Chapter C: E. Curtis (7)

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.

W. MURDOCH.

A Hundred Years Ago.

(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.”

The Sportsman’s Library.

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_.

COCKER SPANIELS.

By permission of the publishers of “The Sporting Spaniel.”
]

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.

CLUMBER SPANIEL.

By permission of the publishers of “The Sporting Spaniel.”
]

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.

George Hirst.

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.]

QUID.

“Our Van.”

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.

GORGOS.

_Photo by W. A. Rouch._]
]

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.

FLAIR.
Winner of the One Thousand Guineas.

_Photo by W. A. Rouch._]
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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.

POLO.

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.

GOLF.

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.

THE HUNT SECRETARIES’ ASSOCIATION.

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.