ght airtropolio.

The Board of Health have, in consequence of the recent news from abroad, expressed their formal opinion to the Government that two me- dical officers should be specially appointed to take such steps as may seem best calculated to meet and mitigate any attack of cholera upon this country.—Daily News.

The Board of Health is not alone in its alarm. At the weekly meet- ing of the committee of management of the Royal Free Hospital, Gray's Inn Road, on Wednesday, it was resolved, "That in consequence of the existence of maw' nantcholera in the Northern parts of Europe, it is greatly to be feared that the disease may again visit this metropolis ; and that, in order to afford every facility for the relief of the poor who may be afflicted with that malady, the premises belonging to the hospital, lately in the occupation of Mr. Seddon, which are capable of containing three hun- dred additional beds, be not relet at present, but kept ready for the re- ception of cholera patients, in case of the emergency arising."

Duke's Place, Houndsditch, contains the great synagogue of the London Jews. It is a plain brick building, about a hundred feet high. Lately it has been thoroughly repaired, and therefore closed for some time ; but on Thursday it was reopened with all the solemn ceremonies of the Jew- ish religion. It now presents a very handsome interior, somewhat like a Protestant church, only there are no pews, no pulpit, and no communion- table. In their place there are seats disposed around a platform in the centre, for the choir and the readers and a curtain of scarlet and purple

hanging down before the ark. On readers, sides there are galleries for the women, shut off' from the body of the synagogue by a heavy screen of brass-work. Thirty chandeliers, crowded with wax-lights, hung from the ceiling; which shone with decorative gilding.

The ceremony of the opening began about five o'clock ; when the chief Rabbi, Dr. Adler, brought the rolls of the Law to the door of the syna-

gogue!, in canticle and walking round the synagogue seven times. "The in a white robe with embroidered ends, which hung- over his shoulders ; and on his head was a velvet cap and tassel, not unlike that of a fellow-commoner. Some of the officers of the congregation wore similar garments and round hats. They were preceded by wand-bearers and little children, and bore the rolls of the Law on their shoulders. These were of various sizes, and looked like small state drums ; being covered with richly embossed velvet palls, which fell over the arms of the bearers, while from the top of each sprang two guilt turrets about eighteen inches high, covered with numerous small bells of silver and gold that tinkled sweetly at every step of the bearer. The rolls of the Law were twenty-eight in num- ber, each complete in itself, of parchment, rolled up as we see the papyrus scrolls."

The choruses are described as reminding the auditor of those in the Pro- phete or Huguenots—operas by a Jewish composer. Dr. Adler preached a sermon in English ; an ode was sung, and the ceremony was at an end.

The National and Vernon Galleries will be closed to the public during the vacation, which commences on Saturday the 11th instant, and will be reopened to visitors on Monday the 25th of October next. The usual gratis admission will be resumed, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

The Young Men's Evening Classes, with the lecturers, teachers, and patrons, made an excursion last week to the Ryehouse, Broxbourne ; where cold meats" and their proper accompaniments were served; the Reverend Francis F. Statham, incumbent of St. Peter's, Walworth, pre- siding. The association was reported to be in a flourishing condition.

An emigration meeting was held in St. Martin's Hall on Thursday, by the promoters of the Australian Employers' and Emigrants' Regis- tration Society." The chair'was taken by Mr. A. F. Ridgway, of Leices- ter Square ; and the scheme expounded by Mr. Harris. It appears from the prospectus read to the meeting, that the society is founded on the prin- ciple of the Servants' Registration offices; with this difference, that in some cases money is to be advanced to send out emigrants, and to be re- paid by them out of their earnings in the colony. A resolution was adopted, approving of the project.

