The Sun.
London, England, 1832-10-18 00:00:00

PORTSMOUTII, OCT. 16.

(From a Morning Paper Correspondent.)
The preparations for the Scheldt expedition are going
on faith the utmost urgency, but it is not thought that
the several ships will have assembled before the latter end
of the month. Sir Pulteney Malcolm, who bad been
Staying in London for some days past, is expected down
Lem this evening. No vessels from foreign stations have
arrived in the course of the day. About 2 o'clock in the
afternoon the Wellington transport sailed out of the har-
bour, with a fine bretz^, for Oporto. She takes out 150
men, 19 officers, and 100 horses, for Don Pedro. The
appearance and demeanour of the officers are the strongest
refutatio❑ of the calumnies brought against them by the
enemies of the cause. They are not, as has been stated,
necessitous adventurers, but fine fellows, actuated by a spi-
rit of military enterprise, and anxious to distinguish them-
selves. Among them are two brothers, who paid out of
their own pockets no less a sum than 4001. for their
equipmert. They are attached to the cavalry Corps,

of Which Colonel Bacon is said to have the com-
mand. It being Intended to make this what is
called a " crack regiment," so far as display is con-
cerned, the uniform is very rich, awl the price paid for it
very extravagant. The emissaries of Do❑ Miguel have
been on the look-out for Colonel Bacon both night and
but he has baffled their vigilance, and succeeded in
getting off, though a reward of 1001. has been offered for
the seizure of his person. As a proof that the cause of
the young. Queen of Portugal is popular with our navy,
I need only observe that Don Pedro's officers were visited
yesterday evening at their hotel by two or three gallant
young men belonging to the ships in the harbour, and
who, after drinking success to the cause and a happy
voyage to the Wellington, said that they themselves would
not hesitate a moment to proceed to Oporto if they were
not employed in our own service.
Government is taking every possible precaution against
the meditated escape of some great delinquent, whose name
has not yet come before the public. The American packet
now lying here was yesterday minutely examined all
through by the police, but no culprit was found. I
understand that similar measures of vigilance are adopted
at all the other outports of the United Kingdom.

His Grace the Duke of WELLINGTON, with
other distinguished Noblemen and Gentlemen, are enjoy-
ing the pleasures of the field and princely table of the M
quis Of HERTFORD, at Sudhourn Hall. —lpswich Journal.
JOHNSON AND GoLDsmiTIL—Dr. JOHN-
SON, mentioning GOLDSMITH in the prologue to the Good-
natured Man, had styled him " our little bard ;" but the
pride of GOLDSMITH revolted at this epithet, and it was
changed to "anxious."

BEAUTIES OF THE COURT OF CHARLES 11.
—The fifth and concluding number of this splendid work,
which has been so long looked fur, will appear, we under -
stand, with the Magazines on the Ist of November. It
is not generally known, we believe, that the engravings
which form this brilliant and tasteful collection of portraits
are executed from copies made by Mr. MURPHY from the
original picturem, expressly for her Royal Highness the late
lamented Princess CHARLOTTE.

Early on Monday morning Lord MoNTFoRD's
pheasantry at Drayton-krige, Ealing, was entered and
robbed of a pair ofgold and a pair of silver pheasants. The gold
cock pheasant had lost an eye, and the thief in catching
him tore his tail completely, or very nearly, off. It was evident
from the quantity of feathers torn from all the birds, that
they must have been greatly disfigured.

The battle of Otterbourne is supposed to
have been the foundation of the famous ballad of Chevy
Chace. The names of some of the combatants figure in
that 133,11 ad. The death of DOUGLAS was concealed till
the conclusion of the battle. After he was beaten down,

he was found by some of his party, with the squires of his
body slain around him, and his chaplain lir avely
defending him as he lay on the ground. It has
been sometimes said, that he was not killed by the enemy,
but assassinated by one of his own pages, who is stated
purposely to have left his armour open behind, whereby to
strike the Earl more surely. The reason assigned for this
treachery is a blow given by DOUGLAS to the man the
day before for negligence in performing some military
duty. Certainly, DOUGLAS was carelessly armed—a cir-
cumstance probably arising from the suddenness of Hor-
SPUR'S attack on the Scottish camp, while the whole host
lay buried in sleep. A finer subject for the novelist could
scarcely be conceived.

