The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-07-29 00:00:00

FOREIGN OCCURRENCES.

recovery.
On Saturday an inquest was taken at Hucknall-under-
Iluthwaite, Wear Mansfield, before Thos. Wright, Gent.
Coroner, on view of the body of Christopher Nlountany,
an inhabitant of Blackwell, Nottinghamshire, who, on the
preuding Thursday, was found hanging in an out-building
in the parish of Ilsicktiall. It appeared, by the evidence
of several respectable neighbours, that be bad, at intervals
of four years last past, laboured under visible marks of
mental derangement, and that he, in one of those moments,
hanged himself.—Verdict accordingly.
There is now in a pond belonging to a gentleman at
Ely, Cambridgeshire, a large pike, weiging seven or eight
pounds, perfectly tame and quite blind, in which state it
has been upwards of six years. Ile has become quite
familiar with his owner, who values him as a great
curiosity, and frequently indulges him with a meal on the
smaller fry, which is done in manner and form following:—
A fish is put on a string, fasteued to a pole, and alter a
stamp with the foot on the brink of the water, Jack regu-
larly snakes his appearance on the surface, receives his
dole, and disappears. He is in general healthy, but at this
time of the year his body is rather annoyed by animalculm,
with which the Water is infested.
A cavern of very extensive area was discovered a few
(lays ago at Bramley, a village in the neighbourhood of
Leeds. The sides of it consist, in some places, of a rough
mason-work sort of wall, by which the rocky roof is up-
held. Elsewhere, the roof is upheld by a great number of
pillars. No clay or water has been found at the bottom of
the cavern, but there is on the floor a good quantity of
bones. The cavern is supposed to have been only a sort of
subterraneous delf or stone quarry, and the bones in it the
bones of the horses that were emplo}esi in drawing out the
stone. The cavern is, however, regarded as of some an-
tiquity, and may be ancient enough. But mention is made
in the neighbourhood, that within some seventy years back,
or thereabouts, stone has been gotten at the place. An in-
genious person at Bramley, who has been over it, as far, at
least, as it is hitherto known, although lie made no accu-
rate measure to depend upon, guesses it to occupy subtcr-
raneously an area of about two acres. In many places,
the height of the roof above the floor is about two yards;
in others, where there seems to have been an accumulation
of earth, its height is scarce one yard ; so that the persons
have there to creep on their hands and knees. The depth,
from the surface above to the floor of the cavern, is mostly
about seventeen yards.
Deba, the third daughter of W. Bailey, Esq. of this
place (Stamford), an interesting girl in her 16th year,
was found on Tuesday morning in a deep part of the river
Welland, about a quarter of a mile eastward of the town.
She had previously been seen walking upon its banks, and
when she was discovered no part of her dress had been re-
moved. Au inquest was held in the evening before Mr.
Hopkinson, but no evidence could be procured to prove by
what means the unfortunate young lady came into the fatal
stream. The jury returned a verdict of " Found drowned."
—Stamford IN'e Lys.
FIRES.—The town of Chudleigh, which a few years
since was destroyed by fire, has again been visited by that
destructive element, and narrowly escaped severe and ex-
tensive damage. About half-past two o'clock on Saturday
se'itnight a tire broke oat at %bat place, ors the south sides
of Culver-street, and the wind blowing from that quarter,
caused the flames to communicate with the houses opposite,
and three on each side were consumed. Fortunately, at
the time, twenty-one marine recruits were passing through,
who promptly rendered their assistance, which, with the
