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In conclusion, we think we have said enough upon the subject of Mr. Jackson's establishment, to induce many of our readers to pay it a visit. There are many men who make London their head-quarters, and who are seldom out of the sound of the abbey bells for more than three months in the season; men who look with the eyes of a Captain Morris upon town and country, and who say with that popular song writer—

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Oh, it settles the spirits, when nothing is seen
But an ass on a common, a goose on a green.
In town let me live, then; in town let me die ;
For, in truth, I can't relish the country, not I.
If one must have a villa in summer to dwell,

Oh, give me the sweet shady side of Pall-mall."

Now, without going quite the length of the captain in his ideas, we are "free to confess," as they say in the senate, that to a man who is not burthened with landed property, and who, like the open-hearted and generous Charles Surface, can declare that he has not a molehill nor a twig but what is in the bough pots out of his window, and that his only live-stock consists of a few pointers and ponies; in point of fact, to that man

"Who, when he puts his hat upon his pate,

Claps a ring fence around his whole estate," we strongly recommend the metropolis, as being the very best quarter on the face of the civilized globe.

Talking, or rather writing of the country, reminds us of a good thing that was said last week within the precincts of Westminsterhall. A highly eminent member of the bar, who has lately been promoted to the highest honours, was eulogizing the charms of the country, and expatiating upon the delights of the refreshing breezes, the farm, and the pigs. "All very well in their way," responded a learned and facetious member of the same profession, "but, after all, there is nothing like a fee farm, guinea pigs, and a "refresher" at chambers!"

To return to our subject, it is far from our wish to detract from the merits of the country, and we are fully aware of the great benefits that accrue by the resident landlord, and the evils that spring up from absenteeism. In the former case, we see the owners of the soil reverenced and beloved, a cheerful tenantry, fostered and protected, feeling the natural advantages of reciprocal attachment; in the latter, we recognize an absent landlord, a mercenary agent, with no consideration but the rents, no solicitude but for their due collection; a deserted tenantry, keeping pace in decline with the deserted mansion, and the half-starved cottager, finding no master to employ, no guardian to protect him, pines and sinks in the lowest state of want and wretchedness, without work, food, or raiment, and is ready to rush headlong into the arms of that destruction, which, in its various shapes, ever stands ready to receive the outcast and the despairing. Absenteeism has been the ruin of Ireland, may it never extend its poisonous influence to England.

We now take leave of Mr. Jackson, wishing him every success in his sporting undertaking, and whenever we find ourselves in a hunt

ing mood, or moped with melancholy in the foggy atmosphere of London, we shall certainly practically prove the theory we have laid down, and drawing on our anti-gropholi, or mud boots, shall trot down in one of Hanson's best cabs, and either join the Queen's hounds, with one of Jackson's flyers, or have a scurry over his grounds upon the back of "Oliver Twist," who, to use his owner's phrase, "goes as well through dirt, as if he was galloping over a Turkey carpet!"

ANTELOPE COURSING.

BY MASTER HARRY.

Having taken a view of the four leading sports of India, it now only remains to give a sketch of the minor ones, which afford an equally exciting and animating pastime to those whose sporting propensities are of a less savage and dangerous nature. Foremost among these sports stands antelope coursing with the cheetah.

This latter animal is a miniature tiger, or rather leopard, endowed by nature with the same characteristics of cunning, bloodthirstiness, and muscular power as its prototype. In its wild state, the cheetah will hunt down its prey for its blood alone; but when domesticated, as it commonly is in some parts of India, more particularly so in the Bombay presidency, it is used expressly for hunting the antelope, which it pursues with a swiftness and precision truly remarkable in so small an animal.

There is a vast deal of tameness about this sport after one has entered the lists with the tiger, and met the elephant face to face in its native fastnesses; but it affords sport to the ladies at all events, and stands, as it were, in India, in the position of what hawking has done in England. The antelope is found in various parts of India, although this sport is confined to but a few. I believe it is pursued casually in the south of Madras, but not to such an extent as it is in Bombay.

