The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-09 00:00:00

WILHEWS METHOD OF. SINGING,

The Committee of the North Church of England School
having kindly granted to Mr. Crowe the use of the room in
Bond-street, for the purpose of opening a singing class for
artisar.s and mechanics, (after the plan of one in Lon-
don,) as preparatory to this on Monday evening, Mr. Crowe
delivered a lecture (illustrating the system) to a crowded
audience, comprising not only many of the higher classes,
but a goodly array of our operative friends, who will them-
selves, ere long, be able to take part in such performances as
then were delighted to hear.

The chair was kindly occupied by ADAM HODGSON,Esq.,
who on this, as on every other occasion, showed himself
ready by his presence and -support to farther any plan for the
moral and spiritual improvement, or innocent gratification
of the humbler of his fellow-townsmen. He commenced
the business of the evening by observing that be was himself
unacquainted with this system, except from report, and
came, like themselves, for the purpose of gaining informa-
tion as to its nature and working. He congratulated the
meeting on the prospect of a parliamentary grant being
allowed next session, for the purpose of encouraging the
spread of class singing among the lower orders. He
thought this a likely means of withdrawing them from
scenes of drunkenness and dissipation, and giving them
a greater relish for the comforts of home. In his opinion
the happiest scene on earth was that of a man seated by his
own fireside, enjoying the society of the partner of his joys
and sorrows, and listening with delight to the prattling of
his little ones. This is a happiness within the reach of all,
for which thanks are due to that all-bounteous Providence
who strews our path with so many blessings, and places in
the power of all, sources of the highest gratification. This
is a blessing which is not to be purchased by money, but
may be enjoyed as well by the inhabitant of a cellar in
Whitechapel, as by the nobleman in his hall.
After a few more animated and suitable observations, he
introduced Mr. Crowe to the meeting, who very clearly and
fully explained the Wilhem system, which his pupils illus-
trated by several songs, simple in words, and sound in sen-
timent. We were much struck with the progress made by
the gentlemen of the Edge-hill Class since we last heard
them, and their proficiency speaks much for the ability of
the teacher, as well as the perseverance of the pupils.
The lecture terminated shortly before ten o'clock, and,
after a few words from Mr. Hodgson, expressive of the great
gratification which he had experienced, the company sepa-
rated, baring previously shewn their concurrence in the sen-
timents of the chairman.

DARING BURGLXRY.

(From the Blackburn Standard.)

On Tuesday last a most atrocious burglary was committed
in the house of Mr. Thomas Lund, at Prettyfoot Bridge.
One of the prisoners is earning 255. a week, and the other
£1 a week, and it is therefore evident that poverty cannot be
pleaded as a perpetration for the offence. The prisoners
must have made themselves perfectly acquainted with Mr.
Lund's house, for the room into which they entered through
the window is generally unoccupied, being set apart for Mr.
Lund, as an occasional bed• room for a weary traveller. It
would appear, therefore, from the circumstance of the rob-
bers making an entrance into the house by this room, that
they must have been well aware that there was no lodger in
it at the time. It happened, however, that two little chil-
dren were sleeping in this room when the burglary was com-
mitted. But had there been no one in the room it would have
made little difference, as Mr. Lund heard the breaking of
the glass, although being in another room at the time, and
instantly sprang out of bed to see what was wrong. He
was perfectly unarmed, and had not, as has been stated in
an account already published, a constable's staff in his
hand. Preferring to meet the villains as they came out
of the first room, he prudently remained in the adjoin-
ing room, instead of rushing into the room where the
entrance had been effected. The moment they saw him
they ordered him to be silent, and successively present-
ed each a pistol at him, and did their best to shoot
him ; but, fortunately, it would appear, by some special
interference of Divine Providence, both pistols missed fire,
and one of them even a second time. Mr. Land then rushed
upon the villains, and being, although considerably ad-
vanced in life, a most powerful man, overpowered them both,
and held them for some time, until getting a little ex-
hausted they succeeded in pulling him in the struggle to-
wards the window, through which they managed to make a
temporary escape. There was a third person, but he does
not appear to have entered the house, and he made off the
moment he saw his friends defeated. Lund, and Whalley
his neighbour, who was aroused by Mrs. Lund, immediately
ran in pursuit, and the latter observed the robbers to leap
into the little strip of plantation on the right side of the road
leading from the Bull's Head towards Pretty-foot Bridge,
just beside the large culvert which passes under the Whalley-
road. Whalley instead of attempting to molest his prey by
himself, having outstripped his friend Lund in the race, went
on past the plantation to the house of John Shorrock, who
lives a little beyond the Bull's Head. Sorrock was awake,
and looking ont of the casement when Whalley came up, and
cried out, " Giles, what art thou after, there is a man just
gone past towards Blackburn running with something under
his arm." Whalley told Sherroek that there were two men
in the plantation who had broken into Thomas Lund's
house, and bade him rouse up a young man who lives in the
house with him, named Thomas Bannister, and come down
to the plantation. Several other neighbours were got toge-
ther and the plantation was completely surrounded. It cer-
tainly must have been an extraordinary scene in that quiet
and retired place, at the dead hour of the night, none of the
persons who had thus been aroused out of their beds having
had time to dress themselves. They must have looked like
" Whiteboys." Their preparationsforcapturingthe burglars

