Star.
London, England, 1831-08-29 00:00:00

r 12*

ICINTILLJE.
READY CASH.—Amongst the numerous (%,
dames of a general want of conidence in money matter,
the present period of almost universal difficulty, is the t„.
lowing appendage to the card of a fashionable aceototet,,
at the west end of the metropolis:—" N.B. Children to
paid far on de/Jewry."
THE SHOP.—At a late dinner at the Alansion.
house three foreign consuls were present, to whom the lor4
mayor wished to do honour by drinking their health,
He accordingly directed the toast-proclaimer to announce
the healths of the three present consuls." He, however,
mistaking the words, gave out the following:—" The
lo-
mayor drinks the three per cent. consols !"
SCENE IN A PRINTING-ROOM.---" What are
you engaged in ?" said the printer of a newspaper enta.
blishment to one of the compositors—" In an elopement.'•
" Stop," said his interrogator, " I want you to take shut
in a murder."

LEGISLATIVE But-lA.-1n the bill for amend-
ing the laws relative to Jurors and Juries in Ireland, it it
proposed to enact that the bats of proposed Jurors shall be
fixed on the church-doors on the three FIRST Sundays of
September, to be perused during the three nue weeks of
September.
RA RE INHABITANT OF A CAGE.—M. de Mas-
son asserts that he knew a lady of the Russian Court, in
the reign of Catherine 11. who kept a slave, who was her
perruquicr, shut up in a cage in bar own chamber.i She let
him out every day, to arrange her head dress, and locked him
up again with her own hands after the business of the toilet
was over. His box was plated at her bed head, and in this
fashion he attended her wherever she went. His fare was
bread and water. He passed three years in this captivity,
the object of which was to conceal from the world that this
lady wore a wig. The close confinement was a punishment
for running away from her service ; the meagre diet of a
measure of revenge, because he could not prevent her grow-
ing older and uglier every day.—Mosseires Secrets star Is
Russie.

SOCIAL CULTIV ATION OF Mustc.—Wheresere-
ral young ladies, sisters or Mends, reside in one family, there
is an opportunity for bringing the social harmony of voices
to a kind of perfection, which casual intercourse can never
lead to. In a country life the accomplishment of music i,
especially graceful. What can better befit morning or ever.
ing society in an harbour, or in the shady recesses of a park
or pleasure-ground, than an Italian arietta of Millie') or
1 Parnell's. aided by a few eztempore touches of the guitar '•
A glee sung by heart will not render the labours of em.
broidery less interesting, or badly occupy the interval be.
tween reading aloud. One of the chief delights of ladies'
work is, that it so little engrosses the thoughts. While
their fingers are mechanically employed, they may, in a
hundred ways, entertain themselves, and those about them,
as well with the music of their voices as with the merry
conceits of their wit and fancy.— Ilarmottioosa.
BEAUTY OF THE ENGLISH CRIMINAL LAN.
--The three following cases occurred at a police-of ce one
day last week :—Pulling Mr. Plank's spectacles off his nose;
a drunken Irishman ; 3 months' imprisonment.—Having 2
outside passengers mote than licensed; Windsor coachman;
101. fine. —Beating a sailor boy, with a thick rope, for a
a quarter of an hour, until he was all but dead ; an East
country ship captain; 61. fine.—The nice proportion in
which, as the offence rises in enormity and the criminal in
respectability, the punishment diminishes in amount, makes
the above examples as instructive as any we have for a long
time past noticed.
SALARIES OP ACTORS IN CHIN Can-
ton there are about thirty companies of native players, be.
sides about ten of others from beyond the river, as people
from the upper provinces are called. A company is gene.
rally composed of from 40 to 70 persons, and, excepting
about ten or twelve who take the principal parts, the rest are
paid at from 20 and 30 to 130 dollars per annum • • those
who enact the superior parts, in which are comprised female
characters, deities and emperors, generals and ministers.
buffoons and clowns, can earn from 300 to 1,000 dollars
per annum, besides their living, which is always at the cost
of the manager. The usual price paid for the performance
of a set of plays, such as occupy the greater part of a day,
is from 00 to 70 dollars ; and an engagement is, generally
speaking, foe five, six, or seven days. Theft is a law which
prohibits the continuance of any performance in Canton after
six o'clock p.in. but in the suburbs it is not strictly en-
forced. Engagements for parties at private houses prove
the most profitable service for the actor : here they perform
during the protracted meal of dinner ; and it is considered a
proper compliment to the boat for the guest to send money
to the stage. Though it is not nue if faut for ladies to
appear openly at a play. yet, when the performance is near
any convenient aparttneuts, they are allowed to view it firom
behind a bamboo-screen, so contrived that they are not seen
by the company. Ihe Canton actors affect to carry on their
dialogue in' the Mandarin tongue, but it is so villainously
spoken by theta, that few people of education find pleasure
le their performances ; whilst, with the loner orders, they
are great favourites. They chiefly excel in feats of tumbling.
EPITA PUB.—The science of epitaph-writing
has never been properly understood. We cannot persuade
ourselves, that epitaphs might,not very easily be made the
vehicles of useful and agreeable information. As they are
regulated at present, they generally commence by informing
us, that the person in whose honour they are written' is
dead,--a fact which be had previously been half inclined to
believe, from the circumstance of his having been buried.
All this sort of knowledge is very little required. What we
require is, something which may rather be useful to the liv.
ins, than commemorative of the dead. l'e have had the
good fortune to meet with two epitaphs which exactly cor-
respond to our notions upon this subject. The first has al-
most all the attributes of a moral discourse, and the defunct
is made the useful vehicle of admonition and reproof.
" Here Nelly Griggs is free from her labours,
Who was a great deal better than most of her neighbours
She was not so drunken u farmer Hale is,
Nor half such a swearer as Thomas Millis ;
She did not, like dame Smith, grudge her dog his bowel,
And was far more pious than parson Jones is."
We do not envy the feelings of that man who can reel
Nelly Griggs's exhortations to sobriety, sinless conversation.
charity, and religion, unmoved. The other, though in a
less lefty style of admonition, is almost equal to the fore-
going, in the cleanses, and ingenuity of its design. We met
with it in a retired village in Devonshire. The first day s,
entered the churchyard of Coomb-Alartin, we co2iei it into
our pocket-book.
" Here lies John Swabey of this town, leaving Ex youn;
' children and a disconsolate widow, who carries on the bu-
siness as usual, at the sign of the Sugar loaf, where
great bargains continue to be had, particularly in linen ad
anus'

