The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-02-01 00:00:00

Feb. 1, 1848.

SECOND EDITION.

Standard-office, Two o'clock, p.m.

LIVERPOOL CORN EXCHANGE-THIS DAY.
At our Market this morning there was a good attendance of
the trade; but none were disposed to purchase more than for
immediate wants. This applies to every article.
All kinds of Wheat, upon a limited demand, rather lower,
'general qualities of old receding Id., and all kinds of new 2d.
below the Yates of this day week.
American Flour, in anticipation of some further arrivals, was
fully 6d. per barrel cheaper, and sack Flour declined in similar
Proportion.
Barley remains unvaried. Malt dull, and 2s. cheaper.
Beans 6d. to Is. per qr. lower.
Oats remained unvaried in price, with dull sale. Oatmeal
must be noted 6d. per load cheaper.
Indian Corn and Corn Meal, of which a few parcels have been
taken to-day, ruled as to price the same as on Friday.

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Etterature.

VARIETIES.

A Cuss's" NOBLEMAN.—After all, the misfortune was
to be preferred to the gaucherie of the young Mr.
Stanhope ; ohss famous father, the Earl of
Chesterfield, had said and written so much to send him,
an accomplished and elegant roue, to hell, the very first
time this youthful gentleman was introduced into public
company, before the eyes of the highest nobles and the
most resplendent beauties of the three kingdoms, after
eating an ice in the ordinary mode with a spoon, he,
without a blush, licked out the glass with his tongue,
that he might not lose any of the delicious morsel. Fancy
the refined father witnessing this worse than Gothic feat !
Had he been more of a Roman and less of a vetit maitre
he would have whipped his diamond-hilted sword through
the body of his tutor of a son, and then have fallen and the
avenging steel to forget his misery.—The Church of
England Quarterly Review.

