The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-27 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

THE LITERARY CHARACTER.—Literature is apt to form
a dangerous and discontenting pursuit, even for an amateur.
but for him whose rank and worldly comfort depend on it,
who does not live to write, but writes to live, its difficulties
and perils are fearfully increased. Few spectacles are more
afflicting than that of such a man, so gifted and so fated, so
jostled and tossed to and fro in the rude bustle of life, the
buntings of whi;•:! he is so little fitted to endure. Cherish-
ing, it may be, tile loftiest thoughts, and clogged with the
meanest wants : of pure and holy purposes, yet ever driven
from the straight path by the pressure of necessity or the im-
pulse of passion ; thirsting tor glory, and frequently in want
of daily bread : hovering between the empyrean of his fancy
and the squalid desert of reality; cramped and foiled in his
most strenuous exertions, dissatisfied with his best perfor-
mances, disgusted with his fortune—this man of letters too
often spends his weary days in conflicts with obscure misery ;
harrassed, chagrined, debased, or maddened—the victim at
once of tragedy and farce—the last forlorn outpost in the war
of mind against matter. Many are the noble souls that have
perished bitterly, with their tasks unfinished, under corrod-
ing woes! Some in utter famine, like Otway ; some in dark
insanity, like Cowper and Collins; some, like Chattertou,
have sought out a more stern quietus, and turning their indi-
gent steps away from a world which refused them welcome,
have taken refuge in that strong fortress, where poverty, and
cold neglect, and the " thousand natural shocks which flesh
is heir to," could not reach them any more.—Carlisle's Life
of Schiller.
PAPER MONEY.—A humorous illustration of the virtues
of a paper currency is the following, from the St. Louis
Mound, American paper:—" It seems that a party of gen-
tlemen were telling their ' experience,' whilst standing in
front of the Gas-light Office, when a well-known genius
came along, and breaking into the party,' told his story
something in this wise Hold your horse,' says he, and
if you want to hear the greatest shaving story that you ever
did hear, just keep cool. I never have, in all my life, had
much money on hand at any one time; but a short time be-
fore the suspension of specie payments by the Miners' Bank
of Dubuque, I had 200 dollars of her bills, and when I heard
the news of her failure, I thought she would rise again, so I
held on to the money. After a few weeks I saw it was going
to ruin, and I determined to get rid of it ; so I took it to a
broker's and exchanged it for Cairo, at 30 per cent. discount.
This I look on as paying pretty dear for a shave ; but the
next thing I heard was that the Cairo Bank had blown up ;
and I goes off to a broker instanter, ,and off comes 23 per
cent. more, an I then I had the product of my speculation in
the State B. of Illinois money. Next thing, away goes
the State Bank—busted all to pieces, and hang me it' I
didn't loose 30 per cent. more in obtaining Shawneetown
money ; and then I thought I was safe with what little money
I had got—but alas for all worldly affairs !—down goes the
Shawneetown Bank—refused to resume—panic raised—and
to prevent the brokers from shaving me again, I went to a
private individual, and gave him all the Shawneetown money
I had for 20 dollars in Ohio money, and on offering to pass
it I was told that it was counterfeit. And now, whether you
believe it or not, I tell you, gentlemen, it is a fact, there is
the whole remains of my 200 dollars.' Upon this he pro-
dubed two ten dollar bills on the Geauga Bank of Paines-
ville, exclaiming, Yes, them two cursed counterfeit notes
on the bank of Geauga are the whole remainder of my money
speculation.' "

HUMAN SACRIFICE.—From the Indian papers it appears
that a race known as the " Khouds" has been considered
sufficiently formidable for the government to depute an officer
for the express purpose of observing its peculiarities. This
officer (Lieut. Macpherson) has published .a regular report
of his investigations, the inquiry being set on foot for the
ultimate purpose of abolishing the practice of human sacrifice,
to which the race is inveterately addicted. These Khouds,
it seems, occupy the mountainous region of the Gangam and
Cuttack districts. According to their theology, the " Bera
Pennoo," or earth-god, holds the pre-eminence among the
national deities. The earth having originally been an unstable
mass, unfit for cultivation, this earth-god ordered that hu-
man blood should be spilled before him. The soil then be-
came firm and productive, and the deity of the Khouds corn-
manded the repetition of the sacrifice as necessary to exist-
ence. Carrying out the principles of this creed, the Khoud
thinks that every field must be enriched with human blood
when the principal crops are sowed; another oblation of the
same kind is required at harvest time and in case of any in-
cidental calamity, such as an epidemic disorder, an attack of
wild beasts, &c., the wrath of the earth-god must be ap.
peased by this barbarous sacrifice. The victims are Ilindoos
purchased for the purpose, and are treated as sacred persons
till their time of immolation comes, when, amid the most
elaborate ceremonies, they are torn to pieces, yet living, by
the crowd. To stop these barbarous proceedings the govern-
ment of India feels that it is morally bound, but the means
of effecting the desired reformation are not at all obvious, as
the Khouds consider the sacrifice as absolutely necessary
to their existence, and would struggle hard to maintain it,
while they are scattered over so wide an expanse of country,
and the climate is so unwholesome, that military occupation
would be almost impossible.

