rapidly, at least I am certain the Conwy would. They are, a 'much longer weekly close time for nets in the tide way, and the 'angling season to commence on the 1st of May or June, instead of 1st of February, and to continue till the 1st December. No gaff 'to be allowed after September. All female fish heavy in spawn to be put in again, but every cock fish to be killed, as you would ver'min.' Now, this advice is very well as far as it goes, but my friend is an enthusiastic fly-fisher, and no doubt but it would tend, if followed, to the improvement of sport; but I question how far it is advisable to cater for the amusement of a few at the expense of what ought to be a staple article of food for the many. Ahem! You will see from this profound and Johnsonian remark that I am a net-fisher as well as a fly-fisher. I only object to the longer weekly close time ' for nets in the tideway.' But I go farther. If Government will meddle (and it is very fond of meddling now-a-days), let it adopt the sensible suggestion made to the Right Hon. the President of the Board of Trade (who is, I believe, a salmon fisher), and take some means for destroying the porpoises, which kill more fish in a month than all the fishermen and poachers in the United Kingdom kill in the whole year. In a dry season, with neap tides, when the fish have a difficulty in passing the bar, certainly one fish out of every three we take bears the mark of his narrow escape. The Dee fishermen say that salmon won't run up their river with an east wind, but wait at the mouth, and at such times are consumed in enormous quantities by the porpoises, who venture very close in to a weather shore. I remember crossing the Mostyn Roads in a channel steamer, and the water was alive for miles with them. It is to be hoped, too, that cormorants will not be allowed to take the benefit of the Act' which Mr. Sykes very properly proposes to bring into the House for the protection of sea-fowl. Trout are vermin in a salmon water, and will swallow the ova as fast as the female fish can shed it, in spite of the efforts of the male fish to drive them away. But this paper has grown to an unconscionable length, and Baily' will cry Hold hard!' I will thereforefinish,'hands down' (for I have lots in me' yet), with a parable, or an allegory, or an anecdote, or anything any one may choose to call it.Exactly twenty years ago this coming season, I shot with a friend in the extreme north of Scotland, and when it was too wet to go on the hill, one or other of us would go, after a dawdling breakfast, to a small river (you could command every hole and corner of it with half a line) about six miles from our lodge, and our bag would always be from six to ten grilse (my friend once killed fourteen) of seven or eight pounds a-piece, besides a host of 'joost sea troot,' which pestered us by rising, and which we chucked out for M'Donald to pick up and throw with a 'haich!' of contempt into the pannier. Now this river, as well as most on the north and east coasts of Scotland, was at that time in the hands of a noted London dealer, and there were most elaborate stake-nets at the mouth. There were two or three pools inside the bar, that were drawn every tide; and 'finally and to conclude,' as the Meenister' would say, there were cruives that I believe, on my salvation, were never opened for an hour-no, not even on the 'sawbath.' The lessee of the river never threw a chance away. Note here, that this was a pre-Commissionerite period. "Commissioners' were not yet developed,' as the anthropologists say. Now I am willing to go to my friend, who, by the way, is this very year high sheriff of his county, and if he does not say that I am speaking the truth, the whole, etc., etc., I am contented to be justified' on the spot, and he may preside at my private execution without troubling the judge or the twelve intelligent and respectable Britons that would form the jury. I am not generally considered either to shoot with the long bow' or to be a very bad fisherman, yet I have related this little narrative to many Welshmen-especially when, trying to humbug myself into the belief that I was salmon fishing, I have been flogging one of their riversbut not one single native has believed me for a moment, and, judging from their natural lights and opportunities, I do not blame them. From these data, required, the comparative value of Welsh salmon fisheries, and the positive value of Commissioners.' It is a rule-of-three sum, easily solved. In my opinion the result in both cases may be expressed by the same quantity, the quotient = 0. THE CLIPPER THAT STANDS IN THE STALL AT THE TOP.' BY G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE. (Dedicated to the Hon. Charles White, Scots Fusilier Guards.) In the Records of Racing I read their career, There were none of the sort but could gallop and stay, And the Yorkshiremen boast of his dam to this day. Than this Clipper that stands in the stall at the top. A head like a snake, and a skin like a mouse, An eye like a woman-bright, gentle, and brown; When the country is deepest, I give you my word, 'Tis a pride and a pleasure to put him along. O'er fallow and pasture he sweeps like a bird, And there's nothing too wide, nor too high, nor too strong. Last Monday we ran for an hour in the Vale, Not a bullfinch was trimmed-of a gap not a sign- There were eight of us had it, and seven got in. Ere we got to the finish, I counted but few, And never a coat without dirt, but my own. To the good horse I rode all the credit is due, When the others were tiring, he scarcely was blown. You may put on his clothes-every sportsman, they say, OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE ATHLETIC SPORTS. THE Muscular Christians have been holding their carnival, and the most attactive part of it was, of course, the contest for athletic superiority between the two Universities. The Sports were held this year at the new ground of the Amateur Athletic Club at West Brompton. The running-path was not in particularly good order, having been only recently laid down, and the jumping was materially interfered with by the sponginess of the ground at the take off. There was a very large attendance, and the arrangements