The Sun.
London, England, 1830-02-01 00:00:00

COURT OF COMPENSATION.

Saturday a Jury was impannelled at Guildhall,
Westminster, before FRANCIS SMEDLEY, Esq , the
Deputy High Bailiff, to award compensation to the
lessee of the Golden Cross, Charing-cross, for the
loss of her interest in the premises, which were re-
quited for. the improvements carrying on in that
neighbourhood.
Mr. ADAM, in addressing the Jury in support of
the claim, said that the premises in question had been
couveyed to the late Mrs. Beazley, and since her
death they had been in the possession of her trus-
tees. The term fur which they were granted on
lease was 23 years, 121_ of which were unexpired.
It would be proved that a great number of coaches
started from the yard fur all parts of the country ;
and that a great number of passengers who arrived
at the inn sojourned at the hotel during their stay in
the Metropolis.
The Jury, after consulting together a few minutes,
assessed the compensation at 3,9001.
The next case which came before the Jury was a
claim made by Messrs. Grenville and Matthews, who
occupy premises Nos. 161 and 17, King-street, St.
James's-square.
An offer was made by the Commissioners of
3,150/., which was accepted by the claimants.

FRAUDS IN BREAD AND FLOUR.

(FROM OUR PARIS CORRESPONDENT.)
" PARIS, JAN. 20.

" In several countries on the continent o
Europe, and particularly in France and the
Netherlands, the attention of Government has
lately been directed to the important subject of
the adulteration of bread. In the great towns of
France, as well as in those of England, the evil
has risen to such a height as to call imperi-
ously for some active and efficient remedy. In
France, however, the evil is aggravated by an im•
prudent interference on the part of the autho•
rities in those departments of the trade of the
baker which ought unquestionably to remain
under the wholesome operation of free and un-
restrained competition. An assize is laid from
fortnight to fortnight on the price at which bread
is to be sold in the shops, for the ostensible pur-
pose of restraining it within moderate and rea-
sonable bounds, but which operates in effect as
an obvious premium on the practice of adultera-
tion. In Paris the price of flour varies from 36
to 80 francs for 159 kilogrammes, which re-
duced into English currency is from a ld. to
24d. a pound. In fixing the assize the mean
proportion between the current price of the best
and the worst quality of flour is adopted as the
criterion. In ordinary years the usual price of
the four pound loaf is about twelve sous, or
something less than sixpence. For the last two
years however the price has been considerably
greater, ranging from twenty down to sixteen
sous, which last has been the established rate for

these two months past.
" As it is on the mean proportion between the
first and last qualities of flour that the assize is
calculated, so as to leave a reasonable profit to
the baker, it is obvious that he cannot afford to
make any material improvement on its quality
without essentially interfering with his own re-
muneration. The intrinsic value of flour does
not arise from its whiteness, but from the
quantity of glutin it contains. In this respect
there is an immense difference between the first
and last qualities, the average of which is taken
in striking the assize. It is to be presumed that
here, as elsewhere, there are bakers of respec-
tability who have some little scruple about poison-
ing their customers; but if men of this character
were to adopt the ratio on which the law is
founded, taking equal quantities of the best and
worst kinds of flour, and mixing them together

hi making their ordinary bread, it is well known
that the produce would be so dark in the colour,
and so forbidding to the eye, as to make it un-
saleable. In Paris the regulations of the police
oienettllii3oiesde
bqyuatritieershoigfitlhere
and
dy
of society, do not touch what falls tinder the denomination
flaynd
I have reason to I%'°n'flifaCiledlill:a rr aei bread,ikcshie
be-
lieve that such of the bakers as have principle

or less damaged by damp or otherwise, and it is
well known that when such flour is admitted into
.-.
the batch of dough, its tendency is to impede the
general fermentation of the. mass, to prevent it
from rising, and to make the' bread close and
heavy. . To - avoid such consequences, which
would necessarily make.. the commodity un-
marketable, the Majority, and. I, fear the great
majority,.Of bakers. have been driven to seek re-

