to have fancied, when they unfortunately took a fancy for Olympics, that it was entirely a one-handed game, and whose conduct goes far to strengthen us in the opinion that-in sporting life, at least—there never was but one "honest man and a lawyer :" and that one the inimitable Matthews's Dick Cypher. Notwithstanding all this, among the profession the defendant in the late action is, no doubt, considered an honour and an ornament to it.

Amongst many other reasons given for not countenancing betting, is the proverbial rascality said to be attached to most turf transactions; and one honourable member of the lower House gave us to understand that the gentlemen who had undertaken the arduous public duty of laying these informations, for which they were so shamefully and openly libelled, were themselves the victims of frauds of this nature! This statement was, perhaps, received with as much surprise and the joke as keenly enjoyed by these gentlemen (the informers) as by any other individual in or out of the House. Now, far be it from me to deny that robberies have been, are, and will be committed by a certain class of men, who are found not only in racing but every other circle; but I think I have shown that the rules which have latterly been so strictly enforced, have tended much to discomfit such characters, and that more might yet be done if the gentlemen ready and willing to do it were supported in the proper quarters, or even left to themselves. If not-if the whole sporting world, the hundreds of men of high honour who delight in rearing one of the noblest animals, the thorough-bred horse-if all must suffer for the misdeeds of a few "wretched, degraded, spiritless outcasts," I trust it will be straightway enacted that clients employ none but honest, respectable lawyers-men "whose characters will bear the strictest investigation"—and that penalties, thrice as heavy as those now hanging over the head of the unfortunate leg, will be inflicted on the judge or magistrate who dare turn his ear to the complaints of any but purely disinterested informers.

LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS.

Wild Sports in Europe, Asia, and Africa; illustrated by drawings taken from Nature.-By Lieutenant-Colonel E. NAPIER (late 46th Regiment). Author of "Scenes and Sports in Foreign Lands," Excursions along the Shores of the Mediterranean," "Reminiscences of Syria," &c. London: Henry Colburn, Great Marlborough-street, 1844.

In whatever character we view the author of this work-whether as a gallant veteran, an able officer, an experienced sportsman, or a Napier-we shall find him winning and wearing the suffrages of the public. Now, as Southey says, there are publics of all sizes, from the genus generalissimo, the great universal public, whom London is

not large enough to hold, to the species specialissima, the littlethinking public, which may find room in a nutshell. It is to the manly and enthusiastic class of men, the sporting public, that these two volumes are specifically addressed; and to a scion of the bloodroyal of England, distinguished as a sportsman, that they are worthily dedicated. We hold that Nature, we mean nature's Creator, has implanted in the human mind a love of those bold and generous exercises that send the blood mantling from the heart to the cheek in healthful glow; we also hold that, for some wise though unknown purpose, a law of mutual destruction exists in the world's legislature by which, under certain human restrictions, man is permitted and authorized to hold the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, in thraldom and subjection, for his recreation and delight. From the mighty men of valour, the Nimrods of old up to the present day, it shall be found that the bold and ready sportsman was, and is, the accomplished man of action, the polished gentleman, the chivalric cavalier, the bounteous and liberal soul, par excellence. Faith and fidelity will ever cling around those princes whose love of national sports shall touch the popular chord. Colonel Napier, therefore, has done well by his work in thus introducing it to public notice under the high auspices of his royal highness Prince George of Cambridge. The vivid and stirring reminiscences speak for themselves. A traveller and sojourner in distant lands from his youth, the author seems to have seized the most novel and pleasing features of each clime to dwell upon and record. Unlike those tourists who set down in alphabetical order all the tedium they have themselves endured, he has skimmed the cream of his champagne alone for his readers. Light, racy, and buoyant are these pages as the mind of the writer. Characterised by an absence of pretension, doubly valuable in an age of pretension, they are full of anecdote and amusing contrast; and the reader accompanies the author as one of every sporting excursion and through every scene detailed. At home on sea and land, he describes a storm at sea as graphically as a field day on a mountain adventure. We have, first, a great deal of interesting matter on the voyage home. Gibraltar and its sports come next. Then follows the cleverest description of a bull fight, at Seville, it has ever been our good fortune to read. Here the true sportsman shews himself at once in the unqualified horror with which he views a scene of carnage without danger or excitement, or scope, or purpose, for its palliation. A "battue" in the Seirras of Andalusia, piscatorial passages of various length, a rich portraiture of the African coast opposite to Gibraltar, and some reminiscences of Barbary and boar-hunting, conclude the first volume too briefly for the reader's pleasure. The second commences with a quiz upon Lamartine and travellers' tales; Malta in summer, and its inaptitude for sport. This place, and the islands adjacent, furnish repeated occasion for the faithful and sharply-cut pen of our author, to define innumerable graphic pictures of the country amusements, state of manners, buildings, &c., through which it carries you with interest. Casting the Djereed, on Mount Lebanon, with a sketch of the "Ladies of the Land," comprises a railroad coup d'oeil of that long desolated and most beautiful province. The plains of Syria are

