eight or ten pounds or thereabout; which moneys were collected of the citizens, to a sum for that purpose."

Why were swift running-horses kept by the early sovereigns of England?

Because they were serviceable for heralds and messengers in cases of urgency; hunting also was among their uses, but we do not find that they were kept for racing only, as horses are in the present day.

Why were races formerly called bell-courses?

Because, as we have just shown, the prize was a silver bell. Hence, to win the race was to bear away the bell.*

Why is a race prize called the plate?

Because, about the close of the seventeenth century, the bells were converted into cups, or some other pieces of plate, usually valued at 100 guineas each; and upon these trophies of victory, the exploits and pedigree of the successful horses were most commonly engraved. James I. and the two Charleses, were patrons of horse-racing, and William III. established an academy for riding; and his queen not only continued the bounty of her predecessors, but added several plates to the former donations. George I, instead of a piece of plate, gave an hundred guineas to be paid in specie.-Strutt.

Their successors have been equally liberal, and King's and Queen's plates have accordingly accumulated; George the Fourth, in early life, an active patron of the turf, had a fine stud of racers, which has been much reduced by the less congenial taste of his successor, who will, however, continue the plates of his brother's liberality.

*See Zoology-The Horse, Part 2, page 52, in the last line of which for bell, read ball.

Why, at Newmarket, are there at the winning-post and distance post, two men holding crimson flags ?

Because, as soon as the first horse has passed the winning-post, the man may drop his flag; and the other at the distance-post may drop his at the same moment, and the horse which has not then passed that post is said to be distanced, and cannot start again for the same plate or prize. A distance is 240 yards from the winning-post.

Why is a feather-weight so called?

Because it is the lightest weight that can be put upon the back of a horse.

Why is a give-and-take plate so called?

Because the horses carry weight according to their height. Fourteen hands are taken as the standard height, and the horse must carry nine stone, the horseman's stone being 141b. Seven pounds are taken from the weight for every inch below fourteen hands, and seven pounds added for every inch above fourteen hands. A few pounds additional weight is so serious an evil, that it is said, seven pounds in a mile-race are equivalent to a distance.

Why is a post-match so called?

Because the parties possess the privilege of bringing any horse of a certain age to the post.

Why is a produce match so called?

Because it is between the produce of certain mares in foal at the time of the match, and to be decided when they arrive at a specified age.

Why was the horse Eclipse so named?

Because he distanced all horses with whom he ran ; or in other words, they had no place. Of his speed no correct estimate can be formed; for he never met with an opponent sufficiently fleet to put it to the test.

Eclipse produced 334 winners, and these netted to their owners more than one hundred and sixty thousand pounds; exclusive of plates and cups. This

fine animal died in 1789, at the age of twenty-five years.

Childers, another famous race horse, moved eightytwo feet and a half, in a second of time; or, nearly a mile a minute: he ran round a course at Newmarket, (about four miles) in six minutes and forty seconds. Racers usually run the four-mile Newmarket course in about seven minutes and threequarters, or eight minutes, or twenty-four feet at each stretch.

Why was the cheating game of pricking at the bell first introduced at races?

Because of its origin among gypsies, who frequent races in great numbers. Mr. Brand says, "it appears to have been a game inuch practised by the gypsies in the time of Shakspeare. For the information, if not for the benefit, of the unwary, its description is as follows: a leathern belt is made up into a number of intricate folds, and placed edgewise upon a table. One of the folds is made to resemble the middle of the girdle; so that whoever shall thrust a skewer into it, would think he held it fast to the table; whereas, when he has so done, the person with whom he plays, may take hold of both ends, and draw it away. The game is, however, often played with list, instead of a leathern belt, whence it is called pricking at the garter; and adepts in the game have been facetiously termed "knights of the garter." Mr. Brand also calls it "fast and loose."

Why were the Game-Laws first established?

Because of the oppressive rule of William the Conqueror; who not only seized on all the forests, but pretended an absolute right to them. Thus, he confined all hunting and fowling in them to himself, or such as he should permit or appoint. He punished, with the loss of his eyes, any that were convicted of killing the wild boar, the stag, or roe-buck. In the reigns of

William Rufus, and Henry I, it was less criminal to murder a man than to kill a beast of the chase.

ARCHERY.

Why is shooting with a bow and arrow called archery? Because the bow, when drawn, is in the shape of an arch.

Why is it inferred, that the bow was the most ancient and most common of all weapons ?

Because Ishmael, we are told, became a wanderer in the desert, and an archer: so were the heroes of Homer; and the warriors of every age and country have been acquainted with the use of similar arms.

Strutt has copied from a Saxon manuscript, representations of Esau, going to sell venison for his father; and Ishmael, after his expulsion from the house of Abraham, and residing in the desert.

Why were the English formerly expert in archery? Because, as far back as the thirteenth century, every person not having a greater annual revenue in land than one hundred pence, was compelled to have in bis possession, a bow and arrow, &c.; and all such as had no possessions, but could afford to purchase arms, were commanded to have a bow with sharp arrows, if they dwelt without the royal forests, and a bow with round-headed arrows, if they resided within the forests, to prevent the owners from killing the king's deer.

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His skill in the use of the long bow was the proud distinction of the English yeoman, and it was his boast that none but an Englishman could bend that powerful weapon. Chaucer describes his archer, as rying a mighty bow;" and the "cloth-yard shaft,” which was discharged from this engine, is often mentioned by our old poets and chroniclers. The command of Richard III, at Bosworth, was this:

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"Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head." To the use of the bow as a warlike weapon, we need here refer but briefly. The bow, too, claims part of the glory of the conquest of England, by William,

Duke of Normandy. The Norman army was fronted by "footinen clothed in light armour, worn over a gilted cassock, and bearing either long-bows, or steel cross-bows;" and the celebrated onset of Taillefer, gave note for the attack by showers of arrows, returned by tremendous cuts of steel axes. Harold, himself, too, had his eye struck by an arrow; notwithstanding which, he continued to fight at the head of his army. The bowmen were also the chief reliance of the English leaders in our bloody battles, for the succession to the Crown of France. At Agincourt, Cressy, Poitiers, and Flodden, it did terrific execution; and many of its effects are graphically described in the sparkling pages of Froissart.

Why were the English archers so superior to those of other countries?

Because it seems there was a peculiar art in the English use of the long-bow; for our archers did not employ all their muscular strength in drawing the string with the right hand, but thrust the whole weight of the body into the horns of the bow with the left.

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Why was archery first practised as a holyday pastime? Because of a command of Edward III, that the leisure time upon holydays should be spent in recreations with bows and arrows. Richard II, and Edward IV. made similar ordinances: the latter, that every Englishman, and Irishman dwelling in England, should have a long-bow of his own height, that butts should be set up at every township, at which the inhabitants were to shoot upon all feast days," or be fined one halfpenny for each omission. In the 16th century the use of the long-bow was much neglected. Henry VIII. however, made laws in favour of archery; instituted a chartered society for shooting, and with waggish humour dignified a successful archer, named Barlow, by saluting him as Duke of Shoreditch, at which place the man resided. This dignity was long