THOUGHTS 
 
 i'v'tl'- 
 
 UPON SPOR 
 
 HARRY R. SARGENT 
 
 
Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine 
 
 Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at 
 
 Tufts University 
 
 200 Westboro Road 
 
 North Grafton, MA 01536 
 
THOUGHTS UPON SPORT. 
 
TMv^^ Z^ Cc^^ yO'OV^^'i-^ 
 
mow iPzucjCAJi^ 
 
THOUGHTS UPON SPORT. 
 
 HARRY R. SARGENT. 
 
 A WORK DEALING SHORTLY WITH EACH BRANCH OF SPORT 
 
 AND SHOWING THAT AS A MEDIUM FOR THE 
 
 CIRCULATION OF MONEY, 
 
 AND AS A NATIONAL BENEFACTOR, 
 
 SPORT 
 
 STANDS UNRIVALLED AMONG THE INSTITUTIONS 
 OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED 
 
 A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE CURRAGHMORE HUNT 
 AND MEMOIRS OF NOTABLE SPORTSMEN. 
 
 " No man is so foolish but he may give counsel at a time, no man 
 so wise but he may err if he takes no counsel but his own." 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, &: CO., LTD., 
 
 4, Stationers' Hall Court, Paternoster Row. 
 
 1895. 
 
 [Entered at Stationers' Rail.] 
 
TO THE 
 
 macduie an^ /Iftarcbtoness of Matettor6, 
 
 BY THEIR KIND PERMISSION, 
 
 THIS BOOK 
 
 IS DEDICATED 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Remembrance still divells on the days which cire past. 
 On runs we have ridden^ the long and the fast ; 
 Our horses— on canvas— now hung to the ivcdl, 
 Remind us of triumphs—prime sport they recall. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Seeing how easy it is to interfere with Hunting, so that the King 
 of Sports might at any time be annihilated, as was the case with the 
 Curraghmore, with which Hunt I was personally identified for over 
 a quarter of a century, and fearing, perhaps, that an epidemic of 
 antipathy to sport, such as we for a time suffered from in Ireland, 
 might break out in England, I was induced to begin this book as far 
 back as the weok of Frigate's Grand National. My primary object being 
 to strive to once more establish the popularity of hunting in Ireland, 
 and perpetuating other sports in England, I approached each branch 
 of my subject from a point of view which I am not aware was ever 
 taken by any other author — viz., that of showing how Sport, quite 
 irrespective of amusement, benefits our nation and has brought about 
 our individuality. While doing so I have sandwiched personal expe- 
 rience and anecdotes, from which a moral bearing upon the object 
 may at times be deduced. And, as a pattern for young fellows to 
 follow, I have alluded in short memoirs to some of the most notable 
 sportsmen of the century. According to my lights and to the best 
 of my ability I have suggested reformation where I considered it 
 was desirable or absolutely required ; and in doing so, being a plain- 
 writing man, as I am a plain-spoken one, I have had at times to hit 
 hard, therefore my remarks will not be agreeable to some people. 
 That I cannot help, however sorry I may feel. I have written my 
 book as best I could in the interests of Sport pure and simple, so 
 I have not paid attention to interests, which, however individual, 
 are to my mind of secondary consideration. 
 
 All through life I have been engaged in some active pursuit 
 or other which left me little or no time to devote to literature ; 
 therefore any knowledge which I may possess has been acquired in 
 my daily walk, only by the study of mankind and animals, the fields, 
 
VJU 
 
 the woods, and the mountains. If, therefore, I hav^e reproduced 
 matter ah-eady, and perhaps long since, before the public, no one can 
 charge me with plagiarism. Except where acknowledged, what I 
 have adduced in this book is the outcome of my own experience or 
 observation, and those who have followed Sport in nearly all its 
 branches for as long as I htive done, will, I daresay, have come to 
 some of my conclusions, and if they have put their ideas on paper 
 coincidence is inevitable. 
 
 Deficient as I am as a scholar, but refusing to have it edited, I am 
 not such a fool as to think that my book deserves commendation 
 from a literary point of view — the subject dealt \^^th, and that upon 
 my first attempt at a book, being one which, to treat adequately, 
 would i-equii-e the powers of a Whyte-Melville or a Bromley- 
 Davenport. Be it of what merit it may, the book should have been 
 published more than two years ago by those to whom I had first 
 entrusted it; however, they have been got rid of, and the well- 
 known firm of Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., Ltd., Paternoster Row, 
 are now my publishers. 
 
 Harry B. Sargent. 
 
 51, Pall Mall, London, 
 Atigust, 1895, 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface vii 
 
 Notice to the Readee, which he will please refer 
 
 TO BEFORE HE BEGINS THE RESPECTIVE CHAPTERS xiii 
 
 Errata xlvii 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 YI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIIL 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 XX. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The Cureaghmore Hunt — 
 
 First Section 
 
 Second Section 
 
 Third Section 
 
 Fourth Section 
 
 Hunting 
 
 What Hunting is to the Xation 
 
 Foxes 
 
 Horse Breeding 
 
 Buying and Care of a Hunter... 
 Henry W. Briscoe, Esq., D.L., M.F.H. 
 
 Steeplechasing 
 
 punchestown 
 
 The Marquis of Drogheda, K.P... 
 
 Racing 
 
 The Curragh 
 
 Driving 
 
 Fishing ... 
 
 Shooting 
 
 Coursing 
 
 Sport a National Benefactor ... 
 Manly Games and Exercise 
 The Prize Ring and Cock Pit... 
 
 Betting 
 
 Hygienic Principles 
 
 George Osbaldeston 
 
 Horatio Ross 
 
 Lord Kennedy 
 
 Edward Hey ward Budd 
 
 Captain Barclay-Allardice 
 
 John Scott 
 
 Mathew Dawson 
 
 George Fordham 
 
 Fred Archer 
 
 Whoo Whoop 
 
 Appendix to K aging (to be taken up after 
 
 the third paragraph at page 18S^ ... 4:21 
 Index 427 
 
 ... 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 . 15 
 
 
 . 22 
 
 
 . 49 
 
 
 . 04 
 
 
 . 79 
 
 
 . 85 
 
 
 . 90 
 
 
 104 
 
 
 119 
 
 
 127 
 
 ... 
 
 153 
 
 ... 
 
 165 
 
 ... 
 
 171 
 
 
 193 
 
 ... 
 
 216 
 
 ... 
 
 229 
 
 
 234 
 
 ... 
 
 273 
 
 
 289 
 
 
 293 
 
 
 308 
 
 
 334 
 
 
 344 
 
 
 354 
 
 
 SCA 
 
 
 369 
 
 
 .371 
 
 
 371 
 
 
 383 
 
 
 394 
 
 
 399 
 
 
 402 
 
 ... 
 
 408 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 The Maequis of Waterford ^ 
 The Marchioness of Waterford J 
 The Curraghmore Family 
 
 LuNGEiNG A Horse 
 
 Punchestown Double 
 punchestown courses 
 So— Not So 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 1 
 
 ... 116 
 ... 147 
 ... 157 
 ... 295 
 
NOTICE TO THE READER. 
 
 Owing to the publication of this book having been delayed for over 
 two years by those parties to whom I originally entrusted it, matters 
 with which I dealt in the future tense have since become history. I have 
 therefore to adopt this method for the purpose of bringing the book up 
 to date, and I take the opportunity to amend parts and add to others, 
 while a copious index has been supplied. My readers will therefore be 
 kind enough when reading any particular chapter to see if reference to 
 it has been made in the following addenda, which the various side- 
 headings will facilitate. 
 
 THE CURRAGHMORE. 
 Chapter I. 
 
 Although the history of the above once celebrated bunt has been 
 faithfully recorded by me in the above chapter, I have recollected other 
 particulars and incidents since writing it which I would fain record 
 here, but space does not permit of my doing more than to correct a few 
 typographical errors and add what is absolutely requisite. 
 
 To the list given at p. 4 of those who hunted in old times with Lord 
 Waterford should be added Joseph Osborne, who knows the Stud Book 
 by heart, and was a great friend of the Marquis ; John Walshe, of 
 Fanningstown, Clement Sadlier, Robert Cooke, of Kiltinane, John 
 Congreve Fleming and his son Arthur, Capt. Dick Kellett, Ned 
 Courtenay, Ned Clibborn, and Johnny Webb of the RJ.C, who was as 
 bard-riding a welter as ever I saw, while Trant McCarthy, a brother 
 officer of his, in after years enlivened us with his wit and his stories. 
 They are all dead now, except Osborne, Cooke, and Webb. 
 
 Samuel Ussher Roberts. — On top p. 5 has occurred a horrible 
 blunder in making it appear that one of the very best sportsmen in 
 Ireland, and one of the most useful public men, was dead ! Long may 
 it be before my old friend Sam Roberts shall be gathered to his 
 fathers. 
 
 Corrections. — The Errata deals with other printer's errors, but I 
 must repeat that near the foot on page 16 "£850" should be read 
 as the yearly sum given to Mr. Briscoe, instead of £580, and that the 
 eighth line from foot of p. 20 should begin as a paragraph. 
 
 The point-to-point of the four Annfield runs, alluded to at p, 19, were 
 respectively 8, 11, 8, and 9 miles. 
 
Interchange of Meets. — I omitted to make mention in Section II 
 of the interchange of meets which we had with the Tipperarys in 
 Briscoe's time. We used to go to Fethard with the Curraghmore, and 
 that prince of good fellows, John Going, used to bring his pack to 
 Carrick. This was done by each Hunt once every season for several 
 years, and on one occasion we paid the Wexford a visit at Stokestown, 
 Mr. Beatty returning it at Glenmore. By good luck we nearly always 
 had capital sport on those great days, despite the crowd and the hard 
 riding. The idea was excellent, and might with advantage be followed, 
 for nothing tended more to cement the good fellowship which always 
 existed between us and our neighbours than this selfsame interchange 
 of meets. Another time I may give the particulars of some of them 
 for I took very good care to be at them all. 
 
 Duke's Death.— Duke, as stated at page 28, became kennel hunts- 
 man in 1877, and continued so until Mr. Springfield took the hounds to 
 Tin vane in 1882, when Lord Waterford gave him a pension, and he 
 continued to live at the kennels. A few couple of hounds were got 
 together in about 1885, with which Duke initiated young Lord Tyrone 
 into foxhunting, but had of necessity to confine his operations to the 
 woods and demesne of Curraghmore. These hounds in turn were dis- 
 posed of when the young Earl went to school, and on the 12th December, 
 1892, poor Duke died, aged fifty- three years, thirty- two of which were 
 practically spent with the same pack. 
 
 Mpv. Strangman's Death. — With deep regret I have to record also 
 the death of my old friend Mr. Joseph Strangman, which occurred on 
 2nd May, 1895, in his sixty-fifth year. Good man to hounds as he 
 undoubtedly was, no one ever heard him talk about what he did. 
 Though fond of all sorts of sport he did not practically engage in any 
 but hunting. Poor Joe ! Many a jolly day we spent together, and 
 many were the long rides home we had. 
 
 HUNTING. 
 Chapter II. 
 " Sport a National Benefactor."— Owing to my book not being 
 published as it should have been long before the Anti-Gambling League 
 began its onslaught upon our sports and pastimes, I was obliged last 
 Christmas to bring out in a pamphlet, entitled "Sport a National 
 Benefactor," calculations as to the money spsnt upon Hunting, Shoot- 
 ing, Fishing, Racing, and Yachting, similar to those which I had pre- 
 viously put together for this book, and which are to be found in their 
 respective chapters. Subsequently I brought out another pamphlet 
 dealing in the same way with our minor sports and manly games. 
 Both little books have been published by the Sporting League, 46a, Pall 
 Mai], London, where they are to be had for three pence each. They 
 
show ia more concise and perhaps better style than that adopted by me 
 for this book some four years before, what an inestimable benefit sport 
 is to the country quite irrespective of amusement, while they deal 
 much more exhaustively with the glorious subject, bringing out, as the 
 second pamphlet does, a total of £47,313,000 as the sum permanently 
 invested in spor^, with an annual expenditure of £46,042,000, which, as 
 I say, is nearly half the National income, and more than double the 
 total charge for the National Debt ! 
 
 Feel^g of Animals. — " Humanitarians " have also recommenced to 
 attack our sports, and in doing so they show themselves to be as 
 ignorant on the subject they deal with as are all other bigots and 
 faddists ; but as this book is one of reference and not of story, and as 
 this matter is of importance, I shall refer shortly to it, even though the 
 subject has been often threshed out by others. We all know that the 
 mental feeling of animals is vastly less acute than that of human beings- 
 For instance, in a day or two they will have forgotten the young they 
 had hitherto cared, perhaps " loved," so tenderly. Sights horrible to 
 us have, of course, no effect upon brute beasts, while such fear of 
 death as we have, although careful o[ their safety, can never occur 
 to them. Besides, when death comes suddenly, or after any great 
 shock, we don't even ourselves feel it much. We have good reason 
 to suppose that their bodily feeling is equally obtuse, for in the 
 case of the horse, whose cutaneous sensitivity is remarkable, he 
 will, without wincing or showing the least sign of feeling, put up with 
 a broken leg or other accident which would be to us such excruciating 
 agony that we would howl again. A cow, a sheep, and an ass, who we 
 all know have not nearly such thin skins as a horse, show the same in- 
 difference. A pig, however, will kick up a bobbery, but he would do 
 the same if he got the prod of a stick ! A hare will squeal when being 
 killed by greyhounds, but as that timid creature will sometimes do so 
 before she is caught it is just as likely as not that she cries from fear 
 alone. Surely a bird with a broken wing does not suffer like a man 
 with a broken arm. I saw a cock grouse picking heather tops half an 
 hour after having been wounded so. 
 
 Fish, we may take i*-, are all constituted alike as regards bodily feel- 
 ing, and while I don't know if a salmon or the nimble trout would do 
 so, a pike will, in a few minutes after, go at the same bait which con- 
 ceals the hook on which, by the nose, he had been pulled at for perhaps 
 a quarter of an hour ! Does that indicate that he had suffered much 
 pain or was very much tormented, or even frightened, by the angler ? 
 
 Numerous instances have been related which show how little fear 
 a fox has when being hunted. I myself saw one run fifty yards 
 out of his way to get at a flock of geese, although the hounds were 
 hunting his line not two fields behind. This he evidently did only for 
 a lark, for he made no attempt to catch one, and pursued his course 
 with a whisk of his brush after having scattered them cackling in all 
 
directions. He then passed quite close to where I was ensconced in a 
 deep ditch behind a fence, and, not seeing me, he listened for a moment 
 to the hounds, then sat down and scratched his ear with his hind pad, 
 after which he leisurely cantered along the grip and went off for Glen- 
 bower, two miles away. 
 
 Don't let any one tell me that that fox was frightened of the hounds, 
 but the sight of me would have made him run for his life, and if I had 
 shouted at him he would have been more terri6ed than if the hounds 
 were racing him in view. Xor was that a bad scenting day, on which 
 foxes don't usually hurry themselves, for thehounds ran fairly fast. 
 
 Foxes and Sheep. — With reference to what I say at p. 85 about 
 foxes not as a rule killing lambs, and that those put down to their 
 account are ninety-nine times out of a hundred killed by dogs, we have 
 prima facie evidence in the fact that sheep show no fear of a fox, but 
 follow him slowly in a flock, with feet stamping and ears cocked, as he 
 passes through their walk ; but, if a strange dog appears they fly from 
 him in confusion, even though he may not go near them, or appear in 
 the least inclined to. 
 
 HORSE-BREEDING. 
 
 CHArXER V. 
 
 Hackneys at Dublin Show.— I see in the papers some controversy 
 arising out of the decision of our Royal Dublin Society not to give 
 prizes this year at the Dublin Horse Show for Hackney stallions. 
 As far as I am a judge, I think the Committee have done perfectly 
 right to eliminate from the catalogue of our great hunter show that class 
 of horse. We Irish, as I say in another chapter, are not drivers, and as 
 an art or an institution I don't think driving will ever rise much 
 towards perfection in my country. What we want, and what we 
 know more about than any other people, is the hunter^ and him we 
 can breed and train to^ not alone gallop and jump, but to walk and 
 trot, and so carry a man as safely along a road in the dark as he 
 can over a country in the day. The system pursued of late years 
 by my countrymen in breeding hunters has worked amazingly well, 
 therefore it should be stuck to, and to import the hackney class 
 into Ireland would tend directly to alter that system, for assuredly the 
 breed would get mixed with that of our hunters. Stick to your own 
 opinions, ray friends the Committee of the Dublin Horse Show, and 
 don't be influenced by parties who know nothing about Irish horse 
 lireeding, although they may talk and write a lot about it. Men who 
 know most talk least, so you have not heard much from those who are 
 in thorough accord with you, not alone upon the question of hackney?, 
 but upon the whole system of your management, including that excellent 
 ^dea of giving prizes for well turned-out jarveys, the competition for 
 which affords one of the most interesting exhibitions witnessed at our 
 
carnival. One of the great features of our Show is that what I miy 
 call the "professional horse" is never seen there. Open the gate? to 
 hackneys, and we shall see plenty of the professionals stepping need- 
 lessly high, and led by athletes at fifteen miles an hour in the arena 
 hitherto sacred to the hunter and the horseman — an exhibition which 
 is all very well for Islington, but it won't do for Dublin. 
 
 CARE OF A HUNTER. 
 Ciiaptp:r VI. 
 Correction. — On the fifteenth line of page 106 there is a stupid 
 mistake, which my readers will kindly correct by reading " top of the 
 shoulder," instead of point thereof. 
 
 8TEEPLECHASING. 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 Correction. — Through a clerical error the famous Quorn covert i& 
 spelt at p. 130 '■ Barkly " instead of " Barkby." 
 
 Grand National Record. — The record wh!ch I gave in this chapter 
 of ouf Irish horses in the Grand National, ending as it did, after a 
 sequence of three wins, with Comeaway in 1891, happily for the renown 
 of old Ireland, but not for that of my book, is now a long way behind 
 time, so I must bring it up. 
 
 Although his name denotes otherwise, and, strange to say, is the only 
 one with Celtic significance to be found among all the winners of the 
 Grand National, Father O'Flynn w^as an English horse, and neither 
 through owner, trainer, or jockey was connected with the old count rj'-, 
 but he won in 1892, and thus broke the chain of a remarkable record, 
 for the blue riband came to Ireland every year since then, as it did for 
 the three years previously. Cloister, by Ascetic— Grace 11, carrying to 
 victory for the first time 12st. 7 lbs., won in 1892, as described in the 
 postscript, p. 152. Why Not, bred by my friend Mr. Percy Nugent, who- 
 has the love of sport engrafted in him as deep as any man I know, won 
 in 1893 in the hands of Arthur Nightingall after a good race with the 
 Irish horses Lady Ellen II. and Wild Man from Borneo. The latter, 
 after one of the finest finishes ever seen at Aintree, won this year — 
 the second being Cathal, another Irishman — amidst a scene of enthu- 
 siasm and applause the like of which was never seen on a racecourse 
 except when Lord Rosebery won the Derby with Ladas, and the Prince 
 of Wales won the Manchester Handicap last June with Florlzel II. 
 Instead therefore of the Irish record in the annals of the Liverpool 
 Grand National standing as it did in 1891, when I wrote it up for this 
 book, we now have twenty wins out of fifty-eight races, and running, 
 into a place nearly every year. 
 
 b 
 
As I have expressed myself elsewhere, give me the man who breeds 
 his own horse, trains him, and then wins his race on him — but such a 
 man is not easily found. With Liberator, his own property and 
 trained by himself, Mr. John Hubert Moore won the National in 1879, 
 his son Garrett being the jockey — a fine performance, and the best 
 record of the sort which I know of connected with that race, save and 
 except that of Mr. John "Widger in March last. Wild Man from 
 Borneo (such a name ! ) was purchased by the eldest brother of the 
 Widger family for the purpose of winning the Grand National, with 
 his brother Joe in the saddle, after having been trained by his other 
 brother Michael. That praiseworthy ambition was achieved to the 
 letter, and thus was realised the day-dream of that happy band of 
 brothers, whose history, written by me, appeared in The Sportsman of 
 Apiil 13th, 1895. 
 
 Cloister. — CI aster's time was put down at 9 minutes 32 seconds 
 immediately after the race, but 9 minutes 42f sees, were afterwards 
 recorded, and so it now stands at : but giving him even 10 minutes 
 to have won in with such a weight, although the going was perfection, 
 I adhere to what I stated at the time, and is related at p. 152. That 
 Cloister, over the Grand National course, was one of the best horses ever 
 seen there is no manner of doubt, but I think there is a doubt whether 
 he was better than The Colonel, Congress, Comeaway, or Royal Meath, 
 while little Seaman, if he could have been trained to concert pitch, 
 or perhaps St. Marnock, who was killed at Manchester, might have 
 stretched his neck over the selfsame course. Anyway I hope to see 
 Cloister win for Mr. Duff the Sefton in November and the National 
 again in March, prepared, as he no doubt will be, by Harry Linde, at 
 Eyrefield. 
 
 Father Mathew.— The first Irish horse that won the Grand 
 National is recorded in the calendars as Matthew, and sometimes 
 Mathew (p 131), but his right name was Father Mathew, called after 
 that "apostle of temperance " who did for Ireland more real good than 
 perhaps any other man tint ever lived, be he clergyman or layman, ia 
 that he converted from drunkenness to sobriety tens of thousiuds, very 
 few of whom ever "broke the pledge " they had voluntarily given to 
 that paragon priest. 
 
 PUNCHESTOWN. 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 PuNCHESTOWN DouBLE. — Like many other things, the old double at 
 Panchestown when looked at on paper, as a section of it can be done 
 at page 147, is very different to what it is in reality ; so in case any of 
 my readers might take the shadow for the substance, I may tell them 
 that that fence, while it is both safe and fair, is one of the stiffest to 
 be found in any course in the world, notwithstanding its apparently 
 
insignificant height. To get well on to it horses have to jump some 
 ten to eleven feet, then, in about four feet and a-half, they " change," 
 which gets them to the top, from which, to clear the off grip, they have 
 to jump at least another seven feet, the whole performance occupying 
 three-quarters of a second. To fly the fence from field to field re- 
 quires a horse to cover at the very least twenty feet in an arc of from 
 twenty-five to twenty-six feet, which in itself is a very big jump indeed, 
 and if he takes off further than a foot from the near grip, as most of 
 them do, it is a pound to a penny that he comes a purler upon landing. 
 I may add to what I say at p. 147 that the width of the top, which is 
 formed on a slant, and must be viewed in connection with the depth 
 and width of the grip, either when approaching the fence or standing 
 •close, is what causes people to be deluded into the idea that the fence, 
 as it has to be jumped, is five or six feet high. 
 
 Regimental Luncheons.— Owing to the MSS. having been lost by 
 my first publishers, what I had written about the regimental luncheons 
 at Punchestown has not appeared in Chap. ix. I am glad, however, to 
 he able to rectify the error, even though it be not [in the proper place, 
 for to have made no mention of these luncheons in a history of 
 Punchestown would indeed have rendered the work incomplete. For 
 the last thirty years it has been the custom of every cavalry regiment 
 stationed in Ireland at the time, and many of the infantry regiments, 
 to entertain their friends at luncheon during Punchestown, and this 
 they did in regal fashion with hospitality as lavish as it was genuine. 
 The space set apart for these entertainments is situated, as most people 
 know, at the back of the Stand, and, covering nearly an acre, is enclosed 
 with corrugated iron paling ten feet high. Within this space some 
 twenty marquees were usually pitched, and in them nearly everyone 
 who had Stand tickets got entertained upon both days, rendering it 
 quite unnecessary for those who were at all known to bring luncheon 
 to Punchestown. The generosity of our soldiers was, however, abused 
 of late years and tickets misappropriated, which, coupled with the 
 fact that the expense, which was enormous, fell heavily upon officers of 
 moderate means, an order came from the General that such broadcast 
 •distribution of invitations should be curtailed, and at the last meeting, 
 1895, he forbade the luncheons altogether — an order which was not 
 alone righteous, but was absohitely requisite. Thus, however, ended, 
 perhaps for ever, an institution which had for over a quarter of a 
 ■century become proverbial all over the world. Free luncheons are, 
 however, plentiful enough still at Punchestown for the members of the 
 Kildare Street Club, as well as the representatives of the great 
 Guinness family. Lords Ardilaun and Iveagh, erected years ago per- 
 manent houses of corrugated iron adjoining the enclosure, where they 
 entertain their friends by the hundred, and in style equal to that 
 adopted by the soldiers, but with better management. 
 
