northern accent; and, as I looked round, I saw the then most celebrated race-rider of the day. He was about five feet eight inches high; and had a face, then, which shewed nothing save what was good; his forehead was broad; his eye a calm grey one, without the cat-like glance generally attending it; a ruddy brown complexion; beautiful teeth, which he shewed very much; and a well-formed head. His frame was uncommonly muscular, and combined very good shape with its large proportions: altogether, as he looked you full in the face, there was an expression of bon hommie that you could hardly resist. He was the hero of a hundred fights; had ridden the most desperate horses over the most desperate countries; had fought and won his bread, from a youth; and, up to that moment, with a good character, and with many friends; he was, then, like a description of Beaumont's: "Stout-hearted still; But, when he stirs, a tiger: his grey eye, Which yields compassion when he conquers, sharp To spy advantages; and, when he finds 'em, He's swift to make 'em his: he does no wrongs, Nor takes none." The snob turned round, and said, "Ah! old boy, how's all at the short grass?" * "It would be all well, ye kno, only for yon D's glass, ye kno; I seen him the other morning myself, when the old horse was leading yon chestnut two-year-old; and to me but yon chap told 'em, at the other side, that the old horse was beaten a mile from home, ye kno; and they went into Kildare; and just as I was getting in, ye kno, I seen two of the boys, just them excersise boys of old Bob's, ye kno, and they offered to bet me a pound the two-year-old won out and out. I'll just, ye kno, hire a fello that's tired of his life, ye kno, a chap that goes about smaushing large panes of glass, ye kno, to get thransported, ye kno, an I'll make him squirt vitriol into his eyes, ye kno." "And pray, don't you think," said a quick voice behind the Northern, "that other eyes will be found as well as mine?" and the speaker moved forward, and discovered himself as the very person about whom the Northern had been speaking." Besides, how can you tell but that I would treat you as the Co. did, and send you a challenge?" "And if ye did," said the Northern, "I'd just treat you in the same way I did them; and, as there are some lads in the room that it will do good to, I'll just tell it again, ye kno. Just about twelve months ago, ye see, there was the devil's own work accepting bills, ye kno; and, if ye had a stamp, ye could buy the short-grass horses, sheep and all; and they got me in to accept a bill for them; and, when it became due, one of the acceptors was in Parliament, and another was in Galway, hid by Tom Nn, that could put a man into a place where the King's writ could go just as soon as honesty could come to the snob here, ye kno: and when I asked the third for the money, he just told me to go look for it, ye kno; so I just told him he was a scoundrel, and left him there. Well, ye kno, I was just sitting down with the lads at danner, at the lodge, and up drives a car, ye kno; and a fello, ye kno, looking like a bum, ye kno, gets down and raps; and, says he, 'I want to see the gentleman of the lodge:' well, when the lad came in, ye kno, The Curragh of Kildare. I just told him to tell the bum to take care yon dog didn't take the windpipe out of him, for that he was brought up by old Fitz, and knew a bailiff by the very look, ye kno: well, ye kno, he just said in reply, ye kno, that he was a gentleman; and no person but a scoundrel, ye kno, would call him anything else, ye kno. Well, when I seen the lad was plucky, ye see, I just ordherid 'im in, ye see; and when he told me his name, I found out he was a jock, ye kno, that was roiding all his life for ten shillings a trip, ye kno; and he'd as much clothes on, ye see, as just saved him from being taken up for indecently exposing his person, ye see. Well, I just rung the bell and sent for the lads to come back, ye see; for I always, ye kno, stow them away in Deadman's ground, ye kno, under the pump. Well, when they came in, I just asked the jock what he wanted, ye kno; and he told me he just wished to speak a word in private. Well, I just took him into the youth's room, ye see; and he told me, ye kno, that he was come to deliver me a message from the bill-drawer, ye kno. Well, ye see, I just looked at him, ye see; and, says I, 'Ye don't think I'm such a fool as to fight yon chap, ye kno; he has not got a