The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-12 00:00:00

THE SUB, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 12, 186 E.

fuses to acknowledge any claim upon the English
Government for losses incurred through the Ala-
bama or other Confederate vessels, though that he
should propose a commission for the decisionof all
chin is arising during the late civil war is, to say the
least of it, inconsistent. The tone of Mr. ADAMS,
all through the correspondence, is arrogant, and in
parts! almost insolent. He evidently considers that
there is no evil which the English dread like war,
and by scarcely concealed threats he hopes to inti-
midate them into the payment of the indemnity de-
manded. We cannot but regard Lord RUSSELL'S pro-
posal of the commission as a very great mistake. If he
denies the claims in toto, why appoint a commission
to try them? Any ordinary claims on either side
arising from the ordinary course of war can be
surely settled by the regular tribunals. It is not
necessary to appoint a joint commission, unless the
affair has passed from a mere individual matter to
grave national importance. Lord RUSSELL denies
every charge. He points out that the recognition
of the Confederates as belligerents, of which
so much has been said, was in reality made
by the Washington Government itself when
it established the blockade. He cites Ame-
rican authorities in flat contradiction of Mr.
ADAMS'S interpretation of international law, and
mentions instances in which American statesmen
have justly resisted such a claim, and yet he con-
cludes by a most uncalled-for and unwarrantable
concession. It is surprising that the Foreign Se-
cretary did not see what a serious mistake he was
committing in proposing a commission. No de-
cision of English authorities would satisfy the
Americans ; and are we to submit to the dictation
of American judges against the verdict of our
countrymen ? To agree to such a silence
is merely to keep up the irritation, to encou-
rage fallacious hopes, and to pave the way for
further misunderstanding and dispute. When will
Lord RUSSELL learn the value of a prompt and de-
cided negative ? Had he shown anything like firm-
ness or resolution at the outset of this war, no Ame-
rican ambassador would have dared to address such
language to a Minister of the British Crown as he
does in this correspondence. Mr. ADAMS IS, of
course, quick to see the flaw in his adversary's
armour, and does not lose a moment in taking
advantage of it. He awaits the instructions
of his Government before he can reply to
it, but he does not abate one atom of
his pretensions, and it is very evident from his
concluding sentences that he believes his threats
have produced their due effects. The " coldness
and apathy," of England, the " strong sense of in-
jured feeling" in the United States, are forcibly
dwelt upon, and even his forced courtesy bears the
appearance of a wonderful effort of magnanimity
towards those who have deeply injured him and his
country. It is such language as we might suppose
JEFFERSON DAVIS and General LER might have
held had the fortunes of war been different, though
even then no foreign statesman has a right
to dictate to the English Government what
course it shall pursue. But if we ask
ourselves in what degree these injured Federals
were indebted to the assistance of this country for
heir success their conduct in this matter

becomes as inconsistent as it is outrageous.
Men and arms are usually considered the two in-
dispensable conditions of war, and to what extent
was America indebted to England for both ? The
tide of emigration pointed in a steady stream west-
ward. Irishmen filled the ranks of the constantly
diminished armies. When the patriotism of Ame-
rican citizens was principally represented by bounty
jumpers, their place was supplied by Irish emigrants.
As for the ammunition it is shown by statistics
that the number of small arms manufactured
t Birmincham never reached to so great a
height as during the American war, and. these were
conveyed direct to the Northern States. How, then,
in the name of common consistency, can the Ameri-
cans accuse us of favouring the South when we sup-
plied the one with unarmed ships and the other
with guns reckoned by tens of thousands ? The
extravagance of the claim would be absurd. Coming
from any other nation but from one who has pro-
fited so largely by the laxity and partiality of our
Foreign Office, it is really intolerable. The great
cause of offence is the looks of sympathy shown by
"an influential section" towards the North.
The English could not be made to see
that what was white in the reign of
GEORGE 111. was black in the reign of
Queen VICTORIA. Had the right of secession been
claimed by the New England States, we apprehend
that the verdict would have been different. As it is
those same states are discontented because the rich
fields of the South are not partitioned amongst
them. Perhaps Mr. ADAMS thinks that a diplomatic
commission may end in some nice little compromise,
such as that mislaying of the map which lost us the
State of Alaine, and he relies upon extorting a good
deal from the Whig love of peace and dread of war.
Her MAJESTY'S Government probably hopes to tide
over the winter by their imprudent proposal, but
temporising is always short sighted. England will,
we hope, never refuse to recognise her just liabili-
ties, but the Yankees might with just as much
reason ask us to clear off their national debt as to
compensate them for the damage done by the
cruisers. Will they compensate us for the damage
done to Lancashire by the blockade ? Will they
repay us for the cost of putting down Fenianism,
which they have openly supported and encouraged ?
• Happily, though the Foreign Secretary holds the
pen, the House of Commons holds the purse ; and,
in spite of electoral deficiencies, the public spirit of
Englishmen is too surely represented at St. Stephen's
-to admit of the liquidation of any such preposterous
demands.

