The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-27 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES.

The Duke and Duchess of Beaufort are entertaining a
distinguished circle at Badminton. The Noble Duke,
on Wednesday last, dispensed his customary bounty to
the more necessitous among the labourers and poor fa-
milies residing on his extensive estates in Gloucester-
shire aid Monmouth.
The Duke and Duchess of Norfolk are entertaining
a numerous party at Arundel Castle. The Noble Duke
has caused his annual bounties to be distributed among
the necesiitous poor on his estates in Sussex.
The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland are sur-
rounded by a select circle at Alnv%ick Castle. As usual,
at this season of the year, the Noble Duke has relieved
the poorer classes in the district by a bountiful supply of
beet', bread, &c., in proportion to the number of each
family. The Duchess also has extensively distributed
blankets and clothing, suitable for the season, to those
poor persons whose limited means render such gifts most
acceptable.
The Duke and Duchess of Richmond have a family
circle assembled at Goodwood Park, where great hospi-
tality will prevail until tho third week in next month.
The poor on the Noble Duke's estates were liberally
regaled on Wednesday last, and gifts of money and
cloches were presented to the mostnecessitous inhabitants
of the district.

The Duke of Devonshire and a distinguirhed circle are
enjoying the princely hospitality of Lord and Lady
Francis Egerton, at Worsley hall, Lancashire.
The Duke of Rutland is at Belvoir Castle, where the
Marquis of Granby, Lord Charles Manners, Lord
Forrester, and a family circle have met for the Christmas
holidays. The noble Duke's birthday will be celebrated
on the 4th of next month, with the customery rejoicings
at the castle.

His Grace the Arcbishop of York is receiving a
large family party at Bishopsthorpe, the Archiepiscopal
palace, near York. The venerable Archbishop caused
his annual bounties of beef and bread to be distributed
amongst the poorer families at York on St. Thomas's-
day.
The Earl and Countess of Minto are entertaining
Lord and Lady John Russell, Lord and Lady Melgund,
and a large party, at Minto House, Hawick, North
Britain.

The Dowager Countess of Pembroke has assembled at
Wilton House, near Salisbury, the Earl and Countess of
Clanwilliam, Earl and Countess Bruce, the Countess of
Dunmore, the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, &c.
The Earl and Countess of Powis have a party of
friends at Powis Castle, Welshpool, enjoying the gaieties
of the season. In entertaining the rich, the poorer
classes of that neighbourhood have not been forgotten.
Lord and Lacy Delamere intend to enliven Vale
Royal, their charming seat in Cheshire, by a series of
masques the second week in the ensuing month.
Sir Clifford and Lady Constable will entertain a dis-
tinguished circle at Burton Constable, Yorkshire, early
next month. Private theatricals and balls are to be the
chief attraction.

The Earl and Countess Cowper have a fashionable
party at Pansanger, Herts.
Viscount ,Melbourne had a select circle visiting at
Brockett Hall, Herts. Lord and Lady Beauvale are
there ; and the Hon. Mrs. George Lamb has joined the
party from town.

The Earl and Countess of Stair are entertaining the
Earl and Countess of Carnperdown and Lady Elizabeth
Duncan and a large circle, at Oxenford Castle, North
Britain.

The Earl of Shaftesbury has a select party at St.
Giles's, his Lordship's seat in Dorsetsbire.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Anglesey are enter-
taining the Earl and Countess of Sandwich, Viscount
and Viscountess Sydney, and a numerous family circle,
at Beaudesert, the Noble and Gallant Marquis's seat,
near Lichfield.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Lansdowne are enter-
taining Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston and a
small party at Bowood Park, Wilts. The Earl and
Countess of Shelburne are also there.
The Marquis of Northampton, at Castle Ashby,
Northamptonshire, has a select circle met to participate
in the festivities of this period of the year. Viscount
and Lady Marianne Alford, Lord and Lady William
Compton, Mr. C. S. and Lady Elizabeth Dickens, Lord
A. Compton, &c., are there.
The Earl and Countess of Zetland are receiving a
numerous and distinguished circle at Aske Hall, near
Richmond, Yorkshire. Lord Glenelg was to have joined
the party yesterday.
The Earl and Countess of Harewood, who have a
large circle of friends at Harewood House, Yorkshire,
next month.
purpose to receive company there until the third week in

