The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-23 00:00:00

THE SCOTTISH BEACONS.

" On the evening of Wednesday, when her Majesty en-
tered the Frith of Forth, the magnificent sight burst upon us
of beacon-fires lighted on all the conspicuous Scottish hills,
and was imposing in the extreme.
" On the coast around, in East Lothian, in Mid-Lothian,
in Linlithgow, in Fife, and Clackmannan, bonfires blazed on
all the remarkable heights, all announcing the cordial wel-
come that awaited her Majesty from Scotland and her Scot-
tish subjects; while in Edinburgh, the summit of Arthur's
seat seemed a blaze of fire, shedding a flood of light over the
surrounding heights and the valley below, and giving an
aspect of wild grandeur to all its romantic scenery.
" It has fallen to my lot to witness beautiful illuminations
in various parts of the world. I have seen the cities of Rio
de Janeira, of Lima, and of Santiago, lighted up in all their
splendour; the city and all the shores of the Bay of Naples,
and even the dome of St. Peter's at Rome, but I remember
nothing that has made so deep an impression as our passage
up the Frith of Forth on this occasion."—Extract from
Narrative of an Officer on board the Rogal Squadron.

The beacon fires are blazing high
On all the Scottish hills.
Tasselling the mantle of the sky—
Tinging the mountain rills.
What means this blaze so broad and bright,
And glorious in the gloom of night?

The fox in the far glen was stirred,
And started from his lair ;
Upon her perch the mountain bird
Was wakened with the glare.
And deemed, on springing from the spray,
Her eye was dazzled with the day.
A hundred flickering fires have lent
Their splendour to the night,
And deep the ruddy firmament
Is blushing at the sight—
Where, at the sunset, all was rest
Each hill waves high its fiery crest.
Has, as of old, a southron band •
A-rnss the border sped,
And, fast accoutreing, through the land,
Do mustering warriors tread ?
And is it thus the news of war
The nation telegraphs afar?
No bloody sign of feud or foe
Yon waving fires have given—
Like stars of peace, their rays they throw
Across the arch of heaven;
They tell to realms that love her sway,
That Ocean's Queen is on her way.
Aye ! even now yon blazing peak*
Has caught her kindling eye,
With heaving heart and flushing cheek,
She knows Dun-Edin nigh ;
Here Holyrood throws back the glow—
Forth spreads and sparkles far below.
A nation's pulse is beat;ng fast,
And throbbing high for thee ;
Its eye is strained to catch thy mast
Appearing on the sea—
And many a loving heart and band
Shall welcome thee to Scottish land.
0 Lord ! by thee do princes reign—
Their power, their pride are thine !
Let thy strong arm our Queen sustain,
And long preserve her line!
0, King of kings ! her foes repel !
Froth force, from falsehood, shield her well!

* Arthur's Seat.

THE NEW TOWN OF FLEETWOOD.

B.

We feel happy in being enabled to extract the following
from the Manchester Courier, from its account of the Preston
Guild, as doing justice to the new and beautiful watering
place—Fleetwood. Fleetwood is two hours and a half ride
by railway from Liverpool and Manchester :
" We find we have omitted to state in the proper place,
that of the 5,514 children belonging to the National and
other public schools, who were entertained and promenaded
during Friday, 190 were sent down by the Preston and Wyre
Railway to the new and elegant marine town of Fleetwood,
where they were entertained in the most liberal manner, at
the North Euston Hotel, by Mr. Kilner, the house steward,
in the absence of Mr. Vautini, the spirited lessee. Mr.
Kilner considerately extending the same attention to his
bumbler visitors, so scrupulously observed towards all who
visit the hotel for pleasure or sanative advantages, adorned
the tables laid out in the assembly-room with some of the
magnificent plate of the establishment, and the children werc
in other respects permitted to enjoy a most delightful visit.
All this, owing to the admirable regularity and judicious
arrangements which mark the internal economy of this vast
and truly magnificent hotel, was effected without the slightest
inconvenience to the other inmates.
" Fleetwood is indeed one of the wonders of the north.
Within some five or six years. by the energy and enterprise
of the honourable baronet whose name it bears, seconded by
agents of integrity and ability, a barren waste has been con-
verted into a populous and elegant town, that will already
vie with any of our English watering places, in point of salu-
brity and beauty of situation, combined with taste and
grandeur of construction, with a prospect of becoming, at
no distant day, highly important in a commercial point of
view. The single line of the Preston and Wyre Railway—
constructed with a view to add another pair of rails when the
traffic of the place shall call for it—is of itself a singular
specimetl of those triumphs of art over the difficulties of
nature that have distinguished the present age, and reflects
high credit upon the skill of Mr. Bidder, the resident civil
engineer. For three miles at the Fleetwood end, the line is
constructed on piles across the low lands of the Fylde, being
washed on each side by the waters of the Irish channel when
the tide is at the flood, and presenting the singular appear-
ance of a railway through the sea. Yet, from the massive
character of the works the transit is perfectly safe. The next
object of attraction is the North Euston Hotel, a truly
splendid structure not surpassed, if indeed it is equalled, in
extent, accommodation, comfort, or elegance, by any similar
establishment in th- kingdom. With every luxury that per-
tains to the most recherche of the London hotels, it has the
additional advantages of repose from the bustle and din of a
populous city, coupled with a fresh and salubrious atmosphere,
and an adjacent country abouding in attractions to the ad-
mirers of fine scenery.
" We were happy to learn from Mr. Jones, the intelligent
and active scenery of the Fleetwood Company, that Sir
Hesketh Fleetwood, with a generosity and disinterestedness
that do him honour, has voluntarily given up his family seat
of Rossall Hall, for the purposes of the
proposed Fleetwood
Colleges. This is a noble example, worthy of emulation by
the public : and we hope soon to be enabled to announce the
establishment of an institution that promises such valuable
advantages to the rising generation."

