Man never is, but always is to be-amused. The managers of our public places of amusement are invariably liberally rich in their promises of attractive entertainment to set before their kind-hearted and generally very amiably disposed patrons. Like the school-boy who declares that the hand-writing in his copy-book is not his "best," lessees of theatres take great pains to assure the public that their present performances are trifling in comparison to the rich stores of entertainment which they have in readiness to bring forward on an carly occasion— rather an indefinite period, certes; but there, if the promised novelties are not produced this season, they will be next: at least the manager gives his word to that effect:

"And Brutus was an honourable man."

Apollo and Terpsichore, it would appear, have completely filled up the
niches ignorantly awarded to Melpomene and Thalia in our modern
temples. Whatever district chance may cause you to circumambulate,
it is a hundred to one (and those are not trifling odds) that your auricular
powers will be positively flummuxed with sounds which partake not of
the mellifluent, but rather of the swipey, beery, Barclay and Perkins-
ified kind. 66
Barclay and Perkins " did we write ? We did and we
were right; for that never-to-be-forgotten nomenclature, so associated
with hops, brings to our recollection the frequent tramps that we have
heard proceed from houses in many parts of this merry metropolis. We
have listened to the sound, now-a-days "too familiar to the ear,
and
conjectured that some private individuals, Narcissus-like, have had casts
of themselves struck, and-as the Wellington statue was conveyed to
its destination by a team of dray-horses-we innocently supposed that
the whim had seized the persons in question of having their figures of
fun drawn by a similar conveyance. In indulging in such hypotheses we
soon discovered our error. Persevering in our researches, we traced
the discordant" batterings" to proceed from the vibration of the huge
hoofs of the Terpsichorean visitors of one of those establishments de-
voted to music and dancing so very prevalent at this juncture.

There was a sound of revelry by night,
And England's capital had gather'd then
Her ugliness and her shopboyocracy, and dim

The muttons burn'd o'er loose women and would-be men.

If the directors of the two Italian Operas carry out a tithe of that which they promise, there will be, most assuredly, no dearth of musical attraction in the coming season-a season which, on the part of the lessee of HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE, will be unusually early, commencing, as it is at present intended, the middle of the month we have just welcomed. The prospectus of Mr. Lumley looks well on paper, including many of the favourites of the public, together with an accession of artistes, whose continental fame is by no means to be sneered at. It is difficult to pronounce whether the sweet notes of Jenny Lind will be heard at this house or at old Drury; for at these presents the charming cantatrice resembles a fare between two omnibus conductors: Mr. Lumley pulls one way, Mr. Bunn in the other direction. April is about the period mentioned for the opening of the new Italian Opera at COVENT GARDEN-if, indeed, it can be thoroughly prepared by that time. In the present state of the building, when the hod-man and the trowel are the stars in the ascendant, and the hammer and the saw (not one of the "wise saws") play the chief parts, we world rather object to follow too literally the bard when he says

"Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears."

At DRURY LANE Alfred the Great-in his own conceit-has been actually floundering about, assisting to restore the legitimate drama; but the late Miss Fanny Kemble would not abate her price: therefore Mr. Bunn's laudable endeavours to place Shakspeare once more before a British audience are completely frustrated. Of course his hopes for the drama are perfectly annihilated now that a second or third-rate actress has refused his terms. There are not to be found any others who can faithfully represent the poet of all ages. No: Mrs. Butler is popularly considered the only representative of Tragedy of the day, or rather, of her day. Button up your pockets, Mr. Bunn, against the rude attacks of our English performers; and, above all, remain true to your foreign friends. The affiches of this house contain the following:-"The free list, excepting as regards the public press, is entirely suspended." Now, if you value your own interests, Mr. Bunn, lose not a moment in cancelling this, to yourself, most cruel announcement. By pursuing such a plan as we humanely hint at for your own especial welfare, you will succeed in imparting an appearance to your house. By the speedy withdrawal of this edict, there is no doubt you will be enabled to entice somebody or other into Drury Lane, which, on our last visit, appeared like a wilderness. The purveyors of fruit in the house are very vehement in the expression of their candid opinions of their harsh treatment at the hands of the lessee during the continu.. ance of this most unjust and expressively arbitrary mandate. It is a treat of no ordinary description to behold Harrison (that most excruciating of tenors), Weiss (the basest of all basses), and Harley (the buffoon), on the stage at the same time, in Balfe's Bondman. Harrison is continually making gesticulative motions to some frowsy, feminine, imbecile old occupant of the stage-box. Harley amuses himself— and not the audience---by ever and anon thrusting his hands into his pockets, and making the most ghastly grimaces. As for poor young Weiss-who is always thrown into old men's parts-he is, we are

