extent, except the companions of his boyhood, and the friends of his riper years, the unaffected benevolence of his character, and the excellence of his warm and generous heart. To them, and to every member of his disconsolate family, who were tenderly attached to him, his melancholy and most distressing fate will be the bitterest ingredient in the cup of life. So greatly was Richard Lander beloved by the untutored Africans, that at various places in the interior, where he had remained some time-at Katunga, Boussà, Yàcorie, and other places-numbers of the inhabitants ran out of their huts to embrace him on his leaving their town; and, with hands uplifted, and eyes filled with tears, they blessed him in the name of their god. He has left a fatherless child, and an afflicted, broken-hearted widow, to mourn their distressing bereavement." The following is the official despatch which contained the particulars of his death. It is dated Fernando Po, February 5th, 1834, and signed "Richard Meredith, Commander of His Majesty's sloop Pelorus." "Mr. Lander left her some time since, for Cape Coast Castle, to procure boats, &c.; and, having got one boat and two canoes, manned by four Englishmen, seventeen black men, and two boys, had proceeded up the Niger nearly to the town of Hiammock (about 100 miles): confident of the friendship of the natives, he was tracking the boat along there, near the turn of the river and abreast of the island, which much narrowed the passage, when, at two P.M. on the 20th ult., the boat grounding, a heavy fire was opened from the bushes on both sides, and from the island, which killed two men and wounded himself with three others, a number of large armed canoes coming round the point at the same time, they were obliged to abandon the boat, take to the canoes, and make a running fight for four hours, in which they lost another Englishman killed and four blacks wounded, making a total of three killed and eight wounded. "He got to the Crown cutter, waiting at the mouth of the river, late in the afternoon of the 21st, arrived here on the 25th, and died on the 2d of this month. "Mr. Lander estimated the parties that attacked him at from eight to ten thousand, all armed with swords or muskets—a number, no doubt, much exaggerated-and felt convinced, from the judicious position they occupied, that some Europeans were assisting-which, from the slavers being much opposed to the English, and any trade on the coast, is very probable." MRS. FLETCHER. [We extract the following from the "Athenæum;" our personal knowledge of Mrs. Fletcher was also near and intimate; and while we deeply lament the public loss that has been sustained, we sincerely join in the eulogium which the editor of the " Athenæum" has pronounced upon the excellent and accomplished subject of it :-] "It is with feelings of more than common regret that we have to notice the death of Mrs. Fletcher, (late Miss Jewsbury,) on her way from Sholapore to Bombay-this took place on the 3d of October last. It seems but yesterday since we offered her our best wishes for her health and happiness on the long and arduous pilgrimage she was about to undertake; and we cannot but mournfully remember the eager pleasure with which she anticipated beholding the riches of nature and antiquity in the gorgeous East, and how she wished she could carry with her half the books in the British Museum.' Alas! the eager and active spirit, to which such aspirations were a second nature, is now at rest for ever! "We believe that our friend was a native of Warwickshire. We know that she was early in life deprived of her mother, and thenceforth called upon to take her place at the head of a large family, (then removed to Manchester,) with the further trial of most precarious health. These cir cumstances are only mentioned as illustrative of the energy of her mind, which, under the pressure of so many of the grave cares of life, could yet find time to dream dreams of literary distinction, and, in the course of a very few years, to convert those visions into realities. An extract from a private letter which has fallen into our possession, dated but a short time before she left England, gives us an opportunity of referring to the progress of her mind in her own words. 66 6 The passion for literary distinction consumed me from nine years old. I had no advantages-great obstacles-and now, when from disgust I cannot write a line to please myself, I look back with regret to the days when facility and audacity went hand in hand. I wish in vain for the simplicity that neither dreaded criticism nor knew fear. Intense labour has, in some measure, supplied the deficiencies of early idleness and common-place instruction; intercourse with those who were once distant and bright as the stars, has become a thing of course; I have not been unsuccessful in my own career. But the period of timidity and of sadness is come now, and with my foot on the threshold of a new life and a new world, "I could lie down like a tired child, "It was at an early period of her