The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-16 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY,

Match, once round. Mr. Braun's Black Bess, 9st (Jarman,
jun. ), beat Mr. Snodgrass's Devonshire Lass, I Ist 71b (bolted).
The Lyneham Stakes of 5 sous. each, 2 ft. Once round and a
distance. Gents riders. Fifty-two subs.
Mr. E. Scobell's b c Cracksman, 4 yrs, I Ist 71b
(Owner) 1 2 1
Sir W. Carew'a hr g, by Eden, dam by Rubens, 5
3 rs, 12st llb
Mr. John Hex's bl g, The Moor (h b), aged, 12st 61b '2 4 3
Sir W. Trelawney's b g Chartist, aged, Ilst 91b
Mr. I'. W. Parrott's eh g St. Patrick, 5 yrs, I2st 11b 3 5 dr
The first heat was well contested by the Moor, the second
was won cleverly, and the third easily.
Handicap Plate of 501. Heats once round.
Gen. Gilbert's ch h Passport, 5 yrs, lOst 111 b

(Kingslard) 1 1
Mr. Taunton's bk f, by Actaeon out of Peri, 3 yrs,
Sst 131 b
Mr. Parrott's St. Patrick, 5 yrs, 9st 121 b
Mr. C. Trelawney's bf by Hindostan, out of Frederica, _ .

3 yrs, 7st 21b
Mr. Read's ch f Parazade, 3 yrs, 7st 9:b..
Won by a neck.
The Hurdle Race Stakes of 3 sous. each, and 15 added.
Mile heats.

3 dr.
4 dr.

Mr. Kennedy's ch g, aged, 12st (Owner) 3 3 1 1
Mr. Down's Rory O'Nfore, 12st 91b
Capt. Weir's Olympic, aged, 12st 31b
Three others started. A good race.
BEVERLEY RACES.—WEDNEsnay.

The Produce Stakes of 13 sovs, each, h ft, for three-yr-old
colts, Bst 51b ; fillies and geldings, Bst 21b ; those by un-
tried horses or out of untried mares allowed Sib. One mile.
(5 Subs. )
Mr. Catton's b c The Genius, by Falcon Wetherell 1
Mr. Simpson's ch f Insane
Mr. Oxley's br c, by the Grand Duke Michael
Won easy.
The Two-yr-old Stakes of 20 sovs. each, li ft, T. Y. C.
(5 Subs.)
Wormald's ch c Millepede, Bst 51b
S. King's eh f Artful, Bst 2113
Simpson's ch f The Chaldean Princess, Sst 21b
G. G. Richardson's b e Silstron, Sst 51b 4
' Won by two lengths.
The Beverley Stakes of 7 sovs. each, 5 ft, with 25 added.
Once round and a distance:, Gents riders.

Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.

Ileslet int) 1

Col; Thompson's b h Hamlo,6 yrs, -1 Ist 71b Owner 1
Mr. J. Sitnpson's ch h Tormentor, 5 yrs, 1 Ist 31b 2
Mr. J. Peck's b h Tilworth, 5 yrs, 1 Ist 31b

Mischief and three oiheis started. A good race.

A Plate of 501. given by S. L. Fox, Esq., M.P., for horses,
&c., that never won 501. at any time ; three-yr-olds, Sst ;
four, 9st; five, six, and aged, 9st 71b; mares and geklino6s
allowed 31b, and half-bred horses, 71b. Heats, one mile and
a quarter.
Mr. Richardson's ch cby Robin Hood, 3 yrs ... 2 0 1 1
Mr. J. Catton's b c The Genius, 3 yrs .. 1 0 2 2
Mr. J. Hobson's b c Fitzwilliam (11 b), 4 yrs ... 0 1 3 dr
Mr. Harker's gr c Colchicum, 4 yrs
Mr. Marfleet's b c May Boy, 3 yrs

SHIFNAL RACES.-THURSDAY.

Sweepstakes of 5 sows. each, with 40 added from the fund.
Twice round and a dis. Three subs.

Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
The

Collett's The Dean, 4 yrs, Bst 21b ...(Whitehouse) 1
L.cey's b c Adbolton, 3 yrs, 7st Mb 2
Collins's b g Catamaran, aged, Bst 111 b
South Shropshire Stakes of 5 sovs. each, and 25 added.
Mile and half heats.