DISCOVERY OF A WRECK IN THE TYNE.—FINDING
OF AN OLD BREECH-LOADING GUN.—On Friday
last, while the River Tyne Commissioner's dredger No. 4
was at work above Messrs. Leslie's iron shipbuilding yttrd,
Hebburn, the buckets met with an obstruction, and upon
an examination being made, it proved to be the wreck of
an old clinker-built vessel, which appeared to have been
embedded a considerable depth in the water for a number
of years. Upon portions of the wreck being brought up,
there was discovered among it an old wrought-iron breech-
loading gun, of about 6 feet in length, and having a 2-inch
bore of a conical form. A portion of the breech was, upon
examination, found to have been broken off.
THE WAY TO HEALTH.—I have suffered more
from illness than most men, and have only found
two medicines, two physicians that never failed—the desert
and the lofty mountain. The dry air of the upper Alps is
as the life-giving breath of a purer and higher world. No
doubt much must be ascribed to the good effect of the ex-
ercise that one takes in Switzerland ; but the very fact
that that country affords so many incentives to exertion,
may be set down among its medical advantages. Mr.
Michie bears similar testimony to the effect of a similar
atmosphere in Russian Asia. " The constant exposure,'
he says, "to the clear bracing Siberian air was certainly
most beneficial ; and I am convinced of this, that with
all its ice and snow, there is no finer—that is, more
salubrious—climate in the world than Siberia." In the
Alpine zone, from about 5,000 to 7,000 feet, in which
trees end, where rhododendrons, gentians, ranunculi,
and anemores are found, and which impinges on the region
of eternal snow, the appetite rapidly improves, digestion be-
comes easy, the blood is purified, the breathing is fuller, the
nerves aro now strung, muscular force increase; the
heart beats oftener and stronger, the blood is thrown more
upon the lungs and skin, the processes of chymification
and chylification are quickened, there is an increase of red
arterial 'alood, and the spirits rise in a corresponding degree.
Many of the victims of too sedentary or luxurious civilisa-
tion soon find among the Alps that they are approaching
the physique of the guides themselves, though a long inter-
val may still remain. Pale faces become ruddy and brown,
the breast expands, fatty degeneration gives place to firm
muscle, melancholy to liveliness, and nervousness to nerve.
—Blacktocrocre Magainefor October.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

ROX E .

ROME, OCT. 11.

Yesterday a party of 10 PontifiCal gendarmes
encountered a band of brigands near Spurgola, and
effected the release, without any payment to the
brigands, of a prisoner for whom they demanded a
ransom of 12,000 crowns.

that the malady will not have the same intensity as
even in 1854, when far fewer victims were carried
off than in 1849 and 1832.

The sanitary returns from the South of France
continue to be extremely favourable. At Marseilles
on the Bth there were 20 deaths, 8 from cholera ; at
Toulon, on the same day, 18 deaths, 7 from the epi-
demic ; at Aries, 10 deaths, 7 from cholera ; at Aix,
no new case had been declared ; and at Nismes, on
the 7th, only one had been registered. The sub-
scription opened at Marseilles in favour of the fami-
lies attacked has reached the sum of 103,826 fr.

