claimed them as heir-looms. But that day, too, is long past; and they have become, as the rule to the exception, the privilege of a few animals-for the most part in professional hands-of an average but a degree above that of sheer leather-platers. Progress is everywhere putting its best leg foremost, and surely, of all places, it ought not to stand still in the department of the Master of the Horse. Beside the mere material advantage their more politic economy would achieve, it would serve a cause sadly in need of friends, were a disposition to improve the social status of the course manifested in quarters calculated to operate influentially in that direction. As it is, our especial popular sport is fast assuming the character of a mighty agent of mischief, conventionally recognized for the plunder of the many and the profit of the few.

The quiet, cool fashion in which this Frankenstein of the ring is spoken of and dealt with-as a perfect monster, whose presence none can, or would, gainsay-is sigularly edifying. Just about these presents mention was made in some of the sporting papers of a passage at beggar-my-neighbours, wherein the game was said to have been played by means of a certain courser, whose name was "Lindrick." Of course "Brutus was an honourable man;" so the representative of "Lindrick" denounced the calumny, and logically, as well as legally, established his case by calling on the other side to prove a negative. Our business, however, is with the philosophy of the fact as testifying to the "humanities" of the code whereof it forms a canon. "Lindrick," being backed for the Stakes at Worcester, makes his appearance at the fitting time and place, but does not go. Undoubtedly that was all regular, and in keeping with the modern modus. But some of those whose "withers were not unwrung" set up a shout of indignation, thus summed up by the rcspondent-" But the parties who would suffer most by the nonstarting of Lindrick for the Worcestershire Stakes are justly and properly served. I allude to that greedy and unprincipled class of scamps on the turf who obtain their information by thrusting themselves into the confidence of those traitors found in most, if not in all, training stables; or in default of that, seduce some hitherto innocent stable-boys to break faith with their masters, to whose interests they ought to be bound by every legal and honourable tie. This class, dishonourably possessing themselves of information through the above means, rush to the betting-lists, and Tattersall's, and the clubs, and forestalling both owner and trainer, and the honest portion of the stable, are, in seven or eight cases out of ten, always the first investors on a fair or superior animal. The owner or his trainer may go to Hanover, or a warmer region, if they like; but should either owner or trainer have the audacity to scratch his horse for the race for which these busy gentlemen have backed him, then all at once they class themselves with an injured and 100-confiding British public, and their demoniacal howl of disappointment is forthwith pathetically and magniloquently described as a burst of unqualified disgust uttered by the whole of London and Worcester, and likely to bring down on the devoted head of the owner or trainer an expression of public in dignation not easily misunderstood !'"

When Gay drew Lockit and Peachem, he did but daguerreotype the shadows of coming events. How passing truc is the old saw, there

66

is nothing new under the sun"! A very brief notice must serve to set out the morale of the intermediate week between the olympics on the banks of the Mersey and those celebrated on the Sussex Downs. There were half a dozen legitimate provincial trysts; and pre-eminent among these was Stamford. Merely local position must be a tower of turf-strength here. With the Burghley stable for an aid-de-camp, it would be strange if a race-meeting did not make a success. Such undoubtedly was the latest anniversary of Stamford. There, "all was gentle and aristocratic"-as well as especially popular. Also, there was another feature..." The muster of speculators," remarked a sporting paper, in alluding to it, "was greater than is usually to be seen; business, however, both on the events of the day and those to come, was exceedingly limited." Surely this is no legitimate cause for regret, but rather for rejoicing. I could not help smiling the other day, when a paragraph on a subject always of interest to me caught my observation, accidentally, in a number of Mr. Charles Dickens's admirable weekly miscellany. It ran in this wise...

"The horrid passion for gambling seems spread over the whole continent; and it is proved by experience that, of all the different forms of gambling, lotteries" [in modern flash English, "sweeps"-" lists"]" are the most fearful instruments by which a people can be made to scourge itself with its own vices. Long may we be before our papers can show paragraphs like these: LOTTERY OF THE GOLD INGOTS.-To the particulars furnished yesterday we are now able to add some others. A grocer living on the Boulevard-du-Temple has gained a prize of twenty-five thousand francs (one thousand pounds). He was on the point of retiring from business, after receiving his little fortune. A commissionaire (light porter) of the Rue-St.-Honoré gained five thousand francs; a young seamstress living in the Rue-Neuve-Breda, one thousand francs. Two or three years since, a dealer in river-sand, living on the Quai-Jemappes, died, leaving a wife and children, and his affairs somewhat embarrassed. A brave woman, who had been their servant, unhesitatingly assisted her mistress with her savings. To this worthy woman has fallen the prize of four hundred thousand francs. There is a report of a young servant-girl, who had drawn fifteen hundred francs-the amount of her hoardings-from the savings'-bank, in order to buy fifteen hundred lottery-tickets with that money, but who got nothing. It is rumoured that another young servant-girl, of the Rue-St.-Denis, on finding that she had lost her savings-four hundred francs-which she had put into the lottery, became insane. It is asserted that, up to the present moment, there have been already presented to the pay-office of the Lottery nine tickets bearing the number which gained the grand prize, and seven bearing the number which gained the prize of two hundred thousand francs. It is said, in explanation of these facts, which may give rise to so much controversy, that clever hands forged the winning numbers.'"..

