The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-02 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

The Philadelphia Inquirer calls attention to the
" Mileage abuse" in Congress. Though the law
intends that a member should receive his travel-
ling expenses, the practice has arisen of paying
members for the trip they might take,—but do not.
The members who remain in Washington from the
adjournment till the next session receive an allowance
for mileage not earned. Not only are these expenses
not incurred, but the rates charged are inordinate,
being far beyond the actual cost of travelling. Thus
a member from Oregon, who comes to Washington
at an expense of from $5OO to $6OO, receives the
sum of $12,000, leaving him upwards of $lO,OOO
profit, even supposing that he makes the
return journey. Henry Winter Davis, whose
trips to Baltimore and back could not have cost
more than from $6 to $B, received $67, and the other
members in proportion. The English system,
wherever the English Treasury deigned to pay any-
thing, is to make a man send in his bill, with rail-
way charge, cab hire, &c., detailed. Naturally the
members of Congress dislike the unequal division
of the plunder. Mr. Davis gets only $67, while
Mr. Macdougall, of •California, receives nearly
$ll,OOO. It is clear, however, that a reform which
equalised the sum to be paid to each would not be
equitable so long as the distances to be travelled re-
main so unequal.

General Sweeny's proclamation to the people of
Canada is not a bad document in its way. "To
take up the sword !" exclaims the Irish sympathiser
—" to strike down the oppressor's rod—to deliver
Ireland from the tyrant, the despoiler, and the
robber, we have registered our oaths on the altar
of our country, in the full view of heaven, and sent
up our vows to the throne of Him who inspired
them." And forthwith bands of drunken robbers
and plunderers are despatched into Canada to de-
stroy property, and to murder the unoffending in-
habitants. We sympathise with all the wrongs
of Ireland, which our American friends will learn,
on inquiry in this country, are not exactly what the
Irish in America represent them ; but we are at a
loss to see how rapine and bloodshed in Canada
will have a beneficial effect in redressing these
wrongs. That the Canadians do not see it is proved
by their action ; and we dare say they consider it
very hard lines that the Fenians in England should
fight for the redemption of Ireland, and they—
bear the blows. "We are here !" exclaims Sweeny
—" As the Irish army of liberation, the friends of
liberty against despotism—of democracy against
aristocracy—of the ballot against the privileges of
class—of progress and development against right
and wrong." " Granting all this," reply the Cana-
dians, "you are in the wrong place—go to Ireland,
or, better still, go to England and carry out this
honourable warfare in a manner worthy of the high
object you aim at, and the sublime sentiments that
actuate you, but—don't murder us." When—" your
work for Ireland is accomplished, we are glad that
you will allow us to determine our natural political
standing and character, and if we require your aid
to free us from the government of a foreign throne,
we will ask that aid."

There is something supremely ridiculous in this
address from the Major-General Commanding the
Armies of Ireland to the people of Canada, were it
not for its disastrous consequences—the action, of
which this address is a part, would rank among the
most amusing blunders ever committed—even by
Irishmen.

