M. W. New Moon, 6th day, at 3 min. past 8 afternoon. OCCURRENCES. Sun Moon HIGH WATER rises & London Bridge. sets. morn. aftern. d. h. m. h. m.h. m. RISES morning 1 W Roy. Thames Yacht C. Regatta. r 3 50 24 2 910 10 10 40 2 T Newton Races. 3 F 4 S Mersey Regatta. 5 s 8 625 2 2311 1111 40 r3 49 26 2 39 No tide 0 5 s 8 827 2 55 0 30 0 50 Second Sunday after Trinity,r 3 4728 3 14 1 10 1 36 6 M Cr.-Lord's. 7T Ascot Races. 8 W Alphabet Match. 9 T Ascot Cup Day. afternoon. s 8 10 N SETS. 150 25 2 20 2 40 s 8 12 29 58 2 55 3 15 10 F Henley Regatta. 11 S Birkenhead Regatta. 12 Third Sunday after Trinity. s 8 14 13 M Cr.-Lord's. Oxford University r 3 44 14 T [v. Cambridge University. s 8 16 15 W Hampton Races. 6 Morning 7 0 17 6 7 6 30 8 0 37 6 55 7 20 r 3 44 9 0 54 7 35 8 25 16 T Royal London Y. Club Regatta. s 8 1710 1 12 9 5 9 35 Beverley, Hull, ke.......... 15 & 16 Curragh..................... 28, &c. THE RACING SEASON-M A Y. BY CRAVEN. "My profession and I came to stand nearly upon the same footing which honest Slender consoled himself on having established with Mistress Anne Page. There was no great love between us at the beginning; and it pleased Heaven to decrease it on further acquaintance."-Introduction to the LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL in Lockhart's LIFE OF SCOTT. One of the social reminiscences which used to set the bard of "Childe Harold" spinning on his heel, was-"Yes, I am the best-abused of mankind that ever existed!" Gentle Oliver, of "The Deserted Village," has bequeathed to posterity his views, drawn from Nature, of popular. philanthropy in his comedy, "The Good-natured Man." Moralistsalmost without exception, from Moses to the "Cold Missionary," who furnished the late Rev. Sydney Smith with a subject for his theoryillustrate the fortune which wait upon good intention: to say nothing of the proverb on that subject, unmeet for ears polite. "The Happy Valley" of Rasselas was a failure; so was the Leicester-square Soup Kitchen. Nevertheless, with eyes open to the risk of the essay, I entered upon a mission of benevolence by the plain path of practical fact. I put it, civilly: Could a permission conceded to an unlimited amount of penniless blackguards to settle themselves upon the turf hold out any prospect of benefit to its character or exchequer? I suggested, for the service of the simple-minded, that the "Tips"-being the brokers of the "Touts"—could not afford to supply the public, in accordance with their advertisements, with "the certain winners of all the great races in Great Britain for twelve postage-stamps and an envelope with a head on it," while yet those issues were in posse. My impression that betting is a business has recently been strengthened by seeing it so described in the schedule of a petition presented to the Insolvent Court; also that it is a bad business, by reading in the newspapers, of the 12th ult., that the Grand Jury of the Middlesex Sessions-then and there dating, through their foreman-had made to the court the following presentment:"Betting-houses are so much resorted to in this county, that one witness, a clerk in a betting-office, stated that he alone issued fifteen thousand tickets in a less period than three months; thus, as the Grand Jury believe" (and so do I), "fostering a spirit of gambling, subversive of the morals and happiness of the people." Then-although this is the first time I have ever alluded to it-when a thief is submitted to the searcher of the police-office, with his ordinary complement of pawnbrokers' paper, out comes a Siamese supply of list "cards", of course. Impute to these instances that they are low; look at the Olympian policy in high places. In the course of this little theme current you will read-should you condescend to read it-how that, at the late meeting "down by Deva's silver side," one Mr. Horsley, the horse-chamberlain, or starter, got a terrible "wigging," followed by "the sack”—a Christian equivalent for the sack of Islam...... "You take my life, When you do take the means whereby I live." This unhappy Horsley was unshipped, it seems, because the start for the Cup was unsatisfactory; that is to say, partially, to those whose cattle were behind the crowd. Now for this cause did Horsley lose his place, or so, at least, it was said—that is, deduced; while, in consequence of that cause, the customary fine upon a jockey making a false start, or bringing it and the starter's downfall, to pass-viz., the prompt, positive, penalty of £5-was commuted into a disqualification, or suspension, which should prohibit that jockey's appearance in pigskin official for the succeeding moiety of the meeting, at which the