The Burmese, still undismayed by their former reverses, made on the 26th of May a second attempt to recover Martaban. Their force consisted of 1,000 or 1,200 men, who were gallantly beaten back by the 40th Madras N.I. in garrison there, under the command of Major Hall. Our loss was 1 man killed, and 13 wounded. An expedition of 230 troops, viz. 100 men of H.M. 80th regiment, under the command of Capt. Ormsby, 100 men of the 67th Native Infantry, under the command of Capt. Hicks, and 30 Sappers and Miners, Madras Army, under Lieut. Mackintosh, with Lieut. Mayne, field engineer, left Rangoon on the 3d of June to attack the city of Pegu, where they stormed the pagoda on the 4th, with a loss of 1 man killed, and 5 wounded. After destroying the fortifications, they returned to Rangoon on the next day. Everything was quiet round the British quarters at Bassein. The enemy had left the neighbourhood, and the inhabitants were coming in numbers to seek protection under our rule. The Burmese policy is supposed to be to avoid meeting us on the ground we have chosen for ourselves, and to carry the war into our own districts by invading the Assam frontier and the territories of our ally the Rajah of Munipoor.

The intelligence from The Cape is still of a very desperate character. On the 12th of June five waggons, in charge of Captain Windie and 34 sappers and miners, proceeding from Graham's Town to headquarters, were captured by Caffres and rebel Hottentots. Nine sappers and two drivers were killed, and seven wounded. The South African Advertiser says, " Disorder and danger, as well as actual war, have become general for 50 miles or more on both sides of a border line some 150 miles in length."

During the past month considerable alarm has prevailed in both countries of a possible rupture between the United States and ourselves, in consequence of the steps we have recently taken, at the instance of our North American colonists, to protect the fisheries on their coasts. Notwithstanding the treaty of 1818 excluded the Americans from fishing in the bays of the

British coasts, it appears that the New Englanders have always presumed to do so, maintaining the doctrine that if a bay or inlet were so spacious as to admit of a vessel's entering without coming within a league of either shore, such bay should be considered as open sea. At Boston, a memorial has been recently addressed to President Fillmore, representing that 2,100 vessels and 30,000 seamen are engaged in the fisheries, representing property valued at 12,000,000 dollars; and a very decided demonstration was made in all quarters that the advantages gradually assumed would not be yielded without a struggle. A good understanding has now, however, been restored by the British government conceding in perpetuity that access of the American fishermen which they have hitherto permitted on sufferance.

A very destructive fire has occurred at Montreal, which, breaking out on the morning of the 8th of July, continued during that day and part of the next, destroying 1,100 houses, and property to the amount of 201,000l. The greater proportion of the city was of wood, and in such a conflagration the few stone houses offered no effectual resistance to the flames. Among the buildings consumed were the Bishop's church and palace, the markets, barracks, officers' quarters, the Hayeshouse, Donegana's Hotel, the theatre, and Dalhousie-square.

On the 27th of July the Moniteur published a decree of the President of the French Republic appointing M. Drouyn de Lhuys (late Ambassador in this country) to be Minister of Foreign Affairs, and M. Magne Minister of Public Works. M. Baroche was nominated to take part in the Council of Ministers.

On Sunday the 15th of August a sumptuous fête was celebrated at Paris, in commemoration at once of the Assumption of the Virgin and the genius of the Emperor Napoleon whose birthday it was. Every device was contrived to recal the glories and souvenirs of the imperial sway, but much was marred by the inclemency of the weather.

On the evening of Monday, August 9, her Majesty, Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, the Princess Royal, and Princess Alice Maude, attended by the Countess of Gainsborough, the Hon. Miss Byng, Lord Colville, Colonel Phipps, Sir G. Clark, and Mr. Gibbs (tutor to the Prince of Wales), embarked at Osborne in the Royal barge, which put them on board the Victoria and Albert steam-yacht at 6.20 p.m. when the royal standard was hoisted and the armed steamers in attendance manned yards and fired a general royal salute. The Duke of Northumberland, First Lord of the Admiralty, embarked on board the Black Eagle; the steam-frigates Retribution, Sampson, Odin, Magicienne, and Barracouta, formed an outer guard to the Victoria Albert and Fairy, and the Black Eagle, Vivid, and Elfin form an inner guard. Owing to the roughness of the weather, the squadron was on Tuesday compelled to lay-to in the Downs; but on Wednesday morning, shortly after 6 a.m. the ships weighed anchor, and steered across the Channel. At 7 p.m. they anchored off the city of Antwerp; where, shortly before 8, King Leopold arrived from Laecken, and went on board the royal yacht, where he remained to dine. Her Majesty landed the next morning at 9 a.m. and was received at the landing-place by King Leopold, attended by his three children. They immediately proceeded to the palace of Laecken, where the Queen remained during that day. On Friday she visited Brussels, where the Corps Diplomatique and chief officers of state were presented to her at the palace, and she afterwards visited the museum and cathedral. On Saturday she returned to Antwerp, where she also visited the cathedral and the exposition of pictures, and having been entertained in the palace at the Place de Meir re-embarked at past two, and was accompanied by King Leopold down the Scheldt. Having been delayed by foggy weather, her Majesty did not arrive at Osborne until half-past twelve on Tuesday, Aug. 17.

