The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 24, 1844.

GLOUCESTER MUSICAL
FESTIVAL.

GLOUCESTER, MONDAY.—According to announce-
ment, the first notes of our musical festival will be
struck to-morrow, and the poetry of music will con-
tinue to be given forth on the mornings and evenings
of the three succeeding days. Nothing can illustrate
more strikingly the pursuit of music under difficul-
ties than the circumstances connected with the getting
up of this charitable festival. At one time the pro-
spect was as gloomy as chaos, and long was it ere the
lowering clouds could be dispelled. Touching appeals
were made to the sympathies and public spirit of the
leading aristocracy, lay and clerical, but the responses
were of the same character which persons experience
who call too often at the same door for charity. In
fact, the attempt to get up the festival on the old
principle entirely failed, and the cause was too ob-
vious to be concealed—persons declined to allow
themselves to be placed in the position of stewards,
because it involved the liability to make good what-
ever deficiency there might be between the receipts
and the expenses, experience having shown that
this risk was not by any means to be despised.
The festival of 1841 was superintended by six
stewards, and a deficiency of froml,sool. to 1,800/.
having occurred, the money had to be made good
amongst them. On previous occasions deficiencies had
also occurred, although in no case, we believe, to the
same extent ; still it was understood to be a growing
burden, and men refused to submit their shoulders to
the weight. A change of policy had, therefore, to be
adopted, to save the character of a city and county,
never, it is believed, remarkable for a burning zeal in
the contributing their substance to " soft charity," and
also to prevent, if possible, the Clerical Widow and
Orphan Fund from sinking to starvation point. Pre-
liminary to the adoption of the new policy, and, in-
deed, entirely dependent upon it, a subscription was
opened amongst the gentry of the county and city,
and the tradesmen who were supposed to have a pecu-
niary interest in keeping up a festival which gave a
stimulus to fashion; the object being to create a gua-
rantee fund, to be applied, in case of need, tothe pay-
ment of any deficiency which might arise. The scheme
proved successful; as much was subscribed as enabled
the projectors to guarantee to gentlemen who were
willing to become stewards, that the loss should not
exceed 1001. each, perhaps not so much. It was also
resolved to increase the number from six to eight, and
further, to avoid the employment of foreign talent,
owing to its expense, and to its want of adaptation to
the purposes of such a festival. Under the altered
circumstances, gentlemen were found willing to
become stewards, and the names of eight ap-
pear in the announcements. As to the per-
formers, Mesdames Dorus Gras, Pauline Garcia,
Viardot, Miss Birch, and Miss M. Marshall have
been displaced by Madame Caradori Allan, Miss
Williams, Miss M. Williams, and Miss Barrett. Miss
Maria B. Hawes is the only lady whose name appears
in the present list and in that of 1841. Signori Brizzi
and Tamburini and Messrs. Bennett and Phillips have
given place to Messrs. Manvers, Machin, and M. W.
Weiss. Mr. Hobbs and Mr. A. Novello have been
re-engaged, as also Messrs. Cramer and Loder, the
leaders. Mr. Amott, the organist of the cathedral,
will again act as conductor. The band and chorus,
which are said to have been selected with care, will
number nearly 300 performers. As to the musical
selections, Handel's Samson, as arranged by Pro-
fessor Taylor, and which was received with so much
eclat at Norwich, is the great attraction. It will be
given on Wednesday, and is expected to occupy four
hours in the performance. The Creation, Israel in
Egypt, the Messiah, and the Lobesang, will occupy
the two last days. A great reduction has been made
in the charges of admission to the reserved or num-
bered seats : instead of 205., the charge is to be
12s. 6d.; in the other parts the charges are much the
same as before, 10s. 6d. and ss. For the evening
concerts the charge remains as before, 10s. 6d. It is
worthy of remark that the entire fittings up in the
cathedral have been constructed without any inter-
ruption to the celebration of Divine worship, the
workmen laying aside their implements when the
service began, and resuming their labour at its close.
Miss Barrett, whose name appears conspicuously in
the programme, makes her debut on this occasion as a
professional singer. She is a native of Gloucester,
and is in her nineteenth year. Having given promise
of considerable powers as a singer, she was sent to the
institution at Hanover-square, where she studied for
upwards of two years. Her performances as a pupil
have been highly spoken of, and there are critics who
assert that her voice in the higher range is without an
equal in England.
The circumstance of the Queen Dowager having
taken up her residence in Witley Court encouraged
the hope that she might honour the festival with her
presence, and an application was made to that effect,
but her Majesty declined the invitation, on the ground
of indifferent health.

The sums voluntarily contributed at the close of
each day's performance go in aid of a fund for the
benefit of the widows and orphans of clergymen who
are connected with the dioceses of Gloucester, Wor-
cester, and Hereford. It was for the purpose, indeed,
of establishing and supporting such a fund that the
festival itself was instituted 120 years ago.

