A VISIT TO JACKSON'S HUNTING AND RIDING SCHOOL. 33

ceive a better school, or one more calculated to teach the "young idea how to ride," than the one I am describing. With regard to terms, we will let the proprietor speak for himself.

"H. Jackson begs to observe that his prices will be found considerably lower than any other riding school in London, and the advantages of learning on the turf infinitely superior, and better calculated to inspire confidence, and gain a more perfect knowledge of horsemanship than can be acquired in any other school in England:

"Subscriptions paid at commencement, or each a single one. An appointment broken (unless from be paid as a lesson. One hour for each lesson. and ladies' horses broken in a superior manner.

£ s. d. 350

1 18 0

lesson charged as bad weather) to Hunters, hacks,

Non-subscribers, each horse, from the 1st of May to the 1st

of October.

From October to May

Any horse rode by a rider of the Establishment (extra).
Hunters trained

Ladies' horses trained

Colts broken

Here, my noble sporting aspirants, you may have a run of an hour without a check, over a grass country, upon an out-and-out good hunter, with the choice of leaps, for seven and sixpence; and if you want to keep up the illusion, and wish to fancy yourself riding to cover, have an hour's worth of road-riding, previously, for the small sum of five shillings and fivepence. Total amount of expense of your morning's sport-twelve shillings and elevenpence! Then, as Liston used to say in Love, Law, and Physic, "if you loves to be liberal," there's the odd penny for charity. Seriously, for men old or young, that are doomed to domicile the winter months in London, there are few ways of promoting health and recreation more than by devoting a couple of hours daily to Jackson's Grounds. For youth, the advantages must be pre-eminent; for they will acquire two great requisites for riding well to hounds: first, to become good judges of pace; and secondly, to be able to put their horses well at their fences.. The son of the proprietor, a lad of thirteen, is one of the most promising young workmen I have ever seen. He possesses nerve, quickness, patience, and good temper; and if he does not grow up to be a first-rate rider and sportsman, I shall indeed be deceived. We cannot give a full, true, and correct list of Mr. Jackson's high-bred cattle; nor would it be of any very great advantage to our readers if we could record their names, and their exploits, as there is a constant change taking place in the stables: it is the old saying

verified, of "here to-day, and there to-morrow;" but this we can assert with confidence, that upon the day we visited the grounds, a good stud of hunters for any weight, from ten to fourteen stone, might have been picked up. There is, or rather was (for by this time he is probably sold) as clever a thorough-bred horse as ever went across a country. With eleven stone seven upon his back, he would be a flyer. No pace, no fence could stop him; and we recommend him to the notice of any gentleman sportsman who wishes to be in the first flight, or who, according to the remark of a truly popular and talented French nobleman, rides "as if he had a letter in his pocket for the fox, and was in a hurry to deliver it himself." "Change for a Sovereign," too, is a clever-looking horse, and with a workman upon him would show many the way. And now, gentle reader (for all readers are called gentle), are you speculating upon the meaning of this name?"Change for a sovereign?" We thought of Rolla, and loyally exclaimed, "We want no change, and least of all such change as you would give us." What can it refer to? Do you give it up? We ourselves could not solve the mystery, and asked Mr. Jackson to expound. "Why, we call him Change for a Sovereign," responded that prince of nomenclators, "because nothing goes faster than that." Now if that is not an original and brilliant idea, we never heard one before, and flogs considerably the usual play upon word appellations conferred upon horses for their deeds or ancestry. In our time, however, we have heard of some fairish names: Saltfish," so called because there was nothing could beat him upon a fast day;" Scythe," because he cut down all before him; "Angelo," as being the best of fencers; Treacle, Love's Young Dream, Honeycomb, Sugar, and Guava, as applying to the sweetest things imaginable; Pioneer, Pilot, as always leading the way. Not to forget Lord George Cavendish's name for his roan colt, which he looked upon as a flyer, the "Rapid Rhone." The pedigrees of horses have also furnished some good names. Blubber, by Whalebone, out of Tears. The Secr, by Soothsayer, out of Vision. The Singing Mouse, by Mus, out of Malibran. Street Walker, by Tramp, out of Fille de Joie. The Ugly Buck, by Venison, out of Monstrosity. Canvas, by Election, out of Scud. Brother to Seahorse--Horse Marine. The Liar (Lyre), by Apollo, out of Mendacity. Wales, by Welshman, out of Whipcord. The Lark, by Warbler, out of Spree. Treadmill, by Tramp, out of Contrition. Gin, by Jupiter, out of Snare. Flush, by Woodcock, out of Hectic. A hundred other names might be enumerated, had we time and disposition to refer to the Racing Calendar.

