The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-11-10 00:00:00

earraturr. SKETCHES OF A TRIP TO THE CONTINENT, ITALY, AND EGYPT. EDWIN KEET, NO. 11. Written for the Live Too 1 Standard.) On leaving France for Italy, the fire franc pieces are in ition for that e requis author seemed ' allowing ou to leave M But what the E since, a passr ort • aicn The French agent has Total ch tome. 22 franc France, I cannot comp the French Ambassador cious permission and 'D do with your leaving s both Lord C,,wley and throug Poor Laurence Sterne, having no passport, was sadly afraid of the Bastile. His chap!crs on Slavery and the Starling, who does not tee& But Here congrega s not for ort of Marseilles nd En ier carriage nks wendir Sp ini•l Greek's, Dutch, ut3 on 'Chang fancy ball by mountains to the north and east, and it lies open to the south principally, which makes it pleasant even in h uses, and esra to many of tbe,e winter. The Q blishment generally—is infection-guarding prison-houses ran tine garde! ry superi There is a noble prospect from the 'Castle of Notre Dame, without the walls; and the public gardens, established by Napoleon, are tasteful, and form a pleasant promenade for the Mar seilloise. Like most seaport towns, Marseilles exhibits vice in its most coarse and revolting forms, and meretri- cious creatures catch and suck t it, like spiders, e life-blood of g ver on the watch to idy flies that pass un- heeding by the webs of the sorceress On my embarkation :or Civita Vecchia, on board the Leopold the Second, one of Lord Chesterfield's beautiful horses either slipped or was pushed off the crowded little pier, and such a confusion took place! The horse swam out to sea; boats in pursuit shouting, pulling, rowing, swearing ; at last the pour beast was nearly strangled by a stupid attempt to drag him up the side of one of the vessels lying in the harbour. This circumstance, trivial as it may appear, caused considerable uneasiness to that very clever and excellent seaman, Captain Olive, whose attention to the comfort, welfare, and property of his _ passengers cannot be too highly praised. However, horse, luggage, passengers, and all, at length safely on board, we began our voyage; and here it may be observed, how convenient it is that you may book for Genoa. Leg horn, Civita Vecchia, Naples, Sicily or Malta, ad libitum, and with permission to stop at each place a few days, and resume your voyage. Even in the month of December, in moderate weather, how delightful a voyage is it, — passing along the romantic coasts of the islands of Hye rus ; Elba, where the lion of the desert, Napoleon, broke his parole, that he might again bring war, rapine, fire, and desolation in his train, through all Europe ; his na tive isle, Corsica, still a blot in the page of civilisation, where person, property, and life are so little respected ; but already, after scanning the various hill and valley scenery—the numerous villages, each, however small and insignificant, with one or more spires of churches visible, —we enter the bay or gulf of Genoa, its fine lofty tower, on a rock, with a lighthouse, seen for many miles distant. " Genoa la Superba l" how. delightfully interesting thy ninety palaces, lofty houses, stately females, with their snow-white floating mantillas fastened with silver °ma rnents to the crown of the head, upon their thick crisped locks! Even the poorer countrywomen, with their chintz pattern floating draperies, ornamented with birds, beasts, fishes, monsters, fruits, and flowers, look cool, smart, and clean, and have a novel charm to the English stranger. I had formed an intimacy on board the steamer with Dr. B , a Catholic priest, and a young Irish gentleman, whose uncle had been shot in Ireland by some of that misguided, ill-educated, and badly remunerated population. We took a carriage, and en joyed a delightful drive along the beautiful gardens that surmount the highest part of the amphitheatre which half encloses the city. The manufacture of silver filla gree work is very beautiful in Genoa. You may see the girls in the shops, and at the doors, making brooches, -i•Ts, which, although made at half the price you could inc churches and cathedral, of are highly ornamented. St. ear-drops, rin 6 of pure silver, may be bought get such in Englaryl black and white m Laurence boasts of possessing the mortal remains of John the Baptist, said to have been brought from Lycia. The Sacristan tells you the emerald vase was brought from Caesarea, the same as the Queen of Sheba presented to Solomon, but however insignificant these legends may ap pear, the power of the Catholic religion is in full force in Genoa. While I was examining the paintings in one of the churches, I heard the military word of command in a loud voice, and about four hundred soldiers, fully armed and equipped for marching, entered ; their tramp to time resounding from the marble pavement through the aisles up to the fretted roof, above the music of the brilliant band outside playing to their entt e. After a few minutes a dead silence ensued ; suddenly two drums played a rattling roll from the altar; down prostrate were all the soldiers with sach a clattering of their muskets on the pavement, men and arms all alike prostrate ; then the host was elevated, dulcet strains of music from the solemn organ softening the soul to the divinest melancholy. An other silence, another peel from the drums, the cup is raised, the benediction pronounced, another clattering of arms in rising, and the soldiers went forth to kill or be killed, as chance or fate may decide. " Ohl what a re ligion is this ? how finely does it harmonise with the weakness of our nature'.—how forcibly it works on the passions strangely it its forms ! s on the imagination ! how interestin graceful its ceremoni —how awful its rites!—what a captivating, what a pic turesque faith !—who would not become its proselyte were it not for the stern dictates and opposition of reason, the cold suggestions of philosophy ?" The outer of the two walls of Genoa extends about ten miles, and its for tifications, with its bastions and 500 pieces of cannon, render it impregnable. Massena declared, "had it not been for want of subsistence, (for he and h's army were obliged to eat their horses,) he could have held out for ever?' Genoa has been subject to great vicissitudes, the feuds between Spinola and Doria, when fierce fighting for twenty-four days, and battering engines from each others houses, filled the city with ruin and bloodshed. In 1336 formidable fleets were fitted out to aid Philippe of France against Edward 111. of England. The Geno ese are more crafty as well as more industrious than most other Italians, and I think they much resemble those of Naples. One of their splendid palaces is now turned into a magnificent hotel. In this many of my fellow pas sengers dined and slept, a pleasing change from our little dormitories on board the steamer, 6 feet by 20 inches, into one of which it was a ludicrous sight to see a stout old gentleman thrust himself with great difficulty. All the old family pictures and portraits still adorn with gloomy grandeur the lofty palace walls of this hotel, and threw an air of romance over our brief occupation of the chambers once occupied by the brave warriors of the re public. From Genoa to L ;horn was a delightful passage : oast, agreeable companions, with agers, ladies and gentlemen tra- and, by way of contrast, poor to the Holy City ! to receive the teir way These poor the same interesting many additional pas yellers, and o bare footed it the battered gem of the world, Rim benediction of tbe_ triple crowned pon But I hear distant music, and the people are wending their way towards it. The procession approaches : there are forty sable clad monks; two hundred men and boys, in white vestments, chanting ; eight men staggering under a huge gilded group of carved figures, angels, and cupids ! twenty donnas, with black veils, bearing tapers ; twenty girls in white veils, als.) bearing wax candles ; forty men diers to protect them from insult. The Psalms, as in London, chanted very beautifully ! But the wind sits in the shoulder of our sail ; the steam is up, and we are off to Civita Vecchia and Ronne—" Rome, the imperial mis tress of the world." With the exception of the arsenal and harbour, Civita Vecchia is a poor, unhealthy, and The I contemptible little town, and half an hour devoted pilgrims slept on the deck near the horse boxes for warmth, without any other covering than their coarse woollen cowl and hood. Dr. B. and myself persuaded one of these self-denying, body-mortifying monks, with great difficulty, to take some of the delicious wine, called lachymte Christi. their only luxury appeared to be the constant use of snuff, of which they enjoyed copious in halations. At