The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-09-17 00:00:00

SELECTIONS.

AN EFFECTIVE REPLY.—When Queen Elizabeth,
soon after her accession, wished to retain in her council I
some zealous popish lords, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton
insisted on their dismissal. The queen, irritated by the I
freedom of his remonstrances. exclaimed, " God's death,
villain ! I will have thy head !" a remark which proves
that swearing was an accomplishment of her youth.
Tbrockmorton very coolly replied to this threat, "You
will
do well, madam, to consider, in that case, how von
ill afterwards keep your own on your shoulders.F'—
St
THE
Lives of the Queens of England.
THE JEWISH BURYING-GROUND AT JEHOSHAPHAT.
—Returning alongthe valley of Jehosbaphat, and passing
along its eastern sides, we came to the great burying-
ground of the Jews. It looks more like a paved court,
and I walked over it without at first perceiving it. Among
the monuments are four unique in
. their appearance and
construction, and known from immemorial as the
tombs of Absalom, Jehoshapl,at, St. and the pro-
phet Zechariah. All are cut out of tanseoslid rock. The
tomb of Absalom is a single stone as large
two-story house, and ornamented with jveenatsy"; orrdsif.n,„,a7
columns of the Doric order, supporting a tritinngduunlao-i—
-p-
yramidal top. The top is battered and defaced, a
Jew, or Christian, ever passes tbrooungel'
whether Muslim,
the Valley of Jehosbaphat without casting a stone at the
sepulchre of the rebellious son. No regular entrance to it
has ever been discovered ; and the only way of getting into
the interior is by a hole broken for the purpose in one of
the aides. Notwithstanding the specific names given to
these .tombs, it is altogether uncertain to what age they
belong; and it is generally considered that the style of ar-
chitecture precludes the supposition Travel they are the
work of Jewish builders.—Library of , No. 5.

BETHLEHEM.—The first appearance of Bethlehem is
very striking in whatever direction it is approached ; and
it does not require even the hallowed scenes and the asso-
ciations connected with its history—though they certainly
give it an additional interest—to arrest the attention of the
traveller, and bid him gaze upon the picturesque hill that
rises in parterres of vineyards, almond groves, and fig
plantations, watered by gentle rivulets that murmur
through these terraces ; an'l diversified by the tower and
the wine-press. It is a straggling village, with one prin-
cipal street, and is said to contain about 3000 inhabitants,
most of them Arab Christians, and a peculiarly determined
race, who give their oppressive rulers no little trouble.
We proceeded to the fortress-like convent, and saw in its
low door a curious evidence of the turbulence of theland.
It is not four feet high, being made thus low to prevent
the marauding Arabs from riding boldly into the house.
The monks were at prayers when we arrived, and follow-
ing one of the brothers through the great church down a
marble staircase, and along a subterranean corridor, we
stood in the grotto called the Chapel of the Nativity.
This place is declared, grossly in defiance of probability,
to be the very stable where the Saviour was born, and a
niche in a wall contains a very handsome white marble
trough like a sarcophagus, which is shown as the very
manger in which the infant Jesus was laid.—Library of
Travel.

. BLACKPOOL CHURCHYARD contains two inscripticus
possessing melancholy interest. The first is on a tablet
recording the death of Major Sparks and Miss Leach,
who were drowned while leaving the vessel that had
brought them from Canada, in Oct. last. It was said that
they had become attached to each (tiler during the voyage,
and contemplated being married on reaching England.
Alas ! by what frail tenure are our brightest hopes held.
Just as they were about to consummate their wishes,
they were suddenly deprived of their existence ; and now-
silently repose together in the same grave !-Ihe next
memento in that burying-place, is that recording the
death of Betty Butcher, who died in the year 1829.
Betty was a neatly-dressing, good-looking girl of 21; and
had won the affections of the son of a neighbouring far-
mer. Betty was only a fisherman's daughter, and her
union with Walter Cragg was not approved by his
friends. Walter, however, sincerely loved Betty ; and she
warmly reciprocated the feeling. Going to the well one
day to fetch her a pitcher of water, he unfortunately fell
therein, and was suffocated before he could be rescued
from his perilous situation. This untoward event weighed
heavily upon Betty's mind, and she pined and died a few
months afterwards.

