The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-05-20 00:00:00

ANNIVERSARY of Me SONS rf the CLERGY.
Yesterday the annual festival of this excellent charitable
Institution was celebrated at St. Paul's Cathedral, which
was attended by a most brilliant assemblage of rank and
beauty.

The object of the Institution is to apprentice the chi:-
then of necessitous Clergymen.
The fineness of the morning attracted great crowds of
elegantly dressed females, &c. round the western entrance,
fronting Ludgate-hill, at an early hour.
Prior to the doors being opened, a number of Marshal-
men, Constables, and Parish Officers, were stationed at the
different gates, for the purpose of regulating the carriages,
aml keeping off the crowd who assembled in vast numbers,
in the expectation of having a view of the Canadian Chiefs,
who it was announced were to attend, attired in the full
costume of their country•.
At about 10 o'clock the south door of the Cathedral was
opened for the admission of the various gentlemen taking
a leading part in the service of the day, and at 11 it was
closed, when the great western centre doors were, thrown
open, and before 12 o'clock the Cathedral was literally filled,
chiefly by elegantly-dressed ladies, but owing to arrange.
ments previously made it was not uncomfortably crowdeti.
At an early hour the various gentlemen comprising the
musical department began to take their stations in the
Choir, which was very extensive and ingeniously arranged,
and the Band, which consisted of the Gentlemen of the
Royal Society of Musicians, were led by Mr. Cotton
Reeve. The performers in the Chorus were numerous and
complete in every department, and were assisted by the
young gentlemen of his Majesty's Chapel Royal, St.
!anus's, in their state liveries, the Minor Canons of St.
Paul's and Westminster Abbey. The solo parts were'sung
by Nlcesrs. Vaughan, Hawes, Goulding, Salmon, Clarke,
Michelman, and Blagrove, with great judgment ; Mr.
Atwood presided at the organ, with his usual ability.
The instrumental part of the Choir consisted of violins,
violoneelles, trumpets, bassoons, &e. ; ar.d various parts of
the performance had. a most enchanting and electric effect.
The whole was uncle? the able direction of Mr. Greatorex.
At a little before 12 o'clock the Lord Mayor, accom-
panied by the Lady Mayoress and family, in their state
carriage, the Sheriffs in their state coaches, anti several
Aldermen, with their ladies, arrived at the Cathedral, and
shortly after the Canadian Chiefs, four in number.
Th: Civic procession was met by the Stewards, the Dean
of the Cathedral, and the Prebendaries of the Church ;
and, as they entered, the various persons composing it were
conducted in grand procession to their respective Stalls.
Among the company we noticed the Archbishops of. Ca-
nterbury and York, the Bishops of London, Worcester,
Ely, Litchfield aud.Coventry, Gloucester, ',!odor and Man,
Landaff, Chester, I,incoln, Bangor, Salisbury, St. Asaph,
St. David's, &c. with several Noblemen, Members of Par-
liament, &c.
The pews and galleries presented a most spleriditl appear-
, ance.

After all were seated. the performance commenced with
the grand overture of Esther, which was executed in the
most masterly style; and after the second lesson for the
day was read, Handers Grand Dettingen 'Pe Deum, the
Jubilate, with the Grand Chorus from the Messiah, were
petfcrmeml with admirable effect. After the third collect,
an anthem from Handel was sung, and afterwards an an-
them from Dr. Boyce, composed on purpose for this cha-
rity, which was executed with considerable taste aral feel-
ing, and excited a deep impression on the auditory. At
the conclusion of the music an eloquent discourve Was
delivered by the Rev. J. H. Monk, D.D. Dean of Peter-
borough, and the whole concluded with Handers Grand
Coronation Anthem. which lads grand effect.
_ .

At the conclusion of the service the friends and patrons
of the Institution repaired to Merchant Taylors' Hall to
partake of a dinner.
THE DINNER.

