The Aberystwith Observer

A MEMENTO OF THE LATE SIR FRANCIS CROSSLEY, BART., M.P.—The Rev. Newman Hall, in a sermon at Surrey Chapel on Sunday morning thus re- ferred to the deceased baronet:— The last speech he delivered was in this church, on the oc- casion of our anniversary. He was looking exceedingly ill, and Fpoke with evident difficulty. He said I am not able to say much, for I don't feel well; but I wanted to show my esteem for my old friend, whose great object is to make you happy. There is only one sure way, and that is by setting your hearts oIl Christ. I have known men who set their hearts on the world, and the world failed them, and their hearts broke. I have known men who set their hearts on money and the bank broke, and their hearts broke. Set your hearts, friends, on Christ He won't break, and your hearts won't break. I am not able to say more. Good night.' The hon- ourable baronet's words, spoken by one even then apparently on the brink of death, will not soon be forgotten by those who heard them. lie had wealth and honour, but he set his heart on something better; and, while many may think it a nard lot that he should be snatched away from prosperity which he had so recently attained, and when he wasatan age to he:in quietly to enjoy it, he himself had no regrets at having exchanged the corruptible treasures of eartli for the eternal glories of heaven."

THE BRIGHTON POISONING CASE. The trial of Christiana Edmunds for several alleged attempts to commit murder by poisoning was specially fixed to take place on Monday morning, at the Central Criminal Court, in London, and the pro- ceedings appeared to excite very great interest. Mr. Baron Martin took his seat on the bench at ten o'clock, and the prisoner was then placed at the bar. She was described in the calendar as being thirty-four years of age, and of no occupation. She was first arraigned for the wilful murder of Sidney Albert Barker. The prisoner was allowed to be seated during the trial. Serjeant Ballantine, in opening the case for the pro- secution, said the prisoner was a lady of property at Brighton, and the allegation against her was that she had distributed poisoned sweetmeats in all direc- tions about the town of Brighton, and by this means had caused the death of one little boy, and had very nearly occasioned the death of several other persons. The case was removed from the county of Sussex by the application of the prisoner's legal advisers, on ac- count of the excitement that prevailed in the county. The grand jury at Lewes found three bills against the prisoner for attempting to murder and one for actually committing that offence, and they were all removed into this court to be disposed of. Mr. Miller, uncle of the deceased boy, said: I knew the deceased, Sidney Barker, during his lifetime. In June last we were staying in Brighton, and on the 12th of June, I purchased some chocolate creams at the shop of Mr. Maynard, a confectioner, at Brighton. I gave the little boy, Sidney, one of these creams on the same day, and he ate it. About ten minutes afterwards the child began to cry, and his limbs became stiff, and in about twenty minutes he died. Up to the hour of his having the chocolate cream he appeared to be quite well. I ate some of the chocolates myself in the morning, and about ten minutes afterwards I felt a dizzi- ness in my eyes, and a coppery taste in my throat, and my limbs gradually became stiff and my bones seemed all one." I endeavoured to rouse myself, but was unable to do so. I became better, and sat down to dinner, when the same symptoms returned. I went to a doctor and he saw me, but the little boy was dead before he came. He was four years old. My brother tasted some of the creams and discovered a peculiar coppery taste, and he spat them out. Dr. Richard Rugg said On the 12th of June I was called in to see the deceased, and found him in strong convulsions. I gave him an emetic, but it did not operate, and he died about eight minutes after I first saw him. I made a post- mortem examination on the following day. The organs of the body were generally healthy, and the brain exhibited the appearance usually observed in case of death by con- vulsions. The body was unusually rigid, but I was unable to discover any cause of death. I had never seen the opera- tion of strychnine. Ernest Miller said On the same evening my brother pur- chased the chocolates I went again to Mr. Maynard's shop and purchased some chocolates of the same description, and I afterwards handed them to Inspector Gibbs. Dr. Henry Letheby I am a professor of chemistry, and well acquainted with the nature of poisons. I have heard the description of the boy's death, and also the description of the symptoms of his uncle. They are the symptoms of poisoning by strychnine. A packet of chocolate creams was handed to me by Inspector Gibbs, and I analyzed the con- tents. I ascertained that some of them contained strychnine, but I cannot state the exact quantity. I believe, however, that they contained altogether a quarter of a grain, which was a quantity sufficient in some cases to kill an adult. A sixteenth part of a grain is sufficient to kill a child. I after- wards examined the contents of ajar that was handed to me, and I discovered a quarter of a grain of strychnine in them. The jar contained the contents of the stomach of the deceased. Mr. Garrett, a chemist at Brighton, said I know the prisoner, and for some years she has been in the habit of dealing at my shop. I did not know her name. She came to my shop on the 28th of March, and first purchased some articles for the toilet, and she then asked me if I could supply her with a little strychnine for the purpose of destroy- ing cats. I objected strongly to let her have any at first, but she said she had a garden, and the cats destroyed the seeds in her garden, and pressed me to let her have some. She said sherwas a married woman, and had no children, and there was no fear of mischief, as the poison would never go out of her hands or those of her husband. I ultimately supplied her with ten grains of strychnine, but I required her to bring a witness. She said the only person she knew in the neigh- bourhood was Mrs. Stone, and she left the shop and fetched Mrs. Stone, and upon her arrival I made the entry of the sale in my book, and it was signed first by the prisoner and then by Mrs. Stone. (Entry was read.) The prisoner gave the name of Mrs. Wood, and her address as Hill-side, King- ston Surrey. The prisoner came to me afterwards and said'that she had used the strychnine, and had thrown the paper away. On the 15th of April the prisoner came to me again and said that the poison had not acted, and I gave her ten grains more, and she signed my book, and said that the purpose she wanted the poison for was to kill a dog. On the 8th of June I received a paper from a little boy, purporting to be signed by Messrs Glaisher and Kemp, chemists, asking me to supply them with a quarter of an ounce of strychnine. (The paper was put in and read." I wrote a note back to Messrs. Glaisher and Kemp, and gave it to the boy who brought the order, and he returned in about twenty minutes or half an hour with another letter enclosing a half-crown, and I enclosed one drachm of strychnine in a bottle and labelled and sealed it, and handed it with the change to the boy. I remember the inquest being held upon the deceased boy, and on the 14th of July I received a letter purporting to come from the borough coroner asking me to send him my register of poisonous drugs sold by me; at the same time the letter stated that the application was not in reference to anything soul by me, but the book was wanted in reference to another inquiry. I gave the messenger the book, and he brought it back to me, and a few days after- wards I missed a leaf. It was the leaf immediately pre- ceding the entries relating to the sale to Mrs. Wood. I did not see the prisoner again until she was in custody at the police-court. Cross-examined I knew her very well, and had not the slightest difficulty in identifying her. She had been a customer of mine for four years, and I had been in the habit of supplying her with articles for the toilet. By the Court: Messrs. Glaisher and Kemp are Chemists. lr. Black is the borough coroner. He is also a solicitor. Mr3. Caroline Stone I formerly carried on the business of a dressmaker and milliner at Brighton. My residence was three doors from the shop of Mr. Garrett. I was present in his shop when some strychnine was sold by him. The person hi rilKT'i.'A ^W,aold. who I cannot positively identify as the go and sign the book at Mr. Garrett's In order that she might obtain some poison for stuffing birds. She said that the and her husband were naturalists, and lived at Kingston, near Brighton. I went with her and signed the book at Mr. Garrett's. I afterwards accompanied her a second time to Mr. Garrett's shop, and she had a second supply of poison. I did not hear the word strychnine made use of. What she said that she wanted was,, poison. Mr. Thomas Glazier, of the firm of Glazier and Kemp, having examined the documents alleged to be their order for strychnia, said they had not come from his establish- ment, and had not been authorised by him. Mr. David Black, the other Brighton coroner, said the letter purport- ing to come from him was not written by him or by his authority. Adam May, examined by Mr. Serjeant Ballantine, said, —I am 11 years old, and live with my father and mother in Brighton. I shall be 13 on the 1st of May. I see the lady at the bar. I have seen her before-at the top of King- stree*, Brighton. I think I first saw her in Portland- street. I remember her on that occasion asking me if I would go on an errand for her. I said I would. She asked me to go to Mr. Maynard's shop and get her six pennyworth of large chocolate creams, and she gave me 6d. for that purpose. I went and asked a young woman serving in the shop for six pennyworth of large chocolate creams. She took them from a large glass case and put them in a paper bag. which she gave to me. I noticed that they were large. I went back to the lady who sent me; she was then walking up and down near the bottom of Portland- street. I gave her the bag, and she undid it, and then did it t up again, saying they were not the right sort. I returned