becomes a subject of universal interest. It must be conceded, I think, that the running of the three-year-olds during the past summer has not been of that superior character which is observable in some of the preceding years. In making this remark, I do not jump to the conclusion that our breed of horses has deteriorated. The superiority of horses of different years will fluctuate ; and that phenomenon may be attributed to certain influences of seasons, over which human nature has no control. Virago does honour to her sex-she is unquestionably a most extraordinary filly; and it was unfortunate that the course at Doncaster was so hard as to render it impolitic to run West Australian against her for “the Coop.” Comparing the three-year-old colts which have been running this year, they certainly are not equal to Van Tromp, the Flying Dutchman, Teddington, or West Australian. The scene which took place after the Doncaster Stakes was a lamentable event. Ruffianism is discreditable under any circumstances, and especially so on a race-course, the arena of a national sport. It is to be regretted that the aleatorial appetite cannot be appeased with any other aliment than racing; and still more is it to be regretted that when men have gorged themselves to an excess which they cannot digest, they should endeavour to unburthen their stomachs by acts of violence. It is certainly highly reprehensible for any man to represent, either directly or undirectly, that which is not true; but I never could understand what right any man can have to ask an owner or trainer of race-horses any questions concerning their horses. Attempting to gain information by surreptitiously watching horses in their trials is utterly unpardonable; and any person who does so, and speculates upon his supposed advantage, deserves to be put in “ the hole.” Mr. John Scott has made a public declaration that, in his trials, Boiardo was a better horse than Acrobat, and that he believes the former horse would have won the St. Leger, if he had not broken down. This declaration was, of course, made after the race, and “ after the row.” Knowing Boiardo to be a roarer, which the public did know, he must have been a sanguine man who expected he would get through such a race as the St. Leger. He ran a bad horse for the 2,000 gs. Stakes, and in the races which he won, he beat nothing, Acrobat's running has been undoubtedly superior, therefore the public were justified in considering him the best horse; and his running subsequent to the St. Leger does not reverse that opinion. On this occasion, therefore, the expression of public opinion manifested at Doncaster arose not from any private information, but from the running of the horses. That some expressions of disapprobation were not altogether unlikely to be raised, excites no very great surprisc; but in any case when a body of men set upon an individual with ruffianly violence, such cowardly acts raise a feeling in the minds of Englishmen which reinstate the delinquent in favour, and, to a great extent, he is acquited of his misdeeds. The betting community are wonderfully led by phantoms; when once they take up a scent, then run it through riot and all impediments with wonderful pluck. Their pertinacity in some instances is truly marvellous. When it was known that Autocrat was to go to Doncaster, he became a favourite at a short price: as if his exhibition for the Derby was not sufficient to convince any rational man that his legs would not bear a preparation. The report was that they had been completely restored, or, more expressively speaking, reformed by the application of Major’s Remedy. Without going into any consideration respecting the merits or demerits of that nostrum, can any man, having the slightest experience in the management of horses, suppose that any medicament can be used effectually without giving the animal rest? and is there an individual so innocently verdant as not to know that a horse cannot win a St. Leger unless he is in strong work and in the highest condition possible? A recent arrangement has been made which promises to be very acceptable to the sportsmen who frequent that queen of watering places-Brighton. Invigorat edby the bracing effects of the sea breezes, the nerves are strung to concert-pitch, when the spirits are in fine order to enjoy venatic exercises; influenced by two such powerful auxiliaries, the constitution must be in a hopeless case if the most vigorous health is not insured. Mr. Freeman Thomas, who has for several seasons afforded excellent sport, as master of the South Down Foxhounds, has been prevailed upon to relinquish some of his coverts near Eastbourne, for the purpose of hunting the country more frequently in the immediate vicinity of Brighton, where it is said there is a good supply of foxes. In furtherance of this object a most influential committee has been formed, comprising Lord Cranstoun, Captain Bethune, G. Ballard, and J. B. May, Esqrs. Personally, I have had but little experience of hunting in the county of Sussex, and that little was in my youthful days; but, from what I can remember of it, I am quite of opinion that a few gorse coverts on the Downs, well preserved, would be productive of excellent sport. In