The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-29 00:00:00

SINGULAR DISCO VERY.

A very singular discovery of an inscription was made
some time since at Coxwold, near Thirsk, in York-
shire. The country was formerly, as its name implies,
a forest ; but as cultivation has advanced, the trees
have by degrees been cleared away. An ash was thus
felled and split for fire-wood. Upon being riven asun-
der, the outer part of the tree was cleft in two like a
case, leaving the inner portion of the trunk entire, and
the following rude inscription was discovered, distinctly
legible, both upon the inner part of the trunk, and, with
the letters inverted, upon the outer casing. The in-
scription can, without difficulty, be thus read :

THIS THE
LOVNG
TIME
WITNES
BEARE
OF TOW
rIOVRS
THAT Gra
WALK HEA
RE
" This tree long time witness bear
Of two lovers that did walk here."

There is no date to the inscription, but the period at
which it was made may be ascertained, with much pro-
bability, from the following considerations.
The trey is deposited in the museum of the Hospital
at Kirk Leatham, Letween Stockton-upon-Tees and
Redear. The porter of the Hospital, now living, can
vouch for its having been there upwards of 70 years ;
and the tradition respecting the tree is, that it was given
by Lord Falkenbur, from his manor at Coxwold, to
Mr. Cholmley Turner, who cried on the 9th May, 1757.
It would therefore appear that the tree has been cut down
nearly a hundred years. Also, by the number of rings
in the wood, each indicating a year's growth, the tree
appears to have been about 5.5 years old when the in-
scription was made, and to have subsequently grown
for nearly 200 }ears. The closeness of the rings under
the circumference prevent this estimation of the date
from being regarded as more than an approximation ;
but all th circumstances render it highly probable that
the inscription was made about three centuries ago.—
Tyne Mercury.

AN EXTRAORDINARY WOMAN.—Left Mee-
rut on our way towards Kurnaul, and marched towards
Sadanha, the former place of residence of the Begun'
Sombre. This celebrated woman, who died about two
years ago, was a half-caste, and originally married to
Colonel Dyce, a German, who obtained during the
civil wars of India, and after the downfal of the
Great Mogul, and before our taking possession of
the country, one of the many small principalities
into which the whole empire was subdivided.
Aware of her husband's love for her, she pre-
tended, on a threatened invasion of his territories
by the Mahrattas, to destroy herself, and caused
a pistol to be fired near her palanquin. The plot suc-
ceeded. Her spouse said he would not survive her, and
shot himself through the head, when she immediately
seized the government, soon became one of our closest
allies, and was confirmed in her usurpation, which she
retained till her death, when, according to treaty, it
lapsed to our Government. She seems to have been a
strange mixture of good and evil. On the side of
the former, she is said to have been kind to her people,
and a good mother to her adopted children. On
the other, it is argued that she was arbitrary, avari-
cious, and at times cruel. The worst story told of her
is her having been jealous of a Nautch girl, to whom
her husband had paid rather too much attention, having
her buried alive, and seating herself above the place,
smoking her hookah. The Europeans about her, how-
ever, deny the story, and say that, except to culprits,
she was never cruel. She built and endowed a Roman
Catholic chapel, which is very beautiful, inlaid like the
Taj, the whole of the interior being of white marble.
She is said to have died worth nearly 500,0001, which is
all left to Mr. Dyce Sombre, her son-in-law, who is just
gone to England with it.—Five Years in India.
RUNAWAY MATCH OF THE LATE LORD
WESTMORELAND.—His Lordship was twice married, and
his first union was a runaway match. He had paid his
addresses to the only (laughter of the wealthy banker of
Temple Bar, Mr. Child. This gentleman being averse
to the match, and not to be persuaded to it. the Noble
suitor, possessinathe lady's affections, determined to run
away with his bfide. In consequence, a post chaise and
four an beau =tin carried away the confident pair, but
the affair having reached the papa's ears, another pair of
postillions and two pair of fleet horses were soon in re-
quest. Stimulated by the lavish promises of the rich
banker, lost time was compensated for by the postillions,
and the gay Lothario soon had the desespoir of beholdino•
Mr. Child's equipage neck and neck with his own. In
this crisis of fate, however, his presence of mind did not
forsake him, and drawing a pistol, he shot dead one of
the leaders of the pursuing post-chaise. Before the horse
could be detached from the harness and a substitute pro-
cured, it was too late to pursue the fugitives, who were
quickly married by the grimy high priest of Gretna. It
is by inheritance from this first wife of the late Earl that
Lady Jersey enjoys so noble a fortune, and is sleeping
partner in that banking-house of which her parent, no
less than herself, was " the child."
CHURCH-RATEMEEFING AT STOKE, NORTH
STAFFORDSHIRE.—OR Thursda):, pursuant to notice
posted on the church door, a meeting of the rate-payers of
the parish of Stoke-upon-Trent, assembled to take the
propriety of granting a Church-rate into their considera-
tion. There could not have been far off 1,000 persons
present. The Chartists offered considerable opposition
at the meeting, and disapprobation was evinced through-
Out. Upon
seven ;
and were
o n
Out. Upon a show of hands being called for the rate,
six
thehe negative
held
hands responded to it. A poll was then demanded, and
amidstugputive the derision of the
being put, a forest of
n
shortly after it was opened the votes are stated to have
been ten to one against the rate. It was to recommence
on Friday.
On the evening of Friday week, as the Rev.
J. A. Park, Rector of Elwick, was returning homeward
from Castle Eden, he was rudely assaulted by several
fellows, who in a most insolent manner demanded his
money. The Rev. Gentleman, nothing daunted by their
menacing attitudes, unbuttoned his coat, and placing his
hand in the breast pocket, told them in a firm and deli-
berate manner, that the first who advanced should in an
instant breathe his last. This had the desired effect.
The villains were intimidated. The Rev. Gentleman
reached home in safety, although he had not at the time
either pistols or other arms in his possession.—Tyne
Mercury.