General Grant seems to be an assiduous smoker.
The Boston Commercial—who observed him nar-
rowly while waiting the departure of his train at
the Washington Depot—says he had smoked three
cigars, and had begun a fourth, in the brief period
that he remained. No credit is therefore to be given
to the recent story that he is learning to leave off
smoking, and that he has so far succeeded as to get
along with ten or fifteen a day. The General in
repose has a countenance which conveys no idea of
greatness to the beholder. his blue eye has a be-
nevolent expression when he is conversing with his
soldiers. He stoops much as he walks, but in other
respects seems hale and vigorous. There was
neither airiness, pretence, nor affectation about him.
As he passed he was often saluted by veterans, with
whom he talked pleasantly, or listened attentively
to incidents of the early South-Western battles, of
the campaign of Vicksburg, or of the bloody pro-
gress through the wilderness.
The approaching renewal of the attempt to, lay
the Atlantic Telegraph cable has produced some
movement in the shares of that undertaking. The
old £l,OOO shares, of which there are 600, after
having been for a long time neglected, are inquired
for at from £250 to £3OO. The 8 per cent. prefer-
ence shares of £5, which also represent £600,000,
have been dealt in to some extent at £3 15s. The
company, however, which is now most immediately
concerned in the success of the enterprise is the
Anglo-American Telegraph, which has taken over
the contract to lay the cable. Practically the
deferredheclaims
of the shareholders the old company are
to those in the Anglo-American Company, who will
have for their capital (likewise of £600,000) the
first charge upon the profits up to 25 per cent. per
annum, and one-half of all beyond, and whose £lO
paid-up shares at present stand at a small discount.
The importance of the undertaking has received a new
and strong illustration from the service that would
have been rendered if the line bad been in operation
during the recent panic, and the European war will
now create an additional interest in its completion.
Electric communication with New York will estab-
lish also an unbroken intercourse with California
and Vancouver's Ireland, a line to those points being
already in existence. A cable is also about to be
laid in the short distance between Florida and Cuba,
which will place New York in direct communication
with the West Indies.

RECONSTRUCTION is the great question at present
occupying all minds on the other side of the Atlan-
tic. The able Report of the Committee of Congress
has been accepted, and the amended Bill has passed
both houses by the two-third majority. This Bill
was a compromise, although a triumph to the
Republican party. Every person born in the Union
or naturalised is now equal in the eye of the law,
though equal political privileges have not been ex-
tended to the coloured population. The States that
refuse to enrol the negro among the electors will
have their representatives diminished in proportion
to the votes disallowed. No man who ever held
office and swore allegiance
to the United States,
and afterwards aided and supported the Rebellion
in any way, can hereafter hold office, vote for Pre-
sident, or be a Senator. This, the third, clause, will
have a sweeping effect. The Bill is one of vast
importance, and great as is the interest it excites,
we are surprised that it has given rise to so little
stormy discussion.

Some years ago the Irish boasted a member in
the House of Commons who was supposed to be
the greatest talker that had ever stood on the floor
of that or any other house. The day when Mr.
Chisholm Anstey left—it was hoped for ever—was
one on which all the members drew a long sigh of
relief, yet Mr. Anstey was an able lawyer, a clever
man, with a memory stored with the experiences of a
life of unforgotten incidences. It appears, however,
that a longer speaker has arisen on the floor of
Congress. If he does not die on the floor of the
house, some of the members will have to expire on
their seats, and perhaps a few strangers in the gal-
lery. The Philadelphia Inquirer speaks of this gen-
tleman as Davis the garrulist, and records it as a
wonderful fact that he only talked that day on the
Constitutional Amendment for four mortal hours.
At one time, when Mr. Garrett Davis had the floor,
there were but three Senators in the house, and
nine persons in the gallery. Of course no vote was
had. This journal adds, in seeming sorrow, that it
is certain no final vote can be taken the next day,

although four-fifths of the Senate have been trying
to get a vote for over a week. Such gentlemen as
Mr. Anstey arid Mr. Davis are of great use in pre-
venting hasty legislation, and Americans might feel
some additional satisfaction in the fact that their
members earn the stipend the nation allows them.
Anton Probst, who murdered the Dearing family
of eight persons, near Philadelphia, some two months since,
was hanged on the Bth of Juno, at the gaol, Philadelphia.
Very few spectators were admitted, though there was a
general desire to witness the execution.

President Johnson and family have engaged
rooms, for a portion of the season, at the Continental
Hotel, Long Branch.

MARRIED.—In Trinity Church, West Troy, on
the 28th ultimo, by the Right Reverend Horatio Potter,
D.D., LL.D., Bishop of New York, assisted by the Rev.
J. S. Saunders, rector of the parish, Albert Henry Sweny,
Esq., Captain in her Majesty's Second Grenadiers, to Anna,
eldest daughter of James Roy, Esq., of West Troy.

