The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-03-24 00:00:00

MEETING OF THE DOCK COMMITTEE The usual meeting of the Dock Committee was held yester day, when the following members were present,—Messrs. Sands (chairman), Horsfall, Holmes, Holt, Smith, Nicol, Eulley, Royden, Tobin, Shand, Bold, Martin, Middleton, and Evans. THE DOCK WAREHOUSES. The CHAIRMAN stated that he had not yet received Mr. John Stewart's report on making the dock warehouses fire proof ; he promised to send it in last night (Wednesday), but he had not done so. Mr. Alderman EVANS recommended that Mr. Stewart should be continually dunned till he furnished it. The CHAIRMAN.--I have dunned him almost every day. Mr. TOBII , I suggested that the secretary should address a note to Mr. Stewart, putting him in mind of his promise. The CHAIRMAN believed that Mr. Stewart was of opinion that a common floor would be the best. Mr. Alderman EVANS.—With the protection und of sheet iron. It was then agreed that the secretor-- note on the subject to Mr. Stewart NEW W The Cit • AI RMAN called DOC K the atter OßKS, " (who attended for his father) to the unsatisfactory progress which was being made in the new works at Albert Dock. Mr. J. H ARTLEY replied that he had yesterday written a letter to Mr. Waring, the contractor, on the subject, and he had received a reply stating that additional men would be immediately put on. The SECRETARY read the letters, which were of the pur port already stated. Mr. Waring, in his letter, stated that now the works were making rapid progress, and should be proceeded with according to the surveyor's wish ; and that re receive prompt attention. Mr. J. HARTLEY stated that more men had beL The CHAIRMA N.—How many? Mr. HARTLEY.—Fifteen. .te CHAIRM AN o b served that that was very few. c°lll t l be • J• HARTL EY replied that it was perhaps as many as Were e mployed on th e p ar ti cu l ar wor k on w hi c h t h ey engaged. The CHAIRMAN mentioned that the contractor had not yet signed his contract. , Mr. Alderman EANS sai that if the work wa not done in the time that it ought to d be, it would be Mr . s Hartley's fault. Ny 1%1 1! J. HARTL EY replied that he would again see Mr. !Ling; and if there was any further delay, or cause for dis 'atT.faction, he would report it immediately to the committee. wivl. Ald erman EVANS e nqu i r ed th e reas on why Mr. A ,', l ,r, n log had not s i gned the contract? e had AIRMA N , in reply, expressed his belief that it had letter Waring Mr. not having been in the town. The his br e surveyor respecting the works was signed by Mr. Th • Alderm an E VANS.—But he means to sign it? The CR Amu y We will address a letter to him u pon it. AN.-- es. ntion of Mr John Hartley n put on Th e TIIE LIVERPOOL WATER BILL. (40 11 . '" -coMmittee, to whom the first clause in the bill, in ght forward by the Commissioners of Paving and Sewer .igo was referred, recommended that the committee should ::yebuotiee of their intention to oppose the power to erect eo ns "ding or engine upon the dock estate, without their e e n t having been first obtained. b een n SECRETARY reported that since that resolution had solictarrived at, the solicitor to the committee and the aset: or to the Commissioners of Paving and Severing had s u b jec a t rld come to a satisfactory understanding upon this SALVAGE. ri„The MARINE- SURVEYOR reported that Emanuel Rod co"2 had picked up the chain-cable which was lost from the p r o sb Y Lightship when she was struck by the American ship a_whatten. It was valued at £3l 10s. One-third of this a mount was ordered to be paid to Rodriguez as salvage. The . PUDDINGTON'S BANK. :bowing Surveyor submitted plans of Puddington Bank, ,A l the Year changes which have taken place in it since the h ave 'b . i • with their respective dates. The bank appears to to havaeakvaneed slightly towards the middle of the river, and Scarce' ueeorne a trifle lowerthe last seven years, Y any alteration has taken place in it. BIDSTONThe NEW TELEGRAPH. model of an improvement telegraph for the Bidston by Mr : of by Mr. Hick, was submitted and explained tided r. H olt• The committee appeared to consider it a de rae,s, improvement. it appears that this was an improve my,'" liPon the improved plan submittted some months ago, ordered to be proceeded with. The cost of its erection will be about £ 16 5. —Ordered to be erected. PROPERTY TAX. HORsrALL asked whether any thing had been done 'Vhregard to the Property Tax ? The ec,RAIRNIAN.—Nothing has been done. firs t seit°tiEncga,ZAi adcled, that the Commissioners , . at their attended both by the Treasurer and the S°lici t°ri and they themerceived an intimation that it would not be necessary for to attend again. M :r MISCELLANEOUS. Mr. J o TOMICINSON, who is erecting the observatory, ne ar the on Dock, applied for the use of a crane con ir, on Pain,, t e usua c a g . ~. h l hr es Granted. to e application from Messrs. Fawcett, Preston, and Co. _ e erect shears on the quay of Coburg Dock, in order to place 11 vi boilers in H. M. S. Medusa, was, after some discussion ii!pon the safety of such a weight (24 tons) going over the ct2ekebridges, referred to the Harbour Master's Sub-corn ulltt e, to whom the Surveyor is to report. ,„°'/Ie financial matters were then discussed, and the com .4ittee shortly afterwards separated. PUB LIC IMPROVEMENTS OF LIVERPOOL , ME ETING OP THE POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY . W e furnished, on Friday and Tuesday last, the principal portions of Mr. J. Holme's excellent address before the r°lYtechnic Soviet improvements ', on the üblic of Liver reraal, rks !Ind had pre l viously pnr p se pod to supply his concluding WS in our p resent publication. We, e, however. relin tine-ed that intention on learning that while the lec ;,. was being delivered, a respected gentleman of rau - ch litilty i n the profession breathed his last, and . that his rename (who had not previously thought of publishing b_. mares)emark had, on hearing the fact, and the suggestion d Lo,,'ln to him, with the most praiseworthy kindness an rristihderation, resolved to submit them, entire, in a pamplet, left • e benefit of the afflicted widow of the deceased, who is 8 IR circumstances that give her a claim to the generous fe /7 t , r ll4 2, a thY of the public. The pamphlet will be ready in a Nv tlaYs. th - e n'aY state, in conclusion of our report of the meeting of e societ, at which Mr. Holme so ably spoke, that, on r p e l a sen 'in his seat he received several hearty rounds of ap- I lse and thechairman having as usual, invited the re karlts of anv one hea A esent on the subject which they had l' ,, so ably argue d , RN n.OSSO. siti l' e 4 r r a . J ° '' N . addressed the meeting at cor k_ . ble length. He expressed his great gratification . on °ns caring tile observations of Mr. Holme, with whose opini ;least hg heartily concurred. He was of opinion, with him, e „ 11l future town improvements, it would be well for the fecal to appoint a committee of architects and prac linetre3e; to whom the style and completion of our new me lc buildings, &c., should be referred. It was by such h n; 1 1 . 11 that ancient Greece had to boast of so many noble D'uoings, Architects were there appointed, each of whom t w red uced a design for any required building. and had also beZvotes in favour of the two designs which he considered each On one o ccas i on, though most of them naturally gave tk _ one vote for his own design, nearly all acknowledged ,i;1 great excellence of that of the celebrated Phydias, and e him their second vote ; so that his was adopted, and `aa...o result was (without creating any unworthy jealousy 4 i ngst the profession), that one of the finest buildings of it s O l itY was erected—the highest talent having met with en,_9nourable reward. He remarked strongly on what he bu'iVi!lered the great error of filling up the Old Dock and k g i ng the Customhouse upon it—a building, the styie and I,4l)!rfect material of which he by no means approved. p o , at dOCk had been the cradle of the commerce of Liver , - f at !' It was tne most central • and had it remained, docks thaB.l?iall vessels might have been constructed from it along that of of . the ancient " pool" on the north and east, so ilarb n e I mght have had a splendid and commodious inner some so lte ''r• He then entered at some length into a review c! Wa ti pt . he great improvements in the metropolis, which it 1% 11 ' 4 e Well to keep an eye upon as examples to ourselves. efr e 4 ci af those improvements which had recently been i br ated arhad. been suggested many years before by the . ce es lint „,... chitect Mr. Wynne, whose book on the subject wa itim'aTie known. He dilated on this topic at some length, b e _ alter expressing the deep interest he took in the subject g the meeting, sat down amidst applause. Hot: MAYOR Proposed the thanks of the meeting to Mr. tiph , , e for the able paper with which he had favoured them, "441..‘v_as carried by acclamation. Prop ° „;,* W. WILLIAMS, in highly complimentary . terms, a nt i tjtl vote of thanks to the mayor for his attendance, society encouragement he thereby gave the proceedings of the 1 ,,, , Y. This was also carried by acclamation. Ivi': Irinyon. in neat terms returned thanks. . sai d „ otatE, in returning the compliment paid to him, v o k e glat he should be happy if anything he said should pr o silo,' 5 he of practical improvement in the town. He future also, if health and time permitted him, enter on some ha;" occasion wore into detail, and meantime should be which to avail himself of any information or suggestions eats t 11 , 11 Y of hi s t ownsmen u.ight think proper to communi -0 alto. (Cheers.) j,i,," SECRETARY then, in the name of the publishers of the to -ee:,°o/Magazine—Messrs. Milling and Payne —presented of t ,"ca of the members of the society a copy of the number ti_,euat work for the month, which, he said, among other ar eLs, contained a clever paper " on ship-building," by Mr. 01407eard Melling, jun., a member of the society, and now Th e :sor of naval architecture at the Collegiate Institution. the _ nno uncetnent was received with great satisfaction, and nteernbers havin suplied themselves with the w 14 g, which was crowded to th e c l ose , dispersed.ork, the StN,I, 'ENCES OF THE PRISONERS COMMITTED AT THE SESSIONS. seaih'lessions concluded yesterday forenoon. The follow --g s ummary of the sentences : ,T o „ take I. TRANSPORTED FOR FIFTEEN :EA . N Its —Charles r ' 'Tames Kelly. Thomas Harrison. i vf LvEN YEARS —Thomas Grice, David Layton, James org an . 3 01 , Sarah Dodd, Wm. Tomlinson, Daniel O'Connell, %,tIz„11a ..Dougan, Amelia Hughes, Alice Jones, James .1", \\,illiam Owens, Charles Williams, Frank Mansfield, ~ Young, Elizabeth Harrison, Mary Duffy, Henry Croft. W N.ELvE MONTHS' I MPRISO-NNIENT.—For Felony.—John arhurst, Peter M'Glone, Hannah Muck, George John n, Elizabeth Young, John Thompson, and Bridget Curran. ton ' 4fi.vderneanours (uttering base shillings.)—John Thorn 'i., Edward Sweeney, and Thomas M`Manus. 'INE MosTu s .—C atharine Sullivan, and Ann Smith. te The other prisoners convicted were sentenced to various tni or r offenderisrs foment,p fro m one to s i x months; and some r terms of days. . theN4.*—lt was stated at the March monthly meeting of w ere ,_ e letY I:or Promoting Christian Knowledge, that types ,2,ll:_eisn readiness for printing any number of books i❑ the I.4m___ .? language which might be required so soon as an open e..7.%lnade for their use in that immense empire; . and a rei30%72:0 the made to the standing committee to inquire and_ tl ies . I li ..lie hoard, at the next monthly meeting, what . mode f cis 3` ..._ 9 . Ili hest adapted for promoting the extension o a2flstian knowledge supplied by ` u "ngst th e Ch• ' Alta_ inese. . the Anglican Church, th e ~._ LOP A BLACK PRINCE AND PRINCESS.