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LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OF 
 
 "THE DRUID" 
 
 (HENRY HALL DIXON). 
 
 Y,\ 
 
 HON. FRANCIS LAWLEY. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 VINTON & Co., Limited, 
 
 9, New Bridge Street, Ludgate Circus, E C 
 
 1895. 
 

DEDICATED, 
 
 BY KIND PERMISSION, 
 TO THE 
 
 Right Honourable The EARL OF ROSEBERY, K.G., 
 
 IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF 
 HIS WELL-KNOWN APPRECIATION 
 OF "THE druid's" WRITINGS, 
 IN CONNECTION WITH WHICH HE HAS LATELY 
 DESCRIBED HIMSELF AS 
 "ONE WHO FINDS CONSTANT REFRESHMENT 
 " FROM READING A FEW PAGES OF THIS 
 "HEALTHY AND VIVID AUTHOR, 
 " HALF SPORTSMAN AND HALF POET, 
 "WHO HAS PRODUCED 
 "A NUMBER OF VOLUMES, 
 '•WHICH IN THEIR WAY ARE MASTERPIECES, 
 "AND WILL NEVER BE SURPASSED." 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is time that a life of perhaps the most pleasing 
 sporting writer of the present century should be 
 written, or attempted. After searching every En- 
 cyclopaedia and Dictionary of Biography upon 
 which I could lay my hand, I have not been suc- 
 cessful in finding the name of " Henry Hall Dixon " 
 in any of them. On the other hand, there is in all 
 a memoir, sometimes a prolonged memoir, of Mr. 
 William Hepworth Dixon, although it is more than 
 doubtful whether any of his numerous books will 
 live as long as " Post and Paddock," or " Silk and 
 Scarlet." The only volume in which I can find any 
 mention of my present hero is in a work called 
 " Celebrities of the Century," edited by Lloyd C 
 Sanders (formerly Exhibitioner of Christ Church 
 College, Oxford), and published by Messrs. Cassell 
 and Co. (Limited) in 1887. The notice to which 
 I refer is in the following words : — 
 
 "Dixon, Henry Hall; born 1822, died 1870 : 
 
VI. PREFACE. 
 
 sporting writer, well known through his pseudonym 
 1 The Druid :' was the son of a cotton manufacturer, 
 and was educated at Rugby under Dr. Arnold. 
 He contributed largely to the Press on sporting 
 and agricultural matters, but is now chiefly 
 remembered for his admirable memoirs and descrip- 
 tions of country life in ' Post and Paddock' (1856) ; 
 'Silk and Scarlet' (1858); 'Scott and Sebright' 
 (1862); 'Field and Fern' (1865); 'Saddle and 
 Sirloin' (1870); and also for his treatise on 'The 
 Law of the Farm' (1858; fourth edition, 1879)." 
 
 Little surprise need be felt that the " Dictionary 
 of National Biography," edited at first by Mr. 
 Leslie Stephen, and now by Mr. Sidney Lee, 
 should omit all mention of " The Druid." From 
 the first commencement of that monumental 
 work down to the present hour, when it is more 
 than half completed, sport of all kinds has, as a 
 rule, been insufficiently treated, or altogether 
 ignored. It is to be regretted that the editor or 
 editors did not select for the task of dealing with 
 open-air sports some expert who was as fond of 
 them and as capable of doing justice to their most 
 conspicuous votaries as Mr. Joseph Knight is of 
 commemorating actors, actresses, and dramatists. 
 This is all the more to be regretted, because the 
 lives of the three Chiffneys (not Chifneys) have 
 been well handled by Mr. G. C. Boase. Surely, how- 
 ever, Elnathan Flatman, commonly called " Nat," 
 
PREFACE. Vll. 
 
 deserved a vates sacer, if for no other reason than that 
 the example of as honest a jockey as ever got into 
 the saddle might with great advantage have been 
 held up for imitation and emulation by other mem- 
 bers of that dangerous profession. No trainer, 
 except William Chiffhey, has thus far found a place 
 in this storehouse of biographies, and no jockey, with 
 the exception of George Fordham. It is earnestly 
 to be hoped that among the lives still to be treated, 
 those of Robert Robson, once called the " Emperor 
 of Trainers," of James Robinson, the Prince of 
 jockeys, of John Scott of Whitewall House, Mai ton, 
 and of his brother, Bill Scott, will not be forgotten. 
 As regards other trainers and jockeys, few, I fear, 
 are likely to find admission to pages which ought 
 surely to be devoted to quicquid agunt homines. It 
 is true that in the memoir of the three Chiffneys 
 mention is made of " the famous jockey, Frank 
 Butler," who was nephew to the younger Sam 
 Chiffney and of William, his brother. When, how- 
 ever, Frank Buckle, the Dawsons, the two John 
 Days, Alfred Day, Flatman, Conolly, Forth, Frank 
 Butler, Job Marson, and many others, are unnoticed, 
 and only the two Chiffneys and George Fordham 
 mentioned, there is a sense of incompleteness in 
 the ensemble of a work to which in other respects 
 I myself owe deep obligations, and which, in the 
 regularity with which its volumes appear, and in its 
 general fulness, accuracy and excellence, awakens 
 
Vlll. PREFACE. 
 
 gratitude and pride in the minds of all capable of 
 loving and appreciating literary work honestly, and 
 for the most part elegantly, executed. 
 
 That " The Druid's " memory deserves to be held 
 in honour by succeeding generations will be cheer- 
 fully conceded by those of his admiring contem- 
 poraries, whom the scythe of the universal reaper, 
 Time, has not yet mown away. It may, however, 
 be necessary to impress upon younger readers of 
 this work that "The Druid's" claims upon their 
 attention rest mainly upon the following substantial 
 foundations : — 
 
 I. — " The Druid " was one of the most inflexibly 
 honest, upright, and just men that ever lived, and 
 could not be induced, on any pretext, to accept the 
 slightest pecuniary reward for his writings, beyond 
 the small honorarium paid to him by his employers, 
 which never exceeded six hundred pounds a year, 
 all told. In the following pages it will be found how 
 he made the late Mr. Rarey's fortune, and how the 
 attempts of the latter to give a complimentary 
 present to Mrs. Dixon, in recognition of the invalu- 
 able services rendered to him by her high-minded 
 and disinterested husband, were indignantly re- 
 pulsed by " The Druid " himself. So delicate was 
 his sense of honour that when he went down to a 
 stud farm to describe a yearling sale he would not 
 even accept luncheon from the owner of the place 
 lest he might be suspected of being biassed, if his 
 
PREFACE. IX. 
 
 honest conviction led him to praise some of the 
 lots brought up for auction. The disappointment 
 of his eldest son, Mr. Sydenham Dixon, when, as 
 a hungry boy of twelve, he was forced by his father 
 to turn away from a bountiful luncheon, to which 
 both were invited, and to munch some dry bread 
 and cheese in a public house, is amusingly de- 
 scribed in Chapter VIII. of this work. 
 
 II. — "The Druid" was never known to wager 
 more than ten shillings upon a horse race, and, as a 
 rule, he never betted at all. In the preface to his 
 " Post and Paddock " he tells us that " he has 
 simply written of the Turf as he has known it for 
 some years past, not through the feverish medium 
 of the betting ring, but as its leading features were 
 brought to his mind by an occasional stroll on to a 
 racecourse on a crack afternoon, through the boxes 
 at Tattersall's, or among the paddocks of a stud 
 farm." 
 
 III. — As regards the accuracy of his descriptions 
 "The Druid" has never been surpasse d when he 
 wrote of scenes which came under his own obser- 
 vation. Lord Rosebery has spoken of him with 
 rare penetration as "half sportsman and half poet ; " 
 and the amount of poetry which he infused into 
 his writings will be recognised by those to whom 
 many passages, scattered like gems throughout his 
 works, are as familiar as they are to Lord Rosebery 
 himself. 
 
X. PREFACE. 
 
 IV. — "The Druid's " equal in endurance of hard- 
 ship, exposure to weather, scanty fare and personal 
 discomfort, and the courage with which he faced 
 and disregarded them all, and never flinched even 
 when suffering from painful sickness and exhausting 
 disease, is not to be found among writers for the 
 Press, dead or living. Many years ago I received 
 a letter from Dr. Bradley, now Dean of West- 
 minster. Dr. Bradley was at Rugby and in the 
 same house with " The Druid," who visited his old 
 school-fellow, then Head Master of Marlborough, 
 under the following circumstances. At the time 
 of which I am now speaking there was no railway 
 to Marlborough, and the nearest station was 
 Swindon Junction upon the Great Western Rail- 
 way, distant about thirteen miles from Marl- 
 borough. One summer afternoon there appeared 
 at Dr. Bradley's door a travel-stained pedestrian 
 with a huge portmanteau on his shoulder, which 
 he had carried all the way from Swindon to 
 Marlborough across the Wiltshire Downs. It 
 proved to be " The Druid," who had made his way 
 on foot to Marlborough in order to inspect the 
 racing establishments in the neighbourhood — that 
 of Alec Taylor at Fyfield, where Sir Joseph 
 Hawley's horses were then trained; that of Jo nes, 
 Alec Taylor's nearest neighbour, from which Marl- 
 borough Buck went forth to run second to 
 Teddington for the Derby of 1S51 ; and that of 
 
PREFACE. XI. 
 
 Treen, at Beckhampton, (now occupied by Sam 
 Darling,) at which for many years the horses of Sir 
 William Gregory, Captain Mervyn Archdall, and 
 Lord Bolingbroke were prepared for their engage- 
 ments. " The Druid " was hospitably entertained for 
 three days by Dr. Bradley, who in the letter to which 
 I am now referring spoke of him as " the horsiest 
 Christian that he had ever encountered.'" When 
 it is remembered that " The Druid " rode on horse- 
 back from the Orkneys to Kensington in the severe , 
 winter of 1864-65, arriving at home " in the snow 
 of a February night, with fourpence in his pocket, A ' .vt$T' 
 on the back of a Highland garron which he had /» J 
 bought for £y 10s. at Pomona, in the Orkneys," 
 little surprise will be felt that from the effects 
 of that exposed and trying journey he never 
 recovered. 
 
 As a slight tribute to the memory of one of the 
 most unselfish, courageous, modest, conscientious, 
 and pure-minded of men, the following pages are 
 offered by his friend and admirer, 
 
 The Author. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 VAC, E 
 
 Preface ... ... ... ... ... v.— xi. 
 
 CHArTER I. — Birthplace and its Influences ... ... i 
 
 Chapter II.— Birth and Parentage ... ... ... 29 
 
 Chapter III. — Rugby Days ... ... ... ... 45 
 
 Chapter IV. — Cambridge Days and early Married Life ... 82 
 
 Chapter V. — Further Reminiscences of his early Life 114 
 
 Chapter VI. — " The Doncaster Gazette " ... ... 133 
 
 Chapter VII. — "The Druid's" Eccentricities and Absence 
 
 of Mind ... ... ... ... ... 183 
 
 Chapter VIII. — Reminiscences by his eldest Son ... 198 
 
 Chapter IX. — Decline of Cumberland Wrestling ... 212 
 
 Chapter X. — " The Druid's " Versatility ... ... 235 
 
 Chapter XI. — His many-sided Sympathies ... ... 257 
 
 Chapter XII.— His Love of Children ... ... ... 275 
 
 Chapter XIII.— "The Druid" as a Politician ... ... 287 
 
 Chapter XIV.— The " Old Mortality " of the Turf ... 308 
 Chapter XV. — "The Druid's" Endurance, Character, and 
 
 Death ... ... ... ... ... 3 22 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Dixon, Henry Hall ... ... ... ... Frontispiece 
 
 Rugby, The Schools ... ... ... ... to face 45 
 
 Rugby, The Head Master's House ... ... ,, ,, 63 
 
 Zetland, Earl of ... ... ... ... ,, ,, 173 
 
 Sykes, Sir Tatton ... ... ... ... ., ., 19 2 
 
 Lynes, G. B. ... ... ... ... „ ,, 253 
 
 " The Orkneys to Kensington with Punctuality and 
 
 Dispatch" ... ... ... ... ,, ,, 329 
 
LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 "THE DRUID/' 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HIS BIRTHPLACE AND ITS INFLUENCES. 
 
 T is worse than useless to at- 
 tempt to write a man's life 
 unless something is first said 
 about the place and atmo- 
 sphere in which he was born. 
 Horace Twiss, in his admirable biography 
 of Lord Chancellor Eldon, attributes no 
 small portion of his hero's success in life 
 to the fact that he was born at the foot 
 of a " chare." The narrow streets, or lanes, 
 in Newcastle-on-Tyne are called, in local 
 phraseology "chares," and Lord Eldon is 
 said to have remarked one day from the 
 i 
 
2 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 Bench in the Court of Chancery that he 
 himself had been born in a " charefoot." 
 It was in a "chare" of this kind that 
 William Scott, father of Lord Stowell and 
 Lord Eldon, passed his active and useful 
 life, and each of these great legal lumin- 
 aries remembered to his dying hour the 
 Grammar School at Newcastle in which their 
 education commenced. It was presided over 
 by a clergyman named Moises, of whom 
 Lord Eldon writes, in his " Anecdote Book," 
 that " The head master was that eminent 
 scholar and most excellent man, the Rev. 
 Mr. Moises, whose memory I shall hold in 
 the utmost veneration so long as I continue 
 to exist." Mr. William Scott " gathered 
 gear" enough as a "hoastman" or coal- 
 fitter, to send his two famous sons, William, 
 Lord Stowell, and John, Lord Eldon, to 
 Oxford, where the elder graduated at Corpus 
 Christi College in 1761, and the younger at 
 University College in 1766. 
 
 It was due, however, to the industrious and 
 thrifty habits which the two boys picked up 
 at their father's well-ordered home in Love 
 Lane, Newcastle-on-Tyne, that when they 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences . 3 
 
 went forth into life, no work and no privations 
 proved to be greater than they were able to 
 bear. In like manner Mr. Henry Hall 
 Dixon, a sketch of whose "Life" I have 
 undertaken to write, owed no slight debt of 
 gratitude to the county in which he first saw 
 the light. 
 
 The true history of the " Border " can best 
 be found in the writings and poems of Sir 
 Walter Scott, whose famous lines : 
 
 " St. George ! a stirring life they lead 
 Who have such neighbours near," 
 
 tell of the stormy times passed by the dwel- 
 lers in Cumberland and Westmoreland when 
 the Solway Firth was their sole protection 
 against the Scottish moss-troopers, of whom 
 for all time William of Deloraine will stand as 
 the typical representative. But the Solway, 
 although in many places about twelve miles 
 broad, was no adequate protection against an 
 enterprising, aggressive, and warlike people. 
 It could be crossed at low tide by horse- 
 men well acquainted with its sands and 
 eddies, and for this reason the northern half 
 of Cumberland was constantly exposed to the 
 
4 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 depredations of the Scots. No village, no 
 farmstead, no cattle-yard, no stable full of 
 horses was safe against the incursions of 
 these lawless and daring marauders, who car- 
 ried away all that they could drive before 
 them into Annandale and Nithsdale. 
 
 For these obvious reasons the people of 
 Cumberland found it necessary from the 
 earliest times to stand to their arms in order 
 to resist and drive off their troublesome tor- 
 mentors. They fortified their houses, leaving 
 a large vaulted chamber beneath into which 
 their cattle were driven at night. Along the 
 whole length of the Border, castles — or as 
 they were called, Peel Towers — were erected 
 at a distance of a mile from each other, and 
 in some cases there was an underground road 
 of communication between them. Some of 
 these old keeps still survive, disclosing walls 
 about ten feet in thickness, a few feet above 
 the ground. They were divided into three 
 storeys, the lower one being an arched stable 
 where the cattle found shelter. The mas- 
 sive door was then fastened, and the men 
 mounted to the upper rooms. If assailed, 
 they betook themselves to their weapons, 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 5 
 
 and threw down from the roof huge rocks, or 
 poured boiling water or molten lead upon 
 those who ventured to attack them. But 
 when the cattle had been safely housed this 
 was rarely attempted, for the moss-troopers 
 were in too great a hurry to sit down before 
 fortified places. 
 
 In the meantime alarm beacons were 
 blazing from every hill-top, and church 
 towers were used for the same purpose. The 
 Cumberland and Westmoreland peaks and 
 towers, which were lighted up to call the sur- 
 rounding country to arms, were at Black- 
 combe, Skiddaw, Landale Top, Carlisle Cas- 
 tle, Mulcaster Fell, St. Bee's Head, Work- 
 ington Hill, Brampton Mote, Dale Raugh- 
 ton, and Penrith. In course of time there 
 grew up in Cumberland families of free- 
 booters, among whom the Graemes, the Rut- 
 ledges, and the Howards soon became as 
 dashing and fearless as the Elliots, Arm- 
 strongs and Scotts from the northern side of 
 the Border. This unsettled condition of 
 affairs led to the destruction of all morality 
 and order, with the result that on both sides 
 of the Border, freebooting and cattle-stealing 
 
6 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 were regarded as honest and respectable pro- 
 fessions. The women were as bad as the 
 men, and the Scotch gudewife who re- 
 minded her sons when they sat down to 
 dinner that the last fat sheep was in the pot, 
 and that if they wanted something to eat 
 next day they must go and fetch it, was more 
 than matched by the Cumberland matron, 
 who served up three pairs of spurs in a dish, 
 from which she pulled off the cover, exclaim- 
 ing to her husband and her two sons that as 
 she had no meat for them to eat, it was time 
 for them to buckle on their spurs and go 
 forth to seek some. 
 
 Between the two countries there was a 
 long strip called the Debatable Land, which 
 lay to the north of Carlisle, between the 
 rivers Esk and Sark. It belonged neither 
 to England nor Scotland, and was infested 
 by thieves, outlaws and " reivers " from 
 both, to whom its boggy and mossy surface 
 afforded a safe sanctuary. These despera- 
 does had, as Camden says, " no measure 
 of law save the length of their swords ; " 
 and when caught alive, which was seldom the 
 case, they met promptly with Jedburgh, or 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 7 
 
 " Jeddart " justice — that is to say, they were 
 hanged first and tried afterwards. Worst of 
 all, says the " History of Cumberland," were 
 the Graemes of Netherby, from whom were 
 descended the brave General Elliot, who 
 defended Gibraltar, and Sir James Graham, 
 with whom " The Druid " was always a great 
 favourite. When the hungry Scots prepared 
 for a southward raid, they either waded the 
 Solway, or forded the Liddel or the Esk. 
 Crossing the Border by secret ways known 
 only to themselves, and with a bag of oatmeal 
 slung to every man's saddle-bow, they met at 
 some appointed tryst, and flung themselves 
 upon a lonely farmhouse, whence they drove 
 off the cattle and sheep. Many a time 
 were they hunted with sleuth-hounds, which 
 tracked them to their retreats among the hills, 
 and it was not until long after the Union of 
 England and Scotland took place in Queen 
 Anne's reign that the Border feuds began to 
 die out, and the inhabitants on either side 
 were left to cultivate their rugged acres in 
 peace and tranquillity. 
 
 It is said that even to this day it is difficult 
 to induce a Carlisle jury to convict a man of 
 
8 Life and Times of u The Druid." 
 
 murder, but when, on the other hand, the 
 offence is cattle lifting or sheep stealing, 
 conviction is certain. From these lawless 
 surroundings and antecedents sprang the 
 Cumberland " Statesmen " or yeomen far- 
 mers, who were neither squires nor labourers, 
 and until a comparatively recent date lived 
 without money, and got all the necessaries 
 of life by a system of exchange or barter 
 which they carried on with their neighbours. 
 Uncorrupted by luxury, and blessed with 
 enough of this world's goods to get through 
 life, they passed their blameless existence 
 among the lonely scaurs, hills and fells of 
 their native land, and were as "stout of heart 
 and steady of hand " as their forefathers, who 
 lived always on the alert to resist the armed 
 irruptions of the thieving Scot. " They bear 
 the greatest fatigue," writes one who knew 
 them well, "with patience and endurance, 
 and living contentedly on humble fare, offer 
 the best that their houses contain to strangers 
 who seek their hospitality. Though not rich 
 in money or land, they are rich in character 
 and healthful contentment, their houses being 
 schools of thrift and industry. The clothing 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 9 
 
 is made at home, by women who spin their 
 own linsey wolsey, while the men go to kirk 
 and chapel in homespun hodden gray. Stal- 
 wart sons and comely maidens are brought 
 up on porridge, oatcake and milk ; in fact, 
 they desire no better food. Occasionally 
 barley bannocks, Whillimer cheese (a corrup- 
 tion, I believe, of Windermere), potato-pot, 
 and a bit of bacon vary the humble repast." 
 On this fare the Cumbrians thrive well, and 
 become lusty and strong. For the most part 
 they are men of large stature, big boned and 
 broad chested, with firm muscles, well-knit 
 joints, and sinewy arms, which give them 
 great advantage as wrestlers, and what they 
 want in agility and suppleness they make up 
 in sturdy stiffness and strength. 
 
 In 1828, when Sir James Graham was 
 appointed High Sheriff of Cumberland, he 
 was met outside Carlisle by a cavalcade of 
 mounted " Statesmen," whom he called " a 
 body of men not to be matched in any other 
 part of the kingdom." It is sad to be com- 
 pelled to confess that the Cumberland States- 
 man is already a thing of the past. One of 
 the greatest misfortunes connected with Free 
 
io Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 Trade is that small holdings have disap- 
 peared under its influence, together with 
 those fine specimens of yeomen farmers who 
 were once the strength and pride of Eng- 
 land, and of whom Dr. Lonsdale wrote, in 
 i860, that "many a canny homestead, where 
 yeomen had for centuries held their own and 
 taught their sons and grandsons the proud 
 traditions of their race, no longer affords 
 shelter to the ' weel-kennt folk of ither days.' 
 Even the names of the founders of these 
 time-honoured families are forgotten, and in 
 many rural districts this disappearance or 
 obliteration of names awakens reflections of a 
 by no means agreeable kind. Among many 
 changes affecting men and interests in the 
 northern counties of England, none is more 
 marked, none sadder, than that arising from 
 the ceaseless acquisition of real estate, and 
 the absorption of small holdings by large 
 landed proprietors, who are scarcely known 
 by sight to the people among whom they 
 live." 
 
 How much "The Druid" owed to the 
 brave and rugged character of the simple, 
 manly, and truthful Cumbrians among whom 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 1 1 
 
 he was born will, I think, be apparent from 
 the following description of him written by 
 his widow, whose love for him has survived 
 and been intensified by the twenty-four 
 years which have elapsed since his death.* 
 It was from Cumberland that he acquired 
 the noble qualities with which he is credited 
 in the following sketch, to which any word 
 added by me would be superfluous, if not an 
 impertinence. 
 
 " The Druid," writes his widow, " was a 
 man of iron will, and indomitable persever- 
 ance, and with absolutely no regard for the 
 ordinary comforts of life. He would rise at 
 daybreak, if his work called him to make 
 
 * Dr. Smiles, the able biographer of " George Moore, 
 Merchant and Philanthropist," tells us in his pre- 
 face, that he was for a long time unwilling to write 
 the life of a man whom he had not known personally, 
 and who seemed to him to offer nothing but ordinary 
 and prosaic materials for treatment. " It was not," 
 he adds, " until Dr. Percival, head master of Clifton 
 College (now of Rugby School), called upon me, that 
 I ascertained something of the actual life and char- 
 acter of George Moore. He spoke to me of the man 
 and not of the warehouseman. He said in a letter 
 which I afterwards received from him : ' There is 
 so much genuine character in Cumberland folk that 
 
12 Life and Times of " The Druid? 
 
 such an effort, but his general habit was to 
 sleep till noon, all his hardest work being 
 done between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. His hours 
 for meals were most irregular. Breakfast he 
 rarely took, and his lunch often consisted of 
 a biscuit and a glass of milk. One large 
 meal was all that he seemed to need, and 
 this was usually taken late at night. Till 
 illness obliged him to follow his doctor's in- 
 structions, water was his sole beverage. He 
 had a weakness, however, for a cup of tea 
 in the afternoon. His dress was as little 
 studied as his other personal comforts, and in 
 order to induce him to put on a new garment 
 it was needful to secrete the old one, and 
 
 I feel sure you will be attracted by them. You will 
 find that the incidents of Mr. Moore's boyhood and 
 early life are sufficiently characteristic to enable you 
 to use some of the excellent material furnished by 
 the habits and traditions of the district. Then I 
 hope you will also find sufficient illustrations in his 
 middle life of his splendid pluck and energy, and 
 again in his later life of his rare liberality. This last 
 trait ought to be instructive because of its extreme 
 rarity among men who have had to struggle as he 
 did. I have never come across any other self-made 
 man who had so entirely got the chill of poverty out 
 of his bones.' " 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 13 
 
 place the other in its stead. His one real 
 anxiety seemed to be about his gaiters, with- 
 out which he never went abroad, and so 
 much store did he set by them that when his 
 sons had to pass through an ordeal of any un- 
 common kind (such as a competitive exam- 
 ination or making an offer of marriage), he 
 invariably offered to lend them his gaiters. 
 He entreated permission to wear them on 
 his own wedding day ; and on being refused, 
 tucked them into his pocket and put them on 
 when fairly off with his bride for Northamp- 
 ton Station. Occasionally he picked up queer- 
 looking garments in out-of-the-way places. 
 One huge white driving coat I well remem- 
 ber ; it had six capes, and possibly once 
 belonged to the driver of a stage coach. 
 Arrayed in this, and pacing up and down a 
 railway platform, talking to himself, or rather, 
 repeating aloud some quaint story he had 
 heard or read, he often attracted attention. 
 One day I was seated on a bench in a rail- 
 way station when a gentleman remarked to 
 me, ' What eccentric characters you meet 
 everywhere ! Only look at that fellow in the 
 queer coat, muttering to himself like a man 
 
14 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 in a dream. I should like to know who and 
 what he is.' ' Oh ! ' I replied, ' I can soon 
 satisfy your curiosity — he is my husband ; let 
 me introduce him to you.' Need it be added 
 that the unhappy wight vanished through a 
 side door. 
 
 " One other point affecting ' The Druid's ' 
 personal appearance caused him much anx- 
 ious care and thought. On the top of his 
 head one rebellious lock of hair persistently 
 stood erect. To control it he always kept a 
 hair brush in his pocket, of which he made 
 vigorous use on all occasions, seasonable and 
 unseasonable. Failing in this way to reduce 
 it to order, he resorted to such profuse applica- 
 tions of pomatum, that on dining at the house 
 of a prim maiden lady, he leaned his head 
 against the delicate paper of her drawing- 
 room, when a deep round stain was left upon 
 the wall, which gradually grew in size until 
 it met her horrified gaze. 
 
 " It was his constant habit to walk when 
 time permitted. He thought nothing of 
 twenty or thirty miles, carrying a knapsack, 
 made pretty heavy by note books, and works 
 of reference which were his invariable com- 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 15 
 
 panions ; more frequently than not, he would 
 tramp on and on, mile after mile, without 
 giving a thought to food. This in some 
 measure resulted from his determination to 
 spend nothing on himself. Ever liberal to 
 his wife, children and friends, he grudged 
 the smallest outlay on his own personal 
 wants." 
 
 Who can doubt, after reading the above 
 touching sketch, that ''The Druid" owed 
 many of the attributes which made him what 
 he was to the Cumbrian blood which flowed 
 in his veins ? His family sprang originally 
 from a race of " Statesmen," whom he resem- 
 bled in the austere simplicity, the sterling 
 honesty, the fearless truthfulness, the coura- 
 geous endurance of fatigue, the indifference to 
 danger, exposure and hard fare which were 
 the most marked of his characteristics. The 
 gradual evolution of his life I shall endeavour 
 to trace out in the following pages, but be- 
 fore closing this chapter I cannot refrain from 
 quoting a few sentences from the lecture 
 which the late Professor Freeman delivered 
 at Carlisle on the place in English history 
 filled by that ancient city. It was one of 
 
1 6 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 those singularly able addresses which he de- 
 livered sporadically in English cities for the 
 Archaeological Institute, whose journeyings 
 through many parts of this island he accom- 
 panied. I can imagine nothing which would 
 have afforded "The Druid" more pleasure 
 than to listen to Professor Freeman's exhaus- 
 tive unravelling of the early history of Carlisle, 
 and among many other passages which 1 have 
 marked for citation, none would have been 
 more appreciated by him than the following : 
 " I have defined Carlisle as being that one 
 among the cities of England which, having 
 once become English, became British again. 
 The unbroken English life of Carlisle begins 
 with the coming of William Rufus and the 
 settlement of his southern colony. For two 
 hundred years before he came it had been 
 British or nothing. For at least two hundred 
 years before that it had been part of an Eng- 
 lish kingdom, that of the Angles of Northum- 
 berland. For at least two hundred years 
 before that it had shared the independence of 
 those parts of Britain from which the Romans 
 had gone, and into which the Angles or the 
 Saxons had not yet come. Of the Roman 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 17 
 
 and British life of the city we have little to 
 tell ; but that it had a long Roman and 
 British life no man can doubt. Under various 
 shapes and corruptions of its Roman and 
 British name, we find it in every list of the 
 cities of Britain. Luguballium or Luguballia 
 occupies a site which seems marked out by 
 nature for a great fortress. It is a site 
 specially designed to guard a border, to de- 
 fend a land against dangerous neighbours, 
 who may one day become wasting invaders. 
 And this duty the hill of Luguballia has 
 had laid upon it through more than one long 
 period, in the hands of more than one set of 
 masters. I was once tempted to say that it 
 is not without a certain fitness that the 
 spot which was to be the bulwark of England 
 against the Scot should of itself put on some- 
 what of a Scottish character. I pointed out 
 that the castle hill of Carlisle bore a strong- 
 likeness in miniature to the castle hills of 
 Edinburgh and Stirling. In all three the 
 castle crowns a hill, steep at one end only. It 
 crowns it therefore in a different sense from 
 those hill towns where the fortified acropolis 
 forms the centre of the city. At Edinburgh, 
 
18 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 at Stirling, at Carlisle, the castle alike crowns 
 and ends the city. It is at once an acropolis 
 and an advanced bulwark. All three strong- 
 holds are emphatically watch towers, homes 
 of sentinels, standing and looking forth to 
 guard the land of their friends, and to over- 
 awe the land of their enemies. . . . That 
 duty was at least as well discharged by Stir- 
 ling in the hands of an English-speaking 
 king of Scots as it was by Carlisle in the 
 hands of a French-speaking king of England. 
 What distinguished Carlisle from its two 
 northern fellows is that while it has shared 
 with them the championship of Teutonic 
 Britain against the Celt, it alone of the three 
 had already held an analogous place in days 
 before any part of Britain was Teutonic." 
 
 I have come across one other passage 
 which it would have given " The Druid " 
 unfeigned delight to transcribe. It is from 
 " The Old Manorial Halls of Westmoreland 
 and Cumberland," by Dr. M. W. Taylor, 
 F.S.A., Vice-President of the Cumberland 
 and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeo- 
 logical Society. The work was published 
 in 1892, and is the best and fullest record of 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 19 
 
 the fortresses and Peel Towers (Dr. Taylor 
 calls them " Pele ") that I have ever come 
 across. In the first place Dr. Taylor gives 
 us a graphic description of Yanwath Hall, 
 about two miles from Penrith, on the right 
 bank of the Eamont river. The Peel Tower 
 of Yanwath, like all Border towns of the 
 same epoch, was built for defence, and as a 
 place of refuge for men and cattle from the 
 incursions of Scottish marauders. It occu- 
 pies a commanding position on the south 
 bank of the stream, so as to interpose the 
 river between the fortalice and the enemy. 
 The situation was chosen to guard the ford 
 over the river, which is within half a bow 
 shot. Before the period of stone bridges, 
 the ford at Yanwath was the most important 
 of the passages across the Eamont. The 
 lines of a British stone avenue lead to it 
 from the south, and give the nearest access 
 to Penrith, or Voreda. This ford would, 
 from its shallowness, afford facilities for the 
 passage of horsemen and waders when the 
 more formidable waters at Eamont and 
 Brougham were not practicable. " Let our 
 fancy," writes Dr. Taylor, "carry us back 
 
20 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 to some of the scenes which may have been 
 enacted in the hall at Yanwath during the 
 fourteenth century. At the far end was the 
 dais, or raised platform of two steps, with its 
 high table for the lord and lady and their 
 principal guests. Down the hall in two 
 rows were ranged the table-boards on trestles, 
 and the benches for retainers of inferior 
 degree. No carpet covered the floor, but it 
 was strewn with sweet rushes, lavender, and 
 fragrant plants. The lower part of the walls 
 was roughly cased with wooden boards, 
 whilst the upper part was covered with 
 crimson cloth or canvas. From the stag 
 antlers on the walls hung the furniture of 
 war — shields and targets, lances and pennons, 
 broadsword and battle axe, sheaves of arrows, 
 and the long-bow and cross-bow, together 
 with the trophies of the chase. Here, also, 
 hung the beautiful burnished armour, which 
 at this period had attained its zenith of per- 
 fection, and was ready to be donned hastily 
 at night on the alarm note of the warder's 
 bugle on the tower signalling the firing of 
 the beacon at Penrith. Under the benches 
 dozed the quick-scented bloodhounds, kept 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 21 
 
 by the Lord for the chase, and, if need were, 
 for the pursuit with hot -trod of the red hand 
 moss-troopers from over the Border. The 
 pursuit of ' hot trod ' was a power given by 
 the Border laws to the Wardens of either 
 kingdom in following malefactors or cattle 
 lifters, which made it lawful to pursue the 
 chase with hound and horn, with hue and 
 cry, across the marches into the opposite 
 realm, where the fugitive might be appre- 
 hended or slain. Over the chimney piece in 
 Yanwath Hall were blasoned the armorial 
 bearino-s of the Threlkelds. On the wall 
 behind the dais there was a hanging of arras 
 tapestry representing some famous incident 
 of chivalry, the work of the fair ladies of the 
 house — an art but lately introduced into Eng- 
 land. The period was at the end of the 
 long reign of Edward III., or the close of 
 the fourteenth century, the most brilliant for 
 prowess in the whole history of England. 
 The great North of England Barons, Roger 
 de Clifford of Appleby, and Rainulph de 
 Dacre, of Dacre Castle, near Penrith, Com- 
 missioners of the Border Marches, were or- 
 dered by Royal mandate to repair to their 
 
22 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 northern estates and arm their followers 
 against the Scots. The Lord of the beautiful 
 domain of Yanwath was William de Threl- 
 keld. Let us picture him sitting down to 
 dinner surrounded by his vassals and men- 
 at-arms, who might presently be wanted on 
 the Scottish Border. Nor is the Church 
 unrepresented, for the white and black garb 
 of the monk rustles softly amid the clang of 
 the half mailed knights, and the grace is said 
 by the abbot of the neighbouring monastery 
 of Heppe. 
 
 " The hour is half past ten a.m., for our fore- 
 fathers rose at five. On the upper table the 
 white cloth is spread, and the trumpet sounds 
 the call for dinner. The pages bring in 
 ponderous dishes for the banquet, a bountiful 
 and varied fare. Salmon from the pool in 
 the river below, served sodden and with 
 verjuice sauce ; the great grey lake-trout 
 from U lis water ; eels from the Stauke at 
 Pooley baked in crust ; the head of a grisly 
 wild boar speared in Grisdale ; venison 
 from a stag shot by the bowmen in Martin- 
 dale, or from a noble stag run by the sleuth- 
 hounds from the Manor of Oglebird and 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 23 
 
 gralloched in the forest of Inglewood. Nor 
 do the men-at-arms below the salt fail to 
 pull their knives from their girdles and help 
 themselves with their fingers (there were no 
 forks in those days) to slices from the baron 
 of beef taken from an ox stolen from the 
 Elliots of Liddesdale, or on the braes of 
 Annandale. The high table lacks not for 
 more refined samples of the culinary art ; 
 highly flavoured pastries, poignant ragouts 
 and stews seasoned hotly with spices and 
 coloured with saffron, for our ancestors were 
 bon vivants in their way. Mead and sack, 
 Malmsey and Rhenish, flagons of high-spiced 
 claret cup and ippocrass, wassail and mazer 
 bowl pass freely from hand to hand, and the 
 obsequious cellarer, with his black jack stoup, 
 makes many a trip to the buttery hatch for 
 the nut brown ale to fill up the horns of his 
 thirsty comrades. And all the while the 
 fool in his motley cracks his ribald jokes, and 
 the band of jongleurs or wandering minstrels 
 in the music gallery strum their merriest airs 
 to divert the company, and sing roundelays 
 narrating how the Scots fell at Halidon Hill, 
 or some Border knight won his spurs at 
 Crecy or Poictiers." 
 
24 Life and Times of " The Druid? 
 
 Let us turn to more modern times. There 
 are few racing men in whom " The Druid" 
 would have taken more interest than in Cap- 
 tain James Octavius Machell. It is well 
 known that a painting of Crackenthorpe in 
 Westmoreland, " rebuilt by Hugh Machell, 
 1629, sold by Launcelot Machell, 1786, and 
 re-purchased by James Machell, 1877," hangs 
 upon the wall of Captain Machell's study at 
 Bedford Cottage, Newmarket. It may not 
 be out of place to give briefly the history of 
 the Machell family, extracted from the work 
 from which I have already quoted, merely 
 adding that the above-mentioned Launcelot 
 Machell was the father of two sons, Hugh 
 and Thomas, the younger of whom was one 
 of the most famous antiquaries that the 
 county of Westmoreland ever produced. 
 
 " Crackenthorpe Hall. 
 
 " This mansion lies two miles to the north 
 of Appleby, charmingly situated on a fertile 
 river-holme on the east side of the river 
 Eden. The only remnant of the old manor 
 house is the kitchen and back part of the 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 25 
 
 premises, which present some square mul- 
 lioned windows and an apartment now di- 
 vided by separate partitions which was once 
 a portion of the old wall ; it still retains the 
 old chimney piece with a wide arch flush 
 with the wall. The house is of interest as 
 having been the ancestral home of the Rev. 
 Thomas Machell, the Antiquary, to whom we 
 have so often referred. The Machell family 
 resided here, and continued the name as 
 possessors of the Manor of Crackenthorpe 
 for at least 600 years. The pedigree and 
 succession are set forth at great length in 
 the fifth volume of MSS., now in the Dean 
 and Chapter's Library at Carlisle, by the 
 Rev. Thomas Machell, who, in his great 
 zeal for the antiquity of his name, did Latin- 
 ise it into the form of ' 4 Malus Catulus," 
 and supposes that they descended from the 
 Catuli among the ancient Romans. With- 
 out giving credit, however, for the validity 
 of these pretensions, there is no doubt that 
 this name existed at the time of the Con- 
 quest, and, in fact, it is found in Domesday ; 
 the first mention of it in connection with 
 the Manor of Crackenthorpe occurring in the 
 
26 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 person of one Halth de Manchsel, in the 
 reign of Henry II. None of the family ever 
 acquired the rank of knight, but they seem 
 always to have maintained their position as 
 gentry and squires of moderate possessions 
 and means. There is a stone now set in the 
 wall of the stabling with initials and date in 
 raised characters, thus . — 
 
 " This stone refers to Launcelot Machell, 
 the father of two sons, Hugh and Thomas, and 
 it was doubtless raised to commemorate some 
 alterations he made in the old hall. Hugh 
 succeeded to the estate, and Thomas was at 
 the same time Fellow of Queen's College, 
 Oxford, Fellow of the Royal Society, Rector 
 of Kirbythore, and Chaplain in Ordinary to 
 King Charles II. It is to his method and 
 diligence as an antiquary in collecting, record- 
 ing and preserving information concerning 
 various parishes in the two counties that all 
 our local histories have hitherto been so 
 much indebted. 
 
His Birthplace and its Influences. 27 
 
 " The arms of the Machells were : Sable : 
 three greyhounds courant. Argent : collared 
 Or. On the gable of the present building 
 there is a carved stone with an escutcheon, 
 surmounted with a helmet, mantlings and 
 crest. The crest represents the head and 
 neck of a nondescript animal — it might be a 
 deer or goat with straight horns. The house, 
 as it now stands, appears to have been built 
 during the last twenty years of the seven- 
 teenth century, and the design probably arose 
 under the inspiration of Thomas Machell, the 
 Antiquary, who was a devoted admirer of Pal- 
 ladian architecture, which at that time was 
 supplanting our national style throughout the 
 country. It is a single, narrow, tenemented 
 building, with an extensive frontage, and rows 
 of numerous windows in the modern style. 
 There is a very fine black oak staircase with 
 twisted balusters leading to the second floor. 
 Here there is one apartment which affords 
 a good example of the style of high, oblong 
 panelling in soft wood used at the end of the 
 seventeenth century. Within the framework 
 over the mantel there is a painting on panel ; 
 it is in its original site, and represents a hunt- 
 
28 Life and Times of " The Druid*' 
 
 ing scene. Though not a Snyders, it may 
 readily have been the work of an itinerant 
 Dutch artist in the reign of William and 
 Mary. 
 
2 9 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. 
 
 ENRY HALL DIXON was 
 born in Cumberland on May 
 1 6, 1822, and was the second 
 son of Mr. Peter Dixon, a 
 large cotton manufacturer re- 
 siding at Warwick Bridge, near Carlisle. 
 In 1820, Mr. Peter Dixon, being then thirty- 
 one years old, married Miss Sarah Rebecca 
 Clarke, only daughter of General Tredway 
 Clarke, who for many years was the senior 
 General in the Honourable East India 
 Company's service. Mrs. Peter Dixon was 
 a woman of high intellectual attainments 
 and romantic disposition, which she imparted 
 to every member of her large family. What 
 Mr. Peter Dixon was will be revealed by 
 the following details, supplied to me in great 
 measure by members of his family. 
 
30 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 Before moving to Carlisle early in the 
 present century, the Dixon family had lived 
 for a considerable time at Whitehaven, where 
 " The Druid's " grandfather (whose Chris- 
 tian name, like that of his father, was Peter), 
 amassed a very comfortable fortune. He 
 was a leading and successful merchant and 
 shipowner in Whitehaven, and became united 
 in marriage to Miss Mary Ferguson, the only 
 daughter of a prosperous citizen of Carlisle. 
 In consequence of this connection the elder 
 Mr. Peter Dixon emigrated from Whitehaven 
 to Carlisle, which circumstance was probably 
 the cause of as great a change in the char- 
 acter, prosperity, and general appearance of 
 that famous little town as any other event of 
 a like kind which ever befel it. At the time 
 when Peter Dixon the elder first settled in Car- 
 lisle, no such thing- as manufactories existed 
 there. Handicrafts there were on a small 
 scale, the result of which was that fish-hooks, 
 whips, and hats of a peculiar style were 
 turned out in abundance, and that a few 
 school books — principally of a geographical 
 nature — were printed in and about English 
 Street. In addition, there were a few 
 
Birth and Parentage. 31 
 
 hand-looms producing calicoes and rough 
 cottons by manual industry, but not to such 
 an extent as to deprive Carlisle of the charac- 
 ter of a quiet, sleepy old cathedral city, the 
 capital and market town of a large surround- 
 ing- agricultural district, which was inhabited 
 by old county families who looked down 
 somewhat contemptuously upon their urban 
 neighbours within the walls. Nothing broke 
 the unvarying stillness and monotony of the 
 streets of Carlisle except the weekly Saturday 
 market, when the farmers and their wives for 
 miles round came trooping into the city to 
 dispose of their country produce. Once a 
 year, in August, His Majesty's Justices of 
 Assize (I am speaking of a time long an- 
 terior to Queen Victoria's reign) entered the 
 city, escorted by the sheriff and gentlemen 
 of the county, to deliver the gaol of its scanty 
 contingent of criminals, and occasionally to 
 leave some poor wretch to be hanged for 
 murder or horse-stealing, the latter being 
 then a capital offence. At the close of the 
 Assizes, a county ball was invariably held, 
 followed by the annual races, at which all the 
 nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood, 
 
32 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 accompanied by their wives and daughters, 
 made a point of being present. At the races 
 His Majesty's Plate was always the great 
 event, and the most prominent equipage on 
 the course was Lord Lonsdale's carriage, 
 drawn by four, and in earlier days, by six 
 superb horses. When a Parliamentary elec- 
 tion came round, the blues (Liberals) and yel- 
 lows (Conservatives) met in hostile array, and 
 electors were brought into the town from all 
 parts of the kingdom, and kept there in luxury 
 at the expense of one or other of the candi- 
 dates, who were expected to disburse at least 
 one thousand pounds every day. The con- 
 test generally ended in the return of one 
 member on either side, but the destruction of 
 a vast number of window panes, and the con- 
 sumption of unlimited quantities of whiskey 
 and beer were good for trade, and caused 
 elections to be regarded with great favour by 
 the inhabitants of Carlisle, which, like other 
 towns of small population endowed with the 
 right to send two members to Parliament, 
 throve upon a general election, as in former 
 times the dwellers on the rugged and iron- 
 bound sea-coast of Cornwall grew fat upon 
 shipwrecks. 
 
Birth and Parentage. 
 
 oo 
 
 The immediate cause of the elder Mr. 
 Peter Dixon's transference from Whitehaven 
 to Carlisle was the death of some members 
 ol his wife's family, who were engaged in 
 carrying on a cotton manufacturing busi- 
 ness at Langthwaite Mills, Warwick Bridge, 
 near Carlisle, subsequently known as the 
 Warwick Works. The deaths of Richard 
 and John Ferguson, brothers of Mrs. Peter 
 Dixon, left the Langthwaite Mills without 
 any one to conduct them, and in addition Mr. 
 John Ferguson left a large family slenderly 
 provided for, w T hich made it desirable that 
 some one with brains and capital should suc- 
 ceed to the business. Mr. Peter Dixon the 
 elder determined therefore to take to the 
 cotton factory, which had been left like a 
 derelict by his two brothers-in-law ; and, 
 assisted by his sons, John, Peter and George 
 (the second of whom was "The Druid's" 
 father), he soon created the new firm of 
 Peter Dixon & Sons, with which the commer- 
 cial history of Carlisle was for so many years 
 connected. 
 
 Of the three above-named sons, Peter was 
 decidedly the ablest and most energetic. At 
 
 3 
 
34 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 the age of eighteen he was placed by his 
 father in full charge of the Langthwaite Mills, 
 and thus his association with Warwick Bridge 
 began in 1807, and was continued until he 
 died there, nearly sixty years later. Through 
 early manhood, through middle and married 
 life, and through his long and gentle decline, 
 softened by the tenderness of his disposition, 
 and the affection with which he was uni- 
 versally regarded, he lived a virtuous and 
 unambitious life, dwelling among his own 
 people until at last he was borne to the 
 grave under the shadow of the church which 
 his own pious zeal had raised, and within 
 sight of the beautiful residence at Holme 
 Eden, which he had built for himself in 
 1840, on a "holme," or meadow, by the 
 banks of the river Eden. " This noble pile " 
 — says the " Handbook to Carlisle" — "is one 
 of the happiest modern efforts in the Tudor 
 or castellated manor house style, its architect 
 being the late Mr. W. C. Dobson, of New- 
 castle-upon-Tyne, who was also the architect 
 of St. Paul's Church, at Holme Eden, which 
 Mr. Dixon built and endowed with a sum of 
 ,£2,500, producing an income of £100 a year, 
 
Birth and Parentage. 35 
 
 The house at Holme Eden forms a striking 
 feature in the landscape as the traveller 
 descends the hill from Carlisle to Warwick 
 Bridge." 
 