being now completed, every inch of the fences surrounding the
plantation being carefully guarded, Thos. Bannister, and
Thos. Higginson, a blacksanith,who lives opposite Shorrock's,
dashed into the plantation. The prisoner Thompson first
attempted to run the gauntlet, but, being seized by the foot
by Bannister he tumbled and was instantly secured by Giles
Whallev

On Whalley getting a hold of him, he exclaimed

" Be quiet, I will give -it-up."- Bannister, Higginson, and
William Aspden then commenced a search for the other
robber. He was found by Aspden who sprang upon bins

.
and in a struggle threw him down, when he will; seized by
John Shorrock, a fine old athletic man of 75 years of age,
but of Herculean frame, who held his head to the ground by
the ears, which we have no doubt were severely pinched, and
put to him the very pertinent inquiry " Let us see who thou
art." The prisoners being both thus secured, they were
conveyed to the Bull's Head, and thence to the police
station. They were both committed to Lancaster Castle, to
take their trials at the next assizes.

ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE.
(From the Preston Pilot.)

The historical annals of the last century furnish various
instances of great change in the fortunes of females, such as
the elevation of Miss Farren to the Countess of Derby;
Miss Mellon to the Duchess of St. Alban's ; and Miss
Foote to the Countess of Harrington, each of whom has in
turn " walked the stage" of a Preston theatre ; but there are
few if any instances on record, of ladies of high aristocratic
birth, numbering among their immediate connexions dukes,
earls, and lords, who have formed alliances in the middle
ranks of life, and become the wives of humble tradesmen.
One such instance, however, has taken place ; and as the
lady was for many years an inhabitant of Preston, and her
ashes are now commingling with their mother earth in St.
John's church-yard, her history may not prove uninteresting
to our readers. The Hon. Francis North, subsequently cre-
ated Earl of Guilford, was several times married, and had
rather a numerous family. Lord Frederick North, many
years Prime Minister to George the Third, was his eldest
son, and the subject of our memoir his eldest daughter.
Both were deprived of maternal care when they most required
it, and both were consigned to the same foster-mother dur-
their infancy. Of the life, public and private, of the former,
Lord Brougham has furnished ample details in his " States-
men of George the Third." Of the eventful history of the
latter, the pen has been as silent as the grave which entombs
her remains.

Be it, then, the task of the writer of this unvarnished
narrative to rescue her memory from obscurity. Of her
early days it may suffice to say, that they were spent under
the roof of her mother's immediate relatives, near Grosvenor-
square, London, where she received an education suitable to

