The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-05-13 00:00:00

iilisccitancous )ntelliquitc,

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

A Gazer Los.—A few days after Dieket.'s
death, an Englishman, deeply pr.eved at the event,
wade a st,,rt of pilgrimage to tiaishill—to the home of
the great novelist. He went into the famous "Sir
John Falstaff" Inn, near at hand, and, in the effusive-
ness t.l his honest emotions, he could not avoid taking
the coturry waiter into his confidence. "A great loss
this of Mr. Dickens," Rani the pilgrim. A gseat loss
to ns, sir," replied the waiter, shaking his head, "he
bnd ad his ale stilt in from this house !

IMPKRI&L VISITOR TO THE UNITED STATES.--
New York papers announce that the Grand Duke
Alexis, third son of the Emperor of Russia, is about to
make a tour through the I.7nited States. It appears
that he is to sail from Cronstadt about the middle of
11I:iy in an Imperial yacht, accompanied by an evort
of four or five vessels of the Russian navy, and that he
will probably reach New York early in the month of
June. The New Yo 4 Times states that ' the Diplo-
matic Corp., arid particularly the Russian Legation,
are busily engaged in preparing a programme of fes-
tivities, which, in conjunction with those in course of
preparation by the United States Government, to-
gether with the hospitalities that will doubtless be
freely offereel by New York and the larger citiei
throughout the Union, will combine to form a suciies-
lion of grand ovations that will probably surpass in
point of real magnificence anything of the kind this
country has ever witnessed." It is stated that after a
rapid tour through the E sateen, Middle, and Westera
States, and a journey across the continent to San
Francisco, it is surmised at the Russian Legation that
the tourist will crow the Pacific, and travtesing the
immense empire of Russia on the continents of Avis
sad Europe, reach St. Petersburg some time in Oztober
next.

lionnen! —A new oyster-bed has bee,' dis-
covered on the Dutch coast, near Flushing. A fleet
of Colchester smacks has brought over, each smack,
one hundred and forty tubs, each cudaining one
hundred and fifty oysters! Dutch beds! It sounds
as it the oysters must be nice. Don't they lie in Hol-
land sheets' Now that our favourite tune " Naar.:
Worth," goes so high as to be quite beyond our compass,
welct.me to these natives of Holland! England is the
home of the exile. What exile so welcome as a new,
cheap, and succulent variety of ()erect edulis !
Punch,

Picnic POWDER.—Profe*sor Abel, chemist to
the War Department, has, after prosecuting numerous
experiments, succeeded in perfecting the new explosive
agent recently produced by him under the name ot
picric powder as a material for charging shells. Al-
though it is not so violent in action as gun cotton,
nitro-glycerine, or pierate of potash, 'Aerie ',Ardor is a
much inure powerful explosive than gunpowder, and
has other properties which appear to render it peculiarly
adapted for employment in shells. Its merits are that
it may be readily and expeditiously prepared, and that
it is remarkable for its ssfety as compared with all
other explosive agents, being somewhat lean sensitive
ti ignition by percussion than kunimwder. The
dent of the Committee of Explosives at Woolwich hav-
ing pronounced the new powder worthy of further
expeiinu nt, it will be tried under various comlitions in
order to ascertain its suitability to the requirements of
tlie service.

•--
THIC TAP AND TlTEP.—Which iS tha more
ruinous vice, betting or bocz'ng ? Whether is a Itacing
S'ud or a Public-house tha more objectionable? If the
Publican'a trade is to be dimiLiahed becau-e it affords
facilities for drurkenness, why not the Stud keeper's
because it affords facilities for gan.bling If that
generons liqu sr, beer, is liable to abuse, is not occasion
for evil likewise afforded by that collie auhual rhe
horde? Sunrise flung subjscted to a repreraive
Licensing Systew, ought not ennilar restrictions to he
unpaged on racing N,sblenaen ? Punch.
TFIC BAIDX OF LAIIMLANOOL'd MARhISGE
! CONTRACT. The marr'a e c .ntract of the Bride of
Lammermoor has qui, lately been discovered at St.
Mary's Isle, the seat of the Earl of Selkirk. It was
evi ,ently unknown to Sir Walter when he wrote the
novel. lord Selkirk is the representative of the
family of Dunbar, of Baldoou, and has the family
papers in his possession. It was in arranging these
that accidentaLy became upon this chitract of mar-
riaze. The four sh natures are— David Dunbar (the
bridegroom), Janet Dalrymple (le bride), Jamie
Dalrymple (bride's father), BaMoon (bririegros ma
father). One of the witnesses, James Dalrymple,
may have been the bride's brother, who rode behind
her to the church, and whose dagger was said to have
bean used in themnrder. A fee e mile has Lean taken
of the document. Judging from this, there is little
trine*. in the bride's signature. Messrs. Black, we
(Athorowm) are glad to hear, are going to publish the
tee-simile in their Centenary Edition of the Waverley
Novels.

