The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-06-15 00:00:00

pool hasa Chance of foil
ri.tnr Iva 'knit,

working and' builnes_
like that " we believc
be a sort of " damnin,
was in earnest, we should

-like private sec
)." The whole

BODY OF A CHILD E

An Brooksbant

found a box under the wall of
and on opening it found that it contaii

The head apps
i good deal discoloured

clue to t

tie had it
red to be mu
At the incit

unnatural parent or parent
d in a n

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The inquest WE

Inquest y€

house-st

part of the head,
ened by ti
tissue, be*

congestion of t
of the head wa:

bones. He
result of exte
jury returned

ACCIDENT AT

accident occuned at the tunnel,
Lime-street. As a train of hi;

descending the tunnel, a ropy by SOITIt
tangled with the handle of one of tl
fastening, it is thought, prevented tha
any power Fponthe stoppage of the tr

cause may
train came

1 so that it d

, -
Sown the ttinne

ana smashed it to pieces. Neeing the velocity with which
the wagons were going, and finding that the break alluded
to was powerless, one of the breaksmen, named Thomas
Simpson, threw himself off at the Edge-hill lower end of
the tunnel, where the excavations are now being made for
the enlargement of the station, and was dashed against
one of the lately blasted rocks. From the rock, and by
the force of the velocity, he was hurled back against the
carriages, and we regret to say that the wheels passed
over his arm and ground the bones almost to powder.
This is the second accident, of a similar kind, which has
occurred in the tunnel within the last few weeks. Upon
the former occasion, owing to a neglect upon the part of
the breaksmen, the carriages, which were not luggage car—
riages, but carriages laden with passengers, came downwith
equally, tremendousvelocity, and dashed up against the buf-
fers placed inside thewall which separates Lime-street from
the station. Some idea of the force with which that train
came down the tunnel may be formed from the fact that
the buffers, which are formed of four immense and almost
immovable iron springs, against which the greatest
weight would be supposed incapable of producing the
slightest impression, were completely doubled close to-
gether, and the train was thus prevented from bursting
through them, and through the wall into Lime-street.
The Liverpool directors, we understand, took the matter
into immediate consideration, and not only fined the
breaksmen, but suspended each of them for a week.
Tux EARL OF ELLESMERE.--it is not merely as being
an author himself that Lord Ellesmere is connected with
literature : he is also the patron and friend of authors.
A Aleceenas is a character comparatively rare in these
days of literary independence ; and it is well, both for
the personal comfort of authors and for the dignity of
literature, that it shoul,"

me days of lordly pa-
tronage and literary servility are happily gone by; and
the general public have become, if not the only, at 'least
the best supporters of men of letters. No man of abiliir
and industry, with the requisite information, who applies
himself to literature, can long remain without a respect-
-,ble subsistence ; but cases will occur where struggling

merit is uncon

y, if h

of even the simplest arts of` self:
ere acknowledged ability is sudden*
oan who
delicacy,
render incalculable
ht thus

) to

who would.

benefit of their
3rstantl, in suck

prejudic

,sition. We

with whom

Eittraturr.

POETRY.

SONNET.-NATURE.

BY M. S. HUGGINS.

(For the Liverpool Standard.)
. •
'I love to quit the haunts of men, the scene
Of low-born cares, on Ocean's shore to stray ;
Or through the lonely glen, or where some ray
-Of Nature's pristine majesty is seen
Where scarce th' unhallow'd foot of Change has been :
I love to gaze upon her virgin face
Unsullied by the breath of man, her grace
(Unmarr'd by his deformity) of mien.
Moods of her witchery there arc, 1 ween ;
Moments of tranquil loveliness, while Earth
Sleeps in Heav's smile, when, Art ! e'en thy groups then
But faint their classic eloquence speak forth :
When colounade--dorne--statue—Beauty's own,
Need an apology, intruders grown 1
Liverpool, June 11th, 1847.

•
EXPERIENCE OF A LIVERPOOL SURGEON.

