sing out on pug's track; there is a great clatter of horses' hoofs and a great cry of" hold hard! do hold hard a little !" and away we all go at a racing pace, with four miles of common before us, and pug spanking along half a league ahead as straight as a railroad. Four miles of common are soon passed, bogs included, and we are now amongst the inclosures, having had but one short check since the start. The field now divides into two parties; one of very forward riders, who seem determined to keep the lead let what will happen: another quietly holding their horses together, to get them a little wind for the fence work that's coming on, well knowing that the slapping gallop across the common must have pumped 'em pretty dry in that respect. The result of this is soon apparent. The slashers are tumbling into all manner of ditches, and smashing into all manner of hedges, and there are reports of one young gentleman having broken his horse's back over some drain or other. As the devil-may-cares fall off, the quiet ones take their places. Steady they go, and steadily they take the fences in their line without flinching or craning a moment. But over the heavy land they take care to ease their horses as much as possible, and are cautious not to put too much steam on just before and just after a jump. A slight check by a farm house lets in the quietest of the quiet party, and such of the mad ones as have had the good sense to profit by their experience. The pack, of which we have at present said little, for in truth they have been going at such a swinging pace that there has not been time to say much. The pack have now made a most beautiful cast of their own, and the captain, as he sits silent and stern on his saddle, is in a state of thrilling excitement. Speak to him now and I believe he would not hesitate to smash your front teeth with his whip-stock. He is not a man now (let alone a captain)–he is a hound! His soul is with the pack, working with them, thinking with them, and following them through all their doublings. It would not at all surprise me some day to hear him burst out into a bark; and there are times when, by certain twitchings of his nose, I verily believe he fancies himself one of the hounds snuffing up the scent. "Hoic, hoic!" cries the captain at length, but in such a tone that you can scarcely distinguish it from the "houh, houh!" of the hound that challenged. "Go along, g' along!" cries the parson, with a smack of his whip and a benediction or two on certain riotous hounds that are for trying back towards the windmill. Whoo, whoo-o-0-0-0 !" cries a farmer's servant from a little spinny to the right, pug is viewed crossing the hill beyond the spinny, and away again we all rattle at the stern of the hounds, with a full determination to go over the parish church if it comes in our way. A very few minutes, as it seems, makes a very great change in our affairs. The truth is, we have been in such a state of excitement during the last chivy, for the most part of which pug has been running in view, that we don't know how long we have been going. What, however, strikes us as most singular, and opens our eyes a little to the truth is, that we have got into a country that nobody knows any thing about, and that without any apparent reason the great majority of our friends have quitted the field. Among the most prominent of those that remain is our old friend, the Evergreen. He has been running neck and neck with the captain for the last twenty minutes, and taking every thing in his way, though he protests he had no notion of coming so far, and asks every body he meets which is the nearest road home. A little slow hunting over á large wheat fallow brings us all into a cluster again; when, it being found that farmer Strong is amongst the non est inventuses, a new second whip is appointed; and pug soon after jumping up from the bottom of a hedge, the pace again becomes alarming. We all went well before, I flatter myself, but now you would say it was a troop of cavalry going through a grand charge, so determined is every one to dress up on the occasion, and so little idea have any of us of taking open order. I should like to tell you the ground we went over, but my recollections are so confused, and my knowledge of the country so limited, that I am totally unable to do so. I remember we passed a parish church with a clock (but I hadn't time to look what o'clock it was); and soon after a church without a clock; and then another with a square tower! and then another with an octagon tower; and then one with a very slender spire, and then one with a very dumpy