sportive of the season. Some of the first horses in the kingdom will start for these Stakes, among which are the Duke of Grafton's Vandyke, the beaten favourite for the Derby Stakes at Epsom, and Pan, the winner of those Stakes. The interest is excited between these horses, both of which are entered for the Pavilion Stakes. The sporting men at Epsom backed Vandyke against the field, and the betting was 20 to 1 against Pan, which horse is said to have won in the following manner:-Vandyke was making play during the last half mile, and, among the multiplicity of horses, none were supposed to have any chance except one, which Vandyke's rider had got the whip hand of, and to make a tolerable race, he held Vandyke back, while the other horse was making every effort to win. During this contention, Pan's jockey, a cunning Yorkshireman, rode on the right side of the other two horses, and when within a few yards of the comingin post, let loose and won the heat, without Vandyke's jockey being aware that Pan was near him, his attention being steadfastly fixed on the horse before described. Some thousands are depending on the next race, and the odds are betted freely on Vandyke. Irvine Races, Scotland, were attended by a very numerous and gay assemblage of nobility and gentry. A large subscription is raised for this year's sport; and the Stewards are Lord Elphinstone, Sir John Maxwell, Colonel Brisbane, of Brisbane, and Robert Wallace, Esq. of Kelly. STAMFORD. The races were most numerously and fashionably attended; the horses, &c. were in high condition, and the heats extremely well contested. The Macaroni Stakes (rode by gentlemen) afforded great amusement, and the noted Jeffery Gambolla, rode by Dr. John Willis, won, it was supposed entirely by jockeyship, as the race was most arduously contested at the distance-post, and the odds were very high on Mr. S. S. Prime, who rode Longitude, a beaten horse, in a very superior style. Mr. Prime and Dr. John set off immediately after the race, to ride at Bibury. An unfortunate accident happened at the above Races. Shortly previous to the appointed time of the horses starting on Mon day, the barouche belonging to Arthur Annesly, Esq. was overturned, and several ladies in it were thrown out with violence. EAROUCHE HORSES. At the Beverly Midsummer Fair, the show of horses was pret ty good for the time of the year, and all the good ones of sufficient size and bone for barouche-horses were greedily purchased at high prices: these are now a never-failing article. FOX-CHASE EXTRAORDINARY. The following Fox-chase, which took place in June last, in the counties of Inverness and Perth, perhaps exceeds any thing ever known in the annals of Fox-hunting. On the eighth of that month, near Dunkeld, Perthshire, there were seen on the high road, a fox and a hound, proceeding at a very slow, trotting pace. The dog was about the distance of 50 yards behind the fox: each was so fatigued and spent that the latter could not outrun the former, neither could the former overtake the latter. A countryman who observed them in this state, very easily caught the fox by running. Both the fox and the dog were taken to a gentleman's house in the neighbourhood, where the dog received every mark of hospitality, to which his unwearied pursuit entitled him : and Reynard was placed in a garden, as a prisoner of war; but whether from over-fatigue, or from a determination not to outlive the loss of his liberty, he refused to take any sustenance, and the consequence was that he died the day following. After the lapse of a week, the dog seemed quite recovered from the fatigues of the chase; on which it was determined by the gentleman to tie a letter to the dog's neck, (for he had no collar) in which all the circumstances that passed in that place were stated; it concluded with requesting the owner of the dog, if ever he found his way home, to acquaint Mr. S-t, by post, where the fox started, in order that both the length of the chase and the time employed in it, might be ascertained. In ten days after, Mr. S-t received a letter, informing him, that the dog had arrived safe at his master's house, in Badenoch, that he was one of the hounds of the Duke of Gordon's fox-hunter, in that country, and that the fox was started on the morning of the King's birth-day, on the top of those hills called Mona-liadh, which separates Badenoch from Fort Augustus. From this it appeared that the chase lasted four days, and that the distance travelled from the place where the game was sprung, to the place where it was caught, without making any allowances for doubles, crosses, and tergiversations, exceeded seventy miles. It is said that an application is to be made to the Duke of Gordon to enrol Caro, (the dog's name) among the list of his Grace's pensioners at Gordon Castle. A chase, similar to the above, occurred in the year 1633, when a stag was run by a single greyhound out of Whinfield Park, Westmoreland, to Redkirk, in Scotland, and back again, a distance of near one hundred miles, when, being both exhausted, the stag leaped over the pales and died; the greyhound, in attempting to follow it, fell back and died on the contrary