Part 77

_In Riding._—Jockeys may be divided into several classes: namely, the southern jockeys, the northern jockeys, and the dirty jockeys. The first class are those which are seen at Newmarket, Ascot, Epsom, and indeed in most of the races in the southern counties, and also at Doncaster. The second class attend the Yorkshire meetings, and what, for the sake of distinction, I will call the northern circuit. The third or dirty class, are met with still farther to the north, in Westmoreland, Cumberland, &c. and are remarkable for their slovenly, dirty, and unworkmanlike appearance:—it is no uncommon occurrence to see these wretched apologies for jockeys (at Kendal for instance) ride in dirty jackets, dark greasy corduroys, and gaiters of a similar complexion. Mr. Thomas Simpson’s jockey frequently appears thus, though Mr. Simpson is wealthy and highly respectable; but evidently not very scrupulous on the score of cleanliness. The southern jockeys, much to their credit, appear on horseback with a neatness and cleanliness bordering upon elegance; and their performance is, for the most part, of a superior order—superior, in fact, to their rivals of the north; they are illiterate ignorant men, with little exception: though, in private, they affect a mysterious, but plebeian importance, and would willingly be thought a sort of semi-gentlemen, which, however, their very attempt to assume such a character renders impossible. There is much less of this ridiculous and ignorant affectation in the northern jockeys, who yet seem, it must be confessed, not nearly so anxious about their appearance on horseback (as far as relates to the advantage of dress,) as their brethren of the south.

The question next arises as to which are the best workmen. The southerns, beyond a doubt; that is, speaking generally: but, it must be admitted, that there are some excellent northern jockeys, who would lose little by the comparison with either Chifney, Robinson, Dockeray, or any of the most favourite riders of the present day. Buckle is now grown old, and does not often appear; otherwise, I should place him at the head of the list. H. Edwards must be classed, I imagine, amongst the northern jockeys; he has a good seat, good hands, and a good head; and is altogether an excellent rider: I am doubtful if his superior is to be found. T. Shepherd, a northern jockey, has a good head, and I have always admired his riding; I think his abilities have generally been much underrated. Lear is a promising young northern jockey; but he must be careful not to let his self-opinion and overbearing temper supersede the plain uncultivated sense he possesses. Templeman is what may be called an improving jockey: he has a good seat, and I have frequently been much pleased with his performances. He rode Dr. Faustus (Sir T. Stanley’s) remarkably well at the Liverpool summer meeting, and I thought won the cup—I was not singular in this opinion: the judge, however, decided in favour of Velocipede. I never recollect observing a horse better managed than Forth managed his own horse Frederick, when running this year (1829) at Epsom, for the Derby. He had betted to a considerable amount upon Exquisite (also his own horse, and came in second) particularly with Mr. Crockford; but shifted his money the evening before running on Frederick, and thus became a winner to a very considerable amount. There are many very awkward jockeys, possessing but very slender requisites for the profession which they have embraced; to point them out, however, by name, would appear ill-natured and invidious.

It is some dozen years or more since “old Billy Pierse” quitted the avocation of a jockey. This man I always considered as a very superior rider—as one of the best I ever saw. In stature he was one of the shortest of his fraternity: but he was a sort of dwarf Hercules: he was able to give his horse a pull without any perceptible movement of his body; and of all the jockeys I ever saw, not one sat so steadily upon his horse. He never acquired the fame of Chifney; though there are those who think his merits were equal, if not superior to that celebrated jockey:—such is the opinion of one gentleman, in particular, whose superior judgment I have frequently experienced and very much admired.

What I have denominated the “dirty jockeys,” are little worthy of consideration. They are very indifferent riders, but made up of trick and cunning; and ready at any time to put in practice their sinister arts for the purposes of deception, swindling and fraud.

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I have not the least doubt, were this description of jockeyship entirely superseded, it would give very general satisfaction to the true friends of the turf. In the first place, with the exception of Lord Wilton, Mr. White, and some others, there are few gentlemen but what make a poor, or perhaps ridiculous, figure in riding a race. When gentlemen are to ride, it seldom happens that the patience of the multitude is not put to the test: if the preparations for gentlemen riders are not more complex than those of the professed jockeys, they cannot be either so well defined, or so direct, since they occupy a period of time of at least six times the duration. But this is by no means the worst of the business:—the system is liable to very gross abuse; and a class of men contrive to insinuate themselves into it, who have very meagre pretensions indeed to the character of gentlemen, and whose operations are, for the most part, merely a cloak for the basest purposes. I have often been surprised, that those genuine or sterling gentlemen who choose to contend in the race, are not more scrupulous as to the persons in whose company they thus appear: accustomed as they are to the turf, they cannot be unconscious, surely, that men frequently are seen as gentlemen riders, who are not only destitute of every honourable feeling, but whose exertions are in furtherance of a system of swindling, base and degrading, and utterly incompatible with the best interests of the turf. Also, a number of these men cannot come fairly under the description of amateur riders, since they go from race to race throughout the season, and are in the constant habit of riding, which they understand as well as the regular jockeys. What chance has a mere amateur against such competitors?

