The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-12-21 00:00:00

WALKING.—Walking is the best possible exercise: habit-
tuate yourself to walk very far. The Europeans value them-
selves on having subdued the horse to the uses of man, but I
doubt whether we have not lost more than we have gained by
the usft of this animal. No one has occasioned so mucli the de-

generacy of the human body. An Indian goes on foot nearly
as far in a day, for a long journey, as an enfeebled white does
on his horse; and he will tire the best horses. A little walk
of half an hour in the morning, when you first rise, is advisa-
ble. It shakes off sleep, and produces other good effects in
the animal economy.—Jefferson's Memoirs.
POCKET-PICKING EXTRAORDINARY.--On Monday week,
whilst the solemn and impressive ceremony was performing
inane Old Church-yard, Sheffield, of consigning a fellow-
mortal to his parent earth, two well known thieves were prac-'
tising upon the pockets of the unwary mourners. One female
lost a sovereign. She afterwards gave notice of the, robbery
at the police-office, and .some of the men were immediately
sent to discover the villains. As they had been observed
about the place, and their character being well known, the
policemen fortunately. seemed them.
The golden pippin is a native of Sussex, and is said to have
been first reared at Parham Park, whirls is situated on the
north side of the Souih Downs. The Dutch acknowledge it

to be an English apple in their catalogue of fruits, where it
is called the the "F,nyelsche yowl Pipping," The French
call it "Pippin d'Or," which is a translation- of the English
name. Catherine, Empress of Russia, was so fond of this
apple, that.she was regularly supplied with it from England;
and iu order that she might have it in the greatest perfection,
each apple was separately enveloped in silver paper before it
was packed.
We understand that Lady Durham's resignation of her
office at court was the spontaneous aizt of her ladyship, and
that the noble earl was not cognizant of her intention until
it had been carried into effect. Her laLyship's letter to her
majesty, it is said, instead of following the usual form of re-
questing permission to resign, tendered tier resignation at
once, and in express terms. The answer of the queen, we are
further told, was couched in language expressive of esteem,
and even of affection • and intimated that, had the form
usually adopted on such occasions been adhered to, the per-

. , .
mission to resign would not, without the greatest reluctance,
have been granted-to her ladvship.—Morning Post.
EXCISE LICENSES.—The following licenses were granted
by the excise during last year :—Auctioneers. 3004; tea and
coffee dealers, 81,259; glass manufacturers, 131 ; maltsters,
10,039; paper-makers, 403; soap-makers, 199; manufactu-
rers of tobacco and snuff, 282; dealers in tobacco and snuff;
156,271 ; dealers in foreign wine, 22,019; brewers of strong
beer, 46,980; retail brewers, l 8; sellers of strung beer, not
being brewers, 979: beer.retailers, whose premises are rated
under £2O a-year, 39,226; ditto, £2O or upwards, 15,824;
retailers of beer, cider, or perry, 45,193; of cider and perry
only, 1585 ;. distillers and rectifiers, 118; dealers in spirits,
not being retailers, '2968; retailers of spirits, 34,924; ditto of
sweets, 1655; persons licensed to let post horses, 9388.
The Mayor of Limerick has received the following com-
munication from the India House, London, conveyinga sant-

