Castle, which was rounded by the Jilt at thirteen minutes after three, by the Sea Flower at seventeen minutes after three, by the Ariel at twenty-two and a half minutes after three, and by the St. Margaret at twenty-six minutes after three. After an interesting match, the yachts arrived at the winning vessel in the following order : The Jilt thus winning by six minutes and a half, independent of the time she was allowed by the handicapper; and the Ariel, according to the time allowed, was placed second. Throughout the day there was scarcely any beating, which was in favour of the Jilt, as, in running with a stiff breeze and a calm sea, there are few yachts of double her tonnage that could beat her. Not that by this remark we mean to detract from the merits of the gallant skipper of the saucy little Jilt," for nothing could exceed the talent he displayed. Captain Claxton throws his whole heart and soul into every thing he embarks in, and is as much in earnest in steering a vessel peaceably inside the island, as he was in some of those daring exploits which distinguished his career during the naval war. On Monday, the 25th, Earl Fitzhardinge gave a second cup to be sailed for, added to a sweepstakes. The course was from Cowes Roads, round the Nab Light, returning between a vessel moored off Cowes Roads, to the westward of a flag boat off Yarmouth, thence back to the station vessel off Cowes. Again it was a handicap match, and the following yachts entered : Jilt Sea Flower (cutter), 19 tons, Captain Claxton R.N. St. Margaret (cutter), 31 tons, Hon. Augustus Berkeley. The Jilt and Sea Flower to allow eighteen minutes to the St. Margaret, and twenty-four to the Rachel. At starting, the Rachel, which, in the language of the turf, was a "dark horse," was the favourite; but, as the Comic Latin Grammar says "Partim astutorum mordebantur," for the lugger gave in on her return from the Nab Light, in Cowes Roads. In an open boat, oversparred, with a stiff breeze and a heavy sea, it was no little service of danger to be on board this small craft, and we cannot but compliment the noble skipper and his friend, Delmè Radcliffe, Esq., who accompanied him, upon the iron nerves they evinced upon this occasion. The pumps were at work, and life preservers in readiness, and few who saw the seas that the Rachel shipped could have witnessed it without a fear that the gallant little bark might at any moment have gone down. But to the match. The yachts started at three minutes before twelve, and arrived at the winning vessel in the following order : Sea Flower, 24 minutes after six. Jilt, 25 minutes 40 seconds after six. The St. Margaret ran aground on Hampton Ledge. Rachel did not go the course. As it will be seen that the St. Margaret ran aground, it is necessary to allude to the circumstance that occasioned it. After rounding the flag-boat off Yarmouth, as it was a great object to keep close into shore so as to cheat the tide, the skill of the pilot was called into play, and Captain Claxton, from the small draft of water of the Jilt, gladly availed himself of it. The St. Margaret, in endeavouring to follow her track, struck upon Hampton Ledge. Here was a pretty situation for a vessel at the beginning of an ebb-no boat, no anchor, and the tide falling every second. The St. Margaret had struck aft, and before any assistance arrived was two feet higher astern than she was by the head. A lighterman now hove in sight, and was shortly alongside; and here the gallant captain made a somewhat novel and, as the result proved, a successful expedient, by tricing the lighter's boat to the bowsprit end, at the same time taking advantage of a puff of wind, by which he was enabled to force her off the Ledge. Had it not been for this "dodge," the "craft" would have been high and dry in less than half-an-hour, and, as the bottom was hard rock, she could not (as the sailors say) have made a bed for herself, and might have been "pretty considerably" damaged. Whilst commending the honourable skipper for his active and persevering exertions at so critical a moment, even after the pilot had given up the case as hopeless, we cannot refrain from asking-as George the Third did of the apple in the dumpling-" How in earth came she there?" with a pilot on board, the use of the lead (which he declined using, although urged so to do by the captain), broad daylight, and a ledge of rocks as well known to the seafaring man as the Monument is to the cockney? We own we are not a little surprised at the untoward circumstance, which deprived Captain Berkeley of all chance of winning, and which might have cost him his