THE TURF 171 



fraud is guilty, not only of the particular 

 injury to him whom he deceives, but of the 

 diminution of that confidence which con- 

 stitutes the very existence of society ? Can 

 this familiarity with robbing and robbers 

 be without its influence on a rising genera- 

 tion ? We say it cannot ; and if suffered 

 to go on for twenty years more, we venture 

 to pronounce the most mischievous effects 

 to all classes of society. Talk of jockey- 

 club regulations ! As well might Madame 

 Vestris sit in judgment on short petticoats, 

 or Lord Grey on the sin of nepotism, as a 

 jockey-club attempt then to pass censure 

 on offences which they must have suffered 

 to grow before their faces, if, indeed, they 

 should have been so fortunate as all along 

 to steer quite clear of them themselves. 



But let us look a little into these practices. 

 In the first place, what is it that guides the 

 leading men in their betting ? Is it a know- 

 ledge of the horse they back either to win 

 or to lose ? and is it his public running that 

 directs their operations? We fear not. 

 Three parts of them know no more of a 

 horse than a horse knows of them ; but it 

 is from private information, purchased at 



