The Sporting Dictionary, and Rural Repository, Volume 1 (of 2) / Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field

GALLS, or GALLING

.—Lacerations occasioned by the too tight pressure and friction of an uneasy and ill-fitted saddle, or heavy harness, are so called. They are seldom seen with either the judicious or the enlightened; experience having taught both how to appreciate PREVENTION. The prudent SPORTSMAN will never take his horse to the field, nor the humane driver his carriage-horse to the road, till personal examination has convinced him the necessary apparatus is not only firm, but proportionally easy; and this should become the more predominant in memory, because it is natural to conclude, no man existing would, by neglect or inattention, give pain to the very animal from whose exertions he is to derive his own PLEASURE.

Injuries of this description, if unexpectedly sustained, should be immediately attended to; a repetition, and that soon, upon the part so injured, is frequently productive of trouble, expence, loss of time, and disappointment. When the side of a horse is galled, as it sometimes is, by the girth-buckle having been most improperly placed upon the edge of the pad, it is not unlikely, for want of early or proper attention, to terminate in a SITFAST, and then can only be completely cured by extirpation with the knife. The WITHERS being affected in the same way, and the saddle or harness continued in use by which the injury was originally occasioned, the foundation of FISTULA may be laid, and will be likely to ensue. In all slight and superficial galls, two or three moistenings of the part with cold vinegar will allay the inflammation, and harden the surface; but where the long-continued heat and friction has occasioned a destruction of parts, it must be dressed and managed as a wound, which can only be completely cured by incarnation.

GALLOP

—is one pace of THE HORSE, well known by that general name; though it will admit of gradational distinctions. A CANTER is the slowest gallop, in which a horse bears most upon his haunches, but lightly on the bit; it is a pace which spirited, good-tempered horses seem to enjoy, and is peculiarly calculated for the accommodation of a lady. A RATING-GALLOP is the increase of action to such pace, as the particular horse may or can go with ease at his rate in common stroke without being exerted to speed; and this is the HUNTING GALLOP of thorough BRED HORSES, who will always lay by the side of HOUNDS at it, without being in the least distrest. A BRUSHING GALLOP upon the TURF, implies an increased degree of velocity, but not equal to utmost speed.

GALLOPADE

—is a term in the MILITARY MANEGE.

GALLOWAY

—is the appellation given to that useful kind of small horse from THIRTEEN to FOURTEEN HANDS high; they are rarely to be seen of exact SYMMETRY, uniform STRENGTH, and adequate ACTION; but, if well-bred, their qualifications, and endurance of fatigue, exceeds description.

GAMBLERS

—consist of two sets; first, those whose thirst for GAMING, (called PLAY) is insatiate, and who have PROPERTY to LOSE; these are GENTLEMEN, who, possessing a refined sense of HONOR themselves, never meanly descend to suspect the INTEGRITY of others. An accurate description of their opponents will be found under the head "Black Legs," where the practices of "the family" are more fully explained.

GAME

—for the preservation of which such a succession of LAWS have been enacted, were, in many of the former preambles to the different ACTS of Parliament, extended to "the Heron, Pigeon, Mallard, Duck, Teal, Widgeon, or any such Fowl;" but in the present construction, GAME is generally considered to imply no more than the HARE, PHEASANT, PARTRIDGE, HEATH-FOWL, and MOOR GAME, which are the whole of what is intentionally included in the GAME LAWS; and what persons possessed of certain qualifications, as well as an ANNUAL CERTIFICATE, are empowered to kill. Deer of every description are also denominated GAME; but they are protected by LAWS appropriate to their peculiar preservation. Rabbits were also included in many of the earliest acts relating to GAME, but are now considered of no consequence, except in WARRENS, where being private property, and productive of annual profit, they have LAWS for the security of THE OWNER, with very heavy penalties annexed to their destruction. Proprietors of DOVE-HOUSE PIGEONS have likewise legal means of redress, upon their pigeons being wantonly shot at or destroyed. The mallard, wild-duck, widgeon, teal, &c. are not without LAWS for their increase, and proportional preservation. See Decoy.

GAME COCK

.—The true-bred GAME COCK is a species of fowl almost peculiar to this country; his natural and instinctive courage will never permit him to yield to an opponent, however he may be superior in WEIGHT and STRENGTH; but he will, even under those disadvantages, continue to fight till literally cut to pieces. After the loss of eyes, with the body wounded and perforated in every part, when even the use of his legs are gone, and he is no longer able to stand, but lays extended upon the sod, with his victorious opponent exultingly CROWING over his mangled frame, he will continue to shew fight with his beak, to the last remains of life.

Those NOBLEMEN and GENTLEMEN who have (from hereditary rule, and local custom) continued the sport of COCKING, in the neighbourhoods where their country mansions and landed estates lay, have been, and are, exceedingly circumspect and cautious in the BREED, lest any chance of contamination should creep in, by an injudicious, improper, or unlucky, cross in the blood; for as some HUNDREDS of POUNDS are frequently depending upon ONE MAIN, and that main upon the battle of a single cock, no such money can be betted with a probable or equal chance of winning, unless the unsullied purity of the BREED is most accurately ascertained. In confirmation of which remark, it is to be observed, that whenever a COCK, in FIGHTING, declines the battle, no longer faces his adversary, but repeatedly turns tail, and runs away, his blood is no longer to be relied on; and such cock has not only his neck broke in the Pit, but the whole of that breed are destroyed, to prevent farther contamination, as well as future loss, disgrace, and disappointment.

Game cocks are bred of various colours, according to the fancy or opinion of different AMATEURS, many of whom have their favourite plumage; their colours are technically described by the variations in feather, and are as follow: The black or pheasant-breasted RED; the black-breasted GINGER; the speckle-breasted ginger dun; the black-breasted YELLOW DUCKWING; the turkey-breasted DITTO; the SMUTTY DUN; the BRASS-WINGED BLACK; and the SMOCK, which is a milk-white, having the appearance of a common barn-door fowl; and the odds are proportionally against them whenever they are brought to Pit, which is now but seldom, the breed being nearly or quite destroyed.

Two opinions have always been, and still are, entertained respecting THE COCKS most proper to breed from, admitting the standard of bone, strength, weight, and standing, to be just the same. Some prefer breeding from A COCK who has WON many hard-fought battles, by which his own blood is so fairly proved; whilst others maintain the consistency of breeding only from the full brothers of such, (who are called MAIDEN COCKS, as never having fought,) under an impression, that the former must have sustained material injury by the wounds received, and the blood lost, in the battles he had formerly fought. However those who BREED GAME FOWL may differ upon this particular point, it is an opinion nearly unanimous, that if you breed entirely for the Pit, that no cock should be bred from younger than TWO, or more than SIX, years old. Although it is right to breed from a strong, bony, close-made, majestic, high-standing cock, yet it is by no means prudent so to do from cocks much above match weight; that is to say, never to exceed FOUR POUNDS, TWELVE OUNCES, at the utmost; for should the HENS prove large also, the progeny might run still more into size and bone, and never fall into any match whatever.

In breeding GAME CHICKEN, to breed with success, there are some general rules, which should be strictly attended to, and invariably persevered in. No BROOD-COCK should walk with more than four hens; three being, in fact, fully sufficient. Game hens should never be permitted to bring forth a clutch of chickens before the last week in February, nor after the first week in May; those hatched in March and April are only adapted to the Pit, and are always preferable, in SIZE and GROWTH, to those hatched at any other season of the year. Hens after hatching should be cooped asunder, where the chickens cannot intermix; as the hens will not only kill the young of each other, but FIGHT THEMSELVES with the same inveteracy as THE COCKS. If a game hen, with chicken, retreats when attacked by another in the same state, her produce has been suspected to prove, in future, defective in courage; this opinion has, however, been founded upon false principles; because it is a very common circumstance for the younger hen to give place to an older, as it always is for THE STAG to submit to the OLD COCK, who must and will continue master of his walk.

During the first year after being hatched, they are called individually CHICKEN; from twelve months to two years old, they are termed STAGS, and from that period called COCKS, being then thought in their prime; but they are probably more so AT THREE, if properly walked. Cock chickens should never be permitted to run too long together, but be separated as soon as they begin fighting with each other; and this ought to be the more strictly attended to, because it frequently happens, that out of a whole clutch, by neglect or inattention, what with scalped heads, loss of eyes, broken beaks, or deformed feet, not one has ever been brought to the scale.