The Mayor of Marseilles has published a notice to
the effect that, in consequence of the decrease of
cholera, both in that and in the neighbouring towns,
and of the general amelioration of the public health,
the ten medical dispensaries hitherto kept open
during the night will henceforth cease to be so.
Marshal Canrobert is continuing the inspection
of the military establishments and forts in his com-
mand. Two days back he visited Vincennes and
the Fort of Nogent, and afterwards the Hospital St.
Martin and the Fort of Aubervilliers.
The Journal de Rennes has received a first warn-
ing from the Prefect of Ille-et-Vilaine, for an article
in which " the writer persists in making unjust im-
putations against the Administration, and blames in
very reprehensible terms the exercise of a right
which it holds from the constitution and the law of
May 5, 1855, such attacks being of a nature to ex-
cite discontent amonst the population, and lead to
contempt of the Government."
The bulletin of the Paris Observatory gives the
following as the atmospheric situation yesterday :
" The gale of Monday, arrested by the strong pres-
sures which prevailed in the north of Russia, still
remains on the western coasts of France. It con-
tinues to exercise its influence over the British
islands also ; at the same time it threatens the
Channel and the North Sea, and afterwards the
Baltic. The gales which blew on the coasts of Pro-
vence have invaded Italy, where storms are signalised
at Rome and Naples. They are likely to.continue."
In Paris yesterday the sky was cloudy in the morn-
ing, but no rain fell, and later in the day the weather
was fine and bright. At three in the afternoon the
thermometer marked 19 8-10 Cent. (67 4-5 Fahr).
In consequence of the sudden change in the
weather the orange trees of the Tuileries gardens
are now being removed to the conservatories for the
winter.

M. Bougeard, condemned to four months' impri-
sonment for his book " Marat ;" and M. Guillot,
responsible editor of the Rive-Gauche, sentenced to
two months, have constituted themselves prisoners
at Ste-Pelagie.
BOURSE, Oct. 11.—Two o'Clock.—The market
has been well sustained since the opening, and an
advance has taken place in many securities.
Threes, for the Account, are doing at 67f. 85c.
Italian Fives are unvaried. Credit Mobilier Shares
have gained 7f. 50c., viz., 850 f. Lombard Shares
have advanced 6f. 25c., viz., 436 f. 25c. Saragossa
Shares are offered at 262 f. 50c., with a fall of 7f.
50c. Mexican continues in favour, with a further
advance of per cent., the present quotation being
49. A rise of * per cent. in Consols encourages
buyers. Three o'Clock.—A retrograde movement
has taken place, and the market has closed At the
following lower prices :

4 per Cents 96
Do. end month —

3 per Cents. 67 774
Do. end month 67 75

Ditto Threes —
Roman 741
Mexican Loan 4Bl
Do. Bonds 317 50
Russian -
Austrian
Spanish Threes
Home Debt —
Deferred

Credit Mobilier 842 50
Do. end month 843 75
Bank Shares 3600
Credit Foncier 1315
Italian Loan 65 20
Do, end month 65 15
RAIL

Orleans

Northern

Lyons and Mediterranean.

WAYS.
Cash. Acct.
... 817 50
• ... 1087 50
• ~. 857 50
562 EO
... 530 -
... 533 75
... 512 50
- 402 50
435
201 25
256 25

SOuthem
Western
Eastern
Sardinian.
Austrian
Lombard
North of Spain
Saragossa
Ditto to Barcelona
Roman

FIRE AT THE FRENCH EMBASSY.—Yesterday
morning at 11 o'clock a fire broke out at Albert
Gate House, Knightsbridge, the residence of the French
Embassy. Being such an extensive establishment, it pro-
duced the greatest alarm in the neighbourhood. The fire
originated in a store-room on the third floor, immediately
adjoining the bed-rooms, which was stored with very valu-
able carpets. Fortunately the fire was confined and kept
under by the inmates of the house till the arrival of the
Fire Brigade engines, under the direction of Superinten-
dent Swanton, and by a plentiful supply of water the fire
was soon extinguished, but not before several valuable
carpets were destroyed. The French Embassy and the
contents are insured in several offices to a very large
amount.

PARLIAMENT OF CANADA.—NearIy 120 bills,
public and private, were passed in the recent session
of the Parliament of Canada, which closed in September.
The number of private bills has increased remarkably.
Among the public bills passed was one to provide more
fully for the punishment of kidnapping ; a bill for the pre-
vention of contagious diseases at military and naval sta-
tions in the province ; a bill to provide against the intro-
duction and spreading of disorders affecting certain animals;
a bill to impose a tax on dogs and to provide for tho better
protection of sheep. The most important measure passed
was a bill for the codification and consolidation of the civil
law of Lower Canada—a work, of which the Speaker said
in his address to the Governo-General, that it will assuredly
obtain for the jurisprudence of Lower Canada the approba-
tion of the learned profession abroad. Mr. Speaker pre-
sented a bill for granting to her Majesty certain expenses
of the civil Government for the financial year (June)
1865-66, to which the royal assent was signified; "In her
Majesty's name his Excellency the Governor-General
thanks her loyal subjects, accepts their benevolence, and
assents to this bill." A short speech from his excellency
closed the fourth session of the eighth provincial Parlia-
ment.