On resuming our "meditations among the tombs" next day.
we beheld a portly female In widow's weeds, busily employul
about the grave. "Ah !" said we, who had newly returned
from Paris, with Pere la Chaise still strong In out recolkc•
tion, "she is coming forth to hang a bouquet of Borer,
upon the stone ; we will leave her to the ' amiable indul-
gence of her grief.'" In a short time, she went away, AM
as she passed us, we fancied we saw the traces of recent tears
upon her countenance. With saddened heart, we went up
tq the tomb-stone she had left, and saw written upon it with
a piece of chalk.—N.B. " Some teas has just COMO at 5
Gd. per pound."

BIRTHS.
The 27th inst. the lady of W. Hughes, Esq. of Queer
square, Bloomsbury, of a daughter—The 21st instant, st
Stdmouth, the lady of Lieutenant G. Bewley, R.N. of
daughter.

MARRIED. •

The 27th instant, at Hornsey church, B. Brander,-£.'q
sea of the late W. Brander, Esq. of Morden-hall, Surrey. to
Sarah, youngest daughter of Henry St. John Esq. of Hero•
sey, and grand-daughter of the late 800. and irory Her. St.
Andrew St. John, D.D. Dean of Worcester—The 47th
at St. Martin in the fields, Mr. Boycott, of Clestent's.lare.
to Charlotte, second daughter of Mr. Holtzapifel,
Charhtg.cross.

DIED.
The 25th instant, at his residence, Robert-street, Chel"l-
- T. Coles, aged 70, many years a Quarter.man in
hlajesty's dock-yard at Plyinouth—Tho 23d inst. at BA
Lad) Gledstanes, widow of the late Lieut.taeneral Si.
Gledaanrs—The 25th inst. at the Vicsrage, Burrs, A. _II,'
milton, Esq. of Cumberiand.strett, in his 93dyear— "
27th inst. In Piceadilty, Ellen, third daughter of the late I.
Frisby Howis, Esq. aged 19—The 18th instant. W. )1.
Forster, of Lincoln's-inn, Rag. and Jane, his wife. Thr
were among the 'utterer, on hoard the Rothsay Castle—Thc
22d inst. at Stoke, Devon, in her 90th year, 511 s. Elizabeth
Johnson, widow of the bite R. Johnson, Esq. of Brcact"
gra; Golden-squaw.

'Star (

sod .1;
:, No.

. -
by Joint Marx E. al 02
et-place, Temple Bar.