184 



A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



Mr. Nathaniel Ciirzon's " Silvcrleg." 



By permission f ILK. II. Piince Christian. 



tipple. But pipes made their appearance as soon as the Monteith Punchbowl was 

 steaming on the table, and the habits of the Coffee House were not entirely laid 

 aside when men met after a good day's sport at Newmarket to talk over the rac- 

 ing in the evening. 

 Bear - baiting, bull- 

 baiting, and cock- 

 fighting, offered un- 

 failing changes in the 

 conversation, if by 

 any chance the fa- 

 vourite thoroughbred 

 should have been run 

 to death ; and the 

 latest comer from 

 Fleet Street the 

 centre then not 

 merely of newspaper 

 offices, but of many even more fearful wildfowl would describe the prodigies on 

 exhibition when he was last in Town. Then; was a " True Lincolnshire Ox,'' for 

 example, of a prodigious height, and four yards lojig ; a " Large Buckinghamshire 

 Hog," thirteen hands high, and seven and a-half feet round the belly ; and a 

 " Wonderful Worcestershire Mare " (for each county seems to have had its own 

 attraction) no less than " nineteen hands high and curiously shaped " ; and the 

 "Spectator" (who, like the "Taller," is curiously reticent concerning Racing) 

 permits himself to refer to the spectacle of a "little Turkey Horse" some two or 

 three feet high, with a man of thirty-two years old (and three feet in stature) on 

 his back. 



When Queen Anne came to the throne the newspapers to be had were the 

 " London Post," " English Post," " Postman," " Postboy," " Flying Post," " London 

 Gazette," " Post Angel," " New State of Europe," and a " News Letter " by various 

 hands, each issued three times a week. The first " Daily " was the " Daily Courant," 

 born March i ith, 1/02, measuring 14 inches by 8 inches, and printed on one side 

 only. It was sold by E. Mallet, next door to the King's Arms Tavern at Fleet 

 Bridge. By May the blank side had been filled with advertisements which are even 

 more interesting to-day than its " news." Before the reign was over nearly fifty others 



