The Sun.
London, England, 1829-11-23 00:00:00

THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

The first meeting of the Royal Society for the
present Session was held at S•umerset House on
Thursday evening, and was fully attended. DAVIES
GILBERT, Esq. the President, in the Chair.
The PRESIDENT announced that his Most Gra-
cious Majesty had, since the last Meeting, presented
to the Society a catalogue of the books in the
King's Library, and moved that the humble thanks
of the meeting should be returned for this present.
A paper was read from the pen of Mr. Farrady,
being a short account of the experiments made, at
the expence of Government, to obtain more perfect
glass for optical instruments. The paper com-
menced by stating, that although glass had, been
brought to ample perfection for domestic purposes,
yet that for optical instruments it was far from being
perfect. This fact was too well known, and it was
a singular circumstance that the first telescope-
maker (Mr. Dolland) had not been able to obtain a
perfect disc of the circumference of 41 inches for an
achromatic telescope in the last five years, nor one
of .51- inches in the last ten years. The want of an
improved glass for optical instruments was so much
felt, that in 1825 a Committee was appointed to
make experiments in order to ascertain if an improve-
ment could not be made. His Majesty's Govern-
ment afterwards ordered every facility to be given,
and stated the expences incurred in the experiments
should be paid out of the Treasury. A furnace had
been erected in the Falcon Glass Works, and sub-
sequently one at the Royal Institution, where the
experiments had been carried on with the greatest
assiduity. The paper now read was intended
as a summary of these proceedings. The ex-
periments gone into were briefly glanced at,
and discoveries had been made which had
brought the manufacture of glass for optical pur-
poses to nearly a perfect state, the faults so long
complained of—viz. of the glass being wavy, seely,
&c. being remedied to a great extent. The most
perfect homogenous glass obtained by these expe-
riments was found to act perfectly. I The paper then
went into minor details. The experiments are still
going on. This paper gave much satisfaction.
The PRESIDENT announced that the election for
officers was drawing near, and impressed upon .the
members how much it imported the good of the
Society that persons should be chosen who would
attend to the duties of their office.
The meeting then adjourned.

It is to be hoped that the cheap butchers in
the New Fleet-market will be encouraged ; good meat
can be purchased there for sid.
FATAL MAIL COACH ACCIDENT.—About
one o'clock on Thursday morning the Edinburgh Mail
from London IVACI overturned at Beaumont-hill, about
three miles on the other side of Darlington, when the
coachman, ROBERT SCOTT, was so much hurt that he
died in a few minutes; the guard, WILLIAM STURDY,
had his leg broken. None of the passengers received any
injury. The accident was occasioned by the horses be-
coming unmanageable, and running away with the coach ;
all the efforts of the coachman to stop them, though as-
sisted by a gentleman on the box, were unavailing, until
the horses arrived at the place called Beaumont-bill, and
the wheels came in contact with a large stone, when the
coach instantly upset ; the soachman was threwn with
great violence from the box, and pitched upon his head ;
his death was almost instantaneous. The coach was so
little damaged, that, as soon as a coachman and guard
could be procured, it proceeded on its journey.—Leeds
Mercury.

A well-informed correspondent at Hudders-
field writes as follows:—" Seine of the fancy manufac-
turers are already making fewer goods than they were
doing a month ago, and those who are giving full employ-
ment are threatening to reduce the wages 25 per cent.—
At Batley Carr, near Dewsbury, the report of lowering
the wages is gaining ground, and in Heckmondwike, the
blanket trade is not so brisk as it was a few weeks ago.—
Many of the fancy weavers in Aldmondbury and in the
neighbourhood have not more than half work at the pre-
sent time. Many of them in Honley have barely a third
part work, and they anticipate still less; and long before
Christmas, too. 1 know for a fact that one of the prin-
cipal clothiers in Holmfirth commenced the lowering of
wages yesterday, and it•can hardly be doubted that many
others will follow his example. I have no wish to exag-
gerate the distress that unhappily prevails, nor to forecast
an increase of bad tidings; but in the present state of the
country, the truth ought to be fearlessly set forth. Now
that winter is near, the labouring classes stand in need of
more clothing, coals, candles, &c., and as such, they can
but very ill endure a reduction of their already too scanty
wages. I assure you that small tradesmen find uncom-
mon difficulty in obtaining payments, particularly of debts
that are more than twelve months old, and unless some
powerful stimulus is given to trade in general, their diffi-
culties will multiply to a perplexing extent. The shame-
ful, and now very prevalent practice of paying wages in
goods, is extending very rapidly, and adds to the difficul-
ties of the fair trader, besides robbing the poor and de-
fenceless. If the master does not ostensibly sell the goods,
he can, and does evade the law by giving tickets on some
fritenor cpoeurs i
cent. w h on ,b 0 ae lein
the
in ennitll—eupeesr,h aerargber oftthoetnr,
five
tetrn,
market price.—Leeds Mercury.

Mr. WISATELY moved for a rule to show came
why an attorney should not be struck off the roll
of the Court. The Learned Counsel stated, that
by the affidavits it appeared that the person at
whose instance this application was made, had ob-
tained a judgment against a gentleman of the name
of Dauncey for 216/. On the 16th of May last a
writ of fieri facia: was•issued, and on the 18th was
put into the hands of the party against whom he
moved, as under-sheriff. Having been ruled•to re-
turn the writ, he returned that a levy had been
made, but that the goods seized remained in the
sheriff's hands for want of buyers. A writ of ran-
ditione exponas was then issued; and in the return
to that writ it was stated that the goods had been
put up to sale, but that no sale had been made for
.rant of bidders. The affidavits then went on to
state that the under-sheriff was the attorney and
confidential adviser of Mr. Dauncey (being also at
relation of his), and that it had been discovered
that no warrant under the fieri facia: had ever been
issued, no bailiff employed, and no levy, in fact,
made; and that the under-sheriff had acted coliti-
,ively with the party against whom the execution
had issued, in order to . prevent the plaintiff from
i.eveiving the fruits of his judgment.—Rule nisi
“ranted.