The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-30 00:00:00

always had the renown
,beyond
.us, for their attain-
ments in ever-37-.part Of learning, and it was an
easy matter to conquer when they met with no
opposition. Poetry, the most ancient sort of writ•
ing, had but a- late reception among'tiS: for Livius
Andronicus,pr9sented, his first dramatic piece 500
years after the building. of Rome."
After the expatriation of the Greeks, ParnetiuS
(the first stoic philosopher according to. Cicero):
established' a public school at Rome, whilst learned
men were daily crowding to the city. Soon the Roman
youths: manifested
.an eagerness for knowledge.
" They abandoned," says Plutarch, " every other
.pleasure, and, addicted. their mindS solely to the
study of:letters." Cato, fearing. lest the love of
arms-would become absorbed "in the passion for
literature, became greatly alarmed: Not, indeed;
without reason; for so ext.,ensively did
.this new;
contagion spread, that. it entered the senate chain.;
ber.---,uor did the Roman patriarchs escape its in
fhienee. The—effects which were likely to be pro.:
dueed thereby in the:public mifidafforded ground 9
for fear ;
,a,nd,,if .possible, to pluck. up the. evil by
the root, Cato endeavoured to procure the dismis.;
sal. Of all :professors,' of 'Oil:04)01y t.l literatitrel
from his dominions:

Whilst' the literature of Greece triumphed ii
Rome, the arms of Rome triutriphed over tho liber
ties of Greece. The famous Corinth was stormed byi
a powerfUl army, and' finally burnt by order of the
Rdman consul. When once Greece lost . her rode'
.pendenee,i, genius. weeping, fled from. ,her shoves.
'Slavery invariably damps the energies of a nation
and destroys:all relish for intellectual Pursuits. I
was thus with fallen. Greece. Men of learning for]
sook her sacred Panes -- the flame of '"geniiil
' flickered'orr her altars—and her literature declined
" Coming events cast their shadOws before," and,
Portentious Were the forebodings they gave. Athens
however, still shoneJliough with diminished lus
tre, and remained, the 'depository of letters, unti
sacked and Plundered by Scilla. .This was the last
and final star that fell from the Grecian heavens)
The.result to, literature is too well known to need
any comment. The literary glory of Greece:had
Ae.parted with•the fall of Athens—for she stood .fOrth
conspicuously—

"Like the red morn on some stormy night
Among the fugitive clouds that, hurrying by,
Leave only her unshaken in the sky,"
•
when the entire land was mantled in gloom, and,
when impending ruin was discernible,. And now]
the eye of the traveller may behold this : once
famous city—but only in ruined great] ress--7wrapped
in an imperishal4e Winding-sheet--the powerful
though tacit historian of the: former grandeur. and
artistic renown ! Around her there reigns—
"A dark; cold calm, which nothing now can break,
Or warm, or brighten,--like that Tyrian lake
Upon whose surface morn and even shed .
Theitsmilesin vain—for all beneath is dead l"
Lord Byron, whose, latest years were employed in
bfruggling to win for luliely Greece that Freedom
she bad' long lost, by. taking .up the sword in her
defence; has left us- in his Childs. Harold. some
affecting tonches of,his noble genius with'reference
to her fall.. Upon reading. them, we can , scarce
refrain from dropping a tear for the untoward fate
of that "Ancient of Days," where
"The Warrior's weapon and the Sophist's state
Are sought in vain"-:4
and. where'her "Men of might" and het "grand in
soul" are

"Gone—glimmering thro' the dream of things that were.
(To be continued).

CHOI ERA IN SOOTLAND.—GLASbOW CITY PARISH,
Tuesday. Reported'te-day, 28 ; admitted to hospital, 4 ;
died in hospital, 3 ; died out of hospital, 6. Barony parish.
--Reported.to-day, 13 ; deaths, 5 ; diarrhcea, reported 15 ;
ditto with cramp, .R.
CuotEite.—We regret to state that cholera has broken
out at Coatbridge, and within the last two days. there has
been eight casts, four of which are under treatnient, and
four deaths. All the cases have occurred in the most filthy
parts of this dirty town.—lbid.
Dr. Gavin, the medical superintending inspector of the
board of health, visited Airdrie on Saturday, and urged the
immediate removal of middens and other nuisances, if neces-
sary at the espence of the owners; the whitewashing and
cleansing of dwellings, and the establishment of dispensaries
throughout the district, where medieines could at once be
had. He did not advocate the removal' of patients to an
hospital, but recommended prompt medical attendance in
preference. At present there was no water in the town,
nor any system of drainage.—Bid.
Row irf e'enuncn.—Yesterday, a man named Randall
Donovan went into Upper Shandon church, while service
was going on, where he became very disorderly, and at-
tempted to strike the officating clergyman. He was at
once secured, but on being taken to the bridewell he was
discovered to be insane.— Cork Reporter.
CORR, F-LACKROCK, AND PASSAGE RAlLWAY.—Revenue
for week ending 24th of December, 1853, £126 12s. 5d ;
Number of passengers,' do., 7,054 ; revenue for correspond..
ing week, 1852; £l4O lls. 6d : number of passengers do.,
, _ _

,
Mrs., Bloomer and The have emigrated to Mount
Vernon, Ohio. In the last number of her journal, she saws :
Our husband having purchased an interest in, The West,
era Home Visitor,"published at Vernon, Ohio and dete?-
mined upon removing to that plaCe forth with, we, as a
true and faithful wife, are bound to -say' in the language of
Ruth—' where thou goest I will.go ;° and so before another
number of The Lily reaches its subscribers we shall, if all
is well, have settled in cur western hothe."=—New York
Tribmne.

