The Sun.
London, England, 1831-12-24 00:00:00

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THE EMPRESS MARIA THERESA.

Who has not read of the scene which ensued,
which has so often been related, so often de-
scribed ? and yet we all feel that we cannot hear
of it too often. When we first meet it on the
page of history, we are taken by surprise, as
though it had no business there ; it has the glory
and the freshness of an old romance. Poetry
never invented any thing half so striking, or that
so-completely fills the imagination. The Hun-
garians had been oppressed, enslaved, insulted
by Maria Theresa's predecessors. In the be-
ginning of her reign she had abandoned the
usurpation of her ancestors, and lied voluntarily
taken the oath to preserve all their privileges
entire. This was partly front policy, hut it was
also partly from her own just and kind nature.
The hearts of the Hungarians were already half
won when she arrived at Presburg, in June,
1741. She was crowned Queen of Hungary
on the 13-,h, with the peculiar national ceremo-
nies ; the iron croon of St. Stephen was placed
on her head ; the tattered, but sacred robe was
placed over her own rich habit, which was en-
crusted with gems ; his scimitar girded to Fer
side. Thus attired, and upon a superb charger,
she rode up the Royal Mount., and, according
to the antique custom, drew her sabre and de-
fied the four quarters of the world, " in a man.
tier that showed she had no occasion for that
weapon to conquer all who ,saw her." The
crown of St. Stephen, which had never before
been placed on so small or so lovely a head,
hod been lined with cushions to make it fit ;
it was also very heavy, and its weight, added to
the heat of the weather, incommoded her
when she sat down to dinner in the
great hall of the castle—she expressed a
wish to lay it aside. On lifting the diadem from
her brow, her hair, loosened from confinement,
fell down in luxuriant ringlets over her neck and
shoulders ; the glow which the heat and emotion
had diffused over her complexion, added to her
natural beauty—the assembled nobles, struck
with admiration, could scarce forbear shouting
their applause. The effect which her youthful
grace and loveliness produced on this occasion
had not yet subsided when she called together
the Diet, or Senate of Hungary, in order to lay
before them the situation of her affairs. She
entered the hall of the castle habited in the Hun.
garian costume, but still in deep mourning for
her father ; she traversed the apartment with a
slow and majestic step, and ascended the throne,
where she stood for a few minutes silent. The
Chancellor of State first explained the situation to
which she was reduced, and then the Queen
coming forward addressed the assembly in Latin,
a language which she spoke fluently, and
which is still in common use among the Hun-
garians. " The disastrous state of our affairs,"
said she, " has moved us to lay before our
dear and faithful states of Hungary the recent in-
vasion of • Austria, the danger now impending
over this kingdom, and to propose to them the
consideration of a remedy. The very existence
of the kingdom of Hungary, of our own person,
of our children, of our crown, are now at stake,
and, forsaken by all, we place our sole hope in
the fidelity, arms, and long-tried valour of the
Hungarians." She pronounced these simple
words in a firm but melancholy tone. Her
beauty, her magnanimity, and her dress, roused
the Hungarian Chiefs to the wildest pitch of
enthusiasm ; they drew their sabres out of their
scabbards, then flung them back to the hilt with
a martial sound which re-echoed through the
lofty hall and exclaimed with one accord, " Our
swords and our blood for your Majesty—
we will die for our King, Maria The-
resa !" Overcome with sudden emotion she
burst into a flood of tears. At this sight,
the nobles became almost frantic with en-
thusiasm. "We wept too," said a nobleman
who assisted on this occasion, (Count Kotler,)
" but they were tears of admiration, pity, and
fury." They retired from her presence to vote
supplies of men and money, which far exceeded
ail her expectations. Two or three days after
this extraordinary scene the Deputies again as-
sembled, to receive the oath of Francis, of Lor-
raine, who had been appointed Co-Regent of
Hungary. Francis having taken the required
oath, waved his arm over his head, and exclaimed
with enthusiasm, " My blood and life for the
Queen and kingdom !" It was on this occasion
that Maria Theresa took up her infant son in
her arms and presented him to the Deputies,
and again they burst into the acclamation, " We
will die for Maria Theresa and her children."—
. Janzeson's Lives of Female Sovereigns.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH.—In the case
of the KING on the prosecution of FLEMING V. JONES,
which was an indictment for perjury, and tried yesterday
at Guildhall, before Lord TENTERDEN......(a portion of
which Ivas in yesterday's Sun)—the Jury returned a
verdict of Not Guilty.

On Wednesday afternoon, as a gentleman and
his servant were shooting in Caen Wood, near Highgate,
on their killing an owl, and in the act of covering it with
leaves to preserve the feathers, their attention was at-
tracted by the dog ; on advancing to the spot, it proved
the dog hid found a human being, which presented a mo't
horrifying spectacle, the flesh being completely eaten front
the head and face; and from its decomposed state, its re-
cognition was impossible. Notice being given to the
constable, the body was searched, and a watch, seals,
pencil-case, and a tooth-pick were found in the pockets,
which were immediately recognized as belonging to Mr.
EvAxs, a young man, who, it will be recollected, was
advertised as having left his wife and two children at a
relation's house (Mrs. LovaLL's, post-office, High-street,
Hampstead, where they were residing), one afternoon,
about five months since, under the pretence of taking a
long walk. After his absence was discovered, it was as-
certained that his razor was missing, and between the body
and its arm the razor was found. It is supposed the un-
fortunate deceased must have walked into the wood, sat
down, and cut his throat.