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As to jockeys riding to order, nothing can be more correct or judicious, when such orders are intended to bring out the horse, so as to make the most of his powers, and to win if possible; but many cases have no doubt occurred of an opposite description, where the horse possessing the qualities to win, has been ridden purposely to lose. Yet, I am inclined to think, that suspicion has not unfrequently been expressed without just grounds. It should be recollected that horses vary considerably in their running, unaccountably so at times, either from latent disease, or other inexplicable cause; and therefore before a jockey is accused of wilfully riding to lose, the matter should be very dispassionately considered. Generally speaking, a jockey is very anxious to win, and I should be more inclined to suspect him of foul riding in order to win, than premeditatedly riding to lose, unless he had betted largely against the horse, and this is much more likely to occur where the jockey happens to be the owner of the horse, than under ordinary circumstances.—_Turf Expositor._

RIDGE, _s._ The top of the back; the rough top of anything; a steep protuberance; the ground thrown up by the plough; the top of the roof rising to an acute angle; _ridges of a horse’s mouth_ are wrinkles or risings of the flesh in the roof of the mouth, running across from one side of the jaw to the other.

RIDGLING, _s._ A ram half castrated.

RIDINGCOAT, _s._ A coat made to keep out the weather.

RIFLE, _s._ A gun whose barrel is only constructed to shoot bullets.

I have made many experiments, and thought a good deal, by way of ascertaining the best calibre for answering the particular or general purposes to which the rifle may be applied. We all know that the resistance of the air is the chief obstacle which projected bodies have to encounter. It is so very great, that the range of projected spheres is more regulated by the degree of this resistance than by the velocity they receive from the powder,—the increased velocity of the ball being met by a geometrically increased ratio of atmospheric resistance. The larger bullets, therefore, having less surface in proportion to their mass, are, proportionately, much less resisted; so that the flights of the larger exceed those of the lesser, in more than the proportion of their respective diameters. For instance, a thirty-two pound shot, whose diameter is about six inches, will, with even a less proportionate charge of powder, and at an equal elevation, range half as far again as a nine pound, whose diameter is four inches. The proportion which the surface of a sphere bears to its mass, increasing in a geometrical ratio to the decrease of its diameter—the smaller the sphere, the greater is the proportionate resistance it meets with in its flight. At length, we find that small particles of the heaviest metals, becoming, as it were, nearly all surface, will actually float in the atmosphere, or remain suspended for a considerable time in the lightest fluids. Hence it is, that from the same piece, and with a similar charge of powder, we shall find that the range of an ounce of bird shot will regularly extend with the increased size of the shot employed, until, in progression, we get to the ounce bullet itself, which fits the piece; and which, by the by, at an elevation, would not be impelled further if projected from a twenty-four pound cannon.

The theory of the air’s regular resistance to the onward progress of the bullet, must also be applied to the irregular action of the wind across the line of its flight; which action also increases in the ratio of the decrease of the weight of the bullet. At the distance of 315 yards I have found a strong cross wind to cause a rifle bullet of nineteen to the pound to diverge from three to four feet. On the other hand, I have used a rifle carrying a bullet of ten to the pound, which, with the same wind, did not, at the same distance, diverge more than about one foot. In constructing a butt for rifle practice, regard should, therefore, be had to the more usual direction of the wind; and, as far as the locality will allow, the butt should be placed so as to have the wind more frequently in the line of the range, either way, than across it.

For general, and especially for military purposes, such large rifles as the last mentioned would, coupled with the ammunition, be found too heavy. The rifles commonly used in the United States carry, I am told, a bullet of thirty-two to the pound. The adoption of so small a calibre, I take to have been occasioned by the use of the rifle being, in that country, originally and generally confined to the interior of thick forests, wherein it seldom happens that an object is to be fired at beyond the distance of one hundred yards; and where, moreover, the wind is much less felt than in an open country.

Under the above circumstances, the half-ounce rifles are quite adequate to their purpose; but in a more open, and especially in a mountainous country, the calibre of rifles should be considerably larger. In a hilly country, you are often in the actual presence of the enemy, and capable of greatly annoying him, at distances at which, on a plain, the view is interrupted and confined by the least considerable of surrounding objects. In a hilly country, occasions are perpetually offering, wherein long rifle ranges would cause considerable mischief to your opponents. Such long ranges can never be obtained, nor depended on, with the half-ounce rifles of the Americans and Tyrolese.

