terrific pace for Gravenall Wood; here he paused not a moment, but breaking on the south side of the cover,

"Seemed to say, Little I value all,"

as he boldly set his nose for an open and scent-holding country in the direction of Otmoor. Now it was that the judicious rider might be distinguished from his less efficient brother in the chase; courage being of secondary consideration where fences were light, but the country deep and heavy. The welters "cursed their cumbrous weight," as they found their steeds staggering beneath them; and the light-weights had need of all their strength and ability in holding their horses together, and taking no more out of them than was absolutely required. The fox now turned to the left, thinking, perhaps, of the deep earths in Stowe wood, or the interminable covers of Waterperry and Staunton, and no doubt wishing he were there; but it was not so ordained. In passing through a farm yard full of drains, a temporary check ensued: some thought he had gone in; but Wing-a-head, whether he thought so or not, at once cast his hounds in the direction of his point, though he did not hit it off; he then cast farther to the left, on each side a deep watering lane, when it was ascertained from a Farmer, that his sheep-dog had chased the fox, and foiled the scent. The pack were quickly laid on, and again settled to their work as steadily and vigorously as ever; in the mean time a few of the tail-ers were let in by the check, proving it "an ill wind that blows no one luck." The point of the fox was now changed, for he appeared going for Brill; though, from the head which the hounds were carrying, there seemed little chance of his ever reaching it.

The field out of 150 was now reduced to about 20, several of whom were going nearly abreast, "like horses of the sun," for a small hunting gate; when three men, not liking the delay that would be occasioned at this narrow pass, gallantly charged a thick whitethorn fence, a sort of "lucus iners," that had been regularly clipped for years; it was evidently a stopper for a blown horse, being too high to take in a stride, and too impenetrable to be mistaken for a bullfinch; all three hardened their hearts, however, and went at it with every intention of getting somehow over, at the rate of 40 miles an hour. The first horse stuck upon the top, see-sawed for an instant, then fell heavily back on his rider; the second was planted fast in the middle, and could neither get through nor back out of his dilemma; and No. 3's horse catching the top with his knees and chest, came out neck and crop into the next field, rider and all. A kind-hearted man (himself a late master of fox-hounds in Cornwall), who had wisely gone through the gate, instantly pulled up, and extricating No. 3 (himself the chronicler, who was lying in a perilous situation under his horse) enabled him to mount again, and once more to come up with the sobbing field: his two companions, however, were not so fortunate. The old hounds were now springing to the head, evidently running for blood; and good as the fox was, there was no alternative-die he must, and die he did within one field of Brill, the hounds running from scent to view, and pulling him down as he attempted to take a small garden-wall that fenced the town.

Six Oxford men stopped at Brill, for gruel and et ceteras, three of them belonging to the "Old Set;" the other three were Messrs. L. Crawley, Archer, and Yeatman, from different colleges in the University; and, perhaps, if we add to these about another half-adozen attached to D.'s hunt, the whole field that witnessed the breaking up of the fox will have been mentioned. The pace throughout had been undeniable: the distance, according to map, was ten miles; and the time, including the check, one hour and ten minutes.

ENGLISH SPORTS.

FISHING, BOATING, YACHTING, HUNTING, RACING, SHOOTING,
COURSING, &c., &c.

BY SARON.

PART II.-RACING.

"And the fierce coursers urged their rapid pace
So swift, it seemed a flight, and not a race.'

"First stood the prizes to reward the force
Of rapid racers on the dusty course.

A woman for the first, in beauty's bloom,
Skill'd in the needle and the lab'ring loom;
And a large vase, where two bright handles rise,
Of twenty measures its capacious size,
The second victor claims a mare unbroke,
Big with a mule, unknowing of the yoke.
The third, a charger yet untouched by flame;
Four ample measures held the shining frame.
Two golden talents for the fourth were placed,
An ample double bowl contents the last.'

HOMER'S ILIAD.

The advantages derivable from the encouragement of turf amusements are too well known to require recapitulation. Suffice it then to say, that independent of the great benefit our country has derived from its breed of horses, not a little gain has been derived from hav ing festive meetings, where the patrician and the plebeian, the rich and the poor, the landlord and the tenant, the peer and the peasant, the farmer and the labourer, accompanied by their respective families, may meet for one common purpose, that of recreation and innocent

amusement.

