The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-03-13 00:00:00

WEYMOUTH.

Tug thou Timm —The announcement that there
would be an extraordinary high tide on the Bth inst.
was not realized at Weymouth. A strong wind
blew from the N.E. and the waves dashed angrily
against the sea wall in front of the Esplanade, but
the water did not reach beyond the average height
at the time of spring tides. During the gale in
October last, the tide rose several feet higher than
it did on Thursday. The reflux, however, was very
considerable.

YOUNG MRS' CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. —An
interesting address, "On the Constitution of the
Redeemers person" was on Monday night delivered
by Mr. H. Mo Gilvray before the members of this
association, The Rev H. McMillan will shortly
lecture on the "Evidences of Revealed Religion."
CHURCH PASTROL AID SOCIIITT. A meeting of
this Society was held at the Townhall on Wednesday
last, Richard Ledgrrd, Esq., in the chair. The
meeting was addressed by the Reeds. G. Morgan,
J. Barrow and other gentlemen. The Rev. G. J.
Kelly, the Assoiation Secretary, attended ass deputa-
tion, and furnished some interesting facts relative to
the operations and labours of the Society. There
was a good attendance.

Con,

TOWN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.— The Weymouth
Society has lately connected itaely with the " Country
Towns Minion Society," London; and the corn•
mittee have issued a circular, in which they state
that "in consequence of the largeness of the field,
and the many openings for missionary labour in the
town, they have felt themselves called upon to
engage another agent, Mr. Weakley, a member of
the Church of England, who is highly recommended
by the Committee of the County Towns Minion
Society, under whom he has received a thorough
training for town mission work." They add "Tn
' these seasons of revival and gracious visitations from
on high, the committee feel that a heavy responsi-
bility is laid upon them to seek the salvation of the
manes around them, who are perishing for lack of
knowledge—wilfully putting away from themselves
the means of obtaining the divine favour, and their
own happiness in this life, and the eternal safety
and felicity in the world to come. They earnestly
invite co-operation of christians of every name in
this work which they have undertaken, and appeal
with confidence to the sympathies of a liberal
Christian public to provide the funds required to
meet the current year's expenses." We trust their
appeal will not be made in vain.
BOROUGH AUDITORS. —ln consequence of Mr.
Richard Griffin and Mr. William Thomas having
objected, on legal grounds, to serve as auditors for
the ensuing year, a meeting is announced to take
place at the Guildhall on Thursday next, to elect two
other gentlemen in their steed.

/MANI/FORD.
A FEK•Le Lecroaxe.—Novelty alone will gene-
rally secure to a lady a tolerable audience; but, when,
as in the present instance, the lady is one whose
social antecedents are remarkable and the subject on
which she lectures no less remarkahle, it is scarcely
astonishing that one to two hundred persons should
be attracted to hear her. Instances are common
enough where Mary, the housemaid, has charmed
away the prudence of Squire So-and-So's son, and in
" servant gal" phraseology, rode about in a carriage
the rest of her life. But the heroine with whose
history we are now about to deal is of a different
stamp, and the fruit of her social elevation has
ripened into something more than luxurious ease and
carnage dignity, the envy of kitchen maids, and
'tossed at" by the whole fraternity of domestic
help.. The lady who lectured at the Assembly-
rooms on Thursday evening last was a few years
since x domestic servant to a tradesmen in this place.
She subsequently transferred her services to the
family of a clergyman living in the neighbourhood,
and, whilst under the clerical roof, captivated the
heart of a student of the name of Nicholson staying
with the family. This intimacy led to her being
partially educated at the expense of her admirer, to
her being taken for better or for worse, and in her
ultimately settling down in • comfortable home in
the quiet village of Farnham, about six miles from
this place. So much for the lady's antecedents. A
small placard announced that Mrs. Nicholson would
deliver a lecture on the controversial subject, "The
Revelations, no Mystery." When we entered the
room the lady lecturer was seated, apparently
absorbed in the contents of her pocket Bible, before a
small square table, lighted by two candles, and
placed upon • slightly raised platform at the end of
the room. Having waited some little time after the
announced hour of commencing, expecting the oracle
to speak, all attention was attracted to one Morris
Stainer suggesting to the lady in a very audible
tulle of voice from the door, "Now ileum, you'd
better begin." This startling introduction quickly
gave animation to the repose-like figure of the lady,
and, rising from her seat, she quietly suggested that
the meeting should be opened by prayer. The
whole of the audience simultaneously stood up whilst
Mrs. Nicholson offered, in a reverential manner, a
short and appropriate prayer. The devotional in.
troduction to the proceedings over, the lady directed
the attention of her audience to the lit chapter of
the Revelations, and intimated that it would be im-
possible on that evening to go through the whole of
the chapters, and, therefore, she would conflue her
remarks to the first three. There was no attempt
to unravel the mysteries of this portion of the Bible,
or to extract from them "signs of the times." The
remarks made were of • strictly practical character,
and were better calculated for a pulpit exposition
than a lecture room. There was much of tedious
repetition, and the disjointed observations dealt only
with gospel truths lying on the surface of the
chapters selected for consideration, and no attempt
was made to explain that hidden meaning character-
izing this portion of the New Testament. The style
and voice of the lady are far from good. The latter
is weakly, and we sheuld suppose could have been
scarcely heard at the farthest end of the room. The
manner in which the lady kept her head bent over
the Bible from which she was reading, the occasional
emphatic shakes of the head, the audible sighing,
and the absence of all energy or force of address
gave to her attempt a very meagre effect. In
fact we could not divine what fitness of qualification
had suggested to this lady, or her friends, the idea
that she would be useful on the platform, much more
successful. Her audience was principally composed
of mechanics and their wives with a very few of the
better class. The greatest seriousness aarecterised
all present, and many with opened Bibles followed
the reading of the chapters. We are informed the
lady is a widow, and that she frequently lectures in
the room that was once the gipoey school room in
the village of Farnham. The charge for admission
was one penny, and, after the payment ot expenses,
the surplus is to be appropriated to the benefit of the
poor. We must not omit to say that, though Mrs.
Nicholson is a widow, she is still youthful looking,
and has an expression of countenance that would be

