ingly fast, and I have seen them run quite away from a well-mounted field. But they were far from faultless, being especially wanting in patience, slack in drawing, and they would throw up at the slightest difficulty. All these things are, I hope, now amended, but in my day they were subjects of general remark.

Of the country hunted by Mr. Mure, I am not able to give any description, as I have only seen that portion of it bordering upon Cambridgeshire. It is of great extent, and ought to be hunted more frequently than it is, to secure good sport. I look upon it as very awkward to ride over, the ditches being wide and deep, and a fall consequently very often settles the matter for the day. One of the best men across it was a Mr. Wilder, of Carlton, a welter weight. He used to ride some clever horses, and generally had a good place. I have frequently seen two sons of Mr. Batson out, one of whom used to ride a very fine entire grey horse, known, in the racing world, by the name of Bacchus. Newmarket generally furnished a portion of the field, but its denizens are better over the heath than across country. One of the Edwards (William, I think), and honest Pat Connelly, were exceptions to this rule, and retrieved the credit of the cap and jacket.

Before concluding my account of this part of the country, I must mention that the neatest and best pack of harriers I ever saw were those belonging to a Mr. Allix, a gentleman living in the neighbourhood of Newmarket. They were almost as fleet as foxhounds, and could, with ease, run a hare down in twenty minutes. For my own part, I prefer the old southern harrier, with its fine deep note, now so rarely heard; but in their way, I think the harriers of Mr. Allix superexcellent.

When I left Cambridge, the Fitzwilliam began to be quite the rage, and four or five men kept their hunters at Huntingdon, a most excellent plan, as, otherwise, the distance they had to travel the day before, and strange stables were anything but favourable to horses. The scene along the road to cover, was frequently a very lively one when the meet was at Stanwick Pasture, Bythorn Toll Bar, or any other favourite fixture within a reasonable distance of Cambridge. There were, generally, two fours-in-hand (with an extra allowance of bugles), several tandems, buggies, &c., and here and there one of the hardy ones was seen working away on his hack, and no bad day's work he would have of it, for Stanwick is full four and thirty miles from Cambridge. All these several parties used to meet together at Huntingdon, breakfast at the George, or the Fountain, and, after imbibing a due quantity of cherry brandy, and considerably astonishing the natives, proceed on their way rejoicing.

When the meet was at Stanwick, the horses were sent forward to Bythorn, and it was amusing to see some of the strange-looking animals that turned out, for the riding of which some men were content to be at an expense of four or five pounds.

It is not for me to say anything of the Fitzwilliam hounds; their fame is well established, and, truly, things are there done as they should be. There is, I believe, no pack that shows a better average of sport, nor one more desirable to hunt with. Sebright is allowed to be the best huntsman in England; and I know no greater treat than

to see him ride across country. He has an admirable mode of putting his horses at their fences, never flurrying them, as many do; but treating them with a gentleness, yet firmness, which I never saw equalled. The late Lord Milton was much beloved. He was, for his years, a very good sportsman, and every inch a nobleman. The present Lord is a very amiable man, and goes fairishly across country, as does his brother George. Lord Aboyne is a pretty constant attendant with these hounds, and a very fair rider, as are, also, Messrs. Peck and Chafy, from the Cambridgeshire side. Of the other cracks I am not able to speak; but better mounted fields are seldom to be met with. I have a grateful recollection of Lord Fitzwilliam and his hounds.

In addition to those already mentioned, the Oakley and the Puckeridge, then under the government of Mr. Dalzell, were sometimes, at the period I speak of, within a reasonable distance from Cambridge. The former is, I believe, a very superior pack, and I should think that Bedfordshire is a very desirable county to live in. Mr. Dalzell did not get on well in his country, and soon gave it up. I do not know what has become of him. He came into it quite a stranger, and it is not to be wondered at, that things did not go quite smoothly at first. But he wanted patience, and was too easily disgusted. The county has since been hunted by a committee, with a Mr. Parry at their head, who have shown very good sport. A pack of harriers, called the Royston harriers, of which a Mr. Wortham had the management, used also to hunt round Cambridge, and we sometimes went with them; but they were not to be compared with those of Mr. Allix.

