MISERIES ATTACHED TO HUNTING : Thus are the feelings of the disappointed FOX-HUNTER described, in the Sporting Magazine for March, by Mr. GILBERT FORRESTER: "Of all the miseries of human life, or indeed any other life, put me down a fine frosty day to a fox-hunter: 'tis the very acme of misery. Talk of the rack, that is a bed of down compared to the sensations of a hunter, who rises hastily in the morning in expectation of a brilliant day, and finds ice three inches thick in his water jug; who is obliged to rig himself in a dressing gown and slippers, and sit by the fire reading some dry Parliamentary piece of humbug, instead of sporting his top-boots, and scouring away at the rate of fifteen miles an hour after some precious varmint. Now I am a good-tempered fellow, Mr. Editor-indeed, I think I may flatter myself a very good-tempered fellow; but I confess, notwithstanding, it requires all my fortitude to bear this peculiar misery without letting some naughty words escape. However, this state of things, thanks to our variable climate, did'nt last long; and on the 19th, having sent my horse forward to the Borough of Dunhaved, near Lifton, I set sail for a meeting with Mr. Phillips's pack, and the first rate workmen who follow it. Our place of rendezvous was at Cobham brake, where I found Sir William Molesworth, Mr. Salisbury Trelawny, the DEVONIAN, Mr. Phillipps, and a strong muster of Yeomanry, who have an annual dinner on this day, given by the DEVONIAN for their services in preserving the varmint. The word of command given, away we scoured, and a goodly sight it was, the hounds being riglar trumps, steeds well trained, and their riders no flinchers. "Merrily, merrily see them ride, Hark forward! the well known cry ! The Mr. Newton's hounds had been scouring the country a day or two before, and had managed to clear it pretty well, so that there was little chance of a find; and we feathered several well-looking coverts without success. scent, which in the morning promised to be good, (like many other things) broke its promise, and turned out but so-so, therefore we did not unkennel. To some the day might have been tedious in consequence; but to those who, like myself, go two hundred miles into the "bowels of the land" for the mere sake of seeing hunting in all its varieties, the case was different. I like to see the working of the hounds; to see them in difficulty; to mark the threading, the stopping, the eagerness to find, the emulation of each to gain applause. This, I say, is no mean sight; and if men would follow at a proper distance, instead of loitering in "high-ways and bye ways," grumbling over the Reform Bill and other threadbare subjects, they would find themselves rewarded for the trouble of coming out, though not a single "Tally-ho" should be heard. But a word for the pack. In height they range about twenty-two inches, large limbed, deep chested, big ribbed, rather wide loined, and full lengthy in the body, which enables them to push along and keep moving at a slapping pace; the frontispiece, perhaps, rather too foxy; but on this point sportsmen differ; so I will say nothing about it. Their style of trying is good; and it is my opinion, if a hound is a good searcher, he will sooner or later attain perfection. I imagined when first the hounds were thrown off at Cobham brake, they did not dash the covert as speedily as I should have desired. In drawing covert, hounds can hardly be too quick, especially in furze, as such places are always tedious and galling, and are apt to make them hang back, unless urged to it by the workman, when in the eagerness to follow such obstructions will be forgotten. The fox does not at all times seek the deepest point, but will play about the outskirts, seeking a convenient kennel ere he takes up his abode. Hounds, therefore, which pass rapidly on, must hit the drag, and consequently seldom lose the varmint. Slow hounds may be made quick; and if they are not, it is the fault of the huntsman and nothing else. I am sure more foxes are lost through the tardiness of the guide than any other cause. Emulation is a prominent feature in the character of the dog; and when he finds his companions, by getting a-head, receive the jolly 66 gone away" cheer, it will teach him, if ever such a sluggard, to quicken his movements. Mr. Phillipps's style of hunting I like exceedingly; and with the greatest deference to the sportsmen of the West (many of whom are first raters,) I must say it is more than I expected to see. Patience, perseverance, quickness of eye, and great judgment, are the qualities conspicuous in that gentleman, and, in all his hunting, not a useless sound escapes his lips. I may, without the slightest flattery, add to these virtues, those of an agreeable companion and polished sportsman. His followers deserve equal credit for their silence in the field. Mr. Phillipps is always with his hounds; indeed, with such a Pegasus as he bestrides, this is no wonder. When I saw Foster at a little distance, he appeared a lumbering sort of prad: but on a closer inspection I found my mistake, for his move and shape are excellent. He is a bay, with capital sound forkals, big in bone, and head prettily set on ; exceedingly deep in his forehand (which is good), with wide lengthy quarters to match; short in the joint, and famous middle piece; stands about fifteen hands and