chemical process blazed like ordinary paper. He hoped that this subject would not be lost sight of. The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental Death." Mr. Burchell, jun., observed that on behalf of his afflicted uncle, the father of the deceased, he had to thank Dr. Lankester and the gentlemen who had served on the jury for the kind and considerate way in which they had carried on an investigation which, under any circumstances, must be a painful one in a house of mourning. The coroner and jury expressed their sincere sympathy with Mr. Burchell and his family. Miss Burchell was twenty-seven years of age.

SHOCKING COLLIERY ACCIDENT.-A colliery accident happened at Bradley, near to Bilston, which occasioned the almost instant death of three men. At about six in the morning, the deceased, who were miners, got into the tackler-skip to be let down the pit to proceed to their work at the Regent's Croft Colliery, and had descended about twenty-five yards, when the rope suddenly snapped in two, and the men and the cage were precipitated to the bottom, a further depth of about fifty yards. In a short time a descent was made, when it was found that Howell and Davis were lying dead, their bodies being fearfully mutilated at the bottom of the shaft. Kempson was not quite dead, but he had scarcely been brought to the top of the shaft before he expired.

-SERIOUS OCCURRENCE AT THE PRINCESS'S THEATRE.-During the performance of the pantomime the audience at the Princess's Theatre were thrown into a state of painful consternation by the appearance on the stage of an unfortunate ballet-girl whose muslin dress had caught fire at the wing. To add to the horror of this sight, another poor creature, clad in the same dangerous material, rushed forward, with a noble forgetfulness of self, to render assistance in extinguishing the flames, and was in an instant enveloped in fire herself. The name of the first sufferer was Perkins, the second was known at the theatre by the name of Sarah Smith; she was terribly injured, her state, indeed, being hopeless. Both girls were carried off to the Middlesex Hospital. Perkins, although severely burnt, recovered under prompt medical treatment from the injuries she sustained, but the other unfortunate woman, whose real name was Gibson, after lingering a short time in a hopeless state, was released by death from her sufferings. An inquest upon her remains was held by Dr. Lankester, who, in summing up to the jury, thus stated his conclusions from the evidence: "From what they had heard they could not be in any doubt that it must have occurred from the burning of the side lights. He had himself seen the arrangements at the theatre with regard to gas, and he did not think it was possible that the gas could have communicated the fire. They had heard the evidence of the two persons who held the lights, one of whomthe maker of them, Randle-had candidly admitted that the cotton quick-match was liable to splutter, and that therefore it was possible that a spark might have fallen out, as they were using

that kind of match, on to the dress of Ann Hunt. He thought the witness Randle might be believed on his oath that he had not seen any spark fly out of his pan. It was easy to see that when a mass of business was going on in a small contracted space, where upwards of a hundred persons were crowded together, the attention of the witnesses Randle and Aitken would not be particularly drawn to the way in which the fusees were going off. Under these circumstances a spark might have fallen from either Randle's or Aitken's match without their observing it. There was no positive evidence that such was the case, but it was a fair inference. He did not think any criminality attached to their conduct. They were not breaking the laws of their country in any way, but were performing duties which devolved upon them in a reasonably careful and cautious way. If the jury thought they had not performed that duty with due caution, then of course they might be criminated. There were two questions in connexion with the inquiry in which the public were largely interested. He thought it right, therefore, to call their attention to them. The first was with regard to the management of the theatre, and the second with regard to the nature of the dress worn. It appeared from Ann Hunt's evidence that means were used to put out the dresses of the young women employed in theatres when they take fire. Ann Hunt stated that in all other theatres wet blankets were kept ready to put round those on whom fire might have fallen, and that her own life had been so saved at the Surrey Theatre. He had no doubt, therefore, that the jury would think it right to strongly recommend that in all cases where lights are burned such precautions should be taken. Coming, then, to the question of the inflammability of the dresses which these young women wearand not only these young women, but ladies in private life also, who quite rival those on the stage in the amplitude of their garments-it had occurred to him and others that the only way in which life could be saved was by rendering all dresses of linen and cotton uninflammable. Since he had held the office of coroner he had presided over 601 inquests, of which 23 were cases of burning, and of those, 18 deaths had been caused by the clothes taking fire. At least two-thirds of those might have been prevented if a solution of these uninflammable materials had been used by the laundress."

