The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-12-10 00:00:00

seriously hurt.
LiVEBPOOL MAYORS IN QUEEN ELIZABETH'S DAYS.
—We-find the following particulars respecting that high
functionary. The Mayor war elected on St. Luke's Day,
that is, the 18th of October. It was his duty to preside
at elections, when he sat on the bench in state. On all
gredt occasions he was attended by the aldermen, bailiffs,
and burgesses, who were required to appear in their best

" licto

g. A " decent pew"
1, with the Queen's An

to give a

to visitors of distinction
111 11

is offere

public moneys ; thus tt
ived £24 l4s. Bd., and corm..
The Mayor of 1572 receiv,
ended is unknown to posterity
. was more than he received, for-the
. a very much smaller sum to dispose of,
nevertheless he left office with cre-

ding c

layor of 1571 re
wend £2B Ils.

contrived

£23 Ils. Bd. What he e

Mayor of 1573 had

namely, 1;5 141
dit, having ext.

—u only £5 7s. 9d., thus leaving a sur-
plus of 7s. with his bankers. The Mayor of 1574 received
£lO ls. 4d., and expended £lO Bs. Any one not suffi-
-;ous of the dignity, and refusing to serve the
was fined £6 13s. 4d., which sum went to
the Mayor who :upplied his lack of service. As the chief
person in the corporation, which was a trading guild, it
was the duty of the Mayor to make bargains for the pub-
lic. As, for instance, on one occasion he bought two
Hundred measures of wheat, as a town bargain; onano-

ciently con

f mayor,

Cher a cargo of salt; on another a cargo of salmon, " ly-
ing near the Tower gates." He was entitled to the se-
cond best fine, paid on the admission of freemen, admitted
during his mayoralty; and presided at the genial feasts
given on the admission of freemen, at one of •the
Recordersinforms-us that one of the occupants of the chair
got exceedingly merry, and ending by falling asleep—
dormit in cousin°. It was part of the Mayor's more se-
rious duties to see that the highwa'ys were kept in order.;
to perambulate the bounds of the town ; and to preserve
the public peace, which was no easy matter in that turbu-
lent age.—Baineeg History of Liverpool;

ARRIVAL OF 3. AZInS V. OF SCOTLAND AT THE COURT
OF FRANCIS I.—The advent of a sovereign like James V‘,
under such circumstances, created a wonderful sensation
among the nobles and ladies of the French court, more
especially the latter. They marvelled at his boldness in
undertaking so perilous a voyage in stormy weather, con-
sidering the roughness of the seas and the danger of the
coast; that he should have ventured on such an expedi-
tion without asking a safe-conduct from either the King'
of England or the. King of France; and that he should be
travelling in a strange land, not only without a military
escort for the protection of his person, but with so few
eervants. There was no court in Europe where the spirit
of knight-errantry was so highly appreciated as in that
of the chivalric Franeis I. ; no man better qualified, both
by nature and inclination, to enact the part of a royal
been of romance than the fifth James of Scotland. Giy,
gallant, beautiful, andfascinating, he excited the most
enthusiastic feelings of admiration in every breast, but in
none more ardently than in that of the young delicate in-
laid, who had been accustomed to regard him, from her
earliest recollection, as her affianced husband. Magda-
lene, it seems, surrendered her heart at once to the ac-
complished sovereign to whom her band had been pledged
in her, unconscious childhood. Lindsay of Pitscottie,who
had his information from leis distinguished kinsman, Sir
Davi/I.Lindsay of the Mount, one of the companions of
James's 'French adventures, tells us positively that the
King of(France left Lyons with the King of Scotland a few
hours after the arrival of that Prince. " That night,"
says he, •" they all raid to ane palace, called —, and
thercremained. But yet, in the mean time, the:King of
Scotland oveneaw not to give due reverence to the Queen
of France and all her dames, and in special to theaing's
daughter, Magdalene, who was tiding in ane chariot, 5e
cause she was sickly, and might not ride on horse. Yet
notwithstanding all her sickness and malice [illness],,fra
the time she sawthe King of Scotland and spake With
him, she became.so enamoured of Trim, and loved him ,so
well, that she would have no man alive to be her husband
but he allanerlie," meaning him alone. There are in-
stances where sickness, instead of marring, adds a touch-
ing charm to female beauty, especially in early youth,
when the malady is of a consumptive or hectic character.'
This was the case with the Princess Maglialene of France,
who is described .by by, as a zreature too fair
and exquisite for this work-day world, in which she was
to have but brief continuance. King Jamul, beholding in
her the realisation of his ,tseau•ideal of feminine loveliness
and grace, determined to break through all contracts
treaties, and entanglements that might prevent their
union, and to woo and win her for his Queen.—Miss
Strickland's New Series of Royal Biographies," Lives
of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses!'
WHY HAVE THEATRES DECAYED ?—Managers, at all
Nimes, have had recourse to strange, out.of-the-way ex-
pedients to excite the flagging zeal of the public, and
draw the million to the theatre. Hence the introduction
of horses, elephants, lions, dogs, and even monkeys.
Bat it is not fair to lay the whole blame of this on the
ill-starred speculator, who must pay his salaries on Satur-
day, and whose natural good taste often revolts against
the course necessity compels him to adopt. If legitimate
talent ceases to attract, it is something to find even a
Belgian giant or a General Tom Thumb to retreat on and
suppVythe deficiency. Who in his senses would lay out
a large •sum on a vapid spectacle, if the sterling ore of
Shakspeare or Sheridan maintained its current value?
Many able writers and ardent lovers of the stage have
thaught differently, and have penned eloquent essays to
show that the managers depreciate the national taste,
that the decline of the stage is entirely owing to their
obtuseness, that they pander to depraved appetite, and
that the public never fail to crowd the theatre when truth,
passion, and nature are placed before them. Alas ! all
this sounds well in theory, but reduce it to practice, and
the sandy basis of the opinion soon shows itself. For a
time, indeed, the premises may be borne out by the con-
clusion, but the insatiate thirst after variety wearies even
of perfection itself. The manager who tries to lead or
reform the public will gain the honours of martyrdom
long before he accomplishes his object. Whitehead,
when Poet Laurent, absolutely west so far as to apostro-
phise Garrick in a laudatory ode as follows :

A nation's taste depend's on you,
Perhaps a nation's virtue too.
Garrick, although a very cormorant in swallowing flat-
tery, had been too long a manager not to know better
than this. How he must have laughed in his sleeve at
the.hyperbolical nonsense. No one ever questioned the
classical attainments of John Kemble, or his love for the
legitimate drama, yet it was under his management at
Covent Garden that live horses were first introduced. A
real elephant, and the renowned Newfoundland dog,
"Carlo,", had already preceded them on the boards of old
Drury. Carlo appeared in a spectacle written expressly
for him by Frederick Reynolds (the celebrated writer of a
hundred successful but ephemeral comedies), called the
The Caravan, or, the Driver and his Dog. His perfor-
mance electrified the audience, and his attraction restored
the affairs of the theatre. then on the verge of dissolution
from a long run of ill success. On the first night, when
the piece had concluded, Sheridan rushed on the. stage
from his private box, in a frenzy of delight, shouting
wildly, "My preserver—my preserve.; I must embrace
my preserver. Reynolds stepped forward, thinking, of
course, it was the author he demanded. ",No, no," cried
Sheridan, pushing him aside, " I don't mean you ' • I
want the dog," And all this occurred, not in these de-
generate times, but at the very epoch which Oratorical
actors, at fund dlulmrs and other theatrical symposia, are
fond of designating palmy days of the dramat--
DaNin University.