The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-26 00:00:00

gent, in iseportios to the number in family, to the deter,-
Mg poor to is the parish.
Sr. CLFMaNT DANIIII.—A similar issue of necessaries was
glade by the parish officers to the poor in ford-Lan.
paisted ighbourhoods of Clements and Mi
Sr. riot., COTIINT-6,taDes —Every poor family re-
seared 1 iltbs. of coal. and supply of bread, meat, and po-
teems la asses of old age or infirmity, tea and sugar were
added.
Sr. SVPVLCIIIII.—In addition to the gifts of coals issued
by the parish officers, the trustees under several wills dis-
tributed breed, meet, coals, and clothing to the poor, ac-
e:sedate to the bequests of the testators.
ST. Ladies' Visiting Society directed
112Ibs. of coals to be given to each poor room-keeper resi-
dent in the parish; and in cases of old age er impotency,
a supply of tea and sugar was iseued ; blankets and flannel',
and in some instances, money was given. There gifts were
independ,nSof the parochial distribution, which consisted
of bread, meat, potatoes, and fuel.
I'ANC:LAS.—Thu Ladies' Benevolent Association
issued a large quantity of provisions and fael to the poor
inhabitvots. The distribution by tho parish officer, was
similar to that in St. Marylebone.
ST. litany, Isumorox.—The churrhwardens and over-
seers distributed coals, meet, end bread amongst the poor
end
and Mr. Belles, of the City-roarl, gave beef
and lour in proportion to the number in family td each
✓eeipien..
ST. 6E9110E. lIAvOTE9•SQUARE.—The annual gifts of
soak were distributed; and Mr. thblutt and Mr. Slitter
gave beet and mutton to the poor inhabitants.
THE r tre.—The ward officers and parochial authorities
hay, b:s a indefatigable in their endeavours to provide for
the comforts of the poor inhabitants in their respective die
tricts—..rge quantities of fuel and provisions having been
distriba:ed iu the several precincts The muuificint be-
quests to the poor of the various parishes were issued in
conformity with the wishes of the testators.
In most of the other parishes in end around the metro-
polis, vials were issued to the deserving poor.

THEATRES.

(MOOING THE CLOWN.
TO TEE EDITOR UP THE EXPRESS.

Sta,—My history may be briefly told. Reared
on a nobl.man's preserves, my owner had the honour to be
shot by his lordship's own lueud ; and I, a comely hare's-
foot, was cut from my deceased parent, and presented to an
actress with whom his lordship was acquainted. While iu
the possessem of the actress—a charining lady—l gave many
a beeutitul tint to her check; and when admirers, with
bated breath, talked of her damask blush, I laughed as I
lay in the rouge-pot. But these were my palmy days.
When the softens of my fur was somewhat worn, my
owner, with a toss of the bead, threw me aside, and I was
picked up by a danseux. This lady played the part
of Celumbine • and, in a moment of gratitude
Ihr the spirited' manlier in which the Clown of the
seasoii aelsoneted her interests with the manager, presented
me to the Nattered pods nor of the most rapacious pockets
ever invented. I think, sir, the rouge deepened on my
fur as 1 pavied from the delicate hand of the dancer iota
the cause list of the clown. But I had no great reason to
quarrel with my destiny fur some years. In the possession
of the Grimaldi of the time, I have been well cared for.
Far eight months of every twelve I have lain upon his
daisy mantelpixe under is portrait of the celebruted Co-
IlaMlkine who made such a stusatioe at Woolwich in Ih2; ;
and often, in his solemn moments (tor he has very serious
mono ots), he has Goebel me between his fingers, and
lowed fur the approaching hosing night. Well, sir,
we have contrived to jog on pretty well up to the
priwat time. Every year has my possessor sung
Hot willies!" to an applauding gallery ; and made
his annual hit with his celebrated " Here we are'"
People hove always received him with good humour. Well-
pometuneed seaool-boys have sat in rows MU/ grinned at
that a ...br‘t,.l point where he beats the pantalouu with
a gene. And be was warming gradually with the happy
thoughts of the approaching pantomime time this year,
when suddenly a letter came Crum the Lord Cliand)siain,
declaring that the British clown, iu his political capacity,
mast submit himself to his gurd•lllo's scrutiny. Ile must
nn lon ier indulge in wittivisms unknown to the chief officer
of her Majesty's household. The press of England requires
no consents* ; but there is danger to the established order
of things in the " Here we am" of the clown. Ilia lord-
ship, it appears, noticed certain puntical applications iu
aoone lit the tricks enacted on the pantomimic singe
year. They wen simplyilluetrations of urtecles that had
appeared in every journalo f the kingdom; hut then, argues
the Lord Chamberlain, what matters it how the joutuels
discuss the castigation of a Baying, au I the doing* of
a Wiseman, while the clown if gagged on these questions ?
There is a forte in the chalk and ochre of
the Christmas hero, of which journalism cannot boast very
serious e.,tesequeneee may aria, from the display of u knout
in a pantomime., wl ile no ill feeling con be engendered in
Austria tiwarabe this country by the indignant thunder of
the II ailing journals. No, it appears to be :eloolately ne-
cessary for the peace of England that the Clowns shouid be
gagged. The press may do its wont against any govern-
ment ; but, for the safety of these realms, Mr. Fleamore
must be stopped. The subtle brain of the Lord Chamber-
lain h.o detected deep meanings in the Ciowo's moat trivial
sayings. The. yearly tight with the fiebwoman, and tie
UnCtirclUOUSoll4 manner in which the clown has been ammo
tem.at to pelt the lady in epleetion with the contents of her
basket, hos a political significance hostile to the cause at
'l' he goose that was u.. 1 to beat Pantaloon is a
wicked and base allegory of a reply from ministers; and
the discharge of bed eggs upon the heads of unulfensios
pars rs by, typified treacherously the seetional batch of
managerial propositions. The baker that used to coma
on and tell the Clown (fur the amusement of the
juvenile audience) that two and two made five, was
undoubtedly, says the Chamberlain, meant to rc present the
Chaeeellor of the Exchequer. The Clown, my possessor
has heard, is regarded, in official quarters, as a shameful
counterfeit or the Colimialtiecretary—beeause he paints a

