nsests for the sports of the turf and the chase — 

 BBch as have for centuries existed in England. 

 Yet men must have amusements, and those 

 which are found a-field are at once the most 

 attractive and salutary. 



It may be very safely affirmed, that while 

 thtxe can exist in this countrj- no permanent 

 class of men possessing the wealth which affords 

 ■&e time, and cherishes the taste, for the more 

 expensive diversions of the Turf and the Chase ; 

 it must y-et always abound far beyond all other 

 countries, under their existing governments, in 

 citizens of middling and yet easy circumstances, 

 vnth means enough to indulge in other sports 

 iijvolving moderate outlay, including the owner- 

 ship of a good old squin-el gnu ; and the luxury 

 of a good horse ; and hence the use of both is as 

 familiar to the great mass of Amej-ican people, 

 &om their childhood, as it is sti-ange to the com- 

 mon people of any other countrj' ; except as to 

 tJie emploj'ment of the horse, in his lowest of- 

 fices of field-labor and common drudgeiy. No 

 Southern boy, at least, just entering his teens, 

 desires better fun than to be allowed to catch 

 sjod mount any horse in the most distant pas- 

 ture, and ride him home at the top of his speed, 

 Tvithout saddle or bridle — and as to the use of 

 Sre-arms, it was remarked to the writer during 

 «he Late War with England, both by General 

 Soss and Admiral Cockbum, that in no country 

 fcad they ever witnessed any fire so deadly as 

 that of the American militia, as long: as they 

 Kould stand ! In tlie towns, there is not a so- 

 feer and industrious tradesman who cannot ma- 

 «i&gg to keep his hackney ; and these consider- 

 ations sufficiently account for the number of re- 

 ^larly constituted Trotting Clubs of easy ac- 

 cess, with courses that serve as so many nurse- 

 ries, where the horse is'educated exclusively for 

 ike trot, and his highest physical capacities 

 dr&^^^l out in that form. These associations are 

 <»mposed, for the most part, of respectable and 

 ^dependent meclianics, and others, especially 

 tiictualcrs, among whom in all times there has 

 eicisted a sort oi esprit de corps, or monomania 

 on tliis subject, which leads them to spare nei- 

 ther pains nor expense to gain a reputation for 

 «-\'fling a crack goer. This sort of emulation so 

 jitfects the class, as to have given rise to a com- 

 mnn saying that "a bv.tcher always rides a 

 'tr6lter" 



According to the theory here maintained, the 

 •gieat n!/«iJ(r>' of trotters in America that can go 

 as before said, their mile under 3 minutes, and 

 file jjoany that do it under 2m. 40g., and even in 

 sozne cases under 2m. 30s.— as, for instance, in 

 dte case of Ripton and Confidence, whose per- 

 formances have given so much gratification to 

 i^ortsmen, is to be explained in tlie same way 

 &at we account for tlie great number of superb 

 hvMters tliat are admitted to abound in England 

 (176) 



above all countries, not excepting our own. — 

 There, in every county in the Kingdom, there 

 are organized " Hunts," with their whippersin, 

 and huntsmen, and earth-stoppers, and costly 

 appointments of every kind to accommodate 

 some fifty or a hundred couple of high-bred 

 hounds, whose pedigrees are as well preserved 

 as those of Priam or Longvvaist ; and a wide 

 district of country is reserved and assigned ex- 

 clusively to each hunt. Eox-huutiug is there 

 termed, par excellence, a princely amusement; 

 and gentlemen of the mo.st exalted rank and 

 largest fortune take pride in the office of " Mas- 

 ter of the hounds;" and assuredly, in all the 

 wide field of manly exercises, none can com- 

 pare with an English fox or steeplechase, for 

 union of athletic vigor and daring skill, and 

 magnificence of equitation ; unless, perhaps, it 

 were some splendid charge de cavalrie, like 

 those we used to read of, made by the gallant 

 MuRAT at a critical moment of the battle, when 

 he was wont, in his gorgeous uniform and tow- 

 ering plumes, to fall with his cavalry like an 

 avalanche upon his adversary, confounding and 

 crushing him at a blow ! Truly, it would well 

 be worth a trip across the Atlantic, to see a sin- 

 gle "turn out" of an English hunt, all in their 

 fair tops, buckskin smalls, and scarlet coats — 

 mounted on hunters that under Tattersall's liam- 

 mer would command fi-om one to t%vo hundred 

 guineas ! Imagine such a field, with thirty 

 couple of staunch hounds, heads up and sterns 

 down, all in fiiU cry, and wcU away with their 



fox!! 



" Now, my brave youths, 

 Flourish the whip, nor spare the galling spur ; 

 But, in the madness of delight, forget 

 Your fears. Far o'er the rocky hiUs we range, 

 And dangerous our course ; but in the brave 

 Ti"ue courage never fails." 

 To indicate more strongly the prevalence of 

 this partiality- for trotting-horses, and emulation 

 to own the fastest goer, and the number and ex- 

 tent of associations and arrangements for this 

 sort of trial and amusement, it need only be 

 mentioned that the " New-York Spirit of the 

 Times" contains lists of hundreds of matches 

 and purses, and of thousands on thousands of 

 dollars in small purses, won and lost on these 

 performances on trotting-courses ! A number 

 of these performances might be given, enough 

 to show that the excellence which is conceded 

 to American trotters is not founded on a solitary 

 achievement or very rare cases, nor to be as- 

 cribed to the possession of any distinct and pe- 

 culiar breed of horses ; but is the natural and 

 common fruit of that union of blood and bone, 

 which forms proverbially the desideratum in a 

 good hunter, and of which Ladj' Suffolk pre- 

 sents a remarkable specimen, with the super- 

 addition of skillful training, vi7tch practice, and 

 artful jockeying for tlie trotting course. Who 

 can doubt that if Hiram Woodmft' wei-e to go 



