The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1866-06-12 00:00:00

OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

Your readers, have dotibtlem read the exposures
in the newspapers of the condition of our workhouse
infirmaries. Bat there is nothing like an individual
specific instance to point a moral in such matters ;
and this we have just had in the official inquiry into
the oondition of the Strand workhouse infirmary.
Overcrowding and foul air; filth; the wretched at-
tendanos of fifteen pauper nurses, of whom thirteen
are over 60, and two over 70 years of age; theft of
the medical comforts and stimulants ordered for the
patients; and general neglect and inhumanity
this description gives a very inadequate idea of the
infirmary; and that of the nursery was proved to
be no better. The medical officer, the master, and
several of the guardians, confirmed the evidence of
a "former heed nurse" on most of these points; and
there is little doubt that if similar searching inquiries
were made throughout London, few of oar work-
houses would be found better managed. In fact, the
abuses tolerated in this great and rich metropolis,
under the operation of what we an pleased to term
local self-government, are disgraceful to the country.
Hugs parishes, retaining their tens of thouaands of
inhabitants, are managed on precisely the same
principle es little rustic communities, only that the
local authorities have regularly neither the support
nor the check of public opinion. In • city where
people do not know their next door neighbours, or
even fellow-lodgers in the rme house, not one
person in a hundred takes an interest in parochial
matters, and so self-government is brought to •
dead lock. AU that guardians and other authorities
Wadi, is to keep down the expenses, as the only
point of direct contact between them and the rate-
payers is the breeches-pocket. A city containing
one-tenth of all the inhabitants of the British Wee,
and which has no local feeling in its nominally
separate districts, is not a fit subject for government
by vestries, guardians, and parish beadles.
I remember rain your readers some months ago,
that they would hear some very curious disclosures
when the case of Ryer v. the Attorney-General
came on, and I think my words have been verified.
Happening to knew a member of the Ryer family
(the Prince of Cumberland" as be is jocosely termed
by his friends), I had become aoquainted with all the
facts lately made public some years ago. It was not
my place, however, to di/ate upon them before they
became public property, and now they are so, I can
add nothing to the disclosures in the evidence, ex-
cept to say that though the family ia now in
pecuniary difficulties, they claim, besides legitimacy,
an immense amount of money from the Crown for
arrears of the revenue of the Duchy of Lancaster, and
other matters. Let me, however, say one word to
pat any of your readers right who happen not to
have seized the fare of the moo. Even an able
journal like the Pan Moll is at fault, heading an
article, "The claims of the Princess Olive," and
speaking of "the Prinoses herself" being under ex-
lamination. The present petitioner is not Olive, but
Lavinia, her daughter, and herself an aged woman.
The desert of the Ryer family is this —Dr. James
Wilmot married • Prinoess of Poland, daughter of
Hardee, last king of that country, and had roe,
Olive Wilmot, who is alleged to have been married
, 10 the Duke of Cumberland, brother of George 111.
, Of this marriage the irue was the "Prince,
who married • Mr. &nes, leaving issue a daughter
Lavinia, who married • Mr. Byres, and IS the present
petitioner in conjunction with her sou. Amidst the
vicissitudes of this family undoubtedly descended
from the kings of two European countries, whether
legitimately or not (and that is the question now
being tried), it is rather ourious that four generations
in the female line, from the Printer of Poland
downward, have made unhappy and unequal
marriages.

bare to thank a friend who proial hia private
boa at my disport, in use of the her positions for
sight and round in the Royal Italian Opera-hoome,
for one of the most glorious musical treats whir it
has been my lot to esjoy. I was present on Thursday
at Coral Gordan when Loorelia Borgia was per.
focused. Madame Mario Vilda cooking bar wooed

appearance in Englaud. I have seldom listened to
such singing, and it is impossible to describe the
enthusiasm she awakened. A friend of mine, who
won fortunate enough to have heard Jenny Lind in
bar palmy days, even ventured upon making a com•
pension with that world•famons artiste. I was sorry
that on the night in question Mr. Gye wm obliged
to come before the curtain to apologise for Signor
Mario, who was suddenly seized with hoarseness,
and obliged to withdraw from the performance.
Alas! Signor Mario's voice has not beau this season
what it used to be, but his acting is incomparable,
and Mr. Gye will have to makesome new discoveries
before he will be able to supply the place of the great
tenor upon the stage. With Patti, Loom, and
Vilda as Prima Donna, the strength and superiority
of Noels artistes over those of the opposite *ex is
most powerfully marked, for, with the exception of
Mario and Faure, there are no good actors on the
lyric stage. SPECTATOR.