3 SEPTEMBER 1853, Page 6

The severe illness of Lieutenant-General Sir Charles James Napier- terminated

on Monday, in his death, at Oakland. near-Portsmouth. Sir Charles was born at Whitehall, in 1782. He entered the Army in 1794; served in Ireland during the troubles of 1798 and 1803; fought at the head of the Fiftieth Foot through the Peninsula ; was wounded„ and, taken prisoner ; exchanged, and was again in the field. He was engaged. in our last brief war with the United States; in France *hen Napoleon was finally overthrown ; and only ten years ago, in the spring of 1843, with a handful of men he fought the battle of Meanee, which decided the fate of Scinde. In 1849 he was called to the chief command of the forces in India, at the express instance of the Duke of Wellington. He died Commander of the Kent Military district, and Colonel of the Twenty-. second Regiment of Foot, which he first entered as an Ensign. How Isa fought in his earlier career may be inferred from his wounds. At Co- rtmna, he was made prisoner, after-receiving no fewer than five wounds, —namely, leg broken by a musket-shot, a sabre-cut on the head, a wound in the back with a bayonet, ribs broken by a cannon-shot, and severs/ severe contusions from the butt-end of a musket! At the action of the Co., he had two horses shot under him ; at the battle of Busaco, he was shot through the face, suffered a broken jaw, and nearly lost an.eye. But Sir Charles was more than a mere fighting soldier. "In losing Sir Charles Napier," says the Horning Chronicle, "the country loses one of its brightest military ornaments, and one of its most acute and indefatigable military administrators and reformers. In many respects, Sir Charles stood markedly out, even amid the gallant and able men amongst whom he spent his long and adventurous life. Brave to rashness, and be- 3-end it—loving, in his early days, danger for its own sake—adventurous to an extreme—indefatigable in a he undertook—with as much fertility of in- vend= as rapidity id action—equally ready with tongue, pen, and sword-- and, to crown all, of a strangely wild and eccentric appearance---Sir Charles Napier was a man perfectly sui generis. Able as are and were the members as this able family, from the time of Napier of Merehistoun downwards, per- haps Sir Charles James Napier was, as a general, an administrate; flea a ruler, the ablest of them alL The predominating quality of his mind may be set down as a fiery energy and a restless longing for action. He was keen in like and dislike, utterly intolerant of all abuses. He always spoke his mind, and in speaking it never failed to call &spade a spade. Few officers in the British Army led such a life of con- tinuous mental and physical exertion as Sir Charles. At one time he was fighting as a commissioned officer, at another as a volunteer. His exploits extended to sea as well as land. Now we see him as the governor of a co- lony ; again as a negotiator, a diplomatist, and an administrator; abolishing the savage customs of a fierce and untractable people, and introducing with vast energy all manner of reforms in the discipline of his own troops. Worn out at length, and riddled with wounds received in the Peninsula and in India, the body—not the indomitable mind—gradually failed ; and after not leas than fifty-four years of service—V far the greater proportion of the time active service—the conqueror of Scinde and the hero of Hyderabad and. Meanee has breathed his last, as did his great commander, tranquilly in his bed."

The Commissioners appointed to inquire into the working of the County (Inures are Sir John B,omilly (Chairman), Sir William Erie, Sir Charles Crompton, Mr. Fitzroy M.P., Dlr. H. S. Keating, Mr. J. II. Roe, Mr. A. S. Dowling, Mr. J. P. Taylor, and Mr. I. R. Mailings.

Sir Henry Barkly has set out for Jamaica in the screw steam-sloop Brisk. She put into Falmouth under stress of weather, on Saturday.

The vacancies in the Order of the Thistle, occasioned by the death of the Earl of Warwick and Lord Saltoun, have been filled up with the names of the Duke of Athol and Lord Panmure.

It is stated that Lord Elgin will return from Canada to England in the S'arah Sands.

