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PROSPECTS OF THE H. H. COUNTRY.

BY WILDBOY.

All foxhunters will be delighted to hear, that the "noble science" looks up in this once-favoured country. There is a good report of foxes here, where every farmer is their friend, and a general disposition to support the new master, who has undertaken and entered upon his office in a spirited and business-like way, with fifty couple of hunting hounds, of undeniable blood, bone, and symmetry; and from the kennel management which appears to be bestowed upon them, we venture to predict that an unusual number of noses will garnish the kennel-door at the end of the present season. Among the bitch pack are some models of perfection: they remind one of the "Flying Ladies" in point of personal beauty; and the dog pack looks workmanlike and fashionable in every respect. Any one who was acquainted with the "Cheshire" will distinguish at a glance the judicious handiwork of Joe Maiden flourishing in the H. H. kennel; and he, as a breeder of hounds, was haud ulli secundus, inferior to none in England. If the scent serve, and the line of country be favourable, they must fly; and, as for the horses,

"They'll have fleet steeds that follow, quoth young Lochinvar."

We understand that a new kennel will be built in a more convenient situation, which will certainly be a great advantage, as the present one is anything but central for the country. We doubt not, from the esprit de corps that prevails throughout the country, but that sport will be insured.

We have been favoured with a list of the hounds, which we beg to subjoin:

LIST OF THE H. II. HOUNDS.—OCTOBER, 1845.

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Two years.

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Three years.

Chauntress.

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Harbinger.. Hermit..

Waterman.. Mr. Bulteel's Waterman
Rapture.... Wonder; Duke of Beaufort's
Nestor Mr. Phillipp's Nestor
Rapid..... Heythrop Chancellor
Romulus

....

Rakish....

Woodman..

Wrestler...

Wildair..

....

Comus Comit Conrad.. Reveller. Rosey Heroine. Melody... Gaudy Passion Nameless..

....

Sir Walter Carew's Hannibal From the Crawley & Horsham From the Badsworth

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Mr. Long's Harmony.
Mr. Russell's Victory
His Rapture
His Truant
Their Rival
Racket

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Favourite.. Sir A. Chichester's Pantaloon Sir W. Carew's Whalebone

Fatima...

Niobe.....

Rambler...

Costly...
Actress..

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Wonder.. Woldsman.

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62 couple.

"ENGLISH PASTIMES."

THE AMUSEMENTS OF THE HUMBLER CLASSES."

STEPNEY FAIR.

BY LORD WILLIAM LENNOX.

"Now the fair is at its full."

-Song.

The easterly winds, usually so prevalent at this season, had given way to balmy airs from the south-west; and Easter Monday, to the delight of thousands, was a day of brilliancy and splendour. My newspaper had informed me that Stepney Fair was about to be revived; and, as I have ever felt the deepest interest in the sports of the people, I was anxious to witness the restoration of this once farfamed place of amusement. The fair-day of the good old times was a period to which the humbler classes looked forward as one of relaxation from servitude and labour. It was a time devoted to pleasure-taking, present-making, flirtation, and innocent recreation. Latterly the march of improvement (!) has made such rapid strides, that politics, cheap publications (many of most questionable morality), gin-palaces, and beer-shops have swallowed up the hours formerly devoted to English sports and pastimes. With every wish to increase, not diminish, the real comforts of the labouring classes, with every desire to see their minds stored with useful learning, we must protest against the introduction of the modern private class of alehouses, and the dissemination of publications which not only too often circulate principles of insubordination and contempt of authority, but which diffuse the worst of poisons, by the open avowal of infidelity. As for the beershops, they have been universally denounced from the bench. Let any person but enter one, and he will find the outside notice-" Licensed to be drunk upon the premises"-practically il lustrated within.

Anxious to witness this holiday festival, I enveloped myself in a pea-jacket, and proceeded on foot through the busy streets that led me to Whitechapel. No sooner had I entered this "flesh market"as, from the number of butchers' shops, it would be called in Edinburgh-than I imagined that the fair had already commenced, for, upon the north-side of the pavement appeared numerous booths, and every small nook was filled with some exhibition. From the huge advertisements that graced the shop-windows--announcing "Great fall in prices," "Sir Robert Peel's tariff," "Reduction of sugar," glass,' ""coffee," &c. one would have imagined that we were living in the days of Elizabeth, when a turkey might be purchased for eighteenpence, and meat and other eatables at equally low prices. A shoemaker announced Wellington boots at eighteen and sixpence,

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and all along of Sir Robert Peel's tariff; a tailor (not Moses) advertised clothes at an extraordinary cheap rate, for the same financial reason. His advertisement was unique: it talked of coats which would fascinate the most fastidious of heiresses-of waistcoats that would convert a bumpkin into a Brummell, a drayman into a D'Orsay-of green cut-aways" that would transform an unswerving pedestrian into a confirmed equestrian-of cloaks that would confer upon a clerk the dignity of the don -- of Mackintosh capes that, sheltering the wearer from the weather, formed a portable cab by day, and an operatic umbrella by night. Then we saw advertised tariff sugar, tariff tea, tariff cheese (American produce), and tariff clocks. The Tower Hamlets, of which Whitechapel forms a no inconsiderable part, ought, in gratitude, to return two supporters of Sir Robert Peel's government to Parliament, for, according to their advertisements, the very greatest benefit has been conferred upon the public by the worthy baronet's tariff.

Whilst ruminating over the tariff question and the prospects of the agriculturist, an idea flashed across our mind that the League might adopt a notice similar to one that may be daily found in the advertising columns of the Morning Herald, and which literally runs as follows:

"EFFICACIOUS CURE FOR CORNS, BY AN EXPERIENCED PRACTITIONER.

MR.

R. EISENBERG may be consulted daily from 10 o'clock until 4, his residence, Spring Gardens."

Now, if this were merely headed—

at

"CORN ERADICATED BY AN EXPERIENCED PRACTITIONER, COVENT GARDEN,"

and addressed to the landowners and farmers of England, the following copies of testimonials, which we transcribe from the advertisement, would be equally applicable to the political chiropodist :

"FROM THE MARQUIS OF ***

"The League have extracted my corn from every foot (of land) with extraordinary skill.

"FROM THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF

(Signed)

****.

***."

'I certify that the League have effectually removed all my corn with great dexterity. (Signed) ****."

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"I have to state that the League have completely annihilated some corns which have been hereditary in my family for many years, and that they have shown that skill and knowledge which have procured them so very deserved a reputation.

"FROM SQUIRE *****.

(Signed) **

"The League have got rid of all my corn: I have not an acre (query, by printer's devil, acher?) left. (Signed)

*****"

In addition to the above authenticated testimonials, and to many thousand more in the possession of the League, they can confidently give references to the first practitioners of the highest standing in the corn market."

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