win all three pools, at it we went, and the result was, my winning the odd pool. Touching the fifty, and keeping my mare, just suited my book; and, at the end of the season, my reckoning, for horse-keep, &c., at the White Lion, at Stratford, being eighty-three pounds, the landlord, Mr. Barke, an excellent sportsman, and a great favourite with us all, took her at that sum, and rode her several seasons.

66

One of the best hunters I ever had, I purchased of a gentleman at Lichfield, adjutant to some regiment, but both his name and regiment have escaped me. I gave 130 pounds, or guineas, for him, and he afterwards became the property of Mr. Napper, who distinguished himself on him, one day, in Leicestershire, telling me he was never so carried," as Dick Knight said at the finish. He was a long, low, brown gelding, with excellent legs and feet; but, what was a great drawback, in my eye, his coat, on his neck, would never lie well down, and would have stared more than it did, had he not been kept always hooded in the stable. Notwithstanding this, he was a very sound animal, as the following fact, relating to him, will prove. Being a horse that required a great deal of work, which, from the excellence of his legs and feet, I never feared giving him, I used to ride him to cover, between his hunting days, by way of keeping him in place. Setting out on him one morning, from Middleton Stoney, to meet the Duke of Grafton, at Wistley Wood, whither a hunter was gone before me, I found the ground so hard from frost, before I reached Brackley, that I thought there would be no good done with hounds on that day. Having two horses at Stratford-on-Avon, and that being a warmer country, I bethought myself there might be hunting there on the next day; but, should it prove a regular "shut up," I should be so far on my road home, so bent my course that way. Now, the distance from Middleton Stoney to Stratford, is just thirty-two miles; and finding, when I got beyond Banbury, that the country was become rideable, I put the Adjutant along, either by the side of the road, or over the enclosures, at a good hunting pace, till within two miles of Stratford, when, all at once, I heard the cry of hounds. I soon saw Lord Middleton's pack approach me, with a scent that betokened mischief, having found their second fox in Wellesbourne Wood. This was no time for moralizing. Off went the mud boots, crammed into a ditch, and away went I, on the Adjutant; and, despite of the thirty miles he had been ridden at this quick pace, and over, in part, a very heavy country, I saw as beautiful a burst to Idlicote-say seven miles-as ever hounds saw; and, had I not been aware of the fact, I should not have suspected that the horse I had ridden had gone more than five miles to meet the hounds. I am sorry to say, this proof of physical power had one bad effect, as far as humanity is concerned. It made me, ever afterwards, rather indifferent as to the distance I sent my hunters to cover, when full of hard meat (this horse had four years of it in him at the time I allude to); and I have more than once sent one twenty miles. It has, however, been on the hard road, and not across a country.

I now come to what I believe to have been the best hunter I ever possessed, but must preface his history with that of another horse, because it affords another lesson to young and inexperienced speculators in horse-flesh, whose motto should be, "caveat emptor." That brilliant horseman, Mr. Robert Canning, having been told that Stroud,

the dealer, of Newton, Oxfordshire-the old man was then alive-had a horse that would carry him, asked me to accompany him to look at him, on the principle that two heads are better than one. After he had completed his purchase, the present Mr. Stroud addressed me, and said, he should like to sell me a horse, as he never had had that pleasure. I told him there was only one horse in his stables which I fancied, and I was afraid his hocks would not stand. However, on a warranty to that particular point, I agreed to purchase him for 130 guineas, and the next day he was in my stable. We now come to the point. Of course, I did not attempt to ride this horse immediately with foxhounds; but, after a dose of physic, &c., sent him to Bourton-on-the-Hill, and got a very satisfactory taste of him with Sir John Dashwood's harriers, as well as several compliments paid to his appearance, by Lord Warwick, and several other good judges, who were in the field. In fact, he bore so strong a resemblance, in form and character, to Mr. Lockley's famous Confidence, just at that time sold for 750 guineas to Mr. Best, that he was mistaken for him by Shepherd, the farrier, of Stratford, who had just performed an operation on him. But, in this taste with the harriers, he cut one of his heels so deeply, by an over-reach, that he could not go into work again for nearly two months, and here was the rub. The warranty was, that this horse's hocks were to stand a trial. Now, during his lameness from the over-reach, he could have no trial; but as I perceived that, during the two months he was at rest, the foulness of his hocks increased, and it being the joint opinion of veterinary surgeons Palfrey, of Worcester, and the late Richard Lawrence (then practising at Birmingham), who met in consultation on the case, that disease had been going on, and that lameness would surely be the result of work, I most reluctantly returned this valuable young horse, from which I had booked a hundred or two, neat, at least. All that Mr. Stroud had to say on the occasion, was, to express a hope, to which I assented, that I would take the value given for the returned horse in horse-flesh; and thus I became possessed of what I have termed the best hunter I ever did possess the well-known Spring.