—Amo t rig . wtsiitis..serigers landed at Southampton, on Monday, from styi in India packet the Tav were two persons of colour, i e Z themselves as the Pr ' ince and Princess Louis Napo on Christ frn r , s , _oPhe, of St. Domingo. Their highne f ss t e h s e fl' es e t India is mass, having been visiting . many i n the 12.at,nds for pleasure, and have arrived in o t . hi - country tra ord r me Pursuit% The prince is perfeetlY ars to IP.aLk, ' with ex ab,,aarY thick lips and very broad nose, nod . appe col -ut sixty years ' of •t, . Hp gates himselt to be a . full rie_stiel of the national gu a a e r l d . of St. • Domingo. Their hignhw rnosr_n,are honouring, this town with a visit until to-morrow in a t n 2_ ( p, at seven o'clock. when they take their departure Prince Le::`,7,7,-,eictss traiit, at special desire of the , P h King of //a;Ltsi.,Natioleon is brother of Chrlstophe, y' , o was or Ula n He }las nothin ,to indicate, h}• his appearance on of Ile rners, either rank 6 •ti above the common t r en earreites. T he Prince Or * st • 4 d °fl on his voyage, a c ha nt for brandy, and N e v v h in n ce 'Fr its influence caused grea uch ancl setaent, and occasiorreil * u nc n o ( nvenience, to the passengers officers of the sbip.--:Loindon paper' OPERATION di? THE ifiEW TARIFF tIPON THE f PRICE OF PROVISIONS The partizans of the Anti-Corn-Law faction, when the modification of the import duties was taken out of their bungling fingers, maintained loudly that, from such a mea sure, no material alleviation of the condition of the con suming classes could result. And when the existing tariff measure had been brought forward and passed—a measure of infinitely more extended scope than any of which they could have dreamed, in their wildest moments—it was sneered st by these sages as a mere surface operation, wholly inade quate to produce any sensible lowering of prices. We had been told at former periods, it is true, of the cheap beef and pork of other countries—of beef and pork which could be imported at 12d. to 2d. per lb., whilst the same articles, of English growth, were at 6d. to Bd. ; but when they were met upon this ground,—when the articles were imported and brought at a low duty into the British markets,—it was all at once discovered that they were unfit for consumption, and that the grand specific for the national suffering lay in cheap bread alone. The tariff was styled an inoperative measure. It had " unsettled everything and settled nothing ;" and, worst of all, it had brought no " cheap food" to the working man's table. Let us see however whether this is true. Let us examine how far the tariff has conferred the boon of cheapness upon the consuming classes. But, first, have we obtained this boon, and to what extent are the provisions of the people cheapened ? We will not refer to articles such as foreign fruits, rice, coffee, &c., of which the cost is composer; mainly of the duty levied—(for none can deny that these have been cheapened, or the amount of comfort derivable from their reduced price)—but proceed at once to the staple, butcher's meat. The price of beef, then, in the London retail market, is at present to families, about 6d. a lb. for all joints, coarse and fine together, of prime meat. There is a saving here, we maintain, over the prices of this season last year, of a Id. to 1-id. per lb. The retail market, we must premise, we take for this reason. A large proportion of the supply, now, is brought coastwise in a ready killed state, and comes at once into the market for consumption, the prices at Smithfield being thus—for infe rior meats especially—less sensibly affected than the carcase and retail markets. The price of mutton has sustained an equal fall. Wether legs of mutton may be bought at New gate and other markets at 5?,d. to 6d. per lb., and other joints in proportion ; whilst mutton, of less first-rate descrip tion, but such as is bought by the working classes may be bad a full penny a pound, or more than that, lower. Pork has sustained a similar reduction; and it may be said, with justice we believe, that butcher's meat, generally, is at the least 25 to 33 per cent. below the prices of last year. So much, then, for the metropolis. The same state of things may be noted in all the great meat markets throughout the country. In three weeks, we are told, the Irish markets have fallen 9s. per cwt., or nearly Id. per pound, in addition to previous reductions. Pork was selling in Dublin last week at 3d per lb ! In Liverpool and Manchester the fall, since last spring, has been 20 to 30 per cent.,—in the former place even more. And this, it must be borne in mind, has taken place, not because of any favouring circumstances enabling the native breeder and grazier to feed more cheaply, but the reverse ; for the last season's fodder was far from being an extraordinary crop—the hay harvest being, in many places, almost an utter failure—and the stock of cattle of all descriptions being a deficient one. The farmer must, by the result of his operations in feeding, have been a heavy sufferer, and the consumer, indisputably, has been the sole party benefitted. We are told, however, by the free traders that it is the inability of the working classes to consume largely which has caused the reduced prices of food, and not the tariff: In reply, however, we may urge that the condition of the work ing classes is improving, whilst the price of consumable ar ticles is falling weekly. The manufacturing population is better employed now than at this period last year ; and yet prices have fallen 25 to 30 per cent. in those districts. The price of the working man's staple, too—bread—is full 30 per cent. cneaper now than it was then ; and, according to every theory laid down by the free trader, he ought to consume more largely of other articles of food, and must do so,—if his wages have not been reduced to the level of the prices of both ! Even reduction of wages however, admitting that it has taken place, and knowing that it will take place as food cheapens, cannot have caused an "aggregate decrease in the amount" paid to the working classes, and available for the purchase of food ; for we believe the amount of employment to be sufficiently large now, as compared with last year, to more than compensate for the reduction of the rate to indi vidual workmen. With respect, then, to this alleged decreased consumption of food we incline to think that the very contrary is the fact ; that the working classes consume now more beef and pork and mutton, in proportion to their bread, than formerly ; and hence the otherwise unaccountable depreciation of our corn markets. The poor man, it is well known, consumes more bread than the affluent. The loaf is the ready meal for one who has but sixpence or a shilling to expend. But place fresh meat and potatoes within his reach, and consumption of bread stuffs must decline. The cheapness of one article will cheapen another. The shop of the butcher will com pete with the shop of the baker. Such must be the case at the present moment; for whereas we can see nothing in the abundance of the late harvest—which was, after all. little more than an average one —or, in the quantity of foreign corn released, and no prospect of an early great importation under the existing. mak, to account for the decline of prices in every corn market throughout the kingdom, we can see abundant grounds in the reduced and reducing prices of butcher's meat for the falling price of the great staple corn. The fact appears to us clear that the supply of cheap, and the prospect of still cheaper, animal food have arrested the aver age consumption of bread stuffs. The tariff, we maintain, affords every reasonable expecta tion of a continued fall in the price of butcher's meat ; and we are satisfied that to the operation of that measure is to be attributed the decline thus far. We do not refer to the im portation of live cattle; for years must elapse before any material effect upon our markets can be produced from this source. But from the improvement in the preparation of American and Canadian pork and beef, vast effects may be anticipated. The importations of last year, we admit, were very inferior in quality, and unsuited to English consump tion. Much of it was old stock, and all too highly salted, having, in fact, been cured when these articles, " slightly salted," were prohibited. The importations of the present season are, we understand, of a much changed description ; and, when it is borne in mind that at the Canadian duty of 2s. per cwt. the article can be profitably retailed at 3d. per lb., there is little doubt of both foreign corned beef and pork becoming staples of the consumption of the working classes. That such is the impression amongst the graziers and pro vision houses in Ireland very recent advice assures us ; and, if this be admitted, why need we wander further than the tariff as the cause of that reduced price at which provisions of every description are now afforded us. Admitting that the foreign article is inferior in quality—an admission, as applied to American pork, which can scarcely be safely made—yet its extensive importation and consumption must affect the sale of our own inferior meats, and hence operate upon the price of our best. Besides, it must be borne in mind that every article available for food—and there are many besides flesh meat cheapened by the tariff—must affect the demand for and consequent price of the remainder. At all events, we are confident that, taken as a whole, this mea sure has fully redeemed the predictions of its authors, that it would save the consumer the amount exactedfrom him by the income tax ; and if it be objected again that it has not pro duced, at once, the revival of commercial prosperity, what can this objection, if true even, establish more than the fact that free trade in provisions and cheap food are not the in fallible specifics for the national distress which they were so loudly declared to be ! EDUCATION, SCIENCE, AND ART.—By a statement just laid upon the table of the House of Commons of the estimates for 1843-4, for the purposes of education, science, and art, it appeared that there will be required for public education in Great Britain, £50,000; ditto in Ireland, £50,000 ; schools of design, £4,411 ; Professors at Oxford and Cambridge, £2,006 ; University of London, £5,148 ; Universities, &c., in Scotland, £7,380; Roman Catholic College in Scotland, £8,928 ; Royal Irish Academy, £3OO ; Royal Hibernian Aca demy, £3OO ; Royal Dublin Society, £5,600 ; Belfast Aca demical Society, £1,950 ; British Museum Establishment, &c., £32,576; ditto buildings, £37,485; ditto purchases, £5,275 ; National Gallery, purchase of pictures and expense of the Gallery, £1,600; Museum of Economic Geology, £2,008; and Scientific Works and Experiments, £4,000 ; the total for the year 1843-4 is £210,889. In the expense, therefore, of 1843, as compared with 1841, there will be an increase of £6,443, and as compared with 1842, of £8,078. SINGULAR ROBDERY.