Two acts were passed on the 30th July by virtue of which some extensive alterations are made in the Common Law Courts, in accordance with the recommendations of the Common Law Commissioners. The first act (cap. 73) relates to the Nisi Prius officers, and to the payment of judges' clerks by salaries. Several offices are abolished, and fees reduced. The Treasury, with the sanction of the chiefs of the three GENT. MAG. VOL. XXXVIII.

courts, will fix the salaries to be paid, and a new table of fees for the superior courts and the judges' chambers is to be framed. Among the fees abolished is one of 6s. 8d. paid on circuit "for the use of the judge." The other act is called the Common Law Procedure Act (cap. 76). This act contains as many as 236 clauses, and its object is to render more simple and speedy the process, practice, and mode of pleading in the common law courts. A great many technicalities are got rid of by this act, and actions will be less expensive and more expeditious than they have been in the superior courts. Both acts take effect from the 24th of October. The signature of counsel will not be required to any pleading.

During a severe storm on the 17th July, which did considerable injury to windmills and other property in Essex and Suffolk, the spire of Woolpit church in the latter county was entirely thrown to the ground. It appears that there was no conductor, scientifically so called; but that various iron bands had been inserted from time to time, to bind the weak parts of the tower together, and they were so acted upon by the electric fluid as to drive out the western wall, when the spire was thrown down, and the bells were hurled, two in one direction and four in another. The lofty spire was covered entirely with lead, and at the moment of the accident presented an appearance like the boiling of spirits. It fell towards the west. Below the clock the tower does not appear to have felt the electric influence, and the west window, fitted with painted glass by Mrs. Marriott, in 1849, was left uninjured.

On the 5th Aug. the first column was raised at Sydenham of the New Crystal Palace. Beneath it was placed the following inscription:

"This column, the first support of the Crystal Palace, a building of purely English architecture, destined to the recreation and instruction of the million, was erected on the 5th day of August, 1852, in the sixteenth year of the reign of her Majesty Queen Victoria, by Samuel Laing, Esq. M.P. Chairman of the Crystal Palace Company. The original structure of which this column forms a part was built after the design of Sir Joseph Paxton, by Messrs. Fox, Henderson, and Co. and stood in Hyde Park, where it received the contributions of all nations, at the World's Exhibition, in the year of our Lord 1851. 2 Q

Will modestly discover to yourself
That of yourself which yet you know not of."

After the conclusion of the ceremony, about five hundred ladies and gentlemen sat down to a déjeuner, to which they had been invited by Messrs. Fox and Henderson. The Chairman, Mr. Laing, presided, supported by Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord Ernest Bruce, Lord F. Hallyburton, Mr. Peto, M.P., Mr. Pellatt, M.P., Mr. B. Osborne, M.P., Sir James Duke, M.P., Sir John Lubbock, Sir Charles Barry, R.A., Sir Charles Lyell, Professors Ansted, Forbes, Solly, and Wheatstone, Drs. Faraday, Latham, Lindley, and Marshall Hall, and a large number of gentlemen distinguished in literature, science, and art. The building will be a great improvement on that which was in Hyde Park, presenting three transepts instead of one, and an arched nave. The fall of the ground has led to a clever arrangement of the building on the lower side, with deep recesses in the ends of the transepts, and an open corridor, the whole length of the intermediate parts, to contain sculpture.

