The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-09-29 00:00:00

world. As for the human figure, they confined themselves
principally to d,aperied forms; and they embued these
with co, siderable elegance ; nevertheless, through all
I heir operations, we trace a want of anatomical knowledge,
which not all their ready invention can conceal, and which
is scarcely compensated by the value of their sculpture, as
a contemporaneous illu•tration ot mediaeval history. Her.
aldry seems always to have been a mystic and a mythic
art ; and hence heraldic forms have a certain privilege ot
caricature and distortion from which it is in vain to try
to emancipate them. Such being the case, it becomes a
question—how should modern ornament be composed?
In the classic style, are we always to adhere to foreign fo-
liage, forekn animals, and mytholigical figures and in
the Gothic style, are we always to preserve the same rigi-
dity and distortion which prevailed so long as those styles
were in actual practice? We apprehend the true rule of
aesthetics in this case to be that for restorations or exact
facsimiles of buildings, whether classical or mediaeval, the
very form as well as the spirit of the ornament contempo-
raneously used in such buildings should be most strictly
adopted. An imitation, unless it is an exact one, is good
for nothing, as far as architecture is concerned. But
should we prevail on ourselves either to depart from these
styles, or to carry out their main principles, so as to form
a national style of our own—not a fixed one, but a style
varying through d fferent ages, suiting itself to the social
requirements of each—then we should be prepared, not
only to call in the aid of natural beauty to the fullest ex-
tent, but also to avail ourselves of all that rich fund of
form which results from the extensive use of scientific
knowledge, and the investigation of physical curves.
There is no reason why such a style, or succession of
styles, should not be formed, if the great principles of
science and utility be taken as the superstructure on which
imagination may afterwards raise its enrichment; and, if
ever it come into existence, we have the unlimited expanse
of the universe to range through in search of beauty and
harmony. It is impossible to say what changes the intro-
duction of new mathematical forms may not produce, and
produce with good effect: thus the beautiful curve of the
catena would not have been known, but for the introduc-
tion of suspension bridges. The application of the cycloid
is comparatively modern, though the curve itself is an-
cient ; and the grand effect of the hor'zontal line was not
fully known—despite of Greece and Rome—till our inter-
minable lines of railroad had stretched their lengths across
the land. In the same way, our more extended and mere
intimate knowledee of the animal and vegetable kingdom
ought to furnish us with an immense variety of new and
beautiful forms of ornament—we do not mean of mythic
or fanciful ornament, but of the highest and best kinds of
decoration, absolute. and yet partial imitation of nature.
Thus, for example, have we a blank space, extending ho-
rizontally to a long distance, which we desire to cover
with enrichments. We have our choice, either in mathe-
matical forms and combination of forms, such as naedite-
val architects might have applied. or else we may throw
along it wreaths and branches of foliage, peopled with in-
sect life, or enlivened by birds and animals. A succession
of simple oak branches or laurel-leaves, or the shoots of
any other common plants, faithfully imitated, and cut into
mimic life, from the inanimate stone. would form an or-
nament of the most effective kind, and would constitute a
work of art, being an intelligent and poetical interprets-
tit n of natural beauty. In the building of our houses, why
should the straight line and sections of the circle be the
only lines adncissible for doors, windows, and roofs:, Why
should the Greek and Roman ovolo, cavetto, and square,
be the only combination that we know of in our common
moul lines? How much richer were the architects of the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, who drew with " free
hands," and gave us such exquisite effects of light and
shade! We are firmly persuaded, that an architect,
deeply imbued with the scientific principles of his profes-
sion. and endowed, at the same time, with the hand and
the eye of a skilful artist, may cause a most hanny and
useful reformation of our national architecture.—Blackw.