Previously to touching on the merits, or exploits, of this good horse, I wish to describe his figure, because there was something remarkable and uncommon in almost every point in his frame; and I am disposed to believe, that, if he had been put to the test of the dynamometer, he would have proved one of the strongest horses, for his weight, perhaps, ever foaled; for so light did he appear in each individual point, and so light and corky was his action, that one might have fancied his treading on one's toes without inflicting pain; and, were I speaking of a mare instead of a horse, I might have typified her action by comparing her with Camilla, who is said to have skimmed over a country, scarcely touching its surface.

"Illa vel intactæ segetis per summa volaret

Gramina; nec teneras cursu læsisset aristas."

But to his points :-his head was long, with rather a narrow, and somewhat convex forehead, and he had a deep-sunken, small eye, expressive of anything but good temper; a very small muzzle, the colour of a hazel-nut; and not large nostrils but his jaw-bones were

remarkably far apart, and the setting on of his head, and the form of his neck, were perfect. He was not wide between my legs; but the depth and extreme declivity of his shoulders were such as to give his rider unbounded confidence in his strength of forehand, in all his paces, and on all trying occasions. No part of his frame was wide; but there was a little rise behind the saddle, or, more properly speaking, in the loins, the effect of which was powerfully felt by his rider. His quarters were rather short; but his thighs were long and muscular, and his hocks fit for models. He had the knee of a wagon-horse; a very small shank bone, but a large leg to span; and no day's work appeared to make the slightest impression on his legs, which, from his standing "over at knee," as it is termed, were always on the totter in the stable. Then his fetlocks were of singular appearance. Those of the forelegs were unusually long and yielding; but those of the hind ones yielded nearly to the ground-to which, no doubt, was to be attributed his very springy action, as well as power in dirt. His feet were large and open; but, when I first had him, rather inclined to be pumice, and he was given to cast his shoes.* His colour was a rich brown, without a white hair about him, except on one heel; but, at no time of the year had he a hair on his body half an inch long, and not one under the jaw, or in the flank, longer than those on his back. In short, some parts of his body were almost hairless; which, added to not the best temper, rendered him so dangerous to clean, especially after a good day's work, when he was always worse, that nothing more was attempted than rubbing off the worst of the dirt till the next morning; when, with twitching, and other necessary precautions, he would allow himself to be washed under his body with lukewarm water. I had a very powerful helper, who thought to use force with him, when he nearly paid with his life for the frolic; but, latterly, he got more quiet to be dressed, by very gentle treatment, and a total abandonment of the brush.

Spring was bred by a tradesman at York; got by Beningbrough; but I have forgotten the history of his dam. That he was quite thorough-bred, his appearance at once indicated; and, as a further proof, I can truly assert, that I never rode a horse that I could take such liberties with, in a run, as I could take with him. For example-if, by a wrong turn, an impracticable fence, or from any other cause, I got a little wide of hounds in chase, I could put him to the top of his speed, over all sorts of ground, till I caught them; and, when landed by their side again, he did not appear to feel the effects of the hust ling I had given him, but was instantly himself again, and ready for any fence. Indeed, no fence came amiss to him, if he could see what it was made off; but as he was rather, what we call, an up-standing than a lengthy horse-fifteen hands three inches high-his forte may be said to have been leaping height. But the perfection of him was, he would refuse nothing he was put to, and would do his best to get

over it.

My boast of this good horse is not an idle boast, neither is it a vain-glorious one. It is due to his noble nature to state-and such of my Warwickshire brother-sportsmen, as the stroke of time has spared, I have before stated, that this defect was obviated by causing him to stand many hours in the day, in the summer, bare-footed, on stones.