A CEFBIIII RETURN.-01.e of the enumerators
for a village gave in a schedule, of which we present a
copy, minty' the name of the parish am! partied :
—Aprlith 3, 187ut.
Willwm farm La linr, aged 305.
hid wife Eliza aged 28 all b-irn
Roth his daughter aged 8 year. In this pariah
•
Ilona his sun ased 8 years.
Elizshnth aged 704 • widow.
all liven hi one home, Barn at—

A SPANISH VIEW. OF THE UNIVERSITY BOAT
RA( E !—Accarding to the Era, the Pr rear di Srrdle
states that the Oxford and Cambridge boat race "com-
mences at Westminster, by the Houses of Parliament,
and takes Its course up the grand river to the parks of
Greenwich and Richmond." The regattas of London

are, " with the races of Epsom —and llerbyt,o,
toefmthtse of
xtfhcer year
CThamiabriyerge thboetstrirvacecetrhluoisbnyrostlegd:to:
been "crowded with 2,000 stesmers," at the head
which sailed the Prince of Wake in a small boo, " with :40 distinguished persona" While the race am going on bands of music paraded the streets, " sost
wi, h block faces." 'A• cannon from the 'rawer ap.
noanced the victor. . . After the regatta, 100,eho
, rest enfants were opened to the public, who cr•wded int,
them to drink their beer. In the villas in the vicinitt
of
thetli e raceheth he dinnersefseveralwe r e g
thousand.,iv en o all
afterwards enjoying the ball."
Tog BALLOT BILL.—At the weekly meeting
of the L-Lour Representation League In London, pp Saturday, Mr. Latham presiding, the following rebel& boon was passed unanimously :
that in older to secure • free, honest, and Incippendett
use of the political power now poesessed by tim worlds;
people, ae we:l se to ficilltate the return of everting men',
can Ildates for the Howie of 12 'mamas, it is a Demonism duty on the part of the Government to preas forward tea
ii.) of IOU; and this council Is further of opinion that th.
L'beral members of the lions, should, by absta'ulug f
fanciful amendments, aid the Government In niduar hug
really sound measure • put or our electorial law
On the suggestion of the chairman, it was agreed to
hold a inee.ing of the leading working men of the
metropolis on on early day in support of the kill, g
which Mr. McCullsgh Torrens. IIP., who had b,sp
communicated with on the subject, will preside.
Put:4l7Ra' BLUNDEBB.—An amusing " printefs
blunder '' occurred a few days ago in a London news
paper. It had been speaking in the highest terms of
• new tenor— a earn aria of • tenor, who had delighted and entranced all hearetft. The criticism WM gorgeous,
but it ended with "he wag sentenced to three yea,.
penal rervitu le, so that society will for some time be
freed from the infliction of his presenc, !" Tha
satounding assertion was simply due to the fact that
the end of a police case had beets " lifted," and left at the bottom of the critique, to which it formed such m
incongruous pendant. An extraordinary blunder some
years ago occurred the Caine way, in one of the Scotch papers A couple of lines of a news paragraph, an-
nouncing the arrival of several eoldiere in a district
town, got mixed up in a notice of birth. The result
was as follows :—" At—Street, on the —Met. Mr,
K—, of 1 sergeant, :3 corporals, and 15 rank and
file; premature."
808 AND JKIIRT.—Mr. Lowe has abandoned
the principle of constructing a Budget so as to make
it unpleasant to everbody. He has adopted that of
concentrating its unpleasantners on one class. This is
an advance on the famous rule of Jeremy Bentham.
It Ivey be formulated as the greatest possible un-
happiness of the smallest number. - Punch
ABANDONMENT OF A SITIP.—An inquiry has
joist been brought to • does at Hull, into the abandon.
meat of the barque Brothers, Captain Sayers, on the
coast of Morocco. It appeared from the evidence that
on the 17th of March boats were observed putting of
from the shore, and, the ship being becalmed at the
time, it was believed the boat's crews were pirates, in
tending to plunder the barque. The officers and men
immediately took to their boata in fright, and escaped,
after strenuous rowing to the protection of the fortress
of Ceuta. Subrequently, however, the ship was given
up on ',stooge being paid, and there was reason to sup.
pose that the fright of the ship'. crew had been to.
necessary, De. Rat, uus behalf of the captain,
humorously rebutted the charge of cowardice, and
showed that it was not proved that thorn who boarded
the vetoed and the Marone were the same persona. The
urwintrate held that this point wax good, and added
that it seemed desirable that ships should be sufficiently
armed on voyages of this kind wrainst pirates, for
wc:hnipclhe oPfuerP°"mall tahuenot
, captain's certificate wnha andugh
returnedtsutihteayb l
tome Ihgnitltu. ne
t °3*Lca"ilh