a half, and has a very quick and extended stride. In short, take him for all and all, I never saw a horse (for his country) combining so completely the three qualities necessary to constitute perfection" one like an ox, one like a fox, and one like a bonny maiden." He has carried his master five seasons, and could not be purchased from him at any price: his sire Gainsborough, dam an excellent mare, and grandam an Exmoor poney, from which it is thought he inherits much of his lasting and sterling qualities, this breed being proverbial for those virtues. Sir W. Molesworth was mounted on a beautiful bay nag, as close to the wind as possible, bred by Mr. Leach, who is a good judge of these matters, out of a sister to Minna, by Amadis ; sire Grey Comus. Though Sunshine is not above fourteen hands and a half high, he has sufficient power and action to carry the Baronet (who rides under ten stone, I think) to the fleetest pack. He is now only four off, and will be doubtless spared this season being pushed too hard in front, an indulgence which, in another season, he will amply repay; and, as his owner can gang along, he will be an ugly opponent to handle. The Devonian was mounted on his chesnut mare, Puss, a very excellent steady fencer, and speedy in her gallop. She was purchased, I heard, at Oxford, and had been a front player in the Duke of Beaufort's hunt. This gentlemen has a knowing finger and a steady fine seat, with abundance of nerve. I thought he hung rather long in the suspenders for up-and-down skirmishing; but I found he was a bruiser to the back bone. Capt. Salisbury Trelawney, I rejoiced to see apparently as well as ever, and a noble looking fellow he is. The Captain was once master of a capital pack of fox-hounds, and I may with truth assert, no man ever hunted them better, or had a keener eye for the steeples; and, I doubt not, in hard knocking, he would still prove a queer customer to the youngest clipper. M. Chas. Trelawney rode a slapping chesnut, son of old Gainsborough, which is only to be seen to be admired; he has great strength and substance, and freedom to get well out of the heavy. This gentleman has an extraordinary seat, savouring much of the jock as well as hunter; and, when I see him go, I predict he will be one who can do a trick worth copying. His move in the saddle reminded me much of Captain Beecher, and that is saying enough for any man. There was one little man out on this day, something below a feather, who deserves honorable mention. It was the Devonian's first-born, a boy rising six year's old, mounted on an Exmoor pony, and clad in the full costume of the hunt. The animated countenance of the tyro interested me extremely. The word fatigue seemed to have no place in his vocabulary; his whole soul was in the chase, and his ardour and enjouement such as are felt (like woman's love) but once in a life and that in its spring. I would have given a crown, had I possessed one (I don't mean five shillings, dear reader!) to have felt as that boy did; but 'tis impossible: the Rubicon is passed, and can never be retraced. Those happy feelings, those unclouded moments were once mine, but they have fled!! Late in the day I asked the little fellow how he got on, when he replied, "He had been galloping ever since he came out, and was not tired.” I inquired where were his spurs ? "I have none," said he; "but a friend of papa's has promised me a pair on my next birth-day, and then, you know, I can make the pony gallop faster." The sight of this little trump, in his scarlet coat and white collar, spanking along in the thickest of the melee, would have gladdened the heart of an expiring Meynel. The lady of the Devonian honoured us by appearing in her pony phaeton, and seemed well pleased with the noble and courageous bearing of her son, who might have said, in the words of Corneille, "Je suis jeune, il est vrai, mais au ames bien nees La valeur n'attend pas le nombre des annees." In the course of the evening we adjourned from Hayne house to the inn at Broadwood, where two hundred of the first class farmers were making themselves supremely happy at the expense of the Devonian, who must, I am sure, have felt real pleasure in witnessing the happiness he had created. And to have heard them chanting, in the first style of jollity : Gadzooks, my dear boy, they're a hunting to day, Humanity, pshaw! ask the poor cock, and then He's a sneak, for he only appears in the night, WILD PIGEONS. The accounts of the enormous flocks in which the passenger, or wild pigeons, fly about in North America, seem to a European like the tales of Baron Munchausen ; but the travellers are 66 'all in a story." In Upper Canada, says Mr. Howison, in his entertaining "Sketches," you may kill twenty or thirty at one shot, of the masses which darken the air. And in the United States, according to Wilson, the ornithologist, they sometimes desolate and lay waste a tract of country forty or fifty miles long, and five or six broad, by making it their breeding place. While in the state of Ohio, Mr. Wilson saw a flock of these birds which extended, he judged, more than a mile in breadth, and continued to pass over his head, at the rate of one mile in a minute, during four hours-thus making its whole length about 240 miles. According to his moderate estimate, this flock contained two thousand two hundred and thirty millions, two