known Clifton Rocks, and commands one of perhaps the finest views in the world. It is, accordingly, much resorted to by visitors. The deceased incautiously approached too near the edge of the rocks, and her foot slipping on the smooth short grass, she was precipitated to the bottom. She was seen in the act of falling by a woman who resides in a cottage under the rocks. The unfortunate lady, she states, endeavoured to save herself by catching at some projecting points of the rock, but her efforts were unavailing. Two men who were walking at the foot of the rocks also witnessed the accident, and hastened to her assistance, but she was quite dead. Her skull was completely beaten in on the right side, and her person altogether was frightfully mutilated. Warned by the preceding fatal occurrences, the Society of Merchant Venturers have erected large posts, warning persons against approaching too near the edge of the rocks; but as such cautions are notoriously insufficient, it would be well if more effectual precautions were taken to prevent accidents. GREAT FIRE IN ST. GEORGE'S IN-THE-EAST.-The most destructive fire that has occurred in London for some time broke out early in the morning, on the premises of Messrs. Wackerbarth and Collings, sugar refiners and bondwarehousemen, in St. George's-inthe-East Street, formerly Ratcliffe Highway. The establishment is of great extent, the ground employed extending to three or four acres. The buildings form three sides of a square, ranging in height from six to eight stories, and of great depth. About 2 o'clock in the morning, a watchman discovered fire in the second floor of the building called the "single house;" he immediately raised an alarm, and means were attempted to stop the flames. But the building, which was a hundred feet high and ninety deep, was speedily one mass of fire. The firemen could not even confine the fire to this range; it spread to the "old house," and that too was soon blazing throughout. At 4 o'clock the fire had reached its highest point: the scene was magnificentall London was illuminated. The church steeples in the metropolis, the shipping on the river, and other lofty objects, and the river for miles presented a beautiful and striking effect. The sugar-house is near to the London Docks, and fears were entertained for the safety of the buildings and shipping; but many vessels having been removed to a more distant spot, and other precautions having been taken, no damage was done. The "old house" and the "single house," with a vast quantity of sugar, were destroyed, and other portions of the building were damaged. The proprietors are insured in a number of offices. The disaster is supposed to have been caused by a spark falling from the lamp of a Custom-House of ficer who went into a warehouse soon after midnight to inspect; Messrs. Wackerbarth and Collings holding large quantities of sugar in bond. On the 22nd the gigantic warehouses of Messrs. J. P. Westhead, M.P., and Co., in Piccadilly Street, Manchester, were wholly destroyed by fire. One fireman was killed, and another mortally hurt, by falling walls, after the fire. Property worth more than 100,0001," was destroyed. The buildings had five shafts piercing each floor, and covered by a dome skylight. When the glass was destroyed, each of the series of openings through the floors under them acted as immense flues, through which a resistless draught of air rushed up: they became centres of heat, roaring and spouting forth fire like so many volcanoes; rolls of ribands and the remnants of partially-consumed pieces of lighter goods, drawn within the vortex of these centres, were shot up into the air like rockets. -THE INDIAN MAIL.-The only news of importance brought by this mail is a mutiny of a Bengal regiment of Native Infantry (the 66th), at Umrit sir, on the 2nd February. The men had for some time shown symptoms of insubordination on account of the Scinde batta, "which they said pressed hard on them, considering the high prices of food, and their distance from their homes." Major Troup addressed them on the 1st, in explanation of the order; and was doing so again on the 2nd, when the men openly refused to obey orders. Some precautions, however, had been taken the men had piled arms; a company of cavalry appeared at one of the gates of the fort; the mutineers ran to their piled arms, but the officers and the armed cavalry anticipated and prevented them; and after some rough struggling, they were mastered and turned out of the fort. Stanch reinforcements arriving, the mutinous regiment was rested" en masse, and placed for custody on the glacis of the fort, under the muzzles of the guns loaded with grape-shot. The measures of the Commander-in-Chief were marked by his usual clearheaded decision. The regiment was struck off from the service of the Company, and their colours "ar "delivered over to the brave and loyal men of the Nusseeree battalion." Sir Charles, in his general order, severely reproves the conduct of the officers of the regi ment. 21. THE BRIDgenorth Murder CASE.