NOTES OF THE MONTH. 201 



prius dementat. The following Thursday, when the reason of the 

 Peers for their negative vote was handed in, Lord J. Russell made 

 a splendid speech, in which he recommended the abandonment 

 of the " emasculated bill." His motion was carried without a 

 division. 



THEATRICAL BICKERINGS. On June 27th, Vandenhoff the tragic 

 actor's action against Bunn of Drury Lane, for non-payment of nine 

 weeks' salary during the supplementary season after the wily man- 

 ager's close of the house, was tried in the Court of Exchequer. The 

 actor gained his cause, and Bunn will have to pay 160/. damages, 

 and the expenses of the suit. We trust that other actors will muster up 

 courage to attack the theatrical despot, and gain from him those rights 

 which the manager's mighty interests insultingly denied him. By the 

 way, this victory, and the sound thrashing to boot, will cool the inso- 

 lence of KingBunn for a season or two, or we are much mistaken : 

 and at the same time Macready, who has to pay IQOl. as damages for 

 his assault on Bunn (gross and ungentlemanly enough, it must be con- 

 fessed) will be somewhat consoled by the advantage gained by his fel- 

 low in the same walk of the profession. We take very little interest in 

 the degraded drama of the present time, when gew-gaw and tinsel are 

 more studied than the portraiture of the passions : but still we can- 

 not consent to pass over in silence so marked an instance of defeated 

 managerial insolence and oppression. 



THE REVENUE. The Revenue accounts for the year and quarter 

 ending July 5th are very satisfactory. On the year the increase of 

 receipts, as compared with those of 1834-5, is 2,045,456/. On the 

 quarter 1,306,648/. The increase on the year from the Customs is 

 1,162,402/. ; from the Excise, 834,912/. ; the Stamps, 229,874/. ; 

 but there is a decrease in the taxes of 196,61 1/. On the quarter, 

 the increase on the Customs is 381,260/. ; the Excise, 713,02U ; 

 the Stamps, 110,096/. ; the Taxes, 70,757/.; the Post-office, 34,00a. ; 

 the only decrease on the quarter is the trifling one of 28 1 51. on the 

 Miscellaneous. 



We hope that this improvement will induce Mr. Spring Rice to 

 prepare for a greater reduction in the Taxes of next year. The 

 window-tax, and the duties on Soap, are those which demand most 

 immediate attention. 



THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S HORSEMANSHIP. Our readers will 

 be surprised to learn that the hero of so many battles is a wretched 

 horseman. He is extremely fond of hunting, as all his country 

 neighbours can testify : but never was any one more unfortunate in 

 the field. Among the thousand and one tumbles of his grace, 

 and some of them too rather serious, it is providential for the tories 

 that he has not broken his neck, or fractured his skull. On July 1st 

 he was thrown from his horse opposite Chesterfield House. The 

 accident is more exquisitely related by the Post than we can hope 

 to make it ourselves. In his words therefore, 



" The Duke was riding a spirited horse ; and at the corner of Tylney Street, 

 in South Audley Street, he came in contact with a hired vehicle called a fly, 

 when it is supposed that the shaft touched the knee of the Duke's right leg, 



