The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-11 00:00:00

TAKING THE CENSUS OF THE PEOPLE

Rap went the knocker ; opened was the door ;
A chap appeared I'd never seen before.
" You must," said he, " the names on this sheet write,
Of all who slept beneath your roof last night—
For I am one of those who've got a station,
To take the census of the population ;
And as at every dwelling we must call,
I hope without delay you'll write down all."
Quoth I, " If what you tell me, friend, be true,
You overrate the task you have to do ;
To take the senses of the people ! truly,
You need not call on half to do that duly ' •
Pass by each door of liVral, whig, and rtid,—
One half are fools, and t'other half stark mad ;
From such, who seek by vile pretences,
You cannot take, for they have lost—their senses.
Omit them ; for, to add to England's glories,
You'll find the SINSMS only 'mongst the tories."
QUIZ.

FORTUNATE ESCAPE.—WINDSOR, TUESDAT.-Mr. Van
Amburgh, who has arrived in this town, for the race week,
with his splendid collection of trained animals, had a very
lucky escape from an attack of the lion at the time he was
exhibiting in the den with the lion and tiger yesterday morn-
ing. These two animals, a short time before the exhibition
commenced, had an angry scuffle with each other; but all
animosity between them appeared afterwards to have ceased.
While Mr. Van Amburgh was lying down by the side of the
lion, with his head close to its mouth, the animal's enormous
tusk inflicted a wound upon his forehead, just above the eye,
from which the blood flowed pretty copiously down his face.

- .
PROBABLE Loss OF THE SHIP GOLCONDA.—On the 20th
of August last, the 37th regiment Madras native infantry
sailed for China from Madras, in the ships Golconda, Thetis,
Minerva, and Sophia. The Golconda was the head-quarter
ship of the regiment. Lieutenant-Colonel William Isacks
commanded the troops, and Captain John Bonner• Neeve was
second in command. There were twelve other officers in the
Golconda, and 355 soldiers, including camp followers. The
regiment consisted of 1100 men, all of whom arrived safely
in China (except the detachment on board the Golconda),
and have lately distinguished themselves in the capture of
the Bocca Tigris forts, &c., but no tidings whatever have
been received of the fate of the Golconda. A letter from
Madras says, there remains not a doubt that she foundered
in a typhoon which occurred about the time that she must
have been in the China seas. Dreadful as the loss of the
President will be, how much more lamentable, in point of
numbers, is this frightful calamity.

TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF ASTLEY'S THEATRE BY FIRE.
—We regret to state, that shortly after four o'clock,on Tues-
day morning the southern portion of the metropolis was
aroused to a state of excitement beyond description, by the
outbreak of a fire most awful in its ravages—the total de-
struction of the above place of amusement. Astley's Theatre
is now reduced to a heap of ruins, while the destruction of
property amounts to several thousand pounds. It appears
from the best sources of information, that the fire originated
in the stables, which joined the north end of the theatre
facing Stangate-street, and which is supposed to have been
occasioned by some defect in the gas. There were three
watchmen employed in the interior of the theatre, besides a
fireman; the duties of these men, it is said, were to attend
to the interior of the theatre. It seems they were first
alarmed as to the existence of the fire by it breaking in a vast
mass into the body of the theatre. Although engines that
were connected with the theatre were brought into play, such
hold had the fire obtained, that it defied the utmost efforts of
human power to stop it. They instantly rushed out of the
place and alarmed the inhabitants. As may be imagined,
indescribable confusion took place. Messengers were sent
in all directions for the fire engines, which arrived in quick
succession; however, by the time they got to work the
entire building presented one body of fire. At six o'clock
the destruction was completed, only the bare walls being left.
We could have wished that it had been in our power to say
that every individual escaped, but unfortunately such was not
the case. Shortly after the fire had in some degree been
subdued, one of the female servants was missing. She was,
however, seen to jump out of one of the back windows over
the stables, and it was supposed that she had been taken into
one of the neighbour's houses, but as no tidings could be
obtained, a painful anxiety was manifested, and all doubts of
the poor creature's fate were removed by the discovery of
her remains at half-past nine o'clock, which were placed in
a shell, and removed from the spot of her death. Out of the
great number of horses belonging to Mr. Ducrow, three only
have been destroyed, besides a " learned donkey." The
number of persons who are reduced by this unfortunate ca-
lamity to poverty are about 200, 80 of whom were in the re-
ceipt of a weekly salary. The treasury was saved as far as
concerned the receipts of the previous night. The fire is
supposed to have originated in the stables from an excess of
gas. About two months since the theatre had a vary narrow
escape from destruction by a similar accident. Mr. Ducrow
is insured, we understand, in the Royal Exchange, Phmnix,
and British fire offices. This the third time the theatre has
been destroyed by a similar calamity. The first time in the
life of Mr. Philip Astley, the second time about thirty-five
years ago, when Mrs. Davies, the wife of the partner of Mr.
Astley jun. fell a prey to the flames. Several of the houses
in the Westminster-road and Amphitheatre-roware damaged
at the back. The amount of the property destroyed is seve-
ral thousands. Great praise is due to the police of the L
division for the service they rendered on the occasion. On
entering what was the circle, fragments of the scenery and
machinery were observable, also a portion of
originallythe superb
chandelier which occupied the centre of theceiling,
presented by his late royal highness the Duke of York to the
late P. Astley, valued at that period at five hundred guineas.
A number of small houses and tenements in the rear of the
theatre were burnt, together with the property they con-
tained. The estimated loss is considered to he upwards of
£20,000.