The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-05-22 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

A patent, of a singular description, has lately been taken
out ; it is for an invention to supersede the ordinary wooden
letters usually fixed upon the facia of shop windows. The
new letters are made of porcelain, of every form and hue,
and when fixed up, present a beautiful and attractive appear-
ance.

PLEASANT PROSPECT.—An American paper says, " The
Great Western brought us over a fresh supply of the swell
mob.' They stopped at the Astor House and Blancard's,
stole a quantity of sovereigns at each, and then disappeared.
This summer they will be as plentiful as blackberries. Each
steamer will bring a fresh lot."
SALMON.—It is a mistake to cook salmon quite fresh.
The flakes are hard—the oily matter -which, by keeping,
insinuates itself into the flesh and renders it tender, is
curdy. Although fresh salmon is generally sought, and as
generally esteemed, a day's hanging is a manifest improve-
ment.—Sportsmau in Ireland.
RESIGNATION OF MR, HARLAND, M.P.—Mr. Harland,
who at present sits and votes in parliament on the whig
interest, as a representative for Durham City, has issued an
address to the electors, in which he states that " on mature
consideration," he has resolved not to offer himself at the
next election as a candidate for their suffrages.
LINCOLNSHIRE.—It is said that Mr. Heathcote, the sham
conservative M.P., for South Lincolnshire, is about to
retire, with a view of setting up for RUtlandshire, on conser-
vative principles. If South Lincolnshire can only get the
opportunity, it will, to a moral certainty, return two good
men and true.

An Irishman having broke a small hole in the window of a
public-house, paid for it, and then went back and smashed
the pane to pieces, under the impression, as be said, that he
" might do what he would with his own."

We have reason to believe, that at the present moment a
vast number of counterfeit Bank of England notes are in
circulation in this district of the kingdom, and the traffic in
base coin appears also to be carried on to an equally serious
extent.—Birminaham Advertiser.

ORTHOGRAPAY.—At the Bolton borough court, on Tues•
day last, a celebrated inspector of the force (an Irishman,'
made his return for meat or meals the prisoners had con•
sumed, in the following terms :—" Return for males, &c.,'
meaning of course meals.

Mr. Le Marchant, Principal Secretary for the Board of
Trade, and Mr. N. M`Donald, Private Secretary to Lord
Morpeth, have been both named as likely to succeed the
lamented Mr. Drummond as Under Secretary of Ireland.
No appointment has yet been made.
DISEASE AMONG THE FISH IN THE CLYDE.--FOr some
time past, great quantities of small fish have been floating
along the Clyde apparently dead. Crowds of boys and women
are constantly on the look-out for them, and they are caught
in great numbers, with nets, baskets; &c.— Glasgow Chronicle.

The number of grocers and spirit retailers in this city and
liberties is reduced from 450 to 100. There are but three
applications for spirit licences in this city, to be made at
quarter sessions, before the mayor and magistrates.—Lime-
rick Chronicle.

TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS.—ERRATUM.—For " A tail of
a terrier, founded on fat," read " A tale of terror, founded
on fact."—Maumee Express.
ADVICE. TO PARENTS.—Rear up your lads like nails, and
they'll not only go through the world, but you may clench'em
on t'other side.—American paper.
The King of France has conferred on Mr. Cramer, the
distinguished pianist, the decoration of the Legion of
Honour.

It is understood that the first recommendation of the
commission of enquiry into the bankrupt and insolvent laws,
will be the immediate and total abolition of imprisonment
for debt.

How TO LIVE PEACEABLY.—The late Mr. Clarke, of
Frome, being asked by a friend, how he kept himself from
being involved in quarrels, replied, " by letting the angry
person have all the quarrel to himself."
A very fine trout, weighing 101bs. was this week netted
in the Thames, near the mouth of the Kennet. Two others
(one weighing 811bs) were also caught by fair angling, in the
river, at Lower Caversham.

