SABBATH IN THE CITY.—A number of complaints were made at

the Mausion- house on Thursday, in consequence of an order of the Lord Mayor that the stage- coaches shall no longer interrupt divine service, by rattling along the streets on Sundays during church. hours. The Lord Mayor said the officers had mistaken the meaning of the order. It was merely his wish to prevent the disturbance of divine service ; and no one who went to church could deny that the noise of the stage-coaches frequently drowned the voice of the clergyman. He had no idea of interfering with the convenience of the public, and would be happy to be in- formed of any case in which the officers had exceeded their directions. The pro- prietor of the Blackwell stage-coaches said that the officers had seized his horses in the City, and threatened to take them to the green-yard if he pushed beyond a certain limit ; and his customers refused to pay for the short turn. The Lord Mayor said that the officers should be directed to exercise their authority more discreetly.

PRIVATE Heanneos.—Mr. Stockdale, the famous publisher of the notorious Harriet Wilson, presented himself at the Mansionhouse on Thursday, and was urgent with the Lord Mayor to grant him a "private hearing" for a tale of con- spiracy which he had to unfold. The Lord Mayor would not hear Mr. Stockdale in private ; and advised him, if he had a good cause, to pursue it openly in the proper tribunals. Mr. Stockdale said, the charge he had to make was of conspiracy against a lady to deprive her of her property: some of the most opu- lent and respectable men in the city of London were included in the charge, and if it were made publicly, the ends of justice might be frustrated. .

UNWHOLESOME MEAT.—Mr. Hicks, the salesman in Newgate-market, attended at the Mansionhouse on Thursday, with White, the horse slaughterer, to satisfy Sir Peter Laurie that the unwholesome meat after it is boiled for dog's meat is not used in any form for human food. White said he was ready to swear such meat was not used for any other purpose than dog's meat. Sir Peter would not allow him to take that oath : he could not possibly trace the meat to the dogs' mouths. White then offered to amend his oath—that he did not

sell it for any other purpose. Sir Peter said that was quite another matter, and not quite so satisfactory. White estimated that six hundred horses are killed for dog's meat every week in the metropolis; and Mr. Hicks stated that this did nut amount to a fourth part of the whole quantity consumed by the dogs and cats of London.

CUSTOM HOUSE Fonomav.—Maynard and West, the two men charged with beingconcerned in the forgery at the Custom-house, were both fully committed from Bow-street—the former on Menday, and the latter on Tuesday. Maynard is believed to Rave-presented the forged precept for payment, and the body of the instrument is stated to be in the handwriting of West. It has been surmised that Hughes. the Clerk to the Commissioners, who was first committed, will be ad- mitted King's evidence.

NEW MODE OF HOUSE ROBBERY.—William Thompson (or Twight) and Ann Baker have been committed for a very extraordinary species of house robbery. Mr. Henry Provis, an elderly gentleman, residing in Buckinghamshire, but having considerable property in houses in London, stated, that some time ago he had a house, No. 36, in George-street, Hampstead-road, which he was desirous of letting unfurnished ; and while Waiting to procure a tenant, he placed an elderly respectable female, named Ann Baker, whom he had known for some years, and of whom he had entertained the best opinion, in charge of it, having furnished one of the apartments for her to reside in, and told her, that when the house should be let he would make her a present of the furniture of the room for her

trouble in taking care of the house. After some time had passed away without any tenant offering for the house, the woman Baker proposed to take it herself. with the intention of letting it out, unfurnished, in separate apartments. Mr.