THE DAGENHAM MURDER.—On Tuesday, the in-
quiry into the murder of Police Constable George Clarke
' was resumed for the sixth time. The room was crowded
by the resident gentry of the neighbourhood. The addi-
tional evidence was not very material. The Coroner
summed up, and after consulting for upwards of one hour.
the jury agreed to a verdict of Wilful Murder against
some person or persons unknown.
Mr. Fisher. the Unitarian minister at Lincoln, com-
mitted suicide on Wednesday evening by taking diluted
prussic acid after he had retired to his bed-room, where
he was found dead next morning. The cause of the act
is attributed to an apprehension on the part of the de
ceased of imputa ions upon his moral character which
would prevent him from having a congregation. He was
25 years old, and had formerly been an attorney.
It is but a few weeks since the grave closed upon the
remains of Charlotte Elizabeth—one of the very first
among our female writers ; and already we have to record
the loss of another equally eminent. Christian woman, the
author of " The Listener." Mrs Wilson, perhaps better
remembered by her former name of " Caroline Fry." was
taken to her rest, on Thursday last, at Tunbridge Wells,
after a short arid sharp attack of pulmonary disease.
Mr. Musbet, jun.. of Dark Hill. near Coleford, iron
master, writing in the Mining Journal,. says that he is in
possession of a plan by which two tons of pig iron may be
produced for every ton of coal used. At present it takes
two tons of coal to make one ton of pig iron. He also as-
serts that he knows of an immense supply of iron hitherto
unused and unsuspected, though at the manufacturer's
feet ; but the secret he is Being to keep to himself until he
finds it worth while to sell it.

At Howick vill4ge, Northumberland, on the 14th in-
stant, in her 100th year. Margery, widow of Mr. Thomas
Duncan, died. She was the last of three sisters, whose
united ages at the time of their death amounted to 278
years. Their father, Richard Moore, died at Howick in
his 100th year, anti neither he nor his father, who also
lived nearly a century, had ever slept a night out of the
Howick domains during the whole of their patriarchal
lives.

W. Hayter, a gamekeeper, at Warleigh,. Devon, has
been committed for trial at the next Exeter. Assizes, for
firing at and wounding a girl of sixteen years old, named
Maria flicks, who was plucking blackberries: The plan-
tation in which the offence was committed, adjoined a
garden occupied by the girl's father; there was no fence
or oth.,fli- partition ; and no design of meddling with game
seems to have been i Eputed to the sufferer, who retired
on the first notice, and was twice fired at while-retracing
her steps, two shots tAirig effect on the second dischar:e.
At Bow-street Police-office, George Ku,not, a man who
has kept a chemist's shop at Raleigh, in Essex, for twenty,
years, was charged with abstracting a 1.:5 note from a let-
ter which passed through the postottice at Raleigh, of
which he was the keeper. The note was sent in a letter
to Mrs. Chambers from her husband, in March last; the
absence of the money was notified to the prisoner; about
a fun Night since he pall a litiendraper of .Aldersgate-street
for some goods with the identical note, giving his address,
" Brown, Raleigh." The prisoner was remanded.

GENERAL MISCELLANY.

The import duty on wheat has fallen to 9s. per quarter.
The sum subscribed for the testimonial to Mr. John
Bright only amounts to -£l.OOO.

The salaries paid to English consuls abroad vary from
.C 25 to £l.BOO per ann:im.
The hte Mr. J. Ashton, of Hyde, has left his residuary
personal estate to the sinking fund for the reduction of
the National debt. It is expected to amount to £150,000.
The Nottingham Journal says that both the Baptist and
Independent ministers of Belper have resolved to seek
ordination in the Established Church.

SINGULAR FRAUD ON THE RAGGED SCHOOLS—An
ingenious fraud, practised at the Ragged Schools in
Broadway. Westminster, brings to light the eagerness
with which admission is sought by some of the children
For whose reception these institutions are provided. They
incurred the expense and trouble of printing admission
cards, and forging the signature, being a fac simile of
those issued by the superintendent. These were bought
by others for a halfpenny each, and gained admission till
the torgery was detected.

A coach
_proprietor from Leeds drove the horses of one
of his coach, s so unmercifully on the Leger day, that be •
fore he returned to Leeds in the evening two of t hem died,

At the revision of the Mary', bone lists of parliamentary
voters the Conservatives sustained no fewer than 552-ob-
jections, and failed in or withdrew 57. only. A pretty re^
matey-mug- must-wave beer te-begln with I
The Seventh Hussars (Queen's Own) commanded by.
Lieut.-col. White, have been removed from Hounslow to
Ireland, in consequence, it is supposed, of the ill-will of
the inhabitants arising out of the late case of flogging.
MUNIFICENT STIPEND.—A clerical correspondent of
the Times writes that he has been offered the chaplaincy
of the union-workhouse belonging to six parishes by the
local board. The temptation held out is £l3 per annum.
At the Central Criminal Court, on Friday, W.I lam
Ohre, engine driver on the Eastern Counties Railway,
was acquitted on a charge of having caused the death of
Richard Hind by the late concussion on that line.
At the Court of the Ancient Corporation of the Poor of
Bristol, it was resolved to oppose the auditing of the ac-
counts by the representative of the Poor Law Commis-
sioners.