The Governor of the Bahamas, Mr. John Gregory, died on the 29th July : he had been ill of fever for a week. The inhabitants of Nassau publicly testified their respect for his memory.

The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia left Plymouth on Wednesday, for Cthataworth, on a visit to the Duke of Devonshire. Thence she will pro- ceed to visit the Duchess of Hamilton in Lanarkshire.

The Duchess of Hamilton has become a convert to the Roman Catholic religion. She attended the chapel at Hamilton on Sunday last ; when the altar was decorated with many wady gifts from the lady.

Prince Adalbert of Prussia, who has been diligently inspecting onr naval establishments for the last month, left England for Ostend on Tues- day, in the Vivid, which the Queen had placed at his disposal.

A Brussels paper states that the Pope "has just sent to the Duke de Brabant a fragment of the wood of the manger which formed the cradle of our Saviour." It is said that the Duke was "musk affected" when he received this touching token from the Pope's envoy.

The Princess Lieven returned to Paris on Tuesday, from the German baths.

The Grand Duke of Tuscany has forbidden the collection of monies to- wardiaaraiing the expenses of a proposed monument to Gioberti.

An attempt- has been made by an Italian to assassinate the Princess Belgiojoso, at a village in Asia Minor.

, .A.correspondence between Lord Ilowden and General Lersandi, the Spanish Minister, respecting the concession of a Protestant burial-ground at Madrid, has excited a good deal of attention.

General Leraundi, in a letter dated the 24th May 1853, signifies to Lord Howden, that the Queen of Spain has been pleased to grant per- naissio' n for the construction of a burial-ground near Madrid, under these ciathtions ; the same, he states, as those communicated to the British liggation in July 1851— 'a I. The cemetery will be erected on the hill of San Damaso, outside the gitir of Toledo; and it will be constructed with subjection to the hygienic or simitary rules required by establishments of this kind. "2k No church, chapel, or any other sign of e. temple, or of public or private worship, will be allowed to be built in the aforesaid cemetery. "3. All acts which can give any indication of the performance of any divine service whatsoever are prohibited. "4. In the conveyance of the dead bodies to the burial-ground, any sort of pomp or publicity shall be avoided." To this Lord Howden, on the 30th May, returned a spirited reply.

"With regard to the first three conditions specified in the document, I shall say nothing ; having already said, uselessly, a great deal, and often, on the subject. My opinion on them is that of Europe, including the great Catholic nationsof France, Austria, Portugal, Belgium, Sardinia, and Brazil; and if that opinion be indifferent to the nation of her Catholic Majesty, Eng- land will at least find herself in good company in the appreciation of the above. conditions."

But on the fourth condition he had something to say. It is vague; what one nation calls pomp, another calls decency ; neither is it possible to dis- cover what is meant by "publicity." Does the Spanish Government mean that the body is to be smuggled from the gate of Atocha to the gate of Toledo? He continues—" I renounce all responsibility as to its being carried out according to the expressed wishes of the Spanish Government, or the appreciation of the word 'pomp' by some ignorant and fanatical mob. I do not know whether the state of Spain would permit such a homage to civil dignity, but in all other countries of the world it is precisely to the authori- ties themselves that the representative of a foreign country would apply for protection in conveying a human body to its last resting-place. Perhaps I shall have occasion to try this question. I hasten to finish this communica- tion, as it is impossible to make it without a feeling of irritation. If, in the streets of London, whither I am going, I have the misfortune to meet a Spaniard carried (with publicity ') to the grave, while reverently uncover- ing myself as the corpse passes, my szrow will be tempered by the feeling that he is buried like a Christian, and rev ide will be gratified by thinking that this homage has been paid to one of God's creatures by Christians who are my countrymen."

In his letter enclosing this correspondence to Lord Clarendon, Lord Howslen states, that "although the permission appears the direct conse- quence of a right secured by treaty, it has for half a century been opposed, evaded, or delayed ; and I have had the greatest difficulty in obtaining it."

