The Sun.
London, England, 1818-03-20 00:00:00

S PORTING INTELLIGENCE.

BETTING AT TA'rrERSALL'S; MARCH 19.
RIDDLESWORTR.
S to 1 agst Ringtail c. 7 to 1 apt Dictator
6 to 1 Creoy 11 to i Crockford
6 to 1 La'ncaskire t 1 to 1 sister to Nectar
Witch 16 to 1 Middlethorpe.

0 to

DERBY, 181 R.
1 agst Milton 14 to 1 agst Seymour c.
1 Allegretta It to I . Ringtail
i Dictator 25 to I Parasol.
1 Crecy

3 to
3 to

OAKS, 1818,
41 to 1 agst Leo 13 to 1 agst Mr. Chifners L
13 to 1 sistertoNectar 114 to 1 Mr. Prince sl.
No betting on any other race.
The Newmarket Spring Meeting Will take place on the se-
cond Monday in ApA, Easter falling in March. •

Yesterday Viscount CAsTLERCAGII and Count
MUNSTER had atulkuces ut the PRINCE REdENT
ut Carlton-house.

The Duke of KENT is expected to arrive in
town from Brussels to-morrow, in order to be
present at the approaching nuptials of the Prin-
cess ELIZABETH and the Prince of Hassa Huss-
BERG.

The remains of the late Lady CAROLINE IVROT-
TEsLEy were interred on Monday last, with
much funeral pomp, in the family vault at Tet-
teuhall, in Staffuidshite..

THE SERIES OF NATIONAL MEDALS;

FOR THE SUN.

MR. EDITOR,—It has been justly observed,
that " not only the passions and affections of the
human mind, but the natural modes ofexpressiug
them; are the sante in all ages and in all coun-
tries," and the more we study the past and com-
pare it with the present, the more we shall find
that the great principles of thought and action
have bees at all times permanent, and that in re-
spect to them " there is nothing new under Tut!
SUN 31," Look into Homer, H.?siod, and more
especially the Bible, and you will find !tureen
nature the same in every era as to its grand es-
sentials, and varying chiefly in modes and man-
ners. Among the strongest of these permanent
principles we may class the " longing after im-
mortality," which equally pervades all ranks n!:(1
divisions of society, and which is Rot stronger
among the present generation of men than it was
with their ancestors, and (we may venture to pre-
dict) will be with their descendants, althangb
in every age there can be only a few that, by their
extraordinary talents, virtues, or vices, attract
general a.tention while living, or the records of
whose actions have escaped that oblivion to which
the stream of time consigns almost all the fleeting
events of humanity till it shall have borne them
into eternity. On this point Man and Nature
appear always ;contending Man would stamp
immortality on his labours—Nature every day
exerts, herself deMonstrate, " that man and all
his wt;rlex were eirir and altlinaSelY,
Nature will peeved. Yet, the desire to live in tau
remetiArarices of thitse %A lain we leave behind, and
those who will come after us, must originally hive
sprung from pure and commendable motives. We
would all wish to be thought well of by others,
and estimation must be presumed to infer merit,
consequently, the principle in itself is one which
every one should cherish. That it is liable to
abuse, and that the abuse of it leads to very per-
nicious Consequences, we readily perceive and la-
ment ; but among all the gifts with which Hea-
ven has enriched and adorned mankind, is there
one that has not been perverted, and the blessing
transformed into a curse ?
I have been led into these reflections by opening
my cabinet to lay by one of the recent publics-
Lions of Mr. MUDIE'S series of the British Na-
tional Medals, an tindertaking for which this spi-
rited individual has my best thanks and warmest
wishes of success. Mankind, as we have re-
marked, have in all ages laboured to acquire for
themselves, or for their country, if not an earthly
immortality, at least a prolongation of existence ;
and in no track in which they have endeavoured
to attain it have they been so successful as in
Medals. At what period coinage first began, it is
not, perhaps, very easy to determine ; but it is,
I apprehend, nn admitted point, that we have
coins at least 800 years before the Christian era.
With the exception of the pyramids, and some
other buildings in or near Egypt, this is an an-
tiquity which precludes rivalry, and as from that
period to the present specimens and series may
be collected of the coins and medals of all the
different nations and empires that have since ex-
isted in any degree of civilization or refinement,
an extensive collection, such as Dr. Hunter's and
the British Museum's, affords an ample scope for
research and reflection. Pope has most happily
touched on this subject, in his complimentary
letter to Addison on his dialogues of the useful-
ness of ancient Medals, The English series of
Coins is one of the longest which any kingdom
offers to our attention. Passing over the uncer-
tain coinages previous to the Saxons, we have
coins of Egbert, King of Kent, A.D. 663; and from
Egbert, sole Monarch. A. D. 800, to the present
time, a period of 1000 years, having only two
interruptions, which are the reigns of Ethelbald
and Edmund Ironside.
With the Greeks and Romans the coinage was
medallic, and instead of the barbarous poverty
which distinguishes the coinages of these en-
ligh!ened days, theirs was devoted to record every
thing that was connected with the welfare and
honour of the country, sagaciously anticipating
that these were the most durable materials on
which they could record them. In the dark ages
that followed the subversion of the Roman Em-
pire, these noble ideas sunk in the slumber to
which every timing great and expanded was doom-
ed ; but with the revival of mind again arose the
example of " the olden" time. Commercial
ra-
pacity and ignorance had, however, seized on the
courage, and in their ignominious tetters it has
ever since been enchained, a sad outcast from its
former honours, the miserable shadow of its
former self. Medals then - became distinct from
coins, and, since their revival; it is to them that
we refer for specimens of superior excellence of
Workmanship, and time sole (metallic) records of
information. England his.niver very remarkably
distinguished herself in medals. There are many
down to the reign of George 1., but, with the
exception of some by Qtrifert''Anne, they -are
isolated, and want a honti of connection. A per,
fect dearth follows the death of that Princess :
latterly Many individuals have struck medals, but
the sante defect remains—a want of unity. One
remarkable event is perhaps recorded by half a
dozen medals, and half a dozen events of equal
celebrity are left unnoticed. Mr. Mudie's series
will be a model for present and future medallic
labours ; but we often, read of the first daring
spirit being ruined in clearing the obstacles which
impeded
.the progress of a system, that, when
he had smoothed the passage, proceeded with
ease and prosperity. Mr. Mudie has had to con.
tend with every obstacle which such an under-
taking could have to surmount. We literally were
forgetting that England ever did strike medals.—
The want of encouragement drove all our medallic
genius into the manufacture of buttons, and a
series of stupendous exertions and splendid
achievements, which Greece and Rome would
have been proud to emulate in the best days of
their existence, was passing unhonoured and un-
recorded. These difficulties Mr. Mudie has suc-
cessfully encountered, anti the record which be is
completing of our national glories are scarcely
more interesting to us titan they will be to our