Leghorn you meet with the same noisy vociferous grasping boatmen you do at Genoa, and as they know your luggage must be debarked and pass the Dogana, they take great liberties, and try all sorts of impositions. One gentleman's luggage was seized by six sturdy half-clad ruffians, and he administered some very liberal chastisement ; but this is not always quite safe, as I am told they carry knives in their sleeves, and shake them out and use them with great energy and prompt; At Legho Dr forty thousand and mild, the liberty of blowing brass inArnments, and as they cease, dru fifes add their shrill, harsh, but spirit-stirring sounds We enter the church before we re-embark ; and who can not, amid solemn music, the eve tics!, zraceful uictutes sympathise with the my treets in t r-burning lig ted painted in 1 adulteria violent Of seats they tell whence p.iests 'mid tapers dim Breathed the warm prayer or tuned the midnight hymn To scenes like the e the fainting - Revenge and anger i❑ those cells expo,. By pity soothed, remorse lost half her tears, ly pretty well will sometimes laugh, leer soul retired, And sc;ften'd pride dropp'd penitential tears. At my second visit, returning from Palermo and Na s, I went to the Jew e, splendldl synagogue a ght - ed by four hundred car, he lar- and women d ligcnce, on our way lie ancien "ter our lan( in nitirpri ti city, but we c the momentary imperfect gaze of the previous night. At first, waking from the semblance of death, and ifoniering where I might be, I thought of the delightful sensations of Rogers the poet, and a voice said to my soul, as to his, thou art in Rome. venerates into nrcf rinaa 11,11 y have commi eir backs—omicidia 'io, forgo, &c. These fellows aved, but, as at Rome, they nd impudently ask you for a felons scavengers, than men in, as at proceeded to the shore, where they built a ship which carried them to another country. Could this tradition have suggested to Shakespere the casket scene, in the " Merchant of Venice" ? Kings and chiefs, after death, are believed to enjoy an eternity of the luxuries which they possessed on earth ; whilst the paradise of the poor is cessation from labour. Every family has its " Penates " and " Lares" in chosen fetishes, to which they offer yams, &c. They are of all imaginable deformity, and it would appear that adoration increases in proportion to the hideousness of the object. Wtien the Ashantees drink, they pour a little on the floor as an offering ; and when they rise from their seats, they are turned upon the sides to prevent the Devil slip ping into the vacated place. Their evil spirit is white, as that of the Europeans is considered to be black, and no doubt proc eding from the same feelings. The minor considerations of the African's belief is truly rid'culous, yet not one jot more so than many which ob tain in every other country in the world, from which the most enlightened cannot be exempted. England has its ghosts. witches, fortune-tellers, black cats; Scotland is equally rationally populated with the addition of war• locks, brownies, second-sights, &c.; whilst the Emerald Isle " holds a glass that shews us many more." An esteemed friend assures me, that, to his own knowledge, persons have been buried in Ireland with money placed in their hands to pay the toll to St. Peter, for admission through the gates of heaven _ . . " 0 that some Power the gift wad gie us oursels as others see us • reach it until 11 p.m., and thus cur first impressions were The following description of idolatrous worship is from those of disappointment, St. Peters loomed through the the pen of the Rev. Thos. Raston, Wesleyan missionary, midnight air, which was cold and murky, like some vast and pastor of the village of York, Sierra Leone, whose private worth can only be equalled by his professional castle in the clouds • but the clear, bright, balmy morn- utility : ing, after a deep, refreshing slumber, soon repaid us for " God has done much for these people; still the dark, dark places of the earth are here darker than I could ever have imagined, and the' Prince of Darkness' reigns, and possesses an influence far more tantalising and terrific than can be conceived. There is wickedness in high places—wickedness where we had a right to expect reli- glom " This morning (May 31, 1843) I set out, accompanied by four of our brethren, to visit the god house' of an Aku-man, who resided some distance from the Mission house. When we arrived he was working in his farm, and was sent for. In the mean time, his wife could not be bribed to allow us, on any account, to see the objects of their worship. " When the man came, and saw us, with many others who came to look on, he appeared very ferocious, and sat in the gateway to prevent ingress. After assuring him of our pacific intention, we were permitted to gaze on a sight as filthy as it was idolatrous. " We had much conversation with the man, in which he seemed much interested ; but when I proposed to buy his god, he became as infuriated as a madman, and a scene ensued which baffles my powers of description. " He snatched up an instrument of worship, of about two feet in length, consisting of longiform bells, five at each end, making a harsh noise. These he agitated vio lently. accompanied with the most hideous yells, and painful contortions of the body. " His honour for his god seemed to be awaked, and he became frantic with zt-al. He darted from the place like an arrow, running up the street as though mad with rage, and back again in the same desperate manner, striking several persons who ran with him into the god-house, when they took up the musical instrument, and the play of horror began ; and never did human eyes behold a more dreadful display of Satan's power. " The attitudes of the women were detestable, and their yellings pierced the air, and the grating din of the instru ments, rendered the affair at once sickening and aopal ling. The dirty idols inside were the God and Goddess of Thunder, called in Aku, " Rabba-rabba-cuta" and Ab-hara.' Ah-hara,' the goddess, is in the zig-zag character of lightning ; and every day these are presented to be fed with palm oil and fee-fee. To these objects the performer frequently turned himself ; and though waiting for a reply, no reply came; when more loudly did he clang his bells, and more ardently dance forcing those around him to join, seeming to fortify himself in very savage vengeance. " A fowl was put into his hands; a head he took in one hand, and the legs in the other, and tore the head from the body, immediately thrusting the neck into his mouth, sucked out the blood, and wrung the neck off with his teeth, while the blood streamed down to the ground, My soul so sickened at this, that it was with difficulty I restrained myself. " The man continued his incantations, and when we saw that it was availless to interfere, we all knelt down within a few yards of the worshippers, and offered fervent prayers in their behalf, and left testifying, and warning them to flee from the wrath to come.' " PA SAMBA (a Moorie man) is another illustration of the wild nonsense which obtains amongst those from whom, from long and continued association with Euro peans, better might be expected. I permitted Pa Samba, a poor Moorie, to occupy a cellar in my house at Freetown, leaving his cuisine and upholstery arrangements to his own ways, means, and taste. He instantly commenced constructing his bed by mixing and flattening a couch of mud, with pillow of the same material (which, from the frequency of its applica tion for such purposes, was called by a merry Hibernian friend "African feathers.") His grate was three stones, and a white hen and chickens, objects of devoted solici tude, cackled and chirped about. Upon the wall hung a snake' skin (condah), and by its side a fox tail. He was a Foulah, and received a pension for services, real or imaginary, in Gambia, in times long past ; yet poor Samba could not make ends meet, and was often, like his betters, until quarter-day came round, upon the round himself, looking for tick—not that be might stuff his feaghera into it, but that he might stuff himself with it ; but when her . Malesi?..B _lOO was p ‘ laeed,,itv_his _band ; being conveniently blessed with a non ms recordo' memory, he did not make as honourable use of that sove ' reign remedy as her Majesty anticipated, but the apology for his tenacity was so right royal, and right loyal, that his two or three shilling creditors seldom introduced him to the sheriff—" Ha, massa, me lub her Majesty too much to part with her pictur. Garramighty bless her !" How. ever, creditors, like fathers, sometimes " have flinty hearts," and Samba found himself summoned to the netit debt court ; but be had a soul above terror at debts or courts, duns cor devils, for be had a charm—his condah