The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COURT . —The Queen held a council on tbe 3 rd inst . at AVindsor Castle at one o ' clock , which was attended by the Duke of Somerset , Earl Russell , and the Earl of Clarendon , who had audiences of her Majesty . Their Royal Highnesses the Crown Prince ancl Princess of Prussia left the Castle on the 4 th inst . for Sandringham , on a visit to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales . Her Majesty the Queen , their

Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse , Princess Helena , Princess Louise , Princess Beatrice , and her Serene Highness the Princess Hohenlohe , with the Ladies ancl Gentlemen in Waiting , attended divine service on Sunday morning in the private chapel . The Very Rev . the Dean of "Westminster preached the sermon . The Queen , with their

Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse , Princess Helena , ancl Princess Louise , and attended by the Marchioness of Ely , Lord Charles Fitzroy , and Colonel II . Ponsonby , ¦ went to Clavemout on Monday afternoon to visit Queen Marie Amfelie . Their Royal Highnesses Princess Helena ancl Princess Louise left the Castle on the 7 th inst . for Bishop's Waltham ,

to be present at the ceremony of uncovering the statue of the Prince Consort , erected there . Their Royal Highnesses afterwards honoured a concert with their presence , given for tho benefit of the Bishop ' s AValtham Infirmary . His Eoyal Highness Prince Arthur , attended by Major Elpliinstone , joined the Princesses at Reading , and accompanied them to Bishop ' s

AValtham . GEKERAL HOAIE NEAVS . —Mr . Gladstone went to Edinburgh on the morning of the 2 nd inst . Though a pouring rain fell thousands of the people turned out to welcome him . In the afternoon he received on behalf of the University of Edinburgh a bust of Prince Alfred , presented by the Lord Provost . On

the 3 rd he delivered his valedictory address as Rector of the University . Lord Charles Russell has made a manly speech on Reform . His lordship says he wishes his brother , Earl Russell , nothing better than " That in his advent to power he should be enabled nob only to amend his first Reform Act , but to make the necessary logical additions to it , and that his last

dying testimony should be another codicil of trust and love to his country . Ho further pointedly said that if they wished to stand higher than they did they must base themselves on a more extended and popular franchise of the people On the 2 nd inst . Mr . Alderman Phillips , the Lord Mayor elect , was formally presented to the . Lord [ Chancellor . The Recorder

made the usual complimentary speech in introducing the new civic potentate , and Lord Cramvorth also spoke in flattering terms of the choice which the citizens had made . No doubt can be entertained of Mr . Phillips ' s popularity . Another sufferer by the gas explosion at Nine Elms died in St . Thomas ' s Hospital on the 2 nd inst . An inquest has been held on the

bodies . The cause of the explosion is not yet known , but it is supposed to have been a leakage in the meter-house . A singular accident happened at the King ' s Cross terminus of the Great Northern Railway on the afternoon of the 2 nd inst . While a coal train was passing through the . Copenhagen tunnel some couplings broke , and the train was severed into two parts .

The engine with the first part went on , and was run into the coal depot . The pointsman , thinking that it was the whole of the train , put the line into its usual order . Immediately afterwards the latter part of the coal train , which had got increased momentum in coming down a decline , dashed past and went quite through the terminus . All barriers were broken down and the carriages tumbled over into the St . Paneras-road . Fortunately only one person , a boy ,

was hurt , and his injuries are not of a severe character . An inquest has been held at St . George's Workhouse on the body of an aged woman named Mrs . Mary Robinson . The evidence discloses a strange amount of indifference or neglect on tbe part of certain daughters of the deceased , and the jury iu their verdict severely censured their conduct . — -An infamous robbery was made the subject of investigation at

Bowstreet . One Sims , a foreman of works , in the employment of Messrs . Mansfield , the builders , was charged with stealing 5001 b . of sheet copper , the property of his employers . It appeared that as the copper was missed from time to time the prisoner imputed the theft to certain of the workmen , who were accordingly dismissed with what promised to be a perpetual stain

on their character . Sir Thomas Henry expressed in very strong language his indignation at the dastardly conduct manifested by Sims , and remanded him for further inquiry . ¦ A very important decision has been given by the Master of the Rolls . Lord Henry Seymour , who died in Paris , had left about £ 70 , 000 to the " Hospices de Londres . " The question

which the Master of the Rolls had to determine was what institutions came under this designation . He decided that it did not mean hospitals as we know them here , but institutions which gratuitously received within their walls and provided for persons who were unable to take care of themselves , cither from old age combined with poverty , or from infancy combined with

neglect or mental incapacity , or by reason of any bodily ailment which was not susceptible of cure . Charities coming under this definition are to apply to him in chambers to be put ou the list of institutions which are to participate in the testator ' s bounty . The inquest on the bodies of the unfortunate men who were killed by the explosion at the works of the London Gaslight Company Avas opened on the 3 rd

inst . The proceedings were merely of a formal character . Mr . Besley , who attended on behalf of the company , said that they would do all they could to facilitate the inquiry , and suggested that there should be an adjournment of five or six days to give time for the completion of a model of the premises . The jury then accompanied the coroner to view the dead bodies and the scene of the disaster . An extraordinary accident

happened to a railway bridge at Hartlepool . The bridge , it appears , crosses the river , and a vessel having unfortunately broke lose it dashed against the bridge and inflicted great injury to the line only a few minutes before a railway train had passed over the metals , and in a quarter of an hour afterwards the said train , while making tho return journey , was stopped

just in time . Serious inconvenience will arise from the temporary stoppage of railway communication between Hartlepool and West Hartlepool . At the Clerkenwell Police-court , a lad named Hayes went with his mother to complain that a prostitute had assaulted him . A policeman had arrested on the previous evening a lad called Bagnell , for letting off fireworks

in the streets . Bagnell had been admitted , to bail . The police constable seeing Hayes in court insisted that he was Bagnell . The lad was put into the dock and charged with letting off fireworks , and naturally protested he had done no such thing . His mother sought to get a hearing , but was told to stand back and not to interfere , and then the magistrate , in a ease where

the defendant flatly denied the policeman's testimony , and where evidence for the defence had been refused a hearing , treated the defendant ' s protestations of innocence as an aggravation of the offence , and fined the lad a shilling . As neither he nor his mother could pay the fine , he was locked up in the cells . Later , when the blunder was found out , the policeman said the lad Hayes had told him in court that his name wns Bagnell , a story which does not seem very probable . The magistrate gave the