Everybody has seen an antelope, so I need not attempt to describe what Wombwell's showman has done so forcibly and "poetically" to most of us at some country fair, where we doubtless recollect to have heard asked by some innocent country "Philis"-" Please, Mr. Showman, which is the lion, and which is the hantelope?" And too well we recollect, perhaps, the accommodating answer of the interrogated-" Vich ever you please, my dear."

On the day previous to a hunt, the cheetah which is to be taken out is kept without his dinner, to give him greater satisfaction in the amusement of the morrow, when he earns it for himself. And when the "time is up" for starting on the day of chase (this sport, like all others in the far East, being pursued at day-break), the animal is first blindfolded, by having a cap pulled over his interesting countenance, then muzzled, and finally placed on a hackery—a platform on

wheels, drawn by two bullocks-in which situation he bears altogether as close a resemblance to some malefactor on his road to Tyburn in days of old, as can well be imagined; and when all this has been arranged, off he starts, accompanied by his keeper, and followed by a suite of Jaibs and Ma'am Jaibs, either on horseback or on elephants, that would not disgrace the court of a nigger prince.

Instead of the gun, the rifle, or the hogspear, the party arm themselves with the more harmless telescope, and if on the back of an elephant, with a huge umbrella also, made of the leaves of the tallipot tree; whilst those who go for a gallop make a solah toper, an awfully broad-brimmed hat, made from a pulp extracted from the solah tree, do the duty of the monster parasol, and trust to their horses' speed and their natural optics to bring them within sight of

the finish.

The ground on which the antelope is generally found and hunted consists of a series of undulations, which can be likened to nothing better than a sea with a long, heavy swell on, being free from jungle, or nearly so; and between these undulations the body of the antelope is entirely concealed, and, as they are proverbially timid, it requires no slight degree of generalship to get near them. On reaching the ground, the eagle-eye of the shikaree wallah and the telescopes of the hunting party wander round the horizon in search of the antler of the quarry, which is, of course, the first visible feature, and at a distance where one of, what Samuel Weller calls, limited vision would fail to descry an elephant, the practised native marks and gives notice of the moving antlers of the antelope.

And now commences the business of the sport. Plucking a handful of dried grass, the master of the ceremonies (which important function is vested in the nigger) throws it in the air, to discover which way the wind blows, as from the power of scent with which the antelope is endowed, it is absolutely necessary to approach them up-wind. When this point is ascertained, and a proper position taken up, the cavalcade moves forwards to as near a contiguity to the prey as is considered expedient, when the cheetah is at last divested of his hood, and taken off his cart. It is not difficult to make him understand the whereabouts of the victim; he catches sight of the antler, or rather, perhaps, he scents the hidden beast in an instant, and crawling, in company with his keeper, who still leads him, he reaches the summit of the "wave," on the other side of which grazes the unsuspecting herd of antelope. His trammels are then slipped off, and the surprised animals view their deadly foe within a hundred yards of them. For a moment all is "confusion worse confounded!" the terrified brutes break off in all directions. But ere the commotion is begun, one alone has riveted the eye of the cheetah; and, disregarding all the rest, off he dashes into his full stride in pursuit of the victim, the field following as fast as they are able.

And now comes the excitement of the scene, such at least as it possesses. Pressing on at tip-top speed, you keep the chase in view. At first the superior speed of the antelope causes him to gain ground, but not possessing bottom to back it, this advantage cannot last long. On, on they speed over the sandy flat, the poor antelope straining

