THE VOL. XXII. N.S. AUGUST, 1828. CONTENTS. 266 Pedigree and Performances of Mulatto ..265 302 No. CXXXI. Embellished with, .... 33 I. A PORTRAIT OF MULATTO.-II. THE SCOLOPAX MEDIA, GREAT OR SOLITARY SNIPE. PEDIGREE and PERFORMANCES of MULATTO. With a Portrait engraved by WEBB, from a Painting by J. F. HERRING. MULATTO, a bay horse, foaled in 1823, was bred by, and is the property of, the Right Hon. Earl Fitzwilliam, of Wentworth Park, Yorkshire. He was got by Catton, out of Desdemona, by Orville; grandam, Fanny (Amadis's dam), by Sir Peter; great grandam (Wonder, Empress, Miracle, Standard, Sally, Caleb Quotem, Mary, Charcoal, and Cossack's dam), by Diomed; great great grandam, Desdemona, by Marske-Young Hag, by Skim -Hag, by Crab-Ebony, by Chil ders-Old Ebony, by Basto, out of Mr. Massey's mare, by his Black Barb. PERFORMANCES. At York August Meeting 1820, MULATTO walked over for the Peregrine Stakes of 50 sovs. each, 15 ft. for three-year-olds, one mile and three quarters (three subscribers). — At Lincoln, Sept. 27, he (rode by T. Lye) won the Champion Stakes of 30 sovs. each, 20 ft. for three-yearold colts, 8st. 3lb. fillies, 8st. two miles (six subscribers), beating Dr. Willis's Sweepstakes. Won easy. At York Spring Meeting, May 21, 1827, MULATTO, 8st. 3lb. (J. Day), won a Sweepstakes of 20 sovs. each, for horses of all ages, two miles (seven subscribers), beating Lord Kennedy's Bedlamite, 4 yrs old, 8st. 3lb.; Mr. Ridsdale's Barelegs, 4 yrs old, 7st. 131b.; Mr. Powlett's Gazebo, 4 yrs old, 8st. 3lb.; Capt. Ramsden's Theo phania, 4 yrs old, 7st. 10lb. and Lord Scarbrough's Pasta, 4 yrs old, 8st. :— 5 to 4 on Mulatto, 5 to 2 agst Bedlamite, and 4 to 1 agst Barelegs. Mulatto took the lead, was never headed, and won cleverly by half a length. At York August Meeting, on Tuesday, at 8st. 7lb. (T. Lye), walked over for the Produce Stakes of 100 sovs. each, h. ft. for four-year-olds, four miles (five subscribers).-Next day, he won one of the Great Subscription Purses, for four-year-old colts, 8st. 7lb. fillies, 8st. 4lb. two miles (twenty-eight subscribers), beating Mr. Houldsworth's Fanny Davies and Lord Kennedy's Mary Ann: 4 to 1 on Mulatto. A good race.-On Friday in the same Meeting, he (rode by T. Lye) won another of the Great Subscription Purses, for four-year-olds, 8st. 3lb. and five, 8st. 10lb. two miles, beating Lord Kelburne's Actæon, 5 yrs old; Duke of Leeds's Sirius, 4 yrs old; and Lord Scarbrough's Lady Georgiana, 4 yrs. old: 10 to 8 agst Acteon, 6 to 4 agst Mulatto, and 6 to 1 agst Sirius, who took the lead and made severe play until within the distance, when Mulatto and Acteon passed him, and the race was won easy by the former. Run in 3 min, 34 sec.-At Doncaster, on Monday, Sept. 17, he (rode by T. Lye) won the Fitzwilliam Stakes of 10 sovs. each, with 20 added, for threeyear-olds, 8st. and four, 9st. one mile and a half (six subscribers), beating Mr. Petre's Nonplus, 3 yrs old; Mr. Charlton's Camellia, 3 yrs old; and Mr. Wilkinson's Duchess of Lancas ́ter, 3 yrs old: 5 to 2 on Mulatto, and 3 to 1 agst Nonplus. Won easy.-On Thursday in the same Meeting, at 8st. 3lb. (rode by T. Lye), he won the Gold Cup, value 150gs. for horses of all ages, two miles and five furlongs, beating Lord Cleveland's Memnon, 5 yrs old, 8st. 10lb.; Sir M. W. Ridley's Fleur-de-Lis, 5 yrs old, 8st. 10lb.; Lord Kelburne's Reviewer, 3 yrs old, 7st.; Lord Kelburne's Acteon, 5 yrs old, 8st. 10lb.; Lord Sligo's Starch, aged, 9st.; Mr. Nowell's Longwaist, 6 yrs old, 9st.; and Lord Scarbrough's Tarrare, 4 yrs old, 8st. 3lb.: 7 to 4 agst Fleur-de-Lis, 7 to 2 agst Memnon, 5 to 1 agst Mulatto, 6 to 1 agst Tarrare, 7 to 1 agst Longwaist, 10 to 1 agst Starch, 20 to 1 agst Acteon, and 100 to 3 agst Reviewer. Won easy by a length. MULATTO started besides the above, and was beat-at Pontefract in 1825,by Lord Scarbrough's Pasta, for the Twoyear-old Stakes, beating four others: -at Doncaster, for the Champagne Stakes, by Lord Kennedy's King Catton, and Lord Scarbrough's Tarrare:-in the same Meeting, for the Two-year-old Stakes, by Lord Kennedy's Bedlamite, Mr. Watt's Belzoni, and Lord Muncaster's Garcia:at York Spring Meeting 1826, for the St. Leger Stakes, by Mr. Watt's Belzoni, and Lord Kennedy's Bedlamite, beating two others:-at York August Meeting, he was beat, by only a neck, by Lord Kelburne's Actæon, for the 25 sovs. Subscription, two miles, beating Lord Scarbrough's Fair Charlotte, aged, and Mr. Lambton's Cedric, 5 yrs old.