Flintshire Observer Mining Journal and General Advertiser for the Counties of Flint Denbigh

A LITTLE child, hearing a minister preaching a sermon, and observing him very' vehement in his words and gestures, cried out Mother, why don't the people let the man out or the box? IF you would be truly happy, my dear, said one young lady to another, you will have neither eyes nor ears when your husband comes home late from the club. Yes, I know, answered the other, who abomm- nat-es tobacco, wearily, but what am I to do with my nose ?

THE BRITISH FORCES IN EGYPT It was decided at the War Office on Saturday to considerably reduce the staff of General Sir Frederick Stephenson in Egypt from the 1st of next month, chiefly in consequence of the withdrawal of British troops. Amongst the officers who will be relieved of their duties and not be replaced from home, though some of them may be from the officers employed with the Egyptian forces, are Major- General the Hon. R. H. de Montmorency, commanding at Assouan Colonel Leach, C.B., R.E., Lieut.-Colonel Sandwith, Royal Marines (Assistant- Adjutant and Quartermaster-General); Captain Fitz- gerald, Durham Light Infantry (Intelligence Depart- ment) Capt. Cooper, Royal Fusiliers (aide-de-camp); and Major Kekewich, East Kent Regiment (brigade major), all with the frontier field force at Assouan or atSouakim; Major-General Lennox, V.C., C.B., and Lieutenant English, Royal Dublin Fusiliers (aide-de- camp), at Alexandria; and the following on the head- quarters staff at Cairo Colonel W. Caine and Captain Murray (brigade major), Royal Artillery; Colonel Turner and Major Green (brigade majors), Royal Engineers; and the officer performing the duties of garrison adjutant. The posts of colonel on the staff and brigade major at Abassiyeh are also to be vacated.

SHOCKING DEATH OF A SCHOOLGIRL On Saturday, at Growndale Hall, Camden-town. Dr. G. Danford Thomas held an inquest concerning the death of Adelaide Blanche Woodward, nine years of age, daughter of Walter Woodward, army pen- sioner, lately living with her father at 3, Gospel Oak- grove, Kentish-town. The father said bis wife and the mother of the deceased was separated from him and had gone to America. Ho had not seen her for two years. He was cohabiting at the address named with Emma Grubb. They occupied two rooms on the top floor. The deceased had long been in. the habit of staying away from school, and even. staying out all night She began playing truant two years ago,, and her conduct had been worse since the witness lived at Kentish-town, where the child was Bent to Mansfield- place Board School. Neither kindness nor pumsnment deterred the deceased from stayingoutatnights, failing to go to the school, and roaming the streets. He had caned her several times, but did not allo w the woman Grubb to do so, nor so far as he was aware had she chastised her except with her hand. She stayed out on Wednesdav night all night, and on her being brought home on Thursday afternoon last, he told her to go into the back room and remain there. He did thia by way of punishment, nor did he intend to flog her. When she entered the room the window was closed. A few minutes afterwards the witness was called down stairs, and found the child 10 the arms of the land- lord. It then appeared that she had either jumped or fallen out of the window, falling a distance of 23 feet into the back yard. She, expired almost imme- diately. George Good., landlord of the house 3. Gospel Oak-grovoj deposed that he heard a "thud on the pavement in, the back yard, and, on going there, picked up the deceased, who seemed to breathe only once and then die. She expired before a doctor could arrive. Ha had heard the child beaten by her father and Grubb. She was brought home early one, morning three months ago by a policeman. and was then beaten. Witness and his wife remon- strated with their lodgers about beating the deceased, and the chastisement was less frequent and severe afterwards. Witness believed that Woodward was a steady man. Mrs. Good, wife of the last w itness, stated that the child had been flogged only thrice Bince Christmas Eve. The deceased was accused of pilfering. Mrs. Ashton, who was a lodger in the house until October last, deposed to hearing the child flogged by her father for full 20 minutes in Junelast. (Sensation.) She dusted two rooms, and the beating continued during that time. She went up stairs to remonstrate with him, and discovered him caning her severely on the bead. She was exclaiming, Ob. dadda, my pocr head, my poor head He had beaten her all over the body. Grubb told witness that the child's back was so much whealed, and her head was so sore, that she did not know how to wash her. (Sensa- tion.) Miss Saunders, teacher at the Manslield-place School, said tbedeceased was a bright, intelligent child, and was very regular in her attendance at school. She was occasionally obstinate and wilful, and would take property belonging to other children. Other evidence showed that the deceased, on Wednes- day and Thursday last, had a great dread of going home," lest she should be tied to the bedstead and caned. She was away from home all day on Wednes- day Emma Grubb said the deceased was not stinted for food. She was in the habit of stealing. The wit- nees had never caned her; she had merely slapped her with her open hand. She was away when the severe flogging mentioned by Mrs. Ashton was administered. On Thursday last Woodward spoke kindly to the child. Witness bad pointed out that it was useless to flog her. Detective-sergeant Miller, Y Division, said the window-sill was 2ft. Gin. from the floor. There was a projection 13ft. below the window. He did not think it was possible for a child to conceive that she w might safely escape from the window into the yard. Dr. Reece, 129, Queen's-crescent, showed that the immediate cause of death was fracture of the skull. He bad made a post-mortem examination, and discovered many remains of old bruises. Deceased's legs and her fore arm was lite- rally mottled by bruises. The jury found that the child died from fracture of the skull, caused by her falling from a window when she was endeavouring to effect her escape from a room, being in dread of punishment from her father. They further found that her death was due to an accidental cause and, having heard in evidence that she was severely and unmercifully beaten by her father, they considered he should be severelv censured, his conduct in their opinion, being more calculated to frighten and harden the child than improve its manners. Accordingly the coroner severely censured him for his cruelty.

