MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 786, 12 February 1853, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

Austrian Homage to the Duke. — A correspondent at Vienna, writing on the Ist iost., says, " The Emperor was unwilling to leave bis capital Bgain before paying bis tribute to tbe manes of tbe great Duke, whom tbe grandfather of Francis Joseph, in common with all the potentates of Europe, delighted to honour. Fieldmtrshals do not die every day, so that when it became known that funeral honours would be paid to the Duke of Wellington, Austrian Fieldraarsbal and Grand Cross of Maria Theresa, a gr;at crowd assembled to witness tbe proceedings. Tbis very impressive military solemnity was held od tbe glacis yesterday. Tbe whole of the garrison turned out with muffled drums and tbe other insignia of mourning, and, in addition to tbe usual crape on tbe arm, it was remarked that the flags of tbe lancers and tbe regimental banners were trimmed with black crape. Tbe Emperor appeared also in mourning, and bis Majesty has given express orders for tbe observance of the tame military ceremonial in all tbe chief towns of the empire. When the Dead March was played and tbe defile orer, the twelve batteries discharged their three rounds of farewell, and volleys from the walls of the city responded to the mournful salute over tbe imaginary bier. Lord Westmoreland and a brilliant assemblage of officers were in immediate attendance upon tbe Emperor. Tbe whole officers' corps, down to the lowest subaltern of the regiment Wellington, will accompany their Colonel, wbo is going to London to join in tbe funeral procession of the illustrious Duke." Elopement. — Information has reached London, that Miss Blair, a ward in Chancery, and a rich heiress, possessing between £800 and £1000 a-year, has eloped from Taunton, with Mr. Garrat t O'Moore, of Queen's County, Ireland. Tbe young lady, wbo 'was residing with ber mother and step-father, Captain Meaher, and who is extremely beautiful as well as highly accomplished, it only seventeen, while the fortunate Irish gentleman is verging on forty. What could have indnced tbe parties to elope, cannot be imagined, as the mother and step-father, — with whom Mr. O' Moore was on a visit — were favourable to tbe match. The only assignable reason for the flight to Hymen's altar, is 1 the dread that the Lord Chancellor would not consent to tbe marriage, which, under existing circumstances, will,- no doubt,- deprive Mr. O'Moore ofVany life interest in tbe property beyond that of nis wife's, as it will, according to tbe usual rule in such matters, go to the children, should Mr. O'Moore survive his wife. The affair has created tbe greatest excitement at Taunton, and amongst tbe lady's relatives in London. ,

A Bride's Revenge. — The other day, as a wedding party was ascending the steps which approach one of our Liverpool churches, the intended bride herself, owing to some obstruction, or to an inadvertent step, missed her footing, and fell. t The swain, unable, even at that joyful crisis of his existence, to conceal his vexation at thjs>little contretemps, exclaimed, pettishly, "Dear me? how very clumsy !" Tbe.lady said nothing, but she was observed to bite her lip, and a far darker and gloomier look than beseemed the court of Hymen was seen to gather on her brow. She walked deliberately, however, into the church, the ceremony commenced, and everything proceeded in orthodox fashion, until the important question was put — " Wilt thou have this man f" &c. Here, instead of whispering, biushingly, a soft affirmative lo the communion cushions, the fair lady drew herself up, cast a withering glance upon her betrothed, and uttering the words, "Dear me, how very clumsy !" sailed down the aisle, and out of the church, with the port of an offended goddess, It was a dear purchase, that revenge of hers. We have not heard the sequel. — Liverpool Times. The Wardenship oe the Cinqub Ports. — We understand there is no foundation for the statement which has appeared in the papers, that the Earl of Derby has received the wardenship of the Cinque Ports. We have, on the contrary, reason to believe tbat his lordship has advised her Majesty to offer it to the acceptance of Lord Dalhousie, whose absence in India may for some time prevent the actual appointment from taking place. In the meantime, however, the duties of that office will be temporarily discharged by the Earl of Derby. — London Herald.

The Shottisham Girl Case.— -A girl of about twelve years of age, was reported to be in a sort of ecstacy lately ; and it was said that for weeks together abe bad not tasted food. Her name was Squirrel, and she lived inwbe village of Shottisham, near Ipswich ; her parents being humble people, keeping a small shop. A committee of gentlemen was appointed to watch the girl, and after a fortnight's investigation, decided that there was some deception practised. A second .committee was appointed, and a late paper says: — "This case has considerably* increased in interest and excitement since out last report of it. A fresh watch has been instituted, voluminous reI ports made by the watchers, and a stormy public | meeting, of 5 hours* duration, held at Ipswich, the details of which would fill a dozen columns. It will be rememlered that the report of the first set of gentlemen who volunteered to be watchers came to the conclusion of deception and fraud, mainly on the discovery of some cloths. .Many of the gentry and inhabitants of the county were dissatisfied with their conclusions, and hence the second watch, the result of which was communicated to a public meeting, at the Corn Exchange, Ipswich, each watcher reading his report. The meeting was a crowded and excited one. Mr. Matchman explained the rules, for the second watch. It commenced on the 13th September, at twelve o'clock. The bed and mattress had been removed and searched — the parents not allowed to enter the room — no one to approach the bed — her hands and face were washed liy female attendants — and the bed searched daily, and food was offered from time to time. All the regulations were strictly adhered to. The watch ended on the 27th September, when there was great excitemerft ot> the part of the girl ; upon recovering from which, she became more lively, and composed some veries of thankfulness. The members of the committee then produced their several reports, which occupied two hours in reading. All

agreed in acquitting the girl and her parents of fret"), and in the avowal that the did not partake of food or drink daring the watch, and there was every reason to believe she was both blind and deaf. Her bed was removed 15 inches from the wall, the parasol and harmonica taken away, and the ringing tumbler placed on a book. It is manifest that everything depended on the management and integrity qf the watchers ; but this meeting disclosed considerable personal feeling and prejudices, calculated to bias an impartial scrutiny and conclusions. The reports contained much extraneous matter, with flowing descriptions of the girl's personal appearance and intellectual manifestations. Much discussion ensued, in which Mr. Bendall took a prominent part, offering £50 if he did not prove fraud in a fortnight. The present committee had only negative evidence, the former bad positive evidence as to the clothes. In the midst of the uproar the chairman said, "You place me in the chair, but instead of questions being asked, there has been a deal of buffoonery and irrelevant matter, and I will not sit here any longer." He left the chair, and the meeting broke up in disorder. \