PHENOMENON.—As J. SMITH, a labourer,
was going to his work on Lansdown on Thursday morn-
ing the Bth instant, about half.past five o'c ock, it was
completely dark, but all of a sudden it became as light as
Jay; he looked up and saw the element in a quivering
blaze of fire for the space of a minute, after which it be-
came as dark as before. He never saw any thing like it
in his life; it appeared to him like flames issuing from the
sky.—The meteoric phenomenon was seen between Frome
and Maiden Bradley, by Mr. WAnstax, Weymouth
carrier ; by the turnpike-man at Midford, (ELLfor7,)
to whom it appeared in shape like the face of a clock,
about the height of a man ; a quarter of a mile further it
was seen by two men, and it appeared to them to have
two legs to it like men's legs. The wife of the turnpike.
man said, as she lay in bed the whole room appeared to
to be in a blaze. At Brisiington, it passed by a waggoner
with a rustling noise like the wheel of a carriage, and there
is a pathway where the grass is completely scorched by
it. It was seen at Devizes very high in the element ; it
appeared in various shapes, and threw cut a great light.
Farmer WOOLEY, of Hinton, saw it like a large tea-
kettle; it came down to the earth, and then rose up ,into
fie hsavens again. The ostler and several men at the Fix
Inn, Milford, saw it like a huge figure of fire, in shape
like a man; it passed by them, and they thought they
should he burnt to death by the heat ; it then went up
through the valley, like a man running, and passed two
The country i'd"mgc'
peopleb seam punied Low the _steel it, at Fs
and
men near the canal, but it did not burn. them ; it then
ascended out of eight. This phenomenon has been wit-
nessed in various parts,—in Dem s, in in
Bridgewater,other
picaes.
t the
to account for the dazzling light, the heat, the cut.ous
forms it assumed, and the numerous places in which. it
was seen.--Bath Journal.

THE POISONED VALLEY.

At the meeting of the Royal Geographical

Society, held on the 28th ult. considerable inte• I
rest was excited by an extract from a letter of
Mr. Alexander Loudon, communicated to the
Society by John Barrow, Esq. The letter eons!
tains the account of a visit to a small valley in the
island of Java, which is particularly remarkable
for its power of destroying in a very short space
of time the life of man, or any animal rAposed
to its atmosphere. It is distant rely three miles
from Batur, in Java, and oil the 4th of July, 1
Mr. Loudon, with a party of friends, set I.itt on
a visit to it. It is known by the nt'.rie of Guevo
Uuas, or Poisoned Valley ; and, following a
path which had been made for the purpose, the
party shortly reached it with a conele ..sf dogs
:And sonic fowls, for the purports of taking expe-
r►ments. On arriving at the mountain the party
dismounted, and. scrambled up the side of a hill,
a distance of a quarter of a mile, with the as
sisumee of the branches of trees and pro eting
toots. In consequence of the heavy rain that
Read fallen in the night, this was rendered more
difficult, and occasioned much fatigue. When
a few yards from the valley, a stteng nau-
seous and suffocating smell eeas experienced,
but on approaching the margin this inconve-
nience was no longer found. The scene that now
presented itself is described as of the most ap-
palling nature. The valley is about half it 'mile
in circumference, of an oval shape, about thirty
!or thirty-five feet in depth, The bottom of it ap-
peared to be flat, without any vegetation, and a
ti.-tw large stones scattered here and there. The
attention of the party was immediately attracted
to the number of skeletons of human beings,
tigers, boars, deer, and all sorts of birds and wild
animals, which lay about in profusion. The
ground on which they lay at the bottom of the
valley, appeared to be a hard sandy substance,
and no vapour was perceived issuing from it, nor
any opening through which it might escape, and
the sides were covered with vegetation. It was
now proposed to enter it, and each of the party,
having lit a cigar, managed to get within twenty
feet of the bottom, where a sickening nauseous
smell was experienced, without any difficulty in
breathing. A dog was now fastened at the end
of a bamboo and thrust to the bottom of the
valley, while some of the party, with their
'watches in their hands, observed the effects.
At the expiration of fourteen seconds the
dog fell off his legs, without moving or
looking round, and continued alive only eighteen
minutes. The other dog now left the party and
went to his companio❑ ; on reaching him he was
observed to stand quite motionless, and at the
end of ten seconds fell down ; he never moved
his limbs after, and lived only seven minutes.
A fowl was now thrown in, which died in a mi-
mite and a half, and another which was thrown
after it died in the space of a minute and a half.
A heavy shower of rain fell during the time that
these experiments were going forward, which,
from the interesting nature of the experiments,
was quite disregarded. On the opposite side of
the valley to that which was visited, lay a human
skeleton, the head resting on the right arm. The
effects of the weather had bleached the bones
as white as ivory. Two hours were passed in
this valley of death, and the party had some
difficulty in getting out of it, owing to the rain
that had fallen. The human skeletons are sup-
posed to be those of rebels, who have been pur-
sued from the main road, and taken refuge in
the valley without their knowledge of the danger
to %% hich they were thus exposing themselves.—
(The effects, as here described, are identical with
those at the Grotto del Cane, at Naples, and no
doubt arise from the same cause. These seem
more strange in an 'open valley ; but the me-
phitic air at the Grotto is so heavy, that you
may stand upright without inconvenience, as it
rises but a few inches above the surface.)