surrounded. "Yoics! Tally ho! Tally ho!"

Hark, forwards.

On his return from the chase he changes his dress like an actor, and enters into the pleasure of conversation respecting the movements of another world, with an equal active spirit and enquiry; and when called upon to circulate the toast, the Meltonian proves himself a complete bon vivant-and if he does not sing with all the fine taste and melody of expression for which the author of the following verse is so much distinguished, perhaps he may throw as much warmth of feeling into the composition :

O nothing in life can sadden us,

While we have wine and good humour in store That and a little of love to madden us,

Say where's the fool that can labour for more. Come, then, bid Ganymede fill every bowl for you, Fill up a brimmer and drink as I call;

I am going to toast every nymph of my soul to you,
Aye by my soul, I'm in love with them all,
Dear creatures we can't do without them,

They're all that is sweet and seducing to man;
Coaxing, sighing, about and about 'em,

We doat on them, die for them, all that we can. In its proper season, time, and place, when his Aye is required, and, perhaps, his No is wanting, in his character as one of the Pillars of the State,' he obeys the calls of his country with alacrity; but habit may so much prevail with him, that when he is listening to the Great Creature of the House,' he may whisper to his friend-" 7 to 4, I'll back the New Broom for brains, sound argument, brilliant oratory, and distancing qualities, against any thing alive in this country!" The Meltonian is also a home at the Opera-" Bravo, Taglioni!" says he, in raptures, "only look at her! She steps out like a race-horse! Nothing can be more beautiful than her move. ments. Her action beggars every thing I ever and I'll bet 10 to 1 she leaves all her saw; competitors a mile behind her." At the Theatres the Meltonian is equally conspicuous-he laughs as heartily as a Commoner; he cannot help himself! The old adage here loses its hold in society-it is not correct that "the loud laugh betrays the vacant mind." The genteel smile cannot be adhered to. Etiquette is broken down! and the simper completely lust sight of. For why? The Momus of the stage is before his eyes! Matthews is chanting the Humours of a Country Fair! Liston, perhaps, is giving an account of his call, in Mawworm; and the irresistible Jack Reeve "threatening to take himself up to preserve the peace," in the Beadle of the Parish, Marmaduke Magog.

The Meltonian, it should seem, is more "at home" than abroad at the Fives Court; nay, he is hand and glove with the setts-to of the professors of Boxing, and exclaims, in a delighted tone, on witnessing the sparring of "Young Sam"-"beautiful! scientific as an Angelo! and a palpable hit!" acknowledged with all the gentlemanly demeanour of Laertes to Hamlet. But at a " Mill!" the Meltonian is selected as a Judge-his soul and body's

on the execution of the Men: what a tremendous blow; such a one would have floored the Monument, and have made St. Paul's cathedral shake again! A decided smasher! The coup de grâce! It would have made an Emperor of Gluttons cry out "Hold! enough!"

If EXERCISE be the food for health; and if it also lays the foundation for the accomplishment of great sporting feats, by giving stamina to the frame, increasing pluck to the mind, and likewise bracing up the constitution to endure excessive fatigue; let us, without any thing like an invidious distinction, select GEORGE OSBALDESTON, Esq., as a complete hero in the Sporting World. His successes have been so very numerous in all the various matches in which he has been engaged-besides, he undertakes every thing with so much zeal and ardour, at the same time never doubting his own judgment, but, on the contrary, always backing his opinion; therefore, to sum up his character in little, he is entitled to the appellation of a Nonpariel-a Phenomenon-and a Paragon of excellence ;-either of the above phrases will apply to GEORGE OSBALDESTON, Esq., but our readers will appreciate them as they may think proper: however, we must pronounce him not only a first-rate sportsman, but at the top of the tree amongst Sporting Characters, and an OUT-AND-OUT MELTONIAN. We also hope the following original Sporting Song may meet with the approbation of our numerous readers :Hark! the horn gives the signal to rise, To huntsmen enchanting-the sound! 'Tis dear as the girl that we prize,

Where virtue and beauty are found: It invites to the chase! then away!

