ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 899, 15 March 1854, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

The British Fleet in the Turkish Waters.— At the present Una? it will be satisfactory to know our Strength in the Turkish waters. The following will be found a correct list of the Mediterranean fleet at present in the Dardanelles :—: — Britannia, 120 guns, 970 men, Vice- Admiral J. W. D. Dundas Captain T. W. Carter. Trafalgar, 120 guns, 970 men, Captain H. P; Greville. Albion, 90 guns, 850 men; Captain S. Lushington. Rodney, 90 guns, 850 men, Captain C. Graham. Vengeance, 84 guns, 750 men, Captain Lord E; Russell. BelleropJioft, 78 guns, G7O men, Captain Lord G, Paulet. Sansp'areil, 71 guns, 350 horse-power, P5O men, Captain S. C. Dacres. . Arethusa, 50 guns, 500 men", Captain T. M. Symonds. Leandef, 50 guns, 500 men; Captain G. St. Y. Kin?. Retribution, 28 guns, 800 horse-power, 330 men; Captain Hon. J. Dru'mmond. Furious, 16 guns,4()o horse-power, 240 men, Captain W. Ltiring. Tiger, 16 guns, 400 horse-power, 240 men, Captain H. Giffard. Firebrand, 6 guns, 4iO horse-power,^ 106 men, Captain H. Parker. Sampson, 6 guns, 468 horde-power, 196 men; Captain L. T. Jon-es: Niger, 14 guns, 400 horse-power, 160 men, Commander L. G. Heath. Wasp, 14 guns, 10) horse-power, 160 men, Commander Lord J. Hay. Fury, 6 guns, 515 horse-power, 160 men, Commander E: Tatham. Inflexible, 6 guns, 380 horse-power, 160 men, Commander G. PoppleweU: Ardent, 4 guns, 200 horse-power, 60 men, Lieut. Commander H. Sriiith. Caradoc, 4 guns, 350 horse power, 60 men, LieUtCommander S. Derriman. Shearwater, 4 guns, 16") horse-power, 60 men, Lieutenant Commander H. Grylls (act.) Spitfire", 4 grins, 140 horse-powee, 60 men, Commander T. Spratt. Triton, 4 guns, 240 horse-power, 60 men, Lieut.Commander H. Lloyd. Total, 88*5 guns, 5,332 horse-power, 3,852 men, The following are on their way to re-inforce the fleet, viz.,— - Terrible, 21 guns, 800 Horse-power, 330 mon, Rear Admiral Sir E. Lyons; Captain .1 . M'Cleverty.. Qiieen, 116 guns, 950 men, Captain F. T. Michell. London, 90 guns, 820 men, Captain C. Eden. Agamemnon, 91 guns, 550 hdrse-power* 850 men, Captain W. R. Mends. Leopard, 16 guns; 500 horse-power,' 300 men, Captain G. Giffard. Highflyer, 21 guns, 250 horse-power, 230 men, Captain Moore. Total; 355 guns, 2,160 horse-power, °,480 men. Grand total, 29 ships, 1,240 guns, 7,492 horsepower, 1 12,332 men. On the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, a dog of the Scotch terrier bleed, answering to the name of Jack, travels regularly. He formerly belonged to o*ne ol the porters. Sometimes be will get on at Dublin and go to Drogheda; get off there, wait for anoiher train, «nd __then proceed to Belfast, where he will take up bis quarters for the oight. At other times he will travel to all the intermediate stations. Should B • happen to miss one train, he strolls about ttie station, like any other passenger until the next comes up,s and then starts again. He is well known by the* officials at all the stations, who seem amused with his mode of living, and allow no one to nrolest him. Thi* is the Jubilee of the British »nd Foreign Bible Society \ and a meeting was beld in the Mansion House to celebrate it on the 25th ult. ; the liord Mayor in the chair. Lord Shattesbury, the Rev. Canon ViUiers, Dr. Tidman, and Mr. Samuel Gurney made speeches. From a report

