Iftlistellancous.

When the Queen's pony-phaeton was partially upset on the 5th in- stant, her Majesty returned to Windsor in a four-wheeled chaise belong- ing to Mr. Holderness, of Horton, whose wife happened to be driving by. The Queen has sent to Mrs. Holderness, in token of acknowledge- ment, an elegant pair of silver candlesticks, elegantly chased, and marked with a crown and the donor's initial.

The Lord Chancellor has been too much indisposed to attend in his Court since Wednesday ; but his illness is understood not to be serious.

The long and once stirring life of Sir Francis Burdett closed on Tuesday morning, at his residence in St. James's Place. In the com-

pilation of the following sketch we principally follow the Times— Sir Francis was descended from a very ancient family ; his ancestor having entered England with William the Conqueror, and obtained the manor of Louseb' in Leicestershire ; in which county the family remained for many generations. Nicholas Burdett, Grand Butler of Normandy and Prefect of Evreux, fell at the battle of Pontoise in 1437. His sou was attainted and beheaded in 1477, on a very trivial pretext : King Edward the Fourth killed: a favourite white buck belonging to Burdett ; and toe latter, in his first burst of passion on hearing the fact, wished the buck's horns in the belly of the King's adviser, whoever he might be. This was assumed to be high treason, for the King took no advice in the matter; and Thomas Burdett was arraigned, convicted, and beheaded, for " compassir, or imagining the death of the Sove- reign." Thomas's grandson was the first baronet in the family ; and having married the daughter and heiress of William Frauncys, of Foremark in Derby- shire, his descendants inherited that estate, which has ever since been the chief family seat. The late Baronet was born on the 25th January 1770; and received his education at Westminster and Oxford. In 1790, he made a tour on the Con- tinent ; and his political opinions were supposed to have received a tincture from his residence at that period. In 1793, he married Sophia the youngest daughter of Mr. Coutts the banker; with whom he received a large fortune. They had many children. In 1796, Sir Francis entered Parliament for Boroughhridge, a borough be- longing to the Duke of Newcastle ; his colleague being Mr. Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon. He early distinguished himself as an advocate of Parliamentary Reform ; and acquired much reputation as a public speaker,—his style being fluent, embellished with happy illustrations, and earnest. It is remarked, how- ever, that his composition was so loose that be scarcely ever finished a sentence„ but let one sentence run into another after a fashion that defied verbatim re- porting. In 1800, he strongly opposed the continuance of the Habeas Corpus Suspension Bill; and in 1801 the Sedition Bill; proposing conciliatory measures to appease the discontents in Ireland. In 1802, he failed in contesting with Mr. Mainwaring a seat for Middlesex ; and in the general election following the death of Mr. Pitt, be was again defeated by Mr. Mellish. He had by this time acquired much influence in Westminster; which, in the election occa- sioned by the death of Mr. Fox, he promised to Mr. Paull. Without Sir Francis's knowledge, Mr. Paull announced him as chairman at an election- eering dinner; an indiscretion that led to a sharp quarrel and a duel. Both combatants were severely wounded; and, as there was no surgeon on the ground, and but one carriage, it was necessary to bring them both to town in the same vehicle. In 1807, Sir Francis was himself a candidate for West- minster; and, as "the Man of the People," he was returned without expense to himself.

Early in the year 1810, he addressed a letter to his constituents, in which he denied the power of commitment for libel that the House of Commons bad re- cently exercised in the case of Mr. John Gale Jones. The letter was brought under the notice of the House; and resolutions were passed declaring the pub- lication a gross breach of privilege, and directing that the writer be committed to the Tower. Accordingly, the Speaker issued his warrant ; but Sir Francis Burdett refused to surrender himself to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms; and he addressed a letter to the Speaker, denying the legality of the vote or the warrant, and declaring that he would submit to nothing but force. After a lapse of two days, the Sergeant-at-Arms, accompanied by messengers, police- officers, and a military force, succeeded in breaking into his house, and con- veyed him to the Tower, escorted by a large body of infantry and dragoons. On the return of the military, some lives were lost among the mob. The pro- rogation of Parliament put an end to his imprisonment. It was the wish of his supporters throughout the Metropolis to attend him in procession from the Tower to his own house ; but, recollecting the excitement at the time of his committal, he quitted the place of his imprisonment, proceeded privately by water to Westminster Bridge; and thus he reached home without occasioning any disturbance of the public tranquillity. He lost no time after his liberation from the Tower in bringing an action against the Speaker, the Sergeant-at- Arms, the Constable of the Tower, and others ; but in these proceedings he was not successful.

In 1819, Sir Francis loudly denounced the Manchester massacre ; which led to his being prosecuted by the Attorney-General for libel, his conviction, and sentence to imprisonment for three months with a fine of 1,0001. He continued a supporter of Liberal politics until the close of Lord Grey's Administration ; when, being the most determined asserter of the finality of concessions already made to popular demands, he ceased to aid the Liberal party. The propriety of his representing Westminster having been challenged by some of the electors, in 1837, he resigned, and stood again; thus voluntarily submitting to the test of a poll. He succeeded in defeating Mr. Leader. At the general election, however, which ensued in the same year, Sir Francis did not again offer himself for the city he had so long represented ; but was elected for North Wiltshire. On his return to the House, he took his seat among the Conservatives. From this time, however, his rapidly waning Par- liamentary importance altogether ceased; and the decay of his bodily strength was evident. The recent death of Lady Burdett deeply affected him : her funeral took lace on Monday last, and be was observed to be much worse. Lieutenant-Colonel Burdett was prevented from going into Wiltshire to attend as chief mourner at his mother's funeral, by the necessity of staying with his father; whose deathbed was surrounded by other members of the family. The Colonel, who is in his forty-ninth year, inherits the title and estates. It is well known that Mr. Coutts 's second wife, subsequently Dutchess of St. Albans, left the bulk of her fortune to her husband's granddaughter, Miss Angela Burdett, with the desire that she should take the name of Conn".

