frirlf liJifliniilr: 
 
 Ste ipxb anil ^EBtimeiSf, 
 
 BY 
 LORD WILLIAM LENNoic, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 COMPTON AUDLEY," " PEECY HAMILTON," " PHILIP COUETENAY, 
 " WELLINGTON IN PEIVATE LIFE," ETC. ETC. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 T. C. NEWBY, PUBLISHER, WELBECK STREET, 
 
 CAVENDISH SQUARE. 
 
 1857. 
 
TO 
 
 E E. H. PEINCE ALBERT, I, G. 
 
 ETC. ETC. ETC. 
 
 THE ILLTJSTfilOTTS PATRON 
 
 OF SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL AGEICI7LTURB, 
 
 AND THE LIBERAL SUPPORTER 
 
 OF THOSE 
 
 NATIONAL FIELD SPOETS, 
 
 WHICH ELEVATE THE CHARACTER OF OUR COUNTRYMEN, 
 
 IS, WITH THE MOST GRACIOUS PERMISSION OF 
 
 HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, 
 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY HIS VERY FAITHFUL SERVANT, 
 
 WILLIAM PITT LENNOX. 
 
CON'TENTS. 
 
 THE QUEEN S STAG-HOUNDS .... 1 
 
 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY 
 
 FRIENDS . , . . . -17 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A " BAGMAN ;" OR, ADVENTURES 
 
 OF A FOX , . , . . -70 
 
 LIFE OF A PHEASANT. .... 97 
 
 SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA . . . .111 
 
 THE SHOOTING SEASON ; WITH A FEW PRACTICAL RE- 
 MARKS UPON GUNS, GAME, AND DOGS . . , 121 
 
 " CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION ^^ . . . 146 
 
 SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON . . . . ] 7S 
 
 A YARN UPON YACHTING .... 191 
 
 A VISIT ON BOARD THE UNITED STATEs' FRIGATE " ST. 
 
 LAWRENCE," IN COWES ROADS . . . 206 
 
 ENGLISH SPORTS : 
 
 FISHING ...... 212 
 
 HUNTING 
 
 232 
 
 ARCHERY . . . . . . 242 
 
VI CONTENTS, 
 
 ENGLISH SPORTS, CONTINUEB. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE RING. . . . . . 247 
 
 RACING ...... 256 
 
 COURSING ..... 284 
 
 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND . . . 295 
 
 SEA FISHING . . ... . . 348 
 
THE QUEEN'S STAG-HOUNDS. 
 
 The hunt is up, the morn is bright and grey, 
 The fields are fragrant, and the woods are green: 
 Uncouple here, and let us make a bay. 
 And wake the emperor and his lovely bride. 
 And rouse the prince ; and ring a hunter's peal. 
 That all the court may echo with the noise." 
 
 Titus Andronicus. 
 
 As loyal subjects, we cannot more appropriately com- 
 mence an article upon the royal hounds than by quoting 
 the greeting of the above-named noble Roman. 
 
 " Many good morrows to your majesty ! " and to your 
 illustrious consort ! add we — with that respect and admi- 
 ration which is due to one who has endeared himself to all 
 classes by the propriety of his conduct, the integrity of his 
 character, and the undeviating rectitude of his whole life. 
 Independent of which, his Royal Highness has already 
 proved himself a lover of British sports ; not only as a first- 
 rate shot, an enthusiastic deer stalker, a master of a pack 
 of harriers ; but as having, during his visit to the Duke of 
 Rutland, in Leicestershire, honoured the Hunt by joining 
 it. Before entering upon the subject of Her Majesty's 
 stag-hounds, we must make a " cast back " to hunting 
 in the olden times. 
 
2 QUEEN S STAG-HOUNDS. 
 
 In every age of the world, men have, not only in their 
 savage, but also in their civilised state, been devoted to 
 the chase. In the heathen mythology, we find the 
 sports of the field constantly alluded to, as in the cases of 
 Diana (the goddess of hunters), Apollo, Cephalus, Acteon, 
 Chiron, Meleager, Adonis, and last, not least, Saron. We 
 trust that the popular contributor to the Sporting Litera- 
 ture of the day, who adopts this latter appellation, will not 
 meet with the fate that befel his namesake, that of being 
 drowned in the sea, in which he swam for some miles in 
 pursuit of a stag. 
 
 Perseus was looked upon by the Greeks as the oldest 
 hunter, although Castor and Pollux disputed this title ; the 
 first of these immortal twin brothers being a horse, and the 
 other a dog breaker. 
 
 Return we to mortals. Alexander the Great was fond 
 of hunting, as was Cyrus. In the piping time of peace, 
 the latter monarch not only took all the officers of his 
 court out on hunting excursions, but ordered the soldiers 
 of his army to accompany him ; that, by so doing, they 
 might become active on horseback, dexterous, agile, and 
 vigorous. Before the reign of Artaxerxes, no one but 
 the master had the right to kill, or to maim the animal 
 pursued. That prince permitted all to strike, and to kill 
 if they could, the game they had in pursuit. Xenophon, the 
 philosopher and general, after his famous retreat, retired to 
 Solontum, where he amused himself, his sons and his 
 friends, with the pleasures of the chase. It was here, also, 
 that he wrote his works upon that subject. He looked upon 
 this exercise as best calculated to form a good soldier ; that 
 it habituated men to cold, heat, and fatigue ; that it kindled 
 courage, elevated the soul, invigorated the body, made the 
 senses more acute, and retarded old age. The Romans 
 made field sports an important concern : it was the school in' 
 
queen's stag-hounds. 3 
 
 which their warrior-chiefs were formed. " The amuse- 
 ment of the Roman youth," writes Pliny, " was the chase. 
 Courage made them hunters, and ambition heroes." 
 Julius Csesar praises the people of the North as being ex- 
 pert, both in the pursuit of game and war. Pompey, after 
 having " larruped the African niggers," introduced among 
 them the sports of the chase. In short, the encomiums 
 that have been bestowed upon the "noble science" by 
 Plato, Xenophon, Cicero, Appian, Virgil, Horace, Seneca, 
 Pliny the younger, Grotius, and others, clearly demonstrate 
 how highly it was regarded in those days. 
 
 The Laplanders live almost entirely upon fish and game. 
 The Tartars too, according to the authority of one of their 
 historians, " draw the whole of their subsistence from the 
 chase : when there is a scarcity of game, they eat their 
 horses, and drink the milk of their mares." This, we pre- 
 sume, must be the regular Cream of Tartar. Reader, look 
 out to your pockets, I have perpetrated a pun ! In France, 
 from the days of Charlemagne, the monarchs of that coun- 
 try have been mighty Nimrods. The fete of St. Hubert, 
 the patron saint of hunting, is still kept up annually in 
 that country. Jacques de Fouilleux, and Robert de Salnove, 
 whose works upon the chase ought to be in every 
 sportsman's library, give most interesting details of foreign 
 hunting. The former describes Francis the First as the 
 father of hunters. In the dedication of La Venerie de 
 Jacques de Fouilleux, the author, addressing Charles IX. 
 of France, says, " that among the various pursuits of men, 
 whether in the arts, or in high and occult sciences, or in 
 the study of philosophy, none can be compared, in his esti- 
 mation, to the dehghts of the chase." St. Foix gives an 
 anecdote of Francis the First, which proves the daring 
 conduct of that prince : " When this monarch was at 
 Ambroise, among other diversions for the ladies, he ordered 
 
4 QUEEN S STAG HOUNDS, 
 
 an enormous wild boar, he had caught in the forest, to be 
 let loose in the court before the castle. The animal, 
 enraged by the small darts thrown at him from the 
 windows, ran furiously up the grand staircase, and burst 
 open the door of the ladies' apartment. Francis ordered 
 his officers not to attack him, and waited deliberately to 
 receive him with the point of his sword, which he dexter- 
 ously plunged between his eyes, and, with a forcible grasp, 
 turned the boar upon his back." This prince was then 
 only in his one-and-twentieth year. Homer is perpetually 
 alluding to, and deriving similes from, the different modes 
 of hunting ; and Virgil frequently mentions the subject. 
 I shall quote one passage, to show how it was looked upon 
 in those days : — 
 
 Natos ad flumina primum. 
 
 Deferimus, ssevoque gelu duramus et undis ; 
 Venatu invigilant pueri sylvasque fatigant ; 
 Flectere ludos equos, et spicula tendere cornu." 
 
 ^NEID, IX. 605. 
 
 The Greeks entertained their friends with that noble 
 pursuit as one of their highest amusements. Cicero, 
 speaking of intrepidity, thus speaks : — " But those persons 
 who wish to become illustrious as sportsmen, regard no 
 danger nor inconvenience." Pliny writes thus of the 
 hound : " His dexterity and sagacity are preeminent ; 
 he diligently seeks out the track, and pursues the game, 
 drawing on the accompanying huntsmen to his prey; 
 which as soon as he perceives, how silent he is ! how 
 still ! how signifrcant is his discovery ! His tail is first 
 employed, then his nose." 
 
 Shakspeare writes as follows : — 
 
 " Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds ; 
 Brach, Merriman — the poor cur is emboss"d ; 
 
QUEEN S STAG HOUNDS. 5 
 
 And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach. 
 Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver ruade it good 
 At the hedge-corner, in the coldest fault ? 
 I would not lose the dog for twenty pound. 
 
 Why, Bellman is as good as he, my lord ; 
 
 He cried upon it at the merest loss. 
 
 And twice to-day picked out the dullest scent." 
 
 Ben Jonson also eulogises the chase : 
 
 " Hunting is the noblest exercise ; 
 Makes men laborious, active, wise ; 
 Brings health, and doth the soul delight ; 
 It helps the hearing and the sight. 
 It teacheth arts that never slip 
 The memory — good horsemanship, 
 Search, sharpness, courage, and defence. 
 And chaseth all ill habits thence." 
 
 In the Spectator, it is prescribed as the best kind of 
 physic for mending a bad constitution, and preserving a 
 good one. Dryden thus writes : — 
 
 " The first physicians by debauch were made ; 
 Excess began, and sloth sustains the trade : 
 By chase our long- lived fathers earned their food. 
 Toil strung the nerves and purified the blood j 
 Better to hunt in fields for health unbought. 
 Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught." 
 
 Addison says, in another part of the Spectator — " We 
 find that those parts are most healthy, where they subsist 
 by hunting, and that men Hve longest when their lives 
 are so employed." Somerville, who writes with all the 
 spirit and fire of an eager sportsman, gives the most 
 animated description. 
 
 " Delightful scene I 
 When all around is gay — men, horses, dogs ; 
 
6 QUEEN S STAG HOUNDS. 
 
 And in each blooming countenance appears 
 Fresh-blooming health and universal joy." 
 
 The partiality of many of our kings for the amusements 
 of the field, is well known, and the consort of our beloved 
 queen, and the youthful Prince of Wales, often seek them. 
 What can be a more gratifying sight, than to behold kings, 
 queens, and princes laying aside their distinctions of rank, 
 and entering like private individuals into such healthful 
 pleasures ? 
 
 Among the " Royal Sportsmen" of " merrie England" 
 maybe mentioned Edward the Martyr, whose tragic end, near 
 Corfe Castle, is well known. Edward the Confessor was also 
 strongly devoted to hunting. " There was only one diver- 
 sion," says the historian, " in which he took the greatest pos- 
 sible delight, namely, to follow a pack of fleet hounds in pur- 
 suit of their game, and to cheer them mih his voice. Every 
 day, after divine service, he took the field, and spent his 
 life in these beloved sports." William the Conqueror was 
 a most tyrannical master of hounds, having desolated and 
 dispeopled a great part of Hampshire to form the New Forest, 
 then called Ytene. Some idea of the Norman's enjoy- 
 ment of such manly exercise may be formed from the 
 princely donations he bestowed upon his servants. Domes- 
 day-book records that Waleran, the huntsman, possessed 
 fifteen manors in Wiltshire, eight in Dorsetshire, with 
 several in Hampshire ; the same authority gives the names 
 of other huntsmen, Croe, Godwin, Williemus, as the 
 owners of extensive possessions. In those days, the fairer 
 portion of the creation caught the prevailing passion ; even 
 the mitre deserted its functions, and the cowl quitted the 
 retirement of the monastery, to join in the pleasures of the 
 chase. William Rufus fell a victim to the sport he was so 
 attached to; King John, amidst the turmoil of a dis- 
 tracted and inglorious reign, found frequent opportunities 
 
QUEEN S STAG HOUNDS. 7 
 
 of indulging his passion for it ; Edward the First may 
 also take a prominent place among the royal hunters of 
 England. 
 
 The following account of the comptroller of the ward- 
 robe of this monarch, a.d. 1299, will give my readers 
 some little insight into the habits and customs of those 
 days : — 
 
 Paid to William de Foxhunte, the king's huntsman of £ s. d. 
 foxes in divers forests and parks, for his own wages, 
 and the wages of his two boys ; and to the care of the 
 dogs from November 20th to the 19th of November 
 following, for 366 days, it being leap year, to each per 
 day twopence . . . . . . ."^ 9 3 
 
 Paid to the same, for the keep of twelve foxhounds be- 
 longing to the king for the same time, each dog per 
 day a half-penny . . . . . . .930 
 
 Paid to the same, the expense of a horse to carry the nets 
 from November 20th to the last day of April, 163 days 
 threepence per day . . , . . .209 
 
 Paid the same, the expense of the horse from September 
 1st, on which day the hunting season, after the dead 
 season, to the 19th of November, 80 days, threepence 
 per day . . . . . . . .10 
 
 Paid to William d'Blatherwyck, huntsman of the king's 
 foxhounds, for shoes for himself and two boys, to each 
 of them two shilhngs and fourpence . . . .070 
 
 Paid to the same for his habit during the present year . 13 4 
 
 Paid to the same, for habits for his two boys, ten shillings 
 
 each 100 
 
 Total £23 7 1 
 
 If these sums are multiplied by fifteen, there will be 
 nearly the due allowance made for the difference in the 
 value of money between that and the present time, and 
 consequently the whole of the king's annual expense, 
 under this article, amounted to somewhat more than 
 £350 of our money. Nearly two hundred years after- 
 
8 queen's stag hounds. 
 
 wards, about the year 1481, Julian Berners, sister of 
 Richard Lord Berners, wrote three English tracts on 
 hunting, hawking, and heraldry. From an edition of 
 this book printed by Wynken de Worde, in 1496, 
 I give the following extracts : — " The proprytees of 
 a good horse : A good horse sholde have fifteen good 
 propryties and condycions : that is to wyte, three of a 
 man, three of a woman, three of a foxe, three of a haare. 
 and three of an asse. Of a man, bolde, prowde, and 
 hardye ; of a woman, fayre breasted, fayree of heere, and 
 easy to move; of a foxe, a fair taylle, short eeres, with 
 a good trotte ; of a haare, a grete eye, a dry heed, and 
 well rennynge ; of an asse, a by gge chynn, a flat legge, 
 and a good hoof." 
 
 Return we to our sporting monarchs. Edward II., 
 though effeminate in some respects, was particularly fond 
 of horses ; and the warlike character of his son, the third 
 of that name, induced him to procure them from foreign 
 countries. In the year 1363, this monarch invited the 
 kings of Scotland, France, and Cyprus to a royal hunt, 
 which equalled a tournament in expense and magnificence. 
 In the reign of Henry VII. httle mention is made of 
 hunting, although all orders of the community kept a 
 certain number of horses, in proportion to their rank and 
 circumstances. His successor, " Bluff Harry," paid parti- 
 cular attention to the breed of horses, which, considering 
 his Blue Beard propensities, was highly to be wondered at. 
 While upon the subject of this regal Giovanni, I cannot 
 refrain from giving an epigram, which I met a short time 
 ago in an old work, and which is attributed to the 
 king : — 
 
 " Three Kates, twq Nans, and one dear Jane I wedded ; 
 One Dutch, one Spanish, and four Enghsh wives ; 
 
QUEEN S STAG HOUNDS. 9 
 
 From two I was divorced, two I beheaded, 
 One died in childbed, and one me survives." 
 
 Edward VI., convinced of the value of horses, was the 
 first monarch who made stealing them a capital offence. 
 Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of the chase, and 
 very frequently indulged herself in following the hounds ; 
 for this reason the nobility, who entertained her in her 
 different progresses, formed large parties, Vk'hich she usually 
 joined when the weather permitted. " Her majesty," 
 says Rowland White, in a letter to Sir Robert Sidney, 
 dated Sept. 12, a.d. 1600, "is well and exceedingly 
 disposed to hunting ; for every second day she is on horse- 
 back, and continues the sport long." It must be borne in 
 mind that the virgin queen had at this time just entered 
 her seventy- seventh year, and the interest she took in the 
 sport at so advanced an age proves her fondness for it. 
 Her successor, James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, 
 was a thorough-bred sportsman, at least in theory, if 
 not in practice, as may be gleaned from the following 
 letter addressed to his son : — 
 
 "DeareSon, — Amongst all unnecessarie'thinges that are lawful 
 and expedient, I thinke exercises of the bodie moste commendable to 
 be used by a young prince, in suche honest games or pastimes as 
 may further abilitie and maintaine health. Bodilie exercises and 
 games are verie commendable, as well for banishing of idlenesse (the 
 mother of all vice) as for making the bodie able and durable for 
 
 travell, which is very necessarie for a king The exercises 
 
 I would have you to use are running, leaping, wrestling, fencing, 
 dancing, and playing at the caitche, or tenisse, archery, palle malle, 
 and suchlike other faire and pleasant field games ; and the honor- 
 ablest and most commendable games that ye can use are on horse- 
 back, for it becometh a prince best of anie man to be a faire and good 
 horseman. I cannot omit heere the hunting, namelie, with running 
 houndes, whiche is the most honorable and noblest sort thereof; but 
 because I would not be thought a partiall praiser of this sport, I 
 remit you to Xenophon, an olde and famous writer, who had no mind 
 
10 queen's stag hounds. 
 
 of flattering you or me in this purpose ; and who also setteth down a 
 faire pattern for the education of a young king, under the supposed 
 name of Cyrus. As for hawking, I condemne it not ; but I must 
 praise it more sparinglie, because it neither resembleth the warrs so 
 neer as huntying doth, in making a man bardie," 
 
 During the above reign horsemanship was much en- 
 couraged ; public races were estabhshed about this period ; 
 and it is probable that some kind of a meeting existed at 
 Newmarket, where the monarch erected a house, which 
 was destroyed in the civil wars, but afterwards rebuilt by 
 that distinguished supporter of the turf, Charles II. Ac- 
 cording to Wellwood, James I. divided his time between 
 his standish, his bottle, and hunting. His son, Henry 
 Prince of Wales, was devotedly attached to equestrian 
 exercises. The reign of the first Charles was too much 
 distracted to permit him to take part in the pleasures of 
 the field ; according, however, to the testimonies of his- 
 torians, he was an accomplished horseman. The " merry 
 monarch" was more of the Lothario than the Nimrod ; he, 
 however, patronised the turf. James II. was fond of 
 hunting ; William HI. encouraged the manege under the 
 able direction of a Frenchman, Major Foubert; Queen 
 Anne, and her consort Prince George of Denmark, took 
 great delight in horse-racing. The first and second Georges 
 were not devoted to hunting, but the grandfather of our 
 gracious Queen was greatly attached to the chase ; and the 
 staghounds in the days of George III. were well kept up. 
 Our present sovereign has honoured the meeting of the 
 royal staghounds with her august presence ; and when the 
 hounds of Sir John Cope killed a fox, in 1839, in the 
 preserves at Windsor, the brush was forwarded to her 
 Majesty, who received it most graciously, and forwarded 
 ten pounds to the huntsman. 
 
 We have now given a slight sketch of the royal lovers 
 
queen's stag hounds. 11 
 
 of sport, and have endeavoured to trace the delights of the 
 hunting field from the days of 
 
 " Nimrod, the founder 
 Of empire and chase. 
 Who made the woods wonder 
 And quake for their race — " 
 
 down to the present time ; and it must be a high source 
 of gratification to all true sportsmen to know, that the 
 august Prince who now enjoys the most distinguished 
 honour in this country, extends his royal patronage to 
 what the poet terms " the sport of Britain's kings.'' 
 There is no character that stands in higher estimation 
 among all classes of her Majesty's liege subjects, than the 
 man of exalted rank who not only feels for and sympathises 
 with the distresses of his less fortunate brethren, but who 
 does his best to promote the amusements of his neighbours ; 
 and in this, the illustrious Prince to whom I refer, shines 
 forth pre-eminently great. 
 
 We must now return to our subject. Stag hunting 
 has in all ages and in all countries been considered as a sport 
 of the noblest kind ; I allude to that of the wild stag, which 
 aff^ords infinitely more excitement than the tame, uncarting 
 system of the present day. In bygone times, large tracts 
 of land and immense forests were given up as chases, in 
 which the antlered monarch might roam at large. The 
 arbitrary manner of making royal forests was as follows : — 
 " The king sends out his commission under the great seal 
 of England, directed to certain discreet persons, for the 
 view, perambulation, meeting, and bounding of the place 
 he mindeth to be a forest ; which being returned in the 
 chancery, proclamation is made throughout aU the shire 
 where the ground lieth, that none shall hunt or chase any 
 manner of wild beasts in that precinct without the king's 
 special licence ; after which he appointeth ordinances, laws 
 
12 queen's stag hounds. 
 
 and officers fit for the preservation of the vert (i. e., every- 
 thing which bears green leaves) and venison ; and so it 
 becometh a forest by matter of record." So writes Man- 
 wood in his Forest Laws. 
 
 The Norman kings punished those who killed any 
 beasts of the forest, with the greatest severity. William 
 I. caused the eyes of those to be pulled out who took 
 either a buck or a boar ; while his no less brutal son 
 Rufus would hang a man for taking a doe. Henry I. 
 drew no distinction between killing a man or a buck, 
 both were punishable by death ; and to destroy game, 
 even out of a royal preserve, called down from the 
 humane monarch either loss of limb or forfeiture of goods. 
 Henry 11. amended the tyrannical code, instituting im- 
 prisonment for the offence ; but his son, Richard I., revived 
 the savage laws of the first William, for punishing those 
 convicted of poaching in the royal domains, but which he 
 eventually changed to expatriation. The historians of 
 those times inform us, that the New Forest, Hampshire, 
 was formed by the destruction of twenty-two parish 
 churches, and many villages and manors, to the extent of 
 thirty miles ; and to his royal depredation many attributed 
 the misfortunes that befel several of the princes in that 
 forest. It was here that Richard, brother of Henry I., 
 was killed by a soldier ; Rufus by Tyrrell ; and Henry, 
 the nephew of Robert, the eldest son of the Conqueror, 
 was hung in the boughs of the trees. At one period 
 there were sixty- nine royal forests in England ; but these 
 scenes of desolation and tyranny have been gradually con- 
 tracted. Art, science, commerce, and agriculture, have 
 spread themselves over those wide-extended tracts; and 
 the savage quadrupeds of those days, like their more 
 ferocious monarchs, have long been swept from the face of 
 the earth. The stag, in the present cultivated state of 
 
queen's stag hounds. 13 
 
 this country, is now no longer found in his original wild 
 state, but is kept in parks among the fallow deer. In the 
 Highlands of Scotland, the red deer still abound, and rove 
 abroad over their native wilds, untrammelled by park 
 fences. Of the fallow deer, I will merely remark that 
 there are two varieties, both of foreign extraction ; I allude 
 to the spotted kind, said to have been imported from 
 Bengal, and those of a dark brown colour, which came 
 from Norway, and which James I. introduced into 
 Scotland, and afterwards removed to the then cele- 
 brated chases of Enfield and Epping. An historical fact, 
 connected with a white buck, may not be uninteresting, 
 and it will prove the tyranny of our ancient monarchs. 
 When Edward IV. was hunting in the park of Thomas 
 Burdett, Esq. of Arrow, Warwickshire, he killed a store of 
 deer, and amongst the rest a white buck. When Burdett 
 heard of this, he wished the horns in his belly that coun- 
 selled the king to kill it ; for which words he was beheaded 
 at Tyburn. Many years ago, a stag was hunted from 
 Whinfield Park, in the county of Westmoreland, when the 
 whole pack, with the exception of two foxhounds bred by 
 Lord Thanet, were thrown out ; the stag went away to 
 Annan, in Scotland, a distance of forty-six miles,, folio wed 
 by these two hounds. Upon returning to the park, the 
 " antlered monarch" made a last effort, and gathering his 
 strength together, leapt the wall, and died as soon as he 
 had accomplished it. One of the hounds attempted to 
 follow, but expired in the attempt ; the other was found 
 dead about half a mile from the park. From the circuitous 
 course they took, it is conjectured that the distance run 
 was nearly one hundred and twenty miles (so says 
 tradition). 
 
 With respect to deer, the.y ought not to be hunted until 
 they are three years old ; and should be kept on good 
 
14 queen's stag hounds. 
 
 corn, beans, and clover. The paddocks should be dry and 
 well sheltered from the weather, with a hovel in one 
 corner, from which a door ought to be made to correspond 
 with the opening of the deer cart, and into which the 
 stag can be driven without any trouble. In a grass country, 
 deer may be hunted once a fortnight ; but in a flinty 
 country, it will be as well to save their legs, by turning 
 them out only once a month ; the night before they are 
 hunted the muzzle must figuratively, if not literally be 
 put on ; prison allowance being requisite — Httle food, and 
 a small quantity of water. The horns of the stag 
 should be sawed off before the hunting season com- 
 mences, as it prevents mischief to men and the hounds. 
 
 We now return to the present royal establishment,* and 
 wiU preface our remarks by saying that there are usually 
 about twenty deer kept in the paddocks at Swinley. With 
 regard to the hounds, her Majesty's present pack of stag- 
 hounds was purchased originally from the late Duke of 
 Richmond, in 1813; since which period, particularly 
 within the last four years, they have had new blood infused 
 into them, by being crossed with hounds from the packs 
 of the Dukes of Rutland and Grafton, the Earl of Yar- 
 borough. Sir Richard Sutton, Colonel Wyndham, Mr. 
 Assheton Smith, and Mr. Foljambe. Talisman, the sire 
 of many of the best hounds, was by the Belvoir Factor, 
 out of their Timely. Fairplay, another stallion hound', 
 was by Mr. Foljambe's Rummagem, out of his Faithful. 
 The average number of working hounds is about fifty 
 couples. Mr. Charles Bryant, the stud groom, is worthy 
 of every praise ; he is one in a thousand ; and when 
 
 * The above was written in 1846, but the remarks upon the then 
 Master of the Buckhounds, and the establishment, are equally appli- 
 cable to the Earl of Bessborough, and those employed under 
 him. 
 
queen's stag hounds. 15 
 
 I say that the experienced eye of the noble master of 
 the hounds, the Earl of Rosslyn, has never yet been able 
 to detect a single fault in the management of the stable, I 
 think I have said enough to warrant my assertion ; were 
 additional proof wanted, it would be found in the fact, 
 that the horses are always in first-rate condition, and fit 
 for work. The stable is the perfection of neatness, and in 
 every respect kept in beautiful order. The average number 
 of horses kept for the men varies from eighteen to twenty, 
 and for Lord Rosslyn from six to eight ; and when one 
 considers the distances they have to go, the length of the 
 runs, and the McAdam work necessarily attendant upon 
 stag hunting, it reflects no little credit upon the Master of 
 the Horse, Mr. Bryant, that the whole work is done, and 
 well done, by comparatively so small a stud. Mr. Charles 
 Davis, the huntsman, commenced his career under 
 George III., by riding the second horse of the Equerry in 
 Waiting. As a huntsman, both in the kennel and the 
 field, there are few that come up to Davis ; he possesses 
 judgment, quickness, patience, ability, forbearance, and 
 good temper ; indeed, the two latter virtues are pre-emi- 
 nently conspicuous in his character, and are often put to 
 the test, to wit, upon some of the days at Salt Hill, when 
 the field consists principally of London horse-dealers of 
 the lowest grade, who hunt to sell their horses, and who 
 care little whether they sacrifice the whole pack so long as 
 they find themselves in the first flight. No sooner is the 
 deer uncarted, than away start some two or three dozen 
 flying roadsters riding over the hounds — the only thing 
 they do ride over — galloping in every direction, hallooing 
 and shouting ; and the moment the hounds are laid on, 
 such a charge of cavalry takes place, that it requires the 
 patience of a man like Davis to settle down at all to his 
 work. As a rider, both for hand and seat, her Majesty's 
 
16 queen's stag-hounds. 
 
 huntsman is first rate. The first whipper-in, Robert 
 Bartlett, is an excellent servant, as are Henry Freeman 
 and Henry King, the second and third; they all, too, 
 possess patience and good temper, and do their work in a 
 most masterly manner. 
 
AD.VENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH ANECDOTES 
 OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 " Inter quadrupedes, gloria prima lepus." — Martial. 
 
 My Birth and Early Days — Some Account of my Ancestors — My 
 Descent from a noble Hungarian family — Their arrival in England, 
 and Presentation to the Prince Regent — Virginia Water — Narrow 
 Escape from the Poachers. 
 
 I WAS one of a numerous family, and was born within a 
 few miles of Windsor, so universally celebrated for its 
 stately castle. A tuft of grass, in a small wood near Vir- 
 ginia Water, pointed out the place of my birth ; and it was 
 there, in a fine sunny morning in early spring, that my eyes 
 first opened upon the light of heaven. For the three sub- 
 sequent weeks, I enjoyed happiness without alloy, my 
 mother luxuriating in all the delights of her rural caudle — 
 herbs, roots, fruit, leaves, grain, acacia, Spanish broom, 
 and cistus. Before, however, the month had expired, my 
 early griefs began : deserted by my father, who had 
 unscrupulously left both his wife and child to shift for 
 themselves, I was clinging for support to her from whom I 
 had derived my existence, when a severe and sudden malady, 
 produced, as it was supposed, by an over-course of bark, 
 deprived me of what, in the innocence of my heart, I deemed 
 
1 8 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 to be a tender parent's care. Had I possessed the experi- 
 ence of after-life, I should not have so deeply deplored the 
 loss of one who, like the rest of her unnatural sex (I speak 
 of the Rodentia, not human class), would have driven me 
 from hearth and home, to struggle through a wild and 
 thorny path, beset with dangers on every side by day and 
 night. Sad is the thought that earth, air, fire, conspire 
 against our hapless, timid, helpless race. Man — blood- 
 thirsty, lawless man, murders or hunts us to death to 
 gratify his inordinate passion for sport. The grovelling 
 hedgehog, the offensive polecat, the destructive stoat, the 
 purblind buzzard, the ignoble rapacious owl, the majestic 
 celestial bird " consecrated to Jupiter," all mark us for their 
 prey. To return to my narrative : of my personal appear- 
 ance I can say httle. If the foul fiend Flibbertigibet did 
 not squint the eye, he gave me the hare-lip, and I was born 
 with the most anti-aristocratic ears, for they were long and 
 large, with eyes more prominent than beautiful. Of my 
 education — to adopt the old adage — " the least said is the 
 soonest mended ; " I never got a remove above my first 
 form ; one point, however, I piqued myself not a little upon, 
 namely, that, like the youth of the present day, I was 
 undeniably /as^. My genealogy must not be so briefly 
 disposed of, for I can claim an ancient and honourable 
 pedigree, tracing my ancestry to the days of Caesar, when 
 the Britons, unlike the degenerate race of more recent times, 
 pursued us for the sport alone, and not to gratify their 
 pampered appetites. My mother's family were of Hunga- 
 rian extraction, and had formerly lived at Urmeny; the 
 sporting propensities, however, of the popular owner of the 
 
 estate Graf had nearly cut down the family tree, for 
 
 shooting and coursing were carried on to an alarming degree. 
 Happily a party of Englishmen, attracted to Vienna by the 
 celebrated Congress of 1815, had paid a visit to the 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 19 
 
 territory, for the purpose of witnessing the races, breeding 
 establishment, paddocks, farm, and flocks of sheep of the 
 Graf, and one of the " Britishers," attracted by the beauty 
 of my ancestors, expressing a wish to see an alliance between 
 the noble heirs of Hungary and the pure blood that runs 
 in the Saxon's veins, proposed that my maternal grand- 
 parents should leave the wild forests, the fertile plains, the 
 magnificent lakes of ancient Panonia for the rural glades of 
 old England. This proposition was cheerfully agreed to, 
 and upon the following day they quitted their " fatherland," 
 en route for Albion's isle. The journey was delightful ; 
 the track passed through a fine cultivated valley, the sides 
 of which were covered with magnificent timber, the Neutra 
 winding its serpentine course along the bottom, a thousand 
 thousand brilliant flowers w^ere on its banks, and the brightest 
 sun-beams upon its waters, A ridge of mountains to the 
 north and east formed a magnificent background to the pic- 
 turesque scenery. After passing Freystadt, Tyrnau, Sarfo, 
 and paying a short visit to Cseklesy, the domain of Graf 
 Esterhazy, the travellers reached Presburg, declared by 
 Ferdinand, in the year 1536, the capital of Hungary, the 
 place where the kings were crowned, the diet held, and 
 where the regalia, consisting of the crown and sceptre of 
 their first king Stephen, is still shown. From Presburg 
 the travellers proceeded to Vienna, where the greatest 
 excitement prevailed, in consequence of the news having 
 reached that city of Buonaparte's escape from Elba; as 
 one of the young Englishmen held a commission in the 
 army, and as war was inevitable, Captain Harcourt (we give 
 a nom-de- guerre) lost no time in mnking the best of his way 
 to England, accompanied by those from w^hom I claim my 
 origin. After some hair-hreadth escapes, the party reached 
 London, where the captain found orders to join his regi- 
 ment immediately at Windsor. No sooner had he arrived 
 
20 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 at the latter place, than a route for foreign service was 
 placed in his hands, with orders for his troop to commence 
 its march the following morning at dayhreak to Dover. 
 For the next four-and-twenty hours the state of bustle and 
 excitement at the barracks, caused by the sudden order in 
 the midst of peace to take the field, can be better conceived 
 than described. Officers were purchasing canteens and 
 camp equipages, exchanging hacks and buggy horses for 
 serviceable chargers ; the commanding officer and riding- 
 master were busily employed in selecting the best constitu- 
 tioned troop-horses for the approaching campaign; the 
 adjutant was hard at work in his department ; the medical 
 staff were engaged in packing up their travelling pharma- 
 copoeias ; while the calls on the paymaster for certain loans 
 and advances were such, that had it not been for a stringent 
 order that no one was to overdraw his account, the respected 
 chancellor of the military exchequer would have been placed 
 in an awful fix, and would probably have found himself 
 not in a situation to have supplied the sinews of war. The 
 men were assisting in packing the bao;gage ; while fathers, 
 mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, sweethearts, Jews, trades- 
 men, duns, and parish constables, were anxiously urging 
 for admission within the barrack -walls. In the hurry of 
 the approaching march, the distinguished foreigners had 
 nearly been forgotten ; they had been furnished with quar- 
 ters perfectly unsuitable to their station in life, and were 
 horrified to find that instead of roaming at large in the 
 vaunted land of liberty, they were cooped up in a small 
 temporary shed adjoining the riding-house. Fortunately, 
 the captain's bat man was not quite so obHvious as his master, 
 and he took a " better late than never " opportunity of 
 asking him for further orders. " The best thing you can 
 do, Hargraves," said the young officer, " is to take them 
 to the head keeper, in the Great Park, and tell him to 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 21 
 
 forward them to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, 
 in the course of the day. Have Sultan saddled at half- 
 past four." This direction was speedily attended to ; and 
 before dusk the noble Hungarian prisoners found them- 
 selves in the royal domain, and although their former 
 freedom was denied them for the present, they had far 
 better accommodation than during their incarceration at 
 Windsor cavalry barracks. 
 
 After four o'clock stables, the captain mounted his 
 charger to take a ride, perhaps for the last time, over the 
 green sward of that forest scenery, immortalized by Shak- 
 speare; and having wended his way towards the then 
 residence of the Regent, presented through the equerry in 
 waiting, my respected ancestors to " a prince, the prince of 
 princes at the time." Nothing could be more affable than 
 the heir to the throne was to the gallant officer : he asked 
 a thousand questions about Vienna, the dress of the troops, 
 the appearance of the men ; and when, in reply, Harcourt 
 gave a graphic account of the sledge-parties, the reviews, 
 the battues, the tournament, and described the appearance 
 of the noble Hungarian guard, all men of rank and station, 
 the Prince showed his delight by inviting his visitor to 
 dinner that day at eight o'clock. 
 
 " Of course, Captain Harcourt, you will come in march- 
 ing order," continued His Royal Highness, " and if you will 
 
 call at the castle, on your way home, General , who 
 
 dines here, will call for you at the barracks." 
 
 The captain expressed his thanks, and took his leave, 
 but not before his travelling companions, emancipated from 
 their thraldom, had been allowed to range at large in a 
 small plantation near Virginia Water. The dinner passed 
 off delightfully ; everything that good taste could suggest 
 appeared in the arrangement of it — a round table, admira- 
 bly-drilled servants, no ostentatious display of plate, the 
 
22 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 dishes few but exquisitely dressed, and wine of every clinne 
 and hue in perfect order. The conversation of the illustri- 
 ous host was brilliant in the extreme ; there was scarcely 
 a name alluded to of foreign potentate, English patrician, 
 or plebeian, that did not give His Royal Highness an 
 opportunity of repeating some anecdote about ; and there 
 was not a " lark " that had been indulged in by the young 
 officers quartered at Windsor, that was not known to, and 
 good-humouredly hinted at by the princely George. 
 
 Although somewhat capricious in his friendships, preju- 
 diced in his views, and spoiled by the adulation that was 
 paid to the rising sun, the heir-apparent to the throne of 
 England possessed many kindly qualities; nor was the 
 charge of changeableness to be attributed entirely to him ; 
 for in the case of Brummel and the late Reverend Edward 
 Cannon, they both conducted themselves in a manner that 
 would have been uncourteous (to say the least of it) to any 
 one moving in good society. The remark of the layman 
 and beau about his " fat friend," and " Wales, touch the 
 bell!" are as familiar as "household words;" while the 
 rejoinder of the clerical wit, though not generally known, 
 was equally offensive to good taste, and not at all calculated 
 to raise him in the estimation of that prince who was 
 universally acknowledged to be " the finished gentleman 
 from top to toe." His Royal Highness had been trying 
 over a piece of sacred music on the far-famed organ at the 
 Pavilion, Brighton ; and turning to Cannon, asked him his 
 opinion of the performance. The Dean, with a satirical 
 curl upon his lip, replied that nothing could have been 
 worse executed. The manner, the voice, and the look 
 which accompanied the cutting and ungracious critique, 
 produced, as it naturally would be expected to do, so great 
 an impression upon the mind of the Regent, that Cannon 
 was never afterwards invited into his presence. One trait 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 23 
 
 of forgiveness of such conduct in the person of the injured 
 patron ought to be recorded. In after-hfe, Cannon, worn 
 down by ill health and poverty, was instrumental in getting 
 up an address at Ryde to his early benefactor, then George 
 the Fourth, on the occasion of his departure for the sister 
 kingdom. Shortly afterwards his resources failed him, and 
 in a moment of despair he addressed a letter to the monarch, 
 asking for some temporary assistance. By return of post a 
 cheque for a hundred pounds was transmitted to Cannon 
 by order of the king ; thus proving that His Majesty could 
 not only forgive an injury, but was liberal enough to feel 
 for the distress of his former associate. With the above 
 anecdote, which the Dean repeated to us with his eyes full 
 of tears, we shall conclude this brief allusion to that prince, 
 upon whom Wraxall gives the following just eulogium: — 
 " Nature had bestowed uncommon graces upon his figure 
 and person. Convivial as well as social in his temper, 
 destitute of all reserve, and affable even to familiarity in his 
 reception of every person who had the honour to approach 
 him ; endued with all the aptitudes to profit of instruction, 
 his mind had been cultivated with great care ; and he was 
 probably the only prince in Europe, heir to a powerful 
 monarchy, competent to peruse the Greek and Roman 
 poets and historians in their own language. Humane and 
 compassionate, his purse was open to every application of 
 distress ; nor was it ever shut against genius or merit." 
 
 We have digressed, and shall now return to our imme- 
 diate subject. My ancestry, naturalized in this country, 
 indulged in their dolce far niente for many years within 
 the precincts of Virginia Water, where neither gun nor 
 hound were then admitted, and lived to a green old age. 
 
 My grand-parents having intermarried with the " fair- 
 haired daughters of the Isle," my claims to Hungarian 
 blood can scarcely be made out ; and although I still feel 
 
24 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH ' 
 
 proud of my descent from that noble race, I myself was 
 born with all the rights and immunities of a British subject. 
 *' Time had rolled his ceaseless course/' and the majority of 
 those already alluded to no longer existed at the day of my 
 birth. Of the crowned heads that assembled at Vienna, 
 on the occasion of the Congress, not one remains : Austria, 
 Prussia, Russia, Wurtemburg, Bavaria, and Denmark have 
 witnessed the vanity of earthly rulers ; their diadems have 
 descended to succeeding generations ;. and few of those 
 who affixed their signature to the declaration of the allied 
 powers, denouncing Napoleon " as an enemy and disturber 
 of the tranquillity of the world," are now alive to meditate 
 upon that act. Wellington, the hero of a hundred fields, 
 whose name will remain an imperishable monument in the 
 annals of his country ; Metternich, Talleyrand, Clancarty, 
 Cathcart, Stewart, Palmella, Hardenburg, Rasumowsky, 
 Nesselrode, have shuffled off their mortal coil. The object 
 of their vengeance — that warrior chief who had overrun 
 Europe from the Tagus to the Kremlin — has ceased to rule 
 the destiny of nations, and with proud Austria's mournful 
 flower, the Empress Marie Louise, and their ill-fated pro- 
 geny, is now beneath the silent tomb. A retrospective glance 
 will prove the mutability of worldly affairs : the nephew of 
 the " denounced one " guides the helm of France. The 
 lines of Napoleon's farewell have in part been realized — 
 
 " Farewell to thee, France ! — but Avhen liberty rallies 
 
 Once more in thy regions, remember me then — 
 The violet still grows in the depth of thy valleys ; 
 
 Though wither'd, the tear will uphold it again : 
 Yet, yet I may baffle the hosts that surround us, 
 
 And yet, may thy heart leap awake to my voice — 
 There are links which must break in the chain that has bound us. 
 
 Then turn thee, and call on the chief of thy choice ! " 
 
 France has called upon the chief of her choice, and in 
 the person of Napoleon III. has found one, sage in 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 
 
 95 
 
 counsel, daring in deed, patient in adversity, inflexible in 
 his resolves, impartial in administration, firm in purpose, 
 high-minded in principle, simple in habits, actuated solely 
 by one motive — the love of his country. 
 
 The fourth of the Georges, that " observed of all ob- 
 servers," and his brother, the Sailor-King, have breathed 
 their last sigh, and upon entering life I found the land of 
 my nativity ruled over by Victoria, the " love of millions," 
 who, with her consort and children, then resided in the 
 proud towers of Windsor. 
 
 For some time, I may with truth say that I basked 
 under the sunshine of royalty. How often have I witnessed 
 these illustrious personages, freed from the cares of state, 
 enjoying the pure unalloyed happiness of domestic life ! 
 how often have the children of this happy, happy union, 
 while sporting over the velvet turf, or playing around the 
 verdant banks covered with violets, crocuses, and snow- 
 drops, or wandering through the green wooded alleys and 
 shrubberies of azalea or rhododendrons, or strolling by the 
 peaceful waters of the romantic lake, noticed my gambols as 
 I roamed from tuft to tuft, enjoying the luxuries of my 
 sylvan home ! As the celebrated fox of Ballybotherem is 
 recorded to have studied the newspapers, to ascertain the 
 meeting of the hounds, it will not be thought wonderful 
 that a timid creature like myself should have exerted his 
 best energies to make himself acquainted with the dangers 
 that surrounded him : it was, then, with a feeling of de- 
 light that I found myself a favoured branch of my kin — 
 the hare with many friends ; for not only were shooting 
 and coursing prohibited within the precincts of my royal 
 dwelling, but there was no pack of hounds kept in the 
 neighbourhood, save that of Her Majesty, and they flew at 
 higher game — the antlered monarch of the woods. Self- 
 confident at my supposed security, I nearly fell a victim to 
 
26 ADVENTURES OF A HARE; WITH 
 
 my rashness : it was on a dark cloudy night in November, 
 when certain strange voices attracted my attention ; they 
 proceeded from five men, whom I observed stealthily 
 crawling through the thickly- covered underwood of my 
 retreat — 
 
 " That is a likely place !" whispered one, as he drew 
 from his pocket a wiry noose, and placed it across a 
 cutting in the plantation. 
 
 " Here, Jim," cried another, " drop the beans between 
 the hedge and that stack of buck-wheat." 
 
 " Look out !" said a third ; " on the right branch of 
 that larch — a pop from your walking-stick will settle 
 him !" 
 
 In a second a whizzing noise, like that of an air-gun, 
 was heard, and a splendid cock-pheasant fell from his roost 
 at the foot of the poacher. 
 
 " All right !" exclaimed the two others, who were pa- 
 trolling outside the plantation, to keep watch over their 
 comrades. 
 
 During this awful moment I was crouched up under a 
 hedgerow, within a very few yards of the principal 
 speakers, but happily escaped observation. During the 
 remainder of the night I was kept in a state of awful 
 trepidation, which was not at all diminished when, just 
 as dayhght began to dawn, I beheld the havoc that had 
 been made with my furry brethren, and with those varie- 
 gated Asiatic beauties, originally introduced into Europe 
 from the banks of the Phasis. Many of the former were 
 struggling to release themselves from their bonds, while 
 the latter, without any apparent cause, fell stricken by 
 almost instantaneous death. Happily for the survivors of 
 my own race, the arrival of a party of keepers soon libe- 
 rated them from their perilous situations, and deprived the 
 murderers of their feathered spoil. 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 27 
 
 " 1 thought how it was," exclaimed the head-keeper, 
 as with his knife he cut open the glossy green, blue, and 
 purple neck of one of the victims, and brought out a 
 horse-bean pierced through with strong bristles. "All 
 these birds have been choked by that rascally gang. I 
 heard of their tricks last week at Bagshot; but by this 
 time they are all safely lodged in Guildford gaol." 
 
 The keeper's statement was strictly correct. The march 
 of intellect had advanced with rapid strides, even among 
 the poachers, who had invented this new and economical 
 mode of carrying on their lawless practices : a few wires, 
 and two or three dozen beans, perforated with cobblers' 
 bristles, was all the stock in trade required for their deadly 
 havoc. Murder will out — whether the slaughter be among 
 the birds of the air, or the human race. The shot from 
 the air-gun had attracted the attention of one of the 
 watchers, who, by a preconcerted signal, communicated the 
 intelligence to his comrades. In less than half an hour 
 the gang were captured, and escorted to the county prison. 
 
 After this narrow escape from destruction, I took every 
 precaution in my power to protect myself from the wiles 
 of man. I selected the most open spot near the residence 
 of the keeper of the lodge, browsing upon the shrubs that 
 grew luxuriantly in his small garden, and for a length of 
 time felt secure from danger. But, alas ! the " schemes 
 of hares and mice," as Burns exclaims, " gang oft a'gley." 
 Ascot Races were about to commence, and brought with 
 them the usual number of gipsies and trampers. A party 
 of the former had formed their camp upon the heath, close 
 to the boundary of my retreat, and were carrying on their 
 pilfering trade with impunity. Many a fine sheep had 
 been killed and " dressed upon the shortest notice." Many 
 a barn-door fowl had furnished material for their stock- 
 pot, while every garden in the neighbourhood had been 
 
28 ADVENTURES OF A HARE; WITH 
 
 laid under contribution for a supply of fruit and vegetables. 
 Anxious to witness the courtly cavalcade at the races, I 
 strolled from my home on the morning of the Cup day, to 
 enjoy the delights of one of England's finest national 
 sights ; and selecting a small plantation within view of the 
 royal stand, took up my station for the afternoon. Fol- 
 lowing the universal prevailing fashion, I lost no time in 
 commencing my lunch al fresco, and had scarcely con- 
 cluded it, when the ringing of a bell announced the ap- 
 proach of the Sovereign of our realms and her distin- 
 guished train. The shouts that rent the air came from 
 the hearts of the people, and must have touched that of 
 Her Majesty. 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 29 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 Ascot races — I nearly fall a Victim to Superstition — The Gipsy's 
 Device — A Day with the Foxhounds — Death of Reynard — The 
 young Etonian — Providential Escape. 
 
 Ascot Heath on the Cup day, when the weather is 
 propitious, is, or rather was, one of the finest sights thafe 
 can be conceived. We talk of the past, for the railway 
 has done considerable damage to the present, by adding to 
 the quantity and diminishing the quality. To witness a 
 youthful Sovereign, surrounded by a devoted husband and 
 a loving offspring, without escort or guards, making their 
 way peacefully through a throng of thousands of her sub- 
 jects, the air reverberating with their heartfelt cheers, is a 
 purely English picture of domestic happiness and loyalty, 
 which cannot be met with in any other part of the globe. 
 The cortege, too, is one that -cannot fail to be admired — 
 the admirably built carriages, the fine horses, the neatly 
 dressed postilions and servants, headed by the Master of 
 the Buckhounds on his blood steed " witching the world 
 with noble horsemanship," and attended by his huntsman 
 and whippers-in, are all in perfect taste. The well-ap- 
 pointed carriages are filled with some of the fairest of 
 Albion's daughters, beaming with youth and health; 
 while warriors, senators, and distinguished foreigners join 
 in the happy train. Another loud hurrah is raised, and, 
 • like the gathering of Clan Alpine, is responded to by all, 
 of every rank and station \ the handkerchiefs of the 
 
30 ADVENTURES OF A HARE; WITH 
 
 gentler sex flutter in the summer breeze, and Wellington ! 
 is the cry. The hero, the " conqueror of conquerors," 
 modestly acknowledges the homage paid to his brilliant 
 military services ; an open carriage, conveying some of 
 the attendant courtiers, dressed in the Windsor uniform — 
 blue frock coats with red collars — excites the risible 
 faculties of the populace, and the similarity of their 
 costume to that of the useful body of men, the London- 
 district letter-carriers, calls forth an occasional jest — " You 
 have not got a letter for me ?" " Where's your gold- 
 laced hat?" "Postage one penny!" "I'll not forget 
 your Christmas-box !" and other witticisms escape from 
 the lips of the holiday revellers. 
 
 To a foreigner, perhaps the life that is going on in 
 every part of the heath is more amusing than the course 
 itself. The Royal Pavilion, a sort of " Court Circular," 
 with its luncheon containing every luxury of the season, 
 spread in Tippoo Saib's tent, is particularly delightful to 
 the privileged few who have the entree. The Grand Stand 
 filled with well-dressed ladies, decked out in variegated 
 colours, gives the spectator the idea of a bed of tulips. 
 The building devoted to the Jockey Club and their betters 
 resembles the Stock Exchaqge on a day of excitement. 
 The judge's private box, and the enclosure for the jockeys^ 
 give an air of business to the whole. The quadruple lines 
 of vehicles, comprising the emblazoned family carriage, 
 the elegant barouche, the neat chariot, the fashionable 
 landau, the sporting " drag," the snug britchka, and un- 
 assuming tilbury, the " Tom-and- Jerry" dog-cart, the 
 lumbering waggon, the laurel-decked van, and the White- 
 chapel cart, filled with every class of patrician and plebeian, 
 add greatly to the scene. There may be seen the aristo- 
 cratic pillars of the state, and the Corinthian blood ; the 
 antiquated London dowager, with her attenuated sickly 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 31 
 
 progeny ; and the fresh, ruddy, lowborn country beauty ; 
 the turbaned Turk ; and the " cadger" from the east ; 
 the west-end exquisite ; and the Hounsditch *' fence." The 
 stalls, too, with their varied ware, gingerbread nuts, toys, 
 lollypops, dolls, china and glass, the lotteries and the 
 targets for nuts, and last not least, the refreshment -booths, 
 from that of Judge Nicholson, of the " Garrick's Head," 
 down to the Lilliputian perambulating ones of the vendors 
 of fried fish, roast potatoes, fruit pies, or " pologne," give 
 animation to the whole. Nor should the wanderers of this 
 and other countries be passed unnoticed — the dark-haired, 
 black-eyed gipsy, deep in palmistry, crossing the hand 
 with silver, and telling tales of hope and love ; the coarse 
 over-grown Dutch women and girls, with their croaking 
 voices and diminutive brooms ; the poor Italian minstrel 
 from the land of clear skies and song, sighing over his 
 painful pilgrimage in a country where the bright luminary 
 rarely shines, and the voice of melody is seldom heard ; 
 the ^Ethiopian melodists, who, if plunged in one of the 
 baths for the million, would soon prove the fallacy of the 
 saying, that you cannot wash the blackamoor white ; the 
 antipodean posture-masters, with their stunted and ap- 
 parently jointless children ; the magicians of the east, west, 
 north, and south, with their wizard tricks; the stilted 
 daughters from the Landes in France ; the Highland lasses ! 
 from the purheus of St. Giles's, with tartan dress and 
 tambourine ; and sons of the heather, kilted to the knee, 
 with droning bagpipes, who never yet had crossed the 
 border ; Billy Barlow, and other grotesques, indulging in 
 questionable harmony and worn-out jocosities. The bell 
 now rings, and it would appear that it is what Byron de- 
 scribes as 
 
 "The tocsin of the soul — the dinner-bell ;" 
 
 for although it is in reality only sounded preparatory to 
 
32 ADVENTURES OF A HARE; WITH 
 
 clearing the course, it produces so powerful an effect upon 
 the gastronomic organs of the hungry visitors, that every 
 one simultaneously commences to prepare his own first 
 course. Hampers are now unpacked, and their contents 
 laid out with ostentation or simplicity, as the case may be. 
 The snow-white table-cloth, the coronetted china plates, the 
 silver knives and forks, the lobster-and-chicken salads, the 
 cold foreign and English pies, the sparkling champagne, 
 iced cup and Seltzer water, exposed to view on the roof 
 of the fashionable " drag," form a strong contrast to the 
 unpretending repast of the rural occupants of Farmer 
 Havelock's waggon, who content themselves with pure 
 white home-made bread, their own dairy cheese, bacon 
 cured on the estate, and old October ale. To the poor 
 mendicants this is a day of feasting, for they revel on the 
 remains of the sumptuous luncheon : and it is curious to 
 watch the countenances of some half-famished family, as 
 they devour with no great gusto the scraps of fish, flesh, 
 and fowl, dressed in the richest sauces, to suit the pampered 
 appetites of the rich, or to witness the faces they make as 
 they drink the dregs of some iced luxury, which to their 
 unsophisticated minds is much too cold to suit their 
 plebeian stomachs. But I have digressed in favour of this 
 justly-celebrated meeting, and must return to my own 
 personal narrative. 
 
 After a most agreeable day, I returned in the cool of 
 the evening to my royal residence, but not entirely without 
 adventure. It seems that, besides the ancient superstition 
 attached to the crossing of the path by any of my race, 
 there is also a belief that the running of one along the 
 street or main- way of a village portends tire to some house 
 in the neighbourhood. In order, then, to shorten the dis- 
 tance from Ascot Heath to Virginia Water, I passed 
 through a small hamlet, the name of which now escapes 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 33 
 
 my memory. Just as I reached the skirts of it, a young 
 farmer espied me. 
 
 V A magpie in the morning, and Pussy in the afternoon* 
 forebodes bad luck !" said the superstitious cultivator of the 
 soil. " I'll see if I can't put an end to your career." 
 
 With this he was about to raise his old single-barrelled 
 gun, when a dense volume of smoke burst forth from 
 an adjoining building, which was almost instantaneously 
 in flames. The sudden breaking-out of the fire had so 
 completely paralyzed the efforts of my enemy, that he let 
 his fowling piece drop to the ground, and for the moment 
 stood motionless. Awed by the realization of his fears, 
 the cry of help from the inmates of the dwelling soon 
 restored him to his senses. Before, however, he could 
 obtain the aid of the villagers, the burning fabric had fallen 
 with a crush, thus fulfilling the unfortunate prediction 
 attached to my ill-fated appearance. In the mean time I 
 had escaped unseen from the scene of devastation, and was 
 approaching my lodge-gates, when my eyes caught the 
 glance of a young dark imp of the gipsy tribe, who was 
 stealthily crawling along under some bushes, armed with a 
 huge horse-pistol, which he had borrowed from a boy em- 
 ployed to frighten the birds from the strawberry-beds. A 
 blackbird was enjoying some of this forbidden fruit, when 
 the urchin who was watching the garden, urged his com- 
 panion to fire and frighten away the intruder; but the 
 juvenile descendant of the Gitano tribe scorned so mean a 
 prey ; and loading the barrel with two small pebbles, a 
 button, and a piece of lead, with a strip from his tattered 
 hat for wadding, rammed down these projectiles with the 
 air of a sportsman, and raised the murderous weapon to a 
 level with my head. To remain to be destroyed in cold 
 blood was beyond my powers of endurance, so I looked 
 
 D 
 
34 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 round for the best means of escape. It was an awful 
 moment of painful suspense ; there seemed no way of 
 averting the impending danger, when, happily for me, I 
 was saved by a fortuitous circumstance, and for which I 
 felt, and shall ever feel, grateful to that ill-used degenerate 
 race whose voice once rebuked the errring prophet, and 
 whose jawbone did so much havoc in the slaughter of the 
 Philistines. One of these patient animals had been 
 fastened by a tolerably long cord to the stump of a yew- 
 tree, to prevent his trespassing upon certain manorial 
 rights, which, as had often been the case, led to impound- 
 ment ] he was indulging in that human as well as asinine 
 luxury of rolling in some new-cut hay, under a hot June 
 sun, when a noisy party of horsemen came scampering 
 across the common from the races, elated with the juice 
 of the grape. 
 
 " Ware horse ! " cried one, as with a hunting-whip he 
 made a cut at the donkey, who, in trying to evade the lash, 
 recovered his legs, and, scared by the unforeseen attack, 
 went to the length of his tether. In this hasty movement 
 the cord came in contact with the recumbent gipsy, and 
 dragged him several yards. I watched my opportunity, 
 and although the bright sharp eyes of my foe were still 
 intensely fixed upon his prey, I, with the quickness of 
 lightning, made a sudden start, and before the youth could 
 extricate himself from the fatal noose, gained my hiding- 
 place. A second later, and I should not have lived to tell 
 the tale, for the shot took effect within a yard of me, 
 covering me with the dirt that the missiles had ploughed 
 up. For the next few days I was confined to my grassy 
 couch with a violent palpitation of the heart, and it was not 
 until the departure of the gipsies that I recovered my nerves 
 sufRciently to venture out. It was fortunate for me that I 
 came to this resolution, as the young urchin who had made 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 35 
 
 the attempt upon my life had vowed vengeance against 
 myself and any -of my unhappy race. For nearly eight- 
 and-forty hours my persecutor practised every wily device 
 to get me and my companions into his hands : he had 
 borrowed an old gun from one of the gang, who in winter 
 time was looked upon as an unlicensed dealer in game, and 
 loading it with a double charge of large shot, kept a most 
 wonderful look-out. He had set wires and nets all around 
 my domain, and during the night had placed vermin-traps 
 in every direction ; nor was the imp satisfied alone with 
 plotting murder, for he attempted arson, and having just 
 before daylight ignited some dry stubble near my abode, 
 waited, upon the principle of Filch in the " Beggar's 
 Opera," " to save goods from the fire." Happily, the 
 machinations of my unrelenting foe were again frustrated 
 by the sudden breaking-up of the gipsy camp : information 
 had been received during the night that a warrant was out 
 against one of the tribe, on suspicion of sheep-stealing; 
 and at a moment's notice the tents were struck, the 
 waggons laden, and the horses and mules harnessed. Just 
 as the cavalcade was about to proceed on its journey, 
 young Jabez Cooper — so the young urchin was called — 
 was found to be missing. 
 
 " Poaching again ! " said his mother — a woman of the 
 Meg Merrilies class ; " he'll come to no good." 
 
 " The boy's a brave boy," responded the father, " and I 
 like his spirit ! Instead of grovelling to the earth, satisfied 
 with barn-door fowls and lambs, he soars at higher game, 
 as those antlers prove ; but we must not leave him behind 
 — why, what is that I see ? The plantation is on fire ! " 
 
 " Ay, that's his handy work 1 " proceeded the matron ; 
 " you must look after the lad, for it won't do to desert him 
 in the hour of danger." 
 
 Upon this the agitated father rushed towards the paling 
 
 D 2 
 
36 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 that divided the enclosure from the common, and gave two 
 loud shrill whistles, the signal of " recall." Like the 
 magic horn in Oberon, the small ivory pipe produced an 
 equally powerful and instantaneous effect, and Jabez Cooper, 
 brought up under the kindest parent, yet sternest of dis- 
 ciplinarians, at once obeyed the summons, much to the 
 delight of myself and others, who, to adopt a homely 
 metaphor, were extremely averse from going out " of the 
 frying-pan into the^re." The lad had made so admirable 
 a disposition for this night-attack, that had he not been 
 summoned away, the slaughter would have been immense : 
 as it was, among the return of " killed, wounded, and taken 
 prisoners " were four pheasants, three hares, and a couple 
 of rabbits. 
 
 " See, father," said the juvenile poacher, " I've brought 
 my share to the stock ! another half-hour, and I would not 
 have left a living thing in yonder cover." 
 
 " But the flame will have attracted the keepers' atten- 
 tion," remarked the parent, inwardly delighted at his son's 
 precocious talents. 
 
 " Never fear, father," responded the latter, " it's extin- 
 guished now. Besides, I deluded them away by firing the 
 small stack a mile off in an opposite direction, and have 
 left some straw and tobacco-pipes near my spot, so as to 
 look as if two trampers had been harbouring there, and had 
 accidentally caused the burning." 
 
 As the boy had foretold, the keepers were taken off the 
 right scent, and upon their return fully confirmed the 
 prediction of the incendiary. The months of July and 
 August passed tranquilly away, and it was not until Sep- 
 tember had set in, that any event occurred to disturb my 
 peace of mind. Upon a fine sunny morning during the 
 harvest time, my attention was attracted to about eighteen 
 couple of small well-bred hounds, who were being exercised on 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 37 
 
 the common. The huntsman and whipper-in were dressed 
 in Lineoln-green liveries ; and the thought immediately 
 flashed across my mind that a pack of harriers had been 
 added to the royal establishment : nor was I wrong in my 
 conjecture — they were the newly-purchased property of the 
 Prince Consort. This was a sad drawback to my happi- 
 ness. I gave myself up to despair, and as the author of 
 the " Faerie Queene" writes — 
 
 " Long thus I chawed the cud of inward grief." 
 
 At length time and the buoyant spirit of youth produced 
 their due effect upon my sanguine temperament, and I 
 turned over in my mind where the safest locahty could be 
 found in the neighbouring districts. Surrey, my own 
 county, boasted of its annual coursing meetings on Epsom 
 and Leatherhead Downs. Wiltshire was famed for its 
 Deptford Inn and Amesbury Clubs ; Berkshire and Hamp- 
 shire for the Ashdown Park, Letcombe, and High Clere 
 meetings. Foxhounds, and harriers too, were kept in the 
 above counties : so, after considerable deliberation I decided 
 upon remaining where I was, thinking it better to follow 
 the sentiment of the mournful Prince of Denmark — 
 
 " And bear those ills we have. 
 Than fly to others that we know not of." 
 
 Among other distinguished residents who had taken up 
 their temporary abode in the royal domain was a member 
 of the Reynard family — one to whom the Greek motto 
 would apply " Ovrog Epi vaXe wri^g yepov' (" A cunning 
 old fox this.") But cunning as he was, Hke many others 
 of the same wily disposition, he quite outwitted himself. 
 Having heard that to live within the precincts of Windsor 
 Castle, St. James's, Buckingham, or Holyrood palaces 
 would exempt the debtor from arrest, he foolishly fancied 
 that Virginia Water, being the property of the Crown;, 
 
38 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 would free him from a greater debt — that of nature; and 
 that he might roam there unmolested. He was, however, 
 speedily aroused from this state of hallucination, for having 
 one night stole forth after his favourite prey — rabbits, he was 
 so captivated with the " lapin au naturel,^' that he took 
 up his quarters in a gorse adjoining the warren. Great 
 then was the surprise of our vulpine hero upon the follow- 
 ing morning to find a good party of Nimrods assembled 
 within a short distance of his temporary abode. In a few 
 seconds the hounds of a celebrated sporting favourite, who 
 generally once a year was allowed to draw Windsor Park, 
 were seen approaching. At the appointed hour a signal 
 from the master, who had consulted his watch, was made, 
 and answered by a " Eu in there ! good dogs ! " from the 
 huntsman. The willing hounds are soon lost in the covert. 
 See how steadily they draw ! no babbling is heard; all are ear_ 
 nestlyatwork. "Destiny has it !"exclaims the master. Ahalloo 
 is heard. " Gone away ! " shouts the whipper-in ; the canine 
 chorus fills ; a crash, worthy of Costa's orchestra, re-echoes 
 through the woodlands, and the highly-trained pack, with 
 heads up and sterns down, settle well to the scent. Poor 
 Reynard having been sharply pressed in the onset, is what is 
 inelegantly termed "blown," or, as the more refined would 
 call it, panted for breath — the effect, probably, of the 
 gourmand's supper of the over-night. The wily animal is, 
 therefore, after a " burst " of twenty minutes, obliged to 
 have recourse to stratagem. He steals along a ditch, after 
 crossing the track of a flock of sheep, and by this means 
 causes a check. But the huntsman, whose keen eye has 
 never been off his hounds, observes the way they had pre- 
 viously inclined, and holds them on (without casting) in 
 the right direction. Again they hit on him. Now it is 
 from scent to view. It is a race for life. Fug makes for 
 the covert: every hound is at his heels : Destiny, first in 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 39 
 
 the find, is first at the death. The Coronach " Whoo- 
 hoop ! " is heard, and the pad, snout, and brush, are all 
 that remain of my victimized neighbour. To me the 
 whole scene was one of the greatest anxiety, for in the 
 opening burst the pack skirted a small plantation in which 
 I was safely lodged ; but so admirably trained were the 
 pursuers, that they heeded me not : horsemen and pedes- 
 trians, eager in the chase, added not a little to my panic ; 
 and certainly nothing could tend more to realize in my 
 person the truth of the saying, of being " as mad as a 
 March hare," than the strong excitement I had undergone. 
 A severe frost had now set in, and the ground was 
 covered with snow. Hunting was put an end to, for the 
 time ; and my vulpine neighbours were permitted to roam 
 at large. With a natural desire for locomotion, I was in. 
 the habit of wandering across the heath, to a small planta- 
 tion of evergreens, to luxuriate upon the ample fare it 
 furnished. For a length of time my movements seemed 
 unknown to mortal eye, and I was congratulating myself 
 upon my security, when an occurrence happened that nearly 
 proved fatal to me, and was attended with danger to my 
 pursuer. It was on a bright sunny morning, towards the 
 end of the winter, that I was quietly proceeding to my 
 favourite haunt, when the clattering noise of a horse, at full 
 gallop on the hard frozen road, attracted my attention. 
 Taking up a position under a tuft of high grass, whose 
 blades were covered with rime, I got a good view of the 
 mounted stranger. The youth (for he could scarcely 
 have entered his fourteenth year) was decked out in the 
 sporting gear of the day — a green cut-away coat, orna- 
 mented with the button of a celebrated racing club ; a drab 
 kerseymere waistcoat ; shawl neckcloth ; white leathers ; 
 and high polished boots, shining in all the brightness of 
 Day and Martin. A huge pair of steel persuaders, and a 
 
40 ADVENTURES OF A HARE; WITH 
 
 hunting-whip, completed his equipment. The steed was 
 a broken-down bit of blood — one of those unfortunate 
 animals who are trained to run before (it may be almost 
 said) they are able to walk, and who, by the time they have 
 attained their third year, have not only been deserted by the 
 " legs," but have scarcely one leg of their own left to stand 
 upon. The animal, despite of his attenuated state, still 
 showed high breeding, beauty, and a fine form : there 
 might be traced the small aristocratic head ; the admirably- 
 proportioned neck ; the broad, deep shoulder ; the long 
 and straight quarters : the thighs were let down very low ; 
 the hock distinct, far behind and from him, thence down- 
 ward to the next joint — this joint of the Hmb was short, and 
 stood under like the leg of an ostrich ; the pastern was 
 long, lax, and bending ; the arm was well set on at the 
 extreme' point of the shoulder-bone ; the coat, albeit not so 
 glossy as it formerly had been, was of a dark chesnut hue, 
 and shone in the morning sun ; the mane, although not 
 plaited as it had once appeared on Epsom Downs, was 
 tolerably well combed and brushed. There are, however, 
 spots and blemishes in almost every work of nature and 
 art that time produces as indicative of decay. The eyes, 
 once bright as those of the gazelle, and sparkling as the 
 evening-star, were now sunk into the head ; the sight im- 
 pared ; the hair a few inches above the knees, no longer 
 sleek, could scarcely hide some recent scars ; the crippled 
 feet, too, at once proved that the " high-mettled racer" had 
 never undergone the efficacious treatment of that patrician 
 " infelicity" annihilator, Eisenbach ; if corn, however, flou- 
 rished without, there was little symptom of any within, 
 for a more perfect specimen of an anatomie vivant could 
 not well be conceived. We do not mean to infer that the 
 ostler stinted the animal of his food, although there was a 
 report abroad that the pernicious spirit usually distilled 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 41 
 
 from the juniper berry, and which the oat-stealer was strongly 
 addicted to, was the produce of corn, beans, hay, and clover- 
 Cannon-ball — for so the horse was named by his jocose 
 master, who declared that " nothing could ever stop him " 
 — was one of those unfortunate animals yclept Eton hacks, 
 and the youth who bestrode him belonged to that far-famed 
 seat of learning. With an eye of a hawk, Fred Marston 
 — the name is the coinage of the brain — had espied me in 
 my crystallized palace, and had immediately stopped his 
 fiery courser in his career. The sudden check had nearly 
 proved fatal to the wooden pegs (for legs they could scarcely 
 be called) of the ill-fated beast, who was only saved from a 
 *' header " by the prompt apphcation of steel and a tight 
 rein. To remain where I was would have been an act of 
 unchained lunacy ; and yet, by some unaccountable instinct, 
 I felt disposed to exclaim, with the Volscian general, 
 TuUus Aufidius — 
 
 " If I fly, Marcius, halloo me like a hare" 
 
 A moment's deliberation decided my movements, 
 I quitted my place of refuge, trusting to gaining the plan- 
 tation within the paling; but before I had got many 
 yards, my pursuer was in full chase after me. The 
 snow, although deep enough to impede my progress, 
 did not interfere with that of the more weighty animal 
 who at every stride neared me. One hope was alone 
 left me, and that seemed a forlorn one ; to remain 
 in the open was, however, inevitable destruction, while a 
 chance remained of my escaping by crossing a paddock 
 that skirted a small coppice; but even that path was 
 attended with considerable danger, not alone from my 
 pursuer, but also from a farmer, who, attracted by the 
 shouts of the Etonian, had brought a sort of half-bred 
 retriever to assist in the chase. A stiff post-and-rail, 
 
42 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 with a deep dry ditch on each side, divided the field 
 from the heath; so, on doubling short, I gained the 
 enclosure : in a second an awful crash was heard, and 
 looking behind me I saw a sight that harrowed my feelings 
 — the once noble animal was lying on his side in the 
 agonies of death, while the rider, with the blood gushing 
 from his nostrils upon the driven snow, appeared an in- 
 animate corpse. In less time than I can take to record 
 the sad catastrophe, assistance w^as procured, and poor 
 Fred Marston was conveyed to the neighbouring farm- 
 house : there, by the judicious assistance of an elderly 
 female, who was learned in herbs and pharmacy, the in- 
 trepid horseman was soon restored to animation : not so 
 his gallant steed, whose limbs failing him as he charged 
 the almost impracticable place, had fallen and broken 
 his back ; his sufferings were speedily put an end to by 
 a friendly bullet, while I, who was the indirect cause of the 
 accident, escaped scot free. 
 
ANECDOTES OF HTS MANY FRIENDS. 43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The "Winding-up of the Etonian's Adventure — Easter Monday with 
 the Queen's Hounds — Ruffianly Attack upon our Hero — His 
 Death — The East-end Tailor. 
 
 The last chapter terminated with my fortunate escape 
 from the young Eton boy, and the accident that befel him 
 and his thorough-bred steed. The youth, thanks to a 
 sound constitution, was soon brought to a state of com- 
 parative convalescence, and in less than an hour was 
 mounted on the pony of a neighbouring farmer, on his way 
 back to his dame's. Poor Cannon-ball, once the pride of 
 Epsom, was left lifeless on the spot where he had fallen, 
 that his owner might see and be enabled to return a verdict 
 of accidental death. As Fred Marston was crossing the 
 bridge that divides the towns and counties of Windsor? 
 Eton, Berks, and Bucks, he was met by Joe Sharpness, the 
 ostler, who, at one glance, saw that some untoward accident 
 had occurred ; the flushed and excited state of the rider, the 
 right arm supported by a stirrup-leather, the boot cut open 
 to the ancle, and, above all, the sudden transformation of 
 the high-mettled racer into a short, strong, rough-coated 
 cob, gave the man-of-oats what he professionally called 
 " the staggers." " Why, what has happened, Mr. 
 Marston ?" exclaimed the trusty Joe. " Nothing more 
 than I expected," responded the rider. " I knew Cannon- 
 
44 ADVENTURES OY A HARE ; WITH 
 
 ball could not top a flight of rails, and although I gave 
 him an extra charge of powder, the brute took the upper 
 bar with his knee, fell over, floored me, and killed himself." 
 " Oh !" groaned Mr. Sharpness, giving what Pufl^, in the 
 Critic, calls a regular round O. " What will master say ? 
 he refused eighty guineas for him yesterday. But here he 
 comes, sir, so I'll leave you to explain matters." The ad- 
 venture as it had occurred was then repeated to George 
 Burnley (we deal in fictitious names), the proprietor of the 
 Eclipse public-house, and job-master to the rising gene- 
 ration. " Only think," said he, " that I should have been 
 offered a hundred guineas for him yesterday ; but as you 
 had engaged him for the day, and as I could not bear to 
 disappoint so good a customer, I refused that sum. I 
 shall never be able to replace him." " Well, what can't be 
 cured must be endured," replied the light-hearted youth. 
 " You seem quite to forget the peril I was in : the breath 
 shook out of my body, my collar-bone broken, my ancle 
 sprained, right rib fluttering, and all along with the broken- 
 down beast, who fell at a place any common sort of a 
 hunter ought to have cleared." We must digress to make 
 a remark upon an extraordinary notion that exists. If a 
 horse falls with a gentleman, the animal is denounced as a 
 " horrid brute," " an unsafe Rosinante,'* and other oppro- 
 brious terms ; whereas if a groom happens to meet with a 
 similar accident the tables are turned, and the man is 
 abused for having " thrown the horse down," a proceeding 
 not very easy to carry out. 
 
 The colloquy between Burnley and the unfortunate hero 
 of the day's catastrophe was put an end to by the approach 
 of the head master ; the disconsolate owner of Cannon-ball 
 mounted the cob to ride off to the scene of action, while 
 Fred Marston was conveyed in a fly to his dame's house, 
 where, after a surgical inspection, the return was — collar- 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 45 
 
 bone fractured, hip severely bruised. Time and good 
 treatment soon restored the Etonian to his wonted strength 
 and health, and some old rags bearing the impress of the 
 Bank of England, amounting to one eighth of the ostler's 
 valuation, completely salved the wound caused by the un- 
 timely death of the gallant steed. 
 