Cock chicken, when first removed, at three or four months old, are placed where they continue to walk under an OLD COCK, and will continue obedient and submissive till nine and ten, or sometimes TWELVE MONTHS old; the experiment is nevertheless too hazardous to be made; they had much better be taken to a MASTER-WALK in proper time, to avoid the probability of either one or both being SPOILED. The most eminent BREEDERS, as well as the most enthusiastic BETTERS, have one mode of endeavouring to fix a criterion, how far they can depend upon the heel, the fight, and the blood, of any particular BREED or CROSS they may have been induced to adopt. This experiment (dreadfully cruel as it is) is termed "CUTTING OUT," and consists in pitting such CHICKEN of seven, eight, or nine months old, unarmed, against their own brothers, or others of superior age, weight, and strength, having SILVER SPURS; if the chicken, so unarmed, and without the least chance of success, continues the combat till completely deprived of life, without displaying the least tendency to cowardice, or consciousness of defeat, more of his brothers have the same severe and "fiery ordeal" to undergo, when, if the result is just the same, the cross is admitted to be good, and the BREED is persevered in, till, from circumstances, the blood is thought to degenerate, when new crosses are adopted, and new experiments made. See Cocking, Cock-match, and Cockpit.

GAMING

—is that destructive vice which has annihilated some of the most princely fortunes in this, and, perhaps, in every other kingdom: it is a whirlwind of devastating infatuation, which destroys every thing before it: like the effect of unrestrained fire, it continues its ravages so long as there is a single combustible to feed the flame. The most MAGNIFICENT MANSIONS, the most LORDLY POSSESSIONS, the most MAJESTIC "towering woods," and the most extensive FERTILE VALES, have been in one night swept away by this infernal and definitive propensity. Thousands, educated in AFFLUENCE, and left in a state of the most flourishing INDEPENDENCE, have been reduced to the greatest want, and died miserable repentants within the dreary CONFINES of a PRISON, by the certain effect of an attachment to this most dreadful of all vices, which the united WISDOM of the Legislature has so strenuously endeavoured to suppress. Laws have been framed, and are rigidly enforced, for its prevention; heavy STAMP DUTIES have been laid upon CARDS and DICE, that those who use them may voluntarily contribute to the support of the State, by which both person and property are protected; and, as a farther proportional prohibition, no GAMING DEBT is recoverable BY LAW where the sum sued for shall exceed TEN POUNDS. See Betting.

GAMING-HOUSES

—are those infamous NOCTURNAL RECEPTACLES of the most abandoned iniquity, where such scenes of villainy are in perpetual practice, that the most fertile pen must be inadequate to even a tolerable representation. These houses in the Metropolis, are, by the SPORTING WORLD, denominated "Hells;" and so truly are they entitled to that sublime distinction, that the whole FORCE of MAGISTRACY has been most laudably and successfully exerted against them without exception. Houses of this description are appropriated only to the purposes of play, and that of the most unfair description. They are kept by SYSTEMATIC DEPREDATORS, "who shun the light;" men who have no credit to support, no reputation to lose; and who are as completely lost to every sense of shame, as they are completely banished from the respectable classes of society. Here it is where the young, the inexperienced, the injudicious, and the inconsiderate, sacrifice not only their OWN, and often the property of OTHERS, but prostitute also that most invaluable GEM their INTEGRITY, and with it a PEACE of MIND never to be restored.

From the first moment of entering such an iniquitous sink of POLLUTION, such a complication of VILLAINY, and such a combination of the most desperate and abandoned THIEVES, every infatuated adventurer may date the origin of future misery. Whether it be CARDS, DICE, E. O. or whatever GAME or NAME the speculative sport may be, the credulous, unsuspecting dupe has no one CHANCE TO WIN, but inevitably every chance to lose, under the certainty of their systematic depredation. Thus far in explanation of those Hells, legally considered nuisances to society, as being prejudicial to the morals, and destructive to the property, of such individuals as unhappily fall within the vortex of so fashionable an influence; but there are other GAMING HOUSES of a superior order, and of the most magnificent description, supported in all the style of EASTERN SPLENDOR, by annual contribution from the first characters in the kingdom, and called "SUBSCRIPTION HOUSES," to which none but their own INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS are admitted under any plea whatever; and these, as private houses, being ABOVE THE LAW, any member possesses, of course, the privilege of ruining himself, and reducing his family to beggary, without transgressing the LAWS of HIS COUNTRY, or incurring the censure of his best and most fashionable friends.

GAME-KEEPERS

—are persons delegated by legal prescription, to provide GAME for the purposes of those by whom they are appointed, to PRESERVE and PROTECT it against a class of adventurers (denominated poachers) by night, as well as an unfair or improper destruction of it by day. Every LORD or LADY of a MANOR are authorized, by writing under their hands and seals, to empower a GAME-KEEPER to kill within the said manor, any HARE, PHEASANT, PARTRIDGE, or other game. If, however, such game-keeper shall sell or dispose of the game he shall so kill, without the knowledge or consent of the said LORD or LADY, and shall be convicted, upon the oath of one witness, before a Justice of Peace, he shall be committed to the house of correction, and kept to hard labour for three months.

One GAME-KEEPER only can be appointed to kill game within one manor; in which he is authorized and empowered, by his DEPUTATION, to take and seize all guns, bows, greyhounds, setting-dogs, lurchers, ferrets, trammels, low-bells, hays, or other nets, hare-pipes, snares, or other engines, for the taking and killing of HARES, PHEASANTS, PARTRIDGES, or other game, within the precincts of such manor, in the possession of any person not qualified to keep the same. It does not appear by this act (23d Charles Second, c. xxv. s. 2) that a GAME-KEEPER is empowered to seize THE GAME, although he is authorized to take all instruments in use for the destruction of it.

By the 25th George Third, c. v. s. 2, every deputation of a GAME-KEEPER granted to any person, by any LORD or LADY of any MANOR in England or Wales, shall be registered with the Clerk of the Peace of the county in which such manor lies; where he shall receive a certificate of such registry, upon payment of ONE GUINEA, and one shilling to the Clerk, for the same. A game-keeper omitting to register his deputation, and to take out his certificate, for twenty days, to forfeit TWENTY POUNDS. The certificate must be renewed annually; and upon the appointment of a NEW GAME-KEEPER, a new certificate must be taken out; and the person formerly acting under the old certificate is no longer qualified to kill game, but liable to all the penalties of this act.

In addition, a few general remarks may be useful. A GAME-KEEPER having no other qualification than his deputation and certificate, is not entitled to KILL GAME out of the precincts of the manor for which he is appointed. Nor is he empowered to demand THE NAME, or a SIGHT, of the CERTIFICATE of any qualified person out of his own district; unless he is qualified to kill game in his OWN RIGHT, (exclusive of his deputation,) and is possessed of his THREE GUINEA certificate; in which case he may do either or both. But let it be remembered, that, although he is QUALIFIED to KILL GAME in his own right, and acts under a deputation for a certain specified MANOR, he is liable to the penalty prescribed by the Act, if he is informed against for, and convicted of, killing game out of that manor, without being previously possessed of the three guinea certificate. Any GAME-KEEPER killing or taking a hare, pheasant, partridge, or other game, under colour of being for the use of the Lord of the Manor, and afterwards SELLING and DISPOSING thereof, without the consent of the said Lord of the Manor, upon conviction, on the complaint of such Lord, and on the oath of one witness, before a Justice, shall be committed to the house of correction for three months, and there kept to hard labour.

GAME LAWS

.—The laws framed for the PRESERVATION of THE GAME, are, by the different Acts of Parliament, during several successive reigns, become so truly voluminous, and in many instances thought so truly complex, that it is impracticable to reduce any moderate abridgement of the whole within the intentional limits of this Work. But as many of the former Acts (at least many of the clauses in those Acts) though unrepealed, are in practice almost obsolete, it is proposed (divested of legal tautology) to bring a review of the existing parts of the GAME LAWS as they now stand, and as they are now acted upon, into as concise a point of view as the subject will admit; and so perfectly free from ambiguity, as to be rendered perfectly clear to the most moderate comprehension: at least as much so, as can be expected upon LAWS, that, after all the refinement of CENTURIES, after all the investigation and deliberation of the different Legislatures, and the advantages derived also from the sage opinions of the most learned in THE LAW, are certainly less respected, and less effectual, than any other part of the code to be found in the statute books of this realm. Whether it is, that they are less understood, less palatable to those interested in their effect, or but feebly and partially executed, is a matter only to be ascertained by time, and such future arrangements as may probably take place.

