The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-12 00:00:00

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THE LIFE OF iihthIiARSHAL HIS
GRACE the DUKE of WELLINGTON, K.G.
G.C.B. G.C.H., &c.
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SPIRIT OF ENTERPRISE.—A military co-
respondent, writing from Bermuda, states that two men
of the 30th Regiment, at present stationed there,
took a pleasure boat, the Dolphin, belonging to a
gentleman in that island, and decamped. Their.
destination was suspected to be America, com-
monly called the " Land of Liberty." Four others
took another boat, the Black Betty, the property of
the Mayor of St. George's, V. Hunter, Esq., and were
also successful in making their escape from the "Sunny
Isles." Another party got in possession of a boat
at the dock-yard at Ireland's Isle, and had made sail,
&c., when their hopes of ploughing the "deep, deep sea,"
were disappointed, the boat being without a rudder ; they
were apprehended. This rambling mania is supposed to
have arisen from the successful " Pic-nic" of the late band-
master,— Wagstaff, who about two or three years ago,
embarked in his boat, which be had openly fitted up (no
one dreaming of his intentions),and stocked witheverything
necessary for the voyage. Having completed his arrange-
ments on board, he sought and obtained leave to go on a
Pic-nic," and, the same night, removed his baggage, & e-,
from his house to the boat. Although the latter was nearly
a quarter of a mile distant from the house, and the lug-
gage, including a grand piano, necessarily passed through
the town, the proceeding passed unnoticed. Wagstaff
embarked with his family, two sons (in the band also)
and his two daughters. All that the daring adven-
turer now required was a sailing-master—and this, by
means of the bright eyes of one of the damsels, he soon
procured, in the shape of a mate of one of the convict
vessels. The boat, having been got under sail about
eight in the morning, was met by several other boat,
in the passage towards the ferry : the men in the
latter, struck with the novelty of seeing two goats
towed in a small dingy astern of Wagstaff's boat,
hailed and asked where she was going ? On a Pic
nic," was the answer. The family being musical, the
band
helped himself to
such
han
taking. He
hand as he thought
woul d instruments
e
service
beforebelongingto
h leaving,ntic:
tohre
worth
reached the coast of America ; for, shortly afterwards,
toaster
a paragraph appeared in an American paper with the
following announcement :—Captain Wagstaff, 30th Re-
giment, blown off the Island of Bermuda, in a squall,
has safely arrived with his family." There is no doubt
but that the voyage was a pleasant one, for the passen-
gers on board a vessel, which met them about 200 miles
from Bermuda, stated that, on coming alongside, one of
the ladies was playing the piano, and the other milking A
goat ! As the cabin was very small, the boat not being
eigl.t tons burthen, there is no saying how this nice family
party managed with respect to berths for sleeping in,
&c., but this most essential part was arranged to their
own satisfaction. A Government boat with troops was
sent in chase, but returned unsuccessful.—Newry Te-
legraph.
THE FITZWILLIANI
MUSEUM AT CAM-
BRIDGE.—This splendid building is rapidly progressing,
several hundreds of workmen being
actively engaged in
its erection, which, when completed, will prove a very
great ornament to the town, in which, among the col-
' leges, halls, and chapels, some of the most splendid spe-
cimens of ancient architecture are to be found.

LITERATURE.

DEFOE'S COLONEL JACK. PART I.
Clements, London, 1839.
We have here the First Part of Defoe's " Co-

lone) Jack," which, it seems, is to be followed in
monthly succession by all his other works. Of
course, the Editor does not mean to include in this

republication the poems, tracts, and pamphlets—
whose name is Legion—which from time to time,
as occasion served, Defoe put forth with such sur-
prising readiness ; no ordinary book-shelf would
hold such a voluminous collection ; we take for
granted, therefore, that the present edition is in-
tended to comprise only the author of " Robinson
Crusoe's" works of fiction ; and even these will make

a goodly number of octavo tomes. But how is it
that the Editor has furnished us with no Memoir of

this extraordinary man, who played so conspicuous
a part in the political and religious squabbles of his
day ? The Number before us contains only a por-
tion of " Colonel Jack," and not one syllable of
the author—a serious omission, which we shall