- A letter from Luxembourg, in a Frankfort Jour.
nal, gives the following particulars of a late melancholy
affair in that town:—"it appears that, at the ball supper
at Diekirch, in honour of the King Grand Duke, M.
Durion, the burgomaster, having made a speech against
the German Customs Union, which was severely criti-
cised by a Dr. Kuborn, M. Dumont, the receiver of the
registry duties, went up to the doctor, with a knife in
his hand, and challenged him to repeat what he had said.
Kuborn having repeated it, Dumont plunged the knife
up to the handle in his heart."

VENING SUN

LITERATURE.
WARWICK'S HOUSE OF commaxs.
Saunders and Otley, London.
The design of this publication is to
gi
important detail connected with the pr
private history of the members of the F
Commons, particulars respecting each
ency, the results of the two last genet,
tions, and other statistical and political facts of
general interest. It commences with a brief his-
torical account of the British Parliament up to
the year 1377, in the reign of Richard 11., and
from that period to the present time gives the
names of the different Speakers, with occasional
anecdotes respecting them, and the proceed-
ings in the House of Commons. Thus we learn
that in the last Parliament of the reign of
Charles 11. the Votes were first ordered to be
printed; in the second of ‘Villiam and Mary, the
Tory Speaker, Si: John Trevor, was expelled for
taking a bribe of 1,000 guineas from the city o
London ; and that Sir James Cust, who was cho-
sen in 1761, was the last Speaker who adopte
the usual show of diffidence when presented fo
the acceptance of the Sovereign, having described
his appointment as the only inadvertent step the
House could take, and entreated his Majesty
George 111. to direct them to present some other
person. The work altogether has evidently been
compiled with great care, much of the personal
information respecting the Members has been fur-
nished by themselves, and their political opinions
are tested by the votes they gave on the sugar
duties, the no-confidence motion of Sir Robert
Peel, and the address at the openinc, of the last
session. The state of the polls, with the names
of the succet.sful and unsuccessful candidates at
the last election, are given immediately before
the description of the Members.
The following account of the immaculate bo-
rough of Sudbury and its representatives affords
a fair specimen of this useful publication :
SUDBURY (SaGlk)-2. June 30. 5,503.
FREDERICK VILLII:ns,/. 284 Joseph Bailey, jun., t.
DAVID DYcE-Somunli 1. 281 George Tomline, t.
Charles Taylor, t. 271
David Jones, t. 271

