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and BelCs Life. The English Press, outside these papers, and a few- 

 magazines, gave as little heed to the sports of our country as did the 

 Irish. 



My friend the late Mr. William Dunbar of Dublin saw the want in 

 Ireland, and in the year 1869 started, as a weekly paper, the Irish 

 Sportsman. 



The publication of this paper was a great boon, and its issue on 

 Saturday was looked for with eagerness. Mr. Dunbar was a man of 

 good social position, an eminent scholar, a gentleman, and a sportsman, 

 and under his management the paper flourished for many years until 

 his death. It was always well edited, and dealt with sport in style as 

 brilliant as any journal started since or before it. Through troublous 

 times, and when to uphold anything in which our gentry took interest 

 was a hazardous undertaking, it fearlessly stuck to its principles and 

 manfully sustained our sport in all its branches. It is still to the fore, 

 and long may it so continue. 



Editors of the daily papers of Dublin took the cue from the Irish 

 Siyortsrnan, and soon after its appearance they sent reporters to our 

 meetings, and began to record the proceedings in their columns. 



Now what do we see 1 Every paper, not alone in Ireland but all over 

 the kingdom, devotes'columns to sport in every morning's issue. Several 

 papers devoted solely to the subject are now issued daily. Some of them 

 deal with the various branches of their calling in much more extensive 

 fashion than did many of the dailies long ago with political, social, 

 foreign, home, and all other events put together. 



Men at present can't wait a day, not to speak of nearly a week, to 

 hear of current sporting topics, and at times they must have evening 

 editions, as well as the morning. No, they would not await the issue 

 of even BelVs Life^ but chucked up that reliable and most interesting 

 journal, and took on to the dailies, in consequence of which good old 

 " Nunquam Dormio " had to strike its colours. 



The result of every race is now known all over the kingdom within 

 an hour, and that of the important events is flashed to the Antipodes 

 in the same space of time. 



Perhaps a greater record in telegraphy was never made than that of 

 Mr. James Gordon Bennett with regard to the Derby of 1890. By his 

 ingenuity the result was known in New York in ninety seconds after 

 Sainfoin had won ! 



Before concluding my chapter I shall refer to a couple of feats which, 

 in my opinion, "make history," and deserve to be called not alone 

 famous and celebrated, but plucky in the extreme. I allude to the 

 winning of two events of similar kind and under similar circumstances 

 within recent years by two sportsmen, neither of whom were high up in 

 the art of jockeyship. Each man backed himself to buy a horse and on 

 him win an approaching great steeplechase— neither having a horse fit 

 for the feat or knowing where to find one at the time they made the 

 wagers. 



Mr. Charles Barrington of Dublin backed himself early in 1879 to 