considered plea:sing.
Fare.—There waa an average attendance. Fat
beasta bold from 12s. to 1.34. per score. Cows with
calves from .Cl 2 to £l6 each. There was but a small
ngmber of barrenem Those of a superior quality
wire readily purchased at high price*, the inferior
ones did not find a ready market. There were a
few good cart horses in the fair, and these readily
founti purchasers at high prices, from £3O to £4O
each. Hacks and ponies were scarce. The better
kin& of riding horses, once to be picked up at this
fair, are now rarely, if ever, seen here, and the place
where the bores fair used to be held is now all but
deserted. Cheese of all kinds was in great demand,
and was never known to realise higher prices. Mr.
Hoskins, • wine merchant, from Poole, exhibited a
placard, offering wines at a considerable reduction in
price, in consequence of the lessened duty. This
gentleman was thought to have stepped out • little
too quick, and the jokes of his friends caused him to
withdraw the notice.

Low Cosinv.—The drama is at a low ebb
in the metropolis, but it is at a still lower in the
provinces. Thirty or forty years since we had a
theatre in this place opened once a-year, and a season
successfully run through and closed with "benefit
nights" and "crowded houses." The old place
now rings with sounds from a whitesmith's anvil,
and cocks and hens dow 'oast where once honest John
Penson did "funny parts" to amuse a fashionable
audience. We have now, 'tie true, a vestige of the
past—a wretched vestige too—a "Royal Pavilion"
pitched down in a field with wooden walls and
canvas roof, where crowded audiences of the "rough
and ready " class assemble night after night to wit-
ness the end of the "bloody assassin," and some
other equally popular and startling desiouinest. The
play for the evening is announced by chalked
characters upon a black board, plated so that all may
read, and we were not a little surprised to see that
the performances on one evening last week were to
be under the patronage of the non-commissioned
officers of the Blindfold Rifle Corps. We are sure
that the word " some " should have been added to
the announcement, and it is difficult to believe that
"any" of the non-commissioned officers should have
consented to patronize this equivocal source of moral
influence. That the large majority did not, we feel
assured, as well.known moral tendencies would have
to be unnaturally contravened to allow them to do so.
The prices of admission are very high and very low,
and It will be readily supposed that pence are more
frequently paid than sixpences or shillings; but pence
make pounds, and if it be true, as said, that these
wretched purveyors for the entertainment of boys,
girls, and others who can scrape together a few pence,
netted on their previous visit, a very large sum, the
question may well be asked, especially by tradesmen
who own tills, where does the money come from?
We are glad to 000 that the last evening is announced,
and that there is a hope of our being relieved from
;his social nuisance.

MUSIC AND Till DRAMA. —The English O
Company have gives two evening performances.o
were well attended, and the singing sad acting
elicited hearty expressions of approval from the
audiences. This speculation must have paid Mr.
Eyres better than his own concert, and we trust his
success on the present occasion will induoe him to
make ffirther efforts to bring before die Bland-
fordians a higher range of vocal talent than they,
have hitherto been favoured with. We see the great
sumer of this company has induced Mr. Eyers to
announce another performance for Tuesday evening
(this day).
- - • -

- •
CHURCH RATH& - -Numerously signed petitions,
in favour nf the abolition of church rates, have been
sent from this place and the villages in the neigh-
bourhood.
PLUMS' Cum. —ln our notice of this club last
week, the subject discussed by Mr. Keynes at their
late meeting was erroneously stated. It should bass
been, "On the Preparation for, and General Manage-
'meat 04 the Mangold Wurtsel Crop."