The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON. FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 1839

THE TOURNAMENT.

All is bustle and excitement both in and around Eglin-
ton Castle. The different erections arc being hurried on
with the greatest celerity, and arc far advanced towards
completion. The excellent band of the 2d (or Queen's)
Dragoon Guards have arrived, which, together with that
of the 78th, daily expected, are to conduct the military
movements at the tournay. Tickets are neither to be had
for love nor money; and, we believe, so urgent is the de.
mand for them, that Lord Eglinton would have erected
another stand for additional accommodation, had time per-
mitted. The number of visitors since Monday, has been
great—scarcely any time elapsing between the arrival of
the different parties. The gates are open for the admis-
sion of all, and thousands are availing themselves of the
opportunity, by carefully examining the tilting arena and
other erections in the vicinity. The following are the
names of some of the distinguished individuals who have
arrived at the Castle:—

Marquis and Marchioness of Londonderry, Lord Sea-
ham, and Lady Francis Vane ; Lord and Lady Seymour ;
Hon. Cecil Forrester; Lord Archibald Seymour ; Mr.
Irvine ; Mr. and Mrs. Grant Macdoual ; Lord and Lady
Charleville ; Lord Tullamore ; Mr. Purvis ; Marquis of
Waterford, knight ; Lord George I3eresford, do. ; Capt.
J. 0. Fairlie, do. ; Mr. Gilmour, do. ; Mr. Lechemere,
do. ; Lord Alford, do. ; Lord Craven, do. ; Lord Sal-
tnun ; Hon. J. Macdonald ; Prince Louis Napoleon and
Aid-de-Camp ; Sir Charles Lamb, Lady Montgomcrie,
and Mr. Lamb; Duke and Duchess of Montrose ; Lord
Chelsea ; Captain M'Dowall ; Sir Francis Head ; Sir
George Head ; Lady Glenlyon, the Misses Murray, and
Lord Glenlyon ; Sir Hugh Campbell; Sir M. Wallace;
Sir William Dunn ; Captain Pettat ; Mrs. and Miss
Upton ; Mr., Mrs., and Miss Margesson ; Countess Dowa-
ger of Lestowel and Miss Bustle; Mr. White; Lady Ren-
dlesham and the Miss Thellusons ; Lord and Lady Bel-
haven ; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wombwell ; Countess of
Mexhorough and Lady Sarah Saville ; Lord and Lady
Stuart de Rothsay and Miss Stuart; Mr. and Lady Jane
Hamilton ; Lieut. Crawford; Lieut. Gordon ; Captain
Stevenson ; Mr. and Mrs. Garden ; Lord Kelhurne ;
Col. Standen ; Mr. Williamson ; Captain Cox ; Earl of
Charleville ; Viscount :Maidstone; Sir F. Hopkins;
Viscount Ingestre; Lady Caroline INlaxse; J. H. Vivian,
Esq., M. P.
In default of the lances being splintered in any course,
the judge will decide for the atleint made nearest to the
centre of the shield.

ACTIONS WORTHY OF HONJUR.
1. To break the most lances.
2. To break the lance in more places than one.
3. Not to put the lance in rest until near your op-
ponent.

4. To meet point to point of the lances.
5. To strike on the emblazonment of shield.

6. To perform all the determined coursn:

ACTIONS OF DISHONOUR.
1. To break the lance across the opponent.
2. To strike or hurt the horse,

3. To jtrike the saddle.
4. To drop lance or sword.
5. To lose the management of the horse at the encounter.
6. To be unhorsed—the greatest dishonour.
7. All lances broken by striking below the girdle to be
disallowed.

ACTIONS MOST WORTHY.
1. To break the lance in many pieces.

AT THE TOURNEY OR BARRIER.
1. Two blows to be given in passing, and tcn at the en-
counter.—Ayr Observer.

THE PASSAGE OF ARMS AT EGLINTOUN.