- - --- _
TH E BLACK CROW . —The above bird is the most mis-
chievous of all the feathered tribe throughout India. He is
a most daring thief, and will enter the dining rooms of
families when they are engaged at their meals, and cat ry off
some choice dainty that he may have set his eye upon. He
will battle with the " Kitmudtears" (dinner bearers,) and
seldom sustains a defeat before he has kidnapped some
delicate morsel from the plates they are sustaining. If any
missile is dismissed at him, he will, by using a vocabulary or
signal, collect together some hundreds of " birds of his own
feather" around the premises, and mob the whole house with
a deafening clamour which is truly intoletable. When cows
or oxen are swimming a river, he is sure to be with them,
and, hitching his black effigy upon their horns, keeps striking
with his horny beak at the animals eyes, which causes them
to immerse their heads under water, so that in some
instances, when the rivers are broad to cross, the animals
are drowned.
PARISIAN GULLIBILITY.—A few days since, a lady
dressed in the first style of fashion, and followed by a nurse
bearing a young infant, entered a fashionable shawl depot
and requested to be shown some of their most expensive
Cashmeres. After some time she fixed on two, amounting
together to about 3,000 f., and, putting her hand in her reti-
-le. for the amount, expressed well-feigned surprise at not
the se,r‘dianrect,
finding, her pocket-book. With great sang froid, however,
she drew out the key of her secretaire, and, handing it to,
found, she
book .told her to return home and bring her pocket-
book, in what part of the secretaire it would be
At the reque mean time would take charge of the child.
the shawls
withof the lady, the servant was allowed to take
affected to her. After some time had elapsed the lady
surely could becomenot open
and saying that the stupid girl
young shopelee toron the secretaire, requested one of the
had become of her. lithe infant while she went to see what
also allowed. It was t will be scarcely credited that this
turned. The child was afterwards need not be told that she never re-
jerwards found to have been stolen
a few hours before film
purglarden of the Tuileries, doubt-
less expressly for the
NOBLE SELF...DEVOTION...A fe
Verran and Roberts, were at work in
ago two miners,
in Sonth•Caradon new
Perpendicularly, through
shaft, (which is intteondiendtetrOsebeteste,nk
a granite country,
ga,btouh:
fluttefaittihsoemrtes,d and they
"e inde at the depth of 140
fathoms.) The present depth is
had prepared a hole for blastin
up, and all ready for firing. or?n thess. occasions,--- the' mentamped
drawn up by a windlass, and as they ~re
up and the kibble eau only
Only . are
three in a
corpse, there is only one man at the brace, and.he
draw up one man is drawn lowered ready
to receive the last man, who has to put fire to the-fuse, and
then both men at the windlass draw him up at the utmost
speed, in order that all may get out of the way when the ex-
plosion takes place, which is some times so violent thatlarge
stones are thrown up at the top, carrying with them part of
the roller and windlass to a considerable height. It unfor-
tunately happened that as the safety fuse with which the
hole was charged was longer than was necessary, they incon-
siderately took a sharp stone to cut a piece of it off, and ig-
nition instantaneously commenced. They both flew to the
kibble, and cried out to the man at the brace to " wind up ;"
but alas ! after trying with all his might be could not start
them. At this awful moment (when the furious hissing
of the fuse assured them that their destruction was within
half a minute's march of them) Verran sprang out of the
kibble, exclaiming to his comrade Roberts, "Go on, bro-
ther, I shall be in heaven in a minute !" consequently, Ro-
berts was drawn up, and Verran threw himself down, and
placed his poor devoted head under a piece of plank in one
corner of the shaft, awaiting the moment when he should be
blown
to atoms. Just as Roberts got to the brace. and was
looking down with trembling apprehension on the fate of
poor Verran, the whole went off with a tremendous explo-
sion, and a small stone struck Roberts severely on the fore-
head as he was looking down the shaft. To the inexpressible
surprise and joy of the men at the brace they heard Verran
cry out," Don't be afraid, I am not hurt!" Roberts imme-
diately descended, and
seell
but tr" conduct of
found that the great burden of the
blast was thrown in everywatapiaiertd Oufpt.lie shaft except the corner
where poor Verran
This extraordinary cir-
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rte
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view
ao
as a
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