ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 745, 22 September 1852, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Tail's Magazine has passed into new hands. The political editor is John M'Gregor, Esq., the member for Glasgow, and Governor of the Royal British Bank. The "magnificent steam-screw, Indiana, intended for the Calcutta trade, had been launched from the yard of Mr. Mare, of .Ulackwall. • Armand Marrast, the famous editor of the National Parisian newspaper, is dead. The Morning Chronicle observes :— " What strange fortunes have diversified the lives of those who set up and conducted that organ of the French Republicans ! M. Thiers wrote himself through its columns to the Premiership, and is now an exile ; A'rmand Carrel guided the Republicans, wh<f' acknowledged him to be their head, from the editorial chair — previously occupied by Thiers — and fell in a duel with Emile de Girardin; Armand Marrast, from the same place, directed most powerful attacks against the Monarchy, which he "helped to undermine by his ■pen, , and to overthrow by his personal interference on the calamitous 24 th February, when lie let in the mob on the Chamber of Deputies, became successively Mayor of Paris, Draughtsman of the Republican Constitution, and President of the Constitutional Assembly, to die of a broken heart ; Leopold Duras, the last of the dynasty, is an exile ; and the National is extinguished ! .. The Queen had held an investiture of the Order of the Bath at Buckingham Palace. Lord Broughton received the order of knighthood from her Majesty, and was invested with the ribbon and badge of a Knight grand cross (civil division.) The following knights grand cross were invested with the insignia of a knight grand cross division), namely — General Sir P. Maitland, Admiral Sir P. Capel, Lieut. -General Sir A. Woodford, Lieut. General Sir H. F. Bouverie, Lieut. -General J. F. Burgo\ne. These officers were not knighted, the honour having been already conferred upon them. The following officers were also knighted and invested wifh the insignia as knights commanders (military division) — Ma-jor-Geueral J. Owen, Lieut.- General Sir T. Downman, Vice-Admiral Sir A. Maitland, Lieut.-General Sir A. Maclane. Lieut.- General G. C. D'Aguilar, Lieut.-General H. Goldfinch, Lieut.-General J. Bell, Lieut.-General G. Brown, Rear- Admiral P. Hornby, and RearAdmiral W. F. Carroll. Characteristics of the Cape Horse. — Generally speaking, a regular Cape horse, (one whose pedigree cannot be traced to any imported stallion) is an ugly brute. He is about fourteen hands high, and his chief characteristics are a low narrow shoulder, an ewe neck, and a goose rump. His " pins" are generally pretty good. He is villanously broken ; his mouth is as tough as an oak ; his pace is a shuffling, tripping, wriggling, abomination, between an amble and a canter, with a suspicion of a "run" in it. Put him beyond this pace, and he gallops as awkwardly as a cow. As for walking, he is innocent of the pace beyond three miles an hour. Trotting, neither he nor his breaker, nor breeder, nor owner (if a Dutchman) ever heard of. He is apt to be ill tempered too, often given to k ; cking, and occasionally to bucking. So much for his evil qualities. His good points are numerous. He is the hardiest of his race. You may feed him on nothing but grass all the year round, and yet ride him 120 miles in two days, and he will show no signs of distress. You may dismount at any place, or even in the open country, drop his rein over his head, and he will stand as long as you may please in waiting for you. You may generally shoot from his back without his flinching. Ycu need never trouble yourself about a stable or a groom for him ; lie is quite unaccustomed to such luxuries. You may go to sleep as you ride him, for his ugly, awkward-looking pace is the gentlest and easiest of motions, and will scarcely disturb your slightest slumbers. Lastly you need not fear colds, coughs, or any of the ills that horseflesh is heir to. He is never afflicted with any disease save one, and that is deadly and incurable. It is called the "horsesickness." It is not exactly glanders, but it is more like a violent attack of influenza than any t)iing-else. It is a perfect curse to the country for its remedy has never been discovered, and its cause is in the highest degree doubtful. — The Cape and the Kafirs. The elevation of Mr. Fox Maule to. the peerage, by the, death of his father, Lord Panmure, will transfer the services of one of the ablest members of the late ministry from the Lower to the Upper House. Upon the whole this will not be . any loss to the. public. The late member for : Perth was certainly a valuable member of/'the> opposition; but he will do more good ' probably , in > the House of Lords,, than ever he accomplished in the House of Commons.,/ There is no lack of talent among the liberal members of Parliament, and there i« ample room for improvement among the Peer?. The elevation of Mr. Fox Maule will cause a vacancy far Perth. Mr. Charles Gilpin, who contested the' borough a few 'weeks ago, is said to be in the field again with strong hopes of success; He is an active voluntary, a free trader, and a member of the peace 'society. 1

The Right Hon. David Boyle has resigned the office of Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session in Scotland. He will be succeeded by the Right Hon. John Hope, Lord Justice Clerk. In the Court of Exchequer on the 16th^of April, judgment was pronounced by, the four Judges of that Court, in the important case of Miller v. Salomons, which was brought to try the right of a Jew to sit in Parliament, without using the customary form of the oath. With one exception (Martin,) the Court decided in in favour of the plaintiff It is intended to bring the question before the highest tribunal. Mr. Baron Alderson. in passing judgment, remarked :—: — "I regret that the consequences are so serious, involving disabilities of the most fearful kind, in addition to the penalty sought to be in this action recovered, and in fact making Mr. Salomons for the future almost an outlaw."