ACCIDENT TO MISS MENKEN AT ASTLEY'S
THEATRE.—Last evening an accident, which might
have been attended with serious consequences, happened to
Miss Menken while she was performing in the second act
of the " Child of the Sun," at Astley's Theatre. In this
act she has to ride across the stage upon a " dummy" horse
through heavy seas which are represented as beating
against a rocky shore, and when she had passed about half-
way across, sometimes appearing and then disappearing in
the surf, herself and the horse fell through an opening in
the boards down a descent of about ten feet. There was
a scene-shifter below upon whom both alighted. This
broke the force of the fall, otherwise she must have been
seriously injured. As it was, however, her side and back
were bruised. Tho curtain was immediately dropped, and
great excitement prevailed among the audience. Mr. Dodd,
surgeon, of Westminster-road, was at once sent for, and he
having, applied such remedies as were necessary, Miss
Menken was enabled, in the course of about 20 minutes, to
reappear upon the stage and to resume her part in the per-
formance. The scene-shifter received a shock to his system
which will probably be felt by him for some weeks.

DESTRUCTIVE RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—On Tuesday
evening an accident occurred on the Great Western
Railway at Hoo Brook, about a mile and a quarter from
Kidderminster, which occasioned a great destruction of
property, and it was only by a miracle human life was not
lost. ' The sidings near the station are higher than the spot
where the accident occurred ; and by some mischance
several trucks laden with flour escaped feom them and ran
down the incline and over Hoo Brook viaduct, no one being
cognisant of what had occurred. The up Landon goods
train passed through Kidderminster station at 7 25 p.m.
It was drawn by a fine powerful new engine, which
recently cost £3,000, and was regarded as one of the best
the company possessed. It careered onwards at a rate
which, when it came in contact with the escaped trucks,
probably amounted to between 30 and 40 miles an hour.
The night was dark, and unexpected as the crash was, it
was most terrific in its character. Away at Kidderminster
station the dull reverberation of the shock was heard,
although more than a mile distant, and the apprehensions
it occasioned were soon afterwards confirmed by a gentle-
man who resides near the scene of the collision galloping
into the station with the unpleasant tidings. The wreck
of a train was never more complete. The ponderous
engine was nearly buried in the ground at the side of the
line, and above it was an irregular pyramid of broken
trucks some 20 feet or more in height. The engine-driver
stoker, and guard escaped serious injury. The broken
trucks were about 15 in number, and the chaos into which
the line was thrown was bewildering: Telegrams were
sent to Worcester and Dudley for assistance, and a large
body of men were soon on the spot. The wreck of the
trucks was burnt to afford light for the men to work by.
With great exertion the down lino was cleared soon after
midnight, and the passenger trains, which had long been
delayed, were at length allowed to pass. The engine of the
goods train was dragged out by main force with the aid of
another engine, and the pile of trucks and their contents
were gradually removed. The up line was not cleared till
mid-day yesterday. The damage done is estimated at
between ,£3,000 and £4,000. The yardsman has been
taken into custody for negligence.

LITERATURE.