odds might safely be laid against his having an engagement. "Mr. Hibburd," says the newspaper report, "happening to be at Chester, as a looker-on, was installed in office this (Thursday) afternoon." Mr. Hibburd is the Newmarket "starter," and, as such, a servant of the Jockey Club; Mr. Palmer, the nominator of Goldfinder, the winner of the Chester Cup, is not a member of the Jockey Club. On the last day of the Second Spring Meeting, at Newmarket, a two-year-old stakes was run for. I copy the return from the Times of the following morning :-" On drawing up to start, Oleaster bolted, and ran nearly half a mile over the ploughed lands before he was stopped." Upon his return he won the Instead of nearly half a mile, had he run a dozen miles would the starter have awaited his re-appearance? And according to what rule or order was he enabled to exercise a discretion relating to one-half mile that he might not have applied to four-and-twenty? Lord Clifden, the nominator of Oleaster, is a member of the Jockey Club. race. It is impossible not to see the invidious construction to which these cases are obnoxious. The Jockey Club Rules, as applicable to the former, enact that "the person appointed to start the horses has authority to order the jockeys to draw up in a line as far beyond the starting-post as he may think necessary; and any jockey disobeying the orders of the starter, or taking any unfair advantage, shall be liable to be fined in such sum, not exceeding £5, as the Jockey Club may think fit to inflict." That which affects the second, declares that "the person appointed to start the horses shall mark in his list the time when the horses in each race actually started; and if there have been any false starts, the first of them shall be considered as the time of the starting for the race. And he shall make a report thereof to the keeper of the match-book in the afternoon of the day the races are run. And if any delay beyond the allowed time shall have taken place, he shall state by whom or what cause the delay was occasioned."... I am not in a condition to offer any opinion upon these "Rules and Orders," because I do not know how to interpret them; and, even if interpreted, what would come of an understanding involving no positive conditions? For example: "If any delay beyond the allowed time shall have taken place"-unless it refer to the hour at which the race is stated in the race lists to be run for, I know not what it relates to; and then the upshot is confined to a statement of "the cause of the delay, or by whom it was caused"...I am well aware that these statutes were compiled for the use of a society of gentlemen, to be by them-as repre sented by their pro tem. clected trio-for their especial use and convenience construed. But they are now being generally adopted, because some letter of convention is imperative for the guidance or ordering of the system of book-making or betting upon events for immediate decision. As to the despotism conferred upon the starter-whereby he may exercise the authority of commanding "jockeys to draw up in a line as far beyond the starting-post as he may think necessary"-conceive it put into execution by requiring a field of youngsters about to run the last half-mile at Doncaster to "dress" in a line, drawn from the mile-post to the starting-post of the St. Leger, and the "linked sweetness" that would issue from the tip of it! What sort of a spirit would it generate between the tyke jock and the southern starter?-a mortal strife, before which the duel of the Kilkenny cats would dwindle into a cock-fight. Can Seriously, here is matter made to the malevolent hand for inflicting a heavy blow and a great discouragement upon horse-racing. Whole colonies of rogues are living by it. Honourable men balance their hats on the side of their heads, and comment" Everybody for himself, as the Jerusalem pony said that was polking among the chickens." didates for Newgate depose, "they'll they'll go to an unmentionable dernier ressort "but it's all right." While for politely calling public notice to it, behold another claimant to the title "the best-abused of mankind."...For the reversal of the sentence I "bide my time."