The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-07-09 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

A NICE POINT.—A woman, charged with being drunk
and disorderly, denied the latter offence, urging that
" she was too drunk to be disorderly."
A JOKE FROM SPEAKER.—As the tellers on the
vote of confidence di% ision advanced to declare the num-
bers, the Speaker—with doubtless a prophetic sense of the
majority of 46—said, with a benignant smile at ministers
Gentlemen will be pleased to keep their places."—
Punch.

WHAT NEXT ?—" A young lady of superior connec-
tion," who advertises herself in the Evangelical Maga-
zine of this month as being desirous of a re-engagement
as governess, adds, " Members of the Evangelical Alli-
ance pr, ferred" !
A COMPLICATED DEATH.—The following verdict was
given by an Eastern jury :—" We believe firmly that the
deceased came to his death by falling from the top of the
mainmast on the bulwarks—fell overboard and was
drowned—washed ashore and frozen to death—and then
carried to the watchhouse and eaten by rats."
SPECULATION.-A. writer in the Arbroath Guide ob-
serves that the Arbroath Town Council have been at-
tempting to prophesy—" Recently, while voting a loyal
address to the Queen on the appearance of Prince Arthur
Patrick Albert, they congratulate her Majesty on the birth
of her last child."
NOVEL WAY OF TREATING SAINTS.—Every family
in Rio, where superstition asserts her sway, has two
things, an image of St. Antonio and a whip, If the saint
after being duly invoked, still refuses to grant the boon
craved, he is taken down from his niche and soundly
whipped I This chastisement is repeated until the prayer
is answered, or some priest interferes, and consoles the
disappointed with the persuasion that the blessing sought
has been, or will be, conferred in some other form ! This
compulsory process with a saint accounts for the maimed
condition in which you always find poor Antonio here.
There is something unique and interesting in this mode
of obtaining benefactions. If a saint won't shell out
when he has the power, why should not he be whipped as
well as the sinner?
A CURIOUS RELIC.—Mr. E. B. Thompson,of this city,
and now a compositor in the office of this paper, has in his
possession a very interesting historical relic—a small em-
broidered cambric pocket-handkerchief, which was used
by Charles I. upon the scaffold. and is stained with his
blood. It came originally from John Fenwicke, who was
major of cavalry in Cromwell's army, and in that capacity
was required to be present at the execution of the unhappy
monarch. The relic passed from his family to that of
Jacob Lyell, whose wife emigrated to New Jersey near the
Close of the 17th century, and was connected with the
Fenwicke family. She gave it to her daughters, who kept
it with the greatest care, and at their death it passed into
another branch of the may, and has finally come into
the possession of Mr. Thompson. Its authenticity seems
to be clearly traced and proved beyond doubt. The hand-
kerchief is of small size, and the figure of the Scottish
thistle is embroidered around the edges. Upon one
corner is a very small figure of a crown. It is thickly
stained with dark spots, some of which are as large as a
dollar—the others smaller. The linen is considerably dis-
coloured by time. It seems to have been ironed, but not
washed.—New York Courier.
RECOGNITION OF VOICE BETWEEN THE EWE AND
LAMB.—The acuteness of the sheep's ear surpasses all
things in nature that I know of. A ewe will distinguish
her own lambs bleat among a thousand all braying at the
time, and making a noiso a thousand times louder than
the singing of psalms at a Catneronian sacrament in the
fields where thousands are congregated, and that is no
joke neither. Besides, the distinguishment of voice is
perfectly reciprocal between the ewe and the lamb, who,
amid the deafening sound, run to meet one another.
There are few things that have ever amused me more than
a sheep-shearing, and then the sport continues the whole
of the day. We put the flock into a fold, set out all
to the hill, and then set out the ewes to them as they are
shorn. The moment that a lamb hears its dam's voice
it rushes from the crowd to meet her, but instead of
finding the rough, well-clad, comfortable mamma, which
it left en hour, or a few hours ago, it meets a poor naked
shrivelling—a most deplorable-looking creature. It
wheels about, and uttering a loud tremulous bleat of per-
fect despair, flies from the frightful vision. The mother's
voice arrests its flight—it returns—flies, and returns
again, generally for ten or a dozen times before the re-
concilement is fairly madetup.—TheEttrick Shepherd.
THE Winow AND HER SON,—Considerably more than
half a century ago there dwelt in a smell borough of For-
farshire a poor widow, who earned a humble but respect-
able livelihood for herself and her only son by keeping a
stall, priucipally for the sale of crockeryware, in the mar-
ket-place. It was a time when gentlemen lived harder
than they do now, and although the word " Waterford-
isin.;" bad not been invented the thing implied by it was
greatly in vogue. The townspeople then were not unac-
customed to the occasional freaks and rough practical jokes
of a neighbouring gentleman, who had lately succeeded
to enormous property and a peerage, and there was no
particular surprise manifested when, late one evening, the
humble stall of the widow was overturned in an after-
dinner frolic, and the brittle ware it contained smashed
upon the street. The aggressor was Lord Panmure.
Next morning the proprietress of the stall waited upon
bis Lordship, and the claim for damages was soon settled
to the satisfaction of all parties. " And now, my good
woman, said the overthrower of the crockeryware, "is
there anything else I can do for you ?" The widow re-
plied that she had an only son, a sharp little fellow, whom
she wished to see receiving a better education than her
limited means enabled her to bestow on him. Lord Pan-
inure at once promised the necessary aid. He was as
good as his word. Little Joey was sent for. The intelli-
gence and sharpness of the boy was readily recognised,'
and highly commended, and he was at once placed in an
excellent school. Such was the curiously-caused coin-
mencement of a long career of industry and honour. The
little boy, the poor widow's son was—Joseph Hume.—
Illustrated News.