and fox's brush, with which be could sweep the debt out of the summoner's memory. This belief was strengthened by his having been allowed to escape so long, which he attributed to the magical charming of his skin and tail, but having been at length cast in debt and costs, be tore his tail and destroyed his skin, in the greatest rage, swearing that the one was grown too old and the other too dry, and that he must find others more juvenile and moist, when he might again defy the enemy. About the same time, as " misfortunes come in battalions," Pa lost his white hen, and his suspicion having fallen upon a neighbouring woman of colour, he ran into the street in the midst of a dreadful tornado, uttering the most awful imprecations, and, praying that the wind and lightning might bury her in her house. Whilst in the culminating point of his vengeance, the fowl walked leisurely home, but died the next day, as Samba averred, from having got a cough in the storm, owing to the loss of his skin and tail. Fortunately for the woman, the coroner did not hold an inquest, which saved her from a foul verdict. This character pretended to be a rigid Mahomedan, kept fasts, prayed, and knocked his bead against the ground, upon all occasions, night and day, and kept, as far as I could discern, the Rhamadan Month, of fasting from sunrise unto his going down; and it was amusing to see him eagerly watch its setting in the horizon, when immediately upon the last glimpse, he would pounce upon his meal, like a lion on its prey, stroke his beard, Lnd utter a short sentence from the Alcoran. Sometimes I amused myself with catechising him on his religion, but not being a very aeep theologian myself, I could not convince him of his errors to such an extent as I desired. He knew some of the Mosaic Law, and spoke of Adam, whom he called 13emma. Nothing could shake his belief in sadakah, (sacrifice ;) and if he is now dead, I am sure that he expired like a true Mahomedan, exclaiming " Alla, Alla, Bismillah"—" There is but one God, and Mahomet is his Prophet !"—and that he has met his brother Moorie man in the other world with the usual salutation, " Saalatn Aleik ?" " Aleik Saalam.' '• How do ?" " Very well, tank'ee." At length his nocturnal vociferations, singing, and prayers, with noisy quotations from the Koran, together with the loss of a pair of Wellington boots, which I certainly di 3 not steal from myself, suggested the propriety of giving this reli gionist a hint that he might look out for more comfort- Newgate and Kirkda! My two new fries Pisa—there is now a nds and myself took a carriage to ad the aning tower, the baptistry, cathedral, and Campo Santo, amply re paid us for our visit. When at Florence, I paid two other visits to Livornia and Pisa ; Smollett, the historian and novelist, lies buried under a small pyramidal obelisk, in the beautiful solemn cemetery of Leghorn. It is af fecting to sec how many of our young and lovely Eng lishwomen here repose far away from country, kindred, and friends; the epitaphs of many of them are affectingly of the lone dark cypresses Dr. Young, wt ind drooping o bore his dy orrows touch the heart and, and ens to the Thoughts arose of denied Catholic from Pisa, and resting in pen morning dew, they Heaven." Smollett's this inscription : ters " nearer to the , are al o land, and be from Florence Memorise Tot Litu Qaidarn c Hunc tumellu Fecerunt." Ling and beautiful nsient, chaste as led, anil went to midal monument has One affectionate bereaved sister says, "A purer spirit than hers never inhabited a human form." And amid many interesting poetical tributes of affection to the de plored departed, 1 selected this as worthy of remembrance : To her sweet memory, for ever dear ; Let the green turf receive your silent tear; To this sad place your earliest garlands bring, And deck her grave with lystlings of the spring. Let opening roses l m droopg lilies ten, Like these she flourished, and like these she fell. Round her, ye angels, constant vigils keep. And guard, fair innocence, her sacred sleep, Till that bright morn shall wake her slumbering clay, To bloom and sparkle in ete rnal day. , SIERRA LEONE Extract from a work on the Colony of Sierra Leone, Western Africa, ready for the press, by William Whitaker Shreeve, a 6 years resident, late acting first writer to her Britannic Majesty's Commissioners under the Slave Trade Suppression Treaties, Secretary's and Crown Office, and Merchants' Service at Sierra Leone. RELIGIONS, &c. TEE ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT is the most honoured and honourably conducted department in the colony, being pliced under the gu;dince of persons able and willing to fulfil the serious confidence reposed in them. The Chaplain, with a salary of £5OO a-year, presides at St. George's Church, Freetown, and the assistant mis s;onaries are scattered through the various villages. They have a large institution at Fourab Bay, a mile from town, for the education of African youths, and another in the town, as well as numerous schools in other directions. The management of the whole is admirable, and cannot fail to impart a moral and literary training that most fully repay the trouble and expense so wilingly bestowed. VIE SECTARIAN DENOMINATIONS have not that va riety which mark secession in England and other coun tries, being confined to Baptists, Huntingdonians, Cal vanists, and Wesleyans. The latter are rather a numer ous body, and were it not for the worldly and speculative character of a leading member, its operations would be much more wieful and respected. The preacher of " The Word should be divested of all such secular engross merits, that lead to the suspicion, nay, certainty, that their preaching and practice are at variance. The Shy lock, who seeks gain by all possible devices, even to de manding his " pound of flesh," is more suited for the Exchange than the pulpit, however skilled he may be in " the painted flourishes of the tongue." If he who pos sesses two coats, and will not part with one to his naked brother, be unworthy of his Master, of whom is he the disciple ? What must he be who would deprive his neighbour of his only garment, for the sake of adding to an already oveAurthened store, forgetful, though he preach of fire, that Africa is not the holiest place in cre ation. Religion with some is a trade, with others, trade is a religion, but to unite the two principles is the consumma tion of pharisai2A hypocrisy. The Mahomedan religion is very prevalent in Africa, and of the natives. those professing it constitute the most respectable and intellectual class, but the greater mass are Pagans, who, from the nature of an idolatrous wor ship, are incomparably more superstitious. It is astonishing how any human being with sufficient rationality to distinguish between night and day, or their own species and a tiger or a tree, can indulge in the ri diculous beliefs that beset the various tribes, for thriugh Paganism on the broad principle is the general religion, yet there are offshoots from the parent stem, which are matured with a devotion worthy of a better cause. As Sierra Leone is the principal colony on the West African coast, it has the greatest influx of native visitors from the interior. which. together with the liberated Ne groes from the slavers, introduce a greater variety of reli gion than probably is to be found congregated in any other place, not that a manifestation is at all times exhi bited, nay, thus superstitions are frequently concealed, particularly by those who pretended to have been con verted, which, however, are discoverable by intimacy and conversation. Nor are those gross superstitions confined to the poorer classes, indeed some of the more intelligent and independent, in other matters, are the most ignorant and grovelling, when their superstitious prejudices ace referred to. KoLtott is a spirit supposed to reside in the neighbour hood of Yangroo, in Western Wiles, lives in the woods, sad is ueldom .4eilble i -e-moept upon Omer dcratim - arisingr ior a chief, or when persons are interred without the usual ceremony of dancing, feasting, and particularly drinking. He is represented by an open bamboo basket, about three feet long, made to fit a man's shoulders. It is covered with a net, and decorated with porcupine quills on the nose. its appearance is frightful, and excites the inhabi tants with childish terror. Frequently some man more knowing than the rest, who is short of cash, or wishes a good entertainment, pretend ing to have a call," assumes the Kolloh, and goes about with it on his head, to see if the ceremonies are observed, and very soon contrives to form an African " Almacks," where he presides as master of the ceremonies, ringing a bell, concealed within the Kolloh, and brandishing his rod of office. It is unnecessary