warehouses escaped from burning, by descending the stairs before on fire, by the jigger- rope. The loss from this disastrous event was estimated at from 60,000l. to 70,000l.

22. INTERESTING ANECDOTE. At the triennial meeting of the Salisbury Diocesan Church Building Society at Salisbury, the Lord Bishop of the diocese said, there was an anecdote connected with the building of the church at Whitchurch Canonicorum which he could not forbear relating :"The first proposal for this undertaking (said his lordship) was made to me soon after I became bishop, by a farmer in that neighbourhood, of the name of James. He was a man, not of the more opulent, rather, I believe, of the humbler class; nor did either his appearance or manner indicate any thing superior to that ordinarily found in his sphere of life; but he felt deeply the privation under which he and his neighbours laboured in their separation from the house of God, and the means of grace provided therein. He lamented to see many around him falling into ungodliness and disregard of all religionothers supplying the want for themselves in an irregular manner, by forming conventicles of one or other denomination of dissent. His heart was stirred within him to endeavour if by any means this want could be removed. He exerted himself among those with whom he was connected and his

neighbours generally, and obtained promises of assistance to a considerable extent. He came to me at Salisbury from the further part of Dorsetshire, bringing with him a map of the parish and of the neighbouring district, drawn by himself very clearly and accurately, in order to demonstrate the want,

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and a subscription list amounting to 400l., raised by his almost unaided efforts; and, indeed, in the face of the opposition of some from whom he might naturally have expected encouragement and help; and to this he had himself contributed the sum of 50l. I think I am stating these things correctly, but I am speaking only from memory, and after the lapse of some years. There were greater difficulties to be surmounted than I have ever known to occur in a similar case-legal and technical objections of various kinds, consents necessary to be had, but impossible to obtain-so that, in spite of my best efforts, the business made no progress for nearly two years; but still this earnest-minded man was not disheartened. He wrote to me from time to time. once to London to see me on the subject. He said he would draw stone, and begin building himself, if I would only promise to consecrate the building when raised. At length all obstacles were overcome, and the building was commenced, and advanced rapidly towards its completion; but in the mysterious providence of the Almighty it was not to be permitted to its zealous projector to see the labour of his own hands, to rejoice in his work. He was taken ill, and died a short time, I believe a few weeks only, before the termination of that work which he had so long and so earnestly desired to behold. But were his efforts therefore thrown away? No, rather was his work finished, and he was taken to his reward; and if he was not allowed to worship in the courts of God's tabernacle on earth, may we not humbly trust that he joined in purer worship, and in more joyful strains, in the blessed

AN EMEUTE AT NORFOLK ISLAND.-An Hobart Town paper brought the following account of a daring attempt made by a boat's crew, employed in unloading a ship called the Governor Philip at Norfolk Island. On the morning of the 21st of June, at seven o'clock, the boat's crew were let out of the prison for the purpose of stowing the cargo of the launch, which was hanging to the stern of the brig. On reaching the deck, and seeing only two soldiers and the sergeant there, the crew took advantage of the absence of the other ten, of which the guard consists, and rushed on the two sentries and threw them overboard. The sergeant immediately shot one of them, named Kelly, when he was knocked down by the others aud severely wounded with a be laying pin. One of the soldiers was drowned, and the other saved by a prisoner named Wolfe. The seamen were then ordered into the launch, except two, who were told to remain on deck, and one of them was placed at the wheel, with a prisoner of the name of Moss, to assume the command. The captain, with his officers, happened to be below, and before they could proceed on deck the companion-hatch was put on, the fore and main hatches were also battened down on the rest of the guard and crew, and the mutineers were thus in complete possession of the vessel, but without any arms, except the pistols and cutlasses taken from the two sentries. Shortly after they had taken the vessel, one of the party proposed to Captain Boyle to furnish them with provisions, water, arms, &c., on obtaining which they would give up the

the Island launch; but he refused to comply with their proposals, as he knew that the vessel must ultimately fall into his hands again, the prisoners being without provisions and water, to obtain which they must necessarily expose themselves to the fire of the crew and military, who were well armed, and only waiting for an opportunity to get on deck. Captain Boyle then broke the cabin skylight, and watched for an opportunity of shooting the man who was at the wheel; and, by a well-directed shot, he at length succeeded, and killed him on the spot. On the fall of the two master spirits, the others told the seamen who were on deck that the ship was theirs again. The hatch was taken off, and the ship's crew and the military rushed on deck; the latter fired on the surviving mutineers, killed three and wounded two mortally. The sergeant of the guard shot the corporal in the scuffle, mistaking him for one of the prisoners. The bodies of the killed presented a dreadful spectacle; one man's head was covered with blood and brains, and, but for the interposition of Captain Boyle, the whole of the prisoners would have been killed. The guard and crew consisted of twenty-eight men, exclusive of officers; and it certainly says little for their vigilance or prowess that such an attempt could have been made with any chance of success by a handful of unarmed men. The total number of killed and wounded are-military, one drowned, and two wounded; seamen, one wounded; prisoners, five killed, and two severely wounded. The seven remaining mutineers were fully committed to take their trial for murder and piracy.

25 AWFUL CATASTROPHE AND LOSS OF LIVES-GALWAY.-A melancholy accident occurred in this town this morning. At early mass, in the parish chapel, there was an immense concourse of people; the gallery, as is usual on Christmas mornings, was crowded to excess. One of the rails of the staircase, by the pressure of the multitude, was broken, and some persons in the vicinity having heard the crackling noise, gave the alarm, and cried out that the gallery was giving way. The consequence was, that a tremendous rush was made towards the stairs-numbers were thrown down the stairs and trampled to death by others get ting into the street. Upwards of thirty persons were discovered to have been crushed to death. There were a great many, besides, maimed; all of the lower class, such as poor tradesmen, labourers, and servants. There was no danger at all of the gallery giving way; it was very strongly built, and would bear four times the weight that was on it at the time. There must have been between 4,000 and 5,000 people in at the time.

29. EXTRAORDINARY MILDNESS of the Season.-Within the last few days Covent-garden market

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has had a display of flowers unprecedented for the season. lips, narcissuses, rhododendrons, azalias, and camellias, have been exhibited in full bloom, as well as mignonette. Amongst other flowers were violets in very great profusion, heaths, bignonias, luculias, poinsellias, and camellias, all in excellent variety. The mildness of the weather is shown in the forwardness of every description of vegetation in the gardens, and the excellent supply of produce at the markets. From a meteorological register kept at Lambeth during the last week, the lowest point of the thermometer was 33° Fahrenheit on the night of the 23rd; and the highest 56° Fahrenheit at noon on the 22nd. From the meteorological register kept at the Horticultural Society's garden, at Chiswick, during the last sixteen years, as compared with the present week, it appears that the highest temperature was the 30th of December, 1833, when the thermometer was 56° Fahrenheit, and the lowest the 25th of December, 1832, when the temperature was 12o. From these observations it also appears, that the night of the 25th of December averages 27° Fahrenheit, being the lowest temperature in the year.