Aftisttllaneous.

The Morning Post announces the probability of another grand bal costume at Court. "It is there generally asserted, that the Queen, taking into consideration the losses experienced during two successive seasons by trade in London, through the happy domestic events in her Majesty's home circle, has determined to give numerous fetes; and, among others, one similar to that which produced so much sensation, and did so much good to Metropolitan industry, four years ago."

A correspondent assures us that her Majesty has entirely set her face against the Polka, and has given instructions that it should not be again danced in her

presence.—Brighton Gazette. - Sir Henry Pottinger has been travelling in Scotland, has been feted at Glasgow, and has received the freedom of that city and of Edinburgh.

The obituary of the week announces the death of Henry John Neville, Earl of Abergavenny, who expired at Eridge Castle, his seat near Tonbridge Wells, on Friday evening. He was born in 1789, and succeeded to the title in 1843. He .suffered from so delicate a state of health, that he did not it in the House of Lords for more than one night since his succession to the Peerage. He never married; and is succeeded by the Reverend William Neville, Vicar of Frant and Birling, in Kent. The present Earl of Abergavenny was born in 1792; and mar- ried, in 1824, Caroline, daughter of Mr. Ralph Leek, of Langford Hall, in Shrop- shire, by whom he has a numerous family.

The Marquis of Downshire died suddenly on Saturday evening. While riding with his agent, Mr. Owen, to inspect his Blesington and Brocken estates, in the county of Wicklow, he fell from his horse in a fit of apoplexy, groanedL and ex- pired. Up to the last moment he seemed in excellent health. Arthur-Blundell-

dys-Trumbull Hill was born in October 1788; he succeeded to the title in .1801; and in 1811, he married Lady Maria Windsor, eldest daughter of Other Hickman, fifth Earl of Plymouth. In politics the late Marquis was a Tory, and -when Orange lodges existed he was an Orangeman; but he was popular as a re- indent landlord and an encourager of improvement. The titles and estates de- scend to the eldest son, Arthur-Wills-Blundell-Smadys-Trumbull-Windsor Hill, Earl of Hillsborough; who was born in 1812, and married, in 1837, the eldest daughter of Viscount Combermere. His Lordship has sat for the county of Down since 1836; and his succession to the Peerage will of course create a vacancy in the representation of that county.

The will of the Reverend Sydney Smith has been Fovea by his widow, the sole -executrix. The personal property of the deceased has been sworn under 80,000/. The Globe reports that there has really been no radical improvement in the health of Sir William Follett, the Attorney-General; and it is expected that he will retire from office, leisure being the sole means of recovery.

Mr. Sergeant Charmell and Mr. Sergeant Manning have obtained patents of precedency; and Messrs. Lee Wood, Humfrey, R. Gurney, Batt, and Hayward, have been called within the bar as Queen's counsel.

The Morning Post reported yesterday, that the Duke of Wellington had sud- denly been taken ill in the House of Lords on Thursday evening; but that on inquiry at Apsley House' shortly before midnight, he was stated to be "convales- cent.' The report drew forth the following note, a copy of which was sent to the -evening papers for publication yesterday.

'London, April 18, 1845. "F. M. the Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to the Editor of the Morning Post. "His attention has just now been drawn to two paragraphs in the Morning Post of this morning respecting himself, which, considering the following circum- stances, the Duke must consider as neither more nor less than wilfully false.

"It is true that the Duke of Wellington, during the debate, got up from his place, and gave the assistance of his arm to a noble Lord standing on the floor of the House' who it is well known has the misfortune to be blind' and conducted -him towards the door of the House, when he placed him under the care of an- ,other person.

"The Duke then returned to his place; in which he remained till the House

'adjourned, and even took part in the discussion of the business transacted.

A person called at the Duke's house last night, at eleven o'clock, not twelve, to inquire how the Duke was. The answer was, perfectly well,' and not that 'he was convalescent.'

"lie has stated these facts as the foundation for his request that the Editor of the Morning Post will be pleased to give a positive contradiction to the pare- -:graphs above referred to; and that the Editor will be pleased to give directions tthat when his name is inserted in his paper for the future, care should be taken 'that it is not made the matter of a falsehood.

