The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-04 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 4, 1847.

27,000 sittings. He thought that the ratepayers at
large ought to know that such a state of things existed,
and with that object he moved " That measures be taken
for a more extended circulation of the auditor's reports."
Mr. 11. C. WrLsoN, in seconding the motion, thought
it ought to be followed up by something like the proposal
of a remedy. He thought the great fault was, that there
was not a selection made of popular preachers for the
churches, and he thought that was a subject the Crown,
who had the patronage, ought to attend to. Had the
vestry the patronage, they would take care to select such
gentlemen as would benefit the public at large.
The resolution was ultimately carried, and a committee
appointed to consider the matter.
A resolution of condolence, by the vestry, to the Rev.
Dr. Spry, the rector, on the loss of his lady, having been
adopted unanimously, the vestry separated.

THE FOREIGN SORCERESS AND
THE BRITISH MINISTERS.
At Paris, daring the early part of the year 1827, and
the autumn of 1828 and 1829, resided a lady whose pre-
tensions and performances caused no slight sensation
among the novelty-seeking coteries of that gay capital.
Madame de Strzelecki was a woman advanced in years,
plain in appearance, and grave in address. She spoke in
the tone and dictation of one who had been accustomed
to move in the higher grades of
,society ; but of her
descent, connexions, plans, and resources, no one seemed
able to glean the slightest information. She professed to
unveil the future ; and though her fee was gold, and
though she saw those only who waited upon her with a
formal introduction, from a previous client, the equipages
that were found loitering near her spacious dwelling in
Rue de la Paix chez la liarriere du Roulo contained
half the beauty and haul ton of Paris. And yet
the information she gave was partial. It related to
two epochs only in the life of those who consulted 1
her—death and marriage. She would place before you
the lively scene and gay appendages of the one, and the
langour, gloom, and restlessness of the other. On
neither spectacle was it her custom to offer one single
syllable of remark. She left her visitant to draw his
own moral from the scene. Among the strangers in
Paris at that period were two Englishmen of great,
though opposite talent—both ambitious men—each ido-
lized by his respective party—each the sworn champion
of a certain set of opinions—both high in the favour of
the Sovereign whom they served, and aspiring to the
most enduring rewards wnich talent and energy could
win. They hoard from fifty gay voices the fame of
Madame de Strzelecki; and as a 'mere whim of the
moment--an impromptu extravaganza—they resolved to
visit the mystic in disguise, and to test her pretensions.
They were described, in the note of introduction which
they presented, as " two American gentlemen, whose stay
in Paris must be, under any circumstances, short; whose
errand there was some commercial speculation, the issue
of which might recal them to Philadelphia at a few hours'
notice. They entreated, therefore, the favour of an im-
mediate audience." It was granted at once. She re-
ceived them, as was her wont, in silence. But upon the
first who entered her apartment (the younger, and by
far the most intellectual-looking of the two) she gazed
long and earnestly. " You are married, and have two
sons and a daughter ;" was the off hand declaration with
which she met his
.bow : " the scene of your nuptials,
therefore, you cannot well have forgotten I That of
your demise is the spectacle which I presume you wish
to have .brought before you ?" " You anticipate me,
madam," was the reply ; but such is, undoubtedly,
the object of ,my present visit."
" And you, Sir," said she, turning to his companion,
" are married, but childless. Do you wish to gaze
upon the closing scene of your busy life ?" " Per-
haps," added she, with more of interest and feeling
than she generally exhibited, " you will abandon your
intention ? Reconsider it." "By no means ; the ordeal
which is gaily courted by my companion I would also
brave."" Have you firmness and resolution 2" demanded
the lady ? " Have you nerve to gaze upon a very har-
rowing spectacle ?' " Without it, ought Ito have come
hither?" "I am answered: follow me." She led the
way, as she spoke out of the apartment, and the English-
men followed her. They crossed a small, low passage;
passed through a narrow portal; a second, a third, and
then found themselves in a hall of very considerable ex-
tent. It was paved with black marble, and decorated at
each end with four slender pillars of the same material.
