Viscount Helmsley, M.F.H.

Charles William Reginald Duncombe, Viscount Helmsley, was born on May 8th, 1879, in London. In due course he went to Eton, where he found his most congenial occupation on the river; he was one of the crew of the “Dreadnought,” a “lower” boat, and would probably have made his mark as an oarsman had health permitted; but, under medical advice, he was obliged to give up rowing. From Eton he went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he found time to officiate as whipper-in to the draghounds one season, and where he played a good deal of polo; he was a member of the University team for the two seasons 1900 and 1901. Indulgence in sport did not prevent his distinguishing himself in the schools, as witness his Honours degree in History before leaving.

After leaving Oxford he made a tour round the world, visiting India, Burmah, Ceylon, China, and Japan, and returning home through Canada. While in India he was fortunate enough to enjoy some tiger-shooting as the guest of the Maharajah of Kuch Behar, the keenest among native princes where big game is concerned.

On his return home Lord Helmsley made his entry into public life as Assistant Private Secretary to Lord Selborne, acting in that capacity from 1902 to 1904. He found time to hunt a good deal during this period, running down for week ends from London to Melton, whence he hunted about two days a week. He had been entered to hounds, when only six years old, with the Sinnington, and remembers being “blooded” by old Jack Parker, who for many years carried the horn, and was a famous character in Yorkshire. He was always devoted to hunting and had his full share of “spills” when, as a boy, he went out with hounds in the holidays; but tosses notwithstanding, he saw some great sport with the South Durham from Wynyard, and the Sinnington.

On Mr. Penn Sherbrooke’s resignation of the mastership of the Sinnington in 1904, Lord Helmsley was asked to succeed that gentleman. There were obvious and excellent reasons for his appointment; not only was the Viscount known as a keen sportsman, with a sound knowledge of foxhunting, but the Sinnington country includes the greater part of the large estates of the Earl of Feversham, whose grandson and heir Lord Helmsley is. Practically all the family property is hunted by the Sinnington, with the exception of part of the woodland districts which are within the borders of two neighbouring hunts—the Bilsdale and the Farndale. His family connection with the country, therefore, with his sporting qualifications, clearly indicated Lord Helmsley as the right man for the office; and the two seasons of his mastership have been conspicuously successful. The farmers in the Sinnington country are very keen about hunting, and they, the majority of them tenants of the Earl of Feversham, compose the field to a great extent. A good many of the Sinnington farmers are horse breeders; and still more of them make a business of buying young ones and making them for sale. Thus possessing a practical interest in sport to add to their natural appreciation of it they are to a man good fox-preservers and warm supporters of the Hunt.

The Sinnington consists of hill and vale country, and the former, locally called the “high” country, has been the scene of some very good runs during the past season. During the last fortnight they had an excellent day; two runs each of an hour, finishing with a kill in the open. Another run from Muscoates up to Rievaulx earlier in the season is also to be remembered. The Master was not out on the former day, being, unfortunately, detained by his recently adopted Parliamentary duties.

Lord Helmsley is very fond of shooting; he prefers grouse-driving to any other form of sport with the gun, and after that, walking up partridges. He is also a stalker.

He is not a great fisherman, but sometimes throws a fly on the Rye, which trout-stream runs through Duncombe Park. He has not played much polo since he left Oxford, having had many demands upon his time; and an occasional game is all he has been able to play during the last three seasons.

Lord Helmsley takes a great interest in every department of horse breeding, more especially in the breeding of hunters and polo ponies; he is greatly interested in the work of the Polo and Riding Pony Society. He represents the Thirsk and Malton Division of Yorkshire in the Conservative interest, having been elected at the General Election of 1906.

“When George the Third was King” used to be a favourite expression amongst my elders when I was a boy, as denoting the many wonderful events which occurred during the first twenty years of the last century, and which terminated that long and glorious reign. Since then the Victorian Era has come and gone, eclipsing in every way the glories of its longest predecessor, and handing down to this twentieth century a record which, as regards sport alone, is vastly in advance of all others, so much so that although we of the elder generation naturally are wont to enlarge occasionally on the greatness of the past, it has to be admitted in our candid moments that our ideas and ideals have been swept away, and can never again be used, except as ancient milestones on the road to Parnassus.

It would seem, however, that thus early in our twentieth century it is destined that a halt should be cried. The why and the wherefore of which it is not befitting that your pages should discuss, except in its one aspect, that of sport, yet, in truth, even sport cannot wholly be dissevered from the growth of democracy, which, for good or evil, has come like a March wind, untempered by sunshine, obliterating bright prospects of spring and summer happiness, foreboding a season of disappointment.

We many of us remember when on the last Tuesday in May, the Prime Minister rising in his place in Parliament moved the adjournment of the House of Commons over the Derby day, and the motion was agreed to nem. con. Our annual classic race at Epsom was a recognised holiday for our legislators. Lord Palmerston was never happier than when, as Premier, he was shaking off the cobwebs of office on this occasion; his horses more than once being competitors in the great race, and once he was second for it. Lord Derby also led his faithful Commons to Epsom, and almost carried off the Blue Ribband. Lord Beaconsfield, when Mr. Disraeli, followed the same practice, and I think it was Mr. Gladstone who first encountered dissentients to this motion. At first the minority of “noes” was an insignificant one, yet it grew, and Gladstone himself not being a sportsman, he soon gave way, and joined the “noes.” Thus the House of Commons has long come to disregard the call of “off to the Derby!” and who in the present Parliament would be bold enough to even raise the question?

In France the President of the Republic leads the way in pompous style to see the great Prix de Paris contested, and most popularly is he welcomed there by citizens of all classes. Why have we as a national community fallen away from a traditional custom?

More Parliamentary days are wasted in almost useless discussion than were wont to be claimed and given to this one day of distinguished sport. Our Gracious King is always present, the noblest patron of all. He must feel the enforced absence of his elected legislators. Painful as it is to admit the fact, we are now, nationally, handed over to people who not only decry sport, but rejoice in its possible overthrow. Some call them “faddists,” but they are worse, they are, many of them, at heart socialists—social democrats, whose aim and object it is to crush or set at naught the pleasures of those whom they are pleased to think are the class that stand between them and the enjoyment of advantages which all should enjoy alike, whether they have legitimately become entitled to them or not.

I am not going to dissect this problem any deeper. It is far too nasty a job for any one except a professional politician to attempt, but in order to prove our case let us see what are the component parts of the present House of Commons as regards sport.

There is only one member of the Cabinet who is a member of the Jockey Club—the Earl of Crewe—as against four in the last ministry.

There is only one Member of Parliament who is also a member of the Jockey Club, and he is Mr. C. D. Rose, representing the Newmarket Division.

There are only eleven Members of Parliament, as far as I can ascertain, who are owners of racehorses, and they are Colonel Hall Walker, Lord Dalmeny, Sir S. Scott, Mr. F. Lambton, Sir J. Jardine, Mr. G. H. Faber, Mr. C. D. Rose, Mr. Bottomley, Mr. E. Lamb, Mr. J. W. Phillips and Mr. John Barker. Hunting testifies to its popularity in spite of the change of opinions which have come over us. There are four M.F.H., in the assembly—Mr. Lane Fox, Lord Helmsley, Mr. Pike Pease and Mr. D. Davies—and four ex-M.F.H., in Lord Valentia, Colonel Legge, Mr. Rowland Hunt, and Mr. Vaughan Davies, backed up by at least a dozen well-known hunting men, such as Lord Castlereagh, Sir P. Muntz, Messrs. Mildmay, Tomkinson, Brocklehurst and Butcher, Sir Clement Hill, Mr. Long and Mr. Meysey Thompson; and, en passant, we can congratulate ourselves on the fact that in the hunting field all political opinions are forgotten, and that, although hunting M.P.’s so often vote in opposite lobbies they are none the less of one opinion as regards hunting.

Cricket seems poorly represented, although we find a Hornby or a Cobbold on the roll. For fishermen we will not answer, and of golfers there are galore—every man that has arms and legs in these days essays golf. It is alluring and easy until you try to excel in it—then follows disappointment. Probably I am old-fashioned, but I hang lovingly to the test of a public school education when seeking for reliable men, whatever be their walk in life. In classing them, this standard, to my thinking, comes before that of the Universities. Taking this test, I find Eton men in the House number 73, Harrow 21, Rugby 18, Cheltenham 9, Marlborough 7, Winchester 6, Charterhouse 4, Shrewsbury, Wellington and Repton, 2 each. Allowing for a few more men that claim their place as public school men at the smaller schools, we may take it that less than 200 of the total 670 members are public school men. This is not the worst point of our analysis in seeking for the germs of sport in our present House of Commons, for there are sixteen members who claim to be self-taught. In their case they must have either been beyond the age of boyhood before compulsory school education became law, or the school attendance officers must have, in their cases, neglected their duties—and yet these men, whose names it will serve no good purpose to give in these pages, have no mean influence in the Council of the Empire to-day.

If we made a comparison on the same lines between the Parliament of 1900 and the present one of 1906, I fear that our figures would tell of a disastrous change in the whilom aristocracy of the House of Commons. It has been called a billycock House, but, forsooth, it is only by its actions that we must judge it; and let us hope that its bark will be worse than its bite when the realm of sport is on the tapis. If only the present Parliament would approach legislation on sport without malice, we are far from thinking that they may not be benefactors to its true interests, and they may dare to attack abuses which our friends would let severely alone. For instance, why should they not put down their foot on spurious sports, if it so pleases them? So many self-styled sportsmen are trying to spoil sport by artificial means—hunting, shooting and coursing semi-tame animals, and calling it sport. We, in my humble judgment, have the greatest need to uphold true, honest, genuine sport rather than its counterfeits, which only go to make our enemies blaspheme at us with some cause. Perhaps I shall be electrocuted for saying that the days of the carted deer are numbered, and that the trapped pigeon and bagged rabbit should be done away with.

Probably still more dreadful things will happen to me if I say that Dives, who turns his farms into pheasantries and his uplands into hare or rabbit warrens, should be liable for the waste thus created of what would otherwise be profitable to mankind; and should pay rates accordingly, and damage to tenants who took their holdings without the knowledge of the use to which their land, or that adjoining them, would be put.

It may also strike them that the gambling laws may be reasonably amended in such a way as to make betting profitable to the State, as it is now in almost every other country in Europe, as well as in the Colonies, and at the same time to do away with the evil and temptation which besets the working man in what is termed street betting.

To abolish betting altogether, as some faddists would have you attempt, is known by all practical people to be impossible. You may just as well pass a law to close the Stock Exchange, and all the other Exchanges, and make contracts in “futures” illegal. To abolish bookmakers or betting on the “nod,” as it is termed, or not permit it anywhere except on a racecourse under certain conditions, would be a reformation of which even the most Radical Government might be proud, and at the same time add to the prosperity of the country by compelling a percentage on all betting transactions to be paid over to the Board of Agriculture and the Local Government Board in equal proportions, for the benefit of the stock breeders and the poor of the country. This sum would amount to at least a million in the year, and would come out of the pockets of the wealthy and the unthrifty, without any injury to the State—as has been proved in the practice of the system of the Totaliser or Pari mutuel in other countries. I have more than once ventilated this subject in your pages, and it has been discussed and advocated in the Press, although, as yet, the country at large does not appear to appreciate its importance, and very few Members of Parliament have given it a serious thought. There seems to be a holy horror of legalising betting, of which this savours, and this seems to make it impracticable; yet many good and wise people seem to forget that betting is not in itself illegal, and never has been so. The system which we advocate would make no difference in the law. It would only regulate it, with immense advantage to the State and the community.

Parliament very strictly regulates the drink traffic, and I have never, for the life of me, understood why it should not in a similar way regulate the betting business, because it appears to me that they stand on the same footing from a moral and legal standpoint.

However, I fear this subject will descend on deaf ears at Westminster at the present crisis, where anything in the nature of sport is likely to be tabooed, if possible, unless the independent party choose to take it up, in defiance of the somewhat elastic consciences of many of their confrÈres.

It is, nevertheless, a fact which no Government or Parliament can lose sight of, that sport plays an important part in Great Britain’s life as a nation; and that any serious interference with its material interests will be detrimental to the country, and if attempted will be seriously resented by the people in the future. Let us trust, therefore, that although we now deplore the absence from the House of Commons of so many men whose friendship to sport could be reckoned upon, yet that there are sufficient left to ensure an absence of legislation which will be inimical to the true sporting instincts of the people.

Perhaps the moment is hardly auspicious for dealing with the present subject, when the very word “education” has the ring of a challenge, but happily the Public Schools remain in a kind of secluded backwater, sheltered from the whirling eddies of political strife. Rightly or wrongly, they hold a sort of privileged position which no Government is likely to assail. In speaking of “education” at the Public Schools we employ the word in its widest significance, being not merely the assimilation by the boy of so many facts and figures, but his mental, moral and physical training. These three branches of a boy’s education are so closely connected together, acting and reacting on each other so continually that it is difficult to deal with them separately.

The first and foremost care of the school—the one in which it takes most pride—is the “tone” of its members. This word serves to describe the general behaviour and opinions of the boys, their religious beliefs, relations to their masters and to one another, the ideals, aspirations and traditions which every school holds dear.

When a boy goes to his Public School for the first time, he is overawed by the mass of customs and unwritten laws which insist upon his doing one thing and forbid him to do another. Although some of them may strike him as absurd, being merely survivals of a practice of which the use no longer exists, he will come to learn that the life of a school is bound up in its traditions, and will cherish them accordingly. He will first discover that the home estimate and school estimate of his capacities are very different, that he is, in fact, a nonentity. When he has recovered from the shock of this discovery, he will set himself to find out—or more probably he will learn instinctively—what is or is not sanctioned by the public opinion of the school, what he may do or say. As the “tone” of the place largely depends upon the discipline, which is shared by the masters with the bigger boys, who—from their position in the school or from their athletic and other qualifications—are chosen as prÆfects, monitors or prÆpostere, it is easy to perceive how essentially bound up together are these various branches of school training.

As regards education in its more restricted sense, many would have us believe that too great prominence is given to games, and that the school-boy’s great ambition is to get into the Eleven or Fifteen, whilst success at work is, in his opinion, of very secondary importance. It is argued—with some justification—that it is of no use in the battle of life to be a good cricketer or a good footballer; that education needs to be more practical and scientific; that it must, in fact, move with the times; and although it may be highly edifying to be able to write good Latin verses, or to read Greek plays at sight, such things have little real value in the twentieth century. Shakespeare, indeed, tells us that he had “small Latin and no Greek,” yet his education does not seem to have materially suffered. It may be of more practical use to a boy to have a thorough knowledge of French and German, for example—a knowledge which may be more easily acquired by a sojourn of two or three years in France or Germany—than the somewhat elementary acquaintance with the Classics which frequently represents the sum total of school education; but to say that the British boy—as boy—would be improved by spending the last two or three years of his school-life abroad is something amounting to sacrilege. It must not be forgotten that at all the big Public Schools there is an adequate “Army Side,” where boys are coached for Woolwich or Sandhurst; here, at least, the teaching is eminently practical for the end in view. There is, moreover, a “Modern” or “Civil Side,” where the theoretical work is often supplemented by practical work in the laboratories and workshops. Those parents, therefore, who cavil at the classical education, have only to put their boys on the Modern side, where the time devoted to Classics is more in proportion to the other subjects.

In the matter of education, the Public Schools labour under this disadvantage, that the parents have frequently not decided what their boy is to be, or what particular line his studies are to follow. Most parents are naturally anxious that the boy should choose his own career for himself, whilst the majority of boys are quite unable to do any such thing, never quite knowing their own mind for more than two days together. But in these days of competition it is essential that a boy should specialise, almost from the beginning; and the sooner his mind is made up, either by himself or by those responsible for him, the better it will be for his studies. It is no uncommon thing for a boy to learn Greek for a few terms, then drop it and go on the Modern side, and subsequently take it up again in order to pass Responsions or Little Go, after which he frequently drops it again. The human faculty of forgetting being far more highly developed than the power of remembering, it is obvious that this sort of “see-saw” learning can have little educational value, but it is through no fault of the Public Schools that such things occur. Most parents are convinced that their boy or boys must have a deal of latent talent, which they consider it the duty of the master to discover; hence, the latter are often faced with the problem of making bricks without straw, and the result is that the boy acquires a smattering of endless subjects without attaining a thorough knowledge of anything. If, on the other hand, the course of a boy’s studies has been decided upon, his mind need not be hampered with useless and imperfectly acquired information, and much valuable time can thus be devoted to the subjects which are necessary for his purpose. There are subjects, it is true, which do not seem to be of any practical value, yet which cannot well be dispensed with. Many boys cry out about geometry, for example, forgetful of the fact that this is a form of mental exercise which, in the majority of cases, must have the most beneficial effect, although they are glad enough to waste hours in the laboratories, doing what is euphemistically called “Practical Chemistry,” a branch of study to which the old adage about “a little knowledge” most emphatically applies. If it is intended that a boy shall follow a scientific career, let him, by all means, make a good use of the excellent laboratories which all the big schools possess; but for the ordinary boy it is advisable to limit his subjects as much as possible. There are subjects with which some boys can never grapple. It is useless, for example, for a boy who has no mathematical capacity to struggle with the difficulties of higher mathematics; and whereas one boy may have the “ear” for foreign languages, another is probably wasting his time in attempting to learn them. It is, therefore, advisable that as few subjects as possible should be made compulsory, and that a boy’s whole energy should be concentrated on those subjects for which he shows some aptitude or which are essential to the end he has in view; and that the system of general education—which theoretically develops the mind by a diversity of study, but which practically leaves the boy a “Jack of all trades, master of none”—should, in certain cases, give way to a more special treatment. This is not meant to advocate a system of cramming, which is foreign to the principles of the Public Schools, but is rather a suggestion that the system of education should be adapted to the somewhat limited capabilities of the average school-boy.

At most Public Schools a full day’s work is about six and a half or seven hours in school, with an hour or an hour and a half for preparation. At some schools, Harrow and Rugby, for example, all the boys are provided with studies, but at the majority of schools these are reserved for the privileged few. At Eton it has been the custom to divide the day’s work up into a variety of short periods, in order that boys may not be compelled to sit at their books for too long a time. This enables boys, for example, to play football in the morning, which is quite a common practice at some of the schools in Scotland, whilst at Winchester and Clifton football is played in the morning on whole school days; but the majority of schools prefer to break the back of the work before dinner. Wednesdays and Saturdays are usually half holidays, though Tuesday and Thursday are “half remedies” at Winchester, whilst Thursday is frequently a whole holiday at Harrow. At a few schools, red-letter Saints’ Days are observed as whole holidays. Sunday at the Public School is not a day of rest. Perhaps with the idea that the only way to keep boys out of mischief is to keep them employed, they do not have a great deal of time to themselves. It is no uncommon thing for boys to have Chapel three and, occasionally, four times on the Sunday, with a scripture lesson in the course of the day, whilst at some schools, where walks are permitted, the boys have frequently to return for “call-over” in the middle of the afternoon. The late headmaster of one of our greatest Public Schools stated that, although he had received many letters referring to the boys’ work and games, he had never had any with reference to religious training. This may have been due to indifference on the part of the parents, but more probably to the certain knowledge that there was no danger of this side of the boy’s education being neglected. Nearly every big school has its chapel. Rugby Chapel has been immortalised by Matthew Arnold, whilst many persons are familiar with the Chapel at Eton. Winchester Chapel, once a gem of Gothic architecture, has been deprived of almost every claim to beauty by the hand of the restorer. In the choir are the eighteen old “Miserere” seats, so contrived that, if the occupant went to sleep, they tilted over and deposited him on the ground. At Charterhouse the Chapel is built of white stone, like the rest of the school. The seats face north and south, and the choir seats are in the centre of the building, which is peculiar. Clifton College is very proud of the reredos in its chapel, which is a very fine mosaic. The first of the “School Laws” at Winchester refers to behaviour in Chapel:—

Deus colitor.—Worship God.

Preces cum pio animi affectu peraguntor.—Say your prayers in a pious frame of mind.

Oculi ne vagantor.—Let not your eyes wander about.

Silentium esto.—Keep silence.

Nihil profanum legitor.—Read nothing profane.

We thus see that the moral training of the boy is the first consideration at the Public School. Carlyle would have us believe that work is the only guarantee of happiness for a man, but for a boy it is different. He must have so many hours enjoyment every day to keep his mind and body in a healthy condition; and so it is that every Public School encourages and fosters those games and pastimes which take such a prominent place in our national life, and which contribute so enormously to the physique of our boys. Space, forbids anything but a passing mention of these games and customs, which play such an important part in the life of the English school-boy. Suffice it to notice that with the increased interest which has been taken in athletics and in the physical development of the boys, more attention has been bestowed upon their feeding and general health, and thus one of the greatest reproaches has been removed from the Public Schools. Nevertheless, the “tuck-shop” still figures large at most big schools, and the average boy prefers the dainties there supplied, however unwholesome, to the simple but wholesome food with which he is now provided. It is, however, worthy of notice that the “tuck-shop” has advanced with the times. At Harrow, hot sausages and boiled eggs are supplied, whilst at Haileybury loaves of bread, with the most delicious fresh butter, were obtainable. Except from the smaller boys, there is less demand for sweets and confections than there used to be. The old idea of large dormitories, with twenty or thirty boys in them, though it has much to recommend it from a disciplinary point of view, has generally given way to smaller rooms with three or four beds in them. Thus if any epidemic arises there is less fear of infection. At Harrow the boys sleep in their studies, the beds and bedsteads being folded back into a kind of cupboard during the day. At some schools boys are allowed to “brew” in their studies, which therefore may be differently regarded as workroom, bedroom, or kitchen, according to the hour of the day or the occupation of the owner.