Provis, wishing to serve the woman, did let her the house as a yearly tenant, at 60/. rent. In a few weeks she began to complain of not being able to let any part of the house, but said, there could be no doubt of her success if she could furnish the place and let it out in furnished apartments, as she had several ap- plications for furnished rooms, but none for unfurnished ones. Thinking that the woman was really both industrious and honest, he furnished the house very hand- somely for her, and in this state he let it to her at 70/. a year. The house thus disposed of, Mr. Provis went to the country. On his return to town, he went to pay a vlsit to his tenant Mrs. Baker. To his great astonishment, he could see nothing of his house, No.36, in George-street, nor any house that bore the least resemblance to it exter- nally. He at first thought that surely he must have got into the wrong street, and had recourse to a neighbour to direct him to what once was No. 36. He knocked at the door ; but as there was not, it appeared, a living soul in the house, he had the street-door forced open ; when, to his amazement, he found the whole place, from top to bottom, stripped of every article of furniture, and nothing whatever left remaining but one solitary poker that stood by the kitchen fireplace. He now inquired about the neighbourhood to learn what had become of the woman Ann Baker, or his property ; but he could gain no information on the subject, until Mr. Lamb,..a surgeon in Carmarthen-street, Fitzroy-square, informed him that he had seen Thompson, who had been a lodger of Mrs. Baker, carrying away fur-

niture from the house. With this information Mr. Provis applied at Bow-street, to the magistrates there, and a statement of the robbery was published in the daily Police Report from that office ; but nothing was heard either of the prisoner l'hourpson or Mrs. Baker, until a few days ago, when Thompson was accidentally met in the street by a person who knew him, and taken into custody. No account, however was as yet had of Mrs. Baker, and it was feared that she had been destroyed to effect the robbery; but it was at last known that she was lurking somewhere about town, and a warrant was issued for her apprehension. The case was finally heard at the office at Marlborough-street on Thursday ; when evidence was given that Thompson had been seen carrying away furniture from the house, Mrs. Baker being in Li:elk:use at the time. A carrier deposed to having conveyed the furniture to various places for sale by the directions of Thompson ; and several brokers proved that many of the articles of furniture now in their possession, and identified by Mr. Provis as belonging to him, had been sold to them by the prisoner. While the depositions of the witnesses were being taken down by the clerk, information was privately brought to the office, that the women, Ann Baker, was then sojourning at a neighbouring public-house, awaiting the result of the investigation as regarded Thompson ; and an officer being dispatched to take her into custody, she was in a few minutes brought in, and placed by the side of Thompson at the bar, when they exchanged looks of mutual displeasure at each other. The prisoners, by the advice of a solicitor attending for Thompson, declined saying anything in their defence; and they were fully committed for trial, on the charge of robbing the house.