grin upon his face, when he has cawe to b• very serious
.sss..4l; and makes jokes upon his stage, while his famili
are in a dreadful condition behind the scenes. AU these
revelations astonished me, sir, I must coal, ss. In the first
place, as a timid hare's toot, I had never thought that when
giving a lustrous red to my master's cheek I was laying the
foundation of a seditious caricature, and that when my
mast. r threw a somersault into a private house through the
win 11. be repronnted the inquisitorial clauses of the in•
aortas. It may have uncured to mo that where my
muter stops two boys who are quarrelling about a tan,
mil, having swallowed the delicacy, proceeds to ex-
amine the right and wrong of the combatants, re-
minded me of the Court of Chancery; but I
never thought that the general traces, in which
all Linda of poultry, meat, vegetables, and ti-h, and dirty
things are thrown promiscuously about the stage was
meant to represent what reporters call an animated
debate " in tit: House of Common.. But then, sir, lam
all humility, when I remember that a nobleman in gold and
spangles frowns upon my master. This year, when my
muter speaks, let his audie nee remember indulgently, if he
is flat and insipid, that he is nut a free and enlightensol
('lawn —hut that he is only the mouth-picee of the Lord
Chamberlain—a sufficient earns•, it is hoped, for many
platitu am, air, vety humbly,

A7CLOW'N'S ILLRE'S FOOT.

MATRIMONY IN M.tc4 telll'SETTS.—The marriage
returtis pre,,,mt some very singular facts, though comirigin
• double form. During the twenty months coven.,l by the
report, there were marriazes of all ages, ranging from 13
to 91. Si-octal femahs were married at the age of 13.
The youngest couple married was a male of 17 and a 1, male
of 14. .t male of 20 and another of 25 each married a
girl of 13. One male under 20 married a female over 40,
a luebelor of 21 married a widow of 42, another bachelor
of 35 married a widow over 60, and still another bachelor
under 40 married • widow over Instances like these

are called marriage," by courtesy, we suppose. Among
other oil cases, a female of 1$ married the i1•C0:44 time,
anoth- r female of 59 the fifth time, and a lurk• of 30 the
third time, each. But the hardest fact of all, is, that there
was not gallantry enough among the bachelors of Berl--
shins for one of them to marry a widow. It may interest
our fair readers to learn that, by an analysis of 21,000 mar-
riages, it is faund that whin a female arrives at the age of
20 years, and is unmarried, one quarter of the probabilities
of her ever getting married are gone, if she passes 2.5 yeah,
nearly three quarters, of •he probabilities are lost, and if
she phases unmarried to the age of 30, nearly nine tenths
of her chances of becoming such a blessed thing as a wife
are for ever gone.—Rpriio, fhi (American) Reporter.
BIROS Mitt LIGIITIIM'sES.—It is no uncommon

occurrence for migratory birds to fly against the fantern-o-1
Flamborough Lighthouse. Attracted by the glare they
dash against the glass so %latently as to be either killed ou
the spot or so much stunned as to incapable of further
exertion. Many are tals,u in this way, but it is not often
that the injury extends beyond themselves. One morning
lately, however, an accident occurred which was an excep-
tion to the rule. About four o'clock, a.m., a duck went
with such force against one of the squares as to break it,
until, in the words of one of the light•keepers, " there was
not a piece left as large as a person's hand." The wind
was blowing fresh at the time, and, as one misfortune fre-
quently causes another, so in this instance the broken
square might have been of the most serious consequence to
the passing seaman; every light in the lantern was blown
out, and it was not until after an hour's exertion that the
light-keepers acre sble to get a shutter over the opening,
and the lamps re-lit. The squares each measure 30 inches
by 21 inches, and some idea may be formed of the power of
the stroke from the consideration that the plates are a
quarter of an inch thick. It is scarcely necessary to say
that the unwitting aggstseoe was killed.—Eosterri Counties
Herald.

'"'Jh METALB.—Tbe history of tho combina-
tions of copper with tin and line proves of math interest,
from the circumstance of the probability that all the tin
'employed by the ancients, in the formation of their bronzes,
was derived from these isLuids. The Celts, which are found'
in the bogs of Ireland, and also in the mines of Cornwall,
are bronzes, containing, all of them, the same proportion of
tin, r oil such as very generally characterises all the bronsto,
whether coins or specimens of useful or ornamental mans-
facture, of the Greeks and the Romans. This is a point
which gives great probability to the statement that the
Phoenician merchants visited then islands, especially the
western parts of them, for tin. The Cassiterides, or tin
islands of the Weeks, there is every reason for believing,
were those parts of the British Islands with which the
mariners of the Mediterranean Sea were acquainted.—R.
Hunt, us Art-Joirsissi.