sidered, or rather pretended to be considered, as a condescension; the present seeming humility to be amply paid for at a future period by insulting pity or derisive contempt.

The pampered and well-taught myrmidons who once flew at the slightest signal, or hovered round in seeming (nay real) alacrity, but feigned respect, so soon as the tone and manner of their leader gave them the cue, began to relax in their attentions; and the command, that before was waited for, was then carelessly complied with, after they had attended to others who, in their turn, would eventually be equally neglected.

But humiliation and utter ruin had not as yet got to its climax : the last loan had not been negociated at the rate of cent. per cent., to give the chance of redeeming all--fatal dreadful infatuation! Charity forbids us carrying our animosities beyond the grave; but so far as this life is concerned, if any one class of mortals more than another deserve the execration of their fellow-men, it is he who first affords the incentive to the vice of gaming; and no man holds out so great a lure to this by all his pursuits, or contributes so much towards it in every way, as the sporting man.

But the last few hundreds have yet to be disposed of. Well, as each employé in such an establishment knows how its intricate but gigantic machinery is worked, the very sight of coin in such places (and, sooth, in most others) commands an almost involuntary respect for its possessor for the time being. A few lucky throws perhaps induces the victim to hope fortune has been tired of persecuting him, and visions of losses regained float in his imagination. The temporary change produces a temporary exhilaration of spirits, and champagne adds to their influence. Ill-starred wretch! the brightness of thy dream will only cause the sad reality of waking life to appear more dark, more lonely, and more hideous. The dearly-bought and useless horde, raised with the delusive hope of again swimming on the surface of life's bright current, gradually but certainly disappears. It is gone; and with horror in his looks, and despair in his heart, the once possessor of a fortune descends the brilliantly lit staircase; hastily passes others mounting the fatal ascent; shudders at their hilarious laugh now, too well knowing the time will come when they, like him, will stand before the same portals ruined and alone.

What now is his resource? Although in the eyes of his former cotemporaries a ruined man, he has perhaps still an income left that is in amount as much as many cheerfully toil for, and are content. Happy for our victim could he be so: but no! competency to one is misery to another, and the never-to-be-subdued hope of the gamester ever holds its votaries, like the basilisk, within its fatal fascination; and whether the stake be pence or principalities, its influence is the

sanie.

It is not to be supposed that the mammoth establishment alluded to, though in magnitude it stood alone, stood without its adjuncts. No, there are in this vast metropolis dens of infamy, where the stake to be played for is made to accommodate the means of the player. Our victim, we will suppose, cannot descend to the lowest of these. He stops short in his career. It is thought his connections may be of service. He gets hemmed in with a coalition of scoundrels that

his heart at first loathes; but constant association will have its effect in bringing the mind by imperceptible degrees either to the higher or the baser purpose. Our victim has just been ruined as a man of fortune, then degraded as a gentleman, finally become depraved in principle, and is now precisely, in all his attributes, qualified to become a sporting man.

Although I have here given an imaginary instance of what a man of family may be brought to, it need not be supposed that such characters exist but in imagination; there have been, now are, and doubtless will hereafter be, many such. But on the other hand, I by no means wish it to be thought that such form the majority of sporting men-quite the contrary. This is a bright star in the hemisphere of this fraternity, a pretty fair proportion of which spring from the very dregs of society; but (and I regret to say it) being perinitted occasional intercourse with those who would only be acting up to their position by spurning these interlopers from them, a certain initiative gentlemanly address is acquired. This enables them to so far get into society as will answer their purpose, namely, to get their pigeon within plucking distance; and then an attractive mistress of the house, a well-lit fashionable room, the choicest wines, and only three or four in company, settle the thing in a quiet private way, to as great a certainty as if it took place in the great Pandemonium-probably to a greater certainty, for in such society not the ghost of a chance is given; and whether the play be a little chicken-hazard with the select party, écarté with the host, backgammon with the lady, or a bet on a race with any of them, the pigeon will find he can be robbed in the polite quarter of May-Fair, or the still more fashionable neighbourhood of Belgrave Square, with as much facility as if he ventured into the suspicious precincts of Field Lane, where it is by no means improbable some former friends of his host occasionally resort when they find a silk pocket-handkerchief has by some means strayed into their hands.