spire; and then a village green with a may-pole in the middle, and a lot of children looking very happy; and then a village green with a charity-school in the middle, and a lot of children looking very miserable; and then an English country house in the Grecian taste, and then another in the Italian taste, and then another in the French taste, and then another in the Chinese taste, (but never a one in the English taste); and then we forded a river; and then we crossed a nursery-ground; and then we jumped over a stone wall; and then we rode through a young ladies' boarding-school taking their afternoon walk; and then we viewed our fox again by some old ruins; and then old Evergreen got a purl at a ha, ha! (which was very laughable); and then pug tried to scale a garden wall, and old Finder caught hold of his brush before he had time to get half-way up the apple-tree growing against it; and then the captain shouted whoohoop at the top of his voice, and then the parson shouted whoohoop, and then all the subscribers present shouted whoohoop in turn, and then old Evergreen shouted whoohoop in a better tone than any of us, and then we performed the funeral obsequies of poor pug with all due ceremony, and carried off his head to be hung up as a trophy over the kennels of the WILLOWFORD SUBSCRIPTION PACK OF FOX HUNTING HARRIERS. Racing. NEWMARKET CRAVEN MEETING. THOSE who are in the habit of attending racing meetings out of pure love of the sport, will agree with me that without that necessary ingredient, fine weather, the amusement is of a very doubtful character, and that any law which makes it imperative on stewards to commence their races in the winter ought to be repealed forthwith; by the operation of a J. C. law of this kind, the Craven meeting began and continued through weather which it would be absurd to call by any other name than winterly; unfortunately, this is no noveltyit was so last year a fortnight later-the seasons have " changed about," April has put on the cast off habits of boisterous March, and Winter is beating Spring out of the field. The weather of the week was cold and miserable, the attendance below the average, the betting flat, and the sport indifferent in quantity and kind; in short, the Craven was a wretched meeting. The business of the week had a painful commencement in the sale on Monday morning of Lord Suffield's race horses, &c. His lordship, it is pretty generally known, has been going a "railroad" pace without having "coal" enough to keep up the "steam;" a stud of race horses, a pack of fox-hounds, with a large and dearly-purchased stable of hunters, require a large income, but when the income, originally small, has been wasted by previous extravagancies, it must be a "short life and a merry (qy.) one!" The bill-brokers soon come into play, the victim is supplied as long as there is a possibility of securing anything out of him, and then comes the denouement. The sale, which took place at Richard Boyce's stables, under an execution; Vernon, deeply engaged, fetched 100 gs.; Arsenic, 105 gs.; Alms, 60 gs.; St. Luke, 50 gs,; and Marie, 21 gs.; the van, 90 gs.; two hacks and all the horse clothing were also sold. The racing was plentiful enough, but was not marked by any severe competition. The Craven Stakes opened with a field of seven out of an entry of ten, viz. Mr. Bower's Epirus, 5 yrs. old; Mr. Ford's Quo Minus, 4 yrs. old; Colonel Peel's Paganini, 4 yrs. old; Lord Albemarle's Barcarolle, 4 yrs. old; Lord Lichfield's c. by Actæon out of Wings, 3 yrs. old; Mr. Worrall's Antler, 3 yrs. old; and Lord Exeter's f. by Reveller, out of Amima, 3 yrs. old. The betting was 6 to 4 agst. Epirus, 3 to 1 agst. Quo Minus, and 4 to 1 offered agst. any other. The running up to the bushes was made by Barcarolle; Quo Minus then went on with it, Epirus lying in his track to the cords, where he made an attempt to reach him, but failed, and was beaten cleverly by a length; Paganini was third; Antler and Lord Lichfield's fourth and fifth; Barcarolle sixth; and Lord Exeter's filly last. James Robinson rode the winner. The customary Ab. M. handicap of 10 sovs. each followed, and was decided thus: Lord Albemarle's Domino, brother to Masquerade, 3 yrs. old, 6st. Lord Jersey's Joannina, 4 yrs. old, 8st. 7lb. 1 2 Mr. Batson's Vespertilio, 4 yrs. old, 8st. 10lb.; Lord Exeter's Mecca, 4 yrs. old, 8st. 8lb.; Mr. Worrall's Dormouse, 4 yrs. old, 8st. 8lb.; Mr. Thornhill's Montezuma, 3 yrs. old, 7st. Slb.; Lord Stradbroke's f. by Taurus out of Arethissa, 3 yrs. old, 7st.; General Yates's Siroc, 3 yrs. old, 6st. 10lb. (carried 7st.); Mr. Newton's Retrospect, 3 yrs. old, 