lief in the baneful alternative of adulteration ; and
so successful have they been in.the perverse ap-
plication of some well-known chemical agents,
that many of them have succeeded in *mak-
ing bread both light enough and white enough
to please the most fastidious eye, with flour far
below the average contemplated by law.
" The abuse has been so great as to have at-
tracted the attention of the authorities, which •
was first awakened by a memoir of M. Der-
heims, entitled Chemical Considerations on

the Use of Sulphate of Copper in the Making
of Bread.' This memoir was originally read
before the Agricultural Society of St. Omer,
and although its tendency is to excite some de-
gree of that alarm which was formerly called
forth in London by the Death in the Pot' of
Mr. Accum, yet the facts it discloses are of so
interesting a nature that I must be pardoned

drawing your attention to the subject.
" In Belgium it appears that the U3C by

the baker of sulphate of zinc and the sul- •
phate of copper in making of bread, had become
so notorious, that he was regularly and openly
supplied with the poison by his neighbour the
apothecary ; but the fatal accidents to which the
practice had given rise has lately produced a law
which appears to have been necessary for the
purpose of specifically interdicting the use of
these pernicious ingredients. From Belgium
the practice passed into Flanders, where a num-
ber of bakers, although notoriously guilty, were,
strange to say, acquitted by the police, on the
ground that the magistrates were not legally vested
with sufficient authority for the protection of the
citizens from the contamination of their chief
article of food by a deadly poison.
" To obviate this insufficiency, an application
was made to the Royal Academy of Medicine
by M. Boisbertrand, to ascertain by actual ex-
periment the surest, easiest, and least expensive
means of detecting in bread the presence of sul-
phate of copper, sulphate of zinc, and other de-
leterious ingredients with which it is most gene-
rally adulterated. The subject was referred to
a committee, consisting of Messrs. Henry, De-
yeux, and Boutron, whose report is also very
worthy of attention.
It sets out with stating that the high price of
flour during the years 1828 and 1829, has given
rise to the mixture of the flour of potatoes, pease,

beans, and haricots, or kidney beans, with the
wheaten flour authorized by law. With such a
mixture it is impossible to make the bread so
white and open as it ought to be, and in order
to give it the appearance of ordinary unadul-
terated wheaten bread, the baker has been ob-
liged to have recourse to these dangerous in-
gredients, for the purpose of whitening and rais-
ing it. Frauds of this nature are not new in
the trade, since every writer on the subject has
referred to them. Alum, magnesia, chalk, sub-
carbonate of potass, and even the sulphate of
lime, have all been resorted to, for the purpose
of making bread more white, firm, and porous.
It is long since the sulphate of copper was first
employed, but either because the doses admi-
nistered were small in quantity, or because the
secret was tolerably preserved, it was long before
it awakened the attention of authority. The
investigation, however, which it has now re-
ceived in this country, and the application which
is now to be made of scientific principles, for the
purpose of affording an easy and popular test for
the detection of the poison, cannot fail to be re-
garded as a great public benefit. I shall make
it my business to watch its progress, and shall
not fail to communicate the result of my ob-

servations."

An experiment is to be very shortly tried at
Woolwich, to fire ship-guns by percussion, on a plan sub-
mitted by an officer of the Royal Navy, a resident in
Hampshire.

SHEEP.—Sheep perseveringly follow their.
leader wberever he goes, but if, in cases of sudden alarm,
any one of the flock runs forward to escape, and thus takes
the lead, the rest generally follow him, regardless of any
obstruction. Of this singular disposition Dr. ANDERSON
informi us that he once witnessed an instance in the town
of Liverpool. A butcher boy was driving about 20 fat
wethers through the town; but they ran down a street
along which he did not want them to go. He observed a
scavenger at work .with his broom a little way before.
them, and called out loudly for him to stop the sheep.—
The man accordingly did what he could to turn their
back, running from side to side, always opposing himself
to their passage, and brandishing his broom with great
dexterity ; but the cheep, much agitated, pressed forward,.
and at last one of them came right up to the man, who,
fearing that it was about to jump over his head whilst be
was stooping, grasped the short broomstick in both
bands, and held it over his head. He stood for a emit
time in this position, when the sheep made a spring, and
jumped fairly over him without touching the broom. The
first had no sooner cleared this impediment than another
followed, and another, in such quick succession, that the
man perfectly confounded, seemed to lose all recollection,
and stood in the same attitude till the whole had passed
over him, not one attempting to pass on either side,'
though the street was quite clear. As this took place
during dirty weather, the man was entirely bespattered
~ver with dirt befo're they had all passed ; and it is imps-
-. Ode to conceive a more ludicrous appearance than the
; j.oue fellov made on this occasion..—Berke Chronicle. _