exertions of the gentlemen and other inhabitants, arrested
the threatened danger.
Nearly the whole village of Trevenneck, in the parish of
Paul, near Penzance, was destroyed by fire on the lOth in-
stant, with a quantity of grain, ricks of hay, furze, &c. &c.
The loss is estimated at upwards of 2AOO/., and no part of
the property was insured. The fire was occasioned by the
carelessness of some boys who were amusing themselves
with squibs, some sparks from which communicated with
the thatch of a pig-stye, and soon extended over the
village.
CONJUGAL INFIDELITV.—On Monday a disconsolate
wife appeared at the head police-office, Dublin, to prefer a
charge against Jane Taafe, a little girl about thirteen years
old, for finding her in best with complainant's husband be-
tween
two and three o'clock in the morning. Miss Taafe
denied the slanderous accusation : and the Magistrates,
thinking it a case rather for the Consistorial Court than
the police-office, were about to dismiss the complaint,
when the complainant, by way of amendment to her for-
mer charge, further accused Miss Taafe of stealing a pair
of shoes. On this charge the young lady is held ever.
EXTBAORDINAItY ABSTINENCE OF A Doe.—On the 16111
of June, Mr. Win. Gate lost his pointer-dog Dash ;on
Monday, the loth inst., it was found under the floor of
one of the Court-houses, having remained there for 18 days
without food or water ! The fact is beyond question. Mr.
Gate and his foreman had ascended to the leads on the day
first mentioned, by a step ladder ; the dog was with them,
and in attempting to follow them lse must have fallen off
the ladder, down an opening, about a depth of six or seven
yards, to the ground, a place perfectly dark, but affording
it the whole of the range under the floor of the Court. In this
situation its voice was often heard by several persons, no
one could exactly tells h
; but oil Monday, as we have
said, it was discovered and taken out. Its state was most
deplorable. It had lost, at least, two thirsts of its weight,
and was nearly blind ; its nose was dry and hard, as if
broken ; and its body bore evident marks of having been re-
peatedly licked, for the purpose, probably, of sustaining
life. At first it refused food, but drank water with great
avidity, and afterwards threw it up. Warm milk and raw
meat were then administered in small quantities ; and
the animal has now nearly recovered its former cheerful-
ness and activity, theugh not its former strengtb.—Curli ale
Pa It jut.
PEDESTRIANISM.—At Mr.Farquharson'shouse,atlllack-
hall, in the county of Kincardine, a bet was made on the
19th inst., between Lord Kennedy and Major Leith Hay,
to walk from Blackball to Inverness, for 500 sovereigns.
The parties started from Blackball at half-past nine o'clock
on Wednesday evening ; Lord Kennedy, accompanied by
Captain Ross, as Major Hay's umpire, and Mr: Farquhar-
son, taking the mountain road by Tomantoul ; Major Hay,
accompanied by Mr. Anderson, as Lord Kennedy's umpire,
takiug the Alford road, and coining into the great north
road at Huntly. Major Hay reached Forres at ten o'clock
at night, and rested till two next morning, when be pro-
ceeded be Cawdor to Inverness, which he reached at half-
past ten, having done the distance of 104 miles in thirty-
seven hours and a half. Lord Kennedy, by getting the
near cut through the mountains, shortened the distance
twenty-five miles, and, with horrid roads to encounter, he
reached Inverness by six o'clock in the morning, winning
the match by four hours and a half. In the latter part of
the journey the weather was most unfavourable ; the rain
fell in torrents with a strong wind. The parties, however,
were less fatigued than might have been expected, after so
arduous an undertaking. Exclusive of the above distance,
Major Hay went seven miles out of his road.
fine