6st. 7lb.; Lord Exeter's c. by Mulatto out of Marchesa, 3 yrs. old, 6st. 71b.; and Mr. Greville's Pydua, 3 yrs. old, 6st. 2lb.; also started but were not placed. Betting 5 to 2 agst. Dormouse, 5 to 1 agst. Joannina (t.), 6 to 1 agst. Vespertilio, 5 to 1 agst. Domino, and 6 to 1 agst. Retrospect. The race is disposed of in a few words, as Domino was never headed, and won in neat style by a length. Dormouse was third, and Montezuma fourth. A handicap of 10 sovs. each, T. Y. C. was won in a hand canter by Mr. Thornhill's Mendizabel, 6 yrs. old, 8st. 10lb. (Conelly), beating Lord Exeter's Corban, 5 yrs. old, 7st. 12lb., and Mr. W. Ridsdale's Tawney Owl, 4 yrs. old, 8st. 2lb.; 6 to 5 agst. Mendizabel (t.) and 6 to 4 agst. T. Owl (t.) The Riddlesworth followed, and as usual, was won by Lord Jersey. Two only started, viz. Cæsar (brother to Bay Middleton), and Mr. Thornhill's Euclid, by Emilius, out of Maria, the latter getting a 3lb. allowance, and an 8lb. beating. Betting 6 and 7 to 4 on Cæsar. The non-favourite made play at a good pace to the bushes, where the crack, who had always been with him, went up, and if my eyes did not deceive me, I saw J. Robinson niggling at him with his spurs; at all events at one moment it looked like a race, but it was only for a moment, for in dropping the hill, Euclid's hopes were extinguished, the crack went clear from him, and won easy by two lengths. From the decline of the winner in the odds for the Derby previous to the race, and a few words that fell from a noble Earl immediately on its termi nation, we are inclined to suspect that the trial on the Thursday before the meeting was not satisfactory. The next race brought out Euclid for a Sweepstakes, of 50 sovs. each, D. M. with the Duke of Cleveland's Derby colt Kremlin (3lb.) and the Duke of Grafton's Drogheda as opponents, the odds being 11 to 8 on Kremlin (taken), and 9 to 4 agst. Maria. The favourite, with Tommy Lye on his back, cut out all the work, but was never able to get away from Euclid, who shot by him at the cords and won easy by a length. Drogheda was beaten almost as soon as he started. Tros received forfeit in a produce 100 each, ft. 4 subs.; and Lord Lichfield's Vernon received ft. from Duke of Richmond's Glenlivat, in a match for 500, 300 ft. TUESDAY.-The Portland of 50 sovs. each, D. I. was the first race; it was won in a canter, by Captain Berkeley's Caravan, 5 yrs. old, 8st. 3lb. (Pavis); beating Mr. Fulwar Craven's, I wish-you-may-getit, 4 yrs. old, 6st. 131b.; General Grosvenor's Dædalus, 4 yrs. old, 6st. 13lb.; and Lord Chesterfield's Caroline Elvina, 4 yrs. old, 6st. 4lb. The Tuesdays Riddlesworth was fated to travel the same road as its namesake of Monday;-four started, viz. :-Lord Jersey's Ilderim. beat Lord Tavistock's f. by Taurus, out of Leeway, (allowed 3lb.) Lord Exeter's, c. by Sultan, out of Velvet; and Lord Lichfield's, f., by Priam, out of Terry Alt's Dam (3lb). A Sweepstakes of 100 sovs. each, D. M. was won after a tolerable race by Lord Jersey's c. by Reveller, out of Joanna (Robinson), beating the Hon. G. Byng's Boz, and Lord Exeter's Advance colt. For a Sweepstakes of 100 sovs., Flambeau beat the Velvet colt. WEDNESDAY.-Two races! the first a plate T. Y. C., Lord Stradbroke's Fifer, 5 yrs. old, (Nat), beat Minima, 3 yrs. old, (2 to 1 on her), and Scamander, 5 yrs. old. The Column Stakes furnished a field of five, won by the Duke of Portland's Cænis, by Tiresias, out of Souvenir, 8st. 1lb.; beating Mr. Batson's, Brother to Plenipo, 8st. 7lb.; Lord Exeter's Bosphorus, 8st. 4lb; Lord Exeter's Advance colt, 8st. 7lb.; and Mr. Cookes's Romaika, 8st. llb. Betting, 6 and 7 to 4 on Cenis. Match, 200 h. ft. Mr. Thornhill's Ephemeron recd. from Lord Suffield's Sphynx. THURSDAY.-Only two races again, Captain Williamson's f. by Emilius out of Farce, ridden by Nat, made short work of Mr. Cookes's Lady Day, and Cæsar disposed easily of Lord Albermarle's Tros, and Mr. Greville Derrynane. FRIDAY.-The weather "using the Knife" after the prevailing fashion, The amusements (!) commenced with a D. M. subscription plate, which was won in a canter, by Mr. Eddison's br. c. Rory O'More by Langar, dam by Whisker, (a lad) 3 yrs. old, beating Duke of Grafton's Chymist, 4 yrs. old, Mr. Greville's Lyster, 3 yrs. old, Mr. Newton's Vicuna, 4 yrs. old, Mr. Batson's Barbican, 3 yrs. old, Duke of Portland's f. by The Colonel, dam by Reveller, out of Veil, 3 yrs. old, Lord Exeter's c. by Mulatto, out of Marchesa, 3 yrs. old, by two lengths. Chymist was second, and Lyster third, with not more than a head between them; Vicuna was also well up. NO. XCVII.-VOL. XVI. 2 Y |