The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-29 00:00:00

ADVERTISING FOR A WIFE.

A fe w weeks since the following advertisement appeared
in a Bristol paper :—" Wanted to correspond with Christ-
tian young ladies, by a young man who is of a sentimental
and poetic turn of mind.—Address, 'Homo,' Post-office,
North-street, Bristol." Some young gentlemen, of the
city, considering that a fair opportunity for indulging in
some harmless fun at the expense of this " young man of
a sentimental and poetic turn of mind " was afforded,
one of their number imitated a lady's handwriting, and
penned a note asking the advertiser for a s pecimen of his
" sentimental and poetic turn of mind." Contrary to
expectation, the bait took, and elicited from the advertiser
a long epistle, containing a strange admixture of bad
grammar and religion, but he reserved for the postscript,
which was as long as the letter, a declaration of his love.
Other correspondence ensued, portraits were exchanged,
and ultimately an interview was agreed upon, the place of
meeting selected being the top of Stoke's-croft, which is
not very far distant from the shop in which "Homo"
carries on his "small fancy (jewellery) business." With
commendable punctuality " Homo " appeared exactly as
the clock struck eight. He was observed to be looking
anxiously for his fair correspondent, when one of the party
stepped up to him and asked him if he was Mr. —. He
replied in the affirmative, and then the gentleman by
whom he was confronted introduced himself as the
brother of Miss —, with whom he had been corresponding,
that he was accompanying her to Stoke's-croft for the pur-
pose of her keeping the engagement she had made, when
she had been suddenly taken unwell, and had gone
into a chemist's shop, whether he asked " Mr. —"
to go with him. " Homo," however, began to suspect a
trick ; he stammered. out some excuse about having a
pressing engagement, and was about to hurry off in an
opposite direction, when he found himself suddenly sur-
rounded by a score or more of young gentlemen, who con-
gratulated him upon his approaching marriage, asked
after his health, and the condition of his " small fancy
business." lie beat a hasty retreat, but his tormentors
followed him, and as they assailed him with all kinds of
go,)d-natured badinage, a large number of persons were
attracted. Followed by a very considerable crowd,
"Bono" proceeded along Wellington-place, and by way
of Ashley-road to Grosvenor-road, where he found refuge
in a friendly chemist's shop. Several hundred persons
remained assembled outside for two or three hours, but it
being ultimately ascertained that he had escaped by ecaling
the garden wall at the back, they dispersed.

RELEASE 07 THE FENIAN PIIISONERS.---The
Corporat.ion of (nk unanimously resolved on Friday to
petition for the release of the rest of the Fenian prisoners.
PRINCE AND PEINCZSS Their
Royal Highnesses Prince and Princess Christian of
Schleswig,-Holstein, with their children, Prince Christian
Victor and Prince Albert, and attended by Lady Susan
• Melville- and Colonel Gordon, left Frogmore House on
Friday, to join her Majesty and the Royal Family at
Balmoral.

LIE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION. Mr. James
Lord, one of the unsuccessful candidates for East Surrey
‘t the last election, on Friday presided over the annual
meeting of the Protestant Association, at the Freemasons'
Tavern. It was stated that the operations of the society
during the past year had almost exclusively related to the
Irish Church question, and that its income had been five-
fold greater than it was in the previous year. Resolutions
were passed expressing disapproval of the measure now
pissing through Parliament, and calling upon the House
of Lords to reject it.

SCALDING HAILSTONES.—A contributor informs
the Bradford Observer, on evidence that does not admit of
doubt, that in the storm of lightning and hail on Whit-
Tuesday, hailstones fell in the neighbourhood of London
so hot that his child's finger was discoloured by them, and
his wife and servant found them unpleasantly warm. He
places his name and address at the service of any gentle.
man who Will help him to an explanation of this pheno-
menon.

The manufacture of velocipedes is rapidly in-
creasing in Birmingham, and one firm (Tangye Brothers)
is turning out a considerable number week by week. In
the adjacent district also their manufacture is extending.
Darlaston and Willenhall have already establishments for
their production, and a special commissioner of the
Colliery Guardian well remarks, that in Wolverhamr ton
it is likely to prove an irnprtant staple of industry, thanks
to the exertions of Messrs. Forder and Traves.
THE LATE REV. JOHN JAMES TAYLER.—WO
regret to have to record the death of the Rev. John
James Tayler, Principal and Professor of Biblical
Criticism and Ecclesiastical History in Manchester New
College, which took place on Friday at his residence,
The Limes, Hampstead. Mr. Tayler, who was in his
72nd year, was an eminent Unitarian minister. He was
the author of " A Retrospect of the Religious Life of
England ;" of a critical essay on the Authenticity of the
Gospel of St. John, and of a rblrane of sermons, entitled
" Christian Aspects of Faith and Duty."
NORWICH ELECTION PETITION.—A memorial has
been sent to Mr. Baron Martin, spewing that the trial of
the Norwich election petition was held " out of the city of
Norwich, to wit in the county of Norfolk, in the Shire
Hall there." The memorialists submit that the trial was
illegal,.and pray Mr. Baron 11.1artin so to report to the
Speaker of the House of Commons, or to obtain the
opinion of the full court as to the legality of the trial. To
this memorial Mr. Baron Martin has returned the annexed
reply, addressed to Mr. Collins, of Norwich :—" Mayo,
Londonderry, May 22. Dear Sir,—Your letter of the
20th instant, with the memorial enclosed, was forwarded to
me here. The matter of trying the Norwich petition at the
Shire Hall was well considered, and was perfectly legal
both in substance and form. I cannot, therefore, comply
with the prayer of the petition. I propose to be in
London on Tuesday next.---Yours very truly, SAMUEL
MARTIN."

A MAD SPIRITUALTSL—AII enVoye of the
Davenport Brothers, styling himself the Rev. Elisha F.
Minier, was recently charged at Boston with einbezzlinc,
$l5O, the proceeds of a dark st,ance. Whenarrested, he
declared that the whole cstaldishment, Davenports and
all, belonged to him, and he proposed to run it until he
had raised ten millions of dollar.-, which he declared his
intention of devoting to the publication of forty-eight
thousand pages of manuscript that he had been ordered
to write on the subj(ct of the birth of Christ, whose
near kinsman he was. Minier was very indignant
toward the Davenport Brothers for their attempt to
regain the $l5O, and talked to them only as an insane
person could. He has for some time carried with him a
huge dirk-knife, because, as he said, the spirits had told
him someone was going to take his life. His arrest, he
contended,was part of a plot looking to that end. Medical
evidence having been given to prove his insanity, be 'was
taken to the asylum at Taunton ; not, howevtr, until he
bad promised to visit Boston with a big earthquake ana