Star.
London, England, 1824-04-23 00:00:00

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

About the period of the decapitation of this unfor-d
Innate Queen, in February, 1589, she presented to Miss
Elisabeth Curle, one of her Ladies in Waiting, her mi-
niature, with instructions, that after the event she should
procure from it a full-length likeness of her person.
This was specially bequeathed to the Scott College of
Douay, in France, founded by her Majesty, which was
the object of her peculiar bounty and regard. Also a
table clock, one of the first that had been made at the
time, along with her prayer-book. After the execution,
Miss Curle proceeded to Antwerp, and fulfilled the dy-
ing request of her Royal mistress. These articles were
delivered accordingly to the College; and it is a singu-
lar fact, that the title-deeds of it shew, that in the event
of this seminary being removed to any other part of
that country, these donations should not be permitted
to be separated from, but considered as part of the pro-
perty which belong: to it.
This picture was long hung up in the dining-hall of
the College, and looked up to as an object of high ve-
neration ; and the other relics were in possession of the
Presidents of the College from time to time. .
At the period of the Revolution, institutions in
every shape, connected with the interests of religion and
science, in Douay, were denounced, and marked out
as objects of demolition. When the dreadful work
commenced, not only the whole of the Colleges and
theirscontiguous chapels were ransacked, and no regard
paid to any one thing, however precious in point of an-
tiquity, or of a sacred nature, but records, public do-
cuments, books, manuscripts, pictures, and furniture,
fell a sacrifice to the fury of revolutionary demagogues.
Nay, the very walls of some of the most ancient edi-
fices were not permitted to remain as silent monuments
to deplore this scene of disorder and devastation, and
exhibit these to future ages ; but pulled down with the
most satanic fury, and hurled into one frightful mass
of confusion.
Under these alarming circumstances, the invaluable
papers and manuscripts in particular, that had so long'
been in the Scots College, and which, it will be ob-
served, actually included the original celebrated Poems
of Onion, which the President of the College repeat-1
edly informed me, whose veracity I apprehend was un-1
impeachable, he had been in possession of during thel
long period he presided there, fell a prey to revolu-
tionary madness l What mast be the feelings of the'
scholar and man of science, nay the literary woild at
large, when they are told that one half of these inva-
luable papers were actually distributed to the grocers
of this place, who employed them in wrapping up such,
articles as they sold, and the remainder were applied as
materials for making of ball cartridges, and the books
piled in a heap in one particular square, and set in a
blaze ?

Notwithstanding the destruction, during this reign of
terror and bloodshed, the picture of Mary Queen of
Scots most miraculously escaped the fangs of the mob.
The canvass appears to have been taken out of the frame
to. facilitate its remoaal ; and when I was at Douay
with, the venerable Heed of the College, immediately
after the peace, we saw it in the possession of a Lady,
who unfolded it like an old map, and informed us it
had been carefully concealed in a chimney during the
Itevulution. k was then delivered, cleaned, to him, and
put in a Superb- frame, taken to Paris, and deposited in
the ScotF Cortege, till it was ascertained if the College,
o Douay was to. be restored to the exercised its former
rights end,priviluges.
This noble picture, hitherto so little known, is twelve
feet in height by six in breadth. Her 'Majesty is repre-
sented in a standing attitede,.of peat dignity. She is•
dressed in a black. gown, with white sleeves, a white-
robe underneath, mid a heat cap un her head, in the
form of a shell. in the right hand is a crucifix and her
prayer-book, with a coverofparchment, in her left, and-
a representation of our SAVIOUR on the Cross hanging
at her breast. °none-side there isa representation of her
decapitation, in the back ground. She is accompanied.
by her two Maids of Honour. Her head is laid on the
block, and the exceetioner shown to be in the act of
holding up the axe to strike the fatal blow. He is
dressed in- black, with a white apron, and attended by
four assistants, one of whom appears to be giving the
word of conimand, and another writing. notes of what
occurred during this tragical scene!
'A further description is given of this interesting pic-
ture, with the different inscriptions, which we have not
room for at tbismateent:—Wilson'S Travels in tlie Pkly
Land; 41p... •
••-

