Star.
London, England, 1823-08-23 00:00:00

TOBACCO.

LILLY, in his Hist&y of his Lives and Times, men-'
tions one William Breadon, Parson or Vicar of Thorn-
ton, in Bucks, who was so given over to tobacco and
drink, that when he had no tobacco (and probably
too much drink), he would cut the beltropes and
smoke them !
Poets have frequently sung the praises of tobacco.
The following quaint thought is found in an old col-
lection of Epigrams :
" 121. A TOBACCONIST.
" All daintie meats I do defie,
Which feed men fat as swine: •
He is a frugal man indeed
That on a leaf can dine !
He needs no napkin for his hands,
His finger; ends to wipe ' •
Then keeps his kitchen in abox,
And roast meat in a pipe !"
The strain of the subsequent parody, in the style
of AMBROSE PHILLIPS, differs widely from the in-
vective of BURTON and other old writers :
" Little tube of mighty pow'r,
•
Charmer of an idle hour,
Object of my warm desire,
Lip of wax, and eye of fire:
And thy onovi,y taper waist,
With my finger gently brac'd ; •
And thy pretty swelling crest,
With my little. stopper prest

DESCRIPTION OF TIMBUCTOO.
The following description of Timbuctoo, collected
from a Tartar traveller, who had arrived at the Gold
Coast, appears in the Royal Gazette and Sierra Leone
Advertiser, of June 7:
About Timbuctoo and Jinne, wild fowl are very
plentiful, as are also poultry, particularly ducks;
there ate also great numbers of cattle, goats, sheep
(very large), a few small horses, no camels, except
what are brought by traders; asses without number,
and dogs. Of. wild animals, he mentioned the ele-
phant, antelope, lynx, and fox—tame rabbits of dif-
ferent colours are kept in the house.
The food of the principal people consists of poultry,
the flesh of cattle, vats, and sheep, and of fish, which
they have various modes of dressing, boiling, frying.
&c. he has seen some fish brought into the market for
sale, fried; mach butter is made at Timbuctoo and
Jinne, from goat and cow's milk—this they use to
dress their fish, &c. with, and eat it with their bread,
but never use it to rub over their bodies.
They grind their corn on stones, and make a kind
of bread of it ; this the common people eat with goat's
milk. There are some pits at Timbuctoo from which
the common people procure their water, but that
which is used by the superior class is lit ought from
• the Nlazzt : this water, which he says is excellent, is
carried in skins on as.es, and it takes them about three
hours to go there. Miik is also drank, and by those
ss ho can afford it, a kind of fermented beer, called
Geeah, made of the Indian corn—he is ignorant of
the process of making it : being shewn some of the
beer which is common on some paits of the Gold
Coast, called Pitto, he said it was like that, but
not $0 rood.
Tiie-rich people use spoons and folks, he has seen
there some spoons made of gold, some of silver, and
some of iron—they also use plates; when questioned
how they procure them, his reply was that they were
brotiert by the traders, and they got them from
" Gibralt.” The common people use ttieir fingers,
and eat out of wooden bowls.
No cocoa-nuts at Timbuctoo, neither did he see
them at any part until became to Cape Coast. No
yams, no plaintains : water melons in great plenty,
and other fruit which could not be recognised by his
description. No pine apples at Timbuctoo, but saw
(roe atdinne: honey plentiful; and at Timbuctoo they
have a particular kind of bread, in w hich honey is
mixed when they are making it. He describes the
climate of Timbuctoo as extremely hot. The rainy
season he understood to be approaching at the time
he was at Timbuctoo, which he thinks was about
thirteen months ago. The rains, he heard, continued
about four months, during the first two they are very
heavy, and after that for the next two months light.
After the first two months the caravans come from
the Desert, to the number of many hundred camels.
About midway between Tandeny and Timbuctoo, at
a place called ilawan, they often separate, some going
to Sansanding and Sogo, some to Timbuctoo.
The Timbucton traders have a particular room or.
shop in their houses, in which their goods ate packed
up in boxes; they have also many pieces ef cloth hung
on a line exposed to view opposite the door, but those
inside of the houses are for slim. Ile understood it
took the caravans of the Arab traders from Fez and
Meguinez thiee months to perform their journey to
Timbuctoo. The articles of trade which they bring
are cotton cloths, clothing, silks, iron, beads, silver,
tobacco in rolls, paper, earthenware, and tar. In ex-
change for which they get gold dust, ivory, the teeth
of the, hippopotami, gum, and ostrich feathers; slaves
also form a considerable portion of their returns.
He states the price of a man slave " if handsome," to
be about the value of thirty dollars, if otherwise six-
teen dollars, of a young female about twenty five
dollars. The price of gunpowder is high at Tim-
buctoo: when he was questioned on this point, he
looked about him, and seeing a small, crystal basin
on the sideboard, he took it up, and said that as much
as such as that would hold (about 111 b.) would cost
the value of three dollars at Timbuctoo, two dollars
at Sallagha, how much at Cormassie. be did not
know. Gunpowder is not brought to Timbuctoo by
the Arabs, but by the met chants from Kong and
other places immediately connected with the Ashan-
tok: trade. Never heard of any copper mines in the
interior, neither did be see any iron manufactured in
any part he has visited. They get their iron at Tim-
buctoo from Fez, and it is conveyed in short bars on
each side of the camels. When inquiry was made as
to its price be measured twice the length of his arm
from the elbow, to which be added one span, Rid-
said it was worth five dollars.

