present year. It extends to eight days, and embraces a bill of fare enough to satisfy the greatest turf-glutton that has existed since the good old times of the Olympic games, when a hundred races, or so, were run in the twenty-four hours. We have only space to give the engagements for the first two days. The conditions for the Auckland Cup convey the best commentary on the relative qualities of the native Arab, and the artificial thorough-blood of England:

CALCUTTA RACES.-FIRST MEETING, 1841. First Day, Tuesday, 28th December, 1841.-Renewal of the Calcutta Riddlesworth Stakes of 50 g. m. each, h. f. if declared by 2 P. M. the day before the race, with 30 g. m. from the funds, for three-year-old country-bred colts, 8 st. 5 lb.; fillies, 8 st. 2 lb. To close 1st of December, and name the day before the race by 2 P. M.

Dealer's Plates on their terms.

Sweepstakes of 100 g. m. each, h. f. if declared by 2 P. M. the day before the race, for Arabs, 8 st. 7 lb. each, two miles. To close 1st July, and name the day before the race by 2 P. M. Three subscribers,

or no race.

Sweepstakes of 100 g. m. each, h. f. if declared by 2 P. M. the day before the race, for Arabs that have never won before the 1st of October, 1841, 8 st. 4 lb. each, one mile and a half. To close the 1st of July, and name the day before the race by 2 P. M. Three subscribers,

or no race.

A Purse of 100 g. m., added to a Sweepstakes of 50 g. m., p. p., for all English imported horses, Calcutta weight for age, R. C. To close the 1st of December, and name the day before the race by 2 P. M. Three subscribers, or no race.

Second Day, Thursday, 30th of December, 1841.-Fifteenth Renewal of the Calcutta Great Welter Stakes of 10 g. m. each, with 50 g. m. from the funds, R. C., 11 st. 7 lb. each; gentlemen riders; horses to be entered the day before the race by 2 P. M.

The Auckland Cup, presented by the Right Honourable the Governor-General, added to a Sweepstakes of 25 g. m. each, 10 forfeit if declared by 2 P. M. the day before the race, for all horses, weight for age as below, two miles and a half. English horses to carry 3 st. above the stipulated weight for Arabs. To close and name the 1st of December, 1841, by 2 P. M.

A Purse of 50 g. m., added to a Sweepstakes of 50 g. m. each, h. f. if declared by 2 P. M. the day before the race, for maiden c. b. horses, Calcutta weight for age, R. C. To close the 1st of July, and name the day before the race by 2 P. M. Three subscribers, or no race.

Sweepstakes of 25 g. m. with 25 from the funds, for all Arabs purchased from native dealers in Calcutta, 8 st. 7 lb. each, R. C. To close the 1st of July, and name the day before the race, by 2 P. M. subscribers, or no race.

Three

Sweepstakes of 50 g. m. each, h. f. if declared by 2 P. M. the day

To close

before the race, for maiden Arabs, 8 st. 7 lb. each, Gilbert mile; horses that never started before the day of the race, allowed 7 lb. the 1st of July, and name the day before the race by 2 P. M. subscribers, or no race.

Three

THE CHASE. The hunting season has opened with every promise of a brilliant career. At Melton, preparations are going on rapidly for the reception of those members of the hunt, who make that pretty town their head quarters. Regular business with the Royal hounds commences to-day; they have, however, already had some capital by-days. Mr. Villebois' staghounds had a splendid run in the second week of October, and the Pytchley, a slice of similar luck about the same time. Mr. Bradley has given up his staghounds, that afforded such first-rate sport in the neighbourhood of Leamington; but the South Warwickshire foxhounds will be found a good substitute. The North Warwickshire are also in strong force this year. The Atherstone remain in statu quo; the reputation of that establishment needs no further comment. In West Sussex, General Wyndham comes out with energy and éclat, increased ten-fold by the unworthy opposition and annoyance to which he has been exposed. "Is it an enemy hath done this thing?" Yea, and that enemy his own brother, who, upon a personal quarrel, hath laboured to destroy the social enjoyment of his nearest relative, and the sport of his neighbour. But neither this, nor instances like it, if indeed such could occur again, can permanently injure the cause of foxhunting, magna est, et prevalebit! How truly we prognosticate, our next number will show.

COURSING. The lovers of the leash are 66 up and stirring." The Ardrossan Club Meeting, on the 14th and 15th ult., was attended by all the great Northern coursers, and produced excellent running; the details will be duly reported in our Coursing Register. We propose, in future, giving notices of the various meetings devoted to this sport, upon a scale suited to its rapidly increasing importance and popularity.

AMERICAN TROTTING. A great match in harness, two-mile heats, for 900 dollars, came off lately at Toronto, between Mr. Peters's chesnut horse, Trial, and Mr. Bernard's brown mare, The Queen, Mr. Peters posting 500 to Mr. Bernard's 400 dollars. The race excited considerable interest, and was decided, in two heats, in favour of The Queen. Time, six minutes four seconds-six minutes thirteen seconds. In the first heat, Trial, who had the inside, led for the first mile at a middling good pace, and kept a-head for half-a-mile in the second time round, at an improved movement; The Queen then challenged him, and a sharp brush ensued, when Trial broke, and The Queen went forward and won; the second mile was done in two minutes fifty-eight seconds. For the second heat, the mare had the inside, but, after a fine trial of speed, the horse took it, and led handsomely, but, startled at the shouting of the people in the Stand, he broke, and lost full twenty-five yards before he got all right again. The mare, in the meantime, improved her step, and made a wide gap, which the horse could not close up, although he certainly trotted his wickedest. Trial, we still think to be the faster horse; but the finer temper of The