SUPERSTITION.—A long account is given in the French
Papers of a barbarous crime committed in the commune
of Nlees, department of Landes, on a young woman of
twenty-two, whom several persons actually laid on a fire,
mode of a bundle of straw, on the ground that she was a
witch, and had rendered a young woman ill by her touch,
whom she refused to cure.

THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER—•A very curious docu-
ment relative to the last illness of Alexander, has been re-
ceived in France. It is a Latin journal, written by Dr.
Wylio, the English physicists attached to his person. The
first symptom' of Ili; illness were great lowness of epirite,
and stone attacks of fever. He refused medical assistance,
and his illness soon took the form of the typhus fever.
" Leave me (said be, one day), I know better than any
one what I want—repose and solitude." "Itis my nerves
(will he, at another time) ; they pain me excessively."
" This illness (said the Doctor) attacks Kings oftener than
others." " Yes, and especially at present (said the Em-
peror). Ah ! I have good cause to be ill !" Another time
the Emperor, without any appearance of fever, turned sud-
denly towards his physician, who was with him alone, and
with a frightful and incomprehensible look, cried, " Ah !
my ft iend, what all action ! what a frightful action ! '
SINGULAR CAUSE.—The late M. Lemontey had ob-
tained from the archives of France, in 1808. a number of
documents which he used for writing the history of Louis
XIV., and his papers, of course, contained a variety of
extracts and copies into' them. The Court of Ellin In-
stance ordered the or:ginal papers, together with all copies
and extracts, to he deposited in the lhauls of a public
notary. Mlle. Lemontey has appealed, and the Minister
of Foreign Affairs may be summonsed to attend on the
trial. The affair is expected to be of interest, unless
stifled like that of Cambaceres, which is not yet terminated.
DEPLORAIRLE Ev et NT.—The &cur Clair, of St. Maixent,
in the department of the Deux Sevres, a religimie and
gentle character, but subject to freqnent absence, took it in
his head, on the 16th July, at the commencement of the
Grand Mass, to take. his station before the pulpit, and sing
with all his might, so as to oblige them to remove him
before commencing the ceremony. N. xt day his wife im-
prudently allowed the guards placed over him by the
Commissary of Police to withdraw, and to untie his bands.
Soon after he was observed to open a window into the
street. He called a neighbour, and, on his entrance,
showed him hie wife lying motionless. On calling the
Justice of the Peace and the Physicians, it was discovered
that the maniac had strangled her.
EARIIIOUAKE.—By accounts from St. Peter and St.
Paul, in Kamschatka, there had been three shocks of
earthquake—on the 20th of August, 23d of September, and
26th of October ; but no mention is made of any damage
(lone or lives lost. The fisheries hail been so successful
and abundant during the last summer in Kainschatke, that
the oldest inhabitants cannot remember any thing equal to
it. The various kinds of kitchen roots and greens which
had been set, prospered to the fullest extent of desire.
During the last summer a new church WAR built at St. Peter
and St. Paul's, and several handsome bridges were built
there. The works continued until the end of autumn.
The brutal cruelty and thirst for vengeance on the
French, amongst the common people of Lisbon, have
often been dreadfully displayed. On one occasion a French
dragoon was seen walking alone in the Roeio ; men in ea-
pot es were observed winking at each other, and forming by
degrees a cordon about him. A galleg,o, or water-carrier,
was then deputed to draw him into conversation ; and his
attention being thus diverted, one of the bravoes from he-
hind struck him almost to the ground with a cudgel, whilst
another, on his turning room' to defend himself, stabbed
him with a ferro de gaicola (bird-cage awl) in the back.
In the course of a few minutes this young soldier was
reduced to a shapeless mass, and dragged, with a rope tied
to his leg, through the streets, until literally devoured by
dogs.

WRECK OF THE COMET.

