The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-03 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO TH

CONTINENT.
SAXE GOTHA, AuG. 30.—This place was yesterday
the scene of a festival, at which ht-r Majesty and the
Prince and all the royal personages who are now here
assisted.
There is, it seems, in Gotha, an association called the
Rifle Society, established, as the name implies, for the
purpose of rifle practice. They have, at a distance of
about a mile from Gotha, a place specially devoted to the
use of their society, where there are all sorts of targets
for the rifle-shooting, and more particularly one mark
towering high above the rest, and which gives its name
to the festival of yesterday. It is the image of a large
bird—some may all it an eagle, others will insist on its
being a goose—att the point is a knotty one to decide,
eeeing that its head has been long since shot away,
and he body and wings are riddled and battered
with rifle shot. Once a year a whole week is (nomi
nally) devoted to the rifle-shooting, and especially to the
demolition of this devoted bird. The reigning Duke,
or the Prince of the house of Saxe Coburg who may
happen to be in Gotha at the time, opens the festival or
sport by aiming the first shot at the bird. There are
three crowns on its bead, all of which it is the especial
privilege of the Duke to shoot away, and then the
general sport begins. The reader will at once perceive
the resemblance of this game to some of our own old
English rural sports at home. We should, probably,
call it shooting et the popinjay. Here it is called the
" Vogel- Schiessen."
Attached to the shooting ground is a very handsome

tall and concert room, and—all around the grounds.'
during the week the festival lasts the owners of itinerant
booths are accustomed to cluster, with the never-failing
instinct of those mysterious migratories.
This year the festival fell during the Queen's,
visit. It began the other day, and in the common
order of things would soon wear itself out. Three
of the six balls have already been held, and, if we
may judge from the deserted state of the shooting-
ground, the sportsmen are already pretty well tired of
that part of the amusement. But yesterday a new feiv•
Lure was added for the amusement of the Queen—no.
less than a grand procession of some thousand or twelve
hundred peasants and villagers, male and female, all in'
their national costumes. This Her Majesty signified,
her wish to attend.
Accordingly, at a little before three o'clock the whole
royal party, the Queen, Prince Albert, Lord Aberdeen,„
Lord Liverpool, Mr. Anson, Lady Canning, Lady
Gainsborough, the King and Queen of the Belgians, the
Duke and Duchess of Saxe Coburg, and the princes of
that house, with a long train of distinguished persons
in their several suites, left Gotha for the scene of action
Flee Majesty, Prince Albert, and the King and Quee
of the Belgians left Friedrichsthal, the palace where th
Queen is stay iug. The other members of the royal
party came from their different residences in other parts'
of the town. The streets through which the Queen
passed were densely crowded by a gay and most pie.
turesque-looking population. It was a general holiday;
there was nothing but mirth music, and dancing
throughout the city of Gotha.
Arrived at the ground, the royal party took their
stations in a spacious gallery overlooking the whole
scene, and a singular scene it was to be witnessed by
those, to most of whom it must have been so nevi.
Imagine all the din of a fair—showmtn puffing their e%
hibitions with lungs of brass, and brazen trumpets blow-
ing notes of iron, cymbals, gongs, automaton bands--ill
short, all the uproar, the mingled sounds of time-he'
noured St. Bartlemy crowded into half the space once
allotted to that now neglected festival. Add to the!e
elements of gleeful discord dense crowds of people of
ranks, some in the oddest possible costumes, smoking+
beer-drinking, laughing, shouting, and you have sots°
idea of the scene that assailed the Queen's eyes when
she mounted her high post of observation, if indeed it
was to be seen at all through the clouds of dust.
del

