A gentleman of the neighb...
The Times, 1824-02-17T00:00:00

A genitleman of the neighbourhood of Portsmouth, who has two sons at school at Caen in Normandv, has recently been ad- vised, that by a Government order, all children, without rererence to nation or religious opinions, educated at the French sebools, mumst attend the celebration of Mass;, in other words, be initiated into the principles and practices of the Catholic creed. We promulgate this for the infornation of parents who have children in France under the care of French tutors.- flampsliire Tclegra ph. The wicked and scandalous paragraphs wvhichi have re- cently appeared in some of the London prints, as touching this place, Brighton, we have before refrained from noticing, because, though as black as the demon offalschool could dvc themn, they worc without anv the slighetest occurrence upon w>vhich to ground the in- famy of tlle despicable inventions. Insting contempt, universal and; complete, is the unquatitied reward they merit.-Brighton Some bodlies having been slolen fromn the chlurch-yardl of a remote parish in Northumberland, the owner of the estate, to prevent such depredations in flturc, hs. directed the gcraves to be made rather shorter than the coffin, and to be excavated at the bot- toIr, so as to admit the head tinder the solid ground. It is then ins. possible to raise it by the feet, anl the grotnd must be cut away above the head-a work of more time than could alwavs be coin- manded for the operation, In addition, a mixture of Percussior powder and tunpowder, placed on a wire in the inside of the cof. fin to explode on its bein openet, has beea resorted to. This will retain its explosive power for a month, in which tine thc corpsc will generaly be ttnfit for dissection.-Carliste JoutrnaL As a proof of the miliness of the season, Mr. William BrxithvBite, of Esklale, lhas a pear-tree in fell blossom: what ren- ders th circumnstance more remsarkable, the tree Is growing in a frigid aid, mountainous district. It is also worthv of remark, that there vwas no snow on Ennerdale-fells on Candlemac day, (Ynnday week,) an occurrence unparalleled in the metnory of the oldest inha- bitant of that district.-Caarlile Jotrnal. The following curious eircumstance took place a fe%v weeks ago at Marseilles :_A gentleman of the highest respectabi- lity, who has for several years carried on business in that town as a merchant with probity ard honour, was a few weeks ago arrested upon a charge of house-breaking. iinder the following circumstances. HIis next door nieighbour, a choleric old gentleman of 42, coming home between nine and ten o'clock in the evening, discovered some person in the- act of scaling :Iis premises, and entering at the first- floor window. He iminediately hailed the police, who happened fortunately to be passing at the moment, and had the depretlator (wbo in the event turned out to be the above-mentioned mnerchant, his next-door neighbour) secured, and conveyed to the ,uard.house. He imrtiediately commenced proceedinat against him for intent of robbery; the unfortu nate gentieman filled the court with witnesses, who protested to his unblemsished character; but all of no rvail, the prosecutorliad brought his wife, an interesting young woman, some 10 or20 years yotinger than himsef, together with his female ser- vants, to prove that there was no connexi1on between lhimself and. the prisoner, nor the slightest intimacy between the parties; ht the iury were decided, and the .Jutdge was abont to con- demn the unfortunate culprit to the gallies, when he prodtced a number of letters, couched in the most tender terms, which he had received from the wife of the prosecu or, wherein she had invited him to breakfast, &c., *ith! her at different times, when her hbus- band was absent. The mystery being thus unravelled, the gentle- man went into an explanation of the circumnstance, of the suspicious situation in which he had been discovered, and from vwhich it turn- ed out that he was in the habit of passing the nights with thc lady in question whenever her husband was absent; that his motle of en- trance wa^s by the unfortunate vzindow, that no serants might be privy to his inters-iews with .Madamne; that on the night in question, the hiusbat'd