174 The Post and the Paddock. 



The oddest piece of second sight we remember was 

 that of a Newmarket trainer, who dreamt, after 

 Knight of St. George was nearly last for the Derby, 

 that he would win the St. Leger ; and dreaming it a 

 second time, on the eve of the race, sent a commission 

 to back him ; while the prophecy of Vates, which 

 ended with — 



" 'Tis over — the trick for the thousands is done — 

 George Edwards on Phosphorus the Derby has won !" 



is the most remarkable on record, save and except 

 one in Mr. Snewing's 1845 circular, which actually 

 placed Intrepid (a complete outsider) first, and St. 

 Lawrence second for the Chester Cup, some months 

 before the race. The clairvoyant female, too, no 

 longer offers to consult the stars for thirty postage- 

 stamps, on a Derby eve, but has shrunk into her 

 " original tipster" dimensions. If " Maria" could only 

 be seen by mortal eye, she would be in a cut-away 

 and high-lows ! 



Race reporting is a distinct branch of writing, and 

 was first reduced to a perfect science by the late Mr. 

 Ruff, who commenced his labours on The Life soon 

 after 1820, and continued them until the summer of 

 1853, when he retired, and never visited a racecourse 

 again during the three and a half seasons which inter- 

 vened between his retirement and his death. His 

 race reports were marvellous specimens of pithy con- 

 densation, and his conversation was strictly on the 

 same "potted soup" principle. In Mr. Langley's 

 hands The Life has well sustained its " Nunquam 

 Dormio" prestige ; and Mr. Ruff's place as sporting 

 reporter to the daily papers is capitally supplied by 

 Mr. A. Feist, of the Sunday Times, who succeeded 

 his father. The late Mr. Feist was a man of very 

 varied accomplishments, and the judge and several of 

 the leading jockeys were his pupils when he wielded 

 the ferule in Newmarket. Railway parcels and tele- 



