3iiigu1tautnuo.

The officers to be attached to the Board of Trade as assistants for carry- ing out the provisions of the Mercantile Marine Bill are Captain F. W. Bewley, RN., F.R.S., and Captain Walker. Captain Beechey distin- guished himeelf in the expeditions to the North Pole in 1818 and 1819, of which he published an interesting account; and he has since raised his name high as a navigator and an author by his survey of the coast of Africa and his voyages in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Captain Walker was formerly an officer in the East India Company's marine, and since the expiration of their charter has for many years been in the command of some of the largest of the ships belonging to Messrs. Green of Blackwell.— Times.

Captain Standford, "who at some personal risk, and with singular dis- interestedness, supplied the Commissariat at the Cape with provisions when their supplies were, during the late disturbances, cut off from every other source," has received the honour of knighthood.—Globe.

The long illness of the Vice-Chancellor of England terminated fatally on Saturday morning ; the immediate cause of death having been an at- tack of bronchitis.

Launcelot Shadwell was the son of an eminent conveyancer of his own name. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge ; where he gained moderate distinction as seventh wrangler and junior medallist. Called to the bar in 1803, he attained the rank of King's counsel in 1821. He entered Parliament in 1826, as Member for Ripon—practically !speaking, as the repre- sentative of the well-known Miss Lawrence, the proprietor and political ruler of that Parliamentary borough both before and after the tera of the Reform BilL For many years he held the office of auditor of the estates of that lady ; and on her death received a substantial token of her regard and confidenc.e, in a bequest of 30,000/. His quick promotion to the bench in 1827 he owed. to the friendship of the Viscount Goderich, now Earl of Ripon. Sir Launee- lot Shaclwell was a steady Conservative pohtician ; a sound lawyer—especially noted for his skill in the exposition of an ill-drawn testament, or the unravelling of a tangled documentary skein • and, because a most generous and kindhearted man, an especially respected and beloved judge. 'I he highminded confidence with which he relied so largely on the " assistance " of the seniors and the goodhumoured gentleness with which he encouraged the juniors of 'his bar, will be features of his judicial character long cherished in their affectionate remembrance. More .popularly known characteristics were his handsome person, and ever-smiling ruddy face, with his notable habit of bathing in the river Thames near his villa at Barn Elms almost continuously through every day of the year. So confirmed was this healthy practice, that, as the story goes, he once "heard a cause" in the water : an urgent motion for an injunction was made by counsel from the bank, was duly weighed by him with staid natant gravity, and was granted as of coerce,' —nods intimating his assent, and a concluding dive ratifying the de-

dawn.

Under the act 5 Victoria, c. 5, the successor of the Vice-Chancellor of England will receive a diminished salary ; it being enacted by the 37th clause that no such officer should henceforward receive a salary of more than 5,000/. a year, or a retiring pension of larger amount than 3,5001. a year.

Death has also made a vacancy, somewhat unexpectedly, in another Important judicial office : the Honourable Charles Law Recorder of the City of London, died, at his residence in Eaton Place, on Tuesday, after only a few days of indisposition not apparently serious.

Charles Ewan Law was the second son of the first Lord Ellenborough, and brether of the present Earl : he was born in 1792, and was very early called to the bar • where he soon realized a good position, as much by his own ability as loir the influence of his father's name. He was elected Recorder of London in 1832; and has represented the University of Cambridge in Par- liament for seventeen years.