will acknowledge the fact that he shone conspicuously on two or three occasions. One of them I may be allowed to dwell upon. We found our fox in Walton Wood (Sir John Mordaunt's), and killed him near Southarn; Mr. Robert Canning, Mr. Henry Wyatt, and myself, being the only three with the hounds, or within two miles of them, over the finest part of Warwickshire, for the last half hour. But the very game nature of this horse was still more apparent the following season. In the middle of a run with the Mostyn hounds, the river Charwell presented itself, and I sent Spring at it, with all the powder I could put into him. I think he would have cleared it, had it not been for the untoward circumstances of Mr. Morant turning away from it just under his nose, and Mr. Best's horse floundering in the stream a few yards to his left, which, of course, had an effect upon him. As it was, however, he landed both me and himself; but the bank breaking from under his hind feet, he fell with great force, throwing me on my back in the meadow, and hurting me very much with his head. But what did I see when I arose up? Why, nothing but the four hoofs of Spring-for he had fallen backwards—with his shoes upwards, his body floating gently down the river, with the stream, but no part of it visible ! "He's lost!" said I; "he'll never come out alive" conceiving, from the position he was in, that he was so injured by the fall, that he had not power to right himself. At length, however, he turned, and rested his head on a stump; and, to make an end of the story, by the kind assistance and united strength of the two Messrs. Cannings, who answered my signal of distress, he was hauled up the bank, after having been twenty minutes in the water, and so weak, that he staggered like a newly-dropped calf. "What must be done with him?" said I: "Get him to Banbury, and have him blooded as soon as you can," was the reply of my kind helpmates.

Now, then, for the sequel. As I was leading him along, I found he was recovering himself; when, all at once, he heard the cry of hounds-the fox having run his ring, and trying to make his point good back. Spring pricked up his ears, and looked lively. The cry approached us nearer; he champed the bit, and became fidgettywhich, indeed, he always was. At last the pack appeared in view, when all disasters were forgotten; and in a few fields we were by the side of them. "The Charwell was never leaped, nor ever will be leaped," exclaimed Griff Lloyd, as he saw me among the throng. "No matter," said I, in reply; "I'll try it again when next it comes in my way." However, to bring the story to a close, our fox thought better of dodging; and, as if in spite to poor Spring, put his head straight for Fawseley (Sir C. Knightley's), near to which place we ran into him, after a beautiful burst of eight or ten miles-Spring going as if nothing had happened. But what a spectacle did he present when I took him out of the Fawseley stables, in which he was kindly refreshed! He had lost two shoes; had one eye closed up; and, what was worst of all, it was found that, in the exertion of pulling him out of the Charwell, the gag of the bridoon bit had been driven quite through his under jaw. Now, observe the consequences of this accident, for the remainder of that season he could not eat anything but scalded oats and bran, which must have greatly reduced his strength; yet I recollect giving an account, in the old Magazine, of two beautiful

runs, towards the end of that season, on the same day-one a quarter of an hour, and the other an hour all but two minutes-from Shankton Holt, with the Quorn hounds, when Mr. Assheton Smith had them; in each of which I rode Spring, and was one of the very few who saw the last fox killed (Mr. Lindow, on Petruchio, will remember it); and I felt confident he would have gone another quarter of an hour, had the fox lived so long. So killing, indeed, was the pace, and so severe the country (we killed near Market Harborough town), that, at one time, Jack-a-Lantern stopped; but, like a good one as he was, recovered himself whilst Mr. Smith was waiting for Tom Wingfield (then his whipper-in), to come up, with the idea of taking his horse, and he carried him brilliantly to the end.*

SCENES WITH "UNCLE SAM."

No. 7.

PEN AND PENCIL SKETCHES ON A RACE-TRACK.

"Ex uno disce omnes."

་་

"THE Senate did not sit on Friday. The members were off to the Washington races." So says a New Hampshire paper; and its assertion speaks a volume in proof of the rising fashion of the Yankee turf, and of the love of sport growing, day by day, amongst all classes of the New World. But hear the sequel: A placard was stuck upon the Senate door, by some wags, on which was written, Gone to the races to return when sober!'" This was the "unkindest cut of all."

That much of truth has been said on both sides concerning the relative merits of the crack nags in the Old World and the New, cannot be denied: and that much more remains to be urged by both, is equally clear; but all the opinions which I have hitherto heard or read on either behalf, have been so speculative in their data, or so perverted by prejudice, as to render it impossible to arrive at any just or general conclusion, or, in fact, at any decision at all, at once clear and unqualified. In such a case, then, one who has viewed both parties with an impartial, though not an uninterested eye, may have credit for honesty of purpose, at least, in endeavouring to put this question forward somewhat more in its true light than it has hitherto appeared.

It is notorious to all the sporting world, that several little protocols of turf diplomacy, being, in fact, neither more nor less than mere bravado challenges, have been exchanged between the potentates of the turf in both countries; but in no one instance, as yet, have the

"'Tis all very fine, friend," said the Quaker to a man who wished to sell him a good horse, "to hear the great things thy horse hath done; but remember, friend, thy horse hath got the less to do." Such was, in part, Spring's case; for, although I got a good price for him, I doubt, from what I heard, his having been quite himself again.