fearthing, ye kno; and I have £10,000: but if he'll rob anybody of £10,000, ye kno, I'll just put down mine, and let the survivor teake all, ye know; and, in the mean time, I'll just teach you, ye kno, not to come about a man's lodge to frighten him about bailiffs, ye kno;' and I hit him a kick, ye see, that just turned the turtle for him, and sent him right under the bed, ye kno: and when he got up, I just said, 'Now, if you don't want to get the fellow of yon, you'll just jump out of the window, ye kno.' Well, ye see, he never said a word, ye see, but just out he went, like a flogged hound into kennel, ye see; and I just leaped after him, and ye never seen a better race until we came to the turn of the road to Joe's lodge, ye see; and then I just pulled out of it, ye see, and let him thravil bock again to Kildare, ye see; and that's the way to treat those jocks, ye see. No, no, I'm no man for feighting, ye kno; but if any man wants to fight me, he must just put down stumpy for stumpy with me, and let the man that's not hit take all, ye kno: there's just no use at all at all in fighting, unless you make money by it, ye kno." (To be continued.) MOST people have heard the reply of Lady Asgyll's groom to the question, whether, when she fell from her horse, "he had seen her agility," in recovering herself: the following is another proof that every man's head is not lined with Johnson's folio. A thorough-bred fox-hunter found himself so much out of health, a little before the season of his sport began, that he took what was then thought a long journey, to consult a physician, and get some advice, which he hoped would put him into a condition for the field. Upon his return. his friends asked him what the doctor said, "Why," said the squire, "he told me that I've got a dyspepsy. I don't know what that is; but it's some d―n'd thing or other, I suppose." REMINISCENCES OF GENTLEMEN RIDERS. BY LORD WILLIAM LENNOX. (Concluded from page 117.) We will not stop to describe the numerous meetings that took place on the plains of Neuilly, when poor Tathwell's (of the Blues) b. m. La belle Anglaise, carried (as English beauties usually do) all before her. The army of occupation, shortly afterwards, took up their stations; when races were established, at St. Omer, Valenciennes, and, last, not least, Cambray, the head-quarters of the Duke of Wellington. Here, at the latter end of September, 1816, were two days' sport, including seven sweepstakes, numerous plates and matches, all ridden by gentlemen. In the Oatlands there were fifteen subscribers, of ten guineas each, and ten horses started; Horace Churchill and poor Francis Russell were the Robinsons and Chifneys of the day of Francis Russell we may say, in the lines of Halleck, "Green be the turf above thee, Although our article ought strictly to be confined to racing, we cannot refrain from laying before our readers an account of a boar hunt, in which some of the gentlemen sportsmen nearly fell victims to their temerity. "Cambray, Nov. 4, 1817.- The hounds of His Grace the Duke of Wellington, on the 30th of last month, discovered a most enormous boar, in the forest of Wallincourt. The animal, on being discovered, passed rapidly into the forest of Ardipart, which he completely traversed; being then closely pressed by the hounds, he took to the plain, where he was vigorously pursued by hounds and sportsmen, and, ere he could reach another wood, was brought to bay. The animal then became ferocious, and destroyed all the hounds that approached; when one of His Grace's aide-de-camps plunged his spear into his side. This only rendered the beast more savage; when the Duke himself gave the coup de grace the animal made a desperate effort to wound His Grace's horse, and fell in the attempt. The peasants say he was the largest boar that had been seen for many years. Of the numerous field that started, only five, besides His Grace, were in at the death." From Cambraywhere, we are bound to admit, our personal exertions were "placed," as the field were in Eclipse's celebrated race, "nowhere," we proceed to Quebec; where, in August, 1818, as pretty a meeting as ever was seen took place on the plains of Abraham. The stone that marked the spot where Wolfe fell victorious, was the boundary of one of the courses. There is an old saying, that "no man is a prophet in his own country;" and I certainly can vouch, in one instance, for the truth of it; inasmuch as one, who was quite |