former days there were several patches of natural gorse which occasionally held foxes. I have no doubt they still remain ; they only require to be enclosed, and the foxes fed in them, to render them certain finds. And if their coverts are not sufficiently numerous, the rent of a few acres of land for the purpose of forming gorse coverts would be an expenditure well laid out. The commencement of the hunting season suggests to those who are not bound to any particular spot the necessity of selecting their winter quarters. "Where shall I hunt next season ?" said an old friend to me a few days since, who was at that time sojourning at Cheltenham. “How can you improve upon the place you are now at?" I inquired. “Why,” he replied, "the place is so full; there are such enormous fields out; and, to tell you the truth, I do not admire the country. If I go to Leamington I shall get out of the frying-pan into the fire ; besides which, there is too much gaiety for me. I prefer more quietude." "Then,” I observed, “ you must go into the Vale of White Horse : either take a house for the season, or patronize Cirencester. If you do not like that, try Aylesbury ; at the White Hart you will have everything you can desire, which I can vouch for. It is surrounded by an unexceptionable country, principally grass, and hunted by Lord Southampton, Baron Rothschild, Mr. Drake, and Lord Lonsdale is frequently within reach. You can easily run up to London when disposed to do so. And if you are not satisfied with all those enjoyments, you must be more than fastidious.” Before this meets the eye of the public, the legitimate racing season will have terminated with the Houghton Meeting, which is this year unusually early. The chase will then commence in earnest. Abundantly as foxes have been preserved during the last few years, I believe there have never been more, if so many, as there are at present. This is the gratifying intelligence I have received from friends in various hunting countries, who are enthusiasts sufficient to induce them to attend the hounds in the cub-hunting season. Every thing augurs well for a most prosperous season; there is, however, a circumstance which will occasion sincere regret in every hunting country throughout the kingdom—the absence of many of our best sportsmen at the seat of war. Some, alas ! are already cut off never to return; but the remembrance of those who are spared, and yet absent, will cause many a bumper toast to be drunk to their success and happiness. THE PERSPECTIVE OF OUR NATIONAL SPORTS. BY A LOOKER-ON. “ The Chase Saint from his beads to join the jocund race; And wear the Melton jacket for a space." BYRON. Your“ laudator temporis acti” is prodigiously prone to found his conceits on assumed premises, and his principles on suppositious theory. For example, in reference to false facts--as Mrs. Malaprop might say—it is written in the Sporting Enclycopædia" that " in the sacred page the records of The Chase are given with an air of sanctity which well befits the source from whence they are derived: thus we learn that Nimrod as a mighty hunter was an especial favourite with the Almighty.”... Now, the only mention made of this “first monarch” in the Old Testament is to be found in the eighth and ninth verses of the tenth chapter of Genesis, where not one word intimates that he was “an especial favourite with the Almighty," or that he ever chased beast of the field from the day of his birth to that of his death. All we are told of him is that “ Cush begat Nimrod : he became a mighty one in the earth. “ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.”... Holy Writ speaks of “the fishers of men”; why not of the hunters of men likewise, by implication? At these presents, one Romanoff-also a Royal chaser of his species is pursuing his sport hard by the Black Sea, of whom it may hereafter be related in history, that in the nineteenth century he was both the hunter and the hunted -of men.... The first chapter of the First Book of Chronicles, verse the tenth, merely says, “ Cush begat Nimrod : he began to be mighty on earth”-not a word about his taste for hunting. By the authority quoted above in the matter at issue, we are instructed that “notwithstanding the Jewish restrictions, hunting became nevertheless respected in Judea as in other countries, and its votaries honoured. It was David's early enterprises in the field which appear to have paved the way to his elevation as a ruler over the Jews, and they also greatly tended to gain him that exalted character he afterwards bore as the man after God's own heart." Now, upon this point, Samuel, his biographer, is utterly silent-albeit he is eloquent touching David's slaughter of Goliath the giant, and his breach of the seventh commandment, with the wife of Uriah the Hittite.... So much for the assumed premises of Sacred history: now for the proposition. “ Profane history bears even more ample testimony to the elevated character of hunting among the great pagan nations of antiquity, and of the renown gained by their heroes for their venatorial exploits." The data for this bypothesis consist of the bagging of the Pythean monster by Apollo; the conquest of the Minotaur by Theseus ; the overthrow of the Dragon