A new church has been erected for the district of Westcott, in the parish of Dorking, and consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester on the 26th July. The land was given by Mr. W. J. Evelyn, M.P. For the erection of the church the district is indebted to the late Lady Mary Leslie, Mr. C. Barclay, and Mr. Arthur Kett Barclay. Lady Mary Leslie left by her will the sum of 1000l. towards endowing the church, and a further sum of 100%. towards the building. The Messrs. Barclay (the eminent brewers), added a further sum of 1000l. towards the endowment, and contributed very liberally towards the erection of the building. The church is in the Early Decorated style of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; and being situate on a hill, is a conspicuous object to the surrounding district. The tower and spire are of wood, and the latter covered with oak shingles. The patronage is vested in Mr. Charles Barclay.

On the next day the Archbishop of Canterbury consecrated a new church, which has been built at Croydon at his own charge. The parish of Croydon, it appears, has now a population of 20,000, and there has hitherto been church accommodation for only 5,000. The new church (Christ Church), of which Mr. Teulon has been the architect, will accommodate 700 persons. It is built of flint, with dressings of freestone, in the Middle Pointed or Early Decorated style. It consists of a nave having an apsidal termination eastwards, and transepts north and south, forming a cross. It is extremely simple

in all its details. The communication with the apse is by a double arch, over which rises a single storied bellcote. The roof is an open timbered one, the seats are all open, and there are no galleries except in the transepts. The windows are glazed with very simply floreated painted glass. The decalogue is placed in the nave. At the entertainment after the consecration the Archbishop, after alluding to the benefactions of many of his predecessors to Croydon (where they formerly had a palace), remarked that it was natural he should feel some degree of emulation, and desire to leave there some other memorial of himself than a mere inscription on a tomb. The nucleus of the cost he had received before he left the see of Chester, from some unknown benefactor, who had placed in his hands the sum of 5,000l. of which 4,2001. were expended in the erection of a church at Bolton, and 8007. remained.

On the 27th of July also, the Archbi shop of York consecrated two churches at Fenwick, near Doncaster, and Askerne, in the parish of Campsall. Both are in the Early English style; the former to hold 150 adults, and the latter 200, besides children. The architect is Mr. W. T. Moffatt, of Doncaster.

The same day the Bishop of Ripon consecrated the new church of St. James, at Boroughbridge. This replaces (on a new site) an edifice constructed at various periods ranging from the Conquest to the Reformation. The only features of any interest which it possessed have been built up within the vestry, and a reminiscence of the design of the old tower has been preserved in embattled pinnacles. new church is built in the style which prevailed during the latter half of the fourteenth century, from the designs of Messrs. Mallinson and Healey, of Bradford, architects. The east window of four lights is filled with stained glass, by Wailes, of Newcastle.

The

Its

Another new church was consecrated on the same day, by the Bishop of Hereford, at Abberley, in Worcestershire. This has been erected at the sole expense of the Moilliet family, and Mr. J. J. Cole, of London, is the architect. style is of the Geometrical period, and the edifice is composed of a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, with a chapel at the east end of south aisle; a tower with broach spire; a sacristy, and porch; the whole being built of hewn stone from Abberley, Elmley, and Ombersley. The tower is fixed at the south angle of the west front; it contains a peal of six bells, three of them brought from the old parish church, and the other three re

cast by Messrs. Mears, of Gloucester. They bear the following inscriptions:-1. "Fides; " 2. "Spes ;' 3. Caritas ; 4. "Lux in Tenebris;" 5. "Vox Clamantis;" 6. "Laus Deo." The bells are not, as usual, swung, but by a mechanical contrivance one man may ring the whole peal by playing with the fingers on a table of keys. The aisles interiorly are separated from the nave by five arches on either side. The roof is open-timbered, the wall-pieces being supported by carved corbels, bearing shields. The pews are of oak, and the floor of both nave and chancel is laid with encaustic tiles. The altar railings and the west window of the north aisle were presented by the architect: the west window of the nave was given by the builder. The tables of the law, painted in illuminated characters, were presented by Mr. Ingram, of Birmingham. Moilliet chapel, at the east end of the south aisle, contains a monument to Mr. John Lewis Moilliet, who died in 1845, and which forms a part of the south wall of the chancel. There is also in the chapel a memorial window, executed by Wilmshurst, of London : it contains subjects illustrative of four of the Acts of Mercy, and was designed by Miss M. A. Cole, the accomplished sister of the architect. The sittings will accommodate nearly 400 persons, all of them free. The old church is not to be destroyed: the chancel will be devoted to the purposes of a mortuary chapel, as no burials will take place in the new ground. The total cost of the erection is said to have been between 6,000l. and 7,000l.

