The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-01-11 00:00:00

VARIETIES

It has been calculated that a pair of sparrows, while
rearing their young, destroy on an average 5363 cater-
pillars every week.
If you would keep your hands from chapping during the
winter, wash them as often as you please, but rub them
" bright dry" each time : don't leave a particle of moist-
ure for the cold air to act upon.
A\NGER.—Passion is the drunkenness of the mind ; and
therefore, in its present influence, not controllable by
reason ; forasmuch as the proper effect of it is, for the
time, to supersede the operations of reason.—Poynder.
The verb " to build" has been much degraded among

us, and~has lost its full signification. "Our English
word, to build," says Horne Tooke, " is the Anglo-Saxon
byldan, to confirm, to establish, to make firm and sure
and fast, to consolidate, to strengthen ; and is applicable
to all other things as well as dwelling places." In Ger-
many the word retains its full meaning.—The Builder.
During the alarm caused by a threatened invasion of this
country by the French, in 1798, the following singular an-
nouncement appeared in the public papers : The Bishop
of Winchester has sanctioned the whole of the clergy of
Hampshire, and especially of the Isle of Wight, to take
up arms in the present crisis, and also to do whatever they
may think best for the service of their country."
LISTON AS AN OPERATOR.—It iS related of him, that
on the eve of performing a dangerous operation, Liston
would mount his horse, and gallop miles over the country,
not for amusement or recreation, but deeply pondering on
the case at issue, and steeling himself with that determi-
nation which was requisite for success. Alone, and almost
like a Mazeppa, but absorbed in the one idea and the apa
proaching struggle, he has (as we have heard from his owl!'
lips) rushed over the Corstorphine Hills, near Edinburgh,
or Hampstead Heath, in the vicinity of London, and re-
turned in a condition, mental and physical, to undertake
(under the most favourable auspices) the onerous and life-
or-death task before him.—Literary Gazette.
A COMPLAISANT HUSBAND.—In the neighbourhood of
Rochdale, it happened that a big, hulking colliers six feet
two in his stockings, had- an extremely diminutive wife.
But, what was more singular, it was currently reported
that the said little woman, being, in country dialect, a
spreet, (sprite) was in the habit of thrashing her husband.
" John," said his master to him one day, " they really
say that your wife beats you. Is it true ?" "Yoy,"
drawled John, with most provoking coolness. " Yoy,"
responded the master, with indignation. "What do you
mean, you lout ? A great thumping fellow like you, as

strong as a steam-engine or an elephant, to let a little
woman like your wife thrash you! What a blockhead
you must be !" " Whoy, whoy," was the patient reply,
"it ple-ases hor, an' it does me no hort !"—Fraser'
Magazine.

THE DRESS OF ENGLISH LEPERS IN THE 14TH CEN-
TCRY.^" The brothers [of the leper-house of St. Julian,
near St. Albans] are to have a tunic and upper tunic of
russet, with a hood cut from the same, so that the sleeves
of the tunic be closed as far as the hand, but not laced
with knots or thread after the secular fashion. They are
to wear the upper tunic closed down to the ancles, and a
close cape of black cloth, of the same length with the
hood, as they have been accustomed of old." A particu-
lar form of shoe was also ordered, and if the order was
disobeyed, the culprit was " condemned to walk daily
barefooted until the master, considering his humanity,
said to him—enough."---Dr. J. Y. Lawson on Leprosy
and Leper Hospitals in Scotland and Ireland.
THE LANCASHIRE DIALECT : PURE SAXON.-011r
description of the manufacturing poor would be im-
perfect, without some reference to the peculiarities of
their dialect. Their vocabulary is very circumscribed.
It contains a strong dash of Faxon, with a considerable
mixture of those non-descript words which are traceable

to no root. It is, however, full of energy and expression.
When some one more aspiring among them ventures upon
classical ground, there is great danger of a fall. It is not
unusual for us to be called suddenly to an old woman
grievously ill with " spavirT" (spasms) in the stomach, or