the position in society she appeared destined to fill. At 12
or 14 years of age she became an inmate of Bushey-house,
Middlesex, then residence of the Earl of Halifax, whose
daughters, the Ladies Montague, watched over her young
womanhood with anxious solicitude. The Earl of Halifax
being at that time (1748) one of the Lords of the Admiralty,
was in the habit of being waited upon in matters appertain-
ing to his office by a young man named Brett, nephew of Sir
W. Smith, a London merchant' who offered her his hand.
Mr. Brett, though respectably connected, and having good
worldly prospects before him, was nevertheless not con-
sidered of suitable station to espouse the daughter of an
earl, and she was therefore sent down to Preston to break off
the acquaintance. After remaining here for some weeks,
under the care of two ladies named Astley, whose father was
Mayor at the time, and lived at the entrance to Chapel-walk,
Fishergate, she received an intimation that Mr. Brett,
supposing she had gone to France, had set out in quest of
her, and had been drowned in crossing from Dover to Calais.
Believing the statement, and much distressed in her mind
at the supposed sad event, she immediately returned to Lon-
don, and related her troubles to her foster-mother ; observing
at the same time, that as her friends had deprived her of the
object of her warmest affections, she would accept the first
offer that was made to her. Her foster-mother having a
nephew then lodging with her from Preston, with a view to
improvement in his business, she communicated to him what
the unhappy lady had stated. He made her an offer accord-
ingly, and in three days they were married at Keith's Chapel,
May-fair.
A few months afterwards the young couple quitted London,
and she became the mistress of the identical house in Fisher-
gate now occupied by Mr. Taylor, seedsman, which descended
to her husband on the death of his father, and where she gale
within the last ten years, and one still survives, anid'alvievedsieind
(daughters)
birth to twelve children, five
from
lihoemr
certainly
Preston.
Harsh and unforgiving as it may app
it is yet the fact,
appear,
arLder the circum-
quaintances, not one of whom
Rogerever
tsitiaantcetsh)is marriageev cu t her' (imprudentfro former friends and ac-
with her afterwards, except Sir
her particular friend Lady exchanged a single word
Frances Montague, and who acci-
dentally met her in London
become a resident in Preston.'dd "Hec
repre-
sented the county, and resided Lord Strange, who then repr.e-
mansion m Church-streetalso recognised her after she had
her when a
girl living with her relativess near his own residence in Lon-
don,
becoming a customer to her husband, and recom
nismiodnknalloywant the. fa Tily
nowf ri friends dasn followdtotheiiympathy at her altered Pe_e_din_his
a small present sent
p e. i ,
his exam I With these exce7rolun;,llsanbdy
she was completely severed frombrugh
own noble, high-minded relatives;
hand, and neglected by her
an unknown
about the year 1790, at the age of 62, having about five years
an before lost her husband by death, and sunk into the grave
d subsequently become
so reduced in circumstances as to be compelled to part with
her jewellery, among which was a valuable ring, given to her
by Charles Spencer, Duke of Marlborough, who married her
cousin. Me. Brett, her " first love, it may be added, rose
to eminence in point of position ; havingo t:i)ee become member for
Sandwich, and also one of the Lords
the coalition ministry of Lord North and Mr. Fox in 1783 ;
whomasnh
aaffd edcetpi or
invaetde
Ix;
iemg a rodf,oonwtihneg partpart
his of t
hheenr
but, it is understood, died unmarried, probably out of respect
for the lady
' well-meaning file"
inferior station in life.

of late Marquis o
onH ertford
has
nuarlidPerr°Pxer;toYo,ooo,the and the duty which will
abmeTeonhaeaswP°
tte:510,000. It is stated, on the best authority, that
the executors being about to commence a civil
:t °
graintst Suisse is totally without foundation. It was
at the
action
oner report
P time thought that a dispute would arise with respect
to the property left by some of the codicils, in consequence
of their being without a date ; but all has been amicably ar-
ranged. The executors are allowed by law twelve months
from the death of the late Marquis to pay all or any of the
respective bequests to the several personsthaerperinivnilaemgeedi:i butthe
whether they will avail themselves of such
case of Suisse is Hot at present known. It is said that he in-
tends leaving a power of attorney in this country to receive
the amount, and that he intends shortly leaving England to
join his wife. We have it from good authority, although we
cannot actually vouch f
of Suisse
was
not
wi
ic:r the fact, that the recent prosecution
the consent or wish of the present
Marquis of Hertford, and that many extraordinary facts in
reference this singular case were kept from the public eye.