Persons held legally qualified to kill game, must be in the full and undisputed possession of a FREEHOLD LANDED ESTATE, producing a clear 100l. per annum; or possessed of a lease, or leases, for ninety-nine years, or any longer term, of the clear yearly value of 150l. other than the heir apparent of an Esquire, or other person of higher degree. Esquires, as defined by LAW, are the younger sons of Noblemen, and their heirs male for ever: the four Esquires of the King's body: the eldest sons of Baronets, of Knights of the Bath, of Knights Bachelors, and their heirs male in the right line. A Justice of the Peace is also an Esquire for the time he is in the commission, but no longer.

Persons of higher degree than Esquires, are Colonels, Serjeants at Law, and Doctors in the three learned Professions; but neither Esquires, nor any of these, are qualified to kill game, unless they have the requisite estate mentioned; though their SONS are qualified without any estate. This, however unreasonable it may seem, has been fully decided to be the true construction of the Act. In addition to every necessary QUALIFICATION by ESTATE, according to the construction of all former Acts, it is enacted, by 25th George Third, c. 1. s. 2, That every person in Great Britain who shall use any dog, gun, net, or other engine, for the taking or destruction of game, shall every year, previously to his using the same, deliver in a paper, or account in writing, containing his name and place of abode, to the Clerk of the Peace of the county where he shall reside, (or his deputy,) and annually take out A CERTIFICATE of having so done, for which he is to pay THREE GUINEAS, and one shilling to the Clerk for his trouble in making out the same; which certificate shall bear date on the day whereon it is issued, and remain in force from thence until the first day of July then after, and no longer. Such certificate may be demanded by the unqualified as well as QUALIFIED; and if the Clerk of the Peace shall refuse to grant such certificate when demanded, he is liable to the penalty of TWENTY POUNDS.

Any person, qualified or unqualified, who shall be in pursuit of game, without having obtained such certificate, shall be liable to the penalty of TWENTY POUNDS. It is also provided in the said Act, That every person having obtained a certificate, who shall find any other person in pursuit of game also, it shall be lawful for him (after having produced his own certificate) to demand from such other person, the certificate to him issued of having conformed to the said Act; and on such demand, such person shall produce such certificate, and permit the same to be inspected; and on refusing to produce the same, and also refusing to give his Christian and Surname, and place of residence, or giving a false name or place of residence, he shall forfeit the sum of FIFTY POUNDS.

It is to be observed, that persons taking out A CERTIFICATE, who are not qualified by former Acts to KILL GAME, derive no privilege from their certificate so to do; but, nevertheless, remain liable to all the penalties of former acts, if informed against, and prosecuted to conviction. It, however, appears, upon the experience of the last seven years, that since the privilege of killing game has contributed so largely to the exigencies of the State, less litigation has prevailed upon the score of PRESERVATION. Indeed, there is now so little fear of an information, that almost every person having taken out a certificate, erroneously considers himself nominally entitled TO KILL; in full confirmation of which, the list of those who have obtained certificates in the different counties, may be inspected at the Stamp Office, upon the payment of one shilling, where will be found the names of hundreds who do not individually possess an independent TWENTY POUNDS per annum upon the face of THE GLOBE.

In all cases where the penalty does not exceed 20l. the Justice of Peace shall, upon information or complaint, summon the party and witnesses to appear, and proceed to hear and determine the matter in a summary way; and, upon due proof, by confession, or the oath of one witness, give judgment for the forfeiture; and issue his warrant for levying the same on offenders goods, and to sell them, if not redeemed within six days; rendering to the party what overplus there may happen to be; and if goods sufficient are not found to answer the PENALTY, the offender shall stand committed TO PRISON for six calendar months, unless the penalty be sooner paid. Any offender feeling himself aggrieved by such judgment, may, upon giving security, amounting to the value of the forfeiture, with the costs of affirmance, APPEAL to the next general Quarter Sessions, when it is to be heard and finally determined; and in case the judgment be affirmed, Sessions may award such costs incurred by appeal as to themselves shall seem meet. Justices may mitigate penalties; so that the reasonable charges of officers and informers for discovery and prosecution, be always allowed over and above mitigation, and so as the same does not reduce the penalty to less than a moiety, over and above the costs and charges.

Restrictions for killing GAME are as follow: No PARTRIDGE to be killed between the 12th of February and 1st of September, under a penalty of FIVE POUNDS. No PHEASANT between the 1st of February and 1st of October, under the like penalty. Grouse, or RED GAME, only from August 12th to December 10th. Heath fowl, or BLACK GAME, from August 20th to December 10th. Bustards from December 1st to March 1st. No time is limited for the killing of HARES, provided they are not illegally taken. No GAME whatever is to be killed or taken sooner than ONE HOUR before SUN RISING, or later than ONE HOUR after SUN SET, under a penalty of 5l. to the qualified or unqualified. Killing game on Sunday, or Christmas-day, liable to the same penalty as killing game during the night.

Any unqualified person exposing a HARE, PHEASANT, PARTRIDGE, or other game, to sale, is liable to a penalty of 5l. For selling a HARE, PHEASANT, PARTRIDGE, or other game, qualified or unqualified, 5l. If either are found in the shop, house, or possession of any POULTERER, SALESMAN, FISHMONGER, COOK or PASTRY-COOK, or of any person not qualified in his own right to KILL GAME, or entitled thereto under some person so qualified, it shall be deemed an exposing thereof to sale.

Unqualified persons using any engine to kill or destroy HARES, PHEASANTS, PARTRIDGES, or other game, liable to a penalty of 5l. as well as keeping and using GREYHOUNDS, SETTING DOGS, or any engines to kill or destroy HARES, PHEASANTS, PARTRIDGES, or other game, are liable to a penalty of 5l. The keeping or using being individually or jointly liable to the forfeiture of 5l. as well as for killing, so it should appear, from the plain construction of the Acts, that if the informations are separately laid, first for "keeping and using," and secondly "for KILLING," conviction must inevitably follow for both, if sufficient evidence is produced to confirm the offence. Informations must be laid within SIX CALENDAR MONTHS, before a Justice of Peace, or by action of debt, bill, plaint, or information. The whole penalty to be given to the informer, with double costs, if brought on in Westminster Hall. Summary conviction, half to the informer, and half to the poor. These are the penalties annexed to former Acts, independent of the Act respecting annual certificates to be taken out from the Clerk of the Peace, to KILL (or go in pursuit of) GAME; without which, incurs an additional penalty of 20l. to the unqualified, making the forfeiture 25l. and of 20l. to the QUALIFIED, who becomes only liable to that single penalty, for killing, or attempting to kill, game without the annual certificate so prescribed to be taken out.

A QUALIFIED PERSON cannot come upon another man's ground to KILL GAME, without being liable to an ACTION for trespass; and an unqualified person for trespassing, shall pay full costs: but if a person qualified to kill game, sustains an ACTION for trespass, and the damage shall be found under 40s. he shall in such case pay no more COSTS than DAMAGES; this being a most equitable construction, to prevent paltry and personal litigations. It has been decided by the highest legal authority, that any unqualified person may go out to beat hedges, bushes, and mark birds, in company with any qualified person, to see the game pursued and taken, without being liable to any penalty, provided he has no DOG, GUN, or ENGINE, of his own, individually, to assist in its destruction.

It would be unfair to conclude this subject, which has for centuries occasioned such a diversity of opinions amongst the SUPERIOR CLASSES, and diffused so much discontent amongst the lower, without submitting to both, a very EMPHATIC and literal extract from Judge Blackstone, in his comment upon the Forest Laws, in which he has this particular passage.

"From a simple principle, to which, though the Forest Laws are now mitigated, and by degrees grown entirely obsolete, yet, from this root has sprung a bastard-slip, known by the name of the Game Laws, now arrived to, and wantoning in, its highest vigour; both founded upon the same unreasonable notions of permanent property in wild creatures, and productive of the same tyranny; but with this difference, that the Forest Laws established only one MIGHTY HUNTER throughout the land; the Game Laws have raised a little Nimrod in every manor."

