The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-17 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, THURSDAY.—The Prince Castelci-
c:.ala, Neapolitan Minister, and Mr. Edward
Everett, American Minister, arrived here to-
day at the Castle from town, on a visit to her
Majesty. In the afternoon the Earl of Aber-
deen, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, ar-
rived at the Castle from town.
In the forenoon the Queen and Prince Albert
walked on the Terrace and in the Little Park.
Afterwards the Prince enjoyed a run with the
beagles, attended by the Earl of Warwick, the
Hon. C. A. Murray, Sir Edward Bowater, and
Mr. G. E. Anson.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent
walked for some time on the Castle Terrace.

This afternoon her Majesty and Prince Albert
walked to Adelaide Cottage, attended by part of
the Royal Suite.
General the Hon. Sir W. Lumley, Colonel
Arbuthnot, and Sir E. Bowater, rode out on
horseback.

Mr. G. E. and the Hon. Mrs. Anson will have
the honour of joining the Royal dinner party at
the Castle this evening.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess
of Cambridge, Prince George and the Princess
Augusta of Cambridge, attended by Lady Au-
gusta. Somerset, left their residence at Kew, on
Wednesday, to honour the Earl and Countess
Delawarr with a visit at their seat, Buckhurst
Park, Sussex.
A Cabinet Council was held yesterday at the
F4ireign-office. It was attended by Sir Robert
Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Wham-
clifre, the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of
Aberdeen, Lord Stanley, Sir James Graham,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Earl of Had-
dington, Lord Fitzgerald, Earl of Ripon, Sir
Henry Hardinge, and Sir Edward Knatchbull.
The Council sat two hours.
Sir Henry Harding-e left town after the break-
ing up of the Council;
The- Chevalier Bunsen, Eth,oy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary from the King of
Prussia, had an interview with Sir Robert Peel,
yesterday, at his official residence in Downing-
street.

Baron Brunow, the Russian Minister, and
Count Kielniansegg,e, the Hanoverian Minister,
transacted business yesterday at the Foreign-
office.

The Mayor of Manchester, and a Deputation,
had an interview yesterday with Sir Robert Peel
in Downing-street.
The Postmaster-General had an interview
with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday,
at hip official residence in Downing-street.
The Lord Mayor had au interview with Sir
Robert Peel on Wednesday.

DEATH OF THE EARL OF WEST-
MORELAND.

BRIGHTON, DEC. 16.—This venerable Earl, who had
been confined to his bed for some weeks past, expired
last night at five minutes after ten, in the presence of
Lady Burghersh, and other branches of the family. The
Noble Lord inherited the title as tenth Earl, at the
decease of his father, on the 26th of April, 1774. He
married first on the 20th of May, 1782, Sarah Anne,
only daughter and heiress of Robert Child, Esq., the
eminent banker of Ostesley Park, Middlesex, by whom
he had issue, one son and three daughters, viz., John
Lord Burghersh, who married Priscilla Anne, daughter
of the Right Hon. William Wellesley Pole, now Lord
Maryborough ; Sarah Sophia, who inherited by be.
queEt the immense fortune of her maternal grandfather,
and who married in 1804,'George, the present Earl of
Jersey ; Augusta, married in 1804, to Lord Boringdon,
now Earl of Morley r her Ladyship was divorced by
Act of Parliament in 1809, and in the same year mar-
ried tle Right Hon. Sir Arthur Paget, G.C.B. ; and
Maria, who was married on the 16th of November,
1805, to John William, Viscount Duncannot), M.P.
The deceased Earl married again on the 24th of March,
1800, Jane, eldest daughter and co-heiress of Richard
H. Saunders, ALD. ; by this marriage he had issue two
sons and one daughter, viz., Henry Sutton, a Lieut.-
Colonel in the army, born 14th January, 1804 ;
Montague Villiers, born 19th Sept., 1605, and Ctcily
Jane Georgina. His Lordship was Lord-Lieutenant
and Custos Rotulorum for the county of Northampton,
Recorder of Lyme Regis, and patron of three livings ;
was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland from 1790 to 1795,
and filled the office of Lord Privy Seal from 1795 to
1806, and from 1807 to 1827, thus having been Privy
Seal for the long period of 20 years. He was born in
1759, and was consequently 82 years of cge at his death,
His eldest sop, now Earl of Westmoreland, is British
Minister at the Court of Berlin, and is in his 58th year.

