birds so terribly wounded in the first onset that, although not
killed, it was impossible for it to continue the fight. His rage
at the mishap knew no bounds, and he vented it madly on the poor
creature. He roasted it alive--standing by and hearing its
piteous cries. In the midst of the horrible torture the wretched
man became so excited that a fit of apoplexy supervened, and he
positively expired before the poor bird at the fire!


CHAPTER XII.

THE TURF, HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, MORAL.

It appears that horse-races were customary at public festivals
even as early as the times of the patriarchs. They originated
among the eastern nations, who were the first to discover the
physical aptitudes of the noble animal and the spirited emulation
of which he is capable. The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, in
succession, all indulged in the excitement; and it is a curious
fact that the Romans, like the English jockeys of the present
day, rode in different colours.

Horse-racing began very early in England. Fitz-Stephen, who
wrote in the time of Henry VIII., mentions the delight taken by
the citizens of London in the diversion. In the reign of Queen
Elizabeth it appears to have greatly flourished, and to have been
carried to such an excess as to have ruined many of the nobility.

The celebrated George, Earl of Cumberland, is said to have wasted
more of his estates than any of his ancestors, and principally by