DIED.—In the United States Naval Hospital, on
Wednesday evening, May 30, Charles 11. Foy, late Quar-
termaster United States Navy.
Mr. Andrew H. Green, Comptroller of the
Central Park, has issued, in pamphlet form, his communi-
cation to the Commissioners of the Central Park, relative
to the improvement Of the Sixth and Seventh Avenues,
from the Central Park to the Harlem River; the laying
out of the island above One Hundred and Fifty-fifth
street ; the drive from Fifty-ninth-street to One Hundred
and Fifty-fifth-street, and other subjects. It a well-
penned document.

Mr. Kennedy, a Scotch vocalist, is on his way to
New York, to make a tour of America and give concerts.
He took his farewell at the Hanover-square Rooms, last
month.

General M'Clellan has given it as his opinion
that, in a war between Prussia and Austria, Prussia must
go to the wall, and, adds a London writer, "He knows
what fighting is, and who look like fighters."
Robert D. Holmes, of New York, has been again
elected to the honourable office of Grand Master of the
Freemasons of the State of New York. He has well earned
the position, and does credit to the office.

Miss Sallie H. Polk, daughter of the Right Rev.
Leonadis Polk (General C. S. A.), was married, on the Ist
instant, to Captain F. D. Blake, of Charleston, South
Carolina.

Dr. G. R. Sweeting, of Berlin, Wisconsin, died
on the 30th ultimo from the effects of a slight puncture in
the finger with a needle, received while sewing up a body
after a post mortem examination.

James B. Hosmer, of Hartford, Connecticut, has
made a donation of fifty thousand dollars to the Theolo-
gical Institute of that city.

Judge Story's son: William W. Story, now in
Rome, is one of the most promising of the American sculp-
tors. An English nobleman lately offered him three
thousand pounds for one of his works.

One of the Levantin Brothers—a young man
from Boston—while performing on the trapeze in Brook-
lyn, fell from a height of thirty-five feet, and was seriously,
if not fatally, injured.

Mr. Henry R. Stiles has retired from the edi-
torial management of the " Historical Magazine." His
successor is Mr. Henry B. Dawson.
A popular life of Abraham Lincoln in Italian has
been published at Florence, and is being sold for the bene-
fit of the freedmen.

The firm of Leonard Scott and Co., well-known
in connection with the American reprints of foreign re-
views, has been dissolved ; and the three partners, Messrs.
Leonard Scott, Edward Walker, and Robert Craighead,
have formed a joint-stock corporation under the name of
the Leonard Scott Publishing Company.
A HANDSOME RAILWAY CARRIAGE.--A new rail-
road carriage has just been placed on a line running out of
Boston, which is said to bo the most costly vehicle ever
manufactured in America. The Transcript (from which
we get very many spicy items, by the way) thus describes
it:—" This sumptuous vehicle cost $15,000, and was built
by the Salem Car Company. It has six compartments, and
can take forty-eight persons. Parties of six to eight indi-
viduals can secure one of these sections of the car, and
thus be as much secluded from general observation as
though at their own homes, and, at the same time, be
carried on their way to New York, in the easiest and most
pleasant method of railway travelling. No expense seems
to have been spared in furnishing the inside of the car,
the sides and ends of which are covered with luxuriant
blue broadcloth, and trimmed with lace and silk hangings.
Tho cost of the broadcloth alone was $2,700. The doors
are chiefly of plate glass. It is claimed for this carriage
that it possesses an advantage over all others in having a
turret root, which gives excellent ventilation. It is also
admirably lighted. Its weight is twelve tons ; length, fifty
feet, and width, eight feet."

The latest style of bonnet has turned up at Rich-
mond, Indiana. It is described as consisting of two straws,
tied together with a blue ribbon on the top of the head,
and red tassels suspended at each of the four ends of the
straws. Price nineteen dollars."

Our lady contributor says the reason why tall
mon best succeed in matrimony is because all sensible
women favour Hymen.. Boston Post.