With the arrival of the -royal party came the no

part of the festival—the procession of peasants. A de'
scription of one section of the endless line of horsemen°
and vehicles that wound itself past the royal party I'AP
serve for all. The procession was headed by a lare
body of peasants, farmers, and small proprietors on horse'
hack, dressed in their close-fitting coats of green, blaelt,
or blue, the little bizarre German cap, with its long front,
stuck on their heads. " These ambled or paced along to°
abreast, most of them puffing the eternal pipe, as raw
astounding gravity they defiled before the royal pal;
saluting them as they passed. After these came t a
lumbering waggon peculiar to the country, consisting
generally of a few boards nailed together rudely into a
form resembling a boat. These were sometimes decorate
o
with garlands, and were filled with the peasant werne,a
in their national costume, and especially the towe',,
ing head-dress with its hearselike plumes. So re°l3,l,
villages, so many of these waggons, or nearly so ; °flif
painful to add, so many village bands also, who pelit,e.;,
persisted in playing "-God save the Queen " with a &la
cordant unanimity which even royal ears could not
titre into flattery.. These horsemen, bands, and I's•
gons, multiplied endlessly, formed the long und4roe
rently interminable procession which passe before
royal party, and what with the dine of the eair,t,
roaring of the emulous bands, and the clouds ofd 1-$1
tong before the last heavy vehicle had passed the rOY,
pasty, the whole had become ufficiently wearisen
One thing alone made it endurable—the extreme, °,t
at the same time the very peculiar beauty, of the 03
majority of the peasant women.
This part of the festival over, the royal part)" .r;
turned to Reinhardtsbrunn to dinner, and in the o'oll
there was a grand reception or levee at Fr.edelote'of
Palace, at which a great many of the chief people'
Gotha attended. e 0
The following were present :—The Queen of Gr t,
Britain, the King of the Belgians, the Duchess or let/„.
Alexandrine, Reigning Duchess of Saxe Coburg Gothl
Bce., the Queen a the Belgians, Prince Albert, the Gr°ar
Duke of Baden, the Grand Duke of Saxe Weil3l,o
Eisenach, the Hereditary Prince of Saxe wet
Eisenach, the Prince of Reuss-Schleitz, the Reign o'
Duke of Saxe Coburg, the Prince and Princess of a,
henlohe Langenburg, the Prince and Princess Hohe:,
lobe Waldeburgh, Duke Ferdinand of Saxe Cobei)l
Gotha Kohary, Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg G,oirs,
Kohary, the Grand Duke Gustave of Mecklentw,b'e
Schwerin, the Prince of Reuss Ebersdorff,
Prince of Leiningen, the Duke Alexander of ‘S
temberg, the Duke Ernest of Wurtemberg, the Gllbe
Princess Anna -Feodorowna of Russia, Maria, wof
Duchess Dowager of Saxe Coburg Gotha, the Prince 5.
Furstenburgh, Prince Ciodwig of Hohenlohe Schillisgof
furst ; the Count of Mensdorf, Count Alexandel.,o
Mensdorf, Lady Gainsborcugh, Lady Canning, Cou°"00-1,
Stratten, the Earl of Aberdeen, the Earl of Livery 13,
the Count of Erlach, Colonel Wylde the Hon. Peta,
Forbes, Ambassador of her Britannic 'Majesty at 0, e
den ; Lieutenant-General Both, Baron de Rene°,e
Ambassador of Portugal at Berlin ; Colonel de 1)it;
kau, Major de Beust, Lieutenant-Colonel de Wata
the Count de Beust, and the Count de Werthern.
Meanwhile the scene of the festival had become snwilii
what changed. The people had their enjoyments
happiness also. Outside, on the grounds, there 01,50,
complete fair. Roundabouts, swings, shows, boet`ied
everything in short to please the people, who stroly
about smoking, or drinking their beer, or riding linci
mad on the hobby horses, and all so orderly' °,;e•
peaceful amidst their happiness that one's heart
juiced to see them. ‘,Oll
The interior of the dancing saloon exhibited whet2;o4
would in vain look for in England. The adnris',4l
price was Gd. only, a sum which in England wouldillo3
the presence of people very little above the lowest, to
amusements of not the most refined kind. But withinbrip
scene was far different • an immense dancing-roonr, doi
iantly lit and handsomely decorated, was filled withnife
people of both sexes, the young ladies (and they woulcl,",01)
been recognised as such in any society in Engmet)
dressed for the most part in white, and the young Iss
all in evening dress. An excellent band stationed 009
gallery played the best waltz music, and as man), 00%
hundred couples at a time were to be seen 01100
round the room. Better dancing you would o'4ll
witness. This was kept up till a late hour ; and, altb°ool
all were in the full tide of gaiety, and there was °,,iteo
v
dance of those refreshments which, in England, so aat:e
mar these pleasures, nothing could exceed the deet.lo •
of the whole party. A more brilliant array of fe,,,Trie
beauty---eot mere prettiness, but symmetry of fdie
grace, and expression—could not be easily prodonof
any country, and, although our English girls,d
vie with all the world for beauty, it wool oal
ridienleus to expect from the daughters oe'
.isters of the same class of persons (a majority
chanics) the same combination of attraction. at
prevails, that any gentleman may ask any lady to 'et
without introduction. All rely on the good mod° 101
all. There is not the most distant approach t°
decorum.
HER MAJESTY'S RETURN FROM GERktes eta
According to present arrangements her MajeolJ,
Prince Albert will arrive at Antwerp on SaturdiVAlbev
and embark on board the Royal Victoria and P.olee,
steam-yacht, Captain Lord Adolphus Fitzelt-nesg!
G C. 11., and proceed the same evening to ane'1;001;
ground off Flushing, where the royal yacht will 1.,."r 03;
during the night, and oft Sunday morning start 1° air
Isle of Wight, where the vessel will again Emetic%
her Majesty and his Royal Highness will disemb°'
Monday morning, and proceed to Osborne House'

