The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-11-01 00:00:00

FASHIONS, FACTS, .3 FICTIONS.

A private letter arrived in town on Sunday from his Royal
Highness the Duke of Cumberland, which holds out some pros-
pect of the restoration of the sight of Prince George. Isis me-
dical attendant had reported to his Royal Highness that the
applications he had made to the eyes of the young prince were
operating to the extent of his most favourable expectations, and
he was far from being without hope that eventually a cure might
be effected.—Albion.

It was the intention of the King ;..nd Queen of Belgium to
visit Claremont this year, but they have been prevented. As
the queen, however, is very desirous of spending two or three
weeks at that charming sedutt, the, king %villprobably bring her
over next spring.—Court Juin-
There is no prospect of Parliament being called on to meet
before February, but we hear that all the ministers will assemble
at a grand cabinet meeting either this week or early in the next.

The office of storekeeper in the Stationery-office, held for some
time by young Key, is at length filled up. Mr. Huntley Gor-
don, once private secretary to Sir W. Scott, and recently in the
superintendence of the newspaper department in the Stamp-
office, has been appointed to the situation.
The governors and directors of the poor in the parish of
Greenwich have appointed five of their body to ascertain, ac-
cording to the data they can collect, whether a corporation
would or would not be of advantage to the borough.
A death-blow has recently been inflicted on the contraband
traffic in spirits by an arrangement entered into by the govern-
ments of this country and France—viz. that no spirituous liquors
be suffered to be exported to England in casks containing less
than sixty gallons.
A Hor.tow CONIPLIMENT.—On the chairman of the West-

minster Sessions taking his seat, says a contemporary, he was
congratulated by the bar on the scarcity of business before the
court, there not being a single case for trial. This is of a piece
with the members of another learned profession being delighted
at the general healthiness of the town, and at the long faces
which they appear to assume on the approach of an epidemic.
The General Steam Navigation Company's packet, the Har-
lequin, from Calais, arrived off the Custom-house at half-past
eleven o'clock on Monday; also, the William Jolliffe, from
Hamburgh, arrived an hour later, both vessels having made very
good passages.

The following is a literal copy of an application, made a short
time since, to the parochial authorities of a populous parish not
100 miles from the West India Docks to be allowed to stand a
candidate for the office of parish-clerk, &c. :—" To the Vestry-
man of the Parish of —: Geantleman, I humilily Beg your
Pardon for the Liberty I am now taking But I hope your Good-
ness Will excusit onccount of my having this fortnight peti-
tioned to the minister and churchwardens and overseers of the

poor of this parish mins er and Mr. H-- the Churchwardens
ses heas no ob Jeckion tooet ther for Gentleman of this Parish
to.Be beard as a Candidate in the Church ther for Gentleman
I Beg Leave to offer, to your notice as a Candidate for the si-
tuation as a Parish Cleark and to solicit the favor of your vote
and intrest on my Behalf I am Constrained to Request the favor
that your honors will permit me to heard as a Cleark on sunday
nex I ther for humbly Prays yours honors will ;rant my Request
and as in duty Bound your Petitioner he will pray for you. I
am Gentleman most &c. &c." It is almost unnecessary to state
the applicant's wish was not complied with.
PHENOMENON.—On Tuesday last an extraordinary gust of
wind passed over that part of the county which lies between
Porthleven, Helston, and Falmouth, coming from the sea, and
taking a direction nearly from west to east. It appeared to be
of very limited extent, but rushed forward with irresistible fury;
it struck a stack of corn at the top of Meneage-street, at Hel-
stone, scattering the sheaves on every side • thence it passed to
a stable, forcing open the door, which was locked, and making
a way through the thatch; it next crossed the road, where it
threw down some men and horses that were passing at the time,
broke several windows in a range of houses that lay in its way',
and raised the slates of the roofs, forcing the thatch torn from
the roof of the stable into the vacancies thus made, in an ex-
traordinary manner. Happily, by the direction in which it
passed, the town of Helston escaped, with the exceptions above
stated. From this point it appears to have crossed the country
to Falmouth, where its operation was suddenly' felt by its rush-
ing down the bill nearly opposite to Selley's Greenbank Hotel,
traversing a space about 100 yards in width. At one extremity
it created seine disturbance in the house, and displaced some
slates from the roof, but meeting in mid course a boat at anchor
in the river, it overturned it in an instant, and operated on
several others to an extent nearly similar; passing across the
harbour, it struck a boat at the extremity of the quay at Flush-
ing, in which were two seamen, and which it capsized; the men
were thrown into the water, but escaped without further injury.
Here there are but few houses, over which it passed, displacing
a few slates, and it appears to have spent itself against the high
hill behind the town, as there are no further traces of its pro-
gress.—lleinniport Independent.
We have to announce the death of a much respected lady
and a distinguished leader of lout ton for some years past,
Mrs. Thomas Chaplin, on Monday afternoon, at her mansion
in Grafton-street. This amiable lady, who arrived at an ad-
vanced age, was much esteemed by a large circle of the first
nobility and gentry, and her town mansion as well as her
beautiful demesne, in Lincolnshire, has been the scene of
numerous assemblees of the beau monde. We understand by
the demise of this lady, her nephews, the Lion. Captain Vynor
and his brother (sons of the lady Theodosia Vynor) and a
young and mil* lady adopted by the deceased,will come into
possession of a splendid property, in real and personal estates.
file hon. Captain Vynor was some few months ago united to
the youngest daughter of Earl de Grey. Mrs. Chaplin was
connected by birth and marriage with several families of great
wealth in the north of England, and her loss will be severely
felt by a numerous class of aged objects of charity, who were
wholly dependent of her benevolence for support.
_ _

