which nature has wrapped him, sorely against his will; and now we must commence with that which is, after all, the only direct means of reducing fat, namely, sweating. Here we must proceed with great care and judgment. To take a stout man in soft condition, and sweat him severely by strong muscular exertion, is not only a highly dangerous process for the sufferer, who, totally unaccustomed to such treatment, is liable to catch severe cold and rheumatism whilst cooling, but also undoes its own object by the languor and stiffness which it entails, thereby rendering a state of permanent repose absolutely necessary, during which period of indulgence the weight is again put on faster than before. We must go to work far more gradually. Let him wear but one great-coat, and, without lengthening the distance of his previous walk, let him increase the pace till a slight moisture is perceptible on the skin, when he should return to a room of moderate temperature, with a free circulation of air, and stripping to the skin, wash all over in tepid water, after which a severe course of dry-rubbing with a coarse towel will stimulate the pores, and increase that general health which he should be most anxious to promote against the time when his wasting is to begin in right earnest.

Let him be careful to lengthen the distance of his walk by a few hundred yards every morning, and if he can get half a mile or so against a hill so much the better, it will open his lungs and help to harden him against fatigue, and we are much mistaken if, at the end of three weeks or a month, our friend does not feel himself a lighter and stronger man than he has been for years. Let him, however, during this period abstain above all things from the weighing-machine; he is not now supposed to be taking off flesh, but merely bringing himself to that state of vigour which will enable him to bear its loss without detriment-nay, with positive advantage.

We will now imagine this stout gentleman to have become pretty lasting both in wind and limb. He quite enjoys his morning walks, and comes in after them with a healthy appetite, but no craving for his breakfast. Now, if you please, we will begin with him in right earnest, and put him to exertions which, though child's play to him now, would be productive of severe distress to any individual not properly prepared. We will weigh him before he goes out, stripped to the buff, in order that there may be no mistake about dress. We will put him into a couple of waistcoats, a pair of thick trousers, and two great-coats, a light cap on his head, and no comforter round his neck, that being the surest recipe in the world to produce a sore throat. We will then ask him to walk briskly off on a three-mile stretch, increasing the pace as he warms, which he will not be long in doing, and-for an indulgence -breaking into a jog-trot when he collars the hill. At the turn, we will allow him to stop and breathe himself for about five minutes, during which time, if we mistake not, the sweat will pour off him like water, and the homeward journey must be performed at the same pace as he set out, shutting off the steam a little in the last mile to give the lungs an opportunity of regaining their usual play before entering the house, nothing being so prejudicial as to go into a warmer atmosphere with the lungs oppressed. On arriving at home, let him strip rapidly, and finish his sweat with a roll between the blankets; after which a thorough ablution with soap and tepid water is not only advisable, but indispensa

ble. Now let him weigh if he will. To his surprise he will find he has lost some seven or eight pounds, and gained in their stead a feeling of buoyancy and light-heartedness as novel as it is exhilarating. This treatment repeated twice or thrice a week, and on the intermediate days used in a gentler form, will, in the course of a very short time, bring the lusty frame to its proper manly proportions, while the decreasing belly and the increasing leg bear witness to the beneficial effects of our energetic method of training.

Let these morning exertions, too, be entirely independent of the day's avocations. Rely upon it, a man is not the less inclined for a twentymile ride, or a six hours' dawdle after partridges-which most people are quite satisfied to consider work-because he has had a sweat before breakfast; and should his occupation be sedentary and mental, rather than active and bodily, he will be surprised to find what clearness of intellect and equanimity of temper wait upon a softened skin, a lightened body, and an untaxed digestion.

In going through this course of treatment, it cannot be too much insisted upon that the more gradual is the increase of exercise, the more lasting and beneficial are its results. Nothing is more common than for some jovial sportsman, who lives, as the saying is, "like a fighting-cock," every day of his life, to find, when February has deprived him of shooting, and a bitter frost confines his hunters to the stable or the covered ride, that if he wishes to preserve his health, his appetite, and the fit of his clothes, he must positively exert himself in some species of bodily labour, as he erroneously imagines, the harder the better. How does he begin? Swathed in clothing, and puffing like a grampus, he starts out of Melton (for instance), and taking the high road to Oakham, after the first three miles a succession of the severest hills, he plods along, now running, now walking, and now subsiding into a footsore shuffle, till his many wraps are saturated with perspiration, and exhausted nature just contrives to land him safely back in his luxurious dressing-room, where a glass of hot brandy-and-water is the first restorative taken to prevent cold, and a French novel with a couple of cigars serve to while away the afternoon till dinner-time, in a condition of delightful languor and repose. At seven o'clock he is not so hungry as usual; but never before, he opines, did he really enjoy the merits of iced champagne, and the blushing goblet of Bordeaux owns an intensity of flavour to which he seems to have been hitherto unconscious. He floors at least one bottle of the latter, and should the frost hold, sleeps next day till twelve o'clock. He is so stiff for the rest of the week that anything beyond a quiet lounge to the stable is a moral impossibility; but the system has received a fillip, the digestion is all the better for his one walk, and a healthy appetite continues to be indulged without hesitation or remorse. Can we wonder that when the welcome thaw does arrive, Sampson finds his master four or five pounds heavier than he ever remembers to have carried him?-rather an important consideration to the steed, when we consider the almost certainty of a run in that country immediately after the breaking up of a long frost.