COURT CIRCULAR. d b 9
Her Majesty the Queen Dowager, accomPal3'Ae,"
their Serene If ighnt-'sses the Princesses Anna and 4*-0-000
of Saxe Weimar, left her residence, Motif
°
Bushy-park, in a carrige and four, yesterday rabal':
for town, and arrived at Marlborough House ft,o9e;
past eleven o'clock. Her Majesty and the Pr 2, '-var';
left town in the afternoon, on their return to '
Bustu,iso%
His Excellency Louis 20'1-Lane, Envoy Extra°,l:;„
and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United Stta"'-i 01
Sree
removed! from Thomas's Hotel to 38, Harley-
vendish-square.

I. HE QUEEN DOWAGER.—We hear that the tiPtoad
Dowager intends setting out early next month on, :101l "
through the Perthshire Highland,—and that her 'NI stitted'
expected at Taymouth Castle by the 9th proximo. 7,00'4
meat in a London morning journal of Thursday, from a eep so.r
of the royal suite in Germany, to the effect that the C2„n„. their
Prince Albert intend revisiting Blair, immediately sittl'otoe °
return from the Continent, has set Athole on the e°l3;
expectation—but we do not hear that it meets with ,—„jto,rci
firmation from those who might naturally be expen:,,thsai
ceive the earliestt fficial information on the point.---.c°'
Courier. CS rlOl
fr=us PENSION IRON CHAIN OF TUE 13111
—M. Navier sgeaks of a chain stretched across bet`le,tefs'tose°:
rocks that command the town of Mourtiers, in the &I'd; oleo
de Basses Alpes. It is 656 feet long, and made of I.°, to t...
2 fat 11/z inch long, and 3,4 inch diameter, hooked oueoetioP
other without any intermediate links. The date of it9,Hottlrl;
is zlot certi:in, but it is FUT posed to belong to the 1%1'7_5 tor,.
It d.-,es however, apt ear to have be..n ever intener—i, f;7B
h,;i!,!:e, hut tt,o,t4i:t ,i;;;i:3 to ilav, at; uffelby
Vi: pro•ef.l agaitist .friog over,'
rocks that o;es-iiiii.g it. Ii) others it is attribute to • 0,0
coretineiso
of Rhodes, who is supposed to have erected it in iv
a vow made during his ca
OM 1/9 4111 W sy atorti