At about six o'clock upwards of 200 persons sat down .to
a sumptuous entertainment. The Right Hon. the Lord
Mayor in the Chair, supported on the right by the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, and on the left by the Archbishop
of York. Lord Chief Justice Abbott, Sir Claudius Stephen
Hunter, Alderman, Sir Charles Flower, and other persons
of distinction attended.

After dinner the usual toasts were given, and several
professional gentlemen indulged the company with some
excellent singing.
In the course of the evening the Canadian Chiefs volun-
teered some harmony, and chaunted some music in their
own peculiar way, which was very amusing, and met with
great applause.
On the health of the Lord Nlaye7 being drank, in re-
turning thanks 11.?.. eulogized the praiseworthy exertions of
the institution, which he said reflected honour upon its
projectors and supporters, and pledged himself never to fail
in rendering it his support. The subscription was an-
nounced as follows: X s. d.
The rehear's' of music nt St. Paul's . . 109 3 6
The anniversary . . 217 3 1
At the dinner . - 620 13 0
The Meeting soon after separated.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH PRESS.

Sir,—Among the various observations which the Catholic
discussion has given rise to, I have observed none more
full of "the leaven of malice," than are contained in the
following lines, which appeared a few days since in the
Times. Adverting to a case in the Insolvent's Court,
wherein certain letters were in question, understood to be
connected with that investigation which many years since
administered to the public appetite for scandal in this
country, but which has long lost all its interest, the Times
says—" It will appear by the proceeding of the Court, who
is the Illustrious Person, from whom these letters derive
their interest. His Correspondent or Correspondents may
be guessed. But it is most unlucky that the discovery of
the letters should take place at this precise period of pious
zeal against the Catholics. `God will help' those who
serve him. But with all our attachment to the Church,
we cannot help thinking that pure morals are of more
value than pure orthodoxy."
Now, if ever there was a proceeding which, strongly
exciting the public mind at the moment, was afterwards
Jeflected upon by that same public, with the fullest sense
of shame and dissatisfaction at the part it had taken in it,
that proceeding was the investigation of the year No.
But, supposing it had been otherwise, what reasonable
connection can there be between that by-gone affair and
the opinions of the Duke of York on the Catholic ques-
tion? The argument, if such it can be called, is this—
" You, Sir, having been accused of an immoral connection,
are bound to violate your conscience on a religious
question, because no man whose life has not been
above suspicion has any right to entertain religious scru-
plies." What miserable trash is this ! And he who writes
it knows well that it is such, bat it tells with the unre-
flecting part of the public—it has " point" in it—it is a
" good bit at the Duke"—and it delights the club at the
Cock and Lion.

Let us see, however, if the same sort of reasoning will
be applied in all cases, bow it may operate. Suppose it
should have happened some few years since that a Member
of one of our Universities should have been obliged to
quit that University in consequence of grossly profane and
irreligious conduct, of which he had there been guilty, and
that in process of time this same person (repenting, as we
must in charity believe him to have done, of the deep out-
rage he had committed) becomes a conductor of the public
press, a guardian of the public morals, would he not
feel himself sorely aggrieved, if, when he was on public
grounds sustaining any pat ticular line of argument, he
was told to remember the offences of his former days, and
not to presume to enlighten others while so deep a stain
remained recorded agaiust himself?
Cambridge, flay 111. X.l. Z.

We have received Barbadoes papers to the 6th ult. from
which we extract the following paragraph :
" BRIDnE•TOwx, MARCH, 31.—We leam with great concern,
that his Excellency the Governor has received official information
from Earl Bathurst, that a missionary, or missionaries, from the
‘Vesleyan Body, may be expected to arrive in Barbadoes; and his
Excellency's instructions are to afford him or them his protection :
in consequence of which he his addressed a circular to the magis-
tracy, informing them of the same ; requiring, in case of any po-
pular excitement against them on their arrival, that they (the ma-
gistrates) should be ready to afford them protection ; and, should
their authority be not sufficient to suppress any riotous proceedings,
then it is understood that, by an application to his Excellency)
military force will be resorted to."—Barbadoes Globe.

