Response.-For a Testimonial presented to a Member who is about to leave his native town or country.

MR. CHAIRMAN, VICE-CHAIRMAN, AND GENTLEMEN,-I know not how to find words to thank you for the valuable present which you have made me; but I can assure you that when I had the honour of fulfilling the various offices to which I have been from time to time selected, I have endeavoured faithfully to discharge the duties appertaining to those offices, and it is the consciousness of this that makes me more fully appreciate the testimonial. If I have done my duty, you have also done yours-and done it nobly. When look on the testimonial you have this evening presented to me, I shall ever think of the many happy hours I have spent among you. You are all aware that I go To-morrow to fresh woods and pastures new," that I am about to quit this, "My native land," to seek in a foreign clime my future fortune. It is always a sad hard task to bid good-bye to friends. Can you wonder that it is very difficult for me to utter the earnest expression of what I feel in addressing you for the last time, friends, playmates, shopmates, and relations, and last, though not least, the brethren and visitors of this Lodge, from whom I have received so warm a welcome and such generous kindness, that I shall always speak and think of you as my best and dearest of friends? While I say this, I think on more than I behold. It is not alone the members of this Lodge to whom I wish to acknowledge my deep indebtedness, but to the members of the various Lodges in the town and district, and to several of the tradesmen; also to the liberal subscriptions to the testimonial; and the most unequivocal success has met, I am informed, the committee's exertions in getting up this handsome testimonial you have been pleased to present me with. And I have to thank all present more than all for this social welcome, so genial, so heartfelt, which I shall ever cherish with affectionate regret; the remembrance of the scenes of this evening will ever be associated with your generous kindness. In all probability I shall never see you more. In a few days I leave my native country to seek, as I have before observed, "Fresh woods and pastures new." But the joyous thought of again joining some of my nearest relatives, who have gone out to

before me, does not overmaster the deep sadness of my farewell to the members of this Lodge, with whom I have so long been connected, and who so cherished my dawning desire to fill the various offices I have had the honour of being elected to during my membership, to which early association has endeared me. Our great poet has sung of "benefits forgot"-mine will not be of them. In the quiet hours of home life, though far away, I shall think of you very, very often. I know there are those here to-night whose faces I have never seen, whose good wishes, nevertheless, go with me to my distant and new home. Again, sincerely thanking you, one and all, for this testimonial of your good wishes, I affectionately bid you farewell; also I say, God bless you! good-bye! and

Adieu, my native land, adieu !

The vessel spreads her swelling sails;
Perhaps I never more may view

Your fertile fields, your flowery dales.

ELECTIONEERING.

S

THE CHAIRMAN: Gentlemen, in consequence of having presided at similar meetings for many years, I have been called upon this evening to take the chair; but I wish some other gentleman had been selected. I, however, shall have great pleasure in introducing to you my friend, Mr. He is an honest man, and will represent your interests in a most magnificent way. I have not seen such an address as Mr. -'s from any candidate in the kingdom, although I have looked at them all, and if he keeps within the four corners of the paper I hold in my hand (Mr.address), he will be a man according to your hearts. We do not want trimmers," as they are called; neither do we want men who will first vote on this side and then on the other; but men who will honestly represent you according to the promises contained in their addresses. It has been said by Mr. 's opponents that he is a mere modern convert. There is not the slightest truth in that. Mr. has never exercised the franchise in any way whatever, and has never committed himself in the slightest degree in any vote he has given. It is said he is not the sort of could desire. What more can any man say for us than he has said in his address? He is for What do you possibly want more than that? Those gentlemen who call themselves are simply theoretical

indebted for

sham -? To

we of

as I call them. To whom are we and the --, two of the greatest men England ever produced. These men were called bigoted but they are no such thing. To whom are we indebted for Not to quasi and theoretical

consideration, consented to give it.
of the present day for the
is in nearly every man's hand.

but to -, who, after due We are not indebted to the but to the

-; the

GENTLEMEN,-I never came forward with greater pride and pleasure than I do on this occasion, in proposing Mr.

It

is not necessary for me now to occupy your time in mentioning all the personal claims that Mr. has to your confidence and support. You all know what Mr. is. The name of is not unknown in the county, and for several months past Mr. has been doing all that one man can do in bringing openly and boldly before the electors himself and his opinions. He is the

representative of the true

I

party, who seek to benefit the country and preserve her institutions, not by obstructing change, but by supporting wise and judicious change. I caution you against a man who will make great profession of and then do nothing afterwards, which has of late been the custom. There is another and a stronger reason why I support Mr. believe, in supporting him, we support our If you wish, on the other hand, to support one who will vote for the abolition of the Bill, if you wish to support a Ministry who, step by step, will fritter away all the wise safeguards provided for the, do not vote for Mr. but vote for the other side. I consider I am performing a very honest duty in calling on all my brother electors to join with me in supporting Mr.