SABBATH OBSERVANCE.—At the meeting of
the Edinburgh Town Council, held on Tuesday,
Baillie Johnston moved " That it be remitted to
the Lord provost's Committee to consider and
devise the best means of counteracting the de-
moralising practice of selling spirits and other
intoxicating drinks on the Sabbath-day through-
out the ,city." The motion, after some discussion,
was agreed to, but it was evident from what was
said by all the spea!i.ers, except a Dr. Macaulay,
that they agreed[ to it rather with a view to
allow the Baillie to ride his hobby than
with the slightest prospect of carrying his
fanatical purpose into effect. One of the
Councillors said—" I am aware that it is both
difficult and dangerous to legislate on matters re-
lating to the first day of the week, or what we
are accustomed to call the Christian Sabbath.
There is no direct command in the New Testa-
ment, so far as I am aware, in reference to the
observance of the first day of the week, neither
during the ordinary times of Divine Worship, nor
any other time." Another said he did not see
what the Council could do in the matter ; a third
maintained that the Sabbath was much better
observed now than it was twenty years ago ; and
a fourth, who would heartily g.) along with the
Council in the inquiry, told them that it would
just end where it began. This is a strange waste of
time. We would have given the Baillie's speech at
length but for want of room, for it is a great
curiosity. According to his account, the people
of Edinburgh, with all their strict Sunday ob-
servance, must be the most immoral people in
the world, there being not fewer than 18,500
habitual Sabbath-breakers by traffic alone, inde-
pendent of drunkards, swearers, cursers, blas-
phemers, lewd persons, thieves, and infidels, in a
population less than that of Marylebone !

STROUD.—The Anti- Corn-la w agitation is
making very rapid progress in the borough of Stroud.
Associations are formed in several of the parishes
in the neighbourhood, and meetings are held
every week to receive members; and to discuss
the bearings of these unjust laws on the distress of
the country. The operatives are just getting alive
to the duty of watching over their own interests,
and are beginning to put forth rational and moral ener-
gies, which no Government will be able to resist. The
Tories, before another year is past, will have deeply to
regret their defeat of the Whigs, and the objection of
the Bs. duty. Their doing so has aroused the labouring
classes. Notwithstanding their poverty, the people feel
their strength, they know that, properly speaking, they
are the real wealth of the country, and that, apart from
labour, the land is worthless, and ships and machinery
useless, and they are determined to have the 'grieVance,
under which they at present groan, redressed: Their
first movement, therefore, will be confined to the state-
rnont of their grievances, and petitioning the Legis-
lature. Lectures ate every week delivered on the in-
justice and cruelty of the Corn-laws.—Clicltenharn
_Examiner.
TXWKESBURY.—The population of this town
is about 6,000, of which number nearly half stand in need
of relief; very many being in the greatest distress. A few
wealthy individuals, and, in fact, all who can afford to do
so, have subscribed towards supplying 800 families with
coal during the ensuing winter, but although several hun-
dred pounds have already been raised, the subscription is
not so large as it might at first sight have been expected
to be, owing to the trade in the town being in such a de-
plorable state as to prevent the tradespeople acting as they
would wish to do.--Worcestershire Chronicle.

FOUR VESSELS RUN DOWN AT SEA.—
Within the last two or three days the underwriters at
Lloyd's have received intelligence of four vessels having
been run down during the late dreadful gales from the
north-west, unhappily attended with loss of life. The
vessels in question are the schooner Eliza, belonging to
Ipswich, the Defiance, of Greenwich, the schooner
Nancy, belonging to Yarmouth, and the brig Queen,
of Newcastle. It appears that the Eliza, which
w s a fast-sailing vessel, was run down on the night of
the sth inst., between 10 and 11, near Harwich, by a
brig called the Conudon, of Stockton, and it was a
miracle that the crew, many of whom were asleep in
their berths, were not carried down with the vessel, for
she sank in a few minutes after the collision. Fortu-
nately they got on board of the brig, but were not
able to save any property. The vessel is supposed to
be insured. The Nancy was lost on the same night,
and the account given of her loss is, that she was in the
roads off the eastern coast, making for Yarmouth, when
the Jean and Mary, of Whitby, came athwart her
bows with such tremendous violence that the almost
immediately sank, an it was with the utmost difficulty
that the other vessel was prevented from sinking, her
starboard quarter being completely driven in. The
master, Mr. Todd, and the crew saved themselves by
mping into the long boat, and landed the following
morning at Yarmouth very much exhausted. The Jean
and Mary has since been run ashore to save her. Both
vessels are insured. As regards the Defiance, she was
lost on the 10th instant, elf Cromer Lighthouse. She
was at anchor at the time, and the vessel that caused her
destruction was the schooner Alert, of Whitby. The
master, who is the owner of the vessel, is unfortunately
not insured. On the morning of the 11th, Saturday last,
the Queen, on her voyage to London from Shields, laden
deeply with coals, when off Scarborough, was run down
by a barque, name unknown, and three of the crew sank
with the ship. The remaining portion of the crew sprang
into the jollyboat just as she was sinking and were
picked up about four hours after by a fishing smack, and
lauded at Elanaborough. The vessel was valued at 2,000/.

FASTI G IMPOSTORS.