In fhe centre rose a very large jet-black basin, filled with
()ark water to a considerable depth. A cupola, or lantern,
admitted a tempered light from above; and the deep
basin was so placed that whatever daylight the dome ad-
mitted fell upon it. But, despite of the noble propor-
tions of the hall, and the lightness of the pillars, and the
fairy tracery of the cupola, there was en air of gloom
ever the whole apartment. It seemed a fitting scene
to communicate tidings of approaching sorrow, sepa-
tion, sickness, silence, death. " Look on this dark
ia
ater," said their conductress;_ " it shall speak to you
f the future. If death be at a distance, it will sink some
feet in every second that you gaze upon it. If your
parting hour approaches, it will rise rapidly ; and if the
very last sands in life's hour-glass be running ; will
mount till it be checked only by the margin, If it be
fated that death shall approach you in the guise of vio-
lence, the water shall instantly bubble up. If caused by
accident, it will change colour once, twice, fast as the
hues of the rainbow meet into each other and vanish,
even while you gaze on them. If death overtake you by
gradual decay, and in the common course of nature,
other than a gentle ripple over its surface, no change
will the still water know or tell. You understand me?"
" I do." " Fully?" " I conceive so." " Approach,
then. Gaze steadfastly on that dark surface, and it
shall mirror to thee, fully and faithfully, the future."
The calmer, and graver, and sadder of the two ad-
vanced slowly. to the margin with a look of mingled
curiosity and . incredulity, which sat strangely on his
heavy, massive, and somewhat passionless features. In
an instant the water rose at least two feet--changed
colour rapidly, and evidently more than once—
and then became dark and motionless as before.
"Ah I not far distant—and by accident!" The
mystic made no reply, but merely motioned him by
a gesture to gaze on. He did so, and ai he looked he
beheld a mimic representation of a scene of great con-
fusion. Countless multitudes were assembled—there
was running to and fro—horsemen were riding in all
directions—the spectators were conversing eagerly with
each other—and deep dismay sat on many a countenance.
This faded from the surface, and there was presented to
him a small room in what appeared to be a road-side
inn. Three or more individuals it contained, to whose
persons he was a perfect stranger. But there was one
present whose features he instantly recognised—one who
was ever dear to hica—his wife. Her countenance was
calm, but there was stamped on it deep and indescribable
distress. Propped up
.with pillows in the foreground,
was a figure which he instantly admitted to be his own.
But how painfully was he pictured ! The eye was wan-
dering and restless—eyery feature bore the impress of in-
tense agony—and the face was overspread with that cold
grey tint which so surely foretells impending dissolution.
He looked at it steadily for a few seconds. A sort
of mist seemed to come over his vision. He withdrew
his gaze for an instant from the fountain, and when he
again resumed his observation the painful scene had
wholly disappeared I His inquiring look of astonish-
by the fixed, rigid expression 0;
ment and emotion the mystic returned with apathy.
The agitation manifested in his countenance was
appeared a painful struggle with conflicting
feelings ; her countenance wore its usual air of cold and
shterrre.gelLiscontrasted
impassive indifference. " What ! it's past a joke ?" said
the younger of the two, advancing gaily towards the
fountain; "the answer of 'the oracle is not palateable, eh?
Take your favourite poets advice henceforth :
Quid sit futurum, eras
--•
Fuge quagere I
But now of me and to me what says the future I" The
water rose a few inches and then became stationary.
_bumble in its ircommodation, antique
and clumsy in its furniture, and altogether pretension-
Ons its
dismuernfascioens next appeared a small chamber, limited
in it
pretension-
less in its comforts and appointments. Gardens
seemed to stretch around it of considerable extent ;
and on the mantel-piece he remarked a small bronze
lion, at once,
clock of singular chapel and construction. His atten-
became intently and painfully fixed.
" Charles, as I live!" he exclaimed, as his eyes rested on
of a sick person, in
the lineaments of a youth, who was holding the hand
the full vigour of life, but evidently
racked with bodily
"
agony. " The other figure I con•
cieve to be that—that —"continued he, speaking slowly
and after a lengthened pause—" yes, that of Charles's
dying father! 'Tis a painful spectacle," added he,
turning from the fountain, " and I know not what
benefit is to be derived from a lengthened contem-
plation of it. Come, the day wears. We will leave
this clever, disagreeable, and certainly most puzzling ex-
hibition." lie took his friend's arm as he spoke, and
advanced to pay his parting devoirs to the mystic,and Nith
them, her fee. The first she returned coldly : the latter
she peremptorily rejected. " I,am already remunerated,
thosep_lac whomed
on
two
she
as
amply remunerated ;" was her unexpected and startling
declaration.—"
servants o f
ministered to the amusement—the passing amusement ;
,the bitter emphasis
Sufficient honour for me if I have ad-
.the
such last
distinguishedw o word conveyed
c onyseyt
State
a moaninge
adirre.sllseudskseisesmonedantdo
feel and shrink from—" of
whichßritannic Majesty
Mr. Canning .' i ,
Again
, with
exquisite mockery, she
curtsied deeper and more deferentially than before, and,
ere they could recover from their surprise, left them.—
Literary leaves from a Freemason's Note book.

