Sir John Villiers Shelley, Mr. Monckton Milnes,
Mr. Slaney, and Lord Ingestre.

The ruling body of the University of London met in
session, in the rooms of the Royal Society, Somerset
House, on the 5th, to confer degrees, honours, and
prizes. The Chancellor of the University, the Earl
of Burlington, presided; and the Vice-Chancellor, Mr.
John Shaw Lefevre, with Mr. Hallam, Mr. Grote,
Mr. George Cornewall Lewis, and others eminent in the
professions, in literature and science, were present.
214 candidates had been admitted this year to matriculation.
A doctorship in Medicine, and several bachelorships
in Arts, Laws, and Medicine, were conferred;
with a large number of honours and prizes. Mr.
William Roberts, medical student of University College,
seems to have carried off the greatest number of medals
and other honours.

The undergraduates of the University of London
met at Freemasons' Tavern on the 4th, to forward their
claims to have the university re-organised so as to give
them a voice in its internal administration, and to have
it incorporated into a parliamentary constituency.

The annual meeting of the Church Pastoral Aid
Society was held in Exeter-hall, on the 11th; the
report stated that many new parochial districts had
been formed during the year. The society now aids
343 incumbents in charge of a population of more than
2,594,692, or each with an average charge of 7564 souls.
The average incomes of these incumbents was only
£210, and 176 of them were without parsonage houses.
The grants provide stipends for 317 clergymen and 115
lay assistants, at a charge to the society of £38,383 per
annum, when all are occupied. At the present time,
280 clergymen and 109 lay assistants, were supported at
their important labours in the populous districts of the
country, causing the estimated charges of the society to
amount to £34,438 per annum. There were now 30
applications for curates for additional churches, and 25
for lay assistants, waiting for new grants to be made.
The financial statement showed the receipts to have
been £34,095 0s. 2d., and the expenditure for the year
amounted to £33,047 0s. 8d., leaving a balance of
£1047 19s. 6d. in the hands of the treasurer.

The hundred and ninety-eighth annniversary meeting
of the Sons of the Clergy was held on the 12th instant,
in St. Paul's Cathedral. The grand choral service by
the united choirs of the metropolitan cathedrals and of
the two royal chapels, was performed with great effect.
At the usual dinner in the evening, in the Merchant
Tailors' Hall, the company included the Archbishop of
Canterbury, many bishops, the Lord Mayor of London,
and several members of the House of Commons. The
Bishop of London made interesting reference to the fact
that he and the Lord Mayor were fellow-townsmen of
Bury St. Edmunds, and left their native places nearly
together, in a humble way, as brother Whittingtons.
The sum accruing from this year's celebration was the
largest ever known—£1520.

The fifty-eighth anniversary meeting of the London
Missionary Society, was held at Exeter Hall, on the
13th, under the Lord Mayor. The income of the year
had been £65,316, and the expenditure £72,830.

On the 11th, Prince Albert laid the foundation-stone
of a Training Institution for Masters and Mistresses of
the Schools of the National Society, in Victoria-street,
Westminster. The cost of the building will be £25,000,
and the site has cost £14,000 more.

At the sixty-third anniversary of the Royal Literary
Fund, on the 12th, Lord Campbell presided; and, after
stating that he owed his success in law to the fostering
aid of his labours in literature, he held out hopes that
he may yet live to produce a work which shall give him
a better title to a name in literature than he has yet
earned. Speeches were made by Justice Talfourd, Mr.
Monckton Milnes, Chevalier Bunsen, Mr. Abbott
Lawrence, and Mr. Thackeray. It appeared that the
funds of the past year had been £600 more than in any
former year.

At the anniversary dinner of the Artists' Benevolent
Fund, on the 8th, Sir Charles Eastlake presided. The
public contributions of the year had been £450, including
the hundred guineas which the Queen now regularly
subscribes.