 The Weather.— Of course we have had bad weather at Punchestown, 
 
and at times very bad, notably in 1886 and 1894, but with an expe- 
 rience of the dear old place a long way greater than most people's, I 
 can state that on the whole we have had no reason to complain of the 
 elements, while a fog — think of this, Aintree ! — has never upon any one 
 occasion of the great carnival visited our princely plains — since 1861 at 
 all events. 
 
 The Laragh Run. — The Laragh run is not quite correctly described 
 at p. 164, but was so in an article which appeared from me in Baity' s 
 Magazine of February, 1895. This famous hunt took place on the 26th 
 Xovember, 1859, and from Laragh House, where the fox wheeled to the 
 right after going a mile from the gorse, until he was pulled down in 
 the open close to the fence of Swainstown covt-rt — a thirteen mile 
 point— the line was almost as straight as it could possibly be, and all 
 over grass without the semblance of a check. The distance covered 
 was about eighteen miles, and the time, including fifteen minutes in 
 CollestowD, which was the only covert touched, was one hour and fifty- 
 five mins. Besides those enumerated at p. 164, I have found since that 
 the Baron de Robeck, Mr. Michael Aylmer, Mr. Henry Meredith, Sir 
 James Higginson, and Captain Frank Kennedy, with Gaffney, who was, 
 and still i?, Mr. Blacker's groom at Castle Martin (not Mr. Tuthill's), 
 rode and finished the run, and Lord Naas, who, owing to an accident, 
 was out on wheels that day, got there in time to see the fox broken up. 
 Some one connected with the Magazine alluded to altered my MS. so 
 that I am made to state that the celebrated Will Goodall was hunts- 
 man of the Pijtchley instead of the Belvoir ; and sporting phraseology 
 which I h9d employed was also changed with disadvantage to the 
 article. 
 
 Gextlemen Riders. — Among the gentlemen who rode at Punches- 
 J % town thirty years ag*^, I wish to chronicle those I remember to have 
 been the best. Messrs. Tom Picker nell (" Mr. Thomas "X George Ede 
 (" Mr. Edwards"), George Knox, Willie Long, "Pig" Laurence, Pat and 
 Dan Russell, Dan Canny, Christopher LTssher, Pritchard-Rayner, 
 Thompson, John Hutchinson (" Mr. Appleton "), Dominick Murphy, 
 Jimmy Shee (" Mr. Hume "), and Hickman of the 8th Hussars, Captains 
 Tom McCraith, ''Curley" Knox, Tom Townley, who died only a 
 few months ago, Harford, "Doggie" Smith, Shaw, Bernard, Tempest^ 
 Trocke, Barclay, Hutton, Candy, Warburton, Ricardo, "Joey" Little, 
 Coventry, and last not least, Sir Richard de Burgh o, Bart. Then came to 
 the front the men whose names my readers all know, Messrs. Garrett 
 Moore, W. B. Morris, Murland, the Hon. Reginald Greville-Nugent 
 -^ 2 (" Mr. St. James "), Burn-Murdock, Captains Lee Barber, Orr Ewing,, 
 i '^ " Bay"' Middleton, and later still, Mr. Tommie Beasley, perhaps the 
 ® =^ most accomplished of them all, bar Tom Pickernell. Then followed his 
 "-S g brothers and the many other fine horsemen whose names being con- 
 ^ ^ stantly chronicled in the daily papers need not here be mentioned. 
 5 -c Professional Riders. — Among the old professionals were Darv 
 
 r.2 >> 
 
 2 o 
 
 ^ a 
 
 O ^3 
 
Meany, Denny and Joe Wynne, John Doyle, John Debeau, James 
 Monaghan, John Noble, Johnny Whelan, Larry Hyland, Dan and Jim 
 Broderick, William Cusack, Johnny Hanlon, Tom and William Ryan, 
 Tom Kelly, John Connolly, John Igoe, Stephen Kelly ; while of later 
 date came Davy and William Canavan, Paddy Gavin, and George Gray. 
 PuNCHESTOWN AND HoRSE Show.— Punchestown owes its patronage 
 to the same section of Irishmen as does the Dublin Horse Show, which 
 I describe at page 103. And in these, our two great national carnivals, 
 the world has object examples which demonstrate plainly to what 
 supreme excellence we Irish can bring great projects of our own con- 
 ception when we are left untrammelled with politics or religion, and are 
 not harassed by the interference of designing agitators. 
 
 LOPtD DROGHEDA. 
 Chapter X. 
 
 His Marriage and Successor.— I should add to the short memoir 
 of LordDrogheda which I give in Chapter x. that in 1847 he married Mary 
 Caroline, daughter of the second Lord Wharncliffe, but left no issue, 
 so that the marquisate became extinct, and he was succeeded by his 
 oousin, Mr. William Ponsonby, as Earl of Drogheda. 
 
 And, reminded of the incident by the General Election which has just 
 taken place, I may also add that shortly before his death our great 
 •chief told me that at one time he thought of going in for politics, 
 to which I replied that I was glad he did not carry out his intention, 
 for he would have had to do for expediency and for " party " what he 
 ■never did, and never would do, when left to his own instincts. He 
 made no reply, but well do I remember the piercing look he gave me 
 and the significant smile which passed over those features, the expres- 
 sion of which was never indicative of anything save honesty of principle 
 with independence of purpose. 
 
 RACING. 
 Chapter XL 
 
 l^oTA Bene, p. 188— Appendix.— When they have read the para- 
 graph, '■ Give heed, all Radicals, to this assertion," at head of p. 188, 
 my readers are particularly requested to take up the Appendix to 
 Racing, which they will find at p. 421, for it is a continuation of what 
 I may call the homily I began at p. 187. 
 
 FoREBODiJ^GS Fulfilled.— They will also see how strangely some of 
 my forebodings have come true. The Duchess of Montrose not alone 
 broke up her breeding establishment in July, 1894, but was on the 
 point of giving up racing altogether, a loss which the Turf was saved 
 
from for only four moaths. for the lamented death of the poor old 
 ady on November 16 last brought it about. The Hampton stud was 
 broken up at the same time, a proceeding whicii was deemed ill-advised. 
 The Duke of Beaufort soon after sold otf both his racing and breeding 
 studs, and many others since then have had to curtail expenses. Before 
 then cime the general reduction in the fees of high class stallions, with 
 allowances to be made to owners whose mares had proved barren, which 
 I had said was imperatively necessary {vide pp. 421, 422). 
 
 Financial Position of Bacing.— The entries for the classic races 
 of 1896, which closed in August, 1894, and those for the autumn 
 handicaps, which closed about the same time, prove how correct I was in 
 what I said about the stability of the Turf at present. Osving to a great 
 increase from abroad the classic races have more entries than usual, but if 
 so the patrons are almost entirely contined to oar wealthiest owners — 
 scarcely a single small man is to be found among the lot. On the other 
 hand the autumn handicaps of last year showed a lamentable falling 
 off. In former years these ever-popular events were supported by the 
 rank and file quite as much as by the great owners, but in 1894 the 
 absence of the former was as conspicuous in the handicaps as in the 
 classics. Strange to say, in Ireland it is quite the reverse. Very few 
 of our wealthy country gentlemen now patronise tither r^.cing or 
 steeplechasing, nearly all our support comes from the middle classes — 
 not so formerly, however. Thus is shown, in addition to what I say 
 in the appendix and elewhere, how racing in England is going to 
 the bad, despite the fact that never was the sport nearly a^ universally 
 popular as it is at present, nor had we ever in the anaals of the Turf 
 such attendances at meetings as we have had the last two or three 
 years, that at last Ascot being hugely greater than waa ever before 
 known. At Waterloo Station on the Cup day 900 tickets more were 
 issued than upon any other Cup day since the railway was opened. 
 
 Let not these records delude the authorities into the belief that racing 
 is in a good monetary position, for it is 7iot, and I write again what I 
 wrote at Christmas, 1892, and appears in the appendix, that if some- 
 thing be not doae by the .Jockey Club to relieve owners of expenses- 
 the days of racijuj are numbered, and if ten time^ as many outsiders- 
 were to go to meetings as g) at preseat the downfall would not be 
 averted for twenty-four hours ! 
 
 What have the Royal processions, the drags, the luncheons, the ladies^ 
 lawn, or the ladies' dresses to say to the hills which the owners have to 
 pay ? But they have a great deal to say to the profits of the Race 
 Companies ! 
 
 If our rulers should, of their clemency, take the matter up, it would 
 be well for them to recognise the fact that we have, at present, too many 
 horses, too many meetings, and too many races a day. Fancy eight 
 meetings in the year, even at Xewmarket, extending over twenty-nine 
 days, with six or seven races on each ! The consequence is, that with 
 
all our horses, the fields at headquarters, as well as elsewhere, are 
 ridiculously small, while meetings held all over the country for the 
 benefit of outside interest in such superabundance as they are is posi- 
 tively a prostitution of the noble sport of racing— I state so advisedly. 
 
 Jockeys' Riding.— Not alone is the system of racing changed from 
 what it was, but the riding is changed too. Long ago jockeys, sitting 
 firm in the saddle, rode with their hands and knees, driving their horses- 
 home without much aid of whip or spur. Now we see theaa coming 
 in with loose rein, wabbling all over their horses, which they flog 
 and spur unmercifully, and at times when there is no chance of winning. 
 Many a race has been lost by undue punishment, while thousands of 
 horses have been ruined by it ; and if some of our present jockeys were 
 taught that a prick of the spur will make nearly every thoroughbred 
 horse give his running quite as well as excoriation of it, it would 
 be a sound lesson. 
 
 Two-Year-Olds.— Not long ago I showed a well-known trainer, who 
 also breeds extensively, what I wrote at p. 173 about working two-year- 
 olds, and having the whole system changed as regards racing our 
 youngsters. After having read it all over twice he took off his spec- 
 tacles, and moodily said to me, " Yes, yes, it is all true, but if such a^ 
 system was adopted all the breeders in England would be ruined.' 
 "Why?" asked I. "Because," said he, "horses would then last until 
 they died of old age, and we breeders woukl not have to provide one 
 quarter of the young ones we do now." I dont think if he talked for 
 an hour he could have given more commendation to my remarks. 
 
 The Duchess of Montrose— an Oversight.— When at Newmarket 
 last Whitsuntide I discovered a mistake, which, although plain enough 
 to be seen, was never observed before, at least so the clergyman of St. 
 Agnes' Church told me when I drew his attention to it. The name of 
 the Duchess of Montrose's second husband, Mr. William Stirling 
 Crawfurd, is spelt wrong on the tomb her Grace erected to his memory 
 in the little churchyard on the Bury Road. There itisiCrawford- 
 How it was that the Duchess, with that quickness of perception which 
 was peculiarly her own, could have failed to have discovered the mistake 
 upon any of many scores of times she visited the tomb of the man she- 
 loved so devotedly was a problem the vicar, at all events, could not 
 solve. Had she discovered it what would the poor sculptor have come 
 in for? The mistake will, however, I daresay, be now corrected, for the 
 same man, I was told, is erecting a tomb of similar design over the 
 remains of her Grace, which lie alongside those of Mr. Crawfurd. 
 
 MoRNY Cannon's Doncaster. — Great as were Archer's achieve- 
 ments I doubt if he or any other jockey ever did better at one meeting 
 than did Mornington Cannon at the Doncaster Autumn Meeting 
 of 1894, when that jockey's wins were as follows : — First day : — 
 Stand Plate (9), Rowallan, 100 to 8 against ; Champagne Stakes (5), 
 Solero, 10 to 1 against ; Great Yorkshire Handicap (16), Bushey Park 
 
100 to 12 against ; Doncaster Welter 03), Lumberer, 100 to 8 against. 
 Second day :— Milton Stakes (7), Newmarket, 5 tD 4 on ; St. Leger (8), 
 Throstle, 50 to 1 against. Third day :— Juvenile Selling (10), Queen 
 Saraband, 9 to 4 against ; Kous Plate (6), Matabele, 100 to 30 against ; 
 Portland Plate (15). Grey Leg, 8 to 1 against ; Corporation Selling (10), 
 St. Ignatius, 11 to 8 against. On the fourth day he did not win, but he 
 was second in the Cup on Portland with 100 to 6 against. Th-re were 
 twenty-six races in the four days, and Cannon rode in them all except 
 the Fitzwilliam Stakes, Rufford Plate, Cleveland Plate, Bradgate Park 
 Plate, and Prince of Wales Nursery, with a result of ten wins, four ; 
 seconds, two thirds, which left only five " duck eggs " to his debit ; 
 besides which he rode a dead heat for the Tattersall's Stakes on The 
 Brook, the decider being won by Finlay on Florendean. As is seen be 
 won all ihe principal events except the Park Hill, the Stakes and the Cup, 
 in which latter he was second, and many of his mounts were outsiders, 
 while Throstle created the most remarkable surprise perhaps ever re- 
 corded in the Leger. The twenty-one races which he rode covered exactly 
 twenty-two miles and a half, and those who " followed" this able and 
 popular jockey by putting one sovereign at s. p. to win on each of his 
 mounts netted exactly i'98 9s. 2d., i.e., won £109 93. 2d. and lost £11, 
 a result which came to the share of few others, for never was there 
 a more disastrous meeting for backers than was the one under 
 reference. If, therefore, this riding of Morny Cannon's has not 
 established a record among "jockeys' mounts," I am very much mistaken. 
 Even at a small meeting it would have been marvellous, not to speak 
 of the Doncaster September, which I maintain is the mcst important 
 we have in the calendar. So little was thought of Throstle's chance 
 that it was intended that she should be used as a pacemaker for 
 Matchbox, but at the last moment Cannon requested to be allowed to 
 lide the mare as he liked, hence the result. His riding in some of the 
 other races was also remarkably brilliant, particularly on Queen 
 Saraband and Grey Leg. 
 
 THE CUKRAGH. 
 Chapter XH. 
 
 The Beasleys— Corrections pp. 203, 205, 206.— At page 203 the 
 rotation of the brothers Beasley is given wrong — they came as 
 follows :~Tom, John, Harry, James, and Willy. And two pages on I 
 should have said that the Stand House is a little short of three miles, 
 instead of nearly four, from Eyrefield House. Again, Charley was old 
 Canavan's name, and not Davy ; while by a printer's mistake, in not 
 putting a comma after " off" in the last line of p. 206, it would appear 
 that the fox covert was not on the Curragh, which it is, and close to 
 the railway on the opposite side from the Stand House. 
 
 Eclipse. — At page 211 is made a mistake about Eclipse which I 
 
■can't account for, as I knew well enough that he was not an Irish 
 horse, being by Marske out of Spiletta, and bred by e Duke of Cum- 
 berland in 1764. 
 
 Crotanstown Stud.— When I wrote my nistory of the Ourragh 
 there was no one living at Crotanstown, and old Brownstown was in 
 •dilapidation, but since then Captain Greer has started stud farms at 
 both places, and after last Punchestown I had the pleasure of being 
 shown over them by the owner. I don't think I ever enjoyed a visit 
 of the sort more, for there I saw everything done as it should be. The 
 stabling and sheds, which are all new, are laid out upon the most con- 
 venient plan and built in style as substantial as it is picturesque. 
 The paddocks at both establishments are numerous and not too large, 
 as they are in many places, while in all of them are found that undula- 
 tion of ground which is so beneficial to foals and yearlings, while the 
 herbage, springing from generous limestone soil, shows by its abundance 
 how carefully the paddocks with their neatest of hedges are attended 
 to. Captain Greer started only six years ago, but being wonderfully 
 endowed with brain-power, and thoroughly master of his business, he 
 has got together within that short time some twelve brood mares which 
 for quality and breeding cannot be surpassed in any other breeding 
 establi^hment that I know. His foals and yearlings, bred for his own 
 racing, were also good, and are got by the best and most fashionable 
 sires of the day, many of them being by his own hor^e Gallinule. I had 
 a long look at this li r^e, and certainly he is the sort to beget alike 
 race-horses, steeplechasers, and hunters, and he is as quiet as a lamb. 
 He was not sent many good mares in his first season ; his stock, how- 
 ever, showed from the beginning that they were capable of winning, 
 and since then he has been mated with the very best mares in Ireland, 
 so that last season Gallinule stood high in the list of winning stallions. 
 Captain Greer peaces a high value upon this horse, and so he may, for 
 his reputation as a sire has been established, and the source of a 
 nice income will he be to his popular owner for, let us hope, many a 
 year to come. 
 
 Waterford Lodge was also empty at the time I wrote, but that fine 
 horseman, Mr. Willy McAuliffe, has recently resumed training, and has 
 now a select stud under his charge at this once famous stable. 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 Chapter XIII. 
 
 London Coachmen.— Since I wrote as I did at p. 218 about London 
 traps and private coachmen I have altered my opinion on the subject. 
 We can see many a badly turned-out private trap in London, and many 
 a man driving it whom you would imagine spent most of his time at 
 work in the garden. What has struck me lately — and I have seen more 
 
XXVI 
 
 of the Park diiriog the past two years than I have done since I was a. 
 boy — is that not one private coachman in a hundred drives without the 
 assistance of the r'ght hand, not even when g nng slowly one carriage- 
 after another, and invariably will they pull the right rein out of the-- 
 left hand to get hold of it with the right. With the reins thus held and. 
 the fellow trying to use his whip, see what an exhibitioa he makes of 
 himself I You also see some of them with a rein in each hand same 
 as a coxswain uses the yoke lines from behind. No, no, the English 
 private coachmen don'c drive as well as I thought they d d four or five 
 years ago, but the busmen and hansom cabmen do, and they, as a class,, 
 are the very best drivers in the world. They are also, as a lot, honest, 
 civil, and respectable, but, as I say at p. 219, they are intensely stupid 
 in conversation, and not even a surgical operation would extract wit- 
 f rom or inoculate them with it. So different from our own jolly, jovial 
 Dublin jarvies ! 
 
 Waterford, Dungarvan, and Lismore Coach.— It is not to be- 
 supposed by what I say at p. 223 that the old Dungarvan coach was- 
 badly horsed as a rule, for it was not, but the teams were not to say 
 "handy." And here I shall relate something more about that famous- 
 old coach, the last representative we had of an institution which was 
 in its day probably as famous in Ireland as it was in England, and 
 answered the requirements of the age quite as well as do railways- 
 now ; while, by means of four spanking horses, whose hoofs rattled in 
 time to the clanking bars and ringing pole-chains, a halo of romance 
 surrounded the whole affair, the like of which can never attach itself to- 
 a shrieking locomotive or cumbersome train, much less surround it. 
 
 The Waterford and Lismore road, as far as coaching goes, has- 
 records as remarkable as any in the kingdom. The west of our county 
 from Lismore, through Cappoquin, Dungarvan, and on to Waterford 
 was opened up to the public towards the end of the thirties by 
 Mr. Charles Bianconi, by means of his well-known long cars which- 
 took his name, and to which two, three, or four horses were put- 
 according as the weight-bill required. The firtt man put on the box was 
 Tom Keogh, and from 1837, or perhaps a year earlier, until 1861 he 
 drove the whole way from Lismore to Waterford and back every week 
 day, except from about 1852 to 1858, when he drove only from Dun- 
 garvan and back. The distance from Lismore to Waterford is forty- 
 three miles, and from Dungarvan it is twenty-eight, therefore, for 
 some eighteen years, he drove eighty-six miles a day, and for six years 
 drove fifty-six. 
 
 There were three (perhaps four) stages between Lismore and 
 Waterford, leaving two from Dungarvan, so, allowing that " unicorn '*' 
 was his average team, Tom Kecgh has a record of having driven 
 101,412 horses, with 33,804 changes, 502,052 miles, or more than twenty- 
 times round the world !— a feat which knocks into a cocked hat that 
 of the Guard immortalised in Baibj^ vol. 55, p. 358. " Bian's Car' 
 
XXVil 
 
 started from Lismore at 5 a.m., and reached Water ford at 11 a.m., 
 returning at 3 p.m., and got back to Lismore at 9 p.m. ; therefore, for 
 eighteen years, Keogh was twelve hours a day on his box, and could 
 not have had more than six hours in bed, except on Sunday, when, 
 small blame to him, he stayed in it nearly all day. During these four- 
 and-twenty years this wonderful man was never oflf duty for a single 
 day, except a few just before he gave up. He was most abstemious 
 in drink, if not a teetotaller, but he eat heartily, particularly before 
 starting in the morning. Mr. Bianconi was not in favour of long 
 stages, so it may have been that there were four stages along the 
 line. Anyway, Tom was so wonderfully punctual that " Bian," rather 
 than their clocks, denoted to the country folk the time of day. 
 Although he carried a little horn, slung by a strap round his shoulder, 
 it was his stentorian voice and thundering oaths that notified to 
 those who might be obstructionists to faugh a hcdlagh, and this they 
 hastily did, knowing that Tom would drive over them if they did not. 
 
 In about 1861 Bianconi disposed of the "road" to the late Mr. 
 William Cummins, at whose brother's hotel the car was always put up in 
 Waterford, and a coach was then substituted for the long car. John 
 Bates drove it for about twelve years, and Pat Thornton for five, until 
 August, 1878, when the railway was opened, but neither of these men 
 went further than Dungarvan. During the forty odd years that this 
 road was driven over there was only one serious accident to either the 
 car or the coach, and that was near Kilmacthomas in about 1860, a fact 
 which speaks volumes to the skill of the drivers, for there was a great 
 deal of traffic along the route, and upon fair or market days drunken 
 people were plentiful ; and although a guard was never employed, 
 neither car nor coach was ever attacked, even in the troublous times of 
 1848 and 1866. 
 
 Mr. William Cummins, a respectable and worthy citizen of Waterford, 
 horsed and turned out the coach well, and when it was run off the road 
 by the railway it was the last of the long distance coaches which we 
 had in Ireland. This quondam representative of a grand old institution 
 has, however, gone to posterity with a record of safe travelling, which 
 is not likely to be accorded to its iron successor, while Tom Keogh has- 
 a history, perhaps, unparalleled in the history of coaching. He was — and 
 so were Bates and Thornton — as respectful and respectable as they 
 were skilful. A surly chap, whose name I forget, drove the coach 
 for a few months before it stopped, but he need not be counted. 
 
 SHOOTING. 
 
 Chapter XV. 
 
 Osbaldeston's ShootiisG.— The feat recorded at p. 248 of the t^o- 
 
 noblemen having a few years ago shot between them 98 pheasants out 
 
 of 100 shots, bird for bird and shot for shot, wonderful work no doubt, 
 
 was not nearly as fine a performance as that of George Osbaldestoa 
 
XXVIU 
 
 nearly seventy years ago as recorded at p. 361, for to his own gun— and 
 that a flint-lock — he bagged the same number, missing also only two 
 shots. 
 
 i\ECOED Hind Shooting.— I find that it was by fair stalking alone, 
 for driving was not resorted to at all, that my friend and his companion 
 shot the twenty-two hinds in five days at Christmas, 1892. 
 
 Pre^entiox of Accidents. — This being the glorious "Twelfth," 
 and I not on the moors as I should like to be, I may add something to 
 what I have already written at pp. 236, 237, about caution with fire- 
 arms and tell of other big bags made up to date. 
 
 To the three golden rules given at p. 236 I shall add : Never 
 fire at anything that you canoot see far beyond except it be well 
 over the height of a man. Another measure of precaution, when not 
 actually engaged in firing, is to unlock the barrels and hang the gun 
 over the arm, and in a second it can be shut and ready for use. This 
 is a plan I often adopted, and I saw it advocated in the Field last 
 September. Men should be careful with a gun even when it is not 
 loaded, so as to render the custom habitual, and directly they take hold 
 of one they should examine whether it is loaded or not. Boys should 
 be taught these safety methods and made to follow them, and so 
 should those who nowadays begin shooting late in life, for they are 
 the gentlemen who are the most dangerous of all. 
 
 My own opinion is that a man who can't handle his gun properly or 
 is over excitable, be he young or old, host or guest, should not be 
 allowed to shoot in company with others, for he is to a party even more 
 ■dangerous than a bad rider is to good horsemen in a race or a hunt. 
 
 TuRXED-DOWN Hares. — With regard to what I say about turned- 
 down hares at p. 241, I may add that as hares are very fond of salt 
 it would materially tend to induce them to stay where they are turned 
 down if large lumps of rock salt were plentifully strewn about ; or 
 better still, if it could be done, have the hares in the first instance let 
 loose in a walled-in paddock with the rock salt strewn there, and after 
 a few days let them go in the open, leaving small holes for them to get 
 into the paddock to lick the salt when they choose, or to take refuge. 
 
 Remarkable Shooting. — Before dealing with the last couple of 
 years I must add some more records of remarkable shooting made 
 years ago which I have got hold of lately, for they are even greater 
 than those given in Chap. xv. 
 