to the same shop and brought back a sixpeuny box of small creams and gave them to her. She said they were the right sort, and gave me a large piece of chocolate cream which she took from a paper she had in her hand when I came back. She then went down North-street, and I saw the same lady again about three months afterwards at the top of King-street. She inquired of me if I would go an errand for her. I asked if I could go and ask my mother. She said "Yes." I went and asked her, and then went the errand for the lady. It was to take a note to Mr. Garrett, the chemist. I took it and brought back something like a book in a brown paper parcel. I found the lady not in the place I had left her, but in Duke-street, and gave the parcel to her. She gave me 4d. I did not see ner any more that day. On another occasion, some time afterwards I met her and she gave me some "bull's-eyes." It was between ten and twelve in the day when I went first for the chocolate creams: Anne Meadows said she was shopwoman at Mr. Maynard's In May and June last, and knew the little boy May. About the beginning of June he came and asked for six penny- worth of chocolate creams-the best French. They were ,81}e took them from a glass case, which was divided into compartments, one of which contained the large wze The boy left the shop with them, and returned in about ten minutes. She had put them in a paper bag and twisted it up. He brought the bag with him, and she replaced the creams in the same par- tition as she had taken them from. He asked for a sixpenny box of creams. They were English, and smaller. She re- membered a young man named Miller calling at the shop about a week after she had served May with the creams. The compartments of the glass case were filled up every morning, whatever remaining in them before being still kept in them. Miller came on the Monday. No creams had been added that morning, and she believed that parti- cular compartment was then almost empty. She thought she quite emptied it in giving the quarter of a pound to Miller. He left with them. Four other yonng women served at the counter besides witness, and Mrs. Maynard occasionally served in Christmas time. Witness filled the compartment up from the regular stock after Miller had made the purchase. Next morning some of the creams in that compartment were taken out to be analyzed, but not all of them. Kate Page, an attendant in Mr. Maynard's shop, said she remembered a boy named George Brooks coming there on the 14th of May and serving him with an ounce of four- penny creams. Before she served him she had given cer- tain instructions to a person named Parker, and she saw Parker follow him out of the shop. She had employed a man named Schooley to watch boys who came to buy choco- late creams. The boy Brooks had come for two ounces of hreepenny creams, and she had supplied them. He came back and asked to have them changed for a shilling's-worth of the beat. She noticed that a few of them were broken, and those she put in the broken drawer. Charles Schooley, an assistant to Mr. Maynard, said his attention had been called to two boys who had come to the shop. lie had before that seen some chocolates brought back to the shop by a hoy, and had in consequence followed the boy to the top of North-street, and seen them given to the prisoner. George Brooks, a boy, living in Russell-street, Brighton, said he remembered a lady speaking to him in Cranbourne- street, Brighton, about the middle of last year. He after- wards saw her at the police-court. She asked him to go to Mr. Maynard's and get an ounce of chocolate creams, giving him Cd. to pay for them, and telling him to bring them back to her. He went and got the creams with two- pence change, and gave them to the lady with the change. She gave him a penny for his trouble. Another boy went with him. A boy named William Guy, 12 years old, gave similar evi- dence as to having purchased three ounces of chocolate creams in April last at Maynard's shop for the prisoner an d taking them to her in a neighbouring street. Mr. John Goddard Maynard said he was now nearly blind. lIe had carried on business as a confectioner in West-street, Brighton, for more than 25 years. He did not make the creams at that time. Mr. Cedbury and Mr. Ware manufactured them for him. He had sold such creams in large quantities in Brighton for many years-ever since they were introduced. In February or April last the prisoner made a complaint to him about the creams, which she said were bad, and had nearly poisoned one of her friends. She said a gentleman, a friend of hers, intended to have them analyzed. Witness replied he wished she would. His wife on that occasion ate one in her presence. He never heard that the prisoner had them analyzed. He had never had in his establishment strychnine or poison of any kind, and he could not teU how poison had found its way into any of the creams. Mr. George Robert Ware, a chocolate manufacturer for 33 years, said he had supplied Mr. Maynard for 18 or 20 years with chocolate creams, and no complaint had ever reached witness as to any deleterious matter in them, He kept no strychnia or any other kind of poison on his pre- mises. Mr. David Black, the Brighton Coroner, was called, and proved that the inquest on the body of the boy Barker was begun on the 13th of June and adjourned to the 22nd of June. On that occasion the prisoner volunteered to give evidence. She said I bought some chocolate cream at Mr. Maynard's in September last. A young woman new present sold them to me. I ate two of those which I bought. I did not notice any bad taste, but I had violent internal pain and burning in the throat which came on about an hour after eating them. I took some brandy, which made me worse, and then some castor oil. The pain and burning in the throat continued for about 20 minutes. In March last I bought some more chocolate creams, pink and white, at Mr. Maynard's, in West-street. I ate a portion of one, but it tasted so bad that I did not eat the remainder. It had a metallic taste it took away my taste. I felt very ill about 10 minutes after taking it; my throat felt burning hot, and I was strange all over, and had a feeling of tightness in the throat. I took some brandy and water, which made me worse, and then some castor oil. About three or four in the afternoon I felt better, and went and called on Mr. Maynard, and saw him in his private room. Mrs. Maynard was also pre- sent, and I told them how ill I had been from the choco- late. Mr. Maynard said it could not be that, and that the metallic taste I complained of must have come from some- thing else I had been eating. They brought several from the shop to try, and I tasted a very small piece of some ef them, but they were free from the peculiar taste I had perceived in mine. I said I should like to know what was in them, and Mr. Maynard said I was at liberty to have any analyzed out of the shop. I told him to try and find one like that I had, for if he once tasted it he would believe what I said. He said he was obliged to me for coming, and would write to his French agent. I gave one to a lady at the same time that I partook of (4ne myself she ate it, and it made her III like myself, but she took a glass of wine, which made her sick, and she soon after got better. I took the remainder of the chocolates that I had left to Mr. Schweitzer and told him how I had felt, and I wanted to know how so small a portion of chocolate cream could have made me so strangely and suddenly ill. Mr. Schweitzer treated it very lightly. He thought I was nervous and fanciful, but he altered his opinion after he had tasted one himself, and he said heirould make an analysis, and he gave the result in writing. I gave it to Mr. Rugg, but did not "mention Mr. Maynard's name. Mrs. Maynard ate several from the shop, and tasted one of those I had left. Some of those I had left were good, but others I am convinced were bad. I did not communicate the analysis to Mr. Maynard as he seemed so sceptical. My object in going to him was to warn him." Harriet Elizabeth Cole, the wife of a grocer in Church- street, Brighton, said in March last the prisoner came to her husband's shop, and after she had left witness found a bag containing some chocolate creams. Witness's daughter and another young woman staying with them ate some of the creams, and were very sick and bad. In June the prisoner again came to the shop, and after she had gone witness found that a bag of chocolate creams and lemon bull's-eyes had been dropped into a zinc pail near the counter. Wit- ness ate some of the lemon bull's-eyes. Her daughter broke a cream in her mouth and spat it out immediately. Witness gave the remainder of the creams to a. little boy named Walker. Caroline Walker, mother of the boy of that name, said she ate a piece of the creams given to her by her son, and felt a strange sensation in her head and as if she was likely to lose the use of her limbs. She went to get some water, but could not hold it in her hand, her arms and hands shook. She felt a very bitter taste in her throat, and was ill about an hour. She did not rise from bed the whole day. No medical man saw her. She never felt anything like it before or since. William Henry Halllwell, 13 years of age, son of a stationer in North-road, Brighton, said he had seen the prisoner often at the shop. She came in March last. She bought some- thing, and after she left the shop he found a bag of choco- late creams with the name of Maynard upon it. He went to look for her, but could not find her. Two or three days afterwards she came again, and he showed her the bag of creams and asked her if she had left it. She said she had not. A day or two afterwards she called again. Meanwhile he had eaten ail the creams but one or twe. There were about a dozen of them. He did not eat them all at once. When he ate the last one he felt sick, his legs ached, there was a burning in his throat, and there was a drawing up of his limbs. He was obliged to go to bed, and was ill ten days. He was quite well the day before he ate the creams. About a week or so after he recovered the pri- soner called again, and after she had gone he found another bag of chocolate creams. He did not try them. (A laugh.) Henry Diggens, another boy, 15 years of age, living in Essex-street, Brighton, said he