(FROM THE SPORTING MAGAZINE OF 1806.)
Foot Race.—The foot race between Lord Edward Somerset and the Hon. Edward Harbord took place on Friday morning the 16th (May) in Lord’s Cricket Ground. The space to be run was nearly one hundred yards.
Lord Edward had the start of Mr. Harbord, and maintained the advantage for about sixty yards, when Mr. Harbord gained upon and crossed him. In passing they ran against each other, and in consequence, as it was supposed, of the rencontre, Lord Edward fell. Mr. Harbord came in first, of course, but a dispute arose respecting the cause of Lord Edward’s fall, which was not decided till after a long conference between three gentlemen to whom the matter in question was referred. Lord Frederick Beauclerk was chosen umpire, and his decision was as follows: That on account of the accident which happened the race was void; but Mr. Harbord is allowed the power of calling upon Lord Edward to run the race over again any time within the next six months, upon giving his lordship six weeks’ notice. The bets were six to four in favour of Mr. Harbord.
Epsom Races.—On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the metropolis poured forth an incredible number of its inhabitants to Epsom Races, nor was the surrounding country less liberal in contributing to the aggregate of visitors. The gradation of rank in those from London was from the Prince of Wales down to the donkey racer; and from the country, the peer to the ploughboy.
The Derby Stakes on Thursday was won by Sir F. Standish’s Paris, bought by Lord Foley, beating Lord Egremont’s b. c. Trafalgar, Lord Chichester’s gr. c. and several others. Very severe running by the three named; Paris won by half a neck. The £50 Plate on the same day was won by Mr. Ladbroke’s Prospero.
On Friday the Oak’s Stakes was won by Mr. B. Craven, who named the Duke of Queensberry’s b. f. Bronze, which beat Lord Egremont’s b. f. Jerboa, Mr. Lake’s b. f. Rosabella, and Sir F. Standish’s b. f. by Sir Peter Teazle. There were eight others started, but the judge could only place the first four. A young man who was run over by one of the horses during the race for the Oaks on Friday, died on Saturday.
That woodcocks breed in this country is now ascertained beyond any possibility of doubt ... a couple of young ones about half-grown were caught by a countryman in a wood called Shrub Wood, in the parish of Caversham, Oxon, and exhibited as a curiosity to many inhabitants of Reading; a third was seen, but could not be taken. The plumage exactly resembled that of the old birds, and the bill was proportionate to their growth. A gentleman very liberally and handsomely rewarded the countryman for carrying them back, and turning them loose into the wood from which they had been taken, as there was not the least probability of their being raised by any other means.