 Two very interesting letters appeared in the Field last September 
 in which are recorded the first-rate sport which was had over dogs 
 nearly fifty years ago on Dalnaspidal Moors, the Duke of Athole's 
 property in Perthshire. The game book of the Lodge records it 
 as follows, the bags being made in 1846 by the five well-known 
 sportsmen, Mr. Robert Fellowes, Mr. Stirling Crawfurd, his brother- 
 in4aw Mr. Everard, Mr. Willoughby, afterwards Lord Middleton, and 
 Mr. W. Little Gilmour. 
 
Au.f^ust 12. — Messrs. Gilmour and Crawfurd . 190 brace 
 ,, ,, Fellowes and Everard . 164 ,, 
 
 Mr. Willoughby . . . . 82 ,, 
 
 —436 brace 
 ,, 14. — Messrs. Crawfurd and Fellowes . 183 brace 
 ,, ,, Gilmour and Everard . 123 ,, 
 
 Mr. Willoughby . . . . 89 „ 
 
 — 345 brace 
 ,, 17. — Messrs. Crawfurd and Gilmour . llOj brace 
 Fellowes and Willoughby 100^ ,, 
 
 ,, Mr. Everard 96 ,, 
 
 —307 brace 
 ,, 20.— Mr. Crawford . . . .126 brace 
 ,, Messrs. Fellowes and Everard .68 ,, 
 
 ,, ,, Gilmour and Willoughby . 58 ,, 
 
 — 252 brace 
 ,, 21. — Messrs. Fellowes and Willoughby 80 bra?e 
 ,, ,, Crawfurd and Gilmour .53 ,, 
 
 —133 brace 
 ,, 22. — Messrs. Crawfurd and Fellowes . 103 brace 
 ,, ,, Willoughby and Everard . lOlh ,, 
 
 204^ brace 
 
 ,, 24.— Mr. Fellowes .... 103 brace 
 
 ,, Messrs. Crawfurd and Everard .98 ,, 
 
 Mr. Willoughby . . . . 58i ,, 
 
 259i 
 
 Total of five guns for four days and four for three days 1,937 brace 
 
 Their bag for the season was, grouse 5,778, black game 20, ptarmigan. 
 187, hares 107, wild duck 7, sundries 8, a grand total of 6,107 head. 
 These moors, whichhave always beensome of the very bestinthekingdom, 
 afforded in 1850, again to Mr. Stirling Crawfurd and party, 1,100 brace 
 of grouse in nine days, and the following year the bag, in five days 
 with five guns, was 931^ brace. In those days the rental of that fine 
 shooting Avas only about £350, now it is perhaps twice or three times 
 as much, and the sport is not better, or may be as good. 
 
 Better even than the Maharajah's shooting over dogs is the following^ 
 record, given by a sporting correspondent of The Daily Telegraph in its 
 issue of August 11, 1894, wherein he states in an interesting account of 
 The Twelfth that "The late Colonel Campbell, of Monzie, on his own 
 moors and to his own gun on x^ugust 21, 1843, bagged 184^ brace of 
 grouse, and on September 4, 1846, he beat that performance by killing 
 191 brace." The County Gentleman of .September 1, 1894, records that 
 he shot 222^ brace about the same time. This the gallant Colonel did, 
 shooting alone and no doubt over dogs, and probably with flint guns. 
 The big bag, however, was not made fairly, and a number of cheepers 
 were shot which were all counted. At the present time, with grouse 
 
XXX 
 
 mucli more plentiful than they were fifty years ago, and having breech- 
 loaders which eject cartridges as fast as they are fired, and can 
 be re-cartridged in a brace of seconds, men can't beat this splendid 
 record over dogs, simply because those who have really good moors 
 don't go out as early and can't walk so hard or continuously as their 
 fathers, whilst those sportsmen of the present day who never tire but 
 work hard from daylight till dark and are good shots have not such 
 moors to shoot over as Colonel Campbell's, and until they get a chance 
 over them the Colonel's records are likely to remain undisturbed, for, 
 under the circumstances, they are far and away better than Duleep 
 Singh's. 
 
 I have not read Mr. Stuart Wortley's books, but from a review of the 
 first volume I learn that a wonderful bag of partridge was made at 
 The Grange in Hampshire in October, 1S87, when seven guns in four 
 days' driving got no less than 4,109, being an average of 1,027 a day, 
 587 a gun, or 147 per gun a day ! 
 
 In the opening week of the season 1888 the Comte de Paris, who 
 died last year, and party of nine guns killed 1,269 brace of grouse over 
 dogs on the Moness and Loch Kennard moors in the Breadalbane 
 district of Perthshire, which is considered the best grouse land in 
 Scotland. 
 
 At Merton, Lord Wal>ingham's place in Norfolk, about Christmas, 
 1893, the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Huntingfield, Lord de Grey, Mr. 
 Archibald Stuart Wortley, Colonel Bateson, and two other guns killed 
 in one day 1,572 pheasants, 235 hares, 90 rabbits, and 5 woodcock, and 
 repeated almost the same bag for four consecutive days, until at the 
 close of the fourth it was found that nearly 4,000 pheasants had fallen 
 to the guns of seven well-skilled sportsmen. Such a bag would have 
 been impossible thirty or forty years ago, when pheasants were not 
 reared by hand and turned down in such quantities as they are now. 
 
 Over the Elveden estate, which was purchased last year by Lord 
 Iveagh, in the season 1892-93, the bag for 22 days' shooting was 10.745 
 head, including 5,258 cock pheasants and 2,237 partridge. Upwards 
 of 21,000 pheasants have been brought up by hand there in a single 
 season, nor does that extensive breeding prevent 150,000 pheasants' eggs 
 being usually sold every year off the same preserves. 
 
 And in the season 1893, which will be ever memorable for big bags 
 of grouse, probably the greatest was that of Mr. Rimington Wilson's 
 party of nine guns on the 30th August, when over the Bromhetd 
 moors, near Sheffield, they shot 1,324 brace — of course, driving— thus 
 beating his own record made in 1872, as given at p. 246 ; but there I 
 find I gave Mr. Wilson's christened name incorrectly as " Kenn'ngton." 
 
 The best bag of grouse made over dogs in 1894 which I have heard 
 of was that recorded in The Field of September 1, where Mr. Roger K. 
 Cross with party of four guns got 1,549 grouse over the Inverlair moors 
 in Inverness-shire up to the 27th of August, and the best bag made 
 
XXXI 
 
 t)y driving ^ is that made by The Mackintosh and party, averaging 
 eight guns, over his own moors, Moy Hall, in Inverness-shire, when no 
 I ss than 2,467 grouse were got on August 21 and three following days, 
 of which 1,222, or nearly ha'f, were gjt on the first day. The Mackin- 
 tosh also made an extraordinary b\g to hia own gun over dogs in 
 August, 1894, but I don't know the exact score. 
 
 In his wonderful performance relat-d at p. 247 Lord Walsingham fired 
 1,510 shots ; once he killed three birds in oce shot and a brace three 
 t'mes, not through means of " browning " or by chance, but by taking 
 them intentionally at the proper instant. 
 
 Guns. — Not many years ago a first-rate gunmaker considered it good 
 business if he sold daring the season a hundred new guns at an average o 
 30 guineas ; now double that number are turned out by several of the 
 good makers, while some of them sell three hundred in a season ranging 
 from 50 guineas to 80 guineas apiece. 
 
 Mr. Winans. — Since I wrote what I did about Mr. Winans at p. 260 
 he has let some of his Highland shootings, and remarkable sport has, 
 naturally, been had over both his forests and moors, upon which, 
 for many years, he had kept at tremendous expense an army of keepers 
 •and watchers without allowing a shot to be fired. 
 
 Deer Forest Commission. — It will be observed how the report of 
 the Deer Forest Commission, which was made this summer, bears out 
 exactly the remarks which I made three years ago about the crofting 
 ■of deer forests and grouse moors as recorded at pp. 261-263. 
 
 Finding their game of injuring the landlords by trying to spoil the 
 shootings in having them turned into farms and sheep walks was being 
 played out, agitators have taken up another means. They now want to 
 have tourists allowed to roam all over the deer forests, knowing well 
 that red deer love solitude and quietness, and being the shyest of all 
 animals, and hating the sight of a man, would fly from any place which 
 would be disturbed by very much less noise than that which is caused 
 by a party of howling and horn-blowing tourists. People can enjoy 
 mountain scenery in abundance elsewhere than upon our Highland 
 deer forests, and I hope it will be many a long year before liberty will be 
 granted them, much less the right, to invade the regions where the 
 aatlered monarchs from time immemorial have enjoyed their long lives 
 in peaceful solitude. At the same time it would be diplomatic and 
 wise if the area of our forests and moors was not further extende-"^. 
 If "Humanitarians" knew what they were talking about they would 
 know that to be scared out of their wits by tourists would be far more 
 hurtful to the feelings of a wild red deer than is death caused instantly 
 by a bullet. 
 
 COURSING. 
 Chapter XVI. 
 Coursing versus Hunting.— When reviewing the edition of my 
 book, which the first publishers sent out in such incomplete style, all 
 
the papers were complimentary of it as a whole, but some took excep- 
 tion to what I said about coursing, alleging that because I did not 
 cire about it I abused it as a sport. Certainly I don't care a great 
 deal about coursing, but if fair play was given to the hares I most 
 assuredly would not say a word against it ; on the contrary I should 
 stick up for it the same as I do for other branches of sport which 
 personally I don't care much for. Let us take coursing as carried out 
 at Altcar and described at pp. 285 and 286, which is typical of other 
 public meetings, in comparison with hunting, and also with what may 
 be called wild coursing. A fox when found goes away with an odds-on 
 chance of escape of at least 10 to 1. A deer let loose from a cart, being 
 worth about £50, is never allowed to be killed if it be possible to save 
 him, so he is enlarged at the betting of 2D to 1 on his being taken even 
 unhurt. Wild deer are killed, if they can be, but that is not often, so 
 they have as much chance as a fox. A hare hunted by harriers starts 
 with at least 5 to 1 in her favour ; and a hare started on the wolds, not 
 to talk of a mountain, if she gets a fair chance of the hill, will beat the 
 best brace of greyhounds in England three times out of four, or may 
 be four times out of five. According to the records of the Waterloo 
 meeting described in Chap. xvi. a layer of odds would have won £109 
 if he had bet in sovereigns 109 to 1 against the hares in every course 
 run at the meeting ! 
 
 Waterloo Cup.— It may interest some people to know that the 
 Waterloo Cup was first run at Altcar in 1836, and was for eight dogs 
 only, the winner being a bitch named Milaine, the property of Lord 
 Molyneaux, but ran in the name of Mr. Lynn, the runner-up being Mr. 
 Norris' Unicus. Next year it was made a 16-dog stake, and in 1838 it 
 was increased to 32 dogs, and so continued until 1857, when it became 
 the 64-dog stake it has ever since remained. 
 
 I was wrong in stating at p. 288 that the Derby was never won by a. 
 Lord Derby, for it was won in 1787 by Sir Peter Teazle, the property 
 of the twelfth Earl, who instituted the race, but never since or before. 
 
 SPOKT A NATIONAL BENEFACTOR. 
 Chapter XVIL 
 
 Advice to Header. — For reasons already stated at p. xiv of these 
 addenda my readers are requested to get a copy of the pamphlets 
 which I wrote under the above title in December, 1894, and July, 
 1895, and read them instead of this chapter. They are 3d. each, and 
 can be had at the offices of the Sporting League, 46, Pall Mall, London, 
 or I will send them gratis to whoever buys this book and applies for 
 them. 
 
THE PRIZE RING. 
 Chapter XIX. 
 
 Sayers and Heenan. — Bob Brettle was the only man Sayers ever 
 fought who was lighter than himself, and the two fights he had with 
 Aaron Jones summed up 148 rounds of five hours' fighting, and they 
 were going to tackle each other for the third time when Heenan came 
 on the scene, as is related at p. 323. 
 
 Colours, Umpires, and Referee. — I have not described the men's 
 colours quite accurately at p. 326. Sayers' colours were — Standard of 
 England in the centre, British lion rampant in each corner on cream 
 coloured ground, with crimson border ; while Heenan's were red, 
 white, and blue borders, surrounding thirteen stars on white ground, 
 and bearing the motto " May the best man win." Mr. George Wilkes, 
 of the New York Spirit of the Times, was umpire for Heenan, Mr. 
 " Farmer " Bennett acted for Sayers, while Mr. Frank Dowling, editor 
 of BelVs Life, was the referee. It was the rule of the P.B. k. that if a 
 man held the Belt for three years in succession against all comers it 
 became his absolute property. I can't, therefore, understand why 
 Sayers was not given the original Belt two months after his fight 
 with Heenan, having won it from The Slasher on 16th June, 1857, and 
 it was never taken from him, but that question was no doubt settled 
 by Mr. Dowling when he brought about the arrangement mentioned 
 at p. 331. If, however, Heenan'a eyes had been lanced same as were 
 Keates' in his fight with Flowers (p 318), perhaps poor Tom might 
 have had a different record. 
 
 Farnborough Field. — The scene of the great battle between Sayers 
 and Heenan was named after the little railway station on the South- 
 Eastern line, which is only a quarter of a mile off — the village of 
 Farnborough being much further away, and was not in those days run 
 close to by any railway as it now is, and can be got to from Waterloo 
 in about thirty miles ; whereas the old road from London Bridge via 
 Guildford is over fifty, which explains the length of time the journey 
 took (p. 326.) 
 
 To visit the scene of any great event is to me at all times most enjoy- 
 able, so, in July, 1894, being at Aldershot for a day or two, I went off to 
 see again the famous Farnborough Field, and in case any of my 
 readers might like to do the same, all they have to do is to find their 
 way to the Ship Inn, which is about two miles and a-half from the 
 North Camp at Aldershot, and just beyond the Empress Eugenie's 
 beautiful demesne. They will find, about thirty yards on the near 
 side of the inn a small gate which opens on to a pathway, following 
 which they will come to Hook Cottage at the end of the field. Here, 
 unless they choose to go out of their way by continuing the path, they 
 must get as best they can across the railway, and, directly at the other 
 side, in Hampshire, is " Sayers' Meadow." In the snug little recess 
 at the top is where the ring was pitched, surrounded, as it still is, by 
 
XXXIV 
 
 the trees which grew there at the time of the fight, from the boughs of 
 which many scores of people from the neighbourhood got a tip-top 
 view. The little stream close by, called the Blackwater, divides Hamp- 
 shire from Surrey, and for being carried across it on the morning of 
 the fight many a half-sovereign had to be paid. 
 
 Again was the day charming, as it was of old ; but sad recollections 
 of various nature occurred to me as, for nearly an hour, I roamed 
 about and rested upon the spot which, over five-and-thirty years be- 
 fore, had been the centre of the ring on that memorable morning. 
 The place for many years was marked by four posts, 24 feet apart, 
 until they rotted away lately. They ought to be replaced. 
 
 Jim Mace.— Next to Sayers I think Mace was about the best man 
 we ever had. On " book form " he was better than Heenan, for with as 
 much difference in height and weight as there was between Sayers and 
 Heenan, Mace beat Tom King in their first battle, which was a fair 
 stand-up fight, and in the second he was having altogether the best of 
 it when King, by a chance blow, knocked him out. King then fought 
 Heenan, both men being fairly matched as regards height, weight, 
 and age, when the latter was beaten, fair and square, in a compara- 
 tively short time. Therefore, as I say. Mace was, on paper, a better 
 man than Heenan. But was he as plucky ? 
 
 Hakry Bruxton and Tom Sayers.— Harry Brunton was a skilful 
 boxer and a courageous man, but having soft hands he could not hold his 
 own in the prize-ring. He was, however, one of the best seconds ever 
 known, and was selected by Sayers in all his battles, subsequent 
 to that with Perry. Between the two men there existed the greatest 
 friendship, and over his signboard at the " George and Dragon " in 
 Beech Street, Barbican, Brunton had himself described as " Tom Sayers' 
 favourite second." Soon after his fight with Heenan, Tom presented 
 Harry with a handsome silver cup, which on one side bore the inscrip- 
 tion, for the copy of which I am indebted to the editor of the Licensed 
 Victuallers' Gazette, " This trophy was presented to Harry Brunton by 
 his old friend, Tom Sayers, for faithful services rendered throughout his 
 great fights." On the other side were the following lines from the 
 facile pen of " Chief Baron " Nicholson :— 
 
 " In those happy hours when man seeks relief 
 From the backfalls of sorrow and cross-counlers of grief, 
 When joy fills the heart and puts the crook on our cares, 
 Drink deep from this goblet and think of Tom Sayers. " 
 
 The presentation was made by the " Chief Baron " at Brunton's house, 
 and the ceremony derived additional interest from the fact that Heenan 
 was present, and with Sayers and Brunton drank from the magnum 
 that christened the bowl. 
 
 Soon after poor Tom's death, Brunton purchased for his own grave 
 the piece of ground which adjoined Tom's, and changed his residence 
 from the Barbican to the more secluded quarters of the Nag's Head, 
 
XXXV 
 
 Wood Green, which is close to Highgate Old Cemetery, where he could 
 be the nearer to the remains of the man who was the object of his fervent 
 and life-long admiration. Brunton survived his principal for twenty-one 
 years, during which time it is recorded that no one dared say a word 
 in his presence derogatory of the champion. This I can well under- 
 stand from the manner in which he spoke of Sayers upon the one 
 occasion when I paid him a visit. Brunton died at the Nag's Head, 
 June 9, 1886, aged sixty, and now the two friends rest alongside each 
 other until " Time " shall be called by the Great Referee. 
 
 BETTING. 
 Chapter XX. 
 
 Heavy Bettors.— Besides those mentioned at p. 335 the following 
 were some of the heaviest backers of horses of their day : Lord Barry more, 
 Charles James Fox (Prime Minister), Colonel Anson, Hon. Richard 
 Yernon, Lord Kennedy, General Berkeley Craven (who shot himself the 
 evening of Bay Middleton's Derby), Mr. George Payne, Mr. FredGretton, 
 the Marquis of Ailesbury, and for a time Capt. Machell. Lord George 
 •Cavendish, early in the century, also betted heavily, and in the memor- 
 able match (referred to at p. 385) between Sir Joshua, of which he was 
 part owner, and Filho da Puta, which took place at the Craven Meet- 
 ing at Newmarket in 1816, he won nearly £50,000 from the Yorkshire- 
 men, taking all the bets offered at 5 to 4, then evens, and finally laying 
 5 to 4. So did his relative. Lord George Bentinck, win nearly the same 
 amount over his mare Miss Elis, when she won the Stakes and Cup, at 
 Goodwood, in 1849. 
 
 Mr. George Payne for many years was a consistent follower of Alec 
 Taylor's stable, and at times plunged heavily. Of course, he won 
 occasionally, but in the end, like everyone else, he had to his credit a 
 great deal less money than he began with. Teddington, then the joint 
 property of Sir Joseph Hawtey and Mr. Massey Stanley, won Mr. 
 Payne a big stake over the Derby, but it was nothing to what he stood 
 to win on Savernake in 1866, when he was beaten a short head by 
 Lord Lyon, after one of the grandest races ever seen at Epsom. Mr. 
 Payne sustained even a greater disappointment with "brother to Flurry," 
 afterwards named Pell Mell, in the Leger of 1872, when that horse lost 
 the race to Wenlock by an equally short shave, Payne and all the 
 stable having plunged to win an enormous stake, but as they got on 
 at very long odds the losses were not unusually great. 
 
 A Good " System."— Exemplifying what I state in the third 
 paragraph at p. 338, the most any man should lay aside for backing 
 horses is one-tenth of his income — same as what a prudent man allots 
 for the rent of his house — and he should not risk more than one-tenth 
 of that in any one bet, and when the lot is lost he should knock off till 
 
XXXVl 
 
 the next year. If that principle was to be adhered to no very great 
 harm would accrue. But if betting debts were to be made recoverable 
 by law, the same as any other debt, the measure would act deterrently 
 upon backers, while it would also influence some of the layers. 
 
 HYGIENIC PRINCIPLES. 
 Chapter XXI. 
 Rheumatism and Lumbago.— For many years before, and up to the 
 time I wrote about rheumatism as I did at p. 271, I was subject, as 1 
 have said, continually to terrible attacks of lumbago, but strange to 
 say I have had only two or three " touches " of it since then. I can t 
 account for this good turn of luck, for I never used any preventive 
 other than those described, except it be that for the last couple of 
 years I have returned to my old practice of using dumb-bells, and, as I 
 did for many a year before I ever knew what rheumatism was, I work 
 with them (14 lbs. each) for five minutes before I go to bed and after 
 my bath in the morning. Whether that exercise has kept away lumbago 
 or not I don't know, but this I know, that I never was in better health 
 than I have been since I began agaia the dumb-bells, and rightly or 
 wrongly to that exercise I accredit the cause. 
 
 Good Recipes.— To the receipt for making a mutton hash, which I 
 give at p. 350, may be added the following for making a curry, and it 
 will be found to be equally valuable. It was given to me recently 
 by the lady whose portrait, with those of her sons, is given at page 1. 
 For about a pound and a half of meat, cut in small dice two large 
 onions, a carrot and a turnip, and fry them in butter : cut up the meat 
 to be used in dice, which add to the vegetables with one tablespoonful 
 of curry powder and a little sweet chutney ; add flour to thicken, with 
 salt to taste, and simmer until cooked. 
 
 But what can beat a properly grilled British mutton chop, served 
 without gravy or anything to give it relish except mustard, pepper, 
 salt, and a crisped potato ? Surely cutlets smothered in sauce are not 
 more toothsome and certainly not so wholesome. Outside its own 
 town we don't often find what is called a " Barnsley chop," which is 
 the two centre chops cut out of the saddle, and served double. If 
 the mutton be prime, sufficiently long hung, and properly cooked, in 
 my opinion this homely Yorkshire dish, for taste and nourishment, 
 takes a lot of beating. 
 
 Correction. — The printer added 7 lbs. to the weight I consider an 
 average man should be ; therefore, in the fifth paragraph of p. 353, the 
 weight should read " 12 st.," and not 12 st. 7 lbs. 
 
OSBALDESTON, .^c. 
 Chapter XXII, 
 
 Osbaldeston's Hounds. — In connection with what I say at p. 357 I 
 wish to refer to what Sir Reginald Graham contributed to The Field 
 of May 26, 1894, in a most interesting letter alluding to Mr. Osbaldeston's 
 pack. He states that his father, Mr. Bellingham Graham, purchased 
 all Osbaldeston's hounds except 25 couple, when he took over the 
 Quorn in 1821, but upon the Squire's return in 1823 he repurchased 
 an equal lot from Mr. Graham at £1,110. Sir Reginald also states 
 that Osbaldeston's most celebrated stallion-hounds were Furrier, 
 Flourisher, Vaulter, Rasselas, Valentine, Hermit, and Rocket. Furrier, 
 a black and white hound, by Saladin from Fallacy, was bred at Belvoir 
 in 1821, and at one time there were 2^\ couple by Furrier in the Squire's 
 pack, and sometimes he made the whole of his pack for the day's hunt- 
 ing of hounds got by that famous sire. In conclusion, Sir Reginald 
 plaintively asks, " Where are the descendants of this historic pack ? " 
 
 Woodland Hunting. — Osbaldeston found out some eighty-five 
 years ago a fact which many men of the present have not learned yet, 
 which was that, if woodlands be constantly hunted, foxes will fly 
 from them nearly as readily as they do from gorse or spinneys. 
 He therefore dusted his big woods during cub hunting in rare style, 
 and it is recorded of him by Mr. Blews, that when he took the Burton 
 ■country he took his hounds to the great strong woodlands which then 
 existed near Wragby, six days a week for five weaks on a stretch, 
 until at last he made the foxes so anxious to get away, that they would 
 fly at even the sound of his voice. This he proved one day, to decide 
 a bet of a guinea, which he made with a friend on the subject. Having 
 stationed him in a pirticular spot, and going into the wood, which is 
 now nearly all cut down, the Squire began to cheer an imaginary pack 
 of hounds, when a leash of foxes went away almost immediately, in 
 full view of his friend. Naturally, however, woodlands were not the 
 Squire's favourite coverts, for when he took the Pytchley country 
 afterwards, which he continued to hunt till the end of his remarkable 
 career, he considered that in it he had " at last found Paradise." 
 
 Osbaldeston's Racing Career.— Dealing with Osbaldeston only 
 as regards the feats he actually performed himself, I make no mention 
 -of the stud of flat racehorses which he kept for years. Although he 
 usually rode them himself, and could hold his own with the best pro- 
 fessionals of the day, he was not nearly as successful on the flat as he 
 was across country. In fact the gallant fellow lost heavily by the 
 business, and it principally brought about his ruin. 
 
