The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 27, 1844.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
THE DERBY.

The perplexities of the betting world, induced by
the postponement to an indefinite period of the " de-
ciding heat," between Orlando and Running Rein,
have received an unwelcome addition in the death of
Mr. Crockford, who had a large account on the race.
His book was compared at the usual time by Mr.
Edward Crockford, who, we are given to understand,
has declared his intention to attend for the purpose
of paying and receiving. Such, however, is the un-
settled and excitable state of the " ring," that al-
though several highly respectable and influential men
have declared their willingness that be should do so,
there are others who are strongly opposed to it ; and,
worse than all, no one to decide which side is in the
right. With regard to Tuesday we have nothing sa-
tisfactory to say. The question now under discussion
is, whether there shall be a partial settling, or whe-
ther, under the circumstances, it would not he advis-
able to postpone it altogether until a jury shall have
decided which of the two claimants is entitled to the

:takes. Upon this point, as well as upon the knotty
one raised upon Mr. Crockford's decease, we hope to
Le able to speak more definitely in our report of Mon-
day's proceedings at the Subscription Room. In the
meantime, so great is the reversion of opinion in re-
spect to the grand question, that instead of four and
Lye and in, some instances ten to one on Running

Rein, the odds are now six to five on Orlando. We
'liar that Colonel Peel has already 'commenced pro-
ccedings,'and that he has retained Mr. Martin.
LEANDER AND HIS "JAW."

In our report of the Epsom Races, and the inci-
dents that preceded and accompanied them, we
noticed tl e protest against Leander on Monday, and
the fatal termination of his career on Wednesday. We
have now to record the denouement of one of the many
episodes that will serve to make the Derby of 1844, the
mist remarkable that has ever sullied the annals of

the Turf. Leander was destroyed on the evening of
his accident, and was buried the same night at Ash-
stead, and, but for a frolic, his remains might have
reposed undisturbed, until every one, and everything
connected with him had passed into oblivion. Nothing
occured on Thursday to bring his name into notice;
on Friday, however, Colonel Anson's filly won the
Oaks, and the protest against Julia having become
a subject of discussion, at a merry-making of Scott's
friends at Leatherhead, in the evening, the conversa-
tion naturally turned upon Leander, and the wine,
no doubt, having had its effects, it was determined,
"by way of a frisk," to " have him up." Acting upon
the impulse, the necessary implements were procured,
the "whereabouts" discovered, and, in a brief space
the grave of the unfortunate Leander was re-opened,
when, lo! he was found to be minus the lower jaw.
As this looked rather suspicious, the head was forth-
with cut off, and, on Saturday morning, sub-
mitted to Mr. Bartlett, the veterinary sur-
geon of Dorking, who, after examining the upper
jaw, pronounced it to be the head of a
four year old. This was droll enough, but the fun-
niest part of the story remains to be told—the ex-
humation got wind, and before the day was over Mr.
Forth, the trainer of Mr. Litchwald's horses, had
shown the missing jaw to Mr. Field of Oxford-street,
and on his declaration that it had belonged to a four
year old, had immediately proceeded to Burlington-
street, and deposited it with Messrs. Weatherby, as-
suring them that he had been grossly imposed upon
by the Messrs. Litchwald, and that it was only the
vicious temper of the horse that had prevented an
earlier discovery of the fraud that had been practised
upon him. Strange that so experienced a trainer,
with the knowledge that for months past the age of
the horse had been in question, should have been so
slow in satisfying himself upon the point. Stranger
still that this very horse should have received his
death-blow from Running Rein, and stranger than
all, that the Messrs. Litchwald should be non est
inventus.

