The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-09 00:00:00

POULTRY.

Turkeys, 4s Od to 8s Od ; geese, 4s to 7s Od ;
ducks, 2s Od to 3s Od ; tame rabbits, is Od to is 6d ; wild
do., 1s to is 4d ; pigeons, 6d to 8d each; pheasants, 2s Od to
3s Od ; partridges, is Od to 2s Od ; hares, 2s 6d to 3s Od ;
Surrey fowls, 7s to lOs Od ; do. chickens, 6s to 7s 6d ;
barn door fowls, 3s to 6s Od per couple. English eggs,
12s o 15s ; French do., 9s Od to lls Od per 100 ; Ostend
fresh butter, 10d to is 3d ; English is 4d to is 7d per lb.

Disgraceful Magisterial Proceedings at
Leamington.

One of the mostcdisgraceful scenes ever enacted
in a court of justice occurred at the Petty Sessions,
held in the Town Hall, on Wednesday. At the
time appointed for opening the court, the sole occu-
pant of the bench was Mr. 07 Pell, who, it will be
remembered, a few weeks ago made a complaint
publicly in this court respecting some misundei=
standing and unpleasantness which had taken place
between himself and Mr. Field, the clerk. After
waiting for some ten minutes, Dr. Jephson,
Major Machen, and Mr. J. P. Gubbins entered
the room, when Mr. Pell, who at that time was
occupying the chairman's seat, calmly inquired
from Dr. Jephson if it was his wish to
preside on that occasion. Dr. Jephson answered
" No," and then went on to inform Mr. Pell
that in consequence of his misconduct in that court
on a former occasion the justices had resolved not
to sit with him again. Ile (Dr. Jephson) and the
other magistrates would therefore adjourn to the
magistrates' ivate room, where the cases would be
heard. Mr. Fell derisively said, "If the Bench re-
fused to sit with him,- he would sit with them," and
then, amidst the titters and laughter of a densely-
crowded court, he rose from his seat and followed
Dr. Jephson, Major Machen, and Mr. Gubbins
into the private room. The reporters and a few
( policemen also went in, and were just in time
to witness another scene. Dr. Jephson having
taken his seat as chairman at the head of the
table, Mr. Pell, whose chair was opposite, ad-
dressing him, said, " Mr. Chairman, do you wish to
administer the oath ?" Dr. Jephson replied that
he should leave Mr. Field to attend to that, as
before. " Then," said Mr. Pell, " I will do so."—
Mr. Gubbins interposed, and said that a majority
of the Justices had decided that point, and it was
their unanimous opinion that the clerk to the magis-
trates was the proper person to administer the oath.
Mr. Pell answered that he did not care for the
decision of any majority, the law said that the Jus-
tices were to administer the oath, and if Dr. Jephson
neglected to do so, he should do it himself. Amidst
general confusion and squabbling among the Justices
the first case was called on. When police-constable
F. Brown, who was the first witness, stepped for-
ward to be sworn, Mr. Field, under the reiterated
instructions of the magistrates, who were calling out
" Swear him, Mr. Field," proceeding to put the oath,
when Mr. Pell jumped up, and commenced the oath
at such a rate as made the words appear a perfect
gabble. As he was close to the witness, and had
placed himself in such an attitude that the at-
tention of the witness appeared directed to him
more than to the clerk, Mr. Gubbins cried out,
" Don't kiss the book," an injunction the witness
faithfully observed until it had been ascertained that
Mr. Field said all the usual words constituting the
oath, when the witness "kissed the book,"
one of the justices triumphantly observing
that " Mr. Field administered the oath,"
a statement Mr. Pell indignantly denied, and
said, " I gave the oath." At this stage of the pro-
ceedings another magistrate arrived, Mr. F. Dins-
dale, and as the place was inconveniently crowded
a second adjournment back to the court was agreed
to. On their re-appearance the magistrates, with
the fortunate few who had witnessed the farcical
proceedings in the " private room," were received
by the delighted audience with subdued laughter and
applause. Here similar scenes occurred over and
over again. When each witness entered the box,
Mr. Pell persisted in administering the oath, and the
clerk, under the direction of the other magistrates,
did the same thing.. If Mr. Pell was fortunate
enough to gabble through the prescribed form
before the clerk, then the magistrateS would cry
out to the witness, " Don't kiss the book," which
which Mr. Pell neutralised by a vehement exclama-
tion of " Kiss the book." Sometimes the witness had
two oaths administered, both of which, he was in-
formed, were illegal ; and at other times there was
such confusion prevailing----two gentlemen talking
at the same time—that the oath seemed a mass of un-
intelligible gibberish. On one occasion a witness, Mr.
Nathaniel Merridew, cashier from the bank, while
being sworn, had his hand held down by Mr. Pell
until he had finished repeating the oath, the other
justices crying out to Mr. Merridew " not to kiss
the book," and Mr. Pell protesting that the clerk's
oath was illegal. In this discreditable way the whole
of the business was conducted.—Birminghant Post.