Mrs. Norton has replied, in the morning papers, to the statement of her husband, of which we published some account last week In this letter, which is of immense length and various scope, Mrs. Norton dis- proves several of the allegations made against her by Mr. Norton. As to the real cause of their quarrel-

" In 1836 I had a quarrel with my husband. Our cause of quarrel was, whether I should, or should not, take my children to the house of my bro- ther, who would not receive my husband. I persisted. Mv husband baffled me, by sending my children to the woman who has since left him her pro- perty,. who threatened to give me into the hands of the police when I went to claim them ; and I left town alone, for my brother's country-seat. Such being our real quarrel, I charge Mr. Norton with contriving that the whole world should believe (as they did believe) that my misconduct had broken up our home, that I was an unfaithful wife, and that my lover was Lord Melbourne. He brought an iction against Lord Melbourne. The witnesses for that action were proved on the trial to be of the lowest and most degraded class. The chief witness was a drunken discarded groom, who was then a rag-seller in Monmouth Street : both he and others were proved to have been sent down to Lord Grantley's place, and to have received a weekly sti- pend from his agent while there. The trial was brought in 1836 ; never- theless, no evidence was offered after the year 1833 ; the servants living with us after that time were not called ; nothing was heard but the witness- ing of the rag-seller and his companions, who admitted in court that they had received money. In spite of all which strange advantages, and the fast that a woman is not allowed to defend herself in these actions, the verdict went against Mr. Norton. " In this present year of 1853 I have a quarrel with my husband. Our quarrel is, whether I shall, or shall not, be compelled to cede a portion of my mother's bequest. I refuse. Mr. Norton insists. I rashly count on being certain to obtain a compulsory fulfilment of our agreement, which I imagined to be binding. I find myself, on my return to England, without funds to meet my English creditors. I stop one action against my husband at my own expense. el write to Mr. Norton's own solicitor, in the forlorn hope that Mr. Norton is acting against advice. I come into Court against my will, upon subpcena, compelled to appear to prove the debt and agree- ment. Mr. Norton meets me there in person and by counsel, once more to fight his battle against me with cruel treachery, once more to raise the ghost of that departed slander, and to contrive that the whole world shall believe (as they do believe) that Lord Melbourne was again the subject of our quar- rel; • that some pledge, stipulation, or promise, was made and broken by me, and that that is Mr. Norton's excuse for his breach of covenant. I rebut that imputation on oath, and by proved facts ; and Mr. Norton publishes in the Times newspaper two columns of abuse of the dead and living, including coarse anecdotes of the mother of his grown-up sons, which, even if true, (which they are not,) he himself dates back to the time when we had an only child,'—that is, twenty years ago. Shall the verdict not once more_be against him ?" Mrs. Norton makes out that Sir William Follett did not " advise" Mr. Norton in the trial, except as counsel, and through his solicitors he pub- licly repudiated the idea at the time ; that Mr. Norton, not once but many times, after the trial, wrote endearing letters to her, to arrange for their reunion.

"I was always maltreated by Lim from the earliest period of our mar- riage. I parted from him in 1833, and in 183.5, as my family can witness, for violence such as is brought before police-courts ; and I returned to him on his own passionate entreaty that I would not crush' but 'for- give him,' and that he went on his knees to me for pardon.' I was safe out of his power, and my reputation unsullied, when he made this prayer : I returned, and five months after this letter we were again and definitively

