QUEEN VICTORIA'S PLATE.

Southland Times, Issue 899, 14 February 1868, Page 3

QUEEN VICTORIA'S PLATE.

A London paper says the plate at Windsor Castle for the use of her Majesty and the Court, " weighs nearly thirty tons, and that its value may be roughly estimated at £3,000,0)0. It is secured in stone chambers with vaulted ceilings, which form part of the original building, and are thoroughly proof against burglars. Among the plate is a solid dish not of silver gilt, but of solid gold, made by order of George IV., and representing all the orders, both domestic and foreign, which that sovereign wore, or was entitled to wear ; it is estimated at £8,000. Grand and magnificent as the assortment of plate is, our readers will be astonished to hear that very little of it indeed is old or curious, most of the plate used by lormer sovereigns having been melted down and remodelled by George IV. ; very much of it, consequently is tawdry and rococo, as might naturally be expected from the author of the Pavilion at Brighton. One exception, however, to the above rather sweeping statement must be made in favor of the plate which belonged to Frederick, Prince of Wales ; this is exceedingly massive, solid, and in good taste ; and by some chance it was spared by George IV." EtteIOEDINAET Bibth. — A poor woman, wife of a retired soldier, living at Nun's Hill, near Valparaiso, has recently brought forth six children at one birth, four boys and two girls, and ia at present wonderfully well under the circumstances, suckling the children herself, and exhibiting a 1 vigorous vitality. Unfortunately of this liberal addition to a pre-existent family of eleven, three have died, the two girls and one of tRe boys.