This appears to have been an old " trick;" and with
what success Cavanagh had obtained the character of
an " original" may be judged from the brief details re-
specting two women, in precisely the same "line," who
huve preceded him, and regarding whom hitherto no-
thing has appeared.

The earliest mention of these " non-such wonders"
is the celebrated fasting damsel, Martha Taylor, born
t.t Over Haddon, in Derbyshire, about the middle of
the 17th century. She seems to have been the Mira-
bile Pecci of the day, and to have caused a most extra-
ordinary sensation throughout the country, for as many
as four pamphlets relating to her are extant. The
titles are—

" Nowes from Derbyshire, or the Wonder of all
Wonders that ever yet was printe3, being a relation of
the handywork of Almighty God, shown upon the body
of one Martha Taylor living about a mile or some-
thing more from Bakewcll, in Derbyshire, hard by a
pasture, commonly called Hadon Pasture. This maid,
as it bath pleased the Lord, she hatii fasted forty weeks
and more, which may very well be called a wonder of
all wonders, though most people who hear this may
censure this to be some fable, Set if they please but to
take the pains to read over the book, I hope that they
will be better satisfied, and have some faith to believe."

The worthy writer was "T. Robins, B. of D. (bell.
man of Derby)." It was published at " London, Oct,
13, 1668."

The next is by the same author, who is less prolix
in his title. It is named " The Wonder of the
World,' wherein, as related by that veritable func-
tionary, is given " the whole truth, acd no more, as it was
taken from the mouth of the damsel and her mother."

However, the next pamphlet comes irom a learned
gentleman of that time, Mr. Joseph Reynolds, and is
entitled " A Discourse upon prodigious Abstinence, oc-
casioned by the twelvemonths fasting of Martha Taylor,
the famous Derbyshire damosell, proving that without
any miracle the texture of human bodies may be so al-
tered that life may be long continued without the sup-
plies of meat and drink ; with an account of the heart
and how far it is interested in the business of fermen-
tation," Which he " humbly offered to the Royal
Society."
The last bears the date of " London, March 30,
1669," and is entitled " Mirabile Pecci, or the Non-
such Wonder of the Peak, in Derbyshire, discover'd in
a full, though succinct narrative of the more than ordi-
nary parts, piety, and preservation of Martha Taylor,
one that (who) bath been supported in time above a
year. beyond the ordinary course of nature, without
meat or drink. By H. A."
It is evident that the Derbyshire girl caused no or-
dinary interest in those days from all the narratives
being published in London, when the metropolis was a
seven days', instead of, as now, as many hours, journey
from Bakewell and Derby.
It is said that she began to abstain from food on the
22d December, 1667, being then in her 18th year, in
consequence of the effects of a blow received some years
before, but her illness is said not to have commenced
till the end of August, or the beginning of September
preceding. According to the last-mentioned pamphlet
she was living, and continued to fast, when it was
published, and her face is there described as plump
and ruddy ; her pulse as even and lively : and it is
said that alter she had left off eating she once swal-
lowed part of a fig, which had nearly proved fatal
to her ; that the vertebrae of her back might be felt
through the abdomen ; that she bad very little sleep,
and was once wholly without sleep for five weeks.
It appears that she underwent two watches, having
been attended by from forty to sixty women, who
watched her strictly night and day. One of these
watches was appointed by the neighbouring townships,
the other by the Earl of Devonshire. There is no
account of the sequel of this " interesting phenomenon,"
whether she was detected as an impostor, or whether
she was a real sufferer, and, having recovered, returned
to her usue.l habits. The parish register records the
burial of her as having taken place June 12, 1684.
It is probable that Ann Moor, a notorious " lasting"
impostor of the last century, might have heard of the
existence of Martha Taylor, and even some copies of
these pamphlets might have fallen into her hands at
some period, but the leading circumstances of her im-
positions were precisely the same as the present unfor-
tunate Irish " gentleman" in Reading gaol.
Ann Moor was also a Derbyshire woman, having
been born at Roston, in the parish of Worbury, and
resided at Tutbury, Staffordshire, on the borders of
Derbyshire, about four miles from Sudbury, where the
Queen Dowager is now residing, and it was at that
town, during a pretended fasting of more than four
years, she contrived that her case should, in almost
every particular, resemble that of Martha Taylor.
Having successfully eluded one watch of 17 days and
nights, she continued her imposture with the greatest
confidence ; till at length; having reluctantly submitted
to a second ordeal, it was conducted with so much care
and skill that she found it impossible to elude the vigi.
lance of the watchers, and at length, when nature was
almost exliduifed in the real fasting, she confessed her-
self an impostor.
Tl-17 TRACTARIANS.