ARCHITECTURE.—What are those gay and glittering
piles which rise under a brighter sun, and into a clearer
atmosphere, on the banks of a smaller river ? Yonder
dark and heavy towers arose amidst the austerity of
Gothic taste, and were loaded with the riches of Roman
Catholic superstition; they have witnessed the march of
the Crusaders and the coronation of Henry IV : that
gilded tomb attests the magnificence of Lous XIV., and
covers the bones of Turenne: projecting into the stream
is the ancient Tour du Nesle, the theatre of licentious
tragedy ; that beautious row of columns conceals the
windows from whence the massacre of St. Bartholomew
was ordered ; that red obelisk marks the spot where Louis
and Marie Antoinette, and Danton and Robespierre, were
executed; that perfect peristyle was begun by Napoleon
for the Temple of Glory ; that majestic arch in the dis-
tance was erected to the honour of the Grand Army.
Ascend the Tower of the Capitol, and survey the mingled
wreck of ages by which you are surrounded. You stand
on the massy battlements which defied the arms of Bren-
nus : the Roman senate-house, the palace of the Caesars,
are at your feet : that vast circular tomb on the banks of
the Tiber contains the ashes of Adrian : yonder stupend-
ous dome, which rises like a mountain in the west, covers
the bones of St. Paul ; it was reared by the genius of
Michael Angelo, and adorned by the pencil of Raphael :
the sculptured pillars, which surmount all modern edifices
in their vicinity, were erected to the honour of Trajan
and Antoninns, the greatest and best of the Emperors :
that massy pile which still survives, like the skeleton of a
world, the ruin of all its contemporary structures, was
reared by the captive hands of the Jews : under those
arches the triumph of Aurelian, the captive Zenobia,
have passed. It is this wondrous and overwhelming con-
centration of historical interest into one focus, this pre-
senting of it in actual objects to the senses, which con-
stitutes the grand, the unequalled charm of architecture,
and gives to genius, in that department, a lasting hold of
the admiration of mankind, which the sister arts will seek
in vain to attain.—Mr. Alison's Essays.