to say that these self-ordained priests are the most hardened and plundering vagabonds in the country. The word :fetishe or fetish, often heard amongst the Negroes—from the Portuguese "fitico," or craft, means a charm, or mode of conducting worship, and is often ap plied for the representatives of their d'vinities. The fetishes or Widah are the serpent, tall trees, and the sea. The first is the most powerful, and the other two are subordinate. The serpent has a large round head, riercing eyes, short pointed tongue, solemn movement, except when it darts upon its prey, and is then very rapid, its tail short and sharp, and skin smoothly variegated with elegant colours, it is exceedingly tame and familiar. Priests and priest esses are appointed to its service, and valuable offerings are made to it, which the priesthood most religiously ap propriate to themselves. It is invoked in all great diffi culties, and as the Whidahans, like wiser people, imagine that many of their little difficulties are great, the serpent, or rather the serpents are enriched. The inhabitants of Benin believe in an invisible Deity, who created heaven and earth; but because he can only do go: d, they think it useless to propitiate him. Their Devil, or malignant spirit, receives all the honours, which are offered in the sacrifice of men and animals to satiate his thirst for blood. But they have many other objects of less rational note, such as elephants' teeth, claws, bon-s. dead men's heads, to which they make daily offer ings of boiled yams mixed in palm oil. On great occa• sions they present a cock, giving the divinity the blood, and reserving the flesh for themselves. Persons of rank give annual feasts to their gods, when great numbers of cattle are offered to the idols; and the priests make each to offer his own sacrifice, in orckr that they may enjoy the sacerdotal profit without trouble, something on the principle of a plurality of livings. In Guinea some tribes assemble around a sacred tree, near which they have a table decorated with boughs in the form of crowns, and covered with their best fare, at which they eat and drink in honour of their fetishes. anied acing and singing, accorr. by dru s and brass instruments ; the priest in the centre ar, on which he offers sacrifices, whilst the wor- shippers congr ate around im to 3eSS his incantations. At the conclusion he twists a wisp of straw. and dipping it into a pot of some particular " hell broth" in which there is a serpent, he sprinkles the chil- dren, uttering some mummery, and then performing the :ereroony on the attar, empti the not, when his ose the sacrifice with ye words of applause They wash themselves every morning as an act of de votion, and draw white lines across their faces in honour of the fetish. Their oracles are accomplished by a black dog, who sits at the sacred tree, and very cleverly re- sponds to questions that would puzzle the priest himself. No doubt this sacred tree is hollow, but not empty! THE DAJIOMANS are a particularly idolatrous caste. They worship the moon, certain animals, trees, stocks, and stones. A particular serpent, called Daboa, is in high divine estimation. It is kept in a basket, and se hinnpra beim!, persuaded that The priestesses fives on the camelion's dish, the air supported by the governmer and every year there is nt Cch;oh the ehieig assist, not more assiduously in the rites than the de berg. This serpent is particularly honoured by la as ladies wish to be who love their lords." s who are The tiger is also propitiated occasions dren, which shabby fare is compensated for, upon impor tant festivities, by the senior part of the family being placed at his tender mercy. Many other observances of a still more abhorrent character might be added. which fully entitle the Dahomans to the boast of their nation— a Temple dedicated to the Devil. They, however, have a mystified notion of a Supreme Being, but pay him no worship but through the fetish, being convinced that he is too good to harm them. Though the Ashantces are considered the most intelli gent nation of Western Africa, they are gross idolaters, and most profligate in human sacrifices, at their festivals and funerals. They have a tradition which has become orthodox, by descent from ages. in It is, that at the begin ning of the world God created Africa three black men and three white, with the same number of women, and placed before them a large and attractive box, and an in significant-hooking sealed paper. The black men bad the first choice, and took the box, supposing from its appear ance that it contained every desirable thing ; but when opened, they found only gold, iron, and other metals, of which they did not know the use. The white men opened the paper, which told them every thing. So the black men were left in the bush, whilst the white men (from the knowledge which they had received from the paper) y by a ble lodgings, which authority he seemed inclined to dis ute ; but having measured his man, and finding me six feet three, be declined the contest, and departed with a few extemporaneous denunciations and borrowed anathe mas from his favourite Koran ; and if still alive, may at this moment be consulting his new tail and skin, or offer ing up sadakabs for revenge. In the midst 3f his religious fervour, however, Pa and unintelligible 1 Samba forgot to return the Wellingtons. BLACKWOOD ON MR. DICKENS' DOMBEY AND SON. You said that you should like to know my opinion of Mr. Dickens' new story, and I read it with interest, and some care. 'Tis exactly what I expected ; containing clear evidence of original genius, disfigured by many most serious, and now plainly incurable, blemishes. Th e fi rs t thing striking me, on perusing this new performan ce , i s , thatits author writes, as it were, from amidst a thick theatrical mist. Cursed be the hour—should say a sin cere admirer of Mr. Dickens' genius —that he ever set foot within a theatre, or became intimate with theatrical people. You fancy that every scene, incident, and cha racter, is conceived with a view to its idling—from the stage. This suggestion seems to me to afford a key to most of the prominent faults and deficiencies of M r. Dickens as an imaginative writer ; the lamentable a b sence of that simplicity and sobriety which invest the writings, for instance, of Goldsmith with immortal freshness and With what truthful tenderness does such a writer depict nature !—how different is his treat m en t from t he spas modic, straining, extravagant, vulgari zin g effort s of the play-wright ! The one is delicate and exquisite limnin g ; the other, gross daubing :—the one faithfully represe n t s; the other monstrously caricatures. This is the case w ith Mr. Dickens; and it is intolerably provo kin g that it should be so ; for he has the penetrating eye a nd a ccurate pencil, which—properly disciplined and tramed— might have produced pictures worthy to stand beside thos e of the greatest masters. As it is, you might imagine his sketches to be the result of the combined simultaneous efforts of two artists—one the delicate limner, the other the vulgar dauber and scene-painter above spoken of. He has invention and skill enough to produce an inte resting character ; and place him in a situation favourable for developing his eccentricities, his failings, his excellen cies—in a word, his peculiarities. Well; be prepares his reader's mind—sets before you an interesting, !L moving, a mirth-stirring occasion, when—bah is ruined ; the spasmodic straining after effect becomes instantly and painfully visible; and the personage before you is made to talk to the level of a theatrical audience, especially pit and gallery—and in unison with "ginger-beer, apples, oranges, and soda-water" associations and recollections. Let me give two striking instances, occurring at the very opening of "Dombey and Son." The first is the colloquy at pp. 3, 4 ; the other at p. 9. The former pre sents you Dr. Parker Peps, a fashionable accoucheur, and the humble admiring family medical man—the occasion being a momentary absence of both from the chamber of a lady dying in child-bed, Mrs. Dombey; and can any one of correct taste and feeling bear in mind that occa sion, and fail of being revolted by the drivel put into the mouth of the consulting accoucheur ?