WHOY Whose pigs are those, my lad ? Whoy, they belong to that there big sow No; 1 mean who is their master? Whoy, again answered tlje lad, that little un j be's a rare unto fight.

TRB MOBBS' ESTATE ROMANCE. Mr. Sat?*? Victor Morley surrendered before the Recorder at Central Criminal Court on Saturday to take his trial for misdemeanour, the ollence im- puted to him bein* that, be bad induced the prose- cuter, Mr. Thomas tl. Lodge, and his wife Louisa, to execute certain deeds conveying property forming a portion of what is known as Mobbs's estate, in the neighbourhood of Hoxton, by false and fraudulent representations. Mr. Moyses and Mr. Richmond conducted the prosecution, and Sir C. Russell. Q.C., and Mr. Poland appeared for the defendant. When the case was called on Sir C. Russell called upon the prosecution to elect upon what charge they would proceed. The indictment extended to enormous length, and the defendant did not know really what charge ho bad to answer. After some discussion it was arranged that only those eoenta involving the above charge could be relied upon. The Recorder after hearing the opening statement and some evidence, expressed his opinion that no false pretences had been proved against the prisoner, and that, on the contrary, all ti-at, he had been proved to have done he was entitled to do in his position as the agent of the parties who claimed to be the freeholders. Mr. Moyses, however, insisted upon hia right to proceed with the case. The prosecution terminated on Monday in the manner foreshadowed by the Recorder, who after hearing the evidence and full argument upon it, came to the conclusion that it did not raise any question which could be put to the jury. There was a romance of a kind in the history of the case which does not seem even now to have unravelled itself, but the facts immediately affecting the pro- secution of Morley were sufficiently prosaic. Joshua Mobbs, who for some time followed the vocation of a clown, and died last year, seems to have been indis- putably the true owner of certain land in the North of London. His claim went up through his father William to one John Mobbs, who died in 1791, but it became obscured, and be never reapea the benefit of it. Shortly before bis death be induced Morley, the accused, to take up his case and prosecute it. The, property bad been built over, and interests had sprung up which would not be brushed aside, but Morley formed the project of' reclaiming it. and with that intention be came in negotiation with the prosecutor, Mr. Lodge. He induced Mr. Lodge, who represented the leaseholders of a house on the property, to sell their interest for £ 300,. and to accept in payment a bill drawn by Joshua Mobbs. It so happened that the bill was not paid because a caveat was entered to the will of Joshua Mobbs, but in all this was no fraud. The agent was only pushing the interest of his employer, and he seems to have done so in a zealous and open- handed manner. If Mr. Lodge chose to take a bill instead of cash, that was not the fault of the man with whom he negotiated.

A CHURCH DESTROYED BY FIRE. On Monday morning St. Michael's Church, Work- ington, was entirely destroyed by a fire which was discovered near the heatiDg apparatus in the north- west corner. An alarm was at once raised, and the fire engines were quickly on the spot, but by six o'clock the whole interior of the church was ablaze, and further attempts to save the edifice proved use- less. An entrance was therefore made through a window to the vestry,and the registers secured, which, with two very old and battered flags. were the only things saved. By seven o'clock the building was en- tirely destroyed-the galleries gutted, the windows, choir seats, and the fine organ burned to cinders. In the chancel was one of the finest stained glass windows in the kingdom, and this was destroyed, along with several beautiful paintings which adorned the chancel. The church was rebuilt in 1777, and gave accommo- dation to 1600 people. The damage is estimated at £ 10,000, which is, it is stated, covered by insurance. Hundreds of persons were present during the progress of the fire.

A MODERN DICK TURPIN. moZj: ..op" n|» 2S5-, n on the 8th inst. Robert Turtle, contractor for and driver of the mail cart between W^me^ Kamsgate, Margate, and Westgate, ^id that on the mgnt m question he was thft old toll house, Ebbs Jleet, half way between Sandwich and Ramsgate, when the prisoner sprang out of a bye road, and, shouting out that L he was Dick Turpin, sei the reiaa, and, striking the horse on the head, backed the cart across the road to the edge of a deep ditch. The witness jumped to the ground and struggled with the prisoner, and they both fell to the ground. Ultimately Turtle overcam3 him, and as the prisoner promised not to molest him again he let him go. Turtle then droTe on, but Farley followed and hung oa to the cart. If be had overcome witness tbe mails would have b»en at his mercy. Evidence having be&a given by other witnesses in support of the charge, be&a given by other witnesses in support of the charge, the accused was committed for trial, bail being re- fused. ae all up,