—are those in which the skill, judgment, and penetration of the player are immediately concerned, and upon which alone his success must entirely depend. In this class are included Billiards, Chess, Draughts, Cricket, Fives, Tennis, Bowls, and some others, as well as a few upon the Cards; but as the latter are always subject to DECEPTION, and completely subservient to the slipping, sliding, and cutting of the most FAMILIAR FRIENDS, (even in private families,) they are, with propriety, much more entitled to the appellation of CHANCE than of ART, particularly where the unsuspecting player has the perpetual chance of being ROBBED, without the mortification of knowing the main-spring of depredation. However expert those may be, who indulge and excel in GAMES of ART, two things should ever be predominant in memory; always to play with an invariable philosophic PATIENCE and SERENITY, never to seem affected by a temporary run of ill-luck or momentary advantage, any more than agitated by the exulting irritation of a successful opponent. The run on one side may as suddenly be reversed to the other; a chance that petulance and ill-humour may probably destroy. Prudent players never engage in matches of any kind where four or more are concerned, except amongst their most intimate acquaintance; particularly at the public tables of the Metropolis, where it is the custom for three to poll one, and divide the spoils after the PIDGEON has been plucked; a very fashionable mode of playing at both BILLIARDS and WHIST; by which an infinity of necessitous and unprincipled adventurers procure a daily subsistence.

GAMES of CHANCE

.—Those games are so called, which depend solely upon the turning up of a CARD, or the uncertain "HAZARD of THE DIE." When fairly played, without any latent deception on one side or the other, they are considered truly equitable between the players, who are then said "to PLAY UPON THE SQUARE," without a point of advantage, the whole being dependent upon, and decided by, the EFFECT of CHANCE. The celebrated nocturnal game of Hazard, at which such immense property is annually LOST and WON, at the most fashionable and powerfully-supported GAMING HOUSES, is known to be the first and fairest GAME of CHANCE, upon which an adventurer (determined to encounter the probability of ruin) can possibly venture to STAKE HIS MONEY: on the contrary, it must be admitted, that the torrent of villainy, and unprincipled prostitution of affected integrity, have made such rapid and unprecedented strides to perfection, that the most experienced SPORTSMEN must despair of being enabled to play upon the square, after so many GAMBLERS of FASHION have, within a few years, been detected with loaded dice in their possession.

The game of E O, so plausibly deluding to all classes, particularly to rustics upon the different country COURSES and RACE GROUNDS, is the most deceptive, and most destructive, of any ever yet displayed for the purpose of public attraction; it may be very candidly placed in a parallel line with those low and rascally inventions of HUSTLING in the HAT, and PRICKING in the BELT, to both which an infinity of cunning countrymen become infatuated dupes, to the great emolument and gratification of that horde of miscreants, who subsist only upon the credulity and ignorance of the inexperienced, avaricious, and unsuspecting.

GANGRENE

—is a technical term, which in FARRIERY, as in SURGERY, implies the first stage of MORTIFICATION or PUTREFACTION.

GASCOIN, or GASKIN

,—of a horse, is that part of the hind quarter extending from the stifle (or inferior point of the thigh approaching the belly) to the bend of the hock behind; upon the shape, strength, and uniformity of which, the property, action, and excellence of the horse very much depends. If the GASKINS are wide, and divide below the tail in a curvilinear arch on the inside, with a prominent swell of the muscle on the outside, it is not only indicative of great strength, but adds considerably to the symmetry and value of the horse, when viewed behind. A horse well formed in the gaskins, is seldom badly shaped in the fore quarters; nor are they, in general, horses of inferior action; exclusive of which, they are insured from the very aukward DEFECT of cutting; no small inconvenience to a TRAVELLER with a weary horse upon a long journey.

GATE-NET

.—A GATE-NET is a principal part of the stock in trade of an expert and experienced POACHER; and, in respect to HARES, the most destructive nocturnal instrument that can be brought into use. They, at a certain hour in the dead of night, when hares are sure to be at feed, are fixed to the third bar of the gates of such fields as have green wheat, young clover, or any other where (by daily observation) they are known to use; when being fattened to the ground under the lower bar by means of wooden forked pegs, a lurcher is turned over the gate, who having been trained to the business, and running mute, scours the field in a circuitous direction; when the victims, thus suddenly and unexpectedly alarmed, make immediately for the gate, (by which they entered,) when the dog being close at their heels, at least not far behind them, they have no alternative, but to rush into the net, where becoming entangled, they meet their destruction. In this way three or four brace are taken in a plentiful country at one adventure. The only likely mode of rendering such attempts abortive, is by painting the lower bars of the gate white, which will occasion the hares to shun the gateway, and have recourse to their meuses; if GAME-KEEPERS and SPORTSMEN will but occasionally examine which, to take up the well-intended wires, it will, at any rate, go a great way towards preventing such incredible havoc and wholesale destruction.

GAZEHOUND

;—the name by which the species of DOG we now term GREYHOUND was formerly called. With what propriety an animal of almost every colour should be equally denominated grey, does not appear; any more than at what particular period the change in appellation may have taken place. As the pursuit of the GREYHOUND is entirely by sight, and not by scent, it should seem that GAZEHOUND would be the most proper distinction of the two, and that the present is no more than a perversion from the original.

GELDING

—implies a horse divested of his TESTICLES, by which he is deprived of the act of COPULATION, and of farther PROPAGATION. For particulars of the operation, see Castration.

GIFT of GOING

—is a phrase from the sublime vocabulary of the horse-dealing fraternity, and implies a horse's possessing a much greater portion of speed in action, particularly in TROTTING, than could well be expected from his shape and external appearance. When a horse is shewn for sale, having little to recommend him, rough in his coat, low in condition, aukward in shape, and without a single point of attraction, if he can scramble along at the rate of twelve or thirteen miles an hour, he is then said to possess the "gift of going," which is to compensate for every other deficiency.

GIMCRACK

,—the name of a horse who was of great celebrity upon the turf, and for two or three years beat most of his time. He was foaled in 1760; got by Cripple, (a son of the Godolphin Arabian;) dam by Grisewood's Partner, and his pedigree was of the best blood; but being too small for a stallion of eminence, produced no winners of note. He was followed by young Gimcrack, a good horse for GIVE and TAKE PLATES, particularly at four heats.

GINGER

—is an aromatic spicy root, brought to us from the East and West Indies, in a preserved as well as in its natural state. In the former it is used as a stomachic and sweetmeat by the superior orders: in the latter it is common in all the shops, consisting of flat-knotted branches, of which the whitest, and least stringy or fibrous, are the best. It is a very useful ingredient in many compositions for the internal diseases of horses, particularly in the FLATULENT CHOLIC, commonly called FRET. Houses in the country, remote from towns, where horses are used and fed upon peas haum, and other winter fodder, frequently producing such disorders, should never be without a small quantity of this article: two ounces bruised, and boiled in ALE or GRUEL, then drained off, and the liquor given with a horn, would prove an excellent substitute for medicine upon many emergencies.

GIGS

;—a term almost obsolete for what are now called FLAPS, a kind of flaccid fleshy enlargement on each side a horse's jaw, which, in his mastication, frequently falling between the grinders, is productive of pain, and prevents the horse from eating. If they are long and thin, they may be completely taken off by a pair of scissars, and the wounds washed with a strong solution of alum in water: if they are too fleshy and substantial for this mode of extirpation, they may be slightly scarified with a BISTORY, or ABSCESS LANCET, and after having been left to bleed for a proper length of time, may be stopped, and the parts constringed by the solution already described.

GIRTHS

—are those well-known articles made from woollen web, and used for keeping the saddle in a safe and proper position. These, to prevent GALLING, should be made of ELASTIC, and not the tight wove web, which being more rigid and harsh, is the more likely to LACERATE during the heat and friction of a long chase. Observation should be made that girths are never too short, so as to have the buckle below the pad of the saddle, either on one side or the other; for want of which judicious and sportsman-like attention, WARBLES, SITFASTS, and WOUNDS, very frequently ensue.

