The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-14 00:00:00

ionours, and also for having carried off three out of four of
he original prizes."

FAILURE ON THE NEW POOR LAW

,—Circumstances, we

understand, are compelling the Poor-law Commissioners to
give up the principle which they deemed the keystone of their
system—namely, that the workhouse should always be sup-
plied_as a test of destitution. Mr. Senior, the assistant Poor-

law Commissioner, acting, no doubt, upon orders received
from Somerset-house, has publicy announced to the Board
of Guardians of the Nottingham Union that them is no re-
striction on the administration of out-door relief, and that
the guardians have in consequence discharged 50 persons from
the workhouse, and ordered them relief at their own homes.
LAMENTABLE OCCURRENCE ON THE DUDDON SANDS.
—We are extremely sorry to state that a melancholy and fatal
accident occurred to Mr. Robert Lightfoot, surgeon, of
Broughton-in-Furness, late of Wigton, on Thursday wpek,
whilst attempting to cross Duddon-sands, which have been

the grave of almost countless numbers who have attempted
to cross them. It appears that Mr. Lightfoot left his home
about ten o'clock in the morning of the day above mentioned
to visit some patients in Kirkby Irleth, after which he had
to cross Duddon-sands for Millom. in order to visit some
others. Kirkby is about three and a half miles from Hol-
born-hill, across the Sands, to which place he was going, and
thirteen miles round by Broughton, so that crossing the
Sands saved a ride of nine and a hal/miles. Mr. Lightfoot

was quite in time for the tide, and got through the channel,
which he had been in the habit of crossing daily. He was
last observed cantering up the far or Cumberland side of the

Sands in shallow water, .and it is supposed the horse had
fallen into what is termed a " break "—a deep hole caused
by the Sands having been removed by the preceding tide,
and that he had been suddenly thrown from his horse, as the
rein, which he held in his left hand, had been entirelycarried
over the horse's head. There is no doubt that the deceased

iad been fast in the stirrup, and had been dragged in the wa-
ger by the horse for some time, as the right side stirrup was
ntirely lost, and his right ancle was either dislocated or bro-
..

ken, which could not be exactly ascertained on account of
:he swelling of the joint. When the deceased's clothes had

been saturated with water, the spring bar of the stirrup had
been opened and let out the leather. The horse was saved
by some sailors belonging to a vessel close at hand. The
body of the deceased was found next day about ten o'clock,
nearly half a mile from the place where he was supposed to
have perished.— Westmoreland paper.

PROFESSOR ICEBLE'S SERMON AT ST. MARY'S.-Mr.
Keble, professor of poetry, and one of the tractarian trium-
virate, preached the university sermon on Tuesday last. The
substance was such as to remind us most forcibly of Mr.
Sibthorp's university sermon, preached only a few months
before his conversion to the catholic religion. The public
are anxiously looking for the publication of the episcopal
charge of a sixth bishop (Winchester), the diocesan of Mr.
Keble. The trumpet of his spiritual overseer has blown no
uncertain sound, and the reverend gentleman is in this awk-
ward dilemma : he must either retire, or will show that, when,
in his letter to Mr. Justice Coleridge, he spoke of " feeling
deeply the slightest word of his bishop," he meant to frighten
the bishop out of speaking (just as if his lordship of Oxford is
dumb), or not to heed his voice, should he be so harsh.—
az.ford Chronicle.

