On this page
-
Text (9)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
larlv if he meets with such gulls as he did in the Sewer soffice , and the Court of Common Council . The summons having been withdrawn , the gentlemen retired .
Untitled Article
Lectures , of more or less gaiety or severity , are now distracting the fatigued attention of the West-end loungers , in competition with concerts , classical and miscellaneous , of more or less serious or attractive pretensions . While Professor Aytoun was delivering , yesterday afternoon , the first of his rather weighty series on the subject—less novel , perhaps , than interesting—of Poetry , M . Alexandre Thomas was delighting a select and attentive audience on the ground-floor of Willis ' s Rooms , with the fourth of his Conferences . On this occasion , the distinguished lecturer glanced , with charming felicity of style and a graceful abundance of illustration , at the Life of the Court of France
during the " grand reign" of Louis XIV ., at the time when the old feudal noblesse was almost insensibly dying away , to make room for a new bourgeois noblesse , not less extrayagant , and more corrupt . M . Alexandre Thomas touched lightly , but clearly and finely , all the principal points of his subject . His allusions to the royal palaces crowded to suffocation with courtiers , to whom the presence and favour of the king was the very breath of life ; of the secret jealousies , enmities , and heartburnings working beneath the mask of polished depravities and refined intrigues : to the immense personal influence of the King , and to the miseries of the nobles banished from the sunshine of
his favour to their dreary provincial estates , and returning perhaps after twenty years , to find all changed except themselves , once the arbiters of that brilliant world , now the derelicts of forgotten fashions and obsolete manners—were in the very best vein of unaffected and animated description . The citations of the lecturer from contemporary authorities were always felicitous ; and an occasional portrait , as it were , of the " intimate" life of Versailles , with a glimpse of such men as Bossuet and Labruyere , chattering in the
Allee des JPhilosophes , gave life and colour to the narrative and personal aspects of the lecture . A page of history , like the reign of Louis XIV ., is most faithfully and vividly represented by its anecdotical and personal side . M . Alexandre Thomas concluded with a mention , and only a mention , of thenainc of Madame deMaintenon , whose character he deemed had been unfairly treated by narrow and prejudiced writers . He paused upon her name , as upon the threshold of the subject of his next lecture .
On Tuesday next , ho will discuss the "Favourites" of the Court of Louis XIV . These Conferences of M . Alexandre Thomas , have all the charm and grace of the best French conversation , or , as it is happily termed in Fiance , causerie ; never didactic , while often profound , and never dull , while always instructive , and skilfully escaping the dangers which a pressing and copious erudition incurs in addressing an audience easily amused and pleased no doubt , but also , it may be , easily fatigued and 'bored . ' Such , however , have not been the audiences fo M . Alexandre Thomas . Select in number , as in quality , f hey have comprised some of llx ; true notabilities of our London ' World . '
Untitled Article
Our readers may have seen , by an announcement in another part , of our paper , Unit Mr . James Ilaunay , author of Singleton Fontenoy , and , in spite of the miouvituniH nysUvni , a well-known writer in . some of our lesuling periodicals , is shortly to deliver a series of lectures in London and the provinces , on " Satire Mini Satirists . " ]\ 1 r . llaimuy was selected by Mr . Th . ickeray lo ediln and annotate bis recently delivered lectures , and obtained considerable repute some time since , as the writer of a vindication of ( , 'arlyle ngainst the attacks upon him which Sir Archibald Alison contiiuteri to . Itfaekwoott .
Untitled Article
The . working chiHues improve their position weekly . The inovemont for hotter wages and Ixittcr conditions of employment is becoming regularly progressive , while new plumes of the question begin to show themselves . At , Exeter , the join * ji-h , phisterei'N , and nmnoim , lmvo obtained an advance of li . v . per week . The carpenters of Oxford , well united iu action , n » k 3 s . pur week riac ,
and are h'kely to obtain it . The Reading carpenters ., not so well organized , have as yet failed in getting a similar advance ; fifty of them are out on strike . The stonemasons of Nottingham struck on Monday last for an advance of wages . The masters offered them 3 d . a day , or Is . 6 d . a week , additional ; this was , however , refused . In most departments of labour there has been an advance here . The carpenters last week succeeded in effecting a rise of 1 * . a week . The wages of the workers in the cotton mills of Manchester have risen , by late movements , fully ten $ er cent . In Leicester , the glove makers , and in Leeds , the woollen dyers , are
expecting an advance . A general improvement in the habits of the working people is observed in the latter district . Some few have spent their augmented earnings in dissipation , but the majority show even an unusual amount of patient industry and saving economy . The general condition of the manufacturing districts is shown by the fact , that in the Birmingham workhouse there is not a single able-bodied paupers . Even Irish workers are advancing to the rank of English operatives ; in the fancy cotton trade of the north of Ireland there has been a rise in wages , due mainly to the improved skill of the working girls . The only exceptional incident in our record of the labour market , is the
reduction of sailors' wages at Exmouth , caused , it is strangely said , by low freights . Both sailors' wages and freights of all kinds have lately been so high that this movement seems to us entirely unwarranted by the general circumstances of the country . A most orderly meeting of plasterers of the metropolis took place at the National Hall , Holborn , on Thursday night , to consider the question of shortening the hours of labour .