In conclusion, it may be said that the average parent does not send his or her boy to school simply and solely to learn his books, but to make a man of him. It is this side of Public School education which calls forth our greatest admiration. The constant companionship of other boys, the hardening effect of games and sports, the observance of custom and the discipline of the school, these and other things help to rub the corners off a boy, to “lick him into shape,” and—if he has anything in him—to make a Briton of him. The Public Schools have justified their system of education in the past by the men whom they have educated and sent out into the world; and although they are, for the most part, very conservative bodies, they are doubtless fully alive to the needs of the moment, and will continue to perform their indispensable service to society by producing a class of men of which any nation might well be proud, with possibly, in the future, a little more practical knowledge than the majority of Public School boys have hitherto possessed.

A steeplechasing season somewhat lacking in interesting features has just about concluded at the time of writing. After the Liverpool Grand National the average racegoer says farewell to National Hunt racing with no poignant feelings of regret; but the season is by no means ended at that point for owners and others immediately concerned in steeplechase horses. The multitudinous Easter gatherings keep them tolerably busy, and jumpers which have gone the dreary round of the small winter meetings are brought out again in April and May in the hope of adding another race or two to the winning record. For the better-class horses there is the Manchester Meeting, with a stake second only in importance to the Grand National, while in Ireland steeplechasing cannot be counted as finished until the Punchestown Races have been run.

This season there was a fairly satisfactory influx of good-class flat-racers to the National Hunt arena, among them being Sandboy, Rydal Head, Amersham, Prince Royal, Vril, Lancashire, Therapia, and Crepuscule. In the long run, the action of the National Hunt Committee rather more than a year ago in raising the value of stakes at meetings claiming several dates on the fixture list, is bound to assist the progress of winter racing. Those who have read previous articles in these pages by the present writer will remember that he has invariably joined sides with those who advocate that no event under National Hunt Rules—with the exception of races at the genuine hunt meetings, claiming only a single day each season—should be of smaller value than £100. The suggestion has invariably encountered a great deal of opposition, the chief objection usually being that only the best enclosure meetings could afford to frame their programmes on these lines, and, consequently, sundry country gatherings that provide sport for many people would be obliged, figuratively speaking, to put up their shutters owing to lack of funds.

In reply to this argument, one can only urge that the steeplechase fixture list is greatly overcrowded, and if some of the less substantial meetings did go to the wall, so much the better for sport. This, I must grant, is a ruthless line of reasoning, but I hold that, if steeplechasing is to prosper, it is necessary to maintain the public interest, and that can never be done by a lot of twopenny-halfpenny meetings, whose importance—such as it is—is purely local. More quality, and fewer leather-flapping meetings, should be the object of all interested in the future of steeplechasing. It is only reasonable to assume that the more races there were worth running for, the more would high-class horses be put to jumping. New owners would take up winter racing with the knowledge that there were plenty of good stakes to be won, and the public would be attracted, in far greater numbers than at present, to see an improved type of steeplechaser and hurdle-racer. The National Hunt Committee have gone some way towards bringing about this improvement by the introduction of the rule regulating the amount of stake-money at certain meetings, and I hope for further legislation in the same direction within the next few years.

The day may dawn, as I have suggested before, when breeders of blood-stock may consider it worth their while to breed specially for National Hunt racing, but at present there is not a great deal of encouragement to do so. It is interesting, nevertheless, to see how the best steeplechase winners each season are bred, and breeders of hunter stock can always learn something from a study of the pedigrees of prominent performers under National Hunt Rules. They know by this time, for example, that if you want to breed a jumper you are tolerably safe in using a suitable stallion with plenty of Newminster blood in his veins. They know, too, that the descendants of Birdcatcher, particularly through the Stockwell and Sterling channels, can get valuable steeplechasing stock; while the Blacklock blood, so powerful nowadays on the flat, has also claimed its share of cross-country successes, though we have yet to see a stallion of the Galopin tribe sire a Grand National winner. In this connection, it is worthy of note, the Birdcatcher line has claimed a Grand National winner four times during the last decade, namely, Manifesto (twice), Drogheda, and Ambush II., while the Touchstone line has had only two successes, Drumcree and Ascetic’s Silver. But while the Ascetics continue to show such remarkable form in the steeplechases calling for the best qualities of stamina and courage, and the Hacklers keep on winning many races every season, the Newminster line or Touchstone must still be regarded as the best for producing jumping stock.

On May 11th I drew out a list of the first twenty-four winning steeplechase stallions as they stood at that date, the lead being taken by Ascetic and Hackler, and this is how they came out in the male line:—

Touchstone.—Hackler, Ascetic, MarciÒn, Bushey Park, Royal Meath, and Speed (through Newminster); Noble Chieftain (through Scottish Chief); and Victor Wild (through Marsyas); total, 8.

Birdcatcher.—Red Prince II., Juggler, and Laveno (through Stockwell); Isinglass, Enthusiast, Ravensbury, and Common (through Sterling); total, 7.

Blacklock.—St. Frusquin, Buckingham, Florizel II., St. Simonmimi, St. Serf, Childwick, and Donovan (all through Galopin); total, 7.

Melbourne.—Marco and Wolfs Crag (through Barcaldine); total, 2.

Tracing these two dozen stallions still further back in male line, one perceives that the descendants of Eclipse are no less successful in steeplechasing than in flat-racing. There is not a single Herod among the twenty-four, Eclipse claiming all save two, these exceptions belonging to the Matchem tribe, through Melbourne. The cry for Herod blood is often repeated nowadays, but the majority of our breeders of blood-stock are scarcely likely to desert the Eclipse line in the face of this and much other evidence of its pre-eminence.

When is the last word on Ascetic as a sire of jumpers to be written? For years the praises of the old horse have been sounded in regard to new and repeated triumphs. As far back as August, 1897, the son of Hermit died at the advanced age of twenty-six, yet nine years later we find him still among the most successful steeplechase sires, and represented, moreover, in the Grand National by the first and third horses, with still another of his progeny among the select few who completed the course.

The majority of the Ascetics now in training have won races, all adding their quota in testimony to the marvellous capacity of the horse. During the past season Ascetic claimed ten winners of sixteen races, value £3,253, the chief contributors having been Ascetic’s Silver, Aunt May, Hill of Bree, and Æsthetic Anne. The winner of the Grand National is thoroughbred, and how the statement came to be made a few days ago that he is not so is surprising, seeing that the horse is registered all right in the “General Stud Book.” He has good jumping blood on both sides of the house, being out of Silver Lady by Ben Battle (sire of Ambush II., and grandsire of Manifesto), out of Lady Pitt by Plum Pudding. The combination of Ascetic and Ben Battle is enormously strong, and Mr. P. J. Dunne surely had his eyes on the highest honours of steeplechasing when he put Silver Lady to Ascetic in three successive years.

Unfortunately, Mr. Dunne did not live long enough to see his judicious methods of breeding crowned with the best possible success, but it was in his colours that Ascetic’s Silver won the Irish Grand National in 1904, thus foreshadowing his greater victory at Liverpool.

In the light of subsequent events, Prince Hatzfeldt got an extremely cheap horse in Ascetic’s Silver at 850 guineas at the sale of Mr. Dunne’s stud in October last. He was lucky, indeed, to secure him at that price. I know one sportsman who went from England to the sale with the fixed intention of buying the horse. He was prepared to go to 1,200 guineas for the son of Ascetic, and was so confident of getting him that he took his groom with him to Ireland to bring the horse back. Alas! on the morning of the sale my friend was unfortunate enough to listen to the counsel of one who should have been in a position to know all about the animal in question. “Don’t touch Ascetic’s Silver,” implored this adviser, for reasons he gave. And so the would-be buyer, having got the “straight tip,” would make no higher bid than 500 guineas. It is not difficult to imagine his chagrin when Ascetic’s Silver cantered away with the National; though it is only fair to mention that he had experienced a corresponding feeling of delight on his “escape” when the horse went somewhat amiss at Sandown Park early in February. It is certain that Ascetic’s Silver would have started at a much shorter price than 20 to 1 had it not been for this incident. But it is possible that the mishap at Sandown Park was mainly due to lack of condition, because when he was properly wound up the horse had no trouble in accomplishing the immeasurably more difficult task.

I am not in possession of the complete figures relating to Ascetic’s career at the stud, but the following table should prove interesting, being a record of the doings of his progeny under National Hunt Rules for ten seasons past:—

Last year a photograph of Hackler was reproduced in these pages, and this time Red Prince II. is presented as being one of the best sires of steeplechase and hunter stock now standing in Ireland. This son of Kendal is out of Empress, who won the Grand National in the hands of Mr. T. Beasley twenty-six years ago, and that he is able to transmit to his progeny much of his mother’s excellence across country is beyond question. Red Prince II., a grand-looking horse himself, gets some handsome stock, and his own important successes in the show-ring have been frequently repeated by his youngsters. A stallion who can win the Croker Challenge Cup at Dublin and sire the winner of the Irish Grand National is one of whom his owner may justifiably be proud, and that Mr. Pallin is proud of Red Prince II. goes without saying. Red Lad has brought him into prominence on this side of the St. George’s Channel by finishing second in the Grand National, and it is not a little curious that the first and second horses for that race this season were both former winners of the Irish Grand National.

Hackler, champion steeplechase stallion in several seasons, was at the head of the list this year until Ascetic’s Silver’s success in the Grand National, value £2,175, gave his sire the advantage. But Hackler has many more of his stock now running than Ascetic, and was not long before he regained the position of supremacy. Hackler claims nearly twice as many winners as any other stallion, and during the past season fifty races have been won by his get, which include Hack Watch, the promising Old Fairyhouse, Wild Fox, Crautacaun (fourth in the Grand National), Conari, Hackett, Armature, Loughmoe and Clonard. I have given some figures showing Ascetic’s work as a successful steeplechase sire, and it is entertaining to compare them with the following table of Hackler’s winnings under National Hunt Rules. The son of Petrarch had his first steeplechase winner in 1897–8, so that the list is shorter by one year than that given of Ascetic:—

Isinglass, who was at the head of the stallions on the flat last year, takes a leading place among the steeplechase sires, Leviathan having been by a long way the best winner for this magnificent thoroughbred. MarciÒn, too, ranks high on the list by virtue of Theodocion’s success in the valuable Lancashire Handicap Steeplechase. Enthusiast, for many seasons well represented on the steeplechase list, comes close behind Isinglass. Sleep, Dermot Asthore, Dathi, Agony, and Dependence have been the Irish horse’s best representatives. Noble Chieftain, who stands now in the south of Ireland, has been brought to the front by the smart work of his son Sachem; whilst Marco, although lacking the assistance of Mark Time, has done well with Amersham, Marcova and Black Mark.

The cue plays such an important part in the game of billiards that no excuse need be made for discussing briefly, but fully, its essential points. Every amateur who takes more than a passing interest in the game should possess a cue, or cues, of his own, since the habitual use of a well-made, well-balanced cue goes far to engender the confidence which is so desirable an attribute of the billiard player.

First of all, the player should select an English hand-made cue. In a long article which appeared in the World of Billiards, February 7th, 1906, to which readers may be referred, the details of cue manufacture were fully explained by the present writer. Here it will suffice to point out a simple, yet infallible, method of distinguishing at a glance an English hand-made cue from the foreign machine-made article. In the English cue the ebony “points,” where they dovetail into the ash shaft, are slightly rounded, whilst in the French machine-made cue they run to a fine, sharp point (fig. 1).

For the shaft of the cue no wood is better than good English ash, which must be naturally, not artificially, seasoned. This shaft, which should be stiff, yet full of vibration, should be as “true” and straight as possible, and straight in the grain.

The length of the cue, including the tip, should not be less than 4 ft. 8 in., nor need it, even for very tall men, exceed 4 ft. 10 in. Nineteen men out of twenty will be best suited by a cue of from 4 ft. 8½ in. to 4 ft. 9½ in. in length, 4 ft. 9 in., as given by so many writers on billiards, being the best average length for the cue. When wear and tear has made the cue too short, it should be sent to a good firm of billiard-table makers to be “spliced,” particulars of the length and size of tip required being given.

The size of the cue-tip is another nice point. Cue-tips (fig. 2) are made in five sizes, measuring respectively 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 millimetres in diameter.^[15] A very fine tip is altogether a mistake, and one of from 10 to 12 mm. is recommended, 11 mm. (about 7
16 in.) giving an ideal tip. To affix the cue-tip, a process fully described in the writer’s book, “Hints on Billiards,” and other works, cue cement, liquid glue, or wafers, which last are handy and easily used, may be employed. Glass-paper, it may be added, should never be used to clean the cue, or to “rough up” the surface of the cue-tip, whilst coarse sand-paper should never be seen in a billiard-room. The cue, when it needs cleaning, should be well rubbed, first with a damp cloth, and then, to polish it, with a dry one. The best way, again, of preparing a new tip for play, or of renovating an old smooth one, is to tap it well with a fine, heavy file; a rough file would tear the upper leather all to pieces.

The ideal weight for a cue is 15½ oz., but a player may suit his own fancy in the matter within an ounce or so, either way, of this weight, whilst a cue of 14 oz. or 14½ oz. is heavy enough for a lady.

In connection with cues chalk may find appropriate mention, and no better chalk can be obtained than Spinks’ green chalk, sold by Messrs. Burroughes and Watts. This firm may, in particular, be mentioned as turning out a first-rate billiard cue, and they put plenty of wood into their cues in just the right place, viz., just above the butt.

Finally, mention may be made of travelling cues, made in two joints, which, packed in a handy leather case, are extremely convenient. They may, it is true, possess a slight tendency to warp out of perfect truth, whilst, too, the connecting screw must, however slightly, affect the balance, but these are almost infinitesimal drawbacks. With one of these cues a spare top joint, already tipped, will be found a friend in need on occasion.

The picture by Jacques Laurent Agasse, from which the illustration has been taken, affords us a glimpse of an ancient English institution which is fast passing away. The work was painted in the year 1819, when the country fair or market held a very important place in the economy of rural England, and this picture has special interest for stock breeders, since its most conspicuous figure is a grand example of the old English breed of Black Shire horses.

In Sir Walter Gilbey’s work on “The Great Horse,” a letter is quoted from Oliver Cromwell offering “sixty pieces for that Black you won (in battle) at Horncastle, for my son has a mind to him.” In those days the “Black” was before all things a war horse, and there is ample evidence to prove that it was regarded as the best strain among the heavy breeds. Agasse’s picture refers to a more peaceful era; but the Black Shire horse was still the breed most prized in England. William Marshall, writing in 1790, tells us that the Black Carthorse in his day was extensively bred in the Midlands; and though he personally preferred a smaller and more compact horse, on short, clean legs, and was, moreover, a convinced advocate of the ox-team for the plough and draught work, he could not deny that the breeding of Black Shires was profitable. As showing how the best authorities differ, it is worth noticing that Arthur Young, at about the same period, mentions the “large Black old English horse” as one of the only two varieties of carthorse deserving of mention. The other was the sorrel-coloured Suffolk Punch.

The Black Shire, according to Wm. Marshall, had a somewhat chequered working career. The breeders brought their yearlings to certain markets or fairs—Ashby, Loughborough, Burton-on-Trent, Rugby, and Ashbourne—where they were sold to graziers, the prices ranging from £10 to £20. The graziers kept them until they were about two years and a half, and then brought them to the fairs to sell to the farmers and dealers; the markets at Rugby and Stafford being noted for this business. Their purchasers now were farmers. At two years old or two off heavy horses are capable of doing gentle work, and the object of the buyer being to prepare them for the London market, he took good care not to overtax the youngsters. They were not expected to do more than earn their keep, and it was very usual in the home counties to see a team of four drawing a plough which was easily within the strength of two much lighter animals; but the object of the farmer was thus accomplished. The young horses learned to pull steadily, and the light plough work was, in point of fact, their education for the career before them. At four, or four off, they were sent to London, fully developed, conditioned, and ready for the brewer’s dray or the heavy waggon. The brewers of those days took peculiar pride in their dray horses, and spared neither pains nor money to procure the largest and finest Shires for the purposes of their trade.

The Ashby Black Stallion Show, which enjoyed the distinction of being the only event of its kind in England, still flourished in George III.’s time. It took place at Eastertide, and was the occasion for selling and letting stallions of this breed. The word “show,” it should be added, is a complete misnomer; there was no show or anything remotely resembling one. The breeders brought in their stallions and stabled them at the inns, and when a possible purchaser or hirer appeared a horse was pulled out and shown off in some convenient back street or open space. Such an incident we need not doubt afforded Agasse the idea for his picture; the lad in the smock frock has been running the great stallion up and down to show off his paces and carriage before the well-to-do farmer who stands under the tree on the left, and the other critics who stand on the near side of the horse. Marshall was present at the Ashby Black Stallion Show of 1785, when some thirty horses—two, three, and four-year-olds, for the most part—were offered for sale or hire. The prices paid for Black Shire stallions at this so-called “show” ranged from fifty to two hundred guineas; the hire for a season ranged from forty to eighty guineas. Breeders sometimes held private shows of stallions where similar business was transacted.

These horses were largely bred in Lincolnshire: they were, indeed, so closely identified with the county that they were locally known as “Black Lincolnshires.” In the fens they grew to their greatest size; few of them at two and a half, says Youatt, were under seventeen hands. Neither the soil nor the pasture of these districts is better calculated to meet the horse-breeder’s needs than the soil and pasture of other regions of England; but the situation, climate, and conditions of life were in some way peculiarly favourable to the growth of horses, and the Blacks grew bigger there than they did anywhere else. Marshall refers to them disparagingly as the “elephants of Lincolnshire.” All the brood mares seen by Arthur Young on his tour in this county (“General View of the Agriculture of Lincolnshire, 1799”) were Blacks. They were regularly worked in the farm teams by the “arable yeoman,” who kept them for stud purposes.

It was popularly believed in the Midlands that the Black horse originated from half a dozen Zealand mares, which Lord Chesterfield, when ambassador at the Hague, sent over to England. These mares were stabled at Bretby, in Derbyshire, about 1755 or 1760, and no doubt were instrumental in improving the breed. It is stated that for some time after Lord Chesterfield imported these mares Derbyshire “took the lead” among the counties in which Blacks were bred. But while we need not doubt that these mares were the best of their kind, and as such did much in the way of improvement, it is impossible, by the light of the historical evidence, to which reference has been made, to regard them as the foundation stock.

Whatever Marshall’s opinion of the Black, it certainly found great favour all over England, even in Norfolk, a county famous for the small, active carthorses, with which the farmers, as the author points out in “The Harness Horse,” used to run their curious “team races.” The greater popularity which the Black enjoyed a century ago seems to have contributed to the disappearance of the brown-muzzled Norfolk horses. Farmers in those days were not more governed by sentiment in the management of their business than they are now, and we may rest assured that if they turned their attention to the breeding of Blacks, it was because they proved the more profitable stock. Their great weight would suffice to recommend them for heavy draught work on the deep and miry country roads of a past generation. A writer in the Sporting Magazine of 1796, says that “there are instances of single horses that are able to draw a weight of three tons.”

Not the least interesting fact concerning the picture which furnishes occasion for these remarks is the fact that the painter of a scene so typically English in subject, so purely English in spirit and in mode of treatment, should have been a foreigner. Jacques Laurent Agasse was a Swiss by birth; he came to this country when about twenty years of age, and his works show how completely he became imbued with a love of the land of his adoption.

The above subject, in my opinion, is a very difficult one to write on, for the simple reason that there are so few men who are capable of occupying the position of a judge of polo ponies. A man must be blessed with a large number of capabilities to act in this position. He must be, firstly, a judge of the horse in the abstract, of its formation, building, &c., he must be a hunting man and a judge of hunters; he must be, in a minor degree, a judge of a racehorse; he must be a fine horseman in himself, and he must be a polo player, and an active one, at the time he is occupying the position of judge.

In these days when the game of polo is taking such a strong hold of the world at large, when county shows all over England and elsewhere reserve classes for polo ponies, polo pony mares, polo pony stallions, young stock, or ponies likely to make polo ponies, the office of judge of these classes is a very important one.

Often one sees that a judge who is officiating in that position in the hunter classes is deputed to judge polo ponies also, and I have even known the hackney or carthorse judge put into this position. Probably the official in question is a fine judge of a hunter and of a horse in all respects, and yet he may be quite the worst judge one can have of made polo ponies. He does not know what is expected of them, how he is to test them, or what they are expected to do. Of their make and shape he is probably quite capable of judging the class; he will know a good-shaped pony from a bad one. Naturally, as a judge of a horse, he will know a good “ride” from a bad one; he will know true action from cramped action, but I very much doubt whether he knows a good polo pony from a bad one. There may be a large number of ponies in the class, he will only be able to spare a minute or so to sit on each pony. During the short space of time he has to make up his mind very quickly as to whether the pony is a good ride to start with; whether it has a good and natural mouth; whether it is tractable or otherwise; whether it turns easily or otherwise; whether when turning it does so on its hind quarters or its forehand, and whether when turning it does so on the proper leg both behind and in front. The majority of ponies, however partially they may be schooled, usually change their legs in front, viz., when turning to the right have their right leg in front, and vice versÂ, but how many men can tell in a second when the pony has changed its leg in front, whether it has, at the same time, changed its hind legs similarly? To do this a judge must have great and constant experience.