-In the ANNUAL REGISTER for 1849, Chron. p. 81, will be found an abstract of the remarkable trial of Mercy Catherine Newton, for the murder of her mother at Bridgenorth. On that occasion the jury not being able to agree upon their verdict, were, after being locked up all night, discharged on the ground of the continued illness of one of the jurymen. This was the second time the prisoner had been placed at the bar, having first been brought up for trial at the preceding assizes, when, as on the second occasion, the jury, after a two days' trial, not being able to agree, and the commission day for Hereford having arrived, were discharged by the Judge. The prisoner was now for the third time put to the bar for trial. It was urged on her behalf, that as the former jury had been discharged without her consent, or inevitable necessity, she could not be tried again. The objection being reserved, the trial proceeded. It is unnecessary to repeat the shocking details of the cruelties inflicted by the prisoner upon her unhappy mother; these, and the grounds of doubt whether they had been the cause of her death, or she had died of injuries arising from accident, are summed up in the former volume of this work; upon this occasion no new evidence was brought forward which could throw further light on the subject, and the jury, after some consideration, found a verdict of "Not Guilty." These remarkable circumstances -- had imparted great interest to the case; the court was densely crowded, and the verdict appeared to accord with the general feeling. THE EXHIBITION OF INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS. The Lord Mayor's Banquet.-The Lord Mayor of London gave a splendid banquet at the Mansion House to the Chief Magistrates of the Cities, Towns, and Boroughs of the United Kingdom, to stimulate, by the friendly intercourse of a dinner, their united interest in the Exhibition of 1851. H.R. H. Prince Albert was also his lordship's guest, a chief point of the union being the introduction of these potentates to the illustrious projector of the Exhibition. The hall was specially adorned for the occasion in the most magnificent style, with arms of the counties and corporations, trophies characterizing local industry, painted windows allegorically representing the pacific and commercial influences of the Exhibition, &c. Before the banquet, Prince Albert held a levee in the grand drawing-room of the Mansion House, the Lord Mayor presenting the First Magistrates of 202 English cities and boroughs, ten Scotch Provosts, and 5 Irish Mayors. The general company included the Archbishop of Canterbury, Foreign Ministers, leading statesmen of all parties, the Commissioners of the Exhibition, the Aldermen, Masters of Companies, Chairmen of Committees in Common Council, and some leading gentlemen connected with the city. The banquet finished, His Royal Highness addressed the guests in a striking and well-studied speech, in which the tendencies of the age, the modern developments of art and science, the rapid intercommunication of thought, all realizing the unity of mankind, were strik ingly appreciated; and the utility of such a project as this to forward such tendencies was then commented on. The Ministers past and present, the Foreign Ambassadors, prelates and peers, vied with each other in expressing the high value they attributed to the design. was BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE. Adams v. Gibbs. - This an action brought by Jane Emma Adams against Richard Gibbs, to recover damages for the breach of his promise to marry her. The defendant, in addition to the usual pleas denying the making of the promise, &c., also pleaded that the plaintiff had not required him to perform it; that after making the promise to the plaintiff he had ascertained that she was suffering from an incurable disease called consumption, and was on that account unable to perform the duties of a wife, and that he was required to assign over certain property to which, through his wife, he would have been entitled, to other persons, and on those grounds he alleged that he was justified in refusing to perform the promise he had made. The damages were laid at 20002. Mr. Chambers said, that it was his duty, on the part of the plaintiff, to lay before the jury the extraordinary circumstances under which she was obliged to appeal to their justice for compensation for the deep and distressing injury which she had received at the hands of the defendant. The plaintiff, Miss Jane Emma Adams, was the eldest surviving daughter of a gentleman residing at Wateringbury. defendant was a farmer and hopgrower in the same neighbourhood, and he and his family were on the most intimate terms with The the plaintiff and her relations, and constantly visited them, and he therefore had ample opportunity of observing the conduct of the young lady, and also the state of her health, before he made the promise of marriage upon which this action was founded. An attach ment arose, the defendant proposed, and was accepted, and the wedding was appointed to take place on the 16th of December, at the church of St. Martin-in-the Fields. Circumstances requiring that certain deeds should be executed, it was arranged that the defendant should be present at the office of the solicitor in Maidstone when the deeds were executed, and Thursday, the 14th of December, was appointed for that purpose. The plaintiff and her father and the other persons interested accordingly assembled, but the defendant never made his appearance, and nothing more was heard of him from the month of December, 1848, till October, 1849, when he again made his appearance in London. Of course, great alarm was felt by his friends, and also by