parted." •

"Mr. Norton gives his own account of my previous conduct in money- matters; most plausibly, and most falsely ; the exact and witnessed truth being, that during the two years 1836 and 1837, I had not one single farthing from Mr. Norton : that he then employed Sir John Bayley, who had been his counsel, to arbitrate as to my allowance and all other matters; that he would not abide by the arbitration; made what allowance he pleased; and advertised me (to guard himself from further liability) in the public papers, —being, I believe, the only person of his own rank in life who ever adopted such a measure. I copy two sentences from a declaration with which Sir John Bayley has lately furnished me, in contradiction at once of the whole fa- brication respecting my conduct in these matters= I was appointed arbitrator on Mr. Norton's behalf, in the year 1837, having been counsel for him ; and thus became intimately acquainted with the circumstances of these disputes. Mr. Norton gave me at that time a written promise to abide by my de,cimon. He broke his promise, and refused to hold himself bound by the pledges given.' . . . . consider Mr. Norton's conduct to his wife, so far as it has come under my knowledge and cognizance, to have been marked with the grossest cruelty, injustice, and inconsistency.'" Mrs. Norton also makes out another misstatement. Mr. Norton said

that the loss of his appointment in the Bankruptcy Court gave him some claim for office on the Home Secretary, as he had received no compensa- tion. Mrs. Norton shows that he held the appointment in the Court until Lord Melbourne offered him the Police appointment ; and that it was with difficulty he could be persuaded to resign his Commissionership, as the Minister expected he would. Mrs. Norton denies that she put her husband to expense from litiga- tion • and throws doubt on some of his other allegations which she can- not formally disprove. She is content that people should judge of both on Mr. Norton's own letter.

"Many friends have wished me to pass over that letter in disdainful silence, as refuting itself: and perhaps, if I were happy enough to be obscure and unknown, that would be my course. But I have a position separate from my woman's destiny ; I am known as a writer; and I will not permit that Mr. Norton's letter shall remain on the journals of Great Britak as the uncontradicted record of my actions. I will, as far as I am able, defend a name which might have been only favourably known, but which my hus- band has rendered notorious. The little world of my chance readers may say of me, after I am dead and gone, and my struggle over and forgotten- ' The woman who wrote this book had an unhappy history ; but they shall not say—' The woman who wrote this book was a profligate and mercenary hypocrite.' Since my one gift of writing gives me friends among strangers, I appeal to the opinion of strangers as well as that of friends. Since, in however bounded and narrow a degree, there is a chance that I may be remembered after death, I will not have my whole life misrepresented. Let those women who have the true woman's lot, of being unknown out of the circle of their homes, thank God for that blessing— it is a blessing ; but for me publicity is no longer a matter of choice. Defence is possible to e ;. not silence. And I must remind those who think the right

so

of a husband indefeasible that a wife ought rather to submit to the mar- tyrdom of her reputation than be justified at his expense, that I have re- frained. All I state now I might have stated at any time during the past unhappy years; and I never did publicly state it till now—now, when I find Mr. Norton slandering the mother of his sons by coarse anecdotes, signed with his name and published by his authority, endeavouring thus to over- whelm me with infamy, for no offence but that of having rashly asserted a

claim upon him which was found not to be valid in law, but only binding on him 'as a man of honour.'" Appended to the letter are documents conclusively proving the truth of Mrs. Norton's statement in court respecting the motherless child whom she bad brought up out of compassion, and fitted to become useful in her own humble sphere of life.

Mississippi, one of the repudiating States, has shown some signs of re- form. The High Court of Appeal has decided that the State is liable for the Union Bank Bonds, issued in 1838, and subsequently repudiated. The Bonds are in amount only 1,000,0001. sterling.

The Great Indian Peninsular Railway Company have received an in- intimation from the India House that they will be allowed to make an addition to their capital of 1,500,000/. Their present capital is 500,0001., which has been found sufficient to construct the experimental line of thirty- five miles from Bombay to Callian, and on which 5 per cent interest is gua- ranteed. Of the fresh sum to be created, 500,0001. is for a continuation of the experimental line to Shawpoor, a further distance of eighteen miles; the guaranteed interest in this case being also 5 per cent. The remain- ing 1,000,0001. is to enjoy a guarantee of 4 per cent, and to be em- ployed for the commencement of two main lines—one to proceed South- east to Poona]; and the other North-east to Kandeish ; it being under- stood that, while the newly-projected Central India Railway Company are to survey a route for a junction with the Bengal Railway at Agra, by way of Baroda, the Great Indian Peninsular-Company are to perform a similar service for a junction at Allahabad or Mirzapore. The next meet- ing of the Company will be held in October; when the new shares will be issued to the existing proprietors, at the rate of one Si. share guaranteed 6 per cent, and one 10/. share guaranteed 4i per cent, for every share at present held.—Times, City Article.