vessel. We cannot take leave of the subject upon which we have been writing without wishing success to the noble owner of the Imogine: every thing on board is quite "shipshape," and his captain, Chapman, is one of the best cutter sailors in our "tight little island." In former days he was Mr. Weld's right-hand man, and was with him when he swept the seas with his celebrated skimmers. Captain Chapman was on board the Lulworth Castle when that event occurred which reflects so much credit upon the memory of a departed yachter-we allude to the late Charles Sturt; and as the anecdote has lately come under our notice, we cannot do better than give it in the words of Captain Jesse, who, in his life of George Brummell, thus speaks of the transaction : "On the 1st of February, 1799, the Bee, bound for the West Indies, went on shore on the sands at Poole, the wind being at east, and blowing a tremendous gale with heavy snow. The boats of the X Tickler gun-brig went off to her assistance; they failed, however, in their attempts to reach her, and she was left to her fate; but in the course of the day the crew were rescued by Charles Sturt, after having been, with his men, twice thrown from his boat into the breakers. "Eighteen months after this exploit, being out in his cutter about two leagues from shore, and sailing against Mr. Weld's yacht, of Lulworth Castle, he observed that his own boat towing astern retarded her progress, and ordered a boy into her to take her ashore. The sea running very high, the lad declined, as did also the men; when Mr. Sturt, feeling it then a point of honour, immediately jumped into her. At this instant the rope gave way, and by the force of the wind and receding tide he was drifted to sea; soon after which the boat upset. In this perilous situation his presence of mind did not forsake him. He regained, by swimming, his station on the keel, and pulled off all his clothes except his trousers. It was after one of the many desperate struggles that he made of the same kind, that, giving up all for lost, he wrote with a pencil on a slip of paper, which he put in his watch-case, the following words, Charles Sturt, Brownsea, to his beloved wife,' and fastened the watch to his trousers. "Shortly after, and almost by a miracle, a mate of a transport, three miles to windward, the last of several that had passed, happened to observe him, and four resolute fellows immediately embarked in a boat to his assistance; but as there was a heavy sea running, and they could only see him occasionally, it was not till after a hard pull of nearly two hours that they reached him. Poor Sturt was all but exhausted, and on the eve of relinquishing his failing hold upon the boat, when his preservers took him into theirs. Unable to articulate his thanks, he lifted his hands to heaven, and instantaneously burst into a flood of tears." AN ARTICLE. BY GELERT. Sept. 15.-The rain is descending fast, and so is the barometer: a happy change for the sporting community. Scent, that sine quâ non of success, up to the present date has been at a standstill, and neither stubble nor cover has held a particle. The pointer has been puzzled to find himself in the middle of a covey before his instinct apprized him of his propinquity; and the young foxhound has had small opportunity of displaying the "dash" that is to distinguish him in his future career. A well-known sporting nobleman used to say, at Melton, that after dinner the music he loved best to hear was the clattering of pattens upon the pavement. They told him of open weather; and his mind was made comfortable by the assurance that spurs, and not stakes, would be required on the following morning. The rain, too, has arrived very opportunely, a joyful harvest has been brought to a close, and the sporting landlord has the additional satisfaction of feeling that no deficiency in his rent-roll is likely to produce a deficiency in his stud for the coming year. There are very good accounts of foxes in many of the fast countries; indeed, we have heard that the "damage fund" has already been taxed to a heavy amount in several, which speaks well for the prospect of the ensuing season. Vulpecides, like thistles, can be kept down, if labour and attention be bestowed on the good plants that occupy the soil. A friend of mine, who was a "sportsman every inch," and who was liberal to an excess in answering the demands upon his "damage fund," for he kept a pack of foxhounds, told me the following anecdote, the facts of which may be relied upon, as he was a man of the strictest veracity: "Among the many farmers," said he, "who have applied to me for