262 RACING. 



1 Two nice matches,' said one of the shy parting division, 

 many years ago ; ' I do like matches because you are always 

 sure of winning some ready.' * Sure ! how the devil do you 

 make that, out ? ' replied Mr, Payne, who was the recipient of 

 this confidence. * Oh ! because I always back them both, and 

 then to-morrow I must have someone to receive from ! ' 



Touting has now become a recognised profession ; more 

 shame to those, be they of high or low degree, by whom the 

 nefarious trade has been fostered and encouraged, till it has 

 attained its present immense proportions. 



Touts are thieves who steal stable secrets, either by spying 

 on horses in their gallops and trials, or by bribing servants to 

 betray their masters, and to reveal any important information 

 acquired in the opportunities of observation which the nature of 

 their work necessarily affords. 



The employers of touts are simply receivers of stolen goods, 

 who hope for profit by themselves making use of their ill-gotten 

 intelligence, or by retailing it in such fashion as finds the best 

 market. 



Like the slave trade of old, the openness of the traffic 

 renders it none the less abominable. 



Its suppression seems impossible, though the Jockey Club 

 has issued some stern edicts on the subject. You cannot 

 close public highways or footpaths, nor can you always 

 lock up stablemen, and if you could, Quis custodiet ipsos 

 custodes ? 



Tipsters are almost all swindlers, though to this rule there 

 may be exceptions, as will presently be pointed out. 



But the Tom Archers, and Fred Cannons, and Billy Wattses, 

 and that crew of sorry knaves whose advertisements sully the 

 columns of sporting papers ! What are they ? and what is it 

 they want somebody, or a great many somebodies, to believe ? 

 Just this : that the 'moral certainties,' 'dead snips,' 'priceless 

 finals,' and all the rest of the promised rigmarole, issue at first 

 hand from the eminent jockeys whose surnames are borrowed 

 for the occasion. The device is so transparent that one 