—At Worship-street (London) Po lice-office, on Monday, a man of very gentlemanly appear ance, about 30 years of age, named William Alexander Grint, and who was stated to be the son of an officer in the royal navy, was brought up before the magistrate, charged on suspicion of stealing a quantity of plate, the property of Lady Anne Playter. A son-in-law of the prosecutrix stated that the prisoner was of highly respectable connections, and had dined at Lady Playter's with him and a party of gentlemen on the Sunday week previous. A servant in her ladyship's establishment stated that on the 6th instant the prisoner ' knocked at the hall door about 8 o'clock, and witness ad mitted him. He said he had brought a note from Mr. Squires, in the neighbourhood, and asked her when her mis tress would be up, and she told him at 9 o'clock. She asked him if he intended to stop to breakfast, and he replied in the negative, as be had ordered it a t an i nn , w h ere h e was s t ay i ng . Witness showed him into the parlour, and, after a short con versation, the prisoner pulled her mistress's work-box about, and turned all the things over. She told him not to do so, as her mistress would be angry, but he treated it as a joke, and she quitted the room, leaving the prisoner there. Pre vious to admitting the prisoner she had set the breakfast things, and the usual articles of plate were on the table. Shortly afterwards another servant told her the fire in the parlour was nearly out, and on going into the room she found the prisoner had left the house. The salt had been emptied out of the silver saltcellars into the fire, and the silver teapot, the saltcellars, five silver teaspoons, several gravyspoons, and a great many other valuable articles had been stolen. She was not at first alarmed on missing the plate, as s h e th ou ght the prisoner had put it away and hid den himself; but, finding such was not the case, she became very frighte n ed, and informed Mr. Watson. On the pri soner entering the parlour, he at i once lit Mr.. atson's meersehaum pipe, and was smoking t when witness left the room. No other person had entered the parlour but the pri soner, and she was convincedheprisoner n o one h ad but a taken e m e c ti o a his ; own taken the p roperty . r boots, which were very indifferent ones, and had put on a good pair. H e a l so t oo k a penknife and a case of surgical instruments. Lady Playter was so deeply affected in having to press th e c h arge , t h a t she could not give her evidence. The prisoner was remanded for a week. CORRESPOWDENCE VENTILATION OF CHURCHES AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVEI POOL STANDARD, SIR,—As there is no subject connected with the health of the community to which so little attentio❑ is paid, or of which so little appears to be known, as that of ventilation (by which I mean a supply of air in any building), I take the liberty of submitting you a few facts relating to it, which are compiled principally from the writings of some of our eminent physio logists, in the hope they may be the means of impressing some of your readers with the importance of the subject, and especially those who have the management of buildings where many people are congregated together. It is not generally known that it is necessary, for the pre servation of health, that every drop of blood in the human body should be exposed to the action of atmospheric air about once in every three minutes, in order to effect a change in the blood named aeration—a change from venous, or black blood, to arterial, or red blood ; nor that the same air cannot produce this change twice. Hence the necessity of a con stant supply of air in every room, but especially in those where many people are. The quantity of air required by each individual has been ascertained by Finlaison to be about 18 pints each minute of his existence—air that has never been breathed before : this will be in one hour 2 hhds. 20 galls., and in one day about 57 hhds. From ignorance of this fact, we have experienced for many generations the evil results of deficient ventilation, and suffered the penalty in delicate health, fevers, and consumptions ; and yet architects go on planning and erecting edifices, without bestowing a thought on the means of supplying air for the number of people they are to accommodate, though their health cannot be retained without it ; and while ingenuity is taxed to sup ply water, air, which is of far more consequence, has been left to creep, in, like a thief in the night, through any hole by which it can find an entrance. Were a knowledge of the facts stated above, and of man's structure generally, made a part of general education, such inconsistencies would soon disappear, and the architect would soon speedily devise the means of supplying our houses with air, as the engineer does with water. The only kind of air which will maintain the body in health is that containing the precise proportions of the atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen, with a thousandth part of carbonic acid. If the relative quantity of any ingredient be increased or diminished, the blood will immediately suffer, and the health be injured. If, for instance, the air contain more carbonic acid than the minute trace of it in pure air, it will be to that extent unfit for respiration, and act deleteriously upon the system. Now, during its action on the blood in the lungs, the air loses a great part of its oxygen, or life sustaining principle, and gives out carbonic acid, a poisonous principle, in its stead ; therefore, if the same air be breathed again and again, the quantity of oxygen is gradually dimi nishing, and that of carbonic acid increasing, till at last it becomes incapable of supporting life. This is the cause of feebleness, head-aches, and other symptoms, that so often follow attendance at a church or meeting, where many hun dred pairs of lungs are absorbing oxygen and pouring out carbonic acid for hours, no means being at the same time used to carry off the breathed air, and to supply fresh. There are numerous instances on record of the fatal consequences of ignorance of this law of our nature. The black hole of Calcutta affair is one in which about 130 individuals perished. Crabbe the poet nearly fell a victim to this ignorance. He and several of his playmates were punished for playing at soldiers by being put into a large kennel. Crabbe was the first who entered. The place was crammed with offenders; the atmosphere consequently was rapidly consumed. Crabbe shrieked in vain that he would be suffocated (he being far thest from the door) ; at last, in despair, he bit the lad next him violently, roaring " Crabbe is dying! Crabbe is dying !" and the sentinel opened the door. Crabbe says, in his ac count of it, " A minute more, and I must have died." Walpole mentions another instance. A parcel of drunken constables took it into their heads to arrest every one they met, and thrust them into St. Martin's round-house. Twenty-five were thus shut up all night with closed doors and windows. In the morning four were dead ; two died soon after, and twelve more were permanently seriously in- j ured. In these deplorable examples of the miseries caused by ignorance of one of the simplest laws of animal life, the effects of want of air are pourtrayed in appalling colours ; but those which are produced by breathing an atmosphere vitiated to a much smaller extent, are by no means less real. God has decreed that a certain portion of air is necessary to sustain health. If we adapt our circumstances to this law, we reap comfort and health ; whereas if we transgress it, and breathe an atmosphere with a less than usual quantity of oxygen, and more than usual of carbonic acid, we have no more right to expect to enjoy health, energy, and activity, than we have to expect a fire to burn without air, or a fish to live out of water. From opposition to this law much suffering is incurred, especially in large towns. In 1838 about 60,000 died of diseases of the lungs in England, and I observe that 344 died of similar diseases last week in London alone. Now, it is an ascertained fact that the lungs, in most instances, are the first part to suffer from want of air. The blood, being insufficiently aerated, deposits tubercular mat ter in the lungs, and disease is generated. Ido not mean to say that a strict attention to this law would have prevented the whole of these deaths from this disease ; but experience has proved to us, that as a knowledge of, and attention to, this law have increased, in the same ratio these diseases have diminished; and it can also be proved, that the deaths from diseased lungs amongst those who, from their occupations, are most shut up in ill-ventilated places, are by far the most numerous; while butchers, and those who live in the open air, hardly ever die of these complaints. Dr. Combe (the physician, not " the philosopher"), from whose work on physiology many of my preceding remarks are taken, says on the subject, If the air we breathe be impure, the proper aeration of the blood in the lungs will be prevented, and consequently rendered unfit for its destined purposes in the animal economy, and the h-Ith become im paired. Of its deteriorating influences, proofs everywhere abound." Where, from the want of air, or neglect in any way, the blood becomes impaired, bad health will never be far distant. Let those who are not aware of the influence of the blood consider what occasionally occurs in disease, and they will obtain a more correct idea of the fact. Cases are not wanting in which persons at the gates of death have been resuscitated, and ultimately restored, by having healthy blood transfused into their veins. Nay, the mind itself is, in some measure, influenced by the pure or impure state of the blood, because the co-operation of the nervous system is indispensable to the action of the mental faculties; and, therefore, if the brain is imperfectly sustained by blood, their tone and activity also become reduced. I have, however, said enough for the present. If you can oblige me, I will trouble you with one more letter. Yours, & c ., A 'YOUNG PHYSIOLOGIST, --.01.--. THE BUILDING IN CATHERINE-STREET, TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. SlR, — The detailed account of the ecclesiastical structure in Catherine-street, published in your late numbers, appears evidently to have been written by authority, and taken in connexion with a letter signed " Catholicus" on the same subject, exhibits, evidently, a desire to attract public atten tion to it, as well by a detail of its splendour as by keeping up as much mystery, and exciting as much curiosity, as pos sible. In the first place, " Catholicus" ridicules the idea of mys tery altogether, but in the same paragraph wonders " what authority they have for taking such high standing as a church." He professes moreover to have been much grati fied and instructed by an hour's conversation with a " mys terious individual." What he learned, except that it was an "attempt of man to make as beautiful an habitation for his God as was in his power," does not appear. He may, per chance, have forgotten that " God dwelleth not in temples made with hands." Acts, vii, 48. . . It appears, according to " a gentleman connected with the works," that " it is to be a Catholic Apostolic church, dedi cated, not to any particular saint, but to the whole of the apostles ; and that all who have been baptized will have free admission within its pale." The gentleman, however, aithough so well acquainted with its destination, with lauda ble caution and desire to keep up his character for carefully disclaimed mysteriousness, " would not undertake to say from his own knowledge, whether the doctrine of this church would assimilate to those of the disciples of the late Edward Irving." , However, the next week it is distinctly stated that they are not the same." but that " the Liturgy, we find, includes a very great portion of those prayers which our own church has adopted." Pray, Mr. Editor, does it need any thing further to tell us that this mysterious and cruci form building, with its carved choir, its elegant aisles, its lofty clerestory, its gorgeous roof, its splendid windows, its oblong monumental-framed altar, with canopy of carved work, its rich and powerful organ, its credence or table of prophecies for the sacramental elements, its Sedile, and its Piscina, its carved rood or cross over the entrance, and its range of oaken stalls for the ministers who will he attached to it, does it need, I say, anything more to inform us that this fragment is to be, when completed, a SUPERB ROMISH CATHEDRAL? It may be