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and which on one side presents the head of Goëthe, and on the reverse the heads of the grand duke and grand duchess. The legend is in German, to the following effect:"Charles Augustus and Louisa to Goëthe, 7th November 1825."

EXPLOSION IN A STEAM-BOAT. The United Kingdom Steampacket, from London for Edinburgh, having put into Grimsbyroads for shelter, the Graham Steam-packet with passengers for Hull, went alongside her to take out those persons desirous of proceeding to Hull, and thence to Edinburgh, by land. Shortly after the engine of the Graham was stopped, the boiler burst with a tremendous explosion, by which a respectable Corn-dealer of Grimsby, is said to have been literally blown to atoms, as no part of him was ever afterwards seen; he left a wife and ten children to deplore his loss. John Potton, a labourer, was killed on the spot. A gentleman and a lady were blown a considerable height, and fell into the water; they were immediately picked up, and did not appear to be much injured. Several other persons were severely scalded. One gentleman, who was looking over the side of the United Kingdom packet, was killed on the spot, his head being literally shattered to pieces. After the accident, the Graham was towed up to Hull by the United Kingdom. When the consternation had in some degree subsided, the Graham's passengers were taken on board the other packet. The cause of the accident was explained by the evidence given by the engineer on the inquest held on some of the bodies. The evidence was to the following effect;

Jacob Urwin, engineer of the Graham, was upon the paddlebox of that vessel at the time the accident happened; had been engineer of the Graham 18 months; has had accidents a little before by this boiler, which has given way more than once. From the first he never considered this boiler a good one, and has represented to the owners that it was defective. The first day he joined the vessel, the boiler had to be repaired; and he then told them, that it was not safe. He did not consider it safe even after it was repaired. He took 20lbs. of weight from the safety valve, not thinking the boiler strong enough. The full weight, when he came, was 56lbs., and he diminished it 20, and it has remained 36 ever since. Considered the boiler then safer, but always had a dread upon him. 36lbs. is a very light pressure. If it had been a good boiler, it would have borne the 56lbs. and a great deal more. He always thought the boiler unsafe; and in consequence of his representation he had reason to think new boilers were ordered. This boiler was not of the proper thickness, but very light.

The plates varied from an eighth to a sixteenth in thickness.

9. SINGULAR CASE OF RESUSCITATION. The marquis de Bolgida, Comptroller-general, of Madrid had a sudden attack of apoplexy, which ended, as it was thought, in his death. He was dressed in the habit of a monk, as is the constant custom of the country, and deposited in the vault of the Church of St. Juste. However, at about eleven o'clock at night, the marquis awoke from his lethargy, raised himself from his coffin (for, in general, Spanish coffins are not

fastened), and his fear giving him additional strength, he made his way to the grating of the vault opening to the street, and called to the first person he saw, who, frightened in his turn, ran away as fast as he could, calling out that ghosts were coming forth from the vault of St. Juste. The marquis, finding himself thus treated, recollected the name of a carpenter known to him, and who lived opposite, and called on him so loudly, that he succeeded in waking him. The carpenter went out, and though not much pleased to hear himself called upon from a place, the inhabitants of which are generally very taciturn, he by degrees collected his thoughts, understood what the marquis wished him to do, and went immediately to give the Curé of the parish an account of what had taken place. The marquis was liberated from the vault, and taken to his home, where he remained ill in bed, and on the point of really dying, through the supposed death which he lately suffered.

10. THE GUARDS' CLUB HOUSE. -About half-past eight o'clock, St. James's-street was rendered almost impassable, in consequence of the sudden fall of this building. Only a few months ago the house underwent a complete repair, and, in order to make it more roomy, the party-wall on the south side had been cut in half, and four inches raised against it, which had materially weakened it; in addition to this, the houses adjoining it had been pulled down, in order to be rebuilt; so that the wall lost all its support. For two or three days before, props had been raised against it, in hopes that its falling might be prevented, and every precaution adopted by the survey.

