Star.
London, England, 1824-09-09 00:00:00

ORIGIN OF BARTHOLOMEW FAIR.

Maitland says, king Henry 11. granted to the Priory
of St. Bat tholomew the privilege of a Fair, to he kept
yearly at Bartholomew Tide, for three days, to which
the clothiers of England and drapers of London re-
paired, and that their booths and standings within the
church-yard of this priory, closed in the walls and gates,
were locked every night, and watched, for the safety of
men's goods and wares. A Court of Pie-poudi e was held
daily during the Fair, for debts and contracts. The Fair
kept here, instead of three days, was at length prolonged
to a fortnight, and became of little other use than for
idle youth and lonce pendle to resort to, and to spend
their money in vanity, di unkenness, &c. Therefore the
Magistracy, in 1708, teduced the Fair to that space of
rime only to which it was first granted, i. e. to three
days. At a Court of Common Council, in June in the
said year, when some petitions were offered for revoking
the former order, upon certain inconveniences, as the
great falling of the rents in St. Bartholomew's Hospi-
tal, and of the great losses that many of the inhabitants
in and about West Smithfield must suffer; yet, upon
the consideration of the great mischiefs and disorders
that had arisen by the long continuance of the said Fair,
the petitions for prolonging the time were rejected, and
the order confirmed, whereby the Fair was to be kept for
three days only, for selling of merchandizes, according
to the original grants from the Crown ; which regulation,
though it has been sometimes broke, the Chief Magis-
trate has of late years strictly observed."—See Mat.
land's London, p. 989.
The reason of faits being held near some cathedral
or monastery, on the anniversat y, dedication, or on the
festival of the Saint to whom it was dedicated, seems
to have been as follows :—When Bishops and Abbots
observed that crowds of people assembled from all
places to celebrate the festivals of their patron Saints,
they took advantage of this circumstance and applied
to the crown for charters to hold 'fairs at those times,
for the accommodation of strangers, and with a view to
increase their own revenues by the tolls, which their
charters authorised them to levy at these fairs. Hence
the multitude of attendants increased, some of whom
were actuated by religious, and others by commercial
views. When a fair was held within the precincts of a
cathedral or monastery, it was not uncommon to oblige
every man to take an oath at the gate before he was
admitted, that he would neither lie, nor steal, nor
cheat, while he continued at the fair.—See Muratorrs
Dissertations.

Burton, in his curious account of London and Westminster, pub-
lished 1691, says," one Cannel, the hangman of London, and two
others, were /wage/ near Clerkenwell, for robbing a booth in Bar-
tholomew Fair." A fellow who was tried for felony before Lord
Mansfield, at the Old Bailey, when called upon for his defence,
said, " My Lord, the last witness has swore false ; it was impos-
sible that I could have been guilty of the crime that I am charged
with."—" Why so?" said his Lordship. " Because, my Lord, I
was at that very time at Bartelmy Fair, pricking at the belt."—
" Pricking at the belt !" said the Noble Judge, " what is that?"
What, my Lord! don't you know ? Why, it is the &eat rig that's
goixig."—See Mirror, Aug. 21.

