ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 95, 30 October 1852, Page 4

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

On the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington gave his commemorative banquet sit Apsley House to the General and Field Officers who participated in the dangers and "lories of the field. Prince Albert honoured the noble Duke by his presence. The representatives of the powers allied with us at the period of the-battle, called at Apsley House in the morning to tender their respects to their illustrious commander, and the same mark of respect was paid by a number of the aristocracy. On no previous anniversary was there such a throng of visitors. - The Semaphore of Marseilles states that a letter from llome had reached that port announcing- that three British men-of-war had arrived at Ancoua, to protect Mr. Murray, an English subject who had been sentenced to d- ath by the tribunal of the Consulta, for alledged revolutionary designs in Italy. Among the many valuable works which were lost by a recent calamitous fire on the premises of the Messrs. Clowes may be comprehended the entire impression of the large paper edition of the Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition, prepared for the Hoy a 1 Commissioners, and valued at £7,000. Only four copies are now extant, which had been forwarded to Prince Albeit. A small edition of the Illustrated Catalogue, and the whole edition of Knight's Illustrated Shakspeare, were also consumed. The Hydra steam-sloop, Commodore Bel-. grave, wo hear, by latest accounts from the

Cape, had been ordered to proceed from Simon's j Bay to Danger Point, and there leave an officer, and a boat's crew, to survey the rocks upon which the steam-frigate Birkenhead was so fatally wrecked. A most extraordinary instance of unlookedfor good luck has just occurred in Lisbon. About tw nty years ago an English gentleman of fortune, whose name has not yet transpired) became the father, in that city, of a natural daughter, who was put into the foundling hospital with some badge or mark about her by which she might afterwards be identified. By . the last packet from Southampton a British *' merchant in Lisbon received instructions to make inquiry for the child, as she had been left a fortune of" £70,000 by her father. As there is a regular register kept of the dates of entrance, and all other particulars, and the female foundlings, as long as they are unmarried, continue under the surveillance of the establishment, there was no difficulty whatever in finding out the fortunate girl, who, it appears, was at service, as a housemaid in the city. Mr. Darius Davison, a New York shipbuilder' writes to the New York Courier and Enquirer: —" I will build and complete, within the period of six months, from the Ist day of June, a schooner-rigged yacht on my new model, which shall be one hundred feet on deck, and when completed will cost about thirty thousand dollars ; and I will sail her in a race with any vessel that can be built within that period, or any 'Other known model from which any vessel has heretofore been built; such vessel to be built the same length on deck, viz., one hundred feet. And this is the only point upon which they shall be controlled in dimensions, construction, ringing, or sails, except that the 'vessel shall be built of wood. And I will sail my yacht in a race with any vessel so built that may be matched against her, after the period of six months from the first day of June, 1852, at any time and place, and under any circum* stance that may be chosen by the other party, whether such contest be upon the river or ocean, with or against the wind, in a 1 eavy or light breeze. If my yacht is beaten I will deliver her,'with all her appurtenances, to the winner of the race as a prize, and if the opposing vessel is beaten she shall be delivered to me, with all her appurtenances, as a prize. I will give them the further advantage of seeing, at my office, a lithographic drawing of the model, rig, and sails of the yacht I propose to build, as she would appear upon the water. The New Crystal Palack.—Various new arrangements have leen lately made by the directors of the Crystal Palace Company. The total length of the building will be 1,853 feot, the extreme width 384. The new Palace will undergo sevaral modifications. It will have three transepts —two of the same size and height as the original transept, and a central one of 130 feet span, 108 feet higher than the two smaller. The disposition of the galleries will be much modified. It is deteimined that they shall not run along the nave as at present, but shall be generally kept back to the outside walls, coming forward only at those points where they will command the most striking views. The interior will be arranged on the following general principle:—At one end, the climate and vegetation will be those of the tropics, gradually changing, until, at the centre transept, a temperate climate and temperate .vegetation are reached, which will prevail throughout the remainder of the building, .Portions of the palace will be converted into quadrangles similar to the fine art or medioeval courts of the Exhibition. These courts will be made to represent the manners, costumes, &c, of different countries. In one of the smaller transepts there will be Egyptian antiquities, casts from the celebrated reliefs, illustrative of the trades of Egypt, and from the most noted statutes—all coloured exactly like the originals, and so disposed as not to be a mere dead collection of individual objects, but a living production of Egyptian manners and things. In another part there will be presented a Nineveh Palace. Steps have been already taken to procure collections of sculpture, of architecture, and of ornaments illustrating the progress of those arts from their commencement to the present time. The architectural collection will form a progressive series, with which will be mixed the industrial arts and manufactures of the middle ages. A large space will be eet apart for geological specimens, arranged in the order of the strata, accompanied by maps,

views, and sections of the country, specimens of vegetation, &c. Modern machinery and manufacture will be largely represented in exhibitions of materials from their raw state, in every progressive condition up to manufactured articles. Up the centre of the nave fountains of various descriptions will play. The principal, or Victoria Fountain, in the park, will play 150 feet high—that is to say, 20 feet higher than the Nelson column in Trafalgar-square. There is every reason to believe that within a twelvemonth the Crystal Palace will be once more open to the public.