The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-02-23 00:00:00

Es orsetzbire.

NrrIORBITELY. On Tuesday the 9th inst., the pa-
rishioners of Netherbury presented to the Rev.
J. 11, Chowne, their late curate, a service of plate
value £2O. The presentation took place in the
schoolroom, which was tastefully decorated for the
xcasion. Mr. Conway, of Bingham', presided, and
after briefly expLuning the purpose of the meeting,
called on Mr. Pitcher, chapelwarden of &away Ash,
to mad an address that had been prepared, after
which the plate was presented. Mr. Meech, church-
warden of Netherbury, and Mr. Ludlow, master of
the gramniar school, severally bore testimony to the
exemplary conduct of the rev, gentleman during his
short stay of three years amongst them; and after
Mr. Chowne had rears
expressed his acknow-
ledgements the meeting separated. Mr. Chowne
goes from hence as one of the travelling seeretaries
of the Society for the Propogation of the Gospel in
Foreign parts.
Maalititl.x.—Aufully Sudden Death. —An in-
quest was held by William Ilannen, FN., coroner,
it the Crown Inn, in this place, on the 11th inst.,
touching the death of Thomas Hatcher, aged 45.
It appeared from the evidence that the poor man
went to bed in his usual health on the evening of
the Bth inst., and remained there till 8 o'clock the
next morning, when he complained of not feeling
very well, and wished for a cup of tea, which was
taken to him by one of his children, a little girl 11
years of age. In less than an hour he was discovered
dead. The evidenoe also went to show that the de-
ceased had led a very irregular life for several years
past. The jury returned a verdict of " Died from
natural causes."

CarrtsrocK.—On Friday evening week as soon as
the 9.38 down train arrived at the Maiden Newton
station, some of the inhabitant a of this parish re-
paired to the entrance gate leading to the rectory to
await the return of the worthy rector (the Rev.
H. H. Still) with his bride. A garland was taste-
fully placed over the gateway, to which were at-
tached appropriate mottoes of "Welcome," /to.,
nicely illuminated. As the carriage neared the gate,
the garland was borne forward by two men, and a
band playing some lively airs followed the carriage
through the winding coach-road to the front of the
door, where "three times three" good hearty cheers
were given for the bride and bridegroom. The merry
church bells being at the same time ringing, gave a
very pleasing effect to our usually quiet village. The
inhabitants then withdrew to a field near, and gave
three volleys with twelve guns, and quietly went to
their homes.

