The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-11-01 00:00:00

rDc la,)ott'o

THE FORSAKEN ONE,

A SKETCH.

I well remember her, 'twits in the dawn
Of youth and hope, in life`s unclouded spring,
When, like the visionary forms which Sit
Throughout the world of dreams, upon my sight
In all the pride of loveliness she burst.
For never in my bright irnagiaings
Had fancy's magic power disclosed to viow
A form so beautiful—the air she breathed
Did seem of greater rarity—her eyes
Of soft etherial blue, had not the glare
Which after years came o'er them—she lov'd—
Oh there is nothing in this nether world,
With all its sympathies and passions deep,
Like woman's love, when once th' inherent spark
Is fann'd into a flame by passion's breath;
Then all her hopes, affections, and her fame—
Her ail of earthly bliss doth concentrate
In one lov'd being, her spirit's altar—
The idol of her soul, to which she pours
Her silent adoration.—Such was her love
For one on whom fair Nature had bcstow'd
Her most attractive powers ; but alas !
The jewel which this costly casket held
Reflected not her handy work,—'twas base
In spirit, worthless, tho' it outward bore
The impress of divinit:--he came
In love's disguise, and pour'd into her ear,
Soft words of flattery. Oh, baleful power!
Fell as the Upas breath, how many fall
Beneath thy blighting influence—enough,
His vows are register'd above, they stand
In clack array against him—in an hour—
Fatal epoch in her history's page !
She left her cherish'd home—the traitor swore
Another sun should greet her as his bride.
But ah ! he did deceive her.

Again we met.
The wanderer return'd, but oh how changed I
The colour of her cheek had passed away—
Save one red spot—the hectic of despair!
Which serv'd more forcible than words to show
How it had prey'd within her—while her eyes.
Glassy and dim, a fearful tale did tell
Of maddening grief ! She sought again her home
'Twas the abode of strangers, and one told her
' The dismal story of her parents' fate.'
Grief for her light had brought them to the verge
E'en of the gravc—till at length it reach'd them
That their child, their darling child, was now
A homeless wanderer, abandoned by the wretch
That lured her from her home.—Then like a dower
Torn from ita parent stem, to grace awhile
" His heartless bosom"—left her to her fate:
The prop of their declining years thus snatch'd
Away for ever was too much•—they died!
Beseeching Heaven with their last faint breath
To save their wretched child ! Such was the tale
Abruptly told her, and her sole response
One wild hysteric laugh! and she became
A fearful maniac

Oh ! I could not bear
To gaze upon that Countenance, so void
Of ought like consciousness, or eve.i trace
Those pencilled features which assum'd the caste
Of ideot vacancy—those restless eyes
Bright with unearthly lustre; or to hear
The unmeaning laugh of cold insanity
For ever bursting forth,—l left that scene
And many a month rolled on—when at length
My wandering footsteps sought that spot again.
I was told that this poor forsaken one
Lay by her parents' side in peace beneath
A simple tablet in the charch.yard green.

CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

There will be found; in another part of our paper, a
report of a most extraordinary proceeding at a petty ses-
sions in the county of Mayo, taken from tlie Galway Ad-
vertiser. A Rev. J. Hughes, a Roman Catholic parish
priest, brings a charge against a person named William
Mairs, the steward of the Rev. Mr. Stoney, rector of the
parish, for accosting him on the high road, or, perhaps,
we should say, assaulting him with a Scriptural quota-
tion ! That an assault might be committed on a person
by throwing a Bible at his head, although it is the "book
of peace," is quite possible, but this is the first time we
ever heard of a quotation from Scripture constituting a
breach of the peace. The Rev. complainant himself ap-
pears to be acquainted with more effectual modes of vio-
lating the peace than by citing a text of Scripture. It
was in reference to advice of an energetic nature which
he had given hie flock as to the most summary methods of
disposing of heretic teachers of religion and their argu-
ments, that the obnoxious passage was quoted. If the re-
port be correct, the admission made by Mr. Hughes of the
instructions which lie gave the people in the chapel on
the preceding Sunday made him a fitter subject to be laid
hold of by the strong hand of the law than the person
whom he dragged into court. "I did advise," says the
rev. gentleman, according to the report—" I did ad-
vise them (the people in the chapel), the Sunday before
the defendant met me, if any person went into their vil-
lages or houses to talk to them about religion, to put them
out with pitchforks—to hunt dogs after them, and to put
them under water for so many minutes." A pitchfork
in the hand of ore of the "finest peasantry in the world,"
in a fit of fanatical zeal, is an admirable instrument fur
giving the coup de grace to any obstinate polemic whom
priestly logic might otherwise find it very difficult to si-
lence. The hunting down a Bible reader with dogs
would be a shorter method for the priest than hunting out
texts of Scripture to oppose him. As to sowsing the un-
fortunate preacher of reformed doctrines into the next
convenient horse-pond, it seems but a revival of the old
mode of dealing with reputed witches, for, according to
the hydrostatic test so applied, if they floated on the sur-
face, they were surely possessed of a familiar spirit and
stoned. If they sank to the bottom they were drowned
in the act of proving their innocence. We suspect that
all Bible readers who should be subjected to Priest
Hughes's test by water would find it as difficult to escape
either drowning in the first instance or stoning afterwards
as the reputed witches of the dark ages. Had his advice
been followed, however, the rev. father alight find him-
self in a very awkward predicament as an accessary be-
fore the fact.