money on account of injury done by foxes to their poultry, Farmer Coaker was the most outrageous. He rented a large but wild estate, in the very heart of my country: it was, therefore, necessary to be as liberal as possible towards him, as long as he continued reasonable in his demands; but year after year he increased them most alarmingly. At first, a few head of poultry had suffered; then, whole flocks of geese or turkeys had disappeared, and the foxes was to be seen running about by day's-light in his barton-yard; and he hoped the squire would bear in mind that he was a friend to foxes, but he could not afford to suffer loss by them.' From geese and turkeys, it came to lambs; and yearly did I pay him a considerable sum for the damage which he professed to have sustained. At last, he appeared one day at my mansion, took off his hat, scratched his head, and coolly handed in a bill for a calf, which he said the foxes had destroyed for him. My blood was up at the imposition, and boiled to think that he took me for a fool; so, kicking him out of my hall, I bade him make the best of his way home, or the foxes would have his cow also." My friend added, that Farmer Coaker never troubled him afterwards; and that a favourite saying of his, when talking of foxes, was, "'tis a nasty varmint, and ought to be shot on a Sunday morning, so soon as of a Saturday night.' As regards the killing of lambs by foxes, for my own part I utterly disbelieve it. Often and often have I heard charges brought against the wily animal, but in no one instance have I heard them established. From the nature of the fox's habits in killing his prey, he deals destruction around him long after his appetite has been satisfied; and were a fox once blooded upon lamb, the mischief that would accrue would undoubtedly be incalculable. No farmer's flocks would be safe except they were watched or penned, for his depredations would be unlimited; and an old fox (for the old ones have this credit) would most assuredly communicate the habit to his younger brethren: whereas, what is the case now ?-why, that an occasional lamb is lost, or found mutilated; but rarely, very rarely, are numbers so lost; and when they are, the mischief is attributable to dogs, and not to foxes, though, from the latter's habits, as I said before, when he does get amongst his game, he makes havoc as much to indulge his love of destruction, as to gratify the cravings of nature. No!-dogs are the worriers in almost every instance: and where they are not, then the biped man must be suspected, even before the fox. The mole is a common prey for the fox-the Talpa Europea, that works its arches in the secret passages of the earth. At night, however, when the lobworms are bedewing themselves, then does the mole ascend also; and then does the wily animal capture in his turn the slayer of worms. Though Evelyn and Buffon both hold moles to be injurious animals, yet the injury they do by "disturbing the ear that the roots of the grain" is certainly compensated by the good they do in eating up the destroyers of the grain; and if, as I am well aware, they contribute to the support of foxes, who that is a lover of the wild animal would entrap and pot them, merely on account of the little hillocks which they throw up in the pastures, and which if properly scattered would but tend to their fertilization? A dead mole, placed over the bridge of a trap, is of all others the most destructive bait for a fox: not that he will take any dead bait, but he will be sure to roll upon a mole if placed within reach of his haunts. Poor Charley! multifarious are the means used by that monster man for thy destruction; and briny tears would I shed did I conceive it probable that the above suggestion would fall into the hands of a Vulpecide before ignorant of it. But of the wag's friends I stand in no fear: "they are good men and true," and all, all honourable men. PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS OF THE METROPOLIS. "Nothing of books, and little known of men: CHURCHILL. In a letter, dated October 30, 1727, Dr. Swift speaks of the wonderful rapidity with which he made the journey from London to Dublin and his deanery, namely, seven days! "through many nations and languages unknown to the civilized world." And he observes further, "I have often reflected in how few hours, with a swift horse, or a strong gale, a man may come among a people as unknown to him as the antipodes." What would the splenetic old doctor say now could he take a bird's-eye view of St. Patrick's, London, and the antipodes? What, surely, but that the descendants of Tubal-cain, |