1826.

The

Thames Tunnel. The large and ingenious iron shield, which is destined to protect at once the workmen, and the tunnel itself, from almost a possibility of danger during the operation, is fixed and ready to proc proceed horizontally. workmen have cut away the brickwork, preparatory to their striking out horizontally under the Thames. This, from the solidity of the work and the hardness of the cement, is a laborious work, and necessarily of slow progress. It is hoped that in eighteen months from getting through the wall, the tunnel will be carried to and under the further shore of the River; and in the opinion of persons most competent to form a correct judgment, the first expectation of ultimate and complete success is increased by all the circumstances which have hitherto attended this important undertaking.

The Bank-The Bank Directors are already reaping the fruits of their system of liberality: the number of new accounts opened at that establishment, in preference to keeping cash at private bankers, is exceedingly great, and new facilities, as to checks for small sums, are now given. In consequence of this great accumulation of business, and the issuing of the one and two pound notes, the Directors found it necessary to engage a great number of new clerks. Nearly eighty have already been employed; and the number must still be augmented. The Directors of the Bank have published the names of thirtyone gentlemen who are empowered to sign notes of five pounds and upwards, and ninety-nine are empowered to sign one and two pound notes. Branch Banks are also to be established forthwith,

APPOINTMENTS, PROMOTIONS, &c. Major-general Campbell to be Governor of Sierra

Leone.

Sir J. Wemyss Mackenzie, Bart. to be Lieute. nant and Sheriff Principal of the shire of Ross.

Montague Earl of Abingdon to be Lord Lieute pant of Berks.

His Grace the Duke of Devonshire to be his Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of all the Russias, on his Imperial Majesty's Coronation.

NEW MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT. Horsham-The Hon. F. Fox in the room of Sir J. Aubrey, Bart.

Carlow-T. Kavenagh, Esq. in the room of Sir U. B. Burgh, now Baron Downes.

Shire of Rorburgh-H. F. Scott, jun. Esq. of Harden, in the room of Sir A. Don, Bart.

ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS.

The Rev. J. S. Cocks to the Perpetual Curacy of Stoulton, Worcestershire,

The Rev. R. Conington to the Rectory of Fishtoft, Lincolnshire.

The Rev. A. Dashwood to the Rectory of Bintry with Themelthorpe annexed, Norfolk.

The Rev. G. Day to the Perpetual Curacy of Hemblington, Norfolk.

June-VOL. XVIII. NO. LXVI.

257

The Rev. T. Gell to the Rectory of Preston Bag

Goodall, Esq.

At Kilmiston, by the Rev. Henry Dukinfield, the Rev. F. North, Prebendary of Winchester, to Harriet, daughter of Sir Henry Warde, of Dean

House, K.C.В.

Sir William Hancock, Bart. to Elizabeth, fifth daughter of Thomas Harding, Esq.

In Berkeley-square, Johu Bulted, eldest son of John Bulted, Esq. of Fleet, Devon, to Elizabeth, second daughter of Earl Grey.

William Fletcher, Esq. of Merrion-square South, in Dublin, to Francisca, youngest daughter of Archibald Hamilton Rowan, Esq. of Killilea

Castle.

At Staplestown Church, in the County of Carlow, the Hon. and Rev. H. S. Stopford, to Annette, daughter of William Browne, Esq.

At Dublin, Chichester, son of the late John Bolton, Esq. to Harriet Augusta, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Stewart, of Longilly.

Ar Torrington, Capt. Colby, R.N. to Miss Mary Palmer.

At Colyton, T. J. Winter, of Taunton, Somerset, Esq. to Catherine, only daughter of the late Samuel Sampson, of Colyton, Esq.

Died.] At Naples, the Duchess of Florida, relict of the late King of Naples.

At her house in Upper Seymour-street, Countess Bentinck.

