£70,000 in Chancery, and who, at the age of ninety, is a
pauper. Other speakers gave instances of a similar
description.

Mr. Henry Beaufoy, of Lambeth, has made an
additional Gift of one thousand guineas to the City of
London School, for prizes to be distributed among the
pupils. This is the fifth gift of equal amount by Mr.
Beaufoy, who has besides lately spent £10,000 in building
Ragged Schools in Lambeth. The birthday of Mr.
Beaufoy is that of William Shakspeare, and the terms
of the deed regulating the distribution of the prizes
declare that they are to commemorate the birth and
genius of Shakspeare, and especially to encourage
among the pupils a taste for the study of his works.

By Returns from the Poor-law Board, presented to
the House of Commons, it appears that there was spent
for the relief of the poor in England and Wales in the
six summer months ending last Michaelmas, nearly
£200,000 less than in the same period of 1849; and that
on the 1st January last there were relieved 71,183 fewer
paupers than on the 1st January, 1850. The amelioration
was not confined to the manufacturing counties;
the reduction of paupers was 6 per cent. in Bedfordshire,
4 per cent. in Berkshire, 8 per cent. in Devonshire,
41/2 per cent. in Dorsetshire, 10 per cent. in Kent
and the East Riding of Yorkshire. The greatest
decrease was in Warwickshire—22 per cent.

During the half-year ending 30th June, 1850,
31,766,503 passengers were carried on the Railways of
the United Kingdom. Within the same period, 90
persons were killed—10 passengers, 54 railway servants,
26 trespassers; 3 persons committed suicide; 68 received
hurts not of a fatal nature. The larger proportion of
the killed are set down as having suffered "owing to
their own misconduct or want of caution."

An association has been formed for Promoting the
Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge. This was done at
a meeting of gentlemen desirous to support the freedom
of the press, among whom were Messrs. J. Hume,
Cobden, Bright, Milner Gibson, Scholefield, and Ewart,
held at the Exchequer Hotel, New Palace Yard The
chair was taken by Mr. Milner Gibson, and the following
resolution was passed unanimously. Moved by Mr.
Cobden, seconded by Mr. Scholefield:—"That whereas
heavy taxes are laid on paper, foreign books, advertisements,
and newspapers; and whereas all taxes which
impede the diffusion of knowledge and obstruct the
progress of education are highly injurious to the public
interest, and are most impolitic sources of revenue; and
whereas the penny stamp, in particular, almost prohibits
newspapers to working men, the persons now present,
desirous of liberating the press from all taxation and
from all control, except that of a court of law, form
themselves into a society to be called 'An Association
for promoting the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge.'"
The remaining resolutions referred to the appointment
of the officers and committee of the association.

The commission for inquiring into the administration
of affairs of the University of Dublin has been
completed, and consists of the following members:—Dr.
Whateley, Archbishop of Dublin; Dr. Wilson, Bishop
of Cork; the Earl of Rosse; Lord Chief Justice
Blackburne; Dr. Longfield, one of the Commissioners
of the Encumbered Court; and Mr. Cooper, of Marktree
Castle ( well known for his astronomical researches) ,
formerly representative for the county of Sligo. The
inquiries will commence in the course of the ensuing
month.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

The Queen, Prince Albert, and the Royal Family left
Windsor for Buckingham Palace on the 12th, for the
season.

A Chapter of the Order of the Garter was held at
Buckingham Palace on the 19th, when the Marquis of
Normanby was elected a Knight of the Order, and
received the investiture from her Majesty, with the
usual ceremonies.

Prince Albert has transmitted through Col. Phipps,
a cheque for £25 as a donation to the funds of the
"Jerusalem Literary Society." It is stated to be in
contemplation, as soon as a sufficient number of
subscribers be enrolled, to publish a journal of scientific
research, the pages of which to be open to contributions
on all subjects relating to the Holy Land.

The Right Hon. Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Bart., is
created a Peer, by the title of Baron Broughton de
Gyfford, in the county of Wilts.

