Pictures of sporting life and character

Contents

THE FIRST VOLUME.

Chapter I

January — Remarks on the Weather — " What is one man's meat is another man's poison" — Climate — " England, with all thy faults I love thee still " — Hunters during a Hard Frost — Method of taking Wild-fowl in Kamschatka and in China — A Vegetable Trap — Suggestions for a Limited Liability Decoy Company — Sea-fowl Shooting — Sports on the Ice — The Neva — Skating — Sledging — Amnesty with the Pheasants — "Angling, that solitary vice" — Woodcock Shooting in Ireland — Salmon Fishing in Scotland— Steeple-chasing ...... 3

CHAPTER 11.

February — Approach of Spring — Angling — Hunting — George III. — The Prince of Wales — The Old Foxhunter — The Hare with many Devices — ^The Amusements of the Humble Classes — Wrestling — Quoits — Pedestrianism — Remarks upon Shooting — Comparisons — Changes — Hunting in the Present and Bygone Days— The Cheltenham VOL. I. a

11 CONTENTS.

Foxhounds — Racing — Training of Jockeys — Reduction of their Weight — ^The Turf, Ancient and Modern — Value of Horses in 1822 and 1859 — Oliver Cromwell a Patron of the Turf — Coursing — The late Earl of Orford — Extraordinary Game of a Greyhound and a Hare . . 34

CHAPTER in.

Remarks on Grouse Shooting — Highland Moors — ^Archery, Ancient and Modern — Dogs — Falconry, the Sport of British Kings — March — Steeple- chasing — Racing — Coursing — Aquatics — The Earl of Bessborough — Past and Present Masters of Her Majesty's Stag-hounds . 65

CHAPTER IV.

The Road and the Rail — Liverpool Steeple-chase — Mr, Harold Littledale's Model Farm — ^Fox-hunting — Riding for the Million — Blackman's Hunting Grounds — ^The Celebrated Race between the late Lord George Bentinck and Sir M. F. Berkeley, at Goodwood, Twenty-four Years Ago — AH Fool's Day — Extraordinary Pedestrian Feat of a Birmingham Woman — Metal to the Backbone — The Ups and Downs of Racing — Goodwood Thirty Years Ago 96

CHAPTER V.

The Four-in-Hand Club — Classical Associations — ^An Adventure with BaU Hughes — Tandem Driving — Break- Neck Amusements — Hints to the Uninitiated — Coaching in Bygone days — ^The Road — ^A Swell Dragsman — Journey to the City of Bladud — Adventure on the Road — How our Ancestors Travelled — How the Present Generation Rail at Bygone Locomotion — Training — Opinion of the Ancients . . . . .128

CONTENTS. Ill

CHAPTER VI

Town and Country — Christmas — ^Winter Amusements — A Hint to Landlords — A Summer Ramble — ^The River Lothy — TaUey Pools — Glyn on Picturesque Scenery — A Piscatorial Hint — Tempora Mutantur — Cruelties of Bygone Days — Jacko Macauko, the Champion of Monkeys— Low Life in London — St. Giles — Almack's in the East — May — Cock-fighting — Celebrated Mains — Life in London — A Spree with the Charleys — Practical Mischief — Sparring Exhibitions 153

CHAPTER Vn.

Fishes and Fishing — Epsom in Former Times — The Rail — Cricket — Dangerous Bowling — Testimonial to Henry Ayris, Huntsman to Sir M. F. Berkeley — Over-driven Cattle —Unmerciful Conduct towards the Poor Dumb Brutes — A WeU-written Epistle, in which the Author takes the Bull by the Horns — The New L"ish Game Bill — Frauds at the Corner — Handsome Conduct of 5. TattersaU 181

CHAPTER Vm.

Hampton Races — Fashionable Assemblage — Gastronomy — More about the Four-in-Hand Club — Cricket — Racing — Sporting Monarchs — Worcester Races — Sir M. F. Berkeley's Hounds — Pigeon Shooting — Goodwood Cup — Mr, Rarey and his Ten Guinea Subscription — " Secrets" not "worth knowing" at that price — A Steel Yacht — Cricket — The Sailing Match to Cherbourg for the Emperor's Prize — Yachting in the Olden Time — The Turf — Recent Acq^uisitions — Speed of Bygone Race-horses 204

IV CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

New Brighton — Liverpool — ^The Crops — Harvest Home — Archery — Cricket — The Moors — Week at Canterbury — The late Premier's Secession from the Turf— Pedestrianism — Tuxford, Nottinghamshire — Excellent Accommodation for Man and Horse — Doncaster in Bygone Times — Its Present State — Sale of Lord Derby's Stud — New Scotch Veterinary CoUege — Pheasant Shooting — Racing — Fairs and Wakes — Tuxford Fair . . 243

CHAPTER X.