s We hope that our ingeniousCorrespondeut will make our
Paper an exception to ibis venerable aerate.

---; -
posterity: and let us '`hope-that they will not
•merely- gratify a useless curiosity, but that, ex-
citing- a noble emulation to great anil virtuous ac-
tions, the maintenance of liberiy, and the chase
tisement of tyranny, the exalted character which
Britain has-so dearly purchased, may be transmit•
ted unsullied to the remotest generations.

SHOCKING MURDERS.

LIMERICK, MARCH 14.—We did hope !hat our
columns would not, fora length of time, ha ve again
the disgusting task of communicating an additional
outrage in thiscounty ; bin, unfortunately,we were
mistaken, and iltiV(Y now' to rrientithi; that the bo.
dies of J. Dillane, a .respecrable former; his sister,
t:4e widow Costelloe, and her, fla trghter;were found
murdered on the lands of Koopkfenish, barony of
Upper C.ormelkoe, in this county, on Monday last.
It appears that these uofort inmate persons were at
the market of Newcastle on Saturday se'nnight,
anti after disposing of some pigs were, returning
home, waylaid and murdered ; and from that rime,
though diligent search was made,no clue cold,' pos-
sibly be bad to ascertain their fate, n toil Monday
last, when they were found as thus described, in ag
unfrequented part oils mountain rr ad. It is clear that
robbery was not the object of the murderers, as
,all the money Which the deceased persons received
at the market was found on demi. The motive
of so dreadful an outrage can only be ascribed
to
revengei-;-as it isTsaid the widnikr:ctniep-,..,
I;v4 Asslies; t_wo persons
tor
'• who'vVere convicted
Since writing to., 41nve,
,we' have learned that
an inquest was 'held on the Unities by S. Hard-
ing, Esq. Coron'er, when a verdict of milftii mur.
der was returned-against persons unknoWi. The
necks of the unfortonate suffers Wt-re 'broken, and
their bodies .not. -auly .bad the -appearance-of vin.
hence, but parts of.them were mutilated, (Liebe.
rick Chronick.). - -

