The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-19 00:00:00

OUR ACTRESSES. 2 Vols.

Smith and Elder, London, 1844,
These volumes consist of series of biographical no-
flees, accompanied with brief cursory criticisms ontheir
talents, of the most eminent actresses and vocalists
that have 'appeared on the London boards within the
memory of the present generation. The authoress is
Mrs. Clornwall Wilson, why is already favourably
known to the play-going portion of the community,
by her Memoir of the Duchess of St. Albans. Her
present work is slight and gossipping in its character,
and has the recommendation, by no means common
with biography, of being penned throught in a kindly
and tolerant spirit. The critical portion of it is the
weakest, for Mrs. Wilson appears to be no very dis-
criminating judge of theatrical excellence; but as her
remarks are uniformly put forth without assumption
or pedantry, we feel no disposition to bear hardly upon
them. The volumes are embellished with half-length
Portraits of some of the most distinguished of our
female performers, among whom the authoress justly
allots a prominent station to Mrs. Nisbett, undoubtedly
the most
.finished , comic actress of the day. We
quote the following passages. from the memoir of
this lady : . _ •

" Mr. Nisbett was a most amiable and affectionate
husband ; and• the widow's anguish may be conceived,
but cannot be described. It is said that a friend was
one day condoling with Mrs. Nisbett on the loss of her
husband. Husband 1 cried the lovely widow, wiping
a tear from her brilliant eye— •

" He never was a husband.' •
" How ?' cried her friend, in astonishment.
" ' No ;--from the day of our marriage—he always
remained MY LOVER !'

" The unexpected death of Captain Nisbett—who
was not, is may be supposed, much. of a man of business,
caused perplexity on pecuniary points ; there were dis-
puted claims to property, and some interested parties
threw the affair into Chancery ! . Chancery ! there is
ruin—perspective beggary in the very name !
'" airing the Chancery proceedings Mrs. Nisbett
thought it prudent, for the sake of her 'own near, and
we may add, dear relatives, to re-enter the theatrical
profession ; a profession which she had quitted under
'such happy auspices : and, accordingly, in October, 1832,
she re-appeared at Drury-lane. Her reception by the
audience proved that they had not forgotten their old
favourite, and that they could commisserate her in her
'recent bereavement, and encourage her exertions to
counteract the frowns of fortune. She went through a
long list of the leading characters in genteel comedy, on
each night increasing her' fame. Amongst her chef-
d'ceuvres were Rosalind, Beatrice, Violante, &c., &c.
Bankruptcies, non-payment of salaries, insolence,
attempts at imposition, and all the petty vexations which
crept in with the degradation and downfal of our na-
tional theatres, at length induced Mrs. Nisbett to accept
the cash-paid salary from an engagement at a minor
theatre, in preference to ' promise to pay' at a major
house. She . passed through several .engagements for
limited periods (so as not to interfere with her provin-
cial:engagements), at the Queen's, and also at the Strand
Theatres.

" At the Queen's Theatre we were present in Febru-
ary, 1835, to see Jerrold's new drama of the School-
fellows, in which Mrs. Nisbett sustained, the leading
character with great and deserved applause. On this
evening there was a terrific outcry raised by the pittites
against the bonnets, which, at that time, were preps-
terously large if at all fashionable. The performance
was for some time suspended with the cry of oti bon-
nets' not being attended to. One little gentlemen, whose
patience could no kinpr endure the tower of Babel
before his view, very coolly stretching out his arm, sud-
denly and somewhat uncourteously thrust the point of an
umbrella into the crown of the brobdignagian head de-
fender that interrupted his view of the stage, and car-
ried off its straw-built roof on the ferrule of his con-
quering weapon, to the no small amusement of beholders,
but to the great dismay and enragement of the fair but
obstinate wearer. We are sorry to speak in terms of
censure of our own sex, but really on this point they are
very unaccommodating, and deserve to sufferfor their
tenacity.
" On the evening in question, entreaty had failed to
remove the brobdignagian nuisance as it was called ;
skirmish after skirmish took place between female heads
and umbrella points, rendering the performance inau-
dible, At last a jolly tar, with lungs like a speaking-
trumpet in a gale of wind, got upon the seat, and roared
out—' Them as is gentlewomen is expected to take off
them helephant bonnets ; them as don't pretend to be
sitch, may keep theni on.' The effect of this odd ad-
dress was like magic, the pride of every female took
alarm, and in a minute all the blue bonnets were over
the border,' to the great amusement as well as accommo-
dation of many of the audience."

