be interesting to know whether the "Young
Irish Gentleman" performed the task on
which a wager was laid in 1788, of "Walking
from London to Constantinople and
back within a year." We have no record
of the result; but it may be presumed
that he did not emulate the feat of walking
on the sea, attributed by a lyrical
authority to Teddy M'Gee, by which he
wore his legs down to the knee. Among
the odd walks which odd people have taken,
may be mentioned that of picking up
stones placed a yard apart, and carrying
them singly to a basket: a walk or a run,
this, according to conditions. Then there
is the formidable task of walking a thousand
miles in a thousand successive hours,
first performed by Captain Barclay; since
outdone by a walk of a thousand quarter-
miles in a thousand successive quarter-
hours—a much more wearing and exhausting
achievement, seeing that the runner
must not rest or sleep so long as half an
hour at any one time. This foolish,
health-ruining work was once attempted, be it
observed, by a woman!

From men on foot to men on horseback
the transition is natural. Some of the
most remarkable examples of speed on
horseback have been performed by
non-professional riders. Cardinal Wolsey won
his first promotion in life by a quick journey.
When chaplain to Henry the Seventh, he
was sent from London on a special mission
to the Emperor Maximilian in the Netherlands;
he did the journey there and back
in a little over two days, including the very
slow and tedious sea passage out and home
between Dover and Calais. When Robert
Carey was sent from London to Edinburgh,
to announce to King James the death of
Queen Elizabeth, he performed the journey
of four hundred miles in the daylight of three
days. Stow relates that one Bernard Calvert
went in 1621 from London to Calais and back,
in seventeen hours; doing the land journey
on horseback, and the channel voyage in a
barge!  by which was probably meant a
heavy sailing boat.  In 1745, an innkeeper
named Thornhill rode from Stilton in
Huntingdonshire to London, back to Stilton,
and once again to London, accomplishing
the whole two hundred and thirteen
miles in twelve hours seventeen minutes:
of course, with a good relay of horses.
This was really a wonderful achievement,
if the accounts are reliable. Dick Turpin's
ride we all know about; and let us never
forget the immortal ride of Johnny Gilpin,
of the verity of which we seem as certain
as of anything in story. Of the doings on
race-courses, we need only mention those
in which ladies have been concerned. At
the Ripon races in 1725, we find that the
ladies' plate was ridden for, by women, in
three heats and a final struggle. But the
most notable lady in this class of achievements
was probably Mrs. Thornton, the
wife of Colonel Thornton. The colonel
challenged Mr. Flint, in 1804, that Mrs.
Thornton would contest a race with him
on York race-course, for five hundred
guineas a side. The bet was accepted, and
the race took place; the colonel leading the
lady's horse to the starting-place. Mrs.
Thornton took and kept the lead for the
first three miles, when her horse failed, and
her competitor won. She afterwards wrote
to one of the newspapers, complaining that
Mr. Flint's demeanour to her on the occasion
had hardly been that of a gentleman.
A "turf row" sprang out of this event.
Mr. Flint asserted that Colonel Thornton
shirked payment of the lost bet; the
colonel equivocated; Mr. Flint publicly
horsewhipped him; and as the Jockey Club
first, and the Court of King's Bench afterwards,
refused to give him redress, we may
safely infer that there was something wrong
about Colonel Thornton. His equestrian
wife, however, did not relinquish her fondness
for achievements in the saddle. She
rode a race against Buckle, the Newmarket
jockey. Mrs. Thornton appeared on the
race-course, attired in purple cap and
jacket, nankeen skirt, purple shoes, and
embroidered stockings. She was mounted
on her mare "Louisa." She rode nine
stone six pounds, against Buckle's thirteen
stone six, and won by half a head.

Of regular horse-races and race-horses
there is, of course, much to tell; but we
have nought to do with them here. There
is, for instance, all about the famous horse
Eclipse, who could cover twenty-five feet
with one stride, and make seven such
strides in three seconds; his unprecedented
success as a racer was found to be due
mainly to his magnificent heart (corporeal,
not poetical), which weighed thirteen
pounds. Unfortunately, horse-racing lends
itself with ruinous facility to chicanery.
Witness the trial which took place at
Kingston Assizes in bygone years. One
man betted with another that he would
provide three horses which would go
ninety miles in three hours. The thing
seemed incredible, and so the bet was
taken as a very safe one. But how was
the matter managed? The person who