opna p
(ailna iaomn ''m'
a(ptiaolnp)i ttfi otn4
inside:he h e‘ii,rHt , orw cjoannfl9ar

inquired of;1;;;Cio-us old lady the oth;i. day, •` How
is your daughter ? What did the doctor say of her com-
plaint?" Why, sir," she answered, "he said, sir, she
was in a very pthysical (critical) way, indeed, sir—very
ptnysical." It is well, therefore, to use much plainness
of speech in your intercourse with the poor. Not, per-
haps, that this, in many cases, is at all required; but In
some you can only make yourself intelligible by deScend-
ing to thvir level.—Fraser's Magazine,

Customs
Excise..

116,301,865
12,521,250
.6,931,414
4,272,408
5,395,391
816,000
120,000
317,090
667,644

295,567
790,5Q4

Stamps

Property Tax
Post OfEce..

Crown Lands.
Miscellaneous

China Money..
Imprest & other

Moneys ....
Repayments of
Advances. ..

192,547

1,070,411

Total 1nc0me*.150,615,020 I
Deduc

QUARTERS ENr

I 1847

i ~ i

Customs

4,514,721
3,608,155
1,740,687
Taxes .
Property Tax 450,219
Post Office 203,000
Crown Lands 3OOOO
Miscellaneous
China Money
Imprest &other
Moneys
Repayments of
Advances. 302,449

Excise:
Stamps

Total 1ftc0me*.112,820,671
Deduct

11,665,358

43,000
132,164
667,644

Increase

506,365

402,859
361,272
175,832

17,911

I 1,270

I 228,401

32,232 11,187,545
32,232

Decrease on the Quarter.. £1,155,317

The revenue for the year shows a deficiency of £2,217,454
in comparison of the preceding. This amount is partially
accounted for by the facts, that in 1846 a sum of £667,644
was brought to the credit of the account as Chinese ran-
som, which, however, was the last payment ; and that,
under the head of the repayment of advances, the public
accounts were credited during the former year with a sum
of £1,070,411, while under the same head, during the last
year, the amount is reduced to £564,046. Those items,
no doubt, account for about one-half of the existing de-
ficiency of the year, but they do not reduce it. And the
work of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is just as diffi-
cult as if it had originated from some more regular
causes, though it is assuredly gratifying and encouraging
to find that, amidst the great calamities under which the
revenuecountry has leasn
ebeen during the past year,_ the
collapsedring than this account Judi,
cates.
The falling off in the customs returns is less than might
have been expected. on the whole year ; only £295,567.
ml.aebou
This is about one-sixtieth of the total receipts from cus-
toms in the year 1846. whereas the decrease in the excise
is little less than one-sixteenth of the total receipts from
that source in the same year. In one respect there is a
pretty exact parity in the returns of the customs and ex-
cise. In both, the returns for the two first quarters of the
year 1847 are in excess of the returns for the corresponding
quarters of 1846; in both, the decrease in the third quar-
ter of 1847, as compared with the corresponding quarte
of the preceding year is greater than that in the last
ter. The variation in the returns of 1846 from those of

1845 was scarcely perceptible. This indicates that, as was
to be expected, the full, pressure of our embarrassments
has only come to be felt considerably later than their ex-
istence was known or apprehended ; and (what is more
consoling) that th'j slight revival of the last quarter gives
room to hope thr,t the worst hour is passed.
The two mein suggestions of these returns we are
anxious to iiirpress deeply on the minds of our reader?.
Their general aspect indicates undiminished elasticity in
the national resources, and an apparent abatement of the
pressure.. The great reduction in the excise receipts for
the twr, last quarters, and in the stamps, indicates dion-
nishelA activity in some employments, and great privation
anIV ng the less wealthy classes, extending upwards consi-
deably beyond the mere worlcing classes.