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This is a kind of private robbery, carried to a pretty considerable extent in London, and one that is, and ever must be, carried on with impunity. In comparison to this the open gaming-house is the less dangerous; and when (as abroad) it is allowed, it shows its broad front to the open day it speaks in plain language to the man of sense-"Here I am; the world knows my object; it is to get, if possible, the money of those who chose to enter." Here is, at least, no deception as to its intent: if you like to brave the chance, it is your own fault it is a hell, and most properly so called-a scene of vice and fraud, we know; and if gambling could be stopped by levelling it to the ground, the prayer for an earthquake might not, perhaps, be sinful, if we could ensure its swallowing up every vestige of that and every such fabric. But is that house less a hell where, under the guise of private invitation, the wealthy and unwary are decoyed, for the express purpose of plunder? or is that plunder felt the less because it is lost to perhaps some titled roué, and shared with the giver of the feast, instead of being raked into a receptacle for it, made for such a purpose in an acknowledged table for play? True, the man of birth or the titled roué has been fleeced by the same means as are put in force to pillage the fresh man; and they secretly

despise the harpy with whom necessity now compels them to associate and why? because they want the moral courage to break the charm that holds them spell-bound in the circle of fashionable, though, perhaps, by no means respectable society; for there is as much difference between mere fashionable society, and moving among persons of fashion, as there is between sportsmen and sporting men.

In giving a written sketch of one of any particular class of men or things, all that ought to be expected of the writer is, that he should give that which on the whole affords the most general characteristic of the man, or other subject. I have given such a sketch of the inhabitants, frequenters, and promoters of the house of a sporting man, as I have seen. The changes are, of course, rung to suit circumstances and persons; the style varies commensurate with the means, appurtenances, and ideas of the host and his guests; but whether it be a champagne and a game dinner on silver, with a title (by courtesy), an Honourable, and a Colonel, as baits, or merely a bit of fish and a beef-steak, to introduce you to two or three excellent fellow's the host knows you would like, and who are anxious to make your acquaintance, the object of the thing is the same. If the invitation is to the house of what I mean by a sporting man, that object is robbery. If I see a young one leaning on the window of the carriage of the wife, or soi-disant wife of one of this genus, I pretty well guess his fate if her smiles are more frequent or more fascinating than usual. His fate is certain. It tells me where there is money now, and to pretty nearly as great a certainty where a goodly proportion of it very shortly will be.

Thus far we see the sporting man "en prince," enacting the part of a fashionable man, and probably by some also considered that of a man of fashion. We have as yet only seen his show company: probably about two o'clock a brougham, a cabriolet, or saddle-horses at the door, bespeak lunch and aristocracy within. But there are other hours of the day or night when audience is given to a different class-boxers, bullies, bettors, jockeys, trainers, touters, markers at billiards, croupiers, decoys, match-makers against time, pedestrians, and panders to any and everything where money can be "got on,' and consequently money got in. Such is the category of his chief confidants and agents. What if in private they are somewhat more familiar in such moments (for they know their cue, and time to be so), possibly they in time may arrive at equal eminence, or he by some contre-temps, some unlooked-for discovery, may be thrown back among them, there to wait till something comes off, to again put him in feather. Besides, he well knows any attempt at the high and mighty would not do with those in the secret, for should they "squeak" it might raise a cry that might produce unpleasant results to the whole ménage, and solve the somewhat mysterious fact of who and what Mr. So-and-So is.

At such little coteries, such little cabinet-councils, are digested the deeply-laid and well-organized plans for selling the public or dearest friends, unless their co-operation should be more advantageous; and whether it is a fight, a walking-match, a trotting-match, or a Leger, here how the thing shall come off is from time to time discussed pro and con among such men. All the news of current sporting

events is brought and carried with telegraphic dispatch. Such a man as Lord Albemarle, who, it is well known, no powers or persecution could induce to countenance an act where there was the shadow of a doubt of its strict honour, would perhaps get intelligence if his horse was amiss in fair and reasonable time. He, among his higher attributes, is a sportsman; but things are carried on differently by the sporting men. The same intelligence would be known by them and their friends in London before that destined for such an owner of horses as I have mentioned would have got as far on its road as Bournbridge; and "I want to lay the odds against (Nameless):" "How much?" "18 to 1, ponies ?" "I take it"-is settled, and booked, long before the owner knows that his horse pulled up dead lame, or had thrown a bad curb, if he gets the information at all; for such things can be, and are, at times turned to account by secrecy, if the horse can be patched up so as to go on with his work, get forced up in the betting, start, of course lose, and probably break down.

