The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-25 00:00:00

RITUALISM IN NEW 'YORK.

That " Our --.American _Cousins" are a go-a-head
people has become a truism.. • They beat us in their
mountains, in their railway accidents, in their bat-
tles, and now they are beating us-.in our ritual. The
Anglo-American Times describes a magnificent
function, compared with which St. Alban's proces-
sions are btit dull and Quakerish. The Rev. Dr.
Ewer, of Christ Church, Fifth Avenue, has just
been celebrating the formal Adoration of the Cross.
The buildin'o. was darkened, while the chancel blazed
with lights.: colossal brazen cross was erected on the
altar, before which knelt the priests and the acolytes.
Various processions moved around the church, with
boys in surplices, bearing wax-burners and crosses in
front. The fellows of " the Guild of the holy
Cross," in whose behalf the service was performed,
took their places robed in black gowns and chasubles,
some of bright red, others- blue, trimmed with white
and grey, ornamented with gold, while on the bosom
of each a large cross was embroidered.

A 71-IE3IORTAL TO LORD GOUGH.

A movement has just been commenced in Dublin
with the object of erecting a public monument to
Lord Gough. On Friday a large public
meeting was held, at which all parties were
represented. Ex-Chancellors in various Govern-
ments, officials appointed by different Ministers,
soldiers and clergymen, lawyers and civic authorities
joined.together in advocating that some tribute of
respect—and that no small one— eiould be paid to
the deceased veteran. Ainongst those present were
Sir Mazicre Brady, the Right Hon. Abraham
Brewster, Sir Jc a 2ph Napier, Major-General C num-
hame, Archdeacon Goold, the Master of the Rolls,
Judge Morris, General llall, and Colonel (Manion.
It is intended that the memorial shall be an imperial,
not an Irish one. The form which it shall take has
not been decided on, but a committee has been ap-
pointed to collect subscriptions.

A CUa:OU> QUALIF C
Mr. Dent, M.P. for Scarborough,. in proposing that
the Duke of Devonshire should be President of tho
Royal Agricultural Society for the year 1870, when
the show is to be held in Oxford, urged, as one of his
Grace's qualifications, that be was one of the first
mathematicians and scholars that CambrMgelJni.ver-
sity bad ever produced. The head of the Cavendishes
is a large landowner, and, as such, is well qualified
for the post to which he has just been unanimously
elected ; but we do not see how his having. been a
Cantab, a second wrangler, senior Smith's Prizeman,
and first-class cl.;ssic, fit him especially for presiding
over an assembly of agriculturists.

OBITUARY.
The deaths of two, officers of high rank are
announced. Vice-Admiral Francis Decimus Has-
tings, brother of the late Sir Charles Hastings and
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hastings, was born in
1795, entered the navy in 1807, and served with dis-
tinction in the Syrian and Peninsular wars. Af
his
ter
the great War lie went to Cambridge, and took
B.A. degree. The other officer is Major-General
Henry Clayton.

SPORT.
glance at some of our newspapers would
load
foreigners to suppose that play was the great b.ness of life. For instance, the. Daily Telegraph gives
nearly a page (a third of it in advertisement type)
to sporting intelligence. Four and a half columns
describe the sayings and doings of jockeys and
horses, beaten out to the tenuity of gold leaf, a fact
the more noticeable as the Telegraph compresses under
an editorial hydraulic press all the sayings and (7olugs
of statesmen and States. Then come aquatics,
and that noble and manly sport pigeon-shooting.
It is the last v
Bich is the real aristocratic amuse-
ment; it is in taking the blood of these savage birds
that the " blue blood " of our golden youth displays
itself to greatest advantage. Surely pigeons mustglory
in their apotheosis when they are removed out of this
troublesome world by the guns of the Marquis of Gra
ham, Viscounts Dupplin and Andover, the Marc • i
Queensbery, the Earlof Clonmel, Lord 11. Paget, Lord
Willoughby de Broke, Viscount Stormont, a whole
army of Honourables, a whole regiment of G • uardsc,
men, and, chiefest of all, Mr. Markham S ffortl
grand head-centre of the Conservative party.
Sir
George Lewis used to say that "life would be very
ir
tolerable if it were not for its pleasures.NehaastNrVeosli p would
he have said to a life which is all ~pVlu
Probably that it was worse than at life which is all
pains ; for the first do not as the second do, discipline
and educate.

SALE OF SOULS.—On Tuesday last 500 souls
belonging to the parishes of Westborough and Dry
Doddington, in Lincolnshire, were duly put up to
.auction
by 111 r. Driver, at the 'fart. The sale was full of interest.
The death of the late incumbent having left the living
vacant, the trustees of these happy souls were unable to sell
them legally during a vacancy. They therefore handed
them over to tre care (not indteJ for long, as they piously
hoped) of a clergyman, whose extreme age, 73 years, made
them more marketable. They were well worth buying;
the annual income which they produced was £7OB ; and
deducting £lOO for a curate, there were £OOO clear on
which a ,enth;man might disrort himself, in a nice house,
in a neighbourhood full of good society, and, if the gentle.
Man kept horses, a good hunting country. Or, indeed, he
might save his £lOO, for 530 souls could want so little
looking after that they were scarcely worth considering.
Five hundred souls Would any one say £5,000 for them?
Just £lO apiece ! No one would say £5,000 for them.
£4.000 were offered. and other bidders went up to £4,800;