WITH THE PROPHETS. 183 



the names to be introduced are sometimes not 

 amenable to the treatment of the poet, no matter 

 how heartily he enters on his task. As one 

 gentleman said to the writer, '' to work all these 

 probable starters into readable rhymes, far less to 

 clothe them with some degree of poetic fancy, 

 would need a couple of Tennysons, four Brownings, 

 and half a score each of S winburnes and Buchanans 

 rolled into one, and even then the product of the 

 lot united might not seem to the editor all it 

 ought to be." 



Nowadays every newspaper of importance has 

 to furnish a daily modicum of sporting intelli- 

 gence, which proprietors find to be a costly item 

 in the ever increasing sum of their expenditure. 

 But it is a circumstance that cannot be helped ; 

 there is in reality more interest taken in the 

 handicaps for the Cesarewitch and Cambridge- 

 shire by five-sixths of the readers of the daily 

 papers than there is in all the other items of 

 news added together ; indeed, it is not going too 

 far to affirm that two or three of the daily news- 

 papers are indebted for the larger portion of their 

 sales to the fact of their giving every morning 

 a detailed programme for the races of the day, as 

 well as other sporting intelligence. Excellent in- 

 formation of its kind is purveyed by the members 

 of the sporting press, who contribute to these 

 journals ; but the tips given are, except to the 

 merest novices, of little use, as veteran bettors 

 can, by the aid of their Ritff or McCall, select 

 horses for themselves. 



In addition to the racing news contained in 

 the ordinary run of newspapers, there are three 

 daily journals published all the year round which 



