The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-04 00:00:00

IiEPARTURE S.

our manufacturers
FAILURE IN BIRMINGHAIL—A. letter from Bir-
says, a good, deal of
mani
xnigel:rnwl,ilsdeaxtepderieNnocevd.
amongst‘,
this morning by the rumour of the failure of the house
of Messrs. Goddard and Hill, American merchants
and factors, which unfortunately turns out to be true.
The firm carried on an extensive business, chiefly
with the small hardware manufacturers in the adjoin-
ing towns, who will be the, principal sufferers. The
liabilities of the concern are. stated at 60,0001., and the
embarrassments which. have.led to the present failure
are attributed to the gradual decline of our trade with
America for some years past, Owing to the competi-
tion of the German manufacturers, and also to the
operation of the new tariff, which prohibits a large
proportion of our goods.
Societies for putting down the smoke nuisance have
during the season been formed at Manchester and
Leeds. The Society at Manchester states that the
difference between the .wear of linen on ordinary days
and on Sundays, or holiday, when the fires of the
furnaces of that town are not in full action, Was
found, on a low estimate of the destruction of clothing
and extra expense of washing, from sooty particles in
the air, to be a loss of one-halfpenny per head each
week for every working man's family. This for Man-
chester alone would amount to a charge upon the in-
habitants of 30,000/. per annum, and in London, at
the same average, to an annual charge of 16'2,520/.
TRIAL AND CONVICTION OF TWO KINfiSWINVORD
CONSTABLES.—WiIIiRII(I Onions, constable of King-
SWinford, William ['rice, his assistant, and William
Roberts, butcher, were indicted for compounding with
Phcehe Millward, for the sum of 31., a felony which
had been committed by her son Jesse Millward, at
' the parish of Kingswinford. The Jury returned a
verdict of guilty against both defendants. The
Chairinan, after expressing his regret at seeing an old
constable like Onions brought before them on such a
grievous charge as that which they thought had been
clearly proved, sentenced Onions to pay a fine of 101.
F to the Crown, and Price 51. The tines were paid.--
Worcestershire Chronicle.

Mr., Mrs., and iKsterOliver, from Long's Hotel,
Bond-street, for Melton ; Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald,
from ditto, for Pope's Lodge, Bracknell; Captain
Levett, from ditto, for Devonshire ; Rev. H. T.
Young, from ditto, for Colchester; henry Surtees,
Esq., from ditto, for Norfolk; Monsieur, Schirmacher,
from ditto, for Liverpool ; Baron Ay me, for Ham-
burgh ; Mr. and Mrs. Mad Thomas, from Markwell's
London Hotel, Bond-street, fur Swansea; Mr. and
the Hon. Mrs. Corbally, from ditto, for Worcester-
shire ; Mr. and Mrs. Charleton, from ditto, for De-
vonshire.