Charles Dickens's Serial Story,

Our Mutual Friend. By Charles Dickens. No.
XVIII. Chapman and Hall.
Such a dressing as we very much fear no
scoundrel ever yet received in reality—a drubbing
to a t—a thwacking finished off to the minutest
weal in a very trellis-work or embroidery of
weals upon the recipient's back and shoulders—we
have here described, in refreshingly vivid cha-
racters, as having been administered to Pubsey
and Co., in the person of Mr. Fledgeby by
the avenging muscular energies of Mr. Alfred
Laramie, late of Sackville-street, and still of the
gingerous whiskers and the too-much nose ! " A
Few Grains of Pepper," the chapter, containing an
account of this most exemplary punishment, is
significantly entitled. The cries of the vic-
tim—that Tingling - Tossing - Aching - Screaming-
Scratching-Smarter, as Miss Jenny Wren calls
him with a sort of gusto—still ring very pleasantly
in our ears, as we think of it—" Ugh ! Ow ! ow !
ow ! Oh my eye ! Oh Lord !" Nay, we yet seem
to behold him, as Jenny beheld him at the very last,
" plunging and gambolling all over his bed like a
porpoise or dolphin in its native element !" Re-
membering, too, with a chuckle of satisfaction the
artistic sprinkling of a little pepper, just a few grains,
all over the six large plasters of brown paper steeped
in vinegar, applied to his excoriations by the hand
of the Dolls' Dress-maker ! And disposed to regret,
with little Jenny, after all, that those few grains of
pepper had not been mingled with a taste of
cayenne and just the least suspicion in the world of
chopped pickled capsicum. However—barring those
two slight oversights—this trouncing of Mr.Fledgeby
of the Albany, otherwise of the Messrs. Pubsey and
Co. of St. Mary Axe, is accomplished, it will be found,
to the reader's very heart's content—almost, we had
said, to just absolute perfection. In the very next
chapter to the one containing the record of this
fitting close to the usurious career of Little Eyes,
we find the good old Jew Riah—Fledgeby's agent
and hight by him " that Dodgerest of Dodgers"
—driven forth into the streets by that same amiable
young man his late employer, with a curt and brutal
" Get out !" Wandering thereupon through the
streets, hand in hand, with the poor little crippled
golden-haired Dressmaker of the Dolls, Mr. Riah and
Jenny Wren, meet by chance with the dead body of
poor little Jenny's drunken old dog of a father then
and there borne by them upon a stretcher.
The whole of this portion of the story is wonderfully
written—written as Boz and Boz alone could write it !
The " solitary members of the drunken tribe" hover-
ing about the purlieus of Covent-garden Market, at
the small hours of the morning, are depicted
here with the marvellously realistic pencil of the
Author of the Sketches. Their finding companion-
ship—these wretchedest of all the wretched waifs
and strays of intoxication about the metropolis—
may be in the beer and gin " slopping about among
the carters and hucksters," maybe in the trodden
vegetable refuse, " so like their own dress, that, per-
haps, they take the Market for a great wardrobe !"
Their presenting to view, as the very acme of such
obscene spectacles of misery, "dozing women-drunk-
ards" that you will seek for elsewhere in vain !—it is
altogether a terrible picture! " Open to the day no-
where else," says our great delineator of the London
Streets and their motley population, " open to the
day nowhere else are such stale vapid rejected cab-
bage-leaf and cabbage-stalk dress, such damaged-
orange countenance, suchsquashedpulp of humanity !"
And here, among them, he tells us—(this gentle
philanthropist, who, with the lightest touch of
his pen as a novel-writer, has often before now
effected more practical good in the amelioration of
crying abuses than one half the Lords and Commons
inParliament assembled)—here, among these miser-
able creatures, " there is a swarm of young savages
always flitting about this same place, creeping off
with fragments of orange chests and mouldy litter—
Heaven knows into what holes they convey them,
having no home !—whose bare feet fall with a blunt
dull softness on the pavement, as the p 0.... n• oanzan hunts
them, and, who are (perhaps for that reason) little
heard of by the Powers that be, whereas in top boots
they would make a deafening clatter !" By them it is
that that Bad Child Mr. Dolls—through " the Hor-
rors" and " the Trembles," and drunken dozings,
and all sorts of foul laespatterments, is hunted
through the last phases of the deadliest intoxica-
tion ! Until, under the appearance of a mere
bundle of torn rags, strapped down upon a
stretcher, the degraded creature is borne (dead) into
the Doctor's—" the window becoming from within
a wall of faces, deformed into all kinds of shapes
through the agency of globular red bottles, green bottles,
blue bottles, , and other coloured bottles." A horrible
interior, painted with all the minuteness of one of the
old Dutch painters! Then comes the final ceremony
of alf—the funeral of Mr. Dolls the Drunkard—the
wretched old fellow, after that previous carrying of
him through the streets, seeming (we are told) to be
twice buried. Half-a-dozen blossom-faced men taking
him on their shoulders, and shuffling with him to the
churQhyard, preceded by another blossom-faced man,
"affecting a stately stalk, as if he were a policeman of
the D(eath) Division, and ceremoniously pretending
not to know his intimate acquaintances as he led the
pageant I" Finally—the troublesome deceased being
at last got into the ground, to be buried no more—
we have a glimpse of the stately stalker stalking
back before the one poor little mourner, the solitary
dressmaker, "as if she were bound in honour to have no
notion of knowing the way home"—When—" those
Furies the conventionalities, being thus appeased"—he
leaves her !