A STORM—CLOSING A PLEASURE EXCURSION.—WeII,
memory that is very extraordinary—Rain—rain—rain ! All the eyes
?! heavenvi were bright as bright might be—the sky was blue
chrysolite
71 e violets—that braided whiteness, that here and there floated
‘K veil on the brow of night, was all that recalled the
morn, and'
of clouds—and as for the moon, no faintest halo
yellowed
—overcast in a
~!Ind her orb, that seemed indeed " one perfect
left it blank as rnist
beauty
while all the winds seemed laid asleep till
yto have chained all the elements into peace
woods—yes, rain moment is the firmament—an evanishing has
the party will be wet through
is a fast, thick, pattering on the
rain—and ere we reach Bowness,
are getting still more serious—for to their skins. Nay, matters
?us—for there was lightning—yea,
lightning ! Ten seconds and hark, very respectable thun-
der ! With all our wisdom w
when
we
ehave not been weather-wise
—or we should have liclrow wri
,saw it, an electrical
sunset. Only look wtowards
Noah's Ark—a magnificent spectacle; and now for the flood.
the west. There floats
That far-off sullen sound proclaims
cataracts.
means that sighing and moaning and muttering up among the
And what
cliffs.' See—see how the sheet lightning
shows the long lake
shore all tumbling with foaming
breakers. A strong • •
there—but here there is not a breath. But the wind is
the lake are bowing their heads to the blast. woodsl,l across
is in a tumult—the storm comes flying on wings all at ermere
and now we are in the very heart of the hurricane. 4'enea d
Bowness is hurrying many a light—for the people fear' wein
may be on the lake; and faithful Billy, depend on't. is launch-
ing his life-boat to go to our assistance. Well, this is an ad-
venture. But soft—what ails our argand lamp ! Our study
is in such darkness that we cannot see our paper—in the
midst of a thunder-storm we conclude, and retire to bed by
a flash of lightning.—Recreations qf Christopher North.

‘zrCOND EDITION.

Standard-office, Three o'clock.

THE FIRE.

ADJOURNED INQUEST ON THE BODIES OF THE
THREE MEN WHO PERISHED THROUGH
THE FIRE OF FRIDAY.°

This day, shortly after eleven o'clock, the inquest on the
bodies of the three men, Martin, Smith, and Bell, who came
to their death by the fire, (and of which we have furnished
the evidence adduced yesterday,) was resumed, before Mr.
Curry, with a view, we believe, to a clearer elucidation of the
facts as bearing on the cause or origin of the conflagration.
Nothing definite was, however, elicited ; but as the evidence,
though not taken—with the exception of a small portion of
it—upon oath, is interesting, and as the verdict, moreover,
goes to exonerate an individual who had previously been
deemed culpable of, at least, negligence, we supply an outline
of •the principal facts :
Catherine Coyle, wife of Bernard Coyle, the watchman
employed to look after the several premises in Crompton-
street, in which the fire first broke out, was called, and in a
preliminary investigation (without being sworn) stated some
particulars of the occurrences of Friday morning, with rela-
tion to herself and her husband, which were not afterwards
taken on oath, as being irrelevant to the object in view. She
supplied, it appeared, a hatchet, thrown from the window of
the house, nearly opposite Mr. Peniston's, to the police
officers who first came up that morning, and with which they
broke open the gate.