• THE NEW VILLA.
It is not a correct view of the sanatory condition of our

town to regard our densely peopled streets, and the

hideous courts and alleys, which abound throughout them,
as the sole source of that high rate of mortality, for
which Liverpool has gained an unhappy notoriety. Other
fertile sources of disease are to be found, and are yearly
increasing, in quarters where the uninquiring observer
would look only for salubrity and health ; in the breezy
and elevated outskirts, by the shores of our noble river,
m th&se pleasant and beautiful localities, to which the
merchant, the tradesman, and the superior clerk, retire at

the close of their daily labours, to enjoy the delights of
ilemi-rustic abodes, and to breathe an atmosphere, un-
tainted by the smoke, and far away from the infections of
the crowded town. Few that ramble through our suburbs
and notice the clusters of neatly-finished villa erections,
with their fronts of stucco work, their neatly painted
trellises, their pendant ornaments, the trim lawns, or the
ornamental gardens and rockeries, ambitiously intruded
upon the eye :—none who have marked the air of comfort,
and even of luxury, which they wear, when the winter
fire glows cheerily through the half closed shutters-
-would imagine that many, very many, of these abodes
of affluence, or of competency, produce work for the
doctor and, too often, for the sexton, as abundantly as
- localities which wear a far less promise of healthiness.
In nine cases out of ten, a solid substantial house in any
• of the respectable streets of the town, where the sewer-
age has been attended to, and within reach of the visits of
the scavenger, is preferable to these hastily run up abor-
tions, despite the pseudo gothic or grecian finery in which
they are bedecked.
A fruitful source of the ill effects produced by this de-
scription of residences is the eager haste with which they
are occupied. Scarcely has the plasterer's trowel put the
finishing touch to the interior of the walls, and before the
shrubs on the lawn, or in the garden-plot, have fairly
taken root, we see them already tenanted and their mis-
guided occupants preparing to winter in them. Unsewered
and but half drained, with the natural damp of the,
soil Oozing up through the flags of the cellars, and
the perspiration streaming from the undried walls,
they imagine that a fire in each room for a few days will
remove all danger ; and jog on through slight colds,
coughs, sorethroats, and influenza, longing for the ap-
proach of summer and sunshine, dreaming of crocuses
and pinks, rhododendrons and-roses, until rheumatic or
some worse fever—if worse be possible—stretches them
upon a bed of sickness, or of death; and effectually awakes
them to a conviction of their want of caution. Hundreds
of such cases have come before me in the course of my
own practice. That which I have selected for the subject
of this article, I have chosen for the somewhat peculiarly
melancholy circumstances by which it was attended, and
because I is as personally interested in the case of the poor
sufferer.