A favourable biographer in the Morning Chronicle thus fairly sketches the leading features of his character. 'He was a man of a highly educated mind, with a natural vigour and independence of character, which enabled him to obtain a clear insight into subjects on which hie strong political feelings did not give him a special bias. His dis- tinctive characteristic was a jealous and unflinching adherence to the opinions and practice generally called Tory.' His devotion was carried to extremes. He was morally respectable for the pertinacity and steadfastness of his opinions, although in a political point of view that consistency of pur- pose might have been excessive. His zeal always procured for him a degree of respect, even from those against whom it was directed. He was always a warm partisan, but a partisan not merely of a party, but of principles. As Member, during so many year!, for Cambridge Umversity, Mr. Law spoke from time to time upon the various questions in which the University was, Or was supposed to be, interested. It was only on occasions when some vital principle was at stake that he took a prominent part in politics • but when he did interfere it was always to take the lead on some question filet involved a great principle. It was in this spirit that he opposed the admission of the dews into Parliament."

The Marquis of Clanricarde,, Postmaster-General, Mr. Henry Labou- there, and Mr. George Coniewall Lewis, have presented to the Treasury their report on the question referred to them—" Whether the amount of Sunday labour in the Post-office might not be reduced, without com- pletely putting an end to the collection and delivery of letters, &c. on Sundays." With a view of ascertaining the effects of the late change, which that came into operation on the 23d of .Tune, the Postmaster-General called for infor- mation from the District Surveyors for England and Wales, under the heads —whether that change was acceptable to the public ; what was its effect in delaying or suppressing correspondence, and in calling into employment per- sons not in the service of the Post-office ; what was the amount of Sunday re- lief under it ; and what its probable effect on the revenue. The Surveyors are almost unanimous in declaring that they encounter a preponderant ex- pression of opinion against the change. They are nearly unanimous in de- claring that much correspondence is at present suppressed from the delay caused by the new arrangements. Means are in progress of organization to remedy this evil by the machinery of private enterprise, to such an extent that the Commissioners are not satisfied that the general effect of the change 15 to diminish Sunday labour. The Surveyors concur in the opinion theta

considerable decrease of revenue will result from the change. Mr. Johnson, Surveyor of the Home District, in a very able report, estimates the loss, in his district, at an average of 34 per cent on the number of letters formerly delivered on Sunday. The Commissioners report that-

" As regards the chief office in London, and the minor Metropolitan offices within a radiue of six miles, the change in questiou has left everything untouched.

" As regards the Provincial offices, we are enabled to state that the principal relief afforded is to the letter-carriers, more especially those serving the rural districts.

" But, whatever may be the amount of relief afforded to the servants of the Post- office, there can be no doubt that it has been obtained at a great sacrifice of con- venience to the public; for though, amidet the numerous communications we have received on the subject, there are many urging the continuance of the arrangement, yet, having regard to their general tenour, and to the serious specific inconveniences complained of in many of them, as also to the results of our own inquiries, we have come to the conclusion that the evils attaching to the change press heavily on a large portion of the public, (not excepting the poorer classes, who cannot bear the expense of secondary means of communication,) and tutve excited in many quarters a strong feeling of dissatisfaction?'

" Some idea of the extent to which these evils must exist is afforded by the fol- lowing facia. 1. The number of letters arriving on the Monday morning in London

has been reduced by the recent change from about 212,000 to 127,000, being a reduc-

tion of about 85,000, or 40 per cent; so that, in London alone, at least that number of letters must be delayed every week, while the number is made up by an increase on Tuesday and the following days, though probably not to the full extent. 2. The number of letters leaving London on the Saturday night is about 140,000; the greater part of which, reaching their destination on the Sunday, are not delivered till Mon- day. Moreover, the number of letters despatched from London on Saturday night has, as was natural, been reduced by their non-delivery on Sunday. The extent of this reduction appears hitherto to have averaged nearly 15,000. 3. Whereas, pre-

vious to the recent change, the correspondence between one provincial town and

another was not interrupted at all, now all the letters posted on the Sunday, the greater part of those posted on the Saturday, and many posted on the Friday and

even earlier, are delayed (either in despatch or delivery) throughout the United Kingdom. Taking these circumstances into account, we are of opinion that pro- bably one-seventh of all the General Post letters distributed by the Post-office, or more than 700,000 a week, are now delayed, or altogether suppressed, in consequence of the recent change. This is exclusive of a very large number of newspapers."

