The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-02-18 00:00:00

A NARROW ESCAPE.—An accident happened during
the performance of Robert le Diable, in the evening of
Sunday last at the Valenciennes Theatre, which might
have had the same fatal effects as that which destroyed
the life of Miss Clara Webster, in London. While the
actress who was performing Isabella was, in the second
act, reading the letter from Robert, the long veil banging
behind her, suspended irom her coronet, caught fire from
a gaslight, and in a moment was in one entire blaze.
Fortunately, it was seen by the foreman of the fireman,
who instantly came on the stage, tore off the veil, and
with it the coronet of the princess, and treading the whole
under his feet, extinguished the flames. The actress was
thus saved from any personal injury, wh:,;.„
might not have been the case had her dress been made
any lighter materials than the heavy and 1-- -
velvet of which her robes were
from the fright, but in a very s'e
and resumed her part,—Galignant.
MYSTERIOUS OCCURRENCE.—On Monday afternoon
last, a most mysterious and singular occurrence took
place in Sutton, Macclesfield, at the house of a person
named Smith. As the domestics were engaged about the
house, a strange rushing kind of noise, though not very
loud, was heard near the fire-place, and immediately the
house was filled with smoke and soot ; the furniture was
seen to move, as from a violent shock ; some shelves,
fastened to the wall, were torn off and thro to the
ground, and some earthenware, placed upon
broken to pieces. The most strange part of all, however,
is, that when the smoke had subsided, the door of the
oven was found to be broken off by the hinges, and lying
in several pieces on the floor; no part of it appeared to be
fused, but all seemed to be shattered like -'
other brittle substance. A woman and some childre
were much bruised, but such was the surprise and con-
fusion of the moment, that they are unable to tell whether
they were hurt by substances striking them, or by some
invisible agency. o.le of the children's faces appeared as
though it had been pricked in several places by a pin. A
strong smell of sulphur was also observed. A bakehouse
on the opposite side of the _
course of the same afternoon, full of so.
unknown cause, and a strong smell of sulphur was ob
served there also. The day was very foggy ; and we have
spoken to several persons living in the neighbourhood,
who saw a flash of lightning about the time these singular
occurrences took place. It seems, therefore, highly pro-
bable that they were caused by the agency of electricity.
—Macclesfield Chronicle.
CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.—A circumstance which
occurred a few days ago in Christ Church College has
been the subject of much conversation in Oxford. A
large party of young gentlemen, members of theecollege,
were discovered by the censors in the act of gembling,
and for very high stakes. The discovery took place
between two and three o'clock in the morning, when the
censors entered the room where the party were,and as their
presence was not perceived by the young men, they saw
and heard sufficient to justify them in their proceeding.
The next morning four of the young men (one of them
a nobleman) were rusticated, and three of them expelled.
Two of the latter bad previously been rusticated. The
sequel of the affair does not say much for the discipline
of the college. On the night after the expulsion, or
rather at one o'clock in the morning, a large body.of the
students sallied from their several rooms each with a torch
and a bundle of faggots, and in the course of a few
minutes a large bonfire (formed of the furniture of the
seven young men) was blazing in the centre of the Peck-
water Quadrangle. The censors looked on powerless.
On the following night the doors of the rooms of all the
heads of the college were painted red. On the dean's
door there was a figure of a bear, with the inscription
"ursa major." Other doors were painted with similar
The whole college is disord'
in consequence of these pre- eg,
opinions afleen in the university
measure adopted by the dean. Tr p
haps, generally aware
closes, to the young man who e_it
the honourable professions. In fact he
an early fault of this kind may folio
THE CHURCH AT FALMOUTH.-
here. Peace has been proclaimei
declared in Teignmouth, and coscesstons
throughout the diocese : Falmouth alone
Here the strike approaches almost to rancour,
would seem that this parish church, being on,
the first to raise the flame, is to suffer with somethe
like retributive vengeance so long as an emblem is left,
Last week a vestry assembled to make a church-rate,
and the old wound was opened afresh. Some of the
oldest churchmen of the town opposed the rate, alto-
gether, conside ing that course the most likely to produce
a concession. Others, with sullen indifference, voted in
favour of so much, and that only, as
churchwardens from personal risk.
this motive was the rate granted. it wss from no love
towards their church or their minister. Every item was
reduced to the legal minimum, and the organist ordered
to be discharged ; the present churchwardens intending,
before they quit office, to take possession of the
organ and lock it up. Last Wednesday, another
meeting was held in the vestry-room of the town
workhouse. to consider what further steps it was neces-
sary to take. It was a very numerous and respectable
meeting. The Mayor, Mr. W. Broad, one of the church-
wardens was called to the chair. A resolutioneves passed,
to the effect, that the Queen be memorialized on the sub-
ject; that petitions be presented to both Lords and Corn-
mons, and that in the one house the matter be entrusted
to Lord Ebrington. The tont of the meeting was tem-
perate, but determined ; and there seemed to be a settled
conviction upon the minds of all present, that if anything
like peace was restored to this parish it must be dime by
some authority far above the Lord Bishop, or the non-
resident rector, who, we hear, sends his curate, only last
week, instructions to make no alteration from the present
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verting men into enemies?—West Briton.