(FROM A, CORRESPONDENT.)
The settlement on the Derby is still a vexed question
at the Corner. The state of facts we believe to be as
follows :—That the Derby stakes are in the hands of
Mr. Wetherby, as stakeholder ; that the owner of Run-
ning Rein and the owner of Orlando have both demanded
them ; that, on their being refused to the latter, Mr.
Wetherby was by him served with notice of action ; and
that the stewards of the races of Epsom have refused to
interfere. How, then, are the bets to be effected? The
general rule is that bets follow the stakes. It seems to
follow that while the stakes are in abeyance, the bets
will be in abeyance also. But it is asked—why should
not bets which affect neither the first nor second horse
be settled? If any person backed the Ugly Buck or
Ratan, by no possibility can he win the bet ; his bet
will not be in any degree affected by the decision be-
tween Running Rein and Orlando—why should not he
pay? Because, say those who deprecate a partial settle-
ment, the following is the state of the betting ring :
About 100 person, bookmakers by profession, lay odds
against as many horses as they can ; if one of them
lays 30 to 1 against each of 40 horses, lie wins 39 of his
bets and loses one, and gains on the balance a handsome
professional remuneration. Many of these men are
known to possess but a small capital, but are trusted on
account of the care and caution with which they con-
duct their business. The public, to the amount of many
thousand persons, are the backers of horses, and conse-
quently the takers of odds. If a partial settlement
should take place to-morrow, each of these persons will
receive 38 out of the 40 bets which they have laid, and
will not pay on either of the remaining two. They will
become the stakeholders of the whole money which the
public has adventured on the Derby. This money they
will hold during the whole time that the courts of law
may take before they give a final decision on this case.
In the interim they may die, or be subject to other
casualties which are familiar to those who frequent the
ring. As bets on the Derby and Oaks have always been
settled together, and set off against each other, the above
reasoning is felt to apply in some, though, of course,
in a very minor, degree, to. a settlement on the Oaks.
Considerable discussion has taken place with respect to
the account of Mr. Crockford, who died on Thursday
last. The general rule is that bets are not due till the
regular settling day, and that they are avoided by the
death of either party. There are, however, instances
in which the account of a party deceased has been settled.
The general rule appears the safer course. Every one
admits that the representative of a deceased party cannot
be called upon to settle, and it is obviously unfair to
leave it at his option to come forward if the deceased
were a winner, and to abstain if he were a loser. We
understand that some gentlemen who take a leading
part in these matters, will meet at Tattersall's to-morrow,
and from them probably some recommendation may
emanate respecting the settlement of accounts on the
Derby and Oaks. We are in possession of several cir-
cumstances relative to the Running Rein affair, which
we think it would be improper to make public as the case
will be submitted to a legal tribunal.

SIGHT AND HEARING—TESTIMONIAL.
From T. J. Pettigrew, Surgeon, F.R.S. to Messrs.
S. and B. Solomons, opticians, 39,
Albemarle-street,
Piccadilly,—Gentlemen, I have no hesitation in replying
to your inquiry as to the results obtained by the use of
your Improved Spectacles ; being in the constant habit
of reading and writing for many hours together by lamp-
light, it is but justice to say that your newly invented
Spectacle Lenses have afforded me the greatest comfort.
When I employed the ordinary pebbles, I never failed to
experience in the morning a great irritation in the eyes.
Since I have used your admirable glasses I suffer from
no inconvenience of the kind, and my vision is much im-
proved. I shall ever feel grateful to my good friend,
Dr. Blundell for having drawn my attention to the sub-
ject.—Believe me to be yours, very respectfully. T. J.
PETTIGREW, 8, Saville-row. Also, newly invented
Acromatic Waistcoat-pocket Telescopes and Opera-
glasses of the same kind of Lenses.—Every kind of Te-
lescope of larger size and increasing powers for shooting,
sea purposes, and upon stand for astronomical observa-
tions the powers are so great and the lenses so bright
and brilliant that minute objects at an extraordinary dis-
tance is brought completely under the eyes. Sportsmen
tourists, and sea-side visitors will indeed here have a
great treat. Acoustic instruments of every description
for deafness. Caution.—Messrs. S. & B. Solomons, opti-
cians and aurists, are not in any way connected with a
rvonapeireostOlitmniee since Mr. Bally,
person of the same name in their immediate neighbour-
hood, nor in any part of the country. To prevent mis-
takes,
BENEVOLENT
cautious,eo.
ztieTtT Piccadilly,
Ra E n
i, sse
the Governor of the Shiffnal Union Workhouse, whose
kindness in relieving poor travellers is well known, gene-
rously treated all the poor in the house, who were will-
ing, to see the American equestrians, at his own expense.
The neatness of the paupers, who went to the circus in
procession, was noticed by the whole spectators.—
Wolverhampton Chronicle.
There is an old prophecy, remembered by those
who still believe in the powers of " grammery," to the
effect—that " when a bull shall toll Lanercost bell, and
a hare bring forth on Naworth's hearth-stone, Lanercost
shall fall, and Naworth be burned down." A bull, they
say, did toll the bell, and a hare has brought forth on
Naworth hearth-stone: and the prophecy, they insist,
has now been fulfilled—for Lanercost is a ruin, and Na-
worth Castle has been destroyed by fire.—Carlisle
Journal.

