The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-07-11 00:00:00

The splendid hounds, known at tae Northumberland and
North Durham Fox hounds formerly the Lambton Pack,
and which have hunted th.e northern portion of this county
during the last few 'years, have just been given up by
their owner, --naVi`!, Robertson, Esq, of Lees near Cold-
stream. The I"orthy gentleman's extensive stud of hunters
are annow:aced for sale.

Or, Friday morning week, three prisoners succeeded in
t soaping from the county prison at Durham. They had
effected their purpose by taking the funnel out of the stove,
iind emerging through the hole thereby made in the roof.
Their names are James Taylor, James Grierson, and
George Lamb. Taylor was under sentence of Trans-
portation.

Three extensive seizures were made, last week, by the
officers of customs—the Elizabeth, of Newport, at Exeter,
with tobacco, cigars, tea, silk, and eau de Cologne, the
duties on which would exceed £5,000 ; the French smack
Nouvelle Societie, from Cherbourg, at London, with 100
gallons of brandy: and the sloop Pink, of London, at
Grimsby, with 4,000 lbs. of tobacco concealed on board.
On the 20th ult. a little girl, about five years of age,
daughter of Alexander Wallace, boiler-maker, Carts-
duke, while lying on a spot exposed to the rays of the
sun, which were intensely ardent, sustained a coup de
soleil, from the effects of which, after lingering a few
hours, she expired, It is rare that such a casualty occurs
in our temperate latitude.—Glasgow paper.
Lord John Russell has placed upon the notice books of
the House of Commons intimation that it his intention,
on Tuesday, the 18th ofJuly, to move the presentation of
an address to the crown on the subject of education in
Great Britain. Mr. Hume's motion for a bill on the same
subject has been deferred until Tuesday, the 25th of July ;
and on the same day Mr. Colquhoun has given notice that
he will move resolutions on the subject of education.

MORE SHAESPEARE AUTOGRAPHS.—Within the last
few weeks there has turned up what, if authentic, must
be by far the most valuable of all the Shakspeare auto-
graphs. This is no less than the identical black-letter
copy of Hollinshead's Chronicle, which was used by
Shakspeare, encircled with his manuscript notes, and,
above all, by his own autograph signature in full.—Morn-
ing Chronicle.

REMOVAL OF CONVICTS.—On Saturday morning a
draft of convicts was placed in the van of the Old
Bailey, London, to be removed to the hulks off Chat-
ham. They were 25 in number, and principally those
sentenced to expatriation for 10, 14, and 15 years, as
well as a few for life. Among the number was Howse,
house-steward to the late Lord Fitzgerald, and others,
who once filled respectable stations in society.
Key-Dell, a pretty cottage villa, near Horndean, Hants,
and (to use the phraseology of Mr. George Robins) the
pet place of the vicinity, was sold through his instrumen-
tality last week, to Mr. Charles Kean, the eminent tra-
gedian, with thirty acres of park-like grounds, for 3,700
guineas. The greater portion is freehold, but there are
two or three acres held on lease at a pepper-corn rent for
the short term of only ten thousand years.

Two BOYS KILLED.—On Saturday morning week, three
boys got into a corve to be lowered into Wheatley's coal-
pit, near Wakefield, in order to proceed to their work.
They were in the act of descending when the hook on one
side of the corve, which attached it to the rope, broke and
two of them, of the names of Grace and Royds, were
suddenly precipitated to the bottom of the shaft (about
thirty yards) and were killed on the spot.
The Rev. Dr. Baines, Roman Catholic " Bishop of
Siga," and vicar apostolic of the western district of Eng-
land, was found dead in his bed on Thursday morning last,
at his residence, Prior-park, near Bath. On the previous
day he had consecrated a chapel at Bristol, which had
been previously used as a place of worship by the Irving-
ites. The bishop had celebrated mass and preached on
the occasion. The original cost of the building was about
£33,000, and it was purchased by the Roman Catholics
for £5,000.

DISCOVERY OF Two HUMAN SKELETONS.—A day
or two ago, as the workmen were engaged in digging the
foundations for some new houses at the bottom of Lower
Harley-place, Clifton Down, they turned up a portion of
a human skeleton. Information having been given to Dr.
Fairbrother, that gentleman proceeded to the spot and in-
structed the workmen to dig further, when it appeared
that two skeletons (one of them six feet long,) were em-
bedded in the ground, at about 18 in. from the sutface.—
Bristol Paper.

ROBBERY OF A CONVENT AT EDINBURGH.—On the
night between Monday and Tuesday last, St. Margaret's
Convent, Brantsfield Links, was robbed of a crucifix,
standing about two feet in height, which they supposed to
be gold, but which was only brass, gilt, worth about £l2.
Either scared by some noise, or proud of their prize, they
made their way out, leaving a silver crucifix, which stood
in view, and which is worth 80 gnineas. On Tuesday
Fallan apprehended a man offering the stolen crucifix
for sale as old brass, and broken to pieces.—Caledonian
Mercury.

SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE.—On Monday last, whilst
a file-grinder was at work in Allum-street, the large
grinding-stone (10 or 12 cwt.), whilst running at a great
speed, and without any previous warning, suddenly flew
in pieces, and a piece of the disjointed mass, upwards of
scwt., was literally projected through the wall of the
workshop, across a street eight or ten yards in width,
when, on coming in contact with the door of a cottage, it
smashed it to atoms. The missile found a resting place
in the cottage without having injured either the journey man
a passenger, or inmate of the cottage.—Manchester Her-
ald.

