they get up one of the best Racing Meetings in England; indeed to the betting men Liverpool Races afford as rich a harvest as any other, not excepting even the princely Goodwood. To the Mersey stakes for two years old, there are twenty-four subscribers; to the St. Leger, thirty-six, and amongst them may be found the following cracks: Auckland, Fineaway, Ballinkeele, Goneaway, Scalteen, Pharold, Camelford, Misdeal and Playfellow. For the grand race, the Tradesmen's Plate, there are ninety-six horses entered, the weights to be named as I before observed on the 14th of June. For the Stand Cup, also a Handicap race, -there are nineteen subscribers; here again the managers show their good sense by not fixing the weights till the evening before running. The other races have been most liberally subscribed to, and several new rules and regulations made last year, will be brought into active force on the 13th of July, at which time the Liverpool Races will commence. Goodwood Races are appointed to take place on the 26th of July, and a more brilliant list never appeared upon paper. It is not my intention to wade through all the "bill of fare," but to draw attention to the "first and second courses," leaving the remainder to be filled up as the reader thinks proper. A Sweepstakes of 300 sovereigns each h. ft. for four years olds, three miles and a quarter, has twelve subscribers, with the celebrated Van Amburgh at the head. The Gratwicke Stakes, 100 sovereigns each, h. ft. mile and a half, has the splendid entry of sixty-five three year olds; of which number three are dead. The following valuable colts form a portion of the lot in training:-Auckland, Barrier, Defier, Palinurus, Lass of Lonton, Robert de Gorham, Brother to Phoenix, Wiseacre, the Baleine filly and Archy. The Ham Stakes for two-year-olds, of 100 sovereigns each, h. ft., has thirty-two subscribers, and the Drawing Room Stakes for three-yearolds at 25 sovereigns each, p. p. has forty-two names annexed to it; amongst the entry will be found several of the Derby and Oaks favourites. To show what industry can do in the Racing way, when backed by judgment, I need only observe that Lord George Bentinck got during the last Goodwood Meeting no less than one hundred and forty subscribers to the Goodwood Stakes, and forty to the Gold Cup; since that time several additions have been made to both races, which must prove two of the most interesting turf events of the coming year. The Racing Stakes of 50 sovereigns each p. p. for three years olds, has twenty-six subscribers, and the Nassau Stakes of 50 sovereigns each P. P. for fillies only, has twenty-two names down. There will be an immense number of other races, and upon the whole, the coming Goodwood Meeting may be safely put down as the most promising ever known to "mortal man." The The Doncaster Meeting wears a most cheering prospect. Champagne Stakes for two years olds, has thirty-six subscribers, and the old Two Year Old Stakes, thirty-seven. The St. Leger glories in the rattling entry of one hundred and thirty-six "good names and true." The following favourites will be found upon analyzing the whole:Attila, Lord of Holderness, Auckland, Ballinkeele, Brother to Phoenix, Skiptore (a very promising colt), Chatham, Cabrera, Moss Trooper, Passion, Wiseacre, and Sea Horse. The Park Hill Stakes (the Oaks of Doncaster), has twenty-nine subscribers at 50 sovereigns each, h. ft., and the regular stakes have filled in a very handsome manner. The Autumnal Newmarket Meetings show a decided improvement as regards the increase in the entries, and upon the whole I am delighted to say that turf matters seem to have taken a most glorious turn for the better. January 17, 1842. THE SEA-BANK. The coast Lay at this period quiet as the sky, The sands untumbled, the blue waves untoss'd, LORD BYRON. HAVING frequently visited the sea on the shores of Lincolnshire and Norfolk, where those countries are washed by the German ocean, and become acquainted with the haunts and habits of the various animals and birds which frequent the hills and vallies of the high bank which bounds the sea and shore, I determined to pay a visit in October to the scene of my summer wanderings. I accordingly packed up my traps, and having my spaniels in good trim, set out for Enderby's hotel, where I intended to take up my quarters for a week. The weather was as fine as one could wish, and during the journey down I could only hope for its continuance, in which I was not disappointed. I will first attempt a description of the scene of sport, although I know I must fail to convey an idea of its wild grandeur and fitness for shooting in all its variety. The Sea-bank extends over many miles of ground, but the four miles of country between Gibraltar point and the hotel, were the scene of my diversion. Here the ground rises and falls in hill and valley like the underlating waters which are its eastern boundary. The hills are clad with buckthorn and long spiry sedge, affording a most ample cover of about two feet high. Between the sedge and buckthorn the grass grows luxuriously in summer, but being sheep fed, with horses and oxen occasionally, it is always of a height sufficient to afford excellent pasture for hares and rabbits. On the west of the hills and close up to their base, are corn and grass fields, while as I before remarked the ocean is rolling to their feet upon the East. The rabbits though still numerous are not nearly so plentiful as formerly, having been killed down in consequence of the damage which they did to the corn. Of partridges and hares, if not in abundance, there are plenty to ensure a capital day; but the diversity of game, the wildness of the scenery, the grandeur of the ocean, and the quiet of the far-spreading flats of Lincolnshire, are such as to afford ample gratification to a sportsman, and to vary the monotony of wood and corn field in a way delightful to the lover of nature. The good fare of the hotel in the season, is too well known to need comment, and the breakfast which was spread before me in October did not shame the tip top fare of August. Having dispatched a good ration of eggs, ham, and coffee, and ordered a hot bath of salt water at four, I sallied forth to the hills. I shortly knocked down two couple of rabbits, and Enderby having ridden across his farm for the purpose of disturbing the covies, of which two remained untouched between his house and the cottage, I heard the cheering cry of "mark" on my right, and in two minutes marked eight brace of birds well down amid the buckthorn. When I say well down, I mean that they divided and settled in ones and twos, owing to their having taken alarm