If the foregoing observations are founded on fact, it is easy to decide what sort of rifle should be applied to a particular purpose. With respect to general purposes, I am inclined to fix on the calibre of one ounce, or sixteen bullets to the pound. The English government rifles are of nineteen or twenty to the pound; to which calibre there is little objection, especially as it is the same as that of the cavalry carbines and pistols. However, I could advance several reasons,—I do not call them very important ones,—for preferring the French regulation; according to which all the fire-arms of all the different corps, both of cavalry and infantry, are of one and the same calibre, of sixteen bullets to the pound.

With respect to the rifle, at least, I would most strenuously recommend the substitution of percussion for flint locks; over which the advantages of the former are as great as the latter are superior to the huge wheel and pyrites locks of two centuries ago. In comparison to the percussion gun, the very best flint one absolutely hangs fire, and one out of twenty is usually a miss-fire. A cap is put on much quicker than a flint lock is primed; there is no time lost in changing flints; and if Mr. Joyce’s percussion powder be used, there is no foulness or corrosion whatever; lastly, the rifles at present in use might be converted into copper caps at a trifling expense, and new copper cap locks will cost less than flint ones. The only objection to the change (and I own it is a very great one indeed), is the blind prejudice of custom.

To render the use of the copper cap piece still more eligible, especially for military purposes, there should be no lateral vent-hole in the breech, but in lieu of it, a broad convex-headed screw; which, upon being withdrawn, opens a passage into the chamber under the nipple, of an eighth of an inch in diameter.

By this simply contrivance,—which I have applied to all my own guns, rifles, and pistols,—should any obstruction occur, either from wet or dirt, which cannot be removed by merely probing the nipple, it will infallibly he cleared out by removing the screw, scooping out the passage into the chamber, putting a little powder therein, and firing it off, after having probed the nipple and replaced the screw. The aperture formed by the removal of the screw, greatly adds to the facility of washing the barrel.

Instead of the brush and brass wire pricker, required for the present flint-lock service, the use of percussion pieces would make it necessary to substitute a little instrument of steel, resembling the letter T; one half of the horizontal part being a four, or, what is perhaps better, a three-sided pricker, or probe, of about one-twentieth of an inch diameter. The other half of the horizontal piece forms a kind of little scoop, corresponding to the diameter of the lateral screw above mentioned; upon the removal of which it is to be employed. The centre piece, or foot of the T, is a turnscrew, surmounted by a little ring to attach it to the jacket. As, however, the instrument will not be often wanted, perhaps it had better be kept in the trap of the rifle stock, in the inside of which I attach it, by a thong, to a little screw staple.

Some persons recommend that, instead of the lateral screw above described, the nipple itself should be taken out, in case of obstruction, or for the purpose of washing the barrel. This is not only ineffective, but highly improper, as it requires the use of a particular shaped key or pincer to screw the nipple; whereas, such things as will turn a screw, or serve the purpose of a pricker, are to be found everywhere.

The percussion powder for the caps, should by all means be composed of the nitrate of mercury, first brought into use by Mr. F. Joyce, of Old Compton Street. This, instead of having the slightest tendency to corrode the piece, would rather appear to possess an anti-oxidating property; for I have repeatedly found that, having fired upwards of twenty rounds with this percussion powder, and laid the piece by for a month without the least cleansing, it has been, at the expiration of that time, as perfectly free from the least speck of rust as the day it came new from the maker’s shop. This would certainly not be the case even with a common flint lock; but as for the common percussion powder, composed of superoxygenated muriate of potash, it actually corrodes the parts of a gun as much as a drop of nitric acid itself; in fact, upon combustion it evolves, and leaves a residuum of that active fluid upon the iron. The consequent rapid destruction of the parts is such as would, especially in military service, occasion great inconvenience.

