"THE DOG IN THE MANGER."

ENGRAVED BY J. H. ENGLEHEART, FROM A PAINTING BY A. COOPER, R.A.

"Once on a time-"-I stammer on,

By no means sure of pulling through

"There was—a dog-" Proceed, my son,

And tell us what this dog did do.

Indignant at the very thought,

The young idea is waxing hot;

A far more easy order ought

To ask us what this dog did not.

The little beast is everywhere,

Of stupid tales and morals full:
An ugly, dirty, half-bred cur,

With just the slightest dash of "bull.”

'Tis his "delight to bark and bite,"
That's how he first got in our way;
And, then, he guards the house at night-
Familiar as "the old dog Tray."

With Gay and Esop next he travelled;
Delectus slowly made him out,

Or well-worn Lexicon unravelled
What it was really all about.

His instinct marks the miscreant stranger;
The passing steed his temper sours,
And puts his blessed brains in danger,
Just, as it seems, to bother ours.

He crossed a brook one summer's day-
He grabbed the shadow for the meat!
And saw the substance float away,
Not game enough to wet his feet!

On the sweet-scented meadow hay
He laid his mangy carcase down;
His only greeting to the Grey
The ready growl and constant frown.

At this glad season of the year,
At such a moral do not scoff ;-
Let those who can, enjoy their cheer,
Let those who can't, just bundle off.

For once, then, with a kindly eye
This fabled lore we'll look upon;
Although, to speak out honestly,
One still detests that τον κύνον.

68

TIDINGS FROM LEICESTERSHIRE.

The case of Mr. Breedon Everard, which, after Mr. Allen's threat at the Groby sale luncheon, it was feared by many might prove damaging to the success of Lord Stamford's hunting, has, happily, had no such effect. Foxes have been plentiful, and the Leicestershire farmers are too sensible of the advantages which the hunt confers on the county to act on the advice so rashly tendered to them by Mr. Allen. Lord Stamford has met with no obstructions, and both his lordship and his officials have laboured energetically to secure sport. Many good runs have already been chronicled; and perhaps the annals of no season record so many brace of foxes killed before Christmas-day. The Earl has had a very handsome address of sympathy and confidence from his Leicestershire tenantry, and with that it is believed the much-agitated question is set at rest.

I send a few particulars with regard to the late Mr. Richards, of Ragdale Hall. He never had been a "Leicester Stockinger." His connexion with Leicestershire may be said to have been that of a retired private gentleman. He was born at Bobber's Mill, near Nottingham, in 1776, and it is quite true that in early life. he worked in the stocking frame. The winning of a small sum on a horse race first turned his attention to betting on the turf. He soon began regularly to attend Doncaster and Newmarket, and other races of minor importance; and it was by clever calculation of the "short odds" that he obtained his wealth. About thirty years ago he became the occupant of Ragdale Hall, a beautiful seat of the seventh Earl Ferrers; and his object in taking this mansion has been said to have been that of enabling him to be in close proximity with the members of the Melton Hunt, with many of whom he was in the habit of betting. It was at one time one of the recreations of the Meltonians, in a frost, to go and spend an evening with "Old Richards," at Ragdale Hall. It may truly be said of him that his conduct, both in the betting-ring and out of it, was always strictly honourable.

Mr. Richards was also attached to the chase. Though never a hard rider, he was invariably an attendant of all meets within easy reach of Ragdale, and always received kind attention from the Meltonians. When verging on ninety he might always be seen at the Leg's Hill fixtures, in his blue dress-coat, with posy in the button-hole, kerseymere smalls, and nankeen gaiters; and occasionally, in severe weather, a brown spenser. A more hale and hearty nonogenarian hardly ever

was seen.

Mr. Richards has left three sons in affluent circumstances, and a daughter married to a highly-respectable clergyman, now the incumbent of the parish adjoining Ragdale. His latter years were spent in an anxious preparation for another state of existence.

Leicestershire, Dec. 23.

OLD PETER

LITERATURE.

NOTITIA VENATICA. By Robert Thomas Vyner, Esq. R. Ackermann, Regent-street.