ERSEINE'S EARLY POVERTY.—During the three years
which followed his retirement from the army, notwith
standing the kind assistance of some of his friends, he
was in great pecuniary straits. He had an increasing
family to maintain, besides defraying his own expenses as
a Cambridge under-graduate and a student of law. Ex-
ercising the strictest economy and the most rigid self-
-denial, he often found it a sore matter to provide for the
day which was passing over him. But with a sanguine
disposition and a fixed determination of purpose, these
difficulties only stimulated him to greater exertions, that
he might finally subdue them. "He had taken lodgings
'n Kentish Town, and would occasionally call for his wife
at the house of a connection who kept a glass shop in
Fleet Ditch, and used to talk of him as our Tummy."
Jeremy Bentham who had kept up an intercourse with
him since the publication of his pamphlet on the abuses
of the army, speaking of him at this time, says, " I met
him sometimes at Dr. Barton's. He was so shabbily
dressed as to be quite remarkable. He was astonished
when 1 told him I did not intend to practise. I remember
his calling on me, and, not finding me at home, he wrote
his name with chalk on my door. Reynolds, the comic
writer, in his " Life and Times," relates that at this time
the villa of his father, an eminent solicitor at Bromley, in
Kent, was frequently visited by Erskine, of whom he
gives the following lively description :—" The young
student resided in small lodgings near Hampstead, and
openly avowed that he lived on cow-beef, because he could
not afford any of a superior quality, dressed shabbily,
•expressed the greatest gratitute to Mr. Harris for occa-
sional free admissions to Covent Garden, and used boast-
ingly to exclaim to my father, ' Thank fortune, out of my
own family I don't know a lord.' "—Lord Campbell's
Lives of' the Chancellors.
SPANISH ENCOURAGEMENT OF SHIPPING.—Upon in-
9liiry it appeared that an English steamer would leave
Lisbon for Madeira on the Ist of December. But the only
possible way to reach Lisbon in time was by means of a
Nranish boat, then lying in the harbour of Marseilles, and
the baron had little taste for that mode of conveyance.
_Only a few days previously the boiler of the Secundo
"eattano, belonging to the same company, had burst far
out at sea, when several persons were dangerously hurt,
d the vessel was compelled to return to Marseilles,
instead of prosecuting its voyage to Barcelona. Its suc-
cessor, the Primer Gadisano, had good English engines,
and seemed well appointed, and at last the three travellers
engaged berths. The vessel was warranted to sail on the
23d of November; but, in spite of this promise and of
Passengers' remonstrances, the faithless consignees de-
tained her till the morning of the 27th. Of course, there
was no chance of getting to Lisbon in time for the packet ;
but there was a possibility of meeting it at Cadiz, where
it Was expected to touch : and the baron and his com-
Tanions, having paid for their places, took their chance.
o their surprise and annoyance, when the overladen boat
groaned and puffed its way out of the harbour, its prow
was turned, not towards Spain, but towards Toulon and
'ltaly. This strange circumstance was soon explained by
one of those extraordinary laws peculiar to Spanish legisla-
tors, intended, we presume, to encourage the shipping
interest of Spain, but which, to any but its framers,
certainly appears wonderfully ill-adapted to the end pro-
posed. Spanish vessels, arriving from foreign ports, at a
certain distance from the Spanish frontier, pay much
lighter due' than those whose point of departure is nearer
home. Marseilles is within the high duty limit, and
accordingly the Gaditano wasted a day in sailing to the
little port of Ciotat, to have her papers countersigned
there, and obtain the benefit of the low rate. A pretty
specimen of what are commonly called cocas de .Espana.
"This," exclaims M. Vaerst, with righteous indignation,
" is what Spaniards call encouraging their trade and ship-
ping."—Blackwood's Magazine.
NATURAL WEALTH OF BORNEO-PROSPECTS.-Truly,
Mr. Brooke undertook a difficult task, and a very heavy
responsibility, when he allowed himself to be invested
with the power and dignity over such a place. But he
knew its materials; and was sensible at first that this was
to be no post of empty honour. He was aware that he
had to contend with the prejudices of whole tribes of
people—prejudices noted in their minds by the traditions
of undated ages. He well understood what Sarawak then
was—a field for petty battles to be fought on—a place for
murder or riot undisturbed—where piracy and robbery
were the normal state of things, and where no man laid
himself down to sleep in the happy certainty that he
should not be awakened by the shout of battle, the hiss-
ing of flames, the cries of dying comrades, the shrieks
of his wives and children, and the yells of destroying
enemies leaping and shaking their spears in the red glare
of the burning village. All this he knew, but he knew
what, by a system of judicious management—by stern
justice blended with kindness and benignity—might be
made of the district. He knew that the sands of its
babbling streams sparkled with gold dust ; that diamonds
glittered among its pebbles : that its mines were rich in
Iron and antimony ore ; that its fields might become
heavy with abundant harvests of rice; that sago trees
grew everywhere wild ; that bees'-wax, and other articles
too numerous to mention, were common articles of traffic ;
that the natives possessed large herds of buffaloes, which,
:however, they never kill, but keep for their milk, pre-
ferring hog's flesh as food. Indeed it were difficult to
'enumerate the sources from which Sarawak might derive
prosperity. However, Mr. Brooke is the man to draw
them out. Under his wise and benificent rule we soon
hope to see the aspect of affairs totally changed—to find
substituted for the cry of battle the clattering of mill-
'wheels and machinery ; to see the pirate fleets of the
Archipelago give place to fleets of trading vessels convey-
ing :wealth to and from all parts of the world, to
Dyaks guiding the plough or felling the forests, instead of
skulking through darkness in search of human heads, and
to see men, instead of pining away their lives in wretched-
ness and poverty, as they have hitherto, happy,
_prosper-
ous, and contented. The full effect of Mr. Brooke's
oprations will not be perceived at first, but, as when a
stone is thrown into the water the ripple only extends
over a limited space yet the vibration of the blow is felt to
a much greater distance around, so will the seeds sown by
the English in the little state of Sarawak be lifted up, as
it were, and borne and implanted in the most distan!
island. May we not be disappointed in our expectationst
...Ile genial Mag.

