it, got his front feet into a ditch, and was thrown several lengths, which he could never quite make up. Victim, 11st. 2lbs., was run to half a length by Proceed, 11st. 9lbs., for the Great Steeple-Chase, almost every winner of the season being in the ruck. At Kenilworth, Pullaway was A 1, and Clementina starred it successfully in the “cold North." York's maiden attempt at a steeple-chase meeting was very mediocre. Kidderminster added another wreath to the brow of Solace ; and at Leominster the veteran, Mr. Vevers' whose head is silvered over by seventy winters, delighted his townsmen by personally winning on Vengeance by half-a-head. At Windsor, Chandler, 11st. 7lbs., put in a successful appearance against Charity, 10st. 3lbs., and a few others; Justice to England succeeded at Abergavenny, and the Metropolitan closed the season with the triumph of British Yeoman, 11st. 2lbs., a hundred yards separating him from countless winners, among whom Proceed wound up his present career with one of his conventional mulish baulks. The French made a still-born effort to have a race, but failed in getting land to run over-so they said! The suicide of poor William McDonough, who had latterly had very little riding, and hung shabby and forlorn on the outside of the betting ring, excited much sympathy among sporting men, who felt not only in their hearts, but in their pockets, for his widow. He was an undaunted rider, but not a class-man ;" and among those whom he has left behind, Oliver and Archer are by far the most successful, having, like Nat and Butler, the good fortune to be generally on the best horses. With many persons Frisby is as popular as either, but he has not as yet had much luck.

"first

Though the season for the "cock-tails" was only moderate, we have seldom known one from its “ openness" more propitious to the "longtails." Mr. A. Graham was foremost in the fray with a kennel of 80 dogs, and curiously enough, at the Abingdon Meeting, with which the season commenced, he won with his dog Coin, as he had won the previous season, during the severe money pressure, with Credit. At Biggar, Mr. Webb made his appearance with two of the celebrated leash of black puppies by " Noye's Foremost out of Webb's Flirt, and had the pleasure of seeing them stand the two last out of the twenty-nine who were put into the slips for the Nomination Stakes of 128 subscribers. Anarchy 1, Jamie Forest 2, was the fiat in the Border Club Puppies Stake; and it may be remarked as an odd thing throughout the season, that the puppies uniformly beat the aged dogs. In the Wiltshire Meeting, the Great Wiltshire and Druid Cups were respectively carried off by Brilliant and Royalist. The sixth anniversary of the Ladies' Meeting at Greenway was very successful, and Miss B. Forester won with Forward. Bang, who suffered defeat from him in the fourth tie, ran under considerable disadvantage, owing to having been cut on all fours in his previous course, where he got so wedged among the growers of a hedge where he killed his hare, as to require a forcible extraction through the medium of the strongest gully-knives on the ground. Barton had a very spirited meeting, which was enlivened by the pranks of the eccentric Bendigo, who had accompanied Mr. Malpas and his kennel from Nottingham. He there showed off after the fashion of Corporal Newton and his leg of mutton and sabre feat at the "assault of arms." Some one, to teaze the keepers, had caught a hare, tied her legs, and placed her on a form, where she was see-howed.

Finding her to be somewhat of the squeaker tribe, Bendigo took her up, with Mr. M'George's permission, and cleverly chopped off her head with the edge of his hand. War-Eagle and Wicked-Eye, the Biggar champions, won the cup and the Puppy Stakes against some excellent dogs; and old Handy-Andy and Bessy Bedlam carried off the other stakes. At Ardrossan, Sharp-hill, by Waterloo (who after all his Gracchus triumphs, &c., was sold for a £5 note), won the Derby, and British Lion the Champion Collar. Similar luck awaited the latter in the Great Clifton Cup struggle at Lytham; and at Malleny that thoroughly honest runner, Jamie Forest, who is much more "wide awake than his namesake was at the advent of Royalty to Leith, carried off the St. Leger. Stoneleigh Park, where a good coursing club has been formed, and several scores of hares specially turned down into the park at the end of the season, had an excellent meeting, in which Major, the property of Mr. Bradley of Leamington, won the head prize. The Newmarket Puppy Stakes fell to the share of Locomotive in an entry which included War-Eagle and Wicked-Eye; and Fairtoes, from the Wiltshire country, kept up the fame of Mr. Bowles's kennel in the Exning Stakes. In one of these stakes Englishman and Aldebra jumped with their hare into a thirty feet gravel pit; and strange to say, the bitch was found standing unhurt by the side of her dead companions. Hornby Park Meetings were prosperous, although some of its neighbours, Brough and Middleham, came to an early standstill from lack of hares. British Lion fell before Nimble at the First Altcar Meeting; and Wrestler, the third of Mr. Webb's leash, made his successful maiden appearance for the Molyneux Plate. Mr. Hudson's estate at Londesbro' (famed as the parish of the facetious Sydney Smith), was kindly placed at the disposal of the coursing world, and Writ of Error and Muley won the respective stakes at a most delightful meeting; the course between Tunstall and Snowdrop was almost unparalleled in severity. The coursing on Earl Dartmouth's estate near Wolverhampton was limited and spirited, and "eventuated" in the triumph of Wrestler, and the bracketting of Mr. Green's Topper and Hotspur. Mr. A. Graham was great and glorious at the Caledonian Open, winning the Forest and River Stakes with Rifle and Pike, and Anarchy. Locomotive was again victorious over Newmarket, and Babylon at Ashdown. The Lytham Monster Meeting was "a gathering of the clans from every quarter, and Jamie Forest, Witchcraft, and Puzzler placed the three cups to the credit of their respective owners. The Great Altcar Meeting was a perfect congress of winners; but unfortunately the decisions of the judge, Mr. Nightingale, produced the deepest dissatisfaction. Sir George St. Gore with Magician followed up his last year's luck; and Mr. Webb, to complete his chagrin at the manner in which War-Eagle was put out, received the intelligence of the death of his celebrated brood bitch Flirt. While these "deeds of dreadful note were trying the tempers of Lord Sefton and his brother-sportsmen, the Yorkshiremen were having a snug little meeting among the Wolds near Huggate, the only drawback to which was the abundance of the flints, which severely punished some of the dogs. Old Handy-Andy fought his way up to the last tie with King Cob, the property, we believe, of John Prince, Lord Eglington's jockey; and a trio, of whom Muley was one, divided the cup. On the whole, the public judges (who now num

