Star.
London, England, 1826-10-12 00:00:00

SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS IN THE

NEW ROAD.

Last evening, a numerous meeting of the proprietors
of the houses, and the housekeepers themselves, of So-
mers, Kentish, and Camden towns, took place in a spa.
cious room, in Gee•street, Clarendon-square, for the
purpose of adopting the best means of obtaining a more
direct communication with each of those towns from

the New-road, and the neighbourhood leading to it, than
they now enjoy ; this desirable communication being at
present impeded by the vacant and intervening property
of the Duke of Bedford. The meeting was most nu-
merously attended, and comprised a majority of the
respectable inhabitants in the vicinity.
Mr. PARTINGTON, who has been entrusted with the
preparation of the plans, briefly stated the.object of the
meeting, and laid the plans of the intended roads before
it, which, after a lengthened discussion, were adopted.—
The proposed line of road will be through Seymour-
street, Euston-square, to Camden-town, and to Kentish-
town, through Union-street, New-road. The former
proposal was received with high approbation, inasmuch
as it will then complete the direct line of street from
Covent Garden to this outlet of the town, there being
already a straight communication as far as Seymour-
street, from this spot of general traffic.
Previously to any fixed Resolution being adopted on
the subject, it was deemed most advisable that a Gene-
ral Meeting should be convened by advertisement, and
arrangements are making to that effect. A general
document, addressed to the Noble Duke, has been most
numerously signed by the resident householders and
tradesmen, among whom are many of the tenants of his
Grace, soliciting a co-operation on his part in the ob-
jects f the Meeting ; and a Select Committee was ap-
pointed to wait upon the Agents of the Duke with this
document previous!) to the General Meeting taking place.
Liberal Subscriptions were sawed into to defray the expenses of
preparing the plans, advertisements, &c. &c. in which the Vestry
of St. Pancras, and the Clerical Gendemen of the neighbourhood,_
have manned to. participate.

The Kayo's Establishment at Naples is very large.
The Royal gables contain 400 horses, and 200 four-
wheeled carriages, not in very good taste. Almost
every body of the Royal Household has a carriage to
ride in. The Priests mostly occupy them in the morning,
and the Laity in the fashion#ble drive in the afternoon.
Between the hours of twelve and one o'Clock
day morning, a fire broke out in the house of an indi-
vidual named Hart, the proprietor of a brush shop, in
Kennington-lane. The fire originated in consequence
,of the boiling over of some material that was placed on
a fire in the lower part of the house. The greater part
of the family had retired to rest. Owing to the combus-
tible nature of the materials that wer4 in the apartment
at the time, the flames spread with irresistible fury,
and in a few moments the lower part of the premises
were in one blaze of fire. Several engines soon arrived
at the scene of conflagration, but owing to the scarcity
of water, they were some time before they could render
any assistance. A man named Edwards, by vocati'in
a resurrection-man, who happened to be passing at the
time, on hearing that an infant was up stairs, rushed
through the flames, at the imminent risk of his life, and
succeeded in rescuing it. When water was at length
procured, the firemen exerted themselves, and secured
the premises adjoining, one of which was in the occu-
pation of an oilman.
A few years ago, a series of very grotesque designs
appeared upon the long dead wall between Turnham-
green and Kew-bridge, of which no one—at least as far
as our inquiries hail gone—knew the composer. We
have since been informed, upon good authority, that
these sketches were made by a nephew of Mr. Baron
Gaanow ; a young man, whose spirits had outrun both
his own means and the patience of his relatives; and
who was then living, in very unostentatious retirement,
neatly opposite the spot which was the scene of his
operations The drawings were worked upon at a very
early hour in the morning; and diverted the artist's
attention from unpleasant recollections for a consider.
able time. We are not sorry to add, that he has lately
obtained a situation in India; and is, probably, now
turning his talents to a more profitable purpose.
Although almost every petty incident and trait in the
life and character of Dr. JOHNSON have been investi-
gated by his numerous biographers, no person seems to
have satisfactorily explained the grounds of his hostility
towards Officers of the Excise, which seems superadded
to the abhorrence he entertained for the tax itself. In
the definition of the word " Excise," given in his dic-
tionary, which is too well known to need quotation, he
terms Excise Officers" wretches ;" but in the following
passage in the Idler, No. 65, he goes farther still :
" The authenticity of Clarendon's History, though
printed with the sanction of one of the first Universities
in the world, had not an unexpected manuscript been
happily discovered, would, with the 'help of factious
credulity, have been brought into question by the two
lowest of dl human beings—a scribbler for a party, ind
a Commissioner of Excise."
lottoaattca.—A maa in Kentucky, on beindinformeJ
that Mr. JerlilitSON was dead, said he had never hear)
,1 such a person. We are told that a man in the Comity
if Hampshire, over 4.0 years of age, inquired of his
neighbour a year or two since, whether Bknapirte %%as
.he name oT a nun or a city !—American Paper.