hounds met at Barton common; found a fox at Tingewick Wood, and after a capital run of an hour and five minutes, lost him at Stoke bushes. They had also an excellent run to day, the meet being at Stanton wood, and the hounds not reaching their kennel till nearly nine at night. Deakin has made an addition to his stud of three or four first-raters, and on Monday next the meet is the favourite Windmill, and Grave-hill wood will be honoured by some old visitors. May we have good sport!

24th October, 1835.

ment.

1

Yours, ESAU.

MR. CHARLES HOLMES AND THE BLENHEIM COACH. NIMROD, in his Northern Tour last month, got upon his favourite subject the Road, and we were glad to see it, because we think occasional notices of the different coachmen and the turns out from the various establishments, are calculated to afford an additional stimulus to all persons of the same class, and also to promote the public service in the coaching departWe have much pleasure therefore in recording a very handsome and flattering compliment that has been recently paid to Mr. Charles Holmes, the driver and part proprietor of the Blenheim coach (from Woodstock to London), to celebrate the completion of his 20th year on that well appointed coach, a period that has elapsed without a single accident to his coach, his passengers, or himself, and during which time, with the exception of a very short absence from indisposition, he has driven his sixty-five miles every day, making some where about 23,000 miles a year. The numerous patrons of the coach entered into a subscription to present him with a piece of plate, and accordingly, a beautiful cup, bearing the shape of an antique vase and cover, ornamented with rich handles composed of scrolls and foliage, the cover surmounted by a beautifully modelled horse, with a coach and four horses on one side, and a suitable inscription on the other, was presented to Mr. Holmes by that staunch patron of the road, Sir Henry Peyton, Bart, in August last at a dinner at the Thatched House Tavern, St. James Street, to which between forty and fifty gentlemen sat down. The cup was manufactured by Messrs. Green and Ward, and the list of subscribers amounted to upwards of 250, including among others the Duke of Wellington, and indeed all persons of rank, business, or pleasure, whose vocations call them in the direction that the coach travels. We see by "Bell's Life in London,” a paper that has uniformly devoted itself to the patronage of this useful class of men, that a handsome salver is yet to be presented to this fortunate and deserving coachman, at Oxford. We feel assured that this flattering distinction will have its due influence in all parts of the country, and we wish Mr. Holmes many years of health and prosperity to enjoy the reward of his long and meretorious services.

EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE.

A few weeks since a gentleman in Oxfordshire undertook for a trifling wager to ride a pony (apparently worn out), his property, from the Crown Inn, at Bicester, to the Talbot Inn, Middleton Stoney, a distance of three miles and a half, and return in, the space of half an hour, the pony not to exceed twelve hands in height, being twenty-eight years of age, and to carry thirteen stone eleven pounds, which was won very cleverly in seven minutes under the time, thus accomplishing the seven miles in twentythree minutes.

The match was ridden without whip, stick, or spur, and when at Middleton Stoney, the rider having dismounted, entered the inn, and drank a glass of sherry.

OLD TOM ROSE.

THE following sketch of honest Old Tom is copied from a late number of the Northampton Herald, with a few additional particulars by the friend who bas kindly forwarded it to us, and who had long known him, and was able to appreciate his character. It is but an imperfect sketch, he observes, and hardly does Old Tom justice.

Poor Tom is at length gone to the place where all things are forgotten. For many years have I known him well, and safely can I aver that a more honest and worthy man never sat on a saddle, or ever cheered a hound. He had been from his infancy in the family of the Duke of Grafton. It is related of him, that Joe Smith who had the care of the old Duke's hounds, whilst hunting one day at Stean, near Brackley, heard a boy hallooing crows, and was so pleased with his voice, that he took him into the stable. Be that as it may, he huuted the Grafton pack for nearly half a century. As it is much easier to pick a hole than mend one, so, many who were unacquainted with the nature of the country, used ofttimes to be not very scrupulous in their remarks as to his management. No one knew what hounds ought to be, better than Tom; but, as he frequently used to 66 a man must breed his pack to suit his country." His bounds were supsay posed to be wild, and to have too much fly in them; or, according to his phrase, aleetle in a hurry." They certainly were so in a degree; but, in the ungovernable woodlands he had to hunt, how many foxes would he have caught had he not lifted them and thrown them in at head, with a bad fox? One fox would have lasted him a season. This system, doubtless, would make them wild in the open, but in a woodland country, what other system is to be pursued? Knowing that they had a good deal of fling in them, Tom could not bear the sight of a red coat. The Pytchley wild-boys, who were ever for a scurry in the morning, used to indulge Tom with their company whenever they met in the open, and not being accustomed (when at home) to give "'em much room," used to drive them over it most unmercifully, and generally soon lost their first fox for them. As soon, however, as Tom's company had left him, or he had left them, by slipping downwind with a few farmers and a field he could controul, no hounds would sooner settle to their scent, or make more of it. If the scent would let them, none could twist him up sooner. Tom had one failing (and who has not?), which was, that he was too strongly prejudiced in favour of his own sort, and thereby lost the advantage which is derived from judiciously crossing, and which has so mainly contributed to the improvement of hounds in the present day. He had generally many lame hounds, which arose, not from any fault of his, but from the dampness of the kennel, in which there arose upright springs; which (whatever may be the