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About one o'clock in the morning, the establishment closed; all the members departed, and the steward, Mr. Stone, his family and domestics, retired to rest. Mr. and Mrs. Stone and their little girl, about three years old, slept in the back attic, upon which floor the housemaids also slept, and on the second floor, in the back rooms, slept the waiters and other men engaged in the house. About half-past six o'clock, the two house-maids and the kitchen-maid rose, leaving the rest of the family fast asleep in their beds. At about half-past seven, one of the master - builders observing the party-wall above alluded to to bulge out very much, immediately suspected that its fall would soon take place, and thereupon ran into the house, and cried out, "For God's sake, leave the premises, if you wish to save your lives, for the house will fall almost directly." The servants who were up, stantly ran up stairs, to inform their master and mistress of the danger that awaited them, and to arouse their fellow servants. No time was lost in deserting the house, leaving it and all the property to its fate. Not two minutes had elapsed after the inmates had escaped, before the whole of the party-wall fell down with a tremendous crash from the roof to the basement, and then the roof, having no support, fell in with such force, that the materials carried the ponderous beams and rafters through the billiard-room, drawing-room, down to the coffeeroom; but such was the extraordinary manner in which the materials fell, that very little damage was done to the furniture in the rooms through which they passed. The billiard table and the four gas

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burners surmounting it, remained these children alive, which they untouched. Not even a glass of the lamp was broken; and in the drawing-room, the elegant chandeliers which this establishment boasted so much of, were scarcely injured, and could be seen from

the street.

GOFF'S OAK.-About four miles beyond Enfield, through Bull's Cross, and beyond the old palace of Oliver Cromwell, stands Goff's Oak, a formidable rival, and certainly a survivor, of the famous tree of Fairlop, which not long since paid the debt of nature in the forest of Hainault. A public house stands within a few yards of Goff's Oak. The old house was burned down in 1814, and the present building is but small. The story which is recorded under a rude drawing of the tree, is, that the oak" was planted in the year 1066, by sir Theodore Godfrey, or Goffby, who came over with William the Conqueror," and the oak itself is a curiosity. The dimensions are enormous, and the trunk is hollow; nor is it the least of its claims to the attention of the visitor, that half a dozen persons could sit comfortably round a table in the cavity which time has formed. The tree is not generally known; but there are few who would regret a drive to the spot, or who would think the time which would be occupied in its examination lost.

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instantly tore to pieces, and devoured in the presence of the spectators. An inquiry took place, and these disgusting circumstances having been corroborated, the showman was summoned to the Guildhall. He gave his name James Sanger, of Tilbury, Wilts; said he received the children from the captain of a vessel at Liverpool, about two months since that they refused every kind of food but raw flesh, and rice mixed with it; had never been heard to speak in any known language; and that this was all he knew of them. The mayor, not being satisfied with this story, ordered the poor creatures to be taken to the workhouse, and properly

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treated. The man was on no account permitted to see them. Every persuasion was used to induce them to speak, and they were visited by a number of ladies of respectability, who expressed much interest in their fate. On Thursday evening, while the nurse was endeavouring to compose them in bed, the girl spoke for the first time in good English, and appeared all at once to be very communicative. The account she gives of the circumstances is as follows:Her father was a half black (a mulatto), her mother an English woman. They were placed under the care of their aunt, who resided in the parish of Whitechapel, in London, where they were born. This aunt had sold them to Sanger for 35s., about Christmas last, since which they had not seen either their unnatural parents or aunt. Sanger had used them with great cruelty, frequently beating them over the neck with a large stick; they had not been in bed since they were in the man's pos

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session, being kept in an upright posture night and day. They were kept from every kind of food except raw meat, and taught to snap at and devour what was offered to them with avidity. The man had told them, that, if they uttered a word, they should be murdered; and if any one touched them, they were to bite and appear angry. She said her name was Eliza Thompson, and her brother was called Edward; that she was ten years old, her brother seven. The child appeared very intelligent for her years.

CHILD MURDER. In the neighbourhood of Newport, at the village of Bassilig, a young woman, about a fortnight ago, was delivered of a child at the cottage of her parents, with whom she resided. They, in concert with her, immediately destroyed the child, by various lacerations of the throat, and kept its mangled remains three days in the house, tied up in a bundle, till an opportunity occurred of passing it out of window to the paramour of the girl-a young married man, with two children of his own, who was employed as an under-keeper on the contiguous estate of a gentleman of rank and property at Tredegar. This man was to have buried his burthen; but, palsied with horror, and oppressed, as he afterwards averred, with an indecision which deprived him of all energy, he delayed the wretched task, and deposited the bundle in the carrion cart, among the provision there collected for the dogs, under a shed near the kennel! An unusual motive happening to take one of the upper bailiffs into this shed on the ensuing morning, he was struck by the singularity of a coloured cotton appearing among the carrion, and

horrified when a further search. disclosed its contents. His inquiry respecting it of this man produced such immediate and equivocating agitation, as led to the apprehension of all the parties, and their committal, after a coroner's verdict of" Wilful Murder” had been pronounced, to Monmouth gaol.

