8 DECEMBER 1849, Page 1

QUEEN ADELAIDE had been so long ill, that as the

announcement of her death crept abroad on Sunday, it was received without surprise; yet few public events of the kind have caused so genuine a feeling of regret. The subjects of the once Tory Duke of Clarence experienced a novel sensation in regret for a King, although he had rather reversed the first agreeable impression of his unexpected Liberalism ; but the people had learned to like his heartylualities. In like manner, his widow is regretted as a personal friend.

Some peculiarities mark the present occasion. There is to be i no lying n state; an omission, for which the reasons alleged do not seem fully to account. Another peculiarity is, that the funeral is to be at midday instead of midnight: a third, that the body is not to be embalmed, Queen Adelaide having so requested. Did her pious humility refuse the pomp bestowed on the lifeless day? or did she object to the interference with the natural laws by which flesh returns to earth ? It would be interesting to know the true reason. A general mourning is ordered, but its duration is not fixed. The trades that deal in mourning will feel the impulse ; those that deal in the -gay costume of Christmas festivities will have their turn of profit by and by. In all these matters a very laudable considerateness for the general convenience is to be noted of late years. It is fortunate for a court when its forms are not felt as irksome or detrimental to the public.