Angling — Newark Castle and Fair — The Turf in the United States — Transatlantic Flyers, and American Jockeys — Hunting — Shooting — Sporting at the Congress of Vienna in 1814 283

CHAPTER XI.

Games of the Ball — The Worcester Hounds — Anderson's Sauce — The Cheltenham Pack — Meet at Sudely Castle — Chaunting for the Million — Fraudulent Practices in the Sale of Guns — Caution to Sportsmen — Breech-loading Ordnance — Hunting — Shooting — Earl Fitzhardinge as a Sportsman — ^Anecdotes of his Lordship . . .317

PICTURES OF SPORTING LIFE AND CHARACTER.

" What's in a name ? " asks the great poet of nature ; " a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Granted, we reply ; still, in selecting the title for a book or literary article, nomenclature goes a great way, as every publisher and editor will vouch for. We have been led to these reflections, because, under the title of " Pictukes OF Sporting Life," it is our intention to introduce whatever is worth recording, connected with the amusements and pastimes of our own and foreign countries. Many titles have suggested themselves to us, but objections have arisen to almost all. We thought of "Sports and Pastimes;" Strutt has forestalled us. Thenof "Out-door Amusements;" but that has been taken possession of by a writer in The Illustrated London News. An " 011a Podrida"

VOL. I. B came across our minds ; but we feared the flavour of garlic, which is so identified with that Spanish dish, would not be palatable to our readers. " Sporting Mosaic" next occurred, but unfortunately prosaic rhymes to mosaic. '' Eeminiscences and Recollections" were thought of, and abandoned as being hackneyed. " Lucubrations by Gas-light" would, we fear, have been converted into lugubrious as midnight oil. " Chow, Chow," made us think of " Hodge-podge," but we were afraid of some wag insinuating we had made a "hash" of it. "Wrinkles" came too personally home to the writer. " Noctes " are too much identified with the literary Cock of the North, for an humble follower to venture to adopt his worldfamed title. " Notes" might be deemed spurious. ^^ Musings" — query, would not mewsings, as applied to sport, be better — sounded too poetical. " Talk" might have been called " SmaU Talk." " Gossip," an old woman's tale. So, weighing the matter attentively over in our mind, we have decided upon a title that embraces the object we have at heart, that of having a large margin left us for "Pictures of Sporting Life and Character."

AND CHAKACTEE.

CHAPTER I.

jANtJA^Y— Remai-ks on the Weather—" What is one man's meat is another man's poison" — Climate — " England, with all thy faults 1 love thee still " — Hunters during a Hard Frost — Method of taking Wild-fowl in Kamschatka and in China— A Vegetable Trap— Suggestions for a Limited Liability Decoy Company — Sea-fowl Shooting— Sports on the Ice — The Neva — Skating — Sledging — Amnesty with the Pheasants— " Angling, that soHtary vice "— Woodcock Shooting in Ireland— Salmon Fishing in Scotland—Steeple-chasingo

^^ HuHRAH for the frost which has set in with January," cries a lover of sport, as he anticipates a week with the pheasants. " What weather ! how wretchedly cold I how vexatious ! " exclaims another — an ardent fox-hunter — as he finds the water frozen in his jug, after an anxious night, during which his slumbers have been constantly disturbed, with the thought of whether the frost would

b2 prevent the bounds meeting. The downcast look of his valetj as he enters at nine o'clock, a.m., with a jug of hot waterj at once confirms his master's worst fears.

" What kind of a morning is it, Graham 1 " he inquires.

" It's been freezing all night, sir," responds the servitor ; " and they have been filling the icehouse ever since seven o'clock this morning." Not even the thoughts of the dry and sweet champagne that will benefit by the falling of the said house can console him ; and, turning on his pillow, he desires that he may not be called for an hour and a half.

