with a cope, to contend with, to struggle. Unde derivatur, COPER. The cost of the bay gelding with which he commenced operations may be fairly estimated at a sum not exceeding twenty pounds, and possibly he was obtained on more advantageous terms; for this he got possession of the brown mare, which he immediately handed over to a confederate dealer in a town near at hand, who, as it subsequently transpired, had been commissioned to purchase her at fifty pounds, by a wealthy tradesman who occupied a farm two or three miles distant, and who had not acquired an enviable notoriety for the most straightforward mode of conducting business; thus judging of others by himself, he thought a dealer would be able to purchase the mare on easier terms than himself, and by that means he became possessed of the mare without riding her; his new purchase, however, gave him a taste of her quality, and a convincing proof of her propensities, the very first day he rode her. He was in the act of inspecting a hedge and ditch, at which a workman was engaged, when sitting loosely and craning into the ditch, with the mare's head set straight for the fence, she concluded of course that it was his intention for her to jump it, which she did without hesitation, flooring her new master most ingloriously. But to return to the cal. culation. Here is an excess of thirty pounds on the assumed value of the original outlay; fifty pounds the major's cheque, which had been presented at the bank without loss of time; and as no doubt he made seventy of the mare, something like one hundred and fifty would be gained by the transactions of the week. The delinquencies of the groom were at length brought home to him; his master had frequently received hints concerning him, which at first he entertained as malicious inventions, for it was one of his weak points to reject suspicion, although strong, without something like conclusive evidence. Losses amounting to four or five hundred pounds worth of horse-flesh in a small stud in less than two years, and that without any material, at any rate serious accident, were enough to arouse any man to investigation; and it was discovered that his servant, Trywell, and two other uncompromising rascals, were in confederacy: his discharge followed as a matter of necessity.

This most probably afforded a seasonable lesson to Welton; it taught him to be cantious how he trusted such characters for the future, and he devoted more personal attention to the management of his horses. He studied "Nimrod on the Condition of Hunters" scrupulously, adhering to the excellent system of that talented author. The valuable production by Stonehenge, "British Rural Sports," recently published by Messrs. Routledge, would have afforded him much instruction, especially in the medical treatment of his horses. It is a work most elaborately and discursively written, treating at length on every subject interesting to the sportsman; and if there are some few points connected with racing, training, and breeding horses, upon which I cannot perfectly coincide with him, the work contains so many very valuable hints, that the trifling outlay of the price of the book cannot fail to be returned a hundred times over. The chapters on coursing are superlatively excellent, and so are those which treat on the training of man for athletic purposes. The different states and conditions of men who may be desirous to submit to this ordeal

are clearly defined, and distinctions drawn as relates to preparatory treatment between "The Free-livers of active habits, Indolent Freelivers, and The Over-studious," so that every aspirant may be able to adopt his instructions as may be applicable to his case. Stonehenge abominates smoking; when treating on the Free-liver of active habits, he says, "I have invariably found that total abstinence from smoking is easier than temperance. There is not the same danger in leaving it off, as is the case with wine, spirits, or beer; in fact there is no danger whatever in doing it; whilst in alcoholic drinks the reverse is the case." This advice no doubt is perfectly correct; but for a man who has contracted a wish for smoking, I can scarcely conceive if he will limit himself to one, or at the most two, cigars a day, it will be productive of injurious consequences. When, however, a man has acquired a habit of inveterate smoking (a custom most prejudicial to health), perhaps it is more easy for him "to eschew tobacco totally" than restrict himself to a moderate allowance, and very probably this is the view the author has taken. There is an article on diet so good, that I offer no apology for making an extract: "Breakfast-There is no doubt that the very best food for this meal is oatmeal porridge, with the addition of a certain allowance of beef or mutton, and a little bread; but many have the greatest objection to this diet, and never eat it without loathing. For them I believe the next best beverage is a pint of table beer, home-brewed, and not too strong, and giving with it a larger allowance of bread. It is not desirable to stint the appetite, unless very enormous, or unless there is a great superfluity of fat; but I believe it will in most cases be found more advantageous to reduce the weight by work and sweating than by starvation. The best mode of dressing the meat is to broil it; and here I must say a word about the degree of cookery to which it should be subjected. It is generally directed that the steak or chop should be quite underdone; this, I am sure, is a fallacy. In broiling, very little nutriment is lost after the outside is once caught by the fire. Now, if nothing is lost, there is much gained by keeping the steak on the gridiron till properly done through, for the food is rendered much more palatable to most, and certainly more digestible to all." To the last remark I will give my most unreserved concurrence; if I were doomed to partake of nothing but underdone meat, I should starve. On the subject of wasting, or, as he terms it, training for amateur races, Stonehenge is not so happy. He assumes that 12st. is the common weight for amateur riders, whereas 11st. 7lb. is very seldom exceeded in flat races, and steeplechase riding is nearly abandoned to the professionals. It is to ride the light weights, ranging from 8st. 9lb. to 9st. 71b., that gentlemen generally find it necessary to reduce themselves, and very few indeed would be able to reduce the quantity mentioned within the time specified and upon the principles laid down. I introduce this remark without the slightest intention of ill-natured criticism; but I feel very confident if a tyro in wasting wishes to ride nine stone in only a three-pound saddle, and that eleven days before the races he weighs 10st. 71b. in his clothes, which will in ordinary cases weigh three or four pounds more than the silk, leathers, &c., he will find it necessary to declare him

