The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-12-30 00:00:00

Pliscellaneauss.

We hear that Dr. Thomson, tlie Archbishop of York
(nominate.) whilst driving on Tuesday evening from the
Great Western Railway to his residence, in Eaton-
place, Belgravia, was robbed by some daring thieves of
his portmanteau, containing, besides other articles, his
robes of office, his seals, and his l‘tters.
Captain Tyler, RE., has tuadeThis report to Govern-
ment on the causes of the explosion of a locomotive
steam-engine, the Perseus, whichitinay be remembered
blew up a few months ago, whihi' kw as standing with
the 'dean' up and ready for work M She engine-room at
Paddington. Cmtain Tyler reporyi that the locomotive
had run for more than seven years githout any special
examination—a practice which he 'aindemns ; and lie is
of opinion that locomotives should be tested by
hydraulic pressure every three years, or after they have
run 75,000 miles. In this way he thinks any internal
defect would be at once discovered.

The Emperor and the Empress of the French having,
on the occasion of the anniversary of Prince Albert's
death, addressed letters of condolence to Queen
Vietnia, that Sovereign has gent back an autograph
letter assuring their Imperial Majesties how much she
was touched by the expressions of their sympathy.
A sum of £l3l 10s. 3d., raised by subscription among
the British residents in Bordeaux and some other
persons has been transmitted by her Britannic Majesty's
consul of that city to the Lord Mayor of London
towards the relief of the distressed operatives in the
cotton manufacturing district.
The inquest on the bodies of the unfortunate miners
who were killed by the explosion in the pit at Edmund's
Main, near Barnsley, was brought to a close on Tues-
day, when the jury returned a verdict amounting to
one of accidental death, but at the same time strongly
censuring the reckless mode in which the working of
the pit was carried on. A protest against the verdict
was made.
The inquest on the body of William Curtis, who bad
hipped as steward on board the Martha Pope, and who
is alleged to have died from the violence of the captain,
was resumed on Wednesday. The principal evidence
taken was that of the mate and one of the seamen, who
both gave the captain a good character, and charged the
deceased man with being of lazy, dirty habits ; bat they
admitted he had been repeatedly beaten with • rope's
end resembling whipcord. The inquest was again
adjourned, but Captain Stone was taken into custody by
' the police on a charge preferred against him by de-
ceased's brother.

Within the last two months a number of men have
left the Dowlais and Rhymney Iron Works for Russia.
A gentleman connected with the Government of that
country canie over and selected some of the best work-
men connected with these works, and the wages agreed
to be paid to them were from £l2 to £2O per month,
being double and treble the money they earned in
Wales.

Some Sicilian ladies have presented to the King two
very beautiful vases of agate and alabaster, exquisitely
carvqd by Sicilian artists. Victor Emmanuel has
thanked the donors in very gracious terms and placed
the vases in the Royal cabinet, by the side of the album
given to him by the ladies of Naples, and the saddle
which came from the ladies of Bologna.
It is stated that the late Mr. Henry T. Hope, of
Down-street, Piccadilly, of Deepdence, Surrey. and
Castleblayney, county of Monaghan has bequeathed the
whole of his immense property absolutely to his widow,
Mrs. Hope. Their only child is the Countess of Lincoln.
Mrs. Hope is a French Protestant lady, whose unre-
mitting personal inquiries into the condition and atten-
tion to the mania and to the educational requirements
of the tenants upon the Irish estate, have caused her to
be greatly respected and beloved by them.
The Turin Gazelle announces from Potenza (Naples)
that the brigand Rosacozza, who infested those parts,
has jest been killed, together with this concubine and
hia nephew, after a determined resistance.
The Post-Ampt Gazette of Frankfort announces that
Egyptian ophthalmia has broken out there as an epide-
mic, and that the hospitals are full of patients, chiefly
children, labouring under this affection.
Vanlialwyn, the real murderer of Rosalie Doise's
father, was guillotined on Saturday at Bailleul, in the
Pas de Calais. Ten thousand spectators attended the
execution.