ber a baker's dozen) gave a very fair amount of satisfaction, and as the red and white collar system was pretty generally adopted, their task was an easier one. It has been said of the majority of them that their riding to their dogs was very inferior, and making due allowance for the bad horses which were too often furnished them, we think there is much truth in the remark; in fact, we saw one with our own eyes drop his hat when the dogs were running, and coolly stop till it was handed to him, quite losing sight of the dogs in the interim. Another has lost much favour from his habit of buying dogs for gentlemen on commission, and keeping a stallion dog to boot. Such practices cannot be too much reprobated, as however honest a man may wish to be, he can hardly suppress a certain feeling of partiality when he tries over a dog, whose success will make his own stallion dog popular; or one, the purchase of which, he has recommended probably at a high figure. If the plan was more generally adopted of a judge-vote being annexed to each nomination, it would do much to put a stop to such a system, which is certain to run riot, when a secretary or treasurer, from private feeling, retains the nomination of judge in his own hands, which they are too often disposed to do.

In conclusion, then, we trust, when once more Van Tromp and the Flying Dutchman are stabled up after the "Hay and Corn Meeting," and Marson and Flatman, the (in our opinion) crack riders of the north and south, are once more encumbered with their winter fat, we may see another steeple-chase and coursing season commence that will rival the palmiest of their forerunners.

SPORTING INCIDENTS AT HOME AND ABROAD. (From the MS. Life of the Hon. Percy Hamilton.)

COMMUNICATED TO AND EDITED BY LORD WILLIAM LENNOX.

CHAP. XVIII.

"Of hony and of gaule, in love there is store;
The hony is much, but the gaule is more."

SPENSER.

Arrival at Newbury-A few Remarks upon Jests and Jesters-A Visit to the Theatre -An unexpected Appearance.

Our last chapter concluded with the "departure" of H, Horace Beaufort, and myself from the Windmill, Salt Hill, to the Grove at Donnington, accompanied by our new allies, Theodore Hook and the Reverend Edward Cannon. To account for the apparently sudden thought that had entered Theodore's brain of a visit to Newbury, we must inform our readers that this impromptu (like many others) had been made" à loisir; for in those days there existed a dark-eyed Maid of Judah, whose charms had captivated his susceptible heart, and who was then attached to Mr. B's company at Newbury. Hook had "thrown a fly" to get "a rise" out of the Dean, that he might