MAMMA, said Bobby, I X to tikii-«» besenerou,

liOSSIP UN UKKS8. Iif the St. Stephen's Review Frivolities column there are the following notes: Never were there better opportunities for making bargains than during the present sales, the wares, owing to the bad times, not having been sold off during the summer and autumn feasons are now being offered absurdly Many wonderfully pretty ball gowns may be picked up at merely nominal prices at some of the principal houses, and are as well made as from ,the uands of an eminent modiste. Of shop dinner gowns it is as well to fight shy, for, unlike the ball gowns, they are usually of questionable style, tawdry and commonly designed. Very pretty French models in hats and bonnets are going begging. We came across .a number yesterday, and found it difficult to make our choice among so dainty an array. One was of the new ahade of heliotrope velvet, trimmed with maize Wldgs another composed entirely of loops of crimson ribbon a third, of olive green silk, with pinked ribbons, and bad a soft and most becoming ruche round the face. Hats are worn very high, and the most fashionable are trimmed with fur otter, beaver, and astrachan being the favourites. A pretty blonda at one of the private views wore a very stylish hat of fed velvet, with high placed bows and wings, and trimmed round with a band of astrachan. FANS are to be found in great numbers at the sales, and are amongst the most alarming sacrifices;" the most exquisite one we saw, amid an armful of beauties, was one of the softest marabout feathers, shaded from pink to mauve, and mauve to heliotroDe. A brown gauze fan, painte d by one of the fire Viennese artist?, had a spray of tiny white flowers, bods and grasses through and across it, with a number of settling wasps to give a necessary dash of yellow. Half the fan was of silk, and the other half of gauze. Very fascinating are the rew pale-blue crepe fans of the very lightest tint, sticks and crepe being of exactly the same shade Another fan which greatly took our fancy was of black gauze, painted with a flight of bright red birds. another, with grey sticks and of grey gauze, was covered with many-coloured insects. GLOVES are not to be recommended when offered as 'bargains, for really good gloves can always command their own price, and those sold cheaply will almost invariably be found to possess some defect; either they have been kept so long that the skins are be- ginning to rot, or the sewing either in the hand or fingers will give way as the kid has been cut too small for the intended size. Stockings, on the other hand—why, we cannot imagine -are usually most advantageous bargains and well-Reasoned boots and shoes can also be relied on. EVENING gowns are somewhat elaborately trimmed just now, and have never been more gracefully con- ceived. Heliotrope is, of course, as everyone knows, the most fashionable colour of the day, or rather of jiight. We met a charming frock at dinner at the bouse of a certain very popular minister last week. It was of heliotrope faille française and crepe. The front drapery was pleated, and the pleats caught together with buckles of iridiscent beads; the train •was faille, and bad revers of Brussels point lace, with the same lace carried down the centre of the back. A young lady only just out" wore a simply bewitching .,and bewitchingly simple frock of white mousteline de soie, with pale yellow very broad sash-ribbon coming from one side of the waist to the hem of the skirt, and there tied in two huge bc-ws the bodice was of white mousseline do soie, with a lace tucker sewn with seed pearls. A young married lady wag in a bright geranium-red gown, with a berthe of red crepe de chine arranged on the bodice, and coming next to her dazzlingly white skin. The train was of two materials, crepe and poplin, and the epaulette sleeves were of the crepe, forming deep points to the elbow. With this costume some rather eccentric diamond ornaments ip lobsters and shrimps forms were worn. The hair was dressed very high, and run through with a diamond skewer. "BUTTri'FLY in the Lady's Pictorial describes some dresses The present early season of Cinderella and other dances, she says, promises to be more than usually gay, and bearing in mind this fact, I feel sure that my readers will be interested this week in some Of the latest novelties in the way of ball and evening gowns to be seen just now in Regent-street, W. The dinner gown, made with a train, and occupying a central position in the page, is composed almost entirely of rich black dudestc satin, the front being formed of an elaborately jetted panel, which glitters as the wearer walks with the prettiest effect imagin- able. The two sides of the skirt are eatirely different in arrangement, the left side being covered with five "flounces of Spanish lace, while the right side is draped vrithsatin. These satin draperies are prettily held in place by a French clasp of jetted passementerie. The Square train is most gracefully cut in scallops, and Outlined throughout with largo beads of bright jet, the Whole effect being exceedingly novel and picturesque A GOWN in ivory white Mechlin net, arranged in front with long draperies of net, brought round very high on the right side, where they are met by a panel of white satin merveillettx, which has a wonderfully rich and handsome effect. Bows of white satin ribbon are prettily olaced on the side and at the back. VERY dainty indeed is the black tulle gown, with its full waterfall back, ornamented only with one wide stripe of black satin ribbon. The samo notion of striped ribbon trimming is repeated on either side Of the skirt, where a kind of panel may be seen, formed of row upon row of black satin ribbon. The whole effect of this is exceedingly bright and pretty. A graceful cascade of bows of black satin terminate the left panel, while the whole of the front of the skirt is veiled with a drapery of black net, closely -embroidered with glittering pendants, formed of tiny jet beads. Made up over a satin foundation this is a novel gown, which is as useful as it is pretty. A PRETTY ball gown suitable for a very young girl ie in half-mourning, and made in a delicate shade of palest mauve Brussels net. The long, graceful draperies are arranged in a kind of scarf in front, and drawn down almost to the hem of the skirt. High on the right hio these draperies are all drawn together and secured by a full bow of satin ribbon in a darker shade of mauve. The back is simply arranged with very full, straight draperies, something in the style of the old waterfall, but made in a some- what ampler fashion. FINALLY we have a very lovely little ball gown tnade in the richest qualify of cream silk crepe, mixed with a very fine cream crepe de chine. These soft and dainty fabrics lend themselves admirably to the present semi-classical style of drapery, and this little gown may confidently be pronounced one of the suc- cesses of the season. The full, long folds of crepe form a kind of panel drapery on the left side, where they are bordered by an exquisite flouncing of cream lisse, embroidered in silk. This flouncing forms three rows round the skirt, and is repeated here and there lay way of trimming. The back draperies are formed entirely of crepe de chine, ornamented at the sides with graceful revers of ilk crepe.