Since the cant of modern times has put an end to fairs, wakes, May-day games, and other harmless amusements of the humbler classes, I feel happy to think that the turf is flourishing; and now

that the spirited exertions of the present Under Secretary of State for the Home Department have put an end to the low, cheating, gambling booths, the race-course is now what it ought ever to have been-an arena for good sport and fellowship. The Earl of Bath, in his description of Newmarket and its races, in 1753, writes as follows:-"This is, indeed, a noble sight; it is a piece of grandeur, and an expensive one too, which no nation but our own can boast of." What would his lordship have said had he lived to have attended the Ascot or Goodwood meetings of 1845?

Nesbitt, in his Treatise on Sports and Games, gives the following interesting and classical account of the antiquity and progress of horse-races:"Horse-races were used at public festivities even so early as the patriarchs' times. They began in the most eastern nations, and from them other countries followed their example. At first, the horses drew their burthens, instead of carrying them on their backs, as they now do; saddles were not invented until ages after. The Persian monarchs celebrated the festivity of Mithras with great pomp; and amongst other amusements they had their chariot races. The Greeks had their Hippodromes, and the Ludus Trojanus was instituted in Sicily. Montfaucon tells us, the Equeria at Rome were so called from the races that were run in the Campus Martius. Augustus, the Emperor of Rome, was a great admirer of these horse-races, as Virgil tells us in a most inimitable description; and after the Emperors had instituted the solemn festivities of the Romans, the horse-races were a principal part thereof. How far the horses ran before they got to the last meta from the starting place, is not expressed by historians; but we are informed that the Grand Circus at Rome was about 2167 Roman feet in length, and 960 broad, of a semicircular form at the end; the other end in a right line, but rather circular; and that the races commonly ended at the seventh turn round the meta. The number and length of the heats also varied, the usual number of missus or matches was about twentyfour, though sometimes a far greater number was exhibited: for Suetonius says, that the Emperor Domitian presented a hundred matches in one day. At those races, the Romans, as in the present day, rode in different colours, particularly the company of charioteers, to distinguish themselves; these were generally four-viz, prussina (green), russita (red), alba or albata (white), and the veneta (sea colour). Montfaucon gives a copper-plate of a drawing of an urn which has two inscriptions upon it-the uppermost, regarding the horses; the lower, human beings. Over the quadruped was the following inscription :-That this was to the memory of the horse Equilo, begot by Equilo, which had conquered 137 times; won the second prizes 88 times, and the third 37 times.' In Spartianus we find that Hadrian was so fond of his horses, that he built sepulchres for them; and there yet remains an epitaph to Borysthenes, called Alanus, from the country he came from, who was the property of the Emperor."

The breed of race-horses is descended from stallions brought from the Medes, Persians, and Arabians, which they give mares to suit in size, strength, and wind; in all which we have excelled other

countries. Roger de Belesme, created Earl of Salisbury by the Conqueror, is the first upon record that introduced a Spanish stallion. into his seat at Powisland; from which, that part of Wales was celebrated for a swift and noble breed of horses. Geraldus Cambrensis, who lived in the reign of Henry II., takes notice of it; and Michael Drayton, contemporary with Shakspeare, sings their excellence in his Polyolbion. This breed was destined to mount the flower of the nobility in their tournaments.

James Markham, who wrote in 1579, mentions running horses; but these were only designed for matches between gentlemen. diversion, however, got greater in favour, and subscriptions were entered into to make a purse, or to purchase plates for the winner. Thus the turf-men of those days went on breeding for shape and speed alone, without considering bottom, until the reign of Queen Anne; when a public-spirited individual left thirteen plates or purses to be run for at such places as the crown should appoint, upon condition that every horse should carry twelve stone for the best of three heats-four miles. By this means a stronger horse was raised, who, if he was not good enough upon the race-course, made a hunter.