sketched, with their abundance of sport, contrasted with the mountains of Syria, and their scanty concomitant of hill partridge. The author thus relates, during his pleasant Syrian campaign:

"In our subsequent roving and bandit, Bedouin-like life, we traversed Syria in every direction, crossed the ranges of Lebanon and of Anti-Libanus, explored the Adjelloun and the Naplous hills, galloped over the plains of Esdralon and Sharon, even to the confines of the desert; and were, in all parts, kindly treated, and indiscrimi nately received hospitality from every tribe and sect. The Maronite, the Druse, the Metouali, the Syrio-Greek, the Israelite, and the Armenian, all gladly administered to our wants. Our transient abode was occasionally the ornamented kiosk of the city, sometimes the humble mountain-cabin; oft have we feasted with fat well-fed friars, and sometimes broken bread with the wandering Arab under the shelter of his dark camel-hair tent-at one time fugitives, at another heading numerous bands of wild mountaineers, or of the no less wild horsemen of the desert. Ever shall I with pleasure recall those stirring times of adventure and excitement- those few weeks which terminated the Syrian campaign, and which passed so rapidly to myself and a few chosen companions.

"As has been said, we had little leisure to devote to the sports of the field, but the old 'double-barrel' continued, nevertheless, my constant companion, and I would occasionally get a flying shot in the mountains, or breathe my little Arab on the wide plains which sometimes stretched out far before us.

"Although the latter abound with every species of sylvan inhabitants -wild boars, gazelles, wolves, jackalls, and foxes, and waterfowl of all kinds-the mountains of Syria are singularly deficient in this respect, a few hill partridge being nearly the only game I ever met with in the various ranges on this side the river Jordan. The latter is, however, a noble bird, and beats in size and appearance any of the tribe I have ever chanced, in different parts of the world, to meet with. I remember on one occasion being stationed with a small party of Druse horse in the Boccah,* a village near the foot of the Anti-Libanus; time hung heavily on hand: I took up my gun, and slowly ascending the steep side of the mountain, rambled on without getting a shot, until I had entered the belt of snow which ran along the upper ridge of the hills. At this moment a fine hawk, swiftly sailing along at my feet, received the contents of one barrel; and ere I had time to load again with shot, a large bird-roused by the report-broke covert from under a few stunted bushes some fifty yards off, but instead of rising on the wing, ran with incredible rapidity along the bare and naked side of the mountain, just clear of the snowy border. My right barrel contained a ball; but I levelled, fired, and had the satisfaction to see that I had done so with effect: the bird, suddenly arrested in his rapid career, tumbled over once or twice, and rolling to the bottom of a deep ravine, was there secured by the son of the village Sheikh, who had accompanied me on the occasion. It chanced to be the mountain partridge,' a bird of most game appearance, about the size of a pheasant,

* The Schal-el-Boccah is the plain separating Mount Lebanon from Anti

Libanus.

and proved a great addition to the barley cakes and sour curds which constituted our evening meal."

Thus have we given a short specimen of these light and pleasant pages, wherein the style will be found adapted to the subject matter, rather brief and colloquial than carefully elaborate. The reader may have seen some of these sporting memoranda in another form, but we are quite sure that a second perusal will render him more alive to their merits, and more desirous of seeing again in print, as prefix to a new work, the name of Lieutenant Colonel E. Napier.