noticed that this church, which is to be dedica ted to all the apostles was, according to the account given to Catholicus, " never intended" to be handed over to the bishop for consecration. Of course not, so far as the title bishop means any bishop of the church of England ; but no doubt the gentlemen connected with it look elsewhere for authority to consecrate. I bnly hope that our protestant townsmen, when visiting this attractive edifice, will be on ' their guard against the instruction they may receive from the ' polite and jesuitical gentlemen with whom they will come in contact. CATHOLISSIMUS—PROTESTANS March 22, 1843. [Our correspondent appears as wishful as " Catholicus" to keep up the mystery connected with this unusually splen did structure. We had no other desire of giving a descrip tion of it than we have had in noticing any other remarkable building in our good old town, and altogether disclaim any intention of creating any curiosity by attempting to attach any needless mystery to the architectural designs of the erec tion or to the doctrines or ecclesiastical discipline of its sup porters. " Catholissimus-Protestans" knows however little about the matter to surmise that the " fragment" is intended for a " Romish cathedral." If he will look through the liturgy intended to be used there, he will find it opposed essentially to the glaring errors in faith of popery, though we are not prepared to say so much of its opposition to the superstitions and some of the practices of that apostate system.] TO THE OWNERS OF WAREHOUSES AND OTHER PROPERTY IN LIVERPOOL It is quite time that your attention should be directed to the Fire Prevention Bill, which has been already framed and is intended to be passed into an act with as much haste as possible. The most objectionable clause is section 8, relating to existing warehouses, which enacts " That every warehouse now built within the borough, and not being in accordance with the provisions of this act, shall be by the owner thereof altered and improved according to the regulations in the schedule (B) to this act annexed ; and if the owner of such warehouse shall not alter the same within six calendar months after notice in writing for that purpose shall have been given by one of the surveyors under this act, every such owner shall for every such default forfeit any sum not exceeding £lOO, and not exceeding £5O for every week such default shall continue unamended." The first question upon this clause is, what does schedule B re quire to be done? Upon turning to this you will find that it requires doors and door-frames, or jambs (external only), door-sills and heads, window-shutters and frames, pent-houses or cat-heads, and teagle•blocks, to be of wrought iron, but door-frames and door-sills and heads may be of wrought or cast iron. The thickness and construction of the doors, &c., are then regulated. The expense of these alterations must of necessity he very great. I have been informed that in some cases it would exceed £5OO for a sin thou re build such the en wholeou lay, ,f front, eat in most order tyrannical a a n k i e ' d i gle warehouse. Now, the compelli ng ownerntuhtteljsuesato alterations. ar b r ai o l o e l ni r c e t s ilE In many cases it would be necessary to take down and - year or two, taking down an old warehouse for the In ninny cases a party may contemplate, :hose: purpose o, withoutof s a e to expend a large sum upon his old . of rebuilding ; but this act will compel him, in the mean time,ld adding one farthing to their value, o • nalty of £5O per week. subject him to a pe nalty other serious injuries and ies will appear inconvenienc upon a consideration of the term own ers , as used By the interpretation clause the wo r d owner" in the bill. shall mean the party in possession, or in receipt o f th e rents or profits of any tenement. So that trustees, executors, and mortga . , gees, are owners for the purpose of i n curring the penalties under this act, and they will be personably liable to the pe nalties. Take, for instance, the case of a person (and there are hundreds of such cases,) by his will bequeathing a ware house in trust for a daughter, as her share of his property. The bequest would be to A in trust to pay the rents to the daughter for her life, and after her decease to her children equal shares. The trustee is, of course, in receipt of the rents, and is called upon to alter the warehouse at an ex pense of some three or four hundred pounds. Where is he to find the money? Re cannot touch the rent; that must be paid to the daughter, (and if lie could so apply the rent it would be depriving the daughter of the means of subsist ence probably for two years at the least ;) he cannot sell or mortgage the warehouse to raise money for making the im provements ;—that would be a breach of trust. He must, therefore, either make the alterations at his own expense, or, he must pay the penalty. _ Again, take the case of a mortgagee, in possession ; the mortgagee, perhaps, bankrupt, and the rent barely sufficient to keep down interest. He is called upon to meet this enor mous outlay, which does not better his security one penny ; it is, in fact, throwing so muck money away. These are cases of daily occurrence. Many serious questions will also arise upon contracts for sale, whether the seller or purchaser shall bear this exorbitant taxation. _ _ It is also to be observed that this act is not confined in its operation to the large buildings in the vicinity of the docks, but extends to the Parliamentary borough, comprising Ever ton, Edgehill, Kirkdale, great part of Toxteth Park, and in cludes not only what is usually understood by the word ware house, but every building in which some room shall be used for the deposit of goods. ALPHA. RUMOURED MARRIAGES IN HIGH LIFE.—A report is very current in distinguished circles that Miss Coutts Bur dett is at length about to bestow her hand in marriage, and Lord Wiltshire, the eldest son of the Marquis of Winchester, and colonel of a dragoon regiment, is mentioned as the fa voured suitor. Lord Charles Wellesley will, we also hear, shortly lead to the altar Lady Mary Cecil, the accomplished daughter of the Marquis of Salisbury.—Brighton Guardian. CHILD BITTEN BY A RAT.—On Friday night last. a workman in the employment of Messrs. Appleby, Walkers, and Co.. of Renishaw Ironworks, was aroused from his slumber by hearing cries from the adjoining bedroom. On going to the bedside, he found his little boy, a fine lad about two years and a half old, in a great fright, and apparently much distressed. After quieting the little fellow, he retired to rest ; but in a short time he again heard a cry emanating from the same room as before. On this, he immediately procured a light; and hastening to the spot, discovered, on examining the room minutely, that a large rat had procured an ingress, and frightfully lacerated the little sufferer's lip and the upper part of his forehead. The child is now doing well.—Derby Reporter. NORTHERN AND EASTERN RAILWAY.—A special gene ral meeting of the proprietors of this company was held, on Tuesday, at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, Mr. Ward, M.P. for Sheffield, in the chair, for the purpose of taking into consideration the company's bill, now before Par liament, for an extension of the line to Newport. Mr. Crow der, the solicitor, read the marginal notes and clauses of the bill, the main object of which is to sanction the extension of the line from its present terminus at Bishop's Stortford to the town of Newport, in Essex. For this purpose the com pany are to be empowered to raise £152,000 in 12,000 quar ter shares. A clause is inserted in the bill limiting the com pletion of the line to five years. It was moved by Mr. Levy, seconded by Mr. Allender, and carried unanimously, that the proposed bill be approved of, and, after a vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting broke up. THE EARTHQUAKE IN IRELAND.—ILI another page we publish an account of an earthquake which was felt in Li verpool and its vicinity on Friday morning last. The shocks were perceptible at a considerable distance, and, among other places, were distinctly felt in Belfast and its neighbourhood. Owing to the hour in which this agitation of the globe oc curred [between twelve and one o'clock at night], compara tively few people were awake to observe it ; and, from the novelty of the occurrence, even those who were awake, or were awakened, were not, at the moment, aware of what was taking place. Of the fact, however, no doubt exists. The agitation was very perceptible. One gentleman, with whom we have spoken, had just gone to bed; and, upon observing the agitation, his reflection was, that " if he were in a country which was visited by earthquakes, that was one." Another gentleman got out of bed, supposing that robbers bad entered the house. Another rose and examined his room, fearing lest plunderers had made their way into it. Several other cases of a like kind have been mentioned to us. In Holywood, and the neighbourhood of Killileagh, we un derstand that the shocks were felt. Captain Head, of the Reindeer steamer, from Belfast to Liverpool, experienced on that night a most unusually rough sea, though the wea ther was calm.—Belfast Whig. HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, FROM THE PAR LIAMENT OF 1688 TO THE PASSING OF THE REFORM BILL. By William Charles Townsend, Esq.—The first volume of this work, which must be looked upon as a desideratum by every legislature, and, indeed, by ail Englishmen, is just published. This work is intended to give a popular history of the House of Commons of Parliament, and will compre hend the lives of the speakers, lawyers, orators, and states men, who have been most distinguished in its annals ; a review of the privileges once enjoyed by members, and their hard-won right to personal deliberative freedom; a record of the vindictive powers exercised by the house over their own body and strangers • a narrative of the internal economy of St. Stephen's Chapel; the changes in the habits, mariners, and character of the constituency, with the decorum and method of proceedings—in the tone and temper of discussion, and in the progress of intelligence and refinement. It is thus proposed to unlock the store of light reading, the fund of interest and amusement which has been concealed from the general gaze in the voluminous journals, state trials, parlia mentary debates, precedents of Hatsel , and contemporary memoirs and pamphlets. The first volume includes the period from the abdication of James 11. to the death of George 1., characterised by " master spirits," critical events, and stirring debate—a monument, however imperfect, to the memory of those patriotic legislators who framed the Bill o? Rights—conquered France in her height of pride—established the union with Scotland—secured the Protestant faith by the Act of Settlement, and, with the Septennial Act, confirmed the independence of the representative: , of the people. LOUIS PHILLIPPE AND TRIERS.