-At Doncaster he ran second for the Great St. Leger Stakes, won by Lord Scarbrough's Tarrare, but beat in the same race twenty-five others.-In the same week, he ran second to Fleur-de-Lis for the Gold Cup, two miles, beating Humphrey Clinker, 4 yrs old; Lord Kelburne's Jerry, 5 yrs; and Mr. Payne's Helenus, 5 yrs old. He was beat with difficulty by half a length.-At York Spring Meeting 1828, he was beat for the Constitution Stakes, one mile and a quarter, by Major Yarburgh's Laurel, 4 yrs old, and Mr. Petre's Matilda, 4 yrs old. These are the whole of his performances up to August 1, 1828. anxious to pay this public testimony of respect; and although pens far abler, and talents far worthier of the theme, may readily be found, I will yield to no one in the since rity of my humble tribute to his remembrance. Who Mr. Baird was, it will be quite unnecessary for me to inform your readers. In Scotland, and in the North of England, his name has for a long series of years been a very proverb on the race course and in the hunting field; and by his death a most fatal blow has, I fear, been given to the turf in the former country. Possessed of an ample property, and with a mind enthusiastically devoted to the sports of the field, Mr. Baird may be truly said to have passed his days in one unceasing round of manly and pleasurable pursuits. His fox-hounds and his race horses shooting in its wildest and most sportsmanlike forms-his hawks and his game cocks-to all and each of these in their seasons was he most ardently attached. Of the perfection of his foxhounds (although this is not the place to enlarge on their merits), let those bear witness who have seen them and their appointments in the field; whilst I call on the members of the Lothian Hunt to fulfil a pleasing duty, in joining testimony with me to the urbanity and good humour, the polite attention and unchanging kindness of their revered and lamented master. And here I cannot pass by an expression of his huntsman in reference to him, which I once had from Williamson's own lips--as I wish no safer criterion by which to judge a man's character, than the opinion formed of him by his servants "A better master man never had." This was true to the letter; but it is only justice to add, that Mr. Baird would willingly have reciprocrated the compliment, for "a better servant master never possessed." The neatness of Mr. Baird's appearance in the field has been justly remarked on by your Cor respondent NIM NORTH; and although I cannot imagine him to have been at any time what is called a bruising rider, yet to those who have seen him sawing away over the hills in delight, and heard him screaming in ecstacy to Bluemaid, Nicety, Darling, Old Hannibal, and Ruby, over the cream of the Dunse country, the enthusiasm he took in his hounds must have been amply manifest, and the sight will by one at least be never forgotten. Of the turf, as I before remarked, Mr. Baird was almost the sole remaining supporter in Scotland. Like all others, he has of course had his vicissitudes of fortune and defeat: but I am, I think, warranted in asserting, that for many years, in the North at least, he enjoyed a more than ordinary share of success. That he deserved this success, had it been tenfold, no one will dispute; for if ever horses were invariably brought to the post to win, those horses were