—who, when telling Mr. Dombey of the mortal peril in which his wife over head is lying—apologises to him for speaking of her as "Her Grace the Duchess!" "Lady Cankaby," "The Countess of Dombey:" his obsequious companion ac counting for such lapses on the score of his "nest End practice." is this nature ? Is it actual life ? Any thing approaching to either? If not, what is it meant for? Why, to tickle a Christmas audience at one of the minor playhouses ! The other (these are only two out of many) is the character of Mr. Chick, an old fool, who has a habit of whistling and humming droll tunes on the most solemn occasions, interrupting and interlarding conversation with "Richt tol loor-ral." "A cobbler there mos," "Rumpti iddity bow, wow, wow ;" is it not certain that Mr. Dickens here had his eye on Tilbury or Bedford enacting the part? And for no other purpose whatever is this precious character introduced than to hit off this very pe culiarity ! From the same theatrical habit of mind, it happens that Mr. Dickens cannot carry on his stories in an even, straightforward course, but presents us with a series of "scenes !"—utterly marring the effect and an nihilating the truthfulness and reality of the whole ; e. g. the jarring interruption of this story at a touching and interesting moment—at the moment of the two doctors and Mr. Dombey's return to poor Mrs. Dombey's death bed, when the reader feels that they are almost instantly to witness her death, by the introduction of two tiresome twaddler', reproductions of old; stock characters of the author, Mr. Chick and Miss Tox, whose descriptions and utterly irrelevant conversation detain us for nearly three pages. At length these motley "stagers"—if I may be allowed the word—are grouped round the poor lady's death-bed ; and let me here say, that in my opinion the character and situation of poor NI rs. Dombey are both ex quisitely conceived, and appeal to the deepest sympathies of the heart; but, alas ! the perverse, provoking, incor rigible writer will not let us enjoy "the luxury of grief;" but while we are bending over her death-bed, our atten tion is called off to a remarkably interesting and appro priate circumstance—two watches of two of the doctors "seem in the silence to be sunning a race !" * * "they seem to be racing faster! !" * * "The race, - in the ensuing pause, was fierce and furious. The watches seemed to jostle, and to trip each other up ! ! !" and a moment or two afterwards the lady expires, under very moving circumstances, touched with perfect delicacy and truthfulness. Would the intrusion of a sow into a lovely flower-garden be more shocking or disgusting to the beholder ? Again, in the first page, we are presented to Mr. Dombey, gszing with unutterable feelings at his newly-born son, "forty-eight minutes of age ;" and Mr. Dickens tastefully suggests the corn , arison of the little creature, which is "somewhat crushed and spotty in his general effect ! !" whose mother is at that moment in dying agonies in that very room, to "a muffin, which it was essential to toast brown while it was very new! !" And a few lines forward, the posture of the innocent un conscious little being suggests the brutal idea of a prize fighter—his "little fists, curled up and clenched, seemed, in his feeble way, to be SQUARING AT EXISTENCE for having come upon him so unexpectedly! !!" Was ever any thing more monstrous ? To find a gentleman of Mr. Dickens' great genius, and experience in literary compo sition, sinning in this way is provoking beyond all mea sure. The above abominations to be perpetrated by him who; at page seventeen can present us with so exquisite a touch as the following :—He is describing the blank ap pearance of the dismantled house, immediately after the funeral of the poor, neglected, and heart-broken lady. " The dead and buried lady was awful, in a picture frame of ghastly bandages. Every gust of wind that rose, brought eddying round the corner, from the neighbouring mews, some fragments of the straw that had been strewn before the house when she was ill ; mildewed remains of which were still cleaving to the neighbourhood. and these being always drawn by some invisible attraction to the threshold of the dirty house to let opposite, addressed a dismal eloquence to Mr. Dombey's window." The thirty-two pages of this first number contain very many provocatives to unfavourable criticism. They bristle all over with mannerisms—abound with grotesque, unseemly, extravagant comparisons and personation, ( one of Mr. Dickens' besetting sins)—many of the scenes contain truth and humour, smothered and lost by prolixity, inci dent and character diluted by a tedious and excessive mi nuteness of description ; and it is to be feared that several of the characters will bear a painfully strong resemblance to some of their predecessors in Mr. Dickens' other sto ries. Mr. Dickens may feel angry at my plainness ; and, in return, I must express my fears that he is not aware of the extent of injury which has been inflicted upon him by clique-homage—the flattery of fluent, incompetent ad mirers—the misconstrued silence of critics of experienced taste and refinement. Does Mr. Dickens really consider the light in which his writings, containing such faults as those above adverted to, must be viewed by the upper and thinking classes of society—persons of cultivated taste, of refinement, of piercing critical capacity, who disdain to enter the little, babbling, vulgar, narrow-minded circles miscalled " literary ?" THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. GENERAL MISCELLANY The Free Port Association for Bristol have given the requisite notices for applying to parliament next session. An enormous pumrkin, measuring six feet ten inches in circumference, and weighing 148 lbs. was exhibited to her Majesty last week. It was grown at Windsor. - - - STAAIFORD.—Mr. Richard Newcomb, the publisher of the Stamford Mercury, is spoken of as likely to be elected mayor of that borough. A new Hungarian dance, called the `• Csoder," is all the rage in Germany, and likely to supersede the " Polka." On Friday night last, at Fillingham, near Lincoln, there was an affray betwen gamekeepers and poachers, in which one of the latter, Wm. Fisher, lost his life. The ship Buckinghamshire, just arrived in the East India Docks from Canton, had on board the unprece dentedly large number of 29,071 packages of tea. A woman, apparently in a fit, in the Blackfriars'-road, London, on Tuesday, was found to have a large piece of mottled soap in her mouth. She was recognised by the police as an old hand at such tricks. A new packet ship, of 1100 tons, to be named after the the premier, is now being built in New York for the Lon don line, another of 1,000 tons, the American Eagle, has already been launched. On Wednesday, a lady, named Miss Jones, who for many years bad been housekeeper to the late Benjamin Bickky, of Meridian Place, Bristol, precipitated herself from the top of the house, and was picked up quite dead. The relieving officers' rooms at the Leeds Workhouse were burglariously entered on Wednesday night or Thurs day morning last, and a sum of upwards of £l7O was abstracted from the desks in the rooms and carried away. The Times of Thursday says that the Russian Govern ment, to which Messrs. Harmer were agents, has a claim on that firm for £440,000, the balance of a debt which not many months back stood as high as £700,000. On Friday night last, Mr. Jabez Ball, of Banbury, fell out of his gig and was killed, and within twenty-four hours his mother, who was on her way to see him, was killed by a coach wheel passing over her head. The Rev. W. Faber, who seceded some time back to the Romish Church, and has lately founded a religious order at Colton Hall, Staffordshire, has suffered a violent attack of paralysis : his life has been despaired of ; and he has received the "last sacraments" of the Romish Church. The machinery of the Anti-Corn-Law League is con verted into that of a " Liberal Registration League," which seeks after "legitimate and important objects," which it is not thought advisable, we presume, to specify more particularly. The death of Mr. P. M. Stewart, M.P. for the Scotch county of Renfrew, is announced. Mr. Stewart was a Liberal of very extreme views, both in religion and po litics ; a staunch supporter both of the Free Kirk seces sion and of Lord Melbourne's Administration. On Tuesday, there was ,a general reduction of one penny in the 41b. loaf, in Lambeth, Bethnal-green, White chapel, and Tottenham-court-road; the best being 73d., and household Gad. The West-end bakers still, however, maintain the same price, Eqol. and 10d. Messrs. Dryden, the celebrated engineers, are now employed in the construction of a printing machine for the Times, warranted to produce 12,0e0 impressions per hour, or the inconceivable number of upwards of three sheets per second ! HOLBORN -HILL VIADUCT. A company has been formed for tLe arrangement of the thoroughfare from Holborn-hill, across Farringdon-street, and along Skin ner-street to Snow-hill, by means of a viaduct level from bill to bill. A young man, on Saturday week, whilst travelling on the Midland Railway, perceiving himself to be in the wrong train, jumped out whilst the train was in motion, and falling upon the rails, the carriages passed