GIVE and TAKE PLATES

—are those where the HORSES carry WEIGHT according to their HEIGHT, by the regulated standard of four inches to a HAND. The fixed rules for a GIVE and TAKE are, that horses measuring FOURTEEN HANDS, are each to carry nine stone; above or below which height, they are to carry seven pounds, more or less, for every inch they are HIGHER or LOWER than the FOURTEEN HANDS fixed as the criterion.—Example: a horse measuring FOURTEEN HANDS, one inch and a half, will carry nine stone, ten pounds, eight ounces; a horse measuring THIRTEEN HANDS, two inches and a half, will carry only eight stone, three pounds, eight ounces; the former being one inch and a half above the FOURTEEN HANDS, the other one inch and a half below it. The weight is, therefore, added, or diminished, by the eighths of every inch, higher or lower weight in proportion; and these PLATES were so exceedingly popular some few years since, that very few country courses were without one of this description.

GLANDERS

—is, perhaps, without exception, the most dreadful, and certainly destructive, disease to which the horse is incident. No exertions have been wanting on the part of the most eminent professional men (particularly in France) to discover the means of successfully counteracting the justly-dreaded virulence of this disorder; but hitherto with so little the appearance of progress, that it is almost an invariable custom to render the subject an immediate VICTIM to DEATH, so soon as he is ascertained to have become the VICTIM of DISEASE. There are never wanting SPECULATORS, or SPECULATIVE WRITERS, so long as "a doubt remains to hang a loop upon;" and many of these both speak and write as prompted by their pecuniary sensations, and the sale of the NOSTRUM it is their personal interest to promote. These, of course, promulgate not the probability, but the certainty, of cure, and may, in so doing, possibly prey upon the credulity of those who are equally strangers to the origin of this disease, its progress, its effects, or its termination.

After the great variety of opinions which have taken place; after all the investigations made by every class of the most diligent inquirers in anatomical dissections, as well as by various other means, three facts are incontrovertibly established: first, that the disease is INFECTIOUS; secondly, that it is CURABLE; and lastly, that the LUNGS of every HORSE dying under the disorder, or killed during its progress, have been either partially, or totally, destroyed. This demonstrated beyond the power of contradiction, what does it prove? Why, very clearly, to the judicious and scientific, who are inquisitive to experience, and open to conviction, that this disorder is in direct affinity to the PULMONARY CONSUMPTION of the HUMAN SPECIES; but that the horse having no means of throwing off the morbid matter by expectoration, as is the case with us, Nature, in her strong and inexplicable efforts for relief, propels the putrid discharge through the nostrils of the animal; whereas with the HUMAN FRAME, the wasting of the lungs passes through, and is discharged by, the mouth; and this, to the experienced practitioner, and learned inquirer, will hold forth the most unequivocal and satisfactory proof, that the GLANDERS is a virulent CONSUMPTION of THE LUNGS, by the corrosive property of which discharge (become inveterate) the glandular passages are proportionally affected.

Much judicious observation, and professional knowledge, is requisite to discriminate between this disease, and others bearing a part of its appearances: many horses are too hastily deemed GLANDERED, which are not so; and others as ignorantly said to be labouring under A COLD, and its consequence, till a whole stable has been affected, and every horse lost. The distinguishing traits are a discharge from one or both nostrils, of a viscid, slimy, and foetid matter, having a kind of greasy tinge upon the surface: it is glutinous in its property, hanging to, and becoming dry and barky, upon the internal edges of the nostrils: it is white at the beginning, and grows darker in proportion to the duration and inveteracy of the disease; it becomes yellow, ash-colour, green, and lastly, tinged with blood, at which time, as well as before, it is dreadfully offensive: previous to this stage, indurated tumefactions have taken place under the jaws, the frame is daily more and more emaciated, the eyes sink gradually in their orbits, the appetite totally ceases, the body becomes almost motionless, seeming a mere lifeless trunk, till it falls to the ground a mass of perfect putrefaction.

GNAWPOST

—was a country PLATE HORSE of some celebrity, winning several for some years in succession. He was bred by Mr. Shaftoe; was foaled in 1767; and got by Snap out of Miss Cranbourne, who was got by the Godolphin Arabian, and bred by the then great Duke of Cumberland.

GOLDFINDER

;—the name of one of the molt valuable and successful horses ever bred or trained in this kingdom: he beat nearly every horse of his time, and won almost every stakes he started for. He was bred by Mr. Shaftoe; foaled in 1764; got by Snap; dam by Blank; grand-dam by Regulus, and the six preceding generations by Arabians, Barbs, and Turks, up to the natural Barb mare, constituting one of the richest pedigrees in the annals of RACING BLOOD.

GODOLPHIN ARABIAN

—was the property of Lord Godolphin, and produced more capital winners as A STALLION, than any horse that covered before his time in this kingdom. His progeny became equally eminent as stallions, to the whole of which are we principally indebted for the unprecedented eminence and superiority of the various studs so plentifully established in different parts of the country. He was the sire of Cade, Regulus, Blank, Babraham, Bajazet, and a long list of et ceteras. See Barbs.

"GONE AWAY!"

—is the exhilarating communicative HOLLOA! from one sportsman to another in STAG or FOX hunting, when the game breaks from large coverts, and goes away; at which time, if it was not for this friendly rule, invariably observed, those who happen to be up the wind, would be inevitably thrown out, and the hounds have got miles, before the most distant part of the field knew any thing of the matter. To prevent the mortifying probability of which, those nearest the chace and the hounds, instantly vociferate the enlivening signal of, "GONE AWAY!". This being repeated by the next in succession, it is re-echoed by a third, and so on till it vibrates through the whole chain; and it must be acknowledged, there is not a more gratifying moment in the progress of a chase, than to see the distant effort of every individual, to recover his lost ground, and get in with the hounds.

GORGED

;—the common and vulgar term for swelled legs, when their enlarged and distended state has been occasioned more by severe and hard work, than the effect of HUMOURS originating in a fizey or morbid state of the blood. A horse having his back sinews flushed, and legs thickened, so as to go short and stiff in action, but not broken down, is said to be gorged. Having the same appearances from humours, or a viscidity of the blood, he is then said to be foul, and must be relieved by PURGATIVES or DIURETICS, assisted by a great deal of hand-rubbing and regular friction. Gorged horses should be blistered, and turned out in time, by which they frequently get fresh again: continued at work too long, they break down, and become cripples.

GOULARD

.—The article so well known by this name, and so constantly brought into use upon many emergencies, is the EXTRACT of LEAD; which is prepared by, and may be obtained of, almost every druggist in the kingdom. Its excellent properties are universally admitted as a CORROBORANT, a REPELLENT, a SOLVENT, and an almost infallible remedy in well-proportioned topical applications to inflammations, strains, bruises, or recent tumefactions: but some degree of professional knowledge, and experimental practice, is necessary to insure a probable certainty of effect. Upon the first discovery of this article, it was brought into use in very small quantities, and a teaspoonful or two only were directed to be added to a quart of spring water, which was then termed Vegeto Mineral Water, and in certain cases (particularly of the eyes) looked up to as A SPECIFIC. Long experience, and attentive observation, have, however, justified its utility in much larger proportions, particularly with HORSES; where, in severe strains, or long-standing lamenesses, less than four ounces to a pint of CAMPHORATED spirits cannot be brought into use with any expectation of success.——As a mild repellent to SWELLINGS, BRUISES, WARBLES, &c. two ounces of the extract, two ounces of camphorated spirits, and a pint of water, will be a proper proportion. In defluxions and inflammation of the eyes, one ounce of each, with a pint and half of water, will be found a very useful composition.

GOURDINESS

—is another rustic or provincial term for SWELLED LEGS, but of a different description, implying the kind of dropsical laxity of the SOLIDS, submitting to pressure, and recovering from its indentation when the pressure is removed. This kind of swelling is a gradual approach to the disorder called GREASE, at which it will soon arrive, if not counteracted speedily, by such EVACUANTS and ALTERATIVES as may be thought most applicable to the case.

GRASS

—is that well-known produce of the earth, which is the proper food for horses in a state of NATURE, EASE, and INDOLENCE; but not of sufficient nutritive property for horses engaged in either SEVERE, LABORIOUS, or ACTIVE exertions. Horses taken up from grass, and put suddenly to work, labour under an immediate and perceptible disquietude; the contents of the intestines are soon evacuated in a STATE of LAXITY, the frame displays a profusion of FOUL and FŒTID PERSPIRATION, the body bespeaks its own DEBILITY, and the perseverance of a few days demonstrates its EMACIATION. To horses having been whole months in constant use and work, alternately accustomed to diurnal drudgery, and the routine of the manger, GRASS, with its conjunctive LIBERTY, must prove a sweet, a comfortable, a proper, and a healthy change: it not only, by its own attenuating property, proportionally alters the PROPERTY of the BLOOD, but affords, by the comforts of EASE and EXPANSION, a renovation of elasticity and vigour to the relaxed sinews, the exhausted spirits, and the battered frame.

