The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-20 00:00:00

HORSES AND BOYS IN VIRGINIA•

A bay, who is grey-headed and a grandfather,
brings my steed to the door ; two more boys hold
on to the bridle while the nag switches off the flies
with his tail; and three more boys assist in switch-
ing them off with fern branches. \Vhile engapd in
this toil, one of them—al hough it is only seven
o'clock, a.m.—falls asleep against the side of the
horse, snorti g, with his great bullet head shining
in the sun like a persPiringblaok pudding, till some
one arouses him by sticqing grass into his nose.
The horse is a fine animal. Nkarly all Virginia
hares are, albeit bred too fine for English tastes,
and now getting poor by too much interbreed-
ing ; bathe epuipments ! They don't believe in the
saving " that there is nothing like leather" in
Tirgiuia. It is evident that they think string a
great deal like leather. There is more rope used
in my accutrements than if I had been Mazeppa,
and was to be bound on. The buckle is broken

ff the belly-band, and that is tied with
string ; the check-strap is another piece
of string ; so also is the left-hand bridle.
There is no stirrup on one side, and more
string is used to hitch up the other. But the roads
are very bad at that time of the year, they say ;
so I would have to walk my hors.) anyhow—so it
makes no difference. The court-house is three miles
distant. A boy is given to me to show me the road
through the scrub and take care of my charger ; and I
start, all the darkies on the farm following me
to the gate. The road at first runs through a small
forest of stunted shrubs, and then debounches into a
rolling country of bare bleak bills, with a shott red
clayey soil. It is supposed to be enc'osed on each
side with what is called a worm or V fen :e,
which has a battered, haggard, and dissipated look.
Half the rails are down, some with one end stick-
ing in the fence, the other upright., prodding
the air; others lying about loose, g.viug a most
dilapidated air to a landscape'Dot of itself attractive.
Presently we come to a spot where the late rains
have moistened the clay into an oozy ointment,
which the rays of the sun have encrusted wito
a hard, piecrusty looking cover. After I
had passed this spot a few rods, my antiquated
boy of course lagging far behind me, I hear " Mas-
sa! Massa 1" I turn in my saddle. " Yah ! yah !
lis um keep right on. Dab's utn " and my youth
drops, as if struck withepilepsy, plump into the mid-
dle of the red pasty slush. Alarmed, fearing a sun
stroke, I ride hastily back. Wnat a picture
He has chosen this spot of soft mud for his
his noonday nap, and there he lies, sound asleep
in a moment—a huge piece of jet set in corne-
lian—the red glaring sun streaming down on him,
and a myriad of small yellow butterfies and blue-
bottles settled on his body. I shout and cra±s my
whip in vain. He is probably away off in the
midst of a corn-husking or a break-down, and
why should I disturb him I—Dickens's "Household
Words."

The precise amcunt shipped by the Peninsular and
Oriental steamer Pera for India and China on the 20tb
is 787,5871., of which 628,995/. is silver for Bombay,
Madras, Calcutta, and Singapore, and 147,3371. for
Hong Kong, Canton, and Shanghai. The gold is 11,2551.
for Alexandria, Ceylon, Madras, and Calcutta.
The Thames Steamtug and Lighterage Company, form-
ed last summer for the purpose of introducing improve-
ments in the goods traffic of the river, and which com-
menced operations on Jan. 1 by taking over the businefa
of Messrs. Kean and Blake, have just started a trial
steam tugboat, of three feet draught, with engines
by Messrs. James Watt and Co. of Whorse power. 'Two
others are to be ready within a month, and they are ex-
pected to produce a great effect in expediting the move-
ment of the heavy quantities of goods which now find
their way to the Thames from tbe London and North-
Western and the Great Western Railways.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL.—The students of this
the largest medical charity in the metropolis invited
Mr. Holden, one of the teachers of the school attached
to the hospital, to an elegant entertainment at An-
derton's Hotel yesterday evening ; Mr. Callender,
F.R.C.S., in the chair. After the usual loyal toasts the
chairman, in a neat and appr)priate speech, deservedly
;eulogistic of Mr. Holden, presented that gentleman, on
the part of the students, with a handsome silver dinner
service, and an address in the folla wing terms
Lowther Holden, F.R.C.S. S.r,—We, the undersigned
alidents of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, apprecs tug
able• and willing issistance you have ren fared
us as a leaclier, and the kindness and cheerfulness
juu, .;.fad our studies as a friend,
beg your aoceptance of this memo-lab togerame
the accompanying testimonial. We desire also to
express our deep sense of the ob'igation we are under
for the many valuable anatomical i reparations
and diagrams you have contributed to the mu.eurn
and dissecting rooms, and the able literary productions
by means of which you have so slut( 1 fled our profe'-
sional studies." The service of plate has engraved (.11 it
the crest of the recipient, and the pimple intcription,—
"To Luther Holden, from the student's of St. Bartho-
lomew's Hospital, 1857." Among the teachers present
were Drs. Baly, Kirke', and Paget.
ARCHITECTURE IN ANCIENT EGYPT.—It is certainly
well worthy of observation (BA) s Mr. Sydney Smirke)
how soon men perceived the capabilities of our art, and
acquired the science of so piling up stones as to pro-
duce a powerful effect Oh men's minds, "Go to," said
tbe rebellious descendants of Noah, exulting in their
newlracquited acts of Construction j " let us build a
city and a tower, the top of *hich shall reach unto
heaven ;" and from that day to the present time,
thrOughout the world, one of the chief exponents
of a country's pride, or its opulence, has been the
gteatness of its arebiteethrei l leave to the antiquary
the consideration of the style and character of the build-
ings of these pre-historic times. Eat Egypt, the reputed
cradle of the Worlds civilisatiotr, demands of me some
short notice. However deficient the early architecture
of this remarkable country may have been In that grace
and elegance which were reserved for another people
and a later period, it is yet dettain that the art here ac-
quired mach of the character of a fine art ; sad I think
we must admit that the Egyptian builders pro
dnced works marked by a dignity of coticepti,in
which in the lapse of 3,000 years, has been scarcely ek-
ceeded,The earliest development f Egyptian art is found
about the delta of the Nile and its chronological pro-
gress is up that river, for the ruins about the catar-
acts are of later dates. It is natural indeed, that those
most accessible and most readily cultivated districts
should be the first settled, and that there communi-
ties would be first founded. As population inorea-ed
and cities multiplied, the human tide ran up-
wards towards the mountains. Abundant architec-
tural remains attest this fact, and show that Bgypt
offers no exception to' what I hold to be the rule, that
our art affords a safe index of the progress of Civilization,
—The Builder.
LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAlLWAY.—Traffic
return for the week ending March 15, 1857 £56,618 0 0
Corresponding week last year
GREAT
NORTHERN
RAILWAT.--Traffic return for the
week ending March 8, 1857 £21,394 9 1
Corresponding week last year , . 20,684 2 7