The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-18 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
NEW C A STLE-ON-TYN E RACES, 1850.
"andicap for the Northumberland Plate.; to declare on

the 25h inat:—
Yrs. st. lb.
cantieteer a 9 6'
bsapzeu 5 9 2
Vateaeher 5 8 8,
•c•I•
lerdale 6 8 41
""Ila Cosner 5 8 2
(i'e
1.„ adower 5 7 11
"j• altOn
ar,t,
li ueritress a 7 10
b 4anyklik 4 7 10
;44,illinafai 6 7 8
t)lvan 5 7 8
'ithiro 4 7 7
Grlau n
Uri el 4 7 7
el 4 7 61
alias,., Ann 4 7 5
.nelus 4 7 41
Defaulter 5 7 2
k_, er
1 '°37
"41,gerdemain 4 7 21
116\ka, owstorm 4 7 2,
v estow , 4 7 2
‘,.alagunrd 4 7 0,
v,i -
Lox
La•
ngton 4 6 12
rychLine 4 6 12
Williz
-
'l4 friary 4 6 10
Alp 4 6 16
l't iestess 4 6 10
tilaid Team Valley 4 6 10
i-:ekbiter
411 e Cocktail... at . 4 6 8
kt 1
.t., J
•le de Bratant 4 6 81
Crlatn .
.•,,- pion 4 6 8
estator 4 6 61
41 andieap for the Members' Plate; to deulare as above:—
Yrs st lb Yrs st lb
I'9-4 Hilda... ...... 6 8 8 Solon
Itibaldry
~ Vanguard
'lrychnine
',laid Team Valley 4 7 G First-rate 3 5 6
I.o.ektail
ik‘ehert de Brus

Yrs st lb

b f by Phoenix—
Pose of Cashmere 4 6 6

Castanette
The Knout .

Robert de Brus 4 6 6
e Arab ... 4 6 6
Jenny Lind 4 6 4
Reality ...5 6 2
Primrose 5 6 2

Roland 4 6 2

Lady-I-am•cff 5 6 0
Impertinence, b h 5 6 0
Clincher
Lord Saltoun a 5 10
Burghley 4 5 8
Gulliver
Illeicoon

!St• Valentina 3 5 6
Sig. of Holderness 3 5 6
,Sir Philip
Mark Tapley
Probity
litlight of Gwynne 3 5 2
Gicam 3 5 2
Mulgr are 3 5 2
Seneca 3 5 0
First-rate 3 5 0
Equiria 3 4 10
i Timothy
IMichael Brunton 3 4 10

tantho
Luxury
Aegean
Wallace

.. 3 4 10
.. 3 4 8
~ 3 4 8
~ 3 4 6

WARWICK SPRING MEETING,
} WARWICK, SUNDAY EVENING.—The following horses
arrived :—Knight of Gwynne, Warwick, Mark
apley, Osbaldeston, Woodsprite, Rose Pompon, Rat-
lop, Fugitive, Andalusian, Jack of All Trades, D3C:-
;V, Sobriety, Meath, lanthe, Ballinafad, Abi-el-ICader,
"tory be Airy, Everton, Laurel Gelding, Venture,
Vaut-
'•
'Jen, Cosachia. A great many others are expeted tc-
l'?orrow. The race-course is in the best possihls condi-
tion. Both Warwick and Leamington ara already full
of Visitors, and an excellent meeting is anticipated.

