SCOTLAND.
The contest for the Rectorship of Marischal College, Aberdeen, excites much interest and bustle. " The Earls of Eglintoun and Carlisle, Lord Ashley, and Mr. Alfred Tennyson, are already in the:field" ; and Lord Eglintoun has volunteered if successful to present himself for personal installation.
Lord Advocate Rutherfurd remains so seriously ill, says the Glasgow Mail, that his resignation is expected.
The election for the Falkirk Burghs appears to have been characterized by extraordinary scenes of drunken riotousness. Our authority for the following is the Glasgow correspondent of the Times— The majority of the public-houses in the town were opened; the colliers and miners flocked into the town and got drunk by the hundred. "Drunken men and women were lying about the streets in all directions in a state of perfect inseusibility ; and so many intoxicated wretches staggered along or lay on the road between Airdrie and Coatbridge for a distance of two miles, that carriages could not pass along without the greatest care and difficulty.' The brawls and pitched battles were innumerable. The Police did not at- tempt to interfere with these so long as only black eyes and broken noses resulted, but shortly after the close of the poll the embroglio became general and serious ; and after several set combats with the Police, the mob fairly got the town completely in their possession for two or three hours. The Police, however, had regained the mastery by about nine o'clock in the evening; when a body of military marched iu from Glasgow, under the guidance of Sheriff Alison, and established the victory of order. Next morning the town was quiet, and the military departed. Seine dozen police- men and some forty colliers were badly wounded.
George Thomson, the correspondent of Burns, expired on Tuesday, at his residence in Leith Links, at the advanced age of ninety-two. During the whole winter he had been confined to the house with cold. For several weeks past his health sensibly declined, occasioning much solicitude to his family and friends. His active intellect, however, remained unclouded to the last. Though one of his eyes had begun to fail, objects of art still ex- cited his imagination; and even within a few days of his decease a collec- tion of fine old prints, when shown him by a friend, were examined and ad- mired with a discrimination which his cultivated taste preeminently quali- fied him to exercise. Mr. Thomson's early connexion with the poet Burns is universally known ; and his collection of Scottish Songs, for which many of Burns's finest pieces were originally written, has been before the public for more than half a century : his letters to the poet are incorporated with all the large editions of Burns. His kindness of heart and other excellent qualities will long be remembered by his friends.—Scotsman.
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