The Week.

THE WEEK .

THE COFKT . —The Queen , accompanied by Princess Christian , drove out on the afternoon of the 19 th inst ., attended by tbe Dowager Duchess of Athole ; ancl her Majesty walked in tbe grounds on the morning of the 20 th inst ., with Princess Christian . Titc Queen , accompanied by Princess Beatrice , rode in the grounds in the afternoon , ancl her Majesty walked

and rode iu tho morning , attended by the Dowager Duchess of Athole . The Queen , accompanied by Princess Christian and Prince Louise , drovo out on tbe 21 st inst . The other members of the Royal family walked and drove . The Queen , accompanied by Princess Christian , walked in the grounds on tbe 22 nd iust . Tho Rev . George Frothero performed the service

on the 23 rd inst . at Osborne , before tho Queen , Prince ancl Princess Christian , Princess Louise , Prince Arthur , Prince Leopold , and Princess Beatrice . The Queen walked ancl rode in the grounds on the morning of the 2-ith inst ., accompanied by Prince Arthur . Her Majesty the Queen distributed Christmas gifts in tlie afternoon to tbo labourers on the Osborne

Estate , and their wives , assembled at four o ' clock . Soon after four o ' clock , tbe Queen , accompanied by their Royal Highnesses Prince and Princess Christhin , Princess Louise , Prince Arthur , Prince Leopold , Princess Beatrice , and Prince Henry of Prussia , entered the Servants' Hall , where the gifts were laid out . Her Majesty then , assisted by the Royal Family ,

distributed the presents . The Queen ancl the Royal Highnesses Prince ancl Princess Christian , Prince Louise and Prince Arthur , attended service at Whi ppingham Church on the morning of tho 25 th inst ., where the Rev . G . Prothero and the Rev . R . Duckworth officiated and administered the sacrament of the Holy Communion . Tho Queen drove out in the afternoon with Prince ancl Princess Christian , ancl her Majesty

accompanied by the Princess , drove out on the morning of the 2 Gth inst-, attended by the Dowager Duchess of Athole . On the 21 st , 22 nd , and 21-th inst ., the Royal Bounty ancl Royal Gate Alms to aged persons , blind , paralysed , ancl other meritorious poor , who had been selected by tbe Lord High Almoner and the Snb-Almoncr , from persons who had been

previously recommended by the clergy of the v-. r . ions parishes in and around London , were distributed at the Almonry Office , in Scotland-yard , ancl ou the 2 Gtb inst ., the payment was resumed . Tlie number of persons relieved exceeded 1 . 000 . GEXEIIAL Ho-AIE NEWS . —The latest great railway bridge over the Thames was opened on the 20 th inst . It spans the river

between Battersea ancl Pimlico , and is the medium of convey , ing from shore to shore the vast West-end traffic of the London , Chatham , and Dover , and the Brighton Railways . This bridge , if not the largest or tbe longest , bus the honour of being the widest in the world . The workmen ' s train was the first to pass over it , and the artisans employed in this great

engineering work improvised a rough ancl ready sort of illumination iu honour of the event . The body of the poor lady who was killed on the Metropolitan Railway , was formally identified by her brother on tbe 20 th inst . As contradictory theories of the cause of tbe accident are presented , nothing more need be said on that point until after the inquest . On tbe 20 th inst . the

metropolis was shrouded in a dense fog , the like of which has perhaps not been seen for years . At first it was comparatively light and vaporous , and occasioned no extraordinary inconvenience . But as tbe morning advanced it became thicker , more and more yellow , and at hist filled tbe streets with the gloom of midnight . A more iiisuli ' eriMa fog— :: log more like the darkness of Egypt—lias , perhaps , never descended ou this great city ancl occasioned discomfort and perplexity to the croocl

citizens . Some information has been elicited at the Guildhall Police-court . The information has reference to " Selling oft ' , or , more properly speaking , " mock auction " shops . A Theodore Leviue , who has been for some time past carrying on business at -13 , Ludgate-hill , was summoned before tbe magistrates for having , iu conjunction with another personage , a Charles Wood , described as a commission broker , conspired by " various

falsi and fraudulent pretences" to cheat a visitor to bis shop out of £ S 2 s . Iu the course of the evidence the modus operandi ou such occasions was fully explained . It will well repay perusal . The goods in question were shown to be of no value except as old metal . They were not , as represented by tlie auctioneer , electro-plated . They were merely a mixture of

pewter and lead . Tho secret of the electro-plate like appearance was that in tbe course of manufacture the articles are put into a certain solution which makes them bri ght . A little exposure to the air , however , has the effect of turning the silvery appearance into a suspicions-looking black . The auctioneer and his aide-de-camp were remanded . Tho great

wonder in connection ivith such swindles as this is that , after so many exposures , any persons can be found idiotic enough to invest in plate in any establishment having the least appearance of a mock auction shop . ——At the Southwark Police-court , the young woman , Charlotte Williams , alias Emma King , charged with the wilful murder of her male child three weeks old ,

was brought up for final examination . That she drowned her child in the River Thames was proved beyond doubt , but her reasons for doing so were not very clearly ascertained . It was shown that previously to drowning her infant she had accused herself of having drowned two of her children , who at the time were safe and living in the Clerkenwell Workhouse , and that she had attempted to deprive herself of life by leaping

the Caledonian Canal . The accused was committed for trial . The shareholders of the Crystal Palace . Company were some hours , ou tho 21 st iusfc ., iu rather noisy conclave respecting the oft-discussed and still-vexed question of opening the Palace to the public on Sundays . It will be remembered that at the last meeting of the proprietors a motion was brought forward

against , and an amendment in favour of , openiii" - the Palace on Sunday afternoons . The amendment was moved b y Mr . Baxter Langlcy , and seconded by Mr . Billings , ancl was carried by a large majority of the shareholders present . In compliance with a notice given by Mr . James Girdlestone , as soon as the ordinary yearly business was disposed of , a special meeting was held

for the purpose of taking into consideration a motion by that gentleman , to the effect that Mr . Baxter Langlcy ' s resolution , in favour of the opening on Sundays , should be rescinded . Mr . Girdlestone ' s proposition met with little favour from the meeting . It was negatived by a towering majority . Rut the decision was not looked upon as final by either side , as both threatened

to persevere till one or other is definitel y triumphant . Two interesting and important questions occupied the attention of the Metropolitan Board of Works , on the 21 st instant , viz ., the supply of gas to tbe metropolis and tbo encroachments on lianipstoad Heath . Regarding the gas cpiestion , tho board decided that in tbe event of tbe t ' overnmenfcintroduciiig a bill into

Parliament next session for establishing a more cfliccnt control over the existing gas companies of the metropolis , and of vesting such control in the board , the maximum price of gas should bo fixed at 3 s . Gd . per thousand cubic feet , that the illuminating power ofthe gas should be equal to eighteen sperm candles , aud that certain rules should be laid down which would

have the eifeet of giving to the public somewhat purer and more innocuous gas than that at present iu use . The board also fixed the terms upon whicli it was considered the anticipated