To the penurious and the unfeeling (equally insensible) it is sufficient, that a horse, worn to the bone with constant work, and want of food, is "TURNED TO GRASS" in the winter, when there is none to be eaten; or during the months of July and August, when a horse loses more FLESH by persecution from flies (if not well protected by shade, accommodated with plenty of water, and an equal plenty of grass) than he can acquire by any advantage arising from LIBERTY alone; which some people seem to conceive all that is required, and that the poor animal, Camelion like, "can live upon the air." It should be recollected, that in the animal oeconomy, substance only can beget substance, (see Aliment;) and no horse will be likely to accumulate flesh, or become FAT, whose means of living are poor.

Impoverished rushy moors, and lank half-rotten autumn grass, (particularly after wet summers,) will prove much more likely to produce DISEASE, than produce CONDITION. Those who turn out horses to grass with a cough upon them, particularly if from a WARM STABLE in a cold season, may expect to take them up with a short, husky, laboured asthmatic increase of the original complaint, or with tubercles formed upon the lungs; and those who turn out in the winter season, with a hope of obtaining the cure of CRACKED HEELS, or SWELLED LEGS, may probably take up with a confirmed GREASE, particularly if the constitution should lean a little to blood, and pedigree of that description.

The utility and advantages of physic were never better understood, or more clearly ascertained, than at the present moment of general improvement: experienced sportsmen, and rational observers, however doubtful they may have been, are now convinced of its propriety, and never deviate from its practice. They invariably cleanse at the end of the HUNTING SEASON, and repeat the ceremony after taking their horses up from grass, previous to getting them into condition. Let those who doubt the consistency, try the experiment, and they will be soon convinced, how little one will be enabled to stand a WINTER'S WORK with the other.

GRAVELLED

.—A horse is said, by the lower classes, to be GRAVELLED, when broken particles of flints, or small pebbles, are insinuated between the outer SOLE of the FOOT and the WEB of the SHOE. This injury is seldom sustained, but where the shoe is formed too flat upon the inner surface, (without its proper protecting concavity,) when pressing too close, whatever extraneous substance gains admission, is there confined, and, from the stricture, has no possible chance of extrication. The degree of pain, or tenderness, depends entirely upon the mildness or severity of the case, and the length of its duration. The road to relief is the same; the shoe should be tenderly taken off, by one nail at a time, in preference to tearing it off by main and sudden force, (according to custom;) the sole should be well fomented with good hot milk and water, then covered with an EMOLLIENT POULTICE of linseed powder, milk, and two table spoonsful of olive oil, letting the same be repeated daily, till the inflammation has subsided, and the tenderness gone off; when the bottom of the hoof may be hardened by two or three applications of a sponge dipt in vinegar boiling hot before THE SHOE is replaced.

GREASE

.—The GREASE is a disorder particularly affecting the CART or DRAFT HORSES of this country, but is seldom or rarely observed amongst horses of a superior description: its seat is cutaneous, and it first discovers itself by a stagnation of the fluids, and as consequent inflammatory enlargement above and about the fetlock, attended with pain and stiffness, more or less, according to the state of the subject, or the severity of the attack. If proper means are not immediately taken, and judiciously persevered in, a degree of virulence, much trouble, and tedious attendance, unavoidably ensue. The skin, by its preternatural distension, soon assumes a greasy kind of transparency, having an irregular scaly appearance upon the surface, from whence (particularly when put into action) exudes a thin oily ICHOR, which, when become of long duration, is frequently tinged WITH BLOOD, but always of a filthy unctuous property, and greasy to the touch.

As it advances in unrestrained progress, it increases the growth of the hoof around THE CORONET, rendering it of a soft, spongy, and diseased appearance: by the corrosive and foetid property of the discharge, it soon affects and putrifies THE FROG, which it centrically corrodes, and lays the foundation of CANKER in the FOOT. As it becomes more inveterate, so it proportionally extends itself, and affects the surrounding parts; the small apertures from whence the ferous ichor originally oozed, now become malignant ULCERS, intersected by warty excrescences, and watery bladders of a poisonous appearance. Arrived by length of time, want of care, and probably by the use of improper medicines, or injudicious treatment, at this its second stage, it assumes a more formidable appearance, and every symptom, as well as the limb, continues to increase: what were before only CADAVEROUS ULCERS, now become (in a partial degree) barky eschars, intermixed with growing tetters, from amidst which trickles down, in smoaking heat, the acrimonious sanies, or corrupted matter, which seems to excoriate as it passes, and soon deprives the part of hair; the little that is left serving only as so many conductors, from whence flows in streams the morbid matter, now become so truly offensive, that a horse, in such state, should be separated from others, lest fumes so incredibly noxious should, from the miasma, lay the foundation of disease with horses perfectly sound.

The GREASE may originate in either an INTERNAL or an external cause; as well as be transmitted by hereditary taint (of SIRE or DAM) from one generation to another. An impure and acrimonious state of the blood, unattended to till it has acquired morbid malignity, must display itself in some part; and with horses of the kind described, it generally appears in the extremities, where the CIRCULATION is languid, and the least able to make RESISTANCE. Horses too long continued in MOORS of long lanky grass, intermixed with rushes, or in MARSHY MEADOWS of a swampy soil, where, in the dreary months of autumn and WINTER, their heels are never dry for weeks together, is a very probable foundation of permanent GREASE, or some other CHRONIC complaint, the original cause of which is seldom adverted to, perhaps never recollected. Cutaneous disorders not properly eradicated by MERCURIALS or ANTIMONIALS, but injudiciously thrown upon the circulation by REPELLENTS; the sudden absorption of a plentiful flow of milk, when a colt is taken from the dam; an extreme plethora, with a fizey viscidity of the blood; or any of those causes which too much relax the texture of THE SOLIDS, or impoverish and stagnate THE FLUIDS, may be more immediately or remotely productive of this disease.

External causes also frequently give rise to its appearance; a sudden check to perspiration by change of weather, or change of situation, from one stable to another; or from either to the external air, by turning out to grass from a warm and comfortable stable, unfavourably followed by a succession of cold nights, bleak winds, and rainy weather; washing the heels in hard well water after profuse perspiration; standing too constantly upon stale and filthy dung, for days and nights, impregnated with urine, so evidently prejudicial to the feet and frogs. Horses fed upon grains are remarked to be much subject to the disorder in a slight degree, and this tendency is probably strengthened by a want of cleanly attention, or a little assistance from medicinal counteraction.

Much mischief is frequently occasioned by the rash and injudicious interposition of some illiterate practitioner, who, with a degree of self-cunning, (peculiar to professional ignorance,) piques himself upon the superiority of his art, and confidently proceeds to oppose the predominant efforts which Nature has been induced to make for her OWN RELIEF. Influenced by the deceptive impression of imaginary success, he begins with mild repellents, drying washes, sharp waters, strong astringents, then styptics, and lastly MERCURIAL or VITRIOLIC caustics and escharotics, where having reached the utmost extent of his fertile faculties, he is surprized, but not MORTIFIED, at finding what he erroneously thought a remedy has proved TEN TIMES WORSE than the original disease. The Grease, upon its first appearance, is, by a proper course of medicine, and judicious management, very easily subdued, and radically cured. In its second stage, great PATIENCE and PERSEVERANCE is required; and no expence should be spared, or necessary means omitted. In the third and last, DEATH is preferable to any attempt at cure.

GREY

.—The COLOUR of a HORSE is so called, where dark-coloured or BLACK hairs are proportionally intermixed with WHITE: some of those are beautifully mottled upon the rump, down the hind quarters, and across the gaskins, and are then called DAPPLED GREYS. It is admitted by the old proverb, and verified by all opinions, that "a GOOD horse can never be of a BAD colour:" there is, however, an exception to the adage, in a white or a light grey; for, by laying down with the hind quarter, on one side or the other, in the dung newly fallen, it is no uncommon thing to have a daily washing, and drying, before a horse of such colour can be taken out of the stable either to WORK or to EXERCISE.