VICTOR EMANUEL IN THiS PANTHEON. Victor Enaanuel,s monument in the Pantheon con- sis a arge bronze tablet supported by a decorated bracket and surmounted b £ EomaQ ea?le. The colossal dimensions of the whole, which is both simple and severe, l^onis6 Woll witb the line8 0f the Pantheon. ablet measures sixteen feet in breadth by seven m height, and weighs about 15,0001b. It is made of the bronze of old cannon. The eagle measures from wing-tip to wing-tip about ten feet. Below is the bronze coat-of-arms of the House of bavoy in a shield of oman style. Two palm-leaves border the shield. On' the tablet is inscribed-" Victor Emanuel II., Father of the Country." Above the inscription is the iron crown and sword of honour. Between the edge of the tablet and the inscription there will be placed a gold and silver line of ornament of very fine worK; tt was not ready in time. A porphyry altar occupies the centre of the chapel, and two large bronze cande- labra stand between the lateral columns. Altar and candlabra are of great purity of style, and all the work ia perfectly executed. The sculptural part is by Signor Lauretti.

THE Italians who come to this country must have a strong attachment for their native land. They bring so much of it with them. A FHIEXD once met Sydney Smith at Bright* whither be had gone to reduce himself by the use of certain baths in vogue in those days. He was struck by the decrease of Sydney's size, and said, You are certainly thinner than when I saw you last. Yes, said the reverend humourist, I have been only ten days here, but they have scraped enough off me already to make a curate.

——————ata————— THE ROMANTIC STORY OF THE LATE PRINCE IMPERIAL. The Daily Chronicle Paris correspondent is re- sponsible for the following The romantic story that a child had been left by the Prince Imperial raised some days ago by the Figaro is again uppermost. The inquiries made merely prove the correctness of the information I telegraphed last week. The little boy, who is called Watkins, was then at Bercy, in the care of a lady who was preparing him for the institution of St. Nicholas. Since the publication of this fact, however, the child has been removed to Bellevue. The strong contradictions of the friends of the Imperial family are of little value. The Figaro remarks, very rightly, that Monsignor Goddard, of Chislehurst, would be a very un- likely recipient of the amorous confidences of a young military student. The pvelate's verbal certificate of absolute virtue is only the expression of an opinion that the moral standard of the Prince was of the highest. He does not profess to have been his constant companion in London and elsewhere. Galignant's Messenger publishes two letters —one bearing the Bickley postmark of Feb. 19,1878; another, written from Woolwich Arsenal Station, with the London post mark, is dated April 19 of the same year. There are also a telegram from Chislehurst and another from Bickley. The letters contain nothing beyond the fixing of appointments and some expressions of affection. They are signed "Louis" and Walter Louis respectively. Letters and tele- grams are addressed to Madame Watkins, 89, Jermyn-street, London. The English solicitor in Paris, who holds the letters and telegrams, tells me that Miss Watkins has concealed the matter, and that it has been made public by her brother. Her only wish, whm she left for Australia, was that the child should be brought up in France. It is not quite true that she was ignorant of the Prince's identity. She saw him soon after their first acquaint- ance speaking to Lord Beaconsfield under the awning at the door of the Brompton Oratory, after the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk. She was, however, convinced that her lover was the Prince Imperial when she saw his portrait. She was so afraid that he might leave her that she never alluded to the subject except once. He blushed timidly, and alluded to his scanty means, adding that he was not worthy to be Emperor of France.vThe Prince Imperial gave Miss Watkins in all £SD5. Of this JB400 was given in one sum just, before his departure, and with the greatest delicacy. The solicitor adds that there is one circumstance of grave importance which pro- fessional secrecy forbids him to make known until he has the permission of Miss Watkins. The little lad concerning whose origin so much has been said has a strongly marked Napoleonic face. No help has been given by any member of the Imperial family, nor has any ever been asked. This, coupled with the fact that the story would never have been revealed had not M.Darimon communicated some of the facts to the Figaro, is probably the most striking part of this strange romance. I have reason to believe, however, that the Empress has ordered the matter to be thoroughly investigated. A Pall Mall Gazette correspondent writes: The story from the Figaro which you summarised the other day is as stale as it is untrue. A canard of much the same character went the round of the French press soon after the Prince's death, and met with its deserved fate of natural death. Monsignor Goddard was in error when he informed your representative that when the Prince visited London en gar con he put up at the St. James's Hotel. He may have been there once in a way, although I doubt it; so far as I know he invariably went to Thomas's Hotel, or, as he himself wrote it-Door fellow he never became quite accurate in his English spelling-" TomaSses." But occasionally, when coming to town for a dinner or to go to the opera, he would not go to a hotel at all. Count Clary used in such a case to send a note to Dumont in advance informing that respectable coiffeur that the Prince would dress in his establishment. The con- nection between Chiselhurst and Dumont was intelli- gible enough. Dumoat was the hairdresser of the late Emperor, accompanied him on the campaign which terminated for him so disastrously at Sedan, and received the broken man's farewell on the slope outside the Chateau Bellevue on the afternon of the surrender to Bismarck on the Donchery road. Dumont has the upper part of one of the smaller houses in Regent-street, near the upper end of what used to be the Quadrant.. The modest solle de coiffure occupies the first floor, and upstairs, besides the proprietor's private apartment, is the little room which the Prince, in common with any other customers of M. Dumont desiderating such accommodation, occasionally used as a dressing-room. It never was in any sense more the Prince's private apaitment than it was mine, or might be yours, for the time we occupied it while getting into a suit of even- ing clothes. I suppose it is true enough that the room and its furniture still exist intact." At least, I can notice no marked alteration in the course of the 10 years or so I have used it from time to time. But if it be a real sub-lieutenant s abode," then a sub- lieutenant sleeps on a sofa, and if he received his friends there they would have to stand about in a very circumscribed space. Dumont tells me-and I can find no cause to doubt his word, but everything to corroborate it-that the Prince Imperial never slept on his premises in his life. It is natural that be should have many souvenirs of his" young master"- busts, photographs, originals of telegrams received for despatch, he having transcribed the messages and retained the originals as souvenirs-for aught I know he may have some of the Prince's neckties," as the French flaneur avers. (From the Daily Chronicle Correspondent.) PARIS, Monday Night. M. Darimon's story of the Prince Imperial's romantic attachment and its fruits is still the talk of every branch of the Imperial family. M. Paul de Cassagnac attacks M. Darimon with his usual virulence, and says that this false friend of Napoleon III., who entered the Tuileries as a bird of evil omen, has betrayed the Prince Imperial with an effrontery scarcely shown by advanced Republicans. So far the con- tradictions of the Bonapartists are of little value. M. Franceschini Pietri writes from Pausilippo, probably at the suggestion of the Empress, to deny the whole legend. The Baron de Bourgoing declares that he never left the lamented Prince for a minute during his too brief early manhood. By some un- annountable mistake, the Figaro contains an announcement that the original letters are in the offices of the Daily Chronicle. It would, perhaps, have been better to consult me before hazarding such untrustworthy news. My information comes from a London firm of solicitors, one of whom resides in Paris. The whole matter is to be published in a book, probably inspired by M. Darimon, who in the first instance, no doubt, did not intend to reveal so much as he has done.

