14 JUNE 1845, Page 8

Itlisrellaneouo.

The Emperor of Russia has just sent, as a present to Prince Albert, three Rus- sian carriages and four fine horses of the Orloff breed; which arrived last week. The present was at first incorrectly described, and we extract the subjoined descrip- tion from the Globe- .' The carriages—a double droshly, a single droshky, and a sledge—are respectively built in the most finished style, and fitted up with every regard for the convenience of the royal personages for whose use they are intended. The first two equipages are of a very peculiar and elegant construction, exclusively national, and affording a striking contrast to our English vehicles. Each of the carriages is intended to be drawn by one horse ; which is attached in the Russian style, having the picturesque douga rising over the animal's head from the extremity of either shaft. The double droshky, which con■ tains seats for two persons behind the driver, is of a brilliant sky-blue colour, edged with gold, the cushions being of a corresponding hue, with silver facings. The impe- rial crown is mounted in gold in either pannel. The colour of this carriage is under- stood to be in accordance with the taste of the Empress. The single droehky is of a darker colour, and affords accommodation for one person only behind the driver. The sledge is very beautifully constructed, and has a most novel appearance. It is entirely of hazel-wood ; the apron being formed of a magnificent bear-skin. The horses are selected from the Emperor's private stud. Their symmetrical form and great beauty are remarkable. One of the animals (an entire horse) is one of the deepest black, with a long Bowing tall, and stands nearly sixteen hands high ; two others are gray geldings, almost equally beautiful; and the fourth is a black horse, with a tail extending to within an inch of the ground. It is, perhaps, not generally known that the Russian mode of driving differs very materially from our own. The coachman sits on a smai dickey in front of the carriage, and holds a single rein in each hand ; the snafile-b which alone is used, being thus pressed against the horse's jaws. It is obvious that English servant would feel himself a little at fault In adopting this novel mode or Jen - ship ; and the Emperor has accordingly sent over three of his own servants to instruct the royal coachmen in their new duty."

Prince Henry, third son of King Wham the Second of Holland, arrived in Edinburgh on Thursday, for a tour in Scotland.

Her Majesty's letters patent have passed the Great Seal of Ireland, granting the dignity of a Baron of Ireland to James Daly, of Dunsandle in the county of Galway, Lsq., by the style and title of Baron Dunsandle and Clanconal in the said county of Galway.—Dublia Graeae. (The new Peer is a moderate Con- servative.]

Tuesday's Gazette announced the appointment of the Reverend Dr. William Muir to be Dean of the Order of the Thistle, in the room of Dr. George Cook, deceased; and the appointment of Sir John Campbell, Baronet, to be Lieutenant- Governor of the island of St. Vincent.

The Marquis of Westminster, it is said, has purchased the celebrated Fontbill estate, formerly the property of Mr. Beckford.

The papers announce the death of Mr. John Marshall, the eminent nuinufaoturer of Leeds, at a venerable old age. "He began life with very small means; but by his ingenuity and industry, exercised continuously for upwards of half a century, be succeeded in amagaing landed and personal property amounting, it is believed, to at least a million and a half sterling. Mr. Marshall's politics, as is well known, were Liberal; and he nobly supported his party with his purse and personal in- fluence in various parts of Yorkshire, and especially in Leeds. Though no orator, and not much inclined to public life, he engaged in the expensive canvass (there was no poll) for the county of York, in 1826; and sat for it till 1830, in conjunc- tion with Lord Milton, (now Earl Fitzwilliam,) the Honourable William Dun- combe, (now Lord Faversham,) and Mr. Fonntayne Wilson. Two of his sons married daughters of Lord Monteagle; and subsequently the noble Lord himself married Mr. Marshall's daughter. His eldest surviving son, William, is one of the Members for Carlisle. The great firm at Leeds is conducted by the other two, James and Henry."

We are gratified to hear, that, with the entire approbation of the family of the late Reverend Sydney Smith, his biography will be written by his friend Mr. Tho- mas Moore.—Morning Chronicle.

The Journal des Debate announces, that on Friday last the ratifications of the new convention for the repression of the slave-trade were exchanged, at the Foreign Office in London, between the Count St. Aulaire and Lord Aberdeen.

From returns recently issued, it appears that the total number of letters de- livered in the United Kingdom in the year 1844 was 242,000,000, which is an increase of nearly 22,000,000 on the previous year. The number before the re- duction of the rate was 75,000,000. In the London or old "Twopenny-post" district, the letters have more than doubled since the penny-rate was established.

