themselves to the eustoms, so on the other hand, the lord is bound to comply with them, and the law will restrain him from committing any act upon the land which they do not warrant; when he transgresses them he may be sued by the tenant, when the tenant transgresses them he incurs a forfeiture. The rest of the lands within the manor the lord either held in his own hands, and cultivated by means of his villeins, or they remained waste and unenclosed. For their convenience, and in order to enable them to cultivate their lands during summer, he gave permission in some cases to the freeholders and copyholders, and in other cases to one only of these classes to depasture such cattle as they could support during the winter on their own lands, on these wastes, or, as they were thence termed, commons, and it was not unusual for him likewise to permit them to take fuel from them. did not thus part, however, with the property in the soil, but simply gave a right to use it for particular purposes, and if the persons to whom this permission was given entered upon it for any other purpose, they became trespassers. With respect to the lands which he cultivated himself, they were called the demesnes, and were in no way distinguishable from other private property.

He

In many instances the lord of a very extensive manor granted a large portion of it, to be held under him, to an influential person, who not being content with permitting his villeins to occupy portions of it, also granted other parts to freemen who became tenants to himself, and sometimes he assumed the power of holding courts, by which it became no uncommon matter to find a man or within a manor, the superior being called in the North, an honour. The tenants also of smaller estates adopted a similar system of subinfeudation, and this practice having prevailed to such an extent as to produce great prejudice to the rights of the original seignory, the legislature interposed to prevent it, and in the eighteenth year of the reign of Edward the First, provided, . that for the future, whenever such grants were made, the land should be held, not of the immediate grantor, but of the lord of whom he held. Thus the power of creating manors terminated, and it is therefore clear that every legal manor must have existed as early as the time of Edward.

The power of performing service at the lord's court by attorney was also permitted to the freeholders, and in numerous instances the lords themselves released these tenants from all or some portion of their allegiance and duties to them.-Laxity in giving attendance upon the Court Baron, and confusion as to the terms of the tenancy originally simple and uniform, were produced by these means, and when reliefs, wardships, and other feudal burthens came to be abolished the lord, having ceased to possess any certain and immediate interest

• Stat. Westm. 3, 18 Edwd. I. c. 1.

day, either in the field, or on the road, according to the improved pace of travelling. Formerly little attention was given in breeding studs to send mares to thorough-bred horses, or if the inclination were not wanting the chance was not given them, as thorough-bred stud horses were seldom to be met with in country districts; and cock-tail racing being then greatly in fashion, farmers and breeders in general took no trouble to breed colts more than three parts bred, frequently not so high. How different all this from the present state of things, when there is not a district but where thorough-bred horses are comeatable, and in great breeding counties, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, &c. there is a a vast variety to choose from; and I feel happy in being able to state, that half-bred stallions stand a fair chance of being entirely eradicated, as is already the case in many counties. Indeed, there is now no excuse for breeding from low-bred stallions, the stock is of no use in the field, and there is scarcely any demand for it in the market. But thorough-bred stock are in great request, thousands are bought up annually for exportation by foreigners, who will give very long prices.

In consequence of the early hour at which hounds used to meet, sportsmen seldom came anything like the distance to cover that they now do to a good pack of hounds; indeed, the bad state of the roads in many countries was an obstacle to their going anything like the pace that is now denominated cover hack pace, but in good hunting countries hounds were more numerous than in the present day. The expense attendant on keeping a pack of hounds were very inconsiderable as compared with what is now requisite to do it in any style, which of course was an inducement to many to keep hounds whose means in the present day would have been inadiquate to the expense. Meeting as soon as day began to dawn, and experiencing little difficulty in finding the drag, if Sir Reynard had been abroad in the night, we may infer that they did not take long in finding, and allowing them from two to three hours to kill their fox, the day's sport must not unfrequently have terminated by nine o'clock. Eleven, however, at the latest, when the sport was indifferent, would be about the mark, which would allow them about five hours to do the artful in, and would correspond to about four o'clock in the present day. How ill would your modern swell stomach these unseasonable hours? returning before noon it may be supposed he would be rather sick of stableizing and puffing till six, for much else he would be little inclined. CAMBRIAN.

TATTERSALL'S

THE past month was a heavy and important one in many respects, and not the less so from the partial cessation of the Gurney discussion. Divers changes have arisen, for which our limited space admits of only

a brief notice. The crack Derby nag, Attila, has fallen into disrepute, and during the better part of the month was only kept in place by a speculator, who some time since performed the same kind office for Chatham, -whether his recent support will have as little effect, remains to be proved,-we doubt it, as the horse has many opponents. Chatham holds a very tottering position in the list; the despatches from head quarters represent him as again in gentle work, but it may be questioned whether there is time to get him fit for Epsom. Auckland, and The Lord of Holderness, have been forced into prominent stations, and the latter is still in great favour; the Cheshire nag, however, cannot remain where he is, although booked by the Eaton folks as a certain winner. Wiseacre has been steadily supported, and barring a defeat at Newmarket, is more likely "to stay" (in the betting) than the ephemerals recently brought up. Ballinkeele is now in England, but is none the better favourite for having quitted Irish tutelage. Other fluctuations may be discovered in the odds, but none worthy of a detailed notice. The Oaks betting has been remarkable only for the retirement of Passion, and the Adela filly, and the advance of a dark mare of Scott's (Syren) to the head of the poll, we suspect that this will turn out a better race for book-makers than the Derby. Having touched upon the most striking movements, we shall content ourselves with a list of the general prices up to the 28th.