Races appear to have flourished greatly in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and to have been carried to such an excess as to have ruined many of the nobility. The celebrated George Earl of Cumberland is said to have wasted more of his estates than any of his ancestors, and principally by his love of the turf and the tilt-yard. It does not seem that the Virgin Queen was addicted to the sport, for races are never mentioned among the courtly diversions of that day, nor did they take place at the far-famed fête at Kenilworth, where Leicester introduced every amusement calculated to gratify the taste of his royal mistress. In the following reign, racing seems to have thrived better, as we read of some celebrated courses. Camden also states that in 1607 there were races near York, and the prize was a small golden bell. Hence the origin of the saying of "bearing of the bell." Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, denounces the system of races. "The exercise" writes this gallant philosopher, "I do not approve of, is running of horses, there being 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."

In 1720, George the First discontinued the cups or bowls, originally given by that merry-hearted monarch, Charles the Second, estimated at one hundred guineas value, and upon which the names of the winning horse, owner, and jockey were usually engraved. Since that period, Kings' plates and Queens' plates have been paid in specie.

In the historical list of horse matches published by Cheny, there were, in 1727, only eleven of these royal plates run for-viz, three at Newmarket, and one at Black Hambleton, Guildford, Ipswich, Lewes, Lincoln, Nottingham, Winchester, and York. Since which period the royal patronage has been extended to the following places:-Ascot, Bedford, Burford (discontinued in 1802), Canterbury, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Curragh (Ireland), Caledonian Hunt (Edinburgh), Doncaster, Edinburgh, Egham, Guildford (this ought to be

transferred to a more sporting meeting), Goodwood, Hampton, Ipswich, Lichfield, Leicester, Lewes, Liverpool, Lancaster, Manchester, Northampton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Plymouth and Devonport, Richmond (Yorkshire), Shrewsbury, Salisbury, Warwick, Weymouth, Winchester, and York.

Harrod, in his antiquities of Stamford, Lincolnshire, has the following curious remarks:-"From an ancient copy of articles, which came into my hands, it appears that there were races formerly run over Whittering Heath yearly, on the Thursday before MidlentSunday, for a plate of ten pounds value, provided by the town, the fifth article of which is here copied for its singularity: 'Art V. That if anye of the matched horses, or theire riders, chaunce to fall in anye of the four heats, the rest of the riders shall staye in their places where they were at the tyme of the fall, until he so fallen have his foote in the stirrope again.' I apprehend that the running horses, at the time of making the above article were not so fleet as now, for it appears to me that it would be very difficult to stop them in their present career.

In a

Among the distinguished men who have supported the turf in this country, may be mentioned George the Fourth and William the Fourth; the late Duke of York; the Dukes of Richmond, Cleveland, Grafton, Bedford, and Beaufort; Marquises of Exeter and Westminster; Earls of Glasgow, Stradbrooke, Wilton, Chesterfield, Eglintoun, Verulam, and Lonsdale; Lords George Bentinck, Foley, Kinnaird, &c.; and last, not least, the Right Hon. Charles James Fox. memoir of this celebrated statesman, we find the following notice :-"An orator from his infancy, and a sportsman by intuition, or the prevalence of fashion, it can create no surprise that we find him a blazing comet of the senate, and a member of the Jockey Club. Upon the turf he was always accustomed to animadvert upon his own losses, and repeatedly observed that his horses had as much bottom as other people's, but that they were such slow, good ones, that they never went fast enough to tire themselves.'" He had, however, the gratification to experience some few exceptions to this imaginary rule; for in April, 1772, he was so lucky at Newmarket as to win nearly sixteen thousand pounds, the greater part of which he got by betting against the celebrated Pincher, who lost the match by only half a neck. The odds at starting were two to one on the losing horse. In the year 1790, his horse Seagull won the Oatlands stakes at Ascot, of one hundred guineas each (nineteen subscribers), beating the Prince of Wales's Escape, Serpent, and several of the very best horses of that year, to the great mortification of His Royal Highness, who immediately matched Magpie against him, to run four days afterwards, two miles, for five hundred guineas. This match, on which immense sums were depending, was won with ease by Seagull. At this period, Lord Foley and Mr. Fox were confederates.

In the same year, Mr. Fox and his confederate had thirty horses in training, the majority of which were of no great celebrity; but the winnings of Seagull, in stakes alone, amounted to no less than fifteen hundred and twenty guineas, exclusive of at