I have often compared notes, and reflected upon the respective advantages belonging to the magazine and copper cap locks, either for military or sporting purposes. Of magazine locks hitherto invented, the best and simplest is that by Forsyth, with the magazine sliding upon a plane, in which is the touch-hole, being connected with the cock by a bridle, which causes it to follow or precede its motions. For military use, this lock has the advantage over the copper cap, inasmuch as it saves the time and attention required for priming; nothing else being required than to cock and pull the trigger. In rifle practice, the use of this lock will more than retrieve the small additional portion of time which it requires to push down even my rifle cartridge, above what it takes to drop a cartridge into a common musket, with all its windage. On horseback, the advantages of such magazine locks are still more evident and important; as every one knows what an awkward loss of time and powder the operation of priming a flint lock occasions to a horseman in motion; whereas, with the magazine, containing thirty or forty primings, and a swivel ramrod, a carbine or pistol may be loaded with the same speed and precision on horseback, at a trot or a gallop, as when sitting in a chair. It is certainly easier to put on a copper cap than to prime a flint lock; but, with the magazine, there is no priming operation at all. With the common corrosive percussion powder above spoken of, the magazine lock certainly becomes very unfit for military purposes; for after having fired a shot or two, without subsequent cleaning, the lock will be nearly immovable the day after. However, in the late Spanish campaign of 1823, I had several magazine rifles and pistols, and no other than the corrosive percussion powder; but the officers and men to whom I entrusted them were so proud and so careful of them, as to keep them always in the most perfect order. Anyhow, it is evident that, for cavalry officers at least, the percussion magazine locks are undoubtedly, to be preferred; and, for both officers and men, I will observe, _en passant_, that it is far better to have one double pistol, than two, or half a dozen, single ones; and that whether one or two pistols be used, they should, upon going into action, he secured by a thong to the sword-belt; so as, in case of need, to be instantly disposed of by being dropped over the left shoulder. By having only one pistol, one holster may be converted into a convenient pouch. It is essential that, in double pistols, carbines, or rifles, the axis of the barrels should be perfectly parallel from breech to muzzle. If this be strictly attended to, it is not of much consequence whether they be disposed as in a fowling-piece, or, as it is called, “under and over.” One “under and over” pistol, eight inch barrels (the upper one rifled), nineteen bore, swivel ramrod, with a movable spring butt, to be kept in the other holster when not in use, is an excellent weapon for an officer. The movable butt must also serve the purpose of a mallet in loading the rifled barrel. Three or four slight taps will send the ball home: for, particularly on horseback, a rifle-barrelled pistol cannot well be loaded by pushing with so small a ramrod. With the smooth barrel, the party may fire away, either with ball or buck-shot cartridges, as fast as he pleases.

The copper cap offers the advantage of somewhat greater simplicity, and consequently less liability to derangement; and above all, it is, with the application of wax as hereafter described, perfectly water-proof. For the rifle service, therefore, it might perhaps, in one point of view, be preferable to the magazine; and certainly it is so in every respect for fowling pieces; in the use of which protection from the rain is of much more importance than the gain of a few seconds in loading, and where none of the inconveniences of priming on horseback are experienced. Duelling pistols should decidedly be copper caps. With such pistols there is no occasion whatever for a magazine; and I have found that a delicate trigger cannot be subjected to the slightest casual pull or strain of the magazine stirrup, without great liability to accident.

A remarkable defect in all the rifle-shooting that I have ever seen, is the improper construction of the ramrod, which is much too light. From this it results, that either the bullet is inserted with too little constriction to ensure its revolving on its axis to the end of an extensive flight; or, upon a tighter fit being attempted, much time and awkward exertion are expended in driving it properly “home.”

The friction to be overcome in forcing a bullet into a rifle is, in some respects, analogous to that of a wedge or a nail in entering a piece of wood. Nobody would think of driving a nail or a wedge by mere pressure or pushing, which would not effect the object with a thousand times the force that would suffice in the shape of percussion or impingement. To load a rifle with a mallet is out of the question, especially for military purposes; but I find that the very best effect is produced by having the ramrod of solid brass, considerably heavier than the iron ones of the government rifles. I have also a bit of hard wood, turned into the shape of a pestle, acutely convex at the thick end; and to qualify it for hasty use, I fasten it by a string to the button of my jacket. With this I give the ball a smart tap, which drives it below the centre of its circumference into the grooves of the barrel. If the latter be perfectly clean, the bullet will go down all the way by mere pushing; but this will not be the case after a few shots have been fired, unless the bullet be smaller than it should be. Any how, the ramrod ought always to be flung down once or twice, in conclusion—as the particular ring or jar, so produced, furnishes the only true criterion of the bullet being really “home.”

The ramrod being of the proper weight, and the end applied to the bullet being nearly equal to its calibre and well countersunk, the bullet will be moved by it with a few easy percussions; and should the barrel be ever so foul towards the breech, one or two flings with such a ramrod will send the bullet “home” with the assured ring. Neither a wooden nor a light metal ramrod will produce this effect after a few shots.

The ramrods I have had constructed for my own use are of solid brass, of about half an inch diameter except the end applied to the bullet, which, for a couple of inches, is so large as just to fit easily into the barrel. This large end is bored conically out, so as to contain between two and three drachms of powder, which, in leisure shooting, serves to introduce the charge with the rifle reversed. The ball-drawer, when required, screws into the other end of the rod.