 I now return to my own narrative. The hunting season 
 had nearly terminated, and I was left to enjoy peacefully 
 all the delights of a fine, early spring. Nothing can 
 exceed the beauty of Virginia Water : the placid lake, the 
 miniature man-of-war floating on its unruffled surface, the 
 picturesque fishing temple, the brightly-tinted woods, the 
 neatly-kept walks, the mossy turf, the verdant shrubs, are 
 all happily blended together, and form one of the finest 
 spots in merrie England. Easter Monday had arrived, 
 and had brought with it its usual train of cockney sports- 
 men to enjoy a day with Her Majesty's staghounds. The 
 meet was Ascot Heath ; and certainly any one that had 
 joined the hunt that day might with truth have exclaimed, 
 in the words of the late Haynes Bayley's popular ballad — 
 " We met, 'twas in a crowd." At an early hour the 
 Waterloo and Paddington stations were beset with sports- 
 men of every grade and rank, from the highest-born 
 patrician down to the lowest-bred plebeian. There might 
 be seen the exquisite from the West-end alighting from his 
 phaeton, giving orders to his stud-groom to take especial 
 care of the two favourite hunters after their day's work, and 
 inquiring whether the cover-hack had been safely deposited 
 in the horse-box. Next might be noticed some half- 
 dozen dealers descending from their dogcarts and buggies, 
 and superintending the " cooping" of the irrefractory nags 
 in their small wooden tenements. The party in two 
 well-appointed Hansoms consist of four fast young men, 
 with, to adopt their own phraseology, "stunning" cigars in 
 
46 ADVENTURES OF A HARE WITH 
 
 their mouths, themselves adorned with " lummy castors," 
 " nobby coats," " spicy boots," and " screeching chokers." 
 A Whitechapel cart " shoots its rubbish" (as an old 
 dowager's coachman was wont to call his aristocratic load) ; 
 and two cadgers, a costermonger, and a couple of the 
 " swell mob" are added to the throng. A regular-looking 
 " workman" on the box of a neat plain drag, with a team 
 of thorough-bred ones, worthy of a Landseer's pencil or a 
 Peyton's hand, sets down his "in" and "outsides" at the door 
 of the booking office ; by their soldier-like gait and capil- 
 lary ornaments, they are evidently of the household brigade. 
 A hack cab, from Houndsditch, containing three old 
 clothesmen of the Jewish persuasion, short, dark, and 
 dirty as a December day, is stopping the way, while the 
 occupiers of it are wrangling for the odd fourpence. A 
 gaudily-painted chariot, with a bright-coloured hammer- 
 cloth, silver mountings, arms and crests elaborately em- 
 blazoned on the pannels, coachman and footman in powder, 
 with lace hatbands and parrot-looking liveries of green and 
 red, is driven pompously up to the entrance ; and two 
 sporting stockbrokers, tired of the " bulls," " bears," and 
 " stags" of the City, are now intent upon investing their 
 funds in a day's pleasure, and exchanging the gloom of 
 Change Alley and Capel Court for a run with a living 
 buck over the plains of Ascot. To the above lot may be 
 added a most heterogeneous mass, consisting of " nobs," 
 " snobs," " blacklegs," " chaunters," livery.stable keepers, 
 courtesans, gamesters, and betting-list proprietors. In the 
 palmy days of coaching, before railways were even in pro- 
 spective existence, the Easter hunt was always inconve- 
 niently crowded ; it is now a complete bear garden or 
 world's fair, and so speedy and numerous are the means of 
 locomotion that sportsmen may breakfast, dine, and sleep 
 in London, and yet enjoy a' run of three or four hours 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 47 
 
 with the Queen's hounds. If the ancestors of the present 
 generation could but see the march, or rather the gallop, 
 of improvement, how surprised would they be ! Let us 
 compare the travelling a hundred years ago to that of the 
 present day. In the Salisbury Journal of January 20, 
 1752, appears the following advertisement: — "For the 
 better convenience of gentlemen, travelUng and others, the 
 Express fast coach starts every Monday morning from the 
 Saracen's Head, Friday Street, London, dines at Egham, 
 lies the same night at Murrell Green ; dines on Tuesday at 
 Sutton, and lies the same evening at the Plume of Feathers, 
 in Sahsbury ; on Wednesday dines at Blandford, and Hes 
 at the King's Arras in Dorchester, and arrives at Exeter 
 every Friday at one o'clock." As no mention is made of 
 the Thursday journey, we are at a loss to know what be- 
 came of the Express during that day ; we presume, how- 
 ever, that it dragged on its weary course throughout the 
 best part of the night, and thus occupied four days and 
 nearly four nights in accomplishing that which is now 
 done in as many hours. 
 
 Return we to the Heath. At half-past eleven o'clock 
 Charles Davis appeared upon one of his favourite horses, 
 with the royal pack at his heels ; the galloping, shouting, 
 hallooing of the equestrians and pedestrians was a trial of 
 temper that few men could have gone through with the 
 equanimity that Davis did. Independent of the numbers that 
 had been brought down by the rail, there was a gathering 
 from every town, hamlet, and rural district in the neigh- 
 bourhood. Windsor furnished its quota of officers and 
 sporting tradesmen ; Eton poured forth its " boys," boat- 
 keepers, and the usual hangers-on of college life. Brent- 
 ford contributed a fair proportion of knackers and general 
 dealers. Egham and Staines turned out a few well- 
 mounted inn and hvery-stable keepers ; while Wingfield, 
 
48 ADVENTURES OF A HARE; WITH 
 
 Sunning Hill, Bray, HoUyport, and Clewer produced their 
 farmers, butchers, trainers, ploughmen, and labourers, all 
 intent upon one object, namely, that of realizing the line 
 of the old song — " This day a stag must die." In addition 
 to the above enumerated human and equine forces, the 
 canine race mustered strongly ; every one seemed to act 
 upon the principle of " bringing his own dog in case it 
 could be of any use," and mastiffs, mongrels, turnspits, 
 greyhounds, terriers, sheep-dogs, lurchers, swelled the 
 throng. The shouts and ejaculations that rent the air 
 were of the most varied description. " Ware horse 1" said 
 a young city clerk, who might have sung in character the 
 popular ballad, " I wore a coat of Moses the first time that 
 we met," and whose steed evidently had a different will 
 from that of his rider. " Sir, your horse has got my rein 
 under his tail," exclaimed another. " Halloa, Snip," re- 
 marked a third, " how long have you left your shop-board ?" 
 " Do you want your horse holded, sir?" inquired a Crock- 
 ford cad, as a raw-boned nag showed the folly of a snaffle- 
 bridle, with a mouth hard as adamant. " Please sir, your 
 spur has caught in my paletot," muttered another, as one 
 of Nicol's best Llama paletots appeared rent in two. 
 Davis, who had retired with his pack from the crowd, and 
 round whom a cordon of sportsmen had been formed, to 
 keep them free from the oi polloi, was now anxious to 
 commence operations ; the deer was therefore uncarted, 
 and the gallant " Rob Roy," who, like his far-famed name- 
 sake, had a horror of the lowland rabble, made the best of 
 his way for that celebrated spot in English history, Runn^- 
 mede. In less than twenty-minutes the pack were laid on, 
 and then ensued a scene which baffles all description. Hunts- 
 man, hounds, horsemen, pedestrians, and dogs made a si- 
 multaneous rush in pursuit of their prey. The entreating tone 
 of Davis's voice, as he urged the impetuous sportsmen to 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 49 
 
 " hold hard," were lost in the shouts, cries, and halloes 
 of the excited Nimrods and the yelping of the currish 
 crew that followed in their track. Happily a stiff fence 
 and a deep ditch gave a temporary check to the mad 
 career of many a rider, whose courage was literally — not 
 figuratively — damped by the application of the cold- 
 water cure. For a few moments the field was small and 
 select ; and the hounds having settled well down upon 
 the scent, gave promise of a fair run ; when, unfortunately, 
 the skirters, who had taken to the road, again made their 
 unwelcome appearance. " Pray, gentlemen, don't override 
 the hounds," exclaimed the huntsman, as some half-dozen 
 cockneys, with whips in their hands, were in fact driving 
 the well-trained pack forward. Another barrier appeared, 
 in the shape of a double post and rail, and the Mac- 
 adamites were again to be seen pounding away on the 
 hard road. The real " workmen," who remained with 
 the hounds, were now inspired with hope ; but alas ! it 
 was doomed to be disappointed, for, by an untoward 
 accident, the deer was headed back by a sheep dog, right 
 into the midst of the unsportsmanlike multitude. At 
 the sight of the panting animal, a shout like that of the 
 war cry of the Ojibeway Indians was raised, and every 
 horseman dashed forward in the pursuit. But the red 
 M'Gregor felt with the hero from whom he took his 
 name — " you have not yet subdued Rob Roy" — and away 
 he bounded quick as an arrow from the bow. A regular 
 scurry then took place ; hounds, horses, and men on foot 
 mingled in one incongruous melee. The precincts of 
 Virginia Water were neared. The park pahng stopped 
 many an ardent rider. A momentary pause, a crash was 
 heard, as a party had stormed and carried the barricade. 
 No sooner was the breach made practicable than hundreds 
 rushed in. The deer, beleagured and confused, took to the 
 
 E 
 
50 ADVENTURES OP A HARE ; WITH 
 
 water, and seemed to set his pursuers at defiance. " Look 
 out," exclaimed a smirking tailor from the neighbourhood 
 of Bow Church, " there's an 'are sitting. " " Soho,' 
 cried another. " Let's have a course," said a third. With 
 this, some half-dozen sportsmen (God save the mark) of this 
 class; surrounded my hiding-place, and commenced the most 
 dastardly attack upon the rights of a British subject. My 
 domain literally besieged ; stones, bricks, sticks, and 
 other missiles were hurled at me, and murder was evidently 
 the object of the blood-thirsty gang. A pack of mongrels 
 were brought to their aid. To fly before such a cowardly 
 race was an indignity that I could not submit to ; so I 
 calmly awaited my fate, determined, like a second Brutus, to 
 throw myself into the jaws of death. An opportunity soon 
 presented itself. The hand of a ruffian, armed with a heavy 
 whip, was raised over my head, while a savage dog was about 
 to be let loose upon me ; I rushed upon my doom — 
 
 [Here the liar e-\emn Miscellany (as this MS. may not 
 inaptly be called) comes to a termination ; but from notes 
 that have been laid before us, we (speaking in the editorial 
 plural) are enabled to continue the adventures.] 
 
 No sooner had our hero fallen a victim to the savage 
 attack of his unrelenting enemies, than a rush was made 
 to save his respected remains, and desperate was the 
 struggle between the conflicting parties. " I claim the 
 'are," said the Cockney Citizen ; " I found him sitting." 
 " Let's have none of that 'ere nonsense," responded a 
 costermonger from Whitechapel; " I knocked him on the 
 head, and he'll make a prime supper for my missus.' 
 " Why, my dog Griper did the trick," remarked the pro- 
 prietor of a gin-palace, " and it's but fair that I should 
 have him." " I hinsist on 'aving the 'are," continued the 
 Londoner. " Aspirate your h's, young Bow Bells, and 
 don't exasperate yourself," retorted an attorney's clerk; 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 51 
 
 " an action for trespass will Zz'e." " And so will many a 
 limb of the law, Old Six-and-eightpence," smartly rejoined 
 Mr. Tipper ; for so the worthy member of the Merchant 
 Tailors' Company was called. " 'And me that 'are," he 
 continued, addresssing a clod, at the same time suiting the 
 action to the word, by placing a half-crown in the country- 
 man's hands. "Why, your horse has got some briers 
 under his tail," exclaimed a seedy-looking youth in a 
 worn-out groom's livery, and who himself had placed the 
 prickles there, in the hopes of seeing the rider spilt. " The 
 keepers are coming," shouted a dozen voices, as they 
 trotted away to join the rest of the sportsmen. In the 
 mean time Tipper had thrust the mangled remains of his 
 royal prize into the huge pocket of his shooting-jacket, 
 and spurring his nag, made for the road : but the animal 
 required no such goading, for the sharp points of the 
 brambles had already begun to take effect upon a more 
 vulnerable part than that of his sides, and away went the 
 infuriated steed " upon the pinions of the wind." Mazeppa 
 was not in greater peril for the time than was the citi- 
 zen ; the great difference between the Polish Hetman 
 and the London Cockney was, that the first-named hero 
 was lashed firmly to his horse, while poor Tipper despite 
 of a firm grip of the mane and one hand on the pummel, 
 rolled about on his saddle like a porpoise in a storm. The 
 road was soon gained, and the affrighted rider still kept 
 his seat, although his equilibrium was not very correctly 
 retained. During Mr. Tipper's runaway gallop, we pro_ 
 pose enlightening our readers as to the man of measures 
 and his horse. The former was a professed trowser maker, 
 as he termed himself, residing in High-street, Whitechapel, 
 and was as dapper and diminutive a specimen of humanity 
 as ever appeared. Mr. Tipper in height was exactly one 
 yard three quarters cloth measure : he was as fine drawn 
 
 E 2 
 
52 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 as a thread paper, stiff as buckram, and looked so demure 
 that one would have hardly thought he could have said 
 " bo" to his own goose. This ninth part of the genus 
 homo had, however, a soul above the thimble ; his fancy 
 soared higher than for shreds, patches, and " cabbage.'' 
 He was passionately devoted to sport : and when, in 
 business, he talked of Saxony mills, Russian duck, doe 
 skin, Scotch tweed, his thoughts wandered to an English 
 "mill," a "duck" hunt, a day with the staghounds, or 
 one by the river side. Tipper had a heart warm as his 
 best broad cloth, and was a kind, charitable and liberal 
 friend. He had inherited a small fortune from his father, 
 which, added to a good, thriving business, made him inde- 
 pendent of the world. He supported his mother and 
 sister, and was himself looked upon by the belles of Bow 
 as one of the most eligible matches among the shopocracy 
 of the East End. For some years the smart little tailor 
 resisted the blandishments and tender glances of many an 
 aspiring Miss, and upon reaching his thirtieth birthday was 
 pronounced to be an invulnerable Benedict. But here, as 
 is often the case, the world reckoned without their host ; 
 the charms of the fascinating Juha Brown had made so 
 deep an impression upon the hitherto flinty heart of Mr. 
 Tipper, that for the first time in his life he seriously con- 
 templated matrimony. The object of his devotion was a 
 " young person from the country," then learning the art of 
 dressmaking under a fashionable West End milliner, with 
 a view of going into service as lady's maid. Jacob Tipper 
 had met Miss Brown at the annual ball given by a well- 
 known mercer in Regent Street, and had at once fallen 
 head over ears in love with her. Her companions, upon 
 this occasion, were Monsieur et Madame Dubret ; the 
 former a French cook, and the latter a retired femme de 
 chambre. Tipper, who was dressed in the tip-top style of 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 53 
 
 East End splendour, proposed a polka to the young girl, 
 who blushingly declined ; in a quadrille he was more suc- 
 cessful. That little dance produced the most wonderful 
 effect upon the citizen's heart, who, to adopt his own 
 phrase, " was struck all of an 'eap." Jacob fell a victim to 
 the beauty of the fair Julia, who, in return, was not a little 
 flattered at the assiduous attentions of so wealthy a trades- 
 man. The hvely features of the Frenchman, who, we 
 lament to record, was himself an admirer of the young 
 girl, underwent sundry changes during the rest of the 
 evening ; he, however, managed to turn the adventure ta 
 some account, by not only supping at Tipper's expense, 
 but by winning five sovereigns from him at chicken 
 hazard. In the meantime Julia had been set down in a 
 cab at the door of Madame Achard's, near Grosvenor- 
 square. The magazin des modes was a corner house, 
 next the mews ; and at a side entrance the young ladies 
 who outstaid their leave were let in by an antique female 
 duenna, who ill requited the confidence placed in her by 
 receiving bribes from the lovers of the fair delinquents — 
 on this occasion poor Tipper had to pay for the cab and 
 gratuity. Miss Brown's period of probation had nearly 
 expired, and as during the leisure hours (which, to adopt 
 the hackneyed phrase, " were few and far between") she 
 had studied hair dressing under Monsieur Violet, coiffeur 
 to the Court, the young lady was pronounced to be fit for 
 the situation of a " femme de chambre." Alexis Dubret, 
 who was intimately acquainted with the " people" of many 
 of the highest aristocracy, soon heard of an opening for the 
 young girl with the Countess of Davenport. 
 
 At seven o'clock in the evening of a cold raw day in 
 March, Miss Brown was ushered into the noble drawing- 
 room of the Countess, who, with her two daughters, Lady 
 Jane and Maria, were sitting ready dressed for the Opera, 
 
54 ADVENTURES OF A HARE; WITH 
 
 and only awaited the Earl, who was to be set down at a 
 ministerial dinner on their way to Her Majesty's Theatre. 
 "Miss Brown," exclaimed the foppishly-dressed groom 
 of the chambers as he threw open the wide folding doors, 
 and almost thrust the trembling girl into the august 
 presence. Lady Davenport, who looked as starch and old 
 fashioned as the brocade that adorned her tall gaunt figure, 
 rose from her chair, and eyed the new comer from head 
 to foot, " Too young and dressy," said the high born 
 dame ; " quite unfit for service " Julia, who was a pretty, 
 modest- looking girl, with exquisitely chiselled features, the 
 darkest hair and brightest eyes, looked down abashed, and 
 wished herself in the humble back attic of Madame Achard's 
 residence, where thirteen young ladies, independent of 
 herself, had been " cribbed, cabined, and confined" in seven 
 iron bedsteads during the last six months. " And what 
 wages do you expect ?" asked the lady. " I fear you are 
 too inexperienced for the place." 
 
 Julia's colour mounted to her usually pallid cheeks and 
 brow at the contemptuous manner in which the proud 
 patrician treated her. 
 
 " My sister and I want a lady's-maid," said Lady Jane, 
 in the most considerate and soothing tone ; " I have no 
 doubt we should make you very comfortable." 
 
 At this unexpected kindness Julia burst into tears. 
 
 " Novel-reading has turned her brain," said the Countess; 
 " I dislike scenes — " 
 
 At this moment the Earl (who was a nobleman in every 
 sense of the word) made his appearance ; and, seeing the 
 state of affairs, approached the Countess. " I have a 
 letter from the Reverend Mr. Probey," said his lordship, 
 " speaking so highly of Miss Brown's conduct during the 
 whole of her early days in Devonshire, that if her qualifica- 
 tions are equal to her private worth, my daughters will find 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 55 
 
 a great acquisition in the services of so highly respectable a 
 person." 
 
 Lady Davenport, who was accustomed to obey, at once 
 yielded the point ; and sending for her own maid, requested 
 that Miss Brown might be shown into the room, as the 
 housekeeper's room is called, par excellence, in every large 
 establishment. If the reception above stairs had been of a 
 formal nature, that below was infinitely more so. In a well- 
 proportioned apartment, admirably furnished, with a supper- 
 table laid out, sat four males and two females. 
 
 " Allow me to introduce you to our housekeeper, Mrs. 
 Burton," said Mrs. Marsh, the abigail who had conducted 
 Julia to the room. " Mrs. Burton, Miss Brown." 
 
 The same ceremony was carried on to a friend, Mrs. 
 Townsend, a dealer in foreign lace; to Mr. Palmer, the 
 steward ; Mr. Chaplin, the Earl's valet ; Mr. Brook, groom 
 of the chamber ; and last, not least, to Monsieur Ernest 
 Ragon, chef de cuisine. 
 
 " You may bring in the supper," said Mrs. Burton to 
 the steward's-room boy, who waited upon the upper servants, 
 " and prepare two whist tables. We shall probably make 
 up two rubbers," she continued, addressing herself to her 
 Cavaliers servante Palmer, " if our friends from the 
 Bishop's drop in." 
 
 Julia's beauty had attracted some attention; but the 
 homeliness of her manner, and the simpHcity of her dress, 
 induced the would-be fashionables to declare her "gauche." 
 
 "A tolerable looking-girl,'^ said Brook, in an under 
 tone ; " but she wants style." 
 
 " Plebeian all over," remarked Mrs. Burton, sotto voce, 
 
 " Quite so," chimed in Mrs. Marsh ; " and rather a 
 dowdy figure." 
 
 Envy and jealousy had excited the last two remarks j 
 for the housekeeper, although she still shewed the remains 
 
56 ADVENTURES OF A HARE; WITH 
 
 of beauty, was what is termed " gone by ; " and the lady's 
 maid, being as tall and as straight as a poplar, looked 
 down (we mean figuratively) upon any one of smaller 
 height and better proportions. Ernest Ragon, with the 
 gallantry peculiar to his nation, came forward, and made 
 himself agreeable to the new comer. Supper was shortly 
 afterwards announced, and the novice might well have 
 fancied herself in the dining-room up stairs ; for fish, joints, 
 entrees, sweets, wines, fruits, ices, and spirits graced the 
 board. There was a tone of coarse revelry, of impudent 
 London presumption, and familiarity, which shocked the 
 refined feelings of the country girl ; and she was inwardly 
 wishing herself back in her humble rural home, amidst the 
 beauties of her native country, when she was informed that 
 a young person was waiting to escort her back for the last 
 two nights to Madame Achard's. Taking leave of her 
 new acquaintances, Julia, with a lighter step then when she 
 entered, left the room ; and as she descended the stone 
 steps that led from the entrance-hall into the street, was 
 agreeably surprised to find her young friend, Miss 
 Clermont, hanging on the arm of a gentleman, who she 
 immediately recognized as her civic admirer, Mr. Tipper. 
 
 We have omitted to mention that the early-closing 
 movement had furnished the infatuated tailor with many 
 an opportunity of heaping attentions upon the object of his 
 devotion in opera and play-boxes ; his mother acting always 
 as chaperon on the occasion. "I could not resist the 
 pleasure of calling for you this evening," said Jacob, in his 
 most winning way, " to warn you against Lady Davenport's 
 establishment : a more dissolute one cannot exist." 
 
 "Unhappily," responded the girl, "I have engaged 
 myself." 
 
 *' Before you finally decide," continued the lover, " read 
 these few lines., To-morrow my mother and myself trust 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 57 
 
 to have the pleasure of seeing you and Miss Clermont at 
 dinner. On Monday, for the last time, I am to have a 
 day at Ascot. It is a promise of long standing to mount 
 my friend Hicks ; and after that day — " 
 
 Here a deep-drawn sigh interrupted the remainder of the 
 remark. The letter contained a formal proposition for 
 Miss Brown's hand ; which having been duly accepted, 
 a note was despatched^to Lady Davenport, informing her 
 that the young person who had applied for the situation 
 had concluded ^ more permanent one, namely, for life. A 
 few grateful hues to the Earl and his daughters were sent 
 at the same time ; and at the very moment the Countess 
 was indulging her spleen at the folly of early marriages, 
 especially in humble life, Mr. Tipper and his friend Hicks 
 were scampering over the country in pursuit of a noble 
 stag, and which indirectly led to the catastrophe before 
 alluded to — the death of the hero of these adventures. 
 
58 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A runaway steed — The modern Johnny Gilpin — Dinner at Mr. Jacob 
 Tipper's — A Theatrical Whig-maker — Hare's-foot and.Rouge — The 
 Purveyor of Hareskins — Chick Lane — Jenny Lind — Honours and 
 Indignities shown to the remains of the hero of this memoir- 
 Conclusion. 
 
 Our last chapter terminated with a full, true, and parti- 
 cular account of Mr. Tipper himself: we must now devote 
 a few lines to his horse, who was running away with his 
 rider at a most awful pace. The steed in question was one 
 of two thorough-bred horses he kept to do his London 
 work, and except upon " 'igh days and 'olydays," as he 
 called them, were alternately employed in drawing a small 
 vehicle, which, like the chest of drawers mentioned by 
 Oliver Goldsmith — 
 
 " Contrived a double debt to pay ; 
 A business cart, or private one-horse chay." 
 
 It was a neat two-wheeled carriage, with cane body, and 
 was so ingeniously contrived, that when wanted in the 
 tailoring line, a temporary shopboard, as it might not 
 inaptly be termed, was affixed to it, with the following 
 announcement in large letters : — 
 
 JACOB TIPPER, PROFESSED TROWSER MAKER, 
 
 HIGH STREET, WHITECHAPEL, 
 
 ESTABLISHED 1780. 
 
 When used for pleasure, it passed muster for a fashionable 
 dog-cart. 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 59 
 
 The Game Chicken and the Slasher, so Jacob had 
 named his horses, were no despicable hunters, and had 
 they been well ridden, would have shown themselves as 
 such ; but, unfortunately. Tipper, albeit fond of sport, was 
 no sportsman, and was much more at home cross-legged 
 on his board than he was in the saddle. 
 
 Mr. Deputy Hicks was the very reverse of his friend, 
 being a large, stout personage, with a florid complexion, a 
 stentorian voice, and the pluck of a pigeon. The very 
 first fence had stopped his progress, and the clattering of 
 the horse's feet on the hard roads had so completely shat- 
 tered the nerves of the timid Common Councilman, that 
 he had quietly left the gay and happy throng of Nimrods 
 to make the best of his way to Staines, where he had made 
 an appointment to meet Mr. Tipper in the event of their 
 being separated during the day. Mr. Deputy Hicks had 
 found good entertainment for man and horse, at a small 
 inn in this now deserted town, and had strolled across the 
 bridge to witness the patience of a deluded individual, who, 
 realizing the saying of the surly lexicographer, " a fool at 
 one end and a worm at the other," was shivering in a punt 
 in the hope of filling his basket with those finny luxuries — 
 barbel and dace. Just as the follower of old Izaak Wal- 
 ton had hooked a very diminutive specimen of the latter, 
 about the size of a sprat, a cry most untuneable was heard 
 on the road, and leaving the piscator to enjoy the delight 
 of his prowess, which he did with as much pleasure as a 
 fisherman does when after twenty minutes' play he has 
 killed a salmon of five-and-thirty pounds' weight in the 
 Spey, we will return to the Deputy, whose attention had 
 been attracted to the shouts that rent the air. 
 
 The road that leads to Egham was, as is usual upon 
 Easter Monday, filled with idlers. Here and there might 
 
60 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 be seen a crowd assembled round some itinerant showman 
 or vendor of nuts ; the game of " shying " with sticks at 
 pincushions, jacks-in-the-box, and nutmeg graters had its 
 attractions for the juvenile community ; while numbers of 
 gipsies, trampers, ballad-singers, donkey drivers, and rustics 
 were amusing themselves after their own particular fashion. 
 All of a sudden a cloud of dust was raised, and the form of 
 a steed and his rider were faintly traced in the midst of it ; 
 then rose the wild " hurrah ! " and the chorus was taken 
 up by every holiday-maker. 
 
 " Why, what can it be ? " inquired Hicks of the toll- 
 keeper. 
 
 " Only a sporting * gent ' runned away with," responded 
 the other ; " but these here bars will stop him." 
 
 So reversing the conduct of his fraternity, immortalized 
 by Cowper in Johnny Gilpin, in the following lines : 
 
 " And still as fast as he drew near, 
 'Twas wonderful to view 
 How in a trice the turnpike-men 
 Their gates wide open threw," 
 
 the mammon-loving money-taker slammed the gate in the 
 face of the runaway animal, " no trust " being the motto of 
 his calling. This unexpected movement, however, nearly 
 proved fatal to the now exhausted rider, who by the sudden- 
 ness of the jerk was shot over his horse's head, and narrowly 
 escaped a cold water bath in the river. HappUy, the crowd 
 assembled near the bridge caught the dapper Httle tailor in 
 their arms, and broke his fall. Upon recovering his some- 
 what scattered senses. Tipper found himself safe on terra 
 firma, with his friend, Mr. Deputy Hicks, by his side. 
 
 " Such sport ! " exclaimed the former. " We killed the 
 deer after a splendid run of an 'our, besides that 'are 
 which I coursed myself." 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 61 
 
 As both hunters and huntsmen had gone through a 
 severe day's work, it was agreed that the quadrupeds should 
 be left at Staines for the night, while the bipeds should 
 proceed by train to London. Nothing occurred during the 
 journey, and at five o'clock a hack cab safely deposited the 
 two friends and the hero of this adventure at the worthy 
 tailor's residence in High Street, Whitechapel. After a 
 most elaborate toilet on the part of Mr. Jacob Tipper 
 had been completed, (the lovely fiancee, Julia Brown, 
 and her friend, Miss Clermont, having arrived,) dinner 
 was served. 
 
 The party consisted of the host and his mother, the two 
 young ladies above-mentioned, Mr. Hicks, and a theatrical 
 wig-maker and amateur actor, who gloried in the high- 
 sounding name of John Kemble Wilcox, and whose con- 
 stant intercourse with the dramatic corps made him inter- 
 lard every word he uttered with green-room phrases or 
 scraps from plays. 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen, for the first scene," exclaimed 
 the Thespian hero, as he offered his arm to Mrs. Tipper, 
 and led her to the dining-room. " Stand not upon the 
 order of your going," he continued, addressing Mr. Deputy 
 Hicks, who was hesitating between the charms of Miss 
 Clermont and the beauty of Miss Brown. 
 
 The party were at length seated, and " spoon exercise," 
 as the Americans term it, commenced. 
 
 " Why, you are doing it extensive," remarked Wilcox : 
 " 'supers,' I declare." 
 
 This latter remark was made in reference to two super- 
 numerary assistants, in the persons of the greengrocer, who 
 was engaged to wait on the occasion, and the odd man, 
 who went for the beer and brought the dishes from the 
 kitchen. 
 
 After partaking of some mock turtle, as unlike the real 
 
62 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 occidental luxury as ball-supper gooseberry wine is to 
 Charles Cunningham's champagne, a fine turbot smoked 
 on the board. This was removed by a haunch of mutton 
 and a roast hare, the hero of this adventure. As a matter 
 of course (we mean no pun nor double play upon the word, 
 as applied to the dinner or my capture,) Tipper proceeded 
 to descant upon his riding prowess, and so interested the 
 wig-maker with his description of the Royal Hunt and 
 the course, that he could talk of nothing else. 
 
 " What shall we have, that killed the deer ? " spouted 
 Wilcox. " I should like to have the antlers or the '' 
 
 Here the perruquier was at a loss for a word ; the brush 
 was uppermost in his thought, but he knew not that it was 
 termed the " scut." 
 
 " I am sorry you cannot have either horns or scut," 
 responded Tipper ; " but you may have the hare's feet ; 
 they will be quite in your line. I suppose you furnish 
 rouge and make up faces for the stage ? " 
 
 " I believe you, my boy," replied the hair dresser, imita- 
 ting the manner of Paul Bedford ; " and to-morrow I have 
 to provide the Swedish Nightingale, the inimitable Jenny 
 Lind, with a pot of my superfine carmine ; she shall have 
 the regal hare's foot." 
 
 Before the author of this biography proceeds to notice 
 the adventures that befel the foot, he must refer to another 
 portion, which was disposed of, the following morning, to 
 one of those itinerant hucksters who prowl about the 
 metropolis buying rags, bottles, and kitchen stuff. At an 
 early hour, a small ricketty cart, drawn by a donkey, stopped 
 at Mr. Tipper's area-gate, and an old crone in a tattered 
 cloak and faded bonnet made her way stealthily down the 
 steps towards the kitchen door. 
 
 " Mrs. Collins, it's only I, Mrs. Glazier," said the pro- 
 prietor of the Black Doll ; " and hearing you had a dinner 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 63 
 
 yesterday, I call to know whether you have any perquisites 
 to dispose of." 
 
 " Step in, Mrs. G.," responded the eight-guinea a-yeai* 
 culinary artist. " I have not much left, but what I have 
 you can take away. Let's see, here's a nice quart of mock 
 turtle, half a turbot, a beautiful piece of mutton, a little 
 hare, — no, I'll keep that for my own dinner — a pound of 
 lard, some drippings, a few wax-ends, half-a-dozen wine 
 bottles, and this hare skin." 
 
 After a great deal of higgling upon both sides, a bargain 
 was struck, and Mrs. Glazier was about to depart, when her 
 attention was attracted to some table linen which had been 
 put aside for the laundress. 
 
 " Why, surely, Mrs. Collins, your master can't use that 
 again ! it's full of holes." 
 
 " So it is, Mrs. G.," responded the other; "that may 
 go." And with this, Mrs. Glazier " cast " the best part 
 of the tailor's damask, declaring it was not worth the 
 expense of washing. 
 
 After the money had been paid, the once sleek-furred 
 coat of the hero of this memoir was deposited in the 
 donkey-cart and carried off to a small tenement in Chick 
 Lane, Holborn. The house, which was merely built of 
 lath and plaster, was bounded in the rear by the foetid 
 water of the Fleet ditch, its black windows looking upon 
 the filthy stream, which here flowed rapidly down an open 
 gutter. The dirty dilapidated den was the abode of thieves 
 of both sexes and of all ages, from the diminutive " area 
 sneak " to the practised " cracksman," and was the scene 
 of the vilest debaucheries and most heinous crimes. The 
 building contained several places admirably adapted for 
 concealment ; and a trap-door in the flooring of the back- 
 kitchen, communicating with a cellar, from an opening in 
 which a plank could be placed across the stream to a 
 
64 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ) WITH 
 
 corresponding aperture in the cellar of the opposite house, 
 furnished a ready means of escape. Every portion of this 
 over-populated dwelling was devoted to some nefarious and 
 illegal traffic. In one corner might be seen a Jewish 
 receiver and vendor of stolen silk handkerchiefs busily 
 superintending the " bandana " department, while three 
 wretched, emaciated-looking " maids of Judah" were actively 
 employed in erasing the initials and coronets from these 
 Indian trophies of the light-fingered gentry. In another 
 a melting process was going on, and crests, coats of arms, 
 and other heraldic distinctions, which had probably cost 
 the college some trouble in finding, were now rapidly dis- 
 appearing under the caloric influence of the magic crucible. 
 In a vault below ground, a self-elected " Warden of the 
 Mint," assisted by a partner who combined the offices 
 of master, worker, engraver, melter, and blancher, 
 were employed in the manufacture of counterfeit money. 
 Spurious metal, puncheons, counter-puncheons, stamps, 
 dyes, patterns, moulds, cutting engines, and files, shewed 
 the workmen were quite au fait at coining, clipping, wash- 
 ing, rounding, fifing, diminishing, lightening, colouring, 
 and gilding the metallic currency of the country. In the 
 back kitchen, two slatternly wenches were employed in the 
 adulteration of tea, and before them were placed, in working 
 order, the wooden presses, drying-trays, leather and muslin 
 bags, colouring matter, and all the apparatus and materials 
 employed in the art of giving to the exhausted leaves the 
 semblance of that product which " cheers, not to inebriate." 
 The front and back attics were occupied by makers of cigars 
 and cat-skin dressers. In the former, some leaves of the 
 " Rheum palmatum " and " Nicotiana rustica " were doing 
 duty for the foreign weed introduced into this country by 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, on his return from America. A man 
 and woman were employed in steeping the leaves in salt 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 65 
 
 water, twisting them into cigars (which on being retailed 
 were warranted as genuine " Havannas,") and filling the 
 interior with Lambkin's Irish snufF and the coarsest tobacco. 
 In the fur department, the process of dressing the skins 
 was being carried on in the most pestilential atmosphere. 
 Two wrinkled old women, with dishevelled hair, and clothed 
 — if such a term can be applied to the scantiest dress of 
 tattered rags — superintended the nauseous work. The 
 plastered walls were hung with pelt of the lowest order of 
 the leonine species, the cat ; and on the roof three ponde- 
 rous traps were well baited to entice some roving Tom or 
 Tabby, who, upon being taken, immediately underwent 
 " Lynch law." 
 
 A knock was now heard at the door of this apartment. 
 
 " It's only Mrs. Glazier," exclaimed one of the old crones; 
 and touching a secret lock, the new comer was admitted. 
 
 " Three dozen cat and one beautiful hareskin to-day," 
 said Mrs. Glazier. 
 
 " Times is bad," remarked the eldest of the harridans ; 
 " but there's the usual complement. We've no great sale 
 for these," continued the last speaker, eyeing the sleek 
 coat of the subject of this sketch ; " but it will do for a cap 
 for my grandson, James." 
 
 And forthwith it was converted into a head covering for 
 the hopeful youth, who, to his shame be it spoken, was one 
 of the most expert " cracksmen " of the day. In the course 
 of the week the cap was forwarded to a celebrated flash 
 house in St. Giles's, where it was shortly delivered to the 
 burglar, James Rastick, commonly called " Starlight Jem.' 
 In less than a month the housebreaker paid the penalty of 
 the law in Horsemonger Lane, having been tried for and 
 convicted of burglary and murder. 
 
 The indignities that had been offered to the external 
 portion of the subject of this memoir had not been extended 
 
:66 ADVENTURES OF A HARE; WITH 
 
 to the foot, which had now become the property of Mr. 
 Kemble Wilcox, and was about to grace the operatic toilet 
 table of the sweetest of warblers — the inimitable Jenny 
 Lind. It was upon a memorable occasion, that of Her 
 Majesty's state visit to her own theatre, that the only 
 representative of the Hare family was presented to the 
 Syren, and in an humble manner assisted in the brilliancy 
 of the scene by heightening the colour of the fair-haired 
 daughter of Sweden. The rouge that graced the cheek of 
 the ill-fated betrayed Druidical priestess was applied by the 
 foot of the timid animal whose adventures we have recounted. 
 The opera selected was Bellini's chef-d'ceuvre, " Norma," 
 in which the " Nightingale" triumphantly sustained her 
 reputation as the greatest singer of the day. The breath- 
 less interest, the suppressed murmurs of delight which 
 accompanied her execution of " Casta diva" at once 
 proved the enthusiasm of the audience, and which was 
 considerably increased in the more impassioned portions of 
 the drama, thus stamping the artist as one not only capable 
 of delighting the ear in the simple parts of the innocent 
 suffering " Amina," and the hght-hearted, joyous, unsophis- 
 ticated " Vivandiere," but of enthralling their senses in the 
 most lofty and dignified conception of Italy's greatest 
 master. The hare's foot adventures with the Queen of 
 Song will be briefly recorded in the winding up of the 
 adventures, and which we propose to bring to a close by 
 recapitulating the miseries of the ^air-brained hero. 
 
 To be basely deserted by his parents — to be left an 
 orphan on the wide world — to be marked as the prey of a 
 wandering gipsy — to be hunted by an Eton boy — to be 
 mobbed to death by a cockney crew, headed by a diminutive 
 Whitechapel tailor, were evils of the greatest magnitude, 
 truly. Still might he have consoled himself with the hues 
 from the Seasons — 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 67 
 
 " Poor is the triumph o'er the timid hare," 
 for these were ills that " lepine," as well as " human flesh 
 are heir to." But the indignities that followed after death 
 were alone worthy of a savage cannibal tribe. 
 
 " So bad begins, but worse remains behind." 
 
 To be " basted " by a professed eight guinea a-year cook — 
 to be served at a table in High Street, Whitechapel — to be 
 mangled by a theatrical wig-maker — to appease the hunger 
 of the ninth part of the genus homo — to be devoured by the 
 " Meg Dods" of the establishment — to have his outward 
 covering hawked in a donkey-cart to Chick Lane to be 
 made into a cap for " Starlight Jem" — to become the pro- 
 perty of the executioner, and finally to grace the museum 
 of an amateur of horrors in a cabinet containing one of the 
 shoes of " Black Bess," the rope that hung " Dick Turpin,'* 
 the copybook of Eugene Aram, the watch of " Slender 
 Billy," the snuff-box of Jonathan Wild, the tobacco-stopper 
 of Jerry Abershaw, the top boots of Sixteen.string Jack, 
 the " darbies" that graced the wrists of Paul Clifford, the 
 irons that fettered Jack Sheppard, the hat worn by Colonel 
 Despard, the cloak of Mrs. Brownrigg, the waistcoat of 
 Thistlewood, the steel of Ings the butcher, the handwriting 
 of Courvoisier, the neckcloth of Burke, the Newgate bouquet 
 of Fauntleroy, the Quaker hat of Tawell, the bag carried by 
 Greenacre, the whip of Daniel Good, the pistol of Rush, 
 the hearthstone of the Mannings, the mask of one of the 
 Frimley murderers, the betting book of Palmer, and the 
 ticket of leave of Marley. 
 
 One, and only one redeeming point remains ; the foot of 
 the otherwise ill-fated victim was honoured by the touch of 
 the sweetest of syrens ; it accompanied her throughout the 
 English provinces ; it crossed the Atlantic with her ; it 
 witnessed her triumphs in the New World ; it bore testi- 
 
68 ADVENTURES OF A HARE ; WITH 
 
 mony of her private excellence and public worth ; it was 
 with her at the mighty cataract of Niagara ; and has been 
 the constant companion of one who unites the vocal talents 
 of the " divine Cecilia" with the pure philanthropy of a 
 Howard. 
 
 Few of the characters referred to in this brief memoir 
 are in existence. The modern Sardanapalus, George the 
 Fourth ; the kind-hearted Sailor King ; Bonaparte, " Eu- 
 rope's Hannibal ;" and the principal members of the Vienna 
 congress live alone in history. Of those who still are 
 spared to their respective nations may be mentioned two of 
 the brightest names in the annals of glory* — Wellington 
 and Louis Napoleon ; the former the pacificator of Europe, 
 the latter the peace-preserver of France. Each in their 
 different spheres have shown the master-mind ; and when 
 the hand of time shall have removed all political asperities, 
 and justice, which is too often denied to the living, shall be 
 extended to the dead, the names of Wellington and Louis 
 Napoleon will be enshrined in the hearts of their country- 
 men as the purest patriots that ever breathed the air of 
 heaven. 
 
 A few words anent the minor personages of this imper- 
 fect drama may not be uninteresting to our readers ere we 
 drop the curtain over the scene. Our hero's first tormentor, 
 the gipsy lad, had proved the fallacy of the lines of the 
 poet — 
 
 " Delightful task — to teach the young idea to shoot ;" 
 
 for he was transported at an early age, for poaching. Fred. 
 Marston, the Etonian, still indulges in his favourite pursuit 
 of hunting, and for the last two years has been master of 
 one of the finest packs of hounds in England. Mr. Joseph 
 Tipper has retired from business, and now resides with his 
 
 * Written before the death of the Iron Duke. 
 
ANECDOTES OF HIS MANY FRIENDS. 69 
 
 lovely wife, nee Julia Brown, in a suburban villa near 
 Bayswater. A young smiling " Cherub," with " her 
 mother's own eyes," bright as the gazelle, is the present 
 result of the happy union. Mr. Deputy Hicks took advan- 
 tage of the Lord Mayor's recent visit to Paris, and accom- 
 panied a civic friend to the " city of frivolities." His 
 principal object was to procure a trousseau for his affianced 
 bride, Miss Clermont, the companion of Julia's millinery 
 days. Mrs. CoUins, the female Ude of High Street, 
 Whitechapel, was dismissed for peculations ; and her friend, 
 Mrs. Glazier, left England for New South Wales, with a 
 letter of introduction from the Secretary of State for the 
 Home Department. The cause of her involuntary absen- 
 teeism was to be attributed to her obliviousness, in having 
 conveyed, by mistake, sundry yards of lace from a counter 
 in the Pantheon Bazaar in her cat's skin muff. Mr. Kem- 
 ble Wilcox is still a great partizan of the (theatrical) wigs, 
 and occasionally takes a part in the private performances at 
 that bijou of a theatre — the Soho, late Miss Kelly's. 
 Lord Davenport has been gathered to his ancestors, and 
 the property and title having passed to a distant relation, 
 the Dowager Lady Davenport has been compelled to reduce 
 her establishment : she now resides in a small house in 
 Upper Harley Street ; a ladies'-maid, female cook, a maid- 
 of-all-work, and a sugar-loafed button page alone now 
 constitute the household. Her ladyship's two aristocratic 
 daughters formed bad marriages : the elder having accepted 
 the hand of an Irish fortune hunter, unencumbered with 
 any estate ; and the younger having eloped with a Count 
 Krautenberg Tolstoyken, a German adventurer, with a 
 long pedigree and a short purse. A parting word : the 
 compiler of the adventures trusts that the hare, unlike the 
 one immortahzed by Gay, may find many a friend among 
 the readers of this volume. 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A "BAGMAN:" OR, 
 ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 
 
 FROM AN ORIGINAL MS. IN THE POSSESSION OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 " Fox shall in Britain's future annals shine," — Byron. 
 " Make you some sport with the fox." — Shakespeare. 
 
 Opening remarks — Reynard's youthful days — Sketch of the " Fox 
 family" — Extraordinary life of our hero's grandfather — The 
 Cheshire Squire and Rugby boys — A vulpecide game keeper — 
 Leamington or Jeptheonia — The Spa meeting — A run with the 
 Warwickshire — Water- drinking swells — Cockney sportsmen — A 
 second run with Mr. Thornhill's hounds — Edge Hill — First ap- 
 pearance of the " bagman" — A regimental pack — The red-herring 
 hounds — A day's run — " He that fights and runs away, will live 
 to fight another day" — Sir John Cope's hounds — Gallant death of 
 our hero — Finis coronat opus — The brush — Liberality of Her Most 
 Gracious Majesty. 
 
 Start not, gentle reader ! But first, let me ask why 
 readers are always called by the novelists gentle and 
 courteous ? For how often have I seen, nay, how fre- 
 quently have I myself, in a fit of anger or disappointment, 
 dashed some trashy book from me, exclaiming " Unmiti- 
 gated rubbish !" To resume. Reader, of whatever class 
 you happen to be — meek or choleric, placid or passionate 
 — do not for a moment imagine that I am about to inflict 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 71 
 
 upon you the biography of one of those useful envoys of 
 the commercial community, who, according to Sir Walter, 
 " are called by themselves and the waiters, travellers par 
 excellence, by others, riders and bagmen." No, I have a 
 soul above human bagmen : and the life I am about to 
 delineate is that of a vulpine one. I cannot see why, in 
 these days of biography, when the lives, times, memoirs, 
 letters, dispatches, travels, adventures, expeditions, wander- 
 ings, journals, voyages, rambles of great personages are 
 weekly emanating from the erudite emporiums of Messieurs 
 Murray, Moxon, Newby, Hurst and Blackett, Bentley, 
 Saunders and Otley, Evans, Bradbury, Chapman and Hall, 
 why the " Autobiography of a Bag-fox" should not prove as 
 interesting as " The Life of a Feather," " The Memoirs of 
 an Umbrella," " The History of a King Charles's Spaniel," 
 or " The Adventures of a Bottle of Hock." With this 
 prelude I commence my narrative : beginning with my 
 birth, parentage, and edtication. 
 
 According to the learned researches of the celebrated 
 Dr. Buckland, I can trace an antediluvian ancestry, but I 
 shall be content in this brief memoir to confine myself to 
 my immediate parents — my grandfather and father. The 
 latter was well known to all the sporting characters in the 
 Warwickshire hunt ; while my mother, who was of French 
 extraction, had only arrived in England from her own gay 
 clime, la belle France, the year before my birth. She 
 was indeed a most anxious and tender mother; having, 
 upon one occasion, when danger threatened her youthful 
 family, carried them off to a place of safety — thus risking 
 her own life to save that of her offspring. 
 
 With regard to myself. Candour, a somewhat unusual 
 virtue in one of my wily species, compels me to admit that I 
 was a most uncompromising " destructive " urchin ; and 
 from my earliest days "free trade " was my motto. I was the 
 
72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A "BAGMAN;" OR, 
 
 very Jack Sheppard of the poultry-yard ; the Robin Hood 
 of the woods and forests. For hours did I listen to the 
 crowing of the cock, and the cackling of other domestic 
 fowls, levelling at one fell swoop " all the pretty chickens 
 and tlieir dam" without remorse. Hiding my spoil, I 
 would again return to the charge, until the tones of certain 
 house-dogs, and the cries of their masters, gave me notice 
 to quit. In the merry greenwood I was the king of free- 
 booters ; my unrelenting spirit gave no quarter, showed no 
 mercy. The young hares and rabbits, too feeble to escape, 
 fell easy victims to my ogrelike propensities ; while the 
 more aged ones, wounded or fatigued, were (as the heroes 
 of old would write) " made captives to my chariot wheels." 
 Nor were the nests of the quails and partridges held sacred ; 
 for I would seize upon the mothers while sitting: — thus 
 adding murder to burglary. In short, I was the terror of 
 the adjacent country. Hares, rabbits, fowls, geese, turkeys, 
 ducks, pheasants, partridges, quails ; nay, even rats, mice, 
 lizards, toads, serpents, and hedge-hogs were all in their 
 turn made sacrifices to my voracious appetite. 
 
 But before I proceed with my own immediate narrative, 
 I must " hark back" to some of my ancestors ; and in so 
 doing I am reminded of a well-authenticated anecdote of 
 my grandfather and grandmother, which must be recorded 
 in these pages. At the time it occurred it created a very 
 great sensation in the minds of the inhabitants of that 
 modern Tyre — Liverpool — and its neighbourhood ; and to 
 the newspapers of the day, am I indebted for the following 
 sketch of my grandfather's rambles during his short vaca- 
 tion. Both he and my grandmother were free citizens of 
 the United States of America ; but Lynch law prevailing 
 in their district, they were caught, imprisoned, and trans- 
 ported across seas to England. No sooner had they landed 
 on Biitish soil, than, instead of finding the truth of the 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 73 
 
 claptrap saying, " of England the country of the free," 
 they were handed over to the care of a most respected and 
 respectable gentleman, the proprietor of the new hotel at 
 Wootton, in the neighbourhood of Liverpool. Here the 
 circumstance which I have referred to, took place, and I 
 give it in the words of the talented journalist. 
 
 " Those of our readers who are in the habit of indulging 
 themselves with pleasant drives and rambles into the 
 country, must know the new hotel at Wootton. Amongst 
 the live stock kept on the premises are a couple of foxes, 
 male and female, which, like Home's hermit, * are the 
 wonder of the neighbouring swains.' Bound in chains 
 rather stronger than the chain connubial, neither the lady 
 fox nor the gentleman fox ever appeared inclined to rove 
 from home, till lately a disposition to wander suddenly 
 seized upon the latter ; and, strange to stay, he received 
 assistance from his lady in the accomplishment of his 
 wishes. Mrs. Fox actually gnawed through the collar of 
 her lord ; and, like many a heroic female ' famous in 
 story,' gallantly, for his sake, dared the vengeance of 
 offended power. Reynard might immediately have made 
 his escape ; but whether the ancient appetite of his kind 
 prevailed over his proverbial discretion, or whether he 
 wished to fortify his inner individuality ere he set out on 
 his travels, we know not ; but certain it is that he crept 
 shly among the poultry, and selected a fine plump chicken, 
 on which he forthwith breakfasted. Then * consideration 
 came,' and he gallantly determined upon helping his lady, 
 who looked wistfully on, unable to help herself. He 
 selected for her a black Spanish cock, of a valuable breed, 
 which having killed, he laid before his spouse. He next 
 set to work to provide provision for a future day. Seizing a 
 fat goose, he quietly bit off its long neck, and concealed 
 the huge bird beneath some branches in the garden. The 
 
74 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A " BAGMAN ;" OR, 
 
 villain next snapt at a fine duck, and was proceeding to 
 bury it alive, when he was discovered, and upon a rush 
 being made at him, he at once cleared a wall nearly six 
 feet high. He took another wall, into an adjoining garden, 
 where his brush was seen for a moment ; but determined 
 to escape, he dashed at the carriage gate, which is planted 
 with spikes, and actually cleared it into the road, where he 
 was viewed and headed, upon which he made for the open. 
 He now went to a farm, where he lay concealed for some 
 time ; but on the following morning he appeared at the 
 residence of a most respected gentleman, the excellence of 
 whose poultry we believe he had the honour of testing. 
 Next morning he favoured a widowed lady with a visit, 
 and did her a similar favour. Here, however, he was pur- 
 sued by some dogs, which seem to have given him some- 
 thing of a fright, for he was not heard of for several days 
 afterwards. His next appearance was at the residence of 
 a gentleman at Gateacre. Here, however, he again met 
 with a reception he did not like, the dogs having rushed 
 upon him and chased him a considerable distance. He 
 next took the direction of Toxteth Park. — Now this very 
 queer fox came originally fi'om America, having been pre- 
 sented to Mr. Blunt by the commander of one of the New 
 York packet ships. Whether he was disgusted with the 
 treatment, he had met with in England — to him no land 
 of liberty — and had determined on returning to his native 
 land, or whether he mistook the forests of masts before 
 him for a forest of another description, we know not ; but 
 it is certain that he ' pondered refuge from his toil ' in a 
 very singular locality. Passing behind the Coburg Hotel, 
 he crossed the bridge of the Coburg Dock, and took 
 shelter under some loose timber. Here he was taken, and 
 restored to his old quarters at Wootton, where he lived 
 for some time with his spouse, in apparent contentment 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 75 
 
 and felicity, though he was compelled to regale on food less 
 to his taste than fatted poultry." 
 
 As the chronicler here somewhat abruptly ends the 
 history of my respectable grandparents, I must carry on 
 their lives down to the birth of my father. It seems that 
 for some little period, nothing occurred to interfere with 
 the even tenour of their way ; when, upon an eventful 
 day, two urchins who were "home" for the midsummer 
 holidays from Rugby, and were staying with their 
 parents in the neighbourhood, happened to pass the inn 
 at Wootton. 
 
 " I say, Teddy," cries the younger one, " don't you smell 
 a fox?" 
 
 " I think I do," responded the elder. 
 
 " Then give tongue, old fellow. Why, there are a couple 
 chained up together." 
 
 At this moment " mine host " appeared, and welcomed 
 the young gentlemen, who were most popular in the 
 neighbourhood, not only from being the descendants of one 
 of the oldest families in the country, but also for being 
 themselves devoted to every species of sport, from the 
 '' noble science " down to a rat hunt. 
 
 " Will you please to alight, young gentlemen, and put 
 up your ponies for half an hour ? A glass of pale ale won't 
 be unpleasant this hot morning." 
 
 " You're a regular trump, and no mistake," exclaimed 
 Master Alexander ; who, although young in years, was old 
 in sporting knowledge. " We'll light our Havannahs, have 
 a pot of the four X's, and have a day with the rats in the 
 old barn ; but what a ' nobby ' dog you've got there !" 
 
 " He is a good one. Master Alec. Got by Billy, of rat- 
 catching memory, out of a favourite bitch of Jem Ward's. 
 Here, Spring, Spring, Spring !" 
 
76 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A "BAGMAN;" OR, 
 
 The ostler now advanced, making a profound bow, by 
 pulling at his forelock. 
 
 " Sam, take the young gentlemen's ponies, and give 
 them a feed of corn." 
 
 " But what are those two tame foxes, governor ? You're 
 too old a sportsman to encourage ' bagmen.' " 
 
 " Oh, those foxes," responded the worthy hotel-keeper, 
 " are regular Yankees ; bred and born in the United States. 
 The captain of one of the New York liners brought them 
 over, and gave them to me." 
 
 " Yankees !" exclaimed the younger of the brothers. " I 
 guess they are tarnation 'cute, and I calculate would 
 furnish good sport, you may reckon on a run. We must 
 have them both to take back to Rugby." 
 
 " Impossible," replied the owner, " I could not think of 
 giving away a friend's present." 
 
 " Give away ! who ever dreamt of giving away ? No, we 
 must have them both. Name the price, old fellow. We're 
 not in Short Street now, are we Ted ?" Suiting the action 
 to the word, the urchin here chinked a well-stocked 
 purse. 
 
 " I could not think, young gentlemen, of selling them ; 
 besides, what would your respected father. Sir Harry, say ?" 
 
 " Oh ! leave us to manage the ' governor ;' he's a regular 
 * brick.' I quite won him yesterday by taking my pony 
 over a stiffish hurdle ; and Alec gladdened the old gentle- 
 man's heart the day before, by ' wiping his nose ' out shoot- 
 ing. The ' governor ' still sticks to flint — he's an out-and- 
 out McAdamite — and after missing his bird, bang goes my 
 brother's detonator, and he falls dead as a door-nail." 
 
 " Well, young gentlemen, all I have got to say is, that 
 if your worthy father has no objection, the foxes shall be 
 sent to you in the morning." 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 77 
 
 " Well said ; and suppose you come over, and fracture 
 your speedy with us ?" 
 
 " Fracture and speedy," thought mine host, not being 
 what the young scapegrace Rugbinian would call " down," 
 or rather, " up " to his slang. 
 
 " Break your fast, old fellow — that's what I mean. 
 We've quite a new vocabulary in our days ; we could even 
 puzzle that surly old pedant, Dr. Johnson." 
 
 The ponies were now ordered round, and the young 
 gentlemen having extracted a promise from the good- 
 humoured landlord to drive over in the morning with 
 the importations from America, took their leave. The 
 youths whom I have thus slightly introduced to my readers, 
 were the only sons of one of the most popular individuals 
 in the whole county of Cheshire. Sir Harry Locksley 
 was the representative of the oldest family in England. 
 As a good neighbour, he was respected by all that came 
 within the circle of his acquaintance ; and as a liberal and 
 resident landlord, he was reverenced and beloved by a 
 cheerful tenantry, who, protected by his fostering care, felt 
 the natural advantages of reciprocal attachment. The 
 worthy baronet had been a sportsman in his time, and was 
 still fond of riding his fox-chases over again by the fireside. 
 He was very neat in his person, and very proud of his dark 
 green coat and spencer (the last of the Spencers!), and of 
 his well fitting and beautifully cleaned " leathers " and top 
 boots. He was devoted to Church and State, a liberal 
 politician, an active magistrate, and, in the true sense of the 
 word, a munificent guardian of the poor. His two sons 
 had at an early age been sent to Rugby, where they had 
 both distinguished themselves in and out of school, Ed- 
 ward, who was a kind-hearted, affectionate youth, had won 
 the hearts of his schoolfellows by a daring act of gallantry, 
 in saving, at the risk of his own fife, that of one of his 
 
78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A "BAGMAN;" OR, 
 
 comrades. His quick, steady and retentive memory had placed 
 him higher in the school than other boys of his own age. 
 Alexander was a bit of a pickle; but brave and generous, 
 he never suffered the weak to be oppressed, and had gained 
 himself a great name in the pugilistic ring, by his manful 
 conduct in fighting for a young friend who had been most 
 unmercifully treated by an overgrown and cowardly bully. 
 This conquest, in which the tyrant was compelled to suc- 
 cumb to one two years his junior in age, had gained for 
 " Alec " (as he was usually called) the title of " Brave 
 Alec." In school he was extremely quick ; and there was 
 no one more conversant with the ancient sporting literature 
 of Aristotle, Plato, Polybius, Julius Pollux, Zenophon, 
 Seneca, Homer, Oppian, Virgil, Ovid, Pliny, Cicero, and 
 Justin, than the young " Nimrod," whom we left mount- 
 ing his pony on his return to Fairleigh Park, the home of 
 his ancestors. It was agreed between the brothers, during 
 their ride home, that no mention was to be made of the 
 tame foxes until the following morning, when they looked 
 forward to " getting round the governor " by performing a 
 feat which they had for some weeks contemplated. Tlie 
 windows of Sir Harry's morning room, in which he trans- 
 acted all the duties of his house and farm before break- 
 fast, looked upon a part of the park which had been lately 
 fenced off to preserve some newly imported cattle. A brook, 
 nearly six yards in width, ran through it ; and a paHng, 
 about five feet high, with a post and rail inside, surrounded 
 it. Just as the bailiff, who was in the confidence of the 
 young gentlemen, had laid before Sir Harry a prospectus 
 of a new plan for draining, he made a sudden start, and 
 exclaimed : " I declare Master Edward is going to take the 
 new paling !" The worthy baronet dropped the paper, 
 and passing hastily to the window, for a moment seemed 
 thoroughly absorbed ; nay, a very acute observer might 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 79 
 
 have traced a nervous look in his venerable face, but it 
 vanished in a few seconds. Teddy, who did not possess 
 quite the animal courage of his younger brother, was 
 mounted on his Irish hunter, " Shamrock ;" while the 
 " varmint " Alec was on a thorough-bred English horse, 
 named " Pioneer." 
 
 " My nag," exclaimed the latter, " likes water. Let me 
 go first, and your's will follow beautifully." 
 
 " All right," responded the elder. " I'll give you plenty 
 of time." 
 
 Away went the youngest, gathering up his horse, cram- 
 ming him at the brook ; and by slightly stimulating him 
 with his " persuaders," cleared it admirably. His elder 
 brother got over it equally well. The post and rail, with 
 the fence, now remained to be taken ; and the youngsters 
 prepared to charge it in line. Catching well hold of their 
 horses by the head, and gathering them together, they ride 
 quietly at the fence ; then, throwing their own bodies 
 slightly backward, they clear it without a mistake. 
 
 " Bravo, lads !" shouted the baronet, throwing open the 
 window, and addressing the juvenile " Centaurs," who now 
 approached it ; "I never saw two more sporting leaps. 
 Always cram your horses at water, and never ride hard at 
 fences, were the maxims given me by my excellent father ; 
 and you are worthy scions of a most worthy grandsire. 
 Come in to breakfast ; you must want it after your morn- 
 ing's gallop." 
 
 In less than a quarter of an hour the trio were seated at 
 the breakfast-table ; and as the two youths unfolded their 
 snowy white napkins, a letter, addressed to both, attracted 
 their attention. On breaking the seals, they found a ten 
 pound note in each of the envelopes, with this simple line, 
 in their father's hand-writing : — " A slight reward for a 
 gallant feat." 
 
80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A " BAGMAN ;" OR, 
 
 Scarcely was the breakfast terminated, than the owner 
 of the foxes was announced ; and, after being kindly wel- 
 comed by Sir Harry and his two sons, they proceeded to 
 the stable-yard to look at the new arrivals, 
 
 " A dog and a vixen. Sir Harry. He's as audacious a 
 varlet as ever trod the earth." The worthy boniface then 
 gave a brief sketch of the animals since their residence in 
 England, which delighted the old baronet not a little. 
 
 " What genuine Americans ! Holloa, Mr. Polk ! what 
 mischief are you plotting ?" said Sir Harry, as he caught 
 the Yankee looking wistfully at a fine specimen of the 
 gallinaceous breed. " You'll find the English cock too 
 much for you." 
 
 " Polk 1" exclaimed Alec ; " what an out - and - out 
 name !" 
 
 And while the father was chuckling over his joke, Teddy 
 caught hold of his hand, and coaxingly said : " You must 
 allow us to purchase Mr Polk and his wife ; we'll pay for 
 them honestly — ready money — no repudiation. They'll 
 amuse us so much at Rugby ; and perhaps we may stock 
 some of the Warwickshire covers with their progeny." 
 
 At first the kind-hearted parent looked a little grave ; 
 but, in a second, a smile diffused itself over his benign 
 face. " Well, boy ; I can refuse you nothing. Take the 
 foxes, and I'll settle with my good neighbour." The 
 landlord was taken aside, and an arrangement speedily 
 concluded, by which the wily animals became the property 
 of the striplings. " You must stay, and have a day's 
 shooting," said Sir Harry. " The keepers will be at the 
 lodge at eleven o'clock ; we shall beat the Merston plan- 
 tation. In the mean time a glass of October, and a slice 
 or two of cold meat, will not be amiss after your morn- 
 ing's drive." 
 
 " And I'll lend you my new Manton," cried Teddy. 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 81 
 
 # 
 
 " And I'll get you some straight powder," said Alec. 
 
 " And Bess shall go with you," exclaimed the youngest 
 of the lads. 
 
 " She's the best retriever in the whole universal world, 
 as the Yankees say." 
 
 The party now adjourned to the breakfast-room, where 
 the delighted hotel-keeper took his place at the well-stocked 
 sideboard, and did ample justice to a cold round of beef and 
 some excellent home-brewed ale. The day's sport went off 
 well ; and within a week of it the following departure took 
 place for Rugby : — The Master Locksleys and the two 
 vulpine strangers from America. No sooner did the party 
 reach Rugby than ample accommodation was provided for 
 Mr. Polk and his sposa at a small inn, where the two 
 youngsters, unknown to the proper authorities of this 
 admirable school, kept their ponies. It was here, in the 
 month of March, that my father first saw the light. He 
 was one of three; and by great good luck escaped the 
 doom of his brethren. 
 
 At the time we write of, a favourite artificial gorse 
 covert, belonging to the Warwickshire hunt, had suffered a 
 great deal from what that talented writer, Mr. Blaine, in 
 his " Encyclopsedia of Rural Sports," calls " coney tribute." 
 The petty larceny gamekeeper, finding that his perquisites 
 on the rabbits fell short, owing to the number of foxes (and 
 quite unmindful of the compensation he received in lieu of 
 them), was shrewdly suspected of being a vulpecide. 
 Whether such was the case or not, we shall not pause to 
 inquire ; suffice it to say, that upon the last day of August 
 the above-mentioned keeper, hearing of the American 
 litter, walked over to Rugby, with a view of providing him- 
 self with it previous to the first day's cub-hunting in the 
 gorse we have alluded to, and in a wood where pheasants 
 had of late greatly increased, and foxes decreased. Intro- 
 
82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A "BAGMAN;" OR, 
 
 ducing himself to young Alec and his brother, he began by 
 proposing a day's shooting on the following morning. This 
 being gratefully accepted, he then proceeded to try and 
 possess himself of the litter; and, after a good deal of 
 very specious argument, he prevailed upon the young 
 gentlemen to let him have a brace of cubs. Two being 
 selected, on the following morning at sun-rise, they 
 were turned out; and afterwards, to the delight of the 
 master of the hounds, were drawn for and killed. The 
 gamekeeper was comphmented, and won " golden " opinions 
 from one or two gentlemen of the hunt, for having proved 
 himself so good a protectionist. Anxious to keep up this 
 honourable, though in this instance undeserved, character, 
 he again applied to the young gentlemen for the last of the 
 young Americans (my respected parent) ; which, after some 
 little parley, was acceded to. Previous, however, to his be- 
 ing turned out, a private mark was put upon him ; and by 
 which, in after time, I was enabled to prove the legitimacy 
 of my birth. Happily for my father, the hounds were 
 taken to a different part of the country, where cubs were 
 plentiful ; and this enabled him to get sufficient strength 
 to baffle his persecutors, when first they attempted, during 
 the latter part of the winter, to run him down. I will not 
 attempt to describe the perils my wily parent underwent 
 during this and the following hunting season ; suffice it to 
 say, that towards the termination of it he became a prey to 
 the snares of a poacher; and one fine morning in May, 
 when the gamekeeper went his early rounds, he found the 
 identical fox (recognized by his mark) that he had turned 
 out the previous season. 
 
 In the mean time my grandfather had " shuffled off his 
 vulpine coil ;" and the grasping preserver of pheasants, 
 thinking the young gentlemen would hke to purchase back 
 his son, whom they had bred, got a confederate to offer it 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 83 
 
 to them for what he called a mere trifle — a couple of sove- 
 reigns. This demand was eagerly accepted ; and " Charlie 
 the Rover," as he was now named, was again restored to 
 the care of the young Rugbyians. I will not attempt to 
 describe their delight at again possessing themselves of 
 him ; and every care was taken to render his life happy and 
 comfortable. Whether he preferred the dull monotony of 
 his present state to the w^andering days he had latterly 
 passed, has never been handed down to his posterity ; and, 
 as a faithful biographer, I will not fill up my pages in 
 visionary speculations, after the manner of modern book- 
 makers. 
 
 At the commencement of the winter previous to my 
 birth, a sporting attorney, who resided in the neighbourhood 
 of Rugby, and whose avocations as an agent for a cele- 
 brated bubble railway company had taken him over to 
 France, had brought back with him a very fine specimen of 
 the mefitic race, in the shape of a regular vixen ; and the 
 limb of the law^, thinking the cross might be good, offered her 
 to the young lads to whom we have previously alluded, who 
 affianced her (after the true Parisian manner) to the roving 
 Charlie. As there w^ere neither parents' consents to gain 
 nor settlements to make, nor white favours, bridesmaids, 
 wedding cakes, orange flowers, lace, and trousseaux to be 
 provided, the marriage speedily took place ; and in due 
 course of time, my mother, as the fashionable newspapers 
 say, " was safely dehvered of twins." My sister soon died, 
 and I was left the sole son of her " house and heart." 
 
 I have now brought my readers back to the morning of 
 my birth, the 25th March, 1834. My early days passed 
 tranquilly away ; and it was not until the beginning of the 
 autumn that I began to experience the trials of life. The 
 worthy baronet (whom I have already introduced to my 
 readers) had latterly suffered greatly from his old and only 
 
 G 2 
 
84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A "BAGMAN; OR, 
 
 enemy, the gout ; and hearing that Dr. Jepthson of Lea- 
 mington had been pre-eminently successful in his treatment 
 of this fashionable disorder, hastened, with his two sons, to 
 pass their Christmas holidays at Jepthsonia ; for so this 
 celebrated spa ought to be called, after one who, not only 
 by his talents and exertions, but by munificent liberality, 
 has raised that once insignificant spot to the pre-eminence 
 it now holds, as the Montpelier of England. 
 
 Here, in one of those picturesque villas with which the 
 environs of the upper town is studded, were Sir Harry, his 
 two sons, myself, and my respected parent domiciled. The 
 hounds were then under the management of that truly 
 popular and first-rate sportsman, Mr. Thornhill; ably 
 assisted by Tom Day, as first whipper-in. They hunted 
 four times a week ; which was all very agreeable to me as 
 long as I was safely lodged in a snug " country box" in the 
 stable-yard; but when, towards the beginning of January, 
 I was taken from my afflicted parent, and turned out upon 
 the wide world, I began to think how hard-hearted, tyran- 
 nical, and blood-thirsty the lords of the creation were. 
 Ufton Wood, which was a favourite cover for the Lea- 
 mington men, had latterly been drawn blank ; and this was 
 the spot selected for my opening career. 
 
 I ought here to explain that my really kind-hearted 
 young masters had left Rugby, and were about to proceed 
 to Cambridge ; and although they had the example of the 
 noble and ill-used poet, Byron, who kept a bear at that 
 seat of learning. Sir Harry pointed out the penalties 
 attached to any breach of the rules of the college, and soon 
 convinced the youg men that " Fox's commentaries " would 
 not be at all palatable to the heads and authorities of Granta. 
 Under these circumstances, the youths with great reluctance 
 consented that we should seek some sylvan retreat, and 
 Ufton Wood was named as the locale where we were to 
 commence our pilgrimage. 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 85 
 
 To those of my readers who are unacquainted with 
 Warwickshire, it will be necessary to remark that Ufton 
 Wood is a popular " meet " with the water- drinking 
 population of Leamington, as being in the immediate vici- 
 nity of this salubrious town ;. and I had not been more 
 than a fortnight in my new quarters when the newspapers 
 announced that on the following Monday the Warwickshire 
 hounds would meet there at half-past ten. 
 
 Upon the day in question the spa was in a great state of 
 excitement. At an early hour the pump-room was deserted, 
 the " Promenade" was cleared, the " military band " was 
 disbanded, the master of the ceremonies had mounted his 
 Rosinante, and the medical men had put their " pill-boxes'' 
 into requisition, to see the hounds throw off. Soon after 
 ten o'clock the road absolutely swarmed with pedestrians, 
 equestrians, and charioteers ; and not the least amusing 
 feature of the scene was the motley crew of bipeds and 
 quadrupeds ; nursery maids, trampers, ballad- singers, beg- 
 gars, cads, and chimney-sweepers ; vehicles of every 
 description, from Sir Edward Mostyn's well-appointed team 
 to the general dealer's " Whitechapel " cart, were seen in 
 succession. Horses of every sort and species attended: 
 the well-trained hunter, the thorough-bred " clipper," the 
 broken-down hack, the spavined cob, the tottering butcher's 
 nag, the lady's palfrey — Jerusalem steeds were also in 
 requisition, and the young ladies of two of the most fash- 
 ionable schools in the neighbourhood v\ere mounted on 
 donkeys, with uncouth side-saddles, and dimity saddle 
 cloths. Then there were barouches, freighted with sporting 
 beauties ; pony carriages, laden with old and young ladies ; 
 wheelchairs, with gouty patients, drawn by two-legged 
 animals, "rayther" groggy about the pins. The canine 
 race that attended upon this occasion would have furuished 
 an excellent frontispiece for Youatt's admirable work upon 
 
86 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A " BAGMAN ;" OR, 
 
 the dog ; they consisted of long-legged sheep dogs, bandy- 
 legged turnspits, cropped-eared bull-dogs, bush-tailed mon- 
 grels, attenuated poodles, lanky greyhounds, dropsical 
 lapdogs, obese spaniels, long-eared curs, diminutive terriers, 
 flatsided foxhounds, wire-haired beagles, crooked-limbed 
 mastiffs, and spotted coach dogs. 
 
 The fixture being so near the town, was not in great 
 favour with the first-class sportsmen ; many of whom pre- 
 ferred going two-and-twenty miles to meet the Pytchley, 
 than four miles to join the water-drinkers. 
 
 At half- past ten, punctually, Mr. Thornhill made his 
 appearance with his excellent pack of hounds ; and after 
 a kind greeting to all his friends, and a look of despair at 
 the " irregular troop of cavalry" that were assembled, he 
 gave the words : " Eu in, eu in there ! good dogs ! " and 
 suiting the action to the word by waving his cap, the 
 willing pack obeyed the well-known tones with alacrity. 
 And now the patience of the huntsman was put to the 
 test ; for while he was employed attending to the near 
 hounds, and by the closest observation ascertaining whether 
 a whimper that was heard proceeded from an old stager or 
 one of the last entry, a regular Leamington " swell" trotted 
 up, and asked a variety of flippant questions, giving his 
 opinion as to how a covert ought to be drawn. 
 
 " Hold your eternal babbling," shouted the huntsman, 
 looking knowingly at the " gent," but pretending at the 
 same time to rate a hound. 
 
 " Which way is the fox likely to go ?" exclaimed a 
 young sporting belle, who prided herself upon being a 
 modern Diana Vernon. 
 
 " We must first find him, Miss," responded the master ; 
 " which I fear we shall not do if the hounds are so ridden 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 87 
 
 During this period, my state may be better imagined 
 than described. Every time that I attempted to break 
 cover I was headed back by the yelling and screeching of 
 the cockney sportsmen. " Rhapsody has it," shouted the 
 huntsman ; and true it was I was found. 
 
 Now, as they approached me, how the chorus filled ! 
 For some time I ran the cover's limits, not daring to ven- 
 ture forth. At length a holloa is heard — " Tally-ho, away !'' 
 echoes through the wood. " Hold hard, gentlemen !" cries 
 the master of the hounds, as he settles himself and his 
 horse down to business. Tom Day is looking out that no 
 lingerers are left behind, when all of a sudden a runaway 
 "fly" dashes amongst the leading hounds, and nearly ex- 
 terminates them. The fragile vehicle is overturned, and 
 an elderly lady, with two pug dogs and a companion or 
 " toady," are capsized into the ditch. The yelping of the 
 pugs, the screeching of their mistress, the execration deep 
 (not loud) of the huntsman, the halloing of the whipper-in, 
 the struggles of the " fly " horse, the lamentations of the 
 driver, all combined to make the scene one of the greatest 
 confusion ; and it was well for the wretched woman, wha 
 was now floundering in the ditch, that Tom Day whipped 
 off his hounds, or mistaking the highly -scented Patcholy 
 handkerchief for a fox, they might have run into her. In 
 the mean time I got so far a-head that all chance of being 
 captured was at an end ; and instinctively making for a 
 large cover, I foimd, as I entered it, " excellent accommo- 
 dation for travellers." 
 
 To return to the hounds, w^ho were now halloed back to 
 the spot to which they had brought the vermin taint, 
 and encouraged to try round in their own way to recover 
 it, but all in vain. The master of the hounds, disgusted 
 with the damage that had been done to his pack — fur two 
 
88 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A " BAGMAN ;" OR, 
 
 couple of his best hounds were put hors de combat — 
 trotted off to a gorse cover at some little distance, in the 
 hopes of getting rid of some of the cockney crew, where a 
 fox was speedily found, and being headed back, was as 
 speedily chopped in the cover. Thus terminated my first 
 day's hunting, and one which will not very easily be 
 obliterated from my memory. 
 
 After a respite of about a fortnight, during which period 
 I had taken up my abode in a small gorse covert near the 
 village of Ladbroke, I was one morning disturbed by the 
 sound of the hunter's horn, and before I had time to form 
 any plan of escape, my pursuers were at my heels. It was 
 a splendid scenting day, and, feeling that my only chance 
 was to make my escape, I lost no time in figuratively 
 " cutting my stick," and in reality leaving the wood. The 
 dashing pace I kept was so severe, that few of the mighty 
 "Nimrods" had the satisfaction of riding in the same field 
 with the hounds ; and the majority were so far in the rear 
 rank, that for an hour they were obliged to content them- 
 selves with the common inquiry — " Pray, sir, can you in- 
 form me which way the hounds are gone ? " Finding that 
 the blood-thirsty pack were gaining upon me, I had recourse 
 to an " artful dodge," and instead of crossing a road, 
 where some cattle w^ere grazing, ran along the side of 
 it. I now made for a plantation at a short distance, 
 and should have gained it without the least difficulty had 
 not a Macadamizing clodhopper — who was " breaking up" 
 — stones — " no holiday," as the facetious Hood was wont 
 to say — told the huntsman he " zeed the varmint go right 
 along by the zide of the ditch." The hounds were again upon 
 the scent ; but, having had a few minutes' breathing time, I 
 again " made running," and after an hour went to earth near 
 the place of my parents' birth, Rugby. The distance I went 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 89 
 
 was nearly fifteen miles from the spot from which I started ; 
 and, as my course was anything but direct, I have no doubt 
 but that I traversed more than twenty miles. This run was not 
 only long remembered by myself, but by the chosen few — Mes- 
 sieurs Thornhill, Hon. Augustus Berkeley ,Mackenzie Grieves, 
 Henry Williams, Tom Day, and the writer of my adven- 
 tures — who had the nerve and speed to witness the whole 
 of it. Having, like the princely Dane's friend Horatio, " a 
 truant disposition," I soon left the neighbourhood of Rugby, 
 and took up my quarters near Idlicot ; and here, as ill luck 
 would have it, my pursuers followed me. The hounds had 
 scarcely been in the covert two minutes, when the sports- 
 men were cheered with (to them) the glad sound " Tally- 
 ho ! hark forward ! yonder he goes ! " and in a twinkling 
 the whole pack were at my brush, and so hard did they 
 press me that I found it very much to my interest to double, 
 all of a sudden, and make my way back as fast as pos- 
 sible to covert, which I reached in safety. This, however, 
 I found to be a vain subterfuge, as my keen pursuers very 
 soon gave me to understand that I had as little chance 
 there as in the open, and which I was again induced to try, 
 with no more success, for at the very same place I was obliged 
 again to turn and go back to my den, hoping to find a 
 resting place ; but this, alas ! was refused, so I at length 
 resolved upon a third attempt, and having fortunately got a 
 good start, I made so much head that I was seen no more 
 for an hour and a quarter, when the " lynx-eyed" master of 
 the hounds viewed me going best pace over the fine grass 
 country at the back of that cellBbrated spot. Edge Hill. I 
 now gave myself up for lost, but, nothing daunted, kept 
 the steam up until I espied a flock of sheep ; in a few 
 seconds I was in the midst of them, instinctively feeling 
 that not only was I sheltered from sight, but that my 
 scented track would be destroyed by their numerous foot 
 
90 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A "BAGMAN;" OR, 
 
 treadings. This coup de maitre had the desired effect, for, 
 turning short to the right, I got quietly away, while the 
 hounds ran beyond the scent ; the huntsman then made a 
 cast in the direction they were inclining to before the check, 
 but found himself at fault, and as it was getting late, I was 
 wisely left " to fight another day." 
 
