LONDON CHAT.

(FjROM OCR SPELIAX COKB.ESrONBKNT.') I.osnox, September 14,

A storm

La«t Saturday morning London was visited by some cf the mostremirksble thunderstorms ot the century. They varied exceedingly ia the diifereat localities of tha. metropolis, bet everywhere the earliest of the slorms seems to have besti tr.e most extraordinary in its character aud dculructible iv its effects.

Fruui my own observations afc Claphftrn, to the 'south-west of Londou, I do not hesitate to characteriss it its among the most sfcrikiug I hav.s wifcuessed in suy part of the world. RtginuiriE: shortly before 4 a.m., it Usled until past 5. During the gretter part of the period isu were in me practically continuous bl«z-: of mogi; vivid b'ui&h-vbite. light, accompanied by a vittaally incessant roar of Kemecdous thunder. Toons was no appreciable interval between the tlssfces snd ruant: indeed, many of the fluehes cam-) in eight or 10 wwa, and one overlapped the otbe-, the discharges appearing to come from all qua;ter« of the nicy at ouco. Torrents of rain fell at the sains time, mingled with terriflo hail, foiM cf the pieces of ica hsing newly as In^e na road metal, and a fur'ou« gaio blew. To be aroiisad iv the "wee sum' hours" by buoU (i>mjn>aenl uproar and such a bKiidiutf h\e.Zi',ui (jiiiyrrn.g.Hni.] light, wr.sf^rtljiim- m»uC quits eoufxxiios n.ud ovum-helming. It is hardly turprisiug to re.nn that two or three per?o:is of the more timid sex actually died from frigbfc at tho uueacthl; tumult. Several people and ninny domestic animals were killed by the lijhtiiins. EnormouV dam&gu wis d-.)re by tfai- rain Mid hr.it. cliv? h"u-K« and railway Lt&tioziA in the raefcropoiis r.ud its eaviroua were floode-i to k de.ith ot 6;t to B=t; railway lines toru up »t Mi'omurgc-J; toa'i». fcigti'Jitliy cut up; whitlows and cjcscrratsrici sm'isl;od by hill; nctl, in shoH, doi'a?t;uJO\i rode rsmpsuri dnriny the toot in which thr ttmpest was at its h-i^M ■

Ceasing soon af^tr 5, it vr&a followe'l.by a spoil cf lovely calm aud rnrshice; bnt at 6 a.ifl. aiiuthoi; almrp s'arn) oeturced. It laited abiiut tihlf an hour and passed aw*y At 8 o!cir>iJr ( however, atotLer tn.*mcjdous storm of thunder, iightLiiug, »nd rain pat>s«d over. It being bru»d diyligbt now the lighUiiiig was uot >«v t<) such" .It^ct as at 4 a.m , but.it was inlenseiy vivid and right overhead, each flash btuig acouiupanind MinuUamouily by a terrific crash cf thunder, while rim desceud^d in tropical t'.rrentw. -Frons v!',at I can gather, I fancy tb« !s:st »ud tQJr;s »:omi« wer»> wnr.'e in SoutL-wrst'London than tUewhsre. Ob-tr»ers in the north of London do cot uc«m to hasc recorded such exceptional fu-y of t»mptat as that which broku over CUphnm, Brizton, and the mnyhbourhood. A»-uredly thote who wituesked that specaic'.e ot lait Siturdny raurnrhi;'-will not forgtt it in a hurry. These exceptional diiturbancen have ben followed by a renewal of tho fioe,'nrarm'ocirlier which ha(! pr.vioutl* ■ heon e.xperieiic«d nioo«( Septtmbtrr opened, arid except for a f'tw thu-^eis this has bteo a mo-st benutifuf summer week. THE tiKdUV AND ST. LI3OER. ' Lord Roteb!-ry j<i pri.bibiv consoled for hi< )o>» of office by bis double racing victory of the Dex'oy and St. Leger His bor-e Sir Visto pulled ofE tha double ewnfc But it «m,» narrow tqueak Sir "Visto was & strqng favourite up to the last day. Most of the knowing ones drciartd that nothing could touch him. However; th»s day before th« race, while the attendant was temporarily absent, Sir Visto got "cast" iv his box, aud iv the 'Ci.nst-queut- ttr»gsl<>* hf- buntained a flmsh wtu>;d aud a riiglit "'• filling" of orie of his forelegs. Nothiug of th>s wiw known until anncuueed by. Lord Ro^f■r<!ry io the sale paddock. The .auu'juiicimftnt pctiductd a trcmendounfeusstion, und bedjiog was the order of thb day.-All of exaggerated reports flew about far aud wide, Mid me betting was reduced to a condition of utter chaos and topsy-Survydom. Most 'people even ahun^oned all expectation of seeing tho favourite appear at tbe starting point, and hifl backers resigned themsslve* to the prospect of very heavy •losses. ■'■■".