over him, inflicting such injuries that he died soon after. ri MAN CONVICTED BY MISTAKE. - At the recent Carmarthenshire Quarter Sessions, a man of the name of Thomas Phillips was convicted by mistake, the jury, with one exception, being almost entirely ignorant of the Eng lish language. The foreman was understood to say guilty, when the jury (all Welsh) meant not guilty ! A splendid East Indiaman, " Anne Cropper," of 550 register, was launched from the building yard of Thomas Gales, Esq., at Hylton, Sunderland, on Tuesday. This noble vessel, which has been built especially for a firm in Liverpool, is allowed to be one of the finest specimens of naval architecture ever produced in the River Wear. On Monday last, the window of a druggist's shop, in Spalding, Lincolnshire, was garnished, as usual, with a variety of large bottles, and the rays of the sun being con centrated through the glass, a pair of cotton gloves lying near were set on fire ; fortunately, the occupier, observing the smoke, was able quickly to extinguish the fire. A company has been formed in London, whose pro fessed object is the political and social amelioration of the condition of the people, by the erection of towns and vil lages in suburban districts, each member or shareholder to have a life-freehold, giving, at the same time, a vote for the county. A poor man, named William Drury, aged 75, died a few days since at Wakefield of starvation. He had only eaten the day before his death a halfpenny tart and a halfpennyworth of gingerbread. The jury brought in a verdict of " Died by the visitation of God, to wit, from starvation." We are sorry to observe, that the colliers of the South Staffordshire districts are again on the move for a str i ke— the thick coal colliers for Is. per day, and the thi n coal and ironstone getters Gd. per day, increase in their wages. Notices have been given to several collieries of fourteen days, from last Saturday. for the above rise. the Gloucester Journal mentions three reasons for the ejection of Mr. Grantley Berkeley from West Gloucester shire. First, tbat he took the unpopular side on the sugar question ; secondly, that he abstained from voting on the corn question ; thirdly, that on the game question he has stood by " his order." Gvx COTTON.—At the saffron Walden dinner, on Friday, the 16th ult., Lord Hardwicke said that forty grains of gun cotton had been pitted against sixty grains of gunpowder for a rifle, and had bee❑ found superior. But the curious part of it was. there was no report or smoke : it vanished ; they saw the ball strike, and that was all. AGES OF CRIMINALS.—The ages of the prisoners con victed at the recent session of the Central Criminal Court were as : follow :—Under 10 years, 2; above 10 and under 20, 80 ; above 20 and under 30, 90 ; above 30 and under 40, 35 ; above 40 and under 50. ; above 50 and under 60, 10 ; above 60 and under 70, ; and above 70 and under 80, 2. ASTONISHING FEAT.—On Thursday, a most extraor dinary feat was performed by a man named Irvine. A rope was stretched from the lamp at Stonehouse Bridge to a pole on the opposite bide, a distance of about 400 feet. The rope was about 80 feet from the water, and he walked across it, amidst the cheers of 2000 spectators.— Drronport Telegraph. A company, to which government has granted a charter, has been formed in London, for the purpose of prosecut ing the whale fishery, a trade which has progressively de clined in this country, though it has largely increased in the United States. It is calculated that by fit'ing out a large number of ships the uncertainty of the trade will no longer be felt, as the gains of successful ships will coun terbalance the losses of unsuccessful ones. PUBLIC BAKERY.—A project is advertised for the establishment at Kempsey, near Worcester, of a public bakery and mills, for the supply of various kinds of wholesome bread at a cheap rate. The mills are to be worked on a principle invented by Mr. Pratt, analogous to capillary attraction, and which he calls the "inter cepted pressure of the atmosphere," being a new method of applying the power. LORD NELSON'S SWORD.—The sword which Lord Nelson wore at the battle of Trafalgar has recently been discovered, and, thanks to the patriotic feeling of Lord Saye and Sele, has been transferred to the Painted Flail of Greenwich Hospital, where it reposes by the side of the coat worn by our immortal naval hero on the same occasion. [This can scarcely be correct, as history cre dibly informs us that Lord Nelson did not wear his sword at Tratalgar.] PAREDES IN ENGLAND.—Amongst the passengers brouelit by the Thames, which arrived at Southampton on Wednesday, is the ex-President of Mexico, General Paredes. He embarked at Vera Cruz, and was brought thither under a strong escort from Mexico. The general appears in excellent spirits, and seems to bear his sentence of banishment from his ill-starred country with great composure. He is rather diminutive, and about fifty years of age. A new gas company at Wakefield have given notice of their intention to apply to Parliament for an act to supply general consumers at a rate not exceeding 4s. per 1000 feet, and to light the public lamps efficiently at the rate of £1 ss. (the present charge being £2 12s. 6d.) per lamp, and to pay 5 per cent. on the capital, and never to exceed that amount by way of dividend, but to apply the surplus receipts i❑ reducing the price of gas as much below the above maximum as the income of the company will allow. OPENING THE POR s.—A deputation waited on Lord John Rusell on Tuesday, imploring him to open the ports. His lordship said he could not, unless he saw a necessity for it. One of the deputation rejoined, that a vigorous agitation was about to be raised on the subject, and perhaps an energetic agitation would cause his lord ship to change his mind. Lord John replied, smiling, that that would not induce him to take the step suggested ; but if be deemed it necessary, he would not hesitate to advise his colleagues to adopt it. Loss OF A WHALING SHIP. MASSACRE OF HER. CREW.—For several months anxiety has been felt regard ing the fate of a whaling ship, named the Cape Packet, Captain Powell, last from Sydney, and 28 seamen, her crew. We regret to state that information has now been received from Sydney that the unfortunate vessel (which has been missing two years) had fallen into the hands of the natives of the New Hebrides, Sandwich Islands, and those belonging to her, excepting four hands, savagely murdered. THE NAVY RETIRED LIST.—The Gazette of Tues day publishes a list of fifty-four captains of the Royal Navy, who have been promoted to the rank of retired rear-admiral of her majesty's fleet, on the terms proposed in the London Gazette of the Ist September, 184 G, and who having accepted the situation of captains of Green wich Hospital, are to be placed on the list of captains on retired pay. It also enumerates ninety-four captains who, on the terms specified in the same Gazette, are to retire on the half-pay of £1 per day, and thirty-two others on the half-pay of 18s. per day. A POACHER SHOT.—During Friday night, as the gamekeeper at Fillingham, near Lincoln, was going his rounds, he encountered four poachers, and the issue was a struggle, in which the life of one of them was sacri ficed. An inquest was held upon the body on Saturday last, before Mr. Broadbent, deputy-coroner. The jury returned the following verdict—" That William Fisher came to his death by his own hands accidentally, and by no other means, being at the moment engaged in the un lawful pursuit of game in the dead of the night, and not having the fear of God before his eyes, having received a mortal gunshot wound in the left side of the belly, of which wound he did instantly die." THE " TIMES PP AND THE CORN LAWS.-011r friends who are the advocates of the corn-laws will be no less astonished than pleased to find the following paragraph in the. Times of the 28th nit. :—" If the supply of corn were a matter of imminent peril—if there were a moral certainty that the crops of the world were so scant that for the next nine months every man, woman, and child throughout England would be put upon short fare—we would say at once, abrogate the duty. But, according to every authority on free trade, this is not so. Merchants, dealers, and captains of vessels say, that from the far east and from the west there will come food amply sufficient to supply the wants of all Europe: and there are those that add, come what may to the continent, England will not suffer from want of corn." A RIGHT HONOURABLE HOAX.