ARSON AT VIE PORTUGAL HOTEL.—At Guildhall, on Monday, Mary Ann Noakes, a modest and respectable-looking young woman, under sixteen years of age, was charged with setting fire to the furniture of several bed-rooms at the Portugal Family Hotel, Fleet-street, at which she acted in the capacity of bar- maid. Mr. 'Walter Oakes, the proprietor of the hotel, deposed, that at half-past nine o'clock on Sunday night the furniture of one of his rooms was discovered to be on fire. The prisoner was the first to give the alarm, and found to be quench- ing it, when some of the inmates approached her. Between eleven and twelve, she and his nephew, who sleep on the same stair-case, went to bed, and soon after that three or four rooms were discovered to be in a blaze. It must have been the work of some vile incendiary. In his belief, no one but his nephew and the prisoner had access to the rooms in question. It was proved, that when the second alarm of fire was given, the prisoner was looking down from the bal- cony at the top of the house, partly undressed. It was admitted that her conduct hitherto bad been in every way irreproachable. Her father stepped forward and said, that for many years he kept the wine-vaults at the Marsh-gate, Lambeth, but was at present out of business; his daughter had been behind his bar from an infant, and was free from every vice and universally respected. He spoke with a father's feelings ; but was it likely that the girl would set fire to every floor, and then go to the top story to undress and await certain destruction ? An old woman, and the cook, who had been discharged on the prisoner's account, had been observed to be active on the occasion. The young woman answered every question undauntedly, rand Sir Peter Laurie, the Alderman, said he saw nothing to implicate her, but that the matter should be further probed. The examination was resumed on Tuesday; Sir Peter Laurie having in the mean time inspected the premises. Two waiters deposed, that they ob- served the prisoner to be stupid from intoxication as early as seven o'clock, and the effect of the liquor was working upon her the rest of the evening. About nine o'clock the prisoner went into the coffee kitchen, where the housemaid was sitting, and borrowed her lighted candle, saying she would return it, but without stating any reason for borrowing it; and the maid, after sitting in the dark a quarter of an hour, went up stairs to see what had become of her light, and found that one of the beds had been discovered to be on fire. The prisoner's defence was that she was the victim of a conspi- racy between a Mr. Daniels, a lodger, who had been repulsed by her ups attempting to take liberties, a Mrs. Goodwin, a sort of confidential servant, a (14 the cook, the two latter being companions in tippling, and the prisoner havinna recently caused the dismissal of one of them. Mr. Daniels on his oath denied th: accusation that related to him. Sir Peter Laurie again remanded the prisoner; intimating that he should perhaps discharge her on Thursday, unless fuller evidence were produced. On Thursday, additional evidence of her intoxication and confusion of manner, on the Sunday evening, was given, but none to connect her more closely with the imputed crime. Sir Peter Laurie thus closed the hi- vestigation—" I think a good deal of suspicion attaches to the prisoner. I ex.. :mined the premises myself, but I did not allow any remark to be made. If the boy is to be believed (to the prisoner) he detected you in the very position you would naturally take to watch the fires, and secure your escape. I have seen the cook. From the statement of your father on the first day, I suspected her, but my mind has been relieved on that subject. There is not one person in the whole house upon whom suspicion now rests but you ; and I shall hold you to bail, that if at a future time better evidence can be obtained, you may be brought here again. I have heard improper observations and allusions to the case of Eliza Fennino; but if we were altogether to reject circumstantial evidence, many great crimes must go unpunished." The prisoner's father and a Mr. Pitt became sureties for

her appearance to answer any indictment that may be preferred at the present sessions.

EXTENSIVE FoncEnv.—On Thursday, the Rev. J. G. Wrench, a clergyman if the Established Church, residing at present in Thames-street, waited upon Sir It. Birnie, and begged to call his attention to a letter which he had received from a clergyman and a magistrate residing near Penzance, describing a most exten- sive system of fraud which had been carried on in that neighbourhood by a imr- son who, under colour of his profession as a solicitor, had contrived to obtain possession of money intrusted to his care to the amount of 30,0001. or 40,000/.,

with which it was supposed he had decamped to America or elsewhere. The fol- lowing is a copy.

"Rose-hill, Sept. 5, 1829. "My dear W.—Before you receive this, no doubt you will have heard of the shocking and villanons conduct of Samuel John. He has quitted the kingdom' after hacin' robbed this neighbourhood of 00,000/. or 40,01101. You may suppose that confiding lig! him as I did for transacting all my business, I have not escaped unhurt, but I am happy to say that the amount of my loss will, I believe, be very trilling to what it might have been, or what I was at first led to expect. 1 placed unlimited confidence in him, for he was under obligations to me, of which he always appeared sensible. I trusted him more than I ought to have done, and I cannot help thinking that he had a little conscience towarch me, otherwise he might have ruined me. As it is, he has committed four dis- tinct forgeries in my name on the two Banks here, but for these I do not consider myself answerable. He has besides anticipated seine of my rents, not to mention other iniquities. The whole amount of my loss! cannot as yet ascertain, but independently Si the fqrgeries, I have reason to think that It is not much. He has defrauded Stephens of Ludgrave of 10,0001. carrying on a system of forgery and deceit for the last ten yearo, keeping a debtor and creditor account in an imitated hand, as if it was the banker's book, and giving Stephens credit for 6,000/. which he had drawn by forgeries, while in fact he had drawn every sixpence out, excepting about 400/. Such a continued system of knavery and deceit I never knew of. How4texlits; xould in any way enjoy society is most astonishing, for a hundred circumstances might have occurred every day by which he might have been detected and brought to the gallows. It appears to me most extra- ordinary that any man in his senses should have committed such daring and extensive frauds with the many examples that are daily before his eyes ; but that this man should have been so long engaged in such a system, carrying on an appearance of open frank- ness and honest upright conduct, is indeed incredible."

