572 THE HORSE. 



mating spectacle. The bet is but the test of skill with respect 

 to the issue ; and the nature of the pleasure derived from 

 success is not altered because the guerdon is a purse of gold 

 and not an olive crown. If the gain is acquired, the loss is 

 as freely hazarded. "Will it be said that the w T hole is a game 

 of chances, and therefore immoral 1 This sour morality has 

 as yet found favour in no age of mankind. If the principle 

 were admitted, that gain is unlawful when derived from a 

 calculation of probable results, we must interrupt not only 

 the pastimes but the business of mankind. We must close 

 the stock exchange, proscribe assurance companies, and stay 

 every freighted vessel that quits our shores on a voyage of 

 adventure. The objection, we think, can scarcely be to the 

 principle of the system of betting, as connected with the 

 chances of the turf, but to the extent to which it is carried, 

 and the abuses which accompany it. The sums hazarded, in- 

 deed, are large ; but these must be measured in some sort by 

 the. wealth of the community and the usages of society. It 

 does not appear that, in any kind of games, the greatness of 

 the stake is a serious evil. Experience would rather lead to 

 the conclusion that it is the reverse, as it affects the charac- 

 ter and feelings of the parties concerned ; and if at the race- 

 course large sums are won, corresponding sums are lost, and 

 the general balance is not greatly affected. With respect to 

 the abuses of the system of the course, these indeed are many, 

 but all of them are not necessarily inherent in the system of 

 the course. Persons make the business of the turf an engine 

 of gambling ; but it must be remembered that gambling is 

 not confined to the turf ; and that the same persons who 

 gamble on the chances of a horse winning or losing at a race, 

 will gamble on the chances of a dye, or any other contin- 

 gency that presents itself. The gamblers of the towns, who 

 scarcely know a horse from a cow, would, if horse-races 

 were abolished to-morrow, find subjects equally suited to 

 their purposes. It is not found that gambling is less ex- 

 tended in countries where the race-course is unknown ; nor 