The Times had an article last week denouncing charitable institutions like the new City Soup Kitchen, on the ground that they encouraged idle- ness and imposture. Next day, Mr. Waklev presided over an inquest on the body of an old woman who died drunk in a filthy den in Somers Court, Clerkenwell. The place was full of impurity, utterly without fur- niture; and to this wretched abode the old woman had been accustomed to bring her unsold fruit and vegetables. Mr. Wakley thought the fruit kept in such places was poisoned. The Foreman of the Jury said, they ought not to be tolerated, as they were fraught with danger to the public health. A Juror remarked, that in the same neighbourhood there was a house where sixty persons sleep in three wretched rooms. Mr. Wakley then generalized upon these facts as follows- " These wretched and horrible dens will exist so long as vagrants are sup- ported by charitable institutions. The charity of the Metropolis is too indis- cnminate ; and thus the deserving poor are unheeded, and drunken, reckless characters, are well provided for, either by private munificence or workhouse relief, which enables them to lead an idle merry life. The money they get is squandered in drink, and at night for a few pence they obtain a bed in a wretched stinking hovel, where all ages, all sexes, and all diseases are crowded together, forming so many plague-factories and disease-depots. By such means these hovels are supported and kept up. I was much pleased at reading in the Times of yesterday, an ably-written article condemnatory of the system of administering indiscriminate charity ; and I hope that it will be put down for so long as a vagrant can live without working he will do so. So convinced am I of the consequences of the evil, that I have ceased to be a Vice-President to the Soup Kitchen. In fact, begging has become a regu- lar trade. A few years ago, one of the fellows who followed that avocation was examined before a Committee of the House of Commons, and stated that he had travelled over the kingdom for nine years as a beggar ; that he was treated as a gentleman in prison, but most disgracefully in workhouses, es- pecially in Lambeth, where he had to work before breakfast ; that a slouched hat and a smock-frock, with a bundle of herbs in his hand, formed the best garb for a London beggar ; and that there were not ten out of one hundred vagrants worthy of relief. Such are the disclosures made by him regarding the begging-trade. I am, however, happy that the press has taken up the subject, and trust that it will not cease its efforts until this monster evil is completely put down, and thus prevent charitable institutions being abused, and their funds wasted, upon lazy worthless characters." The Jury concurred; and decided "that Mary Daly was suffocated while in a state of drunkenness." The Foreman promised to lay before the Vestry and the Board of Guardians of the Holborn Union the result of the inquiry, with the view of having immediate measures adopted to improve the sanitary condition of the neighbourhood; as he deemed it most im- portant., at a crisis when a frightful epidemic was desolating not far dis- tant countries.

At Bow Street Police Office, on Saturday, John Arone, a foreigner, was charged with sending the following threatening letter to Lord Malmesbury.

"My Lord—Recollect the affair of 1812; I mean the affair of Bellingham and Per- ceval. John Arone has been in London eighteen months appealing for redress, but it has not been obtained for him. One of her Majesty's Ministers will have to seal this case with his blood in the lobby of the House of Commons. John Aron6 can

only die once. He wants nothing but fair play. Ions aaost.." There was no direct evidence to prove that the letter was in the man's handwriting ; but there was collateral evidence. Arone had gone to the Illustrated News office, and left a letter about his grievances for insertion in the paper ; and he gave his address. The letter was handed to the Police. Before the Magistrate, Arone, greatly excited, denied that he wrote the let- ter ; but he had admitted previously that he had it written for him. A witness proved that the prisoner had talked of shooting Lord Palmerston. In reply to the charge, Arone stated that M. Bennie the Vice-Consul in Syria, had deprived him of his vessel and other property, worth 70001.; the Vice-Consul wanted to take his life, and to get his wife. Would the Magistrate read a book he had published ? He complained that he was not treated ac- cording to the laws of Britain. Mr. Henry explained to him, that he was so treated ; and ordered him to find sureties to keep the peace towards Lord Malmesbury for twelve months, or in default to be imprisoned for that time. Arone grew still more excited, and was removed in custody.

Thomas Scott, who has been butler to Mr. Matthew Forster M.P. for sixteen years, is in custody for stealing plate worth 250/. the property of his master : he pawned it for 1001. A number of betting-office tickets were found in his possession, denoting the cause of his ruin.