 CAPTAIN BARCLAY-ALLARDICE. 
 Chapter XXII. 
 The Track and Domicile in the Great Walk. — As stated at 
 p. 372 I took my account of Captain Barclay's walk from what 
 
appeared in BeJVs Life^ in 1874, but I have ascertained since that 
 one or two slight inaccuracies with regard to the domicile and the 
 tracks used crept into that account, no doubt owing to the fact that 
 Bell itself was not in existence at the time, nor for thirteen years 
 afterwards, and as I ferreted out the particulars lately from perhaps 
 the only person alive who knows them, I will correct some of what 
 appears at pp. 376, 377. The track which was first selected began 
 at Barton's Yard, on Mill Hill, and continued along the Exning road^ 
 past where the gas works are, for half a mile out and home. It 
 is strange that this place should have been chosen at all for such a 
 feat, as the first sixty or seventy yards was up the sharp rise of 
 ground which we see there still. The house the Captain put up at was 
 that of the father of Frank Buckle the jockey, and there it stands now 
 exactly as it did in 1809 — the second on the left in Barton's Yard. It 
 is easy to understand why Barclay could not be made comfortable in 
 fcuch a pill-box of a place, nor could he continue to breast that hill 
 every time he started. The change of quarters and course had there- 
 fore to be made on the sixteenth day, as described, and the new abode 
 was a house which stood where Heath Cottage now is, near the Horse 
 and Groom (not " Horse and Jockey " as given by BelVs Life), both 
 the house and the inn belonging to a man named Parkinson, who was 
 a stonemason and a great friend of the fighting men of the day who 
 patronised the inn, and were backing Barclay through thick and thin. 
 There remains this moment the identical doorway at which the new 
 track began, and crossing the Xorwich road it went straight to the 
 corner of the Severals, where Judge Clarke's house now stands, and 
 to make the half-mile, along the Ely road, to a little beyond where 
 Tom Jennings lives, every yard of which was level as a table. The 
 line could not have been "up the heath," as described by BelVs Life, 
 for paddocks, enclosed by high hedges, then occupied the area on which 
 Captain Machell's and Ryan's stables are now built. Parkinson's 
 house was commodious, so Barclay was made as comfortable as he 
 could be under the circumstances, and guarded by Gully, Gregson, acd 
 that lot, needless to say he was not allowed to be disturbed by the 
 crowd outside. 
 
 A DisGEACEFUL EXHIBITION.— In coutrast with Allardice's manly 
 exploit I shall relate a disgraceful exhibition which is recorded in the 
 "Records of the Racecourse." After having given little glimpses at the 
 morals of King Charles II. and his Court at Newmarket, and their diver- 
 sions, the author states that a certain nobleman (?), whose name he 
 gives but, for the sake of his descendants, I shall not repeat, for a 
 wager of £50 backed himself to walk, stark nal-ed and barefooted, five 
 miles on " Xewmarket Common" in an hour. He lost the match by 
 half a minute, but had the honour of good company, for the King, his 
 concubines, and hii- nobles attended ! On Newmarket Heaih have been 
 seen many strange sights, but I question whether a stranger one was 
 
ever witnessed than that of this dirty old brute walking stark naked, 
 amid the ribald jests and laughter of the King of England and the 
 ladies and rjentlemen (?) who constituted the Court of that "merry 
 monarch" two hundred years ago. 
 
 JOHN SCOTT. 
 Chapter XXIII. 
 
 Mr. Boaves and Col. Ansox.— Although Mr. Bowes was connected 
 with John Scott's stable longer than any other patron, he took no part 
 in the management, and seldom went to Whitewall, or even to see his 
 horses run, after they left the Streatlam paddocks. Not so Colonel 
 George Anson, who, from 1830 till he went to India in 1853, was the 
 predominant ruler of Whitewall. That beau ideal of an accomplished 
 and courteous gentleman had reposed in him, to an unlimited degree, 
 the confidence of all the patrons of the great northern stable, 
 and being a consummate judge of a racehorse, and of how, where, 
 and when he should be raced, he " placed " the horses of that mighty 
 stable, leaving to Scott their preparation. The other owners did 
 not trouble themselves about their horses, and often did not know 
 when or where they would be raced, relying entirely upon the sagacity 
 of the ever popular Colonel, but when the proper time came to take 
 advantage of a " good thing " down went the money for the stable all 
 round, irrespective of whose horse it might be, and so the plan worked 
 for three and twenty years in most perfect harmony, and without a 
 single hitch or unpleasantness. I wonder how such a system would 
 work at present ! 
 
 West Australian's Leger day was the last day's racing Colonel Anson 
 ever saw in England, for he sailed for India immediately after, and 
 thus was lost to the Turf one of the brightest lights that ever shone 
 over it, and a man whose example the best in the land even now might 
 with advantage follow. Scott loved the Colonel devotedly, and despite 
 the mighty "West's" achievement he ever reckoned that that day was 
 the most sorrowful he ever experienced, and, as has been often recorded, 
 the old trainer dared not trust hire self to meet his good friend at the 
 weigh room, after the race, to bid him farewell as was arranged. 
 
 Fourteenth Earl of Derby. — I am indebted to the Hon. Frank 
 Lawley for some of the following particulars concerning Scott's 
 stable, having taken them from one of that gentleman's inte- 
 resting articles. Next to Mr. Bowes, the fourteenth Earl of Derby 
 was perhaps Scott's principal patron during the Whitewall era. 
 That great statesman was withal one of the leading turfites of the 
 day, and while he could play the game of the ring his wit and joviality 
 were the life and soul of the Jockey Club; and when among its 
 members, or engaged in any other sport at Knowsley or elsewhere, he 
 never permitted his recreation to be interfered with by political or 
 
xl 
 
 State considerations, which, by natural instinct in him, stood secondary 
 to sport. In about 1841 he sent his horses to Whitewall, where they 
 continued for the remainder of his racing career, which practically 
 ended in 1863, some six years before his death. During that time Lord 
 Derby had under Scott's care a total of nearly 250horses, and won in stakes 
 nearly £95,000 — a big record then, but it would now be for the same races 
 something like three times the amount. A lot of the Knowsley bred 
 horses, and those Lord Derby purchased, were of little use, so that with 
 the exception of one Oaks, one Two Thousand, one Doncaster Cup, 
 two One Thousands, and two Goodwood Cups, the Knowsley " black 
 jacket and white cap " fluttered in front in great races very seldom 
 when compared with the " all black " of Streatlam. It was in two 
 year old and minor races that Scott won for the " Rupert of Debate " 
 the most of this stake-money. 
 
 ^Memorable Races. — A memorable race was the Leger of 1S51, when 
 Scott saddled Newminster to represent the North, and Alec Taylor, 
 who died last winter, stripped Aphrodite, then the joint property of 
 Sir Joseph Hawley and Mr. Massey Stanley, to do battle for the South. 
 A great race it was between the two, for, coming away from the other 
 fourteen starters, the future sire of Hermit beat the Fyfield crack, and 
 thereby caused tens of thousands to be lodged in Yorkshire banks to 
 the credit of the followers of Whitewall. 
 
 In the Derby of 1836, in a field of twenty-one, Scott ran second to 
 Bay Middleton with Lord Wilton's Gladiator, his brother Bill riding 
 and the next two horses were Venison and Slave. Referring to these 
 four horses in their position in the Stud Book, Mr. Lawley, in one of 
 his sporting reminiscences, says of this race that, " In the long and 
 splendid history of England's greatest race no such four horses were 
 ever placed for it as Bay Middleton, sire of The Flying Dutchman, 
 Andover, and Aphrodite ; Gladiator, sire of Sweetmeat and Miss 
 Sarah ; Venison, sire of Alarm, Miami, and Ugly Buck ; and Slave, 
 sire of Sting, Merry Monarch, and The Princess. It may also be 
 remarked that each of the placed horses for the Derby of 1836 were the 
 sires of animals that could stay for any distance — e.g., The Flying 
 Dutchman, Sweetmeat, Alarm, and Subduer." 
 
 Bill Scott and John's Children. — Writing of Bill Scott, at p. 388, 
 I should have added that he won the Two Thousand in 1842, on Mr. 
 Bowes' Meteor, and the next year also on that gentleman's Cotherstone, 
 while in 1846 his own horse, Sir Tatton Sykes, carried him to victory 
 
 John Scott, by his first marriage, left a son and two daughters, but 
 there was no issue by the second marriage. 
 
 Mr. Naylor — Correction. — By a slip of the pen, or the print, a mis- 
 take has been made in the table at p. 392. It was Mr. R. C. Xaylor, 
 as is mentioned in the text, and not Mr. Bowes, who bought StockwelJ. 
 
xli 
 
 MAT DAWSON. 
 Chapter XXIII. 
 
 Much of what I have said with regard to Mr. Mathew Dawson's late 
 years has been discounted during the process of delay in the publica- 
 tion of my book, so I must devote some pages to bringing the history 
 of this Prime Minister of trainers up to date, but in doing so I am 
 enabled by information which he gave me lately to add much interest- 
 ing matter to that which already appears in the above chapter, and at 
 the same time I can correct a few slight inaccuracies which occur. 
 
 CoEEECTioxs, p. 394.— I find that it was at Bogside, for Lord Mont- 
 gomery, that Mat's father trained horses over a century ago, and in 
 1815 he moved to training quarters at Gullane, and I am glad to know 
 that only six out of the seventeen sons and daughters died young. 
 
 More Great Horses and Jockeys. — To the list of good horses 
 which were trained by Mat, and given at p. 395, may be added Crow- 
 berry, Galore, Mowerina, Cannobie, Pericles, Silenus, Wild Oats, 
 and Leonie ; and the jockeys he employed most were Marlow, White- 
 house, Custance, Tom French, Fordham, Archer, and, of late years, 
 perhaps Jack Watts and Tommy Loates. Mat also tells me that Lord 
 Falmouth did not win any handicaps, because he would not allow his 
 horses to run in that class of race, and he showed me a year ago how 
 he had got the names of the horses put under their several portraits, 
 as was so often suggested by me and others (p. 397). 
 
 His Marriage— Death of Mrs. Dawson.— When training for Lord 
 Eglinton, at his seat in the North, Mat got married, on the 7th July, 
 1844, to Miss Mary Rose, the daughter of Mr. Alexander Rose, who 
 had charge of the gardens and forests at Eglinton Castle ; and that 
 good woman, after being to her husband the best of wives for over 
 fifty years, died on the 19th October, 1894, after a few days' illness. 
 
 A Marvellous Record.— Although in the first year of his training 
 he prepared for the Derby Lord Kelburn's (afterwards Lord Glasgow) 
 Pathfinder, and had won the Oaks with Catherine Hayes in 1853, 
 it was not until 1856 that Mat went in regularly for the classic events, 
 having previously confined his operations to the North ; but since then 
 a year has not passed without his having horses under preparation for 
 them, and for some five-and-twenty years have his representatives 
 started, giving him the following marvellous record : — He has had six 
 Derby wins, with Thormanby 1860, Kingcraft '70, Silvio '77, Melton 
 '85, Ladas '94, and Sir Visto '95 ; three seconds, with Dundee '61, 
 The Baron '87, and Crowberry '88 ; nine thirds, with Cannobie '56, 
 Buckstone '62, Scottish Chief '64, Speculum '68, Queen's Messenger 
 '72, Atlantic '74, colt by Macaroni out of Repentance '75, Childeric '78, 
 and Galliard '83. The Two Thousand he won with Atlantic, in 1874, 
 and Camballo the year after, Charibert in '79, Galliard in '83, and 
 Ladas in '94. The One Thousand was his share in 1873 with Cecilia, 
 Spinaway in '75, Wheel of Fortune '70, Busybody '84, Minthe '89, and 
 
xlii 
 
 Mimi '91. The Oaks came to his stable through the means of 
 Catherine Hayes in 1853, Spinaway in '75, Jannette '78, Wheel of 
 Fortune '79, and Mimi in '91, after which she won the Xewmarket 
 Stakes. He both won and ran second for the St. Leger, in 1877, with 
 Silvio and Lady Golightly, and did the same the next year with 
 Jannette and Childeric. He also won it with the rank outsider, Dutch 
 Oven, in '82, The Lambkin in '84, and with Melton the year following. 
 His seconds for that race were The Reiver in '53, Leolinus in '74, 
 with Trent running third, while Ladas lost by a flukey short half- 
 length in 1894. Blanche of Middlebie and Julius were also third in 
 1858 and 1867. 
 
 Thus is seen that his classic double events were the Two Thousand 
 and Derby with Ladas, who lost the triple event by little over a neck ; 
 Derby and Leger with Silvio and Melton ; One Thousand and Oaks 
 with Spinaway and Wheel of Fortune, two years running, also with 
 Mimi ; while Busybody, who won the Oaks, was trained by Mat up 
 to the day before she won the One Thousand, and Jannette credited 
 him with the Oaks and Leger. Besides which he won the Grand Prix 
 de Paris, with Trent, in '74, and Minting in '86 ; and was second with 
 Primate in '66, The Baron in '87, and Crowberry in '88. 
 
 Heath Farm.— In 1893 he sold the lease of Heath Farm to Lord 
 Marcus Beresford, and leased, from the Jockey Club, The Marsh, which 
 adjoins Melton House, and there he now has his valuable stud of 
 brood mares. 
 
 Ladas. — I now come to deal with Ladas, and considering what that 
 colt has done for Lord Rosebery and the veteran trainer whose history 
 I am now bringing up to date, it may be excused in me if I draw 
 the attention of my readers to p. 399 for the record of what Mr. Dawson 
 said of the handsome son of Hampton before a bridle had ever been 
 put on his head, and what I wrote concerning the Illuminata colt 
 nearly two years before illuminations in the little village of Exning 
 celebrated the great Epsom triumph. 
 
 The Derby of 1894.— The history of Ladas is too fresh in the minds 
 of everybody to warrant my referring to it further than to record a 
 couple of incidents which I am not aware have hitherto been published. 
 I must, however, chronicle in Thoughts upon Sport the reception 
 Lord Piosebery got upon winning the Derby, for, if anything, that book 
 is one of reference, and I think that what I wrote in September, 
 1893 (p. .399), further entitles me to do so. I therefore state, upon the 
 consentient authority of every chronicler of the Press, and upon that of 
 everyone who saw the Derby of 1894, that never in the annals of racing 
 was there such a demonstration on a racecourse in favour of a win. 
 Applause, deafening to a degree, rent the air as Ladas carrying Jack 
 Watts in " the rose and primrose hoops " passed the post ; but when 
 the Prime Minister of England, in his ecstasy, rushed through the crowd) 
 and as owner of the colt he himself bad bred, seized the bridle and led 
 
xliii 
 
 in the winner like a -man, the "earthquake shout of victory" burst 
 forth in volume till " the roar " resembled naught but thunder in the 
 Alps, and to his dying day the longest liver of the multitudes who, 
 on June 6, attended the Derby, will never, unless he gets softening 
 of the brain, forget that scene. No doubt to Lord Rosebery as " the 
 most popular owner in England," which I rightly described him to be, 
 and at the time of victory being Her Majesty's Chief Counsellor, was 
 accorded the greater share of that " explosion of applause," but I am 
 very sure that *' the veteran trainer," although he was unfortunately 
 not able to be present, came in for his share, for Mat Dawson as a 
 trainer is equally popular with Lord Rosebery as an owner. 
 
 I need not here enumerate them, but those circumstances which 
 surround the Derby of 1894, especially the fact that for the first time 
 it was won by a horse the property of the Prime Minister, constitute 
 it as the most memorable upon record, even though the winner, with 
 four and a half to one on him, started the greatest favourite in the 
 annals of the race. I must, however, allude to a feature which has at 
 the present moment a peculiar significance. An ebullition of public 
 feeling such as broke forth on that occasion, shared as it was by losers 
 as well as political opponents of Lord Rosebery, while it shows how 
 the nation admires a manly sportsman, demonstrated with emphatic 
 evidence the contempt which the British public entertain for those 
 who, with narrow-minded bigotry and impertinent interference, strive 
 to injure the noble sport, and for that matter, all sport. 
 
 With the Woodcote Stakes, the Coventry Stakes, the Champagne 
 Stakes, and the Middle Park Plate to his credit when a two-year- 
 old ; and the Two Thousand, the Newmarket Stakes, and the Derby 
 in his three-year-old year, Ladas won for Lord Rosebery £18,513, and 
 started for the Princess of Wales' Stakes at Newmarket, on the 5th 
 July, an unbeaten colt. In both this race and the Eclipse Stakes, at 
 Sandown, on the 20th of the same month, he was beaten by Isinglass, 
 and again did the son of Hampton suffer defeat, this time at the hands 
 of Throstle for the Leger on September 12th. 
 
 In threshing out the circumstances of these three races^ columns 
 of newspapers may be measured by the yard, while men more or 
 less qualified to judge have talked on the subject almost ad 7iauseam. 
 Now my humble opinion is this, that as far as Isinglass is concerned, 
 he won the two races from Ladas through the assistance he got from 
 a pace-maker rather than through his own merits, great, no doubt, 
 though they be. Priestholm was started at five-furlong speed to 
 serve the seasoned stayer and to run out the youngster, a plan of 
 campaign which accomplished the result desired. If, however, Ladas 
 and Isinglass were to be started in a match at weight for age, say the 
 one mile and a quarter across the flat at Newmarket, with nothing 
 else to make or mar the pace, assuredly I would back Ladas. 
 
xliv 
 
 The Leger of 1894. — As regards the Leger, the facts are simply 
 these. In his gallop on the morning of the race, Ladas ran away with 
 Tommy Loates. Fearing therefore that he might do the same thing 
 in the race, the riding of which was left entirely to his own discretion, 
 the light weight jockey kept Ladas 100 yards in the rear until he had 
 reached the Red House, then having given him his head he got out of 
 his hands and rushed to the front, which his marvellous turn of speed 
 enabled him to gain before the leaders had reached the distance. This 
 extraordinary but badly timed spurt, which his rider, except through 
 lack of strength, was not to blame for — although it settled the chance 
 of Matchbox, which was the only horse the Ladas party feared — enabled 
 the erratic Throstle, whom Morny Cannon had kept pegging away, to 
 get up on the post, and win by a neck and shoulders, the good Ladas 
 being unable to come a second time. To talk of the Leger having 
 been won on the merits of Throstle would be simply ridiculous, for 
 even when she could be got to run straight and to give her running in 
 her trials at Kingsclere she could never beat Matchbox, and over the 
 Leger course, with a strong jockey on Ladas, and Throstle running with 
 the best manners, the colt could, as far as I am a judge, give the filly 
 7 lbs. and a sound beating. Anyway, John Porter got his turn out of 
 Mat Dawson, for with Throstle he did to Ladas what Mat did, in 1882, 
 with Dutch Oven to the Kingsclere cracks, Gelieimniss and Shotover, 
 and in the annals of the "Sellinger" there were never as great 
 *' surprises," even by any of Scott's lot. 
 
 Among all the horses trained by Mat Dawson I don't think there 
 could have been an animal possessed of more beautiful shapes than 
 Ladas, whose head, neck, shoulders, middle piece, and hind legs are 
 simple perfection ; his quarters may not be equally grand, but they 
 are better by far than most horses", while his style of galloping could 
 never have been surpassed on the Heath of Newmarket. He has been 
 likened to The Flying Dutchman, but if the portraits which I have seen 
 of that horse be faithful, give me Ladas. 
 
 I have been informed that Lord Rosebery was offered £20,000 for 
 his colt by a well-known American gentleman, but like a British sports- 
 man possessing patriotic feeling he refused the offer, and I think it is 
 highly likely that his lordship will keep the grand horse in the country^ 
 as the Duke of Portland has done St. Simon. 
 
 Mat's Illness and Affliction. — Mr. Dawson had been suffering 
 for over a year from suppressed gout, and most of the time, being 
 unable to walk or ride, he had to perform his duties while seated in 
 his carriage. To have been able to prepare Ladas, crippled as he was, 
 and achieve such results, was a source of general satisfaction, for it 
 assured the public at large, as it did the grand old fellow himself, that 
 he was as good a man as ever. 
 
 This feeling of contentment was not allowed to him for long, for his 
 wife, who had been his partner for over fifty of the fifty-four years of 
 
xlv 
 
 his public career, died, as already stated, in the autumn of 1894, whereby 
 the poor fellow met with the greatest affliction that had ever befallen 
 him. 
 
 Sir Visto and Derby of 1895. — Endowed with that bull-dog 
 courage which forbids the Anglo-Saxon ever to think he is beaten, 
 Mat rallied, and with another colt of Lord Rosebery's set about to try 
 to win the next Derby. This, as the world knows, he succeeded in 
 doing with Sir Visto, who started at odds against him of from 7 to 10 
 to 1. The race was in all respects the opposite to last year's. It was 
 the most open that ever was known, and a few days before 10 to 1 
 could have been got against almost any of the remarkably bad lot that 
 started. Sir Visto being in no way to be compared with Ladas in 
 either shape, make, action, or ability, I have nothing more to say 
 about him, except that I hope he will win the Leger, for which old 
 Mat is at present preparing him specially. 
 
 Owing to his crippled state Mat Dawson was unable to go to either 
 of these Derbys or even to the Leger, but has had to pay more than 
 one visit to Bath during the past two years, the waters of which have 
 done him great good, and when I saw him last Whitsuntide he was 
 better on the pins than I had seen him since he was attacked by 
 the gout in 1893, wh^n for the first time in his life he suffered from 
 illness. He grew a moustache while laid up, but so little has it 
 affected his jovial appearance that I did not notice the addition until 
 he himself drew my attention to it. 
 
 This Memoir. — Having now brought my history of Mr. Mathew 
 Dawson up to date, July, 1895, my readers will find in this book a 
 memoir more exhaustive than any other ever published of that gentle- 
 man, and with the assurance that the details are absolutely correct, 
 even to the spelling of his christian name, I wind it up by supplying 
 in a table the record of the classic races to which he is now entitled, 
 and which is to be taken instead of what is given with the others at 
 p. 407, and I hope the chronicle will soon have to be further added to : — 
 Two Thousand Guineas . . . .5 times. 
 One Thousand Guineas . . . . 6 „ 
 
 The Derby 6 „ 
 
 The Oaks 6 „ 
 
 The St. Leger 5 
 
 )> 
 
 Total . . 28 
 
 WHOO WHOOP! 
 Chapter XXIV. 
 The Sporting League.— The suggestion thrown out by me at 
 pp. 411, 412, that a combination between sportsmen of all classes should 
 
xlvi 
 
 be formed so as to defend ourselves from the attacks of our enernie?, 
 written by me as it was some time in 1892, was given effect to in the 
 summer of 1894 by the starting of the Sporting League. I don't suppose 
 that my observations would have had any effect, but at all events, 
 what I wrote, and which was in print in the spring of 1894, would have 
 come to light a year hefore instead of a year after the Sporting League, 
 had my original publishers paid even ordinary attention to the business 
 I so foolishly entrusted them with. 
 
 The Agricultural Question. — The same remarks apply to what 
 I say at p. 418, with regard to the agricultural question and the 
 next election, for a resolution identical with what I suggested was 
 passed at a meeting presided over by Lord Winchelsea, and held at 
 Anderton's Hotel, London, on July 31, 1894, while letters appeared in 
 The Field advocating the very same measure. The " next general elec- 
 tion " is now a matter of history, and there can be no doubt whatever 
 that the result, giving the Conservatives the greatest majority that any 
 party have had in the House of Commons for over sixty years, was 
 brought about to a very great extent by the way sportsmen and farmers 
 pulled together, and, in some places, the labourers. Now that they 
 have the power it is to be hoped that measures beneficial to the farming 
 interest may be adopted by our great party — and that ivithout delay. 
 
xlvii 
 
 ERRATA 
 
 PAGE 
 
 16. On nintli line from foot read " £850 " instead of £580. 
 
 17. On eighth line read " Roister " for Royster. 
 
 20. The eighth line from foot should begin a paragraph, 
 
 33. On fifth line read "Patrick" for Tatrick, and on the ninth line 
 read " Then " for Phen. 
 
 36. In second paragraph read " Kill " for Kiln, 
 
 39. On fifth line read " on " for of. 
 
 103. On second line read " mainly " before indebted. 
 
 106. On fifteenth line read " top " instead of point. 
 
 115. On eighth line read '* but " for out. 
 
 130. In fifth paragraph read '* Barkby " for Barkly. 
 
 148. On twelfth line transpose " to " and " two." 
 
 ^^.j' I The brothers Beasley were born in rotation as follows : Thomas, John, 
 2qV r Harry, James, William — not as indicated in these p.ages. 
 
 173. On ninth line read " Hambleton " for Hamilton. 
 
 211 Eclipse was not an Irish horse. 
 
 252. On this and other pages, the word "let" might have been employed 
 instead of "set." 
 
 288. The Derby was won in 1787 by Sir Peter Teazle, the property of the 
 twelfth Earl of Derby, the founder of that race. 
 
