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

- etteraturr. SKETCHES OF A TIZIP TO THE CONTINENT, ITALY, A ND EGYPT. EY EDWIN BEET, ESQ. No. 11. (Written for the Liverpool Standard.) On leaving France for Italy, the fire-franc pieces are in requisition for that nuisance, a passport. The French authorities must stamp it; also the Papal authorities; so also the English ; and Mr. Richardson's perquisite of 55. seemed " the unkindest cut of all." Total charges for allowing you to leave Marseilles for Rome. 22 francs ! Bat what the English agent has to do with your leaving France, I cannot comprehend, as both Lord Cowley and the French Ambassador in London had signed their gra cious permission and protection. But this nuisance is now abated ; ana on my landing from Malta, the agent at Marseiiles told me that passports for your passage through the interior had been dispensed with. Poor Laurence Sterne, having no passport, was sadly afraid of the Bastile. His chapters on Slavery and the Starling, who does not recollect ? But let us not forget the busy port of Marseilles. Here congregate Jews, Turks, Greeks, Dutch, Spanisi, and English—almost a Babel of tongues on 'Change, and almost all the varieties of costume of a fancy ball. The cafes are haudsome. The port is excellently protected by mountains to the north and east, and it lies open to the south principally, which makes it pleasant even in winter. , The Quarantine—gardens, h eases, and esta blishment generally—is very superior to many of ti,ese infection-guarding prison -houses! There is a no , )le 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 seilloiee. Like most seaport towns, Marseilles exhibits vice in its most coarse and revolting forms, and meretri cious creatures sit, like spiders, ever on the watch to catch and suck the life-blood of giddy flies that pass un heeding by the webs of the sorceress. On my embarkation for 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 oqt to sea; boats in pursuit shouting, pulling, rowing, swearing ; at last the poor 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 mouth of December, in moderate weather, how delightful a voyage is it, — passing along the romantic coasts of the islands of Hye rus; Elba, where th lion of the desert, Napoleon, broke his parole, that he alight 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 !" how delightfully interesting thy ninety palaces, lofty houses, stately females, with their snow-white floating mantillas fastened with silver orna ments 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, ear-drops, rings, card-cases, &c., which, although made of pure silver, may be bought at half the price you could get such in England. The churches and cathedral, of black and white marble, are highly ornamented. St. Laurence boasts of possessing the mortal remains of John the Baptist, said to have been brought from Lvcia. 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 enbe. 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 such 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. "Oh ! what a re ligion is this ? how finely does it harmonize with the weakness of our nature !—how forcibly it works on the passional—how strangely it seizes on the imagination ! how interesting its forms !—how graceful its ceremonies ! —bow 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 his 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 Leghorn was a delightful passage : the same interesting coast, agreeable companions, with many additional passengers, ladies and gentlemen tra vellers, and other carriages, and, by way of contrast, poor bare footed monks wending their way to the Holy City ! the battered gem of the world, Rome ! to receive the benediction of the triple crowned pontiff. These poor 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 lachynne 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 prompti tude. At Leghorn there are thirty or forty thousand Jews. It being a free port, and the laws equal, tolerant, and mild, the liberty of the subject degenerates into licen tiousness. The Livernese of the worst class walk the streets in their felon dress, the crimes they have commit ted painted in large letters upon their backs—omicidia, adulleria violenta, snalricidio, furto, &c. These fellows are generally pretty well behaved, but, as at Rome, they will sometimes laugh, leer, and impudently ask you for a cigar ; but it is better to see felons scavengers, than men and women dangling by the neck from the beam, as at Newgate and Kirkdule. My two new friends and myself took a carriage to Pisa—there is now a railway ;—and the leaning 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 see 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 beautiful: the young wife; the beloved sister; the be reaved grieving parents, and their sorrows touch the heart of the lone wanderer as he gazes round, and listens to the plaintive breeze, that sighs amidst, but scarcely stirs, the dark cypresses and drooping willows ! Thoughts arose of Dr. Yonng, who bore his dying daughters " nearer to the sun." Alas, how vainly ! To die in a foreign land, and be denied Catholic " burial." And here, from Florence, from Pisa, and Sienna, are also the young and beautiful, resting in peace ; " Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew, they