ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 335, 14 October 1848, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

" Liberty" of the Pbess. — Paris, Mar. 30. — M. Emile de Girardin has had a narrow escape from the ardent Republicans. The account which he gives in his own journal (the Presse) of the affair gives but a poor idea of it. The clubbists, to the number of 3000, assailed his bureau, and had him in their possession. That he escaped without personal violence is due to the tact of his having expressed himself to them in words of much milder import than those with which his paper has teemed. Gen. Courtais was also of great use in putting down what was very near being a very serious riot. The mob was in possession of ihe whole of the offices of the Presse, and threatened to destroy the whole of the machinery ; a threat which they would probably have put in execution, but for the authority of General Courtais, and a body of National Guards who accompanied him, and who represented to the rioters, that by breaking the presses they would do more harm to the compositors in the office than to M. Emile de Girardin himself. To-day not a single Piesse is to be seen in the streets of Paris. , The clubs have given the mot d'ordrc

that it is not to be sold, and it has consequently disappeared. So much for the much boasted liberty of the press under the Republic. — Leeds Mercury.

Hereditary Pensions. — The following hereditary grants are payable annually to the respective persons and their heirs for ever :: — • Out of the excise revenue : Duke of Grafton, £7200; Earl Cowper, .£1600; C> Boone, (half of Lord Bath's) £1200. Out of Post office profits : Duke of Marlborough, £5000 ; Duke of Grafton, £3400 ; Duke of Scbomberg, £4000. The latter pension was conferred for services at the battle of the Boyne, in 1690 ; and the family have therefore received, in the 150 years, £600,000. — Leeds Mercury.

Practical Experimert. — A few days ago, an apprentice in Perthshire, who had been sent by his master to effect some repairs in a gas-pipe, thought he would try whether, if he were to suck in a quantity of gas, it would burn when exhaled from his mouth. A long draught was taken, and the ready lighted match instantly applied to his mouth, when out shot a biilliant jet, illuminating the room, and at the same time making his lips bizz like collops in a frying pan. Since he regained his speech, he has promised faithfully never to try the experiment again. The wouder is, that he is still alive to make such a promise. — Leeds Mercury , April 15.

A Boat for the Prince of Wales. — A new and beautiful single-sculling boat is now being constructed for his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, by Messrs. Searle, her Majesty's boat-builders, of Stangate. The boat is a complete model, and as a specimen of workmanship, is perhaps unequalled. It is twenty feet in length, of proportionate breadth, and is built of the finest bird's eye maple, with mahogany linings, sax-boards, and thwarts. The spaces between the timbers are filled with a material said to be considerably more buoyant than cork The cushion on which his Royal Highness will sit is also stuffed with this material, which, it is affirmed, will prevent the utter possibility of the little craft sinking. It is understood that it is intended as a present for his Royal Hig. ness from the Institution of Civil Engineers, as one of the members of that body.

Military Manoeuvres. — It was once said by the Duke of Wellington, " That there were only three men in this kingdom who, if they got fifty thousand men into Hyde-paik, would know how to get them out again." A bachelor having advertised for a wife to share his lot, an "Anxious Inquirer" solicited information as to the size of the said lot! _ The Medical Times says that the Sultan has ordered a quarter-cask of chloroform for the use of the ladi.'s of his harem ! It is a curious circumstance, and worthy of the attention of army surgeons, that the wounds inflicted by the musket balls of the troops in Berlin proved fatal in so largo a proportion of cases, that the experience of the military surgeons has been compelled to seek some specific cause for it. It is attributed to the oxydation of the lead, from the cartridges used having been packed together for some years.

Appearances. — One Sunday a lady called to her little boy, wbo was shooting marbles on the pavement, to come into the bonse. " Don't you know, you shouldn't be out there, my son ? Go into the back yard, if you want to play marbles — it is Sunday." " Yes, mother, but ain't it Sunday in the back yard too ?"

Corset de la cour Francaise. — A new stay thus named has recently been introduced from Paris, and entrusted to the Messrs. W. Thomas and Brothers, of Cheapside, for its greater publicity throughout Great Britain. It is constructed of a beautifully fine material, through parts of which elastic threads are artfully wove, and by this means not only does the waist of the wearer become much more delicate, but greater ease is insured — all tightness is got rid of — and, added to the thinness of the material, as there are no gores nor seams, the compactness of the tout ensemble is rendered complete. Moreover, correct anatomical principles have been kept in view, and an artistic' and graceful moulding is thus given to the figure. Indeed, as it has been pronounced by the scrupulous of the French medical proficients " the healthiest and most scientific of corsets, equally adapted to the support of the delicate as the robust," we cannot do other than bow to and record such grave authorities. — Court Journal.

