Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

same time muscular: he must be good-tempered, and patient: without being rash, he must possess good nerve; and, above all things, he must have a disposition guarded with honor to defend him from temptation. There is not a more dangerous occupation than that of a jockey, unless his mind is fortified by honesty. The opportunities which may present themselves of acquiring money by acceding to nefarious arrangements may appear too glittering for weak minds; but let me here remark, that there is scarcely a man in prosperity at the present moment who has been known ever to lend himself to foul practices, the detection of which is invariably followed by exposure, and exposure by ruin. However deeply laid and cunning a man's schemes may be, the public are sure to discover them; and when once only suspected, it is no easy matter to allay the opinions which have arisen.

To enable us to form a just estimate of some of the leading characteristics essential to men who attempt to ride races, it may be well to bear in mind these words of Pope

"First follow Nature, and your judgment frame

By her just standard ;"

and one of the first things to consider will be the instinctive faculties with which Nature has endowed all animals. With this valuable gift the horse has been liberally rewarded.

In order to urge the horse to his utmost speed, the whip and spur are made use of, and by the proper use or the improper abuse of these instruments the required effect or the reverse is produced: but if the former object is not attained, an evil arises by the abuse of these weapons, which thoughtless persons never recognise, an act of cruelty is perpetrated, and a foundation laid for much future disappointment.

Having obtained the horse's greatest efforts by the use of the whip and spur, they may sometimes be necessary to a certain degree to induce the animal to continue his exertions until the termination of the race; but in this the disposition and power of the animal must be consulted. It is one of the great features in a jockey's skill to be enabled to discriminate whether it is want of power or temper which prevents his horse from increasing his efforts when called upon; and if temper, whether that temper is the result of previous punishment.

The instinct of the animal is such, that when his powers of speed are maintained to their utmost, if he continue to be goaded with the spur, and lacerated with the whip, he naturally supposes he is being punished for his exertions; consequently he relaxes them. The ignorant and unmerciful rider too frequently continues to punish the already distressed animal, who, from the effects of pain, torture, and defeat, is ready to run anywhere to escape the unmerciful infliction, and is consequently condemned as bad tempered. So long as the horse is found to improve his speed by their use, so long is a jockey justified in the moderate and necessary administration of his whip or spur ; but the instant he finds that they fail to produce the required effect, that instant he ought to keep them still. It is by the continued application of them at such a time that horses are so often found to stop, or, as it is commonly termed in racing language, to shut up, the moment they are called upon, arising from nothing but the recollection of the severe

punishment which they have sustained on former occasions. If it could be even allowable to pass over the cruelty of such treatment, interest alone should dictate the impropriety of punishing a horse at such a

crisis.

I have known jockeys make answer, upon having it observed to them that they had made use of unnecessary punishment, that they were aware of it, but that they felt compelled to do so, or the public would condemn them for not having tried to win. Such a charge under such circumstances could never be substantiated: they never need feel such apprehensions: so long as their actions are guarded by integrity, the ridiculous imaginations of a few ignorant spectators can never injure the credit of an honest man.

Those jockeys who have attained the highest rank in their calling will be found to be less severe towards their horses than men of an inferior grade; and to their good judgment on that point may in a great measure be attributed their success. Many races are lost by the use of the whip, and many a horse's temper spoiled by it. Who can witness the nervous agitation and fear evinced by some horses without acknowledging this fact? Who can experience the difficulty which exists to get some horses to the starting-post without admitting it as a proof?

Let any one observe Robinson's style of riding, and they will find that he never resorts to cruelty. I once noticed with particular pleasure his riding a filly of Mr. Batson's for a Two-year-old Stake at Newmarket, on which occasion his mercy and good feeling were strongly displayed. The race was between Alms and Barmaid at the Second Spring Meeting 1838. Pavis was Robinson's opponent on Alms, and had the lead from the distance. Robinson had his filly's head nearly parallel with Pavis's knee all the way, but could never improve his situation: she was beaten and weak. Robinson patiently waited without punishing her till within two strides of the post, when he took up his whip and struck her twice, merely to ascertain if it could produce the desired effect, and although the attempt proved abortive, it was evidently executed with humanity. Instead of his mild and judicious treatment, I will venture to assert that one half of the jockeys, as soon as they found her beaten, would have commenced flogging her, would have cut the poor thing to pieces, and would have had her beaten ten lengths instead of half a one.

