ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 656, 15 November 1851, Page 4

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

A serious riot occurred at Liverpool between the police and the military. (91st regiment) on the night of the Ist of July. The ■fight lasted for over two hours, the soldiers using their side arms. The celebrated Mr. Dyce Sombre, the East India millionaire and son of the Begum of Oomroo, whose extravagances created such excitement in England some years since, died on July the 2nd, leaving an income of £15,000 per annum. Foreign Visitors to the Tower of London.—The alarm fever has not quite yet subsided. Will it be believed, it is now the custom that whenever 300 visitors are in the ■fortress the gates are immediately closed, and a pick of 30 men of the guard are turned out and remain under arms until the warders report the clearance of the illustrious bearded foreigners ? What a farce this appears to be —why the warders alone are competent to watch the above number. We hope the Governor will discontinue this foolery, or he will become the laughing-stock of the whole continent.—United Service Gazette. Another Royal Personage for the Exhibition.—Letters from Samsoon to the 19th of June, announce the arrival there, from Bagdad, of His Majesty Ikbarud-Dowlah, the ex-King of Oude, with a numerous suite, en route for the London Exhibition, accompanied by a Mr. Robert Casolani, a native of Malta, who has resided some years at Bagdad, and whose services have been engaged as interpreter. His Majesty is described as a very entertaining though by no means comely person, of a dark bronze complexion, corpulent, and speaking only Arabic, unaccustomed to European manners, but determin■ed to make the most in the way of sight-see-ing, during his contemplated year’s tour in Europe. . The German newspapers state, that the ■visit of the Prince and Princess of Prussia, with their son, at the Court of St. James’, has been undertaken with the hope of leading to a future alliance between the young heir presumptive of Prussia and the Princess Royal of England. £14,000, it is said, has been paid by the Marquis of Westminster as the purchase tnoney for the magnificent suite of furniture for four rooms now exhibiting amongst the Vienna contributions in tbe Exposition of Hyde-park. Letters from Malrid offer an amusing illustration of the management of railways in Spain:—“ The Aranjuez Railway goes on but so-so. One of the up-trains was upwards of four hours in coming on the 10th instant; whereas the mail coach only takes from three-and-a-quarter to three-and-a-half hours in going the distance.” A Voice from the Jewel Cage in the Crystal Palace.—“ Mr. Punch, Stones are allowed to cry out, on great provocation. As a precious stone, I avail myself of that privilege. The French have an opera called * Les Diamans de la Couronne and some persons, whether or not, after the too common fashion of English dramatists, in -imitation of their neighbours, I do not know have been getting up a farce which may be entitled ‘ The Crown Diamonds.’ Of this facetious production, I find myself made the hero, to my great annoyance. Some get up one fine day and find themselves famous. The other day I rose from out my safe, and discovered myself to have lost my reputation ; I, who till lately was the cynosure of ail the brightest eyes in tbe Exhibition, am now a mark for the finger of scorn. It is said aioud, in my hearing, that I am a hoax, a hum, no Mountain of Light, but a lump of glass— punsters call me a transparent imposture. After having passed from throne to throne, from dynasty to dynasty, unsullied'for

a moment by the breath of suspicion, to have my pretensions called in question by the populace in Hyde Park, is too much. 1 fondly hoped I had taken the shine out of the prerogative of mercy itself, and was regularly installed as the brightest jewel of the British I Crown. I was grievously treated in my cutting for which I was avenged : but, alas 1 for European justice, there is nobody to be impaled, or hanged, or even beheaded, for inflicting on me this unkindest cut of all. Steps, it is true, are to be taken to vindicate my good name, which is the immediate jewel of my soul—or essence as a gem. lam to be lighted up with gas, in order that my coruscations may proclaim me to be veritable crystalised carbon. This is treating me with indignity, Mr. Punch— no meaner radiance than the flashes of your wit can I allow to be worthy to illuminate The Koh-i-Noor. P.S.—Would you believe it? I have just been termed, by a grinning wretch, the Knave of Diamonds.” Large Bequest by a Female Millionaire.—Miss Jane Cooke, better known in Cheltenham as Jenny Cooke, expired at her residence, No. 1, Belle Vue-buildings, last week, after a short illness. Her eccentric and penurious life, her long residence in Cheltenham, and her reputed wealth, had caused Mtss Cooke to be well known to most of the inhabitants. A few years ago she made a donation of £l,OOO to the society for the conversion of the Jews. One of her latest charitable acts was a donation of £250 towards tbe erection of an organ gallery in the parish church of Cheltenham- which i® at th® "’ssent time under construction beneath the arch way of the south porch. The most extravagant rumours of Miss Cooke’s wealth are in circulation, but its precise amount, ive belive, is wholly unknown. Her property consisted of houses and land in and around Cheltenham, inherited from her father, and large accumulations in bank and other stocks. Miss Cooke has left the sum of £lB,OOO to be divided among the following religious societies, viz., Operative Jewish Converts’ Institution, £l,OOO ; Episcopal Jews’ Chapel Abrahamic Society, £2,000 ; Trinitarian Bible Society, £2,000 ; Church Missionary Society 5 £5,000 ; British and Foreign Bible Society, £5,000 ; Malta Protestant College, £2,000 ; Edinburgh Bible Society, £l,OOO. The testatrix directs the residue of her personal property not disposed of by herself, to be applied to the endowment of district churches or chapels in populous parishes. The personal property is sworn under £120,000. Leeds Mercury,