BUCKINGHAM HOUSE. — The report of the Committee, just published, gives the

following account and estimate of the cost of this unseemly mass of brick and blundering.

Money actually paid for buildings, &c .• • • ..500,741

0 0 Due for work completed and delivered by tradesmen

.. 54,964 8 9 Due for work in progress, but not completed 42,177 0 0

Required to finish works in progress, but not completed

15,414

0 0 Total cost of the palace, if completed according to its 1 613 236

• present plan .

To complete the palace according to Mr. Nash's intention, ex- clusive of ornamental painting (2,5001.), gilding (23,005/.), and ,finishing the conservatories and court...yards (4,600/.), will require. 31,177 0 0 Grand Total £674,578 8 9 If to this estimate and cost we add the sum which will be required for

s. d.

89

furniture for the palace, the total will not fall short of 750,000/. ; which, at the ordinary rate of 7 per cent. gives a rent of 52,000/., more than one-tenth of the entire Civil List, for this single house.

ROYA1 MARINES.—The promotions in the Royal Marines during the years 1830 and 1831, were—first commissions, 21 ; second lieutenants to

be first lieutenants, 17 ; first lieutenants to be captains, 13; captains to be majors, 5 ; majors to be lieutenant-colonels, 3 ; lieutenant-colonels to be colonels, 2. The number of officers on the 1st of January 1831, was, on full-pay—colonels, 4 ; lieutenant-colonels, 8 ; majors, 9 ; captains,

115 ; firit lieutenants, 121 ; second lieutenants, 108. Retired on full paycolonels, 3 ; lieutenant-colonels, 1 ; majors, 2 ; captains, 20 ; first lieutenants, 12 ; second lieutenants, 10. Retired on half-pay—majors,

2 ; captains, 89 ; captain-lieutenants, 2; first lieutenants, 207 ; second lieutenants, 172.

&also-GUN LEGISLATION.—Lord Melbourne has obtained an act of

Parliament for securing stacks against the destruction of incendiaries, for the wisdom of which the annals of legislation have hardly a parallel.

This act empowers farmers and others to set spring-gulls in their yards to shoot those who approach to fire their stacks, and the following is the mode of its operation : the incendiary leans over the wall of the farm- yard, and discharges a fire-ball into a rick ; a blaze arises, the inhabitants of the farm-house are alarmed, they rush into the yard to extinguish the flames, and the foremost man is shot dead by the spring-gun. Panic- struck at the event, his fellows fly front the spot, and the next day a Coroner's inquest is held, and a verdict of " Died by act of Parliament " is returned ; deodand on the act, one shilling.—Preston Pilot. [The Pilot puts the case very fairly ; but it mistakes in saying Lord Melbourne got an act,—Lord Melbourne only got a bill, which never grew to be an act ; it remains a bill, and will do.]

FIRE-ESCAPE:—A simple adaptation of an old-fashioned fire-escape was exhibited on Thursday afternoon in Bridge Road, Borough, near the

Police-station. The apparatus consists of a broad sheet of canvas, with numerous loop-holes at the border, to admit the grasp of persons in at- tendance in stretching it. The canvas, being stretched by the firemen, policemen; and passengers, several young men leaped from the windows of the first and second floors with as much safety as if they had been jumping a foot. The height of these leaps might be from twenty. five to thirty feet ; but at length a ladder being brought, several of the fire- men and police proceeded to the roof of the house, which is forty feet or more, and jumped from the parapet, one after the other, to the ground, and were each caught upon the escape, without sustaining the least da- mage. A young man, named Norris, Sergeant of Police on the station, leaped several times from the roof, and other parts of the house, and alighted in perfect safety. The proposer of this very simple and efficient escape is Mr. Weeks, the brewer, of Stockwell.

SPEAKING WITH ToNut Es.—Tcie World gives the following strange account of a scene at the Rev. Mr. living's chapel on Sunday last. "Du- ring the sermon in the morning, a Miss Hall was compelled to retire to

the vestry, where she was unable (as she herself says) to restrain herself, and spoke for some time in the unknown tongue, to the great surprise of the congregation, who did not seem prepared for the exhibition. The reverend gentleman resumed the subject in the evening, by expounding the 12th chapter of the 1st Corinthians. Towards the conclusion of the exposition, he took occasion to allude to the circumstance of the morn-

ing, and expressed his doubts whether lie had done right in restraining the exercise of the gift in the church itself. A t that moment a gentle-

man in the gallery, a Mr. Taplin, who keeps an academy ia Castle Street, Holborn, rose from his seat, and commenced a violent harangue in the unknown tongue. The confusion occasioned was extreme. The whole congregation rose from their seats in affright. Several ladies

screamed aloud, and others rushed to the doors. Some supposed that the building was in danger ; others, that there had either been a mur- der, or an attempt to nuirder some person in the gallery; insomuch,

that one gentleman actually called out to the pew-openers and beadle to Stop him, and not let hitn escape.' On both occasions the church was extremely crowded (particularly so in the evening), and it would be im-

possible to describe the confusion produced by this display of fanaticism. There was, indeed, in the strange unearthly sound ant-1 extraordinary power of voice enough to appal the heart of the most stout-hearted. A great part of the congregation standing- upon the seats to Lscertain the cause of alarm, while the reverend gentleman standing with arms extended, and occasionally beckoning them to silence formed a scene

which perhaps partook as much of the ridiculous as of :he sublime. No attempt was made to stop the individual, and, after two or three mi- nutes, Mr. Taplin became exhausted and sat down, and then the re- verend gentleman concluded the service."