The Sun.
London, England, 1829-10-08 00:00:00

THE ROOD HORSE FAIR.

The herse market commenced on Tuesday and
concluded on Friday. The great fair nt Brought-
hill took place on ki7ednesday, and this enncurrence,
in regard to time, kept many English dealers away
from Dumfries. Though a few of them appeared in
in the early part of Tuesday, they had little time to
transact business, and as evening approached, were
seen hurrying off on horseback or by the heavy
coaches. Though there were few superior animals
in the market, the show, upon the whole, seemed
a pretty good one, and yet we are told by compe-
tent judges, that it was inferior to that of last year,
by nearly a third. Still the supply exceeded the
demand, and the market, we are sorry to say, was
the reverse, of a good one. The dealers, to a man,
fought exceedingly shy, and had the same to say to
every body—" the times are bad—motley is scarce,
and you must submit." This was no vain threat,
and it is a positive fact, that the holders of the
most valuable young horses realized little more than
a. pound or two for a ycat's grazing. The fall is
estimated by many at 20 per cent., or even more;
and one respectable dealer repeatedly assured us,
that a good work horse, which, last veer, was worth
401., hardly bought 321. this. The following
scale of prices we believe pretty neatly the truth :
Goad work horses, from 181. to 32/.: two-years-
old colts, from 12/. to 2.31. ; one-vear old ditto,
from S/. to 151. Coachers and roadsters seemed
rather scarce, and sold at all prices according to age
and quality. A pair of fancy fillies, rather stnall in
the bane, but well matched and thoroughly broken,
were sold for 4.51.; and we heard of a Ciao three-
yerus-old colt, bred at College-Nlains, which, report
says, brought nearly 504 This undoubtedly was
the first horse of his class in the market. A number
of horses remained unsold, though we cannot ,state
the exact proportion, and we beard one man assert-
ing that the Rood fair was the worst he had seen for
thirty years. This, however, is going too far, and
there arc many who assert that horses are high
enough yet. Two or three year olds have been
advancing in price, and appear to have reached their
maximum last spring. The want of money, and the
stagnation of trade, no doubt deepened the gloom of
the market; but in accounting for the depression, it
may be proper to ass'gn an additional reason—which
is probably the most influential of the whole. At
one time the breeders ran all on crosses, and actually
us erstoeked the country with coachers and roadsters
to the neglect of the pure breed of work horses. In
time they overshot the mark, though not till animals
fit for carting or ploughing had become scarce, and
consequently dear. At last they have got into the
opposite extreme; and in proportion as work horses
become plentiful, we may expect to see a co-respond•
inn. fall in price.
lIIRIac MARICET.—III the dense crowd that lined
our streets on Wednesday, there were hundreds, if
not thousands of servants of both sexes, willing to
hire, or at least ascertain the rate of wages, includ-
ing numbers of as brawny youths and Lonnie lasses
as one would wish to look on. As the weather was
beautiful, the parties were all dressed in their best
attire; health beamed in almost every countenance,
sparaled in every eye, and in passing, or rather press-
ing along, maidens were met with at every little in-
terval, whose optics actually rivalled the deep blue
of the Fleavens.above. Old Cobbett once boasted
of the number of square incites of red tint • were to
be found among the members of his family, and if
the veteran politician had been present in Dumfries,
he would have found the same commodity so plenti-
ful, that he might reckon by roods and not by inches.
Thought many servants demanded mere money, the
demand was resisted in almost every instatlM
Wa;zes, in fact, remained us near as may be at the
old level. Farm servants were hired at from 4/. to
61. 10s. for the h If year, and it was only where they
were known to be experience:l and superior, that
thtey.obiaiced a little more. The better description
of dairy maids were hired at 5.5 shii!ings, though
many asked 3/.. Young gids were cogged in many
eases at 21. and 2/. 55.-I)onfries Cowier.

DAVID WILKIE, Esf..z., R.A.—This cele-
brated pliuter (says the Berwick Paper) his for some time
past twin the gui,st of a friend and DA:ties:lke of his, resi•
(hlt in our ceigl.hatitho4d. We trgret to arin,unee, that
the dolicite state of Mr. WILKIE's livalth requires a tem-
porary rel rxation front the severer stud t.-.i of his profe,sion,-
offfecittedrotrni:lni:
aryl that the chi, f vurpcyl: of his. travelling at present is to
-regaut that vigcur of consti win:), xvi,icli exelu•ive d,-
votedness to his peculiar ;mist; is has in some weasu•e
nteonudreedd
oarto i ntl:nali :•;n 3 (n):1 the I 9th ult. Mr. WtmcrE ha-
Mr. Coon, with a vis:t, who re-
nperems,enatsn,hi inT;oss.fit).,eisrilgoganltni .:tniieofchtl3tiezects.it!.ttil.n.:
dent geniuel.

