The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-28 00:00:00

world, furnished the most obedient, orderly, and industrious
domestics in the world.—( Hear.) He did by no means de-
preciate the superior candour of the English character, and en-
thusiasm of the Irish, but hoped the period would arrive when
all would be blended together.--.(Cheers ) He congratulated
them also on having been honoured with the company of Dr.
Lardner, inasmuch as, if Dr. Birkbeck had the high merit of
being the father of the Mechanics' Institution of the Kingdom,
to enable the operative clrsses to read and study, Dr. Lardner
had been the greatest producer of works for their perusal and
improvement that the world had ever known. As Dr. L. was
then out of the room, he might without indelicacy say that Dr.
Lardner deserved their highest admiration, for ho had written
or edited, and caused to be issued, upwards of half a million
of volumes for the improvement and enjoyment of his fellow
creatures.—( Great cheering.) He concluded by cordially
thanking them for the honour they had done him.—( Cheers. )
The CHAIRMAN, accompanied by the visitors, then retired.
Mr. HCMPIIREYS, the President of the Institution, was
called to the Chair, and said that they had forgot one most
important toast. They were all aware that they could scarcely
carry on their business without the aid of their wives and the
female sex ; he, therefore, proposed the Ladies. Drank with
all the honours.

After a most pleasant evening, the company separated
shortly after Twelve o'Clock.

THE VICTORIA STEAM SHlP.—Yesterday even-
ing an inquest was held by adjournment before Mr. C. J.
Carttar, the coroner for Kent, and a jury, at the Mitre Ta-
vern, Greenwich, on the bodies of William Allen, the engineer
of the Victoria steam-ship, William Thompson and Thomas
Walker, the assistant-engineers, and George Brock and Jo-
seph Robinson, stokers on board the same vessel, and the im-
mediate cause of whose deaths was the dreadful scalding they
received by the bursting of one of the boilers. After a long
but uninteresting examination, the jury returned the following
verdict :—lt is the unanimous opinion of the jury, that the de-
ceased persons came by their deaths in consequence of the
bursting of a boiler on board the Victoria steam-ship, of
Hull, and the jury wish to express the high satisfaction they
feel at the conduct of Captain Bell, as also of the owners, for
the manner in which they have brought up witnesses, and the
pains they have taken to fully elicit the truth."
DREADFUL ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday, two in-
furiated bullocks escaped from a drove, and ran through this
city, to the great consternation of the inhabitants. In St.
James's churchyard, they attacked a very aged man, named
Mitchell, who was returning from dinner, whom they gored,
and threw twice into the air with great violence ; the poor old
man, whose thigh was fractured, his cheek torn open, and eyes
seriously injured, was conveyed to the infirmary by the police.
The same animals afterwards threw down a girl and two chil-
dren, and gored a poor fellow, who was employed on the quay
in carrying coals on board the Torridge steam-boat. —Bath
Guardian.
Mr. John Barnett, the popular composer, has just
arrived in London from Frankfort-on-the- Maine. He has
completed a new opera, to be called Farinelli, in which several
interesting passages from the life of that extraordinary singer
are introduced. It will, no doubt, be produced at either
Drury-lane or Covent-garden in the course of a few weeks.
On Sunday last, between 3,000 and 4,000 remark-
ably fine,mullet were inclosed in one sean at Whitesand Bay,
near the Land's End, and afterwards sold at Penzance for 6d.
each.—West Briton.
VILLAGE LIBRARIES.—It is gratifying to the
friends of the " Diffusion of Useful Knowledge" to observe the
increase of these valuable institutions in every part of our
country. The rural districts of Cumberland are now becoming
more generally supplied with them. Sir Wilfrid Lawson,
Bart., has lately presented a handsome donation of books to
the library which is now being established with a Sunday
school at the Grove Chapel at Ravenglass , and other gentle-
men, we understand, have been making similar contributions.
Carlisle Patriot.

EXPLOSION AT A POWDER MlLL.—Last week
one of those frightful occurrences against which no human
foresight can guard, and which seem as if expressly intended
to mock the devices of human prudence, took place at Stobs
Powder Mills, belonging to Mr. Caldwell, a few miles from
Edinburgh. About half past six o'clock on the morning of
Wednesday, half an hour after the workmen had assembled at
the mills, they were alarmed by a loud explosion; on the pre-
mises, the fearful import of which they too well knew. It was
found to have proceeded from one of the corning houses, where
the powder undergoes the process of being separated into par-
ticles or " corns" as they are termed in Scotland, which is
nearly the finishing process in the manufacture. In this
house there were about twelve barrels of gunpowder,
each barrel containing 100 lbs..? and two men, named
West and Robertson, were engaged in the manufacture. On
the rest of the workmen coming to the spot, the house was
found a complete ruin, scarcely a particle of it being connected
together. The first search made was of course for the two
workmen ; and the most melancholy forebodings were soon
realised—the body of West was found at some distance from
the house, whither he had been blown by the force of the ex-
plosion. Robertson was found within the house itself, and
was still breathing when discovered ; but he died before he
could be removed. It would appear from this circumstance,
that whatever the cause of the accident might be--and the
fate of the unfortunate sufferers, as in all such cases, must
leave that in perpetual doubt—the explosion must have taken
place near where West was occupied ; and that Robertson,
from his position, mast have been comparatively only partially
affected by it. When found, their bodies, as might be sup-
posed from the nature of the accident, presented a shocking
appearance. The property destroyed is also of considerable
value.—Edinburgh Courant.