endeavour to supply, by stating a few of the leading
incidents in Defoe's chequered career ; and add-

ing a word or two, by way of criticism, on his pecu-
liarities as a writer.
Daniel Defoe was born in London, somewhere
about the year 1661. Both his parents were Non-
conformists, and imbued him with the same strict
principles. In early youth he was sent to school
at Newington-green, where he distinguished him.
self by his zeal for study. He was originally in-
tended for the priesthood ; but his bold and active
temper revolted from this quiet course of life ; he
was desirous to mix in the stir and bustle of the

world ; and accordingly; in his twenty-fourth year,
engaged in that ill-planned insurrection which ter-
minated in the destruction of the Duke of Mon-

mouth and his adherents. Escaping with difficulty
from the West of England, after the decisive battle
of Bridgewater, he went to London, and embarked
in trade, carrying on the business of a hosier in
Cornhill, and at the same time issuing pamphlet

, .
after pamphlet, on all the great religious and political
questions that then distracted the community. This
unceasing activity brought him into high favour
with the more liberal party, and on the accession
of William the Third—who consulted him on seve-

ral occasions—Defoe was appointed a Commis-
sioner of the Glass duty, which he held for four
years. During this period he projected a variety
of commercial speculations, both at home and on
the Continent, but being unfortunate in some
of the most important ones, he soon found
his way into the Gazette as a bankrupt. It is
greatly to his credit, however, that he took the ear-
liest opportunity of discharging every one of his
creditors' claims. We next find him figuring as
the author of some stinging remarks on Bishop
Sherlocke-- a Prelate, remarkable for nothing so
much as an elastic conscience, which would stretch,
on an emergency, like Indian-rubber. He wrote
also about this time, an " Essay on Projects,"
which, like most of his prose works, met with great
success. In 1701, he published his well-known
poem " The True-Born Englishman," of which
upwards of eighty thousand copies were disposed,
in the streets of London alone I Soon afterwards,
he put forth a pamphlet on the necessity of Reform
in Parliament ; and another entitled the " Shortest
Way with the Dissenters," for which he was tried
at the Old Bailey, and condemned to stand in the
pillory. So popular, however, was Defoe, that the
people not only refused to pelt him, but actually
adorned the pillory with garlands, and supplied him
with refreshments when he descended from it. But

the heavy fine that formed.part of his sentence com-
pletely ruined him ; and at a period when most
other men are beginning to retire from active life,
he found himself with a wife and six children,
with no other resources than such as might be sup-
plied by his pen. It is to this circumstance that
we are indebted for those works of fiction by
which Defoe is now best known. The last few