- - -
*Sombre-Dyce, David-Ochterlony: son of Gen. George-
Alexander Dyee, by the dau. of Beltshaxzer-Louis
Sombre, of Sirdhannah, in the North-Western pro-
vince of Ilindostan; b. 1809; m. 1840 the Hon. Mary-
Anne Jervis, youngest dau, of Edward-Jervis, 2d Vis-
count St. Vincent; was principal private secretary to her
Highness Furzand-Azuzai-Comdosul-Urraikeen-Zeb-
ul-Nissa, the late Beg-um Sombre, a Sovereign Prin.-
cess in Hindustan (who d. Jan. 27, 1836), and whose
adopted child, we believe, he is, and to whom he was
acknowledged heir by the East India Company. The
whole of the landed possessions of her late Highness
revert to the ITriiish, and the personal property,
amounting to nearly half a crore, devolves by will upon
Mr. Dyce-Sombre, with the exception of small lega-
cies and charitable bequests. The personal proved
larger than the sum at which it is here estimated ; the
mass of it, which was bequeathed to Mr.Dyce. Sombre,
amounted to 83 lahlts, or 800,0001, independent of va-
rious smaller legacies to her other officers and to per-
sons about her establishment, and also to charitable
institutions. The principal of these were to Mr. Troup,
who married one of Mr. Dyce-Sonibre's sisters, 50,000
rupees ; to Mr. Sularoli, who also married another
sister, 80,000 rupees. Ile is of the Catholic religion,
and in politics is a staunch Whig.— Clarendon Hotel,
Bond-street.

Villiers, Ptederick-Aleynell ; b. 1803 : represented Salt-
ash in 1831 ; was returned fur Canterbury in 1835
but unseated on petition.—Bury-stre(4, St. James's-sq,

CO URT CIRCULAR.
WINDSOR, TUL::,;DAY.-The Queen and Prince Albert
took walking exercise both this morning and afternoon
in the slopes and on the terrace of the Castle.
Her Royal llighnes the Duchess of Kent, attended by
Lady Fanny Howard, also walked out to-day.
Iler Majesty honoured Mr. Partridge this morning
with another sitting, and Prince Albert honoured Mr.
Lucas with a sitting to-day, for a whole length portrait.

Their Serene Highnesses Prince Ernest of Hesse
Philippsthal and .Prinee Edward of Saxe Weimar, left the
residence of their august Relative, her Majesty the
Queen Dowager, Sudbury Hall, yesterday morning, for
town. Their Serene ILighnesses arrived at the terminus
of the Londo❑ and Birmingham Railway soon after six
o'clock yesterday evening, and immediately proceeded to
Mar:borough:house, Pall-mall.

His Roval Highness the Duke of Cambridge arrived
in town yesterday, from his residence at Kew, and paid
a visit to the Duchess of Gloucester at Gloucester House.
Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci arrived in town yesterday
afternoon, from a visit to his Grace the Duke of Beau-
fort, at Badminton, G loucestershire.

THE GREAT SPIRIT, ALCOHOL.
The Barbadoes Libt Pal, in giving the report of a
temperance meeting and its speeches, pre eats its
readers with the fo:lowim_r, novel piece of elocution, then
and there delivered :