GREYHOUND

.—The particular species of DOG passing under the denomination of greyhound, was formerly called GAZEHOUND, and is at the present day more universally known by the appellation of LONG DOG in many parts of the kingdom. The breed has been at all times carefully cultivated by the lovers of coursing, but has never been brought to so great a degree of enthusiastic perfection, as since the establishment of the different COURSING CLUBS and SOCIETIES in Norfolk, Essex, Berkshire, and the Flixton Wolds of Yorkshire. The members of each have, with an unremitting perseverance, endeavoured to excel each other with an unalloyed spice of SPORTING EMULATION: the late Lord Orford; the Marquis of Townsend; Colonel Thornton, of Thornville Royal; Major Topham, of the Wolds, and the Reverend H. Bate Dudley, of the Bradwell and Tillingham Club, in Essex, are those who have excelled every competitor, and improved the breed to the highest possible state of perfection.

Czarina was bred by the late Lord Orford; Jupiter and Claret, by Colonel Thornton; Snowball, by Major Topham; Miller, by the Reverend H. B. Dudley; and Schoolboy, by the celebrated Mr. (Vauxhall) Clarke. Czarina, the grand-dam of Snowball, was purchased at the late Lord Orford's sale by Colonel Thornton, with an intent to improve the breed, in which he was not disappointed. She won FORTY-SEVEN matches in Norfolk, Wiltshire, and Yorkshire, and never was beat. She displayed no signs of producing progeny till thirteen years old, when she brought forth eight whelps, got by Jupiter, who all lived, and ran in high form.

Snowball was got by Claret, (one of the eight whelps of Czarina,) and supposed to be, taken "for all in all," the surest dog to kill and take up that ever ran. He won FOUR CUPS, COUPLES, and upwards of thirty matches; one of which was so severe, that his opponent (a dog of Mr. Plumer's) died immediately after the course. Claret was got by young Jupiter, out of old Czarina; he challenged all Yorkshire, which was twice accepted; one match he won; and received forfeit for the other.

That truly celebrated dog, the Miller, was so large, awkward, and clumsey, when a puppy, that he had been nearly thrown aside, and not thought worthy of being brought into the field; but a friend of Mr. Dudley's having borrowed him, took him to the Marshes at St. Osyth, where, at only twelve months old, he won several matches in one day against the best dogs in the field. Having thus accidentally ran himself into reputation, he was, at his return, introduced to more powerful, at least more popular, opponents, where, however, he for SEVEN YEARS maintained his superiority, during SEVENTY-FOUR successive MATCHES, without having been beaten. He is at present a stallion in great estimation, as all the stock he has yet produced are excellent runners.

Schoolboy was of great celebrity; he was bred by Sir C. Bunbury, and got by Dr. Frampton's Fop, out of Sir Charles's Miss: he ran a great number of MATCHES for very considerable sums, particularly over Newmarket, and never was beat. Several of his get have been sold for twenty guineas each, as Troy, Traveller, and Lilly; all very good runners.

Mr. Daniel, who, in his "Rural Sports," has given most beautiful and admirably executed portraits of Czarina, Maria, Venus, and Claret, engraved by Scott, has also introduced the following, as a criterion of comparative speed between the race-horse and the greyhound. "A match was to have been run over Doncaster course, in the December of 1800, for one hundred guineas; but one of the horses having been drawn, a mare started alone, to make good the bet, and, after having gone the distance of about a mile, a greyhound bitch started from the side of the course, and ran with her the other three miles, keeping nearly head to head, which produced a singular race; and when they reached the distance post, five to four was betted on the GREYHOUND; when they came to the stand, it was even betting; but the mare won by about a head."

A variety of singular occurrences respecting the invincible ardour and velocity, as well as persevering fortitude, of greyhounds, might be introduced, but a few must suffice. In February, 1800, a brace of GREYHOUNDS coursed a hare upwards of four miles in a straight line from where she was found, (exclusive of turns,) when she ran herself dead before she was touched by the dogs.

A famous dog of the Reverend Mr. Corsellis, who chanced to be wind-bound at Dover, coursed a hare, who had beat a variety of pursuers in that neighbourhood, when the dog proved so superior to her in speed, and pressed her so close, that she ran immediately for the cliff, as her only chance of escaping; but the greyhound threw at, and caught her at the brink, going with her in his mouth to the bottom of the precipice, where they were literally dashed to pieces. In 1797, a brace of greyhounds coursed a hare over the edge of a chalk-pit, at Offham, in Sussex, and both hare and dogs were found dead at the bottom. In December, 1794, a company of gentlemen were coursing at Finchingfield, in Essex, when a hare was started, and a brace of greyhounds starting from two different points, ran against each other with so much violence that they both died on the spot.

The greyhound is always mild and inoffensive, and his fidelity cannot be better described than in the words of the unfortunate Charles I. who said, amidst his courtiers, during his troubles, that "the GREYHOUND had all the good-nature of the SPANIEL, without his fawning."

.—The disorder this term is meant to imply, is more properly distinguished by the appellation of INFLAMMATORY CHOLIC, and is much more painful and dangerous than that species of intestinal complaint known by the name of FLATULENT CHOLIC, or FRET. The inflammatory cholic, or GRIPES, proceeds from a painful obstruction in the intestines, occasioned by an accumulation of indurated excrement, which must be mollified, and removed, before EASE can be obtained. In cases of this kind, no time should be lost, the intestines being preternaturally distended beyond the original intention of Nature, the pain is most excruciating, the state of the animal dreadful; and, unless relief is very speedily procured, INFLAMMATION of the BOWELS immediately comes on, MORTIFICATION follows, and DEATH ensues.

GROGGY

—is a knowing term, peculiar to the lower order of stabularian and horse-dealing gentry, and implies a tenderness and defect in action, either from a CHEST or FOOT FOUNDER, or an injury sustained in the back sinews, as mentioned under the head Gorged. Horses of this description, although they come apparently crippled out of the stable, yet, when the circulation is increased by action, and the stiffness gone off as the perspiration comes on, their exertion is incredible, and their endurance of fatigue beyond conception. These are the kind of horses by which the inferior kind of JOBBERS obtain a livelihood, in supplying the POST-WORK upon the roads, and the HACKNEY COACH-MASTERS of the Metropolis.

GROOM

—is the appellation by which a person is known who is a complete and perfect master of every part of stable discipline; if he is not so, it is a prostitution of the word to admit the term; and in any other point of view, he can rank in no other degree than a common stable-boy. The qualifications necessary to form A GROOM of superior excellence, are almost as numerous and distinguishing as those admitted to be requisite for the formation of a MINISTER of STATE: obedience, fidelity, patience, mildness, diligence, humanity, and honesty, are equally indispensible; without the whole of which, he may be entitled to the denomination of a strapper in a stable-yard; but will never prove worthy to be thought A GROOM.

If a groom is judicious, honest, and industrious, intending DUTY to his MASTER, and justice to himself, he will never be prevailed upon to undertake more than he can perform: the MASTER who wishes it, will always be instrumental to his own deception and disappointment. Those who expect GROOMS to dress hair, as well as their horses; or to leave the latter wet and dirty, or half dressed, in the stable, while they dance attendance at the back of the chair, during the hour of dining, must be content to see their horses in equal condition with those of the DANCING, MUSIC, and DRAWING MASTERS, so frequently seen, in all weathers, standing the disconsolate hour, at different doors, in almost every respectable street of the Metropolis.

The department in which A GROOM is placed, if the stud is valuable, must always be considered an office of very considerable trust; where great confidence is placed on ONE SIDE, and strict integrity should be observed on THE OTHER. It is upon the sobriety, steadiness, and invariable punctuality, of the groom, that the HEALTH, SAFETY, and CONDITION, of every horse depends; and by his incessant attention only can they be insured. Grooms (at least those completely qualified to be termed so) are men who, from the arduous talk they stand engaged in, the variegated nature of their servitude, and the property entrusted to their care, lay claim, and are entitled to, (their sobriety, steadiness, fidelity, and punctuality, once established,) all the equitable pecuniary compensation, and personal kindness, their employers can possibly bestow.

