The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-06-27 00:00:00

THE BALHAM MYSIMAY.

The probability that there will be another inquiry con-
cerning the cause of death in the case of the late Mr.
Bravo is re-assuring. Nothing will no greatly tend to
allay whatever public excitement may exist as to the
sc-called " lialhaui Mystery" as a thoroughly searching
investigation. Any attempt to forecast the issue, or even
to determine the value of the preliminary statements laid
before the Queen's Bench Division of the court, would be
both abortive and a breach of propriety. Suffice it, there-
fore, to remind those who fancy one of the statements
pneluced by the Attorney-Geueral supplies the her to the
ruling of the coroner at the inquest, that Sir John 11 olker,
with :ill the ascertained facts at Isis disposal, did not
share the impression which evidently possesed
the mind of Mr. Carter. It is a sound principle,
and tho Lord Chief Justice did well to insist
that no inquiry of this nature should he permitted
with • view to &Vastly public curiosity. Nevertheless,
when widespread disquietude exists, and it has been
determined, on purely legal grounds and in the interests
of justice, to re-open an inquest, it will doubtless be felt
desirable to prosecute the further search is a fashion
calculated to inspire general confidence and leave no
ground for subsequent complaininfr• To this end it is in
the last degree important that the inquiry should not be
conducted by affidavit, but oral testimony. We venture
to urge thin twinitlerstion with all the respect due to a•
Court presided over by a judge so able and independent
as Sir Alexander Cockburn.-7'k, . . .

The Whaekall Renew says:— I am reminded, now
that the news-shops are again aflame with placards of the
• Balham Mystery,' as the penny-a-liners call it, that I
have not seen in any of the newspapers the maiden name
of Mrs. Bravo mentioned. She was Miss Florence Camp-
bell, daughter of Mr. Robert Campbell, of Buscot,
1:n11m:don, near Reading. Many of her numerous
friends and admirers will remember the marriage of
Captain ltichardo with the handsome Miss Florence
Campbell; and when it was known that her marriage
was not a happy one, the regret and sympathy of her
country friends and the inhabitants of the villages In the
Faringdon district, by whom she was greatly beloved, was
apicirently genuine. After her second marriage with Mr.
Charles Turner, who adopted the name of Bravo, she
appears to have lived much more happily, and in her
widowhood it is impossible not to pity and sympathise
with one who is still a girl under the peculiar and sad
circumstances in which her second husband's death places
her."

STRAW:F. MODE OF BURIAL—An eccentric gentleman
named Deane, residing at Melton, in Suffolk, had during
life a vault constructed in his garden, built a summer-
house over it, and directed that at his death he should be
buried there. Mr. Deane, who hes just died, was buried
in the vault as he had directed. In life the deceased was
an infidel, but he became a Christian before death. A
Baptist minister performed the funeral service. De-
ceased's niece, who kept house, said deceased desired
to be embalmed, but this his medical attendant refused
to dn.

_
Assets-off to his own exalted view of his profession,
Thackeray used to tell some good stories of the frequent
absence of its proper recognition both in and out of
society. 'Who iA that lively little fellow r asked a
gentleman of his neighbour, at a public dinner in the
North when Thackeray left the room. "Oh, that is
Thackeray, the author r Indeed,_" responded the other,
" I thought he was a gentleman." Thackeray's first intro-
duction to scholastic Oxford is abetter story, and perhaps
better known. It will bear repetition. Before he could
deliver his lecture on the "Georges" at Oxford it was
neessary to obtain the licensed the collegiate authorities.
The Duke of Wellington was Chancellor, and knew the
author of l'anity Pair, but he had a learned deputy whose
knowledge of Greek was possibly profound, but whose
acquaintance with English classics was only limited.
"Pray what can Ido to serve your asked the bland
scholar. "My name is Thackeray." "So I see by this
card." " I seek permission to lecture within the pre-
cincts." " Ah, you are a lecturer ! What subjects do you
undertake—religious or r Neither ;I am a
literary man." "Have you written anything r "Yes, I
am the author of Vanity Fair,"outid Thackeray, conecioux,
no doubt, of having done something worthy of remem-
brance. " I presume a Dissenter. said the Oxford man,
quite unsulalued. "Has Vanity Fair anything to do with
John Bunyan's work ;" "Not exactly,' said Thackeray.
"I have written Peniltnnic" "Never heard of these
books," said the learned luau; "but no doubt they are
proper works." "I have also contributed t• Ponca."
continued the lecturer. "Pooch I I have heard of Punch,"
said the scholar. "It is, I fear, a ribald publication of
some kind."