Mount your steeds and be after the game,
Where pleasure and health crown the day,
Which to sportsmen is better than fame!
Let's away to the field,

Which such true charms doth yield,
Iark forwards I see Towler and Fan:
'Tis the joys of the chase,
Sweet exercise, embrace,

An out-and-out-MELTONIAN !

The chase being o'er, home we repair
To our wives, or some fav'rite lass,
Quite Jolly! Adieu to dull care,

With songs o'er the bottle and glass!
With friendship and love-time steals away,
Not embitter'd by envy nor strife,

But with pleasure hail, the next coming day-
What can equal a COUNTRY LIFE.

Then to hunt and to sing,

And to make the woods ring,
For we all know LIFE's but a span-
To enjoy well our time,

With fine hounds and prads-prime
An out and-out-MELTONIAN.
Away! o'er the field and the flood,
Behold Reynard's gasping for breath;
Meltonians-challenge with "blood!"
First! first to be in at the death!
O'er hedges and ditches they rush!
The sight is most glorious to view-
To obtain a bit' of his brush,
And to hear 'sly Reynard's'-adieu !
There's no music so sweet,
To Meltonians a treat,
The delights of hunting to scan,
To whoop and to hollo,
The fox-chase to follow,
An out-and-out-MELTONIAN.

perhaps, not even cricket itself, which combines so well skill with so much bustle, that even an indolent man must be alive to all the movements of the game, while the bat is in his hand. The racket player is always on the move; standing still is entirely out of the question; and two or three games at rackets are calculated to do more good towards the restoration of health, and keep the frame clear from the effects of gout and rheumatism, than the whole contents of Apothecary's Hall. In an enclosed court it may be played all the year round; while in an open court it can only be played in the summer.

It is now eight or ten years since old oneeyed Powell's establishment (so designated from having lost one of his eyes by a ball, while playing a game at rackets), was broken up by his Court being broken down. All who have any acquaintance with rackets recollect him, in his day, a first-rate player, and, after his day, competent to cool the consequence of many who fancied themselves good performers.

The game of rackets is not like tennis, which is played by dropping a ball over a central net, on each side of which the players stand; but, at rackets, the ball is struck against what is called a head-wall, and returned at the bound to the same wall, each player endeavouring so to strike it against the wall that his adversary may not be able to return it; he who does not return it, either loses a point (or, as it is technically termed, an ace") or has his "hand out," that is to say, forfeits the situation in which he would be able to add to his score of the game. People, in general, are not aware of the skill required to play the game well, and the fact is, the better it is played the more easy it appears.

66

There are several open Racket Courts, independent of the King's Bench and the Fleet Prisons, where gentlemen seldom go voluntarily for the sake of playing, although they take it now and then "upon compulsion." There is a good open Court at the Belvidere, Pentonville; another at the Eagle Tavern, in the City Road; and the proprietor of White Conduit House a third; but the fault of these places is, that the company is not sufficiently select, and that a gentleman who is fond of the game (and all are fond of it who can play at all) are there compelled to join a miscellany of very respectable persons no doubt, but not of the highest grade in society. As it is, the ardour of some individuals of rank and education in pursuit of the game induces them to overlook the inconvenience to which we have alluded, and we must do the proprietors of the Courts we have named the justice to say, that they contrive to keep persons of really questionable character and appearance at a distance.

Independent of "the old school," there are many first-rate players at present in the height of their performances. There can be no

objection to naming and describing the qualifications of a few of the professors, who, generally speaking, have other and very reputable employment besides being racket players. There is no question that Pittman is the best player in England-we do not mean Thomas Pittman, who some years ago held this envied station, but his younger brother John, who is most accomplished at all points-the volley, that is, returning a ball before it touches the ground; the cut, a sharp hit which strikes the ball so low against the wall, and so swiftly, that on its return, there is little or no hop to enable the adversary to strike it; and the twisting drop, given gently and quietly from the racket, in consequence of which, the ball, after it reaches the head-wall, falls dead at once, and a return is almost impossible. In these respects, and more, John Pittman is perhaps the most perfect player that ever existed, and probably better than his brother Tom, in his best day.

