x 
1843.] 
THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 
901 
ployed his time in teaching French to Oxford who was 
confined for shooting at the Queen. It appeared from 
the evidence that the Jury at the trial considered him 
insane and not responsible for his own acts, and the con- 
sequence was that he was consigned to prison during her 
Majesty’s pleasure or so long as insanity was found to 
remain upon him. After his acquittal he was placed under 
the care of the Messrs. Stillwell, of Moorcroft-house near 
Hillingdon, and in the course of some months was re- 
moved by a warrant from the Home Secretary Lord Nor- 
manby to Bethlehem, in which hospital he was received 
and had since remained as a criminal inmate. Ie re- 
mained the particular object of the care and remarks of 
the officers of that establishment, whose evidence for a 
period of two years was called to establish the state of his 
mind whilst they had him under their notice. After seve- 
ral witnesses had been examined who deposed to various 
delusions under which he laboured, Mr. Pearce answered 
several questions put by the Commissioner and Jury, 
whom he addressed at great length in explanation of the 
evidence. He persisted in declaring that his bed, sheets, 
blankets, and shirts had been watered or poisoned through 
the machinations of Mrs. Pearce and Mr. Pints her father, 
and he preduced asmall packet containing some portions 
of his shirts which he handed to the commissioner and 
requested they might be analysed. He also exhibited his 
snuff-box in which he endeavoured to show to the Jury 
that there were some crystallisations among the snuff of 
a deleterious character. Mr. Pearce evidently a man of 
very superior education appealed to the Jury, declaring 
that he was not insane and imploring them not to con- 
fine him for life. Mr. Petersdorff briefly addressed the 
Jury for Mr, Pearce, and the Commissioner having 
summed up the Jury returned a verdict dating the un- 
soundness of mind from the 16th October 1841. 
Metropolitan Hospitals.—Much excitement has pre- 
vailed for some days past among the professional gentle- 
men and others connected with St. George’s and the 
Middlesex Hospitals, in q of dingly 
spirited canvassing which has been going on. The va- 
cancy at St. George’s was in the office of Assist.-Surgeon, 
and the candidates were Mr. C. J. Johnson and Mr. H. 
Hawkins, the latter supported by the medical officers of 
the hospital. The friends of each candidate had been 
exerting tl 1 ‘ost y and on Saturday, 
the day of election, the large board-room in the hospital 
and passages leading thereto were thronged with noblemen 
and gentlemen, amongst whom were his Royal Highness 
the Duke of Cambridge who presided, the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, the Duke of Sutherland, the Duke of Devon- 
shire, Lord Dudley Stuart, Lord Granville Somerset, Lord 
Arundel, &c. At the close of the poll the numbers were 
—For Mr. Johnson 169, for Mr. Hawkins 152. Majority 
17 in favour of Mr. Johnson.—A similar contest is now 
going on for the office of Assistant-Physician at the 
Middlesex Hospital, the candidates being Dr. Woodfall 
and Dr. Seth Thompson, the latter supported by the 
medical officers. 
Preachership at Lincoln’s Inn.—The following names 
have been announced as additions to the list of candidates 
for the appointment of preacher to the Society of Lin- 
coln’s-inn :—The Rev. Mr. Page, Principal of the College 
of Civil Engineers at Putney ; the Rev. C. Merivale, 
Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge ; the Rev. Frank 
Hewson, incumbent of Southall ; the Rev. Mr. Coxe, and 
the Rev. C. EB. Wylde. Three gentlemen have declared 
themselves candidates for the office of assistant-preacher 
to the Society. The election of both preacher and assist- 
ant-preacher will take place on the 12th of January next. 
The Westminster Play.—According to annual custom 
the Christmas holidays at this school were ushered in by 
the performance of a classical drama. Terence’s comedy 
of Phormio was the play selected for this year and the 
representation went off with credit to the performers and 
satisfaction to the audience. ‘The cast was as follows :— 
Phormio, F. Cooper; Demipho, F. G. A. Williams; 
Antipho, C. J. Fuller ; Gela, J. .G. Smyth; Dorio, E. 