COURT CIRCULAR.
The Queen and Prince Albert, with the Princess
lloyal, the Duchess of Kent, the ladies and gentlemen
')f the Court, and the domestic household, attended
bivine service yesterday morning in th-2 private
Chapel of Buckingham Palace. The Hon. and Rev.
Herald Wellesley officiated.
The Royal Family took their accustomed ex' rcise
esterday in the garden of Buckingham Palace.
The Count and Countess de Neuilly visited her
Majesty on Saturday at Buckingham Palace.
His Roj al Highness Prince Albert rode out on
horseback on Saturday, attended by Colonel Bouverie.
Thr Majesty and Prince Albert, with the Prince
t)f Wales and the Princess Royal, honoured the Royal
Italian Opera House with their presence on Saturday
evening. The royal suite consisted of the Viscountess
Jocelyn' Lord Dufferin, Lord Alfred Paget, and
Colonel Bouverie.
The Queen's private band attended in Buckingham
Palace on Friday evening, and played the following
pieces :
Overture, "Calypso" Winter.
Selection, " Malek Mel"
Itomance, "Guido et Genevra" Halevy.
Cavatina, " Schweitzer Famine". Weigl.
Polka
Jallacic Marech.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess cf Kent visited
the Duchess of Gloucester on S.iturday at Gloucester
Rouse.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge left
town on Saturday on a visit to the Duke of Rutland
ut BAvoir Castle.
The Count and Countess de Neuilly, and the Duke
and Duchess de Nemours visit( d her Royal Highness
the Duchess of Kent on Saturday :A Clarence House,
St. James's.
-A Cabinet Council was held on Saturday afternoon
ut the Foreign-office. It was attended by Lord John
Russell, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of
rite, Sir George Grey, Viscount Palmerston, Earl
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Francis

Baring, Sir John Hobhouie, the Rirl of C.rli'le,
the Right Hon. IL Llb.)uchere, the I.`,l•::rquis o C .x.-
riearde, and the Right Hon. Fox Myale. The
Council sat threc, :.ours.
Mr. DuncuUr. M.P., and Mr. Blair, M.P., bad an
interview with Sir George Grey oa Saturday at the
Home-office.
Mr. John Wood, Chairman of the Board of blond
Revenue, had an interview with the Chancellor of the
Extin quer on Faday, at his official residence in
Downing-stret t.
Dispatches for the Governors of the West India
Colonies, and also for the Governor of Gibraltar, were
sent (If on Saturd,ty evening from the C,lonial-ctlice.
Mr. Cowan, M.P., had an interview on Saturday
wi h Sir George Grey. The Rev. Dr. Buchan and
the Rev. Dr. C...ndlidt had also en interview on Sitar-
day with the Right Hon. Baronet at the Borne, office.
The Poise of Wellington attended the early ser-
vice yesterday in the Chapel Royal, St. James's. The
Rev. Dr. Wellesley otticiated and preached the sermon.
The Bishop of Llandaff preached the sermon at the
daily service. The prayers were read by the Rev.
G. Rewon, and the lessons by the Rev. T. Helmore.
The Duke of Manchester, the Marquis cif SalAury,
Lords St. Germans, Fowls, and Gough, were among
the nobility preFent.

