gbe .41Ietropolis.
The Londoners spent Easter Monday much after the customary fashion. The day was tine, and Greenwich fair was the resort of the usual miscella- neous thousands. The fair at Stepney also maintained its revived fame. The various free exhibitions in the Metropolis were crowded. The British Museum was visited, according to one account, by nearly 30,000 persons; another writerāa "particular fellow "āstates the visiters at 19,170. The National Gallery was thronged to excess. The paying sights, too, received their share of' patronage. But it is remarked that Westminster Abbey had no more than the average share of visite:5.
The Lord Mayor attended at Christ's Hospit .1 on Monday, to hear the first Spital Sermon at Christ's Church. He received a report of the num- ber of children and other poor persons maintained in the Royal Hospitals belonging to the City of London during the past year. From Christ's Hospital there have been apprenticed and discharged 194 boys; 11 have died; and 1,410 remain in the establishments in London and Hertford. At St. Bartholomew's Hospital the number of patients relieved is 57,125; of whom 383 have died. At St. Thomas's, relieved, 30,620; died, 249. Bridewell Hospital has received 168 destitute persons found wandering in the streets. The total number of patients in Bethlehem Hospital is given as 709; of whom 161 have been discharged cured; and 197 remain in the Hospital as curable. The deaths for the year are 15.
A meeting of the rate-payers of St. Stephen's Walbrook was held on Tuesday, to elect the parish-officers for the year; the Reverend Dr. Croly in the chair. Messrs. Rock and Flight were unanimously reelected as Churchwardens. It would appear from the speeches that Mr. Alderman Gibbs still claims to act; and that the state of matters in the parish is much the same as heretoforeāthe salaries unpaid, and the church going to decay.
From an official document presented to Parliament, it appears that the number of persons admitted to view the general collections at the British Museum, from Christmas 1840 to Christmas 1841, was 319,374; in the fol- lowing year, 547,713; in 1843, 517,440; in 1844, 575,758; in 1845, 683,614; and to Christmas 1846, 750,601. The Museum will be closed from the 1st to the 7th of next month, and will then be open till seven O'clock to the 1st of September.
The new pier at Hungerford Bridge was opened on Wednesday to the public, toll free. The only access to the steam-boats is now by the pier from the tower on the Middlesex side; and the floating pier is to be re- moved forthwith.
At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, Mr. Dennis Cronin was tried for the manslaughter of Miss Sarah Ellen Collyer. The particulars of the case, which were mentioned when the Coroner's inquest was held, were briefly these. Mr. Cronin, who practised as a physician, and held a doctor's diploma from a foreign university, attended Miss Collyer and prescribed for an internal complaint; after the patient had taken a dose of medicine thus prescribed, life was suddenly destroyed; and there could be no doubt that the medicine killed her. The pre- scription was for a mixture of ammonia, tincture of opium, prussic acid, strychnine powder, and some minces of bitter almond water. The prussic acid in the last article was the fatal ingredient. It appeared at the trial, that Mr. Corfield,, the druggist who compounded the mixture, had neither bitter almond water nor strychnine powder; the first he obtained from a chemist, but the other article he omitted altogether. This witness admitted that he was totally ignorant of the properties of the two drugs. Medical men deposed to the fact that there is a great variety in the strength of almond water: Mr. Cronin did not say "concentrated" in his pniscnytion,āintending, apparently, the water merely as a vehicle for the other ingredients; and if -a weak variety of the water had been employed, no harm would have resulted to the patient. Mr. Venables, a surgeon, said, if the strychnine had been included it would have tended to neutralize the effect of the prussic acid in the almond water, not chemically but physiologically. In the course of the trial, Mr. Justice Coleridge severely con- demned Mr. Corfield for having made up a prescription without including all the ingredients. The case for the prosecution was so weak that no defence was called for; the Jury interposing, and returning a verdict of acquittal.
On Thursday, Thomas Brookes was tried for the murder of William Gobard, at Shoreditch, -by, shooting him with a gun. It may be recollected, that Gobard, accompanied by several other persons, attempted to obtain some goods which were in Brookes's possession; a quarrel ensued, (the men having been on bad terms before,) and Brookes fired at Gobard. The verdict was one of manslaughter only; and the young man was sentenced to be transported for life.
Alfred Triggs, a postman, was convicted of stealing a post-letter containing a check. Another indictment against him, for detaining 149 letters, which were found at his lodgings, was not proceeded with. The sentence was ten years' transportation.