When writing on this all-important subject I propose stating my opinion and ideas on the made polo pony, or pony likely to make a polo pony, as the judging of young stock, mares likely to breed polo ponies, stallions, &c., comes rather under a different category than the actual judging of the article that is to be ridden and so judged by the official.

Allow me to give a few hints to judges who are setting out for the first few times in this important position. They must remember that the time for them to make up their minds is limited, therefore they must come to their decision quickly, and having made it must abide by it. They will probably have to judge two riding classes: (1) polo ponies; and (2) ponies likely to make polo ponies. Let us consider these two classes separately. When made polo ponies come into the ring let the judge carefully watch them walking round; he must then make up his mind as to what is a good made pony, a pony, pure and simple, and what is not; he will see how they walk and how they carry themselves, and here he will make his first impressions, and these first impressions are, in my opinion, the best. Then they will trot round the ring. This will show him little except that, as a rule, a good walker is usually a good trotter; however, many of the best polo ponies are poor trotters, and often will not trot at all. In my opinion, little is learnt from a polo pony trotting except the fact as to whether it is sound or not. Next the ponies will canter round. Then the judge will see a free goer from a short, stilty-actioned one. He should then proceed to draw the ponies into the centre of the ring, placing the good ones, or what he imagines are the good ones, on the one side and the rubbish on the other. He should then proceed to look the animals over quickly when standing still; whether they stand straight on their legs, whether their joints are true, and so forth.

He should then ride each pony himself, bending and twisting them himself as much as the show-ring will allow him, letting them go top pace as far as is possible. As soon as the judge is on the ponies’ backs he will quickly alter his ideas formed when watching the ponies on foot. He will find that what he fancied as being a good-looking pony rides all wrong when he is on its back; probably bad mouths, or badly trained, change their legs in front but not behind, a most common fault in polo ponies, and a very bad one, as no pony can turn with the safety and speed that he should do unless he changes his legs behind as quickly as in front. Again, as soon as a judge gets on a pony, I advise him to back the pony, just for three or four yards, quickly; all good polo ponies rein back almost as quickly as walking forwards, and if they do not do so they are not high-class polo ponies.

I also advise a judge to ride every pony in the class, whether his first impression of it be good or otherwise; many a pony is missed over that may not favourably impress the judge at first sight, but be a remarkably fine ride.

By this time the judge must have made up his mind; he may have to forgive a fault here and one there, in order to arrive at a proper order of placing the ponies in their class, as no pony is perfect in every respect.

When judging “ponies likely to make polo ponies,” the judge must not be quite so exacting. He must lay greater stress on the good made pony when standing still and the true-actioned and balanced one. He will probably have to judge ponies at very different states of their education, and will find it hard to bring a good young green pony with very little education into competition with a pony that has been well and carefully trained. In this class he must carry in his mind which pony is going to be the most valuable in a year’s time.

There are certain faculties a pony must have, whether he be a made polo pony or a young green pony; he must be built on true hunter lines, short legs, short back, compact, good sloping shoulders and a well set on neck (a pony with a bad neck seldom has a good mouth), his hind-legs and hocks must be well underneath him, and straight. Hind-legs standing away from a pony are a great fault, and generally denote a pony slow at jumping off the mark. He must have essentially a perfect temper, and also a good mouth by nature; this latter is to a large extent a matter of breaking, and a pony badly broken, in my opinion, never gets over it.

Above all, let a judge go for quality; a square underbred pony well trained may ride really well in a show-ring, but how will he manoeuvre and ride after playing ten minutes in a fast game of polo; he becomes tired and beat; then his action, mouth, and training all go to the wall, and he is as a sailing ship amongst torpedo boats.

Works of the character that appeal more directly to us are more remarkable for quality than for number this year; if shooting, yachting and angling pictures are conspicuous by their absence, hunting and hound works are, by comparison with previous exhibitions, numerous and generally excellent. As regards angling, Mr. Frederick Yates’ picture, “A Bite” (32), a boy stretched on the bank of a woodland beck, fishing with a wand cut from the hedge, can hardly be regarded as an angling work, though admirable in composition and drawing; the fox terrier who sits by his master is taking quite a human interest in the proceedings. In the same room hangs Mr. Peter Graham’s “Morning” (40), one of this Academician’s familiar studies of sea-girt rocks with gulls; the sky on the horizon is dark and forbidding, suggestive of a stormy night passed. Mr. C. E. Swan’s “The Day of Reckoning” (59) gives us pause. His tiger drinking in the foreground is excellently well drawn; but would a tiger stop to drink when the elephant in the background is so near at hand? And what are the two gesticulating coolies doing well in advance of the sportsman’s elephant, among the tall grass? They are, moreover almost in the line of fire from the howdah; we doubt much if the “day of reckoning” has come! “Elizabeth at Wemmergill” (78), by Miss Annie L. Swynnerton is a charming picture of a little girl in blue, astride a rough pony, both well painted. In this room we find Mr. John M. Swan’s diploma work (129) “Tigers Drinking,” boldly painted, with less finish than usual; we like it much.

The place of honour in the Academy is occupied by Mr. Abbey’s remarkable work, “Columbus in the New World” (143). Columbus, in armour, kneels on the seashore, priests in their robes kneeling a few paces in rear. The air is thick with scarlet flamingoes—the brilliant Florida species—in flight. The blaze of vermilion dazzles and bewilders the eye, and the indifference of the Discoverer, and his followers to the marvel of bird-life strikes one as unnatural. A very fine piece of work is Mr. James Beadle’s “Les Braves Gens” (150), a scene of the Franco-Prussian War; the horses of the cavalry are cleverly modelled, and the grouping, bound by military conditions, is very artistic. Mr. S. J. Solomon (R.A.-elect) has a pleasing picture (151) of a little girl in pink with a horn, astride a pony, with a couple of frisking terriers, which he entitles “The Field.” Mr. Arthur Wardle takes us to different scenes in “A Sylvan God” (157); the lithe suppleness of the leopard in the foreground is beautifully rendered. Mr. Briton Riviere’s portrait of Professor Frank Clowes (161) comes within our purview, inasmuch as the artist has represented the Professor with his golf clubs. “Winter’s Victim” (189) is the title of Mr. Edwin Alexander’s picture of a dead stag stretched on the snow, with a carrion crow about to begin its meal. The stag is in rather better condition than might be expected of one that has been starved to death, but this, perhaps, is a concession to artistic requirements. Mr. Max Bohm’s “Nearing the Bar” (226) is skied, but its merits are too striking to be overlooked; in the stern of a fishing boat rushing before the wind an old man sits, tiller in hand, his gaze fixed on the unseen “bar.” The intentness of the man’s visage compels admiration, and not less the mingling of excitement and apprehension on that of the boy by his side; a very clever picture. Mr. Edmund Brock in “The Spring-time of Life” (245) has a portrait group, a young man pulling two girls in a skiff, restful and pleasing. In the same room Mr. H. W. B. Davis, R.A., has one of his pictures of Highland Cattle in “Ben Eay, Ross-shire” (279). Mr. Charles E. Stewart’s “Fire!” (285) is a powerful piece of horse painting; the pair of greys harnessed to the engine, approaching the foreground at the gallop, are beautifully modelled; the action is at once vigorous and correct. Good, too, are the horses in Mr. W. B. Wollen’s “The Sun of Austerlitz” (321). Mr. Edgar Fischer has two tigers in “Dawn” (331), one drinking (why is the tiger drinking so popular with the brethren of the brush?), the other growling at some invisible foe across the pool. We might find some minor defects in the equine anatomy in Miss Eleanor Wigram’s “Water Jump at Sandown” (349), but regarded as a whole it is a very successful attempt to represent horses in attitudes difficult to catch, save by instantaneous photography; one horse has landed over the water, the rest are in air or rising to the fence. There is a freedom of handling in the composition which entirely satisfies.

In this gallery we find the most striking and successful horse picture of the year in Miss Lucy Kemp-Welch’s great canvas, “The Joy of Life” (356), a small mob of horses careering about the open fields in the utter abandonment of vitality. They are splendidly modelled, and the work is instinct with vigorous movement. Mr. Simon Vedder’s “King of the Desert” (369) is not very easy to see, being skied. The lion is roaring, with his head up, and the crouching lioness has apparently paused in drinking to cast an enquiring look at him from her baleful green eyes. Mr. Ernest Spence has a good portrait of “Sir John Wallington, K.C.B.” (385), in the uniform of the Badminton Hunt, and hard by is Mr. Alfred Munning’s “Ponies at a Horse Fair” (416), half a dozen cheap animals tied to a low hedge; the blemished piebald on the right is not the class of nag that satisfies the artistic eye, and the painter deserves much credit for the unflinching accuracy with which he has treated a rather sordid equine subject. “Newcastle Fair” (410), by Mr. John Atkinson, a group of gipsy vans with their worn-out horses, is treated in much the same spirit. Miss Mabel Hollams has chosen a rather depressing subject in “His Last Fence” (468); the horse has evidently broken his back over the rather insignificant hedge and lies prone, with his owner kneeling at his head. The coats of the hunting men are rather too bright, but otherwise the picture is a good one. Miss Maud Earl’s “End of the Trail” (477) is a study of wolf-like sledge dogs on a desert of snow; the texture of the coat of the principal figure is equal to anything Miss Earl has ever given us. Mr. William Wall’s “Death of the Roebuck” (504) satisfies as far as the greyhound is concerned; the dog, panting from his exertions, has evidently pulled down the roe single-handed; it is, perhaps, an open question whether a greyhound could do this in the woodlands affected by these deer. Mr. John Charlton has a large and admirably composed picture in (520) “Gone to Ground”; the earth is under a sandy bank among tree roots, and the hounds are grouped round it, their interest in the fox having, it would seem, evaporated. The grouping of the hounds is excellent and the whole work satisfies the eye. “Recuperation” (531) is a clever study of hounds in kennel by Mr. J. Walter Hadland; the grouping here is also good and the artist has been particularly successful with the heads of his hounds. Mr. Munning’s “Meet at the Bell” (540) has merit, but is too crowded; or perhaps it were more accurate to say the figures are too large for the canvas; a pity, as the horse ridden by the master is the true hunter stamp and is admirably painted, while the artist knows how to put a man in the saddle. Mr. Charlton’s other work in the same room, a lady reining in a good-looking chestnut in a woodland glade, “Hark! Back!” (557) shows the artist at his best as a painter of horse-flesh. Miss Margaret Collyer calls her clever and vigorous little picture (594) of two Irish terriers fighting, “Home Rule”; the prophecy political may be overlooked in appreciation of the merit of the drawing. Miss Florence Jay’s “Run to Earth” (637) shows once again that she has studied foxhounds closely and can paint them with fidelity. Mr. Harold Pearson, M.P., was formerly Master of the Oxford Drag, and it is hunting dress that Mr. Glazebrook has elected to portray him in No. 695. Mr. Sanderson Wells’ coaching picture “Rushing the Hill, Derby Day” (714), is a strong and vigorous piece of work; the whip is springing his cattle up the slope almost directly at the spectator; it was no means an easy point of view from which to paint a team, but the action of Mr. Sanderson Wells’ browns is most lifelike. Mr. Charles Ward’s “A Coombe in the Quantocks” (821) will appeal to followers of the staghounds on Exmoor.

There are in the Water-colour Room some pictures which should not be missed; notably Miss Lucy Kemp Welch’s “Horse Drovers” (925); the scene a country lane, with half a dozen carthorses in varying attitudes. The horses in Mr. Sheldon Williams’ “Labourers” (951) are well done. In the Black and White room we find Mr. John Emm’s clever hound study, “The Pride of Belvoir” (1284), and Mr. Victor Focillon’s very successful engraving of Mr. Napier Henry’s yachting picture of a year or two ago, “Youth.” Mr. A. D. Greenhill Gardyne’s “Captain S. C. Crawfurd and a Giraffe” (1356) shows the sportsman resting against the body of the great beast which has fallen to his rifle. “Coaches at Ascot leaving the Course,” by Mr. Arthur J. Gough, also deserves praiseworthy mention. There is little in the sculpture room that calls for notice from us. Miss Geraldine Blake’s statuette “The Stock Rider” (1706) is a good piece of modelling, and Miss Katherine Wallis has been successful with her bronze statuette of a dachshund (1753). So animated and clever is the figure of a little girl delightedly but fearfully holding out a frog by the hind-leg (La petite grenouilliÈre), we cannot forbear to draw attention to it. Herr Paul HÜsgen must be congratulated on the success with which he has caught the likeness in his bronze medallion of Sir Walter Gilbey.

THE GRAYLING SEASON, 1905.

During the past season I enjoyed the privilege of fishing for grayling in the very best stocked portions of the Itchen at Twyford and Shawford.

On August 11th, 5 brace were killed; on the 12th, 3½ brace; on the 19th, 4 brace; on the 23rd, 4 brace; on the 26th, 1 brace—their weights varying from 14 oz. to 1¼ lb. On August 28th the evening was stormy, and until seven o’clock no signs of flies or of fish breaking the surface of the swollen, breeze-rippled, and strongly running stream could be noticed. I was standing near the swampy margin of the west bank above Shawford Bridge, and with little hope of the prospect for sport improving, when a single dark olive dun floated down, and just as its struggles to dry its wings seemed effectual it rose, but fell on the water again, and instantly a grayling flashed up and took it. Well hooked and played from the bended rod, it was felt to be a heavy one; nor could it be much restrained without risk until it had drifted to the ford, where I was in the act of trying to draw it over the shallow side to dry land, not intending to use the net, when a man watching from the bridge, a black retriever at his side, called out, “Shall I come and land him for you, sir?” At that instant his dog rushed round to the shallows, and wildly jumping about, repeatedly tried to seize the fish—in fact, to retrieve it as he would a moorhen. The chance of hooking the dog was so likely, and the consequent breakage of my tackle, perhaps losing the fish also, that I promptly used the net handle to beat him off, and as I landed and unhooked the grayling (afterwards found to weigh 1 lb. 7 oz.), the dog looked on, wagging his tail and barking excitedly—possibly he expected praise rather than a beating.

For the next half hour, at intervals, a few dark-winged EphemerÆ were seen to emerge on the surface. I knotted on to the fine-drawn gut point of my cast a red quill dressed on a cipher hook, and after many attempts, baffled by the wind, to present it just right, a grayling that could plainly be seen in a clear run close under my bank rose to it and was hooked and brought to net, weighing 15 oz. Another an ounce heavier soon followed. Afterwards, about 8 p.m., when the wind had lulled, some sedgeflies hovered over the surface in mid-channel, occasionally dipping on to it as they dropped their eggs. A larger red quill on a No. 2 hook was therefore tried, as it was similar in size to the natural sedges, and, presented by the horizontal back-handed casting method, it sailed lightly down over the ring of a feeding fish, and when he rose again and snatched at it he hooked himself, giving three minutes of exciting sport ere the landing-net secured him, a grayling of 14 oz., making up two brace weighing 4½lb.

On the 30th, after the total eclipse of the sun in the afternoon, the evening was dull, and low clouds threatened rain. I fished in the same place as last. The river was clear but brimful; indeed, here and away overflowing its banks, and running so wildly that a dry fly cast up stream in the usual manner immediately dragged, and if thrown across, the line sagged or bellied, and consequently, whenever a fish took my fly, it was most difficult, on the slack line, to strike and hook him. To let the fly drift was easier and the only alternative, and in this way 2½ brace of grayling, from 10 to 13 inches in length, were creeled by 8.10 p.m. At which time, having lost my fly in an overhanging branch, it was too dark to see to tie on another, and I reluctantly had to leave off. It was particularly provoking, for the fish were then rising in that reckless way they often do for a brief time at dusk.

Next evening my practice was between the bridge and the lower boundary of the Twyford fishery on the west side, and for once in a way all the conditions an angler wishes for were favourable: the smooth, clear, and sun-lighted stream reflected white cumuli clouds and the azure sky; flies were in the air, which the HirundinidÆ in graceful curves of flight and with unerring sight were intercepting, while olive duns, in straggling, intermittent groups, were floating down, and fish taking them eagerly. And to complete one’s satisfaction, a gentle breeze from the west made casting easy. The successful fly of yestereve, a red quill on a 000 hook, was again used, and from 6.30 to a little after 8 p.m. four brace of grayling, scaling from 12 oz. to 1 lb. 5 oz., were hooked, played, and brought to grass, besides several returned. And a larger grayling escaped by the small hook working out just as the net was nearly in position to thrust under him. There is no necessity to further describe this evening’s very good sport than to say that for the one and a half hours I was almost constantly at work, and that the fish rose and fastened to my artificial fly as readily as they did to the naturals; but with so good a rise of duns there were, of course, ten chances to one against the red quill. Bearing this in mind, the sport could scarcely have been better.

On September 2nd sport was greatly interfered with by horses drawing carts, vans, &c., passing through the ford, and as it was Saturday night, the drivers sometimes stopped midway to refresh their horses, wash wheels, &c. At another time a boy on the back of a tired horse that had done his week’s work was made to stand awhile in the ford for the benefit of his legs, and now and again the boy, evidently delighted to be riding, would take a turn from shore to shore, and once he began to splash up stream until I remonstrated. And twice a lumbering watering-cart was slowly filled from a bucket dipped into the river. With all these interruptions one’s patience was much tried, as I had no chance of fishing until about 7.30 p.m. I should have gone elsewhere had I not noticed that within a few minutes after each disturbance had temporarily ceased a shoal of about a dozen grayling came on to the churned-up gravelly bottom to feed, probably on crushed or crawling larvÆ, snails, &c. I resolved, therefore, to bide my time, and when all was quiet again fish began to rise, freely taking Trichoptera as they touched or floated on the surface of the smooth stream, and at intervals my counterfeit fly, each time with fatal effect, for when I left off a leash of beautiful 11 to 13-inch grayling, as bright as silver, lay on the grass at my feet. And while they were being arranged in the creel for presentation to a friend, embellished with the wild flowers, mimulus and willow-herb, the clock of Twyford church slowly tolled out the hour of eight. Twilight was passing into darkness; Mars, the evening star, low down in the south-western sky, showed large and luminous; birds were mute—the silence was oppressive.

The evening of September 12th was bright, rather cool and windy, but at 6.40 black gnats were dancing in mazy groups under the boughs of trees and pale midges around my cap as I stood near the poplar-tree above Shawford Bridge. The river was very full and flowing swiftly, but smooth and favourable for dry-fly practice. Many small trout were unavoidably hooked and time was lost in putting them back, but one weighing 1½ lb. was kept, because an invalid friend wanted it, and I was not likely to fish in this part of the river again until the trout season would be over. Half an hour afterwards grayling were rising to dark-winged olive duns; I changed my fly for the Englefield quill pattern with silver tag, dressed on 0 hooks, and by a little after eight o’clock it had tempted to their fate three brace, measuring 10 to 11½ inches, when I had to hurry away to catch my train. It was very pretty sport, and a good wind-up of the foregoing ten evenings’ sport and pastime, on each occasion obtained within two hours, and aggregating 30½ brace.

On October 3rd, at noon, many large grayling had worked up to the shallows under the pretty little weir over which the water from the Shawford House garden reach was falling in a glassy cascade. The overhanging trees prevented overhand casting, but, by kneeling and crouching low, my fly could be sent forward over them. It was not noticed at first, but at the third essay it was snatched at, and the grayling hooked: fortunately he turned, and rushing zigzag down stream without disturbing the others, was followed and netted out. After prudently waiting a time, the weir was again quietly approached, and still the grayling were seen there, but now, more on the alert, rising to olive duns. My very poor imitation was nevertheless taken at the first throw as it lightly dropped in the white froth and among the air-bubbles under the waterfall, and a grayling well hooked and landed—his desperate struggling causing the other fish to scurry away out of the pool. It was satisfactory to know, while consuming an al fresco luncheon which followed, that a handsome brace was already in the creel—indeed, it gave a zest to appetite.

Lower down, where the broad water is divided by the first islet, the narrowed channel is a favoured feeding place for grayling. They were now darting up to the surface, taking floating flies—iron blues they looked like—but to pass along the bank would disturb them. I therefore several times let my dry fly drift down, and at last it was effective in bringing another fish to hand. About 4 p.m. the sparse rise of EphemerÆ was over, nor did they come on again until an hour after sunset, when dark-winged olives in considerable numbers were on the wind-rippled stream under the low-branching trees at the upper end of the mill race, where casting was almost impossible, but in an eddy one grayling could be tried over, and he came to grief, the two brace for the day scaling 4 lb. 2 oz.

The morning rise on November 3rd did not begin until about 11.30, and only lasted for two and a half hours. On the lower reach of the main stream in the park several small rings and splashes were seen on the glide above the second island, such as denote grayling busily taking surface food, but they were many times cast over before my 00 red quill was taken and a fish hooked, who instantly furrowed along the top of the water to the opposite side, and made vain attempts to rub the hook out in a shallow weed-bed; then when held firmly from the rod and played he repeatedly, as if in wrath, turned wildly over and over on the surface (grayling seldom or never spring out of water as trout do), and being thus exhausted and before he could take another turn, as they sometimes do when apparently dead beaten, was drawn near enough to be netted out. Almost under similar conditions another grayling was shortly after lured by the same fly and killed—the brace weighing 2¼ lb.