allure him to sniff the country air, feeling assured (to carry on the piscatorial metaphor) that if with " gentle crafte" he got a "nibble" and a "bite," he would have little difficulty in so " playing" with his prey as to "land" him in safety. The "bait" had taken: Botham's" beeswing," more potent than the usual ephemera, had been seized with avidity, and Cannon, fairly" Hooked" near the Thames at Salt Hill, was easily basketed" on the Kennett in Newbury. To resume: The brilliancy of the young joyous-hearted wit during our journey is not to be described; more than half the sallies of humour, the flashes of merriment, the mirthful sayings, were made upon local objects and topics of the day, and would lose their entire point by repeating them after so long a lapse, when the subjects themselves are forgotten. There is manner, too, in saying a smart thing, which Hook possessed at that time to a great degree, and which he retained through life; and when we add to this the joyous laugh, the smiling lip, the eye sparkling at the dazzling thought that was about to find utterance in jest or repartée, we own our pen cannot do justice to the "gibes, the gambols, the songs, the flashes of merriment" of the modern Yorick. To illustrate our views with respect to the due delivery of a joke, we remember the present Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, when Sir Thomas Denman, in his place in the House of Commons, making a pun, which, in the mouth of that eccentric yet highly talented " wag," the late Sir Charles Wetherall, or in that of the more classical wit, John Wilson Croker, would have set the House in a roar. An honourable member, in a speech upon the passing of the Reform Bill, when the borough of Monmouth was undergoing the process of dismemberment, quoted Fluellen's remark in "Henry the Fifth"-" There is a river in Macedon; and there is also moreover one at Monmouth." This observation attracted the attention of Denman, who, without changing a muscle of his countenance, and with that dignified demeanour of manner, that noble bearing, that deep-toned voice for which he is distinguished, replied, "that he saw no parallel in the cases, except, indeed, that both Macedon and Monmouth were under the influence of an Alexander!" This happy and ready allusion to the patron of the borough passed unnoticed by the million, although a few" wide-awake" spirits caught the idea and laughed heartily at the pun, which otherwise would have "flashed in the pan. The cries of Order, order," showed us that the majority considered our risible faculties were excited by less legitimate grounds than the saying in question. No adventure worth recording occurred upon our journey: it was past midnight before the mail pulled up at the Pelican, and having alighted, we were ushered into a snug room, where we found the table laid, and a bright wood fire crackling between the bars. Whether the fumes of the wine had obfuscated the usually sapient head of the Dean, I know not; but, for the first time, it occurred to him that he and his friend were fifty miles from town, without an article of toilet, linen, or clothes.

66

What's to be done?" inquired Cannon, mournfully doling forth his grievances; "not so much as a change.

"Change," responded Hook; "we want no change, and least of all such change as you would give us."

"I'll take a place, and go back by the mail to London," continued the disconsolate Dean; who at that period was as particular in his dress as in latter life he was the reverse of it.

"All the insides booked full," said the boots.

"Secure one outside," said Theodore, smiling, as at that moment the door opened, and the waiter made his appearance with a tray, upon which was a dish of broiled bones and a huge bowl of bishop. The savoury smell of the former, and the vinous odour of the latter, had so powerful an effect upon the senses of the traveller, that he hesitated in his plans of leaving the warm and comfortable fire of the snug hostelrie for the damp, raw, cheerless seat outside the mail, on a foggy, drizzling, November night.

"Shall I secure the place?" asked the boots.

pet bag to No. 12; I believe this is your's, Sir."

"I've sent one car

The usurper Macbeth was not more surprised at witnessing the appearance of Banquo's ghost at the festive board, than was Cannon at recognizing that which at first sight he deemed to be an apparition, but which speedily proved to be his own well-filled sac de nuit. Our supper passed off delightfully; more good things were said than would fill a "complete jest book," and it was past three o'clock before we took leave of our new acquaintances.

"You must dine with us to-morrow, at five o'clock," said Hook; "and accompany us to the theatre. The Dean shall call in the morning upon your Dominie, and get permission for you."

We expressed our grateful acknowledgments, and took our leave.

"Who's for a chivey?" cried H——, as, with a light pair of heels and a still lighter heart, he ran through Speenhamland towards the Grove. We speedily followed, and the deep-toned clock of the neighbouring turret sounded four as we tapped gently at the pantry window, where Jerry Curtis was still sitting up for us. A small douceur amply compensated the trusty Cerberus for the loss of his night's rest, and in a short time the most profound silence reigned throughout the dwelling, every inmate being locked in the arms of Morpheus.

Refreshed with the honey-heavy dew of slumber," such as Shakespeare describes as the lot of those free from " busy care," and which was as applicable to us on the occasion I allude to as it was to Brutus's "help," the boy Lucius, we entered the study as the clock struck nine, ten minutes before the hour for morning prayer. After a holiday, or any other indulgence, it was our invariable rule to be doubly attentive to our duties; and this feeling was never lost upon our considerate Dominie. During breakfast, Jerry Curtis brought in the letter-bag and a huge playbill, announcing the performances of the evening to be under the especial patronage of the Mayor, High Steward, Recorder, and Aldermen of the ancient town of Newbury; and as our tutor was personally acquainted with the chief magistrate, he was easily prevailed upon to permit us to attend the theatre, and we lost no time in sending to secure the stage-box.

"The Reverend Edward Cannon is anxious to pay his respects to you," said the man of all-work.

"Cannon? I don't recollect the name: but pray show him in,' responded the preceptor; and before we had time to explain who the visitor was, the "Dean" made his appearance. Few men could be more courteous, affable, or winning than the individual in question, who introduced himself as a friend of Lord H- -'s, Horace Beaufort's, and mine, and after some few remarks so ingratiated himself in the good