remembered being on the 4th of March with a boy named Benjamin Caulthrup, in Spring-gardens, Brighton, and the prisoner speaking to Caulthrup. She gave him a paper bag, and then went away. After she had gone Caulthrup gave witness a chocolate cream, and he tasted it. It had a hot taste, and he spat it out and threw the rest away. About half an hour he was very sick and giddy. He had never felt so before. By Mr. Serjeant Parry He had never seen the prisoner before. Spring-gardens, in Brighton, form a thoroughfare. and this occurred in the daytime. The bey Caulthrup gave corroborative evidence. He said the name of Maynard was on the bag containing the creams, and he ate about 12 of them. He felt a burning sensation in his throat about an hour afterwards, a stiffness in the limbs, and could hardly walk. He went home, his mother got a powder for him he went to the hospital next morning, and was an out-patient for a week. He was not well again until a month afterwards. Emily Selina Baker, a pretty child, 10 years old, said after the Easter M onday Review, on coming out of school, the prisoner spoke to her and asked if she liked sweets, and she said she did. She gave her a bag of sweets-chocolate creams, lemon drops, acid drops, and cough drops. She took them home, and her mother picked out the chocolates and wit- ness ate five or six. One of them was very bitter, and she spat it out. She felt sick and ill about half an hour, and was unwell for two days. Harriet Baker, the mother of the last witness, corroborated her evidence, adding that Mr. Msynard's name and address were upon the bag. About eight or nine days after that the prisoner called on witness and asked if she had any one ill in the house, or if she knew any one ill in the street. Witness said her little girl had been unwell. The prisoner said nothing more and went away. Witness's daughter did not seem to be the person she wanted to find. She had asked the little child where she lived. Inspector Gibbs recalled On the 13th of August I had an interview with the prisoner, at her residence in Gloucester- place. I had previously seen her mother. The prisoner was lying on a couch close to the door, and VI hen she saw me she said, Here I am again, Mr. Gibbs, nearly poisoned." She added that I was aware she had had a box sent to her with fruit in it, and that the bax had come by post and it was evidently sent by some one not well acquainted with her, a3 her name was wrongly spelt. She then said that the box contained some strawberries and some apricots, and she had eaten one of the apricots and it had made her very ill. She also said that she had heard that Mrs. Beard had had one. I told her it was true that Mrs. Beard had received a box of fruit of the same kind. I did net take her into custody until the 17th of August. She was then charged with administering poison to Mrs. Beard, and when the warrant was read to her she said Me poison Mrs. Beard I have been nearly poisoned my- self. Cross-examined .'1 had made inquiries at this time, and «~.j upwt.aincdtIlat similar boxes of fruit had been received by other ladies in Brighton. The prisoner was lying on a packet marKeuuvo. z. it contained cnocolate creams but they were perfectly harmless. I have heard the symptoms described by the children who have been examined and a good many of them are some of the symptoms that'would be produced by the administration of strychnine. Mr. Nethercliffc, an expert in handwriting, was the next witness, and he expressed an opinion that all the documents that had been produced were in the handwriting of the prisoner. In cross-examination the witness said he was examined as a witness in the case of Mrs. Ryves, who had claims to the Crown of England. He was called as a witness on her be- half, and he spoke to certain signatures, and among them those of George the Fourth, the Duke of Cumberland, and other distinguished persons. Serjeant Ballantine then proposed to call Dr. Beard as a witness to what took place in September. lfr. Serjeant Parry said he should make a formal objec- tion to Dr. Beard's evidence being received. The Judge I know what Mr. Beard's evidence is and there is a great deal of it that I should not admit at all. Mr. Serjeant Parry The moment my learned friend nuts a question as to what took place at so remote a period as September, 1870, I shall object. V as The Judge As I understand It, my brother Ballantine does not intend to press it in the way I think objectionable but I think it would be competent to him to put the question as to whether the prisoner attempted to poison a person by these chocolate creams. There are two objections. In the first place there is that of remoteness. In a case of this kind one would be unwilling to admit evidence there was much doubt about, and especially when it does not sppm tn me to assist the case. But if you will put the question I can then hear the objection. 1 Dr. Beard was then called. Mr. Serjeant Ballantine Were you in September last, or ratherseptember, 1870, practising as a physician at Brighton ? Among your patients was the prisoner at the bar?—She Did she visit your house ?—Certainly. And in consequence of something that occurred did vou make any accusation against her ? Mr. Serjeant Pairy I object to this question, in the first place, because it does not refer to the particular case we are trying. trying. The Judge My Impression is it is admissible, but I would sny to Mr. Serjeant Ballantine, do not pless it. I think if it is pressed, I must reserve a case for the Court of Ap- peal. F Mr. Serjeant Ballantine: I need not say that if this were a matter that could be appealed in a civil court I should feel it my duty to persist in putting the question. But I feel that in a criminal case I ought at once to yield, because if a doubt arose in your lordship's mind, I would not allow 'a matter to be given in evidence that might be given in error. The Judge Then you withdraw it? Mr. Serjeant Ballantine Yes, my lord. Then that will be the case for the prosecution. The Judge You must have another witness to prove that she is not a married woman. Caroline Pettit was then called. She stated that she is servant in the house, 10, Gloucester-place, Brighton, where prisoner resided with her mother. As far as she knew pri- soner was a single woman. They comported themselves and bore a very respectable character. This closed the case for the prosecuMon. The Court then adjourned.

SCARCITY OF SILVER COIN. On this subject, which has recently occasioned much correspondence, the following letter from a correspondent has also been sent to The Times While the inconvenience occasioned bv the dearth of silver coins is a subject of general complaint, it is well that the public should be warned against the greater evil of the glut, which, in the vibrations that are natural to trade, is almost sure to follow when the existing unusual prosperity begins to subside and the "lock-out" shall have become more unhappily in fashion than the strike." 11 y The following paragraph, which is reproduced from The Times of September 16, 1836, is to show an in- stance of one of these gluts and the remarkable man- ner in which, on that occasion, the resulting derange- ment was corrected. At a quarterly court of the Bank of England, held on the ICth of September, 1836, to consider of a divi- dend, the Governor said, in reference to the half-yearly account That a very heavy loss had occurred by the melting of silver coin: that from 1828 to 1831 silver coin had accumu- lated to a very large amount-sixty shillings of coin being regarded as sixty shillings worth of silver. The directors had considered that as this coin had been taken on public grounds the Bank would not be suffered to bear the loss. "°™ver. in 1831 the amount having accumulated to ±.1,000,000, and as the exchanger created a demand for silver it was deemed expedient to melt £ 600,000 of this coin at a ] £ SSj. **Pon £ 70,000. The directors had always thought that the Government would not allow this loss to be borne by the Bank, and had asked for two changes in the Charter Kill one to settle this claim, and the other to allow them in future after a given amount of X250,000 to take in any excess on Government account. That, however, had been refused and the only settlement to which they could bring the Government was to allow the seignorage and nothing more. As it was useless to go on with a protracted negotiation it was decided to accept a settlement on this footing, the Government allowing the seignorage of about £ 38,000 leaving the heavy loss of about 29,000 to be borne by the proprietors of bank stock." After the experience of 1836 it is not to be expected that the Bank of England will again step forward" on public grounds to the relief of the sufferers, therefore the question will be, can or will the Government relieve them? It would seem not. For example, we we remember that two or three years ago much vexation was caused by a plethora of the then new bronze coinage, which is affected by an enor- mous seignorage of about 70 per cent. A single firm of brewers stated in the public papers that they were holding 27,000 of their capital locked up in the inconvertible form of bronze coins, which in the course of their business they had been compelled to take from the publicans in payment of beer; it was matter of notoriety that most of the brewers and distillers, or rectifiers, were in the same plight; yet that the Mint authorities had no power to mdemntfy them, although but a short time previously the State had derived a profit of nearly JE200,000 by the conversion of the heavier old copper coins into bronze. The truth is that all seignorage on moneys, whether of gold, silver, copper, or paper (the last of which may be said to be seignorage and nothing else), is a species of tax, operating in some form or other on the price of commodities, although at irregular intervals, and often to the injury of individuals. Real metallic money, and apart from seignorage, of which our sovereign is a distinguished instance, cannot be in excess, because the relief of glut is always at hand by means of expor- tation but this is not the case with our coin3 of silver or of bronze, and in the case of the bronze the enor- mous seignorage cannot be justified on sound monetary principles. London, January 13.