It is generally found that the committal of any very outrageous act in some way or other promotes salutary effects: it bears an antidote ; it either produces caution in the unsuspicious, and warns them for the future, or it calls forth such rules and determinations as to prevent a repetition. The custom of gentlemen riding races has been very prevalent, and one which carries with it many recommendations. The class of society to which they belong ought to bear an assurance that they cannot be guilty of an act of a fraudulent or dishonorable character. Doubly culpable is the outcast, possessing or assuming the title of a gentleman, who can venture to soil his hands by allowing himself to become the agent to a discreditable transaction.

There are men, possessing only a superficial knowledge of the racing world, illiberal enough to imagine that all who are connected with it

are capable of dirty conduct. This I am proud to be able to rebut. Many men are to be found who keep race-horses possessing as much high honor and unsullied integrity in their Turf transactions as are to be found in other classes of society; but such men as I first allude to, if they become the owners of a horse or two, are weak enough to conceive they must resort to dirty cunning tricks in order to place themselves on the same footing as their competitors; with an impression likewise that custom exonerates them from culpability; and they almost appear impervious to shame. Sooner or later they invariably fall into a net of their own spreading.

The denouement of the race for the Palace Stakes at Hampton, which has lately been so much the topic of conversation, not only amongst racing men, but throughout all classes of society, and especially those who are opposed to gentlemen riding, is happily without a parallel. I use that term because in the annals of racing I do not find an instance wherein the conduct of an individual assuming the character of a gentleman has been so unquestionably proved and pronounced guilty, and whose guilt has been so completely exposed and handed down to posterity, as that of Mr. Curwen. A man without the means of living might have made poverty an excuse-a bad one it is truefor dishonesty; but how a man possessed of an independence, as Mr. Curwen is, unusually fond of riding, and vain of his pretensions, could have been so far led away as to lend an ear to instructions that he was wilfully and premeditatedly to lose the race-much more to put those instructions into effect-is astonishing! His admission of having obeyed his orders, whilst it calumniates his employer, by no means exonerates himself. For the honor of the British Turf, it is to be hoped he will cease to pollute it by his presence: for the honor of all Gentlemen Jockeys, he will surely never be allowed to appear in that character again. As to Mr. Pauline Theobald, the Pandemoniums in the precincts of St. James's Street would be a much more eligible sphere for his abilities, and doubtless more suitable to his taste, than the Race-course: the sooner he makes the exchange the better.

By way of purifying the class of men who ride as gentlemen, and ensuring their honorable services, the only effective means appear to be by a restriction to those only who are Officers holding Commissions in Her Majesty's Service, Members of the Clubs in London, Racing or Fox-hunting Clubs, to any of which admission must be obtained by ballot. Officers in the British Service would be compelled to leave if pronounced guilty of dishonorable conduct, and Members of Clubs would in like manner be compelled to withdraw.

PHOENIX.

THE LEICESTERSHIRE NEW M. F. H.

August 12, 1839.

will say,

A MEMORABLE day to commence a Sporting letter you Mr. Editor, no doubt; but I fear the dearth of information will rather disappoint you in this epistle. However, as I promised to write again soon, and as I am esclave de mes serments, as Le Diable Boiteux

observed to Don Cleophas, I will tell you that I have been spending several days lately with our new Master of Hounds, Mr. Hodgson, and that, from several highly-exaggerated anecdotes I had heard and read of him on sporting matters, I had made up my mind to find him a very amusing but eccentric personage......not in the least......he does not differ from any other polished well-bred man accustomed to good society, except perhaps in being remarkably unassuming in his manners and mild in his deportment: he is indeed the first to enjoy those "ebullitions of the imagination," as he calls them, and willingly pleads guilty to the charge of being a most enthusiastic and unwearied foxhunter, it being the ruling passion of his mind, the loadstar of his destiny. The character he brings with him from the Holderness Country assures us that it is no false and fleeting radiance that it sheds, but a good steady durable light, such as will rejoice the heart of every man, and boy too in Leicestershire. He has decided upon taking the Quorn Kennels, so they are once more bona fide "THE QUORN HOUNDS!"-a name pregnant with sport and pleasure. Foxes are pronounced scarce in a general point of view, but I know it for an undeniable fact, that between Rolleston and Nosely, a space of barely two miles, there are seven litters, amounting to forty, including the old ones. Pretty well that! It is Mr. Hodgson's intention to visit his friends again on this side of the county early in September, and give them such a thorough routing that they will be glad to betake themselves where "the animal" is rather scarcer.