R. Glyn; Chremes, J. Rich; Phedria, L. A. Cramer 5 
Davus, W. L. Smith; Sophrono, G. D. Bowles; Nau- 
sistrala, G. W. Randolph ; Hegio, G. O. Edwards ; Cra- 
tinus, F. A. Goodenaugh ; Criéo, E. C. Burton, The 
comedy had evidently been carefully studied and the effect 
produced by the scenic representation had a much more 
striking effect than the drama would have been thought 
capable of producing from a closet perusal. The plot, 
intricate as it is, seemed to be well understood and appre- 
ciated by the audience, and the acting was marked by great 
care and discrimination. 
Consecration of a New Church, —On Monday the new 
church in Broadway Westminster was d by the 
Bishop of London, assisted by the Archdeacon of Middle- 
sex, the Rev. H. H. Milman, and a large number of the 
Metropolitan clergy. The building is capable of accom- 
modating 1,500 persons, 1,280 of the seats being free and 
unappropriated, owing to a grant on the part of the Incor- 
porated Society. No organ has yet been erected, and the 
church is at present without a steeple. The Rev. Cyril 
W. Page, lately curate of St. Margaret’s, has been licensed 
to the incumbency. 
State of the Streets.—The City Police Commissioner, in 
consequence of the filthy state of the streets, has issued 
the following order :— The police constables are ordered 
to summon every occupier of a house or other tenement 
within the City who shall not keep sufficiently swept and 
cleansed all footways and water-courses adjoining to the 
premises occupied bythem. ‘That there may be no excuse 
from ignorance of the law in this respect the constable is 
directed to intimate to the person so offending that he is 
liable to a penalty of 40s. for every such offence, and that 
for the continuance or repetition thereof he will assuredly | way- 
be summoned. The constables will observe that this order 
is to be enforced every day in the week.” 
Opening of the Metropolitan Welch Church.—On 
Sunday the chapel of St. Etheldreda, in Ely-place, Holborn, 
was opened for the performance of divine service in the 
Welch language. At the morning service the church was 
crowded to excess, several distinguished natives of the 
Principality attending. The Rev. J. R. Williams, late 
curate of Lampeter, has been appointed incumbent. 
National Education.—The large subscriptions which 
members of the Church have entered into for carrying on 
national education upon Church principles have kindled 
some corresponding activity on the part of Dissenting 
bodies. On Tuesday the Conference of the Congregational 
Dissenters on the subject of general education commenced 
its sitting at the Congregational Library. There was @ 
very numerous attendance of gentlemen from different 
parts of the manufacturing districts. Mr, Hindley, M.P., 
was in the chair. A commencement was made by a list of 
contributions amounting to upwards of 12,0002, Six gen- 
tlemen set down their names for 1,000/. each, payable in 
five years; the other 6,000/. was contributed in sums 
varying from 1002. to 500/, It is expected that a sum of 
100,000/. will be raised by the congregational body in sup- 
port of this movement. 
The Italian Boys in London.—On Tuesday a meeting was 
held at the residence of the Rev. Dr. di Menna in further- 
ance of a plan for establishing an institution for the care 
and protection of destitute Italian boys. The meeting 
was numerously attended by Italian and English gentle- 
men, and several statements were made detailing various 
acts of cruelty alleged to have been committed upon these 
poor boys by their masters. A committee was formed, 
and a resolution was adopted that a deputation should 
wait on Lords Ashley and Dudley Stuart to solicit their 
patronage of the institution and their presence at a pro- 
posed public meeting. 
The late Ducl.—We announced last week the intended 
sale of Lieut. Munro’s furniture and effects. On Satur- 
day, shortly before the commencement of the auction, Mr. 
Wakley, the coroner, made his appearance and served the 
following notice on Mr. Kirke, the auctioncer :—“* Whereas 
by an inquisition taken before me, Thomas Wakley, one 
of her Majesty’s coroners for the county of Middlesex, on 
the 3d day of July in the 7th year of the reign of her pre- 
sent Majesty, Alexander Thompson Munro stands charged 
with the wilful murder of David Lynar Fawcett—this is 
to give you notice, on behalf of her Majesty, that you will 
sell any goods or property belonging to the said Alexander 
Thompson Munro at your peril.” ‘The sale of course did 
not take place and the company dispersed. The circum- 
stances however have been submitted to counsel, who have 
given it as their opinion that whatever power the coroner 
might once have had over the property, that power he has 
lost by not acting upon it immediately after the termina- 
tion of the inquest on the late Colonel Fawcett. 