( From a private Letter in the Morning Post.)
IRVINE, TUESDAY, AUG. 27.—Lord Eglintoun has
thrown open his park gates already, for the accommoda-
tion of all who may wish to take a peep at the prepara-
tions in progress; and I may say, en passant, that it is
really pleasant to see how well and orderly the people here
behave—the humbler classes of them I mean. There is
no wandering off the road to make short cuts across the
turf, and thereby cut the turf much shorter than it is at
all desirable—no pulling down whole branches of trees out
of mere wantonness, as so many of the sovereign people
do in England, and then wonder that one is shy of
letting them into his grounds. The park here is ex-
tensive, nicely laid out, and contains some very
fine beeches, while abundance of young wood
is practising how to shoot, in order to fill up the
death-vacancies among the veterans of the demesne.
The castle itself is a massive square building of stone,
with a round tower at each angle, and a keep, of the same
form and of large proportions, rising from the centre of the
pile. In an oblique direction from the rear of the castle,
and perhaps at about a furlong's distance from it, are the
lists. The ground which they occupy would almost seem
to have been made on purpose. It is a fine level, with
the turf gently sloping up from it on both sides, while
fine trees surround it on all; and the keep, just visible
above the woods, supports the staff from which the founder
of the festivities will " fling to the breeze the banner of his
line." The inelosure for the jousts is a long square ex-
tending about 200 yards in its greatest length, and one
side of it is occupied with the galleries for spectators.
They form a centre and two wings, the centre being roofed
in, and the front of it very handsomely finished in the
Gothic style with pinnacles, the whole being rather ela-
borately painted and gilt. At the end of the lists are
pitched the pavilions of the knights, each distinguished by
being made in broad stripes of the owner's colours. Each
knight has a larger and two smaller ones, the former for
his own use, and the latter for that of his esquires and at-
tendants. Lord Eglintoun, indeed, has five pavilions, and
very gay they look in their livery of blue and gold. All
are not yet quite erected ; but amongst those that arc is
n. of scarlet end white that is execcdingly,neat, as is Lord
Waterford's white and black. The course of the procession
is fenced in with a double post and rail from the entrance
door of the castle, over a pretty gothic bridge that crosses a
stream in the park, and by a very long detour, that will afford
a full view to all the lookers-on, np to the lists. The whole
arrangement is so good that I don't see how it is possible for
any body to fail of having a capital sight. On one side of
the castle there is an immense temporary room nearly
completed, and capable, one should think, of accommodat-
ing eight hundred or a thousand guests. Tents are
pitched, and temporary rooms constructed, in various parts
of the park, apparently for the purpose of refreshment ;
arid, in short, no expense can have been spared, no atten-
tion omitted, on the part of Lord Eglintoun, to make his
hospitalities available to all corners.
I am inclined to suspect that the first idea of the Tour-
nament was given by the casual observation of two ladies in
Scotland to Lord Eglintoun, that such a spectacle would be
worthy of his name and gallantry, and that in these apathetic
days on which we have fallen there would be something
grand in the representation of the' mimicry of noble war."
I was a good deal amused on Sunday last at a little village
not a hundred miles from this, where I intended to go to
Church, but, by mistake, found myself in the conventicle of
some irregular sect. The preacher employed himself for
an honest three-quarters of an hour in endeavouring to
persuade his hearers that to gratify their present curiosity
by being at " this device of the evil one," was neither more
nor less than to sacrifice their hopes for hereafter. It is
lamentable to witness this sort of fanaticism in the present
day ; and one longs to neutralise its effect—if it have any
—by telling the good people of Scotland, excellent Pro.
testants as they are, that a similar, though probably more
powerful, anathema was once launched against tournaments
by one of the Popes—a Clement, I think, though at this
moment I can't recollect the number of his Holiness on the
muster-roll.

THE DYING REPTILE.

" There is something shocking in the painful efforts,
even of a reptile, to retain its vitality and renew its forces,
when it has been sorely maimed. The writhings, the
struggles to throw out fresh strength, terminating in ex-
haustion and speedy death, form a hideous spectacle, even
to those who know the creature's noxious nature."— Vide
Times of yesterday.

Resting, t'other day, beneath
A hawthorn hedge near Hampstead-heath,
I beheld a wounded snake
Rustling in the leafy brake ;
Wildly it strove to keep its breath,
And protract the hour of death,
Wriggling in many a painful twist,
Like an eel in Betty's fist,
Towards a snug and pleasant spot
Where the sun lay bright and hot,
In the hope to mend its plight,
By the cheering warmth and light ;
But though hard the reptile tried,
And all its failing strength applied,
Ere it reached the spot, it died
Just so, when wounded sore by schism,
The dying reptile, Toryism,
Puts forth all her failing power
To ward off the evil hour ;
Crawls and shuffles, writhes, and shakes,
And the oddest faces makes;
Views with dim and longing eye,
The sunny, distant Treasury,
And strives, convulsively, to near
That snug, invigorating sphere,
In the hope, no doubt, that she
May thence draw fresh vitality ;
But, ere half her road is gone,
John Bull waylays the crafty one,
Stamps his heel upon her head,
Nor quits the reptile till she's dead.