years of his life were spent in gloom and penury
He suffered much from ill health ; was imprisoned
for a trifling debt which he was unable to pay ;
and was treated with the basest ingratitude by his
favourite son. This last calamity completely broke
the old man's heart. He never held his head up
afterwards; but died at the age of seventy in 1731,
of a disease brought on solely by mental anguish.
Of all Defoe's prose works—his poems are sad
stuff—the two best are his "Robinson Crusoe," and
his account of the " Plague in London." The
first of these is, perhaps, the finest thing
of the sort ever penned, the incidents are so
natural, the descriptions so apposite, the diction
so simple and perspicuous, that the reader has great
difficulty in believing it to be a mere fiction. In
spite of his knowledge to the contrary, he con-
stantly catches himself thinking and even speaking
of it, as a literal matter-of-fact narrative. Who
forgets the thrill of emotion with 'which he first
read about the strange Indian foot-print in the
sands ? The reading of " Robinson Crusoe" is an
epoch in every boy's life. Yet, strange to tell, it
was treated by the booksellers as a story of nei-
ther mark nor likelihood, and after being hawked
for some months about the trade, was at length
accepted, as a mark of especial condescension, by
an obscure retail publisher ! The " Plague in
London" is another narrative of extraordinary me-
rit. The very first sentence, where the author tells
us that towards the close of the summer of 1665
a report was spread throughout the parish that three
men had died of some strange disorder in Long-
Acre, arrests attention ; and this deep interest is
kept up unimpaired to the close. Weremember read-
ing through this work, some few years since, at a
single sitting, and have still a vivid recollection of
some of its most striking incidents ; such as
the grass growing in the deserted streets—
the passing of the dead-cart at night, with
the awful cry of the drivers, " bring forth
your dead'—the houses marked by the fatal cross
—the raving in public of the enthusiasts and fana-
tics :—and above all, the pathetic episode of the
mother and daughter who were found dead in each
other's arms ! The style of this narrative is earnest
and homely throughout, and the weekly parish R-
turns of the dead, which the author gives with such
apparent scrupulous accuracy—to say nothing of
the singular individual cases of suffering which he
introduces with such consummate art—would lead
the uninformed reader to believe that the work is
really, what it professes to be, the transcript from a
journal written from day to day during the infection,
instead of a mere fiction composed some forty or
fifty years afterwards. In his power of investing
improbabilities with an air of the most literal, un-
questionable truth, Defoe is only equalled by Swift,
whose " Gulliver's Travels" exhibits precisely the
same rare quality, and even deceived a Protestant
Bishop, who—so the story goes—professed his be •
lief in the reality of the Captain's adventures.
Of Defoe's religious and political tracts, but
few—save as curious records of their times—are
worth republishing. They were written to suit the
exigency of the moment ; and though some of them
evince much shrewd argument, close reasoning, and
happy sarcasm, yet they are by no means master-
pieces. They seldom philosophize, or lay down
great principles of thought or action, but keep close,
in business-like fashion, to the point in discussion—
as a lawyer speaks, strictly according to his
brief. Compared with Swift's " Public Spirit of
the Whigs," Johnson's " Letter on the Falk-
land Islands," " Burke's " Reflections," or Cob-
bett's " Porcupine," they are little better than dex-
terous common-places. In a word, as a cow rover-
sialist, Defoe is dead, without hope of resurrec-
tion. As a writer of fiction, he still lives, and will
live for ever.

DUBLIN REVIEW. No. xi v.
Dolman, London, 1839.
Though the later Numbers of this Review have
been far more attractive in their character than were
the earlier ones, yet there is still room left for im-
provement. Many of the articles are still heavy—
that is to say, treated in a verbose, roundabout
manner,
and the choice of subject is far from felici-
tous. What interest, for instance, can the general
reader be expected to take in the notice of Doctor
Honingliam s " Protestant Evidences of Catholi-
city," which, while narrow and sectarian in spirit,
professes to be liberal and enlarged in its views,
and appeals only to those—a small number—who