Acceleration of the India Mails.—On the 19th Sep- 
tember it will be recollected a public meeting was held to 
take into consideration the expediency of accelerating the 
communication with India, when a committee was named 
and a day appointed in December to receive their report. 
The meeting for this purpose was held on Tuesday at the 
Hall of Commerce, and by the report it appeared that a 
deputation had waited on the Earl of Ripon, and having 
explained the great necessity of enabling the merchants 
not only in London but in the provinces to answer their 
letters by the outgoing mail, had received the answer of 
Government that measures should be taken to bring about 
so desirable an object. This intelligence was communi- 
cated by the chairman Mr. J. A. Smith, and received by 
the meeting with every demonstration of satisfaction. 
Accidents and Inquests.—The Hon. Capt. Rous, M.P. 
for Westminster, met with a serious accident whilst shoot- 
ing on Lord Rendlesham’s preserves, in company with 
his Lordship on Friday last, at Rendlesham Hall near 
Woodbridge. Captain Rous’s gun either burst or went 
off accidentally by which he sustained such severe injury 
that he has been obliged to have one finger amputated, 
and is likely to lose the sight of one eye.—On Friday Sir 
Gore Ouscley was returning to his seat Hall Barn Farm 
near Beaconsfield, from the Railway Station at Slough, 
when the horses suddenly shyed and the carriage was turned 
overonits side. Thecoachman having fortunately sufficient 
command of the horses to prevent them from moving after 
the carriage was overturned, the Right Hon. Bart. was ex- 
tricated from his perilous situation having sustained some 
slight bruises in his neck occasioned by his head striking 
against the top of the carriage, and compressing his neck 
between his shoulders.—On Saturday Lord Inverary, 
eldest son of the Earl of Kintore, met with a melancholy 
accident, which terminated fatally in afew hours. His 
Lordship was on a visit to his Grace the Duke of Mon- 
trose at Salby-lodge, Northamptonshire. On Saturday 
last he accompanied the Duke to a meet of the Pytchley 
hunt. In the heat of the chase his Lordship’s horse fell 
at a very hazardous leap, when its rider was thrown un- 
derneath it, and received such severe injuries, that after 
lingering till Sunday morning he expired. His Lordship 
was not more than 23 years of age. An inquest was held 
on the body on Tuesday at Winwick Warren. The sur- 
geon deposed that the internal hemorrhage was very 
great and sufficient to account for death; but the imme- 
diate cause was from pressure upon the brain, caused by 
extravasation of blood, proceeding from a rupture of one 
of the vessels of the brain, which rupture in the opinion 
of witness, was caused by a kick on the head from the 
foot of the horse, but it might proceed from a violent fall, 
&c. Deceased was also labouring under concussion of 
the brain, but that would not produce death in a general 
After a short consultation, the Jury returned a 
verdict of “ Accidental death, with a deodand of one shil- 
ling on the horse.’’—A s@tious carriage accident hap- 
pened on Wednesday evening to the Hon. Mr. Douglas, 
son of Lord Douglas. The Hon. gentleman, who is on a 
visit to Mrs. Irvine, near Egham, was returning from a 
drive in a small barouche, accompanied by one servant. 
On reaching the top of Parry’s-hill, Egham, the horse 
took fright and dashed at a furious pace down the hill 
which is very steep. When half-way down, he as 
menced plunging, and on reaching Egham Park-gate the 
reins broke, and the carriage was drawn upon the raised 
footway and overturned. Mr. Douglas was thrown into 
the road with great violence. His servant having pre- 
viously leaped from the vehicle escaped with some slight 
bruises. Mr. Douglas was immediately removed in a 
state of insensibility to Colonel Salway’s garden lodge, 
and promptly received the aid of four medical gentlemen. 
When he recovered a little, it was deemed advisable to re- 
move him to Mr. Irvine’s, and two of the surgeons ac- 
companied him thither. Mr. Douglas’s face and head 
were severely contused, and his medical attendants con- 
sidered he had received concussion of the brain, but it has 
been since ascertained that the injury to the head is not 
so great as was at first supposed. 
