MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 523, 7 August 1850, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Opening of the Britannia Tubular Bridge. — Daring the last few days Captain Simmons the government inspecter of railways, has been actively eugaged in inspecting this gigantic structure, prior to the sanction of the commissioners being given for its being opened to the public. It is expected that the event will take place on an early day in April, and th&t Prince Albert, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, will be present at the ceremony. We understand that their royal highnesses have accepted an invitation to sojourn with Sir R. Bulkeley Williams during their visit to the principality. — Liverpool Albion, March 18.

A SecondDaniel Lambert. — TheWol- , verhampton Chronicle states that there is now residing at Wellington a man named William Ball, a native of Horsehay, who is to be supposed to be the heaviest human being in the world. His weight is supposed to be about thirty-five stone ; he measures six feet five inches round the body, three feet round the thigh, and twenty-two inches round the arm. He has been a hard-working man, and is^very active, notwithstanding his immense size and weight.

Republican Simplicity : Sketch on an American Steamboat. — We were amused by a couple of girls, who came on board tbe steamer at the little town of Mt. Vernon, Indiana. They bad evidently never been a thousand miles from home. The elder was exceedingly talkative, and perfectly unconcerned with regard to many eyes that were scanning her movements. The other was of an opposite turn of mind, inclining to bashfulness. At dinner our ladies were honoured with a seat at the head of the table, and the eldest one, with her usual independence, cut her bread in small pieces, and with her fork reached over and enrolled each mouthful in the nice dressing on a plate of beefsteak before her. The passengers preserved their gravity during this opeiation by dint of great effort. Perceiving that her sister was not very forward in helping herself, she turned round to her, and exclaimed, loud enough to be heard by half the table, " Sal, dip into the gravy, dad pays as much as any on 'em." This was followed by a general roar, in which tbe captain led off. The girls arrived at their place of destination before supper, and, when they left tbe boat, all hands gave three cheers for the girls of the Hoosier State. — Cincinatti Nonpareil.

Death of Eminent Persons. — Gustavus Adolphus, who realized bis aspirations on the field of Lutzen, was in the habit of saying that no man was happier than he who died in the exercise of his calling. So Nelson wished the roar of cannon to sound his parting knell. ' You know that I always desired to die this way,' said Moore to Hardinge at Corunna — and the anguish of the wound had no power to disturb his satisfaction. Marshal Yillars was told in his latest moments that the Duke of Berwick had just met at ! the siege of Philipsburg with a soldier's | death, and he answered, ' I have always said that he was more fortunate thau myself.' ! His confessor urged with justice that the better fortune was to have leisure to prepare for eternity ; — but possibly the exclamation j proceeded from a momentary gleam of martial ardour, which instinct kindled, and reflection quenched. A Christian would never, indeed, fail to make the preparation for battle a preparation for death. Unless 'every soldier in the wars do as every sick man in his bed, wash every mote out of his conscience,' he must know that he is staking both soul and body on the hazard of the fight. 'Soldiers,' says an old divine, ( that carry their lives in their hands, should carry the grace of God in their hearts.' Death at the cannon's mouth may be sudden, and answer the first of Caesar's conditions ; with none but the presumptuous can it answer the second, and come unexpected. We once heard a recruit assign as his reason for enlisting, that he should now at least see something of life. 'And,' added his companion, 'something of death.' The poor fellow perhaps, like many others, had forgotten that any such contingency was included in the bond. The Duke d'Enghien appeared to feel like a man reprieved when ou issuing from his prison he found he was to perish by a military execution. Suicides are prone to use the implements of their trade. It was the usage in Ireland in rude times, when rebels perhaps were more plentiful than rope, to bang them with willows. In the reign of Elizabeth a criminal of this description petitioned the deputy against the breach of the observance, and begged the favour to suffer by the time-honoured *wyth,' instead of the new-fangled halter. When Elizabeth herself expected Mary to put her to death, bhe had resolved on the request to be beheaded with a sword and not with an axe, — which seems a distinction without a difference. In the same category we may place Lord Ferrer's prayer for a silken rope at Tyburn. But the fancy of the Duke of Clarence, could it be considered established, is the most singular on record. He must have been strangely infatuated by the' Pleasure of Memory' when he imagined his favourite Malmsey could give a relish to drowning. Suffocation was not more luxurious to the parasites of Eliogabaius that they were stifled with perfumes. Old Fuller, having pondered all the modes of destruction, arrived at the short and decisive conclusion — 'None please me.' 'But away,' the good man adds, 'with these thoughts ; the mark must not choose what arrow shall be shot against it.' The choice is not ours to make, and if it were, the privilege would prove an embarrassment. Bat

there is the consolation in the teaching of physiology. Of the innumerable weapons with which Death is armed, the worst is less intolerable than imagination presents it — his visage is more terrible than his dart. — Quarterly Review.