by increasing confidence in his horses as they became accustomed to the fences, removed that imputation, and he rode near enough to his hounds to see that they performed their work.

MR. LLOYD.

We have here a good, old-fashioned, unpretending master of hounds, namely, Mr. Lloyd, so many years at the head of the York and Ainsty subscription pack. My experience of him during the few days I was in the field with him, when on my Yorkshire Tour, enables me to do little more than join in the general testimony to his abilities as a sportsman, as well as to his mild and unassuming manners in the field. But I well remember being much pleased with the appearance of his hounds in the kennel, considering them to be as near what we wish to see, as it is in the power of any man to make them, with so limited a subscription as Mr. Lloyd then received. When in the field with them I was not fortunate in respect to weather, which was such as to render hunting a fox to his death, almost out of the question. Mr. Lloyd's country is called the York and Ainsty country, and although what I saw of it did not take my fancy-being very close, and much ploughed-it is celebrated in our hunting annals in so far as it has been hunted by some very celebrated sportsmen. It was once hunted by the renowned Colonel Thornton, of Thornville Royal; also by the Duke of Cleveland and Mr. Lane Fox; and previously to Mr. Lloyd taking to it, Messrs. Challoner and Clough had the manage. ment of the York and Ainsty hounds. Mr. Lloyd has now resigned it, and it is taken by Mr. Creyke, of Rawcliffe, near Snaith, who has hunted in it for several seasons. Should he be found equal to the task -and no man can be pronounced such until he is tried-I hope he will hunt it for as many seasons as did Mr. Lloyd, amounting to nineteen or twenty.

I thought lightly of Mr. Lloyd's huntsman, Naylor, at the period I allude to, from the little I saw of him in the field, although I gave him full credit for the condition of his hounds, which was most conspicuous, I knew him when he whipped in to Steven Goodall, with Sir Thomas Mostyn's hounds, in Oxfordshire, whence no doubt he brought away with him a few of that celebrated huntsman's nostrums for attaining this desirable and necessary end. He was, however, most ably assisted by Jack Wilson (his only whipper-in), who afterwards whipped-in to Lord Kintore, and was discharged for being by no means particular as to what time of the day or night he paid his devotions to the jolly god. Will Danby, Mr. Hodgson's most zealous whip in the Holderness country, now hunts the York and Ainsty hounds, and I hear, from good authority, that he is to have the aid of a second whip. A pack of foxhounds with only one whip, bears some affinity to a pig with one ear. At all events it offends a sportsman's eye.

THE DUKES OF BEAUFORT.

Or the late Duke of Beaufort I must not say too much here, having so recently written a memoir of his sporting life in the pages of the "New Sporting Magazine;" still there are some matters relating to his Grace's early career as a master, which, as they have not hitherto been alluded to by me, may find a place here.

First, to show the origin of the hunting establishment, and its antiquity, it may be observed that his Grace's father, the fifth Duke of Beaufort, and grandfather to the present duke, established his foxhounds in the year 1773, huuting the country which had been previously hunted by the Lord Foley of those days; the kennel being at OverNorton. William Crane was his grace's first huntsman; and he was succeeded by Thomas Catch (not a bad name by the bye for a huntsman), whom I have heard spoken of as a most energetic and zealous, as well as efficient man in the field, although à la Shaw, a little given to be wild. He was succeeded by his first whipper-in Tom Alderton, but only during one season; for, although he likewise was full of energy and zeal, yet he was found wanting in judgment, and was put back into his own place, for which he was eminently qualified. One John Dilworth, many years huntsman to Lord Archibald, afterwards Duke of Hamilton, then became huntsman. This being in the late duke's time, many persons now living, must be acquainted with his merits. which, both in the kennel and the field, were extensive. Dilworth was succeeded by Philip Payne, who had previously whipped in to, and hunted the present Lord Lonsdale's hounds, when Sir William Lowther. In a brief memoir of George Sharpe, many years a royal huntsman, which appeared some years back in the Old Sporting Magazine, it is stated that, in the year 1779, he hired himself to the Duke of Beaufort, but whether as whipper-in or huntsman (the first, I should imagine) is not mentioned, and from the service of his grace, he entered that of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, who then had his staghounds in Windsor Park.