Mr. Baird's. One of the best proofs of an honest master is the employing an honest jockey; and when I name Tom Lye, who has for some years ridden for him, the tale is told. I have reason to believe that the bad running of Cleveland in the Leger 1825 severely wounded Mr. Baird's feelings. Independently of the disappointment of his own unceasing ambition to win this great stake, he knew that he had been deeply backed by his friends both in England and Scotland; and 1 have little doubt that his knowledge of their losses, joined to the unaccountable situation of his favorite horse in the race, gave him more vexation than he permitted himself to shew. It is but right for me here to state, that, for some reason I am not acquainted with, Tom Lye did not officiate on this occasion. Even his fine riding, however, would, I fear, have made but little difference. Every thing they say is ordained for the best in this best of possible worlds. I must still, however, be permitted to lament, that the Doncaster Leger did not, at some period, fall to the lot of this distinguished sportsman. The pride of such a victory would have added ten years to his life: and could such a result have been speculated on, who is there amongst his acquaintance who does not wish that he could have taken a nineteen years' lease of the stakes? But this wish and these reflections come, alas! now in vain:-his last race is run, and he has reached that final and fatal goal whence no one returns amongst us! As may well be imagined, the massacre of the battue had but few charms for a sportsman like Mr. Baird. It is true that he now and then attended the slaughters given by his neighbours; but I verily believe, it was more for the chance of seeing a fox steal away from some of their coverts in beating, than from any pleasure he derived from such a scene of butchery. Deer and wild-fowl stalking he was much attached to; and the month of August was sure to find him on Lord Breadalbane's moors, unless disabled by his inveterate enemy the gout. As to pheasants, he could not hear them mentioned with patience, although his own coverts bore ample testimony to the truism, that these "vermin," as he used well to style them, can live very sociably with their supe riors, the foxes. Game, indeed, of all sorts was most abundant at Newbyth; yet, without having recourse to his favorite covert near his house, I am quite satisfied he could on any given day in the year have shewn four or five brace of foxes within the circle of half that number of miles from his own door. Hear this! ye titled assassins of the noblest game in Christendom, and blush, if that indeed be possible, for the flimsy excuses ye set up! Of falconry Mr. Baird was always remarkably fond, and for many years was never without a fine breed of hawks in his possession. The same may be said of his attachment to the pit, having always a few game cocks at hand to accommodate a friendly antagonist with a main. The last time, indeed, the writer of these lines saw him was in a temporary pit at North Berwick, eagerly backing some cocks which he had lent his friend, Capt. Brown, to fight a main against a gentleman whose name I forget. I cannot, however, so soon forget Mr. Baird's animation during the battles, and his delight when any of his favorite birds were winning. Little did I think, when parting with the kind-hearted old man, and declining bis pressing invitation to Newbyth, that I was taking farewell of him for ever. Having thus given a feeble sketch of Mr. Baird as a sportsman, it is due from me to add, that in every relation of private life his character stood most decidedly high. Hospitable and liberal in the extreme a kind friend, and an indulgent master-he trod the even tenor of his way, an enemy to no one; and concluded, in a good old age, a long and exemplary career, devoted to the performance of every social duty, and spent in the pursuit of rational eu |