Yet all went well in the end. Sir Viato'a was not the only mishap, for Mr Leopold de Rothschild's filly Ut'c* wai badly kicked by Viliicre ju-'t befoiv the start. After two failures an excsller.t start wat made, but it was evident that Sir Vislo felt the effects o f \tui accident, and was not iv his be.st form • For a considerable distance he was Instv but two iv tho race. It was not until the end was nearing thifc his rider (Loates) csllcd on him for a «uprtm6 effort, »ud then the plucky colt nulled himself together aud stmdily. p»ss«d all his rivsls, finally beitiag Mr S:nj<Ht's Telescope by threequarters of a loogth Ha hud, however, to hs ridden very.hard, to ancumplißh thic, aud hn appeared much diafrwsjd nftneward*, ytry tttill and sore. Telescope wrk thm a good Becoml, Sir Br»s«y's Biittcifly iraH a b»d taird. and poor Ucio, who h,id hsd that, nasty k.ck I before starting, fiuished fourth. But for the injury sho would .probably have boen a tovd third. . . cijicjujt. » " Firat-class" cricket is over for 1895. It has becu a most remarkable »nd memorable sra»on. In many respects it constitutes a " record." Alike in batting anu iv bowling tome marvellous feats have btea performed, aud this cot merely by iudividuals but by whole sides. The admission of several additional counties to first-class rank has h»d the wfcolcsome effect of inviting keener competition than ever for the county championship and of eliciting some splendid displays of cricket that j would not otherwiss' have been ' possible. I Hampshire, Leicerter, domeraet, Warwick, E?s»x, and : Derby all have "ehivrittd" most creditably, and it is noteworthy that not one of the new Brat-class countits has finished last or last but one iv the list, these unenyicd places falling to the odoq'invincible counties of Kent aud No'ttj. '-~-. ..'"-,

Thns ebb and flow the foxhnes of orickot in counties. Cnmbridge. the county which ones boasted the finest cricket trio in Eogland— Haywood, Carpenter, and Tnrrent —is never eveu heard of at all now ; Kent—the home of Mtbu aud Hillyer, of WilUhtr aud Bennett—is at Bhe. bottom of all the cricketing, counties ; and Notts (which :runs Kent very close for the place of dishonour), after contributing to oricket such a host of superb bowlera of the past as A. Sbaw, J. p. Sh&w, Morley, Woolton, and many others, and such-bats as George Parr and Richard Daft, hoa.uow only AttsweU's bowling and Shrewsbury's hatting to rely on. Indeed, it is hard to fay what would have happened to Notta had Shrewsbury been unable to resume play or had Attewell's bowling not been available.

On the othPr hand. Lancashire and Yorkshire maintain the high places to which they have fought their way, and up to the last week or two of the season the championship was quite an open question. Lancashire even at tho last was within an ace of wresting it from Surrey, and at one timo Yorkshire lookrd as likely as either of the other two to win the coveted distiuction. II; is bowling tint h»s given to these three counties their mirked preeminence. Kiehardsbp, tbe' finest fast bowler of this or perhaps of any other age, won tha championship for Surrey; Mold mid Briggs secured second place for Lancashire; Petl,Hirst, and Waiuwrijht brought Yorkshire in a good, third, and it was entirely due to the bowliug of Townsend and Jevwp that Gloucester obtained fourth place, while Susnex and Middlesex, tbe strongest batting counties, were nowhere because they had no howling worth speaking of. ...'-, '

What makes-this season go speoially noteworthy is that it has been a bowler's season as well aa a batsman's. Richardson, tbe " Surrey Terror," has lowered all bowling records. He hss taken no fewer than 290 wickets in fir«tcl»ss matches daiipg .theseison at an »v rage cost of^only a fraction over J4 ruos per vS- ft«t. Such a performance as this is without r>. •« ! \ in cricketing annals, and entirely dwarfa <hat of Lohioann a few years ago. Bichnrdsoi: now is admittedly tbe finest living fast bowler, and many old cricketers Bay he never h*s been surpassed. ■ "■"■"■ ■'" .