The

On the 3rd of August the Bishop of Peterborough consecrated St. Edmund's Church, Northampton. It is a cruciform Early English structure, with central tower, and consists of nave, south aisle, transepts, and chancel, and provides accommodation (on the floor only) for 800 persons, 534 of which are free sittings. The entire cost of the building, including boundary-wall, &c. is about 4,000. The architect is Mr. Charles Vickers.

The consecration of the new church of St. George, Darlaston, co. Stafford, took place the same day. It is built in the First Pointed style, with a tower surmounted by a spire at the north-west angle. There are two entrances-one at the west end, through the tower, the other by a south porch. The tower is incomplete for want of funds, and is only carried a little higher than the aisle roof. It is to accommodate 473 adults and 200 children. The architects are Messrs. Johnson and Son, of Lichfield, who gave the font; and Messrs. Higham, of Wolverhampton, the builders, gave the encaustic

tiles in front of the communion rails. The east window was the gift of Mr. Robert Drury, of Sheffield.

On the 4th Aug. the Bishop of Lichfield consecrated the parish of St. Luke, Sheen, in the moorlands of Staffordshire, rebuilt at the cost of Mr. Beresford Hope, the patron, under the care of Mr. W. Butterfield, architect. The present nave is of nearly the same dimensions as the former church, and is of wide span. Its roof is open, with a band of coloured ornament round the cornice. All its windows are filled with stained glass, of the kind called grisaille, by Messrs. O'Connor, of London. The tower is open to the church, and has a west window of glowing colours, containing effigies of St. Peter and St. Paul. The east window contains three figures, under canopies, of St. Luke, the patron saint of the church, St. Chad, and St. Etheldreda; and above, in a sex-foiled opening of the tracery, there is a half-figure of our Lord in the attitude of benediction. The south window of the chancel has figures of St. Stephen the protomartyr, and of St. Alban, the protomartyr of England. The chancel has a stone roof, of considerable height and span, having six bays divided by arched ribs. The three easternmost bays, which are over the sanctuary, are coloured with a slight pattern. There is a screen with gates under the chancel arch, and stalls with subsellæ on each side. The sanctuary is raised on several steps, and the altar, richly vested, stands beneath a reredos of polished alabaster, in which is inlaid a cross of red Derbyshire marble, with circles of black marble on each side. This and the font were wrought by Mr. Oldfield, of Ashford. An arched door opens from the north side of the chancel into a double vestry, which is of stone, the external roof being of very high pitch, while internally it is open to the ridge, with solid ribs. The organ, built by Walker, of London, has a Gothic case of open tracery, and stands on the ground in the nave, on the south side of the chancel-arch. A peal of six bells has been presented to the church by Mr. Beresford Hope, from the foundry of Messrs. Mears, of Whitechapel. This is the only peal of more than three bells for many miles round. On the south side of the school a parsonagehouse is now building. The old villagecross, the stump of which remained on a small green before the church, has been restored, and on the day of consecration was ornamented with flowers and shrubs.

Near East Dereham, in Norfolk, in what three years back was a turnip-field, is a house nearly as large as Bridgewaterhouse, in the Green Park, and not unlike it in look, being built of stone from An

stone, the same as the new Houses of Parliament. This wonder in the Norfolk maps is written Bylaugh-hall, but pronounced Beloe-hall, and the architects are Messrs. Banks and Barry, Mr. Barry being the son of Sir Charles. As yet there is no approach to the house, and the traveller is directed to it only by its sudden appearance among lanes traversed by carts and waggons. It erects, however, a stately front, and neither Holkham nor Houghton can compare with it for either appearance or comfort. It is large enough to have sheltered Queen Elizabeth and her court on one of her progresses, and is quite capable of accommodating Queen Victoria on her way to Norwich or King's Lynn. This noble building is erected by order of the Court of Chancery, out of the funds accumulated in pursuance of the will of Sir John Lombe, Bart. who died in 1817. Edward Lombe, esq. at whose instance the house was commenced, has recently died abroad, and the present possessor of this fine estate, said to be worth 15,0007. a year, is Charles Lombe, esq. The style of the mansion is what is now generally understood as Anglo-Italian, a style which identifies itself, by its masses and outlines, with what is properly called English architecture, yet allows of the elegances and finish of the South. A view and ground plan have appeared in The Builder of August 14. Messrs. Piper of Bishopsgate-street have completed their contract for the sum of 29,3897. and have entered into a second

for the formation of the terraces, conservatories, &c. The park and pleasure-grounds have been planned by Mr. W. A. Nesfield.

