18 INFATUATION. 



to professed Legs^ their harvest would be destroyed, 

 and they would take themselves off also. " Dog will 

 not eat dog," nor would it suit the books of the Legs 

 to bet among themselves only. If those real patrons 

 of racing who still keep their horses on the course 

 would only come to the determination of striking at 

 the root of the evil that has driven so many from the 

 turf, hundreds would return to their favourite pursuit, 

 and then should we see the palmy days of racing 

 return also, and our race-courses be, as in days gone 

 by, thronged ynt\\ the aristocracy of the country, 

 instead of being infested by the dregs of society. 



It is often said that racing has a tendency to en- 

 courage gambling and betting. Doubtless it is one 

 of the hundred means by which betting may be 

 effected, but the one by no means follows as a ne- 

 cessaiy accompaniment to the other ; and I strongly 

 suspect that if the germ of betting is firmly rooted in 

 the mind of any man, bet he will on something; so it 

 little matters whether he loses his money on the race- 

 course or at the hazard-table. I can bring forward a 

 case tolerably illustrative of this. 



When I first put on a red coat (I mean a military 

 one), it was in a militia regiment. Among the 

 members of our mess were two young men who were 

 in no way addicted to racing or to any kind of field 

 sports, and who, if they attended a race meeting, 

 went to see the crowd, and cared not a pin for the 

 racing. Now in these so strong was the mania for 

 gambling that in one way or other they Avere con- 

 stantly at it. Billiards was their chief pursuit ; but 

 even that most gentlemanlike and intellectual game 

 pitch-and-hustle helped to pass the time from parade 

 to mess hour : whist then took its turn ; and finally 