are fond of polemical discussions ? " Medical
Notices" is of a far more generally acceptable
character. It is neatly and tersely written ; is
sketchy and anecdotical, and gives some curious
personal reminiscences of eminent French and
English physicians. Of the celebrated Dupuvtren,
who, it seems, was exceedingly avaricious, and died
in possession of enormous wealth, the Reviewer re-
lates this anecdote :
Colonel M—__, whom we happened to meet in Paris,
afew years since, consulted Dupuytren on some trifling
ailment, but forgot to take his purse with him. He
apologized to the Baron for his remissness, and promised
to repeat his visit in a few days. He was interrupted,
however, in his exit, in the manner which has just been
mentioned, nor was he suffered to depart without leav-
ing bis watch as a pledge for his reappearance. In fact
nothing could exceed the cupidity and rapaciousness of
Dupuytren in his conduct towards the English. If gen-
tlemen were known to have come to Paris expressly for
his advice, he made no scruple of exacting from them
the most unconscionaLle sums, and afterwards of aban-
doning his patients the moment he had operated upon
them. On one occasion he proposed to an acquaintance
of ours, who was in attendance on an English nobleman,
to demand three hundred napoleons of his Lordship,
for an operation, adding—" Si vous voulez en convenir,
vous en aurez un centieme." If no previous bargain
was made, a new expedient was then hit upon :—an
agent was employed, who urged the most exorbitant
claims by describing his patron as " le plus grande
chi-
rurgeon de l'Europe," to whom it would be an insult to
offer a less sum than that which was demanded. Are
such examples to be found in Britain ? We only re-
collect the story of Dr. P—, which is certainly worthy
of being paired with that of Dupuytren : upon arriving
one day to visit his patient, he was told that she was
dead. " Ah ! dead is she ? well, I will go and see the
corpse." In the hand was still clutched the accus-
tomed fee, which the Doctor gently extricating, ob-
served,—" Ah ! kind, you see, and generous to the
last."
" Faith and Literature of the Armenians" exhi-
bits tokens of a thoughtful, well-stored mind, but
the article will find favour with such readers only
as have a taste for theological disquisitions.
" Henry of M onmouth" is a criticism on Mr.
Tyler's recent biographical account of the hero of
Agincourt. In this article, the Reviewer, speaking
incidentally of old Froissart, the animated and pic-
turesque chronicler of chivalry, says :—'' In the
earlier pages of Froissart, Western Europe seems
like one great republic of homogeneous societies,
governed by the same customs, inspired by the same
principles, while the divisions of nations are com-
paratively faint and superficial." There is some
truth in this, but mark what follows :—'' The
chasms which divide country from country are now
becoming wider and deeper." Never was any as-
sertion so ill-founded. The direct contrary is the
fact, for every one who has travelled knows that, of
late years, steam has worked quite a social revolu-
tion throughout Europe, and is daily drawing closer
and closer the various nations of the civilized world
into the bonds of one common brotherhood. " Trans-
atlantic Travelling," is a slight, rambling notice of
Captain Marrvatt's late clever book on America.
" Statistics on Population,"furnish us with some sin-
gular details on a subject which for so many years
has employed the pens of some of our best con-
troversial writers, such as Malthus, Godwin, and
Saddler. We quote an amusing calculation :
" It is computed that twins occur about once in
every 75, triplets once in every 4,000, and four to
a birth, once m 140,000 births ; that each marriage
upon an average is productive of four children in
the country, and three-and-a-half in town ; that
one half of the whole number of births is produced
by women between the ages of twenty five and
thirty-five years of age, and that every fourth wo-
man of this age bears one child annually." In the
notice of a. volume of " Poems, by George Croker
Fox," which from the extracts made from them
seem to us to possess no slight merit, the Re-
viewer goes very needlessly out of his way to sneer
at Lord Brougham for his superficial acquaintance
with Greek literature, especially Demosthenes.
We say needlessly, for his Lordship's admirable
Essay, some few years since in the Edinburgh
Review, on the writings of the great orator of
Greece, must have convinced all unprejuced
scholars, that he was a thorough master of his
subject, and undertook it not as a task, but as a
labour of love. But we need say no more, for this
is a matter on which Lord Brougham—some of
whose most pregnant speeches prove with what mi-
nute attention he has studied Demosthenes—needs
no advocate. " The Liberty of the Press" is a
spirited paper, and eloquently insists on the neces-
sity of an immediate reform in the law of libel.

GOETHE' SFA STUS.
Whittaker, London, 1839.

Another translation—the sixth or seventh we
have had within the last few years—of Goethe's
master-piece. The version is by a gentleman,
named Hills, who, in a modest, neatly written pre--
face, states that it has been a labour of love with
him for many years, and was " commenced during
a sojourn at Dresden in the winter of 1829." The
versification is easy and harmonious, and some of
the more familiar dialogues are turned with arch-
ness and spirit.

GULLIVER'S 7'R,4EELS. Part 111.

Hayward and Moore, London, 1839.

A republication, with notes, critical and expla-
natory, from the pen of Dr. Taylor, of Swift's po-
pular romance. These notes arc many of them ex-
ceedingly entertaining, and display much curious
research. The illustrations, too, which are nu-
merous, and executed with considerable skill, add
greatly to the attractions of the work, which when
completed, as proposed, in eight monthly parts, will
form a cheap and handsome octavo volume.

