The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-10 00:00:00

LORD LYTTL&TON AND THE GHOST.

Some years ago I met an old gentleman at Ewell,
in Surrey, near which is Pitt's-place, where his
lordship died. He gave me the following account,
which he had from a gentleman who was in the
house at the time. This person was the organist
of a neighbouring town, whose company ws.s much
courted on account of his musical talent, and who
was a frequent viaitor to hia lordship. The story
ordinarily told is this—that he dreamt the ghost of
a lady whom he had seduced appeared to him, and
predicted his death at 12 at night on the third day
following. My informant's story differs only thus
tar, that the supposed apparition was that of the
mother of the lady in question, who had died of a
broken heart in consequence of her daughter's dis-
honour. Lord Lyttleton was at this time in a very
bad state of health' in consequence of his excesses,
and was subject to what my informant called
",suffocating fits "—probably nervous hysteria. Be
this as it may, it appears on the day of his death,
the foretold third day, he had a party of friends at
Pitt's-place, among whom was the organist, whence
my informant had the account. He says that
Lyttleton was in a state of some agitation, and had
told the story of his dream to his friends. As the
night" wore on and midnight approached his ner-
vousness increased painfully ; and some of his visi-
tors said during his absence " Lyttleton will
frighten himself into another fit with this foolish
ghost story," and they determined to put a clock,
which stood in the room, forward, and when he re-
turned to them they said, " Hurrah 1 Lyttleton, 12
o'clock is past, you've jockeyed the ghost ; now the
the best thing is to go quietly to bed, and in the
morning you will be all right." He accordingly
went upstairs ; and while some of his guests were
putting on their coats to depart his valet
came down to fetch something—it was said
to get some mint water— which he was
in the habit of taking, leaving his lord-
ship alone. At this period the clock of the parish
church, which was not far off, and which of course
could not have been touched, began slowly to peal
forth the true midnight hour. The valet proceeded
upstairs, and shortly burst forth into loud exclama-
tions. The party ran up and found his lordship had
fallen dead. My informant's impression was that
the sudden revulsion of feeling from a state of fan-
cied security to finding himself at the moment in
the very instant of the dreaded danger had caused
such a reaction as to bring on the fits which carried
him off. He, no doubt, had heard the first stroke
of the clock as well as others down stairs, and as
each successive blow struck slowly upon the bell,
the sense of danger and the remembrance of the
dream became greater and greater, and to so wea-
kened a frame and so diseased a mind no doubt
improbable
most caused the catastrophe. It is not
most ghost stories might he found to end in a slim-
lir natural solution.—Notes and Queries.

THS FREER SOLICITOR-GENERAL—Edmund Hayes'
Esq., LL.D., bas been appointed to the Solicitor
Generalship oklreland.
"Miss POLLY MARSHALL."—We are delighted to
see by the American papers that this charming young
actress is still starring it, in the United States, to very
general admiration. Those of our London playgoers
who bear her name in genial remembrance as one of the
prettiest and sprightliest of the soubrettes upon the me-
tropolitan stage, one, if not the least amongst the many
attractions to the slips and stalls of the Princess's, will
be glad no doubt to have pleasant tidings of
.their riant
favourite, and to bear that she was, accordg to our
last advices, chief among the charms of the principal
theatre at Washington. in a local journal, entitled The
States, we are amused to find a metrical rhapsody in her
honour, beginning and ending just as we might presume
the muse of cousin Jonatn would begin and end in
any complimentary producthioan of the like character :
" Whether tragic she, or jolly,
Where's the like of Pretty Polly 1"

While another paper of the same' city, U. S., records
with a zestful alliteration how " Plump, pretty, piquant
Polly Marshall was bewitching as Rosine." The Yankee
lads ar© evidently " over head and ears," as the phrase
runs, with the young English light comedy actress's
manifold fascinations—the glance of kpr eye and the
twinkle of her feet, her dimples and her dancing, her
winning looks and her gay laughter.
WILLS.—The will of the Right Hon. George Augustus
Frederick Percy Smythe, Viscount Strangford (Ireland),
and Baron Pen4hurst (England), was proved in London
by the sole executor, the Earl of Stamford and War-
rington—personalty, 70001. To the Earl of Stamford he
has bequeathed his porphyry, ars, presented by the King
of Sweden to his father, the sixth Earl of Strangford
when Ambassador at Sweden ' • also specific bequests
are given to the Countess of Stamford, Lady Harry
Vane, and the C Juntess of Tankerville ; to Mre.
B. Disraeli a collection of birds, butterflies and chry-
salysis' and to the Right Hon. B. Disraeli two
Turkish swords, as acknowledgments of their attention
during his illness. The will of the Rev. Phillip Bliss,
D.C. L., F.S.A., Principal of St. Mary's Hall, Oxford,
was proved, in London, under 14,000/., by his widow,
the sole executrix, who takes a life interest in his pro-
perty ; he bequeaths his Geneva Bible (1560) to the
library of St. John the Baptist College, Oxford, and a
moiety of the dividends of the residue to the augmen-
tation of the librarian's place in St. Join the Baptist
College. The will of William Wallis Francis, Esq., of
Colchester, Essex, has been proved under 18,000 e, per-
sonalty.