 The situation to which young Peter Dixon 
 suceeeded in 1 807 was a trying one for a boy 
 in his nineteenth year. A friend who knew 
 him well wrote of him in the following 
 words : — 
 
 11 Many a one in his situation, and at his 
 age, would have failed and made a mess of it. 
 But Peter stuck manfully to his work. It 
 was a striking instance of early aptitude for 
 business in one so young, to have the sole 
 management of so extensive a concern, with 
 numerous workpeople under him ; and doubt- 
 less, being thrown mainly on his own re- 
 sources, he there acquired those habits of 
 energy, decision, self-reliance, and sound 
 judgment which so distinguished him, and 
 contributed to his success in after life. 
 
 "He worked hard, and threw his whole 
 soul into his work. He was a grand example 
 to the young men of his day. He was an 
 early riser — the secret of success in life — and 
 every morning, through winter and summer, 
 
36 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 he was at the works when they started for 
 the day, seeing that all were at their post, 
 and getting through an hour or two's hard 
 work before breakfast, and before most 
 young men were out of their beds. This 
 practice he continued till late in life, when 
 failing health obliged him to give up the 
 active habits which he had so long and 
 sedulously cultivated. 
 
 11 There are still some who can call to mind 
 his activity in other pursuits as well as in his 
 business. Some few Volunteers, now ' in 
 the sere, the yellow leaf,' will remember him 
 in the green uniform of the Cumberland 
 Rangers in the time of the war ; and here 
 and there an old sportsman will recall his red 
 coat when he hunted with the Inglewood 
 hounds. 
 
 11 Mr. Peter Dixon early began with his 
 eldest brother, Mr. John Dixon, to take a 
 part in public affairs, and there is hardly an 
 event in the commercial or political history 
 of Carlisle in the present century with which 
 they and the firm to which they belonged 
 were not more or less connected. 
 
 "As a politician Mr. Dixon began life as 
 
Birth and Parentage. $7 
 
 a supporter of Mr. Pitt, and was a member 
 of the Pitt Club, then established in Carlisle. 
 But after the decease of that distinguished 
 statesman he modified his views, and united 
 himself to the Whig party, especially to those 
 who advocated a reform in the representation, 
 and the removal of all shackles on commerce. 
 There were several circumstances which led 
 to this change of party, though, as Mr. Dixon 
 used to maintain, it was not he so much 
 who had changed his views, as the supporters 
 of Mr. Pitt who had changed theirs, and had 
 ceased to carry out the liberal policy of their 
 leader, who, had he been permitted to live 
 to the termination of the war, would, as 
 Mr. Dixon believed, have been the first to 
 initiate many of those changes or reforms 
 which have since taken place. In truth, it 
 was not surprising that a man of the late 
 Mr. Dixon's character and tone of mind 
 should be an ardent reformer. There were, 
 undoubtedly, many grave abuses both in 
 Church and State, and especially the former, 
 which forcibly affected a mind such as his, 
 and led him to take an active part in their 
 removal. It was under the influence of these 
 
$8 Life and Times of " The Drjiid." 
 
 feelings that Mr. Dixon and his brothers 
 associated themselves strenuously with the 
 Reform agitation, which led to the passing 
 of the Reform Act of 1832, and also with the 
 Anti-Corn Law League, w T hich resulted in 
 the repeal of the Corn Laws- In the latter 
 struggle, his firm, and especially his elder 
 brother Mr. John Dixon, took a most 
 prominent part, being leading members of 
 the League. 
 
 " Mr. Dixon never introduced any ran- 
 corous feelings into politics. He was a good> 
 open-hearted, thorough-going political oppo- 
 nent, but when the contest was over he 
 would shake hands and retain not a trace 
 of bitterness. 
 
 " After the passing of the Municipal Re- 
 form Act, Mr. Dixon took part for some time 
 in municipal affairs, and was the second 
 Mayor of Carlisle under the new regime. 
 He retired from the Council, however, at 
 the expiration of his year of office, in conse- 
 quence of a difference of opinion with his 
 constituents and the majority of the Council 
 on the subject of the election of Aldermen 
 — a question on which the universal practice 
 
Birth and Parentage 
 
 ci> 
 
 subsequently adopted throughout England 
 justified the correctness of Mr. Dixon's views. 
 He maintained that it was the proper course, 
 and most in accordance with the intention of 
 the Act, for the Council to elect the most 
 fitting persons as Aldermen from the citi- 
 zens who were qualified, without reference to 
 whether they were members of the Council 
 or not. It was maintained on the other side 
 that no one should be elected Alderman whc 
 had not first gone through the ordeal of a 
 popular election to a seat on the Council 
 Board. 
 
 "It was in commercial matters, and in pro- 
 moting the trade and interests of Carlisle that 
 Mr. Dixon's judgment and ability were most 
 prominently displayed. He was one of the 
 promoters of the Carlisle Canal, for uniting 
 Carlisle to the Solway Firth at Bovvness — an 
 undertaking which gave a greater impetus to 
 the trade and prosperity of Carlisle than any 
 other event in its previous history. Unhap- 
 pily the undertaking was not advantageous to 
 its promoters in a pecuniary point of view, 
 for just as it was beginning to be remunerative 
 and to pay a fair dividend, the introduction of 
 
40 Life and Times of " The Druid? 
 
 railways — an event quite unlooked for when 
 the canal was set on foot — knocked it on the 
 head, and diverted its traffic into other chan- 
 nels. Mr. Dixon was the first establisher 
 of steamboats in connection with the canal 
 between Port Carlisle and Liverpool, and 
 was for many years the active and energetic 
 Chairman of the Steamboat Company, formed 
 for that purpose, which proved a highly re- 
 munerative concern until railways put a period 
 to its existence. He was also concerned in 
 promoting the Newcastle and Carlisle Rail- 
 way, forming with the Carlisle Canal a con- 
 nection between the east and west coasts, 
 and a feeder of traffic to the older under- 
 taking. In connection with the railway he 
 assisted in bringing cheap coal to Carlisle, in 
 conjunction with his brother, Mr. John Dixon, 
 by opening out and working the Blenkinsopp 
 Colliery." 
 
 The establishment of which " The Druid's " 
 father was a member, when the cotton manu- 
 facture was in its most flourishing state, be- 
 came a concern of very great extent. In 
 1835, he and his partners erected their im- 
 mense cotton mill and works in Shaddongate, 
 
Birth and Parentage. 41 
 
 Carlisle, which, with the lofty chimney, up- 
 wards of 300 feet high, and designed to 
 carry the smoke clear over the town, form 
 so conspicuous and handsome an object on 
 entering Carlisle from the west. At that 
 time the firm employed thousands of hand 
 loom weavers, scattered over all parts of the 
 north of England, the south of Scotland, 
 and the north of Ireland. In the north of Ire- 
 land alone, about 3,000 hands were employed, 
 there being a regular agency at Belfast for 
 managing this part of the business. Before 
 long all this was greatly changed. Hand- 
 loom weaving was soon superseded by power 
 looms which Messrs. Dixon erected exten- 
 sively at their works at Carlisle, thus extin- 
 guishing the hand loom weavers. 
 
 Amidst all the strain, anxiety, and excite- 
 ment of trade, " The Druid's" father was not 
 unmindful, both for others and himself, of 
 what he called " the better riches." When 
 not actually engaged in business, he took 
 great delight in visiting his workpeople at 
 their homes, looking to their domestic com- 
 forts, and imparting to them religious in- 
 struction. 
 
42 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 On the Sabbath, in the interval of public 
 worship — from which, until his health began 
 to fail him he was never absent — he visited the 
 aged people in the neighbourhood and read 
 and explained to them the Scriptures, while 
 each returning Sunday morning found him 
 superintending his school or in the centre of 
 his own class. 
 
 No man is entitled to look for an unbroken 
 course of prosperity, and Mr. Dixon was no 
 exception to the rule. His latter years were 
 crowded with trials and difficulties of various 
 kinds. His eldest son, Mr. Peter Sydenham 
 Dixon, " The Druid's " elder brother, a young 
 man of great steadiness and promise, who 
 took an active part in the management of the 
 business, became afflicted with total blind- 
 ness, and at last, in 1857, was suddenly cut 
 off by scarlet fever, leaving a widow and 
 young family. About the same time, and 
 indeed for some time previous, Mr. Dixon's 
 own health had begun to fail. A paralytic 
 stroke came on, which at last almost deprived 
 him of speech, besides seriously affecting his 
 general health. At length he was compelled 
 to withdraw wholly from active business, and 
 
Birth and Parentage 
 
 '& 
 
 for the last six or seven years of his life he 
 never left Holme Eden. 
 
 Then came the deaths of friends, and of 
 his own brothers, till he was left the last sur- 
 vivor of a once numerous family, seeing also 
 numbers of his own years remaining hearty 
 and strong whilst he was laid aside, the 
 wreck of his former self. Perhaps, however, 
 these last were his happiest days. Neces- 
 sarily withdrawn from contact with the outer 
 world, he had time to give his mind more 
 intently than before to the great concerns of 
 the future. The Bible became during the 
 last few years of his life his constant study, 
 and, soothed by the unremitting attentions of 
 his family, his days passed gently away, until 
 on April 28, 1866, the end came. 
 
 It will be seen from what I have said that 
 " The Druid's " father was no ordinary man. 
 He combined with great energy and decision 
 of character a remarkable quickness and 
 clearness of judgment, which led his opinion to 
 be greatly deferred to by the other members 
 of the firm. Even to the last his counsel was 
 sought and valued by his partners. In addi- 
 tion, his great heartiness and cheerfulness, 
 
44 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 combined with his genuine kindness dis- 
 played towards all connected with or depen- 
 dent on him, made him a general favourite. 
 
 He was no public speaker, which led 
 him to take a less prominent part in public 
 affairs than he would otherwise have done. 
 What he had to say, however, expressed in 
 one or two short pithy sentences, was always 
 the outcome of a well-weighed opinion, and 
 was invariably listened to with attention and 
 respect. Mr. Dixon, though he had not, 
 owing to the early age at which he engaged 
 in business, the benefit of the extended 
 education which young men in his position 
 now receive, was a man of considerable and 
 varied information, and having improved his 
 mind by reading and reflection, his conver- 
 sation was always interesting and instructive, 
 so that he never opened his mouth without 
 saying something worth listening to. 
 
45 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 RUGBY DAYS. 
 
 T is worthy of passing remark 
 that the two best sporting 
 writers of the present century 
 were both educated at Rugby 
 School. Very different, how- 
 ever, were the conditions and circumstances 
 which surrounded Charles James Apperley, 
 or " Nimrod," when he entered Rugby in 
 1790, from those which Henry Hall Dixon, 
 or " The Druid," encountered there when 
 first he passed under the arches of its Eliza- 
 bethan quadrangle in 1838. In the former 
 year Dr. James wielded, as head master, the 
 instrument from which Horatius Flaccus, the 
 Roman poet, suffered such torments at the 
 hands of " plagosus Orbilius ;" in the latter, 
 Dr. Arnold — the greatest and most high- 
 minded schoolmaster that England has ever 
 
46 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 seen — presided over the fortunes of Laurence 
 Sheriffs famous foundation until he had set 
 his stamp upon public school education all 
 over the world — a stamp which time will 
 not soon efface. " Nimrod " has left us a 
 spirited sketch of the Rugby of his day, 
 accompanied by well drawn portraits of 
 " Master Langley," landlord of the Spread 
 Eagle Hotel, and of " Old Brummage, of 
 the Black Bear," which reveal that there was 
 no harder drinking school in England. The 
 boys got drunk with impunity, unless the 
 offence was so glaring as to attract notice 
 from some master, who had little alacrity in 
 spying out what he did not want to see, and 
 still less in reporting the culprit to Dr. 
 James, who never failed to flog him un- 
 sparingly, without putting an end to the 
 bibulous propensities of his school mates. 
 " Nimrod," and other boys of sporting pro- 
 clivities, were regular attendants on foot at 
 the meets near Rugby, of the Warwickshire 
 and Pytchley hounds. The school discipline 
 was so lax and education so neglected that 
 the class list at Oxford and Cambridge rarely 
 contained a Rugby name, and Walter Savage 
 
Rugby Days. 47 
 
 Landor, a contemporary of " Nimrod," has 
 left it on record that, having learnt nothing 
 at Rugby, he was obliged to leave Trinity 
 College, Oxford, without taking his degree. 
 
 It was the most fortunate circumstance of 
 "The Druid's" life that the school which he 
 entered in 1838, at the mature age of sixteen, 
 was the best for educational purposes that 
 England or any other country had ever 
 known down to that date. " Those," says 
 Dean Stanley in his celebrated " Life of Dr. 
 Arnold," " who look back upon the state of 
 English education in 1827 must remember 
 how the feeling of dissatisfaction with exist- 
 ing institutions, which had begun in many 
 quarters to display itself, had already directed 
 considerable attention to the condition of 
 public schools. The range of classical read- 
 ing, in itself confined, and with no admixture 
 of other information, had been subject to 
 vehement attacks from the Liberal party, 
 generally on the ground of its alleged narrow- 
 ness and inutility ; while the more undoubted 
 evil of the absence of systematic attempts 
 to give a directly Christian character to the 
 education of the English gentry, was becom- 
 
48 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 ing more and more a scandal in the eyes of 
 religious men, who at the close of last cen- 
 tury and at the beginning of this were lifting 
 up their voices strenuously against it. A 
 complete reformation, or a complete destruc- 
 tion of the whole system, seemed to many 
 persons sooner or later to be inevitable. The 
 difficulty, however, of taking the first step, 
 where the alleged objection to alteration was 
 its impracticability, was not easily to be sur- 
 mounted. The mere resistance to change 
 which clings to old institutions was in itself 
 a considerable obstacle, and in the case of 
 some public schools, from the nature of their 
 constitution, almost insuperable. Whether 
 among those engaged in the existing system, 
 or those most vehemently opposed to it, it 
 must have been extremely difficult to find a 
 man who would attempt, or, if he attempted, 
 carry through, any extensive improvements." 
 At this juncture Dr. Arnold was elected, 
 in 1827, to the supreme command of a school, 
 which, thus far, although founded in 1567, had 
 made but little mark upon the history of this 
 country. Dr. Arnold's chief aim was to make 
 the boys entrusted to his charge Christian 
 
Rugby Days. 49 
 
 gentlemen in the first instance, and good 
 scholars in the second. " The business of a 
 schoolmaster," he used to say, " no less than 
 that of a parish minister, is the care of souls." 
 It is impossible to conceive anything which 
 would have filled him with more horror and 
 alarm than the Convention of Head Masters 
 at Merchant Taylors School in December, 
 1892, at which it was seriously debated 
 whether religion had anything to do with 
 public school education. In opposition to 
 this Pagan theory, Dr. Arnold held that his 
 pupils ought to be treated as boys whom he 
 desired to make fit for growing up to be 
 Christian soldiers. His plan of education, 
 in short, was not so much based on religion, 
 as in itself religious. " He would,''" writes 
 Dean Stanley, "dwell on the satisfaction he 
 had in being head of a society where noble 
 and honourable feelings were encouraged, or 
 on the disgrace which he felt in hearing of 
 acts of disorder, selfishness, treachery or 
 violence ; or, again, on the trust which he 
 placed in the honour of his boys as gentle- 
 men, and the baseness of any instance in 
 which that trust was abused. ' Is this a 
 4 
 
50 Life and Times of " The DrzcidT 
 
 Christian school ? ' he indignantly asked at 
 the end of one of his addresses, in which he 
 had spoken of an extensive display of bad 
 feeling among the boys, and then added, ' I 
 cannot remain here if all is to be carried on 
 by constraint and force ; if I am to be here 
 as a gaoler I will resign my office at once.' 
 Few scenes can be recorded more charac- 
 teristic of him than when on one of these 
 occasions he had been obliged to send away 
 several boys, and when in the midst of the 
 general discontent which this excited he 
 stood in his place before the assembled 
 school and said, ' It is not necessary that 
 this should be a school of four hundred, or 
 three hundred, or even one hundred boys ; 
 but it is necessary that it should be a school 
 of Christian gentlemen.' " 
 
 Perhaps there never came under his 
 fatherly supervision a boy better calculated 
 to derive a lasting advantage from his pre- 
 cepts and example than the hero of this 
 biography. In addition to a romantic and 
 poetical imagination, to a fervid love of his 
 native country and of beautiful scenery, and 
 to a passionate attachment, to antiquity, 
 
Rugby Days. 51 
 
 Henry Dixon possessed a scrupulous regard 
 for truth, a sense of responsibility in all that 
 he undertook, and a simplicity and manliness 
 of character which commended him especially 
 to Dr. Arnold's liking. A great classical, 
 and still less a great mathematical scholar, it 
 was not in Dr. Arnold's power to make out 
 of him. It should be mentioned that as a 
 nine-year-old boy Henry Dixon had a severe 
 attack of ophthalmia, w T hich troubled him off 
 and on for the next six-and-twenty years, 
 often confining him to a darkened room and 
 necessitating complete idleness for a month 
 at a time. The result was that his early 
 education was greatly interfered with, and 
 that instead of entering Rugby at the age of 
 eleven or twelve, he was kept back until his 
 sixteenth birthday had passed. As a Rugby 
 boy he suffered so severely from ophthalmia 
 that for at least one-third of each term passed 
 by him there he was totally disqualified for 
 work, being unable to write a word or read a 
 line. 
 
 Like Dr. Arnold himself, Dixon had no 
 aptitude for mathematics, and his taste for 
 classical literature (as he showed subse- 
 
52 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 quently in his writings) led him rather to 
 appreciate the beauty of thought enshrined 
 in the Greek and Latin poets than to study 
 the construction and grammatical niceties of 
 the language in which those thoughts were 
 clothed. In all other respects he was a 
 model pupil — one specially framed to win the 
 highest approbation of the great head master 
 whom he served and looked up to with little 
 less than idolatry, and after whom he named 
 one of his sons. 
 
 The laws of Rugby School require that if 
 a boy is not in the Sixth Form at eighteen 
 years of age he is compelled to leave. At 
 the close of 1840 Henry Dixon was still in 
 the Twenty — the Form interposed between 
 the upper Fifth and the Sixth. He was born 
 in May, 1822, and had therefore attained his 
 eighteenth birthday some months prior to the 
 Christmas of 1840. Under these circum- 
 stances the following letter, addressed by 
 Dr. Arnold to Dixon's father, will speak for 
 
 itself ■ — 
 
 " Foxhow, Ambleside, 
 
 " January 1, 1841. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I cannot deny myself the 
 
Rugby Days. 53 
 
 pleasure of writing to you to express my very 
 high opinion of your son's principles and con- 
 duct, and my sincere regret that he should 
 have left Rugby without my having had an 
 opportunity of becoming better acquainted 
 with him by his being under my own imme- 
 diate instruction in the Sixth Form. I was 
 very glad to give him the prize for composi- 
 tion in his Form, and to see the very 
 creditable place which his name holds on the 
 Class Paper. With my sincerest wishes for 
 his future happiness, and hoping that I may 
 not altogether lose sight of him in after life, 
 14 Believe me to be, dear sir, 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 " T. Arnold. 
 
 u To Peter Dixon, Esq., 
 " Holme Eden, 
 
 " Carlisle." 
 
 It should be added that before Henrv 
 Dixon left Rugby he was requested one 
 morning by Dr. Arnold to accompany him 
 into his study at the School House. Upon 
 that occasion " the Doctor " (as he was always 
 called by his pupils) thanked the youth who 
 stood before him for the support and encour- 
 
54 Life and Times of " The Druid? 
 
 agement he had always given by his good 
 example and high principles to the moral ele- 
 vation of all around him. " I value character 
 and example much more than talent and 
 scholarship," added the famous head master, 
 as he shook hands warmly with the pupil 
 whom he never saw again. It is suggested 
 to me by Mrs. Dixon, who has already out- 
 lived her husband by twenty-four years, that 
 when Dr. Arnold shook hands with Henry 
 Dixon it was not alone the moral but also 
 the physical qualities of the pupil which won 
 the Doctor's commendation. At that time 
 the eighteen-year-old boy was six feet high, 
 and proportionately strong. Rugby has 
 always been noted for the superior running 
 and jumping of its boys, and some of the 
 gates which the best jumpers cleared — 
 notably Cole's gate on the Hillmorton Road 
 — are still pointed out to each generation of 
 new comers as tokens of the athletic prowess 
 and activity of their predecessors. At the 
 time of which I am now writing, Mr. Bonamy 
 Price's house, on the Barby Road, was for- 
 tunate in possessing three of the best athletes 
 in the school : to wit, Hodson, subsequently 
 
Rugby Days. 55 
 
 of Hodson's Horse ; Sir Richard Temple, 
 who was Finance Minister of India under 
 Lord Lawrence, and is now a distinguished 
 M.P. ; and Henry Dixon. The last named 
 was not very popular with his schoolfellows 
 from his disinclination to join in their games 
 and sports, but they could not refrain from re- 
 specting him, when, in order to avoid being 
 incessantly badgered to join in " big side 
 runs," which he detested, he jumped a gate 
 nearly six feet in height, opposite Price's 
 house, and said he would run as often as they 
 pleased if any boy in the school would follow 
 him over that gate. Until quite lately it was 
 still shown with pride under the name of 
 11 Dixon's gate " — a name which it bore ever 
 since he cleared it, backwards and forwards, 
 on many occasions. The approach to it from 
 the Barby Road was uphill, and even in recent 
 days, when the records of Mr. M. J. Brooks 
 of Oxford University, who cleared six feet two 
 and a-half inches in 1876 ; of Mr. P. Davin, 
 who cleared six feet two and three-quarter 
 inches at Carrick-on-Suir in Ireland in 1880; 
 and of Mr. W. Byrd-Page, who cleared six 
 feet four inches in America in the same year, 
 
56 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 are enough to provoke widespread amaze- 
 ment, I doubt whether any of the three above 
 named champions would, as an eighteen-year- 
 old boy, have tackled " Dixon's gate " from 
 the Barby Road. A tradition still survives 
 at Rugby that from 1840 until 1880 no boy 
 ever attempted to jump that tremendous 
 obstacle. 
 
 I subjoin the following " Random Recol- 
 lections," written by "The Druid" many 
 years after he had left Rugby. 
 
 " Rugby : its Sporting and School 
 Recollections. 
 
 " There is an innate love of sporting in the 
 breasts of all Englishmen, which first de- 
 velops itself in their desperate efforts as in- 
 fants to imitate the cry of every animal, and 
 makes them in after years 
 
 " Gaze from Grand Stands with their hair silver gray, 
 And totter 'neath guns till their ankles give way. 
 
 " When it is the good luck of boys to have 
 been begotten by a good sportsman, they are 
 often entered to hounds at a very early age, 
 
Rugby Days. 57 
 
 and sometimes ride with better nerve than at 
 any other period of their lives. I may also 
 add, in confirmation of this, that I never saw 
 boys handle a gun so early or so well as the 
 young Cokes of Norfolk did. Precocious 
 sportsmen of this kind are generally looked 
 on with the deepest reverence by their younger 
 schoolfellows, who accept all their stories, true 
 or legendary, for gospel, and lament the hard 
 fate which may have assigned the direction 
 of their own lot to a matter-of-fact guardian 
 or a serious aunt. Boys, however, seldom 
 take much interest in racing unless they are 
 bred in the very vicinity of a racing stable, 
 and have been accustomed to drink in inspira- 
 tion from an occasional private view of a 
 'Yorkshire gallop,' or a 'rattling sweat,' or 
 from hearing a groom relate how some famous 
 trainer's head lad had put him up to a good 
 thing for the Chester Cup or the Derby. 
 When they make their ddbut at a public 
 school, their eyes and ears soon begin to get 
 more widely opened. BelFs Life, The Era, 
 and The Sporting Magazine — which high- 
 minded masters of private ' academies ' re- 
 gard, along with Ainsworth's novels, as works 
 
58 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 of Belial, and calculated to warp youthful 
 minds from Herodotus and quadratic equa- 
 tions — meet their eye in their ' studies ' and on 
 the hall table. They begin to take tickets 
 on the sly in Derby and Leger lotteries, and 
 think that they are already ' fast men ' on 
 the strength of the investment. 
 
 "It was my fate to be at Rugby in the 
 lamented Dr. Arnold's days. ' Eton gentle- 
 men, Harrow bucks, and Rugby snobs,' had 
 long been a proverbial saying. ' Snobbish- 
 ness ' may be essential to greatness in clas- 
 sical and in other terrestrial pursuits, but it is 
 only fair to say that Charles James Vaughan 
 and Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, two of the most 
 accomplished sons of the sister universities, 
 were, together with Macready and * Nimrod,' 
 educated at ' this town of thirteen fairs.' 
 When I first went there everything about it 
 was calculated to encourage a sporting taste. 
 Lord Chesterfield was living at Abington 
 Abbey, near Northampton, and hunting the 
 Pytchley in a style I have never seen ap- 
 proached since, and many is the time when I 
 have rushed off after second lesson in the 
 generally visionary hope of seeing his hounds 
 
Rugby Days. 59 
 
 draw Hillmorton Gorse. Mr. Bradley's stag- 
 hounds were also in full force, and one day I 
 well remember that they collared their stag 
 opposite the school gates, and raced up and 
 down the town with him, until he shook them 
 off by leaping a seven-foot spiked gate with- 
 out a falter. Steeple-chasing, too, was just 
 becoming all the rage, and the kind-hearted 
 Dr. Arnold being determined that ' the 
 fellows ' (as he used to call them) should have 
 no pretext to disobey orders, dispensed with 
 1 calling over ' one afternoon, in order to let 
 them see the fun which was going on at 
 Dunchurch. The result of that day may be 
 told by the quotation of a dog- Latin verse 
 from a ' Vulgus ' of the next morning in the 
 Fourth Form. The maker of it (now a grave 
 Judge of ' niggers ' in the Punjaub), if he 
 reads these words under his fluttering pun- 
 kah, will no doubt recognise the last spirited 
 pentameter, containing, like a woman's post- 
 script, the gist of the whole matter : — 
 
 " ' Lottery primus erat, Nonna secunda fuit,' 
 
 which I must translate for the benefit of those 
 who are unaware that, in 1840, the Dunchurch 
 
60 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 steeplechase ended thus : Mr. Elmore's Lot- 
 tery (Jem Mason) i; the Marquis of Water- 
 ford's The Nun (Wm. MacDonough) 2. 
 Those were the days when grey ' Cigar ' was 
 in his prime, and steeplechase handicapping 
 was unknown, when 'Jem Mason,' prince of 
 riders, was winning everywhere, over fences 
 either natural or artificial, from the Liverpool 
 Grand National to the Bayswater Hippodrome 
 Prize. At Dunchurch, Mason's riding was, 
 as usual, superb, and as he and the late hap- 
 less William MacDonough jumped into the 
 corner of the winning field at the same 
 moment, I could not help contrasting the 
 ridge and furrow selected by the latter, with 
 the cool judgment displayed by Jem Mason, 
 who galloped along the bottom ridge till he 
 reached the one running up directly between 
 the flags, and then setting the old brown geld- 
 ing going in earnest, just passed The Nun 
 a couple of lengths from the winning post. 
 The recovery of his horse by this brilliant 
 rider, as he bungled in jumping a hurdle at 
 the Bayswater Hippodrome, was one of the 
 finest pieces of horsemanship I ever remem- 
 ber ; in fact, 1 have seen it equalled but once, 
 
Rugby Days. 61 
 
 and that was when Allan MacDonough was 
 riding his own horse, Sir William, over a 
 gate into a lane, in the Cheltenham steeple- 
 chase. But I must hark back. When 
 steeplechases became general, Rugby, as a 
 matter of course, could not rest without one 
 of its own, the town standing £15 and the 
 Rugby boys £15, to the sincere mortifi- 
 cation of their head master, who contrasted 
 the amount mournfully with the solitary 
 sixpences and pennies which found their 
 way into the alms box of the chapel, along 
 with innumerable buttons and ' orders for 
 ,£1,000,' upon the 'Bank of Elegance.' Races 
 within reach there were none, and the only 
 time I ever saw young blood stock in the 
 town was when a locomotive ran into a horse 
 box, which was conveying two of the Mar- 
 quis of Westminster's young things from his 
 stud farm at Rickmansworth to John Scott, 
 his trainer's, quarters at Whitewall, in York- 
 shire. The steam scalded them dreadfully, 
 and they were brought to the Rugby Inn, to 
 be placed under a Veterinary Surgeon. A 
 more painful sight cannot be imagined, as the 
 skin was burnt off in large patches as well as 
 
62 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 the hair. One, a black filly, soon died, but 
 the brown colt recovered (almost as unex- 
 pectedly as ' Resurrection,' who, when a foal, 
 was thrown on to a dung-hill for dead, and 
 revived from the heat), and was christened 
 Auckland. ' He subsequently won a few 
 races, disputing with Belgrade the honour of 
 being placed third to Attila in the Derby. 
 The old Marquis did not omit to send in a 
 claim against the company for ,£3,000, which 
 I believe was immediately paid. 
 
 "The school fights were conducted in an 
 unique fashion, and were strictly forbidden 
 to take place in private. The consequence 
 was, that boys mostly had to sleep upon 
 their valorous determination to fight on 
 the morrow, and found themselves wonder- 
 fully cooled by the end of 'first lesson.' If, 
 however, sleep had not acted as a sedative, 
 eight o'clock was the appointed hour for the 
 tournament. An immense ring was formed 
 near the school chapel, and the windows of 
 the adjacent houses on the Dunchurch road 
 were as full as those of Water Terrace, 
 overlooking Horsemonger Lane Gaol, when 
 Mrs. Manning gratified the gaze of Charles 
 
Rugby Days. 63 
 
 Dickens, who was picking up a little 
 'character' under the gallows for his 
 * David Copperfield.' At the end of ten 
 minutes, or less, a tall figure was generally 
 seen hastily issuing from the little door of 
 the turret which flanked the head master's 
 house, and opened into 'The Close.' 'The 
 Doctor ! the Doctor ! ' rang from every 
 tongue ; combatants and spectators rushed 
 from the spot, and the belligerent pair were 
 forbidden to fight again. As just sufficient 
 time had been given them to find out which 
 was the better man, a respect for each other's 
 prowess often produced a fast friendship ; 
 and, owing to this admirable system, few 
 fights came off in a half-year, to the great 
 disgust of the resident juvenile ' Fancy.' 
 
 " During the horse fairs, it was our delight 
 to interview the thoroughbred stallions, such 
 as Belzoni and Mazeppa, which travelled 
 about the country for the benefit of the 
 farmers. Lord Westminster's famous sire, 
 Pantaloon, had not as yet been hired by 
 Lord John Scott to stand at Cawston Pad- 
 docks, where afterwards he became so dis- 
 tinguished. It was at a much later date that 
 
64 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 I made acquaintance with him, and with his 
 faithful custodian, Hemming, stud groom to 
 Lord John Scott, whom I understand that 
 Matthew Dawson prefers to all the other 
 masters whom he has served in his long 
 career. 
 
 " Let us revert, now, to more strictly 
 boyish amusements than horse racing. For 
 'big side runs,' in which boys in the Upper 
 School were almost compelled to join, I 
 never had much liking, and generally de- 
 clined to take part in them, although well 
 aware that my refusal made me unpopular 
 with my fellows. But I took the greatest 
 delight, when free from ophthalmia, in ' big 
 side jumping,' although to this day my joints 
 warn me of the severity of the strain to which 
 I subjected them in jumping high gates, 
 and plunging into brooks which were too 
 wide for me or anyone else of my age to 
 clear. ' Hare and hounds ' was also a very 
 popular pastime with many, and the hares 
 had special orders, when they pulled up at 
 some well-known public house after they had 
 completed their twelve-mile circuit, to prepare 
 plenty of bread and cheese and home-brewed 
 
Rugby Days. 65 
 
 beer for the hungry and thirsty hounds, who 
 seldom succeeded in catching the hares. I re- 
 member that the newly appointed rural police 
 thought that it was part of their duty (which, 
 indeed, the farmers represented it to be) to 
 apprehend either the hares or the hounds for 
 trespassing upon private grounds, and break- 
 ing down fences. These worthies, however, 
 had but a poor chance of catching boys in 
 prime condition and able to stand a ten or 
 twelve mile gallop without flinching. When 
 the guardians of the peace found that they 
 were not fleet enough to catch the delin- 
 quents, they had recourse to all kinds of 
 Ulyssean stratagems, such as hiding be- 
 hind hedges or barn-ends to lay hands 
 upon some stray offender. If by chance 
 one was ever captured, no policeman that 
 I ever heard of was proof against receiving a 
 quart of beer in exchange for a release. 
 
 "One of the most amusing incidents during 
 my Cambridge career, which I cannot refrain 
 from hanging on to my Rugby reminis- 
 cences, was the announcement which thrilled 
 the University in the year when Attila won 
 the Derby, that a couple of prize-fighters, 
 5 
 
66 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 called Johnny Broome and Bungaree (an 
 Australian) were about to settle their differ- 
 ences in the fistic ring- at Six Mile Bottom, not 
 far from Newmarket. Upon hearing this 
 alarminof news the Tutor of one of the largest 
 Colleges at Cambridge determined to prevent 
 the University men under his charge from 
 attending this pugilistic encounter. Accom- 
 panied by a few other Dons, whom he had 
 pressed into the service, he took up a posi- 
 tion at the ' Paper Mills Toll Bar,' between 
 Cambridge and Newmarket, and pouncing 
 upon every man belonging to his College 
 who rode up to the toll bar, requested him 
 to take his ride in another direction. The 
 moral triumph of the Dons was short-lived. 
 One or two of the acutest of them soon ob- 
 served that the clothes of the ' countrymen ' 
 and ' grooms ' who jogged along the road 
 on Cambridge hacks did not seem made to 
 order, and that the slang in which they 
 addressed each other savoured more of 
 London and of the classics than of high- 
 pitched Suffolk. Perceiving that it was all 
 a plant, they resigned their disciplinary task 
 in despair. Nevertheless, one of the most 
 
Rugby Days. 67 
 
 distinguished of them, zealous for the welfare 
 of his erring pupils, would not be baffled, 
 and pushed his clever bay nag on to New- 
 market. There, after he had been sufficiently 
 bewildered by the betting hullabaloo in the 
 High Street, he reached the 'ropes and 
 stakes ' of the prize ring in safety. With a 
 desperate hope of seizing and admonishing 
 some of his young men, he got a country- 
 man to hold his horse, invested a fractional 
 part of his Fellowship receipts in an inner 
 circle ticket, stuck it in his hat, and placed 
 himself next to the cords. His position 
 here was one of no ordinary tribulation. 
 Three times was his hat knocked over his 
 eyes by disguised undergraduates ; a pick- 
 pocket's long-haired child, who was on active 
 duty that day among his elders, and whom 
 from parental instinct the kind-hearted Don 
 innocently endeavoured to protect, took a 
 fancy to his silk handkerchief ; and the 
 ' roughs ' pressed upon him sore, and used 
 considerably stronger language towards ' Old 
 White-choker' than that in which Demos 
 thenes defied the Macedonian. He was 
 especially annoyed, to boot, with the polite 
 
68 Life and Times of " The Drtiid." 
 
 attentions of a ' cad ' in very outre' raiment, 
 who insisted upon following him about from 
 place to place in the ring, and upon calling 
 his particular attention to the style of 
 Broome's hitting. Little did he think that 
 his tormentor was a Junior Fellow of his own 
 College, who, when his classical honours were 
 attained, became, and still is, a capital farce 
 writer and on the editoral staff of Punch. 
 The fight drew to a close without giving 
 poor ' White-choker ' a chance of spying 
 out a single pupil, and at last he regained his 
 horse and fled as swiftly as did Dominie 
 Sampson from the presence of Meg Merrilies. 
 Added to this a sporting paper, in its next 
 number, gravely announced that ' Among the 
 members of the fancy present we observed 
 
 the Rev. Dr. , who seemed to take the 
 
 deepest interest in the proceedings.' His 
 troubles did not, however, end here, as his 
 brother Fellows, unwilling to let the joke 
 die, informed him in the ' Common-room ' 
 that Bungaree was dead, and that as he, a 
 well-known University dignitary, had been 
 present aiding and abetting, he would of 
 course be included among the persons in- 
 
Rugby Days. 69 
 
 dieted for manslaughter. For many days he 
 knew no peace, and took it as a personal 
 insult when a sporting Fellow Commoner — 
 who figures in that well-known picture, ' Her- 
 ring's Steeple Chase Cracks ' — gravely re- 
 quested his opinion, conjointly with that of 
 the Senior Dean, during dinner in Hall, as to 
 whether he ' should finally stand on Cother- 
 stone for the Derby.' The 'participation in 
 such a disgraceful scene by the children of 
 parental Granta ' (as one of the Dons re- 
 marked) led to a crusade against pugilism in 
 Cambridge, and no more Sambo Suttons and 
 ' Deaf Burkes ' were found enjoying suppers 
 in College or opening sparring-rooms. It 
 transpired that Sambo had wheedled several 
 Undergraduates into standing part of his 
 stake for a match in which he cut up as 
 soft as a Cambridge 'butter-yard.' At last 
 the University promulgated its ukase against 
 'professors of the fistic art,' and Cambridge 
 no longer remained the favourite haunt of 
 ' Deaf Burkes.' That worthy's conversation, 
 it must be admitted, was remarkably droll 
 and dry, and although he was guiltless of 
 spelling and incapable of reading, his head 
 
jo Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 was so hard that a Damascus blade would 
 have been blunted by it. His great theme 
 was his old patron, ' the Marquis,' and he 
 would often remark with the greatest solem- 
 nity of manner while sipping his punch, 
 ' Gintlemen, I have been oncommon kind to 
 that young man; I used to drive him in my 
 gig and teach him to foight.' The acme, 
 however, of the sporting Cambridge man's 
 delight, was a ride over to Newmarket 
 during the Meetings. As a general thing 
 Undergraduates bet very little, and then 
 not very successfully unless they have some 
 cautious ' old bird ' at their elbow. They 
 are pretty constant on all the good days 
 during the season, and it is amusing to see 
 them disappear, like a regular squadron of 
 dark-coated cavalry, through the gate by the 
 Ditch Stables about half-past three, in time 
 to get marked before a quarter to five in Hall. 
 On the Two Thousand day ' missing Hall ' is 
 winked at by the Dons, and men who have 
 not a thought during the year beyond the 
 Triposes and the University Scholarships, cut 
 Hopkins and all the other Tutors and take 
 a place in a drag for Newmarket. While 
 
Rugby Days. 71 
 
 Gorhambury Races were in existence in 
 1842, some Cambridge men, hearing that 
 the sister University intended to have a 
 very slap-up drag there, went to great ex- 
 pense to get up a rival coach, in order to 
 cut out their Oxonian contemporaries." 
 
 A somewhat different version of the above 
 transactions is given by Judge Thomas 
 Hughes, Q.C., in his prolusion upon Rugby 
 School, which appeared in the English 
 Illustrated Magazine, in 1891. After men- 
 tioning that in the reign of Dr. John Wooll, 
 which ended in 1827, many "big fellows" 
 at Rugby owned beagles and went out shoot- 
 ing in the neighbouring woods, fields, and 
 coverts — their shooting being almost without 
 exception poaching — and that others who 
 were bibulously disposed had private cellars 
 in their studies, Judge Hughes proceeds to 
 state that when Arnold succeeded to Wooll 
 he found Rugby " as rough and turbulent a 
 place of higher education as ever fell to the 
 lot of any man to take in hand." Judge 
 Hughes is justly and contemptuously indig- 
 nant at the ignorant and impertinent com- 
 ments made by a writer in the Scots Ob- 
 
J 2 Life and Times of " The Driiid." 
 
 server of August 23rd, 1890, to the effect 
 that u Arnold had been considered a bug- 
 bear and a nuisance by many generations of 
 Rugby boys, as he combined with divers 
 excellencies the weakness of being a prig, 
 and the breeder of prigs — the sort of person, 
 in short, whom prigs of all succeeding ages 
 will be lamentably prone to deify." It would 
 be about as correct to call Dr. Arnold 
 " a prig " as to denounce Mr. Gladstone 
 as an idle man. It has been my fortune 
 to see a great deal of active hostilities as 
 Special War Correspondent of two great 
 London daily newspapers, and I have often 
 regretted that Dr. Arnold was not born a 
 soldier, for in all his writings, and especially 
 in his " History of Rome," his Edition of 
 Thucydides, and his " Lectures on Modern 
 History," there are abundant indications that 
 he would have made one of the most accom- 
 plished and successful Generals that these 
 islands ever produced. Apart from other 
 noble qualities, a manlier, simpler, more un- 
 affectedly sincere and guileless man than Dr. 
 Arnold never drew the breath of life, and the 
 one quality which, above all others, distin- 
 
Rugby Days. 73 
 
 guished him was the possession, in the 
 highest degree, of masculine common-sense. 
 It is, therefore, an insult to all the old 
 " Rugs." who knew Dr. Arnold well, and 
 now worship his memory, that an anonymous 
 Scotch "ink-slinger" — the American phrase 
 is singularly applicable to ignorant writers 
 of this reckless class — who never saw Dr. 
 Arnold, should presume to brand the greatest 
 school-master that ever lived and his pupils 
 as "prigs." Turning from "this noteless 
 blot on a remembered name," let me resume 
 my quotations from Judge Hughes's interest- 
 ing article. Thus he writes : — 
 
 11 I never could quite ascertain how the 
 beagles and guns were put down, but from 
 hints let drop by old Thomas, the head por- 
 ter at the School-house and the Doctor's right 
 hand man, I believe it to have been in this 
 way. Every boy had a spending home (as 
 it w r as called) at one of the confectioners 
 in High Street, where he left his books, bat, 
 fishing rod, and other like articles, to save 
 a journey backwards and forwards to his 
 boarding house, and where he spent his 
 spare cash. It was in the back yards of 
 
74 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 these houses that dogs and guns were kept, 
 and Thomas quietly intimated to the keepers 
 of each that any house harbouring either dog 
 or gun would at once be made ' out of 
 bounds ' — a penalty involving almost certain 
 ruin. The cure was perfect. In all my time 
 there was no dog kept that I ever heard of, 
 and only one gun, a double-barrelled sport- 
 ing rifle, which had been given to its owner 
 by a returned Indian uncle, and which it 
 took him all his time to hide away." 
 
 Dr. Arnold found it more difficult, how- 
 ever, to deal with the horse-loving section 
 of boy-sportsmen. Rugby is situated in the 
 middle of a fine hunting country, and at 
 Dunchurch, three miles away, there were 
 large livery stables at which hunters and 
 hacks could be hired. Moreover, the little 
 town itself was full of sporting inns, where 
 horses of all kinds were held in high honour, 
 and sporting pictures hung upon every wall. 
 It was a steeple-chasing age, and many a 
 study (by which name the tiny room.s as- 
 signed to Rugby boys in every boarding 
 house were known) had pictures of such 
 famous steeple-chasers as Vanguard and 
 
Rugby Days. 75 
 
 Cigar, Gaylad and Vivian, the Switcher 
 and Lottery, finishing, after four miles 
 across country, at Worcester, Newport 
 Pagnell, or St. Albans. It will be readily 
 understood that there was no lack of 
 Rugby boys with a decided turn for horse- 
 racing and cross country sports, and Judge 
 Hughes refers specially to one boy who 
 was with him at the School-house, and 
 who was notorious for boasting about his 
 horsemanship. This young braggart of- 
 fered to ride against any other boy over 
 four miles of fair hunting country, and at 
 last was taken up by Mr. Uvedale Corbett, 
 who is now a well-known Cheshire squire. 
 Mr. Corbett chose for his mount a chestnut 
 horse famous for his jumping powers, who 
 belonged to a Rugby inn-keeper named 
 Chater. The challenger had to put up 
 with a bay horse, the property of another 
 publican, who was known to be very fast, 
 but an uncertain fencer. The race came 
 off before a select circle of boys " in the 
 know," with the result that the challenger 
 was beaten, to his own infinite mortification. 
 He attributed his defeat to the vast superior- 
 ity of Chater's horse ; whereupon Corbett 
 
J 6 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 offered to change horses, and ride the match 
 over again after dinner. Of course the story 
 that another match was about to come off 
 got wind at dinner, and there was a strong 
 muster in the field below Bilton Church to 
 see the start. The race was a point-to-point 
 gallop from Bilton Church to Newbold 
 Steeple, and the course pursued by the riders 
 crossed the London and Birmingham Rail- 
 way, which at that time was in course of 
 construction, and had been marked out 
 by Mr. Robert Stephenson, C.E., with stiff 
 post and rails on each side. At this point 
 many lower boys were assembled, in the 
 hope that the -School-house champion, who 
 was a notorious bully, might come to grief. 
 The rider of Chater's chestnut took the lead, 
 and was first over every fence. His oppo- 
 nent waited steadily, never allowing his horse 
 to refuse, which he had done repeatedly in 
 the first race. In this manner they jumped 
 into the last field, adjoining Newbold 
 Church, with the chestnut still leading and 
 the bay lying at his quarters. Then Uve- 
 dale Corbett called upon the latter, and 
 passed his rival without an effort, winning 
 easily by half-a-dozen lengths. 
 
Rugby Days. jj 
 
 Everyone expected that there would be 
 a row on the following morning, as it seemed 
 certain that the Doctor would hear all about 
 the match. Nothing, however, happened, 
 and consequently the riding fraternity be- 
 came so elated that they resolved to have a 
 big race, for which there were several entries. 
 Horses were supplied by the stables at 
 Dunchurch, and the intending riders, accom- 
 panied by the umpires, were actually walking 
 over the proposed course when the Doctors 
 tall form was seen stalking across a neigh- 
 bouring field. He passed close to a knot of 
 boys, who saluted him in the usual fashion 
 by touching their hats, but had no occasion 
 to shirk, as they all belonged to the Sixth 
 or Fifth Forms. That evening, however, 
 Corbett was sent for by the Doctor, who ad- 
 dressed him in much the following words : — 
 
 "Corbett, I know all about the match you 
 rode the other day, and had I taken public 
 notice of it I must have expelled you both. 
 This would have greatly damaged your own 
 prospects at Oxford, where you have just 
 matriculated ; but I have written to your 
 father to tell him of your flagrant breach of 
 
78 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 discipline, and have now this further warning 
 to add. I know what you and your friends 
 are intending, and shall expel every one 
 who rides and every one who looks on. For 
 this purpose, I will* have the roads strictly 
 watched." Needless to say no steeple-chase 
 came off, and none was ever attempted 
 again. 
 
