, £2,505,695. The exports to the East India Company's territories and Ceylon were as follow in the years mentioned, as the aggregate declared value :--- £6,023,192, £5,595,000, £5,169,888, £6,404,519 , £7,695,666, £6,703,778, and £6,424,456. To China the declared value of the exports was—in 1840, £524,198; 1841, £862,570 ; 1842, £969,381; 1843, £1,456,180; 1844, £2,305,617 ; 1845, £2,394,827; and 1846, £1,791,439 ; In these returns the year ends on the sth of January. In 1846-7, the import of tea from China was 54,534,2081 b ., of whit 46,245,4821 b. were retained for home consump tion. To the Mauritius the exports' were £325,812, £340,140, £244,922, £258,014, £285,650, £345,052, and £310,231. To the North American colonies the exports indeclared value were £2,847,913, £2,947,061, £2,333,52 5, £1,751,211, £3,044,225, £3,550,614, and £3,308,059. To New South Wales and Australian colonies the exports were £2,003,385, £1,269,351, £916,166, £1,211,81 5, £744,481, £1,201,076, and £1,441,640. To the United States of America the exports in the seven years in their declared value were as follow :—£5,283,020, £7,098,64 2, £3,528,807, £5,013,514, £7,938,079, £7,147,663. and £X6,830,460. To Cuba, the exports were £514,78 5 4 £592,546, £366,253, £624,871,, £657,214, £695,379, and £844,112. To Brazil the exports were £2,625,85 4 r £2,556,554, £1,756,805, .£2,140,133, £2,413,5 38, £2,493,306, and £2,749,338. And to Mexico and the,. other states of Central and South A mer i ca , exclusive of Brazil, the exports in the seven years, of British and Irish manufactures were in declared value as follow . "' £3,576,357, £2,585,402, £3,217,824, £3,286, 327 ', £3,013,267, £3,485,886, and £2,816,123. The number of ships, distinguishing British and foreign, with their ten ; nage, that have entered and c le a red f or th e British We s ,: India colonies, from the U n it e d Ki ng d om d ur ing the sow period, appear in the return, slivlving fit 0 glow QQQ I2I MCN9 9f OW SrCl4 cnatri! N( ......... ARAI Yacht %hall n seillea— beck, 11. SAIL] tier, R ( ban, H Stettin- Orleans Esthe ^lte m ,J Ek , t he dec; the Met from Marq u e Al t rop, a Al] 4, ftvan a a 1 44 d illy Stirlit Ocear Priuc. 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