The Separation of Oold from An interesting exhibition took place on Friday, at the Laboratory, in Beaumont-street, Mile-end, London, of the process recently patented by Mr. Longmaid; for treating quartz and other minerals containing gold by fusion, through which the whole of the valuable metal is obtained, while the expensive portion of the old system of pulverising^ is avoided, and the washing and amalgamating ' operations are entirely dispensed with. In the new process the larger particles of gold are precipitated by their density from the liquid scoria, but should any smaller particles remain, a ready means can be adopted for securing and making them available. The difference between the two systems, it will be perceived,. is that, whereas under the pulverising, washing, and amalgamating plan, considerable expense has to be incurred, in addition to the loss of one-third of the gold, under the new plan the whole of the gold is secured, and the expenditure very much reduced. The experiments made yesterday demonstrated this most clearly, and were perfectly satisfactory, so far as could be judged by the parties who witnessed them. Even the low classes of quartz can, it is stated, be brought into profitable working by this mode of fusion, which, if it be eventually brought into full and successful operation, will tend largely to increase the supplies of gold both from Australia and California.— Liverpool Albion, May 10.

A Bear at Oxford. —On a certain memorable day in 1847, a large hamper reached Oxford, per Great Western Railway, and was in due time delivered according to its direction at Cbristchurch, consigned to Francis Buckland, Esqr., a gentleman well known in the University foi his fondness for natural history. He opened the hamper, and the moment the lid was -removed, out jumped a creature about the size of an English sheep-dog, covered with long shaggy hair, of a brownish colour. This was a young bear born at Mount Lebanon, in Syria, a few months before, who had now arrived to receive his education at our learned University. The moment that he was released from his irksome attitude in the hamper, he made the most of his liberty, and the doors of the room being open, he rushed off down the cloisers. Service- was' going on in the chapel, and, attracted by the pealing organ, or some other motive, he made at once for the chapel. Just as he arrived at the door, the stout verger happened to come thither from within, and the moment he saw the impishlooking creature that was running into his domain, he made a tremendous flourish with his silver wand, and, darting into the chapel, ensconsed himself into a tall pew, the door of which he bolted. Tiglath Pileser (as the hear was called) being scared by the wand, turned from the chapel, and scampered frantically about the large quadrangle, putting to flight the numerous parties of dogs which in those days made that spot their afternoon rendezvous. After a sharp chase, a gown was thrown over Tig, and he was with difficulty secured. During the struggle, he got one of the fingers of his new master into his mouth, and — did he bite it off ? No, poor thing ! but began vigorously sucking it, with that peculiar mumbling noise for which bears are remarkable, Thus was he led back to Mr. Buckland's rooms, walking all the way on his hind-legs, and sucking the finger with all his might. A cellar was put round his neck, and Tig became a prisoner. His good nature and amusing tricks soon made him a prime favourite with the undergraduates ; a cap and gown were made, attired m which (to the great scandal of the dons) he accompanied his master to breakfast and wine parties, where he contributed greatly to the amusement of the company, and partook of good things ; his favorite viands being muffins and ices. He was in general of an amiable disposition, but subject to fits of rage, during which his violence was extreme ; but a kind word and a finger to suck soon brought him round. "He was most impatient of solitude, and would cry for hours when lef^ alone, particularly if it was dark. It was this unfortunate propensity which brought him into especial disfavour . with the Dean of Christ Church, whose Greek quantities and hours of rest were sadly disturbed by Tig's lamentations. At the commencement of the long vacation, Tig, with the other members of the University, retired into the country ; and was daily taken out for a walk round the village, to the great astonishment of the bumpkins. There was a little shop, kept by an old dame, who sold whip-cord, sugar-candy, and other matters ; and here, on one occasion, Tig was treated to sugar-candy. Soon afterwards he got loose, and at once made for the shop, into which he burst, to the unutterable terror of the spectacled and high-capped old lady, who was knitting stockings behind' the counter. The moment she saw his shaggy head and heard the appalling clatter of his chain, she rushed up stairs in a delirium of terror. When assistance arrived, the offender was discovered seated on the counter, helping himself most liberally to brown sugar ; and it was with some difficulty, and after much resistance, that he was dragged away. When term recommenced, TiglathPileser returned to the University, much altered in appearance, for being of the family of silver bears of Syria, his coat had become almost white, he was much bigger and stronger, and his teeth had made their appeal ance, so that he was rather more difficult to' manage ; the only way txfrestraiu.'him when -in a rage, was to hold him' by the ears; but on one occasion,

having lost his temper, he tore his cap and gown to pieces. About this time the British Association paid a visit to Oxford, and Tig was an object of much interest. The writer was present on several occasions when he was introduced to breakfast-parties, of eminent savants, and much ' amusement was created by his tricks, albeit they were a little rough. In more than one instance he made sad havoc with book-muslins and other fragile articles of female attire ; on the whole, however, he conducted himself with great propriety, especially at an" evening meeting at Dr. Daubeney's, where he was much noticed, to his evident pleasure. However, the authorities at Christ Church, not being zoologists, had peculiar notions respecting bears ; and at length, after numerous threats and pecuniary penalties, the fatal day arrived, and Tig's master was informed that either he 'or the bear must leave Oxford next morning.' There was no resisting this, and poor dear Tig was accordingly put into a box — a much larger one than that in which he had arrived — and sent off to the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park. Here he was placed in a comfortable den by himself ; but, alas ! he missed the society to which he had been accustomed, th& excitement of a college life, and the numerous charms by which the University wa3 endeared to him : he refused his food ; he ran perpetually up and down his den iji the vain hope to escape, and was one morning found dead, a victim to a broken heart.