It must be now nearly a twelvemrinth ago since a
scaffolding was erected round the statue of Queen Anne,.
in front of. St. Paul's, for the purpose, we think it was
said, of restoring her Majesty s nose. lip to this time,.
however, the scaffolding. remains in gain quo, and, we
believe, the nose also. _ _ _

The stable. of the Honourable Mr. GORE, at Brook
Lodge, near Southend, have been broken open by some
miscreant, who mangled two fine hunters in. so dreadful
a manner that the stable looked like a slaughter-house
The wounds seem to be triangular, as if with a bayonet ;
and almost every part of the car-case was perforated.
The Cork coach, by. Cashel, which left Dublin on
Sittunday, was stopped by an armed banditti, in the
Countyof Tipperary, and, robbed of the mail. The
gpard was badly wounded, and two of the horses were
shot. The robbery occurred nearly at the same place
where afoul:ller robbery of the coachlrad been committed.
Tins wife of a, gingerbread-man, who is in the habit
of attending fairs, was safely delivered of a fine child
M a tilted cart, during the fair at 111inaer, in Sheppy,
last week, being the third time that she has been cou-
"wed at the same fair within the last three years.
DREADFUL FIRE AT DEI7TMORD —Yesterday Morn-
ing, about one o'clock, the:town and neilthbourhood of
Deptford. Were thrown into great consternation by a
sodden burst of flames from the extensive premises of
Aft:lllostur, timber-rnerehunt, near the Black Horse,
em the Loweveroad,which. in an instant communicated
to some stacks .of hay, from thence to several huge
piles, of deal's, and in less than ten minutes the flames
eirtincled:over the whole of the yard, communicating
to a ioniprangt of sheds and stabling, in which were
threeicarvborees, which, such was.the rapidity of the
devouring element,
.coteld not be rescued, and were
tonsurna. The whole of the piles of timber were in
filimes,,4.nii the atmosphere for several miles was illu-
minated by the coniagration. Every effort was made
W. save some stacks of mahogany ; but the attempt
frnitless, and•the entire-stock .of the yard, with all
die stittoluidinebut-houses, were reduced to ashes....,.
The driellingehoirse, whicli is not in the yard, escaped.
We are.happf to hear, that no-lives were lost. As yet
it is not*knoWit how the disaster originated.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.

Yesterday, the adjourned Sessions were held at
Clerkenwell, before FRANCIS CtiNST, Esq.

A young man, named Fellowwwho is a painter, and
in good business, was tried uponin indictment, charg-
ing him with having extorted the sum of 3s. from a
poor old man, named Calf, a real object of compassion.
Calf said, " I am seventy-seven years of age, and
very poor indeed. I was going along the street with
my barrow, upwards of twelve months ago, and I sup-
pose I might have rolled it on the pavement ; but the
prisoner comes to me in the morning and says, lam
an officer: He produced a staff, and says to me,
Johnson has seen you, and he'll pull you up; but I'll
get you over it for 40s.' I had not 40s. in the world, GOD
help me; and I told him so. Oh, tlicn, says he, you
must go to jail for twenty-one days, and so he was
going to have me up, and end my days in that way. It
was on a Sunday morning, and the day was bitter cold.
I have three children to support, and I was bringing
home to them a bit of meat and bread ; and all I bad in
the world was 3s. 2d. and I was going to lay out part of
that to buy coals to warm us. I told him it was all I had,
and be still threatened me with the jail, and said he had
a warrant; and I said to him, For the LORD'S sake
don't do it, Sir; you shall have all I have ; so I gave
him the 3s. 2d. for he would not go without something.
He then wrote something upon a bit of paper, and put,
a bit of blue paper upon it, to make it look consequen-
tial, and told me, if Johnson came to toe, to shew it to
him, and it would be all right. We had no fife on ac-
count of the loss ; but I began to think that it was add
for a Magistrate to grant a %% arrant on a Sunday, and
as he told me that Mr. Rawlinson granted it, I went off
to him, and asked him. I What clts you mean ?' says
Mr. Rawlinson, and when 1 told him, he sent after Mr.
Fellows, but we have been hunting him now upwards
of a year, and he shirked away irom place to place.'
At last 1 caught him, with the assistance of the chief .
constable, and here he is."
The prisoner asked the old man whether he had not
offered to settle the matter for a 51. note?—" Never,"
replied Calf.
In his defence, Fellows said he had been with an offi-
cer when the old man rolled his barrow on the pave-
ment, and that the officer intended to have him up, but
lie (prisoner) interposed, and prevailed upon the officer
to take less money than the poor man would have been
tined under the Act. As for the production of the staff,
his Worship would see nothing at all in that, as the fact
was, it was a tvoodea staff; and therefore had nothing
to do with the police.
Here the prisoner, who is a very able-bodied young
man, began to cry. He could, he said, prove that
his character was a good one, and that be was in excel-
lent business.