" The Duke makes this request, in order, first, to relieve the anxiety of many, and next, to save himself some trouble.

"To the Editor of the Morning Post."

"The Maynooth College Bill has wrung from the Duke of Newcastle the follow lag energetic appeal to the nation-

" Clamber, Sunday Evening, 13th April.

'" My dear fellow-countrymen—In the sincerity of my heart, and in anxiety which overwhelms me, may I address to you a few hurried lines, which are in- elended to exhort you to adopt the most decisive measures, ere the fit time fehr action be passed ? It is now late in the afternoon, and I have only just iiooked cursorily over the contents of this day's post; my observations, therefore, roust be very brief indeed. I would have addressed you at an earlier period, had I not wished to see what course Mr. Gladstone would take. I still hoped that he taright be found true to the great cause of Protestantism, and that in him might %be supplied another among the too few and able champions of the neglected And cabmen persecuted Established Church of England. Alas you have only to .seboose between submitting to be trampled upon, or making a loud demand by

ear public voice. "You must rouse yourselves as one man. Those who are attached to the Pro- itsiasist faith—those who wish to preserve the predominance of the English Esta- blished Church as the protection and safeguard of these realms—those who mill' not submit to the Imposition of the Income-tax, by which means a surplus is ex- tracted from your pockets, that is to pays sinful endowment of a rebellious Popish seminary, Maynooth in Ireland—and this, too, when the smallest portion of a pound is denied to your own pure and truly Christian Church—look well into this perfidious proceeding: see with your own eyes, judge with your own good understandings, act from the stoutness of your own noble Britishhearts. But be

nick! Lose not an instant ! Call county meetings; require . your Representa- tives to represent you in reality, and call upon them to support your petitions. You are betrayed; you are sacrificed in more instances than one; you arethe victims of some deep scheme which is not yet sufficiently developed: but be' be forehand with the schemers, although they may think themselves safe in their Parliamentary potency. If you hate and disapprove of this awful beginning of future awful intentions, speak out and act determinedly, and insist on attention being paid to your national feelings, to your love of God, and love of country. " Petition ! petition ! petition! Do this with zeal, peacefulness, and order, but with perseverance and determination that nothing shall overcome. Do this, if it accords with your religions feelings and national sentiments: if you do it, you may save your cherished land from the wrath of God and perfidy of man. Pause even' and the same rule which will revolutionize your Church will doom your fields to lie uncultivated, your whole agricultural system-to a ruthless de- struction and starving desolation.

"I pray you, my dear fellow-countrymen, to receive this brief and crude ad- dress,written on the instant, as a proof of my deep interest in our national welfare. I make this call upon your attention that you may be forewarned of what may happen, not by a factions demagogue, but by an unflinching Conservative of all our most loved and approved national rights, privileges, laws, and valued institu- tions of Church and State.

"Allow me to sign myself your ever faithful Mend, NEwcasmt."

A public meeting at Newark having adopted a petition against the Maynooth grant, copies were sent to the Duke of Newcastle, and to the Members for the borough and the Southern division of the county, with a request that they would support the petition. The Duke promised to do so. The Earl of Lincoln and Lord John Manners courteously declined. Admitting the difficulties of the sub- ject, Lord John says--" In a perfect state of society, with an undivided church and a purely faithtul state, these difficulties of course would not arise, and the statesman's course would be plain and simple; but in such an empire as ours, with the relations between the Church and State so ambiguous and anomalous., it becomes, in my opinion, both wrong and impossible to ignore the practical exist- ence of the Roman Catholic priests and people in Ireland. It is true, that stiCh was our policy for many years, and was acted upon to the last possible moment; and so long as it was acted upon it presented a consistent system. It not only refused to pay for the teaching of the Roman Catholics out of the public funds, but prohibited Roman Catholics from defraying the charges of their education and worship out of their own private wealth. The penal laws, in -short, con- stituted a great, harmonious, though cruel and monstrous system of policy. But that system exists no longer. We admit Roman Catholics to fight, to legislate,. to plead for us. We acknowledge their existence—we make use of their services—and now for fifty years we have been contributing as a state to the education of the Irish priesthood ; contributing, indeed, but in so miserable a manner, that while the fact of our so doing deters private munificence from undertaking that object, the benefits which we hope to secure are not obtained. Under these circumstances, two years ago I ventured to press on the Ministers and the Legislature, the justice and necessity of altering our con- duct towards Roman Catholic Ireland; and a friend of mine' Mr. Smythe, urged strongly this very step which is now taken by the Ministry. So important did we feel the subject to be, that when the Ministers said, concession had reached its utmost limits, we voted in favour of an inquiry into the means of ameliorating the condition of Ireland. Last year, Sir Robert Peel announced his intention of considering the state of Roman Catholic education in Ireland. I then expressed my satisfaction at that announcement; and now, by this proposal of our increased permanent grant, he is carrying that into effect; and I am bound by every CODEl deration of consistency and honour to support him in his attempt'

