Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 002.djvu/731
them down the fore-wall. They must have been both killed, had not a cart-load of hay been passing at the time, which most opportunely received the aeronauts, who were more afraid than hurt. The sudden surprise of the driver of the cart may be easier imagined than expressed, not knowing from whence they came.
On Friday last, St Paul's Chapel, York Place, was opened for the purpose of being consecrated. The ceremony was performed by the Right Rev. Bishop Sandford, assisted by the Rev. A. Alison, and R. Morehead, ministers of the chapel. The service was solemn and impressive, and the singing excellent. A numerous and genteel congregation attended. This chapel is one of the most elegant places of public worship in the city, and does much credit to Mr Elliot, the architect.
Sacred Music.—The first Grand Concert for the present year, given by the Institution for the encouragement of Sacred Music, took place on Friday evening, in the George Street Assembly Rooms. The room was crowded with a brilliant and fashionable audience; and the performance went off with much spirit and effect. The selection of music was extremely judicious. It consisted chiefly of two of the finest chorusses of Handel, and the first part of Haydn's Creation, intermixed with some instrumental pieces and psalm tunes. The improvement of the chorus singers is remarkable. It is really astonishing to hear so many boys and young men, who, but a short time since, were ignorant of the very rudiments of music, singing with precision and effect the great chorusses of Handel and Haydn, and moving, with firm and unembarrassed steps, through the labyrinths of harmony and contrivance which those great masters delight to construct. Still, however, much remains to be done, in the acquirement of sweetness and purity of intonation. They are still too much impressed with the common error, that a great and powerful combined effect of sound cannot be produced unless each singer contributes to it all the individual strength of his voice; and thus, in the loud passages, by overstraining their voices, they render the general volume of sound harsh and unharmonious, instead of being rich and powerful. We have heard, that there is an intention of training female voices to sing the treble parts, a measure which would have the best effects.
3. Melancholy Circumstance.—On Thursday morning last, the body of a man was found thrown out by the tide, at a place called Redkirk Point, on the border of England. The corpse was soon identified, and proved to be that of an aged fisherman of the name of Walter Scott, who, for half a century and upwards, had supplied the neighbouring market with the treasures of that romantic frith, in which he at last unhappily perished. The close resemblance between the habits of fishermen and sailors, and the eagerness with which most men, even for amusement, seek to rival the skill of the former, are circumstances that lend a dash of interest to an occupation otherwise sufficiently humble; and, taken altogether, there was something about the habits, and years, and character of the deceased, that seemed to mark him out as a fit subject for the engaging pencil of his illustrious and immortal namesake. Intimately acquainted with the rapid currents of the Solway, it is supposed that he at last fell a victim to his temerity, and, while examining his nets in the morning, was surrounded by the tide and swept into the ocean, without even a spectator to record his fate.
Col. Cameron of Lochiel, Sir Evan Cameron of Fassifern, and Colonel M'Lean of Ardgower, have generously given their numerous tenantry a deduction of 20 per cent. on their rents. We hope the conduct of these gentlemen will be imitated.
A house in the parish of Loth, Sutherlandshire, was thrown down by the violence of the wind on Tuesday week, while the inmates were in bed; an old woman and man were killed; a child in the same bed was found alive next morning, a beam supporting the roof immediately above him.
On Saturday last, a marriage party passing Loch Ruthven, with bagpipes playing and guns firing, so terrified a parcel of horses feeding near, that four of them ran in upon the ice about 100 yards—three of them sunk, and the fourth was saved with some difficulty.
The Madderty Curling Society held their annual general meeting in their hall, Craig Moor, on the 2d inst. After the business of the meeting was discussed, the members partook of an excellent dinner; and the cloth being removed, many loyal and patriotic toasts were drank. The glass and song having had their respective rounds, the meeting broke up at a late hour, highly gratified with the harmony and conviviality of the evening, for which the meetings of this society have been so uniformly distinguished.
It happened by a singular coincidence, that on Wednesday last, being the day on which the Regalia was discovered, the First Division of the Court of Session, after eighteen years litigation, unanimously and finally declared the ancient, extensive, and formerly Royal Forest of Cowie, in the shire of Kincardine, a part of the estate of the Earls Mareschal, hereditary keepers of the Royal Honours of Scotland, to belong in property to the representative of that noble house, Alexander Keith, Esq. of Dunnottar, subject only to the rights of servitude acquired by conterminous heritors.
7.—Burgh Reform.—On Friday, the 30th ult. a meeting of the burgesses and inhabitants of Dysart was held in the Townhall of that burgh, when several resolutions, strongly condemning the self-electing system, and pledging the citizens to use every