On Monday evening, a few minutes before seven
o'clock, a daring robbery was committed on the person of the
Rev. Felix Norton, residing at Chelsea, who was returning
from Paddington to Chelsea, through Hyde Park. When he
arrived about the middle of the Park he was met by three foot
s^ldiers (belonging to the Guards), who pretended to be in-
toxicated ; one of them ran against the reverend gentleman
with such violence as to knock him down, when the other two
fell over him, at the same time rifling his watch pocket of his
gold watch and seals, with which they effected their :escape.
Mr. Norton, from the darkness of the evening, could not tell
to what regiment they belonged.
On Monday afternoon, as the Bishop of Win-
chester was riding at a quick rate along the Strand on a high-
spirited horse, the animal suddenly shyed at a waggon that
was passing, and from the suddenness of it his Lordship was
unfortunately thrown with great violence to the ground. His
groom immediately rode up and secured the horse before fur-
ther mischief occurred. Assistance was promptly rendered,
and his Lordship, at his own request, was conveyed to the
King's College, where he was immediately attended by Dr.
Todd, one of the Professors of that institution. After every
possible assistance had been rendered, the Bishop was re-
moved in a coach to his own residence. The injuries, though
serious, are not of a dangerous description.
We regret to learn that, so destructive has the late
winter been to the wheat plant in many districts, that large
breadths have been ploughed up, and the land devoted to
other purposes, from the utter improbability that a crop of
wheat would be obtained.— TVercester Herald.
Yesterday morning, between eight and nine o'clock,
a labouring man, named Charles Bennett, was crossing the
Liverpool-road, Islington, when a led horse that was passing
by suddenly kicked out and struck the unfortunate man with
such tremendous force on the back of the head, that the lower
part of his skull was fractured in a dreadful manner. He was
conveyed to the University College Hospital, and no hope is
entertained of his recovery.
DEATH OF ATTWOOD THE COMPOSER.—
Thomas Attwood, the celebrated organist of St. Paul's ca-
thedral, and composer to the Chapels Royal, is no more.
He expired at his house in Chelsea on Saturday last, in his
71st year. W. Knyvett is spoken of as his probable suc-
cessor to the situation of organist at St. Paul's, and Mr. H.
R. Bishop as composer to the Chapel Royal. The former,
we believe, is in the gift of the Bishop of London, and the
latter is in the appointment of her Majesty. Mr. Sale has
been appointed one of the organists to the Chapel Royal (Sir
G. Smart is the other).
On Tuesday a public meeting of the inhabitants of
Bath.was held at the Assembly Rooms for the purpose of
adopting a petition to Parliament for justice to the Irish Ca-
tholic 3 in promoting education. The meeting was one most
distinguished for the number and respectability of those who
attended, for the eloquence of those who addressed them, and
for the unanimity and order which prevailed uninterruptedly
for a period of four hours. The conduct of our present
Ministry towards the long-suffering Irish people has been
such as nothing but inveterate prejudice can oppose.—Bath
Journal.
There is now living at Hildghausen, in Silesia, a
man named Hans Hertz, of the extraordinary age of 142
years. He has not gone over his threshold for 17 years, and
the only exercise he takes is to walk two or three turns round
his room in a day. When the weather is fine he opens his
window, and smokes one or two pipes. lie had not spoken
for six years, but communicates his wants by inarticulate
sounds, which are understood only by those who are constantly
in attendance upon him. All his children have been dead
many years, and he is taken care of by his grandchildren and
great grandchildren.
We have the following American jokes from Phila-
delphia direct, but will not answer for their novelty :—A very
absent gentleman at Philadelphia, in a fit of abstraction lately
put his candle to bed, and inadvertently blew himself out.
Another person, accustomed to wear spectacles, by chance
placed them over one of his ears, and positively walked three
miles sideways before he discovered his mistake. The largest
oyster ever seen was recently exhibited at New York. I.
took three men to swallow it whole.—Literary Gazette.
On Saturday morning, between six and seven
o'clock, James Fielden, of Henry-street, Canden-town, green
grocer, was returning in a cart from Corent-garden market,
when he was thrown out by the off-wheel coming in contact
with the wheel of a cowkeeper's waggon ' • he was run over by
the near-wheel of his own vehicle, and had his ribs and chest
bone crushed in a dreadful manner.

WEATHER IN THE COUNTRY.-- A fter a week or
two of more genial and spring-like weather, we seem again to
have gone back to some of the rigours of winter ; for on
Saturday last we had snow, with the thermometer indicating
28 degrees for its minimum during the previous night. During
Saturday night the mercury had gone down to 25 degrees,
and all the pools of water were frozen over. On Sunday night
the minimum was 29 degrees, and since then it has stood
higher till Thursday night, when we had snow, and a mini-
mum of 28 degrees. Yesterday ( Friday) morning we had
snow, and our old companion, the east wind.—Carlisle Pa-
triot. [The country papers generally speak of the severity of
the season.)