 A few weeks later, there was a Grand 
 National Steeple-chase at Dunchurch, with 
 which, except as spectators, the Rugby boys 
 had nothing to do. How did Dr. Arnold, 
 the "master-prig" of the Scottish calumni- 
 ator, deal with this untimely incident ? It 
 will be observed from the following letter 
 written by Arthur Hugh Clough to Arthur 
 Penrhyn Stanley, subsequently Dean of West- 
 minster, that the version given in it differs 
 slightly from that of "The Druid." Clough 
 writes : — 
 
 " I went with Arnold's two youngest sons 
 to a grand steeple-chase which took place 
 near Dunchurch. The Doctor very wisely 
 and indulgently altered the hour of calling 
 over, and took off the Dunchurch prohibi- 
 tion for the day, so at least nine-tenths of 
 
Rttgby Days. 79 
 
 the School went there ; indeed I don't know 
 that more than from twelve to twenty were 
 absent. As soon as Arnold left the School- 
 house hall at dinner (he just comes in, you 
 remember, to hear the names called over), 
 the whole house, with the exception of my- 
 self and seven others, started off, leaving 
 their dinners and the empty tables behind 
 them. Ten minutes later we were all off, 
 except three, after them. The most remark- 
 able animal there was the Marquis of Water- 
 ford, who was riding his own horse in jockey 
 attire. Lee, master of the Fifth Form, set 
 a vulgus on the subject, and among other 
 curiosities had the following verse sent up 
 to him, ' Primus erat Vivian, Jerry secundus 
 erat. 
 
 "The Druid's" account of this memorable 
 line is that it ran, " Lottery primus erat, 
 Nana secunda fuit." It is possible, of course, 
 that there were two steeple-chases at Dun- 
 church, in the first of which Vivian and Jerry 
 were the two leading horses, and another, six 
 or seven years later, in which Lottery and 
 the Nun occupied the same positions. I have 
 a distinct recollection of seeing the last-named 
 
8o Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 steeple-chase, in which Lottery was ridden by- 
 Jem Mason, and the Nun, by William Mc- 
 Donough; and this was, doubtless, the race 
 at which "The Druid" was also present. It 
 must be added that "The Druid" was some 
 years younger than Clough, who was head of 
 the School when "The Druid" and I were 
 only fags. 
 
 It remains for me now to notice the fishing 
 difficulty, which was the hardest nut that the 
 Doctor had to crack. It was well known, 
 according to Judge Hughes, that the School 
 paid a good rent for the fields on the Rugby 
 side of the Avon, and assumed that this in- 
 cluded the rieht to net the river. This was 
 disputed by the owner of the opposite bank, 
 Mr. Boughton Leigh, and many squabbles 
 arose between his keepers and the Rugby 
 boys. At last a keeper tried to seize the 
 nets, and the boys ducked him in the river. 
 Complaints were at once addressed to Dr. 
 Arnold, who appealed to his Sixth Form 
 Praepostors to give up the names of the 
 culprits. Nothing, however, came of it until 
 at last the keeper stood outside the big school 
 at calling over time, and easily identified five 
 
Rugby Days. 81 
 
 of his assailants, who were then and there 
 expelled. "After fifty years," adds Judge 
 Hughes, "their names may safely be given : 
 Rose - Price, Torkington, Wynniatt, and 
 Peters, Cock of the School, and another I 
 have forgotten, unless it was Gaisford, son 
 of the Dean of Christ Church. A tremor ran 
 through the School as Oswell, handsomest 
 and most renowned of athletes, passed out 
 and was not recognised. He stayed on some 
 two years more, accomplishing, before he left, 
 a feat which I can scarcely credit now, though 
 I saw it done myself. This was the throwing 
 of a cricket ball from the little side ground 
 over the elm trees into the School-house 
 garden. George Parr, the famous profes- 
 sional, threw a ball some years later a hun- 
 dred yards each way ; but I am convinced 
 that Oswell could have beaten him. He, 
 however, was then in Africa with Livine- 
 stone, shooting elephants, and sharing the 
 ivory with the great missionary. After this 
 crisis there was no more netting, but the 
 suppressed fire of the disputed fishing rights 
 still smouldered on, and was the cause of 
 many a flogging all through Arnold's reign." 
 6 
 
82 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE DAYS AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE. 
 
 r <&£$i ROM Rugby Henry Dixon went, 
 in 1 84 1, to Trinity College, 
 Cambridge ; but there is 
 W5E%M££> nothing to show, so far as I 
 am able to ascertain, that his partiality for 
 horse-racing was acquired, as has so often 
 been the case, from the proximity of 
 Cambridge to Newmarket. At College 
 his life was very studious and retired ; so 
 much so, indeed, as to justify the remark 
 made long subsequently by " Argus " of the 
 Morning Post, that Henry Dixon was " as 
 shy as a woodcock." His predilections were 
 in favour of the Classics, and, as I have 
 already said, he had no taste or faculty for 
 shining in Mathematics. Unfortunately the 
 same deadly foe — ophthalmia — which had 
 marred his Rugby career, interfered not a 
 
Cambridge Days. 83 
 
 little with his work at Cambridge, where he 
 was haunted by perpetual regret that he had 
 not been permitted to matriculate at Oxford, 
 rather than at the head-quarters of Mathe- 
 matics. To this, however, his father would 
 not consent, as Oxford was at that time 
 infected with the High Church doctrines of 
 Dr. Newman and Dr. Pusey. Under these 
 discouraging circumstances Henry Dixon 
 addressed himself to the uncongenial task of 
 preparing to pass for his mathematical de- 
 gree. It cost him no ordinary effort, and 
 in the end he had to content himself with 
 the humble place of " wooden spoon." This 
 degradation, as he regarded it, preyed on 
 his sensitive mind ; but the prospect of doing 
 himself more credit in Classics and retriev- 
 ing his comparative failure in Mathematics 
 buoyed him up with hope and eager expec- 
 tation. At this critical moment he made an 
 offer of marriage to the young lady who 
 subsequently became his wife, and was met 
 in the first instance with a refusal. Miss 
 Caroline Lynes, third daughter of Thomas 
 Lynes, Esq., of Hackleton House, North- 
 ampton, had long been the object of his 
 
84 Life and Times of " The Druid? 
 
 affections, but with characteristic modesty 
 he had said and done little to reveal to her 
 the true sentiments of his heart. Both were 
 very young, and her refusal, although natural 
 under the circumstances, inflicted upon him 
 a blow which was more than he could stand. 
 His health suffered to such an extent that 
 brain fever ensued, and on the morning 
 when the classical examination commenced, 
 he was unable to leave his bed. On re- 
 covering, he applied for permission to be 
 examined in Classics, and was told that the 
 mathematical degree through which he had 
 contrived to shave, was sufficient to make 
 him a B.A., and precluded a further attempt 
 in another field wherein he would doubtless 
 have achieved some distinction. The dis- 
 appointment cast a cloud over his after-life, 
 and depressed his spirits whenever his mind 
 reverted to his College days. Upon further 
 acquaintance with him Miss Caroline Lynes 
 was induced to change her mind, and to 
 accept the offer which she had previously 
 declined. They were married (as will be 
 seen from the next chapter) in May, 1847. 
 At that time Henry Dixon's father was still 
 
Cambridge Days. 85 
 
 a prosperous manufacturer in Carlisle, and 
 it might have been anticipated that the son 
 would have embarked upon the same busi- 
 ness. He was, however, the second son, 
 and so far back as 1837, when he was only 
 fifteen years old, his father had called upon 
 him to designate the profession which he 
 would prefer to follow. The subjoined 
 answer, which is above the ordinary mark 
 of a boy of his age, shows that at that time 
 his desire was to become a Barrister : — 
 
 " Skelton, 
 "November 10, 1837. 
 "My Dear Father, — As Mr. Dayman [his 
 schoolmaster at that time] has very unex- 
 pectedly determined to visit you on Monday, 
 and you specially desired to receive my 
 answer, I must ask you to excuse a much 
 more hurried letter than I would otherwise 
 have written. The question propounded to 
 me in your letter of the 3rd inst., is one of 
 the extreme importance of which I am fully 
 convinced, and I will endeavour to speak as 
 explicitly as the somewhat limited considera- 
 tion which I have hitherto given to the 
 subject will warrant. With respect to the 
 
86 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 study of the law, nothing has intervened 
 since the subject was last named, to induce 
 me to alter the wish I then expressed ; and, 
 as far as I can judge, provided that no serious 
 obstacle opposes itself, I may truly say that 
 the profession of a Barrister is the one which 
 I would wish, if possible, to follow. Of the 
 hard work and close application which is 
 required for such a profession, I am fully 
 aware, and I trust I will not be found want- 
 ing in the necessary qualifications when put 
 to the test. With regard to the College, I 
 have of course nothing fresh to add ; in fact, 
 I imagine this will be fixed between Mr. 
 Dayman and yourself. Christ Church seems 
 to be the one he most strongly recommends, 
 as best suiting my line of study. I hope 
 you w 7 ill excuse brevity, as my watch warns 
 me that I have encroached far beyond my 
 usual hour of rest. With love to my mother 
 and all at home, 
 
 11 Believe me to be 
 
 " Your affectionate son, 
 
 " Henry Dixon." 
 Marriage and its responsibilities appear to 
 have reconciled him to the profession of an 
 
Cambridge Days. Sy 
 
 Attorney, and he and his young wife took up 
 their abode in Doncaster in 1847. It would 
 have been impossible to select a position or 
 circumstances better calculated to foment the 
 taste for horse-racing and country life which 
 must undoubtedly have been innate in " The 
 Druid's" breast. Doncaster, with its rich tra- 
 ditions as a sporting centre ; with its Turf 
 Tavern and adjoining paddocks, then presided 
 over by Mr. Bowe, who had formerly been 
 employed by Lord George Bentinck as the 
 nominator of many of his racehorses ; with 
 its annual race meeting ; with its historical 
 Town Moor ; and finally, with the attraction 
 presented by it as the residence of a sporting 
 writer of no ordinary capacity, in the person 
 of Mr. James White, who contributed to the 
 Doncaster Gazette under the name of " Mar- 
 tingale," was pretty certain to inoculate the 
 young articled clerk with that abounding 
 love for field sports which afterwards bore 
 such rich fruit. Doncaster had, in addition, 
 been the home, shortly before that time, 
 of Mr. J. F. Herring, the celebrated horse 
 painter, who came there an unknown stranger 
 from London, in 18 14. Fortunately he had 
 
88 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 taken a few lessons in painting before leaving 
 London, and as he passed along the High 
 Street at Doncaster in search of work, he 
 saw a rough country practitioner attempting 
 to paint an equestrian portrait of the Duke 
 of Wellington on the panel of a new coach, 
 called " The Commander-in-Chief." Her- 
 ring offered to take the brush from his 
 predecessor's bungling hand, and was so 
 successful that the coach-builder immediately 
 engaged him at three pounds a week to paint 
 panels and signs. Before long his fame be- 
 gan to be talked about in the neighbourhood, 
 and some hunting squires and yeomen gave 
 the young artist commissions to paint their 
 favourite horses; but it was as a portrayer of 
 thoroughbreds that his great renown was 
 ultimately gained. For nearly forty years 
 he continued to paint every successive St. 
 Leger winner, and ended by being appointed 
 Horse Painter to the Prince Consort about 
 the time when " The Druid" first made his 
 acquaintance. 
 
 I should mention that before embarking 
 upon the career of a professional painter, 
 Mr. Herring tried his hand on the box of 
 
Cambridge Days. 89 
 
 the " London and York Highflyer," in order 
 better to learn the business of painting 
 horses. He held the reins as coachman for 
 about three years, beginning in 18 18, and 
 throwing them aside in 182 1, when Mr. T. 
 O. Powlett's Jack Spigot won the St. Leger. 
 This was the first of Herring's St. Leger 
 winners, and also the first of Bill Scott's 
 many triumphs in Yorkshire's greatest race. 
 Mr. J. B. Muir, the most indefatigable of 
 delvers in the mines of the past, has lately 
 exhumed the additional fact that Jack Spigot 
 was trained at Middleham, by J. Blades, 
 Mr. Powlett's private trainer. Here let me 
 turn to "The Druid's" pages (" Scott and 
 Sebright," pages 85-91), for a description of 
 Mr. J. F. Herring's declining years, which 
 were passed at Meopham, near Tonbridge 
 in Kent, where "The Druid" visited him 
 and recorded his experience in the following 
 words : — 
 
 44 4 Him go vip, vip, vip ; vot he know 
 about horses?' said a jealous old artist, when 
 Herring, the well-known coachman of the 
 4 London and York Highflyer,' had thrown 
 aside the reins in Jack Spigot's year, and 
 
go Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 fairly cast in his lot with the mahl-stick. I 
 thought of the saying as, under the guidance 
 of 'Sailor Jack,' another of the North Road 
 men who had followed Mr. Herring's for- 
 tunes, and then looked after his Arabs, we 
 bowled over the three miles from Tonbridge 
 to Meopham Park. Even in the tender sun- 
 shine of a May morning, the hop fields with 
 their countless wigwams of poles wore a very 
 dreary air, and made us long for the autumn, 
 when their rich green clusters will once more 
 claim to be Barley Brides. The carriage- 
 drive shaded by oaks with large fantastic 
 arms, which would have made Parson Gilpin 
 of the New Forest gaze for a moment and 
 then rush for relief to his pencil, is kept in 
 faultless ' Quicksilver mail order,' as a 
 memento of the old whip days. Scarcely a 
 wheel has touched it since Charles Herring 
 was borne over it in 1856 to his grave, and 
 it is really sacred to his memory. And well 
 it may be, as a better son or a more skilful 
 lover of art for his years never passed to his 
 rest. White and red rosebuds just bursting 
 into bloom, clustered round the verandah, 
 and from it the outline of the pleasant woods 
 of Penshurst, which 
 
Cambridge Days. 91 
 
 " ' Heard the sounds of Sydney's song, 
 Perchance of Surrey's reed,' 
 
 was just visible in the drowsy distance. 
 Partridges were feeding on the lawn, and 
 scarcely caring to rise on the wing, or run 
 behind the purple beech at your approach ; 
 and the deep coo of the wood-pigeons as 
 they perched on the Scotch and silver firs, 
 which towered above the thickly interlaced 
 grove of holly and laburnum, vocal with its 
 songs of spring, was all in harmony with a 
 painter's home. 
 
 "Jack, the thirty-seven inch pony, was free 
 to range where he liked, and he mounted the 
 steps of the front-door and walked gravely 
 into the room, in search of his gingerbread, 
 or to inquire if he was wanted for the basket 
 that day. Favourite as he is, I did not meet 
 with him on canvas, and in this respect he 
 differs widely from the white Arab Imaum, 
 of which the story goes that he has not been 
 seen to lie down for at least eight years. 
 He sleeps leaning against his stall, and like 
 the oldest Alderney, and the donkey which 
 runs unicorn in the bush-harrow and roller 
 team, and wins half the saddles in the 
 
92 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 neighbourhood when so disposed, he is on 
 canvas all the world over, in nearly a hun- 
 dred positions. Sometimes an Ironside 
 stables him in a cathedral nave, or he waits 
 for some boisterous Cavalier hard by an ale- 
 house bench. He was one of the four first 
 horses that was ever sent over by the Imaum 
 of Muscat to Her Majesty ; and was made 
 a present to the Clerk of the Royal Stables, 
 who sold him at Tattersall's. When it be- 
 came necessary to have a model for the dead 
 horses which Mr. Herring was to have intro- 
 duced into the Battle of Waterloo at the 
 Gallery of Illustration, he sent for Pedro, 
 a black man from Batty's Circus, and had the 
 Arab taught to lie down. With a few 
 lessons he became so complete a trick horse, 
 that Pedro declared he wanted nothing- but 
 youth to beat the Bedas, and other time- 
 honoured pets of the horse ballet, quite out 
 of the field. He looks peeky, and worn now, 
 and his tricks have rather departed from 
 him ; but in his prime, Mr. Herring was 
 followed by a gentleman into a yard in 
 Piccadilly, and had two hundred guineas bid 
 for him there and then. In spite of the 
 
Cambridge Days. 93 
 
 prejudice against the Arabs, he was wonder- 
 fully stout, and when his master drove him 
 from Camberwell to Stevenage and back, 
 about seventy-five miles in one day, to paint 
 The Switcher and other steeple-chase cracks 
 for Lord Strathmore, he was fresher than the 
 English black, who was in the phaeton by 
 his side, and had never shirked his work by 
 comparison before. Her Majesty, hearing 
 of Mr. Herring's severe asthma, which for 
 some time quite disabled him from leaving 
 home, sent down three of her horses for 
 him to paint. They included Korseed, a 
 white Arab, Bagdad, a black charger which 
 belonged to the late Prince Albert, and Said, 
 the Arab on which Mr. Meyer instructed the 
 Royal children. The latter is among the 
 Osborne collection, with a background of 
 white land and Arab tents, in the composi- 
 tion of which Mr. David Roberts, R.A., gave 
 Mr. Herring the advantage of all his Eastern 
 lore. 
 
 "The painting-room almost adjoins the 
 stable, but it has been little used since his 
 son's death. A model of a coach in a case 
 rests upon some packing boxes, and the 
 
94 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 original sketch of the picture which he took 
 of the beautiful Attila, just before the Derby 
 winner went abroad, is the only tenant of the 
 easel, but the sketch, like that fatal journey, 
 was never completed. 
 
 " Mr. Herring was then about sixty-seven, 
 or just the mean in age between his old 
 friends, John and William Scott. Doncaster 
 and its Town Moor associations naturally 
 whetted his zeal for the brush long before he 
 took to it as a profession, and many a horse 
 and mail-coach sketched by him crept on to 
 tavern walls and sign-posts. His earliest 
 anatomy study was the fractured leg of 
 Spartan, one of whose small bones near 
 the pastern was completely pulverised by his 
 break-down ; and Smolensko and Comus 
 were the racers on which his ' 'prentice 
 hand ' was tried. 
 
 "A gigantic 'Horse Fair' adorns the 
 lobby, which is, as Mr. Herring's pictures 
 invariably are, ' all daylight.' The Mail is 
 again in requisition, following in the wake of 
 a gig whose horse trots right out of the 
 picture, and whose driver casts a glance at 
 the troops of nags and stallions which are 
 
Cambridge Days. 95 
 
 dispersing to their stalls when business is 
 over. All kinds have mustered there, and 
 the supply of ginger-bread nuts in the drawer 
 must have been unlimited. Then we get 
 among the eight-day waggons and a pair of 
 the 'bluejacket and white hat line,' stopping 
 for refreshment at one of the old road-side 
 inns near the orthodox trough and tree. 
 Wood-piling and hop-picking are not for- 
 gotten. It seems that there is a family in 
 the neighbourhood who especially pride 
 themselves on the former accomplishment ; 
 and accordingly, at half-past six one summer 
 mornino-, Mr. Herring sallied out and caught 
 them by appointment just at the most pictu- 
 resque crisis, when the timber is slung aloft, 
 and the truck is beings backed under it. In 
 
 o 
 
 the other, the artist in a straw hat with a 
 black ribbon and mahogany tops, plays 
 1 Farmer Oldfield,' and does not look, as 
 he gazes complacently at the fast-filling bins, 
 as if the iron of the Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer was piercing his soul. The jaunty 
 ribbons and tunics of the hop-pickers blend 
 very prettily with the green avenues which 
 they are ruthlessly rifling, and the farmer's 
 daughter with her bonnet carelessly tossed 
 
96 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 back is taking the tally as the widow brings 
 up her bin to be measured. 
 
 "At that time Mr. Herring painted in his 
 dining-room, which was hung all round with 
 prints from his works, of which ' Distin- 
 guished Members of the Temperance 
 Society ' was the premier. It is there that 
 he loved to grapple with the Giant Fore- 
 shortening, who has given the cross-buttock 
 to so many, flinging him in picture after 
 picture. Leading lines have always been his 
 great guide for perspective, and he invariably 
 works from left to right. His great racing 
 pictures were generally got by the aid of a 
 sketch-book, with ideal horses, which a few 
 strokes from life at the post convert into 
 portraits. Of Vision he had no sight at all, 
 but sketched her years after her death, 
 merely from the description of Will Beres- 
 ford, who pronounced the likeness perfect. 
 All the elder heroes arrested my attention as 
 I turned from a gigantic Dutchman* in full 
 gallop and scanned the oil treasures of his 
 portfolio. Sultan was there, with his beauti- 
 ful Arab head and dish nose, not more 
 
 * Now in the Earl of Rosebery's collection at The Durdans. 
 
Cambridge Days. 97 
 
 beautiful, but more masculine in its expres- 
 sion than Attila's. Langar's was another of 
 the glorious heads, and so were Dr. Syntax's, 
 Mameluke's, Partisan's, and Venison's, with 
 his deep jowl and tapering nose. Mr. Her- 
 ring considered that the coarsest thorough- 
 bred horse he ever painted was Ardrossan, 
 the sire of Jack Spigot (the first of his St. 
 Leger winning series), as his neck was really 
 heavier than even Stubbs's sketch of the 
 Godolphin Arab ; and Welbeck, the sire of 
 the neat little Bedlamite, ranks nearly as 
 high in his list of the Ugly Club. 
 
 " Next I came across the original sketch 
 of Bay Middleton, just as it was left about a 
 quarter of a century ago. It occupied only 
 one hour and ten minutes, but looks like the 
 work of a whole day. No horse, impressed 
 Mr. Herring more firmly than this son of 
 Sultan with the belief that he had the heart 
 and muscular energy to do what he liked 
 with his fields. George Villiers, Fifth Earl of 
 Jersey, stood by the easel watching every 
 stroke as it was dashed in ; and seldom had 
 painter a higher stimulus to bring all his 
 power into his hand." 
 7 
 
98 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 It will be readily believed that "The 
 Druid's " residence at Doncaster and the 
 atmosphere of horse-racing in the midst of 
 which he lived, were eminently calculated 
 to develop and increase the taste for the 
 Turf which, as I have said, must have been 
 born in him as a natural instinct. To use 
 his own words, it was at Doncaster that 
 "he was bitten by the tarantula of horse- 
 racing " ; that he found constant opportunities 
 of making acquaintance, not only with trainers 
 and jockeys, but also with those gnarled and 
 rugged bits of horsey character with which 
 Yorkshire and its race-courses abounded 
 about that period, and which the all-assimi- 
 lating railway has now destroyed. Messrs. 
 Baxter, the Solicitors to whom he w T as arti- 
 cled, were bigoted Tories, and the whole of 
 Henry Dixon's political pre-possessions were 
 of a Liberal type. There was in "The 
 Druid's" surroundings every conceivable 
 stimulant calculated to whet his appetite 
 for assuming the role of a sporting writer; 
 and no better opportunity than the present 
 will be found to say a few words about 
 "Martingale," who became "The Druid's" 
 
Cambridge Days. 99 
 
 intimate friend, and confirmed him in his 
 determination to embark upon that literary 
 career which subsequently made him so 
 famous. 
 
 It was not long before young Henry Dixon 
 was tempted into print. Beginning his adult 
 life in an Attorney's office, he resembled his 
 old friend Mr. Daley (long the Clerk of 
 the Course at Carlisle), in that neither 
 of them " enjoyed calf skin." Mr. Daley 
 took to " bossing" the race-course in his 
 native town, and to cultivating his fine bari- 
 tone voice for the duties and rewards of a 
 professional singer ; while it was through 
 the advice of James White, or ''Martingale," 
 of Doncaster, that Dixon himself became a 
 public writer. 
 
 The following extract from " Saddle and 
 Sirloin," a work which was published in 
 1870, contains a handsome tribute to " Mar- 
 tingale," and is a favourable specimen of 
 "The Druid's" best manner: — 
 
 "None loved the Town Moor better than 
 poor James White, or 'Martingale.' Thirty 
 years ago he was in his zenith, with his book 
 on ' Country Scenes,' and as a contributor to 
 
ioo Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 ' Bentley ' ; and his powers knew no decay. 
 
 He was quite die prose poet of Nature, and 
 
 no man that I ever met was so keenly alive 
 
 to her beauties, and could word-paint them 
 
 so well. Edlington Wood, which seldom 
 
 fails to produce a fox, when the Fitzwilliam 
 
 hounds give it a call, was one of his especial 
 
 haunts when he was well and vigorous. He 
 
 seemed to know the haunt of every badger, 
 
 the name and the note of every bird, and the 
 
 genus of every wild flower that grew on its 
 
 banks and glades. He liked to wander away 
 
 from Doncaster ' when the mavis and the 
 
 merle were singing,' and, regardless of the 
 
 prosaic days in which his lot was cast, take 
 
 his dinner with him and ' have a word with 
 
 the woods.' Weaving an old legend into 
 
 shape pleased him best. The deserted hut, 
 
 where a poacher had lived and died, a very 
 
 lord of the soil to the last, seemed to conjure 
 
 up in his mind a network of dark romance ; 
 
 and Sherwood Forest and Merrie Barnsdale 
 
 were themes which never palled. 
 
 11 His racing writings were very numerous, 
 but as he rarely left Doncaster, he was too 
 often compelled to take his description second 
 
Cambridge Days. 101 
 
 hand. In dealing with current racing topics 
 he was far too discursive, and pitched his 
 key-note so high that matter-of-fact readers 
 grumbled after wandering through a laby- 
 rinth of fine words to find hardly one grain 
 of fact. His strength lay in his ' Turf Char- 
 acters,' and in his recollections of the Don- 
 caster of the past. If he was not in the 
 Doncaster Gazette office, hard at work upon 
 his beautifully small and neat manuscript, 
 or in a chancel seat of the old church, or in 
 Edlington, or Wheatley, or Sprotborough 
 Woods, the Town Moor was a sure find for 
 him, and he was pretty certain to be talking 
 to himself. He generally stationed himself 
 upon the St. Leger Day somewhere between 
 the Red House and the hill to catch the first 
 symptoms of the 'pace complaint.' St. Leger 
 after St. Leger was a scene he could unfold 
 with a master's hand. Every little incident 
 from the Duke of Hamilton's day had been 
 treasured and invested with significance, and 
 as John Jackson, the celebrated jockey, 
 lodged with him for a series of years, he 
 had a chance of posting himself up, which 
 he took care to use to the full." 
 
102 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 It will be found in the next chapter that 
 Henry Dixon's first "copy" was sent to 
 Bell's Life when its writer was a Rugby 
 boy, aged seventeen years, but he began his 
 real literary career first as contributor, and 
 secondly as editor of the Doncaster Gazette, 
 with which " Martingale " had been con- 
 nected for many years. Before long it be- 
 came generally known that " The Druid " 
 was wasting his precious time in writing on 
 sporting topics, and when in addition he ven- 
 tured upon a few verses, it drew down upon 
 him the serious displeasure of his father, 
 whose feelings were akin to those of Frank 
 Osbaldistone's parents in Sir Walter Scott's 
 novel of " Rob Roy," when they found that 
 the son whom they had sent to Bordeaux to 
 familiarise himself with commercial details 
 and study book-keeping by double entry, 
 was gradually assuming the similitude of 
 
 " A clerk condemned his father's soul to cross, 
 Who penned a stanza when he should engross." 
 
 Henry Dixon had been sent to Doncaster 
 to mug at the law, and lo and behold ! he 
 was settling down into a Turf writer. The 
 affection between his father and him knew 
 
Cambridge Days. 103 
 
 no abatement during the old man's lifetime, 
 and the yearly allowance of the son was 
 never stopped. Accompanied by Mrs. Dixon 
 and their children, " The Druid " never 
 omitted to pay an annual visit to Carlisle, 
 although it could not be concealed that his 
 sporting and poetical tastes grated sharply 
 upon the more prosaic intellect of his father. 
 At last, however, a book appeared from his 
 pen, " The Law of the Farm," which glad- 
 dened the old man's heart so much that he 
 sent a cheque for ^100 to assist his son's 
 struggling family, which had then taken up 
 its abode in Kensington Square. When he 
 made his way to the metropolis, he was 
 fortified by a strong letter of introduction 
 from "Martingale" to the late Mr. Vincent 
 Dowling, who was then the Editor of Bell's 
 Life in London, undoubtedly at that time 
 the first sporting newspaper in the world. 
 Into the service of that great journal he en- 
 tered in 1850, and here I may quote an 
 extract from a letter of his own, illustrative 
 of the sturdy independence of his character. 
 11 I began my career by editing a Liberal 
 paper in Doncaster for three years, and in 
 
104 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 1850, I came up to London and wrote poli- 
 tical verses in Punch and the Examiner 
 for a time. Towards the end of 1852 the 
 late Sir James Graham, who had just been 
 proposed for Carlisle by my father, got hold 
 of an article of mine, which seems to have 
 pleased him. He sent for me to the Ad- 
 miralty, and giving me a kindly welcome, 
 took the article out of his desk and told me 
 he had shown it both to the Duke of New- 
 castle and Mr. Gladstone, that they both 
 agreed with him that it was the only really 
 fair account of the reasons which induced 
 the Peelites to combine with the Whigs to 
 throw out Lord Derby. Sir James told me 
 he was empowered to offer me a post under 
 Government. This I declined, telling him 
 I was young and strong, that I had gone 
 through a bitter disappointment, and wished 
 to go to the Bar and try to retrieve it." 
 
 Here, again, trouble with his eyes, small 
 means, and a rapidly increasing family im- 
 peded his hopes of success. 
 
 Many generations of readers will doubtless 
 rejoice that " The Druid " turned a deaf ear 
 to the overture made to him by Sir James 
 
Cambridge Days. 105 
 
 Graham. He would probably have made a 
 very moderate official, and his roving life, 
 from county to county, from stud farm to 
 racing stable, from one kennel of hounds to 
 another, from race meeting to coursing meet- 
 ing, from spots sanctified in his eyes by 
 having been the birthplaces of illustrious 
 race-horses to the graves in which Derby or 
 St. Leger winners were buried, would have 
 been exchanged for a dull daily walk from 
 Kensington to the Admiralty and back for 
 dinner. There have been clerks like Charles 
 Lamb, in whom the literary vein was so 
 strong that even the atmosphere of the India 
 Office could not repress it. Charles Lamb 
 entered that great Department of State (as it 
 then was) in 1792, and retired upon a pen- 
 sion in 1825. His first poems appeared in 
 1798, and from that time forward his pen 
 never was idle. From it flowed in rapid 
 succession dramas of which the very names 
 are now forgotten, and criticisms and essays 
 some of which will only perish with the 
 English language. 
 
 The first series of "Essays of Elia" ap- 
 peared in the London Magazine between 
 
106 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 August, 1820, and October, 1822 ; the second 
 series between May, 1823, and August, 1825. 
 All the above were written while Charles 
 Lamb was an India office clerk, and so little 
 was his genius impaired by its uncongenial 
 surroundings that the ''Essays of Elia" re- 
 flect all his unique qualities of grace, quaint- 
 ness, humour, and tenderness. They are 
 written, as Judge Talfourd said of them, 
 "with a smile on the lip and a tear in the 
 eye " of their author, and are full of his whims, 
 his wit, his poetic susceptibility, his charity, 
 and sympathy. 
 
 There is little probability, on the other 
 hand, that had "The Druid" become an 
 Admiralty clerk he would ever have pro- 
 duced " Post and Paddock," " Scott and 
 Sebright," or " Silk and Scarlet." The chief 
 merit of these fascinating works is that they 
 are from the pen of a poet who was as great 
 a lover of Nature as Wordsworth himself, 
 and derived all his strength from her tender 
 embrace. Charles Lamb was as devout a 
 worshipper of Fleet Street as Dr. Johnson 
 himself, and as a critic of books he has no 
 superior, with perhaps the exception of Cole- 
 
Cambridge Days. 107 
 
 ridge, his schoolfellow at Christ's Hospital. 
 " The Druid," on the contrary, was a devotee 
 of country life, and never happier than when 
 taking long walks with his knapsack slung 
 over his shoulder, along country lanes, or 
 across billowy downs. " Elia's " strength was 
 called forth by contact with crowded cities, 
 and by studying the noblest thoughts of the 
 immortal dead. " The Druid " was at his 
 best among horses, dogs, birds, cattle, and 
 sheep, which, chiefly on foot, he wandered all 
 over these islands to discover, and from 
 which, and the scenes wherein their lives 
 were passed, he derived his best inspiration. 
 An official life in London might have made 
 his struggle with poverty less severe ; but it 
 would certainly have deprived him of oppor- 
 tunities for collecting the materials out of 
 which he compiled a series of books, the 
 vitality of which is attested by the new 
 edition, which, nearly a quarter of a century 
 after their author's death, will be published 
 simultaneously with this sketch of his life. 
 
 There is nothing, however, to forbid the 
 still surviving members of his family to regret, 
 in common with his friends, that he saw fit 
 
io8 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 to decline one overture which was made to 
 him in 1851, and which would have placed 
 him in the position which of all others he 
 was best qualified to fill. In 1851, Mr. 
 Vincent Dowling's health had begun to give 
 way under the strain of conducting a big 
 weekly paper at high pressure. Mr. Clement, 
 the owner of Belts Life, had long been on 
 the look out for a successor to Mr. Dowling, 
 and not much experience of "The Druid's" 
 accomplishments and character was necessary 
 to make it clear that in him the right man 
 had at length been found. The place was 
 by no means an easy one to fill ; and no man 
 was better aware than Mr. Dowling- that, as 
 a rule, sporting writers are not made of the 
 stuff calculated to blossom out into reliable 
 Editors. No man placed in the trying posi- 
 tion occupied for twenty-eight years by Mr. 
 Dowling as Editor of Bell's Life, could have 
 acquitted himself better than he did. His 
 character was, in truth, singularly noble and 
 upright ; his insight into human nature was 
 more than usually penetrating ; and in all 
 the responsible trusts which he accepted as 
 holder of stakes and referee for pugilists who 
 
Cambridge Days. 109 
 
 were about to meet in the prize ring, his 
 honour was so unimpeachable that not a 
 word of remonstrance was ever raised against 
 any of his decisions. Moreover, there was 
 in him a vein of poetry, of sympathy, and 
 of refinement which made him peculiarly 
 susceptible to qualities and attributes of a 
 like nature which abounded in " The Druid.'' 
 When, therefore, the latter refused to accept 
 the post of Editor which Mr. Dowling, acting 
 as spokesman for the owner of the paper, 
 offered him con amove, it will readily be 
 conceived that this decision was received 
 with surprise and regret. That surprise and 
 regret I must confess, that writing more than 
 forty years after the event, I share to this 
 day ; for it seems to me by no means im- 
 possible that had " The Druid" consented to 
 succeed Mr. Dowling, he might have been 
 alive at this moment. He fell a victim to the 
 exposure, fatigue, and hard fare which he 
 imposed upon himself in the conscientious 
 performance of arduous and self-denying 
 duties for which he was wretchedly paid. 
 On the other hand, the position of Editor 
 of Bell's Life, with a salary commencing at 
 
no Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 £i y ooo a year, and with a contingent in- 
 terest in the success of the paper, would 
 have preserved him from the hard struggle 
 with poverty, which he was of too delicate 
 and refined a nature to endure with impu- 
 nity. When I mention that " The Druid's " 
 family consisted of seven sons and four 
 daughters, and that his income, when at its 
 highest, never rose above ^"600 a year, and 
 was often under ^500, it needs no words 
 of mine to point out that — 
 
 " Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat 
 Res angusta domi." 
 
 That he did so much under these narrow- 
 ing and depressing circumstances is much to 
 his credit ; but still more should it be imputed 
 unto him for righteousness, that he bore him- 
 self like a white-souled Sir Galahad among 
 the temptations and snares with which 
 horse-racing is always surrounded, and was 
 untainted by intercourse with the low and 
 often disreputable waifs and strays of the 
 race-course, among whom his lot was not 
 unfrequently cast, and with some of whom 
 he had a strange and mysterious sympathy. 
 
Cambridge Days. 1 1 1 
 
 The following tribute to Mr. Dowling's 
 worth appeared in the Illustrated London 
 News of November 13, 1852. 
 
 "The career of Mr. Vincent George Dow- 
 ling, who died on the 25th ult., presents a 
 remarkable instance of a long life honourably 
 devoted to the services of Journalism, and of 
 unceasing energy to meet the requirements 
 of the growing intelligence of newspaper 
 readers. 
 
 " Mr. Dowling was born in the metropolis, 
 in 1785, at which time his father was con- 
 nected with the newspaper press, in Ireland, 
 where the younger Dowling received his 
 early education. He returned to London 
 with his father, after the Union, and occasion- 
 ally assisted him in his duties for the 
 Times newspaper which he had just joined. 
 Soon after this Mr. Vincent Dowling engaged 
 with the Star ; and, in 1809, transferred his 
 services to the Day newspaper. In 1804 
 he became a contributor to the Observer, 
 thus commencing his connection with Mr. 
 Clement, which continued until the death 
 of the latter gentleman in the present year. 
 In 1824 Mr. Dowling became Editor of 
 
1 12 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 Bell's Life in London, in which position he 
 continued to the period of his death ; and it 
 is but justice to add that, to his unceasing 
 energies through eight and twenty years, is 
 to be attributed the great and well-merited 
 success of that journal. Mr. Dowling used 
 to relate that he was present in the lobby of 
 the House of Commons when Bellingham 
 shot Mr. Percival in 1812 ; adding that he, 
 Mr. Dowling, was the first person who 
 seized the assassin, although the priority is 
 claimed by Mr. Jerdan, in his recently pub- 
 lished 'Autobiography,' who states that Mr. 
 Dowling was among the earliest of the crowd 
 who came up after the seizure. Mr. Dowling 
 added that he took the weapon from Belling- 
 ham ; that he had often sat by him in the 
 gallery of the House, and had at his request 
 pointed out various members. 
 
 " When Queen Caroline was about to return 
 from the Continent, after the accession of her 
 husband, George IV., Mr. Dowling pro- 
 ceeded to France to record her progress for 
 the Observer; and the day before she arrived 
 in England, Mr. Dowling, at the request of 
 the Queen's principal attendants, agreed to 
 
Cambridge Days. 1 1 3 
 
 bring her despatches to England, which he 
 did in an open boat pulled by five French- 
 men. It was a stormy night, and he was 
 nearly twelve hours in crossing the Channel, 
 having to make a long stretch up the French 
 coast before the crossing could be effected in 
 safety. He had the satisfaction, however, 
 to arrive first in London with the news. 
 
 " Mr. Dowling claimed to be the originator 
 of the plan on which the new police system 
 was organized ; even the names of the officers 
 — inspector, sergeant, &c. — were published 
 in Bell's Life nearly two years before the 
 system was proposed by Sir Robert Peel. 
 
 "Mr. Dowling was highly respected for 
 his many excellent qualities, and his loss 
 is deeply deplored. He was thirteen years 
 a Guardian, and for many years Chairman 
 of the Board of Guardians of the Strand 
 Union. He was also a Trustee and Man- 
 ager of the Holborn Estate Charity of the 
 parish of St. Clement Danes." 
 
 The " Dictionary of National Biography" 
 adds: "Mr. Dowling died at Stanmore Lodge, 
 Kilburn, from disease of the heart and dropsy, 
 on October 25, 1852. He was the elder 
 brother of Sir James Dowling." 
 8 
 
ii4 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FURTHER REMINISCENCES OF HIS EARLY LIFE 
 
 HE first time that the young 
 lady who subsequently became 
 "The Druid's" wife ever saw 
 her future husband, was when 
 he was pointed out to her in the Close, or 
 playground, of Rugby School. At that time 
 she was fifteen years old, and he was seven- 
 teen. He was lying on the ground at full 
 length with a bit of paper stretched out on a 
 flat board before him, and a pocket ink-glass 
 by his side. His thoughts were absorbed by 
 the "copy" which he was writing, and the 
 school-boy who pointed him out exclaimed 
 contemptuously, " Look at that ass ! He 
 never joins in any of our games or sports, 
 but writes everlasting yarns for Bell y s Life." 
 The nom de phime under which Henry Dixon 
 
Further Reminiscences. 1 1 5 
 
 then wrote was "General Chasse," which 
 name he borrowed from Sir James Boswell's 
 celebrated chestnut horse, who was then win- 
 ning Cups and long-distance races in Scotland 
 and the North of England, and was at all 
 times a special favourite with "The Druid." 
 Reverting, however, to the young lady to 
 whom he was afterwards united in marriage, 
 it gives me great pleasure to add the follow- 
 ing account of his courtship, written by the 
 hand which alone should hold the pen on such 
 a theme. His widow writes as follows : — 
 
 "My brief and imperfect sketch of 'The 
 Druid's ' daily life, tastes, and habits would 
 be incomplete were I to fail to make mention 
 of his married life, especially during its earlier 
 years, and also to touch lightly upon a few 
 incidents of his courtship, which he conducted 
 in a very eccentric and original fashion. He 
 first met Miss Caroline Lynes in the Isle of 
 Man, either in the autumn of 1844 or in the 
 spring of 1845. He was reading there for 
 his degree with a tutor who knew her brother 
 intimately, and thus he soon became on 
 friendly terms with the Lynes family. His 
 choice of the Isle of Man was, as usual with 
 
n6 Life and Times of " The Druid. 19 * 
 
 him, fixed on by chance. He had two plans 
 in view for that particular Long Vacation, 
 and was terribly perplexed as to the question 
 which plan would best forward his interests. 
 At length he decided on writing to both the 
 tutors who were making up reading parties, and 
 putting the two letters in his pocket, he went 
 after dark to the Post Office, slipped in the 
 first letter upon which his hand fell when he 
 thrust it into his pocket, and only found out 
 on returning to his rooms that he had pledged 
 himself to visiting Mona's Isle, instead of the 
 English Lakes. Small accidents of this kind 
 bring about issues which fundamentally affect 
 the whole future of a man's and a woman's 
 life. 
 
 " All the strangers who were temporarily 
 resident at Douglas, in the Isle of Man, made 
 a point, at that time, of hurrying to the pier 
 every day that the Liverpool boat arrived, 
 and amused themselves by watching, with 
 unsympathetic glee, the melancholy, washed- 
 out appearance of the hapless victims upon 
 whose faces sea-sickness had left its strongly- 
 impressed mark. In those remote days the 
 passage was twice as long as it is now, 
 
Further Reminiscences. 1 1 7 
 
 and the boats much smaller. On the 
 particular day selected by Mr. Lynes 
 to transport his wife and three daughters 
 to the Isle of Man, a fierce gale was 
 blowing, and ' The Druid ' was an eager 
 spectator of the landing of the woe-begone 
 and battered party. Miss Caroline Lynes 
 had been a great sufferer, and with dis- 
 hevelled hair and ghastly countenance she 
 staggered off the boat, only too glad to 
 touch terra firma once more. Incredible 
 as it may appear to some who read these 
 words, ' The Druid ' told her some years 
 afterwards that with him it was love at first 
 sight. ' I felt,' he said to her, 'that I would 
 marry that girl or know the reason why.' 
 A month spent in the Isle of Man in delight- 
 ful weather brought the young pair together 
 almost daily at pic-nics and on exploring 
 excursions ; but so slow and diffident were 
 the advances made by ' The Druid,' that the 
 young lady returned home without a sus- 
 picion of his real feelings towards her. 
 Occasionally he invited her mother, her 
 sisters, and herself to tea, and made Cum- 
 berland girdle cakes for them with his own 
 
1 1 8 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 hands, which attention he supplemented by 
 offering- them huge strawberry jam tarts, of 
 which she subsequently discovered that he 
 was inordinately fond. To her unsophisticated 
 mind his attentions, such as they were, con- 
 veyed no definite meaning. Before parting, 
 however, he contrived to obtain an invita- 
 tion to pass a few days at her father's place, 
 Hackleton House, in Northamptonshire, 
 where, during his next vacation, he sud- 
 denly put in an appearance one sultry 
 August evening, seated as a passenger in 
 the village carrier's cart. 
 
 " Can it be wondered that the strong Tory 
 prejudices of the Lynes family were revolted 
 and shocked by such unconventional be- 
 haviour ! It was subsequently explained 
 by ' The Druid ' that he learnt, in that 
 mysterious way he had of finding out every- 
 thing, that the carrier was well known in 
 Northampton to be full of queer stories and 
 local histories, and that he had picked up 
 odds and ends of information on all kinds 
 of subjects. As fond of quaint characters 
 as was Sir Walter Scott himself, ' The 
 Druid ' could not resist the temptation of 
 
Further Reminiscences. 1 1 9 
 
 a seven-mile drive in company with a man 
 who, he expected, would provide him with 
 material for his next week's contribution to 
 Bell's Life. A second compromising and 
 somewhat embarassing incident occurred on 
 that same evening, when he went up to his 
 bedroom to prepare for the evening meal. 
 In the room he found a spacious cupboard 
 filled with ladies' dresses hanging from pegs. 
 In the hope of discovering, by some miracu- 
 lous intuition, a dress which belonged to his 
 lady-love, he opened the door and entered 
 the cupboard, little dreaming that the door 
 closed w T ith a spring lock, which could not be 
 opened from the inside. To his ineffable 
 horror and surprise he found himself fast 
 bound in prison, while the gong was sound- 
 ing and the family below all assembled for 
 their evening repast. There they continued 
 to wait while Mr. Lynes enforced, the strict 
 discipline and respect for hospitality for 
 which he was celebrated in Northampton- 
 shire. At last, however, his patience began 
 to fail, and a few stinging remarks issued 
 from his lips. After passing an uncomfort- 
 able half-hour, the famished group caught 
 
i2o Life and Times of " The Drtiid!' 
 
 the sound of shouts, kicks, and signals of 
 distress issuing from the quarter of the 
 house in which 'The Druid's' bedroom was 
 situated. A search party was immediately 
 instituted, and the prisoner was at length 
 released from his humiliating position. On 
 coming down he looked decidedly sheepish, 
 and returned the very vaguest replies to the 
 eager inquiries addressed to him as to the 
 cause of his entering the cupboard at all. 
 The visit passed away, however, without 
 advancing him more nearly to that success- 
 ful end of his courtship which he so ardently 
 desired. 
 
