The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-03-28 00:00:00

A very ingenious little drama, from the pen. of Col.
Addison (well, known in Manchester), has been pro-
duced at the Lyceum, under the title of " The Abbe
Vaudreuil." The object. is twofold—to give Mr. Calco
an opportunity of painting and arranging a Wattea
scene—a fanciful representation of a Pte champtre b
the court of Louis XV., in the Parc-aux-Cerfs; and the
other to afford Madame Celeste a part wherein she per-
forms numerous changes of costume and of character
with her usual perfection and celerity.
THE STATE OF THE SERPENTINE.—There is reason
t') believe that the committee are agreed as to the
nature of their report. They will recommend, first,
that all present works shall be stopped; in fact, they
have been closed. Secondly, that the bottom of the
Serpentine shall be levelled, and that the bed shall be
either of concrete or, gravel ; that the proposed system
of filtration will mot answer the purpose required, and
that it is advisable that a constant stream of fresh water
to a certain amount should be supplied to the Serpen-
tine
A CELEBRITY AT BaussErs.--The funeral of a local
celebrity took place at Brussels on Friday afternoon,
and was attended by thousands of people. The deceased
was a shoeing-smith at St. Josse-ten-Noode, popularly
known as " Mayor of the 13th century," but his real
name was Joseph Schools. This artisan, whose genea-
logy can be traced back at least four centuries, and
whose ancestors, from father to son, have carried on the
same business on the same premises for 300 years, met
with his death by falling down the steps of a cellar, and
facturing his.skull.
The excommunication of Cavour (says the Paris
correspondent of the Star) causes little emotion. The
population. of Sardinia repeat with immense glee the
repartee said to have been uttered by the King upon
the • subject, when Cavour, in anticipation of the catas-
trophe, laughingly sought his consolation in the idea
that he would net long stand alone thus disgraced, but
that the King would shortly be, sent by the Pope to
bear him company. " No, no, Cavour," replied Victim
Emmanuel, " I may follow you to the gates'of
but will never enter with you."
SINGULAR CAUSE OP ANNOYANCE TO A HORSE.
A day or two since a carriage and a pair of horses were
left standing at a shop, in London-street, Greenwich,
the person in charge a gentleman representing a
metropolitan firm—leaving the horses with their nose
bags on. A few minutes afterwards the horses became
frightened and ran across the street, but were secured
by the groom, who seized a whip and was about niing
it to the most frightened of the animals. At this
moment the traveller came out, and curiosity -leading
him to examine the nose hag of the frightened horses
to his surprise 'a live mouse was discovered among
the provender.
A SINGULAR CASE OF DESERTION. —A correspon-
dent informs us that a young gentleman,- serving as
master's assistant on board one of the ships at Vancou-
ver's, not long ago left with the intention of deserting,
but was apprehended and brought back to the ship. He
stated, as a reason for wishing to desert, the impossibi-
lity of living On his pay, and that, having no private
means, he preferred quitting the service to running into
debt. The officers on this station have to pay 12s. a
dozen for washing, and everything else is upon a scale
equally exorbitant, There is no smaller coin used there
than a sixpence; and no officer, particularly a junior
officer, can support himself on his pay.
The Narford Portrait of Blake, brought to London a
few months ago,- has been carefully cleaned. It is a
splendid picture, wholly unlike the conventional portraits
of the illustrious admiral, but agreeing pretty closely
with the authentic notices of his personal appearance
left by contemporaries. All the points of character are
brought out in a very brilliant photograph copy made by Mr.
Thurston Thompson for the biographer of Blake. The
external evidence is unusually good. The picture has
been at Narford certainly about 150 years, along with
a gallery of famous and heroic contemporaries of Blake
—notably, portraits of Montrose and Kenelm Digby. It
is mentioned by Bloomfield, in his " History of Norfolk,"
as being there in 1737 .--Athenceuio.