DARING
A.T;IMPT TO ROB AND Murtnnn.-:-On
Saturday information was
given to the police of the fol-
lowing daring attempt at
robbery and murder. It ap-
pears that on Friday morning Mr. Shrimpr
the purpose
ton, harness
maker, of No. 64, Great Hill, left home fo
of paying his quarter's rent to Mr. Bryer, his landlord,
residing to the Brecknock Arms, St. Pancras-
road• Prior to his going he entered a public-house and
had some refreshment, when he took out his purse and
told A friend whom he had accidentally met, that he was
about to pay Mr.. Bum-. There were two suspicious
fellows present, who seemed to pay attention to
what was going forward. After he had paid the rent he
was proceeding . homewards, across Copenhagen-fields,
looking
when two men came behind and inflicted a revere blow
on the head; and he fell nearly stunned. He, however,
resisted with great courage, but he was at length over-
powered and rendered insensible, and he was found some
time afterwards weltering in his blood, with his pockets
turned inside out. After having been removed to a public-
house near the Dlodel Prison, where he was kindly
treated, he waa removed to his residence, where he re-
mainseak state. Police constable Stone, 7,
,theG diniviasivoehry 'w,lias received a pretty good description of
the ruffians, and hopes are entertained of their detection.
LIBERALITY OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT.—A
great deal was said at the time the French Government
granted permission to Prince Polignac, ex-minister of
Charles X., to return to France, after many years' Im-
prisonment and exile. It will scarcely be believeil that
the Prince, who is allowed to sojourn at Saint Germain's,
a few miles
.from the French capital, is not allowed to
I visit his son, who is at college in Paris, Rithout especial
penniagic;n (' the authorities.

EXTENSIVE HORSE STEALING.
On Saturday an elderly man,lnamed James Robinson,
described as a horse dealer, but who was formerly a
grocer at Blackwater, Hants, was brought up before the
Rev. R. Wright and Mr. Theobald, magistrates of
Hampshire, at the office of the magistrates' clerk, oppo-
site the gaol at Winchester, for further examination, on
io fewer than eight charges of horse stealing. The pri-
soner was apprehended at Hammersmith, and after a
short examination before Mr. T. Paynter at the Ham-
mersmith police-court, was sent down to Winchester, it
being more convenient to the witnesses.
It appeared from the evidence gone into that the pri-
soner had, for the last three months, been in the habit of
going, backwards and forwards to the Raven public-
house kept by Mr. William Beasley, in the New-road,
Hammersmith, generally staying two or three days in a
week, and several times bringing horses with him.
On the 19th of November last he brought with him
a grey, gelding, nearly thorough-bred, which he kept
there a week. During that time the prisoner offered
it for sale to several persons at sixty guineas, telling
them that he was a small farmer and had bred it. On
the 19th of December (Saturday) policeman Graves, T
195, while passing the Raven, saw the prisoner there
with three or four persons, and heard one ask him if he
had sold his grey horse. The prisoner said that he had,
but had only got 431. when it ought to have been 60/., as
it was nearly thorough-bred. The policeman, suspect-
ing something was wrong; spoke to the landlord on the
subject, who gave him a description of the horse. Graves
immediately communicated the circumstance to Sergeant
Mount, T 29, who went to the Raven on the following
morning, having in the meantime ascertained that a
horse answering the description had been stolen from a
stable on the promises of Mr. William Saunders, Cran-
bourne Farm, near the Andover station, Hants, and
questioned the prisoner if his name was Robinson ?—if
the grey horse was his property, and where he had
bought it ? The prisoner answered yes to the
first question, but made no reply to the other
questions. Mount then asked him if the bay
horse he was feeding belonged to him, and
whether a grey horse in the next stall was his also?
The prisoner said both were his, and that he had
bought them, and, after some hesitation, added, " I sup•
pose you are going to take me." He was then secured,
and it was ascertained that the- grey horse stolen from
Mr. Saunders, which the prisoner said had gone into
Yorkshire, was at the commission stables of Mr. Shackle
in Oxford-street, where it was found by Mount and
identified by Mr. Saunders.
Evidence was then gone into proving that the grey
horse, which Mr. Saunders valued at aot, was sate in the
stable on the evening of the 17th November last, and
was missing on the following morning, when the door
was found shut, but not pinned by a chain as it was on
the previous evening.