•
GREAT WESTERN STE ---A curious disAV-SHIP.- -
pute has arisen between the Peninsular Company and the
-Great Western Company. The former, it appears, pur-
chased the ship, the Great Western, for 32,0001., the
•owners undertaking to do whatever the Admiralty sur-
veyors might deem necessary to qualify the vessel for the
mail service. A considerable delay taking place in com-
pleting a set of, new boilers on the tubular principle, some
time was requested and granted. All being ready, a trial
:was had down the Severn, under the inspection of the
Admiralty surveyor, who' found all right with the excep-
tion of the supply of steam, on which he declined to pass the
survey. -Some 'alterations having been made in the boilers,
the vessel' wasannounced as ready for a second trial, at the
request of the owners. A delay of a few days occurring in
sending the Admiralty surveyor down, the owners, with
Captain Claxton, the manager, took on themselves to
withhold the. vessel, thus virtually .cancelling the con-
tract, and, without notice to the Peninsular Company, ad-
vertised her, departure for New York. The Peninsular
Company feeling that, whatever the delay might have
been, it was not• t© be laid to their account, but to that of
the Admiralty, and not disposed to yield to this summary
`extinguishnient of what 'was considered a desirable pur-
chase, an application was -made to the Court of Chancery
to prohibit the vessel' being sent to sea, and immediately
_granted. Thus both • this Company's vessels may be said
to be in Chancery, the one, the Great Britain, in the Bristol
dock, the other in Westminster-hall. Odds are now laid as
to which of these ships will be first discharged of the ne exeat
„reyno. The Peninsular Company have been obliged to dis-
patch another vessel; the Lady Mary Wood, in place of
the Great Western, with the Alexandria mails.--Lirerpool
- *- ' -

FRENCIU-MEN ' or WAIL—The arrival of the
Danae, French frigate, of 56 guns, at Brest, puts an end to
an idle story which Is reported in a Barbadoes pager, re-
ceived this week, that the . Dublin, of 50 guns, Captain
Tucker,lad been sunk, with her colours flying, by three
French frigates, for having given protection to the Queen ,
Portiere, who had taken refuge-on board of her.. The Danae
was one
,of the frigates at Tahiti, .and she mentions nothing
,of such an event. The. Prench garrison at the Marquesas
was inatltress for 'Clothes and money; having had no pay for
fifteen months, and nothing but salt provisions. The French
niicv l's .certainlj, moving about much more actively than
'formerly.. We obierve that on the sth April the 60-gun
frigate•Sirene,,,together with • the Victorieuse and the Re-.
eherche, leftlths 'Cape of Good Hope, for China ; and on the
27th March the Erigone, 50-gun frigate, left the same station
for, Brest ; at the same time the man-of-svar Colibri left the
Isle ofYrance.for the Isle of Bourbon.—Hampshire Telegraph.'
Fli/CCIOUS ATTACK in A BULL.—A. feir days ago,
William Binnington,
a . servant . in the. employ of Mr.
,
Jackson, of Old Sunflerlandwia., Hall, near Driffield,
,went Ito look after .his master S . StOCk, amongst which
was.a bull, which made a • ferOcious attack upon. him,
and, being _unable to escape from the reach of ihe infu-
• ed • al 'he was dreadfully. gored. His .crf,s,,
1 mat 'alum , • for
r,help,i and: the- bellowiniB afthe savage 'beast, wore beard
. by. aome , chikiten at play near, the farm,. who imme.'
~,d,retely gave the alarm ; Mr. Jackson immediately called
fogtthetoan: -his men, and, having armed themselves,
1 prteeedetlAci. rescue the poor man from his perilous
Isituation.. ',When released, he presented the appearance
4‘a;nuasi :nf
.gore .and wounds ; and his clothes were
to,tll ;jail- 'tatters. His collar bone was found to be
thPkear.and his ribs much damaged. On different parts
°E the body were large gaping wounds, besides being
much:bruised.all over. On the arrival of Mr. Simpson,
AllrgeCtil,..oii Hutton Cranswick, ho found the man in a
laryaahattsted.stato, and fast sinking, but by careful
, and iirseyering. efforts and the, administration of proper
resterativea, the powers of life were, reanimated, and he
' ••wlts.thinable.te have his, wounds dressed and sewed up,
. ,Cud his banes properly ad
_adjusted.. Up to Tuesday last
"haiwattoing on with the hopes_ of an,ultittiateedovery.
Ilitaltaikkertiser.,,i (~ ~,
_,_. - -

