by Mr. T.P. Cooke, in Black-eyed Susan! The rain-it rained ruthlessly- and the field was ordered to parade in front of the Royal Stand, Some said it was a pity, and some said it was not, and spake of the good it would do to the Spitalfields weavers. The odds were 7 to 4 against Voltigeur, 4 to 1 Mountain Deer, 9 to 2 Hobbie Noble, (the snobbiest-looking quadruped you might expect to meet in such society), 6 to 1 Joe Miller, and 12 to 1 The Black Doctor. Instead of pouring dogs and cats, had Phæbus been smiling his brightest, and birds of Paradise singing their sweetest (provided always that they belong to the family of feathered songsters-a fact in natural history not within my experience), the parade could not have been more courtly. First they cantered; then they galloped ; and then they walked--the most unkindest eut of all ; and at length off they went. I could make nothing of them till they were about half-way between the distance and the Grand Stand. There it was as manifest as a good glass could testify, that Joe Miller was going infinitely faster and fairer than any of his antagonists. As they slashed past the post he was half-a-dozen lengths clear of everything; and thus he led them down the Swinley fall, the field following-wild-goose fashion. What boots it canvassing the series of the tail ? As soon as they had cleared the quagmire which skirted the Windsor Road, and over which you saw that Joe had been “ flattered” by the little Mann on his back, on went the jolly Miller again, and the hopes of the Voltigeurs were nine fathom deep " in the river d ." The farther they went the less they liked it, and Joe Miller cantered home at his ease, winning by a couple of lengths. The Black Doctor and Hobbie got up a race between them for second place, which the Derby “pot” had the worst of, receiving, according to the new Royal Plates' scale, not much short of half a stone for age...“ Nothing else wasn't nowhere"-s0 said a facetious friend of mine--though no grammarian, a man of “ a stable mind." Mountain Deer walked in as if he had come from forty minutes over the Harboro' country. What a hunter that horse would make ! but you had as well not hint it to the Squire, unless his hands are tied behind his back. The New Stakes, with 28 nominations, gave us a sight or sample of a dozen of the lot. They backed Pelion to win at even, and in many instances at odds on him ; laid 7 to 2 against Prevention, 5 to 1 Pug Orrock, and 10 to 1 apiece about Gunnersbury, Miss Emma, and Tamerlane. They appeared to be on pretty even terms to the Stand, where Hybla, next the rails, Prevention, and Pug Orrock set-to, and terminated a rattler, each a head from the other, in the order they are here placed. It will, however, hardly affect the market much in relation to coming events. The St. James's Palace Stakes, 8 subscribers, came off a match between Daniel O'Rourke and Alcoran : 2 to 1 on the former. He peeled suspiciously, however, having his near hip divested of its covering to the circumference of a dipner plate, or thereabouts. He had met with an accident in his van, but no bones were broken. In their canter the result looked a foregone conclusion : the Derby champion was short, sharp, and decisive in his stride--the style of action for a course like “ plough” after a month's moisture. Alcoran went as if it didn't suit him-neither did it. The chesnut made the pace as good as it suited his policy, and when Alcoran made his effort opposite the Stand, he ran out, which is the polite way of expressing the dodge of a distressed and beaten horse. A Handicap Plate of £50, Gladiole won in a canter, beating half-a-score of moderates, and the list was run out. At the same moment out came Dan Phoebuswhere had the churl been hiding till that time of day? Friday was most emphatically an “off day.” The weather was suited "to compliment a funeral,” and the sport was to match. Inprimis, Lucio walked over for his engagement; and The Wokingham, in a field of five, was won by Blood Royal—5 to 2 against him-it was not the semblance of a race. The Windsor Town Plate paraded seven, the favourite being the Chase ; the winner, however, was " Hambletonian"......once upon a time there lived “ Alexander the Great,” and “ Alexander the coppersmith." A Second Class of the Wokingham-run a quartet-fell to the prowess of Knook-Knoll, albeit they fancied Gladiole at 6 to 4. One Hundred Sovereigns, the gift of the Great Western Company, wound up the four days' amphibious sport. There were 25 entries and a dozen runners. The favourite was Tophana-4 to 1 against her-although they took the same odds about Maria, and several others had friends at higher figures. They took a judicious view, for Lord Exeter won very cleverly...... And thus ends the melancholy memories of the Royal Races in '52. Should they ever run to suit a second edition “may we not be there to see."..... Garnished with store of rural revels, dedicated to the especial sport of modern popularity among all classes of our insular community, oceurred about this time, the Beverley, Hull, and East Riding Meeting. It occupied two days, and was productive of excellent sport, but not of an average to call for more particular allusion. Wednesday the 16th ultimo put the carnival of sporting Cockaigne on the scene, that is to say on Moulsey Hurst. Once more Hampton Races were themselves again. Taking time by the forelock, Somers Town, Camden Town, Hackney, Holloway, Islington, Pentonville, Stepney, Walworth, Kensington, Kennington, Spitalfields, Rotherhithe, Blackwall, and Billingsgate-all the bills of mortality-on this occasion dipped into every variety of beer, and burnt all manner of mundungus. For, come '53, hath not the Crystal Palace Company undertaken to wean them from “fomented liquors ;' and in lieu of “short cut” and “ returns ” a Banbury cake-"put that in your pipe and smoke it.” Sydenham is to inaugurate the age of " mirth and innocence" and "milk and water”-to substitute comparative anatomy for rump steaks -the Pierian spring for stout and Alton ale. Meanwhile carpe diem. -" That ere's Bushey Park—this here's Hampton Court : let's have a pot at the Red Lion, before we cross on to the Hurst. I say, Sykes, isn't it rum- there a'going to turn the Great Exhibition into a tee-total theayter, open a'Sundays, to mend the morals of the working classes, and put down gin, and set up gentility-that's the ticket!”