being out, he had been invited as usual, and was in the lCt of entering, when Monsieur's unexpected return threw hiim into the dilemna in wbich he found himself the ne3t morning. Learn- ing that Monsieur had determiined to arrest him for robberv (not having the slightest idea of the real object of his visit), he sufFered the case to proceed to the utmost; when, perceiving the matter to be on the point of turning out more seriously than he at first inm- gined, he saw himself itnder the necessity of shielding himself from the threatened punishr'rent for the supposed crime of theft. By the decision of a law case in the Court of' King's Benc, a poor widow at Sunderland has come into possess,ion of, it is said, not less than lO,Ol.-Evenizgpaper. iNOVEL MOJig OF RSV.ssuE.-An olde lady of Hitchin by some means had incurred the displeasure of a youth who is an apprentice to a woolstapler at that place; The master lately caused an oat rick to be taken into his baru, on the rernoval of which an immense number of mice were tinloised: the vouth above alluded to was present, and immediately strack with an idea to be revenged on the old lady. He accordinglv caught no less than 80 of these nlce, carefiully preserving them alive, and finally succeeded in lodg. ing,the whole of them as irnmates in the lady's house. She was by ope means enabled to trace the matter home to the youth, whom she caused to be taken before a Aagistrate, who after patiently hear- ing the case pro and coi, adjudged the young delinquent to one week's confinemnent in prison.-Betcks Chronicle. FATAL ACCIDEST.-A youiIg boy of the name of Mat- thews, living at No. 8, Church-row, St. Paneras, had on Sun(lay sawitered as far as Battle-bridge, where, at the request of a gentle- ran whol had alighted from his horse, he consented to hold the an-i. mal vhile he paid a visit at a honse close by. The boy foolishly ventured to mount the horse, which, being a high-spirited one, set off' with him ; ho was almost immediately thrown from his seat, when his foot getting entangled in one of the stirruns, he wa-s dragged in this way upwards of a hundred yards, with the hind feet of the horse frequently tramplng on his head, which was literally crushed to atomns. A correspondent informs us that the turnpike-man, who might perhaps have iirevented the accident by shutting a gate, con- ceived he had no right so lo do, because onsa former occasion, when the gate *ia damnaged by a similar accident, he had been compelled to pay the expenses. All inquest was held at Gosport on Thursday last, before r. I4ngrroft, on niew of the - body of Sarah, the wife of IIey Googe, who,Sin a fit of temporary Mretal derangement, occLsioned, aa it W35 s Sppose, by the rechut accidental lo ss of sight, destroyed herself by plunging her head and. shoulders into a hrlf hogshead nearly fell of rain water. Verdict-." 'That thedteceased, being de- ranged, drowned herself." Bow-swTnExv..-Yesterday Jticleie Keefiey, a sun-btsrpt wea- ther-beaten Irishman, was brought from Covent-garden watch-hoase charged with robbing iM3ry Pottinger, a poor laundress, of 12s. Od. The prosecutrix went on Saturday nigbt to take home some linen to a tradesman in St. Mlartin's-lane, for which she received the -stm mentioned, and on her wvay home -throiagb Long Acre, she was ac- cested by the prisoner,, with "ly- good oald lady, can you direct meto my native countryl?" "Whereis that ?" answered-thepro- eecutrix. " Str Giles's, to be sore," rejbined the prisoner; and- vwas immediately desired by Mlrs.. pottinger to go on until he camne to Drury-lane, and then turn to the left. Instead, however, ofnpurr suing the path directed, he kept close alongside -rs. MPottinger until they came to the corner of Leg-alPay, when he " clipped" her round the witim, and, thrusting his hand into her pocket, took out what. money she <had thtIl together with a pawTnbroker's duplicate. IIe ran off, but was pursued by the pro- secutrix, ubo called " StoP thief1" andt he wvas stopped by a manatfhse bottom of Eeg-alley. The dusplicatc and mnoniv corres, pending with thattlost bg the prosecuxtr, were found upon fhim. Mlic'nel denied the charge, and declared tha t he had borne asootl cbarsakte all his lifc.tiine. Se was comniitted for triaL. P