for he possesses too much equanimity of temper and philosophy not to bear such an event contemptuously, confident in his own rectitude; but by the impulse of some of the honest, though rough unpolished artizans of the Black Diamond from the vicinity of Wednesfield, Essington, and Bloxwich, who know how to estimate the worth of a kind, and therefore popular, country gentleman.

The practice of handicapping requires remodelling altogether, and to be rendered satisfactory must be reduced to a system. It is utterly impossible for any man to make a just handicap unless he has seen all the horses run, or receives information from some person upon whom he can rely, who has seen them and carefully noted the appearance, condition, and manner of running of each horse. An attentive and experienced observer can in most cases detect the stratagem when horses are pulled up purposely, or do not run to the end. In the first case the owner should be complimented with an additional 10lbs. penalty. Many precedents have been given; and much as may have been said and written against it by the offended, or rather, the offending parties, it is in strict conformity with justice. I remember some years ago an instance of this kind, when much eloquence was expended, denouncing the hardship and alleged cruelty of inflicting upon the horse the sins of his owner, than which argument nothing can be more fallacious. No man endowed with Nature's inestimable gift-the common feeling of humanity-would ever lend himself to the punishment of an animal for the purpose of retaliating on his delinquent master. But that is not the spirit in which it is done or the effect produced: the intent and meaning of a handicap is to adjust the weights upon each horse so equitably that the chances of every one shall, in human estimation be the same. A man who has been running his horse to "get him well in," as it is termed, will not punish the horse with extra weight, but will pay the forfeit; in which case it is the owner's pocket, and not the animal, which suffers. To handicap horses fairly, from their running on paper, is out of the question. Suppose, for example, a horse is returned as having been beaten ten lengths, which is tantamount to the expression that it was no race at all, ergo no trial; in such a case it is not improbable the winner could have won double or treble the distance; and it is equally probable had the second horse persevered, which he may or may not have done, that he could have got nearer than ten lengths at the winning post. No other plan than that of having a committee of experienced persons to make the handicaps can ever be satisfactory, They are as important to become a part of the staff of the turf as Messrs. Hibburd, Clarke, and the clerk of the scales.

These episodes may produce a revision in the rules of racing, but they will come too late to recal the Duke of Richmond, Lords Exeter and Strathmore, and Colonel Peel, to their former patronage; and although others may succeed them, where will their equals be found? The discouragement which gentlemen-riders have of late years received has very nearly abolished those races wherein their performances formed part of the conditions. This has evidently arisen from the disapprobation of the ring, which now-a-days appears to be the predominant and almost ruling body. Without any disparagement or disrespect for that conclave, collectively or individually, it is really inconsistent

that gentlemen should be deprived of their amusements in horse-racing simply because a body of men congregate to bet on races, and taking exceptions to those in which gentlemen are required to perform, positively drive them from the field by sarcasms and ridicule.

It is highly gratifying to observe that the gallant General Sir Walter Gilbert and his brother officers, although attending their military duties in India, have opportunities of amusing themselves with racing. From a return of the races in India, published some time since in Bell's Life, we find the General has been performing in the pigskin, and fortunate in winning several races. His absence from England is sincerely regretted the only recompence to his friends consists in the satisfaction of knowing that, although afar off, he is enabled to enjoy his favourite diversion; and as gentlemen-riders are patronized in that part of the world, when the passage out is rendered more easy they must e'en take a trip, with some English horses of fair repute, to contend against the game little Arabs on the Indian turf.

Whether an excessive amount of betting is conducive to the welfare of racing, appears very questionable. It certainly attracts a vast concourse of people to the scene of action, whenever any great event has to be disposed of; which gigantic gathering doubtless does not minister to the comfort of the course. Yet this is not an age of exclusiveness; and so long as the tradesman or mechanic conducts himself with order and propriety, he is as much entitled to the enjoyment of a popular field sport as his superiors; especially one so universally appreciated as racing is, for its standing as a national recreation. The prejudicial influence may be recognized in the inducements afforded to persons having control over horses, to perpetrate nefarious actions. What would cause a man to draw his horse at the cleventh hour, when quite well and fit to run for a great stake, but the money he can gain through agents by betting against his horse? Entering a horse for a race implies, in its abstract meaning, the desire of the owner to win the stake; and in that light the public are entitled to consider the transaction. Then, again, the owner of the horse does not compel people to bet; however, by specious persuasion, he may be the means of their doing so. It is a voluntary act; and as such, when men bet and lose their money, it should operate as a caution not to suffer themselves to be duped in future. When people bet concerning events over which they have no control, but over which to a certain extent others have, it behoves those who are determined to speculate, to ascertain as nearly as possible the probable intentions of those who are empowered with so much influence. To render humanity immaculate is an impossibility; and in pecuniary transactions it only betrays ignorance of human nature whenever a proper want of caution is displayed.

