The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-31 00:00:00

BOROUGH HOP.

The supply of English hops on sale is very moderate,
and the trade rules firm at full prices. For good and fine
foreign hops there is a fair demand at quite previous rates.

WHITECHAPEL.

The supply of meat on sale is but moderate, and the
trade rules firm as follows:—
Beef, from 3s Old to 4s Gd ; mutton, 4s Od to 58 8d ;
lamb, 6s 4d to 78 ad ; veal, 3s 103 to 4s 8d; and pork,
36 6d to 4e 10d per 81bs, by the carcase.

MADAME TUSSAUD'S.—The exhibition, in Baker-
street, we are glad to find, continues to be unprecedentedly
well-attended ; indeed, it would be impossible for it to be
otherwise, considering the many attractive objects which
everywhere meet the eye, and to which the spirited pro-
prietors arc daily adding, regardless of the great outlay in
purchasing them. The principal attractive models, life
size, are the late President Lincoln, and Mr. Jefferson
Davis (the late President of the Confederate States.) The
model of John Wilkes Booth, the dastardly assassin of
President Lincoln, is considered to bo an authentic
likeness.

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DEATH OF THE FATHER OF GRACE DARLING.—
Wm. Darling, father of the famous Grace Darling,
died at Bamburgh on Sunday morning, in his 80th year.
Deceased was for several years the keeper of the Long-
stone Lighthouse, Fame Islands, where some time ago he
was succeeded by his son, and retired to Bamburgh to end
his days in quiet and repose. It was while living at the
Longstone light that the event occurred which has given
to his family an historical celebrity that will be lasting. A
portion of the wreck of the John. Humble steamer was
discovered on the Longstono Rocks at daybreak on Sept.
Gth, 1838. By the aid of a glass persons were discovered
clinging to the fragment of wreck, but the North Sunder-
land boatmen, and every experienced boatman, including
Darling himself, declared that any effort to reach them
would bo mere madness, and sure to add to the number of
lives sacrificed. Grace Darling at length, by her entreaties
and tears, induced her father to get into a boat with her,
and father and daughter reached the wreck in safety,
where they had the satisfaction of saving the lives of nine
persons, including that of a woman who lay half dro caned
in a corner of the wreck with the stiffened corpses of her
two children in her arms. This noble deed brought honours
upon Grace and her father from every quarter, as well as
substantial recognition. Grace died of consumption at
Bamburgh, in October, 1842, at 27 years of age. The father
was thus described a few years before his death by a visitor
to Bamburgh :—" As you sit waiting for the service to
begin, you will see an old man, still hale and strong,
but with a wrinkled brow, and hair of a silvery-white enter
the church. He is clad in the old blue coat with brass
buttons, which was fashionable 40 years ago, and his nether
limbs are draped in trousers of white nankeen. The old
man is worth a close inspection for his own sake, for it is
not often that you will see a face so singularly calm and
beautiful as his ; but that is not the reason why I call your
attention to him. Yon old man bears a name which still
has power to send a thrill through breasts not easily im-
pressed, and which once was famous in the farthest corners
of the earth."

The ways of getting to Epsom are innumerable,
but practically they all resolve themselves into two
methods—the road and the rail. For those impas-
sive natures who love their ease and dignity, and
who look on at the Derby as they would at any or-
dinary spectacle, the railway offers paramount faci-
lities for going and returning. Those also who are
pressed for time naturally avail themselves of that
mode of transit. But for the great mass of Londoners
—the votaries proper of the Derby, who keep its
anniversary religiously, and seek to make it yield
as much enjoyment as possible—there is only one
way of approaching the race-course, and that is by
the road. So at least thought a large proportion
of those who to-day gave themselves up as willing
victims to the attractions of the scene. London
must have been on foot, or rather on wheels, at an
early hour. Vehicles were streaming out of town
by all the practicable routes as early as six o'clock,
the major part of these, of course, belonging to
early birds, bent on combining duty with pleasure,
and profit with both; but long before nine o'clock
roomy coaches and prancing horses were at
work in many of the leading thoroughfares col-
lecting passengers and taking in stores. At the
West-end, especially, the bustle was very great.
From the force of habit one is led to speak of the
old coaching days as an. Augustan era, departed
never to return, and of horses as if their breed and
numbers had since been necessarily on the decline.
But it is fairly open to question whether, before
the days of railroads, a more goodly, or, at any rate,
a more numerous, cavalcade ever poured forth from
the metropolis. Certainly, of late years, it has had
no equal in point of magnitude. To say that every
kind of vehicle, in or out of repair, had its represen-
tative in the motley gathering is only to repeat what
has been said of every Derby-day since the origin of
our modern Olympic sports. The lordly four-in-
hand, the humbler brougham, the pert dogcart, the
ponderous omnibus, and the plebeian " barrow" of
the genuine costermonger abounded everywhere ;
Hansom cabs transformed themselves into per-
fect bowers, and flourished all along the line.
Who can adequately describe the adornments
lavished on the horses by their drivers ? Wreaths
of flowers and bouquets dangled from their head-
dress, with, in some cases " favours" superadded,
the cherished relics of quondam wedding parties.
At the " Elephant" and at Kennington-gate the
crowds of vehicles were as numerous and miscel-
laneous as possible, from the most dashing aristo-
cratic equipages to the well sheltered and commodi-
ous pleasure-van. Express- and excursion trains
might have been expected to utterly abolish both
postilion and pleasure-van, yet they turn out every
year more numerous than before. Kennington and
Clapham-road are too familiar with the sights of a
Derby Day to prevent any unbecoming excitement,
but a little further on the road, stretching towards
Tooting; all pretended indifference was abandoned.
People openly brought out chairs into their lawns,
or leant over their garden walls, and stared at the
procession. And well they might, for it was a re-
markable one. As far as the eye could reach, in
advance and to the rear, there was the same ola
ed r
ti
sd. a of diverse
Sometimes
dthyeet
bodystrangelyof
consistent ele-
ncarriages was
folded up into triple coils, sometimes it spread it-
self out into a long thin line, occasionally it got
over the ground smoothly and rapidly, more fre-
quently it advanced, when it did move forward, in
short and jerky stages. As might have been ex-
pected from the rickety state of many of the
vehicles, some were put hors de combat at a
very early stage, until recourse could be had to
the village blacksmith, whose heart would un-
doubtedly rejoice if " each morning saw some
work begun" of an equally remunerative character.
As the road wound on, giving from many points a
full view of that blazing arch through which the
sun was darting its rays on the contents of the
Crystal Palace, and as the heat and dust increased,
one could not help feeling tempted at times to shun
the face of man and the fortunes of the race, and to
seek shade and repose in the tempting verdure which
lay on all sides.