Mr. Collett's b m Tivy, 4 yrs, 9st (Whitehouse) 1 1
Mr. Moss's bin Frailty, 5 yrs, 9st 3 2
Mr. Lacey's b c Adbolton, 3 yrs, ist 121 b 2 3

Sweepstakes of 5 sovs. each, and 25 added ; twice round.
Mr. Wadlow's Woodbine, 5 yrs, 9st 131 b (owner), came in
first for the 2d and 3d heats ; but having " run out," the race
was given to ,11r. Jones's Gorse-bush, 6 yrs, lOst 31b (Marlow).

THE CUCKOO AND SPARROW.

TO THE EDITOR OF TH.ESUN.

your paper of the Bth inst., I perceive that
you have copied a paragraph from the Aylesbury News on
the utility of the cuckoo as a destroyer of sparrows; and as
I deem it a very erroneous one, allow me to request the
insertion of a correction of it.
The cuckoo is no doubt a harmless if not a useful bird
—it destroys great quantities of caterpillars—but certainly
this is the first time I ever heard it was a destroyer of the
young of the house sparrow, and I assert that a cuckoo's
egg was never found in the nest of a house-sparrow by
anybody living; and, therefore, if I am correct, the calcu-
lation (on what data it is founded I don't know) that it
destroys 3,479,325 young sparrows every year, falls to the
ground. The fact is that it occasionally lays its egg in
the nest of the hedge-sparrow—acceptor modularis of
Cuvier—but it is a warbler, and no more a true sparrow
than a woodcock is a cock or a moorhen is a her, ; and so
far is it from being► a destructive bird, that it does not de-
stroy either grain, fruit, or flowers; and there is not in
reality a more harmless bird in the country. Then again,
supposing the writer to be correct in the number of young
birds destroyed annually by the cuckoo, he is very much
wrong when he supposes them all to be sparrows—even
hedge-sparrows—for as far as this neighbourhood may be
taken as a proof, I will venture to say, that for one cuckoo's
egg found in the nests of the hedge-sparrow, half a dozen
are found in those of the titlark ; and they are also °cc:,
sionally found in that of the pied wagtail ; but certainly
never in that of the house-sparrow or any other hard-billed
or grain-eating bird.
The Sun is not a Magazine of Natural History. The
whole paragraph is perhaps too absurd to require contra-
diction through any medium ; but es a knowledge of the
truth is desirable even in small matters, and as the hedge-
sparrow, from its inoffensive habits, is a favourite of mine,
I did not like it to be falsely slandered without saying a
word in its behalf.—l am, Sir,
Clitheroe, May 12. A LOVER OF BIRDS.
[ As we have been made the innocent means of slander-
ing a favourite of our correspondent, we think it only fair
to insert the defence.]

AMERICAN SCULPTORS in ITALY.

For the following interesting intelligence in regard to
American sculptors and sculpture in Italy, we are in-
debted to a private letter from an American gentleman
now travelling in Europe, whose opinion on works of
art and taste we highly estimate, from a personal know-
ledge of its value.
" Our friend Greenough will have his great work,
the statue of Washington, finished by summer. It is
an immense work, eight times larger than life. The
block of marble originally weighed 130,000 pounds ;
and the statue when completed will weigh some 25 or
30 tons. Greenough is doing many pretty things for his
countrymen. A head of Clay for his son-in-law, Mr.
Irwin, is nearly finished ; the likeness of it pe!fect, and
tile sculpture superb. One of these he has made before.
A Venus that he is executing for Mr. Lowell, of Bos-
ton, is exquisite, and two pieces cf great beauty he is
engaged upon for a lady in New Haven. Greenough
now deservedly ranks among the first—if not at the
very head of modern sculptors, who, in my opinion, in
beauty of execution at least, equal, if they do not sur-
pass, the ancients
Powers, from Cincinnati, has astonished all Italy
with his heads, and Italians of the best and most prac-
tised taste have declared to a friend of mine, that they
have never seen any equal to them. He has heads,
finished or finishing, of several of our distinguished
men—Baldwin, the engineer, M'Duffie, Calhoun, Web-
ster, and others ; the likenesses true to the smallest
wrinkles, and beautifully sculptured. Indeed, this
Powers has aroused all the sculptors of Italy, or, as a
distinguished friend of mine remarked the other day—
waked them up to put forth all their might and skill to
keep within calling distance of him. This strife for
perfection in this noble art is producing the happiest re-
sults."—Ameriean Paper.