Sir R. Birnie, after perusing the letter, requested Mr. Wrench to write down a description of the person of the accused, and promised to render every possible assistance in bringing him to justice. Mr. Wrench described the delinquent as an elderly man, of middle stature, dark complexion, and extremely insinuating manners and address. Sir R. Birnie—" Is he a married man ?" Mr. Wrench.- 0 Yes, Sir, but he is separated from his wife and is living with another woman. I saw his wife a few days since at Ilfracombe, where she resides. The separa- tion took place under very peculiar circumstances."

RIOTOUS Harmits.—Mr. Moore, the eminent hatter at the corner of Boon. street, Piccadilly, waited upon Sir Richard Birnie on Thursday, accompanied by a respectable-looking man, whose face exhibited several marks of violence. Mr. Moore stated, that he was the proprietor of an extensive hat-manufactory about seven miles from Bristol. On Monday night, about twenty-eight of the men employed at this manufactory struck for higher wages, and immediately pm- ceeded. to acts of violence : they began by beating those men who had declined to join their lawless proceedings, and several of the workmen received serious iii- juries: three of them were thrown neck and heels into a pond,'-and nearly sufli cated ; and the man who was now present, and who as foreman had the direction! of the works, was also beaten in the most brutal manner, as his bruises would show. Sir R. Birnie asked Mr. Moore, how it was that the matter had not been represented to the local magistrates ? Mr. Moore replied, that no magistrates re- sided within less than seven miles from the place where the outrage was com- mitted, which was in a lonely wild part of the country : there was only one soli- tary constable to act in a district that covered several miles, and even his inter- ference could not be obtained, as he was afraid to stir in the matter. Mr- Moore added, that lie had been to the Home-office to state the circumstances of the out- rage to the Secretary of State and had seen Mr. Capper, who, after expressing his regret that nothing could be done in the business, advised him to remove his manufactory to a part of the country where such acts of outrage could be at once repressed. This advice Mr. Moore was afraid he should be obliged eventually to follow ; and he could not but consider it very hard that he should be obliged to abandon his property, as if it was situated in the wilds of America. Sir R. Bir- nie hoped that there would be no occasion to resort to such a step : surely the law of the land was sufficiently strong to put down a handful of reckless fellows. Mr. Moore shook his head, and expressed a doubt that any good would arise by appealing to the law : the fact was, that the fellows who had combined would, it occasion required, be backed by a hundred more the poor fellow now present was obliged to fly for his life, and take his wife and children along with him. Sir R. Birnie asked the foreman if he thought he could identify any of the per- sons by whom he was attacked. The foreman replied that he thought he could swear to eight of them. The Magistrate then advised Mr. Moore to have these men apprehended and prosecuted, both for the assault and the combination, at the Quarter Sessions: it would he highly proper that such a prosecution should be instituted without delay, in order to show the rioters that the law was not to be braved with impunity. He might have the assistance of two or three officers from Bow-street. Mr. Moore said, with that understandin he should certainly act upon the Magistrate's advice. PERSONAL IDENTITY.—Sir Peter Laurie was engaged at Guildhall on AN-ednei s- day till a late hour, in a strange proceeding for a London police magistrate--yee execution of a commission from the Commissary Court at Edinburgh, to receiv,_ viva voce proof of the identity of a person claiming to administer to the estatetofr the late Alexander Laing, of Edinburgh, plumber, and return the depositions f

the guidance of the Court. The commission had been issued to avoid the ex- pense of conveying five witnesses to and from Edinburgh. It was completely successful : one of the witnesses had weaned the claimant, and never lost sight of him from his birth, tvaenterefour years ago.