Star.
London, England, 1828-04-08 00:00:00

THE EASTER HUNT IN EPPING FOREST.

Yesterday—Easter Mm—lirty.....was the day on which,
according to annual custom and immemorial usage,
the great London Hunt took place on Epping Forest ;
and m at unquestionably nothing could be like it—or,
as the poet says—
" Nought but itself could be its parallel."
The day opened rather inauspiciously for hunting.
Instead O. " a souti.erly wind," what wind there was,
was n rth-west; and thingh there was—" a cloudy.
sky"—cloudy enough of all conscience—yet it was
damp, dreary, and drizzling ; insomuch that
the landlords on the Fores old Tom Rounding,
and he of the Boldfaced Stag. especially began
to look rather lackadaysicaby at their larders, in a
aell-grounded fear that no Cockneys would come to.
consume the many fair rounds of beef, and portly
hams, coked purposely for Cockney consumption.
But, as old Tom Rounding piously observed, " Poo-
vioiNcs was very good to 'em," for at one o'clock
the rain blew off, the sun broke out, and the Cockneys
came flocking down the road by hundred—nay by
thousands; and old Tom Rounding's rounds of beef.
were speeJily converted into Cockney's chyle. Old Tom,
be it remembered, is the Master of the Hunt ; and many
a gallon of Old 'ham does he get rid of, at a pretty con-
siderable profit, in consequence thereof. Consequently
6. the Hunt" did not begin till two o'clock in the after-.
noon; for Old Torn is decidedly of opinion that it is'
bad to hunt up..n an empty stomach. " Hunting,"
qtoilt "is a sport—sport is a joke, and there is no
joking with an empty stomach." -
A: twoo'clock in the afternoon, then, the hunt began;
at which time there was as pretty a fi:ld of sportsmen
assembled at the top of Fair Me.cl Bottom as a body
would wish to see on an Easter Monday. None of
your Melton Mowbray concerns four-and-twenty
scarlet coats all in a row; but two or three thous-ad
regular bred Cockneys; some oss horseback, same on
assback, some in drags, some in rattlers, some in cabs,
and some in nothing at all, and all mixed higgledy-
piggledy together, so that no man amongst them could
say es Here am 1," with any chance of being owned by
anybody else. Indeed we heard one Gentleman call out
6- Where the d-1 are you, Jack?"—to which Jack re-
plied, " Cam me if 1 know ;" and no doubt there were a
vast many others in the same predicament. At two
o'clock, as aforesaid, a fallow-deer (of the softer sex)
was brought from old To n Rounding's stable its a
cart, after having been shown at three pence a peep,
as long as any body could be found to pay three
pence for peeping at it. There were at least nine
couple of hounds brought with it; but, somehow
or other, they got lost among the carts, cabs, and
coaches. Whether they were not used to London
hunting, or whether they thought it was all a hum,
we don't know ; but all the flogging of the huntsmen
and all the shouting of the Cockneys could not keep
them together. However, nobody seemed to consider
the hounds of much consequence, because everyboiy
depended on his own individual prowess at deer catch-
ing; and so a ring was formed round the cart, and II e
lady deer was pushed out of it, vi et emit, into the
middle of the ring. And such a shout was set up at
the sight of her, as might well have quail'd the heart of
the proudest in the forest; but she
•• Soon as she felt herself enlarged,
Through thickest of her foes she charged.
And made way through the amazed crew—
Some she o'er-ran, and some o'erthrew.
In haste she led, and so did they—
Each, and his fear, a several way."
But they soon rallied, and beset her to such a degree
that she did not know which way to sun; bat went wan-
dering in and out among the coaches and things seem-
ingly quite bewildered, until a very valiant Cockney, on
a horse at least eleven hands high, gave her such a cut
across the note, with his hunting whip, as sent her off
right an end into a fold yard hard-by, and there they
crowded upon her so fast that in the scuffle they suc-
ceeded in breaking her leg. Of course she was put.
completely hors deconibat, as the French say, and no
doubt she was speedily converted into venison, for they
took her away in the cart more dead than alive.
It was now after three o'clock, and, as the sportsmen
had not had sport enough, the managers gave notice that
they would bring them another deer. Accordingly they
went back to old Tom Rounding's, and about four
o'clock they brought down another—a more sprightly
one than the first, and one that seemed to have been
*6 trained up in the way he should go ;" for he was
no sooner out of the cart than away he went with
a bit of a circumbendibus towards old Torn Round-
ing's stable again. Every body—except the hounds
—followed him at the top of their speed, but he
14 ould have got safe into the stable nevertheless, if
some two or three hundred of them had not faced him,
by a short cut ; which he perceiving, he very unfairly
ran up to. his knees in a horse-pond. Though some
two or three of the foremost tumbled in after him, he
did not take the least notice of them. A consulta-
tion was then held as to what should be done with him;
and at last, by general agreement, it was settled
that he should have another start. So the managers
got him out of the horse-pond at last, and be ran about
in the wood a good deal, until every body was very
hot, and then he was lost. However, just then, a nice
cooling shower came on very providentially to cool the
beat into which every body had got himself, and so
they all, as usual on this occasion, betook themselves to
their heels—or the heels of their horses and asses, with
all convenient speed-
--- and glorious he, beyond
Ills daring peers! who gets the ugliest fall
Prom top of horseback: he is loudest beard
When at Tom Rounding's or the Baldfaced Stag,
Cockneys conglomerate, to rehearse their deeds,
And slake their thirst with gin and /wavy wet."