Exercise alone will never keep down weight, if the food taken be only limited in quantity by the appetite such exercise is certain to produce; the man will doubtless be all the better and stronger for his work. His flesh will be firm, and his muscles hard and knitted; but

still, though robust and vigorous, he will be like Alfred Jingles' everexpected packing-cases, "Heavy, sir! heavy! d---d heavy!"

We are not now considering by what means a feeble constitution, and, in some cases, even these are liable to put on flesh, is to be brought to its best form, but how a large powerful man, with health and strength to spare, is to be set on horseback at a weight which gives his hunters a fair chance of carrying him to Hounds. For this purpose, diet must go hand in hand with work; and these two together, if properly regulated, will never, except in actual disease, fail of the desired effect. The first object, we need hardly say, is to take exactly that quantity of food which is sufficient to support a generous state of health, and at the same time to leave as little superfluity as possible for the creation of that adipose matter which we call fat; and here again, great care must be taken that abstinence should be practised as gradually as possible, and, as we have already said, that the stomach, if unaccustomed to long fasts, should not be all at once deprived of its usual number of meals. We will suppose that the heavy gentleman for whom we are prescribing has been in the habit of eating his three full feeds a day, viz., breakfast, luncheon, and dinner, with perhaps meat at each; we should not immediately reduce him to hermit's fare, but beginning with breakfast, we should say, Take off the mutton chop; where you had two boiled eggs be content with one; drink half your usual allowance of tea (of all things, large quantities of fluid are most conducive to weight). At luncheon, one slice of meat, a little bread, no vegetables, and, if you are used to it, one glass of beer; and at dinner, eat slowly, avoid trash, and drink as little wine as possible-the stimulant properties of alcohol, of which all wine contains more or less, creating a false appetite which it is difficult to control. In a short time, supposing the morning walks to be persevered in, we should further reduce our victim to butcher's meat but once a day, and we should perhaps persuade him to substitute plain water for the beer to which he has been accustomed. There is little fear of his sinking under such treatment; few there are, in the upper or middle clases of society, who have ever been injured by abstinence, however great may be the number of those who have fallen a prey to excess; and when we consider the meagre fare upon which even a well-paid labourer performs his six days of hard work, andretains his health and strength to an advanced old age, we need not›› afraid that we shall err upon the side of simplicity or self-denial in our own mode of existence. By degrees we will get our friend down to a light breakfast, no luncheon, no beer, and a moderate dinner, with two or three glasses of good old wine, but not more, except on great occasions, such as a daughter's marriage, a son's promotion, or the run of the season. And by this time, we will answer for his having arrived at his proper weight; to reduce him lower, would probably be injurious to his health and constitution.

The morning walks may now be discontinued, or at any rate diminished to twice or thrice a week, being careful, however, to consult the steelyard, and to go through a regular sweat as before, whenever that monitor indicates a few pounds' increase of weight. With regard to the different effects of different articles of diet, it must be borne in mind that although doubtless good beef and mutton are the most nourishing and consequently the most weight-producing of all food, yet, as