at his dog, which sprung them suddenly by a dike side. I was not long coming up with them of course, and in half an hour had three brace and a half in my pockets, with a hare, which was hopping quietly away, when I got a fine point at her and stopped her gambols for ever. I had but just reloaded when Rover flushed a woodcock, and taking a very steady aim at him I added him to my bag, and a couple more having risen in a few minutes after, I got one of them, and marked the other down shortly to bag, which I did, but missed aim clearly the first barrel. This was rare luck, for the birds were in good case, which considering that they had not long arrived in England, was hardly to have been expected, however much desired, and as I bagged a fourth during the day, I could not but esteem myself the favourite of fortune. I had now got to the end of Enderby's Liberty, where Mr. Enley's ground begins; and having no wish to kill his game, I began to look out for sea birds, which I expected to find in the long grass valleys, and in such spots as had been left with small pools of salt water in them by the last high tide. I soon espied a flock of curlew, and having crept them (and nothing is easier, owing to the sinuosities of the ground,) I was enabled to get within thirty yards of them, aud having manœuvred until I could enfilade them sitting, let fly and knocked down This was five, while a couple fell in flight from my second barrel. good, and as the rest dropped about a mile further on in the hills, I had every reason to expect another shot at them ere they left for the day. It was now luncheon time, and the air of the hills had given me a good appetite for the sandwiches in my coat pocket. I therefore made a cache of my game, which was as safe as in "a three times barred up chest," and pulling out my brandy flask took my seat on the lee side of a small promontory and began business. The scene around was as diversified as the imagination can picture. It was getting towards high water, and the tide was tumbling on the shore in all the noisy grandeur of a heavy sea. The merchantmen were on their various tacks to and from Hu!!, Yarmouth, Lynn, Boston, Wisbeach, and Cromer, while the steamer from Hull was "blowing her cloud" as she just faded from view. The little fishing cobles were busy on their various runs, trawling for soles, and dredging for oysters; while the various sea gulls, dottrel, dun birds, curlews, terus, divers, and other feathered inhabitants of ocean, were busy on the wing or piping in concert with the lashing waves. As I gazed upon the mighty deep, I thought upon the splendid lines in Childe Harold, and as none was by to chide or listen I repeated them with a deep feeling aloud : Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form Glasses itself in tempests; through all time, Icing the pole, or in the torrid clíme Dark heaving;-boundless, endless, and sublime The image of Eternity-the throne Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime The monsters of the deep are made; each zone Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone. Having disposed of my victualling department to my perfect satisfaction, and rested a quarter of an hour or so, I set off again to reach "the point" in time for the sea fowl shooting, which I expected to meet with. In this I was not disappointed, I saw the black thronged masses of birds sweeping across the bank as soon as I neared the spot, and starting off at a run, as I was evidently a trifle too late, soon reached my hiding place, and lay down beneath a sedgy hillock ready for the first army which crossed within range. I had not crouched more than five minutes, before I heard the whirr of wings, and in about as many seconds fired both barrels into at least a hundred dun birds, and down came nine in all. Having gathered the fallen together by the aid of the dogs, and reloaded both barrels, the first with No. 5, and the second with No. 2, I sat down again for another shot. My powder flask, shot belts, wadding, and ramrod, I laid alongside to lose as little time as might be when they were wanted. A very brief period brought a pack of curlew over head, and I knocked down four with the second barrel. In the next discharge I bagged fifteen out of at least five hundred which passed on my left like a thunder cloud. A large flock of dotterel succeeded, and with these I had still better luck, for I knocked down seventeen and bagged them. Curlew and dun birds succeeding these and various others in turn for about three quarters of an hour, found me as much work, firing, picking-up, and loading, as I could dispatch in time for the next shot which awaited me. Having sated my appetite for both sport and slaughter, and the flight of fowl having ceased with the flow of the tide, I made up my bag, and having deposited it for safe custody with mine host, started for the hotel. My homeward path was like my outward voyage, for I must speak nautically, so near the salt water, and expecting to crack a few jokes with Mr. Moody of the life boat station by and bye. I saw a covey of birds at feed as I drew on towards home, and not having the fear of Mr. Enley in my eyes, so as to blind them to the chance of driving the partridges within my bounds, I took a circuit and sprung them in the right line, and firing a useless shot to alarm and scatter them if I could; the ruse took effect and I had eleven birds down before me on my own ground. I had capital sport with them. The spaniels were selected for their steadiness and never behaved better. The cover was so well adapted to ensure a shot for every bird that rose singly, and so admirably calculated for their lying close, that I got seven of them, and could have killed the others had I followed them back again up the hills. Having had quite a surfeit of slaughter for one day, and bagged another hare as she was going home, I wound up with a couple more rabbits by way of emptying my gun before I reached my quarters, cleaned it for the next day-a rule I have followed for twenty years, and hope never to break through while I call myself a sportsman. One thing only was and is wanting to these hills, a breed of pheasants. And in return for many a day's excellent diversion, I will dispatch a cock and a brace of hens seaward next spring, and take the chance of their producing a brood in the course of the following summer. and To repeat the description of the succeeding two days would be but to weary my readers with a thrice told tale, suffice it to say, that they were equal to the first, varied slightly as to numbers, incidents, and kind; no woodcocks having been seen on either of them. CHARLES WILLOWDALE. |