Star.
London, England, 1829-09-23 00:00:00

FIRE ESCAPE.

The public attention has of late been much directed to
fire escapes, and recently there have been several exhibitions by
different inventors ; but the successful application of these all de-
pended on the inmate, of the house that might ►e on fire, and re-
quired that house should have a part of the apparatus con-
stantly fitted up, and the remainder always kept at hand in
ease of having occasion to be used. So many objections were
found to exist under these circumstances, that none of the
fire-escapes hitherto produced have been generally approved
of. Last week a fresh candidate for popular approbation had a pri-
vate exhib' ' before his friends. in the City, of a fire-escape upon
a different principle, to be worked on the outside of houses on fire
without the agency or interference of the persons in danger.—
It is, while prepared for removal, confined to waggon-size,
capable of being drawn by one horse. A pillar In the centre
has, at its base, a joint, which admits of its being laid fiat on
the body of the carriage, so that it can be taken within an
ordinary court or archway. The pillar consists of a number of
sliding tubes, on the plan of the construction of a telescope. When
prepared fur use, the pillar is elevated, and the sliding tubes caused
to ascend by a wheel and pinions similar to that used in the
common crane; the pillar is surmounted by a cradle, capable
of containing two persons. It is intended that the machine
shall be adapted so as to be removed with equal facility to
that of a fire-engine, and to be worked by people attached
to it, who are practised in its use. When the machine was
shown last week the cradle was elevated to the height of
40 feet, with five hundred weight in it, and at its extreme height
was, with case, caused to project wine feet from the base. The
inventor's intention is, to be enabled to send up an attendant of the
machine to assist the persons who may be in danger, who will re-
turn as soon as one person is safely landed, and so on, until he has
removed every one in the house.

REDUCTION OF PRICES AT DRURY-LANE THEATRE.
—Mr. Puce has announced that for the ensuing season the boxes
will be lowered from seven shillings to six. The season will com-
mence ins the Ist of October, with lianiet.
The Lessee of Drury-lasso Theatre is reported to have
reduced the expenses of that establishment, by discharging various
actors deemed superfluous, to the extent of 5,000/. per annum.
The proprietor of Drury-lane, it is reported, has offered
Mr. Kaxxxv and his wife £26 a week. Mr. Kisses has had at
Covent-garden only £l6 a week for himself and his wife. He has,
however, refused, under existing circumstances, the offer of Mr.
Patcs.—Mr. Powza has gone over to Drury-lane.
We understand that Mr. Gut m EDI has seceded from
Covent Garden, in consequence of an offer of .flit a week from the
management of Drury-lane.— Messrs. Sums and PAULO' are
candidates for the vacant place of Clews at Covent-garden.
Young Kean has been performing at the Brighton the-
atre with considerable success. llis benefit produced an overflow-
ing house. He has been sometime at Brighton, staying with his
mother, who is nearly a bed-ridden invalid.
A Correspondent informs us that it is his intention, in
case of the reopening of Coventisrden Theatre, to offer gratui-
tously to the Management a Comedy in five Acts, called Pryneg iw
London. heiug a continuation of Pout Pry, as Vainsavon's Virtue
as Danger is a continuation of Anna'. Loa's List Shift. The
author states that he has preserved in general the characters of the
Dramatis Personae, hut disdains any obligation to the plot, inci-
dent, or situation of that popular production.
A woman, a native of the Alps, who, at the age of 115
years, enjoys the use of her corporeal and intellectual faculties, ar-
rived a few days ago at Toulouse, where she is the object of ge-
neral curiosity.--Gefignoni's Messenger.
A letter from Mel, in North Brabant, says, that on the
9th of last month an aged man went to church with his octogena-
rian wife ; they heard mass and returned together home. On the
10th they were put to bed through illness; on the loth they re-
ceived at the same time the last sacraments; on the 15th they both
died at eleven o'clock in the evening, with an interval of less than
two minutes between ; and, on the 17th, their bodies were carried
together to the church, and afterwards to the burial ground.
The heavy rains of last week produced the hitherto
unheard-of event, a high September flood ; it attained its greatest
elevation on Sunday evening, when a considerable part of our mea.
dews were under water; the height was certainly slot so great as
in some of the winter floods. though its altitude was about 10e feet
above the usual level of the Trent. Since that period the water
has been regularly subsiding, and is now almost entirely within the
river banks.—Notangheos Beans.
The high floods which during the last fortnight have
inundated this vicinity stand unparalleled in the memory of our
oldest neighbours. at this period of the year. On the banks of the
Severn, an immense surface of country is still under water, and the
produce of hundreds of acres of Inzoriant aftermath is. in many in-
stances, completely saddened and spoiled.—Gfoucester Joarnal.
'Nordsworth, Southey, Professor Wilson, De Quin-
ce?, and Coleridge, are the individuals generally known as the
" Poets of the Lakes," because, at one time. they all resided in the
neighbourhood of Keswick, and were constant companions and eon
limpets as far as related, at least, to three of them. They are now
separated, and, we believe, seldom meet or correspond. Southey
remains at Keswick; Wordswosth, at Rydal Mount ; Wilson, at
Edinburgh • Coleridge, at Hampstead ; and the celebrated
" Opium Rater" is gone to take possession of a family estate in
the neighbourhood of Kendal, which has devolved to him by the
death of his mother.—Cioneerknsd

EARL OF HARRINCTON.

