your steady old hunter? Your five-year-old, whose performance has not justified you in becoming his sponser, is very promising, and being ridden for practice over little fences, stiles, and hurdles, already inspires you with the intention of honouring him with the name of Confidence, when he has arrived at an age to take care of himself.

The summer has fleeted by-if that season of the year must retain the name which we associate with the months of June, July, and August it has been cold, wet, windy, and variable, affirming the character which this island has obtained for mutability of temperature.

The legitimate racing season is now over, saving a few hybrid accessaries which usually take place during the present month. On the whole it may be pronounced as the most fortuitous ever known, and fortunately it has passed off without many of those electrifying convulsions which occasionally startle the nerves of the most stoical philosophers. There have, it is true, been a few petty larceny affairs, which may be productive of benefit should they have the effect of stimulating to action those " powers" who have the means of awarding just punishment on future delinquents. The stewards of the Jockey Club express their extreme disapprobation of horses being started for races without the intention on the part of the owners of trying to win with them. This is a feeling in which every honest patron or advocate of racing most cordially joins; but without some rule by which offenders can be called to order, the expression is inoperative. It is not a novel feature in racing unfortunately horses are too frequently started for sinister purposes, and therefore there is greater occasion for a stringent rule for the suppression of such delinquences. That it is a difficult question to deal with there can be no doubt, as the performance can be accomplished in so many different ways; yet that is no reason why a rule may not be adopted which would bear upon the case in whatever form proof can be given of the fraud. There are different degrees of chicanery which might be met by penalties, graduated according to the enormity of the offence. One horse may be started out of condition for the purpose of getting him lightly weighted in a future handicap; and although unfortunately very frequently practised, it is a difficult case to prove still, in some instances, that might be done; and if there were any law to affect the offenders, their opponents would bring forth any cases they could substantiate, whereas in the absence of a law, it is useless for persons to make complaints, however strong the evidence may be. In point of fact, being no law there can be no appeal. A horse may likewise be started perfectly fit to run, and consequently becoming a favourite in the betting ring, may be made a medium of fraud by the assistance of a strong-armed jockey. For this there might be a remedy by indictment, and doubtless delinquents would be severely punished if any of the party concerned were to turn approver.

The double triumph of West Australian proves him to be a better horse than has been trained for some years; not simply because he has won the Derby and St. Leger, but from the ease with which he beat all opposed to him for the last race, and that after, as it was currently rumoured, he had been a little off. In these days of touting, every gallop that a race-horse takes is duly watched, reported, and telegraphed, and the morning's work is known at many hundred miles' distance before he has finished his feed of corn. There is a coincidence connected with

West Australian and Sittingbourne which tends to strengthen the remarks which I made touching the latter in the August number. It will be remembered that previously to the race for the Two Thousand, the legion of touts had proclaimed that Sittingbourne was not doing regular work, that he therefore was amiss, and his running for that race was not a criterion of his true form; thus many expected that his position in the Derby with reference to his conqueror would be reversed, inasmuch as his final preparation for that race had been uninterrupted. The remarks which I made on the occasion need not be repeated, as my readers can refer to them. A similar event occurred with West Australian for the St. Leger. During his preparation for that race, the ground being hard, his feet suffered at least, such was the current impression-but his work was reduced, a tan gallop prepared, and all proceeded satisfactorily. Still many were of opinion that this short cessation of strong work would destroy his chance for the St. Leger, and they laid against him in consequence. "A favourite has no friends " is a maxim which in some instances applies to race-horses; for there are many betting men opposed to them on principle, who are the more ready to catch at any trifling incident which they conceive may be condusive to defeat. A short cessation from work will in many instances cause a horse to run the better. Taking a glance at the treatment which Sittingbourne had undergone in his St. Leger preparation, he had not only done what is termed good work, but had also been recently running; with all this he did not acquit himself so well by seven pounds as he did for the Two Thousand and the Derby. To win a great race, although a strong preparation is necessary, a horse requires to be fresh, and I am clearly of opinion that many good chances are thrown away by over-anxiety on the part of owners and trainers.