A letter from Hong-kong, quoted by the Times, says—" You will be pleased to hear that opium can no longer involve us in China. It is openly admitted at every port, and carried about the streets. In fact, it is legalized to all intents and purposes; but they are ashamed to publish it- The trade of Canton for the past year exceeded all previous experience, notwithstanding the other four ports; and the Emperor gained a revenue of 2,500,000 dollars from that port alone."

The same writer describes the manner of the attack on Mr. Davis. "Whilst at Macao for twenty-four hours, to collect plants and trees and vine-cuttings for the colony, the Governor was attacked by three robbers while walking alone in plain clothes, just outside the town. They fled on seeing some other Englishmen a preaching; so he was happily neither hurt nor robbed, though one of the rssà.l8 had a knife in his possession. In Hong-kong we have put an end to robberies by our English jurisdiction."

From our official returns of railway traffic during the first five months of the present year, it appears that the increase on their aggregate revenue over the corresponding period of last year is nearly half a million sterling. This increase, at five per cent, represents an increase of twenty millions in the value of the railway property of the country. The total receipts of above 1,700 miles com- prising the great lines, up to the end of May, has exceeded 2,250,0001., The Nveekly traffic on these lines at present amounts to 120,0001.; of which only one- fifth part is for goods, the remainder for passengers.—Railway Chronicle.

That some idea may be formed of the immense stimulus the trade of the coon-, woidd derive from the formation of the contemplated railways' it is only ne: cessary to state, that were 2,000 miles of the projected railways to be constructed, it would give employment to 500,000 labourers and 40,000 horses for the next four years.—Herapath's Railway Magazine.

• The total number of accidents on railway's, reported to the Railway Department of the Board of Trade, for the quarter ending 1st April 1845, was 39; being 22 deaths and 17 injuries.

• A thick kind of glass has been imported under the reduced duties, to be used for the roofing of houses and other buildings. It is expected to be very service- able for those who need green-houses, light work-shops, or the means of evading the Window-tax.

The project to throw a huge tube, composed of sheet-iron' across the Menai Straits, for the transit of a railway-train, has, we understand, been abandoned; owing, doubtless, to the probable disastrous effects of a gale of wind pressing upon such an extent of surface as so large a tube would necessarily present. It is in contemplation, we believe, to erect in its stead two bridges of solid construction, both of them uniting on the Britannia Rock, and to throw out piers from each aide of the Straits.---Builder.

The screw-propeller steam-sloop Rattler arrived at Sheerness on Tuesday, from the Orkney Islands, after having towed the Erebus, Captain Sir John Franklin, and the Terror, Captain Crozier, to Cape Wrath, and thence to the islands Barra and Rona, situated sixty miles North-west of the Orkneys; whence the ships composing the Arctic expedition took their final departure, about noon on the 4th instant, under the auspices of as favourable a breeze as could be well desired to waft them towards the icy region they have been sent to explore.—Standard.

The Great Britain steam-ship left Blackwell on Thursday afternoon, for Ply- mouth, where she is to be exhibited. She will then go to Dublin, and thence to Liverpool; which port she will leave on the 26th July, on her first trip across the Atlantic.

A new comet has been discovered. It is seen in the North, towards midnight; and though at present rendered difficult to be discerned by the naked eye is readily seen with a glass of moderate power; its nucleus appearing like a star of the fourth magnitude.

An interesting anecdote has been told in relation to the circumstances which first induced Teresa Milanollo to study the violin. When attending a musical BUSS at Savigliano, in Piedmont, (her native country,) being at that time about four years old, she was much struck by a solo on the violin. No sooner was the service over than she expressed to her father her desire to learn this instrument. Her father explained to her that the piano and harp were more suitable to a female: when she exclaimed, "Oh, it is the violin that I love." This extraor- dinary predilection induced her father to engage a master; under whose instruc- tions she made great progress; and at the age of six she gave a concert in her own country. She then gave concerts at Marseilles, Paris, and in Holland, with im- mense success, and came to London when scarcely eight years old. At Lille, where a medal was struck to her honour, her sister Maria, then aged six years, was heard for the first time. They played together in the North of France, at Paris, and have since visited Germany and part of Italy. In Germany they gave 250 concerts. Since their arrival in London, on the present occasion, both have been elected honorary members of the Beethoven Quartet Society; a distinction Only conferred upon foreign performers on the violin of first-rate talent.—Times.

