The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-02-18 00:00:00

WILL OF THE LATE MR. ANDREW DUCROW

The will of this extraordinary man was prepared by Messrs.
Mayhew and Johnson, of Carew-street. The testator ap-
pointed Mr. Oscar Byrne, Mr. Serle, (boat-builder,) and
Mr. Anderton, (councilman,) his executors, bequeathing
to each £lOO. Amongst the legacies are—to Mr. D. W.
Broadfoot, his brother-in-law, £3OOO ; to Mr. Joseph Hil-
lier, £3OO ; to Margaret and Louisa, his sisters, £2OO each ;
to Master Chafe, (commonly called Le Petit Ducrow,) £2OO ;
there are a few other and smaller bequests. The residue of
his property, consisting of £47,560, three-and-a-half per
cents., his household furniture, pictures, aiticles of vertu,
and his stud and paraphernalia, to Mrs. Ducrow for life ;
after her death, to his son and daughter Peter Andrew and
Louisa. The will makes no provision for the possibility of
posthumous issue ; but as all is left in the power of Mrs.
Ducrow, the omission is immaterial. The sum of £81)(9 is
left for the decoration of the family tomb at Kensall Green ;
£2OO in the three-and-a-half per tents. is to remain; the in-
terest being dedicated to the purpose of purchasing flowers
to adorn his monument. It is a singular fact that Mr. Du-
crow has not mentioned his mother, to whom he was devo-
tedly attached, in his will. He has, in fact, relied upon the
affection of his widow. The elder Mrs. Ducrow received a
handsome annuity from her son, and that will be continued.
The Stud is now at the Amphitheatre, Liverpool; it is un-
derstood that Messrs. Grisell and Peto rebuild the theatre in
Westminster-road, and that Mr. Batty becomes the lessee ;
but the rumour that the stud of the deceased equestrian will
be sold is wholly unfounded. On the contrary, it may be
confidently relied upon that the horses and company, under
the direction of Messrs. Hillier and Broadfoot, will appear
in the rnetropcdis on Easter Monday. Every groom has
been given a suit of mourning ; and Mrs. Ducrow has pre-
sented each executor with a splendid diamond ring. There
is a melancholy anecdote connected with the parting between
Mr. Ducrow and Le Petit Andrew ; the boy bade him good
bye last October, ere he started to join the company at Li-
verpool. Mr. Ducrow gave the child a crown, kissed him,
and said, " Attend to your duty, be a good boy ; you'll
never see your papa again ;" the prophecy was verified, the.
adopted son was summoned to town to attend the funeral.
The number of individuals employed in the Amphitheatre,
including actors, musicians, scene-painters, equestrians,
grooms, helpers, &c., exceeded £l5O ; the weekly expenses
were seldom less than X5OO. How enormous, then, must
have been the receipts that, in a few years, enabled the de-
ceased to accumulate a property to the value of nearly
£60,000. The situation of Mrs. Ducrow renders it probable
that her accouchement will take place in June. It is under-
stood to be her intention not to resume her professional ex-
ertions. The Amphitheatre has, therefore, lost at one blow
its two brightest ornaments. A few days before his death,
Mr. Ducrow's health appeared re-established ; he determined
to visit Liverpool to play for the performers' benefit, and an-
nounced his intention of representing The Dumb Man of
Manchester." He was persuaded to abandon this idea and
appear in the grand Russian entree. The 7th instant was
fized for ids debut ; his dresses were packed, and everything
prepared for the journey, but a few hours before the fatal
blow came. On the day which he had selected, he was a
corpse and a tenant of the tomb.

THE DISTRESS-MANUFACTURERS.

(From Mr. Ferrand's (M.P.) speech.)

