have a horrid custom of saying, "O! mon Dieu, oui! mon Dieu, non!" which is not less profane. I now changed my horse and rode off on an Irish hack to Chatau, a village near, and thus ended the boar-hunt; which, but for the presence of loveliness, court magnificence, and more attractive novelty, I should indeed have voted a bore* of the first order, and like anything but hunting.

Although I considered the Royal boar-hunt at St. Germain a mere gallop, yet I did not find that amusement such in Germany and in the northern parts of France. The sanglier, or large wild boar, is a most dangerous and ferocious animal, and runs with a rapidity that his ugly shape would not give one an idea of. In some of the interminable forests of Germany, a day's boarchase is a most fatiguing affair; and I was once convinced that there the strong heavy boot had its advantage; for, from its protective power, it saved the leg of a whipper-in, on whom the enraged animal turned when hard pressed, and to whom he was applying his huge tushes, when a brave Hungarian Officer stuck him in the flank with an instrument resembling the blade of a knife which was attached to a carbine slung by his side. I have seen these substitutes for a bayonet inserted between the two barrels of fowling-pieces, and have witnessed their utility. In Flanders, Germany, and the northern provinces, it was in those days customary to go armed cap-à-pie to the boar and wolf

chase, with side-arms, fire-arms, et cetera. Upon the whole, boarhunting must be allowed to be manly amusement, whilst the flesh of the animal is as great a reward for the toil of pursuing it as that of our best forest-deer.

I heard a great fuss about the chasseurs intrepides d'Anjou et de Poitou, of Lower Normandy and of Britanny, but I never saw any of them equal to our own. As to the boar-hunters of the Empire, the late Count de Naupe, who had resided much in England, rode boldly, but he was no hand at a standing leap. The Count de Romainville was a sticking horseman, and hunted his own slow hounds personally, in very good style.

As

If the boar-hunt was to me one of fatigue and danger, the wolf-hunt was doubly so. to the latter I have spent whole days looking after wolves in many of the provinces, and although more than one have been killed in the day, I never had the good luck to be in at the death, and not always to view him. Except in Lower Britanny, a wolfhunt near a town is a mob: in remoter places it is like skirmishing in an enemy's country. In Britanny there is as much hunting every animal on foot as on horseback: and here I must observe that the term chasse is often misapplied: everything is chasse abroad, as every field-sport is hunting in Scotland; so that you may have from the chasse de la grosse bête, hunting the larger animals, down to the chasse au souris: or, taking the term au

large, we have hunting in this nether world, from the tigerhunt to the squirrel-hunt, and thence to the keen sport of old spinsters flea-hunting-baiting them on a flannel petticoat. But, in France and Scotland, shooting is hunting, and coursing is hunt ing-hare, fox, and stag.

One thing which I detest in the wolf-hunt is, the noise and the great importance of the forest guards, accoutred en militaire, and starting with all the importance of the opening of a campaign. The ceremony begins par cerner un bois (by surrounding a wood), or more properly a certain portion thereof; horse and foot then enter it (in the distant provinces mostly the latter); the dogs are introduced, the party provided with guns of all descriptions; and in Lower Britanny I saw peasants and other individuals with pistols and other offensive weapons: brass pans and kettles are struck, and make a horrid clang, to frighten the wolves, one or more of which now start, and are followed and either hunted down or instantly fired at. The skirt of a wood is the most likely place to get a shot at them, in the act of escaping; but of the numerous surrounding hunters, but very few, or perhaps only one, gets a shot, which occasionally misses, and then the alarm is sounded, and pursuit and fruitless shots follow. In some remote counties the church bells add to the general din when it is intended to force the wolves from their strong holds; and the same thing took place in a severe winter, when the wolves of Lower Britanny, urged by famine, came in droves into some of the villages on a foraging party; the tocsin was in like manner sounded, and

the male population turned out, armed with fowling-pieces, muskets, lances, pistols, and any weapon which was nearest at hand. These wolves are very ferocious, so that the chasing and destroying them becomes an affair of safety as well as of amusement.

:

The last scene of my hunting abroad was in Sardinia, just before the Revolution in France. There was very little difference between the stag-hunt and boarhunt here from that which I had attended in France. Royalty on both occasions was surrounded by Nobility, and the turn-out was more like a pageant than a hunt. His Sardinian Majesty's attendants were less numerous than those of His Most Christian Majesty the former were habited in plain scarlet with silver lace, and had a very light and pretty appearance. The horses of many of the sportsmen were of a native breed, small, compact, and not unlike the Turkish horses, active in a comparative degree, but so thrown on their haunches, and so broken-in to bend their knees, that although they were particularly safe and comely in their paces, they could not have the rapidity of our horses, who dart like the greyhound, and skim along the plain. In the course of the stag-hunt the hounds were repeatedly stopped for the Royal and Aristocratical party.

The civility which I experienced amongst the sporting Nobility was very great. One Principe told me that I had a stupendo cavallo (a stupendous horse); and another amused me in bad French with his feats of prowess and agility in the hunting-field. Talking of leaps, I mentioned some that I had seen in Leices¬

tershire and elsewhere; to which he replied, "Oh! all that is nothing; I once took such an extraordinary high leap that I was quite tired of remaining up in the air." (J'ai sauté si haut que je m'ennuyais en l'air.) A little after this speech the Principe got a tumble in crossing a little ravine. I could not help remarking to the Signor Principe that he had fallen off in his riding since the time in which his great feats of agility were performed. He took this very good-naturedly, mounted again, and set off at full gallop, his hair-powder flying in a cloud round him, and occasionally almost blinding me: it was indeed in this case, "palmam non sine pulvere." It was ridiculous

SIR,

THE HE Annual Grand Golfing Match at St. Andrews for the Gold Medal was played on Friday, September 23d, 1831; and not having seen any account of it in your entertaining Miscellany, the following is much at your service.