That the fanatical violence of the priest should have a
great effect upon his ignorant hearers does not surprise
us. We do not wonder that a strong disposition was ma-
nifested by the crowd of peasantry in court to take this
summary vengeance on Mairs, and that the police had to
keep back the people by main force. But we confess we
were not prepared to find that such a charge as that made
by Priest Hughes, and supported in such a way, could be
seriously entertained and gravely acted upon by even a
bench of Irish Roman Catholic magistrates. Whether, in-
deed, they were Protestants or Roman Catholics we
know not—probably a mixture of both persuasions; but
whatever their religious creeds may be, their conduct in
entertaining this charge, and binding over the quoter of
Scripture texts to qualify the prescriber of pitchforks as
.proper weapons of Christian controversy, affords a me-
lancholy instance of the terrible dominion which intole-
rant priestcraft has established in Ireland over the rural
dispensers of justice.—Morning Herald.

LONDON POLICE REPORT.

MARYLEBONE.

Iremv Roper Curzon, a fashionably-attired young man, and
son of Lord Teynham, was placed at the bar under the following
circumstances :

The defendant is the person who, on the 15th of April last,
surrendered himself at the Marylebone station-house, stating
at the time, to inspector Collard of the D division, that he was
a deserter from the East India Company's Sappers and Miners,
the uniform of which regiment he then wore. In the evening
of the above day he was taken before Mr. Rawlinson, in reply
to whose questions he said he was the son of Lord Teyn ham,
and that owing to a disagreement with his father he had enlisted
iuto the Company's service, in the hope that the step he had
taken would excite his lordship's compassion, so as to induce
him to purchase his discharge, and afford him that pecuniary
assistance of which he stood so much in need. He also stated
that he had stayed two days over the time allowed by his "pass,"
in order that the fact of his being a deserter might come to his
father's knowledge, and induce him to look favourably on him
for the time to come. Mr. Rawlinson, on the occasion alluded
to, kindly extended his pass to the following day, and recom-
mended the young man to return to the depot at Chatham
without delay. He also promised to write to Lord Teynham
on the subject.
It now appeared in evidence that the defendant, on Sunday
last, went into the house of Mr. Dent, the proprietor of the
Manchester Coffee-house, and called for coffee ana toast; in a
short time after, he bad two goes of brandy ; having drunk
which, he retired to bed. In the morning he had coffee again,
and cold meat. The bill was then taken to him, when he
said he was unable to discharge it.
Mr. Rawlinson (to the waiter)—Well, it seems you have
trusted the young man. You should be more cautious in giv-
ing credit.
Waiter. —He appeared very respectable. your worship, and
',hen he entered the house he said he had a Ireowiedge of
several or the gentlemen who were then there.
In his defence, Mr. Curzon stated that he had formerly re-
sided at the coffee-house, and, being upon intimate terms with
people of respectability who frequented the establishment, he
did nut cons.der there would be any objection to giving him
credit. Ile was, however, quite willing to pay the bill in the
evening.
Mr. Rawlinson.—lt's not many months ago since you were
here as a deserter from Chatham; what are you doing now?
Mr. Curzon.—My discharge has been purchased, and I have
now an allowance from my father and friends.
Mr. Rawlinson said that, Mr. Curzon having promised to pay
that evening, he should not detain him, and he was according:),
liberated.

GENERAL STATtrTics or BIRTHS.—The journal of the Sta-
tistical Society of France gives a curious scale of the propor-
tion of male and female births in Europe, taken from an aggre-
gate of upwards of 70,000,000 of births. The following are'the
particulars :—For event 100 girls there are born in Russia
108.91 bnys; in Milan, 1I7.61; in France, 106.55; in Holland,
106.44; in Pomerania and Brandenburgh. 106.27; in Sicily,
106.18 ; in Austria, 106.101 in Silesia, 106.5 ; M Prussia,
103.94; in Wurtcmberg. 105.69; in the Duchy of. Posen,
105.66; in Bohemia, 135.28; in Great Britain, 104.75; in
Sweden, 10-1.62. The two eptsemes a>ce formed by 3s.ussia and
Swedan.—Lansei.