The exquisite scenethat follows in the next chapter
where the Dolls' Dressmaker (having been summoned
by Mortimer Lightwood to the seeming deathbed
of poor mutilated Eugene Wrayburn) "discovers a
word" is so full of tenderness and tears that we
shrink from marring its effect by anything like
deliberate and minute analysis, even by an attempt
at illustrating its intrinsic beauty by means of any
mere fragmentary quotations. " Effect is given to
the Doll Dressmaker's discovery" in the final
chapter of the number—this happy effect of a
subtle discovery, being nothing less, after all,
than the marriage, by the Rev. Frank Milvey, of
Lizzie Hexam and Eugene Wrayburn, to the ulti-
mate astonishment, we may presume, of 0. R. F.,
to the complete satisfaction, we may rest perfectly
well-assured of every reader of 0. M. F., and to the
pure and unselfish delight of that dear fellow, Mor-
timer Lightwood, one of the most charming cha-
racters in the whole story, and that simply because
so utterly unselfish in the warmth and depth of his
self-abnegatory friendship. Bradley Headstone's
dropping down in a fit upon the railway platform
as the train speeds off with Mr. and Mrs. Milvey
on their way to this same marriage ceremony, is
noticeable among the graver incidents recounted
in this October number—as, among the very
liveliest portions of it, there stands forth, in
laughter-proving vividness of verisimilitude- that arch
representative of the genus SPRODGKIN, as it must
infallibly come to be called henceforth—simply by
reason of her appropriately ridiculous name•—Mrs.
Sprodgkin to wit ! Speaking of the Rev. Frank and
Mrs. Milvey as being just then upon the eve of
st3ting post haste to the suddenly-improvised mar-
riage of Eugene Wrayburn, saith our Novelist of
what we have but just now called—

THE ARCIITYPE OF THE GENUS SPRODGKIN.
That worthy couple were delayed by a portentous old
parishioner of the female gender, who was one of the
plagues of their lives, and with whom they bore with most
exemplary sweetness and good humour, notwithstanding
her having an infection of absurdity about her, that com-
municated itself to everything with which, and everybody
with whom, she came in contact. She was a member of
the Reverend Frank's congregation, and made a point of
distinguishing herself in that body, by conspicuously
weeping at everything, however cheering, said by the
Reverend Frank in his public ministrations ; also by
applying to herself the various lamentations of David,
and complaining in a personally injured manner (much in
arrear of the clerk and the rest of the respondents) that her
enemies were digging pitt falls about her, and breaking
her with rods of iron. Indeed, this old widow discharged
herself of that portion of the Morning and Evening Service
as if she were lodging a complaint on oath and applying
for a warrant before a magistrate. But this was not her
most inconvenient characteristic, for that took the form
of an impression, usually recurring in inclement weather
and at about daybreak, that she had something on her
mind and stood in immediate need of the Reverend Frank
to come and take it off. Mau a time had that kind crea-