Three women were charged before the Lord Mayor, on Wednesday, with being common beggars and impostors. They formed part of the numerous crowd of vagrants who dog the steps of the too benevolent Mr. Sony. It was considered useless to call that gentleman as a witness ; but his steward was examined, and said—" My Lord, it is quite impossible to give you a correct idea of the scenes I witness daily. Our persecution begins in Great Ormond Street, and master is besieged by all sorts of beggars, from the tip-top beg- ging ladies in silk stockings and shawls, down to the lowest poor creatures without any stockings at all. I have seen the three women at the bar fre- quently receive money from him ; in fact, they would not leave him without dragging money from him. Sometimes the beggars abuse him in the most shocking manner, so that the ladies in the street are quite ashamed at the scene. Sometimes they fight among themselves, and accuse each other of getting all from the old —. People would suppose that the newspapers would frighten them off: quite the other way. Ever since the account of my master and his beggars was published, he has been ten times more so- licited. I am now obliged to take up his letters on the largest-sized waiter ; and the crowds of fashionable beggars that apply to him would sstonish any one in his senses." The Lord Mayor observed—" Surely the representation of the very great impediment Mr. Solly canoes in the City must have some effect in giving a better direction to his charity. It is quite impossible that such a nuisance can be endured in our crowded and busy streets. I sentence each of these defendants to hard labour in prison for one month."

A young Austrian, who gave a feigned name, has been taken to the Man- sionhouse for attempting to commit suicide in the Thames. " Too much learning" seems to have "made him mad" : he was formerly private secre- tary to Count Mole, and he has an extraordinary acquaintance both with living and dead languages. It seems that eighteen large cases of valuable books belonging to the young man are detained at Calais for customs-duty ; and he took their logs greatly to heart. The Lord Mayor adopted measures to have the unfortunate philologist placed in Bethlehem Hospital : this was done on the responsibility of Baron Rothschild, the Austrian Consul, after the young man had been examined by two Burgeons.

At the Thames Police Office, on Monday, Robert Cuthbert, a man of thirty- eight, was charged with attempting to murder Mary Lawson, his half-sister. Cuthbert is a very bad fellow, given to drink. His mother tried to despatch him to Australia, and gave him 11/, to pay a deposit for his passage ; but in- stead of doing this, he drank to intoxication, came home, got a knife, and, without the least provocation, attempted to cut his sister's throat, and made repeated stabs at her body. He does not seem to have penetrated the flesh, the knife being rounded at the end of the blade ; but the girl's hand was cut in defending her throat. The mother said she was almost worn out with grief at her son's bad temper and intemperance for twenty years. Mr. Yard- ley seemed to think it probable that his mind was disordered ; and he re- manded him for a week, that he might be examined by a surgeon.

Balloon-exhibitions seem to have reached the climax of absurdity. Re- cently, a posturer has been hanging head downwards from a frame sus- pended to the car of the balloon, and travelling in that uneasy mode over London ; and this has been followed by a French couple, the Poitevins, ascending by turns mounted on the back of a pony, and by the lady's finally figuring as Europa on a bull,—the danger of the exhibition being much lessened by the unromantic precaution of tying the lady to the car by a rope. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has interfered to try to stop the exhibition. Mr. Thomas, the Secretary, applied, on Mon- day, to the Hammersmith Magistrate for summonses against the Poitevins and Mr. Simpson, the proprietor of Cremorne Gardens, on the ground that there was cruelty to the pony by a person sitting on his back while he was suspended in the air. The Magistrate was very willing to grant the sum- monses, but it was found that neither the ascent nor descent of the balloon occurred in his district ; so Mr. Thomas was r-ferred to another Magistrate. On Tuesday, Mr. Arnold, at the Westminster Office, granted the summonses. The Duchess of Kent steamer has now been got close to the shore at Grays: she appears a complete wreck, and will probably have to be broken up.