Danger of Parliamentary Quotations. — The following anecdote is a literal fact : — In one of his speeches in the House of Commons, the Minister, to illustrate a point, quoted from " Hamlet," " There's something rotten in the state of Denmark ;" which being read in the newspapers next morning by a matter-of-fact quidnunc, who had a considerable sum invested in Danish

securities, he took the alarm and wrote to hit correspondent in Stockholm to sell out and realise every shilling he had iv the funds of that denounced and sinking country.

An Atmospheric Delusion. — Trials to determine the merit and originality of patents are not usually attractive ; but the case in the Co'rmou Pleas on Tuesday, Pilbrow v. Pilbrow's Atmospheric Railway Company, is an exception. The plaintiff claimed £14,000 for a certain patent which professed to remedy the defects of the atmospheric doings and discoveries of Mr. Samuda and others. The gieat difficulty to be surmounted was "how to cause a vacuum ?" not in tbe pockets of the shareholders, but in the air pipe. Mr. Pilbrow's patent had special reference to this point ; and he theorised so eloquently and satisfactorily on its working, that the company agreed to purchase it for £15,000. Of this sum Mr. Pilbrow wisely secured a thousand at starting ; and the verdict on Tuesday allows that his chances of getting more are marvellously small. Mr. Pilbrow's patent new invention was, it appears, one of the "lions" of the Adelaide Gallery in the bubble year 1845, where its pistons, cogs, and spindles, excited no small curiosity. Unhappily it had some of the defects incidental to the ingenious and philosophical discoveries made in the island of Laputa ; as, . according to the evidence of some of the witnesses, we find that the 4-inch tube of the model ought, upon the calculation of the directors, to draw a weight of 10 tons. " Practica'ly," the report states, "it would only draw 3 cwt." The dire discrepancy is enough to knock down the reputation of any patent, and that of Mr. Pilbrow did not profit by the detection. Upon subsequent investigation the want of " tractive power" was found to be an irreparable defect ; and we are grieved to state that the scientific witnesses brought forward by the company pronounced the invention altogether a delusion, and, we may add, a snare, as far as concerned the funds of the shareholders. Moreover, Mr. Pilbrow's cognizance of that important fact was affirmed by some of the witnesses, but the proof was not quite conclusive. On all the main issues, the verdict was for the defendants; so far establishing the worlhlessness of the patent, and demolishing the pretensions of Mr. Pilbrow. — Atlas.

A Husband's Predicament. — " Filltne this bottle with laudanum," exclaimed an excited married man, rushing into a druggist's shop on the Tyne, his face bleeding from a recent encounter with his wife. "It will kill you," the druggist calmly replied. " That's what I want it for," was Romeo's rejoinder ; " I'll kill myself to vex her." The druggist said it would be a pity to prevent so amiable a purpose, and filled the phial. No sooner filled than emptieJ. "I'm a dead man," cried Romeo, staggering into the presence of his Juliet : " I've taken laudanum."- " Ha! ha! ha!" was the provoking response ; "who cares what tbon's tyen, thou ha'porth o' tripe in two bites !" The moribund little man stood aghast. He had destroyed himself to be revenged ! and instead of running for the sto-mach-pump, a contemptuous laugh and a sneer at his proportions, was her reception of his tragic announcement ! He was dying to give her pain : and she was as pleased as Punch. Exasperated by his blunder, the poor sinner tottered back to the druggist's, and feeling the poison at work within him, demanded an instant emetic. " 1 poisoned myself," he groaned, " to vex her, and she's glad I'm going. Ob, give me ad emetic, and save me !" Nothing loth, the man of medicine executed this second order. Romeo then returned to recover in the sight of his wife, that she might have the mortification of beholding him restored to her arms. Now the druggist, having no inclination to abet suicide, and being unwilling, by refusing to administer poison, to send our hero to a less scrupulous shop, had given him on the first visit a dose of tincture of rhubarb. — Gateshead Observer. " The pleasures of a volatile head," says Mr. Carter, "are much less liable to disappointment than those of a sensible heart." For such as can be contented with rattles and raree-shows, there are rattlesand rareeshows in abundance to content them; and when one is broken it is mightily easily replaced by another. Bat the pleasures arising from the endearments of social relations and the delicate sensibilities of friendly affection, are more limited, and their objects incontrovertible ; they are accompanied with perpetual tender solicitude, and subject to accidents not to be repaired beneath the sun. It is no wonder, however, that the joys of folly should have their completion in a. world with which the; are to end, while those of higher order must necessarily be incomplete in a world where they are only to begin. — Scuthey's Doctor,

