The Sun.
London, England, 1825-10-17 00:00:00

ANECDOTES, &c.

Sr. ETIIELDREDA.—This day is the anniver-
sary of St. Etheldreda ; she was a Princess of distinguished
piety, and daughter of Aunas, King of the East Angles, and
Heriswitha, his Queen, and was born in the year 630, at li-
ning, a small village in Suffolk; at an early age she made a
vow of perpetual chastity, which it is recorded she never broke,
though she was twice married, first to Thombert, an Eng-
&lt Lord, and afterwards to Egfrid, King of Northumber-
land, in 671. Having lived twelve years with this King, she
retired from the world, and devoted herself to God and reli.
gious contemplation, erecting an abbey at Ely, of which she
became superior, and where she passed the remainder of her
days. The monastery, in which both Monks and Nuns lived
in society and regular order, continued to flourish for near
two hundred years after her death, which happened in 679 ;
but in 870 the Danes made a descent on the isle, destroyed
the monastery, and slaughtered the inhabitants. A painting
on glass in the Bishop's palace, Ely, represents St. Ethel-
dreda with a crook, or pastoral staff, in her right hand, and in
her left she holds an open book, on which her eyes are fixed
with great earnestness.. This is also the anniversary of the
battle of Durham, in which David King of Scotland was
taken prisoner, 1346 ; and yesterday of Ridley, Bishop of
London, being burnt at Oxford, 1555 ; of a greet hurricane at
Oxford, 1773; of a large plantation in the parish of St. Jo-
seph, B.trbadoes, being removed to another site, 1784 ; decapi-
tation of the Queen of France, 1783; and arrival of Buona-
parte at St. Helena, 1815. _

• LOUD
PITERBOItOUGII, when a widower, be-
came deeply enamoured of the accomplished Anastasia Robin-
son, daughter of a painter; who, though an opera-singer and a
teacher of music and the Italian language, to support an aged
parent, rejected all his advances tending to an illicit connexion.
The Earl, dreading a total loss of the fair Anastasia, married
her privately, and concealed the circumstance, till, in 1735, he
publicly owned what most people knew before. He proclaimed
his marriage in the following singular manner. He went one
evening to the rooms at Bath, where a servant was ordered
distinctly and audably to proclaim "Lady Peterborough's car.
riage waits."

DUFItESNE, the celebrated French actor, was
once interrupted during his performance by a gentleman in the
pit, who called out " You speak too low, Sir." "And you too
loud," replied the actor. _ .

EXT RA 0 RDINA Icy EXECUTION.—In the year
1136, King RAsinto caused this execution :.---The ciieF offi-
cers of state in A rragon having treated the King with 'Hare.
spect, he called an assembly of the state, under pretext of con-
sulting them concerning a bell which he was going to have
made of so considerable a magnitude, that the sound of it would
be heard all over the kingdom. When the members of the
states were come, they were led one after another into the King's
apartment, and there strangled. Their dead bodies were heap-
ed up in the form of a bell, in the great hall. Afterwards the
Prime Minister was brought, whom the King asked, what he
thought of that new invention of bells ? and wethcr there was
still any thing wanting to it ? He answered, " Nothing but a
clapper." " You are right," said the King; " and I intend
that place for you." This said, he caused him to be executed,
and hung up in the midst of them in the manner of a clapper.
After this eruel execution, the King sent for the sons of the
murdered, to be spectators of this sad sight. The places of their
fathers were indeed given them, but with a strict injunction
not to participate of their crimes.
GLADIATORS.--It was under the Consulate of
Appius Claudius and M. Fabius, that the children of Brutus,
anxious to honour the memory of their father, first exhibited at
Rome a combat of Gladiators. This horrid and disgusting
spectacle was received with transports by the Romans, and was
frequently repeated on the triumph of Christianity over Pa-
ganism, when they were firmly established. 'But, however the
sight of men maiming and destroying each other might afford
amusement to The great mass of the Roman people, it was
strongly reprobated by many of the philosophers, such as
Seneca and Pliny the younger. Yet, in their time, this ridi-
culous and c.ztravagant mania had arrived at such: a pitch of
extravagance that the sons of Senators and Roman Knights
did not blush to enter the arena, to.combat with wild beasts,
in imitation of the vilest among the Gladiators or AthletEs.—
But the evil did not stop here. We are informed by Suetonius
and by Dion Cassius, that the wives of Roman Senators, for.
getting at once the modesty and timidity of their sex, were seen
combatting in the Circus! And this disgusting practice con.
tinued until the reign of Sevcrus, who justly forbade an exhi-
bition so unfeminine and disgusting.
EMPIRES are sometimes ruled by very humble
individuals. Thus Antony ruled the whole world ; he was go-
verned by Cleopatra; Cleopatra was ruled by Dellius, the con-
fidant and yet the rival of Antony ; and one of Cleopatra's
waiting women ruled Dellius, and consequently might be
justly considered as governing the world.
The FRENCH. POET MA LSIIERBE, though, pos.
sessing great sensibility, felt a singular contempt for men.
After mentioning the murder of Abel by Cain, he exclaimed,
" A fine beginning they made of it. There were only three or
four of them in the world, and one of them kills his brother !"

