Star.
London, England, 1817-07-26 00:00:00

MRS. JORDAN.

Citi:;!NAT. AND OENtiNE ANECDOTE OF THE LATE.
L'Ell AC FRES t, MRS. lORDAN.
(From Ryiey's " Ititierara.")
Those. who, like one, we bad the pleasure of being on terms
of friend)/ antiwary this unrivalled Aciress.equatiy a ere.
dit to her praf:i.;cnr, and an honour to human nature, will corro
Inmate my testimony in as ,ening tha., in addition to her many
other good qualities, al.c pol:esseil a bean susceptible of the most
tender and humane emotions. called into instant action by the
least approach of misery or dourest During her !!sort stay at
Chester, where she was performing, a., usual, • o crowded and eh-
rapiured houses' her washerwoman, a widow with three small
children, was 1., a merciless creditor thrown into prison. A
small deli: of •sin,a, in a very short lime, by the usual pro.
ce.ei et th. gloriuns wicertainty, Item, dn., that, and the other,
been worked up to a hill of aC4. As sonn us` this gond creature
hard of •fe sno for the Atteliwy, paid 111 i
demand, and (do rye'', with as much severity as her gips: ta-
to: ed e,niitelimice could as.urne—" You, lawyers, are e.etaialy
inlet rat it., cent on earl Is re make poor mortals 11,T.
The Attorney, however, pocketed the affront, and with a w
bow made his exit. On the afternoon of the same day, theorem-
wtoran was liberated. As Mts. Jordan, with her eerest.t, was
taking her usual walk on the Chester walls, the widow wtth her
three children followed her, and just as she bad taken shelter
lion] a stinker of rain, in a long kind of porch, dmpued on her
triers, and with difficulty exclaimed-0 Goo for ever bkse you,
Madam ! you have saved toe and my family from ruin." 'llse
children beholding their mother's :ears, addei their ylainiive
cries,and formed together a (tette top aifeeting far so sensitive A
minas to belts td without the stro•igest sensation, 0: ".'"%qt.hetiC
fr.:lolg, iffOrtitiN, 1 thould tonteivo, a son of or,. :illy pleasure
not to he described, and felt but by those whom Paerioestee
has blessed with a soul of sulk-rent magnate, e. .t
I livel•nc%, of c:pcsition him Jut dAll was writ known to possess.
not equal: he il !or alit teterel titzLes ertliek,"
aitrottrh she Ofille to it, the Via .ot rt•eth:v.; I. .4,4*u' • -
cheek sensibifity, and stooping In kiss the children, she se • sent •
a pound note urn the mother. hand, and in her usual olay:u1
manner, replied—" There, there, now it's all over; g- -34
woman ; God blew you, don't say another word." The suites,:
creature would have replied, but this good Santatitan inAsted on
her adroce and departure, which at last she complied wits, sob-
bing forth thanks and tailing down blessings on her benefactress.
It so ha: pined 'hat seether person had taken shelter in the
pooch, and witnessed the w hole ut this iuteresting scene, who, as
soon as our heroine 'beet wed him atm, forwarsi, holdtag oat his
h hand, and with a deep sig eatilenins,-.A. Lady, yardou the
freedom of a stranger, but would to the toes the world 'reread
like thee." The figure of the man plainly U. spoke his ;
his countenance was pale and woebegone, and a win of sable,
rather the worse for wear, covered a figure thin and spare. 'lle
penetrating rye of our fair philanthropist soots developed ciao cha-
racter and' profession of thik singular looking person, and with
her wonted gaoil humour .and playfuluess, retiring a tow paces,
she replied—" No; I won't shake hands with you."—" Ay
" Because you are a Methodist preacher, and when you know
who I ant, you'll send me to the devil."—" The LORD forbid I
I am, as you say, a preacher of tt.e Gospel of Jrisus CKAIST, who
tells us to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and relieve the
distressed.; and do you think I can behold a sorer so cheer-full
obeying tile cum:lards of my Great MAST ca, without .reeling a
spiritual atiaci.-tiint that leads me to break through worizly ees•
tont., and uCer you tlw hand of trienddop and hretheriyeest r
Well, well, you area gout! old &eel, I dare say.
dou't like fana,ies ; and you'll not like so when I tell you who
I anti."—" I hope I ahall."—" Well, then, 1 sell you 1 am a
player." Ihe preacher turned up his eyes and sighed. Yea, I
ant a pLyer ; you must have heard of ; Mr*. Jordan is my
tame." Alter a abort pause, he spin put berth his gaud, and