LITERATURE.
ANTONINA ; or the Fall of Rome. 3 Vols.
We have already briefly commented upon the prin-
cipal features of Mr. Collin's historical romance, and
the following extracts from its pages will corroborate
our expressed opinion as to the tinusaal power
evinced by Mr. Collins in painting startling scenes,
or pourtraying heroic characters. Many incidents in
"Antonina" are so extraordinary, not to say impro •
bable, that if described by an ordinary writer, we
might be inclined to find fault with them as gro-
tesque exaggerations. But so vigorous is the
delineation, and so perfect the colouring of
these scenes of terror in the pages of " Anto-
nine," that they are positively magnificent in
their horrible, heart-thrilling actuality. It is in
depicting scenes of this nature, and individuals of
almost superhuman character, that the skill of Mr.
Collins is most conspicuously displayed. The luxu-
rious Roman senator Vetranio ' • the gentle, child• like
Antonina; the Gothic soldier Hermanic, alternately
swayed by the colder influence of his nothern edu-
cation and the irresistible fascinations of the
southron maiden ; Numerian, at first stern to
cruelty towards his unhappy daughter, and then
bewailing her absence with heart -broken la-
mentations—these, and many of the minor
characters, are excellently well depicted • but it
is in the drawing of the ruthless doisvintha
and the pertinatious Ulpius that the master hand of
the limner is chiefly visible. Ulpius from his child-
hood had been dedicated to the service of the heathen
divinities of pagan Rome, and he had in his man-
hood been the priest of the idol Serapis. Under the
happier influence of Christianity the heathen worship
had been abolished, but the pagan priest yearned for
its re-establishment with all the ardour of an
enthusiastic nature, and toiled for it with all the
vigour of an indomitable will. His- passage
through a rift in the walls of Rome,
in order to join the blockading hosts of Alaric; and
betray the city into the hands of the Goths, is de-
tailed with elaborate skill and holds the reader
in breathless attention. It is hardly possible
for an isolated extract to do justice to this
powerful description. The other individua.l whom
we have particularised as affording an impressive evi-
dence of Mr. Collins's skill in the terrible, is Goisvine
the, a Gothic matron, rendered a widow and childless
by Roman swords. All the powers of her heart and
mind, all the faculties of her being are concentrated
in one feeling, the yearning for revenge. She stands
bsfere 113 alternately an impassioned Nemesis, or as
cold and lifeless as the statue of Niobe. " Her sor-
ro.v," it is beautifully said, " took the fatal form
which irretrievably destroys in women all the softer
and better emotions—it changed to the despair that
asks no sympathy, to the gri4 that holds no com-
munion with tears." Rightly to appreciate the almost
fiendlike Goisvintha, it is nee( ssary to contemplate
her in the pages of "Aetonina."
Toe story occasionally leads us to the camp of the
Goths, conspicuous for the stern simplicity of their
manners and the severity of their discipline. But
the contrast between these hardy soldiers of the north
and the effeminate senators of Rome, is hardly so re-
markable as is the startling contrast exhibited by
Rome and the Romans at the commencement and
towards the close of " Antonina." In the first volume
we contemplate with contemptuous surprise the lux-
urious banquets and voluptuous atnusemente of
the unworthy bearers of the Roman name,
but shortly afterwards, when the city is blockaded
by the Goths, starvation takes the place of luxury,
and desolation and despair reign paramount where
all had been magnificence and mirth. Rome, during
the famine, is (as might have bee n anticipated) ad-
mitably depicted by Mr. Collins; and, in the follow-
ing passage, is emphatically described a reviving
gleam of Roman virtue :
Of all prophecies none are, perhaps, so frequently
mistaken as those on which we are most apt to venture,

in endeavouring to foretel the effeet of ()award events
on the characters of men. In no form of our anticipa-
tions are we more fe quently baffled than in such at-
tempts to estimate bt forehand the influence cf circum-
stance over conduct, slot only in others, but also even in
ourselves. Let the evens but happen, and men, whom we
view by the light our previous observation of them, act
under it as the living contradictions of their own cha-
racters. The friend of our daily social intercourse, in
the progress of life, and the favourite hero of our his-
toric studies, in the progress of the lage, as.onish, ex-
ec° 1, or disappoint our expectations alike. We find it as
vain to foresee a cause, as to fix a limit, for the arbitrary
inconsistencies in the dispositions of mankind.
‘; But though to speculate upon the future conduct of
others under impending circumstances, be hut too often
to expose the fallacy of our wisest anticipations, to con-
template the nature of that conduct after it has been
displayed, is an useful subject of curiosity, and may, per-
haps, be made a fruitful source of instruction. Similar
events wbich succeed each other at different periods are
relieved from monotony, and derive now importance,
fsom the ever-varying effects which they produce on the
human character. Thus in the great occurrence which
terms the foundation of our n
narrative, we may find
little in the seige of Rome, looking at it as a mere event,
to distinguish it remarkably from any former siege of
the city— the same desire for glory and vengeance,
wealth and domiuion, which brought Alarie to her walls,
brought other invaders before him. But if we observe
the effect of the Gothic descent upon Italy on the inha-
bitants of her capital, we shall find ample matter for
novel contemplation and unbounded surprise.
" We shall perceive, as an astonishing instance of the
inconsistencies of the human character, the spectacle of a
whole Teeple (already fallen from the highest position
of notices) glory to the lowest depths of national degra-
dation), threatened by an overwhelming invasion at their
very doors ; and yet, in spite ot all that ;he wide-spread
baseness of their previous characters might have led us
to expect,resisting their enemies with inflexible obstinacy
for the honour ot the Roman name, which they had
dishonoured for ages past. We shall behold men, who
lave hitherto laueh(d at the very name of patriotism,
now starving resolutely in their country's cause ; who
stopped at no villany to obtain wealth, now hesitating to
employ their ill-gotten gains in the purchase of the most
important of all gratifications—their own security and
p, ace. Instaners of the unimaginable effect produced
by the event of the seigo of Rome on the characters of
her inhabitants, might be drawn from all classes, from
the lowest to the higt est; but to produce them here
would be to admit too long an interruption in the pr..-
gress of the present narrative. It' we are to ent,,r at all
into detail on such a subject, it mutt he only in case
el, any connected with the actual requirements of our
story; and such a case may be found, et this juncture,
in the conduct of the senator Vetranie, trader the influ-
ence ( f tho worst calamities attending the blockade of
Rome by the Goths."
The " Banquet of Innine"—a banquet given" by
Vetranio to his starving fellow-Sybarites—a banquet
at which wine alone was provided for the entertain-
ment of the guests—the only article of food procurable
in the besieged city, boiled bran and salt horse-
flesh being set aside es unworthy of the occasion.
As the powerful drink affects the weak frames of the
starved and already dying feasters, one by one they
fall back on their sumptuous couches., and thus dis-
play in their last hour a remnant of the spirit of
ancient Rome in the midst o.f the luxury of its de-
generate days. The following extracts will give
some idea of the many beautiful passages tb be met
with in " Antonina:"—