Untitled Article
Taunton has had its election . The Liberal candidate , Sir John Ramsden , has beaten his Conservative opponent , Mr . Badcock , by 373 to 366 ; a narrow majority . At twelve o ' clock Sir John was eighty a head . Whence the magical decrease ? On the Jew Bill division of last week , the E p iscopal bench was thus divided : —For the bill , the Archbishop of Dublin and seven Bishops ; against it , the Archbishop of Canterbury and eleven Bishops .
Moderate counsels seem to prevail in Ireland . The opposition to the Income-tax , though for a time lively , has neither been general nor influential ; the Northern Whig , which leads public opinion in . the north , supports the extension in consideration of the compensating remissions . Touching general politics , Mr . Sharman Crawford has deprecated any premature hostility to the present Government , and his advice is backed by the fact , generally reported , that the forthcoming Government Tenant Kight Bill ia to embody Serjeant Slice ' s principal proposition .
A deputation from the Peace Conference Committee has waited on Lord Clarendon . Treaties between the United States and England are at present under negotiation ; and » it is desired that " arbitration clauses" should be inserted in them . Mr . Cobden , Mr . Hume , Mr . Ewarfc , Mr . Gilpin , and other gentlemen , formed the deputation . Lord Clarendon civilly received the deputation . Of course b . e was desirous of keeping up pacific relations with foreign powers ; but ho did not think the proposed " clause' would be
effectual . Ho would rather trust to the spirit of the age , and the good feeling of mankind . In reply to Mr . Hume , who pointed out the probable good of an express declaration against war , such aa tbe clause would be , Lord Clarendon '' saw no objection to the proposal in that light , " but tho question was rather a novel one , and ho would earnestly consider it . He seemed further impressed by tho fact stated by Mr . Cobden , that the Conimitteo on Foreign Relations of the United States senate , bad recommended the insertion of such clauses in American treaties .
Tho " grand project" of a city terminus was explained to Lord Palmerston on Monday . From a central station in Furringdon-strect . four subterranean railways , well lighted , are to run to the principal points of tho London suburb *) , thus superseding tho thousand cabs and busses which daily choke up Fleet-street , and delay t radio . The Corporation bus approved of the plan . . Lord l ' ulinorston acknowledged tilt ) inconvenience -which the plan proposed to remove ; it , required alinoHt an much time to puss through oiio mile of city street ; as to travel thirty miles by rail .
Without committing himself to tho details he thought tho plan deserved Government support . Not unpleasantly , but with an odd " Irish" propriety , the Great Dublin Exhibition has been mado the subject of u feast , before its opening , and in Liverpool . Tho commissioners of the future Kxhibition lunched with the Mayor of Liverpool on Tuesday , having statclily inspected tho Liverpool "lions" in the morning . The veteran Lord Gougli and the-American humourist , " Sam Slick , " ( . Judge llnlihurton ) wero present .
A Government , measure on tins management of Savings Banks in contemplated . 11 is hoped that either the Government will assume the * real responsibility of those institutions , or leave them expnwsly and entirely to private enterprise . At present a control is presumed , but ( hero it ) no responsibility . A " decimal currency" is tlio prayer of a petition just presented to Mr . Gladstone from the Manchester Commercial Association . In addition to tho obvious advantages of tho proposed system , tho existence- of decimal currencies in Franco ami the United States would mako tho new coinage commercially convenient .
i'lio present duty on foreign manufactured tobacco is i ) s . < W / . per lb . Mr . Gladstone proposes to reduce it to Us . ( id . The famous Irish miulFaud tobacco nnuiufactureiH , Lundyfoot imcl Co ., have protested uguinsl this reduction ,
as destructive of their manufacture of roll tobacco , cavendish , &c . The present " enormous" duty on the raw material , 3 s . 2 d . per lb ., being continued . A minute of the Privy Council on Education lays down the terms on which schools in country districts are to be eupported . Male schools , with 50 sc holars are to obtain a grant of 6 s . per scholar ; if the number be above 60 and under 100 , the grant is to be 5 s . per scholar , and if above 100 , 4 s . per scholar . ( For girls Bchools one shilling per pupil less . ) Other conditions are that the income of the school must amount to 14 s . per scholar , ( 2 » . less in g irls schools ) that a penny per week at least shall be paid by the parents of each scholar , and that seven-tenths of the whole income must be applied towards the salaries of the teachers .
A strange election is to take place at Piddington , Oxon The perpetual curacy is now in the gift of the householders of the village . There are one hundred candidates , while the voters number only 80 . The situation is worth 3001 . a year . . . London University has attained to its twenty-sixth year . Mr . Monckton Milnes , M . P ., presided at the distribution of prizes to the successful students in medicine , on Saturday . Mrs . Beecher Stowe has visited the house and grave of Shakespeare , at Stratford , and has been " received " by a " number of ladies and gentlemen" at Birmingham . This evening the lady is to meet the D uchess of Sutherland and a select party at Stafford-house . After a short stay in London she is to visit the continent , return to Scotland in September , and visit Ireland shortly after .