 353. In fifth paragraph read " I2st." for 12st. 71bs. 
 
 392. In the table read " R. C. Naylor " for Bowes. 
 
 394. There is only one " t " in Mr. Dawson's Christian name. 
 
THOUGHTS UPON SPOKT 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 HISTOPY OP THE CURRAGHMORE HUNT. 
 
 First Section.— Henry, Third Marquis of Waterford, ^Master, 
 
 184-4-59. 
 
 History of a First-rate Pack of Foxhounds -Previous to 1S79— Why the Curraghmore is- 
 selected by the Author— Henry Lord Waterford as a Rider to Hounds— He corces to 
 Curraghmore— County Waterford Pack— The C4rove Hounds— Captain Jacob— Mr. 
 William Barton— Mr. Richard Burke— Lord Waterford taking Tipperary- Johnny 
 Eyan — Rockwell — Drafts from England — Lord Waterford's Marriage — Lakefield— Mr. 
 Vyner's Notitia Venatica— Outrages reported— Stables burned— How explained— Lord 
 AVaterford's Popularity— Abandonment of Tipperary— Air. Millett— Lord Waterford'? 
 Liberality — No Hunting Pi.ecord kept — Sport shown by Lord Waterford — Dates given 
 are correct- Lord Waterford starts Hunting from Curraghmore— The Waterford Pack 
 —Mr. Briscoe's Pack— The Waterford Country— Fresh Territory— Sir John Power- 
 Lord Waterford. Rents part of Kilkenny— Adds to his Pack— Lord Waterford's Fox- 
 hounds—Huntsman and Whips— New Coverts— Magnificent Sport— The Meets— Those 
 who hunted— Now Alive— Now Dead— The Marquis as a Horseman— His Horses— His 
 Coach— His Driving— Famous Runs— Knockbrack to Woodstock— Fate of the Fox — 
 Where he is Now— A Greyhound Fox— A Fine Run— Lord Waterford Not Out— Some 
 of his Hunters— His own Turn-out— His Servants' Turn-out— Rig-out of his Field— 
 Their Riding— 1S48 -The 85th Regiment— Their Hunters— Their Officers- Captain Peel 
 — His Connection with Lord Waterford — Orlando — Peel's Early Days— As a Rider — 
 Anecdote— Famous Racehorses— Who Rode Them— Exploits— Captain Peel on Shin- 
 rone— Captain Little on Sir Arthur— Desperate Race— A Comparison by the Author— 
 Waterford in those D35's— Peel as a Breeder of Thoroughbreds— Flying Column- Willie 
 Beasley— Peel's Anecdotes-" A Real Old Irish Gentleman, one of the Olden Time"— 
 The Kilkenny Hunt— Sir John Power— Its Sporting and Social Standing— The Hunt 
 Week— Long Description of this Festival— The Club House— The Fun— "Handicap- 
 ping"— Mrs. Walshe—" The Marquis" leading the Fun— Ably assisted— His Assistants 
 —The General Company— The then Marquis of Worcester— 7th Hussars— Political 
 Excitement 1846-18— Episodes— Harry J ephson and Larry Dobbyn— Teaching a Lesson 
 —Good Results— Extraordinary Feat of a Foxhound— 29th March. 1859— Death of 
 Henry, third Marquisof Waterford— Minute and Authentic Details— His Birth-His Age 
 —Universal Regret— Daring Deeds— Generous Disposition— His Funeral— His Portrait 
 —Sale of Lord Waterford's Horses— Exhaustive, but correct particulars— Great Prices 
 —Gemma de Vergi— An ITnlucky Record— William Brophy's Sale in 1892— Singular 
 coincidence with Lord Waterford's in 1859— Particulars— Comparison— Lord Water 
 ford's Racing— Johnny Ryan his Jockey— Unparalleled Record— Some of the Races — 
 And Racers. 
 
 Perhaps in years to come it may be of interest to know how a 
 first-rate pack of foxhounds was kept up in Ireland, and to learn what 
 sport it showed previous to the land agitation which began there in 
 1879, and no doubt a description will not come amiss to the general 
 reader of the present time. I shall, therefore, give a history and 
 description of the sport of one in the hope that some copies of this 
 book may be in existence at the time our sons' sons might like to 
 read of such. 
 
 B 
 
3 
 
 In selecting the Curraghmore, I do so for three reason?, \iz. : — 
 (a) I know all about it. 
 (6) It was the premier pack in Ireland at the time it was stopped 
 
 by the Land League in October, 1881. 
 (c) Because it no longer exists. 
 
 In the year 1840, Henry, third Marquis of Waterford, gave up hunting 
 in England, where he had made for himself a reputation as a rider 
 to hounds second only to that of Thomas Assheton Smith, John Musters, 
 and George Osbaldeston, as the annals of Leicestershire, Warwickshire, 
 and Northamptonshire can testify. His lordship then came to reside 
 at Curraghmore, there to live the life of an Irish nobleman upon his 
 ancestral property as many of his forefathers had done. 
 
 The only foxhounds in the co. Waterford at that time were a 
 small, badly-sustained pack, of which the late Mr. William Fitzgerald 
 was Master, and these gave, in a rough-and-ready way, tolerably good 
 sport. As they had been established for some years, and were popular 
 with the gentry. Lord Waterford made no proposition at that time, 
 that I ever heard of, to take over these hounds. 
 
 Captain Jacob of Mobarnane, in the co. Tipperary, then owned the 
 ^Grove Hounds, which he had purchased some years previously from 
 Mr. William Barton of Grove, near Fethard, and he hunted the 
 "Tipperary country."^ 
 
 Before making Curraghmore his fixed abode, Lord Waterford pur- 
 chased this pack from Captain Jacob, and took over his country. 
 With it came their huntsman, Johnny Ryan, whose father and grand- 
 father had hunted them in Mr. Barton's time. They were an excellent 
 lot, and very well bred ; but he augmented the pack by a large 
 importation from some of the then best kennels in England. 
 
 His lordship rented Rockwell, near Cashel, and from there he 
 commenced to foxhunt Tipperary in the autumn of 1840. This he 
 did entirely at his own expense. 
 
 He married, in May, 1842, Lady Louisa, daughter of Lord Stewart 
 de Rothesay, and after his marriage moved his hunting establish- 
 ment to Lakefield, near Fethard, where he and Lady Waterford 
 resided during the hunting season. 
 
 I regret to have to record, on the authority of Mr. R. T. Vyner in 
 his Notitia Venatica, p. 9, that Lord Waterford was subjected to 
 much annoyance during some of the years he hunted Tipperary, 
 not alone by the receipt of several threatening letters, but upon 
 two occasions demoniacal attempts were made to poison his hounds. 
 The climax of this villainy was reached in the summer of 1844, 
 when the stables at Lakefield were set fire to, and it was with the 
 greatest difficulty that the occupants were saved. This last outrage 
 was attributed by some to a discharged servant, and by others to 
 
 * Mr. Richard Burke has lately come to live at Grove, and has his pack 
 of foxhounds there, so that after a lapse of half a century the Tipperary 
 country is again hunted from there. 
 
people with whom some of the other servants were on bad terms. 
 Everyone agreed, however, that none of the offences were committed 
 directly against his lordship, whose popularity among all classes 
 was as universal in Tipperary as it was everywhere else. 
 
 This outrage led to his giving up the hunting ; but with the mag- 
 nanimity which characterised so many actions of " The Marquis," he 
 presented a large portion of his pack and five horses to the Tipperary 
 gentry, who then began hunting that country by subscription under the 
 Mastership of Mr. Millett of St. Johnstown. The list of subscribers 
 was headed by Lord Waterford with £100, which, I think, he continued 
 annually until his death in March, 1859. 
 
 Unfortunately Henry Lord Waterford although a most particular 
 man about having all other accounts written up with minute exactness, 
 did not himself keep a hunting diary. There now remain alive but 
 few of those who hunted with him in Tipperary. Most of these gentle- 
 men I have applied to for particulars, but none can give them pre- 
 cisely ; they all agree, however, in stating that the sport shown by 
 him during his four years in that country was extraordinarily good, 
 and he did things in regal fashion. I should like to be able to give 
 some details of the sport and other matters which would be interest- 
 ing, but, for the above reason, I am unable to do so. The dates, how- 
 ever, which I mention may be relied upon, for I have taken great 
 pains to ascertain them, and they are recorded upon the consentient 
 authority of several parties who remember perfectly the occurrences 
 and can fix the time with accuracy. 
 
 Directly the outrage was perpetrated at Lakefield the Waterford 
 gentry came forward and offered Lord Waterford their hounds and 
 country. Mr. Henry Briscoe of Tinvane kept at that time a pack of 
 foxhounds with which he and his father had been hunting a portion of 
 the Kilkenny country in the Carrick and Piltown districts, and this was 
 also offered to his lordship. Luckily he accepted them, and gave up 
 his idea of returning to England, as he had intended. 
 
 The County Waterford and Mr. Briscoe's packs, thus amalgamated 
 with that which Lord Waterford brought from Lakefield, formed the 
 nucleus of the afterwards famous Curraghmore Hounds. 
 
 His lordship at the same time acquired the hunting right to the 
 country in the co. Waterford which has descended to the present 
 Marquis, the boundary of which is from Gurteen to the Comeragh 
 mountains, along them to Cloncoskoran, then in a line to Clonea Castle, 
 with, of course, the sea and river Suir on the other sides, all within 
 the county. 
 
 This extent was much too limited, so he entered into an arrange- 
 ment with the then Sir John Power of Kilfane (great-grandfather of 
 the present young baronet), who owned the Kilkenny Hounds and had 
 the hunting right to the country, to take at a rent of £50 a year the 
 southern portion of Kilkenny from the Slate Quarries to Woodstock, 
 embracing Carrigtruss, Wynne's Gorse, Castlemorres, Killeen, and 
 
Kiltorcan, together with the Welch mountains and Bessborough 
 country which Briscoe hunted. 
 
 Having acquired this fine tract, Lord Waterford was enabled to hunt 
 three or four days a week, but the hounds he then had, even in their 
 amalgamated state, were not sufficient, so he set to work and procured 
 reinforcements from many of the crack kennels in England, and in a 
 short time started a capital and well-bred pack at Curraghmore. 
 
 Thus in the autumn of 1844 foxhunting was established at 
 Curraghmore. This was done under the title of "Lord Waterford's 
 Foxhounds ; " with Johnny Ryan huntsman, whipped into by Tom 
 Clooney and George Woods. 
 
 The Waterford portion of the country was in a very neglected 
 state, and required a deal of reformation, but the Master went about 
 it with a will, and soon made all things straight. After a while he 
 planted Ballydurn, Ballyneale, Rathgormack, and other gorse coverts, 
 which ever after held foxes that afforded some of the best runs in 
 those parts of the country. 
 
 It would be out of place here to refer to Lord Waterford's previous 
 exploits at Melton in scarlet, or across Aylesbury Yale and other places 
 in silk ; it is sufficient now to state that as an M.F.H. he soon became 
 equally famous in his own country. The sport he showed all through 
 the Mastership of his own hounds was quite magnificent — so much so 
 that men came from all parts of Ireland, and many came from 
 England, to participate in it. 
 
 Lord Waterford's meets were very largely attended, and at them were 
 found many hard and good men to hounds. Alas ! nearly all these 
 fine fellows have since gone to other hunting-grounds, but there still 
 remain Sir Robert Paul, John T. Medlycott, George Malcomson, Wm. 
 Madden Glascott, Sir James Langrishe, Captain Peel (late of the 85th 
 Regiment), Robert Watson, (the veteran Master and huntsman of the 
 Carlow and Island Hounds), Congreve Rogers, Wray Palliser, Lord 
 James Butler, Maurice Knox, Harvey Montmorency^ Lord Howth, George 
 Gough, Joseph Strangmau, and until last year that fine sportsman and 
 great man to hounds, Horace Rochford, who, even in his old age, betook 
 himself to polo, and was one of the best men of the day in Ireland at 
 that grand game. 
 
 Among those who hunted with him, who are dead and gone, were the 
 Coxs of Castletown, Johnny Power of Gurteen, Harry Jephson of 
 Waterford, the two Sir John Powers of Kilfane, David and Fred 
 Malcomson, George Bryan of Jenkinstown, William Quin of Lough- 
 loher, John Courtenay of Ballyedmond, Sir Nugent Humble, Lord 
 Huntingdon (grandfather of the present Earl), Richard and Thomas 
 Morris, John Power O'Shee, William Power of Seafield, the Lalors of 
 Cregg, Henry Briscoe, John de Montmorency, John Jones of Mulli- 
 nabro', Dan Osborn of Silverspring, William Bailey of Xorelands, 
 John Wade of St. Canice's, William Flood of Flood Hall, Rev. Nicholas 
 Herbert and his brother Walter, Captain Pack Beresford, Tom and 
 
Hugh Gough of Clonmel, George Meara, Father Martin Flynn of 
 Waterford, Edward Roberts, and his sons Saru, Arthur, and llichard. 
 Of course there were scores of others whose names do not occur to 
 me at present, but the foregoing not alone hunted regularly, but many 
 of them were intimate friends of the Marquis. 
 
 He defrayed all the expenses, and did everything at Curraghmore in 
 princely style. He turned out his men on the best mounts he could 
 procure for them, while his own horses carried him brilliantly. He 
 was always in the van, being, as the world knows, a brilliant 
 horseman. Long ago as it is, and although but in my teens, I well 
 remember how he sailed away on Peacock, Captain, and The Hock 
 to the tail of his hounds, in his own quiet and finished style, without 
 fuss or hurry. In fancy I see him this moment driving up to the 
 meet in mail phaeton and pair, or drag and four greys, at a great pace, 
 and with skill which the best professional coachman might equal, but 
 could not surpass. 
 
 The records of his sport are extraordinary, but from personal 
 experience I can speak only of his last season. Tradition has, however, 
 handed down many famous foxhunts, a few of which I shall now 
 give a brief account of. 
 
 Lord Waterford had four celebrated runs with the same fox from 
 Knockbrack into Woodstock in the season 1848-49. I often heard 
 them alluded to when I was a boy as being about the most brilliant 
 of their time. That good fox was not killed by hounds. He never 
 waited to be found, but broke before the hounds got up to the covert, 
 and went as straight as a dart to Woodstock, where he always got to 
 ground. His fame having got abroad, and Knockbrack being in 
 Sir John Power's old hunting territory, a countryman thought it 
 would please him to get hold of this good fox and let him go in 
 some covert of the northern country which the Kilkenny hounds then 
 hunted. Accordingly, when he got to ground after his last run, the 
 man dug out the fox and arrived with him in a sack next morning 
 at Kilfane. Upon telling Sir John what he had done, his recompense 
 was as great a licking as ever man got. When the sack was opened 
 the fox was found smothered in it. Sir John got him stuffed and 
 presented him to Lord Waterford, and ever since he has lain in 
 the library at Curraghmore. He is a splendid specimen of the 
 mountain greyhound fox— the very best breed to show sport. 
 
 Another great run was had in the middle of March, 1859, which I had 
 the good luck to participate in, and I could never recall having seen a 
 finer one since. It was from Corbally, over Miltown Hill, through Killahy, 
 through Killeen Gorse, on to Coolnahaw— an eight to nine mile point 
 straight — then to the left by Kiltorcan through Kyleer Wood, across 
 the railway at the Tank, and to Killeen again. Being headed at the 
 covert, the fox ran though Carrigbannan, and an inside ring of the same 
 line he took before, and got to ground under a sleeper of the railway 
 near Ballyhale Station. He was left there after giving a run of 
 
twenty-two miles in exactly two hours and twenty minutes. Out of 
 a very large field, only five rode it from find to finish, including the 
 huntsman on Merryman and Billy Barry, the whip, on Magpie. Un- 
 fortunately, Lord Waterford did not see this great run, as he was away 
 at Liverpool at the time, seeing his horse Ace of Hearts run in the 
 Grand National. 
 
 Among the many good horses which carried him while he hunted from 
 Curraghmore, perhaps the following were his favourites : — Sir Nick 
 (called after his great friend. Rev. Nicholas Herbert), Killarney, The Celt, 
 Conrad, Hackfall, Cardinal Puff, The Doctor, Welcome, The Rock, also 
 Blueskin and Lord George, on whom he rode several steeplechases as 
 well as hunts. 
 
 He turned out in the field difi'erently from men of the present 
 day. He never wore top boots or white breeches during the two seasons 
 I hunted with him. His dress was a black velvet cap, red coat buttoned 
 up to his chin, showing a blue silk necktie, brown cords, and black jack- 
 boots. I never saw him carry any whip other than the ordinary racing 
 kind. His servants were, however, smartly turned out, and, as I said 
 before, always splendidly mounted. 
 
 With few exceptions, the general rig-out of the men who hunted with 
 him was by no means smart. Our boots and breeches were not of 
 orthodox cut, but we followed our Master's fashion as regards whips, 
 and never used the crop and lash ; we also wore velvet caps. Most of 
 the field were well mounted, and could hold their own with any other 
 Hunt they went with ; nor could any of the many English visitors 
 often go before some of the Waterford men, in either a fast spin or 
 through a long run. 
 
 In the autumn of 1848 there came to Waterford the 85th Regiment 
 of Light Infantry. This was truly a sporting regiment, and had in 
 it some sixteen officers who hunted regularly with Lord Waterford's 
 and the Kilkenny packs. Among them they had nearly forty 
 hunters. Many of these officers were first-rate men to hounds, 
 notably Colonel Brook-Taylor, Lieutenant Bond, Lieutenant Thomp- 
 son, and Major Blackburn (brother of the English Judge). 
 
 None, however, went better than did their brother officer, the present 
 Captain Edward Peel, R.M. Inasmuch as he occupied a prominent 
 position in the history of Curraghmore at the time I am writing of, 
 was a very intimate friend of Lord Waterford, and is now one of the 
 few living representatives of that companionship, I shall devote a 
 short space to this tine sportsman. He is son of General Peel, who 
 won with Orlando the memorable Derby of 1844. He joined 
 the 85th Regiment when young — in 1845 — and served in it till the 
 Crimean War, when he was appointed D.A.Q.M. General in the 
 Turkish contingent at Kertch during the war, and was afterwards 
 Consul at Oran and Port Mahon, and then R.M. for thirty years in 
 different parts of Ireland. Inheriting the love of sport from his 
 celebrated father, he soon made his name as a rider to hounds, 
 
between the flags, and upon the flat. In the hunting-field he was a 
 particularly good man on an untrained horse. In one of the runs 
 from Knockbrack to Woodstock just alluded to, he got several falls, 
 yet he contrived to see the run as well as anyone who rode it and 
 was well up at the finish. Afterwards Sir Robert Paul was asked 
 by some of the 8oth how Peel went, and replied, "Peel went very 
 well, but his horse went very badly." He was for years the favourite 
 Corinthian jockey of Lord Waterford and Lord Howth, but, to 
 prevent the attention of the military authorities being drawn to his 
 riding, rode under different names, as well as his own. 
 
 These were the days at Curraghmore of such horses as Sir John 
 by Windfall, the Hero by Welcome, Lord George by Economist, Duc- 
 an-dhurras by Molyneux, and Sir Arthur by Arthur, all belonging to 
 Lord Waterford. Upon these horses and many others Capt. Peel rode 
 races in public and trials over the private course at Curraghmore. 
 I' Anson, afterwards of Blink Bonny and Caller Ou celebrity, was then 
 trainer to his lordship ; Johnny Ryan was first jockey, with John 
 and Denny Doyle apprentices— the latter is living now at the 
 Curragh, but scdly crippled with rheumatism. Old Racing Calendars 
 record the performances of all these horses, which were quite the 
 best of their day— some being equally good over a country as on the 
 flat. On Duc-an-dhurras, carrying 1.3st. lOlbs., Peel won the Corin- 
 thian at the Curragh in 1848, the race being 1^ mile heats. 
 
 One of the severest steeplechases of its day was that between 
 Capt. Peel's Shinrone, ridden by himself, and Lord Waterford's Sir 
 Arthur, ridden by Capt. Little. It was over that terrible course, 
 Whitefields, on Coppenagh Hill, near Thomastown in co. Kilkenny, 
 a weight-for-age race, Sir Arthur, a four-year-old, receiving lOlbs. 
 For the last half-mile the horses raced head and head at a terrific 
 pace, and Shinrone only just won by a head. 
 
 I will here remark that I am very sure there is not a stable in the 
 kingdom at present which has in it four or five horses possessed of 
 the shapes, with like powers of endurance and pace, which characterised 
 the horses I have named (not to speak of the others referred to later 
 on), all of which belonged at the same time to the same man. 
 
 I often heard Capt. Peel describe Waterford as being the best place 
 the 85th was ever quartered in ; plenty of fun of all sorts, the best of 
 foxhunting, good cheery fellows, and any amount of hospitality. 
 The oflScers were constant visitors at Curraghmore, and theirs was 
 considered by the Marquis about the most sporting regiment then 
 in the service. 
 
 Peel retains the love of sport which characterised him all through 
 life. He is passionately fond of breeding thoroughbred horses, and 
 generally has a few good ones in training. His mare Plying Column, 
 ridden by the late lamented and accomplished Willie Beasley, made 
 most of the running in the last (1892) Liverpool Grand National, and 
 finished fifth out of five-and-twenty starters. 
 
8 
 
 Although he loves racing, as he does all sport, he does not bet. 
 There are few men now of my acquaintance with whom I enjoy an 
 interview as much as I do with this gentleman. From him I hear 
 anecdotes and reminiscences of the sporting past which are so deeply 
 interesting to me, and, as they are given by one possessed of able 
 practical experience, my enjoyment is increased many fold. Alas, his 
 contemporaries are fast " returning the cap and jacket," but he is well 
 and hearty as ever, and long may he remain so, and continue to be, 
 if he will excuse me for using the metaphor, a connecting link of 
 the chain between sportsmen of the past and the present — and " a real 
 old Irish gentleman, one of the olden time." 
 
 Lord Waterford being closely allied to and identified with the 
 Kilkenny Hunt, I shall give an outline of proceedings characteristic 
 of the time. Its fame was about at its zenith in the era I am writing 
 of. No hunt club in the kingdom stood higher in the category of 
 sport, good fellowship, and social position of membership. Sir John 
 Power, who established it, owned the hounds, and they were hunted 
 from Kilfane. It was the custom to have what was called a " Hunt 
 Week" in the city of Kilkenny once or twice during the season. 
 Many of the leading men in Ireland, often numbering one hundred, 
 used, on these occasions, to visit the marble city, and each brought 
 three or four horses at least. Lord Waterford and others brought 
 a dozen. Every day during the carnival these gentlemen hunted. 
 The head-quarters of the party were at Walshe's Hotel, the greater 
 portion of which was used as the club house, during the season. 
 Here forty to fifty sat down to dinner every day during the " Hunt 
 Week," and right merrily did they keep up the festivity. 
 
 All the bedrooms were, of course, engaged, but, truth to tell, very 
 little for sleeping purposes. To dress for dinner in the evening and 
 for hunting in the morning was about all most of them were required 
 for. Although these hard-headed, firm-seated top-sawyers of old 
 could sit up late and hunt all day, none of them ever thought of 
 drinking in the day time. A man addicted to such a propensity 
 would have been " black-balled " for any club of gentlemen he might 
 be put up for. At the same time everyone was expected to drink 
 his two or three bottles of wine after dinner, and the steadier he 
 carried them the better he was thought of. These grand old fellows 
 did not entertain a like opinion to that of Soapey Sponge when he 
 came to the conclusion that "drinking and riding were two men's 
 work " ! 
 
 " Handicapping " was then also a favourite after-dinner amusement, 
 and it was resorted to nightly at these festivals. 
 
 After indulging in this innocent, but not altogether innocuous, 
 diversion during the hours which the party devoted to Bacchus, these 
 sportsmen betook themselves to a quiet turn at the pasteboard and 
 the ivory. These amusements were carried on mostly in the land- 
 ady's boudoir. Mrs. Walshe was of a good old sort. Dearly did she 
 
love the rattle of the dice and the shuffle of the cards, and ofttimes 
 would the old lady join in the game, and well able was she to hold 
 her own. 
 
 Truly a hot shop was Kilkenny during these festivals. At no time 
 was it found in its normal state except the few hours of day time 
 devoted to hunting. During the evenings, nights, and mornings 
 the quietude of the city of the cats was disturbed to a degree. 
 Yes, this festive foxhunting fraternity made mirth and melody, 
 fun and frivolity resound off the walls of Kilkenny's old city after 
 days on which they had ridden hard across the paragon pastures of 
 its favoured county. 
 
