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    creature could not speak , and its inclinations , as we are informed by an old account , were altogether brutish . Yet this truly bearish child was christened by an archbishop in the name of Joseph Ursin ; the Queen of Poland stood godmother , the French ambassador godfather , and attempts were made to tame him ( for we may as well by this time adopt the masculine personal pronoun ) , and to teach him some principles of religion . These endeavours partially succeeded ; for ( if we may credit the account ) , at the sacred name he would learn to lift his hands and eyes to . heaven . But ho could not be taught to speak , though there was no apparent defect In his tongue . He was bestowed upon one of the lords about the courtwho took him into his bouse as

    , a servant . He could not be induced to throw aside his natural , or rather his acquired , fierceness ; but he learnt to walk upright on his feet , and went wherever he was bidden . " He liked raw as well as boiled flesh , " continues the account already alluded to ; " could suffer no clothes on his back , nor ever wear shoes , nor anything upon his head . Sometimes he would steal to the woods , and there suck the sap of trees , when he had torn off the bark with his nails . It was observed that , he being in the wood one day when a bear had killed two men , that beast came to him , ana , instead of doing him any harm , played and licked his face and body . " It does not appear when or how this individual died , or what finally became of him . —Household Words .

    MajorCaldeb Campbell . —Major Calder Campbell , an accomplished poet and essayist , many years a frequent contributor to the chief magazines of London and Edinburgh , died on the 13 th ult . at Universitystreet , in the fifty-eighth year of his age . He was much respected as a kind friend and a true gentleman . Gambling in China . —Strength rather than skill is displayed by the athletic , and they have few sports corresponding to the manly exercises of Europe . They hurl iron bars , and lift beams heavily weighted with stones , to prove their muscles . But such strenuous pastimes are not the most popular . Able-bodied gentlemen will spend half a day in kicking shuttlecocks with their heelsin flying kitescarrying birds on perches , rocking

    , , in boats , or simply sauntering hand-in-hand through their gardens . Gaming , however , is the " universal passion . " A Chinese will stake his house , his family , ids gown and petticoats , even his own personal freedom , everything except the graves of his fathers , on the hazard of the die . " Crabbed age and youth" are equally addicted to this vice . No place is sacred—no grade is free from it . The clergy gamble in the templeporch ; the soldiers gamble in their sentry-boxes ; porters in the streets gamble for the "chance of the next customer ; and boys gamble for their cakes and toys -with the shopman who vends them . Gaming-houses are , indeed , prohibited by the Government ; but they

    afford the local authorities so fertile a source of revenue , that the prohibition is null , and justice is blind and enriched . These temples of fortune are often stained with violence and murder . Suicides are committed openly in them ; and so cheap is life in this redundantly peopled empire , that nothing is more ordinary than for the corpse of a loser to lie unregarded amid an eager crowd of dicers and card-players . Even the ceremonies of this universally polite nation are laid aside in these receptacles of vice ; and the gamesters of Nankin and Canton are as rude and reckless of good manners as if they carried bowie knives at their girdles , and did homage to Stars and Stripes instead of the Green Dragon . — Westminster Review .

    Cromwell ' s Birthplace . —The house where Robert Cromwell dwelt , where his son Oliver and all his family were born , is still familiar to every inhabitant of Huntingdon ; but it has been twice rebuilt since that date , and now bears no memorial whatever which even tradition can connect with him . It stands at the upper or northern extremity t of the town , beyond the marketplace , and on the left or river-ward side of the street . It is at present a solid yellow brick house , with a walled court-yard , occupied by some townsmen of the wealthier sort . The little brook of Hitchin , making its

    way to the Ouso which ia not far off , Btill flows through the court-yard of the place , —offering a convenience for molting or brewing , among other things . Some vague but confident tradition as to brewing attaches itself to this locality ; and traces of evidence , I understand , exist that before Robert Cromwell's time , it had been employed as a brewery : but of thiB or oven of Robert Cromwoll ' a own browing , there ia , at such a distance , in suoh en element of distracted calumny , exaggeration , and confusion , little or no certainty to be had . —Carlylo'o Cromwell'a Letters

    Peculation Discovered .--. Soon after the oommencomcnt of the blockade of Kara it was ascertained , fortutunately before it was too late to bo irremediable , that the accounts of the provisions in atore were totally false , and that fraud and peculation had been carried on to an enormous extent . The storekeeper , into whoso charge the several magazines had been given , had either sold or otherwise mado away with large quantities of flour and grain , thinking , no doubt , that ho would only have to deal with those as corrupt as himself , and that he . might thus escape detection ; but a most searching examination was made , ha far as possible , ami the man's guilt was but top fully proved . It was quite out of tho question attempting to measure all tho flour when tho storehouses

    were tolerably full , but towards the end of the time it was found that large blocks of stone had been mixed with it in order to make it appear a greater quantity , and thus a double deceit had been practised . The culprit was confined in irons , but died before the surrender of the place . —Lake ' s Defence of Kars . . Mr . Haedt ' s Beer Bill . —A large public meeting of the beer-sellers of the metropolis was held on Tuesday afternoon at the London Tavern , for the purpose of taking measures to secure the rejection of Mr . Hardy's bill for the regulation of beer-houses , coffee-houses , and oyster shops . Re-islectiok of the Solicitor-General . —Mr . Keating , the new Solicitor-General , was on . Tuesday reelected for Reading without opposition .