Higher up, twenty yards in the rear of the first islet, a large grayling was observed in a clear bay behind weeds, and, save for the gently waving movement of his tail to maintain his equipoise, showing no signs of life—“Glued to the bottom and very little use to cast over him,” an angler would say. Nevertheless, in a desultory sort of way I did send my red quill over him, and his head slightly moved up. Again my fly was floated over, and this time he came to inspect it, paused, and retired. I also retired some thirty or forty yards lower down, and under the dry sedge bordering my bank managed to hook and land an 11-inch grayling. Then I quietly worked up again to the beforementioned big one, and by a long throw deftly placed my fly a yard in front of him. Like a shadowy flash he boldly rose, touched the fly, and drowned it, no doubt seizing it submerged unknown to me, for in the act of recovering my fly it firmly hooked him, and after a well-fought battle he was safely landed, and, held on a steelyard, weighed 1 lb. 5 oz. Then at the extremity of the park where the two streams meet a grayling could be seen quiescent under the opposite branches, but, as before, an experimental cast tempted him to rise from his lethargy and snap at my fly, when, well hooked, and after giving exciting sport, he was brought to bank, under 1 lb. in weight.

On four other days in November my sport aggregated 15½ brace, and on seven days in December to finish the season, 19½ brace.

The more closely hounds are studied the stronger must grow the conviction that no animal can excel the well-bred foxhound as an example of perfect conformation. It is permissible to think also that the man whose eye is accustomed to the points of the foxhound is pretty certain to be a judge of horses, the “points” of either being in a sense nearly identical. To take the high-bred foxhound, the lay of his shoulders are perfect for movement, the blades meeting well into the back, the fore ribs very far down or deep in proportion to the frame, the brisket below the elbow, the back also level shaped, muscles united to a loin wide for the size of the hound, the quarter very full, and the hock straight. Then we have the make-up of the beautiful neck that must mean ease in stooping for a line, and the legs and feet, over which some people differ, the majority of good judges wanting a big bone down to the toes, and others being content with less bone, and less inclined to be critical about the straightness of the fore limb. The late Lord Macclesfield and Mr. G. Lane Fox, both excellent judges, thought more of necks and shoulders than legs and feet, and Mr. H. Chaplin, great on both horses and hounds, thinks more of the quality of bone than the quantity. But, allowing for these slight divergencies of opinion, it must be acknowledged that the judgment of many has brought the foxhound to an extraordinary standard of perfection. His pace is very wonderful, and, unlike that of the greyhound, it is lasting. In the Great Wood run of the Badminton Hunt of three hours and forty minutes’ duration, all but three hounds out of seventeen and a half couples were up at the finish when the horses were all settled, most of them an hour before, and yet the hounds were comparatively fresh. They all fed well the same night, so Charles Hamblin told the writer, and were right enough the next day. There have been many other examples in which longer runs have been quoted, but the Great Wood was perhaps the greatest in regard to pace.

Three hours and three quarters’ hard galloping in a twenty-seven mile point is like seven Grand Nationals thrown into one. The development of such powers in the foxhound must be regarded as the work of past masters in the selection always of the fittest, and the great sales of the last century have proved most conclusively the individuality of those masters. To take Mr. John Corbet, of Sundorne, in the very earliest days of the century. He had seen all the qualities above alluded to compressed, as it were, in Trojan, who could race to the front of the pack, stay the longest runs, hunt a colder scent than others, jump higher and cleaner than any hound ever seen, and was able to run in his eighth and ninth seasons. His fitness was so great for the hunting field that Mr. Corbet absolutely bred a pack of hounds from him, and when he sold that pack to the sixth Lord Middleton for £1,500 the latter wrote, when enclosing his cheque, that he thought them remarkably cheap. This they turned out to be, as they gave Lord Middleton a vast amount of pleasure in hunting and hound-breeding for many years. It enabled him to breed a second Trojan in Vanguard, and such Masters, as Mr. Foljambe, Lord Henry Bentinck and Mr. Arkwright, of the Oakley, in a measure continued the line to the days of present hound-lovers. There was, again, Osbaldeston with his Furrier. The Squire would believe in nothing else, and consider what tremendous sales he had from the progeny of the old hound, to count those he sold, which some say he lent, to the late Mr. Harvey Combe; and the ten couples of bitches he sold for £1,000 to the Master of the Pytchley.

Other sales by auction, though, have perhaps been more famous in illustrating the judgment of both buyers and sellers, as, for instance, the great sale at the Bicester kennels in 1851, through the retirement of Mr. Tom Drake. The latter had been a very noted master of hounds for twenty-one years, and possibly long before that, in a less ostensible way, than in governing the Bicester. At any rate, he had taken a lot of trouble in his search for hound blood, and every hound in the sale catalogue had been bred by himself. He had bred from the Brocklesby Herald, and a great deal from Mr. Foljambe’s Stormer, so full of the Osbaldeston Furrier blood. His Duster had been used at Belvoir, but the latter celebrity was not in evidence on the sale day, although he might have been as he was then only seven years old. Lord Henry Bentinck was the most notable buyer on that May afternoon; he bought lot 2 of four couples for 200 gs., lots 5 and 6 for respectively 91 and 135 gs., and lot 10 for 165 gs. In all he bought twenty couples, and that must have helped to make his Burton pack, as, although he had been building it up for eight years from hounds he got from Lord Ducie, the latter were not so good as Mr. Drake’s. The first Drake sale, though, led up to another of still greater importance, as Mr. Tom Tyrwhitt Drake, better known to a later generation of sportsmen, took on his father’s old country, the Bicester, in the year of the sale, 1851, and he bought a few lots of the old pack, eight couples of entered hounds in all, and three brood bitches in whelp.

Here was the nucleus of another pack, but Tom Drake, as he was familiarly called by his friends, must have been an extraordinary good judge, as he bred from such bitches as Melody one of the hereditary stock for whom he gave 18 gs. in whelp to Duster; and Skilful, by Mr. Foljambe’s Stormer. He bought a lot of drafts also from Belvoir, Lord Henry Bentinck’s and Badminton, and before the sixties his hounds were very much talked of. He had, in fact, formed a beautiful pack in eleven years, as it was in 1862 that he decided to sell it, and once more the Messrs. Tattersall journeyed to the Bicester kennels, by this time at Stratton Audley, to dispose of another Drake pack. Albeit a large proportion of the hounds were not home-bred, I have always put this sale down as the most important on record, as such famous results can be traced from it and the hunting public expressed such confidence in Mr. Drake, as shown by the capital prices made. Moreover, some of the best hound judges living were amongst the buyers and bidders, including Mr. Tailby, Mr. John Chaworth Musters, Lord Middleton, Mr. Villebois, the Hon. E. Duncombe, afterwards Lord Feversham, and Sir John Trollope. The largest buyer was the late Lord Eglinton, then just commencing his career as a master of hounds—his lordship, taking three lots, twelve couples in all, for 420 gs., and they furnished foundation stock for the splendid pack now at Eglinton Castle. Mr. Tailby got two high-priced lots for 230 and 185 gs., but there were four in them by grandsons of Duster, and a five-year-old dog by old Lucifer, bought at the first Drake sale and almost as famous as Duster himself. Mr. John Chaworth Musters, with much discrimination, took lot 13, as, although there were in it some that were ostensibly drafts from Belvoir, they were pretty good ones. Good they turned out to be, as the four couples included Sportly, almost the ancestress of the future South Notts pack, and some say, of the Warwickshire as well. This famous daughter of Mr. Foljambe’s Sportsman and the Duke of Rutland’s Rampish made the lot of four couples exceedingly cheap at 225 gs. It has been well said, too, that the Bedale pack was made by the purchases here of the Hon. E. Duncombe; and Lord Middleton’s two lots that cost 310 gs. must have done the Birdsall pack some good, as there was much Belvoir, Stormer, Singer and Comus blood included in them, all, in fact, Drake classic blood so to speak, as Singer, the sire of Senator, was by Comus out of Syren, by the Drake Duster. In all, and perhaps before the most distinguished audience ever brought together by a hound sale, Mr. T. T. Drake’s hounds realised 2,911 gs., whereas the senior Mr. Drake’s pack eleven years before had only made 1,728 gs.

The next greatest sale of public importance, according to my view, was that of the Rufford, held in 1860, two years before Mr. Drake’s. Captain Percy Williams, one of the finest foxhound judges ever known, had been exactly twenty years making the pack, beginning with drafts; but by careful breeding from quality—both for good looks and work, with the advantages also of capital walks—he had got together a beautiful pack of hounds that were the talk of the country. The late Lord Fitzwilliam, who was very thorough as a hound man, had a strong belief in these Rufford hounds, and nobody could outbid him for some of the lots, which were all in five couples, and so the prices do not seem so extraordinary. Lord Fitzwilliam gave 310 gs. for one lot, 300 gs. for another, 240 gs. for a third, and in all bought a little over 1,300 gs. worth of hounds during the afternoon. What they might have done was never quite tested, for two years afterwards hydrophobia broke out in the Wentworth kennels and most of these hounds were destroyed. The Hon. Mark Rolle gave the highest price of the day, viz., 370 gs., for five couples that included Telegram, who was a host in himself, and 270 gs. for another lot, the Devonshire M.F.H., altogether expending 775 gs. on three lots; and a beautiful pack of hounds he bred from such purchases, with several other West Country packs getting beholden to Telegram.

A sale that had much to do in adding lustre to the Foxhound Stud Book was that of Sir Richard Sutton’s, at the death of that popular sportsman, December 13th, 1855. Lord Stamford had taken on the Quorn and was naturally anxious to get as much of the pack as possible, but there were hounds in the pack for which the connoisseurs of blood sought very eagerly, and Mr. Richard Sutton, Sir Richard’s son, who had taken on the Billesdon side of Quorn Country, was determined that some of the lots should not slip through his hands for any money. He outbid everyone when coming to lot 13, that included three couples from which certainly a great pack could have been formed. There was the stallion hound Dryden, then only six years, and thought by a very able huntsman to have been the best hound ever seen in Leicestershire; he was by Lord Henry Bentinck’s Contest, which made him all the more valuable; and he had already been the sire of Destitute, the dam of the ever-celebrated Belvoir Senator. Then, amongst his companions in lot 13 were Vaulter, a son of the Drake Duster; Lounger, a second season son of Dryden; and Doubtful, an unentered daughter of the same, besides a dog called Roderick by the Brocklesby Roderick. The bidding was very keen, but Mr. Sutton silenced everyone at 260 gs., and reports at the time said he would have gone on. Mr. Sutton’s pack, however, came to the hammer again in less than six months after the above date, and once more Dryden was put up, but with a different result, as in a lot of four couples he was sold for 85 gs. to the Duke of Cleveland, then Master of the great Raby and Hurworth country, who paid in all 240 gs. for twelve couples. The sensation of the sale, though, was when Lord Stamford completely outbid everyone for lot 2, and never left them until his reckoning with the Messrs. Tattersall was 470 gs. for the four couples, or over 58 gs. a hound, the odd part of it being that two couples were first season hounds. Lord Henry Bentinck was a big buyer also, as he started the sale by giving 200 gs. for five couples.

Another sale much talked of in 1858 was that of Mr. James Morrell’s hounds, as the Old Berkshire pack at that time had a great reputation; and the Badminton is said to have been improved immensely by the purchase of eight couples of hounds for 400 gs., and two brood bitches for, respectively, 50 gs. and 25 gs., the acquisition of the five-season hunter, Fleecer, by Lord Fitzhardinge’s Furrier, in one of the 200 gs. lots being of the greatest value, as shown in after years.

The greatest sale of the century, in regard to prices, was Lord Poltimore’s in the spring of 1870, when twenty-two couples of dog hounds made 3,170 gs.; two of the lots, one of three couples, and the other of three couples and a half, made 600 gs. each, or, in one case, 100 gs. a hound. Another lot went for 500 gs. and others for 460 gs. and 400 gs. Whether they were worth it has been a matter of discussion amongst experts in hound-lore; but this much can be said, that Lord Poltimore was an exceptionally good judge, and he had a splendid adviser in Lord Portsmouth. I saw the bitch pack and had a day’s hunting with them shortly after the sale, and I do not think I have ever seen anything more beautiful out of Belvoir. Then for the good they have done! Whipster by Woldsman, purchased in a 600 gs. lot by Sir Algernon Peyton, proved a tower of strength to the Bicester pack, and several bought by Major Browne did an immense amount of good to Lord Eglinton, and other masters of the North had good reasons to recollect them. Woldsman, who was not amongst those sold, will ever do honour to the hound judgment of Lord Poltimore, as, besides being the sire of the above-named Whipster, he had Lord Zetland’s Wanderer to his credit as well, and the latter has been the corner-stone of the Aske kennel. I could mention five or six other descents from Woldsman and also from Lexicon, Latimer, Roman and Limner, all but the last-named of the 100 gs. order.

The above reference to hound sales in these days of the past may be lessons to those inclined to pursue the very enchanting pleasures of hound-breeding. If fewer packs have come into the market of late years than formerly, owing to so many counties now possessing their own packs, such as the two Warwickshires, Pytchley, Grafton, Southwold, Cotswold, Meynell, Rufford and others, prices have been kept up to former standards, as instanced by the valuation put on the Quorn at 3,000gs., the North Warwickshire at 2,500 gs., and the Atherstone at 3,500 gs. The Messrs. Tattersall made a capital move at quite the right time when they established their sales at Rugby, as it gave them opportunities of selling entire packs outright, but more especially for the drafts, which, however, may be of very different material from that suggested by such a conventional term. The great Knightsbridge firm have erected most convenient kennels just outside Rugby station, and the little saleyard, surrounded by comfortable stands, is admirably arranged to permit hounds to be seen at their best. There have been many good results already from the Rugby sales. In 1888 the late Lord Bathurst bought a lot from the Chiddingfold that included a bitch called Buttercup, and the present Lord Bathurst considers she was the corner-stone of his beautiful pack. Then Lord Zetland bought Rockwood at the break-up Puckeridge sale, and his Lordship acknowledges a great deal of good from him. Such recollections were bound to occur at the Messrs. Tattersall’s first sale of the season, on April 20th, when excellent opportunities were offered by Mr. J. R. Rawlence, who always occupies the Rugby rostrum, and is reckoned to be the greatest arbitrator in the kingdom on hound values. Two entire dog packs, sold for no fault whatever, were in the catalogue; those from the Woodland Pytchley, owing to Mr. Wroughton’s reduction of his days hunting, and the Northumberland and Berwickshire, through the lamented death of Sir James Miller. Most of Mr. Wroughton’s were veritable stallion hounds of the most telling blood, and Mr. Pollok, the new Master of the Kildare, made no mistake in getting the biggest portion of them. They must make his Irish pack, for it is the blood of all others to perpetuate long generations of workers, being the cream of Mr. Austin Mackenzie’s kennel, that was formed out of Mr. Longman’s and the Blankney, with the most judicious breeding from the Belvoir, Warwickshire, Fitzwilliam and Pytchley. Mr. Pollok will probably have the best pack of hounds in Ireland. He just missed one lot of useful ones in Nelson, Harold, Shiner, and Wicklow, which sold cheaply enough, I thought, for 85 gs.

It was history repeating itself to see a son of the famous Mr. Tom Drake picking out the gems of the Southwold, a rare pack, to get good hounds from; it looks as if judgment in the kennel is hereditary, as did he not get one good enough to make a pack when he secured a lot that included the little bitch Guilty, by the Brocklesby Wrangler? The present Squire of Shardloes, Mr. W. Tyrwhitt-Drake, who is an old hand in all that pertains to foxhounds, will have another great pack to hunt the Old Berks country with, if he will only stay long enough. Another buyer of the Southwold was Mr. Isaac Bell, of the Galway Blazers, and he will have nothing to regret in the six couples he secured; and with Mr. Nigel Baring, of the Duhallows, snapping up the Brocklesby stallion hound, Sandow, for 45 gs., it may have been called almost an Irish day. Some English packs, though, will be the gainers, as it will be astonishing if Captain Kinglake, of the Taunton Vale, does not do some good with two couples he got from Sir James Miller’s pack; most certainly Dashwood, Catcher, Trampler and Wayward are grand workmanlike-looking foxhounds, and almost ridiculously cheap at 58 gs. The sale of the Dowager Lady Craven’s pack a fortnight later, for nearly 1,100 gs., has been a feature in the disposal of hound property, but I expect they were very cheap, as they were bred by Mr. C. B. Wright, who has no superior in Stud-book lore and as a judge of hounds.

Features of the hound sales throughout the spring have been the numerous purchases by Mr. Pollok and Mr. Isaac Bell for the Kildare and Galway Blazers, and, by the way these gentlemen bought, it is very evident that hound breeding in the Sister Isle will be very much improved. Besides his purchases on the first day’s sale, Mr. Pollok got a nice lot of entered bitches from the Atherstone that might breed anything, and two unentered lots from the Heythrop that might do a deal of good. Mr. Isaac Bell was buying several very racing-like bitches from the South Cheshire, including a couple one noticed by the Warwickshire Traveller, which give a denial to the idea that the beautiful son of Belvoir Handel and Tragedy was no use at the stud. Doubtless there are some more of his get at Kineton, or a couple of his unentered daughters would not have been missed. I shall be curious to know how these young Travellers, Credible and Captious, do in their new Galway home. Apart from the Irish efforts in the cause of improvement, it was seen that Lord Southampton was intent on keeping up the standard of the Grafton, as his lordship expended 210 gs. for five couples of choice bitches from Lady Craven’s pack, or 21 gs. a hound; no gs. going for the couple and a half, Fabulous, Grenadine and Roundelay. Lord Leconfield also gave 110 gs. for one lot as an addition to his Goodwood pack. At the third sale, on the 11th of the month, Lord Southampton was again buying some dog hounds from the Burton pack, but as they have been hunting in Suffolk, they may have become a little sticky for a country like the Grafton. For that reason, perhaps, they did not make much money. The Atherstone were voted the best of all at this final sale, and a great bargain was made by Mr. W. Drake, when he took Stormer for a fourth of 17 gs., and both Lord Huntingdon and the York and Ainsty are to be congratulated on the bargains they got amongst the young hounds, that made about twice as much as any unentered drafts have ever made before, and this says much for Atherstone breeding. In all, more than thirty countries will be benefited by the Messrs. Tattersall’s sales this season, besides help to the Dominion of Canada and far-off India, with a few examples also of what England can boast of to Russia. May the Rugby sales continue and prosper.

International encounters, in sport as in most else, are rarely attended with perfect success, and the second great meeting of the revival of the classic games at Athens has furnished no exception to the rule, for such was the number of entries that competitors suffered considerable discomfort in the matter of hotel accommodation.

As to the sport itself, whilst the British team cannot be said to have acquitted themselves badly, one must candidly confess that more was expected from them.

That America should win the 100 and 400 metres was generally anticipated, as it sent out a peculiarly strong team which had the advantage of a manager, trainer and doctor, and had, possibly, the most complete organisation—excepting, perhaps, that of the Swedes—of any team which has ever left a country to defend that country’s honour and pride.

The 100 metres race they did win in the good time of 11? sec. by Hahn (America), with Moulton (America) second, and Barker (Australia) third. But that, even with Lightbody, America’s present one and half-mile champion, magnificent runner as he is, they should win the 800 and 1,500 metres, was open to the greatest doubt. Even in the regrettable absence of Hawtrey, owing to a swollen ankle, the result of his great five mile race, it was thought that Crabbe and Halswell in the former, and Crabbe and MacGough in the latter, were capable enough of beating our oversea cousins, who at long distance events are proverbially weak. Yet none of these were sufficiently good to hold Lightbody and Pilgrim, the former of whom won the 1,500 metres in 4 min. 12 sec., whilst both of these men put up such a splendid race in the 800 metres that Pilgrim, who had previously beaten Halswell in the 400 metres in 53? sec., only gained the verdict on the tape by a breast in 2 min. 1½ sec. Halswell, who does not seem so good at a half as a quarter, was third, and Crabbe fourth, whilst the latter in the mile could do no better than fifth, MacGough taking pride of place for Britain with second. This race was completely thrown away by MacGough not showing to the front and making the pace, for the four American representatives ran the race as they pleased, and Lightbody proved faster than MacGough in the straight. The five miles provided us with our only athletic victory, and in this Hawtrey showed what a strong runner he is, as, making the pace all the way, he finished little the worse for the journey in the good time of 26 min. 11? sec. Perhaps one should chronicle as an English victory—certainly as a British one—the win of Sherring, of Canada, in the Marathon Road race. This, the great event of the meeting, was looked on by the Greeks as of the supremest importance, for ten years ago it was won for them by Louis, their kinsman, and they felt quietly confident of repeating that success. However, Sherring, who had been training on the road for seven weeks, ran superbly, and after twelve miles out had no one near to cause him a moment’s doubt, and in consequence he almost walked the last five miles. His time showed what a great performance it was, being returned as 2 hrs. 51 min. 23? sec., beating Louis’ time of ten years ago by over 3½ min. Being of athletic build he is an ideal man for the journey, weighing but 9 st. 4 lbs., and he finished remarkably strongly, whereas a heavy man like Daly was in a woe-begone condition, footsore, weary, and in a complete state of collapse, eight miles from home, where he retired, being taken with several others to the hospital there, which was soon in a crowded condition, as very few of the competitors got beyond this point. The performance of Svanberg, a Swede, who ran second to Hawtrey in the five-mile race, was excellent, he being but 7 min. behind the winner, and Franc, the American—who would have stood a better chance but for forcing the pace at the commencement when it was made inexcusably hot—third, two minutes later. The three first places in the Marathon cycle race were gained by Frenchmen, whilst Britain won the Tandem by Matthews and Rushen; the 12½ miles through Pett; and secured second in the mile and lap against time by the aid of Crowther, and in the 1,000 metres with Bouffler. These last two men found their master in Verri, of Italy, a rider of immense pluck and resource. Leahy won the high jump with 5 ft. 11 in., and was second to O’Connor in the hop, skip and jump with 13 metres 98. The latter’s jump was 14 metres 7½, but he completely failed in the long jump, and had to be content with second place to Prinstein, of America. The walking race was rather a fiasco, owing to disqualifications—Wilkinson, our representative, was the first to go—and ended in a win for Bonhag, of America, whilst a beautiful walker in Linden, of Canada, was second. The 110 metre hurdle race fell to Leavitt, of America, in 16? sec., with Healey second, though if the first race, which was unfortunately stopped by some official, had been permitted, Healey, whose damaged foot was paining him badly, could probably have won. In swimming, we won the mile through Taylor, with Jarvis second, and in fencing the Englishmen were exceedingly unfortunate and only robbed of a victory, after a draw, by the strange award of the jury. Max Decuglis, for France, won the tennis singles, and with his wife the mixed doubles; whilst Gouder also credited his country with first position for a capital pole jump of 11 ft. 4 in. The great success for the Greeks was the putting the stone, won by Georgantas. Sheridan (America) won the discus throwing (free style) with approximately 137 ft., beating his own record, and Jaervinem (Finland) the restricted style (35 metre 17).