There is much gold at•Timbuctoo, but not so
=ltch as at Sansanding, where be heard there are
. valuable gold mines, and a great number of Arabs
- resort there to trade. Cowries are current at Tim-
buctoo for the purchase of provisions, but they are
not taken in trade by the Arabs; about three thou-
sand of them are the value of a dollar.
Their musical instruments are a kind of rude fid-
dle, flutes, and drums. All offences are punished by
order of the Sultan. Great offences, particularly
" meddling with any of .the Sttltau's wives," are

punished by hanging. He did not see any one
hanged, but saw a gallows there; he described the
process by making two men stand at a short distance
from each other, and placing a stool between them,
put his stick on their heads, with a handkerchief on
it touching the stool, which he then kicked away.
The punishment for theft is confinement, flogging,
and restitution of the value, and servitude until paid.
He says there is a house appropriated to the purpose
of confinement, and which is guarded by four Ten
with muskets. Circumcision is general among the
people at Timbuctoo, who are all Mussulmans. He
does not know the exact number of mosques, but
recollects three large ones, two of which were built
by the King, and one by the Arab traders.
He heard that Timbuctoo was formerly subject to
Bambarra, but ceased to be so since the latter had a
war with the Foululls in which they were defeated;
Sultan Mahomed is therefore independent, although
not powerful; for he says that his controul does net
extend much beyond Timbuctoo itself. Mahomed
succeeded Sultan Aboubekir, who he heard died
about eight years ago—is ignorant who was his pre-
decessor. Aboubekir was extremely rich. Wargee
retnained at Timbuctoo five weeks, during which
time he lived in Sultan Mabomed's house, and was
treated by him with the greatest kindness. He never
heard of any white man having been at Timbuctoo.