 "Many months were still to pass away 
 before any chance of meeting his inamorata 
 once more was likely to recur. He found it 
 impossible to pay another visit to that little 
 village in Northamptonshire, round which 
 all his hopes and aspirations revolved. No 
 chance of communicatino- with Miss Caroline 
 Lynes suggested itself to him, and at last he 
 became so anxious that he could no longer 
 live without getting some authentic tidings 
 of the young lady's well-being. At this 
 juncture he bethought himself of a younger 
 
Further Reminiscences. 1 2 1 
 
 brother of his own, who was engaged in a 
 mercantile house in London. To him he 
 addressed an appealing letter from Cam- 
 bridge, begging him to get down to North- 
 amptonshire in time to go to Piddington 
 Church next Sunday morning. He de- 
 scribed to his brother the exact position of 
 the pew occupied by the Lynes family, and 
 the seat usually occupied by Miss Caroline 
 Lynes. ' If you love me,' he wrote to his 
 brother, 'find out if my little girl is there, 
 and send me word how she is looking.' 
 Fifty years ago a journey of sixty miles into 
 the country was a very different thing, and 
 much more costly than it is now. Never- 
 theless the delicate mission was faithfully 
 carried out by ' The Druid's ' brother, who 
 reported that the 'little girl' was in her 
 seat and seemed all right, but so devout that 
 she never looked off her book.' Baffled in 
 his attempt to catch a sight of her face, the 
 emissary did his best to give a description of 
 her dress and bonnet. Truth," adds "The 
 Druid's" widow, "compels me to confess 
 that the devotion spoken of in the report 
 was due to the presence in the pew of my 
 
122 Life and Times of " The Druid' 
 
 stern father, who regarded inattention at 
 church as a moral offence, which seemed to 
 him as unpardonable as it would have done 
 to Sir Walter Scott's 4 Davie Deans.' " 
 
 I have already stated that the first proposal 
 made by " The Druid " to Miss Caroline 
 Lynes was rejected. Her refusal affected 
 him so deeply that his health gave way, 
 and he was unable to put in his appear- 
 ance at the schools for the classical ex- 
 amination, in which he had such hopes 
 of distinguishing himself. A few months 
 later other opportunities of pressing his 
 suit presented themselves, and his quiet 
 determination and persistent constancy won 
 for him the fulfilment of his ardent desire. 
 An engagement was entered into, which 
 terminated eight months later in his union 
 with the young lady, to whom he was mar- 
 ried on May 12, 1847. The incidents of a 
 simple marriage in a small village church 
 seem hardly worthy of record, but two char- 
 acteristic touches illustrative of the bride- 
 groom's disposition have often been spoken 
 of in the Lynes family, and are still remem- 
 bered w T ith interest by some of its surviving 
 
Further Reminiscences. 123 
 
 members. The bride, following the univer- 
 sally accepted belief that on her marriage 
 day her lightest wish must be regarded as 
 law, whispered in the ear of her future father- 
 in-law that she w r ould like four grey horses 
 attached to the carriage which was to take 
 her and her husband seven miles to the 
 nearest railway station. The greys duly 
 arrived, and even amid the pangs of parting 
 from her parents and family, the young wife 
 felt a ray of gladness at the thought that her 
 equipage would produce no ordinary sensa- 
 tion in the minds of the simple villagers 
 among whom her early days had been passed. 
 Alas for the instability of earthly hopes 1 
 " The Druid " had a mortal objection to 
 display or ostentation of any kind, and just 
 before the carriage drove up to the door he 
 ran out and with his pocket-knife cut the 
 traces of the two grey leaders, and told the 
 post-boy to go about his business. The dis- 
 appointment of the crestfallen lady may well 
 be imagined when he handed her into a car- 
 riage drawn by only two greys. All that 
 she remembers further about that memorable 
 day is that just as the young couple issued 
 
124 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 from church, a tiny sweep thrust his black 
 head through the top of a cottage chimney 
 which stood opposite the church, and, waving 
 his brush wildly in the air, shouted out his 
 congratulations and o-ood wishes for the 
 health and happiness of the bride and 
 bridegroom. 
 
 They did not take any wedding trip, but 
 went straight off to Doncaster, where " The 
 Druid " had already resided for about fifteen 
 months. During that time he was, as I have 
 already said, articled to Messrs. Baxter, the 
 well-known Tory solicitors of Doncaster ; 
 but encouraged by " Martingale " and the 
 proprietors of the Doncastei' Gazette, he 
 had from the first contributed many political 
 and sporting articles to that journal, of which 
 in 1848 he became the editor. 
 
 At Doncaster they passed the first three 
 years of their married life, living at first 
 in very modest lodgings and in a very 
 quiet street. " The Druid " had occupied 
 three rooms before he brought his wife 
 back to them, and the only special pre- 
 paration he had made for her reception 
 consisted in the purchase of four very 
 
Further Reminiscences. 125 
 
 large pin-cushions, covered with yellow 
 satin trimmed with lace. One other comi- 
 cal incident of their early married days 
 his widow recalls with merriment. She 
 asked him for the tea caddy, and he con- 
 fessed at once that he had never owned 
 that necessary appendage. He directed 
 her, however, to pull out a drawer in his 
 wardrobe, "where he always kept his tea, so 
 as to have it handy." There, sure enough, 
 it was, lying loose among his white shirts, 
 and scattered all over the drawer. Happily 
 a very efficient maid, whom Mrs. Dixon's 
 mother had sent with her daughter from 
 Northamptonshire to the new home in 
 Doncaster, soon reduced all this chaos to 
 order. Not many days passed, however, 
 without her discovering that she had married 
 a man to whom incessant employment left 
 little time to bestow on his wife. What 
 between his long office hours in Messrs. 
 Baxter's law establishment and his literary 
 labours for the Doncaster Gazette, he seemed 
 quite to forget that his wife wanted any 
 amusement. She had long been the most 
 petted member of a large and happy family, 
 
126 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 and the sudden contrast might have seemed 
 irksome, or even insupportable, had she not 
 fortunately found a large family of cousins, 
 that of the Rev. Mr. Preston, who had ten 
 sons and daughters, residing at Doncaster, 
 who received her with unwearied kindness 
 and affection. Business frequently called 
 "The Druid" away, and without the com- 
 panionship of her cousins, his deserted wife 
 would have been sorely tried by long spells 
 of solitude. 
 
 At the end of eleven months a small house 
 fell vacant at the top of Hall Gate. It stood 
 just opposite to Mr. Preston's residence, and 
 just suited the moderate income of the young 
 couple. They contrived to furnish it very 
 comfortably for eighty-five pounds, which 
 they had saved out of " The Druid's " 
 earnings during the first year of their 
 marriage. The change of quarters was 
 effected in a strange and exceedingly 
 thrifty fashion. In the dusk of the evening 
 " The Druid " and his wife might have 
 been seen gliding up Hall Gate laden with 
 books, desks, household linen, hassocks, and 
 all sorts of heterogeneous personal belong- 
 
Further Reminiscences. 127 
 
 ings. They were followed by a one-legged 
 porter who owned a truck, on which the 
 larger articles were piled. Very proud they 
 were of their first little house, and here their 
 first child, Sydenham Dixon, was born in 
 May, 1848, an exceeding great joy to both 
 father and mother, the latter of whom from 
 that moment forward lost all sense of loneli- 
 ness. 
 
 All that time ' k The Druid " lived on terms 
 of great intimacy with Rev. Dr. Sharpe, vicar 
 of Doncaster. The parish church of St. 
 George's was one of the oldest and most in- 
 teresting in Yorkshire, and its central tower 
 was celebrated far and wide. 1 1 was the church 
 bells of St. George's which sounded so pleas- 
 antly in the ears of "Dr. Dove," whom 
 Southey has immortalised in his " Doctor " 
 — a book in which " The Druid " took o-reat 
 delight, and from which he quoted freely in his 
 description of Doncaster race-course in "Silk 
 and Scarlet." Unfortunately, this church was 
 totally destroyed by fire on February 28, 
 1853, and was rebuilt at a cost of ,£45,000 
 by public subscription, Sir Gilbert G. Scott, 
 whose reputation in the eyes of posterity may 
 
128 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 be safely trusted to rest on this noble struc. 
 ture, beinor the architect. The Rev. Dr. 
 
 o 
 
 Sharpe, who had been Curate and then 
 Vicar of Doncaster for the whole of his 
 adult life, was also a very successful school- 
 master. He was a dignitary of singularly 
 stately manner, a fact which lends additional 
 point to the following story. When her first- 
 born son came into the world in 1848, Mrs. 
 Dixon went, on her recovery, to be churched 
 at St. George's, and was accompanied by 
 her husband, who insisted upon kneelmg 
 beside her at the altar. After performing 
 that part of the ceremony which related to 
 the mother, the Vicar leant forward, and, 
 with a grave smile, whispered into " The 
 Druid's" ear, "Do you desire to be churched, 
 also, Mr. Dixon?" "No!" he answered, 
 with something of impatience, if not indig- 
 nation, in his tone, "but nothing shall prevent 
 my returning thanks with my wife." One 
 other little incident connected with the same 
 church was the cause of much amusement 
 at the time of its occurrence. Shortly after 
 his marriage "The Druid" suffered from 
 several inflammatory attacks of the eye 
 
Further Reminiscences. 129 
 
 which greatly affected his sight, and com- 
 pelled him to confine himself to a dark 
 room. He was told by his Doctor that 
 unless lie would keep his head covered in 
 church it would not be safe for him to attend 
 divine service. Accordingly he lost no time 
 in repairing to his barber, from whom he 
 purchased a flaming red wig of scanty di- 
 mensions — so much too small, indeed, for 
 his head, that it left a fringe of his own 
 black hair plainly perceptible under the red 
 covering. As he walked up the nave his 
 tall figure commanded general attention, and 
 an audible titter ran round the church. 
 Utterly unconscious of the merriment he 
 was exciting, "The Druid" stalked solemnly 
 into his pew and took his seat by the side 
 of his wife. Presently the suppressed laugh- 
 ter swelled into an irrepressible roar, and the 
 cause of this indecorous scene at length took 
 in the situation. Shocked at the unseemly 
 mirth he rose from his pew and walked 
 slowly out of church, shaking as it were, 
 the dust off his feet as he left the building. 
 A. time came, all too soon to both of them, 
 when they had to exchange their cosy home 
 
130 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 in the bright little Yorkshire town which 
 "The Druid" loved so well, for an unknown 
 house in the great wilderness of London — 
 that wilderness with which neither of them 
 had the least acquaintance. On reaching 
 King's Cross early in the spring of 1850, it 
 suddenly struck him that he was entirely 
 ignorant in what part of the Metropolis he 
 was to search for a habitation. The party 
 consisted of himself, his wife and two chil- 
 dren, and also of a sister-in-law, together 
 with her child and nurse. All that they 
 could muster between them in the way of 
 money was twelve pounds. He consulted 
 his wife, who having once put up with her 
 father at the Golden Cross Hotel, Charing 
 Cross, suggested their driving there without 
 further delay. In their total ignorance of 
 London prices they imagined that twelve 
 pounds would hold out for several days, but 
 luckily it occurred to them to ask for the bill 
 on the eve of the second day. To their 
 consternation they found that it already ex- 
 ceeded ten pounds, and rising betimes next 
 morning "The Druid" rushed off on foot to 
 Chiswick, and poured out his tale of distress 
 
Further Reminiscences. 131 
 
 to an old college chum, who together with 
 his wife resided there. Most generously did 
 these good Samaritans receive and welcome 
 the whole party, until on the expiration of 
 ten days, "The Druid" secured a small house 
 in St. George's Terrace, Gloucester Road. 
 Curiously enough that modest row of houses 
 still exists, having undergone no change 
 during the three and forty intervening years. 
 They had not lived there long before life 
 assumed a sterner and graver aspect. Ex- 
 penses increased, prices were higher than at 
 Doncaster, and the struggle for existence 
 became fiercer and fiercer. " The Druid " 
 soon got an engagement in the service of 
 Bell's Life at three pounds a week, and 
 worked early and late to increase his income 
 by writing for other papers. He was often 
 compelled to travel for weeks together, and 
 his wife, whose cares and anxieties were 
 rapidly increased by the birth of three more 
 sons, found ample employment for hand and 
 brain. Nor had she leisure to dwell on 
 personal discomforts, or indulge in the 
 sense of loneliness which now and ao'ain 
 oppressed her. The patter of her children's 
 
132 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 little feet, and their sweet infantine laughter 
 beguiled many a weary hour, but occa- 
 sionally her heart yearned sorely after the 
 sympathy and constant companionship of 
 a loved husband. 
 
30 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ' THE DONCASTER GAZETTE. 
 
 HE only four newspapers to 
 which " The Druid " was a 
 regular paid contributor, and 
 on the staff of which he held 
 a permanent position, were the Doncaster 
 Gazette, Bell's Life in London, the Mark 
 Lane Express, and the Sporting Life. That 
 he sent voluntary contributions, for which, 
 in most cases, no payment was asked, to 
 other papers and periodicals (and especially 
 to the Carlisle Jottrnal) is well known 
 to his family. He was also a contributor 
 of verses to other journals, of which he 
 specifically names two — Punch and The 
 Examiner — and in addition he wrote irregu- 
 larly for the Daily News, though he was 
 never on the staff of that journal, the Editor 
 
134 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 of which, however, held him in much esteem. 
 I can well remember that when " The 
 Druid's " article on the Marquis of Hastings 
 (who died in 1868) appeared in The Daily 
 News, Mr. Labouchere, who was then the 
 proprietor of nearly half that journal, was so 
 much delighted with the prolusion in ques- 
 tion that on hearing of its writer's precarious 
 state of health, he urged Mr. (now Sir J. R.) 
 Robinson, the Editor, to spare no effort or 
 expense in order to keep so valuable a con- 
 tributor alive, if it were possible to do so. 
 Unfortunately, "The Druid" himself was at 
 that time not far from the end of his tether, 
 and, in his own words — applied to the un- 
 fortunate but gallant young Marquis of 
 Hastings — "all the wheels were down." 
 
 I have before me as I write these words 
 almost all the articles written by " The 
 Druid " for the Doncaster Gazette between 
 1847 an d 1850, when he moved from Don- 
 caster to London. After his arrival in the 
 Metropolis he was in the habit of sending 
 a weekly letter to the Doncaster Gazette, 
 which he headed either " Metropolitana," 
 or " The Weekly Compendium." These 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette." 135 
 
 contributions are, like all newspaper articles, 
 of an ephemeral kind, and it is hardly fair to 
 reproduce any of them in a -book published 
 forty years and more after they were written. 
 They show, however, that "The Druid's" 
 repertory was unusually large, and his ac- 
 quaintance with Indian subjects — a country 
 which he had never visited, and of which, 
 about that time, few young and untravelled 
 Englishmen of his age knew anything at all 
 — very striking. When it is remembered 
 that the following article was the work of 
 a young man of twenty-six who had never left 
 his native land, it will be read with interest 
 by many who have been accustomed to re- 
 gard "The Druid" as a sporting writer and 
 nothing more. It appeared in the Doncaster 
 Gazette in March, 1849 : — 
 
 "War in the Punjab. 
 
 "The last Indian mail has brought des- 
 patches from the Punjab, rife with deep and 
 melancholy interest. Early on the morning 
 of November 21, 1848, Lord Gough took the 
 command of 22,000 men and 100 guns, near 
 the banks of the Chenab. On the right bank 
 
136 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 of that river, and immediately opposite the 
 town of Ramnugger, his enemy, Shere Singh, 
 was posted with 30,000 men and 32 pieces of 
 cannon. Rising in the fastnesses of Thibet, 
 the Chenab pursues a course of 540 miles. 
 It is the largest of the five rivers which 
 intersect the Punjab and give it its name, 
 and, though deep and rapid in some places, 
 the channel between an island and its left 
 bank, on which our troops were stationed, is 
 a mere sandy water-course, about thirty yards 
 wide. This island was held by 4,000 Sikhs, 
 with six guns. At two o'clock on the morn- 
 ing of the 22nd, a strong force of our cavalry 
 and infantry were ordered to parade, and then 
 march forward noiselessly to Ramnugger, 
 from whence the Sikh detachment, who had 
 unaccountably learnt this movement, at once 
 retired. On reaching the left bank the Royal 
 Horse Artillery were ordered to the front, 
 and promptly opened fire on the Sikhs in 
 the island. The heavy guns of the enemy 
 soon proved too much for the English six- 
 pounders, and orders were given to retreat. 
 At this critical moment it was found that one 
 of the guns had sunk so deep into the sand 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette." 137 
 
 that it was impossible to extricate it. The 
 unharnessing of horses from other guns to 
 draw it out was observed by the Sikhs, who 
 directed such an overwhelming fire upon it 
 that the Artillery were obliged to spike and 
 leave it. The enemy next endeavoured to 
 lure the British advanced guard within range 
 of their guns on the right bank ; but this 
 feint failing, 4,000 Sikh cavalry crossed the 
 sandy water-course from the island and rode 
 within a very short distance of our troops. 
 This was too much for Lord Gough's patience; 
 the bugle was sounded, the word ' Charge ' 
 rang through the ranks, and in a few moments 
 the 14th Dragoons and the 5th Bengal 
 Cavalry were hotly engaged under a most 
 deadly volley from the island. Three times 
 did the brigade return to the attack. In the 
 second charge Colonel Havelock, who was 
 leading it on, was shot, and just as Colonel 
 King led back his men from the third, 
 General Cureton met him with orders from 
 Lord Gough to desist. Scarcely had the 
 gallant General uttered his message before 
 he staggered back, dead, with a ball in his 
 forehead and another in his chest. In these 
 
138 Life and Times of ki The Druid." 
 
 three desperate onsets two more officers were 
 killed, two severely wounded, and forty-five 
 rank and file either killed or wounded. Such 
 was the eccentric hut kind feeling evinced by 
 our Mahomedan troops towards their British 
 comrades in these charges, that the ^"50 
 which Lord Gough presented to them in 
 token of their valour was promptly laid out 
 in a dinner to the 14th Dragoons. On the 
 30th November a ford was discovered above 
 Ramnugger, which General Thackwell im- 
 mediately crossed and attacked the left 
 flank of the Sikhs, while Lord Gough 
 assaulted them from his old position. With 
 a very slight loss our troops succeeded 
 in driving them westward, carrying their 
 camp, baggage, and wounded with them 
 towards the mountainous country. A de- 
 cisive defeat of the insurgents is much 
 needed, if we are to retain our prestige and 
 authority in the country. The whole of our 
 troops on the verge of, or within, the Punjab 
 are divided into six divisions, making a total 
 of 49,000 fighting men (12,130 of whom are 
 British), with 180 pieces of cannon. The 
 death of General Cureton is a deep national 
 
The " Doncaster Gazette!' 139 
 
 loss. He fell at the head of the very regi- 
 ment to whose barracks in England he was 
 first marched, a raw boy, with the gay re- 
 cruiting ribbon on his hat. He had served 
 his country for half a century, rising from 
 the ranks, and had borne the burden and 
 heat of the day with the Duke throughout 
 his Peninsular campaigns. He had been 
 witness of that greatest of all Indian sieges 
 — Bhurtpore ; had triumphed over the fall 
 of Ghuznee ; had led his regiment through 
 all the battles under Lord Hardinge, which 
 ended in the reduction of Gwalior and the 
 occupation of Lahore. The tributes of deep 
 sorrow to his memory which fell from the 
 soldiers as they crouched round their cheer- 
 less watch-fires on that eventful night will 
 find an echo in the breast of every admirer 
 of true British valour. 
 
 ''Considerable anxiety is felt throughout 
 the country for the arrival of the next Indian 
 mail, which is expected to bring the news 
 of some very decisive movement on the 
 part of the British troops. The conduct of 
 Lord Gough in allowing his men to charge 
 the Sikhs, when there were no Sikh guns on 
 
140 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 this side the Chenab for them to take, and 
 the enemy too strongly posted beyond the 
 nullah to be driven away by a single regi- 
 ment, has been the subject of the strongest 
 animadversion, both in his own camp at 
 Ramnugger and in all English military 
 circles. Such deaths as those of General 
 Cureton, the finest cavalry officer in India, 
 along with Colonel Havelock and many 
 gallant comrades, form a bitter commen- 
 tary on their leader's supposed rashness. 
 
 "It seems probable that if Shere Singh can 
 fully elude the wariness of General Thack- 
 well, who has crossed the Chenab and already 
 given him a severe check, he will retire to 
 the hill country and maintain a harassing 
 guerilla warfare. Sir Charles Napier, ' own 
 brother to the devil,' as our Indian enemies 
 feelingly term him, used to hunt them most 
 successfully through a country of this nature, 
 and General Thackwell, the one-armed hero 
 of the Peninsula, will, it is thought, soon 
 earn for himself a similar title. 
 
 "When the war is concluded, one of two 
 alternatives remains for us : either to with- 
 draw behind the Sutlej, or to annex the 
 
" The D'oncaster Gazette." 141 
 
 whole of the Punjab, making the Indus our 
 boundary. Throughout the whole of the 
 Punjab, the Hindus and Mahomedans are 
 heavily oppressed by the Sikhs, the latter 
 in particular. ' If you meet a Hindu, beat 
 and rob him ; if a Mahomedan, kill him 
 outright,' were the genial directions issued 
 by Har Gorind, a great Sikh leader, to his 
 subalterns. Hence, the British occupation 
 of the entire Punjab would be hailed as a 
 peculiar blessing by these persecuted natives. 
 The fertility of the Punjab, which is watered 
 by five rivers, is such as to present the idea 
 of an Indian garden of Eden. The crops of 
 wheat, after being twice mown down, cannot, 
 after all, be prevented from producing an 
 abundant harvest, while indigo flourishes in 
 equal profusion. We trust that under the 
 auspices of Earl Dalhousie this beautiful 
 region may soon be turned to nobler pur- 
 poses than affording a station for Sikh field 
 pieces under hireling French gunners." 
 
 It will be inferred from this article and 
 from many others like it, that their writer's 
 attention was directed about that time, not to 
 
142 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 musty law books, but to general literature, with 
 a strong bias towards sporting. To say the 
 truth, no greater mistake was ever made by an 
 attached and conscientious father than when 
 Mr. Peter Dixon sent his son to Doncaster 
 and articled him to such a firm of solicitors 
 as that of which Mr. Robert Baxter was the 
 head. To begin with, Mr. Baxter was an 
 ardent Conservative, and the trusted agent 
 of that party throughout the West Riding 
 of Yorkshire. Secondly, he detested horse- 
 racing, and was engaged all through his long 
 life in endeavouring by every means in his 
 power to abolish the Doncaster race meeting. 
 From him and the narrow sect of Calvinists 
 with whom he was in sympathy proceeded 
 those biblical texts fastened on the elms 
 which line the North Avenue at Doncaster, 
 along which every frequenter of the races 
 must necessarily pass. These texts threat- 
 ened all who repaired to the race-course with 
 unutterable woes and disasters here and here- 
 after, and it is certain that " The Druid," who 
 was in every respect as good a Christian as 
 Mr. Robert Baxter, and much more tolerant, 
 must have regarded the latters denunciation 
 
11 The Doncaster Gazette." 143 
 
 of field sports with disgust and aversion. It is 
 probable that if " The Druid" had been sent 
 by his father to study law in London directly 
 after he had taken his degree, he might have 
 escaped many influences to which Doncaster 
 necessarily exposed him. Nothing, how- 
 ever, could have been less judicious than 
 the course taken. The youth who had been 
 sent to read law at a solicitor's office, to copy 
 precedents, and to make out indentures, found 
 metal more attractive in the Editor's room at 
 the Doncaster Gazette, where he was soon 
 supplied with abundant occupation for his 
 pen. He was too sincere and unsophisti- 
 cated a man to conceal his Liberal proclivities, 
 and there is every reason to believe that 
 Messrs. Baxter & Co. were only too glad 
 when he absented himself from their office. 
 From contributing articles on all sorts of 
 subjects to the Doncaster Gazette, he rose 
 to the position of manager of that journal, 
 and was by many regarded as its avowed 
 and acknowledged Editor. Through his 
 friend, " Martingale," he soon made the 
 acquaintance of every sporting- character in 
 the neighbourhood, and his natural appetite 
 
144 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 for conversing with all sorts and conditions 
 of men, and of being equally at home with 
 the peer and the peasant, found ample scope 
 for indulgence. The following letter, ad- 
 dressed by the Rev. W. B. Philpot, who 
 was at Rugby with ''The Druid," to the 
 latter s wife, speaks of " The Druid's" famili- 
 arity with all classes of society, from the 
 highest to the lowest, in language so ex- 
 pressive that I gladly find room for it 
 here : — 
 
 "The Beach House, 
 
 " Littlehampton, Sussex. 
 "September 12, 1865. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Dixon, — We had a delightful 
 day at Hurstmonceaux. Your husband is 
 the only man in England who can thoroughly 
 appreciate on one afternoon the shape and 
 make of a female thoroughbred and the 
 memory of a masculine divine ; who can 
 understand Julius Hare in his surplice and 
 Hodge in his smock. I never knew any- 
 body who so completely, so poetically, and 
 philosophically enjoyed the pleasures and 
 pastimes of the moment, and yet had a 
 
11 The Doncaster Gazette!' 145 
 
 loftier range and a higher relish for the 
 holy principles of the past and present, and 
 for those of Eternity. Nor do I think that 
 there are many who can write a more musi- 
 cally balanced English sentence. We en- 
 joyed our afternoon vastly. I send this to 
 you not knowing where ' The Druid ' may 
 now be housing. For aught I know r , he 
 may be pumping some decrepit herdsman 
 in a remote ingle-nook or chimney corner, 
 or stalking over some desolate moor to 
 verify an illusion. 
 
 " Believe me, 
 
 "Always yours faithfully, 
 
 "W. B. Philpot." 
 Perhaps the greatest talent possessed by 
 "The Druid" was his capacity for getting 
 humble and unlettered men to put confidence in 
 him, and unbosom themselves of their choicest 
 secrets for his benefit. Never was this more 
 exemplified than in the case of what he calls 
 " Dick Christian's Lectures." He tells us 
 that it was on a cold, frosty evening early 
 in January, 1855, that he first met "that 
 great Professor of rough-riding," from w r hom 
 he sought to learn how horses were tamed 
 
146 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 and fields were won. Dick Christian was 
 seated by a comfortable fireside in Chapel 
 Street, Melton, when "The Druid" pulled 
 forth his trusty steel pen to report the old 
 man's " Lectures." " I had never seen him 
 before," he adds, "and came to the conclusion 
 that seventy-eight winters had dealt gently 
 with the veteran. There he sat, the same 
 light-legged, sturdy, five-foot-six man, with 
 nearly all the muscular breadth of chest and 
 vigour of arm left which had enabled him, 
 in his heyday, to lift a horse's fore-quarters 
 as high, if not higher, over a fence than any 
 man that ever rode to hounds. He seemed 
 to be anxious to jump off at score upon his 
 great Marigold feat, the account of which had 
 just been cut out of an old newspaper, and 
 sent to him by a friend ; but I called him 
 back, and asked him what sort of a boy he 
 was, and got him well away on that theme 
 at last." 
 
 I do not think that in the whole of " The 
 Druid's " writings there is a more creditable 
 specimen of his unrivalled powers of ingra- 
 tiating himself with men of low degree and 
 getting them to unfold their thoughts and 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette ." 147 
 
 experiences than the second porton of "Dick 
 Christian's Lectures" supply. " Dick Chris- 
 tian," writes "The Druid," in the first chap- 
 ter of "Silk and Scarlet," "had practically- 
 sounded the depth of every ditch and brook 
 in Leicestershire for more than half a cen- 
 tury ; but its fox-hunters had never half 
 sounded him in return. They little knew 
 what a capacity for authorship, which was 
 not destined to blossom until its seventy- 
 eighth spring, lurked in that thick-set frame 
 and merry twinkling eye. Seated beneath 
 the chestnut shade, I found him as remarkable 
 in his language as he had been when I gave 
 him his first trial eighteen months before, and 
 firmer than ever in his hero-worship of Air. 
 Assheton Smith, Sir James Musgrave, and 
 Captain White. It was not for any lack of 
 epistolary stimulants on his part that I de- 
 layed my visit so long. He fairly thirsted 
 to be in print once more, and the post had 
 brought me many an admonition to this effect. 
 He kept on writing : ' You don't know 
 what injury you are doing yourself and me 
 by delaying my second Lecture so long.' It 
 seemed to me that in the first effort we 
 
148 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 had indulged enough in mere table-talk, and 
 hence I determined to make a gig-survey of 
 Leicestershire with him by my side, and ask 
 him to point out the leading features in that 
 Waterloo of his existence, where he had so 
 often fallen and fought again next day. The 
 season was hardly in character with the trip. 
 Thorpe Trussels was radiant with dog-roses, 
 and honey-suckles clustered among the hedges 
 of Ashby Pasture ; but he assured me that 
 his hunting recollections were just as vivid 
 in summer as in winter, and soon sketched 
 out a comprehensive journey through the 
 Belvoir, the Cottesmore, and Quorn coun- 
 tries. Three sunny mornings we proceeded 
 merrily on our way ; and although Dick 
 added another tumble to his mammoth bead- 
 roll, and although the jolting occupation- 
 roads threatened at intervals to play havoc 
 with my notes, I found his geography of 
 the most jocular order, and travelled over 
 his memory with a will." 
 
 The additional tumble mentioned in the 
 above passage came about in the following 
 way. The well-matched pair were pro- 
 ceeding in their gig, when Dick observed : 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette." 149 
 
 " We'll get a short cut down here past 
 Cream Gorse. Blamed if I know much 
 about these roads, but I've been across them 
 fields thousands of times with the hounds, 
 and out larking with the gentlemen, too. 
 I scarcely ever fell when I was out larks. 
 I've been fox for the gentlemen all over 
 the country ; it didn't signify what part of 
 the country you were in if they wanted a 
 lark. I don't just see how we'll get out of 
 this field ; we must just go back through the 
 gate. Dear me ! What's coming ? 
 
 " There's a go ! Get to the horse's head ! 
 I wish w T e'd never corned here. I kep' on 
 a-talking, and you kep' on a-writing, and we 
 never saw that grip. What a crumpler I 
 comes out of the gig ! I drives my nose right 
 into the ground, then you tumbles out on top 
 o' me, and pins my legs right down. There's 
 above twelve stone of you. I always likes to 
 hitch my legs out of the way, but you fairly 
 held them fast. I thought the wheels would 
 be over me. It's all very well for you to 
 laugh ; you've been doing nothing else these 
 ten minutes ; but your hat's quite as bad 
 
150 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 knocked in as mine. There's your note- 
 book ; I see it come flying over my head. 
 That'll be your pencil in yon tuft of grass. 
 Deary me ! How Captain White would 
 a-laughed had he seen us ! This pimple's 
 bleeding on my nose ; it was stuck in the 
 ground, I don't know how deep. That'll 
 only be a graze on my eyebrow ; I'm bleed- 
 ing badly though. Just lead the horse, and 
 I'll get to the pond and give myself a wash, 
 and get you to give me a bit of a rub down. 
 It's a bad job trying these short cuts, except 
 you're on a horse ; we must keep it snug 
 when we gets back to Melton." 
 
 It is evident from this and many other 
 passages that the two companions suited 
 each other to perfection. We owe it solely 
 to the laborious and painstaking activity 
 shown by " The Druid " in never missing 
 a chance of picking up interesting "copy," 
 that these "Lectures," embodying more than 
 can elsewhere be found about the earliest days 
 of steeplechasing, or, as it might more cor- 
 rectly be called, point to point riding, were 
 committed to paper for the amusement of 
 a large and varied assortment of sporting 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette." 151 
 
 readers, before Dick Christian and "The 
 Druid" passed away. 
 
 I must dip again into the same lucky bag- 
 to hunt for another of Dick Christian's gems. 
 "The first ni^ht," he told his vates sctcer, "that 
 I ever slept at Melton was the night before 
 the first steeplechase that was ever run in 
 Leicestershire — mind you put that down ' 
 The race was between Lord Forester, Sir 
 Gilbert Heathcote, and Mr. Meynell. It 
 was for one hundred guineas a side ; eight 
 miles from Barkby Holt to Billesdon Coplow 
 and back again ; no rules as to gates or 
 roads, each to come as he could. It was 
 a grand race until three-quarters of a mile 
 from home. Poor Sir Gilbert ! He got 
 jammed in a bullock pen, that threw him 
 last ; and Mr. Meynell won. . . . Clinker's 
 and Clasher's, again, was a great match ; 
 they said it was for fifteen hundred guineas 
 a side. They sent for me the night before, 
 did Captain White and Captain Ross, and 
 locked me into their room ; then they gave 
 me their orders. They said, ' We mean 
 you to wait, Dick.' I says, ' You'd better 
 let me eive the horse his head, and allow 
 
152 Life and Ti7iies of " The Druid." 
 
 him to go along and not upset him ; he'll 
 take a deal more out of himself by waiting.' 
 So I gets them persuaded to change their 
 minds. Old Driver, the groom, was outside 
 listening, and he comes up to me, — ' What 
 do they shay ? What do you want to wait 
 for ? ' So I tells him that I was to go along, 
 and that pleased him powerfully, it did. Next 
 morning we weighed at Dalby, the Squire 
 and I. Bless me, I was never in such con- 
 dition, and away we trotted to Gartree Hill. 
 They were walking the horses about, and 
 Captain Ross says to me, ' Clinker looks 
 well, don't he?' 'He looks too well, Cap- 
 tain,' I answers. Then he lifts me up on 
 to Clinker's back, and tells me the orders 
 were changed, and I must wait. ' It's giving 
 away a certainty,' says I, 'and if I get a fall 
 then, I'm all behind.' But it was no manner 
 of use talking. Sir Vincent Cotton and Mr. 
 Gilmore, they started us, and Mr. Maher, he 
 was umpire. We rode twelve stone apiece ; 
 I was in tartan, and the Squire, of course, 
 he'd be in green. When we were at the 
 post the Squire says, ' Now, Christian, I 
 know what your orders are ; but I do ask 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette!' 153 
 
 one thing — don't jump on me if I fall.' I 
 said, ' I'll give you my word, Squire, I 
 won't.' The gentlemen could hardly keep 
 with us when we got off; some of them 
 had two or three horses fixed at different 
 points. We were almost touching each 
 other over Sharplands, and just before the 
 road I says, ' Squire, you're beat, for a hun- 
 dred'; but he never made no answer. Joe 
 Tomlin and Charles Christian stood close 
 over against Twyford Brook ; I got well 
 over that. Then we had some rails, such 
 stiff 'uns ! Clasher hit 'em with all four legs, 
 and chucks the Squire right on to his neck ; 
 Clinker took 'em like a bird. We were each 
 in a mess soon ; the Squire, he lands in a 
 bog, and his horse makes a dead stop ; it 
 took a deal out of him. Then 1 jumps right 
 into a dung heap up to Clinker's knees ; I 
 had no manner of idea the thing was there. 
 Going up John o' Gaunt's field we were close 
 together, but I turns to get some rails in a 
 corner — he was such a rare good un at rails, 
 was Clinker — I thought he was winning, 
 but, deary me ! down he comes at the 
 last fence, dead beat. There he lays for 
 
154 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 some minutes, and then gets up as lively 
 as ever, The horse, indeed, looked in no 
 manner of form , to run four miles across 
 country ; as round as a hoop, and for all 
 the world as though he were going to 
 Horncastle Fair. They held Clasher up and 
 flung water in his face, and he won in the 
 last hundred yards from superior training. 
 Many didn't like Clinker, but I hardly ever 
 got on so good a steeplechaser. How hard 
 the Squire did ride that match-day, to be 
 sure ! I went up to call on him, when he 
 was an old man, in St. John's Wood, one 
 afternoon, and he pointed to the picture of 
 the finish hanging up opposite the fire-place, 
 and says to me, ' Dick, that Clasher and 
 Clinker day beat me a great deal more 
 than the two hundred miles against time at 
 Newmarket.' " 
 
 Not forgetting the words printed at the 
 head of this chapter, it becomes me now to 
 return to the newspaper in which " The 
 Druid " first made his mark, and which he 
 held in sincere esteem until his dying hour. 
 I give the two subjoined articles from 
 the Doncaste?' Gazette as evidences of their 
 
"The Doncaster Gazette." 155 
 
 writer's prima maniera, which differed not 
 a little from the grace and polish of his 
 style at the close of his career, as will be 
 seen by those who read the third article, 
 upon the death of the Marquis of Hastings, 
 which appeared in the Daily News of 
 November 11, 1868. 
 
 Doncaster Gazette, October, 1848. 
 
 11 Death of William Scott. 
 
 " We sincerely regret to have to announce 
 the death of that once eminent jockey, Bill 
 Scott, which took place on October 26, 1848, 
 at Highfield House, near Malton, and 
 within a quarter of a mile of his brother, John 
 Scott's, famous establishment at Whitewall. 
 During the whole of this year, but especially 
 since his journey to Guildford last month 
 to give evidence respecting his horse, Sir 
 Tatton Sykes, which he did in his usual 
 quaint and racy manner, he had been in a 
 declining state of health owing to the break- 
 ing up of that once powerful constitution 
 with which he had trifled not a little. At 
 last he sank into the grave, within a few days 
 
156 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 of Lord George Bentinck, at the compara- 
 tively early age of fifty years. The last time 
 he appeared as a spectator on a race-course 
 was at the last York August meeting, when 
 he came from Malton for the day to see 
 Springy Jack run, and be beaten, for the 
 Great Yorkshire Stakes. His first public 
 appearance in the pigskin was in 18 14, when 
 he rode 6 st. 10 lbs. on Belville, and his last 
 appearance was on Mr. Conway's Snowball, 
 at the York Meeting of 1847, so tnat his 
 whole career in the profession extended over 
 thirty-three years. He was the most fortu- 
 nate jockey of any age. In 182 1, he first 
 won the St. Leger at Doncaster with Jack 
 Spigot, and also steered to victory in the 
 same race Memnon, The Colonel, Rowton, 
 Don John, Charles XII., Launcelot, Satirist, 
 and Sir Tatton Sykes. His Derby successes 
 began in 1832 with St. Giles, and a little 
 later Mundig, Attila, and Cotherstone bore 
 him home in triumph past Tattenham Corner, 
 as well as Cyprian, Industry, and Ghuznee 
 in the Oaks. Many of his St. Leger winners 
 he had skilfully handled when two year olds 
 at York and Doncaster, winning the Cham- 
 
"The Done aster Gazette." 157 
 
 pagne Stakes nine times, and the Two Year 
 Old Stakes six times over the latter course. 
 His principal Cup victories were achieved for 
 the late Marquis of Westminster on Touch- 
 stone. He had always an immense advan- 
 tage over other jockeys, as he had the pick 
 of his brother John's Leviathan stable, while 
 the others were obliged to mount anything 
 they received orders for. It was his fate to be 
 engaged in the only two dead heats ever run 
 off thus far in the great events at Epsom and 
 Doncaster. In the south on The Colonel he 
 finished second best — was indeed outridden 
 by Jim Robinson on Cadland ; but he 
 reversed the decision in the north on Charles 
 XII. in a similar second round. After The 
 Colonel's dead heat, Bill betrayed very great 
 nervousness, and many who saw his agitated 
 manner as he stood sucking an orange in the 
 weighing house, just before mounting his 
 chestnut, laid heavily against him on the 
 strength of it, especially as Robinson's nerve 
 in those days was imperturbable. Eleven 
 years later, at Doncaster, Bill Scott evinced 
 no such symptoms, as he was on his own 
 ground and felt confident that if he only 
 
158 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 reversed the style of running in the dead 
 heat, the big horse would outstride the little 
 one, despite all that Patrick Conolly could 
 do. Both the riders in this last memorable 
 struggle have gone to their graves within a 
 few years of each other. Like the ironcast 
 Captain Becher, Bill Scott met with some 
 severe accidents during his long career. He 
 got his collar-bone broken when Epirus fell 
 in the St. Leger of 1837 (which he would 
 certainly have won), and received a severe 
 contusion out hunting in the winter of 1843, 
 which prevented his riding another race for 
 some time. He had never the good luck, like 
 Macdonald in 1840, to be presented with a 
 whip by Royalty ; but along with his brother 
 John he had the honour of an interview with 
 Her Majesty, when, accompanied by Prince 
 Albert, she rode over, on the Monday before 
 the Epsom meeting of 1843, from Esher to 
 Leatherhead, to interview Cotherstone; and 
 he was often heard jocularly to remark in 
 connection with that event, that had she only 
 known what he and Cotherstone were going 
 to do on the next Wednesday she would 
 have made them both Baronets on the spot. 
 
"The Done aster Gazette." 159 
 
 This dignity he himself conferred on his 
 
 horse, Tibthorpe, after he had won the Two 
 
 Thousand Guineas Stake at Newmarket in 
 
 1846; and the venerable Sir Tatton Sykes 
 
 disclaimed all jealousy at the nomenclature 
 
 as, after the St. Leger of that year, he led 
 
 his equine namesake back to the weighing 
 
 house amidst the thunders of half Yorkshire, 
 
 who were delighted to see Bill Scott win 
 
 once more. He could scarcely be termed 
 
 a brilliant jockey, although being always 
 
 on cracks with something left in them at the 
 
 finish, he was generally enabled to get home. 
 
 By the side of such a powerful horseman 
 
 as Harry Edwards, who defeated him at 
 
 York on Naworth in a terrifically contested 
 
 race, he did not shine to much advantage. 
 
 His seat on horseback was very good, and 
 
 the style in which he roared out ' Faster, 
 
 faster!' to Nat on Van Amburgh, who, 
 
 knowing that Coronation was short of work, 
 
 was making severe running for Satirist in 
 
 the St. Leger of 1841, and finding that Nat 
 
 could go no faster, went past him like a shot 
 
 on Satirist, stamped him a consummate 
 
 master of the pace branch of his art. A 
 
160 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 more tremendous rallier of a slug never 
 existed, and his riding of Mundig for 
 the Derby of 1835 was one of his best 
 efforts. Latterly he was exceedingly weak, 
 and in his last race for the St. Leger he 
 shouted out to Sam Day on Tom Tulloch 
 that it was ' None of the Pigburn family but 
 Sir Tatton that was a-coming.' Finally, he 
 just escaped the rush of Frank Butler on I ago, 
 which, had the race been two hundred yards 
 farther, might have been fatal, not from any 
 fault of Sir Tatton, but from his rider's weak- 
 ness. A son and a daughter survive Bill 
 Scott, his wife having been dead for some 
 years. Long will he be remembered in 
 Yorkshire as ' Glorious Bill,' and those who 
 witnessed with regret his eccentric Mytton- 
 like aberrations will, now that life's fitful fever 
 is over, testify to the kind and manly feelings 
 which never deserted him to his last hour. 
 His mortal remains were consigned to their 
 last resting-place in the churchyard of Meaux 
 Abbey, near Beverley, but illness prevented 
 his brother John, who had been unintermit- 
 ting in his kindness during poor Bill's illness, 
 from attending the funeral. On the same 
 
li The Doncaster Gazette." 161 
 
 day, and within a mile of Highfield House, 
 another jockey belonging to a previous 
 generation, John Shepherd, died in his 
 eighty-fifth year. In his early years he had 
 won the St. Leger thrice, on Lounger, Quiz, 
 and William, to which he added one Derby 
 victory on Lord Foley's Paris. Like Bill 
 Scott, he died poor ; in short, John Shepherd 
 was the first recipient of charity from the 
 Bentinck Fund, which was founded in 1844." 
 In connection with this article, I am as- 
 sured by Mr. Campbell R. Bedford, whose 
 letter bears the date of " Knockhill, Eccle- 
 fechan, August 7, 1893," tna t Bill Scott 
 was not buried in the churchyard of Meaux 
 Abbey, but underneath the aisle of Waghen, 
 (pronounced " Wawne,") Church, which is 
 about a mile and a half distant from Meaux 
 Abbey. Mr. Bedford's words are as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 " Bill Scott was buried in a vault under- 
 neath the aisle of Waghen Church, in close 
 proximity to the bodies of the Richardsons, 
 his wife's family. Mr. Jackson, who resides 
 opposite the church at Waghen, and occupies 
 the adjoining farm on the Waghen estate, was 
 11 
 
1 62 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 present at his funeral, and pointed out to me 
 the stone slab on the pavement of the church 
 which covers his remains. There is no in- 
 scription to his memory, and no ' Hie jacet ' 
 marks the last resting place of one of the 
 most renowned horsemen in the annals of 
 the British Turf." 
 
 The next article chronicles one of the most 
 remarkable scenes ever witnessed upon the 
 Doncaster Town Moor. The appearance of 
 its course during the final heat of the St. 
 Leger in 1850 will never be forgotten by 
 those who were present — their number is 
 now small — on that memorable day. 
 
 The Doncaster St. Leger of 1850. 
 From the Doncaster Gazette. 
 
 " The morning of the seventy-fifth anni- 
 versary of the Great St. Leger was dark 
 and lowering, and in spite of the weather- 
 glass many began to look out with no little 
 dread for a second edition of its damp pre- 
 decessor, when the Flying Dutchman won 
 in 1849. These fears, which soon proved 
 groundless, seemed, however, to have taken 
 a remarkably slight hold of the breasts of 
 the excursionists to Doncaster. The hard- 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette" 163 
 
 ware youths were up with the lark, and 
 though the first Sheffield train was not 
 announced to start until 10 a.m., we learn 
 that by six o'clock all the carriages in the 
 station-yard were filled by ' noble sportsmen,' 
 who breakfasted, sang, and indulged in every 
 kind of frolic, relieving their feelings at times 
 by roaring out in no very recherche' language 
 to the railway officials ' to 'arness a puffin' 
 Billy and tak' us on.' About half-past ten 
 o'clock the inmates of St. Sepulchre's Gate 
 in Doncaster became sensible of these and 
 other fashionable arrivals, and for upwards 
 of four hours there was one perpetual chorus 
 of engine whistles in the station-yard. Those 
 who have been accustomed to attend Don- 
 caster Races for the last half-century assured 
 us that the crowd which kept steadily tramp- 
 ing past the ' Salutation ' Inn was far bigger 
 than they had ever seen before. It was 
 evident from the buzz of conversation that 
 Voltigeur was the horse of the million, and 
 that they had come to see him win and 
 nothing else. His opponents were reduced in 
 number at nine that morning by the scratch- 
 ing of Cyprus and Mulgrave, thus leaving 
 
164 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 the Whitewall stable without a single repre- 
 sentative. It lost all hopes of winning the 
 St. Leger when Clincher met with an acci- 
 dent at Pigburn, and was scratched some 
 weeks since. When the first two events 
 (the Doncaster Plate and the Municipal 
 Stakes) were over, the ominous words 
 ' Great St. Leger Stakes ' were sent up the 
 telegraph slide, and every one awaited in 
 breathless impatience the solution of the 
 great secret. At that moment the scene 
 on the course was most extraordinary, and 
 such was the anxiety of the crowd to catch a 
 glimpse of the St. Leger horses, that it was 
 with the greatest difficulty that the course 
 could be kept clear. The men on horse- 
 back were powerless in the hands of the 
 thousands who could hardly be forced to 
 leave running space, and it was the universal 
 remark that a much stronger body of mounted 
 officials must be placed on duty next year 
 As it was, the deciding heat for the St. 
 Leger was positively run off down a narrow 
 lane of human beings for the last 400 yards, 
 and Robinson on Russborough had fairly to 
 clear the way for himself and his antagonist. 
 
