The above are hunted from either kenuel; and for some of them the hounds occasionally sleep out.

The above are hunted from the Cattistock kennel distant from Dorchester, nine miles; Eastbury kennel is distant from Blandford five miles.

TATTERSALL'S LIST.

BETTINGS FOR JANUARY.

THE business done on the Derby, at the commencement of the past month, was limited; but towards the middle it assumed more spirit. It will be seen that, in the last week, the favourites improved in their respective prices; and they were backed at those quotations, for considerable sums. The advances among the outsiders will speak for themselves; there was no remarkable move, however, among them. Now, however, that the different stables are getting into strong work, we may look for some changes of interest. This will, probably, be a brisk month in the market.

THE SPORTING LIFE OF ENGLAND.

BY J. W. CARLETON, ESQ.

"The Sporting Life of England!
The Charter of the Esle!
Perish the traitor, heart and hand,
That would, with dastard wile,
Sow discord, jealousy, or strife,
Among the gallant band

Who share and shield our Sporting Life,
The Charter of the land.

OLD SONG.

"WHEN two men ride upon one horse," observes the eminent Dogberry, "one of them must go behind." Now, should those who mount the same hobby-horse be in a similar category (which appears a reasonable conclusion), then, either the author of the "Old English Gentleman," or of these presents, is likely to enact his "Sporting Life” upon the crupper. I have never had the fortune to meet him in the field; but if he be as good across country, as under the mahogany, he will be found hard to beat. Mr. Mills is yet young; and, with all courtesy be it said and received, still in his novitiate, as a sportsman. A few months ago he made his debut in these pages, in an article, at one time, proposed to be extended to a series, under the title attached to this paper. The cause of that design being abandoned is not germane to the present matter; enough, that he has transferred his talents to the behoof of the old "Sporting Magazine."

Since the tours by Nimrod, published some twenty years ago in that periodical, nothing of the nature of a general view of the condition of the chase in England has appeared from the pen of a practical sportsman, having access to the scenes and society to be depicted. I give those sketches the praise their undoubted merit entitles them to. No papers of half their value had previously been written upon hunting, and the interest they excited was at once an earnest of the existing taste for that noble sport, and a guarantee that it would long prevail. It was the design of the proprietors of this work to have engaged Mr. Apperley to write a series of articles on the principal hunting countries of the present day. I am of opinion still, that he was well qualified for such an undertaking, though I am aware that a distinguished master of hounds, whose guest he was, when engaged on the "Tour in the Midland Counties," given in the SPORTING REVIEW, two years ago, pronounced his essay, both in field and kennel, practically and theoretically, "an eminent failure." Twelve years, of almost perpetual confinement, in that sportsman's limbo, Calais, was certainly such a course of training for a début at Widmerpool, or on Badminton Lawn,

as might lead one to anticipate "an eminent failure;" but, for many reasons, Mr. Apperley's hunting career, in this country, has ended, and here ends the allusion to it.

Because, however, we have been without comprehensive notices, in a regular succession, of our great hunting establishments, and the most distinguished individuals attached to them, we have not lacked occasional descriptions of particular localities and sportsmen, as graphically described as sporting scenes and sights ever have been. Still something more than such fugitive sketches were needed. It was but fair that there should be some one to catch, and some page to keep record, of the worthies of our own day. With that view these papers are begun, and with that design they will be continued. Since it was suggested that I should make the attempt, the most cordial offers of assistance have been made to me, and many are the hospitable invitations I have received. Indeed, the evening of the day that it was decided upon, I happened to dine with one of the most popular masters of hounds in England. Fox-hunting, of course, was the zest wherewith we flavoured our claret, and I spoke of my proposed sporting tours. "To show my loyalty and my taste," said I," the first notice must be of Her Majesty's Hounds." "Then come to me," said a gallant Colonel, as renowned in the field as distinguished at the board, whose seat is in the centre of their country," and I'll find you a stable, a bed, and a welcome; you cannot be better situated for the Queen's." The weather, and other causes, during the past month, interfered much with the operations of the Royal Stag Hounds; but, as my object is rather to speak of the establishment than the sport to which it gave rise, this is the less material. For the last six or eight years I have seen a good deal of the Royal Hounds in kennel, and have occasionally hunted with them. In that time the fields have undergone great changes, but the "brave old guard" rally with them still. He who has Mr. Grant's fine picture of the Royal Hunt in his sanctum (and few disciples of Dian, I suspect, are without it), will recognise most of the "old familiar faces," should he join a meet at Ascot Heath, or the Magpies. I have witnessed some splendid riding with them; for instance, a few years since, during a run from the neighbourhood of Aylesbury, when we took close to the park wall, at Woburn, the style in which some of the leading men went was as brilliant as anything I ever saw. Of course, they give existence to a great deal of larking and riot, but with a deer that will go straight and fast, you presently have "a clear stage, and no favour," to the letter. No one who observes the bias of the times can hold any opinion, but that stag-hunting will soon be accounted among the relics of the past. I am satisfied that, in a few years, the Royal will be the only staghunting establishment in this country; and even that will have to go further a-field to pursue its sport. The spirit evinced by the landholders in the district of Harrow, last season, was but the faint murmur of a cry, soon destined to become loud and general. Perhaps this is not to be wondered at; certainly it does not deserve the bitter animadversions, neither the dismal prognostications that have been allied to it. It is folly to assume that a worse spirit is abroad, than in the days of our fathers, because the proprietors of a locality that has