Poor Mary Bennett,—l record her real name ; for all
who were connected with her are by this time removed
from their 'place on earth—was the only daughter of a
retired mariner, who had commanded a merchant vessel
out of the port, and amassed a small competency. He
had married rather late in life a lady some years his
junior, who died in giving birth to a second child, who
only survived her a few days. Of Mary's years of childhood
little need be said. It is sufficient to state that she grew
up a gentle and interesting girl, and formed at once the
prideand delight of a doting father, prompt to gratify
her every wish, almost before it could be expressed. To
do this, however, it required no unreasonable effort of
affection ; for never was there a more unexacting being,
or one who had less of selfishness in her disposition. To
sit day by day with her fond parent ; to prattle with him
hour by hour by ,the winter's fireside or in the' sum-
mer twilight ; to sit at his feet and listen, in childish
wonder, to his interminable stories of his adventures at
sea or in foreign countries, and as she advanced to girl-
hood, to read for him her little stories, or his weekly
paper, were her favorite occupations. Her delight was in
her Home; and of the usual amusements of those of her
sex and age she seemed ever disinclined to partake.
This happy life, however, she was not destined long to
enjoy. She was in her thirteenth summer when an event
took place, or rather two events, which imparted to her
lot a cast of sorrow. The failure of a mercantile house,
in which Captain Bennett had invested the larger portion
of his earnings, reduced him to a straitened condition of
circumstances ; and the shock which this blow inflicted
upon a mind and constitution already severely shaken,
could-never be repaired. He sunk slowly into a state of
mental paralysis, which continued, with scarcely an inter-
mitting hour, until his death, which occurred some years
afterwards. It was now that the real strength of Mary's
character developed itself. From a careless and happy
child, she sprung up at once into the active and thought-
ful woman. The small establishment which had been
kept up in their time of prosperity was quietly reduced,
almost without her suffering parent being conscious of
any change. The limited means now at her disposal were
husbanded carefully, yet without meanness, and with a
study always to provide for him every former comfort. It
was at this time that I first became acquainted with Mary,
having been called in professionally to attempt the hope-
less task of restoring the poor old man to his former state
of health • and such was the interest she excited in my
mind, that I continued to call occasionally as a friend of
the family, long after all hopes of being professionally of
service bad been relinquished.
Must I confess it ?—there was almost a selfish interest
in these visits. It was delightful to one who, like myself,
had seen so much of the rough exterior of human life,
and the hollowness and heartlessness of the human cha-
racter, to enter this abode of patient and suffering virtue.
It was refreshing to witness the calm serenity with which
this mere child performed offices which required almost
more than a woman's fortitude ; to mark her gentle step
as she glided about her household tasks, and ministered
to the sometimes peevish complainings of her parent ; to
see her denying herself all the pleasures and amusements
of her age and sex, that she might smooth his passage to
the grave. Mary Bennett could not be called beautiful
in features, or in figure. Her form was slight, although
perfectly symmetrical; and her face was not marked by
any character at which objection could be taken, unless
her exceeding paleness was an objection. This very pale-
ness, however, comported well with her mild blue eyes,
her rich auburn hair, her quiet manner, and the task to
which she had set herself; and I have often thought, as
I gazed upon her, that the beauty of mind and heart,
which beamed from that face, was more to be prized than
the rarest charms which a thoughtless world admires.
Thus years passed away ; but they were not destined
to remain years of lonely watching. rho little parlour
of the invalid was occasionally shared with another occu-
pant, between whom and Mary it was evident that a
mutual affection had sprung up. Robert S— (I cannot
take the same liberty with his name which I have done
with that of Mary) had been the occasional playmate of
her early childhood-; and acquaintance had ripened, on
both sides, into a sincere attachment, which was under-
stood between them, but was never expressed. Poor
Mary preferred her duty to her happiness ; and indulging
her own heart was with her a thing not to be even dreamt
of. Once, something approaching to a declaration of his
affection was attempted by him ; but a mute glance,
which she cast at the poor old man, beside whose couch
of imbecility they were sitting, checked the utterance of
his feelings, and the subject was never again mentioned
between them, until the bar was removed' by the hand of
death.
In due time the blow fell—if blow it could be called—
which exchanged a life of suffering upon earth for another
and, I trust, a better world. On this trying occasion I
was.summoned by the poor girl to advise with her as to
her future course in life. Very properly she considered
that to remain herself the occupant of her now solitary
home would be improper, as well as unpleasant; and'at
length, after much entreaty, she consented to take up her
residence with myself. One condition, however, she reso-
lutely insisted upon ; and I need not say that it was gladly
granted. As a return for her board, she desired to take
the-charge of the younger branches of my family; and a
more gentle and pains-taking instructress could not have
been found. At the expiration of twelve months of
mourning, the attentions of Robert S— were openly.
renewed ; and in a few months more they were married
from my house, I myself giving away the bride, and her
favourite pupil acting as bridesmaid.
There had been a studied reserve on the part of the
young man, which I had, as it , subsequently proved
weakly, indulged, with respect to the selection of the fu-
ture home of the newly married couple. All that I knew
of it was that it was to be one fitted up- with no niggard
hand, and with studied regard to my poor Mary's gratifi-
cation. Indeed, I learned from him that he intended for
her a pleasurable surprise, when he should be able to in-
duct her into it, whit could not be, however, until their
return from a short wedding tour, as the furnishing and
upholsterer's work was not completed on the day of their
nuptials. To this postponement of the expected gratifi-
cation, Mary submitted with her usual meeadkny, she
ce essandsaipda-;
pa-
tience. She was too fullof happiness, already,
and she was sure her dear Robert would do everything far
better than she could do herself. Accordingly, after a
slight lunch, and the usual felicitations had been received,
the youthful pair took leave of my family and myself, not,
however, without some tears on the part of poor Mr,, ;
and proceeded, by railway, to pass the honeymopnma
ramble through the Lake country, in which Robert hade
some distant relations residing. I need n t say that the
gentle step, the quiet smile, the soft low tones and the
happy influence which that artless and unassuming yonng
creature shed around her, as she moved about the trifling
household duties, to which she would set herself, were
missed by myself and my children for many, many days.
The world, however, has calls upon the' attention of
the medical man, which soon tend to dissipate such feel-
ings and to till up the void, which the absence of those
("" the wuac arAkr to u. estat‘s. ress,ipt, therefore,