CAPTAIN WARNER'S EXPERIMENT.—When Captain
Warner sp aks of his six-mile range, for which he re-
quired but a two-pounder, he states a physical impossi-
bility in the present state of chemical science; and Capt.
Warner is certainly not one in whom any reasonable hope
could be indulged, that by his knowledge any advance
will be made. By the use of the fulminates, nothing
would be gained, for with compounds so loosely held to-
gether, there appears no certainty ; they are all liable to
spontaneous decomposition. The fulminate of mercury
was considered safe while mixed with spirit of wine, yet
while in this state it exploded, and Mr. Hennell, of the
Apothecaries Hall, was destroyed by it. Mr. Eley, the
inventor of the wire cartridges, who had repeatedly mixed
his fulminate of mercury, perished from the explosion of
a pound of this highly dangerous composition. A French
vessel, fitted, during the French war, with some new de-
tonating compounds, was never heard of after it sailed
from Toulon. The large gun made for Mehemet Ali, re-
quiring a charge of 40 lbs., and throwing a ball of 4801b5.,
is considered too dangerous to use. Rockets of 100 lbs.
are not found to move one yard. There appears to be a
limit to destructive powers, and we have reason to thank
Heaven it is so. The service may be improved, rockets
may eventually be made to go straight, she:ls may be made
percussioned; and a greater precision given to cannon
firing. It is possible, by the introduction of the patent
principle of Mr. Harding's new gun, which has given
so great an increase to the power of sporting guns, we may
improve that of the cannon ; but these, if effected, would
be but a slight step to realising the theories of Warner or
of Normandy. The evil they cause, and that is a serious
though unavoidable one, is that scientific characters are
debarred from the ground these enthusiasts claim as their
own. Every application for experiment is now refused at
Woolwich, because ninety-eight out of a hundred appli-
cants prove to be ignorant adventurers.—Polytechn.Rev.
LANDING OF THE BRITISH IN HOLLAND DURING
THE FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WAR.—" War is of all
things the most picturesque, and there never was a gala
on the waters of the Adriatic more gay or glittering than
our landing. But we had infinitely the advantage in the
numbers, the brilliancy, and, what gave a higher feeling
to the whole, in the reality of all its objects. This was no
painted pageant; it was real strength, real soldiership
the cannon that roared above our heads, as we descended
into the boats, were the thunders which had shaken many
a battlement • the flotilla of launches, long-boats, and
cutters, which covered the sea, was manned with the
soldiers and sailors sent forth to fight the battle of human
freedom on every shore of the globe. The ships were
that British fleet whose name was synonymous with the
noblest exploits of war, and which it would have been
well worth going round the circumference of the globe to
see. On this night we bivouacked ; the shore offered no
human habitation, and it was too late for the landing of
our tents. But the sand was dry ; our fires were soon
lighted; all was sport and activity; our bands played
Welcome to Holland ;' our men danced with the pea-
santry ; all had the look of a magnificent frolic ; and,
when at last I threw myself on my open air pillow, I
dreamed of fairy-h nd. At daybreak we marched, in the
highest spirits, and only longed to try our strength with
the enemy. From time to time, the sound of a cannonade
reached us, and heightened our eagerness to advance.
But Holland is proverbillly difficult for any movements
but those of a trackschuyt • and the endless succession of
narrow roads, the perpetual canals, and the monotony of
her level field, rich as thsy were, exhausted us, more
than if we had marched twice the distance. But the spell
of human hearts is excitement, and war is all excitement.
An round us was new, and from the colonel to the rank
and file, the " general camp, poineers and all," enjoyed
the quaint novelty of Dutch life. The little villages, so
unlike our own, and yet so admirably fitted for peasant
comfort, the homesteads embedded in plantations of wil-
lows, the neatness of every thing round the farm-houses
and even the sleekness of the cattle which seemed by
their tameness to form a part of the habitancy—all were
thewithcomprehend
must
strike which h
comfortablethe arrival
bouf a
ghers. But the punctuality of British payments was
perfectly known already ; the whole plenty ole plenty of the land
was poured out before us ; we regaled
sumptuously."—
Blackwood's Magazine.