The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-02-28 00:00:00

POLICE COURT-YESTERDAY.

ROBBERY BY A SERVANT.-Emily Elmes, a servant
girl, was charged with stealing several handkerchiefs, the
property of Mrs. Moon, with whom she was a servant ,
and also with stealing, at different times, a sovereign,
half-sovereign, and a number of postage stamps, belong-
ing to the Rev. Mathews, who lodged in the house.
Complaint of the numerous thefts having been made, a
policeman was sent for, who questioned the servants, and
suspicion fixed itself on the prisoner. in her box were
found a number of postage stamps, cut from the sheet in
such a way as to be readily identified, and also two two-
penny postage stamps ; no other portions of the stolen
property were found, and no money was in the box. It
was proved, however, that the prisoner had, within a
short period, purchased several articles of apparel, although
she was known to have been very poor. The postage
stamps were identified by the Rev. Mr. Mathews, as part
of his property • but he said he did not wish to press the
case against the prisoner. The magistrate declined to
accede to a withdrawal of the case. The prisoner said she
found the postage stamps lying on the floor of a passage,
between two rooms, but admitted they were not hers,
and that she did not tell any one as to her having found
them. She was sentenced to be imprisoned for two
months. _ _ _

ROBBERY IN AN IMPROPER HorsE.—Elizabeth Lang
was charged with robbing a mulatto sailor of 20s.
between Saturday night and Sunday morning. It
.appeared the prosecutor accompanied the prisoner to her
lodgings, where he averred she took the money out of his
pocket. This she peremptorily denied, and no evidence
corroborative of his statement being produced, the case
was dismissed; the magistrate advising the prosecutor to
be more circumspect in his future choice of company.

STEALING A SHAWL FROM A CHILD.-Ann Wilkin
son was charged with stealing a shawl, on Monday, the
6th instant, from a girl about eight years of age, named
Richardson, living in lcewport-street. The girl gave her
evidence in a very straightforward manner. She had been
sent, she said, by her aunt, and in going along the street
the prisoner accosted her, and said she (the girl) must not
stay her errand nor lose the shawl, and as an encourage-
ment to her activity and care gave her a half-penny to get
some sweets, saying she (the prisoner) would take care of
the shawl, which she put into her basket, and while the
girl was in the shop ran away. The witness on Saturday
night last, being along with her mother in the street, met
the prisoner and immediately pointed her out as the
woman who had stolen the shawl. The prisoner was
accordingly taken into custody. The girl was quite
positive as to her identity. Mr. Clough said, that while
the present examination had been going on, he had been
informed that other charges of a similar nature would be
• made and substantiated against the prisoner ; and he
applied for a remand. The prisoner was accordingly re-
mandedtill this day (Tuesday). _

AN UNGRATEFUL Tnaar.—Alice Taylor was charged
with stealing a number of articles of wearing apparel
from the house of Mary Slater, in Bannister-street, on the
morning of Saturday last, she having been taken into the
house as an act of charity. The prosecutrix, who was so
very hoarse that her statement could be scarcely heard or
understood, said that, on Saturday morning, about nine
o'clock, she had occasion to go out, and left the prisoner
in her house, who was to wash a sheet ; on returning, she
found the prisoner had decamped, and carried with her
all that was portable within her reach. Prisoner admitted
that she had stolen some of the things. The case was
remanded for seven days.
PICKING POCKETS IN QUEEN-SQUARE.—William
Howard and Williams were charged by Russell, a de-
tective officer, with attempting to pick the pocket of a
lady, in Queen-square, on Saturday night. -The case was
remanded till this day (Tuesday).
STEALING A CHAIR.--Margaret Wilson, a poor look-
ing woman, advanced in years, was charged with stealing
a chair, from the premises of James Hopkins, 101, Mill-
street, on Saturday night last. The charge was proved,
and the prisoner, who had on previous occasions been
convicted, was sentenced to be imprisoned for a month.