The truth, therefore appears to be, that unless the suspension of Post-office

action on the Sunday l'oe led to the Metropolis, it must be productive of very serious inconvenience. It must also be remembered, that under the old arrangement it was possible for a resident in London to provide for the receipt or despatch of a letter on the Sunday, by sending to a post-town be- yond the twelve-mile circle. This expedient, so frequently resorted to in cases of emergency, prevented the people of London from ever before feeling in all its force the inconvenience arising from a total suspension of Sunday despatch. Looking also to the evasions by substitutionary modes of con- veyance, involving not only loss of revenue but also Sunday labour, in a new form, the Commissioners consider that the restriction is ineffectual for its main purpose, as well as inexpedient. It appears to them, that in exercising a monopoly of postal conveyance, the Government takes upon itself the duty of forwarding the public correspondence without any delay which may not be demanded by reasons of the most cogent nature. The Post-office is not the only branch of the public service in which a certain amount of Sunday la- bour is required ; and it may be added, that the general practice of deliver- ing and despatching letters on the Sunday in all parts of the United King- dom except London, (including oven Dublin and Edinburgh,) dates back from the first regular establishment of a post-office in this kingdom • while the non-delivery of letters in London on the same day appears to have an equally early: origin.

With a view, therefore, of making a reduction in the amount of Sunday labour in the Post-office, as it existed immediately before the 23d of June last, without completely putting an end to the collection and delivery of let- ters and other Post-office packets on Sundays, they recommend the adoption of the following arrangements-

" With regard to the London Post-office, that the system which was in force at the time specified, and which has not been affected by the recent order, should be continued.

" With regard to the Provincial Post-offices, that a delivery of letters on the Sun- day should be resumed, subject to the following restrictions, many of which have been sanctioned by the previous practice of the department-

" 1, That there be only one delivery and one collection. " 2. That the delivery be made at such times as shall not interfere with the hours of divine service, especially of morning service.

"3. That this delivery be made either by letter-carriers or at the window of the post-office, according to the practice previously pursued on Sundays in each place. In Edinburgh, Glasgow, and most other towns of Scotland, it has been the practice to deliver letters only at the window on Sunday. The inhabitants of these towns have become habituated to the arrangement, and we do not therefore advise its discon- tinuance; but we do not propose its extension to other towns where such a usage has never been introduced, because it affords less convenience and security to the public, while it produces no diminution of Sunday labour.

• 4. That, as far as possible every post-office be closed on a Sunday at ten a. tn. for the remainder of the day, with the necessary exceptions arising from the late arrival of mails which have heretofore existed.

"5. That no money-payments for inland letters be received at a post-office on a Sunday ; and that no such letters be received except such as are stamped or unpaid.

"6. That whenever the letters which were delivered on the Sunday morning reached their destination by eight o'clock on Saturday night, (which is the case in some of the remote parts of the kingdom,) the delivery be made the same night, in- stead of on the Sunday morning. "7. That where the duties are such as to prevent the rural letter-carrier from at- tending divine service, an arrangement be made for providing a substitute at least on the alternate Sundays. We apprehend that the additional cost incurred by that arrangement would be justified by the importance of its object. "8. That in retaining a Sunday delivery of letters in a rural district, the Post- master-General be guided by the prevalent feeling of the locality; and that where the prevalent feeling of the district is opposed to such delivery, the Postmaster- General, after satisfying himself of the fact, take the requisite steps for suspending it. This principle has already been acted on to a considerable extent by the depart- ment. The Postmaster-General, in the years 1848 and 1849, withdrew no less than 404 Sunday rural posts, 320 wholly and 84 partially. In some instances, however, the inhabitants, finding the withdrawal more inconvenient than they anticipated, subsequently requested that the post might be restored ; which was accordingly . done. " 9. That an option be afforded to every householder to suspend the Sunday de- livery of letters at his house, on his written application to the local post-office. It would be necessary that this permission should be guarded by proper regulations of the department, in order to prevent the inconvenience which would arise from fre- quent changes.