Proceed we from the dormitory of the Nimrod, to the room of the " lover of the trigger," w^ho, after looking at the rime that clings to the trees, rings the bell and desires his servant to tell the keepers he will be at the lodge at ten o'clock.

" You must send Frank Dyer in the dog-cart," he continues, " with my two guns, Dinah, plenty of powder and shot, a pair of woollen socks and shoes."

"I met John Sapp, the keeper," continues the loquacious attendant ; " and he says there have been some woodcocks seen in Pollard's Covert."

" That is a most likely place," responds his master, " it is free from hares and rabbits, which the ^long bill/ who seeks a quiet spot, delights in ; besides, in this hard weather they are sure to be found near Aspell stream."

Again; let us enter the study of the schoolboy, and witness his delight at hearing from his tutor, of Farmer Laurence's pond being completely frozen over, and that after breakfast they are to proceed there with their skates, to cut the figure of 8, and other fanciful devices, on the ice.

Such then, reader, is the world ; one half grumbling at the changeableness of our climate, the other delighting in it ; and yet in what country can sport be better carried on than in our own tight little island ? Think of Russia, Norway, Lapland, and the Canadas, in winter — where King Frost reigns omnipotent for months, and nothing is heard but the tinkling of the small bells attached to the sledge horses — where it is impossible to stir out without being wrapped up in skins and furs — and where the penalty of not cladding yourself sufficiently warm is the loss of your nose, hands, feet, or ears. Turn to the East Indies and Egypt, where it is next to impossible to leave home during the day — where punkahs and fans are made use of in vain, to keep the temperature cool — and where mosquito's phlebotomize the human race. Go where you will, England, as the Yankees say, cannot be dittoed for fine healthy weather, in which, for the entire twelve months, the manly games and sports of our country can be indulged in.

We have said enough to prove that, in our variable climate, the month of January has no decided character. Many a man may go to his downy pillow at night, with the most sanguine hope of having a good run with the hounds the following morning, and awake to find himself a " frozen-out fox-hunter;" while another, who fears it is too mild a season to find any woodcocks, may bag a dozen of these migratory birds in the hard frost that has set in during the night. Generally speaking, hunting is put an end to, the greatest part of this, the first month of the year; and however much we may feel for those who have -large and expensive studs to keep up — many of whom are inwardly glad at a temporary rest for their hardworked animals — as a general principle, we are delighted at the appearance of what is universally termed seasonable weather. It is not so much the absence of sport that the fox-hunter has to complain of, or the large sums he has to pay for his horses now standing idly in their stalls, but it is the difficulty, not alone of keeping them in working exercise, but of preserving them from colds.

Grooms, as a body (of course, there are some few exceptions), are too fond of sacrificing everything to appearance, and as long as the horses under their care have fine glossy coats they are indifferent to the rest. In order to accomplish this mistaken object, of preserving their beauty at the expense of their health, they quite forget the old adage of " handsome is as handsome does." A hot stable can alone bring about this too prevalent fashion, and when the thermometer is considerably below zero without, it is more than summer heat within. This is delightful to the " master of the horse" and his stable lads, and equally so to their employer, who, with cigar in mouth, and whip in hand, passes a considerable portion of his time on the corn-bin, admiring Rosalind, who carried him so beautifully five-and-thirty minutes without a check ; or Woodman, that set the field at a rasping bull-finch ; or Lustre, who cut them all down in a scurry ; or Sir Arthur, who won a steeple-chase the other day ; or the Knight of Gwynne, who went like a bird, during the best run ever known with the Quorn. But what is the feeling of the animal, who, after being for hours warmly clad, and pampered up at the temperature of a Jardin d' Hiver, finds himself led out to exercise on a raw frosty morning? Could the dumb brute speak, he would tell you his