Henry James D'Emden was tried for uttering a forged check. Mr. Justice Coleridge considered that the evidence was not sufficient to make out the charge of feloniously uttering the check; and the prisoner was acquitted.
At the Middlesex Sessions, on Thursday, Bartholomew Beniowski, a Pole, was tried for an assault on Mr. David Urquhart, when that gentleman was quitting the Cracow meeting at the Freemasons Tavern. The particulars of this case were stated when the charge was investigated at Bow Street. The alleged pro- vocation for that attack was, that in one of Mr. Urquhart's publications the au- thor denounced the Pole as a Russian spy. After a short consultation, the Fore- man of the Jury said, "We are obliged to find the defendant guilty." Sentence was deferred.
At Marlborough Street Police-office, on Saturday, Henry James D'Emden, an artist, was finally examined on a charge of forgery. The accused had presented a check for 1201. to the Union Bank, Argyle Place, purporting to be drawn by Mr. Frederick Patey Chappell, a solicitor, in favour of a Mr. Arnold; the draft was signed "F. P.," not "Frederick Patsy," Mr. Chappell's usual method, and the bank refused to pay it; but the manager was so far satisfied with the account of the matter given by D'Emden, that he returned him the informal check, not suspecting a forgery. The prisoner was subsequently arrested. "Mr. Arnold " could not be found. In the library at Lord Abinger's, which D'Emden was al- lowed to use as a painting-room, a piece of paper was found with "F. P. Chappell" written in pencil; it tallied with the signature on the check. The prisoner was committed for trial.
At Southwark Police-office, on Saturday, the vagaries of the followers of Jo- anna Southcote were brought under the Magistrate's notice by the Police. Four men were charged with obstructing the streets. They had collected a mob in Lambeth New Cut, and proceeded to hold forth upon their religions belief, and to solicit signatures to their strange petition. When warned by a Policeman, they refused to desist. The officer produced a greasy wallet crammed with manu- scripts relating to their particular creed, and also the copies of four letters ad- dressed to the Queen the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Robert Peel, and Dr. Adler, the Jewish High Priest, purporting to be answers to the proclamation for the national fast, and also to show the cause of the judgments inflicted upon mankind for their transgressions. The defendants stated that the four letters had been sent to the persons named; declared that there was nothing objection- able in them; and requested the Magistrate to satisfy himself on this point by reading them. Mr. Seeker declined to do so; warned the men that they must not obstruct the streets; and, this being the first offence, discharged them from custody.
Soon after three o'clock on Monday morning, the Hibernia Wharf, on the Southwark side of London Bridge, was discovered to be on fire. Despite the efforts of the firemen, the whole of the extensive and lofty building, with the contents, was destroyed. By great exertion, the fire was prevented from extend- ing to contiguous buildings. The wharf was the property of Mr. Alderman Hum- phery, but the goods belonged to various persons. It is mentioned as an extra- ordinary circumstance, that at this fire there were so few persons collected that it was necessary to rouse men from their beds to work the engines. Mr. Payne, the City Coroner, held an inquest on Tuesday, to inquire into the cause of the disaster. The evidence was by no means conclusive; but it appeared most probable that the fire originated in the spontaneous combustion of a quan- tity of "shoddy" or cloth wasteāa very dangerous article; and the Jury returned a verdict accordingly.
On Monday evening, two soldiersāone of whom had been married in the morningāwere proceeding to Greenwich in a steam-boat; at Rotherhithe, one stumbled, fell backwards, and sank in the water; his comrade jumped into the river to attempt to save him; but both perished.
Mr. Gale, an aeronaut new to this country, but known in America and on the Con- tinent, ascended in a balloon, from Peckham, on Wednesday. The machineāa very large one, had several new appliances connected with it; reservoirs to receive dis- charged gas; a second car to be lowered from the first when in the air; and improved valves. 'Mr. Gale, accompanied by a Mr. Byrne, left terra firma about six o'clock; and when at an immense height he lowered the second car-' which descended about twenty-five feet, and he made his way into it by means ofa rope-ladder. This pe- rilous exploit was beheld by the spectators with astonishment, not unmixed with fear, but was performed in an admirable manner; and the aeronaut having reached the lower car in safety, sent off a sort of shell or firework, which exploded with a very loud report; he then discharged a series of shells or petards, attached to the lower car, but which descended a considerable way before they burst, and prevented any danger to the balloon.
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