We have already announced that the British
fleet destined for the Scheldt was under orders to rendez-
Vllll9 at Spithead on the sth of November. We are now
enabled to give a correct list of the several vessels of which
it will be composed. They are:—
Talavera

Childerc IS

Wellesley
Revenge
Spartiate
Donegal
Vernon 5O Nimrod

Rover lB
Scout
Satellite lB
Larne IS
Snake Hi

an,l the Rhudanulnthus and Dee steam-vessels. These
two latter vessel 4 are armed with guns of extraordinary
power.— Courier.

Wednesday afternoon a fire broke out on the
premises of Mr. ROSIMOOK, jobber, of I3allingdon, Essex,
which threatened destruction to the surrounding houses. It
was discovered in a large haulm stack, containing the pro-
duce of 8I acres, which communicated with the sheds, pig-
stie,, slaughter-houses, &c.: the whole was soon levelled
with the ground. A quantity of dry faggot-wood was
likewise destroyed.—Bury Herald.
THE LATE STORM.—We stated on Monday
night, when we went to press, that the storm was then
r tging with great violence. An amazing quantity of rain
fell at Whitehaven in the course of the week, the perpen-
dicular fall having been in the evening of Wednesday and
the morning of Thursday no less than 2,097 inches, be-
ing nearly at the rate of two pints on every
circle of eight
inches in diameter, and being a larger quantity than fell
at Kendal during all the preceding month. The rivers
were of course greatly swollen. " At Cockermouth," says
a correspondent, " the rivers Derwent and Cocker were
swollen to an immense height; the Cocker, in particular,
was never known to be so high in the memory of
the oldest inhabitant. The street below the bridge
was a complete lake, the bridge being unable to
contain the immense flood which poured down the
channel. Temporary bridges were thrown across the
streets for the accommodation of font passengers, while
houses, shops, :mil paQsages "omnia pontus erant."
At Goat the water could not be less than six feet deep,
the road being completely impassable, so that all coevev-
ances had to make a circuit of at least six miles, to enter
the town from the Goat ! I have not yet heard of any
material damage being done." Higher up towards Kes-
wick, the flood was equally appalling ; " Keswick and
its neighbourhood," says another correspondent, " during
the past week, have been visited by very heavy storms
of wind and rain from the W. and S.W. ; the rain came
down in torrents, without intermission, from about 10
o'clock in the night of Thursday last, and continued until
about 10 o'clock on Friday morning, after which it
rather abated. The flood was at the highest a little
after twelve. The scene then became awfully grand :
the Lakes of Derwent and Bassenthwaite were completely
united. It was one sheet of water from Grange, in
Borrowdale, to Ouse-bridge, at the foot of Bassen-
thwaite Lake, a distance of about eleven miles, the lower
grounds being all completely deluged. In many places
on the road leading from Keswick to Braithwaite, the
water was from three to four feet deep. Much injury is
done in Borrowdale both to the bridges, and the em-
bankments of the river, a great extent of the latter being
washed down. The Derwent Lake was the highest that
it has been for the last 60 years, exceeding by 2 inches the
great snow flood which happened in February 1831. The
Lake extended itself into all the lower part of the town,
entering into a number of the houses. Many potatoe crops
will be seriously injured, having been under water for
nearly two days ; some of the neighbouring villages have
been entirely inundated ; indeed the extent of damage done
can hardly yet be ascertained, but fortunately I hear tell of
no live; lost, but numbers of " hairbreadth escapes" from
this raging deluge. The rain seems to have been the
heaviest among the mountains near the sources of the
Derwent and the Ehen, and their tributary streams.—
IVhilehaven Herald.

HILL OF IRON.—This hill is situated in
Brazil, on the left of the road from Queluz to Villa Rica,
rather more than a league from the former place. It is
described by Mr. Luccocx, as " one entire mass of iron,
so perfectly free from any mixture of common soil, as to
produce no vegetable whatever, being covered with a
costing of rust, or oxide of iron. The bill is so lofty
and steep, that its top was notdiscernible ; but, from its more
elevated part, nodules of corrode(' metal had rolled down,
and greatly embarrassed the road. At the foot of the
mountain the soil is red clay, mixed with ponderous brown
dust. As we advanced, the metal seemed to become less
pure, until after an extent of two leagues and a half, it
altogether vanished, and was succeeded by common clayey
I 'rid. I had often heard of this immense mass of metal,
hut none of the reports had presented an adequate picture
of it to the imagination. The very core of the hill, as
far as we could judge, appeared to consist of vast blocks
of iron in tables ; and it is so singularly free from alloy,
as to produce, when melted, twenty-five per cent of pure
metal."