sparkled, were exhaled, and went to Heaven." Smollett's small, pyramidal monument has this inscription : Memorire Tobin; Smollett, Qui Libuinl, Anerium effiavit, 16th September, 1773. Q iidam ea suis valde amicus Civitus, Hunc tumellum Fecerunt." One affectionate bereaved sister says, "A purer spirit than hers never inhabited a human form." And amid man y interesting poetical tributes of affection to the de plored departed, I selected this as worthy of remembrance : • 1 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 firstlings of the spring. Let opening roses drooping lilies tell, 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 eternal day." , - 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 fi4ures, angels, and cupids ! twenty donnas, with black veil., bearing tapers ; twenty girls in white veils, als) beat in; wax candles ; forty men blowing brass instruments, and as they cease, drums and fifes add their shrill, har,h, but spirit-stirring sounds. We enter the church before w! - ' re•earbark ; and who can not, amid solemn music, th , l ever-burning lights, the poe tical, graceful pictures ! syrnpatni,e with trre. Rev. Crabbe's lines— Of seats they tell whence p. Tests 'mid tapers dim Breathed the warm prayer iir t tined the midnight hymn. To scenei like thee the retired, Revenge and anger in th.ise ie.ls expired; By pity soothed, remorse lost hal 1 - 121 - fears, And soften'd pride dropp'd peiiite tial teara. At my second visit, returning troni Palermo and Na ples, I went to the Jews' synago4iie at Leghorn, the lar gest, I believe, in Europe. 1 t appeared at least fifty yards square, splendidly lighted by four hundred candles. Sol 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 Rome—" Rome, the imperial mis tress of the world." With the exception of the arsenal and harhnur, Civita Vecchia is a poor, unhealthy, and contempt:bit; little town, and half an hour after our laud ing !row the steamer, we were a party of six in a hired di ligence, on our way to the ancient city, but we did not reach it until 11 p.m., and thus our first impressions were those of disappointment, St. Peters loomed through the midnight air, which was cold and murky, like some vast castle in the clouds; but the clear, bright, balmy morn ing, after a deep, refreshing slumber, soon repaid us for the momentary imperfect gaze of the previous night. At first, waking from the semblance of death, and noniering 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. 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. THE ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT iS the most honoured and honourably conducted department in the colony, being placed under the guidance 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 sionaries are scattered through the various villages. They have a large institution at Fourah 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. THE 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 useful and respected. The preacher of " The Word " should be divested of all such secular engross ments, 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 ove - eburthened store, forgetful, though he preach of fire, that Africa is not the hottest 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 pharisaical 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 though 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, nav, 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 superstitions prejudices ace referred to. Km. Lox is a spirit supposed to reside in the neighbour hood of Yangroo, in Western Africa, lives in the woods, and is seldom visible, except upon the death of a king, or 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 "fetico," or craft, means a charm, or mode of conducting worship, and is often ap plied for the representatives of their divinities. 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, piercing 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, hones, 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 order 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. The day is passed in dancing and singing, accompanied by drums and brass instruments ; the priest in the centre at an altar, on which he offers sacrifices, whilst the wor shippers congregate around him to hear and witness 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 same ceremony on the altar, empties the pot, when his assistants close the sacrifice with yells And unintelligible 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 DAHOMANS 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 cretly fed with rats, the worshippers being persuaded that it " lives on the camelion's dish, the air." The priestesses are supported by the government, and every year there is a grand feast in honour of Daboa, at which the chiefs assist, not more assiduously in the rites that' the de bauchery. This serpent is particularly honoured by la dies who are " as ladies wish to be who love their lords." The tiger is also propitiated occasionally by a few chil 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— s 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. I Though the Ashantees are considered the most intell gent nation of Western Africa, they are cross idolaters, and most profligate in human sacrifices, at their festivals and funerals. They have a tradition which has become orthodox, by descent from ages. It is, that at the begin ning of the world God created in 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-looking sealed paper. The black men had 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) • THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. 