MAGAZINE DAY.

BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE. PART I.

We have a double number this month,
" Like to a double cherry seeming parted,
And yet a union in partition,"
for in both numbers we trace the lively, prac-
tised, and discriminating pen of Professor
Wilson. The Review of the " Fall of Nineveh"
is decidedly his. It abounds in vivacity, force,
and vigour of reasoning, and unerring sense
of the beautiful -in nature and art ; in ftct,
in all those qualities—to say nothing of the
minor ones of style—in which the author of
Lights and Shadows" shines pre7eminent.
But Mr. Atherstone is too hardly dealt with.
He is sacrificed to a point: offered up a martyr
to a theory. Professor Wilson has made the
most of his weaknesses of thought and expres-
sion—and pray what writer, either of. the past
or present day, in the course of a long poem, in
God knows how many books, has not plenty of
them ?—while he has undervalued, or passed over
in disdainful silence, his frequent energy and
kichness of imagery, his lavish descriptions and
his (occasionally) spirited battles. Mr. Adler-
Eton; thotigh neither a Homer, nor a Milton, nor
h 13,YtiOn, is yet not a ninny. He has good
tOta within him, though we will allow he has
now and then a strange way of showing it. His
"Fall of Nineveh" is what we should style a
clever poem : this is certainly no very high
praise, but is yet better and juster than calling
it a blundering sample of absurdity. "On the
Art of Dressing the Human Body" is a lively
paper, with an amusing vein of exaggeration
running through it. It contains one or two good
anecdotes of a very Peter-Pindaric character. \Ve
present the reader with a specimen, just pre-
mising, by the way, that the hint has been mani-
festly derived from the modern Pythagorean's
very grotesque incident of. the "Red Man."