During the recess of Parliament he thought it his duty to
mark the progress of the anti-corn-law league, who were
agitating the country with the most violent and infamous
placards, headed with the words " the base, bloody, and
brutal landlords, that were keeping the bread of life from
the poor," while they were sending forth agitators who were
uttering falsehoods still more infamous than what were on
those placards, and to pay the expense of which they were
during the past week exp3sing
their, wives and daughters at
Manchester. (Cries of " Oh, oh,' and laughter.) Whilst
they were agitating the country, he (Mr. Ferrand), made an
inquiry into the truth connected with their movements.
They found that since the establishment of the corn laws,
within the last twenty years, the Messrs. Marshall, great
manufacturers of Leeds. had accumulated a fortune of
£2,000,000, and had purchased immense landed estates.
(Hear, hear.) This firm appeared not to be satisfied with
the carrying out of the principle of free trade in this coun-
try, but they were erecting large mills in Belgium. On the
29th of January, 1842, there appeared an advertisement in
the Leeds Advertiser which stated that there was a person
of great commercial experience in Brussels who was de-
sirous of meeting a partner. The advertiser had a splendid
estate of 100 acres of land, which was situated upon the
banks of the Dedel, and in one of the most picturesque
parts of the country, situated within about three miles
from the railway at Louvaine, that he would like a partner
to join him in the workitig of a flax and tow mill. There
was also a corn mill upon the estate. Aye (said Mr.
Ferrand) there was a secret about this corn mill. The
advertisement went on to say, that there were nume-
rous populous villages in the neighbourhood—that wages
were considerably lower than in any other part of the coun-
try—that an exact estimate had been made of the number of
operatives necessary to be employed in a flax-mill of 10,000
or 14,000 spindles, at a saving of £2,000 annually. (Hear,
hear.) There was the great secret, the saving in the amount
of wages. He would now mention a few instances, to show
the injurious effect of the corn laws on the manufacturers.
The honourable member for Manchester (Mr. M. Philips)
stood as high as ever in credit on the Exchange at Manchester.
He was a man possessed of immense wealth. (" Hear," and
a laugh). Then there was the honorable member for Sal-
ford (Mr. Brotherton), who had long since retired from
trade, having amassed an enormous fortune ; but so horror
struck was he with the cruelty and oppression of the factory
.system, that he had determined to spend the remainder of
his life in trying to remove it. (Laughter). The honourable
member for Stockport (Mr. Cobden) had spent his life in
accumulating money, and when night after night he was as-
serting that the corn laws had ruined the manufacturers in
Lancashire, he was running his mill night and day. (Hear,
hear.) The honourable member for Bolton (Dr. Bowring)
was remarkably urgent for a repeal of the corn laws. He
carried out free trade principles to such an extent against the
public purse, that he had a right to be considered a freebooter.
(Loud laughter, and cries of `• order ").. He begged pardon
if he had said a word too much, but he was quite certain
that the working classes were much surprised that he should
have accepted £l,OOO of the public money. (Laughter).