    Births and Djeaths in London . —The returns fiom the metropolitan districts exhibit a further decrease in the weekly mortality . The deaths which in the two previous weeks were 1050 and 948 , were in the week that ended last Saturday 315 . Last week was so favourable to the health of London that the number of its inhabitants who died was less by 154 than that which would have been placed on the registers if the average rate of mortality had prevailed . During the last three

    weeks , the mean temperature of the air has been 58 degs ., or nearly 14 degs . higher than it had been in the three weeks preceding . The deaths arising from diseases of the respiratory organs continue to decrease ; the numbers returned in the last three weeks were 202 , 167 , and 139 . —Last -week , the births of 846 boys and 856 girls , in all 1702 children , were registered in London . In the the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1847-56 , the average number was 1436 . —From the Registrar General ' s Weekly Return .

    The Franklin Expedition . —In a letter to Mr . S . R . Graves , the Chairman of the Liverpool Shipowners ' Association , Captain M'C lintock thus maps out the course he intends to take in making the final search for Captain Franklin : — " I intend to sail about the end of June , from Aberdeen , and proceed to Barrow Strait , — ascertain that the provisions , stores , and boats left at Port Leopold and Beeching Island by the recent searching expeditions are in good order , in the event of my having to fall back upon them , —examine the state of the ice in Peel Strait , and , if practicable , 2 * roceed down it into the unknown area . Should I not suceeed here , I intend to return to Port L eopold , and proceed down Prince Regent ' s Inlet to Bellot Strait , and there make

    another attempt to pass into and through the field of search to Victoria Land , where I shall winter , and in the ensuing spring , before the thaw sets in , complete the entire exploration and search by means" of sledges drawn by men and by dogs . In endeavouring to reach Victoria Land , it is my intention to avoid , if possible , any risk of becoming involved in the ice ; and , should I not succeed in reaching Victoria Land , I will return to Bellot Strait to pass the winter , as we know by experience that the retreat of the ship from there amounts almost to a certainty . From Victoria Land , the homeward voyage is equally certain , but by way of Behring Straits . " The Fall of Houses in Tottenham-coukt-road .

    —The inquest by Mr . Brent respecting the six persons who lost their lives by the falling of houses in Tottenham-court-road was concluded on Thursday , after a further adjournment on Friday week . Fifteen of tho sixteen jurors then agreed to the following verdict : — " That the deaths of Frederick Bury , Anne Driscoll , John Garnett , Richard Turner , James Revil , and Joseph Taylor , were caused by the falling of the houses Nos . 146 , 147 , and 148 , Tottenham-court-road ; that cutting the holes in the wall of 147 and 148 was the immediate cause of tho accident , the party wall of 146

    and 147 boing very indifferent , requiring more than ordinary caution , which in this case was not observed ; that the cutting away the party wall between 147 and 148 was done in an unskilful and improper manner ; that the jury cannot separate without expressing their strong condemnation of the present conflicting state of tho law as to tho district and police surveyors , whose duties appear to be quite independent , and even antagonistic ; and the jury sincerely hope that an immediate alteration will be made in the Building Act , as at present constituted . " A considerable sum has already boon received for tho suflbreru' widows and families .

    Railway Shareholders . —A public meeting of railway shareholders was hold on Wednesday at tho London Tavern , for tho purpose of taking into consideration a memorial to be presented to tho Vico . Preaident of tho Board of Trade by numerous largo proprietors . Mr . J . E . Vanco having been called to tho chair , explained tho object for which tho mooting had boon convened , and said tliat tho memorial had already boon signed by persons roprooonting not Iosh than 4 , 000 , 000 * . of railway property , among whom whoro muny directors . Tho memorialists sought to obtain rodroas of sorao of tho most manifest griovunooe under which railway property laboured , and which was specifically dotailod in language clour , prooiuo , and , tomporato In tho memorial . Those who had originated tho memorial had boon sliarolioldors for a long period , and wore proprietors of upwards of 200 , 000 / . worth of railway property , ltaaalutiona wore paaeod iu accordance with tho object ' s of Lho mooting . Tub Nmw Bishop of Norwich . —TUo coroinony of conQrmlnd the oloctlon of tho Hon . aucl Kov . John

