fine blue Cairngall granite, all polished, and is beautifully enriched on the front and sides with entwined ornaments, after the style of the early Christian crosses that may be seen in the west of Scotland. It stands upon a rock base, or unhewn block of granite, and the total height is about 7 ft. Its site is chosen in the private grounds at Frogmore, in front of the mausoleum of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, the Queen's mother. This monument was designed and executed by Messrs. Macdonald, Field & Co., of Aberdeen and London, under the special directions of Her Majesty. The following is inscribed, in gold letters, on the stem of the cross" To the dear memory of Lady Augusta Stanley, fifth daughter of Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, this cross is erected by Queen Victoria, in grateful and affectionate remembrance of her faithful labours for thirty years in the service of the Queen, the Duchess of Kent, and the Royal family. Born, April 3, 1822. Died, March 1, 1876."

MR. Ross, who was carried off from Palermo by the brigand Leone and his band, is now in England on a short visit. Mr. Ross describes his adventures as not unmixed with a certain amount of fun. Finding himself completely in their power, he endeavoured to make himself as comfortable and agreeable as he could; the only annoyance being the active pursuit of the troops, who kept the brigands moving and hiding from place to place. Leone assured Mr. Ross most solemnly that if the troops surrounded them, he (Mr. Ross) would be the first man to fall. When the ransom arrived, Mr. Ross had become such a favourite that his captors tried hard to persuade him to join the band. They were much affected when he finally left, and, as they kissed him, swore that neither he nor his friends should ever again be molested. Two of the villains went as far as they dared with Mr. Ross, and on saying farewell they burst into tears.

17. ST. PATRICK'S DAY was kept in Dublin in the usual manner. On the previous evening a grand ball closed a season of great brilliancy at the Castle, where, in order to make the celebration conduce to a useful object, the Duchess of Marlborough had desired the ladies to wear Irish poplins. The ceremony of trooping the garrison colours, and mounting guard in honour of the anniversary, formed an imposing part of the popular celebration of the day. When the troops had been formed, the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, accompanied by the Duke of Connaught, Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill, Lady Rosamond Churchill, and a distinguished party of guests, came out on the balcony to view the stirring scene. The Lord and Lady Mayoress were also present.

The same day it was celebrated in London by a dinner of the Benevolent Society of St. Patrick at Willis's Rooms, at which Sir Michael Hicks-Beach presided; a "national gathering" and amnesty meeting at the Surrey Gardens, under the presidency of Mr. Butt, in the afternoon; and a Home Rule dinner in the evening at the Cannon Street Hotel, with Mr. Butt as chairman. At the dinner

at Willis's Rooms, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach said there was every reason to believe that Ireland had entered upon a steady, quiet, but satisfactory and progressive path of improvement. Even during the short time he had had anything to do with the government of Ireland, he had seen a vast improvement in the direction of that self-reliance upon which Englishmen so much pride themselves.

-SAD DEATH IN PRISON.-At the recent Liverpool assizes Mr. Joseph Greenough, a gentleman, nearly eighty years of age, was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour. He claimed to have acquired by purchase, thirty-seven years ago, a certain piece of land at Parr, near St. Helens, which one of his tenants had enclosed and built a cottage on. Instead of proceeding by action of ejectment, Greenough, with six others acting under his direction, went unarmed in the middle of the day, and endeavoured to take forcible possession. The tenant resisted, and, in the course of the disturbance, he, together with his wife and son, was assaulted. A charge of tumultuously rioting and assembling was brought against Mr. Greenough and the others, and the whole of them were convicted, the subordinates being sentenced to two months' and one month's imprisonment. The extreme severity of the punishment adjudged to Mr. Greenough, and his advanced age, awakened considerable interest at St. Helens, his native place, and where he had passed his life. Steps were being taken by his neighbours to lay the case before the Home Secretary. On March 28 the Under Secretary of State was waited on by Mr. Greenough's London solicitor, who handed him two letters, one from a distinguished ex-judge, the other from a leading member of the Parliamentary Bar, a Queen's counsel, who had known Mr. Greenough about twenty years, expressing his belief that the sentence would be the prisoner's death. Both letters expressed a hope that favourable consideration would be given to the case. On March 30, before any answer had been received from the Home Office, Mr. Greenough died in Kirkdale Gaol. He has left a fortune estimated to amount to nearly half a million.

