GO TALES AND TllAITS OF SPORTING LIFE. 



Who nicked in a run, as lie nicked on " tlie main/' 

 To sell man or liorse, if it were but liis g-ain. 

 In short, to adopt Serjeant Goulbourn's expression^ 

 The chase was " the pleasure, and not the profession' 

 Of my hero, whose taste ne'er to dealing* descended. 

 Whose morning-'s delig-ht with ^' the box " never 



ended, 

 Nor ''the leg" with the glad tallj^-ho ever blended. 

 His passion too pure — and thanked be the g-ods ! — 

 To class him with city clerks settling- the odds — 

 Verbiim sap^ from his fellows a man you may ken, 

 His fellows were sportsmen, and not sporting- men. 



And here, as my muse is g-oing- to excess, 

 Your pardon I crave, while I slig'htly digress, 



To keep her from the greater riot ; 

 Just as from ihe cover a fretful steed 

 Is rattled up the adjoining- mead, 



To tone his fire and g-et him quiet ; 

 Soh — now then, off we send the rusher 

 Up, what the lads would call a " brusher." 



Come, gent; thy tastes for once I'll brook -, 

 Come, bearded count, with thy loathsome look ; 

 Come, methodist parson, with nasal whine ; 

 €ome, Jew, with thy rings and chains so fine — 

 Come, snob, come tailor, come one, come all. 

 Every nod I'll honour, return each call, 

 If penance so lieav}' but save me can 

 From the sportsman's bane — tlie sporting man. 



Let me jostle the crowd upon Ludgate's hill. 

 To see aldermen ridinn- to " Eat-and-swill :" 