The Directors of the Liverpool and Manches-
ter Rail-road,- having offered, in the month of
April last, a prize of 5001. for the best locomo-
tive- engine, the trial of the carriages which had
been constructed to contend for he prize com-
menced to-day. The running ground was on
the Manchester side of the Ramhill-;rid-4e, at a
place called lienrick-cross, allEt"nOnti OCT.s
front
Liverpool. At this place the rail-road runs on
dead level, and formed, of course, a -fine spot
for trying the comparative speed of the carrioLzes.
'Hie Directors had made suitable preparatiobe for
this important as well as interesting experiment
of the powers of locomotive carriages. For the
accommodation of the ladies who might visit the
course (to use the language of the turf ), a bintrh
was erected on the south side of the rail-road,
equidistant from the extremities of the trial-
ground. Ilere a band of music was statioixtf,
and amused the company during the day by play-
' ing pleasing and favourite airs. ThcDirectors,
leach of whom wore a white riband in his 1)1:It:In-
hofe, arrived on the course shortly after ten
o'clock in the forenoon, having come front Huy-
ton on cars drawn by Mr. R. Stephenson's loco-
motive steam-carriage, which moved up the in-
elined plane from thence with considerable velo-
cit). Meanwhile, ladies and gentlemen ill-great
numbers arrived from Liverpool and ‘Varringtori,
St. Helen's and Manchester, as well as freim the
surrounding country, in vehicles of every descrip-
don. Indeed all the roads presented, on this
occasion, scenes. similar to those which 'roads
leading 'to race-courses usually present doting
the clays of sport.; The pedestrians were ex-
tremely numerous, and crowded all the roads
which conducted to the race-ground. The spec-
tators lined both sides of the road for the dis-
tance of a mile and a half; and although the
men employed on the line, amounting to nearly
300, acted as special constables, with orders t;)
keep the crowd off the course, all their efforts to
carry their orders into effect were rendered nu-
gatory by the people persisting in walking on the
course. It is difficult to form an estimate of the
number of individuals who had congregated to
behold the experiment ; but there could not, at a
moderate calculation, be less than 10,000.
Seine gentlemen even went so far as to compute
them at- 15,000.

Never, perhaps, on any previous occasion were
so many scientific gentlemen and practical engi-
neeis collected together on one spot as
_there
were on the rail-road yesterday. The interesting
and important nature of the experiments to be
tried bad drawn them from all parts of the king-
dom to be present at this contest of locomotive
carriages, as well as to witness the amazing uti-
lity of railways in expediting the communication
between distant places. The attendance of tli
members of the Society of Friends was extremely
numerous also, and their appearance on a race-
course gave rise to some amusing badinage
during the day.
There were only one or two public-houses or
taverns in the vicinity of the trial-ground. These
were, of course, crowded with company as the
day advanced, particularly the Rail-road 'Tavern
at Kenrick's-cross, which was literally crammed.
The landlady. had very prudently reserved one
room for the accommodation of the better class
of visitors, whom she treated with boiled beef
and roasted mutton fbr the moderate charge m
3s. per—not head, but mouth. The good lady
will, we imagine, have substantial reasons for
remembering the trial of the locomotive car-
riages ; but there is nothing like making hay
while the sun shines.

The locomotive carriages which appeared o:
the ground were—

N. 1. Messrs. Braithwaite and Erielicon of Lon-
don, the Novdry; weight, 2 tons, 1.5 cwt.
No. 2. Mr. Ackworth, of Mt:it/won, the Sins
Pareil; weight, 4 ton:, S cwt., 2 quarters.
No. 3. Mr. Robert Stephenson, Newcaszle-upen-
Tyne, the Rocket; weight, 4. tons, 3 cwt.

No. 4. Mr. Itrandreil), of Liverpool, the Cycle-
ped ; weight 3 tons ; worked by a hone.
Mr. liurstall, of Edinburgh, did not bring
his carriage out, in consequence of its having
met with an accident on its road from Liver-
pool to the course. The damage will, however,
be repaired, and the machine will, it is expected,
be ready by to-morrow. The locomotive car-
ria.,,es attracted, of course, the attention of every
individual on the ground. They ran up and
down the road during the forenoon more for
amusement than experiment, surprising, and
even startling, the .unscientific beholders by the
amazing velocity with which they moved along
the rails. Mr. Robert Stephenson's carriage
attracted the most attention during time early part
of the afternoon. It ran, without any weight
being attached to it, at the rate of 24 miles in
the hour, shooting pass the spectators with
amazing velocity emitting very little smoke, but
dropping its red-hot cinders as it proceeded.
Cars containing stones were then attached to it,
weighing, together with its own weight, upwards
of 17 tons, preparatory to the trial of its speed
being made. This trial occupied, with. stop-
pages, 71 minutes, and proved that he carriage
can, drawing three times its own weight, run at
the rate of more than ten miles in the hour.

Mr. Ackwoith, of Darlington, ran his car-
riage along the course during the day, but no
trial of its speed with weights took place eo-day.
Mr. Winan's machine, worked by two men,
and carrying six passengers, was also on the
ground. It moved with no great velocity, com-
pared with the locomotive steam-carriage, but
with considerable speed considering that it was
put in motion by human power. One .of its
.wheels, we believe, was slightly damaged. in the
course of the afternoon by Mr. Ackworth's loco-
motive steam-carriage on the road. Mr. Prand-
reth, of this town, had his locomotive carriage
on the road. I-, was worked by two horses, on
the principle of the tread-wheel. Though its
velocity was not more than four miles per hour
on this occasion, it is a carriage which will be
useful for a variety of purposes on the rail-road.
But the speed of all the other locomotive
steam-carriages on the course was far exceeded
by that of Messrs. Braithwaite and Co.'s beau-
tiful engine from London. It was the lightest
and taiiiiodst etiwleg‘a.enitoccittivrriage
with
cn,nhictlite road
itloveydesstteirr-
-
prised and amazed every beholder. It shot along
the line at the am.izinC
the hour ! It seemed,
in; one. of the most iin ;emit, and human iririalt:egt: spectacleseethtieit,lrr4iilY:i':el?,,lr.iieelteirstsetliTeiittnit
held. It actually made one gidly to look at it,
and filled thousands with lively fears for the
safety of those who were on it, and who seemed
not to run along the earth, but to fly, as it were,
,s on the sings of wind." It was a most stiblim.:
sight—a sight, indeed,:which the individittils wh )
beheld it will not soon forget.
The contests will be te. tuned this forenoon.
They are likely to continue to-morrow and
Friday, it being the desire, as well as the interest
of all parties concerned to make the experiments
as numerous and as complete as possible.