 I now approach my last run, which took place the fol- 
 lowing week, when the hounds met at a small covert about 
 three miles from Banbury, and in a brake of not more than 
 an acre, myself and another member of the fox family were 
 immediately found. Although I say it, " as should not," 
 we both went off in gallant style ; the hounds unfortunately 
 settled upon me, and I rewarded them for this flattering 
 mark of their favour by leading them the most awful pace 
 for about four miles. So severe was it that scarcely a red 
 coat was up with them, a brook having cooled their ardour. 
 As the day was sultry and oppressive, I thought it was the 
 wisest plan to act upon the old principle of " discretion 
 being the wisest part of valour," and finding a drain open 
 to receive me, I took shelter in it. As the hounds were 
 not in want of blood, they were taken back to the covert 
 where I was found ; and my companion, who fancied him- 
 self safe for the day, was not a little amazed at being found, 
 run in to, and killed after a burst of fifteen minutes. In 
 the mean time, I had been dug out, and finding that I was 
 fresh, I was about to be put down in view, when the master 
 of the hounds, being anxious to procure a " bagman" for 
 some military friends of his, desired the second whipper-in 
 to take me home. This was accordingly done, and instead 
 of having my snout, or mask, nailed to the kennel-door, 
 and my brush handed over as a trophy to some hard-riding 
 man, T was allowed peaceably and quietly to take up my 
 quarters in what that Leviathan of auctioneers, the late 
 George Robins, would call " an unique country box." Here 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 91 
 
 I remained for nearly a week, at the expiration of which I 
 was forwarded, per coach (for, in the days I write of, the 
 gigantic power of steam had not driven the horses from the 
 road), to my new quarters, the Cavalry Barracks, at Houns- 
 low. I now found that I had hecome the property of some 
 young officers of one of the crack regiments in Her Ma- 
 jesty's service, who had got together a pack of " drag" 
 hounds, and who hunted "bagmen," red herrings, and 
 aniseed twice a week. For a short period I was petted and 
 pampered, previous to my being turned out before as arrant 
 a pack of curs as ever gave tongue. They consisted of some 
 so tight in their tongues that they were mute as mackerels ; 
 of others out and out babblers ; three couples sadly addicted 
 to tailing, and one ditto to skirting. One hound was flat- 
 sided, another crooked in his fore-legs, or, as the song says 
 " his legs were what the regiment call bandy, oh," and a 
 third possessed all the bad qualities of a foxhound — head 
 short and thick, contracted forehead, small nostrils, coarse 
 shoulders, little muscle, legs long from the knee to the ground 
 before and from the hock to the ground behind, flabby gaskins, 
 narrow hock, loose clawed. Half the pack were little more than 
 twenty-one inches high, while the other ran to twenty-five 
 and twenty-six, and reminded one of the diff'erent sizes of the 
 brave army of that immortal general, Bombastes Furioso. 
 With regard to their olfactory powers, had the question 
 been put in the House of Commons, the nose (noes) would 
 have certainly been in a sad minority ; for it seemed per- 
 fectly indifferent to them whether they hunted badgers, 
 marten-cats, red herrings, aniseed, hares, deer, or foxes. 
 As the old saying goes, " aU was fish that came to their 
 net." With respect to their vocal powers, it has often been 
 said, with as much quaintness as truth, that a good fox- 
 hound never tells a lie — that is, he never gives tongue 
 falsely ; but in the present case, the saying was entirely 
 
92 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A " BAGMAN ;" OR, 
 
 reversed, for a greater lot of Munchausens never were 
 heard. In short, as Somerville writes, the pack was 
 made up 
 
 " Of coward curs — a frantic, vagrant race." 
 
 To resume my narrative. I had not been many days in 
 the barracks, when one morning, at about ten o'clock, 1 was 
 put into a bag, and was carried off in a fast-trotting tilbury, to 
 a distance of some half-dozen miles, there to be turned out 
 before the pack of curs that I have before alluded to. The 
 field was numerous, and to my great horror, I soon as- 
 certained that an addition had been made to the pack, and 
 that two celebrated hounds. Sauce-box and Gay-lass, had 
 lately been entered. I was now taken from the tilbury, in 
 a state nearly more dead than alive; and although my 
 spirit was broken by despair, my limbs stiffened by 
 confinement, and my whole frame weakened from the 
 absence of natural food and usual exercise, I managed 
 eventually to escape my pursuers by one of those wily ma- 
 noeuvres which have often, under similar circumstances, 
 saved the lives of so many of my " wide-awake" brethren. 
 It was upon a fine bracing morning in March, when the 
 ground was hard and the air dry, and the wind blew keenly 
 from the north, that I was unbagged in a tolerably-sized 
 wood ; after a few minutes' law, the hounds are laid on, and 
 now how steadily they draw ! for some time I run the 
 cover's utmost limits, yet dare not break. Sauce- box and 
 Gay-lass are on the scent : hark ! a halloo is heard — 
 " Tally-ho !" " Gone away !" re-echo through the wood- — 
 and now, " shrill horns proclaim the flight." But my gallant 
 followers are doomed to experience the truth of the old 
 adage, " there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." 
 Disgusted with their unsportsman-like conduct in having 
 *' given me the sack," I was determined, by an artful dodge, 
 to return the compliment; and although I had broken 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 93 
 
 cover, I had no intention of going away ; stealing then along 
 the ditch that bounded the wood, and over which the hounds 
 had dashed headlong, I quietly re-entered it, recrossed, 
 making my escape on the opposite side ; the ground being 
 rank with former stains, not even the experienced nose of 
 Sauce-box was able to hit off the right scent until I had 
 reached and safely ensconced myself in my mother earth. 
 
 " Le vieux renard ne debusque pas" was, according to 
 Gamitz, in his " Geschichte des Feldzugs, von 1815," the 
 expression Napoleon applied to Blucher, after the gallant 
 veteran had taken up his position on the 16th of June, 
 1815, at Ligny ; and it may equally be said of me on this 
 occasion, for I was determined not to " muv on ;" so, after 
 an hour's futile attempt to find me, I was left quietly as I 
 thought, for the rest of the day ; but a " bagman" v/as of 
 so much importance to the mihtary Nimrods, that every 
 search was made for me. At length the fine nose of Gay- 
 lass discovered my retreat, and finding that I had run to 
 ground, orders were immediately given for digging me out. 
 As the clod approached with his spade, the huntsman 
 put a hound in to draw me, but I repaid this intrusion by 
 giving the animal a severe bite. A piece of whipcord was 
 then fixed to the end of a stick, which I unfortunately seized, 
 and was immediately drawn out. Preparations were now 
 being made to turn me out again, when, to my great 
 delight, the royal hounds were heard in the neighbourhood; 
 in a second I was delivered to the care of a groom to take 
 me home to the barracks, and the field lost no time in 
 joining the staghounds. This respite was most delightful, 
 and for a week I hved like a fighting-cock. 
 
 ***** 
 
 Here the manuscript terminates rather abruptly, but from 
 a record of the time, we are enabled to furnish our readers 
 with an account of the last days of our hero. It seems that 
 
94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A " BAGMAN ;" OR, 
 
 very shortly after the run which has been described took 
 place, the regiment was ordered to change its quarters, and, 
 as the hounds had been complained of by the farmers in 
 the neighbourhood, they were sent up to London to be sold. 
 The sale reminds us of an anecdote told by Mr. Beckford, 
 although in the case we are about to record the appraiser 
 would have had a bad bargain had he been fixed to the 
 amount of his own valuation. It seems that " once upon a 
 time," as the juvenile story-books say — and we have great 
 respect for the legendary lore of the nursery — that at the 
 sale of a mansion and furniture a famous pack of hounds 
 were to be appraised with them ; when the former had been 
 valued, the broker was reminded of the hounds. " Well, 
 gentlemen," said he, " what shall I appraise them at — a 
 shilling a piece ?" " Oh, it is too little," was the general 
 reply. "Is it so ? Why, it is more than I would give for 
 them, I assure you." 
 
 And certainly, when the pack was paraded at a fashionable 
 horse repository — for Aldridge's yard was full — the public 
 seemed to think that a shilling a head was too much for 
 them. Gay-lass and Sauce-box, we ought here to remark, 
 had been disposed of by private contract. 
 
 " What will any gentleman say for the fourteen couple ?" 
 asked the auctioneer, as he read '* ' Lot 54, fourteen couple 
 of foxhounds, the property of the officers of H. M. Regiment 
 
 of .' Will any gentleman say one hundred guineas, 
 
 to begin with? — some of the finest blood in the word. 
 Say fifty, gentlemen ?" 
 
 There was a dead silence, except when one of the refrac- 
 tory curs tried to snap at the feeder's legs, and was rewarded 
 by a kick in his ribs, which set him howling. 
 
 " Really, gentlemen, there is no spirit abroad. Remember 
 Mr. Osbaldeston sold ten couple of his hounds for one 
 thousand guineas. Pay attention to that black-and-tan 
 
ADVENTURES OF A FOX. 95 
 
 bitch, Nosegay, and to that dun hound spotted with white, 
 Rummager. Will no gentleman make a bid ? Well, I 
 cannot be all day over them ; bring out the next lot." 
 
 And the celebrated pack were dragged back to the kennel, 
 where they were afterwards disposed of at what the Regent- 
 street tradesmen term " an enormous sacrifice." The hounds 
 having been got rid of, it was determined that the 
 " bagman" should have his liberty granted, and he was 
 accordingly turned out in Sir John Cope's country in 
 Berkshire. For some years our hero's good star was in the 
 ascendancy, and he remained in a state of happy inactivity, 
 for although the hounds of the worthy baronet occasionally 
 drew the cover, he was never " found at home." At length 
 a meet was advertised in the neighbourhood of Windsor, 
 which His Royal Highness Prince Albert was expected to 
 honour with his presence ; circumstances, however, occurred 
 to prevent the attendance of that illustrious prince, but a 
 strong field had mustered. The hounds had not been 
 thrown into the covert more than three minutes, when our 
 hero was found, and gradually broke. A few moments 
 elapsed before they settled to the scent, and then away they 
 went at a killing pace towards the royal preserves at 
 Windsor. The country was heavy beyond comparison, in 
 consequence of the unusual quantity of rain which had 
 fallen for several previous days, and before a mile had been 
 got over, many of the horses were dead beat. The 
 course of our hero was nearly in a straight line, and after a 
 burst of five-and-twenty minutes he was run into. Sir 
 John, anxious to testify his gratitude to Her Majesty for 
 the act of condescension conferred upon him in permitting 
 his hounds to enter the Windsor preserves, forwarded the 
 brush to the Queen, who rewarded the huntsman with a 
 donation of ten guineas. 
 
 This is a brief account of the birth, parentage, exploits, 
 
96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A " BAGMAN." 
 
 and death of a most wily though gallant animal— whose 
 predatory propensities knew no bounds — of one who had 
 made himself the common enemy of all game and poultry 
 kind. He, however, received most retributive justice, as 
 his life was only spared in his youth that he might live to 
 be hunted to death. We now take leave of our hero, who 
 possessed one redeeming quality — a gallant spirit ; and if 
 no monumental urn records his noble deeds in the field, 
 his memory will live in the heart of every sportsman ; his 
 head, like those of the traitors in the olden time on Temple- 
 bar, now graces the kennel- door at Bramshill Park, while 
 his brush is honoured by being safely deposited amongst 
 other trophies in the regal castle of Windsor. 
 
LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 
 
 FROM AN ORIGINAL MS. IN THE POSSESSION OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " Argiva primum sum transportata caring : 
 Ante mihi notum nil nisi phasis, erat." — Martial. 
 
 My ancient Lineage; and how my Ancestors were "fleeced" by the 
 Greeks — The Family Tree extends to Europe, Asia, and Africa — 
 My immediate Parents — Anecdotes of Fontainbleau and Schonbrun 
 — My birth— Quit La belle France for England — Country Quarters 
 in Sussex — " Home, sweet Home" — The Woods and Forests — A 
 Day's Sport in bygone times — Hairbreadth Escapes. 
 
 Punch — the talented, the witty, the inimitable Punch — 
 in his suggestion for a new coat of arms for a late 
 senator, gives the following graphic account of the love 
 of the world for an ancient hneage : — 
 
 " The savans of the Heralds' College can always find appropriate 
 arms for any one who is desirous of having, and willing to pay for, 
 heraldic honours. The veriest plebeian may have an escutcheon 
 quite as ancient as the most venerable family in the land ; and we 
 believe the date may be put back as far as you please at the moderate 
 charge of sixpence per century. Upon this very reasonable scale of 
 fees one may be carried back to Noah for little more than the fare 
 between London and Liverpool ; and to accommodate the public 
 generally, a quarter of a century may be had at the wholesale price, 
 by those who carmot afford to pay too dearly for the remoteness of 
 their ancestry." 
 
 Without availing myself, then, of the system so face- 
 tiously, yet truly, put forth in the above extract, I am pre- 
 
 H 
 
98 LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 
 
 pared to prove, before Garter King of Arms, the legitimacy 
 of my ancient descent, from a period of some seventy-nine 
 years antecedent to the taking of Troy ; and were I to 
 consider the various ramifications of the family tree, or 
 pedigree, I could point out how my ancestors had paired 
 and matched (alas ! how unlike the modern marriages !) 
 with divers houses of honour. With what contempt, then, 
 could I look down upon the descendants of Hengist, 
 Egbert, Alfred the Great, Canute, Wiiham of Normandy, 
 King John, the Plantagenets, Tudors, and Stuarts. But, 
 in the words of " rare Ben Jonson," 
 
 '• I do not stand so much on my gentility, 
 Which is an airy and mere borrowed thing 
 From dead men's dust and bones," 
 
 but pride myself on the name I have myself made and 
 held. To return to my parentage, a brief account of 
 which will suffice, and I will then proceed to frame my 
 adventures from such authenticated materials and tradi- 
 tional memorials as appear to me to deserve the most 
 regard. Were I, however, disposed to plume myself, or 
 blazon forth the antiquity of my ancestors, I could point 
 out how, before the expedition of that bold body of adven- 
 turers in search of the golden fleece, they were confined to 
 the banks of the Phasis, in Colchis. I could describe how 
 my first parents were abducted from the borders of that 
 celebrated river to the classical land of Greece ; and, from 
 that period, how they have spread nearly over the whole 
 globe. From Colchis, Mingrelia, and other countries 
 bordering on the Caspian, they have proceeded westward, 
 through Greece, from the shores of the Baltic to the Cape 
 of Good Hope and the Island of Madagascar. Eastward, 
 they have extended through Media to the most remote 
 part of China, Japan, and Tartary. In Africa they are 
 
LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 99 
 
 known on the Slave Coast, the country of Issini, kingdom 
 of Congo, and Angola. In Europe, too, has the race colo- 
 nized Spain, Italy, the islands in the Gulf of Naples, 
 Germany, Silesia, Bohemia, France, and England. I 
 could draw a vivid sketch of how one of my forefathers 
 was patronized by Atalanta, daughter of Schoeneus, who in 
 male attire accompanied the Jason expedition ; how 
 another formed one of those gastronomic victims, who 
 were sacrificed to the whim of the depraved and gorman- 
 dizing Heliogabulus, as a bonne bouche for his pet and 
 pampered lions. 
 
 It is said of Homer that no less than seven illustrious 
 cities of Greece contended for the honour of having given 
 birth to this celebrated poet : 
 
 " Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodes, Argos, Athenag, 
 Orbis de patria certat, Homere, tua." 
 
 And I have no doubt but that nearly an equal claim from 
 the " woods and forests" would be put in for the place of 
 my nativity ; for my parents being of foreign extraction, 
 although naturalized in England, France, Germany, and 
 Great Britain, might call me their countryman. Without 
 entering, therefore, into a tedious genealogical research, 
 I will briefly state that my father had the honour of 
 holding a lease in the Fontainbleau forest, under 
 the Napoleon of Peace, Louis Philippe, and that my 
 mother's family were brought up in the neighbourhood of 
 Schonbrun, under the auspices of the son of the Napoleon 
 of War, the late king of Rome. My father was wont to 
 talk of the " hair-breadth 'scapes" of himself and his pro- 
 genitors in the royal forests, both under the Bourbons and 
 the House of Orleans. My most respected parent on the 
 female side was wont to talk over a celebrated chasse (for 
 such is the term applied to the pursuit of all game in 
 
 H 2 
 
100 LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 
 
 Germany) which had taken place in the neighbourhood of 
 Schonbrun, during the Congress of Vienna, Within a 
 large arena, prepared for the purpose, the crowned heads, 
 and those who were to take part in the battue, were placed. 
 Among the distinguished sportsmen may be mentioned 
 the Emperors of Russia and Austria, the hereditary Princes 
 of Prussia and Austria, the Viceroy of Italy, Eugene Beau- 
 harnais, the Duke of Saxe Coburg, and his brother the 
 Prince Leopold, now King of the Belgians, and other great 
 nobles from almost every European nation, Russia, Prussia, 
 Austria, England, France, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, 
 Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece. Each gunner was at- 
 tended by four chasseurs, splendidly attired in gold and 
 Lincoln green, to assist in loading, with a certain number 
 of gardes de chasse, armed with swords, rifles, and spears, 
 to protect them from any danger. The plan of operation 
 for this unsportsmanlike massacre was as follows. At 
 a very early hour, a number of beaters, mounted and on 
 foot, and attended with dogs of every species, had formed 
 an immense circle round the spot selected for the chasse ; 
 the game, including wild boars, deer, hares, and foxes, 
 were thus driven by degrees into a narrower space, where 
 a double line of keepers and beaters were formed, so that 
 no one animal could escape. The heroes of the trigger took 
 up their respective stations, and then commenced a scene 
 of almost unparalleled slaughter, such as few pens (certainly 
 not a pheasant's quill) can describe. So anxious were the 
 guardians of the chase to procure a large return of killed^ 
 that sticks, spears, cudgels, the butt-ends of rifles and 
 fowling-pieces were brought into action ; and the poor 
 maimed and scared animals easily fell a prey to their relent- 
 less pursuers, who revelled in this scene of butchery. At 
 the period we refer to, battues were only known in France 
 and Germany. Happily they had not been introduced into 
 
LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 101 
 
 England : we speak feelingly upon the sui)ject. Now, the 
 intercourse with the Continent, and the gigantic march of 
 intellect, have reconciled us to this tame system. Truly 
 may it be said that the once-hardy sons of Great Britain 
 are most grievously degenerated, and that, instead of fol- 
 lowing the manly and soul-stirring sports of their daring 
 ancestors, they now content themselves with the spiritless 
 pursuits of their foreign neighbours. A day with the barn- 
 door fowls in a poultry-yard, or a morning with the pigeons 
 in a dove-cot, would have horrified our brave progenitors ; 
 and yet such amusements would be but little inferior to 
 the pleasure of a modern battue. 
 
 I have digressed. To return to my mother, who was 
 fortunate enough to escape falling a victim to the royal 
 dames and cavaliers who attended the Congress at Vienna ; 
 for be it known to my readers that the Empress of Austria 
 was so good a shot, that she would occasionally kill a hare 
 with a rifle-ball at a long distance. My respected parent, 
 however, had two very narrow escapes, not from a royal 
 ordnance, but from the unerring aim of a young English- 
 man then attached to the staff of the Duke of Wellington. 
 At the conclusion of the before-described battue, one of the 
 crowned heads was describing his prowess, when that 
 curiosity which has proved so fatal to the sex induced my 
 mother to leave her snug hiding-place, to take a peep at 
 the sovereigns. In a moment, the Monarch raised his 
 exquisitely mounted double-barrelled gun, and fired both 
 barrels at my inquisitive parent. Fortunately, the royal 
 aim was defective ; when the young Englishman raised his 
 Manton, for the purpose of " wiping the autocrat's nose," 
 as he unceremoniously called it, and was about to puU the 
 trigger, when he discovered the sex of my mother, and 
 paid a homage of gallantry to it, without which the subject 
 of this autobiography would have never seen light. The 
 
102 LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 
 
 other occasion upon whi(^h my parent might have been 
 sacrificed took place near Fontainbleau, where, thanks to 
 the liberality of the Emperor of Austria, she, in company 
 with many of her friends and relatives, had been sent as a 
 peace-offering to the newly restored monarch, Louis 
 XVIII. Within a week of her residence in this magnifi- 
 cent forest of La belle France, the Dukes De Berri and 
 D'Angouleme, accompanied by the Duke of Wellington 
 and two of his attache's, assembled at the Palace to 
 have a day's shooting. An English gamekeeper, with a 
 splendid retriever, attended one of the latter, and accord- 
 ing to his account, my mother ran the greatest risk 
 throughout the whole day ; but I must record the anecdote 
 in his own language, as repeated by him to a fellow-coun- 
 tryman over a flask of very ordinary wine, after the chasse 
 at the cabaret of the Cheval Noir. 
 
 " That ere D'Angulame is an out-and-out shot," said 
 the worthy John Bull ; " quite wonderful for a parlywoo 
 Frenchman. He killed fifteen brace of pheasants, and 
 would have doubled that quantity if he had attended to his 
 keeper's orders, and pulled whenever he told him." 
 
 " Pulled /" said the other, who had picked up a smat- 
 tering of French, " you're mistaken. When he cried 
 ' poule,' he did not mean pull. Poule stands for hen 
 and was meant as a caution." 
 
 "Who's to understand their outlandish terms?" per- 
 severed the keeper. " Why, just as it was getting dusk, 
 young Lord William nearly knocked one of their hens 
 over. He don't understand their foreign gibberish." 
 
 And true it is that the youthful nobleman, who had 
 been brought up at a public school where the polite 
 languages were not attended to, had nearly victimised my 
 parent, owing to his ignorance of the language, and the 
 darkness of the evening. 
 
LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 103 
 
 Whether my father had imbibed, during his residence 
 in France, the proverbial gallantry of the descendants of 
 Pharamond, I know not. Suffice it to say that, like the 
 Roman victor, he came, he saw (my mother), and con- 
 quered. In due coarse of time, my respected parent 
 found herself, as the Yankees say, " in a state of domestic 
 solicitude;" or, as the Homely Scottish tragic author 
 describes it, " in the way that ladies wish to be who love 
 their lords." Towards the end of the month of June, I 
 was born ; and it is no flight of fancy to say, that like a 
 second Icarus, I, at an early age, soared so high, that I at 
 once fell a victim to my ambition. The fact was that, for 
 a length of time, an English poacher had set his eye, like 
 that hell-kite, Macbeth, upon " our dam and all our 
 pretty ones." 
 
 During the twilight of a summer evening, the family 
 circle were considerably disturbed by the footsteps of our 
 common enemy, man. My mother, with the most re- 
 markable instinct, made a speedy retreat into the neigh- 
 bouring brushwood, followed by her hopeful progeny, with 
 the exception of myself, who, wishing to emulate the ex- 
 ample of my respected father, flew, or rather attempted to 
 fly, into the umbrageous branches of some overspreading 
 larch. He, Daedalus-like, by a proper management of his 
 wings, alighted safely out of reach of the poacher ; while I, 
 whose pinions fragile as those of the Athenian waxwork, 
 fell into the net that was laid for the whole of my relatives. 
 Here I found one of my sisters, who had in vain tried to 
 follow her mother's movements. In less than twelve 
 hours, I, in company with others who had been taken 
 prisoners, was packed off in a huge waggon, en route to 
 Calais. Here we were transferred to a vessel about to sail 
 for London, and, after a most prosperous voyage, were 
 landed safely at the Tower- stairs. Without giving us an 
 
104 LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 
 
 opportunity of seeing the sights of London, we were forth- 
 with booked by the day-coach to Chichester, to the neigh- 
 bourhood of which we had been consigned. 
 
 Of course it is unnecessary for me to state that the 
 truly popular owner of the property where we were now 
 located was perfectly unaware of the manner in which we 
 had been taken from our native land ; for, as a high- 
 spirited nobleman in every sense of the word, he held a 
 poacher in abomination. An advertisement had appeared 
 in the newspapers, offering several brace of French 
 pheasants for sale, and little was it expected that a gang of 
 English miscreants had crossed the channel for the pur- 
 pose of purloining every egg and head of game that could 
 be got at in the forests of France. But to proceed : It 
 w^as late in the evening before we reached our destination, 
 which was one of the most romantic and picturesque spots 
 that nature and art ever contributed to form. The 
 pheasantry, which was situated about half a mile from the 
 ancestral house, afforded the strongest proof how a barren 
 place may, with good taste, be converted into one of 
 perfect beauty. It had originally been a large chalk-pit, 
 forming an amphitheatre with steep banks, except towards 
 the south, where, from its being dug out on the declivity 
 of a hill, it was open, and commanded an extensive pros- 
 pect of the Channel, comprising a view of the Isle of 
 Wight, with the adjacent and intervening sea, inlets, bays, 
 harbours, and projecting heads of land, which diversify the 
 shores of the coast of West Sussex. Our new abode was 
 surrounded by a high flint wall, excepting towards the 
 south, where a ha-ha gave the view I have described. 
 The sides were planted with every species of evergreen. 
 There were also trees of the finest growth, consisting of 
 larch, fir, cedars, beech, oak, plane, chesnut, and tulip. 
 The spot, as its name denotes, was applied to the 
 
LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 105 
 
 breeding and preservation of rare birds ; and among them 
 might be found some splendid specimens of our race from 
 the north of China. There might be seen the gorgeous 
 golden plumage, the more simple, yet elegant, silver 
 colouring, and the exquisite ring-necked markings of these 
 Asiatic beauties. 
 
 In the aviary were various foreigners from the Canaries, 
 Cape of Good Hope, East and West Indies. Nothing, 
 then, could exceed the delight and happiness of our state ; 
 we were comfortably housed, and were sumptuously fed ; 
 but joys, alas, are fleeting to the feathered as well as 
 human tribe. Autumn arrived, and sated with home, and 
 possessing a roving disposition, we, in an unlucky hour, 
 quitted our peaceful domain to wander in the neighbouring 
 woods and forests, luxuriating upon beans, barley, oats, 
 and buckwheat; at first we were enchanted with our wild 
 life, but before we had enjoyed our liberty a week, we were 
 reminded that dangers beset us to which we had hitherto 
 been strangers. 
 
 It was about nine o'clock on a fine bracing morning in 
 the early part of October, that the welkin rang a merry 
 peal by the tuneful voices of a Maresfield team of spaniels. 
 This was most exhilarating to a party of three, consisting 
 of the late noble owner, one of his young sons, and Sir 
 John . . . , a downright good fellow and thorough-bred 
 sportsman ; who had assembled at a much earlier hour than 
 is usual at the present time, for the purpose of having a 
 day's sport — sport in the true sense of the word, as unlike 
 the tameness of the modern battue as the costume of a 
 gent of 1857 is to that of a gentleman of the last century. 
 The stubbles of the wheat, barley, and bean-fields had 
 been well scoured, and an occasional shot had told us 
 that the enemy were at hand. 
 
 " Form line with the beaters," exclaimed the head 
 
106 LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 
 
 keeper, as the gunners with their advanced guard of well- 
 disciplined spaniels entered the wood in which we had 
 taken refuge. A breathless state of anxiety followed upon 
 our parts, which was broken by a whirring sound, and the 
 joyous exclamation of " Mark a cock !" In less time than 
 we can take to write it, a report of a fowling-piece echoed 
 through the covert, and the cry " Ware bird !" was heard 
 from the keeper ; the spaniels obeyed the mandate, when a 
 look of the eye and the motion of the hand of the unerring 
 marksman, accompanied with a " hie away," caused the 
 perfect-trained retriever Tippoo to spring like lightning 
 through the tanglings of the briars, and return almost 
 instantaneously with the pheasant to his master's feet. 
 " Hare coming to you. Sir John," shouted one of the 
 beaters — " Rabbit to the right." Two shots are fired— 
 both have taken effect. The worthy baronet seemed 
 flushed with his success, and, being a bit of a wag> 
 quoted sotto voce, to his companion, a youth of fourteen 
 years of age, son of the noble owner of the domain, the 
 lines of the poet somewhat altered — " Youngster, with 
 regard to hares and rabbits, remember — 
 
 " Though lost to sight, advance your gun 
 Quickly to where you think they run ; 
 Regard not grass, nor bush, nor briar. 
 Through each and all a snap-shot fire. 
 Bang! bang! All's well ! You saw them not — 
 And yet I've killed two on the spot." 
 
 " Go on 1" continued Sir John, who had now loaded 
 both his barrels, and had taken the then necessary pre- 
 caution of wiping the edge of the flints, to remove their 
 foulness, and ascertain that they were not broken. 
 
 The owner of the land here exclaimed — " You may kill 
 one hen !" I thought my sister would have fallen from 
 her perch. The beaters then advanced, thrashing the 
 
LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 10? 
 
 brushwood ; they approached the spot where we had taken 
 refuge ; we were hesitating whether to remain or not ; we 
 deliberated, and in this instance the old axiom, as applied 
 to the female sex, of her who deliberates is lost, was not 
 realized. It was a moment of awful suspense. At length 
 our fears were removed by the joyful intelligence that a 
 woodcock had been flushed, and had tallen by a shot from 
 the well-directed Manton of the noble proprietor ; another 
 is flushed, who, rising in a perpendicular position, from 
 the difficulty of crossing horizontally the thick foliage, 
 bothers the young sportsman, who fires and misses- 
 " Mark ! mark !" escapes from two voices, and the worthy 
 baronet and his host proceed to the spot where the 
 markers had pointed. This was a thickly wooded 
 cover, some hundred yards to the right of the wood in 
 which, like the regal Charles, we lay hid. The two 
 sportsmen then took up their positions to windward of 
 where the migratory birds had been marked, and giving a 
 whistle as a signal, the beaters drew on, and flushed one 
 immediately. Sir John's fatal tubes were pointed ; two 
 cocks were on the wing. Bang ! bang ! went both barrels ; 
 and in a few seconds the keeper was congratulating the 
 unerring marksman, and securing for himself his perquisite 
 of the artist's feathers. 
 
 " Nothing Hke settling your long hills before Christ- 
 mas," said the jocose baronet, chuckling and elated with 
 his good luck ; " and look ye, youngster, I'll put you up 
 to a wrinkle ; always give a somewhat larger charge of 
 shot to your second barrel ; it will assist you, as it just 
 has me, at a long range." 
 
 " I seed a lot of them birds, last evening, leaving the 
 cover for the marshy lands, Sir John," said a regular son 
 of the soil ; " it were a shockish* sort of a night, and just 
 * "Shockish," Stormy. — County of Sussex Vocabulary. 
 
108 LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 
 
 before dawn this morning they got back again into the 
 woods. Mark ! Sir John." 
 
 " Why, these rovers are as capricious as the female sex, 
 said the baronet, as he again bagged another bird. " Who 
 would have thought to have had such sport in this cover? 
 I have shot here for ten years, and never killed a couple 
 before Christmas." 
 
 To resume my own personal narrative. So good was 
 the woodcock shooting in the adjoining cover, that we 
 were left undisturbed in our quarters to furnish amuse- 
 ment for another day — the quality, not quantity of game 
 being the object in that period when battues were unknown. 
 
 After an excellent morning's sport with the woodcocks, 
 during which six couple and a half were bagged, the party 
 wound up their day's shooting by a turn with the fluck, 
 as Sir John called it. 
 
 I now proceded to explore, and ascertained that not 
 very far distant from the cover in which, like Eliza, the 
 heroine of Minden, my sister had, and still remained, 
 " spectatress of the fight," was a large patch of gorse and 
 furze full of rabbits. Here the spaniels were put in, and 
 in a few seconds the tuneful cry bespoke them on the 
 scent. Shot follows shot, and squeak echoes squeak. 
 Both the gunners have, as the pea and thimble gentry 
 term it, " quick h'yes and good h'observations." This en- 
 livening scene was carried on until nearly dusk, when the 
 hedgerows were tried on the way home, and furnished a 
 good wind up to the day's shooting. The return of killed 
 was as follows : — 
 
 Pheasants. Woodcocks. Hares. Rabbits. 
 
 32 13 20 26 
 
 Total, 91 head. 
 
 For the next ten days I enjoyed the most perfect quiet, 
 
LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 109 
 
 and my nerves were beginning to recover their former state, 
 when about nine o'clock in the night of the 18th October, 
 I was reminded that the land sharks were abroad. At that 
 hour two men armed with cudgels approached stealthily 
 from the coppice near which I was enjoying my " first 
 sleep." "It's all right, Jem," said a gruff voice. "The 
 keepers (od rot 'em) are on a wrong scent. I told young 
 Sparkes to fire his rusty old gun off in Charlton Wood, 
 so as to draw them away from this plantation." " Clever 
 very," responded the other, " but we mustn't lose any 
 time, or the old keeper will be down upon us. He has 
 vowed vengeance against me for the crack of the head I 
 gave him last Monday fortnight. If his skull had not 
 been as hard as iron, he would never again have drawn 
 trigger. Fortunately, it was too dark for them to identify 
 me, although he has a strong suspicion from whose hand 
 the blow was directed." 
 
 No sooner was this colloquy over, than the quick eye 
 of the experienced poacher caught a sight of me. With 
 him a word and a blow were synonymous. In this in- 
 stance the latter preceded the former ; for his gun was 
 levelled, and in a second I was in the pocket of his greasy 
 fustian jacket. " Did you hear that whistle ?" asked the 
 first speaker. " Hush !" responded the other ; " let us 
 separate ; in an hour meet me at the cross-road." In 
 less time than the affair can be described, the two poachers 
 had scampered off; and, after a severe chase, succeeded in 
 escaping the activity of their pursuers. " It's all up for 
 to-night," said the man who had fired the fatal shot. 
 " Better luck another time," rejoined the other, " let us 
 meet to-morrow at Stoke. We'll give these covers a rest 
 for a few days. Oh, never mind the pheasant — take it 
 home, and give it to your missus — poor thing ! she looked 
 rather ill this morning. Perhaps the baby will like a little 
 
110 LIFE OF A PHEASANT. 
 
 broth made from it." " Thank ye, Isaac, thank ye," 
 replied Jem ; " it will be a grand treat both to mother 
 and son, and I'll square the account next time we go 
 out ; but I don't half like the vigilance of those keepers ; 
 I've a sort of a fancy they'll prove too much for us." 
 And the presentiment of the man of crime was right. In 
 less than a week both were captured, and in due course 
 were tried, convicted, and transported. 
 
 To return to what befel the unfortunate subject of 
 this autobiography. 
 
 In a small hovel, on the large open skirts of the Broil, 
 an extensive common close to Chichester, Hved James 
 Hayraan, and the wretched partner of his joys and sorrows. 
 Martha Hayman had seen better days, having been in 
 domestic service in the farm of a wealthy yeoman. Here 
 she became acquainted with her future husband, a man as 
 famed for symmetry and good looks, as he was known for 
 a reckless, worthless character. The result may easily be 
 anticipated. She fell a victim to his artifices, married her 
 paramour to save being placed in a witness-box against 
 him, and, slighted and ill-treated, had recourse to dram- 
 drinking. The birth of a child had in a great degree 
 humanised the ruffian ; but reformation came too late. 
 The seeds of consumption were sown, and a rapid growth 
 followed. On the night of my death I furnished a meal 
 for the half-famished child, and its depraved mother. 
 Here, then, was the climax of misery. Descended from 
 an ancient and noble ancestry, born and bred amidst the 
 courtly throngs of Vienna and Versailles, fostered by rank, 
 and sought after by the aristocracy of England, was it not 
 heartbreaking to be shot by a poacher, and, finally, to satisfy 
 the hunger of a tramp, and his unfortunate gin-drinking 
 wife in a filthy hovel, the abode of squalor, misery, and 
 vice, in the disgusting purlieus of a large city ? 
 
SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA. 
 
 " ORIGIN OF ARCHERY. 
 
 From the authority of history it seems very clear that 
 the Romans first introduced the bow into this country, and 
 that they continued to make use of it until their final 
 departure. Boethius, and other historians of North Britain, 
 intimate that this weapon was as early known in their 
 country as it was in the south. When the bold Britons found 
 themselves deserted by the Romans, they sought alliance 
 with the Saxons against their enemies the Scots, who hasten- 
 ing to their relief, entered England with an army about the 
 year 449. These people are said to have used both the 
 long and cross bow ; which shows that archery was cherished 
 in this country by the new invaders. During the Saxon 
 heptarchy, Offrid, the son of Edwin, King of Northumbria, 
 was killed by an arrow in a battle between the troops of that 
 monarch and the united army of Mercians and Welsh, 
 fought about the year 633, near Hatfield in the West Riding 
 of Yorkshire. The Danes come next under our review, and, 
 according to ancient history, were very learned in the use of 
 archery. About the year 870 they became very formidable, 
 and committed great depredations on the inhabitants of 
 East Anglia. 
 
112 SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA. 
 
 During the reign of Alfred it seems probable that archery 
 was much in use both in the army of the Danes and in that 
 of our good king This appears in the following passage 
 from Asserius : — "Alfred took refuge from the persecution of 
 the Danes at a poor cottage, where he resided unknown to 
 his benefactors, who little imagined their roof protected a 
 royal guest. It happened one day, as the king sat by the 
 fire, preparing his how, arrows, and his other warlike in- 
 struments, that the farmer's wife placed some bread-cakes 
 upon the hearth to bake." From this time until the 
 Norman invasion httle is known respecting archery ; but 
 it was introduced successfully by William at the battle 
 of Hastings, and every historian records the advantage 
 which the invaders derived from the bows and arrows. In 
 the reign of Henry II. it seems first to have been 
 carried into Ireland. In L\ ttleton's history of Henry, that 
 author remarks, " From many instances (in the course of 
 the wars of that prince with the Irish) it appears that the 
 English conquests in Ireland were principally owing to the 
 use of the long-bow in battle, which the Irish infantry 
 wanted." The Welsh at this time were amazingly expert 
 in the use of it ; in the reign of Edward Hi. the long bow 
 is said by chroniclers of that time to have been much in 
 vogue. The battle of Cressy, as well as that of Poictiers, 
 where the archers poured forth their quivers so successfully, 
 intimates the science to have been highly cultivated by the 
 English in those days. Edward, during the peace, found it 
 necessary to enforce the piactice of archery among the sol- 
 diers, who had rather neglected that art to attend to other 
 amusements. According to Hollingshead we find that 
 during the reign of Richard II. a number of archers were 
 sent, at the request of the Genoese, to assist them 
 against the Saracens on the coast of Barbary, and that 
 they performed some meritorious exploits. Richard him- 
 
SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA. 113 
 
 self had a very numerous archery guard ; for, according 
 to Stowe, in 1397, as the members were one day leaving 
 the Parliament-house, " a great stir was made, as waS 
 usual, whereupon the king's archers, in number four thou- 
 sand, compassed the Parliament-house, thinking there had 
 been some broil or fighting, with their bows bent, their 
 arrows notched, and drawing ready to shoot, to the terror 
 of all that were there ; but the king coming, pacified them." 
 
 A memorable circumstance respecting the bow occurred 
 in the reign of Henry IV., which was the victory gained 
 over the Scots near Halidon Hill, in 1402, where, in 
 the words of an old historian, " the Lord Percy's archers 
 did withal deliver their deadly arrows so lively, so cou- 
 rageously, so grievously, that they ranne through the men 
 of armes, bored the helmets, pierced their very swords, beat 
 their lances to the earth, and easily shot those who were 
 more slightly armed, through and through." We have given 
 this remark as we found it ; it certainly proves the advan- 
 tage of drawing a long-bow. The next signal victory 
 ascribed to the English archers is the battle of Agincourt, 
 which took place in 1415, under Henry V., in which our 
 countrymen destroyed a great number of the French cavalry 
 by their yard-long arrows. This seems to have been the 
 last important action in which archery is spoken of; and 
 although the use of it was continued through several suc- 
 ceeding reigns, it was more as an amusement than as a 
 weapon of war. Henry VIII. was devoted to archery ; and 
 Holinshead informs us that this prince shot as well as 
 any of his guard. 
 
 Pennant gives the following article, which may not be 
 uninteresting. Speaking of Shoreditch, he says, " It is a 
 long street, not named from Shore, the husband of the ill- 
 fated Jane Shore, but from its lord. Sir John de Sordich, a 
 person deeply skilled in the laws, and much trusted by 
 
 I 
 
114 SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA. 
 
 Edward III., and who was sent by him in 1 343 to Pope 
 Clement VL, to remonstrate to his holiness against his 
 claims of presenting to English livings and filling them with 
 foreigners who never resided on their cures, and drained 
 the kingdom of its wealth. This it may be easily supposed 
 the pope took very much amiss, insomuch that Sir John 
 thought it best to make a speedy retreat. It appears like- 
 wise that this knight was a very valiant man, and served 
 the king with his sword as well as his tongue. Long after, 
 Shoreditch acquired much fame from another great man, 
 Barlo, an inhabitant of this place, and a citizen, who acquired 
 such honour as an archer by his success in a shooting match 
 at Windsor before Henry VIII., that the king named him 
 on the spot, Duke of Shoreditch. For a great series of 
 years after this, the captain of the archers of London retained 
 the title. On the 17th of September, 1583, the Duke (at 
 the expense of the city) had a magnificent trial of skill. 
 He sent a summons to all his officers and chief nobility, 
 with all their train of archery, in and about London, to be 
 ready to accompany him to Smithfield. In obedience ap- 
 peared the Marquis of Barlo and the Marquis of Clerken- 
 well, with hunters, who wound their horns ; the Marquises 
 of IsHngton, Hogsden, Pankridge, and Shacklewell, who 
 marched, with all their train, fantastically habited : near a 
 thousand had gold chains, and all were gorgeously attired. 
 The sum of archers v/as three thousand, their guards with 
 bills four thousand ; besides pages and henchmen. And 
 the duke salhed out to meet them from Merchant 
 Taylors' Hall, to exhibit such a sight that was never seen 
 before nor ever will again." Edward VI. was extremely 
 fond of archery, as will be proved by an inspection of that 
 prince's manuscript journal, now in the British Museum. 
 Charles I. seems also to have amused himself in this way. 
 He is represented in the frontispiece of Markham's Art of 
 
SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA. 115 
 
 Archery (1634), in the attitude and dress of a bowman' 
 The amusement was continued during the reigns of the 
 second Charles and the second James. The Artillery. 
 Company, or Finsbury Archers, survived until the end of 
 the last century ; and her Majesty's body guard, the Scottish 
 Archers, continue to the present day. For the last forty- 
 five years archery, as an amusement, has gained considerable^ 
 favour ; and as it is one in which the fair sex can take a 
 part, we sincerely hope it may be universally cultivated and 
 improved. The bows and the belles ought ever to go 
 together. 
 
 To return to the period when bows and arrows were 
 used as offensive weapons, we must give an extract from 
 an ancient statute made in the reign of Henry VIII. : — 
 " It is enacted, every man being the king's subject not lame, 
 decrepyde, or maymed, nor having any other lawful or real 
 cause or impedimente, being within the age of threescore 
 years (except spiritual men, justices of the assyze, and barons 
 of the exchequere), shall from the Feast of Pentecoste next 
 ensuing use and exercise shooting in long-bows." We must 
 here digress to relate an anecdote that took place a few 
 years ago to a celebrated dramatist and wit, who upon being 
 called upon to serve in the militia, or state the cause why 
 he should be excused, filled up the paper with the following 
 reason for his exemption : " Lame, old, and a coward.'' 
 We doubt whether the authorities in " Bluff Harry's" reign 
 would have taken this as a sufficient excuse, as did those of 
 George IV. To resume : " Also that every man shall have a 
 bow and arrows ready continually in his house, to use himselfe 
 in shooteing ; and also that the fathers and governors of 
 such as be of tender age, do train them up in the know- 
 ledge of the same shooteing. And that every man shall pro- 
 vide for every man-child in his house, being of the age of 
 seven years and above, until he shall come to the age of 
 
 I 2 
 
116 SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA. 
 
 seventeen years, a bow and two shafts, to bring them up in 
 shooteing. And after all such young men shall come to 
 the age of seventeen years, every one of these shall provide 
 and have a bow and four arrows continually for himself at 
 his proper coste and charges, or else of the gifte and pro- 
 vision of his friends ; and use and occupy the same in shoote- 
 ing as before rehearsed." A fine of six shillings and eight- 
 pence, the present attorney's fee, was inflicted upon any 
 master or father for the breach of the law. 
 
 In olden times the fletchers, bowyers, bow-string makers, 
 and makers of everything relating to archery, inhabited 
 Grub-street — that classical haunt of the Muses in the days 
 of Pope and Swift, The late James Smith, the truly popular 
 and talented author, has thus immortalized it — ■ 
 
 " A spot near Cripplegate extends, 
 
 Grub-street — 'tis called the modern Pindus — 
 Where (but that bards are never friends) 
 
 Bards might shake hands from adverse windows." 
 
 This tract was in the manor of Finsbury, or rather Fens- 
 bury, and, in the days of Fitzstephen the historian, was a 
 complete fen; of which, in his description of the pastimes 
 of the London citizens, he gives the following account : — 
 *' When that vast lake which waters the walls of the city 
 towards the north is hard frozen, the youth, in great num- 
 bers, go to divert themselves upon the ice ; some taking a 
 small run for an increment of velocity, place their feet at a 
 proper distance, and are carried sliding sideways a great 
 way. Others will make a large cake of ice, and seating 
 one of their companions upon it, they take hold of one's 
 hands and draw him along, when it happens that, moving 
 swiftly on so slippery a plain, they all fall headlong. 
 Others there are, who are still more expert in tiiese amuse- 
 ments on the ice ; they place certain bones, the leg bones 
 
SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA. 117 
 
 of animals, under the soles of their feet by tying them 
 round their ancles, and then taking a pole shod with iron 
 into their hands, they push themselves forward by striking 
 it against the ice, and are carried on with a velocity equal 
 to the flight of a bird or a ball discharged from a cross- 
 bow." We think our worthy historian indulged a little in 
 the long-bow when he gave the concluding remarks of the 
 above quotation. On the north part of these fields stood 
 the kennel in which the Lord Mayor's hounds were kept. 
 Here resided the Common Hunt, an officer second in 
 rank only to the sword-bearer, whose duty it was to wait 
 for his civic lor^iship's commands on Mondays, Wednes- 
 days, Fridays, and Saturdays. 
 
 BEAR-BAITING. 
 
 Among the olden sports may be mentioned bear-baiting. 
 Happy are w^e that the march of intellect has, in our days, 
 put an end to bear and bull-baiting, cockfighting, and other 
 cruel misnamed amusements. It may not be, however, 
 uninteresting to refer to this ancient custom, w'hich 
 was a common diversion in the skirts of the metropolis. 
 On the Bankside, in Southwark, formerly stood Paris 
 Garden, one of the old playhouses of our capital. It seems 
 to have been much frequented on Sundays ; and a histo- 
 rian in the reign of " Bluff Harry" informs us that in this 
 place were exhibited bear-baitings as well as dramatic 
 entertainments. We ourselves have lived to see the na- 
 tional theatres converted into menageries, and Van Am- 
 burgh, the brute tamer, treading the same boards which 
 were once graced by a Kemble and a Siddons ; therefore 
 we must be silent upon this subject of innovation. To 
 
118 SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA. 
 
 resume. Not far from the theatre was the Bear Garden, 
 in which was also a place for bull-baiting. " Herein," 
 says Stowe, " were kept beares, bulls, and other beasts to 
 be bayted, as also mastives in several kenels, nourished to 
 bayt them. These beares and other beasts are kept in 
 plots of ground scaffolded about for the beholders to stand 
 safe." Bear-baiting made one of the amusements in the 
 reign of Queen Bess, and was introduced among the 
 " princely pleasures" of Kenilworth, in 1575. The author 
 of that work gives the following humorous account of the 
 combat between Bruin and the dogs. " Well, syr," 
 writes he, " the bearz were brought foorth intoo coourt, the 
 dogs set too them too argu the points, eeven face to face ; 
 they had learned councell also a both parts, what may then 
 be coounted parciall that are retained a onesyde I ween. 
 No very feers both to one and t'other eager in argument ; 
 if the dog in pleadyng would pluk the bear by the throte, 
 the bear with travers would claw him again by the skalp. 
 Therefore, thus with plucking and tugging, skratting and 
 biting, by plain tooth and nayll one side and t'other, it 
 will take a month I ween ere either will recover. It was 
 a sport very pleazaint to see the bear with hiz pink nose 
 learing after hiz enemiez approach the numblness and wayt 
 of the dog to take hiz advantage, and the fears and ex- 
 perience of the bear agayn to avoid the assauts ; if he were 
 bitten in one place, how he woold pynch in an oother to 
 get free ; that if he wear taken onze, then what shyft, with 
 byting, with clawying, with tossing and tumbling, he woold 
 work to wynde himself from them ; and when he was lose, 
 to shake his earz twyse or thryse was a matter of goodly 
 releef." 
 
 The following song, written in 1382 by Sir John Gow^er, 
 and which is to be found in an old MS., may not be unin- 
 
SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA. 119 
 
 teresting to our readers; we think that if some clever 
 composer were to take it in hand, and Paul Bedford sing it, 
 an effect might be produced not inferior to that of the 
 celebrated " Jolly Nose :" — 
 
 ''OLD RHYMES IN PRAISE OF GOOD ALE. 
 
 "' I cannot eat a store of meat. 
 Nor covet aught of food ; 
 But sure I think that I can drink 
 
 With hira that wears a hood. 
 Though I go bare, take ye no care. 
 
 Nothing am I a cold ; 
 I stuff my skiu so well within 
 Of jolly good ale and old. 
 
 Then limbs and sides go bare, go bare ; 
 
 Both foot and hand go cold ; 
 But, belly, send thee good ale enoughp 
 Whether it be new or old, 
 
 " I love no roast, but a nut-brown toast 
 And a crab laid on the fire ; 
 A little bread shall do me stead- 
 Much bread I don't desire. 
 No frost or snow, no wind I trow, 
 
 Can hurt me if I would ; 
 I am so v/rapt and roundly capt 
 With jolly good ale and old. 
 Then limbs, &c. 
 
 " And Tib, my wife, that as her life 
 Loves well good ale to seek. 
 Full oft drinks she till ye may see 
 The tears run down her cheek. 
 Then doth she howl to me the bowl 
 
 E'en as a malt-worm should ; 
 And faith, sweetheart, I took my part 
 Of this jolly good ale and old. 
 Then limbs, &c. 
 
120 SPORTING OLLA PODRIDA. 
 
 " Now let them drink till they nod and wink, 
 E'en as good fellows should do ; 
 They shall not miss to have the bliss 
 
 Good ale does bring men to. 
 And all poor souls that have scoured bowls, 
 
 Or them that have lustily troll'd, 
 O save the lives of them and their wives, 
 Whether they be young or old. 
 Then limbs," &c. 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON ; WITH A FEW PRAC- 
 TICAL REMARKS UPON GUNS, GAME, AND 
 DOGS. 
 
 " See how the well-taught pointer leads the way I 
 The scent grows warm : he stops — he springs the prey ; 
 The flutt'ring coveys from the stubble rise, 
 And on swift wing divide the sounding skies ; 
 The scatt'ring lead pursues the certain sight, 
 And death in thunder overtakes their flight." — Gay. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Prospects of the First of September — Early Rising — London Gun- 
 makers — The late James Smith's Epigram — Pointers, Setters, 
 and Retrievers — Hints on Manors, the Purchasing of Dogs, Am- 
 munition, and Dress ; with some discursive remarks upon the 
 high-sounding classical phraseology of the day. 
 
 There are few periods of the year looked forward to with 
 more 'pleasure than the commencement of the shooting 
 season ; and the first of September is a golden day, in the 
 Sportsman's Kalendar. During the latter part of August 
 the prudent " gunner," like a skilful general, will have 
 made every preparation for the approaching campaign : his 
 " commission," in the form of a licence, will have been 
 procured ; his field-pieces will have been taken from their 
 cases, carefully looked over and cleaned ; his accoutrements 
 
i22 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 will have been thoroughly examined; his ammunition- 
 stores replenished ; his skirmishers, Old Tip and Sancho, 
 prepared for many a rough march ; a few mounted men 
 for outpost- duty to " watch" the movements of the ''fly- 
 ing'' enemy, will be in readiness ; markers will be " told 
 off;" and his personal staff, consisting of the keepers, 
 whose special duties are to keep a return of the " killed and 
 wounded," with the commissary-general to superintend the 
 " victualling department," will be under orders to move at 
 a moment's notice. In the meantime — to carry on our 
 military metaphor — the commander-in-chief will have as — 
 certained the number of coveys in each field, and will have 
 made himself acquainted with their feeding-ground, their 
 basking-places, and watering-retreats. Upon the thirty- 
 first of August a review of the forces, an inspection of 
 the ordnance department, and a visit to the kennel will be 
 advisable ; and, despite of what many eminent and talented 
 authors have written upon the subject, (men for whom and 
 for whose opinions, generally speaking, we entertain the 
 highest respect), we venture strongly to recommend an 
 early " gathering" on the glorious first of the " showery 
 seventh month of the Romans," in order at least to carry 
 out the old saying of " having the day before you." A. 
 clever French modern historian, Achille de Vaulabelle, in 
 a most able and impartial work, entitled, " Chute de 
 VEmpireT tells us " that the catastrophe of Waterloo, 
 notwithstanding the unskilfulness of many general officers, 
 and the apathy of others, would have been converted into 
 a glorious victory, had the action been commenced a few 
 hours earlier." 
 
 Now, without going quite to this extent, we are not at 
 all prepared to say that time would not have been of the 
 greatest service to Napoleon, as it might possibly have 
 brought the battle to a termination before the arrival of 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 123 
 
 the Prussians ; by a parity of reasoning, then, we think a 
 case for taking the field early has been clearly established. 
 Even in partridge-shooting we have foes to contend with — 
 wind, rain, extreme heat, poachers, reapers, and gleaners. 
 The ardent and industrious sportsman then will not court 
 his downy morning pillow, nor follow the present rising 
 generation (we mean no paradoxical pun,) who are satis- 
 fied to commence operations after a half-past ten o'clock 
 breakfast. " Call me at daylight ;" " Breakfast on table 
 at half-past six ;" " Keepers in readiness at seven ;" 
 *' Lunch at two ;" and " A relay of pointers at eleven and 
 four," will be the order of the day. 
 
 But even setting aside the sport, there is nothing more 
 calculated to raise the spirits than an early walk in the 
 bright month of September : and to those accustomed to 
 pass the largest portion of the year in a crowded town, to 
 inhale the noxious atmosphere of a pent-up city, to turn 
 day into night, the effect produced by the freshness, elas 
 ticity, and clearness of the morning air is exhilarating to 
 the greatest degree. With health and strength, an un- 
 troubled conscience, a cloudless sky, bright verdure, flowery 
 banks, shady hedge-rows, an agreeable companion, a gun, 
 a brace of pointers, a walk through an extensive range of 
 stubble and turnips, is one of the greatest delights that 
 mortal man can enjoy during his sublunary career. Despite 
 then, of other authorities, we boldly maintain our ground, 
 that the old proverb 
 
 " Early to bed, and early to rise, 
 Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," 
 
 ought to be the sportsman's motto ; and if, as it has been 
 asserted, your bag may suffer a little from doing what the 
 fashionable world call " getting up in the middle of the 
 
124 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 night," or " going out before the day is aired," depend 
 upon it, upon the long run, early hours will repay and 
 ensure one of the benefits enumerated in the above two 
 lines. 
 
 The old adage, that " doctors disagree," need not ex- 
 clusively be applied to the ^sculapian profession, for there is 
 no subject upon which there is more difference of opinion 
 than among sportsmen, especially upon the merits of gun- 
 makers. You hear one declare that Manton is the only 
 man that can turn out a perfect piece of ordnance ; another 
 tells you that the Lancasterian system is the best ; a third 
 contends that Purdey ; a fourth Egg ; a fifth for Moore ; 
 and last, not least, Westley Richards has a list of patrons 
 second to none in quantity and quahty, with a legion of 
 others " too numerous," as the newspaper says, " for this 
 advertisement." The late James Smith immortalized two 
 of the above in an epigram which runs as follows : — 
 
 " Two of a trade can ne'er agree ; 
 
 Each worries each, if able ; 
 In Manton and in Egg we see 
 
 This proverb proved no fable. 
 Both famed for guns, whose loud report 
 
 Confirms the fact I'm broaching — 
 Manton' s the best for lawful sport : 
 
 But Egg's are best for Poaching .'" 
 
 To prove the quickness of this talented author of the 
 " Rejected Addresses," I will mention the circumstance as 
 it occurred, I was dining in company with James Smithy 
 when some one asked him, " Whose are the best guns ?" 
 He responded, " As I know nothing about shooting, and 
 never shot anything in my life except London Bridge, you 
 must give me the names." They were repeated, and 
 almost every man called for some punning remark, sotto 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 125 ■ 
 
 voce — " Nock ! — Knock 'em down ? No. Lancaster ! — 
 Red-deer — Red-roes, or rose ? No. Moore ! — the moors. 
 No. Egg? — ^oh ! I have it — eggs for poaching!" He 
 then called for a pen and ink, and off-hand wrote the eight 
 pointed lines I have quoted. 
 
 During a tolerably long sporting career, I have shot with 
 guns of almost all the above-mentioned makers, and have 
 never had occasion to find fault with any of them : to 
 select one, then, would be invidious. I will therefore con- 
 tent myself with saying that if (as the phrase goes) money 
 is no object, the purchaser cannot go wrong ; but if eco- 
 nomy is studied, I should strongly recommend a visit to 
 the armoury of Mr. Bishop, Bond-street, sole agent to 
 Westley Richards, of Birmingham, where, for the moderate 
 sum of thirty-five pounds, ready money, as first-rate an 
 article as can be manufactured will be delivered. The 
 following is the bill of costs : — 
 
 " Best double gun, in case complete, and leather 
 
 cover £35 
 
 Plain do. do. do £25 
 
 Manton's. Lancaster's, Moore's, Egg's, and Purdey's 
 figures are somewhat higher, as the " little account" will show. 
 
 We now proceed to a brief notice of sporting dogs, 
 commencing with the pointer, and we need scarcely im- 
 press upon our readers' minds the necessity of paying the 
 strictest attention to the breed, both as regards the purity 
 of blood, and field qualifications. " A good strain," if 
 once hit upon, ought to be preserved ; and it is alone to 
 be attained by paying the greatest attention to the forms 
 and qualities of both parents. In the lines of the poet 
 there is much truth, whether applied to canine or other 
 subjects : — 
 
 " Whoever thinks a perfect * dog' to see. 
 
 Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er will be ;'* 
 
126 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 and, therefore, much care mast be taken not to perpetuate 
 any defect. If the bitch is wanting in any good quality, 
 select a mate to counteract the imperfection. The only 
 sure method of gaining a valuable cross, when the he- 
 reditary line fails, is to study the shape, size, constitution, 
 fineness of nose, steadiness, and stanchness of dam and 
 sire. A pointer ought to present a round, well-marked, 
 middle-sized head, open face, large nostrils, full eyes, thin 
 ears, deep chest, fine shoulders, muscular legs, full thighs, 
 well-clawed feet, and taper stern; while the setter, ac- 
 cording to the authority of Gervais Markham, must be 
 " nimble and of good size, rather small than grosse, of 
 couragious and fierie mettal, evermore loving and desiring 
 toyle, a strong, lusty, and nimble raunger, both of active 
 foote, wanton tayle, and busie nostrill, that his tayle may 
 be without wearinesse, his search without changeablenesse, 
 and yet that no delight nor desire transporte him, beyond 
 feare or obedience." A good retriever is an invaluable 
 acquisition to the sportsman, and I have seen many 
 splendid specimens of every parentage, size, colour, and 
 shape. The St. John's breed of the Newfoundland dog is, 
 taking it for all in all, the best for the purpose ; they can 
 easily be broken in to any kind of shoo ng ; their sense of 
 smelling is most acute ; they are excellent in cover, on dry 
 land, or in the water, after wounded game ; and are very 
 tractable, sagacious, and obedient to orders. The retriever 
 should be a lynx in eyesight ; a cat in activity ; an Ariel 
 to fly and do his master's bidding ; and a Tahiti Islander 
 in the water. A wave of your hand, and a " hie-away !" 
 should send him through the stiff'est cover, or make him 
 dash into the most impetuous river. Above all, the 
 retriever should be very tender-mouthed, for there is 
 nothing more annoying to the real sportsman than to find 
 his game mutilated ; and no dog can be called perfect that 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 127 
 
 does not bring a dead or wounded partridge, pheasant, 
 woodcock, or wildfowl to his master with hardly a feather 
 rumpled, or a hare and rabbit with the fur or fluck 
 removed. Many a good day's sport has been marred by 
 the absence of such a dog, or, what is infinitely worse, by 
 the presence of some half-broke canine brute, who, wilder 
 than any hawk, will put up your game, disturb your covers, 
 hunt your rabbits, or, when footing a wounded hare, will 
 chase a fresh one, occasionally bringing you a bird so 
 mutilated that it is pronounced by the game-keeper to be 
 only fit bait for the trap, or a hare so torn to pieces that 
 the cook declares " It's not worth its currant jelly for 
 roasting." Everybody thinks their own dogs are the best, 
 so we should strongly recommend all " young hands" to 
 be careful how they trust to their friend's opinion. We 
 have often seen spaniels entirely forgetting every lesson 
 they had received, scorning all restraint, and conducting 
 themselves as if they had never been under the hands of 
 the breaker ; setters overrunning their game, springing at 
 it by extreme eagerness, chasing sheep, larks and small 
 birds, quite forgetting the name they bear, and which 
 might more appropriately be termed scamperers ; pointers 
 as unsteady as raw recruits, footing a covey as if they in- 
 tended to catch it themselves, and to whom finding, 
 standing, and backing are unknown ; retrievers thin- 
 skinned, hard-mouthed, devoid of sagacity, defective in 
 their olfactory senses, and disobedient to their masters' 
 commands. " One mend-fault is better than two find- 
 faults," so runs the wise saw ; but having told our readers 
 what to avoid, we cannot so easily inform them how to 
 attain what they require. Good dogs, like park hacks, 
 genuine beeswing port, and dry champagne, are most dif- 
 ficult to get. The newspapers teem with advertisements 
 to the following effect : — 
 
128 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 " TO BE LET. — The right of shooting over a manor comprising 
 3,000 acres." 
 
 "SHOOTINGS TO LET.— Several extensive ranges of first- 
 rate shootings to be let in the Western Highlands, at rents varying 
 from £12 to £380 a year." 
 
 From manors they proceed to the canine race : — 
 
 "TO SPORTSMEN. — A brace of splendid red setters, dogs, three 
 years old, an admirable match, have been shot over two seasons, are 
 to be sold, solely in consequence of the proprietor being so crippled 
 from gout as to be unable to shoot the next season. The dogs are of 
 the best Irish and English blood, remarkably handsome, and now on 
 view. Address, post paid, &c." 
 
 "POINTERS FOR SALE.— Four brace of thoroughly broke 
 dogs, very handsome, shot to one season. Lowest price, £16 
 per brace." 
 
 " FOR SALE. — A retriever, Norfolk- bred, remarkably handsome, 
 good in every point, and the best water-dog ever seen. Price £10." 
 Now ninety out of a hundred of the above advertise- 
 ments turn out to be regular " takes-in/' for there is as 
 much rascality practised in this huge metropolis, with 
 respect to shooting-quarters and dogs, as there is in horse- 
 flesh, and the odds are considerably against your finding 
 any game whatever ; even in the event of there being a 
 few stray coveys of partridges, your highly- vaunted setters 
 and pointers will probably dash into them, and scare them 
 beyond the Hmits of your manor. The best way to secure 
 good shooting quarters is to apply to the principal, and 
 then pay a personal visit of inspection, making inquiries in 
 the neighbourhood, as to the head of game, the means of 
 preserving it, and the number of poachers. With respect 
 to dogs, they are usually sent to Tattersall's, or may be 
 heard of by any respectable gamekeeper. If you have a 
 doubt as to the integrity of the parties you deal with, the 
 safest way is to pay a certain sum for the hire of the dog, 
 with the power of purchasing it at the end of the season. 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 129 
 
 Copper caps, powder, shot, and wadding can be obtained 
 at any first-rate gunraaker's. Be careful, then to lay in a 
 good stock, so as not to be driven to purchase inferior 
 articles in some small country town or village. While 
 upon the subject of ammunition we would venture to 
 recommend an invention of our own, which, simple as it is, 
 has often proved very useful. It consists of a waterproof 
 leather case, large enough to contain a canister of powder, 
 a bag of shot, copper caps and wadding, spare powder 
 flasks and shot belts, a dozen steel chargers, a silver spirit- 
 flagon and cup, a ditto sandwich-box, extra nipples and 
 wrench, gun-picker, turn-screw, oilskin lock-cover, and 
 loading-rod to unscrew in three joints. In addition to the 
 above necessaries, a pair of Balbriggan hose socks, warm 
 gloves, and strong shoes can easily be stowed away, at 
 once insuring three grand advantages to the gunner — 
 ample ammunition, interior and exterior comforts. A 
 padlock against poachers, and a strap with steel swivel, 
 to affix the case to the game- cart, or throw it across the 
 broad shoulders of a stalwart peasant, complete the 
 Amonitio or sportsman's compendium. 
 
 We have been induced to give our invention this high- 
 sounding name, because among other gigantic strides that 
 the march of intellect has made, none is more apparent than 
 the modern system introduced by the self-called " Capelo- 
 cracy" or shopocracy, of calling their goods by outlandish 
 appellations. Thus we read daily of the Panklibanon Iron 
 Works ; Caldarium hydro-forma steam apparatus ; Eureka, 
 corazza, sans-pli, and armoza shirts ; Minuto piano-fortes ; 
 Argentine, albata, and electro-plate ; Chinese liquid ; 
 Atrapilatory, teint-noir, Columbian, and Czarina instanta- 
 neous hair-dye ; Ambrosial and Sicilian cream ; Lubricant 
 crinolene; Arthur's- Seat dew; Niouskrene for the hair; 
 Sire manubrium head- brush ; Reticulated perruques ; 
 
 K 
 
130 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 Revelenta arabica food ; Torricellian shower-bath ; Kalydor 
 for the complexion ; Anodyne cement and ivory paste for 
 the teeth ; Diorapha, basterna, amempton, and pilentum 
 carriages ; Caligraphic pencils ; Antigropolos mud-boots ; 
 Quaquaversal glass-stands ; Paruphanton black silk ; 
 Pannus-corium boots ; Parana, Syrian, alpaca, lama, and 
 Kohree paletots ; Galvanic belts ; Alga marina embrocation ; 
 Kalos geusis fish-sauce ; Patent opaque gelatine. One 
 man designates his building as the Royal Panopticon of 
 Science and Art ; while a grocer in Simmery Axe heads 
 his advertisement with a Latin quotation : Veritas est et 
 pravalebit. 
 
 To those who may be at a loss for new names, we would 
 venture to suggest the following: — The Polypogony cream, 
 to promote the growth of the beard ; the Trichodium balm 
 for the hair ; the ilhcium or attractive perruque ; the Crypsis 
 or concealed scalp ; the Rytipblsea powder to remove 
 wrinkles ; Psamma wash-balls for the hands ; Alexiphor- 
 mica ointment, to counteract poison ; Ectos coat, or outside 
 wrapper; Sporobolus sowing-machine; Acerose needles; 
 Acinaciforra or scimitar-shaped paper-cutters — all of which, 
 if duly advertised and well puffed, will, we have no doubt, get 
 into universal repute. As we have already nearly occupied 
 the space allotted to this chapter, we shall briefly notice the 
 sportsman's costume, which like other fashions, has under- 
 gone considerable change since the days of our grandfathers. 
 We no longer have our legs encased in stiff leather gaiters, 
 or our feet and ankles cramped with half-boots, the button- 
 ing, buckling, and lacing of which occupied no small portion 
 of the morning toilet ; our sporting jackets no longer 
 contain the oil-skin lined hare-pocket, the scent of which in 
 the breakfast room was strong enough to hunt a pack of 
 beagles with. Powder is transferred from our heads to our 
 flasks. Ease and comfort in dress are the characteristics 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 131 
 
 of the day, and ought to be the primary object of the shooter, 
 who we strenuously recommend to employ a first-rate tailor, 
 trowser-cutter, and bootmaker ; and, above all, to avoid the 
 ready-made articles commonly called " Reach-me-downs," 
 which are to be seen in the windows of the advertising 
 crew. It is all very well for the poet-laureates of the tribe 
 of Levi to describe in flowing verse their choice stock of 
 summer and autumn attire : it sounds extremely pleasant 
 to the ear of the gaping money-loving public to hear of 
 " awful sacrifices," " alarmingly low prices," " under prime 
 cost ;" and it is most gratifying to one's own feelings to 
 come to a resolution " not to pay for others," and to 
 " reform our tradesmen's bills." But depend upon it, 
 however captivating such ideas may be in theory, they will 
 not be borne out in practice. Many of our readers will 
 exclaim, " What ! go to Stulz or Cook for a shooting- 
 jacket ! to Haldane for a pair of cord trousers ! to Thomas 
 for boots ? — ridiculous ! We can get them fifty per cent, 
 cheaper at other shops !" And so we grant they may ; but 
 does the proverb " penny wise and pound foolish" never 
 come across their minds? if not, let me remind them of it, 
 and of another true saying, that nothing good can be got 
 under a fair and reasonable price. Look too at the dis- 
 comfort of ill-shapen, badly-made gear ; a man may as well 
 be in the stocks, as have his body confined, his chest 
 contracted, his arms pinioned down straight-waistcoat 
 fashion ; and such will be the inevitable result of those who 
 buy cheap goods, if such a term can be applied to the worst 
 of articles. We therefore boldly assert that in the long run, 
 both for comfort and economy, our plan will succeed. We 
 proceed to suggest for August, shooting jacket, waistcoat, 
 and trowsers of tweed, a broad-brimmed straw hat, or drab- 
 coloured " wide-awake," and a pair of strong, easy shooting- 
 boots, doubly leathered over the toes. For September, a 
 
132 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 jacket of jean, nankeen, or merino, waistcoat to match, tweed 
 trousers, strapped to the knee with thin leather to turn the 
 thorns in scrambling through a hedge. For October and 
 winter shooting, nothing can be better than a velveteen 
 jacket, lined with fine flannel, a dark kerseymere waistcoat^ 
 cord trousers, strapped with leather as above-mentioned^ 
 plain or waterproof beaver hat, according to the season. 
 With respect to pockets, we recommend every sportsman 
 to follow his own caprice. The best way is, w1ien trying 
 on your gear, to bring the hand naturally up to the most 
 convenient places which the " man of measures" can mark 
 with a piece of chalk. Peal's (Duke-street, Grosvenor- 
 square) waterproof boots will keep out any quantity of wet, 
 and answer admirably where much exercise is not taken. 
 Thomas, of St. James's-street, or any other first-rate boot- 
 maker, will turn out every article, from the light shoe for 
 September shooting to the thick double-soled boot for 
 winter wear. As the late Theodore Hook used to say — 
 " Take especial care to have your last made an inch-and-a- 
 half longer than your feet, that there may be plenty of 
 room left for any supplementary tow (toe), without which 
 you may be crippled after one day's work for the whole of 
 the season." 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 1^3 
 
 '* The corn is cut, the manor full of game, 
 
 The pointer ranges, and the sportsman beats 
 In russet jacket — lynx-like is his aim ; 
 Full grows his bag, and wonderful his feats. 
 Ah, nut-brown partridges ! ah, brilliant pheasants ! 
 
 And ah, ye poachers ! 'tis no sport for peasants 1" 
 
 Byron. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 A Day with the Partridges — The Sportsman's Meal — Keeper's Cottage 
 — A few Remarks upon feeing Servants — Woodcock, Snipe, and 
 Grouse shooting — An Anecdote of the celebrated French Cook Ude. 
 
 Having devoted our first chapter to the prospects of the glo- 
 rious First of September, and having briefly entered into a 
 dissertation upon guns, ammunition, manors, pointers, 
 setters, retrievers, and the costume of the sportsman, we 
 now proceed to offer a few remarks upon partridge-shoot- 
 ing. The Tetrao Perdix of Linnaeus is found throughout 
 England, more especially in corn counties ; and despite of 
 the high authority of Buffon, who remarks, " Their cry is 
 not very pleasant, as it is rather a sharp, grating noise like 
 that of a scythe than a warble ;" to my ears no cry save the 
 crash of a pack of hounds is more tuneable than the call of a 
 covey of partridges. There are few birds more exposed to 
 danger, not alone from their common enemy man, whose 
 best energies are devoted to snare and slaughter them, but 
 from the flying foe the hawk, who pounces upon his terrified 
 prey, plucks them after the most approved poulterer's plan, 
 
134 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 and enjoys his " ussiette volante'' " perdrix au naturel," 
 with as much gusto as the gourmet does his " salmi aux 
 truffes." 
 
 But to the sport. The morning of the First arrives ; 
 and the anxious gunner, who has probably dreamt of birds, 
 detonators, dogs, stubble, and turnips, awakes to find his 
 habiliments and arms ready for la chasse, as our continental 
 neighbours term hunting and shooting. The window is 
 thrown open ; and the smoke, gracefully curling towards 
 the north-west, shows that the wind is southerly, with a 
 little east in it — the best point in the compass from which 
 it can come for scent. The dew on the lawn holds out 
 great promise that the olfactory senses of the pointers will 
 not be blunted by a dry, parched atmosphere. The toilet 
 concluded, breakfast is announced ; and however much it 
 may be the fashion to rail against our matutinal repast, by 
 comparing it with a Parisian dejeime a la fourchette, I 
 will venture to affirm that in no other country can a more 
 enjoyable meal be had. The snow-white damask table- 
 cloth and napkin, the hissing m-n, the bubbling coffee-pot, 
 the hot roll, the crisp muffin, the light crumpet, the well- 
 buttered toast, the new-laid egg, the broiled kidney, the 
 piquant grilled fowl, thejuicy mutton-chop, the tender beef- 
 steak, the savoury game-pie, the well-seasoned venison pasty, 
 the highly-flavoured ham and tongue, the noble cold sirloin, 
 the nicely-cured Yarmouth " bloater," the prime Scotch 
 kippered salmon, the exquisite potted char and lamprey, the 
 palatable marmalade, the dehcious honey, with a glass of 
 genuine mountain-dew, furnish our national fare, which 
 may be equalled, but cannot be excelled, in any part of the 
 hal)itable globe. 
 
 The meal discussed, the dog-cart and ponies are at the 
 door ; and having deposited the " Araonitio," or sportsman's 
 compendium, and the unloaded guns in the vehicle. Rover, 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 135 
 
 our favourite retriever, is let loose, whose frolics and 
 gambols would almost dispose one to believe was in as 
 eager anticipation of the day's pleasure as his master. 
 Before we start for the keeper's lodge, where honest Isaac 
 Sapwell with his pointers is to meet us, we will pause for a 
 few moments to " say our say" upon a subject which has 
 latterly attracted much attention, and has been fully dis- 
 cussed in the newspapers of the day — namely, as to the 
 safety of allowing the lock of a detonator to be down upon 
 the capped nipple. A man might nearly as well (we were 
 about to say) ascend on horseback in a balloon ; but the 
 awful fate of Lieutenant Gale tells us the topic is too serious 
 a one to be treated lightly — or sit on a barrel of gunpowder 
 with a mild Havannah or short clay pipe in his mouth, as 
 walk with a comrade with a gun so carried. The least jerk, 
 the slightest strain, an accidental stumble, a sudden move- 
 ment will cause the piece to go off ; and woe to the wretched 
 victim who happens to be within the line of fire ! I recollect, 
 not many winters ago, crossing the entrance- hall at Good- 
 wood House, in company with a right noble and gallant 
 sportsman, alas ! now no more, who was carrying his gun 
 in the way above described. Scarcely had he proceeded 
 three yards, when off went one barrel ; and before we had 
 recovered from the shock and surprise, the other followed, 
 the shot rattling over the pavement in every direction. 
 Happily, no damage was done, as the field piece of ordnance 
 was pointed downwards. Had the young covey of beautiful 
 children, now grown into woman and manhood, ran out to 
 welcome us back, the result might have been most calami- 
 tous. Never shall I forget the effect that double shot 
 produced upon my mind. Want of due caution and 
 thorough carelessness in the management of fire-arms have 
 been the means of so many fatal accidents, that we cannot 
 too forcibly impress upon the minds of our readers the 
 
136 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 necessity of carrying out the first golden rule — namely, 
 never to let your gun be pointed in such a manner that, if 
 it went off by an unforeseen circumstance, it would endan- 
 ger the life of any one. Over every sportsman's hall the 
 following code of laws, to be as strictly enforced as those of 
 the Medes and Persians, ought to be emblazoned in promi- 
 nent characters : 
 
 " Any person loading a gun, carrying, or leaving it loaded 
 in the house, will be subject to the penalty of five pounds, 
 to be distributed among the poor of the parish." 
 
