The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-03-02 00:00:00

Vailtshirc.

WARNOISTER.— The Res. Prebendary Pane's
Recond Lecture on India. —The itisv. Prebendary
Faun deliveri I hi i inn YI I lecture on La lin, at War.
liinater. on Tuesday evening week. It took place
.it the New Lecture Hall or the Atheneum, which
his been reoently erected by Mr. Stant, at a oust of
000. The site was generomily placed at the dispo-
o.l..f the Committee by the Marquis lif Bath, and
funds were raised by subscription. There were
nearly 400 persone present, including some of the lead-
ing families of the town and neighbourho 4, and for
the space of two hours their attention was completely
riyettnd by the eloquence of the rev. lecturer.
Charles Bleeck, Esq., presided.

At eight o'clock- on Sunday an alarm of
fire was heard which proved to be at ldarsh Mill, in
the occupation of Mr. Samuel Carpenter. It ap-
pears that the servant had been to the best bed-room
with a candle and shortly after two children in an
adjoining room were heard to cry in a suffocating
manner, and on the servant going to the stairs was
compelled to return from the smoke. Mrs. Carpen-
ter immediately rushed to the children's room and
brought down the children at great peril. Mr.
Carpenter rode into the town and gave an alarm.
An engine was soon on the spot and with a good
supply of water soon extinguished the fire. A down
bed and all the furniture in the room where the fire
originated were destroyed, and other furniture much
damaged. We are glad to learn that Mr. Carpenter
is insured.

Devizza—At Devizes Candlemas Fair, on Mon.
day last, the show of workodme oxen, suitable for
grazing purposes, was large, and sold at about al in
£2O less than last year; at this reduction a fair trade
was done, although • few lots were taken away un•
sold. Barreuere, inmalvers, and mulch beasts were
in short supply, and sold at about per head less
money. Beef from 10s. to ii.. per moors. The gait
feature of this fair was the worked.off oxen, and it is
admitted, we believe, im all ban s, that a few years
at the plough is decidedly heneticial for grazing, and
improves the flavour of the meat if not )rorked too
long. As mints the horse fair little business was
,lone, with the exception .4 clopping and uhauging
by the small dealers as usual.

BRADFORD. —Literary hielitiaiOn.-011 Thursday
week, a lecture wits deli' ered at the Townhall, by
the Rev. W. H. Jones, M.A.. F.A.5.,. vicar of this
toert N
, on.. the History of England, eight hundred
ym
&MORTON. —The rectory of Stourtnn, near Mere,
Wilts, has become vacant by the death if the Rev.
John Drake, %ht was instituted thereto in 1646. It
is worth about £620 per annum.
FONTIIILL AMMY.— Fonthill is now about to re•
viva under its present owner, the Marquis of West-
minster, who undeterred. says the Quarterly Review,
by the fate that has attended so many previous aruc.
tures is erecting another palace on the spot. That fairy
fabric the Abbey sprung up a wonder and a mystery
for the years through which it roes in the summit of
a lofty hill, no one except the workmen being ad-
mitted within the high walls of its lofty grounds,
six miles in circuit, and topped with chevaux de fries
to keep out curious adventurers. And then it fell,
first into the hands of Mr. Robins, who, in 1822, ad-
mitted all the world to it, and, through him, into
those of Mr. Farquhar, an unknown old lachelor. just
arrived from India with • million in his pocket, who
paid down near four hundred thousand pounds for
the Abbey and its contents. And then, after another
sale by Phillips which lasted twenty-seven days, and
was attended by thousands, it fell bodily, leaving
much wreck and rubbish behind. We remember
visiting it shortly after the catastrophe, and admir-
ing the ingenious construction of the great pillars of
the lofty Gothic Hall. They had been broken
through, and the fractures disclosed literally but •
few pieces of packthread, connecting some nails at the
top with others at the bottom, upon which strings,
plaster of Paris had been run ma mould into the
form of clustered columns. The more substantial
framework of the building—if such an epithet can be
applied to it at all—was of thin hack and laths wash.
None can wonder that Mr. Seaford dept on stormy
nights at a lodge some way off. The miracle is that
the tower, which was more than 200 feet high, and
was often seen to vibrate, stood for a single day.
larritenTlNG ANTIQUIMAN DiBoovnty. Some
flint diggers employed near Oldbury Castle, on
Cherhill-down, Devizes, have just discovered a cine-
rary urn of "noble dimensions" without doing it
much injury. It will be presented to the Wilt/hire
Museum. "Few urns of this size," says a curves.
pondent of the Devises Orzzette, "have ever been
found, and it almost vies with the celebrated Stone-
henge urn. It is 16 inches high, 14; inches wide at
the broadest part, narrowed to 12t inches at the
mouth. Its capacity is equal to rather more than
five imperial gallon!. The symmetry and propor-
tions of this urn are admirable, and really it is a
matter of surprise that such a large vested could
have been moulded by hand into so correct a form
withont the aid of the potter, which oertainly had
not been used. Its strength and firmness are very
remarkable. When found it was inverted over cal-
cined bones and ashes of the dead—a mode of inter-
ment connected with the remotest times. A broad
border of rude zigzag marking runs round the upper
part of the urn. From the style of this ornament
and other features that cannot be mistaken a well-
known connoisseur classes it with those remains
which carries us back to the Celtic period of our
history.