adorned those heavens with light, and painted us a roof so blue and fair, so pleasant to the eye,-so gladdening to the heart! There a truce to rhapsody —just one mouthful of brandy to wash the metaphors down, and away now to the old starting place by the mill dam, where so often we have waged deadly war with trout and grayling, "from morn till dewy eve." Now, my Little Yellow May Dun, gently over the sunbeams; for, any time these twenty years, have I caught a mammoth trout behind that stone in the bend of the stream. The old miller yonder, with his wicked black eye and white face, looks fiercely methinks at my preparations. If I have any skill in physiognomy, that look is as much as to say," Devil take ye, I was saving that fish for myself." Wish you may get it, mister Milner! Now, my little pet Dun, away with you over the whirlpool, and if there is truth in Kendal steel we'll lead the fellow such a dance as never yet danced he by bank or brae. That throw convicts the miller. Though he has at least a penny loaf worth of flour on his face, I saw the flush of rage come upon his visage as plainly as I saw the Fire of the Tower of London come through the Prospect of the Polar Regions at the Dissolving Views t'other night. But annihilation to all millers! the mammoth trout has seized my poor little May Dun, and is doing all he can to devour him. But duuny is not to be caught with chaff, and so old pinksides finds to his horror. He would fain spit him out now, but tiny is not to be spat upon. Crikey! what a jump was there! A yard and a half, if it was an inch. Never mind! yellow-wings holds his own, and mammoth takes nothing by his motion. Stick to him, my little Kendal-back: we have got him clear of stone and roots now, and it shall go hard but, with a clear stage and no favour, we come in conqueror at last. Gently, Behemoth! have a care of our hickory; anglerods are not maypoles-neither are running-lines chain cables. There again! by the immortal Isis, if you take the to air in this guise, we'll send for our double Manton (our's is a "regular Joe") and bring you down flying. Hollo! who the deuce is this at our back? The miller ! Horrid wretch, what does he want? You assist us? Certainly not. You land the fish for us? By no means. We know you too well. You want to give him a jerk with the hoop of the net and so set him at liberty. No, no: we want nobody's help-much less a miller'sstand aside, sir, or we may do something desperate: the river is before us, and the foot-spear in our hand; we have no wish to commit murder, but even the "gentle angler" may be provoked beyond his endurance. There are points of view, sir, in which life becomes of small considera. tion there are circumstances in which the existence of a miller-as placed, I mean, in juxtaposition with the capture of a trout-is an affair of such positive insignificance such absolute nothingness, that— Hip, hip, hurrah! we've got him at last-safely banked; four ponnds if he's an ounce: hip, hip, hurrah! A thousand glories to my little May Dun-hip, hip, hur My dear fellow, Hopkins, how do you do? So glad to see you! Hope the mill goes on prosperously; and Mrs. Hopkins-and the young master and miss Hopkinses-trust they are all as well as can be expected; and, my dear Hopkins, if you will accept this little trifle of a-trout for your dinner-for your's and that of dear Mrs. Hopkins, and the dear little masters and misses Hopkins, we shall account ourselves the happiest creature in the Solar System." From the "Book of Sports" for May. DEAR SIR, THE COTTESMORE HOUNDS. I was at the sale on Saturday last which took place at Cottesmore, it was well attended, but I fancied the bidding was slack. The hounds looked uncommonly well, they were put up in lots of six couples, and fetched, as near as I could judge, about £1000. The lots realised from about £70 to £90 each. He is Mr. Foljambe was said to be the purchaser of the chief lots. reported to be the future master of the Cottesmore country. The horses are to be sold in town. Jack Lambert gives up the chase, and takes to farming. Your's truly, April 25th, 1842. RALLYWOOD. PATRICK CONOLLY. CONOLLY, the well-known jockey, expired on Saturday, 9th of April, from the effects of his fall last year at Oxford. At the age of thirteen, Conolly made his debut as a jockey on the Curragh of Kildare, his first race being on Jemmy Gray for a Handicap, Peel course, on which occasion he weighed 3st. 94lb. In 1821 he came over to England with Mr. Prendergast, and went with his stud to Newmarket, where, in 1823, Neale put him on Lord Verulam's Vaurien for the Chelmsford Cup, which he had the good fortune to win, and from that time to his death Conolly found a liberal patron in his Lordship. It will be recollected that Conolly was riding Lord Verulam's Albert, by Waterloo or Moses, out of Varennes, in a trial at Newmarket, when life became so instantaneously extinct, that, as Conolly said, "Albert was dead whi'st yet he was in his stride." In the course of his career, Conolly was a very successful jockey, and won Derby, Oaks, and Leger-the first Eclipse foot at Ascot, on Priam, and the Goodwood Cup two years following on the same horse. He has left a widow with a family of three children to mourn his untimely loss. NAUTICAL NOTICES. ROYAL THAMES YACHT CLUB. THE Members of this Club held their monthly meeting