SCOTLAND.

A slight intermingling of state affairs varies the even course of the Royal retirement at BalmoraL The Queen held.% Privy Council on Tuesday ; at which were present Prince Albert, Lord John Russell, Sir Francis Baring, and Mr. Fox Manic. It was ordered that Parliament be further prorogued from Tuesday the 15th October to Thursday the 14th November.

Prince Albert regularly pursues his amusements of shooting and deer- stalking. Onei reads with increasing astonishment at her Majesty's prowess, that she " accompanied " her consort when he stalked deer in the forest'of Invergelder on Saturday. The Messieurs Distil; have had an opportunity of exhibiting their beautiful and skilful harmonies.

The Queen gave a ball on Thursday, to the tenantry on the Royal pro- perties of Balmoral, Abergeldie, and Birkhall. - The Earl of Aberdeen is one of her Majesty's guests.

The Premier paid a visit to the Dowager Duchess of Bedford, at her Highland residence, the Donne of Rothicmurchus, Inverness-shire. The people of the district gave him a warm reception ; erecting triumphal arches on his way, and meeting hint at the margin of the Spey, where he had to cross, with an address which flatteringly alluded to his exertions for good government, and prayed the prolongation of his life—especially by such rural sojournings as this one ho was now making. Lord John was taken by surprise, and expressed much gratification at the good-will shown him. On the other side of the river waited the Duchess to embrace him affectionately, and his family, as they landed. At night a huge bonfire was lighted on the summit of Ord Bain, the gleam of which shone to a distance of fifty miles down the course of the rapid Spey.

The cattle-dealers and farmers of Glasgow are devising measures to establish a new cattle-market beyond the bounds of the municipality.

The number of Irish reapers who have entered Scotland this year, via the Clyde, is estimated at more than 2000.

Among the acts passed in the late session, was one for the more effectual

prevention ion to animals in Scotland. It is similar to the one passed last year for England. It should be known that throughout Great Britain persons who offend against either act can be apprehended without a warrant and taken before a magistrate.

An extraordinary case was brought to a conclusion before the Presby- ;, tery of Dunoon on the morning of Saturday last. The Reverend Mr. Grant, minister of the parish of Kilmodan, or Glendarllel, was charged with having

' been in a house of ill-fame in Glasgow on the evening of the 2d, or early in the morning of the 3d of May 1848. In that house he was robbed of a sum of money, and he caused the whole inmates to be appre- hended and taken to the Police-office • where, in entering the charge, he called himself John Gordon, a teacher from Aberdeen. The fact of a per-

_ son having been robbed in the house in question, and of having appeared at the 'Police-office and given the name of John Gordon, was not dis- puted and it was proved by the police-officers, and by the books of the Police Court. - The question, therefore, which went to proof was, whether the party in question was the Reverend Mr. Grant. The defence set up was an alibi ; . and four witnesses were adduced, who swore that Mr. Grant spent the night of the 2d and morning of the 3d of May 1848 in Greenock, and that they had been in his company there, and had transacted business with him. • In opposition to this, it was proved by no fewer than eight wit- nesses connected with the Police establishment, including the Procurator- fiscal and three of the superior criminal officers, that Mr. Grant (whom they pointed out in court, and fully identified) was the party in question ; 'and that it was Mr. Grant who entered the charge at the Police-office; and then gave his name as John Gordon. In addition to this mass of evidence three other respectable witnesses deponed that they had been in company with Mr. Grant in Glasgow at the time when the alibi witnesses said they had been with him in Greenock. At the conclusion of the proof, the Presbytery una- nimously found Mr. Grant guilty of the charge as libelled. Against this de- cision Mr. Grant appealed.—Glasgow Courier.

