The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-28 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE,

BETTING AT MANCHESTER—SATURDAY.
There was an average attendance at our Subscription
Rooms this day, but speculation was languid, and the chief
feature was comparing bets on the Northamptonshire
Stakes. Lord Zetland remained firm at 3to 1, and sto 1
became the highest offer against Gardener ; at the slightest
advance on that price he would have been supported for
money. Fairwater and Blondin were in fair demand; but
Touch-and-Go we return in the outside division, as less
than 40 to 1 against her was not accepted. For Earl
Spencer's Plate Soapstone was freely backed, and closed at
5 to 1 (taken). My Mary gad Templar stood next in favour,
but Flying Fish declined to 50 to 1 (taken and offered).
Several " long shots" were laid against Alchymist and
Zara. On the City and Suburban Handicap little business
was done; and the only noteworthy features in connection
with the Chester Cup were the advance of Oldminster to
50 to 1 (taken freely) and Lord Zetland, 25 to 1 being the
highest offer against him at the finish. Closing prices :
NORTH.O.IPTONSIIIRE STAKES.
3to 1 agst Lord Zetland (taken)
sto 1 agst Gardener (offered, take 6 freely)
100 to 8 agst Costa (offered)
100 to 8 agst Wingrave (offered)
100 to 6 agst Fairwater (taken)
100 to 6 agst Dollar (taken and offered)
20 to 1 agst Blondin (taken and offered)
20 to 1 eget Gibraltar (take 22)
100 to 3 agst Fantail (taken and offered)
40 to 1 eget Glenorchy (taken)
40 to 1 agst Touch-and-Go (taken and offered)
50 to 1 agst Isca (offered)
66 to 1 agat Turn-of-Luck (taken and offered)
EARL SPENCER'S PLATE,
sto 1 agst Soapstone (taken)
10 to 1 agst My Mary (taken)
100 to 8 agst Templar (taken)
20 to 1 agst Cerintha (offered)
20 to 1 agst Dolphin (offered)
20 to 1 agst Aurora (offered)
25 to 1 agst Amelia (taken)
25 to 1 agst Biondella (offered)
100 to 3 agst Zara (taken)
100 to 3 agst Alchymist (taken)
50 to 1 aget Flying Fish (taken and offered)
CITY AWD SUBURBAN.
100 to 7 agst Veterinarian (offered)
100 to 6 agst Liston (taken and offered)
100 to 6 agst Jarnicoton (offered)
40 to 1 aget Flying Fish (wanted)
40 to 1 agat Sir Roger (taken)
50 to 1 agst Vivid (taken)
CHESTER CUP.
12 to 1 agst Change (offered)
20 to 1 ag:t Oldminster (taken freely)
20 to 1 agst 6,:iden Pledge (offered)
25 to 1 agat Lord Z.:timid (taken)
TWO THOUSAn; GUINEAS.
6 to 1 aget Fille de l'Air (offeied)
100 to 3 agst Sir Roger (taken,
THE DERBY.
8 to 1 on the field (offered)

VELVET DRESS COATS V. THE OLD BROADCLOTH
SWALLOW TAILS.—The Prince of Wales, it is said,
proposes to abolish the swallow-tailed broadcloth coat, with
its total absence of lines and superabundant buttons—put
on originally to keep the sword-belt frcm slipping—in favour
of a black velvet coat without tails, as like the present frock
coat as the material will admit, and without, we should
trust, any recurrence to the buttons, or rather systems of
buttons, bS which the special beauty of velvet has since the
time of Charles 11. been destroyed. The idea is a good one,
and if really entertained by the Prince, a point on which we
know nothing whatever, we see no reason why it should nut
be successful. His Royal Highness is just now in a very
happy position for making an innovation of the kind. It
would not do for Englishmen to be ticketted as Englishmen
all over the continent, for they are recognised easily enough
by that dialect of French which Mr. Kinglake once called
Continental English —ho has exchanged mots since
then for mares' nests, to the world's loss but
in the absence of young men at the Tuileries,
an English heir-at parent, young and popular,
might set the fashion for Europe as well as his mother's
dominions. The frock-coat, were it but a little more like
drapery, instead of mere dress—tne whole secret of pictu-
resqueness—is one of the best and most useful garments
ever invented, and the material indicated ;:s the one which
Englishmen of late years have wasted most, lig:2t falling on
velvet as it never can by possibility fall on the mixture of
good wool and rotton shoddy we call broadcloth. It not
too costly, for it lasts, at least our wives complain so, " for
ever and a day," while it admits of those hundred grades
of quality without which English tailors would be mad-
dened by the novel necessity of drawing up honest bills.
Colour is, we imagine out of the question, for besides the
pronounced national taste for black—a taste which is not
northern, but arises from an extreme distaste for gaudiness
and individuality of appearance—there is
the distinct rea-
son for its adoption. Any attempt to deep en apparent dis-
tinction of classes by dress would be warmly resented, and
colour costs too much, spots too readily, and allows of toa
great a difference of price in the different quality of the dyes
andemployed.
popular, B plainuatnd
o f
th e velvet,
customaryi a theforcmoloalready
would be a
genuine improvement, would remove the outward dinginess
of an English assembly, and rid us once for all of the abo •
minable swallow-tail. There is a potency of bad taste in
the human mind, but even Englishmen could not stand
that absurd ity in an unaccustomed material, and once vetoed
there is not much chance of the monstrosity re-appearing.
Sooner should we return
kto tatooing, or that equally bare
adornment the round jacet, which endures in schools be-
cause it is never in the way, and lasted in India till 1550
because it was the nearest approach to nudity practicable
under the Policy Acts, but is about as much fitted for grown
men as a spencer, and nothing else, would be for their
wives. The stock has disappeared from everywhere except
the mournful memories of old colonels, the dirty appendages
called straps have almost ceased to b 3 made, and there is a
among bootmakers that Providence
strange idea creeping
gave us feet that we might walk with them, and that con-
sequently if shoes are worn at all they may as well fit the
foot, and the time may have arrived for English gentlemen
to leave off wearing a tail such as all other mortals leave to