MURDER OP A WIPE' RY lIER HUSBAND:OII Thursday
night last, an atrocious murder was committed in Antrim
by a publican named William Johnston.. The victim was
his .wife, and the circumstances'of the terrible transaction
as far as we have been enabled •to learn are' these :- both
husband and wife were addicted to drinking, and, as a con-
sequence, they frequently 'quarrelled with each other. On
Thursday night about cleVeri o'clock; he having been absent
during the evening,•returned home and,fuund his wife in
bed. What oecurred exactly betwedi them, no person can
tell% as there was no third person present in. the .room : but
it appears, according to Johnston's own statement, that they
had some angry 'words with each other, and in his passion,
he seized a candlestick and with it murdered his "unhappy
victim, Seeing whtstize-had done; and-no' doubt felt remorse,
ran. himself for a.doctor, but.it was too late. By the time
the dOctOr and he returned the woman had expired.. An
inquest. was • held upon the body next day, and a verdict of
"..Manslaughter" was returned by the jury. The prisoner
wagafteiwards transmitted to this town to the county goal,
Where he will remain until his trial at the ensuing assizes.
—Belfast Mercury.

• TH:E. NEW AMERICAN REPUBLIC,—The territory which
Colonel Walker and his:companions have just wrested from
Mexican power (not "American power,"..as was misprinted
yesterday), is the long Peninsula called sometimes Old, and
sometimes. Lower,. California, and extending, between the
glilf and:the Pacific Ocean. It is,about 700 miles iniength,
with a hreadth varying from 30 to 100 miles, coniprisiTg
an area of about 38,000 square miles,,,,with ivseanty,poptila-
tion 'variously estimated at from 14,000 to 20,000. A.Chain
of rocky mountains, not exceeding 5,000 feet in height, runs
through it from south to north, and the surface of the
country ecnsiSts of groups of bare rocks broken by ravines
and hills, interspersed with barren sandy tracts, forming al-,
together one of the least attractive regions within the tem-
perate zone. It is believed, however, to ,be rich in metals.
The climate is excessively dry and hot, and violent hurri.,
canes are frequent; there are more wolves than timber trees,
and a greater. part of the country is incapable of producing
a single blade of corn. The chief exports have hitherto con-
sisted of pearls from the gulf, to the extent of an annual
value of, from 500 to 1,000 dollars, tortoise shell, hides,
dried fruitsLitnd cheese and
,soap. These commodities are
for
.the most part exported to Mazatlan and San Plas in
small toasting vessels. What the country may became in
the hands of a new government remains to be seen,
Mor.DEn. AT BARNSLEY.-L-Rarnsley, which.. has already,
unfortunately, obtained an _unenviable notoriety for dis-
graceful outrages, has again become the scene 'of -another
tragedy. The victim of, the present catastrophe is Thomas
Husband, a collier's labourer, who had been employed at
Mrs. Smith's coal-pits at Silkston for a great' number of
years. He is a widower, about forty years of age, and has
left three children,. a. boy and two girls. He represented
that he had lately come into possession.of some. property,
, and. was otherwised noted .for boasting about the amount
of,mouey he had in his possession, and for his liberality. to
his pot companions. He had made proposals of marriage to
! tieveral:widow landladies; in the towns and when he tie-
! quented the houses he used to spend his money liberally.
On Sunday last the deceased was at the Dusty Miller and
i the Neptune public-houses; drinking at various times].
throughout the day, and in the .evening he, left the Neptune, ,
and proceeded on: the turnpike road to a lonely place on
the Osborne side of Beever-hall,' about eight o'clock, fol-
loss ed, as is. supposed; by several of .his:pot companious."
Nothing at present appears to have transpired of his.Vhere-
abouts until his body was discovered lying in a crouped
position- by . a man named. John Green, - the driver of an
omnibus running. between. the Cudworth station' of the
Midland Railway and Barnsley.' As Green. approached the
place-where the.bodylay, the horses shied to tie right-hand
side of the road (the; body being more to the left) ; -and, on
looking dawn, he perceived, by the light of the omnibus
lamps, something white reflected from the man's -.shirt-
collar. The 'bus was pulled!up, the passengers immediately
alighted, and s found the body of. the deceasee covered
with mud and dirt, and his pocket turned inside out: The
first impression was's. that . the man was drunk; but,• on I
lilting -,him op, they discovered: that his bead hang
*say .on his-shoulders,, which led to the belief that his •
neck was dislocated—a, fact subsequently confirmed by the :
evidence of a surgeon. An inquest will be held on the body
on Saturday.