THE STOCKWELL MURDER. Efforts are being made in Stockwell and the neigh- bourhood to obtain signatures to a petition to the Home Secretary praying him to reprieve the Rev. J. Selby Watson, who was on Friday last found guilty of the murder of his wife, and condemned to death, but whom the jury strongly recommended to the mercy and clemency of the Crown on account of his advanced age and previous good character. The petitioners refer to the extreme age and hitherto blameless life of the accused, and urge that mercy may be extended towards him without any detrimental effect.

On this melancholy tragedy a gentleman, who signs himself "One of the Grand Jury," writes to The Times:- As one of her Majesty's subjects who took part in what I am ashamed to call, but what I fear must be called, the solemn farce of serving on the Grand Jury when a true bill of wilful murder was returned against the Rev. J. S. Watson, I trust you will allow me to say a few words on the subject of that distressing case. Nothing, to my mind, could have been fairer in its reason- ing, clearer in its explanation, or more humane in its com- ments than the Recorder's charge on that occasion. He recounted to us briefly but plainly the circumstances of the terrible tragedy, informed us that the plea to be brought forward for the defence would be that of insanity on the part of the prisoner, and so far as he could, consistently with his official position, he hinted that such a plea would be by no means unreasonable. At the same time he took care to tell us that wfth that plea we had no concern what- ever The only question which, according to the Recorder, we had to decide was whether the deed had been committed by the prisoner or not. This remark had evidently great weight with the Grand Jury and when the slight but all sufficient evidence the bare facts on which the indictment was based came before us most of the jurymen seemed to imagine that there was but one course open to us—viz., to return a true bill. r<ow, I know little or nothing of the technicalities of the law, but it did seem to me that if any of us believed—and I think I may say that several did believe—that the prisoner might have been insane, it was most unreasonable to arraign him for wilful murder (i.e. as I understand it, murder with malice afore- thought anil' intent to slay) until we had further evidence as to the state of bis mind. Holding a very decided opinion myself on this point (based on the facts adduced at the time of the prisoner's committal), I endeavoured to draw the jury's attention to it, but I was met by the remark that according to the Recorder's charge we had nothing to con- sider as to the prisoner's mental condition. The general impression seemed to be that the plea of insanity would be accepted at the trial, that the prisoner would be acquitted, and that the duty of the Grand Jury was a mere matter of form. I may mention that not one of us had served on a jury befoTe. There was no one to advise us on the important point whether, if the prisoner's account of the deed were correct-and, after all, it was on his own confession that he was arrested—whether, I say, if he did really strike down bis wife in a moment of fury and after great provocation, the crime would be reduced in law to manslaughter. A conclu- sion was hurriedly arrived at, and a true bill for wilful murder, from which I heartily dissented, and from which, I believe, others of the Grand Jury would have dissented had they foreseen and understood the consequences of their decision, was returned. For my own part, Sir, I desire to protest earnestly and emphatically against that decision. Whether Mr. Watson killed his wife in a fit of long-controlled but at length un- governable rage, or whether he was really afflicted with that most terrible form of mania which is well known to physi- ologists, aud which has sometimes tempted the gentlest of mankind to homicide, may be doubtful; but I firmly believe, and I wish to record my belief, that he is innocent of at least wilful murder and by wilful murder I mean murder intended and premeditated. Sincerely trusting that some effort may yet be made to save the unhappy old man from his doom,—I am, Sir, &c.

A STRANGE FORECAST. Under the above heading, the following appeared in Tuesday's Timts The following extract from the Life of Richard P or son written by the unhappy man who now lies under sentence of death for the murder of his wife, will, I feel sure, be re- garded with great interest at the present moment, casting as it seems to do, a spark of light which cannot be considered as otherwise than significant upon the depths of obscurity in which the origin of this tragedy is involved. Referring to a description by Dr. Johnson of Porson's visit to Dr. Pair, at Hatton, which was abruptly terminated by an insult offered to him by Mrs. Parr, Mr. Watson says at page 92 :— As Dr. Johnson does not choose to describe Mrs. Parr's insult we may suppose that it was of a very gross charac- ter. She may, indeed, have fancied that she had reason for offering such an insult. But there are women who imagine that they may say, without censure, the most disagreeable things to any man, however great or good, of whom they conceive a dislike or wish to be rid. As they are safe from personal chastisement they venture to utter all the bitterness that may arise in their minds. Nothing is more disgraceful to the female sex than these cowardly attacks on men, often of great ability and merit, whom they know to be restrained by good sense and gentlemanly for- bearance towards the sex from retaliation. No man can know who has not experienced how much mischief may be produced by the impertinent intrusion of a wife between her husband and his friends. Mrs. Parr was a woman of violent and overbearing temper, presumptuous and incon- siderate, and having little respect or kindness for any human rectly representing the real sentiments of the —- afford us some clue, however slight, to the ehieiuuo^.1' horrible enigma, "Why did the Rev. John Selby Watson kill his wife y At any rate the expressions above quoted convey the idea of being the reflection of the genuine con- victions of the writer founded upon personal experience of feminine character. The theory set up for the defence is supported by very respectable authority, and it scarcely re- quired the evidence of eminent medical men to tell us at great length what Horace has laid down as a self-evident proposition in four words, "Ira jtlror brevis cst," Yet it ought not to escape notice that the passage I have quoted from the work of Mr. Watson was penned as long ago as 1861.-Your obedient servant, Temple. n. CROFT.