We know that Tom has some old friends, who will deny this position, but our opinion is formed after seeing both perform, the one ten years, and the other a short time since. Tom Pittman is still capital, and superior to John in cramp matches, where he plays under certain disadvantages, in order to make the contest with an inferior player more equal. With his back-hand he can beat nearly all the amateurs, and there are few that can compete with him when his hands are tied toge ther at the wrist, and he is consequently obliged to hold the racket with both; he has beaten tolerable players in this way, and with the addition of a couple of flat irons fastened to his ankles on the inside. If we mistake not, it was he who, some years ago, playeu with a rolling pin instead of a racket, ane won his match. Matthew Pittman may also be reckoned a good player, but he is not to be named in the same century with his two brothers. John Pittman's principal rival is a person called "Tawney Sam," a small but active little man, who hits with the greatest nicety and precision, and who last year car ried away the prize-racket from some excel lent competitors, among them a person namea Morris, who in some points of the game is superior to Sam, but who is by no means so certain.

Morris has a fine free hit, perhaps the severest in England, and is a fine partner in a four match. His play, and that of "Tawney Sam," are in some respects contrasted, for Sam is all delicacy and finesse, and Morris all force and vigour. Morris has a one-eyed friend, whose name we do not know, who is celebrated for playing under his leg, and who in this manner, will contend against any man in England, although, in other points, he is inferior to several. Sowden has been a player quite from his childhood, and, on the whole, is perhaps only inferior to one or two, while, in some particulars, he exceeds them; he would unquestionably be first-rate, and on

a level with John Pittman, if he had a good back-hand; but there he fails, and is often put to a difficulty in order to get at a ball with his front-hand, that ought to be returned with his back-hand. He is a capital player to give odds, for then he is perfectly confident; but he seems a little nervous when opposed to a man of equal or greater skill.

These are the prime players of London, and so good that any of them could give what is called "the odd hand" to country performers: giving the odd hand is about equal to giving one-third of the game. Besides these, there are Lamb and Chapman, and half a score more second raters, besides the players who are in the habit of exhibiting in the King's Bench and Fleet, of whose merits we are not competent to speak. Many distinguished members of the Prize Ring have been good players at fives and rackets, and it may be remembered that the celebrated Jem Belcher lost his eye at the game.

The game of rackets in the Fleet and King's Bench Prisons, has often turned out a source of livelihood to a number of the prisoners who have been attached to the sport. The following anecdote of a man of the name of Hoskins, who was at one period of his confinement the racket-master, a capital player, and who altered the game from 11 to 15, may not altogether prove uninteresting to the reader:-Hoskins made the Fives Court, which is so much played in during the summer time by the prisoners, and also visitors to the King's Bench Prison; he was an industrious and sober man, and also from his knowledge of the game continually in practice; and waiting upon gentlemen with the bats and balls, and frequently taking a hand in a match, he was enabled to support his family of seven children with credit to himself, and with variable success, until at length a disease settled in his legs, and totally incapacitated him for nearly the last twenty years of his life from following any employment.

Poor Hoskins might have exclaimed with Sterne's Starling-"I can't get out!" In the year 1798, a material part of the King's Bench was consumed by fire, whether by accident or design was never ascertained; the arched chambers will show where the fire raged, they are the rebuilt part, and said to be fire-proof, so that a fire taking place in any one of these chambers cannot extend beyond it. Hoskins' life was one of continued vicissitudes, which even imprisonment could not abate; he was once the Post-master of the prison. Hoskins was a Cornish man, and of very good family; his father was a respectable surgeon, and Hoskins was brought up a gentleman; he was here THIRTY-EIGHT years, at the suit of a single creditor, one whom he once called friend and benefactor, and for a disputed debt which he vowed he would never pay. He was a good tempered, convivial, amiable, and benevolent man.

Hoskins was one of the burnt out: he had

been at the time so many years a prisoner that no connection remained to draw him back to the world he had quitted; the BENCH was his world! and he surveyed its ruins with a pensive and powerful feeling; as though the work of desolation had done its worst, and robbed him of his home. In this state of mind he reared himself a shed from the scattered fragments of the former pile, and lived amidst the ruins, seemingly content, sharing his meal with a poor mouse, who every morning visited him at the breakfast hour, and was fed. Hoskins and the mouse found a home amidst desolation, and they sojourned together in unabated friendship, until the builder's hand disturbed their good harmony and good fellowship.

