The Sun.
London, England, 1814-12-29 00:00:00

QUEEN-SQUARE.

A person Las been taken into custody upon sus-
picion of having set fire to the Custom-llouse
and other buildings, horn expressions which had
dropf'frona
_him. All however is uncertainty, but
the man still remains in custody.
A SchoOhnaster, of tile name of Mitchell, was
on Tuesday brought to"tlnis Office, charged with•
an attempt to marry a Miss Corti,- daughter.to
Mrs. Cord, of Sloane-street, against the mother'S
' colisent, whose finger he broke in a scuffle with
her. It appeared that he bad won the affections
of the young lady, but as she is not of age, and
'is statefrto be an heiress, the Magistrate orderec\.
her to he taken care of by her mother, who is
willing that, she should wed,Mr. Mitchell, pro-
vided he can prove' himself of respectable family
connection. # ,

UNION-HALL. -
'George EnglUnd Was" brought [IR by May and
Goff, by whom he was apprehended On Monday at
his lodgings in Titchtield-street, -Oxford-miirket,
on suspicion of having robbed Mr. Richardson,.
the travelling eqtiestriau of 2001. on the 21st of
-October, at C+arlton fair. It appeared front the
statement of Mr. Richardson, that being at Elora
Fair on the day above-mentioned, exhibiting for
the .amusement of the fair folks, the prisoner,
who was well known to him, having previously
been in lrils employ, applied to lib ti for an triiga.,;e-
thew, and pleading great distress, Mr. Richaid-
son was induced to give Iriin one. ' •
After the labours of playing through the day had
concluded. Mr. Richardson retired with his troop
to rest tliethselves at a neighbouring public-
house, leaving the prisoher in. charge of the
Theatre. Mr. Richardson did not remaiit absent
a quarter of an hour ; but, on his return, the pri-
soner had quitted his post, and Mr. Richardson
found that his strong box, which he had left in
the Theatre, tad been forced open, and rifled of
its contents, amounting to near 2001. in cash and
-notes. The prisoner ‘N•as well acquainted with the
prosecutor's custom of I;eeping his cash in this
box,' having frequently seen him deposit it there
on former occasions. lie was fully committed, for
trial, at the Kent Assizes, for the burglary, but
will be again brought up, as there are several
other charges against him.

COOKE, THE MISER..

There was no greater pest to the medical tribe
than old Cooke, the miser, who died a short time
since at .Pentonville. Many are the anecdotes 'of
the tricks this avaricious old man used to pl,4v, to
cheat mediCal men and save his,money : such as.
putting on ragged clothes, and going as a pauper
to Mr. Sanders and other Gentlemen to have gra-
tuitous advice for his eyes—getting a letter for the
Dispensary, and attending, there, as a decayed
tradesman, for several weeks, until detected.—
Having a 'wound inlis leg, he' employed a Mr.
Pigeon, who lived nearly, opposite 'to him, in
White Lion-street, Pentonville, to cure it. "Flow
long do you think it will he before yoti can cure
it )" month." " And .how much must.] give
you ?" Mr. Pigeon, who saw the wound was not
of any great importance, answered." A guinea."
Very well," replied Cooke, " but mark this—a
guinea is an ituniense sum of money, and when I
agree upon sums of stick magnitude, 1 go upon
the system of Po cure no pay; so, if 1. ant not
cured by the expiration of the month, I pay you
nothing.". This was agreed to ; after diligent at-
tention for. several days, the wound was
.so near
being healed, that Cooke expressed himself sa-
tisfied, and would not let Pigeon see it any more.
however, within two or three days of the mouth
beingoup, the old fellow got sonic sort of plaster,
with cuphorbinnt to it from a farrier, and wade a
new wound on the place where the fmrmer
,had
h'een ; and, sending for Pigeon the last day of the
monen, sheeted hint that his leg was not well, and
that of course the guinea he had agreed foe was
forfeited. This story the old fellow used to tell
of himself with great satisfaction, and used to'
call it '' plucking a Pigeon." \Vim!? on his
death-bed, Ito sent for several medical men (some
would not attend) ; among those who went to
see him, Mr. Aldridge, of Pentonville., 'was one:
it tit he permitted to send some Medicine. At one
of the interviews he earnestly entreated Mr. Ald-
ridge to tell hint candidly how long he thought
he 'might live. The answer was, he might pro-
bably live six daVS. Cooke, collecting all his,
strength, and starting up in bed, exclaimed " And
are you not a dishonest man7-a rogue and A rub-
ber, to serve me sO 3."—" As how }" asked Mr.
Aldridge, with surprise."=---" Why, Sir, 'you, are
no better•th m
an a pickpocket, to go to rob eof
my gold, by sending in two draughts, a day to a
man that all your physic will riot keep aiive above
six'days Get out of my, house, and never conic
near me again

PITIrUL SCENE.---T his afternoon, about four
o'clock, proaced.a scene here truly pitiful. -John
Grant (commonly tailed Brosie), collier in Grange-
pans, who has been a.prisoner for some time past,
upon a warrant of his-Majesty's Justices of Peace,
accused, with others, of assault and robbe'ry of
CktAIILES M'BRIERTY , travellbig merchant ,• effect-
ed his ecape from gaol ; and being immediately
pursued by a number of people, 'tls well on horse-
back as on foot, found himself so pressed and
hemmed in, and likely to be taken, that he rushed
towards the lake• on the north -side of the town,•
having .plunged himself into the water, bad
nearly swam to the opposite side, a distance of
about 'five hundred yards, when he sunk in pre-
sence of his pursuers, never to -rise again ! The
body has not yet been found..—(Liulithgow, Scot-
land, Dec. '20.) •