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 yarns, &c. They are of all imaginable deformity, and it would appear that adoration increases in proportion to the hideousness of the object. When 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 proceeding from the same feelings. The minor considerations of the African's belief is truly ridiculous, 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 gliosts, 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 To see oursels as others see us I " The following description of idolatrous worship is from the pen of the Rev. Thos. Raston, Wesleyan missionary, and pastor of the village of York, Sierra Leone, whose private worth can only be equalled by his professional utility : " 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 gion. " 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 real. 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 appal ling. The dirty idols inside were the God and Goddess of Thunder, called in Aku, " Rabba-rabba-cute" and Ah-Kara.' ' 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's 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 fur tiek—mot that ha might stuff his feathers into it, but that he might stuff himself with it •; but when her Majesty's head was placed in his hand, being conveniently blessed with a "non rni 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 piciur. Garramighty bless her I" How. ever, creditors, like fathers, sometimes " have flinty hearts," and Samba found himself summoned to the petit debt court ; but he had a soul above terror at debts or courts, duns or devils, for he had a charm—his condah and fox's brush, with which he 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, he 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 he: house. Whilst in the culminating point of bis 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 head 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, and utter a short sentence from the Alcoran. Sometimes I amused myself with catechising him on his religion, but not being a very deep 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 be called Bemma. 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 Mabomet is his Prophet !"—and that he has met his brother Moorie man in the other world with the usual salutation, " Saalam 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 dii not steal from myself, suggested the propriety of giving this reli gionist a hint that he might look out for more comfort able lodgings, which authority he seemed inclined to dis pute ' but having measured his man, and finding me six feet three, he 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 of his religious fervour, however, Pa Samba forgot to return the Wellingtons. BLACKWOOD ON MR. DICKENS' DOMBEY AND SON. You said that you should like to know my opinion of ' 'Tis of original e x ac t l y genius,what s e fi x g p u e r c e t d e d b ;y many o a n n t y a i m n i o n s g t Mr. Dickens' new story, and I read it with interest, and clear some evidence care. serious, and now plainly incurable, blemishes. The first thing striking me, on perusing this new performance, is, that its 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 its with theatrical people. You fancy that every scene, incident, and cha racter, is conceived with a view to telling—from th e stage. This suggestion seems to me to afford a key t o most of the prominent faults and deficiencies of Mr. Dickens as an imaginative writer ; the lamentable abs ence 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 treatment from the spas modic, straining, extravagant, vulgarizing efforts of the play-wright ! The one is delicate and exq uisite li mning; the other, gross daubing :—the one faith fully represent s; the other monstrously caricatures. This is the case with Mr. Dickens ; and it is intolerably pro vokin g that it should be so ; for he has the penetrating ey e and ac curate pencil, which—properly disciplined and trained— might have produced pictures worthy to stand beside . those of the greatest masters. As it is, you might .rmagine his sketches to be the result of the combined simultaneous efforts of two artists—one the delicate limn er, the other the vulgar dauber and scene-painter above s p o ken 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 ; he prepares his reader's mind—sets before you an interesting, a moving, a mirth-stirring occasion, when—bah I—all 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 Grcce the Dot hen!" "Lady Cankaby," "The Countess of Dombey:" his obsequious companion ac counting for such lapses on the score of his "NA est 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 !here nias," "Bumph iddity bow, wow, wow;" is it not certain thmt Mr. D.ckens 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 th s 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 twaddlere, reproductions of old. stock characters of the author, Mr. Chick and Miss Tux, 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 Mrs. 