case now) were not cured in his time. Though not an elegant, he was a capital horseman, and no one got better to his hounds. He did not like either a difficult or a raw horse, and he was not what is called a bruising rider; but he well knew the pace his horse was going, and always kept something in him. He did not like cramming him at large fences; but, like his inimitable pupil Charles King, would always let any aspiring rider break the binders for him, and would rather get his horse's hind legs into the middle of a fence and make him creep through it, than let him jump.

He had a sharp eye for a gap or the weakest place in a fence, and could bore a hole through a black dark double hedge better than most men. In the latter part of his life, he had a propensity highly disagreeable to a horseman's eye, he used to poke his horse on the head till he frightened him out of his senses,-held him too hard, and frequently made him jump short either before or behind. The consequence was he often spoilt his beauty in a scramble, or lay on his back, as the penalty of his cowardice. However he got well to his hounds without upsetting his horse, and when he was with them he knew well when to stir them, and when to let them alone.

Some five-and-thirty years ago, no pack was better appointed. The horses came chiefly from the racing stud, and all the men were well mounted. Dick Forster and Ned Allen, then both in high feather, were of the first order of the profession (Jackett too was a famous assistant, and a fine rider), quick, active, and light, and always ready to play into one another's hands. As many a flower blows unseen, so had these hounds many a fine day's sport that was hardly ever heard of. With no one out but "Old Beau" with his low-crowned hat, black top boots, one steel spur, his groom Luke, in his twilled fustian frock, on the second horse, and a few old potterers like myself, I have seen many a run, the recollection of which warms the expiring embers of my old age. Tom had a fine voice, which he, however, never used unnecessarily, and he scarcely ever blew his horn, except to get them out of a cover when the fox was away. As long as foxhunting is followed by Englishmen—as long as honest men are preferred to dishonest (which I trust will be as long as shadows lengthen when the sun goes down)-so long will the name of Old Tom Rose be cherished with the fondest recollections.

FINE ARTS.

QUEEN OF TRUMPS.-Winner of the "Oaks" at Epsom, and the "St. Leger" at Doncaster.

MR. Ackermann has nearly ready for delivery, a coloured portrait of this celebrated mare, from a painting taken by Mr. Hancock, at Doncaster, after her race for the St. Leger. The print is in continuation of, and will be the same size as, the others of his series of celebrated winning horses.

THE SOUTH SEA WHALE FISHERY,

RUDOLPH ACKERMANN, Regent Street. Two richly coloured engravings, the first exhibiting the method of taking the spermaceti whale, and the mode of cutting it into the ship, and boiling the oil on deck; the other, a representation of boats attacking a whale,— or, more correctly speaking, of a whale attacking boats, for the boats and their crews have decidedly the worst of it. The subject, a novel one we believe, is handled with great spirit, and the prints are well calculated to

impress us "gentlemen who live at home at ease," with the dangers that are incurred in obtaining for us our midnight oil, and the vast bulk and power of the mighty monsters of the deep that afford it.

THOMAS, EARL OF WILTON.-Painted by J. BOSTOCK, Engraved by C. TURNER, A.R.A.

MOON, Threadneedle Street. The high merit of this print, as a work of Art, as regards both the Painter's and the Engraver's efforts, has already been universally admitted. For us it has a further attraction; it is the portrait, and a most faithful oneif a first-rate sportsman, one, as has been truly said of him, who does every thing well, and is equally at home in the racing-saddle and with hounds.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN DOGS.-Engraved by W. R. SMITH, from original Drawings, with Literary Illustrations, by W. H. HARRISON, No.2.

JENNINGS & Co., Cheapside.

