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Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3619, 2 August 1880, Page 2

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A fashionable paper thus speaks of the Queen of England :—lt is not given to every lady to be any early riser. The highest lady in the land, Her Majesty, sets a good example in this respect, rising at seven both in winter and summer, while the occupations of each hour of the day are arranged with a due appreciation of the value of time ; hence she is able to undertake, the heavy task of conscientiously reading over all papers and documents submitted for her signature, which she never appends without careful perusal of each, besides which she personally enters into a wide correspondence, and* in addition to the hoars devoted to official duties and to the hours given to walking, driving, paying and receiving' visits, « portion of each day is set apart for reading of a varied character. - ,

The Princess Beatrice is gaining a reputation as an elegante in dress, her toilet at the Queen's last levee of peach silk, with bodice and train of black and S each-striped velvet, suggestinrsomethirig elicious, and worthy a true Parisienne. in the matter of taste. ■ ■ i ■

Whither are we drifting in the matter :of extravagance in dress? The latest and costliest of novelties is a black satin, embroidered all over by hand very finely, with flowers in their natural hues. This artistic material costs two hundred fradcf a yard. Some twelve yards in combidi^ tion with plain satin .was recently employed in a dress prepared for an American ■ belle by one of the leading houses of Paris.

Simplicity, is oat of fashion. Present modes are observable for glitter/slate, varied and intricate patterns, and Oriental amalgamation of colour. Gold lace in millinery, cashmerian mixtures in woollen and silk stuffs, applied to costs and drapery, and old-gold coloured damask,; velvet, silk, and satin—these strike the eye of the casual observer, go where he may, in fashionable London. ' Very rich, and very handsome are the new silks of the seaaon. Black, white, heliotrope, and other delicate shades of silk ' display brocades of single large flowers, such as tulips or roses, often outlined with gold or silver- thread, and sometimes with satin, beads. A very lovely heliotrope satin, preparing for Ascot, has a front breadth of velvet brocade on a satin ground, the pattern outlined with two shades bf satin' beads matching the ailk. Many of the old'brocades of Louis XIV. and XV., George 11. and 111. reigns, haye 1 been' copied, not'only in design, but in the artistic colourings which charae*' ' terised them. The . smaller • patterned brocades interwoven with gold, are the aoraeof fashion,for coats. „',, ' This is what the Cape Government oifers to, " respectable agriculturists, married or single, not over forty-five , years old, desirous of emigrating to C*pe Colony:—A free]passage for ,ths sjk^ter and family, and land in the; finest agri-- : cultural and grazing.dislrict of. the Cape at 10s per acre; the .payment to bemue in ten years,.at one shilling the acre^ej* year. The Government, agent 'iii.f'Mt Burnet, 10, Blomfield street, London. In I some, districts, .where the poor .rates, are heavy, the means of relieving the burdeJt suggests itself to the advantage of all comers. Perhaps the labourers; will, however, want a sprinkling of diamonds in the.soil guaranteed. , „ The Home, Secretary has contended to) present to Her Mejesty a memorial jfom over 200 mayors and ex-mayors of England and Wales in; favor of the abolition of the restrictioriy-tb marriage with a deceased wife's sister. The memorial, which is in the form of a Urge album bound in morocco, each signature ocovpy^ ing a distinct; place,' is headed 'with the, ; signatures of, the Lord Mayors of £o«don I and York j and prays the .royaXobnn&a* ance to the removal of. the rejjknbtaoiii complained of. .. ... r kj/,~ *'i * Some particulars of the life of, Mr James Abraham Garfield, so unexpectedly chosen as the Republican candidate rot the American Presidency, have been published. He was born in NoTWsber; 1831, at a small village called Orange; in the north-eastern part of Cuyahoga. connty, Ohio, a; villige at that time of bat a few score inhabitants: 1 His parents were in t:o humble a position to provida him with' anythipg more than.' a mentary education, and at an wjeW age he commenced the battle of fife for himßelf in the position of a day labourer. After following this occupation for some time he became a driver and. then a' boatman ojt l.tnt> Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, and in 1840, with the object of improving his education, attended an academy, and studied with, such success that. the .following winter he undertook tt& teaching of a district school. Seven years later he had made such progress that he was appointed teacher of languages in; the' Eoleotie Institute of Hiram, Ohio, the following year becoming president of that institution, which office ha held till 1861; j In ■ the meantime, in 1850, he had bean elected a member of the Senate of his native , Slate, and in 1860 was admitted to the bar. An ardent supportar of the Union, after the War of Secession had commenced he raised in the autumn of 1861 .the 42nd Ssgiment of Ohio Volunteers, of which he was made-colonel, and despatched to Eastern Kentucky, wheve, • with his own regiment, in conjunction with the 40th Ohio Regiment, he defeated, Humphrey Marshall. Mr Garfield furY ther distinguished himself during the war, and was created major-general for gallant and meritorious' services on the field of battle. "