Our readers-will recollect the laudable and bu•
mane efforts made by Mr..-Alderthari-WoOD to save
the tour miserable' Irishmen who were entrapped
by the Blood-hounds, and condemnett., He not
only saved their hires, but raised a soli) for their
relief. They returned to their. comary. The
money was sent to the Archbishop:of:road, to be
delivered to then); and the following letter of
thanks has been received from the poor,men
Ste,—We have this day received by the hands of his Grace
the Lord Archbishop of 'loath sOl, for which we return you
our most grateful thanks. To Divine ProViAence and your
kind interposition we are indebted fur our lives, amid by your
generous liberality you have •enabled us to spend the re-
mainder of our lives in comfort. We shall ever priy for the
prosperity of yonrselpand fatuity,, and hope_you ra4 enjoy X
long and happy life.
" We remain your devoted and obedient Servant's,
ToEta
RANI)LE X M'noNNELL,
THOS. X CONNELL,
JAM ES X QUINN,
. DENNIS X REARDIN:
MARKS.
" Matthew Wood, Esq. M.P. &c. &c. &c."

STEALING DEAD BODIES. —On Wednesday
night a gang of villains, called Resurrection Men,
were particularly active in the church-yard of
Christchurch, Surrey. •The bodies of three grown
persons and one child were torn fromtheir graves,
which were interred on the preceding day. The
wall by which the ground is surrounded is defec-
tive, and much too low for securit)r. . •••
MALICIOUS OUTRAG.E.—On .the...-night - of the
10th instant, a most wanton- and malicious out•
rage was committed at the Wood of Allen, in the
barony of Connel, and county of KiLlare. Two
horses, the property of a MAO named Patrick
Byrne, and a widow of the name of Kilroy, were
killed, by cutting off the bead et one, and cutting
the throat of the other in two places. The tails
of two cows, belonging to the same persons, were
cut off on the same night.
A young man, about 20 years of age, an inmate
of the poor-house of Staplegate, near Canterbury,
attempted to destroy himself on Tuesday mot ning,
the 3d inst. by jumping into the river Stour, near
Cold-Harbour-bridge, where he was discovered by a
man going into the meadows to milk his totea, and
who gave the alarm jest in time to rescue him from
the jaws of death. He was take!; out of the river
in a state- of insensibility, and remained so for a
considerable, time ; •but upon being conveyed to the
Kent and Canterbury Hospital, and by The means
'usually resorted to by that institution, he was soon
restored. He had left a letter for his friends, ap.
prizing them of his intention, and where big body
might be found : independent of ..which, whets
he arrived at the spot where he intended .to )lave
made his exit, he very carefully drove•a.stick in
the bank of the river, and cutting a slit at the top
stuck a pieceof.paper in it, with theseav' orris:writ.
ten on the paper.—" Whoever finds
..my body,
take it to the Borough Workhouse."—(Maidstone
Gazette) •

Some of the Leith whale ships are this. year
furnished with harpoon guns, which have been
used by the Hull vessels for several years. Their
utility was lately tried in the second wet- dock, in
firing at a barrel, and the experiment fully an-
swered expectation.. The gun is mounted on the
bow of the boat, and the harpoon, with a line
attached, is fired out of it, and will strike ar ti
point blank distance of 20 or' 30 fathoms, hv
which means a fish may be struck when there is
no chance of reaching it by throwing the dart.
:: has long been a matter of surprise that many
tradesmen in the Grocery line have been sellin.4
their Sugars IL d. and '2d. per pound less than they
actually gave tor them ; this we know to be a.
fact, but the late disgraceful exposition in tha
Tea-trade amply accounts for such an unusual
method of trading.
Of all the places of amusement in the Metro-
polis, none has a greater share of visitors, or .')as
afforded more gratification in returning from, than
the Royal Menagerie, Exeter 'Change, where liv-
ing nature is displayed in endless variety. The
young Biitish Lions are objects of extreme curio-
sity, being perfectly harmless, and are placed in
the arms of Ladies end Children. The contrast
between them and their majestic sire and dam will
long be remembered with delight. The. Wilt
Beasts in this vast assemblage are fed precisely at
nine in the evening-4C, see them at that time is *
grand treats

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