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 running 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, gazing with unutterable feelings at his newly-born son, "forty-eight minutes of age ;" and Mr. Dickens tastefully suggests the corm,arison of the little creature, which is "somewhat crushed and spotty in his general effect! !" whose mother is at that moment in dying agonies is 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, cur led up and clenched, seemed, in his feeble way, to be SQUARING AT EXISTENCE for having come upon him so unexpectedly !I !" 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 cf 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 lenter the little, babbling, vulgar, narrow-minded circles miscalled " literary ?" GENERAL MISCELLANY. The Free Port Association for Bristol have given the requisite notices for applying to parliament n-xt session. An enormous pumi kin, measuring six feet ten inches in circumference, and weighing 148 lbs. was exhibited to her Majesty last week. It was grown at Windsor. STAMFORD.—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 Fillingbam, 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 had been housekeeper to the late Benjamin Bickley, 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 £4-10,000, the balance of a debt which not many months back stood as high as £700,000. O❑ 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 extiems 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 7-1 2 . d., and household Qd. The West-end bakers still, however, maintain the same price, 8.1,1. and 10d. Messrs. Dryden, the celebrated engineers, are now employed in the construction of a printing machine for the Times, warranted to produce 12,000 impressions per hour, or the inconceivable number of upwards of three sheets per second ! HOLBORN-HILL VIADUCT. A company has been formed for the 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 cut whilst the train was in motion, and falling upon the rails, the carriages passed over him, inflicting such injuries that he died soon after. A MAN CONVICTED BY MISTAKE.—At the recent ('armarthenshire 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 lanctuage. 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 bro u g ht 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 strike— the thick coal colliers for Is. per day, and the thin coal and ironstone getters 6d. per day, increase in their wages. Notices have been given to several collieries of fourteen days, from last Saturday, for the above rise. lhe Gloucester Journal mentions three reasons for the ejection of Mr. Grantley Berkeley from West Gloucester shire. First, that he took the unpopular side on the sugar question ; secondly, that he abstained from voting on the corn question ; thirdly, that on the game qu'estion be has stood by " his order." GUN COTTON.—At the Saffron Walden dinner, on Friday, the 16th ult., Lord Hardsicke said that forty grains of gun cotton had been pitted against sixty grains of gun powder for a rifle, and had been 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 cf the Central Criminal Court were as,follow :--I.ll:der 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. 48 ; above 50 and under 60, 10 ; above 60 and under 70, 6 ; and above 70 and under 80, 2. ASTONNHING 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.— Thvonport 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 fitting 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. _ PU3LIC 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 Hall 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 Trafalgar.] PAREDES IN ENGLAND.—Among t the passengers brought by the Thamts, 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. ed.) 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 in reducing the price of gas as much below the above maximum as the income of the company will allow. OPENING THE PORI S.—A deputation waited on Lord John Russell on Tuesday, imploring bim 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 he 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 IN:AVY 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 let September, 1946, 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 £3 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-coronet. 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 f 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" AND THE CORN LAWS.—Our 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 ult. :—" 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 indi:•cretion. 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, lie 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 bad given him front 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 lie be suffered to remain where he is.—Times. AFFLICTING OCCURRENCE.—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 Hocker'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, and so dense was the fog that he was 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 thatl 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 he 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 chaQm. 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 mangled remains were recovered through the exertions of a miner. SHOCKING MURDER OF A POLICEMAN.