68 THE POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



picked afternoons in the course of the year, and 

 never bet a penny. 



The great list era, and all its attendant Ripe-for- 

 a-Jails, as Punch termed them, began with Messrs, 

 Drummond and Greville, who "kept an account at 

 the Westminster Bank," in 1847. Up to that time, 

 " sweeps," where every subscriber drew a horse for 

 his ticket, had been amply sufficient to satisfy the 

 popular thirst for speculation on a Derby or St. Leger 

 eve; and, although in one instance we ascertained 

 that our ticket horse was a leader in a Shrewsbury 

 coach, instead of being "prepared/' it was satisfac- 

 tory to know that there was at least fair play. Stimu- 

 lated by the example of D. and G., the licensed vic- 

 tuallers took it up and a nice mess they made of it, 

 with 10,000 "pictures," &c. till the licensing magis- 

 trates stepped sternly in. From ] 850 to the end of 

 1853 the listers were in their glory ; and at one pe- 

 riod about four hundred betting-houses were open in 

 London alone, of which, perhaps, ten were solvent. 

 Among these proprietors, Mr. Davis never laid the 

 odds to less than 1; one or two others adopted 10s. 

 as their limit, and some 5s., while not a few would 

 do the odds for a lad at 6d. Their odds were gene- 

 rally very liberal, and we never espied a real mistake 

 but once, when a first-rate office laid 8 to 1 against 

 Teddington for the Ascot Cup a fortnight before the 

 race ! In York the system did not thrive, as the 

 Tykes generally knew too well what horses were in 

 work ; but in London, for instance, at least 100 out 

 of 150 Cesarewitch or Cambridgeshire horses would 

 be fancied, and thus the proprietor could always get 

 round. Even the appearance of a horse with 200 

 to 1 against his name did not deter the adventurous, 

 as the luxury of the bare thought of such a haul was 

 too much, to withstand. The wild fever among the 

 houses on the Saturday night when Hobbie Noble 

 " came" for the Cambridgeshire, was such as we can 

 never forget. Every lister seemed to be rushing 