FREAKS OF STEAM TRAVELLING.—One day last week
the Rev. C. B. Marriott, of Thundersly, having decided to
proceed from the city of " bustle and barter" to the rustic
quietude of Harlow, determined on entering himself on the
Northern and Eastern Rail ; accordingly he possessed him-
self of a snug first-class seat, and was soon spinning along
before the gale to his destination. " Harlow Station" at last
stared him in the face, as plainly as paint and board could
stare ; but, alas ! the carriage door had become fixed by the
rain : all his exertions could not get it downto enable him to
serve the officers with notice to quit. All the rev. gentleman's
calling out, and all his hammering the glass, as heavily as
glass may be safely hammered, brought no one to his prison►
door; and, as it was vain for him to attempt to put a bit in
the mouth of a steed which is fed with coke and driven with
a kitchen poker, he soon found himself whirling along to the
next station, at Sawbridgeworth. Here he succeeded in
achieving his liberty, and was consoled by the information
that, on the usual terms, he could be conveyed back to Har-
low. In due time the rev. traveller resigned himself to his
fate and to the up-train ; but scarcely was he snugly seated
and fairly under weigh, when his fellow-passenger informed
him that that train did not stop at Harlow. This was too
true : onwards went the monster with puff and snort and
rattle of wheels, regardless of his wishes, all he saw of the
desired haven of his hopes; being the glimpse which steam at
30 miles an hour affiarded him. Of course it was useless
lingering at the next station, so onwards he flew to town,
where, on a proper representation of the case to the secretary
anti directors, the hotel expenses of the night were handsomely
paid by them; and the next morning he was again skimmer-
ing the earth towards llarlow. Again the painted board an-
nounced to him his journey's end, aided by the voices of the
attendants ; again, too, the carriage-door became obstinate in
its slides and sulky in its hinges ; and it was not till the train
was almost again in motion that the rev. gentleman was en-
abled to set foot upon the desired spot ; even then it was not
effected without some risk, as in his haste to avoid a secoud
trip to Sawbridgeworth, he did not perceive another leviathan
of the modern road, which a few yards off was hissing and
boiling up the rail upon which he alighted.—Chelmsford
Chronicle.

SUSPECTED INCENDIARISM BY A FEMALE.—About one
o'clock on Friday morning, a fire broke out in a barn belong-
ing to Mr. J. Salmon, at Great Clueton Farm, which soon
communicated to the other buildings, and, though the Equi-
table engine arrived in the course of an hour, and active as-
sistance was rendered by the superintendent of police and
others, the barn, which was full of wheat, the stables, and
out-houses, together with a wheat, a barley, and a clover
stack, were destroyed. The damage done amounts to about
£4OO. A part only of the property was insured, and we re-
gret to add, there is reason to suspect that the fire was the
act of an incendiary. Soon after the fire, Superintendent
Evans discovered the impressions of foot-marks near the
premises, which were believed to be those of the incendiary,
and he carefully dug up the earth containing them, and thus
secured the impressions in a box. A woman named Thomp-
son was apprehended, when it was found her shoes corres-
ponded with the marks, and other strong evidence being ad-
duced against her, she was remanded for further examina-
tion. The prisoner is believed to be insane.—Essex Herald.
THE CONVICT WARD.—The day appointed for the execu-
tion of this wretched man is Monday, the 20th instant.
Since his conviction his conduct has been such as leads to the
hope that he feels fully impressed with the necessity of ma-
king his peace with his Maker. He maintains a reserved
and quiet demeanour, almost approaching to sullenness, but
listens with profound attention to the exhortations of the
Rev. Ordinary, who is unremitting in his endeavours to bring
the unhappy man to a sense of his truly awful situation. He
has not made any confession, as has been reported, nor does
he allude in any way to the crime of which he has been found
guilty. Upon being told that there was no reason for him to
hope that his life would be spared, and that the day was fixed
upon when he was to suffer, he made no reply, but received
the information as a matter of course. He now occupies the
same cell in which Blakesley, Courvoisier, and others who
have suffered, were confined, and (as is always now the case
with those who are condemned to suffer the extreme penalty
of the law), is never lett alone. Great exertions are being
made by many persons to obtain a mitigation of the sentence,
but as yet we have reason to believe their appeals have been
unavailing.