Lord Palmerston's Ancestry.
- -o-

It has been the fortune of the Temples to find
themselves associated with one of the prettiest le-
gends of the middle ages, which has formed the
subject of one of the prettiest poems of our own
time. They have been given out as coming from
the stout old Earl Leofric, of the Confessor's time,
and his lady Godgifa or Godiva, who saved Coventry
from a harsh impost by riding through the market-
place clad only in her beautiful long hair. Leofric
(who died A.D. 1057) and his spouse are, cf course,
as really historical personages as the Confessor and
Edith. And though the Godiva legend does not occur
in the Saxon Chronicle, in William of Malmesbury,
or in Florence of Worcester, it is found in Brompton,
who flourished in 1193, less than a century and a half
after the date of its heroine. Nor have we a right
to doubt the truth of any story simply because there
is a noble and daring poetry about it. But as re-
gards the descent of the Temples from Leofric and
Godiva, that is a comparatively modern statement.
Dugdale knew nothing of it, though he gives a full
account of the earl's real successors and family in
his Baronage, and much information about him, his
wife, and their pious and generous doings, in his
Warwickshire. An earlier writer, and more impor-
tant for this special question than even Dugdale—a
writer whose Leicestershire is said to have suggested
Dugdale's Warwickshire—knew no more of the fact
than he. We speak of William Burton, the elder
brother of the author of the Anatomy of Melancholy,
to whose curious mind his own bore a strong family
resemblance. Burton was a Leicestershire squire
himself, and in speaking of the lands of " Temple"
in Sparkenhoe hundred, near Bosworth, from which
the whole family of Temple derived its name, this is
what he tells us :—" This land was granted by one
of the old earls of Leicester to the Knights Tem-
plars. This land was afterwards granted by the
Templars to a family of the place called Temple,
being of great account in those parts." (Burton's
Leicestershire, p. 264.) Burton, then, knew
nothing of the Saxon origin of the family ;
and it is certain that in the famous Sir
William Temple's time, they looked upon
themselves as having " come in with the
Conquest." It is often loosely assumed that a
family must be either Norman or Saxon, though
Burgundians and Flemings, Angevins and Poite-
vins, are found among the settlers in England in the
stormy and adventurous ages during which the
faundations of its modern life were laid. To which
of the various races struggling for place and power
the founder of the Temples belonged cannot now be
known. The earliest names in the pedigree, Robert,
William, and Henry, are those of Norman dukes
and sovereigns—an indication which has sometimes
been allowed to have suggestive value in such cases.
At all events, we are safe in assuming that the man
to whom the Templars gave land would have the
qualities which the Order of the Temple held in
honour ; and that he acquired his estate as his de-
scendant acquired the premiership, by being supe-
rior to other rivals in the battle ?f life. Dismiss-
ing, then, the descent from Leofric as fabulous and
modern, and trusting to old writers and official
pedigree,
we shall be content to derive the Temples
from Robertus Temple de Temple Hall, living in
the reign of Henry lll.—a date to which only some-
thing like a tenth part of the perage can be satis-
factorily traced.—" Cornbill Magazine" for Decem-
ber.

THE " PILGRIM'S PROGRESS," WITH ONE HUN-
DRED ILLUSTRATIONS. —Messrs. Cassell, Petter,land
Galpin have just commenced a re-issue of their " Illustrated
Pilgrim's Progress." When, about three years ago, they
announced for publication, in weekly numbers and
monthly parts, an "Illustrated Bunyan," they promised
an edition of the immortal Allegory, which, in point of
beauty of illustration and completeness of elucidator),
matter, would form a lasting monument to John Bunyan,
acceptable to every household, and they kept their word.
It was this edition of the "Pilgrim's Progress," forming
the first of Messrs. Cassell's uniform series of illustrated
standard works, that marked the commencement of a new
style of illustrated literature. The artists engaged were
11. G. Selma, the painter of the greatpicture of the " Cru-
cifixion," and P. Priolo, whose drawings were most suc-
cessful in catching the spirit of Bunyan. The "Pilgrim's
Progress" was completed in about 52 penny numbers,
nearly two years ago, and has from that time been published
in a complete volume. The publishers now say that the
large demand for the work in its periodical form assures
them that a re-issue will be acceptable to the public, and
we do not doubt that the announcement of a new edition
in :weekly penny numbers and monthly sixponny parts
will be good news to very many to whom it may not be
convenient to purchase a copy of the work in the complete
volume. No. 1 of the re-issue is published in a now and
very beautiful wrapper, and we can safely recommend our
readers to invest a penny in the purchase of a copy.
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S " LIFE OF c/ESAR."
We understand that a portion of the second volume of this
important work is in the hands of Messrs. Cassell, Petter,
and Galpin, the Emperor's publishers.
THE HUMBUG OF HUMBUGS !—ln reviewing Bar-
num's " Humbugs of the World," a writer in the Round
Table says that the last piece of humbug to be laid to that
gentleman's door will probably be the fact that this volume,
which bears his name, has not been Written by that gentle-
r4an at all.—The Reader,

THIRD EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, 6 o'CLocK.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE—This Day

VICTORIA CLUB BETTING-THIS DAY.

Very little betting took place at the Club this morning.
The dense fog which hung over the metropolis kept many,
of the members away. Offers to bet on the CheSter Cup
were made, but there were no backers. Lord Lyon and
Rustic were steady at their quoted prices for the Derby
viz., 7 and Bto 1. Student was inquired after, but layers
were shy. Lord Lyon is still the ruling favourite for the
Two Thousand at 3 to 1. Several inquiries were made
about Jack-in-the-Green, but no transactions came under
our notice.