—TiIe soireeft of M. Lc fitte (just previous to 1830) were very little more violent than those at the Palais Royal. Undoubtedly, the then Duke of Orleans (now Louis Phillippe) kept up tlie appearance of re spect to his king and relative, Chas. Y.: but Barthelemy and Mery, Benj. Constant and Lafctte, heranger, Lafayette, and all the uproarious and discontented spirits of the age, were well received and applauded by the then first subject of the realm. it was at this period that M. Thiers first made the acquaintance of his future sovereign, and it was then that he paved his way for his subsequent reception at the palace of ' the Tuilleries. It is a fact which has been too frequently forgotten, that the revolution of 1830 was by no means an "impromptu." It is not true that M. Thiers, for example, was not fully prepared for its accomplishment. He, and those who acted with him, planned the measures and the opposition which should, in the end, compel the monarchy to stand on the defensive. "We will drive the old Jesuit to a coup d'etat," said M. Thiers, on one occasion, when speaking of his king, Chas. X.: " they wish to govern legally, that is, according to the letter of the law; but we will make him rule according to its spirit !!" At the period of which lam now speaking, little Thiers was a very poor man. His two franc dinners, or is. Bd., wine included, were by no means rare; and none hut himself would have dared to predict that he would afterwards become the associate of the rulers and of the prime ministers of Europe. Not , i ndeed, that such men as Talleyrand ever forgot Thiers's origin ; but he who said that " language was given to enable men to conceal their thoughts," also said, " that Thiers was a fop without ele gance, an aristocrat without real pretensions or family, and a political demagogue without courage or foresight." Still Talleyrand availed himself of his services, admired his dex terity in boxing the political compass, and used to declare "that Adolphe was the only man of m erit who had sprung from the hot-bed of the barricades."—" Talleyrand sucked the orange, and rejected peel and pips," said Odillon Barrot in one of his happy moments; but, when little Thiers heard of it, he vowed vengeance against both his patron and his competitor.—Fraser's Magazine. MISCELLANEOUS REMINISCENCES, TiY MR. MACAULEY —ln 1814, Dr. Milner again insisted on my passing th e Easter holydays with him ; and he was, if possible, kinder than before. It was a time not to be forgotten by the youngest who were able to comprehend the signs of public joy. Th e news of the fall of Paris, and of the abdication of Napoleon, arrived, I think, on the very day on which I went on my second visit to the lodge of Queen's College. Cambridge was illuminated ; and my kind old friend was divided between his wish that I should see the show, and his fear that I should come to some harm in the crowd. He sent me out with all sorts of precautions, and told me afterwards that he could not compose himself to sleep till he knew that I was safe at home. In general, this visit resembled the last; except that, as was natural at such a season, he talked much more of history and politics than of natural science. One story, which he told at breakfast over his great howl of milk, I well remember. " The first time," he said, " that I ever heard about war or the French was when I was a little child in London. I was taken out of bed late at night, and carried to the window. All the street was alive, though it was midnight. The watchman was calling Past twelve o'clock ; Quebec taken.' The news came late ; and the lord mayor had given orders that the watchman should cry it, with the hour,'all through the city." He talked of the bearing of the recent events upon religion, of the restoration of the Pope, of the suppression of the order of Jesuits, and of the probability of its revival. Then he went back to the Reformation, and found me, for my age, an intelligent listener ; for I had lately been reading his history at that time, and Robertson's Charles the Fifth. I ventured to say some hard things of Luther; which he pronounced to be most unjust, and took down from his bookcase some letters of Nlelancthon, in order to set me right. He was very severe on Erasmus, though the most distinguished ornament of his own college. He said, "We have no relic of him at Queen's, except a huge corkscrew ; and I am afraid that there was nothing in his principles to keep him from making very assiduous use of it." This screw is mentioned by Dr. Buchanan, who, in his last visit to Queen's College, inhabited Erasmus's rooms, as being " about a third of a yard long.”—Life of Isaac Milner. THE SHAKSPEARE OF GERMANY.—If any one should ask us to characterise Richter, we should reply, characterize with your wish. Richter n i s a t n u a r t e u , r e a n , d i f t e h v e e n r m w e an w c i o ll ul e d ° s n o lP h l e Y called. Nor do we mean that he is a man of no character. We mean to say, that, in sur view and feelings, he is the Shakspeare of Germany. We, too have, in our own mind' often been led, as Mrs. Lee does at some length in the book before us, to contrast Jean Paul with another, who is perhaps more generally considered amongst us the great man of German authors, namely, Goethe. We, however, are inclined to make the contrast much more favourable to Richter , or less so to Goethe, than everybee thing at a distance. We called G oe th e ' s a ll- s id eness she does. This has always seemed to us the difference be tween the two men. that Jean Peul's heart embraced every thing, while tvsudisialey,Guoleatthwe'hsaltie hasld has always seemed to us to be a cold indifference of heart to the many forms of humanity , w hich passed only as a curious phoenomenon before his d r y visi on ; while Richter seems to us, with his large and glowing bosom, to meet all the aspects of human life and lot with a profound and tender and im mortal interest. It may sound singularly to many, when we a writer, by ca lli ng hi m tc tha German Dickens. Of course ucounrfuensusnwtreymhaevnewohfutetnaoi illae_treishueesn tempted to illustrate to this comparison holds do certainly a life, in which th e E ng lish writer and the Germa n n only in respect to the exquisite blendi ng o f h umour an d pathos, of the droll and the tender, and to th a t k een sens e fbetween what is truly gre a t, an d w h a t i s only the d i s hear a striking likeness to each other. sup eradd to Dic kens a more wide and and elevated acqnai ntance with lif e in all its circles and o g uised difference littleness, conditions,—enrich his mind immensly with stores of the most heterogenous and significant facts, and images from all ages and all departments of knowledge,—quicken his already lively sense of the beauty of outward nature into an all-animating and boundless glow of emotion and love ; let his mind be filled with all knowledge of the metaphysical systems, without enslaving in the least his own power of thought—and you will nave something, like a Jean Paul. We mean to say that .in wit, and fun arid flre," in the union of tender sensibility to what is more true and beauti ful, with moral indignation at what is base,—in short, in some of those characte ristics which make Jean Paul peculi arly dear to us, he may well be called the Boz of Germany. We do not think w e could better begin to recommend him to American readers than by such a parrallel as this.—Chris tiaw Observer, 11. S. The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland. By N. P. Willis ; 1 As the earthquake which has so recently been experienced illustrated by Mr. Bartlett. Virtue, Ivy-lane. in this town and neighbourhood forms at present a subject of This number (XXIII.) contains some sweetly executed very general conversation, it may, perhaps not be uninterest engravings. The first is a view of Wellesley Bridge, Lime- ing to give some brief particulars of former similar visitations, rick, the second Glengariff, (really a gem of art for softness which we gather from various sources. and effect,) the third Kilkee, and the fourth Glenarm. This In Zorulin's Recreations in Physical Geography, it is publication continues as excellent as when first commenced. stated that " beyond the limits of these volcan i c re g ions, all countries are subject to slight tremors at distant intervals of time. Slight shocks have frequently been felt in the British isles, in France, Germany, and other parts of northern Eu rope; but these countries cannot be considered as constitut ing parts of either the southern European or of the Icelandic volcanic regions. In many instances these tremors appear to he mere vibrations, produced mechanically, through the ex ternal crust of the globe, and originating in some great con vulsion in an adjoining volcanic region. In other instances, however, these agitations appear to be independent of any such great convulsion." LITERARY NOTICE EARTHQUAKES, A GOOD JOKE ON A JESTER Our readers have occasionally seen the name of Popjoy in our columns, as the author of an occasional first-rate joke. Having missed him for some time, we made inquiry, and found that he had been on the wing—travelling to " parts unknown." The cause of his absence we learn to have been the following, which, having come to the knowledge of his acquaintance, has been subject of too hard jesting for the wag to withstand. Some time ago a masquerade was given at the Amphi theatre, where ladies of uneasy virtue formed the major part of the " softer sex" present ; the male portion being consti tuted of roues, debauchees, and gentlemanly vagabonds, who delight in such assemblies, where vulgarity passes for wit and coarseness for humour. A queer fellow in his way is Popjoy. He had frequently heard of these masquerades, but never felt much curiosity to be present at any of them. However, he determined to be present at the first that took place ; and, on one being an nounced, purchased a ticket. Popjoy's costume was that of a Grand Turk, and he flattered himself he looked every inch a turbaned infidel. He amused himself for an hour in looking on, when a domino took his arm. EARTHQUAKES IN ENGLAND. It is exactly 800 years since the first earthquake is recorded to have taken place in this country, it having happened at Worcester and Derby in 1043. Four similar visitations are stated to have fallen on England during the following half century. An earthquake that was generally felt throughout the country occurred in 1090, and was followed by a scarcity of food. In 1199, the county of Somerset suffered from a lar cause ; and St. Michael's-on-the-Hill, without Glas . Jury, was thrown down by shocks that were also felt , ughout the country in 1247. Earthquakes were experi enced in England during each of the three succeeding years— a remarkable succession of such evils ! The greatest earth quake ever known in this country occurred in 1318; and in April, 1580, another caused great damage in various direc tions. It lasted only one minute ; but the shock was so severe that many churches and houses were much shattered and many lives were lost. According to the quaint phraseology of Stowe—" The great clocke bell in the palace at Westmins ter stroke of itself against the hammer with shaking, as di vers clockes and belles in the city and elsewhere did the like." This earthquake extended into many parts of England; and in Kent there were three distinct shocks that caused much damage. In 1583 one occurred in the county of Dorset, that " removed a considerable piece of ground." Earthquakes were felt at London and several other places in March, 1749, and in 1750, and gave rise to the publication by Dr. Stukely, in which he attributed the phenomena, not to vapours or fer mentations generated in the bowels of the earth, but to elec tricity. On one of these occasions it is stated that " a sound was observed to roll from the Thames to Temple-bar, just as the electrical snap precedes the shock." In 1750, the same counties now visited suffered from an earthquake that caused much damage in Liverpool, Chester, Manchester, &c. ; and in the course of this same year a severe shock was felt at Mu nich and in the surrounding country ; numerous shocks were also experienced in France, particularly at Bordeaux, Tou lose, Narbonne, Montpelier, &c. though the shocks were most violent near the Pyrennees, where several houses were thrown down, and many persons killed." In 1753, on the 12th June, several parts of the town of Manchester (particularly the upper end of Market-street Lane) were visited with an earthquake, which lasted about the space of a minute, whereby a great many people were awakened