Star.
London, England, 1825-03-07 00:00:00

FUNERAL of the Hon. F. ASHLEY COOPER.

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Yesterday the remains of the Hon. A. Cooper, fifth
son to the Earl of Shaftesbury, were deposited at Eton.
The circumstances of this young Gentleman's melan-
choly death have been fully detailed in this Journal.
He fell in a pugilistic contest with the son of Colonel
Wood, and, although various opinions will be enter-
tained both as to the transaction itself, and the subse-
quent treatment which the boy experienced, there pre-
vails but one sentiment of universal sympathy and con-
dolence with the amiable and illustrious family of which
he was the youngest member. The funeral was con-
ducted with the utmost privacy. The body had been
conveyed from the residence of the Rev. Mr. Kn.spp to
a neighbouring hon.ca where it temained until three
o'clock yesterday. As the hour for Evening Service ap-
proached, a good number of persons assembled outside
the entrance to the College Chapel, and upon the open-
ing of the doors the Chapel was instuntly filled with
strangers and students. The body was then carried
into the Chapel, where it remained during the service,
and immediately on its conclusion, Dr. Keats, and the
masters of the school formed themselves into a small
procession,—:hey had only to move a few yards, as the
body was interred in a vault in the aisle of the Chapel,
immediately under the organ loft. The Students
crowded round the vault in which the body of their
late associate was enclosed for ever.—lt was really a
most affecting ceremony. The character of the boy—
the circumstances of his death..-the presence of his
school-fellows—the family to which he belonged—all
contributed to render it one of the most afflicting spec-
tacles that it is possible to imagine. It would be ab-
surd to affect that mawkish sensibility which would
punish with undue severity all the little quarrels arising
out of those every-day irritations which must and will
occur amongst boys at school; but it cannot be denied
that, to tolerate systematic pugilistic contests in places
devoted to the purposes of education, is a practice at
variance with every principle of propriety and deco-
rum. It is now about forty years since a similar
cause led to a similar result at the same establishment
The survivor is a Gentleman of groat respectability, a
clergyman of the Established Church, and has been
lately promoted to a valuable benefice. It appears that
in the present case there had existed a bad feeling be-
tween the two boys for some time, and on the Sunday
previous to the fight, one of their associates knocked
young Wood against Ashley Cooper by way of a joke;
Cooper immediately struck him; a battle ensued, and
after some rounds, the captain of the school (as he is
called) separated them : they then agreed to fight on
the following day (being a half holiday); the proposed
battle is known and talked of all through the school ;
quantities of brandy are conveyed to the field of action,
and there those two boys, at such a tender age, are al-
lowed to fight for upwards of two hours amidst crowds
of spectators, until one of them is actually killed on
the spot, for that now turns out to be the fact. But it
seems those fights are of constant occurrence at Eton,
and on the very evening of this melancholy event, ano-
ther severe battle was fought. It is to be hoped that
now at least there will be an end put to those shameful
practices at our public schools. Foreigners will Won
cease to wonder at those disgraceful exhibitions, which.
in our capacity of public Journalists, bound to reflect
the customs and manners of the age, we are sometimes
called upon to detail, when they find that the seminaries
of our noble youth are converted into boxing schools.
By a timely, nay,by an interference dictated by com-
mon humanity, this brave and manly and higb-spirited
youth might have been saved to his family and his
country, instead of falling a victim to that false notion
of honour which displays itself in aping the worst vices
of the very vicious. It appears, from all accounts, that
he was a lad of the highest intellectual promise, and of
the most heroic, chivalrous, and generous disposition.
His antagon;st (Mr. Wood) is universally beloved
amongst his schoolfellows, and in this unhappy business
has been more unfortunate than censurable. Had the
undaunted and invincible spirit which they both exhi-
bited been exerted, even unsuccessfully, in a more
worthy cause, their friends might have mourned over
their fate, but they must have gloried in their heroism.

The Memoirs of Madame DE GENUS, which are to
make their appearance this day, contain, we are i donned, a vast
number of anecdotes, relative to the distinguishe 1 persona and
events of her time. The brilliant society of Paris said to be ad-
mirably characterised, as well as the interior of convents dand of
lordly mansions. All the beauties, and beauzesprits, .ind courtiers of
the time come out distinctly " in their habits as they lived."

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