The shores of the Wash, on the coast of South Lincolnshire, are bounded by a large expanse of mud-flats, where hosts of waders collect soon after the close of the breeding season and inhabit the innumerable creeks of salt water that form a network over the foreshore. In August, as soon as the season for shooting wildfowl has commenced, very fair sport may be had walking the salt marsh with a 12-bore in quest of the red shank, knot, or golden plover that feed amongst the pools and creeks in the day-time; there are a good number also of curlew, and the miniature curlew, or “curlew-jack,” as it is called in this part of the world. As a good many of these are young birds they may be stalked occasionally with success, or will approach within gun-range sometimes if flying over—a thing that the parent birds, especially curlew, will never do unless you are under good cover. Some grey duck, too, are about at the early part of the season, sometimes singly, or in small lots; later on in the autumn birds come from oversea that join our home-bred birds and augment their numbers; then, also, come widgeon, pochard, and sea-fowls of various kinds in the hard winters. These shallows, when covered at high tide, offer a splendid field for punting. I knew a doctor, of sporting proclivities, living in that neighbourhood, who kept a two-handed punt at the foreshore, driving down from the village where he lived sometimes for a shot at the ducks, if there was a prospect of sport. These excursions in many cases were attended with poor success, for, unless you are a professional gunner, living on the spot and always ready, you miss most of the chances that offer, though, of course, any one experienced in wildfowling knows well the uncertainties of the sport and is prepared for disappointments; occasionally, however, there were red-letter days, as that afternoon in December, when Ted L., the doctor’s son, and I were out together, proved.

It was a bitterly cold day, with a blizzard from the east, bringing with it snow-squalls every half hour or so, and afterwards a lull, in short, a capital day for sport, though the intense cold, exposed as we were in the punt, was most trying.

Besides the stanchion gun, taking a charge of ¾ lb. of shot and breech-loading, we took two shoulder guns, a heavy 8-bore, and a stout 10-bore, the latter intended chiefly as a “cripple-stopper” if we had a successful pull with the big gun. It was about two o’clock in the afternoon as we launched the punt, the tide was rising and beginning to fill the creeks nicely. We cruised about, keeping to the large creeks where we could find shelter from the piercing wind that came from the sea directly in our teeth. Crouching low in the boat and taking the punt into sheltered coves as much as possible we found it more bearable, though in raising our heads to look round every now and then, the wind brought the sleet into our eyes and faces stinging like a whip. I had two or three shots into golden plover with the 10-bore, and fetched down over a score of birds, though unable to gather two-thirds of the number, as they often fell on the soft mud. or, wounded, quickly made their way to the water, out of reach.

Now and again as the snow-squalls came over us, the flakes falling so thickly as to make the air quite dark all round, we could hear a muffled sound of geese calling out seawards, and wisps of widgeon or grey duck came past, often within shot, but lost again too quickly in the murky atmosphere to give much chance of bringing any down; I had one or two pulls at them, but it was impossible to say if I killed or not, what with the bad light and the gale in our faces. In about half an hour the wind dropped a little, and the tide beginning to ebb, we paddled out from our shelter and began to keep a sharp look-out on the mud-banks for ducks and other fowl that would be dropping down to feed as the tide receded.

“There’s a nice bunch yonder,” said Ted, as he pointed out a black mass on a point of mud some two hundred yards ahead, and taking out my binoculars I looked and saw that it was a company of widgeon with grey duck amongst them feeding away greedily.

Losing no more time, I commenced paddling in their direction. Ted having already prostrated himself forward, to manage the punt gun, opening the breech and inserting a shell with No. 1 shot. I had all my work cut out with the paddles, as the water was very choppy, and it required all my strength to keep the punt’s head in the right direction whilst keeping my body as flat as possible; at any rate, I had to keep down after the first quarter’s distance was passed, as the birds, hungry as they were, might have taken alarm. We were getting on well, and the air having become clear again, could see the ducks with heads together and necks stretched out as they gobbled hungrily at the weeds that floated in the shallows; we seemed now to be not much over 100 yards away, though it might be more, as the distances over water are so deceptive and always appear less than they really are. Ted now gave me a warning kick to go steady, so I took the short paddles and “set” to the birds, hoping to get inside of eighty yards’ range, if possible; the tide running out helped us somewhat, and presently another kick from Ted gave me the cue to stop paddling, as we had approached near enough, and he prepared to take the shot. Raising my head an inch or two, I could just see above the coaming that the birds, apparently, were undisturbed, as they were still feeding.

Ted was waiting for them to gather together more before he fired.

Now they are in closer formation and Ted slightly elevates his gun, and, with his hand ready to strike the trigger, gives a loud whistle. Up spring a cloud of widgeon and the half hundred or so grey duck that were amongst them, but they hardly clear the mud when Ted’s gun booms forth. The shot charge at that distance, between seventy and eighty yards, opened beautifully and cut a lane through the black mass; birds dropped like hail on to the spot where they had but just risen from feeding, as the shot was perfectly timed, only allowing the flock to get on the wing and with no time to rise or spread themselves out. Making vigorous use of the paddles we soon had the punt up against the mud bank and proceeded to gather the slain; the mud, without the cumbersome mud-boards on, would just bear us, and I got out with the 10-bore and stopped two or three very lively “cripples” that were fast making good their escape towards the creeks. Ted knocked over one or two others that were swimming around with wings broken, with a punting pole, and as soon as these were disposed of we began to turn our attention to the main lot of dead or nearly so, strewn over the foreshore.

Ted was delighted and so was I when we realised what a pretty shot he had made, and we forgot the numbing cold that we had so grumbled at a short time before, and thought our sport worth all the discomfort. We picked up seven mallard and nineteen widgeon altogether, or twenty-six head as the result of the shot, and no doubt there would be some others in the flock hit very hard having strength to fly some distance but would afterwards drop. These were out of count, but we were well satisfied, and felt compensated for many previous failures, when, after laboriously setting up to birds we had the mortification of seeing them rise just as we were on the point of getting within range.

This time it had “come off” and our show of fine plump mallard and widgeon made quite a sensation when we returned to the village that evening.

There is a movement afoot to present a testimonial to Mr. S. M. J. Woods upon his retirement from the captaincy of the Somerset County Cricket Club, and it is to be hoped that a very substantial compliment will be paid to this great athlete.

Certainly the debt which his county owes to him is immeasurable, for ever since he first played for Somerset, whilst still a school-boy at Brighton College, he has been the mainstay of the team, and it is scarcely too much to say that without “Sam” Woods, Somerset could never have for even a brief season escaped from mediocrity.

His first appearance for his county was in 1887 against Warwickshire upon a new and rough wicket at Birmingham, which caused his very fast bowling to create quite a sensation, and Mr. Woods will always remember the game, from the fact that for the first, and probably only, time in his life he failed to score a run in either innings. During his four years at Cambridge he was a perfect terror to Oxonians, and his side proved thrice victorious, the other game being drawn, through rain. The combination of Mr. Woods bowling and Mr. Gregor MacGregor keeping wicket was an exceptional feature for a ’Varsity team, and one that was frequently seen also to great advantage for the Gentlemen against the Players. Mr. Woods, by right of birth, played for Australia against England in a memorable match at Lord’s in 1890, when his side won a fighting match on a sticky wicket, and upon other occasions his compatriots were only too anxious to seek his assistance. Indeed, the range of Mr. Woods’ cricket career is probably the widest of any man. He has played for Australia, for Brighton College and Cambridge, Somerset, the Gentlemen, the South, the West, and in every other sort of match; whilst he has twice visited America and Canada, and toured in the West Indies and South Africa. A winter or two ago, moreover, he was in his native country and taking part in some Australian cricket.

As a footballer, too, Sam Woods has attained the very highest honours. At Brighton College the Association game is played, and it was not long before the young Australian ran into county form at the dribbling code, as it used journalistically to be described in those days.

At Cambridge he turned his energies to Rugby, and speedily became one of the greatest exponents of the modern forward game. He has repeatedly played for England, and captained the English fifteen. And now that he has retired from the active pursuit of the ball, he is recognised as one of the greatest authorities on the game that the Rugby Union possesses.

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” Mr. Woods has always been loyal to this precept, and since he has been playing cricket and football in this country for the last twenty years, he must have afforded very great pleasure and happiness to the crowds of people with whom he has played or before whom he has played, and we hope that none of these will grudge the pains of sending a subscription to emphasise the compliment which it is proposed to pay to this great athlete.

Another great cricketer, Mr. A. C. MacLaren, was on May 10th the recipient of a testimonial from his admirers, which amounted to a sum over £1,200, and as the presentation was made by Mr. A. N. Hornby, the President of Lancashire cricket, on the steps of the pavilion at Old Trafford, during the luncheon interval, it must have been a great occasion for the Manchester crowd to cheer their two great captains.

Lancashire literally came within an ace of being beaten by Leicestershire in the very first week of the season.

It was a match of the genuine old-fashioned interest, where the highest total was 159 and the lowest 112. The highest individual score was 56, and there were seven “ducks eggs,” including two “pairs of specs,” and plenty of catches missed.

Very good sport for everyone, and Lancashire won by just one run.

If there were more games of this description, what good fun cricket would be again!

Whilst Lancashire were going through this thrilling experience at Leicester the great rivals from Yorkshire were trying conclusions with a not very powerful side of the M.C.C. and Ground at Lord’s, who beat the champions by 40 runs. It was an interesting game, and was lost by Yorkshire when they all got out for 132 runs in their first innings, after M.C.C. had made 218.

Mr. Gilbert Jessop showed signs of a busy season by brushing up scores of 63 and 65, and in each innings he was out to Rhodes’ bowling. It is interesting to note how often the great hitter gets out to Rhodes’ bowling; he seems to be hitting him for fours all the time, and then something happens and down goes the wicket or up goes the hand of the umpire, which is just as bad.

In Rothery, Yorkshire have a good man to go in first. He appears to have great defensive powers and can cut with dexterity, and he brought off some fine hook strokes at Lord’s in his scores of 32 and 88. He will be a better bat when he scores more runs in front of the wicket.

Yorkshire with a more pronounced “tail” than they have shown of late years did not start the season with such an appearance of solidity as usual. On the other hand, Surrey, rejuvenated under the inspiriting leadership of Lord Dalmeny, began in fine style against some not very strong opponents, such as Hants, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, and up to the time of our writing this the Surrey batsmen all seem to be at the top of their game and the Surrey bowlers seem to be unplayable. Against Northamptonshire, Tom Hayward scored 219, as against 136 and 79 by the whole of Northamptonshire, so that he alone beat them by an innings and 4 runs, a great and unusual performance.

On this occasion Mr. J. N. Crawford took nine wickets at a cost of 46 runs, so it looks as if he and Hayward, with a boy or two to field, might beat Northamptonshire comfortably enough on their own. Surrey look like being well in the running for the championship this year, as many of their men, including their captain, seem to improve every day; and Tom Hayward, whose long and invaluable services to his country entitle him to the endearing term of veteran, has been hitting away with all the vigour of a kicking colt.

The Surrey team remind us of the sheep of Bo Peep, and with the warnings of past muddles in our memory we feel inclined to quote to the Surrey Committee the invaluable and slightly altered advice of the poet, “Leave them alone and they’ll come home, and very likely bring the championship behind them.”

There has been no end of speculation on salmon flies, for every angler has his favourite patterns in which he professes to have implicit faith. After all, these personal predilections, however strong, do not carry us very far. They are merely individual experiences, certainly of interest, but not founded on any scientific principle. Before assuming that the salmon has a liking for a particular colour, it would be more scientific to settle, if possible, whether the salmon is sensitive to colour, to discover the range of his colour perception and the effects of the refraction of water upon objects presented to his eye. Such an enquiry involves the science of anatomy as well as the science of optics; but granted an investigator adequately equipped in both departments and endowed with a little constructive imagination, we see no reason why the problem of the salmon’s vision should not be solved. There is no doubt that the proper way to go about the enquiry is for the observer to examine the salmon’s optical apparatus in comparison with man’s, to project himself in imagination to the bed of the river and applying his knowledge of optics to the refracting effect of water, to try to construct a picture of any object as it would appear to the human eye under such circumstances. When this is done it proves a very illuminative method. The two following papers show a laudable attempt to apply such principles, and if they do not say absolutely the last word on the subject, they are uncommonly suggestive, and make a valuable contribution to the solving of the problem. It is often assumed that the salmon sees a fly merely as a dark silhouette against the sky. That is now shown to be a very rare occurrence. He would seem to be sensitive to colour, and under certain circumstances has a distinct sense of the gaudiness of the lures presented to his observation.

The investigation is not without its bearing on trout-fishing, for it brings home to the angler the conditions under which, in clear water, the trout may behold him and his rod from the bank; it explains, perhaps, why, in certain conditions of air and water, the fish miss the fly, and it throws indirect light on many other mysteries that trouble the angling mind.

Is the Salmon Colour-blind?

Has a fish’s eye any sense of colour? Does it see a worm, a fly, or a minnow in all the varied colours that these creatures present to us? Are these colours blurred by the medium in which the fish lives, or are they equally brilliant below water and above, just as a cathedral window shows its tinted panes no less gorgeous in the evening light than in the noonday brightness? Or is it that the fish is colour-blind, and sees only a monotone, a grey of varied depth. Is the picture one of mere shading and devoid of colour?

These are problems worthy of an answer, especially in regard to such a fish as the salmon, to which our subsequent remarks are directed. Some fishes, we know, are blind, and their eyes are rudimentary; but such fishes live in dark caves and have no need of eyesight. On the other hand, the salmon—a denizen of both salt and fresh water—requires great keenness of vision, not only for the obtaining of its food, but for its protection from the numerous dangers that surround it.

When we ask, “Is the salmon’s eye sensitive to colour, as the human eye is?” we have brought home to us the difficulty of the question. Human perception may, for all we know, be quite different from the perceptions of fishes. The anatomist will say that we associate certain retinal structures in the human eye with the perception of colour; and if the same structures are found in the eye of a fish the conclusion is that the fish is anatomically capable of perception. This, however, although carrying great weight, is by no means conclusive, and must be supplemented from other quarters.

There are various theories of colour perception. Thomas Young developed the theory that three primary sensations of colour, red, green, and violet, can be excited in the eye by light, and that the colour of an object depends on the proportion in which each of these sensations is excited. This may or may not be true, but the experiments of Clerk-Maxwell prove that almost any colour can be matched by a combination of three colours in varying proportions. That is, so far as our perception goes, the colours are matched. Our perception, however, is somewhat imperfect. We can match the yellow of the spectrum, with red and green in combination; but while the pure tone of the spectrum cannot be broken up by the prism, the matching colour of our own creation can be broken up into its elements red and green. Our own colour perception, therefore, though quite adequate to our needs, is by no means perfect. It follows that perfect colour perception is not necessary in a fish. If the fish can discriminate between three separate wave lengths, or even two separate wave lengths, it will have a certain graduated perception, equivalent to what we recognise as colour sense. It would not see a monochrome, but a scale of colour, which, although possibly very incomplete, is still a gradation of colouring. If it has the same retinal structures that are present in the human eye, it has probably the same scale of colour sensation as man. But even if its retinal structures be inferior to those in man, the fish may still be able to discriminate the difference in wave length between, say, the blue and the red, and will have a scale of colour incomplete perhaps, but still infinitely superior to colour-blindness, in the fish significance of that term. Many human beings are partially, few totally, colour-blind. Although nothing of a conclusive kind can be proved by the microscopic anatomist, yet with the help of many circumstances that may be brought forward, a strong case can be made out for colour perception in the salmon. We propose to examine the salmon’s eye, to enquire how far it is adapted to the medium in which the fish lives, what effect that medium has on the transmitted light, and what conclusions may be legitimately drawn therefrom.

The first thing that strikes an observer in looking at the head of a salmon, more especially from above, is, that its outline is a parabolic curve, in which the eyes are placed pretty well back from the snout, but so placed that they can see objects in front, on each side, and backwards till the elliptical form of the body cuts off the view. The eyes can also look downward, but the upward view is cut off to some extent by the eyebrow or bone cavity holding the eye. The eye, although flush with the head, can be rolled to some extent in its socket, as any one who has watched a fish in an aquarium can testify. The salmon, then, has an all-round vision, as well as a downward vision, but directly overhead the range of vision is restricted. As to structure, there is no cornea proper, a clear more or less flat membrane taking its place. The pupil is large in proportion to the crystalline lens; in other words, the eye is so constructed as to admit the maximum of light. The crystalline lens is the means whereby the rays of light are brought to a focus on the retina. In the human eye this lens is bi-convex. The power of a lens is increased by deepening its convexity or by adding to the density of the materials. Refraction or bending of light varies with the density of the medium through which the light passes. Refraction, as a general rule, is proportionate to density, and the amount of refraction depends on the difference in density between the two media. The salmon lives in a medium of great density, and therefore of high refractive index. Hence, to focus the rays of light on the retina the crystalline lens in the salmon’s eye has a very deep convexity, is, indeed, almost a sphere. A spherical lens gives a sharp image, quite as sharp as a bi-convex lens. The salmon’s eye is, therefore, admirably suited to the element that surrounds it. If the fish be taken from the water it is immediately afflicted with short sight. It has been transferred from a dense to a rare medium and the refraction is disturbed, so that the rays come to a focus almost on the posterior side of the lens and form the image there instead of on the retina. To sum up, a salmon can, without moving, see in every direction except behind and directly overhead. It can see clearly with a small amount of light, and its eye is so constructed as to ensure a clear image on the retina, while the fish is in the water. The medium in which the salmon lives is of considerable density, and has a high refractive index. If pure and in small quantity the water is perfectly clear: in large mass it is blue. In a river it is more or less contaminated with mud, peat, or other matter. When the water is very muddy the fish is lost in a fog, and has only touch and smell to guide it, but when the water clears somewhat, although much light is still cut off, the fish will see within a limited area. Of course the colour of all objects will be affected by the hue of the water, white becoming brown, yellow becoming orange, and so on. The experiment described by an American writer of looking at an artificial fly in a tank through a bit of plate glass in its end, gave a very good idea of what the fly looked like through the light-absorbing water; but it did not take into account that the fish can see with less light than we can. Moreover, it altogether failed to realise the position of the fish, whose eye is immersed in the water. The observer, therefore, did not see the object under the same conditions as the fish.