Sweden is very particular as to the enforcement of quarantine : never- theless, the cholera is in Christiania and other parts of Norway, while Sweden is completely at its mercy. It has even boarded Swedish qua- rantine guard-ships, which bad no communication with the shore. In a word, it now envelops Sweden as in a net, and is doing its work from Stockholm in the North to Ystad in the South, and from Gothenburg in the East to Carlskrona in the West. At Copenhagen, the virulence of the 'scourge was lessening.

The Teetotallers of'Manchester have been trying to get up an imitation "camp" at Old Trafford. The resemblance to Chobham went no further than the erection of certain tents, large and small, to which a " proces- don " marched ; the business of the camp consisted of speeches, music, and the consumption of Teetotal comestibles.

Result of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for the week ending on Saturday last.

Ten Weeks of 184342.

'Week of 1833.

• Symotic DheaSes 4,676 .... 277 • Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 412 .... 55 Tubercular Diseases 1,689 .... 189 Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 1,105 .... 105 Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 289 .... 34 Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 745 .... 99 Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 684 .... 60 Diseases of the Kidneys, lice 89 .... 10 Childbirth, diseases of the II terns, At 106 .... 10 . Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, ilic 64 .... 5 Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, eke

1 Malformations 18 .... 6 Premature Eire' 271 31 Atrophy 276 .... 49 Age 399 .... 38 Sudden 66 .... 1 Pialenen,PrivatiOn, Cold, and Intemperance 297 28 Total (Including unspecified cause,)

1,021

. In another page we have alluded to the speech which Prince Albert delivered at the meeting in the Mansionhouse, on the 21st March 1850, to promote the Exposition of 1851. Some part of the speech referred to the special occasion; but the greater portion referred to truths which be- long to all time and are in spirit most especially applicable to the present

occasion in Ireland. That portion of the speech we now reprint.

"I conceive it to be the duty of every educated person closely to watch and study the time in which he lives, and, as far as in him lies, to add his humble mite of individual exertion to further the accomplishment of what he believes Providence to have ordained. Nobody, however, who has paid any attention to the particular features of our present sera will doubt for a moment that we are living at a period of most wonderful iransition, which tends rapidly to accomplish that great end, to which indeed all history points, the realization of the unity of mankind,—not a unity which breaks down the limits, and levels the peculiar characteristics of the different nations of the earth, but rather a unity the result and product of those very national varie- ties and antagonistic qualities. The distances which separated the different nations and parts of the globe are gradually vanishing before the achievements of modern invention, and we can traverse them with incredible ease; the lan- guages of all nations are known, and their acquirement placed within the reach of everybody ; thought is communicated with the rapidity and even by the power of lightning. On the other hand, the great principle of division of labour, which may be called the moving power of civilization, is being ex- tended to all branches of science, industry, and art. Whilst formerly the greatest mental energies strove at universal knowledge, and that knowledge was confined to the few, now they are directed to specialties, and in these, again, even to the minutest points: but the knowledge acquired becomes at once the property of the community at large; whilst formerly discovery was wrapt in secrecy, the publicity of the present day causes that no sooner i8 a discovery or invention made than it is already improved upon and sur- passed by competing efforts. The products of all quarters of the globe are placed at our disposal, and we have only to choose which is the best and cheapest for our purposes ; and the powers of production are intrusted to the stimulus of competition and capital. So man is approaching a more complete fulfilment of that great and sacred mission which he has to perform in this world : his reason being created after the image of God, he has to use it to discover the laws by which the Almighty governs his creation, and, by making those laws his standard of action, to conquer nature to his use— himself a Divine instrument. Science discovers these laws of power, mo- tion and transformation. Industry applies them, to the raw matter, which the earth yields us in abundance, but which becomes valuable only by knowledge. Art teaches us the immutable laws of beauty and symmetry, and gives to our productions forms in accordance to them. Gentlemen, the Exhibition of 1851 is to give us a true test and a living picture of the point of development at which. the whole of mankind has arrived in this great task, and a new starting-point from which all nations will be able to direct their further exertions. I confidently hope that the first impression which

