The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-23 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

DIS2UTED GUARDIANSmr.—In Vice Chancellor Malins's
Court, on Thursday, the case of " Burton v. the Earl of
beard. An order was made some time ago
now 14 years ialCl,Thie child Lavin a g en sp
by her mother in a. sam -
The order was resisted, but it was upheld %'
the French courts, and Mrs. Burton then took
her daughter to Spain. Her solicitor admitted that she
had been lately residing in Oxford-terrace. The Vice-
Chancellor said this lady had set the order of the court
at defance in a manner -which had never come
within his experience. The order of the court had
been contumaciously resisted for two years, and the lady
must now Le ordered to deliver up the child by the next
day, or stand committed.

THE NOTTINGHAM SILK ROBBERY.-At Nottingham,
at the assizes, the investigation into the great silk rob-
bery has been concluded. The four men who were con
victed of the theft have been sentenced to penal servitude
for five, seven, and ten years. Mr. Samuel Macdonald,
the lace manufacturer, who was charged with receiving
the stolen property, was acquitted. The result of the
trial was received with much applause.
MURDER AT PORTLAND CONVICT PRISON. —At Dor-
chester, on Thursday, Jonah Detheridge, a convict under
sentence of seven years' penal servitude, for larceny, was
charged with the wilful murder cf Joseph Trevett,
assistant-warder, last. March. The prisoner, who declined
the aid of a counsel, manifested great indifference through.
out his trial. The warder found some fault with the
manner in which Detheridge was doing his work, and the
convict, who had a grage against him, attacked him
most savagely with his pick. The warder died in a few
hours. The jury without hesitation returned a verdict of
guilty, and sentence of death was passed in the usual
form.

CHARGE OF )MURDER,-At the Lewes Assizes, Lucy
Miles was charged with the murder of her nephew, aged
2 years. She" was walking on the cliffs at Rottingdean,
when she suddenly seized the little boy and threw him
over. The child died the same night. It appeared that
the prisoner had been at one time in a lunatic asylum,
and that there was a stray taint of mania in the family.
The jury acquitted the prisoner on the ground of insanity,
and she was ordered to be confined during her Majeaty's
pleasure.

FRACAS IN A JEWS' SYNAGOGUE.-At the Newcastle
Police-court, David Shaperio, formerly minister of a
Jewish synagogue in Newcastle, summoned four Jews for
assaulting him during divine service. The prosecutor
was officiating at the new Hebrew synagogue, and the
defendants were members of the congregation. They
took his book from him, and assaulted him,
finally compelling him to leave the place. In
defence one of the defendants, who was the treasurer,
said that Mr. Shaperio had been discharged by the Chief
and as-he had no right to conduct the service, they
had put out the gas and desired him to leave. The case
was ultimately dismissed, Alderman Bell saying that the
bench could do nothing in th. matter.

THE HOLBORN VIADUCT.—In the City of Lon-
don Court of Common Council attention has been drawn
to the delay in the opening of the Holborn Viaduct.
Owing to the viaduct being now in the hands of the
Pneumatic Despatch Company, who are laying their tubes
along its whole length, it will not be opened before the
middle of October.

THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.—A melancholy
little incident is related of the ex-Empress Charlotte.
This unfortunate Princess has been staying for some time
at Spa. The other day she insisted with such vehemence
on playing at roulette that it was impossible to restrain
her. On approaching the table she deliberately placed a
gold piece on the number 19. The Emperor Maximilian
was shot on June 19. The wheel turned, and, though
thirty-seven chances were against her, she won. She
smiled sadly, took up the money, and quietly left the
room. On her way out a poor man passed by. She gave
him all the money, with the injunction that he was to
" pray for him." It is known that the Empress Charlotte
never pronounces the name of Maximilian.
TIIE PRIME MINISTER OF ENGLAND SICK VISIT-
INC.—The London correspondent of the Irish Times sup
plies the following :—" A little incident which occurred
last week in London throws fresh light upon the genuine
interest which Mr. Gladstone takes in works of charity
and mercy. My informant is a gentleman who is inti-
mately acquainted with the Premier, and who could not
possibly be mistaken. Ire was walking through a street in
the neighbourhood of Holborn, and saw Mr. Gladstone
talking to an old TriAwoman, at the door of her house.
At first he was considerably astonished, because he knew
that the house was let out to poor Irish labourers, and he
was at a loss to understand what new argument the
Premier could obtain from such a source. In a momene
or two Mr. Gladstone left the woman, and walked away.
My friend then crossed the street and asked the wornanwho
die gentleman was to whom she had been speaking. Sill
replied, ' Shure, I don't know ; but the gentleman's beet
visiting a poor Irish labourer who lies sick in the I a;`.
room.' Everybody knows that Mrs. Gladstone takes *
most active interest in a charity for the relief of the destls
tote, and in all probability the Premier had undertaken A
little Ilia Yinitiu on her behalf.! ~.. .._ .....-

01E7ROPOLITAN GOS6IP-71rurs(hty.