A new feature has within a few years become prominent among those who speculate on racing events, under the attractive distinction of betting banks, or offices; the localities of which are advertised in Bell's Life, and other sporting journals. What effect they may have, as affording facilities for betting, on the morals of the people, it is perchance not important to discuss. It is only with the sporting portion of the community, but racing more especially, that the question can be consistently mooted on this occasion. With national solicitude for the welfare of the public, Government thought it expedient to restrain the

taste for gaming with dice, either in houses devoted to the purpose or in rooms temporarily occupied on race-courses. Racing-sweeps and betting-lists were then paraded at houses of public entertainment, which were speedily interdicted. The sweeps, from their analogy to lotteries, were denounced as unlawful; but the betting-lists being removed to private houses, the law as yet has not attempted to interfere with them. It may be presumed that betting-offices are objectionable in promoting a greater amount of speculation; perhaps not to so great an extent as may be at first conceived. Before they were established it was very customary for persons, both in town and country, who only betted in small sums, to club their money, and place it in the hands of some person in whom they fancied they had confidenceconfidence!"aye, there's the rub"-to back a horse they had a predilection for. In those cases their confidence was sometimes most woefully abused, by the agent accrediting them with two or three points less odds than he actually obtained; with divers other devices of knavery. A person who wishes to back a horse, and takes or sends his money to a betting-office, has only to satisfy himself of the responsibility of the members of the establishment, as he obtains the odds agreed upon without probability of dispute. The custom with the proprietors of the betting-offices, being for those who deal with them to deposit their money at the time of making the bet, without any tangible security from the proprietors of the office, certainly does savour of inconsistency. Why the person who is required to make the deposit should not be trusted for pounds, by another whom he trusts for hundreds, is certainly anomalous. If an unequivocal guarantee of stability were given, it would unquestionably be greatly in favour of those parties who were to adopt the plan, in the confidence the public would be justified in reposing in them. As to the declaration of having an account at a banker's, that is all twaddle; a man may have £100,000 in his banker's hands, but he may not choose to pay a sovereign lost by a bet, as there is no law to compel him. Logically, there is no more impropriety in a betting man opening an office, making known the locality of his place of business, the events upon which he is speculating, and the prices he offers, through the widely-circulated columns of Bell's Life, than for him to open his stentorian voice to offer the odds at Tattersall's, or in the ring at a race-course. In any case, caution is necessary to avoid entering into negociations with men who will not pay when they lose. There is, however, one circumstance which should not be lost sight of: when betting takes place between individuals who rely upon each other's integrity, there is an advantage to the loser; if the winner does not pay his bets he is not entitled to receive. Thus, what may be denominated deposit money, may sometimes be saved; whereas, for which there have been shameful precedents, if a man who keeps a betting-office finds it necessary to close his establishment, the depositors, as well as those who have won their money, are "done."

With these varied adventures, eccentricities, and vicissitudes in the sporting world the year has closed; and although some of the pictures of bygone subjects cannot be viewed in a very favourable light, we must still hope for amendment-that when the New Year's racing commences it will dawn propitiously, and that "the good time is coming!"

FEATHERS AND FLAX.

No. II.

BY DIOGENES.

Out of the four last months of the year I am inclined to believe that the month of October is perhaps the least inviting to the regular craftsman. It stands, as it were, between the first and the last of those months like a half-way house, at which he pauses in his progress, to reflect on the stubble-delights of the past, and the woodland prospects of the future. Still it is not altogether an idle month: pheasants in the hedge-rows and spinnies keep him in exercise; partridges in the turnips try his patience; and by the time the woodcocks arrive, Nature has provided her full feast, and he revels in the variety. For manifold reasons I do not love the pheasant in the first place, that prince of highwaymen, the fox, has no "bigger enemy;" in the next the pheasant spoils your spaniels for cock-shooting, making them riotous and unmanageable; and in the third, wherever it abounds, there poaching and its twin-brother, felony, abound also. Happily for our country, however, this last evil is somewhat on the wane: large preserves are going out of fashion; and, in connection with them, I heartily hope we may yet live to see the time when the battue-practice will be regarded as unworthy of an English sportsman.

