with them to advantage; thirdly and lastly, the attendances are exceedingly meagre, hon. members being glad to escape into the country, after their harrassing nightly duties in Westminster and elsewhere. Our remarks, therefore, will present little in the way of novelty. The four favourites are perpetually changing places; at the early part of the month Beiram had undisputed possession of the premiership, Margrave leading the opposition till the 9th, when, by the aid of a few hundreds laid out upon him by a Cambridgeshire party, he ousted his tory opponent, and continued at the head of the list till the 16th, on which day there was some sharp fighting between him, Beiram, and Spencer; all were backed with spirit, and it was owing to Mr. Bland (who has been niggling about him for a long time) that Spencer became first favourite. He continued to have the call of the other two, although quoted at similar odds, till the following Monday, when Margrave seemed to be the choice; at the close of the month, however, the three were so close together, that a hundred pounds would turn the scale. Non Compos has been on the decline for two or three weeks, and is seldom backed. Byzantium (the Folly colt) has been talked up to 15 to 1, but very little has been laid out upon him. Minster has been repeatedly backed in private, without making very rapid advance; his noble owner, it is said, will not sell him for a less sum than eighteen hundred pounds! No others are in demand. The betting on the Riddlesworth, Oaks, and St. Leger, has been of too insignificant a nature to call for any observation; we shall therefore close our report with the customary monthly quotation. 600 to 500 on Beiram and Margrave agst. Dulcinea and Non Compos (taken on the 16th.) In the course of the month several even bets of 500 each were made between the three first favourites. 3 to 1 agst. Lord Exeter's lot. OAKS. Emiliana has been at 7 to 1 throughout the month; nothing else mentioned. ST. LEGER.-8 to 1 offered agst. Fang, and 8 to 1 agst. Lord Exeter's lot. BETTING IN THE COUNTRY.-YORK DERBY.--5 to 2 agst. Mr. Richardson's Fan (taken).-5 to 1 agst. Mr. Walker's Conrad (taken).-7 to 1 agst. Lord Kelburne's Georgiana colt.--8 to 1 agst. Lord Cleveland's brother to Maria.-8 to 1 agst. Mr. Petre's Beaufort.-10 to 1 agst. any other. Some of the bound volumes of this Magazine being infamously done, all purchasers of the same will oblige us particularly by sending them to be exchanged, either at the Publishers' or Printer's. We have been reading the "Riot Act" at our stitchers in consequence of the complaints we have had about the stitching of the last Number. "Medicus's" letter is in type, but on making up we could not find room for it this month. "See Ho" writes to correct a pedigree of the greyhound Velocipede (see p. 225), which he says was bred by Mr. C. Cotton, near Burton-upon-Trent, and was by Manfred, out of Clara. Manfred being by Mr. Hassall's Bergami, the sire of Hercules, consequently half-brother instead of son as stated by us. In corrections, our Correspondents should study brevity, particularly if they wish their letters to be inserted. This one extends to three closely written pages, quite an impossible quantity. Our friend at "Yarm" is thanked. We will use his jeu d'esprits at an early opportunity. To "C. J. M." We will give instructions relative to the returns of Pigeon Matches as suggested. You need not be at all alarmed that we are going to give any coloured plates in the Magazine. A letter was sent to "W. H.," Leamington, in December, and returned to us. "A bets B., that a thorough-bred fox terrier, if put into a fox earth where he can get to him, will not attempt to seize him, but will only mark; and if attacked by the fox, will not attack again." A thorough-bred terrier will seldom do more than bay at the fox, so as to direct the diggers; but never having been in an earth with one, we cannot answer the latter part. Those with a cross of the bull (if good for any thing), are the dogs for drawing a fox. Any gentleman knowing the acknowledged rules for "Measuring Horses or Ponies," that have to run weight for inches, will oblige a Correspondent by answering the following queries: Is the Owner allowed to have the shoes taken off before measuring? Is there a frame allowed of certain dimensions for the horse to set his four-feet to each corner, and what are the dimensions of it for a fourteen-hand horse? Is it allowable by tricks, to make the horse carry himself higher than usual at measuring? Christmas comes but once a year, which Compositors generally commemorate by an overflow of typographical errors :-at p. 169, 2d col., line 14, for "hand,” read "head;" p. 198, 1st col., line 16, for "Beiraam," read "Beiram;" and 22, for "gizard," read "gizzard;" p. 211, 2d col., line 8, for "Whilton," read "Whitton;" p. 213, col. 1, line 16, for "Chainwood," read "Charnwood;" and at p. 225, Sales of Horses, for "Somerby, read "Sowerby." Advertisements for the wrapper are received by Messrs. BALDWIN and CRADOCK; and also by our Printer, Mr. SPIERS, 399, Oxford-street, up to the 25th of each month. WILD FOWL SHOOTING. Engraved by R. GOLDING, from a Picture by A. Cooper, R.A. MR. EDITOR, You are quite right, when you say I now and then rode in the Old Warwick; and let me tell you, that when in the hands of its late lamented Proprietor, it was a well conducted concern; and I do assure you, you would have found it in those days no easy matter to have laid your leaders alongside his hind wheel. Do not be offended at the remark, but I have a little vanity on this point, having frequently horsed the coach; but things are very differently managed now; and I, after twenty years of care and attention in the department assigned me, was, without any provocation on my part, ordered to book myself any where else in future. But I can now sing with Caliban, "Got a new master, get a new man." Therefore to the matter you require of me, a description of this beautiful plate of Wild Fowl Shooting. I have always considered this sport as the gunners ne plus ultra, quite the fox-hunting of shooting, and am one of those who would sooner be all day in mud up to my hips, amid Ducks and Snipes, than lounging in Bondstreet, though prepared for the occasion by Stultz and Humby; and having a friend whose appetite for the sport is quite as keen as my own, we are very frequently seen together, and are intended by Mr. Cooper to be represented in the accompanying illustration (like Falstaff) at our avocations, "Quashing the Marsh, among the Snipes." Wild Fowl are seldom to be found in situations where there can be any thing like preservation, except in the vicinity of decoys, and there the iron arm of the law prevents the shooter from exercising his skill; therefore it is absolutely necessary to start early in the morning, or all the ground will have been beaten before you get there, for it matters little to you whether he who has preceded you, is a good or bad shot, for if he is a local, as I term them, he will be acquainted with the usual haunts of the birds, and have disturbed every thing, and not improbably bagged most of them. Therefore let me again recommend you to start early, and beat the best places first, unless they are so situated that you cannot get at them without loss of time and ground. My object for directing you to do so is, that those places are more likely to contain Duck, Wigeon, and Teal; and should you fire in the immediate neighbourhood, they will become alarmed at the report of your gun, and take wing, leaving you to console yourself under the mortification of having unwittingly destroyed your own sport. I have often found the necessity of attending to the above rule; at any rate, as Wild Fowl come into the marshes at night-time to feed, and leave early in the morning, he who gets to work at peep of day, will be more likely to succeed than he who started two or three hours later. I should have informed you, Mr. |