Upon this morceau-worthy of being an excript from a note addressed by Strephon to Phyllis-the essayist thus moralizes...

"We have only to follow mentally the train of thought which these few sentences suggest, to appreciate the consequences of a national system of lotteries" [sweeps or lists]. "French literature is full of examples in which girls and women, of low and high birth, have been dragged through every possible defilement, to utter starvation, in order to gratify an insatiable craving after gambling by lottery. The cheap price of the tickets tempts the victims to pawn the last rag, and abstain from the last morsel, in the delusive hope of at last gaining a fortune. The Journal de l'Arrondissement du Havre, May 4th, 1852, advertizes

five lotteries. The tickets are one franc for each share; but tickets are also to be bought which comprise a chance in each lottery of the five. It is cruel to hold out to poor wretches the temptation of twenty thousand, ten thousand, five thousand, or two thousand franes for one franc... The OR' reads as if the miserable being had only to choose his fortune."

Premising that, in lieu of their dernier resort being "to pawn the last rag, and abstain from the last morsel," the custom of the British Lists' victims is to help themselves to their masters' silver spoons and Betts' Patent Smithfield Cognac at the houses of the sporting licensed victuallers, I venture to suggest to the inimitable author of the article on French Provincial News, quoted above, that he is somewhat premature in his national congratulation when he exclaims "Long may we be before our papers can show paragraphs like this!" ....In a Sunday paper of the 25th ult. he may meet with a few bits quite as stunning as his Gallic extract. What, for instance, does he think of these passages, taken at random from its commercial columns ? .

"PROPHECY! PROPHECY! PROPHECY EXTRAORDINARY!-Edward Messer's extraordinary success this week sent Retail for the Burghley Stakes; only one horse sent! Nottingham Handicap, sent Lindrick and Lady Amyott; came in first and second."

"GOODWOOD STAKES AND CUP! GOODWOOD STAKES AND CUP!!-A great number of winners guaranteed by NONPAREIL for the Goodwood Meeting. An immense sum of money is to be made by having N.'s Goodwood list. Week after week I keep adding fresh laurels to my fame. I advise all my subscribers to go for a good stake at Goodwood; they are certain. I don't spring up and put puffing advertisements forth, trying to rob the public. Don't be deceived by the would-be prophets. I tell you, my friends, you are sure to win by becoming a subscriber. I am well assured that no enterprise is more remunerative than welldirected turf investments. Don't forget Goodwood. You are sure to win: go for a good stake. Lose no time. A list, ten shillings!"

"MESSRS HOWARD AND CLINTON TO THE PUBLIC. - Gentlemen of the sporting world, a gold mine has been found in England! But, when will honourable competition be the study and pursuit of gentlemen, instead of petty, contemptible scheming? Goldfinder was our tip' for the Nottingham Handicap : sent out at 6 to 1, three weeks before the race, saw hedging at evens and ought to have won."

"John Cullen has to thank his numerous subscribers, and informs them that if they have backed the horses sent out for the Goodwood Stakes and Cup, they may make certain of coming off winners. J. C. has this week received the most important information relating to the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire Stakes, and it will be sent out to his subscribers immediately after the Goodwood Races. If each subscriber does not make at least a couple of hundred pounds by it, it will not be J. C.'s fault."

"A certainty for the Ham Stakes: odds good: also Goodwood Cup.-Mr. J. Cooper guarantees his marked list to be the best ever sent out. Any sum paid for stable information really good. Strict secresy observed.”

"Patrick Kelby has only time to say that the winner of Goodwood Stakes has arrived, and in splendid form : the winner of the Cup, Lavant, and Ham Stakes-all the above certain. Gentlemen who make large bets should send a guinea for some private information on four events, by which vast sumns may be won."

“Y. Z. Johnson begs to announce that he intends stationing men at the principal stables in the kingdom, to watch the horses and report them to him. Owing to this he will have to raise his fare from 15 stamps to 30 stamps per race!!!”

What "the Dickens" does he say to that? What becomes of the

comparison between "a people made to scourge itself with its own vices," and "perfidious Albion," where announcements such as these are put forward in the recognised organs of public intelligence, and circulate among the "nation of shopkeepers"-" familiar in their mouths as household words."