EPITAPII.—A person who married a termagent, who drove
him to desperation, and, finally, to death, just before dying,
requested a friend to have the following brief, yet pungent,
inscription put on his tomb :—" Slain by a jaw bone."
FORGERY.—Forgery appears to he greatly on the increase
in Scotland, and the Lord Justice Clerk has attributed the
deplorable fact to the relaxation of the law, by which the
offence is no longer held to be capital !
A letter from Darmstadt announces that the Prince de
Leiningen is about to pay a visit to the court of St. James's,
and towards the end of the summer will accompany his mo-
ther, the Duchess of Kent, over to Amorbach.
A London contemporary, amongst its leading matter, one
day last week, had this—" The news from Affghanistan is
favourable. Extremely cold weather had set in at Cabool,
and a great mortality had in consequence occurred among the
Sepoys !"
EXTRAORDINARY HEIFER.—On Thursday the 7th inst.,

_..._ _. ,
Mr. William Bennet, butcher, of Fleetwood;killed a maiden
heifer, from Ireland, which weighed, when killed, 14 score
and iibs. per quarter, and had 1121bs. of loose fat, a circum-
stance unparalleled in that neighbourhood.—Preston Chro-
nicle.

Sixteen head of prime cattle, the property of T. Winnall,
Esq. of Eccleswall Court, near Ross, were lately poisoned,
in consequence of eating a quantity of meadow saffron, grow-
ing in one of the fields upon the farm : three or four of them
died, and the others were not expected to recover.
WHIG PATRONAGE AND ECONOMY.—It now appears that
besides the loss to the revenue by the new postage scheme of
a million a year, no less than 484 new appointments have
taken place in the Post-office in consequence of it,—the sa-
laries of which 484 officers must, we presume, be added to
the above loss.
The wife of a sawyer residing at Danbury has, on three
successive occasions within the last four years, presented her
husband with twins. The happy couple are each 28 years of
'age only ; they now have nine children. The last pair pre-
sented themselves on Tuesday last.
LANARK.—A girl, named Keith, died on the 3d curt. in
consequence of having masticated and swallowed some larch
bark the day previous. A brother of the girl's was likewise in
great danger of perishing from the same cause ; but we are
happy to state that lie has recovered.—Glasgow Chronicle.
A MAN OF THE WORLD.—AS is proof that the 3ayitlrs
that Dent is a " place out of the world," is nearly correct,
we may state, that a person who has lived there thirty years,
happened to be in Kirby Lonsdale, on Tuesday, when the
First Dragoons came in, and said they were the first soldiers
he had ever seen in his life.—Blackburn Standard.
A MONSTER.—Mr. Thomas Hartley, of Broughton-in-
Furness, has at this time in his garden a curled Brocoli, nine
feet high. It measures twenty-three feet round the branches,
two or three of which are from four to seven feet long ; round
the ball it measures six inches. This vegetable prodigy is
now in full flower.—Manchester Guardian.
Lusus NATUREe.—Mr. Hopps, of Woodhouse Grange,
near Aberford, had two mares dropped foals, last week, the
upper jaw of one was much shorter than the lower. and the
ribs on the left side of the other foal were much longer than
those on the right. They were in other respects very de-
formed, and, in consequence, were destroyed.—Leeds
Intelliyencer.
Some one was remarking the other day at the Athenaeum,
on the oddity of Prince Albert having fixed upon a pair of
candlesticks as an apvropriate present to make to Mr. Davis,
the huntsman. " Not at 'lll odd," said Theodore Hook ;
"it was done that he might, be always ready to assist his
royal highness to a-liyht.' —Argus.