EXTP.AORDIN ARY PRESERVATION.—A man nearly
seventy years of age, of the name of Walker, of Winslow,
a pensioner, got into a tree in that parish, on Thursday,
-for the purpose of getting rotten wood. He slipped, and
one of his feet caught between two branches, whence he
was suspended with his head downwards. He was in
this state for twenty-two hours. When found the hto
was flowing from his mouth and ears. it is believed that
he would have been dead in a short time, but it is thought
he will rect,ver. Ile was about fifteen feet from the
ground.
SINGT,L•AIt DtSCOVERY.—On Tuesday one of the crew
of the Emerald Gravesend s earner observed a brown pa-
per parcel in the cabin, and as no one applied for or
claimed it, he took it to the booking-office, Graves-end.
There being no name or adel%ss upon the parcel, after a
short delay, it was considered advisable to open it and see
what it contained, a hen, to the utter surprise of all, the
body of a newly born female infant pr rented itself. It
it about two years since a similar parcel was left on the
seat of a Gravesend steamer, containing au infant in a
state of deco rosi

In two or three days last week there arrived four ves-
sels from Lisbon and Rotterdam, having on board no
fewer than 2,8t9 large boxes and 1,550 half-boxes of lo-

SUICIDE AND ATTEMPT AT MURDER.—EarIy on
Thursday evening a woman, named Chippenham, threw
herself, together with her daughter, a chila about four
years old, from the Sun P.er, at Chatham, into the Med-
way.. A son of Mr. Robertson, surgeon. wt-o witnessed
the circumstance, flew to their rescue, and by his heroic,

reign grapes

It is estimated that no less than seven millions sterling
of the public revenue are intercepted by the servants of
the crown, and disposed of without any account being
rendered to the public.

_
The public are cautioned against counterfeit half-sove-
reigns, with which the metropolis is at this moment inun-
dated. They are electrotyped, and so admirably executed
that it is very difficult to detect them. _ _

away by the tide. On the bodies heing brought ashore,.
every means were used for th.dr rec.tvery, which, in the
case of the child, fortunately succeeded, but the mother
died about two o'clock on Friday =riling. Family•dif-
ferences are said to have led to the rash act.
Pas,TENTIoN OF DISEASE IN POTATOES.—TWO agri-
cultural labourets living near Petworth, and occupying
what is called in Su4sez a double cottage, with each a
small garden attached to his dwelling, both planted their
gardees last season with potatoes. The planting took
place by both on the same day, with seed taken 13;01
oust), from the same parcel. One took no precaution to
guard against the disease, and the potatoesentirely failed;
the other, previous to planting, placed a layer of sawdust
in the drill, on which the seed was plac:d; this has pro-
duced him as fine a crop of potatoes as need be, with
scarcaly a single defect. Sea sand made use of in the
same manner, is said t 3 be equally beneficial.
THE POTATO CROP.—Perhaps it may be said, with
strict regard to truth, that the accounts last received from
Ireland and all other parts of the United Kingdom, would
seem to concur in intimating, rather than directly stating..
that the pcpato crop has tn,t, of late, furthtr proce.-d.d
from bad to worse. And we believe that such an infe-
rence may be fairly drawn of the virulence of the disease