read, it appears that the society, since its forms* tion, has expended £3,950;953, and distributed nearly 45,000,000 copies of the 'Bibles of which 18,000,000 have been 'scattered through 'the United Kingdom, 17,000,000 in continental 'Europe. 8,000,000 in America, and 2*000,000 among Jews, Mahometans, and heathens in various >psrt« of the world. It is now proposed to establish a *• Jubilee Fund," to pay the expense of an •extensive system of colportage in Great Britain, and especial efforts in Ireland, India, China, *nd other British possessions. The society hat not fewer than 8332 branches. The «Bible has been translated into 170 languages, -25 of which were never previously written. Madame Sontag is at New York, and has consented to take part in a work of charity and beneficence. Assisted by Julie de Berg, '•Paul 'Jullieni Signors Badiali and JEtocco, and Carl Eekert, she was to give a concert at Niblo's Saloon, on the 20th ult., for the benefit of the " " Home for Destitute children of Seamen." There is a very general impression iv naval circles that the discovery of the north passage by 'Captain M'Clure will be followed up next year by the despatch of two steamers ; the Phoenix ' and another of about equal power. When two ' steamers proceed through the ice to each other, * the forward motion of the last vessel prevents r the ice closing again so soon as it is otherwise liable to do when there is only one vessel, and * consequently it is -much safer to proceed when * two are employed than only one. The officers and crews of both vessels would also have more - confidence, when entering unexplored channels, when two vessels are near to each other, - owing to the hope that there would be one to fall back upon in the event of any unforeseen accident occurring to the other. The ice of the j Arctic Regions is the accumulation of ages, and ' it is surprising the small thickness that is formed in some years, certainly not to such an extent that would render it difficult for steam-vessels to ■ keep a passage open by repeatedly breaking through the newly-formed ice; and the further the' vessels proceed beyond the true magnetic pole, 1 the warmer the water is found to prevail, and it requires a remarkably low state of temperature to form ice on the surface on the deepest parts' -of the Polar seas. Some remarkably fine lava. - was brought home by the officers of the Pftcenix * from Banks-L and, far finer and closer than the porous pumice stone of the lava at Mount Etna. * The plumbago is also of a fine descript on, and a number of mineral stones from Melville Island are remarkably heavy, whatever may be the - nature of the metal of which they are composed, and appear to be worthy of oeing investigated as - to their value as they might be found worthy of becoming a subject of commercial enterprise. It - is singular that none of the officers of the Phoenix or of the vessels of the Arctic expeditions now •- in the far northern regions, had seen the comet which visited this sphere during the present year, and they were unaware of its existence until "their return home. Mademoiselle Rachel positively quits Paris for - St.* Petersburg ; having, it is stated, made an amicable arrangement with the 'Theatre Francais, by which she is to remain absent a year and a half, and then resume her post. Her salary in Husssia is to be £16,000; and an additional sum of £4000 is to be allowed for the troupe which generally accompanies the great tragedian, chiefly, we believe, composed of her own relations. Mademoiselle Rachel's return is fixed at present for the commencement of '1855. The -Exeter Gazette reports an instance of -Romanist dictation. A Roman Catholic and a Protestant were about to be -married ; Dr. Errington, Roman Catholic " Bishop of Plymouth," announced that the marriage could receive his -sanction only on condition that, after it bad been performed in the Roman Catholic chapel'it should ■not be repeated in any Protestant church within bis " diocese. 1 ' The parties to be married are rich ; so they were married by a "Roman 'Catholic priest in Exeter, and were then conveyed out of the " diocese" by-special train to "Wellington, and married in the parish-church. A poor couple would have been sadly hampered *by the Bishop's restriction. -A great crime in the estiraatiou of Spaniards 'has been committed at Corapostelk' — a nun has escaped from v a convent. She is young, beautiful, clever, and high-born. She descended from a window of the Carmelite convent by means of a rope- made of towels and napkins sewed together; she is supposed to have reached Corunna, and sailed thence iv a foreign vessel. Two priests of the little town of Cabo-Curru- j beda, province of Galicia, in Spain, long enter- i tamed a mortal hatred for each other. 'Eight -nights ago, the younger of the two went out with j -his domestic, and waited at the corner of a street 'until the other priest appeared. They then stab- ! bed him with a poniard until he fell dead. The iwo criminals were immediately arrested. It was not difficult to discover them, as the priest had by mistake left his own umbrella by the side of the corpse and taken that of the victim. The domestic when arrested had his bands bloody, and the poniard with which the crime was committed was found in his pocket. On the tonsure of the murdered man the letters "M. J." were cut. They are the initials of "Mary and Jesus ;" and it is a common belief in the province that if a priest be suddenly killed, the cutting of these letters on his tonsure will save him from damnation. It is believed that they were cut by the priest from a feeling of charity, — Galignani's Messenaer.

The Lord Mayor and the Tailors. — The Lord Mayor said at Guildhall the other day, that, j at the end of his Mayoralty, he would have to declare that the moat unmanageable people with •whom his experience as chief magistrate had made hiai acquainted were those who belonged to the trade and mystery of the thimble, notwithding the quiet and unobtrusive nature of their j general employment. (Laughter.) The moment a set of disturbers of the peace were brought be- j fere him, he guessed that the majority were tai- \ lors, and he was never yet mistaken in the opi- j nion. (Great laughter.) 1

.^ Notabilities of Literature. — One of the " antiquities.of London is about to disappear. Older than any of the banking-houses — dating back even to the days of the Stuarts — is the venerable firm of Rivingtons', in St. Paul's Churchyard. That "house, which most people supposed to be Tooted like the oaks of Windsor Forest, has just given notice of its approaching departure. " The old- shop," where Horiley and Totnline, War"burton and Hurd, used- in old times to meet, is about to become a " Shawl Emporium," and the

firm of Rivingtons' will no more be found in London City. It adds one more to a thousand past proofs of the change which if taking place in London. The business of Messrs. Rivingtons wSI be in future carried on in Waterlooplace. There are, probably, few branches of trade which have suffered so many changes and losses of late, as that of book-selling. The firms uf Cadell and Eavies, an-I of Johnson, in St. Paul's Churchyard, have entirely faded nwny, Mr. 'Colburn has recently retired, and his bu«l» ness is now successfully carried on by Messrs, Hurst and Blacken. Most of the great wholesale houses have lost the partners iv whoso names their concerns *re carried on. In Messrs. Siropkin and Marshall's house, there is now no> ■"Simpkin," and no " Marshall." In Messrs. Whittaker and Co.'a house, there is no " Whittaker." In Messrs. Hamilton and Co.'s house, there is no "" Hamilton." Even westward the same thing prevails ; for at Messrs. Nisbet and Co.'s, in Berners-street, there is now no 11 Nisbet." The other striking feature of modern publishing is, that of the rise of great and cheap railway publishers. Of these, Chambers, of Edinburgh ; and Siramsand M'lntyre, of Belfast, have filled the foremost places; but Messrs. Ingram and Co., and still more, Messrs. Routledge and Co., of Farringdon-street, bid fair to overpass their provincial forerunners. The rapid rise of this last house is one of the most remarkable facts in the whole history of bookselling. It was first beard of about a dozen /ears ago, in Soho Square, and now it copes with the very first in town, for the large extent of its transactions.