8 PICTUEES or SPOETING LIFE

sufferings were great; that the severe cold and cough with which he is afflicted (and which may^ and probably will, affect his lungs), was caught from the sudden transition from dog-day heat to winter blasts. In order to put the question to the test, we should advise the stud-groom and his myrmidons to be placed before a hot-house fire, encased in great-coats, shawls, and worsted gloves, and, after remaining there until their ruby cheeks became bright and shiny, to be ordered out for an hour's walk, at a foot-pace, with one upper coat on ; if they escape sore throats and catarrhs — if they are not driven to seek the usual remedies of putting their feet in hot-water, wrapping flannel round their heads and throats, with the customary addition of fomentations, gruel, sweet spirits of nitre, and a small quantity of pulv. Jacobi — we shall be greatly surprised. At all events, let the experiment be tried ; and should a severe cold, a violent sore throat, a swelling of the glands, or a bronchial affection ensue, the groom will have the satisfaction of knowing that the warmth which has made what Sam Slick calls the "dial-plate" comely and glossy, as if it had been rubbed over with a coat of copal varnish, has also produced the illness. As far, then, as hunting goes, it cannot be depended upon in this double-faced month : if the weather is open, well

AND CHAEACTEE. 9

and good ; if not, the owner of a stud must console himself with the idea that " whatever is, is right," and that Nature has so disposed her gifts, that what may be bad for one may be good for the million.

The tillers of the soil have much more interest in the weather than the mere pleasure-seeker ; so, instead of indulging in that privilege of the free-born sons of Britain, grumbling, let us hope that the frost is of advantage to the country ; and turn our minds to shooting, curling, or skating, all of which amusements can be enjoyed to perfection, when " icicles hang by the walls."

We will now proceed to a notice of the first pursuit, " gunning."

Wild-duck shooting, and " decoying" these birds of passage, are ancient sports, as may be gleaned from the above epigram ; and have been, and still are, carried on in many parts of the globe. Autumn is the great season for " ducking" in Kamtschatka, during which period the inhabitants proceed to the lakes and the rivers, which are commonly intersected by woods ; and, after clearing an avenue from one water to the other, they stretch their nets across it. These nets, which are made to let down, are supported by high poles. Towards evening, the birds fly across in multitudes, and, at a given signal the cords are slipped, so that the wild-fowl fall an easy prey to their pursuers. In Siberia, Lapland, and even as far north as Spitzbergen and Greenland, these birds are remarkably numerous. Louisiana is also famed for them, both as to quantity and quality; and at Hudson's Bay they arrive about the end of April. Cook, Byron, Anson, and Wallis saw multitudes of wild-ducks in the South Sea Islands ; but they are supposed by naturalists to differ widely from those we are accustomed to. On the coast of Guinea there are two sorts of these birds — one, of the most beautiful plumage, the body green, with the bill and legs of a fine red ; the second kind are half-green and half-grey, with yellow bills and legs. England, France, and Holland supply their own markets with these favourite delicacies, producing a considerable return for them. Thus, from the northern countries to the torrid zone, wild-duck shooting and decoying are held in the highest estimation. France is principally supplied with wild-fowl from Picardy. The marshes near Laon, towards the sea, and the inundations of the rivers Oise, Serre, Somme, and the Pool of

St. Lambert near La Fere, produce an astonishing quantity ; while our own fens in Lincolnshire and Norfolk fall not very short of them in numbers. Holland, too, abounds with them, and furnishes our markets with a large supply of these "flying Dutchmen."

Wright gives the following extraordinary manner of taking wild fowl in China, which we trust our brave red and blue jackets adopted during their campaign in the celestial empire : — " Whenever the fowler sees a number of ducks settled upon any particular plash of water, he sends off two or three gourds to float among them; these gourds resemble our pompions ; but being made hollow, they swim on the surface of the water, and on one pool there may sometimes be seen twenty or thirty of these gourds floating together. The fowl, at first, are a little shy at coming near them; but, by degrees, they come nearer; and as all birds at last grow familiar with a scarecrow, the ducks gather about these and amuse themselves by wetting their bills against them. When the birds are as familiar with the gourd as the fowler could wish, he then prepares to deceive them in good earnest. He hollows out one of these gourds large enough to put his head in: and making holes to see and breathe through, he claps it on his head. Thus accoutredj he wades slowly into the water, keeping his body under, and nothing but his head in the gourd above the surface ; and in that manner moves imperceptibly towards the fowls, who suspect no danger. At last, however, he fairly gets in among them; while they, having been long used to see gourds, take not the least fright, while the enemy is in the very midst of them. And an insidious enemy he is ; for ever, as he approaches a fowl, he seizes it by the legs, and draws it in a jerk under the water. There he fastens it under his girdle, and goes to the next, till he has thus loaded himself with as many as he can carry away. When he has got this quantity, without ever attempting to disturb the rest of the fowls on the pool, he slowly moves off again ; and in this manner pays the flock three or four visits in a day." The authority from Avhom we have extracted the above quotation, adds, " Of all the various artifices for catching fowl, this seems likely to be attended with the greatest success."

