Star.
London, England, 1823-10-08 00:00:00

MATCH AGAINST TIME.

Mr. Abbot, of Bridgetown, Huntingdonshire, has undertaken
to ride, on horseback, sixty miles in three hours, for two hundred
sovereigns, on the Great North Road.

IMPROirE,

FALSE HORIZON.

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TO THE EDITOR OF THE LITERARY CHRONICLE
Sra—Occasionally I amuse myself by making astro-
ronsical observations; and the other day, I put chased
what is called a u false horizon"—finding it difficult to
get a true horizon in London: but I soon found the
glare from the quicksilver prevented my taking a cor-
rect altitude, which induced me to try an experiment,
and I had the gratification to find it answer. It is this,
take away from over the quicksilver the inclined paral-
lel glasses, and FLOAT a piece of DAREENED parallel
glass on it, which will define the sun, in a far superior
way to the method now in use.
The improved false horizon costs about three fourths
less than the false horizons sold by the mathematical
instrument-makers.
Your inserting this in your widely-circulated Journal
may be the means of further improvements being made;
and will favour your's, &c. M.
September 27, 1823.

Saturday evening, about eight o'clock, one of those
unnatural miscreants, whose acts of cruelty to the fe-
male sex frequently occur in the metropolis, committed
an act of the most savage barbarity on an unoffeuding
female, who was walking with her companion over the
Old Bridge at Bath, by stabbing her in the thigh.
Tuesday se might a fatal accident occurred at Blair-
stone, Ayrshire, the seat of E. CATHCART, Esq. James
Ferguson, an apprentice with Messrs. Nicholson and
Hay, painters in Edinburgh, employed in painting some
of the rooms at Blairstone, had occasion to pass over in
the ferry-boat to the other side of the water of Doci;on
the left bank of which Blairstone is situate ; but when
near the middle of the water, at that time much swol-
len from the late rains, and running with consider able
strength and rapidity, he missed his hold of the line
thrown across for conducting the boat. The boat was
thereon overturned, and the lad thrown out, swept away
by the current, and drowned.
New MARRIAGE ACT.—By Statute 4 George IV.
c. 76. the late Marriage Act is repealed from the Ist
day of November next. And it is provided in such Act
that the bond heretofore necessary shall no longer he
used, by which the sum of 11. will in future be saved in
the expense of the license. The twentreight days' resi•
dente formerly required by one or both of the parties
previous to granting the license, is reduced to 15 days.
Saturday night, between seven and eight o'clock,
while the servant who kept the house was gone to mar-
ket, the du elling of Mr. Archdeacon GODDA RD, in Upper
Gower-street, Bedford-square, was entered by false keys.
The greater part of the doors, drawers, &c. had been
opened ; and linen, clothes, &c. in great profusiols scat-
tered about the rooms. It appears, however, that. an
alarm was soon taken, and that the thieves decamped
with a small portion only of their booty.
SURGICAL ANECDOTE.—A few years ago, one of the
dressers of a London Hospital wished very much to
perform an operation ; and he turned his attention to
the surgery boy, who had a bad leg, and said to him
one day, " Abraham, I should like to cut off your leg."
" Indeed !" said Abraham, " I should not like it.'
" Oh," said the dresser, "it will never be of any use to
you, in its present state, and therefore you had better be
without it. I will take a lodging for you; I will give
you some money, and you shall be well attended." The
boy's scruples were overcome ; he took the money,
v.-eet to the lodging ; all was fixed, and the operator
began; hut finding a great discharge of blood, he cried
out to his assistant-4i Screw the tourniquet tighter."
He obeyed ; but in doing so the screw broke, and at this
unforeseen accident, the d:esser lost all presence of
mind ; he jumped about the room, then ran to the suf-
ferer, and endeavoured to stop the effusion of blood by
compressing the wound with his baud, but in vain ; his
sleeve became filled with blood, and poor Abraham
would have died in a very short time, had not a pupil
accidentally called, who had the presence of mind to
apply the key of the door to the femotal artery, and by
compressing it, stopped the bleeding, and thus gained
time for the application of another tourniquet.
INDIAN ANECDOTE.--A Frenchman, who was in the
habit of trading among the Indians, took, among other
articles, a quantity of gunpowder ; but the Indians were
supplied, by the disposal of most of their furs to other
traders, and reserved their remaining stock for the pur-
pose of purchasing other necessaries with them. The
Frenchman, however, having sold mostly all his goods
except this powder, and fearing lest it should remain'
on his hands, had tried every artifice to induce diem to
barter with him for it, but without succeeding, until
Indian curiosity afforded him an opportunity of selling
it. Among other ingenious questions, they asked him
how the white -people made powder ? The hopes of
finding a ready market for the " black dust," at an ad-
vantageous price, immediately set to work his powers
of invention. Ile told them " the white people sowed it
in fields, as they did wheat or tobacco seeds, and were
enabled thereby to raise large crops from a few pounds
of seed: The Indians were highly pleased, and every
one who could raise a beaver-skin, purchased at an ex-
orbitant price, as far as his peltry would go ; and in a
little time the Frenchman found himself freed of all his
powder, and in possession of great booty, and made the
best of his way as soon as he could. The delighted In-
dians directly set to work in preparing a choice spot of
ground for the reception of their new crop. Having
cleared the land, they followed the Frenchman's direc-
tions in sowing the powder. They went from time to
time to see if it had come up. After some weeks had
elapsed, and finding all their hives at an end, one old,
Chief, wiser than the rest, wittilrobserved. 44 he was a-
Frenchman" of whom they had purchaked the powder.
This hint was enough : they now believed ;Onion a fraud;
and they determined to revenge it the first opportunity.
Not long after, another Frenchman- wart among the
same tribe with a cargo-of dry goods.. He .obtained
permission from the Chief to sell his goods among his
ptople : the industrious pedlar opened his bales, and
ul.en the goods were all spread out for inspection, as it
+Acre, the young warriors, and all that bad been fooled
by the former Frenchman, rushed on him, and took all
the poor man's goods. He laid his bitter complaint be-
fore the Chief, and demanded satisfaction. The Chief
very gravely replied, "4 certainly shOuld be paid, lint'
fir that he must wait tha dat next. unPowder harvest.
The Countess Gmniia.,witto is now most anxiously
devoted to the encoMierisint Of the linen manufac-
ture,
in the South of. Irelatidinielig a Gendensin with
very de" wristbands, observed, " I fear that the linen,
market as overstocked.. I !egret to find so -much of it
on hands."

Mr. MARTIN'S Act for preventing cruelty to lit
was eAthreed by the &Otos Diegittatne, an Monday hunt
asra• vibe ants 10... wlth ss; cote: far erdpny
Keel !Rlfiannijcittith and fat that oleic* bs wu
Soil se. • •