THE BRITISH PRESS.

3'E'STEIID.I AT EPSOM.
All ages and countries hate had their peculiar and
favourite pursuits, but in nothing have tbey been so
hobby-horsical and diversified as in the nature and cha-
racter of their several amusements. The Egyptians di-
verted themselves with building huge pyramids of brick,with
no other earthly motive that we can discover, except pour
passer le temps, and to keep the mummies of their tutees-
tors from catching adj. The Greeks had their uthletx—'
the Romans delighted in setting five or six hundred gladia-
tors to cut each other's throats—and we amuse ourselves
with horse-races and pugilism. It would be an easy matter
to show the influence which the amusements of a people
possess over the formation of national character ; but we
suppose nobody is disposed to deny the fact. Certainly
wherever they tire not the generating cause of peculiarities
in national character, they are always its consequence.
Under this view of the case,- with all due deference to Mr.
Martin of Galway, we confess we entertain a favourable
feeling for public sports and amusements, which, at the
same time that they partake not of ally extraordinary and
brutalising cruelty, are calculated to give a hardy and
hearty turn of mind to our population. Above all, we
like such manly diversions as bring the people in contact
with rural nature, and conspire to stamp upon ►hem robust
and out-of-door habits. There has been an immensity of
•mock sentimentality and cant (which constitute the crying
sins of our time) uttered upon the subject, and a man ex-
poses himself to a little obloquy who ventures to contra-
dict the notions of the ultra purists in this point.—B
1 it so.

The fact is, there arc now few remaining specimens of
old English sports which commerce and civilization have
left untouched among us, and we would willingly retain
what are left. It should be always remembered that it
was the hardy amusements—the strennu inerl lie of our
ancestors whicb formed their character, and procured for
this island the title of " Merry Old England:* Doubt-
less, " it is well to be merry and wise," as the old catch
hath it; but if the ad. ace of these supercilious and
vinegar-sou!ed mortals is to be taken, whatever claim we
may still have upon the latter epithet, we must soon sur- '
render all title to the former.

' We arc already fast losing our rural 1 abits, and if you
will, the vices consequent upon them ; but what are we
,getting in their stead? The morals of a manufactory
along with its vices. The town is monopolizing the green
fields, and the only groves we are soon likely to see are
groves of steeples and spires, while stacks of hay and
corn are 'supplanted by stacks of chimneys. We shall
soon be mere brick and mortar. Mr. Owen has done his
possible to transmute even the wilds of Scotland into pa-
ralellogtams ; for footpaths we are to have Macadami-
zation, and styles will become turnpike gatte.
His Majesty's Government has foreseen these alterations
which are in progress, and with the provident good sense
that distinguishes its measures, is about to admit the im-
portation of foreign grain, well-knowing that we shall soon
have no corn of our own. Another generation may not
have passed till "One Tr,ee Hi:1" is deprived of its solitary
sign of vegftation, and " Epsom Downs" converted into a
brick kiln. Cities and towns are usurping the place of the
green fields, and we shall soon be one immense manufactory
from one end of the is'and to the other. We no longer
dig the earth for the purpose of perpetuating her fruits,
but to procure minerals from her boson) ; and if the pie-
s nt commercial and manufacturing mania continue,
we may be very appropriately designated souls of steel, but
must relinquish all claim to our old and favourite cogno-
men of " hearts of oak," for there will not remain sufficient
timber in the country to make a broom-stick. Under those
circumstances, we doubt whether it would not be as well
for the moralists that declaim against our hardy holiday
amusements to provide against the vices of towns that are
so fast springing up, Instead of endeavouring to coerce the
peccadilloes of the country, which is disappearing piece-
meal.