"10. That the arrangements already made by the Postmaster-General for the withdrawal on the Sunday of comparatively useless mails be continued upon the same principles which have been already adopted, and that they be rendered as com- plete as possible."

In reference to the motion on the subject of the Civil List savings whieh was made by Lord Brougham on the 2d instant, opposed by the Marquis of Lansdowne, and negatived without division, Lord Brougham has recorded the following protest on the journals of the Peers. The protest is formally levelled at the negative put on his motion. "1. Because the Civil List arrangement is framed upon statement* laid before Parliament, with the full knowledge of the Ministers of the Crownt those statements being in the nature of estimates upon which the grant of income is to be made. "2. Because those statements contain a minute detail of the expenses for which provision is made, including the salaries of officers and even the wages of servants, and the grant is made on the supposition by all parties to the arrangement that such salaries are to be always paid. "3. Because even as to the other heads of expenditure provided for, there is at understanding of all parties that nearly the same sum will be required during the continuance of the arrangement. "4. Because no supposition ever entered the mind of Parliament, in making the grant, that large savings were to be effeeted out of the income granted ; and, on the contrary, the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the Sove- reign is wholly alien to the spirit of our constitution, which requires the Monarch to be dependent upon Parliament for the revenue by which his state and dignity shall be supported.

"5 Because any such accumulation by means of savings upon the Civil List has a direct tendency to diminish the splendour and impair the dignity of the Crown, and so to defeat the very purposes of the grant. "6. Because for these reasons it is the undoubted right of Parliament to obtain information from time to time touching the amount of the savings under the several heads of the Civil List expenditure, and the rather because if there were a deficit instead of a saving, Parliament would be of course ap- plied to for aid, whereas the public never can directly benefit by any surplus, how considerable soever.

"7. Because the amount of such savings must form an important matter in considering the applications from time to time made for Parliamentary aid in the establishment of the younger branches of the Royal Family dur- ing the reign of the Sovereign to whom the grant of the Civil List income was made, as well as in future arrangements which the wisdom of Parlia- ment may make with respect to the rights and claims of the Crown. "8. Because no possible risk to the subsistence of the Civil List arrange- ment made with the Sovereign at the commencement of the present reign can arise from giving the information sought ; and there can be no indeli- cacy in disclosing the amount of the savings supposed, on good grounds, to have been effected, inasmuch as those savings must by law be made known to departments of the Government which are under no obligation to conceal them, and it must be made blown under which head of the Civil List expen- diture the saving, if any, has been made, or the deficiency, if any, has arisen. "9. Because the accounts before Parliament appear to state the amount of the savings—for example, 38,7501. for the year ending the 5th of April 1850; and if this is an incorrect statement, or if in reality the statement bears reference to some other matters than that which it seems to regard, justice to all parties requires that this should be explained and set right. But if as appears, such savings have been effected, there can be no reason why Parliament should not be informed of the branches of expenditure on which they have been so effected.

"10. Because it appears that, independent of the Civil List revenue, and of 12,000/. paid last year into the Privy Purse from the revenue of the Dutch), of Lancaster, 29,000/. have been paid from the revenue of the Dutohy of Cornwall for the service of the Duke of Cornwall,—a service which, at that illustrious Prince's tender age, can hardly require so large a provision ; and no one has ever contended that into such an expenditure Parliament has not both the right fully to inquire and the practice of so inquiring. (Signed) " BROUGHAM."