SHAFTESBURY. —Mrs. .Balfour on Literature.—
The announcement that Mrs. Balfour was engaged
to deliver two lectures at the Assembly-rooms,
Grosvenor Arms Hotel, on Thursday and Friday
evenings last week, caused an amount of excitement
which has not been witnessed in our ancient town
for some years. The subject, "Eras in English
Literature, their effect on social advancement," was
one eminently calculated to display her varied talent
—her wonderful powers for arranging in chronologi-
cal order events in history from her well-stored
memory, without the aid of notes, and the facility
with which she places facts before her audience,
delighting all by the beauty of the language which
she employs, as particularly evidenced in the simple
and touching earnestness with which she spoke of
what she imagined, must have been the soothing
effect of the first reading of the Bible from the
chained-desks at St. Paul's, and other favoured
places, on the min& of the poor and the distressed.
Her anecdotes of those who suffered persecution for
conscience' sake, as for example, the wife of John
Bunyan pleading the cause a her imprisoned hus-
band before the Judges at Westminster Hall, the
graphic manner in which she described the fortitude
of Lady Rachel Russell whilst attending at her hus-
band's trial for High Treason, her subsequent inter-
view with King Charles to try and obtain a com-
mutation of the sentence on Lord William Russell
if not his actual pardon, were told with a pathos the
effect of which will not speedily be forgotten by
those who heard them. The syllabus was as follows:
—lst lecture, the 14th Century and its Awakening ;
the 15th Century and Its Mechanical Inventions;
the 16th Century and its Intellectual Triumphs. 2nd
lecture, the 17th Century and its Controversies;
the 18th Century and its Periodicals; the 19th Cen-
tury and its Reading Public. The lecturer com-
menced with a few remarks on the progress of Litera-
ture in England, the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman
periods and their characteristics; the spiritual
and mental awakening of the 14th century, as
associated with the labours of Wycliffe, "The
Morning Star of the Reformation," and Chaucer the
"Poet Father" of England. Tracing the intellectual
progress of the 15th century, as associated with the
art of printing by Caxton, the first English printer,
she 'poke of the advancement of education by the
munificence of Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother
of Henry 7th, who, by her patronage of Scholastic
Institutions, was called "Mother of the students of
Britain." The 16th century was referred to for its
wonderful intellectual triumphs, its great Jurists, its
learned Divines, and its exquisite Poets, Spenser,
and the greatest of all, Shakspeare, our national
bard. Sir Thomas Gresham, the founder of Lecture-
chips on Astronomy, Rhetoric, and Muni, for the
citizens of London, was quoted as giving a hint that
had been carried out in modern times, by the popular
institutions of the present day. The second lecture
continued the subject, and introduced, as connected
with the Literature of the 17th century, the Devo-
tional Poetry of the Rev. George Herbert, the Epic,
"Paradise Loot" of John Milton, and, as a com-
mencement of a Literature for the people, the
"Pilgrim's Progress," of that illustrious eon of the
people John Bunyan. In the 18th century the ac-
complished lady lecturer traced the origin and pro-
gress of periodical Literature from the "Reviews of
Daniel De Foe, "The Tatler," and " Spectator " of
Addison and Steele, the "Rambler" of Dr. Johnson,
to the Edinburgh, Quarterly, and other periodicals of
the present time. The conclusion of the lecture was
devoted to remarks on the contributions to English
Literature from the mind of women of letters, Lady
R. Russell's Biographical Poems, and imaginative
works of various literary ladies, with observations on
reading and selfculture, as a duty woman owed to
herself and to society, she being "The educator of
the whole human race at the most impressionable
time of human existence," Both lectures were
replete with beautiful thought and valuable informa-
tion, containing important suggestions and observa-
tions, conveyed in appropriate and elegant language,
and were listened to with breathless attention by
very large audiences, the room being crowded. At
the conclusion, the Mayor, W. Batten, Esq., re-
turned thanks, which were rapturously responded to
on both occasions by the company.
SHIABORNE.—Bread and Soup Charity.—About
520.quarte of excellent soup and between 5 and 600
half-quartern loaves' of bread are disposed of at each
delivery, viz., on Tuesdays and Fridays. The plan
adopted is the division of the town in two districts,
and the tickets are managed according to the dif-
ferent stations, thereby giving every facility to the
poor for supply.
Tn• Salem, Pox.—ln consequence of the preva-
lence of smell pox in this town, and the represent-
ation of R. Gordon, Fog., of Leweston, to the Board
of Health in London, a medical officer (Dr. Seaton)
was nut down on Thursday by the Central Board of
Health. On Saturday the doctor attended the board
of guardians, with whom rest vaccination and the
care of the health of the poor. He inspected the
union house, and left a memorandum in the book
stating that he had gone over the house and was
much pleased with its clean and orderly condition.
In answer to a question respecting the small pox, he
said the sanitary state of the town was by no means
the cause of this disease; and, as far as he had gone,
he had seen nothing very unsatisfactory. During
the week ending February the sth, he found there
were no new awe, but since that time a few cases in
Newland and one in Cold Harbour had occurred, all
of a very mild nature; and in his (Dr Seaton's)
opinion, the only way to avert the disease was, that
every pewson who had not been vaccinated should
undergo that operation immediately, and especially
children' even those only • few days old, if healthy,
and that they should not be kept waiting until some
months old, as is 'generally the CAM In all his ex-
perience he had not seen vaccination marks wone
than in Sherborne--and for the satisfaction of those
who had been vaccinated, he described what ought to
be the appearance of the mark in the arm, namely,
that it should be deep, with a kind of rim around it,
and at the bottom appear like the impression of a
thimble. He further stated that in North Wales,
where the medical officers and the medical men gene-
rally had been particular in, and insisted on vaccina-
tion, a whole union had escaped, although small
pox had been raging for months around it. He sug-
gested that the best plan for carryin. g out a regular
system of vaccination in the parishes, would be for
the the or guardians to make a house to house
either to
call, emir inaqtre oi any and report
of
30
the medical officer or the unicn A row
cottages in Horsecestles, newly
oowdelliigvhstontdi:
lated, drained, supplied vnt" water,
other
has furnished more capes of small pox any
single locality in the town.