Jehus, and in the Sporting Gazette.' No doubt if the truth were plainly told, it might prove unpalatable to a great many of those who are daily displaying their incompetence, but they must remember that, when undertaking a public duty, such as that of driving a coach, they of their own free will lay themselves open to public criticism. A man who drives his private drag, let him do it ever so badly, so long as he can keep clear of passing vehicles, and does not endanger the life or limbs of other people, may do as he likes, and it is no matter to any one, but the moment a man opens his coach to hire for those who like to ride on it by paying for their places, he becomes the servant of the public and liable to have his performance of the part he has undertaken canvassed and commented on. Now it seems to me that there is a tendency amongst a few of the younger coachmen to look on their coach as a sort of semi-private affair, although willing enough to take the money which the public throw into the concern, by making variations from their advertised route on certain occasions, the neglect which some of them show in the matter of keeping time, and other things, evincing their disregard for the full carrying out of the part they have undertaken. These laches, when they occur, should be ruthlessly exposed; it is by no means equitable to men who do the thing well and work their road honestly and fairly, keeping good time and carrying out their contract with the public, to give others who do nothing of the sort equal credit with them. Neither is it fair to the good coachman to write in the same eulogistic strain of one who can scarcely drive at all, as you would apply to him. Yet this is constantly done. If it is not, the man, perhaps deserving downright condemnation, but fancying himself damned with faint praise, is sore on the subject. If he cannot stand criticism he should drive in private and thus place himself beyond the reach of it.

The same with regard to horsing and turning out their coaches. I have myself seen brilliant teams go out of London, to be replaced with very seedy ones farther down the road; yet I think I may ask in vain for any one to point out to me an article on Coaching in which such a falling-off is distinctly stated. The public should know this if they are really to be told the truth about the sport, and the man who horses his coach well throughout reap his reward, and not be classed with the one who merely sends a swell team over the London ground. So much for this part of my subject, which I have merely touched on just to show that all is not gold that glitters, and that it does not follow, because we have more coaches running now than formerly, that we are making such rapid strides in the sport as a mere casual observer would imagine. The taste for it is no doubt largely increasing both with the general public and with driving men; there is, certainly, a greater demand for coaches, and the demand ought to bring a number of skilled coachmen on the scene; the question is, will it do so? Those men who at the present time have coaches, or are likely to have coaches, on the road, who can drive even fairly may, I fear, be counted on

the fingers of one hand or less; yet my Half-hours at Hatchett's have shown me eight coaches now running from there, and at the present time of writing they are not yet all started. Amongst those on the box I have seen men who were very poor performers last year; and I fear, from what is to be observed morning and evening as they come and go (for I have not trusted my neck with them) that they are very little improved this.

There appears to be too much hurry to rush before the public. A friend of mine said the other day that if a certain exalted personage would only drive four donkeys down Piccadilly, half London would have a team of mokes in a fortnight. It is true; we do far too much from fashion, and not enough from the real love of sport, in the present day. In this article I have purposely avoided mentioning coaches now on, or likely to be on the road, as well as giving my own opinion of any professional now driving, because to the latter adverse criticism would be unfair, while those who are perfect in their art want no praise, as good wine needs no bush. Let me finish by saying I have always thought a good opportunity was missed of cementing, as it were, coaching' as a sport when the Road Club was established. Had that club started with a really strong committee, men of well-known weight and influence in the coaching world, inclusive, say, of Lord Macclesfield, Sir Watkin Wynn, Mr. Henry Villebois, Mr. Birch Reynardson, Mr. George Lane Fox, Colonel Stracey-Clitherow, Lord Algernon St. Maur, Captain Bastard, Mr. Corry, Colonel Tyrwhitt, Mr. W. H. Cooper, and Squire Drake, so much might have been done. It might, indeed, have held a position with regard to the Road as the Jockey Club does to the Turf. As it is, the Duke of Beaufort stands almost alone on the present committee as regards position and capability; and other men of mark, who should be members of it such as Lords Londesborough, Aveland, Abingdon, Poulett, Mr. W. E. Oakeley, and Captain Whitmore, are conspicuous by their absence. What might have been done is not done, and coaching appears to be drifting in a direction which those who wish to see the sport established on a firm basis, to say the least of it, are by no means glad to witness.