Mr. B. Bond Cabbell has bought the whole of the town of Cromer with the exception of two houses, and about 12,000 acres of land. The purchase - money amounts to upwards of 60,000l. The property was lately possessed by the Misses Wyndham, two old ladies, who were much averse to improvements and alterations. "Mr. Cabbell has now an opportunity to create a model town, and may, if he please, settle the sanitary question. What a thing it would be to add to the list of his good deeds, that he raised the character of a whole community, and lengthened the average of life in Cromer, say five years; and this he might do without much difficulty."-The Builder.

The Countess of Neuilly, ex-Queen of the French, has just purchased of the Earl of Kilmoray, for the sum of 23,0001. Orleans House, Twickenham, formerly the residence of her late royal husband.

The parishioners of St. Peter's, Colches ter, have received from the Hon. David Sears, of the United States, a silver flagon and paten for the communion service, manufactured by Messrs. Hunt and Roskell, at a cost of 100%. Around the foot of the flagon is this inscription: "The gift of David Sears, of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of North America, to St. Peter's Church, Colchester, where repose the ashes of his English ancestry."

GAZETTE PREFERMENTS.

July 13. Samuel Randall, esq. to be one of the Grooms of the Privy Chamber in Ordinary to Her Majesty, vice Sackville-West.-Lieut.Colonel Henry Sykes Stephens to be one of the Gentlemen Ushers Quarterly Waiters in Ordinary to Her Majesty, vice Randall.

July 23. Royal Malta Fencible Regt. brevet Col. Simcoe Baynes to be Lieut.-Colonel; Capt. E. H. F. Pocklington, Assist. Military Secretary at Malta, to be Major in the Army.

July 24. Herefordshire Militia, Philip James Yorke, esq. to be Colonel.

July 30. 74th Foot, Lieut.-Col. J. M'Duff, from the St. Helena Regiment, to be Lieut.Colonel.-St. Helena Regiment, Lieut.-Col. H. N. Vigors, from half-pay 13th Foot, to be Lieut.-Colonel.-Brevet, Capt. H. G. Boldero, of 38th Foot, to be Major and Lieut.-Colonel in the Army; Capt. R. G. Taylor, 2d Bengal Cavalry, and Capt. C. T. Chamberlaine, 28th Bengal N. Inf. to have the rank of Major in the Army in the East Indies.-Dorset Militia, R. H. Bingham, esq. to be Colonel, vice Sir J. J. Smith, Bart. res.-Yorkshire 2d West Riding Militia, J. G. Smyth, esq. to be Colonel. -Worcestershire Militia, T. C. Brock to be Colonel, vice Bund, res-Warwickshire Militia, F. Granville, esq. late Major 23d Foot, to be Major.-West Essex Yeomanry Cavalry, Capt. G. Palmer to be Major Commandant.-Huntingdonshire Militia, John-William Earl of Sand

wich to be Colonel; Viscount Mandeville to be Major.-North York Militia, Major G. Healey to be Lieut.-Colonel. - West Kent Militia, Major T. G. Monypenny to be Lieut.-Colonel; Capt. Sir T. M. Wilson, Bart. to be Major.

Aug. 2. William-David Earl of Mansfield, K.T. to be Lieut. and Sheriff Principal of the shire of Clackmannan.

Aug. 3. 12th Foot, Lieut.-Gen. R. G. H. Clarges, C.B., from 73d Foot, to be Colonel.73d Foot, Major-Gen. R. B. Macpherson, C.B. to be Colonel.

Aug. 7. Dunbar-James Earl of Selkirk to be Keeper of the Seal of Scotland, vice the Earl of Stair, resigned.

Aug. 11. Philip Allen, esq. to be Treasurer for the District of Natal, South Africa.

Aug. 16. George Kuper, esq. (now Consul for Denmark and the Oresound) to be Consul in the State of Maryland in the United States of America.-Capt. the Hon. Edward Alfred Harris, R.N. to be Consul for Denmark and the Oresound.

Aug. 17. 3d West India Regiment, Capt. T. E. Knox, from the 85th Foot, to be Major. Aug. 18. The Marquis of Granby to be Lord Lieutenaut and Custos Rotulorum of the county of Lincoln, vice Earl Brownlow, resigned.

T. W. B. Beauchamp Proctor, of Langley Park, esq. to use his paternal surname of Beauchamp after Proctor.