life that she ventured to address a letter to Wordsworth, full of the impatient longings of an ardent and questioning mind-it is sufficient proof of its reception to state, that this led to a correspondence, and thence to a permanent friendship. She was also materially assisted in the developement of her talents, and bringing their fruits before the public, by the advice and active kindness of Mr. Alaric Watts, at that time resident in Manchester; an obligation which she was always ready gratefully to acknowledge. "Her first work, we believe, was entitled Phantasmagoria, or Essays on Life and Literature,' which was well received by the public. This was followed by her Letters to the Young,' written soon after a severe illness; her Lays for Leisure Hours,' and, lastly, her Three Histories,' all of which have been deservedly popular. But many of her best writings are, unfortunately, scattered abroad. She contributed some of their brightest articles to the Annuals during the season of their prosperity: of these we mention at random- The Boor of the Brocken,' in the Forget-Me-Not;' The Hero of the Coliseum, in the Amulet; and the Lovers' Quarrel, in the Literary Souvenir.' Many of her poems, too, dispersed in different periodicals, deserve to be collected; in particular, The Lost Spirit,' and the Phantom King,' written on the death of George the Fourth. During the years 1831 and 1832 she contributed many delightful papers to our own columns, and we need not remind our readers that 'The Oceanides,' perhaps her last literary labours, appeared there. . "But we think that all these, excellent as they were, are only indications of what she might and would have achieved, had further length of days been permitted to her; that such was her own opinion may be gathered from further passages in the same letter from which we have already quoted. "I can bear blame if seriously given, and accompanied by that general justice which I feel due to me; banter is that which I cannot bear, and the prevalence of which in passing criticism, and the dread of which in my own person, greatly contributes to my determination of letting many years elapse before I write another book.' "Unfortunately, I was twenty-one before I became a reader, and I became a writer almost as soon; it is the ruin of all the young talent of the day, that reading and writing are simultaneous. We do not educate ourselves for literary enterprise. Some never awake to the consciousness of the better things neglected; and if one like myself is at last seized upon by a blended passion for knowledge and for truth, he has probably committed himself by a series of jejune efforts-the standard of inferiority is erected, and the curse of mere cleverness clings to his name. I would gladly burn almost everything I ever wrote, if so be that I might start now with a mind that has seen, read, thought, and suffered, somewhat at least approaching to a preparation. Alas! alas! we all sacrifice the palm-tree to obtain the temporary draught of wine! We slay the camel that would bear us through the desert, because we will not endure a momentary thirst. "I have done nothing to live, and what I have yet done must pass away with a thousand other blossoms, the growth, the beauty, and oblivion of a day. The powers which I feel, and of which I have given promise, may mature-may stamp themselves in act; but the spirit of despondency is strong upon the future exile, and I fear they never will— 66 6 "I feel the long grass growing o'er my heart.' "My Three Histories' has most of myself in them, but they are fragmentary. Public report has fastened the Julia' upon me; the childhood, the opening years, and many of the after opinions are correct; but all else is fabulous. In the best of everything I have done, you will find one leading idea -Death all thoughts, all images, all contrasts of thoughts and images, are derived from living much in the valley of that shadow; from having learned life rather in the vicissitudes of man than woman, from the mind being Hebraic. My poetry, except some half dozen pieces, may be consigned to oblivion; but in all you would find the sober hue, which, to my mind's eye, blends equally with the golden glow of sunset and the bright green of spring-and is seen equally in the temple of delight as in the tomb of decay and separation. I am melancholy by nature, cheerful on principle.' "We can add little to these interesting confessions of one whose sincerity could well be relied upon. In conversation Mrs. Fletcher was brilliant and eloquent she was active in serving others as well as herself-and we feel, as we record her untimely death, that a friend has been taken away from us, as well as a bright ornament from the female literature of this country." MARRIAGES AND DEATHS. Married.]