THE AMERICAN FREE-TRADE LEAGUE.—The fol-
lowing resolutions acknowledging the receipt of the
Free-trade address recently sent from this country to the
United States have been received by the Secretary of the
Free-trade Association : —" 145, William-street, Now Yot
June 7,186 G. On motion of the chairman, seconded by
Mr. Alfred Pell, jun., Resolved, that the officers and mem-
bers of the American Free-trade League have read with
much pleasure the address of the London Free-trade Asso-
ciation. Resolved, that the League feels greatly encou-
raged by the proofs of sympathy and the deductions of ex-
perience embodied in tho address.—C. A. BRISTED,
Chairman, pro tem."
The Americans have established an American
Derby in connection with the annual races at Patterson,
New Jersey. The first race was won by Merril—time, 2
min. 55 sec.

Sixteen hundred dollars of " conscience money"
were recently sent to the United States Treasury by some
one.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

THE MANCHESTER MARKET.

There has been very little doing in the market on future
events since my last communication. The Special is not
in such good odour for the Goodwood Stakes, and the same
remark may be applied to Othello. Nu is backed for
money at anything over 10 to 1, and Slender has a good
many friends. Grand Cross has been backed freely at the
odds quoted below for next year's Derby.

GOODWOOD STAKES.
8 to 1 agst The Special (off.)
10 to 1 agst Nu (take 11 to 1)
100 to 8 agst Midia colt (taken)
100 to 8 agst Black Prince (taken)
100 to 8 agst Othello (taken)
100 to 7 agst Callahan (taken)
100 to 7 agst Slender (taken)
DERBY, 1867.
1000 to 25 agst Grand Cross (taken)

Mr. B. Land's colt by Promised Land out of Hope has
been named Lightland.
Brown Bread was struck out of tho Northumberland
Plate on Tuesday last, at 2.10 p.m.
Honesty was struck out of the Northumberland Plate at
11.15 on tho morning of the race.
The subscription to the Derby, Oaks, and St. Leger of
1868 will close on Tuesday, July 10, on or before which
day the horses are to be named.

The monthly pocket edition of Weatherby's Racing
Calendar, containing the races past to the end of June,
will appear on Wednesday next.
Kinglake, 3 yrs, has been added to tho list of geldings.
Stilton, 3 yrs, by Idle Boy out of Chow, the winner of
the Woodhay Stakes at llungerford on Tuesday, was
bought in for 140 gs.
HEALTH OF Mn. JACKSON.—WO aro requested to con-
tradict the statement which has appeared in several of our
contemporaries to the effect that Mr. Jackson, of Fairfield,
has had a relapse. We have much pleasure in being able
to announce that Mr. Jackson's- health has latterly greatly
improved, and ho is now in a fair way of becoming speedily
convalescent.—The Sportsman.
The chestnut filly by Woatherbit out of Maid of Team
Valley was named Louisa after winning the Trial Stakes
at Newcastle Meeting on Tuesday.
We understand that Waugh took charge of Mr. Merry's
horses at Itussloy Park on Monday last, and that Mat
Dawson is to train in future for the Duke of Newcastle.

GOODWOOD.—The Stewards' Cup, the Chesterfield Cup
and the Nursery and March Stakes close on July 10.
WEETING HALL Sri-Tn.—This stud of upwards of eighty
thoroughbred blood stock, owned by the late Gen. Anger-
stein, will be disposed of by Messrs. Tattersall, at Woofing
Hall, Brandon, Norfolk, on Saturday next, July 7.
Messrs. Tattersall will on Monday, July 9, at Albert
Gate, disposo of 12 yearlings, principally by The Prime
Minister, Dundee, and Touchwood, the property of Mr. G.
Maim!' ; and also, on the same day, four owned by Mr. C.
Snowing-, two by Caractacus, and ono each by Wild Day-
rell and Tho Prime Minister.

STOCKBRIDGE RACES, 1867.—The stewards will shortly
advertise for models of cups to be shown to them at Now-
market during the October meetings.

DONCASTER SEPTEMBER MEETING.—Tho Greaffockshiro
and the Cleveland Handicaps close on the Tuesday after
Newmarket, and the weights will be published on the
Monday after York August Meeting.
Bonanoar, chestnut colt, by Hobble Noble out of Tho
Belle, has changed hands and name, and will in future be
called Freemason.