Mortality of the Metropolis.—The number of deaths 
registered in the week ending Saturday, Dec. 9, was as 
follows:—West Districts, 153; North Districts, 165; 
Central Districts, 176; Bast Districts, 222; South Dis- 
tricts, 271; Total, 987 (males, 512; females, 475). 
Weekly average for the last five years, 903 (461 males, 
442 females) ; and for the last five autumns, 908. 4 
Provincial Wels. 
Incendiary Fires.—A destructive fire broke out on 
Sunday evening at Naze Wick Farm, in Foulness Island, 
Essex, in the occupation of Mr. Charles Harvey, and 
destroyed a sheep-yard (the walls of which were composed 
of mustard and carraway straw), 100 ewe sheep in lamb, 
and a large bean-stack, the produce of 40 acres, adjoining. 
On the same night a man named J. Rampling was appre- 
hended on suspicion of having caused the conflagration, 
and after a preliminary examination was committed for 
trial. The value of the property destroyed is estimated at 
about 500/.—A fire broke out on Thursday week about 
5o clock in the stackyard of Mr. Rawson, a tenant of 
Sir Henry Dymoke, at Scrivelsby, near Horncastle, with- 
out doubt the work of an incendiary. There were about 
seven stacks in the yard ; the middle one, containing about 
40 quarters of wheat, was set on fire and consumed, with 
a barley-stack about the same size. The fire was stayed 
in its progress, and extinguished without further destruc- 
tion of property.—On Saturday morning a fire broke out 
in the stack-yard of Mr. J. Hall, farmer and corn-dealer, 
and the whole, consisting of nine large stacks and hovels, 
two of which were very large, containing upwards of 100 
loads each, were destroyed.—Incendiary fires are also men- 
tioned in the local papers at St. Mary’s Cray, Kent, where 
the premises of Mr. Snelling, miller and farmer, were de- 
stroyed ; at Oakham, where four fires have occurred since 
the commencement of winter; at various places in the 
neighbourhood of Norwich ; atsome farms in Devonshire ; 
and at Pollicott near Brill, Bucks, where a great quantity 
of property on the farm of Mr. Malin has been destroyed. 
Birmingham.—A public meeting of the inhabitants of 
this town was held on Monday ‘‘ for the purpose of con- 
sidering what steps ought to be taken by the friends of 
civil, religious, and commercial freedom, during the next 
session of Parliament, to secure the redress by the Legis- 
lature of the people’s grievances.” The Mayor presided. 
Mr, J. Sturge moved a series of resolutions in favour of 
universal suffrage and of a full consideration of the people’s 
gti These which were carried unani- 
mously terminated with the following :—“ That in the 
deliberate opinion of this meeting, the representatives of 
the people in Parliament ought to be called on by their 
constituents to unite together for the purpose of forcing 
on the attention of Parliament the grievances of the 
people before voting the supplies ; and that this plan of 
action be specially recommended to them, because it is 
perfectly practical, consistent with the functions of the 
House of Commons, simple in its operation, legal, just, 
and necessary; has been successfully used in former pe- 
riods of our history to resist the encroachments of the 
Crown, and offers to a despairing and disheartened people 
the power of at once removing abuses and of realising at 
no distant period the only security to be found against 
misgovernment, and that full, fair, and free representation 
in the Commons’ House of Parliament to which they are 
entitled alike by the principles of equity and the British 
constitution.” Resolutions were then passed adopting 
addresses from the electors to their representatives and 
to the different constituencies throughout the country in 
favour of Mr. Sharman Crawford’s plan of popular repre- 
sentation. Mr. Muntz, however, and Mr. Scholefield 
the two members for the borough, expressed their doubts 
whether the plan of Mr. Crawford was good in principle 
or could be carried out to the extent proposed. 
Bridgenorth.—A correspondent informs us that the 
return of Thos. Whitmore, Esq., and family on Thursday 
week, after an absence of above four months, to Apley 
Park, near this town, was welcomed with great rejoicings 
in the neighbourhood. In passing through the villages 
near his extensive property, the carriage was met by 
numbers of the inhabitants, carrying torches, laurels, &c. 
At the north entrance near Stockton Church an arch of 
evergreens was erected, and along the whole distance 
from it to the mansion (two miles) large torches were 
planted at short distances. Numbers of the inhabitants 
accompanied the carriage in procession on each side bear- 
ing torches, and the night although exceedingly dark was 