DR. CARPENTER ON SPIRITUALISM. The announcement put forth by the Sunday Lecture Society that Dr. Carpenter (the reputed author of the article in the Quarterly Review on Spiritualism and its Recent Converts") would lecture on "Epidemic Delusions, with Special Reference to Spiritualistic Manifestations," had the effect of drawing a largeraudience than usual to St. George's Hall last Sunday afternoon. Whether it be that Spiritualists have other ways of spending Sunday, or that they do not care to hear their theories discussed, it was evident from the manifest favour with which anti-spiritualistic remarks were received, that the bulk of the audience sympathised with the lecturer rather than with the system whose demoli- tion he had undertaken (remarks the Daily Telegraph, from whose report the following 1S condensed). The leading Spiri- tualists of London were in fact conspicuous by their absence. The lecture, whilst true to the former portion of its sub- ject, aud interesting as a whole, was so far disappointing that it made no reference whatever to the new discovery of a psychic force claimed Dy Air. Crookes. Indeed, the scientific method of investigation adopted by Mr. Crookes, and the opposition shown him for so treating the subject, rather re- moved the point from Dr Carpenter's protest against our being expected to accept these matters in a spirit of faith In this particular it is probable that the lecture somewhat disappointed public expectation. It contained, as will be seen, only a passing reference to table-turning, and deferred the purely spiritualistic subject until its peroration, when the audience, after more than an hour's close attention, were beginning to reach what Dr. Carpenter himself described as "yawning point." In commencing his lecture Dr. Carpenter said that those who might have read a very amusing and sug- gestive little book, called. a Journey Round My Room," would recollect that the writer expressed his dissent from the doctrines of philosophers who divided man into soul and body. On carefully studying the relation of the physical man to his brain, he (the lecturer) came to the conclusion that the will has the same relation to the brain as the muscles and just as we have in early childhood to train our muscles to the act of walking-an act which was one of the most wonderful combinations of muscular action which it was possible to conceive-so we had to train the mind for action, and in the course of our education to bring all the faculties of our intellect into play, and our feelings as much as possible under the direction and control of our will. In proportion as we succeeded in doing that we might be said to be masters of our will. In fact, we might say that the human body and will are much in the relation of a rider to a well-trained horse. The greater part of mental activity is automatic, but goes in obedience to certain laws and there are states of mind in which, as if by mechanism, the mind goes on of it- self, and will achieve better results than could be achieved by attention. This was well illustrated in the state of somnambulism, or sleep-walking, wherein a lawyer had written down an opinion, perfectly clear and distinct, which had troubled him for days pre- viously, and wherein mathematicians had solved most difficult problems. Now and then it was advantageous to let the mind go by itself-as a horseman who, hav- ing lost his way, would drop the reins and leave the choice of road to his horse. But sometimes the horse would shy, run away, and escape the control of its rider; and where many horses were together all might be affected in the same way, as in the stampede at Aldershot. This was a parallel case to the phenomena which he was going to bring before them, where not only individuals, but whole communities, were affected by similar impulses, some alfecting bodily action, but far more taking posses- sion of the mind with a certain dominant desire • and when the mind had been released from sufficient controlling power there was really nothing too absurd for it to do. At the present time there was a posses- sion- of the public mind by what he believed to be an entire delusion. He believed it to be so because he had paid a good deal of attention to the investiga- tion of the subject, and that was the conclusion to which his investigation had led him. He did not say it was a delusion, but he believed it to be so. Those who had followed the same course would have prepared themselves by the study of delusions of what he would call a similar nature, because the history of the human mind was not to be disregarded by any one who knew the real nature of the subject in question. Take, first, the case of an hysteric fit. There were certain persons of an irritable nervous temperament- more particularly young females, but sometimes men who, under certain conditions, would pass off into a sort of convulsive action, and lose control of them- selves. This was particularly the case where a number of the same tendency were congregated together. At Bristol Infirmary, where he was studying, the servant girls were kept in a room apart, and when one went into hysterics the others invariably followed, until, as a punishment, it was threatened that the first one who did it again should be compelled to take a shower- bath. This generally had the effect of putting a stop to it. At Amsterdam, in a stronger case, the applica- tion of a red-hot poker was threatened. It was not at all necessary to apply the remedy. (A laugh.) This was the rationale. It was the frightened horse. There was an instance, a good many years ago, in a factory in a county town in Lancashire, in which a younggirlwasattackedinaviolentconvulsivefit, brought on by alarm, consequent upon one of her companions, a.factory operative, putting a mouse down inside her dress. The girl had a particular antipathy to mice, and the sudden shock threw her into a violent fit. Some of the other girls who were near very soon passed off into a similar fit and then there got to be a notion that these fits were produced by some emanations from bales of cotton and the cousequence was that they spread, till scores of the young women were attacked day after day with these violent fits. The medical man who was called in saw at once what the state of things was he assured them, in the first place, that this was all nonsense about the cotton; and he brought a remedy, in the second place, which was a very appropriate one under the circumstances-namely, an electrical machine and he gave them some good violent shocks, which would do them no harm, assuring them that this would cure them. And cure them it did. There was not another attack afterwards. In all these cases there was something morbid in the nervous system that was liable to this excitement. Natural conditions might predispose to the influence of external irritation in these cases, or it might be mental suggestion. Take a familiar illustration. All knew that, towards the end of a lecture in a hot room, there was a tendency to yawn and where one person yawne'd a great many would feel compelled to follow suit. Not only that; but the mere mention of the word was suggestive, and at that moment he himself had that tendency. In cases of hydrophobia the most fearful paroxysms were brought on by the sight of water, the sound of water, the sight of a picture in which water is represented, or by talking of water. After giving other illustrations of these phenomena, and amongst them the band of "Flagellants" who visited London about the middle of the reign of Edward III.,— Dr. Carpenter next noticed the dancing mania which, at the end of the fourteenth century, spread from Aix-la-Chapelle through the Netherlands. This was ascribed to demoniacal origin, and many exorcisms were tried to cure it, and from the story that St. Vitus was most successful in this respect the name of that saint had been given to a malady which, in particular instances, is still to be found in in- dividuals. This tendency to wild dancing was shown in the case of the Tarantella dance; and, curiously enough, precisely the same thing pre- vailed in Abyssinia. All these people were possessed with an idea that they were drawn on by an evil spirit. He should say they were drawn on by a dominant idea. They had an idea; they did not make a sufficient struggle against it, and they were drawn in. In modern times we saw the same kind of idea exhibit- ing itself in the same form, but in a moderate and harmless degree. He alluded to the turning of tables which was in vogue twenty years ago. A number of persons sat with their hands upon it, and the table would move round. Those sitting got up, and went round with the table, and said they were obliged to run round following the table. A great number of men and women believed they were obliged to follow the table, whereas it was clearly proved by the experiments of Faraday that they moved it themselves. Referring to another form of epidemic delusion-the be- lief in witchcraft-and tracing its origin and progress, and its rejection in the present more enlightened age, the lecturer continued:- Noticing Dr. Johnson's saying that no one could prove the non-existence of witches, and Dr. Wesley's confirmed belief that if witchcraft were disbelieved people must give up their belief in the Bible, the lecturer remarked that we had now got beoond that, and that our progress might be due to what was called rationalism, but what he should call common sense. (Applause.) Witchcraft had died of neglect. Not only had individuals improved, but there had been a growth in the public mind of the faculty of common sense, and the whole race had become gradually elevated. Infants were not only born with faculties already evolved, but with the power of evolving them more than the child of the savage, whose father was not already well trained. We found, in this way, a kind of progress which did not always show in public discussion, though it was observable there that was a disposition to try things by first principles and not merely by expediency and a still greater disposition that right should be done, whereas, years ago, these things would have been staved off as matters that could not be enter- tained. Every one that looked back fifty years would see that. Every one who looked back ten years would see it. Look at the removal of social disabilities on religious grounds—(applause)- and at the throwing open of the universities. Great movements of public opinion were progressing, and were ever starting from a higher basis. And what had that come from but from an elevation of the common sense of the public ? (Applause.) With reference to the belief which had taken posses- sion of millions of persons in the United States at the present time, and of a large number in this country, it was difficult to accountifor it except on the ground of a desire to confer with the spirits of the departed, and to obtain some definite belief in their existence. There was in the United States a tendency to go beyond existing traditions, and to search for new modes of belief or new attestations of doctrines which were still clung to. Dr. Hare, a professor of chemistry, believed he had experimentally demonstrated the im- mortality of the soul by a machine which he had con- structed which he believed worked by spiritual agency. But the fallacy was obvious. The words were spelled out by a medium who could see his hands, his eyes, his face, and could judge from them when the machine was to go and when to stop. These performances were automatic acts of the mind. A friend of his was con- vinced because a medium had rapped out an answer which he expected from the spirit of his daughter, said the lecturer. I told him I could have done the same thing if the same method had been used. He meant that in the expectation of a particular letter the medium could see from the expectant when to make the raps by the very expectation which his own mind entertained. To him the notion that departed spirits could come and lift a table in the air, and, still more, raise bodies in the air, and m T out of one window and in at another, was ost stronglv renu^nant to common sense. (Annlausa. ) faith, unlimited faith, in the doctrine of gravitation. (Laughter.) He could not believe gravitation was suspended to allow Mr. Home to float through the air. This was certified on the testimony of one gentleman, a gentleman most estimable, most truthful, and not by any means deficient in general intelli- gence, and who had paid particular attention to general departments of study. Lord Lindsay declared he saw it. He saw it, though, by moonlight—(laughter)—and only yesterday he had heard*from a clergyman, a friend of Lord Lindsay's, that when he saw this he felt paralysed, and dared not speak a word, for he felt if he spoke the chain would be destroyed, and Mr. Home would fall 70 feet to the ground." (Laughter.). If this were their verdict with regard to that phenomenon it should be their verdict with regard to many other phe- nomena. He had investigated these things. Where he had been allowed to use tests he had exposed the delusion where he had not been allowed to use tests he had suspected delusions. Dr. Carpenter next de- scribed the trickery of a so-called notable magician who excited attention in Alexandria some years ago, and an account of whose manifestations was given by the then Lord Lindsay, the father of the present noble- man. On investigation the performances were fully exposed. In concluding, the lecturer drew a contrast between the belief in the wonders that had been wrought and might yet be manifested by science and increased knowledge of the laws of nature and those phenomena which were contrary to common sense. In the former case he argued the results, however strange, could be demonstrated openly at any time. In the latter the showing, if showing it could be called, was generally in a dark room* was frequently a failure "through the presence of an atmosphere of incredulity;" and was contrary to the dictates of common sense and the teachings of experience. (Applause.)