THE CALIFORNIAN WINE CROP. Very satisfactory reports have been received of this crop from the agricultural districts of California. It is admitted on all hands that the wine crop of 1886 exceeds that of any previous year. Prominent wine merchants assess it at 19,500,000 gallons, whereas last year's crop was only 7,500,OOC gallons. The quality of this year's crop is said to be excellent. The raisin crop is also very large, one estimate giving 500,000 boxes of 201b, each, as against 200,000 boxes _L_l.w 'JlhOtY1'A-nA,nn in Utner estimates nrv —- is enormous. Out of 356,000,0001b 40,000,0001b. have been shipped eastward to be used as table fruit, 20 000 3001b. have been consumed in the same form at home, 20,000,0001b. have been used in making brandy, 30,000,001b. appear in the form of raisins, and the remainder has been in making wine. The east- ward shipments of lemons, limes, and oranges will be twice as large as it was last year, it is said, owing to a reduction of the freight charges. As the crops in- crease, producers in California are learning new ways of selling them. 1 he owners of several large vine- yards have recently established agercies in Eastern cities for the sale of their wiaes, and by escaping the Pacific coast middlemen have been able to raise the price which they receive by nearly 100 per cent. The greatest market for California wines and raisins will be found in the |Eastern seaboard States. The no- torious adulteration of French wines has prepared this market for the California product. It has created a demand for purity in wines, ana this is a demand, say the San rranciscan journals, which California can supply.

