THE I. Portrait of EMERALD, a celebrated Hunter in Leicestershire. II. FOX BREAKING COVERT. EMERALD. Engraved by J. ScoтT, Jun. from a Painting by LAFORTE. THIS very extraordinary horse was foaled in Ireland, but is of English blood, being got by Grafton out of a Diamond Mare. NIMROD very justly observes, that a portrait is often a libel on the animal. We have here, however, an exception, the artist having most happily given his exact form, and faithfully pourtrayed his general character without either embellishment or detraction; conserving a perfect and satisfactory likeness, Emerald hunted one season in Ireland, and was then brought to England, and is now among the best horses in Leicestershire and Warwickshire (where he is well known)-possessing every requisite of a perfect hunter, high and fine courage, with the mildest temper, great speed and stoutness, and most excellent at both water and timber. The owner thinks him worthy a place in the Sporting Magazine, as a fine specimen of a modern hunter of the right sort-uniting the rare qualities of beautiful symmetry with great strength and blood. Grafton, the sire of Emerald, was got by Sorcerer, out of Dabchick (the dam of Vandyke, VanX ALTHOUGH, in common with THE OLD FORESTER and THE TRAVELLER, I have witnessed with some degree of surprise the work done by the French posthorses, as well as those employed in the carriages hired to perform journeys, and am ready to testify the truth of their statements, I cannot agree with THE TRAVELLER in thinking that no doubt can exist that the same work that is performed by the horses in the carriages from Naples and Geneva, would knock up a pair of our best machiners on the third or fourth day;" nor am I so certain as he appears to be, that, "if horses at the post-houses between Calais and Paris were replaced by draft from Newman's or Bryant's, very few of the English horses would be alive by Christmas." It is rather to other causes than to any real superiority in the nature of the animal that the French horse possesses over the English one, that I am induced to attribute the apparently greater power of enduring fatigue. One cause, indeed, is a physical advantage-I mean, the circumstance of the French horses being for the most part entire. There can be no doubt that such a horse, both as to constitution and strength, is infinitely superior to a gelding. Add to this the pace at which they travel in France, (for "it is the pace that kills,") and, in my opinion, the mystery is explained. I will undertake to say, that if any four horses that leave London in one of the heavy coaches were entire, and driven at the same rate that those in the St. Germain's coach are, they would with ease perform the same work: and I feel the more confident of this, because it is within my own knowledge, that, during the time the British army was in France, many Eng-. lish horses were purchased by the post-masters, and turned out exceedingly well; and so also were many Cossack horses, of which the French spoke most highly. Let it not, however, be supposed that I disparage the French horses; on the contrary, I have always thought much better of them than most of my countrymen; and I have no hesitation in saying, that I think almost the cleverest team of small horses (not exceeding fourteen and a half hands high) I ever saw, were four Ι little greys that took a diligence, as heavy as a broad-wheeled wagon, from Chantilly. They were entire horses, and their strength was prodigious. But put four such horses to one of our stage coaches, or four posters from any post-house in France, to go from London to Barnet against a fast coach, or against four of Newman's posters, and see where they would be. I confess, however, that I have often felt surprised at its not being tried in this country by farmers and post-masters to work entire horses.. In all Eastern nations this is the case, and in most of the Continental nations, and I never could learn that any great difficulty arose. I have often seen fifteen or twenty entire horses in one post-stable in France. Every now and then, it is true, you hear a most infernal noise, as if they were all fighting; but the horse-keeper swears those most effectual of all French oaths, which Sterne in his Sentimental Journey so cleverly enables the nuns to swear, and peace is restored; nor did I ever learn that any serious mischief was often done pocket every stage to satisfy the coachman. The coaches also in France, although clumsy, are better hung, and better stuffed, and much more roomy than ours in England. In short, we must not despise our neighbours as some of our countrymen do. They are behind hand with us in most things, I am ready to allow, and in few so much as in what regards travelling with rapidity. Still, however, we might in some respects, with advantage, "take a leaf out of their book." I am, Sir, &c. UN VOYAGEUR. SIR, Ν HAMBLEDON HUNTS. IN my letter of last month, I by these horses to each other. THE THE NEW FOREST, AND THE TRAVELLER Speaks of the imperfect manner in which the French horses are groomed and fed. I cannot go the full length he does in this respect. I admit the grooming to be bad; but as far as my observation goes, they have plenty to eat. The system in France is to grow for their post-horses peas, vetches, and oats together. This is cut when nearly ripe, and dried and tied up into bundles of 101b. each, the grain remaining in; and the horses have two or three, and even more, of these bundles given them in the day and night, and they are for the most part in good condition. The system in France, no doubt, has the appearance of being very slovenly when viewed after that of England; but still much might be learnt from them. With regard to their public diligences, for instance, I think numbering the places, so that when you take a place there never can arise any difficulty or dispute afterwards about it, is extremely advantageous. Again, paying a certain sum at starting, which covers all expenses, is infinitely more agreeable than having to put your hand into your said I hoped shortly to be able to give you a fuller description of the New Forest and Hambledon countries, of the packs that hunt them, and the sport they have had. I now take up my pen for that purpose, though even now the weather and other circumstances will not enable me to do it as I could wish, and I will first speak of the New Forest. Many of your readers may have read in the October Number of last year NIMROD's description of this country. I will not, therefore, detain them long by going over the same ground. Few strangers would like the New Forest at first-the hunting is peculiar, and, to those