Now, as there is an old saying, with respect to finding fault with your host's fare, that " you ought not to dine with a man, and then roast him on his own spit," so we presume, by a parity of reasoning, it is equally ungenerous to borrow from a friend, and pay him off by stabbing him with his own pen. Still, we cannot quite agree with the writer, that the artifice he recommends is the most likely one to be attended with the greatest success ; for we doubt very much whether European ducks would fall into such a trap. Wild fowl are exceedingly wary and mistrustful. They never alight without making sundry evolutions round the spot, and throw out videttes to reconnoitre, and (we presume) report, whether the enemy is lurking about. We have read of Cinderella's carriage being made out of one of those huge vegetables above referred to ; but to convert a gourd into a fisherman's marine dwelling, is a leetle strong. This pumpkin ^' dodge," which Navarette and Wright both assert is practised in the duckhunts of China — and by the Indians in Cuba, in their wild-goose chases — ought, as the saying is, " to be told to the marines, the soldiers won't have it." It may, therefore, be a good story for the marinas of the Chinese empire, but it will not do for the Y^n^i^h. fiuviales.

It has often been a matter of surprise to us, that decoy pools have not been encouraged in Ireland, and that they should have diminished in England. Skelton, the best practical authority upon the subject, remembers twelve or thirteen decoys in Lincolnshire, where now there are not two. Despite of free trade, I venture to affirm that in the articles of " ducks," there would be a great consumption of our home produce : for, being generally fed on acorns and other nutritious substances, they are as superior to the fishy Hollanders, as Barclay and Perkins's best stout is to the bonne hierre of a provincial French cabaret. During my transatlantic travels, I have tasted the justlyfamed canvas-back ducks of the United States ; and good as even they are, they cannot, according to my humble gastronomic knowledge, be compared to the produce of Sir Maurice Berkeley's decoy at Berkeley Castle, vs^hich is perfect.

In these days of speculation, when many a noble name has been held out to gull the public into the most visionary schemes, why should not a Limited Liability Joint-stock Decoy Company be established ? It would, if well managed, pay extremely well; for the outlay would not be great, and the incomings enormous. Whether the suggestion is adopted or not, the following hints may be of avail.

The best situation for a decoy pool is near some marshy country. It should be surrounded by a wood or copj^ice, to prevent the wild fowl being frightened or disturbed in their quiet haunts. The pool ought to be about sixty-five yards square, with four pipes (as they are called) at each corner. These pipes, which get narrower, lead to a ditch that is closed with a funnel net.

The pipes are covered on the top with a strong netting, and protected on each side by screens made of reed, sufficiently high to prevent the decoy men being seen by the timid and wary birds. In each screen there are apertures sufficiently large for the men employed to command a view of the pool, and for a dog (to whom we shall presently advert) to pass through, in and out. As it sometimes happens that the wild fowl, having been allured a certain way through the pipes, get frightened, and attempt to fly back to their place of safety, a net has been invented and introduced^ which can be let down at a moment's notice — at once preventing the escape of the web-footed tribe. In order to induce the wild fowl to enter one of these pipes, certain decoy ducks (or " traitors," as a French writer terms them) are trained to follow the whistle of the decoy-man, or are led by a bribe of hemp, or some such seed that will float on the water. Should the above fail to attract the sleepy or dozing birds, a small dog of the genus turnspit, or one of those nondescript animals with white coats and foxy heads, that are always to be met with in Eegent Street, who has been taught his lesson, is made to pass into and out of the openings of the screen, lured on by the savoury temptation of a bit of meat, and the wild fowl are easily led to follow this

16 PICTUEES OF SPOETINa LIFE

canine deceiver into what may literally be called the jaws of death. The ill-bred, ill-shaped mongrel is occasionally dressed out in gaudy attire ; and, thus attired, he more easily is enabled to entice his victims to instant destruction.