-Captain Ricketts, R.N., son of Rear-Admiral Sir R. Ricketts, Bart., of the Elms, Gloucester, to Henrietta, daughter of Colonel Tempest, of Tong Hall, York. At Paddington Church, T. Grant, Esq., of Great Leighs, Essex, to Rosina, daughter of J. Vendramini, Esq. At Paris, Hugh, youngest son of the late Sir W. Forbes, Bart., of Craibievar, Aberdeen, to Anne, daughter of J. G. Morgan, Esq., of Bristol. At Glasgow, the Rev. John Smith, Minister of St. George's, to Violet, daughter of the late Major-General W. Lockhart. : At Bath, J. Christian Boode, Esq., of Lucknam, Wilts, to Clementina, daughter of ViceAdmiral Sir H. W. Bayntum. At St. George's, Hanover-square, William Leveson Gower, jun., Esq., of Titsey-place, in the county of Surrey, to Emily Josephine, second daughter of Sir Francis Hastings Doyle, Bart. At Swanswick, Philip Charles Sheppard, Esq., of Upper Halliford, in the county of Middlesex, to Mary, eldest daughter of the late Osborne Markham, Esq., and niece of the Marquess of Bath. At St. George's, Hanover-square, the Rev. Frederick A. S. Fane, second son of John Fane, Esq., of Wormsley, Oxon, to Joanna, youngest daughter of the late Sir Benjamin Hobhouse, Bart. At the Mauritius, C. C. Brownrigg, Esq., Capt. 9th regiment, to Rosa Matilda, second daughter of Lieut.-Colonel Fyers, Command ing Royal Engineer in that island. Also, on the same day, the Rev. Langrishe Banks, Second Colonial Chaplain, to Louisa, eldest daughter of Lieut.-Colonel Fyers. At St. Mary's Church, Henry Robert, only son of the late John Addison, Judge in Bengal, to Grace, youngest daughter of Major-General Robert Burton, late of the 2d Life Guards. Died.]-At Angers, in France, the Hon. Abraham Heley Hutchinson, aged 68, brother of the late Earl of Donoughmore, formerly one of the Commissioners of his Majesty's Customs. At Montreal, Lower Canada, in the 47th year of his age, the Rev. Brook Bridges Stevens, A.M., late Chaplain to his Majesty's Forces, and Lecturer of the Protestant Episcopal Church at that place. At Fromer Lodge, Herts, of consumption, Isabel Georgiana, eldest daughter of Sir D. and Lady Ogelby, aged 16 years. At Uddens House, Dorset, Sir James J. Fraser, Bart., in his 45th year. In Privy Gardens, aged 85, the Hon. Catherine Gertrude Robinson, widow of the late Hon. Frederic Robinson, and aunt to the Earls Malmesbury, Morley, de Grey, and Ripon. At Winchester, Lady Caroline Knollys, eldest sister of the late Earl of Banbury. At Marine-parade, Brighton, Ann Brummell, widow of Benjamin Brummell, Esq., late of his Majesty's Treasury, PROVINCIAL OCCURRENCES IN THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND, AND IN WALES, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND. LONDON. Pure Water.-Mr. Martin, the artist, who some time ago proposed a plan for supplying London with water from the river Coln, has republished it, combined with another proposition; namely, to make the line by which the water is to come to London serve also for a railway, forming a roof over the aqueduct, of strength sufficient to support the iron rails, and the carriages to move thereon, as far as Denham, a distance of fifteen miles from London in the direction of the projected great western rail-roads. Mr. Martin is also actively employed in forming a company for the purification of the river Thames, by the construction of sewers in a direction parallel to its banks. CAMBRIDGE. The new Colonial Secretary, Mr. Spring Rice, has fought a hard battle at Cambridge against Sir Edward Sugden; he has, however, obtained the victory, beating his antagonist by a majority of 29, the relative numbers being-for Mr. Rice, 616; Sir Edward Sugden, 587. It must be admitted that this victory is no triumph on the part of Mr. Spring Rice, Sir Edward having a majority of 169 against him at his last failure two years ago at the same place. Both candidates, in their appeals to the people, had considerable difficulties to encounter. Sir Edward had the unpopularity of the Church Establishment to defend; and Mr. Rice had his vote on the Pension List, and the general tenour of Lord Grey's Administration, to palliate. Both these were dead weights on the energies of the two candidates, and tended much to weaken the exertions of their friends. CORNWALL. Singular Cavern.-Within the last few days a singular discovery has been made at Whael Prudence Mine, in the parish of St. Agnes. Some men who were employed in extending the adit level, found, quite unexpectedly, what was at first considered a communication with some old workings. Steps were taken without delay to convey as good a current of air as possible to the spot, and after a few other preliminaries an entrance was effected into a small cavern. Pursuing their researches, it was found that the bottom was as complete a beach as that over which the ocean rolls daily, but nothing in the shape of a communication with that element could be traced. So complete was the state of the internal beach, that had there not subsequently been discovered a variety of conic pillars of oxide of iron, varying from six to eighteen inches in height (caused by dropping of water from the roof) it would most certainly have been conjectured that the barrier between the cavern and the sea had not been long formed; these cones, however, together with the hard irony incrustations of some particular portions of the sand, put it beyond doubt that the present obstruction to the sea's entrance has existed for many a long year. On proceeding southward about 120 feet, a very hard head of ground presented itself, which was at first considered the termination; but, on stooping down, a small aperture was seen, through which the captain of the mine grouped, and on raising his eyes one of the most magnificent excavations ever beheld expanded to his view; the whole extent of the chasm measuring longitudinally 200 feet, varying from 30 to 70 feet in height, and in width from Dorsetshire Hampshire-Kent-Sussex-Somerset. 