every muscle to save its life, the cheetah intent only on his prey and his dinner, his previous starvation having added a fresh stimulus to his pace, whilst the field are kept at a respectable distance; and he that views the death must boast of a decent bit of horseflesh. Shortly-for it is soon over-the antelope visibly slackens its pace until but a few yards intervene between him and his pursuer; he feels the hot breath of the cheetah already upon him, and plunges desperately forward; but nature refuses to do more. Swift as lightning crouches the cheetah, in his stride as 'twere, to the ground, to gain a better spring, then darting himself forward in the air, literally, as an arrow from a bow, he alights on the neck of the worn-out antelope, and brings it to the earth. Throwing back its head, the stricken deer appears to give one last imploring look to heaven, whilst the tears that roll down its face might betray that there was even a soul within, that prompted that dying glace. Alas! it avails him not from the merciless jaws of his enemy, who either strangles him then and there itself, or holds it until the "field" comes up and cuts its throat. When this is done, the cheetah gets his "blow out" from the blood and entrails of the dead animal, and having been replaced on his cart, together with his prostrate foe, he is again drawn home, apparently as well pleased with the morning's amusement as any one of the party, if not better.

There is a terrible sameness in this sport; a "find" is always certain, or nearly so; and when that is over, the only thing left is a good gallop over the flat. No leaps, no charges, no change of even a scratch-no fun, "no nothing;" like coursing in England without even a "jump"-"like the tragedy of Hamlet, with the part of Hamlet omitted.”

THE OTTER, OTTER-HOUNDS, AND TERRIERS.

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The majority of mankind are prone to mark the change of seasons by the arrival and departure of the feathered or finny tribes, and this disposition may be traced to a period when the world was yet in its infancy. "The stork knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow, observe the time of their coming. The augurs of ancient Rome were an important class of men, and the

success of every undertaking was estimated by the flight of their birds; a superstition probably derived from Noah's dove, that went and came during the flood as the harbinger of grief or good tidings to all that remained unengulphed of the human and brute creation. In our own times, the Balaam and Balak lessons announce the approach of mackerel; and on the sea coast, an extraordinary capture of fish is often held to be the forerunner of dearth. The otter hunter looks for the cuckoo as his signal for commencing the season, and joyous to him is the note that announces the approach of his favourite pastime. What the exact period is it would be difficult to define, indeed White of Selborne and the author of the "Journal of a Naturalist," both close observers of nature, avoid the question of the cuckoo's arrival altogether, as though its migratory habits were not sufficiently established. The 20th of April, however, is pretty near the mark, and then does otter hunting begin. There are many considerations, however, which will influence the otter hunter in the choice of his "opening day;" for instance, the state of the springs and the fulness or size of the rivers with which he has to contend; genial weather, too, is a sine quâ non, if he have any regard for the health and well-doing of man or beast.

On Thursday, the 1st of May, 1845, the "P. M. P.," a pack of otter hounds, met by appointment, at Saltstone Bridge, on the river Bow, at ten o'clock. The day looked every thing that was amiable, bright, warm, and beautiful; the wind, however, though soft, might have blown a trifle more gently, for in the event of a find, the bubble of the beast would have been scarcely discernible on the rippled surface of the waters. The hounds, ten couple, seemed by their bearing as though they belonged to the Plantagenet blood-bold, muscular, and noble; the terriers as though they had been bred by Canning's "Knife Grinder"-torn, ragged, and up to a row. Happiness and contentment sat on the brow of every member of the hunt, and the whole ménage looked very much like business. A council of war was then held on the bridge, as to the advisability of drawing up stream or down; after some deliberation the ups had it, and accordingly the hounds' noses were set in that direction. By a few of the most sanguine of the party the decision was soon held to be a bad one, inasmuch as mid-day was at hand, the great Grist-mills had been passed, and as yet no hound had touched upon a trail; but scarcely had their objections been urged, and a downward course almost determined upon, when a few of the old hounds were observed to feather more freely upon the bank, and "Nestor" plunging into the stream, threw his tongue with so much energy and action, that all doubt and discussion ceased at once; his namesake's eloquence (the Gerenian knight Nestor) never had half the effect upon the feelings of his followers. Several hounds then spoke simultaneously, and away they went up stream, carrying a merry trail, "at a good old hunting pace." From certain indications already alluded to, it was conjectured that we had commenced at the right end of the trail; and from the hounds landing frequently, cutting off the angles of the river, dropping into the deep pools, and avoiding the strong currents, it was pretty evident that the otter had been working up against stream.

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