THE GOTHS BEFORE ROME.
it was no false rumour that had driven the populace
of the suburbs to fly to the security rf the city
walls, it was no ill-founded cry of terror that struck
the ear of Ulpius, as he stood at Numerian's window.
The name of Rome hal really lost it'. pristine terrors;
the walls of Rome, those walls which had morally
gaardcd the empire by their renown, as they had ac-
tually guaided its capital by their strength, were de•
prived at length of their ancient inviolability. Anarmy
oi barbarians had indeed penetrated for conquest and for
vengeance to the City of the World! The achievement
which the invasions of six hundred years had hitherto
attorolted in vain, was now accomplished, and accom-
plished by the men whose forefathers had once fled like
hunted beasts to their native fastuesses, before the le-
gions of tl.e Caesars—` The Goths were at the gates of
Rome!'
"And now, as his warriors encamped around hia, ftz,
he saw the arra} od hosts whom his summons had
gathered together, and his energy led on, threatening at •
their doors the corrupt Senate who had deceived, snd
the boastful populace who had despised him, what emo-
tions stirred within the heart of Alarie? As the words of
martial command fell from his lips, and his eyes watched
the movements of the multitudes around him, what
exulted m3pirations, what daring resolves, grew and
strengthened Mithe mind.of the man who,wns the piot.c•.r
of th,t mighty revolution which swept from one quarter
of the world the sv a)', the civilisation, the very hie and
spirit of centuries of ancient rule? High thoughts
gathered fist in his mind; a daring ambition expanded
within him—the ambition, not of the barbarian plunderer
hut of the avenger who had come to punish; not of the
warrior who combatted for combat's sake, but of the hero
who was rowed to conquer and to sway. From the far-

diita• t days when Odin was thiven from his territories
by the Roman,-, to the iii Cat polluie t by the massacre
of tile hoLtri.,.;es in A quilcia, the hour of just and terribl:!.
mini-intim for CloiWe vtrongs had ben d,layrd through
the weary lapse of yuLrt;, Lid tie WATnir,geonvulsieLs Of
hi t..ir strife F, to ::pproaeli at la,t unchr him. He looked
on the towering wails tefore bin-, the oily inNachar since
Eftrinb d i,y whoin tl ey had be..;: an l he fe%
as he looked, that his new rispirKtious did not deceive
bitn, that his drEams of dominion wire brigtenifig
proud reality, thi.t hi; destiny was gloriously linked
with the overthrow of Imperial Rem'."