The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-23 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, SUNDAY.—Yesterday the Queen, accom-
panied by the Princess Royal, walked on the Terrace
and the grounds adjacent to the Castle in the morning.
In the afternoon her Majesty and Prince Albert
promenaded in the walks in the Park and the grounds
around the Castle for some time.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert went to shoot
in the royal preserves yesterday morning, attended by
Mr. Anson, and returned early in the afternoon.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and
the Princess Alice were taken fur their accustomed
airings yesterday.
This morning the Queen and Prince Albert walked
out for some time.

Her Majesty and Prince Albert, the Ladies and
Gentlemen of the Court, and the Domestic House
hold, attended Divine Service in the afternoon in the
private chapel of the Castle. The Hon. and Rev.
Charles Leslie Courtenay officiated.
Their Royal Highnesses the Princess Royal and
the Princess Alice were taken an airing this forenoon.
The band of the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards
attended on Thursday at the Castle, and performed
the following selection during dinner :
Overture, " Egmont"—Beethoven.
Introduction, " Mountain Sylph"—Barnett.
Pastoral Symphony—Beethoven.
Overture, " Ali 1311 ba"—Cherubini.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge and the Hereditary Grand Puke and
Duchess of Mecklenburgh Strelitz visited her Royal
Highness the Duchess of Gloucester on Saturday at
Gloucester House.

The Lord Bishop of London held an Ordination
yesterday morning at eight o'clock, in the Chapel
Royal, St. James's, :at which thirty gentlemen were
admitted Deacons. The Rev. Dr. Wesley and the
Rev. Dr. Dakins assisted at the service.

The Bishop of London afterwards ordained four-
teen gentlemen to the office of Priests.
The Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel preached the ser-
mon yesterday, in the daily service at the Chapel
Royal, St. James's. Prayers were read by the Rev.
Dr. Wesley, the Lessons by the Rev. Dr. Knapp,
and the Communion Service by the Rev. Dr. Sleath.
The Anthem was—" Prepare ye the way of the Lord"
(West). Sir George Smart presided at the organ.
The Earl of Erroll, Lords Campbell and Calthorpe,
the Dowager Lady Abinger, and Lady Campbell,
were among the nobility present.

The Earl of Aberdeen had an interview with Sir
James Graham on Saturday at the Home-office.

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITU-

TION.

MR. HORN'S MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENTS.

Mr. C. E. Horn gave a musical entertainment of a
somewhat novel character, in the Lecture-room of this
Institution, on Saturday evening. Instead of the
somewhat desultory series of songs which have,
with few exceptions, hitherto formed the staple of
these entertainments, Mr. Horn selects a subject for
musical illustration, and both the songs and the inci-
dents are strictly illustrative of the subject. This
imparts more of a dramatic character to the per-
formances, which, in their arrangement, bear a nearer
relation to the character of the oratorio than of any
other known musical entertainment. The songs and
the music were entirely new, and the latter, entirely the
composition of Mr. C. Horn, was thoroughly dramatic,
and proved that Mr. Horn's talents as a composer are
yet in their zenith. The first part consisted of mu-
sical illustrations of Shakspeare's seven ages, each
age being illustrated by an appropriate melody.
These melodies were sung by Ow vocalists of the
establishment, accompanied by the band, Mr. Horn
himself presiding at the piano-forte. The song of the
School-boy was sung with great spirit by a young
lad, and was much applauded. The accompaniment
to this song is admirably characteristic ; it must be-
come a favourite. The song of the Justice is excel-
lent, and was deservedly encored. Mr. Horn himself
sang the song of the slippered Pantaloon, and infused
into it some delicate touches of exquisitely charac-
teristic expression. He was much applauded. This
part, which concluded with the Hymn of the Shadows
and the Apotheosis of the Spirit—the words of
the first part are by Mr. George Soane, who has exe-
cuted a task of some difficulty with good taste and sound
judgment. The second part is a cantata, entitled,
" The Christmas Bells," is from the pen of the Rev.
J. W. Brown, and approaches by its subject to the
sublimity of the oratorio. Horn has set Mr. Brown's
poem admirably ; he rises with his subject, and shows
that he is capable of even the highest flights of sacred
composition. Why does he not give us an oratorio ?
He could compose one worthy of the performance
' even of the Sacred Harmonic Society. The scene opens
with daybreak on a Christmas morning, and the bells
are heard ringing in the distance. We have then a series
of airs, solos, quartettes, and choruses, illustrative of
the season, and then comes the carol, " How grand
and how bright," which was beautifully given by a
lady, and much applauded. Christmas-day pro-
gresses, and we find ourselves at church. The organ
bursts out in a fine voluntary, and there is a beautiful
quartette, " Angelic voices soft and low ;" then
follows the double chant, " Gloria Patria Venite ;"
then a solo alto, with response, " Now faint yet
clear a plaintive strain ;" after which comes the
double choir and chorus, "Blessed is the Lord God
of Israel," followed by the "Benedictus" and anthem,
cgncluding with an organ voluntary and chorus. The
organ accompaniments throughout this sublime ser-
vice were exceedingly fine, and were most effectively
given on Meyer's iEolophon organ. The cantata con-
cludes, after leaving the church, with the merry
Christmas bells, which again peal forth their cheerful
sounds. The entertainment was exceedingly well
attended, and this cantata of the Christmas bells, so
appropriate to the season, which has been treated so
admirably both by poet and composer, and which is
executed so efficiently by all engaged in its pro-
duction, cannot fail to attract numerous audiences
throughout the approaching Christmas season.