by the shaking of their beds. It was preceded, or rather accompanied, by a rustling noise like the wind, and was felt in a great many villages adjacent. At Ratcliffe and Oldham, the tremulous motion of the earth was more sensi bly perceived ; their beds were lifted up by it, and the houses violently agitated. The shock was felt in Cheshire much about the same time ; and also at Halifax, in Yorkshire. As such an extraordinary event could not be remembered to have happened there before, those to whom the earthquake was most perceptible were thrown into a great consternation by it. In the beginning of 1761 great alarm was excited through out the metropolis and its neighbourhood by two shocks, on February 8 and March 8. On Sunday, Sept. 14th, 1777, the greatest shock on record of a similar visitation was experienced in this county (Lan caster ). The pillars and walls of the buildings in several places evidently tottered, and the motion was so great as to toll the bells in the Collegiate and St. Mary's Churches, at Manchester. In the churches, it being in the time of divine service, the greatest confusion and terror were occasioned. The congregations, suspecting that either the galleries or the roofs were falling in, endeavoured to escape with the utmost precipitation. Several people were thrown down and tram pled upon, and some few had their limbs broken. Many persons complained, for several days after, of nervous pains and hysteric affections, and of sensations similar to those persons who have been strongly electrified. Perhaps the fright might have contributed to have produced some of these effects. The motion was felt at York, Lancaster, Li verpool, Chester, Birmingham, Derby, and Gainsborough ; and within this circuit, the diameter of which must be 130 or 140 miles, with greatest violence in Manchester, which appears to have been the centre of it. The morning on which the earthquake happened was clear and serene. The air was so far from being sultry, that some persons who rode out early in the morning, complained of the cold. The wind was easterly. At the instant of the shock it is said to have veered to the west, and to have immediately returned to its former station. On the 20th, 21st, and 22d of September, much rain fell, attended with thunder and lightning. The storm was particularly violent on the 21st in the neighbour hood of Rochdale ; and early on the morning of the 22d, (according to the report of a philosophical gentleman from which we take this account,) the whole hemisphere appeared, from this place, to be involved in one general blaze. In 1786, earthquakes occurred in different parts of the north of England. In Westmoreland in 1790 ; in the coun ties of Bedford, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, &c., in March, 1792; at Shaftesbury and Salisbury in September, 1793. Another shock was felt in this country on the 18th No vember, 1795 ; and we copy the following notice of it from the Manchester Mercury, published a few days afterwards:— " Several of the inhabitants of this town were greatly alarmed on Wednesday night, bet*een eleven and twelve, by the shock of an earthquake. The sensation it occasioned seemed to those retired to rest as though a person in getting from under the bed had gently heaved it up. We do not hear of the smallest damage occasioned by it. The weather here has, for some days, been uncommonly variable. On Thursday, in the afternoon, there was a very severe fall of snow, and Friday we had a sharp dry frost. At Nottingham, so severe was the shock, that the bells in the churches were awfully heard to sound in the steeples; several chimneys thrown down, &c. ; but we have not yet heard of any material da mage. It was so severely felt at Childwell, in that neigh bourhood, as to throw down a stack of chimneys belonging to Thom'as Charlton, Esq., of that place. Its direction seemed to be from N.E. to S.W. The same was also felt at Doncaster, Stamford, Leicester, Derby, Sheffield, and seve ral other places." On the 20th August, 1835, two shocks were experienced in this country, the principal one of which was preceded, as in the case of the earthquake of Friday last, by a slight shock, about three hours and a half previous. The .first shock was about midnight, on the 19th ; the second about half-past three o'clock in the morning of the 20th August, when a rumble like distant thunder was immediately followed by a violent shaking of doors, windows, furniture, &c. At Lan caster it threw down a chimney ; arid it was also felt with considerable violence at Whitehaven, Ulverstone, Kendal, Garstang, Preston, Manchester, and Blackpool. It appears to have extended from Carlisle on the north, to the borders of Cheshire on the south, and from the seacoast on the west, to the Yorkshire hills on the east ; and to have been most violent at Lancaster, which is nearly half-way between the two extremes. The air was calm and serene, but, as on Fri day morning last, quite warm, indeed sultry. It is remark able, that this earthquake was preceded by an occurrence of the same kind, a few days previous in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. In June, 1839, an earthquake was experienced as far north as Clitheroe, and as far south as Manchester, but does not seem to have been felt westward of a line drawn from Man chester to Blackburn, nor does it appear to have extended eastward beyond the range of hills which separate Yorkshire from Lancashire. It was felt at Burnley, Bacup, Rawten stall, Blackburn, Ilaslingden, Edenfield, Bury, Rochdale, and Manchester; but it was not felt, or but slightly, at Old ham or Ashton-under-Lyne. It was more violent at Bury, Rochdale, and Heywood, than in any other quarter. At Heywood some shafting was thrown out of geer by the vibra- tiori, and a quantity Of china was broken in a j closet; at Rochdale a wall was slightly damaged ; and at Bury many articles were thrown down from shelves and chimney-pieces. Cotton factories, and other lotty buildings, were so violently shaken, that the hands rushed out in some instances, sup posing that the building was falling. Throughout the whole range of its operation, it was attended by a hollow rumbling sound, like distant thunder. In October in this year, 1839, also several shocks of earthquakes were felt in various parts of Scotland. Although not severe, they were sufficiently so to cause some alarm ; they occurred on the 7th, 10th, 13th, 14th, 16th, and 23d days of October. The bells were set ringing ; persons seated in chairs could with difficulty retain their seats, and stone dikes or walls were thrown down. But the most serious injury cause by this agitation of the earth was the bursting of the Eastburn reservoir, on the banks of the River Carron, the waters of which swept over the adja cent lands, bearing every transportable article before them, and eve❑ rooting up young trees. Of course it is needless to give in this place any details of the earthquakes which have v isited this country during the present month, and it is almost unnecessary to say that the above are but a few of the earthquakes that have visited England. "Do you know me ?" the chance of an adventure asked Popjoy, highly flattered with "No," replied the domino; "and I know you are not acquainted with me : that is the reason I have ventured to address you. I love the unforseen, the impossible, and the romantic. A masked ball is a place where we wish to remain unknown." Popjoy made up his mind that the lady by his side must be a princess of the blood royal, or, at least, somebody of eminence. " I should faint," said the domino, " if I were to be recog nised, and go into hysterics if I were to find you out; so, take care of your false nose, I beg of you." " That is to say," said Popjoy, •• you have a sad opinion of my real nose. 1 flatter myself that it is not so ugly as my false one." The domino sighed. The domino and Popjoy danced all night together, and be came mutually charmed with each other. " Do you wish to depart," said Popjoy, at length, as the domino evinced some signs of weariness. "It is too soon for that : now is the time to sup. Perhaps you will not ob ject to sacrifice a few oysters—a glass of wine ?" " To refresh my dried up throat, I will take an oyster, perhaps two, but not more." Popjoy and the domino sat down to supper. The domino eat an oyster—then another; by dint of persuasion, she managed to swallow three—when, as if " appetite had grown by what it fed on," three dozen, at least, found their way down her ivory, swan-like throat; then followed a pasty, a lobster salad, and the best portion of a dish of jelly. De cidedly, thought Popjoy, this must be a princess —no lady of the common sort could possess such a royal appetite. Popjoy kept on his false nose and his turban. The domino would not remove her mask. Popjoy thought both might now be laid aside. They had nearly finished a bottle of cham pagne, when four o'clock struck. " I must really retire," said the domino Permit to escort you," said Popjoy; " I beg you will." Oh! I cannot, indeed. I live a long way from here—in the Park. Hold, thought Popjoy—my own place of residence—l may be known. The champagne had made Popjoy reckless. " That is the direction of my own house." _ _ When they had reached The domino accepted his arm a certain street, the dimino stopped "I am now at home ;—permit me to thank you. I shall never forget the pleasure of the past evening." "We must not part yet," said Popjoy. " I must see you safe." They walked on a few paces—at No. 4 they stopped " I am now at home." " So am I." " Oh, my goodness !" cried the domino ; " you are Mr. Popjoy ! I know you now—oh, goodness !" The mist from Popjoy's eyes began to clear away. He suddenly recognised the voice, which so far had been well disguised. It was that of his landlady's maid servant ! " Sir,', said the girl, solemnly, " you are a man of honour—l beg you to be secret. " And I—have I---zounds !—I shall remove to-morrow." That ball and supper cost poor Popjoy nearly four pounds ten. A young man named Brook was twice fired at in the village of Tuam, within four miles of Strekestown, on the night of Wednesday last, and immediate death was the result. LORD HUNTINGTOWER.--AD application was made be fore the Court of Review, on Wednesday, to annul the fiat against this nobleman, as he was not a trader. The judge rejected the application with costs. THE WELSH COLLIERIES.—The summary conviction of the men at Cardiff on Saturday appears to have had a bene ficial effect in Glamorganshire, many of the men having gone to work without obstruction. In Monmouthshire, however, things remain in nearly the same state. On Saturday a large meeting was held near Blackwood, at which the men came to the determination still to stand out. No breach of the peace has, however, occurred. SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE.—The Jamaica papers last received mention rather a cnrious circumstance, which hap pened to a gentleman of Kingston a few days since. He coughed up a bone. nearly an inch long, which he had acci dentally swallowed while supping beef soup, upwards of two years ago. Every effort was made at the time, both by the medical faculty and the English metropolis, to relieve the patient; but what was denied to science in this instance, nature herself has now performed. MONOMANIAC.