We cannot admit that the salmon sees the fly against the bright light of the sky. This does happen at times, but such moments are the exception, not the rule. If the salmon saw the fly against the background of bright sky, the fly would undoubtedly appear black, a dark silhouette on a white ground. In that case it might well be argued that as the fish sees no colour, colour perception, being useless to the fish, is not one of its possessions. But the refraction of the light, owing to the density of the water, entirely alters the case. When a ray of light enters a body of greater density it becomes bent, and the bending always takes place in the dense body towards a line drawn perpendicular to the surface at the point of contact. This bending of the light follows a fixed law. In whatever direction the light strikes the body the sine of the angle of incidence is to the sine of the angle of refraction in a constant ratio. In the refraction from air to water the ratio is very nearly four to three. To explain more fully (see fig. I), a ray of light AC strikes the water at C and is refracted to B. With the centre C describe a circle, cutting the ray of light at A and B, and from these points draw lines perpendicular to the surface of the water AF and BG. The distance CF is to the distance CG as 4 to 3. If CF be 4 ft. then CG is 3 ft. Again, suppose the ray of light comes from a point say, near the surface (see fig. 2), then CF will be almost equal to the radius of the circle. But if CF is 4 ft. then CG is 3 ft., therefore the point G must be a foot from D, however small the angle the ray of light makes with the surface of the water at C. The converse holds true. A ray of light from B will be refracted to A; but if the ray comes from H it will not be able to get out at C, and will be reflected to K. One can always see into a dense body, but it is not always possible to see out. The angle at which one ceases to see out of a dense medium is called the critical angle. Therefore, if a fish in the water looks towards the surface so that its line of vision makes an angle with the surface somewhat less than 45°, say 42°, the fish cannot see out (see fig. 3). Now, if we take into account that when light strikes water at a very small angle with the surface a large part is reflected and, comparatively speaking, very little refracted to the fish’s eye, a fairly reasonable angle for a fish to see out of the water at is 45° or more. What follows? If our salmon is at a depth of 4 ft., then if right above its eye we describe a circle (see fig. 4) 4 ft. in radius, within this circle lie the only points in the whole river from which it is possible for the fish to see the sky. Where does the fish see the banks of the river? The line in which light enters the eye is that in which the object is seen. The banks B will be seen as if at B. All the landscape and sky will be seen within the circle, that is, within the cone whose apex is the fish’s eye, and base the circle on the surface. It may not be out of place to point out that a fish at some distance from the bank in a quiet pool may be seen distinctly by an observer, while the fish may not be able to discern him. The man on the bank sees the fish lit by all the light of the sky above and reflected to his eye. The fish, on the other hand, sees the observer only by the light reflected by his body, much of which light never reaches the fish’s eye at all, being reflected at the surface of the water. Referring to fig. 3, if the fish look at a point X outside the magic circle, it will not see out of the water. The surface acts as a reflector and all the fish can see in this direction is a picture of the bed of the river at Y. We are not considering the point whether a fish can see an object in the water at X, but whether the fish can see the sky there; all the sky that the fish can see is within the circle already mentioned. We have remarked that the fish cannot, while in its normal position, see directly above its head, therefore even in part of this circle the sky will be invisible. Suppose an object is only 3 ft. above the fish, then the area in which the fish can see it against the sky will be a circle only 6 ft. in diameter. It is only when anything drifts within the cone already described that the fish can see it against the sky. This may be illustrated in the following striking manner. Take a glass globe (see fig. 5) and fill it exactly half full of water, paint the part filled by the water any dark colour, leaving a small clear space at AB and Y. Now, if a ray XC falls on the centre C it will be refracted to Y, and then come out into the air without further refraction. If we look through Y towards C we are in the position of the fish in the water. This is true for a small pencil of light. If, however, we look towards C through the opening A, we see out of the whole surface, and can see an object above the surface. If we look from B towards C, our line of vision makes an angle of less than 45° with the surface and we cannot see out of the surface, for it then becomes a mirror and reflects the painted side of the vessel and nothing more. Drop a fly at C, and from B you will not see the fly till it actually enters the water, and you will see only that part of it which is immersed in the water, together with its reflection. The photograph (fig. 6) shows what happens.

We think we have made it perfectly clear that it is only in exceptional circumstances that the fish can see its prey against the brightness of the sky. The normal case is only where the background is the bed of the river, the reflection of that bed or a blackness, depending more or less on the mass of water between the fish and the object. The object itself is invariably lighted by rays from the surface, which rays are reflected to the eye of the fish. The amount of light reaching the fish depends on the depth of the object under the surface and on its distance from the fish as well as on the clearness of the water. The fish has, it is true, an eye suitable for a weak light, but if the fish be colour-blind, and the object be of the same tone and relative lighting as the background, how can the fish perceive the object? A pike will rush twenty feet at a fly in a piece of water only three feet deep; he cannot have seen the fly against the sky. That could happen only if the pike were at the bottom and the object not more than five feet from him. Whereas, in the case supposed the fish is near the surface and the fly is seen by reflected light. The form is probably not seen distinctly but the “colour” is certainly attractive. It is conceivable that various states of light, and various states of water favour a particular colour and make it more alluring—at one time black, at another blue, or yellow, or red, or even white. We do not assert that a fish can see colour as we see it, but we hold that a fish can hardly be colour-blind when we consider the conditions under which it lives and moves. For the salmon to see its prey against the brightness of the sky is, as we have shown, exceptional, so that the argument which insists on the uselessness of colour to a creature which sees only dark silhouettes falls to the ground. We conclude that the salmon has a colour perception; whether the scale is like that of human beings we cannot say, but it is enough that the fish recognises one colour as different from another. Further than this we cannot go as yet, but to that conclusion we think we are certainly entitled.

In the case of any of the lower animals an enquiry regarding its power of appreciating different colours is usually conducted by making experiments calculated to show whether or not the animal in question behaves as if it had this power. Whether it actually sees colours as we do, or is even conscious of seeing them at all, is, necessarily, beside the question.

So far as this method of investigation carries us in the case of the salmon, there would seem, from what is mentioned elsewhere, to be trustworthy evidence that it is influenced by differences in the colour of the artificial fly. But there remains a considerable difference of opinion, I understand, as to the value of these practical observations.

That the different colours and light intensities of an object, situated within a definite area of the water surface, are theoretically visible by the fish’s eye, has been clearly shown by Mr. J. Allan Stewart, who has thus answered those who argued that any body on the surface of the water would only be seen as a dark object against the bright sky-ground.

The fact of an animal choosing one part of the spectrum in preference to another can only be accepted as evidence that it recognises some difference. Now, it is only from the facts known regarding human vision that we can draw comparative conclusions. Judging from these facts we find that certain parts of the spectrum affect us differently from other parts, not only by virtue of their colour, but also of their brightness. We find, indeed, that we have two distinct visual sensations dependent on light, colour and brightness, both influenced by differences in wave-rapidities or wave-lengths. Thus, if we gradually reduce the intensity of the spectrum, the colours all finally cease to be recognisable. In this colourless spectrum the brightest part is slightly to the violet side of the line E (corresponding to green), so that it is quite possible that this part of the spectrum would appear distinct from the rest, even in the case of an animal destitute of all colour perception. (In proof of this it may be mentioned that in a case of total congenital colour-blindness in man, this part of the spectrum is found to be recognised as different from the rest by its brightness alone.)

From arguments which I have adduced elsewhere, there is good evidence in favour of the view that light perception (brightness) is the more primitive of these two sensations, and that it is dependent upon changes induced by light in the retinal pigment epithelium. Also, it is practically proved, so far as the human retina is concerned, that this light impression is communicated to the rod-cells of our retinal neuro-epithelium and so transmitted by conducting channels in retina, nerve and ganglion, to the sight centre in the brain. In the case, therefore, of an animal with a low form of retina, in which the above-named cells are alone represented, any differences in its behaviour on exposure to different parts of the spectrum may be presumed to be explained by the amount of brightness or light effect thereby induced.

But, on the other hand, we now believe that the finer gradations of differences in stimulation due to variations in wave-length which we recognise as colours are dependent on the presence of another kind of retinal element called cone-cells. It is sufficient here merely to say that these cone-cells seem to derive the initial stimulus through some effect produced on the pigment epithelium, and that they also transmit the impulse by conducting paths to the brain in a similar fashion to that above-mentioned.

Accordingly, should the retina of an animal contain, not only pigment and rod-cells, but also cone-cells, we must admit that, so far as we know, it is anatomically and physiologically capable of being influenced by colour in a similar way to the human retina. Now, the retina of the salmon does undoubtedly possess all these anatomical elements—pigment epithelium, fine rod-cells, well-marked cones.

The whole argument for the existence of colour perception in the salmon is, therefore, undoubtedly a strong one.

(1) It behaves as if it sees differences in colour.

(2) It is possible for its eye to get a proper view of an object within a certain area on the surface of the water.

(3) Its retina is of a sufficiently highly developed type to admit of its being differently influenced by different parts of the colour spectrum.

The writer of this paper, Mr. Marcus Gunn, is an acknowledged expert as an oculist. His opinion, therefore, on the subject of the salmon’s visual apparatus is of no ordinary value and should be duly pondered. Perhaps we ought to inform our readers that the eyes of the two salmon which he examined with a view to this paper were extracted from two large fresh run fish caught in autumn by the undersigned—one on the Ythan and the other on the Dee. The eyes were extracted immediately after capture and placed, in one case in chloral, in the other in formalin. Mr. Gunn was thus enabled to make sections of both, with the results embodied in his authoritative paper.

(FROM THE SPORTING MAGAZINE OF 1806.)

Foot Race.—The foot race between Lord Edward Somerset and the Hon. Edward Harbord took place on Friday morning the 16th (May) in Lord’s Cricket Ground. The space to be run was nearly one hundred yards.

Lord Edward had the start of Mr. Harbord, and maintained the advantage for about sixty yards, when Mr. Harbord gained upon and crossed him. In passing they ran against each other, and in consequence, as it was supposed, of the rencontre, Lord Edward fell. Mr. Harbord came in first, of course, but a dispute arose respecting the cause of Lord Edward’s fall, which was not decided till after a long conference between three gentlemen to whom the matter in question was referred. Lord Frederick Beauclerk was chosen umpire, and his decision was as follows: That on account of the accident which happened the race was void; but Mr. Harbord is allowed the power of calling upon Lord Edward to run the race over again any time within the next six months, upon giving his lordship six weeks’ notice. The bets were six to four in favour of Mr. Harbord.

Epsom Races.—On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the metropolis poured forth an incredible number of its inhabitants to Epsom Races, nor was the surrounding country less liberal in contributing to the aggregate of visitors. The gradation of rank in those from London was from the Prince of Wales down to the donkey racer; and from the country, the peer to the ploughboy.

The Derby Stakes on Thursday was won by Sir F. Standish’s Paris, bought by Lord Foley, beating Lord Egremont’s b. c. Trafalgar, Lord Chichester’s gr. c. and several others. Very severe running by the three named; Paris won by half a neck. The £50 Plate on the same day was won by Mr. Ladbroke’s Prospero.

On Friday the Oak’s Stakes was won by Mr. B. Craven, who named the Duke of Queensberry’s b. f. Bronze, which beat Lord Egremont’s b. f. Jerboa, Mr. Lake’s b. f. Rosabella, and Sir F. Standish’s b. f. by Sir Peter Teazle. There were eight others started, but the judge could only place the first four. A young man who was run over by one of the horses during the race for the Oaks on Friday, died on Saturday.

That woodcocks breed in this country is now ascertained beyond any possibility of doubt ... a couple of young ones about half-grown were caught by a countryman in a wood called Shrub Wood, in the parish of Caversham, Oxon, and exhibited as a curiosity to many inhabitants of Reading; a third was seen, but could not be taken. The plumage exactly resembled that of the old birds, and the bill was proportionate to their growth. A gentleman very liberally and handsomely rewarded the countryman for carrying them back, and turning them loose into the wood from which they had been taken, as there was not the least probability of their being raised by any other means.

Extract from a Letter from York, April 30th: “This day a long-depending match against time was decided between Mr. Harrison and Mr. Ray. Four hundred guineas to one hundred that Mr. H. did not drive one of his horses, with himself and another person, in a chase from London to York in forty-eight successive hours. This he performed with apparent ease in forty-six hours and fifty minutes, having started from London at six o’clock on Monday morning, and arrived at York ten minutes before five on Wednesday. He offered to take the same bet, to go from York to London in the same time, and start this day week, with the same horse.”

Sir Walter Gilbey has issued a new and revised edition of the suggestive pamphlet^[16] which appeared soon after the close of the South African War, when the enormous losses sustained among the horses were still fresh in the mind of the country. The main objects of Sir Walter’s scheme are, to secure a sufficiency of the best of the three-year-old horses that come into the market each year for the Army, and house them in specially organised depÔts, to be handled and trained until old enough to be issued as cavalry, artillery and transport remounts; and to create the nucleus of a staff of officers to whom the difficult and delicate task of buying horses may be entrusted in time of emergency. The scheme suggested appears to us eminently feasible, and also one that could be put to the test of practical experience at insignificant cost to the national exchequer. Sir Walter does not urge that his scheme in its entirety, involving the creation of ten depÔts near various selected centres in the kingdom, should be adopted at once. He suggests that three or four of these depÔts, each capable of receiving 400 horses, should be established and given a few years’ trial. This is sound business, and inasmuch as the capital cost of each depot is only £25,000, while the Army estimates each year, nowadays, fall little short of thirty millions of money, there is nothing in the scheme that need alarm the most economically minded war minister. As Sir Walter points out, recent years have seen a vast increase in mechanical traction, whereby great numbers of horses of a very useful class for military purposes have been done away with; the sources of supply formerly made accessible by the registration system have been thus much reduced; and the question of Army remounts, always a difficult one, is likely to become even more difficult in the future. We are quite of Sir Walter’s opinion that the step taken by the authorities in paying “market price” for horses means little more than a reduction in the standard of quality. Five-year-olds, fit to carry our cavalry and draw our guns, are not to be had for an average price of £43 16s. 8d. If our troops are to be properly mounted we must give them the best; and Sir Walter’s scheme, whereby young horses may be bought and kept at the public charge for a year or two, is, in our judgment, the best means of getting the best that could be devised.

Few men in England have wider experience of hounds and hunting than Mr. Richardson; he mentions, incidentally, in his brief preface, that he has learned what he knows in “nearly half of the English hunting countries.” He has, therefore, strong claims to be heard when he puts pen to paper. His book^[17] is a small and unassuming production, but it contains a vast amount of sound advice, delivered in a straightforward, sportsmanlike fashion that lends it weight. The tone of the whole book appeals to us; the author has the gift of writing in a direct and intimate strain which conveys to the mind of the reader that he personally, and he only, is being addressed. And inasmuch as the book was penned for the guidance of boys, girls, and hunting novices of larger growth, this method is peculiarly appropriate. Mr. Richardson seems to have kept an eye on the rising generation as it appears at the covert-side and in the wake of hounds, and his observations on conduct and deportment are very much to the point. The chapters headed “Threefold Duties” and “Duties to the Field” might fitly form a sort of Saturday Catechism in which indulgent parents should require their offspring to be letter perfect before they are allowed to go out with hounds. Admirably practical, too, are the observations on “Costume and Equipment.” Mr. Richardson is a martinet in the matter of hunting dress, and requires that “every boy and girl and every man and woman who hunts should be as neat as a pin all over.”

We also find ourselves very much in accord with him concerning the observance of hunting etiquette in the so-called “provinces” by comparison with the more fashionable shires. In the latter we have more than once seen the man who, for the public weal, dismounted to open a gate, left behind, if not nearly carried away by the crowd while endeavouring to regain his saddle, and we have never seen a similar proceeding in a “provincial” country. Again, we are in accord with him when he affirms that “four-fifths of the hunters in the kingdom are, when in really good condition, quite fit enough to hunt twice a week.” Of course, as the incipient solicitor said, “It all depends,” but we are of Mr. Richardson’s opinion that the large majority of hunters could not only do more than they are usually asked to do, but would be much better off with more work than they get in the orthodox three days a fortnight—always provided they are fit.

The whole book is that of a wise and thoughtful hunting man, who not only knows his subject from the very bottom, but can use his knowledge for the benefit of others in direct and convincing language. Masters of Hounds who suffer from the perennial Christmas school-boy and the cocksure hunting novice should rise up as one man and bless Mr. Richardson for that he has in a small half-crown book put forward lucidly the whole duty of the hunting man towards himself, his neighbour, and the hounds. We most cordially recommend it to the notice of the parent, guardian, and to the family coachman who may be entrusted with the duty of escorting the young master or mistress out hunting.

We have received a copy of “The Polo Annual (for) 1906.”^[18] This handy little work is now so well known that we need hardly do more than mention the fact of its timely publication. It contains the Hurlingham Recent Form List, rules and bye-laws, information about measurement of ponies, committee lists, details of tournaments, club directory, information about the conveyance of ponies by rail, and various other matters connected with the game. It is a book indispensable to the polo player.

There is a decided “boom” in dog books just at present. Messrs. Phillips and Cane have added to the large library of these a small but comprehensive and well-written volume^[19] on the spaniels, a class of sporting dog which of late years has again received a meed of the attention it deserves. We say “of late years,” as the authors in their very interesting and suggestive first chapter show us how important a part the spaniel played in the sport of our ancestors two and three centuries or more ago. They are probably right in their assertion that there is no variety of dog which can claim higher antiquity than the spaniel. The Irish water, English water, springer, cocker, coloured field, Clumber, black field and Sussex breed is dealt with in turn; the cocker and black field varieties receiving the greatest attention. The springer is the oldest of the several breeds, and from him we derive our field spaniels of the present day. The cocker, for which Mr. Phillips appears to have a preference, is one of the oldest recognised breeds, and he is of opinion that the modern type more nearly approaches the old-fashioned dog than its progenitor of twenty years ago; a circumstance traceable perhaps to the increased attention its growing popularity has earned for it. The same would seem to be true of the Clumber, whose history, so far as England is concerned, is traced to the presentation by the Duc de Noailles of a number of spaniels to Henry, second Duke of Newcastle, about the end of the eighteenth century. No variety has been more carefully bred than the Clumber, and its antiquity is proven by the fidelity with which the characteristics of the breed perpetuate themselves. The authors are well known as authorities on spaniels both at field trials and on the show bench; the former, instituted in 1899, have proved a great success, and we share the confidence of Mr. Cane that their influence will be in every way beneficial. The book, which is well and straightforwardly written, contains a mine of information concerning the best individual dogs of the day which have come under the notice of the authors. The illustrations, from old pictures and from photographs, are both interesting and helpful.

The third divisional volume of Professor Wortley Axe’s great work^[20] is now before us, and the contents maintain in every respect the standard of merit established by the two preceding volumes. This volume deals with certain classes of disease to which equine flesh is liable, namely, diseases of the urinary organs, the nervous system, the absorbent system, organs of circulation and respiration, very few of which the horseowner should attempt to treat on his own responsibility. Perusal of the professor’s pages will be of assistance to him in describing symptoms; but this section of the work appeals more especially to the veterinary surgeon. It needs no knowledge of the surgical art, however, to appreciate the remarkable clearness of the diagrams and drawings with which the work is illustrated. Professor Wortley Axe’s book gives fair promise of being, when complete, the most comprehensive work on the horse in the language.

From the Gresham Publishing Company we have received a “Dissected Model” showing in ingenious and convenient shape the development of the teeth of the horse from early foal-hood to advanced age. The coloured drawings show the mouth at various ages, and individual teeth, whole and in section, to show the effect of wear at different ages. A most useful publication, from which the young horseowner may learn how to correctly age a horse after half an hour’s attentive study.

The fox furnishes the text for the next book^[21] on our table. Mr. F. W. Millard, as Secretary to the Gamekeepers’ Association, approaches the animal in a spirit different from that exhibited by Mr. Dale in the work noticed last month, but his aim is the praiseworthy one of showing that the protection of foxes is quite compatible with the preservation of game. There are people, we fear, to whose minds it is not possible to carry this conviction, but, if it were within the region of possibility, Mr. Millard’s temperate and well-balanced arguments would accomplish it. The author is a naturalist, and has made the habits and ways of foxes a special study; and while we find in his pages no single word against which the fox-preserver might protest, we find a very great deal of which he must cordially approve. The protection of sitting birds, naturally, is a matter to which prominence is given, and for this purpose Mr. Millard suggests numerous methods—conspicuously the use of renardine and discs painted with luminous paint—the latter, of course, are open to the objection that they may attract human poachers while scaring the fox; but with the gamekeeper must remain the onus of keeping these at a distance. His methods of protecting the pheasant-rearing field seem to us also very sound, as do his suggestions for the management of hand-reared pheasants when turned out. He is resolute in his opinion that the mangey fox is the worst foe of winged game. “Its affliction permits it little rest and it is constantly on the hunt, day and night”: his advice to the keeper to retain the carcase of a mangey fox, if he destroy one, and show it to some responsible person is judicious. We may particularly recommend to the notice of those who seek to promote hunting the chapter on the management of a vixen and her cubs. Mr. Millard’s system entails a certain amount of trouble, it involves some study of the habits of the individual vixen, but we cannot doubt that the plan of ascertaining her favourite foraging direction, and putting down food for her at the farthest point she is likely to reach when on her nightly hunt excursion, should be distinctly beneficial to all concerned. The author maintains that “a steel trap can be used without the slightest danger to foxes,” and he sympathises with the keeper who is expected to preserve game in a hunting country without using it. The use of steel traps in such wise that they shall be innocuous to foxes is one of the minor sciences, and Mr. Millard’s advice on the subject is well worth careful study. His book is that of a practical man who knows his subject thoroughly, and the game-preserver will be well advised to present a copy of it to his keeper, with injunctions to “read, mark, learn, and digest.”

A man who has fished for seventy years, and that in the best salmon and trout waters of Scotland and England, with occasional visits to Germany, must have something to say worth the telling; and Mr. Barrington’s book^[22] is one of the most enjoyable on angling we have read for a long time. The capture of an undersized trout in his eighth year was the predisposing cause of his affection for the rod, and he has been a fisherman ever since, devoting to the sport, as we gather, every day he could escape from the toils of the Foreign Office. His book is somewhat discursive, but this only adds to its attractions: he ranges from the Ilm in Germany to the Tay, thence to the Hampshire Avon, from the Findhorn to the Tweed, Garry, or Costello in Connemara; but whereever he takes us he is always the same entertaining and instructive companion full of reminiscence and idea, of helpful suggestion and useful hint. His long experience enables Mr. Barrington to institute comparisons between the salmon and trout-fishing to be obtained in his early days and the present time, and notwithstanding the wonderful days of sport he has enjoyed in comparatively recent times on the Tweed, he is of the opinion that our fathers had better sport in all departments than is vouchsafed to us, save in salmon-fishing; he believes that bigger fish are killed nowadays than used to be taken half a century ago. No doubt he is quite right; on streams where salmon and trout are less numerous than they used to be within easy memory, they run larger. Mr. Barrington is a member of the broad-minded school of anglers. He recognises the superiority of the dry-fly method for trout, as he prefers the fly for salmon; but he does not on that account disdain the worm or minnow for the one, nor the prawn for the other, and is at pains to make clear his conviction that one method may, under given circumstances, be quite as sportsmanlike and demand every whit as much skill as another. The circumstance that the author has, during his long career, known many famous public men adds much to the interest of his pages. The late Duke of Roxburghe, he tells us, threw a better and longer salmon line than any man he ever knew. A quaint anecdote is that of Lord Palmerston, who was not an angler. He once asked the author how he “managed to direct the fly into the mouth of a grayling and not into that of a trout”; but we dare not begin quotation from a work so tempting. There is a very great deal in this book which is well worth careful study, for Mr. Barrington has been interested in the work of restocking and stream management, and has much to say on these subjects. The reader may open the book anywhere in the comfortable certainty of finding amusement, he will not find it an easy one to put down.