...... Although the racing was not all legitimate, it had points of turf character about it. The weather was unfavourable, but the meeting was eloquent of a truth of great social account in these times of Militia Bills and Channel Fleets - it was characteristic of a national spirit--albeit too rude to “die of a rose ;" too homely to care for aids of foreign ornament, which has made and preserved England what she is, and which, poradventure, the less it is meddled with the better for her welfare,......Newton, Lawhitton, Leith, and Tenbury Races were also "on" at this time. Whether is it better thus to occupy the hours of leisure now, in the fierce fight of life, so “ few and far between," or in doing “philosophic dandy" with antediluvian “ vestiges,” “In vineyards copied from the South of France"? The third week of June opened with the Northern tryst of Newcastleupon-Tyne. It had three days' racing on the cards, the centre and cynosure whereof was The Northumberland Plate-handicap, of course! The anniversary was below the average of its antecedents, with the promise to get worse rather than to mend-or so said Rumour with the thousand tongues, and the majority of them not silver sweet. The weather was rather unpropitious ; and the ground none of the best. On the first day, Tuesday, there were five events set down for discussion, whereof four produced races--but none of any account. On Wednesday, in honour of the Cup, the muster was a monster one. This, too, was in the teeth of the universal conviction that the Handicap was a foregone conclusion. Passing the Produce Stakes-scarcely up to the professional point of flat racing-we come to The Northumberland Plate. For this, the nominations were 69, and the runners-eight! so that it is difficult to see what was gained in quality compared with what was lost in quantity, by instituting a weight for worth race to represent the popularity of the meeting. Of these eight, as aforesaid, they laid 6 to 5 on one-- a view never yet taken of a Derby, with all its odds in favour of a good public performer. Thus, they took 6 to 4 on Stilton, 4 to 1 about Colsterdale, 7 to 1 about Caracara, and 10 to 1 about Neesham and Cossack each. After a fitting show of feints, Stilton and Colsterdale went to the front and made a kind of a race, which the former finished by winning cleverly. There was nothing in the other four events promised by the list to need special observance. The last day was fine, and the sport ample, if not of a very high character ; the speculation was of course bitterly crippled, on account of that which follows. Bibury, Stockbridge, and Winchester combined Races, commenced on the 23rd ult., and finished on the 25th, each occupying one day. They were a success. Bibury looked like a revival of the era of The Fine Old English Gentleman. The set out of the course was all in apple-pie order. It was a finished bit of right rural sport. The card announced eight events, two of them amateur. Both of these were won by Squire Osbaldeston on John of Berwick. The feature at Stockbridge consisted of a trio of triennial Stakes, a class of races now commanding a great popularity. The first of these Lamertine carried off, beating Harpsichord and two others ; the second Joe Miller, with 6 to 4 on him, lost, being beaten in a canter by Kingston ! three lengths ; and the third by the Squire's sister to Mountain Deer-6 to 2 sgainst her-heating Cineas—2 to 1 on him—and three others. The programme consisted of six issues. Winchester mustered seven events, and five races—two of them producing five heats. It was quite a triumph for a provincial, as relates to the attendance, but the sport was a very low brand....... Macclesfield, the Royal Loo, &c., &c., also shared this week's Olympian honours. Where did all the horses come from ? where all the money ? and where, Oh! where, all the flats? There is no rule without an exception ; like space, human credulity has no limits--and then did Quintus Horatius Flavius fail in his philosophy, and in his calculations, when he penned as an axiom EST MODUS IN REBUS ? PARODIES FOR THE TIMES—THE PEER, THE PROPHET, AND THE PURSER (!). BY THE DRUID. “ Nec fortuitum spernere Cespitem Leges sinebant." (1) THE PEER. "I move, Mr. Speaker, that the Clerk of the Course (roars of laughter, in which the noble lord joined)-I beg pardon--the Clerk of the House," &c - LORD STANLEY. Air "My heart's in the Highlands." 1. My heart's at Newmarket, my heart is not here 2. (2) THE PROPHET. “ From some extraordinary private information which I have just received, the race for, &c., is the greatest certainty extant. Fee only 20 guineas per annum."STAMFORD. Air-"She wore a wreath of roses." He wore a jaunty stable dress, the niorn when first we met, I saw him but a moment, and methinks I see him now, 2. A most eruptive handkerchief when next we met he wore, He looked ten stone, and “ VOLTIGEUR” was the classic name he bore; With “ TRAMP " and " MISSIVE” as his pals, he sent out from Fetter Lane I saw him but a moment, and methinks I see him now, 3. And once again I see him: a red-baize board is there, He sits behind a counter with cigars and a "ladye fayre ;" I conned his odds with stealthy eye, and when no one seemed near 1 backed a horse for half a sov. with this list-house Cavalier. I saw him but a moment, and I wish I saw him now, mountain's brow. (3) THE PURSER (!). Air—" Marble balls.” 1. With “chaps,” sirs, and peers at my side; Seemed so full of his swagger and pride. His valued ancestral name And to creditors handed the same. pacing and peemilin those I dreamt that at last one veteran hand Refused thus to be gammoned by B. ; He mizzled down Piccadilly. When the chiselled ones came to claim ; That his list-house kept open the same. |