s..~+

turn got up, and gone out to Mrs. Sprodgkin (such was
the disciple's name), suppressing a strong sense of her
comicality by his strong sense of duty, and perfectly
knowing that nothing but a cold would come of it.
However, beyond themselves, the Reverend Frank Mul-
vey and Mrs. Milvey seldom hinted that Mrs. Sprodg-
kin was hardly worth the trouble she gave ; but both
made the best of her, as they did of all their troubles.
This very exacting member of the fold appeared to be
endowed with a sixth sense, in regard of knowing when
the Reverend Frank Milvey least desired her company,
and with promptitude appearing in his little hall. Conse-
quently, when the Reverend Frank had willingly engaged
that he and his wife would accompany Lightwood back,
ho said, as a matter of course,—" We must make haste to
get out, Margaretta, my dear, or we shall be descended on
by Mrs. Sprodgkin." To which Mrs. Milvey replied, in
her pleasantly emphatic way, " Oh yes, for she is such a
marplot, Frank, and does worry so !" Words that were
scarcely uttered when their theme was announced as in
faithful attendance below, desiring counsel on a spiritual
matter. The points on which Mrs. Sprodgkin sought
elucidation being seldom of a pressing nature (as Who begat
Whom, or some information concerning the Amorites), Mrs.
Milvey on this special occasion resorted to the device of
buying her off with a present of tea and sugar, and a loaf
and butter. These gifts Mrs. Sprodgkin accepted, but still
insisted on dutifully remaining in the hall, to curtsey to
the Reverend Frank as he came forth. Who, incautiously
saying in his genial manner, " Well, Sally, there you are !"
involved himself in a discursive address from Mrs. Sprodg-
kin, revolving around the result that she regarded tea and
sugar in the light of myrrh and frankincense, and consi-
dered bread and butter identical with locusts and wild
honey. Having communicated this edifying piece of in-
formation, Mrs. Sprodgkin was left still unadjourned in the
hall, and Mr and Mrs Milvey hurried in a heated condition
to the railway station. All of which is here recorded to
the honour of that good Christian pair, representatives
of hundreds of other good Christian pairs as conscien-
tious and as useful, who merge the smallness of their work
in its greatness, and feel in no danger of losing dignity
when they adapt themselves to incomprehensible hum-
bugs.

With which exquisitely ludicrous sketch of another,
not individual, but entire class of our fellow-creatures,
hitherto overlooked, but here at last touched off
to the very life, serio-comically, by the pen-point of
our great Humorist let us close our notice of the
Eighteenth Number of " Our Mutual Friend:" now,
according to the bookseller's announcement, within
less than a fortnight from the date of its complete
publication. Already—before the close of it has
made its appearance—we may with confidence
pronounce it to be one of the most remark-
able among the more highly elaborated and
thoroughly artistic productions of Charles Dickens
as a Novelist—a book that upon the whole is fully
upon a level, as a work of art, with the majority of
his world-famous fictions.

.;
.111
-ffeNFT-7,
Li*
Tat

The Royal Family in the Highlands.

Her Majesty, accompanied by the Princess Helena
and the Marchioness of Ely, left Balmoral on
Tuesday morning in a four-horse coach, on a three
days' visit to the Dowager Duchess of Athole, at
Dunkeld. The royal party passed Braemar at
11 a.m., and proceeding over the Cairnwell and by
the Spittal of Glenshee, taking luncheon about a
mile south of Spittal. The Duchess of Athole was
expected to meet the royal party on the road. The
servants and luggage passed through Blairgowrie on
their way to Dunkeld, with more appearance than
the royal party, who, it is understood, wish to travel
quietly.

The Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse, travel-
ling under the title of the Count and Countess
Staufenberg, arrived at Inverness on Saturday, on
their way to Balmoral.

The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland are enter-
taining a large party at Dunrobin Castle, Suther-
landshire. The Duke and Duchess of Manchester have
joined the party from their seat in the north of Ireland.
The Duke Vallambrosa, Lord and Ladyßagot, Lord Albert
and Lord Ronald Leveson-Gower, Mr. LascellAs, and other
friends have assembled there. On Tuesday and Wednesday
last the Annual meeting of the volunteer rifle corps took
place at Dunrobin on the lawn between the castle and the
sea shore. The duke and duchess and their friends were
present both days. The great prize was carried off by Cer-
tain Peacocke.

The Duchess (Dowager) of Sutherland is staying
with the Duke and Duchess of Argyll at Invorary Castle,
Argyleshire. It is not the intention of the Duchess to g°
to Dunrobin this autumn.

The Duchess Dowager of Athole arrived at
Dunkeld on Friday last, from visiting Mr. and Lady Anne
H. Drummond-Moray at Abercairny, their seat in Perth-
shire.

The Marquis of Carmarthen and Sir Joseph and
Lady Bailey have arrived at Thomas's Hotel, Berkeley-
square.

The Countess of Lucan has arrived at the
Alexandra Hotel from Harrogate.
Viscount and Viscountess Chelsea have within
the last few days left Ashdown Park, where they had been
staying on a visit to the Earl and Countess Craven, for
tour in Norfolk.

Viscount Falkland has left the St. George'B
Hotel.