" Gentlemen of the Jury,—l appear before you to-
night on the part of the Barbadoes Society for the Sup-
pression of Drunkenness and Intemperance against the
prisoner at the ear. He is elia,..ed by us with being
guilty of sundry high crimes and misdemeanors upon
the lives, persons, and properties of our fellow-subjects
of this island. His name, Gentleasen, is Ardent
Spirit., or Alchohol, hut he passes coniwonly :a society.
under the mere raicinating and gentlemanly names of
Rum, Brandy, Gil), Whisky, &c. Gentlemen, the pri-
soner at the bar, nccording to the best information I
can obtain, scar barn in Egynt. Now, this is worthy of
remark ; in Egypt, the very place where the ancient
people of God were evil trcated several hucdred years.
Thence he was introduced to the African Moors—
these, if I mistake not, were the descendants of Ishmael,
of whom it is said in Scripture, His hand shall be
against every man, and every man's hand shall be against
him.' Fhe prlsaner, however, can only be a half
brother to these, for while his hand is evidently against
every man, he contrives to keep every man upon good
terms with him, by which means he accomplishes
more evil than he would if he were a true Ishmaelite
By the African Moors, he was introduced to the Moor;
of Spain, and through them he got into England, about
800 years ago. From that day to the present he has
never ceased to perpetrale on his unconscious victims
the most. horrid crimes that ever disgraced human
nature. The first crime we charge upon the
prisoner is murder ; and was it one sol:tary case,
even of this atrocious crime, committed during
the hour of excitement, we might pause, drop the
tear of pity, and say no more, lest we should ex-
aggerate his offence. But, Gentlemen, the prisoner
has been guilty of a series of murders—a system of
villany unheard-of in the annals of the world. It is
said that Bonaparte filled the pools of Europe with
human gore ; but, Gentlemen, Bonaparte was a mere
deanf in comparison of hint who now stands at this
bar. Bonaparte's career was ended in a few short
years, but the monster of whom I speak has now been
murdering our countrymen during the long space of
more than 200 years. Bonaparte killed only the bodies
of men ; the prisoner's murders extend beyond the
grave. He bas spared neither young nor old, learned
nor ignorant, male nor female, priest nor peasant."

SUPPLY OF THE CHINESE MAR-

1
KET WITHWO-0-I.ENS.
The following is an extract of a latter from London,
to a mercantile house in Leeds,
written in the month of
March last, and serves to account in some degree for
the falling off in the demand for woollen cloth to sup.
ply the China market. We have substituted the numlaers
1,2, and 3, in this letter, to avoid the mention of
names, but, the authenticity of the document is . up.
doubted . _

" I am sorry to say, that since I came to London, 1
have discovered that considerable quantities of Belem'
or German-made striped lists (griped lists are the elOa,
shipped to the China market) have come there for
shipment, and are greatly cheaper than can be made
in this country. I was told the same three months
ago, by No. I, the packers, who have had more to do
with the China trade than any other packers in London.
They bad then a lot in bond, intended for shipment,
hwhich they assured me were fully equal to the best York-
ir ones,and very much cheaper, but I did tiotsec them.
sLaset, week I was at No. 2, another packer, who toll
me the same thing, and showed me the patterns of a
large quantity they had shipped during the past year.
I compared them with Yorkshire patterns, and they
were decidedly better goods, made of better wool, and
finer spun ; and No. 2 assured me they cos:: full 15
percent. lets thau Yorkshire prices. One of the largest
Yorkshire (No. 3) manufacturers had seen them,
and was astonished at the price, which he acknow-
ledged must supersede his, and that he could not com-
pete with them. No. 2 said they had shipped a great
many of them last year, and they are allowed to land
and finish then: again upon giving bond for re-shipment.
Some allowanecs ought probably to be made for th.
usual style in which persons are apt to speak earn
extolling one class of manufactures at the FX-
pease of another class ; but of the leading
facts, viz., lower prices, finer wool, and skill dis-
played in the making, there can be no doubt ; it is also
probable that the goods mentioned might not have been
re-finished, but merely re-pressed under. bond. The
amount of the trade in these striped lists for China is
very great. A few years ago they were made exten-
sively in the west of England ; they were introdur;ed
into Yorkshire on the opening of the
China trade, and
a close struggle was for some time carried on between
the Yorkshire and West of England-manufacturers ,
but, in the end, Yorkshire triumphed. Within a very
recent period one mercantile house in Leeds has bad
orders for 3,000 or 4,000 pieces at a time of these
goods, each piece being worth, on an average, from
4/. to 4/. 10s. What the aggregate amount of pieces
may have been we cannot pretend to say, but we
should not be surprised if it had reached 20,000 pieces
per annum from Yorkshire alone. What it is likely
to be in future, under the disadvantages beneath which
the Yorkshire manufacturers labour, from the high
price o f food, as compared with the manufacturers of
Belgium, we shall leave our readers to conjecture....
Leeds lereury.

--\'--.

ive every
Hoe of
cons'titif-v.
oral
elit-=-1.;'"