The Earl of Derby has Lord and Lady Stanley, the
lion. Colonel and Mrs. Stanley, and a select party, at
Knowsley nail, Lancashire.
The Earl of Lonsdale, on Tuesday last, caused a
number of fat beeves to be slaughtered, and distributed
amongst the families of the poor in the parishes of Low-
ther, Askham, Hackthorpe, &c. His Lordship also
caused blankets, stockings, petticoats, jackets, and other
articles of wearing apparel, to be distributed amongst the
poor families.
Sir George Musgrave, of Eden Hall, Bart., and his
esteemed lady, sister to Sir James Graham, have given
to upwards of 250 poor families in the villages of Eden-
hall,
blankets and various articles of wearing-apparel, suit-
Langwathby, Carleton, and of the town of Penrith,
able for the season, coals, pieces of beef, and money.
'rhe same worthy Baronet also treated the inmates of
the Penrith union workhouse with an excellent dinner
on Wednesday last, consisting of roast beef and plum-
pudding, and the male inmates with a sufficient supply
or good home-brewed ale each, while amongst the
females, suitable quantities of tea, sugar, and cakes, were
distributed.

POST-OFFICE NOTICE.—FOREIGN MAILS.-
Yesterday the following notice, relative to the depar-
ture of the next foreign mails, was posted at the Chief-
office, St. Martin's•le-Grand:—
" PENINSULAR MAILS.—The Queen, for the mails of
morning of the 27th (this day), for Vigo, Oporto, Lis-
bon, Cadiz, Gibraltar, and Madeira.
" The next mails for Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, the
lonian Islands, Egypt, India, &c., via Southampton, will
via Marseilles, will be dispatched on
be dispatched on the morning of the 3d of January.
" The next mails for the Mediterranean, Egypt, Ceylon,
thelndia,
evening
eanni
nd China,got t
(except Bermuda), Mexico,
1e 7th of January.
" WEST INDIES.—The Thames, for the mails of the
tnnlanhd.ies
BRAZIL, AND BUENOS AYRES.—The next
morning of the 2d of January, for the British and Foreign
hed on the evening of the 6th of
January.
aoao,
nlinloumsdnaui
rAwerl
MADEIRA,
Honduras,
baßentAhdaei
ilsNitayet
es
AE RICA.—The Hibernia, for the mails of the even-
ing of the 3d January.
" SYDNEY AND NEW SOUTH WALES.—The Henrietta,
for the mails of the evening of the 31st instant."

DIARY HOWITT'S NEW IN OvEL, "THE CITIZEN OF
PRAGUE," is one of those highly romantic narratives in which
the finer feelings of cur nature are displayed under circum-
stances that cannot fail of creating the deepest interest in
the reader. There is a love story of great power and beauty,
in which devotion and self-denial attain an elsva,tion only to
be met with in those rare natures which adorn the humblest
as well as the highest stations. In this story the same
nobility is found existing as flourishingly in the cottage as
in the Court. The Princess Morani and Count Lacy are
truly noble characters, but they are not more distinguished
for their intelligence and virtue than the Citizen of Prague,
and his incomparable grand-daughter. It is impossible to
imagine a tale of deeperinterest, and we cannot doubt that
" The Citizen of Prague" will be equally popular with either
of those strikingly picturesque narratives which have pre-
ceded it.
POTATOES.—Some of our Conservative contempora-
ries still assert that the supply of this vegetable is im-
proving, and that the causes for alarm are quite needless.
We can speak for oar own market with confidence. The
potatoes that come there are sold at 10d. and a shilling
the stone—double the usual price at this season of the
y • , but few of them would be worth having at any
price if the failure had not been so general. In the north
of Cornwall, where the sandy districts prevail, many of
the potatoes are as good as in former years ; the sand
was found to absorb or carry off the moisture so well,
that only those vegetabloa suffered that were too near
the surface. In the neighbourhood of Jump, five miles
from Plymouth, a hogshead of cider has been offered for
a bag of potatoes, and refused.--Plytnough Journal