Among the "fashionables" returned as visitors to the course at Stamford was Sir Frederick Thesiger-there is balm in Gilead still. The ideal of a public prosecuter is not sufficient to secure a due administration of the law-as malheureusement shown by two recent antecedents. Why will not the patrons of the turf see to its wholesome conduct? What pretence can there be for its being committed to hands which deal with it as a staple of sporting commerce-wholesale and retail? The Olympic average was but a moderate one. Retail beat his field for the Burghley Stakes in a canter, with 8st. 7ibs. on him; Ilex, 5st. 10lb. nowhere; and Ilex, 6st. 4lbs., beat him for the Gold Cup, carrying 9st. 4lb., in a very resolute finish. The meeting had a catalogue of eleven events, whereof five went to the creditor account of the Burghley stable, in winnings and walks over. This brings us to the 21st of July-the 22nd saw the lists prepared at Nottingham. Our local aspirant to chivalrous honours is certainly endeavouring to deserve them. It was put on the scene with every regard to fair and gracious order. Still provincial actors are but provincial actors, and although the play and the plot may be diversified, the dramatis persona go their circuits with a pertinacity whose moral belongs to the toujours pridrix family. Your leather-plating is to the right sporting taste as cold porridge to the palate that feeds with a view to relish. The Nottinghamshire Handicap was the feature of the tryst won, as we have already been advised, by the "Extraordinary Prophecy" of Edward Messer, by Lindrick-Lady Amyott second. The favourite was Goldfinder, who ought to have won it, as we are assured by Messrs. Howard and Clinton. This philosophy furnishes its panacea for all mortal ills, and the stoic reserved for immortality by Joseph Miller, was enabled to give thanks when he had the gout that it was not the stone, and vice versa when visited by the stone, that it was not the gout. Also there was a popular Handicap, hight The Chesterfield. For it a lot of 29 entered, and a party of half-a-dozen " went." The ring picked out Candlewick, and did not burn its fingers. The favourite won in a cauter. Her Majesty's Plate fell to the prowess of Shropshire Witch, beating "another couple of cripples"-a pretty phraze whereby to designate the performances of a Royal trio....

While these things were being enacted at Nottingham, there was racing afloat in Surrey. Guildford races was races, this time-four of them, one in three heats. It remains to be seen, will such an offering propitiate the powers who rule the destinies of Royal Plates. The winner of the issue of that ilk, relating to these presents, was Lamartine-beating Butterfly and four others. The list wound up with a handicap Sweepstakes of forty shillings-that is to say of "twosovereigns each :" won by-Hambletonian.......

"Imperial Cæsar, dead and turned to clay,

May stop a hole to keep the wind away.'

Moreover, contemporary with the foregoing twain, was Abingdon Meeting, and eke that of Knutsford. Anent the latter I am silent, lest I enact towards it both the accusing spirit and recording angel of my Uncle Toby's oath.......

"Is this a weakness which our reason scorns?

Ah! surely nothing falls but something mourns !''

Abingdon, it must be said, reads like unmistakable leather platery. If any local interests be served, and no proper prejudice is offended by that character of racing, why-vogue la galère. That it bears any consanguinuity with the legitimate purposes of the turf is of course beside the question. Turn we to metal more attractive. Like the Byronic hour-" when storms are done "was the advent of Goodwood dawning upon the troubled passions of political strife and struggle. And passing fair and fitting, both in time and place, was that model of an English "meeting "-the vernacular of her national sport. The anniversary of the Sussex chivalric tryst for '52 commenced on the 27th ult. The weather, was the ideal of summer-sunny, breezy, fragrant as the Tempé of poets. The occasion was not one wherein business occupied the ascendant; even the profession found temptation "dississipere in loco"-that is to say at Bognor, Southsea, and even extreme Ryde. The company in quality and quantity perhaps exceeded all former antecedents; all, at least, of recent experience. The racing was ultra profuse. Leaving the holyday details unsung, at least in this untuneful retrospect, we will pass in review such of the issues as point the moral of the especial matter on the scene, and dissolve, in some sort, the shadows of coming events.

The Craven, with a field of nine, opened the proceedings: Lamartine, first in the ring at 8 to 1 against him, was first in the throng...a muster, it must be confessed, of but small account. The rich four-year-old Sweepstakes of 300 sovereigns each, with its quartet at the post, worth £1,950, was won by Newminster, 3 to 1 on him-Harpsichord, Phlegethon, and little Midas, were his adversaries; of course it was but a canter for the northern champion; how it came to a race--that is to say to a run-at all, seems a difficult riddle to solve. A round dozen having contended for a Fifty Pound Plate, with a chicken sweepstakes -another victory for the favourite-Gold Dust- the Lavant drew forth its youthful array. These were eight in number, the betting being 6 to 4 only against the Sister to Mountain Deer, 5 to 2 Hybla, and long odds against any other. It was not at any point the pretence of a race, the Sister to Mountain Deer winning in a canter, and looking as if she would keep the word of promise to the good old sporting Squire, which, by fair means or foul, her brother has broken to his hope.... The Gratwicke was another guess affair; the talents had selected Father Thames as the pick of the basket, with the following policy and fortune: odds, 7 to 4 against Sir Robert Pigot's colt, 3 to 1 Longbow, the same about King Pepin, and long figures offered about the others. Seven ran, and after a most difficult launch, Red Hind following the suit of so many of her fractious stable-fellows, they got under way. The first and second in the odds quotations, however, had it between