Star.
London, England, 1823-07-17 00:00:00

BALLAD.

Speed thee well, mariner, through the dark wave;
S.,fe may thy vessel in majesty sail;
EU still breathes a luve-pray'r for the brave,
Sighs for his welfare, in Bransbury Vale:
She, whom thy last caress saddeu'd to tears,
Paining a heart by its sorrows o'ercome,
Pensive, thy memory faithfully wears,
Ella veal welcome the mariner home!

Mariner, thou hast twin little ones left,
Smiling, unconscious their sire is afar,
Mpg to a bosom of quietude 'teft,
Whilst thou art expos'd to the tempest and war :
Yet Ella, in absence, will tench them a name
F..ndear'd to remembrance, whereto thou mayst roam,
And the scions of love will enkindle a flame
To light the return of the mariner home !

Haste thee, then, manner, ply through the wave
To the saint of thy promise, whose haven of rest
Shall lull to repose ev'ry care of the brave,
And thou with the kiss of regard shalt Ire blest :
And the smiles of a progeny, chaste u the gem
Which bangs on the flow'ret of Summer's young bloom,
Will beam on a father returning to them,
And joy ['hall revisit the mariner's home!

IL V. H.

Thursday, as a man, named Brown, servant to Mr.
Thompson, of Ramsgate, was loading clover hay, in
a field near that town, a kite (which some boys had
been flying) fell near the horses' heads, the animals
immediately took fright, and Brown, in trying to take
hold of the fore horse fell, when both wheels of the
waggon went over his body. He was conveyed home
in a dreadful state, and on Friday morning expired,
leaving a wife and a large family to deplore his loss.
Yesterday, an Inquest was held at the Castle, at
Ealing, on the body of S. Dance, who, in a drunken
squabble, was pushed by three men, named Hill,
Answorth, and Blagrove, against a settle in a public=
house, which caused an effusion of blood on the brain,
and terminated in death. Verdict—Manslaughter.
Hill has absconded. The other two are in custody.
Tuesday, the Ist instant, the body of John Pope
was interred in the Church-yard of Lattimer's, near
Chesham. The deceased had been parish clerk of the
hamlet upwards of. 61 years, and he never failed
daily to wind up the dock of the Church for upwards
of forty-three years.
LATE EARTHQUAKE AT ALEPPO.—Extract of a
letter from JOHN BARKER, Esq. British Consul, dated
Aleppo, May 9:—" I have informed your Worships
of my preliminary steps towards the execution of
your gracious commands, respecting the distribution
of the Charity to my fellow-sufferers by the Earth-
quake. Our difficulties increase at every step ; but
ably seconded as I am by my worthy colleagues, the
French and Dutch Consuls, I hope to surmount all
obstacles, and in due time to give your Worships and
the Public a satisfactory statement of all our proceed-
ings. Meantime I can assure you, the infinite details
M this delicate business engross my whole attention.
—I have already realized 112,000 of the 118,000
piastres put at my disposal, with a saving of agio,
seven per cent. and I make no doubt of being able to
draw for the remainder on equally advantageous
terms. Your hearts will bleed on learning the disas-
trous effects of the opthalmia, during the month fol-
lowing the 13th of August. That extremely painful
and dangerous disease was so prevalent throughout
the district to which the earthquake extended, that
I can venture to affirm not more than three persons
in ten escaped the infection! Of nine persons who
composed my family, five were sufferers from that
cruel disorder. Of the survivors of the Jews at
Aleppo (not more than 2,400), 74 lost their sight !
And although the number of Turks and Christians
here who became blind immediately after their pro-
vidential escape from the Earthquake cannot be
exactly aucertained, I can safely state it to be more
than 1500. The names of the most destitute of these
will appear in my future statements, and will very
much increase the number of the partakers of the
charity. The people of Antiochia, and the neigh.
bouring villages, were also afflicted with opthalnaia,
as well as those of Aleppo, but I did not bear of any
person having lost his sight in consequenceof it. lam
happy to say, that six weeks have now elapsed without
an Earthquake strong enough to be generally_felt."
Tile NILE OF ASIERIGA.—A letter from Natchez
of the 15th of May, says, " There is a tremendous in-
undation from the Mississippi, which is destroying all
the hopes of the Louisiana planters. The low lands
are all under water; and, with but here and there a
high ridge, this immense stream presents a breadth
of thirty miles. It is a grand, but overwhelming and
disastrous prospect; immense crevices are bursting
the levees below, which strike terror into the planters
all along the coast. The levee is an artificial bank to
keep out the water, which is now much above the
level of the land ; and these levees are the only bar-
riers between the lands and general devastation; but
the back water from the swamps and the heavy rains
are fast effecting what the levees have for some time
prevented. The overflow, it is apprehended, will be
as great as in 1815. Crops are pretty generally aban-
doned. The destruction among the cattle, the deer,
and the inhabitants of the forest generally, will be
great. Families flying from this irresistible evil pre-
sent a melancholy sight. The immense quantity of
vegetable matter borne along by this mighty river,
when exposed to the sun, will, we fear, produce
much disease."
WESTMINSTER BRIDGE.-111E first stone of that
noble structure was laid on January 24:, 1739, by
Henry Earl of Pembroke, a Nobleman of whom Mr.
Walpole says, none had a purer taste in architecture.
It was built after the design of Monsieur Labelye' an
ingenious architect, a native of France. The last
stone was laid in November, 1747 ; so that it was
eight years and nine months in completing, at the ex-
pense of £389,500. Its length was 1,223 feet ; the
number of arches 14; that in the centre 76 feet wide.
ORIGIN OF THE LORD ADVOCATE APPEARING CO-
VERED.—Sir THOMAS HOPE was Advocate to Charles
I. Three of his sons being-at the same time Lords of
Session, it was thought indecent that be should plead
uncovered before them, which was the origin of the
privilege King's Advocates have ever since enjoyed.
Few DE sz.—The Act relative to the interment of
persons found felo de se, receive' the Royal 'Assent
last week : no more persons committing suicide are
to be buried in cross roads.