The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-01-13 00:00:00

)uld pay the amount

"for I shall be bust with in
he shop when a sudi

y upholster(
nought

ppeared to

of you

but nothir,

I want it for an old
:e, and who would be

out much mo

also bought for 70f., and ordered to be b;ought with the other
things. At the appointed hour Madame B--, by way of
Precaution, took her son with her, and proceeded to the Rue
Tournon,. The house was a fine one, and she was directed
to a handsome apartment on the first floor. The gentleman
was ready to receive them, and taking the pendule entered
into another room, leaving the door open. " Look, my dear
aunt," he said, " here's the present I spoke to you about.
Can anything be more simple ?" "It is too handsome."
replied the voice of an aged woman—" far too good ; it must
have cost you a pretty sum—always doing something foolish."
" No, my dear aunt, not this time. It has only cost 70f."
"well, that is not too much—but the other things, the pre-
sents fur your sister and your cousins." "Oh ! I have
them—all equally chea. will show them to you, if you
like, with the receipt." "Ah ! mauvais sujet—l see you
want me to pay for part of them ; well, well, let me see
them." The young man brought back the pendule to Ma-
dame B—, and taking up the other things said " My aunt
is in excellent humour; I should not be surprised if she paid
for all." He then returned to the inner room, still leaving
the door open. " Here, my good aunt, see what good taste
I have displayed. These are the car-rings and brooch I in-
tend for my sister." " What !" cried the old woman's voice,
" Brilliants !—very bad taste ! a young girl should never wear
anything but pearls. You ought to have asked her opinion."
" But, my dear aunt—" " I say you ought to have con-
sulted her—go and call her. Let us hear what she has to
say on the matter." " With all my heart, my good madam."
He came out again, and addressing the lady and her son
said, " It is only an old woman's fancy ; but she is a good
old soul, and you shall see how pretty my sister is." He
tnen traversed the ante-chamber, and went to call his sister.
A quarter of an hour, however, elapsed, and no person ap-
peared. Madame B—and her son coughed and scraped
their feet to attract the attention of the aunt, bnt no person
seemed to mind them. They then ventured to enter the
aunt's room, which to their astonishment and alarm was
empty ! They immediately ran down to the porter and
asked for the gentleman. "Oh ! he has been off some time
in the cabriolet which he hired." " But you know him ?"
asked the alarmed lady. "Oh not 1," said the other; "he
took the apartment yesterday, gare 10f. as the dinier-a-
Dieu, and took possession this Morning." There could be
no doubt about the matter. An impudent robbery had been
committed by means of ventriloquism, and the ingenious
rival of Alexandre has not yet been discovered.

INTREPIDITY AND HUMANITY OF ELLISTON.—An ad-
venture took place about this time, which, by one particular,
was rendered somewhat remarkable. A musical star being
in the ascendant, and opera, consequently, the zenith of the
" bills," Elliston's duties did not call him to the theatre
until late in the evening, when he had to play the part of
Don Juan, for about the fiftieth time. Passing down an ob-
scure street, on his way thither, his ears were suddenly
startled by indications_of terror and distress, and he disco-
vered, on turning abruptly into a narrow court, the lower
part of a house enveloped in flames. The occupiers had es-
caped unhurt, and most of them, miserably poor, were
watching, either in stupid agon y or with unavailing cries,
he sure destruction of their crazy chattels ; while others,
rracted to the spot by mere curiosity, looked on the scene
an exhibition prepared for their special gratification,
' 7.vidence of ruin but as a coup de thedtre,
....cy welcomed with applause. Amidst the bewildering
appeals of the surrounding sufferers, the most heart rendine
were those of a middle-aged female, who, running from spot
to spot, and threading the crowd without any identical pur-
pose of action, exclaimed—" Poor Jamie! he's gone—he's
gone !—no one can help poor daft Jamie !" By the language
and manner of the woman, it was clear some one yet re-
mained unrescued, and at the mercy of the element. Ellis.
ton instantly pushed forward to the frantic suppliant, and
soon understood that, in an upper apartment, some helpless
being was still imprisoned, whose awful fate was momentarily
expected. A. side-door of the house afforded still the possi-
bility of ingress. Of the chance Elliston availed himself—
he rushed up the staircase, followed fortunately by a by-
stander, emboldened by this example, and found himself
instantaneously in a wretched attic, where, on a still more
wretched pallet, lay extended a poor bed-ridden being, whose
state of idiotcy seemed roused to a glimmering sense of some
proximate danger, but who had neither power of utterance
nor ability of motion. Amidst the varied evidences of decay
ground hirn; this wreck of humanity—age, idiotcy, and in-
Do -►y, each in its extreme—
Lost for a qwent to the frightful

firmity, with their attendant pov

)werfully

progress of the element, he stood motionless and app"alleci.
" 'Tis useless !" exclaimed the man who had followed him—
"he cannot be saved ! the stairs are already in flames !"
—he shall !" ejaculated Elliston—" be steady, and
accomplish it." Approaching the bed, Elliston
'or creature in his arms, and binding about him
•,,iiant of sheet and clothing—as much to
disarm feet:nu attempts to be free, as for the covering
t might afford—carried him to the head of the stair-
case. The mingling clamour of apprehension and encourage-
meat from the mob below kept his energy at its pitch, but to
descend the flight thus encumbered was impossible. The fire
was mounting, and suffocation inevitable. With difficulty
he had passed to the first landing, where, forcing a side-
window, he presented his nearly-rescued charge to the mul-
titude. But the shrieks and straggles of the sufferer—the
d,fficulty of making the crowd understand that they were to
assist him from below, all, imperatively, the work of a few
seconds—had nearly left them in one common ruin. At

" He can—

raised the

:ver, by the aid c
le living burden
le tackle, and f

as lifted on the sill, lowered
, unhurt, into the contrived