I' OUR FOREIGN BILLS FOR FARM PRODUCE. At the present moment when bitter cries about agricultural diiatresl, are rising on all hands, when landlords are reducing their establishments or leaving the country, when farms are to be had almost for the working, when tithes are thirteen per cent. below par, and when labour, agricultural and otherwise, is a drug in the market, one thinks regretfully (says a writer in the Echo) of the enormous sums which, year by year, are permitted to leave our shores in payment for farm produce. The general theory which seems gaining ground among economists is, that if we are to witness anythiug like a return of the old and byegone agri- cultural prosperity, a considerable multiplication, of smaller holdings is an immediate necessity. Circum- stances, small, perhaps, taken singly, but powerful in the aggregate, point the lesson that the land will not support three with profit. Of landlord, farmer, and labourer, one must be sacrificed. Large farms must either be worked on co-operative principles, and each part-owner must contribute his labour as well as his capital, or men must hold their own land. Small holdings must be on equitable terms, and important revisions in railway and freight charges must be made. For a glance at the returns of the Board of Trade reveals that we are largely dependent upon foreign industry for the Bupply of such articles of daily consumption as butter, cheese, eggs, and poul- try. If foreign farmers can meet our demands as well as their own, it is clear that better management and easier carriage rates must gain for them better profits than we make from our own soil. To take butter first: Last year we purchased 1,543,404 cwt., at an estimated cost of £ 8,140,188. Of this sum we paid to France £ 2,264,001; to Den- mark, £ 2,194,905; to Holland. £ 1,775,454, and to Canada, X119,970, which, despite much talk of the Colonial Exhibition bringing about immensely increased trade between the Colonies and the Mother Country, is a decrease of moie than £ 26,000 upon the returns of 1885, and X129,781 less than in 1884 The rest of the sum— £ 1,785,858—w en t toGermany, the United States, and other countries* The value of the imports of butter went down with the unprecedented jump of more than four millions sterling between 1884 and 1885, and the decrease continues, though not at such a phenomenal rate. The net diminution in the butter trade is put down this year at £ 366,016. The worth of the imports of that hideous fabrication, butterine, happily shows a decline also.. We have spent £ 56,379 less this year for it than we did last year. Holland is tho chief exporter of the disgusting compound, she drawing X2,767,599 out of the whole sum of £ 2,958,300 paid for it. Surely when Mr. Goschen is revising his Budget, he might lay upon this obnoxious import a very restrictive duty. He would earn the sincerest thanks of a large portion of the community did he do so. Canada supplied us with 507:875 cwt. of cheese, worth XI,116,178, and the United States sent us 854,770 cwt. of the same commodity at a cost of £1,834,370. We require 1,738,187 cwt. altogether to meet our deficiencies, and paid out £ 3,867,896 for it. As this is less by £ 197,302 than the same article cost last year, we may suppose that we are either eating much less cheese as a nation, or that Archdeacon Denison has induced his Cheddar friends to assist in a greater output of the home made goods. Eggs are always calculated in the Government Returns by the long hundred "—that is to say, by the hundred and twenty. The returns, viewed to their monetary worth, are really astonishing multi- plied out, they almost surpass our powers of numeri- cal comprehension. The foreign eggs imported last year reach the following almost incredible totals From France, 384,973,800: from Germany, 309,745,800; from Belgium, 234,688,920; and from other countries not specified, 104,170,U20; in all, not less than 1,033,588,440. They have declined in value, however, for though quantitatively they exceed the numbers sent in last year by 31,422,720, their worth is assigned at L2,879,000, or slightly over X50,000 less than the previous year's estimate. For purposes of rough reckoning, this may be regarded as about 6s. 8d. per "great hundred," instead of an approximate 7s. last year. Taking the population of Graat Britain and Ireland at X35,000,000, the con- sumption of foreign eggs per head of the entire popu- lation is within a fraction of twenty-nine in the course of the year. But by far the larger propor- tion of these imported goods are consumed in England and Wales, and this allows thirty-nine on an average. Exact returns of the eggs annually produced by our- Belves are not forthcoming, but calculations sufficiently near for acceptance estimate this to be 512,000,000, or slightly under an average of twenty to every one. So that, out of each fifty-nine eggs used in England during the twelve months, twenty may be considered as the production of British fowls, and thirty-nine of foreign ones—almost two to one For poultry and game, inclusive of rabbits, we are ^638,775 in debt. France supplies us with £ 203,4:28 worth of poultry. Belgium absorbs the enormous sum of £ 283.872 for rabbits alone. Again, the imports have fallen, and the total decline in this branch of trade is zEI6,403 over that of 1885. The importe of potatoes are considerably in advance of L star's. Their total value is £ 799,654, in place of £ 727,906 previously, giving an increase of hi 1,688. A little further addition shows that John Bull paid to his near and distant neighbours no less a sum than 917,283,813 for the easily raised articles here enume- rated. Yet land is going out of cultivation, and agri: culture is at a practical deadlock Evidently "some- thine" must be at fault. We ought as a nation to do more towards feeding ourselves, and towards prevent- ing this continual and impoverishing drain. One point which certainly checks increased production among small growers is the enormous difficulty of finding a guod market. fhe railway charges are so high as to interpose an effectual barrier between London and the great commercial centres and the agricultural districts The small provincial towns are easily glutted, and, to take a typical instance, our litile farmer may one day carry in thirty pounds of butter aud six dozen eggs to the grocer's shop in his market town, and be politely but firmly informed that only half the quantity can be done with" that week. lie must, either part with it, therefore, at a great loss in the town, to some one who makes a favonr of taking it or must bring it home, and sell it if he can, or preserve it, in the hope of finding a winter demand for it. Itwould be well, too, if the oldart of "potting bntter could revive among our own fanners' wives. Many of the past generation were such adepts in this craft, that one could really eat the salt butter and enjoy it. This trade has now entirely gone to Cork, the Continent, and America. But the real need is for bona fide direct communication between producers and consumers, when fairer traffic rates are devised. Large stores in the big towns ought to have their regular supplies sent in straight from the farmers. These, in their turn, must not expect any fancy prices for their goods, but must endeavour to beat the foreigner in price as well as in quality. For un- doubtedly, the high prices that have long ruled for genuine English dairy produce have driven many to buy the foreign imitations because they are so -*iiuch cheaper. For instance, we hear of fresh eggs sometimes at 3a. a dozen, while their French rivals are lOd. The result is that when Materfamilias is making her purchases she buys half- a-dozen English ones for eating, and two dozen foreign ones (out of which a considerable percentage will be unusable) for cooking. Obviously it would be far better for the British farmer to sell his two m, dozen eggs to tier at Is. Gd. or so a dozen. J-mngs can easily acquire a specious value, but in the long run it is no more profitable than a normal one. In a olden days the farmers jogged to market on their steady cobs, and sold their own wares. This primitive state of things is not likely to return, but a modern equivalent might be found in co-operation and in- creased facilities of transit, so as to bring into immediate relationship the dwellers in the busy haunts of men," and the hard-working little farmer, whose two or three patient cows, and well-stocked poultry-run, are doing their duties towards meeting the insatiable demands for good, wholesome, and cheap food. -='

EXCITING SCENE ON THE ICE IN HYDE PARK. An exciting scene occurred at Hyde-park, London, on Monday, when a crowd of 2000 persons ran upon the ice of the Serpentine, although the prohibitory notices bad not been withdrawn. The police ob- tained reinforcements, and charged the crowd, arresting a number of the offenders. In the melee two policemen sustained severe injuries by falling on the ice. Skating, however, went on at Richmond and Higbgate.