the plaintiff's family, at his absence. It was imagined that some accident must have befallen him, and the police were applied to to make inquiries respect ing him, but for a long time no information whatever could be obtained of him. It was at length ascertained that on the day when he was to have attended to see the deeds executed at Maidstone he had gone to America; but nothing further was heard of him, neither was any letter or communication in any shape received by his own family or that of the plaintiff, and nothing was known respecting him until the month of October, 1849, when it appeared that he was discovered in London. The plaintiff had naturally suffered great distress of mind, but her health was quite re-established. The defendant had never condescended to give any explanation of his proceedings, and he was really at a loss to imagine what answer was to be attempted on the present occasion. With regard to the pleas that had been put upon the record, it appeared to him that these pleas were most odious and distressing. The defendant by one of those pleas did not deny that he had made the promise to marry the plaintiff, but he asserted that she was suffering under a deadly disease, and, on that account, she had no right to ask him to fulfil it. The defendant had been on intimate terms with the family, and if there was any foundation for the assertion with regard to the state of health of the plaintiff, he must have been aware of it. However, there was no pretence for the allegation, and he thought the jury would agree with him that the placing such a plea upon the record was an additional insult to the young lady whom he had already so deeply injured. The other plea was equally incapable of proof. Evidence was then given which showed that the young lady, though in delicate health, was not consumptive; that defendant had procured the marriage licence on the 13th of December, and had ordered the wedding breakfast at Morley's Hotel; that the legal documents to be executed were of a proper and prudential nature; and that the young lady had suffered great distress from the injury and insult so wantonly inflicted on her. Mr. Serjeant Shee, for the de fendant, admitted in the amplest trems the amiable and exemplary character of the plaintiff; but insisted that she was unfortunately decidedly consumptive, and dwelt on the melancholy consequences of introducing such a complaint into the offspring. Here was no seduction, no abandonment for a wealthier or more beautiful bride. The circumstances did not call for large damages. After short consideration, the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff, with 8007. damages. 22. CASE OF THE BIRDS. Exeter.-Robert Courtice Bird and Sarah Bird were tried for the murder of their servant-girl, Mary Ann Parsons, in January last, by beating and starving her to death. This case excited the most intense interest from the systematic barbarity which the unhappy victim received at the hands of the prisoners, and the court was densely crowded. Bird was a farmer at a lone house about eight miles from Bideford; Sarah Bird is his wife : Mary Parsons was a little girl of 14, taken by them from Bideford Union Workhouse, in September last, to be their servant. The girl had before been taken out of the workhouse to service, and been brought back again as too weak for the place, suffering with the itch and ringworm. When she went to Mr. Bird's she was cured of these diseases, and in good health she was a notably good girl, very clean in her habits, and industrious. In November Mrs. Bird described her as one of the best girls she ever had in her house; but on Christmas eve she stated, that Mary Anne had taken to stealing and telling lies; and from that time forward the girl seems to have been treated with continued cruelty, which, with systematic starvation, reduced her so low, that she could not perform the most ordinary avocations. "We soon come," said the learned counsel for the Crown, "to the 4th of January, and then we find she is ill upstairs. She calls for water-she is told by her mistress if she wants water she had better come down for it, or keep a servant. She comes down, totters to the fireplace, and there falls down. The unfortunate child said, "I don't know what's the matter with me. I be like one tipsy, but I baint, be I?" No, she was not tipsy. If the fall was from weakness, and was not occasioned by violence, it was evident death had already commenced his work, and was now hurrying her fast from the scene of misery and WO. The mistress told her to go to bed, and she went upstairs. Remorse, or most probably fear, induced both master and mistress to visit her during the night. Her extremities were cold. Her mistress applied hot bottles to her; but, alas, this care and anxiety were too late; the brief span of her existence was about to close, and towards the morning, upon going to her bed, they found a smile upon her face, but she was dead. What a happy change! The master is no doubt alarmed, and hurries to a doctor; the body of the child is examined-from the ankle to the hip is one continued mass of bruises, and the back part of her person is covered with plaister upon plaister; her arms have abscesses on them; her shoulders have the marks of punishment, and it is found that there has been an injury to the head which has caused her death, and to try in what way and by |