The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-29 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

THE LITERARY FUND had an income last year of
£1,045 ss. The outlay for collecting and distributing
this paltry sum amounted to £586105.
MRS. NESBITT, the actress, is stated by a writer in the
Cheerful Companion to be the author of " Leonora," one
of the most beautiful love-stories ever written.
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO the circulation of the
_Edinburgh Review was 13,000 ; now it is supposed to
have decreased one half.
DR. RAE, who is actively engaged in preparinz for his
new Arctic journey, will take out with him a set of mag-
netical instruments for observations in the vicinity of the
magnetic pole.
MR. FREDERICK SHOBERL, sen., died on the sth inst.,
after a brief but painful illness. He was a German by
birth, and was the first to introduce among us the class
of illustrated books called " Annuals."
THE " GENTLEMEN OF THE WHITTINGTON CLUB "
have collected £5OO for the Hood Memorial, while the
aristocratic committee of the Moore Memorial have not
raised more than £350.

MR. THACKERAY has publicly declared that he will
not write a book about America. He told the Americans
to their face, however, what he thought of their children.
" Somewhat too independent, too free, enlightened, and
republican for their tender years." Mr. Thackeray
thought, and Mr. Thackeray courageously said !
OUR PERIODICAL LITERATURE must be declining.
The last number of the Westminster Review positively
prints two articles from the pens of Yankees. And, in-
stead of being thankful for his good fortune, one of the
worthies, a Mr. Whipple, has raised a row on the other
side the Atlantic at his paper being slightly abridged.
A PARAGRAPH OF ERRORS.—The Athenceum says :
"On Tuesday last, that day being the centenary of the
birth of the elder Roscoe, a public breakfast was given in
Liverpool in celebration of the event. A son of the his-
torian was present, and a paper was read on the style and
literary character of the most celebrated Liverpool
authors."

GRAVEYARDS AT HOME AND ADROAD.—In Wales
and many districts of the United Kingdom, one coffin or
shell serves for the whole of the parish poor, it being pro-
vided with a false bottom. The coffin is lowered into the
grave; the bolts are drawn when the mourners have
quitted the churchyard : the venerable coffin is drawn up
again, and the corpse is then covered with earth, as
though it were the carcase of a brute. Never did I witness
such deception abroad ; and had N. P. Willis been aware
of this fact, he would not have spared us any more than
he did the Neapolitan charnel vaults. In France, sanitary
measures are far from neglected, far from being unappre-
ciated : there I have seen a plan adopted as a safeguard in
the event of leaden coffins bursting, as also for generally
Tendering intramural interments innoxious. The outer
coffin is made about three or four inches larger each way
than the inner : this space or interstice is filled with pul-
verised charcoal prior to the lid being secured ; which
carbon deodorizes and absorbs the putrid exhalations. In
Germany, quicklime is not unfrequently used for a similar
purpose, it being a good disinfecting agent. The religious
establishments of Italy constantly embalm, or more strictly
speaking prevent the decomposition of the bodies of emi-
nent ecclesiastics, laymen who have left bequests to the
convents, and the brethren of their communities. The
crypts, or souterrains, where these mummyfled worthies
are ranged like sentinels "of the valley of the shadow of
death," form places of no inconsiderable interest to
travellers; and when visiting them, I have not had my
olfactory nerves more offended than when I have walked
through the Mummy-room of the British Museum. But
I would particularly refer to what I deem to be the best
method by the Capuchins, it being one well worthy at-
tention—that of pouring thin hot grouting into the wooden
box or shell which contains the body, through a head or
stand pipe, in a manner similar to that practised by iron-
founders. There is not any need of precaution to coun-
teract the expansion of the grout, as the flesh of the
corpse readily yields. to the pressure. I should remark,
that the body is laid upon blocks or narrow ledges, to
allow the fluid to encircle the lifeless frame ; and when
set and consolidated to form a complete casing of concrete.
I have seen these piled up compactly one on another,
with the name of the deceased affixed on marble or wooden
tablets, and have also had my attention drawn to
blocks which had been split open for the purpose of ab-
stracting the semicalcined or cauterized corpse. The
cleft block reminded me strongly of a sculptor's mould.
Plaster of Paris or Roman cement might perhaps be used
with better effect than lime.—Correspondent of Builder.

SHIPBUILDING ON THE. CLYDE.--There are at present
building on the Clyde 93 iron-vessels, 52 of which are
screw-steamers, 26 paddle-wheel, and 16 sailing vessels.
The tonnage ranges from 60 to 3,300 tons, the largest
being the new steamer Persia, to sail between this port
and New York. Twenty-three of the vessels are above
],OOO tons burthen, six are above 2,000 tons, and two
above 3,000.

FIRE AT SEA.—The burning of the British ship Go-
vernor Higginson, involving a loss of upwards of £36,000,
took place on the night of the 27th of January last, in the
Madras Roads, under circumstances which have led to a
supposition that it was the act of part of the crew, who
were not Europeans, and who, it is said, displayed some
ill-feeling after being shipped on board. The vessel
belonged to Messrs. Blyth and Co., of London, and was
664 tons burden.

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ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.—The annual coun-
try meeting of this society will be held this year in July, at
Gloucester. This will be the first show at all accessible
to South Wales, and the event is looked forward to with
great interest in the principality. The Gloucestershire
Agricultural Society has suspended operations for the pre-
vent year, in order to concentrate its energies for the
Royal Exhibition. The site chosen is on the Bristol
road, close to the city of Gloucester and to the railways.
Extra prizes are to be awarded to thebreed of Cotteswold
sheep, and a great poultry show is to be added to the
usual exhibition pf stock.