The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-14 00:00:00

Lord Essex on th 9 Game of Croquet,

In a letter to a contemporary his lordship says :—Several
of my friends having expressed a wish that I should state
circumstances connected with the " injunction" lately i,kuol
agaiast me at the suit of Captain Mayne Reid, I shall feel
greatly obliged if you can find space in your paper for a
few lines.

I

Early in July I first was informed that Captain Reid was
about to take some steps against me on the ground of certain
rules on croquet by an " Old Hand" being an infringement
of his copyright to a similar work. At that time I had
never seen his work, and was so impressed with the utter
groundlessness of his complaint, and his inability to sustain
it, that I wrote, perhaps, somewhat hastily to that effect to
his solicitors. Yery shortly after I did see his work, and I
immediately wrote to him, stating that I had then done so
for the first time; that the " Rules by an Old Hand" were,
not written or compiled by me, but for me by a lady, her-
self a great authority and adept in the game, but unversed
in the laws of copyright, and entirely ignorant that 5120
was transgressing them in taking what she had taken from
Captain Reid's work. For myself I said that never (till at
the moment I was then writing) having seen his work, I was
quite ignorant as to its having been '• pirated" by the " Old
Hand." I candidly admitted to Captain Reid that wrong
had (inadvertently) been done him, I expressed my re•
gret thereat and my readiness to make him any rea-
sonable compensation. (I subsequently offered him £lOO,
which he insisted should be increased to £125, and the pay-
ment of his lawyer's expenses.) I, moreover, gave him my
word and assurance that I would recall all copies in circula-
tion, give a true account of all that had been issued, and
issue no more, although doing so suddenly at once might
put me to much inconvenience. I must own that had I been
the aggrieved party, and the aggressor, being a gentleman
and an honest man, had thus candidly admitted he had been

in the wrong and had given such assurance as I gave to
Captain RAd, I should have been fully satisfied, and should
have at once stayed all further proceedings.
That gentleman apparently was not thus easily satisfied•
He determined to push his advantage to the utmost, pur-
_

sued with his lawyers and counsel to Hampshire the Vice-
Chancellor, who was there enjoying his vacation, gaining
thereby nothing beyond what I have already voluntarily
cede' to him, beyond the satisfaction of giving his solicitors
an apology for sending in a bill of charges of £lB5.
The bill of costs, however, I am about to submit to the
scrutiny of the taxing master in the hope and belief that
he will reduce it to somewhat more reasonable limits.

WINDSOR CASTLE.—Daring the Last fortnight ft
number of workmen have teen engaged in excavat-
ing a portion of the road and footway on the north side of
the Castle-hill, near the eastern end of the Royal Tomb'
house, of Wolsey Castle, which is being repaired as a
memorial to the late Prince Consort, In this work the men
have laid bare a portion of the ancient foundation of the
chapel, which consists of a bed of chalk concrete some feet
in thickness, hard and well laid. Leading foom the chapel
up the hill near the Lord Chamberlain's-office a deep trench
has been cut, and in digging this portions of an ancient
building have been discovered two or three feet below the
level of the roadway opposite the Deanery, These remains
consist of what appear to be two stone jambs forming e
small window, which probably lighted a narrow staircase
leading underground. Close by a vault has been discovered
and broken into. This vault lies under the ground of the
Deanary. It is built of red bricks, which retain their fresh-
ness of colour, while from a small opening in the roof the
water from the surface above would seem to have been con'
stantly trickling, as the vault is exceedingly damp, It is,
however, stated that the position of this vault, though not
generally known, was acciientally discovered some years
back. The floor is paved with red brick, and on being struck
with a hard substance gives forth a hollow sound, as if there
was yet another vault beneath. The north end, which
would seem to lead beneath the Doanary, is bricked up, BO
the only present entrance is that in the bottom of the trench'
There is also at the north end of the arched room a smell]
trap-door, the wood of which is rotten with age and dater'
TOLPEDOES IN MOBILE BAY.--" I saw one of

these inventions," says the correspondent of the
.IYitv York Tribune. "It consisted of a tin case, in shape
like a large coffee-pot or boiler, holding, perhaps, 10 or 12
gallons. The lower half of this consisted elan air chamber,
by mesas of a transverse partition, and the upper, or small
end was filled with powder. Upon the end of a rod fixed
iusida this, and in contact with the powder, is placed a CAP
which is to be exploded by means of a hammer, which i,
held suspended outside of the tin case of powder, whiel
hammer is passed through a spiral spring that operates itt
When the torpedo is sunk the hammer elevated, and belt
there by a peg placed so as to held it up. To this peg
attached a float, which, ky moving the peg when a passir4
boat draws the line attached to it, lets down the hammer
su tlenly with a sharp blow upon that part of the tin Os'
just inside of which the cap is placed, and explodes it, acd
presto I the harm is done. Fortunately for us, tb'
barnacles gather so soon on any of these cmtrivinces
to soon render the action of the hammer impossible,
av
the salt, water quickly corrodes the tin cases and destroY
the powder, otherwise our fleet wonld not have escaped s
easily as it did in getting into Mobile Bay."
The Bishop of Bath and Wens has instituted th
Rev, Sydney East, Vicar of Northover, near Ilehester, t
the 4eQtory of Wheathiil, near Castle Carey, Soroettet•