Mr. Charles Lee, of Coldrey, Hants, indentified the
bay cart gelding, valued at 251., found by Mount at the
Raven, as the property of his mother, Mrs. Harriet Lee,
of Coldrey, which had been stolen from his stable on
the night of the 14th December last. There were two
other horses in the stable which was broken open, but
were not taken. A stable adjoining had also been
broken open, but the door having a chain like a street
door, the thief could not enter ; in that stable were
four valuable hunters, the least of which was worth 100
guineas.
Mr. T. Webb, of Dogsmerfield, near Odiham, Hants,
identified the grey mare also found at the Raven, and
valued at thirty guineas, as having been stolen from his
premises on the night of the 2d of December.
The BENCH said it would be unnecessary for them
to go into the other cases against the prisoner, as the
evidence in the three cases in which the depositions were
taken were so clear as to ensure a conviction.
The prisoner was nominally committed for trial at the
Spring Assizes. but will be again brought up on the
attendance of Mr. Shackle, for whose presence a sum-
mons oan sp
personas
saosn ins saumeedd,
Tinely,a al aa
tsummons
lf,oarr
mt eEattendance
is said to have purchased Mr. Saunders's horse at Mr.
Shackle's for 43/.
The BENCH complimented the officers of the T divi-
sion for the ability they had displayed in the case.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION HOUSE.
THE ROBBERY OF THE WARWICK AND LEANING
TON BANK.--It will be recollected that in July, 1845, a
clerk in the Warwick and Leamington Bank, named
William Hudson Blayney, was stated to have stolen a
parcel containing one hundred 101. notes, with which he
had been intrusted by the firm to deposit in the post
office at. Warwick ; and that Daniel Forrester, accom-
panied by Superintendent Roby, of the Leatnington
police, apprehended the accused at Calais, but were pre-
vented from taking him away with them by the defec-
tive condition of the international law between the two
countries.—Blayney this day suddenly gave himself up
to John Forrester, stating that it was his determination
to meet the charge before the Lord Mayor, and, if ne-
cessary, before the Central Criminal Court. He ap-
peared to be very much distressed, and was exceedingly
dejected. Immediately after Blayney had been taken
into custody at Calais, application was made to the au-
thorities by Forrester to convey him to England, but re-
jected for the before-mentioned reason. However, the
accused having travelled in the name of Brows, was
locked up for two months inconsequence of the misnomer,
and the authorities not being able to do anything more
in furtherance of the object of the officers, he
was discharged at the end of that period. Exhausted
with fatigue and privations, he at length resolved to
come over to England and take his chance of a trial, to
which it was supposed the bankers would not think it
necessary to subject him, as he is not only without
money, but it is considered that he had received no share
of the booty. It is rather an extraordinary fact, that at
the time he was giving himself up to John Forrester,
that officer's brother was receiving directions from the
plundered parties to be on the look out, as it was sup-
posed that Blayney was in London. George Blayney,
the brother of the prisoner, was taken for the robbery
soon after the commission of it, he having, it was be-
lieved, received the parcel from his brother, and a man
named Jennings was apprehended on the charge of hay-
ing been receiver, and both were at the ensuing assizes
convicted, and sentenced to a limited term of transporta-
tion, while the prisoner, who has thus given himself into
custody, escaped to France.
John Forrester having stated to the Lord Mayor the
fact that the prisoner had called upon him to give him-
self up for trial, the prisoner, in answer to the question
of the Lord Mayor, said he was ready to meet the charge.
The prisoner was remanded for a few days, and direc-
tions were immediately forwarded to the Warwick and
Leamington Bank to send witnesses to town.
EXTENSIVE ENBEZZLENENT.—Edmund Webber, who
was some days ago charged with having embezzled
several sums of money, the property of his employers,
Messrs. Giles and Co., Fowkes's-buildings, Tower, was
brought up for final examination.
Mr. Hobler appeared for the prosecution, and Mr.
Ballantine for the defendant.
The prisoner had been long employed as collecting-
clerk by Messrs. Giles and Co., and one of the sums of
money he was charged with having embezzled was
7181. 115 6d., for which Mr. Aste, a customer of the
house, residing in Tottenham•court Toad, paid him a
cheque for his employers. The prisoner was committed
for trial upon three distinct charges. He bad, unfor-
tunately, been tempted to deal in railway shares, and
having been successful in two or three experiments, he
fancied he should have it all his own way, and made a
dash with his employer's money to make his fortune.