The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-09 00:00:00

LANCASTER ASSIZES.

GREAT WILL CAUSE.—TAIIIA AI V. WRIGIIT.—This impor-
tant cause, the object of which was to determine the
,validity of
the will of the late J. Marsden Esq., of Ilornby-castle, which
was disputed by' Admiral Tatham, the heir-at-law, and the.
plaintiff ig this action, came on for trial at Lancaster, 'adore
Mr. Baron Gurney and a special jury, on Tuesday morning
last. Mr. Marsden died in 1826, at tiro. age of 78, leaving the
manor of Hornbv and other estates in dispute tg,Mr. Wright,
his steward, the defendant in thiS action. During his long life
Mr. Marsden had the uncontrolled.management of his estates,
which were greatly improved in value, uu(L:r the st.perintend-
ance of his steward, and :no question was ever raised ai to his:
capacity, until his decease and the production of his will, in
which'part of his
_property was left to Mr. Wright: ne ques-
tion was tried at York about three years ago, «ud elided in a
verdict • for'the defendant, thereby' establi.,iiing the validity.of
the The present action was brought to set aside that ver-
dict, on the ground of additional evidence. Sir James Scarlett,
who had been specially retained, led for the plaintiff, and Mr.
Pollock for. the defendant. The cause occap:ed the court from
Tuesday to Friday, when it came to a sudden and unexpected
conclusion. Mr. Pollock, who was endeavouiinw to prove his
case, was about to.put in thewill, for the purpose of being read.
Sir J. Scarlett objected to its being read, observing • that the
will was signed by three witnesses: two of their were dead;
but Mr. Proctor; the third witness, was still alive, and his evi-
dence was the best as to the identity of the instrument; and
until he was examined the will was not admissible. A long
argument ensued on this point, and, Mr. Baron .Gurney ruling
in favour of the objection, the jury, under his lordship's direc-
tion, found a verdict for the heir-at-law, damages one shilling,
and.costs forty shillings; a verdict.the exact reverse of the one
found at York. This sudden and unexpected termination of
this far-famed cans; created,. in one of the must crowded courts
we ever saw, the greatest surprise, and disappointed hundreds
who were anxious to hear what would be the evidence adduced
on the part of the plaintiff. The ease, however, is not yet de-
cided. The point on which it went off may yet be argued in
the Court.of -King's Bench, upon the bill of exceptions; and,
should Mr. Baron Gurney's decision .be confirmed there, it will,
most likely, be carried, by appeal, before the House of Lords.
The proceedings on the remaining indictment, arising out of
the alleged riot at Clithero, having been abandoned, and the
'other Kendal tithe cause having been made a reutanet, the
case above reported terminated the business of. these Assizes.

TOPS AND MOUSE-TRAPSI

"The Top is a subject which a great Liverpool Philosopher
does not consider beneath the patronage of his mighty genius."
—Fiddle-de-dee.

t' We shall not waste a word on small wits, but leave them to
enjoy their sneers, or to indulge in
The loud laugh that shows the vacant mind.' "
—Hum's Lecture on Humming-tops.

. _
We have been highly delighted with perusing an • ac-
count of the extraordinary performances of one of our
learned contemporaries with his Top, and we now lament
that we have never turned our attention to the philosophy
of Top-spinning.—ln our boyish days we recollect having
recourse to Tops, as a favourite relaxation from our
abstruser studies, and well do we remember certain in-
flictions on the antipodes of our Top, for spinning it too
frequently, and at times which the Schoolmaster, who
was not then abroad, thought ill-timed, but all this hap-
pened when we enjoyed " The loud laugh," and never
dreamt that it showed " The vacant mind."

