Pedestrianism

82 modern pedestrianism. cashireshepherd, performedone hundredand forty yards in twelve seconds, near Hackney, in February 1808. Captain Aiken has acquired considerable celebrity as a swift runner, and for any dis­ tance under fivemiles, his performances have been seldom exceeded. He undertook three matches for fifty guineas each: 1st, To run one hundredyardswithin twelve seconds; 2d, To go two hundred yards in twenty-eightse­ conds ; and, 3d, To do a quarterof a mile in one minute andtwenty seconds. He started on the Uxbridge road, on the 23d of June 1809; andthe firstmatchhe lost by a second; the next he wonwithdifficulty; and the third, he gained by two seconds. He performed a quarter of a mile on the Twickenhamroad, in one minute and fifteen seconds; and on the 26th of July 1809, he startedfor two bets of twenty guineaseach; first,to go a mile in five minutes, andafter an interval of oneminute, to runa mile against Mr. Sullivan. The first he accomplished in two seconds under the time j and the second he performed in five minutes