Hold, the Lancashire fast bowler, comes next in number of wicket* taken (213), but his wickets cost very nearly 16 runs apiece. Pieel, the Yorfee' left-handed slow bowler, secured 180 wjck»ts st a cost of just under 15 runs rash, •<nd this in a season/all. against slow bowline. What in more notlcaablfl as showing bow difficolt the batsmen found him is the fact that out of his 1691 overs no fewer than 714, or nearly half, were maidenf,.S»heroaß Rishardson only bowled 463 maidens but of 1690 over*. Similarly Attewull, Notts'? one bowler, ulao slow, bowled 625 maiden dyers out of 1486 over* delivered. His average' was a fraction over 16 runs per wicket. TownscDd, tbe youDg Gloucester amateur, playing only during the latter part of tfao

season, tor.k 131 wiclrets for jnsfc under 14 rnns ! each, aud LoVoami signalised his return by | securing 64 for a fraction over 14 Apiece. It must be remembered, however, that both, of these bowlers began work sfter the wonderf nl batsman's wickets and weather of the early summer had been followed by a period of bowler's weather and wickets. This places thoir performances, admimblK though they were, behind the feats of Richardson and Mold, who worked right through all the adverse time and yet obtained Slink a splendid record. Msad, the Essex fust bowler, with 179 wicUets for an average of 14i, holds a very high pUce in the list.

Davidson (Derby), Kortright (Essex), Hirst (Yorkshire), Briggs (Lancashire), and Baldwin (Hants) all stand well, and so do Woodcock and Ponger, but these latter have been more expensive.

After watching the play of all or mint of these famous cricketers, I am inclined to place Mold, Mead, and Hirst very close up to Richardeon among th^ fash bowlers, and in my opinion there is very little difference between Towusend, Peil, Lohmaun, Briggs, and Attewell in merit as slow or medium-pace bowlers. Mold and Peel have perhaps the mo«t deceptive deliveries of all, and it is very difficult for a batsman to time them. Possibly Kortiight and Woodoock have more pace even thau Richardson; bnt many question this, and some batwnen declare that MoM'i bowling comes in more quickly ftom the piSch even than Richardson's.

AmoDg the b&tsoien, MacLhreh's huge inningc' of 424 hsui puabled him to beat Dr Grace by a small fraction in the averages. The figures are: MacL»ren,sl'2 for Zi innings; Grace, 510 for 48 innings. MaoLaren h»« made four thrrefilture inniogs; Grace, nine; Abel, five. Grace i twice exceeded 200. his maximum being 288. Abel's, bent iva* 217. Others by tfn«le score? ! were !Uord»untfs 264, Murdoch* 226, Gunn's 219, Wocds's 215, and O'Brien's 202. It will be noticed that there are two ex-Australians— ; Murdoc»i and Woods—among the 200 runners. I

In bowling, however, the ex-Australians are I quite out of it; Woods and Ferris are very loir I flown in the. averages, and Spoftor.th is not in the list at all, having playeJ bat seldom in first-class matches, though ho bawled with some succew at the Scarborough Festival. Of special colonial interest and *mong the most remar'xable incident* of this wonderful cricket season was the match with which it closed yesterday,.that between Sir Stoddarfs Anglo-Anatraliin team and nn Xl yen of the Be«t of England. : The : ktfcr,-ouptainad by Dr Grace, was, with p?rh»ps the exception of Martin, the best England coold produce. Had Prince Raujitsinhji or Lionel Palairet played in Martin's plaoe the Eleven would have been unsurpassable.

In the first innings's Stoddarf a team made 217, which Grace's team easily topped with 220. Thu« f»r it was a marvellously even gam*. And iv the second innings, whsn the Stoddart's side lost six wickets for 120 ran*, things looked ill for them. Bat then Ford (HI) and Lockwood (60) put a different complexion on affairs, and at 289-(.tiU for six wickets—l 69 runs having been idded in just orer two hoare. the captain declared the innings closed. And than came a collapse indeed. Th« rest of England, molnding Dr Grace, Abel, Davidson, Shrews' btrry, Lilley, Walter Bead, and Woods, all splendid b»ta, could only put together 68 agairist the destructive bowling of Bichudnou and Peel on a suitable wicket, and thus Btoddart's Australian team won by 218 runs. This at least will be nome consolation to the dfcfetted colonnfcs, that the teem which beat them Wst year proved as invincible in England against such bafci as I have named, »nd against the bowling rf Mold, aWnsend, Davfd«M, Pongher, and Woods, with the unrivalled Lilley at the wickets. Every man wan caught in this cunous rerard innings S off each bowler Richardson had only 21 cobs Ecoied off him • £? j k. . *°P Beotes wara &**>* 76 and Woods &I for Grace's team; Pord 111, Lookwood 6+, and Btodd»rt 55 and 59 for the Anelo. Awt'afian, '

