must be considered as an illegal
practice."

In consequence of this decision, a troop of the 14th Dragoons, together
with 12 Metropolitan policemen, were sent into the town of Stamford.
Placards, apprising the public of the illegality of the bull baiting,
were posted in the town and neighbourhood, and the threatened and
attempted repetition of this barbarous scene was prevented without any
loss of life or serious injury. The _bullards_ (as they were called)
mustered in strong numbers. They had provided two fierce bulls to be
hunted and tormented; but the bulls were seized and pounded by the
police; and, although the ruffian mob remained in considerable numbers,
no serious breach of the peace took place. But they were determined not
to be altogether baulked of their _sport_; for a bull calf, enclosed in a
cart, and followed by its lowing mother, entered the town, and was
immediately seized on as a substitute for a bull. It was taken out, and
hunted through the town for some time, until rescued by the police.

Every lunatic seems to have wanted to say something to the young Queen,
and visitors to Buckingham Palace were very frequent, although the object
of their wishes was never attained. To show the nuisance involved by
these fools let me give one paragraph out of the _Times_, 19 Dec.:

VISITORS TO HER MAJESTY.--On Saturday night, about 9 o'clock, a very
respectably dressed young man rang the bell at the tradesmen's
entrance of the new Palace, and, upon being asked the nature of his
business, he said he had come for the direction of his house, as he
was tired, and wished to go home. Upon being asked to explain
himself, he said he had just come from Sydney, and had been desired
to call at the Palace by the Queen, who told him he should have a
house to live in, and 150 pounds a year, for some very important
spiritual communication he had made to her. The young man, whose
every action showed he was a lunatic, was then told the Queen was not
in town, when he turned away, observing that he would go immediately
to Lord Hill, and lay his case before him. Visits of the preceding
kind are very frequent at the Palace, and the tales told by the
visitants are of the very strangest nature. It is only a few weeks
since, an elderly man, having the appearance of a farmer, called at
the Palace, and handing to the porter the certificate of his birth,
requested