1 1 L successively of the Persia and the Scotia when they were greyhounds of the Atlantic." Each of these fine paddleVOL. LIII.-No. 363. Y partly due to his writings, and partly to the evidence elicited by Lord Rosebery's Horse Committee in 1873. To show that England has again become an exporter of horses, it will be noticed with satisfaction that the numbers have altered from 30,524 imported and 2,352 exported in 1877, to 11,505 imported and 13,445 exported in 1888, and that the value of the latter was £874,071. These figures are attributable to the general interest taken in horse-breeding by country gentlemen and to the horse societies (each of them with stud-books devoted to their own breeds), and also to the attractions offered by the Queen's Premiums, which have been wisely substituted for the old Royal Plates. It is probable, moreover, that Mr. Robert Grimston would find several studs in Leicestershire-and notably that of the Duke of Portland-which would compare favourably with any that existed at Melton in that hypothetical golden age 'Which, like the circle bounding earth and skies, Thus far the want of stamina in the thoroughbred-which is an undoubted fact-has not sensibly affected the general utilitarian, the hunter, the hackney, or the high-class coach-horse. That it and the sprint or scurry races to which it is due are at this moment exercising the worst possible influence upon the art of training and the art of jockeyship, will, however, be denied by no one who is old enough to remember the days when the Ascot, the Goodwood, and the Doncaster Cups were three of the most interesting events in the year's calendar, and drew to the post such splendid specimens of the British thoroughbred as Priam, Glaucus, Harkaway, Alice Hawthorne, The Flying Dutchman, Voltigeur, Stockwell, Teddington, Vedette, Nancy, and Virago. It is with a view to comparing the preparation of a thoroughbred horse for his engagements, when they invariably included several races of two or two and a half miles, with that which is requisite nowadays, when he is seldom in training after three years old, and may put thousands upon thousands of pounds to the credit of his owner without ever galloping over a longer distance than six furlongs, that the following brief remarks are offered to those whom they may concern. There can be no doubt that training, as it was understood and practised in the olden time, was a far more laborious and exacting occupation than it is to-day. Let us seek an illustration from another and not wholly dissimilar pursuit-the art of shipbuilding—which in the last twenty years has been carried to a pitch of perfection which would have astonished old Commodore Judkins, of the Cunard Line, who was captain successively of the Persia and the Scotia when they were greyhounds of the Atlantic." Each of these fine paddle VOL. LIII.-No. 363. Y wheel vessels might be depended on to cross from Queenstown to Sandy Hook in ten, and if the weather were unusually favourable, in nine days; but when it was deemed desirable to accomplish the passage in six days or less, it was found necessary to increase the driving power of the engines to such a degree that the specifications of the Great Eastern steamship, long regarded as the eighth wonder of the world, cannot now be read without a smile. In an article on the leviathan ship, which appeared in the Quarterly Review of March, 1856, we are asked to conceive of her "rushing through the night in full career-an arrow 27,000 tons in weight, propelled by a bow of 3,000 horse-power." The article in question was written before the Great Eastern was launched, and there is a slight exaggeration in the estimate of her tonnage and horse-power, as given above; but, speaking roughly, the proportion of her tonnage to her horse-power was in the ratio of nine to one, or, in other words, each horse, so far as that expression indicates a quotum of steam, had to drive nine tons through the water. Compare with this the specifications of the City of New York and the City of Paris, and it will be found that their burden is 10,500 tons, and that their engines represent a power of 12,500 horses; and that having been constructed at vast expense, the vessels are driven at an enormous cost. Now, the increased horse-power which is needed to enable a heavy ship to accomplish, under favourable circumstances, 500 knots in twenty-four hours, is analogous to the augmented difficulties and risk under which a racehorse who has to cover two and a half miles against formidable antagonists is prepared for his engagement. Not much training is required to enable a sprinter to run five or six furlongs; but the skill with which such an animal as Verneuil was trained to win the Queen's Vase, the Gold Cup, and the Alexandra Plate at Ascot, in 1878, reflects the highest credit on his trainer, and has nothing in common with the preparation of two-year-olds and three-yearolds for short cuts, in which jumping off is more than half the battle. And this leads to the inquiry, whether the almost total abolition of sweating, in which our predecessors of the last two or three generations were such firm believers, is an unmixed blessing. No doubt it was carried to excess by William Chifney, who prepared Priam for the Derby, and was, according to the late Lord Stradbroke, the severest trainer that he ever remembered at Newmarket. It has often been disputed whether the abolition of sweating is to be credited to Robert Robson, who was called in his time the "Emperor of Trainers," or to Tom Dawson, who understood the art of preparing horses for long distances as well as any man of the present centurywitness the victory of Jonathan Wild and Grimston, both of them three-year-olds, and both the property of "Johnny O'Brien," for the Goodwood Stakes and Goodwood Cup of |