At her house at Richmond, Mrs. Doughty. At Whaley-house, Stephen's green, Dublin, the Right Hon. the Lady Anne Whaley.

After a short illness, Mrs. Windsor, of the Theatre Royal, Bath.

At Parkshot, Richmond, Hannah Margaretta, widow of the late Wm. Ross, Esq.

At Paris, Madame de Bordelais, formerly Miss Sutton, of Norwich.

At Cheltenham, Mr. Godsal, aged 79, many years the most fashionable coachmaker in London, and considered to have made the largest fortune ever accumulated in that line of business.

At Liverpool, Thomas Twemlow, Esq. of Liscard.
The Rev. R. P. Goodenough, M.A. of Carlton,

near Worksop, Prebendary of York.

2 L

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

A Horticultural Society is forming at Bucking. ham and its vicinity, to encourage the growth of fruits and flowers, by granting prizes to the most successful cultivators. All persons are admitted to the privilege of showing who pay a small subscription previously into the hands of the Trea

surer.

The Aylesbury Anti-Slavery Society held a meeting at the George Inn there last month, to receive the Secretary's report on the petitions. That to the Commons was signed by 2278 persons, and that to the Lords by 2233. The difference in number was occasioned by some persons having inadvertently signed the one without thinking of the other.

CAMBRIDGE.

The Observatory is the only new erection of any note (with the exception of the new Court of Trinity College) which is now perfectly finished. The University may justly congratulate itself upon this most essential addition to their public buildings: the want of it has long been severely felt by the mathematical students; and, indeed, it is much to be wondered at, that this object had not long since been accomplished; particularly if we consider that mathematics comprise so large a part of the studies of its junior members, and were till lately the almost exclusive path to academic ho. nours. The Observatory does not contribute so much as might be expected to the additional grandeur of the public buildings. It is situated about three quarters of a mile from the town, upon the road to St. Neot's, well known to every Cantab. It stands upon a rising ground, and commands a very extensive horizon, particularly to the south. In the structure of this edifice alone, of those which are now in progress, the University has adopted the Grecian style. The front extends one hundred and twenty feet from east to west. The east end of the building contains the elegant and commodious residence of the professor; the west end that of the assistant observer.

CHESHIRE.

The good tendency of the Lectures established in Chester by the Welsh Lecture Society, is now generally acknowledged. The Welsh part of the population of Chester is supposed to amount to nearly seven thousand. Of these very many are of course in the humbler walks of life. Some, no doubt, can speak both the Welsh and English with almost equal fluency; but there are more who, though they understand English, yet understand

it as a foreign tongue, and are better pleased and more edified by what they hear in their own, while perhaps there are not a few, to whom the ancient British language is the only avenue of religious knowledge.

CORNWALL.

A fortnight since, as some labourers were level. ling a hedge on the estate of J. P. Peters, Esq. in the parish of Philleigh, they struck on a large

stone, about three feet below the surface, and which was about five feet in length and four feet in width. On removing it, a vault, formed by

four large stones, placed on the edges, was dis

covered, containing two human skeletons. One of them appeared to have been placed in a sitting

posture, and the other to have been deposited in a reclining position, close to the side of the vault,

with the arms crossed on the breast. The bones were nearly in a perfect state. The skeleton first mentioned appears to have been that of a man of mature age, the skull being without a visible fissure, the teeth large, and the thigh bones straight. The remains of his companion appear to be those of a young female, the fissure in the skull being very apparent, the teeth small, and thigh bones curved. They were both evidently persons of short stature, neither of the thigh bones being more than sixteen inches in length; the skulls were also short, and the os frontis of both very prominent. At the foot of the vault was an urn of earthenware, glazed inside, and though of coarse workmanship, not inelegantly shaped. The vault was about three feet and a half long and two feet and a half wide, and coincided with the meridian, the heads of the bodies being towards the south. Another vault, but smaller, was discovered in the same field, about sixty yards from the first, but it was quite empty. Some years since a human skeleton 'was discovered in the same field, at the distance of 150 yards from the first mentioned vault. The foundations of three or four houses have also been traced, near the vaults, but they are probably of more modern date.