PICKING POCKETS.—Patrick Rourke and Cornelius
Mellior, two boys, were charged with endeavouring to
pick the pockets of several ladies, in the neighbourhood
of St. John's-market, on Saturday last. Mellior, who,
although young, is an expert thief, had got Rourke to lift
the ladies' dresses while he put his hand into their pockets.
They were caught in the act, and Mellior, who had been
six times convicted on previous occasions, was sentenced
to be imprisoned for three months. Rourke, who appeared
to be but a novice in the art, and was by profession a
ballad singer, was given up to his father, the magistrate
advising him to send his son to the ragged-School, to
acquire some decent and more useful occupation.
SINGrLAR CA.SE.—Win. Watson, a sailor, was charged
with passing a counterfeit coin, on Sunday night, about
nine o'clock, in a public-house, in Millicent-street. It
appeared from the evidence that the prisoner and another
man went into the public-house, where they had some
refreshment, in payment for which he put down what
appeared to be a gold coin, and requested that he might
have his change. The servant of the house, an elderly
woman, not having change, and her mistress being from
home, took the coin to an adjoining house and requested
change for it, with which request the landlady at once
complied, and gave a sovereign and twenty shillings in
silver, being, as she believed, its value, in change ; this
was conveyed to the prisoner. Soon after, the woman
who had given the change was informed that the coin she
had changed was, in reality, no coin at all, and was of no
value. She immediately applied for restitution of her two
pounds, and after a little altercation the prisoner was
given into custody. On being produced in court, the
alleged coin proved to be a token, of light yellow metal,
and bearing as an inscription that it was a token for
" magnetic powder for rats." The woman who first got
it from the prisoner, on being asked by the magistrate if
she had closely observed the coin, said she had not; the
woman who gave the change said she could not read, as
did also the prisoner. The magistrate then remarked
that if any of them had examined the coin, and been able
to read, they must at once have seen it was not of any
value at all. The prisoner said he got it in New Orleans,
as a ten-dollar piece, and as such had kept it since, and
believed it to be of that value when he offered it on
Saturday. The magistrate dismissed the case, remarking
that it afforded a very plain illustration of the value of
education; he also advised the prisoner to be more
cautious in future as to the sorb of money he received or
offered.

ASSAULTING THE POLICE.—John Fairclongh was fined
ss. for assaulting police-constable No. 195, on Sunday
night ; Edwin Hawin, for assaulting police-constable No.
713, on Sunday night ; and Peter Mackie, for assaulting
police-constable 335, on Saturday, were each ordered to
pay a fine of 10s., or to be imprisoned seven days. John
Thompson, a lorry-driver, was likewise fined 108., or
seven days' imprisonment, for assaulting a policeman.
ATROCIOUS ASSAULT UPON A WlPE.—Hugh Mac-
donald was charged with a very aggravated assault upon
his wife, whose head and face presented a sad testimony
of the violence with which she had been assailed, being
deeply and extensively cut, and frightfully smeared with
blood. She stated that she had lived apart from her hus-
band for the last four or five years. On Sunday morning,
about two o'clock, he came to the door of the apartment
in which she lived, and, having demanded admittance,
which she refused, being afraid of him, he immediately
burst two panels out of the door, after which he forced
his way into the room, while she screamed for assistance.
The ferocious brute then lifted a heavy earthenware jug,
with which he struck her violently on the head and face,
b • • the vessel to fragments, and wounding her in
the • ..er which her person exhibited. On being called
on fs defence, he entered into a rambling recrimina-
tory statement, but did not deny the assault. The magis-
trate, after commenting in terms of great severity on the
inhuman and brutal extent of the outrage, sentenced the
prisOner to be imprisoned for six months, with hard
labour.