A Gratuitous School for Poor Italian Boys in London has been established for a eouple of years, and is actually at work in Greville Street, Hatton Garden: to aid its funds a concert is to be given in the Hanover Square Booms, on Tuesday even- ing next. The boys are imported, ignorant and helpless, by men who speculate in the fruits of their quasi-mendicant profession of music; and one of the best ways of aiding them is to teach them so that they may know how to help themselves. Many of these poorest of Italians, adult or young, have been the real pioneers in spreading and improving a taste tor the arts to the remotest provinces; carrying,- in plaster casts and grinding organs, the classic beauties of ancient Greece, and the lovely melodies of modern Italy, where nought was known within these few years but the now obsolete "Polly pat the kettle on" and the painted "Poll parrot"; and the progress, much as may remain to be done, is wonderful, even- within the memory of the young. There is something peculiarly appropriate in this tribute of sister arts—for Signor Pistrucci is to dehver an improvisazione--on behalf of the helpless little drudges. The programme of the concert includes Pischek, Staudigl, Coral, Mademoiselle Schloss, Miss Sabina Novelle, John Parry, Leopold de Meyer, Vieustemps, and many other musicians of repine.

We have been favoured with the sight of a private letter, received this morn- ing, from Jersey, which states that C. C. Wilson, Esq., was unconditionally re- leased from prison on Wednesday last, after a consultation by the States. He was met and escorted from prison by a large multitude, who hailed him with en- thusiastic plandits.—Globe, June 13.

"Truth, it appears, has been uttering falsehood: the Duke of Wellington did not pay the fine which was imposed on Wood the Fulham carrier for furious driving. The man had to borrow the money of a relation to obtain his freedom. A young woman was fined the other day, at Southwark Police-office, for makinga strange use of her "bustle." She attempted to smuggle a bladder of into nto the Queen's Bench Prison concealed in the "bustle," for the use, as the accused declared, of an old lady in the gaol who said she would die if she were debarred from liquor.

It is said that Miss King, the young lady in whom room the fatal fire at Rag- gett's Hotel broke out, is the Miss King who was personated some three or four years ago, in Bristol, by the notorious Miss Bryers, when Mr. Woolley was duped.

A correspondent of the Morning Post, Mr. Cyril Hutchinson, describes an accident arising from some negligence of the railway people on the Great Western Railway, near the Paddington terminus, on Monday afternoon, which might have resulted in a fearful loss of life. A quick train ran into two empty trucks which had been left on the line, forcing one of them up on its end, and producing a con- siderable concussion in the train; so that several persons were bruised. The engine-driver had fortunately seen the obstacle, and thus been enabled, to check the speed of the engine, or the result might have been very disastrous.

The floor of a mill at Halifax gave way last week, during a sale by auction at which a hundred persons were present: yet, strange to say, though fifty fell with the floor into a room beneath, accompanied in their descent by many heavy arti- cles, no one was seriously hurt.

A labourer employed in the West India Docks has died from the bite of air insect, inflicted while he was employed on board a ship. Soon after he was bitten his arm swelled; and in a fortnight after he died, suffering from a difficulty of breathing, and delirium. It is supposed that the insect was a poisonous one, flow the Tropics.

A man has died at Warrington of hydrophobia, caused by the bite of a cat in January last. In endeavouring to turn a strange cat out of a tap-room, the back of his hand was clawed and bitten: the wounds festered, but soon healed; and nothing more was thought of the matter till within a week of the man's death, when the disease first manifested itself.

An inquest was held at West Ham, on Saturday, on the body of William Baker,. who died from hydrophobia caused by the bite of a terrier. The man was bitten in the fore-finger on the 26th April; two drops of blood flowed from the wound,, and it soon healed up. But on the let June the finger began to swell, and the swel- ling rapidly extended to the elbow. The sufferer had paroxysms of great violence. It required ten men to hold him. When in a quiescent state, he complained of great thirst; but upon liquid being offered, he exhibited the greatest distortion of countenance. He struck his landlord on the head with a gun, and was at last obliged to be strapped to his bed. A verdict was returned in accordance witit the evidence.

The celebrated steeple-chaser Discount was sold at Tattersall's on Monday, for S0 guineas.