Lord Edward St. Maur is about to leave town
for a tour in India. It is expected his lordship will leave
in the course of the week.

The Hon. Frederick and Lady Elizabeth VilHeil
left town on Tuesday to join the Countess (Dowager) of
Jersey at St. Loonards-on-Sea.
Lady Augusta Poulett has left Thomas's Hotel
for Eastbourne.

Lady Grant, Mrs. and the Misses Appack have
arrived at the Alexandria Hotel, Hyde-park-corner.
The Right Hon. T. Milner Gibson left town,
yesterday for Theberton House, Saxmundham.

Sir John and Lady Harington have left Tor-
rance's Hotel for Scotland..

••••
PRINCE AMADEUS OF SAVOY.—The intended
visit of Prince Amadeus to Aldershot was yesterday Put
off. His royal highness and suite, accompanied by his
Excellency the Italian Minister and Count Maffei, visited
Windsor Castle and the home farm, dm. His Royal High"
mess the Duke de Chartres called at the Italian Legation
yesterday, with the view of paying a personal visit to
Prince Amadeus, but after staying nearly an hour, owiog
to the prince's absence at Windsor, returned to his real-:
deuce at Ham-common.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.—Messrs. Hurst and
Blackett announce in their List of Works in preparation :-
" The Memoirs and Correspondence of Field Marshal Vie
count Combermere."—The second and concluding volume
of Miss Meteyard's " Life of Josiah Wedgwood," with 300
Illustrations.—" From Cadet to Colonel ; the Record of e
Life of Active Service," by Majoi-General Sir Thomas
Seaton.—" Religious Life on the Continent," by Mrs'
Oliphant.—The third and fourth volumes of the Soy'
Grantley Berkeley's "Life and Recollections."—" Sport
and Sportsmen," by Charles Stretton, Esq.—" Social Life
in Florence," by Count Arrivabene. Among the same
Publisher's forthcoming New Novels are "Agnes," by Mrs'
Oliphant.—"A Noble Life," by the Author of Jobs
Halifax."—" Heater's Sacrifice," by the Author of " St'
Olave's."—" Fides, or the Beauty of Mayence," by Si'.
Lascelles Wraxall, Bart.—" Chronicles of Dartmoor," bl
Mrs. Marsh.—" The Clyffards of Clyde ;" and Works by the
Hon. Mrs. Norton, the Rev. J. M. Bellew, Mark Lemon'
Walter Thornbury, the Author of "No Church," the
Author of " Grandmother's Money," eze.
A BALL IN A BEER BARRELL.—In the garden of
a restaurateur at Vienna there had existed since 1853 011
enormous beer-barrel, the capacity being suet, that the my
terior had been converted into a room for dancing. Three
nights back a ball took place there, which visitors did sc4
leave till three in the morning. At half-past four, 1020,
all was quiet, an alarm of fire was given, and the bare.'
was found to be in flames. In the course of two hours, ig
spite of all the efforts of the proprietors, it was reduced t°
ashes. The loss is estimated at 40,000 f.
CHOLERA AT EPPING.—A local correspondent
sends the following report, but we have as yet 0°
evidence that the cases referrdd to are of the Asiatic tyPe
of cholera:—" The inhabitants of Epping and the neigh:
bourhood are now in considerable alarm in consequence
of
the outbreak of cholera at Thoydon, a village about a scale
and a half distant. Dr. Elliott, the medical officer to the
West Ham Local Board of Health, at the usual ordinal
meeting, called attention to the subject. He said he he
received a communication from Dr. M'Nab, who, deriact'
the past few days, had been attending a family that had
been attacked by cholera. The house in which it Po
raged was situated on a hill. The lady of the house, WIL
had just returned from a watering-place, was the first Pi,
tacked. The husband then fell ill and died. The (laugh°,
was next seized by the disease ; and afterwards the e°,l
was attacked, and died. The groom was also attacked
and died. He had further heard that two children bil.,
been attacked by cholera that day, and also that the se
geon attending had been seized; and it was even ruraollr;,,
that he had died. From inquiries made yesterday rs° dot
ing, however, the alleged death of the surgeon is
corroborated. The other deaths are, however, repor7op
The Westham Board of Health, on the recommeuclet
of Dr. Elliott, at once appointed an extra inspector
nuisances."