FLOODS IN SCOTLAND.
Accustomed as we are to moisture-this season, few
people, we apprehend, were prepared for the tremen-
dous rain that fell on the night of Wednesday and i
morning of Thursday se'nnight. For nearly 12 hours,
the rain literally descended in torrents, and looked
more like the 'commencement of a second deluge,
than the ordinary outpcuring of the Lammas floods.
The Dryfe and Milk (tributaries to the Annan) have
not been so high for twenty years; and, considering
the season of the year, the same thing may be said
of the Nith. The Lochar, too, has been playing sad
freaks with the poor people's peats. For more than
forty years this stream has .not been so high.
The floods were particularly alarmin in all'that
district of country which borders on the Solway Fr ith.
Every stream that falls into this estuary was swollen
to a height never before known in the memory of
of man :everywhere the burns overflowed their banks,
deluging and " snding up" numerous fields of grain,
demolishing hay-ricks, peat-stacks, &c. and convect-
ing large tracks of meadow land into temporary lakes.
Houses that were previously thought inaccessible to
the river-gods, were suddenly isolated and cloaked
full of water; while many of the terrified and be-
leaguered inch rtes were forced to adopt the most hi-
dicrous expedients with the view of transporting
themselves to a place of safety. Here you might have
seen a sturdy clown up to the middle in water, with
his wife on his back, and two children in his arms, a
third clinging to the neck of its mother, and a fourth
holding fast by the skirts of her petticoats; there an
old and lanerly woman struggling through the flood,
with her plaid and other garments floating behind,
and impeding rather than favouring her progress. In
one instance, the children of a washerwoman escaped
by means if their mother's washing-paili; while the
mother heis,Af was piloted to land by her husband,
in a float formed of an inverted ironing-table; and at
Cockpool, a young man actually made use of an old
salt-pan to ferry himself over a new-formed pond,
with the view of ascertaining the fate of his pigs.
At seven, A.M. on Saturday, afresh deluge was ex-
perienced in this neighbourhood, nearly in Me form
of a voter-spout, and which appears to have been
cslit•fly telt in the parish of Carlaverock. At the farm
of Shearrington, siz acres of turnips and four of rape
were completely swept away ; that a great number of
carts of lime, spread' and to spread, were carried into
the Lochar; the children were catching eels ia scores
and dozens, lying dying or dead ; and on the farm of
Shearrington alone, the loss of lime, &c. will amount
to SOL sterling, independently of a prospective loss,
which cannot be estimated. At Carlaverock, the rain
descended in torrents from the higher grounds, sweep.
ing away dykes, and filling up ditches with the rub-
bish collected in its course.. The public roads exhi-
bited a stream of water from eighteen inches to two
feet deep, which has cut up and injured them in an
incredible maaner.—Duntfries Courier.

THEATRICALS EXTRAORDI NA RY.—MT. GA RNER,
the Librarian of Margate, performed the part of Shy
lock at that Theatre on Saturday last, for the benefit
of Mr. W. REED. Mr. GARNER is 7G years of age;
yet he gave an excelle.it portraitute of the sordid Jew.
A fleece of wool, weighing slbs. was lately sheared
from a mountain sheep, the property of Wm. DA VIES,
Esq. of Cwmsairbren, Glamorganshire.
It is rather singular that the number of pounds
weight of tea, and the number of bushels of malt,
consumed annually, now nearly correspond.
The following account of the accommodation on
board of a steam-boat at theferry of Alloa, given in a
Scotch Pal er, shews the improvemont to which that
mode of conveyance may be brought :—Post-chaises
' carts, and carriages of every description, are driven
into and out of the boat without unharnessing tha
horses, and Gentlemen in gigs, who formerly had the
tiogble of taking off -their horses, aibd hoisting their
gigs into the boat, with no small risk to the vehicle
itself, now drive on board, cross the river, and drive
out again, without even descending from their car-
riages. Gentlemen on horseback never think of
dismounting. A few days ago, ten carts, loaded
with malt from Glasgow, each weighing two tons,!
crossed at one time. Saturday se might, a detach-
ment of upwards of twenty of the Clackmananshirel
Yeomanry Cavalry marched down the March Pier,
entered the boat, diew up on deck with as much or-1
der as if they had been on the parade, crossed, and
returned, without so much as disordering their line'
of march, to the great surprise and entertainment of
the numerous spectators who witnessed the novel and
amusing sight.
Such is the effs.ct of perseverance and industry in
the science of Medicine, that great numbers, many of whom
had lingered under the Most painful and obstinate disorders,
who were pronounced incurable by respectable practioners, and
several discharged from hospitals, have been restored to perfect
health by the celebrated Dr. EADY, who, after a long and la-
' borious practice, is enabled to remove the most obstinate Vene-
real Complaints, however long and deeply fixed in the habit.—
Eruptions, Pains in the Limbs, obstinate Gleets, Dimness of
Sight, Nodes on the shin-bones, Ulceration, and Sore Throats,
are among the symptoms arising out of improper treatment, and
which without timely assistance prove fatal. The Doctor is
consulted daily by patients of both sexes, at 3S, Deaa.street;
Soho, by persons from every part of the country,and by Letter
(if post paid) enclosing a fee.