with a compiacent countenance, replied—" I be Loss Mess thee,
whoever :hou art; his goodness is unlimited ; be bath lie,towei
on thee a large portion of his spirit, and as to thy ca 1.14. ti thy
soul upbraid thee not, the Lobo forbid that I should r
Thus reconciled, the rain having abated, they kit the porch
together, whilst the deep impressioo this seeds, together with the
tascitiating address of our heroine, made on the mood of the
preacher, eiereame all his prejudices, and the offer of bill arm
bolus 'Wapiti], the female Reedits of the Caine linglish Drama,
and the melancholy disciple of John Wesley, proceeded arm in
arm, affording in appearance, at butt rather a whisneloal con-
trast, till the door et her dwelling pOt arperrodfo the sixth At
parting the preacher ago& took her hand—" Fare thee wed, sister,
(said be) I know out what the ptiociples of people of nay tatting
may be, fin' that art the first I ever cedvethed with; bat If dick
benevoleut practice equals thine, I hope and trust. at the Great
Day, the Loa. will say to each, Tkv rim are liqiiren thee
CORONlthell iIiQUESTS.ii—STAUVATIONsa-eAn Inqui-
sition was taken yesterday, at the White Hart, cot.
tier of Exeter-street, Strand, on the body of James
Fisher, who it is supposed, was starved to death.
The Jury viewed the body. He appeared to be
about 40 years of age, if it was possible to judge of
the age in the situation in which it was, for nothing
human could have been more shocking to the sight ;
a mere anatomy, covered with rags, and every bone
protruding through the skin. The following evi-
dence was afterwards produced :—Thomas Roberts
being sworn, stated that he had lodged at t:S. Exeter.
street, several years, where the deceased has lodged
more than twelve montks ; he lived in the back gar-
ret ; he did not see the deceased on Tuesday, nor
beard hint in his room. On Wednesday last, be;
(seen nine and ten o'clock, hr returned from his
work ; the landlady, Mrs. Burton, came to his door,
and asked him if he had seen Fisher ? for she thought
he was dead, and knocked at his door, but received
no answer ; the door was locked inside, and at the
landlady's request, he forced the door open, and
found the deceased lying on the floor by the side of
the bed on his back, lie was partly dressed, appa.
gently for the purpose of coming out of the room :
he put the deceased on the bed and locked the door.
He (the deceased) had been ill some months ; he
WAS very poor.—Jaeses Foley corroborated the above
evidence, and added, that the deceased had some tea
given •w him every morning; he did not know that
he ever took any thing else ; be had lately com-
plained that he was wasted to a skeleton ; he was as
well-informed man, and never asked for assistance;
he bad not his tea on Tuesday morning as usual.—
a. Burton, wife of John Burton. 23, Exeter-street,
stated, that the deceased had lodged four years in
her house ; he paid her Its. 6d. a week ; she gave
him the leavings of tea in the morning, he found
bread himself. She we,' ebtent from home part of
Sunday and 'Monday, and came home about nine
o'clock on Tuesday night. She did not know
whether the deceased ever ate dinner or supper ; and
whether he had died for want of food, or of disease,
she could not say. He was a native of Scotland, and
bad friends there. .He bad applied to the Scotch Sc.
ciety for assistance to go to Scotland. He had net
paid his rent fur a long time. •
Coroner—" k is evident this man died by the Visitation of
Cow"--Jury —" I am satisfied hp died for want of the
necessaries of life."---,Anther Juryman-1a lam of the same
opiniou, and dissent 11111111 the Cormier.
The following verdict, however, was finally re-
corded—Died by the Visitation of don.
Au Inquisition was taken yesterday, at the Ring's
Head, Walworth-road, on the body of Mary Kemble,
daughter of Mr. Bauble, No. 4, Manor-row, Wal-'
worth, who was accidentally burned to death. She
was eight years of age. Her mother had brie gone
out of the hour about five minutes to carry a lents
i 0 eke Post-office, and left the intent in the cradle,l
and the coffee-pot on the fire, with the poker under
it. - The deceased lifted the pot off the fire, and thr
' pokey, which was red ho, fell against bet clothes,
and set them oar fir.—.Ausideutittly bssxned to death ,