 Lord Waterford, of course, attended regularly these sporting re- 
 unions, and with him came many of his hunting men. As may be 
 supposed^ " The Marquis " was the leading spirit of all the fun, but he 
 had those nearly as gay as himself in playing the game all round, 
 among whom maybe mentioned the late Lords Howth and Clanricarde, 
 Mr. Power of Gurteen, Sir Richard Cox, and that prince of good 
 fellows Harry Jephson. In addition the following were usually to be 
 found there : the then Lords Ormonde, Desart, and Clonmell, the 
 present Lord James Butler and Sir Robert Paul, the then Sir John 
 Power and his son John, George Bryan, Captain Ponsonby, John 
 Wade, Henry Meredith, Henry Briscoe, Horace Rochford, John Jones, 
 Ned Lalor and his son Tom, Tom Connolly of Castletown, Captain 
 Pack Beresford, Captain Peel, and other officers of the 85th, cum 
 7nultis aliis. 
 
 In 1848 the 7th Hussars were quartered in Kilkenny, so the present 
 Duke of Beaufort (then Marquis of Worcester), Lord Suffield (then 
 Mr. Charles Harbord), General Fraser, Colonel Cooper of Markree, 
 CO. Sligo, and others of that crack regiment were generally to be 
 found among the peep-of-dayboys at the club house. 
 
 In the years 1846-48, there existed great political excitement in 
 Ireland ; the sports of the country were not, however, interfered 
 with as they were in recent years, and foxhunting flourished in 
 Waterford, Kilkenny, and all other parts of Ireland. Some country 
 gentlemen were, no doubt, obnoxious to the peasantry for some reason 
 or another, and upon more than one occasion Lord Waterford's and 
 the Kilkenny Hunts were molested. A determined onslaught was 
 made near Ballyhale upon a number of gentlemen when returning 
 from hunting with the Kilkennys, and they had to ride for their 
 lives across country. On another occasion, about the same time, the 
 late Captain Harry Jephson and Mr. Larry Dobbyn of Waterford, 
 with another gentleman, whose name I forget, were returning late at 
 night from hunting with Lord Waterford, and were proceeding down 
 the steep hill approaching Mullinavat from Hugginstown. Mr. 
 Dobbyn was a considerable distance in front of the others and was 
 walking beside his horse, when suddenly he found himself attacked 
 by four men. Larry was a powerful and determined fellow, and, well 
 
10 
 
 knowing how to use his fists, in less than a minute two of the 
 scoundrels were laid senseless on the road from well delivered 
 " straight ones," and the others ran away up the hill in the direction 
 of Jephson. Larry shouted to catch them, which was done, and a 
 sound thrashing was administered. Thus were the four fellows 
 accounted for, but in a way they little anticipated, for when they 
 attacked Larry, although they thought he was alone, they did not 
 recognise him in the dark nor did they imagine a man equally good 
 with his fists was within a hundred yards in the person of " Sporting 
 Harry." The report of that encounter, with its results, spread 
 through the country, and there were no more attacks made upon 
 the hunting men. 
 
 I give the following instance of a hound's extraordinary powers 
 of finding his way home upon the authority of Johnny Ryan, under 
 whose immediate knowledge the occurrence took place. In about the 
 year 1850 Lord Waterford sent a draft of hounds from the Curragh- 
 more kennels to a friend of his in the co. Clare (I forget who). 
 The hounds were sent in a van four miles from the kennels to 
 Fiddown Station, thence in a horse-box over fifty miles by railway 
 to Limerick, from there across the Shannon and several miles 
 into the co. Clare to their destination. This journey of some 
 seventy miles was thus made in covered conveyances. Within 
 ten days one of the bitches found her way back to the kennels at 
 Curraghmore, having made the journey on foot. How or where she 
 crossed the river Shannon is unknown ; but unless she did so by 
 either of the bridges at Limerick or Castleconnell, which are some 
 ten miles apart, she must have swum across, and at all parts the 
 Shannon is wide and rapid. 
 
 Wherever "March 29, 1S59," occurs in a sportsman's diary, it 
 should be encircled with a mourning border, for on that day was 
 killed one of the greatest foxhunters that ever lived, and one of 
 the finest riders between the flags of his day or for many years after. 
 
 Yes, Henry, third Marquis of Waterford, known, as he always was and 
 always will be, as " The Marquis," was killed on that day, at a small 
 fence on to the road in the valley between Miltown and Corbally Hills, 
 in the co. Kilkenny. 
 
 I was hunting with his lordship that day, and although so many 
 years have passed since the appalling catastrophe, I remember vividly 
 all the lamentable circumstances, so I shall give a few particulars, the 
 accuracy of which may be thoroughly relied upon. 
 
 Lord Waterford's meet was at Castlemorres, the seat of his intimate 
 friend, the late Mr. John de Montmorency. A fox was found in 
 the demesne, which gave us a bad run to ground on the banks of the 
 stream under Glenbower Wood, not far from Tom Shea's house at 
 Mullinbeg. Lord Waterford then changed horses and trotted off to 
 
11 
 
 draw Corbally, in the hopes of finding the fox that had given the 
 great run which I related at page 5. A fox was found there, but 
 whether he was the one wanted or not no one can tell. However, he 
 ran the same line exactly as that of the previous occasion as far as the 
 top of Miltown Hill, but then wheeled sh?.rp to the left, down the hill 
 and up that of Corbally. 
 
 The houads were hunting slowly, and had just recrossed the Kilmo- 
 ganny road, on to which was a low rotten fence, with a narrow shallow 
 grip on the landing or road side. It was when jumping this insignificant 
 obstacle that Mayboy, the horse Lord Waterford was riding, pecked 
 on landing, and threw him heavily on the top of his head on the hard 
 road. He never moved nor uttered a sound after his fall. 
 
 Of course, all the field pulled up, with the exception of a few who 
 happened to be in front at the time. Dr. O'Ryan was close to the 
 poor Marquis, and got to his side in a minute, but life had already 
 departed. 
 
 Many theories were given as to what caused death, among thena 
 apoplexy, but I think there is no doubt whatever that he broke his 
 neck, for the top of his hunting cap was bulged in, and there came a 
 bluish mark across the back of his neck soon after death. However, 
 the clearest explanation of the fall which I ever got was from Sir John 
 Leslie, and that only within the last two years, when he informed me 
 that this fine horseman was sufi'ering from acute lumbago at the time, 
 and was perfectly unable to sit a horse if he made any mistake. This 
 accounts for the catastrophe beyond all manner of doubt, and scatters 
 the theory of sudden apoplexy, which at all times appeared to me 
 absurd. 
 
 Lord Waterford was born on the 26th April, 1811, therefore he had 
 all but completed his forty-eighth year when he was killed. 
 
 His death, occurring as it did in the flower of his manhood, caused 
 more sensation, and I am sure more universal regret, than did any other 
 event for many a year before or after. His multitude of friends 
 mourned him as a brother. All sportsmen recognised the fact that 
 one of their greatest chiefs had been cut off", while the whole nation 
 lamented over the untimely death of " The Marquis." 
 
 Yes, he was indeed a universal favourite. His daring deeds, his 
 lively escapades, his fame as a foxhunter, and his brilliant horseman- 
 ship were known to everyone, while his generous disposition was ever 
 put to practical illustration. Truly, he was a rare specimen of manli- 
 ness, which, in addition to his deeds, his noble bearing and strikingly 
 handsome face plainly portrayed. 
 
 I don't believe there ever was in Ireland a larger funeral. It took 
 place on the 6th April, 1859. The number of those who attended 
 could be computed only in hundreds, and all came for the sole purpose 
 of doing reverence to the memory of their dead favourite. 
 
 Lord Waterford left no portrait or likeness after him except a minia- 
 ture which the Marchioness had. That gifted lady, however, produced 
 
12 
 
 a very faithful likeness of him in bust portrait some time after his death, 
 a copy of which, neatly framed, with coronet on top, her ladyship pre- 
 sented, with her compliments, to each member of the Hunt who had 
 subscribed for and presented a pair of silver claret jugs to Lord Water- 
 ford in the year 1858. 
 
 Capt. liichard Elwes, at that time quartered with his regiment in 
 Waterford, and myself happened to be in front of the Marquis when 
 he got his fall, and, knowing nothing of the catastrophe, we went on 
 with the hounds. After a bad run over Corbally, by Templeorum, and 
 through Mountain Grove, the fox was killed on the side of Dowling 
 Hill. Elwes brought home the brush and gave it to Harry Jephson, 
 who was perhaps the greatest friend the Marquis then had in Waterford. 
 A few years after it came into my possession, where it remained until 
 the end of 1888, when I gave it to Lord Marcus Beresford as a 
 Christmas-box. 
 
 I have a catalogue of the sale of Lord Waterford's stud before me, 
 from which I condense the following, as it will be interesting to some 
 to compare the prices of that time with the present. It took place at 
 Ourraghmore on June 24 and 25, 1859. 
 
 Guineas. 
 
 33 thoroughbred brood mares, some with foal at foot 2,982 
 
 3 stallions, viz. : — 
 
 Gemma de Vergi 1,050 
 
 The Marquis..... 220 
 
 Lord George, bought in at 500 
 
 1,770 
 
 13 race and steeplechase horses 2,133 
 
 18 thoroughbred two-year-olds 1,551 
 
 23 thoroughbred yearlings 1,475 
 
 29 hunters (4 others given to Hunt) 3,348 
 
 Total of 119 horses 13,259 
 
 The residue of the pack, after Briscoe choosing the best 32 couple 
 consisted of 29 couple, and they fetched 128 guineas. 
 
 The highest prices given for the hunters were : — 
 
 Guineas. 
 
 The Rock, a great favourite Mr. Brown 300 
 
 Peacock (re-sold for 210gs.) Mr. Hamilton 230 
 
 Captain Lord Drogheda 230 
 
 Oberon Ditto 200 
 
 Johnny Mr. Brown 180 
 
 Sir Nick Colonel Brewster 150 
 
 Oberon afterwards won many steeplechases, carrying poor Dan 
 Meaney in the familiar "black and silver lace." Mayboy, the ewe- 
 necked, flit-ribbed, leggy brute that Lord Waterford was killed oflF, 
 was sold to Mr. Sewell for 91gs. I shall never forget the moan of 
 anguish given forth in hushed tone by the crowd when this cursed 
 chestnut was led into the ring. 
 
 This sale was very largely attended. Men from all parts of the 
 kingdom nd many from the Continent came either to buy or to see 
 
13 
 
 this great stud before it was broken up. The prices realised were 
 considered to be very high at the time, but if such a stud was to be sold 
 now it would fetch at least five times the amount. 
 
 There was a great row raised after the sale when it was found that 
 the largest buyer, a Mr. Hamilton, was a madman unaccountable for 
 his actions, so the several horses knocked down to him, including 
 Gemma de Vergi, had to be re-sold soon after. They, however, fetched 
 a total pretty nearly the same as at the Curraghmore sale. 
 
 Among the brood mares were : The Deformed, bought by Mr. George 
 Bryan for 360gs. ; Juanita Perez, Mr. Weatherby, 350gs. ; Peri, Mr. 
 Bryan, 280gs. (this mare went subsequently to the Royal Stud, where 
 she produced Perinita and other good horses); Duchess de Guise, 
 210gs. ; Ariadne, 195gs. ; Queen Margaret, lOOgs. ; Ossifrage, lOOgs. ; 
 Kick up the Dust, lOogs. ; Sarah Ellis, lOOgs. ; Mag on the Wing, 
 Prism, Red Rose, Rosamond, Titania, Yesta, etc. 
 
 Among the race and steeplechase horses was found Bumble Bee, sold 
 to Captain Pack Beresford for 550gs., one of the famous " Bee family " 
 so well known at Ballymanus. Also Ace of Hearts, by Great Heart, 
 bought by Mr. W. J. H. Powell of Measgwynn, in South Wales, for 
 315gs. Ace of Hearts was the last horse that carried the Marquis' blue 
 jacket and black cap, which he did in the Grand National of 1859, a 
 week before his owner was killed. This horse in February, 1862, for 
 Mr. Powell achieved a record in steeplechase annals, when, with The 
 Rug, owned by Captain McCraith, he ran two dead heats of four 
 miles for the Carmarthenshire Steeplechase. Night coming on, the 
 owners agreed to divide. 
 
 Gemma de Vergi seemed an evil genius during the earlier part of 
 his career. He was bred by Cook at Rugeley. Cook was poisoned 
 in 1856 by Palmer, then owner of Gemma. Palmer was hanged. Lord 
 Waterford bought the horse at Palmer's sale ; he was killed. The 
 man who bought Gemma at the Curraghmore sale was a madman. 
 Sudden death or something untoward befell someone connected with 
 this horse at a subsequent sale, after which I lost sight of Gemma de 
 Vergi. 
 
 I compiled the foregoing, as I did the remainder of the history, 
 several months ago, but there has recently taken place an event 
 which bears such interesting appropriateness to this portion that I 
 must refer to it. Moreover doing so will show what a marvellous 
 increase has taken place in the value of Irish thoroughbred horses 
 since 1859. 
 
 At the Dublin Horse Show in August, 1892, which has just taken 
 place, the stud of the late Mr. William Brophy of Herbertstown, con- 
 sisting of thirteen lots, was sold by auction by Mr. Robert J. GofF. 
 This sale was, perhaps, the most extraordinary that ever took place in 
 Ireland. Apart from the prices realised, a record has been scored 
 which is not only without parallel, but it is likely to remain so. A 
 brood mare with foal at foot, her yearling, her two-year-old, and her 
 
u 
 
 three-year-old were sold at the same time, and fetched a total of 
 10,850 guineas. Here are the particulars : — 
 
 Chrysalis (1876) by Lecturer out of Winged Bee, by Artil- 
 lery out of Queen Bee, by Harkaway out of Galea- Guineas. 
 
 vella Lord Marcus Bere-ford 2,600 
 
 Her filly foal by Philammon Mr. James Daly 1,750 
 
 Her yearling colt by Kendal Mr. W. Fulton 800 
 
 Laodamia, her two year-old filly, also by Kendal ditto 3,500 
 
 Chryfctabel, her three-year-old filly by Lyric or Kendal ditto 2,200 
 
 Total price realised for Chrysalis and her four youngsters 10,850 
 
 The other eight lots fetched 2,310 
 
 Total of thirteen lots 13.160 
 
 Bumble Bee, a three-year-old, referred to by me when treating 
 of Lord Waterford's sale, was by Lord Henry out of Queen Bee, by 
 Harkaway out of Calcavella. Thus we have the close consanguinity 
 which exists on the maternal side between her and this wonderful 
 brood mare Chrysalis, who, with her family, has just fetched the 
 extraordinary sum I have quoted, the dam of Bumble Bee being the 
 granddam of Chrysalis, with the famous Harkaway her sire. Need- 
 less to mention that Lord Marcus Beresford, to whom Chrysalis was 
 knocked down, is nephew to Henry, third Marquis of Waterford. 
 
 If prices of thoroughbreds in 1859 were the same as they are in 
 1892 what an enormous amount would Lord Waterford's stud have 
 then realised! His 119 horses, including 33 thoroughbred brood 
 mares (some with foals at foot), 3 stallions, 13 racehorses and 41 
 thoroughbred yearlings and two-year-olds, not to speak of 29 hunters, 
 fetched, in 1859, only 13,259 guineas. Mr. William Brophy's stud of 
 thirteen all told fetched, in 1892, 13,160 guineas ! ! 
 
 Although this chapter purports to be a history of the Curraghmore 
 Hunt, it will not be out of place at the present stage, particularly 
 after treating of the Marquis' sale, to make reference to some of the 
 racing and steeplechase records of that nobleman. In doing so I must 
 needs make specific mention of his jockey, Johnny Ryan, who is 
 now (1892) stud-groom to the present Marquis, and to whom I shall 
 again allude when I come to treat of the last decade of the history 
 He came from a racing stable at the Curragh, entered the service of 
 Lord Waterford in 1842, and continued as first steeplechase and flat- 
 race jockey, also as second horseman, until his lordship's death in 1859. 
 During these seventeen years Ryan distinguished himself on the flat 
 and between the flags in the " light blue and black cap " to quite an 
 unparalleled degree. He rode a total of 130 races for Lord Waterford, 
 of which he won no less than 112, was second in five, and third in 
 three, the three third places being for the Liverpool Grand National. 
 Thus showing a record which I should say was never approached by 
 any other jockey, professional or otherwise, in the annals of racing or 
 steeplechasing. 
 
 Among the best horses which Ryan rode for Lord Waterford were 
 
15 
 
 Lord George, The Marquis, Sir John, Warner, Henry, Duc-an-dhurras, 
 Cheroot, Augustine, Postillion, and Firefly. His best races were, per- 
 haps, the Autumn Steeplechase, at Liverpool, in 1849, which he won 
 on Sir John, beating Vain Hope, The Doctor, and fourteen others ; the 
 Metropolitan Steeplechase, at Epsom, in 1851, which he won on Lord 
 George, beating Maria Day, British Yeoman, Rendsburg, Mullingar, 
 Spectator, Springbuck, etc. ; the Epsom Hurdle Race in 1851, winning 
 on Lord George, with Vesta, Little Queen, Bedford, and four others 
 behind him ; the Rock Stakes at Cashel in 1852, on Warner, beating 
 Old Rake, Billy-the-Darter, Crutches, Adieu, etc. ; the Flat Race at 
 Cashel — same meeting — on Augustine, beating Warner, the horse he won 
 on the day before, Peg-the-Rake, Ranger, and Sphynx ; the Hurdle Race 
 at Howth in 1853, he won with The Marquis, beating Augustine, Venus, 
 Catlow, Dearest May, and Venison. Ryan also won finely-ridden races 
 on Cheroot at Tipperary, Postillion at Punchestown, Sir John at Cashel, 
 and on Lord George at the Curragh. 
 
 As it may be tiresome to my readers to hear more than the tithe of 
 this fine horseman's achievements under the " Beresford blue," I shall 
 cease further reference ; but what I have said is, I consider, quite 
 worthy of recording in a chapter dealing with the sport of Curraghmore, 
 while the record furnishes a connecting link between former and present 
 racing and riders. 
 
 John Ryan, the jockey, was no relative to his namesake, the 
 huntsman. 
 
 Second Section.— Henry W. Briscoe, Esq., Master, 1859-70. 
 
 Succession of John, fourth Marquis of Waterford— Meeting of the Hunt— His Handsome Offer 
 Accepted — Committee Formed, Mr. Briscoe selected as Master, Mr. Medlycott Hon. 
 Sec— Hunt started as a Subscription Pack— Liberal Subscriptions— Xew Arrangements 
 — Lord Bessborough — Briscoe chooses a Pack out of Lord Waterford's — The Brocklcsby 
 Lot— Hunters selected— Title of Hunt changed— Monetary and other arrangements— 
 Curraghmore Kennel Book— Villager— Extensively used— Good Results— Vigilant— 
 His Progeny— Splendid Strains in Curraghmore Blood— Kennels Bred from— Results- 
 Mr. Briscoe as an M.F.H.- Briscoe's start— Huntsman and Whips— John Duke— Johnny 
 Ryan as a Huntsman— Briscoe took the Horn— Dan Ryan— Wonderful Sport— Mr. 
 Glascott's Pamphlet— Sport in 1861-62— Four Great Runs— "The Aunefield Fox"— 
 Glascott's Concluding Remarks— A Contrast— Glascott as a Judge of Foxhunting— 
 More good Runs — Particulars of Some— A Beautiful Bit of Hunting— Mr. Joseph 
 Strangman, Secretary, vice Mr. Medlycott, resigned— Succession of the present Marquis 
 to the Title— Hunted with Briscoe— Never expressed a wish to take the Hounds— 
 Briscoe's illness— Had to Resign Mastership— Testimonial to Briscoe— Banquet. 
 
 Upon the death of Henry Lord Waterford his brother John 
 succeeded to the title as fourth Marquis. He, however, being a 
 clergyman, could not very well keep on the hounds as Master, so a 
 meeting of the gentlemen interested in the hunting was held in the 
 City of Waterford in the summer of 1859. At it the new Marquis 
 olFered to lend the county a pack of hounds to be selected from 
 his brother's kennel ; to make them a present of any four of the 
 hunters they chose, and in addition to give a large yearly subscrip- 
 tion. This generous proposal was accepted with acclamation by 
 
16 
 
 the meeting, and a committee was formed consisting of the late Lord 
 Bessborough, Sir Robert Paul, the late Mr. Thomas Lalor, the late 
 Mr. David Malcomson, Mr. Joseph Strangraan, and a few others. 
 
 The late Mr. Henry Whitby Briscoe of Tinvane was unanimously 
 elected as our new Master, and Mr. John T. Medlycott of Rocketts 
 Castle kindly consented to undertake the duties of honorary secretary. 
 A list of subscribers was then opened and most liberal sums promised 
 by all present, Lords Waterford and Bessborough, with Messrs. Dav 
 George and Fred Malcomson, heading it with princely amounts. 
 
 Each gentleman who owned a fox-covert offered it free to the new 
 ^Master. Lord Bessborough had several in the Kilkenny country, 
 which, by the arrangement with the late Lord Waterford, were 
 subject to a rental of fifty pounds a year to the Kilkenny Hunt. Lord 
 Bessborough, in addition to his subscription to the new fund, now 
 undertook to pay this rent, so that our Hunt might retain them. 
 
 Soon after this meeting and previous to the auction at Curragh- 
 more in June, Mr. Briscoe, as promised by Lord Waterford, selected 
 his pick of the Curraghmore hounds and four of the hunters. This 
 he did with the assistance of Johnny Ryan the huntsman, and chose 
 thirty-two out of the sixty couple which constituted the pack. The 
 first lot chosen by Briscoe was that of five couple and a half, a 
 reduction of the Brocklesby pack, which had been sent by Lord 
 Yarborough to Lord Waterford the very week he was killed, and 
 which the poor Marquis never even saw. His selection of the 
 hunters was Merryman, Sunshine, Cheasty, and Wall— horses suitable 
 in every way for the work they were to be continued at. The title 
 was then changed to that of " The Curraghmore Hunt," as Lord John, 
 in his position of a clergyman, did not wish the pack to be called by 
 his name. 
 
 Lord Henry had always given three or four days a week, but when 
 the Hunt was changed to a subscription pack the money available 
 did not enable Mr. Briscoe to have more than two days. So great 
 an extent of country not being now necessary, fresh arrangements 
 were made with the Kilkenny men, and they took back a portion of 
 the territory which had been lent to the late ]\[arquis, including 
 Wynne's Gorse, Kiltorcan, Castlemorres, and Killeen, all fine sporting 
 coverts. 
 
 The sum agreed to be given Mr. Briscoe for hunting the country 
 was £580 per annum, which, however, was subsequently raised to 
 £1,000 ; the fund in addition provided for keeping in order the coverts, 
 fowl and damage claims, and expended a lot of money in repairs of 
 the kennels and stabling at Tinvane, and started the new Master with 
 extra horses. The payment of field money which, of course, in Lord 
 Waterford's time was unknown, was then introduced, and this also 
 was given to Mr. Briscoe. Hounds and horses were then removed to 
 Tinvane. 
 
 I have before me the " Curraghmore Kennel Book," commencing in 
 
17 
 
 1859 and continued down to end of 1881. It was compiled by the 
 present Lord Waterford, and started with the thirty- two couple of 
 hounds which Mr. Briscoe selected, including, of course, the Brocklesby 
 lot. This, as I said, consisted of five couple and a half, and it was 
 lucky for Briscoe it came at the time, for it gave him not alone several 
 good working hounds, but brought to the Curraghmore pack the bluest 
 foxhound blood in England. Among the lot was Villager, six years, by 
 Mr. Foljambe's Royster, out of Lord Yarborough's A'^aaity, a wonder- 
 fully bred dog and of about the best strain they ever had at Brocklesby. 
 
 It is to this hound that the Curraghmore in the greatest degree 
 owed their thorough-breeding, not alone when handed back by Mr. 
 Briscoe to the present Marquis in 1870, but even up to the time 
 when that nobleman was stopped hunting in Ireland in 1881. In 
 fact, when his lordship sold the two packs there was hardly a hound 
 in them which did not go back to Villager. 
 
 Briscoe bred a great deal from him, and also from a two year- 
 old hound of this lot called A^igilant, by Lord Yarborough's Pleader, 
 out of his Violet. The descendants of Vigilant did not, however, 
 turn out as well as Briscoe expected, for, after a generation or two, 
 they became noisy. He got a splendid hound out of Mermaid called 
 Mountebank, good looking and capital in his work. Briscoe bred 
 also from Mountebank, but all the strain had eventually to be got 
 rid of. 
 