 With these hints upon safety, we proceed to old Isaac's 
 cottage, a small, snug, neat tenement, on the skirts of a 
 well-preserved plantation. There may be seen the sexage- 
 narian himself, looking as hale and hearty as many a man 
 of five-and-forty. He is surrounded by his stalwart myrmi- 
 dons in Lincoln green, who, with a brace of highly-broke 
 pointers, seem " eager for the fray." At the door of the 
 rural abode may be found the representatives of three gene- 
 rations — the venerable grandmother, the buxom matron, 
 and the blooming child. The budding wild-rose, the jessa- 
 mine in full flower, chnging to the old ivy which surrounds 
 the porch, are not inappropriate emblems of the keeper's 
 family. The garden is the perfection of neatness, with its 
 green velvet sward, its variegated flower-beds, its gravelled 
 walk, terminating in a rustic arbour, where, after the toils 
 of the day, the happy occupier enjoys his pipe and glass of 
 home-brewed ale. 
 
 The kennel is admirably arranged both as to space, air, 
 and cleanliness, Isaac's motto being, " Love me, love my 
 dog." As we drove up, a thorough-bred bull-terrier, the 
 guardian of the place, showed his scarred visage, but at the 
 bidding of his master — " Quiet, Viper !" retired to his 
 wooden tenement, still, however, keeping his eye (for he had 
 but one, the other having been lost in a canine encounter) 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 137 
 
 upon the new comers. The wall of the adjoining farm 
 building showed many a trophy, which gave abundant 
 proof of the successful warfare that had been carried on 
 against the enemy. There might be seen, skeletons of 
 cats, rats, weazels, stoats, and hawks, with here and there 
 a variety of vermin-traps, many of such huge dimensions 
 that should a poacher perchance get his leg within their 
 iron grasp, he would find some difficulty in extricating it. 
 As the law directs that no man-trap or spring-gun can be 
 set, the keeper evaded the act (as most acts can be evaded) 
 by having Brobdignag snares for bipeds and quadrupeds. 
 " Good morning, gentlemen," said Isaac Sapwell, as we 
 alighted from our vehicle. *' We had better try the five- 
 and-twenty-acre field first ; John Palmer saw some fine 
 coveys there this morning. I've sent two men on to mark 
 for us ; the scent seems good, and I hope to show you a 
 fair day's sport." With this cheering assurance we loaded 
 our guns, and made the best of our way to the stubble. 
 Scarcely had we entered it, than " Beppo" came to a stand, 
 and was admirably backed by " Sancho." The keepers 
 remained motionless, " Rover" crouching himself at their 
 feet. Our line advanced, I forming (as they say in the 
 army) the centre of threes, waved my hand to my com- 
 panions to make a circuit to head the dogs, so as to break 
 the covey. With that trepidation which is generally felt 
 at the first shot of the season, we marched timidly on, when 
 suddenly from sixteen to eighteen birds were on the wing; 
 five dropped down clean killed, one (to my shame be it 
 spoken) was hard hit, which gave the Newfoundland Rover 
 an opportunity of showing his qualifications, which he 
 speedily did, by returning with the wounded bird in his 
 mouth. The remnant of the dispersed covey were marked 
 down in the next turnip field, and in due course of time we 
 reduced their number to four. Before one o'clock we had 
 
138 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 bagged twenty-two brace, ten hares, and a rabbit. At that 
 hour, having worked up to a spot selected for luncheon, we 
 were gratified with the preparations old Isaac had made for 
 the comfort of the inner man. By the side of a deep run- 
 ning, clear, crystal stream, and under the shade of a patriarch 
 oak-tree, were spread tw^o tablecloths upon temporary tables 
 made of sheep-hurdles ; upon one appeared a fine large 
 pigeon pie, cold fowls, tongue, and ham ; on the other, a 
 splendid sirloin of beef, with an ample provision of bread 
 and cheese. Three or four huge cans of home-brewed ale 
 frothed most invitingly by their side. 
 
 The repast over, we again took the field with a new 
 relay of pointers ; and two finer specimens of dogs than 
 Rock and Trump never stood to bird. " Handsome as 
 paint," as old Isaac called them ; " lightish in their hmbs, 
 small heads, deep chests, and lank about the abdomen." 
 At five o'clock we finished our first day's sport, and found 
 the return of " killed " as follows : — 
 
 Thirty-seven brace of partridges, 
 Fifteen hares. 
 Three landrails, 
 Two rabbits. 
 
 Having " fee'd " the keepers, we mounted our ponies, and 
 trotted home. 
 
 One word with respect to the much-abused system of 
 paying other people's servants. There can be no doubt but 
 that it is extremely unpleasant to have to put your hand in 
 your pocket to reward those who are considered to be amply 
 remunerated for their services ; but, how^ever well this may 
 sound in theory, it will prove not to be available in practice. 
 If the custom was abolished, there would not be half the 
 attention paid to the shooter that there now is ; the keeper 
 would do his duty to his master and his friends, but there 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 139 
 
 would be no incentive for extra exertion ; and when we 
 consider the laborious and dangerous life of a keeper, who 
 is exposed to all weather, subject to the murderous attack 
 of poachers, and whose mind, as well as body, is harassed 
 with the responsibility attached to his situation, a small 
 gratuity ought not to be grudged. The sum total at the 
 end of the season will probably not be felt by the donor ; 
 while to the recipient it will not alone be the means of 
 furnishing him or his family with many a comfort during 
 the inclement seasons, but would act as a stimulant to 
 further exertion. 
 
 Some few years ago, a popular Peer of the realm, since 
 gathered to his ancestors, adopted a very " artful dodge." 
 It was generally remarked that the individual in question 
 universally got the best place out shooting ; and the 
 surprise of his brother sportsmen was greatly increased 
 as, during the time they were quietly placing some golden 
 token of their gratitude in the hands of the keepers, the 
 noble Lord simply confined himself to a saccharine smile 
 and a most gracious acknowledgment. Now, according to 
 the old, but somewhat homely proverb, that " ftiir words 
 butter no parsnips," the mystery was for a length of time 
 unsolved ; but at length, through the prying propensities of 
 a friend; it was discovered that the titled sportsman always 
 sought a quiet opportunity of seeing and feeing the parties 
 in question before the day's shooting commenced, accom- 
 panying his hberal donation with a remark that the 
 same system would be continued during the season 
 upon every like occasion. " The bird-in-the-hand " plan 
 worked marvels with the keepers, and produced the bene- 
 ficial result to the " wide-awake " giver we have above 
 recorded. 
 
 October now sets in, and pheasant shooting commences. 
 To ensure thorough good sport there is nothing like a team 
 
140 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 of well-trained spaniels, strong in the chest and loins, very 
 short in the legs, and who are steady, keen, obedient, and 
 courageous. Great care must be taken with the breed ; 
 for if a taint of the hound, however remote, exists, the 
 produce will be wild babblers, who will put up the game at 
 a great distance, and quit feathers for fluck. As battue 
 shooting is one of our abominations, we shall not even 
 pause to anathematize the dull, tame, unexciting, slaughter- 
 ing amusement of our modern gunners, but proceed at 
 once to the exhilarating, health-preserving sport of our 
 ancestors. 
 
 Nothing can exceed the delight of a bright, crisp, grey 
 autumnal morning, with good dogs and well-stocked covers. 
 As pheasants often lie extremely close, winding in among 
 briars and low brushwood, great attention must be paid in 
 beating out every yard of your ground. Early in the season 
 they prefer grassy, brambly spots, covered with privet ; as 
 the season advances they will lie in clearer places, especially 
 among pits of water, which are occasionally found in the 
 " woods and forests." Where game is not very plentiful, 
 we should advise the sportsman to commence by beating 
 the skirts of the cover, by which means the birds that have 
 been feeding in the adjoining fields will be hit off; he 
 •ought then, by degrees, to penetrate deeper into it. After 
 traversing the wood with beaters and dogs, it is advisable 
 to make a circuit round the extremities of it, so as 
 to get at those birds which may have run or escaped 
 from the interior ; a gun or two inside, and the rest out- 
 side, will be the best distribution ; but especial care must 
 be taken to know the where and whereabouts of your com- 
 panions in arms, or you may possibly " bag " your friend 
 instead of your game, " a consummation not very devoutly 
 to be wished." 
 
 As we write for the million, for old, middle-aged, and 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 141 
 
 young, for the experienced sportsman, who, during a long 
 life, has bagged his thousands, for the tyro, who, during his 
 winter holidays, has brought down a few sparrows and 
 blackbirds, we will venture to offer one or two sug- 
 gestions before we conclude our remarks upon pheasant 
 shooting. 
 
 In cover, the very greatest care should be taken to 
 avoid accidents. The line of guns and beaters ought to 
 advance in strict military order, dressing on the centre ; for 
 a man in advance, or a straggler in the rear, runs a fair 
 chance of being shot. In stopping to load, the word 
 " halt " should be given in a loud, distinct tone, and should 
 be repeated by the keepers : " Go on " is the signal for 
 recommencing the attack. Special injunctions should be 
 given to the whole force never to run forward or back for a 
 dead or wounded hare or pheasant ; for, in endeavouring to 
 recover your game, the life of the seeker may be sacrificed j 
 and last, not least, let the muzzle be always pointed in such 
 a way, that in the event of an accidental explosion no mis- 
 chief may occur. To the above important points of advice 
 we would add two of a minor nature, and which may be 
 available to the beginner ; viz., to take ample time and aim 
 at the head, allowing a moderate advance for the bird's 
 flight, which is at first very rapid. Secondly, never to draw 
 the trigger until the bird is full thirty yards' distance from 
 you ; or in the event of your hitting, or rather " blowing 
 him " up, you will assuredly spoil him for " dressing," and 
 will most likely get well " blown up " yourself for your un- 
 sportsmanlike proceeding. 
 
 Woodcock shooting is a sport that, as the Americans 
 say, " cannot be dittoed " anywhere. These migratory 
 " fly-by-nights " generally arrive among us soon after the 
 Michaelmas full moon, and about Christmas present thein 
 long bills in a far more agreeable shape to us than other dun 
 
142 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 birds are wont to do at this festive season. For cocking, 
 we should recommend a short gun as being the handiest 
 to take aim with in strong covers, where it is difficult to 
 move your arms amidst the branches of trees ; and No. 7 
 shot, which, being small, will fly thicker than large, thus 
 multiplying the marksman's chance, especially with wood- 
 cocks, who will fall to a few pellats, and will be found equally 
 efficacious in killing at forty yards as No. 3 or 4. These 
 birds are very locomotive, rarely staying any time in one 
 place ; their principal haunts being near rills of water, or 
 amidst the fallen leaves of some close coppice, tall clumps, 
 or full grown wood. Towards evening, especially if the 
 wind is from the south or south-west, the woodcock having 
 enjoyed his daily diet of worms, may be found in the wet 
 pasturage in the meres, or on the brooks that skirt the 
 woods, revelling in the luxuries of a bill and foot bath. The 
 Lang-nasen, or long nose, as the Germans call them, are 
 universally diffused, and are to be found in the frigid and 
 torrid zones, in the old and in the new world. We hear of 
 them in Greenland, Russia, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Po- 
 land, Silesia, Siberia, Ce3don, Guinea, Barbary, on the Gold 
 Coast, in the islets of Senegal, in England, France, Germany, 
 Louisiana, Illinois, and Canada. 
 
 Before we conclude, we must throw out a hint to the 
 gourmet reader which we extracted from a most amusing 
 gastronomic work ; it is greedy and selfish to the greatest 
 degree, and although we condemn the sentiments, we cannot 
 fail to admire the ingenuity of the writer. The advice is as 
 follows : — " If you have a friend to dinner, plead some ex- 
 cuse, and persuade him to carve the woodcock ; by so 
 doing you will ensure the best parts : whereas, if you help 
 it yourself, you must of necessity give your guest the choicest 
 bits." 
 
 Snipes are to be found in more countries of the world 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 143 
 
 than almost any other bird. From Sweden and Siberia to 
 Ceylon and Japan, at the Cape of Good Hope, in the plains 
 of Chili, among the Otaheite islands in the southern ocean, 
 Louisiana, Canada, and Europe. 
 
 To be equipped for snipe shooting it is essentially neces- 
 sary to be warmly clothed ; worsted hose, flannel drawers 
 and waistcoat, waterproof high boots, velveteen jacket and 
 trowsers, and an oiled skin or fur cap, ought to form the 
 costume ; in addition, a pair of light deal clogs, made after 
 the manner of the North American Indian's snow shoes, 
 will be found very available in slimy bogs or deep ditches, 
 as they will prevent the wearer from sinking in the mud. 
 Any village carpenter can make a pair of the above. A 
 piece of thin deal, two feet and a quarter long, fourteen 
 inches broad, of an elliptical shape, with a couple of 
 straps at the heel and toe to fix them to the foot, forms 
 the " Antigropolos," as the London tradesmen would 
 term it. 
 
 The red grouse, or arTayag of the ancients, has been 
 made honourable mention of by many old and distinguished 
 writers. Aristophanes, Aristotle, Alexander the Myndian, 
 Pliny, iElian, Varro, Clement of Alexandria, Aulus Gellius, 
 have given full and accurate descriptions of this bird. We 
 read of it in Spain, Gaul, on the Alps, at Megara in Achaia, 
 and Phrygia. Apicius thought it worthy of a place in his 
 cookery book ; and to the present day it is looked upon as 
 one of the greatest luxuries of the table. We remember an 
 anecdote connected with this subject, which may not be 
 uninteresting to our readers. During the palmy days of 
 Crockford's club in St. James's Street, when the culinary 
 department was under the direction of that immortal chef, 
 Louis Eustache Ude, a truly popular Scotch nobleman, since 
 taken away by death, dined in the coifee-room about the 
 first week in August ; and, among other delicacies, a young 
 
144 THE SHOOTING SEASON. 
 
 grouse was served. To a " canny Scot " and a sportsman, 
 such an open defiance of the game laws was intolerable ; 
 the bird was sent away, and the cordon bleu was compelled 
 to make his appearance at the pohce court the next morn- 
 ing, to answer the charge of the Marquis of , for 
 
 having thus forestalled the 1 2th. A suitable admonition 
 from the magistrate, and a small fine for this, the first 
 (proved) offence, was the result. Upon the same day the 
 noble lord again dined at the club ; and on thoroughly 
 scrutinizing the bill of fare, found that the illegal luxury 
 had been erased from it. As he was about to sit down, a 
 friend came in, and proposed joining tables. This was 
 agreed to ; and orders were given to the waiter to serve the 
 two dinners together. A very careful observer might have 
 perceived that something untoward had occurred, from the 
 anxiety of the attendant, himself a Frenchman, and his 
 master, Louis le Grand. The soup and fish were removed, 
 and two entrees were placed on the board. " I have ordered 
 a supreme de volaille,'' said the Marquis ; " and I," re- 
 sponded his companion, " am about to try a dish I never 
 heard of before. 1 forget its name. Waiter, bring me the 
 bill of fare !" The covers were taken off, and the olfactory 
 senses of the northern laird soon told him the nature of the 
 dish. " Why, it's a salmi of grouse !" he shouted, with 
 an exclamation that his friend the magistrate would have 
 fined him five shilhngs for in the morning. " It's not 
 down in the bill of fare ; let me see." The fatal paper 
 was handed to him by the terrified Ude, who now ap- 
 proached the table. " Why, what's this ?" said the Mar- 
 quis. " Salmi de fruit defendu." The chef was silent, 
 looked unutterable things, and merely shrugged up his 
 shoulders. 
 
 Whether the ingenuity of the artist who had sug- 
 gested this new gastronomic appellation, or the remem- 
 
THE SHOOTING SEASON. 145 
 
 brance of his past services dans la sceance de gueule, 
 produced a favourable effect upon the complainant, I know 
 not ; suffice it to say, a good-humoured smile played upon 
 his countenance as he remarked : " Well, Ude, I presume 
 this is part of the bird of yesterday; but recollect, in 
 future, no forbidden fruit must be plucked before the 
 lawful day." 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 A TALE OF LONDON HORSE DEALING. 
 
 It is now nearly a quarter of a century ago, that I found 
 myself just emancipated from a private tutor, who for the 
 small stipend (!) of three hundred guineas per annum 
 (extras not included), had opened an establishment, a sort 
 of " finishing" school for young gentlemen, preparatory to 
 their joining the army. At the above-mentioned " finish" 
 were assembled five of as dashing youths as ever were 
 trained up at a public seminary ; for our alumnus took none 
 in except those who had received the benefit of a public 
 education at Westminster, Harrow, or Eton. Here, if we 
 did not imbibe much classical lore, or keep up the Greek 
 and Latin which had been hammered into our heads during 
 our school days, we undoubtedly appreciated those lines 
 from Horace — 
 
 " Romanis solenne viris upus utile famse, 
 Vitseque et membris," 
 
 We certainly did not lose sight of the modern Greek, as 
 might have been proved by our associating with many of 
 the fraternity at the neighbouring race-courses of Egham 
 and Ascot. Mathematics and Algebra came to our assist- 
 ance in our betting-book making ; and agreeably to our 
 
" CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 14? 
 
 tutor's advertisement, " modern accomplishments were espe- 
 cially attended to," in the shape of fencing, fishing, riding, 
 racing, coaching, gymnastics and shooting. The Christmas 
 holidays were approaching, and two out of the five, Harry 
 Melton and myself, were just appointed to cornetcies in 
 the Light Dragoons, then quartered at Hounslow. The day 
 before we took leave of our master, the King's stag hounds 
 met at Farnham Common, and we were all allowed to attend. 
 As this was the first run that I ever saw, and as from it I got 
 a taste for hunting, I cannot omit giving a brief description 
 of it, especially as, if I had not upon this occasion imbibed 
 a love for the noble science, 1 should not have shortly after- 
 wards found myself a victim to that chaunting for the mil- 
 lion which I am now about to describe. Our hunters upon 
 this day were hired at Windsor ; and as we were all light 
 weights, we were carried superbly. The morning was bright 
 and exhilarating ; the deer as fine an animal as ever was 
 uncarted ; the field numerous ; and to the gratification of 
 all present, the truly popular master of the buckhounds of 
 that day, showed himself, followed by the huntsman and his 
 gallant pack, and which then had only lately been purchased 
 from the father of the present Duke of Richmond. Exactly 
 at eleven o'clock the deer was uncarted, and after about ten 
 minutes' law the hounds were laid on. The scent was fine* 
 and away we went at a slashing pace towards Stoke, where 
 the deer turned short to the left, and made his point good 
 for a wood (the name of which has escaped my memory), 
 where being hard pressed he broke away in double quick 
 time for Hedgerley Furze, and was soon viewed making in 
 a straight line for Church Wood. This he scorned, turned 
 to his right, and made the best of his way to Bulstrode 
 Park ; skirting the sunk fence (being headed by a yahoo of 
 a gamekeeper) he crossed the park to the gate leading to 
 Beaconsfield, where he again turned to his right, and keep- 
 
 L 2 
 
148 " CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION. 
 
 ing close to the park wall, gave us a glorious gallop of 
 nearly four miles over its beautiful turf. Ttie hounds now 
 continued their pace without the most trifling check ; heads 
 up and tails down, and we fairly ran into our stag in a cor- 
 ner of the park. " Our sport is over," I exclaimed to one 
 of the chosen few, who, like myself and our merry men of 
 Littlewick Green Academy, had kept together. " Well, it 
 was a splendid burst," responded Harry Melton ; " but 
 what's this ? the Macadamites are coming up. Hurrah 
 for the road !" This speech was made in consequence of 
 the arrival of a certain number of cocktails, who, as usual, 
 had been anxious to hunt the deer themselves without the 
 pack, and who had trotted off in the line they fancied the 
 animal would take before he was uncarted. Whether the 
 arrival of these cockney sportsmen aroused the " antlered 
 monarch of the forest" from his reverie, I know not ; but 
 after hanging about the bushes for a few minutes, the stag 
 recovered his wind, got away, crossed the Windsor road, 
 and went over Little Bulstrode down to FuUmore, at such a 
 pace that very few indeed were able to live with the hounds. 
 The good ones were now really called upon in right good 
 earnest, for the deer, looking as fresh as when he left the 
 cart, started off at a precious pace, leading us across to 
 Aldenham Bottom, in a line towards Gerrard's Cross. 
 Shortly, however, he crossed the Oxford road, near Red 
 Hill, and seemed to fancy the Harrow country ; but being 
 headed by a sportsman in a gig, he turned short to the 
 right, and took straight up the meadows to Denham, where 
 we feared he would attempt what in these days would be 
 called the " cold-water cure." This hydropathic system he, 
 however, despised, and re-crossing the Oxford road opposite 
 Denham Place, went in a right line for Long Copse, 
 which, instead of entering, he turned sharply to his left, and 
 went nearly up to the town of Uxbridge. At this part of 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 149 
 
 the run, the " roadsters," on their way home, again joined 
 us ; and the deer, as if he felt a strong antipathy to the 
 newly-arrived party, took to the meadows near the Colne, 
 and gave us a most beautiful burst. It was Melton in minia- 
 ture ; grass fields, high fences, and some yawning brooks ; 
 here a short check ensued, when, in a few seconds, a " clod" 
 in a willow tree viewed the stag crossing the Uxbridge and 
 Windsor road. The lad was rewarded with a half-crown, 
 and the hounds lifted and led to the spot. As soon as they 
 were laid on the scent, we went off again, best pace, towards 
 Iver. Here we pressed our deer so hard that he took to 
 the water; but upon the real wholesome bathing prin- 
 ciple, recommended by the faculty at Brighton, he plunged 
 in and out again, evidently the better for his bath. 
 He now skirted Huntsmoor Park, and like a second 
 Lochinvar, " crossed the Colne river where ford there was 
 none," then went away for the canal, which he also crossed, 
 and ran through the village of Cowley towards Hillingdcn ; 
 turning, however, short of this hamlet to the left, he once 
 more crossed the London road, as if still fancying the Har- 
 row country ; but at this instant the hounds pressed 
 him so hard, that turning into a large grass field at the 
 back of Hayes, the gallant deer cried " Hold, enough !" 
 and was run into and taken, after as fine a run as ever 
 was recorded in the annals of hunting. The return of 
 killed and wounded upon this occasion was tremendous ; 
 three steeds fell victims to the run ; while among the 
 bipeds, one collar-bone broken, a horse- dealing "leg" 
 (literally as well as figuratively) smashed, and a sprained 
 shoulder, were among the casualties. 
 
 This day's sport had so delighted our party from Little- 
 wick Green, that we agreed unanimously to have a fort- 
 night's hunting together in Warwickshire. Leamington 
 
150 " CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 was named as our head quarters, and the second week in 
 January was the time selected for our rendezvous. In the 
 interim our respected " governors" were to be taxed for 
 funds to enable us to purchase or hire sufficient hunters to 
 carry us ; for ours was to be a joint stock company, and 
 Harry Melton and myself were appointed purchasers of the 
 horse for the young gentlemen of the finishing academy at 
 Littlewick Green. Green ! our readers will echo with a 
 vengeance, when our story is further developed. Upon the 
 following afternoon the " White Lion" Bath coach pulled 
 up at the Sun Inn, Maidenhead, where Harry Melton and 
 myself having booked two outsides, were in waiting to be 
 conveyed to London. Those were the days for travelling! 
 What could exceed the splendid " turns out" that were then 
 on the road between Bath and London ? Whilst ruminating 
 upon them, the following remarks caught our attention : — 
 " A peculiar and most animating spectacle used to be the 
 arrival of a first-rate light coach in a country town ! The 
 small machine crowded with so many passengers; the 
 foaming and curvetting leaders, the wheelers more steady 
 and glossy, as if they had not done their ten miles in the 
 hour ; the triumphant bugle of the guard, and the haughty 
 routine with which the driver, as he reached his goal, threw 
 his whip to the obedient ostlers in attendance ; and not 
 least, the staring crowd a little awe-struck, and looking for 
 the moment at the lowest official of the stable with conside- 
 rate respect — altogether made a picture which one recollects 
 with cheerfulness, and misses now in many a dreary market 
 town." 
 
 So writes the talented author of " Coningsby," and so 
 must feel every one that lived " in the days that we 
 went coaching in a long time ago." Alas ! for the present 
 sporting generation at least. " The light (coach) of other 
 days is faded, and its beauty passed away." And here 
 
" CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 151 
 
 we must make a trifling digression in railing ironically, at 
 the present system of trams, rails, boiling water, steam and 
 stokers. The railroad champions state that in March, 1745, 
 a Bath paper announced that " The London stage coach 
 would perform the journey from that city to London in two 
 days;" while in March, 1845, the distance was performed 
 in two hours and a half. They forgot to add the trite 
 sporting saying, "■ It's the pace that kills." 
 
 In the time we write of, these " infernal machines," (as we 
 should then have called them), steam carriages, were not in 
 existence ; and it is curious to refer to remarks made by 
 popular sporting writers of the day, as to the improbability 
 of their ever coming into general use, and of doing that 
 which we have lived to see, viz., entirely driving all other 
 coaches from the road to the rail. One writer says, " Though 
 steam, when employed in expediting the summer voyage of 
 the London citizen from the purlieus of the Minories, or the 
 vicinity of Leadenhall-street, to Margate or its environs, is 
 certainly both a pleasant and an expeditious conveyance, I 
 do not apprehend that it would prove equally expeditious — 
 certainly not equally pleasant — in transporting the same 
 citizen from London to York. Neither do I think that the 
 fears of old women or timorous passengers would be dimi- 
 nished by this proposed scheme for a change in the mode 
 of travelling. I have too often been amused by such que- 
 ries as — ' Don't you think. Sir, this man drives too fast f 
 or, ' Surely the coachman is galloping his horses.' And 
 what one would have to undergo in this way, when in 
 jeopardy of being blown half a mile up the country, I really 
 cannot say, and sincerely hope I may never learn by expe- 
 rience. But seriously, what will be the advantage gained ? 
 Surely the coaches of the present day travel fast enough — 
 in fact, I believe too fast for the nerves of many. Why, 
 then, undergo the process of being half boiled, and quite 
 
152 " CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 blown up, when by the generality of the present coaches, 
 you can reckon on going ten miles an hour, including stop- 
 pages ? Many people, I believe, on the ' Martin' principle, 
 say, ' I cannot bear to see the way in which the horses 
 are driven at the present day ;' thereby inferring that the 
 pace of our fast coaches is beyond what the physical strength 
 of the horse can endure ; but to these I would say, look at 
 the condition of the teams in our crack coaches. Did the 
 horses driven by the late Mr. Stevenson, and the present 
 Sir St. Vincent Cotton, those Crichtons of the road, ex- 
 hibit symptoms betokening excess of hard work ? Were 
 they not sleek as deer ? and did they not perform their 
 allotted ground without requiring any extra stimulus from 
 whipcord ? But more important than all : I would ask, 
 would not the introduction of travelling by steam dimi- 
 nish the breed of a very valuable stamp of horses, and pro- 
 bably produce further distress among the agricultural classes, 
 who are at present bad enough off? I hope that the gene- 
 rality, if not the whole, of your readers, will agree with me, 
 that however valuable for modern machinery, or on the wide 
 ocean (and with deference to this great age of invention), steam 
 is not desirable for land travelling ; and will concur with me, 
 in the hearty wish that steam coaches ' exeant i?ifumo.' " 
 
 Most heartily do we coincide with the writer of the above 
 remarks. Railroad travelling has proved dangerous ; it has 
 scared and frightened many a poor traveller ; it has dimi- 
 nished a most valuable stamp of horses ; it has added to the 
 distress of the agricultural community; it has increased 
 instead of diminished cruelty to horses. Only look at the 
 half-starved, miserably-fed fly and omnibus cattle that ply 
 to and from the railroad stations. It has entirely knocked 
 up the road, and beggared many a poor widow, whose scanty 
 annual stipend has been (securely as it was once thought) 
 invested in turnpike trusts. And worse than all, it has 
 
" CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 153 
 
 proved highly detrimental to hunting ; the love for the noble 
 science is daily diminishing ; and if once the sports of the field 
 fall into disuse, we shall have as many absentees among the 
 country gentlemen in England, as we have in the land of Erin. 
 We resume. The " White Lion" coach had pulled up 
 at the door of the Sun Inn. Young as we were, we knew 
 the road too well to cause any unnecessary delay ; the coach- 
 man, touching his hat, recognised us with — " Aye, young 
 gentlemen — I beg your pardon, dragooners I now hear — 
 there are seats in the front for two." The ostler doffed his 
 seal-skin cap, and the horse-keeper rubbed his fore-lock 
 down, as they handed up our luggage ; the guard placed it 
 safely on the roof, under a huge tarpaulin. " All right, 
 Jem ?" asked the dragsman. " All right," echoed the 
 " shooter." " Sit fast :" and away we bowled at the rate of 
 ten miles an hour, to reach London in two hours and a 
 half; for in those days, despite of the assertions of the 
 Baron D'Hausse, ex-minister of Marine under King Charles 
 X. of France, who, in his work " Great Britain," states, 
 " that owing to the numerous relays, the journeys in France 
 are performed in the same time as those of a similar dis- 
 tance in England," scarcely any delay was allowed upon the 
 road. Nor how could it be possible that such could be the 
 case, when the Bath coaches did their work, one hundred 
 and nine miles, in eleven hours and a half ; the Shrewsbury, 
 one hundred and sixty miles in less than seventeen hours ; 
 Birmingham, one hundred and sixteen miles in ten hours ' 
 Liverpool, two hundred and two miles in twenty-one hours ' 
 the Edinburgh mail four hundred and two miles in forty-two 
 hours; the Exeter, Carlisle, Coventry, Manchester, Norwich, if 
 possible, doing their work in proportionate less time. But 
 to ourselves ? We dashed through Maidenhead. At Salt 
 Hill the horses were ready, a man to each, and the guard 
 superintending the whole ; the coachman never moved from 
 
1 54 " CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 his box, but throwing down the reins, which he had un- 
 buckled on his way, took hold of those of the new team, and 
 before, according to the old saying, one could utter " Jack 
 Robinson," away we rattled through Slough, Colnbrook, over 
 the heath to Hounslow. There a change as quick as that 
 at Botham's took place, and within the hour and twenty- 
 five minutes, we entered London through the unsightly and 
 troublesome turnpike that in those days stood near Apsley 
 House, Hyde Park Corner, to levy no very inconsiderable 
 tax from visitors to and from the metropolis. 
 
 We stopped at the Gloucester Coffee House ; and as both 
 Harry Melton and myself were devoted to coaching, we 
 thought that we could not do better than take up our resi- 
 dence during our stay in town at the above caravansary, 
 from the windows of whose coffee room we could see aU 
 the mails and coaches depart and arrive. The waiter and 
 boots came out, and the coachman having " given the office" 
 that we were " regular nobs," " young cornets," " out and 
 outers" and " no mistake," the respect that was shown to 
 us was as great as that extended to the celebrated Jean de 
 Paris, during his tour through France. 
 
 " A private room, gentlemen ?" asked the waiter (for in 
 those days " gents" were unknown). " We have one facing 
 the street, right over the coffee-room — capital view of all 
 the coaches." (He had ascertained our taste from the coach- 
 man.) " Here, Sarey, prepare numbers fourteen and fifteen 
 for two gentlemen — Jem, take up the luggage — this 
 way, gentlemen ?" — and without waiting for our answer, we 
 were shown into a very snug sitting room on the first floor. 
 
 " Dinner, gentlemen ?" continued the loquacious waiter ; 
 " we've a beautiful piece of cod, a nice rump-steak, some 
 mulligatawny soup, marrow bones, and a grill." And again 
 taking silence as consent, the slip-shod " coming, sir," 
 shuffled out of the room. 
 
" CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 155 
 
 We then doffed our great coats, warmed our hands, and 
 went to the window, where we saw a sight that we shall 
 never see again — the arrival and departure of many a good 
 team. 
 
 What a contrast was the view of 1820 from the Glou- 
 cester Coffee House window to that of 1857 ! It was only 
 last week that I paid sundry visits to a friend in the self- 
 same room, and instead of seeing the arrival of the " White 
 Hart," " White Lion," and " York House" Bath coaches, 
 and the departure of the Exeter and Southampton mails, all 
 I witnessed was the arrival of some overloaded " busses," 
 with their slang conductors, and the departure of the one- 
 horse Hounslow mail, in a sort of vis a vis " brougham ;" 
 the parts of driver and guard being, as the theatrical profes- 
 sion say, " doubled," and represented by a seedy youth of 
 two-and-twenty. 
 
 The following portion of an advertisement, which may 
 be daily seen in the Morning Herald, will speak volumes. 
 " The Glo'ster Hotel, Piccadilly and Berkeley-street. Post- 
 horses to and from either of the railway termini at 10s. 6d., 
 including the post-boy." 
 
 But to proceed. Our toilet was made, our dinner 
 announced, and the landlord entered the room bearing a 
 large tureen, and followed by two waiters and a waiterette, 
 each with a couple of pewter-covered dishes. The land- 
 lord acted as fugleman, and at his signal the tureen and 
 dishes were uncovered, showing to our eager eyes some 
 smoking-hot mulligatawny soup, or, as it might have 
 literally been called after its true Indian name, " pepper- 
 water ;" a slice of cod fish, certainly not of the " sound" 
 order; a fine specimen of that indigenous dish of Old 
 England, a rump-steak ; some marrow-bones ; a portion 
 of turkey, awfully bedevilled ; a plate of potatoes, hot 
 without and hard within ; and some underdone cauliflower. 
 
156 " CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION. 
 
 Of course, the landlord recommended a bottle of wonderful 
 sherry, and as fine a specimen of old bee's-wing port as 
 ever was brought to table. The wines were brought ; and, 
 as we sat round the fire after dinner enjoying the port^ 
 which was really first-rate — our conversation turned upon 
 hunting, and we agreed to devote the following day to the 
 purchase of hunters for our joint-stock sporting company. 
 It was nearly time to order a hackney-coach (for cabs and 
 broughams were then unknown) to take us to one of the 
 winter theatres in time for half price, when the waiter 
 entered and announced that a gentleman, bearing the un- 
 fashionable-sounding name of Limbert, was most anxious 
 to have an interview with us. Although unacquainted 
 with the name, we immediately requested that Mr. Limbert 
 might be shown in. 
 
 In a few seconds the waiter returned,followed by a person- 
 age who, at first sight, might have been taken for a dissent- 
 ing minister, but, from his speech, we found to be a horse- 
 dealer. Mr. Limbert's costume was peculiarly neat, and 
 consisted of a dark cutaway coat, an unobtrusive coloured 
 waistcoat — also of a sombre hue, a white cravat tied with 
 the greatest care — in what was then denominated " a 
 waterfall" (vide Neckclothiana, a work on ties) — and 
 ornamented with a plain gold pin ; a pair of dark slate- 
 coloured trousers, with gaiter termini ; and a well- polished 
 shoe. The new comer's manner was also particularly quiet 
 and retiring, as he stood near the door, and made us a 
 most formal bow. 
 
 "What is your business, sir?" inquired my friend 
 Henry Melton. " I fear there is some mistake." 
 
 " None whatever, gentlemen," responded Mr. Limbert, 
 in the most saccharine tone imaginable. " I believe I have the 
 honour of addressing Mr. Melton, of his Majesty's — th 
 Liffht Dragoons." 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 157 
 
 "You have that distinguished honour," responded the 
 young cornet with a smile. 
 
 " I have just been given to understand that you and 
 your friend (bowing to me) are about to join your respec- 
 tive regiments, and that you are previously going to Leam- 
 ington for a fortnight's hunting." 
 
 We both looked astounded at a stranger knowing so 
 much of our private plans. He continued — " I also under- 
 stand that you are anxious to purchase or hire sufficient 
 horses to carry you and your three young friends at Little- 
 wick Green, during your stay in Warwickshire." 
 
 We again looked astonished, or, to use an expressive, 
 though rather inelegant term, regularly "flabbergasted." 
 
 " Warwickshire is an extremely stiff country, and re- 
 quires not only first-rate hunters, but also first-rate men to 
 ride them ; but after the manner you and your friends 
 went with the King's hounds at Farnham Common, there 
 can be no doubt that you will not be found wanting." 
 
 This small dose of " soft- sawder" was so palatable, that 
 w^e begged Mr. Limbert would approach the fire, and take 
 a glass of the old bee's-wing port. After filling that 
 gentleman's glass, we rang the bell for another bottle, same 
 as last. In the meantime our mysterious visitor drank to 
 both our good healths, coupling our names with that of 
 fox-hunting, and wishing us good sport with the War- 
 wickshire. 
 
 Mr. Limbert had one peculiarity : he kept his empty 
 glass in his hand until the moment that we helped our- 
 selves to wine ; and just at the nick of time, when I raised 
 the bottle to replenish my own goblet, down went the 
 " dodger's" glass, and of course left me (rayther young in 
 those days) no alternative short of ill-breeding, but that of 
 offering to fill him a bumper. Amidst our hilarity, the 
 stranger never for a moment lost sight of business. 
 
158 "CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 " Here, gentlemen," said he, taking out a letter with a 
 deep mourning edge, " is a favour I have just received 
 from my first master, Squire Welland. Ah ! the poor 
 young gentleman — his only son — poor Master Frank. 
 Oh ! oh ! ! oh !!! it's a sad bereavement." And here Mr. 
 Limbert drew out his " bird's eye" bandana, and, like the 
 soldier in poor Haynes Bayly's ballad, " wiped away a 
 tear." 
 
 After a few seconds he recovered himself, just in time 
 again to put his empty glass upon the table, and to see the 
 " purple stream" flow into it. 
 
 " Perhaps, gentlemen," continued the half-blubbering 
 man, " you would be kind enough to read the letter ; the 
 contents quite overpower me." 
 
 Harry Melton took the document, and read as follows : — 
 
 The Cedars, Dunchurch, 
 December 21, 1820. , 
 Samuel Limbeet, 
 
 You have probably by this time heard of the melancholy death 
 of my poor son Francis, whose gun going off accidentally, out shoot- 
 ing, killed him on the spot. I am heart-broken, and cannot trust 
 myself to write upon this subject further than to say that I shall give 
 up hunting entirely, and that both the poor boy's horses and mine 
 are for sale. I inclose a hst with prices, and shall send them up to 
 your stables next Tuesday. They are all too well known in Warwick- 
 shire and Leicestershire to require any comment. I hope soon to be in 
 London, on my road to Italy. After our long acquaintance, now 
 five-and-twenty years, I feel confident that you will do your best for 
 your old master, 
 
 JosiAS Welland. 
 
 P.S. I would rather give the horses away than that they should 
 get into bad hands, I have ordered poor Frank's favourite old 
 hunter, Lustre, to be shot. — J. W. 
 
 " Very satisfactory indeed," said Harry Melton, as he 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION. 159 
 
 replaced the letter in Mr. Limbert's hands ; " have you the 
 list of the horses and their prices ?" 
 
 " Here, sir, is the list," responded the lachrymose 
 visitor. 
 
 My friend Melton handed me a sheet of paper, from 
 which I read as follows : — 
 
 To be sold by private contract, tbe following hunters, well known 
 
 in Warwickshire, the property of a gentleman declining hunting: — 
 
 Gs. 
 
 Gerard Dow, six years old 100 
 
 Carlo Dolci, aged 90 
 
 Wouvermans, five years old 90 
 
 Ballad Singer, by Tramp, aged 110 
 
 Mountebank, six years old 85 
 
 Danae, 45 gs., and The Barber, 50 gs. , two splendid hacks. 
 
 Also, the property of a gentleman deceased : — 
 
 Trumpeter, aged 85 
 
 Fortune-teller, sister to Ballad Singer, by Tramp, seven 
 
 years old 100 
 
 Cinderella, five years old 80 
 
 Jack the Painter, aged 90 
 
 Beppo (thorough bred), by Touchstone, out of a Whale- 
 bone mare 110 
 
 Charley, a hack 50 
 
 For further particalars apply to Mr. Samuel Limbert, Duke's Head 
 
 Yard, Little Castle Street, Blackfriars Road ; where the horses can 
 
 be seen and a fair trial granted. 
 
 No sooner had I finished reading this "sheet-list" of the 
 " wonderful high bred cattle," than Harry Melton and 
 myself exchanged significant glances. This was not lost 
 upon the wary Mr. Limbert, who quietly took the paper I 
 had just read, and placed it in his pocket-book. 
 
 " Perhaps, gentlemen," he said, " you would like to see 
 the horses in the morning ? I expect Mr. Hilliard, the 
 Warwickshire dealer, at one o'clock ; but I should be happy 
 to show them to you first ; for I am very anxious that my 
 poor master's stud should get into good hands." 
 
160 "CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 Again I looked at Harry Melton, and he at me. 
 
 " Could you let me see the list for a moment ?" said my 
 friend ; " ten hunters, if I recollect rightly, and three 
 hacks." 
 
 " Certainly, sir," responded Mr. Limbert ; who now saw 
 that he had more than a nibble. " Here's the paper ; ten 
 first-rate hunters ; and the hacks could carry any light 
 weights with the fastest hounds in England." 
 
 Harry took out his pencil, and began calculating some 
 figures. " A regular bite," thought Limbert ; " I must 
 play my fish." So, upon the principle of all the pupils of 
 honest Isaac Walton, the expert man, or rather ^<3!^-fisher, 
 began his art. First he humoured us, then gave us line 
 enough, then followed us down the stream ; and at last — 
 to use a piscatory phrase — he regularly basketed us. 
 
 Melton now passed me a scrap of paper, upon which I 
 found his calculations. The " tottle" of the whole, as a 
 useful member of the House of Commons was wont to say, 
 amounted to nine hundred and forty guineas for the hunters, 
 and one hundred and forty-five for the hacks. One thou- 
 sand and eighty-five guineas for the lot. Under this was a 
 remark, which ran as follows : " I am good for three 
 hundred and fifty, you ditto, and the Green (alluding to 
 our friends at Little wick Green) must make up the remainder. 
 Offer nine hundred and fifty, subject, of course, to our 
 approval of the stud." This was signed Harry Melton. 
 Taking my " cue" from this document, I began hemming 
 and hawing, and at last screwed up my courage sufficiently 
 to say that we would call in the morning, and that if the 
 horses suited we were prepared to make an offer for the 
 lot, and that perhaps under those circumstances some re- 
 duction might be made. 
 
 Mr. Limbert drew up and looked quite offended ! but he 
 shortly recovered his usual bknd look, and said — 
 
" CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 161 
 
 " Well, gentlemen, I will see what I can do ; I know 
 Mr. Welland must sell : and if he can only know that his 
 own favourite hunters — and, above all, his poor departed 
 son's horses — can get into good hands, he won't stand at 
 a trifle. Good night, gentlemen. Here's my card. I 
 hope to see you before twelve o'clock." 
 
 Mr. Limbert bowed and retired. 
 
 " Honest fellow !" said Harry. " So much feeling for 
 his late master," I responded. " And so civil," repeated 
 we in chorus. 
 
 We should scarcely have paid him the latter panegyric 
 had w^e heard the remark that he dropped to a companion 
 w^ho was waiting for him in the yard of the Three Kings. 
 
 " Two regular flats. They're done to a tinder ; but 
 we've no time to lose. You must see Jem Snitch to-night ; 
 I'll be off to Harry Paddington's. At eight o'clock 
 to-morrow morning meet me at the Marsh Gate." The 
 friends parted. 
 
 Return to our room, where, while the " agony" coach, 
 as they were then called, was being sent for, we talked over 
 the stud, congratulated ourselves upon the lucky chance 
 that had brought us acquainted with Mr. Limbert, and 
 fully determined to take the whole lot, should they be 
 found to come up to the character they had received from 
 their master. 
 
 " Coach is at the door," said the boots, at the same 
 time handing us our evening great coats (for, in the period 
 we write of, " pea" jackets and Chesterfield wrappers had 
 not been introduced). 
 
 How diff'erent was the fashion of that day to that of the 
 present ! Instead of having one's winter upper garment 
 made of coarse blue pilot cloth or tweed, a handsome 
 superfine cloth coat, trimmed with black lace, with sable 
 collar and cuffs, was the order of the day. 
 
 M 
 
162 "CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 Just as we were about to start, one of our young friends 
 from Little wick Green, to whom I shall give the fictitious 
 appellation of Charley Combermere, made his appearance. 
 
 " Why, what brought you here, Charley ?" we ex- 
 claimed together. " We thought you were booked till the 
 twenty-third." 
 
 " So I was," replied our new comer, " but I wanted to 
 be present at the deal ; I think I can put you up to a 
 wrinkle or two — I know all the tricks of the horse-dealing 
 fraternity. Old Dominie would not at first hear of my 
 coming away, so I got young Arthur Harris, who came 
 over from Eton to see us this morning, to write a note in 
 my uncle's name, particularly requesting that I might come 
 up to attend my aunt Lady Merston's juvenile ' hop' this 
 evening. The note was dated from Botham's, at Salt Hill, 
 where my lord was supposed to be sojourning ; and the 
 bearer of it waited in a gig which Arthur Harris had hired 
 and sent from Salt Hill. The Dominie swallowed the 
 bait, requested his respectful regards to Lord and Lady 
 Merston, and packing up my carpet bag, I got into the 
 gig and drove post-haste to Botham's ; there I had a 
 snack, hired another horse, changed at Hounslow, and am 
 just arrived, having done the twenty-seven miles in three 
 hours, including stoppages." 
 
 "Well," I replied, "you'll take up your quarters here 
 this night. Boots, take Mr. Combermere's coat and 
 carpet bag out of the gig. We are just off to the play ; 
 will you accompany us?" 
 
 " No," replied Charley, " I can't stand the expense of 
 an hotel : I shall sleep at my aunt's ; who, instead of 
 giving a ' hop' in London, is down at Brighton. Econo- 
 my 's the life and soul of the army, and next Gazette I am 
 to get my commission in the Guards. ' A penny saved is 
 a penny got.' " 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 163 
 
 Charles Combermere was an exception to the usual run 
 of boys, who, generally speaking, cannot spend money too 
 fast. But his economy was more for the sake of doing 
 what he considered clever things ; instead, however, of 
 " doing," he was generally " done." Thus, in the present 
 case, he slept at his aunt's, had to fee the housemaid for 
 her trouble, and to purchase the porter's silence as to his 
 late hours, with a no inconsiderable " buckshee," as the 
 Affghans call it, and which may be translated " tip," 
 besides paying a lazy out-of-place servant who had 
 domiciled himself during the family's absence, at Lady 
 Merston's, and who expected a handsome present for 
 ''valeting" for the future heir of that noble _^ house. 
 At the Gloucester Coffee House, where the young 
 " penny wise and pound foolish" was obliged to have 
 his mealsj the expense of the bed would have been 
 trivial, compared with the customary dues at his uncle's 
 house. We must record a specimen of the young econo- 
 mist's sharpness, which will give the lie to the old adage 
 already quoted, " a penny saved is a penny got." 
 
 During our stay in London we visited Covent Garden 
 Theatre together. Charley Combermere started a " cab," 
 just then imported from France. As we pulled up in Bow 
 Street, he took off his cloak — the regulation cloak of the 
 regiment to which he was about to be gazetted — and told 
 his groom to fold it up and sit upon it. " Why, what 
 nonsense!" I exclaimed; "bring it into the house, and 
 leave it with the box-keeper." " What, and pay a shilling 
 for it ! Catch a weazel asleep, and shave off his eyebrows. 
 I think I see myself paying a fellow for doing that which 
 my tiger can do for nothing," responded Combermere. 
 We knew we might as well speak to the wind as to our 
 'cute young friend — that is, as far as gaining our point ; 
 so we gave up the argument, entered the theatre, de- 
 
 M 2 
 
164 " CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 posited our fur coats with the box-keeper, and took our 
 seats. 
 
 The play being over, we handed out the customary fee, 
 got laughed at by Charley Combermere, who now chuck- 
 lingly said, " Well, your heirs and executors will never see 
 those shillings again." As we reached the portico the 
 sleet was falling fast. "Coach, your honour?" shouted 
 the link- boys, whose lights are now extinguished! After 
 a great deal of " cutting out" and " cutting in," amidst 
 the imprecations of coachmen, watermen, and linkmen, 
 Charley's cab drove up. " My cloak," shouted our shiver- 
 ing friend. " Muv on that 'ere gig with a head," cried a 
 superannuated constable. " You must muv on," echoed a 
 dozen voices. " My cloak," again cried Charley. " My 
 kingdom for a cloak." " Cut his reins," said a young 
 pick-pocket, anxious for a row. " Run that ere pole into 
 him, Jarvey," holloed a regular gin-and-watermsin. Harry 
 Melton jumped in, and was quickly followed by Charley, 
 still crying for his cloak. As we were all of the diminutive 
 size, I scrambled in " bodkin," amidst the jeers of the 
 British |_ublic, who shouted " snips, why don't you keep 
 to your shopboard ?" " Dandees." 
 
 No sooner had we gained Long Acre, than we stopped 
 the cab. Jem w^as called, and told to get the cloak from 
 under the seat The unfortunate " tiger" shook like an 
 aspen leaf. " Please, sir — sir." " Why, what's the 
 matter, are you drunk or mad ?" " Oh, sir, such, such a 
 misfortune. No sooner had you left the ' keb,' than a 
 young feller 'ollows out, ' W^hy, your curb chain's undone, 
 and I'm blow'd if the rein a'n't unbuckled.' I pulled and 
 found it was the case ; down I jumps, buckles the rein, 
 takes off the curb chain, puts it into my pocket, gets 
 into the ' keb,' and there, oh ! oh ! oh ! 1 found that the 
 cloak was gone. When I axed the orange woman if she 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 165 
 
 had seen any one about the ' keb,' she told me one of the 
 young forty-thieves had it, called me a reg'lar flat, told me 
 I ought never to go out without my nurse, and said if 
 master was a liberal man, he could get it back by offering 
 a reward." 
 
 We will not attempt to depict our friend's rage ; but 
 turning back to Bow Street, got the address of an in- 
 telligent " runner" of that day, offered a reward of two 
 pounds, and the following day the cloak was restored. 
 Thus, by an attempt to save a shilling, Charley Comber- 
 mere found himself minus three pounds — the reward 
 being two pounds, and a pound to the intelligent thief- 
 taker. 
 
 To return to our adventures on the evening previous 
 to our deal. We dropped into Covent Garden Theatre 
 half price, and saw " Katherine and Petruchio ;" Charles 
 Kemblc representing the principal character ; with the 
 farce of " The Sleep Walker," in which poor Yates acted 
 the part of Somno, after — and as some one said, very 
 closely after — the manner of Charles Mathews. Here was 
 a second price treat. " Wallace," with Macready, Charles 
 Kemble, and Mrs. Bunn in it, had been the first piece. 
 And this leads us to digress, and mourn over the present 
 state of the winter theatres. No disparagement to the 
 present spirited lessee of Drury Lane. Look at the com- 
 panies of the two major theatres in those days. At 
 Covent Garden, in tragedy : C. Kemble, Macready, Van- 
 denhoff; Mesdames Bunn and Faucit, Miss Dance. In 
 comedy : C. Kemble, Jones, the Jones, W. Farren, Liston, 
 Fawcett, Emery, Blanchard, Terry, Abbott, C. Taylor, 
 Duruset, Connor, Farley, Grimaldi; Mesdames Davison, 
 Gibbs, Davenport, C. Kemble, Misses Stephens, M. Tree, 
 Foot, Beaumont, and Love. At Drury Lane: Kean, 
 Cooper, Wallack, Booth, Munden, Elliston, Harlcy — the 
 
166 " CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 evergreen Harley, fresh and lively as ever — Knight, J. 
 Russell, Braham, C. Horn, Among the ladies : Mes- 
 dames Glover, Harlowe, Orger, Bland, Misses Kelly, 
 Chester, and Smithson, Madam Vestris, and Miss Wilson. 
 
 In the season we allude to, Covent Garden Theatre was 
 kept open from September 1820 to August 7th, 1821, 
 again to open on the 27th September. Alas ! we shall 
 never live to see those good old days again, is the fear of 
 one who mourns over the decay of the public taste. 
 Opera and ballet, Costa and Carlotta Grisi, have driven 
 Shakspeare, Sheridan, Colman, and Morton from the 
 stage. 
 
 Upon the following morning we were up betimes, and 
 having been joined by Charley Combermere, proceeded, 
 after breakfast, to the Duke's Head Yard, Little Castle- 
 street, Blackfriars-road. There we found Mr, Limbert in 
 earnest conversation with a man in a suit of sable, who 
 looked something between a groom, a methodist preacher, 
 and an undertaker. 
 
 " This is my late master's bailiff — Mr. Smithson." 
 
 The latter personage took off his hat respectfully. Mr. 
 Limbert then introduced us all by name ; for he had ascer- 
 tained our " birth, parentage, and education," first from the 
 coachman of the White Lion, and subsequently from the 
 " boots " at the Gloucester Coffee House. 
 
 After a few preliminary remarks, we walked down the 
 yard, and, threading our way through some rather seedy- 
 looking gigs and carriages, entered a stable calculated to 
 hold about ten horses, but in which thirteen were now 
 crammed — the bails having been taken down, and cords 
 placed in their stead. The only light was from a small 
 window over the door — at any time an inadequate one, but 
 upon the occasion I allude to rendered doubly so by two 
 out of the six panes being broken, and their apertures 
 
" CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 167 
 
 stuffed with hay and torn rugs, while the remaining ones 
 were so much covered with dust as scarcely to admit any 
 light. The three hacks stood nearest the entrance, and 
 looked clever, well-bred animals. Ballad- singer and Fortune- 
 teller came next ; but as we approached them, Mr. Lirabert 
 requested Mr. Smithson to shut the door, as he was fearful 
 " The Barber " might catch that most awful evil, a London 
 cough. All we could, therefore, do, was, to feel their legs, 
 and measure their height. After putting the rest of the 
 stud under the same test, we requested that the four highest 
 priced ones might be brought out and saddled. 
 
 "Bill!" said Mr.Limbert, addressing a youth dressed in the 
 usual gear of an ostler, " saddle Gerard Dow, Ballad-singer, 
 and Fortune-teller; and perhaps, Mr. Smithson, you'll put 
 your own saddle upon Beppo, and throw your leg across 
 him." 
 
 In due time the horses were saddled and bridled, and 
 brought to a narrow ride covered with sawdust. There a 
 leaping-bar, covered with furze, was being prepared by a 
 man in red velveteens and fustian jacket, evidently a coach- 
 man out of place and elbows, and who, from his general 
 appearance, showed the marks of having seen better 
 days. 
 
 " Top hole, coachman," shouted Mr. Smithson, as he 
 cantered down the ride and charged the bar, which he 
 cleared in a very sporting-like manner ; for the top hole 
 was placed so as to raise the bar to about three feet. 
 
 I was equally fortunate on Ballad-singer, as were my 
 friends upon the other two celebrated hunters. 
 
 " That mare you are on has only one fault, Mr. Melton," 
 said'Mr. Limbert ; the Cornet was all ears. " There's no 
 stopping her at water ; if she sees a brook, never mind 
 the width, she will have it. She set the whole field last 
 winter in Warwickshire at the Snowford brook." 
 
168 "CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 Satisfied with the performances of the above-mentioned 
 horses, we had the remaining six out, and subsequently the 
 hacks. Harry Melton, who was the best judge among us, 
 notwithstanding Charley Combermere having professed to 
 give us a wrinkle, our gentle or ungentle reader will pro- 
 bably exclaim, " bad's the best" — fancied that Wouvermans 
 went a little lame, 
 
 " Only his way of going," responded the ever ready 
 Mr. Limbert. 
 
 " Cinderella, too, coughs a little," said my friend. 
 
 " Caught on the journey — soundest wind in the world,'' 
 responded the dealer. 
 
 " Jack the Painter's legs look as if they've had a deal of 
 work." 
 
 " Work ! you surprise me, sir ; they're like a foal's — • 
 fresh as paint !" 
 
 " Mountebank's eye seemed a httle inflamed." 
 
 " You are a judge, I see, sir," said the placid Mr. Smith- 
 son. " It was last Wednesday fortnight the Warwickshire 
 met at Ladbroke. Master rode Mountebank, and the poor 
 young gentleman Trumpeter. They had a splendid run, 
 fifteen miles from point to point, killing near Upton House. 
 Just at the end, master charged a regular ' bull-fincher,' 
 and cleared it splendidly ; a branch of a tree struck Mounte- 
 bank just above his eye, and caused the inflammation and 
 running. It's quite a pleasure to deal with a gentleman 
 that knows what he is about. Sam, did not you tell the 
 officer of the accident ?" 
 
 Limbert was beginning to " explain," when Smithson, 
 with wonderful adroitness, added — 
 
 " And I dare say you forgot to mention that Carlo 'Dol- 
 shee was pricked in shoeing." 
 
 This remark was made in consequence of Charley Com- 
 bermere, who had taken a great fancy to the namesake of 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 169 
 
 the celebrated painter, ordering that horse to be brought 
 round, that he might trot him down the Blackfriars-road. 
 This the quick ear of the wary soi disant bailiff had 
 caught, and, making a virtue of necessity, was the first to 
 pronounce the horse to be lame. 
 
 " But what said Field of him this morning?" inquired 
 Mr. Smithson, in a half voice, but quite loud enough to be 
 heard by all parties. 
 
 " Please, sir," responded the hobble-de-hoy ostler, " he 
 declared it war nothing ; he's- ordered the shoe to be taken 
 off, and says with a little fomentation it will be all right in 
 the morning." 
 
 We had lingered so long in the stables, and had occu- 
 pied so much time in the yard, that we were not aware 
 that one o'clock had arrived, until we were made acquainted 
 with the fact by the arrival of the great Warwickshire 
 dealer, Mr. Hilliard. This portly gentleman drove up to 
 the yard in a small gig, which would have held two ordi- 
 narily-sized persons comfortably, but which was not more 
 than sufficiently large for the unwieldy figure of Mr. Hil- 
 liard. To judge by his manner, he evidently had no small 
 idea of himself. 
 
 " Well, Limbert," he exclaimed, " how are the horses ? 
 Ah, Smithson, is it you? How's the farm ? You know 
 I am a man of few words ; I know the stud as well as I 
 know my own. There are two young Oxonians that want 
 three hunters and a hack a-piece ; what will you take to 
 give me the pick ?" 
 
 Our countenances fell. Harry Melton was about to 
 stammer out something about first come first served, and 
 unhandsome conduct in thus interfering with us: when 
 Mr. Limbert, who had watched our elongated visages, 
 said — 
 
 " I'm proud of your custom, Mr. Hilliard — no man more 
 
170 "CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 proud. You have now dealt with me for more than ten 
 years. 1 prefer selling the whole stud at once ; these 
 young officers have got the refusal. Should we not come 
 to terms, then, Mr. Hilliard, I shall be in a situation to listen 
 to your proposition." 
 
 " All fair and above-board," responded the modern Daniel 
 Lambert, for the dealer looked the very prototype of that 
 huge specimen of humanity ; " I would not stand in the 
 young gentlemen's way for the world. I shall be proud to 
 see them in Warwickshire ; not that I should have much 
 chance of seeing them, nor would many of the field, for 
 Squire Welland's horses are regular fliers, and no mistake. 
 I sha'n't forget the run from Ladbrook ; my son Jem killed 
 one of my best horses ; indeed, on that day, five, inde- 
 pendent of mine, died. How's the brown horse's eye? — 
 that might have been a bad accident." 
 
 This apparently off-hand statement of Mr. Hilliard's 
 completely corroborated Mr. Smithson's assertion ; and, 
 thanking that gentleman for his courtesy, we requested to 
 be shown into the counting-house, where we would look 
 over the list of prices, and see what could be done. 
 
 " Well, gentlemen, I can wait. As I says to Jem — 
 ' Jem,' says I, ' never hurry no man's cattle ; you don't 
 know how soon you may have a donkey of your own.' I'll 
 just drive down to the Circus Mews to look at a lady's 
 horse, and be back in half an hour. Take off the rug, 
 Bill — let him go." 
 
 And away whisked the great (in every respect) dealer. 
 
 We now made our way to a small room, about six feet 
 by four, in which was a desk and a couple of chairs. Mr. 
 Limbert requested us to be seated ; but as two chairs among 
 five persons was not very suitable accommodation, we de- 
 clined the offer, and, lounging over the desk, again looked 
 over the paper we had seen the previous evening. 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." l7l 
 
 " Nine hundred and forty guineas for the hunters, and 
 one hundred and forty-five for the hacks," said Mr. Smith- 
 son — " cheap as dirt ; why, the two mares and Beppo are 
 worth six hundred. Mr. Welland is actually giving them 
 away ; but, poor man ! in his present state, he scarcely 
 knows what he's about." 
 
 After delivering himself of this speech, Mr. Smithson 
 gave what is called " the office " to his friend Mr. Limbert^ 
 and they both retired, leaving our triumvirate to decide the 
 important affair among ourselves. 
 
 " What's to be done ?"' exclaimed Harry Melton. 
 
 " Take care that we are not," responded the soi-disant 
 sharp Charley Combermere. 
 
 " We've no time for joking," said I ; "in less than half 
 an hour Mr. Hilliard will be back, so we must decide 
 quickly." 
 
 " Suppose," said Harry, " you and I were to buy the two 
 mares, Ballad-singer and Fortune-teller, Beppo, and Gerard 
 Dow — say, for four hundred pounds ; and the two hacks, 
 Charley and The Barber, for ninety. Combermere seems 
 sweet upon Trumpeter and Cinderella ; he ought to get the 
 two for one hundred and fifty pounds. Six hundred and 
 forty down may tempt Mr. Limbert ; as for the other five, 
 we'll propose to hire them for a fortnight, with the option 
 of buying them at the expiration of that time. Twenty 
 pounds ought to do it." 
 
 " Capital," I exclaimed. 
 
 " Let's propose to pay half down now, and the rest in a 
 fortnight," said Charley Combermere. 
 " Agreed." 
 
 At this moment the worthy couple made their re-appear- 
 ance. 
 
 " Well, gentlemen, what say you ?" inquired Mr. Lim- 
 bert ; " Mr. Hilliard has just driven into the yard." 
 
172 "CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 Harry Melton then proceeded to lay our offers before the 
 parties — six hundred and forty pounds for the eight horses, 
 and twenty pounds for the hire of the remaining five for a 
 fortnight ; thirty pounds to be paid down, three hundred in 
 a week, and the rest at the expiration of the fortnight, with 
 the option of purchasing any or all of the hired lot at the 
 prices marked, pounds instead of guineas.'" 
 
 " Quite impossible," said Mr, Limbert. 
 
 " Entirely out of the question," remarked Mr. Smith- 
 son. 
 
 We remained silent ; and, although not very much up 
 to the tricks about town, had sufficient tact to put on 
 our hats, and take our leave of the horse- dealing frater- 
 nity. We had actually proceeded fifty yards, without even 
 casting a fingering look behind, when the well-known voice 
 of the fat dealer was heard hailing us. 
 
 " Holloa, young gentlemen. Limbert has been too hard 
 with you," said Mr. Hilliard, as he pulled up his horse : 
 " if you will step back with me to the yard, I hope I shall 
 be able to bring you together." 
 
 We were delighted ; for great had been our disappoint- 
 ment when the offer was rejected. On returning to the 
 yard, the silence was broken by Mr. Hilliard, who said 
 that his man had brought him a note from the young 
 Oxonians, saying that they had been well suited at Milton's ; 
 and that so anxious was he, the dealer, to see us in War- 
 wickshire, that he would do his best to bring matters 
 about — 
 
 " Make it guineas, and I have no doubt that Limbert 
 will agree." 
 
 We, the purchasers, were silent ; feefing that we 
 should get the stud at our first offer. A horse-dealer who 
 hesitates realizes the old saying applied to the fair sex, 
 " Whoever deliberates is lost ;" and such was the case in the 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." l73 
 
 present instance, for Mr. Snnithson now " took up the 
 running," and said — 
 
 " I know master's so anxious to get the horses into good 
 hands, that he won't stick at a trifle. Come, Limhert, I'll 
 take all the blame upon myself — you must let the young 
 gentlemen have the lot at their own price." 
 
 " Well, it goes against the grain to do an unkind thing ; 
 I love to encourage young sportsmen. Step into the 
 counting-house, and I'll draw up the agreement," responded 
 Mr. Limhert, leading the way to the small den before 
 alluded to. " Bill, just step out for a stamp receipt for 
 three hundred and thirty pounds." 
 
 We then proceeded to give checks for three hundred 
 pounds, payable one week after date, and thirty pounds in 
 cash ; received an acknowledgment, and an agreement 
 drawn up agreeable to our first offer. We then rewarded 
 Bill with half a guinea, thanked Mr. Hilliard, and made 
 the best of our way to Whippy's, to order saddles, bridles, 
 and clothing, and finally to Tattersall's, where we heard of 
 a couple of grooms, whom we engaged, and, giving them 
 orders to procure sufficient helpers, ordered them to start 
 the first thing in the morning with our stud towards Lea- 
 mington. 
 
 In those days steam and railroads were not in exist- 
 ence ; and instead of being able to whisk their cattle off 
 in a box, as at the present time, at the rate of thirty or 
 forty miles an hour, we were compelled to let them walk 
 their journey at easy stages. Our day passed off agreeably; 
 in the afternoon we visited the stables, found that the farrier 
 had put Carlo Dolci's shoe on again, having pronounced 
 him sound, and were all delighted with our bargain. Nothing 
 occurred the next day ; but the following morning brought 
 us a letter, which astonished us not a little. It was dated 
 St. Alban's, and ran as follows : — 
 
174 "CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 " White Hart, St. Albans, December 21, 1820. 
 " Honoured Sir,- — 
 " Agreeable to your orders, we proceeded at daylight yesterday 
 morning to Mr. Limbert's stables, with the clothing and saddles lent 
 us until yours are finished, and started for Dunstable. I rode the 
 brown mare, and Jem the thorough-bred horse ; I led Carlo Dolci, 
 and Jem Cinderella. We had not got more than half way to St. 
 Alban's, when Carlo Dolci fell, and cut himself dreadfully ; and Cinde- 
 rella coughed so much, that we were fearful her wind was touched. 
 When we reached St. Albans, I sent for Mr. Arber, the veterinary 
 surgeon, and he has pronounced the whole lot to be regular screws. 
 He fears you have been sadly done by a gang of chaunters. I have 
 enclosed his certificate, and shall wait there for further orders. If so 
 be I might be so bold, I take the liberty of recommending that you 
 should lose no time in coming down here. 
 
 " Your obedient servant to command, 
 
 " Robert Freeman. 
 " To Harry Melton, Esq., Cornet, — th Light Dragoons, Gloucester 
 Coffee House, Piccadilly, London" 
 
 Harry Melton and myself were busily engaged when 
 the above letter was placed in our hands. We were 
 ordering and trying on our hunting gear. Before a large 
 looking-glass, that wonderful man of measures, the late 
 Baron Stulz, was fitting on a red hunting-coat ; while Mr. 
 Elphick, of Jermyn-street, was measuring me for a pair of 
 white cords. Near the door stood Paget O'Shaunessy, the 
 first boot-maker of the day, with two pair of the neatest 
 top-boots imaginable in his hands ; and close to him was a 
 man from Vincent's, and another from Crowther's, with 
 hunting-spurs and whips. I had opened and read the 
 letter, which I immediately handed over to my friend. 
 
 *' That will do," I exclaimed hastily to the surprise of the 
 respectable " unmentionable" maker, who had not half 
 finished his measures. 
 
 " All right," said Harry Melton to the baron ; " it fits 
 beautifully." 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 175 
 
 And in his hurry to doff the pink, nearly carried away 
 the two sleeves. 
 
 " Leave the boots, and call to-morrow ; and the spurs, and 
 the whips. We've a letter that requires our leaving Lon- 
 don immediately ; there, that's right." 
 
 Helping the gaping and astounded tradesmen in packing 
 up their articles of dress, we politely hurried them out of 
 our presence. 
 
 " Ring the bell," Harry exclaimed. 
 
 In my excitement I pulled down the bell-rope. The 
 waiter made his appearance. 
 
 " Please to take breakfast, gentlemen ?" 
 
 " No, not yet; fly, and ask if there is a coach to St. Alban's. 
 
 The waiter vanished, but shortly re-appeared. 
 
 " None, sir, until the mail." 
 
 " Order out a chaise for St. Albans." 
 
 " Chaise and pair, gentlemen ?" 
 
 " Chaise and four — no time's to be lost. Now bring 
 breakfast ; and let us know when the carriage is at the door.'' 
 
 In a few seconds the hissing urn was on the table ; we 
 scalded our throats with hot tea, nearly choked ourselves 
 with hard muffins, bolted a slice or two of cold beef, 
 and, enveloping ourselves in box coats, hurried into the 
 chaise ; the " boots" having heard us say that we should 
 pay according to the pace we went, held up ten fingers, 
 thus intimating a reward of ten shillings, and away we 
 whirled with four of Cripps's best horses. 
 
 We reached St. Alban's, and found the head groom and 
 veterinary surgeon in the stables. In our haste we had 
 omitted to look over the latter gentleman's report, which we 
 had accidentally left in London ; but a few words sufficed to 
 show us that we had been regularly done by an organised 
 gang of horse-chaunters. 
 
 The following account, written by Charley Combermere 
 
176 " CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 to a friend at Littlewick Green, gives a tolerably vivid 
 sketch of the animals. After pointing out how we had been 
 taken in, he adds : — 
 
 " Gerard Dow — who ought to have been called Gerard 
 Doo — was a regular cripple — not a leg to stand on. 
 
 Carlo Dolci — ditto. 
 
 WouvERMANS was also dead lame ; he had undergone 
 the operation of being burned, that he might go equally 
 lame on both legs, and which passed for an awkward gait. 
 
 Mountebank — who was well named, for he was a de- 
 cided tumbler — was blind with one eye, and could scarcely 
 see out of the other. 
 
 Danae was not worth the smallest particle of the gold 
 that Jupiter showered at her feet. 
 
 The Barber was glandered. 
 
 Trumpeter was broken winded. 
 
 Fortune-Teller was a deceitful jade. 
 
 Cinderella looked as if she had been all night at the 
 Prince's ball — in a hackney coach. 
 
 Jack-the-Painter had, like his namesake, been addicted 
 to fire, his fore-legs having been completely scored all over. 
 
 Beppo was foundered. 
 
 Charley looked like a regular ' Charley,' old and done 
 up." 
 
 Our next proceeding was to hasten back to London, 
 taking the veterinary surgeon and the groom on the bar of 
 the yellow bounder. Upon reaching London, we imme- 
 diately proceeded to Mr. Limbert's stables which were shut 
 up, nor could we receive any information where that respect- 
 able gentleman had taken up his domicile. Here we should 
 have remained "at fault," had not the worthy "vet." put 
 us on the right scent. 
 
 " Those fellows," said he, " have stables at the back of 
 
"CHAUNTING FOR THE MILLION." 177 
 
 Tottenham Court-road ; I know the spot, though I forget 
 the name of the mews." 
 
 We lost no time in going there, and in the bar of a 
 neighbouring public-house found our worthy three friends 
 sitting and enjoying their pipes. The veterinary surgeon 
 opened our case by at once coming to the point — that we 
 had been swindled ; and declared that if the cheques were 
 not returned forthwith, we should apply for a magistrate's 
 warrant, and, what seemed to produce more effect, stop the 
 payment of them. After a great deal of blustering ft-om the 
 gang, we at length brought matters to a tolerably good 
 conclusion, by receiving back the cheques we had given, 
 with a promise that the remaining thirty pounds should be 
 refunded : as a matter of course, we never touched the 
 latter sum. The " screws" v^ere delivered up to Mr. Limbert, 
 and in their place we hired a stud from Tilbury. We re- 
 warded the " vet." handsomely, who informed us that Messrs. 
 Limbert and Smithson constituted the firm. The former 
 had travelled up with us from Maidenhead, and, ascertaining 
 that we were in want of some hunters, he immediately com- 
 municated the same to his colleague, Smithson. Hilliard, 
 alias Jem Snitch, who was a " putter up" of west-end 
 robberies — a trade in which he was ably supported by one 
 Harry Paddington — was always called upon with his con- 
 federate to ass'st in every horse case ; the one to assume the 
 form of a country dealer, and the other to act the coachman 
 out of place. Let our young readers take a lesson from 
 this tale of horse-deahng, and let them ever bear in mind 
 that the system of 1820 is still being carried on in 1857; 
 indeed, at no period did " Chaunting for the Million" 
 flourish more than it does at the present time. 
 
SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON, 
 
 Hunting — Shooting — Pigeon Shooting — Tennis — Steeple- chasing — 
 Fishing — Boating — Cricket — Larking at the Hippodrome 
 Hunting Grounds. 
 
 Some one used to say that the shortest way to every 
 place was through the metropolis ; and that more amuse- 
 ment and sport could be had from it than from any other 
 spot in the whole world. Now, certainly, if that argument 
 held good some five-and-thirty years ago, with what ad- 
 ditional force does it now come into operation, since the 
 introduction of steam power by land and water! With 
 this conviction, then, upon our minds, we are about to lay 
 before our readers the " sporting life " that may be had from 
 London ; and if our delineation is less graphic than that 
 of '•' Life in London," so admirably pourtrayed by Egan 
 and the writers of the weekly publication of that name ; 
 if our arguments are less logical, and our columns not 
 quite of the Corinthian order, we still hope to throw out a 
 few " wrinkles " for the consideration of those whose tastes 
 or avocations induce them to pass the best of the year in 
 this modern Babylon, and who fully bear out the Anacre- 
 ontic Captain Morris in his sentiments of town and country 
 life; 
 
 " In town let me live,'then ; in town let me die ; 
 For in truth I can't relish the country — not I. 
 If one must have a villa in summer to dwell. 
 Oh, give me the sweet shady side of Pall Mall." 
 
SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 179 
 
 But to our sports. We will commence with the winter. 
 Act the first, scene the first, must introduce our hero to the 
 reader. A first-floor in St. James's Street, or Pall Mall — 
 the Honourable Wentworth Mordaunt, a young man about 
 town — James Matchem, commonly called " Jem," his head 
 groom. Time, 1 2 o'clock at noon. Period, November 1 st, 
 1856. Curtain rises, and discovers Mr. Mordaunt at his 
 breakfast. The table, as the fashionable papers describe it, 
 furnished with all the delicacies of a matitutinal repast ; 
 tea, coffee, deviled kidneys, grilled bones, cold pies, fish, 
 curacoa. A rap at the door is heard. 
 
 " Come in," says the Honourable Wentworth, putting 
 down his newspaper. 
 
 Enter Jem. 
 
 " Well, Jem ; I shall hunt on Monday. The Queen's 
 hounds meet at Slough. You can start by the 9 o'clock 
 train- How are the horses ?" 
 
 " Quite well, sir." 
 
 " Take on Robin Hood for Monday ; Swing will be 
 ready for the Baron's hounds, in the Vale, on Thursday ; 
 and Eoline will be just the thing for the Oakley, on Friday. 
 Potsheen can have a week's rest, as he has not quite re- 
 covered that last day with Mr. Drake's." 
 
 This slight dialogue will shew our readers that with four 
 horses a man may hunt twice a-week, from London, with 
 two packs of fox-hounds, and twice with two packs of stag- 
 hounds — her Majesty's and Baron Rothschild's. Indeed, he 
 may, if he has a proportionate stud, hunt daily from London. 
 Tring, which is arrived at by the Birmingham rail in an 
 hour, is within five miles of Mentmore, and is the very 
 centre of Baron Rothschild's, the Oakley, Messrs. Lowndes's 
 and Drake's countries. Slough, which you reach in five- 
 and-thirty minutes, takes you within distance of the Queen's 
 and Sir John Cope's hounds ; Northampton, to some of 
 
 N 2 
 
180 SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 
 
 the meets of the Pytchley ; and Leamington, to those of 
 the Warwickshire ; in short, whatever may be said or 
 written against the rail, there can be no doubt that for 
 cockney sportsmen it is the greatest boon imaginable. A 
 Londoner may breakfast in the metropolis, hunt in Bedford- 
 shire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, 
 or Warwickshire ; see a deer run into, or a fox killed ; be 
 back in London for an eight-o'clock dinner at the Clarendon 
 Hotel, White's, or Arthur's ; and get in time for the panto- 
 mime at Drury Lane. I remember well the time, some 
 thirty years ago, when, to hunt with the royal stag-hounds 
 within five-and-twenty miles of London, it was necessary to 
 send your hunter on over-night, to start yourself at eight 
 o'clock, to post that distance, and perhaps not to get back 
 to your town residence until nine o'clock at night. 
 
 I happen to have a memorandum of the expense of one 
 of these hunting trips of 1820, which, if compared with 
 that of 1857, would give a considerable balance in favour 
 of the latter : — 
 
 1820. £ s. d. 
 Expenses of horse to Botham's, Salt Hill, and back to 
 
 London, including ostler, turnpikes, keep, &c.. ....... 8 
 
 Expenses of groom to ditto 5 
 
 Chaise to Salt Hill and back to London, gates, and boys 4 
 
 4 13 
 
 1857. £ s. d. 
 
 Horse and man to Salt Hill and back, per rail to Slough 1 1 
 Fare to Slough and back, by rail, including omnibus ... 050 
 
 1 6 
 This, carried on twice a week during the hunting season, 
 
 would make a balance of sixty-seven pounds in favour of 
 
 modern conveyance. 
 
