The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-10-12 00:00:00

OPENING OF THE ADELPHI THEATRE.—This once fa-
vourite house opened last night, under circumstances cer-
tainly more auspicious than any that have for some time
been presented. The pieces selected were not only re-
plete with interest, but were of that character that gener-
ally meets a favourable reception from a Liverpool audi-
ence, while they have been put upon the stage, to use a
theatrical phrase, with that tact which evinces the talent
of the manager, and leads us to expect when the
corm dramatique become acquainted with the house and
its visitors, an entertainment certainly above mediocrity.
It is impossible on the eve of a publication to enter into
detail. We may, however, favourably mention Miss
Fielding, who feelingly pourtrayed the character of Miss
Gresham, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Rice, Mrs. llugging, Mr.
Gardner (late of the Princess's). The house was well
filled, and the audience rapturously applauded the various
efforts of the company, and called for several of them, as
also for the manager, at the close of the first piece ;
shortly after which, Mr. Cooke delivered an appropriate
address, which was well received.
M. Sower has written to the papers reporting the per-
formance of the model soup-kitchen erected in Dublin
and used by the South Dublin Union. From the opening
of the kitchen on the 6th of April to the 4th of August,
1,147,279 rations, consisting of 2,868,197 pounds of food,
were issued, at a cost of £7,768. Under the old plan of
preparing food in different depots, the cost would' have
been £15,536, or double. One result has been, that
whilst the ratepayers of the North Dublin Union have
paid 3s: 4d. in the pound, those of the South Union have
only had to pay a ls. rate.
THE ORIENTATION OF CHURCHES.—As to the rule
laid down by the present authorities of the Church of
England, not one-fourth of the Roman churches have
their altars at the east end ; but they are amongst the
most ancient and most important of those sacred build-
ings. Consequently, the observance is not a Catholic one
(non ab omnibus). The primitive Anglican Church did,
at a very early period, adopt this tradition ; but surely
with us the question arises whether we are bound to this
fragment of antiquity hand and foot, at whatever cost or
inconvenience; or whether we may regard it, as does the
Church of Rome, in the light of a nonessential, subordi-
nate to other considerations of locality, and the relative
position with other objects. A glance at Nolli's fine map
of Rome will hear out my remarks, or reference to the
compendious plan of Letarouillv.—The Builder.

There have been some destructive floods at Perth. The
Tay on Wednesday overflowed miles upon miles of country,
and fairly astonished the royal city of Perth out of its
propriety; roaring and tearing the beautiful bridge at a
rate that no one can imagine who was not an eyewitness,
bearing on to the sea the spoils of all the lowlands, hay-
stacks, hurdles, outbuildings—or, rather, their wreck—
fieldgAes, all sorts of agricultural produce, trees, torn up
by the roots, and quantities of timber from the railway
works in the neighbourhood. We are sorry also to say
that it is feared that the loss of sheep must be very heavy,
several bodies having been observed to pass down. In
Perth the kitchens everywhere were filled, and cooking
suspended. In the lower parts of tlfe town the water
fairly entered the houses through the ground floor win-
dows, and horses were obliged to be led from the stables
to the higher portions of land to save them from being
drowned.
CURIOUS PARALLEL.—A traveller, once lost in a York-
shire moor, after desperately pursuing a rather hopeless
track for some time, had the good fortune to meet a
member of a shrewd and plain-speaking sect. " This is
the way to York, is it not ?" said the traveller ; to which
the other replied, " Friend, first thou tellest a lie, and
then thou askest a question." There is a homely and yet
a universal truth in this rebuke. The Roman Catholic
Bishops of Connaught, presided over by the veracious
M'Hale, met the other day and passed a resolution, first
affirming that the famine has " slaughtered" about two
millions of the people of Ireland, and then inviting the
clergy of the communion to supply the particulars for
their several parishes. Here is the resolution :—" That,
with a view of furnishing the Government with a season-
able knowledge of the extent and depth of the public
misery, and that they may not labour under the lament-
able ignorance on which ministers relied last year as an
apology for their not meeting in time the terrible famine
that has slaughtered about two millions of our people,
the clergy be respectfully requested to answer the annexed
queries. And here is the first of the annexed queries :
What has been the reduction in the number of your
parishioners by famine and its consequence, epidemic
disease, since last October ?" " Friend, first thou tellest
a lie, and then thou askest a question."