8 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



Another makes racing a trade, 

 And dreams of his projects to come, 

 And many a crimp match has made. 

 By bubbling* another man's groom. 



Oliver Cromwell kept a racing stud, and was 

 noted somewhat for his patronage of the turf, no 

 doubt with the view of personally studying how 

 best to improve the breed of English horses. 

 Cromwell's master of the horse was Mr. Place, 

 who was the means of bringing to England a 

 celebrated horse known as the White Turk. 

 Charles II. did more for the improvement of the 

 race-horse than any of his predecessors, he may 

 be said, in fact, to have " made it." During 

 his reign horse-racing took a really firm hold 

 of the affections of the English people — a hold 

 never since relaxed and that is now firmer than 

 ever. 



It has taken long to bring the English race- 

 horse to that perfection indicated by the paying 

 of two or three and even four thousand guineas 

 for a yearling, and ten thousand pounds for a 

 three-year-old on the mere chance of its winning 

 a Derby, Oaks, or St. Leger, or a big handi- 

 cap ; not to mention the giving of equally large 

 sums for stud horses, many of which have realised 

 during the last ten or twelve years what at one 

 time would have been deemed fabulous prices. 

 That attention was turned to horse-breeding at 

 an early period, seems pretty certain ; men, 

 indeed, had begun to study " the niceties of the 

 business " more than three hundred years ago, 

 their studies having resulted in the lines of superb 

 coursers now on the turf. 



* Bribing. 