 Another advantage in hunting from London is, that you 
 
 may at all times hire a first-rate hunter by the day. There are 
 
SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 181 
 
 many highly respectable men to apply to for such purpose : 
 their horses are always in the highest condition, and the 
 bridles and saddles such as no gentleman need be ashamed 
 of. The grooms, too, furnished by these " purveyors of 
 horse-flesh," as the fashionable tradesmen now describe 
 themselves, are steady, sober, well-conducted men, who will 
 take their master's horse quietly to the cover side, and who 
 will not follow the advice given by that celebrated specimen 
 of the fraternity in " High Life below Stairs," to his fellow 
 servant, as a hint to grooms : 
 
 " Never allow your master able 
 To judge of matters in the stable. 
 If he should roughly speak his mind, 
 Or to dismiss you seems inclined. 
 Lame the best horse, or break his wind." 
 
 The advice to coachmen, from the same authority, is not 
 less piquant : — 
 
 " If your good master on you doats. 
 
 Ne'er leave his house to serve a stranger ; 
 But pocket hay, and straw, and oats. 
 And let the horses eat the manger." 
 
 I think I have now said enough to prove that the lovers 
 of the " noble science " may indulge in it to their hearts' 
 content, from London. 
 
 I now turn to another sport — shooting: and, by the 
 assistance of the rail, a man may reach his friends' covers 
 within fifty or sixty miles of the metropolis in ample time 
 to have a day's sport, and return by seven o'clock to dinner. 
 If money is no object, a London man can rent some manor 
 within distance of town, and carry on his amusement with 
 nearly as much facihty as if he hved on the spot, and with 
 a few additional advantages — namely, that in rainy weather 
 he has the town instead of the country to dwell in, and 
 
182 SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 
 
 that he has clubs, exhibitions, theatres, concerts, dinners 
 and bails to while away the spare time, instead of a strolj 
 through a dripping wood, a ramble across the ploughed 
 lands, ankle deep in mud, or a lounge in the miry farm- 
 yard. In shooting from London, your dogs and guns are 
 left with your keeper ; and all you have to provide yourself 
 ■with, is a change of dress and linen, and a hamper of pro- 
 visions for lunch. If you adopt, too, the prevalent fashion, 
 and turn dealer in game, you may bring back with you the 
 produce of your day's bag, and find a ready sale for it at 
 the great London mart. A well-stocked manor, rented at 
 moderate terms, without the expense of keeping up a house 
 or farm, would bring in a very fair return to the tenant, 
 independent of the gratification of amusing himself and his 
 friends during the winter months. 
 
 No sooner does the merry month of May set in than 
 there is another sort of shooting available to the 
 " man about town." I allude to pigeon-shooting : and 
 although, except for the excitement of gambling, it is a 
 tame amusement compared with that of the field, still it 
 furnishes excellent practice to the novice, and enables the 
 more experienced " gunner" to keep his hand in. Spar- 
 row-shooting, too, which is ever to be had from the trap 
 near London, is equally advantageous ; and, to make it more 
 difficult, a set of six traps should be procured, two of 
 which should contain a pigeon or a sparrow each. As it 
 is uncertain which trap will be pulled, it gives a man 
 the knack of keeping his eyes about him, and making 
 him a quick shot. A day, then, at Hornsey Wood, 
 The Rosemary, or at some other of the suburban 
 pigeon battues, will furnish excellent diversion for the 
 lover of the trigger, who makes the metropolis his 
 head- quarters. But as this amusement is of an old date, 
 we must digress, to lay before our readers some of our 
 
SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 183 
 
 antiquarian researches upon the subject. According to 
 Homer, we find that pigeon or dove-shooting was one 
 of the sports of the ancients, for we read the following 
 lines in the twenty-third book of the Iliad, describing 
 the funeral games instituted by Achilles, upon the death 
 of his friend Patroclus, and which consisted of the chariot 
 race, the fight of the Coestus, wrestling, the foot race, 
 single combat, throwing the discus, shooting with arrows, 
 and darting the javehn. 
 
 " Those who in skilful archery contend 
 He next invites, the twanging bow to bend : 
 The mast which late a first-rate galley bore. 
 The hero fixes in the sandy shore : 
 To the tall top a milk-white dove they tie — 
 The trembling mark at which their arrows fly." 
 
 The poet then proceeds to describe how " skilful Teucer" 
 cuts, with his arrow, the cord that tied the bird to the 
 main-mast, and how " experienced Merion" 
 
 " Directs the shaft above, 
 And following with his eye the soaring dove, 
 Implores the gods to speed it through the skies. 
 With vows of firstling lambs, and grateful sacrifice. 
 The dove, in airy circles as she wheels, 
 Amid the clouds the piercing arrow feels. 
 Quite thro' and thro' the point its passage found, 
 And at his feet fell, bloody, to the ground." 
 
 Return we to the modern sport. Pigeon shooting 
 generally commences early in May ; but, like many other 
 sports, is rather on the wane. We can well remember the 
 time, some twenty-five years ago, when the late Lords Litch- 
 field and Bury, Lord Ranelagh, the Honourable George 
 Anson, Captains Ross and Bentinck, with Messrs. Biddulph, 
 Osbaldeston, Gillmore, Shoobridge, McDonogh, Anderson, 
 Philipson, &c., were the principal performers. Gold cups 
 and sweepstakes of 300 sovereigns were then contended 
 
184 SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 
 
 for. Without wishing to be invidious, we cannot help 
 selecting a few feats that came under our own observation. 
 In 1829, Captain Ross won the Annual Gold Cup, killing 
 sixty-five birds out of eighty, at four days' shooting ; twenty 
 birds each day, at twenty-five yards, with five traps. Mr. 
 Osbaldeston killed fifty-eight ; Captain Bentinck, fifty-six ; 
 Mr. Anderson, forty- six ; and Lord Ranelagh, forty-one. 
 
 In the same year Captain Ross won two handicap 
 matches, a sweepstakes of fifty double shots, twenty-five 
 each day, twenty yards, five traps, by killing fifty-seven 
 birds ; two matches and a sweepstakes of 300 sovereigns. 
 
 Lord Macdonald's shooting is too well known to require 
 any faint eulogium of ours, as is the " Squire's ;" and 
 the late Lord Litchfield and his brother, the Hon- 
 George Anson, were among the first of " Gunners," whether 
 after wild game or "blue rocks" at Battersea. The 
 same remark may be made with equal justice to the 
 above-mentioned " Lords and Commons," many of whom 
 are still flourishing, and equally successful in the field as 
 in the times we write of. 
 
 Some extraordinary instances of pigeon-shooting are to 
 be found in sporting records. It is stated that a Mr* 
 Elliot, of Rudgwick, in the county of Sussex, undertook 
 to kill fifty-five pigeons in fifty shots ; and notwithstanding 
 the high state of the wind, he killed forty-five. He never 
 missed a bird ; but, owing to the boisterous state of the 
 weather, his shot scattered. He was only aEowed one 
 gun, the touch-hole of which was fairly melted. A game- 
 keeper of Sir Harry Mildmay's shot six pigeons out of 
 ten, with a single bullet. He afterwards hit a cricket-ball, 
 with common shot, twelve times successively, though 
 bowled by one of the quickest bowlers in the Hambledon 
 Club. But it would fill pages to give all the feats of the 
 trigger; and we must therefore refer our readers to the 
 
SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 185 
 
 records of former days. Suffice it to say that at no period 
 has shooting been carried to such perfection as it has been 
 in our own times ; we allude to the last thirty years. 
 
 In a number of the Sporting Magazine we read of Sir 
 William Massey Stanley's " doings" in the Highlands, and 
 the returns of "killed" during the last season,* from 
 Scotland, beat any that have hitherto been made. The 
 Sikhs in the East, and the grouse in the North, had 
 awful havoc made among them in the shooting seasons of 
 1845 and 1846. In addition, we find on record that 
 Lord Elcho killed one hundred brace of grouse in one 
 day, upon his moors in Scotland, and that Sir Richard 
 Sutton, upon his Yorkshire moors, bagged one hundred 
 brace in two days' shooting, from his pony. Of mounted 
 sportsmen there are few, if any, who can compete with the 
 late Marquis of Anglesey, who was one of the quickest and 
 the cleanest shots we ever saw ; and when we consider 
 the disadvantage his lordship laboured under in the loss of 
 his leg, it was quite w^onderful to witness his prowess in 
 the field. It signified little to the gallant warrior, whether 
 the game rose in the front, in the rear, to the right, or 
 the left, the well-poised Manton was in a second in its 
 proper direction, and the chances were twenty to one that 
 the pulling the trigger was the death-warrant to the bird. 
 His lordship, who was an excellent horseman, both as to 
 hand and seat, had some well-broke ponies, who carried 
 the noble marquis safely over Cannock Chase, or through 
 the woods that skirt his ancestral domain of Beaudesert. 
 Honour to the memory of the noble Paget ! 
 
 While upon the subject of pigeon-shooting, I will lay 
 
 before my readers an extraordinary pigeon-match that took 
 
 place in 1830. Upon the 10th of July of that year, two 
 
 persons arrived in London from Antwerp, with one hundred 
 
 * Written in 1846. 
 
186 SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 
 
 and ten pigeons, to be thrown off here, for the purpose of 
 ascertaining whether they would find their way back ; and 
 if so, in what time they would perform the journey. The 
 birds belonged to the Cansdel Tavern Club, Antwerp ; and 
 eighteen prizes were to be competed for in this flight: 
 — the first a gold medal of considerable value, and the 
 others sums of money. Upon the day fixed for their de- 
 parture, the weather was too hazy ; but on the following 
 morning, at a quarter before nine o'clock, the sun broke 
 out ; and it was at once arranged to proceed with the trial. 
 The pigeons were contained in eight inclosures, constructed 
 of wire and canvas, and capable of admitting a sufficiency 
 of air to the birds ; and on the top of each was a trap- 
 door of tin. The baskets were all placed side by side, and 
 after the means of opening the traps were so adjusted as to 
 be opened simultaneously, at a given signal the doors were 
 all hfted up, and out rushed the pigeons at the same time. 
 They rose in a flock, and never hovered in the least, but 
 bent their way straight (bending straight sounds Irish, but 
 I cannot pause in my flight of truth — not fancy — to correct 
 it), in the direction they were most hkely to reach home. 
 
 They were all of a cross breed unknown to the English 
 fanciers, having traces of the carrier, tumbler, and dragon 
 pigeon, but all having one distinguished peculiarity in what 
 is designated the " pearl eye." The men set ofl" shortly after, 
 for Dover, with a proper certificate of the hour of departure. 
 A letter from Brussels, dated July 23rd, says — " The 
 pigeons, one hundred and ten in number, despatched in 
 London, with a strong breeze from the west-south-west, have 
 arrived at Antwerp ; the first one gaining the gold medal, 
 in five hours and a half ; the second, thirty seconds later. 
 Six arrived five minutes after the winner ; and all the prizes, 
 eighteen in number, were gained within eight hours and a 
 quarter from the time the birds left London." Twenty-six 
 
SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 187 
 
 birds reached home within twenty hours. Of the rest, who 
 were " no where," we have no account upon record. We 
 have now, at some length, digressed from our immediate 
 subject, which was to introduce pigeon-shooting as an agree- 
 able recreation from London ; and certainly, faute de mieux, 
 it is a very good way of passing a morning during the 
 Spring season. 
 
 ' Tennis, although rather an expensive amusement, may be 
 ranked as one which the constant sojourner in the metro- 
 polis can always (with a full purse) have in perfection. The 
 Tennis Court, near the Haymarket, and the newly erected 
 one at Lord's Cricket Ground, are, we believe, the only ones 
 now kept up ; and they are admirably superintended, and 
 worthy the patronage of the public. 
 
 From tennis we pass to steeple- chasing ; and here the 
 metropolitan can easily enjoy this sport (if sport, from the 
 way it has been carried on, it can be called), from London. 
 Coventry, Northampton, Leamington, and Windsor, being 
 all within, distance by rail ; and a man may breakfast and 
 dine in *' the village," having plenty of time between his 
 meals to drop or pocket a hundred or two, as the case may 
 be. We frankly own that steeple-chasing is not a favourite 
 amusement of ours. More valuable horses are annually 
 sacrificed to this sport (!) than in three times that period in 
 the hunting-field. However, as we write for the million, 
 we cannot refrain from giving a notice of it, under protest, 
 that we highly disapprove of a system which encourages 
 gambling, which sacrifices the noble animal, the horse, and 
 which leads to a great deal of foul play and trickery, by 
 which the real sportsman has not the ghost of a chance 
 left him. The Parisian steeple- chases, although admirably 
 conducted and contested for, make us blush for our country- 
 men, who, upon the principle of " doing at Rome as the 
 Romans do," desecrate the Sabbath upon these occasions. 
 
188 SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 
 
 Were the principal Englishmen to represent to the authori- 
 ties that their religion dictated to them a proper observance 
 of this day, the scandal that has been attached to this breach 
 of it would have been averted. 
 
 In referring to the sporting literature of the last century, 
 we find that a steeple-chase took place, probably the first, 
 on the 16th of January, 1792. The account is as fol- 
 lows : — " A match was run for a thousand guineas, in the 
 county of Leicester, from Melton Mowbray, and across the 
 country to Dolby Woods, being a distance of ten miles, by 
 a horse, the property of Mr. Hardy, got by the Rutland 
 Arabian, and rode by Mr. Loraine Smith's butler, against 
 the best hunter the Honourable Mr. Willoughby could 
 procure, rode by his whipper-in, which was won by the 
 former, by a distance of nearly two miles. At starting, the 
 odds were 3 to 2 in favour of Mr. Hardy, whose horse 
 went over the country in great style. The intrepidity of the 
 riders was astonishing ; but the advantage of superior skill 
 and excellent horsemanship was evidently in favour of Mr. 
 Hardy, whose rider showed much knowledge of hunting by 
 his manner of choosing his leaps, many of which were well 
 performed." 
 
 Steeple-chasing does not seem to have made a great 
 progress, for in 1804 we find the following account in a 
 sporting work : — 
 
 " Curious Horse-Race. — A wager betwixt Captains Prescott and 
 Tucker, of the 5th Light Dragoons, was determined on Friday, the 
 20th January, by a single horse-race, which we learn is denominated 
 steeple -hunting. The race was run from Chapel Houses, on the West 
 Turnpike, to the Cow-gate, Newcastle ; a distance of about three miles 
 in a direct line across the country, which Captain Tucker gained by 
 nearly a quarter of a mile. The mode of running such races is not to 
 deviate more than fifteen yards from the direct line to the object in 
 view, notwithstanding any impediments the riders may meet with, 
 such as hedges and ditches. The leading horse has the choice of road 
 
SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 189 
 
 to the extent of the hmits, and the other cannot go over the same 
 ground ; but, still preserving those limits, must choose another road 
 for himself." 
 
 In the following year the newspapers of that day teemed 
 with the following report. It will be seen by he account 
 that the present rules for steeple- chasing did not then exist ; 
 for one of the riders gets an awkward fall in going through 
 a hand-gate. — 
 
 "Extraordinary Steeple-Race. — On the last Wednesday in 
 November came on for decision a match which had excited much in- 
 terest in the sporting world, and which, amongst that community, is 
 denominated a steeple-race, the parties undertaking to surmount all 
 obstructions, and to pursue in their progress as straight a hne as pos- 
 sible. The contest lay between Mr. Bullivant, of Sproxton ; Mr. Day, 
 of Wymonham ; and Mr. Frisby of Waltham ; and was for a sweep- 
 stakes of 100 guineas staked each. They started from Womack's 
 Lodge, at half-past 3 o'clock, to run round Wodal-head and back 
 again — a distance exceeding eight miles. They continued nearly 
 together, until they came within a mile and a half of the goal, when 
 Mr. Bullivant, on his well-known horse Sentinel, took the lead, and 
 appearances promised a fine race between him and Mr. Day ; but 
 unfortunately, in passing through a hand-gate, Mr. Day's horse's 
 shoulder came in full contact with the gate-post. The rider was thrown 
 with great violence, and, as well as the horse, was much hurt. Never- 
 theless, Mr. Day remounted in an instant, and continued his course. 
 Mr. Bullivant, however, during the interruption, made such progress as 
 to enable him to win the race easily. The contest for second place 
 was extremely severe between Mr. Day and Mr. Frisby : the last 
 half-mile was run neck and neck, Mr. Day beating his opponent by 
 half a neck. The race was performed in 25 minutes, 32 seconds." 
 
 In 1810, we find the following notice in a sporting 
 work of that year: — 
 
 " The amateurs of hreah-neck amusements will to-morrow be grati- 
 fied with a race not very common in the annals of sporting. Two 
 gentlemen, of riding celebrity, are matched to run their horses over 
 four miles of cross -<:ou7itry ground, chosen by judges especially ap- 
 
190 SPORTING LIFE FROM LONDON. 
 
 pointed, who, it seems, in marking the devious course, had no regard 
 to whatever obstructions arising either from gate, hedge, or ditch ; 
 so that the most undaunted ^\. flying leaps will probably win the race, 
 which is for fifty pounds ; one horse carrying 15 st., and the other 
 13 St. r2 lb. The race will take place at no great distance from 
 Lewes." 
 
 We have no authentic record of this steeple-chase, but 
 have no doubt but that it was between two officers of the 
 1 0th Hussars, then quartered at Brighton, and who kept 
 the game up pretty well in those days. In the hunting-field, 
 on the turf, on the road, there were few more sporting 
 characters than the " elegant extracts," (as they were after- 
 wards called), upon their being removed from the Prince of 
 Wales's own corps. 
 
A YARN UPON YACHTING. 
 
 "Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, 
 While, proudly riding o'er the azure realm. 
 In gallant trim, the gilded vessel goes. 
 
 Youth on the prow, and pleasure at the helm," — Gray. 
 
 -" Behold the threaden sails. 
 
 Borne with the invisible and creeping wind, 
 Draw the huge bottoms through the furrowed sea. 
 Breasting the lofty surge." — Shakspeare. 
 
 As soon as the English summer sets in — three hot days 
 and a thunder-storm, as the Ubellers of our tight little 
 island have it — the period for yachting approaches; the 
 London costume is laid up in ordinary, and duck trowsers, 
 pea jackets, pilot wrappers, Parama cloaks, and " Dread- 
 noughts," take the place of the well-cut coats of Cook, the 
 neat pantaloons of Haldane, and the fashionable silk " tile" 
 of Pretious of Piccadilly. The dog-days and nauticals 
 ought to commence together, and it is delightful to quit 
 the sweltering metropolis for " the glad waters of the dark 
 blue sea." I should, therefore, strongly recommend every 
 independent gentleman, who has time and funds at his 
 command, to purchase or hire a craft. If his object is 
 river saihng, a vessel from twenty to fiveand-twenty tons 
 will answer his purpose perfectly : if his views are suf- 
 ficiently ambitious for Cowes and the Isle of Wight sail- 
 
192 A YARN UPON YACHTING. 
 
 ing, then from thirty to fifty will best suit him. But, if 
 he is tired of living " at home at ease," and wishes to sail 
 to far distant foreign parts, then I should advise a yacht of 
 from sixty to ninety tons. Except for " wager" boats, I 
 should strongly recommend "the wooden walls of old 
 England," in preference to iron ones. 
 
 As the aquatic season commences, the prices of vessels 
 greatly increase ; the purchaser, therefore, ought to look 
 out in the autumn or winter, and he will save at least 
 a third of the cost. An advertisement of " A Yacht 
 Wanted," in BelVs Life, The Era, The Field, or Sunday 
 Times, — -we give the sporting quartette alphabetically, that 
 w^e may not be accused of favour, partiality, or affection — 
 will soon bring a packet of responses ; and the secretaries 
 of all the yacht clubs have a list of vessels in their re- 
 spective squadrons that are to be disposed of. 
 
 Independent of the above, Mr. J. T. Ceeley (late with 
 the immortal George Robins), at Garraway's, and other 
 agents at Cowes, Southampton, Portsmouth, Ramsgate, 
 Dover, Plymouth, Weymouth, Poole, and other maritime 
 ports, will furnish every information upon the subject. 
 
 For river sailing, and an occasional coasting trip, a 
 cutter of from twenty to five-and-twenty tons — coppered 
 and well found — may be purchased from about three hun- 
 dred to four hundred and fifty pounds. Of course, the age 
 of the vessel makes every difference ; but, in the above 
 calculation, we include one of some two or three years : 
 above eight or nine, the price will be considerably di- 
 minished. The lead ballast and mahogany fittings of the 
 cabin form considerable items in the estimate we have 
 made ; and, if dispensed with, the prices may be greatly 
 lowered. 
 
 For a good, wholesome, seaworthy craft, of from thirty 
 to fifty tons, well found in every respect, and in which 
 
A YARN UPON YACHTING. 193 
 
 a man might with comfort visit Jersey, Guernsey, Havre, 
 Boulogne, Dieppe, Antwerp, Cherbourg, and all the 
 ports upon the English and French coast. I should say 
 that from £14 to £16 per ton would cover the purchase 
 money. This scale will be equally applicable to a yacht of 
 from sixty to ninety tons, in which a cruise to the Medi- 
 terranean can be easily accomplished. With regard to men, 
 the wages vary from a guinea to five-and-twenty shillings 
 a week ; and the skipper of any tolerable- sized craft re- 
 ceives a hundred guineas a-year. Under fifty tons, thirty 
 shillings to two pounds a-week would be about the mark. 
 The usual complement is one man to every ten tons ; and 
 that, in a large craft, includes captain and steward. 
 
 There are always plenty of vessels for hire; from the 
 Ryde wherry, manned and provisioned, at a guinea per 
 diem, up to a cutter of sixty or seventy tons, at as many 
 pounds per month. Everything — hire, wages, and pro- 
 visions for the men — is included. Although the privileges 
 of the Royal Squadron, and other yacht clubs, are very 
 great at some foreign ports, there are ports in which the 
 harbour duties are very high : such is the case at Havre. 
 In entering Cherbourg, care must be taken to pay every 
 attention to the guard ship, by passing under her stern, or 
 a few pounds of powder will convey a pretty broad hint of 
 the neglect to the authorities ; and no one that has not 
 paid the usual compliment to the French flag will be per- 
 mitted to land. 
 
 To return to our immediate subject. By no other 
 instances of magnificence in their expenditure, and taste 
 in their sports, are foreigners of intelligence so much 
 struck, as in the profuse outlay and patriotic feeling dis- 
 played by the members of the yacht clubs ; the fit-out and 
 discipline of many of these vessels approaching to those 
 ranking in our country's service. The money actually 
 
 o 
 
194 A YARN UPON YACHTING. 
 
 laid out by the members of the yacht clubs may be 
 counted by hundreds of thousands of pounds in building, 
 fitting, wages, and victualling. Ship-building, too, has 
 greatly improved by the patronage of the clubs, which 
 employ upwards of four thousand of the smartest seamen 
 to be seen in the world, and who, at a moment's notice, 
 should their services be required, would be ready to man 
 our fleet, and protect our native land from the assaults of 
 foreign foes. In every point of view, then, yachting ought 
 to be encouraged, not only as an amusement, but as a 
 national protection to our sea-girt island. While upon 
 this subject, we cannot do better than quote from an 
 admirable authority, Mr. Knight, the zealous secretary of 
 the Royal Southern Yacht Club, the following statistics 
 of the present force of the yacht squadron — (doubtless 
 they will be considerably increased) : — 
 
 No. of No. of No. of No. of 
 
 Yachts. Tons. Men. Guns. 
 
 Royal Yacht Squadron 102 9,000 1,600 400 
 
 Royal Thames Yacht Club .... 146 4,400 540 220 
 
 Royal Western Yacht Club .... 74 3,000 400 260 
 
 Royal Southern Yacht Club .... 67 2,800 350 230 
 
 Royal Victoria Yacht Club 38 3,200 420 250 
 
 Royal Harwich Yacht Club 38 900 120 40 
 
 Royal Cork Yacht Club 42 1,650 250 120 
 
 Royal Mersey Yacht Club 45 1.470 240 110 
 
 Royal Northern Yacht Club ... 40 1,450 230 110 
 
 Royal Eastern Yacht Club .... — — — — 
 
 Royal Kingston Yacht Club .. 29 1,380 230 70 
 
 621 29,250 4,380 1,810 
 Deduct about one-sixth for the same 
 yachts belonging to the different 
 clubs,youwillhave a grand total of 530 25,000 3,900 1,500 
 
 In the Royal Yacht Squadron, and Victoria Yacht Club, 
 the guns are brass metal, varying from two to nine 
 
A YARN UPON YACHTING. 195 
 
 pounders ; the Thames and Cork Yacht Clubs froai one- 
 and-a-half to six pounders ; and the remaining clubs,, from 
 one to six pounders. 
 
 The seamen are exclusive of masters, cooks, and stewards, 
 which would give at least 800, in addition to the foregoing 
 numbers. The wages alone for the masters and seamen 
 exceed £1*20,000 per annum; and the intrinsic value of 
 the yachts, with their armament complete, is more than 
 three-quarters of a million of money. All yachts (besides 
 their broadside guns) are provided with small arms of 
 every description ; and the crews, in most cases, are in- 
 structed in the use of them. 
 
 At the present time there are upwards of fifty yachts of 
 large tonnage in frame, at the several building-yards of 
 White, Ratsey, and Hanson, of Cowes ; Wanhill of Poole j 
 Inman, of Lymington ; Moore, of Plymouth ; besides the 
 yards at London, Gravesend, Clyde, Kingston, Cork, and 
 other private ones in the kingdom of Great Britain ; so 
 that, in the summer of 1857, six hundred sail of yachts 
 may be calculated to be in commission. 
 
 The Royal Yacht Squadron claims our first notice, not 
 only from its importance, but also from the respect we 
 bear to its noble Commodore, the Earl of Yarborough,* 
 and to one of its oldest members, the gallant Anglesey, 
 There are other names, too, which command our admira- 
 tion ; the Dukes of Beaufort and Rutland ; Lords Donegal, 
 Wilton, Conyngham, Desart, Exmouth, Ilchester, Orkney; 
 Sir Bellingham Graham ; Messrs. Milner Gibson, Maxse, 
 Saunderson, G. Bentinck, Lyon, Ackers, and Weld ; and 
 others whom we cannot, on the spur of the moment, call 
 to mind. With every requisite, then, to render the 
 squadron the most popular society in the world, we cannot 
 
 * This was written before the death of those truly popular and 
 lamented noblemen, Yarborough, Anglesey, Beaufort, and Rutland. 
 
 o2 
 
196 A YARN UPON YACHTING. 
 
 but lament that a spirit of illiberality has grown up in it 
 among some few of the members — enough, however, to 
 carry their point ; and who have, upon more than one 
 occasion, excluded some most ehgible candidates. Three 
 most distinguished individuals were blackballed a few years 
 ago, although proposed and seconded by two of the most 
 popular men in the squadron ; and we will take upon 
 ourselves to affirm, that for princely munificence, profuse 
 liberality, and true nobility, the rejected candidates could 
 not be equalled. There must, therefore, " be something 
 rotten in the state," as Marcellus says, that would keep 
 out men who would confer an honour upon the society. 
 Personally, we feel deeply indebted to the members of the 
 Royal Yacht Squadron, for their attention to us upon 
 many occasions ; but we must protest against that system 
 of spite and ill-nature which shows itself in black-balling 
 eligible candidates, from some personal pique or prejudiced 
 feeling. Should this continue, we prophesy an early 
 breaking-up of the society ; for every high-minded man 
 must regret to see the power invested in members by the 
 balloting system so greatly abused. 
 
 The Victoria Club, at Ryde, is daily increasing in 
 favour, and the committee are acting in the most liberal 
 manner with respect to the admission of members. Let 
 the Royal Squadron follow their example, and they will 
 speedily redeem their popularity. While upon the subject 
 of Cowes, we cannot refrain from mentioning a ludicrous 
 circumstance which took place upon one occasion, when the 
 Royal Yacht Squadron were about to proceed to sea for a 
 cruise, to land upon the Hampshire coast for a pic-nic. 
 The yachts, under the command of the gallant and noble 
 commodore, were to leave their moorings at a given signal, 
 and by twelve o'clock every vessel was awaiting orders. 
 The decks of each were crowded with fair ladies ; and the 
 
A YARN UPON YACHTING. 197 
 
 weather being propitious, all were anxious to take advantage 
 of it in the cruise to the Needles. Great preparation was 
 going on, especially on board the commodore's yacht, 
 when its public-spirited owner ascertained that one of his 
 passengers, the late truly-open-hearted and popular Lord 
 A F , was absent. " Make a signal to the club- 
 house, asking if his lordship is coming," exclaimed the 
 commodore. 
 
 In a few seconds the signal was made. " What is the 
 reply ?" Here a young, fashionable landsman drawled out, 
 " Oh, let me have the book ; I'll find it out." The book 
 was handed over, and the exquisite, taking out a Vienna 
 opera-glass, looked to the shore. After a considerable 
 delay in adjusting the glass and turning over the leaves of 
 the book, during which process some loose memoranda of 
 private signals were wafted overboard, the " man about 
 town" exclaimed, " I've got it." " What is it ?" asked 
 
 many who were getting tired at the delay. " Lord A 
 
 says, * No go.' " This unusual reply, repeated in a most 
 extraordinary tone, created a loud laugh, which was shortly 
 suppressed, and the captain explained that the signal- officer 
 was so far right: 3174 and 3259 had been made— the 
 former meaning no, not, nothing, and the latter, go, going, 
 gone ; but that, instead of " No, go," the reply meant 
 " Not going." The party proceeded to their cruise, and the 
 self-appointed signal-lieutenant, who had made this absurd 
 mistake, was rated not a little for his gaucherie upon the 
 occasion. 
 
 Before we quit the Royal Yacht Squadron, we 
 must place upon record their celebrated cruise to Cher- 
 bourg, some years ago, and which, at that period, created 
 the very greatest sensation upon both sides of the 
 " herring pond." We hope, during the course of next 
 season, to hear of a similar expedition ; as such in. 
 
198 A YARN UPON YACHTING. 
 
 tercourse tends greatly to keep up a friendly feeling between 
 England and France. But to our log. 
 
 About one o'clock a.m., on Sunday, the 29th August, 
 1824, the Royal Yacht Squadron, under Commodore Lord 
 Yarborough, sailed for Cherbourg, with a fine breeze. In 
 the evening, a thick fog coming on, the commodore made 
 the signal to anchor, and the squadron lay all night oif 
 Lymington. 
 
 On Monday they sailed, with light winds ; but an un- 
 usually thick fog prevented them from making the French 
 coast until the next morning, when, on the day clearing, 
 they found themselves within two miles of Cherbourg. On 
 entering that port. Lord Yarborough made the signal — 
 " Anchor as convenient." On anchoring, his lordship sent 
 ashore a list of yachts, with the information to the French 
 admiral that it was the squadron of the Royal Yacht Club, 
 wishing to visit Cherbourg, and anxious to pay their re- 
 spects to him by firing a salute. 
 
 On the return of the gentlemen, the answer from the 
 naval and military officers in command signified their ready 
 acquiescence. At half-past one o'clock the signal was 
 made from the commodore's yacht — " Prepare to salute 
 17 guns," which was returned from the fort with 15 
 guns. Lord Yarborough then landed and called on the 
 admiral, and also paid his respects to the general, the 
 town-major, and other authorities, and was received with 
 the greatest civihty. The members of the squadron spent 
 the day on shore, mixing with the French officers, and 
 receiving the greatest kindness and attention from the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 On the following day, the governor, general, and French 
 officers, waited on the commodore and members of the 
 squadron, on board their yachts, who received them with 
 all due respect and hospitality, in return for the handsome 
 
A YARN UPON YACHTING. 199 
 
 reception given them on shore. In the words of William 
 Read, it might be truly said : 
 
 " This was a day of banqueting on board ; 
 And swan-winged barks, and barges many-oared 
 Came crowded to the feast. The young — the gay — 
 The beautiful — were there. Right merrily 
 The pleasure-boats glide onward, with swift prow 
 The clear wave curling, till around each bow, 
 With frequent flash, the bright and feathery spray 
 Threw mimic rainbows at the sun in play. 
 The ship is won, the silken chair is lowered ; 
 Exulting youth and beauty bound on board ; 
 And, while they wondering gaze on sail and shroud. 
 The flag flaps o'er them like a crimson cloud. 
 Young pleasure kissed each heart." 
 
 At two o'clock a review took place on shore. After re- 
 maining at Cherbourg three days, during which time the 
 yachts were visited by all the inhabitants of the port and 
 its vicinity, who expressed great delight at the size and 
 elegance of the vessels, and the hospitable urbanity of 
 their owners, the commodore made signal to weigh, and 
 the squadron having reached the outer roadstead, another 
 signal was hoisted for Guernsey, where they arrived next 
 morning at six o'clock a.m., and remained three days. It 
 coming on to blow a gale of wind, the squadron was 
 obliged to remain at anchor, instead of weighing for 
 Jersey j and, as soon as it moderated, sailed for England. 
 
 The following yachts composed the squadron on the 
 occasion : — Falcon, commodore Lord Yarborough ; Louisa, 
 Earl of Craven ; Swallow, Duke of Norfolk ; Mary, Vis- 
 count Deerhurst ; Emma, Sir Wm. Curtis, Bart. ; Ruby, 
 Sir George Leeds, Bart. ; Frisk, Hon. Wm. Hare ; Jack 
 O'Lantern, T. A. Smith, Esq.; Sabrina, James Maxse, 
 Esq. ; Arrow, Joseph Weld, Esq. ; Admiral Cornwallis» 
 
200 A YARN UPON YACHTING. 
 
 Captain Symonds, R.N. ; Unicorn, Henry Perkins, Esq. ; 
 Giulia, C. Talbot, Esq. ; Jane, Captain Wyndham, R.N. ; 
 Erin, Thomas Allen, Esq. ; Cygnet, Joseph Reynolds^ 
 Esq. ; Nautilus, W. H. Saunders, Esq. ; Rosabelle, Fred, 
 Pare, Esq. ; Hind, Captain Herringham, R.N. 
 
 The national importance of this and other distinguished 
 yacht clubs is daily increasing; and, in addition to the 
 good effects resulting from the promotion of nautical 
 science, and the employment of so many seamen, it will 
 be obvious that a visit like the one we have recorded, pro- 
 ductive as it is of cordiality, and an interchange of courte- 
 sies between the subjects of kingdoms, now happily in a 
 state of amity, and cherishing the friendly spirit already 
 manifested by the French government, in allowing the 
 yachts of all our clubs to enter their ports free of harbour 
 dues, cannot fail to tend most beneficially to the interests 
 of both countries. Long may this feeling continue, and 
 long may the harbours of England and France be graced 
 with the presence of yachts of both nations. The meteor 
 flag of our fatherland, and the tri-coloured ensign of the 
 French, floating in amity, is a sight that must gladden the 
 heart of every one who wishes for the peace and prosperity 
 of his country. 
 
 Before we quit the Royal Yacht Squadron, we must take 
 a slight view of Cowes, which has lately risen from a small, 
 insignificant village, to a lively, bustling town of import- 
 ance. The houses and lodgings are remarkably good, and 
 we strongly recommend any of our readers, who wish to be 
 comfortably and cleanly housed, to apply to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hewett, at the Baths, in High-street, who possess ample 
 and excellent accommodation for families or single gentle- 
 men. With one or two exceptions, the hotels do not come 
 up to our ideas of perfection, which is an evil much to be 
 lamented ; and quite certain are v»'e that, if some spirited 
 
A YARN UPON YACHTING. 201 
 
 individual would start one upon the plan of the Great 
 Western; at Paddington, the Clifton, at Gravesend, and the 
 one at Folkstone, where a fair sum is charged in the bill 
 for the chambermaid, waiters, and boots, it would be re- 
 warded with success. 
 
 Although " Live and let live" is our motto, we cannot 
 help pointing out to the Vectans (for our remark applies to 
 the entire inhabitants of the Isle of "Wight — Cowes, Ryde, 
 ShankUn, and Newport) that their exorbitant demands 
 often deter people from visiting the island, and that some 
 of the land-sharks of the above-mentioned places do as much 
 mischief in their way as the celebrated sea-monster, " Billy," 
 did in his ; at least, according to the excellent yarn of that 
 Lord High Admiral of stage sailors — T. P. Cooke. One 
 instance we can record which happened to ourselves a few 
 years ago. Ordering a bottle of port wine to be opened 
 in the room, that the slip-shod waiter of the day might not 
 treat it as medicine, and shake it well before it was taken, 
 some slight demur was made, but it passed off; great was 
 our surprise, however, upon the following morning to find 
 the following item in our bill : — " Port wine, 6s. ; drawing 
 cork in room, Is. extra !" It was not for the " waluation of 
 the thing," as Liston was wont to say, but " one hates as how 
 to be composed upon," We therefore paid the bill, and ascer- 
 tained shortly afterwards, from a friend, that, according to 
 the measure of the house, two black bottles universally fur- 
 nished three decanters of sherry or port, and occasionally a 
 glass of negus. 
 
 Having recorded one instance of the fleecing alligators 
 on shore (and we could mention hundreds of others), we 
 proceed to notice the voracious propensities of the sea- 
 sharks and river-pikes — the boatmen, both of the Isle 
 of Wight and Southampton, and who make it a rule 
 never to be satisfied with the highest payment the utmost 
 
202 A YARN UPON YACHTING. 
 
 liberality can award them. We ourselves have hired a 
 small yacht, of from ten to fifteen tons, for a fortnight, at a 
 guinea per day ; and, perhaps, out of the whole time, from 
 dead calms, we have not been afloat five days. If, during 
 this period, a party wish to have the yacht to go round the 
 island, the owners grumble loudly at their bad luck in 
 losing five-and-twenty shillings for the day's job, quite for- 
 getting the fourteen guineas they are to receive for mere 
 holiday work, with scarcely any wear or tear of their vessel 
 or gear. Independent, too, of the guinea a day, the crew, 
 who are generally part owners, expect porter and provisions 
 and a complement of a couple of sovereigns at the expiration 
 of the fortnight ; and if they were civil and obliging men 
 this tax would be readily paid, but generally speaking they 
 are quite the reverse, and their whole energies are exerted 
 to screw their customers as much as possible. There are> 
 however, some few exceptions to this general rule, and we 
 may perhaps, in a future work, record their names, as also of 
 those of the grasping community, both per mare per terram. 
 
 The Royal Squadron club-house is admirably managed, 
 and, through the Hberality of its members, strangers are 
 temporarily admitted to it. By a new regulation, members 
 may introduce two friends upon the platform, where they may 
 write their letters, read the newspapers, smoke their cigars, 
 and have their glass of sherry cobbler, gin sling, negus or 
 grog. Members, too, may introduce one friend to dinner 
 in the coffee-room. The annual ball that takes place during 
 the regatta is conducted with the greatest spirit ; and, for a 
 man well known in the world, there are few places where 
 he can better enjoy good society and yachting without the 
 expense of a vessel of his own, than at Cowes and Ryde. 
 
 We must now quit the ocean for the river, and proceed 
 to notice the Royal Thames Yacht Club, which was insti- 
 tuted in August, 1823, and which has, within a few years, 
 
A YARN UPON YACHTING. 203 
 
 through the exertions of its late and present commodore, 
 raised itself to the highest pre-eminence ; and we cannot here 
 refrain from oifering our grateful acknowledgments to those 
 officers — the late WilKam Horatio Harrison, and Lord Alfred 
 Paget, for the zeal and gentlemanlike bearing that have ever 
 characterized their conduct. The Club is under the patro- 
 nage of Her most Gracious Majesty and His Royal Highness 
 Prince Albert. The officers of the club consist of Lord 
 Alfred Paget, Commodore; R. Green, Esq., Vice Commo- 
 dore ; J. Hutchons, Esq., Treasurer ; R. Cooke, Esq., Cup- 
 bearer; J. J. Ford, W. L. Hooper and F. M'Gedy, Esqs., 
 Auditors, and Capt. P. C. Stuart Grant, Secretary. The 
 Club consists of nearly four hundred and ninety members^ 
 and one hundred and seventy yachts. The privileges with 
 respect to entering and frequenting foreign ports free of all 
 government duties, are the same as those extended to the 
 Royal Yacht squadron. The club-room, in London, is in 
 St. James's Street, where a member may introduce an un- 
 limited number of friends, and where the best edibles and 
 buvables may be had at club prices. 
 
 The Royal Western Yacht Club, of which Lord Mount- 
 Edgecumbe is Commodore, and Captain Bulkely, Vice- 
 commodore, was formed in 1833, and has its club-house at 
 Millbay, Stonehouse. In respect to number of vessels, guns, 
 and weight of tonnage, it ranks next in order to the Royal 
 Squadron and the " Sons of the Thames." Nothing can 
 exceed the hospitality and friendly feeling evinced by its 
 members whenever any brother sailor goes to the "far west:" 
 not that we mean to infer that this spirit of good-fellowship 
 is confined to the club in question ; for we are proud to say 
 that whenever a commodore's pennant of any royal club is 
 hoisted, the reception of any yachtsman is equally courteous 
 and liberal. 
 
 While upon this subject, we cannot refrain from saying 
 
204 A YARN UPON YACHTING. 
 
 that a general yacht club-house in the metropolis would tend 
 greatly to the promotion of aquatic sports ; there the mem- 
 bers, meeting in social harmony, would " spin many a tough 
 yarn," " sphce the main brace," tell of their voyages, cruises, 
 and sailing matches; invitations would pass from one " blue 
 jacket" to another to visit the different waters ; and, over a 
 glass of grog and a yard of clay — or, to speak of more 
 polite things, a mild Havannah — many good fellows who 
 have the same pursuits at heart would be brought together 
 to enjoy the society of congenial spirits. 
 
 The Royal Victoria Yacht Club is now daily advancing 
 in public estimation. A grand national regatta takes place 
 annually at the head-quarters of the club, Ryde, in the 
 month of August ; and the amount of money given to be 
 sailed for is considerable. With the exception of a few 
 prizes, the whole are open to vessels belonging to any royal 
 yacht club. This liberality is highly praiseworthy, and we 
 feel assured that, ere long, the Royal Victoria Yacht Club 
 will be second to none. The club-house, the laying of the 
 first stone of which was honoured by the presence of Prince 
 Albert, is a building worthy of its members. ^ In many 
 points of view, Ryde ^is a superior marine residence to 
 Cowes; and without the Royal Squadron correct the errors 
 they have fallen into, and which we have already alluded 
 to, Ryde and its club may prove a most formidable rival. 
 
 The Southern, Northern, Eastern, Mersey, and Harwich 
 Clubs, are all thriving, as are those of the Emerald Isle — 
 the Cork and Kingston. England and Ireland can boast of 
 a fleet of yachts the wonder of the world ; and happy should 
 we be, if a suggestion that has been thrown out by Mr. 
 Knight could be carried into effect, namely, a review of all 
 the yachts of the United Kingdom by our most gracious 
 Queen. If, during Her Majesty's sojourn at Osborne, 
 orders were given to assemble the fleet at Cowes, and they 
 
A YARN UPON YACHTING. 205 
 
 were to mancEuvre round the Island, we will take upon our- 
 selves to say that a more beautiful sight could not be 
 imagined, nor one that would raise our national character 
 for wealth, splendour, or enterprize, more highly in the eyes 
 of foreigners. Sincerely do we hope, this summer, to see a 
 fleet of five hundred yachts awaiting the orders of their 
 noble commanders. 
 
 The Queen of our Isles is devoted to the sea, and would, 
 we have no doubt, be highly gratified with the sight that 
 would be presented to Her Majesty. 
 
 The Thames fleet would also furnish some neat little 
 craft. It would be an endless task to enumerate all the 
 yachts that such a review would produce ; we should have 
 every species of vessel, from the Brilliant down to the Mab 
 cutter of four tons, Brigantines, schooners of every descrip- 
 tion, cutters, yawls, luggers, would all be put into requi- 
 sition, and the gallant hearts that man them would rejoice, 
 not only in showing their nautical skill before our beloved 
 monarch and her royal consort, but in evincing that loyalty 
 and devotion which the blue jackets ever feel towards the 
 sovereign of our realms. 
 
 That a general yacht review may take place at an early 
 period, is our most fervent wish ; and now, having spun 
 out our yarn upon yachting, we cannot better conclude 
 than by giving some well- written lines from a spirited song, 
 written by the talented author of " Rattlin the Reefer " and 
 " Jack Ashore." 
 
 " Oh ! is she not worthy the brave ? 
 
 Then, then on her deck, as all proudly we stand. 
 
 We'll shout oer the wave, 
 
 Till the echoes reach land — 
 The beautiful yacht is the home of the brave." 
 
A VISIT ON BOARD THE UNITED STATES' 
 FRIGATE " ST. LAWRENCE," IN COWES ROADS. . 
 
 " Still one great clime, in full and free defiance. 
 Yet rears her crest, unconquered and sublime, 
 Above the far Atlantic." — Byron. 
 
 In a work of fiction* which the author of these pages 
 published some years ago, the following remarks appear. 
 Speaking of his hero, he writes : — " On entering the New 
 World, Dudley resolved to leave behind him all paltry 
 prejudices and national antipathies. He had none of that 
 'Hauteur excessive, froideur, taciturnite, or mecontent- 
 ment de tout ce qu'on fasse pour lui satisfaire,' that is 
 so often and justly a subject of complaint against his 
 countrymen ; and he was therefore everywhere received 
 with kindness and hospitality. He was met on every side 
 with a cordial desire to be on terms of courtesy and 
 friendship. He saw in the mass of Americans liberal and 
 inquiring minds; men possessing that independence of 
 spirit which is their birthright. 
 
 " Meddling and malignant spirits had not at that period 
 wielded their mischievous pens, and propagated slanders 
 which, trifling in themselves, yet tend to alienate countries. 
 How well does a modern talented writer speak on this 
 subject ! — ' There is a sacred bond between us, of blood 
 
 ^ " Compton Audley;" R. Bentley, New Burlington-street. 1841. 
 
A VISIT TO THE FRIGATE " ST. LAWRENCE." 207 
 
 and of language, which no circumstance can break. Our 
 literature must always be theirs ; and though their laws 
 are no longer the same as ours, we have the same Bible, 
 and we address our common Father in the same prayer. 
 Nations are too apt to admit that they have natural 
 enemies ; why should they be less willing to believe that 
 they have natural friends ?' " 
 
 In commenting upon America, the Hon. Charles Murray 
 writes as follows : — " In bidding you, American reader, 
 farewell, I would induce you by every means in my power 
 to remember that your literature is formed upon English 
 models, your jurisprudence upon English law, and that 
 the very love of freedom and independence which moved 
 you to cast off the dominion of England, was imbibed by 
 your first founders from the breasts of English mothers. 
 Let not sneers, nor petty interests, nor petty jealousies 
 sever these ties of ancient kindred; but rather let both 
 nations endeavour with a noble emulation to show to the 
 world, each under her own Institutions, an example of 
 every public and private virtue." 
 
 Anxious, then, to contribute my mite towards the at- 
 tainment of so desirable an object as the promotion of a 
 kindly feeling between the two countries, I lay before my 
 readers a brief narrative of a visit paid to the United 
 States' frigate " St. Lawrence" by myself and two friends 
 (one a distinguished naval officer and talented author, 
 to whom I am indebted for many valuable professional 
 suggestions). The attention we met with from every one 
 on board was most gratifying to our feelings ; and the 
 friendly spirit evinced towards our " tight httle island" was 
 particularly satisfactory to our national pride. 
 
 It was during the yachting season, that in crossing over 
 from Southampton to Cowes, when off the west buoy of 
 The Bramble, we were delighted at the appearance of a 
 
208 A VISIT ON BOARD THE UNITED STATES* 
 
 noble ship, under all plain sail, to the westward, which the 
 quick eye of my naval friend immediately detected as a 
 double-banked frigate, and which soon proved to be the 
 United States' ship " St. Lawrence" — a vessel well-known in 
 those waters. Upon nearing her, we saw her shorten sail 
 to topsails, courses, and jib, with the evident intention of 
 anchoring in the Roads, Her manoeuvres were strictly 
 and critically scrutinized, not only by the above-mentioned 
 professional authority, but by myself and other amateur 
 sailors. The voice of the first Ueutenant was distinguished 
 from the quarter-deck, giving his orders in that quick and 
 decisive manner which at all times ensures ready obedience. 
 " Haul taut !" " Shorten sail !" " Stand by the small 
 bower-anchor !" were all respectively heard ; in a few minutes 
 the splash on the water indicated the fall of the ponderous 
 mass of iron, and immediately the transatlantic ship 
 swung majestically into her berth. The men were then 
 seen swarming up the rigging, and in an inconceivably 
 short space of time the flowing white canvass was rolled 
 on the yards, and reduced to the minimum space allotted 
 to it. The men then descended from their lofty position ; 
 yards were squared ; ropes hauled taut, and the warhke 
 ship floated tranquilly upon the deep, a model of symmetry 
 and silence. The appearance of this leviathan frigate, with 
 her lofty spars, frowning battery, and high bulwarks, con- 
 trasted beautifully with the graceful models of the yachts 
 anchored around her. 
 
 Upon the following morning three well-manned boats, 
 with the " stripes and stars," came on shore ; and having 
 ascertained from one of the officers that the " St. 
 Lawrence" was to sail for the North Seas at noon, I lost 
 no time in applying to the American consul for a letter 
 of introduction to the first-lieutenant. This was cheerfully 
 granted, and we were shortly on board the frigate. 
 
FRIGATE " ST. LAWRENCE," IN COWES ROADS. 209 
 
 The "St. Lawrence" was built in 1817, but has only 
 been in commission a few years. When she was taken 
 out of ordinary not a plank was defective, and her timbers 
 were found to be as sound as they were on the day she 
 was first launched. She mounts fifty-two guns, and is 
 pierced for sixty-two. She carries on her main-deck 
 twenty-six 32-pounders of 9 feet, and four 68-pounders ; 
 quarter-deck — fourteen 32-pounders medium, and two 
 68-pounders ; forecastle — six 32-pounders medium. She 
 has four spare ports on each gangway ; two spare ports on 
 the quarter-deck ; two spare ports on the forecastle. Her 
 tonnage is under 2,000, and her complement, on the peace 
 establishment, is 480 men. She is a fine roomy ship, 
 clean and clear for action ; her fittings are plain and sub- 
 stantial — all for service, nothing for show. Her guns are 
 rather closer together than in the British rasee 50-gun 
 frigates or ships of the " Pique" and " Inconstant" class. 
 She is very high out of the water, carrying her main-deck 
 guns remarkably well. The captain's cabin is spacious and 
 airy, furnished with great simplicity. The gun-room is 
 equally commodious — the more so from having no after- 
 bulkhead. The officers' cabins are all that can be desired. 
 The steerage is enclosed as a mess place for the subordinate 
 officers — a great desideratum, and one well worthy of the 
 attention of our Admiralty. Half the ship's crew are 
 berthed in the main-deck — there are no mess tables or 
 stools in the lower deck. 
 
 The gunner's store-room and the arms are in good 
 order. A new carbine loading from the breech attracted 
 our attention, it being admirably adapted for boat service, 
 as the man charging it need not expose himself to an 
 enemy's fire by standing up. A sword, resembling in 
 shape those used by the ancient Roman legionaries, is a 
 formidable weapon, being short, double-edged, sharp- 
 
 p 
 
210 A VISIT ON BOARD THE UNITED STATES* 
 
 pointed, basket-hilted, and loaded by a tube conveying 
 quicksilver down the centre, increasing its deadly effect by 
 the weight of the thrust. The men are a fine, strong, 
 active-looking body, neat in their appearance, and attentive 
 in their manner. The dress of the marines is plain and 
 serviceable. The galley-fire consumes nothing but wood, 
 and the absence of coal-dust is an advantage which the 
 smoke-dried Londoner can easily appreciate. A good 
 look-out was kept on deck ; for every yacht, however small, 
 that dipped her burgee to the frigate, had the compliment 
 returned. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the courtesy with which we were 
 received by the captain and the first lieutenant ; and it was 
 gratifying to us to learn that every preparation had been 
 made to render due honours to Her Majesty, on her pas- 
 sage from Osborne to Gosport. The ship was decorated 
 with flags and colours, and a look-out was kept for the 
 Royal Standard, which not being hoisted on board the 
 *' Victoria and Albert," indicated Her Majesty's wish to 
 avoid public ceremony — probably owing to the death of 
 the ex-king of the French. 
 
 Upon taking leave, the captain and officers expressed 
 the pleasure they had derived from our visit, and paid us 
 an unexpected and graceful compliment, by causing the 
 band to play our National Anthem as we descended the 
 ship's side. I cannot conclude without tendering my ac- 
 knowledgments to the American Consul, and his assistant 
 at Cowes, for their prompt attention to my request. In 
 pulling off to the frigate I was telling my companions of 
 my former intimacy with Commodore Bainbridge, a name 
 well-known and highly respected in the service of his 
 country — and passing a well merited eulogium upon the 
 private and public character of that distinguished man, 
 whom I had had the good fortune to travel with from 
 
FRIGATE "ST. LAWRENCE," IN COWES ROADS. 211 
 
 Quebec to the Falls of Niagara. No sooner had I got on 
 board than I delivered my credentials to Lieutenant HoiF, 
 who received me with marked civility : in the course of 
 conversation I alluded to the late commodore, and the 
 happy hours I had passed in his society, when, to the 
 delight and surprise of both, it came out that my new 
 acquaintance had married the youngest daughter of my old 
 American friend. From that moment all reserve vanished, 
 and we talked over byegone days. Interesting as the con- 
 versation was, it was tinged with no little degree of me- 
 lancholy when I was reminded that out of the merry 
 party that lionized the towns of Quebec, Montreal, and 
 Kingston, visited the Falls of Montmorenci, La Chaudiere, 
 and the mighty cataract, traversed the lakes and rapids, 
 and which consisted of the gallant commodore, his friend 
 the postmaster-general of New York, three of the fairest 
 of Columbia's loveliest daughters, myself, and a brother 
 officer — only two remain. 
 
 p 2 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 FISHING. 
 
 Despite of certain drawbacks that exist in the nature of 
 our climate, I am prepared, if necessary, to prove that there 
 is no country in the world in which out-of door amusements 
 can be so well enjoyed as in England. The scorching sun, 
 the extreme coldness of the atmosphere, the rapid torrents 
 which nearly inundate other lands, the burning volcano, the 
 avalanche of snow, are all unknown in our native isle ; and 
 if occasionally the foggy air or the pelting rain confine us to 
 the house, it is merely for a few hours, instead of for 
 months, as is the case in foreign parts. With these pre- 
 liminary remarks, I shall proceed to lay before my readers 
 a detail of the sports that can be enjoyed during every 
 month of the year in this our sea-girt island, giving at the 
 same time such hints upon the subject as I trust may prove 
 useful to the embryo sportsman, whether native or foreign, 
 but more especially to the latter, who I find, by advices 
 from Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Brussels, Constanti- 
 nople, St. Petersburg, and the Hague, study every English 
 sporting work as a key to practical knowledge connected 
 with racing, shooting, coursing, fishing, deer-stalking, otter- 
 hunting, skating, golfing, and yachting. In this series of 
 sporting papers I purpose to introduce anecdotes of the 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 213 
 
 hunting field, the turf, the gentle crafte, the ice, and the 
 squadron ; trusting that by so doing 1 shall be enabled to 
 combine amusement with instruction. To the accomplished 
 sportsman, a " wrinkle " or two may, I hope, be occasionally 
 given, and with this flourish of trumpets, I shall at once 
 commence with the vernal Spring, and its amusements, 
 
 " In genial Spring, beneath the quivering shade. 
 When cooHng vapours breathe along the mead, 
 The patient fisher takes his silent stand." — Pope. 
 
 So much has been already written upon the subject of 
 flies, hooks, rods, lines, nets, and baits, that I almost despair 
 of throwing any additional light upon the subject ; stiU I 
 cannot but flatter myself that a few practical remarks upon 
 fishing may not be uninteresting. If my pen fail, there is 
 one that never will, and to that Penn I beg to refer my 
 readers, who, in a small work entitled " Hints and Max- 
 ims," will find every practical information upon the subject 
 of the gentle crafte. 
 
 After a cold, dreary winter, there are few of the " lords 
 of the creation " who welcome the approach of the opening 
 season with more delight than the fly-fisher. The time 
 approaches when, with rod in hand, he will place himself 
 behind some stunted tree, secluded from the busy haunts of 
 men, by the side of a rapid brook, which has so often yielded 
 him many a speckled trout. In the mean time, as the days 
 begin to lengthen, the anxious fisherman prepares to make 
 ready his implements of destruction, not against fellow man, 
 but against the finny race. See with what care and judg- 
 ment he forms the luring fly. Feathers and silks, gold 
 and silver thread, furs and hair, are all put in requisition. 
 The lines of the tender-hearted fabulist. Gay, himself a fly- 
 fisher, are brought to bear : 
 
 " To frame the fur-wrought fly, provide 
 All the gay hues that wait on female pride f 
 
214 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 Let nature guide thee. Sometimes golden wire 
 The shining bellies of the fly require ; 
 The peacock's plumes thy tackle must not fail. 
 Nor the dear purchase of the sable's tail. 
 Each gaudy bird some slender tribute brings, , 
 And lends the glowing insect proper wings : 
 Silks of all colours must their aid impart, 
 And every fair promote the fisher's art." 
 
 The pliant rod, too, now attracts the fisherman's care ; 
 the joints and rings are looked to, the lines uncoiled, the 
 landing-net repaired, the book replenished with the well- 
 barbed hook, fine, round, strong cat-gut, whipcord, scissors, 
 nippers, and wax. Daily, nay, hourly, is the barometer and 
 weathercock consulted ; the patient follower of old Izaak 
 Walton grows sadly impatient for " a day with the trout." 
 But, as the story-books say, to begin with the beginning, 
 I find in Pennant's work the following advice to London 
 and suburban anglers : — " If the air is cold and raw, the 
 wind high, and the water rough, or if the weather is wet, 
 it is totally useless to attempt to angle in the Thames. 
 "When the sky is serene, the air temperate, and the water 
 smooth, you may expect success. The proper hours for 
 angling are from the time the tide is half ebbed to within 
 two hours of high water, provided the land-floods do not 
 come down. Always put your boat under the wind ; that 
 is, if the wind be in the south, keep to the Surrey shore ; 
 if north, to the London side." He then proceeds to point 
 out the best places for pitching a boat to angle in the 
 Thames, near London, which, in these days of steam boats, 
 with the addition of the numerous wharfs, bridges, barges, 
 and piers, would be rather difficult. " The Savoy, York 
 stairs, Somerset House, Dorset stairs, Blackfriars stairs, 
 Water Lane, Trig and Essex stairs ; on the Surrey side. 
 Falcon stairs. Barge House, Cuper's stairs, the Windmill, 
 and Lambeth." 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 215 
 
 Steam boats and gas works, the latter of which have been 
 so fatal to the finny tribe, have driven the angler some few 
 miles out of town, and Brentford is now the nearest spot to 
 the modern Babylon, in which the followers of " old Izaak '' 
 can try their skill in the piscatory line. There is very good 
 angling for roach, dace, gudgeons, and perch, from the sides 
 of the aits, opposite Brentford, Isleworth, and Twickenham. 
 Teddington Banks are famous for gudgeons and roach, whilst 
 Kingston Wick and Kingston boast of barbel, roach, and 
 dace. At Hampton and Sunbury there is excellent angling 
 for barbel, roach,, dace, chub, gudgeons, and from the aits 
 for trout and large perch. Walton Deeps and Shepperton 
 Pool are, however, the best places for the angler, who, like 
 the map of the environs of London, is confined to a circle 
 of fourteen miles round the metropolis. The rivers w^hich 
 empty themselves into the " fruitful Thames," and others 
 not far from it, were, in days gone by, famed for piscatory 
 sport ; but the rapid strides of the march of improvement 
 have converted all the green fields round London into streets 
 and squares, and choked up the rivers with gas and garbage. 
 The rivers south of the Thames are still well stocked, and 
 those of Esher, Cobham, Weybridge, and Byfleet, abound 
 with perch, jack, eels, carp, tench, trout, and the minor 
 fry — dace, chub, roach, and gudgeons. 
 
 Howel, in describing the attractions of the city, says 
 " When the idler was tired of bowls, he had nothing to do 
 but to step down to Queenhithe or the Temple," and have 
 an afternoon of such recreation as now alone can be found 
 some little distance from London. " Go to the river," he 
 continues, " what a pleasure it is to go thereon in the sum- 
 mer time, in boat or barge, or to go a floundering among 
 the fishermen." In the regulations, too, of the " committee 
 of free fishermen," recorded in Stowe's interesting work on 
 London, may be found most severe and stringent laws- 
 
216 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 against eel spears, and angle rods, with more than two 
 hooks ; and there is a provision that fishermen were not to 
 come nearer London than the Old Swan on the north bank 
 of the river, and St. Mary Overies on the south. An espe- 
 cial enactment provides that it is unlawful to " bend over 
 any net, during the time of flood, whereby both salmons 
 and other kinds of fish may be prevented swimming up- 
 wards." Alas for the cockneys ! that king of fresh-water 
 fish, the salmon, has taken his departure, being no longer 
 able to live in the troubled mire of that river, described 
 by Drayton as renowned for " ships and swans — Queen 
 Thames." 
 
 In the reign of King Charles the Second, it was the prac- 
 tice of the ladies about the court to angle in the canal in St. 
 James's Park. Of this fact there are many proofs, and 
 among others the following lines by Waller, from a poem 
 on St. James' Park. 
 
 " The ladies angling in the crystal lake 
 Feast on the waters with the prey they take : 
 At once victorious with their lines and eyes, 
 They make the fishes and the men their prize." 
 
 Having made these preliminary remarks, I shall now pro- 
 ceed to notice the " gentle crafte." 
 
 That fly fishing is the sublimity of the sport, and the 
 worm fishing is the antipodes of it, few will be bold enough 
 to deny. For what can exceed trout and salmon fishing — 
 the wild ramble by the river and stream of England, or by 
 the " hill-girded lochs" of the land and mountain ? The 
 whole scene teems with life, every spot is full of beauty, 
 every moment is replete with interest. Compare this with 
 the regular flat, stale and unprofitable float and punt work, 
 grilling under a broiling hot sun in the dog days, or a 
 drizzling day in September, off" Battcrsea Reach, Twicken- 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 217 
 
 ham meadows, or Eelpie Island, repeating Hood's " Comic 
 Annual" lines — 
 
 " I ground-bait my way as I go, 
 
 And dip at each watery dimple ; "' 
 
 But, however I wish 
 
 To inveigle the fish, 
 To my gentle they will not play simple ! 
 
 ' At a brandling once gudgeon would gape, 
 But they seem upon different terms now ; 
 Have they taken advice 
 From the Council of Nice, 
 And rejected their Diet of Worms now ?" ^'' 
 
 But to our river sport. Dace and roach are much of 
 the same kind, both in manner of feeding, cunning, size, 
 and goodness. The haunts of dace are gravelly, sandy, and 
 clayey bottoms, deep shaded holes, water-lily leaves, and 
 under the foam caused by an eddy. Dace spawn about 
 the latter end of March, and are in season the last week in 
 April. The oak worm, red worm, brandling, and indeed 
 any worm bred on trees or bushes, all kinds of flies and 
 caterpillars, are the best bait for dace. For roach 
 and dace, let your ground bait be bread soaked about 
 an hour in water, and an equal quantity of bran ; knead 
 them to a tough consistence, and make them up into balls, 
 with a small pebble in the middle, that they may sink at 
 once, otherwise they would float, and draw the prey beyond 
 the reach of your line. For dace you ought to fish within 
 three, and for roach, within six inches of the bottom. They 
 will bite at any fly, but especially at the Mayfly. The latter 
 end of April and most part of May, it is an excellent 
 bait, floating at the top of the water. About the latter end 
 of July these fish swarm, and to those whose avocations 
 compel them to remain in the murky metropolis, a day's 
 fishing between Richmond bridge and Hampton may, for 
 
218 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 for want of better sport, not be uninteresting. Sir John Haw- 
 kins gives an elaborate description of how these fish ought to 
 be dressed ; and which, according to his account, renders 
 them a " very pleasant and savory food." He recommends 
 their being strewed over with flour, and fried on a gridiron, 
 with anchovy and butter for sauce. We rather advise 
 their being handed over to any of the feline race that may 
 infest the premises, to dress and despatch according to 
 their own fancy. 
 
 In summer the barbel frequents the strongest, swiftest 
 currents of the water, and often stations himself among th^ 
 piles, hollow places, moss or weed of deep bridges and weirs* 
 This fish is equally strong and cunning ; if the bait is not 
 sweet he will not bite, but when " agreeable to his palate'' 
 he will take it with great eagerness. The rod and line must 
 have great strength, with a running plummet on the line, 
 and a small piece of lead should be placed about a foot above 
 the hook, to keep the bullet from falling on it, so the worm 
 wiU be at the bottom, where they always bite ; and when 
 the fish takes the bait, the plummet will lie, and not choke 
 him. By the bending of the rod you wiU know when he 
 bites, as also with your hand you will feel him make a 
 strong snatch ; then strike, and you will rarely fail if you 
 play him well ; but if you do not manage him with dexterity, 
 he will break your line. 
 
 Sir John Hawkins, in his notes on the " Complete An- 
 gler," relates some good anecdotes on the patience of the 
 barbel fisher. The best bait for this sullen fish is the spawn 
 of salmon or trout ; and if you wish to have good sport, bait 
 the places where you intend to try for it, a night or two 
 before. And the earlier in the morning or the later in the 
 evening that you commence, the greater your sport will be. 
 The lob-worm is also a very good bait, care being taken to 
 cover the hook all over with the bait. Indeed there are few 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 219 
 
 baits that the barbel will not eagerly devour; green gentles, 
 greaves and bits of hard cheese steeped in honey. The best 
 Period for fishing is the latter end of May, June, July, and 
 he beginning of August. 
 
 Gesner informs us that the barbel is so called on account 
 of the barb or beard which is under his nose or chaps. He 
 is a leather-mouthed fish, and seldom breaks his hold when 
 hooked ; yet, if he happens to be a large one, he will often 
 break both rod and line. We strongly advise the piscator 
 who is fortunate enough to basket one, to do with him as 
 we recommended with the dace, give him to the cat, 
 
 Carpe diem, a day for the carp now ! The haunts of this 
 fish are deep holes, nooks under roots of trees, hollow banks, 
 and among green beds of weeds and flags. The angler of 
 this fish must arm himself with an additional quantity of 
 patience to that usually enjoyed by mortal man, for nothing 
 can exceed the subtlety and caution of the carp. They will 
 seldom bite in cold weather, and you cannot be either too 
 early or too late at the sport in hot weather. If they bite, 
 you need not fear their hold, for they belong to that class of 
 the finny tribe called " leather-mouthed," who have their 
 teeth in their throat. You must not forget in angling for 
 carp, to have a strong rod and fine ; and, as they are ex- 
 tremely wary, it will be proper to entice them by baiting the 
 ground with a coarse paste. They seldom refuse the red 
 worm in March, the caddis in June, nor the grasshopper in 
 June, April, and September, The carp is also fond of sweet 
 paste made of flour, honey, and veal cut into small pieces 
 and well pounded up together. If you fish with gentles, rub 
 them over with honey, and fasten them to your hook with 
 a deep scarlet thread dipped in honey : this will prove an 
 " artful dodge" in deceiving the fish. Ale-grains steeped in 
 blood form an excellent bait for carp, tench, roach, dace, 
 and bream. 
 
220 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 In angling for carp it is necessary to fish near the 
 bottom, with a fine gut next the hook, and a goose-quill 
 float. The carp is frequently called the queen of fresh- 
 water fish, and will live the longest of any fish (the eel 
 excepted) out of its proper element. It has been said 
 that they were not originally inhabitants of the ponds and 
 rivers of this country, but that they were brought into 
 England, and naturalised there, by a Sussex gentleman of 
 the name of Mascal, who lived at Plumstead, in that 
 county. 
 
 Sir Richard Baker, in his " Chronicle of the Kings of 
 England," has the following couplet : — 
 
 " Hops and turkeys, carp and beer. 
 Came into England all in a year." 
 
 And a very good importation, say we, Izaak Walton, 
 that " sentimental savage," as Byron calls him, dates the 
 introduction of carp into this country before the time of 
 Mr. Mascal. The truth probably is, that this worthy 
 squire did not bring them hither, but that he encouraged 
 the propagation of them. Wonderful stories have been 
 told of the size that carp will attain, and the age they will 
 grow to ; but we must refer our readers to the works of 
 that intelligent knight already alluded to, Sir John Hawkins, 
 Swammerdam on Insects (edited, London, 1738), Gesner, 
 and other piscatorial literati. 
 
 The chub affords good sport to the angler, though, in 
 an epicurean point of view, he is perfectly valueless at the 
 table. The haunts of this fish are chiefly in large rivers, 
 having clayey or sandy bottoms, and in deep holes shaded 
 with trees. They are in season from about the middle of 
 May until the middle of February ; their spawning time is 
 early in April. The chub bites best a few hours before 
 the rising and setting of the sun. In March and April 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 221 
 
 you should angle for him with worms ; in June and July 
 with flies, snails, and cherries ; in August and September 
 a paste made of butter and Parmesan cheese, coloured 
 with saffron, is an excellent bait. Your line must be very 
 strong, with quill float to it ; strong gut at the bottom. 
 The depth in hot weather, mid-water ; in cold, near the 
 bottom. In angling for chub it is necessary to place 
 yourself behind a bush or stump of a tree, so as not to be 
 seen ; for.this fish is extremely shy, and the least shadow 
 will make him sink to the bottom. 
 
 In the Thames, above Richmond, the best sport may 
 be had by using a fly or grasshopper, either natural or 
 artificial ; I strongly recommend the latter, having a great 
 deal of what is called by the world " mawkish sentiment" 
 for the insect. I am aware that in saying this I am 
 laying myself open to a charge of inconsistency, for, as a 
 lover of the " gentle crafte," I may be accused of cruelty. 
 I admit the charge; still there are gradations of every 
 vice ; and so long as artificial means will attain their end, 
 it is, to my mind, revolting to torture a wretched worm, 
 fly, or grasshopper, by adopting the system so often 
 recommended in books misnamed " Complete Anglers," 
 viz., " In using the grasshopper, the first joints of the leg 
 must be pulled ofl'." No wonder, with this feeling upon 
 him, that Byron should have written the well-known 
 condemnatory lines — 
 
 " And angling, too, that solitary vice, 
 Whatever Izaac Walton sings or says : 
 The quaint old cruel coxcomb in his gullet 
 Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it." 
 
 The haunts of the perch are chiefly in the streams, not 
 very deep, under hollow banks — a gravelly bottom, and at 
 the turning of an eddy. If the day is cool and cloudy, 
 
222 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 and the water a little ruffled, he will bite all day long, 
 especially early in the morning and late in the afternoon. 
 The best baits are minnows, leeches, sticklebacks, small 
 lob, unboiled shrimps, marsh and red worms, brandlings, 
 and gentles. In angling for perch, be careful, when he 
 bites, to give him ample time enough ; otherwise, as he is 
 not a leather-mouthed fish, he will often break his hold. 
 Though perch, like trout, delight in clear, rapid rivers 
 with pebbly bottoms, they are often found in sanjiy, clayey 
 soils. The best time for anghng for them is from the 
 beginning of May until the end of June ; and as, unlike 
 the solitary pike, the " bright-eyed perch" swims in shoals, 
 the patient fisherman may have a good morning's sport if 
 he is fortunate enough to find some two or three dozen of 
 them " at home" under a hollow bank. This fish grows 
 slowly, generally averaging about a foot in length, and 
 three pounds in weight, and spawns once a year, in March 
 or April. 
 
 To any lover of the " gentle crafte" who can get a 
 day's holiday, we strongly recommend the train to Oxford, 
 and a morning's recreation in the winding river that runs 
 near this seat of learning. Let him select a dark, breezy 
 day, without cold ; early and late hours, say from six to 
 twelve and from three until dusk ; and I have no doubt 
 but, as they would say at College, the 'percce fluviatilis 
 will quite reward him for his trouble. 
 
 There is a great variety in the growth and colour of 
 trout, as every stream and lake differs in the quahty of this 
 fish. In the clear, pure lakes in rocky and mountainous 
 countries the trout grow very large, and sometimes weigh 
 nearly thirty pounds ; large rapid rivers contain trout from 
 ten to fifteen pounds weight, though the generality of them 
 in our streams do not exceed five pounds. There is a 
 small trout to be found in rapid brooks which, upon the 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 223 
 
 fall of heavy showers, swell to a great height, but which in 
 fair weather have but little stream. Here, amidst the eddies, 
 deep holes, and amongst the roots of trees, may be found 
 plenty of " swift trout" from one to three pounds weight. 
 
 The rod for artificial fly-fishing should be light, so 
 as to be easily managed with one hand ; it should taper 
 gradually to the very point, and be so pliant that it will 
 scarcely support its own weight, so that when you have 
 hooked your fish it should bend and yield to every spring 
 which it makes, but regain its straightness and elasticity 
 immediately upon the fish being loosed. Your hne should 
 be thick next the rod, and diminish by degrees, getting 
 " beautifully less" at the end, where it should be very fine ; 
 and you should have at least five feet of silkworm gut 
 next the fly. Your first care must be to keep as much 
 out of the sight of the fish as possible, throwing your line 
 as far and as lightly on the water as you can, so as not to 
 make the slightest splash ; your fly must fall on the water 
 as light as a thistle-down would settle upon it, and the 
 device by which you may deceive the trout is to keep the 
 point of your rod in a tremulous motion, thus giving ap- 
 parent life to the fly. 
 
 In natural fly-fishing it will only be necessary to observe 
 that those are the best which present themselves by the 
 waterside in the greatest numbers. The best weather for this 
 fishing is a cloudy day, keeping the wind at your back, by 
 which means your line will be carried fully out, and you 
 will be enabled to keep your fly dancing upon the very sur- 
 face of the stream. With a May-fly, and such a day as I 
 have described, the fisherman may calculate upon having 
 an excellent day's sport. 
 
 " The pike, the tyrant of the water plains," as Pope 
 describes him, outlives all other frrsh-water fish ; but 
 space will not permit me to enter either into his longevity, 
 
224 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 or to the wonderful stories that have been told of his vo- 
 racity. Fishermen, like travellers, see wonderful strange 
 sights; and I myself have read of pikes attaining their 
 two hundred and sixtieth year, weighing one hundred and 
 seventy pounds, and devouring enormous carp, a gold 
 watch, ribbon, and seals, a cub fox — an Italian one be it 
 said — and, by a sudden jerk, pulling the clerk of Newport 
 parish into Littleshall Pool, who, according to his account, 
 had some difficulty in escaping the jaws of this voracious 
 monster. 
 
 Dr. Block (rather an ominous name) relates- — " In 1497, 
 at Kaisers Lantern, in the Palatinate, a pike was caught 
 which was nineteen feet in length, and weighed three hun- 
 dred and fifty pounds ; it was drawn and afterwards painted, 
 which is preserved at the Castle of Lantern ; the skeleton 
 may be seen at Manheim. Emperor Barterousse had it 
 put into a pond, in 1230, with a gilt ring attached to it, 
 with a spring to enable it to expand according to the 
 growth of the fish ; it was caught two hundred and sixty- 
 seven years after, and the ring is still preserved at Man- 
 heim in memory of this celebrated fish." 
 
 M. Kresy, in his treatise on angling as practised in France, 
 suggests the following sport : — " If the angler wishes to 
 amuse himself, let him take six or eight sheep bladders 
 well filled and closed, then tie them to a strong cord, and 
 fasten them to pike-hooks Nos. 1 and 2, baited with a 
 small live fish, the cords about half the depth of the water ; 
 when put in, let the wind drive them about ; but if the 
 water is spacious, and no boat at hand, they must be 
 fastened together at proper distances. Pike, when large, 
 may be thus speared, or shot by a gun fixed under the 
 fish !" Bravo, Kresy ! a bladder battue at pike is quite a 
 new sporting feature. 
 
 The pike is a solitary fish, never swimming in shoals -. 
 
EiNGLlSH SPORTS. 225 
 
 he delights in a still, steady, unfrequented water, and 
 usually lies amongst flags, bull-rushes, stumps of trees, or 
 reeds. In trolling for pike your rod must be a strong one, 
 and ringed, for the Hne to pass through, and about three 
 yards and a half in length ; your hne about ninety feet 
 long, wound upon a reel. The best baits, upon a dull, 
 cloudy day, are small roaches, dace, and bleak ; but when 
 the weather is bright and the water clear, you should sub- 
 stitute a gudgeon. Be careful not to suffer weeds to hang 
 on your hook, or the pike will not be tempted to touch it. 
 September and October are the best months for trolling, 
 because the weeds are then rotten, and the fish are become 
 fat with their summer's feed. The pike spawns about the 
 end of February or beginning of March. For the table, 
 this fish requires a first-rate culinary artist ; a good pudding, 
 and some Dutch sauce, rendering it a dish worthy the 
 board of any gourmet. 
 
