246 RACING. 



CHAPTER XV. 



BETTING. 



Kat TOV Trai'OTTTrjv KVK\OV fiifiXiov KaAcu. 



Prometheus Unbound. 



BETTING may or may not be intrinsically immoral, but if it is, 

 then undoubtedly the English character leaves much to be de- 

 sired on the score of morality, for the love of betting, and more 

 particularly of betting on horse-races, is thoroughly ingrained 

 in the average Briton. Not that it is his all -pervading idea, 

 his raison d'etre, as in the case of the industrious ring-man who, 

 on his return from an early walk during which he had, or 

 was supposed to have, called on the butcher, was asked by his 

 frugal wife, * What's the price of mutton, John ? ' and replied 

 without hesitation, ' Six to one.' ' Six to one ! ' said the lady, 

 * what do you mean ? What nonsense you are talking ! ' ' Well 

 then, a hundred to fifteen to YOU, and don't bother' after 

 which there was no further offer. Not all men, we repeat, 

 are thus saturated with the spirit of the ring ; but not one 

 Englishman in fifty can resist the temptation of backing his 

 own or somebody else's fancy for a race, if the opportunity 

 offers itself : and if it does not, he is very willing to go in search 

 of it, nor has he far to seek ; while of regular racegoers and it 

 is with them we are chiefly concerned a very large majority 

 would endorse the opinion, that racing without betting would 

 be like an egg without salt, like cod without oyster-sauce, like 

 anything in fact that is flat and unpalatable. Of course we all 

 grumble occasionally at the noise, and, especially when losing, 

 curse that infernal din of 'Six to four bar two.' Moreover, 