. _
• Poon LAWS IN ANIERICA.—A growing sense of the evil
operation of their poor laws seems to have been a chief cause in
prompting benevolent persons in the cite of Boston to institute
the mission to the poor, in which Dr. Tuckerman labours. A
"Report of the Commissioners on the Pauper Laws," prepared
mainly by Dr. Tuckerman, and presented in the beginning of
this year to the legislature of Massachusetts, gives abundant
evidence that the working of the system of compulsory physical
aid is as baneful in America as it is in England. Within a
period of 25 years, the payments to the poor of the state of
Massachusetts increased in the proportion of five to one. The
commissioners, therefore, fully penetrated' with the pernicious
consequences of the existing system, have recommended "that
in each of the three successive years of 1833, 183-1, and 1835,
the allowance now granted for the states poor be diminished
one-third of its present amount; and that, after the year 1835,
there shall be no longer a recognition of states poor by the go-
vernment of this commonwealth.—Visitor tf the Poor.
BARRISTERS AND ATTORNEYS.—At the York City Sessions,
last week, Mr. Anderson, an attorney, applied to the court to
rescind one of their orders, by which barristers arc required to
conduct causes if they are present in court, in preference to
Attorneys. C. H. Elsley, Esq., the recorder, said, that in
this, as in other courts, a suitor had a right to conduct his own
cause, aided by his attorney, but that if he did not plead his
own cause, it was to his advantage that he should have the
assistance of counsel rather than of an attorney. The ma-
gistrates, during their retirement, consulted on the subject.,
and on their return into court, the lord mayor said he was
instructed by the court to state, that they could not entertain
the application.
NARROW ESCAPE.—When the Right Hon. E. Ellice and his
son, aged about 18, were lately on a shooting excursion at the
seat of Mr. Macpherson Grant, of Inverishie, they paid a short
visit to the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, at the Doune. In
consequence of the castle being occupied by a large party,
these gentlemen were bivouacked in a sort of hut of two rooms,
containing beds in the recesses; and in the same place was also
lodged Mr. French, an Irish gentleman, likewise a guest. They
retired before midnight; but the right hon. Secretary, after he
had been in bed a short time, felt a great heat in the small
apartment, and got up to inquire into the cause; when, looking
under his son's bed, he perceived a strong light of fire in the
adjoining place, which he knew was used as a kitchen. Not,
however, suspecting that it had any communication with his
room, he returned to bed, but was shortly afterwards roused by
a cry of "Fire," and by the appearance of a young man—a
favourite servant of Mr. H. Ross—exclaiming, "The gun-
powder is in the closet!" By this time the mattress of Mr.
Ellice, jun., and the shelf on which stood the powder, were both
in flames, which had actually burnt a part of the outside wrap-
ping paper of the canister, containing nearly 121bs. of gunpow-
der. While the Secretary and his son were endeavouring to
subdue the fire, the fearless youth seized the canister and threw
it out of the window. But for this bold and remarkable instance
of courage, which would have done honour to the most intrepid
adult, the valuable life of the talented and zealous Secretary
would probably have been sacrificed with that of his son. Sin-
gular to say, although every attempt was made to awake Mr.
French, by breaking the window and battering the door of his
room, so profound was his sleep that. he could not be roused till
the danger was over!—Aberdeen Herald.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR A VISITOR OF THE POOIL—It is freely
admitted that you may not be qualified for this work, even if
you shall have leisure for it. You may be too credulous or to"
sceptical. You may not be sufficiently alive to a sense of the
wants and sufferings of others, or you may have an excessive,
or even a diseased sensibility, which you cannot control. You
may be too impatient, irritable, and harsh in your judgments
of others; or too easy to be overcome by their appeals, evert
against your better judgment. But the.most deficient in qua-
lifications for this office are not always those who, when first
called to it, feel most distrustful of their ability for its duties.
Nay, it is not unfrequently the case, that they who are the most
ready to engage in it, soon show themselves to be the least
fitted for it. There is indeed wanted furehis-service a heart to
sympathize with the poor, the feeble, the sick, the widow and
the orphan, the tempted and the vicious. To do important,
and, above all, to do permanent good to these classes of suf-
ferers, we must distinctly understand in what this good consists,
and what are the means by which it may most effectually be
obtained. We must possess, and, if we have it not, we must
acquire, a knowledge of the true condition and character of
those for whom our offices of benevolence are required. We
must, therefore, carry into the work a teachable mind, anti a
mind as discriminating and judicious as it is kindly disposed;
a mind qiiick to discern the indications, both of good and evil,
in the objects of its charity, and at once patient, fair, and
firm. Nor is this all. We are instruments of the most im-
portant good to our suffering fellow creatures; when we aid
them, as far as shall be possible, to obtain this good from re-
.sources within themselves; by assisting them to understand the
true causes of their sufferings, when these sufferings are the
results of imprudence, or extravagance, or idleness, or intem-
perance, or of ether_ moral causes which are within their own
control; and by doing what we may to call forth, to direct, and
to strengthen
.their capacities of self. support; of usefulness,
and happiness. Are you not then, reader or mighteyou not, by
a little practice, be qualified fur this office? Do not hastily
decide that you are not. • Even though you may once, nr twice,
or thrice have been deceived and imposed epee, by anise whom
you would have relieved and blessed, be' nnediscouraged. You
may yourself have something, and even much, to be- forgiven.
Besides, experience in this, as in other circumstances of ens-
. barrassment and difficulty, will give you wisdom, if- you are
really desirous to obtain it. But if you have ro disposition to
be taught, 'by what you may see, and hear, and do, ie this inter-
course, I do not advis'e you to be a visitor of the per.---The
Iriitor of the Poor.