The Sun.
London, England, 1834-07-15 00:00:00

PAISLEY ADVENTURE OF A CHIEF MATE.

Monday last, arrived from Greenock, after a quick pas-
sage, a smart, spruce, young fellow, who hailed for the son
of General Walker, of Roxburghshire, and for chief mate of
the Colossus. Resolved on looking rather farther a-head
than his flying jib-boom, he entered an inn at the Cross,
bespoke anchorage for the night, ordered something nice
for dinner, and seeing the landlord an honest-looking, good-
humoured fellow, invited him to dine. Dinner time came,
and with it the convincing proof that the chief mate of the
Colossus could handle a knife and fork as expertly as he
could a marlinspike or a Hadley's quadrant To prevent
any thing from sticking in his hawse holes, he washed all
down with a bottle of good old hock. He then resolved on
taking a stroll to see the curiosities in town, or, as he ex-
pressed it, to see how the land lay ; and being a stranger,
he solicited the landlord to become his pilot. The
landlord had too much courtesy to refuse such a
trifling favour to the son of General Walker, and
chief mate of the Colossus, so he showed him
all . that was worth seeing in town. Among other
sights, that of: the Sounding Aisle was one ; and
here a small douceur to the key-keeper is expected
from the visitants. The chief mate had nothing on him
less than a 15/. note ! The landlord had never seen one
of these, and began to smell a rat. He agreed, however,
to pay this little charge of pilotage, and to add it to the
general bill. On returning to the inn, the landlord pro-
duced fifteen pound notes to change the large one ; but,
heigh ho ! the never a note, great or small, was in posses-
sion of the chief mate of the Colossus. What could be
done ? Both admitted the truth of the Scotch proverb,
" That there was nae ripping o' bags," and to keep him in
quarantine was only making things worse. He would
write for a supply to the General in Roxburghshire, but
the patience of the landlord could not possibly extend so
far. He would write to the captain of the Colossus, but
that would not do neither. The landlord's patience would
not reach farther than the police-office, and a couple of
cruisers on that station were signalled to overhaul. They
accordingly sheered alongside, overhauled his cabin, his
steerage, his hold,: and his a-tween decks, examined his
hills of lading and charter party ; but all in vain. There
was not a single pig of ballast in the hold, nor a single shot
in the locker. The landlord, seeing nothing better could
be done, ordered the police cruisers to unbend his mainsail,
which has been put in pawn for the amount of harbour dues ;
and when the son of General Walker, and chief mate of
the Colossus, was last seen in this latitude, he was' stand-
ing to the eastward under his shirt sleeves.—Paisley Ad-
vertiser.

DWARF MARRIAGE.—On Tuesday last the mar-
riage of the Dwarf, exhibiting in Birmingham, Don Santiago
de los Santos to Ann Hipkins, took place, at St. Martin's
Church. The Don is 48 years of age, and about 25 inches
high ; and Miss Hipkins is 28 years of age ; and 40 inches
high. The High Bailiff had the honour of giving the lady
away. The bride and bridegroom were brought to the church
in a sedan ; and, as might be expected, an immense crowd of
people assembled, which it was found impossible to control
without the aid of the police.—Birmingham Advertiser.
CURIOUS CASE OF SOMNAMBULISM.—A corre-
spondent of the " American Journal of M4dical Sciences,"
informs the editor that he had recently had an opportunity of
seeing the celebrated Springfield somnambulist. The extra-
ordinary part of the case, according to this gentleman. seems
to consist in the marvellous susceptibility of the eye to its na-
tural stimulus. " I played," says Dr. Bartlett, " a game of
backgammon with the girl, during one of the paroxysms. She
saw perfectly well--calling her throws of the dice, and mov-
ing -her pieces regularly—through several thicknesses of a
white handkerchief, bound closely over her eyes. She could
read, in a room lighted in the usual manner, with eight folds
of a linen handkerchief laid over her eyes." The girl, it
further appears, has no recollection, in her lucid intervals, of
anything that has occurred in her somnambulous state. Dur-
ring her paroxysms there is a determination of blood to the
head ; and she suffers other inconveniences, which render the
constant care of Dr. Woodward, of the State Lunatic Asy-
lum, necessary to her. The newspapers have contained seve-
ral curious stories about this girl ; but perhaps the most valu-
able and best authenticated fact connected with the case is the
physiological one—of the inconceivably small quantity of light
with which it is possible for the eye to perform its functions. —..
Medital Gazette.