A prise fight for £lOO, between Young Broome of
London and Ike Baker of Walsall, ',took place on Mon-
day at Aldershot. Twenty-six rounds were fought,
occupying fifty-one minutes, when Baker fell without a
blows atifil Broome was accordingly declared the
winner. Both men were frightfully punished. Their
faces were severely cut. Broome had his eyes closed and
Baker's nose was literally broken.
The election of a second master of Winchester
College, in the room of the Rev. F. Wickham, deceased,
will take place on the 14th January. The appointment
rests with the warden and fellows, and the only con-
ditions of eligibility required by the original statue,
which is still in force, is, that the master shall be "in
grammatica suMeienter eruditus, sir house fames, et con-
vereationis honest?'
The (Ma ReO7l7llT says :—" A respected clergyman
of Galt has called our attention to the abominahle
practice of tobacco-chewing in church, adding, as he did
so, ' I never knew a place as bad as Galt for this
filthy practice.' We fear this charge is too true, for in
most of our churches we have personally felt the
annoyance. In most of them can be found a' select few,'
whose jaws can be seen going during the delivery of the
sermon like those of a cow chewing her cud, acid every
little while the tobacco juice is squirted at the floor, but
net anfrequently thp dresses of ladies receive a share
of the disagreeable liquid. .
A correspondent of the Morning Pod claim's for otir
Royal Family and also for several English ncdlle
families, including the House of Stanley, a Greek lin-
perial lineage.
The Mvniteur announces that five flags captured by
the French in Mexico have been brought to Paris, aryl
presented to the Emperor. They are to be placed in
the Invalides,
, It is Said that one individual has cleared £37.000 by
being the promoter of toitt new banks, and he is looking
out for £lO,OOO from a fifth.
The nature of "fair and legitimate" newspaper cold-
inent met with • curious illustration at Liverpool
assizes recently. A young man, a volunteer, said to be
wealthy, had acted foolishly in patronising and spending
a great deal of money on the band of his regiment. The
captain of the regiment made as speech ; and, in referring
to the resignation tendered by the young man, he said
he sibuld not accept it; but that the man "should be
ignominiously expelled." A local paper, alluding to
the transaction, said the offunder " had more money
than brains, and less principle than either ;" and a
Liverpool jury assessed the damage done by these words
at tS.

A singular accident, and strikingly illustrative of the
periliiusly slight nuinne In which the cpttligeli of thp
poor are built, occurred the other dilY at Manchester, A
woman named Deakin, about thirty-four years of age,
was coming downstairs in the cottage where she lived,
in the Oldham-Toad, when she carelessly put her hand
against the walL This slight pressure pushed away
the bricks, and the whole wall fell in, and the poor
woman was killed by the fall of the rubbish. A verdict
of manslaughter was returned against the agent for the
property, WhO it appenred hid often, but In vain, been
warned of the unsafe state of the property,
Another shocking. accident from crinoline took place
on Christmas-day, A young lady living with her patents
In tlppei Pat On-street, Pimlico. Was passing in front of
the! flte-plade, *hen Her distended muslin dress caught
tire, and before the flames Corild be extinguished the
poor young lady was burnt so severely that all efforts to
restore her proved fruitless, and she died in the colitis
of a few hours.
_ . _

Some of the regiments attached to the Army of the
Potomac had issued to them, while at Flarper's Ferry,
the reqitisite I:Mather of new shoes to which they were
entitled. Some of these same shoes are now without
soles. Upon domination it has been discovered that
neither pegs nor ihrettri wets tided it the manufacture
of the same, but that the soles wefts Merely pasted on.
Sir Sernard Surke pleads the cutse of a " son of
Sir Francis O'Neill, the sixth baronet of his family,
the undoubted desoendant of a hundred kings, and the
cousin of a duke, and of three peers of the realm.
Paralysed, speechless, nnablo to move, the scion of the
great house of O'Neill has lain it Cook-street, Dublin,
in a garret for four months. A daughter,in-law indeed
tended him, the mother of sir children, but the means
of support for the whole family was a pension of 2s. 2d.
a day."
. . .
" ' "

" 'Qat°, what do you suppose is the reason that the
sun goes towards the south in the winter!" "Well, I
don't knew, muse, unless he no stand de 'clemency of
the norf, and so, am 'bilged to go souf, where
he 'speriences warmer longitude, was the philosophic
reply.
Lady Morgan having once given an old Trish beggar
woman sixpence, received for answer " Ooh, thin, the
Lord bless yer sweet honour, and may every hair of
yer head be a mould candle to light yer cowl to glory 1"
" What an imaginative race they are," exclaimed her
enraptured ladyship, "would sixpence have ever
stimulated an English beggar to such an invoca-
tion r

A gentleman was constantly in the habit of calling
his servants, before their faces, " necessary evils." He
quarelled with one of them, who left him in a rage,
said he was sick of service, and vowed that he would
never enter it again. A few days after, his old master
meeting him in a livery said, "Pooh! You are gone
into service again after all I" —"Ah, sir, I have found
that masters are "necessary evils."

Advioes from St. Petersburg of the 12th of Decem-
ber state that this is the severest winter experienced
in Russia for many years. The thermometer marks 20
degrees below freezing point; the rivers and the sea are
frozen, but no snow has fallen.
The ex-King of Greece was no fool after all—for that
was the excuse made for his governing so badly. He
has bad sufficient thought to save a nice amount of
money and to have removed it out of Greece into a
very secure country. It is said that he exported yearly
no less a sum than £200,000. which money was in-
tended for the purpose of improvements in his king-
dom.