LORD E. FITZMAURICE ON THE LAND LAWS. Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice addressed his constituents in the town-hall of Calne on Friday, the mayor, Mr. William Bleaden presiding. After alluding to the recent illness of the Prince of Wales, his lordship said that he believed that the Eng- lish land question would soon take rank among the great questions of the future. The principles he started from were that a system of land laws to be good must give se- curity to property and promote the maximum production of wealth from the soil and the best distribution of the wealth so produced. He denied that the present law of real property did any of these things. He advo- cated the abolition of the law of primogeniture, though this taken by itself was a matter of very little moment, owing to the rarity of intestacy among the owners of land. He then gave an account of the law of settle- ment and entail, and traced its effects on the various classes of society. It was hostile to improvement, and the investment of capital in the soil, and hostile to good cottage accommodation. It reduced the nominal proprietors of large estates to the position of mere tenants-for-life, with all the burdens and without many of the advantages which their position was supposed to give them. On this subject, as well as on the in- justice done by past inclosure of commons, he quoted the report of the Agricultural Commissioners. He then discussed the evils under which vendors and purchasers of land suffer, owing to the delay aud expense with which their transactions are attended. He recommended the establishment of local registry courts, which would, however, be iiseless-so long as the complicated interests in land to which he had alluded were allowed to be created. A change was also necessary in the present system of mortgage. The point of view from which he looked at this ques- tion was that of Mr. Cobden when he spoke of free trade in land. To the fantastic schemes for nationalising the land and intercepting the in- crement of rent as suggested by Air. Mill, he was opposed. He said he considered the different treatment of the land question by such men as Mr. Cobden, and by the continental makers of Utopias, afforded a good illustration of the difference of ideas which separated English radicals from Continental theorists and their friends. Alluding to the licensing question, he said he was opposed to the Permissive Bill, and expressed his wish that the nine hours' movement might be extended to agriculture. A vote of confidence closed the proceedings.

SHOCKING OCCURRENCE AT TOTTENHAM. A shocking occurrence was brought to light at Totten- ham on Saturday afternoon. Justover the away bridge at that place is a somewhat extensive building belong- ing to the New River Company. This building and its machinery was in the charge of a man named Joseph Ward, who had been in the service of the company upwards of forty years, and he resided with his wife in a cottage adjoining. There were no children. Ward was, it is understood, in receipt of good wages from the company, and had the means of living comfortably, but he appears to have of late years given way to drinking, an example followed by his wife. On Saturday afternoon Mr. Fletcher, a surgeon con- nected with the Tottenham Hospital, called at the police-station, and stated that he had just before visited the engine-house cottage; but not receiving an answer after repeated knocking, had got over the wall and effected an entrance into the house, where he found the dead body of Mrs. Ward. Acting Sergeant Arscott and Constable Davis at once proceeded to the house, and discovered the woman's body on her bed. The premises were searched, but deceased's husband could not be discovered. The police learned that he had not been seen at any of the places he was in the habit of visiting since Thursday. On that day, however, he was spoken to by a person living in the neighbourhood. The milk delivered at the house on Thursday evening and on Friday and Saturday mornings was found where it had been left by the milkboy, who says the place was quite quiet when he called on the occasions mentioned. The police searched the engine-house. On entering they saw a man apparantly standing in front of a portion of the machinery. He was called to, but did not answer, and on the officers going to him they found it was Ward with a rope round his neck, and quite dead. The rope had deeply cut into the neck, the head being partly severed from the body. It was found that the deceased had fastened one end of the rope to the top rail of the staircase running up the building, and after attaching the other end round his neck, had thrown himself off, the immense fall accounting for the wound in his neck. It is supposed that the act of suicide was com- mitted on Thursday night or Friday morning. Ward was looked upon at one time as a very in- telligent engineer, and much confidence was reposed in him by the New River Company. He seems to have kept a diary of the principal events of his life. He was about sixty-five years of age, and his wife was only a year or two younger. No marks of violence were found upon her, and it is not believed that she was ill-treated by her husband. Anticipating the in- quest, the general impression is that Ward found his wife dead by his side when he woke up in the morning. and that in a fit of despondency at her loss he committed suicide.

SERMON BY DR. GUTHRIE. The famous Presbyterian minister, Dr. Guthrie, preached in London last Sunday afternoon, at the Agricultural Hall, Islington. With no reference to any text of Scripture, Dr. Guthrie began by summing up the imputations which were cast on his Master, and said there was one from which he did not recoil. The Pharisees had declared Him to be a blasphemer, to be a glutton and a wine-bibber, to be a rebel against Caesar and Ctesar's crown. And they had said, This man receiveth sinners." To the last imputation he re- plied assentingly with the touching story of the Prodigal Son. Dwelling on the lowliness of Christ's life, the preacher said it was pardonable to think of such words as those addressed to Elijah, What dost thou here ? as being addressed to Jesus. In the car- penter's shop the Maker of the World, making ploughs for neighbouring rustics, might have heard an angel's voice saying, Son of the Most High, what dost Thou here?" With a great deal of human tender- ness that would win from less ready believers than those who listened to him assent to harder truths, Dr. Guthrie proceeded to talk-his style of oratory is the colloquial without lack of dignity- concerning1 Christ's love for those who most need love. It is not easy to give an adequate impression of Dr. Guthrie's command over a large body of hearers by repeating his words. Though the rhetoric is of no mean order, much of the effect is also due to intona- tion, and even to that Scottish accent which is of the deliberate and emphatic kind that will sometimes make Southerners doubt whether the best English, after all, is not spoken by the Scotch. Dr. Guthrie's eloquence, moreover, has the force which only an impulsive earnestness can give. It is true vital speech that rolls from soul to soul, like Tennyson's bugle-echo. A printed sermon by Dr. Guthrie is, no doubt, vastly inferior to any one of Butler's sermons in the Rolls Chapel; but Dr. Guthrie has a great advantage over Butler, in being alive, and, consequently, able to talk saving truths to people who will listen to but will not read them. Few who listened on Sunday afternoon will forget the grand voice and noble diction, the manner and the matter. "What dost thou here ? he quoted again and again. Where should the soldier be, but in the din, and smoke, and blood of battle ? Where should the Saviour be, but with sinners? Sinners It was that word on which Dr. Guthrie built one of his finest and least expected structures of eloquence. Having shown that the despised publican was an offcast of male society, he briefly reminded his audience that the sinners mostly pointed at were women. With an unaffected tenderness that was in the highest degree manly, and that was not the less so for the sorrowful rebuke of sin, Dr. Guthrie spoke of these sinners, and drew tears from the eyes of their innocent sisterhood. He preached humility, gentleness, compassion. You who would lie in Jesus' bosom, he said at the end of his address, must first lie at Jesus' feet; and happy those who lie lowest there—an low as that sinner who washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair. When the discourse was finished, and the immense congregation was dispersing, after a final hymn, many friends pressed round the preacher to shake hands and to thank him.

A LIFE-AND-DEATH CONTEST. An exciting struggle between a would-be suicide and her rescuer occurred the other day at Pont de Loup. A man and his wife having quarrelled, the latter rushed out of the house in a state of the wildest excitement, and directed her steps towards the river Sambre. She was observed by a letter carrier named Somveau, and he, suspecting her intention, re- solved to follow her. She was some distance in ad- vance of him, and succeeded in throwing herself into the river, appearing at the surface just as he reached the river's brink. Hastily throwing off his coat, he plunged boldly in and swan towards the woman, who saw him, and endeavoured to elude him. He, however, succeeded in reaching her, and got hold of her by one of the arms, she resisting most violently, and at length managed to escape from him. The position was growing exceedingly dangerous, the current carrying them rapidly towards ahigh weir, the descent of which would doubtless have been death to both. The courageous fellow made another effort, and was successful in laying hold of her ,byiiAthe^w £ js £ ing in getting her anna round Somveau's neck, and striving to pull him under the water with her. The case being desperate, and Somveau losing his strength by reason of the cold, he adopted the only course he saw open to him by striking her on the head as hard as he could with one arm. This had the effect of stupefying her for the moment, and causing her to relax her hold of his neck. Seizing the opportunity, he caught her by the hair of the head, and struck out vigorously for the shore, which he happily reached with his burden. Both were so ex- hausted that they fell down and fainted, and remained in that condition for some time, till they were dis- covered by some passers-by, who rendered them the necessary assistance.