about a month after the marriage, of a letter from Robert,
announcing his return on the afternoon of the next day,
and conveying an invitation to the new home of the young
couple—my daughters had each had kind communications
from Mary, breathing of happiness unalloyed, and de-
scribing, with the delight of one to whom such scenes were
new, the various beautiful places in the roman is county
through which they had journeyed—came upon me almost
like an unlooked-for pleasure. The address which it con-
tained, and at which we were to call, was
a locality about three miles from my own residence, and
in the eastern outskirts of the town ; and without a thought
further than that of ascertaining the nearest way to it, and
how we were to transport ourselves thither, I set to work
to dispatch the day's business, and to make such arrange-
ments in advance as would, I hoped, enable me to spend
at least half a day uninterruptedly with the young couple.
The next afternoon and evening were accordingly passed
in a visit to
thing approaching to perfect happiness, 1 found and wit-
nessed it that day. There was an added bloom upon
Mary's cheek as she welcomed us ; and I could fancy that,
whilst doing the honours and dispensing to us the hospi-
talities of her new home, a matronly appearance and
manner had already taken the place of her former child-
like and diffident habits. There was, however, nothing
assuming in her deportment—nothing beyond an appear-
ance of consciousness of the charge which now rested upon
her as the mistress of that home. From the artless and
quiet being I had always known her, she had only changed
to the being I had pictured her as certain to become—an
honest, homely, and affectionate English wife. As for
Robert, I could feel at once that I had not been mistaken
in his character. He was at once fond and proud of her,
whom he had vowed to love and protect through life ; and
his affection was manifested, not only in his deportment
towards her, but, as Well, in the liberality with which he
had surrounded her future home with all that, in his view
of things, was necessary for her comfort and gratification.
I must confess that, on that day, I scarcely bestowed a
thought upon the character of the house itself in which I
found the youthful pair. It was one of the villa erections
to which I have referred ; a sweet place, delightfully si-
tuated, and the little ground by which it was surrounded
laid out with all the taste which the ornamental gardener
could bring to the task of decorating such a dwelling. By
Mary, it was evidently regarded as a sort of Paradise, more
grateful to her because it had been the spontaneous choice
of her husband ; and it was with infinite delight that she
paraded before my own dear girls its beauties, and re-
hearsed to myself its domestic conveniences. The season,
which was a dry one, did not afford an opportunity of no-
ticing any defect of drainage, or any unhealthy appearance
connected with it, although the fresh painting, and other
evidences of a first habitation, might have struck a more
attentive and critical observer with fears. The occasion,
however, was one of too pleasurable a character to allow of
any such thoughts obtruding themselves upon my mind.
I saw the poor dear orphan girl happy in the love of a
man who I knew would exhaust every effort, and spare
neither trouble nor expense, to gratify her wishes, even
before they could be expressed ; and, for the time, that
confidence was to me sufficient. I could not think of
throwing a damp upon the buoyant feelings which such a
day excites. In fact, all seemed so complete and well
arranged about this new home of the young couple, that
a doubt as to anything about it deleterious to health never
entered into my thoughts ; and it may be some excuse for
my want of consideration to remember that a villa house,
even although recently erected and tenanted for the first
time, is, like other houses, not necessarily dangerous to
life or health.