At this festive period of the year, when mothers, aunts, sisters, friends, and acquaintances are anxious to make suitable presents to their male kith and ken, there is no gift that will be more acceptable than the work under notice. Independent of its literary merits, it is brought out in the same elegant style that adorns the "Book of Beauty," and the illustrations from Alken are in themselves a perfect treasure of art: nor must we omit to mention the portrait of the author, admirably engraved by Hunt-a not inappropriate name for such a work. Mr. Vyner is in most respects equal to, and in some surpasses, Beckford himself. The noble science, with the former, appears to have been the study of his life; he has well considered the subject has laboured in the kennel and field; his theory and practice go hand in hand together; and the result is the production of the best work extant upon hunting. The volume teems with instruction and advice, interspersed with some most amusing anecdotes of the chase and sporting men-anecdotes not, as it were, lugged in head and shoulders to make up a book, but which blend happily, and without any strained effect, with the original themehounds and hunting. Strongly, then, do we recommend this talented and beautifully got up volume. The schoolboy who, during the Christmas vacation, rides his pony Jocko to see the hounds throw off; the collegian who, in defiance of the dons, sports his "pink," mounted on a Cambridge or Oxford hack; the Meltonian, nay, even the veteran master of foxhounds, will derive advantage from studying its pages. One word in conclusion. Mr. Vyner's claim to public support does not arise solely from his literary attainments; his conduct in the hunting-field upon all occasions has been that of a thorough-bred sportsman; and the gentleman-like demeanour he has universally practised under the trying circumstances that every master of hounds is subject to, has endeared his name to all who have had the gratification of following his hounds. MERRIE ENGLAND: ITS SPORTS AND PASTIMES. Dedicated, by permission, to His Royal Highness the Prince Consort. By Lord William Lennox. I. C. Newby, Welbeck-street.

ment.

T.

This is unquestionably one of the best sporting works that has been published for a length of time; it is replete with instruction and amuseHunting, racing, shooting, archery, coursing, yachting, and fishing are all treated with a masterly hand; and the volume, which is very elegantly got up, will be as welcome to the fair portion of the creation as to the sportsman. The dedication to the Prince Consort is in extreme good taste, free from fulsome compliment.

TRUE TO NATURE. Hurst and Blackett.

There few books in the present day which come up to their titles ; indeed, many that we could name bear no reference whatever to the catchpenny appellation they indulge in. In the work under notice such is not the case, and every line, from the first to the last page, is true,

aye, and strikingly true, to nature. Let us quote a few examples out of a number :-the love of Clarence for Herbert Desbrowe; the machinations of the cold-hearted gambler and villain Jasper Temple; the highminded bearing of Colonel Desbrowe, and the not faultless character of his beloved Ellinor Vivian, chastened and improved by the touch of trial; the sufferings of the gentle Lady Montague, and the devotion of her aged partner, who, amidst the cares and anxiety of life, clung closer together as the evening shadows warned them that the parting hour drew near; the deathbed of the pious owner of Chillinghurst, and the collision on board the Nettuno; all the above are perfect photographs, rendered brilliant, as well as faithful likenesses, by the happy colouring, the artistic touch, and clever grouping, that give reality to the work. One exception may be made, and that is the fact of the author preserving an incognito; with so talented a book, we can scarcely pronounce it to be consistent with human nature.

RIDES AND REVERIES OF ESOP SMITH. By Martin Tupper. Hurst and Blackett.

This work will add greatly to the literary reputation of the author, and will, in our humble opinion, outlive all cotemporaneous productions upon the same subject. While teeming with interest, practical wisdom, instruction, philosophy, information, and morality to the more sober reader, it equally constitutes a fund of amusement to those who delight in quaint humour, racy narrative, delicate satire, epigrammatic wit, and dashing style. Mr. Tupper complains, and with no little cause, of the malignancy of a clique of critics, and, after some stringent remarks, thus addresses the anonymous zoalists: "Cut me up ; but pray don't praise me.' We are sorry we cannot commit so great an outrage to our judgment or feelings. Let the writers of the Acridean, Cynic, Extinguisher, Freezer, or Flagelist produce half so good a work, and their rank as reviewers will merge into that of authors.

UBIQUE-ENGLISH QUARTERS AND EASTERN BIVOUAC.

By J. W. Clayton, late Captain 13th Light Dragoons. Charles Skeet, King William-street, Strand.

66

In a former number we noticed "Letters from the Nile," by the author of the above work, and commended it highly; it is equally our gratifying task to speak in most favourable terms of " Ubique," which is replete with incident and anecdote. The gallant ex-captain of the 13th Light Dragoons writes like a scholar and a gentleman; to a most agreeable, lively, original style he unites a truly moral tone, which reflects greatly to his credit. The fun and life of English quarters are happily blended with more serious scenes and topics abroad, and the language rises with the subject. Now playful, gay, and volatile-now plaintive and pathetic; now poetical-now pious and reflective. We venture to prophesy that the volume will carry out its name, and find a flattering reception ubique.

JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE IN THE YACHT CYMBA.
Cornhill.

In a most modest preface the writer trusts that "look for much in a crude essay in authorship." perused the book, and, far from thinking it a

Mann, Nephews,

the reader will not We have carefully crude" attempt, pro