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS. A New York chiropodist points with pride to a harvest of 20,000 corns. He may be decidedly called a pains- taking man. Before Csesar permitted himself to be interviewed he always asked :—" Who is it in the press that calls on me ? -Julius Caisar, Act I., Scene 2. A Milwaukee woman, whose husband had been per- secuted to death by a creditor, married the creditor and persecuted him to death in less than six months. Time sets all things even. The other day a gentleman, for being in verv hicrh spirits (of wine), was sent to prison. Whv did vou not lvi.il him out r inquired a mutual friend. Eail him out°" ex claimed the other why you could not pump out!" Abraham Lincoln, being annoyed on one occasion !<Mit nn/ o' J ,? P61"813^'1 rn playing in front of his house, ,lar» W1th a message tnat one scraper was enough at the door. ^-n English farmer's wife, who, some time ago, found that a party of Baptists had performed the inaugural cere- mony of their sect on her premises, exclaimed indignantly, Drat the creatures I'll teach them to leave all their nasty sins in my pond A short time back the question was asked, Why do men marry?" The following reply was not less singular than true Some young men marry for dimples, some ears, some noses the contest, however, generally lies between the eyes and hair. The mouth, too, is occasionally married, the chin not so often." THAT ONE THING.—Uncle Peter, who flourishes in the mountains of Vermont as a horse-dealer, was called upon the other day by an amateur of "equine" who was in search of something fast. The result Is told as follows :— rhere," said Uncle l'eter, pointing to an animal in the meadow below the house, "there, sir, is a mare who would trot her mile in two minutes and seventeen seconds were it not for one thing." "Indeed!" cried his companion. Ves," continued Uncle Peter, she is four years old this spring; is in good condition looks well; is a first-rate mare and she could go a mile in two-seventeen were it not for one thing." Well, what is that?" That mare," resumed the jockey, is in every way a good piece of property. She has a heavy mane, a switch-tail, trots fair, and yet fhere is one thing only why she can't go a mile in two-seventeen What in the Old Harry is it, then ?" cried the ameteur impatiently. The distance is too great for the time was the old wag's reply. ° AN EDITORIAL PRESENT.—Some ladies in Texas were desirons of doing honour to the editor of a local journal, so they presented their hero with an embroidered ■' wnich contained a splendid history of Texas, and also pictuies of the fruits and cereals of the State, worked all over it in red worsted. Now, this particular editor over it in red worsted. Now, this particular editor had never worn a shirt, and supposed the brilliant specimen before him to be a banner for an ap- proaching temperance procession. In his speech of thanks he puzzled the lady-donora by declaring that he would "fling it out for ever to the breezes of heaven, that they may kiss its folds, and till his hand palsied it should never be trailed in the dust." The ladies blushed, and regretted having made it too long. Being in- formed of the purpose of the gift, the editor, wore it over his coat, to the great edification of the boys of the town, who followed him in regiments, studying the history of Texas behind his back."

I Illwttiuinccrus jatcUigcnce, ROME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL. BROUGHAM'S OPINIONS ON LORD ELLEN- BOROUGH.—Lord Brougham's notice of the Earl of Ellenborough, though very short, is interesting from the very recent death of the subject of it. This is all he siys "Ellenborough was another formidable adversary, He was one of the best speakers I ever heard-clever, nervous short, incisive, with such a voice as few have for sonorous and penetrating force. It was to me one of the highest gratifications to hear him. lie worked hard, too, and argued almost as powerfully as lie declaimed. His judgment was not so remarkable. He committed one of the greatest errors I ever knew, when he showed his cards on our re- signing in 1832. In his East India government he was most successful but Peel as usual, did not well defend him, and he always said he owed his defence to the Duke of Welling- ton and myself. Ris error in India was not treating the directors with sufficient respect and tlummery. Lord Wel- lesley, like Ellenborough, had refused to do their jobs but he had refused with great politeness." A TENDER IN COPPER.—A curious case has just been heard in Paris before a juge de paix. A widow who had at last with some difficulty agreed to pay her doctor's bill of 140fr. in instalments of ten francs a month, took the trouble to collect the sum in pieces of one centime. The medical man accepted them the first time, and again the second, but in count- ing them he found them in such a filthy state that he began to suspect that they had been made dirty inten- tionally to annoy him. He, in consequence, refused to accept the third instalment in such coin. The lady maintained that, as no stipulation had been made as to the mode of payment, she could make it in the kind of money she pleased, and both parties appealed to the magistrate to decide. The court declared that, by a decree of 1810, copper money was only a legal tender for sums below five francs, and accordingly gave judg- ment in favour of the doctor. AN ADVENTURE WITB: AN OCTOPUS.—A gen- tleman writes to the Daily Telegraph "In your remarks on the Crystal Palace aquarium, in alluding to the octopus, you say "all the stories that have been told about its power or leaving the water and attacking men on shore are as absurdly false as the old fable of the sailing nautilus, &c. Permit me to say you have been unintentionally led into error in making this statement, I have myself personally experienced the power of one of the largest of these monsters in the Mediterranean in August, lSGi While bathing off Fort Ricasoli, Malta, with several other vi my brother officers, I was seized round the leg and thigh when standing near tho rocks in shallow water, and, escaping after a violent struggle, was pursued to shore by the fiend-like creature. I know not how far I might have been followed had not my faithful dog come to my assistance. lIe was carried off to the sea and nearly drowned ere he escaped from the animal's clutches, the creature's grasp having been relaxed after many severe blows had been administered to it with a thick stick, which was handed to be by the assistant-surgeon of my regiment, who was one of my companions." THE PRUSSIAN POLICE.—At the sitting of the Prussian Chamber on the 9th, Dr. Eberty made a comparison between the London and the Berlin police, greatly to the disadvantage of the latter. London, with three and a half millions of inhabitants, has 10,000 policemen Berlin, with 825,000, has only 1,094, or ono policeman for 751 inhabitants. At night no police are to be found in the streets of Berlin, but only night watchmen, who have too much private service to do. Dr. Eberty brought in the motion that the House will request the Government to come to an understanding with the magistrat of Berlin (the burgomaster and paid town councillors of Berlin, as distinguished from the unpaid town deputies) with respect to the transfer of particular branches of the police administration of Berlin to the Commune. The motion was adopted. Another motion, removing from the Budget the pay of the police presidents (St.te and not commercial officials, of Dantsic, Stettin, Cologne, and Aix-la-Chapelle, was also adopted. DON'T FORGET BUTLER !—The Court Journal is responsible for the following At a recent ordination one of the candidates for deacon's orders was so slow in his theological attainments that he was very near being "plucked." As, however, he had been strongly recommended for his piety and zeal, his lordship consented to ordain him but warned him that he must study very diligently before he came up to the next exami- nation, urging him especially to familiarise himself with that well-known theological work Butler's AnaIUfJY. When the young man departed, his lordship accompanied him to the door. He seated himself in the omnibus, to proceed to the railway station. The bishop went up to him kindly, shook hands with him, and, as a parting reminder about the "Analogy," exclaimed, Good-bye, Mr. don't forget Butler. Oh, no, my lord," replied Mr. I've just given him five shillings!" THE POWER OF THE DIAMOND.—A diamond- boring machine, invented by Captain Beaumont, is in use in the Cleveland district. This application of the cutting power of diamonds is due to a Swiss engineer, Mr. Leschot, whose boring machine has been in use for several years. In the lead-mining districts of Missouri it is regularly applied to the same purpose of prospecting for lead in the Silurian limestones, and the results obtained are similar to those described by us. Another interesting application of the same material is furnished in the dressing of millstones. The intense hardness of the cutting material used-the hard, black, uncleavable diamond-is such that a single diamond has* been employed for more than a year dressing a pair of French burr millstones daily, without perceptible wear or diminution of cutting power. BOOKS PUBLISHED IN 1871.