THE LONDON SWIMMING CLUB.—Tho four following,
members of the above club contended on Saturday after-
noon in a Milo Race for the cup, presented by Mr. J. Latey
hon. sec. : W. Adams, C. Powell, G. Caudwell, and F.
Smith. The conditions are that the holder shall retain it
in four successive races before it becomes his absolute pro-
perty. They swam from the Dung Wharf to Putney
Aqueduct. Soon after starting Adams took the lead, and

though he held on a very bad course all the way, ho won
by 20 yards. The others finished in the order named.

AQUATICS.

THE WINGFIELD SCULLS.

The race for tho Wingfield or Silver Sculls is appointed
to be started at a little before five this afternoon, from
Putney-bridge. A steamer will accompany it as usual, and
will lea re London-bridge at 20 minutes to four, but will
only call in at Hungerford and Cadogan (Chelsea). The
race, as usual, creates considerable interest, and will, it is
expected, prove a severe one between Messrs. Michell
and Woodgate. There is a third candidate for aquatic
honours in the race, Mr. J. Chani-)ors, but he does not
appear to hold any place in the betting, which is pretty
fairly divided between the other two, Mr. Michell, however,
having the call. Thoy are both fine millers, and the re-
sult is very doubtful after what wo have seen of their per-
formances during the last few days.

PIGEON SHOOTING.

DEATH FROM LIGHTNING AT THE GUN CLUB,

WORMIIOLT SCRUM.

The anticipated meeting of the Gun Club at
Shepherd's-bush, on Saturday last was brought to
a termination on account of the awfully sudden
death by lightning of Young Offer. It is usual to
have bye-shooting previous to the regular match,
and such was the practice on Saturday. Offer is
engaged by the club to supply the birds, and in
carrying out his duties, as usual, he was assisted by
his three sons, while several others were standing
round the tables or near the baskets, where the
pigeons were being selected from. All was nearly
in readiness, when a little after two o'clock a ter-
rible flash of lightning, accompanied with but slight
rain, burst over the ground, hurling Offer and his
sons, and a man named Frederick Darsey (who
assists in trapping) to the ground ; Thomas Offer
was killed instantly ; the father soon recovered ;
Darsey was uninjured, but one of the other sons,
Alfred, was so long insensible, that it was feared he,
too, was past all earthly aid, but we are glad to say
that after more than an hour became sensible, and
it is hoped that he will ultimately recover. Several
other persons were likewise prostrated, including J.
H. Upton, who keeps the score, but no other vital
injury was inflicted, with the exception that the
electric fluid also killed the well-known black re-
triever, Jack, whose sagacity in fetching back the
pigeons shot, made him a great favourite with the
visitors. Offer was not much hurt, but his grief at
the loss of his son may be well imagined. Thomas
Offer's hat was cut into ribbons, and his clothing
twisted into fantastic shapes, the left leg and ankle
were ripped up, and his left boot was torn off com-
pletely. The body presented a ghastly appearance,
being completely black.
More than 30 noblemen and gentlemen had en-
tered to contend in the second summer handicap,
but, of course, any further progress was out of the
question. The body awaits the inquest, which will
be held by Mr. Bird, the coroner this (Monday)
morning, at the Inn opposite the ground.

" Certainties"—Advice Gratis.
—...-

The facetious correspondent of the Racing Times
writes on the above subject as follows :