DEVONSHIRE.

A very able Lecture, accounting for the accumulation of shoals and sand banks at the mouth of harbours, &c. was delivered to the Senior Class at the Plymouth Institution, by Lieut. Peat, R.N. The lecturer brought forward a very ingenious theory on this subject, which possesses the peculiar merit of being entirely novel. He stated that shoals are formed by the waters receding from harbours and meeting the flow of the sea, neither body of water at this point having power to carry the sediment which each brings with it farther, by reason of the opposing force of their meeting. The sediment is therefore deposited, and a bank arises. The remedy he proposes is the erection of locks on an improved principle, which he conceives will effectually remove every obstruction. Mr. Fox gave a lecture a short time ago, on the Utility of the Horizontal line in Perspective Drawing, and on the nature of the points of Sight and Distance; and illustrated the Vanishing Points, particularly as regards the inclined Planes, and commencement of Practical Perspective.

Subscriptions have been commenced, and large sums contributed, in aid of the distressed manufacturers in the North, at Stonehouse, Plymouth, Devonport, Exeter, and other places in this

county.

DORSETSHIRE.

A beautiful fossil fish was lately excavated from a rock of blue lias, on the beach between Charmouth and Lyme, by Jonas Wishcombe, of Charmouth. It is about fifteen inches in length and eleven inches broad, and is exceedingly per. fect, even in the most delicate parts of the eyes. A new turupike-road is now finished and opened from Sherborne to the town of Cerne Abbas, and from thence to Dorchester, by which road all hills are avoided, and a sheltered and safe journey through the Vale is secured, without the risk of exposure to snow or other casualties.

1826.

DURHAM.

It is reported that a harbour is about to be formed on the coast between Sunderland and Hartlepool, at Hive. This place is on one side eight miles distant from Hartlepool, and on the other seven miles from Sunderland. It was survey. ed about five years ago by Mr. Smith, the geologist and civil engineer, who drew a plan of the harbour, and took occasion to notice the extensive field of coal that might be opened with great advantage about Durham, Auckland, Brancepeth, Witton-le-Wear, &c. from which places an easy communication might be had with the Hive, and from whence consequently immense shipments might take place. But it is not merely in a commercial point of view such a harbour might be ex. pected to be highly beneficial; a place of refuge and safety for shipping is much wanted. It is supposed that in the October of last year, not less than two hundred ships were wrecked off this northeast coast! Such heart-rending disasters could never have occurred if this proposed harbour had then existed, and the consequent saving in lives and property that might have been effected, may be easily conceived.

At the Sunderland Infirmary, Dr. Reid Clanny, F.R.S.E., lately read a lecture, in which the operation of his new-invented instrument, the zopuron, for maintaining respiration in all cases of suspended animation, was fully explained.

ESSEX.

239

lies, at the west entrance of the Queen's Channel. The red beacon buoy on the Pansand will be removed, and a black and white chequered buoy, without staff or vane, moored in its place. Thus all the buoys on the north side of the Queen's Channel will be white, or partly so. On the West Last, at the western entrance of the Horse Channel, a black beacon buoy with a staff and ball, instead of the buoy now there. A black beacon buoy with a staff and ball, on the east end of the Gunfleet Sand, at the eastern entrance of the Swin, instead of the buoy now there.

LANCASHIRE.

The establishment of a medical school has lately been proposed at Manchester.

The disturbances in the manufacturing districts, and the foolish destruction of power-looms by the workmen, have contributed to lessen the quantity of labour and enhance the causes of suffering among the people. These violent measures have subsided, and order appears to be again restored; but upwards of one thousand looms have been rendered useless. Great suffering, amounting to absolute want, has been the sole cause of these tumults. Fever arising from lowness of living has appeared at Blackburn; the unremitting attention of the opulent and benevolent will be required to arrest its progress, rather than the efforts of medical science.

