EMBELLISHMENTS. THE LAST LEAP. ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY J. F. HERRING, JUN. AND ENGRAVED BY J. WESTLEY, FROM A PAINTING BY J. BOULT. CONTENTS. M. W. First Car., 2 day, at 53 min. past 1 afternoon. Full Moon, 10 day, at 44 min. past 1 afternoon. (Harvest moon.) OCCURRENCES. JM Partridge-shooting begins. 2 T Warwick Rac. Teignmouth Reg.s 6 45 Airdrie (Scotland).. 4 Liverpool Hunt Aut. 10 Tenby Ratcliffe & Shadwell 1 Carnarvon (Royal Kildare Annual.... I THE RACING IN AUGUST. BY CRAVEN. "Nothing extenuate, Nor set aught down in malice." OTHELLO. In Goodwood, with which the racing in July terminated, also opened the turf season of the past month. In characteristic " pomp and circumstance" no meeting in the kingdom will bear comparison with it. the quality of the sport-as an average-it is without a rival. In natural" appliances and means" it is an English Eden. In "metal more attractive" for those who occupy their business in the course, thus the account stood on its last anniversary: the gross amount disbursed in the form of" added money" was £845; deducting from this Her Majesty's hundred, payments to the Judge out of the stakes, and debiting the fund with receipts for nominations (these items, however, are rather obscure), the sum actually contributed to the credit of the meeting appears to be £640 or thereabouts, at the rate of £160 a-piece for each of the four days; there were two costly trophies also, but these were provided out of sources distinct from the revenue of the races......A ball at Guildhall costs six thousand five hundred pounds-an Olympic pageant of unparalleled magnificence in Goodwood Park one hundred and sixty; and yet you hear people holding forth against horse-racing as an expensive amusement! By way of prologue to the review of the performance, a brief anticipation of the plot will serve as a convenient illustration to the text. Our drama is an equestrian spectacle in four acts; the characters, as customary, represent good and evil in strong relief. Life-like its counterfeit presentment on the stage-is not a scene wherein the actors are "all honourable men." This, our instance, had of course its "perfect monster," and also its dramatis persona of indifferent character. The name of the first villain was Cariboo, and he made the Goodwood Stakes his "point." The fact was thus adverted to in Bell's Life of the 3rd ult. In reference to the scratching of Cariboo" (and the bleeding of his backers, which is "understood")" at the last moment, a good deal of sore feeling was manifested. It was known that Mr. Greville had publicly expressed his readiness to back his horse for the Stakes as well as the Cup, provided he could get twenty monkeys to one-that is to say, £10,000 to £500. There was no response to this offer; but on this hint the public inferred that he would go for the Stakes as well as the Cup, and hence he was backed for both events and even on Sunday" (the scene is laid in Christendom)" offers were made to take odds that he won both. There was nothing to indicate that these offers came from Mr. Greville; but it was urged that if he did not mean to start him for both he ought at once to have avowed his intention. Those acquainted with the modern tactics of betting see nothing extraordinary or unusual in keeping up the mystification. That there are noblemen and gentlemen who would have pursued a different course experience has proved; but there is an imperative law on the subject" (Where, and by what imperative enactment?) "Nevertheless, if it be justifiable in some, it is equally so with others; and if a penalty is to be inflicted for such conduct all should be alike subject to its consequences. Mr. Mangan was seriously censured for having done likewise' with Russborough at Ascot, and heavy weights were put on the unoffending animal for his subsequent engagements." Shakspeare satisfactorily accounts for this apparent discrepancy when he intimates which were "That in the Captain's but a choleric word," "rank blasphemy" in any one not holding a commission. Nancy the first lady"-was subjected to a highly offensive imputation. She was openly charged with having concealed her age-with having passed herself off as younger than she really was! In this dilemma one Mr. Field, of Oxford-street, London, was challenged to the rescue, and his defence proved the insinuation to be "A weak invention of the enemy." Anon it will be seen who was the first gentleman. The antique name for a drama was 66 a mystery"-and in this latter category so much of our plot must remain for the nonce. Place aux dames: in the case of the heroine it is convenient to premise that her champion, Mr. Martinson, who is also her owner, and a licensed victualler, I believe, of Hull, wrote a bitter letter to the editor of a Sunday paper, allusion to