Although the rising generation are equal, if not superior, to their predecessors, as "good shots," we are inclined to think that the hardihood of the sporting community of the present day has, in some degree, degenerated. The modern introduction of the battue — added to a desu^e of filling the game books, so that a flaming report of the day's massacre (as it ought strictly to be called) may appear in the provincial and London journals — has tended much to make the gunner of 1859 a very different sort of personage from that of the commencement of this century. Wild goose shooting has, therefore, to a great extent, gone out of fashion. There are, of course, many exceptions to the general rule; and among them may be named the heir to the princely estate of Berkeley, and others. A man, to follow this truly exciting pursuit, must, as the common parlance goes, " be as hard as a nail." He must be prepared to brave the bleak wintry cold, the soaking rain, the freezing snow, and the pitiless storm. He nuist make up his mind to remain for many a dreary hour in a mud hole ; to He down in a bed of rushes ; or to adopt the modern water cure of being immersed in a wet ditch. . He must be prepared to face a regular easter o'r nor' wester in the marshes ; to be exposed in an open boatj or to sit like Patience in a punt — shaking and shivering — when on his wild-goose chase.

As we write for every class of " gunner" — from the urchin schoolboy, who makes sad havoc among the thrushes and blackbirds during the Christmas holidays, to the adventurous sportsman who, on the plains of India, or among the deserts and wilds of South Africa, does not rest satisfied until he has killed a dozen wild hogs, a man-eating tiger, half-a-dozen bears and lions, an equal number of antelopes, a couple of hyenas (no laughing matter for these risible animals), a porcupine, a bull nhilgie, a koodoo, a gnoo, a blesbok, a bull, a rhinoceros, a giraffe, and sundry elephants —we shall call the attention of our readers to a daring pastime, which, for want of a better, or from love of variety, may interest the friends of the trigger. We refer to sea-fowl shooting. The inclement Isle of St. Kilda, the Bass Rock, and other rugged spots on the coast of Scotland, are famed for the vast number and variety of these birds. Cormorants, gannets, terns, gulls, literally swarm, like bees, throughout every fissure and cavity of the lofty rocks ; while myriads may be seen flying

VOL. I. c

^f over the hanging cliffs, and the frightful precipices and promontoriesj which rise, like mountains, from the raging waters beneath. Inaccessible from below, these birds mJght enjoy an undisturbed security, were it not for the wily ways of slaughtering man, who has invented means to eject them from their peaceful haunts.

We strongly recommend the " gunner," who visits any of the above-msntioned northern localities, to provide himself with one of the adventurous inhabitants as a guide ; who wiU not only conduct him to the best spots, but direct him through the intricate and dangerous passes. A couple or three guns, and a quick loader, will prove a great advantage, as the flocks of birds are prodigiously large. After passing a few hours on terra firma (if such an expression can be applied to the steep, stepping cliffs), the sportsman may engage a boat and have a day with the sea-mews and common gulls. No sooner does one fall than his feathered companions may be seen congregating round the dead body. A call or whistle, or an inanimate decoy^ made of the head, legs, and wings of these carrion, will (we mean no pun) gull the rest into fanciful security, bringing them within the range of the heavy piece of ordnance that is necessary for this sport. A good shot may amuse himself very well with a rifle, there being no better practice than at one of these sea-fowls on the wing or on the wave ; in the latter, the bullet whistling through the water will intimate the good or bad direction of the marksman.

During a severe frost, the sportsman may (if shooting fails him) have recourse to skating or sledging. The former can be had to perfection ; not so the latter, for it seldom happens that the snow is sufficiently deep in our sea-girt island to enjoy this most exhilarating amusement. We must go to Canada, the United States, Russia, Germany, Norway, Lapland, or Holland to enjoy sledging. In Canada — we speak from personal experience — there is nothing more delightful than the sleighing parties. Driving clubs are formed at Quebec, Montreal, Kingstown, Niagara, and other of our possessions, where the ladies join in the proceedings, which commence with a trip to some favourite spot, where a pic-nic takes place, followed by dancing, and a return home by moonlight. At Vienna, too, we have witnessed some splendid pageants on the ice, in which the Court took part. We may, in a future chapter, revert to this subject ; in the meantime we must remark, that there is not a finer spectacle in the world than that which the " reg-ion of thick-ribbed ice," the Neva, exhibits in winter. Carriages, sledges, an immense number of people on foot,