The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-30 00:00:00

7HE ARMY.

Three companies of her Majesty's regiment the
Buffs, in command of Capts. Stewart, Cox., and
Anley, went down to Woolwich from the Tower on
Thursday, and are quartered in the Royal Artillery
Barracks. The Buffs yesterday commenced the
sentry and other duties of the garrison and relieved
the Royal Marines in Arsenal.
The 25th company of Royal Engineers, which
has been doing duty at the Cape of Good Hope for
a period of seven years past, will shortly return to
head-quarters, Chatham, its period of service
having expired. The next company on the rota
for foreign service is the 22d, which, according t o
present arrangements, will proceed to China, orders
having been received at head-quarters for the
officers and men to hold themselves in readiness to
embark for that destination.

A detachment of Royal Engineers will shortly
be despatched from head-quarters, Chatham, to New
Zealand, for the purpose of being employed in
engineering and surveying duties, and of relieving
the Royal Engineers, who have been for some time
past stationed at that colony.

THIRD EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, SIX O'CLOCK.

SPAIN.

The Madrid Constitutional of the 25th states
that the attempt to get up a demonstration against
the Government had utterly failed. In the popu-
lar quarters, however, some excitement was occa-
sioned in the night of the 26th by the explosion of
large squibs—evidently a humble imitation of the
bombs made use of in Italy 1)27 the " party of
action," to keep public attention an the qui wive.

THE HARVEST. The weather having been
highly favaurable during the past week., harvest work has
made great progress in the eastern district. The red
wheats will, it is expected, prove quite an average, and
barley, where uncut, has improved in appearance since
the rains which fell a week or two si nee. The defici-
ency in the wheat appears to be confine& to the Talave ras,
and on the whole matters have a decidedly more chee rfuL
aspect.

TAXES UPON ENJOYMENTS.—The tax upon eaTis
and dice produced £13,637 last year; it has been rather a
declining tax for the last two years. 'Me tax upon arm o-
riel beatings brought in 175,010; 10 years ago it produc ed
£70,000. The tax upon hair powder is constantly fedi ng
off: it is now down to £1,116, and we may soon find t hat
all is lost. Racehorses are improving, and produced £6. 957
last year. Game col tificates and licences produced £140,.!
being some thousands more than 10 years ago. Pat ent
medicines, which 10 years ago contributed only £37,33 3 to
the revenue, supplied £46,237 last year. Dogs, if they-1 nay
here be added, were taxed £196,616 last year. The d.Dgs of
Ireland enjoy an exemption from taxation, but not for their
own merit, fur a recent return showed t hat large nut ulacrs
of sheep are worried and killed by them.
PRICES OF ARTICLES AT RICHMOND.—A let ter
dated Richmond, August 3, says :—" There is a great 'eal
of suffering here. Ct tree sells at 3 dole per lb ; tea, 7dois ;
brown sugar, 75c per lb ; eggs, 1 dol per• dozen ; milk, L dol
per gallon ; calico, 75c per yard ; linen, 2 dole per yard ;
hats, 14 dole ; boots, 25 to 40 dole per pair; shoes, 15 d ols ;
salt, 12c per lb ; flour, 13 dole per brl ; butter, 1 dol per lb ;
writing paper, 30 dole per ream; potatoes, 6 dole per bush;
any kind of coat, 50 to 75 dole ; pants, 25. About 500,000
persons more here than before the war. No prospect of an
end. They will fight to the bitter end—to the last nu m.
Tobacco crop a failure—prices have advanced 200 to 400
per cont."

MARVELLOUS AFFAIR.—Some of the Paris jour-
nals relate the following extraordinary history :—About a
dozen years ago a man, rather shabbily dressed, but blaring
an air of distinction, entered a raj. of modest appearance
the Faubourg St. Germain, and asked for a cup of coffee and
a roll. This he swallowed rapidly a. if pressed by extreme
hunger, and then slowly retired, without, however, seeming
to avoid the demand for payment. The waiter, stupificd ,
hastened to inform his mistress, a widow burdened with a
fimily, but a kind-hearted woman, of what had taken place.
The latter, who had observed the air of dejection of the
stranger, immediately replied, "It is all right, I know the
gentleman." The next day the stranger returned, asked
for the same things, and retired in the same manner with-
out paying. This continued for about two months, after
which he was seen no more. About a month ago the widow
was invited to call upon a notary to receive a sum of money
which had been left to her by will. She could not believe
her good fortune, and thought there must be so:ne mistake,
when the notary afforded her an explanation by roading the
following extract from a will which he held in his hand :--
" I bequeath 60,000 f. to the widow , proprietress of
a cafe (giving the address) to thank her for giving me a
breakfast every day for two months, without demanding
payment, which it was then impossible for me to make.
was then in misery, but since, fortune having smiled on.
me, it is only just that I should pay for the 60 breakfasts.
to which I owed my life."