which will be made presently. That epistle had the subjoined postscript, which certainly contained matter of moment under the circumstances:-"Your assertion that Nancy's age was objected to, and her mouth examined, when two years old, at Doncaster, is equally untrue, and the idea only existed in your own imagi nation." This is in the exasperated style; but Mr. Martinson certainly cannot be expected to treat the newspaper press with especially polite consideration. He finds himself implicated in an aristocratic sport, which offers impunity for the perpetration of a crying offence against him. It is openly inferred that he is a rogue and a swindler, or a dupe and a noodle, and the proof failing-voilà tout. Now, because he may keep a public-house or hostel, it is no reason that he should keep his temper under the irritation of discourteous usage. It is the attempt to stereotype past forms, and to apply them to circumstances totally different to those for which they were originally intended, that constitutes the essence of modern anomalies......In 1850, Mr. Baxter's Nancy, two years old, ran for the Eglinton Stakes, handicap, carrying 6st. 7lbs., which was won by the Black Doctor, another two-year-old, 6st. 3lb., The Bee-hunter, three years old, 8st. 12lb., second; Naney, as aforesaid, third; nine running and three placed-at Doncaster. Now, taking the difference between the weights of colts and fillies of two years old at 2lbs., for this race Nancy gave The Black Doctor six pounds. On the same day she ran third for the Nursery Plate, for two-year-olds, carrying 8st. 3lbs., Entre Nous, the winner 8st., Louie second, 7st. 4lbs., Sir Rowland Trenchard fourth, 8st. 2lbs. On Thursday, October 24th, 1850, the Two-year-old Stakes of 10 sovs. each, with 20 added, T.Y.C., 8 subscribers and seven runners, at Northallerton, was won by Mr. Job Marson's Nancy, 7st. 13lbs., Emily Ann, 8st. 7lbs., second, The Cutler, 8st. 10lbs., third, and the whole lot placed; the victory was an easy one, the winner carrying five pounds less than anything in the race. On the 10th of February, 1851, she made her debut in the Chester Cup betting at 50 to 1. On Wednesday, April the 30th, 1851, she won the Chester Cup, carrying four stone twelve pounds, beating The Black Doctor, second, by half a neck, carrying five stone four pounds, receiving from him the same weight he had given in the previous autumn. For this race Nancy ran as Mr. Lister's br. f.......I copy from the official Calendar. Passing to Goodwood, on July 31st, 1851, we find that the Cup was won by Mr. Martinson's Nancy, three years old, 7st., beating Cossack, 8st. 10lbs., second, and eight others. Upon the conclusion of this event, according to the newspapers, "Some surprise was felt when it was announced that Mr. Pedley, the owner of Cossack, had required that the winner's mouth should be examined, a ceremony which, we believe, was performed at Doncaster last year, when she was a two-year-old-and desired time to offer further evidence. The stewards complied with Mr. Pedley's request, and the next day was appointed to hear the case, Mr. Field, the veterinary surgeon, having been sent for in the interim." I avoid all reference to the theories of this event, and confine my statement wholly to such facts as were made public. The day following, the subjoined certificate was issued : 66 "Goodwood, August 1, 1851. This is to certify that I have this day, by desire of the Stewards, examined a bay mare-Nancy-and am of opinion that the said mare is three years old. “(Signed) "WILLIAM FIELD, Vet. Surgeon." Bell's Life of August 3rd had the following paragraph, referring to this investigation..." Previous to the examination, Mr. Pedley publicly declared that he would give £2,000 to any one who would enable him to establish his objection: 20 to 1 was offered on the mare, and 1,000 to 20 offered to be taken that The Black Doctor got the Chester Cup! From the following description of Nancy's marks, it would appear that there would be no difficulty in ascertaining whether she is the animal purchased of Mr. Baxter, the breeder: She has a star on the forehead, white spots on the back and on both sides, a few white hairs in the tail, and the heel of the near forefoot white; she is, in short, a bay mare, with white hairs." On the 10th of August the same journal stated, "We have received a long letter from Mr. Martinson, the owner of Nancy, expressing great indignation that he should have been classed with such persons as Messrs. Lister and Redgraves, with whom he says he should be ashamed to identify himself, and reiterating that which was proved before the stewards at Goodwood, that he was, and is, the sole proprietor of Nancy."...It would be small courtesy towards the readers of these pages to assume that they require any note or comment on this |