three foxes on foot, one making a fine burst, running a smart ring of five and thirty minutes, and seducing us to within a stone's throw of Leicester. We afterwards found a second fox, which, after a smart thing was run into in gallant style.

March 9.-Seal Wood the fixture. The Atherstone in good trim, as sleek as moles. The day, however, a failure. The Wood, Coppice, Clifton Ozier-bed, Thorpe, cum multis aliis,―blank.

March 10. Mr. Meynell's meet Radborne-a prime hunting morning, and a glorious bit of the gallant master's country. Tried the Gorse by Langley Common, and the adjoining cover. Put into Rad

borne Wood.

At length, a find, and away pug went, running a ring of one hour and ten minutes by Langley to near Sutton, where the scent became bad, and after a fruitless cast, we lost the varmint. March 14.-The Atherstone at Appleby. Drew the home covers, and hit upon a daring fox in the plantation, which went away at a rattling pace for Gopsall-here, he was determined to try the circular style of running, and took his pursuers twice round the park, but at length, tired of this, made a fresh start for Measham fields, and after a very fine and hard run he took us to Normanton, where we left him. MIDLANDER.

Your's truly,

FOX-HUNTING IN THE OLDEN TIME.

AMIDST the various accounts that abound in every Sporting Journal, of the perfection to which fox-hunting has now been brought, by every improvement and care that human skill can bestow, regardless of all expense, it may not be uninteresting to the sporting world to revert to the state of fox-hunting of the old school, some fifty years gone by, when the thing was done in a very different style from the magnificence and brilliancy now to be seen by the cover side.

It is well known to all, how much the face of society in general has changed within the last half century, and how essentially the hours and habits of the present generation, vary from those of their ancestors, who thinking nothing of "turning out" between four and five o'clock in a morning, were generally at the cover side by six; and by this means, (if Master Reynard had been abroad during the night), were enabled to come upon the drag while it was warm, consequently, they in general avoided the trouble of drawing cover to find their fox, if trouble it can be called (for I confess that I think a good find is not only a particularly interesting ceremony, but also very conducive to the day's sport). By this means coming upon the drag in the open, the hounds generally got well away together, which to them was by no means a matter of small importance, as the number of hounds that

constituted a pack in those days, was much smaller than in the present, and these not under such perfect discipline; which in many countries might have been accounted for, by their custom of hare-hunting in the early part of the season with the same hounds, but this was far from being a general rule. Besides this, their early hours gave them another great advantage over their fox, for by coming upon him before he had digested his food, he was sooner blown, and without this point in their favour, the inferior breeding of the hounds of those days would have stood little chance of coping with him. The style of hound then in use, besides being low bred, was of a thick and compact form, but had nothing like the pace that would now be deemed requisite in a hound. He had this advantage however in his favour, that he would hunt with a cold drag, such as would be taken little notice of by the high breeding of modern packs. At the same time, let it be observed, that this stamp of hound was as much calculated to their manner of hunting, as it would be useless in the present day. Ten o'clock being now the earliest hour fashionable for hounds to meet, Sir Reynard has by that time thoroughly disgorged himself of his repast, and is in better plight to afford sport, so that unless the pace of the olden time had been considerably improved upon, he would have given his pursuers but a poor chance of overtaking him. But as our ancestors lay as considerable stress on killing their fox, as on the beauty of the run, so for this purpose, their style of hound was especially adapted, for although slower, yet being particularly tenacious of the drag (and with the advantage of the scent generally lying stronger in the morning), he was surer of helping himself to his breakfast, than hounds now generally

are.

In the stable department it is a fact too well known to require any comment, how much the breed of horses has improved within the last twenty years, by the introduction more generally of blood. The horses then in use were of such a low description of breeding that they would be of very little service in riding to a modern pack of hounds, or under any circumstances give a person but a very poor chance of hearing the joyful" Whoo-whoop!" A nag of this description, without any pedigree to boast of, would soon be blown by the pace, and therefore necessarily in a sharp thing after the first mile or two would become dangerous at his fences; yet perhaps he was more serviceable in those times than the first-rate blood of the present day would have been. Not taking him beyond his pace, he was generally a sure and perfect jumper, peculiarly clever in getting through heavy ground, and besides being more capable of enduring fatigue, was sooner fit for work again than our high-bred mettle now in vogue would have been, after being knocked up by a hard day's work. This square built style of horse is now nearly obsolete; indeed, he would be of little use in the present