HE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE.
SOCIAL, SANITARY, AND MUNICIPAL
PROGRESS.

A MEETING of the subscribers to the Establishment for
Gentlewomen during Illness took place on the 10th,
for the purpose of receiving a report of the progress of
the institution. The Earl of Carlisle presided. From
the report made by the managers and read to the
meeting, it appeared that the liberal assistance afforded
to the undertaking had been such as to induce the
committee to take premises upon a small scale tor a
period of three and a half years, at No. 8, Chandos Street,
Cavendish Square. The total amount of subscriptions
already received exceeded £2000, the balance in the
hands of the bankers amounting to £403. The number
of patients admitted since the opening of the institution
had been thirteen, of whom six were at present inmates
of the establishment. The services of a most efficient
medical staff had been obtained. The success of the
institution had been fully equal to the most sanguine
expectations of its founders, and the committee stated
that their further inquiries had confirmed them in the
belief that the institution would be the means of
affording relief hitherto unattainable in many most
distressing cases, the helplessness and increasing number
of which was attributable not to the fault or
improvidence, but rather to the circumstances and sex of the
sufferers.

The half-yearly general meeting of the Governors
and Directors of the Royal Humane Society was
held on the 10th. It was reported that the number of
persons rescued from the ice, in the three parks, during
the last skating season, amounted to 79. The number
of bathers in the Serpentine during the present year has
been estimated at 178,000. Five persons have been
rescued from drowning during the same period, two of
whom were taken to the receiving house of the society.
Four attempted suicides have been prevented, and five
rescued. Various new regulations have been made for
the direction of bathers, and all unsafe parts have
been forbidden, by which there can be no doubt
many accidents have been prevented. Among the
cases in which the Society's silver medal was awarded,
that of Miss Harriet Atkinson, for the rescue of Elizabeth
Hudson, who had fallen into a deep moat at
Starston, in Norfolk, excited peculiar interest. This
young lady on witnessing the accident, hastened to the
spot, accompanied by a female friend and a man. The
latter, however, was too terrified to render any assistance,
when she immediately dashed into the water,
swam to the sinking girl, and brought her safely to
shore. It appears that Miss Atkmson, who was in a
delicate state of health, had been residing a short time
at Yarmouth, where she had learned to swim. An ingenious
invention of Lieutenant Halkett, R.N., was brought
before the meeting. It is a boat-cloak which may be worn,
like a common cloak, on the shoulders. It can be
inflated by means of a bellows in three minutes and a
half, when it forms a kind of boat, capable of supporting
six or eight persons, which it is almost impossible to
overturn. The meeting determined that an experimental
trial should be made of its efficacy.

A meeting of the governors of the Seamen's Hospital
was held on the 12th, Mr. J. Wild, the vice-president,
in the chair. The following extract from the report
read to the meeting will show the magnitude and
importance of this Institution. The total number of
patients relieved since the first establishment of the
hospital in 1818 was 62,100; of whom there were 36,014
Englishmen, 7474 Scotchmen, 5537 Irishmen, 226 Frenchmen,
820 Germans, 762 Russians, 1191 Prussians, 195
Dutchmen, 834 Danes, 1934 Swedes and Norwegians,
554 Italians, 469 Portuguese, 268 Spaniards, 1024 East
Indians, 1055 West Indians, 804 British Americans,
1123 United States, 126 South Americans, 368 Africans,
16 Turks, 49 Greeks, 29 New Zealanders, 29 New South
Wales, 179 South Sea Islanders, 37 Chinese, and 128
born at sea. Of these 3038 were in Her Majesty's
service, 1797 in the Hon. East India Company's service,
and 56,415 were from merchant vessels of different
nations. The ordinary expenditure for the last three
months amounted to £1588 12s. 5d.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE.

THE Royal Family left town for Osborne on the 18th
accompanied by their visitor Prince Leopold of Saxe
Coburg and Gotha.

