Times have so far changed that matches over the Beacon or Roimcl course are gone 

 out of date, and four mile heats would subject the starter and clerk of the course to a little 

 attention from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ; yet we see the 

 very horses which in all probability would have been engaged in these matches rattling 

 theii' four miles across ridge and fiuTow, and then coming in at a pace which would have 

 set the old school of Newmarket sportsmen at defiance, and fi-ustrated all attempts at 

 betting across the jockeys. Indeed in a modern steeplechase, Mr. Clark would have 

 small chance of placing "a tall gentleman in a white mackintosh first." But we must 

 plead guilty to wandering from our subject, and, so far from confining our attention to 

 the first fence, fear we have strayed in dangerous proximity (due regard being had to 

 the work before us) to the winning-post, and, like Tom Coleman before mentioned, have 

 so managed our line that m'c can in a single spin both act as starter and judge. Such, 

 hoAvever, at present is far from our intention, and we must crave pardon if having so 

 far let our subject run away with us, we have overstepped the bounds of good jockeyship 

 and attempted to make running c^'cu while the fii'st fence had to be encountered. Lend 

 us then your eye, kind reader (if with yoiu' glasses, so much the better), for a moment, and 

 we will watch the field as, going well together, they rattle wp to the first feuce. Sec them 

 now that each horse is fresh and full of go, and each rider has for this event, at least, 

 screwed his coiu'age to the sticking point, and hardened his heart for the encounter ; 

 what pleasure then 



" To sec the saucy banier, and know 

 The mettle that can clear it 1 Then your time 

 To prove you master of the menage. Now 

 You keep him well together for a space, 

 Both horse and rider braced, as you were one, 

 Scanning the distance. Then you give him rein, 

 And let him fly," &c., &c. 



The above description completely realizes oiir own idea of the way horses should be 

 taken to their fences, and in poetry bears out the maxim Dick Christian enunciated in 

 more homely form : — " I always get my horse on his hind legs Avhen coming to a fence, 

 and then am over and away before the rushers." First fences are not however always 

 to be taken in the style Mr. Herring has depicted, and we have only to turu to the 

 description of the last Grand Kational at Liverpool to see what confusion and dismay a 

 single refusal can create in a large field of horses. In fact, it scarcely ever does so much 

 mischief as at fii'st, for then horses are naturally more clustered and have less room to 

 avoid each other than later on, when not only has the pace told out a great manj-, but falls 

 and refusals have weeded the field. Osbaldeston, who when steeplechasing was in its 

 infancy proved himself as much " master of the mhiage " in it as in the hunting field or 

 behind the ditch at liewmarket, had a great idea of something that would thin the field, 

 and " let us have a good bullfinch to begin with, that I may shake tliis fellow off'," was 

 his request when about to ride Grimaldi in the match against Seff'ert and j\Ioonraker. 

 But the notions of the copper-bottomed sqiiii-e are not so much in vogue now, and hurdles 

 with gorso on the top are generally considered a sufficient barrier, and in fact oftencr 

 than not do duty for fences throughout the whole of the course. The line of real 

 hunting country is changed for the vicinity of a race-course, where the running can be 

 watched fi-om the stand, and the old Leicestershire battle-ground from Shankton Holt to 

 the Ram's Head Cover, over which the Marquis rode in so many tough encounters, has 

 been guiltless of flag-poles for years, railing and roping have taken the place of the 

 stern determination to win at any price that characterised the heroes of old, and instead 

 of an even fifty that was always stood between two well-known amateurs as to 

 which was first past the post, horses are worked for a season or two, until the weight and 

 the money are right, and a fortune can be realized on a single race, when they are 

 slipped. 