THE RAJAH OF SARAWAK.—In the Colonial Maga-
zine for the present month, there is a capital sketch of the
history of one of the most remarkable men of the time,
Mr. Brooke, the Rajah of Sarawak. We learn from this
that Mr. Brooke was born at Combe Grove, near Bath, '
in 1803 ; that he entered the East India army ; that he
distinguished himself in the Burmese war, during which
he was shot through the lungs; that he returned to
England, where he overstayed his furlough, a circumstance
that produced a change of life—for, on finding after he '
had got 'uack to India that a long period must elapse be-
fore he could be restored to his commission, he gave up
the army, and went on to China, and the following beau-
tiful description of the wonders of the eastern archipelago,
we copy from the magazine :—"ln his passage up the
China seas, his eyes were for the first time delighted with
the beauty and fertility of the twelve thousand islands.
He saw rivers, belted by noble forests, whose tall and
sturdy trees produced timber equal to any in the world,
but which, after growing and ripening for ages, only de-
cayed and withered again till the hand of time had
crumbled them to the ground, where they serve but to
increase the richness and fertility of the soil. He heard
of the wealth of the unknown and almost unvisited Indian
Islands ; he saw the sea-gipsies skimming over the water
in prahus filled with their wives and children ; he heard
of the riches of Borneo and its companion islands ; he
heard of the lucrotive trade carried on by the Burgis ; and,
above all, he heard that forty millions of human beings
lived in ignorance and barbarism, groaning beneath despo-
tism, the slaves of prejudice, nurtured amid diabolical
practices, unvisited by the missionary ; and he thought
how good and great an achievement it would be to throw
the light of civilisation, and plant the first seeds of Christi-
anity on those benighted countries." The subsequent
events of Mr. Brooke's career are well known—how he
fitted out the Royalist yacht, after coming in to a good
fortune on the death of his father—how he assisted a na-
tive Rajah in Borneo, who then owned and afterwards
gave his deliverer a large tract of territory near the Sara-
wak river.
SHAKSPERE AND QUEEN ELIZABETH.—A tradition of
much later date than the one just cited tells us that Queen
Elizabeth was in the theatre one evening when Shakspere
was personating the part of a king, and, in crossing the
stage, moved politely to the poet without the honour of
being duly recognised. Her majesty, it is said, with a
view to ascertain whether the omission was intentional, or
whether he had resolved not to lose a moment the per-
sonification of the character he supported, again passed
the stage near him, and dropped her glove, which was
immediately taken up by Shakspere, who added these lines
to a speech just then concluded, " and so aptly were they
delivered that they seemed to .ielong to it,"—
And though now bent on this high embassy,
Yet stoop we to take up our cousin's glove.
He then retired from the stage, and presented the glove
to the queen, who was said to have been greatly pleased
with his conduct, and to have complimented him upon it.
I cannot say who invented this story, but there is no good
authority for it, however possible it may be that it is
founded on an earlier and less circumstantial tradition.
Shakspere was cerzainly fortunate enough to attract the
notice and commendation of royalty early in his career,
Ben Jonson bears testimony to the pleasure Elizabeth
and her successor derived from his surpassing talent :
Sweet swan of Avon, what a sight it were
To see thee in our waters yet appear,
And make those flights upon the banks of Thames,
That so did take Eliza and our James I
And the " Merry Wives of Windsor," written as early as
1593, is said on very fair authority to have been written
especially for the queen's gratification, and she was so im-
patient to see it acted, that it was completed in a fort-
night. Dennis, in an epistle prefixed to the " Comical
Gallant," 1702, says, of the " Merry Wives of Windsor,"
" I knew very well that it has pleas'd one of the greatest
queens that ever was in the world ; this comedy was writ-
ten at her command, and by her direction, and she was so
eager to see it acted, that she commanded it to be finished
in fourteen days, and was afterwards, as tradition tells us,
very well pleas'd with the representation." Rowe, in
1709, says that Elizabeth " was so well pleased with that
admirable character of Falstaff in the two parts of ' Henry
IV.' that she commanded him to continue it for one play
more, and to show him in love : this is said to be the oc-
casion of his writing the ' Merry Wives of Windsor ;' "
and Gildon, in 1710, partially confirms both these accounts.
The tradition in one respect is confirmed by the title page
of the edition of 1602, which states that the play had been
performed " before her majestie and elsewhere." Com-
pliment and patronage are often twins. One of the most
elegant pieces of flattery ever addressed to a sovereign is
found in " A Midsummer Night's Dream," where the
queen is described as the imperial votaress passing on,
" In maiden meditation, fancy free,"