—On 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 Ma. FER 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, for liberty to file a criminal information against Mr. Ferranti,. the member for Knaresborough, for having published two letters reflecting upon the character of Mr. Lewis, in the Times of the Bth and 10th of Angust last. In the first of these letters, which related to the evidence of Mr. Lewi. 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 a " oil and infamous conspiracy on the part of Sir James Grat,arn and Mr. Lewis to crush the writer in the House of Coninions." The second letter charged Mr. Lewis with " the most deliberate falsehood, for the purpose of deceiving the House of Commons," and accused him of prevarication, which, if he had been guilty of it at a police-office, would have caused him " to be packed off in the prison van, and indicted for perjury." A rule to show cause was granted by the court. IRON SHIP BUILDING.—On Monday last, the second half, viz , from midships to bows, of another iron schooner, of 300 tons burthen, and to be called the Liverpool, was drawn upon t wo trucks, by about 19 horses, four 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. Pins will have launched at this port. The Margaret, the Sena tor, the Tribune, the Citizen, the Dublin, and the Liver pool, are timongst 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 horses. The Dublin, (intended to ply from that port in co.tjunc tion with the Liverpool,) having received her engines, &c., left this port on Sunday week, at 9 a.m., and reached her destination half an hour after the midnight of Thursday, or rather on Friday morning, effecting her voyages in four days and fifteen hours, acknowledged a very fine run. The Liverpool is to be launched, we understand, in three weeks.—Hull Advertiser. DESTRUCTION ON THE GARRICK THEATRE BY FIRE. —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 a little after, the theatre was on fire from the basement to the top of the roof. By nine o'clock the firemen suc 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 calamity 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 cannon at the performance of 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 districts. 35 are in the metropolis, and the rest comprise, with some agricultural districts, the principal towns and cities of England. The population was 6,579,693 in 1841. Fifty-one thousand two hundred and thirty-five deaths were registered in the summer quarter ending Sept. 30th. A number greater by 15,227 than the deaths (36,008) is the corresponding quarter of last year. In the mild win ter quarter of this year ending March, 1846, the deaths were nearly 5000 below the average ; in the spring quarter (June) the mortality was slightly above the average; in testinal complaints then arose, and becoming epidemic , have been the principal causes of the immense loss of life on record. While the deaths in London were little more than 14 per cent. above the return of 1815, the deaths rose from 23,166 to 38,826-or about 52 per cent. after a correction for increase of population-in the towns and other dis tricts of the kingdom included in the return. In some of the densely peopled towns:the mortality was doubled. The deaths in the corresponding summer quarters of the past and present year were in Maidstone 121, and 239; Port sea Island 239, and 433; Winchester 89 and 141 ; Oxford 89 and 194; Northampton 182, and 221 ; Bedford 182, and 254 ; Bedford 182, and 234; Ipswich 119. and 240; Norwich 306, and 451; Plymouth 191, and 279; Clifton 323, and 436 ; Worcester 106, and 173 ; Dudley 457, and 744 • Walsall 158, and 288 ; Wolverhampton 439, and 687 ; Woistanton and Bursiem 164, and 313 ; Coventry 188 and 300; Nottingham 285, and 469; Lincoln 154, and 246. No such mortality has been witnessed in Birmingham for many years ; the deaths in 1815 were 694, in 1846 they amounted to 1,627. In Liverpool and the a djacent rsof dis trict of West Derby the deaths in the sum mer quarters 1 2,411 tOn , 1845, and 1846, were 2,595, and 4,090 ; in Manchester, and the contiguous districts of Salford a nd persons died in 1845, and 4,2 48 in 1846 Stockport Blackburn, Preston , Bury, Bolton, Macclesfield, Chester, Wigan, Prescot, Ashton,-and otber districts of Cheshire, and Lancashire-suffered to an equal, or a greater extent. The districts of Yorkshire did not escape ; 1039 persons died in Sheffield, where only 445 died in the summer 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 Sunderland, Gateshead, Tynemouth, and Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1171 deaths were recorded in the summer quarter of 18 45, " 2313 in the corresponding quarter of 1816. The proportion which the deaths bear to the P°P d i s chews the relative mortality of different districts, linn important. Thus at the last census, the populatio eorl; Anglesea was 38,105, the deaths in the last quart er w deaths 160 ; the population of Gateshead was 38,747, the deat in the same quarter 473; the population of AbergavennY. and Newton, 77,000, the deaths 378; the population. of Sheffield 85,000, the deaths 1039. Again the populationof the seven Welsh districts was 273,000, the deaths In the last quarter 1,465 ; the population of Manchester and Salford 263,000, the deaths 3,149! The population o f the six districts of the South