Emigration op Bribes to Australia. — :On.more than one occasion. the papers have pointed out the great disparity of the^sexes in our Australian colonial possessions/ and tht

manifest evils to which a condition of society in which women are almost unknown must necessarily lead. We are now able to state that two experiments — very different in their nature and magnitude, but both conducted by earnest individuals and having the same ultimate object in view — are in progress of organisation. The first is a gigantic scheme, originating in the colonies and supported by subscriptions raised there, for carrying over 20,000 young women, of good character and sound health, as brides for the expectant bushmen. The unmarried daughters and sisters of artizans are the classes which the committee chaiged with the detail of the plan contemplate carrying out. They are required to pay a small sum as a sort of guarantee of their respectability. From what we know of the regulations, we think the selections are likely to be made with care. The other experiment to which we allude is an institution founded by the munificence of Miss Burdett Coutts, and called her " Home" for penitent females. A large bouse has been taken at Shepherds' Bush, and fitted up at an expense of £1200 for their reception. The institution is under the more immediate management of Mr. Charles Dickens and Mr. Chesterton, the Governor of Cold Bath Fields Prison. It is yet •only an experiment, but gives, we are informed, every sign of proviug useful to the class for which its benefits are intended. Our readers are aware of the suspension of the transportation system by government, and the substitution of " exile" for male prisoners after a -course of rigid discipline at Pentonville. Miss Coutts " Home" is intended to try the same scheme for female penitents. They are to be sent out to the colonies — after a course of trial and probation here — as free women ; provision being made for them until they enter into service or marry. Every kind of domestic art — cooking, sewing, straw-plaiting, &c. — is to be taught in the "Home" which can render them valuable as wives or servants. Great care is taken in the selection of the inmates ; — real penitence, sobriety, honesty, health, being the qualifications demanded in the applicants for admission. As yet there are but twelve or fourteen inmates ; but if the scheme works well, the promoters are prepared to appeal to the public for the means of greatly enlarging it. — Athenteum.

Dialogues of the Living. — Under this head has appeared a series of able papers in the BallLasloe Western Star. We give the following clever allegorical sketch from the last nurqber :—": — " Phelim O'Tool was going to market one day with oysters, and he thought to himself * sitting's as cheap as standing ;' so up he gets on the car, and lies on his back till he falls asleep ; presently up goes the car against a big stone lying in the centre of the road — knocks off the wheel and tumbles out the poor man and oysters into the muddy road. Who should come by, and*Phelim picking up the oysters, but Mr. Bull, and he began to pity the poor man ; and says he, *Mr. O'Tool, you should exert yourself, and walk by the side of your car, instead of going to sleep on it, and then that wouldn't happen to you. 1 ' That's true,' says Phelim, * and I'll mind myself for the future.' With that Mr. Bull helps him to pick up the oysters, and pities him very much for losing the market ! so tie hands him over a sack of meal to assist him, and after advising him for his good, trots on away before him. Well, in about another half hour up comes Mr. O'Dun, of Scrape Hall, and says he, • Hallo, Mr. O'Tool, what has happened to you V So Phelim tells him all the story. Well, Mr. O'Dun gets up in a mighty passion, and says he, ' Areyou^uch an omadhaun, Mr. O'Tool, as to be humbugged in this kind of way ? Sure it's Mr. Bu.ll that ought to be driving you about, and selling your oysters for you,' says he, ' and not your father's son — a descendant of the great O'Tools. 1 ' Faith, so I think myself,' says Phelim; 'but then Mr. Bull was so kind — I thought his advice was the best.' ' you'll drive me mad, O'Tooj,' says he, 'talking about his kindness — didn't I see him myself come quietly and take the linch-pin out of the car while you were asleep, and then he pretends to pity you.' * But here's the meal,' says Phelim. ' Throw his meal to the pigs, the dirty scoundrel,' says Mr. Q'Dun, 'and letVdrive after him, and pelt him with oyster shells,? flays he. * But, sure there's oysters in them,' says Phelim. ' Never mind,' says O'Dun, * I'll eat the oysters while you throw the shells at him.' And so the man pelted away all bis shells, while Mr. O'Dun was opening them and eating the oysters."