RUSTICUS Waiter, I hear that tips are very popular in these here city eating-houses. Waiter (in ex- pectancy): Yes, sah, they is, sah. Rusticus Well, you may bring me a plate of 'em.

PREVIOUS SUDDEN or TRAGIC DEATHS of ENGLISH STATESMEN. The circumstances attending the death of Lord Iddesleigh will recall to students of more recent English history several instances within the present century of statesmen who have died suddenly or at times of crisis. The younger Pitt, while Prime Minister for the second time, was so broken down by Napoleon's defeats of our alliea in Europe, that he was brought home from Bath to London to die. He reached his house on Putney-heath on the 11th of January, 1806; the next day he told the Bishop of Lincoln he should never recover; on the 13th be was so much brighter, that in talk with Lord Wellesley he appeared as gay as ever, but he fainted with the fatigue of the interview, and none of his colleagues saw him again. On the 23rd he died. The sur- soundings of the dead statesman were most mournful. On the evening he expired," says a historian, a gen- tleman who had happened to be out of the way of the intelligence of the day called at the door to make in- quiries. No one answered the knock, and the door being open, he went in. The house was very still, and no one appearing, the visitor proceeded until he came to the room where the cold corpse was lying deserted. The shock was dreadful, and the inquirer never lost the impression of horror. As he was leaving the premises, a solitary servant appeared from below. Everybody else was gone from the side of the dead." Eight months later, Fox, his great rival, and then Foreign Secretary, followed him to the tomb; and, though he had been ill some time, he hoped, even against the advice of his physicians, that he could reach his home at St. A.nne's-hill, but he could proceed no further than the Duke of Devon- shire's villa at Chiswick, whither he bad been re- moved as a first stage of the journey home, and where he expired. But the most startling of all such events until the Phoenix Park murders outvied even this in horror, was the assassination of Mr. Perceval, then Prime Minister, in May, 1812. The Premier was passing through the lobby of the House of Commons when be was shot at by a madman, named Bellingbam, who was suffering under some imaginary grievance. He staggered, ejaculated the word Murder," and died in 10 minutes. The assassin gave himself up immediately to the members of Parlia- ment around, and, though ample evidence of his state of mind would have been forthcoming bad the authorities waited, be was condemned at the Old Bailey on the Friday after the deed had been done on the Monday, and was hanged the Monday afterwards. The suicide of Lord Londonderry (better known to history as Lord Castlereagh) in the autumn of 1821, when hold- ing the Secretaryship of Foreign Affairs, has often been described, as has also the scene in Westminster Abbey at his funeral, when, as the coffin was removed from the hearse the crowd greeted it with a shout which echoed loudly through every corner of the Abbey." The sad ending of the life of Lord Liver- 1 pool, Prime Minister of the Cabinet of which Lord Castlereagh was so long a member, is not so fresh in the popnlar memory. In February, 1827, when Lord Liverpool had been Premier close upon 15 years, he spoke in the House of Lords on a Royal message. "He was never seen to be better or more cheerful," says Miss Martineau. "The next morning the ser- vant was surprised at not hearing the bell, as usual, after breakfast.. and went into bis master's study, where he found Lord Liverpool lying on the floor in an apoplectic fit. Whether he would live was for some time doubtful, but it was quite certain that hia political career was ended. For two months it was hoped be might recover sufuciently to send in his resignation, but he did not, and Canning was then appointed Prime Minister, it not being until December 15, 1828, nearly two years after the seizure, that fcord Liverpool died. Sixteen months previously Canning, his successor in the Pre- miership, and who was also Foreign Minister, pre- ceded him in death. Weakened by a cold taken at the funeral of the Duke of York, and worried by the events of the session, Canning had sat under a tree at Wimbledon while warm with walking, a few days after Parliament rose, and this brought on a feverish cold and rheumatism, which ended in his death, in the same room at the Duke of Devonshire's villa at Cbiswick in which Fox had expired twenty-one years before. Mr. Tierney, a colleague of Canning in the latter's administration, and one of the keenest critics who ever sat in Parliament, had been known to be suffering from heart disease long before January 25, 1830, when be was found sitting in his chair appa- rently asleep, but actually dead and cold. The death of another of Canning's colleagues in the autumn of the same year, however, sent a much keener thrill through the country. It was on September 15, 1830, the day of the opening of the Liverpool and Man- chester Railway, that Mr. Huskisson met his death. A misunderstanding, as he always contended, had led him to resign his place in the Wellington Ad- ministration and as the duke and he were both present at the opening ceremony, it was thought by a common friend that a reconciliation could be effected. Both were willing, and when the train stopped at Parkside they advanced towards each other; but hardly had they shaken hands when an engine ran down Mr. Huskisson before he could escape, and he died the same night at a neighbouring parsonage. The second Sir Robert Peel, who had been a colleague of Huskisson, died like him from accident. As he was riding up Constitution-hill on June 29, 1850, to in- scribe his name on the visiting list of the Queen, who bad been struck at by a man two days before, he was thrown and very much hurt, a rib being broken, and pressing upon the lungs. How the accident exactly happened was never known. Some say," noted Lord Malmesbury in his diary at the time, he was seen reeling in his saddle for a moment before he fell, and that it was through dropping the reins that the horse swerved. The general opinion is that his horse, which was a young one, started on being passed by Miss Ellice's groom, who was seen by several people, i,iita'l give different accounts. The majority think he was simply thrown by the torse starting, and that is the most probable story." But, however the casualty occurred, Sir Robert expired four days after- wards, and with the exception of the murder of Lord Frederick Cavendish, which is too recent to need lengthened recall, no such sad death of an English statesman had again occurred until Friday.