A romance from real life is told by the Glasgow Herald. "In the even- in.., towards the end of the year 1846, when the typhus fever was making its ravages amongst the poor in the populous districts of Glasgow, a female was often heard singing at the edge of the pavement before the Western Club House. Her dress consisted of little more than a petticoat and a shawl. With the latter she covered her face, head, breast, and shoulders. The passer-by could notdistinguish whether she was well-formed or crooked, good-looking or marked by the small-pox, young or old ; but the musical connoisseur could judge, from the melancholy strains that forced their way from within the all-protecting shawl, that the sounds came from the voice of a girl of about seventeen years of age. She never solicited alms, but took whatever was given her with a curtsey, and now and then with a blessing, murmured in a low voice. One night, when the winds were whistling cold,' and the rain was pouring down in torrents, two young German gentlemen were passing the gtrl ; who was striving all in her power, against wind and weather, to keep her features concealed from the world. They gave her a trifle and hurried on, always accompanied by the heart- touching tones of her voice. Suddenly one of them stopped and said, 'Do you hear that voice? what beauty and power Does no one try to save the possessor of such a voice from destruction ? shall a girl with such a gift from Heaven die from hunger, or worse ? " Let us see what wo can do,' answered the other. They returned, called the watchman of the district, and sought information from him. The watchman could say very little about her. Ile did not know where she lived, nor what her name was, nor had he ever seen her face ; but he gave her an excellent character, as far as he could judge. He was told to ask for her name and address ; and one morning, after having got this, the two young philanthropists went to the, assigned place, but were very much disappointed by finding that no such place existed. After having again spoken to the watchman, they got an answer through him that the girl purposely gave a wrong address, in order to get rid of the young men, and that she also decidedly refused to give her right name and address, or lo go to see any person ; adding, that no one knew who she was, and no one ever should know.' After about a month's diplomatic negotiations by means of the watchman, the girl agreed at last to visit a Gorman.lady, universally esteemed in Glasgow for her kindness and benevolence. Arrived there, and putting the jealous shawl aside, a pale interesting face was dis- covered. The girl gave satisfactory references as to her former life. . It ap- peared that she was a native of Edinburgh ; that, having become destitute from the death of her father, the illness of other members of her family, (they were bed-rid with fever,) and many other circiunstances, and not being able to get work sufficient to provide for a nick mother and young brother, and being possessed of a good voice—her only family inheritance—she re- solved to try to make a precarious living by singing in the streets during the twilight and evening." She sang some of her songs. On hearing her voice, Mr. Seligman, ono of the gentlemen who first noticed her in the street, observed that it was not the voice he had been so much astonished at : indeed, he had before observed that the voice was ex- traordinary on some nights, and no more than ordinarily good on others. It was at last discovered that the girl had an elder sister, who generally lived at Paisley, but when in Glasgow relieved her in her task. This sister was sent for, and she proved the owner of the remarkable voice. The character of the family was found to be excellent. In the end, another benevolent German lady gave the elder girl education-lessons, and Mr. Selig- mann taught her singing and the pianoforte. " When her kind instructress left Glasgow, the girl was put at board to different respectable families in succession, and her education soon took a higher bent. Her conduct and diligence gave great pleasure to her patrons, who by private subscription raised u sum of money for her support. After more than two years' instruc- tion in Glasgow it was considered expedient to scud her to Germany to pur- sue a higher branch of musical study than this country affords!! . ''From thence, where she has been labouring„ successfully about eighteen months, we receive the most flattering accounts of her voice, the compass' of which is from G below the lines to E flat in alt, nearly three octaves. , We - hear, moreover, that she makes great progress in every female accomplishinent, and that she is received into the best society. As she is to appear soon in concerts iu her native country, we consider it our duty to direct the atten- tion of our readers to her history, and to interest them in her behalf.•: The name .of the handsome yOung lady, in whose elegant manners, ladylike de- portment, and great musical abilities, no one would find out any trace of the street-singer, is Christina Dawson."

"The father of Miss Dawson was through life an industrious mechanic, originally, we believe, from Rothsay. Christina, the heroine of the above little story, is his eldest child. The widowed Mrs. Dawson, with her second daughter and son, arc now in Edinburgh ; where they have been, by the kind aid of Miss Dawson's patrons, put into a small and respectable way of gaining their livelihood, so that they are now placed beyond the necessity of depending upon eleemosynary aid. Miss Dawson's professional career, it is to be hoped, will further remove them from want, and may, as she has always shown great filial and sisterly affection towards her relatives, place them in a more comfortable position in society than their late gloomy pros- pects would have led them to hope for."

The Braemar gathering for the Highland games, which, from the presence her Majesty and the Court, has become unusually attractive, was also, this season, unfortunately fatal. One young man, who, we understand, would have been a competitor, was, while bathing in the Dee at Casticton, in the morning, carried off by the current and drowned. Another person, while crossing the Dee to the lawn where the games are held, observed the dead body of a child in the river, and on taking it out he recognized the corpse of his own child, who had got there before him. One of the competitors m the great race unfortunately burst a blood-vessel by his exertions ; and alth5ugh the immediate consequences were not fatal, yet the man's health and strength must be permanently injured. This race, which is to the top of one of the highest hills in the neighbourhood, forms a dangerous and not an interest- ing game. The men at the Bremner course are only visible for ,a 'short period. The race takes them over the river, and for the greater part of the ascent through a wood, until. nearly the summit of the hill : but compara- tively few runners, or crawlers and climbers, (for there is not much running in the matter,) clear the trees and reach the naked granite which forms the mountain's brow.—Glasgow Daily Hail.

The cabmen-of Edinburgh have in some measure beatemthe authorities in the dispute about fares; for the matter has been so settled that the new and lower scale of payment is to apply to a portion only of the city.

Steps are being taken to construct eleven miles of railway through the .county of Elgin, for which an act of .Parliament was obtained m 1846. William•Robertson, a guard on.thmEdinburgh and Glasgow Railway, who was much esteemed for his caution, steadiness, and courtesy, has been killed ;by falling from a train near Linlithgow. It is not known how the accident .occurred. One supposition is, that the guard was struck by the arm of a saignal-post; another, that he forgot. to bend his head while on the roof of the carriage as it passed under a budge.