Grooms and coachmen, deprived of free agency by their situation in life, and doomed to eat the bread of DEPENDENCE, exist to act solely upon compulsion; they receive (sometimes the most supercilious) injunctions only to obey, and are not permitted the privilege of either remonstrance or expostulation. Tacitly submissive, they encounter the severity of the elements at all hours, and in all seasons; and what should more influence the reflecting mind in their favor, is, that when the inclemency of the weather compels the RICH and OPULENT to take shelter under the ROOF of HOSPITALITY, servants must bear the "pelting of the pitiless storm" unprotected; and when a satiety of pleasure drives the reluctant frame of their superiors to the downy pillow of nocturnal relief, their task as yet "is but half performed," and not unfrequently, till the broad sun serves only to remind them of a speedy renewal of their daily labour.

These observations are impartially introduced, to demonstrate their utility in the great scale of OPULENT SOCIETY, as well as to bring home to the reflection of the illiberal and penurious, palpable conviction how highly they stand entitled (upon many particular occasions, and distressing emergencies) to their salutary tenderness and kind consideration. It should be always held in remembrance by SUPERIORS, that the services are reciprocal; and that, in strict truth and candour, the obligation is no greater on one side than the other. Gratitude and AFFECTION is much more likely (in a good soil) to be excited by kindness than severity; and instances are very rare of a SERVANT'S fidelity having been obtained, or preserved, by the unkind treatment, or unjust rigidity, of the MASTER.

Grooms of a certain description are, in general, too much disposed to a degree of self-consequence, and studiously endeavour to obtain an ASCENDANCY in the stabularian department, to which, if the master imprudently and pusillanimously submits, he becomes in some degree a non-entity, and bids adieu to every particle of power upon his own premises. The groom once possessed of this power, and conscious of the ground he stands upon, becomes so confident of his own imaginary superiority, that the master is little more than an instrument of mere passive convenience; barely permitted to think, hardly presuming TO SPEAK, or, in fact, daring to obtrude an OPINION even where his own horses, their health, and safety, are concerned. Grooms, so long as they continue to execute the trust reposed in them with fidelity, that is, with care, kindness, punctuality, and attention to their HORSES, and a dutiful attachment to their employers, will ever find themselves respected; but when, from a false, ridiculous, and ill-founded confidence, they exceed the bounds of consistency, and go beyond their own sphere, in an affected knowledge of the PROPERTY of MEDICINE, QUACKING their masters' HORSES, and becoming self-coined Veterinarians, they, in the eye of every judicious observer, abandon their own merits, and render themselves objects of both pity and contempt.

This affectation of MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE is so very prevalent with stabularian gentlemen, that they support it with a great degree of irritable tenacity; and would sooner have even their HONESTY, than their medical ability called in question. To stem the torrent of this dangerous practice, should be the first principle, and persevering determination, of every GENTLEMAN, who expects to see his HORSES in good CONDITION, and his servants in a state of uniformity: and if he wishes to shield himself from mental disquietude, and his horses from perpetual persecution, he will lay a serious injunction, that no medicine, or nostrum, whatever, shall be administered to any horse or horses under the GROOM'S care, without the MASTER'S acquiescence first had and obtained.

If GENTLEMEN will condescend to give the subject a trifling consideration, they will instantly perceive, that the symptoms of disease, the state of the body, the languor or velocity of the circulation, and the property of the blood itself, must require a greater degree of SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION, than people of this description have the power of going into; from which palpable fact may be inferred, the sole reason why they so often miscarry in their experiments, and so frequently render that a matter of permanent difficulty, which, properly treated, would have proved no more than a mere temporary inconvenience.

Grooms (as well as Coachmen) should have it strongly impressed on their memory, and never lose sight of the reflection, that by a slight, or almost momentary, deviation from the line of rectitude, in either error, inattention, inadvertence, or neglect, injuries may be sustained that neither months or money can repair. Their minds should be always alive to the interest of their employers; they should, in all seasons (but more particularly in the colder months) have it in perpetual recollection, that COLDS are sooner caught than cured; that SWELLED LEGS, and CRACKED HEELS, are much easier obtained than obliterated; that LAMENESS (either by accident or indiscretion) is easier got than gotten rid of; and that bad eyes are much more frequently the effect of a careless or a malicious blow, than of "humours," to which they are upon all occasions so industriously attributed.

Colds and COUGHS are suddenly acquired, and by means at the time but little thought of, till the event first prompts, and then reproaches retrospection. A horse in fine condition, standing in a warm and comfortable stable when at home, is always liable to inconvenience abroad; accidentally exposed to a long, wet, and dirty journey, or a severe chase in sharp winds and unfavourable weather, with a cold and comfortless stable after either, he insures it almost to a certainty, without incessant care and unremitting circumspection. A horse after one or the other, should never be left one minute without the precaution of substantial and unwearied wisping, so long as a wet or damp hair is to be found about him. He should never be permitted to stand still in rain, even with HOUNDS, so great is the danger of throwing the perspirative matter suddenly upon the CIRCULATION; thereby constituting a sizey viscidity of the BLOOD, and laying the foundation of various diseases.

Horses kept in good style, should never have their customary cloathing reduced, but with the strictest care and attention: the internal air of a stable should be regulated, and its temperature equally preserved entirely by the state of the season, (or, in other words, by the SEASON of the YEAR;) and external air should never be additionally admitted in cold and chilling winds, but with the greatest circumspection; as it is to be remembered, it is not the admission of such air in itself alone, by which the injury is sustained, but by the contrast it constitutes, when opposed to the previous warmth of the stable.

GROUSE

;—the name of a HORSE who promised much celebrity on the TURF. He was bred by the Duke of Grafton, and was got by Highflyer out of Georgina, who was got by Matchem, and was own sister to Conductor. He was foaled in 1790; and at three years old beat Monkey, Silver, Tick, Æacus, Agamemnon, Black Puss, Edwin, Rally, and Mr. Vernon's filly by Florizel out of Eve, three miles over the Beacon; but soon after falling lame, he became a STALLION in the Duke's possession, and having already produced Chuckle and First Fruits, both good runners, he is in considerable estimation, and will no doubt contribute to TURF STOCK with increasing reputation.

GROUSE, or RED GAME

,—that species of game for the protection of which the Legislature has provided, is a native inhabitant of HILLS and MOUNTAINS, difficult of access, and much more common to the remote than the centrical parts of the kingdom. They are beautiful in the variegations of their plumage, but inferior to the PHEASANT (particularly the cock) in both feather and size. They are included with PHEASANTS and PARTRIDGES in every act for the PRESERVATION of GAME; but differ individually in respect to the time limited for the commencement and termination of the shooting season.

It is enacted by the 13th George Third, c. lv. s. 2, That no person shall kill, destroy, carry, sell, buy, or have in his possession, any GROUSE, commonly called RED GAME, between the tenth day of December and the twelfth day of August in any year, upon pain of forfeiting, for the first offence, a sum not exceeding 20l. nor less than 10l. and for the second, and every subsequent offence, a sum not exceeding 30l. nor less than 20l. one moiety thereof to go to the informer, and the other moiety to the poor of the parish: and in case the penalty be not paid, and there be no distress to be had, the offender may be committed to prison, to be kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding SIX, nor less than THREE MONTHS.

And for the further preservation of both BLACK GAME and GROUSE, or RED GAME, it is enacted, That any person who shall, between the second day of February and the twenty-fourth day of June, in any year, burn any grig, ling, heath, furze, goss, or fern, on any mountains, hills, heaths, moors, forests, chases, or other wastes, shall be committed to the house of correction for any time not exceeding one month, nor less than ten days; there to be whipped, and kept to hard labour.

GUN

.—A GUN is that well-known instrument of pleasure used in the destruction of GAME, for the privilege of carrying which, its devotees voluntarily contribute so largely to the exigencies of State, and the support of Government. Fashion, that great centre of fluctuation, has in this, as in almost every thing else, wrought a very considerable change. Guns formerly in use for this purpose, were principally constructed from three feet eight and ten inches, to five and even six feet in the length of the barrel only; which, by the effect of constantly increasing ingenuity and persevering invention, are now reduced to a standard varying but little below two feet nine, or above three feet and an inch; these having been improved to such a degree of perfection, as to bring down a bird from FORTY to SIXTY yards distance; and at no greater would any SPORTSMAN wish to put a gun to his shoulder. Guns with longer barrels are generally appropriated to the killing of water fowl, and are called FOWLING-PIECES.

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