SINGULAR OCCURREN CE. —The other morning, a very
strange accident happened in a house just building at
the north end of Manor-place. Edinburgh. A pheasant,
it is supposed pursued by a hawk, flew against a large
pane of plate glass in the drawing-room window, and
from the extreme velocity it had attained—probably
fifty miles an hour—instantly passed through it, smash-
ing it to pieces. The death of the pheasant, a very fine
cock, was of course instantaneoas. It may be an
interesting problem for some persons to ascertain the
exact amount of pressure, in pounds weight, which bore
upon the glass at the moment of fracture. The only
additional element required to obtain this is the weight
of the pheasant, which was precisely 31bs.—Scotsinan.
SHOCKING OMNIBUS ACCIDENT AT DONCASTER.—On
Saturday afternoon an accident happened at Doncaster,
which resulted seriously. A Market omnibus was return-
ing from Doncaster to Wiest, Lincolnshire; and it bad
not left the town before the fore axle broke, and the
passengers in the errtnihus were precipitated one upon
the other, and a Mrs, Dickenson, of Tunnel Pits, was
thrown under the wheels, and sustained a serious frac-
ture of the right leg. rMr. Rusling, the driver, Mr.
Brown, and others, were much hurt, but not so much so
as to prevent them returning home the same - night.
Mrs. Dickenson was in a most dangerous state on Sun-
day, but in the evening her medical adviser considered
her somewhat better. It is but a few month; since a
similar accident occurred. The 'tins was a new one.

CorroN FROM J4mAlcA.—By the last packet but One,
samples of cotton picked from stray trees of at least
seven years' growth in the parishes of St. Andrew
(mountains and level), St. Elizabeth, Manchester, and
the city of Kingston and Spanish Town, were received
in this country by the promoters of the propOsed Jamaica'
Cotton-growing Company (at 55, Charing-cross). These
various samples have been submitted to Thos. Baseley,
-Esq.; M.P.; Thos. ' Clegg,- Esq., and--the Manchester
Cotton Supply Association, fur" valuation. There is very
little difference in their estimates, the lowest of which
are Bd., 7d., Bd., 84d:, and 14d. ;- the average being-Bd.
per lb., and of the feur lower kinds 7,0., which is full
25 • per cent. above l that of the American cottons,
excepting the Sea Island.
SUPPOSED .114 URDER AT STA 11FORD.—A few days ago
we described the death by burning of a woman living
alone at St. Martin's. Stamford. At the inquest held at
the-time it was decided that her death was accidental,
but from cir, umstances which have since come to the
knowledge of the police it is suspected that the deceased
was murdered by strangling, and application has been
made to the Secretary of State fir permission to exhume
the body. A man named Henry Corhy has been arrested
on suspicion, and it is ,understood that some jewellery
and plate which belonged to the deceased has since her
death been seen in the possession of the prisoner, and
that he has lately heen.dealing witli a OcinsiqeMble stun
of money, whereas, last week, he was known to, he in
straitened circumstances. The prisoner stands remanded
until to-morrow (Thursday).
VOLUNTEER Gossie.—Our friends in green and grey
are all full of hope that the suggestion which we threw
out some months since for a grand Volunteer review in
Hyde-park during the summer, in the presence of the
Sovereign, may yet receive confirmation. As yet, we
believe, notwithstanding what may be affirmed to the
contrary,. that " the wish is father to the thought," and
that, beyond, there are no grounds as yet for any
announcement on the subject. The railway companies
ere, of couva;e, quite, on tl.e qui rive, and have, we under-
stand, offered to give volunteers a return ticket from any
part of the kingdom to the metropolis and back at half
a fare. There can be no doubt but that a grand
parade of 100,000 men or so iu the presence of the
Queen would give an immense impetus to the move-
ment, not to speak of the moral effect of such a military
display on our Continental neighbours.