Untitled Article
The regular season of C remorne Gardens commences , we are informed , on Whit Monday . A series of Bals Masque ' s will be given during the summer . The first will be in honour of the Derby , on the 25 th inst . The Spacious Premises known as the St . George ' s Gallery , Hyde-park-corner , formerly used as the Great Chinese Exhibition , have been taken by Mr . Caldecott , a merchant of Port Natal , for the purpose of presenting , with the sanction of the colonial authorities , an exhibition of very remarkable interest , consisting of a family and troupe of native Zulu Kaffirs , 11 men , a female , and a child . It is intended to represent the domestic manners ,
mode of hunting the tiger , war dances , superstitions , witch-finding , &c , of this wild a savage race , for the better illustration of which , Mr . Charles Marshall ( the artist of Her Majesty ' s Theatre ) is busily occupied in preparing a number of striking scenes . To give the greatest possible effect to these representation , and for their more extensivo development , both the gallery recently occupied by Mr . Cumming ' s African exhibition , and that in which the diorama of the Holy Land was latley exhibited , have been thrown into one vast saloon . The public no doubt will be gratified in seeing specimens of the wild and formidable race which so long has bid defiance to the prowess of the Pritish army .
Untitled Article
A postal communication , twice a month , between Liverpool , Gibraltar , Malta , Syria , Smyrna , and Constantinople , is to be shortly established . The submarine telegraph to Ostend was yesterday successfully submerged . The ship Monarch , from Calcutta , arrived off Falmouth , on Thursday , having sailed from that city on the 2 nd of January . The Marchioness of Dalhousie , wife of the Governor-General of India , was a passenger by this vessel , on her return to England , and expired yesterday from , exhaustion , accelerated by sea-sickness .
It is stated by one of the American trade reports " that there are now in progress and in actual construction in various places , 20 , 000 miles of railway , which will consume 2 , 400 , 000 tons of iron—enough to occupy all the mills in the world now engaged in making railroad iron years . " A new Electric Telegraph Company for tho United Kingdom is announced . A novel feature in the plan is the appropriation of separate wires to different houses at an annual rent . Thus , even from our own firesides we can talk to our distant friends . Tho charges of the new company arc to be very low—one penny per word .
The submarine telegraph which comes from England to France is to bo continued by land , and , after crossing Nico and Genoa , will reach Spezzia at tho bottom of tho g ^ ulf of that name . Tho new line will start from that point , and after crossing the Island of Corsica , will pass by Sardinia to tho coast of Algeria , near Bona . From that place , if it bo thought necessary , it will bo continued as for as the Itegency of Tunis . Tho works necessary for the accomplishment of tho first part of this plan will be completed in two years from tho date of tho promulgation of the law . At that time tho lino will bo prolonged by the shore of tho Mediterranean in Africa as far as Alexandria , in order from that point to reuch India and Australia .
Tho Admiralty are desirous of establishing a branch on tho Clyde for tho building of steam ships for tho Koyal Navy ; but tho merchants of Glasgow oppose it . Tlioy say it is too narrow and too shallow for such a purpose , and that it would interfere with tho ordinary business of tho port . The statistical returns for tho year ' 52 show that moro marriages took place in that year than in any previous year in tho returns ; and in the first quarter of the present year the marriages exceeded in number thoso performed in any recorded quarter of past , years . There were 158 , 439 marriages in the year 185 * 2 ; against 15 . 'i , 71 O in 1851 , " ten
( yearn since ) 118 , 824 in the year 1842 . Tho marriages nt present in England aro 1 in 48 , while during tho ton years before ' 62 the marriages were but 1 in ( 50 . 04 , 410 persons wore married in tho last quarter of tho year 1862 , tho throo months after harvest , tho Christmas quarter in which , according to tho custom of England , tho greatest numbor of weddings aro celebrated . Thoro has boon a high rato of mortality during tho last quarter ( cauaod by smallpox , Hcurlatina , typhus , influenza , und bronchitis ) consequently tho increaso of population has boon but 43 ,. 'J 57 , lens by 12 , 000 than tbe increase in tho last quarter of 1852 . I ' urt of ( his deereaso must bo attributed to tho iucruuuing emigration . Generally epoaking , the accounts
Untitled Article
MISCELLANEOUS . The Queen is now at Osborae , where she has been walking and driving in the invigorating sea air . Prince Albert has taken an experimental trip in H . M . S . Imperieuse .
Untitled Article
A / U THE LEADER . [ Saturday , *
Untitled Article
M . Agnilur , one of our best , native ; pianists and composers , gave his animal concert , on Wednesday evening , at the Ilnnover-Mjiuirc Ivooms , to a crowded audience . The most noticeable performance was n trio for violin , piano , and violincello , by the beneflciare , which was received with great distinction , and pronounced by the critics a work of marked ability and cflectivenesH . The concert in general iravo high witisfiiction .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), May 7, 1853, page 444, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1985/page/12/
-