 The eels' haunts are chiefly amongst weeds, under roots 
 and stumps of trees, holes and clefts in the earth, and in 
 the " verdant mud ;" also about weirs, bridges, flood- 
 gates, and old mills. In winter they conceal themselves in 
 the mud, and in summer seldom rove about by daylight ; 
 but by night you may take a great number of them by 
 laying lines so leaded as to touch the ground, and baiting 
 the hook with garden worms, minnows, leeches, small 
 gudgeons, or lobs. There are two ways of taking the 
 " silver eel" by day — snigghng and bobbing. The former is 
 thus performed — take a strong line, with the hook baited 
 with a lob worm, and go to such places as above men- 
 tioned, dropping the hook into the hole by the help of a 
 cleft stick ; if the " slippery gent" is there, he will as- 
 suredly bite : it will be necessary to tire him a little before 
 you attempt to land him, or he will break your line. In 
 bobbing for eels you must affix some large lob-worms to a 
 
 Q 
 
226 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 strong whip-cord two yards long ; then make a knot in 
 the line, about six or eight inches froni the worms, running 
 a hollow piece of lead of about three quarters of a pound 
 weight down to the knot ; then fix all to a pole, and use 
 it in muddy waters : when the fish tug, give them time to 
 fasten ; then draw them gently up, and hoist them quick 
 to shore. A punt is very useful in this kind of fishing. 
 
 I now come to pond fishing, and shall commence with 
 the tench, which, by old authorities, is treated with the 
 greatest contempt. It loves to feed in the foulest waters, 
 and thrives but indiflferently in a clear element. It is 
 not usual for the tench to exceed more than four or five 
 pounds in weight, though there are instances of much 
 larger ones. They spawn about the middle of July, and 
 are best in season from the beginning of September until 
 the end of May. They will bite during all hot weather; 
 I should recommend April and May to the tench angler. 
 Among the most attractive baits are the lob and red 
 worm, a gentle, or a paste made of the crumb of bread and 
 honey. 
 
 The bream thrives better in ponds than rivers, and the 
 baits recommended for the tench will be equally good for 
 this fish. Gloomy and windy days are the best for this 
 sport. As the bream is extremely vigorous, it is neces- 
 sary to have strong tackle; you must also be careful 
 not to show yourself, for your prey is both vigilant and 
 cunning. In river fishing it will be as well to bait your 
 ground with boiled barley malt or sweet honey paste. The 
 best season for angling is from the first of May until the 
 end of August. The bream is not much admired in Eng- 
 land as a table delicacy, though our continental neighbours, 
 the French, pronounce it to be a dish worthy the attention 
 of the epicure. 
 
 1 am now reduced to the lowest form of angling, the 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 227 
 
 gudgeon ; a sport that must ever remind one of happy 
 boyish days, when we were wont to fish with a crooked 
 pin for tittlebats in a basin of water ; and yet how often 
 have I witnessed the patience and anxiety of a party of 
 pleasure in a flat-bottomed boat off Richmond Bridge, 
 bobbing for this liliiputian specimen of the finny race. See 
 the resignation of the elderly gentleman, who, like pati- 
 ence upon a monument, or rather, like endurance in a punt, 
 sits for hours ruminating over a legendary gudgeon ; mark 
 the excitement of the middle-aged "gent" in the fustian 
 coat and planter's hat, when he sees the cork dancing on 
 the surface of the waters ; watch the eagerness of his 
 better-half, when she finds the rod gently quivering in 
 her trembling hand ; listen to the half-uttered cry of joy 
 that escapes the lips of the urchin, speedily suppressed by 
 the gruff tone and sullen look of the parent as the youth 
 lands his long-sought-after, unresisting prize ; witness the 
 care with which the young and innocent miss furnishes the 
 hook with a living bait — the tender-hearted damsel, who 
 would probably faint at the sight of a spider upon her dress, 
 feels no compunction in thus torturing the writhing worm. 
 But it is nearly time to take leave of these cockney-pun- 
 ters, these gentles and simples, and proceed to the sport ; 
 although, as I write for all classes of readers, from the tyro 
 of the Thames to the accomplished fisherman of the rapid 
 Spey, I must enter a little more fully into gudgeon angling. 
 Suffice it then to say that these fish are scattered up and 
 down every river in the shallows during the heat of sum- 
 mer, and that in the autumn, when the weeds begin to 
 rot, and the weather becomes cold, they congregate 
 together, and get into deeper parts of the water. As this 
 fish is leather-mouthed, when once struck he is seldom 
 lost. The baits are usually gentles, worms, wasps, and 
 cads ; the small red worm is reckoned the best. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 From the lowest form I now approach the beau ideal of 
 the sport — trout and salmon fishing in the Highlands of 
 Scotland ; and so proverbial is the hospitality of the sons 
 of the north, that it only requires an introduction to any 
 proprietor of the soil to procure a good day's fishing. 
 Picture to yourself, then, a morning at daybreak, a cloudy 
 sky, and the wind from the south, which, according to the 
 poet, " blows your fly into the fish's mouth ;" your 
 " gilly" and mountain pony are at the door of one of the 
 neatest and cleanest of wayside inns. Start not, English 
 reader ; for there is cleanliness in the rural parts of Scot- 
 land. Witness the Gordon Arms at Fochabers, near the 
 very river I am about to conduct you. 
 
 Your breakfast is over, and such a meal as your regular 
 stay-at-home Englishman has no more idea of than a 
 Highlander has of knee-buckles. What think you of kip- 
 per salmon, trout fresh from the river, venison and 
 mutton hams, cold grouse and ptarmigan, oat cakes, milk 
 porridge — none of your London sky-blue or mi-eau, as it 
 is cried about the streets, and has not been inaptly translated 
 half-water — marmalade, and mountain dew. You mount 
 your pony, and after a rough ride through the most 
 varied and stupendous scenery of mountain, wood, lochs, 
 and burns, you reach your destination. A gigantic craggy 
 cliff, at least five hundred yards high, over-shadows a rapid 
 torrent, which rages like a cataract, occasionally subsiding 
 into deep holes, and here your " gilly" informs you are 
 the favourite haunts of the salmon. 
 
 Your tackle is speedily adjusted, and incased in a suit 
 of Macintosh's lower habiliments, with boots to match — 
 and here be it said that Peal, of Duke-street, Grosvenor- 
 square, is the best man in all England for waterproof 
 leather — you plunge in waist-deep. After some little time, 
 in which your patience may be put to the test, you find 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 229 
 
 yourself playing a very heavy fish ; your " gilly" enjoins 
 you to " take time and be canny." Now the " fresh- 
 water king" dashes and struggles to break your line ; then 
 is the time for the watchful eye of the cautious fisherman 
 to come into action ; you must play your prey with the 
 nicest judgment, exhausting him by hurrying him rapidly 
 down the stream, keeping his head high up in the current, 
 until his strength is irrecoverably expended, when you 
 lead him gradually into still water. Then is the moment 
 of victory ; you fasten your gaff into the opening of his 
 gills, " one struggle more" from the captured victim, and 
 the prize, one of eighteen pounds, is yours. The salmon 
 is generally to be found in all rivers connected with the 
 sea, passing the winter and fine weather in rapid and clear 
 streams ; it spawns in the month of May in rivers with 
 sandy or rocky bottoms. So many works have, however 
 been written upon salmon and its fishing, that I am un- 
 willing to trespass longer upon the attention of my readers. 
 Much practice and art is necessary in killing a fine 
 " eighteen-pounder," and no theoretical knowledge will 
 avail the young beginner ; I, therefore, recommend him to 
 place himself under the guidance of some old fisherman, 
 whether in England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales, and he 
 will learn more in a few days by the river side than he 
 would in months over the library fire, with all the 
 " Salmonias" in the world before him. 
 
 While upon the subject of the salmon, I cannot refrain 
 from mentioning that a French author asserts that this 
 fish was the means of discovering the passage of the 
 Caspian Sea into the Black Sea and Gulf of Persia. It 
 was done in the following manner : — A certain number of 
 salmon were caught, and, after their tails were run through 
 with silver or gold rings, they were set at liberty, and 
 some were afterwards found in the Black Sea and Persian 
 
230 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 Gulf. When salmon are taken for profit, not pleasure, 
 nets are used ; they are of a large size, regulated by the 
 depth and breadth of the river, with lead to sink one 
 side and cork to support the other. One end of the net 
 is held by men on the shore, while the other is fastened 
 to the stern of a boat, which is rowed in a circular direction, 
 and finally brought to the landing-place ; the nets are 
 then hauled on shore, and the fish packed in ice for the 
 London market. The Duke of Richmond has a splendid 
 salmon fishery on the Spey, which brings into his Grace's 
 coffers some thousands per annum ; the greatest portion 
 of the fish that are caught are sent to the London 
 markets, while others are packed and hermetically sealed 
 in tin cases, and despatched to every part of the globe. 
 
 During a ramble through Scotland I found myself at 
 Speymouth, where the process of catching and packing 
 the fish was going on. Through the kindness of the 
 spirited entrepreneur, Mr. Hogarth, 1 was permitted first 
 to catch my salmon, then to put him into a little salt 
 water, and then to seal him down. For nearly a year it 
 remained unopened, and when the seal was broken, as the 
 old nursery song says, 
 
 " Was not it a dainty dish to set before a king !" 
 
 Heliogabalus or George IV. would both have relished it. 
 
 After salmon fishing in the Highland rivers, there are 
 few amusements that can come up to " a day with the 
 trout," either in the English or Scotch lakes. At Pooley- 
 bridge Inn, at the foot of Ulswater, boatmen and boats 
 are ever ready to convey the brother of the angle to the 
 lake; and there are few sports in England in which he 
 will procure better sport. The Tweed, Loch Awe, — nay, 
 indeed, almost all the rivers and lakes in Scotland will 
 furnish excellent sport. 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 231 
 
 In Loch Awe the salmo ferox or bull-trout abound ; 
 they sometimes grow to the weight of thirty pounds. In 
 trolling for this monster of the lake you must have 
 strong tackle, with at least a hundred yards of hne ; the 
 best bait is a small trout. When the fish is struck, you 
 must be careful to give him rope enough ; for, as he is a 
 most powerful specimen of the finny tribe, he will un- 
 questionably walk off with his trout, leaving you without 
 yours, and a broken line to boot. 
 
 The best months for angling are from April to October, 
 and the finest time of the day from four till ten in the 
 morning, and from four in the evening until sunset. A 
 southerly wind with a gloomy, lowering sky will suit the 
 fisherman the best — next to that, a westerly wind ; but be 
 careful to avoid an easterly one, as you will probably catch 
 nothing but a cold, and the rheumatism. Fish will seldom 
 bite in a hoar frost, nor before a shower of rain. 
 
 An angler must be a paragon of patience ; never dejected 
 with bad sport, or elated with good. He should hide 
 himself as much as possible, as his aquatic prey are usually 
 timorous and shy. There is an old saying, that " a good 
 workman is always known by his tools," and this is 
 particularly applicable to the fisherman ; for if his rod and 
 tackle are not kept in the neatest order, if his baits are 
 not in the greatest state of perfection, if his fly-book is not 
 so nicely arranged that he can select at a moment's glance 
 the feathered hook, his exertions will be futile. 
 
 The follower of old Izaak ought to avoid all bright or 
 glaring colours in his fishing costume ; a dark-tweed 
 shooting jacket and trowsers of invisible green or stone 
 colour, with a hat or cap to match, are the best for the 
 sport. A leaping pole with a spike at the end of it, for 
 the purpose of fording brooks and ditches, a forester's 
 knife, and a well-stored basket of sandwiches and brandy, 
 
232 - ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 are very agreeable auxiliaries, and ought to be entrusted 
 to the care of your piscatorial " gilly." 
 
 In conclusion, let me add that large fish are to be found 
 in deep water, and all kinds of small fish in clear, brisk- 
 running streams with gravelly bottoms; salmon, trout, 
 and — -oh, the fall from the sublime to the ridiculous — 
 gudgeons in the clear, rapid-running element with sandy 
 bottom; carp, tench, eels and lamprey select the still, 
 muddy waters ; while barbel, dace, pike, chub, perch, bream, 
 and roach luxuriate in lively running currents 
 
 HUNTING. 
 
 SoMERViLLE, in his poem of the " Chase," proves himself to 
 have been not only a speculative, but a real sportsman ; and 
 his language, sentiments, and the incidents he describes, aU 
 display a tliorough knowledge of the subjects he writes 
 upon. His true and correct description of the kennel, his 
 vivid portraiture of the hounds, his spirited sketch of the 
 hare and beagle, his philosophical discussion upon scent, 
 his graphic picture of the fiery courser, his poetical language, 
 in writing of the music of the chase, his striking vigour in 
 bringing to our mind's eye the Indian mode of hunting, 
 his historical account of the extirpation of the wolf, and 
 last, not least, his hvely and animated full-length portraiture 
 of fox-hunting, the casting-off of the hounds, their working 
 upon the scent, the unkenneling of the fox, his breaking 
 cover, and the full cry of the hounds, are most exciting 
 pictures, and inspire the greatest enthusiasm for the noble 
 scirnce. In short, the talent of the poet lies in delineating 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 233 
 
 every-day scenes with the greatest spirit and fidelity, added 
 to a well-varied and flowing versification, free from over- 
 strained and affected metaphors, and, literally speaking, 
 suiting the language to the subject he so admirably describes. 
 In his classical allusions he is not deficient, as will be evi- 
 dent by the following condensed quotations from his pre- 
 face : — 
 
 " It is quite certain that hunting was the exercise of the 
 greatest heroes in antiquity. By this they formed them- 
 selves for war ; and their exploits against wild beasts were 
 a prelude to their other victories. Xenophon says that 
 almost all the ancient heroes, Nestor, Theseus, Castor, 
 Pollux, Ulysses, Diomedes, Achilles, &c., w-ere disciples of 
 hunting ; being taught carefully that art, as what would be 
 highly serviceable to them in military discipline. And Pliny 
 observes, those who were designed for great captains were 
 first taught ' certare cum fugacibus feris cursu, cum audaci- 
 bus robore, cum callidis astu.' And the Roman emperors, 
 in the monuments they erected to transmit their actions to 
 future ages, made' no scruple to join the glories of the chase 
 to their most celebrated triumphs." 
 
 But we have commenced by quoting modern authorities, 
 when we ought to have harked back to more ancient ones. 
 The Greek and Latin poets write with vigour upon the 
 chase, as we can well remember in our school days; there 
 was not a Virgil or Homer, in the upper row of the fourth 
 form, when we were at Westminster, that had not aU the 
 passages connected with the chase and other sports noted 
 down, and translated ; and although little Johnny Campbell, 
 our tutor — and all old Westminster will remember this 
 worthy dominie — was no great sportsman himself, never 
 shall we forget his smile of approval, when, upon one occa- 
 sion, he found a most graphic, if not classical, translation of 
 the foUowinjr lines : — 
 
234 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 " En age, segnes, 
 Rumpe moras; vocat ingenti clamore Lithseron, 
 Taygetique canes, domitri que Epidaurus equorum ; 
 Et vox assensu nemorum ingeminata reraugit." 
 
 ViRG. Georg. iii. 
 
 To proceed with our classical lore. Ovid thus writes of 
 his contemporary, Gratius : — 
 
 " Gratius shall arm the huntsman for the chase." 
 
 Unfortunately the works of the latter are scarce. 
 
 Of a more modern date we find among the contributors 
 to the sporting literature of the day, Nemesianus, who seems 
 superior to Gratius, but of whose writings only a fragment 
 remains. 
 
 Virgil, in his third Georgia, gives a few lines upon grey- 
 hounds and mastiffs : — 
 
 '• Veloces Spartse catulos, acremque Molossum 
 Pasce sero pingui," 
 
 But it would be endless to quote the numerous passages 
 upon this subject from foreign writers ; proceed we to our 
 own native bard : — 
 
 " The hounds shall make the welkin answer them, 
 And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth." 
 
 So writes the " deer-stealer," " call-boy," and " horse- 
 holder," William Shakespeare, for each of these, according 
 to ancient traditions, has the poet been called. Not that 1 
 put much faith in such legends ; for I have but little doubt 
 but that the deer-stealing was a lark, that species of young 
 gentlemanlike poaching which few youths have not indulged 
 in ; as for the call-boy story, Mr. Collier has quite proved 
 an alibi for the " worthy, gentle, and beloved" William ; and 
 the writer of " a horse ! a horse ! my kingdom for a horse 1" 
 is not, in my mind, hkely to have ever been a " cad" at the 
 theatre door, exclaiming, " Please to want your horse holded, 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 235 
 
 sir ?" Well, the bard of Avon was right, as were other poets 
 who eulogize the 
 
 " Echoes loud. 
 
 Redoubled and redoubled, concourse wild 
 
 Of mirth and jocund, din." 
 
 For there is nothing more exhilarating to the senses of all 
 keen and ardent sportsmen than the rich and deep-toned 
 voices of the hounds, so full of music, as they are heard 
 across the valley, echoing through the woods. Much has 
 been written upon " first love," and we freely admit it is an 
 " all-absorbing passion ;" and so, at least as far as we are 
 concerned, is the first initiation into the delights of the 
 chase. 
 
 Never shall I forget the days when, as a boy of twelve 
 years of age, I was passing the Christmas holidays at Stoke 
 Park, near Chichester, Sussex ; and during that happy 
 period I was fortunate enough to get two mounts with the 
 Goodwood hounds. Never will the impression of my first 
 day with the foxhounds be effaced from my memory. Since 
 that period I have visited Holland, France, Germany^ 
 Canada, and the United States ; I have stood my shot as an 
 amateur, being on the sick hst, upon the ensanguined plains 
 of Waterloo, have fished for cod on the banks of Newfound- 
 land, have massacred some hundred hares at the tame battues 
 near Vienna, have hunted the deer in the royal forests of 
 France, have speared salmon in Lake Ontario, have caught 
 beavers in the country of the Hudson's Bay Company, have 
 smoked a cigar beneath the foam of the mighty Niagara, 
 have drunk sherry cobbler on the banks of the Mississipi • 
 and yet the recollection of every incident connected with the 
 hunt I am about to describe is as vivid and fresh upon my 
 mind as when, at the expiration of the holidays, I astonished 
 my brother-boarders, at Mrs. Packharness's, Great Dean's- 
 yard, Westminster, with the account of my first run. 
 
2^6 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 The hounds met at the Valdoe, a tolerable-sized wood 
 near Goodwood House, and in less than five minutes the 
 tones of poor old Tom Grant, the huntsman, were heard, 
 shouting " Gone away !" "Hold hard, gentlemen," cried 
 that first-rate sportswoman, Mrs. Dorrien, then Miss Le 
 Clerc, as she herself was preparing for a start. " Give 
 'em time," said old Tom, approaching me ; who, rather 
 cowed upon this my first appearance, had shrunk back 
 behind the " red coats," whom 1 then looked upon as 
 wonders of the world. " Come along, youngster ; I'll 
 show you the way : there, down that ride ; turn short to 
 the right ; the fox is sure to sink the wind ; as you're well 
 mounted, set your pony's head straight, and you'll get the 
 brush." Encouraged by this friendly hint, I followed the 
 huntsman's advice, and upon emerging from the wood 
 found myself close to the hounds. " Capital, youngster !" 
 shouted Tom, as I took the first fence, a flight of stiffish 
 rails, into one of the paddocks. I looked back, and found 
 only the huntsman, the lady I have already alluded to, and 
 some half-dozen men in pink, with the hounds. Having 
 once got the lead, I determined to try and keep it ; and as 
 the pony I was mounted upon was one of the finest 
 fencers in the country, I had little difficulty, with my light 
 weight, in accomplishing this. 
 
 We approached Halneker: part of the palings had 
 been broken down ; I spied the gap, and w^ent at it, as the 
 huntsman afterwards said, " like a Briton." The fact is, 
 that, even with the top broken down, the fence was a stiff 
 one. The huntsman followed me ; while the others, not 
 seeing the place we had taken, turned away and skirted 
 the park. " Bravo, young 'un 1" shouted old Tom, " you're 
 one of the right sort ; we've set the field ; steady, there's 
 a grip on the other side of that fence." " Set the field !" 
 thought I ; Wellington, after Waterloo, was not prouder 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 237 
 
 than I was at this my first victory. But I will not tire my 
 readers with the run ; suffice it to say that the fox went 
 straight down wind ten miles, over a beautiful flat country, 
 and that the hounds ran into him upon Houghton- bridge, 
 as he was crossing the Arundel river. No one except the 
 huntsman, the first whipper-in, and myself, were up, 
 the field having been thrown out at Halneker-park. 
 The brush was presented to me with great congratulations, 
 and to this day I retain it as a proud and well-earned 
 trophy. 
 
 But I have digressed — a fault I often commit. To our 
 subject, which is the " noble science ;" and I think few will 
 be found who will not bear me out in my opinion, that 
 both upon public and private grounds this national amuse- 
 ment ought to be encouraged, for I am prepared to prove 
 that it entails the greatest advantages upon our country at 
 large. 
 
 In the first place, it induces noblemen and gentlemen to 
 reside upon their properties ; and by so doing produces the 
 most beneficial effects upon every class of society ; not 
 only by the example set, which proves that the higher 
 orders sympathize with their less fortunate brethren, both 
 in acts of kindness, hospitality, good fellowship, and 
 charity, but also by the actual gain that must accrue to the 
 public at large by the enormous expenditure that takes place 
 in every hunting country. Take, for example, the muni- 
 ficent establishments of the Dukes of Rutland and Beau- 
 fort, Earl Fitzhardinge, Mr. Assheton Smith, and others ; 
 and calculate the amount that is annually spent in hay, 
 oats, beans, and straw, independent of the living of the 
 numerous servants that are employed during at least six 
 months in the year. To this you must add the advantages 
 reaped by the farmers, breeders, innkeepers, artisans, trades- 
 men, merchants, and labourers, all of whom derive the 
 
2cS ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 very greatest benefits from resident landlords, especially 
 when they are devoted to the sports of the field. 
 
 Were I a perfect stranger in England, and had no 
 family ties to connect me with any other country, I should 
 decidedly select Warwickshire as my hunting country, 
 making Leamington my head-quarters. Although for 
 sport I am bound to yield the palm to Leicestershire, still 
 I believe, that during the year, the Warwickshire hounds 
 have nearly as many good runs as the Quorn. The re- 
 mark of an old sportsman, that " it is the pace that kills," 
 is daily realized in Leicestershire, and without a " flyer," a 
 good start, nerve, and judgment, no man can see a run in 
 that country. Now, although Warwickshire requires good 
 nags to get over it, and first-rate men to pilot them, a 
 slight mistake, a small mishap, or a bad start, will not put 
 the Nimrod hors de combat. Lidependent, too, of the 
 pleasures of the field, there is no town in England where 
 the sportsman can be better lodged than at the Spa. First 
 and foremost, the stables are excellent, and the charges for 
 horse-keeping moderate. Secondly, there is superlative 
 good entertainment for man at the numerous hotels that 
 abound in this fashionable water-drinking place ; or if a 
 party of " sporting gents," as the waiters call them, like to 
 " club" together, they will find houses of all sizes and 
 dimensions upon the Grand Parade, and a first-rate resi- 
 dent artist, who will either cater for them and furnish 
 a cook, or will serve them a dinner worthy of that 
 modern Apician, Dr. Kitchiner, at a "fixed duty" per 
 head, or " sliding scale," according to the dishes that are 
 required. 
 
 As the sportsman of the present period is a very differ- 
 ent character from the Sir Harry Beagles' and Squire 
 Chases' of bygone times, and no longer thinks it necessary 
 to become a four-bottle man, and to talk of nothing but 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 239 
 
 hounds, horses, and old port, so it follows that in these 
 days the society of females is anxiously sought after, and 
 there is no spot in the universe where better society con- 
 gregates together, than during the winter, at Leamington. 
 After a brilliant run and a good dinner, with quantum suff. 
 of Crockford's Lafitte of 1831, far preferable to the gout- 
 bringing bees'wing black strap, how much more agreeable 
 is it to drop into some well-Kt ball or concert-room, amidst 
 a galaxy of beauty, than to realize the character of one of 
 poor James Smith's heroes : — 
 
 " Spurred and booted, on sofas we sprawl." 
 
 Another advantage that Leamington offers is, that if you 
 are not always fully mounted, you may hire excellent hunters 
 and hacks in the town ; flies, too, are to be had to take you 
 to cover ; baths are ready upon your return ; in short, sport 
 by day, and dinners, concerts, balls, private theatricals, whist 
 parties, suppers, and billiards during the evening, will fill 
 up your time very well, should you be disposed to visit 
 this far-famed Spa. 
 
 In order that my reader may not suppose that I have 
 any interest whatever in this region of saline, I beg to 
 assure him that I know nothing of it, except as a hunting 
 quarter ; I was there during two winters, when Thornhill 
 hunted the hounds ; when Sanderson, H. Williams, Au- 
 gustus Berkeley, J. Barnard, Piers Mostyn, and G. Wilkin- 
 son rode to them ; when the late Sir Edward Mostyn kept 
 open house ; and when amateur plays and fancy balls were 
 warmly espoused by Sir Charles, Mr. Chad, and the w-riter 
 of this paper. 
 
 With regard to hunters, as almost every sportsman is in 
 these days a tolerably good judge of a horse, I shall offer a 
 very few remarks upon this beaten subject : suffice it to say, 
 that " all is not gold that glitters," and that many a horse, 
 
240 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 which is sold in London as a first-rate hunter, knows as 
 much about his business as a clod does of the duty of a 
 lord chamberlain. How often is a flyer from Newmarket 
 unable to bear the shocks and strainings of a fifteen minutes' 
 burst! and how still more frequent does the mammoth 
 animal, who has been warranted to carry thirteen or four- 
 teen stone weight, shut up heart-broken after a couple of 
 ploughed fields ! A right good hunter ought to possess 
 strength without weight, courage without impetuosity, and 
 speed without labour. The marks most likely to discover 
 a horse of these properties, are a vigorous healthy colour, 
 a light head and neck, a quick moving eye and ear, clean 
 wide jaws and nostrils, large thin shoulders, and moderately 
 high withers, deep chest and short back, large ribs, gaskins 
 well spread, buttocks lean and hard ; above all, let his joints 
 be strong and firm, his legs and pasterns short, for there 
 never yet was a long-legged horse who could get well over 
 a hunting country, with a fair weight upon his back. In 
 short, follow the hints of John Hesketh Lethbridge, Esq.: — 
 Avoid a horse that cuts or brushes ; avoid flat feet and low 
 heels ; avoid a weak, long deer neck ; select one with a well- 
 formed head, big nostril, short neck, deep ribs, short below 
 the knee ; well-formed ancles, width of loin, big thighs, 
 and well-formed hocks. 
 
 With five good hunters and a couple of hacks a man 
 may see a great deal of sport with the Warwickshire 
 hounds, as I can vouch for from past experience ; and if he 
 does not like the trouble and expense of getting such a 
 stud together, he has nothing to do but to hire them in the 
 county. In the town and neighbourhood of Leamington, 
 he will find plenty of sporting liverymen, farmers, and horse 
 dealers, who, for a fair consideration, and with the chance 
 of selling, will furnish him with horses that can go the 
 pace, and do the trick. It was never my good fortune to 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 241 
 
 be in Warwickshire during the period that Mr. Bradley's 
 staghounds were in existence ; but, by all accounts, they 
 showed considera!)le sport, and their loss has been severely 
 felt by many who merely wanted a gallop, and will not 
 undertake all the trouble, labour, disappointment, and ex- 
 ertion of fox-hunting. While upon the subject of " calf- 
 hunting," I cannot refrain from giving an account of an 
 Epping hunt I was present at, and which, for fun, life, and 
 absurdity, beat anything I ever saw. The event came off 
 some forty years ago, " in the days of my hot youth, 
 when George the Third was king." I was then a subal- 
 tern officer in a crack regiment of cavalry, realizing the 
 lines of the song — 
 
 " How happy's the soldier that lives on his pay, 
 Who spends half-a-crown out of sixpence a day." 
 
 Easter, as usual, had set in with its Easterly winds, and 
 the Monday was a regular " cat and dog pouring day." But 
 the uncompromising appearance of the weather did not 
 dismay the would-be sportsmen ; for from nine till twelve 
 o'clock the road from Whitechapel to Woodford was lined 
 with carriages of every form and description, from the 
 barouche-and-four down to the taxed cart, and an incredible 
 number of horsemen, among whom were many cockney 
 Nimrods, in smart red coats, corduroy breeches, top boots, 
 and long spurs, each cantering his hired Bucephalus to at- 
 tract the attention of the assembled multitude. A number 
 of temporary booths for the sale of liquors, ham, beef, 
 bread and cheese, periwinkles, buns, cakes, tarts, ginger 
 beer, imperial pop, cyder, were erected on the forest, each 
 distinguished by a sporting sign — "The Hare and Hounds," 
 " Fox," " Reindeer," " White Hart," " French Horn," 
 " Stag," &c. About twelve, the deer, which had travelled 
 in his own carriage from the " Bush " at Wanstead, was 
 
 R 
 
242 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 uncarted, his branching antlers being decorated with gaudy- 
 coloured ribbons. After a few minutes' law, the hounds 
 were laid on. Away went horses, sportsmen, deer, and 
 hounds towards Buckhurst Hill, from thence to Fair Mead 
 Bottom, and on to Loughton Wood, from thence to Robin- 
 son's Range, and round the enclosures to Deadman's Wood, 
 returned to Fair Mead Bottom, and on to Golden Hill, 
 thence passing Queen Elizabeth's Lodge to the Bottom 
 again. Here, the noble animal, being hardly pressed, 
 plunged into Burleigh's Pond, from which he was taken 
 alive, and reserved for another year's sport. Many of the 
 equestrians followed the sport till their horses failed them ; 
 and there was the usual number of falls and accidents. 
 
 Being admirably mounted myself, I saw the fun to the 
 very greatest advantage. " There's nothing on the other 
 side," cried one of my " pals," as he went at an awful pace 
 at a hedge, upon the outside of which was a yawning ditch. 
 " Come along !" I cried ; " it's nothing ;" and with this 
 assurance I was followed by some half-dozen cockneys, who, 
 not putting quite so much powder at it as we did, floundered 
 all in the green and foetid water. " Catch my horse !" 
 " Oh ! I'm smothered !" " Help me out !" were the cries 
 of these would-be Nimrods, as they and their steeds were 
 extricated by the gaping clods. But I have not space to 
 enlarge upon this subject in the present article, but may 
 perhaps refer to it again, as no one now can have any idea 
 of the real fun at an Epping hunt of old. 
 
 ARCHERY. 
 
 Although archery cannot be ranked among the principal 
 sports of the present day, yet, as there are a variety of 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 243 
 
 toxophollte societies still kept up, and as these meetings 
 are always attended, and the prizes contended for, by the 
 fairer portion of the creation, we cannot exclude the bow 
 and arrow from our catalogue of national amusements. 
 Since the invention of cannon and gunpowder, the bow 
 and cross-bow have been in disuse both in battle and in 
 what Byron calls " the faint image of war" — the chase ; 
 but' still they furnish recreation for those beaux and 
 belles (we mean no pun) who love to congregate upon 
 a summer's day at the romantic plaisance of Kenilworth 
 Castle, the interesting precincts of Carisbrook, in the 
 picturesque glades of Kent, on the wild wealds of Sussex, 
 by the side of the winding Wye, in the merry forest of 
 Sherwood, under the battlements of Belvoir's proud castle, 
 or in the peaceful vales of Gloucestershire. 
 
 With regard to the modern prowess of archers we shall 
 have little to say, as their deeds are blazoned forth in the 
 fasliionable columns of the Morning Post and Court 
 Journal. We shall, therefore, go back to by-gone 
 times. 
 
 At the earliest period we find the bow in use, not only 
 as a weapon of hostility, but also as one employed in the 
 chase ; and there are few nations that have not employed 
 archers in their warfare as well as hunting-fields. Even 
 to this day the North and South American Indians retain 
 the bow and arrow. There is no mention of archery in 
 this country until the time of the Saxons ; Camden, how- 
 ever, gives the following remark as to its introduction into 
 England : — " Amongst all the English artillery, archery 
 challengeth the pre-eminency as peculiar to our nation as 
 the sarissa was to the Macedonians, the gesa to the old 
 Gauls, the framia to the Germans, the machoera to the 
 Greeks ; first showed to the English by the Danes, brought 
 in by the Normans, and continued by their successors." 
 
 r2 
 
244 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 William the Conqueror was a first-rate archer, as was 
 Richard Earl of Pembroke, called " Strongbovv ;" Cceur 
 de Lion was killed by an arrow from a cross-bow at the 
 siege of Chaluze. It was during the reign of this monarch 
 that the sylvan hero Robin Hood and his merry men 
 flourished; but for an account of his exploits we must 
 refer our readers to the old ballad, or to Walter Scott's 
 " Ivanhoe," in which there is a most soul- stirring account 
 of a trial of skill with the long-bow between Lorksley, as 
 Robin Hood was called, from the place of his birth in 
 Staffordshire, and Hubert, a forester. This brave free- 
 booter died in 1247, at the priory of Kirklees. Previous 
 to his death, when all hopes of recovery were abandoned, 
 he pointed out the place of his sepulture by discharging 
 an arrow, and the spot upon which it fell was to be his 
 grave. The first falling in the river, another was procured ; 
 and there, in the park, where the shaft dropped, was the 
 outlaw buried. 
 
 The inscription upon his tomb, which has long been 
 obliterated, but which was preserved by Dr. Gate, Dean of 
 York, ran as follows : — 
 
 " Here, underneath this little stone, 
 Laiz Robert Earl of Huntington ; 
 Nea Archir ver az hie sa geud, 
 An piple kauld im Robin Hood. 
 Sick utlaws az hi an iz men 
 Vil England nivir si agen." 
 
 Of Wilham Tell it is unnecessary to speak, as his history 
 is well known to all. In our own country we find the 
 youthful Edward the Third issuing orders for bows and 
 arrows for the intended war with France. At Ciessy and 
 Poictiers the superiority of the English archers is well 
 known. At the victory gained over the Scots, near 
 Halidon Hill, Lord Percy's archers did great service with 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 245 
 
 their deadly arrows ; and at the battle of Shrewsbury the 
 bowmen on both sides evinced the greatest valour. It 
 was here that " sweet wag Hal," afterwards Henry the 
 Fifth, was wounded in the face by an arrow. In the 
 reign of Edward the Fourth an act was passed, compelling 
 every subject of the realm to have a bow made of his 
 own height ; and also establishing butts for practice. 
 We to this day have a reminiscence of this edict — Newing- 
 ton and Brentford Butts still continuing. The crook- 
 backed tyrant, at the battle of Bosworth field, placed his 
 bowmen in the midst of the line. 
 
 " Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head." 
 
 Henry the Seventh, in 1486, established fifty yeomen 
 of the guard — the first standing army — who in those days 
 used bows. This monarch, in his early d:ays, was extremely 
 fond of archery, as were his sons, Arthur and Henry. 
 Henry the Eighth passed a law in the third year of his 
 reign, that every youth, when he attained the age of 
 seven, should be provided with a bow and two arrows — by 
 his father ; and it was subsequently enacted that all, ex- 
 cept the dignitaries of the church and bar, should be 
 obliged to practise at butts. 
 
 In 1515, Henry the Eighth and Queen Catharine, ac- 
 companied by many lords and ladies, rode a maying from 
 Greenwich to the high ground of Shooter's Hill, where 
 they found a company of two hundred tall yeomen, all 
 clothed in green, with green hoods, and bows and arrows. 
 One, who was their chieftain, was called Robin Hood, and 
 desired the king and all his company to stay and see his 
 men shoot ; to which the king agreeing, he whistled, and 
 all the two hundred discharged their arrows at once ; 
 which they repeated, on his whistling again. Their arrows 
 had something placed In the heads of them that made 
 
246 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 them whistle as they flew, and altogether made a loud and 
 very uncommon noise, at which the king and queen were 
 greatly delighted. The yeoman who assumed the cha- 
 racter of Robin Hood then desired the king and queen, 
 with their retinue, to enter the green wood, where, in ar- 
 bours made with boughs, intermixed with flowers, they 
 were plentifully served with venison and wine by him 
 and his merry men. 
 
 Edward the Sixth, according to Harrington, was fond 
 of archery. The martyr Charles seems also to have pro- 
 moted the use of the bow, as did the " merry monarch" 
 and his brother, James the Second. From this period 
 archery has been on the decline, and the only remains of 
 ancient bowmen may be found in the Artillery Company, 
 formerly the Finsbury Archers, and the Scotch Archer 
 Guard. Robertson describes the Caribees as very expert 
 archers — a fact that will be borne out by the following 
 circumstance, mentioned by that historian as having oc- 
 curred to Columbus, in his second voyage. " A canoe," 
 says the historian, " belonging to these people, having 
 accidentally fallen in with the fleet under his command, a 
 vessel with a few men was sent towards it, while the other 
 ships surrounded it, in order to cut off a communication 
 with the shore. When the persons in the canoe saw it 
 was impossible for them to escape, they fought with great 
 resolution, and wounded many of the Spaniards, although 
 they had targets and other kinds of armour; and even 
 when the canoe was upset, it was with difficulty the people 
 were taken, as they continued to defend themselves, and 
 to use their bows with great dexterity while swimming in 
 the sea." The Persians, too, are first-rate shots with bows 
 and arrows, especially upon horseback ; and at the cavalry 
 reviews, as the troops gallop by in single file, each man as 
 he passes the king, shoots an arrow against a target, and 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 247 
 
 the successful competitors are, at the end of the day, re- 
 warded according to their deserts. In every village through- 
 out the country the inhabitants are taught to shoot at a very 
 early age. 
 
 THE RING. 
 
 "Onerandus est Pugnis probe." — AiviPHiTaToN — Plautus. 
 
 " My fists must lay a good load on him." — Cooke's Teanslation. 
 
 Although the pugilistic ring has fallen greatly from its 
 former high estate, we cannot, as true chroniclers of English 
 manly sports, exclude it from our notice ; and while upon 
 the subject, we cannot refrain from paying that eulogium to 
 the memory of one of its most distinguished supporters, 
 who, since many of the following pages were written, has 
 "shuffled off his mortal coil:" we allude to the late Mr. 
 Jackson — a man who, during a long life, never made an 
 enemy ; whose kindness, charity, and liberality were un- 
 bounded ; and who amidst temptation's flowery path, never 
 for a moment swerved from the strict line of rectitude. 
 Poor Jackson ! Peace to thy manes ! 
 
 In approaching then, this subject, we cannot but admit 
 that within the last ten or fifteen years some most disgrace- 
 ful transactions have taken place in the prize-ring. Not 
 only as respects foul play, but also robbery ; scenes have been 
 committed which are a disgrace to a civilized country, and 
 which have called down denunciations, not only from those 
 canting hypocrites who would entirely put an end to all the 
 amusements of the humbler classes, but also from those 
 sportsmen of the old school who would support every prac- 
 tice that tends to enhance our national character, both for 
 courage and independence. 
 
 The ring has, as I have already said, latterly lost one of its 
 greatest ornaments and supporters. I allude to Byron's old 
 
248 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 friend, and corporeal pastor and master, the late John 
 Jackson, who up to the day of his death " retained the 
 strength and symmetry of his model of a form, together 
 with his good humour, and athletic as well as mental 
 accomplishments." The superior regularity, the good con- 
 duct of the fio-htino; men, and the entire absence of those 
 barbarous and demorahzing abuses which have lately dis- 
 graced the ring, were entirely attributable to having a man 
 of respectability and fair character at its head. Such was 
 Mr. Jackson, who for so many years presided over the 
 pugilistic club, arid in the school, with such honour 
 to himself and advantage to tlie science. I cannot con- 
 clude this faint tribute to his memory without quoting 
 some hues from Moore's Memorial to the Congress. In a 
 note to that work the poet writes as follows : " This gentle- 
 man" — Mr. Jackson — " (as he well deserves to be called, 
 from the correctness of his conduct and the peculiar urbanity 
 of his manners) forms that useful link between the amateurs 
 and the professors of pugilism, which when broken it will 
 be difficult, if not wholly impossible, to replace." 
 
 In 1811 a sparring exhibition was got up at the Fives 
 Court for the benefit of the Portuguese sufferers ; and in 
 1812 a similar one took place (both instituted by Jackson) 
 for the British prisoners in France. The receipts of the 
 latter amounted to £130, which was forvx^arded by Mr. 
 Jackson to the subscription fund. All the professionals 
 gave their attendance gratuitously. The court was crowded 
 with noble amateurs. How different is the present state of 
 the prize-fighter to what it w^as in the palmy days of Jack- 
 son I Occasionally now a benefit is got up at the house of 
 some " professor," which turns out, as Shakspeare says, " a 
 benefit forgot." See the ragamuffins that now grace these 
 sparring exhibitions, and compare them to the time wlien 
 the Fives Court flourished—when kings, emperors, field- 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 249 
 
 marshals, foreign potentates, and the cream of the Enghsh 
 nobility, patronized this then popular gymnasium. Well do 
 we remember the period when the late Dukes of Norfolk 
 (great-grandfather to the present), Gordon and Beaufort, 
 Earls of Sefton and Harrington, Lord Hertford, poor Byron, 
 the Honourable Berkeley Craven, Barclay of Ure, were the 
 liberal patrons of the ring and sparring school, and when 
 honest pugilists were treated as men well deserving the 
 countenance and support of the highest classes; the dexter- 
 ous use of the fist being looked upon as an exercise worthy 
 the sturdy Englishman, and one which had raised his renown 
 as the bravest of the brave. But we must " hark back" to 
 the deeds of former days, and as we were wont to say, — 
 " Arma virum.que cano.'' 
 
 Amongst the general games celebrated in honour of Pa- 
 troclus in Homer's Iliad, boxing is mentioned ; and the 
 " stand up fight " of Ulysses is one of the most diverting 
 incidents narrated in the Odyssey. Indeed, the king of 
 Ithaca seems to have been well calculated for this heroic 
 diversion, and, from his strength and courage, would have 
 been no contemptible opponent for any of the pugilistic 
 champions of England. He was also a generous antago- 
 nist, and fought rather for honour than revenge or lucre ; 
 for we are told that, when confident of victory, he 
 
 " Check'd half his might, yet rising to the stroke, 
 "His jaw-bone dash'd — the crashing jaw-bone broke ;" 
 
 an instance of magnanimity that the pugihsts and their 
 backers of the present day would do well to imitate. Our 
 limit and space will not permit us to enter into greater de- 
 tail upon the " mills" of other days. Return we then to the 
 doings of our own times. 
 
 Among the advantages and benefits which may be brought 
 forward in support of self-defence, we will quote the words 
 
250 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 of a highly respected authority. In the late Chief Justice 
 Best's charge to the grand jury of Wiltshire, his lordship 
 said : " The practice of boxing has often been a subject of 
 discussion in this country. I must say that it seems to me 
 a practice that may very advantageously be encouraged to a 
 limited extent. It is in some sort a law of peace, for it 
 discourages the use of unfair means of attack : it prevents 
 malicious retaliation ; it only enables men to employ the full 
 advantages they may naturally possess, and in the use of 
 which they are restrained by the point of honour ; and while it 
 encourages a proper English spirit, it prevents courage from 
 degenerating into brutality, and secures men from the treach- 
 ery and malignity of those whom they may have offended." 
 This is precisely the view we have for many years taken of 
 the fistic school. While human nature is constituted as it 
 is, and ever has been, there will be brawls and fighting. 
 And see the effects of such quarrels where boxing and the 
 laws of the ring are not recognised : the knife and stiletto 
 supply the place of the fists. 
 
 Look at Italy, and the thousands of assassinations that 
 annually take place in that highly eulogised land of song. 
 Witness the bloody horrors that took place in France 
 during the grand revolution, and that still disgrace that 
 country, when private squabbles can only be settled by 
 murderous weapons. Cross even to America — England's 
 daughter — and, independent of their Lynch law, they still 
 practise, in their pugilistic encounters, that abominable, 
 unmanly, and thorough savage practice of gouging and 
 biting, throttling, kicking, and jumping upon the disabled 
 foe. Nay, we need not go out of our own country ; for, 
 to the disgrace of Britain be it said, there is one county in 
 the northern part of England where " up and down" fights 
 are still known, and where the most beastly and brutal ex- 
 hibitions take place. Ireland, too, is a melancholy example ; 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 251 
 
 for murder and burnings too often take place in that dis- 
 tracted country. Enough, we think then, has been said 
 to prove that man's natural weapons are better than the 
 dagger to assuage his vindictive passions and unbridled 
 rage. The fine old school-boy principle of "fighting a 
 quarrel out" is far preferable to all waylayings, secret 
 assaults, cutting, stabbing, maiming, or wounding ; and the 
 true English spirit of pugilism is to restrain those murder- 
 ous practices, and to divest combatants of all savage means 
 of vengeance. In another point of view, and that a na- 
 tional one, boxing may be defended : I allude to the ad- 
 vantage it gives to the soldier and sailor. And to bear 
 me out in that proposition, I have only to refer to the 
 daring deeds of our red coats and blue jackets during the 
 last war. Admiral the Honourable Sir Maurice Berkeley, 
 than whom a more gallant officer in her Majesty's navy 
 does not exist, records the prowess of seamen who had 
 been brought up in those good old days when the art of 
 " self-defence" was supported by all the leading personages 
 of England. The author of " Lalla Rookh," too, has im- 
 mortalized Shaw the fighting life-guardsman, who certainly 
 gave many a knock-down argument at Waterloo in favour 
 of this our national sport. 
 
 *' Oh ! shade of the cheesemonger ! you who, alas ! 
 Doubled up by the dozen those Muunseers in brass, 
 •= On that great day of milling, when blood lay in lakes. 
 
 When kings held the bottle, and Europe the stakes." 
 
 The late C. Apperley, Esq. (Nimrod), too, no mean 
 judge upon sporting affairs, gives the following views upon 
 pugilism ; and as it leads to the anecdote I have hinted to 
 above, as connected with Sir Maurice Berkeley's opinions, 
 I will lay them before my readers. In Nimrod's visit to 
 Berkeley Castle, the hospitable domain of one of England's 
 noblest sportsmen, he writes as follows : — 
 
252 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 " Another subject was then started, which, being one of 
 very general interest, I may be allowed to revert to. It 
 was the present unfortunate revolution in the manners and 
 habits of John Bull, by the introduction of the ' foreign 
 knife,'* — it is not inappropriately called — and which was 
 introduced to our notice by a comment in the ' Globe' news- 
 paper, and I believe these were the words : — ' Knives are 
 unworthy of the national character, and associated with 
 practices, on some parts of the continent, from which 
 Englishmen recoil.' My opinion on the interdiction of 
 prize-fighting, fairly and honourably conducted, has already 
 been before the public ; and that of Earl Fitzhardinge has 
 been still more clearly avowed by the encouragement he has 
 so often given to the ring: and how forcibly is the correct- 
 ness of our opinions at this moment displayed, not by the 
 introduction of the knife — not exactly by sentiments de- 
 livered from the bench — but in the case of a prosecution 
 of a pugilist for an assault, by a straight-forward declaration 
 by the counsel, Mr. Doane, retained for the prosecution, 
 who, in his address to the court, in aggravation, stated — 
 * that to the absurd and mischievous interference of the 
 county magistracy with the proceedings in the ring was 
 the increase of the unmanly crime of stabbing, among 
 Englishmen, to be attributed.' These sentiments, I say, 
 have not been exactly delivered from the bench, but some- 
 thing closely approximating to them escaped the lips of 
 Lord Wynford, when Chief Justice Best. Moreover, I 
 could now name a judge who, only a short time since, when 
 not on the bench, expressed his regret at prize-fighting, 
 properly conducted, having fallen into disrepute, from a 
 conviction that infinitely more good than harm was the 
 
 * It is somewhat curious that the name of the man who was convicted 
 of manslaughter, for stabbing a cabman with one of those knives, and 
 very heavily sentenced, should be John Bull. 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 253 
 
 result of it amongst the middle and lower classes of the 
 people. His lordship was quite right in the expression of 
 this sentiment. It has been our boast that the bowie-knife 
 is unknown in the British dominions ; but experience 
 shews that by the almost total abolition of prize-fighting, in 
 a fair and honourable manner, as heretofore conducted, the 
 knife or the stiletto will be generally had recourse to, to 
 avenge the quarrels of the vulgar. 
 
 " When on the subject of boxing, Sir Maurice Berkeley 
 instanced a curious but powerful example of its impartmg 
 highly honourable and generous feelings to minds, if na- 
 turally not frequently impressed by them, whilst serving as 
 a midshipman in the Blanche frigate, in the West Indies. 
 The Blanche had an engagement with an enemy who would 
 nut strike her colours until she was boarded. Amongst her 
 complement of marines was a private who had distinguished 
 himself in the British ring. Whilst boarding the enemy 
 he became opposed to a man who had nothing in his hand 
 wherewith to defend himself. The marine — at this time 
 wounded by a shot in his leg — observing this, threw down 
 his cutlass, and vanquished his opponent by a blow of his 
 fist on his head !" Nimrod then concludes the subject 
 with the following short remark : — " I am equally an advo- 
 cate of all manly diversions, being aware that they have 
 greatly contributed to the honour and credit of my country, 
 and she will rue the day when they shall be supplanted by 
 those of a frivolous and demorahzing character." 
 
 The foregoing observations may be said with truth to 
 apply to pugilistic contests arising out of private cases of 
 quarrel, and not to systematic prize-fights, where the com- 
 batants have no cause of disagreement, and where the victor 
 is rewarded by lucre. Independent of which the ring has 
 too often been disgraced by disreputable and disorderly per- 
 sons there assembled, who, when they find their man can- 
 
254 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 not win fairly, resort to every outrage and stratagem to 
 defeat his antagonist by foul means. 
 
 In answer to this, I must at once admit the difficulty of 
 the question. If, upon the one hand, prize-fighting were 
 abolished, the rules and regulations that govern the ring 
 would fall into disrepute ; men would settle their differences 
 without seconds; '^'^ up and down''' fights would prevail, 
 where the best man (if hest can be applied to such a wretch) 
 continues to kick, trample, and fall upon his vanquished 
 foe, too feeble again to stand on his legs ; or hundreds of 
 huge bullies would arise, to vent their malice on those, too 
 weak to stand up against them. Now encounters in the 
 ring in some degree get rid of these blemishes. On the 
 other hand, the utmost butchery too often takes place 
 within the rnpes of the P. C. ; men are brought to the 
 scratch by their seconds, after having been primed with 
 spirituous liquors, sometimes nearly blind, deaf, and often 
 too weak to stand upright. Foul blows, unfair play, and 
 cheating, too frequently characterize the proceedings of the 
 prize-ring ; and men are unblushingly sold to the best bidder, 
 very much after the fashion of the beasts in Smithfield 
 market. Both systems, then, being open to censure, and 
 acting upon the principle of choosing the least of two evils, 
 1 should strongly urge the discontinuance of prize-fights /or 
 money ; and in order to render pugilistic combats for the 
 settlement of differences fair and manly, I should suggest 
 a new code of laws. First and foremost, that seconds and 
 an umpire should be selected, the authority of the latter to 
 be, like that of the Medes and Persians, decisive. Secondly, 
 that no spirituous or exciting liquors should be given to the 
 combatants. Thirdly, that each man should, unassisted, 
 leave his second's knee, and walk, unaided, some three or 
 four yards to the scratch. That in the event of the breach 
 of any of the above rules, or in case of a foul blow, a fall 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 255 
 
 without a blow, or any other un-English proceeding, that 
 the aggressor should be deenned vanquished. Strenuously, 
 too, would I call upon the magistrates to inflict the most 
 severe punishment upon those who should be found guilty 
 of any such conduct, or who should resort to that rem- 
 nant of barbarism, before alluded to, of up and down 
 fighting. 
 
 -That pugilists may be honourable men we have ample 
 proofs — witness the late poor John Jackson ; Mr. Gully, 
 formerly member for Pontefract, than whom a more straight- 
 forward man does not exist ; Tom Cribb, Spring, with many 
 others that I will not enumerate, for fear of being looked 
 upon as partial. To show the opinion hejd of the prize- 
 ring in 1821, I have only to remind my readers, that at 
 the coronation of George IV. the late Mr. Jackson was 
 selected to organize a body of bruisers, to keep the peace 
 within and at the entrance of Westminster Hall, and no men 
 ever did their duty better, as was proved by the official 
 thanks they received from the public authorities. 
 
 In conclusion, we sincerely hope that manly English 
 fighting will ever hold its supremacy over the cowardly 
 weapon of the assassin, and that if pugilistic encounters are 
 to take place, that they will be divested of the brutality and 
 dishonesty that have too often characterized them. 
 
25 (J ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 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, 
 Skiird 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 having festive meetings, where 
 the patrician and the plebeian, the rich and the poor, the 
 landlord and the tenant, the peer and the peasant, the former 
 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 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 257 
 
 the humbler classes, I feel happy to think that the turf is 
 flourishing ; and now that the spirited exertions of a late 
 Under Secretary of State for the Home Department have 
 put an end to the low, cheating, gambling booths, the race- 
 course is 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 faces, 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 t3 have attended 
 the Ascot or Goodwood meetings of 1856? 
 
 Nesbitt, in his " Treatise on Sports and Games," gives 
 the following interesting and classical account of the an- 
 tiquity and progress of horse-races: — "Horse-races were cus- 
 tomary 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, rarely carrying them on their 
 backs, as they now do ; saddles were not invented until 
 ages after. The Persian monarchs celebrated the festivity 
 of Mithras v/ith great pomp ; and amongst other amuse- 
 ments they had their chariot races. The Greeks had their 
 Hippodromes, and the Ludus Trojanus was instituted in 
 Sicily. Montfaucon tells us, the Equina at Rome were so 
 called from the races that took place in the Campus Martins. 
 Augustus, the Emperor of Rome, was a great admirer of 
 these sports, as Virgil tells us in a most inimitable 
 description ; and after the emperors had instituted solemn 
 festivities, they formed a principal part thereof. How far 
 the horses ran before they got to the winning post from the 
 starting-place, is not expressed by historians ; but we are 
 informed that the Grand Circus was about 2167 Roman 
 
 s 
 
258 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 feet in length, and 960 broad; and the races commonly 
 ended at the seventh turn round the meta. The number 
 and length of the heats also varied, the usual number of 
 matches was about twenty-four, although sometimes a 
 far greater number was exhibited; for Suetonius says 
 that the Emperor Domitian presented a hundred 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 in- 
 scriptions 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 con- 
 quered 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 pro- 
 perty of the Emperor." 
 
 The breed of race-horses is descended from stallions 
 brought from Medea, Persia, and Arabia, the mares being 
 selected for 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 the produce of which, that part of Wales was celebrated 
 for a swift and noble breed of horses. Giraldus 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 race was 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 259 
 
 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. This diversion, however, rose in favour, and 
 subscriptions were entered into to make a purse, or to pur- 
 chase plates for the winner. Thus the turf-men of those 
 day-s 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 ex- 
 cess as to have ruined many of the nobihty. 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 fete at Kenilworth, 
 where Leicester introduced every amusement calculated to 
 gratify the taste of his royal mistress. In the following 
 reign, they seems to have thrived better, as we read of 
 some celebrated courses. Camden also states that in 1607 
 there were meetings near York, and the prize was a small 
 golden bell. Hence the origin of the saying of " bearing off 
 the bell." Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, denounces the 
 system. " 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 
 
 s 2 
 
260 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 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 nnerry-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, Notting- 
 ham, Winchester, and York. Since which period the royal 
 patronage has been extended to the following places : — • 
 Ascot, Bedford, Burford (discontinued in 1802), Canter- 
 bury, 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, Lich- 
 field, Leicester, Lewes, Liverpool, Lancaster, Manchester, 
 Northampton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Plymouth and Devon- 
 port, Richmond (Yorkshire), Shrew^sbury, Salisbury, War- 
 wick, 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 Midlent-Sunday, 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 theire places where they were at the tyme of the fail, 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 261 
 
 until he so fallen have his foote in the stirrope again.' 1 
 apprehend that the running horses at the time of making 
 the above article were not so fleet as now, fur it appears to 
 me that it would be very difficult to stop them in their pre- 
 sent career." 
 
 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 Rigbt Hon. Charles 
 James Fox. In a 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, 177*2, 
 he w^as so lucky at Newmarket as to win nearly sixteen 
 thousand pounds, the greater pai t of which he got by bet- 
 ting 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 o-uineas 
 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 
 
262 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 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, these spirited Turfites 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 least double that sum in bets. In 
 those days, we must remind our readers that the plates 
 averaged from fifty to one hundred pounds, which will 
 account for what in that time was looked upon as a large sum 
 of pubhc money to win, but which in ours would be trifling. 
 
 The death of Lord Foley in 1793, the friend in whose 
 judgment Mr. Fox most confided, relaxed his ardour for 
 horse-racing. His Lordship entered upon the turf with a 
 clear estate of £1,800 a year, and £100,000 ready money, 
 which was considerably diminished by his losses at New. 
 market, Ascot, and Epsom. At the Spring Meeting at 
 Newmarket, in 1789, Mr. Fox is said to have won not less 
 than fifty thousand pounds ; and at the October meeting, at 
 the same place, the following year, he sold two of his horses. 
 Seagull and Chanticleer, for four thousand four hundred 
 guineas. In the course of 1788, Mr. Fox and the Duke 
 of Bedford won eight thousand guineas between them, at 
 tlie Newmaiket Spring Meeting, and during these races, 
 Mr. Fox and Lord Barrymore had a heavy match, which 
 was given as a dead heat, and the bets were oflf. 
 
 On coming into office with Lord North, in 1783, Mr. 
 Fox sold his horses, and erased his name from several of 
 the clubs of which he was a member. It was not long, 
 however, before he again purchased a stud, and in October, 
 1783, he attended the meeting at Newmarket. The King's 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 263 
 
 messenger was obliged to appear on the course, to seek one 
 of the ministers of England among the sportsmen on the 
 heath, to deliver dispatches upon which perhaps the fate of 
 the country might have depended. The messenger on these 
 occasions hid his badge of office, the greyhound, not liking 
 that the world should know that the King's adviser should 
 be amusing himself at Newmarket, when he should have 
 been serving him in the metropolis. But Charles Fox pre- 
 ferred the betting rooms to Downing-street. 
 
 The race-horse of this country excels those of the whole 
 world, not only for speed, but bottom. There is a great 
 difference, however, between the present race and that of 
 fifty or sixty years ago ; for in those days four-mile heats 
 were the fashion. The sporting records at the end of the 
 last century give the following exploits of horses of that 
 and previous periods : — Childers (known by the name of 
 Flying Childers), the property of the Duke of Devonshire, 
 was looked upon as the fleetest horse that ever was bred : 
 he was never beaten ; the sire of this celebrated horse was 
 an Arabian. Bay Malton, by Sampson, the property of the 
 Marquis of Rockingham, won nearly £6,000 in seven races ; 
 at York he ran four miles in seven minutes forty- three and 
 a half seconds. Dorimant, belonging to Lord Ossory, won 
 prizes to the amount of £13,360. Eclipse was allowed to 
 be the fastest horse that ever ran in England since the time 
 of Childers ; after winning largely for his owner, he covered, 
 by subscription, forty mares at 30 guineas each. High- 
 flyer, by King Herod, was the best horse of his day ; was 
 never beaten, nor paid forfeit but once : his winnings 
 amounted to above £9,000, although he only ran as a three, 
 four, and five years old. Matchem stands high both as a 
 racer and as the sire of many of our most favourite horses ; 
 as a stallion he realized for his master more than £12,000; 
 he died in 1781, at the advanced age of thirty-three. Shark 
 
264 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 won a cup value 120 guineas, eleven hogsheads of claret, 
 and above £16,000 in plates, matches, and forfeits. 
 
 The Whip, supposed once to have been the property of 
 Charles the Second, is of a very antique form ; and the 
 legend runs that the royal " father of his people," as he well 
 might be called, presented it to some nobleman of his day, 
 and whose arms it now bears. The handle, which is very 
 weighty, is of silver, with a ring at the end of it for what is 
 usually called a cord and tassel, but which, in this instance^ 
 is made of the mane of Eclipse, while the lash is made of 
 the tail of that celebrated horse. There is no official record 
 of the origin of the challenge for the whip, nor the year in 
 which it was first made ; but as the nobleman above alluded 
 to was probably the Master of the Horse to the merry regal 
 Giovanni of 1670, it is not unlikely that it commenced 
 during that monarch's reign. 
 
 The following are the results of the respective struggles 
 for this ancient trophy : — 
 
 1756. — Mr. Fenwick's Matchem, by Cade, won it, beat- 
 ing Mr. Bowles's Trojan. The odds fluctuated not a Httle ; 
 2 to i at starting upon the winner, which varied to 5 to 1 
 on the loser. During the race, it v^'as, at the turn of the 
 lands, Windsor Castle to a Highlander's bothie on Matchem. 
 On being taken out of training, Matchem became a covering' 
 staUion, by which his owner cleared upwards of £17,000. 
 
 1764.— H. R. H. the Duke of Cumberland's Dumplin, 
 by Cade, beat Lord Grosvenor's Pangloss, by Cade. 7 to 4 
 on the loser 
 
 1768. — Lord Rockingham's Malton beat Lord Grosve- 
 nor's Cardinal Puff, in a canter. 5 to 1 on the winner. 
 
 1770.— Lord Grosvenor's Gimcrack beat Lord Rock- 
 ingham's Pilgrim. 5 to 2 on the winner. 
 
 1775. — Lord Grosvenor's Sweet Wilham beat Lord 
 Ab i n gdon's Transi t. 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 265 
 
 1777- — Mr. Pigott's Shark received 100 guineas com- 
 promise from Lord Grosvenor's Manbrow, the noble Lord 
 retaining the Whip. 
 
 1778. — The prize was carried off by Mr. Pigott's Shark^ 
 beating Lord Ossory's Dorimant ; Lord Abingdon's Pre- 
 tender paying forfeit. 7 to 4 on Dorimant. 
 
 1781. — Lord Grosvenor challenged for the Whip, and 
 named Potoooooooo ; and no one being bold enough to 
 enter the arena with this son of Eclipse, the whip was passed 
 to his Lordship. 
 
 1783. — In this year Potoooooooo retained the prize, 
 beating Sir John Lade's Nottingham. 
 
 1 783. — (October Meeting) Mr. Parker's Anvil beat Lord 
 Foley's Guildford and Mr. O'Kelly's Boudrow, who fell 
 lame. Anvil the favourite, at 1 1 to 8 on him. 
 
 1786. — Mr. O'Kelly's Dungannon beat Mr. Wyndham's 
 Drone. Anvil sold to the Prince of Wales, paid forfeit. 
 
 179 "2. — Duke of Bedford's Dragon beat Mr. Wilson's 
 Creeper and Lord Clermont's Pipator. 
 
 1794.— Mr. Wharton's Coriander, by PotSo's, beat Mr. 
 Wilson's Creeper, who again ran second, realizing the lines 
 of the poet : — 
 
 '• Veilentein sese frustra sectabere canthum, 
 Cum rota posterior ciirras et in axe secundo." 
 
 Pkrs. Sat. V. 71. 
 
 1 795. — The Whip was challenged for in the Second Spring 
 Meeting, by Lord Darlington naming St. George ; and no 
 one being found to encounter the patron Saint of England, 
 the prize was handed over to his lordship. It did not, how- 
 ever, long remain in the possession of the noble owner of 
 Raby, as in the Second October Meeting of the same year 
 it was challenged for by Lord Sackville's Kitt Carr, and 
 passed into his hands. 
 
 1808.— -Lord Grosvenor named his mare Violantc as a 
 
266 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 competitor for the prize ; which not being accepted, it for 
 the fifth time went to Eaton. 
 
 1815. — The Hon. George Watson challenged for, and 
 came into possession of, the Whip, naming his horse 
 Pericles. 
 
 1822. — Mr. Lechmere Charlton took the prize without 
 a contest, having challenged with his OrvUle horse Master 
 Henry. 
 
 In 1823 Lord Foley named Sultan by SeHm, and became 
 possessor of the Whip. In this year Master Henry paid 
 £400 in forfeits to Sultan. 
 
 In 1827 Lord Anson challenged with Sligo. 
 
 In 1828 Colonel Wilson's Lamplighter, 5 yrs. old, re- 
 ceived forfeit from Lord Cleveland's Memnon, 6 yrs. old. 
 
 In 1829 Mr. Gully's Mameluke beat Colonel Wilson's 
 Lamplighter. 
 
 The Whip may be challenged for on the Tuesday or 
 Wednesday in the Second Spring, or on Monday or Tuesday 
 in the Second October Meeting in each year; and the 
 acceptance must be signed, or the Whip resigned, before 
 the end of the same meeting. If challenged for and ac- 
 cepted in the Spring, to be run for on the Tuesday in the 
 Second October Meeting following ; and if in the October, 
 on the Thursday in the Second Spring Meeting following, 
 B.C., weight lOst,, and to stake 200 sovs. each, play or 
 
 pay- 
 
 At the first October Meeting, 1768, Augustus Henry, 
 Duke of Grafton, who died highly respected May 4, 1811, 
 entertained a large party of noblemen and gentlemen, prin- 
 cipally members of the Jockey Club, at Euston Hall, who 
 then and there determined upon the purchase of what was 
 in those days considered a splendid gold cup, to be called 
 the Jockey Club Gold Cup ; each member, twenty-seven 
 in number, subscribing five guineas each. The late Sir 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS, 267 
 
 Charles Bunbury — the George Bentinck of the turf of that 
 day, as far as spirit and liberality are concerned — was ap- 
 pointed treasurer. The following are the names of the 
 subscribers : — Dukes of Ancaster, Bridgewater, Grafton, 
 Kingston, and Northumberland ; Lords Barrymore, Boling- 
 broke, Grosvenor, Molyneux, Ossory, and Rockingham; 
 Sirs Charles Bunbury, L. Dundas, John Moore ; Colonel 
 Parker ; Messrs. Blake, Fenwick, March, Meynell, Ogilvy, 
 Panton, jun., Pigot, Pratt, Shafto, Stapleton, Vernon, and 
 Wentworth. 
 
 In 1768 Mr. Vernon's Marquis won the Jockey Club 
 Cup, beating three others. 
 
 In 1769 Mr. Shafto's Goldfinder gained the prize, beat- 
 ing Marquis, the winner of the previous year, and four 
 others ; four paying forfeit. 
 
 In 1770 Mr. Shafto's Goldfinder walked over. On 
 the following day he broke down in his gallop, or he was 
 to have started for the King's Plate against Eclipse. Gold- 
 finder possessed great speed and power, was never beat, nor 
 paid forfeit. He was sold to Sir Charles Sedley in 1771 
 for 1,350 guineas. 
 
 In 1771 the Duke of Cumberland's Juniper beat a field 
 of four, three paying forfeit. But the cup was not doomed 
 to grace the royal sideboard long, for in 1772 Lord Ossory 's 
 gr. f. Circe won it in a race reduced to a match ; the Duke 
 of Cumberland's Pompey paying forfeit. 
 
 In 1773 Mr. Foley's Pumpkin won it, beating two 
 horses, two paying forfeit. One of the latter was Mr. 
 Blake's Firetail, who in the preceding Spring Meeting had 
 beat Pumpkin, 8st. each, R.M., 500 guineas. 5 to 2 on 
 the loser. 
 
 In 1774 Lord Grosvenor's Mexico was proclaimed win- 
 ner, beating two others ; one paid forfeit. 4 to I against 
 the winner. 
 
268 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 In 1775 his lordship was again successful. Sweetbrier, 
 by Syphon, walking over ; it being his last appearance upon 
 the turf. Sweetbrier was never beat. In 1790 he was 
 sold at Tattersall's for 20 guineas. 
 
 In 1776 the star of good fortune still shone on the house 
 of Grosvenor ; Sweetwilliam, by Syphon, walking over for 
 the cup. 
 
 In 1777 Lord Ossory's Dorimant walked over. 
 
 In 1779 and 1780 Lord Grosvenor's PotSo's walked 
 over. 
 
 The conditions are, that the cup may be challenged for 
 on the Monday and Tuesday in the First Spring Meeting 
 in each year ; to be run for over the B.C. on Tuesday in 
 the First October Meeting following, by horses, &c., the 
 property of members of the Jockey Club ; four years old 
 carrying 8st. 71b., five years old 9st. 21b., six years old and 
 aged 9st. 61b. Each person, at the time of challenging, is 
 to subscribe his name to a paper, to be hung up in the 
 Coffee-room at Newmarket, and deliver up to the keeper of 
 the Match-book the name or description of the horse, &c., 
 sealed up, which shall be kept till six o'clock on the Satur- 
 day evening of that week ; and if not accepted, or only one 
 challenger, to be returned unopened ; but if accepted, or if 
 more than one challenger, to be then opened and declared 
 a match or sweepstakes of £200 each, play or pay. If 
 the challenge be not accepted, the cup to be delivered to 
 the keeper of the Match-book, in the meeting ensuing the 
 challenge, fur the person who may become entitled to the 
 same. 
 
 In order to lay before my readers the system that was 
 adopted during the last century and at the commencement 
 of the present, I have selected some of the most extra- 
 ordinary races upon record ; and, in looking them over, 
 it will be seen that their principal characteristics were 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 269 
 
 length of course, weights, "and heats. In the days we 
 live in, heats are nearly abolished ; there are few races of 
 more than three miles, and the weights, except for Welter 
 Stakes, gentlemen riders, never exceed ten stone. How it 
 could have paid a plater in the days of Queen Anne to run 
 twelve or sixteen miles for £30, £40, or £50, I know not. 
 The wear and tear of the animal, added to the expense qi* 
 training, the jockey, and winning money, must have left 
 what was usually called a Flemish account, but which more 
 recently may be called a Pennsylvanian one, id est, no 
 balance in hand. But proceed we with a card and a sheet 
 list of races in the olden time. 
 
 1709.— York (on Clifton and Rawcliffe Ings). A Gold 
 Cup, value £50, for six years old horses, 12st. each, four- 
 mile heats. 
 
 Mr. Metcalfe's b. h. Wart 1 1 3 
 
 Mr. Heblethwaite's gr. h. Stout 2 2 1 
 
 Mr. Wilke's b. h. Captain 3 3 2 
 
 Colonel NorclifFe's b.fh. Squirrel 4 dis. 
 
 According to the rules of racing at this period, the horse 
 which had won the first and second heats was obliged to 
 start for a third, and to save his distance to entitle him to 
 the prize. 
 
 1711. — York. Sir W. Strickland's gr. h. Castaway 
 won a Plate of £20, four-mile heats, beating a large field 
 of horses. 
 
 1714.— York, Friday, July 30. A Plate of £40 for 
 aged horses; list. each. Four-mile heats. 
 
 Her Majesty Queen Anne's Star 3 3 1 1 
 
 The Lord Chamberlain's Merlin 1 2 3 2 
 
 The Hon. Mr. Cecil's Creeper 2 1 2 3 
 
 During the running on the following Monday, an express 
 arrived with the news of Queen Anne's death. 
 
270 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 1717.— York, August. A Plate of £40, four -mile 
 heats. 
 
 Mr. Pulleyn's Sly 1 1 1 
 
 Lord Huntingdon's Bully Rock 2 2 2 
 
 Mr. Stapleton's Bridget 3 3 3 
 
 Mr. Howard's Crutches dis. 
 
 High odds on Crutches, who was leading, near the 
 distance-post ; when his rider, Thomas Duck, intentionally 
 threw himself off. The horse won the heat notwithstand- 
 ing, but was deemed distanced by not bringing in his 
 weight. 
 
 17 18. — Newmarket. Duke of Wharton's Chance and 
 Lord Hillsborough's gr. m., 9st. each ; 'four miles ; 500gs., 
 h. ft. ; ran a dead heat. 
 
 1719. — Newmarket, April. Three Matches, six miles 
 each. 
 
 1719. — Newmarket, October. Two Matches of six 
 miles each, one of eight. In the latter the Duke of Devon- 
 shire's b. m. by Barto, beat Mr. Frampton's Nutmeg, 8st. 
 61b. each ; 150 guineas, h. ft. 
 
 1720. — Newmarket, March, One Match of eight miles, 
 six of six miles, and two of five miles. In one of the six- 
 mile races Lord Drogheda's Galloway beat Mr. Fagg's 
 pony. Owners on. 50 guineas, h. ft. 
 
 1720. — Newmarket, September. Duke of Wharton's 
 Coneyskins, list. lOlb., against Lord Hillsborough's 
 Speedwell, 1 2st. ; twelve-mile heats, 1 000 guineas, h. ft. 
 The match was drawn. Mr. Frampton's Hobler, 1 1st. lib., 
 received forfeit from Lord Drogheda's Pickle Herring, 11 St.; 
 eight miles, 200 guineas, h. ft. Lord Hillsborough's Win- 
 chester beat Lord Drogheda's Beelzebub, Sst. 3lb. each ; 
 eight miles, 200 guineas, h. ft. 
 
 1721. — Newmarket, October. Mr. Panton's Molly, 
 9st. 21b., received forfeit from Lord Drogheda's Tickle 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 271 
 
 Pitcher, 9st. ; four miles. 200 guineas, h. ft. Mr. Panton's 
 Molly, 9st. 31b., received forfeit from Lord Drogheda's 
 Tickle Pitcher, 9st. ; four miles, 200 guineas, h. ft. Mr. 
 Panton's Molly, 9st. 5lb., received forfeit from Lord Drog- 
 heda's Tickle Pitcher, 9st. ; four miles, 200 guineas, h. ft. 
 The second of these three matches was to have been run 
 forty-four minutes after the first, and the third at the 
 same interval after the second. 
 
 1722. — Newmarket, October. Mr. Panton's Molly beat 
 Mr. Morgan's Bean, 9st. each ; six miles, 300 guineas. 
 Duke of Devonshire's Childers, 7 years old, beat Lord 
 Drogheda's Chanter, 12 years old, lOst. each; six miles, 
 1 ,000 guineas. Mr. Cotton's Fox beat Lord Drogheda's 
 Snip mare, 8st. 61b. ; six miles, 150 guineas, h. ft. Lord 
 Hillsborough's Sparks received forfeit from Colonel Pitt's 
 Merry Pintle, 8st. each ; six miles, 200 guineas, h. ft. 
 Mr. Clarke's Tinker received forfeit in a racing match from 
 Colonel Pitt; 7st. each; twelve miles, 500 guineas, h. ft. 
 
 1723. — Newmarket, October. Town Plate of 20 gs,, 
 1 2st. each ; four-mile heats. 
 
 Mr. Glassock's Neal 2 2 1 1 
 
 Mr. Morgan's Ruffler 1 1 2dis« 
 
 Lord Drogheda's Othello, whose occupation went in 
 the second heat. 
 
 1724. — Newmarket, September. Lord Halifax's Red 
 Robin and Lord W. Manners's Venus, lOst. each; six 
 miles, 100 guineas, h. ft. ; ran a dead heat. 
 
 1727.— Grantham. The Whimsical Plate of £40, 
 added to a Sweepstakes. The horse that wins the first heat 
 to win the plate, and the remainder to run for the sweep- 
 stakes. 
 
 1728. — Newmarket. Colonel Howard's ch. m., by a 
 foreign horse, won the King's Plate, lOst. each; four 
 miles. 
 
272 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 1732. — Newmarket. Mr. Hutchin's b. m. beat Mr. 
 Levin's b. m., 7st. 71b. ; twelve miles, 50 guineas, h. ft. 
 
 1745.— Chester, April. The annual City Plate, value 
 £30, for any horse carrying lOst. exclusive of saddle and 
 bridle ; four-mile heats. 
 
 Mr. Brograve's Smiling Billy 5 1 4 1 
 
 Mr. Parker's Shrimp 7 2 1 2 
 
 Sir K. Harpur's Darling 1 5 5 3 
 
 Six others started. 
 1746. — September, Curragh of Kildare. His Majesty's 
 Plate of I (iQ guineas for any horse carrying 12st. ; four- 
 mile heats. 
 
 Mr. Keating's Grenadier 5 4 1 1 
 
 Mr. Dillon's Ground Joy 4 1 3 2 
 
 Mr. Johnson's Forfeit 1 3 5 3 
 
 And two others. Heavyish work, sixteen miles, with 
 12st. 
 
 1747. — Burford, September. £50 for five and six 
 years old, which had not won a Royal Plate ; four-mile 
 heats. 
 
 Mr.Keek's Lady Charlotte 5 1 2 1 
 
 Sir J. Moore's Shadow 4 2 1 2 
 
 Mr. Dutton's Rat 1 3 4 dr. 
 
 And two others, drawn third and fourth heat. 
 1749. — Newmarket, October. A £50 Plate for five 
 and six year olds ; four- mile heats. 
 
 Lord Portmore's Skin, by Crab, 6 years old 3 4 1 1 
 
 Mr. Greville's Noble, 5 years old 4 1 3 2 
 
 Duke of Kingston's Jolly Roger 1 3 2 3 
 
 Duke of Hamilton's Chance 2 2 dr. 
 
 1761.— Carlisle, May. £50 for four year olds, 9st. 
 each. Two-mile heats. 
 
 Dr. Dunn's Cadabora 1 7 3 1 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 273 
 
 Mr. Daltou's Bold Burton 8 5 6 1 2 
 
 Mr. Lupton's Stella 3 1 4 5 3 3 
 
 Five others started. One fell; another ran against a 
 post, and hurt his rider so much that he expired the same 
 night. 
 
 In 1793 Mr. Donner's b c. by Drone (afterwards called 
 Meanwell) ran fourteen heats for three plates within five 
 weeks ; viz., September 11, at Stockton, four heats; Octo- 
 ber 3, at Boroughbridge, five heats — the third a dead heat ; 
 and lastly, October 16, at Malton, five heats — the fourth a 
 dead heat. The same jockey (J. Shepherd) won both of 
 the five heats ; ridiog Drowsy, by Drone, at Boroughbridge, 
 and Mr. Donner's b. c. by Drone at Malton. After that 
 task, what's in a name? A drone colt running two such 
 races is prodigious ! 
 
