The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-02-11 00:00:00

ation of salt

come and collect at certain periods of the year. The
colocynthus, or apple of Sodom, grows, but in no great
quantities, in the plain to the north of the sea. As I have
already stated, it is pleasant to look upon, and resembles
a fine large orange, but burst on the least pressure, and
presents a mere kernel, the rind being inflated with air.
The water is exceedingly hitter and nauseous, and leaves
by far the most disagreeable taste in the mouth of any I

have ever met with. I did not test its buoyant properties,
after having bathed in the Jordan, beyond dipping in my
hand and arm, by which I satisfied myself sufficiently on
Jlete

more o

salting (I might almost say pickling) ; for, as scon as the
moisture was dry, I found the parts immersed covered
with grains of salt, and experienced a painful feeling.
accompanied with considerable irritation of the skin, which
lasted for some time. I filled a bottle protected with
wicker work, which I had brought for the express purpose.

about tw•o miles from t

Jordan.--

3lonk's Sketches

QUEEN DOWAGER'S CORRESPONDENTS.—The
pile of letters which each day's post brought to the
widowed Queen was cf no common bulk. Letters from
all parts of England, on all charitable projects—from

parties in every grade of societ

filed ht;r benev

sympathies. Every county and almost every town in
England furnished her with a correspondent. Not one
sustained a harsh or contemptuous rejec ion. The Queen
read all her letters. Patiently, perseveringly, and system.
atically, would she sit down, morning after morning, and,
despite of bad writing, wretched grammar, interminable

_
periods, and endless repetitions, master their meaning.
Her own impression was recorded in her own hand on
the back of each application ; this done, the letter passed
into the hands of Lieut. Bedford, her secretary for chari-
ties, for the purpose of further investigation ; or, if this
was deemed needless, to be replied to in the affirmative
forthwith. Some of her annotations ran thus :—" This
appears incredible." " Plausible; but has too much the
air of an imposture." "An extraordinary and, it is to
be feared, exaggerated statement." " This case deserves
)00l : De immediate investigation." "To be relieved at once." 1
" Needs no confirmation." And then followed the sum,
,lateria £5, £lO, £2O, which, in the Queen's judgment, would
our f meet the necessities of the case, and which was at once to
ha _.., great be forwarded to the petitioner. Her discrimination was
.)r in literature, or added, rarely at fault ; so rarely that when equivocal cases were
great work of humanising and inquired into by members of her household, by the Queen's
,ndition of the human race. Liverpool, command, the results of such inquiry bore out, with
.ar, has been peculiarly wanting. A few scarcely an exception, the view which their royal mistress
Lary note are all of whom our town can had originally taken. Her tact in sifting truth from false-
'ese not one has adorned the present gene- hood, and a case of real suffering from amidst a mass of
,t the talented lady of Mr. It R. Sand- plausible representations, was remarkable. One of these
*--. are very far above medic).- applications, with the Queen's autograph comment on the
, claims superiority back, I have seen. A curious document it is. The writer,
its Swain •n poetry, its Dalton in from his own admissions, had previously participated in
~s Crossley in philosophy, with a few the Queen's bounty. Now he addresses her in dying
not undistinguished writers. Sheffield has circumstances; he alleges that his physician had recom-
„-u a James Montgomery and an Ebenezer Elliott. mended to him " jellies" and other " expensive articles
tol is associated with the fame of a Chatterton, a of nutriment," which his own means would not admit of
v, and other emineet literati. Newcastle, Dur- procuring ; and very adroitly suggests to the Queen the
a few other large towns, have added each their propriety of her supplying this pecuniary deficiency. But
`-,ck of our standard literature ; but the mind I e writes in articulo mortis—he is dying—absolutely
-9 to be destined to remain utterly inert, dying--he has but a few hours to live—and still his
--,- dreaming thoughts run on no other subject but the Queen Dowager
.
w" and " jellies." The letter is long; written in large cha-
racters, with a profusion of flourishes. The Queen's au-
d or an tograph comment, endorsed on the fourth side, runs thus ;

übject under discussion,

by our author, to illustrate his
Macnaught displays throughout
sintance with Scripture, a reve-
rity, and a modest diffidence of
ig of the highest praise.

nations for the Advancement of Literature and
in Liverpool. By the Rev. Abraham Hume,
‘;.A. -hton and Laughton,

ally in the mind of the
-t mercantile com-

roduced an

cal effu!

fl, who

but

this respect,