SWODO:4EORD SOCIETY, BRITISH AND FOREIGN. —The
sixty-sixth anniversary of this Society was held at the
Society's louse, 36, Bloomsbury-street, London, WI.,
on Tuesday, the 211th inst. 11. R. Williatus, Esq.,
occupied the chair. The report of the ( 'onnuittea states
"that the action of the Society in recent and past years
has not been lost upon the world," and extracts from the
Rrilish quarterly Review. the Edinburgh Daily Review,
and other papers, are given in support of the statement.
The theology of the day is also shown to be very different
in its character to that usually understood as orthodox.
The World refers to the present " foga ideas of Satan's
materialistic personality,: and the Daily Tekgraph to
the "spiritual significauons
.of the Swedenbormans."
The Leamington and Warwickshire Chronicle to the
meaning of the statement in the first chapter or Ges,..,th,
"The evening and the moping were the first day,4
spiiitually understood Icing awakenment of the mind
from darkness into light, as a period or step on the
staircase of knowledge," which is in agreement with
SwedenborVe interpretation of that book, and to Mr.
Vllkie 'niecwzree romance,
doctii
e, Ti-
DT
o that Two , De
there
einbo,lylng In ..i
sex of mind as well as body. and that a true marriage is
the union of two minds into one. f1.,,,,,b,„,hed offer of
the work entitled Ti. Tree Christian Religion, to clergy-
men gratis, was withdrawn in June. 1575, but RA appli-
cations to the lot of May Jest had been entertained.
With the balance remaining in the hands of the Treasurer
at the beginning of the Year. Part of which being the
I remainder of the late Mr. Attwood's handsome donation,
a new edition of Tic Apeoelype Reveale,j. in one volume,
9.20 pp., has been printed, and offered gratis, by circular,
tu 36,000 clergymen and nonisteni of the United
Kingdom On the 17th of June, 1,131, applications had
been received, and a large addition to the number it is
expected will be made before the offer Is withdrawn.
Some extracts from letters received in acknowledgment
of the work are given. One from a clergyman is as
follows:—" I never read. the writings of the great
Christian philosopher of b.weden, or of those who have
studied what he unfolded in his marvellous books, with-
out gaining a clearer insight into the Divine purpose of
the Incarnation of our bord; and a more comprehensive
grasp of the whole cycle of (Amities' doctrine. I believe,
too, that there are mealy like myself in all branches of the
Christian Church." The ,iresentations have been
numerous. Amongst others, toe Free Public Libmies at
Bradford, Hinckley, Leamington, Macclesfield, Plymouth,
Sheffield, Stockport, and Swansea have been supplied with
Part or all of the works in Lindlish. In Italy the printed
translations have been well received by a large number of
snug., Timm placed in the y:abbe libraries last year have
hsd many readers. An edition in Polish of Ti. Divi.
Providence has been printed, and is now being circulated
on the Continent. In Norwegian the first volume of the
True Ck,isii,si Religion has been printed, and is now on
sale in Denmark. The number of volumes sold and
presented by the Society is 7,144. The report and
treasurer's account were adopted, and the fotk.wing
resolution was carried Wog. 0,0. :—" Th 3 t4is advance-
ment and happiness of mankind dctonj uphn the diffusion
and acceptance of truth.:,. Spiritual, Rational, and
Scientific. And the writings of swedeshoe, essuan
such trutas in unralleled abundance, admirably
unfolded and enforced, this Society established for their
circulation is worthy of the support of the ministers and
members of every Christian denomination."