That I had been wanting in forethought, however; and
that my young friend had acted unwisely, or had been
deceived, in his selection of a home ;—that beneath the
nicely stuccoed and painted exterior, and the beautifully
papered walls within,—for all its boasted conveniences,
its pump in the scullery, its soft-water tank, its slop-
stones to carry off waste water, and its reported contri-
vances for other similar purposes,—the provocations of dis-
ease lurked about nearly every apartment of Villa,
unseen bufpotent; we were destined to discover fully only
when discovery was too late. Within, at the utmost, a
fortnight after taking up their residence there, during
which period there had been a change of weather, with an
almost continuous fall of chilly rain for three or four days,
I was called in by Robert to visit their servant-of-all-work,
whom I found labouring under the effects of a cold, at-
tended with feverish symptoms, which she had caught,
she thought, from wearing her house slippers when wet
with the damp of the garden and outhouses, during one
of the days of rainy weather. As she was a robust woman,
and there was nothing to distinguish her case from the or-
dinary ones, to which every person in this moist and un-
certain climate of ours is subject, her illness excited nei-
ther alarm, nor any particular precaution for the health of
the other inmates of the house. Her recovery, however,
was slow; and whilst she was partially incapacitated from
pursuing her usual avocations, I learnt afterwards that
her young mistress herself had occasionally visited the
kitchen, assisted in the preparation of the family
meals, and superintended other portions of the usual
household affairs. I must describe the character of the
apartment in question and the condition in which I sub-
sequently found it ; and I may remark that, whilst doing
so, I am describing a large number of similar offices, in
too many of which our poor household drudges are doomed
to pass the principal portion of their time, and to sacrifice
health and life itself.