Concerning the recent Government appointments, it is stated that at a meeting of the United Presbyterian Presbytery of Edinburgh; on Juse I, the Bey* Dr Wordrop gare notice of the following motion :■—" The Presbytery having taken into consideration' the political, appoint;--ments given by the present Government to two Boman Catholic subjects in view of the agitation and - opposition : - which? these appointments hare raised in the community . and ■ proceeding on the supposition that no objection on personal, or political ground* is proposed to be taken to these appointment!, finds that the United. Presbyterian Church cannot, on merely religious groins,'eon? sistently with the 1 principles of religious^ equality almost unirersajly reoognised, among its members, offer''any objection,' to appointments of saeh;obs*aeter. !;Att4i the Presbytery further, looking at taeM ( appointments in connection with- tht)« opinions in reference to Protestantisms and Bomanism to which such emphftsie expression has been given by indmdmli in the Government, especially by. the! Premier, agrees that .these appointments are to be welcomed/ts a"- ieitiiiuißy| to the pinnoip{e of religion not being e> test of eligibility for civil position, and that these appointment! are to be rt«

garded as of beneficial tendenoy and fitted to maintain the pence and consolidation of the empir9, inasmuch as tbey assure our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects tbat, however strongly the governing classes of the nation may be opposed to their religion, official position in national affairs is yet to be free to them equally with Protestants."

The following are the terms given to the famous actress Sara Bernhardt by an American manager. The salary commences with a clear sum of one hundred pounds a night for the six regular performances of the week, and the same for any special matinee : after that Sara is to receive a third of the niehtly receipts. AH the expenses out and home are to be paid by the impresario, who further guarantees a weekly mm of sixty pounds to pay hotel bills for Sara and suite. She is to have a benefit in all the large towns in which she plays, and will share the profits of the libretto, which will give all her plays in French and English, and which is to be decorated with a design from the versatile artist's own pencil. These are truly a prima donna's prices, and compare somewhat curiously with the paltry five or ten pounds a week which many talented actors and actresses were content with not half a century ago. The American enagagement is for a hundred .Representations, at the end of which Sara returns to London to reappear at the Gaiety. There is little present prospect, therefore, of her paying a visit to the anti podes, nor probably would the pecuniary inducements be forthcoming from Australia.

Thwe is an interesting fact connected with the new Viceroy of Ireland. Earl Cowper is the lineal descendant and heirgeneral, of one of the ablest lord-lieu-tenants Ireland ever bad—James, Duke of Ormonde, the famous Ca?alier states^ man *nd r commander. As such heirgeneral he established, a few years since, his right to the barony of Butler, of Moore Park, conferred in 1665 on the gallant Earl of Ossory, the son of the great Duke of Ormonde. Ah interesting discovery has been made at Edge-lane Quarry, Oldham. The qaarrymen, in the course of their eicavationß, hare come upon what has been described as a fossil forest. The trees number about 12, and some ot them are two feet in diameter. They are in good presenration. The roots can be spen interlacing the rock, and the fonds of the ferns are to be found imprinted on erery piece of stone. The discovecy has excited much interest in geological circles round Manchester, and the "forest" has been visited by a large number of persons. The trees belong to the middle coal-measure period, although it has been regarded as somewhat remarkable that no coal has been discovered near them. The coal is found 250 yards beneath. Professor BoydDawkins, of Owens College, has visited the quarry, and declares there is not such a sight in Europe.