foot of the stairs in the kitchen they found the body of the woman. Her throat was cut in two places, and her face and head were fearfully bruised and disfigured. A smoothing iron, apparently one of the weapons used against the unfortunate woman, lay by her side. When or by whom the crime was committed remains a mystery. The only fact tending to throw light on the occurrence is, that on Wednesday evening a respectably-dressed man was seen in the cottage, and it is suspected that he is the murderer. The old woman is believed to have had money, and the drawers and cupboards in the house were ransacked. No doubt some property was taken, but as the deceased was very reserved towards her neighbours, no one knows the extent of the robbery. The village is in a state of great excitement in consequence of the occurrence. 22. A FASTING GIRL.-Martha White has died at Market Harborough, Leicestershire, under very peculiar circumstances. She had been ill five years and is popularly supposed to have taken no food for four years. She was at first attended by Mr. Francis, surgeon, and latterly by Dr. Grant, his successor, and has been kept alive by the injection of morphia into her system. The case has excited considerable interest among the medical profession. It is stated that a post-mortem examination fully satisfied the doctors who made it that no food had passed the stomach for a long time. 24. FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT, TWO PERSONS KILLED.-Soon after seven o'clock this morning a Midland and a North Eastern train ran into each other from opposite directions on the Leeds and Bradford branch of the Midland, and near to Holbeck Station, which is a mile from the Leeds terminus. The engine-driver and stoker of the Midland engine were killed by the overturning of the engine. The dead body of the former was found under the engine, and that of the latter underneath one of the carriages. One of the passengers from Bradford is dangerously cut on the head. Several other persons are hurt, but it is believed not seriously. The North Eastern train was coming from Harrogate to Leeds, and met the Midland train on its own line going in an opposite direction. The North Eastern have a right of user over the Midland from Armley to what is known as the Triangle, just outside the Leeds Wellington and New Stations. The morning was very hazy, and the signal lights were dim from long burning. PROPOSED AUSTRALIAN EXHIBITION.-Australian papers state that arrangements are in progress for the international exhibition proposed to be held at Melbourne in 1879, and the scheme has the approval of the Legislation Assembly. The Governor, speaking recently at Stawell, said that the proposal could not fairly be described in any quarter as premature, if regard were had to the wonderful progress which the Australian Colonies have already achieved. In 1879 the aggregate public revenue of the several Australian Colonies will exceed 16 millions sterling, while their trade including exports and imports, will amount to nearly 90 millions in value. In other words, Australasia, as a whole, could already take her place among the 10 or 12 great nations of the world in point of the value of their trade and general importance, for there are only 7 or 8 nations with a larger public revenue than 16 millions. The three powerful colonies of Victoria, New South Wales, and New Zealand have each a revenue and trade which would place them on a higher scale than ancient European kingdoms like Sweden, Denmark, and Saxony. The single colony of Victoria, with its yearly revenue of 4 millions, is already equal in wealth and importance to the kingdom of Portugal, while Melbourne is considerably above Lisbon in wealth and trade. The success of the Exhibition, he pointed out, would depend in a great measure upon the cordial co-operation of the mother country and the sister colonies of Australasia. His Excellency further stated that he was in correspondence with the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who was anxious to give every possible assistance, and that the presence of the Prince of Wales was all that was needed to render the Exhibition a triumphant success. CAPTAIN BOYTON has achieved another great feat in swimming, having descended the Loire from Orleans to Nantes, where he was received by an enthusiastic crowd assembled to greet his arrival. It is said, however, that he seemed quite worn out from excess of fatigue, and that his wrists were swelled and painful. 