Whatever happens to the bill, Parliament is not likely
to continue sitting more than a fortnight, or at the utmost
three weeks. The 10th of August has been named as the
date of the prorogation by those who are well informed.
Thus M.P.'s will getaway in time for grouse-shooting, and
the capacities of the limited Scotch mail will be tested to the
uttermost. Should the bill be rejected after all, an even
earlier prorogation may be looked for. Already the Row
has lost its summer look, and the long lines of carriages
are wonderfully thinned. It is on Sundays now that one
must look for a crowd, and then it is a very different
sort of crowd from that aristocratic aggregation to which
London has been accustomed for the last two months.
It is the " Middle Million," not the " Upper Ten Thou-
sand," who then throng grassy slopes and green shades.
" Green" is scarcely a correct expression just now. In
sober truth, parks and gardens are very brown. For
nearly a month we have had scarcely any rain, and we have
had some days of tremendous heat, worthy of comparison
with this time last year's. Then, too, the constant
tramp, tramp of the Guards, who every morning perform
their evolutions in the open space between the Marble
Arch and the Corner, has helped to convert what shou!d
be a soft sward into a hard, dusty waste. One of the
most pleasant signs of summer is the long troop of cara-
vans full of schoolchildren out for a holiday. To-day I
passed about forty of these in one long procession, and the
volley of cheers and the waving of flags were inspiriting
enough to brighten the dullest and the weariest of us who
looked on.
How different is the idea conveyed by the same names
at different times. I have just been speaking of the dis-
trict now known as Tyburnia, which extends along the
north side of Hyde Park. It was once a name of terror
and horror ; it was to London what the Tarpeian Rock
was to Rome, the slaughter-yard of condemned
criminals. It is now associated with gay equi-
pages, brilliant parties, and all that is rich
and beautiful. I will now take your readers
to Millbank. There of old were the grassy banks of
Father Thames in his old silver pre-sewage days, and on
those banks stood a mill. Altogether for, so near London,
it was a pleasant rustic spot. To-day it is what Tyburnia
was—a place of evil omen to the criminal. The old gal-
lows at the corner of the road to Edgware has long ago
disappeared ; the prison on Thames bank glooms, large
and ugly enough, to-day. This prison is now about to
undergo an important change. Hitherto it has been
used for civil prisoners spending the first nine months of
penal servitude. Here they had to undergo that worst of
horrors to an uneducated demoralised human being—soli-
tary confinement—and very narrowly bad they to be
watched, in order that they mightnot sink into imbecility.
But the War Office has always claimed a right
to this prison, and that claim has recently been pressed.
Arrangements are, therefore, now being made for using a
portion of the wing for military prisoners.
The "Goodwood" Cup is being shewn this week at Mr.
Benson's, in Bond-street. It is modelled by Mr. Boehm,
who has taken for his subject Frith's picture of the Derby
Day. The body of the cup is in high relief, and amongst
the incidents represented are the thimblerig table,
the gambling booth, the man with the "correct card,"
and the group of acrobats. In the distance are the
grand stand and the racecourse. The lid is surmounted
by three horses with their jockeys. All this is very good
so far as it goes. But in truth, Mr. Frith's picture is
now out of date. It is about ten years since that work
was painted, and in that time the Turf has made very
rapid progress indeed. When the artist sketched his
group, the word " plunger" was unknown. Yet the
" plunger "is now the chief personage at the Derby. In
next year's cup the artist should represent some noble
duke, seedy and disreputable-looking, gambling in a
German kursaal, while his old castle and ancestral estates
are being sold by auction in the presence of a Padwick or
a Beyfus.

