296 ON STEEPLE-CHASING. 



artificial character of the fences, it is of 

 course a grand sight to see a field of twenty 

 to thirty horses, comprising the finest 

 chasers of the day, charge such obstacles 

 like a regiment of cavalry, and cover the 

 four miles and a half at a pace imper- 

 ceptibly slower than that attained in doing 

 a mile and a half on the flat ! When this 

 is done, as by Father O'Flynn, in 9 min. 

 483-th sec, we gain some idea of the 

 condition a candidate must be in to have 

 any chance of Grand National honours. 

 Equal condition, though the pace is reason- 

 ably somewhat slower, must those stout 

 chasers require, which yearly, in the distant 

 but very sporting county of Devon, negotiate 

 the most terrific specimen of a natural 

 steeple-chase probably yet surviving. But 

 to do this course justice let me give the 

 graphic descrij)tion of it by an eye witness: — 

 " I had this week the unusual pleasure of 

 attending Totnes Steeple-chases. The various 



