5 NOVEMBER 1831, Page 7

SIR WALTER Scorr.--Sir Walter and his daughter embarked at Ports-

mouth, on Saturday, on board the Barham, of 52 guns, and sailed im- mediately for the Mediterranean. LITERARY Hououns.—The students of the Glasgow University pur- pose electing Mr. Hume as their Lord Rector.

THE MEMBER FOR Lasismasuntr.—The Hon. Charles Douglas, bro- ther and presumptive heir of Lord Douglas, is at present in a dangerous state, from the effects of a paralytic stroke. Mr. Douglas is at his resi- dence in Berkely Square.

SCOTCH MEErnios.—In consequence of a requisition addressed to Mr. A. Speim and Mr. H. F. Campbell, by the inhabitants of the parishes of Balfron, Fintry, Kilcairn, Drymen, and Kippen, and of the chapelry of

Gartmore, a meeting of the inhabitants of the western district of Stir& lingshire took place on Saturday, at Blackhill, near Balfron. This meets; ing was most numerously attended ; upwards of three thousand persons were present, and all manifested the utmost zeal in the great cause of Reform. The Duke of Hamilton, it is said, will preside at a meeting of the county of Lanark, which is to take place in a few days.

CHARGE OF Bunxism.—We mentioned last week, the disappearance of an old woman named Walsh, and the suspicion of foul play in the disposal of her body, which attached to a man named Cooke, and his wife, in whose house she had taken up her residence previous to he disappearance. The parties, who had been locked up with their son, a boy of twelve years of age, were examined on Wednesday. The boy, who had previously made some disclosures, stated, from the witness-bor, that on the evening of the day (19th August) on which the old woman came to his father's, in Goodman's Yard, Minories, " they had coffee for supper ; he took part of it, and it made him sleepy, but not sick ; the old woman also took some of it, and it seemed to make her drowsy, as she shortly afterwards stretched herself on his father and mother's bed, and placed her hand under her head. Some time after, he saw his mo- ther go towards the bed, and place her right hand over the mouth of the old woman, and her left over her body. When his mother placed her hand on the old woman's mouth, her arm fell down, and she lay flat on her back on the bed ; his mother continued to keep one hand on her mouth and the other on her person for at least half an hour ; the old woman did not struggle numb, but her eyes stared and rolled very much. Witness stood by the lire this time, and his father, who was in the room at the time, stood looking out at the window ; his father never once turned round to see what was going forward. In about an hour after, his mother raised the body of the old woman from the bed, and carried it down stairs." Next morning, the boy, as lie said, " before going to school, went into the cellar to the water-closet, and while searching through the cellar for some ducks which he was told were there, he sate the body of the old woman in a sack, which was placed underneath the stairs ; a portion of the head was out of the mouth of the sack, and the body appeared to be partly bent, and reclining against the stairs. There was enough of light in the cellar for him to discern the colour of the hair on the head ; it was partly grey and black, but lie could not say whether or not the body was dressed. The sack in which it was-, was one belonging to a person named Jones, with whom his father worked ; he had frequently seen it in their room." Such is the tale of the boy. A granddaughter of the old woman, who was examined on Thursday, seems to have had a supernatural communication on the subject ; for she declared, that after her grandmother's disappearance, while she was in Cook's house, she heard the old woman's voice dis- tinctly say—" Nancy, where is the use of your looking for me, when I have been suffocated in that bed of Cook's, by him and his wife." The young woman was so alarmed at this announcement, that she could scarcely go down stairs—and no wonder. The body was said to have been sold to the London Hospital : this statement, however," proves to be false. The man Cooke and his wife have been fully committed for trial.