sadly afraid, past all redemption: he appears to labour under the delusion-Apropos, we once heard of a faithful domestic who was the unhappy victim of a most singular delusion: we say unhappy victim, because she fell a prey to gin and beadledom; she allowed a beadle, in the full majesty of a cocked hat and plush smalls, to gain her affections and her last year's wages, from too confidently imagining that the male progeny of such an official source would make their appearances in the world with cocked hats on their infantine knowledge-boxes!-We repeat, Mr. Weiss labours under the delusion that he is a pump; and accordingly, he extends one arm like a direction-post, whilst the other is allowed full play, and seems to do duty for the handle. His knees undulate in a manner quite refreshing to any hydropote.

Mr. Webster is making money as fast as he can coin it, at the HAYMARKET, which is nightly crammed; such is the estimation the present performances are held in. The Invisible Prince, as we prognosticated, has proved one of the most attractive burlesques ever produced. The indefatigable manager has in contemplation the production of several novelties, amongst which may be mentioned a new comedy-The School for Scheming, by Bourcicault.

ASTLEY'S pantomime still continues to draw plentiful audiences, both young and old the juveniles abound in this arena of bipeds and quadrupeds. Westminster Bridge being again passable must be considered a good "opening" for Mr. Batty.

The WALHALLA in Leicester Square has been crowded during the holidays. The group of the Seasons is decidedly the chef d'œuvre of all the poses plastiques of the day.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR,-In the Magazine for January, 1847, I find intentions and motives attributed to me not consistent with fact, and which if uncontradicted might cause uneasiness to my relatives and friends. I am not disturbed by the censure of "Linton." I know that in bagging 205 brace of game to my own gun on the 21st (not the 12th) of August, I only did what a great many good sportsmen try to do, viz., make as large a bag as they can; my being more successful than others sufficiently accounts for my being condemned; and I also feel assured that every good shot will know that such a bag cannot be made by any other than steady and accurate work, and not by shooting wild into the middle of packs, even were they found to sit in that way on the 21st of August. Neither, Sir, do I presume to question the wisdom or good taste of your giving such views a place in your talented magazine; but when this is followed by the assertion that I wish to sell the property of Monzie, I must beg that you will, by publishing this letter in your number for February, enable me to assure my friends and acquaintances, that nothing is further from my intention.

I remain your humble servant, ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, of Monzie. Leamington, Warwick, 21st January, 1847.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

OBITUARY.-It is with very sincere regret, in which we are sure our readers will join, that we have this month to record the decease of one of the most eminent and really useful writers on sporting subjects this age has produced. To few, indeed, who take an interest in breeding and rearing the most valuable animals of this country, will it be necessary to descant on the great ability or unwearied energy which so long distinguished the works of Mr. Youatt. In his profession-that of a veterinary surgeon-he was the first to elevate, by his own conduct and example, the art to that rank which at present it is so properly allowed, but which a few years since its followers scarcely ever aspired to. As editor and joint-proprietor of "The Veterinarian"—the first magazine devoted to that subject-Mr. Youatt had ample opportunity of impressing his opinions and suggestions; and it is not too much to say that the advance of veterinary knowledge and veterinary" standing" have been mainly effected by the managers of that so deservedly popular periodical. As an author, in the more general sense, Mr. Youatt's works on the Ox, the Sheep, the Dog, and the Horse, together with his most able treatise on Humanity to Brutes, will be the best argument for his excellence. All are marked by the most intimate knowledge of the animals themselves, and the most indefatigable research in getting up "the points" to be expatiated on. Beyond this we would, in alluding to perhaps the most successful one of all, "The Horse," call attention to a very rare recommendation, and maybe the very key-stone of its success. That Mr. Youatt was really a practical man and a true sportsman, all who knew him, or have even read him, will readily admit. He evinces it in every place in every one of his works; and yet those very works, from being written with a plainness, and an absence of all conceited or over-technical terms, carry with them, equally entertained and instructed, the most ardent of sportsmen and most unsophisticated of "general readers." In essays on purely sporting themes, we must confess the nomenclature of the initiated is too apt to ooze out; while veterinary productions, above all others, usually abound in the language of "the school." Mr. Youatt died on Saturday, Jan. 9, at his residence in Osnaburgh-place, Regent's-park, aged 70. To his friends, associates, and fellow-men his loss can be hardly greater than to the whole brute creation, who had, in his life, the most zealous of advocates and humane of masters.