ST. DAVID'S DAY.--We hear that the vicar of Carnar-
von, the preacher for St. David's-day, will preach also at
St. David's Church, to-morrow evening.
As OVERCIIIGE.—At the police court, on Saturday, D.
Orr, SlO, driver of one of Mr. Taylor's cars, was summoned,
at the instance of Mr. Thursby, inspector of hackney
coaches, for having grossly imposed on a fare. A gentle-
man stated, that, between seven and eight o'clock on the
evening of the 16th instant, he wished to go from the
Royal Hotel, in Dale-street, to a party at a house at the
bottom of Brunswick-road, and engaged the defendant to
drive him there. They went round by Church-street, and
on reaching their destination "cabby" made him pay 4s.
Mr. Thursby stated that the legal fare was only ls. 6d.,
the driver having demanded 2s. 6d. more than he was en-
titledhalf-
crown, to which he was not entitled, fined him ss. for the
to. The magistrate ordered him to return the
overcharge, and a further fine of 2s. for not giving a ticket
to his fare as legally required.
AMALGAMATION OF LEARNED BODIES IN LIVERPOOL.
—Liverpool is pushing on that desirable reform, an amal-
gamation of its learned bodies, with spirit and success.
The committee charged with the consideration of ways
and means has adopted a report. This report is now be-
fore us, and it is a document to he read with pleasure. A
complete union of the Historic Society and Literary and
Philosophical Society is - recommended in the strongest
terms. The junction of these, again, with the Polytechnic,
is considered as in the highest degree desirable. It is
thought, and perhaps correctly, that the Architectural
Society, having objects of a special and professional kind,
should stand alone, as at present. The committee also
recommend the formation of sections for the separate dis-
cussion of such subjects as natural history, practical
science, antiquities, and general literature. In fact, it is
proposed to create an institute for Liverpool, which shall
represent all the arts and foster all the sciences. We
note this sign of progress in the north with the greater
pleasure, as we find that in nooks and corners of our
metropolitan learned bodies there remain many prejudices
against co-operation and joint action for a common end.
The Liverpool committee is said to have made its report
in favour of union with cordiality and unanimity or
feeling, and hope to surprise even the warmest advocates
of this moving reform.—Atheneum.
melancholy loss of
THE LIFE-BOAT DISASTER.—The aleian---,i
n v life-boat,
life by the capsizing of the steam-tug
A by the general
sympathy of the whole town, as evidenced raised for the
to which we alluded last week, has called the active
desire to subscribe to the fund that is being
'who
sib nce of those
relief of the widows and children poor.ta fellows
' lost their lives when proceeding to
in the town are gene-
i on board the Cherokee. All classes
merely
for the purpose of
rously coming forward, not de
ndant upon their relieving those those immediately 9 Pe
uaity, but with the view of
rality owing to the recent ea.
be a guarantee to the brave
. . fund that shall
raising a
lives to save those of others, that
fellows who risk their _
or
their .
ofthtlras
shall not be unrewarded, widows
their exertions
destitute in the event of their and children be left own
1 the service. We would
lives falling a sacrifice anddirect
of the manufacturing agricultural dig.
the attention
this fund, for they are equally interested in it with
trictslv to e
.. Liverpool, though the locality in which the
:liirZtleatinen exercise their functions, is not the sphere to
which their services are confined, Manchester, Birming-
ham, Yorkshire, Staffordshire, and all the other town:
and counties of the kingdom are interested in this P hilan
-
thropic work of providing relief for those who suffer by
the loss of a life-boat's crew, for they each in their own
proportion contribute to calling such a crew into exist-
ence, either for the safety of the seamen who man the
ships in which their goods are embarked, or of the pas-
sengers and emigrants who seek this port for embarkation
to foreign conr,triee,-41b* ton,

REVIEWS OF BOOKS.

27e Works of Tacitus. The Oxford Translation
revised. With Notes. London : Henry G.
Bohn.

Tim, which is the first volume of the famed
historical work of the celebrated Annals of Tacitus,
gives, in an agreeable English dress, the nervous
and lucid narration of the great Roman historian.
Commencing with a summary review of the family
history of Augustus, it passes in rapid, but not less
vivid recapitulation, the various incidents of Roman
history, till, on closing the first volume, the reader
finds himself engaged in studying the wild, rapa-
cious, foolish, and headstrong career of Nero, a
public officer whose name is looked on as synony-
mous with all that is vile, selfish, extravagant, and
abandoned in human nature ; a despot in whom is
supposed to have been concentrated all that was
odious in tyranny, shameful in sensuality, bar-
barous in cruelty, revolting in treachery, and
imbecile in cowardly weakness. Such a combina-
tion, indeed, of evil passions and unbridled indul-
gence is popularly attributed to Nero, as to have
acquired for him a notoriety as extensive and last-
ing as it is discreditable to our common humanity.
That such a character is overdrawn may, indeed,
be true ; but after making large allowance for the
overcolouring, there still remains a fearful residue
of uncontradicted accusation. Of his cupidity and
credulous hope, as well as of his boundless and
daiTerously vindictive vanity, the following illus-
trations, if not new, may be instructive to some of
our readers, as indicating some of the