I have entered pretty fully into the means and appliances of Cambridge, as a hunting residence; few, if any, changes have been made; and, though not so favourably situated for hounds as the sister University, it has many advantages for teaching the young idea how to hunt. The country is a difficult one to ride over; and the man who can get well across it, need be afraid of no other in England. Again, the hunting system, as I said before, is not, at least was not, much opposed, if not carried to too great lengths. The Fellows of one or two colleges, especially those of Magdalene and King's, are themselves sportsmen. Mr. Waters is, decidedly, first class in the field, as well as the senate-house. The dons are wide enough awake to see that young men must have some amusement. Newton and Paley are very well in their way, but "non semper tenditur arcus ;" and seeing this, it is equally clear to them, that the hunting part of the community are much more gentlemanly, and much more manageable, than the dissipated loungers about the parade. A man, who is a foxhunter, must be regular in his habits; early to bed is the order of the day; and, though a break out used now and then to occur, the hunting men in Cambridge were, in the days I speak of, decidedly the most orderly in the University, and such is, I have reason to believe, the case at Oxford.

It is somewhat remarkable, but a matter admitting of no doubt, that the men who ride hired hunters have, generally, at Cambridge, the best of it-I mean, of course, compared with their fellow gownsmen. Whether this arises from their not having the fear of injuring

their steeds before their eyes, or not, I cannot tell, but so it is.* And yet the horses let out for hire were, when we consider the price to be paid for them, by no means good. Jerdan used to keep a few good ones; but they were generally in dealer's condition, and scarcely fit for a hard day, and only let out to known customers. No man had better than Coe, who throve for a short time at Cambridge, and then went to the wall. I remember some first-rate horses in his stable. Old Petre, the best hunter I ever crossed, Mandarin, and a grey, frequently ridden by Yarburgh Lloyd, the son of the late master of the York and Ainsty, were all in his possession at one time, and were very good. Haggis and John Falkner were respectable stablekeepers; but I do not remember anything very especial being in their hands, with the exception of the Nimble mare belonging to the former. She was an excellent animal, and subsequently belonged to that fine specimen of the English gentleman, the master of the Chesterton harriers. The private horses were, most of them, kept at the Bird and Bolt Inn, and I have seen many very excellent nags there. Claxton, the winner of several steeple-chases, Condor and Rivulet, all belonging to a friend of mine, the finest rider I ever saw, were firstrate, and not to be beaten in any country: the two latter were importations from Ireland. In spite of what I said before, I should decidedly recommend a young one going to the University, intending to enjoy the pleasures of the chase, to keep his own horses. There is much greater satisfaction in being well carried under such circumstances; and the system is incomparably more economical. The charge for a day, within a moderate distance of Cambridge, is two guineas, and two guineas and a half when it is necessary to send on. Now, a good style of horse, with good management, and not over burdened with weight, is good for three days a fortnight, besides an occasional lark with harriers. The expense of hunting is thus reduced to almost a third, barring accidents; for there is excellent accommodation to be got for hunters, at five and twenty shillings a week, groom included. At Oxford, on the contrary, the horses let out for hire are very superior, and I have ridden some excellent ones of Quatermain's. But, in spite of these their advantages, I have always been accustomed to regard the Cambridge men as better in the field than those of Oxford. This may, probably, be the effect of prejudice at all events, they appear to me to have more dash in them, though I must grant that to be no qualification for riding well to hounds. The drags, which were very frequent at Cambridge, were a great means of exciting rivalry in riding—the country selected being always the most difficult to be met with. I have seen some very fast things with the Barnwell drag-hounds (thorough bred foxhounds), from Maddingly to Fen Stanton.

(To be continued.)

They use other men's horses and their own spurs.-ED.

GLEANINGS FROM MY TRAVELLING JOURNALS.

BY LORD WILLIAM LENNOX.

(Continued from page 431, vol. vi.)

THE FRENCH TURF; WITH SOME REMARKS
OLYMPIC GAMES.

ON THE ANCIENT

"Then from the ships proceeds

A train of oxen, mules, and stately steeds,
Vases and tripods for the funeral games,
Resplendent brass, and more resplendent dames.
First stood the prizes, to reward the force

Of rapid racers in the dusty course;

A woman for the first, in beauty's bloom,

Skill'd in the needle, and the lab'ring loom ;

And a large vase, where two bright handles rise,
Of twenty measures its capacious size.