WITCHCRAFT.—That at this day any serious belief in
witchcraft should prevail, would scarcely obtain credit
were it not for many instances of it that are afforded. It
was only last week that a decent looking man, understood
to be from the parish of W—, entered the house of a
respectable tradesman at Totsham, and begged of the
mistress of the house a penny, saying his son was " over-
looked" and he was collecting in pence from that number
of females, 30 pence, in order to take him to and pay this
the consulting fee to Dr. Tuckett, at Exeter !!! At this
house at least, he was very properly refused.—Exeter Fly-
ing Post.

EXTRAORDINAY Fish.—A man who was trollinga short
time since in the Thames, at Clewer, near Windsor,
hooked one of the largest pikes ever caught in the riven
and after skilfully " playing" with the fish for upwards
of an hour and a half, he at length landed it safely. This
enormous fish, which has just been stuffed as a great cu-
riosity, weighed upwards of 301 b., and is three feet seven
inches and a half in length ! Mr. Mills, the banker of
Lombard street, who was " spinning" in the Thames
from a punt on Saturday last, caught, in the course of the
afternoon, between Windsor and Datchet bridges, three
splendid trout in beautiful condition, which weighed up-
wards of 251 b. A barbel was also hooked, and landed
near Datchet, two feet 10 inches long, and weighing 211 b.!

SYCEE SILVER.—BV the statement of the account
between the Master of the Mint and the Lords of the
Treasury, relative to the Sycee silver remitted from
China, it appears that the total value is £1,334,485 12s.
Bd., the freight and other expenses connected with which
is £19,291 ]Bs. 2d., leaving a balance of £1,315,188 9s.
sd. ; the abovenamed sum being equal in Chinese value
to 6,000,000 dollars, the first instalment under the treaty
of Nankin. Of this amount, £1,281,406 13s. 10d. has
been paid into the Exchequer, and £53,073 13s. 9d. re-
served for defraying freight, charges of preparation, con-
tingent expenses, allowances, &c., subject to the appro-
bation of the Treasury.

A TRIP TO GRETNA.—On Thursday evening, about
nine o'clock, a carriage drove up at full speed to the Coffee-
house Hotel, bearing " on the wings of love " a very
handsome young gentleman accompanied by a beautiful
young lady. Fresh horses were ordered on the instant;
" in less than no time " four spanking bays, with
drivers in splendid scarlet liveries, were prancing at the
door; and into the fresh carriage stepped Mr. Lamb, the
county coroner, looking as grave as if about to sit upon a
body, and a lady whose name we could not learn. Off
they set at full gallop, to " the green that lies over the
border ; " and frog the haste which they manifested, it
was supposed that some " relentless father " was in pur-
suit; but no such catastrophe occurred,:and in little more
than two hours, the happy pair returned, both looking
"as well as could be expected for the time." They set
off again in a short time for the west.—Carlisle Journal.

GREAT SILVER CISTERN.—The history of the mag-
nificent cistern lately sold at the sale of the late Duke of
Sussex's effects is rather curious. It was made for the
late Lord Courtney ; and at the sale of his plate in the
year 1811, it was purchased by Q. Dick, Esq., M.P., for
the sum of £57-1 at 10s. per oz.;it then weighing 1,148
oz. In the year 1818 Nlr. Dick ceded it to the original
proprietor at his particular request, it being a piece of
family plate. On his death, a few years ago, it was bought
by a Jew in that country, who finding a difficulty in
bringing it to England, in consequence of the high duty
on imported plate, sold it to another Jew in England, of
whom the Duke of Sussex bought it, having procured a
e I Treasury order to have it imported duty free. The Court-

_ embossed
ney arms being splendidly on it, his Royal
Highness had them removed, and his own substituted.
It now weighs 1,185 oz., and was sold for £350, at ss. 9d.
an ounce, to a dealer.

ASCENT AND PERILOUS DESCENT OF AN 2ERONALTT.
—A balloon ascended from Portobello Gardens, Dublin,
on Thursday last. The ascent was rapid and beautiful.
At a quarter-past six the balloon was observed by some
persons on the beach, deicending as it were from the
clouds, and approaching the earth from a N.W. direction.
It came so close to the surface that the aeronaut was heard
calling with his utmost strength to the men on shore ; but
it was soon evident that the inflating gas did not escape
quickly enough, in order to bring the balloon to the sur-
face on terra firma. The wind, which was a stiff breeze,
blew obliquely from the land out fo sea ; the balloon passed
the verge of the beach, and seemed to ascend still higher,
as it cau.e over the deep, and for a moment it was doubtful
whether it would not be carried urifotig the surf and rocks
at the foot of Bray Head, or be dashed against the preci-
pices of that promontory; in. either ease the fate of the
bold and unfortunate aeronaut being inevitable destruction.
The appearance of the balloon at this time was extremely
curious. From its callapied state It •fluttered like the sail
of a vessel when tacking near the wind ; it darted from
side to side like a paper kite ; the 'head rolled about,
and the car, pendulbug, far above the deep agitated sea,
oscillated fearfully, the occupant of the frail vehicle being
scarcely visible in the distance. ',At length the decisive
moment came. The gas escaped in-large volumes, and
the balloon fell :with great velocity; /aid in an almost per-
pendicular line into the sea,•from two to three cables'
length from the shore, the car with its burden causing a
heavy splash, and sinking for a moment out of sight. A
boat was immediately pushed off thrOugh the surf, and
von from his perilous po-
sition, after el
Six fishermen from the neighbouring houses pulled out,
and having first rescueda Mr. Gy
i nute in
balloon, w a
at card,
they madeaba
inngcisionliti.ntwthtnet&mlinflated
baying gathered it into the boat returned to land.