for receiving and accommodating spectators were neither better nor worse than are customarily provided by amateur managers. Rain fell heavily during the afternoon, and the patience of the visitors was somewhat severely tried; but it is no great matter for regret, considering how these exercises are being made rather too much of a business, if a little cold water is now and then thrown on them. Public form was considerably upset by the results of the afternoon's sport. The odd event was thought a real good thing for Oxford, and odds were freely laid on the Dark Blues. A good deal of rather sentimental nonsense has been talked of late about betting in connection with University contests. It would be, of course, the merest affectation to dispute the fact that thousands of pounds change hands every year over the Boat Race and the Cricket Match. If betting is more limited about the Athletic Sports, the reason is that accurate information is more difficult to be obtained about the merits of the competitors, and also that men perform very differently on different grounds. The chances likewise in hurdle-racing and sprint-running are many and various; while in such exercises as throwing the hammer, no human being can calculate what is going to happen, the competitors themselves least of all. But still there is a certain amount of monetary speculation, and there always will be. An Englishman is by nature a betting animal, and backs his opinion with his money, not being allowed to support it vi et armis. And wherever two or three Englishmen are gathered together, there is the spirit of betting in the midst of them. This may be a lamentable fact, but it is a fact for all that and all the sermons in the world will not alter it. The sports this year commenced with the High Jump, for which R. L. N. Michell (Oxford) and J. G. Hoare (Cambridge) tied at 5 ft. 5 in. This was a great falling off from the performances of Roupell and Little, but the state of the ground had something to do with it. The same cause accounts for the comparatively indifferent performance in the Broad Jump, which was won by R. Waltham (Cambridge) with a jump of 20 ft. 8 in.; F. O. Philpott (Oxford) was second with 19 ft. 6 in. The 100 Yards Race was won by J. G. Wilson (Oxford), who is a veritable flyer, J. F. Strachan (Cambridge) being second, and J. P. Tennent (Oxford), who appears to have lost his form, coming in last. The Mile Race, always one of the most interesting events of the day, resulted in another surprise, for it was regarded as a foregone conclusion for R. V. Somers-Smith (Oxford). Oxford started three men, including J. W. Laing, another athlete who has entirely lost his old form, while Cambridge was represented by two only, E. Royds and J. P. Gurney. S. G. Scott (Oxford) made the most of the running to serve his colleague, and in the opinion of some made it too strong. At any rate when Somers-Smith made his effort he could not shake off Royds, who stuck to him as close as wax as they came up the straight to the winning-post. Neither had the advantage till within fifty yards of the finish, when Royds got a little in front and won, after a most game and gallant struggle, by about three yards. The Hammer Throwing, as usual, astonished every one, for at his second throw F. U. Waite (Oxford) accomplished 100 ft. 9 in., and there seemed little probability of this being surpassed. After some time, however, H. Leeke (Cambridge) made a prodigious throw of 103 ft. 11 in., which his antagonist had no chance of beating. This ungainly display over, then came the Hurdle Race, the prettiest sight of the day. E. E. Toller (Cambridge) fell at the second hurdle, when holding the lead, but there was no other casualty in the race. F. O. Philpott (Oxford) got in front at the fifth hurdle, and never being headed afterwards won by three yards from W. W. Cooper (Cambridge). Cambridge next carried off the prize for Putting the Weight, which was a matter of some difficulty owing to the rain. R. Waltham (Cambridge), who also won the Broad Jump, as we have remarked, put 34 ft. 8 in., S. F. Lucas (Oxford) not getting within 9'in. of the winner. In the Quarter-mile Race Cambridge ran first and second. J. G. Wilson (Oxford) the 100 Yards winner, destroyed his chance by tripping up in a drain when leading. He recovered himself, however, and his wonderful speed enabled him to pass his men again in the straight. The effort was too much, and he fell down heavily from exhaustion when within a few yards of the winning-post. C. C. Corfe (Cambridge) and A. R. Upcher (Cambridge) had the race thus left to themselves, and the latter won by a yard and a half. But for his mishap J. G. Wilson must have won. Finally came the Three-mile Race, and for this the good thing was never in doubt, for J. H. Morgan (Oxford) is one in ten thousand over a distance of ground, and his antagonists might just as well have stopped at home. He pursued the same tactics as last year, making his own running, going with perfect ease, and winning just as he pleased-in the present instance by about 150 yards. He is probably the best runner, for speed and endurance combined, who has ever taken part in University sports, and one has the satisfaction of seeing that his exertions do not distress him, as is the case with the majority of runners. The general result of the afternoon's sports was that Cambridge scored 5 wins and 4 seconds, Oxford scored 3 wins and 4 seconds, and there was a tie for one event. COURSING. COURSING, like racing, has undergone vast changes of late years, and we question if for the better. It is daily becoming more a business than a pastime. Meetings are got up, now-a-days, by publicans and others as mere private speculations; and, still worse, the demon spirit of betting is robbing the sport of its original innocent charm, by converting it into a gigantic gambling medium similar to its much-abused and revolutionized sister sport-the Turf. Thousands now participate in coursing in the place of hundreds formerly; and something like 4,000 greyhounds run annually, of which number about a moiety are puppies. Sapling sales have become an institution of the Leash like the yearling sales of the Turf; but fancy prices' are com |