Extract of the letter from Wm. Palmer, M.A., Fel-
low and Tut4r of St. Mary Magdalene College, Oxford,
and Deacon in the Church of England, to the Rev.
C. P. Golightly :—" Certainly, I am for no middle
ways, as you will understand when I tell you plainly,
that for myself I utterly reject and anathematize the
principle of Protestantism as a heresy, with all its forms,
sects, and denominations. And if the Church of Eng-
land should ever unhappily profess herself to be a form
of ProteAantism (which may God of his infinite mercy
forbid I) then I would reject and anathematize the.
Church of' England, and would separate myself' from her
immediately as from a human sect, without giving
Protestants any unnecessary trouble to procure my ex-
pulsion. ln conclueion, I once mots publicly profess
myself a Catholic, and a member of a Catholic Church,
and say anathema to the principle of Protestantism
(which I regard as identical with the principle of Dis-
sent), and to all its forms, sects, and denominations,
especially to those of the Lutherans and Calvinists, and,
British and American Dissenters."

INTERESTING ANATOMICAL EX-
AMINATION OF A FEMALE CHIMPANZEE.
In July 'ast a very fine pair of chimpanzees were pur-
chased by the Committee of the Bristol and Clifton
Zoological Gardens, they having been brought direct
from Africa to this port. During the summer and
autumn these rare animals attracted the attention of
v:sitors from all parts. From the circumstance of no
specimen having been preserved in this country for a
longer period than a few morths, as they have generally
died of consumption, more than ordinary care and atten-
tion were bestowed upon them by the keeper ; for as
there were a pair—a very unusual thing—the Commit-
tee set a very high value upon them ; but it was of no
avail, as far as relates to the female, for she died on the
sth instant, though not (as it has subsequently
been found) of the usual disease, consumption, but of
dysentery, to which she had, in fact, been subject on
her voyage, and continued to suffer from it till her
death. Indeed, there was no remedy, for it was found
impossible to administer any medicine. The keeper was
in the habit of masticating her food, and feeding her
from his mouth ; but the moment any kind of medicine
was attempted to be introduced she rejected it, and
even after it had been forced down her throat she would
throw it off her stomach. The body baying been pre-
sented to the Bristol Philosophic Institution, was opened
by Dr. Fairbrother, in the presence of some of the
members. On being anatomically examined, its great
similarity to the human frame was surprisingly appa-
rent. The brain, lungs, heart, stomach, iver, spleen,
kidneys, intestines, &c., were in form and shape almost
exactly the counterpart of those in a human being ;
the heart, in particular, presented a peculiarity never
found in any other of the monkey tribe, that is, it had
nearly the same obliquity, and rested on the midriff in
the same manner as in the human body ; indeed, the
only striking exception was in the organs of the voice,
there being on the upper part of the ventricles of the
larynx two small membranous bags or sacks, into which
part of the air must pass from the lungs during respira-
tion ; so that the column of air is divided and diminished
and consequently the vibrations produced by its passage
through the glottis are weakeced, and the voice be-
comes inarticulate. It it were not for this singular pro-
vision, it is supposed that the chimpanzee would be
capable of giving utterance to its feelings and wants in
the same manner that man does. But, even had it
been perfect in this respect, there would still have been
wanting that attribute which gives man the superiority
over and command of the brute creation. This no dis-
position of mere matter can give ; and the body, how
perfectly soever formed, is formed in vain when it is
not gifted with the soul to direct its operations.—Bristei
Standard..

The packet-ship Hendrik Hudson, E. E. Mor-
gan, arrived .at Portsmouth yesterday from New York,
after a pleasant passage of 21 days, and has brought pas-
senger Nathan Dunn, Esq., of Philadelphia, with his
collction of Chinese curiosities; their manners, customs,
figures, dresses,•&c:,-for whioh. there is a building goine,
on at Hyde Park-corner, where“the exhibition will take
place. Mr. Dunn, when last in.Lcintion, obtained an order
from the Lords of the Treasury allowing him to bring in his
celebrated collection for exhibition free of duty, so that
in a measure it may be_said to.he.under the patronage
of the British. Goverutnent. The collection has cost Mr.
Dunn half his life and great expense. The French
Government Offered Mr. Dunn 65,0001. sterling fur the
collection. It is described as being true to life ; you
have the arts and sciences, trade and occupations of every
description before you; for instance, the shopman stands
behind his counter selling his goods precisely the same
as you would see him in Canton. When a Chinese would
visit the exhibition at Philadelphia, he would laugh at
first, and afterwards weep, it brought every thing so fresh
to his memory.
A Commission de Lunatico Inquirendo sat in
Dublin on Tuesday on the Right Rev. Robert Fowler,
D.D., Lord Bishop of Ossory. The jury found his Lord--
ship to be of unsound mind. His property in ready money
and the Funds was proved to be about 80,0001, landed
estates in Ireland and England B,oool.,a=year, the in-
, come of his Lordship's see being ,009/.:peF t).i4i4tun.