MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 450, 7 August 1850, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

ODE TO A GOLD COIN. The following Ode to an Indian Gold Coin was written in Ghoncal, Malabar, by Di. Liaim.n, a Scotchman, who left hi* native country to reside in India with a view to accumulate a fortune. In the last stage:, of a fatal disease brought on by the heat of the climate, he penned these lines. " This Ode," says Lacon, "in my humble opinion, c<mies as neai perfection as the sublunary muse can anive at, when assiited by a subject that is interesting »nd an execution that is masterly. It adds a deeper shade to the sympathy which such lines must awaken, to know that the spirit -which dictated them is fled." There will piobably soon be many an adventurer in California, ant} many a wile or widow in Now England who will peruse the Ode with feelings heightened by (heir peisonal interest in its sentiments.—" New Yoik Observer." Slave of the dark and dirty mine ! What vanity has bi ought thee here? How can 1 bear to see the shine So bright, whom I have bought so dear * The tent-ropes' flapping lone I hear For twilight's convene, arm in arm ; The jackal's shnek bursts on my ear When math and music wont to charm. By Ghorical's dark, wandering streams, Wheie cane tufts shadow all the wild, Sweet visions haunt my waking di earns Of Teviot loved white yet a child ; Oi castled locks tremendous piled By Esk or Eden's classic wave, "Where loves of youth and friendship smiled Uncuised by thee, vile, yellow slave! Fade, day-dreams sweet, from memoiy fade .' The pcribhed bliss of youth's first pjime, That once so bright on iancy played, lteviyes no moie in afteitnne, Farirom my sacred, natal clime, I haste to an untimely grave ; The <jaik thoughts that soai'd sublime, Are sunk in ocean's southern wave. Slave of the mine ! thy yellow light Glooms baleful on the tomli-fire drear, A gentle vision comes by night My lonely w idowed heart to cheer : lie; ejes are dim with many a tear That once were guiding stais to mine ; Her iond heait tluobs with many a fear ! I cannot bear w see thee shine. For thee, for thee, vile yellow slave, 1 left a heait that loved me true ! I ciossed the tedious ocean wave, To roam in climes unkind and new. The cold wind of the stranger blew Ci ill ou my withered heait— the graveDark and untimely met my view— And all foi thee, vile, yellow slave ! Ha ! comest thou now, so late to mock A wanderer's banished heart forlorn, Now that tins frame the lightning shock O f sun -rays tipped w ith death hath homo ? From Jove, horn friendship, country torn, To memory's fond legiets the prey, Vile slave thy yeliow dio«s I scorn ! Go mix thee with thy kindred clay.

The Late Loud Coiville.— The death of Admiral Loid Cohille, winch oecui red on Saturday last, has occasioned a feeling of deep soirow amongst a circle of fiiends, by whom hit memory will be cherished with affectionale regard. Lord Colville's profesiional cireer commenced so far back aa to include him with those who shared Rodney's memorable victory 12ch April, 1782. Early in the late war (in 1791'), when First-Lientenant of the Santo Ufargarila, his active and spirited conduct in command of a detachment of seunen, at the siege and capture of Martinique, was io coiupicious as to obtain the warmest praise of his «.uperiors, and led to his promotion on the return of the Santa Margarita to England in the following year. In 1807 hu Lordship commanded L'Herculi', of 74 guns, at the capture of the Danish fleet, and w<jS dislingn 5 ied in other and creditable hervicts ii the course of the war. On all occasions Co-id Colville was lemarkable for the energy with which he sought every eir.erpribe which could lend to promote the glory of

the Biilish fi,^. But in the naval profession the opportunities of t!'sCinc+i«iiJ» orcui so capriciously as often to ' refuse io nji/ ;!io-5t 2.»a10u3 and beat officers that which etisn.e ,» u r. so largely award to the efforts of oJh'jA,, .^(2'Jt wa« Lord ColvilJe's misfortune, more thin 1 fytJ', Wl'fperictice ihis mortifying truth. His LordbJjjp'&'ffvj»\i»'a flua-ofncer in 1819, and was Commaudiv^ *Vef at Cork irom JB2l to 1825. In private irfe/airiSi. imperially m the circle of his naval friends, \iu i^-y was ever more inspected or more beloved. "H s frank unostentatious manner, and c!x>eriul aifahilay, h>» gpneroas friendship to tVoß'i Most neeilirig'itj h>. liospilality, and, be^'t of aH, his un'paradine; pietvj weie amongst tic endearing qualities jwhich »vill,m&ke his memory ever precious to tho^e who knew him.' Lord Colville was twice married, ft st to Elizabeth," shtii of Sir Ftancis Foid, Bart., and sccondlj', to Aiint, sinter of the Enrl of'Ellenborougb. l H& sat at one of the representative peers of Scotland in 'ten successive Parliaments, anil was e^ira Lord of the Bedchamber to hi? Royal Hi^hneis Prince Albeit ,up to the time of his death. He is succeeded in his title by his nephew, formerly Captain in the Cohhtrcftni Guard*, ton of the Ute Gfneril the Hon. Sir C. Col" Mfle, G CB.,G-.C.H.— Oxford University, Herald.

