The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-01 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

ST. ALBAN'S STEEPLE CHASE.
An immense concourse of visitors of every grade assembled
yesterday at St. Alban's, to witness the most interesting Stee-
ple Chase decided there since Moonraker's year ; the prize
contended for was a handsome gold cup, presented by his High-
ness Prince Nicholas Estcrhazy, added to a sweepstakes.of
15 seers. each (and five more for post entering), under the fol-
lowing conditions:—Each to. .carry I2st. over three miles
(more or less), a winner of two steeple chases to carry 71b.
extra, the second to save his stake ; gentlemen riders ; not to
ride more than 00 yards, &c.
The following is a list of' the horses that started, and their
riders
Captain Gardner's Conrad Mr. J. M.
Captain Fairlie's Spicey Mr. Beecher.
ason
Mr.' Elihore'slottery •
.Mr. Hall,
Mr. J. Fosteraslteaor Mr. Oliver.
Mr. Angerstein's Laura
M-r. Drake's Speculation llr. Seffert.
Mr. Bean's Beanstalk
Captain Brodie's Boy Blue Mr. P.
11.
Mr. Turner's Pilot Mr. Curwo ereen
Mr. Bryan's The Flyer, 71b extra .
Owner,
...... O
Mr. Land's Predictor . Owner.
Mi. Jackson's Cinderella llr. Martin.
Mr. Thomson's Coxswain Owner.
• MMr. Anderson's Splendour, • • Mr. Solloway.
r. Smith's Curate ...... . , Owner.
Mr. Lamb:lea's Jerry (post entered) Mr. Weston.
The line selected was about three miles ana a half in length,
and was admirably chosed for the spectators, It included be-
tween thirty and forty fences of a fair hunting description, and
was almost entirely light ploughed land. It commenced in a
field near Barnet Heath, close to St. Alban's, crossed the
Harpenden road, and finished within a half mile run in over
turf over Harpenden Common.
The betting at starting was 3 to 1 agst Conrad (taken), 7
to 2 agst Spicey (taken), 6 to 1 agst Jerry, 7 to 1 agst Ploy
Blue, 9 to 1 apt Splendour, arid 12 to 1 agst Speculation.
Cinderella took the lead at a capital pace, followed by Specu-
lation, The Flyer, Boy Blue, Pilot, Splendour, Predictor,
Spicey, Conrad, 'Jerry, and Beanstalk, the others lying bandy.
In this order the horses went to the Harpenden road (about
half way), having all taken their fences without mishap. here,
however, two or three of them lost ground, Spice) and Conrad
having refused the fence out of it, Boy Blue being crossed two
or three times by other horses, and Beanstalk got hung in a
fence. Cinderella continued the lead, still waited upon by
Speculation, Splendour, and Pilot, Spicey having taken rather
a more forward position. A field or two before they got to the
common, Speculation went up to the mare, and they took the
remaining fences almost abreast, the mare being first on the
common. Splendour took a gate to the left of these two,
cleared it, and thus saved a fence. Pilot followed, but fell,
and shook his rider terribly. The racing between Cinderella
and Speculation wal very close until within a quarter of a mile
of home, where Splendour caught them, ran a few yards along-
side, and went a trifle ahead. Spicey was now creeping up nn
the upper side; these four altogether making a remarkably fine
race home. Splendour won by about a length, and the umpire
(Delme Radelitils Esq. ) placed Spicey second, but both the
riders on Cinderella and Speculation claim the same place;
and it appeared to us, as well as to many others, that one of
them was entitled to it. Spicey, however, ran wide of them,
and this will perhaps account fur the difference of opinion be-
tween-the umpire and the spectators. Coxswain, Predictor,
Pilot, Jerry, and The Flyer, were behind, but malt ng was near
the first four, most of the riders having pulled up on finding
thcir.chances out. The Flyer, we believe, fell once : this and
The Pilot's being the only incidents of She kind that occurred.
After the race Mr. Becher claimed the race, on the ground
that Splendour had gone on the wrong side of a flags but failed
in substantiatiag his 'complaint. Amongst many other distin-
guished persons present were Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, r. ho
was accompanied by Count \Valdsteine, Baron Leibzeltern,
and Lord Claude Hamilton. The Prince, who was splendidly
mounted, took all the fences in the line except one; and cleared
them quite in the Melton style ; Lord Hamilton, on a thorough-
bred mare, distinguished himself at three severe leaps ; but
the Count, on trying his hand, met wah a complete summerset,
not a little to the amusement of his friends. The day was de-
lightfully fine, and the sport equal, if nat superior, to anything
of the kind ever seen at St. Atban's. The race was run a few,
minutes to 3 o'clock, and was considered to be remarkably fast.