At the yearly meeting of the Sailor's Home and
Destitute Sailor's Asylum, in the museum of the
institutions, in Well-street, London Docks, Admiral Bowles
presided. The receipts of the year had been £5895;
the boarders received had been 4745.

At the sixth yearly meeting of the Domestic Servants'
Association, in the Hanover-square Rooms, on the 11th,
Lord Robert Grosvenor presided; and Lord Lifford and
the Rev. Joseph Brown were speakers. The operations
and means of the society were satisfactorily increasing.

The eighth yearly meeting of the Ragged School
Union was held at Exeter Hall on the 10th, under Lord
Ashley. At the first anniversary, in 1845, it appeared
there were 20 schools and 200 voluntary teachers; now
there are 110 schools, 1650 voluntary teachers, 200 paid
teachers, and 13,700 children.

The Crystal Palace has been purchased for £70,000,
by Mr. Laing, the chairman of the Brighton Railway
Company, and some other gentlemen, chiefly co-directors
of the railway, for re-erection on the site at Sydenham,
from which railway communication will be opened with
the stations at London Bridge and Vauxhall. "Crystal
stations" will be built in London.

The fifth annual meeting of the Servants' Royal
Provident and Benevolent Society took place on the
12th, Harry Chester, Esq., in the chair. It appeared
from the report that, during the past year, £16,411 13s.7d.
had been paid by servants to the provident fund of the
society, £12,164 19s. 9d. being on account of new
contracts for government annuities. The total amount
paid by servants to the provident fund of the society
since its commencement has been £43,321 9s. 6d., the
greater portion of which has been for annuities.

The Department of Practical Art, recently formed
under the direction of the Board of Trade, has issued
an important memorandum, the object of which is to
awaken in the public mind that appreciation of the
rules of pure ornamentation which will not only create
a demand for art-manufactures of a healthy character,
but also supply a body of pupils qualified by their
previous training to derive full benefit from the schools of
design. The memorandum, after giving an outline of the
objects of the department, and indicating the locality of
the schools of art already established in London and other
large cities of the empire, proceeds as follows:—

"Towards aiding the establishment of elementary classes or
schools for drawing and modelling, in the advantages of which
it is desirable that all classes of the community should have the
opportunity of sharing, my lords are willing—1. To appoint a
competent master, and to guarantee the payment to him of a
certain income for a fixed period, in case the fees to be derived
from the instruction of the scholars should not suffice to pay
the master's salary; 2. To lend suitable ornamental drawing
copies, models, coloured examples, and books; 3. To furnish
samples of drawing materials, such as black boards, drawing
boards, paper, slates, chalk, pencils, &c; and to give such
information as will enable the managers and scholars to obtain
those materials in the readiest way; on the following conditions:
—1. That a committee of management be formed, either by
corporate or parochial authorities, or persons engaged in schools of
any description, or by persons interested in the object, or that a
responsible person come forward, who must engage to provide,
keep clean, warm, and light a suitable room, at their own
liability; and to give the names of not less than twenty male or
female scholars who will attend the school, if opened, for a period
of not less than three months, at a payment of not less than 6d.
per week each scholar. 2. That such committee shall be
prepared, at the request of their lordships, to return the
examples, &c, lent to them; that they will collect, and account
for, the fees from the students, conduct and manage the school,
provide for stated and periodical visits of inspection by members
of the committee, be responsible for the attendance of the
master, contribute some portion, at least, of the fees received
towards his salary, dismiss him for incompetency or
misconduct, reporting the same to this department; engage to
follow the course of instruction prescribed, and make an annual
report on the proceedings of the school, on or before the 31st
October. 3. The hours of attendance and the amount of fees to
be paid by the scholars to be regulated by the committee and
the general superintendent of the department of practical art,
according to local circumstances."

A meeting took place at the house of the Society of
Arts on the 18th, for the purpose of carrying into effect
a plan of Combining that Society with the local Literary
Institutions and Mechanics' Institutes of the Country.
A large number of delegates from the local societies
were present; and, among the members of the London