a far smaller quantity of such fare will suffice for the supplies of the animal frame than of vegetable or farinaceous sustenance, it is better to eat sparingly of meat than largely of the latter substances, since, after that which is necessary for the support of life has been extracted, there is much less superfluity left from the one than the other. One moderate meal of meat, we would therefore recommend in the twenty-four hours, the other to consist of plain bread-and-butter, or toast and tea. No man, we think, will grow fat upon a regimen such as this; though I can confidently appeal to all who have tried it to bear testimony to the lightness of spirits and elasticity of frame which such a temperate mode of life assuredly confers. The beverage I should recommend to those who can drink it with pleasure, is plain water; but as this brew of our mother earth is, though most undeservedly, somewhat unpopular, I must strain a point in favour of sound claret (in great moderation), dry champagne, well iced old hock, and weak sherry-and-water, or weaker still brandy-and-ditto; these I recommend as having least tendency to produce weight, upon the same principle that I would place a veto on porter, ale, and beer, with all the stronger wines, unless copiously diluted with aqua pura. For actual health, I am persuaded the less alcohol that finds its way into the system the better for the human frame. Tobacco meets with its supporters and its foes, nor is there, I believe, a single argument for or against its use that has not been urged. My own idea is that it is a slow poison; though, I must confess, I cannot but agree with an old and skilful physician, to whom I made the same remark, and who replied: Certainly; but I think so slow few of us will live long enough to find it out." As a substitute for other and more noxious stimulants, it is, perhaps, one of those indulgences which may be permitted on the principle of two evils, choose the least."

If the unfortunate subject of our remarks, the corpulent Major Bullock, will consent to eat and drink but little, while he takes plenty of exercise, we will let him smoke his two or three cigars a day, without molestation or remark; health and activity will follow close upon the footsteps of abstinence and self-denial; and no longer a huge unwieldy mass of corruption and incipient disease, November shall again see him with his beaver on "—

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"Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury,

And vaulting with such ease into his seat,

As if an angel dropped down from the clouds

To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,

And witch the world with noble horsemanship."

LOTTERY, THE STEEPLE-CHASE HORSE.

Poor Lottery has run his last heat. We are glad, however, to add that his old age was passed in comparative comfort. It is true, certainly, that he descended to the team; but he passed into too good hands to ever suffer abuse. It was but just previous to Christmas that we saw him as "middle horse," looking as cheerful and game as perhaps ever he did in life. On closing his career over the country, the attempt

66

The

to patch up the "Liverpool" leg having ended in a failure, he was sent, upwards of three years since, to Mr. Henry Hall, at Neasdon. This gentleman at the time using old Carlow, another steeple-chase crack, as huntsman of his own clever little pack of harriers, Mr. Elmore, one day in the field presented him with Lottery, as a second horse." Being found more fitted for slow work he was tried in the team, to which he took as naturally as if he had never played a higher game. Some wonderful stories got abroad, a short time back, as to the hardships he was undergoing: we were enabled to give them the best contradiction at the time, as any one might who had seen the horse on the farm, or in his journeys up and down the Edgeware Road. Since his death Mr. Hall has had to decide some curious bets, as to " How many times a week old Lottery brought vegetables to Covent Garden Market?" and "whether, in his way to London with hay, he had to pass up Gray's Inn Lane?" To such duties, though, the wager-makers took for granted, the horse was never put. Since the report of his being destroyed, Mr. Hall has been equally beset for relics and the head, very well stuffed, was for some time on view in the Edgeware Road. A horse's head, after all, however, is but a clumsy ornament. feet, which will work up better, are to figure as inkstands and snuffboxes. The skin has been dressed for the Hall at Neasdon; while the mane and tail are to be yet more honoured, as bracelets for the arm of beauty. Lottery was bred in 1830, by Mr. M. W. Jackson, of Riston, near Beverley, and got by the celebrated racehorse and stallion Lottery out of Parthenia, by Welbeck, her dam by Grog out of a mare by Staghunter. He ran twice on the flat, winning the Holderness Stakes in the name of Chance, and after being ridden for a short time as a hunter, was sold at Horncastle Fair to Mr. Elmore for 150 gs. From him he went to Mr. Villebois, in Norfolk, where he was ridden with the staghounds; but being re-purchased by Mr. Elmore, he was ultimately entered to that pursuit in which he became so celebrated. Justly associated with his success is the name of his pilot, James Mason, for whom, by the way, he had always the most decided antipathy. So strong, indeed, was this, that Mason had often to conceal his colours when going up to mount him; and but a very short time since, on hearing his voice at the door of the box at Neasdon, the old horse flew round at him like a bull-dog. The other, however, rather expected such a greeting, and was so well out of danger. When once set going, though, they were on better terms; and there were few finer sights for a horseman than James Mason handling Lottery over a stiff line.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS OF THE METROPOLIS.

"I belong to the unpopular family of Telltruths, and would not flatter Apollo for his lyre."-ROB ROY.

What with May meetings, greetings, reviews, routs, and rowing, the past month of sunshine, embittered by that foe of all-an east wind has not been an idle time for that misnamed being, "an idle man," misnamed for the very reason that he lives "laborious