b2ri

-COURT OP SESSIONL_
EDINBURGH, JUNE 11.
IMPORTANT DECISION RELATIVE TO THE
PO OR-LA W.
JANET HALLIDAY AND 'MARY HALLIDAY, RESIDING AT
DARNHILLICE, V. THE HERITORS AND YIRK-SIISSIO:: .
OF THE PARISH OF BALMACLELLAN, KIRCIIDDRIOIFY- ;
SHIRE.
This was a case bronght by two aged women;residing
in the parish of Balmaclellan, against the heriturs and
kirk-session, for an increased allowance from the fund*
sot apart for the maintenance of the poor. The facts of
the case are as follow:—The paupers, who are sistera,:-
.i'
and are both between eighty and ninety years of age, 14.-
have been resident in the parish of Balmaclellan for at
least the last twenty years of • their lives. Tin the year.
1840—when they had each passed the ordinary term of
human existence—no application was made by thenalor
relief from the parish funds; but in that year, owing. to `
their great age and infirmities, they were very re • ,
luctantly obliged to make application to the- pareel;
for.an allowance of aliment for their support. On vieY7
ing their case, the heritors and kirk-session agreed to 4
allow them 2/. each per annum, being less than three ".
halfpence a-day to each. This being totally inadequate,
they again petitioned that body, who, upon the 20th 4i
June, 1843, increased their allowance to 31. a-year, :or
Is. 13tt.. per week. In addition to this, the parish paid .3
21. per annum for a small and almost uninhabitable. hut,
in which the paupers reside, and also provided them with
a partial supply of peals. Nothing was, allowed tei‘..'
clothes, which, with all other necessaries, they weh.e'l.
left to provide as they best could out of their weekly al-
lowaace of thirteenpence-halfpenny. Viewing this as '•
t tally insufficient for that needful sustentation to which
they were entitled by the statutesproviding fer the support
of the poor, particularly 1579, cap. 75, the paupers %Imp
applied to the heriiors and kirk-session for an augmenta-:
tion of their aliment. On this petition the 'following
interlocutor was pronounced : "
4th September, 1843. The meeting took into Considera-
tion the within petition, and, on examination, find it.
inaccurate in several particulars, as, in the CCiiirse of last
year,, up to this date, Janet and Mary Halliday have re-
ceived 81. 13s. from the parish • and further, that as the
said aged womee keep in their h'ouse a pePhew, for whom,
'on the lowest estimate, they receive, or are entitled to re-
ceive, 21. 12a. per annum, or Is. per week ; while there:-
fore the session will deem it their duty, in case of. emer-
gency or great distress, to grant, from time to tittle,
additional relief, they refuse to place them on the per-
'manent roll fora larger sum than at present." , Raowing
'
these statements to be quite erroneous, the paupers
brought the deliverance under review of the Court of
Session by advocation,;
,pleading-Ist., That, 'in the '
circumstances of their case, they were entitled. to be
provided with "needful sustentation," including clothes
and lodging, at the expense of the heritors and k irk- sessi6u.
2d. That the judgment complained of ought to be a dvocated -
and the advocators found entitled to such sum as should
be sufficient for the purpose of their aliment and cloth-.
ing, and also to the use of a habitable dwelling-house.
in place of their present miserable hut. 31 That their:
nephew not being able, and though he were so, not being
ander any legal obligation, to support the advocators, ,
he must be left out of view; and 4th. That the respon-,
dents were not entitled to evade the statute (which en-
joins a fixed and definite allowance) by pleading that.
they might give " occasional aid," and that such " Occa-
sional aid" must also be left out of view. ,
These pleas were met by the following on the part of ,
the heritors and kirk-session :--Ist. That though, afttr
the decision in the case of Ceres, they raised no question
as to the competency or power of the Court to 'review...
their deliverance, yet they submitted that no ground:i
were stated which were either relevant or sufficient to •
warrant any interference with their deliverance in the
matter. 2d, That the permanent allowance made to
the advocators was adequate and sufficient for their. GUS-
tentation, and that it was open for them to apply for any
occasional :aid as disease, or other emergent causes,
might require ; and, 3d. That the advocation should be.
dismissed."
After hearing parties, the Lord Ordinary (Murray)
pronounced the following interlocutor and note :--
" 20th March, 1844.—The Lord Ordinary having
heard parties' procurator, and thereafter considered the
cause, in respect it is inexpedient to interfere .with tha
allowances allocated to paupers by kirk-sessions except
in extreme cases, and that no sufficient allegations have
been made for such interference in the present instanced
repels the reasons of advocation, remits the case
simpliciter to the kirk-session ; finds no expenses due on
either side and decerns.
(Signed) " JOHN A. MURRAY. -
" Note.—The Lord Ordinary considered this
•case;
very attentively, holding it as a settled point, that it wit*,
competent for the Court to give instructions to the kirks,.
session if that appeared necessary. His impression was,
however, that the funds were, in the present instance,:
administered with care and discrimination. No allega-
tion was made against the bona fide of' the kirk-session.,
The Lord Ordinary, therefore, felt that he could not in-.
terfere without a great hazard of doing mischief,-and -he
relied on the statement made on the part of the , kirk-
session, that they would regard the increasing infirmi-
ties of these old persons, and give them such further al-.
lowance as might be required.