self some five or six pounds over weight; more especially if he indulges daily in the prescribed allowance of meat at dinner.

The gem of the work is a treatise on distemper in the canine race. Without exception it surpasses immeasurably anything that has ever been written by other authors, on that very interesting, and to the sportsman important subject. If the book contained nothing else, that article alone would render it invaluable to every master of hounds, owner of greyhounds, pointers, setters, spaniels, and even ladies' pets, as also to huntsmen, keepers, trainers of greyhounds, and others having the care and management of dogs. The essence of the disease, the symptoms, the usual course, the various compli cations, the treatment, diet, clothing, and all the variable phases that it assumes, and subjects connected therewith, are lucidly explained. It would be futile to make extracts, because the whole, which is not tediously lengthy, must be read, in order to comprehend it; but one brief selection will serve as an epitomised illustration of the author's clear and able description of the disorder: "Medical measures are not to be so quickly settled; a constant change of the agents employed will be imperative, and the practitioner must be prepared to meet every symptom as it appears. The treatment is wholly regulated by the symptoms; and as the last are various, of course the mode of vanquishing them cannot be uniform." The science of medicine has evidently been included among the diversified researches of Stonehenge, for he applies it with equal talent to man, horse, and dog.

These remarks have already extended beyond my limits, but it affords me so much gratification to discuss them, and there are so many items of paramount interest, that I scarcely know where to conclude; but another opportunity will probably permit me to resume the subject.

Frank Welton's taste for racing increased with the means he possessed of enjoying that exciting sport, although his ardour was restrained by the very unexpected defeat of his favourite hunter, and the very partial success of his two other horses, which have been already alluded to. A visit to Doncaster afforded him an opportunity of purchasing another of higher pretensions, and, had the horse been placed in good hands, would have turned out an advantageous investment. But he was sent to the same trainer who had the care of the others, and he unfortunately happened to be a man who considered the horses of a country gentleman were intended only as agents for the trainers' especial benefit. During the suc ceeding summer the last horse more than paid his way, although that was not the case with the other two; and not approving of the manner in which his horses were treated, by the advice of several friends, who perceived the trainer's motive for keeping the aforesaid two brutes in work was simply for the sake of the profit he derived from their keep, Frank very prudently sold his last purchase, and converted the others into hunters, for which purpose they were well adapted. By this time he had acquired some proficiency in raceriding an engagement in which, however, the trainer aforesaid most pertinaciously persisted in discouraging him. Riding sweats and