—On Tuesday, at one of the London po lice-offices, Charles Howie, the journeyman shoemaker, who is labouring under the delusion that some passage in Cham bers' Edinburgh Journal, reflecting upon his grandfather, prevents the master shoemakers from giving him work, was put to the bar. He said his object in wishing to see Mr. Chambers was to chastise him for calling his grandfather an idiot. Dr. M`Murdo gave a certificate of the prisoner's in sanity, and he was removed to a place of safety. The Queen of the French has singestcd to 14 ladies, at the head of whom are the royal princesses and the Countess of Montalivet, the pleasing task of getting up a quantity of works in embroidery of various sorts, to be sold for the bene fit of the sufferers of Guadaloupe. Those works, when finished, are to be exposed in the gallery of the Palais Royal, on the first floor, and will be afterwards sold. Ladies ap pointed by her Majesty will preside at the different stalls, and the sale, it is supposed, will commence on the 18th of next month. ESCAPE FROM A FILTHY DEATR.—AbOIIt eleven o'clock on Monday night the inmates of the Blue Lion lodging housP, Field-lane, London, were greatly alarmed by dread ful groans proceeding from the lower part of the premises, and on going into the privy they perceived a man's hands and a portion of his head emerging above the soil. the other parts of his body being completely immersed therein. They immediately set about extricating the poor fellow, who ap peared almost exhausted, and in the course of a few seconds he was partially got out when the unfortunate man was doomed to a second immersion, the persons who had pulled him up being unable to retain their hold. An alarm was now given, and some policemen extricated the poor fellow from his disagreeable position. He had fallen into the soil whilst in a fit. ELOPEMENT OF A YOUNG LADY FROM LIEGE, BELGIUM. —On Wednesday. information was received at the several metropolitan police-offices of the elopement of a young lady, about 20 years of age, from the house of her parents, residing at Liege, in Belgium. The gentleman with whom she quit ted her parental roof is a young man, about 25 years of age, named Giles Hinton, Esq., M.A., of Worcester College, Oxon, and formerly a resident at Gloucester or its neigh bourhood. It appears that the young lady left her father's house on Friday last, about half-past eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and it was soon afterwards ascertained that the fugitives had taken their departure for England in the Ge neral Steam Navigation Company's vessel Sir Edward Banks, which vessel arrived in the Thames on the following day (Saturday) at two o'clock, but all trace of them since their landing has been lost. The friends of the lady arrived in London soon afterwards in pursuit ; and large placards, de scribing the personal appearance of Mr. Hinton, as also that of the young lady, in a very minute style, were on Wednes day extensively posted about the metropolis, offering a re ward to any person who would discover their present abode, and communications have been made to several old and ex perienced officers on the subject. The placards style the affair " The abduction of a young English lady, a minor, from the house of her parents." TABLE or MORTALITY. — The following table, which shows the proportion of deaths that occurred during the year 1842, in London, and in each of the under-mentioned manu facturing towns, will probably be interesting to our readers : Deaths per ann. Population by the in every 1,000 of Towns. Census of 1841. the population. London Huddersfield Halifax 99,175 Wigan Stockport 85,672 Rochdale Bradford . 132,164 Bury Birmingham 131,187 Derby Preston 77,189 Nottingham 53,080 Walsall . Leeds 168,667 Salford . 70,228 Leicester 50,932 Coventry Wolverhampton. 80,722 Manchester. 192,401 Liverpool. 223,054 1 Macclesfield 56,018 SUPPOSED MURDER AT READING.—Inch excitement has been occasioned in Reading during the last few days by the mysterious circumstances attending the death of an aged man named Samuel Steers, who was found drowned in the Kennett, with his legs tied, and one of his pockets turned out, on Tuesday night. Deceased was a carpenter, and had lived in Reading nearly the whole of his life, his sober and industrious habits, as well as his general good character, hating rendere€l him much respected. At about seven o'clock on Tuesday evening he left home, previously telling his wife he was going to Mr. Ings, a collector of pew rents, to pay for the last quarter's sittings at Trinity Church, which amounted to 10s. 6d., and of which he then had a bill in his hands ; he added, that he should also call on one of the offi cers of a benefit club, of which he was the auditor, on his way, but he should be back in time for supper. A few mi nutes past seven he called at the Globe Inn, Horn-street, where the Club meetings were held, and after waiting about ten minutes went out again, appearing in good spirits, as usual. He was afterwards seen by a third party near Kates grove-lane, at the bottom of the street, going in the direction of Mr. Ing's house. A few minutes after nine o'clock, how ever, the same evening, he was met in Mill-lane by a man employed at the mill, who states that he was then going towards How-street. From this time lie was never seen un til taken out of the water (at half-past nine), near Victoria wharf, about half-a-mile distant from the mill-stream, where he was discovered by some bargemen in the employ of Messrs. Drewe, floating in the water. On being taken out and ex amined by Mr. Honiton, superintendent of police, he had nothing in his pockets, one of which had been turned inside out, and his legs were tied tozether with a piece of car-twine. There were no external marks of violence, except a slight bruise under the left eye, a small cut under the chin, and two slight grazes inside the upper and lower lips, occasioned (in the opinion of the surgeon) by their being pressed against the teeth. Early on Wednesday morning a labouring, man dis covered the hat and apron of deceased concealed in a..dung hill near the Jack of Newbury public - h ouse, on the side of the mill-stream. The apron and string we re cut asunder, and some blood stains were on the former. On the ground, near the dunghill, some other spots of blood were touyd, and also several screws and keys which had been in the old man's Pocket, and some halfpence.—Globe. EARTHQUAKES ABROAD It is almost impossible to enumerate these various occur rences, but the following are probably the most calamitous and destructive. and compared with the fearful effects of these subterranean convulsions in the volcanic regions of the earth, the tremors in our own neighbourhood appear of trifling importance. PERU, 1746 Peru was visited on the 28th of October, 1746, by an earthquake, which is declared to have been more tremen dous and extensive than that of Lisbon in 1755. In the first twenty-four hours two hundred shocks were experienced. The ocean twice retired and returned impetuously upon the land ; Lima was destroyed, and part of the coast near Callao was converted into a bay ; four other harbours, among which were Cavalla and Guanape, shared the same fate. There were twenty-three ships and vessels, great and small, in the harbour of Callao, of which nineteen were sunk, and the other four, among which was a frigate called St. Firmin, were carried by the force of the waves to a great distance up the country. The number of the inhabitants 10 this city amounted to four thousand. Two hundred only escaped, twenty-two of whom were saved on a small frag ment of the fort of Vera Cruz, which remained as the only memorial of the site of the town after this dreadful inunda tion. LISBON, 1755 The great area over which this earthquake extended is very remarkable. The movement was most violent in Spain, Portugal, and the north of Africa ; but nearly the whole of Europe, and even the West Indies, felt the shock on the same day. A sea-port, called St. Eubals, about 20 miles south of Lisbon, was engulphed. At Algiers and Fez, in Africa, the agitation of the earth was equally violent, and at the distance of eight leagues from Morocco, a village, with the inhabitants to the number of about eight or ten thousand persons, together with all their cattle, was swallowed up. Soon after, the earth closed again over them. A great wave swept over the coast of Spain, and is said to have been sixty feet high at Cadiz. At Tangier, in Africa, it rose and fell eighteen times on the coast. At Funchal, in Madeira, it rose fifteen feet perpendicular above high-water mark, although the tide which ebbs and flows there seven feet was then at half ebb. Besides entering that city, and committing great havoc, it overflowed other sea-ports in the island. At Kin whirled Ireland, a body of water rushed into the harbour, round several vessels, and poured into thc market place. THE RED RIVER FLOOD.—ONE HUNDRED LIVES LOST. —The Southern American papers give melancholy accounts . of the loss of life and property by the rise in the Red River. Amid the general distress, Captain Crooks, of the steam boat Hunter, proceeded to Mill Creek, and rendered The s ufferers every possible succour in his power , going from place to place, picking up the survivors from the tops of houses and trees ; thus rescuing from a watery grave seventy five or a hundred perso n s. Some were necessarily left to perish in the cane and timber, as there was no possible way of reaching the m —thei r cr i es often being heard among the noise of the ele men t. Si x f a milies of Indians, 1,1 mile s this side of Jonesborough, are reported lost, and Colonel Milam, of Kentucky, with a lady, his niece, and a Mr. M'KinneY, perished. It is thought that over a hundred lives bad been lost between Fulton and Jonesborough—how many , w e, si yet, cannot with certainty predicate. THE EARTHQUAKE LAST WEE We gave in our last all the details ti which had ree., t. tmhaattetriimaletoofgttvheisiouandudsiutiaolno,ctchuorruegr perhaps a h e r w e, and h ave now n"oth our reade rs . The shrt fewot ticulars may not be uninteresting to appears to have been felt in every more or less intensity, and to have far as Carlisle, eastward to Rochdale, Oldh am . e part extended northwards of Lancashire, and Macclesfield — the last - named town ter and Holywell (so far as we hi.vel fora; limits ; and westward to the Isle of Man. r ries, it' correct, would give Morecambe Bas . the district between the Lune and the li itibk ' and certainly the effects , as described in the Preston papers, appear to have been more violent t experienced in this neighbourhood. A correspondent of the Manchester Guardia n following statement as to the p henomena which w fested under ground during the late earth quake. that " very few men were down in the pits at tt occurred; but those who were at work stated, th a t a slight shivering motion precisely similar to that c the gushing of the damp when ignited. This seas experienced in the collieries of ) arnworth, Kersiet , Ore' Lever, &c. No rupture took place, except the unshelyit of some scaly portions of soft rock, which, indeed, ti s lightest motion would certainly e ffect- As far as I ascertain, none of the men at the time suspected tt cause of the motion ; but, when they ascended in the mo ing, related the circumstance, and attributed it to a power eftluxion of fire damp in some adjoining place. Fire dat when a light is applied to it, rolls down the bay towards the aperture, and presents the appearance of flakes of cotton, &c. The shock was , of cours e, felt above ground in these places." The Guardian also says that there is pretty strong con current testimony to the fact, that a slight shock was felt about half-past ten o'clock on Thursday evening about two hours and a half before the shock of Friday morning. We have conversed with various parties who experienced this shock; but they all describe it as slight. One gentle man, residing on Kersall Moor, distinctly saw the door of the apartment shake to and fro, as if agitated by a sudden and violent gust of wind. It was also felt at Higher Broughton, Cheetham, and other neighbourhoods. It ap pears to have been a single concussion, accompanied by a tremulous or vibratory motion ; and of its reality we think few will be disposed to doubt, after reading the account