STEEPLE-CHASING-If Father Frost has made a great hole in the hunting of this season, he has certainly caused still more inconvenience to the patrons of and practitioners in the steeple-chase. Here the sport is not the only item lost, but with it goes the chance of that "consideration" for which, more or less, we take steeple-chase horses, like racehorses, to be trained, tried, and kept. Once, however, blessed with a little settled, open weather, and these cross-country combats will be

coming off as thick as three in a bed. Latterly almost every meeting announced has, like the yet retreating Leamington, been again and again postponed; or, as in the case of the Aberystwith-hunt week, if attempted at all, been hurried through to a very touch-and-go tune. In such a state of "fix" committees and clerks are very properly guarding against disappointment and unnecessary expense, and so, till they can see their way a little more clearly, continue, like finished coquettes, "unwilling to name the day." This applies more particularly to meetings that, weather permitting, would come off at some early date; while those whose custom it is to wait for the afternoon of the season, see no "just cause or impediment" to making their arrangements as usual. Amongst others so determined on, we have already the Hereford Grand Annual, the Carmarthenshire, Liverpool, Brocklesby-hunt, Birmingham, Derbyshire, Pembrokeshire, Royal Leamington, Leominster, Lincoln, Grand Military, Windsor, and Grand French-the last, just advertised for the 11th of April, with 12,500 francs (or, £500) added, and the names of two Counts, one Baron, and one Baronet (Sir William Massey Stanley) appended as stewards. In the Irish programme, on which we have not touched, there is scarcely the shadowing forth of Erin's average strength for her own especial pastime; but perhaps, all things considered, this is not to be surprised at.

A DESIDERATUM.-Every fence in the line of the Wolverhampton chase fixed for February 2nd is warranted to be seen from the Grand Stand.

THE GRAND MILITARY STEEPLE CHASES.-These steeple races will take place the second fortnight in March, but the locality has not yet been decided upon. The following have already entered their names as subscribers to the various stakes:

A Sweepstakes of 10 sovs. each, &c.: H. S. H. Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, Grenadier Guards; Lt.-General the Hon. E. P. Lygon, Inspector of Cavalry; Viscount Seaham, 1st Life Guards; Hon. R. N. Lawley, 2nd Life Guards; Capt. Gambier, Royal Artillery; Lt.-Colonel Hankey, Capt. Allen, Lieut. Lockhart Little, Cornet Hatfield de Rodes, Cornet M. Fenwick, Cornet S. R. Brise, King's Dragoon Guards; Major King and Lieut. Fort, 5th Dragoon Guards; Cornet H. Lee Carter, the Carabineers; Cornet Geo. Littledale, Royal Dragoons; Lieut. T. F. Grove, Inniskillen Dragoons; Capt. Clerk, 12th Royal Lancers; Lt.-Colonel Lawrenson, 13th Light Dragoons; Capt. Scobell, Capt. Boucherett, Lieut. Miles, Lieut. Fleming, 17th Lancers; Capt. Powell, Grenadier Guards; Capt. the Hon. E. R. Boyle, Coldstream Guards; Sir E. Poore, Bart., Scots Fusilier Guards; Capt. Kennedy and Lieut. S. Grant, 68th Light Infantry; Capt. Crawford, Lieut. D'Arcy, Lieut. Alleyne, Lieut. Kennedy, Lieut. Philipps, Depot 89th Regiment.

A Sweepstakes of 5 sovs. each, &c. : Lieut.-General the Hon. E. P. Lygon, Inspector of Cavalry; Col. Hankey, Capt. Travers, Lieut. Lockhart Little, Cornet Hatfield de Rodes, King's Dragoon Guards; Cornet H. Lee Carter, the Carabineers; Cornet G. Littledale, Royal Dragoons; Lieut. Lyon, 17th Lancers; Capt. Hon. E. R. Boyle, Coldstream Guards; Lieut. S. Grant, Lieut. S. L. Hobson, Lieut. D'Arcy, and Lieut. Kennedy, 68th Light Infantry.

The Welter Stakes, of 10 sovs. each, &c. : Lieut.-General the Hon. E. P. Lygon Inspector of Cavalry; Viscount Seaham, 1st Life Guards; Hon. R. N. Lawley, 2nd Life Guards; Lieut.-Colonel Hankey, Capt. Allen, Cornet Hatfield de Rodes, Cornet M. Fenwick, Cornet S. R. Brise, King's Dragoon Guards; Capt. E. Taylor, and Cornet H. L. Carter, the Carabineers; Lieut.