" Fathers have odd fancies, and dress their family
inure in accordance with their own taste than their
daughters' appearances. We called, when we were last
in Suffolk, on no old friend of ours, whom we had not
seen for many years. He was a humorist in his way, and
was blessed with the most complete credulity, mixed
with the least quantity of shrewdness, of any matter-of-
fset individual we ever knew. Old Simon's reception if
us was kind, his invitation to stay with him was pressing,
and we stayed. The room in which we saw him was
remeekahly well furnished ; but the sun was shining
height--it was the middle of summer—and the whole
-apartment was one blaze of light. The curtains of the
windows were of the most dazzling yellow—the carpet
was yellow, with here and there a blue spot on it—the
walls were yellow—the grate was yellow—the chairs and
sofas all of the same hue—and all the pictures round the
room were enshrined in bright yellow frames. Our old
fiend Itiinstif, from the reflection of the colour, was as
yellow iii the face as a jaundiced man, or a new brass
bottom ; and our eyes began to be affected by gazing on
the same changeless, unmitigated tint. We asked him
for a snuff, and a yeller box containing Lundifoot wss
immediately put into our hands. We drew from our
peeket a handkerchief, which unfortunately was of the
feted hue. ' Beautiful handkerchief!' exclaimed our
friend ; such a very lovely colour ! Pray, Sir, let the
see. Ave, 'real Bandana; and such a bright glowing
yellow! Yes,' we replied, resolving to play a little
on the simplicity of our friend ; it is a good handker-
chief; and it is sometimes right to run a little risk,
though a cloth of any other shade would do just as well,
and not be at all dangerous.'—' Dangerous! risk !' ex-
claimed our yellow friend, with a slight tinge of blue
spreading over his features—' What can you be talking
-of? Yellow is the very best colour of them all. My gig
is yellow—my carriage is yellow—I keep no birds but
canaries—and what do you talk about risks and dans.ess
for?'—' Then you haven't heard the discovery made by
the German metaphysicians, that our thoughts take the
colour of what is presented to the senses?'—Yellow is a
most dangerous colour—yellow thoughts make people
misers, pickpockets, and murderers.'—' God have mercy
upon us all ! if that's the case ; for I'm sure my thoughts
must be yellow, beyond the power of man to &Inge theta:
My wife's thoughts must he yellow as this sofa. And
Mary, poor dear yellow-thoughted Mary ! what shall 140
to dye thetn?'—' Give them a slight infusion,' we said,
as solemnly as possible, of blue damask furniture; and
let Mary be feasted on a green silk pelisse.'—' Ali now,'
said our friend, I know you're only joking. Curse me-
taphysics! I never could understand a word of them in
my life. Feast on a green silk pelisse! Ha, ha! I'll tell
Mary what a supper you propose.'—' No, Sir--serious
NG a judge—even in the time we have been here, we feel as
if ill of the yellow fever.'—' Fever!' cried Simon, wo-
fully alarmed; is it infsctious? How pale you look':
Shall I ring the hell, Sir? Mary, Mary, do leave the
room ; the yellow fever is raging here already ; and all
front these confounded yellow curtains! The gentleman
Isso swsiloored a sofa-cover!—How do yen feel now, Sir?'
A few yards, properly applied, of adm k green crumb-
cloth, would be very advantageous. A black coal-scuttle
ifould also be a great relief.' We looked at Mary as we
said this, and saw a very pretty little girl of seventeen or
eighteen, dressed all in the everlasting colour—yellow
from top to toe, her very hair being slightly golden, and
her sandals of yellow silk. Her mother also came in, and
was closely followed by a servant in yellow livery. All
seemed fixed in the utmost astonishment. We ourself sat
quetly on the sofa, after having bowed to the ladies ;
while Simon went on with a string of questions and ex-
tdemations, which were totally unintellieible to them; and
ended at last with a denunciation of 'his favourite fur-
niture, which seemed to give great satisfaction to his
wife and daughter. We were remarking to Mr.
Yellowly, when you came in, madam,' we said to the
lady, in our usual bland and insinuating manner, that
we thought this room would be somewhat improved by
the addition of some furniture of a different colour, and
he seems now to agree with us in opinion.'—' God
bless me!' cried Simon, stopping short in his walk—
' I understood you to say you had been infected by the
furniture with the yellow fever; that the fever had
made you mad, and you wished to swallow a crumb-
cloth, and sup on the coal-scuttle. Mary was to eat a
green pelisse, and you, my dear, were to be treated with
an infusion of a chest of drawers.' We immediately ex-
plained ; arid the ladies, who seemed accustomed to
Simon's absurdities, were easily satisfied of his mistake;
more especially as he promised them dresses of the colours
they themselves should prefer; and we saw the pretty
Mary, before our departure, in a gown of the purest
white, a deep blue ribbon round her waist, with white
silk stockings and Week shoes ; which, to the young, the
simple, and the unaffected, is the handsomest and most in-
teresting dress they can possibly put on."
The Headsman, a Tale of Doom," is a
well-told and even impressive story, by a writer
who has no deficiency of power in his compo-
sition. " The Last Stork," by the Ettriek
Shepherd, is a prettyish poem, though not
worthy the poet of the " Queen's Wake." " The
British Colonies, Letter III.," is a violent reply,
from the avowed pen of Mr. James M'Queen,
to an article that appeared On the same subject
in a late number of the Westminster. It warmly
advocates the anti-emancipation side of the ques-
tion. "On the Decay of the Picturesque" is
an eloquent " Lament" for the progress of the
march of mind, by the same gentleman to whom
we were last month indebted for an admirable
analysis of Miss O'Neill's tragic powers. The
article is a rare union of eloquence and sound
sense.