the annoyance to which her Majesty and the Prince were
subject at Brighton, thus remarks upon this scandalous
affront :—" How touching a picture of Itoval distress and
tadhnu
flight of Louis XVI. from Paris, his detection, arrest,
antici-
pating the pleasure of freedom and the rare enjoyment of
a walk like other folks. Fancy their delight at the suc-
cess of their disguises—they have passed undiscovered to
the Chain-pier; they are on the Chain-pier enjoying the
sea breezes, unstared at, unsaluted, unmolested. They
are the great unknown. But the term of liberty expires.
The Pier Company only allow two hours for the Royal
freedom, and it is time to return to the Palace. As the
happy pair turn towards their prison, they see with
consternation the cliffs covered with the enemy, and
from the tollgate they have to fight every inch of
their way to the Palace ; often did they seem
on the point of being driven into the sea ;
indeed, had the Britons made the stand against Caesar
that the Brightonians did against Victoria and Albert
the Roman conquest would never have been achieved.
But when gentlemen painted blue, the stubbornness of
the true British blackguard was unknown. The errand-
boys, always of an inquiring and observing turn, espe—
cially distinguished themselves in opposing the royal pro-
gress, and a youth unknown to fame, with a basket of
cabbages, was so resolved on seeing the royal countenance
that he intrepidly looked under her majesty's veil. Now,
certainly the liberty of walking may not be immodestly
claimed by the Queen of England. That the Sovereign
should not be trampled on is not too much to ask. Let
her not in her promenades be the mob-led Queen.' But
how is her majesty's liberty to be secured ? Suppop no-
tice were given that for a certain time every day black-
guards resolved to stare at the Queen should be adinitted
to do so in the Palace, on the understanding that they
should leave her majesty undisturbed in her walks and
drives 1 The qualification for the presentation, should,'
of course, be blackguardism, and none should be ad-
mitted to this levee who did not claim the character
of blackguards. How Her Majesty, beset by the
Brighton blackguards, must have regretted the boy Jones.
How modest were his ways; intrusive, indeed, but not
obtrusive; inquiring, but not molesting; spying 'unseen,
like Sir James Graham, How different the conduct of
his curiosity from that of the Brighton ragamuffins. But
still, what is to prevent the cat's looking at the king ? How
is the police or thei magistracy to prevent the crowding
about her Majesty, which is no offence; If a blackguard
peeps under the veil of a private gentlewoman walking
with her husband, the fellow gets a thrashing, and every-
one says that it serves him right. There are impertinen-
ces which the law does not punish, and which can only be
restrained by the chastisement which is the ullima ratio
of the code of manners. If bystanders, feeling, as they
ought to do, gave a good thrashing on the spot to imper-
tinent fellows molesting the Queen, there would presently
be art end of the nuisance. This would be putting a mark
on the offenders which would pretty effectually cure them
and deter others.
CUNNING OF THE TOMTIT.—A correspondent of the
Gardener's Chronicle says ;—" My gardener tells me that
a shrubbery at the bottom of the kitchen garden abounds-
with the family Tit, and that lie observes them come
down on the roof of the wooden bee-house, and tap upon
it until a bee comes out, when Master Tit pounces upou-
it, and eats it up.
ANCIENT ENGLISH DISHES.—Even as early as 1230,
most of our favourite dishes were of French origin. There
Wen* tureen of the old ".potage de frumenty," made of
bruised wheat, broth, milk, coloured with eggs and saffron.
" Blanche-porre," a soup of leeks and onions ; " torance
It) potage," made of the nombles of a calf; " Browett of
Almayne," made of rabbits, and pork, and spices ; " Ca-
pons in Confy," made of capons partially roasted, and then
stewed in rice, milk, broth, cloves, and eggs ; `• goose in
hoche-pot," a half-roasted goose, served in the same way,
only indulged with a little wine and raisins ! " Egurdonce
to potage," a rich hodgeptidge, made of rabbit, capons,
and kid, boiled with broth, wine, and ginger; " Felettes
in gelartyne," of pork, stewed in spices and rich gravy ;
rabbits, under the names of " Conynges in cyne ;" " Co-
nynges in turbatur," and " Viaunde de Cypres." Then
the wild boar from the New Forest was served as "Bor
in counfett," and "BOor in brasey." That the guests
might see that their ancestors were not behind them
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