'to regard as advantageous to the country. The inde-
fatigable industry with which Mr. Baring is known to
have filled the department of Financial Secretary to the
Treasury, joined with that high character for unflinching
integrity which has frequently extorted from his political
opponents unqualified praise, well qualify him for the im-
portant post in the Government he has assumed. The
former afforded him the opportunity of acquiring the tech-
nical knowledge requisite for the office ; the latter will
direct those attainments for the public good. In Mr. La-
bouchere the public will possess a man on whom no impu-
tation of sinister motive was ever cast. His almost
princely fortune places him above the temptations which
poverty, when introduced to office, is called to endure.
In whatever office Mr. Labouchcre has filled he has
been found fully equal to its demands. He evinced
the patriotism which ought to prompt public men
to undertake the duties and to endure the fatigue of
office, by consenting to fill a station lower in the
scale of official rank, and far heavier in the amount
of official duty, when the interests of his country called
for the sacrifice. As Vice-President of the Board of
Trade he necessarily acquired a knowledge of the duties
of the Presidency ; and we know of no one who is better
qualified by talent, by devotedness to the public service
of the country, and by the public confidence which high
personal and political integrity inspires, to satisfy the
expectations of the commercial interests of the country.
Mr. Shiel and Mr. Wyse are assailed by the Tory
journals, because of their religious creeds. It is
not the first time that the objection has
been urged : it is, at least, as old as Ne-
buchadnezzar ! As for this Daniel, we shall find
no occasion against him, except concerning the law
of his God.' The bigotry which opposed the concession of
the Catholic claims would be, it seems, now satisfied if
the statute-book enacted the admissibility of Catholics
to office, while the State practically excluded Catho-
lics from it. Mr. Sheil is admitted to be talented
active, and eloquent ; no imputation is cast on his in-
tegrity, which has never been impeached. Mr. Wyse
is also complimented upon his abilities ; but he, like
Mr. Sheil, is of the faith long proscribed, and which,
according to those who test a man's fitness for civil
duties by the religious doctrines he holds, ought even
now, though the Duke of 'Wellington and Sir
Robert Peel passed the Emancipation Bill, to exclude
the one from a seat at the Treasury Board, and the
other at a Board for the regulation of Commerce. The
cry of No Popery' is thus employed to raise a preju-
dice against men who aro acknowledged to be in every
other respect peculiarly fit for the appointments. With
what other feeling but unqualified disgust will this at-
tempt be regarded ? To raise a prejudice against public
me❑ on such grounds, instead of judging of their fitness
for the offices they hold by the talent and industry they
display, and the integrity they evince in their adminis-
tration, is worthy of a darker age !" _

The Standard thus alludes to Mr. Wyse's appoint-
ment as one of the Lords of the Treasury :—" If further
indication were needed of the real object of the Govern-
ment education scheme, it would be found in the ap-
pointment of Mr. Thomas Wyse to be one of the Lords
of the Treasury, for the purpose, it would seem, of
placing the superintendence of the new plan in his hands.
And this we are told by one of the Government organs
will be gratifying to all the friends of education
The Protestant people of Great Britain will no doubt
feel the full force of the obligation ; and should the
Privy Council succeed in its attempt to subject the na-
tional schools of England to such a supervision, the debt
will of course be proportionably increased. To com-
pel the schools which are in union with the National
Society, either to forfeit their share of the grant, or
submit to influence so contaminating, is virtually to
deprive them of all chance of benefit from the measure.
The qualifications of Mr. Wyse's coadjutors have been
fully tested by Lord Lyndhurst. To subject, therefore,
the national schools of Great Britain to the invidious
meddling of such a junta, under the immediate influence
of Popish intrigue (for Mr. Wyse is, in fact, merely Mr.
O'Connell's representative in the matter), will be to in-
flict another " heavy blow and great discouragement"
on the Protestant Church ; and to place it under
ban, as incompetent to the management of its own
concerns. Many as were the objections originally
urged against this measure, the intrigue which has
marked its progress since it was brought under the
consideration of Parliament, is calculated to render
it even more obnoxious. For our own parts, we would
rather submit to the wild chimeras of Lord Brougham
on the subject of education, than see the excellent system
which, under the superintendence of the exemplary Pro-
testant Clergy of Great Britain, has produced so much
benefit to the country. We trust the attempt to make
the schools connected with the National Society subser-
vient to the dictation of such persons as Mr. Wyse will
be resisted to the utmost ; and that rather than be the
victims of so injurious an influence, they will consent to
forfeit all participation in the recent grant."