hundred and seventy-two pigeons. In Persia, pigeons are kept wholly for the purpose of obtaining their dung, to rear and improve fruits; and immense flights of these birds are frequently to be met with. THE LAWS OF THE TURF. The following trial between Mr. Jones and Mr. Breary is well worthy the attention of sportsmen in general, which took place at the Derby Assizes; it was an action against the defendant, the clerk of the Derby racecourse, in his character of stake-holder, for money had and received to plaintiff's use. The facts were these:-At the last Derby races, which took place in the month of August, Mr. (now Lord) Cavendish, and Mr. Thornhill, acted as stewards. When "The Dunnington Park and Fatbuck Stakes" was run for, Mr. Thornhill told the jockeys, eight or ten in number, as they were about to start, that they must be ready within ten minutes after they were weighed to start for the second heat. The first heat was won by a three-year old horse of Mr. Beardsworth's, named "Champion." Few, if any, of the horses were ready at the appointed time for starting for the second heat. At nineteen minutes after the first heat Mr. Thornhill gave the word "Off," there being then only five horses at the starting post. Of these the plaintiff's horse "Tommy Tickle," which was aged, came in first. Although the stewards are masters of the race, it is usual for the clerk of the course to start the horses, and it is also customary to allow an interval of half an hour between the heats, particularly for young horses, which take a longer time to recover their wind than aged ones. This heat, therefore, having been objected to as not being fair, the defendant refused to weigh the rider of Tommy Tickle, and ultimately the stewards decided that it was no race, and must, therefore, be run again. The horses accordingly started a third time, when Champion came in first, and a mare named Gazelle came second, Tommy Tickle coming in third. Under these circumstances, it was contended that Tommy Tickle won the race, because the second start, it was contended, was fair; and neither Gazelle or Champion having run that heat, they must be taken to be distanced, and therefore disqualified from running the third heat, thus leaving Tommy Tickle the winner of the third as well as of the second heat. It was, however, admitted by plaintiff's witnesses that the usual and reasonable interval allowed between heats at all races throughout the kingdom was half an hour, and also that it was customary for the clerk of the course, and not the steward, to start the horses; besides which, it was stated that the stewards were the proper persons to judge of the fairness of a start, and in this case they had decided that the start was not fair, and that therefore the second heat should be run over again. Upon these facts, Mr. Baron Bayley was clearly of opinion that the plaintiff must be nonsuited. If the stewards deviated from the usual course, they were bound to give notice of such deviation to the owners of the horses; and they were, moreover, bound to allow a reasonable time for young horses as well as old to recover their wind. On the present occasion they had not done so, and they had subsequently decided that they were wrong, and that the heat must therefore be run over again. In any point of view, there was no pretence for saying that the plaintiff was entitled to the stakes. His lordship would therefore beg leave to suggest that the next person called should be Mr. Michael Jones [a laugh.] Mr. Jones was accordingly nonsuited. STRANGE SAGACITY OF A RAT. Nothing more clearly points out that "Necessity is the mother of invention." During a dreadful storm which occurred in the vicinity of Haddington, about the time the river Tyne was at its height, a number of people were assembled on its margin, gazing on quantities of hay, and the huge masses it was sweeping along in its irresistible course. A swan, at last, "hove in sight," struggling sometimes for the land, and at others sailing majestically along with the torrent. When it drew near, it was observed that there was a black spot on its snowy plumage, and the spectators were mightily surprised when they discovered that this black spot was a large live rat. It is probable that it had been flooded from its domicile in some hay-rick, and observing the swan, had made for it as an ark of safety, in the hope, no doubt, of prolonging its life. When the swan reached the land, the rat leaped from his back and scampered away, but it was pursued by about forty of "the lords of the creation," and the life that the tempest spared was instantly sacrificed-a merciless fellow laid it dead with the blow of a staff. THE PET GOAT. In consequence of a most inveterate drunkard being reclaimed by a Goat, the following anecdote will be found extremely interesting: "There was a blacksmith, a very clever fellow, who had an excellent business, and could make by it just what he pleased; but, like many others, he could not keep himself well when he was well, but straightway he fell to drinking. Until then, he had been a kind father and an affectionate husband, and liked to see his wife and children well fed and well clothed; but how can a man, who has with his own hands destroyed his reason, and sent a fire raging through his veins, answer for what he will do, or will not do? While he was drinking or