DREADFUL. SITUATION.—The Cherbourg journal relates
that on Monday, the 29th ult., two men and a woman went
from the small town of Lezardrieux, in the Cote du Nord,
in a boat of eight or ten tons, to gather a load of sea weed,
much used on the land in that country. Flaying taken a full
cargo, they were returning home, when a gale of wind arose,
tore away their sails, unshipped the rudder, and left them
with only one oar to steer by, through a tempestuous sea,
the other having been washed overboard. Thus they re-
mained at the mercy of the wind and waves, starving with
cold and hunger, and not knowing how far they had drifted,
till Thursday morning at daybreak, when they found them-
selves within sight of the point of land on which the lighthouse
of Andreville stands, the reflection of which they saw during
the darkness. The master of the boat and his man deter-
mined to use their single oar to steer,
.)t on shore ; but the
woman, with more judgment and resolution, seeing that they
must, on account of the violence of the waves, be inevitably
dashed to pieces on the rocks, insisted on their again turning
the boat's head off, and trusting to P,ovidence. In an hour
and a half afterwards, when about four leagues to the east of
Cape La Hogue, they were seen by a Havre pilot-boat, who
answered their signals of distress, bore down upon them, took
them in, and towed their boat safe into Cherbourg, where
the poor creatures were landed on Friday morning, in a state
of almost total exhaustion.

NARROW ESCAPE OF Two BANK NOTES.—During the
Statutes at Otley, a person who had been offering up a sac-
rifice at the shrine of Bacchus, and had evinced his zeal by
pouring most copious libations into his own stomach, in ho-
nour of the " jolly god ", and thinking at the same time a
burnt offering might not be unacceptable, drew from out of
his pocket a piece of paper, part of which he appropriated to
the lighting of his pipe, returning the remaining part to
his pocket. The evening passed merrily on, and the smoke
curled in beautiful circles about his head, till at length being
weary of his festivities in honour of his favourite divinity,
he gradually sunk into the arms of Morpheus, but judge of
of his surprise when, on awaking, he found that part of a
£5 bank note had been torn away to light his pipe, and of
his joy when, on examining it, he discovered that the signa-
ture was only partly destroyed, and that. on taking it to the
bank, what remained of his note was exchanged for gold.
Shortly afterwards another person called at the same bank
to enquire whether any one of a suspicious appearance bad,
within a few hours, presented a £lO note ; and being
answered in the negative, said he had just lost a note of that
value, and left the bank, very much regretting his loss. A
few days afterwards the same individual called, and stated
that his note had been found among some ashes down in the
yard of an inn in the town, with a large hole burnt through
its centre.

HORSE V. MAN.—On Tuesday, Cootes, the well-known
pedestrian, entered upon a second match with a horse, to go
six miles and leap 100 hurdles, the first in to win. The
match was bond fide and for £2O. Cootes also had a by-bet,
that whether beating the horse or beaten he would perform
the distance in 40 minutes. The contest came off in the
cricket field upon the Handford-road, at one o'clock, at
which time a great number of persons were upon the ground.
Owing to the ease with which Cootes had beaten the horse
Towitt upon a previous occasion, the betting was 6 to 2 in
favour of the former. The horse matched against Cootes on
the present occasion was a powerfui gray, aged, regularly
hunted, and evidently possessing great powers. There were
four leaps in each round, and 25 rounds. made up the distance
of six miles. After the umpire and reterees were appointed,
Cootes and his brute companion started upon their under-
taking. Horse and man, Ist round, even ; 2d round, man 2
leaps behind ; 3d, 3 leaps behind ; 4th, 3 leaps behind ; sth,
4 leaps ; iith, 4 leaps ; 7th, 4 leaps ;—horse pulled up for a
minute ; Bth round, man 3 leaps behind ; 9th, 3 leaps ; 10th,
3 leaps ; 11th, 4 leaps ; 12th, 5 leaps ; 13th, 4 leaps—horse
pulled up ; 14th, 6 leaps ; 15th, 6 leaps ; 16th, 6 leaps ; 17th,
7 leaps ; 18th, 8 leaps—horse pulled up ; 19th, 7 leaps ; 20th,
7 leaps ; 21st, 8 leaps ; 22d, 7 leaps ; 24th, 8 leaps ; 25th,
man 9 leaps behind. The horse, therefore, was declared the
victor. The animal won easily, and took two rounds and
eight leaps after he had cleared his last hurdle, at a gallop,
to prove his thorough bottom. He was not at all distressed.
Suffolk Chronicle.