who are not up to it, perhaps not very agreeable. For the real sportsman, however-one who is fond of seeing the work of hounds, and admiring the performance of individual dogs on a hunting scent, and the energy of each as he strains to catch it-the Forest has charms, superior per haps to those of many other countries. As for the riding, though in some parts it is difficult and awkward, upon the whole it is not thought much of; nor is it calculated to exhibit to advantage those whose only idea in meeting the hounds is to prove their own skill and the superior speed of their horses. The fences are, like Angels' visits, or plums in a schoolboy's pudding," few and far between." The banks with a ditch on one side, though not high or broad, are often, from their rottenness, very dangerous. As an instance of it, about a month ago, Lord Lisle-who is, I hear, one of the staunchest supporters of the Hunt-had a severe fall over one of these places: his horse jumping on the top of the bank, it gave way, and he fell, pitching Lord L. on his head. I was myself just behind, and a more awkward fall I never witnessed. Seeing what had happened, I thought it best to pull up in time, and seek a safer place. His Lordship has been laid up ever since, but is, I am happy to hear, now getting round again. horses particularly adapted for this country; he rides very heavy, and is always well up with his hounds. Let the weather be ever so bad, it is still easy to tell whether a pack can hunt or not, and to guess at its merits in spite of all the disadvantages it may have to encounter. Of Mr. Nicholls's hounds, I judge from my own experience. I have seen them on a boisterous windy day, with the leaves falling thick around them, and crossed incessantly by herds of deer; I have seen them persevore, and pick out the scent inch by inch, till at last they have run in to their fox, or been obliged to desist from darkness. If this is not a criterion of merit, I do not know what is. Mr. N. has had this season, what they call, the Forest lameness in his kennel, and, I hear, it has attacked many of his best and most favorite hounds. No one has yet been able to assign a real cause for its origin, though many have been given. It has been attributed to the kennel, to the furze, to the wet bogs, and to the inclosure palings; but all these reasons have been disproved. The weather has been lately so Kennels have been built by the bad, and so adverse to all hunting, different masters of the hounds in that the sport here has been very different places. If it was owing indifferent--not an atom of scent, to the furze, surely it would not or the least chance of a run. It be an incurable disease, and, moreis generally the case, I am given over, it always attacks them in to understand, in the Forest, that the shoulders. The New Forest there is but little done before hounds were subject to the same Christmas. I have seen, however, lameness before inclosures were the hounds hunt up to their fox known in the forest; and as to the on a cold scent in a most superior wet bogs being the cause, there is manner; indeed, I may say, I the same species of lameness, never saw so much of the work of though not in so severe a degree, hounds before, though perhaps, in one or two other countries being but a novice that is not where there are no bogs. But saying much. Mr. Nicholls, as what is still more extraordinary well as his servants, seem to me to is, that hounds attacked in this be very well mounted, and on manner have been known to re cover by being drafted to kennels in other countries. This is a great drawback on the New Forest, and would make me, had it all the other possible advantages of a hunting country, hesitate ere I took it, and subjected myself to the inconveniences and cruel disappointments which this lameness must occasion; for it must be heart-breaking to a master of hounds to see his greatest favorites limping about his yard, perfectly ruined for ever by this destructive malady, still more heartbreaking because he cannot discover the cause of it. As I said in my last letter, considering the rough way in which the Hambledon hounds are kept, it is surprising to hear the prodigies they have performed since Mr. Smith has had them. With a small subscription, and a pack of hounds that were but indifferent, he had last year as good runs as any pack in Hampshire. Mr. Smith is a most determined and persevering sportsman, though but a young hand; and the manner in which he gets along horses, that certainly are not the best in the world, has often astonished me; nothing stops him; he goes at anything and everything. His servants, of course, are not mounted in the most superior style-in short, his establishment is perfectly unique. This year, however, I hear, he has turned out better than of former years. He has entered fifteen couples of young hounds; his stud is improved, and he has got young Sharp as his whipper-in. With these advantages, of course, he will succeed better. It is only to be regretted his subscription is not larger, to do the thing more complete, for he has the will. I heard an anecdote the other day on this subject, which I owu amused me much. A gentleman who subscribed ten guineas towards the hounds, when the time of payment came, sent Mr. Smith a draft for 81. 15s., deducting thirtyfive shillings for poultry, which the foxes had destroyed in the course of the year. I make no comment. These hounds have had no better sport than their neighbours, owing to the weather. On Wednesday, however, the 29th of November, they had a brilliant run of an hour and forty minutes, and killed. I was most unfortunately prevented that day by business from meeting them-it is my general luck. The Hambledon country in some parts is very good-than parts, however, nothing can be worse. I wish Mr. Smith all the success he deserves he is a young man, ardent, and enthusiastic in the pursuit of fox-hunting, and comely withal. I hope he may succeed in the career of Venus, as well as he does in that of Diana: "For 'tis always the spirit most bold in the field That will always succeed best in love." I cannot conclude this letter without wishing to all your readers a merry Christmas." May the "yule log" burn brightly on their hearths-the "wassailbowl" pass with the tale and song gaily round their fire-side circles! I am a bachelor and alone, almost a stranger in the place at which I now reside; for me no log will burn, around my fire no bowl be pledged-sad and solitary, I shall sit and think of "those far away." This season of general festivity to me will be not particularly festive. To see around you happy, laughing groups, families, who make a |