The Horse in Health and Disease. BY WILLIAM ROPER, SURGEON, T.C.D. London: Calder, 199, Oxford Street. 1844.

This is a very useful little book; its size being far from the least of its merits. Within the last dozen years a great many works have appeared upon the subject of "hippopathology" (a shocking word by the way, and enough to frighten a stable-man from all purpose of reading), of cumbrous size, our own library containing thousands of pages written within that period on the foot of the horse alone. Mr. Roper has given much information in an essential form-the true shape in which to exhibit knowledge to the million. We recommend his volume not because it is free from objection, but because there is good stuff in it. We don't quarrel with the author for his taste for other tongues, but when he rushes into classic lore he should not commit such assault and battery on the muses, as the following:

"Non ignara mali disco succurere miseris.” Surely Virgil's version is more musical:

"Haud ignara mali miseris succurere disco."

To turn, however, to matter of more account, as regards the object for which the work is intended, we will take up the third chapter, as being most seasonable on the threshold of the racing campaign; it relates to training, and thus commences--

"The importance of this subject is such as to deserve the attentive consideration of every one who may wish to know the reasons that prompt him to action, and who is unwilling to rest satisfied without some knowledge of the principles of life. There are, however, many who never seem to exercise those intellectual faculties with which they are gifted, and which alone serve to distinguish man from the brute; but are content to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors, and thus perpetuate ancient errors. Such are the trainers of the racehorse of the present day; they follow up the system of their ancestors, which has neither novelty nor ability to recommend it, but on the contrary, possesses much to reprehend. For their forefathers there was every excuse; chemistry, physiology, anatomy, and pathology, had not then removed the mysteries that clouded the phenomena of life, that concealed the beauties of truth; but now, by their aid, we can comprehend the working of the magnificent machinery of animal life, and so regulate and direct it.

"There can be now no excuse for the ignorance which would make the system of training a mystery, merely because those who profess to

know its art are unacquainted with principles of guidance, and, therefore, to conceal their own folly try to make it unintelligible. This the universal characteristic of ignorance, more conspicuous from the fact that there is no work on the subject from among their own body. "If the public were to know the numbers of colts and fillies that yearly go into training and are ruined, so that nothing after is heard of them, they would be astonished; and yet these wholesale destroyers would ridicule the idea of any one out of their own immediate party training a horse. Let us ask the question-How many colts are there yearly in each Derby, and how many are brought fit to the post on the day? But if such be asked of the colts, how stands the case with regard to the fillies for the Oaks?"

Now, here Mr. Roper, it would seem, objects to the system of training, that it must needs be false because of the number of fillies entered for the Oaks that are ruined in the preparation. Not to speak it profanely, we will take the case of another description of fillies: the filles du corps de ballet, at the Academie Royale, in Paris, or Her Majesty's Theatre, in London, for example. How many does he suppose of the lot put into training at those places ever see the footlights? Not one in a score, certainly; which is below the Epsom average. The fact is, both these classes of young ladies are required to effect something ultra natural. The former to take to their heels a vast deal more than they would in a state of nature; the latter to abandon the use of heels altogether, and perform their exercise on the tips of their toe-nails. Trainers may not be philosophers and physiologists, and similar refinements, but the majority of them are practical men, and bring their teams to the post in a form that very few theorists could achieve. Mr. Roper will excuse our speaking thus plainly, because we think the sweeping denunciation of that profession in which he indulges likely to work mischief. The public are well served in many, indeed in most, of the great training establishments; if he doubts us, we are ready to back either of the glorious Johns, Scott or Day, and bring a two-year-old to the post in a form that shall defy all the skill of the veterinary profession to approach within everlasting, illimitable space.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS OF THE METROPOLIS.

"In sweet music is such art,
Killing care and grief of heart."

SHAKSPEARE.

We have still to record the supremacy of music over other public amusements. Accordingly, we commence with the opera. The last month was the first of the season of sweet sounds from the south.

It is yet too early to make observations on the brilliancy of the Italian establishment, or to signalize the several débuts of mark. Hitherto the houses have been far from overflowing; yet we have been favoured with Persiani, an especial favourite of ours, whose