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 complications, 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 mect 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." 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.

The

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 pos. sessed 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 op- portunity 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.

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

being informed that he was an opulent townsman from Bury St. Edmund's, and his name was "Lamme." "Lamb, do you call him?" said the king facetiously, "I know not what kind of lamb he is, but I am sure he has a good fleece upon his back."

Whatever may be said as to the once popular and fashionable amusement of hunting by the fair sex (and it is a well-authenticated fact that hunting was extremely popular amongst the ladies of the fourteenth century), it is asserting too much to say that the fair equestrians of those days rode astride the saddle. We have the best authority for asserting that an occasional fair, less scrupulous than modest, dispensed with the more elegant formalities of the side-saddle, and rode the chase in unbecoming attitude. It was not unusual in those days to meet with a hunting party composed entirely of ladies; but it was seldom that any of the party were seen riding in any other position than that most becoming their sex. It must not be supposed that the saddles of those days were very far inferior to those of the present day; although considerable improvement has been made of late years in that department of homely art, the lady's side-saddle has been known and used for several centuries.

That Cockney sportsmen have for years been the subject of ridicule, when unskilful in the field, may be learnt from an old ballad, bearing date about the year 1719, entitled, "The Citizens of London ridiculed," from which we borrow a short extract:

"A creature boundeth from a bush, which made them all to laugh; "My Lord," cried one, "a hare! a hare !-but it proved an Essex calf!"

It would be a dangerous and bold attack to ridicule every London sportsman of the present generation, or to imagine because he resides in town he is not an adept at the sport he pursues. The term "Cockney sportsman" is well applied to one with little or inferior skill in any particular sport; for it originated from the fact that formerly men whose occupations confined them to town throughout the greater part of the year were generally found unskilful at the sports of the country, but exquisite in their sporting attire. There is a large majority of this class amongst the metropolitan sportsmen of the present day; but there are in the minority some of the most famed and skilful in the land-some who might challenge the best rifle shots in the country, and who would ride the hunt or steeple-chase with equal boldness and daring to the most practised country squire; such is the advancement made, and the powerful influence of sporting excellence, amongst the inhabitants of the great metropolis during the seventeenth certury.

Before quitting the subject of hunting, let us glance at the sister sport-that of horse-racing. The perfection to which horses are now bred and trained to the race-course, the manner in which they are reared, fed, groomed, and stabled, is luxurious and extravagant. But when we look on the heavy stakes pending an important race, and on the public excitement it occasions, no one will say that more care and attention is expended upon the noble animals than deserving; nor is from one to two thousand guineas too high a price to set upon the head of a favourite race-horse, if the real speed and power of the animal be equal to its engagements. It is, however, much to be

regretted that the sports of the turf should have become so abused as to be the seat and chief rendezvous of disreputable gamblers, who carry on their extensive and fraudulent transactions with impunity. Hundreds have met their ruin there, and been reduced from wealth and competency to penury and distress: and we would that the evil ended here; but no-crimes of the deepest dye are stained upon the turf; and many a man has ended his days upon the gallows from indulging too freely, and giving his mind too much to the enticements and fascinating allurements of the race-course. It is not enough that wives are left destitute, children of noble parents portionless, the homely and happy fireside suddenly converted into one of writhing anguish and despair, and all through the gambling transactions of one erring individual: evils great and irremediable have too often sprung from that corrupted source. But there is no good and popular sport but has its abuse: horse-racing might be as harmless an amusement as any, and as free from vice and folly. It is truly the sons of folly who abuse it, and resort thither without the means at their command to speculate upon the uncertainty of the race. There are always to be found persons of questionable character to entrap the unwary, and finally to lead them blindfolded on the road to ruin.

In centuries gone by, horse-racing was practised for pleasure-not for profit; nor was it ever intended to become the receptacle of thieves and gamblers, and a cloak for their pernicious practices.

We commend horse-racing as a pastime becoming princes and noblemen; as one of the most ancient and popular of good old English sports, beneficial to the country, the state, and the people; but in so doing we warn the young and uninitiated to beware of gambling, as a snare into which, if once drawn, the difficulties of extrication are irretrievably perplexing.

Turn we now to the subject of shooting and the severity of the game-laws. It is but a few years ago that a man would have been hung for entering by night with force and arms upon an enclosed ground and taking pheasants; but it is not so now, although the gamelaws are still very severe; and it is difficult even at the present enlightened age to convince the English peasant in some remote districts that there is any moral crime in appropriating birds or animals færa naturæ to his own use; and rather than resign that right which appeared given to every man by the law of Nature, we sometimes find that some men, more daring than others, venture to assert such a right as common to all, and prefer submitting to a trial of skill with the noble who sought to monopolize the whole-feeling that he who would succeed if he could, in securing his own share of it, has as good and fair a right to it as the other. But this would never do, or what would be the use of game preserves? and from whence would the markets be supplied? If there were no game-laws there would be no game; but when those laws are too severe, they only serve to enhance the excitement; for by infringement, the offender knows the danger and punishment that is pending.

But these observations are only applicable to the age of fire-arms. Before the invention of guns and rifles, the efforts and skill of the most cunning were baffled beyond measure, to know how to capture the feathered species: snares and traps were the only means known,