—At York, some time ago, the " Right Honourable Edward Frederic Vernon," with imposing mustachios and imperial, introduced him self to an elderly lady as the son of a peer, a temporary exile from home for a youthful indiscretion. The old simpleton supplied him with clothes money and introduced him to many of the "first families" in the city, by whom. he was graciously received ; and, after living on the fat of the land for three months, and making a pretty penny by courting a young lady, he decamped, stating to the family of his intended, in confidence, that he was about to depo sit a casket of jewels with his London bankers for safe custody. The jewels, he said were formerly his mother's, and would shortly, he hoped, be his bride's. It has since been discovered that the case comprised a cold tongue, two partridges, a bottle of sherry, and some cheesecakes and currant-cakes, which the young lady had giyen him from papa's pantry. THE WELLINGTON STATUE.—" Well, the statue does not look amiss, after all !" is the exclamation which, since the removal of the thick network scaffolding that until very lately enveloped it, is heard more and more frequently every day. For our own parts, we are bound to confess that, whatever misgivings we may have had, in common with most people, as to the effect of the statue when elevated to its present resting-place, the result of the experiment has, on the whole, greatly relieved them. Whether the fault be with our own vision—contracted, it may be, by disappointed expectation, into a wrong focus— or whether the predicted monster which was to affright all London be no such monster after all—still, somehow or other, "seeing is believing;" and, at the risk of being considered short-sighted, either in the p}'ysical or mental organ of perception, we cannot help making the amende honorable to his bronze eminence, and candidly avowing our opinion, that there will be no great harm done should he be suffered to remain where he is.—Times. _ AFFLICTING OCCURIIIINCE.—A most melancholy ca tastrophe took place during the prevalence of the dense fog on Friday week, by which a little girl, named Susannah Chester, eleven years of age, lost her life, under very shocking circumstances. It appears that the poor girl's parents reside in a hut, in a coal-field at [locker's Hill, in the parish of Tipton. About six or seven o'clock on the above evening, Chester went out to milk his cow, at a little distance_ end An ,dente wRa the focr that he wet obliged to carry a lighted candle to find his way. On his return home, his little girl was a yard or two in advance, and finding that the light only served to dazzle their eyes, it was extinguished. They then proceeded onwards, scarcely able to see a yard before them, when suddenly the father heard a piercing cry and a plunge, and throwing himself back he became aware of his own perilous situa tion, and the fate of his poor child, who had fallen down the mouth of a pit nearly a hundred yards in depth. The death of the unfortunate girl must have been almost in stantaneous, as, after the frightful occurrence, not a sound or moan was heard from the yawning chasm. It appears that the pit had not been worked for three years, the mouth of the shaft being left totally unprotected by any fence or framework. The father's escape was most pro. vidential, as a single step more would have hurried him into eternity. The disfigured and mengled remains were recovered through the exertions of a miner. SHOCKING MURDER OF A POLICEMAN.—OD Sunday evening week, the denesly populated district of St. Phi lip's, Bristol, was thrown into a state of great excitement from the appalling circumstance of one of the Bristol po lice, viz., Patrick White, having been murdered by a wo man. The unfortunate deceased, who has been connected with the police for about eight years, was an Irishman, aged about 30. He was unmarried, and lodged in the house of a female named Louisa Ferris, a married woman, but who in consequence of domestic broils, had for a long period lived separate from her husband. His fellow lodgers were Thomas Edwards (brother to Ferris). a cab driver, and Elizabeth Jones. On Sunday evening Ferris, with her brother and a third party, had been drinking at a public-house. About six o'clock they returned home to Lion-street, on the Easton road, and Louisa Ferris upon going up stairs found White and Elizabeth Jones in bed together. At this she was very much enraged, having as was previously known entertained kindly feelings towards White. A short time afterwards the parties met down stairs, deceased, Louisa Ferris, Thomas Edwards, and Elizabeth Jones. A dispute arose about some trifling mat ter, high words ensued, the circumstance of White's in timacy with Jones was alluded to, and Ferris, seizing a razor or sharp knife, walked up to White and inflicted a deep wound in the throat, severing the wind-pipe and penetrating the carotid artery, the effect of which was, of course, almost instant death. The poor fellow staggered to the door leading to the street, and fell into the road. A medical man was sent for, but death had done its work long before his arrival. The parties in the house were at once apprehended, and upon their arrival at the police station house, Ferris admitted that she had committed the dreadful act. The man Edwards was exceedingly callous. Ferris has been committed on a charge of wilful murder. Nov. 10, 1846. THE POOR-LAW COMMISSIONERS AND ME,. FES° RAND, M.P.—On Monday, Sir F. Thesiger applied to the Court of Queen's Bench, on behalf of Mr. George Cornewall Lewis, one of the poor-law commissioners, fot liberty to file a criminal information against Mr. Ferrand , the member for Knaresborougb, for having published two letters reflecting upon the character of Mr. Lewis, la the Times of the Sth and 10th of Angust last. In the first of these letters, which related to the evidence of Mr- Lewis before the committee appointed by the House of Commons to inquire into the administration of the poor law in the Andover Union, Mr. Ferrand declared that " the Graham-Lewis-Mott infamous report " was • " foul and infamous conspiracy on the part of Sir James Graham and Mr. Lewis to crush the writer in the Hour of Commons." The second letter charged Mr. Lewis with " the most deliberate f a l se hood, f u r the purpose o f deceiving the House of Commons," and accused him of prevarication, which, if he had been guilty of it at o police-office, would have caused him " to be packed off is the prison van, and indicted for perjury." A rule to shoal cause was granted by the court. IRON SHIP BUILDING.—On Monday last, the second half, viz., from midsbips to bows, of another iron schooner , of 300 tons burthen, and to be called the Liverpool, was drawn upon two trucks, by about 19 horses, tour abreast with three for the leaders, through the streets of the western part of the town, intervening between the ironworks of Messrs. Pim, in English-street, and the nearest spot at which they can launch their vessels. The ease with which the corners were turned, and the rapidity of the progress surprised the spectators. We believe this is not less than the sixth or seventh vessel of the kind which Messrs. Pim will have launched at this port. The Margaret, the Sens' tor, the Tribune, the Citizen, the Dublin, and the Liver' pool, are amongst the names which they have given to their ships, which are all fitted with the screw, and worked each with two engines of the united power of 28 horsell• The Dublin, (intended to ply from that port in co.ijunn tion with the Liverpool,) having received her engineer &c., left this port on Sunday week, at 9 a.m., and reacbed her destination half an hour after the midnight of Thursday, or rather on Friday morning, effecting bet voyages in four days and fifteen hours, acknowledged 5 very fine run. The Liverpool is to be launched, W 45 understand, in three weeks.—Hull Advertiser. DESTRUCTION ON THE GARRICK THEATRE BY PIES. —On Wednesday morning, between the hours of four and five, a police-constable discovered smoke and sparkS issuing from the Garrick Theatre, in Leman-street , Goodman's-fields. Without a moment's loss of time, an alarm was spread in the usual way. The Brigade engines were the first that arrived, and without delay were set to work. By that period, however, the whole tier of boxes, together with the gallery, were wrapped in fire, and as the burning flakes fell below they communicated with the pit and mazarine floors, so that, by the hour of five or little after, the theatre was on fire from the basement to the top of the roof. By nine o'clock the firemen sac' ceeded in getting the flames nearly extinguished; by that time the theatre was entirely consumed, and the valuable wardrobe destroyed ; the whole of the scenery and stage appointments are likewise burned—by which calamiti about fifty performers will be thrown out of employment' As to the origin of the fire nothing that could be depended upon could be ascertained, but it is the prevailing opinion that it arose from some of the gun wadding lodging in the, " flats" during the firing of c a nnon at the performance 0 1 the Battle of Waterloo on the previous evening. STATE OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH (From the Registrar-General's Return.) The Quarterly Returns are obtained from 115 districlB. 