Mr. Roscoe has done well to publish this new edition of his very readable little work.^[23] Like Mr. Barrington, he makes the rod his constant holiday companion, and as it has accompanied him on visits to Switzerland, the Black Forest, Tyrol and Normandy, as well as to more familiar waters in Scotland, Wales and Ireland, his “rambles” lack nothing of variety. His observations of the methods of the local sportsmen encountered are entertaining, if not particularly helpful; guidance, however, is not what the British angler abroad expects from the local expert. On the contrary, the local expert, so far as our experience goes, invariably reckons on the visitor for advice, which, perhaps, is not much to be wondered at. Anglers who cannot, for domestic reasons, make indulgence in their favourite the sole raison d’Être of the summer holiday will do wisely to possess themselves of this work, which contains many and useful suggestions concerning the choice of resorts where the trout-rod may be brought into use. These are really far more numerous than the average Continental visitor is aware; and, under Mr. Roscoe’s guidance, some very attractive streams may be discovered.

Messrs. Hardy Brothers, of Alnwick, send us a copy of their “Angler’s Guide” for the current year. This work contains many useful hints on fishing, and indexed lists of every conceivable requirement in the shape of tackle and gear. We must give a word of praise to the very admirable coloured plates of trout and salmon flies.

The name of George H. Hirst is one of the greatest in contemporary, or, in fact, any cricket, and it is with much pleasure that we present his portrait as a frontispiece to Baily’s Magazine.

At the present time if one were asked the question “who is the greatest all-round cricketer in England?” it is probable that the names of George Hirst and Mr. F. S. Jackson would at once occur to the mind, and no one could be very far wrong in suggesting that these two champions of Yorkshire respectively represent the best of the professional and amateur strength of English cricket. George Hirst was born at Kirkheaton on September 7th, 1871, and his earliest association with public cricket was properly enough with his village club, and it was mainly through his efforts that the Lumb Challenge Cup was won by them before he reached his eighteenth birthday. The lad devoted himself to cricket as a calling, and in 1892 his association with the Huddersfield Club proved a secure stepping-stone to a great cricket career: early in that season he made his first appearance at Lord’s for Yorkshire against M.C.C. At that time he was played simply as a bowler, but although he batted number eleven he scored 20 and 43 not out.

However, it cannot be said that Hirst displayed in his earliest days any full promise of the success in store for him. Indeed, towards the end of the season of 1892 he was left out of the Yorkshire first eleven, and in August of that year, upon the occasion when Messrs. H. T. Hewett and L. C. H. Palairet scored 364 for the first wicket for Somerset against Yorkshire, George Hirst was walking round the Taunton ground, a twelfth man, watching with impotent indignation the unsuccessful efforts of his colleagues. Zeal and earnestness, coupled with a Herculean frame and great natural advantages, were sure to bring Hirst to the front, and for many years now his name has been a household word throughout the cricket world. Originally a fast left-handed bowler with a long pounding run he was always able to take full advantage of a rough wicket, and in the early nineties the Yorkshire team had to be experts upon rough wickets, so bad were some of the grounds upon which they were condemned to play. But with a general improvement of cricket pitches, even in Yorkshire, bowlers found it more and more difficult to bump their way to glory, and Hirst was one of the first of the new school of swerving bowlers who have developed a deliberate curl in the air, which in the case of Hirst has been phenomenal, especially with a new ball. The traditional setting of the field for a fast left-hand bowler formerly placed nine men on the off-side, including several “slips,” and one man to look after the “on-side,” a sort of casual mid-on, usually the oldest man in the field. So to the elderly mind it appears strange enough to see Hirst bowling away as hard as he can pelt, with only two or three men on the off-side, with no slip, but with a crowd of eager earnest men swarming on the leg-side. It is a quaint disposition of the field, but one rendered essential when the ball delivered left-arm round the wicket curves in until at the finish it is sometimes almost a wide to leg.

If George Hirst had never bowled a ball in his life he would probably never have been heard of in first-class cricket, but his abilities as a batsman are now so great that if he were never to bowl a ball again, he would probably still be selected to play for England. His batting is full of power, and he is just about the finest exponent of “the hook-stroke” that we have. Indeed, his talent for despatching anything like a short ball to the square-leg boundary has sometimes led to his downfall, for on his day almost every description of ball appears short to the appreciative bat of Hirst, who has been known to meet his fate with his right foot planted close to the off-stump and his sturdy frame-before-wicket gallantly but remotely hooking at a shooting half volley. We are half inclined to believe that George Hirst is one of those cricketers who prays for rain, for he is probably the most effective batsman of the day upon a slow wicket, when he appears to be able to pull any ball anywhere he pleases. Moreover, a good fast wicket means a longer working day for him, as his record of last season so clearly shows. At Leicester he batted for seven hours for a score of 341, the highest ever played for Yorkshire, of which no less than 218 runs were made by boundary hits. When Hirst went to the wicket Yorkshire had lost three men for 22 runs, and when after seven hours’ batting he was last man out for a score of 341, all his partners had only made 132 runs between them. Later in the season he followed this up by 232 not out against Surrey, a performance he supplemented by taking five Surrey wickets for 43 runs. Hirst’s record for last season’s work was 2,266 runs with a batting average of 53, and 110 wickets at an average cost of 19·94 runs. And this great season’s work came after an injury to his leg in May, which was only remedied by the skill of Sir Alfred Fripp, and a considerable modification of his run up to the bowling crease.

Considering his heavy build and the very hard work he does in the cricket field, it is remarkable that Hirst has not been more often “crocked.” It is now ten years since he first attained the distinction of the double feat of scoring over 1,000 runs and taking more than 100 wickets, and ever since then he has been quite the busiest cricketer of the day. He is also one of the most popular, as the phenomenal success of his benefit match, a year or two ago, clearly demonstrated; and from the skill and agility he displayed at Lord’s early in May he appears to have before him a future which may equal in brilliancy his past. And we can wish him nothing better than that.

[The photograph from which our portrait is engraved, is by E. Hawkins and Co., Brighton.]

RACING.

If Newmarket looms largely in this month’s budget it is not necessarily because of any phenomenal success attained, for if any conclusion could be formed upon the proceedings of the Craven and First Spring Meetings it would be to the effect that things are by no means too flourishing. We may take it that, nolens volens, the old conservative idea that the public are not wanted at Newmarket, which I have heard expressed by several of the old school of owners and habituÉs (also by officials) has had to undergo some modification in recent years. No doubt, amongst the Newmarket old-timers there are still some who would be prepared to put their hands in their pockets and pay for the exclusiveness of their hearts which is denied them. But that kind of person, nowadays, forms but a small and still decreasing class; the majority are bred to get as much as they can for as little as possible. Amongst such bargains the entry to the Jockey Club enclosure holds a not unimportant position, for, in return for a payment of £12, commutable into a payment of £5 down and ten shillings for each day’s attendance, one is entitled to twenty-nine days’ racing. What a bargain this is we realise when we consider that the visitor to Tattersall’s who attended on each day’s racing for a season, as members do, would be mulcted in the sum of £29, not counting an extra ten shillings for the paddock on certain days, which those in the Jockey Club do not pay. I am quite prepared to hear that some would gladly pay double the £12 demanded if they could once more have the place to themselves; but the process of popularisation, if that be the correct expression, has already been long in progress. Whatever may once have been the case, and however the public, judging from the only available data, may have been induced to think the contrary, the Jockey Club, regarded as a purveyor of racing, is by no means indifferent to its patronage. Indications, mere straws blown by the prevailing wind though they be, are not lacking of a desire to ameliorate the public lot, and it has even been realised at last that visitors to Tattersall’s are civilised enough to appreciate the provision of something else to sit upon than the hard and dirty beams of which the stand is constructed. Half a dozen garden chairs have created a departure from Newmarket traditions that might well make some of the old stagers wonder whether they dreamt; and it is not necessary to dwell upon the fact that the seats fulfil another purpose than that of affording seating accommodation by interfering with the operation of “runners” who dash about the rings in a manner discomposing to others anxious to take things more quietly. There are those who insist that the convenience of the public was far from being the sole consideration in pulling down the Old Cambridgeshire stand. There were even a few leather cushions on Tattersall’s stand for the use of the public.

When the time comes to race on the July course, strong evidence of the desire of the Jockey Club to attract the public will be found in the shape of an entirely new stand, so large that the best wish I can offer it is that the Club may live to see it filled. What the attraction is to be that is to accomplish this is, however, not clear. I do not suppose that the Jockey Club have a surprise in store in the shape of reduced ring charges. So long as meetings, presenting very indifferent programmes, are able to demand £1 per day, Newmarket cannot very well lower its prices; not that I ever heard of any intention in this direction, or that I should think it wise. If it were desirable to have our race meetings all of a pattern it could only be on the lines of a general levelling up.

But, within limits, it is convenient and proper that there should be different grades of race meetings, and Newmarket, I affirm, will be best served by always aiming at the highest. The “ifs” that contribute to schemes for the resuscitation of Newmarket as a popular racing resort, are numerous.

“If” the railway company would only reduce the fares, is one, for instance. With Newmarket 69½ miles from London by rail, cheap fares do not seem compatible, and I doubt whether a slight reduction in price would make any difference. What we want and expect at Newmarket is good racing; but although horses in plenty are trained on it, some people say—the racing for the heath—more than is good often falls far below the desired standard.

When we reassembled at the Craven Meeting, the attendance in the town was very small. Delightful, of course, for those who were there, and one could desire nothing better, from the point of view of personal comfort, but, as evidence of the popularity of racing at headquarters, depressing enough. The customary cards were gone through, and on the first day M. Ephrussi, stealing a march by more than three months on his racing compatriots, who may not run two-year-olds in their own country before the first of August, won the Fitzwilliam Stakes with a very nice bay filly by War Dance, out of Illusion, named Ile (not Isle as one wanted to write it at first) de France, who beat the hare-like Satirical filly by three-quarters of a length, with something to spare, besides. Melayr failed by a neck to carry home 9 st. in the Crawford Handicap; Challenger, carrying 9st. 5lb., failing by the same distance in the Babraham Handicap, on the second day. Gingal, whose running was watched with a view to the Two Thousand Guineas, won the Wood Ditton Stakes easily enough, but had nothing to beat. The appearance of Cicero on the third day in the Forty-Sixth Biennial made up for much. He was giving 10 lb. to his only opponent, Shilfa, and not more than 5 to 1 on had to be laid. Cicero, looking the picture of health and spirits, romped home.

Five-and-twenty years ago anything in the shape of fault-finding with Epsom would have been regarded as rank sacrilege against Turf traditions. We took things as we found them there because we knew of nothing better, but racing comforts have so increased that we now find people either wondering why they ever go to Epsom, or congratulating themselves that the meeting is over.

Visitors to Epsom divide themselves into two great parties, those that enter the stand and those that stay outside. To the frequent racegoer not much satisfaction is derivable from either course, but no doubt those who rarely visit a racecourse may derive amusement from the novelty of the scene on the hill, provided one does not take too much note of the conglomeration of hopeless ne’er-do-weels and do-no-works that assemble on the occasion, although, to their credit be it said, they are merely passively and not actively objectionable. The contrast between the thousands that spread themselves over the hill or range themselves several deep along the rails, from Tattenham Corner to winning post, and the attendance one meets with on Doncaster Town Moor is great, for in the north the vast concourse is composed mainly of factory hands and other genuine workers enjoying a holiday with money that has been honourably earned, whereas at Epsom we find gathered together the scum of the metropolis, attired mostly in rags, enjoying one phase of the existence of the drone. This is the crowd which the police officials would have us believe they cannot control to the extent of keeping them off the course during the intervals between races. Any one who has been caught on the course at the moment when the police have had orders to clear it have had ample experience of the thoroughness with which the constables do their duty. One might as well be a midnight brawler as a belated strayer upon the fairway. The question one naturally asks is, Why have the police the power to clear the course at one moment and not at another? It may be as well to premise that the divine right of the public to do as they please on Epsom Downs does not exist, although the wisdom of the expediency with which the Lord of the Manor, and those paying him rent, hide away their rights, need not be doubted. If the Lord of the Manor had no rights to sell, it is not likely that an astute body like the directorate of the Epsom Grand Stand Company would pay him £20,000, as they did not long since, for another lease of ninety-nine years. What the police authorities are so squeamish about I cannot imagine. It would surely be much to their advantage if they prevented people from congregating upon the course in the first instance, instead of having to clear them off six or seven times in an afternoon. It is not the police one thinks of in this connection, but of the course, which starts a meeting as second to none in England, but by the second day is trodden into a brown adamantine substance, an army of boys having to be employed to clear up the paper, orange-peel, and other rubbish that is distributed between each race. Another evil that arises from the alternate action and inaction of the police is the unpunctuality that is so much a feature at Epsom. People, knowing no better, naturally blame the Clerk of the Scales, or the jockeys, or both, when the horses are late in coming out, but in the majority of cases the police are to blame, for the police refuse to allow the horses to emerge from the paddock until, in their opinion, the course is clear. The prevention of accident is a good cause, but if people were not allowed upon the course there would be nothing to clear. It is not as though, in being kept off the course, the rabble were being deprived of anything. As a matter of fact, what there is to be seen, such as the return of the horses to weigh in, could be very much better seen on a clear course than on one covered by thousands of people, through whom the horses find it difficult to pass.

As a spectacle much would be gained; and there is no reason whatever why the racing should not be kept up to time.

The course was in almost perfect condition when racing began for the Spring Meeting, thanks to the care that is expended upon the turf during the entire twelve months. Harmony Hall should have won the Great Metropolitan Stakes, but he made such a display of his inveterate dislike to begin as to lose many lengths at the start, and, pluckily as he ran the race, he just failed to make up the ground, Whinbloom, purchased out of a Selling Plate, beating him by a neck. In the City and Suburban Dean Swift at last put an end to a series of defeats with an almost easy victory. Rightly or wrongly, he has been credited with the faint heart which just fails when the supreme effort is required, but on this occasion he was not pushed at all, coming right away in the straight. Certainly he had never looked so well as now. In the sprinting department Melayr won the Tadworth Handicap under st. 12 lb.

Perhaps the most interesting event at Sandown was the Stud Produce Stakes, still worth a considerable sum in spite of the rule as to added money; the winner netting £1,763 on this occasion. It was won by Auber, a bay or brown colt by Islington out of Umbrosa, which cost Sir Edgar Vincent only 165 gs. at Doncaster in September. He may or may not have beaten anything of merit, but what struck me was the way he won. After showing a bold front he appeared beaten to the world, but a hundred and fifty yards or so from the finish Maher brought him with such a rush that he won by a length. The sensational finish may have been due to Maher, who did something very similar at Newbury when he brought up Bridge of Canny in the nick of time to catch the Gressoney colt in the Kingsclere Stakes. This kind of finish was common enough a few years since, but it has apparently gone out of fashion, jockeys having learned to win their races all the way from the fall of the flag. The Cobham Two-year-old Maiden Plate introduced a youngster that will be heard of again in Slieve Gallion, a black colt by Gallinule out of Reclusion, whose appearance made a very great impression. Crossed soon after the start, he made hay of the opposition when once set going. Slieve Gallion is one of Captain Greer’s breeding, and is, of course, trained by Sam Darling.

Although more people went to the First Spring Meeting at Newmarket than to the Craven, the attendance was really much below par, that on the Two Thousand Guineas day being the smallest I can remember. That the three-year-olds are very ordinary had been agreed for some time. Black Arrow was the paddock king amongst the dozen for the Two Thousand. For him he behaved not so badly at the gate, although unruly enough to disturb more than one of his opponents, and it seems clear that he and his kidney should be made to stand behind the others at the start. He got away well and ran generously for six furlongs, when he was beaten. Moral: Black Arrow cannot stay. The charges of cowardice against him are resented by his jockey and others who know, and henceforth he must be regarded merely as a sprinter. Black Arrow beaten, we saw such as Gorgos, Ramrod, Beppo and the Dame Agneta colt by Diamond Jubilee, fighting out the issue, Gorgos, despite a bad swerve, getting the best of it. With a man on his back The White Knight ran very differently in the Three-year-old Handicap from what he did in the City and Suburban, winning quite easily. Pretty Polly’s appearance in the March Stakes on the third day was a very welcome interlude in a poor day’s racing. Had she not won she would have been more or less disgraced; as it was she cantered home in her own well-known style, and as she left the weighing-in enclosure the people streamed home.

It was strange that Flair’s running last year had not created a greater impression, for on last year’s form it was difficult to see what could possibly beat her. Only slight odds had to be laid on, and after the Bushes there was only one in it, Flair coming away at will. Melayr did another good thing in winning the Bretby Handicap under 9 st. 7 lb. The Ely Plate, the evening before, resulted in a catastrophe, it being too readily taken for granted that Xeny had lost his form and so could be no match at even weights for Imperial II.: 6 to 1 was laid on Imperial II., who, however, was always second best, Xeny beating him by a length.

Chester has been so phenomenally successful since it became an enclosed meeting that a little adversity could be put up with, and it came this year in the shape of a wet first day. The second, or Cup day, made amends, however, and with a crowd about midway between 40,000 and 50,000 a few thousands decrease of the previous record could be endured. No fault could be found with the result of the race which was quite in accordance with anticipations, Feather Bed having shown double winning form at Newbury, which made his chance second to none. Favoured by nothing, he won in handsome style. The jockey of Torpoint, the second, had got off a matter of 4 lb. overnight, and one has yet to be convinced that this policy is a good one. There is no meeting in the Calendar more redolent of life than Chester or one which gives visitors greater pleasure. An innovation was the appearance on the inner portion of the Roodee of motor omnibuses bringing visitors from distant places, vice the horse vehicle.

Not since the Cambridgeshire has His Majesty been on an English racecourse until he made a welcome reappearance on the first day of the Kempton Park Jubilee meeting, this being the popular sub-title of the more formal Spring Meeting. We did not see much, for there was little interest in knowing that the moderate, though good-looking Ramrod was from 5 lb. to 7 lb. better than Gingal who, not beaten before the start, as he was in the Two Thousand, now had a fair chance of showing what he is not. The Jubilee itself was a triumph for the “horses for courses theory,” for Donnetta followed the footsteps of Avington and Sirenia in adding this race to the Duke of York Stakes. It had already been acknowledged that Donnetta is one of the truest-running animals ever trained. Her limitations were shown in the City and Suburban, but at Kempton she and Ambition ran that race over again to a pound, so far as they were concerned, Ambition being beaten a couple of lengths at the same weights. There were fewer shilling people than usual, but the attendance in the members’ enclosure was very large.

The polo season commenced in anything but cheerful weather, but in spite of climatic conditions a number of good games were witnessed during the first week. Better weather and more summerlike surroundings were enjoyed during the second week, when several important events were decided. At Hurlingham, on May 5th, the Royal Horse Guards beat Hurlingham by 4 goals to 3. The Guards’ team consisted of Lord Ingestre, Lord Herbert, Captain Fitzgerald, and Captain H. Brassey; their opponents being Captain Lockett, Mr. F. C. G. Menzies, Major Egerton Green, and Mr. E. B. Sheppard. The same evening a Roehampton team consisting of Mr. Nigel Baring, the Hon. Ivor Guest, M.P., Mr. A. R. Leys, and Mr. A. de Las Casas drew with Hurlingham, represented by Captain Rose, Mr. F. Belville, Captain S. Gosling, and Mr. H. Scott Robson, the score being 5 goals all. Other notable games played at Hurlingham during the first fortnight of the month were Aldershot v. Hurlingham and Eaton Hall v. Hurlingham, both of which were won by Hurlingham; the Cavalry Club v. Hurlingham won by the Cavalry; and the match between the Beavers and Hurlingham, which resulted after an exciting game in a draw of 7 all.

At Ranelagh, the handicap tournament concluded with the game between C team, made up of the Earl of Harrington, Mr. R. Fleming, Mr. A. R. Dugdale and Mr. N. Furlong, and B, comprising Mr. E. Barbour, Lord Longford, Mr. J. C. Las Casas, and Mr. T. B. Drybrough. A good game resulted in B team finally winning by 5 goals to 2. Matches were played by the Club against the Wanderers (Mr. F. Barbour, Lieut.-Colonel W. S. Sparkes, Mr. G. A. Lockett, and Major A. M. Pirie), ending in a draw; the Parthians (Mr. R. J. L. Ogilvy, Mr. E. B. Horlick, Mr. B. P. Schreiber, and Captain M. Lannowe), won by the Parthians by 4 goals to 1; the Magpies, won by Ranelagh by 7 goals to 5; Aldershot, won by Ranelagh by 8 goals to 2; and the 2nd Life Guards (subalterns), won by Ranelagh by 6 goals to 3. In the match between Moreton Morrell and a Ranelagh side, the teams consisted of Mr. C. P. Nickalls, Mr. E. B. Sheppard, Mr. W. S. Buckmaster, and Lord Wodehouse for the former, and Mr. A. Las Casas, Mr. F. A. Gill, the Hon. F. Guest, and Mr. H. Scott Robson for the latter. A fast game ended in the Moreton Morrell team being victors by 10 goals to 4.