The Earl of Sefton, having been asked to support the prayer of a petition from the Wesleyans of St. Helen's and Prescot, in Lancashire, has replied that to do so would be counter to every political principle that he has advocated throughout life. "If a large Catholic population form part of this empire, it is the bounden duty of the Government to extend their care and attention to the religious institutions and interests of that part of the community. Protestant intolerance and persecn tion will not convert the Catholic layman from his errors, nor deprive the priest of his power, but reflect great discredit on that Church whose members put them in practice. I have as little affection for the Roman Catholic religion as any one • but I not only approve of the extension of the grant to Maynooth, but trust it will involve the question of national endowment of the priests; one of the surest means, in my humble opinion, to carry to the unfortunate, misled Irishman, the blessings of instruction, loyalty, and contentment" At a meeting of Scotch Peers, Peers connected with Scotland, and Representa- tives of Scotland, at the Clarendon Hotel, on Saturday last—the Duke of Hamil- ton in the chair,—resolutions were adopted unanimously, declaring the present system of banking in that country adapted to the wants and habits of the people, productive of its prosperity, and obnoxious to no complaint; protesting against any change which would affect its principle; and appointing a deputation to wait on Sir Robert Peel with that declaration.

Ministers have disappointed the people of Manchester as to the amount of money which would be granted by Government for the formation of parks and pleasure-grounds in that town. A deputation, headed by the Mayor and accom nied by Mr. Milner Gibson and some other Members, had an interview with Sir Robert Peel last week, and stated to him that the inhabitants had contributed 30,7461. Sir Robert said, that Ministers only have at their disposal 8,0001. for such purposes, and he offered to give 3,000/. to Manchester, to be disposed of under a Government-surveyor. The Mayor took time to consult with his con- stituents, and to know whether Manchester would accept of so small a sum.

— The nomination of candidates for the representation of Greenock took place at that town on Tuesday. The candidates nominated were Mr. Walter Baum 'a merchant, Mr. Alexander Dunlop, an advocate, and Mr. M'Crae, a Chartist preacher. The last, however, retired from the contest after he had made his speech. Both the other candidates are Whigs; both are Free-traders' though in this respect Mr. Baine seems disposed to go the further: the difference between them turns upon the Maynooth question—Mr. Baine being &member of the Established Church of Scotland and a supporter of the endowment for the Irish College, Mr. Dunlop a member of the Free Church and an opponent of the endowment; though he would support the annual grant. Both candidates demanded a poll; which was appointed to be taken on Thursday.

The Times announces the stoppage of Messrs. Allsop and Company, the great ale-brewers of Burton. Their liabilities are estimated at a sum between 200,000/. and 800,0001.

The Ross-shire Advertiser states, that there Is a family of dwarfs at Kishorn of Appleeross, each of them of less dimensions than Tom Thumb, and as well proportioned. They are the children of a poor cotter of the ordinary size. They are three in number. The eldest son, twenty years of age, is two feet ten inches high; a daughter, rather.younger,is still smaller; sad a boy of fifteen is a mere

PigulY•