The jury gave the following verdict:-" We find that, on the 28th of January, Sarah Gibson, alias Smith, died from the mortal effects of exhaustion produced by severe and extensive burns on her body, which burns were produced by her clothes catching fire at the Princess's Theatre, and that her death arose from accidental causes. The jury further wish to express an opinion that sufficient precautions were not taken at the Princess's Theatre to extinguish any accidental taking fire of the clothes of the corps de ballet, and also to urge the necessity of rendering all articles of linen and cotton clothing fireproof by the manufacturer and laundress.”

30. PAINFUL SUICIDE OF A MAGISTRATE AT WOLVERHAMPTON. -Mr. Charles Clark, who was Mayor of Wolverhampton in 1860, who was a magistrate for Staffordshire and for the borough of Wolverhampton, and a member of the firm of Messrs. T. and C. Clark and Co., enamelled hollow-ware manufacturers and ironfounders, employing about 600 hands, shot himself in his own bed-room. Deceased was upwards of fifty years of age, and leaves a family of five children. Early in life he suffered from a temporary derangement of intellect; and recently he had been under medical treatment for a disordered stomach. In the past few weeks he has displayed little singularities and eccentricities of conduct; but this behaviour, as it was construed into evidences of a little passing vanity, did not at all excite apprehensions as to the soundness of his intellect, especially as it was no bar to his performing his duties as magistrate and alderman, and as one of the active principals of a large manufacturing concern. The day before his death he was in business up to five in the afternoon. The next morning he took breakfast with Mrs. Clark, and then retired to his bed-room. He had scarcely left the breakfast-table before the report of an exploded fire-arm alarmed the household, and Mrs. Clark ran upstairs, where she found the deceased gentleman lying on the floor surrounded with blood, and quite dead. Death must have been instantaneous; for the back of the head was blown away, apparently with a charge from a double-barrelled breech-loading gun that he had brought a few months before from Paris, and the muzzle of which he would seem yesterday to have placed in his mouth.

DEATH OF THE VICEROY OF EGYPT.-Intelligence was received of the death of Said Pasha, the Viceroy of Egypt. His Highness had for a long time been in very feeble health; and during his stay in this country last summer, to visit the International Exhibition, he was on that account obliged to receive the deputations who sought interviews with him on board his yacht at Woolwich, where he remained the greater portion of the time he resided in England. He was the fourth son of Mehemet Ali, was born in 1822, and succeeded in July, 1854, to the Viceroyship, on the death of his nephew Abbas Pasha, in virtue of an ordinance issued in 1841, which declares the Government of Egypt to be hereditary in the family of Mehemet Ali. His mother was a Circassian, who, having no other children, devoted herself wholly to his education. After receiving all the instruction which accords with Turkish educational ideas, he went through a course of European studies, under the direction of French professors, and especially of Koenig Bey, a learned Frenchman in the service of the Egyptian Court, and who, on the accession of Said Pasha, was appointed Confidential Secretary. Notwithstanding the aptitude of the late Viceroy for intellectual pursuits, his vigorous temperament led him to give the preference to active employment. Destined for the naval service by the express desire of his father,