- - -----
RELATIONSHIPS EXTRAORDINARY.--AH Odd sort
of relationship wax lately formed by a pair of nuptials ex-
traordinary in Camden. A widower, who was not very
young, became smitten by a beautiful girl and married her.
A short time after a son of this man, by a former wife, be-
cameyounger
person,7but with the
widow lady still in the
blomotherm alsoo fofl i ntf
eh
the
love,
lienoo f
father's
ewr ie
newtdha
wife, a
himself, and soon the young man
and the widow were united in the bonds of matrimony ; so
that, in consequence of these two connexions a father became
the son-in-law of his own son, and the wife not only the
daughter-in-law of her own son-in-law, but still more, the
mother-in-law of her own mother, who is herself the
daughter- in-law of her own daughter, while the husband of
the latter is the father-in-law of his mother-in-law, and
father-in-law ofhis own father.—Caledonian Mercury.
THE REV. MR. WOLFF'S MISSION TO BOKHARA.—
We have the gratification of announcing that intelligence
has reached us by the way of Trebizond and Malta, of the
safe arrival of this intrepid traveller at Meshed, from which
place he was to have taken his departure on the 21st of
March, under the escort to be furnished him by the Gover-
nor. The most perilous part of the journey, extending over
a space of 300 miles, was yet before him; but he appeared
fully confident that, under Divine Providence, he should suc-
ceed in accomplishing the same. No fresh intelligence had
been collected touching the objects of his search, whose fate
continued still a matter of mystery. The contradictions in
the accounts lead rather to a hope that they will be found
alive, though perhaps the captives of the despotic and tyran-
nical Ameer. •

LiTERAT (ME.

