the departing year; when twelve o'clock had struck the lights

a wafted by the rising and falling breeze. At midnight a deep-toned bell tolled the hour ; the gas lights waned simultaneously, in signification of sprang up, and the hall was in its former blaze of illumination. 'The near the hour of twelve • when the bands paused, the dancing ceased, and amidst silence soft chimes were played in low undulating tones as if nist ; who, from a stage erected for him in one corner of the room, de- lighted and mystified the young people with his clever ventriloquiasns. at the sumptuous supper-table. After supper dancing was resumed, till led off a country-dance with a young partner oath. At ten o'clock the At eleven the parents of the children arrived, and assumed a wise control amusements were varied by the introduction of Mr. Love the polypho- nile entertainment, in the Mansionhouse, to several hundreds of the young children of the citizens. The company entered the Egyptian Hall at about seven, and the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress themselves gayly On New Year's Eve, the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress gave ajuve- Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress seated themselves at the upper end of the hall, and shook each young couple by the hand as they passed ; a courtesy they acknowledged with sweet wishes of a "happy new year." And so the company" departed, young and old in equal delight.

The Hospital attached to the medical school of rigs College has been placed in permanent and inseparable connexion with the College itself. At a special meeting of the Governors of the Hospital, on Saturday, it was resolved to abrogate the thirty-fifth rule, vesting the funds of the insti- tution in trustees, and further, " that the site of the Hospital, together with all the property belonging to it, shall vest in the Corporation of King's College, London, for the purposes of the HospitaL" This amalgamation has been effected with a view to facilitate the measures now in active progress for carrying out the project of a new and regularly-endowed hospital. The subscription towards the-Auld of 50,0001. for the new building and endowments, in the short time since the Council of the College took the matter in hand, has risen to nearly 21,000/. .

A vestry,meeting of the parish of St. Marylebone has unanimously

rejishioners recently appointed to aid in carrying out to a resolution placing its Board-room at the use of the . aidney Her bert's plan of female emigration. Sir Charles Rowan has resigned hi r ace as Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Mr Mayne becomes gild Commissioner;.,ro ridand Captain W" /lay, the Assistant Commissioner, has been pro- inat'd to e vacant Commissionership. -"--"Tir. Seeker, the senior Magistrate at Southwark Police Court, has ex- changed office with Mr. Gilbert a'Beckett, the Magistrate at Green- wich and Woolwich Police Courts.

The Government have determined to decrease the number of Police Magistrates' to twenty in number for the Metropolitan district, by not filling up vacancies as they occur by resignation or death. Mr. a'Beckett will therefore be assisted by Magistrates from all the other Po- lice Courts in regular rotations. It is stated that two of the senior Ma- gistrates will shortly resign.--Daily Xews.

In the Insolvent Debtors Court, on Saturday, Captain Robert Talbot, of the Royal Artillery, having applied for his discharge, the application was op- posed by counsel on behalf of John Jeffrey-6. jeffreys was the racket-keeper of the regiment, and Captain Talbot its treasurer; Jeffreys sued his Captain• in the County Court for 51. arrears of salary, and obtained judgment; there- upon he was dismissed from his appointment, and "forcibly ejected there- from" by Captain Talbot and some other members of the regiment. He brought an action for the assault ; and it came on for trial at the Maidstone Assizes, but was compromised on the advice of the Judge, by an admitted Verdict for nominal damages only enough to carry costs; six counsel had been eitgaged. Captain Talbot's debts are 700/. ; 6001. in respect of his own costs and those of Jeffreys. "Not being in possession of funds to pay this amount, he sought the benefit of this Court, almost exclusively, if not solely, for the

ose of relieving himself from the costs attendant on keeping up the legal with Jeffreys? He "admitted that the arrest on which he was in ustody was a friendly one, made with the above object." Mr. Commissioner felt doubts as to receiving such a petition, and dismissed it after eon- the Chief Commissioner.

the young men charged with defrauding the public of post- -"----lisetnents announcing that copies of an official 1851 could be obtained on sending were reexamined by the - .trengthen- Ou. parties who ordered certain circulars to be printed for form-dr,lin, w ith vertisements to country papers. A postman said he had delivered as mans; as thirty letters a day at he house ; some were directed to Darner and W j.. lingsbrook„ the pielido "Hon. Secretaries," and others to Mr. Wyatt a- na Mr. Godwin. The prisoners were again remanded, but were allowed to pu in bail.

