M. W. Last Quar., 5 day, at 42 min. past 8 morning. Full Moon, 27 day, at 8 min. past 10 afternoon. OCCURRENCES. 1 T The Thames Regatta, Putney 2 FWickmore (Gloucester) Fair. 3S Dog Days begin. s 8 1721 11 21 45 Fifth Sunday after Trinity. Morning. r 3 5324 0 22 8 57 9 30 8T CRIC. at Lord's, M.C.C. v. Oxon. s 8 1525 0 57 10 11 r 3 5526 1 3711 Oxford Term ends. s 8 1427 2 24 Sirth Sunday after Trinity. 12 M MANSFIELD RACES. 13 T JERSEY RACES. Leeds Fair. 14 W LIVERPOOL RACES. 15 T The Tower Annual Regatta. SETS. afternoon r 3 59 18 18 510 40 1611 50 0 22 r 3 57 28 3 17 0 50 1 15 1 43 2 5 2 30 2 50 16 F 25 Eighth Sunday after Trinity. r 4 1513 26 M Lydd (Kent) Fair. [Regatta. s 7 57 14 27 T GOODWOOD RACES. Yorkshirer 4 17 15 28 W Do. S. DAY. Archery Meetings 7 54 16 29 T Do. CUP DAY. [at Derby. r 4 2017 30 FCRICKET, Harrow, Eton, and s 7 51 18 31 S Winchester A. M., com. 28th Jr 4 23 19 -- 2 43 0 24 0 50 1 15 1 40 7 54 2 3 2 25 8 27 2 50 3 10 8 56 3 30 3 50 9 25 4 15 4 35 18 | Odiham 14 Wenlock 14 20 Goodwood.. 23 27 27 27 28 22 Newport (Salop).. 29 22 Bellewstown.................................. 20 Preston .... REGATTAS IN JULY. THE RACING IN JUNE. BY CRAVEN. "The horses I saw well chosen, ridden, and furnished. They were young and handsome, and of the best breed."-KING HENRY THE EIGHTH. on Our last chapter of Olympics closed with a memoir of the Epsom Meeting, and we now come to a record of the royal races Ascot Heath, which commenced, in this instant year of grace, on the first day of June. The poet-historian of the Grecian turf tells us that its celebrations partook quite as much of a political as a festive nature. Perhaps, if we had a Pindar behind the scenes at Windsor during the Ascot week, curious revelations might come of it. Such men as Nicholas of Russia, Louis Philippe of France, and less "eminent hands," though as subtle heads, don't cross the seas and mingle among strange people for nothing. I can well remember the mighty Muscovite on the occasion of his visit to the heath some three years ago, and his bearing had as little of a holiday character about it as could be imagined. How truly, to all ordinary seeming, hath it been said that a crown is no easy wearing! We read in our own Chapter of Kings of one merry monarch, indeed; but training had not broken his spirit. His spring of life was passed remote from the contagion that circles the heir to a throne in the region of his infected inheritance. What a lesson on the philosophy of "pride, pomp, and circumstance," does the Peninsula furnish at this hour to the curious in king and queen craft! But, politics apart, the royal meeting is less attractive on the score of sport than almost on any other account to which it may be turned. In the first place, it is-as appropriate, and becoming its courtly character a full-dress assembly. "Fair women" frequent it, as it is written in the hexameter of one who understood such things well "Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsæ." "Brave men" (as well as those not exceeding valiant) select it as the especial scene of sweethearting al fresco of this our northern Paphos. Surely, surely a terrible responsibility rests on those marchandes des modes who equip the invincibles for that campaign in which no quarter is given.... "Where men have souls or bodies, they must answer." The cup day-what is it but a tournament of duels, sanguinary en counters, begun with the resolution that they shall terminate only in the fall of both the combatants.... Oh, Love! of whom great Cæsar was the suitor; Sappho, the sage blue-stocking, in whose grave Thou mak'st the chaste connubial state precarious, Have much employed the muse of history's pen; Such worthies time will never see again; Yet to these four in three things the same luck holds- "What on earth has this to do with Ascot races ?" is there any that shall ask? Wait awhile: by the grace of Cupid, you shall not die in ignorance. It may not be the most graceful prologue to the pageant we have in hand; but still it will not be out of place to give Epsom a Parthian touch before opening our scene in Windsor's classic shades. The theme of most interest in the ring at Ascot was the unexpected default which had distinguished the Derby settling with such a bad pre-eminence. It sounds all very well and very chivalrous to denounce the poor devils that don't pay because they can't, or the finished vagabonds who decline as soon as they have made a satisfactory swindle; but even this point of honour admits of some abatement. People have no business to bet if they can't afford it, neither is it sound policy to discount paper at sixty or a hundred per cent. Still, the former, as well as the latter, is done, and in many cases on a similar principle. Young fellows of condition can have their bets booked at odds suited to their expectations. Lord is notoriously hard up; but they feed him in faith at Long's or Limmer's, so his wishes can be accommodated by or - at fifty points over the market prices. Sir has his weekly account submitted every Monday morning. The habitués of Tattersall's pronounce him unprofitable; but he picks up a youth of ambition now and then at the rooms; and late in the evening his liberal offers are entertained by some professional, off his guard-and his stint in brandy and water, or "At the corner of Conduit-street, Hanover-square." Young Squire has absolutely repudiated, on the score of minority, or illegal contracting, or what not. His case should seem hopeless; but even for him there is refuge. He shall walk out of court, having snapped his fingers at his liabilities and a whole tribe of Levites, and anon finds an Israelite for whom the uttermost possibility of a thousand per cent. has a fascination which leads captive his prudence, even as the Egyptian did his fathers of old. Make usury your bait, and you are sure of a Jew; there are sharks among "the peoples" that will gorge it, albeit cognizant of the doom that awaits their biting. But for dealing such as this, what pity or sympathy shall there be? Did any man of character and substance "go" on the late great issue at Epsom? And those who lost by the