CONINGSBY. 3 Vols. CoMulnl London, 1844.
Of all the works of fiction that Mr. D'lsraeli has
yet produced—and he has for some years been a dili-
gent labourer in the fruitful fields of fancy—
Coningsby is the one that does most credit to his head
an.l heart. The egotism and assumption that, like
flaws in a vein of marble, ran through his otherwise
delightful "Young Duke"—the tone of flippant
levity, caught from Lord Byron's " Don Juan,", that
formed such a drawback to his brilliant " Vivian
Grey"—the exaggerated sentiment and rhapsodical
mysticism of his " Contarini Fleming," wherein he
seemed constantly within reach of fine thoughts and
as constantly missing them ;—all these defects, so dc.
trimental to the effect of his earlier and cruder tales,
have disappeared from the work before us ; which is
manly, energetic, and healthy in feeling; sound—
sometimes even original—in thought; bold in portrai-
ture ; sincere, eloquent, and lofty in its political ut-
terances ; and wholly free from anything like conven-
tional cant. Such a work, recommended by so many
sterling qualities, was never more wanted than at the
present time, if only to counteract that low, vulgar,
flash spirit that has crept into our lighter lite-
rature—a spirit which loves to haunt the purlieus of
Newgate and Field-lane, which manufactures heroes
out of thieves and murderers, and apotheosizes upstart
cockneys and vagabond adventurers as though they
were so many demi-gods. If Coningsby do nothing
more than "put out of Court"—to use a legal term
—the prevalent taste for this depraved, unhealthy
class of works, by imparting a loftier and more
generous tone to fiction, it will have accomplished
great good ; but its salutary effects, we hope, will
not stop here ; it is a tale eminently suggestive, fur-
nishing the materials of thought even more than of
entertainment, and tending to rouse a spirit of inquiry
in the reader's mind, which can scarcely lead to other
than beneficial results. If we except a few Quixotic
speculations, savouring rather of the idealist than the
practical politician, there is not a single sentiment
enunciated in Coningsby that is not based on truth.
The author is no party man—he is not blinded by
prejudice—he swears neither by Whig nor Tory—he
is utterly indifferent to what may be thought of him
in Downing-street—but in all his theories and sug-
gestions has a reverent regard to what he deems to
be the best interests of
.the community at large.
Even those who may dissent from his tenets will not
fail to admire the earnest and elevated spirit that
characterises them—the eloquence with which they
are expressed, and the sagacious reasoning with which
they are enforced.
Mr. D'lsraeli, we need scarcely inform our readers,
is one of those ardent and sanguine politicians to
whom their adversaries, by way of ridicule, have
given the nic-name of " Young England." The
leading principle of these comprehensive reformers is,
if we mistake them not, that of faith in the national
character, and distrust of all sects and factions.
Having closely watched the progress of events during
the last twelveyears, they have discovered--and what
thinking man can have failed to do otherwise ?—the
utter hollowness and selfishness of party—its inability
to conciliate the suffrages of the people—to unite
them in the bonds of brotherhood—enlisttheir cordial
sympathies—and win their unhesitating confidence.
As yet " Young England" is but in embryo ; it has
scarcely chipped the egg-shell ; but it gives promise
of a lusty growth, and will, we suspect, live to see
the downfall of the two feeble, antiquated sects of
Whig and Tory, and raise its head triumphantly
above the ruins. It is impossible, indeed,
that things can continue much longer in their pre-
sent unhealthy and distracted state. True, we have
a Government all but omnipotent in both ouses of
Parliament ; but it is a Government that rules, not
by public opinion, but in spite of it—that owes its
strength to the jealousies of party, and the cold, con-
temptuous indifference of the people who, after many
years of disappointment, seem to have lost all faith in
their rulers, whether of Whig or Tory persuasion. A
nation, slowly, indeed but surely advancing in intelli-
gence, and a Government which should originate im-
pulses and head movements, either standing stock-still
or retrograding—a Crown, whose chief-distinction is
a state-carriage and eight cream-coloured horses—an
aristocracy, possessing a world of showy privilegesbut
little substantial power—a vast commercial class,
careless of everything but the pursuit of gain—a
church cold, indifferent, selfish, and distracted with
sectarian feuds—a peasantry, viewing in their
superiors oppressors rather than guardians, but,
concurrently with their operative brethren,
fast awakening to a true sense of their
situation such are the discordant elements
of which England is now composed; and as if this
state of things were not sufficiently injurious to her
welfare, she has the additional humiliation of feeling
that she is wholly at the mercy of a Conservative
House of Commons' majority—a set of bastard Tories,
devoid of principle, energy, genius, information, con-
sistency—who have neither faith in themselves nor
their countrymen ; whose powers of vision are limited
to their own petty interests ; who recant to-day the
sacred pledge to humanity which they gave yester-
day ; who crouch, like beaten hounds, to the very
man whom, of all others, they most fear and dis-
trust; who rely only on the Chapter of Accidents,
and, in compliance with the will of their despotic
Chief, take expediency as their sole rule of action
Never was there an age of such dreary political
mediocrity as the present. Our great statesmen have
all passed from the stage of life, and have left no suc-
cessors. Lofty, comprehensive principles of action
are out of fashion; sentiments that might touch the
heart of a nation are heard no more in the
Senate ; all is vapid, second-rate declamation,
and peddling details of business, with which the vast
mass of the people have no concern, and in which
they take not the slightest interest. To foster the
generous and enlightened system of
gpuroliwcyth—otfua substitutemo r
things for words, truth for sophistry ;—such seems to
us to be the leading object of " Young England;"
and though this political confederacy is just now but
limited and compafatively uninfluential ; though it
e sterling principles for shifting
expediency, hope for despondency, action for lethargy,
may be said to be groping its way in the dark, doubt-
ful at present of its course, with views not yet suffi-
ciently.defined, and with perhaps a little too much of
the Quixotte in its character ; yet it will most as-
suredly make its way to the heart of the community,
slowly, indeed, but surely, for it is opposed to every-
thing that is mean, and factious, and selfish in policy,
and appeals unhesitatingly to the liberal sympathies
of its countrymen, as the illustrious Chatham did—
and successfully, too—when he found himself fettered
by the ill-concealed dislike of the Court, and the open
hostility of the aristocracy.
But to come back to Coningsby, of which we have
too long lost sight. The hero is the grandson of the
shrewd, wealthy, profligate Marquis of Monmouth,
who had disinherited his father for presuming to
marry against his will. Pleased, however, with the
spirit and intelligence of the young Coningsby, he
adopts, and sends him to Eton, and then to Cam-
bridge, with the intention of fitting him for public
life in the House of Commons, and at his death, of