PREEOGATIVES AND AMBITION WHICH BAILED
IN ANCIENT BOMB.
After this, Nero was made the object of fortune's
sport, through his own credulity and the representations
of Cesellius Ba.ssus, a Carthaginian by birth, and of a wild
and irregular cast of mind ; who perverted a vision of the
still night into a foundation for the most confident hopes :
making a voyage to Rome, he procured access to the
prince by money, and laid before him the intelligence that
there had been discovered on his estate a cavern of im-
mense depth, containing a vast quantity of gold, not re-
duced to the form of coin, but in shapeless masses, as it
used to be in ancient times. In fact, ingots of surprising
weight were lying in one part, and in another were stand-
ing bars of the same metal : treasures which had lain con-
cealed for so long a period to augment the happiness of
the present times. For the rest, to show the probability
of the thing, he suggested that Dido the Phoenician, when
she fled from Tyre, and founded the city of Carthage,
had secreted those treasures, lest the newly-established
people should run riot from superabundance of wealth ;
or the kings of the Numidians, otherwise inimically
disposed, should be incited to make war upon her by a
desire to get possession of the gold."
In consequence of this, Nero, without sufficient evidence
of the veracity of the man, or the credibility of his story,
and without having sent persons to ascertain whether the
facts were as reported, even heightened the popular ex-
pectation himself, and despatched persons to convey away
the wealth as though it had been spoil already acquired.
Three-oared galleys and chosen mariners were employed,
to facilitate despatch ; nor during those days did any
other topic engage the credulity of the people, or the dis-
cussions of the wise. It happened also that the quinquen-
nial games were then celebrating, on closing the second
lustrum • and the poets and orators. iftw their principal
materials from this source for praisW the prince : for
they said, that not only were the customary fruits pro-
duced, and gold mixed with other metals, but the earth
gave forth her treasures with unheard-of exuberance, and
the gods brought riches and laid them at his feet ; with
such other degrading flatteries as men of the highest elo-
quence and the most abject servility could invent, well
assured of the credulous facility of the prince.
Meanwhile, his extravagance, encouraged by these
chimerical anticipations, grew still more excessive ; and
his existing treasures were wasted under the idea that
fresh ones had fallen in which would supply his lavish
expenditure for many years. Nay, he even now made
largesses from this source, and the expectation of riches
was one of the causes of the impoverishment of the state :
for Ba-ssus having made excavations on his own estate,
and on the surrounding lands, to a wide extent, affirming
now this and then another place as the site of the pro-
mised mine, and attended not only by the soldiers but a
throng of rustics engaged to do the work, at length came
to his senses, and, wondering that his dreams should
never have proved false before, and that this was the
first time he had been mocked by one, he escaped from
the anguish of shame and the dangers that threatened
him, by a voluntary death. Some authors have stated
that he was thrown into chains, and soon after released,
his goods being taken from him in lieu of the royal
treasure.
Meanwhile, as the quinquennial games were now ap-
proaching, the senate, to avert the disgrace of the em-
peror's appearing, offered to him " the victory in song ;"
and added "the crown of eloquence," to veil the indecorum
of his theatrical exhibition. But Nero insisting, " that
he needed not the favour and protection of the senate, and
declaring that he was a match for his competitors, and
would obtain the honours due to his talents by the con-
scientious decision of the judges," first recited a poem
upon the stage ; but afterwards, the people importuning
him "to give them the benefit of all his accomplish-
ments" (their very words), he mounted the orchestra, and
complied with all the laws of the harp : not to sit down
from fatigue ; not to wipe off the perspiration with any-
thing but the garment he wore ; and that no secretions
from the mouth or nostrils should be visible. Lastly,
going down upon his knee, and stretching out his hand in
a supplicatory form to the persons assembled there, he
awaited the voices of the judges with pretended agitation ;
and the populace of the city, for their part, accustomed to
encourage the gesticulations of the stage-players, ap-
plauded him from one end of the theatre to the other, in
measured time, and according to a set form of clapping :
you would have supposed that they were delighted, and
possibly they were, from insensibility to the public dis-
grace.
But those Ivho had come from remote municipal towns,
and occupied that part of Italy where strictness of man-
ners and primitive simplicity were still preserved ; those,
too, who had come from the various distant provinces in
the capacity of ambassadors, or on private business, could
neither endure this sight,. nor were able to perform the
task for their inexperienced hands soon tired,
degrab -sed those who understood it, •
and they embarrassed
quence of which they were often struck by thulsockliesers,
who were stationed in different parts of the benches, that
not a moment of time should be misapplied in discordant
applause or sluggish silence. It is certain that many
knights were trampled to death in making their way
through the crowded avenues and the pressing multi-
tude ; and that others, from being on the seats for a
day and a night, without intermission, were seized with
dangerous disease ; for, in truth, the theyexhibition, had more serious
apprehensions if they failed in attending
there being many employed openly, and more secretly, to
note the names and countenances, the alacrity or re-
luctance of the company. The consequence was, that
punishment was at once inflicted on the meaner sort ;
while his resentment •st persons of rank was stifled
for the present, and paid off afterwards.
In the above extract we have abundant evidence
of that curious compound of credulous greed,
ignorant profusion, boundless vanity, and rills 4tken
refinement, which met in constitution of an
Imperial Roman of the middle period of the empire.