The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-10-31 00:00:00

A CONVERSION TO ROMAN
CATHOLICISM.

The Liverpool 31;reury fmonday has the following:—
The Rev. Henry John Pye, rector of Clifton Camp-
ville, Staffordshire, and prebendary of Hansacre, in
Lichfield Cathedral, has, along with his wife, gone
over to the Roman Catholic church. He married, in
1851, Emily Charlotte, the only daughterof the Bishop
of Oxford, who has been plunged into great grief by
the step taken by his daughter and son-in-law. Mr.
Pye has held his appointment at Clifton since ISM,
and it is of the yearly value of itlso.

The Daily News, in remarking upon the above
IlayS :
The Rev. Henry John Pye was not a man of such mark in
the Church of England. either for learning or for influence
as to make it probable that his example will have much
force among his brethren ; nevertheless his conversion has
is certain social importance which distinguish. it from the
great majority of similar lapses which are now becoming
so disagreeably frequent mobs our clergy. Mr.
rye is loot a young citrate whose head has been
turbot by the folly of his seniors. Ile roust lit more than
forty years nI age ; bets a son-in.law ef the Bishop of Ox- •
ford : awl he gives up, in the rectory of Clifton, a family
living worth front cslis to turst a year. We may therefore
regard the step he has taken as evidence of deliberation and
sincerity. It would not be difficult, were it worth while, to
trace the gradual approximation of Mr. lye to the gaol
he has at last reached. Ile was first heard of as
Curate of Cutidestlen, where the Bishop of Oxford
has his palace, anti the few workshe has published treat of
questions with which the extreme high Church awl
Ritualistic party love to occupy th.mselves—as whether
non-communicants ought to stay at the celebration of the
Lord's supper—whether the sick ought to he anointed—Mill
the like. Now that he has taken a resolution conformable
to his personal convictions, we can only hope he will be
happy in the (Burch of his choice, and that while his judg-
ment is condemned, his honesty may have many imitators.

A. MOTHER AND CHILD KILLED.— On Satur-
day the district of Halifax was visited by a strong
storm of wind and rain, and at Bolton Brow, Sower-
by Bridge, a house fell, killing a woman and her infant.
The name of the woman was Jane Stark, aged twenty-
one years, and her male infant, John Henry, aged
nearly two year, On Saturday afternoon the family
had temporarily left the house, and about five o'clock
I the mother ri turned with her child. She had just
unlocked the door, and was about to enter, when the
house end. fell upon them. Aneighbour gave an alarm,
but the mother was quite dead when reached, and her
infant only lived about an hour after. Both were
shockingly crushed. The house, it is said, has been
in a dilapidated state for some time, but there were no
immediate signs of its fall.

JACK AT NAPLES.

A correspondent of the Pall Mon Gazette supplies a
gossipping paper regarding the doings llf our tars
during the recent visit of the British fleet to Naples.
Thick as flies round a honey-pot swarmed crimps and
touts and thieves around the place where the good-
humoured if slightly contemptuous tars came ashore.
With an exquisite bow and cap in hand they saluted
Able Seaman Brown as" Monsieur" or snore familiarly
as " dark ;" and, aptly instructed in the national pre-
dilections, offered him " rost bif, verry good, pea ell,
good eat 'inure," and other attractions more particularly
arlapt.l to the nautical taste. By many of the sailors
these benevolent persons were perfectly well under-
stood, and in return for their kindly offers of service
the knowing ones often gave them a slap on the back
or a dig in the side quite good-humouredly, but at the
SAME, time with suthcient force to snake the little
Neap, ilitan wince under the momentary Orrick. He
never offered his services twice to such playful lions.
"In England there are thousands of people who
would give much to have the opportunity of seeing
the wonders of the classic ground whereon Jack
has recently trod, but he passed them all by with more
than philosophic indifference. What are Pompeii or Her-
cutaneous, or a torso of Psyche, or a Farnese bull, or a
painting of a little naked boy and a rather mild-look-
ing woman, said to be painted by rine Raphael, to
hint? He is not one of the few who really do care
for these things, nor of the many who pretend to care.
He has tastes of his own, anti, sit far WI they go, they
are genuine. It is said that the sight of the 'burning
mountain did excite the curiosity of some of the tars,
and an expedition started with a view to investigate
the matter; but this laudable resider to interrogate I
nature was diasipated by a wine shop which happens !
to he half way between Naples and the base of
Vesuvius. Here our philosophic tars stopped to
quench their thirst, and remained to rest and drink.
But the favourite resort is a temple near to the steps
which lead up to the heights of Capodimonte. Over I
the door is printed in gold letters the enchanting word
" Thimgh no linguists, this word is perfectly
well understood by every man in the British ,
fleet; and with unerring instinct our sailors soon dis-
covered the sacred fane, and valued the discovery as
much as Charles 111. did that of Pompeii or Mr. Bayard
Ninevah. Within its precincts very tolerable beer
can be obtained at seven scmh the quart bottle. During
the stay of the fleet the proprietor must have made
his fortune nearly, for every day his house was
crowded with English sailors, and every sailor felt it
his duty by the national liquor in a way to satisfy the
severest expectations of his country. 'Co enhance the
attraction of the place a musican with a guitar dis-
coursed sweet swish; suitable to Jack's taste—such airs
as " Pop g, .es the weasel," "Yankee Doodle," and
other tunes ti which Jack could stamp his foot or
thump his fist in something like appropriate time.
But the great attraction was 9 girl who accompanied
the music with her voice —a stark- eyed, dark-haired
damsel, with soft fair complexion and dimpling cheeks
—a real beauty of a refined type. She would sing
lively Ital an sea songs with much spirit, with a pretty
smile, and with an air as though she was quite
unconscious that every rover's eyes in the room
were fixed upon her. And then with a similar un-
consciousness she would trip round the room at inter-
vals of a quarter of an hour with a little tin plate in
her hand, pi esenting it gently, without a single glance,
to each individual tar. And though this pretty
damsel presented herself and her plate many a thile
anti oft to the none listeners, they never seemed to get
tired of giving. Generosity, however, not to call it by
a 1e,,; pleasing word, is a part of the sailor's nature.
One evening some twenty or thirty of them entered
one .rf the principal cafes of the town and informed
the waiters that so Inntr as they were present they
were to piry ftlr every!!'L. 'nl; i. n Cs• p'.
Aco•rdingly, an English gentleman who had taken
cup of coffee had his money refused by the waiter ; is a•
would the mariners of Isis native land allow lam to
withstand their determination to be hospitable. To
add to the enjoyment of the guests—and there were
many Italian gentlemen present—one tar mounted
a table ant! sang a British song, choosing for
performance, of course, the ditty which proclaims that
Britannia rules the waves. Nearly 2.500 of them have
been ashore at different times, and yct a drunken sea-
man in the streets has been a rare sight. When
spoken to they are invariably civil ana polite, and an
Englishman may feel as proud of their conduct on
shore as he always is at sea."