The second victor claims a mare unbroke;

The third, a charger, yet untouch'd by flame;

Two golden talents for the fourth were placed;
An ample double bowl contents the last.'

POPE'S TRANSLATION, ILIAD, Book xxiii.

THE celebration of public games was of very high antiquity among the Greeks. Homer makes no mention of the Olympian, or of any other of those which are called the sacred games. He is, however, very ample in details of the games celebrated in honour of the dead, in his account of the funeral of Patroclus, and describes minutely the several contests of chariot-races, foot-races, boxing, wrestling, throwing the quoit, launching the javelin, shooting with the bow, and fencing with the spear. These games seem to have borne a considerable resemblance to the Gothic tournaments. The prizes were of considerable value-a female captive, a war-horse, golden goblets, spears, &c. These, we find, in after times, gave place to such rewards as were purely honorary. The four public, or solemn games of the Greeks, which were particularly termed sacred, were— the Olympic, the Pythian, the Nemæan, and the Isthmian. The precise eras in which they were instituted are extremely uncertain, as well as the persons to whom they owed their origin. The amusements of the people in all these public games were of the same nature, and consisted principally in viewing contests of skill in all the athletic exercises. The prizes bestowed on the victors were not rewards of any intrinsic value, as those given at the ancient funeral games; they were, originally, of the most simple nature: a crown of wild olive, or of parsley, was accounted the highest reward in the times of virtuous simplicity, when glory was a sufficient incitement to excellence; and so powerful is habit in its influence on the mind, that, even in the latter ages of Greece, when luxury had introduced corruption of every kind, the victors in those games had no other recompense than a garland of leaves. In a political view, these public games were, during the first

• Iliad, xxiii.

ages of their institution, of the most important consequence. Independently of their effect in promoting in the youth a hardy and vigorous conformation of body, and that activity and address in martial exercises, and in single combat, which, according to the ancient system of war, were of the utmost importance, a most beneficial consequence of those public games was, the frequent assembling together of the inhabitants of all the states of Greece, and thus promoting a national union, to which the difference of their governments, and their separate interests, were otherwise opposing a constant resistance. Assembled on these public occasions from motives of pleasure and amusement, to which was joined the notion of performing a duty of religion, and indulging in every species of festivity, they could not avoid considering each other as brethren and fellow citizens. Whatever were the political interferences of the several states, or their national animosities, every grudge was, at least for the time, obliterated. Thucydides informs us, that all hostile operations between states actually at war, were suspended during the performance of those solemnities. Another result was, the dissemination of knowledge, arts, science, and literature; for, although the chief contests in the sacred games were those in the martial and athletic exercises, there were likewise trials of skill in poetry, history, and music; and it is chiefly to these latter exercises. of genius that we must attribute the eminence of the Greeks in those sciences above all the nations of antiquity. Now, although we do not contend that modern races and games are conducive to the dissemination of knowledge, art, science, or literature, we do assert, that a most beneficial consequence is attained by the assembling together of all classes from motives of pleasure and amusement, independent of the great advantage a country must derive from a "bold peasantry" being brought up to hardy and vigorous exercises, and from the emulation in the breeding of horses that such sports produce. Assembled, on such occasions, either at the race-course, the May-day games, cricket-matches, wakes, or fairs, animosities and prejudices are forgotten; the peer and the peasant, the landlord and tenant, the rich and the poor, meet in good fellowship; it is a period of relaxation, and of mutual rejoicing.

The taste, or rather the passion for horses, which declined in France at the extinction of the tournaments, revived about the middle of the last century, and at that period the first attempts at racing commenced. This first essay may be traced to a bet, which was made by an English gentleman visiting the court at Fontainebleau, that he would ride from that town to the Barrière des Gobelins, at Paris, in two hours. The wager was for a thousand louis, and was won by some minutes. The following year, a French nobleman of distinction, on his return from England (where Louis XV. pretended that he had been, to learn to dress a horse), established some races in the Plaine des Sablons. He attempted, in vain, to fix periodical meetings, and racing was, for some years, discontinued. At length a meeting took place in the Bois de Vincennes; but it did not add much to the glory or advantage of the nation, as all the horses were brought expressly from England. Annual races were shortly afterwards instituted, where none but native horses were allowed to run, and where prizes were given by the government to encourage the breed of French horses.