With an amusing account of a match which took place in Alexandria, between an English mare and an Arabian horse, comes a renewal of the Egyptian challenge, through the widely-circulated columns of Bell's Life. Respecting the match, it does not go for much-assuming, as a matter of course, that the details are faithfully recorded. It is evident the party connected with the mare had not served an apprenticeship under John Scott, or they would never have brought her to the post with only twenty days' training. However sanguine they might have been, it was throwing a chance away. To run a distance, a horse requires a long and steady preparation of at least three months. Putting a foreigner up was a sad error in judgment; it requires practice and experience, combined with condition, in the man to ride such a race, which was corroborated by the sequel. The regular jockey being laid up, his substitute was laid down when a mile from home, though not on a bed of thorns or roses. It appears that the foreign jockey took a fancy to hedging, by capsizing the mare in a cane fence, which, however it might have suited his book, could not have been in accordance with his employer's calculation. Had the foreigneering equestrian no apprehension of the cane? The account is imperfect, as it does not mention the weights; there is also a discrepancy in the distance. It is stated to have been nine miles and a half-four miles seven furlongs out, and the same distance back again, which, according to our oldfashioned English mode of calculation, is nine miles and three quarters. The Arab performed the distance in twenty-seven minutes fifteen

с с

seconds. The mare is not stated to have been thorough-bred; the only inference we have for that supposition is that her dam was by Touchstone, and he did not cover half-bred mares. The name of her sire could not be deciphered. Under these circumstances it is more than probable that the parties who were in possession of the mare had no authenticated pedigree with her; for it is very evident, without offering the slightest discourtesies, that they are not highly versed in the mysteries of racing tactics. There is another part of the communication which does not appear very clear, namely, the reason for her having been beaten. It is a very common case, in racing, to make an excuse for a horse not winning: he is alleged to have been not quite fit, or the pace was not good enough, or he should have waited, or something should have been done which was not done; when in reality the cause of defeat is inferiority. In the case of the match in Alexandria, the writer, in one part of the description which he gives of the race, attributes the defeat of the mare to her having, when about a mile from home, swerved out of the road, and the jockey, in trying to turn her, upsetting her in a cane fence. In another part he says: "We were obliged to secure the services of a foreigner who was not up to the thing; and the probability is, under these circumstances we should have lost the race, had the mare not fallen as she did, for she was some thirty or forty lengths behind at that moment-in fact, she never headed the Arab. If she had been well ridden we should probably have had a very different story to tell." It appears the mare could not go the pace in any part of the contest. She evidently swerved from distress, probably in some measure augmented by the inexperience of the rider, and an insufficient preparation must have increased her difficulties.

The match proposed by Hallem Pacha is to run fourteen miles for any sum from one thousand to ten thousand sovereigns, on a public road of good width, the first four miles of which is passable for carriages, and it is intersected here and there with heavy sand. By this description we must infer that the whole distance is not passable with carriages; ergo, that it is a bad road. No mention is made of what that part consists which is not sand. If a match were to be made, what impediment exists against forming a suitable course? Is there no land in Alexandria where they could select a circular or oval course of two or three miles, over which they would be enabled to run any distance?

As to the recommendation of sending out a steeple-chaser for the purpose in the event of a match being made, there can be no necessity or advantage in choosing a horse of that class, unless there were to be some twenty or thirty cane fences in the line. The object would be to select a horse with lasting powers to stay the distance, and with action calculated to get through the heavy sand. Upon these points some discrimination would be necessary. We all know that every horse has his distance some can excel only in half-mile races, others are best at the end of a mile, a mile and a half, or two miles; and many often evince their superiority at the termination of three miles. Trying horses to run fourteen miles is never thought of in this country, and therefore a trainer is quite in the dark as to what horse would be the best calculated to run beyond the recognized distances. Twenty miles within the hour has been done on the road by ordinary hunters, which would have no chance with very moderate race-horses four miles. All that I have any

recollection of, have been matches against time; but no horses having any pretensions to race have ever been brought out to perform such unreasonable engagements.