by St. George; and, above all, the paramount pre-eminence of Diana as supreme protectress of hunting. Her mise en scène for the chase was a car drawn by stags.... According to the antique saw,“ between two stools the finis comes to the ground;" therefore intra sacred and profane history our conclusion comes to the ground whereon it was founded. As we trust to have a few pleasant runs at the modern pace with you, reader courteous, our only regret is that we cannot put before you the premier pas of the Hunting Field in 1840—as it now lies before us-—"A Cover Hack," a short thick lump of a galloway, with a tail the length of a hare's scut. Hunting such as it is—and ought to be-was practically and pleasantly treated by the late Charles Apperley, better known as Nimrod --(not the son of “ Cush”)-in his “Hunting Tour," written for the early numbers of the Sporting Review. Though by no means a brilliant performer in the field, he was a sound experienced sportsman. Retrospectively, his notices of fox-hunting are full of interest; but for present purposes they are not available. His gossip will always be a popular sporting relish; and his sketches of the leading men of his day, a gallery of most goodly interest, His career, as well as my memory serves me, commenced with the veteran of Sundorn Castle, and finished with the Leicester Tour-here alluded to.... This was written in a gracious spirit--so was much of the sporting matter which he has left to posterity ; but he should never have put his pen to a biography of the John Mytton of Halston, his open-hearted, openhanded friend and patron. This is not my view solely ; for when I named to his devoted mother that an application for such a production had been made to me, she answered—“He knew and loved you well: you are too honourable to reveal the confidence of his folly and excess.” In those two words are comprised the “head and front of his offending.” A gentleman more complete in the courtesy of life-more profuse in polished hospitality-more open to the offices of charity-more fondly linked to his family-never graced a "fine old home of England.” He was too impulsive: to irreflective : too much the creature of occasion. But all that calumny has circulated of his natural and evil propensities; of his cruelty to one he adored--and well did she deserve and return his wild, if wilful devotion-is“ false as hell.” I look back upon the memories of a mother and the son of a posthumous birth—of the wife whose husband had never known a father, as a dream rather than a waking passage of existence. Having accidentally met him in town, on his way to France, shortly before the fatal stroke fell on him, it became manifest to me that he was no longer compos mentis. He was alone; and thus, without guide or friend, exposed to the most imminent risk. In this dilemma I hastened to Cheltenham; Mrs. Mytton—that is, his motherhaving taken a house at Pittsville. As delicately as it was possible I spoke of his position, at the same time expressing a sanguine hope for his speedy restoration. At the moment that I was leaving, to return to town, a note from her was put into my hand, from which I make a short extract: “I can never forget the happy hours of our acquaintance, and shall ever rejoice to meet you in esteem and friendship, because I feel that your heart is kindly impressed towards my very dear ill-fated son... I must here stop my patent quill, only adding that the lovely lines you left me this morning are more lovely on reperusal. Say all kind things to dear Mytton, and beg him not to plant another thorn in my heart by apparent forgetfulness... Believe me always your obliged friend,” &c., &c... Some idea of the writer's most gentle nature may be formed from the inscription on the seal of this note......the wax is black....... “ Numbers : chap. vi., ver. 24, 25, 26.” Shropshire-our native country—was the school in which the young Squire of Halston and the writer of these chapters matriculated for the field. Their first lessons were taken with Mr. Lloyd of Aston's harriers, a quick clever pack, with a country that held a good scent, and taught you to ride if you would see a run. The next form up was the Shropshire foxhounds, then under the patronage of Mr. Cresset Pelham, who kept them in the true old English fashion at Shrewsbury Castle ; and they did him credit-for beyond paying their expenses—mounting his men as well as money could do it, and arraying them in white coats, waistcoats, breeches, and gloves: he had no more to do with their establishment than the old brown cotton umbrella he invariably carried under his arm. He never accompanied his hounds even to cover ; and if by any accident they crossed his canter on his good old hackney, he would start away from them like“Charles Fox,” as the fast squirachy were won't to term “Reinake Foux." The fields, at the period I speak of, were, with these hounds, first-rate....with such sportsmen as the late Lord Forrester—then the Cecil Forrester of Rossall-it is needless to say the “slows" had no business to associate or compete. He was by no means a flash rider; but such horses, hands, and nerves I never before or since saw with hounds ; nor do I anticipate that I ever shall. His eye, too, |