SIK, SHARK, a great favourite with the present writer, was one of the most famous racers which the English turf has produced, ranking with Highflyer, Mambrino, Goldfinder, and some others, next to those transcendental kill-devils, FLYING CHILDERS and ECLIPSE. Shark was the property of Robert Pigott, Esq. a Salopian, who had the honour of running through a good estate over Newmarket, both without doors and within, as well with the whip as the bones. It was reported (perhaps on newspaper grounds) that he pulled up at last as an inn-keeper in the south of France, whence, in due time, he was taken out of training, The brethren formed a well-known trio Shark Pigott, Louse Pigott, and black Pigott. Louse Pigott, of very delicate health, being in custody for writing a popular satirical tract, intituled, The Jockey Club,' caught a sudden cold, which repelled his gout, and briefly conducted him to the finish. Black Pigott died some time since, having resided in privacy, many years, åt no great distance from the metropolis. It seldom happens that a as breeder has the good fortune to try together, three such goers Shark, Masquerade, and Honest Kit, all too, by one stallion, Marsk; such, however, was the luck of Robert Pigott, as we were soon after informed by a lad who rode in the trial. Honest Kit died, we believe, before he could be brought to the post: the grey mare Masquerade (old Peggy) lived to earn many laurels at Newmarket, and to leave posterity. Shark was in colour brown, like his sire and dam, upwards of sixteen hands high, and powerful in his loins and shoulders, but somewhat defective in bone below the knee. He had much of recent Oriental blood in him. He was got by Marsk, his dam by Old Snap, both sire and dam great grandsons of the Darley Arabian; his grandam by Marlborough, brother to Babram, out of a natural Arabian mare. Babram was a son of the Godolphin Arabian, and both he and Marlborough masters of high weights. Shark, between 1774 and 1777 (see Racing Calendar, 1786) won upwards of twenty thousand guineas, the greatest winnings ever before made by any other racer; and Lord Grosvenor afterwards offered ten thousand for him, and the two or three engagements then upon him, which offer was refused. He was a horse of the kindest temper, and very pleasant to ride -was equally good for speed and stoutness, beating the best of his cotemporaries at their own play. He beat Fireaway, Masquerade, and Nutcracker, a single mile, giving the latter twenty-one pounds. He was however beaten several times; his legs, not the best part of him, being occasionally amiss; although when a covering stallion, his legs were as fine as in his colthood. He was trained during one season under the direction of Major Hanger, the present Lord Coleraine. He never ran but at Newmarket. Mr. Swinfen's famous colt by Chrysolite, which won the great stakes at Nottingham, in 1777, was out of Shark's dam. To sum up, Shark was, in as equal a degree as possible, both speedy and stout, the honestest and truest of runners. Shark covered a season in the North, and another in Surrey: his first stock did not prove very successful, a chance which has happened to so many stallions, and in particular to his sire, Marsk, that one would have supposed a longer trial would have been granted to a horse of his high character and size : however, the breeders determined otherwise, and he was brought to the hammer at Tattersall's, in or about the year 1787, and knocked down, at one hundred and twenty pounds, to Mr. Smith, the grocer, of Margaret - street, Cavendish - square, and by him exported to Alexandria, in Virginia, where he covered until his death, which happened in the stud of General Washington. The present writer went to Tattersall's, half determined to purchase Shark, and give him a fairer trial as a stallion; but hesitating during the flourish of the hammer, the bargain was knocked down. FEAST OF WIT; OR, SPORTSMAN'S HALL. of monly well." Whenever afterwards Madame Denis attempted to throw out some hints in the presence her uncle, concerning her charms, her age, or her theatrical talents, the skeleton-frame of the decrepid poet used to bawl out, "Souvenez vous du jeune homme de Geneve!" Remember the young Genevese. MADAME Denis, Voltaire's niece, after having performed at his private theatre, at Ferney, the part of" Zaïre," in the tragedy of that name, was most flatteringly complimented by a young man from Geneva, who had been admitted to the play, when the modest and conscious Madame Denis, sickening at the fulsomeness of the hyperbolical encomium bestowed upon her A COUNTRYWOMAN being at vesacting, exclaimed in a sort of pet-pers, and the curate singing very tish mood, "Bah! bah! Monsieur, il faut être jeune et belle pour jouer Zaïre comme il faut," (one must be young and handsome to play the part of Zaïre well.) The young admirer, with all the chafferlike impetuosity of a wit, answered directly, "Ah! Madame, vous avez bien prouvé le contraire." (Ah! Madam, you have just given us a proof of the contrary) which is tantamount to " you are old and ugly, (and so she was), and yet you performed your part uncom badly, wept aloud every time she heard him sing. The curate perceiving this, called her to him, and inquired the cause of her grief. "Alas! Sir," answered she, "I had an ass who was the best beast in the world, but unfortunately he was devoured by a wolf. As I loved him very tenderly, I never hear you sing but I think of my poor beast; for nothing can be so like as his voice and yours." PRATTLE.-Eve, say the Rabbins, is derived from a word, which signifies prattle. The first woman took this name for the following reason: When God had created the world, he threw down from Heaven twelve baskets filled with prattle; the woman picked up nine of them, whilst her husband had hardly time to collect the other three. LEAST SAID, SOONEST MENDED. In an old village Church, of the name of St. Bride's, Where the women and men sit on opposite sides, The parson was preaching, the clerk in a doze, When, all on a sudden, a talking which he had found, in order that he might get something by restoring it to its owner. He complied, and read the following:Steal mé not! myself and collar Both are barely worth a dollar; Puppies should befriend each other: See me home, then, dearest brother! He put down the dog, and departed. A GENTLEMAN passing through Fleet-market, was surprised at being hailed from the well-known College by a friend, who, it appeared, was in durance vile. “Ah! asked the gentleman. Tom, why how came you there?" "Oh! a very rascally piece of business—I am imprisoned for telling a lie.” "For telling a lie! impossible! there must be some mistake." No, its true enough. I promised to pay my tailor's bill, and didn't." 66 A SPORTING Schoolmaster, this month, purchased a dog of the pointer breed; but the animal, on trial, not possessing the necessary qualifications, was returned by the purchaser, accompanied by a note, quaintly stating, that the " dog knew nothing of punctuation !" SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. STAG-HUNTING IN THE WEST. THE HE Dulverton stag-hounds have had some admirable sport, having killed nine deer in the first nine times of hunting. They found a deer one day at Bray, and killed at Chilling Bridge, near Barnstaple, running him five hours and half: it was the largest stag killed for many years. On Friday, the 13th September, they found a deer in Homer Wood, near Dunster, and ran him over the top of Dunkery, and in a straight line across the Moor to Longwood, which is 18 miles as the crow flies, through Longwood, and down the bottoms to North Molton, where they killed him: it eertainly was one of the finest runs these hounds have had for years.-Another day, they found a deer at Haddon Wood, about four miles from Wiveliscombe, and, after a smart burst, killed it near Dulverton. They killed a very old deer in the Porlock country, when hunting Lord King's woods, and had a very good day's sport, on Bampton fair day. The stag-hunting season will continue until the latter end of October. During November, they hunt hinds. We shall feel great |