Two mom items of cricket gossip before I have dose with the subject notil lljiy next year. Iv tbe 6r«t place ifc was remark^olu tbas in the final first-class m«tch of the year the two bitting ohsropioris, M'Lsren and Grnoe, had each at starting to face one of tbft two champion fast bowlers of the diy, Mould nnd Riehardaon. The resolt was that Mold bowled M'La.ren with \ his vory flrat ball, and that Richardson per- j formed »■ like office for Grace in his first oy«r. i

■' Secondly, it should be noticed that Ranjitsinhji—the Indian Prince and ths Cautab's pet is •" Smith " —9fc»nds third in the baiting list with the »plondid average of 43, only oue run and a fraction behind Grocs, while he is admittedly the prettiest bat of the d«y as to styie aud finish. It is not a little curious th&t' It>di» should send us one of onr beat living | cricketers. , i | HTDROPnODIA. There haa bemi a moit alarming outbreak of i hydrophobia in Lotidon and other large English centres, aud streuunus efforts are being t mode to stamp out fae terrible pe«t. Several | very bkd.odses h»ve ccenrred and much nne»si- j new in felt. The Pasteur, oore seems to,be j sinkiug lower and lower in public repute and a vapour bath is the ramsdy most favoured. RAILWAY KACING. ] More "Rail-Aay Racing." The North j Western Comptiny »re quietly preparing for a i renewal of the fight for the ', Scotch traffic at an early date. As a p'<rliminary they sent an experimental traia on Sunday last from Euston to Carlisle 299^ mites, without a Binqle stop. The speed was upt'high, an1 average of ooly 50 miles an hour bting provided for, but the point was to ascertain whether au engine with a moderate load could ba run with safety for such j a length of time as nearly six hours without any need for a stop and examination, oiling, &o. I 'Meanwhile the Americans who hold the world's speed record until the first race have been spurred up to make another effort to break j tho record. According to their own account I they have already succeeded, but with a special

train spscially prepared. They clsim to have ran the 436£'"miles from New York to Bast BoS<lo yesterday morning in' 414£ minutes, oc at the rate of 64*3 miles an hour, excluding the English record being at the rate of 652 miles an hour, while the Amfcrican train runs heavier.' . '. ,■ •■ ;

But i there are many questions yet to be answered before these figures can be, definitely accepted.'.;* The/point of inola«iv« and exclusive speed-7-as regards stoppages—is not made clear, and there ore other mutters which need elucidation. - Still I do.not doubt that American enKineere can do wli«t is now rcportwl. Before I qiiit the iubjccfc, J "may as well say authoritatively that all the "yarns" which may teach the colony of speeds of 100 mile* an hour, or even more, beiDer attained in the late racing, are simply " bosh" and "bunkum." AH that was done or needed was to force the pace up hill and it was'this that gave .such marvellous retults without (in most cases) maximum speeds of 70 to 76 miiei an hour being exceeded, and these »ro equalled every day by'scores of English trains which run at a comparatively slow rate nphill, - ..■■■■

If King Solomon was alive he would now say, " Go to the travelling man, learn his wajs, and be wise." Mr C; W. Bsttell, a Cincinnati travoUiog man repreaehting the Quean's CSty Printing Ink Company, aft** safferiog intensely for two or three days with lameness of th« shoulder, resulting fromrfaeamatisai, completely eared it with two.applications of Chamberlain's Fain Bslm. Thin remedy ie gaining a wide reputation for its prompt cures of rheumatism, lame back, sprains, swellings, and lameness. For sale by all leading Chemists. — Experiments as to the use of dogs for carrying mails in war time ure being conducted by tbe Austrian army tutlioritiea, and it is said hive been attended with considerable S'icceeß, I lav CANADIAN OLUB WHISKY. >