However, good men are on the road still, and we must look to their example to keep the thing right. If the public had only discrimination to see and know the good coin from the spurious, we should perhaps have fewer coaches, but they would all be of the right sort. Then a badly-driven coach would be as effectually damned' as a badly-acted play. However, as the taste for the road progresses, this devoutly-to-be-wished consummation may be arrived at. There is one healthy sign: coaches are beginning to run longer distances again, and the knife-board is by no means so common as last year; so that I may say all is not quite barren, and what was written on the latter subject in the publications I have before spoken of has, I hope, not been in vain.

Before closing I must relate an anecdote, which is much to the

purpose, that came to my ears the other day. A passenger on the seat by the driver of one of the 'busses passing along Piccadilly, inquired of Jarvey respecting the coaches. That worthy rejoined, Oh, yes, I see lots of 'em; and whenever I sees 'em, sir, I'm always ' reminded of children playing at 'orses.' Unfortunately, Jarvey was only too right, and the thing is treated too much as a plaything now. Mr. Chandos Pole had a great horror of trifling or making a plaything of a coach, and used to say, 'I hate what people call a nice coachman. I mean,' he explained, if I am asked to go to a picnic, and told," Mr. So-and-so is going to drive us there; he drives so "nicely!" I always decline.' But I must stop, or I shall tire my readers' patience. May he and I both live to see coaching assume once more a really workmanlike aspect.

T. T.

THE COMMON SENSE OF TOUTING.

TOUTING, in its broadest and most generally accepted sense, may perhaps be defined as 'most unwarrantable intrusion' upon the affairs of others; and primarily this is the utmost objection which can be urged against it. It is an offence-if indeed it deserves so severe a term-more against manners than morals, and on this very account is all the more difficult to be kept in check, not to say abolished. It becomes more obnoxious in degree as monetary interests are interfered with; but until the pocket is assailed, it merely assumes the shape of a nuisance, which is only endurable because simply incurable. Curiosity is such a powerful stimulant to the very large proportion of weak minds, that the anxiety to gratify it becomes a normal condition in the human breast, and a feeling which we cannot control, much less repress. No one can have experienced the désagrémens of touting to a more painful degree than the Prince of Wales during his progress through India; and every great personage or "lion of the day has to submit to the mobbing, staring, and cheering process known by the name of enthusiastic reception.' The English possess a special aptitude for touting, their tastes in this direction being more fully developed than those of their Continental neighbours. John Bull is a regular Paul Pry; and if we are a nation of shopkeepers, we make use of our holiday leisure as a nation of sightseers. Being also a nation of sportsmen, it is not unnatural that we should have recourse to touting, so far as it is applicable to our racing system, more especially when there is anything to be gained by a system of espionage. And in proportion as this desirable consummation is likely to result, so much more pains do we take in making our observations, and in comparing notes on what we have seen or heard, so as to derive profit from pleasure, and not to miss the good things' set before us for our advantage. The University crews are touted almost to death, and certain sensational prints

would almost carry their readers from the public doings of Oxford and Cambridge on the river to the privacy of their lodgings and hostelries. This is an excess of touting, and in the most execrable taste; but the code of laws of good manners drawn up by Chesterfield and others is merely a fancy one, and depends for its due observance upon the will of those who choose to consider themselves bound by it. There is nothing in the statute-book against bad taste or bad manners. A cat may look at a king, provided that in the act of stolid staring no enactment of the lex scripta is contravened, such as that which provides against trespass. There is nothing to prevent passers-by on a road from overlooking the premises of private individuals on either side, and taking notes of their occupations or The idle and vulgar would only laugh when remonstrated with, and probably stare and chaff with redoubled persistence and energy.

amusements.