66

While upon this subject, we would take the liberty of throwing out a suggestion to breeders and owners of race-horses, and which, if adopted, would save a very great deal of trouble to those who, not possessing retentive memories, are apt to puzzle over the breed of certain horses. We would, then, lay it down as a rule that the colt foal should be named after its sire, such name to commence with the

* One of the best horses Sir Bellingham Graham ever possessed-and the worthy Barouet has had some good ones-was called "Treacle." We rather think he sold him for eight hundred guineas.

letter of its father's name. Ex. gr.:-Wellington, by Waterloo ; Braggadocio, by Brodabil. If a filly, to be named after her dam, commencing with the letter of her respected mamma; thus-Fay, out of Fairy; Laurestina, out of Laurel. If possible, the name of both colt and filly should apply to the sire and dam, following the previous rule as to the first letters. We give two examples :-Warlock, by Wizard, out of Enchantress; Mania, by Bedlamite, out of Madge Wildfire.

To return to Mr. Jackson's horses, who has, at least, five-andtwenty in real hunting condition, we may point out a most wonderful looking small horse, whom the owner-riding, we should guess, nearly fourteen stone-has ridden for the last two seasons without giving him a fall. The horse is a perfect pocket-Hercules, with enormous power, and as active as a squirrel. Then there is a horse who gives the finishing lesson to all the hunting aspirants; but our memory fails us, and we must refer our readers to the stud itself. Suffice it to say, there is a horse for every character. The timid will find a perfect broke hunter: the elderly gentleman will have a nag as easy as his own arm chair: the real workman" will be mounted upon a clipper, ready to do the thing as it ought to be done. To those, too, who wish merely to try their own horses, or those of dealers, the grounds are most advantageous. For the small sum of half-a-crown per horse, you may ride for an hour. The second and last time we were there, the Honourable Augustus Berkeley was trying some horses, and in less than half-an-hour the gallant captain got thoroughly acquainted with the merits and demerits of the steeds in question. What a contrast was this trial to that of olden times, when the horse, duly prepared for the occasion, was walked, trotted, and cantered down the dealer's yard, over the sawdust, the bar covered with furze put up, and the well-broke hunter took it beautifully! The purchase was completed. See the same horse, who a few days before had been brought out sound upon the sawdust, trotted along the hard road, or galloped across a stiff country, where was his soundness? where were his powers to go through dirt? Echo answers "where?" Now, if a man will only trot the horse he is anxious to purchase, from the dealer's stables to Jackson's grounds, he will have a pretty good taste of his quality on the road and across the country, and have no occasion to take the opinion of any veterinary surgeon as to his soundness. To make assurance doubly sure, we should advise an early visit to the stable the morning after the gallop, and then have the horse in question walked out on the stones; by this means it will be easily seen whether he goes stiff, lame, or sound. In days like the present, when the truth of the old saying is verified, of "doctor's (we allude to vets) disagreeing," and when few dealers will be found bold enough to warrant their horses alive, much less sound, at the hour they are seen and bought, it would save a great deal of law and litigation if the plan we have recommended was always adopted. Dealers, that have sound horses to dispose of, would rejoice at the trial; while the owners of "screws,' who wish to pass them off as perfect horses, would find their "occupation gone.

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

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