Two respectable persons stepped forward to give him
a character, and they certainly proved that necessity did
not compel him to commit the fraud.
His father also appeared, but the assurance of the
prisoner's ability as a workman, and the condition of his
circumstances, were rather calculated to make the case
worse.—The Jury immediately found him
The CIIAIRM A N then addressed the ruffian, who con-
tinued' to " pipe his eye" the whole time, and told him,
that he bad been found guilty of one of the most atio-
.cious frauds that ever was committed, as the person
whom he had cheated was a poor, infirm, and aged
man. The Chairman was about to pass sentence on him,
when another prosecutor, named Tomkins, made his
appearance, and said that the prisoner had cheated him
out of 2s.
The case was immediately gone into. TOmkins, a
poor ignorant creature, said his barrow was before his
door, and the prisoner came up to him and told him
that lie (prisoner) was a public officer, and connected
with Johnson, the notorious infrirmer, who was pulling
up the whole town. " However," says the prisoner,
.4l'll get you a transference that will protect you from
Johnson and all others,. for the sum of 55." Witness
had not ss. but he civilly invited the prisoner into his
cellar, and told him all the money in the house was 2s.
Sn the prisoner pulled out a pack of parchments, and
wrote a teceipt, promised to bring the transference,
and took away the2s.

The Csmusm-u—What did he mean by the transference?
Witness—" 1 can't tell : but I suppose he meant to cheat me.
However, he never brought the transference to me."

The Jui y found the prisoner Gnilty.
The CHAIRMAN then said thAt a year's imprisonment
for each offence would be as little as such a .scandalous
impostor deserved. He, however, hoped that a qua' ter
of that punishment would have a proper effect ; and sell.
tencect Fellows to imprisonment for three months for
each offence in the House of Correction.

It has been at length determined by the Middlesex
Magistrates to erect a separate prison for the reception
of females only, the total cost of which will not, it is
supposed, be much less than 40,0001. besides the perma-
nent annual expense for keepers, matrons, &c.
MYSTERIOUS AEFA IR.—Wednesday night last, about
twelve o'clock, two men, who gave their address as
Military Officers, accompanied by a police officer, en-
tered the lodgings of a young Lady, who has resided
not far from Leicetter-square for the last two years, and
forced her from her dwelling, notwithstanding the en-
treaties and exertions of her friends about her.

CAUTION TO OWNERS OF Doos.—Yesterday morning,
between five and six o'clock, as an ostler was exercising
a couple of horses in the neighbourhood of Charles
square, City-road, a large bull-dog, which was follow-
ing a bricklayer's labourer, ferociously sprang upon one
of the horses, and tore his side in a most shocking man-
ner. The horse broke from his hold, and ran down
'Ortinswick-place towards the City-road. The dog pur-
sued him, and seized his throat, and did not quit his
hold till the horse dropped down exhausted by the loss
of blood. He then attacked the other horse, upon which
the ostler was mounted, in the same manner, which
caused him to take fright and. throw his rider, who
pitched head-f-oremost upon a curb-stone. The first horse
that was attacked cannot possibly live; and the other,
though likely to recover, is so mach mangled as to ren-
der it certain that he will not be fit even for a common
hack. The ostler is in a hopeless condition.
ACClDENT.—Wednesday evening, in Greenwich Park,
as a party of young men, with their lasses, were amusing
themselves in running down Greenwich-hill, one of
them, a female about 18 rani of age, named. Morin;
daughter of a respectable tradesman at Kennington,
suddenly fell with such considerable force in the descent
that she broke her ieg in two places.
ROYAL FAVOUR.—A low Frenchman bragged that
the King had spoken to him. J3eing asked what his
Majesty had said; he repliectim He bad& me stand out
of his way.",