This brings us directly to touting as the word is employed in its usual sense, namely, watching the exercise gallops of horses from some station contiguous to their training-grounds. The racehorse requires ample scope and verge' for his movements when in active preparation, and private individuals for the most part do not possess such extensive tracts in their own domains, but are compelled to have recourse to public heaths, downs, moors, and wolds whereon to give their horses the necessary work. Though on common ground, they are still private property; and it is doubtless very rude and impudent of certain strangers to criticise their movements and to note the amount and quality of work done by each racehorse in the sheeted squadron. The trainer, above all men, hates to see him'self (and his horses) in print,' mystery and secrecy having been important lessons in the stable discipline in which he was nurtured from the days of his apprenticeship. But so long as the strangers are content to respect private rights, and to confine themselves to the use of legitimate means in their vocation, trainers are absolutely powerless to prevent the goings-out and comings-in of their charges from being chronicled by the cordon of watchful gentry detailed to report the doings of the various strings, whether for public or private information. Visitations of touts are doubtless particularly annoying, but when made after this fashion, and without undue encroachment, the only course is to grin and bear it; throwing all lawful impediments in the way of touting, and putting the double on its professors as often as possible. When absolute trespass is committed, the law at once steps in to punish the offender, though not with that severity which owners of horses deem to be commensurate with the offence. Indeed it is hardly worth while to prosecute, and hence the profession of horse-watching rather flourishes, every important stable having its accredited staff from various employers, with orders to pay especial attention to the inmates as the turn of each arrives to make appearance in public.

Did touting end here, it might fairly be regarded in the light of a sentimental grievance; for if horses are trained within eyeshot of

Un

public thoroughfares, it would be unreasonable to deny the right of every passer-by to take observations of a morning's exercise. fortunately the line which divides right from intrusion in too many cases is overstepped by the touting fraternity, and here the owner's | or trainer's imaginary grievance may be said to end, and his real and justifiable cause of complaint to commence. Bounds are broken and trespasses are committed, leading to an open declaration of war between trainer and tout, in which, at least on the part of the latter, all is considered fair which may enable him to procure an accurate report for his employer as to the appearance, condition, and work of the various horses in the stable. There cannot be any reasonable doubt concerning the truth of the statements as to suborning stable-lads and tampering with apprentices which furnished so just a ground of complaint to recent memorialists to the Jockey Club. The evil does exist, and to an intolerable degree, in nearly all training quarters, and the paths of those who 'look after' the various cracks are beset with many and great temptations to divulge their masters' secrets. Out of stable hours the boys cannot be kept mewed up, and the village alehouse becomes an inevitable resort for the staff of the various establishments in the vicinity of public training-grounds. The pliable mind of youth is not proof against the solid inducements of those desirous of gaining the latest informa'tion,' and the bar-parlour is witness to many a mysterious interview between the corruptor and his dupe. Bribing, treating, and all other mean artifices are resorted to for the purpose of worming out stable secrets; and the inevitable result of detection by the master is instant dismissal from employment without a character, and frequently with a public warning to other trainers not to take the renegade into their service.

No wonder that there is thus cast upon the world a number of ne'er-do-weels, eminently qualified to recruit the touting community, and educated in the school of cunning, deceit, and fraud which helps to fill our gaols and to swell the annals of crime. Therefore we deem it to have been sufficiently shown that the trainers' grievance is a solid one, and crying aloud for a remedy; but how the Jockey Club is to bring about a reform in matters of this kind we are totally at a loss to conceive, except in so far as they exercise supreme authority over their property upon Newmarket Heath.

Without going into the question as to whether the memorial recently presented to the Jockey Club was sufficiently representative to carry the desired weight, the tone adopted by its subscribers indicated no line of action to be taken by the supreme Turf Council, and hinted at no course to be pursued for repression of the touting nuisance. It was, indeed,

'An infant crying in the night,

And with no language but a cry;'

for it was certain, by the official remonstrance addressed to certain sporting journals a short time since, that the Club was impotent to