The approach to Epsom yesterday presented the same
motley and (levering appearance as ever; the Fame mixture
of jolt and joke, animation and accident, delight and dis-
tress, as on former occasions. The long line of vehicles, com-
posed of every possible and impossible species of the genus
portatory, from the coach- to the cart (the latter filled no
longer with dead but with living lumber), sometimes
rattled along at a break-neck apeed, and anon proceeded as
slow as a funeral, according as impediments in front were
interposed or removed. On the went: some clumsy crowns
and some einem), jokes were occasionally cracked ; and all
was a precious compound, a delightful hash of fright.and
fun— a sort of moving tragi-comedy. " Bonaparte's
Casualties" at Springgardens were as nothing to the
" Road to Epsom." The rusticals lined the hedges to
gape at the Londoners, and the Londoners covered the rus-
deals with dust. Axletrees cracked, and a quantity of port,
soils-water, and old women,were spilt about,not tofmention
sundry pie-crusts and brandy bottles prematurely frac-
tured.
At last

" The height of this great argument,"
Epsom Rise, was reached, a id there was a short cessation to
" The moving accidents by road and river
and such as had their limbs cribbed and cabinet! in dur-
ing the drive in most inconvenient vehicles, were glad to
be able to put them to the ground again; that is, where
they had not been previously broken. Never was the motto
" Come, boys, let us moisten our dutt 1"
more appropriate than on the present occasion, and accord-
ingly htavy wet was the order of the day.
Then the course! surrounded with tents and crowded
with carts and coaches, waggons and wheelbarrows, and
crammed tight as a roast turkey or a sausage, or any
savoury simile you please, whh legs and lords, peeresses
and peasants, knights of the shoulder-knot, knights grand
cross, and knights of " the (starting) post !" And there
was royalty at the great stand, and kings and queens on
the stalls, in all the short-lived glory of gildingand ginger-
bread ; and the " stupendous elephant" and the " gigantic
ostrich," and the " learned pig." It was gratifying to ob-
serve that literature appeared in a flourishing condition, for
here were " forty-eight songs and two yards of paper all
for one penny !"
But the signal was given, and the race commenced—
" the Derby"— and was finished and won in gallant style
in a shorter time than the crowd could collect to witness
it, or we can describe it. The last race was execrable, and
excited the hisses of the spectators, the horses merely can-
tering over the course.
Next after two or three feints and disappointments to the
yokels, who lost a " pretty considerable" quantity of hard
bobs by the change of the ground, Dick Curtis and Peter
Warren set-to a little to the right of the starting-post.
Hudson, Holt, Tom Belcher, Shelton, Richmond, Spring,
and some more " big sins" were in the ring, and hopes
wera consequently entertained of a good day's play ; but
they were doomed to disappointment. After two or three
shabby skulking rounds, the ring was broken, and War-
ren gave in, being, as we heard that glutton Josh say,
" the chap to roar out when he was hurt." It was ru-
moured that Stockman and Barney Aaron were to follow,
but we had no curiosity to witness their " sayings or
doings," so we retired ; and can't say whether the matter
(as many such matters do) ended in chaff, or not.
With the exception of " the Derby," these races were
dead enough in all conscience, but the company was all
alive, and numerous beyond precedent. We are glad of it,
and shall always say a good word fur anything that draws
the smoky citizens from the intricacies of Mincing-lane into
the pleasant pasture and ploughed lands of Surrey.

A numerous party of gentlemen, educated at Chiswick,
under the late Drillorne and the Rev. Thomas Horne,
dined together on Tuesday last at the Freemasons' Tavern.
It was resolved that an Anniversary Dinner should be
established, and Stewards were appointed for the next
meeting. The conviviality of the evening was much en-
hanced by the excellent singing of Messrs. Taylor, Jolly,
and Phillips.
Oakham, in Rutlandslaire, is remarkable for the tenure
of the Barons Ferrets, who hold it by taking off a shoe
from every nobleman's horse that passes with his lord
through the street, unless redeemed with a certain piece of
money. In token of this, several gilded ?hoes are nailed
up on the Castle-gate. A shoe was paid for by the Duke
of York in 1788.

The Second Regiment of Royal Lancashire Militia,
under the command of Lori Stanley, will assemble on
'
Wednesday the Bth of June nett, in Liverpool, for twenty.
eight days duty.