.15RNAOH or Pll.OMlBlt OF MARRIAO6.—In the
floor, of Queen's Bench, at Westminster, the cause of
"Wood v. Wood," has been heard, and was an alien
for bieaeli of promthe of marriage. The parties were
cougins ; the defendant wag a market gardener and was
married, and the plaintiff, a young woman, some seven
years ago entered into his service. I lig wife was infirm,
and acceding to the evidence he seducel the plaintiff
while she viec in his servioe, under a promise to marry
her, when his wife should die. The result was that
in 1663 she had a child (whom, however, as he said
he had supported), and ehe continued in hie service,
and the intercourse continued. Tbe wife having did,
however, the defendant married anothur woman. The
cage was tried before Mr. Jultice Blackburn, who
avowed that tie had taken a str.mg view &gaunt the
claim, considering that the plaintiff was not an objet
of sympathy. The jury, however, took a d ffereat
view, and gave a verdict for the plaintiff for r2OO
This waa an application for a new trial, on the ground
that the damages were eoceagive the learned Judge
declaring that they were "cc ingly excessive." The
Court thought the da manes exceguive. and ordered that
the amount should be reduced to kICO, the defendant
paying the costa, or, if this was not consented to, then
there must be a new trial on payment of coats by the
deh ndant.

BLACK MAIL AND RFD. How much happier
we are than the Frocich ! We have no Commune :we
have no Civil War. Oar Ministers gratify our populace
lust by allawii g th-m to dictate tne national expea
diture, and secondly by impcsii g the whole w‘Vithi of
it on the upper and mil le claatei in the Income.t.x.
Perhaps the French woulfri be as much at peace as our.
saves, if- the respectable part of theca would only sub
silt to be plandered.—Punch.

A FRKNCH Dwelt?. Amongst the exiles from
France which the late disastrous war has driven to
Lot.don not the leant remnrkable is the graceful little
lady who is now holding daily levees in the Burlington
Gallery. The Priccese Feline, an her exhibitors hive
christened her, is a genuine dwarf, a real living La.
waist). She is, perhaps, the maned female yet ex.
bilked in London, one beside whom Miss Minnie
Warren would ho almoet a giantess. Like Mim
Mumie, the Princes Felicia is the child of parents of
the ..rdinary station, who have accompanied her over
to Et gland from her native Provenc". She is now in
r ninth year, measures scarcey nineteen inches in
height, and weighs just six pounds. Sne in of perfect
symmetry in throe and feature, and altogether a
pleasing amd gentle child. The Princess was presented
to and most gragiously notiend by the. Emperor and
Empress of the French a very short time before the
commencement of the war,

A NIEIIEIII'O OF VIE MARQMS OF WF,STYZAIS

- A correepondent, referring to the death of the Han
qui.; iq Westmeath, which was reported on Saturday,
observes that, as Lord Delvin, the 1.4 s Marqu's served
as ensign in the let Battalion Coldet•emn Guards
throughout the expedition t Egypt, including the
battles of Ahonkir and Alexandria and the meanie.
lion, whereby more Frenchmen were taken hack to
France in English ships than the entire number of the
British expedXon ; these French troops consisting of
the very jlite of Bonapazte's army, Lord Westmeath
believed himself to be the last survivor, officer or
soldier, of this celebrabed expedition ; as such Imbed
an interview with Su ton Abdul Aseiz a few years go
In England and showed his Majebty the decoration be
had received from the Sultan Seim. He retained to
the la 't a very vivid recollection of the events which
marred the career of Napoleon soon after its COM.
mencement. He attr,buted the marvellous WWII Of
the British, first to the gallantry of the troops, sad
secondly to the inefficiency of Menon. He thought
th.et the affair would hove been much more serious bad
not Kleber been assassinated.