11 The Doncaster Gazette." 165 
 
 Pretty Pitsford was the first to show in the 
 Grand Stand enclosure, and just as he en- 
 tered it Voltigeur was espied, with Job 
 Marson up, emerging from the Carr- House 
 Lane. His party thought it best, in spite of 
 the quiet temper of their horse, to saddle him 
 in as much privacy as the fond public chose 
 to allow to them. Voltigeur only came into 
 the enclosure for an instant, and then sallied 
 forth for the fray. Alfred Day mounted 
 Pitsford as soon as he reached the weighing- 
 house, and walked him three or four times 
 round. Although the horse was undoubt- 
 edly light, he seemed the impersonation 
 of health and spirits, and arched his neck 
 proudly as if nothing could stop his reversing 
 the Epsom verdict. His friends professed 
 themselves confident ; but the majority, 
 although they well knew that the ground 
 was just in the state for him to indulge in 
 his favourite feet-rattle accompaniment, felt 
 that there was a want of substance about him, 
 and ran over the work he has gone through 
 since he won the Two Thousand Guineas, 
 declaring that such a slack-loined horse was 
 not the boy for the St. Leger course by 
 
1 66 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 the side of such muscular competitors. As 
 Voltigeur quietly paraded past the enclosure, 
 with a gait as sleepy as that of 'lazy Laner- 
 cost,' cries of ' He's ower big ! ' and ' He's 
 devilish dull ! ' burst from many a pair of 
 lips. His friends, however, knew better, 
 and felt that the Derby winner's heart was 
 in the right place, and that he had not an 
 ounce more flesh on him than a horse of his 
 make should carry. He is a dark brown 
 colt, rather above 15.3 in height, without 
 one spot of white, except a little on the off 
 hind foot. His head, which is coarse and 
 large, is fixed on to a very muscular, stallion- 
 like neck, while he is blessed with fine oblique 
 shoulders, powerful quarters drooping towards 
 a somewhat shabby tail, muscular thighs, 
 good hocks and knees, and abundance of 
 bone. As soon as Marson sent him down a 
 cracker from below the distance, his action 
 was greatly admired, and the workman-like 
 action of his hind legs was especially com- 
 mented on. Russborough had plenty of 
 eulogists, and inspired extra confidence in 
 some who swore that he was one of the 
 finest horses in the race. He is a dark 
 
11 The Doncaster Gazette!* 167 
 
 chestnut, reminding one not a little of his 
 celebrated mother, Cruiskeen. Robinson, 
 his jockey, in spite of having been very 
 much off in the spring, and obliged to sub- 
 stitute a dressing-gown for the sweaters 
 during the first three Newmarket Meetings, 
 looked as fresh as paint, and in wonderful 
 spirits, not hesitating to declare that he 
 would frighten the crack amazingly, if he 
 did not beat him. Windischgratz went as 
 if he had seven-leagued boots on, and seemed 
 to get over an enormous space of ground at 
 each stride ; but although there was no fault 
 to find with his condition, several spectators 
 took objection to his light middle-piece. 
 Bolingbroke did infinite credit to the pre- 
 siding genius of the Palace stable, and the 
 only fault brought against him was that his 
 action was a little expensive. Chatterbox 
 was not liked ; while The Italian was de- 
 cidedly the compactest and smallest horse 
 in the race. He presented a great contrast 
 to Beehunter, who, although a fine slashing 
 animal, was sadly too narrow in his back, 
 and showed symptoms of having had quite 
 enough of it this vear. Poor Mildew had 
 
 ». lA^ 
 
j 68 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 hardly walked down to the distance when 
 Marlow found him to be so lame in his off 
 foreleg that he turned him round without 
 further parley and returned him into the 
 hands of Smith, his trainer, thus reducing 
 the number of starters to eight, the same as 
 in Van Tromp's year. At last the flags 
 were lowered, and away went the eight in a 
 cluster, Nat going in front at once and cut- 
 ting out the work with Beehunter ; Chatter- 
 box and Russborough well up, and Voltigeur 
 settling down about seventh. Along the 
 flat the pace was very slow, but when they 
 reached the foot of the hill Beehunter seemed 
 to warm to his work, and led them up and 
 over it at capital speed No change took 
 place in their Indian-file positions until they 
 approached the Red House, when Marson 
 took Voltigeur well by the head and ad- 
 ministered a couple of smart strokes of the 
 whip to rouse him to a sense of his position. 
 The gallant brown answered immediately, 
 and at the Intake Farm was fifth, with 
 Pitsford and Beehunter on his left, Boling- 
 broke on his right, and Russborough and 
 Italian at his quarters. Just at this point 
 
11 The Doncaster Gazette T 169 
 
 Bolingbroke looked formidable ; but in an- 
 other hundred yards he began to hang to- 
 wards the rails, and Marson, seeing at a 
 glance that he would be shut out, promptly 
 shot his horse through the gap and took 
 the lead at the distance, Russborough being 
 handy on the off-side. Half-way up the 
 distance Marson steadied his horse, who 
 seemed to be in slight difficulties from the 
 severe pace, and just when he got him ex- 
 tended again Jim Robinson, with a well- 
 timed effort, swooped down upon Marson, 
 and after a thrilling finish, made a dead heat. 
 As Russborough was nearest to the Judge 
 the great majority of spectators thought 
 that he had won, and when the fielders 
 learnt the decision their joy knew no bounds. 
 " The two antagonists made their way 
 back to the enclosure, and were keenly scru- 
 tinised as their jockeys dismounted and un- 
 saddled them. Some strong suspicions were 
 expressed that Russborough was a four-year 
 old, and an examination of his mouth was 
 demanded by Lord Zetland. The horse was 
 examined by Mr. George Holmes, the well- 
 known veterinary of Thirsk, and by Mr. J. 
 
i jo Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 Shaw of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, who pro- 
 nounced him all right. A little after five, 
 when all the other races were over, the two 
 champions of the day w T ere again seen 
 approaching the enclosure in their sheets. 
 Robinson jumped into the pigskin with a 
 jaunty air, and a whisper went round that he 
 was going to make it hot for the Richmond- 
 trained horse, by forcing the running. 
 Marson then came out from the weighing- 
 house, looking very pale but full of quiet 
 confidence, and mounted his horse on the 
 course. Another canter, and another parade, 
 and the two were a^ain alongside Mr. Hib- 
 burd, the starter, waiting for the signal. 
 Robinson at once showed that his cutting 
 down intentions had not been misrepre- 
 sented. The moment that the flag dropped 
 he was off like a shot, and Marson as quickly 
 got Voltigeur on his legs and laid off two 
 lengths. The pace quickened as they rose 
 the hill, and the fielders were in high hopes 
 that the two lengths would become four 
 when the T. Y. C. post was reached. They 
 reckoned, however without their host, as the 
 two steeds kept in exactly the same position 
 
''The Done aster Gazette" 171 
 
 till the Red House was passed. Into the 
 straight running Russborough came with the 
 same strong lead, Robinson glancing over 
 his shoulder at Marson, who sat with his 
 hands well down on his horse's withers, and 
 as cool as an iceberg. The vast crowd 
 closed in upon them, and the roar of a hun- 
 dred thousand iron voices fairly rent the air. 
 ' Voltieeur's beat!' and 'Is 'er beat?' was 
 Bob Hill's response ; ' You maun't tell me 
 that;. I knaws 'im better — Job's a coming!' 
 And sure enough, Job, half way within the 
 distance, slipped a finger off his rein, gave the 
 Derby winner a sharp reminder with his 
 spurs, had him at Russborough's girths in the 
 next three strides, and handed him home a 
 clever winner by a length. The hurrahs that 
 greeted horse and jockey as they returned 
 to the Stand were perfectly deafening, and 
 became, if possible, louder when the Coun- 
 tess of Zetland descended with her husband 
 and patted the conqueror's neck. Spotted 
 handkerchiefs, symbolising Lord Zetland's 
 colours, were waving everywhere, hats were 
 flung recklessly in the air, and even the 
 fielders cheered because one of the right sort 
 
172 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 had won. This was Voltigeur's third race, all 
 of which he has won, and it is remarkable 
 that Charles XII., the only other son of 
 Voltaire who ever gained the St. Leger, had 
 to run two heats for it. It is also worthy 
 of notice that at this moment Surplice, the 
 Flying Dutchman, and Voltigeur, the only 
 horses, bar the almost forgotten Champion, 
 who ever won the Derby and St. Leger, are 
 standing at the Turf Tavern, Doncaster. 
 This is the third time that Marson has won 
 the St. Leger, Nutwith and Van Tromp 
 having been his two previous winning 
 mounts." 
 
 " The Druid " omits to mention in this 
 article that but for an accident which brought 
 John Scott, the famous Yorkshire trainer, 
 upon the scene, Voltigeur would never have 
 won the deciding heat. After the dead heat 
 Bob Hill, the trainer of Voltigeur, knew so 
 little of his business that he was about to 
 take his horse into a stable, to have him 
 rubbed down, to give him a feed of corn, and 
 to allow him to rest for a couple of hours 
 before pulling him out again to meet his for- 
 midable Irish antagonist, who was the better 
 
** 
 
 'W HF 
 
 c 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette." 173 
 
 trained of the two horses. Fortunately a 
 backer of Voltigeur, who knew that if the 
 horse was allowed to stand still for a couple 
 of hours he would be so stiff after his severe 
 race that it would be impossible for him to 
 move, still less to raise a gallop, implored 
 Bob Hill to change his tactics. The Rich- 
 mond trainer, who was decidedly the worse 
 for liquor and half mad with excitement, 
 was much too obstinate to listen to the 
 remonstrances of his companion. At that 
 critical moment the latter caught sight of 
 John Scott, who was engaged in conversation 
 with the late Sir William Milner, the fidus 
 Achates of Lord Zetland. Quicker than 
 thought John Scott's authority was invoked, 
 and he instantly pronounced : " If you put 
 Voltigeur into a stable and allow him to get 
 stiff, you might as well shoot him through 
 the head. You must keep him walking 
 about the whole time until he runs for the 
 deciding heat. That was what I did with 
 Charles XII. after he had run a dead heat 
 with Euclid eleven years ago." Against the 
 authority of John Scott there was fortunately 
 no appeal. 
 
i/4 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 The last of the three articles alluded to 
 above appeared in the Daily Alezus, on Nov. 
 nth, 1868, headed : — 
 
 "The Marquis of Hastings. 
 
 " ' The Earl's year' has reached a sad 
 climax in the death of its leading actor. 
 1 The Spider and the Fly ' drama is ended. 
 That poor coroneted youth, who had 
 crowded into six years more Corinthian 
 excitement and weightier Turf cares than 
 many ' fast men ' know in a lifetime, has laid 
 down his weary load at last. He was only 
 twenty-six in July, and had already frittered 
 away two fine family estates. Betting is said 
 to be the touch-stone of an Englishman's 
 sincerity ; but with the Marquis a craving 
 for the odds had become a passion or even a 
 disease. He worshipped chance with all the 
 ardour of a fanatic. His wits were, he con- 
 sidered, worth to him in the betting ring at 
 least ,£20,000 a year, and he sometimes 
 threaded his way through the mazes of trials 
 and public running with all the sagacity of a 
 wizard. His public coups were often so bril- 
 liant that it was hardly to be wondered at 
 that he believed in his own destiny, and his 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette!' 175 
 
 power to break the Ring. It mattered noth- 
 ing to him whether the draining or other 
 improvements on his Donnington estate 
 were stopped, if he only got fresh supplies 
 for another Newmarket campaign. The 
 Ring, on the other hand, had marked him for 
 their own and never left him. They would 
 cluster beneath the Jockey Club balcony at 
 Epsom, holding up their hands to claim his 
 attention, and catching at his replies like a 
 flock of hungry hawks. There he would 
 stand, smiling at the wild tumult below, wear- 
 ing his hat jauntily at one side, a red flower 
 in his button-hole, and his colours round his 
 neck, perfectly cool and unruffled, while k the 
 talent ' made his horse a hot favourite at 
 once, and a few slipped back to the Ring to 
 follow his lead. For a time he was a perfect 
 Cocker ; but he fell at last in the unequal 
 strife, and the men who had ' drawn ' him 
 most copiously were among the first to set 
 their faces sternly against him when, bereft 
 of resources, he wished to see the Heath 
 once more. 
 
 11 The Marquis's taste for the Turf was not 
 an hereditary one. His father's heart was 
 
176 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 with hound and horn. He loved to halloo 
 ' the red rascal ' over the rides far better than 
 to watch the 'Leger horses close up round 
 the Red-house turn. The men of the Mid- 
 lands still speak of him as quite a representa- 
 tive sportsman, with Will Goodall and Sir 
 Harry Goodricke, whom they lost so early. 
 He would hardly have stepped aside to see a 
 race ; but a scarcity of foxes in Charnwood 
 Forest, or finding himself above twelve stone 
 on the scales would have sorely vexed his 
 soul. His son cared for none of these things. 
 Still, he could not bear to see the Quorn 
 without a Master, and stepped boldly into 
 the breach when Mr. Clowes resigned in 
 1866. He wore the horn at his saddle bow 
 for conformity's sake, but he never blew it, 
 and let the field go its own way, hunting the 
 country on no system. A bit of a gallop, a 
 check, and then trotting off to sift a favourite 
 gorse for a fresh fox, jumped much more 
 with his humour than an old-fashioned hunt- 
 ing run, where hounds had to puzzle it out. 
 Often, when his hounds had reached the 
 meet, ten or twelve miles away, he was hardly 
 out of bed, and he would turn up ' on wheels,' 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette." 177 
 
 and occasionally from London by special 
 train, and give Wilson the word to draw 
 when half the field had gone home. No 
 wonder that caricatures were drawn, and 
 squibs flew gaily about, and that even 
 Leicestershire said it would rather be bled in 
 the purse-vein than have the country hunted 
 gratis in such fashion. Satirical verses failed 
 to sour him. He took the stinor out of their 
 tail by reprinting them at his own private 
 press, and posted them far and wide. On 
 the last day of his Mastership he slipped 
 quietly away to the station, and when they 
 looked for him to give him a parting cheer he 
 had been gone well nigh an hour 
 
 " The honour of being 'the man who be- 
 longs to the Duke,' or 'the Earl,' or 'little 
 Lecturer' was no burden to him. He took 
 quite naturally to the Turf from the first, 
 enfolded under the wing of Danebury. In 
 1862 not six people at Newmarket knew who 
 the slim lad was on the grey cob ; but the 
 Ring soon saw that he was a veritable Hamp- 
 shire ambassador when he put down the 
 money so unflinchingly on a Danebury pot. 
 To John Day's suggestion that in his posi- 
 12 
 
178 Life and Times of " The Druid? 
 
 tion he was morally bound to have a nice 
 yearling or two of his own he lent no un- 
 gracious ear. When the rivalry round the 
 Hampton Court and Middle Park rings almost 
 foamed into madness, and 2,500 guineas and 
 2,000 guineas were among the yearling prices 
 of one afternoon, he was never tempted 
 beyond 1,650 guineas for King Charles, and 
 1,500 guineas for Robespierre. The former 
 would have been dear at fifty guineas, and 
 the latter won well in the colours of another, 
 His two best horses, the Duke (500 guineas) 
 and the Earl (450 guineas) were among his 
 cheapest purchases. The late Alfred Day 
 first wore his colours on Garotter in the 
 Al thorp Park stakes at Northampton, and 
 Sam Rogers won a Maiden Plate on that 
 colt a few weeks afterwards. The first great 
 victory for the ' red and white hoops ' was the 
 Cambridgeshire of 1864, with Ackworth, who 
 had been esteemed a dear 2,000 guinea pur- 
 chase. Gradually his stable swelled to up- 
 wards of thirty, and about ,£70,000 were the 
 spoils of six seasons. Catalogue was one of 
 his great pets, and he did not care how much 
 he backed her for in a selling sweepstakes, 
 
"The Doncaster Gazette" 179 
 
 and how dearly he redeemed her. A cycle 
 of barrenness followed one of profusion, and 
 Mr. Padwick graciously allowed him, in 1865, 
 to have Kangaroo at 12,500 guineas, not one 
 sixpence of which ever came back ; while 
 The Duke was useless from influenza, till half 
 the season was over. In 1866, which pro- 
 duced him a One Thousand Guineas winner 
 in Repulse and a Goodwood Cup one in The 
 Duke, the stable was once more at a dead- 
 lock for a Cesarewitch horse, but Lecturer, a 
 foal from the Sledmere sale, carried 7 st. 3 lb., 
 and won, it was said, ,£40,000 for the Don- 
 nington party. 
 
 "A winter's reflection convinced his Lord- 
 ship that Hermit could never win the Derby, 
 and £103,000 was the price he paid for his 
 thoughts. People were once wont to tell, 
 almost below their breath, that ' Davies the 
 Leviathan ' had been known to pay away 
 £70,000 or more on the Derby. The present 
 age is capable of greater efforts, as before 
 Monday came round, the bankers and solici- 
 tors had consulted, and the whole of the 
 Marquis's losings were found for him. Thus 
 was panic averted from ' The Corner,' but, 
 
180 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 the fair lands of Loudoun passed from the 
 Marquis's hand. At Ascot his lucky star 
 rose once more. Lady Elizabeth and Lec- 
 turer were both in form, and his lordship kept 
 backing them, and piling on the winnings 
 again by a sort of geometric progression, 
 gambling till he had won nearly half ' his ain 
 again.' It was now the turn for reverses. 
 He rather fancied The Earl, but the stable 
 overruled him in favour of Lady Elizabeth. 
 The flying filly came back, with sadly 
 chequered fame, a bad fifth for the Middle 
 Park Plate, and yet the victress in one of 
 the most wonderful of modern matches at 
 9 lb. with the three-year-old Julius. 
 
 " The Marquis had now fallen back again to 
 nearly the same ' agony point ' in finance as 
 when he saw the ' all-rose ' handed home for 
 the Derby. A weary winter followed, and 
 he was so driven from pillar to post by money 
 troubles and creditors that he lost his interest 
 in Turf matters and his head for calculation 
 with it. The irritable Lady Elizabeth wasted 
 to a shadow in her training ; and how The 
 Earl was scratched, and then became the 
 hero of the Grand Prix and of Ascot, and how 
 
" The Doncaster Gazette." 181 
 
 the few words that were dropped at York 
 proved the precursor of his 'Leger doom, are 
 all dark passages of Turf politics, and not 
 easily forgotten. We saw the last of The 
 Earl when he was bought in, as stout as a 
 burgomaster, for 3,900 guineas at Tattersall's, 
 and then he departed to Findon with a leg, 
 as to whose chances of standing a preparation 
 each man seemed to differ with his fellows. 
 
 "The Marquis had been abroad all the 
 summer in his yacht, but no northern breeze 
 could fan him back to health. He came to 
 Doncaster from Norway on crutches, looking 
 very ill and nervous, and well he might, as, 
 instead of having a St. Leger winner, he had 
 only the lean comfort of a veterinary certifi- 
 cate from Mr. Mavor. At the First October 
 he was on Newmarket heath in a basket 
 carriage, which he only quitted to say a 
 word to the pretty Athena ' which once was 
 mare of mine,' when she was led back a 
 winner. As at Doncaster, he did not go 
 beyond 'a pony' or two. 'Mind, I'm to 
 have this paid,' said one vulgar Ring man 
 when he booked it to him ; and after that 
 week they saw him no more. Nearly seven 
 
1 82 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 seasons had passed by since he first came, a 
 lad of nineteen, fresh from Eton to New- 
 market, and he left it a shattered man, only 
 to die. Some time he spent at Folkestone, 
 and visited town for a few days before he set 
 out for a winter sojourn with his wife on the 
 Nile. A few friends dared to hope that he 
 might come back a new man and live quietly 
 in his old country home, and train foals by 
 The Duke and Lecturer. It was not to be. 
 'All the wheels were down,' and now the 
 fourth and last Marquis of Hastings lives 
 only in race-course story." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE DRUID'S " ECCENTRICITIES AND ABSENCE 
 OF MIND. 
 
 N the essay upon Dr. Johnson's 
 life and character, contributed 
 by Lord Macaulay to Adam 
 Black's " Encyclopaedia Bri- 
 tannica " (which is, to my thinking, the best 
 article of the kind that ever came from the 
 great essayist's pen), it is said that " eccentrici- 
 ties less strange than those of Dr. Johnson 
 have often been thought grounds sufficient 
 for absolving felons, and for setting aside 
 wills. His grimaces, his gestures, his 
 muttering, sometimes diverted and some- 
 times terrified people who did not know him. 
 At a dinner-table he would, in a fit of 
 
184 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 absence, stoop down and twitch off a lady's 
 shoe. He would amaze a drawing-room by 
 suddenly ejaculating a clause of the Lord's 
 Prayer. He would conceive an unintelligible 
 aversion to a particular alley and perform a 
 great circuit rather than see the hateful place. 
 He would set his heart on touching every 
 post in the streets through which he walked. 
 If by any chance he missed a post he would 
 go back a hundred yards and repair the 
 omission." 
 
 Those who knew " The Druid" best and 
 passed most time in his company were of 
 opinion that his eccentricities and oddities 
 were, to say the least, as strange and startling 
 as those of the great lexicographer for whom 
 he entertained so great a reverence. As 
 years settled down upon " The Druid," he 
 became so absent-minded that it was difficult 
 to maintain a conversation with him upon 
 any subject for more than two or three 
 minutes. He had lived so much in the 
 solitude of his own thoughts that he passed 
 half his time in total unconsciousness that 
 others were in the room and trying to talk 
 with him. So inattentive and unobservant 
 
Eccentricities and Absence of Mind. 185 
 
 had he become towards the close of his 
 laborious and self-denying life that it was 
 not uncommon for him to pass old friends 
 in the street without giving them any sign 
 of recognition. As he stalked along, taking 
 enormous strides, his gesticulations and soli- 
 loquies resembled those in which Dr. John- 
 son, Charles Lamb, and Thomas Carlyle 
 habitually indulged. The Rev. R. F. Lynes, 
 " The Druid's " still surviving brother-in-law, 
 has been good enough to confide to me the 
 two following anecdotes which, better than 
 anything that I can myself write, will show 
 what " The Druid " was in the last few years 
 of his life. 
 
 The first is as follows : — 
 
 4< In September, 1865, ' The Druid ' went 
 down to Rushton, a country village in North- 
 amptonshire, not far from Market Har- 
 borough, where I was in temporary charge 
 of the parish, to spend a Sunday with me. 
 He had been told to get out of the train 
 at Kettering, and to take the main road for 
 a mile or so, until he came to a stile whence a 
 pleasant path through the fields would bring 
 him direct to the village, and be a consider- 
 
1 86 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 able saving of distance. He decided to do so, 
 and had walked for nearly a mile when he saw 
 some way ahead a labouring man engaged at 
 work on the road. Feeling sure that this man 
 would be well acquainted with the neighbour- 
 hood he determined to ask him to direct him 
 to the path. Then it occurred to him ' What 
 can I give this fellow ? He looks poor enough, 
 and I should like to give him something use- 
 ful. Ah ! I have it, I'll give him my hat.' 
 He took from his head the article so-named, 
 a very shiny and ill-favoured specimen, and 
 debated with himself in which of the two — 
 the dilapidated hat just snatched from his 
 head or a decidedly battered wideawake he 
 was carrying in his hand — he would look least 
 disreputable as he emerged next morning 
 from the Rectorial mansion to go to church. 
 He came to the conclusion that his gentility 
 would be sufficiently secure with the wide- 
 awake, and so, with a hat in each hand 
 stretched out before him, and with uncovered 
 head he moved swiftly on. It was raining 
 smartly at the time, and his appearance and 
 manner seemed, to put it mildly, a little odd. 
 At any rate the roadman thought so, and as 
 
Eccentricities mid Absence of Mind. 187 
 
 ' The Druid ' came nearer and was seen 
 gesticulating and flourishing the hat and 
 wideawake, and muttering aloud in a way 
 peculiar to himself, the man began to feel 
 more and more uneasy — in fact he was 
 thoroughly frightened — and wherever ' The 
 Druid ' miodit be groins' he thought to him- 
 self there could be no doubt as to where he 
 had come from, and acting upon this im- 
 pression he took to his heels. ' The Druid ' 
 shouted to him to stop, and kept calling out 
 ' I have something for you ;' but all in vain. 
 The man, entertaining no doubt now but that 
 he was being chased by some dangerous 
 escaped lunatic, hurried on as fast as his legs 
 would carry him. ' The Druid ' hotly 
 pursued him, and though running the faster 
 of the two half a mile had been covered 
 before he overtook the fugitive. There- 
 upon he threw his hat at the man and said, 
 1 There, you may take that and keep it, but 
 come along with me, I want you particularly. 
 It was just what the man particularly did not 
 want, so he dashed off again, but was so terri- 
 fied that he tripped and fell to the ground, 
 shouting ' Murder,' and no one being near, 
 
1 88 Life and Times of " The Diiiid." 
 
 gave himself up for lost. It took some 
 minutes before ' The Druid ' could convince 
 the poor runaway that no harm would befall 
 him ; but the gift of a shilling had a wonder- 
 fully soothing effect, and when the stile was 
 reached they parted on the most friendly 
 terms, the roadman exclaiming heartily, ' I 
 'opes I may soon meet yer honour agin.' ' 
 
 The second anecdote treats of an incident 
 which produced an amazing effect at 
 Penzance at the time of its occurrence, and 
 was narrated to me shortly after, when I 
 paid my first visit to Cornwall in 1868, not 
 long after the close of the American War. 
 It runs as follows : — 
 
 "In the winter of 1867, Henry Hall 
 Dixon went to pass a few days with a friend 
 at Penzance. There being a splendid read- 
 ing room there, he at once asked to be 
 introduced to it. Next day his friend took 
 him into the room at an hour when it was 
 generally much frequented, and found most 
 of the chairs on either side of the long table 
 that ran down the centre of the room oc- 
 cupied, and all the newspapers engaged. 
 There was, however, one seat vacant towards 
 
Eccentricities and Absence of Mind. 189 
 
 the end farthest from the door, and this 
 1 The Druid ' at once appropriated ; but not 
 a paper could he get hold of, which seemed 
 to aggravate him not a little. He had with 
 him a huge rough stick, resembling a cudgel 
 such as an Irish cattle drover might carry, 
 and this, with a bang that startled everybody 
 in the room, he allowed to drop upon the 
 table just in front of him. Simultaneously 
 in a hoarse whisper which was quite audible 
 all over the room, he looked towards his 
 friend, and muttered, ' I say, Bob, do you 
 think some of these fellows will clear out 
 soon ? ' He then proceeded to divest him- 
 self of his collar and necktie, and these also 
 he placed on the table before him. The 
 people around began to smile, but when he 
 commenced soliloquising aloud in an in- 
 coherent fashion, and rubbing his hands 
 somewhat vehemently together and laughing 
 at intervals very excitedly, their faces wore 
 a more serious aspect, and those nearest to 
 him, one by one, got up and made as though 
 they wanted to speak to some one or look 
 for something at the other end of the room. 
 In less than half an hour the whole company 
 
190 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 had disappeared, and ' The Druid ' found 
 himself the sole occupant of the table, and 
 in possession of all the papers, to the 
 exhaustive examination of which he devoted 
 himself to his heart's content." 
 
 " The Druid's " indifference to money was 
 truly remarkable, considering the ever-grow- 
 ing demands and necessities of his family. 
 Very early in his married life, he insisted 
 that his wife should become his sole banker, 
 and in her rare absences from home, one of 
 his greatest anxieties was caused by his being 
 left as purse-bearer. His eldest daughter 
 relates a funny anecdote of her father's con- 
 duct on one of these occasions. Entering 
 his study, she found him surrounded by cups 
 of various shapes and sizes, all labelled, and 
 all containing various sums of money. In 
 answer to her eager questions, he explained 
 that he was keeping the house money in 
 separate parcels for "mother," and that no 
 one must touch it till she came home. The 
 child thought it a strange mode of securing 
 its safety, but did not dare to remonstrate. 
 He never carried money about him, and 
 frequently found himself reduced to great 
 
Eccentricities and Absence of Mind. 191 
 
 straits in consequence. Happily he had a 
 faithful friend ever near at hand, in the 
 person of an old woman, who kept an apple - 
 stall in the Strand. From her he continually 
 borrowed small sums (seldom exceeding six- 
 pence in amount), to be punctually repaid 
 the following day. In another way he also 
 repaid them by little kindnesses, as for 
 example, when he met her one evenng, 
 wending her way home, in a pouring rain, 
 without any umbrella. Forthwith he shel- 
 tered her beneath his own till she reached 
 the desired haven. He enjoyed to the full 
 the amazement of two or three fashionable 
 friends whom they encountered by the way. 
 On various occasions he sturdily refused 
 large sums of money (often sorely needed 
 at home), which were pressed upon him by 
 the owners of large herds in grateful recog- 
 nition of services rendered. He declared 
 that such gifts might be looked on as calcu- 
 lated to warp his judgment, or fetter the 
 uncompromising freedom of his decisions. 
 Similarly, when he had given most valu- 
 able help and support to Mr. Rarey, the 
 horse-tamer, during the many months of the 
 
192 Life and Times of "The Druid." 
 
 latter's stay in England, no entreaties could 
 prevail upon " The Druid " to accept any 
 remuneration. In despair, Mr. Rarey laid 
 a bag of gold at the feet of Mrs. Dixon, 
 who, however, was sternly commanded to 
 return it without a moment's delay. 
 
 Many a story could be related illustrative 
 of the grand simplicity of his character. 
 When in Scotland he would be the honoured 
 guest of a nobleman one night, and sleeping 
 in a herdsman's hut the next, equally happy 
 and at ease with both, and in each case 
 received with a hearty welcome and keen 
 appreciation. So many-sided was his char- 
 acter that there existed some secret bond of 
 sympathy between him and "all sorts and 
 conditions of men." Interesting records 
 exist, in his own works, of his warm friend- 
 ships with the late Sir Charles Knightley, 
 with Sir Tatton Sykes (both the present 
 Baronet and his genial father), with Mr. 
 George Moore, the philanthropist, and with 
 a host of other great and good men, who 
 treated him with marked respect, and in 
 some cases with affection, and this, in spite 
 of occasional grave differences, both in re- 
 
. 
 
 The late Sir Tatton Sykes. 
 
Eccentricities and Absence of Mind. 193 
 
 ligious and political opinions. Sir Charles 
 Knightley revelled in " The Druid's " rich 
 store of anecdotes and varied lore, confer- 
 ring upon him the rare privilege of being 
 admitted to the Baronet's own sanctum at 
 Fawsley Park in Northamptonshire, at all 
 hours of the day and night. 
 
 During his many travels, mostly on foot, 
 he carried a heavy, rough cudgel, for which 
 he sometimes found good use. 
 
 Passing one day through Brighton he en- 
 countered a fierce bull dog, long the terror of 
 the residents in that part of the town through 
 which he was walking towards the Station. 
 Something aroused the animal's wrath, and 
 he sprang at "The Druid's" throat. A terrible 
 battle ensued, which was eagerly watched by 
 an excited crowd. The struggle terminated 
 eventually in the death of the dog, though 
 not till many vigorous blows had been dealt 
 with the formidable bludgeon which, fortu- 
 nately, he carried in his hand. His wife still 
 preserves it among other precious relics. 
 Only a week or two before his end came, 
 when he was too feeble to cross the room, 
 even with the assistance of his trusty stick, 
 13 
 
194 Life and Times of " The Druid? 
 
 he put it into her hand, saying, " Take care 
 of this, dear, and keep it near you for my 
 sake ; it is all you will have left ere long of 
 your poor old man." 
 
 He had another very narrow escape when 
 inspecting a herd in the north of England. 
 Having wandered away from the herdsman, 
 he entered a building whose sole occupant 
 proved to be a surly bull. The savage brute 
 made for him without an instant's delay. 
 "The Druid," preserving complete presence 
 of mind, backed against the wall and 
 awaited the bull's rush. Fortunately the 
 beast's horns were wide enough to encircle 
 "The Druid's " body without wounding him ; 
 and there he stood, pinned to the wall, but 
 uninjured, until the bull's keeper arrived, 
 and rescued him from his perilous position. 
 
 At all times his mind seemed too absorbed 
 and preoccupied to have leisure for ordinary 
 matters. On one occasion he slipped a 
 bottle of ink into his pocket and went out 
 to visit a clergyman who took him into his 
 church. The chancel was paved with the 
 purest white marble, and after a while to 
 their dismay they saw a track of black spots 
 
Eccentricities and Absence of Mind. 195 
 
 momentarily increasing in number. The 
 Vicar, with a horrified look, exclaimed, 
 "Why! it's dropping from your pocket!" 
 Putting his hand into the pocket of his coat 
 and drawing it forth steeped in ink, " The 
 Druid" confessed that he was quite uncon- 
 scious of having been the cause of such a 
 disaster, and slunk silently out of the church. 
 In more than one instance he went to church 
 in a pair of carpet slippers. Once he set out 
 to sleep at the house of a friend who lived 
 not far away, and was seen by his wife cross- 
 ing the street with a brass candlestick in his 
 hand in place of his carpet-bag. 
 
 It was his habit to write verses or articles 
 when travelling on the railway, and twice in 
 his life his train was shunted into a siding, 
 and he continued his work for a considerable 
 time before a porter discovered him and 
 made him aware of his ludicrous and unfortu- 
 nate position. The second time this happened 
 was at Derby, where he was eventually 
 roused by the jeers of some navvies working 
 on the line. 
 
 His utter indifference to meals arose, in 
 part, from absence of mind ; in fact, he rarely 
 
196 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 seemed to know whether he had dined or 
 not. A sister-in-law, at whose house he was 
 staying en roiite for Scotland, tells how the 
 family were all sitting round the dinner table, 
 after that meal was over, listening to his 
 varied anecdotes, when he suddenly pulled 
 out his watch and said, " Laura, do you know 
 how late it is ? When are we going to have 
 our dinner?" Nevertheless, he always ex- 
 pected to find hot meat, vegetables, and 
 pudding awaiting him when he reached 
 home, however late it might be, and it was 
 often after midnight. His favourite dish 
 was roly-poly jam pudding. He always 
 swallowed his food scalding hot, and one 
 evening after his meal was over, he com- 
 plained of a very sore throat, and sending for 
 the family physician, declared himself to be 
 the victim of diphtheria ! After a brief ex- 
 amination the doctor found he had burnt 
 a large bit of skin off his throat. On 
 another occasion it was intimated to him that 
 an unduly large amount of food was being 
 consumed habitually in the kitchen, and he 
 resolved, very reluctantly, to speak to his 
 five maidservants in a body. They filed 
 
Eccentricities and Absence of Mind, t 97 
 
 into his study, and ranging themselves before 
 him and his wife, solemnly awaited the scold- 
 ing they were about to receive. At its con- 
 clusion the cook, as spokeswoman, burst 
 forth as follows : "I think Missus might 
 know where all the food goes, seeing as ow 
 Master goes a messing about the larder in 
 the middle of the night, and yesterday night 
 ate the whole of a roily -polly pudden in a few 
 seconds." 
 
 After this crushing rejoinder the crestfallen 
 " Druid " meekly dismissed the offending but 
 triumphant domestics : triumphant because 
 they felt more secure than before in giving 
 tea and supper parties to their several " fol- 
 lowers." 
 
[98 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF "THE DRUID." 
 
 By his Eldest Son, Henry Sydenham Dixon. 
 
 I»r£& 
 
 
 HOUGH it may seem singular 
 that his children — and parti- 
 cularly his eldest son, who 
 from 1866 to 1870, was asso- 
 ciated with him in a certain amount of his 
 newspaper work — can contribute so little to 
 a biography of " The Druid," the causes 
 are not far to seek. In the first place, his 
 health was so bad during the last few years 
 of his life, that he was constantly confined 
 to his room for weeks together, during which 
 time we saw very little of him ; in the 
 second, during his rare periods of compara- 
 tive convalescence, he was generally travel- 
 ling to collect materials for whatever book 
 he happened to have in hand at the time ; 
 and, in the third, his absent-mindedness had 
 
Rem in iscences . 199 
 
 increased to such a degree that it was 
 almost impossible to carry on anything like 
 a connected conversation with him. Per- 
 haps, after three or four attempts to attract 
 his attention, a start would be effected, but, 
 long before the subject was threshed out, 
 his mind would have wandered to something 
 else, and he would be engaged in an audible 
 and animated discussion with himself on 
 some totally different topic. Never was 
 there a more indefatigable worker, and never 
 did a workman use worse tools. That there 
 should never, by any chance, have been a 
 decent pen on the premises, is no novelty 
 in the house of a literary man, but the entire 
 absence of writing paper was a little strange. 
 The blank sheet of a letter, the back of a 
 circular, even an old envelope turned inside 
 out, or any other scrap of paper that hap- 
 pened to be handy was promptly utilised, 
 and the finished copy of one of " The 
 Druid's " articles, or a chapter of one of his 
 books, presented a remarkable and unmis- 
 takable appearance. With so many irons 
 always in the fire, there could be no 
 regularity in his hours of work ; but he 
 
200 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 always appeared to regard rest or recreation 
 as totally unnecessary, and, except upon a 
 Sunday — on which day no press of work 
 would induce him to put pen to paper, 
 though he was often waiting, all ready to 
 begin when the clock had struck twelve at 
 night — I can never remember seeing him 
 sitting in front of the fire with a book or 
 newspaper in his hand. When on his 
 numerous railway journeys he invariably 
 wrote in the train, and, no matter how heavy 
 a day he might have gone through, the 
 moment he had swallowed a hasty dinner 
 work was resumed, and he invariably wrote 
 far into the night. In fact, he lived with a 
 pen or pencil in his hand, and I can well 
 remember that, on the occasions of our great 
 annual treat, when, each Christmas, he took 
 his elder children to Astley's, we had 
 scarcely settled down in our places before 
 he was seated, right at the back of the box, 
 with a big book on his knees in lieu of a 
 desk, and there he would remain, steadily 
 writing, until the fall of the curtain. I know 
 this always produced a profound impression 
 on us, for we never could understand how 
 
Reminiscences. 201 
 
 it was possible for any one thus to resist 
 the absorbing attractions of "The Battle of 
 Waterloo," " The Siege of Delhi," or what- 
 ever equestrian drama happened to be in 
 the bill. Such incessant application would 
 have been a terrible tax on the strongest 
 constitution, and it will readily be imagined 
 how marvellous must have been the will- 
 power ceaselessly exercised by a chronic 
 invalid, and kept up by him unflaggingly 
 through a long series of years. 
 
 From his early boyhood " The Druid " was 
 never free from illness of one kind or another 
 for long together. For many years his eyes 
 gave him an immensity of trouble, necessitat- 
 ing constant visits to the leading oculists of 
 the day, and often obliging him to spend long 
 periods of seclusion in a darkened room. 
 Then came a veritable plague of boils, from 
 which he must have endured tortures, and 
 these only left him to be succeeded by 
 asthma, from w T hich he suffered so severely 
 that for weeks together he could never lie 
 down, but passed night after night in the old 
 arm chair in which he ultimately died. In 
 addition to all these troubles he had to 
 
202 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 undergo one or two operations every year 
 for polypus in the nose — a disease which, 
 combined with asthma, made it almost im- 
 possible for him to breathe at times. Yet no 
 one ever heard him utter a word of com- 
 plaint, and, unless exceptionally ill, he was 
 invariably very cheerful. Still, towards the 
 end, he undoubtedly felt life to be a burden 
 almost too heavy to bear, and was ready and 
 eager to lay it down. Indeed, almost the 
 last words he said to me, when I broke down 
 on receiving some minute directions from him 
 as to his funeral, were, " Don't grieve, dear 
 boy ; I shall be the happiest man at my own 
 funeral." 
 
 Owing mainly to his incessant exertions at 
 Rugby and Cambridge, to make up for the 
 time lost by enforced idleness through illness, 
 " The Druid " does not appear to have taken 
 part in any of the customary boyish games ; 
 yet never was there a more catholic lover 
 of almost every branch of sport. Perhaps 
 cricket was his greatest favourite, and, though 
 he had never touched a bat or ball, he had a 
 fine theoretical knowledge of the game. On 
 a few never-to-be-forgotten occasions he took 
 
Reminiscences. 203 
 
 one of my brothers and myself to a great 
 match at Lord's, and, though more than 
 thirty years have passed, I can still recall 
 how we all three lay on the grass and 
 w T atched the elegant defence of Richard Daft, 
 or hastily dodged to avoid one of George 
 Parr's slashing square leg hits. In those 
 days county cricket was of comparatively 
 small importance, and it was the periodical 
 battles between the All England and United 
 All England Elevens that excited the great- 
 est public interest. This was the time when 
 the three Cambridgeshire cracks, Hayward, 
 Carpenter, and Tarrant, were perhaps at their 
 best ; when Caffyn and Julius Caesar were 
 doing yeoman service for Surrey ; when H. 
 H. Stephenson was keeping himself in good 
 condition all through each winter by acting 
 as huntsman to a pack of harriers ; when 
 Jackson's deadly bowling was at its fastest ; 
 and when Tom Lockyer's incessant clowning 
 — clowning, by the way, that was never 
 allowed to interfere with business, as any 
 rash batsmen who attempted to take the 
 smallest liberty promptly discovered to his 
 cost — had made him about the most popular 
 
204 Life and Times of " The Di'itid." 
 
 wicket-keeper of all time. On these halcyon 
 days — and I am sure there are no such 
 summer days now — " The Druid" would for 
 once forget to produce the never-failing 
 pencil, or only use it to keep our scoring 
 card religiously "up to date," and would 
 watch every ball bowled with all the zest and 
 enjoyment felt by either of his boys. 
 
 About the time that the memorable battle 
 between Sayers and Heenan had set all 
 England talking on the subject of pugilism, 
 he went to a few exhibitions of boxing ; but 
 it was not a form of sport to which he took 
 kindly, and I do not think that he ever 
 attended a prize fight in his life. The 
 advent of " Deerfoot," on the other hand, 
 awoke in him a very strong interest in pedes- 
 trianism, and he was constantly to be seen 
 at Hackney Wick and the West London 
 grounds, both of which have long since been 
 swallowed up by bricks and mortar. He was 
 an enthusiastic believer in the Indian's 
 powers, and witnessed nearly all his races 
 against "Young England," the "Crow- 
 catcher," the " Gateshead Clipper," the 
 " Norwich Milk Boy," "Jenny Jones," the 
 
Reminiscences. 205 
 
 " American Deer," and many another bygone 
 celebrity of the cinder path. It was not very 
 difficult to persuade him to take me with him 
 on most of these occasions, and I then ac- 
 quired a taste for running which resulted in 
 the accumulation of a certain number of silver 
 cups in later years. Needless to say my 
 father always took the keenest interest in my 
 performances. At the time that he was 
 dying, I had won a certain challenge cup 
 for two years in succession, and only one 
 more victory was needed to make it my 
 own property. He knew that he could not 
 possibly live until the day fixed for the 
 race, and his latest command was that I 
 was on no account to resign the cup, under 
 the idea of paying respect to his memory, by 
 not running in public so soon after his death, 
 but that I was to run and win. I ran, as he 
 ordered, and, under the circumstances, I don't 
 think I could have been beaten on that day. 
 Fancy a man in such a state of suffering 
 having a thought to spare for such a trivial 
 matter, though nothing which interested any 
 of his children was ever trivial with him ; 
 but it was so with my father all through his 
 
2o6 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 life — every thought was for others, never a 
 one for himself. 
 
 I do not suppose that "The Druid" ever 
 had a billiard cue in his hand, yet the meet- 
 ing of John Roberts, sen., and William Cook 
 for the championship — the first match for 
 the championship that had taken place for 
 upwards of twenty years — excited him im- 
 mensely. It was played only a month prior 
 to his death, when he well knew that he 
 would never leave his room again alive, so 
 he had to send me to represent him at St. 
 James's Hall, with the strictest injunctions 
 that nothing was to prevent me from bring- 
 ing him the result on my way home. The 
 game of 1,200 up, the first ever played on a 
 small pocket table, was an unusually pro- 
 longed one, and it was after two o'clock on a 
 bitterly cold morning when I stood under his 
 bed-room window, shouting to him that 
 Cook had won. He could not, of course, 
 leave his bed, nor open the window, so com- 
 munication was difficult ; nevertheless, I was 
 not allowed to go home until I had yelled 
 out a complete epitome of the match at the 
 top of my voice ; a proceeding that must have 
 woke up everyone within a hundred yards. 
 
Reminiscences. 207 
 
 His love for racine and coursino- needs 
 no comment here. Towards the end of 
 his life, his fondness for the horse was as 
 strong as ever, but his interest in the race 
 itself had very much evaporated. Indeed, 
 I have been with him at Epsom on an 
 Oaks day when he has looked the fillies 
 carefully over in the paddock, just strolled 
 out to catch a glimpse of the start from a 
 distance, and then made straight for the 
 railway station, quite content to read the 
 placings when he got back to Fleet Street. 
 Perhaps rowing was the sport which 
 appealed to him the least of any. The 
 pages of the " Omnibus " contain little refer- 
 ence to the Inter-University boat-race, though 
 it is rowed at a time when matter is by no 
 means too plentiful with the sporting jour- 
 nalist ; nor was " The Druid " ever present 
 at Henley Regatta, which one would have 
 imagined likely to afford him congenial 
 material for an article or two. 
 
 Only on one occasion can I remember to 
 have seen my father fairly lose his temper, 
 sadly as our false quantities tried him when 
 he assisted us in preparing our lessons for 
 
2o8 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 the following day, and I think the provoca- 
 tion he received fully justified his doing so. 
 He had taken my mother and three or four 
 of us children to a firework night at the 
 Crystal Palace. There was the usual crush 
 on the way to the railway station when the 
 time came to return home, and, at one point, 
 this was made worse by the foolish action of 
 a little man, who placed one of his arms 
 right across a narrow door-way. Seeing that 
 my mother, who was just in front of him, 
 was in danger of getting hurt, my father 
 reached over her shoulder and quietly moved 
 the man's arm in order to let her pass. The 
 obstructionist took no notice at the moment, 
 but just as my father had begun to descend 
 the long flight of steps to the platform, a 
 violent kick from behind nearly precipitated 
 him and the youngest child, who was in his 
 arms, from the top to the bottom. How- 
 ever, he managed to keep his balance, and 
 reach level ground in safety, and then I have 
 a vivid remembrance of his giving a very 
 pretty exhibition of Association football, 
 from one end of that long platform to the 
 other, his cowardly little assailant enacting 
 
Reminiscences. 209 
 
 the thankless part of the ball with great 
 success. The whole scene is as fresh in my 
 memory as if it had occurred yesterday, 
 instead of nearly forty years ago ; I seem 
 still to hear the delighted crow of the baby, 
 who was in my father's arms throughout the 
 entire episode, and who evidently considered 
 that some new and beautiful game was being 
 played for his special benefit. " The Druid " 
 was himself again almost immediately, and 
 our train started as he was leaning out of the 
 carriage window, and blandly assuring the 
 outraged wife of his victim that " a little 
 brown paper and vinegar, my dear madam, 
 will make your husband as good as new 
 again." 
 