Thb Blasphemer's Death.— On Sunday morning last, a woman, named Sarah Morgan, having had a quarrel with another, named Elizabeth Nolan, the /ormer exclaimed that she hoped God Almighty wou'd strike her blind, deaf, dumb, and stiff, if B Ue did not revenge herself upon lur in a particular manner. Almost directly she J&toggertd, let her child fall from her arms to the ground, and would herseif, apparently, have fallen, but that her neiglibonrs Hiimediaiely assisted her into the house. Dr. Stack vsos promlit yin attendance, who continued to render her every assis'ance which medical 'skill and humanity could suggest. From the moment that she waa thus mysteriously stricken, to the hour of her drath, at half past one o'clock, on Wednesday morning, the on'y wotds 6l « uttered, and just after she was borne in, were, " L^rd have mercy on my poor soul— have unercy on my children 1" and then hur voice failed 1 er, and she became dumb ; her sense of hearing was destroyed ; her eyes became glassy aud si^htlesß ; and in about sixty horns from the moment in which alie was struck down, death placed his icy hand upon her, and she became a corpke. This fearful event has produced a painful sensation even among the abandoned cienturi'S of the locality in, which it occurred. — Monmouth Merlin

Extraordinary Case. —A singular occurrence took place yeiterday on the Eastern Counties Railway. Two gentlemen were travelling in a sejond-class carriage, when, at one of the intermediate stations between Colchester and London, a welUiiessed lady about 26, with an 'infant appearentfy about two months old, stepped in. She stated she had been travelling in a first-class carriage, but being taken ill -he did not like remaining alone. One of the gentlemen proved to be a Mr.-*-i surgeon, from the neighbourhood of Bury St. Edmunds, who intimating his profession, ia» quired the nature of the lady's il'nes>s, she replied by attributing it chit fly to the " fatigue of travelling and weekness," which wa» borne out by the delicate and, paluf »tate of her countenance. Of coursp, every attention was paid to the invalid and her child by the travellers— who little suspected the stratagem their fair and inieiesting, but deceptive companion was about to play upon them — the lady several times expressing a fear that she might let fall the baby, which hud been nursed by b>th the gentlemen, and also laid upon the seat. Uj»on arriving at the terminus sh.3 begged to have the- child taken out, which was done by Mr.——, while she went off the platform in quest of a. servant} she expected to meet her. with aoaniagp. During this lime the other gentleman jf Liverpool, wai engiged with his luggage; the lady was no more to be seen, and pursuit proved useless. The cons'emntion of the gentleman at being thus burdened mny easily be imagined. Ultimately the child was taken to a irtend's, whose wife discovered about its little persoa a letter, containing two £10 Bank of England no,e«, rf questing that the child might leceire every care, and expressing an assurance that it would, if the pos*e-.sor of it could know the auguMi and circumstances of itu mother; and that if a certain adverii-.ment were inserted in The Times, with the address of those who bad 1 charge "of it all would ultimately bs made tight. The child wai expensively dressed.— Times, Poisoning a Railway Passenger.. — We have h.d detatlid the following particulars of a case of poi« fioniog and robbery of a railway passenger, which took place a ftw weeks as?o :— It appears, that on the day before Chrutmas-day a young man named Geortje Lambert, who ies.d<s near SlieffL-Ui, was on Uu way to pay a visit to a idative who lesides in this town. When at the M&6hbo ough-station he wi'S accosted by some men, who gave him a lozenge, and said •• that as he wa9 coming to Doncaster, they would a 1 tiavel together." They accordingly got him into a carriage along with them, and at the saute time gave lim ano.her lozenge to suck. He, however, put it into his pocket, and dul n'jt make any further use of it. Ha then gradually became unconscious, and remembered nothing but that he atone time heard a cry of" Liverpool." At length he waß setzrd at a station some distance beyond that town, and was. dragged out by the porteis under a supposition that he was intoxiGated. Here he was charged ss. for extra fare ; but to his surprise, he lound that he had been robbed of every farthing of his money, ammounting to nsarly £5, He was about to be locked uj>, but a gentleman who saw the proce; dings hid compassion on him, paid bis fare, and took him to his own house, where the young man was put to bed and confined to his chamber for about a week, suffering from ths effects of the diug which had been administered to htm, and his friends in the meantime quite unconscious of what had become of him. The medical gentleman who attended him stated tlut if he had sucked the second lozange his life would have been in great danger. As it was, he had some difficulty in preseiving his eyesight. When sufficiently recovered, the kind gentleman who had befriended him lupplied him with money to pay his journey home, and thus lie was restored to his friends. It is only right to obaerre that the young man is a person of steady and sober hibits, and that there i» no ground whatever for supposing that he was in a state of intoxication, except from the effects of the drugs administered to him.— Doncaster Gazette. _..,'' A novel foot-race was run at Castledawgon last week, between Lord Lurgan, a young man about nineteen, and Jamet Keenan, a weaver some forty years old. The distance was eight miles. When Lord Lurgan had done two miles, his opponent was a quarter of a mile a head ; so his Lirdbhip gave iv. Keenan ran his distance, doing the eight nuleb in 53£ minutes. Lard Lurgan backed himself; the Dawt>ons backed the weaver. The O'Gorman Mahon, M.P. for Ennis, has written a letter to the Times, contradicting a repoitthat he had accepted office. He has no idea of the kind. To sever him from triends with \vl»m h<? i* connected by "■ sacred bond-, " " will require the prelirrinmy blep ofiemo?in« ipb from this ea.thly tcene." [He will then accept olf.ee i>ubscquently : wheic?]