that he cries "Enough!" and is anxious to enjoy the comparative quiet and luxury of civilization; but, on the contrary, his love of roaming increases upon him more and more, and he expresses himself as not in the slightest degree satiated with the vast amount of sport which, beyond all other men, had now fallen to his share. The climate and arduous pursuit of elephant-hunting had told upon his constitution; so, packing-up his trophies, which now formed a magnificent and costly collection, and for the conveyance of which nine huge waggons were required, he starts for the colony, and on the 19th of May sets sail for England. We now take our leave of Mr. Gordon Cumming, with many thanks for the very interesting book which he has given us; and with the most unqualified admiration of the splendid collection of trophies with which he has favoured the public, benefited science, and established his own fame as at once a bold hunter, and an enterprising traveller.

"HOURS OF IDLENESS."

ENGRAVED BY J. ENGLEHEART, AFTER J. F. HERRING, JUN.

Damon.-"Non semper tendit arcum Apollo,' says somebody or everybody; but still, what's the hardest thing in the world to do?" Pythias." Nothing-I suppose you mean.

Damon.-"Exactly so. I should like to know what enervates a man so much as doing nothing? What destroys his health and weakens his intellect so much? Old Ebony' justly boasts in his last number that at any rate ours is not an effeminate aristocracy. Their notions of a gentleman are not confined to doing nothing and swinging on a gate all day.'

Pythias." Well, and what then? are horses like men, do you think? must their play aspire to hard work, too?"

Damon.-"Perhaps not; though I don't think the Bagman was far out, after all, when he gave his one hunter his summer-run-in a dog-cart.” Pythias." In other words, you think young Mr. Herring is, when he portrays his hunters, out on the loose'; but then doesn't it make a beautiful bit?'"'

Damon.-" Admitted-and I will say this for the whole race of Herrings and they promise soon to be as plentiful as their saltsavouring namesake-this I will say they always make beautiful bits.' The horse, and the well-bred horse especially, is libelled often enough, past and present; but if anybody ever flatters him, it is this happy family.'

Pythias."Not flatter him; do him justice, say!"

Damon."Well, full justice be it! Look at the straw-yard scenes, for instance-miserable scenes enough, we all know, too often; yet though poetic justice be done to the deep snow and rough coats, the Herring straw-consumers always look comfortable. Then the racehorses again-none of the raw-boned, over-done platers we sometimes see on canvas, but more of the John Scott style of treatment, looking just a little above their work, and perhaps to the Newmarket man rather too full of flesh."

Pythias.ness ?'"

And this group of hunters, here-the Hours of Idle

Who shall say

Damon.- -"The climax to my argument, of course. that beautiful brown, there, has had two months of it abroad? Don't they, one and all, rather give you the idea of good condition and good housing? But artists have a keen eye for Dilapidations'—as the lawyers call it and so we have them where they are."

་

Pythias." How do you mean Dilapidations?" "

Damon." Well the dishevelled' then. In either of the twin sisters, Poetry or Painting, it is always effective. The landscape-student bends his trees, and breaks his posts and rails; interiors are littered with the most careful negligence; and even portrait-painters, when they come to that wonderful invention, the neckcloth, aim at the dandy's ambition, and

spend whole hours of flurry

To make it appear as if tied in a hurry ;"

while nymphs and Venuses, what would they be in full dress! Do you think Dorothea' would have been painted one-twentieth time as often as she has been, if she hadn't taken her shoes and stockings off when she got to the brook-side ?"

Pythias." Very true! but Mr. Herring-to return to him and-" Damon. -"We are coming back to him if you will only allow me. Mr. Herring, too, owns to this feeling for the dishevelled, and getting his beauties to the brook-side, takes their shoes off, according to rule,

of course.

Pythias." Bravo! but only for effect, you say?"

Damon." I say these horses look too good for such a life; and from what I can hear of their owner he keeps too good a place to warrant it?"

Pythias."Who is he, and where is his place!"

Damon." Major Hall the man; Six-Mile-Bottom, Newmarket, his residence; but his place, as I mean, is in the first flight with the Suffolk,' or East Essex,' when they get within range.