Although we cannot afford to keep a_ file of the Penny
Magazine, and do not possess the advantages of having
studied natural philosophy at a mechanics' institute, .and
are, moreover, too poor to turn a Gloucestershire cheese
into a humming-Top for the benefit of the curious in
Tops, we cannot quietly consent to be outdone by our con-
temporaries. We therefore announce to our readers
that " On the first of April, 1834, we intend to deliver a
lecture on the Natural History, Anatomy, Pathology,
and Physiology of the Mouse Trap. That this lecture
may be every way worthy of the serious and undivided
attention of the curious in Mouse Traps, and of the
learned world generally, it is our intention, in the mean
time, to consult all the authorities; (both ancient and
modern,) that have written on the subject; and it is also
our fixed determination to attend a course of lectures at
The London University, and all the Mechanics' Insti-
tutes from John o'Groat's house to the Land's End.

The public of Liverpool may therefore depend upon a
rich treat ; and that the subject may be properly illus-
trated, we have engaged the services of ,Mr. Heath to
su)ply us with engravings from draWing,kiilready in our
possession illustratiNA of this interestin4 subject. .

oft tl,
DULa DOMU2.

Sing a sweet melodious iniaitire,
Waft enchanting lays around;
s a theme, replete with pleasure !
Home grateful theme resound

Sweet home I an ample treasure !
nome ! with ev'ry blessing crown'd !
Home perpetual source of pleasure !
Horne a noble strain resound !

Lo ! the loyftil hour advances;
iikipy season of delight!
Festal songs, and festal dances,
All our tedious toil requite.

Leave. my wearied muse, thy learning,
Leave thy task, so hard to bear
Leave thy labour, ease returning,
Leave my bosom, 0, my care.

See the year. the meadow, smiling;
Let us then a smile display
Rural sports, our pain beguiling,
Rural pastimes call away.

Now the swallow seeks her dwelling,
And no longer loves to roam;
liar example thus repelling,
Let us seek our native home.

Let both men and steeds assemble,
Panting for the wide champaign,
Let the ground beneath us tremble,
While we aeour along the plain.

Ob, what raptures ! Oh, what Misses!
When we gain the lovely gate !
Mother's arms, end mother's kisses,
There our Melt arrival wait.

Greet our household gods with singing,
Lend, 0 Lucifer, thy ray ;
Why should light, so slowly springing,
All our promised joys delay 1

This old and justly favourite song of Duke Dolmen, the melody of
which is so classical and pleasing, was written about two centuries
ago, by a Winchester scholar, detained at the usual time of breaking
up, and chained to a tree or pillar, for an offence to the Master, when
the-other scholars had liberty to visit their respective homes. This
unfortunate youth was so affected with the loss of his liberty, and at
being detained from home, and all that was dear to him, that, before
his companions returned to school, he died broken-hearted.
in memory of this melancholy incident, the Scholars of Winchester
Sebool, or College, attended by the master, chaplains, organist, and
choristers, have an annual procession, and walk three times round
the pillar, or tree, to which their unhappy fellow-collegian was
chained, chaunting, as they proceed. Latin verses, of which the
above is a translation.

The following verses, written by a Kentucky Poet, have ap-
peared in some of the American papers, and attributed to Miss
Fanny Kemble, merely to gain notoriety for them :

The following beautiful Stanzas, from the pen of Miss FRANci9
ANN KEMELE, were communicated to the Editor of the United States
Gazette : •

When yon mournfully rivet your tear-laden eye,
That hart seen the last sunset of dope pass away.
On some bright orb, that seems through the still Sapphire sky,
In beauty and splendor to roll on its way :

Oh remember, this earth, if boheld from afar,
Would seem wrapt in a halo as clear and as bright

As the pure silver radiance enshrining yon star,
Where your spirit is eagerly soaring to-night.

AO at this very moment, perhaps, some poor heart,
That is aching and breaking in that distant sphere,
Gaies dolVn en this dark world, and longs to depart
Fium its own dismal home, to a brighter one here.

e3''ARIETs.