Lord Brougham lately wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer pointing out the position in which the work of digesting and codifying the Crimi- nal Law now stands. The Criminal Law Commissioners performed the important work of digesting into two codes the whole criminal law of the realm, as well common as statute. Lord Brougham brought in bills three several times, to enact these digests ; but they were postponed, at Lord Lyndhurst's desire, that they might be once more examined by the Commission, strengthened by the fresh minds of some added members. Lord Chancellor Cottenham approved of the delay with this view. On this important work there have been spent nearly ten years, and not much less than a hundred thousand pounds. By an unhappy oversight, the Commission has been suffered to expire. But would it be consistent either with the interests of our legal system, or with the honour of the country, or with a judicious economy, to leave the work incomplete, and thus throw away all the time and money already spent on it without re- ceiving for that expenditure any return whatever? He had been told that there are difficulties in the way of obtaining any further grant of money at this late period of the session : possibly there might he no time left for obtaining a vote, were the new Commission to be issued : Lord Brougham therefore made the following or— "If either this be the difficulty, or if the Commons refuse the money re- quired, I beg leave respectfully to offer either to advance or to give alto- gether the sum of 2,000/., which will suffice to pay the salary- of the new Commission and of the Secretary for one year, and that time is quite suffi- cient to finish the work."

Sir Charles Wood thanked Lord Brougham for the offer ; "of which, however, her Majesty's Government could not, under any circumstances, avail themselves." With reference to the object of the proposal, he re- plied—

"it does not appear to be necessary to reappoint the Commission on the • Criminal Law, and it was under this Impression that it has been suffered to expire. Her Majesty's Government are fully sensible of the advantage to be derived from the labours of the late Commission ; but they believe that this advantage may be attained for the public without any further expense, which would require .a vote of Parliament."

The papers have published a note by Chevalier Bunsen to Lord Pal- merston, on the Schleswig-Holstein affair, in which he communicates the entire approbation by his Government of his refusal to join in the Euro- pean protocol to -which the other Great Powers have become parties. He dwells on a phrase in that protocol, new to the international law of Ger- many—" the original integrity of the Danish Monarchy " : that expres- sion, he says, 4‘ is neither more exact in point of international law, nor less politically threatening towards Germany, than would be the expres- sion 'the integrity of the Dutch Monarchy, in a sense implying that the Dutchy-of Luxemburg was considered to form, in conjunction with Hol- land, the Dutch Monarchy."

The Right If.onoura'ble Thomas Francis Kennedy, Paymaster of Civil Ser- vice of Ireland, has been appointed one of the Commissioners, of Woods, Fo- rests, and Land Revenues, in the room of /dr. Alexander Milne, retired.

Dr. Thomas Southwood Smith, who was the medical member of the Ge- neral Board of Health during the period of the Orders in Council (as au- thorized by the Diseases Prevention Act) has been appointed the second paid member of the board provided by the Metropolitan Interments Act.

Mr. Northcote has resigned his appointment of Legal Assistant to the Board of Trade. The place will not be filled up.—Times.

On Sunday last, the Reverend George Cornelius Gorham was inducted to the living of Brampford Speke. The Reverend Mr. Howard, of St. Thomas, officiated on the occasion, in the place of the Archdeacon Moore Stevens. The reverend gentleman ,preached an excellent sermon to a numerous con- gregation.—.Devonehire Paper.

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge are about making a grunt of 3,0001. to the Bishop of Toronto, towards securing the endowineat of a college of a permanent character in connexion with the Church in his dio- cese.

Results of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Mettepolis for the week ending on Saturday lest: the first column of figures gives the aggregate number of deaths in the corresponding weeks of the ten previous years.

Ten Weeks of 1839-0.

Week. of 1800.

Zymotic Diseases 3443 .... .301 Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat 479 .... 48 Tubercular Diseases 1877

1011 Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 1189

400

Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels

228 .... 42

Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration

714

Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 784 .... 74 Diseases of the Kidneys, Fcc

73

.... SO Childbirth, diseases of the Uterus, dm

64

....

to

Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, de

59

7

Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, 4i.c

Malformations 27 .... 2 Premature Birth 230

33 Atrophy 238 ....

32 Age

449

29

Sudden 81

5

Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance.— .....