levanters-are they actual sufferers? or is not their position that of the slave-dealer and smuggler? If in one venture out of ten they succeed, is not their profit enormous? A fico for glove-making! None deal with craftsmen in that line but those who are pretty well insured against risk. Your flatcatcher is done now and then, no doubt, on some especial case; but forthwith he robs Peter of a pound, to pay the penny he loses by Paul. Has he so very much the worst of the bargain? Very considerable improvements had been made in the arrangement of the public accommodation since the preceding meeting. In the enclosure of the Grand Stand a ring was formed, for the facility of those who take their pleasure in the odds-to say nothing of the ends-and the Stand itself, in the matter of convenience and embellishment, had been skilfully cared for. The meeting, in all its details, was put on the scene in a right regal fashion; and here, in limine, let it be lawful to assert that a more brilliant one has not often shed its rays upon the favoured heath. The weather was bright and fair: so was the company and in the matter of racing, there was more than enough for the mere pleasure-seekers: there was, in fact, enough for the betting division, which is to say as much for it as one may, without giving the idea of a surfeit. The means of reaching the course were more general and available than they had ever been before. Both the Great Western and the South Western railways conveyed their thousands without let or hindrance, and even the road looked for the nonce as we remember it in pleasant bygone passages. Tuesday, though far from a very full anniversary of the first of the court days, brought a very fashionable attendance. The display of equipages, indeed, was more limited than usual; but the stands were well occupied. The first bit of gossip negotiated was that Sir Joseph Hawley had bought Mendicant for £2,000, with another £1,000 should she win the great prize. She was too dear: a four-year-old mare, with nothing but handicaps staring her in the face, must be good indeed to be worth a brace of thousands. A horse may earn his bread, when the weight of circumstances make it imperative to put him out of training; but brood mares at four figures are forlorn hopes, in reference to a probable return of capital. Crucifix and her dam; The Hero and his dam-cum multis aliis-in the memory of stud-proprietors, were sold for the price of Hansom's cabbers. Many of the best mares that ever appeared on the turf never bred a foal that was worth its food. Breeding a racer is purely an affair of accident: indeed, the whole materiel of the turf is in a great degree contingent on chance medley. Men of thews and sinews are not to be bred of six or seven stone weight, such as Lye, or Chapple, or Nat, or Mann, and others of their dimensions; and those craft that will sail you into the wind's eye, yclept racing lads-they are not the growth of stables, or found indigenously in paddocks: they are what they are by election, and not grace. There's an urchin, haply, with more devilment in him that all the rest of his age and inches in the parish put together. His father binds him to a tailor: Nature gives him an antipathy to cabbage and an instinct for the saddle. So he runs away, taking his mother's stocking-foot purse of half-crowns as a souvenir, and sets up his staff in a trainer's menagerie of imps. To give every person and place its due, however, it is proper to observe that the principal supply of the species comes from Yorkshire. I don't know whether I have before told the subjoined anecdote of one of the fry; but being very apropos, it will bear repetition if I have........... A sucking Tyke in the employment of an eminent dealer in the north, was once upon a time carried to York 'sizes, as evidence to the identity of an animal sold or bought by his master. The scamp watched every move of the court and case, and marked with proper care the course of cross-examination to which the witnesses put into the box were subjected. Presently he was called; and having been examined in chief, the counsel for the defendant rose to put him to the question, which he did in the following manner : Counsel "Now, sir, pray how high was the plaintiff's horse?" Counsel" And how old might he be, sir?" Counsel" How high did you say he was?" Counsel" Now, sir, recollect yourself, and remember you are on your solemn oath: you have first sworn he was sixteen feet." Boy-"Sixteen feet! Did I say sixteen feet?" Counsel "You did." Boy-" Then d-me, I'll stick to it: you aint a-going to catch me contradicting myself, Mister Counsellor !". And this reminds me to stick to my story, which concerns all the royal and loyal people on Ascot race-course. They begin business betimes at places that mean business as well as pastime: so here the hour named for opening was half-past one. With that punctuality of courteous etiquette for which the sovereigns of this country are distinguished, half an hour before the time appointed for the first race the royal cavalcade passed in all its gorgeous pageantry of high dames and cavaliers, and chariots and horsemen, up the course in most admired good order. I cannot convey a more correct impression of it than that furnished by the journals of the day: "Shortly after one o'clock all eyes were turned towards the approach-by the new mile and amid waving of hats and vociferous tokens of loyal and affectionate greeting, the noble Master of the Buckhounds, Lord Granville, was seen approaching in front of the royal grooms in scarlet, immediately followed by the royal carriages. The moment her Majesty and her numerous guests reached the assembled throng, loyal shouts and indications of affectionate regard burst from every direction, which increased in animation until she reached the Royal Stand. The carriages were all open; the first conveying her Majesty the Queen, her Royal Highness the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar, his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, and his Royal Highness the Prince of Lucca; the second, his Royal Highness Prince Albert, his Royal Highness the Here. |