 Vigilant and Villager were grandly shaped, and fit to show with 
 any stallion hounds in England, and they were remarkably good at 
 work. They were not, however, of a handsome colour, having a lot of 
 black, little white, and no tan except one small patch with which 
 Villager was adorned. Their progeny, however, were usually of the 
 beautiful Belvoir tan. 
 
 After carefully examining the pages of the old Kennel Book as 
 I have just done, I can't help admiring the splendid strains of 
 blood which were continuously brought into that pack by Henry 
 Lord Waterford, Mr. Briscoe, and the present Marquis during their 
 several years of office. Scarcely a single hound whose pedigree does 
 not relate to the following kennels :— Mr. Foljambe's, Lord Yar- 
 borough's, Lord Henry Bentinck's, Duke of Rutland's, Mr. Meynell's, 
 Lord Leconfield's, Lord Portsmouth's, Mr. Lane-Fox's, Lord (xal way's, 
 Mr. Watson's, The Milton, Lord Doneraile's, Duke of Grafton's, and 
 The Oakley. If ever blue foxhound blood was to be found, where 
 could a man look for it if not in the foregoing kennels, while judi- 
 ciously crossing that of the one with the other should, as it did in 
 this instance, produce a pack of foxhounds second to none other in 
 breeding. 
 
 Under those circumstances it is not surprising that with three 
 successive Masters of the calibre and capabilities of our?, the 
 Ourraghmore hounds should have shown a continuance of magnificent 
 «port. 
 
18 
 
 The choice of Mr. Henry Briscoe as Master was most excellent, 
 for no man knew the duties all round better than he. He had kept 
 and hunted foxhounds of his own for several years previous to his 
 selling them to Lord AVaterford, and he always studied the working 
 of hounds during the many years he continuously hunted with the 
 Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Lord Waterford's packs. Briscoe rode to 
 hunt, and did not hunt to ride. He was in a word both theoretically 
 and practically qualitied in every way for the duties of M.F.H., but as 
 I shall devote a chapter entirely to that great foxhunter, I need 
 now say no more about him except so far as directly concerns the 
 subject of this chapter. 
 
 Briscoe started with Johnny Ryan as huntsman and Billy Barry a& 
 whipper-in, each of whom had served under Lord Waterford in their 
 respective capacities. Barry was, however, soon parted with, and his 
 place was filled by Harry Hardy, who in turn also changed and went 
 to Mr. Filgate, then and ever since Master of the Louth Foxhounds, 
 and with whom he has remained to the present day. Briscoe then 
 imported John Duke from an English southern pack, and things 
 worked most harmoniously for some years without further change ; 
 Ryan carrying the horn, with Duke whipping in to him. 
 
 Old Johnny was a capital huntsman, quick as lightning, but 
 never in a hurry. He was a brilliant rider to hounds, with one of 
 the neatest seats I ever saw and perfect hands ; he seldom used 
 his horn, and when he did he had but three blasts, each totally 
 distinct from the other — one long single note to draw hounds from 
 covert, one sharp quick touch to bring them to him when casting, 
 and a rattling double-double-double to get them away on their fox 
 and proclaim the end of a run. He had a melodious voice, but used 
 it also sparingly. After some years he gave up his post and went to 
 America. 
 
 Briscoe then took the horn himself and showed a continuance of 
 quite as good sport as we had with Ryan ; Duke whipped to Briscoe 
 also, and soon became first-rate at his work, he was a very fine 
 rider and had a powerful and capital voice. Dan Ryan, a son of 
 the huntsman, was soon after made second whip, and a right good 
 man he was ; and for many years he whipped to Duke, when he- 
 succeeded to the horn. 
 
 The Curraghmore hounds, under Mr. Briscoe, showed exceptionally 
 good sport. I don't think any other two-day-a-week pack in the 
 kingdom showed better within the same period, and, from what 
 I heard at the time, it quite equalled the magnificent sport shown by 
 Henry Lord Waterford in the previous decade of the Hunt. 
 
 It would be tedious and uninteresting to the general reader to have 
 to wade through accounts of foxhunts— -no matter how brilliant — 
 which took place so many years ago, particularly when they had not 
 taken part in them, so I shall not impose the task upon them, except 
 so far as to prove to demonstration that the sport was of the character 
 I say. 
 
19 
 
 The better to do so I shall quote from a pamphlet written by Mr. 
 Glascott of Alderton, a man who constantly hunted with the third 
 Marquis and also with Briscoe, although he lived in the co. Wexford 
 and had the most inconvenient means for visiting us. 
 
 That gentleman took for his theme the sport of Mr. Briscoe's third 
 season only, but I can assure my readers that we had several still 
 better, and the one chosen is but a fair sample of the sport we had 
 from 1859 to 1870. 
 
 CUEEAGHMOEE HUNT, SeASON 18G1-62. 
 
 " Hounds were out sixty-eight days. 
 
 "Killed forty-one foxes and ran sixty-one to ground, thus account- 
 ing for one hundred and two foxes. 
 
 "They had twenty first-class runs of from thirty minutes upwards, 
 with many good things of from ten to twenty minutes, at such a pace 
 that only the light-weights and thoroughbreds could live in." 
 
 Mr. Glascott records the particulars of several of the above, which, 
 though highly interesting to one like myself who had the good fortune 
 to participate in most of them, would, as I said before, be tedious 
 to the general reader ; so I shall refer to only four, which were given by 
 the same fox, and are of extraordinary celebrity. They were all from 
 the Owning or Annefield portion of the Welch mountains, and over 
 beautiful lines far away into the Kilkenny hunting grounds, passing 
 through and far beyond those parts known as the Wynn's Gorse 
 and Kilmoganny country, and in one instance on to Callan and Kells. 
 This good fox, known as "The Annefield Fox," always beat the 
 hounds ; but I know in, at least, two of the runs he was relieved by 
 a fresh one. Anyway, it was the same fox which was found on the 
 four memorable occasions, and he gave us the cream of the cream 
 before he shifted the pride of leadership on to another good one. 
 What became of him I never could satisfactorily find out ; but I heard 
 he died in a wet drain, or was found dead near it, after the run of 
 11th April, 1862. Here are the particulars : — 
 
 17th Dec, 1861. From Annefield 1 hour 40 min,, 15 mile'. 
 
 28th Jan., 1862. ,, Talbot's Gorse* ... 4 ,, 5 ,, 28 ,, 
 
 24th March, 1862. ,, Annefield 1 ,, 28 ,, 14 „ 
 
 11th April, 1862. ,, Talbofs Gorse ...2 „ 5 ,, 17 ,, 
 
 The record of such a season's sport with one pack of hounds, hunting- 
 only two days a week, as Mr. Glascott says, "deserves to be handed 
 down to our sons' sons." He concludes with these remarks : — 
 
 "The hunting hounds consist generally of twenty-five to thirty 
 couple, standing about 2-2h inches, of great length, bone, and muscle, 
 which on a near inspection surprises you, as looking at them side- 
 ways from a little distance as they step along to cover — brought 
 out as they are in condition fit to go — they appear light, lengthy 
 
 *Talbot's Gorse was only a small patch of furze ou Castletown hill, aud not a regular covert. 
 
20 
 
 hounds. I cannot say what the kennel discipline is, but when brought 
 out they appear to me as near perfection as it is possible to bring 
 hounds. In the field, quietude and dependence upon themselves for 
 hunting is the order of the day, and with a fair scent and once clear 
 of the field they require little interference on the part of the hunts- 
 man. The club is, in every sense of the word, nobly supported, the 
 country well stocked with game ; harmony and good-feeling pervade 
 all classes, from the popular nobleman of the club to the humble 
 peasant." 
 
 This pamphlet of Mr. GUscott's was published in 1862, and truly 
 stated the happy relations which then and for many years after existed 
 between the Curraghmore Hunt and the farmers. What a direful 
 contrast with the state of things brought about by the Land League 
 only a few years after ! 
 
 I never knew a man better able to judge the results of an M.F.H.'s 
 management than Mr. Glascott, although he never held that office ; 
 but he was a good man to hounds a? ever I saw, and, having his 
 eye always on them, and knowing what they were doing, he never 
 did harm, hard though he rode. I make these observations to show 
 how well qualified he was to judge of Mr. Briscoe's management, and 
 entitled to put that opinion in print. I may add that he was past 
 the meridian of life when he wrote the pamphlet, and had hunted 
 regularly ever since he was a boy. 
 
 1 did not keep a diary of my hunting, so I cannot fix the date of 
 some of the runs I am about to record, but I vouch for the accuracy 
 of the details. 
 
 December 30, 1862. From Glenbower, round GarrydufF Hill, by Tom 
 Shea's house of MuUinbeg into Carrigtruss ; across the covert without 
 checking to near Boolyglass ; to the right through Harristown, by 
 Lismatique Castle to Moonruha ; across the Harristown River, from 
 which the fox went as straight as a ruler for five miles to Rochestown 
 House, running the boundary headland of Killeen Gorse without 
 touching the cover. He was headed at Rochestown, so wheeling 
 to the left he crossed the Mullinavat River, and was going for Tory 
 Hill, when he was turned over in the open by that beautiful bitch 
 Barmaid, two miles from where he crossed the W. &, K. Railway. 
 14 miles — 1 hour 25 minutes. This was one of the finest foxhunts I 
 ever saw, and every hound was up — from Carrigtruss to the kill, 
 about 40 minutes, was clinking — the country before that was rough — 
 from Slievenamona, through Rathanny, by Carrigeen, through 
 Knockaderry, across the Dungarvan road at the Slate Quarries, up 
 the distressing hill of Guilcagh, by the Five Roads, and killed just 
 before getting into Baylough Woods. A magnificent run of some 
 eleven miles. Time, exactly sixty minutes. Only two men out of a 
 large field were within half a mile of the hounds when they killed 
 their fox. Toiling up the steep of Baylough they viewed him with 
 roached back and draggled brush gallantly striving to gain the 
 
21 
 
 woodland, and right valiantly did these two men endeavour to save 
 the poor fellow, ^Master and huntsman being far away, but their 
 efforts were fruitless, for, scrambling over the second last fence from 
 the covert, he was pulled down. 
 
 From Curraghbaha to near Bonmahon, to the right, over a fiue 
 expanse of grass country (I forget the names of the townlands) cross- 
 ing the Stradbally River, at the time very flooded, and killed within 
 a field of Carrigmorna. About twelve miles. One hour ten minutes, 
 Mrs. Dick Roberts went this fine run like a bird on her famous 
 black horse, and was presented with the brush by Mr. Briscoe. 
 
 Met at Kilmacthomas ; found in Curraghbaha ; ran through Faha, 
 by Grouse Lodge to within two fields of Woodhouse ; bore to the 
 right along the sea coast to near Clonea Castle, then wheeled inland 
 to near Carrigmorna, to near Curraghbaha, through Faha again, 
 through Seafield, and to ground at Ballylaneen village ; hounds 
 running their fox in view for the last three fields, and were not 
 twenty yards from his brush when he got to ground. Fifteen miles 
 in one hour and thirty minutes, over a fine grass, but stiffly-fenced, 
 country. Duke, the huntsman, was the only man out of a large field 
 who rode this great hunt from find to finish. Lord Clanricarde went 
 well on a roan horse belonging to poor Dan Smithwick, and if these 
 men were now alive they would remember well this run. 
 
 I was witness of a beautiful bit of hunting in Briscoe's time by a 
 well-named bitch — Matchless — one of the hounds selected from Lord 
 Waterford's pack. It was on Listrolin Hill, where irregular single 
 walls built of loose stones abound. This bitch carried the line of her 
 fox along the top of one of these for over a hundred yards, giving 
 tongue all the time. The stones were laid singly on the top and 
 were so small and loose that they toppled off under her feet, and it 
 was with the greatest difiiculty she maintained her footing ; the body 
 of the pack contented themselves with looking at her as they flourished 
 along on both sides, knowing they need not on that occasion assist 
 her along her perilous path, but they very quickly took up the line 
 as soon as it left the wall. 
 
 Mr. Medlycott held the office of honorary secretary to the Hunt 
 for two or three years until about 1862, when Mr. Joseph Strangman 
 took over the duties, which he continued to perform to the end of 
 the history of the Hunt. Further reference will be made later on to 
 the great services rendered by that gentleman. 
 
 When the late Lord Huntingdon lived at Whitechurch and hunted 
 that part of the co. Water ford, he brought large contingents to our 
 meets at Gardenmorris, Kilmacthomas, and Newtown Chapel. In tip- 
 top style he did so. As far as Dungarvan he brought them on his 
 drag with his own team, then with four posters they came on to 
 Briscoe — the Fitzgeralds, Odells, Humbles, Furlong, Smith of Head- 
 borough, Maxwell of Mcore Hill, Victor Roche, William and Joha 
 Hunt, the Hudsons, cheery McDermot of the R.I.C., Dick and Mrs. 
 
22 
 
 I^oberts, the Helys, and many others. These were the good times for 
 the Kilmacthomas folk. What a roaring trade John Walshe did at the 
 jolly little inn, and could we not get there the best of egg-flip and all 
 things equally good ? Ah's me ! 
 
 The present Marquis of Waterford succeeded to the title on the 
 death of his father in 1866. He was then serving in the 1st Life 
 Guards, in which regiment he continued until 1869, when, as a 
 captain, he sold out and came to reside at Curraghmore. Whatever 
 may have been his wishes regarding the keeping of hounds, he never 
 even indirectly intimated he would be inclined to follow in the foot- 
 steps of his uncle, and take on the Curraghmore country. On the 
 contrary he was always an ardent and substantial supporter of 
 Briscoe, for whom he entertained the highest regard and admiration 
 both as a friend and sportsman, and he gladly hunted with him like 
 any other member. Through an unlooked-for incident, however, a 
 change in the Mastership became imperative, and then for the first 
 time was it known that Lord Waterford would be willing to take 
 upon himself the trouble and responsibilities attached to an M.F.H. 
 
 During the season of 1869-70, Mr. Briscoe got into a very bad state 
 of health, so much so that at the time there seemed very little chance 
 of the poor fellow's ultimate recovery, and both his medical advisers 
 and friends strongly recommended him to give up the hounds, which 
 necessarily entailed more work, care, and worry than he was then 
 physically fit for. Poor Briscoe was naturally loath to relinquish a 
 position he had so satisfactorily filled, and in which his heart 
 delighted ; it seemed to him like sinking suddenly into old age, and 
 being put aside on the shelf. However, prudence prevailed, and 
 he resigned, no doubt the more cheerfully from the knowledge 
 that his beloved hounds were to pass to one who would in every way 
 do them justice. 
 
 On retiring, Briscoe, who had somewhat recovered his health, was 
 presented with a very valuable testimonial by the members of the 
 Hunt and gentlemen who had partaken of his sport. The ceremony 
 took place at a banquet in the City of W^aterford, in the summer of 
 1870, at which the Marquis of Waterford presided. 
 
 Third Section.— John Henry (present) Marquis of Waterford, 
 Master 1870-81. 
 
 Natural that Lord Waterford should be the Head of the Curraghmore Hunt— His taking 
 office as M.F.H. —Got a Capital Start— Well-bred Pack— Good Workers— Imported 
 more Hounds— His Lordship as Judge of Hounds— As Judge of a Horse— His weight — 
 Began well— " Servants' Horses"— His Passion for Hunting— Apprenticeship— John 
 I»nke— Increase of Territory— Hunting Days increased— Kilkenny Hunt— John Going 
 —Boundary of the New Territories— Increase of Stud— Boundary of Lord Waterford's 
 country— Owned and acquired— Gr-at area— All Hunted fairly— Out-Stables— Descrip- 
 tion of Curraghmore country— Woodlands— New Gorse Coverts planted— Lord Water- 
 ford not yet satiified— Acquires Lord Huntingdon's country— Gave it up— The Ross 
 
23 
 
 country— The Ballydurn country— Sport over them— Welch Hills— Pembrokestown, 
 Knockaderry— Mount Neil-Cloiiassey— E.oanmore— The Fences— The Going— Good 
 .Scent— The Cry of a Foxhound— Of the Cnrraghmore— Riot— Gorse Coverts- Carrig- 
 truss— Knockbrack -Ballydarn—Rathgormack—Ballyneale— Duke's Fall— Johnny Ryan 
 and Lord Waterford Hunt the Hounds— His Lordship Hunts both Packs— Duke recovers 
 —Resumes the Horn— His Lordship takes it again— Holds it till the end— Great Spoit 
 — His hard riding— His big weight— His good horses— Mr. Strangman as Secretary — 
 Did great service— Testimonial to him— Good man to Hounds— Farmers supported 
 Hunting- So did the Gentry— oS^o Game Preservers— Sir Robert Paul— Mr. Congreve— 
 Lord Bessborough— Mr. Ned Briscoe— Mr. Henry Bowers— Especial assistance given by 
 the two latter gentlemen— Hunting establishment at Curraghmore— Horses— Stud 
 Groom and Servants— The Kennels— Huntsman— Whips— Horses out each Hunting 
 Day— Going to the ^Sleet- Lord Waterford's Favourite Hunters— His Exploit over Rag- 
 dale Bottom— His Expenditure on Hunting — Author's opinion of the Curraghmore 
 Hounds— From 1859 to ISSl— His Lordship's Hunt Servants— Ourselves— A Meet at 
 Guilcagh Cross— Small Meets— All the better for Sport— Author's Remarks and Opinions 
 —Corroboration— Ladies Hunting— The Dowager Marchioness— Mrs. Dick Roberts and 
 others— Numbers greatly increased— Those who went best— The Dowager Lady Water- 
 ford's Hunting— Her First Run— Grey Mist— Her wonderful Powers of Endurance— 
 Her Riding — Her Pluck — Mens sana in corpore sano — Her Pilot — Her Favourite 
 Hunters— Lord Waterford's Marriage— Lady Waterford's love of Hunting— Her Lady- 
 ship as a Judge of Hounds— Her Riding— In the Field— Her Ladyship as "Master"- 
 Author's Opinion— Her Favourite Horses— Always went well— Duke of Connaught s 
 Visit to Curraghmore— Good Sport— Osborne's Picture of Curraghmore Hunt— As a 
 Work of Art— Presented to Lord Waterford— A Sad Memento— Those who Hunted with 
 Xord Waterford— A Long List— More Names— Another List— An Indiscretion— Author 
 goes in for it— Best :Meu of the Welter Weights— Best of the Middle— Best of the Light 
 —Best of them all— Mr. Tom Lalor— Captain Slacke— Officers— Good men from Tippe- 
 rary — Kilkenny— Limerick — Wexford —Some names given — Permanent visitors — 
 *' Little Melton "—Great benefit to tradesmen, etc.— Will Rawle— A good servant and 
 plucky fellow — Trophies "Nose Boards" at Curraghmore Kennels — Digging not 
 resorted to— Exceptional cases— Good Runs- Shown by Lord Waterford- Author in 
 some— Interest likely to be shown— Halcyon days— Rhapsody— Astonishing fact— No 
 blank days— No hunting diary— Some dates not given— Other details correct— Particu- 
 lars of Runs— Several pages— Running v. Hunting a Fox— Fine Hunting Run— Run 
 in a snowstorm — Exploit of Mr. Tom Lalor and the Author— The Flying Graces— 
 "Damson pie"— Difference in Packs of Hounds— Lethargy of some— Dash of the Curragh- 
 mores— Breaking up their Fox— Good Sport— Princely magnificence— Scattered right 
 and left^-Happy relationships- None now remain— Painful duty— Ungarnished truth 
 — Unpleasant manifestations — Outrages — Newtown Wood — Ruffianly mob — Lord 
 Waterford stoned— Hounds stabbed— Result— Meeting of Hunt called— Proceedings as 
 recorded by Irish Sportsman of the day— Lord Waterford gives up Hunting from 
 Curraghmore. 
 
 It seems natural that the Lords of Curraghmore, always famous 
 for their sporting proclivities, should be at the head of the foxhounds 
 of the country, and, owing to the circumstances I have just related, 
 it happened that the present Marquis, in the early part of 1870, took 
 that place. When taken over from Mr. Briscoe, the pack consisted 
 of about twenty-five or thirty couple of exceptionally well-bred 
 hounds ; they were first-class in their work, and gave Lord Waterford 
 a capital start. He had naturally a quick and accurate eye for a hound, 
 and spared no expense in procuring the best and most suitable blood 
 in England. His opportunities for getting good sires, owing to his 
 large circle of hunting friends, were greater than usually fall to the 
 lot of any Irish M.F.H., and, as the result showed, he, in a few years, 
 :got together a pack of nearly sixty couple of hounds, capable as 
 regards appearance, quality, and work of holding their own with the 
 
24 
 
 best kennels in England. Moreover, in an incredibly short time his- 
 reputation as a judge was established. 
 
 As a judge of a horse and of the horses required for himself and 
 his servants he was equally successful. For a man riding seventeen 
 to eighteen stone it is no easy task to get hunters, no matter what 
 his means may be ; but Lord Waterford began well, and in a few^ 
 years had collected a stud of well-bred heavy-weight horses which 
 could not be surpassed. Some of them were really marvels over the 
 country. He never believed in what is usually termed " servants* 
 horses." For a huntsman to show sport he considered the best horses 
 were necessary, consequently his men were as well mounted as 
 himself, the only difference being in the size of the animals,. 
 During the many years it was my privilege to hunt with him I can 
 safely say I never saw a wrongly shaped or badly behaved horse come 
 from his stable, and where all the good ones were found was frequently 
 a puzzle to me as it was to many others. 
 
 Passionately devoted as Lord Waterford was to hunting, he did not, 
 on assuming the command, fall into the error, committed by so many 
 young Masters, of fancying he was, without serving any apprenticeship, 
 at once competent for the duties of huntsman — he knew he should 
 study and learn. He began by appointing John Duke his huntsman ,-; 
 a very wise selection, for Duke knew the country, and had been tutored 
 by that fine old sportsman, Henry Briscoe ; he also had all the qualities 
 necessary for a huntsman, was an excellent horseman and quick, and 
 had a good voice. 
 
 During his heyday, which lasted many seasons, he hunted the- 
 hounds in tip-top style, and showed first-rate sport. I never saw a 
 man who could stick to hounds in the way he did ; wherever they 
 went he followed. He had very good hands, and did not meddle with 
 his horse beyond keeping him straight ; but he had not that graceful 
 seat which characterised the two Eyans. 
 
 Lord Waterford hunted three days a week for a couple of seasons,, 
 but finding the old country too circumscribed for that number, and 
 wishing to add another day a week, he came to a further arrangement 
 with the Kilkenny gentlemen by which they lent him all the southern 
 portion of their country — most of which is known as the Ross country 
 —in addition to the portion Briscoe hunted. The Tipperary Hunt, 
 then presided over by that good and genial sportsman the late Mr. 
 John Going, at the same time lent Lord Waterford their portion lying 
 north of Owning village as far as the river Anner with Slieve-na-mon> 
 mountain, and the river Suir as its other limit ; this we called the 
 Carrick country. 
 
 The addition of these two fine tracts to his already extensive 
 area gave Lord Waterford plenty of room to hunt the four days a 
 week he had so long wished for, and he lost no time in availing 
 himself of the opportunity, for having already increased his pack up 
 to some fifty couple, he had only to buy more horses for himself and 
 his men. 
 
25 
 
 The Curraghmore country thus enlarged covered a very large area. 
 
 Taking as the four corners, say, Thorney Bridge on the river Anner, 
 
 the river Nore from a point nearest to Brownstown Wood, Dunmore 
 
 East, and Clonea Castle near Dungarvan, we have a point-to-point 
 
 measurement as follows : — ^-.., 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Thorney Bridge to the Nore tat Brownstown 26 
 
 Brownstown to Dunmore 23 
 
 Dunmore to Clonea Castle -J 
 
 Clonea Castle to Thorney Bridge '5^ 
 
 This gives an area of something like 725 square miles. Nor does, 
 this survey take in adjacent outside parts, nor the undulation of the 
 country, which necessarily adds considerably to the area. 
 
 Vast as was that extent of country it was all huntable, and Lord 
 Waterford visited all parts fairly and with equal regularity. To enable 
 him to do so, he had to establish out-stables at Mullinavat, where 
 the horses were sent over night the days they hunted the far-ofif Ross 
 country, the hounds being vanned to and fro on hunting days. 
 