The first huntsman I knew with the late Duke of Beaufort's hounds, was Philip Payne, whom I have always placed in the first class of huntsmen, as a breeder of hounds; although he was a turn too slow in the field, especially for a stone wall country, over which hounds may be said to fly when scent serves. As a breeder, however, the fox-hunting world is deeply indebted to him, for the excellent blood they now possess from the Beaufort kennel, the result in great part of upwards of thirty years of experience, aided by good judgment and the liberal encouragement given to him by the duke, to go abroad for that which he thought would best cross with his own. Having so lately dwelt on

this subject in my Midland Tour of last year, I shall dismiss it now with my best wishes that the Beaufort blood, both human and canine, may long maintain its high pre-eminence.*

The late Duke of Beaufort appeared to me to possess every qualification for a master of hounds, and such was his character in the hunting world. His establishment was on the fullest scale, his men well mounted, and particularly respectful in their department, and his Grace himself the very pink of his rank. His punctuality at the hour of meeting was remarkable, and well worthy of imitation. Then his grace was no holiday sportsman. Were it possible that hounds could hunt, his were sure to be at cover; and if there was a fox within ten miles, he would draw on till he found him. In short, as a master of hounds, I know not in what respect he could have been improved; as a scientific sportsman, perhaps he might have been excelled by some of the masters of his day, and he wanted a little more pluck in the saddle. Gout, however, had something to do with this in the last ten or fifteen years of his mastership.

The Duke of Beaufort bred most of the hunters, his men, and some members of his family rode, and now and then one that carried himself. But he was a fastidious judge of a hunter, and would ride nothing but what was quite perfect of its kind. And touching the horses he bred, a curious circumstance occurred. The produce of one stallion were so ugly, and so restive, as to be sold when untried, but several of them were re-purchased, and made excellent hunters. Black Sultan was one stallion from which his grace bred.

THE PRESENT DUKE OF BEAUFORT.

No man could follow more closely in the steps of his father, in all that relates to his hunting establishment, than the present Duke of Beaufort has in those of his noble and most worthy predecessor, and I rejoice to be able to say, that the reputation of his grace's kennel is rather on the increase than otherwise. The old Beaufort blood, running back to the Beaufort Justice, Jason, &c., and lately conspicuous in that of Woodman, Wellington, Draco, Dashaway, and others, will long continue to be sought for in our best kennels, and long may it continue to be so, inasmuch as it has been tried, and found to be of the right sort for nose and stoutness,-those most essential requisites of the fox-hound. Nor let Conquest be forgotten, although he is of the said blood on his dam's side only, being by the Rutland Collier,

I may be allowed to mention that it was through my means, that a portrait of Philip Payne, on his favourite old grey horse, and a few of the hounds, adorns the walls of many of his brother sportsmen. I asked permission of his noble master, and it was at once granted to me. The likeness is admirable, both of himself and his

horse.

out of the Beaufort Governess. Then look at the style in which the present Duke takes the field. Will Long, the huntsman, has eight first-rate horses for his own use, and the whips seven each, with one over for luck. As to the duke's own horses, the number of them has at this moment escaped me, but I well recollect poor Dick Wetherstone, his grace's head groom, lately gathered to his fathers, showing me ten that he called" odds and ends." generally ridden by the duke's friends, the "comers and goers," as Dick not unclassically termed those who came to Badminton for a few days' sport, leaving their own stud to get fresh against their return.