Most readers of newspapers during the present century will regret to learn the death of Mr. Hobler, who recently resigned the office of Clerk at the Mansionhouse, where the facetiousness with which he enlivened the law-proceedings so often gave point to reasons of justice and hu- manity. Mr. Hobler was in his eightieth year, and be had filled the office for fifty-four years ! As a mark of respect for his long services, his portrait bad lately been hung up in the Justice-room.

The Leeds Mercury reports, on good authority, that the Queen in- tends to make Lord Wharneliffe an Earl.

In the House of Lords, the Address in answer to her Majesty's Speech will be moved by the Earl of Eldon, and seconded by Lord Hill— Standard.

This notification has been issued by the General Post-office-

" In addition to the names of places in England already published, to which letters by the morning mails are forwarded, the following have been affixed to the list,—namely, Brampton, Gateshead, Newcastle-on-Tyne, North Shields, Rickmansworth, Salisbury, douth Shields, Stockbridge, Sunderland, all Ire- land, all Scotland. For all the places the letter-boxes at the receiving-houses will be open till seven a. m. for newspapers, and eight a. m. for letters. And those at the branch-offices at Chasing Cross, Old Cavendish Street, and Black- man Street, Borough, for the reception of newspapers till half-past seven a, and for letters eight a. m. At the General Post-office and the branch-office in Lombard Street, the boxes will close for newspapers at a quarter before eight a. m., and for letters at half-past eight a. m. "W. L. MABERLY, Secretary."

The instruction of females in drawing and engraving on wood, at the Government School of Design, has been resumed. It was only sus- pended to consider the representations of several wood-engravers, who contended that their business would be injured by an increase in the number of qualified persons.

The Standard declares that there is not a syllable of truth in the re- port, which has been going the round of the papers, that in appointing a successor to the late Bishop of Lichfield Sir Robert Peel passed over Dr. Wynter, at the instance of Mr. Gladstone.

Tuesday's Gazette announced that the Queen had appointed Mr. Robert Montgomery Martin to be Treasurer for the colony of Hong- kong.

Mr. Wakley, a glass-merchant, brother to Mr. Wakley, M.P., Co- roner for Middlesex, has been appointed Official Assignee of the Court of Bankruptcy for Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The appointment is said to be worth 2,000/. per annum.

The Duke of Wellington has conferred an Ensigncy in the Fifteenth Foot, without purchase, on Mr. Christopher Sayers, whose brother, Mr. Henry Knight Sayers, of the Thirty-first, gallantly led the storm- ing party through the Tezeen Pass, in Afghanistan, and lost, through his death, the promotion which he had earned.

At the East India House, on Wednesday, Major James Oliphant was elected a Director, in the room of ,Mr. William Stanley Clarke, deceased. r The-Reverend Mr. M`Mullen has announced to the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University that it is not his intention to proceed with the appeal against the decision of the delegates in favour of Doctor Hamp- den, Regius Professor. The suit is therefore terminated.

Considerable surprise was on Saturday excited in the City, upon its becoming known that a Customhouse agent, whose legitimate business- profits were not less than five thousand a year, had absconded in con- sequence of charges connected with the Customhouse frauds. This agent had for years been employed in clearing at the Customhouse silk goods for the principal houses at the West-end of the town. It is understood that, though he had long been suspected by the authorities, it was only very recently that any tangible proof could be obtained against him.— Times.

The Duke of Brunswick has issued a proclamation, (in the Morning Post,) saying- " it has come to our knowledge, that the present revolutionary Government of Brunswick is endeavouring to persuade the European Princes and their sub- jects at large, that we do not from time to time, and on all given occasions, solemnly protest against the present unlawful state of things in our Dutchy of Brunswick. We therefore hereby positively deny such pretence, and say that we have never let any lapse of time or any occasion pass without most so- lemnly vindicating our legitimate rights to our sovereign Dutchy and private fortune."

The Augsburg Gazette affirms that the amount of the property stated to have been left by the Ex-King of Holland had been absurdly exagge- rated; its real value not having exceeded 70,000,000 francs (2,800,0001.) A letter in the Allgemeine Zeitung, dated from Florence on the 9th instant, makes it certain that the recent report of Madame Catalani's death at her Sinigaglia villa, in the Roman States, was false- ' " It appears that, on the contrary, she is at present in her beautiful villa in the neighbourhood of our city, and is in the best state of health that could be expected with reference to her advanced age. As a proof of this, it would be sufficient for us to state, that on last New Year's Day the celebrated songstress bad a circle of friends around her at dinner. On this occasion, the account of her death was read from the French newspapers in the midst of lively exulta- tion and the clang of champagne glasses. The report that her husband, M. de Valabreque, died in 1828, is equally untrue. He is also still alive, and like- wise resides here. Madame Catalani, or De Valabreque, possesses no villa at Sinigaglia."