It is calculated that the metropolis alone swallows,
in the course of a year, no fewer than 270,000, oxen,
30,000 calves, 1,500,000 sheep, and 30,000 pigs ; to say
nothing of the flocks of fowls and shoals of fish which
find their way into the same channels for consumption.
The total value of the flesh annually imported into
London alive and dead cannot be much less than
£14,000,000 annually. For the whole country we
slaughter yearly 2,C00,000 head of horned cattle, and
about five time as many head of sheep.
A few days ago two fine badgers were caught near
Box, Chippenham, which together weighed upwards of
701 b. They are now in the possession of the cottager
who captured them.
The United Cooks' Pension Society, London' have
made a monster pluin-pudding to be presented to the
Lancashire operatives. The authorities of Marylebone
Union kindly lent one of their large boilers, the dimen-
sions of which are as follows: -3 ft. l in. top. 2 ft. fii
in. bottom, 5 ft. 8 in. circumference. The ingredients
consist of 1301bs. currants, 1301bs. aultanam. 2101bs.
floor, 1301bs. suet, 80Ibs. peal, 801b'. sugar, 41b, mixed
spice, 11b. ground ginger, 1040 eggs, 8 gallons of ale.
The pudding will be presented as a "new year's
gift."
Two women have been committed for trial at Tenby,
on the charge of poisoning an infant, the child of one
of them. They are named Thomas, and are mother and
daughter. It is stated by Dr. ficrapath. of Bristol, who
has made an analysis of the contents of the dead child's
stomach, that death has been caused by stryohnine.
The younger woman, who was the mother of the infant,
appears to have led a dissolute life.

A Washington telegram of the 13th says: "Upon re-
ceiving the news from Fredericksburgh last evening,
ON President is said to have remarked "The rebellion
is now virtually at an end," and to have added a pro-
phecy that Richmond would be in possession of the
Union troops before the let of Jentiery.
Mr. Thomas Lueas died at Woodford on the 19th
Inst., at the age of 106 years; having been born at
Ashwell, in Hertfordshire, in the year 1756. Mr.
Lucas preserved his bodily strength to a surprising
degree, as well as his mental faculties, up to within •
few days of his decease. His mother died at the age of
101.

SPECIMEN OF FOLK LORE.
(Being a new Version of an Old Story.)
The "Good Old Times" could not be bad,
Folks weren't troubled with melancholy;
And at Christmas ey'rybody had
Roast beef, and mistletoe, and holly;
And mens'iwiyes their tempers mended,
Didn't scold with unceasing clatter,
But stabb'd their husbands--,if offended—
Quick as one can say "who's your hatter?'
Men did gtot write big books for fame,
Quite full of ponderoeity.
And sensation novels of "No Name"

To tempt one's curiosity;
Tales were orally handed down
From one person to anotker,
Fathers to their sons—fools to clown—

And to daughters from their mother.
Word for word, this legend gory,
Which you can read if you du choose,
Was told me as a true story
By a dear old Goody Twoshoes.
In.the old town of Corfe Castle,—
. .

_
'Tis a town because of the Mayor,
But I don't know that any rascal
Ever stood before his Worship's chair.
Perhaps the great Mayoral state,
Like Wareham Sessions and Court Leet,
Is a good excuse to congregate,
And devour many joints of meat.
In Corfe Castle once he'd a King
Called Edward—time has flown since then,
But ev'ry one agrees to sing
That he was one of the best of men.

With his dear wife he had a row,
All about a paltry bonnet—
There have been many such—l vow—
Since then—take my word upon it.
In a shop (Johnson's) she espied
The neat and pretty article ;
King Edward shook his head and cried,
Of money he hadn't • particle.
Elfrida, his kind old step-dame.
Then began to make a shindy
Storms would rise, he knew, when she came,
'Twas already very windy.
" I am off to Wareham, my dear,"
He said, " For l'm thirsty getting,"
"For a draught of Penton's good old beer,
" I've„not lately had a wetting."
"You shabby man," the old dame cries,
"0 why do you cause such trouble?
"Were I your wife I'd scratch out your eyes,"
And her wrath began to bubble.
King Edward bolted through the door,
Old Elfrida followed after—
By St. Jingo, the old dame swore;
Then was heard hysteric laughter.
Some scissors she thrust at his heart,
As with the good King she jostled,
(He should have taken his own part,
And the old woman throttled.)
He jumped on his palfrey gray,
The pain in his side ne'er heeding,
And galloped, and galloped away.
The wound in his side still bleeding.
To Stoborongh village he came
With his dear life's-blood ebbing fast,
And there he fell, and his life's flame
Flickered, and flew away at last.
The fairies ruled that where be fell

Sweetest flowers shall ever grow;
This the tale that Goody did tell,
" Flowers are always in Stobrow."
Houses in Stobrow are built of mud,
And in spite of the flowers so gay,
Where he fell, by shovel and sped
Was very soon taken away.
When you pass through Stobrow, I ween,
But glance to your left or your right,
Sweet flowers will ever be seen

To gladden and welcome your sight.
Had the King not died just then, 'tie clear,
He would soon have reached Mosey Churchir s,
Where in Panton's right good old beer,
He might have drowned all his worse ills.
(I hope Mr. Penton won't think
. . .

• That a hint or two I'm jerkin,
A nod is as good as a wink,—
And at Christmas send me a firkin.)