66 Sister mine" and "brother mine," and " darling Fred" and the "laughter-loving one," won't bear much repetition anywhere; and the Major gives us a little too strong a dose of it. We have no great faith, ourselves, in these over-affectionate phrases. We know an old brute who, when his daughter-a quiet, shy girl-is pressed to exhibit, will walk up to her before half-a-hundred people with "Now, my dearest Mary, my own child, you know that opening scene in Norma so well— come, now, darling!" And then the old villain will give her a pinch on the arm enough to make her face the Whissendine, and up he leads her-the most affectionate father in all England. There is seldom much heart in the maximè pii. "Brooklands" is now further assisted by some very clever lithographs after sketches by a Mr. Horlor, a Cheltenham artist. His spaniels, terriers, and water-fowl are especially good; but, on the other hand, he has not much idea yet of either a hound or a hunter. HUTSPOT; A TALe for the NinetEENTH CENTURY. Longmans. The author of this curiously-christened volume-more commonly read Hodge-podge”-declares in his preface that his is not a mere love-tale, nor a sporting story alone, nor of grave politics solely, but a sort of tria juncta in uno-ready for you anywhere, wherever you like to have it. Of course, we know nothing in our shire about handsqueezing or eye-making, no more than we do about Chancery-reforming or Roman Catholics; and so we hoik on at once to the sporting. Hark to him here! A great swell comes galloping up Rotten-row, supposed to be a little too deep in the Racing Calendar; and this is the way he talks about it; "Good morning, Miss St. Just," he said, doffing with easy gallantry his white beaver hat, with crape-" a beautiful afternoon for a ride; but I see you prefer a walk. I was at Newmarket yesterday, Harry. There was a fine heat between Dunstanville's mare and Yeovil's; and we had very good fun with the gentlemenriders. The entries for our Cup next month are very numerous." The gentleman with the easy gallantry and white hat and crapevery genteel, that may have been at Newmarket, but we will take short odds his friend Hutspot never has. We willingly admit he is more at home in his Highland sporting scenes; but he whips off very early here, and his best bit-the fight with the salmon-only serves to remind us how much better it has been done before. If we did mark him down at all, it would be into Chancery-lane, and there we should advise him to stop. His sketch of the old waiter at the Cock," and the new bread or stale?" are quite touches of nature, and beat his "course of true love" and rural life all to sticks-or "in the very commonest of canters," as the man with the white hat would word it. FINE ARTS. Another gem of FORES'S MARINE SERIES has lately made its appearance. It is hight "The Cutter Yacht Volante," drawn by T. S. Robins, and exquisitely lithographed by E. T. Dolby. The scene is that in which the R.T.Y.C. champion won the Challenge Cup "all out"—the second time, as related to that achievement, and one of her seven victories. The sailing world is indebted to that enterprising firm for a unique yachting gallery, in fitting keeping with the taste of the time, in every sense of the term. FORES'S CONTRASTS." The Driver of 1832: The Driver of 1852." "The Guard of 1832: The Guard of 1852." Painted by H. Alken, and engraved by J. Harris. "Tempora mutantur"-but to ourself, as regards the subject of these "Contrasts," the remainder of the hexameter does not apply. We cannot but remember the palmy road and its accessories-"that such things were, and were most dear to us." It is in vain the Great Western laughs space to scorn, and takes no account of time. Where is our accustomed afternoon on the box of the " Age," and Bob Brackenbury's eulogy on our "weed”? Where are those martyred saints, the four-horse drags ? These sketches are sadly suggestive of the reply-all but utterly obliterated! You see "The Driver of 1852," how he is preparing to dash over "The Driver of 1832 "-we cannot pursue the melancholy analysis any further. The execution of the design, in its amplest meaning, is to the matter made. Let the plates find a gracious nook in the snuggery where the minions of the road still mourn over The days when we went teaming it, A long time ago, instead of steaming it-faugh! HARRY HIEOVER ON THE TILTER. Messrs. Ackermann, of the Strand, have just published a full-sized coloured print devoted to the above portraits. The horse and figure are by Hieover himself; while the human likeness-and a very capital one it is-has been judiciously entrusted to another hand. The print is excellently turned out, and gives a good notion of a business-like sportsman going over a country in a very business-like way. There is not a strap or a buckle on man or horse but has its place and its purpose. As this is the third or fourth portrait the gentle public has been favoured with, we trust they may soon be able to swear to the identity. We can answer for it they may, by this alone. NOTES OF THE MONTH PAST. The almost hourly variation of an English climate must soon come to be disputed. Cold, drought, rain, and heat have latterly been distributed to us with most mathematical precision and careful distinction of one element from another. Last month we had to report the amusements of the season as practised under the special patronage of Jupiter Pluvius; King Sol now reigns in becoming succession, and the umbrella which served last month to keep off some of the rain is found equally serviceable now as a guard against the heat. Our sports suffer little by this change, although a certain languor has almost necessarily ensued, which may be hardly in strict character with our national pastimes. The cricketer, for one, has found fielding under such scorching rays as we have experienced for the last few weeks almost too much of a good thing. This, however, has not prevented two of our best matches from being most spiritedly played out. The Gentlemen and Players-about the most interesting of the season-ended again in favour of the professionals; though, had their opponents been a little stronger in their bowling, it is quite on the counts that they might have won. We preserve the score of this match, as well as of that in which Kent succumbed to All England, achieved only in the second innings, the first ending the not common occurrencee-a dead heat between the two sides. In both these matches the winners were the favourites at starting. |