MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 278, 29 March 1848, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Making much of Jenn? Lind. — Not satisfied with making £6,300 in four nights out of Jenny Lind, the Manchester speculators have put the following advertisement into the Manchester Guardian : — " Jenny Lind — Immense attraction. — The bed on which Jenny Lind slept in La Sonnambula, is now on view and on sale, at No. — , &c." To those who happen to know, as we do, something about the manner in which stage-bed-steads are manufactured, the one upon which Jenny Sind sleeps — that is to say falls, in La Sonnambula, will be pictured to the mind's eye as a true curiosity. Almost every stage bed with which it has been our misfortune to become acquainted, has been made up of that dead swindle a " mossy bank," which is nothing more nor less than a hollow piece of frame-work with a piece of canvass painted green, stretched over it. Every seat on the stage, like every seat in the House of Commons, requires canvassing, by the bye, before it can be taken possession of. The bed on which Jenny Lind slept in La Sonnambula, at Manchester, was no doubt one of the old stock property rustic mounds with a counterpane thrown over it, and adapting it at once to the smothering of Desdemona, the retirement to rest of Zerlina, in Fra Diavolo, or the somnambulistic vagaries of Amina, in the opera already spoken of. We can imagine the astonishment with which the Manchester people who have flocked to see the bed on which Jenny Lind slept — as if she had passed the night on the stage — will start back at seeing nothing but a sort of elaborate stool, covered in and painted to resemble the turf, with perhaps a btg of gallery checks for a pillow, and a sack full of

I old play-bills for a feather bed.. We should like to know the price of admission to view the bed, and the sum asked for the purchase of the precious relict. We understand that the owner of a patent Hansom's cab is driving about town, declaring his is the vehicle into which Jenny Lind first got on her arrival in London, and he is tacking on an extra sixpence to his fare wherever he goes, in consideration of the privilege enjoyed by the passenger who rides in the same cab that Jenny Lind once occupied. This beats the Bonaparte mania, when fifty pounds were asked or offered — we don't remember which — for the shell of the identical egg Napoleon was eating when a shell of another description fell into the egg-cup, and be exclaimed — " Ha, ha! that is a good sign — the yolk is broken ! and thus will we break the yoke of oppression!" We understand that every sovereign changed by Jenny Lind at once commands two, and that every meal she takes, the knives, forks, spoons, plates, &c, &c, command such a high price, that the landlord of one of the Manchester hotels has got rid of an entire service of the old willow pattern at a guinea for the dinner plates, half a guinea for the desserts, five shillings for the cheeses, with tureens and butter-boats in proportion. The New Farmer Copceia. — Wf are glad to observe that the benefits of civilization are at length extended to the inferior creation. Passing down Wellington-street(in the Strand) the other day, we saw, in large letters, — " Farmers' Cattle Assurance Office." Resolving to take the bull by the horns, we rushed into the house so indicated, and demanded explanations, which were given to the following effect. : — The Cattle Assurance Office is intended to do for our kine what other offices do for our kith. The life of any beloved cow, revered bull, respected ox, affectionate heifer, or unprotected sheep, may now be assured upon the easiest terms. While we were talking to the actuary, we heard an enormous lowing in the broad room, and found that a venerable short horn had come up from the country to effect an assurance upon her life. We were politely introduced, and found the medical officer of the company husily making the usual inquiries of the cow's ordinarily professional attendant. We should remark that the latter gentleman had been kicking up a dreadful disturbance, because the office bad been trying the dodge of the human offices, and endeavouring to obtain a medical opinion without paying for it ; but he sensibly stood out and got bis money. ' Hoy/ long have you known this row?" asked the officer. * I have known her from her calfhood,' replied the doctor. 'Are her habits temperate V * I never knew her exceed' (here the cow looked slily round), ' except once, when the family of her proprietor was brewing, and a tub of beer was set to cool in the yard ; she saw it, and finished it.' This anecdote seemed to amuse the old cow mightily. * Has she any family ?' The cow smelt at a lock of hay. • Nineteen ; all living.' * What are her pursuits V ' Boys and dogs, when they come into her field.' 'Is she fond of domestic life V ' I believe she has never visited Cowes.' ' Has she any complaint?' 'You'd say she was complaining of being murdered, if you heard her going home twice a-day to the dairy.' ' Have any of her family been afflicted V ' Her father was the strongest bull in the country, and expired in the bullring at Warwick, with a dog spiked on each horn, and a butcher demolished under his hoofs.' ' Her mother.' ' Her mother died suddenly, upon hearing the leader of the orchestra of a country theatre rehearsing a solo on his violin in an adjacent barn.' ' What caused that V ' I regret to say that Ido not know the tune the old cow died of.' This report was considered satisfactory, and the assurance was effected. The cow is to be at liberty to travel (except by the Eastern Counties Railway), and the policy will not be void in case she dies by the hand of the butcher, or lays violent horns upon herself.

Curious Case in Medical Jurisprudence. — The Gazette Medicale relates the following facts iv a recent number :—": — " On the 6th of January last, the body af a man was found lying in bed and in a state of combustion, by some persons who entered his bed-room in the morning. The chamber was filled with a dense smoke, and one of the witnesses asserted that he saw playing around the body of the deceased a small whitish flame, which receded from him as he approached. The clothes of the deceased and the coverings of the bed were almost entirely consumed ; but the wood was only partially burnt. There were no ashes, and but a small quantity of vegetable charcoal ; there was, however, a kind of mixed residue, altered by fire, and some pieces of animal charcoal, which had evidently been derived from the articulations. The deceased was in the habit of carrying lucifer matches in his waistcoat pocket, and, according to his usual practice, he had had a hot Lrick placed at his feet when he went to bed the preceding evening. Two hours after-

wards, his son and daughterMn-law passed by the door of his room, but there was nothing which attracted their attention. It was only on the following morning early that his grandson found his body in the state described. The deceased was seventy-one years of age. He was not fat nor was'he addicted to drunkenness. The temperature of the air was low ; there were no indications of electricity. The son and his wife were suspected of having murdered the deceased, and burnt the body in order to conceal the traces of the crime ; and a Dr. Masson was commissioned to investigate the case. The body, which had been buried, was exhumed and examined. The cravat, partially burnt, was still around the neck, and part of a sleeve of a night shirt was found. The hands, completely burnt, were only attached to the fore-arms by some carbonised tendons, which gave way on the slightest touch. The thighs were completely detached, so as to .esemble a wiliul mutilation but for the discovery of animal charcoal about them. From these facts, Dr. Masson (considering it impossible to ascribe these changes to the effect of accidental burning, and that under common circumstances they could only be produced by a violent combustion continuing for some time) drew the inference that the burning must have resulted from some inherent cause in the individual, probably roused into activity by the hot brick placed a} the feet of the deceased. The" burning once commenced, would be easily supported by the state of the tissues. Hence the case was in his opinion to be referred to the class of spontaneous combustion. It is said that Orfila coincided with M. Masson in this extraordinary opinion, and the accused were acquitted.