(Initd.) "J.A, M.

Against the interlocutor the advocators reclaimed to.
the First Division of the Court, and when the case came,
to be advised before their Lordships, on the 11th inst..
Professor More was heard on behalf of the advocators?.
and Mr. Robert \Vhigham for the heritors and kirk-,
session.

The LORD JUSTICE-GENERAL thought the allowance
not sufficient for the " needful sustentation" of the ad-
vocators. He felt the delicacy of judging in such cases,
as the present. He knew the Court had not the 8111130
means of judging of the circumstances of the paupers as
the heritors and kirk-session, who were on the spot 144
and he was glad to find that the Commissioners lately;
employed by Parliament to report as to the Scot-
tish Poor-laws had recommended that the Court of Sea.
sion should have no power to review the decisions of he-
ritors and kirk-session. Still he found it his duty, booi,
as a judge and an heritor, to say that the whole allow-1
ance made to these two old women was totally intu*
quate for their needful sustentation, and he was of opi,
nion that they should remit to the heritors and, kirk-,
session to increase the allowance.
Lord ISl.LatzratE concurred. He said it was impos,
sible to believe twopence a-day to be " needful susten,
tation."
Lord FULLERTON was of the same opinion. It waa
clear that " needful sustentation" was not given. But
the difficulty was to fix what was needful—and he cown
curred in the proposal to order an increase, and remit -to
the heritors. and kirk-session to make it.
Lord JEFFREY entirely concurred. He lamented -the
evil of being called on to relieve such cases as the present,
and was sorry for the dissipation of the funds intended
for the poor in such litigations as the present. He could
not go along with the Lord Ordinary, by calling. two?
pence -t-day sufficient sustentation. -He did not be.
here that the advocators could live on such a sum, and
was sure they must be assisted otherwise by kind or
benevolent persons. If they, had had nothing but the
mere allowance of the parish to subsist on, he was sure
they must heve been starved before this time. It was im-
possible for the Court to look at any casual allowances.
from other persons. The old paupers could not have long
now to live, and it was not right in the parish to stint
them in the manner they did of the austentation
they, of all paupers, so much required. It was
said that it was a great evil to raise the allowr
ances of the poor, or for the Court to judge in such cases,
but he was sure, on comparing this evil with the bad
effects of reducing the allowances to the lowest possible
sum, that the interposition of the Court to prevent
starvation was the minor evil of the two. The crimes
and other bad effects that must result frpta refusing to
afford the relief to the poor which the law had appointed
are evils of no small magnitude, and which ought to he
prevented by a fair administration of the existing p 001!"
laws of Scotland.
Their Lordships unanimously pronounced the. follop•
ing judgment:—
" Edinburgh, 11th June, 1844.—The Lords having
considered the reclaiming note for Janet and Mary Hal-
liday, advocators, and having heard the Counsel the
parties, find that the present allowance to the advoca-
tors does not afford the needful sustentation to which
they are entitled. Therefore, recal the interlocutor of
the Lord Ordinary reclaimed against, and remit to the
respondents, the heritors and kirk-session of Balmaclei-
lan, to reconsider their deliverance, dated 4th Septem-
ber, 1843, and to award such farther allowance as may,
under the whole circumstances of the case, be deemed
reasonable ; and decern. Find the advocators entitled
to expenses of process so far as hitherto incurred, ap-
point an acccunt thereof to be given in, and remit to the
auditor to tax the same and to report.
(Signed) D. BOYLE, I. P. D."