The late Earl of Harrington possessed large estates in
Cheshire. The singularly rural village of Gawswonh, near Mac-
cks6eld, belongs to the Harrington family, the descent of which to
them forms a rather curious feature in the history of patrimonial
alienation. it was originally possessed by the ancient knightly fa-
mily of the Fitton.; and Sir Edward Fitton, who had been created
a Baronet, dying in 164', left it to hi. nephew, Charles Gerard,
first Earl of Macclesheld. Sir Edward's four sisters, however,
took possession of the estates, when a new claimant appeared, in
the person of Wm. Fitton, grandson of Sir Edward, who ejected
them by the production of a deed made by the Baronet. when Lord
Treasurer of Ireland, in favour of his next heir male. Jim at the
Restoration Sir Edward's will in favour of Gerard was fully esta-
blished, after a mat expensive and procrastinated litigation. Indeed,
a pamphlet was published at the Hague in, 1663, which boldly as-
serted that the will under which Chas. Gerald held had been forged,
and to accomplish which several had joined it, the conspiracy. It
is observed in the county history, " Whether the conduct of Fitton
was met by similar guilt on the part of Lord Gerard. Goo only
can judge, but his hand fell heavily on the representatives of that
noble house; in less than half a century the husbands of its two co-
heiresses—James Duke of Hamilton and Charles Lord Nlohun—
were slain by each other's hands In a murderous duel•, arising out
of a dispute relative to the partition of the Fitton estates ; and
Gawswonh itself passed to an unliuran hand, by a series of aliena-
tions complicated beyond example in the annals of the county."
From the Earl of Macclesfield the estate passed to Lady Alohun,
and from her eventually (1727), by purchase, to the Right lion.
Wm. Stanhope, Vice Chamberlain of the Household.
The woods of Gawswonh are known to the lovers of dramatic
incideot, from their containing the tomb of Samuel Johnson. altos
Lord Flame, the eccentric author of Hatrioetntarbo, hist produced
at the Haymarket theatr: in 1725. It is placed over " unconse-
crated earth," in a secluded part of the thicket—and nearly—
or was overgrown with underwood. Whotever may have been
his eaebrity in his early days (and he was then a constant " boon
companion" at the Earl's table), in his latter poetical of life
he was much reduced, becoming the common butt of the
rustics. who designated him OM Maggoity. He expreseed a wish
on his death-bed to be burled in Gawswonh wood, and be assnetied
as a reason, that be was certain, if be was interred in the church-
yard. that at the resurrection some old woman or other would he
quarrelling with him for the possession of a leg or thigh bone, at d
therefore he was determined to keep himself to himself. A v..ult
was therefore made fur his body in one of his favourite haunts, and
it bears this inscription outside :
Under this stone rest the remain. of Mr. Samuel Johnson, after-
wards ennobled with the grander title of Lord Flame, who. atter
having been in his life distinct from other m-a. by the ec:en-
trickles of his genius, chose to retain the same character after
death, and was at his own desire buried here, May 5,
. Al). MOCC I.X X I 11., aged 82.
Stay, those w..om chalice directs or ease persuades
Tu seek the quiet of thew sylvan shades!
Here. undisturbed, and hid from vulgar eyes,
A wit, musician, poet, player, lie.;
A dancing-master. too, art gr.cs lie shone,
And all the arts of Opera were his own.
In Comedy well skilled, he drew Lord Flame,
Acted the part, and g.intd himself the name.
Averse to strife, how oft he'd mayfly say,
These peaceful groves should shade his breathless clay ,
Thu when he rose agsin, I id here alone,
No irknd and he sh sold qu I fur a bone.
Thinking that were some ianie old gossip nigh,
She possibly might tike his leg or thigh.
Johnson was intimate with the Duke of Montague; and, in a
letter which be bad written to the Managers of one of the Lenir.
Theatres, he observed, " I heard the Duke of Montague say that
if Homer were in London in this age. and did write tor the play-
house, his genius would be thrown away; for the managers would
not du his work the honour to look at it. I have made five operas,
and all of them were performed in public ; but then I was young,
and acted in them myself; but now I am four score years old, and
cannot act any more. lint as this opera is much the best that ever
I made, I am desirous to see it performed before I leave the
world." We believe that many similar complaiuts of managetial
neglect are and can be made even in thee: enlightened days.
•It is stated in the Hiebrey of the lit-Cat Club, published in no.
by Hurst and Co. in 1821, that "each fell mortally wounded on
the bra exchange of shots." If Swift's letters are to be credited.
this is a gross error ; Lord lilohun was not shot by Hamilton.—
They fought with swords, and it was suspected that General Ma-
cartney stabbed Hamilton when he fell forward oa Mobun.

