" NE SUTOR ULTRA CREPIDAM." 431 



doubtless both laudable and praiseworthy, be those 

 amusements what they may ; and certamly no set of 

 men have a greater right to share in sporting amuse- 

 ments than respectable country yeomen, for on the 

 forbearance, good humour, and good feeling of such 

 men, much of the sporting amusements of the higher 

 orders depend. They are therefore entitled to have 

 every facility given them in enjoying similar enter- 

 tainment, and races for yeomen-riders would afford 

 this desideratum. There could be no objection to 

 gentlemen riding with the yeomen, or gentlemen or 

 yeomen riding in the same race with jockeys, if they 

 wished it, or fancied themselves equal to the competi- 

 tion ; but as a jockey is a definite term, there could be 

 no chance of his being put up to ride with either the 

 gentleman or yeoman : it therefore becomes desirable 

 to prevent the yeoman attempting to ride with gentle- 

 men in gentlemen! s races. 



Having attempted to define the latter, let us see 

 how we can define the yeoman, a character that I 

 consider in his relative position in society to be as 

 highly respectable as the first magnate in the land ; 

 perhaps oftentimes a more useful member of that 

 society : but all this does not make him a gentleman, 

 or in a general way a fit associate for one. The day- 

 labourer, who supports his family by the sweat of 

 his brow in a decent manner, is, so far as bare respect- 

 ability goes, as respectable an actor on the world's 

 wide stage as the Duke of Devonshire, or any equally 

 exalted character : but respectability does not make a 

 gentleman : it is a term we do not use as applying to 

 them (I am sorry to say we sometimes cannot) : we 

 infer that a gentleman is of course respectable, and 

 the saying he was so would be no more a compliment 