SOO ....• 50 Total (including muspecilied causes) 10318

997

The deaths exceed those of last week by 80. In the last four weeks they were 781, 863, 898, and last week 917. The mortality of last week was be- low that of the average of the same weeks in all the years 1840-9, but it was no longer eo if the corresponding fatal week of 1849 be excluded, when 823 persons died of cholera. The deaths by cholera were 15: of these, eleven were eases of infants under five years old, one of a child of seven years old, and only three of adults. Two eases onlyare registered as " Asiatic cholera' and "cholera maligns." There is nothing to indicate the presence of an epidemic either in number of the deaths by cholera or in the character of the cases. But the prevalence of fatal diarrhiers which carried off no fewer than 124 children under fifteen, and nine adults between fifteen and sixty, and nineteen adults over sixty, is an untoward symptom deserving the attention of those who have precautionary powers.

Mean height of the barometer mercury at Greenwich, 29-651 inches; mean temperature, 61.2°.

There are 14,000 enrolled friendly societies in this country, having 1,600,000 members, an annual revenue amounting to 2,800,000/., and an ac- cumulated capital of 6,400,0001. A still greater number of minor friendly societies are not enrolled, and do not therefore possess the privileges and means of self-protection enjoyed by the former. It is estimated that there are 33,223 societies in this position in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ire- land; having 3,052,000 members, -an annual revenue of 4,980,0001., and with funds amounting too large a sum as 14360,0001., the praiseworthyaceumu- lotions of the purely industrial classes. Indeed, half of the labouring male adult population are members of benefit societies.— The ,Reporter.

The Guardians of the Isle of Thanet Union have taken (from Michaelmas) ten acres of land. This, with two acres of garden now occupied, will make twelve acres on which to -employinraates of poorhouses, young and old, upon out-door industry.

The Hudson's Bay Company are advertising for emigrants to Vancouver's Island. One .plan adopted by the company is that of sending out a small body of experienced agriculturists, who are to be engaged at about 551. a year, with maintenance, under a contract for five years ; the Object being, that, with a certain number of labourers under t hm, they shall create farms which may be sold ultimately to persons possessed of moderate capital, and

to

who are likely become the most usoful cla ss of inhabitants. •Itis regarded as probable that many families would be tempted to seek the country with a view to settlement under such circumstances who would hesitate to enter upon the wild life of a Wholly unprepared region—Times, 'City Article.

The manager of the Culpepper gold mine' on the Rapid Anne River,. which is seventeen miles from Fredericksburg, in the American State of Virginia, gives a statement of the working of his mine for a period of seven -weeks,

which shows that the returns are more profitable than the -diggings in Cali- fornia. He is working twelve stamp-heads and two 'Milian mills with

twenty-four men, mostly Blacks, at a weekly expense-of 120 dollars, to which

30 dollars may be added for wear and tear of machinery and other incident- als; so that the entire outlay is 160 dollars per -week, making 1,050 dollars

in all as the cost of seven weeks' working. The product has been:3,400 dwts.: of gold, worth at least 3,300 dollars, or -over 2 dollars return for every dollar of current expenses. —.Morning 'Chronicle.

The President of Peru has issued a decree, appointing the Minister of the Home Department, Don Lucas Foncesa, Don Nicholas Pierola, and Don Ni- colas Rodrigo, a commission to select and take charge of articles intended to be sent to England for exhibition next year.

By a recent order issued by the Postmaster-General of the 'United States, all correspondence for editors and publishers of newspapers printed in the States of the Union is permitted -topass postage free through the -territory Of the 'United States, provided such correspondence relates exclusively to mat- ten connected with their respective newspapers.

The Hanoverian Government, anxious to promote the interests Of its new free sent at Iforburg, on the left bank of the Elbe, has granted, by an order of the 6th of August 1850, the remission of the Stade duties on all goods arriving by sea at that harbour.