Mr. Peniston himself was present at the inquiry, and
handed to the Coroner ad epistle written on half a sheet of
letter paper, apparently in a school-boy hand, which he had
received through the post, and, of which the following is a
copy verbatim et literate :
Malus Bonus

Behold
Love Reason and Justice
lay
Beauty for Ashes
where
The Poor asked Bread but the Rich gave Stones

Behold the Cross . Adore the Crow❑
Now Christ casts guilty nations down
In blood and fire millions rattle
The Devil Bankrupt falls in battle
Great Babylon

" Beat your ploughs into swords, and your scythes
into spears"—Read 3 Joel.
Brale tout ELIAS

This epistle is superscribed as under :
Mr. Penniston,
Wood-st. North,
Liverpool.
(With the postmark 24th Sept., 1842.)

A gentleman, Mr. George Wade, appeared in the court,
arid requested to be heard in behalf of Mrs. Isaac, as to the
origin of the fire, which was readily agreed to by the coroner.
He said that he was desirous of removing some obloquy that
had attached to Mrs. Isaac, relative to whom a report was
current that the fire had originated in her premises. He had,
he stated, lived in the immediate neighbourhood for thirty
years, and was well acquainted with Mrs. Isaac's premises in
Crompton-street. Ile could not throw any light on the im-
mediate origin of the fire, inasmuch as he did not reach the
ground on Friday morning until four o'clock ; but when he
got there Mrs. Isaac's buildings were not on fire. Indeed,
they were amongst the last in the area in which they were
situated to be consumed, after taking fire and burning com-
paratively slowly.

After several inquiries were made by the coroner, and
some of the jury, of other parties present, who it was thought
would throw some light on the subject,

Mr. Inspector John Abraham was sworn and heard. He
entered into some details relative to his first seeing the glare
of the fire from Vauxhall-road, about five minutes before
three o'clock on Friday morning, and proceeding to the spot,
where he found several of the police, including Inspector
Massey, (before examined.) He saw the fire first in Mr.
Peniston's only. He found the door of the fire-grate of the
engine boiler, which is a little below the level of the ground,
open, as is customary, and even safe, in " gathering" or
slacking an engine fire for the night. Every precaution
seemed to have been taken as a security from fire from that
quarter; the fire was slow when he entered, and he did not
think that the materials or buildings had ignited from it. He
found a bench or table on tire in a shed on the same premises,
and it had communicated to the wooden tarred roof, from
which it rapidly spread along the roof of another building,
running south, (also on the premises,) as if by a train of tur-
pentine or gunpowder. He and others got on the roof, to
extinguish it, but were obliged, from the head which the
fire gained upon them, to come down. Mrs. Isaac's
buildings caught tire afterwards, and burned slowly, owing
to the direction of the wind, which was then strong at N.W.
—they being in some degree protected by the brick building
or shed immediately below to the west. He thought the fire
had not originated in Mrs. Isaacs's, otherwise he would have
seen it there first. He was decidedly of opinion that the fire
had originated with the bench, or table, but how, he could
not tell. Ile had heard that a chimney in Stewart-street, on
the north, had been strongly on tire at nine o'clock on the
previous night, and flakes of soot from it, as he supposed, fell
in Mr. Peniston's yard after he got there. To a question put
he added, that he saw no aperture or opening in the shed
where the bench was by which the burning soot from the
chimney could have entered.

No. 24 police-officer, who had been earlier on the ground,
and had seen the watchman Coyle, was called, but could give
no information as to the real origin of the fire.
The Coroner said that there was no evidence as to the
origin before the jury, and after recapitulating the principal
points of the evidence as affected the death of the three un-
fortunate men, and pointing out the technicalities of the se-
veral verdicts they might return, left the case in their hands.
The jury returned a verdict, founded on the evidence, to
the effect that the deceased " accidentally" came to their
death by injuries received by the falling upon them of part of
the warehouse in which they were removing cotton in Nep-
tune-street ; and that the said warehouse was broken by the
falling of another warehouse at the back of it, which was de-
stroyed by fire ; but how the fire originated there was no
evidence to show ; and they appended a clause to their ver-
dict to the effect that the premises of Mr. Peniston were not
wilfully set on fire.
The Coroner then remarked that the letter (above) sent to
Mr. Peniston was evidently the effusion of a religious enthu-
siast, and unworthy of notice. It was, moreover, intended
probably as an address to the nation at large, and in place of
tending to implicate Mr. Peniston, went to support the opi-
nion of the jury.

THIRD EDITION.