he was created Grand Admiral of the Fleet, and resided in that capacity in the Palace of Gabbari, near Alexandria, at the period when he was elevated to the throne by the sudden decease of Abbas Pasha. Three days afterwards he assumed supreme authority at Cairo, despite some slight indications of resistance on the part of Elfi Bey, the head of the old bigoted party. He afterwards went to Constantinople to receive the investiture of the Sultan. The new Viceroy was enabled to gain the friendship and confidence of all the most influential members of the Divan, and gave decided proofs of devotion and fidelity towards his sovereign. On his return to Egypt he armed a body of 10,000 men, whom he put under the command of Menikli Pasha, and who took an honourable part in the expedition to the Crimea. As regards the internal affairs of the kingdom, the government of Said Pasha was on the whole progressive. He undertook on several occasions journeys of inspection in the different provinces, more particularly in the Soudan in 1856, which were followed by the removal of certain abuses, the introduction of various improvements in the administration and the assessment of imposts, and of various works of public utility, either completed or commenced. The schools and scientific establishments on the European model, which had been abandoned in the preceding reign, received a fresh impulse under the authority of the Viceroy. The damming of the Nile, commenced by Mehemet Ali, was continued by Said Pasha, who also gave the sanction of his patronage to one enterprise of a very different character-viz., the Lesseps scheme for cutting the Isthmus of Suez, which His late Highness endeavoured to promote by all the means at his disposal.

DEATHS OF CENTENARIANS.-There were several deaths in this month of remarkable centenarians, three of the oldest being matives of Ireland. Cornelius Hackett, aged 108 years, died in the city of Armagh, possessed of all his faculties. He was born on the property of Lord Charlemont, in the county of Tyrone; and when the French landed at Carrickfergus, in 1760, he accompanied his father (being then six years of age) to the scene of action. This proves his birth to be in 1754, and his age 108 years. Deceased was a sawyer by trade; and, even up to a few months of his death, he was able to move about the street, and use the spade or rake. William Power, aged 113, died at Droumtacker, near Tralee. He was a soldier in the "Old Kerry," and was present at the battle of Vinegar Hill. His intellect was perfectly clear until a short time before his demise. About the same time there died in the townland of Mulmurphy, on the estate of Lord Cremorne, a man familiarly known in the neighbourhood by the name of Jack Owens; he had attained the extraordinary age of 112 years. Up to the last few months he used to walk into Monaghan, and retained all his faculties perfect up to his death.

FEBRUARY.

2. CONSECRATION OF AFRICAN BISHOPS. The Rev. W. G. Tozer, of St. John's College, Oxford, vicar of Burghlock Winthorpe, Lincolnshire, nominated to the bishopric of the Oxford and Cambridge Mission to Central Africa, and the Rev. Edward Twells, of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, incumbent of St. John's, Hammersmith, nominated to the bishopric of the Orange River Free Territory, were consecrated in Westminster Abbey. The Archbishop of Canterbury was received by the Very Rev. the Dean (Dr. Trench), the Rev. Canon Jennings, and the Rev. Canon Nepean, and immediately afterwards a procession was formed, which moved into the choir. It consisted of the Archbishop, the Bishop of Oxford, the Bishop of Lincoln, the Bishop of Cape Town, the Bishop of Montreal, the Dean and Canons, and a large number of clergy in their robes. The bishops designate were attended by Dr. Travers Twiss, the Vicar-General of the Province, Mr. F. Hart Dyke, the Registrar, and other officials. The Archbishop having taken his seat on the north side of the Communion table, the bishops designate were conducted to seats in the sacrarium. The Communion Service was then read by the Archbishop, the Bishop of Cape Town reading the Epistle, and the Bishop of Oxford the Gospel. The sermon was preached by the Bishop of Oxford, who selected for his text the 4th chapter of St. Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy, verses 5 and 6-"Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand." His lordship remarked that their two brethren who were going out were the successors of bishops who had occupied the same posts before,— the one, Bishop of the Orange Territory, who was about to succeed the Metropolitan of South Africa (Dr. Gray), in whose diocese it had hitherto been included; and the other, the Bishop of Central Africa, as successor to the late beloved Bishop Mackenzie, who was now lying in his lonely grave on the banks of the fever-laden waters of the distant Zambesi. At the close of the sermon, the bishops designate retired, and having been vested in their rochets were presented to the Archbishop, who, when they had assumed the full episcopal habit, admitted them to the rank and dignity of bishops of the Church of England.

5. THE PRINCE OF WALES TAKING HIS SEAT IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.—This interesting event took place on the first night of the session, and, as nearly three-quarters of a century had elapsed

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