Every body recollects "the Massacre of Peterloo," in the
year 1819, which gave to Henry Hunt, Esq. his day of noto-
riety. A reference to by gone events is always a curious,
amusing, and instructive lesson. We delight in reproducing
the opinions on passing events of those who are gifted with
sufficient common sense (a commodity that John Bull perio-
dically discards as sheer folly) to keep aloof from the follies of
the day. In September, 1819, Madame Piozzi, in one of her
letters, dated London, says:--

" I thought London was to have run mad last week; but the
fever of reform is not yet hot enough. You will see that the
great men who think they are making Hunt and Co. their tools
to pull down one set of ministers, and put up another set which
they, can command, will themselves at length be used as tools
by the multitude, who are honest in the avowal of their mean-
ing, however absurd. They mean, like the wise men of Go-
them, to pull the pins out of London-bridge, and oil theM.
And I remember wondering, when a baby, why that was
thought so very foolish a project; for I doubted not but they
wanted sotnething, as we say, to be done to them! Indeed a
later adventure showed me how cautiously a work of reforma-
tion must be conducted : an old wall we wished to repair,
down in Denbighshire, was all overgrown with ivy: 'Cut it
away,' said we. 'But,' replied an experienced workman, it
has grasped the stones it loosened at the beginning; and if We
Init it away, the whole will drop to pieces: the ivy now helps to
support itself.' So I recollected the more serious allegory of
the corn and tares, and let the business rest."—.Picazianci.

We leave our readers to supply the commentary, in the firm
conviction that any olyeei vativus from us- will be a work of.
supererogation.

THE MERRY MAIDENS AND THEIR PIPERS.—In the parish
of Rivkin, in Cornwall, is a small circle of nineteen upright
stones,. called The Merry Maidens, from the received tradition,
that nineteen unmarried young women were transformed into
these. figures, for dancing and singing on a Sunday. The
stones are about four feet in height, and five feet from each
other; 'Mid. at a little distance from them are two taller stone;,
called the Pipers, as being supposed to represent the musicians
who played to the tunes to which the Merry Maidens danced.—
Orchestra Anecdotes.

THE CLASSICAL TOWN DRUMMER OF DUNDEE.—This worthy
personage paid the debt .of nature a short time ago, and his
library has been brought over to Edinburgh for sale. We have
Seen a catalogue of his books, which would do honour to a bib-
lioinaniac of the second or third magnitude.. There are up-
whids of—What do you think ?-1500 volumes, and these are
not made up of Tom Thumbs, Blue Beards, or Little Glnss
Slippers; but of the most classical, scientific, and valuable
tomes in the living and dead languages. There are a greet
number in Latin, and. not a few in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic,
Syriac, Bt-e. NOr were,these books selected for show alone) as
many ire; for Daniel APCormiek was a man of much reading,
and an excellent linguist withal, as the following anecdote will
attest:—A vacancy having occurred in the Greek professorship
of St. Andrew's, a candidate applied to the Provost of Diindee,
soliciting his interest at the forthcoming election. The Pro-
vost, honest man, told the applicant be was unfit to judge of his
qualifications, not being much skilled in the 'Greek language,
but that he would 'Cause the town drumther to examine him, and
if found qualified, he should then have the Provost's support.
A messenger was accordingly despatched for Daniel, who cate-
chised the candidate in presence of the Magistrate) and found
his knowledge of Greek such, that he pronounced him incina-
petent to teach the Hellenic language and letters! Daniel,
like most learned, men, was a pluralist, for besides his principal
office of town &rummer, he was alie town crier, which situation
he frequently Miide a safety-valve to his superabundant hunlour
and wit, to the -great aniuseruent of the aizens. the local
prints have not made us, sufficiently acquainted with this iii-
rular man's history, to kßow, how a scholar of his status held so
oW-a place in the kale °tickle honours. Perhaps' like Ciu-
cinnatus, he died nobly tiobiriffion principle. At alletents, he
has done some honour to 'his country; and when foreigners
write the historyof Scotland, it will give their countrymen some
idea of our national industry and love of leaiMng, when told
that the very town drummers of Caledonia possess libraridspf
1500 volumes, and are skilled in the language's Of the 'Vast.
'Peace to thy 'shade, Daniel M'Cormick ! The sale of ;Lord
Eldin's pictures did not draw together larger assemblages than
shall.attend the sale of thy books in Carfrae's !—Seotiznan.