ASSIZES.

LANCASTER, AUGUST 20.
Henry Blackhurst, late an attorney at Preston, was
indicted for having compounded several offences un-
der the Game Laws. • _ _

Mr. SCARLETT, in stating the case, observed, that
in the execution of penal laws, it was essential to se-
cure the King's subjects against every perversion of
their purpose, but above all, to prevent a misapplica-
tion of their spirit and extension to meet the sordid
views of legal speculators. There were too many in-
stances of designing men profiting by such artifices.
But above all persons who merited the severest in-
fliction of punishment which the violated spirit of the
law demanded, it was he, who in virtue of a respect-
able profession availed himself of the provisions of a
Statute to contravene its purposes, by converting that
which was an enactment of law into a process of dis-
turbing the peace, and acquiring base lucre by his
offences. An Act had been passed in the reign of
Queen Anne, by which any qui tam informer was
prevented from compromising any action without
the consent of the Court in which the action was
brought. The offenders against this .Statute were
subjected, amongst other punishments, to the pillory in
the public market-place. By a late Statute the punish-
ment of the pillory was repealed, save in an isolated case,
Tie was prepared to lay before them no less than five
instances in which Mr. Blackhurst had violated the
statute, and had by a regular systematic scale •of
personal and professional cupidity perverted the pur-
poses of the Statute Law. In one instance he received
the amount of a made-tip bill of costs from a del-
gy man, •wlto,.wliether apprehensive of perjured wit-
nesses, or unwilling to appear in a Court of Jus
tice under such circumstances, submitted to the frau-
dulent imposition.
Mr. Justice BAYLEY observed, that as he under-
stood the defendant had already pail the penalties,
the only cbject now was to prevent him acting as
plaintiff or informer in any future action. •
Mr. SGARLETT—II will remain with the Court, to
decide whether, if convicted, the defendant should be
fined or imprisoned, itplieul,f the pillory.
Mr. Dewhurst, Mr. Thomas Dewhurst, Mr. Cat-
ter.,ll, an attorney at Preston, and another witness,
were called for the prosecution, when
Mr. BROUGHAM interposed, to save the time of
the Court, and said, that in this prodigious indict-
ment, comprising between 300 and 400 folios, and
containing 67 counts, it was laid that the defendant
had acted as an attorney. Now he would contend
that the Act of Elizabeth merely applied to the actual

informer who was plaintiff, and not to the attorney
who professionally commenced or conducted the cause.
A long discussion here took place between Coun-
sel at both sides and the Court, when the .Tury found
a verdict against the defendant on the 56th count;
which was for acting under a colourable proceeding
in his process, and compounding.
The defendant then entered his own recognizances,
upon a mutual understanding that judgment should
be postponed.