REPO RTcfshe COMMITTEE •a STEAM-BOATS.

(Cosinued from the STAR of Yesterday.)
Mr. Alexander Tilloch called ;Is, and examined.

Will you state where you reside ?—At Islingtol.
Anil what is your prolession?—l am editor of Ths
Philosophical Magazine, and sometimes I am c411:.d
upon to act as Engineer ; and I am editor and a pro-
prretar of 7he .Slar newspaper.
Will you be so good, as you know the object f,r
which we are met, with regard to the safety of per
sons in &ram B )ats, to men:kit what suggestions
: you have to make to the Committee on the subject ?
My opinion is, that attending to what s':ould bs at.
tended to in every Steam. Enginv, and employin..;
proper Engineers, a Steam Engine %wild be per.
feetly safe, whether with high pressure or low pr .s-
-sure. The boilers ought always to he furnished with
safety valves; and if they suspect the possibility of
having a stupid man, one of the valves should be
covered and out of his reach with a box ova. it, but
perforated so that you may see when the steam ope-
rates on it. A mercurial valve is also very good;
that is an inverted syphon, with a column of mer-
cury in proportion to the purposes fhir which it is to
be employed.
Do you apprehend much danger to arise, in case
of explosion, from that mercury, if it was employ.
t--No, because the tube is always perpendicular,i
.:ad it the mercury shoots out, at goes away and falls
'own in rain; I am of opinion, a boiler may be
de safe either of wrought or cast iron, but for
teat strain I would prefer cast iron, contrary to the
es
•$. titian of many people, and the reason I would
efer it, is the same for which it is preferred in
iaking cannon. It is not possible to get thick plates
o wrought iron perfect throughout, and you trust at
i .st to rivets in joining them, but cast-iron boilers
.an be made of any strength you please ; instead of '
hiving a boiler that will stand GO, it may be made
to stand 600, .'f either wrought or cast-iron. Ann.
:tier reason why I would prefer cast-iron is, that the
sheet iron corrodes much quicker and destroys by
axydation, so that a boiler may be safe when first set up
did stand its proof, but very soon become unservice-
able,or at leastcomparatively so. Boilers should always
be composed of cylindrical tubes, and for an obtious
reason, capacity should begot by length and number,
rather than by diameter. There is no more danger
to be apprehended from steam as to bursting, thaa
t rom the employment of condensed air, only that the
water may scald : but as to the daager of the frag-
ments being scattered about, it is the same with air
sir with steam, and yet all the engineers constantly
employ cast-iron receivers, condensers, or air vessels
where pressure is wanted.
Is not cast-iron liable to suffer some material in-
ju .y trom the contraction and expansion by heat and
su nequent cooling ?—Whether a boiler be made of
wrought or of cast-iron the ;natal expands and con.
,sects, and expansion or contraction is more or less
injurious in proportion as it is often repeated, but it
does.nnt prejudice a boiler made of cast more titan
One made of wrought iron.
Is not it more injurious to cast than wrought iron
boilers ?—No, I do not think it is.

In case if accident by explosion in a cast and
wrought iron boiler, which, in your opinion, would
ee attended with the greatest mischief to the person-
about it ?—lf in actual explosion takes place, I
should think from the east-iron, but I conceive that
a. properly constructed cast•iroa boiler would be
stronger, and therefore would not explode so soon.
A boiler should be proved with cold water, if it is
to be applied to high pressure.
Are you not aware That cast iron, notwithstanding
the greatest possible attention-of the founder, is liable
to cavities in the interior substance of the metal,
which renders it uncertain when exposed to great de-
grees of heat?--There may be cavities in cAst iron,
but a boiler being proved to a strain bey•)nd that it
is td be exposed to by heat, the safety of the boiler
is secured ; for the temperature never can be at
thatipoint Which will endanger a fracture from that
circumstance.

Do you mean by that answer, to say that the ra.
refection of the air in that cavity may act be so great
by the heat as to occasion its bursting ?►-It never
can, because the air that produced that cavity was at
a white heat at the time the iron closed upon it, and
it never can be brought to such a heat in working a
boiler ; my opinion is, that by a very high proof at
the commencement, and attention to it, you may
always have a safe boiler of cast iron.

Mr. Ma Hall, called in and mantilla.
Where do you live ?—.At Dartford.
What are you by profession ?—An engineer and
millwright.
Have you given any attention to the construction
of engines for steam boats ?—I never have ; I have
made steam engines, but not for steam boats.
The object of this Committee being to inquire into
the construction of engines for Steam Boats for die
safety of passengers, have you any thing to commn
nicate to the Committee on that subject ?—I have
only to observe, that I make them in cast iron, and
I have proved them by an hydraulic press made CI
the purpose, and have gone as high as 2.501 b. to an
inch, and that I considered enough ; nothing hap-
pened ; and I mean the next time to try what they
will bear, and I have no doubt they will bear from
700 lb. to 1,000 lb. to an inch, for I be.ieve they can
be made now stronger than wrought iron Ivilers ;
wrought iron boilers being rivetted together, cannot
be so strung as those cast in a solid mass.
May not there be some imperfection in cast iron,
which may not be discoverable without an accident
happening ?—lt is scarcely possible, if it undergoes
the ttial I speak of by pressure betbre it is pet to
k.
_ _

COUNIItY UAREET:,.