This annual contest amongst the most celebrated golf-players in Scotland excited unusual interest.

Three of the former medalholders, Messrs. Patullo, Holcroft, and Massieux, were backed at considerable odds against the field; and though the day proved most unfavorable, the crowds assembled to witness the display of this national game were most

numerous.

The old proverb in the racing world, that " odds never beat a horse that could win," was fully exemplified on this occasion; and a Gentleman from the country north of the Tay, whose per

IN N our September Number, page 404, we stated that Sir Mark Wood had brought an action against Mr. Atkins, Clerk of the Course at Warwick Races, as stakeholder, to recover the amount of the Guy Stakes, which he claimed as owner of Cetus, the horse that came in second in that race in September 1830, on the ground that Mr. Mytton, in whose name Birmingham was entered, and who came in first, was in arrear for stakes and forfeits both at Warwick and Winchester; and, according with the 25th article of the Rules and Orders of the Jockey Club, a horse so circumstanced was disqualified. The Jockey Club had decided in favour of Sir Mark; but Mr. Beardsworth (the then owner) persisting in his claim, Sir Mark tried the question at the last Warwick Assizes, when the Jury returned a verdict in his favour, thus confirming the decision of the Jockey Club.

In the last Michaelmas Term, Mr. Clarke applied to the Court of King's Bench for a Rule to shew cause why the verdict should not be set aside and a new trial had; and as the case has created a great sensation in the Sporting World, we recapitulate the facts as stated in Court on making the application.

The Guy Stakes is a produce stakes, whereby the owners of certain mares subscribe a sum to be run for, at Warwick, by the produce of mares named by the subscribers. In the present case a Mr. Gauntlet entered the produce of a mare called Dahlia, and Mr. Mytton that of one called

Miss Cragie: the produce of the former was the horse called Cetus, which became the property of Sir Mark Wood; and that of the latter the celebrated horse Birmingham, who, at the time of the race, was the property of Mr. Beardsworth. By the conditions of the race these horses still remain entered in the names of the subscribers. The result was, that the race took place in September 1830: Birmingham came in first, and Cetus second. The former was declared the winner; but as soon as the declaration was made, Sir Mark Wood claimed the stakes as the owner of Cetus, on the ground that some former stakes due by Mr. Mytton (in whose name Birmingham was entered) had not been paid, which disqualified Birmingham from taking the stakes. It did not appear that objections had been made on these grounds prior to the race by Sir Mark Wood, and it was maintained by Mr. Beardsworth that this objection came too late after the race was over; for the rule, as laid down in the Match-book, was, that horses belonging to parties who had not paid their stakes were disqualified from starting; but it was contended, that having been allowed to start, the objection came too late. By the Rules of the Warwick Races, all stakes must be paid before starting; and it was not objected that in the present case this had not been done. It was also a rule that all disputes should be settled by the Stewards, before whom this question came; but after considering the case, and not coming to a decision,

it was ultimately referred by them to the Jockey Club, each party furnishing a statement through the Stewards. The Club decided in favour of Cetus, and against Birmingham, the bets in the race going with the latter. To this decision Mr. Beardsworth objected; and one of his grounds was, that this reference had not received his sanction. This led to an action by Sir Mark Wood to recover the amount of the stakes (upwards of 6001.), in which he succeeded.

The grounds of the present application were-first, that the objection came too late after the race was won; the second objection was one of law-that Sir Mark Wood, not being the party

in whose name the race was run, could not properly found the action; and that a similar objection would hold good as to the defendant, who, being only a servant of the Stewards, the action was therefore improperly laid.

Lord Tenterden said that the Clerk was not the servant of the Stewards, but held the money as stakeholder in virtue of his office, and the action was rightly brought. The interest of Sir Mark Wood was so precisely the same as would have been that of Mr. Gauntlet, that the action being brought in his name could make no difference. With respect to the principal objection, the Court was of opinion that, as both parties had left the matter to the decision of the Jockey Club, they were bound by the decision of that body-a decision which the Court was by no means willing to disturb, knowing that that Club, as a Court of Honour specially formed to adjudicate on matters of this description, was a far higher authority and a more

competent tribunal than any Court of Law whatever. Considering all the points of the case, His Lordship saw no reason for disturbing the verdict; and the other Judges concurring, the Rule was refused.

The decisions of the Stewards of Races have frequently been upheld by our Law Courts: and, as somewhat analogous to the above, we quote the following case in corroboration of the opinion of Lord Tenterden that no

appeal to law is necessary, when all litigation may be prevented by a reference to the accepted Rules and Orders laid down for the guidance of the Turf by a for that purpose. Tribunal expressly constituted

August 30, 1810.-Stockton.Sweepstakes of 20gs. each, for two year olds; colts 8st. 2lb., fillies 8st. one mile, 3 subs. Mr. Millburn's br. c. Bumper Mr. Barrett's b. c. by Delpini ............ 2

1

Mr. Hutchinson's f. by L'Orient started with the above and came in first; but, not having been nominated in due time, was objected to by the Stewards. The Clerk of the Course, however, actually paid Mr. Hutchinson the stakes, and Mr. Milburn had no other alternative than an appeal to the law, in which he succeeded. The cause was tried at Guildhall, London, before Lord Ellenborough. The advertisement for the regulation of these races contained a clause by which the Stewards were authorised to determine ALL disputes; which the Lord Chief Justice remarked, that the Stewards had already decided; and that such decisions ought never to be disturbed, unless there was reason to impute corruption or partiality.

on