the view of this vast collection will produce upon the spectator will be that of deep thankfulness to the Almighty for the blessings which be has be- stowed upon us already here below, arid the second, the convietion that they can only be realized in proportion to the help which we are prepared to rem- der to each other ; therefore only by peace, love, and ready assistance, not only between individuals but between the nations of the earth."

The contents of the mansion of Warren Hastings, at Daylesford, have jest been sold by auction ; they brought what are considered good prices, pro. ducing 4001. The estate had been previously sold for 30,2501. to Mrs G-risewood, of the Stock Exchange. The sales were made by the executors, of Mrs. Hastings's will.

It is stated that Lord Londesborough has completed the purchase of the. Selby estate for 270,000/. from the Honourable Mrs. Petre, widow of the Honourable E. Petre, of Selby. Mrs. Petre, who was left sole executrix to her husband, with the whole property at her own disposal, has taken the voil in France ; and the whole of her property will, of course, go to tho funds of the nunnery which she has entered.—.Doncaster Chronicle.

The sum realized for cattle, sheep, pigs, and fowls, at the sale of Earl Ducie's stock, was 12,917/. One boar fetched 62 guineas ; five- six-tooth Southdown ewes went for 9/. a head ; a four-tooth ram realized 601.; a Cochin China cock, which cost Lord Dude 40 guineas, produced 281. 7s. Several of the purchasers of cattle were from New York.

At a sale by Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson, last week, hair from the bead and beard of Charles the First sold for Si. 2s. 64i.; a lock of Newton's hair, for 15s. • and a drawing by Napoleon, when student at the Polytechnic, re- presenting an attack of artillery, for 6/. 12s.

At the last registration, 421,413 electors were registered in England and Wales: 66,879 freemen or members of old corporations, 331,534 household- ers, and 10,844 registered in both capacities.

According to another Parliamentary paper, there are 99 boroughs and towns in England, and 10 in Scotland, with a population of 6000 and up- wards which do not return Members.

In the half-year ending 31st December 1862, the total number of passen- gers conveyed by the railways of the United Kingdom was 49,886,123 ; 5,853,214 first-class, 17,624,051 second class, 26,484,866 third-class, and 17,991 holders of periodical tickets. The receipts were 4,360,1681. from passengers, and 4,449,1051. for goods, cattle, parcels, and mails.

Mr. Shepperd, of Brompton, has patented a machine for the production ef gas from water by means of electro-magnetism. It is reported that gas of good illuminating power can be made for a mere trifle per thousand feet. It is proposed to drive locomotives and marine engines by it instead of steam : a trial is about to be made on two railways.

A monster chimney has been erected at Mr. Kay's mill at Heywood. It is 240 feet high ; the diameter at the base is 23 feet 9 inches, decreasing at the summit to 7 feet. Many hundreds of persons have climbed this stalk to view the magnificent prospect it commands.

A sample package of Natal tobacco has been brought by the steamer Queen of the South, arrived at Southampton from the Cape of Good Hope. This is the first specimen of tobacco the growth of the colony that has been brought to this country, and it has been imported for the purpose of ascertaining its value in the market here.

There is a novelty about the Sovereign of the Seas that doubtless will be soon imitated by other vessels. The ropes which form the running rigging are of cotton ; which, we understand, is not only capable of a tighter twist, ' but is not liable to become deteriorated by friction in the same degree as hempen cords. After they have been in use for years, they can be soldlos nearly as much as the original cost. These ropes are quite smooth, ands= with great rapidity through the blocks. The sails also of this vessel are of cotton, two sets of cotton sails costing only the sum paid for one set of linen. —Liverpool Times.