Of the multitude of miscellaneous philanthropists
your betting advertiser, or inventor of certainties,
is one of the most amusing. Only fancy the junior
members of my family reading with delight an ad-
vertisement headed " Something Extraordinary,"
and continuing, "Northumberland Plate and Liver-
pool Cup is quite at the mercy of the cleverest divi-
sion on the turf—sent on the receipt of 18 stamps."
The common mercantile leaven spoils it, but the
economy of the thing (only eighteenpence) is quite
charming. The announcement goes on—" Any
person sending cash to back this double event, we
guarantee £lOO for £l, £5O for 10s., £25 for 55.,
£l2 for 2s. 6d." Not by any means bad invest-
ments for small capitalists in these days, when cash
is generally considered tight in the City, but the
advertiser continues, by wishing " it to be under-
stood that he does not put money on in the com-
mon every-day system, as other commission men do
(whereby you would ruin the Bank of England),
but on an entirely new and honourable system ori-
ginated by him. No other person knows the secret;
it is on the same principle as practised by the lead-
ing racing men of the day." All this including, I
suppose, the grand secret was to be got for the
aforesaid small sum of eighteenpence, but the ad-
vertisement continues in an argumentative strain thus
" How could the ever rich men on the turf arise
out of nothing but by following this safe and ever-
winning system ? Send at once, and remember that
a fortune is now to be made." Another announce-
ment is that somebody else does business on a far
more liberal scale, for as the above shop can only
afford to give £lOO for a sovereign, the establish-
ment now referred to would guarantee' in a double
event for Liverpool and Goodwood £BOO for £l, and
so on in proportion down to half-a-crown, and send
the Northumberland Plate winner gratis 1 All the
confiding who sent their cash to the first place will
best be able to inform us whether the " certainty"
came off as guaranteed, the pound having been in-
vested on Vespasian for Liverpool, and Lady
Durham for Newcastle.

I find from a similar advertisement on Saturday
last that the Cumberland Plate and Newmarket
Handicap is also at the mercy of the cleverest divi-
sion on the turf, and so I conclude that all future
events will be. Make your fortunes you lively
members of the greenhorn family, and don't scruple
to send a few stamps to find out the glorious suc-
cess, and ascertain the doings of the " clever divi-
sion" referred to. Whatever horse you are advised
to back rest assured he has no more chance of win-
ning than your own selection, assuming you are
given to calculations on public running, or other-
wise. Numbers of the prophets appear on paper to
have sent Rococo at 40 to 1, but I have not been
fortunate enough to see the portrait of anybody
who has been so favoured. A countryman adver-
tises that his " honourable subscribers shall win a
fortune this season," for which he requires the
modest fee of 55., and, as an inducement to invest
boldly, says that the winner of the Leger is now at
50 to 1; a good thing, if true, but probably
this gentleman means the Leger of 1867. " The
Goodwood Stakes and Cup winners free," such is
the heading of another advertisement, and the in-
ventor will send them to gentlemen who promise to
pay liberally from winnings, and after stating there
is only to be one horse for each race at good odds,
asks for six stamps for correspondence. This
appears to be a very moderate establishment, and if
you give sixpence for the winners of two good races
at long prices, you may be able to send the five
shillings wanted for the Leger winner at 50 to 1
without much difficulty. Supposing you can manage
to pull off the double event of Cumberland Plate
and Newmarket Handicap by getting the £lOO for
a sovereign, or even a quarter of it for 55., I recom-
mend you to invest it with a general merchant at
Guernsey, who advertises in some of the sporting
papers that £106,800 may be had for £l9. It is
not very clear how this is to be accomplished, but
you should apply for prospectuses and particulars
without delay to the general merchant in question,
who contradicts any statement which could be in-
sinuated that he is not engaged in bona fide specu-
lation. In this instance you will deal with a person
of evident business habits, for he gives a name, and
states himself to be " agent for first-class refiners,
distillers, millers, and growers in France, Holland,
Spain, &c., and will take orders for crushed and
loaf sugar, colza oil, flour, wine, spirits, gin, Schie-
dam, Dutch cheese," &c. Perhaps the gin and
Schiedam are not spirits, or it would seem needless
to mention them separately in addition to that
word.

Thus any aspiring young friend who shall take
my advice and lay out his five shillings will secure
£,25 from the double event; and then, keeping £6
in his pocket, remit £l9 to Guernsey, when he will
bring off £106,800. The odd money he can amuse
himself with by attending races during the remain-
der of his existence, and the hundred thousand he
will doubtless find a suitable mode of laying out
in some future limited liability concerns which are
sure to show on paper very attractive things in per-
centage.