SHOCKING TRAGEDY IN ANIERIC&.—The New York
Herald of the 1-ith instant says :—" On the morning of
the Bth,, a man named Tinter. died at Syracuse, from
taking poison. lie first poisoned his two children,
aged about eight and six years, and having laid them
out and folded their hands upon their breasts, he left
them in an unoccupied room where some of his furni-
ture was stored, and went to his hotel and took the
poison himself. On the previous Tuesday, he poisoned
a horse belonging to Dr. Searles, of the same city, and
it is supposed that he intended, to shoot Dr. Searles, as
a loaded pistol was found on, him. • The cause was the
estrangement of his wife and her intimacy with Dr.
Searles, under the influence, of free love principles.
Great excitement exists, and Dr. Searles has been locked
up in the penitentiary to protect him from the indigna-
tion of the citizens."
THE WILTS PEERAGE.—Mr. Simon T. Sorope, of
Danby, Yorkshire, has preferred a claim to the anciehe
Earldom of Wiltshire, which, if allowed, will place that
gentleman above the Earl of Shrewsbury, as Premier
Earl in the Peerage of England. Mr. Scrope claims
that title as heir male, and representative of the
unfortunate earl to whom Shakspeare alludes in his
" Henry 1V.," and who was executed by the Duke of
Lancaster (afterwards King Henry iv.) at Bristol, in
1399. Her Majesty has referred the petition to the
Attorney-General, and it has been favourably reported
on by that legal functionary, and the claim has there-
fore been laidsformally before the HOuseof Lords, who
have referred it in the usual course to the Committee of
Privileges, and it is-eaufidently expected that they will
come- to a final decision, upon its merits tinting the
present parliamentary
.seision..
DISTRESSING SurclDC—On Saturday morning Mr.
Payne, the deputy coroner for the City of London and
Southwark, received information of the death of James
Grant, aged 18 years, who committed suicide under the
following circumstances :—A youth named Thomas
Clare, a clerk in the employment of MesSrs. Mappin
Brothers, cutlers, King William-street, City, absconded
with a large sum of money, and with. another_ youth
named Frederick Edglington, went-Ito. Rt.-Sep, "where
they were apprehended by detective Jarvis, of the city
police, brought to Loudon, and committed to Newgate,
and are now awaiting their trial for the robbery. The
deceased was seen with the two former, and was watched
by a detective officer. This seemed to prey on his
mind. On the inmates going into the yard, Noi 2,
Pitcher-building, Little Bell-alley, London-wall, they
found him hanging from a nail by a rope. A surgeon
was sent for, but life was quite extinct.

W. H. RUSSELL'S DIARY IN • INDIA.—The last mail
has brought us a book which will perhaps be more
extensively read than any literary production of the
new year. Its subject and the talent of its author will
make it attractive wherever English books can come.
In India its interest must be specially strong, and to the
cursory reader it will bring no disappointment. Nor
does it disappoint us. "My Diary in India, by W. H.
Russell,- LL.D., special correspondent of the Times,"
must be graphic, dashing, and vivid in its sketches and
colouring of what passed before its author's eyes.
It is so. But from his monstrous assumption and
contempt for " old Indians " and all they could
teach him, it must necessarily. be rife with the
blunders of the rawest griffinhood. It is
so. Having measured Mr. Russell and his letters,
against the facts 'he perverted and the baseless false-
ltods he asserted therein, we expected to find either,
reiterated misrepresentation,, or gross inconsistency
between them and 'the new book. We fiud both
in abundance. Having been amused with the cool-
merits,
ness with which " Clyde" and " Mansfield" and
"Wilson" and the rest are. Occasionally shown up
as doing kotou to the leviatlianof the press, we were
yet hardly prepared for the unutterable snobbism
which runs through "My Diary." We shall hereafter
and they are great ; at present. show. cause for
take a broader view of the bookwoensbitasilliterarY
emmisatankeassofhgeni'ffilmniihsoohdi,mthseolufgihn inevitablenumerous-
tTrbeaetingof th its pages.
enough, only add to the amusement 'of theat
theifisaam
initiated,
and
must not pass silently over calumnies and false-
laeind leniency
in
ey trivial matters can do uo harm ; but
hoals*deliberately repeated in a form calculated to make
them most mischievous.—Calcutta -Englishman.