The Queen has nominated the Duke of Cambridge to
be Grand Master of the Order of St. Michael and St.
George, in room of the late Duke his father.

Lieut.-Col. F. Abbott, C.B., lately of the Bengal
Engineers, has been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of
the East India Company's Seminary at Addiscombe.
Lieut.-Col. Abbott had served many years in India, and
was particularly mentioned for his services in the Sutlej
campaign of 1845-6.

Mr. David Robert Ross, is appointed Lieutenant-
Governor of the island of Tobago.

The following official appointments have been made for
the Australian Colonies:—Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy
is re-appointed Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief
of New South Wales, Captain-General and Governor-in-
Chief of Van Diemen's Land, Victoria, and South
Australia, and Governor-General of all the colonies of
Australia, including the colony of Western Australia.—
Sir William Thomas Denison is re-appointed Lieutenant-
Governor of Van Diemen's Land; Sir Henry Edward
Fox Young, Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia;
Charles Joseph La Trobe, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor
of the (new) colony of Victoria.

The following Diplomatic Appointments are
announced:—The Earl of Westmoreland, recently her
Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
at Berlin, is appointed to the same functions at
Vienna. Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons, Minister
Plenipotentiary to the Swiss Confederation, is appointed
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at
the Court of Stockholm. Mr. Arthur Charles Magenis.
now acting Minister Plenipotentiary at Vienna, is
appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Swiss
Confederation. The Hon. Henry George Howard, Secretary
of Legation at the Court of Lisbon, is transferred to the
Court of Vienna. The Queen has appointed Charles
Sturt, Esq., to be Colonial Secretary; Boyle Travers
Finniss, Esq., to be Colonial Treasurer and Registrar-
General; and George Frederick Dashwood, Esq.,
Lieutenant R.N., to be Commissioner of Police and Police
Magistrate for the colony of South Australia. And her
Majesty has also appointed Richard F. Newland, Esq.,
to be Stipendiary Magistrate at the Port of Adelaide,
in the same colony.

Obituary of Notable Persons

LIEUT.-COL. NEVETT, who only left England in September
last to take the command of the Royal Artillery at Hong Kong,
died on the 21st of December, shortly after his arrival at that
unhealthy station. He had been nearly forty-one years in the
service.

VISCOUNT FREDERIC ADOLPHE de GARDINVILLE, of Athies,
mousquetaire gris in the service of Louis XV., and Knight of
the Order of St. Louis, has just died, aged 113, at his country
house, near Homburg. This officer was born on the 28th of
January, 1738, and had retired to Homburg after the dissolution
of the army of Condé.

SPONTINI, the celebrated composer, author of La Vestale and
Fernand Cortes, died on the 24th ult., at Majolati, near Ancona,
where he had gone to pass the winter, in the hope of
re-establishing his health. He was in the seventy-second year of
his age.

The COUNTESS BROOKE AND WARWICK died on the 30th ult.,
at the town residence of the Earl of Warwick, in Carlton
Gardens, after a long and painful illness, in her sixty-fifth year.

SIR FRANCIS LAWLEY, BART., died on the 30th ult, at his
seat in Warwickshire, in his sixty-ninth year. The baronetcy
passes to his brother, Lord Wenlock, who will also inherit his
large landed property.

The HON. CAPTAIN HENRY HOWARD died on the 29th ult., at
Beauchamp, in Gloucestershire, aged forty three. He was son
of the Earl of Suffolk. He formerly represented Cricklade in
Parliament, on liberal principles.

The REV. DR. PYE SMITH died at Guildford an the 7th inst.

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON, the celebrated naturalist, died in New
York on the 27th of January, at the age of seventy-six.

MARY WOOLLSTONCRAFT,  the daughter of Godwin, widow of
Percy Bysshe Shelley, and mother at the present Sir Percy
Bysshe Shelley, Bart., died on the 1st inst., at her residence in
Chester-square, at the age of fifty-three.