In backing horses at long shots always get out as
soon as possible, if the animal comes with or with-
out a rush. Duting the fatal progress of the rin-
derpest milking was checked to some extent both in
the bovine and racing worlds, but it has begun again
in severalquarters, where horses have been strongly
and continuously backed by the public merely
for the benefit of the vultures. The most recent
instance was Honesty (a capital name for a horse),
and the doings of an owner. He was expected to

go for the Northumberland Plate on Wednesday—
had won the North Derby, a mile and three-
quarters, on the preceding day, carrying Bst 131 b,
beating Terror and Claros, and 10 to 1 was taken
about him for the following day, when, without any
known cause, at 11.15, he was scratched. The
sporting public must comprise some of the greatest
noodles in existence, or they would haie something
to say about such an affair as this ; indeed it is
patent to the most superficial observer that every
schemer and deviser of any kind of lottery or
silly invention for practising on the unwary
looks out for channels where sporting men meet and
congregate, and no amount of lesson or advice ap-
pears to have the least effect in putting the green-
horn on his guard. There is an annual affair occu-
pying Saturday and Monday in the finest month of
the year in the handsomest and most attractive
place of amusement in the world. I allude, of course,
to the Dramatic College Fete. The last day in the
week, as a rule, is a good one to select, because the
majority of young men likely to be tempted are in
funds, and the Monday following is the next best
time, because what they have not got rid of at the
end of the week is reserved for the beginning of the
next. We all wish well to the institution, and hope
that the fete may be continued year after year with
increasing success, commensurate with the great
outlay always expended upon it. A new feature
has, however, presented itself on this occasion.
The bevy of young ladies, under all sorts of names,
many resembling those of celebrated bookmakers and
jockeys, are advertising to the extent of about twenty-
six in number. " Misses Ashmall and Nightingall
will execute commissions on the forthcoming races, on
receipt of cash at the Royal Dramatic College fetes
at the Crystal Palace, July 7th and 9th." There
Misses Custance and H. Grimshaw will give the
" straight tip," and so they go on in fifteen advertise-
ments of young ladies competing with their more
experienced and less favoured rivals in the ingenious
performance of extracting all the coin they can
from the verdant sportsman, who will pay his foot-
ing pretty handsomely when he ventures into the
charmed circle on Saturday and Monday next ; but
he will have one great gratification in parting with
his half-sovereign in exchange for an arch glance
from an actress and a penny flower to know that
the money will be expended in soothing the last days
of those who may amuse him on the mimic
scene ; and were it not for the fact that an ill wind
blows nobody good, I should like to see a handsome
subscription list without all the nonsensical expe-
dients which are compelled to be resorted to ; but
John Bull always preferred costly indirect taxation
to the more economical and direct thing, because ho
affects to suppose that commodities are at their
natural value, and in purchasing his box Of cigars
has not the least idea that he is paying half a soy.
duty to the Government ; so when expending his
crown or his pound at Sydenham he gets into
society for a day that, as a rule, he cannot aspire to
mix with generally, and is surprised to find how
young and beautiful Miss Somebody looks, and how
old .Mr. 0 therbody looks—in fact thegalaxy of youth
and age, of talent of every kind, of both sexes,which
the drama in its various phases nourishes, can seldom,
if ever, be met together unless on this occasion.
Every theatre and place of amusement within the
metropolis will contribute to swell the number of
performers,. and each will go zealously to work, and
carry out his and her legitimate design by affording
all the fun that possibly can be devised, but whether
the fifteen advertisements will yield any and what
kind of " certainties" it is impossible for me to pre-
dict. Some of the junior branches of my family
probably lose their hearts as well as their coin,
but this I am quite sure no advice gratis of mine
can possibly prevent. The dramatic college fete
adds another to the many existing modes of invest-
ment, and those who will take the trouble of attend-
ing it once will always, while spared, and residing
anywhere near town, look forward to its recurrence
with pleasure, and laugh at the boundless extent of
ingenuity with which the principles of English sports
are furthered and carried out.