THE PROGRESS OF THE SPORT. 51 



appreciation of the ridiculous, and trenchant, yet withal not 

 ill-natured, satire, some of our turf writers may fairly lay claim 

 to a niche in the Pantheon of English Humorists. 



Of all the changes wrought upon the turf by modern re- 

 quirements, few have been more remarkable or more potent in 

 their influence than those which have resulted from the intro- 

 duction of gate-money meetings ; and since the first institution 

 of racing, no such signal revolution is recorded as the system 

 now so extensively pursued of enclosing racecourses. Evil 



Too much on the turn. 



and good are therein blended, as in all human affairs ; but it 

 may be asserted with some confidence that the evil has been 

 in a great measure attributable to the lack of energy of the 

 Jockey Club during the reign of Admiral Rous, or of the 

 Jockey Club ministers, in not at once establishing that control 

 over such meetings as necessity has since compelled them to 

 exercise. 



One of the chief, and perhaps the least remediable, faults of 



E 2 