Louis Joel has been committed for trial, by the Marlborough Street M gistrate, on the charge of forgina a bill for 1,000/. In the case of fraudu lently obtaining bills for 7501. from Lieutenant Garland, the prosecutor were not quite prepared to go on with the evidence ; so Joel was ordered t put in bail to appear again on Monday next.

At Westminster Police Office, on Monday, Jane Manning, an elderly wo man, and Harriet her daughter, a girl of eleven, were charged with shadily. a great number of papers from the House of Lords. The papers seem tic have been printed ones connected with appeal cases : the prisoners sold th as waste paper at divers shops. Manning's husband is a watchman at th House ofI ords, and in the course of his rounds would enter the roe whence the papers were abstracted: he was in attendance, but not in cos tody. Mr. Broderip liberated the girl, as she might have known nothing o the felony ; but the mother he remanded for a week.

At Guildhall Police Court, on Saturday, Daniel Blackmer° was reexamilie on the charge of stabbing Policeman-Mattham. With respect to this aft' he said— I know nothing of it, for I was too far gone in liquor." On t representation of Mr. Kingdon, that Math= might be able to attend in about a week, Blaekmore was remanded.

In the course of the examination, Mr. Payne, a citizen who saw all that was seen of the actual assault, stated that, after "the other Policeman" [not named] came up to Mattham on. his crying "I am stabbed," the pri- soner said, " I am the person who did it" • and, holding up his hands, con- tinued, "I give myself up here." Notwithstanding this surrender, "one of them" with his truncheon felled him with such a blow on the head that he was senseless till after he had been taken to the hospital. Mr. Payne thought the conduct of the officer very bad to strike a man in such a manner whenhe was giving himself up. Sir Peter Laurie said—" Is there anything sur- prising in a Policeman getting out of temper when he sees his brother officer has just been stabbed ? " Mr. Payne—" I do not attempt to justify the pri- soner's conduct ; but I think the Police used greater violence than was ne- cessary when the man offered to surrender." Sir Peter Laurie—" Then I think differently, and do not blame the man. It has already been sworn that the wounded man struck the prisoner down ; and the sooner such men as the prisoner, who resort to the cowardly mode of stabbing, are sent out of the country, the better. This crime is now on the increase, and ought to be put a stop to. As to the giving himself up, there was no merit in that, for he knew lie could not escape."

Notwithstanding the thaw which set in early on Sunday, a vast number of persons were attracted to the Parks, to enjoy the graceful and healthful amusement of skating. The pond in St. James's Park appeared to be most in favour ; and although the ice was announced to be in a dangerous state, thousands ventured upon it. A number of slight accidents, involving a duck- ing' but nothing more, occurred; and it is said that among the unfortunates in this way was M. Boyer, the well-known chef de cuisine of the Reform Club. Of course the officers of the Humane Society were in attendance, and,. besides rescuing the unlucky wights who slipped through the ice, had them well attended to afterwards. Hot baths were provided, and stimulants also ; Mr. M`Cann, of Parliament Street, being present with his assistants, and ready to apply the proper restoratives in cases that required medical treat- ment The Serpentine was not so crowded with skaters as the pond in St. James's Park ; but there too every precaution for the safety of those ven- turing on the ice had been adopted. Luckily no serious accident occurred. The ornamental water, in the Regent's Park also attracted many thousands of visiters.—Times.

The Morning Chronicle supplies the details of Monsieur Soyer's "very narrow escape." "He was leading a young friend who had expressed a wish to walk on the ice, when he fell through into sixteen feet of water, opposite the Horse Guards. Finding that a number of parties were approaching to- wards him,. he had the presence of mind to tell them to keep back, and not to offer to assist him nil the Humane Society's men arrived. Had he done so, it is quite probable that many more persons would have fall, As it was, Iceman Martin got him out, and conveyed him to the te. surges immediafeiyVicW kite in a; 120 t ba. g been rubbed for some time, he was put to bed; when Mr. Wtann administered a glass of whisky, which he considers one of the best stimu- hints on such occasions. After the lapse of a few hours, M. foyer was able to be removed to his bwn residence in a cab-" Next day he manifested his thankfulness by a donation of ten pounds to the Humane Society.

While a number of men were engaged in collecting ice from a deep pond

for the cellar of the Star and Garter at i Richmond, the ice on which three of the men were standing gave way, and they fell into the water. Two were rescued in a very exhausted state ; but the third perished, as it was a long time before he could he found.

Belmont House, in the Wandsworth Road, formerly the residence of the Duke of Brunswick, and since used as 9, hotel and tem.gardens, was totally destroyed by fire on Thursday morning.