BY THE VISITATION OF GOD. An inquest was held on Monday at Oxford on the body of Mr. William Wootten, a banker and brewer, who was widely known in Oxfordshire and the adjoin- ing counties. The deceased, who had lived at Old Headington House, near Oxford, left home on Monday morning in his carriage and in his usual health, for the purpose of attending a special meeting of the charity trustees. On reaching the bank he spoke to some of the clerks, and inspected several papers; afterwards he proceeded to the strong room in the basement of the building, and on returning, while in the act of opening a door leading into a bank, he was observed by his son to be falling, and he caught him in his arms. He became insensible, and died almost immediately, without speaking. The coroner, Mr. Hussey, who was his medical attendant, and last saw him professionally in July, remarked as to his knowledge of the weakness of the lungs of the de- ceased, and the jury acting on this information, re- turned a verdict of sudden death by the visitation of Glod.

PKOFESSOU X., who was fond of talking about his otium cum dignitate (dignified leisure), has just recom- menced work, after spending his Christmas vacation with hospitable friends. Ah, he said, mournfully, to. a fellow-sufferer, after the day's work was over. this time last week I was enjoying my otium ctt;it- Yes, interrupted his friend, unfeelingly; but now it is a case of otiuz gone.

BULL FIGHT IN PARIS. Of all ibe entertainments, says the Paris corre- spondent of the Standard telegraphing on Sunday night, which have been provided for the Parisians with the object of procuring funds for the sufferers by the recent inundations in the South of France, the bull fights had been looked forward to as likely to prove the greatest success. From a pecuniary point of view, no doubt they will, as almost all the tickets for these cruel amusements, which are to last for over a week, have already been sold. Up to the very last moment it was uncertain whether the Government would authorise the bull fighting. Mr. Sarrien, the Minister of the Interior in the last Cabinet, had done so; but when M. Goblet took the port- folio of the Interior he withdrew the permission. It was only late yesterday afternoon that the definitive sanctionofthe Minister was given, and only then on con- dition that the horns of all the bulls should be tipped with copper nobs. This was done, and, though the animals were not by any means fierce, the precaution was not useless, for during the entertainment two men were knocked down by the bulla. One of them was tossed into the air a few feet, which made his nose bleed a little, and the other was knocked down flat on the ground. The copper tips, which were covered with indiarubber, were, how- ever, so small that they were scarcely notice- able. The courses de taurtaux as they took place here to-day were not at all the same thing as the bull fighting in Spain. No bulls were killed, and the public were spared the revolting spectacle of the horses which are so freely sacrificed on the other side of the Pyrenees. The picadors were dispensed witb, so there were no horses in the arena. The entertain- ment comprised two sorts of bull fighting-or, rather, bull baiting—that indulged in in the Provence and that practised in the Department of Les Landes. I say bull baiting, because the poor animals, which ar& not furious bolls like those seen in the arena in Spain, are tormented and excited till they are tho- roughly exhausted, and are then allowed to return to their stalls. The Course Provenrale was the fint on the programme. When the first bull was let in there was evident disappointment among the spectators. The animal did not seem to come up to their expec- tione,. but in a few minutes it was goaded into some- thing like, fury,, and was rushing about the arena after the Provencal Quadrille. The Provencal toreador shows his skill by sticking paper stars and bande- rillos on the bull's head and back, and in afterwards | pulling them out. The dexterity and agility with which the men forming the Quadrille Proven9al avoided the bull when it rushed straight at them waa certainly surprising, but the Quadrille Lannaise gained the greatest applauee- After exciting the bull, whose fury is, however, kept within bounds by a cord round its- horns, the toreadors amuse the public by their extraordinary feats of agility. Some of the men, who are called santeursattract the attention, of the bull, and when it rushes at them they leap right over it. Sometimes they use jumping poles, but they generally have nothing to depend on but their own legs. Earrere, one of these sauteurs, had a great success. There were two things which he did which won thunders of applause. The fiercest of the bulls which were seen at the Hippodrome to-day was in the arena, and had been duly excited when Ban-ere took off his cap, put his feet into it, and awaited the bull, which came rushing at him. The ladies, and indeed most of the gentlemen present, were trembling with anxiety, thinking that the man could not possibly escape unhurt, but Barrere cleared the bull at a bound, alighting on the ground with his two feet still in his cap. His- second most successful feat was jumping over the bull, and turning a summersault in the air between the animal's herns. There was a third' part to the enter* tainment. but it fell very flat, and was,, in fact, gro- tesque. A very young bull, little more than a calf, was first chased about the arena by a man on horse- back, and when the poor creature was fairly ex- hausted the man, who had been goading it with a long pole, got off his horse and wrestled with it. He caught hold of it by the horns and by the nostrils, and in a few seconds floored the poor creature. On the whole, the courses de taii-i-eau.v were less successful than had been anticipated.