 1797. — Doncaster, September. One hundred pounds ; 
 w'eight for age. Two mile heats. 
 
 Mr. G. Crompton's Warter 5 .5 1 1 
 
 Sir C. Turner's Pepper Pot 3 1 5 2 
 
 Sir F. Staudish's Stamford 1 3 6 2 dr. 
 
 Four others started. 5 to 1 against the winner at starting. 
 After each heat the betting fluctuated pretty considerably. 
 
 1800. — Egham, September. The Ladies' Plate, for 
 two, three, and four-year olds. Two mile heats. 
 
 Mr. Fletcher's Allegranti, by Pigeon, three years old 
 
 (W. Chifney) 11 
 
 Mr. Slark's Lady Skirmish, by Pegasus, three years old 3 3 2 2 
 
 Sir C. Bunbury' Gig, by Whiskey, three years old . . 2 dr. 
 
 1803.~Cardiff, July. A free Plate of £50. Four 
 mile heats : — 
 
 Mr. Phillipps's Rolla, by Overton, six years old .... 1 1 
 Colonel Kingscotes Tango, by Buzzard, four years old 2 2 
 Mr. .Tenner's Highlander, by Rattler, six year? old . . 3 3 
 
 After the ttvo dead heats, Colonrl Kiiigscote and Mr. 
 
 T 
 
274 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 Jenner divided the stakes. Sixteen miles for £25 rayther 
 sharp work. 
 
 Six days afterwards, Highlander had a twenty mile job 
 for the Stewards' Plate of £50, at Carmarthen, beating 
 RoUa, who won the first heat, but fell and was distanced in 
 the third. The brave Highlander got the second heat> 
 King Edward by Pegasus the third, and the fourth proved 
 a dead heat (query, dead beat) between Plighlander and 
 King Edward ; the fifth was won by Highlander. 
 
 1804. — Lichfield, September. £50 for three and four- 
 year-olds, that never won a plate of greater value. Two- 
 mile heats. 
 
 Mr. Clifton's Sir Ulic M'Killigut, by Whiskey, 
 
 four years old 4 4 1 1 
 
 Mr. Coventry's Laura, bv Pegasus, four years old 13 2 
 
 Mr. Keller man's Mary, by Precipitate, four years old 3 3 4 3 dr. 
 Mr. Brookes's Optician, by Telescope, three years 
 
 old 2 2 dr. 
 
 1806. — Bilbury, June. Handicap Plate of £50. Heats, 
 the new mile. 
 
 Mr. Douglas's Ducat 5 3 1 1 
 
 H.R. H. The Prince of Wales's Pedestrian 10 3 
 
 Mr. Mellishs Norod 4 2 
 
 Mr. Lindon's La Mancha 3 2 dr. 
 
 Duke of St. Alban's b. m. by Young Eclipse 4 dr. 
 
 1807.— Malton Craven Meeting, March. £50 for all 
 ages. Two-mile heats. 
 
 Mr. N. Hodgson's Lady Mary, by Beningbrough, six 
 
 years old 1 1 
 
 Mr. Marris's Sir Sampson, by Stamford, three years 
 
 old 2 dr. 
 
 Six miles for a three-year-old ! " Train a child how he 
 should go !" 
 
 1809. — Leicester, September. The Burgesses' Plate of 
 £50 Four-mile heats. 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 275 
 
 Lord Lowther's Hylas, by Beningbrough, five 
 
 years old 2 1 1 
 
 SirT. Stanley's Viper, by Serpent, five years old . 1 3 2 dr. 
 
 Duke of Rutland's Ned, by Teddy, four years old 1 3 3 dr. 
 
 1816.— Newton, June. A Plate of £70, the gift of 
 T. Blackburn, Esq., weight for age. Three-mile heats. 
 
 8ir T. Stanley's Charioteer, by Young Chariot, four 
 
 - years old 3 4 1 1 
 
 Mr. Sykes's Outcry, by Camillus, five years old ... . 2 2 
 Mr. Garforth's by Camillus, dam by Ruler, four years 
 
 old dr. 
 
 Mr. Fletcher's Viceroy, by Sancho, six years old .... 4 3 dr. 
 
 1820. — Newcastle, Staffordshire, August. Handicap 
 Sweepstakes of 5 guineas each, with 50 guineas added, for 
 all ages. Heats, twice round and a distance. 
 
 Sir J. G. Egerton's Astbury, by Langton 3 3 3 1 1 
 
 Mr. Mytton's Handel, by Governor (afterwards 
 
 Theodore Majocchi) 2 2 
 
 Sir W. Wvnn's Tarragon, by Haphazard 3 dr. 
 
 Sir T. Stanley's Cedric, by Walton 4 dr. 
 
 The horses were handicapped by Dr. Bellyse, of Audlem 
 Cheshire, the Honourable Henry Rous of that day ; and 
 furnished evidence of his knowledge of the turf, Handel 
 and Tarragon running three dead heats. 
 
 1825. — Wells, July. Sweepstakes of £5 each, with 
 £30 added. Heats, one mile and a distance. Four 
 subscribers. 
 
 Mr. Dundas's b. c. by Pyramus 1 1 
 
 Mr. Billy's Parody 2 dr. 
 
 Mr. Small's Eaglet fell 
 
 The Pyramus colt walked over for the last heat, Mr. 
 Dundas dividing the stakes with Mr. Dilly. Small profit 
 this, after the expenses of jockey, winning money, &c. 
 1827.— Newmarket, May. Handicap PUe A. F. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 Mr. Scott's Stonehewer's Goshawk 1 
 
 Mr. Wyndham's Stumps 2 
 
 Mr. Payne's colt by Octavius 3 dr. 
 
 Three others started. Some money must have changed 
 hands, as before the race it was 5 to 1 against the winner. 
 After the first dead heat, 6 to 4 on Stumps ; after the 
 second dead heat, 5 to 4 on Stumps. Lots of stumping-up 
 that day. 
 
 Among the curiosities of the turf I find the following 
 names : — At Malton, 1735, Mr, Parson's " I am little, pity 
 my condition." At Salisbury, 1742, " Coughing Polly," 
 and "Peggy grieves me." At Hereford, 1743, "Have 
 patience and you'll see." These are worthy the attention 
 of some of our modern name-givers, who call their horses 
 — " I wish you may get it;" "Stop awhile, says Slow;" 
 and " To bed, to bed, says Sleepy-head." 
 
 In 1737 I find a match between Lord Portmore's Squirt 
 and Lord Lonsdale's Sultan, crossing and jostling barred/ 
 
 To show what gentlemen jockeys did in by-gone days, I 
 see that in April, 1745, Lord Byron's Robin Hood beat 
 Lord R. S. Manners' b. h., ridden by the owners ; twelve 
 stone each : four-mile heats ; 200 guineas. And again, 
 Mr, Parson's b. h, beats Lord Byron's gr. m., and Duke 
 of Kingston's b. h. ; fourteen stone ; owners to ride. 
 
 In January, 1795, a match was run over the race-course 
 at Doncaster, one four-mile heat, for a stake of £200 
 guineas, between Mr. Sitwell's grey mare and Mr. John- 
 son's ch. gelding, carrying sixteen stone each ; won by the 
 former. The chronicler of those days adds : " This was a 
 hard race, and most powerfully contested ; the extra high 
 weights exceeding the customary annals of racing 
 etiquette !" 
 
 We cannot conclude this account of the turf without 
 recording two celebrated matches that took place at New- 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 277 
 
 market and York ; in the former of which the late Duke of 
 Queensbury figured, and in the latter Mrs. Thornton, who, 
 though defeated in her first match, finally bore off the bell. 
 
 In Mr. Pick's " Historical Racing Calendar" we find the 
 following account of the carriage match, made by the Earl of 
 March, afterwards Duke of Queensbury, and Earl of Eglin- 
 toun, with Theobald Taaffe and Andrew Spoule, Esqs., for 
 1000 guineas. "The conditions of the articles were, to 
 get a carriage with four running wheels, and a person in or 
 upon it, drawn by four horses, nineteen miles in one hour ; 
 their lordships were to give two months' notice what week it 
 should be done in, and had the liberty of choosing any one 
 day in that week." 
 
 The match was performed on Newmarket Heath on the 
 29th of August, 1750, in fifty-three minutes and twenty- 
 seven seconds. The machine, with a postilion of Lord 
 March's fixed thereon, weighed about twenty-four stone. 
 The horses were all properly trained for racing ; the two 
 leaders, including riders, saddles, and harness, carried 
 about eight stone each, and the wheel horses about 
 seven stone each. Tawney (late Mr. Greville's), the near 
 leader, was ridden by W. Everett, Mr. Panton's groom, who 
 had the conducting of the pace. The off leader, Roderick 
 Random (late Mr. Stamford's) ; the near wheeler, Chance 
 (late Duke of Hamilton's) ; and the off one, Little Dan 
 (late Mr. Thompson's, of Beverley, Yorkshire), were ridden 
 by three boys, who had bolsters to preserve their shoulders. 
 A groom, dressed in crimson velvet, rode before to clear 
 the way. The postilion was dressed in a white satin waist- 
 coat, black velvet cap, and red stockings ; and Mr. Everett, 
 and the three boys that rode the horses, were in blue satin 
 waistcoats, buckskin breeches, with white silk stockings, 
 and black velvet caps. The traces of the machine (by an in- 
 genious contrivance) ran into boxes with springs, so that when 
 
278 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 any of the horses hung back, they prevented the traces from 
 getting under their legs, and a rope went from the further 
 end of the carriage to the pole, being brought back 
 under it, to keep it steady. By the side of each wheel 
 there were tin cases with oil dropping on the axletree, to 
 guard against firing. The boy placed thereon was only to 
 fulfil the articles. It started about seven in the morning, 
 near the six-mile house, and ran between the Warren and 
 Rubbing-houses, came through at the ditch called the 
 Running Gap, then turned to the right, and ran three 
 times a corded piece of ground four miles, and then back 
 to the place it started from. The first four miles were ran 
 in nine minutes. The match was performed before a great 
 number of spectators, without any person attempting to 
 ride with it, except Mr. George Tuting and Lord March's 
 groom, who were to assist in case of accident. 
 
 The late Sir Charles Turner's leaping-match, made with 
 the Earl of March, for 1000 guineas, and performed on 
 Fell, near Richmond, Yorkshire. " The conditions of the 
 match were, that Sir Charles Turner should ride ten miles 
 within the hour, in which he was to take forty leaps ; each 
 leap to be one yard, one quarter, and seven inches high." 
 Sir Charles performed it on a Galloway, with great ease, in 
 thirty-six minutes. 
 
 We now approach the celebrated Thornton match, which 
 created so great an interest at the time ; and certainly the 
 novelty of a lady riding over a public race-course, against, 
 in one instance, a professional jockey, was one that surprised 
 not a little the weak minds of the sportsmen of that day. 
 Certainly, as far as horsemanship, courage, judgment, and 
 seat went, few could be found in any period to have com- 
 peted with this fair equestrian. 
 
 The match took place on the last day of York Races, 
 August 25th, 1804, for 500 guineas, and 1000 guineas 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 279 
 
 bye ; four miles ; between Colonel Thornton's ch. h. Vin- 
 garillo, and Mr. Flint's br. h. Thornville. Mrs. Thornton 
 to ride her weight against Mr. Flint's. Three days before 
 the races, the fair jockey, mounted upon Vingarillo, took a 
 four mile gallop. She was dressed in mazarine blue, and 
 wore a neat black jockey-cap, looked very well, and was in 
 high spirits. Starting off in a canter, she sat her horse 
 firmly, drew him out to the top of his speed, and showed 
 that she had all his powers perfectly in her command. 
 All the knowing ones were astonished at the style of 
 horsemanship in which she performed her gallop, and 
 declared it equal to any Chifney or Buckle, of Newmarket 
 celebrity. Unfortunately, when within about three dis- 
 tances from home, the saddle-girths gave way, and she came 
 with considerable violence to the ground. By great good 
 luck, the bold equestrian did not sustain the slightest 
 injury. But to the race. " Never did we witness," says 
 the chronicler of that day, " such an assemblage of people 
 as were drawn together on the above occasion — one 
 hundred thousand at least. Nearly ten times the number 
 appeared on Knavesmere that did on the day when Bay 
 Malton ran, or when Eclipse went over the course, leaving 
 the two best horses of the day a mile and a-half behind. 
 Indeed, expectation was raised to the highest pitch from 
 the novelty of the match. Thousands from every part of 
 the country thronged to the ground. In order to keep the 
 course as clear as possible, several additional people were 
 employed ; and, much to the credit of the military, 
 a party of the 6th Light Dragoons, who were on the same 
 duty were unquestionably the cause of many lives being 
 saved. About four o'clock Mrs. Thornton appeared, full 
 of spirit, her horse led by Colonel Thornton ; afterwards 
 appeared Mr. Flint. They started a little past four o'clock. 
 
280 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 The lady took the lead for upwards of three miles in a most 
 capital style; her horse, however, had much the shorter 
 stroke of the two, hut when within a mile from home, Mr. 
 Elint came up, and passed her. Mrs. Thornton used 
 every exertion ; but, finding it impossible to win the 
 race, she pulled up, in a sportsmanlike style, when within 
 about two distances. Before the race, the odds in favour 
 of the lady were 5 and 6 to 4 ; and in running the first 
 three miles they got up to 2 to 1. During the last mile 
 the tables turned, and Mr. Flint was backed at high odds. 
 Never, surely, did a woman ride in a better style. It was 
 difficult to say whether her jockeyship, her dress, or her 
 beauty, were most admired — the whole was perfect. 
 Mrs. Thornton wore a leopard-coloured body, with blue 
 sleeves, the rest buff, and blue cap. Mr. Flint rode in white. 
 The race was run in nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds. 
 Thus ended the most interesting event ever witnessed 
 upon Khavesmere. No words can express the disappoint- 
 ment felt at the defeat of Mrs. Thornton. The spirit she 
 displayed, and the good humour with which she bore her 
 defeat, have greatly diminished the joy of many of the win- 
 ners. From the very superior style in which the lady took 
 her gallop on the previous Wednesday, betting was greatly 
 in her favour ; her close-seated riding astonished the be- 
 holders, and inspired a general confidence in her success. 
 Not less than £200,000 were pending upon this match." 
 
 The following letter shortly afterwards appeared in the 
 York Herald, which shows the pleasantry, as well as the 
 pluck of the lady. We ought to mention that Mr. Flint 
 was brother-in-law to the intrepid horsewoman, having 
 married her sister 
 
 " Mr. Editor, — Having read in your paper that Mr. Flint paid 
 me every attention that could be shown upon the occasion of the race, 
 I request you will submit the following elements of politeness to the 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 281 
 
 gentlemen of the turf, for them to sanction or reject, upon any future 
 match of this kind taking place : — 
 
 " Elemknt 1.— Mr. Baker, who kindly oflered to ride round with 
 me, on account of the dangerous accident I met with on the 
 Wednesday before, from my saddle turning round, was positively 
 and peremptorily refused this permission, 
 
 " Element 2. — At the starting-post the most distant species of 
 common courtesy was studiously avoided ; and I received a sort 
 of word of command from Mr. Flint, as thus — ' Keep that side 
 Ma'am!' For a morning's ride this might be complimentary ; 
 but it was here depriving me of the whip hand. 
 
 " Element 3. — When my horse broke down in the terrible way he 
 did, all the course must have witnessed the very handsome man- 
 ner in which Mr. Flint brought me in, i. e., left me out, by dis- 
 tancing me as much as he possibly could. 
 
 " If these should be received as precedents, the art of riding against 
 ladies will be made most completely easy. 
 
 " CHALLENGE.— After all this, I challenge Mr. Flint to ride the 
 same match, in all its terms, over the same course next year ; his 
 horse, Brown Thornville, against any one he may choose to select out 
 of three horses I shall hunt this season. 
 
 "Alicia Thornton." 
 
 " Thornville Royal, Sept. 1, 1804." 
 
 In the August Meeting of the following year, at York, 
 Mrs. Thornton's two matches came off. The first was one 
 for four hogsh:!ads of claret, 2000 guineas, h. ft., and 
 600 guineas, p. p. (which the lady stood herself). Colonel 
 Thornton's Mr. Mills, alias Clausum Frigit, by Otho (rode 
 by Mrs. Thornton), walked over ; Mr. Bromford having 
 declined to ride. The second was entered as follows : — 
 Colonel Tliornton's Louisa, by Pegasus, out of Nelly, 
 9st. 6lbs. (rode by Mrs. Thornton), against Mr. Bromford's 
 Allegro, by Pegasus, out of Allegranti's dam, 13st. 61bs.^ 
 Mr. Buckle to ride. Two miles. 500 guineas. The fol- 
 lowing account of the race, from an old record, will not, 
 we think, be uninteresting to our readers : — 
 
28 2 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 " Mrs. Thornton appeared dressed for the occasion in a 
 purple coat and waistcoat, long nankeen coloured skirts, 
 purple shoes, and embroidered stockings; she was every 
 way in health and spirits, and seemed eager for the decision 
 of the match. Buckle was dressed in a blue cap, with 
 blue-bodied jacket, and white sleeves. At half-past three 
 they started ; the s^equestrian (as the late Charles Mathews 
 was wont to call female equestrians), taking the lead, which 
 she kept for some time. Buckle then put in trial his 
 jockeyship, and passed the lady, keeping in front for only a 
 few lengths, when Mrs. Thornton, by the most excellent — 
 we may truly say- — horsemanship, pushed forwards, and 
 came in in a style far superior to anything of the kind we 
 ever witnessed ; winning her race by half a neck. The 
 manner of Mrs. Thornton's riding is certainly of the finest 
 description ; indeed, her close-seat and perfect management 
 of her horse, her bold and steady jockeyship, amazed one of 
 the most crowded courses we have for a long time wit- 
 nessed ; and on her winning she was hailed with the most 
 enthusiastic shouts of congratulation." Rather a good 
 afternoon's work, say we, £2205, and four hogsheads of 
 claret. 
 
 In conclusion, I am too happy to find that the turf is 
 flourishing. Her Majesty's patronage at Ascot tends con- 
 siderably to the encouragement of horse-racing, as did that 
 of George the Fourth, when Prince of Wales, until the unfor- 
 tunate event occurred that deprived Newmarket of the pre- 
 sence of his royal highness. He was, indeed, iinToyapnTnq 
 (^aaiXivQ, the horse - delighting prince of the Greek 
 poet. 
 
 The Queen's Royal Consort has wisely abstained from 
 mixing himself up with turf affairs ; albeit the Prince 
 encourages hunting, is a first-rate shot, and a good practi- 
 cal farmer. The country, to whom his Royal Highness is 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 283 
 
 allied by the dearest ties, looks up with gratitude to the 
 patrons of field sports, to those who, sympathizing with 
 their less fortunate brethren, support the manly exercises 
 and amusements that our ancestors have handed down to 
 us. May they never degenerate in our days ! 
 
 The space allotted to me prevents my entering into a 
 detail of the racing of the present day ; suffice it to say, 
 that through the strenuous exertions of that great supporter 
 of the turf, the late Lord George Bentinck, racing has been 
 brought to great perfection. There has been a greater sum 
 of money subscribed for the last three years, for Epsom, 
 Ascot, Doncaster, and Goodwood, than has ever previously 
 been known ; more horses are in training ; and the system 
 of punctuality in starting, which is as necessary upon the 
 course as it is in private life, is now being carried out at 
 almost all the great meetings. Roguery has been exposed, 
 Levanters have been warned off, and the whole system has 
 a more healthy aspect. Despite, then, of what modern 
 innovators may say, the turf will flourish, so long as it is 
 supported by such men as the Dukes of Richmond, Bed- 
 ford, and Beaufort, the Marquis of Exeter, Earls of Eglin- 
 toun and Glasgow, General Peel, and others, whose names 
 would swell a column. 
 
284 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 COURSING. 
 
 "Thy greyhounds are as swift as breathed stags, ay, fleeter than the 
 roe." — Introduction to Taming of the Shrew. 
 
 Among the dogs which attended our ancestors to the 
 chase, none seem to have been so highly prized as grey- 
 hounds. They were, indeed, the favourite species during 
 the middle ages. When a nobleman travelled, he never 
 went without these dogs : the hawk he bore upon his hand? 
 and the greyhound, which ran before him, were certain in- 
 dications of his rank : and in ancient rolls, payments appear 
 to have been often made in these valuable animals. They were 
 chiefly useful in the pursuit of the hart, stag, and roebuck. 
 Dr. Caius, the able assistant of Bufl'on, tells us the lepora- 
 rius, takes its name quod pracipui gradus sit inter canes, 
 the first in rank among dogs, and that it was formerly 
 esteemed so, appears from the forest laws of King Canute, 
 who enacted that no one under the degree of a gentleman 
 should presume to keep one. And still more strongly 
 from an old Welsh saying, " Weth ei Walch ei Earch a'i 
 adwaener Bowbeddeig," which for the benefit of English 
 country gentlemen we translate : " You may know a gentle- 
 man by his hawk, his horse, and his greyhound." Frois- 
 sart tells an anecdote which does not reflect much credit 
 upon the fidelity of this dog ; for when Richard the Second 
 was confined in Flint Castle, his favourite deserted him, and 
 fawned on his rival, Bolingbroke. This animal according 
 to an ancient authority (Wynkyn de Werde, 1496), ought 
 to answer the following description: — 
 " Headed like a snake, 
 
 And neck yd hke a drake, 
 
 Footyd like a cat, 
 
 Tayled like a ratte, 
 
 Syded like a teme. 
 
 And chyned like a bieme." 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 285 
 
 We find that at a very early period in our history, no 
 country gentleman in the time of the courtier-snubbing 
 Dane, Canute, was ever seen abroad without his hawk 
 on his hand and his greyhound by his side. Henry 
 the Second, John, the three Edwards, Queen Ehzabeth (in 
 whose reign the laws of coursing were established by the 
 Duke of Norfolk), and Charles the First, were all devoted 
 to that race. The Isle of Dogs, now converted to purposes 
 of commerce, derived its name from being the place where 
 the spaniels and hounds of Edward the Third were 
 kept : and this locality was selected as being contiguous to 
 Waltham and other Royal forests in Essex, whither his 
 Majesty proceeded from his sporting and hunting quarters 
 at Greenwich, in pursuit of woodcocks and red deer. 
 
 The story of the faithful Gelert, the favounte greyhound 
 of Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, is well known to most of 
 my readers. How graphic is the description that William 
 Spencer gives of the " hound smeared with gore,'' 
 of the "frantic father plunging his vengeful sword in 
 Gelert's side," then his remorse after finding his " cherub 
 boy unhurt by the side of a great wolf " tremendous still in 
 death" — 
 
 " Ah ! what was then Llewellyn's pain ! 
 For now the truth was clear: 
 The gallant hound the wolf had slain 
 To save Llewellyn's heir." 
 
 In the days of Elizabeth, when the virgin Queen was 
 not herself disposed to take an active part in the plea- 
 sures of the chase, she usually stationed herself at the 
 window to see the deer coursed. At Cowdray, Sus- 
 sex, the present seat of Lord Egmont, formerly the 
 property of Lord Montecute, the Queen witnessed from a 
 
286 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 turret " sixteen bucks, all having fayre lawe, pulled down 
 by hounds." 
 
 In ancient times the coursing of deer was of two 
 kinds — the paddock, and forest. For the former a 
 brace of greyhounds were only used, with a mongrel, whose 
 business it was to drive the deer before they were slipped. 
 The paddock was usually a piece of ground paled in within 
 a park, about a mile in length, and a quarter in breadth. 
 At the further end the spectators took up their station, 
 while at the starting-post were houses for the dogs, and 
 pens for the deer. The course was duly marked, and 
 posts were placed at certain distances — the first, called 
 the " Law Post." was one hundred and sixty yards from 
 home — at the quarter and half, came the "Pinching Post," 
 and then the " Ditch," which was made to receive the deer, 
 and save them from their pursuers. 
 
 The articles of coursing were as follow : — " The dogs 
 who are to run the match will be led into the dog-house, and 
 be delivered to the keepers, who are to see them fairly slipt. 
 The owners will draw lots for places. The dog-house door 
 will then be shut, and the deer will be turned out ; after 
 about twenty yards' law, the mongrel will be let loose to 
 hunt the deer forward, who when he passes the law-post, the 
 greyhounds will be slipped. If the deer swerves before he 
 gets to the pinching-post, so that his head is judged to be 
 nearer the dog-house than the ditch, the match will be off, 
 and will be run again three days after. But if there is no 
 such swerve, and the deer runs straight beyond the pinching- 
 post, then the dog which is nearest the deer (should he 
 swerve) gains the contest ; if no swerve happens, then the 
 dog which first leaps the ditch shall be the victor." 
 
 In coursing deer in the forest two ways were adopted : 
 the one from co-ver to cover, and the other upon the open 
 green sward. In the first, some houods were used to make 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 287 
 
 the deer break cover, while the greyhounds were slipped when 
 he got on the open. A relay was often used when the deer 
 went away at too great a distance for one brace ; while on 
 the other hand, if the stag was not of a proper age or size> 
 he was allowed to escape scot free, or rather was permitted 
 to live, so that he might be hunted upon another occasion. 
 In coursing upon the green sward, the keeper selected a 
 deer, which he lodged for the purpose ; and the distance 
 given, depended mainly upon the merits and demerits of the 
 respective animals. 
 
 The English greyhound of the present day differs greatly 
 from the wolf dog of former times. He no longer possesses 
 the ferocity of that race, but has become gentle and passive. 
 Still he comes up to that description given by the great 
 Magician of the North : — 
 
 " Remember'st thou my greyhounds true? 
 O'er holt and hill there never flew, 
 From leash or slip there never sprang 
 More fleet of foot or sure of fang." 
 
 Some years ago, the Earl of Orford, who looked upon the 
 present breed as deficient in game and perseverance, 
 crossed one of his favourite bitches with a bulldog. The 
 female whelps were then put to some of his fleetest 
 stallions ; the result was, that after a certain number 
 of generations all trace of the bull- dog was lost except 
 his courage. This cross is now universally adopted ; and 
 although the noble lord was not a little bull-'ied at the 
 time, for what was then considered a most irregular pro- 
 ceeding he lived to see his plan adopted. An an- 
 cestor of the noble lord's established the Swaffham 
 Co irsing Society in the year 1776, confining the number 
 of members to those of letters in the alphabet; and 
 when any one died, or retired, his place was filled up by 
 ballot. On the decease of the worthy founder, the mem- 
 
288 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 bers of the society unanimously agreed to purchase a silver 
 cup to be run for annually; which was to pass from 
 one to another, like the whip at Newmarket. This, how- 
 ever was given up; and it was agreed that a cup should 
 be purchased by the Society to be run for every November. 
 For many years the pedigrees of the most celebrated 
 greyhounds have been recorded with as much care as the 
 best bred horses upon the turf. This originated with an 
 ancestor of the present Lord Orford's (the late Colonel 
 Thornton), and Major Topham. Czarina, Jupiter, Claret* 
 Snowball, Miller, Schoolboy, and Major, were the property 
 of the two last-mentioned sportsmen, and are entitled to 
 some little notice. Czarina, bred by Lord Orford, and pur- 
 chased after his Lordship's decease by Colonel Thornton, 
 with a view of improving the breed at Thornville Royal, 
 completely answered the purpose. She w^as the dam of 
 Claret and young Czarina, both of whom challenged all 
 Yorkshire, and won their matches. This bitch showed no 
 signs of any progeny until she had completed her thirteenth 
 year, when she produced eight whelps by Jupiter, all of 
 whom lived, and turned out most worthy scions of a dam 
 who had won forty-seven matches, without ever having 
 been beaten. Snowball and Major, two own brothers, 
 by Claret out of a favourite bitch of Major Topham's, 
 proved themselves superior dogs ; Snowball won four cups 
 (couples), and upwards of thirty matches, at Malton and 
 upon the Yorkshire Wolds. He also beat the Scotch 
 Champion, Schoolboy, bred by Sir Charles Bunbury, and 
 was very successful at Newmarket. The Miller, who at 
 nine months old was so heavy, clumsy, and unpromising 
 that no hopes w^ere ever entertained of bringing him 
 into the field, proved the truth of the old adage, that a bad 
 beginning often makes a good ending," for he won seventy- 
 four successive matclies without having been once beaten. 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 289 
 
 but we have not time or space to enumerate the prowess of 
 the greyhounds of the present period or bygone days ; 
 sufSce it to say that the breed has not degenerated, and that 
 coursing is now as popular as it ever was ; and sincerely do 
 we hope to see the time when every farmer, freed from 
 excessive taxation may be enabled to keep greyhounds and 
 " his bit of blood," devoting his leisure hours to that 
 manly and exhilarating sport — coursing. If hares are 
 looked upon as enemies to the farmer, let the latter have 
 at least the amusement and satisfaction of hunting them 
 down. 
 
 Among the most distinguished patrons of coursing may 
 be mentioned the names of the late Duke of Gordon, Lords 
 Orford, Craven, and Rivers, Sir H. P. Dudley, the present 
 Lord Stradbroke, the late Colonel Thornton, and Major 
 Topham, Lord Orford may literally be said to have pos- 
 sessed " the ruling passion strong in death," for on the 
 morning that his lordship's favourite bitch, Czarina, who 
 had started forty- seven times and had always proved victo- 
 rious, was matched in a heavy stake, the noble patient 
 eluded the care of his medical adviser, and appeared on the 
 course. The greyhounds were in the slips, the owner of 
 Czarina was all anxiety : again was she successful ; but at 
 the moment this fresh honour vvas heaped upon her, her 
 kind, though eccentric master, fell from his pony, and, 
 pitching upon his head, was killed. The late Lord Rivers's 
 kennels at Strathfieldsaye were the finest in England, and 
 at one time his lordship carried off every prize: but breeding 
 too much in- and in, and looking for speed more than stout^ 
 ness during the latter years of the noble lord's life, his grey- 
 hounds often suffered defeat. 
 
 There is an old saying, that handsome children seldom 
 grow up beauties; and this remark may be applied to 
 
 u 
 
290 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 greyhounds, for the raw-boned, lean, loose-made, and un- 
 seemly whelps in every point, usually turn out the best- 
 shaped dogs ; whereas those that after three or four months 
 appear round and well-proportioned, are not worth bringing 
 up, as they seldom are either useful or ornamental, swift 
 or comely. It is also generally believed that the female 
 turns out more speedy than the male. At two years old 
 the greyhound is full-grown, and ought to possess the 
 following points: a fine skin, thin hair, long lean head, 
 sharp nose, a full, clear eye, large eyelids, small ears, a long 
 neck, broad breast, body not too long, back straight and 
 square, with a rising in the middle, little belly, broad 
 shoulders, round ribs, strong stern, a round foot with large 
 clefts, and his fore-legs straighter and shorter than his 
 hinder. This prose description will be found quite to come 
 up to the old poetical lines we have quoted at the com- 
 mencement of this paper, and which proves that sportsmen 
 have, in every age, agreed as to the quality of the dog we 
 have thus briefly alluded to. 
 
 Coursing is one of the earliest of field sports in which 
 we were initiated — we still keep up the editorial we — and 
 never shall we forget the day when, mounted upon our 
 pony " King Pepin," we accompanied farmer Halsted, a 
 great lover of the leash, over the Southdown-hills to enjoy 
 a day with his greyhounds. It was during the holidays 
 that this important event took place ; need i say that 
 I hardly closed my eyes during the previous night ? At 
 daylight I started from my bed, and looked out to see 
 whether the morning was fair or frosty. Then with what 
 haste did I deck myself out in my new corduroy breeches, 
 my well-cleaned top-boots, my velveteen shooting-jacket ! 
 and, after eating a hasty meal, run down to the stable to 
 see that my pony was well. There, to my great delight, 
 1 found the worthv farmer in attendance with Hero, Hector, 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 291 
 
 Hebe, and Hellespont, and two or three other brace of as 
 fine greyhounds as ever were seen. 
 
 " Good morning," said the kind-hearted tiller of the soil. 
 " I am happy to see you are not an idle, lazy lie-in-bed. We 
 shall have glorious sport to-day." 
 
 After returning this kind greeting, I led '"'King Pepin" 
 out, mounted him, and proceeded to the South Downs. 
 With what delight did I witness the first course ! Never 
 shall I forget the excitement of my gallop down hills I now 
 scarcely dare crawl along, or the fences I flew over, which 
 at present I fear I should crane at ! Even to this moment I 
 can conjure up that day to my mind's eye : I see Hellespont 
 and Hector dashing gallantly through brakes and bushes ; 
 with what fire and resolution does the latter take a smuse 
 after the timid hare ! See how poor puss turns and doubles, 
 and evades her swift pursuer. Now Hellespont gives the 
 Trojan the go-by. A thicket is in view; the hunted animal 
 shortens her stride, and is about to make a sudden spring, 
 when Hector strikes at her, and in a second has secured 
 his prey. 
 
 Strange as it is, that while all the ingenuity of man 
 has been exercised in bringiug the breed to the greatest 
 perfection, so as to acquire speed, courage, and reso- 
 lution, and every experiment has been tried to train and 
 break-in the dogs, the hare, left to nature, continues to 
 beat the greyhound single-handed. There are exceptions to 
 every rule, and I well recollect upon one occasion the fol- 
 lowing circumstance taking place not far from Stoke, 
 Sussex ; a brace of hares were started by the finder ex- 
 actly at the same moment, one taking to the right and the 
 other to the left of the valley underneath Bow-hill. The 
 greyhounds happened to be a Httle wide of each other, and 
 in consequence each dog only saw one hare. Away they 
 went gallantly after their respective game, and the field of 
 
 u 2 
 
292 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 sportsmen separated, following their favourite dogs. After 
 a beautiful course, or, strictly speaking, two courses, the 
 running being strong, both Luath and Loyal succeeded 
 in killing their hares. 
 
 Although deer-stalking ought properly to have a place to 
 itself, yet as the dogs used in this sport of sports differ but 
 little from the Irish or Scotch greyhounds, we shall briefly 
 allude to it in this chapter. Deer-stalking in the High- 
 lands has been so admirably described by Scrope, that I 
 shall merely say it requires the greatest caution, patience, 
 and perseverance; " a quick h'eye and a good h 'observation," 
 as the thimble-riggers were wont to say, before a late Secre- 
 tary of State for the Home Department annihilated their 
 body ; add to these a first-rate " Purdy" rifle, and a couple 
 of Grampian deer-hounds, an intelligent forester, and in the 
 forests of Athol, Marr, Ben Ormin, Gaulock, Glenfiddich, 
 and Corrichbah, you may have as fine and exciting a day's 
 amusement as is possible to be enjoyed by mortal man. It 
 may here not be uninteresting to novices to give a slight 
 insight into the sport, by laying before them a sketch of " a 
 day with the deer" in the noble forest of Glen Gaulock. 
 
 It was early in the morning of a bright October day that 
 I was summoned by Duncan McAlister to accompany him to 
 a spot near the above-mentioned and far-famed forest. After 
 some little delay, a stag, attended by some does, was disco- 
 vered, by the aid of a glass, at the distance of a mile and 
 a half; and the trusty forester, crawling upon all fours, 
 made me a sign to follow him. For a good half-hour did 
 I, in breathless silence, creep after my guide, until I ap- 
 proached within one hundred yards of the noble animal. 
 With what anxiety did I look along my rifle-barrel ! with 
 what a trepidating pulse did I pull the trigger ! and with 
 what stillness did I await the result of my shot ! Until 
 Duncan, jumping up, unslipped two splendid deer-hounds, 
 
ENGLISH SPORTS. 293 
 
 and laid them on the slot, exclaiming, in the broadest 
 Scotch dialect, that he never would cross the foaming 
 torrent, that dashed from an eminence some little distance 
 from where I stood. And true were the words of the 
 forester : after a gallant run, the wounded monarch of the 
 woods fell a victim to the game and good training of Fang 
 and Lutra ; and after being broke, was borne off in triumph 
 upon the lusty shoulders of McAlister, and my gillie, 
 Geordie Cameron. 
 
 The following account, which 1 lately met with in the 
 " Inverness Courier," will point out the " wide awake" pro- 
 pensities of the red deer. These animals, says our autho- 
 rity, are uncommonly acute, and seem to employ the 
 whole of their sagacity in inventing and adopting plans of 
 self-preservation. Wherever a red deer is found, if his seat 
 be carefully examined it will appear that it possesses a more 
 commanding view than any other part of the surrounding' 
 scenery. If a deer travels in snow to his form, he gazes at 
 and watches his own track with the greatest anxiety. If 
 the wind blows from the direction of his pursuers, he will 
 smell them at several miles' distance. If any of them are 
 in a state of perspiration — not an unlikely event in a hot 
 day in September — he will detect them much further. It 
 must have been frequently observed that almost every 
 herd carries a young one along with it. The young 
 one is the sentinel. He is placed on an eminence to watch, 
 while the others browse beneath; and if he attempts to 
 quit his post, the stags pursue and butt him with their 
 horns until he resumes his station. When the leading stag 
 is perplexed with baffling winds, he works up the herd to a 
 pitch of terror in a peculiar manner. He leaps from his 
 form as if in extreme fright, scampers off, but soon returns, 
 followed by the others. After a little, when no danger is 
 apparent, they begin to browse, and the stag suddenlv 
 
294 ENGLISH SPORTS. 
 
 repeats his ruse. In this manner he convinces the others 
 that some danger threatens, and they all become watchful 
 as so many lynxes. They also adopt this system in 
 instructing their young. There is a perpendicular rock 
 above the village Shieldaig, on the summit of which a stag 
 selected his form. He lay with his flank towards the pre- 
 cipice, and commanded a view of the surrounding country, 
 and did not seem in the least degree alarmed at the 
 approach of the shepherd or his boy, or even the cutter- 
 men ; but if the gamekeeper entered the ground, he 
 bounded away directly. 
 
295 
 
 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 COMMUNICATED BY A FRENCH NOBLEMAN. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 My dear Lord, 
 I AM now about to give you an account of the sports and 
 pastimes that I met with in the " free fair homes of Eng- 
 land," and in so doing I shall studiously and carefully avoid 
 that personality which has too often been introduced into 
 the works of foreign travellers ; with this flourish of 
 trumpets I " throw off," and if occasionally I fall into a 
 false idiom, I must claim your indulgence, and that of your 
 readers, and remind you of a letter of one of your country, 
 men to me, who, having a card of the hotel he resided in 
 at Paris before him, thus dated his letter — " Hotel de 
 Wagram, bien meuhle.'" To proceed. 
 
 I know nothing more striking to a foreigner than the 
 country-house life of an English nobleman ; the comfort, 
 magnificence, liberality, and gaiety that is carried on is un- 
 known in France, Woburn, Beaudesert, Knowsley, Berke- 
 ley Castle, Badminton, Belvoir, Goodwood, are the heau 
 ideal of princely munificence ; and it astonished my weak 
 mind not a little when I was first initiated into the delights 
 
296 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 of many of the above mentioned chateaux. Where all are 
 agreeable, it would be invidious to select one for notice ; I 
 shall, therefore, say that on a mild drizzling morning in 
 
 December I left the Clarendon Hotel for Park. The 
 
 first part of my journey was performed by rail, and, secur- 
 ing a coupe to myself, I revelled in one of Eugene Sue's 
 volumes during the hours that I was thus confined. Upon 
 reaching the station where I was to transfer my precious 
 self to a yellow post-chaise, or dice-box on wheels, as it has 
 been felicitously called by a noble lord who contributes to the 
 Sporting magazine ; 1 was agreeably surprised at finding a 
 carriage-and-four with two outriders waiting my arrival ; a 
 note was placed into my hands, saying that it would 
 convey me to the seat of my noble correspondent and 
 host. 
 
 After a most delightful drive I entered the park, and at 
 the end of about two miles the mansion was laid open to 
 view ; a fine, extensive wooded plantation screened the 
 domain from the cutting east wind ; a herd of deer were at 
 one extremity of the well-trimmed lawn, which extended 
 from the southern part of the house. The day was setting 
 in, and I passed the labourer returning from his day's 
 work, looking cheerful and happy ; a group of sportsmen 
 with guns in hand attracted my attention, and they seemed 
 elated with the success of their day's sport, and which 
 I soon found was not without sufficient cause — the 
 game-cart passed me filled with hares, pheasants, and 
 rabbits. 
 
 The carriage now stopped at the principal entrance, and 
 almost simultaneously with the bell ringing, the doors were 
 thrown open, and some two or three servants in livery, 
 headed by one of the upper class, received me on alighting. 
 Without the slightest noise or bustle, orders were given to 
 unpack the carriage at the stables, to show my servant to 
 
SPORTING EEMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 297 
 
 my room, and I was conducted to the warm and well- 
 furnished library, where my host and many of the gentle- 
 men staying in the house were occupied reading the news- 
 papers, finishing their letters, or talking over the run with 
 the foxhounds in the morning. 
 
 After a most kind, hospitable, and unaffected welcome, 
 I took my seat before the huge wood fire, and entered into 
 general conversation. We were now joined by the shooters, 
 who declaimed at considerable length on their prowess — 
 four guns ; the return of the killed amounting to three 
 hundred pheasants, twenty hares, and a dozen rabbits. A 
 huge gong now sounded, which was the signal for adornizing. 
 As I proceeded to my room, escorted by a groom of the 
 chambers, I passed through a large hall, where some young 
 Englanders, male and female, were dancing the last intro- 
 duced polka, and who seemed not a little scared at my 
 presence ; the graceful and beautiful Lady Caroline, the 
 daughter of the house, rose from her seat at the pianoforte, 
 and welcomed me with a modest warmth of manner that 
 she knew was due to one of her father's friends and guests. 
 The room that I was ushered into was the quintessence of 
 comfort ; a large blazing fire on the hearth-stone shed its 
 influence over me, and as I looked at the well-lit and beau- 
 tifully furnished apartment, I could not help contrasting it 
 with some of the cold, cheerless country houses of La belle 
 France, and gave the palm to your native land. 
 
 At seven o'clock the gong again sounded, and following 
 a well-dressed lacquey, who had been sent to pilot me 
 through the long passages and large halls, I was shewn 
 into the drawing-room, where the hostess, after a kind 
 greeting, introduced me to the ladies assembled around her. 
 In a few seconds dinner was announced, and offering my 
 hand (which I soon found ought to have been my arm) to 
 the beautiful mistress of the domain, we passed through a 
 
298 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 line of servants in livery on one side, and the well-dressed 
 " gentlemen's gentlemen" on the other, into the dining- 
 room. This V7as splendidly illuminated ; and the sideboard, 
 which reached nearly to the summit of the apartment, was 
 stored with gold and silver plate, including vases and prizes 
 which had been won by the noble owner and his ancestors 
 upon the turf and at the agricultural shows, or which had 
 been presented to him by the farmers, in consideration of 
 the great estimation he was held in as a landlord and friend 
 to the soil. 
 
 The dinner was excellent, and the wine splendid — every 
 sort, from " humble port to imperial tokay." The long 
 sitting after the ladies had retired, was to me the only draw- 
 back, for during that tedious period the poor and corn laws 
 were so prosingly discussed that I own I wished myself 
 almost in the union workhouse to escape the dulness of the 
 conversation. At length our host inquired whether we had 
 had wine enough ; and all answering in the affirmative, w& 
 speedily joined the ladies. 
 
 The evening passed off delightfully ; there was no for- 
 mality ; every one amused himself or herself according to 
 their own fancies. Some strolled into the billiard-room ; 
 others played at ecarte or chess ; a few grouped themselves 
 round the pianoforte to hear the dulcet strains of Rossini, 
 Mozart, and Haydn, sang by a most exquisite voice ; while 
 a larger party of the young retired to a large gallery, where 
 polkas and waltzes were the order of the evening. At 
 eleven o'clock the stately butler, accompanied by two 
 powdered and pampered footmen, entered the drawing-room^ 
 and deposited a tray with sandwiches, wine, negus, whiskey 
 and water ; and from that hour the party separated accord- 
 ing to their own pleasure. 
 
 I was awoke from my " rosy dreams" by the loud-toned 
 stable-bell tolling the hour of eight ; and, getting up, I 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 299 
 
 strolled into the picture gallery to admire the mellow touch, 
 the glowing and lively colouring, and the exquisite finish of 
 a Rubens ; the elegance, grace, and natural animation of a 
 Vandyke ; the unrivalled brilliancy of a Titian, the faithful 
 portraiture of a Kembrandt, the beautiful expression of a 
 Guido, the bold and grand conception of a Salvator Rosa, 
 the warmth of a Lely, who — 
 
 " On animated canvas stole 
 The sleepy eye, that spoke the melting soul ;" 
 
 the admirable delineations of a Teniers and an Ostade, the 
 finished perspective of a Canaletti, or the rich vein of satire 
 of a Hogarth. Whilst thus amusing myself, a gentleman 
 of most agreeable manners and deportment, and who I 
 afterwards ascertained to be the librarian, accosted me, and, 
 volunteering his services, entered at great length into the 
 art of painting. " Plato, who flourished four hundred years 
 before the Christian era," said the talented bookworm 
 " assures us that the Egyptians practised painting 1000 
 years before he wrote, both on the bandages of mummies, 
 on the walls of the temples, and in the tombs at Thebes, 
 Denderah, and other places in Upper Egypt. Cleanthes of 
 Corinth was the first Greek painter of simple outline ; 
 Telephanus of Sicyon, and Ardices of Corinth, improved 
 on outlines, though still without colour." Finding I was 
 so deeply interested at the research of my newly formed 
 acquaintance, he continued : " Bularchus painted the battle 
 of the Mangerians seven hundred years before the Christian 
 era, and this picture was bought by the king of Lydia for 
 its weight in gold. Anacreon, who lived five hundred 
 years before our era, mentions the practice of the art, and 
 that it was effected by mixing wax with their colours, 
 called encaustic painting. Pliny is lavish in his eulogy on 
 the powers of Polygnotus, who lived four hundred and 
 
300 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 thirty years before the birth of our Saviour ; and we find 
 that during this and the three following generations the 
 names of Aglaophon, Cephisodorus, Phyrylus, Evenor, 
 Apollodorus, Zeuxis, Timanthes, Pamphilus, Euxenidas, 
 and Apelles, as artists of no mean renown. After the 
 founding of Rome, Aurellius, Ludius, Amulius, in Nero's 
 reign; Turpilius, Cornelius Pinus, Accius Prisons, in the 
 days of Vespasian, were the painters of the period." 
 
 Thanking my guide for his information, and begging 
 that he would not devote his attention to so unworthy an 
 amateur as myself, he replied by assuring me that it would 
 give him the greatest pleasure to show me the lions of 
 the house at any time. This courteous offer I gladly 
 accepted, and was shortly afterwards summoned to break- 
 fast. From what I had heard of this repast in England, 
 and remembering the lines of your poet Anacreon Moore, 
 who, in eulogizing a French dejeuner a la fourchette, thus 
 expresses himself — 
 
 " There, Dick ; what a breakfast ! O not like your ghost 
 Of a breakfast in England — your vile tea and toast," 
 
 I own I was not prepared for the luxury, comfort, and 
 independence of this repast. In addition to a long table 
 covered with the finest Irish damask cloth, there were two 
 or three smaller ones placed near the windows ; and no 
 sooner had you entered the room and selected your party 
 or taken your solitary place, than a servant out of livery 
 brought you a small bill of fare, on which was written a 
 variety of the most dainty dishes, the piquant cutlet, the 
 well-flavoured rognons au vin de Madere, the stimulating 
 grilled pheasant, the simple eggs and bacon, the savoury 
 omelette aux fines herbes, the rich slices of salmon, and 
 the unpretending fried sole : the sideboard, too, literally 
 groaned under the weight (I give the usual newspaper 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 301 
 
 fashionable phrase) of cold eatables ; the baron of beef, the 
 pheasant, partridge, fowl, ham, game pies, pate de foie 
 gras, thon marinee, Sardines, and every other luxury of 
 native and foreign produce ; the purest white bread in 
 every size and form, tea, coffee, chocolate, with the richest 
 cream and the best tasted butter, furnished a meal that 
 would have gladdened the heart of an Apicius, Louis dix 
 Huit, or any other hon vivant of ancient or modern 
 days. 
 
 During breakfast my noble host begged that his guests 
 would arrange their plans for the day. The hounds were to 
 meet within three miles of the house, and there were horses 
 for those who would Hke to join in the chase, or accompany 
 some of the young ladies to see the hounds throw off. 
 There were pony carriages for those who preferred driving, 
 to equestrian exercise. The keepers were to be at the lodge 
 gate at eleven o'clock for those who patronized shooting ; 
 and the parties, if they exceeded eight, were to be divided 
 into tw^o beats. The race-horse stable was to be open 
 immediately after breakfast, and the tennis-court and bil- 
 liard-table ready throughout the day for those who liked 
 in-door exercise. The ladies were to fill up their time in 
 little " nothings;" playing, singing, working, and sauntering 
 in the summer houses, orangery, and conservatories until 
 that all-important female meal, luncheon, the early dinner 
 of your ancestors, who supped at the hour you now dine, 
 was announced. No sooner was that finished than the 
 carriages were to be at the door to take any who liked 
 shopping to the neighbouring country town. Such was 
 the routine of the day. 
 
 Being myself devoted to horses and the sports of the 
 field, I availed myself of my host's kindness, to walk 
 through the racing-stable, and afterwards accepted a mount 
 with the hounds. The stable was a splendid building, 
 
302 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 forming a large quadrangle, and the stalls and the loose 
 boxes the most perfect I ever saw. The trainer was a 
 downright, good, honest man, and who had the pedigree of 
 every horse at his tongue's end, from the days of Flying 
 Childers down to the last winner of the Derby. He had 
 an anecdote of every sporting character that had flourished 
 at Newmarket during his time ; but as I was reminded 
 that the hounds met at half-past eleven, I was compelled 
 to postpone my visit to the stables until a further occasion. 
 The hounds met at a small wood not more than three 
 miles from the house, and upon reaching the covert's side 
 I was presented to the master of the pack, a plain-spoken 
 English country gentleman, who was a stanch Conservative, 
 more especially of foxes, and a thorough-bred sportsman. 
 The field was not numerous, consisting of some dozen 
 gentlemen in pink, and a few farmers well-mounted, 
 anxious to display the powers of their steeds, with a view 
 of pocketing a couple of hundred pounds for their young 
 though promising hunters. 
 
 A party of ladies from the park arrived on horseback, 
 and we were indulging in what your talented authoress, 
 Mrs. Gore, calls " the coffee-house part of hunting," when 
 a cry was heard, and away we all scurried at an awful pace. 
 " Gently, gentlemen ; hold hard, if you please," exclaimed 
 the huntsman. " Blue Bell has it ! Good old bitch ! 
 Hark to Blue Bell !" The fox made his first point for 
 Warbleton Gorse, went through it, away to Eastdeen 
 Brake, and then over some fine grass fields in the direction 
 of Beacon Hill, but, being hard-pressed, he declined facing 
 the hill, turned, and went to ground in a drain. From the 
 drain he was quickly bolted, and then made his point at 
 once for the covert where he was found, went through it, 
 and on to Warbleton over nearly the same line as the first 
 rinsr. Here a lono; check occurred ; the hounds hit oif the 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 303 
 
 scent again, and after a run of forty-five minutes we killed 
 in the open. As a foreigner, I was presented with the 
 brush ; an honour which, " though I say it as should not," 
 was fairly won by me, for being admirably mounted, I went 
 all day, as one of my most popular countrymen now natu- 
 ralized in England said, " as if I had a letter for the fox, 
 and was in a great hurry to deliver it." 
 
 -Upon my return home I visited the kennel, and was 
 delighted with the management of it ; there was a place for 
 everything, and everything was in its place. Warm baths 
 for hounds and horses, and every other comfort and luxury 
 that modern art and science have brought to bear for the 
 advantage of the canine race. After seeing the hounds fed, 
 I began to feel that my ov;n inward man required some 
 refreshment ; and whether I looked half-starved and 
 hungry, or whether the huntsman wished to try what effect 
 a few glasses of strong ale would produce upon a French- 
 man's head, I know not, but he begged me to walk into 
 his snug parlour, where I found the table laid out ready 
 for his dinner, and upon the sideboard was a huge loaf of 
 bread and large piece of cheese, with a brown jug of 
 frothing October. 1 drank success to the hounds, then to 
 the huntsman, and, taking my leave of him, walked across 
 the park ; for I was too good a horsemaster to have kept 
 my hunter out, as I have too often seen done in your 
 country after a long day's run. One of the greatest modern 
 luxuries in England is a warm bath, which is kept ready at 
 
 all hours during the day and night. At Park this 
 
 was the case ; both in the ladies' and gentlemen's galleries 
 were three baths, cold, warm, or shower; and at any 
 moment you could indulge in this eastern fashion. It 
 would be tedious to recapitulate my evenings ; I shall 
 therefore pass over them; and proceed to give a sketch of 
 the next day's battue. 
 
304 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 At eleven o'clock we met at the keeper's lodge, about 
 two miles from the house ; mustering six guns. Nothing 
 could exceed the perfection of the arrangement. A party 
 of fine stalwart youths, amounting to nearly five-and-twenty, 
 with large sticks in their hands, were drawn up as beaters ; 
 while to every " gunner" three men were allotted, one to 
 carry his loading rod and ammunition, and the other two to 
 pick up and carry his game to the cart. Each of these three 
 men had a number from 1 to 6 printed on card and placed 
 in their hats ; corresponding with those allotted to us. 
 No sooner had the keeper read the list of the sportsmen 
 
 than he said, " Count No. 1 ," and the three men 
 
 marked No. 1 joined me ; and so on to the rest of the 
 party. Independent of this, we each had our own man 
 with a second gun, which he loaded throughout the day, as 
 also a " pocket pistol," as it is called, well charged with 
 Glenlivet or sherry. The beaters were then put into the 
 wood, half the guns accompanying them, and the others 
 going forward to the spot they were to beat up to. At the 
 end of every cover the game was collected, marked down 
 to the respective killers of it, and placed in the cart ; and it 
 was curious often to see how much more v\?as claimed than 
 was actually bagged ; and this always reminds me of an 
 anecdote told me by a noble lord, who is a leading con- 
 tributor to the sporting hterature of the day. 
 
 His lordship was once shooting at a princely domain not 
 very far from the town of Liverpool, and although not a 
 first-rate shot, had in one furze-field killed five pheasants ; 
 his companion was the noble owner of the property, and, 
 upon counting up the game, the keeper claimed " nine 
 pheasants for his master," leaving two birds only for his 
 guest. Although rather startled at this, his lordship said 
 nothing ; but, finding the same system carried on through- 
 out the day, he was bent upon exposing the grasping pro- 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 3()i5 
 
 penslties of the keeper, and with which he was aware his 
 noble master was not conversant. 
 
 At an early hour the next day my friend proceeded to 
 Liverpool market, where he purchased a couple of wood- 
 cocks J and returning to breakfast, his absence had passed 
 unnoticed. During the day the same system as the pre- 
 vious one was carried on, the lion's share being still given 
 to .the proprietor of the domain. Towards dusk, as they 
 were shooting out a small but thickly-wooded plantation, 
 my friend cried, " Cock," and fired his gun ; in less than 
 two minutes the same was repeated. " Now let us have 
 the whole amount of the day," said the keeper : " my lord, 
 fifty pheasants, thirty hares, twelve rabbits, and," casting 
 his eye upon the long bills, which had been picked up by 
 one of the beaters, " two woodcocks. Yes, that's what I 
 claim for my lord." " Two woodcocks?" asked my friend 
 in an inquiring tone. " Yes, my lord killed them in the 
 last plantation." " It was too dusk for me to see," replied 
 the noble owner ; " I heard a cry of ' Cock,' and fired twice 
 at random. I really cannot claim the birds." " Jem and I 
 seed you kill 'em, my lord ; did we not, Jem ?" Before the 
 respectable ' Jeames' could give additional evidence upon 
 the subject, my friend stepped forward, and said he could 
 throw some light upon the subject ; he then recapitulated 
 all that had happened, and that the birds had been bagged 
 that morning by a silver shot in Liverpool market ; adding, 
 that if there was any doubt upon the subject, it could 
 speedily be removed by looking under their wings, xvhere a 
 small piece of paper would be discovered attached to a 
 thread, and upon which was written the number of the stall 
 at which they had been purchased. A hearty laugh fol- 
 lowed this announcement, and the keeper received a delicate 
 hint to be in future more straightforward and circumspect 
 in his conduct towards his master's sporting guests. 
 
 X 
 
306 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 But to return to our battue. At two o'clock we sus- 
 pended our warfare against the feathered race for half an 
 hour, during which period bread and cheese and ale were 
 distributed to all the party, gentle and simple ; and those 
 who are apt to talk of the proud aristocracy of England, 
 would have seen dukes, lords, and peasants enjoying the 
 frugal meal, and each partaking of the same quality both of 
 eatables and drinkables. The shepherd's boys, who were 
 placed to mark the game over the waUs of the preserve, 
 fared as well as the proprietor of many thousands of acres. 
 It is thus that the aristocracy of your country win the 
 hearts of the rural population. They mix in their sports, 
 they patronize the recreations of the people, they get fami- 
 liarly acquainted with them and their wants, and they 
 cherish and support them in their hour of distress, sympa- 
 thizing with their griefs, and alleviating, as far as lies in 
 their power, the miseries and ills that human nature is heir 
 to. After luncheon we again renewed our sport, and upon 
 our return to the park the game was laid out upon the 
 lawn; it consisted of 480 pheasants, 50 hares, 6 par- 
 tridges, 30 rabbits, 4 woodcocks — total, 570. 
 
 The next day was a regular " cat and dog" raining 
 affair; but the pelting, pitiless storm did not in the slight- 
 est degree damp our spirits, for both bilhard -tables were in 
 requisition: the one, an excellent slate table — -which when 
 unused was locked up — was occupied by some first-rate 
 professors of this interesting game ; while the other, which 
 was always open to the public, attracted a party to play a 
 half-crown pool. In the house were three rather good 
 tennis players, and joining this trio, we all, incased in 
 Parama cloaks and waterproof boots, walked to the tennis- 
 court, which was situated within half a mile of the house. 
 Here we passed our day until dusk set in ; then return- 
 ing to the house, we found the hail well tenanted ; battledore 
 
SPORTING REMINISCKNCES IN ENGLAND. 307 
 
 and shuttlecock, bagatelle, trou madam e, and other games, 
 being the order of the afternoon. 
 
 Tout a vous. 
 
 A. V. 
 
 LETTER ir. 
 
 MoN CHER Lord, 
 
 The morning after the one referred to in my last letter, 
 the harriers, a small pack belonging to one of the sons of 
 my noble host, were to meet in the park ; and, to the delight 
 of those who underrate the " currant jelly" pack, on finding 
 a hare, the hounds ran nearly ten miles over a magnificent 
 grass country without a check, forming nearly a circle round 
 the park and home-farm. The fencing was very severe, and 
 not a gate was left unlocked ; it was one of the smartest 
 scurries I ever saw% and we killed nearly in front of the 
 stables, where a host of grooms and racing boys were assem- 
 bled to witness the death of poor puss. I, being well 
 mounted, was fortunate enough to be in the first flight ; 
 indeed as the field was confined to the party staying in the 
 house, with the addition only of the farm-bailiff's and 
 steward's sons, and as we all got an equal start, it resembled 
 a steeple-chase more than a hunt. 
 
 I was delighted with my day's sport, but remembered 
 that whenever I talked of it as a wonderful run, a smile ap- 
 peared on the face of my listener. There was a mystery 
 evidently which I could not solve ; at last the secret came 
 out by one of the boys remarking ' how they had done the 
 foreigner/ and upon further investigation I found that our 
 magnificent run, the sport which 1 had entered in my joui- 
 
 X 2 
 
308 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 nal as decidedly the best I had almost ever seen, was not after 
 even a timid hare, but — a red-herring. The fact was, the 
 young master of the harriers had heard his pack disparaged, 
 and determined to show us a run. He had dipped a red- 
 herring in aniseed, which, after selecting a very stiff course, 
 he gave to an active son of the soil to carry nearly a circle 
 round the park, ending near the stable, where a real hare, as 
 they say in the London playbills, was turned out. No 
 wonder then that the foreigner was gulled ; and I firmly 
 believe that I was not the only dupe, for one or two of the 
 field talked to me in downright earnestness of the splendid 
 sport. So well was the affair managed, that wherever the 
 red-herring bearer made a gap in a hedge a labourer was 
 placed, apparently for the purpose of trimming it, and 
 who, prompted what to say, declared " that he had zeed 
 the animal cross close by, pressed by the hounds." Our 
 biped game had selected not only the stiffest bull-finches, 
 but also the highest gates and rails ; and I very much doubt 
 whether the same number of miles over so severe and stiff 
 a country was ever performed in such a short time. 
 
 This gallant, though rather fishy run (as it was called 
 by some) gave rise to a conversation upon the merits of 
 the horses and men that had taken part in it, and led 
 a spirited individual to propose giving a whip, value 
 forty guineas, open for any horse that had been present 
 at the red-herring hunt ; four miles over a stiff country, 
 with an artificial brook ; same weights as ridden upon 
 that occasion ; and posts to be placed with flags at a 
 distance of fifty yards, within which the horsemen were 
 to go. An entrance of two sovereigns, p.p., was to be 
 paid to the second horse, and the owner of the last was 
 to pay an additional five sovereigns to the gallant plough- 
 boy who had so successfully dragged us over a most sport- 
 ing country. The entrances were fourti en ; one only of the 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 309 
 
 whole field having paid forfeit, and that for a very efficient 
 reason — his horse had not yet recovered his appetite, still 
 less his soundness. 
 
 It has often been said that a wager is an Englishman's 
 argument ; and certainly this accusation is perfectly true, 
 for even during the presence of royalty at the hospitable 
 mansion of the Duke of Richmond at Goodwood, when the 
 King of Holland upon one occasion, and the Due de Ne- 
 mours upon another, honoured his Grace with their presence 
 during the races, the list of the following day V sport was read 
 aloud, the moment the ladies had quitted the dining-room. 
 The betting books were then taken out, followed by that 
 Babel-like confusion of tongues which necessarily attaches 
 itself to the " done and done" system. Upon the entry for 
 the steeple-chase being declared, scarcely any conversation 
 took place between the lords of the creation, except as to 
 who was to be the fortunate winner ; nor were the ladies 
 quite exempt from this feeling, as was proved by the nume- 
 rous wagers made for gloves, studs, whips, and gold pins. 
 " I'll take ten to one," exclaimed a young scion of the house? 
 the moment the gentlemen were left to themselves to enjoy 
 (or be bored with, as the case might be) their own society, 
 " that Paul Clifford wins." " Done," responded a sporting 
 baronet; " two hundred to twenty." " Done." The bet was 
 entered, and Bulwer's hero became the first favourite. " What 
 odds against Polka?" inquired the youthful master of the 
 harriers, a lad of sixteen, " What do you want ?" asked a 
 good-humoured elderly gentleman, anxious to give the young 
 sportsman a pull in the odds. " I want fifteen to one to a 
 ten-pound note." " Well, you shall have it \ book me a 
 hundred and fifty to ten," The lad ran out of the room to 
 communicate to the groom that he had taken the odds, of 
 which he was to stand half. Nell Gwynn, Moonraker, 
 Coeur de Lion, Faulconbridge, were all backed at thirteen to 
 
310 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 one ; while the remaining seven, myself included, were 
 scarcely mentioned. Strange, thought I, considering the 
 place I had in the run ; so, modestly addressing the 
 company, I inquired what odds to twenty pounds they would 
 bet against Marmion. Scarcely had the question escaped 
 my lips than a dozen voices, at least, responded ; but there 
 was such a confusion of sounds — "What do you want?" 
 " I'll bet you the odds ;" " Three hundred and tw^enty to 
 twenty" — that I could not clearly understand who addressed 
 me and who did not. My opposite neighbour, however, an 
 old hand on the turf, very quietly wrote on his betting 
 book, which he passed across the table, " I'll bet you three 
 hundred and forty to twenty." " Done," I wrote in reply. 
 *' What do you want, Count ?" again inquired a majority of 
 the party. " I've taken the bet," I replied ; " three hun- 
 dred and forty to twenty." " I'll bet the same odds to five 
 or ten." " To five," I rephed ; and closing ray book, shut 
 it and myself up for the evening. 
 
 The important morning arrived when the steeple-chase 
 was to take place. The whip, splendidly mounted by Hunt 
 and Roskell, had been brought down by one of their agents, 
 and it was greatly admired. Some cards had been printed 
 with the names, weights and colours of the horses and riders, 
 for we were all bound to ride in caps and jackets, and for 
 the manufacturing of which all the ladies'-maids had been 
 put into requisition. The odds still kept at seventeen to 
 one against my gallant steed Marmion ; while Paul CHfford, 
 an infinitely slower animal, was backed freely at seven and 
 eight to one. This was a riddle I could not at first solve, 
 until the trainer told me, in reply to my asking him who he 
 thought would win, that " it was quite impossible to say 
 with gentlemen jocks ;" that " they were, generally speak- 
 king, such a very bad lot, all legs and arms, flying about 
 like a Semaphore telegraph ;" that " they went often much 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 311 
 
 faster themselves than their horses;" and that with "tumbling 
 off or pumping their horses out in half the distance, it was 
 quite a lottery. Moonraker ought to win ; but Sir Francis 
 knows no more about race-riding than my old woman does : 
 and as for your lordship, we aint seen many foreign gentle- 
 men distinguish themselves much upon the race course or 
 across the country." Flattering, thought I ; while the trainer 
 conlinued — " Young Lord Alfred, on Paul Clifford, won't 
 be far behind ; he is an undeniable good one for a gentleman ; 
 good judge of pace, and never gets flurried. And Lord 
 George on Yolker, as they call the grey mare, will take a 
 deal to beat him ; he goes as straight as an arrow, and the 
 heavy ground's in his favour ; he gets a matter of two or 
 three stone from some of you," 
 
 This statement was not very encouraging, still it did not 
 unnerve me in the slightest degree ; and having risen at 
 daylight to take a gallop, just to get my hand and seat in, 
 after partaking of a slight breakfast, I found myself at 
 eleven o'clock decked out in a yellow jacket and cap, 
 booted and spurred, at the starting-post. We had all pre- 
 viously been weighed ; and when I saw the concourse of 
 people assembled, I began to think that steeple-chase riding 
 was a rather more nervous affair than I had anticipated. 
 All being drawn up in line^ the articles were read to 
 us ; the principal one of which was, that we were to keep 
 within the twa posts, and that upon no account were we 
 to have a gate opened or a fence broke down for us, save 
 and except such as might be smashed by some of those 
 in the race. We were then led back some forty yards 
 behind the starting-post, and having previously decided 
 our respective places by lot, the word "off" was given, 
 and away we went, railway pace, across the first fields 
 at the end of which was as stift' a post and rail^ with a 
 
312 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 ditch from it, as ever I wish to encounter. But our steeds 
 were fresh, and we were all not a little inspired hy the pre- 
 sence of the ladies from the park, who had placed themselves 
 near this awful ox-rail; so " screwing up our courage," as 
 my Lady Macbeth says, " to the sticking place," we put 
 in " lots of powder," and took it without a mistake. We 
 now all began to settle down to our work, and Polka, with 
 her light weight, shot a-head, followed by Nell Gwynne, 
 Paul Clifford, CcEur de Lion, and last, not least in my own 
 estimation, the gallant Marmion ; the rest of the horses 
 waited patiently upon us. At the fourth fence the un- 
 daunted Richard came down, floored his rider, and the 
 lion-hearted animal was put hors de combat. We now 
 approached the artificial brook, a regular yawncr ; and here 
 again were a party assembled to see whether we took to 
 the water kindly. Polka took it like a deer, followed by 
 Paul Clifford ; Marmion third, and an outsider, Bacchus, 
 fourth. Indeed my orders at starting were to wait upon 
 Paul Clifford until the last field, and then try my speed 
 with him. Polka, it was imagined, WTjuld dance herself 
 out with the severe play her rider had determined to 
 make. To resume. All got well over the brook ex- 
 cept Monkey, one of the hoi'ses not mentioned in the 
 betting, who, on landing, missed his footing, and fell back 
 into it. I own my courage began to ooze out a little when 
 I first saw the water, and had it not been for the un- 
 daunted pluck of my steed I should inevitably have got 
 a good ducking. There is a story told of Mat Milton, 
 he of the mews, not muse, that when selling a hunter 
 to a Leicestershire spoilsman, he, after extolling his 
 merits, said, "But, sir, he has one fault." "A fault?" 
 responded the purchaser. " Yes, sir ; if he does see water 
 he will have it, thei-e's no stopping him, be it ever so 
 wide I he'll take no denial." Now, whether Marmion 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 313 
 
 was a descendant of this wonderful horse I know not, but 
 certainly no sooner did he see the brook than he went at it 
 with such downright earnestness that, resigning myself to 
 my fate, I let him have his own way, ari'd, greatly to my 
 surprise and delight, found myself safely landed on terra 
 jirma. We kept our respective places for the next two 
 fields, when symptoms of distress began to be felt by King 
 Charles's beauty Nell, Faulconbridge, Moonraker, and the 
 others, of whom might have been said in the betting — 
 
 " O no, we never mention them," 
 
 Sangaree, Azalia, Abelard, and Brilliant. The race now 
 was between Polka, Paul Clifford, Bacchus, and Marmion ; 
 the former leading at a terrible pace. There were now only 
 two fences to be jumped before the last flight of hurdles in 
 the winning field. At the first of these fences Polka's 
 lungs seemed to be a little disordered by the killing pace ; 
 and although she got over it, she floundered upon landing ; 
 the gallant young jockey gave her a pull, to recover 
 her wind. Paul Clifford then tried to take her place, 
 but " bellows to mend" (you see I have studied your 
 slang) was also his cry. I now 'made all the running I 
 could, and was closely pressed by the Bacchanalian monarch; 
 we took the second fence together, Polka, slightly recovered, 
 following a few yards behind us, with Paul Clifford still 
 going. We approached the hurdles, and whether I or my 
 steed was flurried I know not, but he rushed through 
 them, getting entangled in the broken bars and some furze 
 that was placed round them ; this gave Bacchus and Polka 
 a chance, for Paul Clifford was quite pumped out. These 
 two now set to work in earnest, and the outsider being the 
 freshest of the two, finally won a fine race by a neck ; 
 Polka second, and Marmion third. The fun, however, was 
 not over ; for a desperate bti uggle took place between the 
 
314 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 rear rank, no one liking to pay the additional penalty 
 attached to the last horse. Coeur de Lion, Monkey, and 
 Faulconbridge were neck and neck at the fence before the 
 hurdles ; they cleared it together ; Monkey rushing 
 through the gap I had made, was first in the winning 
 field. The two other riders went gallantly at the hurdles ; 
 " knee to knee " they landed at the same moment, and, 
 setting to work in real Newmarket fashion, ran a dead heat 
 for last ; thus dividing equally the penalty, and mutually 
 sharing the disgrace. The result of this steeple-chase 
 amazed me not a little, for the still small voice of 
 conscience told me that had I or my horse not blundered 
 the prize must have been mine; and I could hardly, 
 in honesty, attribute that untoward event to my gallant 
 steed — the fact is, for a moment I lost my head and my 
 race. I was, however, delighted that the youngster had 
 run second, as he pocketed the twenty-eight guineas. 
 As a matter of course, no other conversation took place the 
 rest of that day, or during the evening, except as to the 
 merits of the race -, and I could plainly see that the general 
 opinion was in favour of Marmion had he been properly 
 piloted. 
 
 No sooner had the ladies left the room after dinner than 
 the whole race was run over again. This led to an ani- 
 mated discussion, which ended in a sweepstakes of twenty 
 sovereigns each, same course and weights, between Bacchus, 
 Marmion, and Polka ; the only variation being, that the 
 crack rider of Paul Clifford upon the first occasion, was 
 upon the present one to take my place : the other jockeys 
 as before. Some spirited betting then took place, for there 
 was a diversity of opinion as to the winner. Some ima- 
 gined that the rider of Bacchus did not possess the finest 
 nerves in the world, and that he had, in the early part of 
 the race, followed some of the tail through broken gates 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 315 
 
 and fences, and that when it came to a race with three he 
 might be found wanting. Lord Alfred, who was to ride 
 Marmion, was an excellent workman ; while his brother 
 George was fancied by many — the continuance of rain, 
 with the heaviness of the country, being all in favour of the 
 light weight. Aftor a good deal of talking, Marmion was 
 backed as the first, Polka the second, and the late winner 
 the third favourite. My amour propre would not permit 
 me to lay out my money upon the gentleman jockey who 
 had unhorsed me, so I took the odds to a poney on Polka, 
 most anxious not only for the sake of lucre, but for the 
 young Nimrod, that he should prove successful. The race 
 was to come oiF in a week, and, as the wet weather con- 
 tinued. Polka was now first favourite. The eventful day 
 arrived, and, as the sun shone out beautifully, we were not 
 surprised at seeing an immense concourse of people flocking 
 through the park at an early hour towards the course. 
 The fences had all been made up, the gates and hurdles 
 repaired, and the brook was somewhat swelled out by the 
 late rains. The young jockey now appeared, mounted on 
 his favourite mare, and there was a feeling and conviction, 
 as well as a wish, fere libentur homines id quod volunt 
 credent, that " the boy in yellow would win the day." 
 Others were very sweet upon Marmion, as Lord Alfred 
 cantered him past a line of carriages drawn up at the start- 
 ing post. Bacchus had fewer friends than his former 
 triumph ought to have entitled him to ; with a first-rate 
 man upon him he would have been first in the odds. 
 " Don't take too much out of your mare at starting, my 
 lord," said the trainer to young Lord George, as he walked 
 by the side of him ; " the country is very heavy, you 
 must make steady running to the brook, nurse her over 
 the two next fields, and then get home as quick as you can 
 without flurrying her or yourself." The horses were now 
 
316 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 drawn up in their places, the word " off" given, and away 
 went Polka, leading at a smartish pace, Marmion waiting 
 upon her at the distance of about two horses' lengths, and 
 the " rosy monarch of the vine" acting as a sort of squire 
 or follower to the " lord of Fontenaye." It was evident 
 from the line young Lord George took, that he had not 
 allowed the grass to grow under his feet (as the saying is) 
 since the last steeple- chase, for morning, noon, and after- 
 noon had he walked over the course, selecting the lightest 
 ground ; this, then, accounted for his steed not sinking 
 fetlock high as the others, who were not up to it, now 
 found their nags doing. They approached the brook, and 
 the respective jockeys collecting their horses' strength, take 
 it gallantly ; Polka still leading, the others lying close 
 behind. And now the youthful sportsman remembers his 
 instructions, of getting home as quick as he can, and he 
 courses away at an awful pace. For a few fields his com- 
 petitors keep still well in the race ; when within half a mile 
 from home it was quite clear that Bacchus was beat, — 
 he had fully proved the truth of the Leicestershire saying, 
 " it's the pace that kills :" still he went on, upon the chance 
 of any accident happening to the leading horses. They 
 now near the last fence, and Marmion, " wet with sweat 
 and mire," takes it, but not without a fall ; Polka is some 
 twenty yards a-head. The hurdles alone are to be got 
 over, and the mare flies them like a deer : shouts re-echo 
 through the park as the young Lord George passes the 
 winning post. But where is the flower of English 
 land ? Of him we might say, in the words of " Unnur- 
 tured Blount," " good night to Marmion ;" for so dead 
 beat was he at the last fence, that he floundered at it, fell, 
 and was some minutes before he could recover sufficient 
 strength even to make a walk of it. This, I am illnatured 
 enough to admit, delighted mc ; for it clearly proved that 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 317 
 
 accidents will occur, not only, as the proverb says, " in the 
 best-regulated families," but also to first as well as to 
 second-rate gentlemen-jockeys. In the latter I class myself • 
 I lost the first race by one fatal error towards the end ; and 
 Lord Alfred, who was No. 1, letter A, in the pigskin, 
 was beat in the second by taking too much out of his horse 
 at starting, thereby bringing him to a stand- still before 
 he reached home. We were all delighted with Polka's 
 success, and the steadiness and judgment displayed by her 
 jockey in nursing her sufficiently to keep up her pace 
 throughout the race. — I must here put on my seven-league 
 boots, and step from my winter country life to the Good- 
 wood Races of the following summer; and suffice it to 
 say, that my anticipations were more than realized, for 
 there 1 found the elite of horses, the elite of company, 
 and the e'lite of all courses in England, both as to 
 beauty of scenery and the excellence of the turf. There 
 was every thing that could be wished for; a super- 
 abundance of sport for the million ; and a galaxy 
 of beauty that no other country could produce. The 
 arrangements, too, were of the first order ; there were no 
 unnecessary delays; and at the moment fixed for the 
 weighing and starting, woe to the trainer or jockey who 
 was late — a heavy fine, or, worse than that, the certainty of 
 not being waited for, attended the offender. There was 
 something too about the noble owner's manner that de- 
 lighted me : he was gracious and affable to all ; from the 
 prince of the blood to the most humble labourer the Duke 
 of Richmond had a kind word for each. To say that his 
 Grace is popular in his own county is to say little ; he is 
 respected and adored by every friend to the soil, and it was 
 highly gratifying to hear his praises echoed forth wherever 
 I went in the county of Sussex. One tribute, though 
 couched In simple language, and emanating from a. -tiller of 
 
318 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 the land, made a lasting impression upon me. Upon 
 mentioning the name of the Duke, the peasant said, " He's 
 a bi*ave man ; a good, generous, and liberal landlord. He 
 fought and bled for his country when others of his class 
 were eating the bread of idleness ; and now he clings to 
 the soil, from which he derives his wealth, like a limpet to 
 the rock, and is as kind-hearted to the ploughboy as he is 
 to his richest tenant." This sentiment, which, although 
 varied in letter, is kept up in spirit throughout the county, 
 has entitled the duke to the name of the " farmer's friend ;" 
 and never was an appellation more truly deserved. I must 
 now return to the races, which certainly were conducted in 
 the most admirable manner. The sport was first-rate, 
 and could not be surpassed ; while, at the same time, it 
 concluded each day at a reasonable hour. Both the 
 trainers and professional and amateur jockeys were kept 
 strictly to time, and in default of which a five pound fine 
 was exacted. Without entering into detail of the races 
 themselves, I will merely give an abstract of the number 
 and value of the prizes contended for : — ■ 
 
 Number of Races, Number of Starters. Value. 
 
