The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-16 00:00:00

CHESS.

The match (so long postponed in consequence of the
illness of Mr. Staunton) has been put off to an indefinite
time from the same cause. Mr. Staunton has been com-
pelled to return to London, but ere he left Paris he ad-
dressed the following letter to his opponent:—
" Paris, Jan. 7, 1845.

" Dear Sir,—The time has at length arrived when I
can relieve you from further suspense on the subject of
our match.

" My health continues in so precarious a state, that
many weeks I find must still elapse ere I can venture on
any task of mental labour and excitement. Under these
circumstances I have determined to obey the wishes of
my friends most interested in the contest, and return to
England. It is not, believe me, without regret and die-
P.ppointment that I thus leave unachieved the object
of my visit ; but a gleam of consolation presents
itself in the hope that your affairs will lead
you to London in the approaching spring, and that
when there, you will not let pass so favourable an
opportunity of seeking the revanche I have been at
so much pains to give you. As some inducement to
such a step, let me call your attention to the liberal con-
ditions of my defi, in the April number of the Chess
Players' Chronicle.* And, as a further incentive, permit
me to add, that, in the event of your resolving to en-
counter me in London, I will undertake to play even
according to the objectionable terms imposed upon me
here, and stake 1501. to your 1001. on the result of 21
games.—l have the honour to subscribe myself, Sir,
yours obediently, " H. STAUNTON."

" it' The challenge alluded to was as follows:
" CHALLENGE FROM MR. STAUNTON TO M. ST. ♦SLANT.

" My dear Sir,—Your reply to my • Proposals' reaches
me at the moment when the -forthcoming number of the
Chest Players' Chronick is at press. This circumstance
will account for and excuse the brevity of the present
communication.

" My challenge, to the terms of which you have taken
so many exceptions, was a general one, and its condi-
tions, however equitable, could never be so nicely shaped
that they would dovetail with the wishes and conveni•
ence of every individual ; they will not do so, it would
seem, with yours. Keeping them, then, altogether out of
view on the present occasion—regarding only the im-
patient desire which you express, and which I feel, for
another match, and the assurance you have given us of
your being in London this spring—l have the honour to
submit for your consideration another Defi.'
"I will engage upon your arrival in London, this
spring, to play you at the St. George's Chess Club, a
match of 25, of 21, of 11, of 7, or of 5 games, at your
option, for any stake not less than 1004 sterling.
" These games shall be played at your-own appointed
days and hours.
" I will undertake to play every day, or alternate days,
or once a week, as you may determine, under the penalty
of one guinea for each omission.
" I will agree that the maximum time allotted for each
move shall be 10, or 15, or 20, or 25, or 30 minutes, at
your pleasure ; and that either party exceeding the
given time shall, on every occasion, be tined one guinea.
"The match shall also be played in public or private,
as you may determine ; and finally, I will consent that
in each game both players shall, on their first move, play
King's 1 two squares.—ln haste, I subscribe myself,
dear Sir, truly yours, " H. STALIN TON.
" To M. St. Arrant, editor of Le Palamede."

--------
DALSTON AND 11.INGSLAND LITERARY AND
SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION.—On Tuesday, a numerous and
highly-respectable meeting was held at the Middleton
Arms, Queen's-road, Dalston, to adopt measures for the
formation of an institution for the rapidly-increasing
western districts of Hackney. The borough representa-
tives were present. Sir W. Clay took the chair, and iu
a long, able, and effective address, enforced the claims
of the projected institution, which by power and patron-
age he would cordially support. Mr. Rayson read the
report of the provisional committee. Colonel Fox moved
its adoption, and expressed his delight at the projected
institution. Messrs. Neilson, Ovenden, Rev. C. J. Dukes,
Bingley, Thorns, and others, severally supported other
resolutions in furtherance of the scheme. A cordial vote
of thanks was passed to the worthy representatives, who
returned thanks. A vote of thanks was also given to
Mr. Rayson, Secretary, after which the meeting sepa-
rated. Many shareholders' and subscribers' names were
received.

THE SOMERSETSHIRE MURDEIS.—BRIDGEWATER,
MONDAY EVENING.—The further examination of Sarah
Freeman on charges of murdering her brother, mother,
husband, and child, which was fixed to take place this
day at the Town-ball before the magistrates for the
county, has been postponed in consequence of the
severe illness of the prisoner. I believe that
soon after her being conveyed back to gaol on Friday
evening she was taken ill, and her indisposition
increased to such a degree as to render it ne-
cessary to call in the assistance of several medi-
cal practitioners. The surgeons being of opinion that to
proceed with the examinations to-day would be attended
with dangerous consequences, information to that effect
was conveyed to the justices who had taken part in the
investigation, and a messenger was dispatched to Shap-
wick to prevent the different witnesses fur the prosecu-
tion from coming into town, it being very properly
deemed desirable to lessen the public excitement as far as
possible. The prisoner, although much better than she
was on Saturday and yesterday, is still so severely in-
disposed as to render it certain that the proceedings will
not be gone on with to-day. - . .
EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE.—Considerable sen-
sation was excited in Richmond and its neighbourhood
on Monday last, in consequence of th• discovery of the
body of a man in a field adjoining the Kew-road, Rich-
mond, under circumstances that were at the time indi-
cative of foul play. On Monday morning, between seven
and eight o'clock, a man, named Charles Strood, who
is gardener to Messrs. Steele, nurserymen, Kew-road,
was crossing his master's field, when he observed the
body of a man lying near a wall which separates
the field from the nursery-gardens. Stroud examined
the body, which proved to be that of Thomas Mansell,
a horsekeeper, also in Messrs. Steele's employ. The
face of the deceased was frightfully disfigured, and
there were wounds on other parts of the body. These
suspicious appearances induced the man Strood to com-
municate immediately with the police, and Inspector
Turner, with several constables, instantly proceeded
to the spot with a stretcher, on which the de-
ceased was placed, and carried home. Mr. Lomas,
a surgeon, was called in, and that gentleman stated
that the deceased had been dead some hours, and
that he had probably died in a fit. The wounds
on the different parts of the body appeared to have been
eaused by the bite of some animal, but neither of them
was dangerous. The police afterwards instituted a rigid
inquiry into the circumstances, and ascertained that the
deceased had gone late on the previous night into the
field with some hay for a horse that was turned out; that
he was drunk at the time, and must by accident have run
against the wall and disfigured his face ; and with re-
spect to the other marks and wounds the general suppo-
sition is that they were caused by the horse, when it
found the deceased lying on the grennd, biting him to
awaken him, such instances of sagacity in the horse not
being uncommon.

Bunn, the manager of Drury-lane Theatre
has paid a flying visit to Paris in search of novelties,
and he is now gone to Berlin to witness the representa-
tion of Meyerbeer's new opera, The Camp of Silesia, with
a ♦iew to the production of that successful work on the
English stage.
THE DISTRESSED NEETILEROMENIS SOCIETY.—
This Society has received another powerful addition to
the list of its patronesses in the name of the Duchess of
Norfolk.
We are sorry to learn that Mr. Benjamin Wood,
the member for the borough of Southwark, and brother
to the late Alderman Wood, is at the present time lying
in a dangerous state of illness, with little hopes of
recovery.