The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-03-23 00:00:00

Somersetsbire.

Yzov-a.—We hear that Mons. JuDien intends
paying a visit to this town some time in April. We
prognosticate a bumper for him.
YEOVIL MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY.—On
Thursday evening the ReV. A. Ramsay, of Crew-
kenie, delivered All tote-eating lecture, at the Hall
of the Institution, on " The Life and Times of
Oliver Cromwell." R. Tucker, Est, occupied the
chair. The attendance was tolerably numerous.
The portraiture of the Protector as presented by the
rev. gentleman Was of a highly favourable descrip-
tion • and the events with which he was connected
in the earliet part of his career, his appearance in
Parliament, and the circumstances that at length
led to a rupture with the King, were concisely and
lucidly narrated. The commencement of hostilities
Mr. Ramsay dated from the appearance of the King
at Westminster, to demand the giving up of the five
obnoxious members of the House of Commons; and,
lie observed, in the struggle thus begun was involved
the overthrow of the Stuart dynasty, as the price
of that civil and religious liberty, which, though
roughly, and in respect of the execution of the King,
unjustly pursued, laid the foundations of that national
greatness which still stood, and, he trusted, ever
would stand, as long as the nation existed, the
astonishment and admiration of all. "Charles" he
said, quoting the eloquent language of Chateaubriand,
"struggled ineffectually against the force of things.
The age had outstripped him. It was not his own
nation only but the whole human race, that dragged
him along. He attempted what was no longer
possible. The liberty that had been won was first
swallowed up in a military despotism; but what was
taken from the fathers was restored to the children
and remained as a final result to England." The
lecturer vividly desscribed the chief engagements
between the contending parties and traced the cur-
rent of events to the period of the King being given
up by the Scotch army. Time would not permit
him to proceed further with the narrative and he
proceeded to state his impression of the character of
Cromwell. The difficulties of that task had been
graphically described by M. Guizot. "The men
whom God chooses," said that writer, "as the in-
struments of his great designs, are full of contradic-
tions. In them are mingled and combined, in tin-
discoverable proportions, capabilities and failings,
virtues and vices, enlightenment and error, grandeur
and weakness; and, after having filled the age in
which they lived with the splendour of their actions
and the majesty of their destiny, they remain person-
ally obscure in the midst of their glory, alternately
cursed and worshipped by the world that did not
know them." There was, however, one ground only
of demarcation, separating the good from the bat
and it was by principle that character must be
determined. The best men had some blemishes,
albeit men of principle; and the worst had some
seeming virtues, albeit unprincipled. After perus-
ing various writers on both aides, he did not hesitate
to place Oliver Cromwell, though many might not
wee with him, on the right aide of the moral line.
His reasons were that he believed the Protector in
his early life passed that Christian ordeal, which
some of his biographers and he himself called conver-
sion; and because his subsequent course corres-
ponded with that good beginning. His greatest
error was in plucking the civil sword from him who
lawfully possessed it; and to this was added the
crime of putting to a bloody death God's &anointed
servant. There was no justification for this; yet
this very crime was deemed by its perpetrators a
virtue; it arose, as D'Aubign6 observed, from
mistaken idea of religions emotions. They were
guided by their own feelings, instead of going direct-
ly to the written word of God. They acted from
self-delusion rather than malice prepense. Having
directed attention to this defect, the lecturer said
that he would commend to the special notice of the
young men connected with the institution one of the
grand characteristics of this remarkable man—that
of decision. No man ever obtained a distinguished
position in art or science, in the senate or the field,
at the bar or in the mart, without this important re-
quisite. Cromwell's decision shone like a pillar of
fire; and he rose by it from being an obscure country
gentleman to the highest pinnacle of human grandeur
—to be the foremost man in the Cabinet, and the
first in the field of military glory. By it he made
his own name and that of England potent among the
civilized nations of the world; and the Vatican still
vibrated beneath the blow of the great Protestant
champion of the 17th century. The rev. gentleman
was repeatedlyapplauded in the course of his address,
and a vote of thanks was presented to him by the
Chairman at its close. It was announced that the
neat lecture would be given by the Rev. IL C. Hu:-
table, on "India,"

THE LEVIATHAN.—The mercantile committee ap-
pointed for the purpose of providing accommoda-
tion for the Leviathan at Bristol, have, it is said,
forwarded a plan to the directors, for their considera-
tion and approval. It consists of a modification of
Mr. Bendel's scheme, which included two piers, ex-
tending into deep water at Kingroad, from either
bank of the riven Avon at its mouth, and a dock
with an area of 70 acres at Shirehampton. The com-
mittee propose to dispense with the piers, to deepen
the Swash, and to make one half of the dock, which
would still have an area of forty acres, and it might
easily be extended to the dimensions originally pro-
posed whenever it might be considered necessary.
The expense is estimated at £600,000, or, with a
graving dock £600,000. Tonnage equal to that of
two Leviathans making eight voyages in the year,
would, it is estimated, give a remunerative revenue,
assuming that the same amount per ton as that
levied on shipping using the present docks is paid.

Ties CENTRAL Ll:CH.—Persona who are accus-
tomed to walk through the Newton field and over
Windmill Hill, will perceive that the course pro-
posed to be taken by this railway in entering Yeovil,
has been marked out. It crosses the branch
connecting the Bristol and Exeter, and Wilts, Somer-
set, and Weymouth railways, and terminates near
the back part of the Royal Osborne Brewery, where
the station will be erected. We are glad to observe
that the works are being actively carried on at
various places throughout the line.
SHOCKING SUICIDE.—On Thursday week an in•
quest was held at Foan's Wine Vaults Tavern, by
D. H. Ashford, Esq., the coroner for the district,
and a respectable jury, touching the death of Samuel
Dodge, 38 years of age, who destroyed himself by
cutting his throat in a most determined manner, and
afterwards throwing himself into a well at the back
of the premise& Verdict, "That the deceased
destroyed himself while in a state of Temporary
Insanity." The unfortunate man formerly lived in
service in Yeovil and had been living in London
the same capacity, till he returned to Yeovil.

CHARD. —The Eclipse. —So far m a favourable posi-
tion for viewing this interesting phenomenon was
concerned, this town was as fortunate as its neigh-
bour.; but the envious clouds interposed their murky
forms between us and the celestial luminaries, shroud.
ing them so that their beautiful figures were disclosed
imperfectly, and only at intervals, to the local astro-
nomer.; the atmosphere was watery and indistinct,
and the vapours obviated the use of any coloured
medium to subdue the intensity of light