Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-14 00:00:00

SPORTING:NOTES

A fetv Pickings by a friend of the Man in the Moon.
Betting has begun to spring a little at last with the
opening of Parliament. Drogheda takes his place at
the head of the Chester Cup betting ; while Gorsehill, a
remarkably nice-looking hunter to all appearance, on
short legs, and capitally in, considering his six
winnings last vear, is at 40 to 1. Promised Land
is .restored to his Two Thousand position, for which
some are backing Marionette pretty freely as well.
The Derby is more the latter's game, as we can
never fancy him a very quick horse. To look at, Gaspard
is much the smarter horse of the two" for an A. F. dis-
tance ; and, had he been in the Two Thousand, we should
have thought it pretty nearly a certainty, except Baron
Rothschild can turn up trumps with one of his pair. For
the Liverpool Steeplechase only 12 out of 62 have
declared forfeit ; and Horniblow, a somewhat slow weight-
carrier, heads the " contents " with 1 Ist. 71b.
Little Charley is doing good work for the Grand National,
Burrough will have the mount. At Epsom, the Brewer
and Westminster are both in good work and form. I
havigigood reason to say that Westminster will be Hughes'
horse on the day, if he keeps all right. At Chester 102
out of 217 stand in ; at. Northampton, 44 out of 126 ; and
at York, 39 out of 73, Firherman, Skirmisher, and
Saunterer head the weights at the three places. Tom
Dawson has 61 horses in training, and Joe Dawson 47 ;
but Blink Bonny has been put out of work alto-
gether, and goes to Newmuister. Ellerdale and
Stockwell (we believe), Imperieuse and 'Warlock,
Aphrodite and West Australian, and Mowerina
and Kingston are the other distinguished unions
announced. It seems that a filly, Meg Dods, was after
all the first Fandango • and the prowess of his fillies
last year has nearly filled Teddington's list. Backbiter
and about a score of the late Mr. 11. Combe's stud come
to the hammer this day at Tattersall's, but the Nob is
not among them. The Sardinians are in the horse
market, and a contract has been taken to send them a
hundred picked cavalry horses in the course of a month.
Mr. Ten Broek is still in America, but will come over again
for the racing season. As a specimen of the handsome
way in which he treats the English jockeys, the Sunday
Times mentions.that he paid Fordham's bill of £95 for
the season by a £2OO cheque. We may well wish him
luck in 'M.. We cannot conclude without congratulating
Mr. Tophim upon his 102 acceptances for the Chester
cup, and fifty for the steeple •chase. We hope that the
weather may favour his spring meeting at Liverpool, for
he must spend his time to very little profit to himself (if
any), and without one shilling in the way of subscriptions
from the inhabitants of the town. In the course of a
short time, we shall take a look in at the various raeing
stables, and give the result from time to time.

ENDOWED ScHooLs.—A bill of Mr. Dillwyn and Mr.
Massey enacts that no endowed school or educational
charity shall be deemed to belong to any religions com-
munion or sect, or be used for the teaching obf any par-
ticular religious doctrine, unless the founder shall have
expressly declared that such is his wish. Persons of all
religious persuasions, properly qualified, will be deemed
eligible as governors, masters, or scholars of open schools.

THE SNOW-STOIIIII IN AYRSHIRE.-A fall of snow, on
Monday morning, was one of the heaviest that we have
had in the west of Scotland for many years. The snow
came on about midnight, and continued to fall regularly
over a large extent of country till daybreak. In the
lower districts of Ayrshire, the depth was from six to
seven inches, and as there was not a breath of wind, the
fall was nearly equal on bight and hollow.—Ayr
Advertiser. _

THE WELSH SLATE TRADE.—This, the staple trade of
so many districts in North Wales, is in a most vigorous
and healthy condition. During the whole of the autumn
and winter there has been considerable activity in the
trade, both for roofing slates and slabs, and, with the
orders exceeding the supply, the prices have been firm.
As compared with the corresponding period of last year,
the trade is in a more flourishing condition, with every
probability of its continuing brisk and sound.
REFORM MOVEMENT.—Extensive preparations are
making for a Tipperary demonstration in favour of
Reform, the Ballot, and, of course, Tenant-right. It is
to come off at Thurles, and is to be quite a grand affair,
according to promise —in fact, to be a revival of the
O'Connell monster meetings in the South. Eight or ten
members of Parliament are expected to attend. The
day's proceedings are to be concluded with a banquet to
"The O'Donoghue of the Glens, the chivalrous repre-
sentative for the County of Tipperary."
LOVE IN A WELL.---WO a few weeks ago gave our
readers an account of a daring feat by a female in the
village of Swaff ham Prior, named Martha Morgan, in
descending a well to fetch up a pail. It seems her cou-
rageous conduct won for her the attachment and atten-
tion of a brisk widower close by, named William Farrer,
who took her for " better, for worse," at our church on
Saturday week, observing that it was her daring feat
that stimulated him to do it, as he should then have a
wife who could say more than other wives could in the
history of their lives.4--Cambridge Independent.
CURIOUS CUSTOM IN DENMARK..—In Denmark they
won't many people who come to the minister without
each producing a certificate of vaccination. Certain
English people were in the habit of running away to
Denmark for the purpose of marrying deceased wives'
sisters. Alas ! they did not take their certificates of
vaccination with them. Who would have dreamed of
it ? Well, the only solution of the difficulty was to be
vaccinated again - regularly shedding one's heart's blood
for love, you see—a thing more often talked about than
done.—Leisure Hour.
THE CHURCH OF ROME IN AUSTRIA.—A new piece
called " Montrose," was given in the Court Theatre,
and the Emperor, with several other members of the
Imperial family, went to see it. In one of the scenes
an envoy appears, and informs Montrose that Charles
IL will be acknowledged King of Scotland if he will
consent to swear to the Covenant. On hearing this
Montrose waxes very wrath, and rails in good set terms
at " the canting hypocrites who would fain place the
Church above the State." As soon as the words cited
were pronounced, there was a perfect storm of applause,
which lasted so long that the Court could not fail to
remark that a public demonstration had been made
against the Jesuits.—Letter from Vienna.
OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE GRAND EIGHT-OAR RACE.—
We understand the lovers of aquatics at both Universi-
ties are already preparing for this grand trial of skill,
which will take place either on Friday,. April 5, or the
following Saturday. The Oxonians, since their defeat
last term, have organised a system of trial races, by which
means they hope to keep their men in good training, and
to have plenty of " oars" to fall back upon in case atny of
the crew " shutting up." The Oxford crew, as
.as
bpraet-
sent existing, comprises four only out of_la.taynesarando
E,
namely, Messrs. Arkell,
s C. G L
Lane. The Oxonians have, since las seaso
onn,. re_ceived.
alentine
a
great acquisition in the peron of the H
Lawless, who has entered at Balliol College, and who, it
was captain of the Eton crew.
will be remembered,
Numerous steamers have already been engaged.—Cain-
bridge Chronicle.