leaving him the bulk of his unentailed property. But
all these views are thwarted by the independent spirit
of the young man, who, on the Marquis proposing
to him to stand for his own borough of Darlford, de-
clines, on the plea that he cannot approve the party.
principles which he is called on to support. From
that moment his grandfather's favour is withdrawn
from him, and on his demise, which takes place shortly
afterwards, Coningsby finds himself left with nothing
but the interest of ten thousand pounds, the bulk of
the Marquis's immense estates having been bequeathed
to Flora Villebreque, his natural daughter by a
French actress. Under these untoward circumstances,
our hero resolves to bid adieu to gay life, and to
apply himself diligently to the profession of the law ;
but before he has time fully to mature his
plans, the young heiress Flora dies, and
having long loved him, though in secret—
for he was almost the only one who had ever
shown her kindness in the days of his prosperity--
she leaves him her entire fortune. Thus suddenly
restored to affluence, Coningsby enters Parliament
under the auspices of a wealthy and intelligent mill-
owner, by name Millbanke, whose daughter Edith he
marries ; and at this interesting crisis of his destiny
our author takes leave of him, previously, however,
assuring his readers that the young statesman—in
conjunction with some friends of his youth—will be an
ardent supporter of the views and principles of
" Young England." From this brief summary, it
will be seen that there is not much novelty in the
plot of Coningsby ; nevertheless, it is skilfully con-
structed ; events, too, follow on events in rapid but
natural sequence ; and the story never halts for an
instant. The dialogue throughout is remarkable for
point and brilliancy, and reflections are now and then
thrown out—apparently without the slightest effort—
which will surprise and delight the reader, not less
by their depth than their sublety. Mr. D'lsraeli ex-
cels in the descriptive, but we could have wished that
he had been somewhat less gorgeous in his sketches
of patrician character, tastes, and luxury, which are
far too highly coloured, and are rather more Oriental
than English in their tone. Of the personages of his
story, the best—because an evident transcript from
real life—is the portrait of the shrewd, bustling,
but not very scrupulous Tory hack, Rigby—an
obscure Irish adventurer, who has contrived to wrig-
gle himself into the Privy Council, and attach " Right
Honourable" to his name, by dint of his intrepid im-
pudence, his cringing submission to his aristocratic
masters, his tact as a party speaker in the House, and
his " slashing articles" in a certain Tory Quarterly
periodical. Of the character of Sidonia, which is
evidently a favourite with the author, and on which
he has bestowed great pains, we may observe
that it is a creation of the fancy rather than a sketch
from actual life ; it is, in fact, a magnificent idealism,
which none but a poet could have conceived, and
which those readers only who are endued with a
lively imagination will be able fully to appreciate.
We close our notice of this remarkable tale with a