THE

15. CONVOCATION OF CLERGY.-The General Assembly of the Clergy in Convocation took place, as is usual on the summoning of a new parliament, for the purpose of choosing delegates, &c. His grace the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of London (attended by their respective secretaries and officers), sir John Nicol, sir C. Robinson, with the other judges, doctors, and proctors belonging to the ecclesiastical courts, all in full costume, walked in procession from the Chapter House in St. Paul's Church-yard to the Cathedral. The service, commencing with the Litany, was read in Latin, by the dean, after which the Gloria in excelsis was chanted, previous to the sermon, which was preached also in Latin, by Dr. Monk, dean of Peterborough.

The following was the Programme issued on the occasion of the order of procession of the Convocation, on Wednesday, November 15, 1826:-1. The porter, with his black rod; 2. The proc tors, in their full-dressed gowns and hoods, the juniors going first; 3. The registrars of the province of Canterbury; 4. The registrar of the arches; 5. The advocates in their robes, the juniors going first; 6. The officers of the vicargeneral of the province and of the chancellor of London; 7. The vicar-general and chancellor of London; 8. The beadle of the arches, with his macé ; 9. The

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dean of the arches.Proceed from Doctors' Commons to the Chapter House. When they enter the Chapter House they divide, and let the dean of the arches, the vicar-general, and seniors, go up stairs first. The form of opening the Convocation. The archbishop (or his commissioners, if his grace should be hindered) meet at the Chapter House, the north side of St. Paul's church, about eleven in the forenoon. The dean of the arches, vicar-general, chancellor, advocates, and proctors, in their proper habits, attend his grace, or his commissioners, from Doctors' Commons, at that time and place. The bishops about the same time being assembled in the lord mayor's vestry in the cathedral, put on their habits and convocation robes. Notice will be given at the Chapter House when the bishops are ready, and then the archbishop, or his commissioners, preceded by the civilians, the juniors walking first, go from the Chapter House, through the north-west gate, into the area of the church-yard, and going up the steps to the west door of the cathedral, will there be met by the bishops and the dean and chapter, who, from thence, with the gentlemen of the choir, in their surplices, proceed before the archbishop, or his commissioners, the civilians dividing to the right and left at the west door, to let the archbishop or his commissioners pass between them, and then following the archbishop or his commissioners to the choir, the dean of the arches, vicar-general, chancellor, and advocates, going first, and the proctors following according to their seniority. The archbishop or his first commissioner goes into the dean's seat, and the other bishops into the prebendaries

stalls on each side of the choir, the dean of the arches, vicar-general, chancellor, and advocates sitting next them; prayers are then read by the junior bishop. After this follows an anthem, O pray for the peace of Jerusalem, &c. and then the sermon. After sermon the anthem is sung, Gloria in excelsis. After this anthem the archbishop, or his first commissioner, pronounces the blessing. Then the archbishop or his commissioners return through the west door of the Chapter House, the other bishops, with the dean of the arches, vicar-general, chancellor, advocates, and proctors, and the clergy of the lower house following them. The clergy of the lower house, after some time, return to the chapel on the north side of the cathedral, where the early prayers are usually read, to choose a prolocutor."

18. SINGULAR DUEL-A duel between the marquis Livron and M. Du Trone took place at twelve o'clock, in the forest of Senart, very near the chateau of Madame Du Cayla. The whole affair had the appearance of an act of madmen, and resembled more a tournament than a modern duel. Du Trone, the young advocate, was habited in the costume of a Greek chief; each was mounted on horseback, and had three seconds. The parties were armed with sabres, and, on the onset, Livron was dismounted by the concussion of the horses. Both were slightly wounded, and the seconds then thought proper to interfere. What adds to the singularity of this duel is, that it took place in the presence of 150 spectators.

19. GREAT FOOT RACE.The great foot race from Hyde Park corner to Reading and back, was

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