A vessel has arrived from Montreal hexing a large quantity of casks of wine, the produce of Southern Europe, on board, consigned as part of her

cargo to order. We have before alluded to some recent arrivals of such wines which have taken place from the United States, but this is the first arrival of thelind from the British Possessions in North Ameriaa.—_Daily Hews. [iVe presume this is one of the many instances of indirect importations by circuitous route, to evade the absurdly enormaus duties imposed on wines directly imported from foreign countries.] The population of Prussia, on the 30th of :July, amounted to 10,330,180; of whom 3,061,593 resided in Silesia, 2,811,194 in the Rhenish Provinces, 1,461,580 in Western Prussia, 1,025,7.12 in Eastern Prussia, 2,129,022 in the province -of Brandenburg, 4781,297 in the Saxon province, 1,464,921 in Westphalia, 1,352,014 in the Grand Dutchy of Puma, 1,197,,201 in Pome- rania, and 45,173 soldiers without a .fixed residence.

The convict Pate, who was sentenced to transportation a short-time since for assaulting her Majesty, is on board a convict-ship now lying in Portland Roads, en -route to a penal settlement.

From a return of the number of poisoning cases tried in the United King- dom from /839 to 1849, it appears that the tendency to that crime has been most conspicuous in the female sex. The persons tried in England have been 92 women and 78 men ; in Scotland, 10-women and 5 men ; in Ire- land, 81 women and 25 men. Only in the Northern Circuit have the trials of men for this offence exceeded -those of women. The district of the Cen- tral Criminal Court furnished the greateat number of these ; the

Western and Norfolk Circuit were next in degree ; and the Durham Circuit ' of his age, unto Lord Mahon and Mr. Cardwell with the fullest powers to alone showed a perfect immunity from it.

During a thunderstorm, on Thursday sennig.ht, the lightning struck a cot- tage at Halifax situated on a hill, and killed a boy aged twelve. He was sitting against a wall ; above him were suspended a pair of tongs ; when the lightning struck the place it passed along this medium, and leaped from it to theboy's chest, killing him instantly. His mother was rendered insensi- ble for a time by the same stroke.

A correspondent of the Northampton Heral4 Mr, "J. T. Tryon" of Bed- wick Rectory, describes some curious meteorological pluenommut which oc- curred about the date of St. Swithin's Day. "On the day following St. Swithin, Tuesday the 16th July, we heard a sort of rumbling, as of wag- goes, for upwards of an hour without ceasing, in an Easterly direction. Some thought it arose from thunder ; others from the violent grief and anger of St. Swithin, who wept for more than an hour, shedding immense tears of hail, as large as wauts, breaking and smashin' g the green-house and hot- holm frames at Fineahade Abbey, at Laxton Hall, and at Tixover House, 8m., and doing immense mischief to the crops of grain. He appeared more appeased during Wednesday and Thursday ; but on Friday he again became so fretful and irritable, that, to molest our poor washerwomen, he shed forth a great shower of black rain. This fell about three or four o'clock, render- ing quite black their clothes on the hedges and those spread on the grass to dry; also rendering their water caught in their tubs and vessels from the church leads, and from their slated and tiled houses, almost the colour of ink. The black shower I described as falling in this parish last year did not blacken the water nor create a black-lead froth at top in the tubs, as this last did; but only left behind black particles, hard in substance, about the size of gunpowder. The black shower that fell last Friday came down from one particular cloud ; for the rain in the moming was perfectly clear and fit for washing purposes, but the rain that fell between three and four o'clock was perfectly black, and caused a black-lead froth at the top of my tub, so that I myself collected three or four bowls therefrom of such froth. Three days after, two boys loading my waggons with clover were rendered as black as chimney-sweepers from the black sediment the rain had left thereon. My shepherd's inexpressibles, up to the knees, were rendered of the like colour after shepherding his sheep : so that it appears the shower was not confined to the parish."