side; in memory of which the stag's horns were nailed upon a tree just by, which to this day bears the name of "Hart's-horn tree.” VARIETY. Ipse VARIETATE tentamus efficere, ut alia aliis; quædam fortasse omnibus placeant. PLIN. EPIST. Copy of an advertisement in a diurnal print, in June 1722. CHALLENGE. I, Elizabeth Wilkinson, of Clerkenwell, having had some words with Hannah Hyfield, and requiring satisfaction, do invite her to meet me on the stage, and box me for three guineas; each woman holding half-a-crown in each hand, and the first woman that drops the money to lose the battle. She shall have rare sport. ANSWER. I, Hannah Hyfield, of Newgate-market, hearing of the resoluteness of Elizabeth Wilkinson, will not fail, God willing, to give her more blows than words-desiring home blows, and from her no favour; she may expect a good thumping. SHAFTESBURY. The History of this Nobleman, in the Biographia Britannica, is a kind of panegyric on him; but a bon mot of himself conveys the truest idea of his character. Charles the Second, said of him one day Shaftesbury, I believe thou art the wickedest fellow in my dominions"-He bowed, and replied, " of a subject, Sir, I believe I am." BRUSH COLLINS. The following curious and laconic letter was sent, some years since, to Mr Herbert, manager of an itinerant company of players, by Mr. Collins, better known by the name of Brush Collins, lately deceased: "Sir-Fortunately for your company, I am disengaged. I am up to Melpomene, down upon Thalia, twig Farce, and smoke Pantomime. They say I am a very good figure, and I never saw a looking glass that contradicted that report. To have me now is your time or never. Your's, &c. SCOTT'S MARMION. There is in the University of Glasgow, a book entitled, "A circumstantial Account of the Battle of Flodden Field," written in a kind of poetry, and extending to upwards of 400 verses. A gentleman who gave it a cursory perusal, thinks that Mr. Scott has been much indebted to it for the historical materials of his Marmion. This book was written about the time of Queen Elizabeth, but no author's name is given. It was reprinted in London, about the year 1774. Some of the pieces in Mr. Scott's appendix, are copied from it verbatim. The ignorance of Villoison's Masters withheld from him a merited prize for the best version of a passage from a Greek author. Villoison consulted the Greek text, and the Masters were guided by an erroneous Latin interpretation! Madame Catalini outsings every one on the London stage. Her voice not only enchants the cavaliers in the boxes, but reaches the hearts of the gods and goddesses. It is, however, ludicrous that a smile always plays around her mouth, whether she sing of love or murder. How nobly Owenson figures in the life of Dermody. He is worthy of his daughters. ORIGINAL POETRY.-FOR THE PORT FOLIO. MR. OLDSCHOOL, I ardently wish you would do me the favour to publish the enclosed corrected copy of my "Natural Bridge" in the first number of your Monthly Miscellany: I have retrenched three quatrains of it, to which the sed nunc non erat his locus applied. As these are the only verses of mine that aspire to much poetical merit, I am desirous to preserve them, in a work, which will descend to future generations; and meanwhile, acquaint my cotemporaries and countrymen in England, that I am yet between heaven and earth. I am, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant, JOHN DAVIS. THE NATURAL BRIDGE.*-BY JOHN DAVIS. When Fancy from the azure skies, And haply chose this sylvan scene. The bridges in America, whether they be natural or unnatural, have been so imperfectly, if not injuriously, described, by European travellers and tourists, that no foreign reader has an adequate idea of these structures, which, from Solomon's bridge over the brook Cedron, to Roman magnificence, displayed on the Tiber, have contributed so much to the convenience and the character of nations. The bridge, which has excited the powers of our poet's fancy, is thus described, and, we believe, with perfect accuracy, by an American gentleman, an eye-witness of this miracle of nature. Ed. The Natural Bridge over Cedar Creek, though far from being the sublimest work of God, is a stupendous natural curiosity. It unites two hills. The height of the bridge from the water is about 210 feet. The bases of the abutments are in different places from 48 to 70 feet apart, the mean distance being about 60 feet. One of these walls or abutments is nearly perpendicular; the other falls back, so that the top of the arch is from 80 to 90 feet wide, The covering of the arch is from 40 to 50 feet thick. It is of limestone, forming an entire mass, with the two abutments. This is thought by some to contradict the idea that this fissure was produced by some great convulsion." Its surface, over which is a considerable road, is a gentle slope and stony; but generally covered with earth, which supports many large trees. The under side is lower at one end than at the other. Both ends rise like an arch; but in the middle extend horizontally, nearly in a straight line. The walls, which support the arch, and those which form the sides of the bridge, |