—In the course of the year 1871 the Published Circular recorded tho publication of 3,547 new books in Great Britain, being 170 more than in the preceding year. The new books included 562 on theological subjects, 496 juvenile woiks, 479 educational and classical, 359 year books and bound volumes of serials, 203 books relating to arts and science or finely illustrated works, 213 books of history and biography, 180 relating to belles leUrcs, essays, mono- graphs, &c.; 176 belonging to poetry and the drama, 155 novels and other works of fiction, 144 books of travel and geographical research, 117 on medicine and surgery, 101 on political and social economy, trade and commerce 75 books on law and jurisprudence, 2S7 miscellaneous publications, including pamphlets, but not sermons. A comparison of the year 1S71 with 1870 shows an increase of 73 in the number of educational books, aud 46 in serials a decrease of 45 in the number of novels, 36 in poetry and the drama, and 101 in books of travel. There is a large increase of IG2 in the item "miscellaneous," which comprises pamphlets, and in- cludes 20 relating to the Tichborne case, 35 of the Dame Europa's School class, and 30 connected with the Battle of Dorking. Besides the new works published in Great Britain in 1871, there were 1,288 new editions of books originally published before 1871, and 322 new American books were imported. The total is 5,157, or 75 more than in 1870 the new books published in this country being more by 170, and the new editions more by 9, but the importations from America (of which in the list for 1871 none appear for December) fewer by 104. MR. ODGER ON CONVICT LABOUR.—At tho Trades Congress held at Nottingham, Mr. Odger called the attention of the Congress to this subject, as bearing upon the interests of trades. Those interests had been largely destroyed by convict labour coming and competing in an unfair way against them. Convict work had subsidised labour, and the prison authorities took up a certain trade (mat-making), and sent the goods into the market at a less price than it was pos- sible for ordinary manufacturers to send them into the market. Thus a certain branch of industry was destroyed. The mat-makers had sent a memorial to the Congress but as there was not time to read it, he would move that the Congress viewed with serious apprehension the unfair competition which the intro- duction of convict labour had created in the public market, and that the disposal of such labour should be confined entirely to the various charitable institu- tions which existed in this country. GOOD NEWS.—Tlie correspondent of the Daily TiJif.'rnjJi, writing from Lynn last Sunday At length the Prince's Physicians are able formally to take lea^e of their patient. They have turned the last leaf in the book of sickness and written their last bulletin Tliev leave lum to the kindly hands of Nature, and with the best reason to hope that the work of recovery so happily brought o the point of established convalescence will by her'be nnaHy and perfectly concluded. Everything has, I am t t S' weU- To-day the I'liuce was able <Hli a liVtio18 and. stand> and although there is ? ,>f tL n?SS .ln the "Sbt limb, indicating tiaces of the past trouble, it is fullv expected that he will in a few days be walking about the house aud able to take carnage exercise. Not only have his physicians left him to the care of his own attendants, but they have authorised the departure of the night nurse for whose ser- vices there is no longer any necessity, ofco ursesonieweeks- must pass before the cure is consolidated, and it is I am assured, not at all likely that the Pr'nce will leave Sandring- ham for several weeks to come. h antime all anxiety may, it is stated, be dismissed, and we may in due time expect to see the Prince among us in all his wonted health and vigour. So ends happily one of the most trying incidents in the domestic history of the Royal family. Not the least happy among the many who rejoice must be ths physicians whose skill and ceaseless care have been attended with so happv a result. DREADFUL INTELLIGENCE !-A perfumer has been fined £5 for using a crested envelope without paying duty for armorial bearings. It appears that the unfortunate vendor of sweet odours had borrowed the envelope, or the magistrates would have fined him £ 20, says Figaro, and continues:— In London alone there are at least 100,000 persons who use a crest, and do not pay the duty. Fine them £ 20 each, and the Exchequer would be enriched with C2,000,000-tliat is, if the tines were paid. We are too soft-hearted to desire such wholesale fining; but, those who offend after this warning, will deserve punishment. For the duty on armorial bearings is a most fair and unobjectionable tax. No one is bound to wear a crested ring, or to have a crest on his plata or on his envelopes. The use of a crest is a mere gratifica- tion of pride, and those who indulge therein ought to pay the small i»ly. M'e understand that next session Mr. Lone, n addition to the tax payable for the use of hair powder wil I propose a tax on the use of ace powder If so the lhidget will upset the Government. Every M P blessed With a wife an,rt grown daughters will oe compelled to vote against the Ministry. Perhaps Mr. Lowe will take this hint, and not meddle with face nowder. KARL BLIND ON HOME RULE.—Mr. Karl Blind writes in the New Free Press of Vienna :— New reasons for the separation from England are for ever being discovered in Ireland. This time the fishes speak for it. This species of animal is generally held to he dumb. But as it is well known that in Ireland everything is quite | otherwise than elsewhere it cannot be matter for astonish- meut that the Irish fishes have explained their grievances to the Mayor of Cork, who presents himself now as their pre- tector. The Irish fishes are wearied of being taken and salted hy Scotchmen and Englishmen, and demand that this shall he done in, future by their own countrymen. As the Mayor of Cork asserts, this cannot be done as long as Ireland has not her own Parliament and her Government;. Therefore, to please the fishes, home rule mus be introduced! MR. SPURGEON ON LONG SERMONS. In the course of an address delivered on Saturday to work. men, Mr. Spurgeon commented on the excuses people made for not going to church. Some persons, said Mr. Spurgeon, complain that they cannot understand the sermons they hear. The reason was that ministers would use big words. He (Mr. Spurgeon) always en- deavoured to get rid of all the big worth out of his sermons, and was as particular as their wives were to get the stones out of the plum-pudding. They would get in somehow but the main thing was to preach as simply as possible. Long sermons, also, were a great evil. If a person preached a long sermon, it was because he had nothing to say. It mi-lit appear odd, but it was nevertheless a fact that when people had nothing to say they took a long time about it; but when they had got something worth telling they out with it at once. Therefore, he repeated, when a man makes a long sermon lie sets out with a very little, and begins to spin, spin, spin. 1[0 was of the same opinion as Dr. Chalmers, who was once asked how long it took to make aerinoii. "Th.Lt," he replied" depended upon how long you wanted it. If your sermon is to be half an hour long it will tako you three days. If it is to be three-quarters of m: hour, it may take you two days, or perhaps only one; but if you are going to preach for an hour, why there is not much occasion to think a great deal about it. It may be done in an hour." AN ODD COINCIDENCE .—The most devoted i agent—we can hardly say Minister—of Napoleon III, Count Persigny, has passed away just at the time when the act which most strongly exemplified his un. bounded obedience to his master has been unanimously condemned by a Commission of the National Assembly i (remarks The Times in a leader). When the Prince- I President resolved, at the commencement of the vear 1 1852, on the confiscation of the property of the I Orleans family, de Persigny separated him- i s2 i 0111 hia colleagues by count«rsi<min"- 1 the c,ecreds. The men of ability about Louis J iNapoleon refused to take any part in an act as unjust f as it was impolitic. They threw up their portfolios. I and retired from his service. Nothing less was to be I expected from M. Pould, who was one of them; and I M. Magne, another of the recusants, though wanting f according to Al. Thiers, III "ferocity," has more than once shown considerable independence. But on this occasion MM. Ivouher and de Morny also carried their opposition to the President's decision to i the point of retirement. M. the Yicomte de Persigny alone proved himself ever faithful. The will of his chief was then, as always, his law. He never hada more striking opportunity of proving his fidelity, and it is an odd coincidence that he should die just as the French Assembly has, through a Committee, stamped the act with its ueaviest reprobation. M. de Persigny has been in a critical condition of health for some time past, ana we cannot suppose that his end was hastened onagrm at the prospect of any such implied censure; but the vote at Versailles has occurred opportunely to remind us of the most striking incident in the career of the dead servant of the Emperor.