GENTLEMEN,-I have the honour of seconding the nomination of Mr. I will not detain you more than a few minutes, because it is unnecessary to enter into the political opinions of Mr. that gentleman having already so fully expressed his views before the electors of the county, and being shortly about to state them himself. This is a fair stand-up fight between two great parties in the county; the did not provoke the contest, it has been thrown upon them by their opponents, who, as they had a perfect right to do, have brought forward a candidate for the second seat. The have accepted the challenge, they are determined to fight it to the end, and, what is more, they are determined to win. I will call upon those who are attached to the institutions of the country, those who are opposed to -measures, and those who are in favour of the to give their support to the candidates. I believe they will both be returned as the representatives of this great constituency.

-

who

GENTLEMEN,-I have the pleasure to propose Mr. comes before you as one of that party which I believe to be the strictest supporters of our institutions-the strictest sup

namely, the

-party. He will,

porters of and I am sure, support to his utmost that constitution of which Englishmen are so proud, and those institutions which have upheld that constitution. He will advocate retrenchment-retrenchment as far as possible, consistent with the due maintenance of the defences of this country. He will support that most valuable, I may term it, institution of this country, the Volunteer force; and another matter will receive Mr. 's early attention, if elected, namely, the subject of I am of opinion, and no doubt the honourable candidate is of the same opinion, that the districts, with regard to education, have been very much neglected. The large manufacturing towns have received a very large proportion of the million of money which is every year devoted to extending education. In my own district I have the pleasure of supporting more than one school, but we are unable to obtain any assistance, because we cannot afford to pay masters who possess an amount of education far above what is required. Give the a sound educa

tion-let them study reading, writing, and arithmetic, and then they will become useful as well as more enlightened members of society.

GENTLEMEN,-I second the nomination of Mr.

In

Mr. you have presented to you a candidate second to none who has been brought forward throughout the whole of England. He is a man of whom a constituency might justly be proud. Mr. from his cradle and in his early youth, gave promise of qualities of rare excellence, and in his manhood he has fully carried out the promise of his youth. Should you desire to be represented by a man of talents, a man of principle, a man of eloquence, and a man of character, who will proclaim and principles against if you desire such a man, you will find him in Mr. At times, when the constitution was assailed-that constitution which combined the efficiency of a monarchy with the freedom of a republic, without the despotism of one and the licentiousness of the other-if you love your country and its institutions, under which we have become a great power-I call upon you to maintain the honour of your country by returning the candidates.

and

Esq.,

THE MAYOR: In the name of the Queen I declare duly elected to serve as a burgess in the Commons House of Parliament for the Borough of ·

SPORTING.

Speeches at a Dinner of a Race Committee.-The Mayor in the Chair.

GENTLEMEN,-The origin of racing in this country dates from a very early period, the custom being generally believed to have been introduced by the Romans; but the records of its practice and progress in very early times are so vague and apochryphal that little dependence can be placed upon either their authenticity or veracity. Fitzstephen, who lived in the reign of Henry II., however, states that in his time they were of frequent occurrence in London. He tells us that horses were usually exposed for sale in West Smithfield; and, in order to prove the excellency of the most valuable hackneys and charging steeds, they were matched against each other.

In the middle ages certain seasons of the year were appointed for nobility to indulge themselves in running their horses-at Easter and Whitsuntide. "It had been customary," says a Chester antiquary, writing in the thirty-first year of Henry VIII., "time out of mind, upon Shrove Tuesday, for the Company of Saddlers belonging to the city of Chester to present to the drapers a wooden ball, embellished with flowers, and placed upon the point of a lance.' This ceremony was performed in the presence of the mayor, at the cross in the " Roodhee," or Roody"-an open place near the city; "but this year," continues he, the ball was changed into a bell of silver, valued at 3s. 6d., or more, to be given to him who should run the best and the farthest on horseback before them upon the same day.'

"

"

At the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth, racing, which had drooped considerably during that of Mary, was restored to all its pristine vigour; and, furthermore, it is related that it was carried to such excess as to injure the fortunes of the nobility. This circumstance, as is usual in such cases, gave the sport itself a bad odour; and numerous were the ponderous arguments levelled at its devoted head by the reverend, the learned, and the great. Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, enumerated racing among the sports which he thought unworthy of a man of honour:

"The exercise," says he, "I do not approve of is running of horses, there being so much cheating in that kind; neither do I see why a brave man should delight in a creature whose chief use is to help him to run away."

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