The chief event at Roehampton during the first fortnight of the season was the match played by teams representing England and Rugby, which took place on May 12th. The England four consisted of Mr. C. R. Nickalls, Mr. M. Nickalls, Mr. W. S. Buckmaster, and Mr. P. W. Nickalls, and Rugby of Mr. Walter Jones, Mr. G. A. Miller, Captain E. D. Miller, and Mr. C. D. Miller. A magnificent exhibition of polo was seen, and although England won by 6 goals to 1, it looked at one time as if it would have been a close finish. Roehampton drew with the 21st Lancers, the teams being represented by Mr. D. W. Godfrey, Mr. C. N. Reynolds, Mr. C. H. Delmege, and Major A. M. Pirie for the soldiers, and Mr. E. C. Robson, the Duke of Westminster, Mr. E. B. Horlick, and Mr. H. Scott Robson for the Club. Other teams that were beaten early in May by a Roehampton combination included Eaton Hall and the Wanderers. The Royal Horse Guards met and defeated Roehampton by 6 goals to 5, after the England and Rugby match was finished.

The London and Stoke D’Abernon Clubs have begun the season well, and many of the provincial clubs show plenty of life and vigour.

The spring meeting of the Royal and Ancient Club of St. Andrew’s was less well attended than usual this year, and the scores were somewhat higher than on recent occasions, but the meeting excited its accustomed interest, and was productive of several excellent contests. Mr. Edward Blackwell carried off the medal with a score of 82, while for second place there tied with 83 strokes Mr. Robert Maxwell, Mr. J. Stuart Paton, and Mr. W. Herbert Fowler. When the tie was played off Mr. Maxwell won with a score of 81, which proved the best of the meeting. Among the notable absentees were Mr. A. G. Barry, the Amateur Champion, the Hon. Osmond Scott, John E. Laidlay, and Mr. Cecil K. Hutchison. For the captaincy of the Club Mr. Balfour-Melville has been nominated.

The Southern Section of the Professional Golfers’ Association held a successful prize meeting on the Ashford Manor Club’s course at Ashford, Middlesex. There were seventy-two competitors, including Jack White, Rowland Jones, James Kinnell, and A. H. Toogood. Neither Braid nor Taylor was, however, able to play. The Tooting Bee Challenge Cup was won by W. R. Lonie, of Warlingham, whose score was 77 and 75 = 152, while Robert Thomson, of Romford, won the prize for the best single round with a score of 74, which constitutes the medal record of the course. The high wind which prevailed affected the scores. At the spring meeting of the Midlands Section of the Association at Derby the first prize was carried off by J. W. Fulford, of Birstall, with a score of 76 and 77 = 153.

Mr. Cecil K. Hutchison distinguished himself during the Easter holidays by doing the full round at Sandwich in 69 strokes.

The Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society sent a strong team to Ireland during the Easter holidays. Three matches were played, and of these two were won by the Society, while the third resulted in a tie. The links played over were Dollymount and Portmarnock.

In a professional tournament at Radlett, in Herts, first place was taken by J. Bradbeer, while Tom Vardon and J. H. Taylor tied for second place, and James Braid came last.

At Westward Ho, J. H. Taylor and James Braid played a 36-holes match. The former led most of the way, and at one time stood 7 up, but Braid towards the finish played magnificently, and succeeded in halving the match.

A new combination of scratch players called the Edinburgh Twenty Club played a match at Leven, in Fifeshire, with the Leven Thistle Club, and won by 9 matches against 7. The defeated club is one of the strongest in Scotland.

The annual match between the Bar and the House of Commons was played at Woking. The former won by 7 points against 4, being successful both in singles and foursomes.

Mr. Philip Barnett, Hon. Secretary of the Association, informs us that an annual meeting will be held on the Monday of Derby week, at Tattersall’s Rooms. Mr. Barnett has changed his residence, and his new address is Yewden Manor, Henley-on-Thames.

ASCETIC.

A correspondent kindly informs the writer of the article on Hermit in last month’s number that although the Stud Book is responsible for the statement that the Rev. J. King (Mr. Launde) was the breeder of Ascetic, it is not quite correct; Mr. King gave the mare Lady Alicia to one of his tenants, Mr. Charles Clark, of Ashby, as he could not get her to breed for several seasons. Mr. Clark sent her to a half-bred horse, and that was successful. Subsequently Mr. H. Chaplin gave her a free service to Hermit, and the result was Ascetic. Mr. Clark was, therefore, the breeder of the famous sire of steeplechasers, and, as a good old sportsman, and for long years a follower of the Belvoir and breeder of horses, he is very proud of it. He has retired from farming, and some few years back his friends subscribed a £1,000 testimonial for him, as a proof of their goodwill and esteem. It is rather singular that Ascetic was absolutely Hermit’s first produce.

FIELD TRIALS OF POINTERS AND SETTERS IN SHROPSHIRE.

Following the very successful meetings of the International Gun Dog League and the Kennel Club, which were held on the Orwell estate of Mr. E. G. Pretyman early in April, the spring trials of pointers and setters were resumed at the end of the month at Aqualate, and finished the first week in May on the Duke of Sutherland’s fine preserves at Lilleshall, in the same neighbourhood, near Newport, Salop. Aqualate had been visited more than once by the English Setter Club. Sir Thomas Boughey (who made the Albrighton pack of foxhounds what it is) is a staunch supporter of working trials, and, although he was unable to superintend the beating arrangements as he had done at the earlier meetings, because of serious illness, the best of the Aqualate and Forton ground was placed at the service of the stewards; no trials could have been more thorough. A drawback, in a certain sense, as regards Sir Thos. Boughey’s ground is that it swarms with hares; and, although they were not so numerous at the recent meeting as they had been in 1901, when the Club last visited the estate, they proved to be troublesome, and one which was caught in its form by the Derby winner, Colonel Cotes’s Pitchford Carol, was the downfall of the latter. Although he is a thoroughly broken puppy, he is self-willed, and it would have been almost unnatural had he not pinched the hare, although the proceeding meant his dismissal from the stake. Colonel Cotes, however, had other strings to his bow, for he won the first and second honours in the Setter Puppy stake with Pitchford Dear and Dorothy; and later the former beat the winning pointer, Mr. W. L. Nicholson’s Factor, in a competition for a special prize. This finished the first day’s work on the Aqualate side of the estate. As the brace competition and all-aged stake were the only events which were left on the card, there seemed to be a chance of our getting away early in the evening of the second day; but a snowstorm put a stop to all work, and the judges decided to postpone operations until the following morning. Then the card was quickly run through, although, with the exception of the performance of Mr. Herbert Mitchell’s Lingfield Beryl in winning the all-aged stake, the work done was very moderate indeed. Mr. Mitchell’s Beryl and Linda also won the brace competition; the judges, however, declared that no single item of brace work had been done, the dogs having worked independently instead of assisting one another. The meeting was a great triumph for Mr. Mitchell, but a greater one awaited him, for the next week his bitch, Lingfield Beryl, won the Champion Stake on the Lilleshall ground, and then with Linda won another brace competition, the third they had secured during the campaign. Beryl was, undoubtedly, a little stale towards the finish, but she won easily enough, and brought her owner’s winnings to £256 in three weeks. Colonel Cotes, with a mixed team, won more money, his puppies being a very choice lot, and a contest between his Derby winner, Pitchford Carol, and Mr. Abbott’s Bold Alice, the winner at Lilleshall, would have been very interesting could it have been brought off. The Duke of Sutherland’s ground was excellent, a lot of the work being done on the old Lizard racecourse, where Sir Hugo was galloped by Wadlow in his training for the sensational Derby of 1892, when he won classic honours for Lord Bradford, with odds of 40 to 1 freely betted against him.

We must reluctantly confess to finding ourselves in the sorry plight of the pitcher that went too often to the well. When we saw “Captain Brassbound’s Conversion” we realised that we have been just once too often to the well of humour at the Court Theatre, of which Mr. Bernard Shaw is the copious spring. Generally one of the most attractive features of the productions at the Court Theatre is the happy way in which the parts appear to fit the artistes to whom they are given. But in the case of Captain Brassbound we have sustained a disappointment in this respect. The only lady in the caste is Miss Ellen Terry, and for her saving presence we are most thankful, and we consider it one of her greatest triumphs that she should galvanise Lady Cecil Waynflete into a very attractive human being. Mr. Fred Kerr is seldom found in a misfit part, but the title rÔle of the play, Captain Brassbound, the modern but still bold buccaneer, is scarcely worthy of his art; and a still greater disappointment to us was to see Mr. Edmund Gwenn, who in “Man and Superman” was the very prince of chauffeurs, playing the part of Felix Drinkwater, the prolix cockney adventurer, who to our mind possesses no semblance of humanity. There are a variety of foreign characters in the play uninteresting enough, and altogether we can only hope that Captain Brassbound is an early effort of Mr. Bernard Shaw which we may use as an example to point the advance he has shown in his more recent works, and not as an instance of his present ability.

Having fortified for many a day and night the Garrick Theatre with “The Walls of Jericho,” the fertile pen of Mr. Alfred Sutro was called upon to provide a fresh theme for Mr. Arthur Bouchier and his talented company.

“The Fascinating Mr. Vanderveldt,” a comedy in four acts, is a skit upon a phase of Society—with a big S, when so many members of the peerage are concerned. The motive of this smartly written play is that of an adventurer, who in order to force a lady into marriage endeavours to compromise her by compelling her to pass, unchaperoned, a night at a village inn, at which he also is staying. You can all take your choice about the play. If you are serious you may regard it as a melodrama of the motor-car; if you are flippant you may laugh at the farce of the sparking-plug; but however you take it, you must regard yourselves and the play as very chic and up to date, and then everybody will be pleased. Mr. Vanderveldt is labelled “fascinating” in the promiscuous fashion that some eggs are labelled “new laid,” perhaps with just as slight veracity, and in this matter much depends upon faith. To some of us he appears to be a colossal cad, but to the ladies in the play he is made to appear irresistible, although even to some of them, may be, highly ridiculous.

There are a couple of dull old gentlemen suing the Lady Clarice for her hand, and there is a very proper colonel who has the cheek to give her good advice, but not the nerve to keep on asking her to marry him, and there is the fascinator who can do more with a lady in ten minutes than many a man in a lifetime. And greatest and most novel creation of the author’s brain, we have the Deus ex machin in the proper person of the clergyman who drives the motor and saves the reputation of the light-hearted lady, by his ready adaptation of the sparking-plug. And so the alleged fascinator is left in the parlour of “The Cow and Calf Inn” to the novel experience of drinking a bottle of champagne to his own solitary cheek, and the tongues of the gossips are silenced, and there is a prospect of wedding bells in honour of the alliance of the coldblooded colonel with the laughing Lady Clarice.

This same Lady Clarice is played by Miss Violet Vanbrugh, and that, to our mind, is the best of the play, for she gives a very charming rendering of what cannot be regarded as a very great part.

Of so-called musical plays there are just now a large variety in London, no less than eight West End theatres being devoted to that form of entertainment. Mr. George Edwardes has in “The Little Michus” at Daly’s Theatre what appears to be a perennial success, and certainly the charm of Miss Denise Orme, the music of Messager, and the mirth-compelling humour of Mr. George Graves, with a fleeting appearance of the great GenÉe, combine to provide a delightful evening’s amusement. At the Prince of Wales’ Theatre “The Little Cherub” has grown into “A Girl on the Stage,” with much the same company as before, including those very funny men, Messrs. Willie Edouin and W. H. Berry. Miss Ruth Vincent is a valuable recruit with her charming voice, and Miss Zena Dare and Miss Gabrielle Ray are as beautiful as ever.

Wyndham’s Theatre now finds itself the home of “The Girl behind the Counter,” a musical comedy by Leedham Bantock and Arthur Anderson, with music by Howard Talbot. It affords us an opportunity of welcoming back to the stage that popular singer, Mr. Hayden Coffin, who is great in the part of a millionaire miner just returned to London society in full mining kit, and an imperial arm tattooed with the Union Jack. He is supported by Mr. J. F. McArdle, who supplies most of the comic element in a manner pleasantly suggestive of Mr. George Graves. Mr. Horace Mills as an office boy apparently has based his methods upon those of Mr. Edmund Payne, and there is a family likeness between the work of Mr. Laurence Grossmith and his brother Mr. George Grossmith, junior. Moreover, Mr. Hayden Coffin always seems to us to be imitating himself, so that a mind keen upon imitations can revel in its fancy at Wyndham’s Theatre just now, although about the best mimic of them all, Miss Marie Dainton, who brightens the caste, did not, when we saw the piece, give any of her celebrated imitations. Miss Isabel Jay sings and masquerades charmingly as the girl behind the counter, and Miss Coralie Blythe is once more at her best in a soubrette part. There are several good musical numbers and some amusing lines, and altogether we can recommend “The Girl behind the Counter” as a capital entertainment.

Another amusing entertainment is “The Dairymaids” at the Apollo Theatre, with those charming ladies, Miss Carrie Moore and Miss Agnes Fraser, disguised first as dairymaids and then as athletes. They have a half-sister in Miss Florence Smithson, and as Miss Phyllis Broughton and Miss Gracie Leigh are also in the caste, it will be seen that there is no lack of fair ladies in “The Dairymaids.” Mr. Walter Passmore supplies some fun, although, personally, we dislike his dressing up as a woman; but the hit of the evening was made by Mr. Dan Rolyat, who, we believe, is a new-comer to London. As a comic sailor-man he at once won the hearts of his audience by his funny methods and agile clowning, and probably by this time his part has been expanded to allow him better opportunities than he at first enjoyed.

The last scene of the play takes place in a ladies’ gymnasium, which is a clever set, and bids fair to make “The Sandow Girl” very popular.

The international match for the tennis championship of the world (professional) and £250 a side was played at Prince’s Tennis Club at Brighton on April 22nd, 25th, and 28th. The match was between C. Fairs (champion), and Ferdinand Garcin (challenger). The conditions of the match were the best of thirteen sets, played on three separate days, four sets to be played each day. The match was exceedingly well fought, but terminated in a victory to Fairs by 7 sets to 4, 56 games to 47, 373 strokes to 332.

The final round of the amateur tennis championship was played between Mr. E. H. Miles, the holder, and Mr. Jay Gould, amateur champion of America, on May 7th, at Queen’s Club. The holder retained the championship, defeating Mr. Gould by 6 games to 3, 36 strokes to 33.

We regret to record the sad end of George Jones, huntsman of the Whaddon Chase Foxhounds, who was found dead in a barn at the kennels. It appears that owing to a change in the mastership Jones was leaving, and this so preyed on his mind that he took poison, which caused his death.

Gamekeepers have sustained a very real loss by the death of the Earl of Mansfield, who was one of the most active supporters of the Gamekeepers’ Benefit Society, and who took a great interest in all questions relating to the gamekeeper’s profession. Lord Mansfield was the owner of some forty-six thousand acres in Dumfriesshire, Perthshire, and Clackmannan, in addition to Ken Wood, near Hampstead. The late peer was succeeded by his brother, the Hon. Alan David Murray.

A remarkable sale of shorthorn cattle was witnessed last month, when Messrs. John Thornton and Co. dispersed the well-known herd that had belonged to the late Mr. Philo L. Mills, Ruddington Hall, Nottingham. The sale of 115 head reached the great total of £17,930, an average of nearly £157 each. The highest price was 1,100 gs., paid by Mr. F. Miller for the two-year-old bull Ruddington Prince Christian; his half-brother, the famous King Christian of Denmark, being bought by Mr. A. W. Hickling at 900 gs. The dam of these two bulls, Countess Farewell 5th, realised 600 gs., and her six-weeks-old heifer calf 400 gs., both going to Mr. E. N. Casares, a noted Argentine buyer; whilst yet another of her sons, a yearling, realised 200 gs., the total for the five being 3,200 gs., an average of 640 gs. each. Three representatives of the Dainty tribe sold at 500 gs., 420 gs., and 130 gs., respectively, and nine descendants of the Duchess tribe made an average of £250. Five calves, averaging eight and a half weeks old, and all of them by the 900 guineas bull, averaged £230 a piece. The herd was widely distributed, thirty-four head going to South America, sixteen to Scotland, two to Ireland, the remainder finding new homes in twenty-three English counties.

Mr. S. Laing Moffat, the Secretary of the Hunt Servants’ Benefit Society, states that the following amounts have been received as the result of caps: The Croome, £36 1s. 9d.; Eridge, £35; Badminton, £30; Surrey Staghounds, £26; Burton, £20 15s.; South Staffordshire, £19 14s. 7d.; Cotswold, £18 4s.; Fife, £17 17s. 6d.; and the Warnham Staghounds, £17 15s.; while a collection made at the South Hereford Foxhounds and Ross Harriers’ Point-to-Point Races realised £10 16s., the total amount equalling £232 3s. 10d.

The trade for really first-rate Hackneys and harness horses appears to be unaffected by the presence of the ubiquitous motor car. Thus Mr. W. Scott’s mare Menella, the winner of two firsts, the gold medal and special prize at the last show of the Hackney Horse Society, was sold at the Thornholme sale to Messrs. Carr and Co. for 1,175 gs. The black gelding Gay Mathias was sold at the same sale to Mr. A. Gemmell for 650 gs. The average price paid for ten Mathias mares and geldings was fully £319; whilst the twenty animals sold averaged nearly £185, against £108 at last year’s sale. Since the sale Menella has been exported to the United States.

Much regret is expressed in the Hursley country at the decision of Mr. F. C. Swindell to resign the mastership. Mr. Swindell has hunted hounds since 1883, commencing with a pack of French hounds given him by the Marquis of Anglesea, with which he hunted part of Cannock Chase. From 1885 to 1894 he was Master of the Puckeridge, and from the latter year until 1898 of the Old Berks. He then went for two seasons to the Taunton Vale, taking over the Hursley in 1903.

Knowle Halma, the champion mare at the recent Hackney Horse Society’s Show, was sold to Sir Lees Knowles, Bart., at Mr. R. W. Jay’s sale, for 650 gs. At the same sale the two well-known show geldings Southport Performer and Towthorpe Performer realised 395 gs. and 250 gs. respectively, both being purchased by Mr. T. Mathieu, of Brussels. The sale was a very successful one, an average of nearly 128 gs. being obtained for twenty-four lots.

During the last month good prices have been paid at Tattersall’s on several occasions for polo ponies. Mr. U. Thynne disposed of Ariel at 150 gs., and Mr. Dennis of Toko at 110 gs., Nettle at 103 gs. and Glisten at 100 gs. Colonel Godley received 110 gs. for Black Nancy, Mr. McCreery 125 gs. for Sunset, and Mr. Dixon 105 guineas for Dolly. Major Neil Haig’s ponies sold well; Ardaghhowen made 290 gs.; Bluey, 128 gs.; Alcibiades, 90 gs.; and Mrs. O’Shea, 88 gs. The hunters and polo ponies belonging to the officers of the 14th Hussars were all sold and realised good prices. A gold medal polo pony from Captain Walker made 175 gs., and Seddington, from Captain Campbell, 165 gs.

A great loss has been sustained by the Zoological Society owing to the death of Daisy, the fine female specimen of Ward’s giraffe, obtained from Mr. C. Reiche in 1895. The loss is the more to be regretted since Daisy was in calf to the young male presented to the Society by Colonel Mahon in 1901. The immediate cause of death was tuberculosis of the lungs.

The first important sale of blood stock at Newmarket was that of the horses in training, thirteen in number, belonging to the late Sir James Miller, and they fetched very good prices, considering that all their racing engagements are voided by the owner’s death. The total realised was 7,475 gs., making an average of 575 gs. each, and three of the thirteen reached four figures. The highest price was 2,500 gs. for Roquette, a two-year-old filly by Chaleureux-Roquebrune, who went to M. Edmond Blanc’s stud in France; and another two-year-old, a colt by Sainfoin-La Sagesse, winner of the Oaks, was sold to Mr. W. Raphael for 1,650 gs.

TURF.

CRICKET.

April 16th.—At Oval, Surrey v. Gentlemen of England, former won by eight wickets.

April 30th.—At Oxford, Oxford University Seniors, drawn.

May 2nd.—At Lord’s, M.C.C. and Ground v. Notts, won by latter by forty-four runs.

May 3rd.—At Cambridge, Cambridge University Seniors, Magnay’s side won by eleven wickets.

May 3rd.—At Oval, Surrey v. Hampshire, former won by 337 runs: Surrey, 178 and 331; Hampshire, 68 and 104.

May 3rd.—At Cardiff, South Wales v. Yorkshire, drawn: South Wales 50; Yorkshire 268 for nine wickets.

May 10th.—At Oval, Surrey v. Leicestershire: won by former by an innings and 270 runs.

May 10th.—At Southampton, Hampshire v. Yorkshire: won by latter by 7 wickets.

TENNIS.

April 28th.—At Prince’s Club, Brighton, the Championship, C. Fairs (champion) v. F. Garcin; Fairs won by 7 sets to 4, 56 games to 47, 373 strokes to 332.

May 7th.—At Queen’s Club, the Amateur Championship, E. H. Miles (holder), v. Jay Gould; won by former 6 games to 3, 36 strokes to 33.

1.“Live Stock Journal Almanac,” 1906. Vinton & Co., Ltd., 9, New Bridge Street, Ludgate Circus, E.C. Price 1s.