THE ELDER Corrix.—On Monday last, Michael.
Field, aged 78 years, was buried at St. Nicholas Ash, next
Wingham. For many years he carried on the business of
collar and harness maker in Ash-street. Forty.six wars
sinceord he planted
o f elder t
grow i n howls garden, and, in his own
to a large tree," under
words,
had
"lived a sPtosee
whose shadow he oft enjoyed himself with his pipe and cup
of wine, vatted from its berries—and this was ips only Me-
dicine. But, " man must die," and as Michael thought he
should like to have a coffin made from the said tree, his wish
was gratified about three months
since,
through the permis-
sion of Mr. Marsh, the owner, and the mortal remains of old
Michael now repose in the slip of his own plantation.— Can-
terbury, Journal..
ROMANCE IN RRA.L Lips.—ln the month of June
1837, the schooner Ebenezer, a regular trader for coals to this
port, J. Little, commander and part owner, sailed from Ply-
lArinth for Shields, for a cargo of coals, having a regular crew,
and a passenger named Edward. Jeffery, son of the late Mr.
Thomas Jeffery who died about three years since, and war
for many years a faithful servant of J. and W. Collier,
Esqrs., timber merchants, or this town. It appears the
Ebenezer arrived safely at Shields, took in a cargo of coals,
and sailed again for this port, having still on board the
young man Edward Jeffrey, whose design had been to take
a summer's excursion to ghields and return again. Coming
down the North Channel when off Yarmouth, the schooner
experienced a severe gale, which lasted a day and a night,
when, by the violence of the storm, she was shattered, and
went down ; and it was believed at the time, for no one heard
anything about her for two months after, that "every soul on
board had perished ; however, the desk of Captain Little,
with some papers inclosed, was washed into Yarmouth, at
the latter end of July, when no doubt existed in the minds
of the friends of those on board, but that every soul
had perished—and the captain's widow, Mr. and Mrs.
Jeffery and family, went all into deep mourning. But the
sequel of the story is, that Jeffery and another, after having
clung to the wreck for several hours, were placed up by a
foreign vessel bound to India, which touched at the Cape..
There Jeffery and his companion were put on shore, but
being destitute of money and clothing, to return to his friends,
he entered on board the Arrow, which was then lying there,
bound oh a surveying expedition to the Falkland Islands--
there it appears she has been for the last six years, and eller
returning and cruising on the coast of Africa for some thus),
has taken two very large slivers—and on Saturday, shear'
tivediin.Portamouth Harbour, where Jeffery ent a coming-
nication to his. friends, announcing 11.13 RTlfal.-.:Deronport
'lndependent. , -