Matches, as they were made some hundred years ago, or in earlier times, were always arranged to be run over a distance of ground, the courses never as a rule being shorter than four miles, and sometimes extending far beyond that distance. In the years 1718-9-20-1, to go no further back, upwards of eighty such contests took place--that is to say, races between horse and horse. In those days, and for long afterwards, other kinds of matches were made, which do not, however, concern this history; and at one time it was a fashion to arrange different exploits as matches. Many such might be referred to--shooting matches, cocking matches, racket matches, and sometimes even mail coaches were matched to run one against the other. A contest of this description may just be mentioned in passing, as an example of what was called sport ninety years ago. In the year 1802 the London and Plymouth mails raced for a sum of 500 gs. from St. Sydwells to Honiton, a distance of sixteen miles, when the London coach, driven by Mr. Browne, won the race, doing the distance in one hour and fourteen minutes. Fifty-two years previous to the decision of that match, a still more curious event of the kind occurred at Newmarket, when a wager of 100 gs. was made that a carriage with four running wheels, to be drawn by four horses and driven by a man, would run nineteen miles on Newmarket Heath within one hour. A vehicle was made expressly for the occasion by a London coachmaker of celebrity, and when all was ready this race against time began at seven o'clock in the morning, and finished in fifty-three minutes and twenty-seven seconds, so that backers of the horses won their money. Captain Newland's wager to ride one hundred and forty miles in eight successive hours on hack horses excited much attention. The event took place on the 2nd of April, 1801. The captain won, as he performed the distance in seven hours and thirty-four minutes. Many matches, or rather wagers to ride horses against time, might be recorded of even earlier date, as for instance one which took place in the year 1606, when "John Lepton, Esq., of York, for a considerable sum, engaged to ride six days in succession between York and London, and he won his wager."