A young girl, in the parish of Wendroa, who had
loved "not wisely, but too well," was last week de-
livered of three children—one of them is since dead,
the others, with the mother, are likely to do well.
James Golding and Michael Fair, noted resume-
tionisu, were fully committed on Saturday for trial,
charged with stealing two bodies from Hamworth and
Farnham churchyards.
The following affair happened last week at Fulham.
A Gentleman took a house there, and accidentally
found a key of an uncommon construction. Deter-
mined to find out the place it belonged to, after
searching for come time, he discovered a small
door in a dark corner of one of the garrets, which
he opened with the key, and found a place reseal•
bliag a well. It proved to be a winding staircase,
twelve feet deep, and no other way of descending but
by going backward. On coming to the bottom, he
discovered a complete set of implements for coining.
By the dyes, it seems, were counterfeited the old broad
pieces; and as near as can be conjectured, it is now
about 200 years since this curious place was first made.

.~_

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

NEWSIARRET CRAVEN MEETING..
• Nte•nsaaarr. Mori Evearatt.
The following are some of the most distinguished visitors now Oil
the course—

• The Duke and Duchess of Richmond and Lord March, Duke of
Grafton. Duke of Rutland, Marquis of Cleveland, Marquis and
Marchioness of Tavistock. Marquis of Clanricarde, Marquis Gra-
ham, Lord and Lady Southampton, Lord and Lady Sefton and the
Ladies Molyneuz, Lords Jersey, Orford, Cavendish, Wbarncliffe,
Anson, G. Bentinck, J. Fitzroy, Lowther, C. Manners, C. Somet sets
Verulam, Brudenell, Sir John Shelley, Hon. Mr. Howard, T.
Houldsworth, Esq. M.P. Colonels Russell, Udny, and Wilson,
Captains Grant, Millard, Macnaznara, Broadhead, Dowbiggin,
Haffenden. and Kennedy, Hon. Colonel Anson, Messrs. C. and R.
Wilson, Vansittart, Hulyoake, Payne, Sowerby, Stanley, Stone.',
hewer, Wigram, Newton, Waddington, Mills, ltush, Perrott, &c.
The weather continues very unfavourable, notwithstanding which
the course is numerously and fashionably attended.
A little before five o'clock the races terminated as follows—
The Craven Stakes, for two yr olds' Est; three, est 41b; four, Est
13lb ; five, 9st slb ; six, and aged, 9st 91b. A. F.
Colonel Wilson's ise Lamplighter, 4 yrs
Lord Wharncliffe's b m Pastime, 5 yrs
Mr. Ridsdale's ch c Sharpies, 2 yrs •••
Mr. Wyndham's br h Chateau Margaux, 5 yrs
blr. Payne's Belzoni, 4 yts ...
General Grosvenor's gr e by Skim. 2 yrs

... 1

... ... 2
... ... 3
... ... 4

.. 5

... 0

A good race. - FOur paid.
Dlatelt-200 soy.. fist 41b each. D.M.

Colonel Udnfsimplionr;Cei;etaiso;;. from Lord Wham°.
eliffe's Carthusian.

Match-2CO. D.M.

Colonel Udny's LisetieireWi;ed 413 soys. from Mr. Petrels
Stapleton.
Handicap Sweepstakes for horses of all ages. Ab. M.
Mr. Pettit's Robed'lla, 2 yrs, 6st 101 b ... ... I
Colonel Yates's Sharpshooter, 3 yrs, Ist 41b ... ... 2
An amazing number started for this rpce.
The Fourteenth Riddlesworth Stakes of 400 sots. cubits ft ; colts,

est 7tb; fillies, Est 41b. Ab. M.
Mr. Udny's e by Oreille—Emily ...
Mr. 'rhombill's Magnet (SlitiveUer) ...
Lord Rzeter's e by Fdho— Advance ..
Mr. Rush's iby Merlin—Rhoda ...
Duke of Grafton's Grisette ...

... 1
... 2

Three paid.
Sweepstakes of 100 so's. each, 60 ft, for colts out of untried mares;
Sst 11b. R. rd.
Mr. Rogen's ch e Bugle
Duke of Graftoo's gr e Archer

... ... ... 1

... s

One paid.
Sweepstakes of 200 wars. each, h ft, for fillies, Sst 51b. D. M.
Lord G. Cavendish's by Godolphin—Barrosa
Mr. Grevilles Elinor
Duke of Portland's by Teasdale.—Zora
One paid.
Sweepstakes of SOO sacs. eackh ft; colts, Sit Tlb; fillies, list 41b.

... 1

... 2

Am:

... 5

Mr. Wyndham's Urgaoda ...
Two paid.
Match-200 sows. h ft, Bst 71b each. R.M.
Mr. Payne's Oppidan ... ... ...
Duke of Grafton's Lancastrian .. ...
Match-200 sees. h ft. First three miles of B.C.

walked over

.. 1
... 2

Marquis of TavistoeVa Leeway, 8a lib
Mr. Payne's Babel, Sst 7lb ...

TATTERSALL'S.

... 1

.. ... 2

Nothing worth recording was done here yesterday, all the men
of business being absent at the Newmarket Craven Meeting. At
the Club-houses some few bets have been made; but as they were
entirely influenced by the accounts from Newmarket, we must refer
to them for the odds.