TUE COURT.—We are enabled to state on the beat
authority, that the Queen and his Royal Highness
Prince Albert have given up their intended visit to
Brighton for the present, and instead will go to
Walmer Castle, the seat of the Duke of Wellington,
on the Kentish coast. We understand extensive pre-
parations have already commenced there for the re-
ception of the Queen and Court in the course of the
ensuing week, the Noble and Gallant Duke having
given up the use of the Castle solely for her Majesty's
convenience. The Duke left Apsley House before
nine o'clock yesterday for Walmer Castle, in order
to make every necessary preparation for the residence
of the Queen and Prince. The whole of the Noble
and Gallant Duke's domestic establishment leave
Walmer Castle for town to-morrow, on which day
a portion of the Royal Household will arrive there.
It is very probable that her Majesty, after a sojourn
of ten days or a fortnight at Walmer Castle, may pro-
ceed from thence to spend a few weeks at the Pavi-
lion, at Brighton, where the necessary preparations
are still in progress for the reception of the Court.
Her Majesty will proceed from Windsor to Padding-
ton by the Great Western Railway, and from thence
through Kent by the usual route to Deal.
PROPORTION OF VALUE OF MONEY AND PRICES IN
DIFFERENT PERIODS.—Taking two periods of twenty
years each, if from 1440 to 1460, the average prices
of wheat were 6s. Bd. per quarter, and from 1686 to
1706, it were 40s. the quarter, it is plain that 51. in
the time of Henry VI. would have purehased 15
quarters of wheat, for which quantity in the latter
period 301. must have been paid. So that 301. in
1706 would be no more than equivalent to Si. in the
period 14404460 (Henry VI.) Again, if oats in
the former period were generally at 2s. the quarter,
and from 1686 to 1706 12s. the quarter, it is mani-
fest that that 12s. in the latter period would be no
more than equivalent to 2s. in the former, though but
a sixth of it. Ale in the former of the two periods
named was only lid. the gallon; in the latter, Bd.;
or rather more than five-fold more. Si. in the former
period would purchase no more ale than somewhat
above 251. in the latter. Good woollen cloth, in the
former period, was 3s. 7id. per yard, at which rate 51.
would have purchased 28 yards or thereabouts. In the
latter period, the same quantity of fine cloth cost some-
what under 351. There is good reason to believe, that
beef, mutton, bacon, and other common provisions of
life were six times as cheap in the former as in the
latter period ; so that 281. or 301. a year between
1686.1706 was really no greater sum • than 51. be-
tween 1440 and 1460.
SLEEP or ANIMALS AND MAN.—MOSt animals
sleep more than man ; some, indeed, for months, as
the hibernating tribes of bats, dormice, marmots, and
bears. Cats and dogs would seem to have the faculty ,
at will, as have some idiots and persons of a low order
of intellect. The ideas or impressions upon their
minds are so feeble or so few, or are made at such
long intervals, that succession is lost for want of con-
tinuity; hence the organ retains imperfectly, and but
for an instant, the image which the external senses
have presented to it ; weariness supervenes, uncon-
sciousness follows, and lastly sleep, as a necessary con-
sequence of inanition, is induced. It is observed,
however, that monkeys do not sleep as much as other
animals. Whence is this apparent deviation from the
ordinary law of nature affecting animals ? Is a mon-
key a reasoning animal ? Observe a dog chained ;he
twists his chain, shortens it, and cuts himself off
from his platter. Does he seek to untwist it, to re-
store the links to their wonted extension ? No ;he
continues tugging and howling till some friendly hand
frees him from his toils, and restores him to his former
range. But how is it with the monkey under similar
difficulties ? Why, he deliberately untwists the chain
which he cannot sunder, and hence evinces something
like reason. Is the sleeplessness of monkeys, then, a
proof of reason ? We think so. But infants, they
are frequently sleepless. Yes, but never in a state of
health. Restlessness in them is always an indication
of hunger, or a symptom of disease. The absence of
sleep cannot be long sustained. Damiens slept on the
rack ; Luke in his iron crown ; and a battalion of in-
fantry have been known to slumber during a march !
Muleteers frequently sleep on their mules, post-boys
on their horses, and seamen "on the high and giddy
mast." " Massa call you," said a negro to his com-
rade, who had fallen asleep near him ; " Sleep has no
massa," replied the wearied boy ; and he was right.
We may bear the privation of fire, food, and even
drink, longer than we can the want of sleep.—Dr.
Bian's Anatomy of Sleep.
A CHINESE DANDY.—This mandarin was one of the
finest specimens of a man I had till then seen in China.
He stood about six feet two or three inches,_ and was
apparently stoat in proportion. He wore the winter
cap, the 'crown of which was of a puce-coloured satin,
shaped to, and fitting close to the head, with a brim
of black velvet turned sharply up all round, the front
and hinder parts rising rather higher than the sides—
in fact, in shape much resembling the iiaper boats we
make for children. On the dome-shaped top of this
lie wore a white crystal sexangular button, in a hand-
some setting. Beneath this was a one-eyed peacock's
feather, falling down between his shoulders. This
feather was set in green jade-stone about two inches
long, beyond which about ten inches of the feather
projected, and though apparently but. one, is in fact
formed of several most beautifully united. His ma-
kwa, or riding-coat, was a fine blue camlet, the large
sleeves of which extended about half down the fore-
arm, and the skirts nearly to the hip. Under this he
wore a richly-figured blue silk jacket, the sleeves
equally large, but reaching nearly to the wrist, and the
skirts sufficiently long to display the full beauty of it
below the ma-kwa. These loose dresses always fold
over the right breast, and are fastened from top to bot-
tom with loops and buttons. His unwhisperables were
of a light blue figured Nankin crape, cut much in
the modern Greek style, being immediately below the
knee tucked into the black satin mandarin boots, that
in shape much resemble the old hessian, once so com-
mon in this country, with soles some two inches thick,
the sides of which were kept nicely white, Warren's
jet not yet having been introduced. To this part of
his dress a Chinese dandy pays as much attention as
our requisites do to the formation of a " Humby."
The figure was completed by his apparently warlike,
but really peaceable implements, which no respect-
able Chinaman would be seen without, viz., the fan
with its highly-worked sheath; the purse or tobacco-
pouch, in the exquisite embroidery of which great
ingenuity is displayed : a variety of silver tooth and
ear picks, with a pocket for his watch, the belt to
which these are attached having a small leather case
fixed to it, to contain his flint and steel. I had nearly
forgotten his ta:l—his beautiful tail, the pride of every
Chinaman's heart—and in this case, if all his own, he
might well be proud of it. lam afraid to say how
thick it was, but it reached half-way down his leg,
and I would defy Rowland's Macassar to give a finer
gloss. In short, he was the very epitome of a dandy
Chinese cavalry officer.—Bingham 's Narrative.
AN INGENIOUS DEVICE.—The Postmaster-General
has again issued bills all over the country, warning
persons of the danger of enclosing coin in letters that
pass through the post, and recommending the adop-
tion of Post-office orders for the transmission of small
sums. A person who was in the habit of sending
small amounts in letters to a poor correspondent
through the post, had one stolen, and being unwilling
to give his correspondent, who was bedridden, the
trouble to attend to Post-office orders, he bought a
number of buttons such as are bought by tailors to be
covered with cloth. These buttons were the precise
size of a half-sovereign. When he wished to send a
remittance, he placed a half-sovereign on a button,
and covered it with a thin piece of cloth in the manner
a tailor would do it, which scarcely occupied the la-
bour of a minute. The button was then fastened in
a letter, and the eye of the former was made to pro-
trude through the latter, so as to make it appear as if
a pattern button was merely sent through the post.
This ingenious device evidently deceived the Post-
office gentry, and secured several half-sovereigns from
the appropriating claws of postmasters and their as-
sistants. Every button came safe to hand.
FUNERAL OF THE LATE DR•
liEUSCHELL. .the
obsequies of the late Dr. Herschel!, Chief Rabbi of
England, were on Wednesday performed with great so-
lemnity. Precisely at ten o'clock the corpse, in a
lain deal coffin, covered with black cloth (in which
It had been deposited by the express desire of the de-
ceased), was removed from his late residence in Bury-
court, St. Mary-Axe, to the chief Synagogue, Duke's-
place, supported by Sir ses Montefiore and 23
other leading members
the progress of M" o
the Bethdin." During
front the door of the synagogue to the
ark, an appropriate; service was chanted by the Rev.
Air. Asher, the
principal reader; and after the bier
;