2 32 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND 



And who is it that enables the young tiger to 

 indulge his thirst for blood ? The professional 

 * layer of odds,' who not only belongs to ' the 

 ring,' and is a member of Tattersall's, and of the 

 Subscription Rooms at Newmarket, but keeps a 

 body of clerks and an office, into which dribble 

 from the North and the South and the East and 

 the West, by postal and various means of transit, 

 what he is pleased to call 'commissions,' sent by 

 all sorts of persons, from the 'toff' to the 'tinker, 

 tailor, soldier, sailor, apothecary, ploughboy, thief,' 

 and (sometimes) detective policeman. 



Apropos, it would be curious if the proposal 

 to register or license ' bookies ' should lead to 

 something which would bring ' Tattersall's ' (at 

 the various race-meetings), and the Subscription 

 Rooms at Newmarket, without any shadow of 

 that doubt which at present prevails or seems 

 to prevail upon the subject, under the operation 

 of i6 and 17 Vict., c. 119, and should render the 

 Stewards of the august Jockey Club itself, as 

 owners or managers of certain premises, liable 

 to be indicted for a nuisance, after a more and 

 more brilliant existence for about 150 )ears. 



