The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-15 00:00:00

ASTLEY'S.

The first public exhibition in this country of the per-
formances of Carter, the " Lion King," and his quad-
ruped assistants, came off last ❑ight at this theatre.
We have already given a notice of the private exhibi-
tion, which took place last week. The exhibition of
last night was certainly superior to it, both in the num-
ber of the feats performed, and in the extraordinary man-
ner of their performance. 111 r. Carter has acquired a
power over the animals which form his menagerie which
will surprise even those who have witnessed the powers
of Mr. Van Amburgh. Without going into a com-
parison of the merits of these two eery ingenious gen-
tlemen, it may be allowed us to say that the perform-
ances of Mr. Carter appear to the beholder more extra-
ordinary than those of his predecessor ; they are more
dramatic, and therefore better calculated for a theatre.
A piece called The Miracle ; or Afghan the Lion
King ; was produced for the purposes of introducing
Mr. Carter and his lions, tigers, &c., to the public. In
the first act of this piece, Mr. Carter fought with a tiger.
The beast of pr4v on the outset mastered the man, and
dragged him from a platform down a flight of steps,
and after a contest for superiority for some time the
animal is mastered, and is led off tame as a kitten. All
this takes place on the open stage, without the restraint
of a cage—the tiger has the same latitude as all his
brother performers uncontrolled. In the second act lie
introduces the novel and beautiful display of a lion in
harness, peaceably and docilely drawing him in a cha-
riot. The lion is a magnificent animal, but meek
and mild, and seems to manage itself rather than
be managed. In the third act, a great portion of the
feats of the King have much of the character of those
presented by Van Amburgh, but there is a marked dif-
ference in the style of the tuition of the animals that,
from the safety of operation, seemed to add zest to won-
der. He brought out a beautiful leopard, and played
with it, attached to a leading-string, as he would have
done a lap-dog. His performances of course, compre-
hended all the experiments of thrusting his arms, and legs
in the mouths of the creatures, and all that was done
with ease, elegance, and perfect safety. When the
curtain dropped, the audience called loudly for the Lion
King and he presented himself to :receive the congra-
tulations of the house, leading in his favourite tiger,
who partook of the repast of praise, as if he bad been
taught to expect it. The Tournament followed ;it has
run a long time, and still it pleases, and so it ought.

Lord George Paulet is following the sports of
the field at Farnham,

UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE ELECTORS.-011
Monday evening a meeting of a body calling itself the
" Universal Suffrage Electors' Association," was held in
the Justiciary Court Hall. The object of the meeting
appeared to be simply to explain the principles of the
Association, without the transaction of any practical
business. One of the regulations of the body is that
in all cases of a contested election the minority shall
yield to the majority, at least a passive obedience—
that is, should a member not be inclined to vote for the
candidate selected by the Association he is not to vote
at all. This seems to be a new feature in Universal
Suffrage. The Association should he called, the
" Universal Disfranehing-of-all-who-differ-from. us-Socie-
ty." Very few electors were present at the meeting.
Mr. Purdie was speaker-in-chief.—Glasgow 21,gus.
ROBBERY OF FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS.—
The inhabitants of Stockport have been on the alert
from an early hour this morning (Thursday), in conse-
quence of rumours of an extensive robbery of about
5,000/., which were last night abstracted from the hind
boot of the Potter, Manchester, and Staffordshire
market coach. The coach started from Manchester
about two o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, and the
money, which was in notes and gold, and placed in-
side a box, was from one of the banks in that town,
addressed to the directors or manager of another bank
at Hanley. This box and its contents were given in
the care of the coachman, who deposited them in the
bind boot of his coach. It appears that the robbery
must have been committed between Macclesfield and a
small village called Gosworth, a distance, we under-
stand, of about four miles, as the coachman saw that
the box was safe whilst changing horses at the former
place ; and to his great surprise and mortification found
that it was missing at the latter. It is in truth one of
the most daring and audacious robberies that has taken
place in this neighbourhood for a number of years. The
boot of the coach was completely
.broken open, evi-
dently by great violence. Since writing the above we
have learned that the box, with the principal part of
its contents, has been found behind a hedge three miles
from Congleton.—North Cheshire Reformer.
LADY AND THE LAP-DOG.---For Some time
past the employes of the octroi at one of the barriers
had noticed an old lady, who daily went out of Paris,
followed by a little dog ; but it was remarked that when
she returned, the animal was lying in her arms, as if the
good old lady was giving it a ride after the fatigue of its
walk. A few days ago, as she was entering the barrier,
an employe, who was eating part of a fowl, offered a
piece of it to the little dog, and being surprised at its
not taking it, looked closer, and discovered that it was
a stuffed figure. This led to a search, and it was faund
that the old lady daily introduced in it, in a fraudulent
manner, a quantity of " the liquor which she loved,"
whilst the dog, at another hour of the day, followed one
of her Contnures into Paris.—Galignani.
RAILROAD THROUGH CORNWALL. —On
Wednesday forenoon a meeting was held in the Com-
mittee-room of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society
for the purpose of determining on the propriety of
holding a county meeting, to consider the practicability
of a railway from Falmouth to Exeter. There was a
large assemblage of the most influential gentry of the
county present, including Sir H. Vivian, Bart., M.P.,
E. W. W. Pendarves, Esq., M.F., Sir C. Lemon,
Bart., M.P., Sir R. M. Rolfe, M.P., J. H. Tremayne,
Esq., J. S. Enys, Esq., W. Reynolds, Esq., R. W.
Fox, Esq, A. Fox, Esq , J. Pollard, Esq., Rev. W.
Molesworth, Rev. G. Treweeke, Rev. W. .1. Coope,
&c. The Mayor of Falmouth was in the chair, who
stated that he had received letters from Lord Falmouth,
Sir W. Molesworth, Bart., Mr. E. Vivian, Sir S. Spry,
Mr. Ellis, and Mr. Teffry, regretting their inability to
attend the meeting, and acknowledging the importance
of the subject, with many other satisfactory exp-
presssions. Mr. Bond, Sir 'Vivian, and other
gentlemen respectively addressed the meeting in favour
of the project. It was unanimously resolved that a re-
quisition be sent to the High Sheriff to convene a public
meeting of the county, as early as possible, to discuss
the matter more fully, and to finally determine the
measures to be adopted for accomplishing, if at all pos•
sible, an object so vitally essential to the general in-
terests of Cornwall. The requisition was instantly pre-
pared and signed by the parties present, and will be
forthwith sent to the Sheriff.