The Sun.
London, England, 1829-08-07 00:00:00

EXETER, JULY 31.

There are many beautiful scenes in the world,
and crowds of them in this green and leafy land ;
but there are few comparable to the " banks and
braes " of the Exe, and none more striking than
the outstretched landscape which is spread be-
fore you as you stand on the eastern side of
Haldon-hill. I have heard that "the old King"
was in the habit, when any one was presented to
him from the west country, of asking, " Have
you seen the view from Haldon, eh ?" and dull,
indeed, must be the mind on which such an ob-
ject leaves no lasting impression.
There was a horse-race on the top of Haldon,
and whatever might be its merits, sure it was
that the panorama about the course would abun-
dantly repay the toil of a ride of a few miles.
On the west and north is the vast forest—now
rather a desert—of Dartmoor. Bleak though it
be, it is girded by magnificent granite rocks—
pours forth innumerable streams—and some fine
rivers, and is sprinkled over with solitary tors
(the old word for mountain), like natural pyra-
mids, or obelisks in the ww.te. The scenery is
wild and savage, set every dell bears luxurious
vegetation. It makes a rugged outline to the
landscape, which, on the southern and eastern
side, presents as admirable a picture as the union
of land and ocean ever conspired together to pro-
duce. Here all is cultivated beauty—a vast and
varied garden—a piece of gorgeous tapestry—a
bas relief of nature. One green field, fringed
with foliage of a deeper green, rises over another,
interspersed now and then with a patch of bril-
ham red, where the light and rich soil has been
turned over by the ploughman. Deep in the
valley flows the quiet Exe, its surface widening
or narrowing according to the slopes of verdure
which seems to form its banks. Pleasant towns
smile on its borders, its bed diffuses itself as it
reaches the ocean—then is compressed—then
extended again till it " weds the everlasting
sea,". which forms the southern boundary of the
prospect.
These are permanent charms, the transitory
and the shifting are the tents and the tumults,
the life„ the action at the top of the hill. Rows
of carriages for the ruling few—waggons and the
turf for the subject many. The equestrian au-
thorities arc clearing the course of stragglers—
all but the straggling men and women who are
clad better than the rest,—in a word, "the qua-
lity," whose sagacity will teach them to retreat at
the appropriate time. Along the ropes are the
pedestrian constables, with their blue staves—