(From the Greenock Advertiser, July 25.1
The operations for raising and bringing this unfortunate
vessel to land have now been completed. The receding of
the tide on Sunday night having sufficed to complete the
examination, and nothing further of any consequence hav-
ing been discovered, the Sheriff Substitute finally left at
ten o'clock. bringing away every article that remained on
board which .belonged to the unfortunate passengers, that
could he deemed of any value. It was to be wished, yet
hardly to be expected, that the uncovering of the after part
of the vessel would not disclose some other remains to
swell the sad catalogue of human lives, lost by the sinking
of the Comet ; and happily no more bodies were found.
We believe, Miss M'lntosh and the female M'Nab, whose
bodies were got out early in the week, were the only adult
persons distinctly ascertained to have been on board, whose
remains were not found within a few weeks of the accident.
The whole number, therefore, known to have perished on
the occasion may he set down at sixty-three, while the
survivors of the calamity, it will be recollected, amounted
to no more than thirteen. So great a sacrifice of human
life, attended by so many melancholy circumstances, ought
long to prove a warning beacon to those having charge of
steam vessels, and avert as far as possible any approach to
the repetition of such a calamity.
The vessel itself is a perfect wreck, and it is now impos-
sible to say hoer moch it was directly damaged by the col-
lision. The bow, which was then shattered, by the re-
peated unsuccessful efforts to get the boat slung in chains,
is completely torn away ; the stern, from the same cause,
has also been broken in pieces. The engine way not have
suffered greatly, but the boilers, which are of copper, are
rendered quite shapeless, having collapsed by the sudden
condensation of the vapour within when the vessel sunk.
The value of the wreck must, consequently, be much less
titan was supposed, and the property saved from it by the
raising the most valuable acquisition. With reference to
the latter, it may be safely said, there never was an occur-
rence, at all similar, in which the recovery of every thing
of importance was so complete.
It is doing no more than justice to Mr. Sheriff Marshall
to say, that the greatest praise is due to him, for his disin-
terested and indefatigable labours, both immediately
after the accident, and since the Comet was raised to the
water's su-face. In the protection of the property found
lie was much assisted by several gentlemen in the commis-
sion of the peace, by Andrew Rankin, Esq. of Glasgow,
Mr. Williamson, Procurator-Fiscal, and by the ready co-
operation of Capt. Campbell, of his Majesty's revenue
cruiser Wickham, who, at the Sheriff's request, sent Mr.
Johnson, second mate, and eleven men, to guard the
wreck, where they remained as long as their assistance was
necessary. This was chiefly FO from the numbers who
flocked to it, from motives of curiosity, and would not
otherwise be restrained from boarding the vessel.
The eircumtance of the individual employed to raise the Comet
having come from a distant part of the conntty, while so many ac-
quainted with this sort of work are to be found on the spot, has
excited remark. It may he ment.oned, however, that the job was
contracted for, and given to the lowest bidder, which Mr. Brown
happened to be. We are told the Clyde Shipping Company of-
fered to undertake it at their own risk, on ritving 4001. if they
succeeded. Mr. Brown, we understand, was to receive 801. if tha
attempt to raise the vessel failed, and MO/. if successful. He has
managed it, we are told, with great ability, but will not gain much,
the expenses being very considetable. 'file boat is now on the
beach, and nearly dry at low water. Thee orkmen are employed
taking out the engine. On Friday last, pisely nine months a
elapsed trona the date pf the accident.

DFATII OF CAPT. 11. R. MOORSOIII.—II is with much
regret we announce the death of Capt. H. R. Moorsom,
of his Majesty's sloop Jasper, fitting out at Chatham.
which melancholy event took place on Tuesday. Captain
Moorsom had been in ill health for some months, and his
disease hail baffled the skill of the medical men of the
metropolis, and of the surgeon of his own ship. Ile was
the youngest son of Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Moorsom,
K.C.B. Commander in Chief of his Majesty's ships in the
Medway, and brother of Captain Moors= of his Majes-
ty's ship Prince Regent, and was a young officer of consi-
derable promise.
Tne RICH FAROVIIAR.--II appears that the claimants
to the vast property of the late Mr. Farquhar have, for the
present, been disappointed in their expectatioos of speedy
possession. The heir-at law, that is, the first claimant, is
now supposed to he a resident in the wilds of America. It
is a female, the eldest niece, who married, many years str,o,
a Frenchman. The Lord Chancellor says, " until that
Lady appears, nothing can be done." She has an midi-
' vided tide to the domains at Foothill. Our readers are
already aware that, from parsimony, Mr. Farquhar never'
obtained the tide-deeds of that estate; the stamp-duty he
, refused to pay, amounting to 1,000/.; anti, consequently
Mr. Beeldord never executed the conveyance.