The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-16 00:00:00

sombre and devious, groping, almost stumbling air
of " The People that walktid in Darkness." After
die chorus already particularised as the arch-achieve-
ment chorally of the day—there came, in as usual
delicious contrast, the exquisite and sylvan warbling
grace of the " Pastoral Symphony". Then came
triumphs of song won alternately by Madlle.
Titiens and Madame Sainton-Dolby—crowned by
that noble close to the first part of this
truly glorious oratorio, the grand concordant
sounds of " His Yoke is Easy," articulated, as by a
single voice and a single instrument, by the
orchestra of four thousand. Subsequently the second
and third parts were performed in uninterrupted EC-
queue,: as a single part, that is to say, without the
slightest break or pause whatever. Here, the solo
triumphs were most notably those achieved
by Mr. Santley in " Why do the nations
so furiously rage," by Mr. Sims Reeves
in " Thou shalt break them like a rod of
;ron, thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel," by Mdlle. Titiens, in " I know that My
Redeemer," and lastly, again by Mr. Santley, in
" The Trumpet shall Sound" with Mr. Harper's
trumpet obbligato. Besides the sublime "Hallelujah,"
the second portion of the oratorio gave us, among
others, three very wonderful choruses, wonderfully
rendered—" Surely he hath borne And we
like sheep "—and " Ile trusted in God," the open-
ing passage of which chorus last mentioned conveys
so vividly to the imagination through the thunder
of the scoffing basses, the pitiless fury of the rabble
of the Jews exulting in the Crucifixion. The two
quartetts in Part Three were splendidly delivered,
and the whole oratorio brought to a majestic conclu-
sion by the highly-elaborated and colossal chorus
of " Worthy is the Lamb." Altogelher, the first
day of this greatest of the Triennial Handel Festivals
was a triumph of art that will long be looked
back to as to a standard of excellence. It promises
gloriously for the " Selections" set apart for
to-morrow (Wednesday) as the Second Day,
and for the " Israel in Egypt " set ! down
for Friday, as the Third and Last Day of this
memorable Festival. Yesterday's performance of
the " Messiah" transformed the Crystal Palace for
the time being into a very Temple of Adoration.

va4 Art)
..r..%• litirwas.„.
" L
lank

HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL CASTLE, June 13.

The Queen drove out in the morning, accom-
panied by Princess Louise ; and in the afternoon
her Majesty again drove out, accompanied by
Princess Louise, Princess Beatrice, and Prince
L

ADMIRAL ROUS ON THE TURF.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—Observing in your paper of to-day the
following paragraph, quoted from the Pall-Mall
Gazette :—" The Sporting Life, with more audacity,
mentions that Admiral Rous said on the course
that if he had taken as much laudanum as had been
given to the mare he would have been a dead man,"
permit me to state that it is perfectly untrue. My
belief is that Lady Elizabeth had a rough spin with
Athena in March, when the Days discovered she
had lost her form—a very common occurrence with
allies which have been severely trained at two years
old ; that when the discovery was made they re-
versed a commission to back her for the One Thou-
sand Guineas Stakes at Newmarket, and they de-
clared that Lord Hastings would not bring her out
before the Derby, on which he stood to win a great
stake. I am informed that when Lord Hastings
went to Danebury to see her gallop they made ex-
cuses for her not to appear. If he had seen her
move the bubble would have burst. But the touters
reported, " she was going like a bird ;" £lO will
make any horse fly if the trainer wishes it to rise in
the market. She has never been able to gallop the
whole year. Llrd Hastings has been shamefully
I:ceived, and with respect to scratching the Earl,
Lord Westmorland came up to town early ou Tues-
day from Epsom to beseech Lord Hastings not to
commit such an act. On his arrival in Grosvenor-
square he met Mr. Hill going to Weatherby's with
he order iu his pocket to scratch the Earl, and Mr.
A. Pad wick closeted with Lord Hastings. In justice
to the Marquis of Hastings I state that he stood to
win £35,000 by the Earl, and did not hedge his
stake money. Then you will ask, " Why did he
scratch Mtn ?" What can the poor fly demand from
the spider in whose web he is enveloped ?
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
H. J. RODS.
13, Berkeley-square, June 15.

An interesting archaeological discovery has been
made in a railway cutting at Pont de Pierre, not
far from Chalons-sur-Saone. At three feet below
the surface of the ground a group of thirteen
skeletons was found in a narrow space, and won-
derfully preserved. They seem to be the bones of
full-grown men who had died in battle. The
skeleton of a woman has been discovered among
the others. Between the jaws of one of the dead
was found an obolus, which the friend of the de-
funct had no doubt slipped in to enable the de-
parted to pay his fare to Charon. A coin, veil
much defaced, but still seen to bear the effigy of
the Emperor Gordian, was a'so picked up among
these remains, which leads to the conclusion that
1,700 years have elapsed since they were there
interred.

A correspondent of the Times writing from Pestb,
under date of June 11th, says :—To-day we have
the fête of " Corpus Christi," the most solemn
festival of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria
and Hungary. In purely Catholic countries the
celebration of the feast of Transubstantiation has
scarcely the same meaning as in those where Ca'
tholics and Protestants live side by side, for there
is a sort of muster of those who are within the
line which separates the two confe sions. The
whole Catholic population turn out in the morning
to go in procession through the town. After the
number of the four Gospels, four altars are erected
before the doors of four different churches, or in
smaller towns, where there are not so many churches,
more or less open places are chosen in the streets
for the altars, and starting from the main church
the Host is carried through the streets, stopping at
every altar, where a chapter from one of the Goa.
pels is read and the Host elevated. Right and
left of the altars boughs and branches of trees
_are
arranged against the walls or made up into bowers,
while the road itself over which the procession
passes is strewed with small twigs and flowers'
In Vienna the whole Court takes part every Val;
in the procession, but this year, the Empress nev
having quite reoovered, the Emperor and the male
part of the household alone will figure. Here the
sister towns divide the dignitaries between thew'
Buda, the official city, takes most of the Ministers
and public functionaries, while Pesth has the welly,
bers of the high courts of law.
A Madame Gravis, living in the civil hosPief
of Calais, has just completed her 100th year.
great number of persons of the town came to see
her on the occasion, and she replied to all with
great animation and apropos. The day afte'.,
the clergy came to conduct her in prone!:
sion to the chapel of the establishmeh:
to be present at a solemn mass. In the eveninga
dinner was given by public subscription to. the 0,10
persons of the hospice, and at the dessert 111a1131111
Gravis, on her health being drunk, rose, glass
hand, and returned thanks in excellent langn3l"
for the interest shown her.
'
The Washington County Post states that anin
habitant of a certain village " down west" 11°le ag
bought a lot of sugar which had been adulterate
with sand, inserted in the local paper the following
advertisement :—"Notice.—l bought of a gri_ecilve
in this village 71b. of sugar, from which. 'tea
extracted lib. of sand. If the rascal who cheat
me will send to my address 71b. of sugar (lir
Scriptural measure of restitution), I will be tits)
fled. If not, I will expose him." The next daY.,er'4
71b. packages of sugar were left at the adveltl'oaci
house, there being nine grocers in the village,'
each supposing himself to haye been detected'