News has arrived of a second wreck near Port Phillip Heads. The dis- aster seems to have originated in the obstinate temerity of the master. The Sea left Liverpool in February, for a three-years voyage ; with twenty-six hands on board, and the master's wife—Mrs. lifKay. On the 31st May the Sea was anchored near Shortland Bluffs. The chief mate hailed Captain Taylor, of the Queen's ship Boomerang, to come on board. Captain Taylor went. The mate asked him to urge Mr. lti`Kay not to weigh at that time ; Captain Taylor did so ; but M`Kay 'persisted, ordered the preparations to heave the anchor to be proceeded with, and remarked that " he would show them what the Sea could do." Captain Taylor had no right to interfere au- thoritatively, so he left the vessel. But be kept a watch on her. In the evening, the Sea had got on a reef, and by the next day she was dashed to pieces. Captain Taylor rendered what aid he could, as did the people resi- ding in the vicinity. One of the Boomerang's crew was drowned while at- tempting to convey a rope to the wreck. Ten of the crew of the Sea escaped5 but all the others were lost.

The American brig-of-war Dolphin has put into Southampton to refit and take in stores. During the past few months, the Dolphin has been employed in a deep sea sounding expedition in the Atlantic; and will, as soon as she has recruited, continue those useful but laborious operations which are ins stituted by the United States Government with a view to the benefit of science. The Dolphin has a complement of fifty men. The service is a very arduous one, and requires the incessant attention and vigilance of the aW and experienced officers attached to the vessel.

The new act for the suppression of betting-houses will take effect on the 1st of December.

A shark seven feet long, and weighing 140 pounds, was caught off the Eddystone last week.

The attornies at Bristol engaged on the part of the Smyth family have dis- covered that the self-styled "Sir Richard Smyth, Bart.," purchased the Bible in which were the alleged certificates of his mother's marriage and his own baptism, at a stall in London, for the sum of 158.; and at the time when it was sold to him it had in it the ancient signature so much relied on, "Jiio. S. Vandenburgh." Out of this circumstance the story of the Vandenburgh. family was doubtless woven ; the title of Count being prefixed by Sir Richard" to give it a greater importance, and to favour the probabilities of the alliance. The power of truth will, however, turn even this circumstance to the disadvantage of the prisoner ; as a son of Mr. Vandenburgh has been discovered, who can speak to the handwriting of his father, whose name was John Simon, and not John Samuel, the name fixed on by the impostor to been out the initial signature.

Previa has obtained some indulgences from the Visiting Justices—an arm- chair and a soft pillow. He is said to be engaged in writing his life. From present appearances, he will have to prepare his own defence, as he has not the means to fee an attorney.

The Court of Assizes of the Aude has been engaged in frying a frightful case of poisoning. A young woman and her male paramour poisoned the husband of the one and the wife of the other, by means of arsenic. The Jury discovered "extenuating circumstances"—though none are apparent from the account of the trial; and the wretches were condemned to tyenty years' imprisonment.

Leroy, a young chemist, belonging to a manufactory for alcohols and pot- ash at Rowurt, near St. Quentin, in attempting to leap to a plate of zinc between two boilers, fell into a copper of boiling potash up to his waist: with seine assistance, he managed to get out of the boiler, and threw him- self into a vat of cold water, but suffered suck tortures that he called for prussic acid to end them. He died next day. David Wilson, an old soldier of the American Revolution, recently died in Indiana, at the age of one hundred and seven. He had had five wives, and was the father of forty-seven children. In his hundred-and-fourth year he mowed an acre per day of heavy timothy grass. "His frame was not sup- ported by ribs, as the frames of ordinary men are, but an apparently solid sheet of bone supplied their place."--stmerisan Papers.