THE LATE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK'S OPINION OF THE
QUEEN.—A cluster of wax-lights depended from a splen-
did candelabrum, which occupied the centre of the table.
This ornament—massive—of highly burnished silver, and
of considerable height, was, as a brief inscription on its
plinth recorded, a present from her Majesty and the Prince
Consort on their marriage, to their friend, the Archbishop
of York. A comment or two was made on its exquisite
proportions and elaborate workmanship. The prelate, to
whom the royal present was matter of pardonable pride,
remarked, with quiet complacency—" Yes ; it is a me-
mento of a very memorable event, and of a marriage sin-
gularly blest. The domestic happiness of George the
Third and his Queen is now matter of history. An old
man who, like myself, can speak of it as an eye-witness,
may be pardoned for thus alluding to it. Theirs was no
state union : strong affection hallowed it throughout.
The Queen's vary closely resembles it. Who shall limit
its influence on the national morals and the national hap.
piness ?" An elderly cavalry officer, if I remember rightly,
Sir Charles Dalbiac, observed in how many traits of cha-
racter the Queen resembled her royal grandfather ; re-
sembled him in her personal habits—in her love of early
rising—her fondness for the country—her predilection for
" blue water" and the " ocean breeze"—and more espe-
cially in her business habits and undeviating punctuality.
The Archbishop listened to these remarks, but did not
assent to them. Perhaps he was too practised a courtier
to give an opinion openly on his Sovereign. Perhaps he
deemed his position too dignified to Permit him avowedly
and unrestrainedly to pursue the subject. The conversa-
tion was ero long diverted into another channel, and he
then said, sotto voce, to his next neighbour—" There are
not really so many points of resemblance between the
Queen and her royal grandfather as the public are pleased
to fancy. Her mind is of far greater grasp and power.
Then,
again, her Majesty has the virtue of firmness—firm-
ness as contra-distinguished from that very vulgar, and,
in a ruler, questionable and dangerous quality—obstinacy.
Firmness in a female sovereign may be considered inva-
luable ; a quality secondary in importance only to lenity."
.—Bentley s MinellanY•

EASTER EGGS.—The custom of dying eggs at Easter
prevails in different parts of Cumberland, and is observed
in Carlisle probably more specially than in any other pars
of England. On Easter Monday and Tuesday the inha,
bitants assemble in certain adjacent meadows, the chil-
dren all provided with stores of hard-boiled eggs, coloured
or ornamented in various ways, some being dyed an even
colour with logwood, cochineal, &c. ; others stand (often
in a rather pregnant manner) by being boiled in shreds of
parti-coloured ribbons ; and others, again, covered with
gilding. These they tumble about upon the grass until
they break, when they finish off by eating them. These
they call pace-eggs, being, no doubt, a corruption for
pasche. This custom is mentioned by Brande as exist-
ing among the modern Greeks ; but I believe it will be
found more or less in almost all parts of Christendom. I
observed, when in Syria, during Easter, quantities of eggs
similarly dyed ; but it did not occur to me at the time to
inquire whether the practice was connected with the sea-
son and whether it war not confined to the native Chris-
tians. Information on this point and also upon the ge-
❑eral origin of this ancient custom would be interesting.
Notes and Queries.
A NEW ZEALANDER'S DESIRE TO BE EATEN.—" I've
been among the New Zealanders," quoth Jack, " and
there they use each other for fresh grub as regular as
boiled duff in a man-of-war's mess. They used to cat
their fathers and mothers, when they got too old to take
care of themselves ; but now they've got to be more civi-
lized, and so they only eat ricketty children and slaves,
and enemies taken in battle." "A decided instance of
the progress of improvement and the march of mind,"
said I. " Well," replied Jack, "it's a bad thing for the
old folks. They don't take to the new fashion; they are
in favour of the good old custom. I never see'd the
thing myself; but Bill Brown, a measmate of mine, once
told me that, when he was at the Bay of Islands, he see'd
a great many poor souls going about, with tears in their
eyes, trying to get somebody to eat them. One of them
came off to the ship, and told them that he could'nt find
rest in the stomachs of any of his kindred, and wanted to
know if the crew couldn't take him in. The skipper told
him he was on monstrous short allowance, but he couldn't
accommodate him. The poor old fellow, Bill said, look'd
as if his heart would break. There were plenty of sharks
round the ship, and the skipper advised him tojump over-
board ; but he couldn't bear the idea of being eaten raw."
—Blackwood.