Marriages are not yet extinct. Last week I mentioned
that of Viscount Cole, who is one of the co-respondents in
the great Warwickshire divorce case, " Mordaunt v. Mor-
daunt, Cole, and Johnston." The nuptials were graced by
the presence of the Prince of Wales. This week mar-
riages of a more satis!actory kind are announced. Mr.
G. 0. Trevelyan, one of the Lords of the Treasury,
son of the well-known Indian statesman, and author
of the " Competition Wallah," " Cawnpore," &c., is
to be married to the daughter of Mr. Phillips,
M.P. for Bury. Major-General Francis Seymour
is to be married to the daughter of a Somersetshire
clergyman, Wickham by name, but in consequence of the
death of General Seymour's brother, the Governor of
British Columbia, the marriage is not to take place till
the end of August. The son of another ex-Finance
Tml;,.. 311. Laing, is to be married to the
daughter of a Scotch gentleman named Webster.
a rnre elifitNiXTre§t ti Mtay,Mmeittleat,'.th.
saint. Incessant services, costly banners, and beautiful
flowere are among the "notes" of the festival. It may
interest your readers to know that the offertory for the
half-year is about £1,709. The Church holds somewhat
over 500 persons, but, the services being very numerous,
is available for a much larger number of worshippers.
The Dramatic Fete is to be held at the Crystal Palace
on Saturday, and the two attractions especially mentioned
are the Princess of Wales and Mdlle. Schneider. The
latter person, whose improprieties have been most severely
rebuked by the dramatic critic of the Times this week,has
just had a narrow escape from being burnt to death. Her
gauzy dress caught fire as she was acting, and but for the
energy of some of the spectators, who rushed forward and
extinguished the flames, the indecorous drama would have
had a very tragic finish.

The determination of the magistrates to put down the
betting-houses has interfered with the prosperity of the
newly-established sporting club, the " Bentinck." It
was opened but a few months ago, but it is
now to be converted into a theatre, and thus
another of those establishments will be added
to the multitude which now fill the Strand. It is to be
leased to Miss Litton. The " Oxford " Music Hall is to
bet, con verted into a café chantant, which is not exactly a
French synonym. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Matthews are to
act at the Princess's.

The new mansion of the Marquis of Salisbury, which
overlooks Green Park, is being rapidly pushed on, no
doubt with the idea that before long its owner will need
it for State dinners. Lord Hohnesdale's magnificent
house in Park-lane is finished so far as the exterior is
concerned, but the interior goes on slowly. No doubt,
when furnished, the noble lord will have some trophies of
his conquests over the pigeons to exhibit. Ches-
terfield House, which has for twenty years been
inhabited ny the Duke of Abercorn, is about to be pulled
down, and its site used for building purposes. It was
erected by Ware, for Philip, fourth Earl of Chesterfield,
—the author of the celebrated " Letters "—just 120 years
ago. The chief rooms are still pretty much in the same
state as that in which he left them. The library is—or
at least was till of late years—the finest room in London ;
and over the bookcases are elegant classical mottoes from
Horace, expressive of the Epicurean tastes of the founder
of the house. The fine pillars and still finer staircase were
brought from Canons, near Edgware, the princely seat of
the Duke of Chandos. The house belongs to Lord Chester-
field, and stands on land belonging to Earl Howe.
An interesting incident is told of a lately-deceased peer.
It is that, like Lord Overstone, the late Lord Taunton
owed the first step in his upward course towaris the
peerage to a lucky marriage contracted by his father, the
late Mr. Peter C. Labouchere, of Highlands, near
Chelmsford, Essex. In early life this gentleman, then a
clerk in a bank at Amsterdam, won the heart of the
wealthy daughter of one of the millionaires of the city.
The father objected, as he was a clerk, not a partner.
He solicited admission as a partner, and was refused.
" But will you take me as a partner if I marry Miss
A—?" " Yes, that is quite another thing." So he
gained a rich wife on the faith of a promised partnership,
and became a partner on the faith of his intended
marriage.

Sir Francis Head's strong representations as to the
value of the Royal Engineers, and the necessity of
making our troops acquainted with the art of
throwing up defences in the field, seem to have had some
effect. The committee engaged in revising the drill code
for the army will recommend the introduction of a com-
prehensive system of intrenching drill. Each man of the
infantry will probably be required in future to carry, as
part of his ordinary personal equipment, some one out of
a set of very light, handy, intrenching tools. This
arrangement will render the corps tolerably independent,
and give them the means of obtaining slight cover with
great rapidity at any time required.
Of literary news there is almost none. It has been the
dullest season known for many years. The dullness ex-
tends to New York as well as to London. From thence
I hear that the widow of Nathaniel Hawthorne has a
work in the press, and that a new volume from Mr.
Bryant, " Letters from the East," may be expected
shortly. In London the publishers are withholding their
new works for the present, in the hope of better times.
"George Eliot" is, I hear, writing a new novel, which
will be out next year. The sale of the new edition of
Carlyle's works has been remarkably large considering the
dullness of the times and the costliness of the edition. Of
" Sartor Resartns" there had been more than 1,100 copies
sold many weeks ago.

There is still talk of fresh newspapers, but the
most important projects are not yet sufficiently
developed for me to mention them. Two new comic
papers, the Sparrowhawk, and TVit of the Week, have ap-
peared. Punch, as you know, has been sold; Judy is for
sale. The latest novelty is a paper called the Credit In-
ternational, It is an Anglo-French commercial journal