on Thursday April 7th, the Commodore (W. H. Harrison, Esq.) in the chair; there was a very full attendance of members, occasioned no doubt by the fact of its being now the commencement of the yachting season; and from the number of new yachts which have been added to the list, and the sprited manner in which the affairs of this highly popular club are conducted, a very brilliant season may be expected. The high patronage which this club enjoys, having Her Majesty and H. R. H. Prince Albert as patrons, and the gallant veteran Admiral the Hon. Sir R. Stopford as vice-patron, followed by a long list of noblemen and gentlemen who have enrolled their names as members, plainly shows the interest taken in this noble sport. At the meeting the Treasurer brought forward the report of the finances, by which it appears they have a balance of upwards of £160; as the subscriptions are now due, a considerable sum will be added to it, which shows the funds to be in a healthy state, and speaks well for the prosperity of the club. The office of captain having become vacant, Henry Gunston, Esq. proposed T. Meeson, Esq., a motion which was immediately seconded and carried unanimously. The choice could not have fallen upon a gentleman better qualified to perform the duties of the office, or one more respected by the Members of the Club. The first match of the season was then fixed for Saturday, June 4th; the last day for the entry of yachts, will be at the next meeting of the club, the first Thursday in May. Amongst the names proposed for ballot at the next meeting, was that of C. Mare, Esq., of Westcombe Park, Blackheath, owner of the Secret, 25 tons. Herewith I send you a corrected list of the Yachts. Bermudian M... 7.. Ditto .... ..... ...... ....... .. ... Owner. .... Hon. H. Upton. H. Fowler, Esq.. ... Distinguishing Flag. Wh.with 2 red arrows cro. Be, with wh. vert. stripe D. Ramsay, Esq... Blue with white ball H. Gunston, Esq. ..... White J. S. Christian, Esq.... Wh. with red vert. stripe 7.. London...... W. Sawyer, Esq. Be, red cross wh. border ...... Lady Louis.. 13.. Ditto..... ... T. Smith, Esq.. Blue Little Vixen.. 9. Southampton. K. Wright, Esq.. Blue and red quartered Mab......... Mary 4.. London .... ..... Lord De Ros..... Esq. ... 19.. Rochester..... T. Robson, Esq.. Phantom..... 20.. Poole 7.. Ditto ...... Queen Victoria 22.. Ditto... .. T. Smith, Esq.. Green White quartered with red Red Red Blue with white diamond Rt. H. Lord Wharncliffe Whit Rosabelle.... 24.. Ipswich J. Head, Esq.. ..... ..... 10.. London W. Sawyer, Esq.. 21.. Ditto ..... ... ....... H. Gibson, Esq.. ... 7.. Ditto 8.. Southampton. J. Coupland, Esq.... 14.. London....... G. Taylor, Esq....... 8.. Ditto..... F. Levermore, Esq.... Success .... 20.. Ditto...... R. Hope, Esq. $9.. Ditto.... R. Green, Esq.. Smile ...... Red and white quartered Blue over red St. G's. Jk. be sq. in cent Sea Nymph.. 10.. Southampton.. C. Wheeler, jun. Esq.. White before blue Mr. Ramsden, of Finch Lane, has published a beautiful print of Lord Alfred Paget's new iron cutter Yacht, "The Mystery," 25 tons, forming No. 3 of the Yachts belonging to the R. T. Y. C. MASTERS OF HOUNDS. BY NIMROD. No. X. MR. HARVEY COMBE-MR. PARKER-MR. TEMPLAR-THE LATE MR. MYTTON-THE DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH. MR. HARVEY COMBE. MR. HARVEY COMBE is an old master of fox-hounds. In fact, it is seventeen years since I described a beautiful run I saw with his hounds from Ashdown Park, killing our fox in view of a select few, at the end of the twelfth mile, as the crow flies, as well as sundry other particulars respecting his establishment, which came under my observation during a short visit I made to himself and his neighbour Mr. Mills of Shellingford, when he hunted the Vale of White Horse country, hunted previously by Mr. Codrington, and subsequently by the Earl of Kintore; and, in my opinion, a country deserving a good pack of hounds. In short, I compared a great part of it to the cream of the Quorn country, and these were my words:-" There is the large grass field, with the guide-post in the middle of it; there is the strong ox-fence: there is the bridle-road, the windmill, and here and there a good rasping brook." Mr. Combe subsequently relinquished this country, and took up with that originally belonging to the old Berkeley hunt, reaching almost to London town end, at all events to Scratch wood, seven miles distant, somewhere near to which place Lord Alvanley rode at a fence and landed in a melon frame. At the time I am speaking of, Mr. Majoribanks was a large subscriber to, if not, what is called a sleeping partner in, Mr. Combe's hunting establishment. Be this as it may, either in the co-concern or individually, there existed one most desirable quality for all masters of hounds-namely, a good purse, and pluck to open the strings of it. Mr. Combe told me, he should have liked to have gone with five hundred guineas in his pocket into Mr. Warde's kennel, previously to his selling his hounds to Mr. Horlock, and left them behind him, on condition of being allowed to pick five couples out of his kennel! Perhaps other masters might have been of Mr. Combe's opinion here. I never saw the famous Tom Oldaker in the field, but what greatly increased the pleasure of my few days' hunting with Mr. Combe's NO. XVII.-VOL. III.-NEW SERIES. 20 |