ENGLISH GOSSIP.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2371, 7 November 1870, Page 2

ENGLISH GOSSIP.

Death has been exceedingly busy amongst the grandees, and I am sorry to say amongst those who had no claim to the title, for the health of the community has not been what it should, nor will it ever b3 so long as our rulers so unaccountably shirk the great question of public health. Scarlet fever has .been terribly rife amongst us, not only in London, but in the provinces, and some of our heretofore healthiest towns, Bristol to wit, are now figuring as defaulters in the sanitary scale. Our notabilities who have died include the Chief Barm Pollock, one if our most venerable judges and onr best lawyers, whoso career Las been one of ui> reputation; Field Marshal Sir A. Woodford o was an old Waterloo man. The Marquis if Hertford was principally celebrated for IPs enormous rents, and tin* little good which ho did with them, except to live in Paris and buy pictures. Viscount Middleton was a line old clergymen, who had a good deal cf prefermen ,as a Viscount should. Lord Willoughby D’JEresby was hereditary Grand Chamberlain. Lord Somerville only succeeded Ids cousin a few mouths ago, and returned for that purpose from Australia, where, wc are told, he had gone into a sugar speculation. There seems somewhat of a fate against the possessors of the title, for the last lord was killed out hunting, after enjoying it only for a few months. Mr Selfe, the London Magistrate, was brother-in-law qo the Archbishop of Canterbury, and held a high position as a very steady magistrate and sound lawyer. Scotchmen will bo sorry to I cam of the death of Mrs Fsi'quharson, of ImvrcauM, who has departed young and beautiful. 'Flic family of Farqnliarsen is so well known in Aberdeenshire, that the mere mention of them is smtliciout. The Crystal Palace Company has lost the services of its manager, Mr Cowley, who, unhinged by overwork, exhausted by Illness, filing himself into the river from off a steamer. HU history is curious, ami show s how a man with lab iit may get on. f> r ho was originally a bootmaker at Cluving-eivss, and yet Wlore his death lie became the organiser vif the •' aev d Harmonic Society, and the manager of tlio-o perpetual entertainment at tie Crystal Palace, The last death that I have to record is that of Leotard, the famous airleapcr, who, though a Frenchman, w>s identified with English amusements at tine AI am bra and other places.

September is probably the ilit-cst month iu the year as regarding auythi g legal, but there have, nevertheless, been a few interesting cases. The Bankruptcy Court continues to be fashiuablc, the latest arrivals being The O’ D.moghne—who, l fear, iu busying himself about the nationality of his country, hi; forgotten to lo >k after bis own affairs—an 1 >Sir Minto Parquhar, who bis achieved some reputation in diplomatic circles. Mr Swanborough, too, the actor and lessee of the Strand Theatre, has been obliged to give attendance also iu Basinghall street. The Commercial Indemnity Corpontion directors have at len ;th been committed fur tr'al, and one can scarcely wonder at it; for of all the shallow companies this was the shallowest., and allowing that men like the Hon. M r Tobin and others wore bom Jvle, they really deserve ponishment for being 'such fools. the Sufum libel ease, iu which Lord Seftoa prosecuted a Sheffield editor for mixing up his wile's name with the Prince of Wales, his iinVued with a verdict in favor of his lordship ; hut the worsted editor lias not received s nitenco yet, and lie will probably got oil after bung kept on tenterhooks for a few months. Sir H. Ed war Is, M.P. for Beverley, has been acquitted in the trial for bribery. Mr Pugin, the architect, has forgotten his manners, and let fly at some one at llanugate, with whom he had money dealings, with an incautious fury whereupon the said man had Mr Pugin up for libel, and he was commi ted for trial. The Divorce Comt is quiescent at preent, hut there hasbeen a case tried at Edinburgh in which Mr Grant, the nov list,.came off the worst, and lie has had to pay the piper handsomely for forgetting bis morals. There has also been a very curious will case, in which a London merchant, who was married and had a family, nevertheless lived for years on and off with another woman, and also had a f mily. He frequently gave his left-handed wife cheques to keep, and to use after his death. She, did so, but the legitimate family naturally disputed them, and thereupon all these curious facts came out. As to the more common and vulgar crimes like murder, we have had a large crop of them ; indeed, they are now so plentiful that it would bo almost invidious to distinguish, although there certainly was an unusual tragedy at Bath, where a mad sehoo'master shot his two daughters, and then poisoned himself.