The Dissenters of Plymouth have passed a resolution,
pledging themselves to support, at the next election, those
candidates only who will undertake to oppose the endow-
ment of the Roman Catholic priesthood.
MILDNESS OF THE WEATHER.—There is a second
course of b'ossona on many wall truit trees, strawberries,
and other small fruit bushes in this neighbourhood. Some
of the winter flowering shrubs are also in flower, of which
the lauristinus is panicularly rich.—Perthshi,-e Courier.
At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, a post
office clerk named Thomas Jones was found guilty of
stealing a letter containing half-a-sovereign, and sen-
tenced to ten years' transportation.
In the town of Sheffield there are stated to be 3,330
persons employed in the various processes of the manu-
facture of pocket-knives. In this number are included
2,400 setters-in; 430 pen blade grinders; 150 pocket
blade grinders ; 270 blade forgers; ani 110 scale forgers.
Four men have been committed for tri plat York a-sizes,
for an atrocious rape at Poeklington. upon Mary 0' Han-
lon, the wife of a besom-maker of that town. T,,e wife
of one of the prisons rs stood quietly by, and witnessed the
offence. _ _ _

SPORTING MADE EASY.—A. birdcatcher in the vi-
cinity or the Seven Dials announces that he will, on rea-
sonable terms, supply sportsmen with birds, powder and
shot, dog and gun, which be will convey to any " required
distance."

having passed ha height, and that reasonable hopes may
now bo entertained of a considerable proportion of the
crop being yet preserved, which, whilst the tubers will
not be affected in quality, they may still be expect, d to be
less in and not so prolific in quantity. We have

On Tuesday, a young man, while in a state of intoxica-
tion, fell against the palings of the police station-house,
Woolwich, which are studded with nails. One of these
nails entered his left eye, and the wound caused his death
within a few hours.

answers feel warranted in ma

king the foregoing statement

BATTLE OF THE INSECTS.--During the afternoon of
Thursday, the lt3th instant, a respee,ab'e farmer in !he
neighbnurhrod was on the famed Twvn Barla•m. Rises.

The estate of the Cregyans, lately sold by auction, has
been purchased for £l7 (MO by Joseph Ewart, Esq. At
the Mani Agricultural Society meeting, last week, the
silver cup for the best cultivated farm above 50 acres, was
awarded to the proprietor of this estate
A great many Indian Rupees are

the air attracted his attention. On looking up, he saw
counties; numbers of bees gathering from all directions,
and on meeting just by where he stood,. they engaged in
a contra which lasted till the slain lay in many thousands
about the spot. The news of so extraordinary a circurn-

,
city, and from a similarity of
.resemblance, readily pass week been visited by hundreds of persons, who all agree
for half-crowns; the real value, however, is less than 2s.
.in regarding it as a most mysterious circumstance. The
One tradesman in Farririgdon-street took three in-one iiis,cts are of a dark glosvy colour. short and thick, and
day. resemble the- well-known wild hooey or earth-bee, so
Elizabeth Barkitt, a native of Titmarsh, Northampton- common during the suremer months.
shire, who had lived in the service of Mrs. Gray and her THE BILL AGAINST CAPTAIN RICHARDSON IGNORED.
son Edward, at Bushmead, about ten weeks, having made —Tlte grand jury have ignored the bill, charging Captain
a full confession of having set tile to the premises on the Richardson, on two counts, with fraud and forgery. The
Ist instant, has been committed for trial. grand jury examined a great number of witnesses, and it
Mr. Anderson, the professor of elocution, lately an- was understood that they stated as their reason for ignor-
nout;eed two of his Shaksperian readings at Tunbridge kg the bill, that after lookingat the whole of the evidence
Wells. One auditor attended in the morning, three in which had been laid bef re them, the majority of them
the evening. Tom Thumb, in the same room, had 1500 were of opinion that the words " ten pou .ds" had never
visitors. been written in the cheque, and, therefore, no forgery had
On Tuesday, at half-past two o'clock, the title of the been effected. They were at the same time, satisfied that
Thames rose to an extraordinary height, in consequence Captain Richardson had, by some means, obtained t'
of which great damage was effected to the wharfs and signatures o- -
dwelling-houses along the Thames, particulatly at Satter- as he
&c. draw chic
has published a pamphlet torpor. -- - •

his two co-tru.s

resolution of the company to
and had beencommitted. Entertaining,

99 aut:iorized b

ues, no I

Mr. G. W. Johnston _
known a remedy for the potato disease. lie says—
remedy is very simple. and, as is usually the case, it
mirgtive_ viz . plant at the close of

The I other coerce to adopt than to ignore the bill. -Capt.
Is since been set at liberty
IRON TKA

ature to notice this

(Vilna rri sre now very generally refused, both from an inability CO
wilfully execute them and the prevalent expectation of higher