It is, however, due to Mr. Jones, the Marshall, to confess his kindness to this forlorn individual; he supported him for the last two years of his life, and buried him on his decease, in the month of December 1823, after an uninterrupted imprisonment of THIRTY-EIGHT years!!!

During the Swellish times, as they have been since termed by those persons who were in the habit of making money' by the rich debtors, when those high-bred ones the late Honorable Tom Coventry, and the late Cap

Both "CHOICE SPIRITS" of the very first order in society; fond of life to the end of the chapter; and to push along! keep moving,' invariably their motto. The Hon. Tom Coventry, although his frame was confined to a certain spot for a number of years, yet his ideas were as free as the air to make himself comfort able and happy; it is true, he was debarred from hunting the fox, hare, &c., but, nevertheless, he hunted up every thing in the shape of pleasure within his reach that might tend to produce fun and laughteralso to prevent ennui-likewise to keep it up-and to banish melancholy. He had endeavoured to obtain the mastery over his feelings, a tiny bit' in the philosophical way; and, to consider that one 'bit of ground, was as good as another, if a man could but bring his mind to think so-and the grand art of life to make himself contented, and also to be convinced that "things might have been worse." No man enjoyed any thing in the sporting line better than the late Hon. Tom Coventry-at a game of rackets, he was full of life and spirit until it was at an end; over the bowl he proved himself so cheerful a companion, that no visitor could forget the jollity and freedom of his style; and his readiness at all times, to keep harmony afloat:

I be one of those sailors, who think it no lie,
That for every wherefore of life there's a why;
That, be fortune's strange weather a calm or a squall
Our berths, good or bad, are chalked out for us all.
That the stays and the traces of life will be found
To be some of 'em rotten, and some of 'em sound;
Thus the GOOD we should cherish, the bad never seek
For death will, too soon, bring each anchor a peak !
Then, just as it comes, the bad with the good,
One man's spoon made of silver, another of wood;
What's poison for one man, another man's balm,
Some are safe in a storın, and some lost in a calm;
Some are roliing in riches, some not worth a souse;
To day he eats beef, and to morrow lobscouse:
Thus the GOOD we should cherish, the bad never seek
For death will, too soon, bring each anchor a peak.
I think, I now see the late Honorable Tom Coventry,
in my mind's eye, laughing heartily at his fellow Col-
legian, the late facetious George Head's well known
comic song of "All the Family;" and with whom

tain Tom Best (whose memorable but unfortunate duel with Lord Camelford, gave him great notoriety in the fashionable and sporting world), sojourned within the walls of BANCO REGIS, or were otherwise lodged within its Rules prescribed for the health of the patients of the Marshall-the GAME OF RACKETS was in high estimation, and very large sums of money were lost and won upon it.

The King's Bench Prison at that period was one continued scene of gaiety and dashindeed, it was like any thing else but a place of confinement. The promenade, almost every evening, until the cry of "all out" occurred, was a complete picture of le beau monde. It exhibited some of the most elegant dressed females in the kingdom; the finest, nay, fashionable women who felt not the slightest reproach by visiting their unfortunate friends in 'durance vile.'