A. THICK-liEATIED FELLOW.—The Bordeaux papers
relate, that a sailor, on board a merchant vessel in that port,
getting intoxicated the other day, and taking a fancy to
destroy himself, threw himself twice down upon the deck
from one of the masts, a height of fifty feet, with his head
foremost, and without sustaining any injury ; but on making
the sad experiment a third time, he broke an arm and two of
his ribs, and received two severe wounds in the head. He
was carried to the hospital at Bordeaux, where, notwith-
standing the gravity of the injuries he has sustained, hopes
are entertained of his recovery.—French paper.
A wild cat, of the following extraordinary dimensions, was
caught on the farm of Kilnford, parish of Dundonald, on
Tuesday week, viz., " from the snout to the tip of the tail,"
along the back, 2 feet 11'1 inches ; from the above extremi-
ties, over the fore and hind feet (as in running), 4 feet ;
height at shoulder, 141 inches. Although burdened with a
heavy rabit-stamp, in which he was caught, the courageous
grimalkin faced about several times, and seemed determined
to sell his life at the dearest rate ; and it was with no little
trouble that be was at last secured.
SINGULAR CASE.—An aged female, named Betty Brooks,
who resided at
,the " Hag End," Haulgh, near Bolton, was
interred last week, at the parish church. Bolton, and, by
her own directions, in a very singular manner. Her husband
died in 1825, and from that time up to the period of her
death, she has taken great care of his clothing. His two
coats were regularly brushed every morning, and his shoes
and clogs polished as often as was necessary to clear them
from dust. The pillow, too, upon which his head rested in
the hour of death, was an especial favourite, By her orders,
the shoes were placed at her feet, in the coffin ; the coats
were laid under her body, the pillow under her head, and a
clog under each arm ; and in this manner she was interred.
COWSLIPS.—There is a field at Matlock, near the entrance
of the Devonshire Cavern, which produces this plant in ex-
treme abundance; the occupier, Mr. Joseph Pearson, ob-
serving a female busily employed in gathering the flowers,
entered into conversation with her. The poor woman, fearing
Mr. Pearson was about to drive her out of the field, made the
following statement :—She came, she said, from Wetton, a
distance of 18 miles, for thcpurpose of getting cowslips, and
had visited the same place for that purpose for years. She
thought the crop would yield her, when picked, about two
pecks of blossom, which she would take to Leek, and sell for
eighteen pence a peck. Leek is twelve miles from Wetton,
and the Whole distance this poor creature will have traVelled
to realise three shillings will be sixty miles, to say nothing of
the labour of getting the cowslips and picking them afterwards.
—Sheffield Iris.
NEW PROTESTANT CHURCH AT WINDSOR.—The sub-
scriptions for the building of a new district church in this
town are proceeding most favourably. The amount already'
subscribed exceeds £2,000. The Romanists in the town and
neighbourhood are strenuously exerting themselves to collect
the various sums promised to be subscribed towards the
erection of a Romish chapel, in order that it should be com-
menced forthwith, and finished previously to the completion
of the new Protestant district church. The Papist emissaries
are doing " double duty." They have distributed themselves
about the town and neighbouring villages, seeking subscrip-
tions, and beating up for converts at the same time.
DISGRACEFUL STATE OF THINGS.—The inhabitants of
the small parish of St. Peter at Arches, Lincoln, are kept in
a state of turmoil by the often-repeated and as often-refused
applications of the clerk for his salary, which he has-not re-
ceived for the last three years, the strenuous opposition of
the radicals and breeches-pocket dissenters rendering abor-
tive every legitimate attempt to defray the legal expenses of
the church. The fact is, when a meeting is called for the
purpose of laying a church-rate, the low language and brutal
clamour of the anti-church-rate party prevent the more re-
spectable friends of the church from attending, and conse-
quently the no-pay gentry are left to do as they please. The
interior and exterior of the church are in a most dilapidated
state, the casements of the windows being chiefly broken or
blown out, and the church-yard, through which is a public
thoroughfare, is in the most disgraceful and filthy condition,
this economical parish refusing even to purchase a broom to
cleanse it. It is the corporation church, and was, until lately,
the best attended church in Lincoln.—Boston Herald.
ENORMOUS RHUBARB.—We saw last evening, at the shop
of Mr. Watkinson, seedsman, Market-place, twelve stalks
of Myatt's Victoria Rhubarb, raised on the Manor Farm,
Deptford, near London, and sent thence by railway yester-
day. These stalks range from 33 to 36 inches in height,
clear of the leaf, three or four of them being quite a yard in
length. The girth at the thickest part of one of the stalks
was 6 inches; but this is not the most remarkable charac-
teristic of this favourite variety of Fhubarb. The Giant Rhu-
barb is of great thickness, but we ave never heard of its at-
taining such length. Nor does the thickness of these stalks
much diminish from the root to the leaf, and many of the
leaves contain what would pass for good small rhubarb stalks.
The compact solidity of this rhubarb is apparent from its
great weight. which we should imagine unprecedented, the
twelve stalks weighing forty pounds, or something like an
average of three pounds four ounces and a half for each stalk.
—Manc4ester Guardian.