VISIT OF TIER. MAJESTY TO STOWE AND STEAM-
FIELDSAYE.—The Court will remain at. Windsor Castle
during the Christmas festivities. Immediately after-
wards her Majesty and his Royal Highness Prince Al-
bert, according to present arrangements, will honour
their Graces the Duke and Duchess of Buckingham with
a visit at Stowe. The Court is expected to leave Wind-
sor for Stowe on Tuesday, the 7th proximo, where the
most extensive preparations are in progress for the re-
ception of the Sovereign and her illustrious Consort. It
has been arranged for the Court to proceed to the Wol-
verton station, on the Birmingham line of railway, en
route to the seat of the Duke of Buckingham. At that
station her Majesty will be received by the Bucks Yeo-
manry and Hussars, under the command of the Marquis
of Chandos, which will form the military escort thence
to the princely residence of the Duke. Her Majesty
will likewise be met at the 'Wolverton station by the
whole of his Grace's tenantry on horseback, bearing
white wands, by whom her Majesty will also be escorted
to Stowe. The visit of the Queen and the Prince to his
Grace the Duke of Wellington at Strathfieldsaye will
take place, it is expected, about the middle of the ensuing
month. The honour intended to be conferred upon the
Noble Duke by the Sovereigu has been necessarily post-
poned for a short time in consequence of the demise.of
Lady Ann Culling Smith, his Grace's sister.
A TRUMPERY Cos.—At the Leicester County
assizes, Thomas Barfield (on bail), a young man of re•
spectable appearance, was charged with stealing at
Loughborough, on the 17th of November, half a gallon
of apples, the property of William Ward, of Sholthorpe
Cottage, his master, with whom he resided. It ap-
peared in evidence that he had taken some apples to the
house of one Putt, where his linen was washed, Putt
having asked him for a few of those which lay on the
ground. Prosecutor admitted that he had had some
difference with the prisoner on the day in question,
about going ont (as ho said) when ordered not to go,
though this was not proved. He owed him at the time
91. wages. Harris, the Loughborough constable, ad-
mitted, in reply to Air. Macauley, that he charged pri-
soner 12s. 6d for his " keep" from Tuesday to Thurs-
day, adding that he was in the habit of doing so. When
prisoners had nothing, he could not get it ; when they
had, it was clear profit. Putt (who had been called for
the prosecution) appeared for the defence, and stated
that when he took the linen, prisoner was feeding the
pigs with apples, and witness asked him for two or
three. Prisener, in the afternoon, brought him a few in
the bag. Mr. Robinson, solicitor, with whom prisoner
had lived two years, gave him a good character. Mr.
Macauley's defence was, that the act was a trifling one,
in which the prisoner thought there was no wrong in it,
His Lordship said, in summing up, that if they (the jury)
believed Putt's statement, he thought they might acquit
the prisoner, as the manner in which the apples were
given was not such as to infer any felonious intent on
the part of the prisoner. A verdict of Acquittal was ro•
turned.—The Rev. John Dudley was the committing ma-
gistrate.-IVettingium Review, •

POPISH ANXIETY for ENGLAND.
To the Hon. and Rev. G. Spencer, a brother of the
liberal Earl Spencer, and an old pervert to Popery,
is due the questionable honour of having stirred up
the sympathies of the Romish Church in Belgium,
for the sunken and insecure religious condition of
poor England. To the Rev. F. Oakeley, a mem-
ber of a sect whose teachers, though of our Reformed
Protestant Church, yet denounce "Protestants and
other herectics," and a gentleman who has pub-
lished his reasons why he does not "at once"
pass over to the camp of iniquity—to him is due
the still more questionable honour of exciting the
Romish Church to speak authoritatively of the
condition of Great Britain, with the implied pro-
mise, moreover, of listening with humility and re-
spect to its decision. 'We do not know whether
those gentlemen have acted in concert ; but whether
or not, the hope of the one and the suggestion of
the other have not been allowed to pass by unre-
' garded by the listening and attentive ears of Rome.
Not that the Vatican itself has given sign of having
heard the significant notes of the two reverend gen-
tlemen—the Roman and the quasi Roman. That has
yet to come. The parting knell of St. Cuthbert's found
echoes in the Northumbrian rocks, ere it reached the
wakzful hermit of- Warkworth ; and it roused the
sleepy peasants of Bamborough, before it startled the
graceful stag on Cheviot Fell. So here the hint given
by Mr. Spencer, or that administered by Mr. Oakeley,
has only as yet reached Belgium, where it has sum-
moned the Primate, Sterckus, to action ; roused the
Cardinal Archbishop of Malines ; and shaken the very
bones of St. Runabold, over whom it is his privilege to
be guardian.
Here, then, in closest proximity to us, the work
has been commenced. One priest has framed a
prayer to save us from that Protestantism which
has been anathematised by Mr. Ward ; and another
has given his gracious sanction to the same, in
order that neither we nor the author may lose any-
thing by an unfavourable censorship denouncing
the composition. The hope of the disinterested gen-
tlemen who have framed, sanctioned, and offered it.
up, is doubtless this—that other Popish countries
will follow so good an example, and that finally it
may reach that centre of Roman Cristendom
whence may, thereupon, be expected to emanate
those decisive decretals which are to marshal Mr.
Oakeley and his followers the way that they are
going.