of a medical gentleman expe riencing a shock at Kendal, pretty nearly about the same time. There can, we think, be little doubt, that although insignificant in it effects,—not a single building, or even a chimney, being anywhere overthrown by it,—it was stronger and more distinctly marked to the senses of hearing and feeling, than any earthquake which has been felt in the North of England since the earthquakes of 1753, 1777, and 1795, of which some account will be found in another column. The Liverpool Times of Tuesday says:— " We greatly fear that it will prove to have been merely the last vibration of an earthquake which has been felt in some other part of the world with much greater intensity. The, earthquake which destroyed the city of Lisb on was felt in Scotland; and the earthquake in the West Indies, on the Bth of February last, was also felt by the captains of several vessels at sea, many hundred miles from the West Indies, and through a very considerable part of America. volcanic forces in the West Indies seem tresent The great a state of frightful activity ; and when it a is present considered how rapidly and to what immense distances both o s und and mo tion may be propagated through th e solid mass of the earth, it is not at all imp robable that t h e earthquake felt in South Lancashire, on Friday morn ing , may havebeenuth the last vibration of some prodigious movement in the volcanic dis trict either of Central America or of Southern Eur The following are some of the places (in addition o t p o e." given in our last) where the shock was perceptibly felt those Rochdale, Bolton, St. Helens, Southport, Crokton, Stock- Rochdale, port, Altrinchatn, Bowdon, Dunham, Northwich, Cockceir mouth, Egremont (Cumberland), &c. The following r count, from the Whilehaven Herald, gives let.isc particulars :—" One gentleman informs us, at the s moment of the firstock, his bed appeared as if rou hly shaken by a strong ma sh n, whilst a bunch of keys that hun g in a chest of drawers were violently jingled at the same instant. Our Egremont correspondent informs us, the shock was so violent at at that place, that some persons, on being suddenly awakened, were led to imagine their houses had been broken into. At Maryport, says our intelligent correspondent at that place, many persons were awakened from their sleep by a dull sound resembling the distant fall of heavy timbers, and a violent tremulous motion of the beds and other furniture. The earthquake was very sensibly felt at Cockermouth ; an d in connection with the same subject, a respectable corres pondent in that town observes—' As my father and I were returning from Parton on Thursday night, we observed, about half way between the village and the tunnel, two fissures or cracks in the ground, about a yard long, and one inch and a half wide, and steam issuing from them. I put my hand into one, and found it quite warm. I could not account for this • but, since the slight shock of earthquake which was felt here last night, it has occurred to me that there might be some conn ection between the phenomenon have alluded to, and the convulsion that has frightened the town from its propriety.' Our Gosforth correspondent also informs us, that the shock was severely felt in that locality. A distant rumbling noise, be says, was heard prior to the shock, not unlike the rattling of a carriage passing with great rapidity, and appeared to run from the S. to the N.E. This subterranean noise continued about two minutes, and the shock about two seconds. The convulsion was also felt at Netherwasdale, where a similar noise was heard. The hounds at the latter place made a most terrific nois ppro e in their kennel, as if conscious of some frightful calamity aach ing." At Kendal the shock was very sev ere. About two miles from that town are e xtensive powder-mills, and several soothed themselves with the calamitous consolation " that it was only the powder-mills that had blown up !" an occurrence which is by no means unfrequent. A scientific meteorologist says he felt the motion, and describes the rumbling as of a loaded waggon, but too short in its duration to be mistaken for it, and immediately concluded that it was the shock of an earthquake. At the King's Arms Hotel, several of the inmates became so alarmed o to make a sudden egress into the street; and when the cause of their fright could not be ascertained, they were seized with utmot fear and proprietordis anti family had may. At the Nelson Tavern, the not retired to rest, and when about locking up, the shock caused the greatest terror. The decanters and wine-glasses which were on the shelves began to dance and knock one against another, causing a jingling discord, to their deep con sternation. At several of the other inns the bells were sud denly rung to the di s c o mfiture of the family anwho had near retired a to rest. A policeman says, that he was stding to large carpet manufactory at the north-east end of the town, when he heard a rumbling noise at first resembling very dis tant thunder, which immediately assumed a louder tone, when the ground began to shake beneath him, and the rumbling then died away, like the cadence of a large drum. The glass of the windows might manufactory was agitated, and the noise created by it have been beard called Oxen Holme, about a mile and a half south-east of the town, the shock was felt most severely, and the inmates rose en masse. But again, the consolotary thought passed their minds here, that had blown u " that it was only the powder-mills .. p . en menu actory at the The machinery of a large wooll . t wn were set in motion by the , southern extremity of the to shock throwing it into gear. GREAT COMET. ..--.-- Sir John Herschel has published the following gamma and Sir,—l wish to direct the published h e y b o e u n r eL a it s i t l ro th n e on s i t ic a a r l s readers to the fact, which I think hardly admits of a doubt, of the horizon. of a comet of enormous magnitude being in the course of its progress through our system, and at present not far from 113 perihelion. Its tail, for such I cannot doubt it to be, was con spicuously visible, both last night and , the night before, as a vivid luminous streak, commencing in the i , a between pour s kappa .and lambda (and) Leporis, and thence stretching obliquely westward eEstrl•daridni,atnildi The direction of it, prolonged on a celestial globe, passes p ro _ sely through the place a the _Sun m the eliptic at the pre sentstime, a circumstance which appears conclusive as to its cometic nature. downwards,l lost " As the portion of the tail actually visible on Friday even ing was fully 30 degrees in leng..h, and the head must have - been beneath the horizon, which would add at least ' - '5 de been grees to the length, it is evident that, if really a comet, it is one of rare first rate magnitude ; s and if it be not one, ' • t ' some phenomenon beyond the earths atmosphere, of a nature il even yet more remarkable. --I have the honour to be, - your obedient servant, .. sir, " J. F. W. HERSCHEL commu nication such l y T p h o e s t t ai l l as o t f n ti i i g e h tc,o comet, this e t, " Collingwood, March 19. nication would have been made a day earlier. mum it must now assuredly be, is again visible, though scured by haze, and bolding very near the same ()much (117)- A Paris paper of Friday last says :—'' A remaPiksition." "" EPiSghtkip.aind.ti,ll:lraerbcheenl9a. an the evening of yesterday. Towards s • . able event an in3mense comet appeared suddenly in the I even o'clock tail, which is vide -spread, and perfectly mar torlzon. The over a space of more than 60 degrees. Leaving marked, extended it crossed under an angle of 40 degrees, this Orion, which adually became invisible in the horizon, Whichnlagnifice"t tail de the influence of twilight. The nucleus , was still un dernot visible." 01 . the comet was The same luminous appearance was a , • on Saturday night. The nucleus was not perceived, visible at Paris tail or luminous body alluded to occupiedperceived, but the degrees of the heavens. The Parisian astronomers at least 50 or 60 taken by surprise, as none of them had are quite pearance of this comet, if comet it be. calculated on the ap was in full activity on The tory ,Saturday Royal Observa shortly expect to be made acquainted with night, and we may observations. with the result of the The Bristol Journal of Saturday h singular meteor was observed in the has the following .—" A Half -past eight, which extended f- heavens last night about sky, shedding a line of brilliant li i.onl . 20 to 30 degrees in the of the sun. A correspondent sm elt, following the direction a comet was observed from Madrid.l that about eight days ago t i m e, and the supposition is, that over the sun in the dav was the tail of a cornet " the meteor seen last night Sir J. South' published a l as t, dated the night letter in the Times of Wednesday liant train of light which previous,no in which he says—" the bril day, was seen here on Friday evening at a little after 7, and 1811. its highest appearance of the tail of the comet of point, theta Leporis, and when I first saw it, nearly reached nus, became passinginvisible through the constellation Erida two degrees from the horizon. from interposed trees when about were measurable ; More than 45 degrees of tail 1 through it by the stars of the sth magnitude were visible I of 21 inches aperture, naked eye, and with a 42-inch achromatic At 7b. 33m ap , e , rt s .ure, those even of the Bth hie perceptible. (sidereal time) a bri- meteor issued from the very tip e o e t . the tail. No trace of the above light could be detected here either Saturday Sunday, or Monday nights, in consequence of cloudy we'ather. This evening (Tuesday), at about ten minutes before eight, the clouds cleared away ; but no vestige of the train could be perceived in the neighbourhood which it had illumined on Friday night ; but a diffused and amorphous light, commencing at the Pleiades, and spreading over the entire on Aries, even through the haze, was too conspicuou, to escape obser tion. If this be the tail of the comet, it indicates a very rapid motion of it northward. By a letter which I received yesterday from Mr. Shorts, of Christchurch, lianirshire, he has seen it earlier than any one I have yet heard of, inasmuch as he observed it three nights previous to the date of his letter, which is the 19th instant; hence he saw it Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The Birmingham-Herald of Wednesday last says that this " luminous appearance has been observed by several gentle men in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, who have no doubt that it is similar to that described by Sir J. Herschel. A correspondent, who has favoured us with a communica tion upon the subject, says, ' On Friday, the lith instant, at about eight o'clock in the evening, I observed an extraordi- - nary luminous appearance in the heavens, reaching an altitude of from 30 to 40 degrees, and extending from the meridian to the horizon on the south-west, at which point it seemed to diminish in breadth.' " Sir J. Herschel, in a letter in yesterday's Times, dated Collingwood, says" On Monday night being cloudy, the tail of the comet was not visible here. On Tuesday iii , '' was very bright ; its direction and breadth arc as before,' ;' ; lt l i t t perhaps, some trifle curved, the convexity being u ~ m . -, Be that as it may, the line of the well defined part P , arils. of the tail has evidently advanced northwa r ds,, or arm, and passes nearly through, but still a little below iota L • extremity has advanced in right ascension, Leporis • also , and ' " its extend as far as the intermediate point b seems now to Orionis, and (seta), or, perhaps, even (eta) between knappa probability, therefore, i s, that we swot ) Leporis. The soon see the head.,,