There have been some symptoms of an amend. ment in business at Manchester. The demand for

cotton twist has certainly improved, as has also, we are told, that for some descriptions of manufactured goods. In Liverpool too there has been a good inquiry for cotton wool, and somewhat higher prices have been obtained. The first step towards the replacing of business on its regular footing will be a conviction, on the part of monied men, that no further reduction in prices is likely to occur; the next, the restoration of confidence, must be a more gradual and a slower affair; but the opinion that they are not likely to experience any further losses upon stock, will probably suffice to keep on their legs many persons who must have sunk under an additional decline.

LINCOLNSHIRE.

A subterranean oak tree, containing upwards of 300 solid feet of wood, in a good state of preservation, was lately taken up in Ruskington Fen, near Sleaford. Although there are yearly large quantities of such remains of antiquity discovered, and forced from their long-unmolested beds, in that and the neighbouring fens, perhaps none had before been drawn from its obscurity equal in size to the one in question, excepting one which was dug up in Walcott Dales in 1811, and which, it is said, contained nearly 400 solid fect of timber. Many incongruous opinions are afloat in the neighbourhood respecting the subterranean trees found in the fens of Lincolnshire.

NORFOLK.

The accounts from the manufacturing districts of the state of distress continue to be very disheartening. At Norwich, 14,000 persons are relieved out of doors; 700 of whom are set to work on the roads, &c. at 1s. per day; 700 are in the workhouse, and 100 in the infirmary. The rates for the quarter are 10s. in the pound.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

A beautiful and singular phenomenon at this period of the year, was observed in the vicinity of Nottingham on Thursday night, the 20th of April. At about ten o'clock while the moon was shining in her greatest splendour, and the sky exhibited a mottled and flaky appearance upon a ground of deep blue, a cloud of a denser character arose at the verge of the horizon in a north-easterly direction. In a moment a vivid flash of light broke upon the eye of the amazed spectator, which was followed at short intervals by other flashes equally brilliant for the space of an hour or more. No thunder was heard, and no rain fell; but the flashes, notwithstanding the clear light shed upon the scene by the moon, were of awful intensity.

SHROPSHIRE.

At the late Shropshire and Staffordshire Iron Masters' Quarter-days, a fall of prices took place of 10s. per ton on melting pigs, and other kinds experienced a still greater reduction. The prices have probably been hitherto upheld by the undoubted inadequate supply of last year to the denand, and by the present diminished make. About seventeen furnaces (employing three hundred men) are lately stopped or "blown out" in Staffordshire, and the supply is calculated to be diminished weekly about 750 tons. A considerable additional capital, both in Shropshire and Staffordshire, and also in Wales, had been brought into the trade by the prices of last year, and the high profits of the two first quarters; but this will probably not lower the present prices, when the effect of the failures in the trade, and the present general diminished make, are set off against it. The workmen, generally, are reduced in their time of work; and, but for the continued high price of provisions (attributed to short stocks of cattle and corn), wages would have fallen considerably, and much relieved the manufacturer. The price of coals has fallen as rapidly as its late rise-on an average more than a third; many of the largest colleries are working but three days a week, and some entirely closed.

SOMERSETSHIRE.

The third quarterly meeting of the Bath Mechanics' Institution lately took place. The Report, which was of a most gratifying nature, stated the pumber of books to have been considerably increased since the preceding quarter, when they exceeded five hundred volumes. The statement of the finances of the Institution was likewise highly satisfactory. From the small payment, by the members, of 7s. on entrance, and 1s. 6d. per quarter, the cost of furniture, (of which the Society have every thing necessary); the salary of a librarian, for his attendance every night from six till ten o'clock; the rent of the rooms, and every other expense, have been defrayed. The Committee, however, finding the receipts insufficient to purchase books to the extent the increase of the mem. bers renders requisite, it was unanimously agreed that the quarterly payment should be advanced accordingly. The members have had the advantage of lectures on Mechanics and Astronomy; and various classes meet on alternate evenings, for the purpose of receiving instructions, in the different branches of science, from persons well qualified to teach, who give their services gratuitously.