BURY-LANE
.TIIEATIt
Barnett's new
opera of Fair Rosamond was performed last night to an over-
fluwinn house; It was not over until half-past eleven, an un-
precedented circumstance in the history of such productions.
Of Mr. Barnett's music we can only speak generally, and with
the greatest approbation. - From the overture down to the last
chorus it was characterised throughout with the most sterling
qualities of •stjle. In point of subject and freshness of
thought it improved as it went on, the second, third, and part
of the fou,th -acts being the elite of the whole. In every part
it was dramatic,4tnd sustained with the richest and most mas-
terly orchestral score. Miss Romer sustained the part of
Rosamond effectively, and Miss Betts was better than we an-
ticipated in the Queen. Phillips was never better suited than
in King Henry ; and, although he was not in very good voice
at the commencement of the evening, yet he went through his.
duty with success. Miss Poole deserves every applause for
the correct manner in which she both acted and sung in the
page Hubert. Giubilei, Wilson, and Seguin, supported the
parts of Clifford, De Vere, and Vaughan, the King's favou- •
rite ; but they were chiefly useful in the concerted pieces of
the opera. We should not omit to notice an excellent madri-
gal introduced into the last act. The management of the
house deserves every credit for the style in which the piece
has been got up : no expense or care seems to have been spared
on it. The opera is most successful, and will have a run but
need we say that it must be compressed unsparingly ?
FLITTINGS OF FANCY.—" Here are two very
agreeable volumes of tales and sketches, by Robert Sulivan,
Esq. This gentleman has a fertile imagination, dud a great
general knowledge of character. Ile steers from grave to
gay with great skill, and the volumes before us are full of
variety and are highly entertaining. Mr. Sulivan shines
most brilliantly in his humorous moods. As a proof of
this, we may instance his opening tale, Teresina,' which, •
too, has some beautiful touches of nature. Our author's dra- ;
matic sketches evince* much talent, and we, must not forget to ,
observe that in the course of the volumes there are many
clever satirical sketches of fashionable follies, and scenes and
characters in almost every grade of life."—Dispatch.
The dinner patties of the Earl of Sefton will shortly
be resumed.

The Abbotsford Club, perhaps the most active and
enterprising of any of the existing literary societies, and which
since its formation, in honour of Sir Walter Scott (if anything
can be said to be in honour of such a man), has printed so
many valuable works, has just put forth a very interesting
volume connected with Scottish history. We allude to the
" Memoirs of the Reign of Mary Queen of Scots," by the
eighth Lord Berries, who derived most of the materials from
his family records, the fifth, sixth, and seventh Lords, bat
especially the fifth, being so intimately connected with the
events of the earlier portion of the work. The Club is in-
debted for- this contribution to R. Pitcairn, Esq. In general
we Are opposed to these exclusive Associations, and think that.
like the Surtees Club, it would be better to make the books
saleable • but as the Abbotsford Club prints only from manu-
scripts, the members have an excuse for being chary of their
productions, and however novel may be the subject, we knolw
from experience that the public at large care little for matters
intrinsically of great importance, especially to literary • anti-
quaries. The original M. S. of Lord Herries's tt Memoirs,"
in his own handwriting, was destroyed with the Scotch College
at Douay, during the French revolution. Mr. Pitcairn's hand..
sonic contribution is from a transcript, probably unique.
Mr. Dawson, M.P. for Derby having declined to
come forward again as a candidate for the representation of
Derby, Mr. Duckworth, the Chancery Barrister, hai con_
sented to come forward on the Reform interest at the next
election..

The Newcastle testimonial to Earl Grey will be ino-
mediately The splendid column will be erected
at the end of Grep:street, in Mr. Grainger's new town, the
completion or which will be effected early in the ensuing
summer. The model of the statue to be placed on tbo •
top .of the column by Mr.• Bailey has been exhibited, and is ,
pronouoced to be an admirable resemblance.— Tyne Mercury.
-Monday se'nnicrht.9 died at Walton; near Wis—
bech, aged 75. Mrs. Marriott, formerly of Guyhirn. Sire moo
the widow of Mr. Marriott, who was murdered there by fad_
Irishnion (all of whom were executed,. and two gibbetted),
anti Mrs. M. was left for dead.