25. A SHOCKING ACCIDENT occurred at Sheffield to-day in the course of a football match which was being played at Walkley, a suburb town. Amongst the players was a young man named Beaumont. In the course of the match the ball was kicked out of the field. Beaumont seems to have been unaware that there was a quarry in the direction in which the ball had disappeared, and he jumped over a wall which divided the field from the quarry, into which he fell headlong, and sustained injuries resulting in death soon afterwards. A CHINESE ADVOCATE.-The China papers state that Mr. Ng Choy, the Chinese gentleman who was a short time since admitted a member of the English bar, and who has lately been practising in Hong Kong, has received an engagement as legal adviser to H. E. Li Hung Chang, at a salary of Tls. 6000 (about 1,8007.) per annum. THE DISTRESS AT MERTHYR and its neighbourhood continues to be very great. It was reported to the school board yesterday that numbers of the children were in a state of absolute nudity, and utterly unable to attend school; while many of those who did attend were in a starving condition. HIGHWAY ROBBERY.-The Chaplain to the Bishop of Lichfield, the Rev. F. C. Beaumont, was set upon and robbed on the highway on Christmas Day. He had been officiating for the Vicar of Weeford, and was on his way back to Lichfield. At the time the robbery occurred-half-past one o'clock-three men advanced to meet him, one of them asking for money. Mr. Beaumont drew out his purse, and as he was doing so one of the gang struck him on the head with a stick and another snatched his purse. The three then ran away. Information has been given to the city and county constabulary, but up to the present time without result. SIR HENRY SUMNER MAINE was installed this afternoon as Master of Trinity Hall, in the College Chapel. The ceremony was performed in the presence of the Fellows, and after the Master had made the declaration required by the Coliege Statutes, he was conducted by the Rev. Henry Latham to the Master's stall in the chapel. In the evening the Fellows entertained the Master at a banquet in the College Hall. The guests consisted chiefly of members of the College, but the Master of Pembroke and Dr. Guillemard, Sir H. Maine's former tutor, were present. OBITUARY OF EMINENT PERSONS DECEASED IN 'January. MR. A. BAIN. This gentleman, whose inventions in connection with the electric telegraph entitle his name to be held in grateful remembrance, died this month at the new Home for Incurables at Broomhill, Kirkintilloch. Mr. Bain, who was about sixty-six years of age, was the inventor of the electro-chemical printing telegraph, the electro-magnetic clock, and of perforated paper for automatic transmission of messages. He was also the author of a number of books and pamphlets relating to these subjects. Mr. Bain was stricken by paralysis, and suffered from complete loss of power in the lower limbs. For some time he had received a pension from Government. THE REV. RICHARD COBBOLD. The Rev. Richard Cobbold, whose death took place on January 5, at the age of eighty, was one of the respectable family of Cobbold long settled near Ipswich, in Suffolk. He was born in 1797, and educated at Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1820, and M.A. in 1823. In 1826 he became Rector of Wortham, and was also for some time Rural Dean of Hartismere. The writings of Mr. Cobbold are well known-not only those of a religious character, but also his works of fiction, "Margaret Catchpole," "Mary Anne Wellington," "Preston Towers," &c. IN 1877. CAPTAIN J. E. DAVIS. The death took place suddenly, on January 30, of Captain J. E. Davis, R.N. This gallant seaman was well known as an authority on Arctic matters. He was "master in the "Terror" in the Antarctic Expedition under Sir James Ross, 1839 to 1843. He was a capital draughtsman as well as a scientific seaman, and rendered most valuable services in the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty. He had much to do with the experiments made for the improvement of deep-sea sounding, preparatory to the equipment of the "Challenger." He was a contributor to the Geographical Magazine and to the Athenæum, and he was highly popular as a lecturer on Arctic subjects. Captain Davis retired a few months before his death from the Hydrographic Department. Captain Davis was only sixty-one, and had been forty-five years in the service. The death of the Right Hon. Peter Erle, Q.C., brother of the late Sir William Erle, late Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, took