SUFFOLK.

To the Ipswich Mechanics' Institute Mr. Vaux lately delivered a very interesting and able lecture on Caloric. The following is a syllabus of the lecture:-Explanation of the term. The laws of Caloric.-Temperature.-Instruments for measur ing heat.-Knowledge of the ancients upon the subject-Sources from which heat is derived.-Properties of Caloric.-Singular phenomenon respecting water.-Different conducting power of bodies. -The application of this power to useful purposes in common life. Latent heat.-Artificial production of cold. Why Caloric, in a latent state, produces no effect upon our powers of sensation.Why water, under common circumstances, cannot be heated above 2129, or the boiling point. The

process of boiling explained. The cause of water extinguishing fire.-Evaporation.

SUSSEX.

The Oriental Garden at Brighton, says the Brighton Gazette, is making a rapid progress. About twenty workmen have been for some time employed under the superintendence of Mr. H. Phillips, who is indefatigable in the attention he pays to this object; a number of plants have been set, and the ground is excavating and laid out for the purposes of the garden. A forcing house is also erecting; and the building of the Athenæum will be shortly commenced. It is cal. culated that the undertaking will be completed in two years; but although the shares have gone off well, there is not, it seems, at present enough subscribed for the erection of the glass building. We wish well to the design, for it cannot fail to prove a great attraction to the town: it is absolutely without a parallel in the world, that which was formed in Russia, and which was on a vastly inferior scale, being no longer in existence.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Although we live the third century from the death of Shakspeare, at no former period (that of 1769 excepted, when his great representative, Garrick, promoted the celebrated jubilee in honour of his favourite bard,) has there been such a disposition on the part of the inhabitants of Stratford and its vicinity, to pay a due respect to the memory of their poet. The adopted birth-bay of his Majesty, being the natal day of the Bard of Avon, and the one on which he departed for "that undiscovered country, from whose bourne no traveller returns," the members of the Shakspearian Club, with the inhabitants of the town in general, celebrated their second anniversary on the following day. The morning of Monday was ushered in with the firing of cannon on the banks of the "soft-flowing Avon," which continued at intervals throughout the day. A band of music played upon the river, during the morning, many of the Old Jubilee tunes, while the ears of the inhabitants were enlivened with melodious peals from the musical bells of that church, where upwards of two hundred years the remains of the matchless bard have, agreeable with his wish, lain undisturbed. Medals and ribbons were provided for the occasion; the latter woven from a pattern of that worn at Garrick's Jubilee in 1760, in

which were blended the colours of the rainbow, emblematic of his great and universal genius and knowledge of human nature, as described by John

8011

"Each change of many-coloured life he drew." The medal is exquisitely chaste and beautiful, designed and cast in silver, richly mounted and glazed, by Mr. Ottley, of Birmingham. On the ob verse is the head of Shakspeare, surrounded by the line from Hamlet

"We shall not look upon his like again." On the reverse, "Shakspearian Club, Stratfordupon-Avon, cstablished April 23, 1824."

WILTSHIRE.

There was a serious riot last month at Trow

bridge, occasioned, it is believed, by the price of potatoes being advanced, in consequence, as the mob conceived, of forestalling. The principal manufacturers speedily issued a printed exhortation to their work-people to conduct themselves peaceably, on pain of being discharged. In the course of the evening, the rioters broke the windows of the houses in the High-street, and committed other acts of outrage. One man was secured, and con veyed to the prison; in front of which Mr. Wal dron, the magistrate, placed himself to prevent an