When Mr. Osbaldeston made his match to ride two hundred miles within ten hours (and which he performed in eight hours and forty-two minutes), he rode each horse four miles; Tranby he mounted four times, making in all sixteen miles. The first four miles was accomplished in eight minutes and ten seconds, the second in eight minutes, the third in eight minutes and fifteen seconds, and the fourth in eight minutes and fifty seconds, making in all thirty-three minutes and fifteen seconds. Such a horse as Tranby would be the kind of animal to select for the purpose of making a match. He was then five years old, and the Squire rode eleven stone three pounds. The first twelve miles was performed in twenty-four minutes and twenty-five seconds; of course there were intervals of time between each four miles, one of about an hour, the other an hour and half; but supposing he had been required to have gone the whole distance of twelve miles without stopping, there is no doubt he would have done that in less than thirty minutes, and nine miles and a half under twenty-three minutes; in which case, had a horse equal to him been opposed to the Arab, he would have beaten him full four minutes, equivalent to more than a mile. Looking to the performance of the Arab, presuming that he could have gone at the same pace to the end of twelve miles as he did the nine and half in, which, however, is not likely, it would have taken him upwards of thirtyfour minutes. Tranby's performance affords the best criterion of what a good thorough-bred horse can do over a distance of ground.

The only doubt that can exist as to the success of an English horse, in the event of a match being made, is the influence of the climate; taking a horse a sea voyage, and then submitting him to the hot temperature of that country, certainly would not improve his powers of endurance.

The lateness of the harvest was the occasion in most countries of postponing the usual preparation of cub-hunting; but, however, it has progressed merrily and successfully. The weather has generally been favourable, with a considerable quantity of rain. Scent has hitherto varied greatly, on some days it has been good, on others wretched. I was greatly pleased with an inspection of Mr. Wheble's hounds; they are precisely similar in character to those with which Mr. Montagu hunted the South Berkshire country, and it is not difficult to imagine that his good judgment has been called in aid to form the present pack; and if they are as good in their work, which there is no reason to doubt, as they are in their appearance, the foxes must look sharp for their brushes.

The Craven hounds are now under the management of a gentleman who has signalized himself as a master of hounds and an amateur huntsman, by whom they will no doubt be brought to great perfection, and there is certainly room for improvement. They are unfortunately not free from kennel lameness, and an addition to the stud would be by no means objectionable. Four new horses, which have been selected during the summer by their talented master, will doubtless be found a great acquisition. In any country efficient horses are absolutely necessary to enable huntsmen and whips to get to their hounds, and the Craven

is by no means an exception. Reports do not sound strongly in favour of the show of foxes, more especially of cubs; in several parts there has been plenty of old ones, but very few juveniles found-a complaint which is scarcely made in any other district. In former years, the importation of foxes from France was wont to be considerable, but I find from inquiry that the traffic has lately very much fallen off; this proves that foxes are generally more abundant. There is a man who goes to Boulogne by the steamer every week, and at one period he was in the habit of bringing over a vast number. He labours under the mistaken idea that fox-hunting is in less favour because his trade has diminished, but that is not the case; there are a great many more foxes bred in this country, therefore the necessity for procuring foreigners does not exist. It would be rather amusing to know, during the period he brought so many over, what countries were principally supplied with them I heard some named which certainly surprised me, but I do not feel justified in naming them without higher authority.

What a tirade there has been of late by persons who travel for amusement, concerning the charges of hotel keepers, and in many cases doubtless not without cause. To those who point to the beacon a warning, the thanks of the public are due. Those who have joined in making complaints have perchance been but little engaged in racing; for it is certain that owners of horses, and others concerned in that pursuit, are charged more exorbitantly than any other class, and yet they seldom complain, nor have they done so in this instance. It is but fair that a man who requires luxuries should pay an equivalent for them; and equally inconsistent is it that he should be imposed upon by extravagant demands for paltry accommodation. There is no part of England where this subject is better regulated than in London: from the great and aristocratic Clarendon, to the most obscure tavern, there are houses of all grades in almost every part; but I doubt whether there has ever been any thing of the kind established equal to the Wellington in St James's-street as a house to dine at. The spaciousness and splendour of the rooms, the cleanliness, attention, and general accommodation, together with the cuisine, are attractions which the most fastidious must be pleased with, while the charges are moderate in the extreme; and if it were not for the great numbers who dine there daily, it could not possibly answer the purpose of the proprietor.

THE LOVE BIRD.

(FROM OUR VERY PARTICULAR CORRESPONDENT.)

"Rara avis in terris."

"Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens !"

Eton Grammar.

"Oh, Willie dear, before you go, I want a favour."

"Well, what is it now?" said Willie in a gruff good-tempered sort of way, as if he was rather used to hearing of these favours.' Willie was