Eastern division was 218,000, the deaths in the last quarter (ending September 3 0 ,) were 1,458 ; the population of Liverpool was '2'23,000, the deat hs in the same quarter 2,946 In the Annual Reports and Quarterly Returns th e causes of these differences in the mortality of the severa l parts of the country, and the population have been dis cussed. The high mortality of towns has been traced to crowded lodgings-dirty dwellings-personal uncleanliness -the concentration of unhealthy emanations from narrow streets without fresh air, water, or sewers. which all The kinds rapidity of of decomposition, and the facility with refaction, animal matter become tainted, and run into n ut enable us to understand, how in a summer like the past: in which the temperature was unusually high , the disease s reva en. referable to an impure atmosphere should be so P and fatal. The population of Surrey exceeded that of Manch ester :, yet in 7 years 16,000 persons died in Manchester over and above the deaths in Surrey, the mortality in which, fo,t the poverty of the labourer, and slighter degrees of tT? influences so fatal in Manchester, is higher than it shoul d be. There were 23,523 children under 5 years of age is Surrey, and the deaths of children of that age were 7, 3 ; the children in Manchester were 21,152, the deaths 20,i 2 0- In the seven years, 13,362 children in Manchester 3. 1 ° ° ,7 fell a sacrifice to known causes, which it is believe , / 103 ," be removed to a great extent ; and the victims 41 Live . ' pool were not less numersus. Other parts, and partica larlythe r e o t towns of of h o f England, p ast are quarter similarly prove arfl thatict e d . The au n othilt effectual has been done to put a stop to the disease , aj he fering and death, in which so many t h ousan d s per i s h. ~ imrovernents Wetly of a showy, superfi c i a l ou tside cu racter have not reached th e homes, and habits of the P e j n" ; ple. The house and c hild ren o f a l a b our i ng man call ° P s be kept clean and healthy by th e ass id uous l a bour o',- -'4 well-trained, industrious wife, as any one who has the least attention to the subject is aware. This is (We'd looked in Lancashire, where the woman is often engag, l4 , in labour from home. The consequence is, that thousa o "ia not only of the children, but of the , men and w° ° , 4 , o themselves perish, of the diseases formerly so fatal for 1.4" same reasons in barracks, camps, gaols, and ships. e The supply of water, and the removal of refuse from t' i t , surface, or of matters in solution and suspension throuug': the sewers, are " simple engineering questions, the s e on known .. is certain, while the cost can be estimated . n _ data." The wealthiest and most populous cess of which," the words of Mr. Smith of son, Metropolis-Marylebone-is an example of the imperfen! presen t state in which these questions are solved in the state of the law. The parish, on an area of 1.490 acres , had 14,169 inhabited houses, and 138,161 inhabitants, 1841: The annual value of property rated for the reli e f , of the poor in the same year was £815,279-X57 to e ec ,,i parish tucv, house. Yet a consid?rable part of the parish is wit"i i - e sewers, or any direct open communications with t o a sewers. It is said, though the information on this h e s , is imperfect, that half the houses in the parish have cell., pools, many of which remain unemptied from year to Y,i, The vestry, under the local act, is empowered " to 0 '" nate persons to carry out the dust, dirt, cinders or ash es ' ,of yet no effectual arrangements are made for the remov,3'..3 decaying animal and vegetable matters-the " " noxious matters" which are really prejudicial to hel l i e lt The contracts only apply specifically to " ashes," te r• are innoxious. 897 persons died in the parish last quaL ot a The condition of other parishes, may be conjectured " this specimen. the In all the subdistricts of Liverpool and West Derby 3 0, number of deaths in the quarter ending Septembe r „ r tee was considerably greater than the corresponding (1 0 ' t he of 1845, occasioned in every instance principally by t he prevalence of diarrhoea. In St. Martin's district rt er deaths were 700, being 325 more than in the same 0 3 0 1 1 of last year, and nearly 100 per cent above the g e „ o- 46:' filth' itui3, average. In Mount Pleasant district the deaths we r t tef,' being the largest number ever registered in any qu'„ t bel and 125 above the same quarter in last year. In the s et. , districts the deaths were greater by nearly 50 per ess'i and in some cases nearly 100 per cent. In St. Th°, f f s ery, district, out of 370 deaths 149 died of diarrhoea and 0 .% a 0. try. In Islington district, out of 395 deaths 109 elfe , diarrhoea. There were a few cases of cholera io S fi t tin's district, 12 in Dale-street district, 3 in West,',.dice t 6 in Everton, and several in Toxteth-park. Pt, Ist seems to have been painfully prevalent during trt, Ist quarter among children. In Mount Pleasant districo it, children from the age of 2 weeks to 5 years, died fgfroe l , and only 11 adults. In Wavertree, out of 42 dea t "und el dysentry and inflammation of the bowels, 25 well., e i t 10 years of age. The mortality in Toateth-r" s pos l chiefly among children. In the last named district,holeeta pox caused 9 deaths, and diarrhwa dysentry, and 184.