Star.
London, England, 1826-11-17 00:00:00

_ HOME.-.A SONG.

IT JANIS WHIMSY, 114.

V! the best spot on earth for delight to be found,
Is at home, were with joy our affection is crowned,
Where the wife of our bosom still meets us with smiles,
And the mirth of our children each sorrow beguiles!
In the walks of ambition with pouter and with fame,
We may shine in full pomp and establish a name;
Bet the flower of content in the soul will not bloom,
Unless it first springs from our comforts at home!
When disease overtakes as and wealth flies away,
When foes triumph o'er us and flatterers betray ;
Ah ! where shall we find the true cordial of life,
But at home, in th' endearments of children and wife!
Whenever my sum of contentment is low,
When a bankrupt in bliss and embarrass'd with woe,
At home T still find in the charms that are there,
A fund that oerpys•and discharges my care!

Yesterday the neighbourhood of Thames-street was
"thrown into consternation, by the report that a murder
was committed somewhere about Dowgate Hill. An ac-
tive day-patrol, named Aldred, in passing near the pump
in the Chequer-yard,Dowgate-hill, observed some marks
of blood. On going up close to the pump, he observed
'footsteps of blood, and in one place was a large quantity
of blood. He followed the tracks, which %vete quite
palpable, from the pump down a narrow paved court
leading into Thames-street, and down a passage close
to Calvert's brewery, opening into Allhallows Wharf.
'The passage from Thames-street to the wharf is parti-
cularly lonely, and the patrol upon approaching the
river supposed that whoever went 'towards it, in the
condition in which the bleeding person must have been,
could not have returned. He plainly saw the mark of
a right foot, over which blood must have flowed most
copiously all along, from a distance of 400 or 500 yards.
'The track of a left foot was not at all perceivable in all

that distance, and the'right footstep was every where'
seen directed towards the water. Upon passing on to
the stairs, the tracks were not quite so palpable to
• Aldred ; but when he reached the steps he saw them I
again, and upon looking into a large barge. which lay
up close to the wharf, he saw what lett no doubt on his
mind that a wounded person had walked or been car-
' tied into it. At the bottom, up in a corner, near the
'after part of the barge, which was unloaded, was a
large quantity of blood. A large tarpaulin, upon which
there was also much blood, lay at the bottom. The
•patrol immediitely juniped on board and searched the
cabins, fore and aft, suspecting that the sufferer was
somewhere about the barge. He soon satisfied himself
that nobody was lying on board. Two large oars,
which lay extended from the deck of the barge to the
bottom, were marked with blood ; and it would appear
. • that the wounded person, upon reaching the bottom of
the barge, by means of these oars, remained there for
sometime, the quantity of blood that was seen in the
hotd of the barge being at least between two and
three pounds.
it was between seven and eight o'clock in the morn•
fog when Aldred tracked those marks of blood, and he
proceeded to make every inquiry in the neighbourhood.
A report prevailed that a quarrel had taken place be-

tw•een two- men at a public-house near the spot where

the trump stands, and that one of the patties got in the
scuffle a bloody nnse,but all the App.rent circumstanoes
of tire 'case rut it beyond belief that such a scuffle
could have led to the effusion of so much blood ; be-
sides, the patrol learned that the disputants were com-
pletely reconciled. A suspicion also attached to one
or other of the brothels in E:bow-lane. although the
officers declare that no rows took place in either of the
three receptacles in that place.
it was however thought necessary not to pass them
by in an inquiry of such a nature. Upon the strictest
exoniort;on it was found, that nothing of a suspicious
nature could beiraced to the bad houses in the lane.
Mr. Cope, the marshal, upon hearing the report nar-
rowly examined all the ground, but he ascertained
nothing more. He ordered that the river should be
dragged around the barge, under the impression that
the body of a child might be found near the spot. The,
river was dragged for a considerable time, but in vain.
'The stream, however, in this part of the Thames, is

excessively strong, and capable of beating down along
i with it a much greater weight than the body of an
'infant. The general suspicion which existed during the
greater part of the day was, that the person who was
ounded had been so desperately maimed, as to seek
the most speedy and effectual means of getting rid of
life altogether, by plunging into the water, or that
*child murder had been committed.

It is extraordinary that a watchman whose duty•it is

to watch close to the stairs of Allhallows-wharf, observ-
ed the footmarks of blood on the night before at nine
oclock, and was told by another that they %vete to be
seen earlier, and yet no noise was mate about the circum-
stance until Aldred took notice of the extraordinary fact
of the great effusion of blood, at such a place and time.
It appears that the barge arrived at the wharf on

Wediii;day evening, at about six o'clock, so that the
wounded person mti:t have been in it in the dark. There
was no blood mark perceptible to our reporter upon the
side of the barge, over which if the sufferer intended
to destroy himself, he would movt probably have endea•
vouivd to throw himself. Nor were there any traces
either in the barge or along the two lanes from which
it could be inferred that one person had been struggling
with another. Of the numbers of persons vicho were
questioned as to whether any noises of a suspicious na-
ture were heard in the course of the night, no more thanl
one was said to have heard any alarm. That alarfh
was stated to have been given near the passage leadirig
to Allhallows-wharf, at about one o'clock in the morn-
iug, and was the cry of gi Murder 1" attended by screams;
anal we understand that the person who heard the cry
said, that he was afraid to go out and inquire about
hat might have occurred.

Severe shocks of an earthquake were felt on the 15th
ult. at Messina, and on the oppo.ite coast of Calabria.
Yesterday afternoon, a fine little boy playing on the
hank of the Regent's Canal, near the Tunnel, uraottu-
nately fell into the water. A poor man, named Robert
Watts, immediately rushed in to his assistance, and suc-
ceeded, with some difficulty, in getting him out. Medi-
• cal aid was procured, and the child soon began to re-
vive, and was taken to Islington workhouse, where-he
,is 'doing well. Poor Watts was so benumbed by the
intense coldness of the water, that he has been seized
with locked jaw, and his life is considered in danger.
'• witness under examination in an Irish Court of Jus-
doe the other day, had just stated that be was suddenly roused from
his slumbers by a blow on the head. And how did you find
romeselfr asked the examining Counsel. " Fast asleep," replied
die witness.