Sir Thomas Wilde has been appointed Lord Chancellor,
and raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Truro, of
Bowes, in the county of Middlesex.

Sir John Jervis has been appointed Chief Justice of
the Common Pleas; Sir John Romilly, Attorney-General;
and Mr. Cockburn, Solicitor-General.

Mr. Cockburn, the new solicitor-general, was re-elected
on the 17th for the borough of Southampton. On the
same day Sir J. Romilly, the attorney-general, was re-
elected for Devonport.

On the 19th, Sir Robert Peel, Bart., was returned for
the borough of Tamworth, vacant by the death of his
late father.

The members of the Reform Club, on the 20th, gave
a splendid Banquet to Lord Palmerston, to express their
confidence in his policy, and to commemorate his late
triumph in the House of Commons. The number of
guests was limited to two hundred, as many as the
grand dining-room could hold. Mr. Bernal Osborne was
in the chair. Speeches were made by Admiral Sir C.
Napier, Gen. Sir de Lacy Evans, Lord Palmerston, Lord
James Stuart, the Attorney-General, the Solicitor-
General, and other distinguished persons present.

The East India Company has granted an allowance,
during life, of £100 per annum, to the gallant Major
Herbert Edwardes, in consideration of his eminent
services and the loss of his right hand.

The ceremony of the First Communion of the Count
of Paris, took place on the 20th at the French Catholic
Chapel, in King Street, Portman Square. Dr. Wiseman,
the Roman Catholic Bishop of London, officiated
in person, assisted by the Abbé Mailly and the Abbé
Guelle, and himself administered the communion to the
young Prince. The Ex-King, the Queen Marie Amélie,
the Duchess of Orleans, and all the members of the
Royal family, were present, as well as a considerable
number of devoted friends and adherents, many of
whom had come from France especially to testify on
this occasion their sympathy and respect for the
illustrious exiles. Many English ladies were also present
at the ceremony, among whom were the Duchess of
Leinster, Lady Granville, Lady Shelburne, Lady Jersey,
Lady Clementina Villiers, Hon. Miss Foley, Lady
Harriette d'Orsay, Lady Tankerville, &c. On leaving
the chapel the ex-King and Queen and the Duchess of
Orleans were received with every demonstration of
respect by a numerous assemblage, both French and
English, who had not been able to obtain admittance
within the church. At 2 o'clock a mass was again
celebrated in the presence of an equally distinguished and
numerous assemblage.

OBITUARY OF NOTABLE PERSONS

A deplorable accident has caused the death of SIR ROBERT
PEEL. He was riding up Constitution Hill about five o'clock on
Saturday evening the 29th of June, when his horse shied at some
passing object, and threw him over its head. He fell on his
face, and mechanically kept hold of the rein, which brought down
the animal upon him, its knees striking him between the shoulders.
He was immediately lifted up; and being recognised by
several gentlemen who were passing, was conveyed home in the
carriage of Mrs. Lucas, of Bryanstone Square, which had come
up at the time, attended by Sir James Clarke, the Queen's
physician, who had observed the accident. Several eminent medical
men were assembled, who ascertained that Sir Robert had
suffered a fracture of the collar-bone and a severe injury of the
shoulder. This was announced to the anxious public in a
bulletin, which expressed a hope that he had received no internal
injury. It was at first believed that be was going on favourably,
and the bulletin of Monday morning stated that he had enjoyed
refreshing sleep; but in the course of that day the symptoms
became more and more alamiing. In the evening he became
delirious, and continued in that state during the greater part of
the night. In his wanderings his thoughts were with his
friends, and the names of Hardinge and Graham were frequently
upon his lips. On Tuesday morning he again had a sound sleep,
from which he woke with his mind quite composed. Towards
evening it was evident that he was sinking fast, and that
recovery was hopeless. The last offices of the Church were
administered to him by Dr. Tomlinson, Bishop of Gibraltar, and about