Pythias. Six-Mile-Bottom! somehow that locality seems altogether associated with the name of Herring. Didn't the elder once live somewhere here?"

Damon." In the very house Major Hall now occupies. Here it was he completed, and so successfully, his study of the English racehorse. From this house issued, amongst others, his celebrated picture, painted to order for Lord Chesterfield, of Priam beating Augustus over the T.M.M., as well as portraits of Camarine, Vespa, Beiram, Consol, Margrave, Chorister, St. Giles, Dangerous, and, in fact, all the cracks of the day.""

Pythias." Sporting quarters these, indeed !"

Damon." In more ways than one, too. You may get at nearly all in the Ring at Six-Mile-Bottom; and for the Ring, particularly, it has amphitheatrical facilities, that have often been brought into service. Here the gigantic Caunt and Brassey settled their little difficulty, as the Yankees call it. Here Keene and Sambo went up for the Who shall?' and here of yore good Squire Gully had the first taste of those laurels he wrung from the nob' of the terrible Gregson."

Pythias," But the magistrates, what are—”

Damon.- "The Gods reward them! then are they not. On these momentous Tuesday mornings shall important business' summon them to town, or serious indisposition' hold them to their homes. Six-MileBottom knoweth them not, and Nunquam Dormio' reigns in their stead."

Pythias." Still, surely the sixth mile should have some share of Olympic fame more strictly in unison with Newmarket's heath ?"

Damon.-" And has it not! Close on this very house, again, of Major Hall's, long dwelt another mighty Hunter-that Hunter who in 'twentyone saw his despised grey, Gustavus, bring Sprig of Myrtle Sam' first home at Epsom."

Pythias." Well, it has some grand associations, certainly!"

Damon." Some, indeed! Why even regal honours hallow it. About the commencement of this century the illustrious George, then Prince of Wales, kept his breeding-stud at the Six-Mile Cottage. From his Royal Highness this cottage went as a gift to his aide-de-camp, Colonel George Leigh, the brother-in-law of Lord Byron. From the colonel in turn by purchase to Mr. Hunter; and when he tired, lo! learned Mr. Ford became monarch of all he'd surveyed."

Pythias." Sic transit gloria Money.'

Damon." And further back, when the six and eight-mile courses were yet in use, over here the sporting old Q. 'carried the track of his all-famous carriage-match. But still these times are past, and the only great match now is with poor puss in full stride, and Mr. Dalzell anxious to decide whether my Lord Stradbroke or Mr. Holmes has really the better dog. Another turn, and Black wins!'-as they say in a certain place not named to ears polite, and my lord is out.'

Pythias."Enough-of hunting, fighting, and coursing-yet strange, for racing Six-Mile-Bottom has now no call?"

Damon." Has it not, I say! Ask at Trinity or St. John's, where the Hippodomoi of the classic Cam run off their little goes, and bend their backs and think they ride?' Of Six-Mile-Bottom cometh that 'set-to' which, in another year, shall shine at Croxton, and astonish Bibury. No racing at Six-Mile-Bottom!-then is the Cambridge hack a common steed, and Judge Martin an idle man!"

Pythias.-"Judge Martin! surely not his worship of Westminster?" Damon.-"No: though, mind, I dispute not his lordship's claims for the office; but that Martin, or more proper Starling, who, in scarlet coat attired, clears the way so vigorously-great even at Newmarket, but greater still on a Derby Day."

Pythias." And the J. F. Herring, Jun., yet clings to the neighbourhood?"

Damon." He does, at Great Wilbraham."

Pythias." Then let him paint the winners-the series of great winners at Six-Mile-Bottom; or, if you please, another group-another • Hour of Idleness.' What scope for the peculiar ability, as you say, of the family! How I should like to see a Cambridge hack look comfortable,' and a little above his work.' How many legs could he be made to rest at a time? and would he stop a moment longer near the Bottom' than necessity compelled him?"

Damon.-"I am afraid not; but as we stray from our theme, Adieu! Hours of Idleness,' alas! concern him not."