gallops afford practice for an amateur of which he cannot avail himself too frequently; but every proposition of that kind was opposed, of which the following event affords a specimen. One of Welton's horses was to have been sweated on a certain day; and without giving any notice of his intention, he went for the purpose of riding him. On his arrival he was informed that the horse, having become unusually lusty, had been sweated on the day previously, which, however, was not a fact, as subsequently transpired through the boy who had the care of him; but Frank would not be put off, and insisted upon riding one of his other horses, which not being forward in his preparation, a sweat out of course was not very important, and this, with a determined intimation that he should very generally indulge his fancy, to a great extent overcame the scruples. It is a remarkable fact that trainers very frequently place themselves in direct opposition, not only to their own individual interests, but to the welfare of racing, the source from whence they gain their livelihood, and this in various ways. By this remark it is not meant to infer that there are not many men engaged in that calling who are truly conscientious and free from reproach; but vast numbers take up such erroneous notions, among others their infatuation for light handicaps. These engagements cannot be beneficial to themselves, to the horses they train, or to the owners; and to racing as a sport they are essentially pernicious. Much ink has been shed on the subject, and the sad catastrophe at Goodwood was near upon shedding streams of a more serious character. That event will probably awaken the leading authorities in racing affairs to adopt some measures which will effectively check the abuse. In the last July number I adverted to some of the objectionable features connected with racing; and every day's experience affords convincing proof of the importance, I may add, necessity, of the stewards of the Jockey Club devising means which will effectually bring the regulations of provincial meetings within the supervision of Newmarket laws. That it can be accomplished by a very few simple resolutions there is no doubt.

Apropos of the Jockey Club-a Committee of Masters of Hounds is at length formed by members of Boodle's Club to preside over the interests of fox-hunting, the stewards of which are the Duke of Beaufort, Lord Southampton, Lord Redesdale, Sir Bellingham Graham, and Mr. Greene. The necessity of a tribunal of this kind, to which disputes connected with fox-hunting might be referred, has long been acknowledged. In fact, for several years, it has been proposed to form a club of masters of hounds, but which has never been effected. The present arrangement appears to be an excellent one, and the only hope it can be necessary to express is, that as regards disputes, the duties of the stewards may be sinecures.

NATIONAL SPORTS, ANCIENT AND MODERN.

BY HOARY FROST.

ARTICLE II.

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Another popular sport, as ancient in origin as that of hawking, is the princely amusement of hunting; but it is only within the present century that dogs have been trained and kept specially for fox-hunting. The stag-hunt was the attraction of old times as far back as the reign of William the Norman. But the hunters of those days were a lawless and merciless class and it is but a true picture of Norman tyranny to add, that many a family habitation has been ransacked of every morsel of food it contained, to appease the craving appetites of some band of unsuccessful hunters. Food was seldom refused them when demanded; for the peaceable inhabitants, whether rich or poor, were alike subject to their revenge, and paid the penalty of their lives if they refused refreshments and offered resistance to the hunters. The Royal forests were kept exclusively for the amusement of the king and such of his chosen followers as he delighted to honour: no one else was privileged to hunt there.

During the reign of Edward the Third, hunting was an extremely popular recreation of the nobles. Froissart mentions a foreign nobleman (Gaston, Earl of Foix) who kept upwards of six hundred dogs for the purpose of hunting. All were well-trained animals, and kept in suitable offices at his castle. King Edward used frequently to hunt with that nobleman's pack. The earl was also allowed to hunt in the Royal forests-a privilege and honour conferred on none but the king's favourites.

Some of the laws affecting the destruction of game in the Royal forests were cruelly severe; and go far in showing how tyrannically rigorous were the reigning monarchs of that time, and with what despotic power they wielded their authority and punished an offending victim. If one of the king's stags were killed in the Royal forests without special permission, the punishment was-if a gentleman or thane, degradation from his rank, however high it might be; if a ceorl or husbandman, he was reduced for the remainder of his life to absolute slavery; if a slave, he suffered death.

King James the First was an exceedingly expert huntsman, and used frequently to ride many miles in pursuit of his favourite pastime. An amusing anecdote is told of him, in a manuscript amongst the Harleian Collection. Hunting one day with a party of his favourites and followers, in a forest near Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk, a stranger having joined the Royal train in exceedingly rich and attractive apparel-so glittering and radiant that it eclipsed the whole Courtthe king inquired who he was and where he came from; and on