THE Contents of this number are the Irish Setter, Southern Hound, Scottish Highland Greyhound or Wolf Dog, and Italian Greyhounds. The subjects for the drawings have been chosen with the same care as in the former number, but the engravings, more particularly the back grounds, do not appear to us to be so bold and effective, and in one or two of the plates are scratchy and indistinct. Perhaps we have been unfortunate in our copy.

MR. RAMSAY and the Berwickshire, Linlithgow, Lanark, and Stirlingshire Hounds.

WE have seen a prospectus for publishing, by subscription, a large line engraving, from a painting by H. B. Chalon, animal painter to the King, to contain portraits of the master, W. R. Ramsay, Esq., of Barnton, on his favourite hunter; the two whippers-in; and the principal and favourite hounds; with a view of Lauriston Castle in the distance. Mr. Ramsay's popularity in his own and the adjoining countries, will no doubt ensure numerous subscribers in the northern part of the kingdom, and if the performance comes up to the promise, the print will be a valuable addition to the portfolio of every sportsman.

TATTERSALL'S.

Our Newmarket Correspondent having alluded to the changes in the Odds in his notices of the racing, we shall content ourselves with a quotation of the prices up to the close of the month.

DERBY.

5 to 1 agst. Lord Jersey's two.

10 to 1 agst. Lord Jersey's Brother to Riddlesworth.
13 to 1 agst, Lord Jersey's Brother to Nell Gwynne.

6 to 1 agst. Mr. E. Peel's Mummy-taken.
20 to 1 agst. Col. Peel's Slane.

20 to 1 agst. Mr. W. Chifney's The Athenian.
25 to 1 agst. Lord Chesterfield's Babel colt.
25 to 1 agst Mr. Ridsdale's Neva colt.

25 to 1 agst Mr. Ridsdale's Vandenhoff.

25 to 1 agst. Mr. Ridsdale's Brother to St. Giles.

25 to 1 agst. Mr. Bowes's Gibside Fairy colt.

25 to 1 agst. Mr. W. Chifney's Brother to Emiliana.

40 to 1 agst. Mr. Skipsey's The Bard.

50 to 1 agst. Mr. Allen's Master of the Rolls. 100 to 1 agst, Mr. Robinson's Whaley.

100 to 1 agst. Lord Chesterfield's Alfred.

(Most of the Prices are Nominal.)
THE OAKS.

7 to 1 agst Lord Wilton's Bequest filly.
9 to 1 agst. Mr. Greville's Marmalade.

ST. LEGER.

13 to 1 agst. Mr. Blacklock's Black Diamond (t.)
14 to 1 agst. Mr. Orde's Beeswing (t.)

20 to 1 agst. Mr. Allanson's Vulture.

20 to 1 agst. Mr. Peirse's Elizabeth (t.)

20 to 1 agst. Mr. Peirse's Caroline.

20 to 1 agst. Col. Westenra's Wedge (t.)

TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

"Craven." The pitiful nincompoop who scribbles under the signature of "Craven" and half a dozen other alias's in the Old Magazine, has been doing himself the honour of writing us some impertinent letters, in consequence of the trimming Mr. Jorrocks gave him in our September number, for his lowlived personalities on ourselves in the August number of the Old Magazine, which letters he talks of publishing. We are perfectly agreeable, provided he does Mr. Jorrocks the justice of stating, that he was a true prophet with regard to his (Craven's, &c. &c.) situation in the Old Magazine, and that he offered to desert it in favour of ours. We admire the spirit of the man, who will insult another and then sneak to him, and when spurned try to insult him again. Let him publish, say we, and, contemptible as he is, he shall not go unanswered.

We have elsewhere acknowledged our obligations to the several Masters of Hounds and others, who by kindly and promptly answering our inquiries have enabled us to render our present list of hounds much more perfect than previous ones. They and all our friends will much oblige us by forwarding their monthly accounts of sport with hounds, &c. by the 23d of the month at latest.

The number of pages which the List occupies must be our excuse for the postponement of several communications.

The "Kilkenny Fox-hunter" will see we have there availed ourselves of the information he has been kind enough to forward us. We hope to hear from him again. Also, from our esteemed correspondent A Follower of the Chase," and our Enniskillen, Canterbury, and Penzance friends. Received "A Dragsman,' "X.Y.Z.," and "A Salopian," who will find what he wants on sending to Mr. Ackermann's.

WORKS RECEIVED.

Helps and Hints, by the Baron de Berenger. We intended to have reviewed this volume at some length in our last number, but were prevented doing so from want of space, and this month unfortunately we have still less to spare. Next month it shall certainly be noticed.

The Forget me Not for 1836.

The Comic Almanack.

Remarks on Shooting by W. Watt.