TRANSNIUTATION EXTRAORDINARY. —A
gentleman- went to the cupboard for a dram. Being in
a state of mental alienation, he swallowed the contents
of a bottle which contained oil used for turning light
hair black. He instantly commenced changing colour,
and has since become a perfect negro. The deep grief
of his beauteous and devoted wife is said to be abso-
lutely heart-rending.
SUICIDE FROM BODILY SUFFERING.—On
Tuesday an inquest we.s held before Mr. Higgs, at the
Barley Mow, Nlouk-street, Grosvenor-square, on the
body of E. Fryer, harness-maker, late in the employ of
Mr. Rouse, Adam-street West, Edgware-road, who
drowned his in the east end of the Serpentine, at
about half-past five on Monday morning last. Williams,
the soperintendeut of the Royal Humane Society,
proved finding the body (life being extinct) not long
ecer the crime was committed. Mr. Rouse said de-
ceased left his house about five on the morning in
question ; that he worked with him, was a sober
and well-conducted man, but grievously affected with
scrofula in the knees and right hand. That disease had
destroyed one of his eyes, which almost incapacitated
him from working by candlelight, and when the
pains in his knees and hands were at their height
he used to wish himself dead. He left half a sovereign
to pay his little debts, and that small sum more than
covered them. On Sunday he had been to visit his
father at Southgate, and on his return to town wrote
to him a letter, stating that. he meant to destroy himself.
Verdict—" Temporary insanity."
PROFITS OF PLAY.—In the Insolvent Debtors'
Court, on Monday, a person named Fiske was discharged
on his petition. The insolvent, who had been dismissed
from the army, in which he held a Lieutenancy, inserted
an item on his balance-sheet of 10,800/., as a sum won
from the years 1836 to 1839, by " betting on races and
otherwise." It appeared, from his examination, that
his debts were entered at upwards of 3,0001. ; but
those for which he had received consideration were
under 700/. ; he had no property to give up. He left
England when Lard William Paget came out of the
Queen's Bench ; he went with him on the Continent.
A person named Illingsworth, who had been some years
in America, lost a large sum of money in the year 1833,
and an action was to have been brought for penalties,
and he (the insolvent) was to be a witness. flings-
worth made an affidavit that he had won a horse of
him, upon which he (the insolvent) indicted him for
perjury, and he " bolted" to America. He had been
examined in this Court, when Cauty was heard. He
had never received a farthing from Canty. arising from
a sum he won at " play" from a Mr. Thompson. He
(insolvent) had made many matches with Cauty, and
had gone " shares" with him. The insolvent was ques-
tioned as to his means of support. He had received
an allowance of 300/. a year from his father, who died
last September in France. He had received and paid
a deal of money from gentlemen on " play," making
about 1,2001. a year by betting.
As matter of tnatrimonial statistics, it may be
mentioned that 25,000 gold wedding rings wet e assayed
at Birmingham iast year.