From the unfortunate state of the weather during a fortnight's visit to Badminton, two years back, I had but a slight opportunity of noticing Will Long's performance as a huntsman, and I had only once before seen him in that capacity. It may, however, be enough to say of him, that the duke and his field are satisfied with him, and that is his best testimonial. Although I did not perceive that brilliancy of condition, that sort of "lap-dog brightness of their skins," to use a term of my own when alluding to him, which Philip Payne showed me on the 9th of December, 1825, when I saw the pack of that day at work in Heythrop-park, (and a pretty place it is to see hounds to advantage,) I saw nothing to find fault with, on the contrary, all was very level and good.

When I state that the present Duke of Beaufort has followed his father's steps in every thing relating to hunting, I might add, and in all things besides, becoming the station of a British nobleman. Leicestershire was once offered to his grace, and I wish that he, or some one like him, had it, forasmuch as if it be only to be taken, like a common dwelling house, from year to year, as has lately been the case, it will soon become no Leicestershire for hounds. The rolling stone never gathers moss, neither will fox-hunting countries be preserved, except for persons who remain long enough in them to ingratiate themselves, as the Duke of Beaufort would assuredly do, with the inhabitants by a continued intercourse, and a reciprocal good fellowship, which seldom fails to be the result. And no man knows better than the Duke of Beaufort does, how necessary it is to keep a country together, as the term is, and to prevent the possibility of a scism amongst, or any thing to disturb the good feeling of, those who have the means of preserving it, by their own proprietorship of the covers. His grace's father made a great mistake, when he inadvertently threw down the mischief-making apple, by giving up a part of his Badminton country without securing to himself the right to resume it, should circumstances require him to do so.

(To be continued.)

NO. XVIII.—VOL. III.-NEW SERIES.

2 z

HORSE-RACING IN FRANCE, FROM ITS ORIGIN, TO THE PRESENT DATE.

WITH A VISIT TO THE RACING STABLES AROUND PARIS. BY MASTER HARRY.

THE races of Semur, a small town of Cote-d'or, date from the reign of Charles V.-since 1350 no change has taken place. They invariably take place at the same period, the first Thursday after Pentecost, and the prizes still continue the same, viz., a gold ring bearing the arms of Semur, a scarf of white taffeta! a pair of gloves with gold fringes!! and a purse of forty francs, or £1: 12s.!!! The example of Semur was not however followed by the other French towns. To find a continuance of racing in France, we must jump from the year 1350 to 1776, from Semur to Paris, from Charles the Fifth, to the Count d'Artois and the Duke de Chartres. This latter person, in a visit which he paid to England, became desperately enamoured of horse-racing, and on his return to France, horses, races, and jockeys succeeded to pigeon shooting, and similar sports. The court, tired of powdered hair, and other courtly attributes, was at once delighted with the new field of pleasure opened to it. On the fifth of November, 1776, a match was made between the Duke de Chartres, and an English major of the name of Banks, but from some unknown cause it never came off, but a few days afterwards, innumerable matches took place on the plain of Sablons, and at Fontainbleau. Barbary and Comus belonging to the Count d'Artois, the Duke of Chartres' Partner, the Duke de Lausgun's Pilgrim, and the Marquis of Conflan's Nip did wonders, but The Abbot, a French horse belonging to the Prince de Guemenee, was the great winner. In 1777 we find this horse, The Abbot, beating eight English horses; the same day also, the famous field of forty horses ran at Fontainbleau. This gave great encouragement to the turfites, for ever since that period, to the present date, 1842, neither in France nor England, do we hear of so large a number appearing at the post. After the forty horses had run, forty donkeys were entered to run for the prize of a golden thistle, which was a most amusing sight. History, however, has not preserved to us the name of the winner. The Count d'Artois, and the Duke de Chartres being the leading men of the young nobility, it became the fashion to import horses from England, and run them at Paris, betting considerable sums on each race,—but though carried on merely as a matter of amusement, they soon generated a taste for pursuing them on a more scientific and business-like principle. In 1805 the Emperor gave prizes to be run for in six different depart