FRENCH AND ENGLISH CUSTOMS' DUTIES.
—The French Ministerial Evening Journal, the Messager,
states that the French and English Commissioners for the re-
duction of the customs' duties between the two countries are
occupying themselves with activity in the accomplishment of
their important mission ; and that in a short time the result of
their labours will be made public. The Presse asserts that the
following are among some of the po:nts already agreed upon by
the Commissioners :—The duty on linen cloths and yarns im-
ported into France from England to be increased, but the pro-
hibition against English cutlery, and the finer kinds of hard-
ware, the coarser kinds of English pottery, various woollen
articles, and several minor objects of ordinary consumption to
he taken off. England, on the other hand, is to admit of a
duty of 25 per cent., instead of 30 per cent., all toys, articles
of what is commonlyt, called Parisian manufacture, watches
and clocks, and paper-hangings : she is also to reduce the duty
on French wines from ss. 6d. per gallon to 25., and that on
brandies from 225. to 14s. "If this be effected," adds the
Presse," the import duty on wine paid in England will be only
6 or 8 sous a bottle, and good yin ordinaire may then be pur-
chased in England at If. 25c., or If. 50c. the bottle."
Last evening an :Inquest was held before Mr.
Higgs, at the Exeter Arms, Burleigh-street, Strand, on the
body of the Rev. William Lowfield Fancourt,
,D. D., Vicar of
St. Mary's, Leicester, aged seventy-five, who died suddenly on
Wednesday, in Exeter Hall, at a meeting of the Protestant As-
sociaticn. Mr. Brooke, a surgeon, was of opinion that de-
ceased died of affection of the heart, to which, from external
appearances, he judged him predisposed, and the atmosphere of
a crowded room would augment any such predisposition. A
juror said that he had heard many persons complain of the de-
fective ventilation of the great room, Exeter Hall. Verdict,
" Died by the visitation of God."
ALMACK'S.—A grand re-union of the beau
monde took place at the Almack's ball on Wednesday evening,
it being the third or last of the first series. Her Majesty's ball
being full late on Monday, the Duchess of Argyll also having
had a ball en the Tuesday, and the knoWledge that many fair
ones were determined to rest for the Drawing-room, caused
us an agreeable surprise to :find so brilliant an assemblage. By
an old rule, the doors of Almack's are closed at midnight •
this is rarely infringed upon, but. so fine is it drawn that
you may enter the room at hall-past eleven and find not a
score of souls assembled, all and every one arriving between
this hour and twelve, to effect which there are two doors
of entrance. By the resignation of Lady Euston the number
of Ladies Patronesses is incomplete. ; the Alarchioness
of Abercorn and Countess of Jersey were of course absent,
being closely connected with the house of Bedford ; but
the Noble Marchioness of Londonderry, glittering in brilliants,
and the Viscountess Palmerston were present, as was the
Countess of Lichfield. The Countess of Brownlow, who has
been absent from town these two seasons from ill health, is, we
hear, expected back shortly ; !here will then be four Ladies
Patronesses who are constantly in attendance, the young Mar-
chioness of Abercorn and Lady 11 illoughby d'Eresby never
having been in the habit of often honouring the balls with their
presence. We observed among the dancers several who could
say it was their first Almack s—several of the fair debutantes of
the season. The ball was kept up with much animation until
three in the morning.
FOREIGN THEATRES. The Legislative
Chambers of Saxony have voted a large sum for the building
of a new theatre at Dresden. In Hungary the opera is at-
tended with great success. There are six theatres at Pesth
and Baden ; at Taufkirchen a theatre has been built which can
contain 1,500 persons ; at Temeswar a second theatre has been
erected, in which only operas and ballets are to be performed ;
at Miscoley, a small town near .Tokay, the right wing of the
Town House has been converted into a theatre, and is to be
• ! used as such until the town shall vote a sum for the erection of
• . one ; even the little town of Agram, in Croatia, has a fine
theatre, in which both operas and dramas are performed.