A very important discussion has arisen on the titles.
tion whether the ateenic discovered in the human body
subjected to sebtituation or distillation is to be taken
as evidence that the Lady so operated upon was poi-
soned. M. Orfila's opinion is in this sense, and since the
invention of a new apparatus for the operation, this op-
❑ion has been given with such confidence that it has seta ed
on more than one occasion to remove the doubts ofjnrice.
M. Orfila admits, indeed, that the bones of all anim•ds
contain arsenic, and that it is to be found in the blood ;
but he distinguishes between the normal poison and that
which has been absorbed—the first, he says, can only be
discovered by the use of acids and powerful agents ; the
second may be ascertained by the action of hot water. He
declares that he has operated in 400 cases, and has n ever
had cause to change his opinions on this subject. He
admits, however, that when the experiment is male
upon a body which has been long interred, it is neces-
sary to proceed with caution, as all churchyards coetain
arsenic, and absorption is possible from this cause, al-
though it is very improbable. M. Orfila's doctrine,
which had been received as positive, met with a check
some months since from another chemist, who had ope-
rated upon various bodies in which the death was na-
tural, and found not only arsenic but other poisons in a
normal state ; and M. itaspail, a chemist of great emi-
nence, now comes forward to caution juries against
being led away by the opinions of M. Orfila. A man
is now on his trial at Dijon, charged with the murder of
his son by arsenic. The body was examined by the usual
tests before it was buried, and it was reported that tio
arsenic was found. It was then interred, but was subeo-'
quently exhumed, and sent to M. Orfila, who, with the new
apparatus alluded to, found arsenic in every part. M.'
Respell has visited Dijon, at his own expense, solely in
the interest of science and humanity, to meet M:
who is there as a witness, and controvert his doctrines.
He declarestbat none of M.Orfila's results are conclusive,'
that many of the ordinary articles in use contain arse-.
nic, and that the body coming into contact with them
might absorb them by electrical agency ; that the dis-
covery of arsenic in the blood is no criterion of poison
having been administered, and that if absorbed, as M.
Orfila pretends, there must be traces of it in the tissues
through which it passed, which is not the case in this last
experiment. In short, he considers the whole process
as too uncertain to be admitted as judicial evidence,
and calls upon the Jury to reject it. The case was net
concluded when the account left, but M. Raspail's state-
merit appears to have produced so great a sensation,
that if the other evidence as to the guilt of the party
be not conclusive, he will in all probability- be acquitted;
and what has been hitherto considered as infallible, on
the authority of M. Orfila, will in future be viewed with
great doubt. That arsenic taken into the stomach can
be traced in the blood, when there are no traces in the
stomach and intestines, is certain ; but in such cases
there must, according to M. Respell, be traces of its
passage in the course of absorption. M. Orfila etated
that when he examined the body of Souffiard the mur-
derer, who poisoned himself to avoid public execution,
he discovered the arsenic in every part of the body, but
be does not say whether there were traces of its passage.
There lies the scientific point. If the poison can be carried
by absorption through all the absorbent vessels without
leaving any evidence of its passage, then M. Orfila may
be right. In answer to a question from the President
of the Tribunal, as to the quantity of arsenic which will
destroy human life, M. Orfila said, perhaps five or six
grains. He had opened the thigh of a dog, and placed
upon the incision a little bag containing 48 grains of
arsenic. The dog died, and the arsenic in the bag
being weighed, was found to have lost one grain and
a half, from which he assumes that five or six grains
are sufficient to destroy human life. M. Orfila seems
to intimate that arsenic taken into the stomach, if not
actually absorbed, will not occasion death ; but this must
be a mistake, as its corrosive qualities will act upon the
nervous and villous coats of the stomach and bring on
inflammation, in the same way as scalding water acts
upon the skin.—Letter from Paris.

THE BEE.—A few mornings since, a person
residing in Bainsford, near Falkirk, who is in the habit
of kindling his fire with peats, was struck to observe a
large bee roll from the centre of a peat he had broken,
in a .tate of stupor. In a short time symptoms of re-
suscitation appeared, and, like Dr. Franklin's Madeira
flies, it soon commenced to use its wings. Afraid of
being stung, h s wife called out to put it into the fire. In
the peat was a hollow oval cavity, the nocturnal dwrlli ;g
of the lonely bee ; there appeared no entrance by which it
might have recently taken up this singular abode, and
how long it had been there must remain a mystery.—

Caledonian Mercury.
INGENIOUS EVASION OF THE GAME LAWS.
—The natives of Glenquaich have of late devised a

very ingenious method of evading those rigid enact-
ments, without subjecting themselves to any of the
" effectual and summary remedies" in their provisions,
and without having recourse to the use of any" gun.

✓
gin-snare, trap, or other engine whatsoever." In con-
sequence of the long continued rains, the lauds in that
district have been in more than an ordinary degree in-
lested by flocks of grouse, moor-fowls, and other game.
A quantity of barley is for some time steeped in whis-
key, and when completely saturated is copiously strewed
around the stooks, and when the deluded birds descend
from their nat:ve heath, instead of nibbling at the
sheaves, greedily devour the grain thus soductively.laid_
in their way. The consequence is, that they soon be-
come oblivious, when they are easily taken and their
necks twisted ; so that, like many of the .‘ lords of the
creation," they readily tall victims to the deleterioci
effects of intemperance.—Edinburgh Convent.
RARE Fisri.—A very fine specimen of the •
" Maigre," Sciria Aquila, Cuv., one of the largest of
scaly fishes, was caught in the river Tyne, on Monday
last, by one of the men on board a steam-tug, with a
boat hook. The specimen measured feet 2 inches in
length. It has been purchased for the Natural History
Society, and is now in course of preservation for the •
Newcastle Museum. This is the filth spee:iimen recorded
as having been taken on the British shores..—Newcastle ii
Journal.