pie 'of tea, grown in the newly-acquired territory-of Assam,
where large forests of this precious plant are found, and pos-
sessing a-degree of strength and flavour fully equal, if not
superior; to the tea imported from China :--" Mr. Gordon
presents his compliments to the mayor of Limerick. By direc-
tion of Sir John Hobhouse, he has the honour of sending to
him a sample of tea, grown in British India, with a memo-
randum explanatory of the measures taken to improve the
cultivation and manufacture. Mr. Gordon will be happy to
receive any communication on the subject from the mayor of
Limerick, or from any persons connected with the tea trade.—
India Board, 4th Dec. 1838."—Limerick paper.
• PROPOSED BRANCH FROM THE MANCHESTER AND BIR-
MINGHAM RAILWAY TO MACCLESFIELD.-A deputation of
the directors of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway,
consisting of- H. Tootal and J. P. Westhead, Esqrs., accom-
panied by G. W. Buck, Esq., the engineer, met the committee
appointed by the town-council of Macclesfield, on Wednesday
week, in order to communicate to theist the plan for a diversion
of the proposed branch to Macclesfield, the effect of which
would be that the Macclesfield branch would join the main
line, near Cheadle Hubne, instead of Stockport, and would
again fall into the line adopted by parliament near Hulling-
worth Smithy. The mayor having been unanimously called
to the chair, a report from Mr. Buck was read to the meeting,
recommending that the Macclesfield line should branch off at
Cheadle Hulme, by which a deep cutting and curve, together
with the inclined plane on entering the main line, would be
avoided. The distance front Macclesfield to Stockport, by
the proposed line, would be only fourteen chains longer than
by the parliatnentary line. Mr. Buck concluded his report
INTENDED TORCH-LIGHT' MEETING AT WAKEFIELD.-

The members of the " Wakefield Working Men's Associa-
tion" having issued placards, announcing that a torch-light
meeting would be held on the night of Monday week, the
magistrates of the town issued placards containing a copy of
the government circular, declaring that such meetings were
illegal, and cautioning persons against being present. At
their request, a troop of the 9th lancers were sent over from
Leeds, and the nocturnal chartists did not venture to hold

the meeting in the air, but issued placards stating that it
would be held in the association room. Several hundred here
assembled ran away on the alarm being given, that a soldier
was approaching. • -It is said that Mr. Feargus O'Conner sent
to the chartists to intimate that he should not attend the
meeting, and to request the " people" not to assemble. The
town remained perfectly quiet during the night, and the
soldiers returned to Leeds the following morning—Mancheeter
Guardian.

FALLING STARS IN AUGUST AND NOVEMBER.--(From the
Vienna Official Gazette.) —The phenomenon of an extraor-
dinary abundance of falling stars, about the middle of No-
vember, has been again observed this year, and in our part
of the world more decidedly than ever. On the 10th of No-
vember, when we watched from eight in the evening till one
in the morning, we counted about nine such stars in an hour,
the sky being rather hazy. On the 1 Ith November, during
five hours after six in the evening, the sky being clear, we
counted about twenty in an hour. so that the phenomenon
was increasing. On the 12th of November, the sky being
quite cloudy. no observation of the kind could be made. On
the 13th of 'November the sky suddenly cleared up half an
hour before midnight,. and remained perfectly serene till
daybreak. During these six hours we noted 1002 falling
stars, of which by far the greater part were of the first mag-
nitude, with a long horn of light, and casting much shade,
like the moon. The phenomenon decidely increased from
the beginning of the observation till about four in the morn-
ing, when it seemed to have reached its culminating point;
from that time till daybreak, it decreased, as the following

shows,—
In the 1 hour of observation there were 32 falling stars.
In the 2 do. do. 52 do.
In the 3 do. . do. 70 do.
In the 4 do. do. 157 do.
In the 5 do. do. 381 do.
In the 6 do. do. 310 do.
Unfortunately the state of the atmosphere on the fcllowing
night was such, that it did not allow any further observatiori,
so that the duration of this remarkable phenomenon could
not be determined. At the beginning of August, there was
an unusual number of falling stars, though very far from
that in November. On the 7th and Bth of August we counted
about six in an hour, on the 9th fifteen, on the 10th sixty, on
the 11th and I2th thirty, and on the 18th, all which day it
was again cloudy, only ten i❑ a❑ hour; so that the 10th of
August must be considered as the day on which the pheno•
meson was at its height, since it increased till that day, and
sensibly decreased afterwards. We mean to give further
particulars respecting the place of this phenomenon in the
heavens, and of further peculiarities which result from our
observations during the present year, as soon as the neces-
sary comparisons shall be completed,