 No man ever scorned a lie more 
 thoroughly, or had a deeper contempt for 
 anything like a mean action, and his jealousy 
 for the perfect independence of the Press was 
 possibly carried to extremes at times. He 
 first took me to a sale of blood stock about 
 i860, and we arrived early, in order that he 
 might have plenty of time to look over the 
 yearlings in their boxes before the sale 
 opened. When this proceeding was over, I 
 14 
 
210 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 began somewhat eagerly to anticipate mak- 
 ing use of the two luncheon tickets that had 
 been presented to us on our arrival, and was 
 much disappointed when my father pro- 
 ceeded to a small public house in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and bought some bread and 
 cheese, which he shared with me. When I 
 asked the reason of this extraordinary 
 neglect to "take the goods the Gods pro- 
 vide," I was told that he could not conscien- 
 tiously write favourably of the yearlings, and 
 would not, therefore, accept the hospitality 
 of their owner. Perhaps it is excusable that 
 this motive was quite above the head of a 
 boy of twelve, and that I munched my very 
 inferior cheese w T ith many regretful longings 
 for the flesh-pots of Egypt. 
 
 Never anything of a "ladies' man," his 
 love for his wife was very deep and touching. 
 Towards the end, when he was still strug- 
 gling to town each day, she would walk with 
 him, to help him to the top of the street, 
 where he used to catch an omnibus. Occa- 
 sionally, when she was dressed, he would 
 send her back to her room to put on a 
 smarter pair of boots, or some new gloves, 
 
Reminiscences. 2 1 1 
 
 and then would wait for her on the pave- 
 ment " to see how nice you look as you come 
 out." How many men have so much lover- 
 like feeling left when within measurable dis- 
 tance of their silver wedding day? He died 
 too early for most of his children to realise 
 what they had lost ; but if he has left his 
 sons an example that they cannot hope to 
 emulate, he has bequeathed them a memory 
 that one and all of them have ever regarded 
 with the deepest reverence. 
 
2 12 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DECLINE OF CUMBERLAND WRESTLING. 
 
 T is a matter of almost universal 
 regret that many of the manly 
 exercises which found favour 
 in the eyes of the last two 
 generations are beginning to pass away, and 
 in some cases, have already disappeared. 
 The great philanthropist, Mr. George Moore, 
 for instance, who was born in 1806 and died 
 in 1876, used to attribute no small portion of 
 his success in life to the initiation into Cum- 
 berland wrestling which he received at a 
 very early age. When eight years old he 
 was sent to a day school at a place called 
 Bolton-Gate, about two miles from Meals- 
 gate, in Cumberland, where he was born. 
 At that time schools were very much rougher, 
 especially in the North of England, than 
 
Decline of Cumberland Wrestling. 2 1 3 
 
 they are now, and the account given by 
 George Moore of " Blackbird " Wilson, his 
 schoolmaster, would appal many a tender- 
 hearted mother if she thought that her little 
 son was about to undergo such horrors as 
 the hero of Dr. Smiles' best biography en- 
 countered between 18 14 and 18 18. 
 
 "He was called 'Blackbird' Wilson," 
 writes George Moore, " because he could 
 imitate the song of any bird, and especially 
 the blackbird. He was an old man and fond 
 of drink. His scholars were sent out to 
 fetch it for him three or four times a day. 
 With a thick ruler, which he brought down 
 sharply upon our backs, he used to drive 
 learning into us. He often sent the ruler 
 flying among our heads, and the wonder is 
 he did not break our skulls. His rule was 
 to drive reading, writing, and arithmetic into 
 us by brute force. He never attempted to 
 make learning attractive. Such being the 
 case, I was never fond of school and often 
 played the truant. Indeed, I should have 
 been much oftener absent but for the dread 
 of the terrible floggings which were then 
 common. My determination not to study 
 
214 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 followed me through my school days. My 
 faults were those of an energetic and way- 
 ward disposition, unhelped by a mother's 
 sympathy and solace." 
 
 The amusements of the boys were in some 
 respects peculiar to the district. Wrestling, 
 or as it was called in the Cumbrian vernacu- 
 lar, " worsling," was the favourite sport. At 
 it the boys tried their strength with each 
 other on every possible occasion. They got 
 to know the best way of " takin' haud," and 
 became familiar with all the technical terms 
 and phrases of the game, such as chips and 
 hypes ; buttocks and crossbuttocks ; the 
 back-heeling, the hank, and the click inside. 
 The wrestling of Cumberland and West- 
 moreland is well known to be less savage 
 than that of Cornwall. There is no hard 
 kicking of the shins or legs, and the com- 
 batants, whether men or boys, never cease 
 to be good friends. " Men of all classes 
 wrestle," says George Moore, "statesmen, 
 ploughmen, cobblers, labourers, and even 
 clergymen. One of the most noted wrestlers 
 in Cumberland was a curate — the Rev. 
 Abraham Brown." The boys began to test 
 
Decline of Cumberland Wrestling. 215 
 
 their physical powers early on the village 
 greens. George Moore, whom the late 
 Archbishop Tait, also a Cumbrian, sub- 
 sequently pronounced to be the best and 
 largest-hearted Christian that he had ever 
 known, tried his strength upon his school- 
 fellows by " takin' haud " of them. Strong 
 and wiry, persevering and tenacious, he soon 
 learnt all the tricks of the art, and before he 
 left school few boys could cope with him. 
 It was hardly to be expected that he should 
 receive a very learned education at " Black- 
 bird " Wilson's school, seeing that his father 
 paid but six shillings and sixpence a quarter 
 for his tuition. His next move was to a 
 finishing school at Blennerhasset, where he 
 remained only for one quarter, at the cost of 
 eight shillings. " Here," he says, "for the 
 first time I felt there was some use in learning 
 and began to be ashamed of my own ignor- 
 ance. The master was a very superior man, 
 in fact a sort of genius. However, I had 
 made up my mind, when thirteen years old, 
 to go away from home and fight the battle of 
 life for myself." 
 
 "The Druid's" regard and admiration for 
 
216 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 George Moore were so pronounced that I 
 am tempted to linger a little longer among 
 the thick coming; memories which the name 
 of that g-enerous-hearted Cumbrian recalls. 
 Nearly seventy years have now elapsed since, 
 as a youth of nineteen, George Moore set 
 eyes upon London for the first time. Dr. 
 Smiles presents his readers with an in- 
 teresting sketch of the journey from Carlisle 
 to London, performed by his young hero on 
 the top of a coach in the spring of 1825. It 
 might have been of him that Tennyson wrote 
 his famous lines : 
 
 Make me feel the wild pulsation that I felt before the 
 
 strife, 
 When I heard my days before me, and the tumult of 
 
 my life ; 
 Yearning for the large excitement that the coming 
 
 years would yield, 
 Eager hearted as a boy when first he leaves his 
 
 father's field, 
 And at night along the dusky highway near and 
 
 nearer drawn, 
 Sees in heaven the light of London flaring like a 
 
 dreary dawn ; 
 And his spirit leaps within him to be gone before him 
 
 then 
 Underneath the light he looks at, in among the throngs 
 
 of men ; 
 
Decline of Cumberland Wrestling. 217 
 
 Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping 
 
 something new, 
 That which they have done but earnest of the things 
 
 that they shall do. 
 
 Sixty-five or seventy years ago it took two 
 and a-half days and two nights to travel from 
 Carlisle to London by coach. The road lay 
 through Lancaster and Manchester, whence 
 it made its way across the pleasant midland 
 counties. "At last," writes Dr. Smiles, "on 
 the evening of the third day the coach 
 reached Highgate Hill, from which George 
 Moore looked down on the city of London, 
 the scene of his future labours. Already 
 the prodigious magnitude of the place 
 astonished the young traveller. The coach 
 traversed street after street, going down Old 
 Street and Pancras Road, down Gray's Inn 
 Lane, along Holborn and Newgate Street, 
 until finally it stopped at the Swan with 
 Two Necks in Lad Lane, Wood Street." 
 
 It arrived in London on the night before 
 Good Friday, 1825. Next morning all the 
 shops were shut, What was he to do on 
 Good Friday ? He knew that all the Cum- 
 berland men in London were accustomed to 
 
218 Life and Times of " The DriiidT 
 have their annual wrestling match on that 
 
 <z> 
 
 day, and accordingly he repaired to Chelsea 
 to observe their sports. When he reached 
 the trysting place, he found the wrestling 
 green crowded with north country folk ; big, 
 brawny men, with broad shoulders and great 
 girth, professional wrestlers and amateur 
 wrestlers, intermingled with groups of sport- 
 ing and betting spectators. Among them 
 were many life-guardsmen, as there is no 
 more favourite recruiting ground for troopers 
 for the Household Brigade than the border 
 counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland and 
 N orthumberland. 
 
 Among the throngs collected together, 
 George Moore found a young Quaker from 
 Torpenhow, in Cumberland, who had won 
 the wrestling belt at Keswick a few years 
 before. The two young men had already 
 met and tried their strength as wrestlers in 
 the north country, and now renewed their 
 acquaintance in the south. Inspired by his 
 rencontre with an old friend, George Moore 
 put down his name as a competitor. Some 
 who were present on the occasion have de- 
 scribed him as middle-sized, very strong 
 
Decline of Cumberland Wrestling. 2 1 9 
 
 looking, with a broad chest and clearly de- 
 fined muscles. His hair was dark and curly, 
 his eyes brown and glowing with excitement. 
 His face beamed with good humour and 
 health, and his bearing was free and inde- 
 pendent to the verge of abruptness. 
 
 " To those who do not know the rules of 
 Cumberland wrestling," writes Dr. Smiles, 
 "it may be mentioned that, although an 
 athletic sport, it is always conducted with 
 perfectly good temper, the loser invariably 
 taking his fall as a joke. It is practised 
 by boys and men on the village greens, 
 and in the north is never mixed up with 
 betting or drinking, although it must be 
 confessed that in London it is not always 
 free from these objectionable elements. 
 The wrestlers stand up chest to chest, 
 each placing his chin on the other's right 
 shoulder, and his left arm above the right 
 arm of his opponent. Then they grasp 
 each other round the body. There is often 
 a delay and difficulty in ' takin' haud.' Each 
 tries to get an advantage in seizing the under 
 grip. When both have got firm hold, the 
 sport begins in earnest, and each endeavours 
 
220 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 to throw his rival. The one who touches 
 the ground first and is undermost, is the 
 loser. Though force and strength q-o for 
 much, skill is still more indispensable. The 
 ' chips,' or dexterous strokes, are numerous, 
 including the hype, the swinging hype, the 
 buttock, the cross-buttock, the back-heel, the 
 click inside. These would afford ample sub- 
 jects for the pictorial illustrator of a beauti- 
 ful athletic art. For example, English sculp- 
 tors have already imitated the Greek athlete 
 to death. Why should they not give us a 
 taste of English art ? Nothing can be seen 
 more lithe, elegant, and vigorous, than the 
 trained wrestlers on an English village 
 green, and more interest would attach to a 
 good statue of a Cumbrian proficient than to 
 one of Automedon, or Castor and Pollux." 
 
 In due course George Moore's name was 
 called out, and divesting himself of his shirt 
 and jersey, he stepped into the ring. The 
 first man he encountered was a little bigger 
 than himself, but George Moore threw him 
 so cleverly that the question was asked 
 on every side, " Wha's yon ? Whar does 
 'e coom frae ? What's 'is naam ? " The 
 
Decline of Cumberland Wrestling. 221 
 
 name was soon known, and when, in the next 
 wrestling bout, he again threw his man, 
 applause rang round the ring, and "Weel 
 doon, George Moore ! " was echoed on all 
 sides. As the game proceeds, the difficulties 
 encountered by the victorious wrestlers be- 
 come greater and greater. All the weak and 
 inexpert men have been thrown and got rid 
 of, and when the strong have only the strong 
 to meet, the excitement becomes intensified 
 to a painful degree. On these thrilling occa- 
 sions the greatest vigilance is shown by the 
 champions as regards the way in which they 
 clutch or " tak' haud " of their antagonists. 
 Each strives to get some initial advantage, 
 and for some minutes they duck and dodge 
 round the ring, until a loud shout proclaims 
 that "They've haud! they've haud ! " The 
 men are locked as in a vice ; every muscle is 
 straining and quivering like a taut harp 
 string. Then all the subtlest and most 
 scientific tricks of an art which has been 
 practised among men ever since wrestling 
 formed one of the prizes of the Greek "pan- 
 cratium," are resorted to on both sides. 
 They are so neatly executed that the "chip" 
 
222 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 can only be perceived by the most experi- 
 enced eyes, and down goes one of the men 
 with the other on the top of him. 
 
 As the struggle proceeded our hero had 
 each time a more formidable opponent to en- 
 counter. At length he found himself face to 
 face with a celebrated Cumberland champion, 
 named Byers, who had already grassed "a 
 vast o' min." The two antagonists walked 
 round and round each other for a long time 
 in their eager anxiety to get a good grip. 
 Byers was the taller and heavier of the two, 
 and no more accomplished executant of the 
 " right leg hype " ever entered a ring. He 
 very nearly succeeded in throwing George 
 Moore by recourse to this familiar trick, but 
 before long the latter grasped Byers firmly 
 in his arms, and threw him bodily over his 
 head. Again a chorus of approving shouts 
 greeted the victor ; but in the last tussle of 
 the day it was fated that he should meet more 
 than his match. His ultimate antagonist was 
 a noted wrestler from Cumberland, who was 
 famous for his left leg striking and for click- 
 ing inside the heel. After a long struggle, 
 George Moore went down under this brawny 
 
Decline of Cumberland Wrestling. 223 
 
 gladiator's favourite chip. Yet on the ad- 
 judication of the prizes of the day, George 
 Moore came out third best. Everyone knew 
 that he was a Coomberland laddie, for his 
 strong Carlisle accent told its own tale. 
 After the sports were over, hardly a man or 
 boy on the ground failed to declare himself 
 George's Moore's well-wisher and friend, and 
 to grasp him by the hand. The incidents of 
 the day could hardly have failed to elate the 
 lad, and nerve him for the battle of life 
 which still lay before him. He retraced his 
 way to the heart of the city, with which he 
 was then so unfamiliar, but in which he was 
 one day to hold up his head as a merchant 
 prince. In the course of the afternoon he 
 learnt that the inn in which he was lodging 
 had fallen into disrepute because it had long 
 been frequented by Thurtell, the notorious 
 murderer of Mr. Weare. In the morning 
 George Moore discovered that he had slept 
 on the very bed which Thurtell habitually 
 occupied. This gave him such a shock that 
 he felt obliged to seek other lodgings, and 
 he was fortunate in finding shelter in Wood 
 Street, at a humble boarding house kept by 
 
224 Life and Times of " The D7'uid" 
 
 a motherly body from the north of England, 
 whose kindness and sympathy helped to give 
 him that lasting belief in the goodness of 
 woman which throughout life was one of his 
 most deeply-seated characteristics. 
 
 His determination and pertinacity — valu- 
 able qualities to the promotion of which wrest- 
 line had not a little conduced — were about 
 to be subjected to a severe test. For the 
 next week he passed every available hour of 
 his time in walking about London, seeking 
 an engagement in some draper's shop. 
 Referring afterwards to the early trials of 
 his young life, he said, " I had no one to 
 take me by the hand, and my appearance 
 was against me, as the Cumberland tailors 
 were not so good then as they are now, 
 so that when I applied for a situation it 
 was difficult to convince them that I wanted 
 a place behind the counter, and not some 
 meaner post. My dialect, too, was no 
 recommendation to me, for although it is 
 pretty broad now, it was much broader then. 
 After beating about London for a week I 
 began to think myself a not very marketable 
 commodity in that great city. Still I per- 
 
Decline of Cumber land Wrestling. 225 
 
 severed, going over the whole surface of 
 London on foot, and entering as many as 
 thirty drapers' shops in a day, always with 
 the same result. My second Sunday in 
 London now came round, and I began to 
 realise its loneliness and solitude. Every 
 house looked black at me, and every door 
 was closed. I thought it almost heartless 
 that multitudes should be going about on 
 their errands of worship or enjoyment with- 
 out taking any notice of me. To those who 
 are friendless, London is the most solitary 
 place in the world. Soon I began the next 
 week, but no better success attended me. 
 At last I was in despair, and resolved to go 
 out to America. I called at Swan and 
 Edgar's, in Piccadilly, and told a young man 
 there, whom I had spoken to before, that I 
 was going to take my passage. He then 
 informed me that Mr. Ray, of Messrs. Flint, 
 Ray & Co., of Grafton House, Soho Square, 
 had sent to inquire if anyone knew my 
 address. Mr. Ray had himself come from 
 Cumberland, and was the son of a Cumber- 
 land 'statesman.' He knew my father's 
 family, and wished to befriend me. I flew 
 15 
 
226 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 to see him, and he engaged me, more from 
 pity than from any likelihood that I should 
 shine in the service. My salary was to be 
 £$o a year, and joyfully indeed did I accept 
 his offer." 
 
 Next day he entered the warehouse in 
 Soho Square for the first time. One who 
 w T as long employed there remembers his first 
 appearance. He writes, " On incidentally 
 looking across the haberdashery counter, I 
 saw an uncouth, thick-set country lad, stand- 
 ing there with tears in his eyes. In a minute 
 or two a large deal chest, such as Scottish 
 servant wenches use for their clothes, was 
 brought in by a man and set on the floor. 
 When the lad had dried his tears he carried 
 the box upstairs to the bedroom where he 
 was to sleep. After he had come downstairs 
 again he began working, and continued to 
 be the hardest worker in the establishment 
 until he left. Had you seen him then, you 
 would have said he was the most unlikely 
 lad in England to make the great future that 
 he did." 
 
 Let us now turn onwards from page 57 
 to page 80 of Dr. Smiles' admirable " Life 
 
Decline of Cumberland Wrestling. 227 
 
 of George Moore, Merchant and Philan- 
 thropist." In the first of these two pages, 
 we see the country boy, " uncouth and thick- 
 set," entering the service of Messrs. Flint, 
 Ray and Co., in the April of 1825. At the 
 second page we find him, in the June of 
 1830, inducted as a partner into the firm of 
 Messrs. Groucock and Copestake, long after- 
 wards known as Messrs. Groucock, Cope- 
 stake, and Moore. In April of that year 
 George Moore celebrated his twenty-fourth 
 birthday. His rapid success was due to his 
 extraordinary energy as a commercial traveller 
 in the service of Messrs. Fisher, Stroud and 
 Robinson, of Watling Street, City, then the 
 first lace house in the East End. Again his 
 good luck, in being a Cumberland man, was 
 of essential service to him, as Mr. Fisher 
 came from the same part of England. His 
 salary was ^40 a year, and he found that he 
 had still much to learn. Soon Mr. Fisher 
 began to blame him for his slowness and 
 stupidity. " l I have had many a stupid 
 blockhead from Cumberland,' he exclaimed, 
 'but you are the worst of them all.' He 
 kept on repeating this two or three times 
 
228 Life and Times of " The Druid!" 
 
 a week for some months, until the conceit 
 was entirely taken out of me — a very good 
 riddance for a lad of nineteen." Among 
 other defects, he became conscious that his 
 education left much to be desired ; so he 
 went to a night-school, and frequently sat up 
 studying his lessons until the small hours of 
 the morning. This he continued to do 
 during the next eighteen months, and learnt 
 more than he ever did at any other portion 
 of his industrious life. But the quality to 
 which he mainly owed his subsequent rise, 
 was his indomitable perseverance, which he 
 had first acquired when pitted in the wrest- 
 ling ring against a stronger opponent. About 
 that time his friendship with Mr. Crampton, 
 a fellow-worker at Fisher's drapery store, 
 commenced, continuing without intermission 
 until they became partners in Cheapside. 
 Writing in 1827, Mr. Crampton says of him : 
 " I found George Moore at Fisher's, and we 
 became close companions. His friends were 
 my friends, and so intimate were we that, 
 although myself a Yorkshi reman, I seemed 
 to merge into a Cumberland laddie. George 
 was very clannish and patriotic, but I was 
 
Decline of Cumberland Wrestling. 229 
 
 gayer and more frivolous than he, and he 
 never failed to tell me of my faults, He 
 was a strong, round-shouldered young fel- 
 low, very cheerful and willing. Among 
 our amusements we attended the wrestling 
 matches at St. John's Wood. The principal 
 match was always on Good Friday. One 
 day we went to the appointed tryst, and 
 George Moore entered his name as a 
 wrestler. The competitors drew lots, and 
 George's antagonist was a lifeguardsman 
 over six feet high. I think I see George 
 Moore smile now as he stood opposite to 
 the giant, who smiled also. Then thev went 
 at it in earnest, ' got haud,' and George was 
 gently laid upon his back. By this time he 
 was out of practice, and I do not think that 
 he ever wrestled again. Moreover, his work 
 soon became so hard that he had no time 
 for amusement." 
 
 After eighteen months in their service, 
 Messrs. Fisher and Co. found George Moore 
 too o*ood for town travelling, and sent him 
 on the Liverpool and Manchester circuit. 
 He was then twenty-two, and in the northern 
 districts Messrs. Fisher's business had been 
 
230 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 badly worked, and had greatly fallen off. 
 There was only one way to restore it — work, 
 work, work. He was at it early in the 
 morning, and late at night. He lost not a 
 moment, and in American phrase, " was no 
 slouch." Meantime he claimed credit for 
 nothing except zeal and perseverance. His 
 opponents, on the other hand, attributed his 
 success more to his courteous persuasiveness 
 and capacity for work than to the qualities of 
 his wares. At the inns which he frequented 
 he soon became a general favourite. Other 
 commercial travellers used to pack up his 
 goods, and help him on the way, although 
 themselves his rivals. One day a young 
 commis voyageur, who had just embarked 
 upon the northern circuit, arrived at the 
 Star Hotel, Manchester, and found a dozen 
 travellers hard at work helping George 
 Moore to pack up his goods. " Who is that 
 young fellow they are making such a fuss 
 about?" asked the new-comer. " Oh ! it is 
 only George." " And who may George 
 be?" " What, don't you know the Napo- 
 leon of Watling Street ? Let me introduce 
 you to George Moore." 
 
Decline of Cumberland Wrestling. 231 
 
 His next move was to Ireland, where, for 
 the first time, he encountered Groucock, the 
 traveller who had so greatly interfered with 
 Fisher's Irish business, He was a young 
 man, although some years older than Moore. 
 Before the latter's appearance in Ireland 
 Groucock had taken the lion's share of the 
 lace trade ; but now he had a foeman worthy 
 of his steel. The struggle between them was 
 so keen that Groucock's physical strength 
 was not equal to the tremendous strain. All 
 the time George Moore worked harder than 
 ever, and at last succeeded in getting back all 
 the best Irish customers for his employers. 
 Groucock soon found it necessary to come to 
 terms with his indefatigable competitor. 
 Through a mutual friend he made overtures 
 to George Moore, offering him ^500 a year 
 if he would travel for his house instead of for 
 Fisher's. It was, indeed, a tempting offer, 
 for Moore's salary was only ^150 a year, out 
 of which he could barely contrive to live. 
 Considering the enormous business that he 
 brought to their firm, it was selfish short- 
 sightedness on the part of Messrs. Fisher and 
 Co. not to have increased his salary. But 
 
232 Life and Times of "The Drtiid." 
 
 his answer to Groucock's overture was firm 
 and emphatic. " I will be a servant for no 
 other house than Fisher's. The only condi- 
 tion on which I will leave him is a partner- 
 ship." In this way George Moore embarked 
 upon the small business at No. 7, Cheapside, 
 which he afterwards converted into one of 
 the most stupendous and successful establish- 
 ments in the world. The rest of his career 
 is well known, and my only excuse for devot- 
 ing these few pages to the commemoration 
 of his name, is that he was, throughout life, 
 an attached friend of " The Druid," his Cum- 
 brian compatriot, and that he frequently at- 
 tributed no small portion of his own success to 
 the valuable attributes implanted in him by 
 his love and practice of what his fellow 
 Cumbrians call "worsling." It taught him 
 the manliness, courage, and love of open air 
 sports which subsequently culminated in his 
 devotion to fox-hunting, and sent him out in 
 18 16, as a boy of ten, to ride a barebacked 
 horse with John Peel's hounds, over which 
 Sir Wilfred Lawson now holds sway. Many 
 years later, when in 1854 Mr. Alderman 
 Sydney was Lord Mayor of London, he and 
 
Decline of Cumberland Wrestling, 233 
 
 the Lady Mayoress accompanied Mr. and 
 Mrs. George Moore down to Cumberland on 
 a visit to that picturesque and romantic 
 county. Almost the first act of the old 
 wrestler was to take his distinguished guests 
 to see some Cumberland wrestling on the 
 island near Low Wood, Windermere. He 
 told them that he owed it to wrestling that he 
 was so hardy and strong at the age of 48, 
 and when he paid his next visit to Cumber- 
 land he distinguished himself with Sir Wil- 
 fred Lawson's hounds, exclaiming to those 
 around him at the end of the run, that he had 
 never hunted in that country since he rode his 
 father's bare-backed old mare after John 
 Peel's harriers to the refrain of the best 
 known hunting song in the world : — 
 
 " D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so grey ? 
 D'ye ken John Peel at the break of day ? 
 D'ye ken John Peel when he's far far away, 
 
 With his hounds and his horn in the morning ? 
 'Twas the sound of his horn brought me from my 
 
 bed, 
 And the cry of his hounds has me oftimes led, 
 For Peel's view-holloa would waken the dead, 
 Or a fox from his lair in the morning." 
 
 Perhaps there never was a truer aphorism 
 known than that uttered by Judge Talfourd 
 
234 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 from the Bench with his dying breath. " If 
 I were to be asked," said he, " what is the 
 great fault of English society, I would say in 
 one word that it is the want of sympathy 
 between class and class." In like manner, 
 no words were more frequently upon George 
 Moore's lips than these : — " Sympathy is the 
 grandest word in the English language. It 
 contains within it a gospel sufficient to 
 renovate the world." Who can doubt that 
 in his case it was largely promoted and en- 
 couraged by the ardour and heart with which 
 he threw himself into manly sports and 
 amusements, which made him " hail fellow, 
 well met," with all sorts and conditions of 
 men — a trait which he shared to the full with 
 his friend and admirer, the hero of this book. 
 
235 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE DRUID'S VERSATILITY. 
 
 HE memory of racing men is 
 so short, and their knowledge 
 of the performances of great 
 horses which nourished before 
 their time so scanty, that ''The Druid's" 
 comments upon the sporting career of one 
 of the greatest pillars of the Turf that the 
 nineteenth century has produced, will per- 
 haps be read with interest by some to 
 whom the late Earl of Eodinton is no more 
 than a name. The following article was 
 contributed to the Doncaster Gazette shortly 
 after Lord Eglinton had sold the whole of 
 his stud, including brood mares and horses 
 in training, to the late Mr. John Massey 
 Stanley, who subsequently became Sir John 
 Massey Stanley Errington, and died at an 
 advanced age in 1892. 
 
236 Life and Times of " The Druid? 
 
 From Done aster Gazette, March, 1855. 
 " Lord Eglinton's Turf Career. 
 
 "In these troublous times for the Turf, 
 when credit is low and bidding still lower 
 at Tattersall's, and when those now left of 
 the gallant red-coated Race Brigade are fain 
 to content themselves with meetings before 
 Sebastopol amid the loud-mouthed diapason of 
 the cannon, in the place of nigger minstrels 
 and of 'Donkey Jimmy' in the distance, 
 we bitterly grudge the retirement of Lord 
 Eglinton. It is harder still that the tartan 
 banner should be hauled down so soon after 
 the narrow blue and white stripes of the 
 Marquis of Exeter, and thus that the Nor- 
 thern and Southern Turf should be bereft 
 within the same season of two noblemen who 
 knew no croooked ways, but went straight 
 as Minie ball to the winning chair. Lord 
 Eglinton was entered to the sport very early, 
 and in 1831, two years before he attained 
 his majority, he first brought out the family 
 colours on the Scottish Turf. Ayr was 
 then his favourite course ; but in later years 
 fortune, which invariably deserted him at 
 York, smiled on him at Doncaster, and he 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 237 
 
 gracefully marked his sense of her favours 
 by the presentation of a ,£200 Plate to its 
 races, which was won by the Black Doctor 
 in 1850. One of his earliest racers was a 
 very elegant grey mare, Queen Bathsheba, 
 who drew first blood for him in a £jo Plate 
 at Ayr. In 183 1, his stud only consisted 
 of three, but was trebled before three more 
 seasons were out. At that time George 
 Dawson, father to Thomas, Matthew, Joseph 
 and John Dawson, trained for him at Bog- 
 Side, in Ayrshire, not far from Eglinton 
 Castle, and led not a few winners back to 
 scale. His lordship often rode his own 
 horses, and Tommy Lye was in the saddle 
 when professional weights were necessary. 
 Matches, in which his lordship seldom de- 
 clared to ride under 12 st. 7 lbs., were his 
 great delight, and as Sir James Boswell and 
 Sir David Baird were like-minded, the good 
 people of Ayr found those three names per- 
 petually figuring in the ' correct race-lists ' 
 of that day. As a general rule, Lord 
 Eglinton got the better of the Baronets, and 
 the same success attended him in his more 
 recent match mounts at the Eglinton Park 
 
238 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 Meeting, where he won three Steeplechases 
 in one day. Butterfly was one of his earliest 
 winners in England, while his colours were 
 successfully carried also by Black Diamond, 
 Potentate, and Bellona. Oi these, Potentate 
 ran till he was about fourteen years old, and 
 won forty-two races out of ninety-nine starts 
 — a feat ranking him with those everlasting 
 geldings, Zohrab, Isaac, Naworth, Radul- 
 phus, and Clothworker. From 1838 to 
 1840 the Eglinton stud became a great 
 fact, the two best horses being St. Bennett 
 and St. Martin, who would have won much 
 more frequently had not Lanercost per- 
 petually stopped the way. The former of 
 these Saints commenced well by winning the 
 Northumberland Plate in 1838 and 1839, 
 and one of Lord Eglinton's most dashing 
 victories with this horse was in the Liver- 
 pool Cup of 1838, when Harkaway first 
 carried the white jacket and black cap of 
 Mr. Thomas Ferguson on an English race- 
 course. His adherents crossed the Irish 
 Channel, big with the belief that no English 
 nag could live with him; but 15 lb. to St. 
 Bennett was beyond his powers, and he 
 was cleverly defeated by a neck. 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 239 
 
 ''After 1840 Lord Eglinton's stud never 
 numbered more than fifteen, which was 
 about its strength in 1842, when the some- 
 what mean - looking Blue Bonnet came 
 with such a feverish rush at the Don- 
 caster betting rooms about 8 o'clock on 
 the evening before the St. Leger, and 
 carried out Tom Dawson's anticipations so 
 cleverly on the morrow. The St. Leger 
 was Blue Bonnet's maiden performance, as 
 she had gone dead amiss on the eve of other 
 great engagements at Goodwood, Liverpool 
 and elsewhere, and in fact had travelled 
 hundreds of miles for nothing. With this 
 St. Leger, Lord Eglinton's especial luck 
 commenced, and between 1842 and 1851 he 
 won nearly ,£18,000 in stakes over its Town 
 Moor. Pompey, who was always an especial 
 favourite of his lordship, won the Great 
 Yorkshire Handicap here in 1843 and 1844, 
 and the pretty white-legged Aristides, after 
 showing temper in the St. Leger, won a 
 ^450 stake against Colonel Anson's Armi- 
 tage in 1843. ^ n J 844, the stud, which then 
 consisted of ten, left Thomas Dawson's 
 stable, as his lordship was anxious to have 
 
240 Life and Times of " The Druid' 
 
 them trained in private. Consequently 
 Fobert, who had not been much heard of 
 since General Chasse's time, was installed at 
 Spigot Lodge. Tommy Lye, whose con- 
 nection with them had ceased after the last 
 Doncaster Meeting, handed over his jacket 
 to Job Marson, who had worn it a few times 
 previously, and continued to do so with con- 
 siderable success for four seasons. Van 
 Tromp was a foal at the foot of Barbelle, his 
 dam, when Fobert brought out his first batch 
 of Eglinton two-year-olds in 1845 > but the 
 season of 1846 was the beginning of the 
 great Eglinton winning cycle. In that year 
 Nerissa won the Chesterfield Stakes ; Dolo, 
 thanks to Job Marson's powerful handling, 
 kept his legs in the North Derby at New- 
 castle-on-Tyne, when Fancy Boy and Sir 
 Tatton Sykes — both of them great favourites 
 for the coming Doncaster St. Leger — were 
 left sprawling on the glassy surface of New- 
 castle Moor ; and next day Dolo won the 
 Northumberland Plate as well. Van Tromp 
 pulled gallantly through his three two-year 
 old struggles at Liverpool, Goodwood and 
 Doncaster, but his defeat for the Derby next 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 241 
 
 year, for which he started third favourite at 
 7 to 1, was a great disappointment to Lord 
 Eglinton. At Goodwood next year Van 
 Tromp set matters straight by defeating 
 Chanticleer for the Cup, but in his return 
 match with the gallant grey for the Don- 
 caster Cup he stripped with a carcase like a 
 Durham ox, and quite failed to do himself 
 justice. He only appeared in public once 
 more, to meet the Scotch grey for the de- 
 ciding game at Ascot, which he won, after 
 making steady running throughout. 
 
 "To dilate on the deeds of the Flying 
 Dutchman and upon his tilts with Voltigeur 
 would be a thrice-told tale. Suffice it to say 
 that he swelled his lordship's winnings in 
 1849 to a net value of ^19,500, and that both 
 his trainer and jockey were given to under- 
 stand that the stud would be sold if he lost 
 the Derby that year, and that they received 
 ,£1,000 each for the double event (Derby 
 and St. Leger). Spigot Lodge never had 
 reason to rejoice over a Chester Cup, and 
 their best handicap win was the Great Met- 
 ropolitan at Epsom in 1848, when Glen 
 Saddel only beat old Inheritress by a head 
 16 
 
242 Life and Times of " The Drtiid" 
 
 for the 1,500 guinea stake. Elthiron was 
 quite overshadowed by his stable-companion, 
 the Dutchman, but a gamer and more useful 
 animal never wore a bridle, and now that old 
 Pantaloon has gone, Phryne, his dam, will be 
 puzzled to produce an equal to him and to 
 Hobbie Noble. 
 
 " Mr. Bowes' luck in breeding four Derby 
 winners from three different mares does 
 not fall to ordinary mortals, and we cannot 
 remember any mare, except Barbelle, who 
 produced two foals of the stamp of Van 
 Tromp and the Dutchman.* Her appear- 
 
 * " The Druid " evidently forgot three mares 
 which, previous to Barbelle, had records as distin- 
 guished as hers. The first is the third Duke of 
 Grafton's Penelope, who produced Whalebone and 
 Whisker both by Waxy, and both Derby winners. 
 The second is Lord Egremont's Canopus mare, who 
 produced Lapdog and Spaniel, both by Whale- 
 bone, and both Derby winners. The third is Mr. 
 Bowes' Emma by Whisker, who produced Miindig 
 by Catton, and Cotherstone by Touchstone, both 
 Derby winners. In addition, Emma produced 
 Mowerina, the dam of West Australian. At a later 
 date Mr. Theobald's (afterwards Mr. Thelluson's) 
 Pocahontas by Glencoe, surpassed all previous re- 
 cords by producing, in three consecutive years, 
 Stockwell by The Baron, Rataplan by The Baron, 
 and King Tom by Harkaway. — (F. L.) 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 243 
 
 ance is nothing very great, and although she 
 slightly resembles old Beeswing she has by 
 no means so good a back, and only contrived 
 to win two races out of ten starts. Still, 
 she is a mare who would always attract 
 attention in a field, even by the side of 
 Easter, Ellerdale, Alice Hawthorn and 
 Mountain Sylph. Barbelle is now rising 
 twenty, and her breeding luck has been 
 singularly chequered. Her first foal, in 
 1842, was a brown filly by Muley Moloch, 
 which was not trained. In 1843 she missed 
 to the Bard, and in 1844, '45 and '46 came 
 Van Tromp by Lanercost, De Witt by the 
 Provost, and the Flying Dutchman by Bay 
 Middleton. Then began a series of mis- 
 haps. In 1847, sister to Van Tromp died, 
 and his brother, D/. Ruyter, ruined his 
 back when a foal. In 1849 she missed 
 to Lanercost ; Vanderdecken by Bay 
 Middleton arrived in 1850, and in 1851 
 and 1852 she missed to Bay Middle- 
 ton. In 1853 a fi ne racing-like colt by 
 Orlando, named Zuyder Zee, was born, and 
 Melbourne was next thought of, but Lord 
 Eglinton decided to send her to his especial 
 
244 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 favourite, Pompey, and a fine filly with a 
 large blaze to her face was the result. The 
 four of her progeny that Fobert has trained 
 have won no less than ,£33,300, and the 
 only blot on his lordship's racing escutcheon 
 is that he cut up the Flying Dutchman into 
 lots after the Doncaster meeting of 1855. 
 The price was £"5,000, divided into ten ,£500 
 shares, two of which were taken by Lord 
 Eglinton, two by Lord Strathmore, one by 
 Lord Airlie, one by Sir George Armytage, 
 one by Sir H. Hume Campbell, one by 
 Captain Archdall, one by Mr. Henry S. 
 Thompson and one by Captain Hamilton. 
 
 " The history of Lord Eglinton's racing 
 of late years is virtually the history of the 
 progeny of Barbelle, and of her two paddock 
 rivals, Blue Bonnet and Bellona. His last 
 good horse was Corcebus, who proved, how- 
 ever, to be a very unlucky performer, and 
 broke down for the Doncaster St. Leger, 
 when he had passed into the hands of Mr. 
 Hargreaves. In the end his lordship sold 
 his brood-mares and horses in training to 
 Mr. John Massey Stanley, for the ridicu- 
 lously small sum of twenty-five hundred 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 245 
 
 guineas. Luck seems to have deserted the 
 popular tartan jacket after the Dutchman's 
 famous match against Voltigeur in 185 1. 
 Beeswing, for instance, who was so lucky 
 when Mr. A. Nichol farmed her stock, never 
 produced anything worth training after 
 Lord Eglinton had leased her. Under 
 such an accumulation of disappointments, 
 there is no wonder that his lordship should 
 have thrown up the sponge. Still in face 
 of the fact that during his Turf career he 
 has averaged about ,£4,000 per annum in 
 winnings, he can hardly be called unlucky. 
 In conclusion, we trust that Spigot Lodge 
 will still send forth many a winner under 
 more favourable circumstances than have 
 attended it for the last few years." 
 
 As a supplement to the above article, I 
 cannot do better than quote the words 
 written in " Post and Paddock," when their 
 author was fresh from what I myself am 
 disposed to regard as the most thrilling and 
 exciting scene that I ever witnessed on a 
 racecourse. " The Druid " writes : — 
 
 " For actual excitement during a race, we 
 never saw anything equal to the deciding 
 
246 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 heat in Voltigeur's St. Leger, when the 
 crowd pressed on to the course from the 
 Red House bend, and left to all appearance 
 scarcely a four yards space for the two 
 horses. Poor Bobby Hill's state of mind 
 was wondrous to mark. He had been 
 dreadfully put out, because some of the 
 crowd had ironically advised him to put 
 brandy into the water which he had brought 
 for his horse from Richmond, and had even 
 gone so far as to allude to the honoured cow 
 which had been specially put into the Turf 
 Tavern box to air it overnight. Burning 
 with revenge, he had stationed himself close 
 by the Judge's chair to hear his doom, and 
 even then his admiring friends would not 
 let him alone. ' He's beat, Mr. Hill,' ex- 
 claimed one of them, as the vast crowd 
 closed in behind the competing twain below 
 the distance, and the roar of a hundred and 
 fifty thousand iron lungs rent the air. ' Is 
 'er beat ? ' retorted the little man, skipping 
 frantically upwards to obtain a good line of 
 sight — ' Ye maun't tell me; ye maun't tell 
 me! I knaws 'im better — Job's a coming.' 
 Sure enough Job was coming with a ven- 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 247 
 
 geance ; and Bobby's yell of ' Which wins 
 noo ? Ar tauld ye so ! ' might have been 
 heard at Bawtry as he dashed through the 
 crowd, butting his way like a bull, to get 
 to his favourite's head. Everywhere Volti- 
 geur-spotted handkerchiefs were waving 
 aloft ; hats were recklessly flung away into 
 mid-air, as if their owners intended to trust 
 to a natural growth or a wig for life ; and 
 it was all poor Leadbitter could do to keep 
 order among countless enthusiasts, who 
 would persist in trying to wipe some of the 
 sweat off the winner with their handkerchiefs, 
 and keep it as a toilet memento. 
 
 " After the Dutchman's defeat on the 
 subsequent Friday, the scene was quite 
 different. The crowd seemed to be quite 
 paralysed, and utterly unable to believe that 
 such a giant had fallen at last. His backers 
 wandered about pale and silent as marble 
 statues, and Marlow stood near the weighing 
 house in a flood of tears, with Lord Eglinton, 
 himself as pale as ashes, kindly trying to 
 soothe him. The pace at which the Dutch- 
 man flew over the hill was such as we have 
 never seen, and the only animal that ever 
 
248 Life and Times of " The Druid. 
 
 seemed to us to go as fast was the Duke 
 of Richmond's Officious, in the early part of 
 an Ascot Vase race. The Richmond men 
 became quite alive, as evening drew on, to 
 the greatness of their victory. Such a night 
 of jollity was never witnessed in Doncaster 
 before, and the inns were overflowing to the 
 very kitchens. Strolling into one of the 
 latter about midnight, we espied a large 
 group of grave clothiers ; one or two of 
 them smoking pipes, to which the monster 
 cigar at the exhibition seemed a trifle in 
 length ; while others, with eyes solemnly 
 fixed ceiling-wards, insisted on waltzing with 
 the cook and other female domestics. We 
 are bound to state that the former seemed 
 by no means to dislike this pleasing recog- 
 nition of the close of her labours. ' Aren't 
 you going to bed ? ' we asked of an enthu- 
 siastic double event Richmond man. ' Gor 
 to bed, indeed ! You aren't 'alf a mon ! 
 Wha'd gor to bed when Voltigeur's woon t' 
 Leger and t' Coop ? ' was the scornful reply. 
 Much as has been said and written about 
 the Dutchman and Voltiofeur, we are inclined 
 to fancy that neither of them were such high 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 249 
 
 class animals as West Australian and Ted- 
 dington ; but it is worthy of notice that these 
 four, and Virago, and Stock well, who was 
 taken out of training long before he was on 
 the wane, were foaled in six successive 
 seasons." 
 
 In addition to the articles which " The 
 Druid " wrote for the Doncaster Gazette and 
 the Sporting Life, I am indebted to a mem- 
 ber of his family for the following list of his 
 contributions sent for many years to the 
 Sporting Magazine, which are given in the 
 very language employed by their industrious 
 compiler. It will be seen that three of his 
 best known works made their first appear- 
 ance in that once famous periodical, as " Post 
 and Paddock " commenced on January 1, 
 1856, "Silk and Scarlet" upon August 1, 
 1859, and " Scott and Sebright," upon July 
 1, 1862. The vast variety of topics handled 
 by this accomplished writer will give a fitting 
 idea of his many-sided versatility. 
 
 11 The Druid's " Contributions to the 
 " Sporting Magazine." 
 
 In 1850 he commenced " Turf Pencil- 
 
250 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 lings," under the signature of "General 
 Chasse " and " The Druid." 
 
 The following contributions are signed 
 " The Druid" :— " My Trip to the Match," 
 June, 1 85 1 , a poem (154 lines) on "Great 
 Northern Posters — The Start — The Cantabs 
 — Lincolnshire — Doncaster — Lord George 
 Bentinck — The Express Time — Road to the 
 Course — The Parade — The Match — After 
 Reflections — A Benediction." 
 
 " Voltigeur v. the Flying Dutchman," 
 January, 1851, a poem (72 lines). 
 
 " The Lay of the Horse-Marine " (after the 
 model of Coleridge's " Ancient Mariner "), 
 August, 1 85 1 (32 stanzas, 4 lines each). 
 
 " Review of the Steeplechase and Cours- 
 ing Season," 1850-51. 
 
 " Parodies for the Times — the Peer, the 
 Prophet and the Purser," July, 1852. 
 
 "The Close of the Racing Season," 
 December, 1852. 
 
 " Country Crayons," March, August and 
 December, 1853. 
 
 "My Turf Wallet," January, 1854. 
 
 "A Week in Westminster Hall," March, 
 
 1854. 
 
 " The Post and the Paddock," January to 
 May, 1856. 
 
 "English Horse-dealers," September, 
 1856. 
 
 " Silk and Scarlet," August, 1859. 
 
 " Exmoor Ponies," October, i860. 
 
 "Scott and Sebright," July, 1862. 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 2 5 1 
 
 " Scribble." 
 
 "Opening of the Winter Exhibition," 
 January, 1852. 
 
 " Progress of the Winter Exhibition," 
 February, 1852. 
 
 "Wliat we saw in the Great Winter 
 Exhibition of 1851-52," March, 1852. 
 
 " The Beginning of the End of the Great 
 Winter Exhibition," April, 1852. 
 
 " Last Words on the Great Winter Ex- 
 hibition," May, 1852. 
 
 " A Word to the Ignorant," June, 1853. 
 
 " More Words to the Ignorant," July, 
 
 1853. 
 
 " A few more Words from ' Scribble,' " 
 August, 1853. 
 
 " St. Rupert's Day," September and 
 November, 1853. 
 
 "The Pytchley and Its Neighbours," 
 January, 1854. 
 
 " The Frozen-out Fox-hunters," February, 
 1854. 
 
 " What the Fox-hunters did in the Thaw," 
 March, 1854. 
 
 " Noctes Venaticae," May to November, 
 1854. 
 
 " Nulli Secundus," January, 1855. 
 
 " Confessions of a Sporting Man," edited 
 by "Scribble," July, August, September, 
 November and December, 1855. 
 
252 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 " Uncle Scribble." 
 
 " Letters from my Uncle Scribble," June, 
 1852, to April, 1853. 
 
 "A Country Christmas," January, 1857. 
 
 " The Right and the Wrong," January, 
 i860. 
 
 "Our Next Military Examination," De- 
 cember, i860. 
 
 "Sketches from the Gorsehamptonshire 
 Gallery," January, 1861. 
 
 11 The Portrait Gallery," February to 
 August, 1 86 1. 
 
 i4 Bachelor's Hall," August, 1862, to De- 
 cember, 1863. 
 