- MEETING AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY.-A preliminary meeting was held in the Jerusalem Chamber this day-Dean Stanley in the chair-to promote a celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the introduction of printing into England by William Caxton, who printed his first book here, in a room adjacent to the Abbey. The meeting was very influential and thoroughly representative.

THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF BERLIN has just suffered a great loss. One of the finest of its pictures has been stolen. The missing canvas is a small but exquisitely finished specimen of Van Eyck, signed and dated 1440; the subject-the Virgin crowned, seated with the child in her lap, and in the background a Gothic cathedral. A strange destiny seems to attend the works of Van Eyck. He is pre-eminently the thief's favourite artist. The two remaining specimens of him in the Berlin Gallery have

Many years ago
This was before

also a defective title. They had once been part of the famous triptych in the Cathedral of St. Baven at Ghent. two of the shutters were stolen from the church. the days of telegraphs, and probably before the days of detectives. For a very long time they remained unheard of, but ultimately found their way into the Berlin Gallery, for which they were purchased from a private collection, having in the meantime passed through several hands. The last theft has an interest that extends to our own country. It shows that this particular form of robbery is epidemical, and on the increase. It shows, moreover, that the thieves have discovered a safe market for their plunder.

LORD DUNDONALD.-Under the commonplace form of a Parliamentary return lately issued will be found one of the most striking chapters in the romance of war' which English annals can show. It is contained in a petition from Lord Cochrane to the Queen, "praying Her Majesty to complete the gracious act of Royal justice which restored the late Lord Dundonald to his rank and honours" by granting compensation for eighteen years' loss of pay and allowances as a naval officer. We have no intention to enumerate the astonishing feats in naval warfare which Lord Dundonald performed during the earlier years of this century-feats which, as the petition truly says, associated "romantic daring" with "sagacious calculation;" but it is perhaps as germane to the matter in hand to point out that the admirals under whom he served, men like Keith, Collingwood, and Lord Gambier, who knew and could appreciate valour and seamanship, repeatedly thanked him for his services, which also procured him the Order of the Bath. All this, however, went for nothing when, being accused of spreading false reports for stockjobbing purposes, he was convicted and sentenced to a fine, imprisonment, and degradation. We must pass over his achievements in South America, whither he repaired after his release, and gladly record that twenty years after his degradation it was discovered that he was an innocent man, the victim of political partisanship and evidence glaringly defective, and he was then restored to his rank and honours, besides being appointed to high command. Ample restitution, indeed, was made on all points except in the loss of his pay, and this his grandson now asks. Equitably, of course, the claim is good, and it would seem that there is also at least one precedent for granting it. The petition, we should add, is endorsed by an almost unprecedented array of names of men eminent in every walk of life and in every branch of the service, headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and including peers, judges, and, we believe, every admiral on the list.

-- MR. JOHN PARRY.-The farewell benefit performance at the Gaiety Theatre, a few days ago, has left us with pleasant recollections of the many hours of refined amusement, in the "buffo" style of musical comedy, which we have owed to this clever veteran performer. Mr. Parry, whose father was also a musician of good repute, is about sixty-six years old, and is a native of London.

1877.]

Disastrous Fire at the House of Correction.

27

His first appearance as a singer at public concerts was in 1833; but it was not till a few years later that he set the example of a peculiar kind of mixed entertainment, combining the mimicry of personal characters, tones, gestures, and manners, in the spirit of broad farce, with the legitimate musical effects of the voice in singing, and with droll tricks of instrumental execution in the pianoforte accompaniment, the whole so blended together and harmonised as to compose a very agreeable mixture. His health unfortunately obliged him to retire from public appearance during a period of seven years, from the season of 1853 to that of 1860; but he came back to us in the genial company of Mr. and Mrs. German Reed, at the old Gallery of Illustration in Regent-street. Mr. John Parry, who retired a second time in 1869, has now finally withdrawn from the platform, and we trust he will enjoy his repose.

24. OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE BOAT RACE.-The famous annual contest terminated this year, for the first time in its annals, in a dead-heat, an appropriate ending to one of the most exciting and gallantly contested races ever seen. It took place very early, and was attended by immense throngs. Oxford kept a slight lead all the way, but so slight that a spurt of the light-blue crew brought the noses of the boats in line. The Oxford stroke was much the longer and slower, that of Cambridge being kept up to not less than 38 strokes a minute over all the course. Their last spurts reached 40 strokes a minute, and brought them level with the dark-blue crew, who had been hampered for the last part of the race by a disabled bow-oar. Phelps, the judge, decided for a dead-heat, but the public were kept in suspense till the next day for the final decision, till a sort of appeal against it had been submitted to the umpire. Oxford was at first believed to have won. The duration of the race was 24 min. 8 sec., and the "betting," which is spoiling the fine old contest as fast as it can, was in favour of Cambridge till Oxford came to Putney. We subjoin the names and weights of the crews in this famous race :

24. DISASTROUS FIRE AT THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION.—An almost indescribable state of excitement prevailed on the night of the 24th, within the walls of the Coldbath Fields House of Correction, owing to an outbreak of fire. Standing alone near the back portion of the prison proper, in a westerly direction, was a building

known as the mill-house and bakery; and it is pretty certain that the fire originated in that portion of the prison. At five o'clock work ceases in the prison, and when the whole of the inmates are secured in their cells the staff of warders is reduced to about ten men. The first alarm of fire was given by one of the watchmen, who, having heard a crackling noise and afterwards seen flames proceeding from the vicinity of the mill-house, sounded the alarm. bell, and so attracted the attention of those about the building, and caused the absent warders, who are restricted to living within a distance of half a mile, to hasten to the prison. The fire brigade was at once communicated with, the steam-engine from the Farringdon Road depôt being quickly in attendance; and so serious was the aspect of affairs, that "the call" was telegraphed in all directions, eleven engines ultimately arriving on the scene.

By half-past ten the fire burnt with terrible fury, the flames having reached the tread wheel house. The walls of the prison became intensely heated, and from the cells came the cries and shouts of the panic-stricken prisoners, whose removal soon became imperative. There were over 1,800 occupants of the various cells, those in the A and F wings being exposed to the greatest danger, the fire having broken the window panes, thus allowing the smoke to enter and almost suffocate the inmates. In the A wing there were many instances of the prisoners having broken away the trap of the cell through which the rations are given; and in one case a young man managed to get through, falling on his head on to the balcony. As they were released, they were arranged in the corridor below, eventually about a thousand of them being assembled there, watched by the warders and a large body of police. From the treadwheel house the fire extended to the well-house, and the covered way to the entrance of the old prison. In this portion of the building there are some dark cells, which it was at first feared were occupied. With great difficulty, however, and in the midst of falling timber, they were opened and found to be empty. More than two hundred firemen were present. The engines were placed outside the prison walls, from the tops of which most of the hose was directed. By half-past twelve the fire was got under, and it was then found many of the cells were untenable, the former occupants being placed in twos and threes in spare ones. The fire attracted vast crowds of spectators at all points. The conduct of the firemen was most praiseworthy. Throughout the whole of Sunday some thousands of persons visited the neighbourhood of Coldbath Fields, although no portion of the wreck could be witnessed from outside the prison walls. For the satisfaction of the relatives and friends who called to make inquiries, the governor caused a notice to be posted on the principal gate "No prisoner injured at the fire."

25. ARCTIC EXPLORATION.-Capt. Sir Geo. S. Nares read a paper at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, held in the