35 are in the metropolis, and the rest comprise, with soul°, agricultural districts, the principal towns and cities 01 England. The population was 6,579,693 in 1841. Fifty-one thousand two hundred and thirty. five deatbg were registered in the summer quarter ending Sept. 30th' A number greater by 15,227 than the deaths (36,008) . 1 ° the corresponding quarter of last year. In the mild WO' ter quarter of this year ending March, 1846, the deaths were nearly 5000 below the average ; in the spring quarte t (June) the mortality was slightly above the average; testinal complaints then arose, and becoming epideroier, have been the principal causes of the immense loss °I life on record. While the deaths in London were little more than 14 per cent. above the return of 1845, the deaths rose from 25,166 to 38,826—0 r about 52 per cent. after a correctiln for increase of population—in the towns and other cils; tricts of the kingdom included in the return. In some 01 the densely peopled towns:the mortality was doubled. The deaths in the corresponding summer quarters of the pa and present year were in Maidstone 124, and 239; Port sea Island 239, and 433 ; Winchester 89 and 141 ; Oxfor d 89 and 194 ; Northampton 182, and 221 ; Bedford 18 " and 254; Bedford 182, and 254; Ipswich 119, and 240: Norwich 306, and 451; Plymouth 191, and 279; 323, and 436 ; Worcester 106, and 173 ; Dudley 457 , e n 744 ; Walsall 158, and 288 ; Wolverhampton 439, an d 687; Wolstanton and Burslem 164, and 315 ; Coventry 188 ana 2 300 ; Nottingham 285, and 469 ; Lincoln 154, and 46. No such mortality has been witnessed in Birmingham for many years ; the deaths in 1845 were 694, in 1846 they amounted to 1,627. In Liverpool and the adjacent trict of West Derby the deaths in the summer quartedg slot 1845, and 1846, were 2,595, and 4,090 in Manchester, and the contiguous districts of Salford a nd Chortton2,4 1 persons died in 1845 Macclesfield, Chester, ' and 4,248 in 18468 Bl ac kburn, Preston, Bur other districts of Che shire, andWi' an, Prescot, Ashton,—and Lancashire—suffered to an equal, or a greater extent . The districts of Yorkshire did not escape ; 1039 persons Stockport, y,Boiton died in Sheffield, where only 445 died in the stamina quarter of 1845, and the mortality in any preceding sum mer since 1838 had never exceeded 647. Huddersfield , Leeds, Hull, and York suffered severely. In Sunderlandt Gateshead, Tynemouth, and Newcastle-on-Tyne, 111 f deaths were recorded in the summer quarter of 1845, an d 2313 in the corresponding quarter of 1846. l a tion , The proportion which the deaths bear to the PoP e an d is important. t t a h n e t . relative T h us at mortali t y the l no la'tion of Anglesea was 38,105, the deaths in the last quarterdeaths 160; the population of Gateshead was 38,747, theny in the same quarter 473; the population of Abergaven 0,, and Newton, 77,000, the deaths 378; the population.o! Sheffield 85,000, the deaths 1039. Again the populatt of the seven Welsh districts was 273,000, the deaths the last quarter 1,465; the population of Manchester an Salford 263,000, the deaths 3,149! The population of the six districts of the South Eastern division was 218,unvo the deaths in the last quarter (ending September 30,) w et s 1,458 deaths 1,458 ; the population of Liverpool was 223,000, t in the same quarter 2,946 I astacedniffsuerse,nt districts In the Annual Reports and Quarterly Returns , causes of these differences in the mortality of the several parts of the country, and the population have been dill" cussed. The high mortality of towns has been traced 1 0 crowded lodgings—dirty dwellings—personal uncleanlines s . —the concentration of unhealthy emanations from narrovrr the P-e were streets without fresh air, water, or sewers. The r a piditc, of decomposition, and the facility with whic h al l kinds °I animal matter become tainted, and run into putrefaltion► enable us to understand, how in a summer like the past. in which the temperature was unusually high, the diseases referable to an impure a t mos ph er e should be so prevalent and fatal. The population of Surrey exceeded that of Manchester; yet in 7 years 16,000 persons died in Manchester over and above the deaths in Surrey, the mortality in which, fro the poverty of the labourer, and slighter degrees of influences so fatal in Manchester, is higher than it shou.a be. There were 23,523 children under 5 y e ars of tlge2. Surrey, and the deaths of children of that age were 7, 3 u1l the children in Manchester were 21,152, the deaths 20,74 " In the seven years, 13,362 children in Manchester aloe. fell a sacrifice to known causes, which it is believed be removed to a great extent; and the victims in LiL a , e poal were not less numersus. Other parts, and part"' larly the towns of England, are similarly afflicted. , A , i g The Returns of the past quarter p rove th a t notv' - f; effectual has been done to put a stop to the disease , The fering and death, in which so many thousands perish. a ' imyovements chiefly of a sh ow y, su p er fi c i a l outs ide c '', o - racier have not reached th e h omes , an d h a bi ts o f the pelf pie. The house a n d c hild ren o f a l a b our i ng man can 0 i a be kept clean and he a lthy by th e assiduous labour ( Ilia well-trained, industrious wife, as any one who has the least attention to the subject is aware. This is o "" ec t looked in Lancashire, where the woman is often eng e gas, in labour from home. The consequence is, that thous.) 0 .. not only of the children, but of the men and w°`"se themselves perish, of the diseases forrverly so fatal for • same reasons in barracks, camps, gaols, and ships. The supply of water, and the removal of refuse from tb i e . surface, or of matters in solution and suspension the sewers,, are " simple engineering questions, the sup/ cess of which," in the words of Mr. Smith of Deansto F_ " is certain, while the cost can be estimated on knog data." The wealthiest and most populous parish in 4 Metropolis—Matylebone—is an example of the iroperteoe. manner in which these uestions are solved in the prese state of the law. The p ariah, on an area of 1,490 aCre. l o had 14,169 inhabited houses, and 138,164 inhabitantsr. / 4 1841. The annual value of' property rated for the reil, of the poor in the same year was £815,279—£57 to ea s t house. Yet a consid, rable part of the parish is witho n e 'rs, or any direct open communications with Jt is said, though the information on this s imperfect, that half the houses in the parish have c e l f , pools, many of which remain unemptied from year to Yti, The vestry, under the local act, is empowered "to nate persons to carry out the dust, dirt, cinders or ash e s yet no effectual arrangements are made for the reranY e decaying animal and vegetable matters—the " f l t h. " noxious matters" which are really prejudicial to het ie ft The contracts only apply specifically to "ashes," V 1 :ief , are innoxious. 897 persons died in the parish last qua' ni p The condition of other parishes, may be conjectured fr" this specimen. th e throng; I- all , f I of 4 W Debi ^llr sewers _n all the subdistricts o. .iverpok and est 'e • 30, number of deaths in the quarter ending Septembe r r te 1 was considerably greater than the corresponding q °a tbe of 1845, occasioned in every instance principally by t o prevalence of diarrhoea. In St. Martin's district rt er deaths were 700. being 325 more than in the same clt'rol of last year, and nearly 100 per cent above the g e "46 6 avorar. In Mount Pleasant district the deaths were.teo being the largest numb er ever reg i s t ere d i n an y (1 031 ;bee and 125 above the s ame quar t er i n l as t year. In the %co districts . the deaths were grea t er by near ly 50 per ce ;0 1 and in some cases nearly 100 per cent. In St. Th 0 , 133 ,e0', district, out of 370 d ea th s 149 di e d o f di arr h oea and try. In Islington district, out of 395 deaths 109 di,,,f e diarrhoea.. There were a few cases of cholera in SLP;of tin's district, 12 in Dale-street district, 3 in West v e r i l ce! 6 in Everton, and several in Toxteth-park. las,' seems to have been painfully prevalent during ti.' e a . quarter among children. In Mount Pleasant districts itr children from the age of 2 weeks to 5 years, died fr o and only 11 adults. In Wavertree, out of 42 deaths o der dysentry and inflammation of the bowels, 25 viere,, tl fro°, 10 years of age. The mortality in Toxteth-par k chiefly among children. In the last named di s triett ° lo pox caused. 9 deaths, and diarrhoea, dysentry, and eh° 184.