drunk, the work was at a stand; the smithy-door, locked or open, as chance directed; his tools and materials, articles left for repair, every thing it contained at the mercy of whoever chose to go in to steal or destroy. He burned one horse's foot, ran a nail through another, paired a third to the quick, and, in short, lamed and tortured many a worthy animal far more respectable than himself. Such things soon met their reward. His customers, some in wrath, some with regret, all left him, and got their work done elsewhere. Of course, poverty followed, and that did not either improve his temper, or make him the less outrageous for drink. When he went home, hungry and greeting bairns met him there, and also a sad and often an angry wife, who had no food to give either to him or them. Knowing and feeling in every fibre of his heart, and conscious that he had been acting like a monster, of necessity he was furious at her, and often concluded his visit to his own house by beating with his great forehammer fists the good and respectable woman so beloved in the days of his well-doing. "It happened that he had a tame goat which was very fond of him, and, drunk or sober, it trotted at his heels wherever he went. If he sat in a public-house, so did it. If he lay all night on the street or on a stair-head, as the poor lost wretch often did, there too was faithful Nanny creeping close to him, and many thought that it was the heat of the poor dumb animal that kept the life in John when incapable of either knowing or feeling that he was about to perish. Well, it so happened one morning that John could get nobody to take a gill with him; he asked one and another, but they all refused; and it must be confessed that, by that time, his appearance was not a particular recommendation to the practice he pursued. He cursed them with all his might; and, in a pet, said to his goat-' Come, Nanny, come awa, since nane else will drink wi' me, ne'er a bit do I care, my wee faithfu' Nan, thou shalt do't.' And going into the public-house he got his gill, and offered some to the goat, which, to be sure, the goat would not take. What the devil, Nan,' said he, 'aye! and thou'st gaun to do like the lave o' them, and a' sorrow to thee! Na, na, mistress, come here wi' you, gie's nane o' thae airs;' and seizing the poor beast, he poured the whiskey over its throat. This cruel trick was followed by snorting, stamping, butting, and every other expression of its anger; but in a short time it began to reel, and stagger, and fall, and John roared with rapture at the glorious exploit of making the goat drunk, and looked to it as a boundless source of future diversion. Next morn ing, according to custom, he repaired to the same whiskey house, and the goat at his heels, but it stopt at the outside of the door, and farther it would not budge; no, not for all that John could do. What's this for, Nan? what the sorrow ails tu, that thou'll no come in ?' said he. 'D'ye na see! it's because ye filled her fou yesterday,' quoth the fat landlady. John was smitten to the heart, and let go the goat. After standing a moment, he silently turned from the door with his conscience roused from its torpor, and armed against him with a thousand daggers. • Am I reproved,' said he to himself,-'me, made after the image of the living God, am I reproved in my evil ways by a puir dumb beast! a creature to which he has denied that reason which I have so brutally abused. Reason granted me for a light to guide mysel' in fulfilling my ain duty,—my duty to my poor, illrequited, faithful wife, and my unhappy bairns, to whom I hae set sic an awfu' example,-my duty to God, the great God I have offended. "He went home to his bed, silent and conscious stricken; there he lay for two days without food or drink; in agonies of deep and fervent prayer to God and his Redeemer, confessing his sins, and imploring grace and mercy to help him to forsake them; and his prayers were heard. Next morning he rose and went to his work. He trembled at the sight of a whiskey-house, and watched and prayed that he might be preserved from the temptation. He was found steadily at his work; no longer a reeling, red-nosed, ragged blackguard, blustering and swearing, worse than any heathen, but clothed and in his right mind.' In a short time his business returned, his health became good, his spirits good, he had peace in his heart, and peace in his home, and penury, and poverty, and weeping, and gloom had disappeared. His children were no longer afraid of him, and he felt the same affection for them and their mother as ever he did." THE SAILOR BOY. In an Oxford crib you'll find him ; That for once he had made a blunder, When my head is confus'd with Seager."* Seager-a noted distiller for his fine flavoured Old Tom, considered the best in the Metropolis: whether tossed off short, or mixing for grog. Printed for Thomas Tegg, Cheapside, by J. Haddon, Castle Street, Finsbury. 'Twas one day at a fete giv'n at Jove's sans souci; Come, name your endowments, cry'd Mars, for my meed I courage would give, if of courage they'd need ; Of well temper'd steel an old tough English bow. The care of their dress, cry'd gay Iris, be mine: Cry'd Venus, her words sweetly kissing the air, Thus bestow'd each celestial some tribute of worth, New Cressys and Agincourts conquer'd again: Of a nation united, beware-the bow's bent, |