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the winner of the Oaks was cuts., not to say stones, under her usual form; moreover, it is pretty sure that the stable and its friends somehow or other were put in the hole. That the filly was not fit, must be past all peradventure. We all remember what she was last spring and last autumn; it will not soon be forgotten what she was in April, 1850. A Match for 200 each, h. ft., Last-half of Ab. M., between Preston, 8st. 4lbs., and Lord Glasgow's Canada colt, 8st. 7lbs., 4 to 1 on Preston! the favourite won-of course. Lord Glasgow's career upon the turf is, in downright vernacular (or it ought to be)" a caution." It's impossible to look upon it as a joke; it's against human nature to be merry at any man's expense-to such a melody......Herewith the meeting ended. It was the worst of its ilk ever known may the same be said of it a hundred years hence. Whether all the three year-old stock of 1850 be a moderate sample, or whether there be a parcel or two of superior flavour, remains to be seen so far as present experience goes, there is nothing for the latter possibility save hope. Everywhere, indeed, you hear rumours of flyers; but no sooner do they leave the trap, than down they go. Unless the Second Spring Meeting should a tail unfold, the Derby for this year of grace is "anybody's."

Bath and Somerset county meeting was put upon the scene far more seasonably than on its last anniversary: instead of snow there was sunshine; in lieu of rueful countenances there were roseate smiles, for the stand was a bumper of beauty, The racing was marked by that "glorious uncertainty " for which, beyond all sports, it is proverbial. The materiel was a low sample for the most part, but next year things will be better managed-as we are told. The handicap will be shaped so as better to suit the convenience of the " ring"-to this complexion must all that relates to the turf come at last. The list was, as usual, headed by the Lansdown Trial Stakes, which were a sort of canter over for old Collingwood, with 7 to 1 on him. Then came the Somersetshire Stakes: the 50 nominations, reduced to eight starters, saw at their head in public estimation Halo at 7 to 4; an animal called " Wont-you-comeout-to-night," from the Danebury stable, was second favourite at 3 to 1. It was of the feminine gender, and went in the race, to use an Irish illustration of pace, "like a horse's head to a bone fire." Some others of very small account were at miscellaneous odds-Fernhill, for instance, at about 35 to 1. The detail lies in a short yarn. The favourite waited till they had passed the mile post, and then "came." Thus they reached the distance, where Halo "went in the near fore leg, struggled on with his crippled pin, and finished second, two lengths behind Sauter-la-coupe. The tail was like that of a comet. Here was another smile of the blind goddess upon the fielders. I wonder which of the prophets saluted Sauter-la-coupe for his "tip." There was nothing in the remainder of the day's sport, neither in that of its successor, that calls for note or comment. The 23rd and 24th of April were eminent on Lansdown, but beyond the home circle of no interest. It is proposed that an alteration shall take place in the chronological arrangements; I only hope they dont mean to retrograde. This is the era of progress; and not only might their own interests, but the noses of the company, be jeopardised by a step en arrière.

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"THE SHADY SIDE."

ENGRAVED BY J. WESTLEY, FROM A PAINTING BY WILLIAMS.

O, Tityra! tu patula !-by which

I would merely mean to say,

I greet you in that form of speech

The learn'd wish a man "Good day."

Say, art thou now a fisher bold,
From silken line to sharp harpoon?

Or is your aim, if all be told,

Be

To loiter through an afternoon?

yours the skill, with hand and eye
That never in their purpose fail,
To lightly cast the curious fly,
And so the salmon to empale?

Is it with him you'd court the fight,
With every art and effort vie?
Or, will those little fish, to-night,
Be all you ask to make a fry?

With anxious hope and eager stride

Dost thou pursue the winding stream,

Whose hopes can every toil deride,

Whose cares far more of pleasure seem?

Or wilt thou sit thee calmly down,
Of quiet contemplation full,

Till some kind fish, to his renown,
May come and give your float a pull?

Tot homines-to take again

A taste of the Castalian springs-
Which is, that many different men
Have different ways of doing things.

So if this good old fogy's game

Of" sport" may hardly reach the pride,
Remember, we may do the same
When we get on "the shady side."

[graphic]

REVIEW OF THE STEEPLE-CHASE AND COURSING

SEASONS OF 1849-50.

BY THE DRUID.

"Becher, Mason, and Powell, with Allan,' may yet
Crack off Vyvian and Lottery, Cigar and Brunette;
And we know how The Marquis' on trim Columbine,
Yellow Dwarf, and Regalia erst rode the flag-line."

We began to fear, when Mr. Alexander Henry made himself so remarkably busy in the House during the last session, on the subject of steeple-chasing, that its devotees would be a sort of target for informers during the next season, and that Tom Oliver and Frisby would infallibly have to emigrate to Port Natal or the Backwoods. Our fears have happily not been realized, and Mr. Henry has turned up the whites of his eyes and the palms of his hands in vain. The hundred-pound fine was left in the lurch by a majority of eight, amongst whom Mr. Pryse Pryse, who promised his constituents that if they sent him to Parliament "he would be a regular brick," challenged its fox-hunting and stag-hunting opponents to show why one should be put down by law, and the others allowed to flourish as manly "sports." A little opposition, however, seems only to have increased the appetite of the steeple-chase world; and a season has just closed which, for quality of sport and absence of casualties, is almost unrivalled. Worcester, which has earned a name of high renown for the successive victories of Discount, Brunette, Switcher, The Chandler, and Proceed, over its Pitchcroft Meadow, "made the running" on the second of November, and witnessed the maiden victory of the four-year-old, Vainhope, 8st. 10lb. (Archer); The Young-un, 10st., running second, and Trust-me-not, 10st. 12lb., baffling all the efforts of Oliver to keep him straight at his fences. A stone more made no difference to Vainhope (Archer) at Aylesbury, where he defeated British Yeoman, 12st. 6st., by half a length, after a most splendid race, both horses coming over the last fence together, the winner with a decisive spring which measured thirty-four feet. Here Maria Day, 10st. 5lb., got a fall at a grip, and Tipperary Boy and Mulatto met each other at a fence in consequence of the in-and-out nature of the race, and experienced a tremendous collision. In a Free Handicap and a Scurry the much-vaunted Young Lottery stood A 1. Liverpool Autumn Steeple-chase rewarded Mr. Topham's handicapping exertions with a field of seventeen, in which Sir John, 11st. 1lb. (Ryan), proved the conqueror; Vainhope, 10st. 6lb., second; and The Doctor, 11st. 7lb., ridden by his noble and plucky owner, running in third; Proceed, 11st. 101b., Victim, 11st. 71b., and Knight of Gwynne, who fell and got loose, being all members of the ruck. The

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