The best mode of getting sport out of pheasants in the early season, is to follow them with an old setter or pointer, which, on command, will break his point, and put up the game: but as the season advances, and the covers become more accessible, the aid of spaniels is indispensable. To get spaniels, however, to do their work in a truly clever style is a business that requires great skill and perseverance; and to say that not one man in a hundred succeeds, during his life-time, in reducing his team to a state of thorough discipline-to range under his gun; to stop when called to, though footing a pheasant; to drop to charge, and never to interfere with the retriever-is to assert a fact of which most practical men are fully aware.

The Clumber breed, which is now becoming very general throughout England, is the only breed of spaniels which can be broken in the perfect manner to which I allude. The gnostic in these matters will pardon the digression if I turn aside for a short period to describe the characteristics of the Clumber spaniels. In colour they are yellow and white (lemon-pied); they have long backs, short legs, a good deal of bone, plenty of feather behind the fore and hind legs, rather short ears without much feather, and are quite mute when they spring their game. This last quality it is which renders them so valuable in preserves they find without disturbing the covers more than is necessary, and are usually so docile and tractable that they require infinitely less whipcord than other breeds, which are generally more suited for hunting Kaffirs in their kloofs, than pheasants in quiet preserves, Were Į

I

to instance the Earl of Abingdon's team of Clumbers as a perfect saniple of what can be done by judicious management and attention, I should only be doing justice to the noble lord's keeper, who has the control of his kennel, and who brings them out in the most finished style. Nothing, in fact, can be more complete than their education; and nothing in the canine way handsomer than their appearance; the long silky hair with which they are "feathered" makes them sparkle in the sun, and every dog out of twelve brace is a model of strength, beauty, and high-breeding. I have had the great treat of shooting over this charming team-eight brace of them at a time; and cannot sufficiently express my admiration of the perfect manner in which they did their work, found their game, and obeyed orders. The head-keeper, Barrett, handled them like a huntsman; in fact, I have never seen the huntsman who had his pack in such command-and the second keeper acted as whipper-in. One cover, in which we shot, was intersected by "rides" into a great many small" quarters," which were full of pheasants and running game; and it was quite marvellous to witness the careful and steady manner in which they drew each quarter, never quitting it as long as a head of game remained behind, nor attempting to cross the "rides" until they were allowed to do so. Then, at every shot, back came the whole team to the heels of the keeper until the game was retrieved and the gun loaded, when again bustling forwards they resembled a swarm of bees in their quick and busy movements. Not a thistle was left unturned, nor a tuft of grass unsearched: brambles and young gorse were faced without fear; watercourses choked with weeds; blackthorn hedges, dark and almost impenetrable; and, in fact, whatever cover could hold game was examined with the most diligent and closest curiosity: so that, within a certain range, it was quite impossible for a head of game to escape detection. All this, too, was done with little or no noise beyond the crack of our guns: the keepers used no violence, and only occasionally rated a young rioter as he showed symptoms of joining the retriever in pursuit of a brokenlegged hare, or skirted aside a little wide of the team. But the great beauty of shooting over such spaniels consisted in your generally getting shots at everything that was found; for everything rose within reach, and it was your own fault if you did not make a bag. Besides, how charming is the sight of such a merry team, full of life and business! Give me a jack-snipe with a dog to find him, in preference to a coverfull of hares and pheasants, with nothing but beaters to spring them. Shooting without dogs is like riding across country without hounds, a divertisement in which those who love "the real article" are seldom found to indulge, and which, in this country, is too often associated with practices foreign to sport and discreditable to gentlemen.

That the Clumber spaniels were originally bred by the second Duke of Newcastle, who was a keen and practical sportsman, there can be no doubt; and we have unquestionable authority for knowing that many peculiar qualities possessed by the parents, but acquired perhaps by education, are often transmitted permanently with little or no modification to their offspring. Any spaniel, however noisy by nature, may be trained to find game without questing and it is quite certain that puppies, bred from two such educated animals, would inherit that property instinctively. In an able work conducted by Mr. Macgillivray we