THE ROMAN RAGE TO FIGHT THE FRENCH.—I had
wandered into St. Peter's, and was leisurely eyeing the
famous lions of Canova, in his monumental group of Rez-
zonica, when two young officers approached, and, with the
child-like simplicity of Roman manners (a descriptive
epithet possibly inconsistent with our popular notions of
the Roman character,) blandly made some commonplace
introductory remark, and pointed to the figures before us.
The excitement of the times could not destroy their appre-
• ciation of art ; but, naturally enough, we passed from the
fixed marbles to the fluent events of Rome at that mo-
ment. The morning politics of the Cafe were running
through my thoughts, and, with an impertinent freedom,
anxious to sound their value, I said, "You will not fight,
I suppose, if the French push you to it ?" Fight !"both
replied, paling with rage as they spoke ; " ay, and to the
last drop !" The gesture with which the words were
accompanied was positively frightful. Their features be-
came suddenly distorted, and they flung their clenched
fists up, appealing with an oath to Heaven. The senti-
ment of these men animated every Roman bosom, I be-
lieve, that day. The very gaiety of the Roman looks
measured the depth of revenge which secretly consumed
them. Even the dames were preparing for the slaughter,
should it come to the worst, being armed beneath their
dresses ; while the Roman women generally, headed by
the nobility, were all occupying themselves, when within
doors, in making up ball-cartridges and bandages for the
expected wounded.—Rome and Rornanism.
APROPOS OF THE VISIT OF THE NEPAULESE EMBASSY.
All this time we knew little or nothing of Nepaul, save
that it was an abrupt, stupendous mountain range that
bounded, on the north, our triumphant march to the
north-west; and at times, when the line of march lay
nearer to the impenetrable-looking barrier, and when the
rainy season lifted the misty veil, we gained a glance of
the mysterious sublimity of pure white peaks, rising far
beyond and far above the magnificent blue range in the
foreground, whose height far surpasses our loftiest Gram-
pians. On these we gazed with conscious solemnity, the
effect being increased by their contrast to the vast level
Champaign expanse over which we were travelling, and
contemplating the distant Himalaya, we experienced an
overpowering sensrtion, in beholding a portion of earth
projecting its unsullied spires to such an unmitigated alti-
tude in the pure azure abyss of Heaven. So long had
these mountains been considered a sort of terra incognita,
even during the long dynasties of the Mahommedan kings
of Hindostan, that about the time of Arunzebe, when the
Mogul empire extended from those mountains to the sea,
an embassy from Nepaul arriving at Agra was regarded
almost as an embassage from another world. It is re-
corded that the king, at the magnificent durbar that re-
ceived the mountaineer ambassador from these rugged re-
gions, anxious to know something of the strange country,
desired the envoy to describe the nature of his master's
dominions. He, by a truly Eastern, effective, and primi-
tively statistical demonstration merely held aloft his open
hand, with the fingers expanded from each other, thus
giving at least a truly graphic section of the precipitous
hill and narrow vale that characterise Nepaul.—The In-
vasion of Nepaul.

THE TIMES ON OUR ABUNDANCE OF MONEY.