    Thomas Pelham , D . D ., to the Bishopric of NorwJnf took place on Thursday . —The memorial was nre « an * J to the Right Hon . Robert Lowe yesterday flJWdXn ? a deputation . v - W «> y Fire at Limehouse . —About ten o ' clock on Tluu » u night , a fire broke out in the extensive premises belong ing to Messrs . Wilkes , wheelwrights , Love-laae Limf house , and extending into Glasshouse-fields . l ' B ^" of the exertions of the firemen , the flames were not suh dued until the workshops and other adjoining premis belonging to Messrs . Wilkes were levelled with th ground . Some damage has been done to the pronertv of Messrs . Ravenhill and Miller b y hasty removal . The Oxford Diocesan Spiritual Help Socnm - ~ A meeting was held on Tuesday afternoon in the Shel donian Theatre , Oxford , to establish and inaugurate thk society . The Bishop of Oxford presided , and several

    distinguished gentlemen were present , including Jfo Gladstone , M . P ., who was one of the speakers . The objects of the association may be gathered from the subjoined resolutions , which were unanimousl y carried : — " That in many parishes a population has growa up ia hamlets and places remote from the parish church and out of the reach of ministerial superintendence ¦ ' and that a population so circumstanced is too commonly found to fall away into religious indifference and moral depravity . That the scanty endowments of many of our parochial churches are inadequate to meet this difficulty by the employment of an additional clergyman That though , through the piety of liberal benefactors , much good has been effected by the erection of new

    churches and the formation of new parochial districts in this diocese , yet those districts , though often comprehending very large numbers of people , are scarcely ever sufficiently endowed to maintain one clergyman , much less to enable him to obtain the assistance of a curate where necessary . That it is highl y desirable to provide for the supply of curates to assist the incumbents of parishes and districts where such aid is tuns urgently required . That the pressing , though temporary , wants of our existing parochial system might be supplied , and the working power of the system might also be greatly increased , if duly qualified persons could be appointed to assist , under the sanction of the Bisliop , such parochial clergymen as might desire their aid for " special purposes or on special occasions . "

    Fall of a Cathedral . —The Roman Catholics have been building a new cathedral in Cecil-street , Plymouth . On Thursday afternoon , the roof of the nave and the wall and . roof f the south arcade fell to the ground suddenly , several men working below having barely time to escape . Napoleon the Great . —The founder of tb . e Prencli Empire was a Corsican mercenary , trained ia the evil school , first of civil , then of foreign war . He had never seen—bjs colossal meanness was probably incapable of seeing—the beauty and grandeur of ordered freedom , or the moral privileges which belong only to the free . With a mind of surpassing genius for war and statecraft , he had a heart most full of all selfishness , fraud , and

    falsehood , most void of all noble thoughts , humanity , and God . Religion he had none , but that -worship of his star which is the delirium of vanity in the heart of an atheist . He gloated with a pitiless heart over battlefields , writhing and putrescent with the victims of as vulgar a vanity as ever turned the brain of a Xerxes Ho divorced the best of wives , tho foundress of his fortunes , to marry a princess ; and when his course of selfishness was run , and his last field of murder lost , Jie stood in shelter to see the Old Guard die . He was the greatest mountebank in history . Never for an hour me did

    his soul rise above the most vulgar kingcruft : never he show a spark of sympathy with that which is reairy great in men . At homo , his dull , pedantic tyranny crushed thought and life , and turned a nation to a iwudrilled camp ? abroad , his brigand oppression maue native tyrants dear to their people . His memory may oe adored by a nation which deems tho loss of ts own honour and happiness compensated by the privilege oi trampling on the honour and happiness of others . x » t may stand in the place of God in tho title page and in tho soul of M . Thiora , whose lying page will over be i » proper ahrine . But are moral beings to bow to such «• idol , or to accept at hia hand tho law of moral natures and the rule of government for the world ?—Jfntnr

    Nw Orleans .-New Orleana is , of all ot hers , tlc city of tho United States where " tho bubbling P »» sioiiB of tho country" moot froely flntl a yont . « » conveniently situated , in a filibustering point ol vioj and a favourite point of concentration for tiw > nv reckless spirita of tho South , who find in tl ^ * ° ' £ somewhat rowdy crowd which throng Its atroote nnu ¦»» a congenial atmosphere . It ia not to bu mipi « w J , now ever , that thia conatitutea the aocioty of Now O'lo-in While ita fluctuating population is composed ol '** varied materials , ita aociul attractions aro w fa' 01 ' not greater , than thoao of any other city lu the U » Initsoluba tho visitor will find a con iu ami » aj welcome ; lit its opera ho will bo faso nwted by u uu of boauty more brilliant than cm bo found i » a » , Iiqubo of tho eamo limited dimonaiona , «» u how u / have hhnaolf to blamo , if he ia contented to ^ on « ° oxporlonoos to tho range of hia lorgnotto . —W «™ Magnxlna .

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    CS 3 THE LEADER . [ STo . 37 g ^ SA TirKDAY

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 6, 1857, page 538, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2196/page/10/