place on January 28, at his residence in Park Crescent. Mr. Erle was admitted a member of the Middle Temple on June 11, 1817; called to the bar on June 1, 1821; made Queen's Counsel on July 10, 1854; bencher of the Middle Temple on November 22, 1854; treasurer, 1864; Chief Charity Commissioner for England and Wales, and a Priyy Councillor, 1872. Mr. Erle was in his eighty-third year. VISCOUNT GAGE. This venerable peer, whose death took place at Firle Place, Sussex, on January 20, was the eldest of the two sons of Henry, third Viscount Gage, and had enjoyed the title nearly seventy years, having succeeded his father in January, 1808. The deceased, Henry Hall Gage, Viscount Gage of Castle Island, county Kerry, and Baron Gage of Castlebar, county Mayo, in the peerage of Ireland; also Baron Gage of High Meadow, county Gloucester, in that of Great Britain; and a baronet (creation, 1622), was born at Westbury House, Hants, on December 14, 1791, so that he had recently entered his eighty-sixth year. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. in 1812, and was an accomplished mathematical scholar, his papers having been read before the Royal Institution and other learned societies. At the period of his decease Lord Gage, though younger than the Lords Kilmorey and Stratford de Redcliffe, was the father of the House of Lords, having sat in that assembly for sixty-nine years-a longer period than has any other peer. His Lordship married, in 1813, Elizabeth Maria, eldest daughter of the late Hon. Edward Foley, and left three sons and four daughters. COMMANDER J. HALL, R.N. This officer died at his residence in Sandwell Place, Lewisham, on January 24, in his ninety-third year. The deceased officer entered the Navy on June 7, 1803, as A.B., on board the "Cerberus," 32, Captain William Selby, and assisted at the bombardment of Granville in the following September. Proceeding immediately was after the latter event to the West Indies, he there, on January 2, 1807, served as master's mate, and extolled for his unsurpassable bravery at the cutting out of two of the enemy's vessels defended by a most tremendous fire from the batteries near Pearl's Rock, Martinique, which killed two men and wounded ten. He afterwards, in March 1808, witnessed the capture of the islands Marie Galante and Désiderade, and in July of that year joined the "Leviathan," 74, and served off Cadiz and in the Mediterranean, and on October 26, 1811, beheld the self-destruction of the French ships of the line "Robuste" and "Lion." From September 4, 1812, until August 31, 1815, he was employed on the West India and North American stations in the "Surprise," 38, as lieutenant; and retired, with the rank of commander, January 15, 1853. MR. R. LANDELLS. Mr. Robert Landells died on January 5, aged forty-five. For many years he was the special artist of the Illustrated London News, and his sketches were a feature in that journal. He witnessed all the great campaigns of the last twenty years, including the Crimean, the Danish, the AustroPrussian, and Franco-German wars. During the latter he contracted the illness which led to his death. He received three medals from foreign Governments in appreciation of his artistic services, including a war medal presented by the Crown Prince of Prussia in special recognition of his courage. Mr. Landells also executed a commemorative drawing for Her Majesty. MR. T. LEWIN. Mr. Thomas Lewin, M.A., F.S.A., an eminent Master of the Chancery Bar, who died at his residence, 6, Queen's Gate Place, on January 5, in the seventy. second year of his age, was a younger son of the Rev. J. S. Lewin, Incumbent of the adjacent parishes of Ifield and Crawley, in Sussex, in the former of which the subject of this notice was born. He was educated at Merchant Tailors' School, and from thence went to Worcester College, Oxford, but soon obtained an open scholarship at Trinity College, where he was the contemporary and friend of several men who afterwards became eminent in Church and State. Always an industrious stu dent, Mr. Lewin finished his academical career by taking a first-class in classics in 1827. In due course he graduated as M.A., was entered at Lincoln's Inn, and in 1833 was called to the Bar. He acquired by degrees an excellent practice, his progress being much aided by the publication, in 1837, of his "Treatise on Trusts and Trustees," a work now in its sixth edition, which has long taken rank as one of the standard text-books of the profession. The reputation thus |