. The INluirkirk Iron Company has four blast
furnaces, three of which are in blast, with an average
prodoce of about forty tons of bars weekly, ;;•ith the
capability of extending to 100 tons, witb out increase of
power.—Edinburgh Coarant.

COURT ANECDOTE.—ROYAL COURTSIII?S.
—lt is not easy to say why Court anecdotes should ap-
pear in the Literary Gazette instead .of the fashionable
columns of the Morning Post, the Court news of the
other papers,or the columns of the Court Journal, or
Court Gazette—the proper authorities for much that
does happen about the Court, and. much more that does
not. It can only be to furnish ,matter for some future
memoir-writer, and thus, as it 'were, anticipate instead
of review facts, of such universal and popular interest
Well, as we hear, our young arid gracious Queen has,
from her lofty station in the world, been of late rather
curiously embarrassed for a laiiy under her peculiar cir-
circumstances. It became necessary for her to indicate
her preference for Prince A Ibert sufficiently to tneke
him aquainted with the Ittiyal partiality, and so put
affairs in train for the arrac..tgements which we now offi-
cially know are in progress. ff his was a delicate task. The
Queen acquitted herself (if it with equal delicacy and
tact. At one of the palace balls she took occasion to ,
present Prince Albert wieth her bouquet, and the hint !
was not lost on the giaiant German. His close mil
form, buttoned up to tie e throat, did not admit of his
placing the Persian-14.e gift where it would be most
honoured ; and he it.r .mediatelv drew his penknife and
ripped a slit in his itress nearest his heart, where he '
gracefully deposited the happy omen ! Again, to an-
nounce the projectred union to the Privy Council was
an easy duty to tliat of intimating it to the principal
party concerned ; and we understand that here also
our Sovereign I, ady displayed unusual presence of
mind and female ingenuity. The Prince was express-
ing the grateful s ense he entertained of his reception
in England, and the delight he had experienced from I
the kind atten.t ions shown to him during his stay,
when the Queer i naturally put the questionif your uoporn
which
their future fat; es so much depended—"
ness is pleased with the country, would you wish to re-
main in it .F" Who can doubt the reply ? And thus j
it is, accord3.ng to the accounts which descend 'from i
the perfume:Cl atmosphere of royalty, even to the lowly
haunts of literature, that reigning Queens are wooed
and wedded. !!—Lfteeary Gazelle.
The price of the quartern, or four pound wheaten
loaf, of tke first quality, is now, in Glasgow, 10(1.
Household bread is selling at 9d. per four pound loaf.
It will be found that, as the prices of flour and oatmeal
stand in relation to each other, the latter is by far the
goo
Nw
E C.Lrornriiciele.
ie,do.KE a rpid
progress of the works
most economical food for a family, in whatever way pre-
parTGT.as
of the South Eastern Railway is giving quite a lively
aspect to this place. The bridge across the Canterbury
and Dover road is almost completed ; and the advance-
ment of the line on either side is going on in a highly
satisfactory manner.—Dover Chronicle.
It is a remarkable fact, that in the town of Bury,
which contains upwards of twenty thousand inhabi-
tants, there
stopped for two months for want. of repairs ; and the
is only one public clock, and that has been
spire and church-steeple, which were in part blown
down last January, have not been repaired up to this
day.--Lancashire Paper.
nere have been more potatoes planted in
of 'Manchester and Liverpool, this spring, than has been
Cheshire, which supplies principally the great markets
the case for many years, mused, no doubt, by the pre-
sent scaruity of that indispensable article of food, and
the unusual length of time afforded by the dry season in
getting the land into suitable condition to receive the
sets.—Nerth Cheshire Reformer.
THE DISTRESSED POLISH REFUGEES.—
The Committee assembled at Guildhall on Thursday
for the purpose of finally settling the accounts ; it was
announced by the Honorary Secretary, Mr. Carr, that
after all the expenses of the late ball bad been
liquidated, there remained a sum of upwards of 9001.
to be applied to the use o f the distressed Poles in
London.

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