You may rely on the earliest intelligence when the time comes.

CLIO,

A RAMBLE IN JULY.

THE heavy rains in June and July were the occasion of a flood in the latter month, which laid the low country from Crowland to Spalding under water, and, sweeping down the hay crop and mustard seed, occasioned a loss of serious magnitude to the landowners. By the middle of July it considerably abated, and at the latter end the water had receded to the banks of the river, leaving the meadows splashy and in good order for snipes. About this time some few years ago I had the most splendid shooting among the young snipes in Cambridgeshire, finding wisps of ten and fifteen couple in rapid succession, and killing in one day twenty-six couple and a half, exclusive of redshanks, plover, and ruff and reeve. I made a few inquiries whether any guns had been fired in the snipe grounds, and having ascertained that they had remained undisturbed, I made up my mind for a day's shooting, and commenced preparations accordingly. There is something interesting to a Sportsman in getting ready for the season-drawers and gun-cases, which have remained locked for the last half year, are opened, wardrobes unlocked, and cupboards ransacked. To a Sportsman's breast the sight of his old rifle and double-barrel is full of interest, and all the familiar things which are again brought to view awake a train of pleasing recollections of past adventure, and bright anticipations of sport and happiness in the coming season. I never rise so blythely as on the

first of September, nor rejoice so fully in any one day of the year as on that. I have met the sun upon the hills many a spring and summer morning in distant countries, and risen from the bed of sickness to sally forth feebly but cheerily to the fields and streams, but nothing is equal to that day and home, with all its busy train of feeling,

"Which I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal."

It was a fine morning, with little wind, which, considering the constant rains, was as much and rather more than could be hoped for: so making a hearty breakfast, which every one should who is about to face the fen air, and filling my brandy flask, I jumped into the gig, and started at half-past 4 A. M. for Crowland.

The wash looked in prime order, and the third ground I got into gave promise of a good day. Three couple of snipe rose wildly and out of shot, but it shewed the birds were there, and that a wind only was wanted to make them lie closer. I killed the next bird that rose, and in an hour had bagged five couple and a ruff. The devastation made in the mustard grounds by the flood was sad to see, but there I found the birds chiefly lay, more especially in the furrows where the land was rotten, and in such hollows or low places as contained most moisture or a little splush. Several of the grass grounds had been mown, and the grass carried off, hay it could not be called; others were being cut, and far stretching into the distance were groups of mowers with loaded wagons and farmers on horseback. Droves of geese and fishermen were to be seen in different directions, and here and there a boat and eel-net hung out to dry served to vary the face of nature in these farspreading flats and solitudes. Plover were swooping in the air, and occasionally descending to feed; a few wild ducks were seen, and a pair of teal, but it was apparent, from the droppings by the dike sides and creek mouths, that numerous wild fowl and a large flight of snipe frequented that part of the wash by night, even if they were not there by day also. I walked nearly two miles down the wash, having left the mustard grounds some time, and was at length surrounded chiefly by large uncut grass grounds, and for the last hour the sport had diminished, a couple of snipe and a wild duck only having found their way into the bag during that time. I have no doubt that there were snipes, but they lay close, and I wanted a dog to flush them: but having long ago made up my mind never to use a dog for snipes, I turned my face back, intending to beat the mustard grounds again, and after luncheon try the high wash and banks of the river. I found, on my return to a ground which had afforded most sport in the morning, that the snipes had got back before me, and although they rose wildly, owing to the calmness of the day, I bagged two couple, missing two shots, which were certainly the easiest and best I had during the whole day.

It is a good plan to stick by a favorite feeding ground when snipes are thinly scattered over a country. Such a ground may be beat three or four times over with a certainty of some sport; or, by standing still and watching it, single snipes will be seen on the wing, and may be marked down by some dock or rush, and present the best chance of all. The same observations apply to a warm spring or pond-head in winter. Wherever snipes are found one morning or evening, they will be found

« ПредишнаНапред »