_Miscellaneous.
Tuesday's Gazette announeed, among other appointments, those of the Marquis of Bute to be Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; the Reverend Samuel Wilberforce, D.D., to be Dean of St. Peter's West- minster; and Mr. William Fergusson to be Governor-General of Sierra Leone.
The Dublin Evening Mail tells a tale, how Lord Northland involuntarily voted in the division on the Maynooth Bill, last Friday. "It was the noble Lord's in- tention to have gone out of the House without voting at all. He remained, how- ever, in conversation with another Member until the doors were locked, and re- treat impossible. Lord Arthur Lennox, (one of the Lords of the Treasury,) how- ever, in pity for the noble Viscount, hid him in a coal-cellar. According to the rides of the House, all Members within the body of the House must vote; and on its being intimated to the Speaker that Lord Northland was secreting himself, the Speaker ordered the Sergeant to fetch him from his lurking-place: which he did, amidst shouts of laughter ; and then, ingratitude, no doubt, to the Lord Arthur Lennox, the noble Lord voted with Ministers. It remains to be seen what the electors of Dungannon will say to his conduct."
A dinner was given to Sir Henry Pottinger by the people of Belfast, his native town, on the 30th of April; the Mayor presiding, and all the leading men of the place taking part in the compliment to their distinguished townsman.
The death of the Dean of Wells, last week, happened in rather a painful manner. A letter written at Wells on the 3d instant says—" About ha-past
seven o'clock last evening, as the Dean was walking round his fields, (some 400 or 500 yards from his residence,) accompanied by his son, a had of about twelve years of age, he found two boys sporting on the grass, and beckoned to them to desist; but the boys taking no notice., he ran after them, and succeeded in capturing one; and whilst in the act of shaking the youth by the collar; as a punishment for the offence, he fell down on the grass, apparently in a fit.' He died before assistance could be procured. A Coroner's Jury have returned a verdict of "Died by the visitation of God." The obituary of the week announces the death of Thomas Hood; a writerr whoee place in literature will remain vacant. His humour, which commonly took a punning shape, was ready and ingenious to a marvel; but his sense of sterner realities was keen; and some of his later songs set forth the natural sturdy feel- ings of the poor in memorable rhythm, with a %rm. seldom attained since the time of Burns. Although abounding most in jokes, the humanist predominated over the humourist. When death approached, the &ricks of the .jester assumed a more solemn then : and, speaking of his weeny days of mortal sickness, he declared that t I himinr6...eemed growing more and more like eternity,. As he passed away, the general esteem was shown in the solicitude to learn the state of his health; and the fact that his last days were solaced by the reflection that his pension was secured to his widow, will gratify many far beyond the circle of those termed his personal friends.
The will of Mr. Philip John Miles of Bristol has just been proved. It extends over 79 sheets, or 366 "folios". The personal property exceeds a million. Each of his sons, eight in number, has 100,0001. His daughters were provided for at their mailiage. The minor bequests to persona and Charities are very lal- merons.
A splendid Fmmt for Mehemet Ali, from the East India Company, has just been completed by Mr. Smith, of Duke Street, Lincoln's Inn Yields. It is a foun- tain, ten feet high, richly, adorned with fruits and flowers, the whole of silver: it contains 10,400 ounces of the precious metal The King of the "French has sent SOL towards the fonds of the Society or the Premch in The third report of the Metropolitan Improvement Commission has just been Communicated to Parliament It recommends the formation of a wide street, er4milar to Regent Street, between the Houses of Parliament and the district of Pimlico; an alteration which will destroy often-condemned 1 etmts of vice and misery, and will greatly improve the salubrity of Westminster by drainage and enlarged thoroughfares. A bill is now before Parliament for carrying out the recommendations of the Commissioners, and for the execution of the new street, described in the report as the precursor of "future and more enlarged improvement. The branch railroad to Huildford from the South-western Railway was opened on Monday. The annular eclipse of the sun was very imperfectly seen on Tuesday morning, In consequence of the very cloudy state of the atmosphere : the only time that any portion of the obscuration of the sun was visible was from twenty minutes past eight o'clock to half-past nine o'clock.
Letters from Ascension, dated 17th March, state that the Queen's brig Alba- tross captured, on the 20, off the river Coanzas, the fine brig Albany, of 300 tons burden, having 750 slaves on board. The Queen's brig Heroine was dismasted, eery in the year, off the Gaffinas; since which (in March) she captured a fine brig of 300 tons off Loando. The Royal Thames Yacht Club had its first sailing-match for the season on &turday. Nine vessels started. The distance was from Erith, round Chap- man buoy-head, a few miles this side of the Nore light, and back to Greenwich. The yachts started at half-past twelve o'clock; and the Blue Bell, the winner of the match, got to Greenwich about half-past eight. Mr. Tvrisden Hodges, the owner of the Blue Bell, was presented with the prize, a site cup given by Lord Say and Sele, on boareltheBedRoversteamer, during a heavyshower of rain, which curtailed the oratory.
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