" My dear," said a gentleman to a young lady
whom he was per: ecuting with his addresses, " do you in-
tend to make a fool of me ?" " No," replied the offended
lady, " nature has happily saved me the trouble."
INVENTIONS IN LlTTLE.—Neglected and hidden,
and wholly unappreciated, what in pity's name are these
poor little fabrics of tin and wood which we light upon in a
very obscure corner of the Italian department ? Little sorry'
wares these, made up of odds and ends of wood and smal
scraps of tin and fashioned in the roughest way. They
look as if they were made by some workman at his spare
moments. Perhaps they were. Perhaps his wife and
children watched their progress and thought London must
be electrified when these inventions were displayed before
it. They are, it seems, small models of certain inventions
designed to be made on a larger scale for the benefit of hu-
manity. Let us read the inscriptions upon them. One is
the " model of an instrument for smoothing muddi roads
with great speed and economy." Another is " a mechanis
that can be applied to different motory contrivances as re-
quiring a rotary movement at various distances and in va-
rious directions" I Here, too, is " a machine for thrusting
the grain out of the ears of Indian corn," and also "a ma-
chine for an economical and speedy removal of snow from the
public streets, leaving but a thin layer of it"—this sounds
slippery " easily swept away." There is some-
thing very pitiful and affecting about these innocent little
models, with their inscriptions in broken English. Thero
they lie in an unknown corner, unseen, neglected, like
many another object in this mighty show, which was ex-
pected by the maker of it, and by his friends, to make an
immense sensation. Nevermind ; this honest engineer of
Pavia may be in the right road, for aught we know, and
may some day construct a " mechanist" which will not only
smooth the muddi roads" of England, but smooth his
own rough ruad to eminence and fortune.—Diekenes." All
the Year Round."

PARISH 1300 K-KEEPING.----Of about eleven thou-
sand parish;: registers now in existence, there are eight
hundred
which begin in fifteen hundred and thirty-
eight; forty of these contain entries prior to that date;
four thousand have their first entries within the sixteenth
century. As to the early dates, many of the registers
(kept sometimes by negligent incumbents) are defec-
tive by reason of gaps, omissions, and other acts of care-
lessness. For example, the clergyman of Tunstall,
in Kent, was annoyed by the number of persons with
a particular name—Pottman—among his parishioners.
In one year he christened three Pottmans by the
name of Mary, and soon afterwards, in fifteen 'sixty-
seven, the disgusted parson cooly writes in the register
" From henrforward I omitt the Pottmans." In another
parish, a clerk who was a grocer took waste paper for the
wisrpings of his groceries, out of the parish registers, and_
so ,tablished some considerable gaps ; other registers had
leaves torn out by parliamentary soldiers during
wars ; the register of Torpoley, wars
a breach of five years " hapned by reason
anofd slaughtering
obliterating Memorials, wasting fortunes,
the
thech;oer k
being applied to
persons of all sorts." The early registersobeing
steadily used up
in Cheshioref,cthehriexp:rteatthe'athnesurtchha.t
Hampshire, were found in cotur.osewiffs,
who made kettle-
some years since by
the
curate
4 have consumed, in good
holders of them,
Parish clerk had not interposed.
for a copy of
pen and ink handy, said to
and, not
an entry,
may as well take the leaf as it is,- and
It time,
ae
rt, all the
pararchiis:nv,eadthhai
ring.
the applicant, ` with hie Pc'te
w be
knife. The old registers
` supposed in rustic vari
• 'best tailor-
"out whol'e' have been snipped into trieasuri'b'r a a
pairgeOus out of the register
- other clerk
od for singeing geese, or given makers. In
clerk, or us
co
-makers.
as parchment to his daughters who wens
redisat the house of
Northamptonshire, a clergyman dioeofe
.ter sewed together
I his parishioners, an old parchment reg-d-.
~, An inhabitant
as a covering for the tester of a fr'dstn-ackage in a leaf of
‘ no
tu tt
of date,
of Lambeth once got a tradeseesd 'the entry of his own
parish register, and found it e" , , I: a r Round."
baptism.—Diokones (c da tise 4 f