SKETCHES OF A TRIP TO THE CONTINENT,
ITALY, AND EGYPT.
BY EDWIN KEEP, ESQ.
; No. XI.
(Written for the Liverpool Standard.)
The principal objects that commanded my attention at
Naples were the mountain and volcano of Vesuvius ; the
ruined cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii ; and the
Museo Borborico, containing many thousand objects of
marble and bronze, in statuary, busts, vessels, machines,
&c., exhumed from the ruined cities. It is wondrous the
vast amount of lava that deluged these cities of the sur-
rounding plains for miles, and even extending as far as
Rome. While I was at Naples, in making the railway,
they cut through lava thirty and forty feet deep, and laid
open two empty rooms that had lain buried seventeen
hundred years. The time of the city of Herculaneum's
foundation is not accurately known ; but Dionysius Hali-
carnassus refers it to 60 years before the Trojan war, or
.1342 years before Christ. Could the manuscripts lying in
dusty heaps be unrolled and translated, perhaps some new
lights might be thrown upon the history of bygone ages,
involved in so much mystery and uncertainty ; but this
task cannot, without immense difficulty, be accomplished.
From the top roof of the New York Hotel the prospect
was novel, grand, and sublime—the far-famed bay, the
shipping, the mole, the Isles- of Ischia, Pescida, and Ca-
prea, where Tiberius held his corrupt, tyrannic, profligate,
and lawless sway ; the restless multitude ever rolling like
the sea, far down below, along the streets, the noisy tide
of human life flowing on till midnight; while the huge
volcanic mountain stands sublime over the city and sub-
urbs on one side ; the lofty St. Elemo lifts high its tower-
ing head on the other. Thirty years since Naples con-
tained 400,000 inhabitants, and, according to Keysler and
Dr. Moore, 18,000 courtezans and 30,000 lazzaroni or
blackguards. It has forty-five convents of Dominican,
Franciscan, and the Augustine orders; and many propor-
tionate members of other orders. The Carthusian Mo-
nastery contains a splendid crucifix by Michael Angelo.
Monks, nuns of forbidding countenances, beggars, and
thieves swarm here, like drone's preying on the industrious
bees ; bands of music ; marching of soldiers ; firing of
tannon ; drilling of recruits ; everlasting rattling of coach-
es, cabs, carts, vetturini, and ringing of bells, made one
scene of continuous hubbub, noise, and confusion. If you
go into the churches, you do not, though somewhat sub-
dued, escape a degree of noise ; praying aloud ; apostro-
phising saints ; clamour, with gesticulations and ejacula-
tions ; the people seem to partake of the hot, sulphureous,
bubbling, boiling, exploding nature of their volcanic soil !
On my way to the Museo my pocket was picked at mid-
day. Returning from the promenade at the Chiaigo at
dusk, I was dogged by three fellows, and narrowly escaped
being rifled by force, and was glad to run to a soldier at
the guard-house for protection, who only laughed at my
danger. Indeed, whatever might have been said in the
late dispute about the character of Naples, a city robbery
from the person is with them but a pastime, and if caught,
the prosecution of the impudent, clever plunderers is at-
tended with so much difficulty, delay, and trouble, that a
kick, cuff, or blow with a stick—and every pedestrian
there carries one—is the mild, summary, but uncertain
punishment. Catch a fellow with your handkerchief in
his hand at the moment of abstraction, he gives it you
grinning, and says it is quite a mistake, he is a " poor
innocent," &c. You go down to the hotel on the margin
of the bay, and dine on a wooden pier over the water,
covered by an awning from the heat of the sun. There
I the vagabonds beset you. They cannot get to you by
land, but they swim round to you by water; and you
must, to get rid of their importunity, throw some copper
coins into the water, and they will pursue them and dive
for them 20 feet deep, till they bring them up in their
mouths or hands, like water spaniels or aquatic magicians.
Then down on the Mole, to hear those extempore orators,
surrounded by their admiring auditors, men and boys of
the lowest classes, with here and there a sprinkling of
decently-clad persons, and the few passing curious listen-
ing travellers. Two circles form the auditory : the inner
one seated on the ground, the outer one standing :—their
fee for the eloquent and impassioned oration varying from
one-fourth of a halfpenny to a farthing. In that strange
scene, under that lovely sky, the solemn dashing of the
blue waves of the Mediterranean, the distant hum of the
city's noise, see how intently that group of auditors lis-
ten ; their lips apart, the muscles of the mouth quivering,
as the eyes of the poet and orator are gleaming with un-
wonted fire, or in a fine frenzy rolling, from " Heaven to
earth ;" his arms thrown up with wild gesticulation, de-
scribing in transporting language the life, the heroic deeds,
the hapless death of the tax-destroying, disinterested, he-
roic Masaniello, and then with folded arms, his panting
I bosom heaving so long with stormy passion and patriotic
rage sink quietly into a calm as with an eye to the solid pud-
ding as well as the empty praise he sends his hat over to the
distant part where you stand, saving the noble English-
man or Frenchman must not stand to be enlightened and
instructed for nothing, and he has his joke if you give him
a small piece of silver coin—" Why it is nothing consi-
dering the rich country you come from ;" if it is a small
brass coin—" Oh ! the gentleman loves to get his learn-
ing cheap ; but we will instruct him for nothing, if that is
not too much." Thus from deep pathos, the dark scowl
1 against tyranny, to the broad laugh, is but a step. These
improNisatrici are truly Nature's orators and poets, wild
as the mountain breeze, musical as the iEolian harp.
When I embarked for Palermo, a boat with two fiddles
and a castanet player and dancer, came alongside, and it was
wonderful the dexterity with which that half-naked, happy,
laughing young dog would play his castanets, and strike
the soles of his feet together with a noise as loud as the
clapping of hands when we stop the dance in England.
The Punchinello, too, at Naples, is very clever, as it is
also at Venice : quite a petite thatre, with scenery and
division into acts. Passing the streets of Naples at night,
the minor theatres have a very odd appearance : to see
J the audience, the play lituceetimg ; ti., ike„r thy duciunia.