-'s

Queen gives her a decided advantage over any opponent, when the pace is nearly equal. At St. Louis Races, a trotting-match came off for 500 dollars, p.p., mile heats, under the saddle, between Dr. Sgr. g. Comet, and James Wheelan's gr. m. Maid of the West, which was decided in favour of the former, in two heats. Time, three minutes two and a half seconds-two minutes fifty-nine seconds. This match created a great deal of excitement. The mare had been the favourite since the match was made, at about 2 to 1. She had figured as the terror of the town for a long time, from the fact of her having been sold at an enormous price, and her speed rated at two minutes forty-eight seconds. The horse was unknown, except as an awkward brute, which had been sold for sixty dollars, and had not been brought into notice until within about a month, when the " fancy trainer," Fred. W- -e, took him in hand, and by the virtue and efficiency of a three-minute machine, which his genius had planned and executed, to the astonishment of all, in that short time he makes him a 66 rowzer," and threw down the gauntlet to the mare. The horse was green, but the backers "more so." Frank Chase, the star rider of the south and west, handled the horse in his usual felicitous style, and James Wheelan, (brother to William and Peter, of N. Y.) managed the mare, and did with her all that could be done, but the gods declared against him. The mare could not score up" the promised "forties." The betting, at the start, took a turn; the horse was the favourite at 2 to 1, and few takers. Two false starts in the first heat, in both of which the mare broke, plainly showed her glory had departed. Just after the drum was tapped, a dog which had been foolishly taken to the course, and as foolishly let loose, ran after the mare, which broke her; he then ran on, caught the horse by the tail, which somewhat impeded his progress, and he retained his hold until he was violently thrown against the inner railing, where he lay until the mare again passed by. It was surprising the horse did not break, for "the fancy trainer" stated that there had been no dog allowed to go on the machine with the horse. The mare, after the break, made a desperate struggle to reach the horse, but in vain. She appeared to come down the straight side, at the speed of a quarter horse. Time, three minutes two and a half seconds. The second heat was a repetition of the first, (barring the dog). Wheelan made another tremendous dash in the home stretch, but to no purpose. Time, two minutes fifty-nine seconds.

66

DESTRUCTION OF LEWES RACE STAND.-At daybreak, on Tuesday, the 19th ult., the Lewes Race Stand was discovered to be on fire; and in a short time nothing was left standing but the walls. The lower part of the building is covered to a depth of several inches with tan ; and it is supposed that, during a race which took place on the course on the previous day, a spark from a lighted cigar was thrown on the floor, which, after smouldering during the night amongst the tan, eventually burst into a flame. There is, however, a rumour of a light being seen about the Stand during the night.

375

LITERATURE AND FINE ARTS.

SEVERAL Works have been received, which shall have early notice; among them one with instant claims on the attention of all who bear the human form. It is entitled "Extracts from the Prison Reports," being a statement, recently laid before the legislature, of deeds done in the Metropolis of the most Christian country of the world, that would blast the history of the most barbarous nation of savages. Let any man turn to pages 49 and 50, and read that which, within a few months, has occurred in the heart of the city of London, in an asylum, under the immediate care of her magistrates, and supported at a cost of thousands to her citizens, and ask himself, can such things be? Is not the tale some horrible illusion--some monstrous dream of frenzy ?

THE ADVENTURES OF MR. OBADIAH OLDBUCK. Tilt and Bogue, Fleet-street.

A HIGHLY humorous series of eighty-four plates, depicting the adventures of a sportsman-extraordinary, one Mr. Oldbuck, and setting forth "the crosses, chagrins, calamities, checks, chills, changes, and circumgyrations by which his courtship was attended; showing also the issue of his suit, and his espousal to his ladye-love."

Mr. Oldbuck is a sort of amatory Quixote, who, obtaining only a southern view of a fair dame, as she walks in a garden, probably judges of her face by inference, and goes through all sorts of perils in pursuit of her. He appears to have as many lives as a cat; for the sword, the halter, starvation, drowning, burying alive, and every other imaginable calamity, conspire to baulk his hopes; but with indomitable perseverance he displays new vigour after each catastrophe. "The course of true love never did run smooth," and Mr. Oldbuck's perils are another proof of it. The hero's companions in his adventures are his horse and dog, who are fated to endure as many miseries as their master. Rosinante never suffered half the hardships of Mr. Oldbuck's steed. Plates XXV. and XXVI. furnish a laughable commentary on "the condition of hunters." The miserable skeleton horse, converted, by the miraculous effects of a clover-field, into a living monster of fat, which bursts like a bottle of soda-water, and blows his master into the air, would supply a scene for a pantomime. The faithful dog, too, sympathizing with the lover, grows fat or lean, as his master prospers, or otherwise. Mr. Oldbuck, on his horse, riding post (Plate LIV.), is evidently an equestrian of no common order.

We have selected, as a specimen, Plate XIV., which, to our thinking, conveys a useful lesson, and shows the fallacy of "wise saws and modern instances." These warn us of the dangers of "putting our foot in it." Mr. Oldbuck's downfall is caused by not putting his foot in it.-Q.E.D.

This illustration conveys but an inadequate notion of the merits of the work, which is an absolute novelty in its way; every page is rich and racy; most of them divided into two or three scenes; they will inevitably send the most misanthropical to bed with sides aching with