The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-01-28 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL gTANDARD.

THE SEASON AT THE ISLE OF WIGHT.—Such is the
uncommon mildness of the season, that the trees are
bursting Inds and blossoms, the banks are covered with
primroses, the turnips are running up to seed, and the
birds are full of song—the daisies deck the lawns, and the
fields look as gay as May.
AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION..---A farmer, who has
occupied a farm in the county of Durham for upwards of
twenty years, at a comparatively low rent, was last week
obliged to leave it in consequence of the ruinous prices
which agricultural produce has lately been bringing in the
markets; a state of things which he attributed entirely to
the operation of free trade.
A Kendal paper relates that a few nights since, at
Wetherby, a large otter found its way into a house, and
endeavoured to creep into the bed of an old man and
some children. The inmates were at first greatly fright-
ened by the unseasonable appearance of so strange a
guest, but they soon recovered from their alarm, and
killed the otter.

The Macclesfield Courier relates that a person in that
town was lately supplied by a druggist with magnesia by
mistake for arrowroot, and adds, that as he had never
to ted arrowroot, he actually contrived to swallow a bowl-
ful of the magnesia and water, though he complained
that arrowroot was not so palateable as he had expected
to find it.

INCENDIARISM.—From all parts of the country the
most alarming reports reach us of the prevalence of in-
cendiarism. A correspondent from Thainc, in Bucking..
hamshire, writes,—" Incendiarism is terribly on the
increase in our neighbourhood." In Herefordshire, on
the estate of Mr. Dickinson, the extensive paper-manu-
facturer, at llomel Hempstead, a very severe loss has
been incurred from an incendiary fire ; and letters from
the same locality inform us that this terrible crime is
increasing in that district.—Post Magazine.

MYSTERIOUS OCCURRENCE.—On' Saturday morning
the coachman and helper of Mr. Thomas, of Landford
Cottage, near Whiteparish, Wilts, not getting up at the
usual hour, a fellow servant was requested to arouse
them, bat on proceeding to the room occupied by the
two men, immediately vier some newly erected stables,
he failed to' obtain any answer from either of the sleepers.
Alarmed at this circumstance, he succeeded in effecting
an entrance to the room through the window, and, to his
horror, found both fellow-servants dead.—Bathehronicle.

A London manufacturer has been detected in a very
ingenious system of adulterating isinglass with common
gelatine. It appears that each substance is rolled by
steam power into thin wafer-like sheets, and on placing
one of the deleterious between two of the original, and
subjecting the mass to a heavy pressure, it becomes
united and rolled out, so that the deception is exceedingly
difficult of detection. A strong flavour of glue and paste
will, however, easily distinguish the spurious matter, if
it is dissolved in hot water, and tasted without the addi-
tion of any sweetening.

AN ENTHUSIAST.—Mr. L. Phillips, a country squire
in Pembrokeshire, keeps a pack of foxhounds, with two
whips, at his own expense, hunting the country in frrst-
rate style. Mr. Phillips has but one leg, and yet he hunts
the hounds himself; sad we do not believe there can be
found so good a gentleman huntsman in the United
Kingdom, not even Lord Gifford himself. He has,
moreover ridden his own horse in two public steeple
chases ; a feat, we believe, which has never been attempt-
ed before by any living being with only one leg ; and there
is not a straighter or more daring rider going..
The Board of Health ia,London have decided the great
water question in Southampton. The town is to be sup-
plied with water from the itchen river, at a place called
Mansbridge Lock, about three miles from Southampton.
The estimated cost of conveying the water from Mans-
bridge to the town will oe £lB,OOO. The boring for
water at the Artesian well on Southampton Common,
from which the town has been partially supplied with
water for the last few years, and which has been looked
such an interesting experiment by the whole of
sof England, is to be stopped. The well is

upon as

nearly 2 a
Co

ICTION OF

GOMDSMID.-At the Middlesex
session, ...ilursday, ?Ir. John Goldsmid, of Meeklen-
burgh-square, and a member of the Stock Exchange, was
t'ound guilty of an assault upon an excise officer. fie
footman, and a host of other
which completely failed. The

brother,

) prove an alib _
Ige said he had never seen such an exhibition
ass brought forward in any court in his life.

The defendant had called upon his father and brother to
commit perjury, as well as other persons. The sentence
upon him was that he be imprisoned in the Haase of
Correction for three months
A

—On Friday, the metropolis was vi_
eof the densest fogs-we have had this sea
that all the steamboats both above and below brid
usual, and the traffic

.rL LONDON FOG
sited bN

from running

river was generally suspended. The Post-office, Eicise,
Custom-house, Bank of England, &c., in the city, stamp-
office, and all the Government departments at the West-
end, the banking-houses, shops, &c., were lighted up the
The works at the Crystal Palace in

ame as in the eienin

Hyde I

during a portion of the day were suspended in
consequence, and the drivers of the omnibuses we
liged to use th
as to pre

ution in the
The gl

rate of speed, so

ass was down within

one degree of freezing point_
MOUSE MILLS.—A gentleman in Kirkaldy, Scotland,
has trained a couple of mice, and invented machinery
enabling them to spin cotton yarn. The work is so con-
structed that the common house mouse is enabled to twist
twine and reel from 100 to 126 threads per day. To,eom-
plete this, the little pedestrians have to run 101 miles.
A. halfpennyworth of oatmeal, at Is. 3d. per pack, serves
one of these treadwheel culprits for the long period of five
weeks. In that time it makes 110 threads per day. At
this rate a mouse earns 7s. 6d. per annum. Take off sd.
for board, and is. for machinery, there will arise 6s. clear
for eve