 " The Last of the Foreign Correspond- 
 ents," November, 1865. 
 
 " Gavhurst." 
 
 "Olla Podrida," 1851. 
 
 "York Realities and Doncaster Shadows," 
 September, 1852. 
 
 " Doncaster Doings," October, 1852. 
 
 "A Card of the Races, yer Honour?" 
 September, 1854. 
 
 With characteristic modesty, " The 
 Druid " never claimed to be a good judge 
 of horseflesh, and it was known that never in 
 his life had he been on the back of a hunter, 
 
/-^ J^2s4^^j 
 
 Z^fLJ 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 253 
 
 or followed the hounds across country on 
 horseback. It was universally admitted, 
 however, by those who knew him best, that 
 no man had a keener eye for a well-trained 
 racehorse, as he showed when, just before 
 the Two Thousand Guineas of 1855, he 
 pronounced that he had never seen an 
 animal sent to the post in better condition 
 than Mr. Merry's Lord of the Isles was by 
 William Day. His still living brother-in- 
 law, Mr. George B. Lynes (brother to Mrs. 
 Dixon), was formerly a very successful 
 breeder of hunters and hacks upon his pro- 
 perty in Northamptonshire, not far from 
 Althorp Park. Mr. Lynes attributes no 
 small portion of the success which attended 
 his efforts to raise thoroughbred hunters and 
 hacks to the advice given him by "The 
 Druid," when he first started in that line. 
 "I well remember," he writes, "that my 
 first mare for breeding purposes was a rather 
 small animal, sired by Skiff, a son of Parti- 
 san. ' The Druid ' advised me to put her to 
 the King of Oude, a powerful sire owned for 
 some time by the celebrated Tom Parr. 
 ' The Druid ' said, laughingly, that one of 
 
254 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 her produce might one day be good enough 
 to carry Royalty, if I took care to have her 
 foals as well broken as it was my custom to 
 do. King of Oude was a horse of immense 
 bone, with large lop ears of the Melbourne 
 type. He had won many Queen's Plates, 
 but through bad treatment on going to the 
 stud he had turned a perfect savage, so that 
 his food and water were frequently lowered 
 into his box from the loft above by his then 
 owner, a distant relative of Tom Parr, and 
 with the same name, who was a tenant of 
 my father. My first foal by him I named 
 ' Rural Dean.' He began by winning the 
 first prize in the lighter class of hunters at 
 Islington, but he was quite able, although 
 called a light horse, to carry thirteen stone. 
 He won the open Brigstock Steeplechase, 
 ridden by the eccentric Dick Webster, 
 who caused great amusement when Rural 
 Dean was shown at Islington, by jumping 
 him into the ring over the boundary fence, 
 and going out in the same way. The atten- 
 tion of the Prince of Wales was called to this 
 horse by Dick Webster, and His Royal 
 Highness ended by buying Rural Dean 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 255 
 
 from the late Mr. Spencer Lucy, Master of 
 the Warwickshire Hounds. I have been 
 told that the Prince considered him the best 
 all round horse that he ever possessed. His 
 own brother, the next year's produce, jumped 
 six feet over the bar at Islington, and 
 fetched a high price ; and in the Sporting 
 Magazine ' The Druid ' wrote that ' it was 
 an evil hour for Mr. Lynes when, in search 
 of savages, Mr. Rarey bought King of Oude, 
 who showed much more temper and took a 
 great deal more subduing than Lord Dor- 
 chester's Cruiser.' " 
 
 Rarey then took King of Oude to 
 America, which was a great loss to Mr. 
 Lynes, as he had a standing offer of 200 
 guineas, for every colt or filly by King of 
 Oude, out of the same mare. Altogether 
 the mare had thirteen foals in succession 
 without one barren year. Although every 
 likely sire that could be got at was em- 
 ployed, she never had a foal of as much 
 substance as the two which she threw to 
 King of Oude. Nevertheless, she never 
 bred a bad one, and nearly all her stock 
 took prizes at the Royal and at other shows, 
 
256 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 either as hunters or hacks. It was Mr. 
 Lynes's practice to handle them all himself 
 from a very early age, and in addition to 
 teaching them all to jump, he accustomed 
 them to all kinds of sights and noises, so 
 that they would stand close to a steam 
 engine without fear. For one, got by 
 Vortex, a son of Voltigeur, Lord Penrhyn 
 gave Mr. Lynes a good price. For many 
 years Mr. Lynes took up his abode in 
 Virginia, not far from Charlottesville ; a 
 country which he considers to be wonder- 
 fully well adapted for breeding blood stock. 
 It was Mr. Lynes who sent Grand Master 
 (own brother to Dame President), over to 
 the United States. The horse has given 
 great satisfaction to the Virginians, who are 
 excellent judges of thoroughbred stock. 
 The late Mr. Ten. Broeck was of opinion 
 that he had never encountered in this country 
 so fine a judge of horseflesh and of racing as 
 Colonel Johnson, of Virginia, about whom 
 he had any number of interesting stories to 
 relate. It is to be regretted that young 
 married couples of small means do not take 
 counsel with gentlemen of high honour and 
 
The Druid's Versatility. 257 
 
 large experience, like Mr. G. B. Lynes, in- 
 stead of plunging into American life without 
 any other guidance than the generally 
 fraudulent representations of native land 
 agents who conform to the type of Charles 
 Dickens's "Scadder." I have Mr. Lynes's 
 authority for saying that under his advice 
 several young English couples have settled in 
 Virginia, where they are able to make ^400 
 a year go farther and afford them more enjoy- 
 ment than four times that sum would yield in 
 this country. The climate is delicious, the 
 grass equal to that of the Curragh. Excellent 
 servants of both sexes can be found among 
 the black race, and there is a little colony 
 of English subjects in the neighbourhood of 
 Charlottesville, who, without renouncing their 
 allegiance to the British Crown, are enjoying 
 life to an extent which they never experi- 
 enced before, and in some cases saving 
 money into the bargain. 
 
 17 
 
253 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE DRUID S MANY-SIDED SYMPATHIES. 
 
 T is difficult in a few words to 
 analyse the causes which made 
 " The Druid " so popular as a 
 public writer while he was still 
 alive, and have kept his memory so fresh, 
 now that he has been for nearly a quarter of 
 a century in the grave, that a new edition of 
 his work is demanded by a younger genera- 
 tion of admirers who never saw him in the 
 flesh. Briefly comprehended, I should say 
 that his greatest charm was the universality 
 of his sympathies. Homo sum ; humani nihil 
 a me alienum puto : "I am a man, and con- 
 sider nothing that touches or affects my fellow 
 creatures to be a matter of unconcern to my- 
 self," was the motto which he might have 
 prefixed to every chapter that he ever wrote. 
 
His many-sided Sympathies. 259 
 
 Two instances may be adduced of eminent 
 leading article writers, each of whom was 
 superior to " The Druid " in culture and know- 
 ledge — I mean the Reverend John Sterling 
 and James Macdonell — of whom little more 
 is now remembered than that their Lives were 
 written, in John Sterling's case, by Archdeacon 
 Julius Hare and Thomas Carlyle, and in 
 James Macdonell's by W. R. Nicoll. Sterling 
 died at Bonchurch in 1844; Macdonell at 
 his home in Gower Street in 1879 ; and 
 except to a few scholars and, in the latter 
 instance, to his surviving relatives and per- 
 sonal friends, their very names are now 
 almost unknown. What differentiated them 
 both from " The Druid" was that their spheres 
 of interest were more restricted than his. In 
 previous chapters of this Biography I have 
 already stated that " The Druid " had an 
 absolutely unrivalled capacity for getting 
 men, women, and even children belonging 
 to all classes and conditions of humanity to 
 unbosom themselves of their closest secrets for 
 his benefit and instruction. His sympathies 
 were with every one that he approached or 
 with whom he came in contact. Leaning 
 
260 Life and Times of " The Druid.'' 
 
 always to the kindly side of human nature 
 and attracted by it alone, he never wrote a 
 word about anyone which could give him or 
 his nearest relatives pain. Many pages might 
 easily be devoted to an analytical study of 
 his character and of the style of his com- 
 positions. It will serve my purpose better, 
 however, and make my meaning more in- 
 telligible if I insert in extenso the following" 
 article from his pen. It should be pre- 
 mised that the year 1859 was remarkable 
 for the number of deaths it produced in every 
 rank of life. The French poet Maleherbe's 
 beautiful lines, written just three centuries 
 since, are so applicable to it that I cannot 
 refrain from quoting some of them here : — 
 
 La mort a des rigueurs a nulle autre pareilles, 
 
 On a beau la prier : 
 La cruelle qu'elle est se bouche les oreilles, 
 
 Et nous laisse crier. 
 
 Le pauvre en sa cabane ou le chaume le couvre 
 
 Est sujet a ses lois : 
 Et la garde qui veille aux barrieres du Louvre 
 
 N'en defend point nos rois. 
 
 A year which saw the deaths of Lord 
 Macaulay and the fifth Earl of Jersey, of 
 Hallam, De Ouincey and Washington Irving, 
 
His many-sided Sympathies. 261 
 
 of Bishop Maltby and Dean Erskine, of 
 George Peacock, most brilliant of Canta- 
 brigian men of science, and Alexander von 
 Humboldt, of General Thackwell and 
 General Eyre, of old Dick Tattersall and 
 the mad Marquis of Waterford, of Phillips 
 (who defended Courvoisier, the murderer 
 of Lord William Russell, and ruined his 
 own professional career by imputing the 
 crime to two innocent maid-servants when 
 his client had secretly confessed his guilt to 
 his advocate), and of Poor Law Pashley, of 
 Will Goodall and Adelphi Wright, was well 
 worthy to be treated by "The Druid's" many- 
 coloured pen ; and there is perhaps no more 
 characteristic specimen of his handiwork than 
 the following prolusion : — 
 
 " The Dead of Fifty-nine. 
 
 " Death last year laid its remorseless hand 
 on even more than its share of distinguished 
 men in this and other lands. Until almost 
 the very last we might have said that it had 
 spared our statesmen, as ' Prosperity Robin- 
 son,' the memory of whose brief Premiership 
 had well nigh perished, and Henry FitzRoy, 
 
262 Life and Times of " The Dr?ad." 
 
 a useful social reformer in his way (though 
 cabmen will never allow it), were the only not- 
 able vacancies created by pallida mors at St. 
 Stephen's. Whigs, however, and Tories, too, 
 will long miss that small, shambling, ungainly 
 thick-set figure, clad in a snuff-coloured frock 
 coat with velvet collar, which might always be 
 seen close behind the Government bench when 
 the Whigs were in office ; with hat set deep on 
 the back of the head, and pointed out to stran- 
 gers by the doorkeepers as 'Mister Macaulay.' 
 On him young authors looked with awe as 
 upon one who wrote the greatest article extant 
 on Milton when he was only twenty-five, and 
 who, when barely thirty, hurled back the 
 poisoned arrows of John Wilson Croker at 
 that bitterest of critics. Genius gave 
 Macaulay confidence to meet the man before 
 whom others quailed, and there was never a 
 truer remark made when Croker endeavoured 
 to return the equivocal compliments paid to 
 his edition of ' Boswell ' by attacking the 
 'History of England,' than 'that he had 
 attempted murder and committed suicide.' 
 
 " The letters of Dean Milner throw most 
 light upon Lord Macaulay's early days ; and 
 
His many-sided Sympathies. 263 
 
 it is amusing to find that he speaks of him, 
 when a mere boy of twelve on his first visit 
 to the Lodge, at Queen's College, Cambridge, 
 as exceedingly disputatious. In the Dean's 
 ' Life,' the future historian pays the highest 
 tribute to one of the most robust and 
 universal gfeniuses that Granta ever sent to 
 maintain her fame. Says the Dean to him, 
 1 You are so correct that I don't mind show- 
 ing you a few squibs upon heads of houses, 
 some thirty years ago, which I have got in a 
 portfolio ; ' and anon, the lad who hated 
 mathematics so much that he never entered 
 the Mathematical Tripos, even to entitle him 
 to contend for the Chancellor's Medal, con- 
 fesses that the experiments in physics which 
 the Dean showed him made the subject as 
 agreeable as a fairy tale. 
 
 "When the Edinburgh Revieiv, 'The 
 Battle of Ivry,' and his speeches on the floor 
 of the House had shown him his power, 
 Macaulay soon acquired a very great con- 
 tempt for the opinions of constituencies. In 
 fact he thought, with Burke, that they were 
 simply the rungs of the ladder, and ought 
 humbly to wait till they found a man, and 
 
264 Life and Times of " The Dntid." 
 
 then elect him without asking his opinions on 
 any point. No wonder, then, that Macaulay's 
 friends spoke with affected horror of his 
 having to face 'the coarse realities of Leeds,' 
 when he wanted a seat. On coming back 
 from India, he remarked that he thought his 
 speaking had rather left him, and that he 
 had resolved to speak on every subject, ' if 
 it's only soap, to get into practice again.' 
 The news that he was 'up,' or intended to 
 speak, always drew a very large and atten- 
 tive House ; but even on the India Charter 
 he was not so great as was expected, and his 
 remarks upon gentlemen who had just Ben- 
 galee enough in them to call for Bass's Pale 
 Ale or for more violent motion on the part 
 of the punkah, was the only much enjoyed 
 sally that fell from his mouth. Latterly, he 
 seldom took any part in debate, and with the 
 exception of saying a few words when he 
 presented a petition, he never once spoke 
 in ' The Scarlet Chamber.' His last great 
 speech in the Commons was against Lord 
 Hotham's motion for excluding Judges (it 
 was aimed at Sir John Romilly) from the 
 House, and in that he fairly exhausted and 
 
His many-sided Sympathies. 265 
 
 settled the question. He spoke in a stiff 
 artificial position, with his hand behind his 
 back, and occasionally beating a devil's 
 tattoo on his hat. With respect to India, he 
 had a signal advantage over Burke. He had 
 seen with his own eyes what was only pictured 
 to Burke's rich imagination and splendid 
 fancy. The one seemed in his conceptions 
 to stand by the very rice field and the tank, 
 when he rose to Ciceronian magnificence, 
 and from the Manager's box in the hall of 
 William Rufus, denounced Warren Hastings 
 as the oppressor of India ; while the other 
 with his wondrous pen dipped deep into 
 Indian life itself, and made us hear the very 
 cymbals of the Nabob in the grove of mango- 
 trees on the fatal night before Plassy. 
 
 " Of all Macaulay's reviews, the one on 
 Warren Hastings was considered by the 
 public to be his best ; but he, himself, pre- 
 ferred the earlier one on Lord Clive. The 
 Hall scene in the former, and the description 
 of the Jesuits in his first volume of the 
 ' History of England,' have been committed 
 to memory by thousands of students, and 
 turned over and over again into Latin prose, 
 
266 Life and Tunes of " The Druid." 
 
 as the ' Lays of Ancient Rome,' have been 
 into Alcaics, in nearly every college and 
 school in the Kingdom. But to our minds, 
 there is a passage in his review on Milton, 
 touching the influence .of our Saviour when 
 He appeared in man's form, which is finer in 
 its grand simplicity than all its more elaborate 
 and ornate rivals. It is said that the ' Lays ' 
 had been prepared in great measure before 
 he went to India, and that he was wont to 
 repeat them to his sister in their carriage 
 rides. Still he had never committed them 
 fully to paper, and it was at her request when 
 he returned, and she made inquiry after 
 ' Lars Porsena ' and ' Black Auster ' as 
 dear old friends, that he was induced to write 
 them out and give them to the world. He 
 lived latterly at Holly Lodge, Campden Hill, 
 with only the Duke of Argyll's terrain 
 separating him from Holland House, in 
 whose library many an aspiring young Whig 
 had been nursed on old traditions or artistic 
 treasures into real or mere red tape great- 
 ness. Macaulay's recollections of that library 
 and of the ' comrade of Fox and friend of 
 Grey,' who gladdened it with his presence, 
 
His many-sided Sympathies. 267 
 
 were hastily thrown off in a small article of 
 not more than seven or eight pages, which 
 was given almost as a postscript to the 
 Edinbttrgh Review when the late Lord 
 Holland died. It was somewhat remarkable 
 that the hatchment should hardly have been 
 put up above that ancient mansion, for the 
 very last of its line, before the pulse of the 
 great historian, statesman, essayist, orator, 
 and poet also ceased to beat, and ' the frail 
 enfeebled form ' was missed from its wonted 
 seat in the old parish church of Kensington. 
 
 " He died just before completing his fifth 
 volume of English History ; but its pre- 
 decessors will be much more than a brilliant 
 fragment, for in them the light of his genius 
 will shine for future ages upon some of 
 the stormiest and most eventful periods of 
 English history. In like manner the great 
 Dr. Arnold died at the age of forty-seven, 
 when he was within three chapters of the end 
 of his third volume of Roman History, and 
 'thirsted for Zama.' Independently of the 
 two we have named, the Peerage has had its 
 full share of mortality. Henry, Marquis of 
 Waterford, who did more by his charitable 
 
268 Life and Times of " The Druid? 
 
 employment of countless Irish peasants on 
 his Curraghmore estate to put absentee land- 
 lords to shame than any man that Ireland 
 ever reared, died in the very prime of man- 
 hood, through a fall from his crack hunter 
 over a wall, which a child on a pony might 
 have negotiated with safety. This, too, was 
 the man who twenty years before his hapless 
 death would deliberately sacrifice all his 
 chances of winning a Steeple-chase for the 
 pleasure of leaping an extra gate. Together 
 with the mad Marquis, the fifth Earl of Jersey 
 has also passed away ; the handsomest young 
 man of his time, and formerly one of the gay 
 companions of George Guelph, Prince of 
 Wales, on the Steyne at Brighton, when the 
 Duke of Bedford, Charles Wyndham, Sir 
 John Shelley, Brummell, Churchill, and 
 'strange anomaly, the little Jew Travis,' 
 all followed in the train of Royalty ; and Sir 
 John Lade drove them in the green German 
 waggon with the six bays, to see Sancho and 
 Pavilion run their match at Lewes. Later 
 years found Lord Jersey the arbiter of fashion 
 and the mould of form, until wearying of 
 racing and of those hunting scenes where as 
 
His many-sided Sympathies. 269 
 
 1 George Villiers ' he had built himself such 
 a name over Leicestershire and at New- 
 market, he shrank into the aged octogenarian, 
 worn down with illness and heartbroken at 
 the death of his most cherished daughter, 
 whose proud beauty had made her season 
 after season the reigning toast of the West 
 End. Sporting has also lost Mr. Tattersall, 
 that quaint ' Bluff Hal ' who always advised 
 young men never to bet and never to join his 
 own rooms, and told a Peer who did not care 
 to go straight his opinion of him as openly as 
 he would have spoken to the humblest stable 
 helper. Hunting, too, mourns its greatest 
 official in Will Goodall ; a man without a peer 
 in his profession, and as gentle in speech as 
 he was gallant in action. No ribald songs 
 will ever elevate him to the pedestal of a 
 ' Tom Moody ; ' but his memory will rest in 
 the hearts of sportsmen who recall his prowess 
 over ' Belvoir's sweet vale ' with a far more 
 enduring significance. Save and except one 
 very old Bishop, the Mitre has fallen in 1859 
 from no episcopal head. Bishop Maltby, the 
 pupil of Samuel Parr, to whom the sight of 
 anyone eating fish or poking the fire, was 
 
270 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 equally hateful, had abdicated his Durham 
 See many months before his death, and had 
 continued to dig up Greek roots from his 
 Lexicons to the last. Dean Erskine, the 
 devoted admirer of Mechanics' Institutes, 
 has gone as well ; and so too has Angell 
 James, the light of the Independents, who 
 preached the funeral sermon over Jay, as Jay 
 in his turn had done over Rowland Hill. 
 No great light has fallen in the surgical or 
 medical world, save Alexander, the oculist ; 
 and, wondrous as he was in his couching 
 sleight-of-hand, he was quite below par as 
 a constitutional physician. Thackwell, the 
 brilliant cavalry officer of Sikh warfare has 
 gone to his rest, and reposes in Kensal Green 
 Cemetery, where Tredway Clarke, Gilbert, 
 and so many of his comrades sleep ; and so 
 has Eyre, the man of the eagle eye, who 
 exercised his troops before Sebastopol, and 
 had them in greyhound condition, such as no 
 other Brigade could hope to show. 
 
 " Phillips, the biographer of Curran, 
 and defender of Courvoisier ; Broderip, the 
 police magistrate and naturalist ; Stephens, 
 the accomplished jurist ; Pashley, whose 
 
His many-sided Sympathies. 271 
 
 pertinacity in arguing Poor Law appeals before 
 the Queen's Bench caused a new Bill to be 
 christened, ' A Bill for the better suppression 
 of Pashley ; ' and Baron Pennefather, the 
 blind old Judge who, in order that the Whigs 
 might not appoint his successor, stuck to his 
 ermine when the fact of his not being- able to 
 scan the features of a witness was a public 
 scandal, are the only lawyers who have fallen 
 by the way-side. Science has, however, lost 
 in George Peacock a brilliant analyst and one 
 of the finest examiners that ever entered the 
 Cambridge Senate House, or tested the 
 merits of the first six Wranglers for a Smith's 
 Prize. Humboldt has gone to his rest at 
 ninety, and left behind him a name for having 
 tied up the fasces of all scientific knowledge, 
 and treated all its lovers as members of one 
 great family. The cautious, calculating 
 Stephenson died within a few days of his 
 rival, the dashing, reckless Brunei, who 
 leaves the Great Eastern steamship, to all 
 present seeming the same useless monument 
 that the Thames Tunnel proved to his father. 
 Painting has lost its discriminating, careful 
 Leslie, its lighter and more airy Stone, and 
 
272 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 that once great master of Horse Anatomy, 
 James Ward. Hallam is buried on the same 
 headland where Tennyson sat when Arthur 
 Hallam died, with the wild waves murmur- 
 ing, and the stately ships at his feet, as he 
 dreamed of 
 
 1 The touch of a vanished hand 
 And the sound of a voice that is still.' 
 
 " Washington Irving, whose works Dickens 
 used as a boy to place under his pillow, and 
 from whose glorious simplicity and delicate 
 wit the author of ' Pickwick ' has too often 
 wandered away, can come to England no 
 more to revisit the scenes of his ' Brace- 
 bridge Hall,' and to wield the poker which 
 he dubbed his 'sceptre' at the Red Horse 
 Hotel, Stratford-on-Avon ; De Quincey, too, 
 with all his strange feverish dreams has gone 
 to join the Coleridges, Samuel and Hartley 
 (father and son), Wordsworth, Southey, 
 Arnold, and all that brilliant band which erst 
 made the " Lake country" something far 
 more than a pleasant summer resort ; Leigh 
 Hunt will gladden us no more with his 
 quaint old stories, running back to the very 
 
His many-sided Sympathies. 273 
 
 days when Pitt was seen walking up Regent 
 Street with his nose in the air ; and Lady 
 Morgan, the 'Wild Irish Girl,' in her yellow 
 turban, can no longer seek to emulate the 
 glories and the sprightly wit which flashed 
 upon the outer world from beneath the pea- 
 cock hangings of Mrs. Montague, in Port- 
 man Square. 
 
 " 'Adelphi Wright,' as the galleries of 
 every theatre still fondly call him, will never 
 again display his jolly face and his immortal 
 blue coat, white trousers, pumps, and straps 
 at the side scenes, and get, like Liston, three 
 rattling rounds of applause without uttering 
 a word in the character of ' Billy Leck-a-day/ 
 ' John Grumley,' 'Jack Grinnidge,' or ' Sim- 
 mons, the Weaver.' With him ' Marmaduke 
 Magog,' whose pomposities once lured us 
 three nights in succession to the pit (a 
 thing that nothing save old Farren and 
 Mrs. Glover in 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' 
 ever did before), and those inimitable scenes 
 with the property baby, have all passed 
 away. Let us not think of him as he ap- 
 peared after being wheeled about a whole 
 summer at Margate with dropsy daily gain- 
 18 
 
274 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 ing ground. At last he got a little relief, 
 and straightway visited his Adelphi haunts 
 for a brief space ; but, alas ! how changed 
 from his old roaring, gagging self. It is 
 pleasanter only to remember the days when 
 he could carry through the dullest of plays 
 alone and unassisted before her Majesty at 
 Windsor, when he played up to Miss Murray 
 or Miss Woolgar, scrutinising in detail the 
 whole of the grinning dramatis personce to 
 * try and find a father among 'em ' ; or 
 receiving from Paul Bedford when about to 
 engage w T ith him in mortal combat, the com- 
 forting assurance that he, Paul, was ' seven- 
 teen stun, four pounds and a hounce.' Well 
 might we feel that the gaiety of thousands in 
 town and country had been eclipsed as we 
 stood by his open grave in the very Bromp- 
 ton Cemetery where, eight years before, we 
 had seen him bathed in tears as chief mourner 
 at the funeral of little Munyard, alias 
 4 Jemmy Starlight.' " 
 
275 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HIS LOVE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 Written mainly by his Widow. 
 
 MONGST the many traits in 
 " The Druid's " character was 
 one that his family must ever 
 remember with gratitude — his 
 great love for children and his intense 
 pleasure in having his sons and daughters 
 around him in spare moments snatched from 
 almost incessant labour with the pen. No 
 matter how wearied he mio-ht be after a 
 hard day's work, or how difficult the sub- 
 ject that he had in hand, he was always 
 ready to listen to their artless prattle and 
 to sympathise with the childish joys and 
 troubles of his little ones. Each new-born 
 infant, as it was put into his arms, was 
 hailed with an ever growing tenderness, 
 
276 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 and he would confide to its mother that he 
 really thought the new treasure was "just a 
 wee bit nicer and prettier than the last." 
 He would nurse an infant in long - clothes 
 most skilfully and scientifically ; his first visit 
 on returning home from his daily duties in 
 town being ever to the nursery, where the 
 little group longingly awaited the rarely 
 omitted half hour of games with " Father." 
 Then he would rush off to the poultry yard, 
 the habitation of all the children's pets, in- 
 cluding the fowls in which he took such 
 intense interest for many years. Lastly, 
 he would look for his wife, who, complain- 
 ing bitterly one day of standing last on the 
 list, was silenced by the apt rejoinder, 
 " Ought I not to keep my choicest treasure 
 for a final treat ? " 
 
 He delighted to draw his children out upon 
 any subject that engaged their attention, and 
 was always not only ready, but eager to lend 
 his valuable assistance and advice in the 
 rehearsal of their juvenile recitations and the 
 preparation of their tableaux and charades. 
 
 His patience with them at all times was 
 inexhaustible, except when called upon to 
 
His Love of Children. 277 
 
 assist in their studies, on which occasions he 
 seemed to fail to understand why the unravel- 
 ling of passages of Virgil or Xenophon should 
 not be as easy to them as it appeared to him, 
 and their apparent stupidity vexed him sorely. 
 He had a great idea that his sons should 
 never miss an opportunity of witnessing 
 events which might " make history," and so 
 keen was his anxiety on this head during the 
 time of the Fenian riots, that, on arriving 
 home on the night of the great open-air 
 demonstration in Hyde Park and finding his 
 elder sons had gone out to witness the scene 
 and, if necessary, to participate in the skirmish 
 as special constables, he insisted that the ten- 
 year-old boy should be roused from his bed 
 and dressed to accompany him to the scene 
 of action. Together they solemnly climbed 
 a tree, and from this excellent coign of vant- 
 age watched the arrival of the Life Guards 
 and Grenadier Guards, who subsequently 
 charged and dispersed the rioters, the latter 
 in their fear and haste leaving the Park, not 
 through the gates, but straight over the iron 
 palings, which, not having time to climb, they 
 uprooted and threw down. It was midnight 
 
278 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 before "The Druid" and his little boy reached 
 home, and certainly the recollection of that 
 night will never fade from the latter's 
 memory. 
 
 Much however, as he loved children, it 
 must be owned that he was a very child him- 
 self in their management, and to the last day 
 of his life he held strongly to the belief that 
 no boy's grievance was too great to be over- 
 come by the liberal application of jam tarts, 
 taken internally. He has been known to bid 
 good-bye to one of his boys, whom he had 
 taken from school for a day, in order to go 
 with him on a visit to some celebrated Kennels 
 and to send him back late at night, tired, 
 sleepy and cross, but the proud possessor of 
 six jam tarts, which were mostly negotiated 
 before the school was reached. Despite this 
 treatment the boy still lives, and "The Druid" 
 wended his way home, quite satisfied that he 
 had done his duty. Ill-health alone prevented 
 him from participating in all the sports and 
 amusements of his sons, and eager as he ever 
 was that he might live to see one of them 
 make a name for himself in the scholastic or 
 literary world, it cannot be denied that these 
 
His Love of Children. 279 
 
 higher aspirations on their behalf would for 
 the time being be forgotten, on hearing of 
 any special aptitude shown, or distinction 
 gained by one of them in any branch of sport 
 or of athletic exercise. When health per- 
 mitted, he rarely missed attending any athletic 
 meeting at which his eldest son, Sydenham 
 Dixon, happened to be competing, taking the 
 greatest interest and pride in some of the 
 latter's really fine performances on the 
 running path. 
 
 His keen sense of humour led him perhaps 
 to forgive and gloss over many youthful 
 errors which had to him their laughable side, 
 but his memory lives with his children as 
 that of an ever-indulgent, ever-loving father, 
 whose untimely death was to them an irre- 
 parable loss. 
 
 His total disregard of dress and appear- 
 ance was a source of much embarrassment to 
 all his family and especially to the younger 
 members. One of his sons recalls a prize 
 day at Kensington Grammar School (in which 
 ''The Druid" was deeply interested), when 
 on his arrival his general appearance was 
 such as to evoke both merriment and disdain 
 
280 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 among the boys. Nor can this be wondered 
 at, for the tall bent figure with the badly cut 
 grey suit, old-fashioned hat, gaiters and huge 
 hockey stick, the ensemble being completed 
 by a shepherd's plaid shawl thrown over the 
 shoulders, was a sight calculated to upset the 
 gravity of boys who are naturally prone to be 
 biassed by external appearances. 
 
 They thought that his presence there was 
 probably a mistake, but, when after several 
 somewhat dry and formal speeches the queer 
 figure moved to the front of the platform, the 
 careworn face lighted up and the apparently 
 old man became for the moment almost a boy 
 again, whilst delivering a bright telling speech, 
 full of reminiscence and speaking to boys as 
 only one who knew them and their ways 
 could speak, the feeling of partial contempt 
 melted into one of respect and admiration, and 
 he was ever afterwards sure of a grand recep- 
 tion. 
 
 His religion was as bright and cheerful as 
 his natural temperament. From his earliest 
 youth, he had a deep reverence for holy 
 things. A few minutes before midnight on 
 Saturday, he always laid aside his writings, 
 
His Love of Children. 281 
 
 and nothing would induce him to touch them 
 on the Sunday. In whatever house or com- 
 pany he found himself, he would put a prayer 
 book in his pocket and walk away to some 
 quaint old country church. His voice was 
 melodious and his ear correct, and he would 
 join heartily in the musical portion of the 
 service. When at home, he regularly 
 attended church in the morning, and when 
 health permitted, in the evening also. As 
 his children grew up around him, he would 
 tell them wonderful stories and draw 
 pictures, chiefly of churches (he was clever 
 with his pencil), thus rendering Sunday a 
 bright and happy day. To vary the pictures, 
 cabs were introduced taking the people to 
 church ; and on wet Sundays he would draw 
 " Noah's Ark,'' and all the animals entering 
 two and two. This sympathy with the 
 young extended beyond his own family 
 circle ; many a lad came to him for help and 
 counsel, and it was a delight to " The Druid " 
 if, by some rare chance, he came across one 
 of a studious turn of mind. Cheerfully 
 would he lay aside his own work to coach a 
 boy preparing for school or college exams., 
 
282 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 and one of these who eventually took a 
 splendid degree, came on the eve of his 
 marriage to consult his old friend concerning 
 his speech on the day of the important event. 
 " The Druid " was well known as a concise 
 and effective speaker, and many applications 
 were made to him to write speeches for 
 friends on a variety of topics. On this 
 special occasion he accomplished his task 
 with ease, and being satisfied with the result, 
 sat for hours with the bridegroom elect, 
 rehearsing and amending the carefully pre- 
 pared composition. The happy morn arrived, 
 and " The Druid" (rubbing his hands as was 
 his wont when pleased) eagerly awaited the 
 moment for the bridegroom to return thanks. 
 When at length it came, the unhappy man rose 
 and began : " Ladies and gentlemen, I beg 
 to thank you for coming here to-day ! " 
 Then followed an awful pause, and casting 
 an agonized look around him, he sat down, 
 exclaiming: " I have forgotten every word of 
 it ! " The poor " Druid " long suffered from 
 the shock and disappointment. His unosten- 
 tatious acts of kindness were of constant 
 occurrence, but one in especial recurs to the 
 
His Love of Children. 28 
 
 j 
 
 writer's memory as a good illustration of his 
 universal charity. He discovered in the 
 Chelsea Workhouse an aged man, who had 
 in his youth been trainer to some nobleman, 
 but now, blind and lame, he seemed friendless 
 and forgotten. For many months " The 
 Druid " went after morning service every 
 Sunday, and with his own hand led the old 
 man back to his house in Kensington Square. 
 There his humble friend got a plentiful meal 
 of roast beef and plum pudding, and after a 
 few hours of cheerful talk, was led back, 
 strengthened and refreshed for the desagrd- 
 ment of another week of Union fare. 
 
 The house in Kensington Square had 
 behind it a long old-fashioned orarden, in 
 which stood a mulberry tree and several pear 
 trees, under the shadow of which he loved to 
 sit in his rare moments of leisure. Beyond 
 the garden was a large yard with fowl houses, 
 kennels, and other minor sheds wherein "The 
 Druid " housed all the family pets. For years 
 he kept a record of every Ggg laid ; nor, when 
 in London, was anyone permitted to go near 
 the nests but himself. When increasing ill- 
 ness, inevitably resulting in decreasing in- 
 
284 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 come, obliged him to remove to a smaller 
 house in Warwick Gardens, his one source of 
 regret was the loss of his ''live stock." His 
 wife and children still entertain a vivid and 
 tender remembrance of him, as he stood 
 beneath the mulberry tree on the eve of the 
 flitting, and exclaimed, with a suspicion of 
 tears in his voice : lt How shall I be able to 
 bear my pain and trouble when deprived of 
 this dear old garden, and the dogs, rabbits, 
 ferrets, pigeons, and doves ? I love them 
 every one, even down to the little tame mice 
 that run so fearlessly over my feet." 
 
 "The Druid" had an innate respect for 
 true and genuine piety, even when accom- 
 panied, as it sometimes is, by a feebleness ol 
 intellect. On one occasion, his young sons, 
 purely out of mischief, stigmatised some half 
 dozen of the clergy and other special friends 
 of their mother, as "muffs!" Rising from 
 the table, and demanding silence, he said 
 wrathfully : " Boys ! The Kingdom of Heaven 
 will be largely composed of muffs, and 1 
 earnestly pray that I may find entrance 
 amongst them." He was very reserved on 
 religious subjects, even with his wife ; but 
 
His Love of Children. 285 
 
 though silent, his feelings were deep, and his 
 convictions strong. However ill or suffering 
 he might be, he liked his wife to read a 
 Psalm to him every night ; he delighted in 
 the Psalms, although his well-marked Bible 
 proved his careful study of every portion of the 
 Holy Book. Throughout those last four pain- 
 ful years of his existence, he never lay down 
 in his bed, but was "packed, 1 ' as he termed it, 
 in a spacious easy chair, with head rests, and 
 an inclined board for his feet. Many a time, 
 when he believed his wife to be sleeping, 
 would he pray most fervently for strength to 
 endure to the end. And " endure" he did 
 heroically ; rarely did a murmur escape his 
 lips : but rather, a continual thanksgiving for 
 " mercies and blessings," the existence of 
 which those ministering to him failed to dis- 
 cover. By his earnest entreaty, no hired 
 nurse ever attended his bedside, and it is still 
 a tender consolation to his widow to feel that 
 no hand but her own soothed his last days. 
 He wrote to the very last in the intervals of 
 pain, assisted most patiently and efficiently by 
 his eldest son, Henry Sydenham. Very 
 shortly before his death he bore striking 
 
286 Life and Times of " The Druid!" 
 
 testimony to the power of faith in his Saviour. 
 Addressing some who were near him he said, 
 " For many years I contrived to live pretty 
 comfortably without Jesus ; but I want you all 
 to know that I could not die without Him." 
 
 On beino- told the end was at hand he 
 exclaimed, "Oh, God, I thank Thee ! I could 
 not bear much more." 
 
287 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE DRUID " AS A POLITICIAN. 
 
 EVER yet was there a boy sent 
 to Rugby School to be educated 
 there when Dr. Arnold was in 
 his prime, who was more in a 
 condition to imbibe and sympathise with the 
 atmosphere of Liberal politics which that 
 greatest of schoolmasters diffused around him. 
 What that atmosphere was may be gathered 
 from many passages to be found in Dean 
 Stanley's admirable " Life of Dr. Arnold," one 
 of which and one only, I must ask permission 
 to add to these pages. In chapter iv., the 
 following sentences occur : — 
 
 11 There was a peculiar importance attach- 
 ing in Dr. Arnold's view, to political ques- 
 tions, with which every reader of his works 
 must be familiar. The life of the common- 
 
288 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 wealth was to him the main subject of history; 
 the desire of taking an active share in the 
 ofreat work of government was the highest 
 earthly desire of the ripened mind. Those 
 who read his letters will be startled at times 
 by the interest with which he watches the 
 changes of administration where to many the 
 real difference would seem comparatively 
 trifling. Thus he would speak of a Ministry 
 advocating even good measures inconsistently 
 with their position and principles ' as a daily 
 pain — a moral east wind which made him feel 
 uncomfortable without any positive ailment ' ; 
 or he would lament the ascendancy of false 
 political views as tending to the sure moral 
 degradation of the whole community and the 
 ultimate social disorganisation of our system. 
 "Conservatism, in Dr. Arnold's mouth, 
 was not merely the watchword of an English 
 party, but the symbol of an evil against which 
 his whole life, public and private, was one 
 continued struggle. Again, Jacobinism, in 
 his use of the word, included not only the 
 extreme movement party in France or 
 England, but all the natural tendencies of 
 mankind to oppose the authority of law, 
 
" The Druid" as a Politician. 289 
 
 divine and human, which he regarded with 
 so deep a reverence. Popular principles and 
 democracy, when he used those words in a 
 good sense, were not the opposition to a 
 hereditary Monarchy or Peerage, which he 
 always valued as precious elements of national 
 life, but were inseparably blended with his 
 strong belief in the injustice and want of 
 sympathy generally shown by the higher to 
 the lower orders. Liberal principles were not 
 merely the expression of his adherence to a 
 Whig Ministry, but of his belief in the con- 
 stant necessity of applying those principles of 
 advance and reform which, in their most 
 perfect development, he conceived to be 
 identical with Christianity itself. Vehement 
 as he was in assailing evil, his whole mind 
 was essentially constructive ; his love of 
 reform was in exact proportion to his love 
 of the institutions which he wished to reform; 
 his hatred of shadows in exact proportion to 
 his love of realities." 
 
 I cannot recall any other pupil of Dr. 
 
 Arnold, during the latter's fourteen years of 
 
 supremacy at Rugby School, who represented 
 
 his master's politics so faithfully as Henry 
 
 19 
 
290 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 Hall Dixon. No one who reads Mr. 
 Prothero's most interesting and instructive 
 " Life of Dean Stanley" can fail to perceive 
 that his hero had no independent political 
 opinions at all. On the other hand, 
 Henry Dixon resembled Dr. Arnold in the 
 thoroughness and intensity of his conviction 
 that Conservatism symbolised sin, and 
 Liberalism health, vigour, and life. Like 
 the cloud of the poet Wordsworth, " which 
 moveth altogether if it move at all," master 
 and pupil regarded everything which they 
 took in hand as part of their daily religion. 
 Referring to "The Druid," I cannot illustrate 
 my meaning better than by quoting the four 
 following anecdotes, communicated to me by 
 his nephew, Mr. Francis Peter Dixon, of 7, 
 Howard Terrace, Carlisle. I give them in 
 their writer's own words : — 
 
 I. 
 
 "At the time of the General Election of 
 1868, which occurred in the month of 
 November, and resulted in the elevation of 
 Mr. Gladstone for the first time to the proud 
 position of Prime Minister with a large 
 
"The Druid" as a Politician. 291 
 
 majority to support him, my uncle, Mr. H. PL 
 Dixon, happened to be visiting his mother, 
 Mrs. Peter Dixon, at Holme Eden, near 
 Carlisle. It was the last General Election 
 which my uncle lived to see. He had been 
 born and brought up at Holme Eden, a 
 neighbourhood full of old associations which 
 greatly interested him, and where, I need 
 hardly add, he was much admired and re- 
 spected by his numerous friends. My father, 
 his eldest brother, had been dead about eleven 
 years, and I, then a youth of nineteen, was 
 heir to the Holme Eden estate, and residing 
 with my grandmother in order to learn the 
 business of spinning and manufacturing 
 cotton, carried on by the firm of Messrs. 
 Peter Dixon & Co., at Warwick Works, close 
 by. I well remember the earnest political 
 discussions and arguments between my uncle 
 and two of his brothers, Mr. John Dixon of 
 Manchester, and Captain (now General) 
 Dixon of the Madras Native Infantry, both 
 of whom were Conservatives. ' The Druid ' 
 was equally strong in his Liberal opinions, 
 and a great admirer of Mr. Gladstone. He 
 had a most wonderful faculty of remembering 
 
292 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 political events, and such a quick and ready- 
 power of repartee that he was much more than 
 a match for his two brothers, easily refuting 
 their arguments, and holding up their old, 
 high-dried Toryism to such exquisite ridicule 
 that on many occasions they lost their tempers, 
 so that their sisters had to intervene as peace- 
 makers. These discussions were my first 
 taste of politics, and so impressed was I by 
 Uncle Henry's readiness and ability that I 
 became a Liberal, and have remained one 
 ever since." 
 
 II. 
 
 " In those times there were public nomina- 
 tion days, which were almost as exciting and 
 interesting as the election days themselves. 
 In Carlisle, a large wooden platform used to 
 be erected for the hustings in the market 
 place, in front of the Town Hall, for the use 
 of the candidates, their proposers, seconders, 
 and principal supporters. The Blues or 
 Liberals were on the right hand side of the 
 hustings, and the Yellows or Conservatives 
 on the left. The audience, an immense 
 crowd holding all shades of political opinion, 
 
"The Druid" as a Politician. 293 
 
 filled the large open space in front. It was 
 always a stirring and exciting scene, accom- 
 panied at times by much rough horse-play 
 and disorder, by throwing of rotten eggs 
 and other unsavoury missiles at the candi- 
 dates, and sometimes by the scattering of 
 blue and yellow powder. Occasionally 
 violent rioting broke out among the dense 
 throngs of people below. Well do I recollect 
 my uncle taking me into Carlisle from Holme 
 Eden, and leading me on to the hustings to 
 support Sir Wilfrid Lawson and the late Mr. 
 Edmund Potter, the two Liberal candidates. 
 Being very young, I soon got tired of the 
 speeches and began to move about the plat- 
 form, approaching rather closely to the Tory 
 side. I was quickly perceived and called 
 back by 'The Druid,' who exclaimed: 'Come 
 away from there, my boy, at once, or your 
 politics may, perhaps, be misunderstood.' 
 After the proceedings on the hustings were 
 over, we went to lunch with a relative, Mr. 
 Silas Saul, a leading solicitor of Carlisle, and 
 the head Conservative agent for East Cum- 
 berland. I can well remember my Uncle 
 Henry joking with Mr. Saul at luncheon 
 
294 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 about the difference between them in politics, 
 and my uncle's look of delight when he 
 mentioned that he had just come away from 
 the hustings, where, pointing at me, ' he had 
 just been blooding a young Blue.' The 
 result of this election was that Sir Wilfrid 
 Lawson and Mr. Potter were both returned, 
 defeating Mr. W. N. Hodgson, one of the 
 sitting members and a Conservative." 
 
 III. 
 
 " Simultaneously my uncle took the deepest 
 interest in the election for East Cumberland, 
 which followed the election for the city of Car- 
 lisle. He was indefatigable in visiting many 
 of his old friends and neighbours, doing his 
 utmost to persuade them to vote and work for 
 the Liberal candidates, the Hon. Charles 
 Howard of Naworth Castle, and Mr. William 
 Marshall of Patterdale Hall, who between 
 them had held undisputed possession of the 
 seats for that division of the county for many 
 years. At last, after a short and sharp con- 
 test, which until the eleventh hour was wholly 
 unexpected, Mr. Marshall lost his seat, hav- 
 ing been defeated by Mr. W. N. Hodgson of 
 
"The Druid" as a Politician. 295 
 
 Newby Grange, the recently rejected mem- 
 ber for Carlisle city. One amusing little 
 incident of this struggle in East Cumberland 
 was that, after much persuasion and no small 
 amount of chaff and banter about the victim 
 being tied to his wife's apron strings (she was 
 a violent Tory), my uncle induced his brother 
 Mr. Tredway Dixon, who was no politician, 
 to vote for the Liberal candidates. So faint 
 was the interest in the election felt by Mr. 
 Tredway Dixon that a week or two later he 
 met Mr. Hodgson in Carlisle, and warmly 
 congratulated him upon being returned, quite 
 oblivious of the fact that he had himself voted 
 openly against him." 
 
 IV. 
 
 " In a few days my Uncle Henry left 
 Holme Eden to spend Christmas with his 
 family in London. This was his last active 
 participation in politics, as his life was mani- 
 festly drawing to a close. So strong, how- 
 ever, was in his case the ruling passion even 
 in death, that on the day before he breathed 
 his last — March 16th, 1870 — he called for 
 writing materials and drew up on a sheet of 
 
296 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 note paper a codicil to his will, leaving to me 
 his share in a freehold house in Carlisle which 
 gives a vote for North Cumberland. As he 
 signed this codicil, he remarked to those 
 standing round his bed, that he left this little 
 property to me because he was not sure that 
 any of his own sons would vote Liberal when 
 he was gone, and that he had confidence in my 
 always doing so. In this way I have pos- 
 sessed a vote for North Cumberland for many 
 years, and have invariably exercised my 
 privilege by voting as I feel sure he would 
 have done had his life been spared." 
 