Thr. LATE CAPTAIN COCHRANE.—Captain J.
DUNDAS COCHRANE, R.N., whose death at Valencia, South
America, is briefly announced in another part of our paper,
was perhaps the most extraordinary pedestrian traveller upon
record. At the conclusion of the general peace, he traversed
on foot the countries of France, Spain, and Portugal ; and in
1820, he offered to undertake a journey into the interior of
Africa; to explore the source of the Niger. To accomplish this
object, it was even his intention to have sold himself as a slave
to one of the owners of caravans travelling in that country. The
Admiralty,,however, to whom he made the request, either from
regard to the safety of his person, or because they considered
such an expedition foreign to their department, were unfavour..
able to the plan. He subsequently set out with an intention of
travelling round the globe, as nearly as it can be done by land,
crossing from northern Asia to America, at Behring's Straights
—all this, too, on foot, his circumstances admitting of no other
mode. His leading object was to trace the shores of the Polar
Sea along America, by land, as Captain Parry is now attempt-
ing to do by sea. Having arrived at St. Petersburgh, anti ob-
tained letters of recommendation and protection from the Em-
peror Alexander, he set out to traverse Siberia to Kamtschatka
or Behring's Straits, but had not proceeded far, when, as he
was travelling through a forest, he was attacked by robbers,
who first stripped him naked, and then left him tied to a tree,
from which disagreeable situation he was released by a boy,
who happened to be passing that way. His ardour, however,
was by no means abated by this untoward circumstance, for he
still pursued his journey, and after encountering incredible dan-
gers, all of which are fully described in his " Pedestrian Tour,"
he succeeded in reaching Kamtschatka. While there, however,
he became fully aware of the impracticability of his plan, and
returned to Europe. In the course of this extensive journey,
he states that he travelled upwards of 6,000 miles at the ex-
pence of only one guinea. This persevering and astonishing
pedestrian traveller was nephew of that distinguishad and re-
spected officer, the Hon. Admiral Sir Alexander J. Cochran,
G.C.B.—(Hampshire Telegraph.)

MRS. BELZONI.-It is in some degree a public
duty to draw attention to the situation of this
Lady. She is the inheritor of the misfortunes
and ought to be inheritor of the valuable treasures
which her husband's enterprizing and indefati-
gable zeal discovered, and which he sent to
this country, where they ought to remain as
a national monument.—The hand of the law,
however, has seized on those treasures, and
they will be sold in detail, and for a mere
trifle compared with the real value of such re•
mains of antiquity, which must be highly gratify-
ing to men of taste and learning,and which would
be ornamental to the country.

Mrs. SALMON, one of the best vocal performers
that this country has ever produced, is gone to
Italy for the recovery of her health, accom-
panied by her son and daughter. We are glad
to hear that, whether she will be able to appear
in public again or not, the exertion of her talents
has secured her a comfortable provision for the
decjjne of life.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.