full length portrait of the Right Honourable, Nicholas
Rigby
" Mr. Rigbv was a Member for one of Lord Monmouth's
boroughs. Ile was the manager of Lord Monmouth's par-
liamentary influence, and the auditor of his vast estates. He
was more ; he was Lord Monmouth's companion when in
England, his correspondent when abroad—hardly his coun-
sellor, for Lord Monmouth never required advice ; but Mr.
Rigby could instruct him in matters of detail, which Mr.
Rigby made amusing. Rigby was not a professional man ;
indeed his origin, education, early pursuits, and studies, were
equally obscure ; but he had contrived in good time to
squeeze himself into Parliament, by means which no one
could ever comprehend, and then set up to be a perfect man
of business. The world took him at his word, for he was
bold, acute, and voluble ; with no thought, but a good deal
of desultory information ; and though destitute of all ima-
gination and noble sentiment, was blessed with a vigorous,
mendacious fancy, fruitful in small expedients, and never
happier than when devising shifts for great men's scrapes.
They say that all of us have one chance in this life,
and so it was with Rigby. After a struggle of many
years, after a long series of the usual alternatives
of small successes and small failures, after a few cleverish
speeches and a good many cleverish pamphlets, with
a considerable reputation, indeed, for pasquinades, most
of which lie never wrote, and articles in reviews to which
it was whispered he had contributed, Rigby, who had
already intrigued himself into a subordinate office, met with
Lord Monmouth. lie was just the animal that ford Mon-
mouth wanted, for Lord Monmouth always looked upon
human nature with the callous eye of ajockey. He surveyed
Rigby, and he determined to buy him. lie bought him ;
with his clear head, his indefatigable industry, his audacious
tongue, and his ready and unscrupulous pen ; with all his
dates, all his lampoons; all his private memoirs, and all his
political intrigues. It was a good purchase. Rigby became
a great personage, and Lord Monmouth's man.
"Mr. Rigby had a classical retreat, which he esteemed a
Tusculum. There, surrounded by his busts and books, he
wrote his lampoons and articles ; massacred a she liberal—it
was thought that no one could lash a woman like Ribgy—
, cut up a rising genius whose politics were different from his
own, or sacrificed some unhappy wretch who had brought-
his claims before Parliament, proving by garbled extracts
from official correspondence that no one could refer to, that
the malcontent, instead of being a victim, was, on the con-
trary, a defaulter. Tadpole and Taper would back Rigby for
a ' slashing reply' against the field. Here too, at the end of
a busy week, he found it occasionally convenient to entertain
a clever friend or too of equivocal reputation, with whom he
had become acquainted in former days of equal brotherhood.
No one was more faithful to his early friends than Mr.
Rigby, particularly if they could write a squib. It was in
this refined retirement that Mr. Rigby found time enough,
snatched from the toils of official life and parliamentary
struggles, to compose a letter on the study of History, ad-
dressed to Coningsby. The style was as much like that of
Lord Bolingbroke as if it had been written by the authors of
the " Rejected Addresses," and it began, " My dear young
friend." This polished composition, so full of good feeling
and comprehensive views, and all in the best taste, was not
published. It was only privately printed, and a few thou-
sand copies were distributed amongst select personages as an
especial favour and mark of high consideration. Each copy
given away seemed to Rigby like a certificate of character,
a property which, like all men of dubious repute, he tho-
roughly appreciated. Rigby intrigued very much that the
head master of Eton should adopt his discourse as a class-
book. For this purpose he dined with the Doctor ; told
him several anecdotes of the King, which intimated personal
influence at Windsor; but the head-master was immovable;
and so Mr. Rigby was obliged to be coatent by his Letter on
History being canonized as a classic in the Preparatory Semi-
nary, where the individual to whom it was addressed was a
scholar.

" Rigbv's slashing articles' were things which, had they
appeared as anonymous pamphlets, would have obtained the
contemptuous reception which, in an intellectual view,
no compositions more surely deserved; but, whispered
as the productions of one behind the scenes, and appearing. in
the pages of a party review, they were passed off as genuine
coin, and took in great numbers of the lieges, especially in
the country. They were written in a style apparently
modelled on the briefs of those sharp attorneys who weary
advocates with their clever common-place, teasing with ob-
vious comment and torturing with inevitable inference. The
affectation of order in the statement of facts had all the lucid
method of an adroit pettifogger. They dealt much in ex-
tracts from newspapers, quotations from the Annual Register,
parallel passages in forgotten speeches, arranged with a for-
midable array of dates rarely accurate. 'When the writer
was of opinion he had made a point, you may be sure the
hit was in italics, that last resource of the Forcible Feebles.
He handled a particular in chronology as if he were proving
an alibi at the Criminal
.Court. The censure was coarse,
without being strong ; and vindictive when it would have
been sarcastic. Now and then there was a passage which
aimed at a higher flight, and nothing can be conceived more
unlike genuine feeling, or more oflensive to pure taste. And
yet perhaps the most ludicrous characteristic of these factious
gallimaufreys was an occasional assumption of the high moral
and admonitory tone which, when we recurred to the gene-
ral spirit of the discourse and were apt to recal the character
of its writer, irresistibly reminded one of Mrs. Colo and her
prayer-book."