A short while ago Mr. Richard Cobden gravely in-
formed the world that nothing could occur to damage the
social position of Great Britain so long as the Bank of
England was enabled to keep up her present large stock
of bullion. Money would continue cheap, and commerce
and industry would progress at an unexampled pace. The
London Times, however, does not regard monetary abun-
dance in precisely the same light as the apostle of freo
trade; and whilst commenting upon the favourable state
of the past year's revenue, makes some admissions which
strongly remind us of Lord Overstone's (late Mr Samuel
Jones Lloyd) description of that ingeniously devised ma-
chinery, which periodically plunges every portion of the
community into suffering, and enables the possessor of
monied capital to clutch the reward of his neighbour's in.
dustry and enterprise. We are, in fact, nearing the top
of the famous " CYCLE"; and are shortly to descend into
that abyss which bullionists assure us is a natural periodi-
cal stage of England's commerce. Our contemporary
assures us that at present—
" We are in danger of a plethora or accumulation of capital
—a state of things harmless enough in itself, but generally
ending inan unsound extension of credit, in excessive specula-
tion, extravagance, eventual collapse, and final ruin. It is
possible that no amount of warning will avert the frequent
recurrence of these commercial disasters, for they appear as
recurrent and as periodical as colds,' "iiilluenzas,' and other
such personal or epidemic visitations. There are cycles in the
social as well as there are in the celestial system. We can only
hope that by the aid of experience and judicious advice these
visitations, or rather these follies, will become each return less
severe. and that the day may come when we shall no more see
a whole population of scripholders and defaulters than we shall
ever see again a population half destroyed by the small-pox."
Doctors certainly do differ in an extraordinary manner.
On this occasion, however, in one sense the Times is
right, and Mr. Cobden is wrong, and, in another, both
are at issue with their own recorded views of commercial
propriety. The Times sees danger in that influx of the
precious metals which leads to `• extension of credit, ex-
cessive speculation," &c., and ends in " total ruin." Yet
the Times regards as a favourable circumstance that in-
crease of exports which attracts bullion to our shores, and
thus causes extension of credit. Mr. Cobden regards the
increase of bullion in the bank as the sure indication of
increasing prosperity ; yet he would hail with Io peons of
delight a large increase of imports, and proclaim it as a
sure indication of the advancing prosperity of the people,
although such increase must inevitably lead to an abstrac-
tion of the precious metals, and the consequen t contrac-
tion of the circulating medium. We leave the two philo-
sophers to themselves, to reconcile their differences upbn
the subject.
But why ought the possession of an extraordinary
quantity of the precious metals lead to the disastrous re-
sults mentioned by the Times ? The possession of a lar-
ger stock than usual of any other valuable product would
do no such thing. The discovery of a new coal or iron
district would be regarded as both an individual and a
national source of good ; yet, upon the shewing of the
Times, the discovery in this country of a mine or moun-
tain of gold would lead to appalling consequences. Our
contemporary kindly, though unconsciously, furnishes us
with an answer to our question. Notwithstanding our
present " plethora, or accumulation of capital"—lie
means specie of course, which terms; like other confused
persons, he treats as synonymous—the Times admits that
we owe our present safety to distrust of the very system
which both Mr. Cobden and himself worship. He says—
" The present increase of expenditure, however, appears, to
be of a safe and regular kind. It is not owing to the construc-
tion of railways, for the monthly amount of calls is now gene-
rally less than two-thirds of what it was last year. Nor is it
()Wing to what may be called an imaginary conceit of wealth, a
species of false credit, founded on the exaggerated value of
railway shares, for both the selling price and the dividends of
railway shares are considerably less than they were in the early
part of last year. There is just now a singular absence of
speculation, and an almost excessive distrust of any enterprise
wit of the beaten track of trade."
" The absence of speculation" here spoken of, " the
fall in the prices of railway shares, and the caution with
which men now act in all their present dealings," is nei-
ther more nor less than the result of want of confidence
in the stay amongst us of that fickle commodity, (gold,)
which we have chosen to regulate our power to buy, or to
hold, any species of property. The experience of 1847 is
not lost upon us. Men will not invest in any security, or
embark money in any undertaking, which they may be
called upon to retire from at any moment at a ruinous
sacrifice, caused by the efflux of gold, and the consequent
violent contraction of the circulating medium which ensues.

A LADY CUT TO PIECES ON A RAILWAY.—An accident
of a truly appalling character occurred on the York
and Scarborough Railway on Thursday last, by which
a lady of independence, named Martin, met with a terri-
ble death. It appeared she had been staying some time
at Holdgate, near York, and left her residence between
three and four o'clock, with the intention of taking
a walk along the banks of the river Ouse. Soon afterwards
she was observed by a.gentleman walking on the railway,
near the viaduct which crosses the stream in question, and
at the same time a train was aoproaching at a rapid rate
towards York. She remained evidently unconscious of its
coming up, having her parasol before her, and was walking
leisurely along the permanent way betweeen the line of
rails until the engine driver gave the whistle alarm, which
attracted her attention,. when seeing her danger she turned
round and ran back with the intention of escaping ; un-
fortunately, however, the train was too close upon her,
for in the next moment or so the engine struck the un-
happy lady to the ground, and the whole of the carriages,
17 in number, passed over her body. She was dreadfully
mangled ; her body, in fact, was literally cut to pieces. It
was with much difficulty her person could be identified.
Not the least blame could be imputed to the engine-driver.