very fierce and unfavouring except when some
friend or acquaintance enables them to show that
they have authority, brief though it be.
The contest between beautiful creatures, emu-
lous only to excel in strength or fleetness, is
beautiful. A race-horse is one of the most
graceful of created things. With what life and
order, with what glory and power, he flies along
the course: his eye how bright—his nostrils
how distended—his muscles how developed !
All his instincts are in his speed, and if he
triumph how great is his victory ! He seems to
participate in the pride of his rider, and touches
the ground only to spring from it anew. What
marvel that such a creature should be often the
object of intense affections—that he should be
beloved by the Arab as a friend or brother ! Has
he not trained him to gentleness and confidence,
and prompt obedience ? Is he not his com-
panion in travel by day, and in slumber at night ?
All that is docile, tractable, and submissive may
be studied in his daily history.
Why should such an exhibition be tainted
with immorality, and this generous and attractive
struggle give rise to so much of profligacy and
unhappiness ? Why should money, and the
enjoyment dependent on it, be staked on the
success of one of these competitors ? There are
six horses on the course, and five of them are to
lose, and on every one of those five some one or
other will have been adventuring his wealth.
Was that a needful excitation ? Will men of
ordinary tempers stand the trial of ill success ?
The losers, for the most part, will be annoyed
and distressed ; and the winners will, according
to La Place's beautiful demonstration in his
work " On Chances," gain far less, in propor-
tion, than the others must sacrifice. He who
risks one of two that he possesses, adventures
half his possession, and can only win what will
be the third of the whole. Two persons have
100/. each ; they risk 50/. on a wager : lie who
wins has 1501.; he who loses is left with 501.
There is no game of chance in which the pro-
portion gained can be equal to the proportion lost.
Something may possibly be said of the plea-
sures of excitement, and the need of that excite-
ment to encourage the breed of race-horses, and
so forth. But what shall be said for that fraud
and knavery which, under the very eye of the
Magistrates, is allowed to exercise its abomin-
able calling ? Here is a line of tents, with
scarlet curtains over the entrance, in which the
most profligate system of pillage is carried on
with daring recklessness. I leave the course,
where are a string of unpaid Magistrates—the
dispensers of the laws, and the protectors of the
peorit; and, ten paces off, I see those illegal
abominations by which audacious plunderers are
allowed to rob the poor fools who are tempted
to adventure. Protected and encouraged by
these mighty knaves, the lesser knaves, down to
the cheat who hides his pea under a thimble,
make their harvests here. Our laws most pro-
perly suppress gaming-houses ; but here are flags
slapping defiance at laws and legislators—here
are invitations, in bold letters, to the hazard-
table—to. rouge et noir—to une, deux, trois—
to every forbidden game by which the sharper
can pillage his victim. One of these fellows
confessed, the other day, that he had carried off
nearly 5001. from his table—a more pernicious
robber he than hundreds who seek mercy in
vain. Yet there sit the County Magistrates—
encouraging, as it were, these abominations by
their presence—there arc constables to pounce
on the miscalculating fool who filches a pocket-
handkerchief. Short-sighted, imbecile, one !
get a hazard-table—you may rob at your good
pleasure !—Magistrates and officers are there to
shield and to shelter you. Use a little machi-
nery, and your thievery shall have all the sanc-
tion you can desire. The swindlers there offer
one chance for two. Stretch the villany a little
—there is nobody to prevent you. Here are
Parson-Magistrates in plenty, and members of
the Society for the Suppression of Vice—they
will shave the barber who cuts off a man's beard
in church-service time, and ruin a wretched
applewoman who shall sell a pennyworth of pip-
pins. Here is vice—bold, insolent, open-faced,
and mighty. Will they touch it ? Not they.
You shall hear these same " quality," " in the
House" and out of it, talk of the immorality of
the people—particularly when starving manufac-
turers cry out against the Corn Laws and for
bread. But why should they sympathize with
ambulatory sharpers ? Why not stop up these
sluices of illegality ? It would become a wise
Government instantly to reniVe from the C9lll-

PRICES OF FOREIGN FUNDS THIS DAY Al' ONE O'CLOCK.
Austrian Bonds
Brazilian Bonds
Buenos Ayres Bone!, — 'Portuguese Bonds —
Chilian Bonds ... 161 !Prussian, Old —
Colombian Bonds — ;Ditto, New —
Ditto, 1821
Danish 69V, Spanish, 1821 —
Greek Bonds 1823 —
Ditto, 1825 — French Rcntes, sp. c. 109 f. 25c.
Guatimala — Exchange 2sf. 55c.
Mexican Bonds 3 per cent. —l. —c.
Ditto, 1825 IS iii Exchange —f. —c.

PRICES OF SHARES THIS DAT AT ONE ect.ocr.
Paid. Per Share.
Brazilian Imp. Min. Co. (iss. at 5/. pm.) £2O 70
Ditto National 7% 10%
Hibernian Mining Co. £9 914
Real dcl Monte Mining Co.

PRICES OF IRISH STOCKS, DUBLIN, AUG. 4.
Bank Stock
Consols, 3 per cent.
Gev. Stock, 3Y, per cent. 98 National Ditto
Ditto, New — Patriotic Ditto
I per Cent 10214 Hibernian Bank
Gov. I)eb. percent.... 98 Provincial Ditto
Royal Canal Stock — Royal Irish Mine
Grand Canal 5t0ck......... Imperial Mine
City Deb. 4 per cent — Mining Co. of Ireland
Ballast Ottice Deb. 4p. c. 97!2 Commercial Buildings