THE ANTI-CORN.-LAW BAZAAR.—The bazaar closed on
Thursday evening, and a sale by auction of the remaining
articles took place on Friday. We understand that the
" league" expect to realize something like £lO,OOO by the
bazaar, after payment of expenses—a result which will no
doubt gladden the hearts of the Smiths, Aclands, Finigans,
and the rest of the agitators in the pay of that body.
The electors of the borough of King's Lynn have clone
themselves thelonour of unanimously eluting as their re-
presentative in parliament that popular nobleman the
Viscount Jocelyn, son and heir of the inestimable and patri-
otic Earl of Roden. From the spirit and talent evinced by
the noble Viscount on several occasions, we hail his election
as a valuable acquisition to the conservative phalanx in Sir
Robert Peel's parliament.
SINGULAR DEATH.—The fallowing particulars of an in-
quest held on the two children of Mr. Baum, of Demerara,
are given in the papers just received from the colony. The
cause of death was ascertained with all the certainty which
such cases admit. It was produced by a violent attack of
cholera, occasioned by having eaten, on Sunday last, of a
turkey, in the flesh of which an animal poison had been ge-
nerated. This turkey, it appeared, was killed and cooked
on Saturday. The only thing remarkable about it was its ex-
cessive fatness, which was so great as almost to incapacitate
it from walking. The family ate of it on Sunday for dinner
without feeling any ill effects from it. The same turkey was
eaten cold on Sunday, and in the interval an imperceptible
change appears to have taken place, by which it was rendered
unwholesome, since all the persons who ate of it on Sunday
—including all the family of Mr. Baum, and the servants,
and their families—were attacked, about six or eight hours
after, with cholera. The same thing happened to some rela-
tions of the butler, among whom, on the Monday following,
he had distributed the remains of the turkey. All these pa-
tients were convalescent. Drs. Smith, Fraser, and Blair, all
agreed in stating, that in some cases, the nature of which is
not well understood, an animal poison is generated in meat
both cured and fresh and especially in the fatty. Besides
many cases recorded in books similar in all respects to those
under investigation, they had known in their practice, cases
similar in every respect, except the fatal result. This subject
of animal poison is very obscure, but it would appear that the
poisonous matter is generated before any putrefaction takes
place, the meat retaining a sound appearance, and its taste
and smell being unchanged. After the apparent putrefaction
commences, the poison loses its virulence ; tainted meat, as
in the case of game that is high, and among nations who ha-
bitually eat meat in that state, not being attended with dele-
terious effects. The poison would appear to reside principally
in the fatty portions of the meat. In the case of death occa-
sioned by German sausages, bacon, and cheese, it is the fatty
part of those substances in which the poisonous matter has
been found to reside ; and the excessive fatness of the turkey
had very probably pre-disposed it for the generation of an
animal poison. In consequence of reports which were cur-
rent, that the turkey had been poisoned by eating arsenic,
a portion of the turkey was obtained, and was submitted by
Mr. Stutckbury to several very delicate chemical tests, for
the purpose of ascertaining the presence of arsenic, corrosive
sublimate, or copper. There was not the slightest indication
of the presence of any of these substances. Mr. Stutchbury
stated that he did not feel himself competent to discover, by
chemical tests, the presence of animal poison, nor did he sup-
pose that any chemist in the colony, and few anywhere, pos-
sessed that skill.

NEGLIGENCE OF SHERIDAN.—AIIuding to the want of
poetry to which he had to compose music, he adds, " But
if this were a puzzling situation for a composer, what will
my readers think of that in which the actors were left
when I state the fact, that, at the time the house was
overflowing on the first night's performance, all that was
written of the play was actually rehearsing, and that, in-
credible as it may appear, until the end of the fourth act
neither Mrs. Siddons, nor Charles Kemble, nor Barry-
more had all their speeches for the fifth! Mr. Sheridan
was up stairs in the prompter's room, where he was writ-
ing the last act of the play, while the earlier parts were
acting; and every ten minutes he brought down as much
of the dialogue as he bad done piecemeal into the green-
room, abusing himself find his negligence, and making a
thousand soothing and winning apologies for having kept
the performers so long in such painful suspense. Mrs.
Siddons told me she was in an agony of fright ; but She-
ridan perfectly knew that Mrs. Siddons, C. Kemble, and
Barrymore were quicker in study that any other per-
formers concerned, and that he could trust them to be
perfect in what they had to say, even at half an hour's
notice. And the event proved that lie was right : the
play was received with the greatest approbation ; and,
though brought out so late in the season, was played 31
nights."—Kelly's Musical Reminiscences.
HINT TO A HOST.—Nothing could persuade Mrs. Thrale
not to have the cloth laid and Dr. Johnson was so facetious
that he challenged Mr. Thrale to get drunk ! " I wish,"
said he, " my master would say to me, Johnson, if you will
oblige me, you will call for a bottle of Toulon, and then we
will set to it, glass for glass till it is done; and, after that, 1
will say, Thrale, if you will oblige me, you will call for ano-
ther bottle of Toulon, and then we will set to it, glass for
glass, till that is done; and, by the time we should have
drunk the two bottles, we should be so happy, and such good
friends, that we should fly into each other's arms, and both
together call for the third !"—Diary and Letters of Madame
D'Arblay (Miss Burney.)