THE RACE-HORSE. 573 



does it seem that morality in these countries would suffer if 

 the hazard were on the winning of horses, in place of on the 

 chances of cards, or the turning of dice. 



But unhappily the abuses of the turf are of no trivial 

 kind, and may excuse the severest scrutiny. These abuses 

 have attained a magnitude which the world will find it diffi- 

 cult to credit, and have been combined with a system of 

 methodized villany and plunder, which, if not counteracted 

 by all the power which can be employed, must, at no distant 

 time, banish this noble pastime from the sports of the people 

 of England, and drive away from its contamination its most 

 honourable supporters. The system of betting, as applied 

 to this amusement, it is to be observed, is of great com- 

 plexity, involving calculations on the chances, not only of the 

 winning, but of the losing horses, and on a variety of con- 

 tingencies distinct from the chances of a horse winning or 

 losing by the exercise of its powers. Often when bets have 

 been taken on the winning or losing of a horse, contingen- 

 cies may arise to affect the result in a manner unseen. A 

 horse that has one day been a favourite, and largely backed, 

 may, on the following one, have his chances of winning re- 

 duced to nothing. The person who bets watches the turn 

 in the odds, as a stockbroker watches the changes in the 

 market, and avails himself of these by such a system of bet- 

 ting and counterbetting, as throws the most expert calcula- 

 tions of the Stock Exchange into the shade, and would do 

 credit to the most skilful calculator of chances. A man, for 

 example, begins to " make his Book," as it is termed, at the 

 new year, on the Derby, the Oaks, and other great stakes. 

 The nominations have taken place when the colts were a year 

 old, and consequently many of them die before the day of 

 running, and many of them turn out good for nothing on 

 trial ; and of a hundred or more entered, only twenty may 

 start. Now, reflecting on the vast variety of contingencies 

 here called into play, until the horses appear at the starting- 

 post, we may imagine what a curious complication this Book 



