The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-23 00:00:00

His Excellency the Austrian Ambassador and
the Countess Apponyi left Chandos House yesterday for
Woburn Abbey, on a visit to the Earl and Countess
Russell.
The Duke of Somerset and the Junior Lords of
the Admiralty, Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Greyand Rear-
Admiral Hon. James R. Drummond, ere expected' to re•
turn to the Admiralty on Thursday, from their late tour of
inspection.
The Earl of Strafford has arrived at Wrotham
Park, from a short visit to Paris.
The Eirl and Countess Russell will entertain a
succession of visitors at Woburn Abbey, Beds, during the
week.
Viscount Palmerston will leave Cambridge House
this morning for Tiverton. Vis;:ountess Palmerston will
remain in town.

A marriage is arranged to take place between
Edith, daughter of Lord and Lady Charles Kerr, and Air
'William P. Preston Consett, of Brawith Hall, Thirek, son
of the Rev. John d'Arcy Preston, of Askham Brynn Hall,
Yorkshire.

Sir George and Lady Shoe have left town for
Scarborough.

HERBACEOUS BORDERS.—Let any one imagine a
gravel walk, with a broad border of herbaceous
plants, diverse in kind, on each side of it, and surely he
will allow that there must be much of interest in such an
assemblage. Such assemblages have been, and we trust
are and ever will be. Four places of interest for this kind
of thing in time gone by may be mentioned—the Comte
de Vandes's garden at Bayswater; Mr R. Barclay's gar-
den at Bury-hill; Lady Olivia Sparrow's garden at I3romp-
ton, near Huntingdon; and Mrs Marryatt's garciOn at
Wimbledon. Those cultivators who are enthusiastic aboo
their bedding•out plants and bedding-cut displays would
contend that they can at any time and all times surpass us in
the amount of floral display which they can produce. If by
floral display they mean blazes and masses, and clouds and
sheets of one colour, or of some assemblage of a few gay
colours, I suppose we must assent; but if we interpret the
term " floral display" as diversity of colour, diversity of
form, diversity in what is called inflorescence, or the mode
in which the flowers of a plant are disposed on it, diversity
of stature, diversity of foliage, diversity of odour, diversity
of times of day in which the different kinds open or close
their flowers, and other diversities, I cannot think we have
aught to fear in oomparing our favourites with theirs. On
knowledge grounds, too, we beat them. We have more of
geography, more of geology, more considerations of climate
and the atmospheric conditions of the countries whence our
various kinds have come, and more to learn of what I shall
call the personal appetites of our many individual kinds,
and more of legend which in the i:ative countries of the
plants appertains to them, and happily has been brought
over with them, than they have in their many plants of few
kinds.—llibbord's Gardeners' ltragasine.

IHE EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE IN THE HOUSE
OF DETENTION.—Dr Lankester held an inquest yesterday
in the House of Detention on the body of Henrietta Lob,
a Hungarian, who committed suicide in a very determined
manner. The deceased was brought up at the Clerkenwell
Police Court, on Tuesday, the 9th inst., charged with
stealing a piece of meat, and while in tho cells she twice
attempted to commit suicide. The magistrate remanded
her, in order that she might be seen by the chaplain.
While in the prison she desired to be put to some out-door
work in preference to needlework. She was accordingly
put to cleaning on the top gallery, and while doing so she
suddenly left her work, and before she could be stopn..'d
by the warders, squeezed herself through an aperture be-
tween the lift and the floor, and fell to the bottom, a dis-
tance of about 40 feet. She was immediately picked up
and examined by Dr. Smiles, the prison surgeon, who
found her skull fractured in a frightful manner. A warder
saw the deceased put her hand out, but thought she was
cleaning the bottom of the lift. The inquiry lasted a long
time, and the jury returned a verdict of " Suicide while in
a state of unsound mind."

THE MURDER NEAR TAUNTON.—A communica-
tion was received yesterday at the Somerset
County Gaol, Taunton, from Sir George Grey, respiting
John Mien, who lay under sentence of death for the mur-
der of his wife at Hatch Beauchamp, on the 4th May last.
The respite appears to have been the spontaneous act of
the Government, probably with the concurrence of the
judge who tried the case, Mr T. Chambers, Q.C., who is
reported to have expressed his surprise at the verdict, though
he concurred in it ; inasmuch as, although a memorial
signed by upwards of five hundred of the clergy, gentry,
and principal inhabitants of Taunton and neighbourhood
had been forwarded to London on Saturday, it could not
have been presented when the respite was despatched. It
has been generally felt that the strong provocation which
the prisoner received rendered this a case in which tthe
clemency of the Crown could be properly exercised. The
memorial was supported by the Bishop of Bath and Wells,
who also wrote to the Sect etary of State, and by the High
Sheriff of the county, by whom the memorial Was to have
been presented, The respite was communicated to the
prisoner immediately that it was received.