the Hon. Tom used often to take his morning's exercise; and, some rare rattling bouts' give and take, frequently took place between them with the gloves' during their long voyage on board the Fleet.' George Head was a sparrer of the first celebrity; a perfect master of the science; although he never peeled in the P. R. He was also one of the extraordinary Lions, on two legs, to be met with after dark in the Metropolis; and the greatest foe that George ever had to contend against in his life, though possessing an iron-like constitution, was his own "DEAR Self." Respecting the late "TOM BEST," so familiarly called by every body, his life and adventures were quite a history, abounding with anecdotes, change of scene, vicissitudes, and amours, that would form a most interesting volume; and, at some future period, I may be tempted to give an outline of his eccentricities; but, in a word, he was a superior man and a gentleman. The late Captain Best was a first-rate shot; indeed, it was said of him by sporting men in general, that he ranked as No. 1, in the kingdom. It is rather singular to state, but nevertheless perfectly true, that if Captain Best had not been so celebrated and well-known as a marksman, the late Lord Camelford would have made an apology to his dearest, best, and most sincere of friends, for such his Lordship always styled him previous to the much to be regretted duel. The late Lord Camelford was also highly distinguished as a first-rate shot-and he could perform wonders with a pistol, such as snuffing a candle out at a tolerably good distance: and who never failed to hit a mark set out for him. Indeed, there was scarcely a jot between them for choice; yet his Lordship's towering spirit said that it might look like FEAR if he apologized to Capt. Best-also, a sort of 'begging of his life;' and to any other man, it should seem, he would have apologized. Therefore, in order that no imputation might be levelled at his courage, he not only provoked but hur. ried on the duel, accompanied with words that no gentleman could put up with. The fatal result is well known; but to his Lordship's high notions of honor and correct feelings, be it recorded-his Lordship scarcely lived above an hour after he had left the ground, merely time sufficient to sign his will, and to claim and insist upon the promise from his relatives, that Capt. Best should not be prosecuted on his account-that his death lay at his own door, and he was the only aggressor. This memorable duel, which deprived Lord Camelford of his life, like the Siege of Troy, was, on account of a woman. But his Lordship exonerated the Captain from the charge which he had hastily made against him in his passion-exclaiming, "O frailty, thy name is woman!"

Vice, or folly (observes that delightful observer of men and manners, Fielding) must be of a prodigious height to overtop the crowd; but if it did, the tall Overgrown monster would be admired; and like other monsters, enrich the possessor.

In truth, in this place of retirement' from the eye of the public, a number of men of fortune, who had 'outrun the constable,' had taken up their abode in order to avoid the bore, threatenings, and a thousand other little disagreeables' from those persons who only ask for their own,' to enjoy a bit of quiet life, and join in the well-known chant—

Welcome, welcome, brother debtor,
To this poor, but merry place;
Where no Bailiff, Dun, or Setter

Dares to shew his measly face!

The game of rackets was carried on with great spirit under the patronage of the above fashionable leaders; and the ground was frequently covered with visitors of the most elegant description to witness the trials of skill, and great matches between those celebrated players of the game, Messrs. Lewis, Mackey, and Smith.

Since the above period, indeed, almost to a very recent date, the brave Major Campbell has been the principal hero in the field respecting his superiority at the game of rackets. It is too true that the Major had rather a 'long innings,' nearly fourteen years in the situation of a lodger to Mr. Jones. The high spirit of the Major-his fine stamina-his great activity-and his attachment to rackets -united with considerable experience, and his long practice' in the Racket Court, rendered him a first-rate player in every point of view. As a 'gentleman' he had scarcely any thing like a competitor; and with the very best professed players of the day, the Major always proved himself a most powerful opponent. But he is now restored to the society of his friends and enjoying the "Sweets of Liberty;" and should his king and his country demand his services he is quite ready to make use of balls of another description.

Ireland has also given birth to some celebrated racket players-Mr. Carney, a gentleman well known in the sporting circles at the West end of the Town, distinguished himself in a number of great matches, not only as a firstrate player, but with eminent success, under the patronage of the late Duke of Richmond: indeed, Mr. Carney was viewed by his countrymen as the crack player in Ireland. He is also a capital wrestler. Mr. Carney won a double match in March 1825, for 3001. made on the spur of the moment between him and the celebrated Mr. Hayne, by defeating the 'great gun' of Windsor, Tom Cannon, in a trial of skill at wrestling, at Ireland's garden, Brighton. Mr. Carney likewise won the billiard match with Jonathan Kempfield, on his own table, and also acknowledged the first player in the world; but it is only justice to state, that Jonathan gave seventy points out of one hundred to Mr. Carney. The latter person is also distinguished for throwing a heavy weight to a much greater distance than any other man in the kingdom.

We flatter ourselves that the following sketch of the late Pat Cavanagh, so truly