The remains of the late-respected Earl of HA it-
unurrov were brought to the town mansion at an early hour nn
Sunday morning, and it is at length finally decided by the Nnble
Family that the funeral shall not be a military une. The body is
to be interred in a vault belonging to the family, at his seat in
Derbyshire, for which purpose it was removed this tnur..l lg. Di's
Lordship was born on the 20th March, 1753, and is ton•equenY7
76 years of age, and not 77, as has etroneously been stated.

The return of the coal-owners to their former sysoni
of combination and high prices is already severely felt in the port
of Sunderland. The great length of time which the ships have to
lie for a turn, prevents them Isom accomplishing many voyages,
and is the cause of severe privation being endured by the seamen
and their families; and the increased price of coals there, unac-
companied by a corresponding rise of the markets, deprives the
ship-owner of a remunerating profit.
Simon and Cabouat, who were sentenced to dtath for
the murder of their father-in-law, M. Pianism, underwent their
punishment at St. MiheU on the 14th instant. In their last mo-
ments they were in a state of extreme dejection. We understand
tbat Simon retracted his confession, In which he implicated Cabouar,
the father, and the widow of the deceased. His object in snaking
these false confessions was to obtain a commutation of his punish-
ment to hard labour for life.
WRESTLING.---Liskeard wrestling terminated on
Friday last, when the prises were adjudged in the following order
—Rodda, first prize, 151. ; Jordan, second ditto. 71.; Dyer, third
ditto, 41.; Maddern, fourth ditto, 21. It has given much dissa-
tisfaction that the umpires allowed Jordan to enter the ring with
his Devonshire wrestling shoes on, whilst the Cornish wrestlers
i were, as is their custom, without such weapons. Of this permis-
sion, which we suppose was accorded from an extraordinary hel-
-1 ins of liberality towards the giant of Devon,Jordan made the most
and kickdd with brutal fury the defenceless l-gs of his opponent.
By this means he wun the second prize, :hough it is fully believed
that bad he entered the ring on equal terms with his opponents, he
would net have obtained the lowest. We understand that the
wrestlers from the West of Cornwall are by no means satisfied at
being subjected to this savage mode of assault, which is a disgrace
to a civilised country.— West Bram.
An Inquest was yesterday taken by J. UNWIN, Esq.
at the Angel public-house, Old Gravel-lane, on the remains of Mr.
Henry King, the son of the proprietor. who was drowned near the
Old London-bridge, on the evening of Sunday week. From the
evidence it appeared that the deceased, a young man, aged twenty-
two, and in the prime of life, went, in company with Mr.
Dale, a master-waterman, and both hi. sisters (to one of whom
be was paying his addresses, and to whom he was in a few
days afterwards to be married) on an excursion. on the day
before-mentioned, to Richmond. After passing their hours
joyously there, they returned in the everting on their way to
town—the tide with them : but, as they approached latoclor,-
bridge (the tide having fallen, and the rapidity of the stream,
of course, incteased), the deceased and !Ir. Dale (to prevent
any alarm or accident which might occur), landed their fe-
male companions, and proceeded for the purpose of shooting
the bridge. In this they succeeded, but, as they reached the
conflux of waters, which is just near where the visiknce of the
stream is about abating, the wherry was caught by a wave, upset,
and the unfortunate deceased and his companion, Mr. Dale, were
plunged into the river. and drowned. 'the bodies of both the un-
fortunate men were found, atter the interval of a week, on the
same day—the one on the northern and the other on the southern
shore. Proof being given of the finding of the body, sod its
identity, which, from the length of time it was in the water, was
somewhat difficult, the Jury returned a verdict of 4* Koind
Drowned."

CORN—EXCHA NG& MA 11 K—L A N Sam 27.
The dealing Trade was eztreasely dull this morning. ..wing to
the want of buyers and the favourabie change HI the wsather ; and
although the prices of all descriptions of Grain siert the same 6 on
Monday, had uteri been made, lower prices would have been
accepted.

IMPORTATIONS 1111 C. MUNDA T.
Wheat, English (qrs.) . 1450 Barky, Foreign
Irish . . ' (rats, Roglish .
Foreign . S 020 Foreign .
Harley, Engli►h . 200 Irish
Irish • „ (sacks) .
COAL NI Alt NT—Tins DAT.
HAL, •AST Olin--The supply of Sunderland and Newcastle
Coals continue to be very plentiful ; 50 new ships were at market
to-day, making a •otai on the week's arrival of 77 ships. The Coal
&change was well attended by merchants, and Coals were in geed
demand.

. 1,850
75))
. 3,900
.550
.

Hest Welland Coals LI. 345. 04.
Giber s ens 2ss 6d. Us. 6d.
Sips at Afar►et
Ships arrived during the moot\ ...... .425

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