! Roman Catholic Statistics.—The Quarterly Review publishes the following statistics of the decrease of the Roman Catholics in the United States. They rest on the authority of Father Mullen, Agent for the Catholic Defence Association, and of course favourable to his own creed. They agree substantially with tbo calculation which we- ourselves published some months ago : Catholic Irish Emigrants from 1825 to 1844.. .. % 800,000 From 1844 to 1832 .; .: .... 1,200,000 From other countries 250,000 American Catholic population 12 years siuce .. 1,200,000 Increase by births since 500,000 Number of converts 20,000 Number who ought to be Catholics .. 3,970,000 Number who are Catholics 1,980,000 Number lost to Catholic Churcb.. .. 1,990,000 On Whit-Sunday, another convert, the Rev Richard Wall, late R.C.'C. of the parish o* Leskinan, and another person, solemnly abjured the error* of Popery, under the spiritual direction of the Rev. Thomas Scott, and*ieceived the Lord's Supper in St. Thomas's Church. Mr. Wall speaks Irish, and will probably be fouDd hereafter a useful missionary among the Irish-speaking j>opulation. He is now under the care of the Priests' protection Society. — Standard.

Romance in Real Life.—lt will probably be recollected by some of our readers that in 1843 a tall, quant, and extremely repulsive woman was brought up at the Mansion house, before the Lord Mayor (Alderman Humpbery) charged upon siroDg suspicion, of having stolen a child of respectable parents. Tbe facts, as they were then elicited, were briefly these :—The woman, who was of the most depraved and filthy habits, bad been seen begging about tbe metropolis and its suburbs with a child about three years of age, which she, notwithstanding its apparent repugnance, continued, or pretended to suckle. At length, in a ttate of utter exhaustion and distress, she applied for admission to the Asylum, or Refuge fur tbe houseless poor, where she was attended by a kind hearted benevolent gentleman, Dr. Bowie, the surgeon to tbe institution, who, during the progress of her cure was struck with the remarkable contrast between the woman and the child, and the evident superiority of form and feature in the latter, and so great was the dissimilarity that be at once concluded there could be no close relation between them, and that she bad in all probability stolen tbe child. Acting uuder this conviction, he, with Mr. Edwards, chairman of the institution, obtained a warrant for the woman's apprehension, and on her recovery she was at once taken before tbe Lord Mayor. On her examination there she said her name was Mary Thompson, and that she was the widow of a Cornish smuggler, who commanded a small craft called the Mary Ann, in which she alleged the child was boru in the month of February, 1840, while out at sea. She made many coufliciing statements, but the one she ultimately adhered to was that the child was hers by a man named Holloway, and born before her marriage with Samuel Thompson. The child was taken from her, and on being placed in a handsomely furnished room at the Mansion house seemed to be quit; at home with his Lordship's children, on hearing a piano played, appeared familiar with its tones, and approaching the instrument, spread his little fingers over the keys, and repeated 'A. B.C.' On being asked what a gold chain that was shown him was, he readily gave it its proper name, and said it was a watch guard. He said he had two mothers; bis mother in the country was very kind to him, and loved him, but the naughty woman, whom he called his straw yard mother, beat him and begged for money, fought, and got drunk. In his childish prattle with the Lady Mayoress and other ladies, he spoke of his nice new frock with rows of buttons down tbe front, that he had when the woman enticed him from his home with offers of plum pudding. He said his name was Henry Saumarez Dupuis, and that the woman, for whom be evinced the greatest abhorrence, often beat him for saying his name was not Samuel Thompson. He remembered living at Canterbury, and that his good mamma bad a room like the one he had seen, with a carpet and a piano in it. Id mentioning the cruelty of the wretched monster to him, he said he saw her burn all his new clothes in the fire, evidently for the purpose of preventing identification. On Saturday, Mr. Edwards attended Guildhall justice room with a respectably dressed lad, about thirteen or fourteen years of age, with intellectual face, and handsome features, and stated that the lad was tbe unfortunate child —Henry Saumarez Dupuis ; that he had been four or five years with a Mrs. Orton; and during the last three years and a half be had been living with, and educated by a Mr. Williams, in Scotland, at the expense of a few private individuals, assisted with contributions received at the time. Dr. Bowie had settled in Melbourne, Australia, and had lately sent over for this boy to join him, and he was about to start immediately. Alderman Humphrey regretted that the extraordinary exertions unde at the time had failed in discovering the lad's parents. He, however, hoped he would be successful in bit new home, and that he would write and let him know how he got on. On inquiring bow much money he had in his pocket to start with, the boy said he had only Bs., upon which the alderman ordered £1 from tbe poor-box

to be added to bis little store, and directed that a further sum of £5 should be remitted to Melbourne for his use, through the ordinary channtl. With regard to the woman, it may be as well to state that on foregoing her claim to the child she was discharged, and has not been sew since, except on one occasion, when she made a futile attempt to get the child again into her clutches. — Times, Auguit 16.