_Miscellaneous.
Tuesday's Gazette contained an order from the Lord Chamberlain's Office that the Court mourning for the Duke of Saxe Coburg Gotha should change on the 7th instant, and terminate on the 21st.
The Court Circular contains an authoritative contradiction, which is also put in more distinct terms by the Times- " We are able to state, upon what we consider pretty correct authority, that there is no truth in the statement copied from the German press, that Prince Albert will inherit great wealth from his father. The estates are all strictly entailed, and will, of course, devolve upon his Royal Highness's eldest brother, the reigning Duke."
The Earl of Carlisle is said to be gradually though slowly reco- vering.
The Duke of Beaufort fell from his horse while hunting, near Ciren- cester, on the 20th February, and fractured a rib ; but he is going on favourably.
The death of Baron Wallace leaves a blank in the Peerage : the late Lord having died without issue, the title is extinct. He expired at Featherstone Castle, in Northumberland, on Friday last. He has left his estates to Colonel Hope, the nephew of his late wife, the Dowager Viscountess Melville ; and to Mr. John Wallace, of the Madras Civil Service, his first cousin and heir-at-law, he has bequeathed 1,0001.
A petition has been presented against the return of Mr. W. H. L. Bruges for Devizes, on the ground that he was disqualified at the time of the teste and issuing out of the new writ, by holding the office of Recorder of the said borough. The petition prays that all the votes recorded on behalf of Mr. Bruges may be declared worthless, and the
seat transferred to his opponent, Mr. Temple. The election was held on the 7th February, whereas it appears that Mr. Bruges resigned his office of Recorder on the 1st.
A Parliamentary return discloses the names of the parties to be re- lieved by the Horse-racing Penalties Bill. It appears that thirty-four writs of summons have been issued against fifteen individuals. Six have been issued against Lord George Bentinck, Member for Lynn ; six against Mr. Bowes, Member for South Durham ; two against Mr. Gregory, Member for Dublin ; two against Colonel Peel, Member for Huntingdon, brother of the Premier and Surveyor-General of the Ordnance ; two against the Earl of Eglinton ; four against Mr. Crock- ford ; two against Mr. Charles Greville ; three against Mr. Henry Hill, who is said to be closely connected with Lord George Bentinck on the turf ; and one against each of the seven following gentlemen—Colonel Anson, Mr. Gully, Mr. Peter Clowes, Mr. Henry Justice, Mr. John Greatorer, Mr. John Bayley, and Mr. A. H. Bailey.
At a Special Court of Proprietors of East India Stock, on Wednes- day, it was stated that resolutions then read, similar to those adopted by Parliament, thanking Major-General Sir Charles Napier and the officers and soldiers employed in the military operations in Scinde, had been passed by the Court of Directors ; and the same resolutions were now proposed by the Chairman, Mr. Cotton, for the adoption of the Court of Proprietors, and seconded by Sir James Law Lushington. The motion was strenuously opposed by Mr. Sullivan ; who, quoting copiously from the Blue Book, censured the war and the dispossession of the Ameers, and moved a direct negative. The first resolution, thanking the General, was carried with only four dissentients ; the others passed unanimously ; and the Court adjourned.
An extensive and valuable collection of curiosities, made by Captain James Ross and his companions in their expedition to the Southern Seas, has recently been added to the British Museum.
The Allgemeine Zeitung says that at Bonn an address to O'Connell was in course of signature ; and the Globe adds that similar addresses were preparing at Ulm and elsewhere.
The Hull Rochingbanz relates a very ingenious piece of villany- " A few days ago, a person in this town, carrying on an extensive business, hit upon the following plan for raising the wind. He held a bank-note for 50/., which he cut in two, and taking one of the portions to an acquaintance, in- formed him that he bad just received it by post, the other portion being to fol- low in the course of a day or two; but, as he wanted the money immediately, he could not wait for its arrival. This friend in need, on receiving the half- note, advanced the cash: and another friend did the same on receiving the other half. Here were a hundred pounds made out of fifty; but the business was not yet completed. Taking his hundred pounds to one of the banks, he pro- cured a note for that amount, and having again recourse to the process of cut- ting, actually obtained 2001. on the two halves, with which he decamped, and has not yet been heard of."
The Times recounts a curious sharper's trick practised in the City on Wednesday last-
" A poor countryman called at an eminent banking-house with a 20/. note, desiring to pay in 10/. on account of a provincial bank, of which this house was the agent, and to receive the other 10/. in sovereigns. As he was a stranger, the clerk to whom he applied refused to take the note and give him the re- quired change, and directed him to get it changed at the Bank of England- The countryman proceeded there accordingly; and just as he was about to enter, was met by a person who told him he need not trouble himself to go any further, as he could give him change at once. The countryman gave him his note, and receiving what he thought to be 20 sovereigns, returned to the banking house to pay in the 10. His consternation was great when he found that the coins he had received were only worthless medals. The probability is, that the man who deceived the countryman had previously lounged among the crowd assembled at the counter in the banking-house, and had overheard enough to enable him to perpetrate his fraud. It is said that a set of frau- dulent vagabonds make a regular practice of lounging about banking-houses in the hopes of waylaying the unwary."
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