The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-09 00:00:00

SPORTING NOTES.

Although all the sporting writers failed to predict the
winner of the Chester .%up, after having selected all the
favourites, besides several others, to beat the field, it affords
me great gratification that my only selected, Little Stag, ob-
tained the second situation. lie was at 12 to 1 last Mon-
day, when my letter appeared in 24s Sun, so that those
who backed him to win and for a place cannot complain of
my advice. It is most absurd for handicappers to give old
horses the same weight as three-year-olds,

The York Spring Meeting commences to-morrow. For
the Craven Stakes Little Stag has only to put in an ap-
pearance to carry it off. In his absence, either Antoinette
or Donnybrook will win. The Great Northern Handicap
will likely be contested by a large field. King Charming,
one of the dead-heaters for the Metropolitan, I do not ex.
pact will see the starter. Major, the other dead-heater, will
nearly win. Wingrave, from his running with Stradella
and Isoline, must be very dangerous. East Lanca-
shire, from his formward position in the Chester Cup,
is bound to run well. Fontenoy, it is said, will not
stay the distance, but I have a different opinion, and think
if he does not win ho is almost certain to get a place,
Greville is another that must not be despised. Guerilla is
a good sound horse, but I expect Wingrave will beat him
again. Dr. Rooke is a great good-looking colt, with fine
speed, and if he can stay the course, he will nearly win.
The winner, I expect, will turn up in either Wingrave,
Major, or East Lancashire. The Flying Dutchman's
Handicap will be only a canter for Little Stag.

A FRESH MAN.

CITY BETTING—SATURDAY.
GREAT NORTHERN HANDICAP.
6to 1 agat Major (taken)
Bto 1 agst Wingrave (taken)
Bto 1 agst Caller Ou (taken)
10 to 1 agat Greville (taken)
10 to 1 agat King Charming (taken)
10 to 1 agst Trust (taken)
15 to 1 agst Fontenoy (taken)

THE DERBY.
11 to 2 agst General Peel (offered)
15 to 1 agst Paris (taken)
20 to 1 agst Blair Athol (taken and offered)
25 to 1 agst Ely (taken)
25 to 1 agst Baragah (taken)
50 to 1 agst Major (offered)

Anecdotal Recollections of Meyerbeer,

The death of the great Meyerbeer, says the Court
Journal, has come upon the musical world like a
thunder-clap in the midst of a brilliant summer
day. Not one amongst us, not even those who stood
around his bed an hour before the sad event took
place, had the smallest idea that death could be so
near. We, restless, pre-occupied with great anti•
cipations as usual, only a few days ago. He was
relating, with sparkling eyes, vivid voice and
gesture, all the delight he had experienced while
listening to Rossini's Mass at Pillet Will's soiree.
We were contemplating with the most intense
admiration all the play and varied expression of his
thin but energetic countenance. The certainty of
long life and continued labour was inscribed in,
every line of that marked forehead; and as he
followed in memory the musical phrase which had
pleased him most, waving his finger in the air, and
humming the notes with delight, so greatly was be
carried away by his enthusiasm, that he actually
paused to clap his hands at the ingenious turn of
one of the phrases. "Ce diable de Rossini !" ex-
claimed he as he threw himself back in his arm chair
gathering the folds of his dressing-gown over his
thin legs ; " who ever would have imagined he would
become one of the Fathers of our musical Church P's
The life led by the great composer for the last
20 years has been that of a studious Benedictine
monk. He was wont to rise at six, and to work
without ceasing until noon, seldom taking other
nourishment than a cup of coffee, which his servant
used to place on the edge of the piano without a
word, merely contenting himself with rattling the
spoon and cup until it attracted an impatient nod
from the composer, thus forcibly arrested in his com-
binations. Sometimes the coffee would, however,
remain untouched the whole day long, and then the
despair of the attendant would be at its height. He
would enter under every pretext—to stir the fire,
to open the window, to consult the clock—and each
time would rattle the cup and saucer as if by acci-
dent, flying from the room in alarm at Meyerbeer's
impatient gesture when roused from his deep study.
He never took more than one meal a day, and that
waz late. It was not till this had been accomplished
that he sought for amusement or distraction in the
world.

He was a most assiduous frequenter of the Opera,
never missing a single representation. For Italian
music he cared bit little, declaring that it
ofto
have been vivid.
German science what the graceful painting of
Watteau is to the stupendous coampo.siti:ass
Rubens. His impression of sudden death
with
ithandgrhealst
dread of being buried alive must
wasiarguing with great
In a letter he begs than his veins may be opened,
catastrophe
evidently with a view of preventing
upon which ho was wont to ch"l.l
horror, and not long ago he
which h. e has ben buried, and
interest upon the most probab e sensations expe4
himself in the solitude and darkness of the
rienced by an individual on first awaking from the
lethargy during
finding
tomb.
clause
mentioned Is added subsequently to
the rest, it is possible that it may have been the
a
result of reflections induced by the conversation
alluded to. Aleyerbeer's fortune amonnted to
£20,000 per annum. In Berlin his family occupies
the finest position ; but even there, while his wife
and
.daughters, from their fortune and station,
were receiving the elite of society in his splendid
mansion; be
was content to inhabit a small set of
rooms upon the uppermost story, where—his only
companions his harpsichord and music-desk—he
planned and rehearsed the vast musical concep-
tions which have rendered his name celebrated
throughout the world. His will not being known
as yet, anticipations are free,
and the general im-
pressious inParis is that he has left the copy wright
of the " Africaine" to the Conservatoire of Paris.
France was the country of his adoption, and he
loved to be mentioned as the " great German cog
poser of French music." By a singular contradic-
tion of all preconceived ideas, he always declared
that in Paris alone could an opera be rehearsed
with sufficient perseverance to enable it to be pro-
duced before the public with justice to thecomposcr.

The Botsclulafter, of Vienna, in speaking .of
Engltaid and her conduct relative to the Danish
question, declares that British poiicy no longer
consists of wise and mature combinations, but of
national fancies and momentary caprices." The
Austrian Gazette in its turn dec!arss that the cons
duct of England is inexp!icabl3, and that her un-
bounded desire for peace leads her to acts which
are the greatest obstacle to it,