As Carnage had witnessed no breach of the pease himself, St
JAHYS toad him he should have exerted himself to disperse, any
crowd, and left the parties to settle their differences by applica-
tion to the Magistrate in the morning; at the same time expri-s-
-sing his great surprise that a constable should take upon himself
to decide cases at a watch.houre. " When parties," said Sir
JAMES, " are given in custody, the Magistrate only, and not the
constable, is to decide as to their liberation." Mr. Taylor said,
he had thought he must uie his own discretion on the charges
brought before him. .If he were to send all the parties who
came before-him on frivolous charges to the Compter, it would
not only be putting them to great inconvenience, hut giving the
Magistrate very considerable additional trouble. The pa•sinn
which bad produced a trifling quarrel in the street soon cooled in
a watch-house, and the parties shook hands atid withdrew their
charges. In such cases he had generally discharged the prisoner.
He should, however, be happy to be instructed in his duty. Sir
Jamas SHAW appealed to Mr. Payne, the,clerk, as to the cor-
rectness of the law he had laid down. Mr. Payne; however,
aware from his experience at this Office, of the coastant, and iii
many cases unavoidable, deviation iii practice from this strict line
of conduct, seistned but half willing to join in promolgating this
law to the multitude of officers in attendance. The City Soli.;
citor was in consequence called down, and having no such scrums
pies, or reasons for reserve, unhesitatingly declared it as
his opinion that an officer was not warranted in taking a
person into custody for a breach of the peace, unless hE
had himself seen the peace broken, and that a constable had
no discretion as to a. person once committed to his custmly,
and no authority whatever to discharge him withoat bringintt
him before a Magistrate. Huw this law (no doubt correct)
determined that Wines had been detained improperly hi custody
is not apparent; he however had the benefit of it, and was di,-
charged with a suitable admonition from the Magistrate. A
knowledge that such is the law may certainly he necessary to
keep constables and watchmen within the due limits of their
authority. It-is however proper to add, that Mr. Taylor, front
his practical knowledge of the utter impossibility of acting
strictly up to it in many cases, so pressed the worthy City Soli-
citor wink questions for the guidance of his future conduct 24 a
constable, that the Learioal Gentleman was at length compelled
to declare, that every case must stud upon its own bottom, and
that a constable must be left to act on his own discretion upon
his coen responsibility.
acainumon-Seaxer.—Yesterday information was received
at this Office that the residence of the Countess of Pomfret,
No. 'al, Portman-square, bad been entered by thieves early that
morning, during the temporary absence of the housekeeper, the
Countess and family being sotourniog at Brighton. Staples, an
intelligent officer, was deputed to inspect the premises, and on
inspection gave it as his opinion that the robbers must have got
over the area, descended the steps, and entered the house through
the kitchen-window; they then proceeded up stairs, and stole
from the hall the bracket clock, which hid, been before
attempted to have been stolen, and for security was fastened by
a chain, which was broken in two by the robbers. All the monks
in the house were untouched, and no other property was missing.
Within the last three months no less than bracket clocks have
been stolen front the halls of Gentlemen's houses at this cud of
the town. It is supposed that the thieves dispose of thetsi by
sending them to-France and Holland.

UNIVERSITY INTELLIGENCE.
CAMBRIDGE, AUGUST 22.

The new quadrangle at Trinity College is to be oiled lb
Court, by his ;Majesty's gracious permission.
A Monument has been erected in St. Philip's Church, Bir-
mingham, to the memory of the Wm Dr. (tutram, late Rector
of that Parish, and formerly Public Orator of this Uuiversity.

ECCLESIASTICAL. PROMOTIONS.
The Rev. R. Uvedale, M.A.-Vl:car of Fotherhy, to the VI.
carage of Hogsthorpe, Lincolnshire.
The Rev. G. AI. Coleridge, of Christ Church, Oiford, to dit
Prebendal Stall of Whitchurch, in the Cathedral of Wells, vh-
cant by the death of Archdeacon Gooch.
August 7, Mr. William Marshall, Preacher of the Gospel,
was ordained Minister of the Relief Congregation, ColinshurVa'
Rev. Francis Rose, M.A. Curate of Bulkington, and Assist.eit
Minister of Bedworth, Warwickshire, has been instituted to the
Rectory of Woughton, Bucks, on his te.vn Petition.
Rev. William Beauclerck Robinson, M.A. is instituted to the
Rectory of Litlington, Sussex, on the presentation of F. F. Berg,.
Esq. vacant by the death of the Rev. Antony Nutt.
. .
OXFORD, AUGUST 21.
Tuesday, Mr. William Rosser Williams, 11. A. Scholar on Mr.
Michel's Foundation, queen's College, was elected Fellow of
the same Society.
Mrs. Davis, widow of James Davis Fsq. has presented the
Rev. James Davis, B.A. Ec:iolar of University College, to the
Vicarage of Chepstow, in the county of Monmouth.
Success or THE Wiccamurrs THIS Vass.—One has gained the
University Prise for Latih Prose; six were classed, (viz. three
in the senior, two in the second, and ono in the junior class);
two gained prizes at Trinity College, Dublin ; and a tenth get
the head prize at the East India College, at lertford.