Mr. JAMES EMERSON, of Belfast, late of Trinity Col-
lege, Dublin, has been Appointed, under the immediate
patronage of the Gi eek Committee, to proceed to Athens.
The principal object of his visiting Greece is to super-
intend the affairs of the Press, and by every means in his
power advance the interests of literature in that country.
JAMSS'S-STREET,DUBLI,N,POLMEOFFICF--Saturday
evening, between eight and nine o'clock, Major Dawson
having received information that property to the amount
of 1,0001. was concealed in a gravel pit off the Long-lane,
near the Royal Hospital, proceeded to the place, and
found an immense quantity of raw silks, together with
a variety of other materials in raw unmanufactured
goods, which he secured and caused to be lodged in
the Police-office, James's-street. A woman was appre-
hended on Bow-btidge, with two parcels of the same
quality of articles as those found in the Long-lane.
A farmer of the name of Brick, was murdered at a
place called Battavin, county Kerry, on the 30th ult. by
two of his neighbours, named Griffin and Mahoney; it
arose out of a dispute about a few hens belonging to the
latter, that had committed some trespass in a corn field.
EXECUTIONS.—T. Lynch, alias Caki, convicted at the
late Assizes for Waterford, of having robbed Anne
Geoghegan of money and apparel, at Crahane, was
executed on Saturday week. He made no public ob-
servations si ith respect to the crime for which be suf-
fered; but previous to his being brought out, he con.'
fessed to the robber y.—Saturday se'nnight, W. Banelt
underwent the dreadful sentence of the law at Gallows-
green, Cork. 011 arriving at the scaffold, and hav-
ing ascent:ed it, he addressed a few admonitory words
to the vast multitude who attended ; the fatal rope being
adjusted, and ail preliminaries gone through, the drop
fell, and in less than a minute existence seemed to have
fled. He was about '2B years old, and well-looking.—
The executions which have taken place as yet on the
Minister Circuit wcie entirely for murder :—They were,
at Ennis, Honora Coircannon, for the murder of the old
man at Coral' ; at Limerick, Patrick Minnane and
John Green, murder of istijor Hare Murtogh Flin,
Daniel Flirt, and Charles Dawley, murder of Hartnett,
the Hon. Col. Fitzgibbon's driver ; at Tralee, Timothy
Cotter, murder of Fitzgibbon
Brereton ; and at Cork, Jeremiah
Iloolahan, murder of Denis Malrony, near Bantry ; and
Timothy Hannan and John Hannan, murder of Daniel
Killigrew. In all, eleven human beings immolated to
the outraged laws of society. The only instances of
execution for insurgent proceedings were those in the
county of Limerick, and that of Cotter, in Tralee, which
offences were committed more than tweyears ago.
A bee-hive belonging to James Cattanach, at. Wood-
end of Iltise, has this season produced the extraordinary
'lumber of eight swarms. Tl:e hive itself has swarmed
four times, and each of the two first swarms has
swarmed twice. The first, rr what is called the tip,
swarmed a third time, but the soar m went back to the
hive. Another person in the same parish has had
twenty-one swarms from six hives.

LAUNCH OF THE CANADIAN RAFT.

-.-.0.--

FROM THE QUEBEC MERCURY OF JULY 31.
The long-expected launch of the great ship took place
on Wednesday morning last, at the Point of the island
of Orleans, in presence of a large concourse of people.
The St. Lawrence, which but a few years ago, compa.
ratively speaking, had borne on its wave only the
rudely-constructed canoe of the native Indian, has now
floating on its waters the largest ship in existence, or of
the building of which for navigable purposes we have
any authentic record. This immense vessel has, with
great propriety, been named the Columbus.
Her dimensions are as follow :—Length 300 feet,
breadth of beam 50 fret, and depth of hold 30 feet :
her model is also as extraordinary as her dimensions,
being precisely that of a Canadian batteau, that is, per-
fectly flat-bottomed and wall-sided, and the stern and
stern-post nearly or altogether perpendicular, and both
ends sharp alike, without any fulness, as is the case in
bows and sterns of ships of the usual construction; so
that her floor may be compared to a parallelogram,
with an acute equicrural triangle at either extremity.
Her tonnage by register is 3,690 tons; but she is thought
to be capable of carrying at least 6,000 tons freight;
her stowage is somewhat embarrassed by the massy
beams which connect her side timbers, or she would
probably freight 7,000 tons.
Wednesday, at half-past, or 35 minutes past seven,
this ponderous mass was put in motion with as much
facility as any smaller vessel, and slid majestically into
the St. Lawrence. The length of the ways was some-
what less than 600 feet, and precisely one minute
elapsed between the period when she mcved and that
of her reaching the water, her entrance into which was
greeted by appropriate airs from the military bands in
attendance, and repeated salutes from the guns of the
steam-boats, and some which had been planted on the
shore for that purpose. Her ways were much scorched
by the friction of her motion, and so great a smoke
arose, That distant spectators imagined some accident
to have taken place. From her peculiar construction
in the wedge-like form of her stern, and the small pro-
portion her breadth bears to her length, she created but
little swell, even the smallest boats were hardly tossed,
and no sensible motion was experienced on board the
steam-boats and larger vessels.
Three of her four masts were standing; that is, the
first and second main-masts, and her try-sail mast. The
sheers were also up for stepping the foremast, and her
bowsprit was in ; the whole of these appear so small,
when compared with the bulk of her hull, that they
look like jury spars; her main-sail is not larger than
that of a small 74. As soon as she lost way, she was
taken in tow by the steam-boats Swiftsure, Lady Sher-
brooke, and Malsham ; and conducted to the Montmo.
renci Channel, where she dropped her anchor, which
did not appear to be larger than we have seen on board
*a
first-rate ship of war. The weight is Mom 2qrs.

DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE SEASONS.
Our enemies charge us with being a nation of grum-
blers, but in fact no people under the sun are exposed to
so many disappointments as ourselves. Every month.
brings with it its disappointments. The shooting sea-
son commences, and every newspaper instantly takes a
pleasure in assuring us that there are no partridges—.
this is always the story ; nay, we never recollect a season
when there were any partridges; from the beginning of
time the young birds have always either perished flora
the drought, or been destroyed by the excessive mois.
tare, and those one eats too often confirm the mean.
choly tidings, having evidently escaped the mortality
by the unparalleled toughness of their constitutions, cal.,
cnlated to set the tooth of man and time at defiance.'
In the autumn there is always an abundance of unripe
plums, a pennyworth of which will perhaps be eaten by
some poor man in great grief and distress of mind, who
has just seen the last pleasantry at the Theatre, and
cannot afford to purchase oxalic acid ; but ask for a
peach or a nectarine, and the answer invariably is, and
has been ever since the Garden of Eden flourished,
it There is no wall-fruit this year, Sir; the sharp east
winds in the spring months cut up all the young blos-
soms; but we have some particularly well grown
pumpkins, if you are partial to them." The oldest man
living does not recollect any wall fruit—it is a mere
name, a phantom of the mind's palate—let people be
undeceived, they will never eat any more peaches or
nectarines—none of our fine fruits survive the spring,
. .

like other superior natures, they perish in the bud, and
leave the •1 ne'er do wells" to thrive and prosper in the
world. Indeed, when we consider the great improve-
ments which have for years past been taking place in
storms, we cannot be surprised that our fruits should
suffer proportionately—hail-stones were never so fine as
now, and as they are always largest in the last shower,
there is no setting limits to their aggrandisement, and
we do not despair of being knccked down by a single
icicle before we die. In every account of a storm of
wind, it will also be observed, that it is invariably de-
scribed as being the most tremendous ever known in
the memory of man, which proves that tempests, like
the last quarter's revenue, are ever increasing. Read
the Ship News of any one month, and you will per-
ceive that the last storm is sure to be the greatest. This
is the age of improvements, but nothing, it must be
confessed, has made such progress as our bad weather.

Saturday afternoon, a newly-invented fire-escape was
being exhibited from a house in the New-road, St. Pan-
cras, when John Cooper, a bricklayer, who was passing,
took a fancy to try its operation. Having got leave of
a bookseller (who admits he was never authorised to
grant such permission), he ascended about fifty feet up
a ladder, and in attempting to get into a cradle at the
top, upon putting one foot into it, the whole of the ma-
chine overturned sideways, and the poor fellow was
precipitated to the ground. He died shortly after, and
an Inquest was yesterday held on the body, when the
inventor explained that there was a stay rope to steady
the machine, which should have been adjusted previ-
ously to any attempt to descend. The Jury, after a long
consultation, returned a verdict—That the deceased's
death was accidental, and was caused by neglect of due
caution in all parties.
Several very bad cases of typhus and scarlet fever
have lately occurred in Aberdeen, which in some in-
stances have proved fatal. One of these cases was of a
most distressing nature, scarlet fever and putrid sore
throat having got into the family of a tradesman, of
the name of Mitchell, residing in the Shipr.,w, all of
whose children, four in number, were, in the short space
of siz days, cut off by this dreadful malady ; their ages
were from 15 months to eight years, and they died af-
ter being about six days ill each, two of them in one
d.iy. The mother, it is painful to add, was takers ill on
Thursday, as there is reason to fear from the symp-
toms, of the same fatal disorder.

NEW ROADS...
Among the improvements undertaken in London and
the environs, none seem more useful than the exten-
sive works now going on for making new roads and
levelling hills. In Kent and Surrey the advantages
gained this way are highly important. Shooter's-hill,
which some time since was almost insurmountable, is
now much more easy of ascent. The soil to a great
depth has been cut away from the highest part, and
thrown into the declivity, in consequence of which
great relief is afforded to the horses, and the progress,
of travellers much accelerated. Solid chalk hills have'
been cut through near Northfleet, and the road much
1 improved. In Surrey, the new road now making from
Wandsworth over Wimbledon-common to Kingston ad-
vances rapidly. The workmen are now cutting through
Robinhood-hill, and with the soil they have raised a
level which is to be carried to the new road on the
Heath. The ground is removed in machines upon an
iron railway, and shot into the valley which forms the
bed of the road. When this raised ground forms a
junction with the road on the Heath, the Public will
have a beautiful level carriage-way on the south of
the road now used. It is to intersect the Kingston-
road near Coombe Warren, and the rise above Robin-
hood toll-gate will thereby be removed. A great num-
ber of labourers are employed on this extensive work,
and the masses of soil already separated from the
height through which a passage is to be effected, affords
a remarkable appearance.
Similar exertions in other parts near London chew
spirit of activity whiCh cannot fail in producing some
of the best roads in the world.