It may be supposed that if a man has his horse engaged, and sees a trial of him, that he ought to be able to form as correct an idea of his chance for the race as anyone. I have no doubt but there are persons who may think he could do so. Those who would think thus, know little of how the strings are pulled in racing matters, or who pulls them. There are owners who could and would take the measure of their horse by such a trial; but not such an owner as Lord Albemarle or Sir Gilbert Heathcote. They might see it, and how it ended; but the sporting men are those who would know the truth of it. What is the use of such owners to the sporting men? None. They will not coalesce with or join their party. They persevere in going on what now-a-days is the losing plan, that is the winning one-when they are permitted to win. True, every honourable man is elated when they do. The very exercise boys throw up their caps; but the sporting men "set their caps" at and with a very different class. These are the men to whom (as Chifney called them) the "good things" are intended to go; and, in truth, to such the good things do go-not, certainly, always the stakes, for their respective value wholly depends on circumstances, and are very often a minor consideration. The good things were meant by Chifney to imply the stakes; and probably when he first began riding they were so; but we have become wonderfully enlightened and enlarged in our minds since the days of Escape: things are ordered differently: the good thing depends on the books-not the stakes; and unfortunately, both, as far as lies in their power, depend on the sporting men. They sometimes get put into the pot, or at least get a short harvest, by an outsider winning; but then, like other rascals in grain, they turn their temporary loss into the big loaf, and do the public that way. The outsider is made the big loaf or great pot; and as he or she put them into it by losing before, so they put the public in by the pot now losing. So they do not get all the worst of it.

A little occurrence of this kind took place not a hundred years since, respecting the Oaks. Why did the stakes go where they did? Merely because the winner had not attracted the attention of the sporting men. If she had done so, she would no more have won than she would have flown. Her owner, it is pretty well known, had

nothing on the race. Probably after winning he at that time regretted he had not. I dare say he is now quite satisfied that was one of the circumstances that put the stakes in his pocket; for had his filly been in the betting, and had he backed her heavily, he would have been allowed just the same fair chance of winning it, as if he had run for it on his own legs-in which case I should say weight would tell rather strongly against him.

This did all very well for once; but the filly got exposed-known to the sporting men: it would not do again. She was sold-very judiciously so; for it just brought about this difference by the sale her owner" made her safe." Had he kept her she would always have been made safe for him. Far be it from me to say the Oaks was won by the best filly that started in the race: we must ask the sporting men that question. But it was won by the one that was permitted to be the best at the time of running. She ran honestly and won honestly-as it is but justice to her owner to say he always wished his horses to do. That is a crying sin with the sporting men. It is thought so; and this compliment I must pay to their morals. It is one that (if they own a horse) they seldom perpetrate.

The Leger is certainly a tempting bait. We will say the average nominations are 150; in fine chance, therefore, it is 149 to 1 against any particular nomination at the time it is made-rather long odds this; but I will venture to state a case where the odds will be longer still let any man who is known as running to win nominate a colt; let him expose him as a two and three-years-old; let him, in consequence, get to be first favourite: if he wins I will eat him. I will make up a stronger case, and say that independent of this favourite, there are three others, second, third, and fourth in the betting. How would it be then? It would come off something in this way :-if either of these belonged to the clique, some report would be made to drive him back in the betting; and as I will answer for it neither of the other favourites (on the day) could win, the other would, if he could be made to do it. If they all belonged to straight-forward men, none of them would win: they would be all safe as pigeons in a pie.

If such a man as I describe as owning the favourite, letting his merits be known, and running him on those merits, expects to have a chance given him of winning, he is at the time most decidedly in a state of monomania. It cannot be done, though the owner will be and that will always be the case while gentlemen and sportsmen will bet heavily with sporting men on great events. It is true the latter are safe men to bet with, for they will pay, and God knows so they may when they do lose to gentlemen. Racing at the best of times was precarious; iniquities crept in; downright rascality followed, and was frequently more or less practised; but now no man, who knows a distance-post is passed before the ending one, contemplates such a thing as a race being altogether fairly run for; the thing is become so notorious, that the question, as regards the horse that ought to win, and it is known could win, is-"I wonder what (Soand-So) means;" or, "I wonder whether they mean winning with (such a one)." Some one may say, and, indeed, everyone ought to say, this is monstrous. I know it is: and very monstrous is the con