 Tuesday 12 61 £11,850 
 
 Wednesday... 7 59 2,335 
 
 Thursday ... 12 67 7,670 
 
 Friday 9 57 3,045 
 
 In the above are included forfeits, walks over, and the 
 winners' stakes, but not dead heats, or more than one 
 hf?at for the plates ; amounting, in addition, to seven races. 
 Open house is kept at Goodwood, and there are few 
 of the ancestral homes of England where unostentatious 
 hospitality is more carried on than at the above mansion. 
 The noble and distinguished hostess is endowed with that 
 natural graceful manner which wins the hearts of all, and^ 
 
SPORTING REMINISCKNCES IN ENGLAND. 319 
 
 added to her extreme beauty, renders her an object of uni- 
 versal admiration. The Duke, too, is the very essence of 
 affability, and has a peculiar charm of interesting his hearers 
 by discoursing to them upon subjects nearest their hearts ; 
 thus, whether the questions of racing, hunting, shooting, 
 farming, politics, corn-laws, poor-rates, military affairs are 
 agitated, his Grace (to use a sporting phrase) is sure to be 
 there, or thereabouts. During this gay week covers are 
 daily laid for sixty in the ball-room, and the manner in 
 which the feasts are conducted reminds one of the Philoxenia 
 of former days, with the additional refinement of those we 
 live in. The sideboard is worthy of Haddon Hall in the 
 olden time ; the noble haunches of venison, the splendid 
 pastries, the Southdown mutton, would gladden the heart 
 of every gourmet from Apicius down to the late Dr. Kitch- 
 iner ; while to those who hke the " foreign aid of ornament," 
 his Grace's culinary artist furnishes plats worthy a Beauvil- 
 lier, Ude or Francatelli. The temporary banquet room is a 
 noble apartment, ninety feet in length and thirty in width • 
 the walls are covered with white silk edged with gold, and 
 have a very chaste appearance. The marble pieces came 
 from the palace of the modern Sardanapalus, George IV. ; 
 and, if they could speak, what tales would they tell us of 
 the royal orgies kept up at Carlton House, by the prince — 
 " the prince of princes at the time." But return we to the 
 banquet. The plate is gorgeous ; in the centre may be seen 
 a superb candelabra, presented by the farmers of Sussex to 
 the present Duke. By its side is a vase, formed of the gold 
 snuff boxes which were given to his late noble father diiring 
 his lord lieutenancy of Ireland, from the corporations of the 
 following towns : — Bandon Bridge, Cork, Clonmel, Dun- 
 dalk, Dublin, Kilkenny, Limerick, Londonderry, Youghal, 
 Waterford, and the Goldsmiths' Company of Edinburgh. 
 The names and arms of the above towns are enLn-aved 
 
320 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND, 
 
 upon the vase. Among the pieces of plate that grace 
 the table are the Orleans Cup, given by his late lamented 
 royal highness, and which was won, 1841, by the Duke's 
 celebrated bay horse Mus, aged ; the Mazeppa Plateau 
 won by Lord George Bentinck's Yorkshire Lady, in 
 1843, and presented by that truly popular and liberal 
 nobleman to the Duke; the Goodwood Cup, 1825, won 
 by Pantomime, ridden by the Honourable F, Berkeley, 
 R.N. ; the Goodwood Cup, 1833, given by the Earl 
 of Lichfield, steward; the Goodwood Cup, 1826, won by 
 Stumps, the property of the late Earl of Egremont, who 
 presented it to the Duchess; Goodwood Cup, 1827, won 
 by Linkboy; Goodwood Cup, 1836; Egham Cup, 1825, 
 won by Spree ; Southampton Cup, 1826, won by Toil 
 and Trouble. The race-horses are kept not only at 
 the stables belonging to the house, but also at the far-famed 
 dog-kennel where John Kent now resides. It is not my 
 intention to give a detailed account of Goodwood House 
 and its splendid portraits, the works of Rubens, Lely, Van- 
 dyke, Lawrence, as I strongly advise every one that finds 
 himself in the locality to judge for themselves ; it being 
 accessible at all times to the public by merely entering their 
 names in a book kept for the purpose. I cannot refrain 
 from noticing some sporting pictures that are in the house, 
 or of giving a brief sketch of the palazzo canino, as the 
 dog-kennel may be justly called. In the long hall and upon 
 the staircases are some fine paintings, by Stubbs, of Lord 
 George Lennox (father of the late duke), Charles, third duke 
 of Richmond, and Colonel Jones, all on horseback, with 
 dogs and servants ; Mary, wife of the third duke, and Lady 
 Louisa Lennox are in another picture, looking at some race 
 horses ; and a third with the Earl of Albemarle, Lord Hol- 
 land, and others shooting. There are also portraits, by 
 Wctton, of Sheldon, Grey Cary, Grey Cardigan, Bay Bol- 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGL/iND. 3-21 
 
 ton, Red Robin, and Sultan, which were given by Prince 
 Charles of Lorraine to George II., in 1743. The out- 
 lying buildings are extremely well arranged ; there is a 
 tennis-court in the kitchen garden, and a kennel, supposed to 
 be as fine as any one in the country. The front is hand- 
 some, the ground being well raised about it, and turfed. It 
 originally cost £6,000. The third duke of Richmond, who 
 built it, was his own architect, assisted by Mr. Wyatt ; his 
 grace dug his own flints, burnt his own lime, and formed 
 his own wood-work in his own shops The length of the 
 building is 148 feet, the depth 30 feet; the height, from 
 the crown of the arches that support it, 1 8 feet on the sides, 
 in the centre 28 feet. The materials are flints intermixed 
 with light grey bricks. The distribution of the building is 
 into four kennels ; two of them 36 by 15, two more 30 by 
 15 ; two feeding rooms 28 by 15. In each there are open- 
 ings at the top for cold air, and stoves to warm them in 
 winter. There are supplies of water and drains. Round 
 the whole building is a pavement 5 feet wide : airing yards, 
 places for breeding, &c., forming part of each wing. For 
 the huntsmen and whippers-in, there is a parlour, a kitchen 
 and sleeping rooms. The kennel, as we have before said, 
 is occupied by Mr. Kent, the Duke's trainer ; sincerely do 
 we hope that it may again be converted to its original pur- 
 pose, for a pack of hounds to the noble owner of Goodwood 
 seems almost indispensable. But I have already exceeded 
 the usual limit of a letter, so for the present " farewell." 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 After a most agreeable sejour at Park, I took my 
 
 departure, via the great metropolis, to Melton. London 
 was now quite deserted, not more than half a dozen men 
 
 Y 
 
322 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 at Crockford's, and the Clarendon was nearly untenanted. 
 I was, therefore, quite delighted at the prospect of leaving 
 town, the morning after my return to it, for that heau ideal 
 of a sportsman's paradise — Melton. The rail took me at a 
 good steady pace as far as Syston, where I got into my 
 britchka, and after an agreeable drive of an hour, reached 
 the head-quarters of the Quorn hounds. Rooms had been 
 prepared for me in a cheerful-looking house near the 
 George Inn, and I had a cover laid for me every day at 
 the residence of a noble lord, who, whether on the race- 
 course, in the field, on the box, on the deck, or in the ball- 
 room, is second to none as a thorough-bred sportsman and 
 a most polished gentleman. My horses, the majority of 
 which I had hired from Mr. Tilbury, of Mount Street, 
 stood close by my lodgings, and, of course, my first visit 
 was to them. Here I was joined by the nobleman I 
 allude to, and some other gallant sportsmen, with whom I 
 passed the afternoon, looking at their splendid studs. 
 There are few finer sights in the whole world than the 
 hunting stables at this celebrated place ; and I know 
 no more " green spot " in memory's waste, as your 
 Anacreon writes, than that which is associated with my 
 week at Melton. Hospitality shines pre-eminently forth: 
 there was not a day in which I did not receive most kind 
 and pressing invitations, not only to private houses, but to 
 the clubs ; and as for mounts, I was offered enough to have 
 lasted me the whole season. There is an additional 
 charm (to me, at least), which is — the society of ladies; 
 for, after a day with the fiercer sex, it is most agreeable to 
 pass the evening with those who are made to temper man. 
 A party at ecarte, a struggle at chess, or even w^hat is called 
 in your country a round game with the daughters of Eve, 
 are most dehghtful and soothing, after a blank day or hard 
 run, where the jealous and other evil passions of man have 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 323 
 
 been excited. Of the riders I will merely offer a brief de- 
 scription :* " There is nobody better than Lord Wilton,' 
 every man wiU tell you, that knows anything of hunting in 
 Leicestershire ; and certainly for judgment, seat, quickness, 
 and good nerve, the noble earl stands pre-eminent. Lord 
 Gardner cannot be beaten — he goes hke a bird ; and, from 
 the first day he went to Melton to the present time, there 
 are few men who have seen more runs. Mr. Gilmore is 
 unquestionably the best of the heavy weights : it is quite 
 one of the wonders of the world to see the place he ever 
 holds when business is to be done. Colonel Wyndham, 
 late of the gallant Scots Greys, otten surprises the hunting 
 world over the fields of Leicestershire, as did his brave 
 corps open the eyes of our Emperor on the plains of 
 Waterloo. Captain Oliver, late of the Blues, cannot, 
 figuratively at least, be placed amongst the " heavies " with 
 the Quorn : he goes to work in the right form, uniting 
 judgment, courage, and strength. His brother, late a 
 " sodger officer," disproves the usual fallacy, that military 
 men cannot ride. Look at Lords Cardigan, W. Beresford^ 
 Macdonald, Gifford, Sir David Baird, Honourable Augustus 
 Berkeley, Charles Forrester, Messrs. Lovell, Vyse, Francis 
 Berkeley, &c. Lord Howth is one of the neatest and best 
 men over the country I almost ever saw, and is always 
 " there or there-about." Sir David Baird can ride a bad 
 horse with any other man in the United Kingdom ; his 
 nerve is wonderful. You see I quote some of your sporting 
 idioms. Messrs. Leslie (brothers) are admirably mounted, 
 and are daily earning fresh laurels. Count Batthyany is 
 too popular a man in Leicestershire to pass unnoticed ; 
 and, as a foreigner, I have a kindly fellow-feeling towards 
 him. Nothing can exceed his love — his ardour for the 
 chase; and, considering that his education did not com- 
 
 * These letters were written in 1846. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 mence in England, he really deserves the greatest credit 
 for the position he now holds in the sporting world. 
 Lord Archibald St. Maur is a thorough-bred sportsman, 
 and, being well mounted, does the thing in quite the 
 correct form. Lord Rancliffe, the prince of light 
 weights, goes as well as he did in the year 1815, when, 
 during the congress of Vienna, his lordship was always 
 one of the first with Lord Londonderry's fox-hounds. 
 Mr, Greene, of Rolleston, the present master, rides well 
 across Leicestershire, and does his work in a most superior 
 style: there are few better artists in this or any other 
 country. Lord Cranstoifti is an enthusiastic lover of the 
 noble science. Mr. Geary has lately come out, and dis- 
 tinguished himself greatly : few can surpass him. Mr. 
 Oliver Massey is always in a good place, and sees as many 
 runs as any other Meltonian. He is one of those whose 
 riding to hounds never varies, and he is a safe card for any 
 novice to follow. Sir James Musgrave, though last in my 
 list, is undoubtedly not least in the estimation of every one 
 who knows what a thorough-bred sportsman ought to be. 
 His health, unfortunately, has been so indifferent of late, 
 that he has been compelled to give up hunting this season. 
 Sincerely do I trust that with an invigorated constitution, 
 he will shortly again return to Melton, where he has so 
 long and so deservedly been a great favourite. 
 
 Mr. Stubbs, better known among his friends by a more 
 spicy name, is an undeniably good one with the hounds ; 
 and there is no man that can do more in cool blood. I 
 once saw him turn out of a road over the stiffest gate I 
 ever came across ; the hounds were not running, and the 
 feat arose from a question as to whether the horse he rode 
 was a good one at timber. There are a variety of other 
 first-rate riders in Leicestershire, whom I have not time 
 nor space sufficient to enumerate ; but I may, perhaps, 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 325 
 
 in a future letter, give not only their prowess in the field, 
 but also that of their steeds. 
 
 My first day with the Quorn was most propitious. John 
 O'Gaunt's gorse was first tried ; a fox stole away, and was 
 hit off for a field or two, but lost near Lowesby. To 
 Billesden Coplow, where we found reynard " at home ;" 
 away we went to Quenby Hall in double quick time, 
 then to the right between Newton and Tilton, passed 
 Lowesby on the left, and thence with a burning scent 
 for Twyford, South Croxton, and nearly to Barkby ; 
 doubled for Beeby, and then to Boggrave Hall. The 
 fox was finally killed in the village of Hungarton ; 
 distance at least fourteen miles — time, one hour and 
 eight minutes. My next day was with the Cottes- 
 more, who met at Leesthorpe, only three miles from 
 Melton. After trying Buttermilk Hills, and finding the 
 Punchbowl empty. Colonel Lowther gave the word for 
 Ranksborough. A fine fox was speedily unkennelled, and 
 led us off, railway speed, for the covers we had before tried ; 
 then made for Burton Lazars, crossed the Whissendine, 
 where the courage of many was considerably damped, and 
 among others (to my shame be it spoken), I found myself 
 stopped by this Rubicon. Ignorant of the country, I knew 
 not whither the wily animal directed his course ; but, after 
 a " home circuit " of twenty minutes, he again crossed the 
 river, giving the tailers and tailors another opportunity. 
 A short breathing time, and away to Cold Orton ; from 
 thence to Ashby Pastures, where he tried what stuff men 
 and horses were made of. In two hours and a half from 
 breaking covert ; a chosen nine found themselves at 
 Burton, where, from a humane consideration both to the 
 bipeds and quadrupeds, the pack was stopped. Colonel 
 Lowther, Lord Wilton, Sir David Baird, the huntsmen 
 and whippers-in, went the whole run, and showed some 
 
326 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 splendid riding ; the remaining three, of which I was 
 fortunate enough to be one, who were stopped in or at 
 the brook, got upon our second horses, and could, therefore, 
 only claim half the glories of the day. 
 
 To resume, my fortnight passed most agreeably, and 
 early in March I took my departure for Leamington, en 
 route to the grand Liverpool steeple chase. The Spa is 
 the head quarters of the Warwickshire hunt ; and, for 
 a man that wishes to unite society and hunting, there 
 are few places equal to Leamington. The hotels are 
 excellent, the stabling first-rate, and the meets within 
 proper distances. There are numerous dinners, balls, 
 concerts, public and private plays, and whist parties- 
 Having taken up my quarters at the Bedford Hotel, I im- 
 mediately sent for the local newspaper, and found that the 
 hounds were to meet the following day at Mitford Bridge ; 
 and there, I found myself at eleven o'clock ; having joined 
 a party who were leaving the hotel at the same time 
 I did, and who, seeing that I was a stranger, politely 
 volunteered to show me the nearest road to the place of 
 meeting. " A well-mounted foreigner from Melton," was 
 very soon bruited about ; and I received the greatest atten- 
 tion, not only from the popular master of the hounds, but 
 also from all the principal gentlemen of the hunt. But 
 we were not allowed any long time for the exchange of 
 civilities ; for a gallant fox was shortly found. We had a 
 splendid run, fifteen miles from point to point, killing in 
 the open. Five horses died during this awful run, and 
 numerous others were put ho?^s de combat. 
 
 Leaving my stud at Leamington, I proceeded by the 
 train to Liverpool, arriving there in excellent time for 
 dinner. Upon reaching the Waterloo Hotel, I gave the 
 worthy proprietor of it, Mr. Lynn, an unlimited order 
 for the best dinner he could put upon the table ; being 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 327 
 
 anxious to show two of my countrymen, who had just re- 
 turned from Ireland, what an excellent soup the turtle, 
 unknown in France, produces. I then strolled to the 
 Adelphi Hotel, where my friends were sojourning ; and, 
 after a walk through the principal streets, we, in company 
 with one of the most sporting Liverpool merchants, to 
 whom my friends presented me, sat down to dinner. 
 
 For comfort and good living, the Waterloo is the very 
 best hotel I ever had the good fortune to sojourn at. The 
 spirited proprietor, is a great promoter of sport ; and to his 
 exertions the great stride that Liverpool races have of late 
 years made, may be attributed. Stephen Price, so well 
 known in the Enghsh and transatlantic theatres, was 
 wont to tell an anecdote of " mine host," which redounds 
 greatly to his credit and liberality. 
 
 The eccentric manager always patronised the Waterloo, 
 and upon one occasion, previous to his departure for New 
 York, entertained a party at dinner at that house. Some 
 excellent Madeira was produced, which, even to the taste of 
 the prejudiced American, "flogged" all he had ever drunk 
 in the world. " I must have a dozen of this, sir, for the 
 passage," said the great Mr. Price. " Impossible," re- 
 sponded respectfully the worthy landlord. " What, sir — '' 
 and here about as great a number of oaths were about to 
 escape the mouth of the exasperated manager, as, at the 
 magisterial price of five shillings per oath, would have made 
 a hole in the American's dollars, when a friend interfered, 
 and Mr. Lynn informed the party that only a few dozen 
 remained, which he declined selling ; as he wished to keep 
 them for those honoured guests who had so nobly and 
 generously supported him at the Waterloo. In the mean- 
 time. Price continued to murmur something about " money 
 was no object," " must have the Madeira, sir," " unac- 
 commodating," &c., &c. A turn was then given to the 
 
328 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 conversation, and nothing more occurred. The following 
 day the manager made his exit from Liverpool, still harp- 
 ing on the Madeira. Before the vessel had fairly got 
 under way. Price had despatched a messenger to the 
 Waterloo, to say that he would give any sum for a dozen 
 of the far-famed Madeira ; but a respectful refusal was the 
 reply. The evening passed off dully : the American was 
 considerably " ryled" at his disappointment ; and for four- 
 and-twenty hours not a smile was seen to play on his 
 countenance. The second day arrived, dinner was an- 
 nounced : at the first glass of wine, Price shook his 
 head, as the remembrance of the " Liverpool parti- 
 cular" came across him. The manager was looking 
 " wrathy," when the steward approached, and, popping his 
 sable visage close to him, half whispered — " Would Massa 
 Price like to hab the hamper of wine Massa Lynn sent him 
 from the Waterloo ?" " Wine ! what wine ?" inquired 
 the wonder-struck manager; "I ordered no wine!" 
 " Twelb bottle fine old Madeira that Massa Price liked 
 so much; Massa Lynn sent him present of it." At that 
 moment there was a dead silence, which was broken by the 
 delighted American banging the table with his fist, and 
 exclaiming — " That man, sir, is the finest fellow in all 
 England ; lucre would not tempt him !" The party were 
 astounded ; when an explanation took place, in which the 
 conduct of the host in giving to a good customer, that which 
 he declined to sell, was warmly eulogised. The donor's 
 health was drunk with the honours, and by no one with 
 more gusto than by Price himself, in a bottle of the old 
 Madeira. I have digressed to give this anecdote, which 
 has just occurred to me. 
 
 Return we to the Waterloo. To the gourmet it has 
 peculiar charms ; for the turtle is super- excellent, having 
 a delicacy of flavour that I have never seen equalled. 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 329 
 
 The soup is the very essence of turtle, and free from those 
 thick, clammy ingredients that so often spoil the taste of 
 this occidental luxury ; and which makes one fear that 
 instead of being real, it is only a mockery. The punch is 
 piquant, as its witty namesake ; and be it known to all 
 hons vivans that Mr. Lynn sends turtle to all parts of 
 England, at about half the price it can be procured in 
 London. 
 
 Upon the following morning the grand national steeple 
 chase took place ; and at an early hour the whole town was 
 in bustle and confusion. Strangers were pouring in from all 
 quarters ; and Dale-street was full of life. Here, at the club- 
 house door, might be seen a well-appointed team, upon the 
 box and roof of which might be recognised the elite of the 
 Liverpool sporting community. Before the Waterloo Hotel 
 appeared the Earl of Sefton with a turn-out worthy of the 
 noble owner ; and by its side was the phaeton of that truly 
 popular Cheshire baronet Sir William Massey Stanley. His 
 brother John, who hunts the hounds, is in a neat travelling 
 chariot, with his young and pretty wife, and who, being a 
 native of France, I, as a countryman, may well be proud of. 
 No sooner did the owner of Hooton hear that I was in 
 the hotel, than a waiter brought in the card of Sir William, 
 who most politely invited me to his home. After express- 
 ing my thanks, and regrets at, being unable to avail myself 
 of his hospitality, he inquired how I was about to proceed 
 to the race-course ; and, ascertaining that I had no other 
 conveyance, save that provided by the proprietor of the 
 Waterloo — a Liverpool fly — he immediately transferred me 
 to the box of a coach- and-four, belonging to one of his 
 friends. I will not attempt to give an account of the 
 steeple chase, which has so often been described in the 
 pages of " Bell's Life" and the " Sporting Review ;" suffice 
 it to say, it was one of the finest spectacles I ever witnessed. 
 
330 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 As I was anxious to return to Leamington to finish the 
 hunting season, my stay at Liverpool was limited to a day ; 
 during which time, through the kindness of one of its 
 most popular merchants, 1 saw everything worthy of 
 notice : the docks, exchange, pubUc buildings, cemeteries, 
 and gardens. Crossing the water, I was taken over Mr. 
 Harold Littledale's model farm, which is the most perfect 
 in the kingdom. The pressing hospitality of some of my 
 new acquaintances did not allow me again to partake of Mr. 
 Lynn's turtle ; that is, at my own expense. Invitations 
 flocked in, and if I had remained a month at this opulent 
 city I should never have sat down once to table at my hotel. 
 Taking leave of my kind friends, I went by rail to Leam- 
 ington : as I may in another letter enter more fully into the 
 merits of Warwickshire as a hunting country, I shall now 
 merely say that the sport during my stay there was 
 brilliant. 
 
 Upon my return to London, " the season," as it is called 
 par excellence was setting in ; and balls, operas, and 
 dinners were the order of the day. The merry month of 
 May arrived, and with it came many of the early race 
 meetings — Hampton Spring and Gorhambury ; both of 
 which I made a point of attending. At the former we had 
 some good gentlemen riders ; and, for the first time in 
 England, I appeared in the racing saddle. As I was not 
 placed, I will not further allude to the commencement of 
 my career as a jockey. 
 
 The Derby, which is quite a national fete in England, 
 was shortly to come off ; and I was about to make 
 preparations with Newman for horses to be sent on half 
 way, that I might not have the misery of sitting behind 
 
 tired jaded steeds, when young Lord called upon me, 
 
 and asked me how I was going to Epsom. " By the 
 road," I responded ; " and shall send a pair of horses on to 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 331 
 
 Richmond, that I may get there as free from dust and 
 crowd as possible." 
 
 " Oh ! come with us," answered the young nobleman, 
 just emancipated from Eton, and only a month previously 
 appointed to a cornetcy in one of the crack regiments of 
 the household brigade ; " we have a team ; we start from 
 the barracks at twelve, and have a relay at Sutton. I'll 
 book you for an outside place, and you'll see lots of life ; 
 only, I advise you to insure your neck." 
 
 Thanking my young friend for his kind offer, which 
 I gladly availed myself of, I promised to be at the 
 Regent's Park Barracks the following morning at the hour 
 named. 
 
 " You'll find breakfast from ten upwards, only recollect 
 we start railway time — twelve precisely." 
 
 At eleven o'clock the next morning I found myself at 
 the barracks, where a most substantial breakfast was 
 laid out in the messroom. Two teams were to start 
 — one belonging to an officer quartered there, to be 
 horsed by himself and his comrades ; and the other the 
 property of a sporting noblemen of the day. A guard, 
 or *' shooter," as he was called, was appointed to each, 
 whose business it was to blow the horn, play the key- 
 bugle, make out the way-bill of passengers and parcels, 
 fasten a buckle, bear up a leader, alter the curb- chain, 
 and, as the advertisements say, " make himself generally 
 useful." 
 
 The " shooters " on the present occasion were, Sir St. 
 Vincent Cotton, a right good-hearted sporting baronet, 
 formerly an officer in one of her Majesty's regiments of 
 Hussars, and a young officer of the guards. Their 
 costumes were quite in character with their assumed 
 avocations — light drab coats, with huge mother-of-pearl 
 buttons, upon which were engraved sporting of every sort, 
 
332 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 racing, hunting, coursing, shooting, fishing, driving, and 
 cricketing. 
 
 " I've kept the box-seat for you," said Sir St. Vin- 
 cent to me, taking out a printed paper, made to 
 resemble a regular way-bill, in the days that coaching 
 flourished. 
 
 " Let's have it read," shouted a dozen voices. 
 
 " Here it is," responded the sporting ex-hussar. " Out- 
 sides ;" and he gave a list of those who had been booked 
 for the day. " Insides," he continued — " Three dozen of 
 Champagne, four pails of Wenham Lake ice, five cold pies, 
 eight tongues and fowls, two quarters of lamb, four bowls of 
 salad, two dozen bottles of Seltzer water, four jugs of cyder 
 cup, two of Claret ditto, four dozen plovers' eggs, two jugs 
 of * sherry cobler,' and mint julep." 
 
 Ample provisions, thought I, for the day, and I then 
 began to think that my young friend's warning as to 
 insuring my neck, might not be quite so much of a joke as 
 I had treated it. At five minutes before twelve both teams 
 were at the door. 
 
 " Gentlemen, take your seats," exclaimed the guard : 
 one of the mess-waiters went inside to superintend the 
 victualling department. 
 
 "All right," cried the "shooters;" and, as the clock 
 struck twelve, we trotted across the yard, both guards 
 playing, " Away, away, to the mountain's brow," upon 
 their keyed instruments. No very hairbreadth escapes 
 occurred upon our journey down : we now and then grazed 
 the bars of the leaders, frightened an old apple-woman near 
 the Vauxhall turnpike, nearly took the linch-pin out of the 
 wheel of a cockney's dennet, almost upset a light taxed cart^ 
 and scared the wits, if he happened to have any, of a young 
 freshman from Cambridge, with a gaudily dressed damse^ 
 by his side, who was driving a tandem with a refractory 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 333 
 
 leader ; and which said leader so turned round to stare us 
 in the face, that we gave him a broadside, and nearly threw 
 the whole concern, Cantab and all, into a most miry and 
 foetid ditch. The whole road was replete with life ; there 
 was every sort of vehicle : the well-appointed, thorough- 
 bred team, the barouche-and-four, the postboys decked out 
 in satin jackets and white hats ; the phaeton- an d-pair, the 
 light dennet, the unassuming tilbury, the snug britchka, 
 the overloaded coach, the heavy " bus," the gaudy van, 
 covered with green boughs, and forming a sort of peram- 
 bulating laurel arbour, the " Hansom " cab, the new 
 invented tribus, the tilted cart, the " phaeton chay," the 
 cat's-meat barrow, horsed, or rather dogged by two fine 
 specimens of the mongrel breed ; while the owner fully 
 realized the Hnes of the late Horace Twiss's comic 
 song — 
 
 " And the werry next day at Epsom he vas seen, 
 In a nice new suit of wehveteen ; 
 How veil he's dressed, so spick and span, 
 My h'yes vot a svell is the dog's-meat man." 
 
 I know not if I have quoted the lines correctly ; I give 
 them from memory, having once heard them sung by the 
 talented author, who not only possessed every requisite for 
 a great lawyer, but who, in private society, was one of the 
 most agreeable companions I ever had the good fortune to 
 meet with — 
 
 " Of most infinite jest, of most excellent fancy." 
 
 Alas ! he no longer lives to " set the table in a roar," with 
 songs and " flashes of merriment." 
 
 Then we had stage coaches of every description, with 
 every sort of horse, from the ten-mile-an-hour trotter down 
 to the limping pacer, who was evidently making " his last 
 appearance upon any stage," previous to a visit to the 
 knacker's yard. Equestrians and pedestrians swarmed 
 
334 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 along the road. There was to be seen the three-hundred- 
 guinea park hack, his owner 
 
 " With spur insidiousl}'^ by his side, 
 Provokes the canter which he seems to chide.'* 
 
 Then the strong cob, the rider evidently a member of 
 Boodle's, the country gentleman's club, taking it quite easy ; 
 there dashes along a young East-Ender on a hired horse, 
 with a blue saddle-cloth, a snaffle bridle, a nose-band. Now 
 comes a young Life-guardsman, pounding along the road 
 upon his high-mettled and handsome charger, with a 
 cornet of some hght cavalry regiment, fancying he is 
 " witching the world with noble horsemanship." A stripling 
 from Eton, with one of Tilbury's best hacks, is unable to 
 " turn ;" although, as Shakespeare writes, he has " winded" 
 his " fiery Pegasus." A party now dashes past, consisting 
 of three sporting-looking men, and two dashing Amazons ; 
 then a " gent" with a smart four-and-sixpenny " gossamer," 
 and a green cut-away coat from the emporium of that 
 poetical Schneider, Moses, mounted upon (as far as knees 
 went) a well-&rofee charger. Next comes a regular swell, 
 with mustachios, and an Albert paletot, a " reach-me-down" 
 article from a fashionable shop in Lombard-street ; his red 
 and black satin neckcloth ornamented with a huge diamond 
 pin, with a pair of trowsers black and white checked, look- 
 ing for all the world like a draught-board. His costume 
 is between that of a Leicester-square lounger, and a levanting 
 black-leg at Boulogne: he is a keeper of a roulette 
 table. His nag is rather a spicy looking one, the present 
 owner having taken it for a bad debt. Numerous grazier- 
 looking men from the purlieus of Smithfield now appear, 
 the leading one mounted on an animal fully reahzing the 
 description given by the bard of Avon — " His horse hipped 
 with an old mothy saddle, the stirrups of no kindred, be- 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 335 
 
 sides possessed with the glanders, troubled with the lampass^ 
 full of windgalls, sped with spavins, swayed in the back, 
 and shoulder shotten." The pedestrians consisted of gip- 
 sies, tramps, pea and thimble-riggers ; for in the days I 
 write of, the stringent laws of Sir James Graham had not 
 come into operation ; shop-boys, cads, touters, beggars, 
 ballad -singers, Jew-boys, citizens, ostlers, cockneys, prize- 
 fighters, black-legs, and a class of seedy-looking sporting 
 "gents.," always to be seen hanging about Tattersall's or 
 Aldrido;e's vards. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 After a rather dusty journey, we reached the course, and 
 took up a position on the brow of the hill. Mounting our 
 hacks, which were in attendance, we galloped off to the 
 betting ring, where the scene baffles all description. Amidst 
 such a confusion of tongues, it is quite a miracle how any 
 one can make up his book. We then proceeded to the start- 
 ing-post, where, as Dibdin sings, " All on the downs the, fleet 
 were met." The knowing ones now take a look at their 
 favourites, and, shutting up their books, resign themselves to 
 their fate. The word is given, and away start the horses to 
 decide an event upon which so many thousands are depend- 
 ing; the equestrians, unmindful of danger to themselves, or to 
 the less fortunate " trampers" on foot, gallop across the hill. 
 Every one is in a state of breathless anxiety. " The 
 favourite is beat," shouts one, as they pass Tattenham 
 Corner. " He beats anything for a thousand," cries an-- 
 other, anxious to hedge some of his money. " Yellow wins," 
 " There is an outsider coming up," " Peel wins," " The 
 Duke of Richmond," " Forth a Uttle," " Gully's beat," 
 
336 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 and such cries rend the air. Now they approach the dis- 
 tance post ! for a minute there is a dead silence, which is 
 broken by a shout from assembled thousands, as the 
 winner passes the post. Out come the betting-books ; and as 
 the gamester runs his eye down the winning and losing 
 sheet, he either breaks out in noisy excitement; " I win a 
 thousand," or utters anathemas, deep not loud, against the 
 fickle goddess Fortune, who has now left him in the lurch 
 minus many more thousands than his exchequer holds. 
 " Well, the Oaks will bring me home," cries the now despe- 
 rate better : alas for his peace of mind, and that of his 
 creditors, it leaves him in a worse plight. 
 
 No sooner is the race over, than the whole course is 
 converted into one huge luncheon room. The roofs of all 
 the coaches, the seats of all the vehicles are covered with 
 the snowy damask, or the dirty-looking dowlas, according 
 to the quality of the owners, and every sort of eatable and 
 drinkable is laid out. The " drag " I was upon, furnished 
 a fair specimen of the aristocratic meal ; while a White- 
 chapel cart, which was drawn up next to us, gave a good 
 idea of humble life. Whilst we were enjoying our 
 pdte de foie gras, iced champagne, and claret cup, our 
 neighbours, consisting of two swell-looking butchers, with 
 their better halves, were indulging their appetites with a 
 highly-garlicked polony sausage, a cold lobster and salad, 
 and quenching their thirst by " potations pottle deep " of 
 Barclay and Perkins's bottled stout. Eating and drinking 
 for the million was thus carried on for a good hour, and 
 the poor gained considerably by the quantity as well as the 
 quality of the repast, which their richer brethren furnished 
 them with. It was curious to see some half-starved mendi- 
 cant devouring a slice of a perigord pie, to witness a tat- 
 tered fortune-teller revelling in the remains of a bottle of 
 iced champagne, to watch the countenance of a sturdy tramp 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 337 
 
 as he demolished the half of a cold fowl, a la Tartare, to 
 hear the remark of an omnibus cad, on helping himself 
 to a tumbler of cyder cup, " rayther sweetish and wishy 
 washy stuff, and wery cold to the stomach ; it an't to be 
 mentioned the same day with a glass of gin ;" and last, 
 not least, to look at the wry faces made by some swarthy 
 imps of the gipsy tribe, as they tasted a remnant of a pate 
 dejoie gras, or sipped from a broken bottle, some Johan- 
 nisberg hock of the finest vintage. To one and all of these 
 unpampered appetites, a crust of bread and cheese, a slice of 
 cold meat, and a glass of malt liquor, would have been far 
 more gratifying than the choicest delicacies. One party alone 
 seemed to thoroughly relish our scraps, and that was a band 
 of Itahan men and boys, with white mice, hurdy gurdies, 
 and organs ; who, having favoured us with all the most 
 popular airs of the day, from " Smile as thou were wont to 
 smile," to the serenade from Don Pasquale, were rewarded 
 with a very handsome lunch ; their countenances beam- 
 ing with delight, and their eyes sparkling with joy, at 
 the sumptuous viands. The sky was blue and serene, the 
 sun scorching hot ; and a thought of their own loved Italia 
 came across them, as they expressed their gratitude in 
 the following simple strain : — " Tante grazie Signori 
 miei."" 
 
 As the object of our party in the two teams was to make 
 a day of it, we did not leave the course until nearly six 
 o'clock ; during which period we indulged in the aristocratic 
 amusements of " shying sticks," " pricking the garter," 
 " playing at roulette," crying " seven's the main " at the 
 hazard table, risking our capital upon the red or black, 
 and losing our money and patience at the newly-invented 
 game of " cockamaroo." The result was, that at the end of 
 the day we found ourselves minus nearly all our funds, and 
 plus some six dozen toys, consisting of wooden apples 
 
 z 
 
338 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 pears, nutmeg-graters, jacks-in-the-boxes, pincushions, tin 
 snuff-boxes, thimbles, all of which would have nearly fur- 
 nished a shop for some modern Tackleton, and would have 
 gladdened the heart of that inimitable creation of Boz, the 
 worthy Caleb Plummer. At ten minutes before six o'clock, 
 the " shooter's " horn gave notice that we were about to 
 start ; and in about five minutes from that time the " drags- 
 man " cried out, " All right, let 'em go, I've got 'em ;" and 
 away we bowled across the downs at a rattling pace. No 
 sooner had we reached the road, than we found that the fun 
 had begun in downright good earnest ; for such a scene of 
 confusion I never before witnessed. It is no exaggeration 
 to say that nearly every driver, and all the post-boys, were 
 considerably elevated. The gradations from dead drunk to 
 what is called slightly intoxicated, were fully exemplified. 
 See that swell-looking sporting " gent. " in the dennet, who 
 has won a hundred by one of the Derby sweeps ; he is as 
 drunk as a lord (why your aristocracy are thus to be libelled 
 I know not, but I give the phrase most frequently in use) ; 
 he has got his thorough-bred looking nag into a gallop, 
 and is recklessly dashing by everything ; now one wheel is 
 against our leaders, then the other is in the ditch ; the 
 crazy vehicle is nearly overturned, when the driver's friend, 
 who is only ten sheets in the wind, gives the horse a pull to 
 the right, and again lands him on the road. Now an open 
 barouche-and-four, filled with ladies of very questionable 
 appearance, trots by ; the leading post-boy is rather the 
 worse for liquor, while the wheel one is what Bardolph calls 
 awfully " fap." Two horse-chaunting looking gentlemen 
 gallop furiously past in a light Whitechapel cart, and thread 
 the crowd with amazing dexterity ; like the horses they 
 deal in, they are considerably " screwed." Next comes 
 a sporting gentleman, rather fresh, in a phaeton and pair, 
 going " in and out " of the lines of carriages as cleverly as 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 339 
 
 his lordship was wont to do when taking a double ox rail 
 in Leicestershire. A van full of Bacchanalians now grazes 
 our bars, while our shooter, who could boast of a classical 
 education, exclaimed, rather c^o^matically, at least as far as 
 his Latin went on this occasion, " Cave cui incurras 
 inepte " — " Mind who you run against, stupid." " Holloa, 
 shooter," cries a young life-guardsman, " you're coming it 
 strong with your university education." " All right, old 
 fellow," responded the guard ; " Concessi Cantabrigium 
 ad capiendum ingenii culium ; " which in English means, 
 at least according to the " Comic Latin Grammar," a book 
 I have studied most profoundly, " I went to Cambridge to 
 become a fast man." What with music, joke, song, and 
 repartee, added to upsets, overthrows, tumbles, break-downs^ 
 fights and wrangles, we approached Richmond ; where the 
 shooter, having appropriately played " The Lass of Rich- 
 mond Hill," gave us another specimen of his dog Latin, 
 by exclaiming, " Porcis volentibus, lactissime epulabi- 
 mur '* — " Please the pigs, we'll have a jolly good dinner." 
 We now drove up to the door of the Star and Garter, where 
 the landlord *and a bevy of waiters were in readiness to 
 receive us. The pithy order, " dinner at half-past eight for 
 four-and-twenty — price unlimited," had its due effect; and 
 we were ushered into the large room, overlooking the river 
 and the green meadows of Twickenham. 
 
 No sooner were we clear of the dust, which, despite of 
 the surveyor's notice, we had carried away from the roads 
 without permission, than the bugles played " The roast beef 
 of Old England," and dinner was announced. Instead of 
 attempting turtle and difficult entrees, the spirited pro- 
 prietor of this excellent hostellerie gave us a superb plain 
 repast — freshwater fish of every kind and in the highest 
 perfection, stewed and spitchcock eels, water zuchet of all the 
 different tribes of the river finny race, with every sort of 
 
 z 2 
 
340 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 flesh and fowl, dressed in the best manner. The wines, 
 too, were of the first quality, and I never recollect passing 
 a more agreeable evening. After dinner, the president 
 called upon four or five of the party for a song ; and, 
 until midnight, the catch and glee went merrily round. 
 
 There was one of our party — the Honourable F 
 
 S • — to whom I must particularly allude, as not only 
 
 being one of the most gentlemanlike, kind-hearted creatures 
 in the world, but whose taste and voice as a singer " whips," 
 as the Yankees say, any other that I ever met with. Who 
 that has heard the " Bonnie, bonnie Owl," " The days that 
 we were tipsy in," and " The Shooter's Horn," will fail to 
 recognise the party I refer to ; who, on the occasion I 
 write of, delighted us all with his musical talents, and 
 although no follower of Father Mathew, always keeps him- 
 self sufficiently steady to be able, at a moment's notice, 
 to take the reins, should the dragsman happen to find 
 himself Bacchi plenus. 
 
 At twelve o'clock, the teams were at the door, and, after 
 an hour's drive, we were safely landed at Crockford's. The 
 club was then in its zenith, and around the> supper table 
 were gathered all the choice spirits of the day ; the Bad- 
 minton, Horace Twiss's, and various mixtures, formed of all 
 the choicest concoctions of claret, curacoa, orange juice, and 
 iced soda water, quite the modern nectar, passed freely 
 round, and kept up the hearts of those who had been 
 losers by the day ; while it almost maddened with joy those 
 who had come oif winners. It was nearly daylight before 
 I reached the Clarendon, highly delighted with my trip to 
 Epsom. 
 
 By way of a change, I accompanied a party by the 
 Brighton rail to the Oaks, but it was a dull, flat, and 
 unprofitable affair ; we took our hacks with us, and got out 
 at Stoat's Nest. There was no life, bustle, or excitement ; 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 341 
 
 and, instead of the humours of the road, nothing was to he 
 seen but a dingy workman or a gaunt policeman, waving a 
 dirt-stained red flag, as we passed the different stations. 
 I was rather amused with an elderly gentleman who 
 sat opposite to me, remarking that he was a great 
 railroad traveller, and who expatiated not a little upon the 
 charms of steam power over horse-flesh. Among other 
 drawbacks I ventured to remark, that getting one's eye 
 filled with iron dust was not the most agreeable thing in 
 the world. " Wear goggles, as I do," responded the 
 blustering raz'/er, " and carry a magnet with you, which will 
 extract every particle of metal that may happen to get 
 within your eyelids." 
 
 The ride from Stoat's Nest to the Downs was delight- 
 ful : upon reaching the course, we found the scene far 
 different from that of the previous Wednesday ; there 
 was an absence of life, and there were fewer persons by 
 some thousands. The grand stand, however, was well 
 filled, and the race, although not so exciting as the Derby, 
 was, to the mass of spectators, replete with exceeding 
 interest. As I had an engagement to an early dinner, and 
 the French play, in London, I lost no time in cantering to 
 the Ditton station ; the Southampton rail arriving at 
 a more civilized part of the town — Vauxhall, instead of 
 London Bridge : and there is certainly one tiling to be said 
 in favour of the rail, which is, that you get over your 
 ground quickly. I left Epsom at half-past three, reached 
 the station at half-past four; and, after having been 
 whirled for half an hour through asparagus beds, cabbage 
 gardens, gooseberry plantations, and the numerous patches 
 of esculent vegetables that surround London on all sides, 
 found myself safely landed at Vauxhall about five o'clock. 
 Certainly there are few sights that strike a foreigner more 
 than Epsom Races : Ascot and Goodwood are more aris- 
 
342 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 tocratic, and it is truly pleasing to see at the former the 
 Court honouring the people with the exhibition of its gala 
 equipages ; to witness the Queen, surrounded by elegant 
 and lovely women, radiant in beauty; but all this falls 
 short of the Derby, which has the power of wresting the 
 Englishman of every degree from his lethargic gravity, and 
 which makes him look upon this event as one that, in a 
 national point of view, must be kept up. You may as well 
 attempt to deprive him of his " rosbif " and plum-pudding 
 on a Sunday, as to debar him from this annual /efe. 
 
 Ascot races were now approaching ; and, unfortunately^ 
 some legal business of importance compelled me to 
 decline a most kind and pressing invitation to pass a week 
 at a friend's house near Sunning Hill. I was, however, in 
 some degree compensated for my disappointment, by re- 
 ceiving a command to dine with your gracious Queen at 
 Windsor Castle upon the Cup day. I made my arrange- 
 ments accordingly ; and, ordering four of Newman's best 
 to my travelling chariot, and four to be in readiness at 
 Hounslow to take me to the course and bring me back at 
 night, I posted at an early hour on the Thursday, so as to 
 be in time to see the whole humours of the Cup day ; and 
 certainly my expectations were more than realized ; for the 
 weather was brilliant, the company numerous, and the racing 
 excellent. After partaking of a most sumptuous lunch in 
 her Majesty's stand, I proceeded to Windsor, where, after 
 some difficulty, I engaged a room to dress in. At the time 
 named on the card, I was at the castle; and, having 
 occupied myself during the usually tedious half hour before 
 dinner, as also during the evening, in looking over this 
 splendid regal residence, I must give you a few rough notes 
 of the impression it made on my mind. 
 
 St. George's Hall is upwards of two hundred feet in 
 length, and is about thirty-five in width. The ceiling is 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 343 
 
 divided throughout its whole length into compartments, 
 whereon are emblazoned the armorial bearings of all the 
 knights of the garter, from the institution of the order. 
 The knights on the corbels, in complete suits of mail, are 
 Edward the Third and his son, the Black Prince; and there 
 are portraits from the first James to the last George. Along 
 the sides of the hall, on shields, are emblazoned the arms 
 of the various knights ; and in other spaces are large brass 
 shields, bearing the cross of St. George and encircled by 
 the garter and its well-known motto, " Honi soit qui mal 
 y pense." A chamber more likely to revive associations of 
 by-gone days, and bring to the mind's eye a review of the 
 stirring times and warlike deeds of the proud aristocracy, 
 of which your country may so truly boast, does not exist. 
 It brought to my remembrance some bitter reflections 
 connected with my own native land. 
 
 But to the apartment now arranged as a banqueting-hall. 
 At each end were buflTets, seventeen feet in height and forty 
 in breadth, covered with crimson cloth, and encompassed 
 by carved gothic framework, upon which the massive 
 gold plate was tastefully arranged. Immediately opposite 
 the seat appropriated to her Majesty, and within a recess, 
 was a pyramid of plate, comprising the tiger's head cap- 
 tured at Seringapatam ; over it the Iluma, formed of precious 
 stones, presented by the late Marquis of Wellesley to 
 George the Third. Above the Iluma was a cup, made out 
 of a shell, mounted in gold and silver, surmounted by the 
 figure of Jupiter resting on an eagle, the base supported by 
 Hippocampi, several vases rich in precious stones and ivory; 
 and the national cup, with figures of St. George, St. 
 Andrew, and St. Patrick, the patron saints of England, 
 Scotland, and Ireland, the national emblems being formed 
 of rare jewels. The table extended the whole length of 
 the room, and covers were laid for one hundred. Gold 
 
344 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 epergnes, vases, cups, and candelabras, the latter containing 
 a profusion of wax lights, were ranged down the centre of 
 the table. The celebrated St. George's candelabra was 
 placed opposite the Queen's seat : it is perhaps the most 
 beautiful specimen of plate in the world. The upper 
 division contains the combat of England's patron saint 
 with the dragon ; the lower has four figures in full relief, 
 supporting shields bearing the arms of England, Scotland, 
 Ireland, and the plume of the Prince of Wales. In speak- 
 ing of the plate, I must not omit to mention the shield of 
 Achilles, and the massive gold salt-cellar made to represent 
 the white tower of Windsor's proud castle. The wine- 
 coolers are copies of the Warwick and other well-known 
 classical vases. The hall was splendidly illuminated ; for, 
 in addition to the numerous lights displayed upon the 
 tables and sideboards, there were lamps, in sets of four, 
 placed on each shield throughout the apartment. On duty 
 at the entrance were the yeomen of the guard, now called 
 " beef-eaters," derived from the word " bouffetiers ;" and 
 the bands of two regiments, cavalry and infantry, quartered 
 at Windsor, were stationed in one of the galleries. The 
 company assembled in the drawing rooms by half-past 
 seven ; and, from a pre-arranged and official list, made out 
 by the lord in waiting, each person knew whom he was to 
 take in to dinner ; my lot fell to a distinguished foreign 
 minister's wife. Precisely at a quarter before eight, her 
 Majesty entered the drawing room ; and after graciously 
 recognizing her guests, took the arm of the Duke of Cam- 
 bridge, and followed by Prince Albert and the Duchess of 
 Kent, led the way to the banquetting hall ; the remainder 
 of the company in succession according to their respective 
 ranks. During dinner the band played some popular 
 marches, overtures, waltzes, and quadrilles, from the works 
 of Mendlessohn, Beethoven, Labitzkv, Mozart, Ries, and 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND, 345 
 
 Musard. The repast was splendid, being served entirely 
 on gold plate. The attendance was complete, and there 
 was less bustle and confusion in this party of one hundred 
 than I have often seen in a small circle of eight or ten. 
 The wine of every description was handed round during 
 dinner; while that first-rate artist Francatelli, who then 
 presided over the culinary department, walked about 
 to see justice done to his respective plats. At a quarter 
 before nine grace was said, the cloth removed, and the 
 dessert, consisting of every luxury in and out of season, 
 was placed on the table. No sooner did the wine " sparkle 
 on the board" than the official toast-master, the ord 
 steward, gave " The Queen." All stood up except her 
 Majesty, who gracefully bowed her acknowledgments. 
 The National Anthem was then played. Again the lord 
 steward rose, and gave, " His Royal Highness Prince 
 Albert ;" the toast was drunk standing, the band playing 
 the " Cobourg March." The effect was most imposing ; 
 the martial strains of the music, a hall replete with every 
 attribute of regal magnificence, and a well-dressed company 
 of one hundred persons, sparkling in diamonds and other 
 precious jewels, encircling a table one hundred and thirty 
 feet long, produced an effect more like a fairy dream than 
 a substantial pageant. At half-past nine her Majesty rose 
 from table, the ladies of the company grouping round heri 
 and proceeded to the drawing-room. His Royal Highness 
 now again took his seat : the wine was passed briskly 
 round, and in five-and-twenty minutes the Prince and the 
 guests joined her Majesty. The Waterloo Chamber was 
 thrown open for music and refreshments. Its pictorial 
 treasures are historically connected with the deeds of your 
 countrymen during the last fifty years. The galleries are 
 of oak ; and the furniture, of the same material, is covered 
 with crimson plush. The balLroom is rather more than 
 
346 SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 ninety feet long, and thirty-five in breadth. It is hung 
 with gobelin tapestry, and has a magnificent gothic window 
 occupying the northern end. The furniture, of crimson 
 and gold, has a very rich appearance. The north corridor 
 is arranged with much taste ; in it is a fine collection of 
 arms, consisting of Oriental matchlocks, helmets, shields, 
 spears, and swords. Among the latter are those worn by 
 the Chevalier St. George in 1715, and by the Pretender in 
 the fatal 1746. In the Guard Chamber are whole-length 
 figures, clothed in armour. The coats of mail include those 
 worn by Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1620 ; Lord Howard, 
 in 1588 ; Duke of Brunswick, in 1530; Lord Essex, in 
 1596; and Prince Rupert, in 1635. At the south end, on 
 part of the mast of the Victory, stands Chantrey's bust of 
 Nelson. There are also busts of Marlborough andWellington, 
 with the banners from Blenheim and Strathfieldsaye ; one 
 of which [their^ representatives are bound annually to place 
 in Windsor Castle. In failing so to do, on the anniversaries 
 of their two great victories, their estates would be forfeited. 
 Over the mantel-piece is the exquisite silver shield inlaid 
 with gold, executed by Cellini, and presented by our 
 monarch Francis the First to Henry the Eighth of England, 
 on the far-famed field of the " Cloth of Gold." The con- 
 cert of instrumental music was all that could be desired, 
 and consisted of the chef-d'oeuvres of Mozart, Beethoven, 
 Lindpainter, Mendlessohn, and Marschner. At a little 
 after eleven o'clock, her Majesty, bending gracefully to the 
 assembled guests, retired, leaning on the arm of the 
 Prince Consort ; and shortly afterwards the rest of the 
 company dispersed. 
 
 I now entered my carriage, and, throwing myself into 
 the corner, soon fell into a profound sleep. The race for 
 the cup, the splendid banquet in St. George's Hall, the dig- 
 nified aifability of your Queen " the love of millions," the 
 
SPORTING REMINISCENCES IN ENGLAND. 347 
 
 strains of Mozart, all flitted before my eyes, and sounded in 
 my ears, when I was suddenly awakened by an altercation, 
 carried on in a most angry tone ; putting down the 
 window, I found myself at the door of the celebrated 
 George Inn at Hounslow. 
 
 *' Ten ponds for de horses !" exclaimed my valet Hip- 
 polite ; " vy dat is one grand sheet." " Cheat, mounseer !" 
 responded a stout hurley ostler ; " we are not to be bam- 
 boozled by your foreigneering folks ; master always charges 
 ten pounds for horses on the Cup day." My enraged 
 " help," as an American would say, was getting " awfully 
 ryled," when I put my head out of the window, and called 
 the ostler to me. " If the charge is usual," I said, " of 
 course I have no objection to pay it ; here are ten pounds." 
 " The boys and gates are paid," chimed in HippoHte- 
 " Please to remember the ostler," said the now humble 
 master of the horse. I was about to give him something, 
 when the excited valet shouted " Go on, all right, or no 
 pay." The latter sentence seemed to act like magic upon 
 the postboys, who started off at a rattling trot of nearly 
 eleven miles an hour, leaving the ostler to anathematise 
 upon " them 'ere French coves wot don't understand how 
 to do the handsome thing." 
 
 In rather more than an hour I found myself at the door 
 of the Clarendon Hotel, not a little fatigued with my day's 
 pleasure, but highly gratified with my visit to Ascot and 
 Windsor. 
 
SEA FISHING. 
 
 " I love the sea ; she is my fellow creature, 
 My careful purveyor ; she provides me store." 
 
 QUABLES, 1630, 
 
 In a former portion of this work we gave an article upon 
 fly fishing and anghng ; we now proceed to the more noble 
 and exciting sport of sea-fishing ; and we strongly advise any 
 of our London friends who may be desirous of a change of 
 scene and a " sniff of the briny," to locate themselves, as the 
 Yankees say, for a week or two in August or September 
 at the Portland Hotel, Southsea, the George or Quebec 
 Portsmouth, the Hotel, Anglesey Ville ; and securing the 
 services of a good fisherman, a well-found boat and gear, 
 they may enjoy trolling, drawing the seine, and angling to 
 their hearts' content. Should our friends wish to combine 
 yachting with their piscatorial pursuits, it can easily be ac- 
 complished ; and for the benefit of the uninitiated we will 
 lay before them the way and the hoiv it can be brought to 
 bear : adding some hints from practical experience, which 
 may guard the unwary from the attacks of the land sharks, 
 who are to be found at every sea-port town in the United 
 Kingdom, and whose voracity quite equals that of the 
 monsters of the deep. 
 
 We will suppose, then, a party of three or four friends 
 clubbing together for a month's yachting and fishing. Upon 
 
SEA FISHING. 349 
 
 reaching one of the above - mentioned hotels, their first 
 object should be to make every inquiry from the boatmen 
 respecting the hire of a craft for the period, and which can 
 easily be ascertained. For fine weather, we should strongly 
 recommend a wherry of about fourteen or sixteen tons^ 
 open, with the exception of a fore-cuddy, in which the 
 men sleep, and cook their meals. A man and a boy 
 will be ample ; and the whole, including the crew, can be 
 had for six or seven guineas a-week. A cutter of equal 
 tonnage may be procured for the same money ; but there 
 are many advantages that the wherries possess over other 
 vessels. There is space to move about in them ; instead 
 of lying down on the deck drenched with every sea that 
 breaks over the bows, you may enjoy a walk free from 
 wet; then you are not annoyed with a boom, and in 
 points of sailing, nine times out of ten, the open boat will 
 beat the decked one. With waterproof clothing, coat, 
 trowsers, and boots, and a south-wester, you may defy the 
 rain or the spray ; and if a sudden squall gets up, nothing 
 can be snugger than a wherry under a three-reefed trysail, 
 (or mainsail as it is called), and a storm jib. A craft having 
 then been engaged, the next step is to secure the services of 
 a couple of fishermen with a well-found boat, including troll 
 and seine nets, mackerel and whiting lines ; fifteen shillings 
 a day would cover this expense, especially if you did not 
 require the fish you caught, for yourself or friends, and gave 
 it over to the men. The next item in your accounts will be 
 the hotel, all of which are carried on upon an excellent 
 principle, namely, that of including all charges, except wine, 
 in one account ; and a party of four may have excellent 
 dormitories, a good sitting-room, candles, breakfast, dinner, 
 and tea, with the fees to the servants of the establishment, 
 for twelve guineas a-week ; all personal servants, whether in 
 or out of livery, male and female, are charged one guinea 
 
350 SEA FISHING. 
 
 per week for board and lodging, an entertainment which is 
 also carried on at the same price for horse as well as man. 
 Wine at the usual tavern prices, with the privilege of supply- 
 ing your own, by paying a corkage of eighteen-pence on 
 sherry and port, and two shillings on claret and champagne. 
 Our readers will then see that the sum total would amount 
 for one month to one hundred and twenty-seven pounds, 
 id est, thirty-one pounds sixteen shillings each, including 
 yachting, fishing, eating, drinking, lodging, and sea air. 
 
 f s. d. 
 
 Hire of yacht for one month, at six guineas per week . . 25 4 
 
 Ditto of fishing boat, at 1 5s. per day — 24 days 18 
 
 Board and lodging at hotel 50 8 
 
 Wine, four bottles per diem 28 
 
 Rail to Portsmouth and back to London 5 12 
 
 £127 4 
 The rail is a wonderful improvement upon the coaching 
 of former days on this road ; instead of being eight hours 
 upon the journey, the fast trains do it in two, and the slower 
 ones in four hours. Compare this to the following state- 
 ment extracted from Henry Slight's " Looking Glass for 
 Portsmouth," a most useful and entertaining volume, replete 
 with local information. "In the year 1770, coachmen 
 betw^een Portsmouth and London were very boisterous, 
 drunken personages, with Bardolph visages, and conver- 
 sation full of rude oaths ; guards carried huge blunderbusses 
 loaded with triple bullets for fear of highwaymen in the 
 forest of Bere ; the road at Cosham was deep and narrow ; 
 London was seventy-three miles distant ; and people made 
 their wills before they encountered the perils of the way. 
 The royal mail was despatched by express daily at two 
 o'clock in the afternoon, and arrived at six next morning. 
 At length the spirit of improvem-i'iit dawned, and Clarke's 
 flying machine (in one day) set out from the King's Arras 
 
SEA FISHING. 351 
 
 Inn every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights at ten 
 o'clock, returning on the alternate nights ; while their other 
 machine continued to rumble forth from the Blue Post Inn 
 every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights, and returned 
 every other night. The western and eastern mails came in 
 three times only in the week. During the first American 
 war, a great increase of pubhc conveyances took place, and 
 the road was very much improved. The coaches, however, 
 as late as 1805, departed at five in the morning, and came 
 in late at night." 
 
 Return we now to our estimate, in which everything has 
 been carried out in the most liberal manner ; of course, the 
 screw could be applied so as to reduce the expenditure, but 
 we do not think a month's pleasuring at all dear at the 
 price quoted. We now proceed to the best spots for troll- 
 ing, casting the seine, and hook and line angling ; but here 
 the fisherman must be guided by winds and tides. With a 
 fine breeze off Spithead, you may catch from fifty to a 
 hundred mackerel in the course of a morning ; off Stokes's 
 Bay, Anglesey Ville, you will indeed be unlucky if your 
 troll does not produce you some excellent plaice, whiting, 
 grey mullets, eels, soles, dabs, and skate ; and in Stanswood 
 Bay, near Eaglehurst, on the Hampshire coast, with the 
 seine net you may count upon all the above fish, with the 
 addition of salmon peal and red mullets. In the month of 
 August last we drew the seine in this bay upon three occa- 
 sions, and were amply repaid for our labour ; for, with a 
 strong tide and a fresh breeze, it is no light work to be up 
 to your waist in water for some three or four hours, hauling 
 a heavy and well-stocked net. 
 
 Although many of our readers may not be able to follow 
 us in the sports we have had, and still hope to have, in 
 deep sea-fishing, we will lay before them our personal 
 prowess from the time we first bobbed for a whiting pout 
 
352 SEA FISHING. 
 
 from a summer-house in Cowes harbour, to the period we 
 fished for cod on the submarine mountains on the banks of 
 Newfoundland. Following the principle we laid down in our 
 article upon fly fishing and angling, we will proceed alpha- 
 betically to work, g,nd the cod first claims our attention. This 
 fish is caught everywhere on the coast of Great Britain, but 
 there are particular times for fishing in particular places. 
 Thus, from Easter to Whitsuntide is the best season at AUon- 
 by, Workington, and Whitehavenj in Cumberland, and on the 
 coast of Lancashire ; from the beginning of April to the end 
 of May, on the west part of Ireland; from Christmas to Mich- 
 aelmas on the north and east of Ireland ; and from March 
 to August, on the north-east of England. But the chief 
 support of the cod fishery are the banks of Newfoundland ; 
 the best fish are taken on the south side of the Great Bank, 
 which is four hundred and fifty miles long, a hundred broad, 
 and seventy-five from the island. The best season for fishing 
 for them is from the beginning of February to the end of 
 April, at which time the fish, which had retired during the 
 winter to the deepest part of the sea, return to the bank, 
 and grow very large and fat. Those that are taken from 
 March to July keep well enough, but those caught in the 
 latter and two following months soon spoil. Each fisher- 
 man can take but one at a time, and yet the most expert 
 will catch from three hundred and fifty to four hundred in 
 a day. They are all taken with a strong hook and line 
 baited with the entrails of other cod. This is very fatiguing, 
 both on account of the weight of the fish and the coldness 
 of the climate; for although the great banks lie from 
 forty-one to forty-two degrees of latitude, the weather, in 
 the season, of fishing, is very severe. The cod are salted 
 on board ship in the follow^ing manner : they are cleansed, 
 and their heads cut off ; then the Salter ranges them side 
 by side at the bottom of the vessel, and head to tail (if 
 
SEA FISHING. 353 
 
 such an expression can be applied to a decapitated object). 
 When one layer of about a fathom or two square is 
 complete, he strews it with salt, and then adds another, 
 which he covers as before ; and thus he disposes of all he 
 has caught, care being taken not to mix the produce 
 of different fishings. After the cod has thus lain three 
 or four days, they are removed into another part of 
 the vessel, and undergo a fresh process of salting ; they 
 are then put in barrels for the convenience of carriage. 
 The principal places for carrying on this process of curing 
 "are along the coast of Placentia, in Newfoundland, 
 from Cape Race to the Bay of Experts ; within which 
 limits there are several commodious ports for the fish to be 
 landed. The work is carried on in the summer season, for 
 the convenience of drying the fish in the sun ; on which 
 account European vessels are obliged to set out in March or 
 April. Other vessels begin their voyages in June or July, 
 their object being to purchase the cod that has been caught 
 and prepared by the English colonies of Newfoundland and 
 the neighbouring parts ; in exchange for which they carry 
 them a variety of articles of clothing and subsistence. The 
 fish which is chosen for drying is of a small sort, as the 
 salt takes more hold of it. When the vessels arrive 
 in any particular part, he who touches ground first is enti- 
 tled to the privileges of admiral, has the choice of his 
 station, and the refusal of all the wood on shore. As 
 fast as they arrive, the vessels are unrigged, leaving nothing 
 but the shrouds to sustain the masts ; in the mean time, 
 the mates pitch a tent, covered with branches of fir 
 and sails, and erect a scaffold fifty or sixty feet long and 
 twenty broad. While the latter is being constructed, 
 the crew apply themselves to fishing, and as fast as they 
 catch any cod they open and salt them on moveable 
 benches, but the main work is performed on the scaffold. 
 
 A A 
 
354 SEA FISHING. 
 
 When the fish have taken the salt, they are washed and 
 laid in piles on the galleries of the scaffold to drain ; after 
 this, they arrange them on hurdles only one thick, head 
 to tail, with the back uppermost. While they thus lie, they 
 take care to turn and shift them four times in every twenty- 
 four hours. When they begin to dry, they lay them in 
 heaps, ten or twelve apiece, to retain their warmth, and 
 continue to enlarge the heap every day until it is double 
 its first size : at length, they join two of these heaps 
 into one, which they continue to turn every day as before, 
 and, when they are thoroughly dry, they lay them in huge 
 piles. We have now given the practical part of cod 
 fishing ; but the delight of it can only be experienced by 
 those who, like ourselves, have found themselves on the 
 banks of Newfoundland after beating about with contrary 
 winds in the channel for a week, and being then tossed 
 about for nearly a month in the Atlantic. These feelings 
 I experienced in a passage to Canada in H.M. frigate 
 Iphigenia. We had quitted the white cliffs of England 
 about the middle of June, 1818, and, with a fine steady 
 breeze, had made Plymouth, when the wind veered round 
 and kept us beating about the shores of Cornwall for nearly 
 eight days. Fair and moderate weather succeeded this, 
 but, shortly afterwards, we experienced heavy squalls of 
 wind and rain, which ended in a tremendous gale, and 
 lasted three days. During nearly a month of wind, wet, 
 and a heavy swell, with an occasional calm, our passage had 
 been tedious and unfortunate, when great was our happiness 
 at finding, on the morning of the 13th July, that we had 
 got soundings, and were in six-and-thirty fathom water on 
 the far-famed banks of Newfoundland. We now rounded-to, 
 and all hands turned up to fish ; before one o'clock, we had 
 hauled up enough fine cod and halibut to keep us for the 
 next three days. Every one that could be spared, from the 
 
SEA FISHING. 355 
 
 * powder-monkey " to the first lieutenant, were anxiously 
 and actively employed with line in hand ; for it was not 
 only the pleasure of catching the fish that animated us in 
 our exertions, but the anticipated delight of eating them. 
 None but those who have been " cribbed, cabined, and 
 confined " within the wooden walls of Old England for any 
 time can know the enjoyment of any fresh diet, after living 
 salong on salt provisions or hermetically -sealed comestibles. 
 Every mess was plentifully supplied with fish; scarcely 
 anything else was touched ; it was a regular Greenwich 
 day at sea. We had boiled, fried, and broiled cod, and — 
 best of all — a dish of cod fricasseed with well-dressed 
 potatoes. No Reading or Harvey sauces were required — 
 no soy, ketchup, or cayenne; our unpampered appetites 
 were fully satisfied with the very best fish dinner (not even 
 excepting those of the good Ship Derbyshire, of Greenwich, 
 now unfortunately stranded) which it was ever our good 
 fortune t9 partake of. 
 
 We now approach the herring, whose most constant abode 
 is in the seas between the north of Scotland, Norway and 
 Denmark, from whence they make annual excursions through 
 the British Channel as far as the coast of Normandy. The 
 best times of fishing on the coast of Norfolk and Suff^olk 
 are from the middle of September until the middle of Octo. 
 her. The nets used are about five yards deep and twenty- 
 five long ; occasionally they fasten as many together as 
 will take in a mile in compass. The fishermen judge where, 
 about the herrings lie by the hovering and motion of the 
 sea-birds, which continually pursue them in expectation of 
 prey ; and as soon as any boat has got its load it makes to 
 the shore, where the fish is delivered to the men who are to 
 wash and salt them. Herrings are divided into six different 
 sorts — the fat herring, which is the largest of all ; the meat 
 herring, which is also of good size ; the night herring, which 
 
356 SEA FISHING. 
 
 is of a middling weight ; the pluck, which has received 
 some damage by the nets ; the shotten herring which has 
 lost its spawn ; and the capshen, which by some accident or 
 other has been deprived of its head. All these various sorts 
 are put into a tub with salt or brine, where they remain 
 for four-and-twenty hours. Such as are intended for drying 
 are taken out and put into wicker baskets and washed ; after 
 this they are perforated with wooden spits and hung up 
 in a chimney built for the purpose, at such distances that 
 the smoke may have free access to them all. When they 
 have filled these places, which will hold ten or twelve thou- 
 sand, they kindle billets of wood, which are laid on the floor, 
 to dry them ; this done, the air is entirely excluded, and 
 immediately the place is filled with smoke. This is repeated 
 every quarter of an hour, inasmuch that a single last of 
 herrings requires a considerable quantity of wood to dry 
 them. A last is ten barrels, each containing nearly 
 a thousand. These thus prepared are called red-herrings 
 or bloaters. The pickled are best done by the Dutch, 
 who the moment they are taken out of the sea wash 
 and place them in salt and water for fifteen hours ; 
 they are then taken out, well drained, and put in regular 
 order in barrels with layers of salt, every care being taken 
 to exclude the air. Herrings always swim in shoals, delight- 
 ing to be near the shore. 
 
 Mackerel are found in large shoals in divers parts of the 
 ocean, but especially on the coasts of England and France. 
 They enter the channel in April, and take their course through 
 the Straits of Dover, insomuch that in June they advance 
 as far as Kent, Sussex and Cornwall, Normandy and 
 Picardy. They are taken either with nets or hues. In the 
 west of England they fish for them with nets near the shore, 
 and the quantity taken upon these coasts is sometimes 
 incredible. In angling for mackerel the best bait is a 
 
SEA FISHING. 357 
 
 piece of tobacco-pipe, a bit of a herring, a sixpence, or a 
 strip of scarlet cloth ; should you have taken one, their own 
 flesh will serve you admirably for enticing their comrades. 
 When they are angled for, it must be out of a boat or 
 smack ; and you must have what the fishermen call a 
 mackerel breeze, to take you four or five knots an hour 
 through the water. Your first process will be to ship a 
 boom clear of the wash : fasten your lines to the ends. The 
 lines should be about fifteen fathoms in length, with a round 
 lead to sink them : allow seven fathoms to be under water. 
 You may then place two after-lines on the boat's quarter, 
 about nine fathoms in length, if the weather is fine, and 
 eleven fathoms should it blow fresh. Fasten a guy to the 
 water's edge to pull in your line with. The snood should 
 be about three fathoms long, the weight of the lead from 
 two to four pounds in light winds, and seven if there is a 
 breeze. 
 
 The pilchard is a fish of passage, and swims in shoals, in 
 the same manner as the herring. The best season for fishing 
 is from June to September. The chief fisheries are along 
 the coasts of Dalmatia ; and so plentiful are they in those 
 parts, that they not only furnish all Greece, but a great part 
 of Italy with their produce. Nearer home, on the coasts of 
 Bretagne, from Belle-Isle to Brest, and along the shores of 
 Cornwall and Devonshire, this fish abounds. The pilchards 
 caught in our waters, although larger, are not so much 
 valued as those taken nearer to France ; and which can alone 
 be accounted for in their not being so well cured. Our 
 foreign neighbours use the roes of cod-fish as baits, which, 
 thrown into the sea, make the fish rise and run into the 
 seine-net. The pilchard naturally follows light, and they will 
 gather about a boat which carries one during the night- 
 time. On the coasts of Devonshire and Cornwall they set 
 men, whom they call huers, to watch on the tops of moun. 
 
358 SEA FISHING. 
 
 tains and cliffs, who are able to discover when a shoal of 
 pilchards is coming, by the black or purple colour of the 
 water ; and in the night by its shining. The fishermen then 
 shoot the seine by the direction of the oldest amongst them, 
 termed the king, who, should he see the fish shift, waves 
 his hat, which is answered by the steersman. A smaller 
 net is then worked inside the larger one, and brought into 
 a circle ; by degrees it is lessened, and occasionally a draught 
 of many thousand pilchards is taken from it. The fishery 
 extends from the Ram Head, Plymouth, right down to the 
 Land's End. The nets are often six hundred fathoms in 
 length ; they are formed into a circle, and moored by stream 
 anchors five or six fathoms deep, and buoyed up at every 
 fifteen yards with corks and casks. The end buoys are 
 generally formed of the skins of dogs dried and blown out. 
 A smaller net is worked inside. The boats vary from 
 eighteen to twenty tons, and have mostly from twenty to 
 two-and-twenty men on board. It requires capital, to 
 fit out a boat for the pilchard fishery, as, including the gear, 
 it will cost six or seven hundred pounds. When the fish 
 are taken and landed, they are put in a heap in a building 
 upon the ground, placing one layer upon another, with a 
 sufficient quantity of salt between each ; thus they continue 
 laying stratum super stratum until they are nearly two 
 yards high. After they have remained a fortnight in this 
 manner, and are thoroughly salted, they undergo a process 
 of ablution, which being effected, they are pressed down into 
 barrels with heavy weights, that force out a quantity of 
 oil, serviceable for many purposes. The barrels are again 
 filled, and fitted for home or foreign consumption. 
 
 Lobsters, which are found in perfection off the Isle of 
 Wight, are taken with pots, as they are called, made of 
 wickerwork, in which they put the bait, and they are sunk in 
 eight or ten fathom water. As the quantity caught off the 
 
SEA FISHING. 359 
 
 Isle of Wight is limited, the London markets are supplied 
 from Norway and the Orkneys. 
 
 The crab is much of the same nature as the lobster, and 
 may be caught in the same manner. They often he in 
 creeks, and in the ponds formed by hollow places in the 
 sand, where the salt water remains after the tide has ebbed, 
 and there they may be angled for with a piece of liver, or 
 the inside of a fowl, tied to a bit of string, and laid in their 
 haunts. The moment a crab sees the bait he will seize it 
 with his claws, and will not quit his hold until he is drawn 
 up to the surface of the water, when a landing net quickly 
 applied will secure your prize. 
 
 Cray-fish are to be found in almost every brook and 
 rivulet in England. The usual manner of catching them 
 is by groping with the hands, for they shelter them- 
 selves in small holes on the banks of the streams : others 
 will use a certain number of small sticks and split them at 
 one end, so that they may put a bait in the cleft part ; these 
 they stick in the mud at the side of a brook, and at a dis- 
 tance of about eight or ten feet from each other. After 
 some time they are examined, and if they perceive any 
 cray-fish sticking to them they slide a basket made with 
 rushes and a long handle underneath, and so take them 
 safely from the water, in the same manner as crabs, for 
 they will not suffer themselves to be drawn higher than the 
 surface. 
 
 Nets are used for prawns and shrimps ; and the 
 fisherman will do well to provide himself with a pair of 
 Peal's waterproof boots, which will keep him thoroughly 
 dry for any number of hours. While upon this subject, 
 we cannot refrain from giving a practical joke which was 
 played at Cowes. It was a regular pouring wet day, and 
 a drenched tar asked one of the watermen to lend him his 
 tarpauling coat. " I can't do that," said the latter ; " but 
 
360 SEA FISHING. 
 
 if you'll stand two-pence I'll buy you that which shall keep 
 you dry all d9,y." " Done !" said Jack, handing out his 
 coppers. " Here, missus," responded the wag, " give Jack 
 two of those red-herrings. If they won't keep him dry 
 all day, I don't know what will." We hope this jest has 
 not appeared in the " Works of Joe Miller," " Punch," 'or 
 the " Man in the Moon," as we looked upon it as a down- 
 right genuine article, " neat as imported." 
 
 Oyster-dredging has charms for some; and if we are 
 allowed knives, vinegar, pepper, bread and butter, and 
 London porter, we own the amusement of devouring our 
 prey would be most agreeable to our palates. The dredg- 
 ing or drudging (as the case may be) we would leave to 
 others. 
 
 Fishing for whitings in a boat is diverting enough, 
 because they bite very freely and require no very nice tackle 
 to catch them. A paternoster Une, with half-a-dozen 
 hooks, eighteen inches distant from each other, baited with 
 small smelts, muscles, the hairy lob, or marsh worm will 
 answer the purpose as well as the most expensive tackle. 
 The line may be made fast to the boat, so that the only 
 trouble is drawing up your fish and putting on fresh baits. 
 You may know where to cast anchor by the sea-gulls, 
 for they invariably hover over the place where the whitings 
 lie ; and if they dip into the water now and then, you may 
 be sure of good sport. 
 
 We have now laid before our readers a few facts founded 
 upon our own experience in sea fishing, and shall conclude 
 with an observation upon the bounty of Providence in the 
 lavish supply of such wholesome and palatable food to all 
 classes of the community ; and what enhances the value of 
 the gift is, that every season furnishes new delicacies ; that 
 such fish as are nutritious and agreeable to the taste are 
 exceedingly prolific, and are within our reach, or pay us an 
 
SEA FISHING. 361 
 
 annual visit ir great multitudes ; while the monsters of the 
 watery regions i are comparatively few in numbers, and are 
 kept at a distance from our shores. In our sea-girt island, 
 grateful ought we then to be for such a profusion of pro- 
 visions and delicacies ; and sincerely do we trust that our 
 sister country — Ireland — will rouse itself from its lethargy^ 
 and devote the' time of its coasting inhabitants to the pro- 
 fitable occupation of fishing ; then should the land fail in 
 its produce, the treasures of the deep would serve in some 
 degree to alleviate, if not avert, those dreadful national 
 calamities — dearth and famine. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 J. Rilling. Printer and Sterootyppr, Guild foi'd, Surrey 
 
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