The mouse employer was

going to make an appliciition for the lease 'of an old
empty house, which would hold 10,000 mouse mills, suf-
ficient room being left for keepers and some hundreds of

EXPLOSION OF A MAIL-BAG.—An accident of a sin-
gular nature, and likely to have been attended by great
inconvenience, occurred to the Canterbury letter-bag
from London, on Monday night. On arrival at Dover
(whither the Canterbury mail is conveyed), it was thrown
on the cart, when a sudden and violent explosion took
place, resembling the firing of a rocket ; and, on opening
the bag, it was discovered that the contents were on fire,
but, owing to the tight manner in which the letters and
papers were packed, few were burnt, the fire smouldering
more. However, many were scorched and blackened.
A box, which it was supposed occasioned the explosion,
was detained for further inquiry. Whatever it was that
caused the accident, it was evident that the explosion
arose from the bag being thrown up, which brought the
combustibles into forcible contact.—Kentish Observer.
SCULPTURE IN (,OAL.--West Wemyss has long been
famed as the principal coal field of the east coast of Fife.
The parrot coal of this district can be converted into arti-
cles of household furniture, such as looking-glass frames,
writing desks, chairs, and tables. Mr. Thomas William-
son is at present making a sofa wholly composed of coal.
It is nine feet long, with three compartments or divisions,
and it is sufficient to contain seven people sitting on it.
The front standards are beautifully carved, displaying three
mongrel animals, which forcibly remind the spectator of
those richly-carved figures that appear so frequently in
Dr. Layard'a remains of ancient Babylon. This curiosity
was ordered by General Wemyss, and it is highly probable
that it will appear at the great exhibition, as it is ordered
to be finished previous to that time ; and as the general
holds an appointment in the Queen's household, it may
yet be transferred from the crystal palace to the palace of
her Majesty.—Fife Advertiser.
A DOG'S FRIENDSHIP.—Happening to pass the house
of a neighbour a short time since, who occupies a large
estate near to me, I saw one of his servants taking a dead
sheep dog away in a wheelbarrow to bury, and upon my
remarking to him, " What ! is the poor old dog dead ?"
for I had knovin the dog for years—he narrated to me the
following little incident :—it appears that the dog had
contracted an extraordinary affection for one of the waggon
horses, but the horse being an old one and very ailing, the
worthy occupier of the farm had him destroyed : and one
morning, missing the dog, they found him lying upon the
grave of his late favourite, nor could they get him away,
except by force. They conveyed him home, but he re-
fused his food, nor could they induce him to take nourish
ment of any kind ; he pined for a short time and then
died, I presume, from excessive grief. The servants were
in the habit of placing him upon the horse's back with the
halter in his mouth, and sending him to the pond with the
horse when he went to drink, and he used frequently to
ride the horse to and from the different fields, in fact he
was never away from him.— Worcester Journal.
DISTRCSSING HOMICIDE AT BRISTOL.—An inquest
has been held at Bristol on the body of Mr. John Fre-
derick Bippert, a ship-broker and teacher of the French
language, who, on 4th December last, on going on board
the ship Adelaide, then lying in the Cumberland Basin,
to get the ship's papers and transact some Custom-house
business, was pushed off the poop to the lower deck by a
Mr. Alexander, and died from the effects of the injuries
he sustained thereby a few days ago. It appeared from
the evidence that on Mr. Alexander coming on board, the
deceased said to him, in a sneering manner, " You are too
late, I have got the ship's papers." Mr. Alexander told
him to mind his own business, and not to interfere with
him, and was proceeding to go down into the cabin, the
deceased endeavouring to prevent him, when a scuffle
ensued, in the course of which the deceased was shoved
down upon the deck. An examination of the deceased,
which had been taken before a magistrate, and in which
he swore that Mr. Alexander struck him with his fist
without provocation, and knocked him from the poop
deck to the main, thus causing the injuries of which
he died, was then produced and read. A verdict of man-
slaughter has been returned against Mr. Alexander.
ATTEMPT TO DROWN Two PILOTS.—The Greek brig
Panagia Carussina was boarded on Tuesday morning by
James Rowland, Bristol pilot. in the basin, whose duty it
was to conduct her to the Cardiff Roads ; and when
coming out of the lock at Rownhain, three of the crew
suddenly seized him by the throat and legs, and attempted
to throw him overboard, but in which they did not
succeed. Rowland, fearing to stay on board, from the
menacing aspect of the fellows, hailed the tug-boat and
got on board her, and so escaped ; but when opposite this
place, David Moose, a Cardiff pilot, went alongside, and
was about to ascend by o ladder which hung over the side.
When the crew, with the captain, saw that another pilot
was attempting to board, they drew up the ladder, leaving
a piece of spar, (which had served as a fender in the basin,)
and to which Morse held on, thinking that he could gain
access to the vessel ; but he was not allowed to do so, as
the fender was let out with the sole intention of turning
the man off, the brig then going five knots. Just at this
moment, and while Morse was struggling in the water,
the ladder, which continued up, was again, it is concluded
accidentally, let down, and of which Morse laid bold,
when one of the crew descended and trod on his fingers ;
but, notwithstanding, Morse held on, and two Pill boats,
which put off to render him assistance, succeeded in saving
him; but for which be must have been drowned.—Ship.
ping Guette,