FATAL ACCIDENT BY FlRE.—last night Mr.
Higgs held an inquest at the Plough, Carey-street, on
the body of Margaret Gallagher, aged ten years, who
was burnt to death at 179, Drury-lane, on Friday last,
while playing with fire when left in the room by herself.
The poor child had no one to look after her, her father.
who is a respectable mechanic, being engaged all day at
his work. The Coroner and jury remarked on the ex-
ceedingly dangerous practice of leaving children in a
room where there is a fire, without a guard or some sort
of protection. The jury returned a verdict of " Acci-
dental death."
ACCIDENT OCCASIONED THROUGH DRUNKENNESS.
—Yesterday noon an accident occurred near Strutton-
ground, Westminster, to an Irish paviour, of the name of
Timothy Bryan, which originated in a drunken squabble
with his wife. It appears that during the early part of
the morning the parties had been drinking very freely at
a neighbouring public-house, when Bryan's wife accused
her husband of infidelity with a female then present. A
" row" ensued, and at the moment that a horse and cart
was passing, Mrs. Bryan either struck her husband a se-
vere blow on the face, or pushed him down under the
cart ' • the horse rather plunged at the moment and
struck the man on the head, and the wheel of the cart
passed over his head and body. He was picked up in a
dreadful state, and carried by three policemen of the B
division to Westminster Hospital, where he at present
remains in a very precarious state. The wife was taken
into custody to await the issue.
FATAL STEAM-BOAT ACCIDENT.-011 Sunday
evening, about seven o'clock, a wherry belonging to a
waterman named Robert Henderson, of Kidney-stairs,
Limehouse, and containing nine persons, chiefly en-
gineers, was crossing the river, nearly opposite Mill-wall,
and a short distance from Limehouse-hole pier, when
the Ariel, a Woolwich steam-packet, belonging to the
old company, came up the river at full speed, with
another vessel in her wake, and the people in the boat,
being unable to get out of her way, were run down. The
Ariel struck the wherry, and immedintely nine persons
were seen struggling in the water. Assistance was at
once rendered, and eight persons were taken out of the
water alive, some of them in a state of great exhaustion.
One unfortunate man perished, and his body has not yet
been recovered. His name is John Heywood, aged 27,
of No. 5, Tenby-place, Jamaica-place, West India Dock-
road.

- -
CORONER'S INQUEST.—Yesterday Mr. William
Baker, Deputy-Coroner, commenced an inquiry at the
Lord Nelson, Nicholl's-row, Bethnal-green, touching
the death of Jane Gregory, aged 27 years, whose death
took place after taking some drink, given her by a young
man named Alfred Edwards, with whom she occasionally
cohabited. The particulars of the case have been already
detailed in this journal on Saturday last, under the head
of " Worship-street," when Edwards was remanded by
Mr. Broughton, the sitting magistrate, for further in.
quiry, and to await the result of the present investiga-
tion. The first part of the evidence adduced was the

same as that produced before the magistrate. Mr. G
H. Smith, assistant to Mr. Wildbore, the surgeon, o
Shoreditch, who gave his evidence in a most decisive
and clear manner, deposed that since his examination
before the magistrate at Worship-street, he had made a
post mortal: examination, and found the general appear-
ance of the body healthy. On examining the stomach
he found it much inflamed, as well externally as inter-
nally. Internally there were patches of inflammation
characteristic of poison having been taken. He had
submitted the fluid contents of the stomach and the re-
mainder of the liquid contai▪
ned in the bottle out of which
the deceased had drank to Dr. Leeson, one of the the •
mical lecturers of St. Thomas's Hospital, but the analysis
had not been completed, and the Coroner adjourned the
is airy in consequence.
DEATH OF A PRISONEII, IN NEWGATE.—An in-
quest was held yesterday i▪ n the gaol of Newgate, before
Mr. W. Payne, City Coroner, on the body of John
Braidy, alias Robertson, aged twenty, a prisoner await-
ing his trial. The body when viewed by the jury, pre-
sented a shocking spectacle, privation and disease having
wasted it to a mere skeleton. From the evidence it ap-
peared that the deceased was a painter by trade, but ill
health for several months past had prevented him from
gaining his livelihood by it. Deprived of getting his
living honestly, he took to thieving, and a short time
back was committed to Newgate for trial. He was found
guilty, and sentenced to imprisonment in the House of
Correction. On his release he continued his old prac-
tices, and on the 11th instant was again committed to
.
Newgate, from Queen-square Police-court, on a charge
of stealingfr
complain pairs of boots and one pair of shoes.
He mplain of ill-health on his admission,
no
but on the 17th he was found by Mr. Holding, the sur-
geon, to be suffering from inflammation of the lungs at-
tended with fever. Every care and attention was paid
him, but that disease caused his death on Sunday.
Verdict, " Natural death."
Rather an interesting notice has been forwarded to
the committee at Lloyd's, signed W. E. Bush, and an-
nouncing that he has already succeeded in raising to the
elevation of nine feet above high water mask, on the
Goodwin Sands, an iron column which he expects to
complete before the Ist November next, together with a
brilliant red light. The foundation is stated to be very
firm, though it is not yet discovered whether there is a
chalk basis beneath the. said, the excavation of which
was a work of great difficulty.