... "Base things, sire, base." And thus the swindle-system, to which a noble national sport has been degraded, has found its advocates. As men sow, they reap. Anon will come the harvest. For a season racing hath its " contempt and bran;" the day will arrive when once again it shall enjoy its "meal and grace. To the revolution of right must be left the reform of the Ring-the "leg's" "to be or not to be." He must cling to it, even to the hour of its dissolution-as identical with his own "And that old vertigo, in's head, Will never leave him-till he's dead." The Racing in May commenced on the old Rood Dee-for of some such corruption comes the title of Chester race-course. It is for its purpose as regards spectacle to the matter made; but as relates to the practical object of a turf arena, it is just the reverse. There is not one inch of give-and-take ground in its round of little more than a mile, to say nothing of running two-year-old stakes over a circular course of such a circumference to race-horses at two years old in May-about as capacious as the "ring" at Ducrow's to the managed (maneged?) stud of the amphitheatre. In characteristics-essentially sombre-the ancient city is what I first remember it-I wont say how long ago— when Paul put you four greys to your chariot, stalwart as the steeds of Barclay and Perkins's drays, that had quite as much as they could do in-not on-roads of sand, that let the wheel in up to the nave. if those were not "fast times, they were of a fine old English flavour. You tasted life; you didn't bolt it like a pill, for fear of its turning your stomach. Men went on their way not sadly, but soberly. How much the better are they now-rushing, and jostling, and capsizing, and going to their last reckoning at fifty miles an hour? What a memento mori is the hearse borne to its "bourne" by the fiery speed of the rail! But The Rows, from the Eastgate to the Watergate, from the Northgate to the antediluvian Cathedral, are now as they were in the beginning, and shall be-how long? Aye, there's the rub!" Nothing that skill, experience, active industry, or the subtle minister that "makes the mare go," might do to deserve success, was wanting to command it. All were for business, and all was done to promote and make it pleasant. The Royal Hotel was the Royal Exchange for the nonce; and let us hope it supported the convention, by which it is agreed that "exchange is no robbery." I trust there is no offence in such an aspiration. It wont do to lose sight of one's muttons. .... "Whenever you go to see the Monument, you must not give in on the door-steps, or you'll never get up to the top.' But, alas for the creature comforts! that the wife of his bosom should see young Sardanapalus of the Stock Exchange (your brokers take to the odds like bricks, and Brummel redivivus) at a Races Ordinary! Hot wine, cold soup, fish that assisted at the Deluge, poultry that cackled in Noah's Ark, baptized in ginger-beer "When o'er the brim the mantling bumpers reach :" -it is too terrible to dwell on. purse upon So we'll take a turn upon the green sward. Everybody you passed was ear-wigging everybody else, and working heaven-so they were, the heathens-and earth, their mother earth, "their tenements of clay," at beggar my neighbour. Here were hosts of honest shopkeepers, yeomen, and gentlemen, all bound upon one errand-to get the better of one another by hook or by crook, and to put money in their the liberal principle inculcated by Horatius Flaccus, reversing the order of the dogma: "REM!" " quocunque modo," rule; "recté si possis,' exception. The first day-now Tuesday-produced half a dozen races of less and lesser account. The opening event was the Grosvenor Stakes, for over two-year-olds, won by Lerrywheut, beating Massaroniall he could do-by a head, and thereby leading others by the nose, seeing that Massaroni was supposed to furnish the form of Mr. Parr's crack," and the winner the force of the Dawson "dodge "-a vulgar way of expressing development. Seven ran, and thereupon occurred the Palatine Stakes, and a row anent one Misletoe, that was to have run, but didn't-to the discomfort of all that it concerned, naturally. Exact won in a canter, that young lady having been coaxed into a more amiable frame of mind than ordinary-" take me when I'm in the humour." The Mostyn Stakes, for two-year-olds-stinted of Rabyfell to the lot or luck of Brown Brandy, that, as some scape-grace or other said, might more appropriately have been called Small Beer. Of a brace of rough and tumble Five Sovereign Sweepstakes it needs not to tell. The Chesterfield Stakes Lord Chesterfield won with Jacqueline 66 "Pretty Miss Jacqueline has a nose aquiline" and is his lordship's Oaks nomination; uncommon well bred, "Don John out of Bishop of Romford's Cob's dam "-the Cob "the cruelist good bit of stuff of his inches I ever see." Jimmy, loquitur. There was a mortal crowd yesterday: the crush to-day (Wednesday) -the immortal Cup Day-beggared universal conglomeration. I submit the phrase respectfully for "Sam Slick's" consideration, who, I am rejoiced to learn, has accompanied the architect of "Uncle Tom's |