MISCELLANEOUS.

Press, Volume VII, Issue 793, 15 May 1865, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Recently the Rev. Mr. Spark, of Kirkwall, N. 8., had a child baptised. By accident, not design, ahymn was given out for the congregation to sing, the second verse of which upset the gravity of the gravest. It ran as follows:— " As spar&s in close succession rise, So man, the child of woe, < Is doomed to endless cares and toils Through all his life below," On the recent introduction of the electric telegraph into Morocco, notwithstanding the opposition of the fanatics, the emperor of that country threatened with execution any persons who should injure the apparatus. The wires having been recently destroyed by the inhabitants of Mahorany, the village was, by his majesty's orders, surrounded, and the heads of 10 of the natives were out off and fixed on the telegraph, poles as a warning. This summary punishment is declared to have produced a great impression on the people. Mr. A. Gordon, C.E., has published a letter written to Mr. Cowper, in which he states, that there I are 20 steam-boilers under the floor of the Houses of Parliament, many of them working at high pressure, and some of which have not been tested for 10 or 12 years. Unless matters are carefully managed, he anticipates a Guy Fawkes explosion some day. The Edinburgh theatre, which was burnt down recently, was close to St. Mary's Soman Catholic Church, the space between the two buildings being, filled up by a cloister or private chapel. All the evening the church had been the scene of great activity to rescue the property, consisting of the alter-piace, a " Descent from the Cross," by Vandyck —lately insured for £300, and more recently for £1500, but really regarded as invaluable—several copies from Vandyck, and the offerings and relics preserved there. The pictures were taken oat in safety, but the altar rail and some of the interior carved work was destroyed by the &lHng in of the roof. The picture by Vandyck referred to is said to have had a somewhat remarkable history. Itwas sent, a number of years ago, from the Continent, and the vessel containing it was wrecked on her homeward voyage. The painting was recovered from the "wreck, but the address being lost it was sent to the office of her Majesty's Customs. An offer of several thousand pounds is said to have been made for it by George IV., bat the proper ownership of the pinture.hkving been established, it was sent on, aa at first intended, to S_

Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Edinburgh. This is the second occasion on which it has been hastily removed from the church, the last time being in Atav, ISSS, when the Adelphi Theatre was burnt to tho ground on the same site.

Her Majesty is said to have had a most miraculous escape from being crushed to death by the falling of a huge elm tree in the Home park. Her Majesty was taking an airing on her favorite little Scotch pony, and proceeding through the tall avenue of elms at Windsor known as Queen Elizabeth's Ride, the pony being led by a gillie, and a groom following at a short distance, when, fortunately and providentially, the servant observed one of the large trees falling, immediately over her Majesty* The groom c_l! »d out loudly and her Majesty, mads aware of the chiger by this timely alarm, escaped being crushed bemwth "> • tree by a few yards only. A densely-crowih 1 ..ng of Reformers has been held in the Victoria-hall, Leeds, the Mayor in the chair, to consider the question of Parliamentary Reform.—Mr. Baines, M.P., and Mr. W. E. Foster, M.P., supported resolutions condemnatory of the conduct of the House of Commons in neglecting Reform, and calling upon her Majesty's Ministers to fi_U fil the pledges they had so solemnly given to the country.—Viscount Amberley, the eldest son of Earl Russell, and who it is understood will be the second Liberal candidate for Leeds at the next election, made an excellent speech in support of the resolution. He said he might be considered to have a special historical connection with the Reform question, and he then proceeded to advocate in a very enlightened and liberal strain the claims of a large proportion of the working classes to political enfranchisement. Ifc | had been said the people were apathetic about Reform ; but if this were so, the conclusion he should draw from that circumstance was directly opposite to what the Conservatives drew from it. It seemed to him that if people did not care about Reform, and if they were indifferent to the possession of votes, it ought to be regarded as a national misfortune. His lordship next proceeded to sketch his programme, which was in some respects more comprehensive end liberal than that of his father, and his address wae repeatedly and fervidly applauded by the audience.— A petition to Parliament in favor of the further enfranchisement of the people was thon unanimously adopted, and the proceedings closed. There would seem to bo an organised system of burglary having for its object the plunder of jewellers* shops. Two eases have recently occurred-—one at Manchester, and the other in London—in which the

thieves have carried off large plunder. The shop of Mr. Walker, jeweller, of Cornhill, City, was entered during one night by thieves, his sate was broken open, and jewellery valued at several thousand pounds was stolen. T"e burglars appear to have gone to

work in a most systematic mannor. They.must have secreted themselves on the previous night in room-

occupied as offices above the shop, then cut a hole through the ceiling into the shop of a tailor, next door to Mr. Walker, and afterwards made their way.

through the floor into the room where the jewellery was kept. The curious thing is that the policemen on duty near the shop never seem to have discovered that a robbery had been committed, although the place was actually lined with iron, the gas was alight all night, holes were in the shatters for tho police to look through as they passed every quarter of the safe was painted white, and mirrors were; so placed within the shop that every portion of it could be seen by the constables if they had looked. Moat jewellers in the city adopt the same plan, but unfortunately three have been broken into and robbed during tbe past 12 months. This extraordinary burglary and robbery has created quite a sensation among the bankers and jewellers in the city. -Sills have been circulated offering a reward of £1000 for the detection of thethieves,' and ah attempt _i also making to inorease that reward by a second £1000, to be raised by subscription'among the mercantile firms in tlie city. Though some days have elapsed since the perpetration of the robbery, no clue has been obtained of the burglars.—ln Manchester the shop broken into was that of Mr. Howard, at the corner of Market street and Corporation street. __c modus operandi seems to have been very much the same here as in Mr. Walker's case. The thieves-got clear off with the whole of Mr. Howard's stock. Attempts were made on other' jewellers' shops- in Manchester, but they failed; M. F. de Lesseps has just informed the Chambers of Commerce in France that communications are now -open by water between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and that a daily service- of boats is estab-

lishcd between Port-Said and Suez. A barge con* : tain ing from 25 to 30 persons, and towed by a small . steamer, has already traversed in 24 hours the 94 , miles which separate the two seas. The IsthmUß of Suez Canal Company also invites the Chambers of Commerce to send delegates to report on the present state of the works, and on the uses for-the transport of goods and passengers which may be made of the -canal, offering as it does a continuous, stream of water 50 feet wide, and of a minimum depth of four feet.

For some time past the church of Sant' Ambrozio, in Milan, has been under repairs. To strengthen, and in particular the heavy pillars of the atrium, a jiew line of underground walls had to be raised all round the building. Tbis work has just brought to light a most interesting fragment of antiquity—one piece of the antique stone ou which the last will of - Pliny in favor of the Milanese stood engraved. This 'relic contains the following words :—" 0. Plinius F. L. Ccecilius. . . .T. F. I. Ther. ... mento fieri.jussit Thermes)." The Cardinal Frederic Borromeo had tried to find that testamentary atone; but it was labor lost, and it is now.conjectured that the principal fragment of it was made use of in the construction of the tomb of King Lotario, who died in 950. Pliny's last will left legacies also fW the expenses of an annual feast to be given to the citizen-, and for the erection of.two colleges for poor children, male and female. - ""•-''-'