 Another point of resemblance between Dr. 
 Arnold and Henry Dixon as politicians was 
 that both were always eager to give expres- 
 sion to their opinions and convictions in 
 print. In 1831 and 1832 Dr. Arnold, for 
 instance, was so much alarmed by the aspect 
 of English society and by the political agita- 
 tions caused by the Reform Bill that he set 
 himself to work to impart to the publications 
 of the " Society for the Diffusion of Useful 
 Knowledge " something of a religious spirit 
 bearing upon politics, in which they seemed 
 to him to be deficient. Thus he writes as 
 
"The Druid" as a Politician. 297 
 
 follows to a friend : "If there were no other 
 objections to the Penny Magazine assuming 
 a distinctly Christian tone than mere difficul- 
 ties of execution, would most readily offer 
 my best services, such as they are, to the 
 Society, and would endeavour to furnish them 
 with such articles as I desire to see printed by 
 them." 
 
 The most practical attempt, however, at a 
 realisation of these views was Dr. Arnold's 
 endeavour to set up a weekly newspaper 
 called The Englishman s Register, which 
 he undertook in 1831, more to relieve his own 
 conscience than with the sanguine hope of 
 doing any good. He was the proprietor, 
 though not the sole editor, and contributed 
 the chief articles in it, signed "A.," and con- 
 sisting chiefly of comments on the political 
 events of the day, mixed with explanations of 
 Scripture as it bore upon them. It died a 
 natural death in a few weeks, partly from his 
 want of leisure and from the great expenses 
 entailed upon him, and partly from want of 
 sympathy with his writings in any of the 
 existing political parties. Finding, however, 
 that some of his articles had been copied 
 
298 Life and Times of " The Druid' 
 
 into the Sheffield Courant, he opened com- 
 munication with its Editor which he main- 
 tained from that time forward until his death, 
 and wrote a series of letters in that paper, 
 some of which were afterwards published 
 separately. 
 
 It was probably in consequence of the 
 example thus set by his idolised master that, 
 from his very earliest years, "The Druid" 
 was prompted by an ardent desire to see 
 himself in print. His earliest prolusions at 
 Rugby School have already been noticed, but 
 after his marriage he lost no opportunity of 
 writing political articles in every paper to 
 which he could gain access ; nor was it long 
 before some of his articles found favour in 
 the eyes of leading statesmen of that day. It 
 has already been mentioned that his justifica- 
 tion of the course adopted by Sir Robert 
 Peel in repealing the Corn Laws was so well 
 reasoned and so admirably expressed that it 
 caught the quick eye of Sir James Graham 
 (then Home Secretary), who sent for " The 
 Druid " and offered him an appointment in 
 the Civil Service if he cared to accept it. 
 " The Druid," however, refused to sacrifice 
 
"The Druid" as a Politician. 299 
 
 his prospects at the Bar, and the result was 
 that, happily for his readers, he became one 
 of the most successful public writers of the 
 century. The fervour of his political articles 
 may be gauged by a specimen written when 
 its author was but twenty-six years old. 
 
 It should be premised that in 1848, the 
 death of Lord Morpeth's aged father, the 
 sixth Earl of Carlisle, removed the Liberal 
 representative of the West Riding from the 
 House of Commons, and although it was 
 little anticipated at the time, practically 
 brought his public life in England to a close. 
 Lord Morpeth had been returned for the 
 West Riding on eight different occasions, 
 when, in a moment of caprice, such as all 
 great constituencies are occasionally liable to, 
 he and his Liberal colleague, Lord Milton, 
 were defeated in 1841, by Mr. Evelyn 
 Denison and Mr. John Stuart- Wortley. 
 The triumph of the two latter candidates was 
 short lived, as the following article will show. 
 It should be added that Lord Morpeth was 
 the uncle of the present Duke of Devonshire ; 
 that he was Chief Secretary of Ireland from 
 1835 to 1 84 1 ; and Lord Lieutenant (as Lord 
 
300 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 Carlisle) from 1855 to 1858 ; and again from 
 1859 till 1864, when he died. In addition, 
 he held many other high political offices. 
 
 11 Lord Morpeth's Farewell. 
 
 (From the Doncaster Gazette of October 
 
 27th, 1848.) 
 
 "George Frederick, sixth Earl of Carlisle, 
 at length sleeps with his forefathers, in the 
 Mausoleum at Castle Howard ; and his eldest 
 son, the true-hearted Morpeth, has, with 
 characteristic good feeling, ' devoted ' to the 
 people of the West Riding, the ' last signa- 
 ture of a name which has derived from them 
 its chief illustration,' throughout eighteen 
 years of a chivalrous political attachment. 
 The dead sire was not unworthy of the son. 
 It is true that the former's place among his 
 Peers, beneath the shadow of the time- 
 honoured Abbey of Westminster, had long 
 known him no more. He had not, like that 
 son, mingled ' frank and free with toiling 
 men ' in the busy hives of living industry 
 which dot the vast surface of the West 
 Riding ; nor had he, with every English 
 heart bidding him ' God speed,' crossed the 
 
"The Druid" as a Politician. 301 
 
 blue waves of the Atlantic, and wandered 
 with peace and commerce on his lips amid the 
 infant cities and gigantic lakes and forests of 
 the New World. Still, though he may have 
 lacked the earnest purpose of his ' first-born 
 and his best,' and though he was not snatched 
 by an inscrutable decree ' from the noblest 
 uses of life's prime,' he left no deep blank 
 behind him ; but broken as had been his 
 vigour for years by sickness, he proved in 
 age as in youth, no aristocratic laggard in the 
 onward march of the British people. Thus, 
 the glorious truth applied not to him that, 
 
 " ' The image of a man who died 
 In his hey-day of renown, 
 Hath a fearful power to which the pride 
 Of fiery life bows down.' 
 
 " Nevertheless, when he passed into the 
 unseen world, one of the last great links that 
 bind together the stormy political past and 
 present was for ever broken. He drew his 
 first breath in a century fraught with grand 
 historic remembrances. The fate of the help- 
 less Charles Stuart, and of the gay Scottish 
 chiefs who flocked to his standard when he 
 kept court at Holyrood, was then still fresh in 
 
302 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 the recollection of the fair-haired daughters of 
 the ' land of the mountain and the flood ' ; the 
 rude, loving Highlanders who had drawn 
 their claymores at Culloden, that the ' bonnie 
 Prince might enjoy his ain again,' were still 
 faithful to his memory ; the mouldering, 
 ghastly heads of their clansmen, each of whom 
 had issued forth on the fatal sledge, side by 
 side with his executioner, from beneath the 
 massive portcullis of Carlisle Castle, to the 
 dark scaffold on Harraby Hill, had but a few 
 years before been the awe and wonder of the 
 market people as they viewed them spiked 
 above the iron gates of that ancient border 
 town. A century earlier, from ward and keep 
 at midnight, in his own baronial castle of 
 Naworth, ' bugles blew for Belted Will,' as 
 the moss-troopers scoured through the park 
 on their marauding forays. His youthful lot 
 in the latter years of that stirring century was 
 cast in an age teeming with giant intellects, 
 who scarce found their equals even under the 
 fostering sway of Elizabeth. Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, w r eary with the labours of his 
 easel, and Samuel Johnson, with the faithful 
 Boswell, eagerly listening for ' thoughts that 
 
" The Druid" as a Politician. 303 
 
 breathe and words that burn,' at his side, 
 might be seen arm in arm with Charles Fox, 
 the English Demosthenes, wending their way 
 by the light of a flambeau to their symposium 
 in Gerrard Street, and perchance hailing the 
 timid but self-sufficient Oliver Goldsmith, or 
 the scoffing, licentious Gibbon, bound on the 
 same errand, as they passed along the Strand. 
 David Garrick was drawing tears and laughter 
 by turns, as he wooed the sister Muses on the 
 stage of Old Drury. It was Lord Carlisle's 
 wont, when the interests of the West Riding 
 or of the Abolitionists did not claim his hours, 
 to stand by the piano and listen to the voice of 
 Wilberforce, as sweet and powerful in song 
 as it had been when heard to the cost of the 
 Coalition Ministry by assembled thousands of 
 Yorkshiremen, from the platform in York 
 Castle Yard. The high-souled Windham and 
 the witty Sheridan could nightly command 
 the applause of a listening senate, and Charles 
 James Fox, forsaking his loved Newmarket, 
 and aided by the Duchess of Devonshire's 
 eyes, won his ever-memorable Westminster 
 election, and after being chaired in pomp 
 behind banners surmounted with the Prince's 
 
304 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 feathers, and inscribed to Female Patriotism, 
 celebrated his victory at the blue and buff fete 
 of lovely Mrs. Crewe. The late Earl's boyish 
 ears must have drunk in the incidents of those 
 days as they were transmitted to his home 
 through the London journals by the ' God 
 willing, four days coach to York,' or were 
 echoed in the merry Eton quadrangle ; and 
 hence when he grew up to manhood, he 
 longed to bear his part, and soon joined the 
 Embassy of the courtly Lord Malmesbury at 
 Paris. After the death of Fox he was more 
 of a quiet spectator of political events than 
 an energetic actor in them. His own life's 
 varied experience had taught him a deep 
 historic lesson. He had heard when a youth 
 of the taking of the Bastille, and the horrors 
 of the three days of July ; and he lived to 
 see them again enacted with redoubled fury, 
 when the Tuilleries were sacked and the 
 'holy man of God,' standing between the 
 dead and the living on the barricade, sank 
 down beneath his death blow. He had 
 1 feared to speak of '98/ and, after the lapse 
 of half a century had witnessed the leaders 
 in a second rebellion about to be consigned to 
 
"The Druid" as a Politician. 305 
 
 a life of foreign bondage, in which no holiday- 
 ever comes round. He had triumphed over 
 Nelson's despatches from the Nile and Tra- 
 falgar; had tempered his joy with deep sorrow, 
 when the black-edged Gazette told how his 
 brother, ' young, gallant Howard,' had, ere 
 the cannon of Waterloo ceased to roar, fallen 
 on the battle field with a bullet through his 
 heart ; and he had lived to see the crown of 
 Indian victories won by Gough and Hardinge 
 at Sobraon. In the worst of times when the 
 bigot Eldon and the Toryism that revered 
 Gatton and old Sarum were triumphant, and 
 Reform a mere jest and bye-word, he had 
 dared to be honest ; and under the banner of 
 Earl Grey, who at last took off the bearing 
 rein from the English people, had beheld 
 the death throes of the haters of civil and 
 religious freedom, as embodied in the Reform 
 and Catholic Emancipation Acts. Knowing, 
 too, from his parent's lips how in the very 
 year of his birth the hardy sons of America, 
 tortured to madness by tyranny and Stamp 
 Acts, had first meditated renouncing the 
 sovereignty of their forefathers, he did not 
 hesitate in the very evening of life to record 
 20 
 
o6 Life and Times of " The Druid.' 
 
 his allegiance to the great principles of com- 
 mercial liberty, to which right, fearlessly pro- 
 mulgated by Richard Cobden and endorsed 
 by the hand of his own son, those very men, 
 no longer aliens in heart, at once set their 
 seal. To watch the career of that son from 
 the day when he heard him rehearse the 
 praises of the sunny skies and fabled roses of 
 Paestum from the very same Oxford rostrum 
 whence Reginald Heber had breathed forth 
 his ' Palestine,' and to read the anxiously 
 looked for letter announcing that Lord 
 Morpeth had appeared in the honours list 
 as a first-class man, served to cheer his sick 
 pillow through many a night of weariness and 
 many a suffering day. The public part of 
 that son's career began in 1830, when by the 
 verdict of all Yorkshire, he was returned at 
 the head of the poll, and joined hand and 
 heart with Henry Brougham, who was one of 
 his colleagues in the great struggles of that 
 stormy period. Eight times was it his lot, as 
 a newly-elected Knight of the Shire, to have 
 the sword girded to his side, until at last the 
 men of the West Riding heard him, as lowest 
 on the poll, take an affectionate farewell of 
 
"The Druid" as a Politician. 307 
 
 them for a season. So pathetic were his 
 valedictory words that they would un- 
 doubtedly have secured his return had they 
 been spoken before the irrevocable fiat had 
 gone forth. But the manly warning which 
 he then delivered that those great principles 
 which they had just spurned were proceeding 
 silently and irresistibly on their onward though 
 unseen track, had its glorious fulfilment when 
 with Richard Cobden for his colleague he again 
 stood at the Speaker's table and took the oath 
 as their representative. Truly has it been 
 said that the voice of the West Riding is the 
 future voice of England, which no Prime 
 Minister, however reckless, can dare to dis- 
 regard. By the mouths of the classic 
 Morpeth and the persuasive Cobden she has 
 lately spoken, as she did at the Reform crisis, 
 with a voice of unmistakable power." 
 
3 o8 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE "OLD MORTALITY" OF THE TURF. 
 
 HAT "The Druid" knew about 
 racing, fox-hunting, and grey- 
 hound coursing was quite in- 
 sufficient to fit him for writ- 
 ing upon agriculture, and upon flocks and 
 herds. Sitting, however, at the feet of such 
 a Gamaliel as Mr. Thornton, the far-famed 
 shorthorn auctioneer, he soon acquired an 
 amount of information which enabled him 
 for many years to supply a weekly column, 
 headed " The Farm," to the Illustrated 
 London News, which soon became his favour- 
 ite work. With Mr. Thornton as his co- 
 adjutor, "The Druid" also wrote an essay 
 upon " The History of Shorthorns " for the 
 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 
 which succeeded (as all who read it will 
 
The "Old Mortality" of the Turf. 309 
 
 readily understand) in winning the prize. I 
 have omitted, however, to state that Henry 
 Dixon's contributions to the Mark Lane 
 Express soon had the natural effect of 
 elevating that journal above all its agricul- 
 tural contemporaries. The modest preface 
 to ''The Druid's" last book, "Saddle and 
 Sirloin," refers to this period of his life : — 
 
 " The title of this work pretty well ex- 
 plains its nature. ' Sirloin ' speaks with 
 ponderous emphasis for itself, and ' Saddle ' 
 has a triple bearing on horses, sheep, and 
 pigs. The work is, in fact, a record of what 
 I have seen and heard during the last eleven 
 years in the course of my summer rambles 
 from Cumberland to Cornwall. My business 
 among the leading breeders was in connec- 
 tion with ' The Herds and Flocks of Great 
 Britain ' for the Mark Lane Express, and 
 with sundry prize essays in the Royal Agri- 
 cultural Society s Journal, the main points of 
 which are here briefly reproduced. A large 
 share of attention has been given to cours- 
 ing ; but racing and fox-hunting have been 
 passed over somewhat lightly, as I have 
 alreadv devoted three books to them." 
 
310 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 It must never be forgotten that in " The 
 Druid " we have a writer of great culture, of 
 wide and varied information, and with the 
 instinct of a poet, who took for his motto, 
 " Juvat integros accedere fontes." No racing 
 stable of note, no famous paddocks existed 
 in England to which, at the cost of infinite 
 labour and much exposure to hardship, he 
 did not pay a personal visit, and upon his 
 death the name of "The Old Mortality of 
 the Turf" was justly bestowed upon him by 
 an appreciative friend. Slightly altering the 
 words originally applied to the learned Anti- 
 quary who wrote " Camden's Britannia," it 
 might be said with truth of " The Druid," 
 that "he is the common sun, whereat modern 
 sporting writers have all lighted their little 
 torches." His influence upon the class of 
 literature to which he devoted his singular 
 powers has, indeed, been exceptional. That 
 he made occasional mistakes is tantamount to 
 confessing that he was no more than human ; 
 but, considering the breadth and length of 
 the canvas that he filled, his errors sink 
 altogether out of sight. It may, perhaps, 
 be remarked of his works that they present a 
 
The "Old Mortality" of the Turf. 311 
 
 fuller and more sympathetic view of North 
 country than of South country racing stables 
 and stud farms ; but, in his time, the influence 
 of Langton Wold and Middleham, of Rich- 
 mond-on-the-Swale and Black Hambleton, 
 had not been superseded by Newmarket, 
 Danebury, Manton, Kingsclere, Lambourne 
 and Stanton. That his title of " The Old 
 Mortality of the Turf" was well deserved, 
 the following passage, selected from many 
 others of a like nature, will sufficiently 
 show : — 
 
 " The Coverdale valley, down which so 
 many jocks have ' wasted ' in their day, lies in 
 front, with the river Cover winding through 
 its deep dingle of ash and sycamore. In the 
 distance is the ridge of the Low Moor at 
 Middleham, with occasional sheeted strings 
 of racers glancing along its skyline, like 
 scenes in a magic-lantern, and stretching 
 away to the High Moor, which has the 
 frowning Penhill to back it. The old church 
 at Coverham is hard by the Cover stream, 
 and many a racing celebrity lies under its 
 shadow. There sleep old Bob Johnson, the 
 steersman of Beeswing and Dr. Syntax ; Ben 
 
312 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 Smith, as green as a young turkey on his 
 mother earth, but a very Talleyrand in the 
 saddle, and the winner of six St. Legers ; 
 Harry Grimshaw, of Gladiateur fame ; and 
 there, too, old John Osborne now rests his 
 dreamless head. Ashgill, in whose quiet little 
 parlour he used to sit like a wizard, not con- 
 sulting the stars or perusing the prophets, 
 but weighing handicaps in his good brain 
 balance, is perched high on the hill-side. 
 Below is Tupgill, from which Tomboy and 
 Caccia Piatti used to go forth to clear their 
 pipes in the brisk air ; and beyond is Brecon- 
 gill, which is also associated with some of 
 Tom Dawson's best triumphs with the Eglin- 
 ton tartan, the Johnstone crimson, the Jardine 
 ' blue with silver braid,' and the ' Jamie 
 Meiklam ' stripes." 
 
 In the same style and manner are "The 
 Druid's" comments upon the graves of Bay 
 Middleton and Crucifix : — 
 
 " The old horse was ill all the summer of 
 1856, and died on November 3rd of the fol- 
 lowing year. His heels had been very bad, 
 and kept in perpetual turnip poultices, and for 
 the last three or four days he lay down and 
 
The "Old Mortality" of the Turf. 313 
 
 tossed in great pain. The mysterious off foot 
 enlarged considerably, but there was no post- 
 mortem upon it. He was buried within ten 
 yards of his stable door ; but a few days after 
 they had to dig down to him, as Lord Jersey 
 sent to beg the near fore-foot. His old mate 
 Crucifix, who just survived him a year, is now 
 buried beside him inside the rustic paling of a 
 small flower plot ; and John and Alfred Day 
 have each planted a cedar to their memory. 
 The spot was all blooming with hollyhocks 
 when we passed it last October to take an- 
 other glance at old Crucifix. There she stood, 
 quite wasted and listless, under the wall of a 
 loose box, with withers as sharp as a knife. 
 She had kept in pretty blooming condition 
 till her wonted Stockbridge race leve'e was 
 over, and then she began to fail very fast. 
 Since Chalice, in 1852, she had bred no 
 foal, and always broke at the end of a fort- 
 night. Her great peculiarity was the narrow- 
 ness of her chest ; and hence, in her training, 
 she perpetually suffered from speedy cut. 
 
 " Her legs went within a week after the 
 Oaks race, but the secret never fairly oozed 
 out till the Saturday before the St. Leger. 
 
314 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 Looking- thinner than she was in her 'sky 
 blue and white cap ' days, and with her great 
 hips and deep brisket more prominently 
 marked than ever, she seemed like the last 
 Turf relic of Lord George, whose heart was 
 at one time never far from these paddocks, 
 where Chalice, Slander, Homily, and Simony 
 are now roaming." 
 
 Nowhere, however, is his peculiar love of 
 antiquity better marked than in his descrip- 
 tion of the growth of the Ring, which I ex- 
 tract from " Scott and Sebright" : — 
 
 " Betting was as tardy in its growth as the 
 American aloe. Owners were ready enough 
 to put down money for a match, but did not 
 care to speculate deeply about other people's 
 horses. Much of that spirit still lingered 
 which had made Lord Grosvenor offer to 
 match any three out of his stable against the 
 same number of the Duke of Bedford's for 
 ten thousand ; but till book-making gradually 
 became a profession, getting the odds laid 
 was always a matter of difficulty, and it was 
 told as quite a marvellous thing that Sir John 
 Shelley should win nine thousand guineas on 
 Phantom's Derby in 1811. Another kind of 
 
The "Old Mortality" of the Turf. 315 
 
 Ring had risen so high in 18 17, when Moly- 
 neux was open to ' fight any man born of 
 woman bar Tom Crib,' that the first wits of 
 the day flocked round Incledon at Tom's 
 anniversary tavern dinner near St. James' 
 Square, to hear Edmund Kean return thanks 
 for the Drama and take a second in ' All's 
 Well' It was in this year that the two 
 greatest certainties in the North and South 
 came to naught. The first favourite, Student, 
 was beaten to a standstill at Epsom by his 
 own ' valet ' Azor, and like him, the mighty 
 Blacklock was also snapped by the very last 
 horse in the betting at Doncaster. Still, 
 despite these turns for the fielders, the bett- 
 ing was at least forty per cent, below that of 
 the two preceding sessions. Chester seems 
 to have been the one bright exception. Such 
 was the crush and excitement during the 
 heats, that ' two ladies fainted, and two 
 gentlemen betted over them ; two course- 
 clearers were knocked down, and nobody 
 picked them up.' " 
 
 Nor is there anything better of its kind 
 as exemplifying " The Druid's " unrivalled 
 familiarity with, and accurate reproduction of 
 
3 1 6 Life and Times of '* The Druid!' 
 
 the North country lingo, than the subjoined 
 sketch of a famous Yorkshire character : — 
 
 " Mark Plews was a mixture of blacksmith 
 and farmer, and if there was a Richmond 
 horse in the St. Leger, he invariably stood it. 
 When Vingt'un from Belle Isle was all the 
 rage, Mark and his wife got on without tell- 
 ing each other, he to win ^25 for himself, 
 and she £/\. in partnership with Mrs. Pierse. 
 These daring ventures got bruited about, and 
 hence when the town express, which was 
 managed on state occasions by sending horses 
 on to Ferrybridge the day before, arrived at 
 midnight, with the news of the defeat, one of 
 the party who sat up for it could think of no 
 other consolation than hoaxing 'Old Mark.' 
 The window was not far from the ground, 
 and the delegate was enabled to report, word 
 for word, the matrimonial colloquy, which 
 followed the shout of 4 Vingt-un s won! 
 Mark was furious when the truth came out 
 in the morning, and threatened in vain to 
 walk all over Yorkshire, if he could only 
 discover the owner of the voice. 
 
 "He always delivered his mind about man 
 or horse, without fear or favour ; and was 
 
The "Old Mortality" of the Turf 317 
 
 looked upon as no mean authority. When 
 the Marquis of Queensberry, whose waist was 
 quite as capacious as his own, requested him 
 to come and give him his confidential opinion 
 of Caledonian's chance for the Leger, he 
 mounted his spectacles and took a protracted 
 survey. The horse's rainbow neck he dis- 
 missed in silence, and then he broke out with 
 ' He wants what you and me has gitten, my 
 Lord — hinder ribs, hinder ribs ' ; and in went 
 his spectacles to their case once more." 
 
 The above passage, together with many 
 others, exhibit, despite their numerous ex- 
 cellences, one failing in "The Druid's" 
 writings. They were prepared in such hot 
 haste for magazines and newspapers, that their 
 author seldom had time to correct them before 
 they appeared in print. The natural and in- 
 evitable result was that occasionally they 
 produced a blurred and confused impression 
 upon the reader's mind. "The Druid" 
 understood so well all the surroundings and 
 accessories of the scenes and characters he 
 described as to forget that his readers were 
 seldom as well informed as himself. Thus he 
 speaks of " Sir Wolly " as dashing the knob 
 
319 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 of his walking stick through a pier glass at 
 Doncaster, after the victory of some horse in 
 which he took great pride, without remember- 
 ing that few readers of a subsequent generation 
 would know that " Sir Wolly " was Sir David 
 Baird's nick-name. Although " The Druid " 
 cared nothing about betting, and never caught 
 its contagion, and although he was seldom in 
 the saddle, never went out hunting on horse- 
 back, and could no more have driven a four- 
 in-hand team than Mr. Bright or Mr. Joseph 
 Arch, I am far from believing that his readers 
 are sufferers in consequence. This, at any 
 rate, was his own opinion, as may be inferred 
 from his preface to " Scott and Sebright " : — 
 " Although the author does not scruple to 
 admit that his hunting experiences have been 
 very much confined to watching the cubs at 
 play near the earths on a summer's evening, 
 to taking notes of hunters at crack meets, 
 much as he was wont to do after the same 
 fashion in Turf pencillings, and to seeing, by 
 dint of short cuts on foot, a goodly number 
 of foxes pulled down in the woodlands, he is 
 not altogether sure that this is not an advan- 
 tage to his readers in more ways than one 
 
The "Old Mortality" of the Turf. 319 
 
 Beckford, Delme Radcliffe, Apperley, Smith, 
 Vyner, Grantley Berkeley, ' Scrutator,' 
 ■ Cecil,' ' Harry Hieover,' ' Gelert,' ' Jorrocks' 
 and John Mills have written so much and so 
 well on the science of the sport, that he has 
 been obliged to try and hold his own line, 
 and confine himself to its gossip." 
 
 It is a proverbial saying that lookers-on see 
 most of the game, and never yet was there 
 a looker-on who saw farther into the true 
 inwardness of the subjects upon which he 
 descanted than " The Druid." He could 
 trace Velocipede's blaze of light in the face 
 and white legs of a foal distant by three or 
 four generations from that mighty " miler " ; 
 the lop ears and Roman nose of Melbourne 
 flashed upon his eye as he saw a far-away 
 descendant of that illustrious sire whom 
 Mr. Sidney Herbert refused to take at 250 
 guineas ; and the elegance of Orlando 
 delighted him when reproduced in the light- 
 limbed Teddington, Ariosto, and Bay Rosa- 
 lind. He had a word to say upon the pecu- 
 liarities of soil, herbage, and water which 
 distinguished every famous stud farm in 
 England, and such redoubtable stud grooms 
 
320 Life and Times of " The Druid? 
 
 as Isaac Walker, of Streatlam Castle ; 
 Timothy Forshaw,of Knowsley Park; Tweed, 
 of Leybourne Grange ; and Markham, who, 
 having served General Anson and Baron 
 Mayer de Rothschild, ended by presiding 
 over Lord Rosebery's paddocks at Ment- 
 more ; little thought that the lightest words 
 falling from their lips would, perhaps, be 
 perpetuated by " The Druid" in print. His 
 description of the way in which Wild Dayrell 
 came into the world betwixt night and morn- 
 ing at Littlecote, and of the old butler who 
 insisted upon taking the foal up in his arms, 
 so that he might say he had carried a Derby 
 winner, will never be surpassed ; nor that of 
 the mad pranks in which the Prince Regent 
 indulged at Newmarket, when he mis- 
 chievously shoved a French Prince of the 
 Blood Royal into the water. Another ver- 
 sion of the same story is given in ''Tommy 
 Moore's Diary " : — 
 
 " 26th August, 1825. — Lord Essex told 
 me the anecdote of the Prince of Wales 
 pitching the Abbe St. Phar, half-brother to 
 the Duke of Orleans, into a fish-pond at 
 Newmarket. The Abbe had some method 
 
The "Old Mortality" of the Turf, 321 
 
 of tickling fish, and proceeded to show his 
 skill, having first exacted a promise that they 
 would not shove him into the water. He 
 bent over the pond, when the Prince, unable 
 to resist the temptation, pushed him in head 
 over heels. The Abbe was so enraged that, 
 upon getting out, he ran after the Prince 
 of Wales, and, but for the company's favour- 
 ing the latter's escape, would have used him 
 very roughly." 
 
 21 
 
22 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE DRUID S ENDURANCE. 
 
 THOUGHT at first that I 
 would walk all the way, but 
 it was a great mistake. It 
 may answer for a mere light- 
 hearted saunterer who wants to take a few 
 sketches, and his ease in his inn, but not for 
 one who has a responsible task in hand." 
 Such are some of the words contained in 
 ''The Druid's" preface to the volume of 
 " Field and Fern," devoted to the North of 
 Scotland, and it is easily intelligible that a 
 man of forty-three who had injured his con- 
 stitution by total inattention to regular meals, 
 and by walking vast distances in all weathers 
 on an empty stomach, should begin to find 
 out that to tramp thousands of miles carrying 
 his own baggage, was no longer within the 
 
"The Druid's" Endurance. 323 
 
 compass of his powers. Readers of his four 
 most interesting works will not require to be 
 reminded that he thought nothing of starting 
 off from London at 4 a.m. with a heavy knap- 
 sack on his back, and walking twenty or 
 thirty miles a day for many consecutive days, 
 resting always on a Sunday, when he made it 
 his invariable duty to attend Divine service 
 at some country church. I have already 
 stated in the preface to this volume, that on 
 one occasion " The Druid " walked from 
 Swindon Junction to Marlborough College 
 (a distance of thirteen or fourteen miles) 
 across the Wiltshire Downs, with a large 
 portmanteau on his shoulder, in order to pay 
 a visit to his old friend and schoolmate, the 
 Rev. Dr. Bradley, then Headmaster of Marl- 
 borough College, and now the successor to 
 Dr. Arthur Stanley as Dean of Westminster. 
 On another occasion he walked from Chippen- 
 ham Station to Badminton, ten miles and a 
 half, and back, to inspect the Duke of 
 Beaufort's hunters and hounds, and aeain he 
 describes himself as lying down under a hedge 
 in the early morning of a summer day, and 
 getting four or five hours of quiet sleep before 
 
324 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 he resumed his march. At last he undertook 
 that long journey in Scotland which he de- 
 scribes in the preface to "Field and Fern" 
 in the following words : — 
 
 " After working hard for four years among 
 the flocks and herds of England, I was 
 naturally anxious to cross the border, and 
 find new scope for my pastorals. I wished 
 to visit past and present Highland Society 
 winners in their own stall or fold, and to 
 gather evidence from the breeders who stand 
 high in Scottish annals, not only as to the 
 present progress of the stock on which 
 England depends for extensive supplies, but 
 also as to the thoughts and labours of men 
 who have done Scotland good service, and 
 then have passed to their rest. Grouse 
 shooting, deer stalking, and salmon fishing, 
 have their own high lords of the pen ; but 
 still there were many points connected with 
 hunting, coursing, racing, and otter hunting 
 which seemed calculated to work into a picture 
 of Scottish life, and to vary the monotony of 
 mere beef and mutton chapters. 
 
 " Fancy soon faded into reality, and I found 
 that I had set myself a very serious task. I 
 
"The Druid's" Endurance. 325 
 
 had to pluck the heart out of three summers, 
 a winter and a spring ; to travel some eight 
 thousand miles ; to sleep away from home 
 some two hundred and fifty nights, before I 
 wrote a line. It is very easy to draw up a 
 programme but not so easy to hold to it. I 
 often found a new and valuable witness where 
 I least expected, and had to throw over every 
 plan rather than leave him. There was still, 
 in spite of all the hardship and harass, quite 
 a pleasant soldier-of-fortune sort of feeling in 
 never being sure whether yqu would turn up 
 at night by the fireside of a golden farmer, or 
 in a hole, or bunk, in the wall at a wayside 
 inn. Mere scenery I was obliged to dis- 
 regard. In fact it was of no use to me, unless 
 it served as a setting for some crack herd of 
 cattle, or flock of sheep ; and acting on this 
 practical view of things I sternly held to my 
 line, regardless of the most glorious combina- 
 tions of water, wood and mountain, for which 
 other tourists were ever turning aside. I did 
 not even spare a day for the Trossachs, but 
 went ' hot-trod ' past the guide post after black 
 faces in the direction of Rob Roy's grave, and 
 my eye might never have rested on Killie- 
 
326 Life and Times of " The Druid!' 
 
 crankie had I not passed through it on my 
 way to the West Highland herd at Blair 
 Athole. l Something attempted, something 
 done has earned a night's repose,' was my 
 motto, and I enjoyed one between two and 
 four a.m. in the saddle during a night ride 
 over the Ord of Caithness, while the rain 
 poured down and the mare grazed. 
 4 Cockade,' for so I called her, from per- 
 sistently wearing her mane on the near side, 
 was not my companion in the summer of 
 1862. I walked as far as I could, but coaches 
 and railways aided me in a measure, and I 
 wearied sadly under a very heavy knapsack, 
 finding also that such long cross-country 
 walks were not favourable for framing cross- 
 examinations at night Hence I soon found 
 that I was merely cutting time to waste, and 
 after that discovery pushed my way on to the 
 Orkneys, and asked my good friend Archer 
 Fortescue to buy me a ' garron ' before that 
 day twelvemonths." 
 
 When the second summer came round 
 there were only two " garrons " of the size 
 he wanted for sale in Pomona; one at £\o, 
 and the other, a brown, at £7 10s. The 
 
"The Drtrid s" Endurance. 327 
 
 brown was just the thing, and being in light 
 marching order, " The Druid " was twenty- 
 four pounds lighter than when he left London, 
 which (in his own words) " he carried behind 
 him in the much pleasanter shape of mackin- 
 tosh and luggage." " Just fifteen four the 
 lot," with his saddle, valise and book bag, he 
 set out from Kirkwall upon a brown half- 
 broken four- year- old mare, as rough and 
 uncouth as the half-wild sheep among which 
 she had passed her early years, to make his 
 way to London. "The journey," he adds, 
 "to a man who has a good horse, and can 
 send his luggage on to points, must be easy 
 and pleasant enough ; but when you have a 
 shy, half-bred nag, quite out of condition, and 
 have perforce to spend months and months in 
 roughing it, in a country to which you are not 
 acclimatised, it becomes no merry game. 
 
 " ' He'll never get to Lunnon, maister,' said 
 Dick, the first whip and kennel huntsman to 
 the Orkney Hounds, sotto voce, as I took the 
 mare from his hand ; and I was not quite 
 clear on that point myself. Still, with fine 
 weather overhead, and a steady practice of 
 getting off to lead for every third or fourth 
 
328 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 mile, it is a grand, independent way of travel- 
 ling. It was positively exhilarating to put 
 the mare's head straight across Scotland, 
 from St. Boswell's to Ayr, and to cut down 
 the hundred miles at four-and-forty a-day ; 
 or to rattle from Athelstaneford to Kelso 
 over the Lammermuirs with two shirts and 
 three pairs of stockings on, and the cold cut- 
 ting your cheeks to the bone. There were, 
 however, sundry disadvantages connected 
 with this primitive mode of locomotion. It 
 is a weary thing sitting three-quarters of an 
 hour on a corn bin at nisdit to be sure that 
 the ostler does your nag justice. Every 
 ferry - boat in the Highlands was fraught 
 with a fresh difficulty ; every railway train 
 produced a fresh run off, and I was lucky 
 if I could put my horse's head in the right 
 direction, before she started, so as to get a 
 three hundred yard gallop to the good. It 
 was equally objectionable having to blind- 
 fold her and stuff her ears, and twist her five 
 or six times round, so as to make her forget 
 which way you wanted to go, when late at 
 night you found a Lanarkshire or Ayrshire 
 blast furnace roaring like a lion in your 
 
Engraved by F. Babbagefrom a Photograph by Mr. If. Phillips, Kensington.] 
 
 From the Orkneys to Kensington 
 
 (wi'ih punctuality and dispatch). 
 August 29, 1863 — February 24, 1864. 
 
"The Dru id's ' ' En du ra n ce. 329 
 
 path, and interposed between yourself and 
 your inn. 
 
 " However, the book is done — after many 
 interruptions from illness and other causes — 
 and I seemed to breathe freely once more, 
 when I signed the last proof sheet. I can 
 only trust that it may prove to be the scarlet 
 pioneer of a still more extended tour through 
 England, Ireland, and a portion of the Con- 
 tinent ; but go where I may, every August 
 will bring with it the old yearning to cross 
 the Tweed, and all the pleasant memories 
 of my journey from the Orkneys to Ken- 
 sington with punctuality and dispatch." 
 
 This pilgrimage from the Orkneys to Ken- 
 sington " The Druid " accomplished, but it 
 must be added at the cost of his life. Well 
 does his wife remember that terrible home- 
 coming at 11 p.m. in a blinding snow-storm. 
 He rang feebly at the door of his house in 
 Kensington Square, so utterly exhausted that 
 on the servant opening the door he fell into 
 the passage; the " garron " which he was 
 leading escaped into the square, and was 
 caught by the maid servant, and housed in 
 a shed for the night. On "The Druid's" 
 
330 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 recovering - somewhat from the exhaustion he 
 fervently exclaimed, " Thank God for bring- 
 ing me home to die with wife and children 
 around me." 
 
 Little did he dream of the four years of 
 intense suffering he had yet to endure. 
 
 He caught so fearful a cold in a night 
 ride, of which his description is given below, 
 that when he 8fot home asthma marked him 
 for its victim, aud for four sad years he 
 enjoyed little rest, either by night or day. 
 With characteristic cheerfulness he used to 
 tell his friends, when they noticed his wasted 
 form and shortness of breath, that he was 
 suffering from foot and mouth disease. It 
 was his custom to muffle himself round the 
 throat, and to walk until he was foot-sore ; 
 but those who had known and honoured him 
 for years, and whom he encountered at the 
 annual meetings of the Royal Agricultural 
 Society, and at the Smithfield Club Cattle 
 Shows, saw that his plough was rapidly 
 drawing near to the end of the furrow. 
 
 The description of the fatal night ride to 
 which I have already alluded is so symbolical 
 of " The Druid's " pluck and endurance that 
 
11 The Druid's" Endurance. 331 
 
 it is worthy to be selected for a final quota- 
 tion : — 
 
 " On the occasion of my second visit to 
 Scotland there was nothing for it but to steel 
 myself against all bed-regrets, and to face the 
 muirs at night. I wended my way by a 
 series of zig-zags from Barrock to the high 
 road between Thurso and Lybster, and then 
 struck straight for the coast. The sun went 
 down, and the rain took no half-measures 
 with those exposed to it. Soon every door 
 was barred, and every light put out in the 
 few cabins along the road. ; but one family 
 at last responded to my hail with biscuit, 
 cheese and milk, besides offering a bed and 
 abundance of tares. There are many dreary 
 passages in a man's life ; but wiping down a 
 mare very short of condition in your shirt 
 sleeves in a cow-house, on a wild muir, by a 
 dim spluttering dip, at midnight, with the 
 wind sighing through the broken panes, the 
 heavy rain-drops pattering on the door sill, 
 and a forty miles' ride before you, has very 
 few to match it. Still it had to be done ; 
 and I said to myself, ' If I mun doy, I mun 
 doy.' 
 
JJ 
 
 2 Life and Times of " The Druid" 
 
 "The mountain burns, which soon began 
 to run right viciously, made music to my sor- 
 row, and as the moon sailed out from behind 
 a cloud, and shone on the long pools, which 
 were fast gathering by the roadside, they 
 seemed like polar bears craftily stealing 
 along. I hailed the mail-road at Lybster 
 and the roar of the sea as quite old friends, 
 and felt a little comforted. As for the mare, 
 although she had only known me for two 
 days, she had got so accustomed to my voice 
 that if I fell a little behind, she would stop 
 when spoken to and look round, first to the 
 near and then to the off-side in the gloom, 
 to be sure I was at hand. Weariness at 
 length defied all face-washing at the roadside 
 springs, and two hours of that night are best 
 accounted for in the preface. Be that as it 
 may, the mist-wreaths began to curl lazily up 
 the deep mountain ravines, and away to the 
 vast granite deer forest behind. Morning 
 broke and the rain was gone, while the rain- 
 bow spanned the Berriedale valley. There 
 were all the varied purples of the heather, 
 and the rich green livery of fir and larch, to 
 brace man and horse for the dreaded Ord of 
 
' ' The Dru id's ' ' Endurance. 2>oo 
 
 Caithness, and the mail, as it rattled cheer- 
 fully past, was quite the ' missing link ' with 
 mankind. Morayshire, on the opposite 
 coast, looked like the outline of a new world 
 beyond a calm, blue, dimpled sea; and as I 
 rounded the last crag near Helmsdale, the 
 gently-curving sands of Sutherland lay at my 
 feet, white and warm in the sunshine." 
 
 This narrative would indeed be incomplete 
 were I to omit to repeat that during his long 
 years of patient, unselfish, and conscientious 
 labour, "The Druid" never realised more 
 than ^600 in a single year. During the last 
 few months of his life, his services were re- 
 tained by Mr. Robinson, of the Daily News, 
 to write sporting and agricultural leaders for 
 that journal. Had it been possible to keep 
 him alive by pouring liquid gold down his 
 throat, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Labouchere 
 would gladly have sanctioned the necessary 
 outlay. It was not to be. As he himself 
 said of the prematurely sacrificed life of the 
 young and gallant nobleman who owned The 
 Earl and The Duke, and won the Cesare- 
 witch with Lecturer, " All the wheels were 
 down," and after the spring of 1870, the 
 
334 Life and Times of " The Druid." 
 
 writer who had given more pleasure to hunt- 
 ing, racing, and coursing men than all his 
 predecessors and successors combined, lived 
 only in works which will not soon pass away. 
 His dying bed was soothed by the un- 
 wearied ministrations and tender solicitude of 
 his wife, by the constant affection of his 
 devoted friend, Mr. John Thornton, and by 
 the generosity and kindness of the present 
 Sir Tatton Sykes. Mr. George Moore, to- 
 gether with his charming wife, also visited 
 his sick room continually, supplying hot- 
 house fruit and champagne. Mrs. Moore, 
 on hearing him express a wish for some 
 genuine Cumberland porridge, came and 
 made it for him with her own hands. As he 
 lay with his hands folded across his breast, it 
 mieht have been said of him, in lines which 
 were never more applicable : 
 
 " No pearl ever lay under Oman's dark water 
 More pure in its shell than thy spirit in thee ! 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Absence of Mind, " The 
 
 Druid's," 183. 
 Amusements at Rugby, 64. 
 Arnold, Dr., of Rugby, 45, 287 
 Asthma, 330. 
 
 Barrister, Chooses the Profes- 
 sion of, 86. 
 
 Bay Middleton and Crucifix, 312. 
 
 " Bell's Life," 108. 
 
 Betting, 314. 
 
 Bill Scott, 161. 
 
 Birth and Parentage, 29. 
 
 Birth - place, and its Influ- 
 ences, 1. 
 
 Cambridge Days, 82. 
 Carlisle, 15. 
 Children, Love of, 275. 
 Contributions to the " Sport- 
 ing Magazine," 249. 
 Corbett, Mr., Uvedale, 75. 
 Courtship and Marriage, 115. 
 Crackenthorpe Hall, 24. 
 Cumberland, History of, 3. 
 Cumberland " Statesmen," 3. 
 Cumberland Wrestling, 212. 
 
 "Daily News," Contribution 
 
 to, 133. 
 " Death of William Scott," 155. 
 Declines Editorship of " Bell's 
 
 Life," 109. 
 
 Death of " The Druid," 334. 
 
 Decline of Cumberland Wrest- 
 ling, 212. 
 
 Defect in " The Druid's" Writ- 
 ings, 317- 
 
 " Dick Christian's Lectures," 
 
 145. 
 "Dixon's Gate," 55. 
 Dixon, Henry Sydenham, 
 
 Reminiscences, 198. 
 Dixon, Henry Hall, born 1822, 
 
 died 1870, 129, 334. 
 Dixon, Mr. Peter, "TheDruid's" 
 
 Father, 29. 
 Dixon, Mrs. H. H., 115, 122, 
 
 275- 
 "Doncaster Gazette," 133. 
 Doncaster, Residence at, 87, 
 
 124. 
 Doncaster Town Moor, 99. 
 Dowling, Vincent, Editor of 
 
 "Bell's Life," in. 
 Dunchurch Steeplechase, 59. 
 
 Eccentricities, " The 
 
 Druid's," 183. 
 Eglinton's, Lord, Turf Career, 
 
 236. 
 Eldon, Lord Chancellor, 1, 
 Endurance, "The Druid's," 322. 
 
 Fatal Journey, 329. 
 " Field and Fern," 322. 
 
33^ 
 
 Index. 
 
 Fishing Difficulty at Rugby, 80. 
 Further Reminiscences, 114. 
 
 " General Chasse," 115 
 Government Appointment De- 
 clined, 104. 
 Graham, Sir James, 104. 
 
 Hastings, Marquis of, 174. 
 
 Herring, J. F., 87. 
 
 Holme Eden, 34. 
 
 Horse Breeding in Virginia, 256. 
 
 Horse Pictures of J. F. Herring, 
 
 93- 
 Hughes, Judge, 71. 
 
 Illness, "The Druid's," at 
 
 Cambridge, 84. 
 Illness of "The Druid," 201. 
 Independence of the Press, 
 
 Jealousy of, 191, 209. 
 Indifference to Money, 190. 
 Influence on Literature, 310. 
 
 Journey to Scotland, 324. 
 
 Keen Eye for well-trained Race- 
 horse, 253. 
 
 Lamb, Charles, 106. 
 
 " Law of the Farm," 103. 
 
 London, Arrival in, 130. 
 
 ,, Career in, 105, 130. 
 Lord Eglinton's Turf Career, 
 
 230. 
 "Lord Morpeth's Farewell," 
 
 300. 
 Love of Children, 275. 
 Lynes, George B., 253. 
 Lynes, Miss Caroline, 83, 115- 
 
 Machell Family, 24. 
 Many-sided Sympathies, 25S. 
 Marquis of Hastings, 174. 
 Marriage of " The Druid," 122. 
 " Martingale," 100. 
 Moore, George, 213. 
 
 North Country Lingo, 316. 
 
 Old Manorial Halls of West- 
 moreland and Cumberland, 18. 
 
 " Old Mortality " of the Turf, 
 308. 
 
 "Orkneys to Kensington with 
 Punctuality and Dispatch," 
 329- 
 
 Politician, "The Druid" as, 
 
 287. 
 " Post and Paddock," 245, 249. 
 Prize Fighting, 65. 
 
 Refuses offer of Government 
 Appointment, 104. 
 
 Religion, " The Druid's," 280. 
 
 Reminiscences by Henry Syden- 
 ham Dixon, 198. 
 
 Reminiscences of Early Life, 
 114. 
 
 Rugby Days, 45. 
 
 "Rugby, Its Sporting and 
 School Recollections," 56. 
 
 " Saddle and Sirloin," 99, 307. 
 
 " Scott and Sebright," 249, 314. 
 
 " Silk and Scarlet," I47» 249. 
 
 Simplicity of his Character, 192. 
 
 Smiles', Dr., "Life of George 
 Moore," 217. 
 
 Sporting Literature, " The 
 Druid's" Influence on, 310. 
 
 "Sporting Magazine," Contri- 
 butions to, 249. 
 
 Steeplechases at Dunchurch, 78. 
 
 Steeplechasing at Rugby, 75. 
 
 St. Leger of 1850, 162. 
 
 Sympathies, "Druid's" many- 
 sided, 258. 
 
 Thornton, John, 308, 334. 
 
 Town Moor, the, 99. 
 
 Turf, " Old Mortality" of, 308. 
 
 Versatility of "The Druid," 
 
 235- 
 Voltigeur's St. Leger, 163, 246. 
 
 White, James ("Martingale") 
 99- 
 
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