20 to 40 feet! Amongst other things found, is the skeleton of a fish, measuring from the head to the lower extremity about two feet; the bones were apparently as perfect as possible, but the most trifling pressure would immediately crumble them to dust, with the exception of the skull, which was hard and firm. The whole distance from the sea to the southern extremity of the cavern is 400 feet.-Falmouth Packet. DORSETSHIRE. The improvement which has been just commenced at Weymouth will be effected by the embanking of about fifty acres of the mud land of the harbour, of which about thirty-five are to be devoted to the purposes of a park, and laid out in a style of great taste, in extensive rides and drives, well planted, and to which access will be obtained through two handsome entrance lodges; the one leading from King-street, the other from the entrance to the town. On the remainder of the ground will be erected a crescent of thirty spacious houses, sweeping with a lawn and pleasureground in front, from the Belvidere to the spot on which the turnpike-gate at present stands. The expense of erecting the long course of embankment wall, by means of which this extensive improvement will be effected, will be defrayed solely from the funds of the Corporation. HAMPSHIRE. Mammoth.-Part of the skeleton of this extinct animal, in a state of complete petrifaction, has recently been discovered embedded in a cliff at the back of the Isle of Wight, consisting of a cylindrical bone, probably of the leg, one of the vertebræ, the bones composing one of the feet, and part of another. KENT. Skeleton of an Iguanodon found near Maidstone. The bones discovered by Binsted in a quarry of the limestone called Kentish rag, near Maidstone, prove, as we had anticipated, to belong to that monster of the ancient world, the Iguanodon, whose remains are so abundantly distributed throughout the wealds of Kent and Sussex. The bones in question consist of the thigh and leg bones, many bones of the toes, several vertebræ or bones of the spine, two clawbones, and fragments of other bones which are too imperfect to admit of determination. The remains of two teeth 407 render it certain that all these bones belong to this extinct lizard. The size of the thigh-bones indicates that the individual was about 75 feet in length. These relics are imbedded in a mass of limestone about 3 feet by 6 feet, which was unfortunately blasted with gunpowder by the quarrymen before its precious contents were observed. The intelligent proprietor of the quarry has, however, so carefully collected all the fragments, that by skill and perseverance the specimen might be rendered one of the most interesting possible. Many teeth of fishes, several marine shells, ossicula or little bones of echini, starfish, &c. are imbedded in the mass: in the same quarry fossil-wood is found in abundance.-Brighton Gazette. SUSSEX. The men employed in lowering the hill at Falmer, between Brighton and Lewes, have already removed a considerable portion of the summit of the hill; the section of the soil exposed by their operations exhibits a thick bed of loam and of sand, of an olive-green colour; it does not contain fossils, but is evidently an outline of the tertiary sand which occurs at Castle Hill, near Newhaven, and at Chimting Castle, near Seaford, and which is frequently observed in fissures of the chalk; a proof that the tertiary strata once extended over a much larger surface than they now occupy. In the chalk the labourers dug up what they called a petrified sea-serpent, but which we scarcely need remark was an ammonite, an extinct species of marine shell-fish allied to the recent Nautilus. SOMERSETSHIRE. Great Western Railway.-In the course of his evidence before the Parliamentary Committee, Mr. Brunel said, "The whole time to be occupied in the cuttings and embankments on the whole line from Bristol to Bath would be about three years. The estimate is 206,9017. for that line, excluding the purchase of land, and, adding for contingencies, is 227,7007. The cost of the tunnels is about 31,1227. The width and height of the tunnels is about 25 feet each; the longest tunnel would be lighted and ventilated by two shafts. The diameter of his shafts would be 10 feet, their depth about 35; crosses the river four times; the north branch, coming in contact with the coal pit line, is the branch proposed to be made; that is the |