,
a character of allusion we know was received with untiring
delight by Elizabeth. As late as December, 1602, when
she dined at Sir Robert Cecil's, in the Strand, there were
" sundry devices at her entrance : three women, a maid,
a widow, and a wife, eache contending for their owne
states •, but the virgin preferred." We cannot doubt that
the " Midsummer Night's Dream" gratified the monarch ;
and that the poet was in her favour is proved by the direct
authority of Chettle, in his " England's Mourning Gar-
ment," 1603, who complains of his neglecting to write an
elegy upon the queen :
Nor doth the silver-tonged Melicert
Drop from his honied muse one sable teare,
To mom ne her death that graced his desert,
And to his laies opend her royall eare.
Shepheard, remember our Elizabeth,
And sing her Rape, done by that Tarquin, Death.
And the remembrance of Shakspere enjoying court favour
lived for a century after his death, and was universally re-
ceived as a truth.—Halliwell's Life of Shakspere.

COURT AND FASHION.

The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the.
Royal Family, will, according to present arrangements,
arrive at Buckingham Palace from Windsor, for the sea-
son, on Tuesday next. The Court is not expected to re-
turn to Windsor (except, perhaps, for a few days during
the Ascot Race week) until quite the latter end of the
autumn. _ _ _. _

Sir E. Cust left Windsor Castle on Friday, after a short
visit to the Queen.
The Right Rev. James Prince Lee arrived at the Castle
on Thursday, and had an audience with the Queen, to do
homage:on being appointed Bishop of Manchester. Vis-
count Palmerston, one of her majesty's principal secre-
taries of state, assisted at the ceremony. The bishop re-
mained on a visit to her majesty till Friday.
The Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Whewell arrived on a visit to
royalty at Windsor Castle, dined with the royal party on
Thursday, and took their departure on Friday. This
visit of the master of Trinity College, Cambridge, to the
seat of royalty is only one of a series, which shew that the
illustrious Chancellor of the University is not by any
means forgetful of the hospitable duties of his position.
The late Vice-Chancellor, the Master of Catherine Hall,
was the first in order. The Rev. Dr. Phelps, the present
Vice-Chancellor, was the second. Then came the royal
command to the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Whewell ; and we
presume that the heads of all the other houses will be suc-
cessively- permitted to bask in the same royal sunshine.
The King and Queen of the Belgians arrived in London
on Monday.
Lord Hardinge is expected to arrive in this country
about the middle of March.

The Countess of Ellesmere and the Ladies Egerton left
Belgrave-square on Thursday, for Portsmouth, where
they embarked with the Earl of Auckland and a dis-
tinguished party on board the frigate Meander, at Spit-
head, where an elegant dejeuner was given by the Hon.
Captain Keppell, previous to his departure to the East
Indian station. The Earl of Ellesmere was prevented
from accompanying them owing to a slight attack of the
gout.
SKATES FOR PRINCE ALBERT.—Messrs. Marsden Bro-
thers and Co., of Sheffield. have presented to Prince
Albert a pair of skates of the most recherché description.
Instead of the common-place turn-up point of the ordi-
nary skate, a graceful swan rises, being beautifully chased
to represent its plumage. The clogs of the skates are of
polished rosewood, on the side of which, at the toe, the
swan's figure is completed, and at the heel, the rose,
thistle, and shamrock are carved. The straps, which are
of patent leather, lined with white enamel, with silver
buckles, pass through slot holes lined with gold. On the
heel the golden garter, with its motto, surmounts a silver
star ; on the sole the royal arms are studded in gold and
silver; and the toe is of gold. Of course, the value of
these skates is very considerable.