I So T}IE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



it convenient to attend the clubs or have not the 

 entn'e. On these setthng-sbeets will be set down a. 

 host of transactions, no evidence being required of 

 the making of the bets ; and in most cases there is 

 scarcely an error, although, perhaps, 200 or 300 bets 

 will have been made in' a heavy week with half a 

 dozen different bookmakers. ' Have you Mr. Blank's 

 account ?' will be asked. ' Yes, I have it,' will be the 

 answer, ' How much do you want ?' * Three-fifty.* 

 ' All right, there you are ;' and down goes a X in each 

 of the books, and the affair is done with. £350 has 

 changed hands without any fuss or bother, and so the 

 settlements go on year after year, no bill or bond 

 being necessary. 



III. 



As a matter of course, ' there are bookmakers mid 

 bookmakers ;' it has been wittily said that if you 

 were to skin a few of them you would find them 



* welshers,' Practices exist in betting matters that are 

 little removed from dishonesty. An anecdote regard- 

 ing the betting transactions of a nobleman was recently 

 related that affords an illustration of doings which, 

 to put the case mildly, are not creditable. On one 

 occasion the noble lord, it is said, lost £100 to a 

 certain bookmaker, but in the course of the same 

 week won £3,000 from him. On the Monday his lord- 

 ship put the £100 he had to pay in his account, but 

 took no notice of the £3,000 which he had to receive. 



* The penciller, thinking that his lordship had over- 

 looked the transaction, and that no more would be 