 The country I have described was in all respects eminently suitable 
 for foxhunting. We had large tracts of woodland in Curraghmore, 
 Baylough, Churchtown, Coolnarauck, and Gurteen, on the Waterford 
 side of the Suir, with Bessborough, Carrig-a-tubrid, Bowling, Cor- 
 bally. Owning, Kilcash, and, lastly, Newtown Wood, of disgraceful 
 memory, on the Kilkenny and Tipperary side. These gave every 
 facility for cubhunting, and afforded the finest strongholds for foxes. 
 Lord Waterford hunted the big woodlands on his by-days, which 
 tended in no small degree to drive foxes to the surrounding gorses, 
 few of which were ever drawn blank. Over the rest of the country 
 there were, of course, numerous gorse and other coverts, but Lord 
 Waterford had to plant several in addition, notably Weatherstown in 
 the Ross district ; Earlie's Gorse, between Carrick and Clonmel— 
 given by and called after that prince of good fellows and prime 
 sportsman the late lamented Earl Clonmell— Ormonde's Gorse, 
 situated between Snow Hill and Tory Hill, given by Lord Ormonde. 
 Then in the county Waterford he planted Kelly's Gorse in the 
 Dunmore district, Lady Waterford's Gorse near Kilmacthomas, 
 Carrig-a-nure between Ballyduff and Ballydurn, arid the late Mr. 
 Fred Malcomson planted Carrigeen near Gardenmorris. 
 
 Although he had this enormous territory, the love of foxhunting was 
 so insatiable in Lord Waterford that, in addition, he actually took up 
 the part west of Dungarvan which had been hitherto hunted by the 
 late Earl of Huntingdon when he was Lord Hastings, but this 
 accession not being satisfactory, he gave it up after hunting it and 
 showing good sport there for a season or two. 
 
 The district known as the Ross country extended from Snow Hill, 
 by Knockbrack, to Tullagher, round by the rivers Nore and Suir, 
 and covered nearly (if not quite) seventy square miles. The Ross 
 resembles the Ballydurn country, which is of much greater extent^ 
 
26 
 
 and situated in the co. Waterford. These two were nearly all of 
 grass, and old laid down ; the fields are fairly, but not over, large, 
 and are divided by big, sound, safe fences, every part of which is 
 negotiable, allowing hounds to carry a head and race abreast over, 
 while horses have equal liberty and the advantage of being able to 
 keep on better terms with the hounds than if the fields were larger, 
 fences smaller, and at times having but one or two jumpable places 
 in them. 
 
 In my experience I never saw a country I would prefer to ride over 
 to those of Pioss and Ballydurn. Yes, over them we used to have the 
 sport long ago ! The foxes were plenty, stout and straight ; the 
 country wild and not over-peopled or cattled ; and the coverts were 
 far apart. The old grass land nearly always, particularly in the Ross 
 country, carried a good scent ; so with a pack like the Curraghmore, 
 by Jove ! it was not surprising we had sport the like of which was 
 seldom equalled but never surpassed in any shire in England. 
 
 "We had, however, some rough portions in the old country, 
 notably along the Welch hills, and in parts of Pembrokestown and 
 Knockaderry ; but if they required a bit more careful riding and did 
 at times knock up a horse, we could aU the more appreciate the 
 lovely open grass which we immediately got into after leaving those 
 scrub-clad regions. Over these parts, by the way, hounds usually 
 raced, the stunted bracken, furze, and heather rendering scent all the 
 more powerful. 
 
 That about Mount Neil, which lies w^est of Kilmacow toAvards the 
 river Suir, required, I think, more judicious riding to get over safely 
 when hounds went hard than any other portion of Lord Waterford's 
 country. The fences were very straight with narrow tops, and had no 
 grips to guide a horse where to take off. Like all other parts it 
 ■carried a capital scent. On the other hand, the Clonassey country, 
 and all that lying along the incline to the Welch mountains as far as 
 "Carrigtruss, was enclosed with small single fences, mostly low walls, 
 to get over which all one had to do with his horse was to " sit down 
 in the saddle and keep his head straight."' 
 
 The stiffest part in all Lord Waterford's region was that which lay 
 between Lane-Fox's Covert (three miles from the city of Waterford) 
 and the river Suir, round by Roanmore. It was, however, only of 
 some six square miles area, but if a man was carried by a new 
 purchase in safety over that little patch, he might place the most 
 implicit confidence in him wherever else he went. 
 
 Taking the old Curraghmore country all in all, the good and the 
 bad, I don't think there was a more sporting one to ride over in any 
 part of the kingdom. We had every possible description of fence to 
 negotiate except timber and water— the pastures were sound, and 
 afforded the best of going ; there was very little plough, and when it 
 was met with a hundred yards generally got us to its end ; and if 
 betimes we came to a portion of bog or otherwise awkward going it 
 
27 
 
 only aflforded an opportunity for displaying the amount of " head " 
 possessed by those who essayed to stick to the tail of the hounds. 
 
 I may here remark that Waterford and Kilkenny are proverbial 
 for being scent-holding countries. In fact, I have heard men say, 
 who hunted with many packs, that the Curraghmore country carried 
 the best scent they ever experienced. 
 
 It has been said that the cry of hounds is the criterion of their 
 pace, for as a rule they reduce their cry in accordance with the 
 pace they go, and some run actually mute \vhen going hard. Not 
 so the old Curraghmore. Many a time has it been my good luck to 
 «ee them for miles racing the line of their fox, but their warbling 
 music sounded and resounded in my ears, ay, when fields in their 
 rear, and often was it my only guide to follow when that paragon 
 pack had raced clean out of sight. A noisy hound was never kept, 
 nor was one which when hunting did not throw his tongue. 
 
 They were also remarkable for their steadiness from riot. I have 
 seen hares cross the line of their fox, and, although within fifty 
 yards, not a hound would lift his head to them. It was the same in 
 the deer parks of Curraghmore and Faithlegg, venison never tempted 
 into riot those staunch and well-trained foxhounds. 
 
 We had some beautiful gorse coverts, and as they had been planted for 
 generations, they had attained an appearance and grandeur absolutely 
 natural. Could anything in the shape of a fox-covert surpass rugged 
 •Carrigtruss or charming Knockbrack, situated as both are — for they 
 are there still— in the centre of a wild surrounding country ? The then 
 carefully tended gorse grew thick and close in parts, while ragged 
 and stunted patches here and there permitted flashing views of Belvoir 
 tan as hounds quickly passed the bare places to draw the thick. These 
 two coverts were my especial favourites, for I could see the hounds 
 ■work every bit of them, and the fox could always go away without 
 being headed. 
 
 Ballydurn, Rathgormack, and Ballyneale were also lovely coverts, 
 but did not afford the same facilities for seeing hounds draw as did 
 •Carrigtruss and Knockbrack. 
 
 In January, 1873, Duke got a very severe fall, which laid him up for 
 the remainder of the season. Lord Waterford then requisitioned old 
 Johnny Ryan, who had returned from America, to hunt temporarily 
 one pack, while he himself hunted the other. The work was too hard 
 for the old huntsman, and Duke, still suffering from the eftects of his 
 fall, was unable to resume the hunting in the following season. His 
 lordship, therefore, took both packs in hand, and hunted them 
 regularly four days a week all through the season 1874 75. 
 
 During the season 1875-76 the huntsman worked the bitch pack on 
 Mondays and Thursdays, while the Master handled the dog pack on 
 Tuesdays and Fridays, p.nd this arrangement was continued through 
 the following season of 1876-77. 
 
 Lord Waterford took up hunting both packs again in 1877-78, and 
 
28 
 
 continued till the end, Duke becoming kennel huntsman. His lordship- 
 showed very excellent sport during the seasons he carried his owrt 
 horn, as is proven by the record further on, but, as I say, they are 
 only very few indeed of the fine runs we had with him. 
 
 He always rode over seventeen stone, and for some years eighteen 
 stone, but he was magnificently mounted, and his determined hard, 
 riding brought that disadvantage to a minimum. He was indeed 
 ''a rum one to follow and bad one to beat." He had the good sense 
 to leave his hounds alone, and did not interfere with them by voic& 
 or horn until they had come completely to fault. 
 
 As I have already said, Mr. .Joseph Strangman succeeded Mr. 
 John Medlycott as hon. sec. to the Hunt in about the year 1862^ 
 and continued in office to the end of the annals of this great fox- 
 hunting era. Xo man could have discharged the duties of hi& 
 onerous work with greater ability, tact, and energy than did Mr. 
 Strangman, in recognition of which the gentlemen of the Hunt 
 presented him with a valuable service of silver plate upon his- 
 marriage. 
 
 Besides being our hon. sec, he was for many years to be found 
 at all the favourite meets, but when hounds had got away with a 
 good scent on a straight fox, the usual place to find Strangman was 
 close in their wake. Like many others, he did not hunt with the 
 Curraghmore after his lordship was stopped at Newtown Wood in 
 October, 1881. 
 
 The present Lord Waterford was, like his uncle and Mr. Briscoe, 
 most fortunate in having all over his extensive territory a- 
 population imbued with true foxhunting proclivities. As in most 
 counties, many of the gentry did not participate actively in the 
 sport, but one and all preserved the foxes, and did their utmost to 
 further the grand old sport ; none more so than Mr. Congreve of 
 Mount Congreve, Lord Bessborough, and Sir Robert Paul. There 
 was not a single man in the country who reserved his coverts for 
 shooting in preference to having them disturbed by the hounds 
 drawing for a fox. The farmers all over the country were as eport- 
 loving as the gentry, and until they were demoralised by the evil 
 teaching of the Land League no community furthered the sport of 
 foxhunting more than did the peasantry residing over the Curragh- 
 more hunting domain. 
 
 Lord Waterford had two able assistants in looking after his country 
 in Kilkenny and Tipperary in Mr. Edward Briscoe of Harristown 
 and Mr. Henry Bowers of Owning. Next to those immediately con- 
 nected with the hounds we were indebted to those two gentlemen for 
 a great deal of the sport we enjoyed for many years, owing to their 
 knowledge and assiduity in looking after the foxes and coverts— not 
 alone in the winter, but in the summer, when vixens and cuba 
 require far more care and attention than they usually get. They 
 were relatives of Mr. Briscoe, the M.F.H., and, no doubt, owe most of 
 their education in foxlore to that able exponent. 
 
29 
 
 The hunting establishment at Curraghmore, in the venatic reign 
 of the present Marquis, consisted, on an average, of thirteen hunters 
 for his own riding. All were up to eighteen stone, full of quality, 
 magnificent fencers, and able to carry him over any country to the 
 tail of the hounds, and to stay with them, no matter how hard or far 
 they ran. He had, as a rule, twenty-one for his huntsman and two 
 whippers-in ; while with those ridden by Lady Waterford, the car- 
 riage horses and young ones, eighty stalls in the Curraghmore stables 
 were kept constantly occupied. 
 
 The stud-groom was Johnny Ryan (no relative, however, of the 
 former huntsman), and he had under him between coachmen, second 
 horsemen, and helpers about forty men directly connected with the 
 stables. In the kennels were always from fifty to sixty couple of 
 hounds, with Duke, two whippers-in, feeder, and assistant. 
 
 Lord Waterford hunted his country in regal fashion and at great 
 expense, for no money was ever spared by him in doing a thing well 
 if he did it at all. He had always two, sometimes three, horses out 
 each day for his own riding. The huntsman and two whips had 
 each two a day. In addition to these, Lady Waterford had her own 
 two, and generally three or four more were sent for some of the 
 visitors who might be short of mounts. Thus some fourteen or fifteen 
 hunters were sent from Curraghmore every day his lordship hunted ; 
 not including, of course, the visitors' own horses. He usually drove 
 the party to the meet in his coach and four, but many times extra 
 traps had to be requisitioned. He always drove greys, the family 
 colour. As with the hunters, the carriage horses and hacks were just 
 the very best of their sort that money could buy or good judgment 
 select. 
 
 Out of such a large stable of horses, where all were exceptionally 
 good, it is difficult to name what might be considered the best, parti- 
 cularly when a period of eleven years has to be dealt with ; but I 
 should say the following were as near perfection as ever were horses 
 capable of carrying eighteen stone to hounds: — Irishman, Arthur, 
 Knockany, Heron, Mainspring, Callan, The Clown, a wonderful bay 
 horse from Galway whose name I forget, Zinganee, and Poulaphouca. 
 The latter horse, in January, 1885, jumped with Lord Waterford the 
 Ptagdale Bottom, in Leicestershire, covering twenty-six feet from 
 where he took off to where he landed. Of course I remember a great 
 many others which could gallop and stay under his lordship, but I 
 forget their names. 
 
 A very short way would go the average cost of foxhunting a 
 <30untry in maintaining an establishment such as this. 
 
 As is shown in another chapter the annual cost is estimated at 
 £650 for each day per week the hounds hunt. I am quite sure his 
 hunting cost Lord Waterford £1,000 a day, and as he hunted 
 regularly four days a week, with an occasional by-day, it would 
 come to over £4,000 a year, and that exclusive of the expense of 
 his own personal hunting and cost of horses for his own riding. 
 
30 
 
 I have seen a great many packs of foxhounds both in the field and 
 on their flags, including some of those considered to be the best in 
 England ; but, without bias or partisanship, I must state that, as 
 far as my humble opinion goes, I never saw the equal of the Curragh- 
 more in a combination of breeding, shape, colour, and work. 
 
 As a great deal depended upon the young entry, of course some 
 years the pack looked better than others, but taking the hounds, say^ 
 from when Mr. Briscoe got them in 1850 until the present Marquis 
 sold them in 1881, I am quite safe in stating that there were few 
 packs of foxhounds, perhaps not one, which held so unbroken a 
 record for breeding, shape, levelness, colour, work, and sport, as did 
 the pack whose history I am striving to give. 
 
 Needless to say the Hunt servants were well turned out in the 
 field, for a smarc Master makes smart men. Our own hunting toggery 
 was also improved even from what it was in Briscoe's time, for we got 
 the real Melton cut from the residents and visitors at Curraghmore, 
 substituting hats for caps, and we added thongs to our whips. 
 
 A meet say at Guilcagh Cross Roads, on a fine hunting day about 
 Christmas time, when Curraghmore would be full of company, was 
 indeed as perfect an exhibition of the sort as could be seen in any 
 other part of the world. Of course, numerically, our meets were very 
 small compared with some of those in the shires and other parts of 
 England ; as a rule sixty or eighty was about our number, but that 
 was all the better for sport. A crowd, as everyone knows, increases 
 the difficulties hounds and huntsmen have to contend with under 
 the best of circumstances, while many a good man endeavouring 
 to get away is blocked and shut out. Not so with us— everyone 
 could have a fair start, and, except upon rare and exceptional 
 occasions, it was his own or his horse's fault if a man did not get 
 away and remain on good terms with the pack. 
 
 It may be considered that some of my remarks and opinions are 
 extravagant, and that I am carried away by prejudice or inexpe- 
 rience ; but to those who cavil at them I would only remark, ask any- 
 one who has hunted regularly with the Curraghmore any time- 
 during the present Lord Waterford's Mastership, and who could ride 
 a foxhunt, whether I am exaggerating or not. 
 
 The only lady I remember hunting in Henry Lord Waterford's 
 time was Miss Smith wick of Kilkenny — now Mrs. Coghlan of 
 Dromina — and she went beautifully ; certainly none other rode ta 
 hounds then. In Briscoe's time, however, ladies began to come out,, 
 among the first being Mrs. Henry Lambert of Carnagh, co. Wexford, 
 and her sister. Miss Williams, and these two ladies could show our 
 best men the way across country, but none could do so better in later 
 years than the Dowager Marchioness of Waterford, mother of the 
 present Marquis, the late Mrs. Slacke, Mrs. Dick Roberts, Miss 
 Nugent-Humble, and the late Ladies Selina and Louisa Hastings. 
 
 During the present Lord Waterford's time the number of ladie? 
 
' 31 
 
 who patronised the Hunt greatly increased. Those hunting regularly 
 and best over the country were the Marchioness of Waterford, the 
 Dowager Marchioness, Mrs. Dick Roberts, Miss Humble, Mrs. Bookey 
 of Clonmel, the late Mrs. Gandy, Miss Caroline Quin of Annerville, 
 Mrs. Magee, Miss Power of Mount Richard, Miss Bloomheld, Mrs. 
 GofF of Waterford. The Dowager Lady Waterford did not begin to 
 ride across country for several years after she first came out with the 
 hounds ; but once she began she ever after went as straight as any- 
 one, no matter how fast or how long the run might be. I saw her 
 ladyship jump her first fence, which was not far from Wynne's Gorse, 
 and from that to the end of a very good run into Castlemorres, she 
 went in the first tiight. 
 
 Her horses were, of course, perfect animals, and she knew well they 
 could always go where any other horse went. She had wonderful 
 pluck, and never required assistance. She, however, generally 
 selected a good "lead" (Lord Waterford usually), but never anyone 
 who was not in the very first flight. To her pilot Lady Waterford 
 was never the least inconvenience, nor did he often know until 
 after the run that he had been favoured with the distinction. The 
 horses I think which carried her best were Luna, Red Herring, The 
 Girl, Snufiy, Clear the Way ; also her favourite grey The Mist, on 
 which she rode her first hunt. She had the most wonderful powers 
 of enduring fatigue I ever saw in a woman. ISTo day was too long 
 for her, and no weather, except frost, kept her from hunting through- 
 out the season. She has enjoyed a life-long continuance of good 
 health, and never had even a headache. In the Dowager Marchioness 
 we have indeed exemplified mens sana in corpore sano. 
 
 Lord Waterford married in 1874 Lady Blanche Somerset, only 
 daughter of the Duke of Beaufort. With her ladyship's early training 
 at Badminton it is easy to understand that her heart was in horses, 
 hounds, and hunting. Not alone that, but she was an excellent 
 judge of all three. No woman in the kingdom was a better judge of 
 a foxhound, either of his points on the flags or of his work in the 
 field, and few men could teach her. Her ladyship rode beautifully 
 to hounds, and went as straight with the Curraghmore in her first 
 season as she had previously done with the Badminton, although 
 the former is very much more difficult to get over. She alwaj's 
 took her own line, her sole pilot being the hounds. She knew every 
 hound in the pack, and many times have I seen her turn them to 
 Duke or to Lord Waterford when no whip was up to assist in 
 the cast. 
 
 With due respect for her noble husband and for every other 
 M.F.H. I hunted with, in all truth and without adulation I will say 
 I never saw anyone manage a field of foxhunters as well as did the 
 present Marchioness of Waterford. Her ladyship understood hunting 
 and the duties of M.F.H. a vast deal better than most of those who 
 take that oflice, while of course a word or beckon from her had 
 
32 
 
 tenfold more influence upon the field than could any coming from a 
 Master. 
 
 Her favourite horses were to be found, I think, among Anchor, 
 Enid, Mrs. Piiggs, and Zazelle, but I never saw her go much better 
 upon one horse than another. She always went well. 
 
 In the early part of 1879, and again in the winter following, H.R.H. 
 the Duke of Connaught paid a visit to Lord and Lady Waterford at 
 Curraghmore. During the next summer Mr. William Osborne, 
 carrying out instructions received from Mr. Cranfield of Dublin, 
 painted a meet at which the Duke of Connaught was present. It 
 was in the Long Meadow part of Curraghmore Park, in front of the 
 house on the mountain side, and he brought in portraits of most of 
 the gentlemen who usually hunted with Lord Waterford. 
 
 The artist produced a very fine work ; nearly all the likenesses are 
 faithful, while he succeeded in grouping the lot without undue 
 crowding and in their natural positions, and as Osborne is one 
 of the best painters of a foxhound in the kingdom, the hounds form 
 a remarkable feature in the picture, exceedingly good likenesses 
 having been made of most of them. 
 
 Plates were struck ofl' from the original painting and have been 
 widely circulated, so there is no necessity for my further describing it. 
 
 The gentlemen of the Hunt purchased the picture from Mr. Cran- 
 field and presented it to Lord Waterford in 1878. It has ever since 
 hung in a conspicuous place in the principal hall at Curraghmore, 
 and now presents a sad memento of what his great Hunt was in 
 happier days. 
 
 From the " key " before me I give the names, in the order they there 
 appear, as a list of those who usually hunted with Lord Waterford. 
 
 Frederick Power of Bellvue, Charles Gregory, Ptaymond de la Poer, 
 Miss Bloomfield, Sir Ptobert Paul, Lord V/illiam Beresford, Nicholas 
 A. Power of Bellvue, Ptichard Power of Tramore, William J. Paul, 
 Harry Pt. Sargent, Harry Courtenay, F. G. Bloomfield, Mrs. Bookey, 
 Earl of Bessborough, Patrick W. Power of Pembrokestown, Ptobert 
 O. Paul, E. N. Power of Tramore, Dowager Marchioness of Water- 
 ford, Henry W. Briscoe, L. G. Strangman, Lord Charles Beres- 
 ford, Lord Marcus Beresford, Captain Slacke, Ambrose Lambert, 
 Captain Cuffe, Captain Gandy^ C. E. Denny, Wray B. Palliser, Earl 
 of Donoughmore, Lord Delaval Beresford, Earl of Tyrone (a child on 
 his donkey), Marchioness of Waterford, Marquis of Waterford, Joseph 
 Strangman, Thomas Lalor, Captain Pennefather, Dr. O'Ryan, Joseph 
 O'Neill Power of Snowhill, James Mandeville, John Bell, Y.S., W. 
 G. D. GofF, Samuel Perry, Patrick Walshe, Arnold de la Poer, Miss 
 Yilliers Stuart, Thomas W. Anderson, D. K. Cummins, JohnH. Power 
 of Mount Richard, Octavian Mansfield, Benjamin Bunbury, John 
 Pender, Mrs. Gandy, William B. Mulcahy, Surgeon-Major Keogh, 
 with John Ryan (second horseman), John Duke (huntsman), Arthur 
 Wilson (first whip), Henry Mathews (second whip), and of course 
 the picture included H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught. 
 
33 
 
 The foregoing records the names of those who hunted regularly 
 with Lord Waterford, but other gentlemen deserve to be chronicled, 
 notably Ambrose Congreve of Mount Congreve, Edward Quin of 
 Shanakill, Joseph Stephenson of Fairbrook, Captain Harry Dawson 
 of Blenheim, John Medlycott of Rockett's Castle, Tatrick Mahon 
 Power of Faithlegg, Henry Morris of Bell Lake, Thomas Hunt of 
 Kockmount, Congreve Rogers of Tramore, John Maguire of Mount 
 Congreve, sporting Tom Widger and his five hard-riding sons, all of 
 CO. Waterford. Phen in co. Kilkenny we had Dawson Mil ward of 
 Tullagher, Thomas Spencer of Waterford, Pat. Henneberry of Ring- 
 ville, John Jones of Mullinabrow, and his sons John, Willie, and 
 Henry, Alec Anderson of Ballymountain, Edward Bowers of Clogga, 
 Dan. Osborne of Silverspring, John Walshe of Fanningstown, David 
 Coghlan of Cassawn, Pat Coghlan of South Lodge, the Quinlans of 
 Manganstown, John Hyland of Ballyneale, as also the two gentlemen 
 I have before alluded to, Henry Bowers and Ned Briscoe. 
 
 All the gentlemen whom I have in the last paragraph enumerated 
 gave the most substantial support to our old Hunt. Some of them 
 did not take active part in the field, but through their love of sport 
 and by zealous preservation of foxes enabled others to do so. Mr. 
 Osborne would have included the likeness of each in his picture, but 
 they would neither give him a sitting nor send a photograph. 
 
 As a rule it is as indiscreet to refer in print to any man who may 
 be considered better to hounds than his companions as it is to mention 
 who had the best of certain runs. Men go out to hunt to enjoy them- 
 selves, and to ride according as it suits their individual tastes ; it 
 must, therefore, be very objectionable to some who may have gone a 
 run well, and, at all events, to their own satisfaction, to see others 
 tracked up in the papers because they went better. We have quite 
 enough records of "competitive examination" without adding tha 
 hunting-field to the category. There are, however, exceptions to 
 every rule, and, in the face of my foregoing statement, I shall name 
 those who, in my opinion, were our best men. 
 
 Looking over the names of these gentlemen, some of whom I had 
 the pleasure of meeting for many years in the hunting-field, and were 
 dear friends of mine, and all of whom I have often seen going to 
 hounds, I will say that among those riding fifteen stone and upwards 
 none could touch the present Lord Waterford, or Wray Palliser, when 
 the latter was in his heyday, which was in Lord Henry's and Mr 
 Briscoe's time. 
 
 Among the middle-weight class riding about fourteen stone Sir 
 Robert Paul was one of the best men to hounds in the third Lord 
 Waterford's field, but he never hunted after Lady Paul's death in 
 1858. The late Henry Briscoe, Joseph Strangman, D. K. Cummins, 
 Johnny Medlycott, and William Mulcahy were first-rate men to 
 hounds, and were at all times able to keep the pace with the light- 
 weights. 
 
u 
 
 Those riding under and up to, say, twelve stone we had : Lords 
 Charles, William, and Marcus Beresford, Captain Slacke, Wm. J. Paul, 
 Harry Courtenay, Robert and Charles Humble, the late Thomas Lalor, 
 Samuel Perry, and Thomas W. Anderson, eleven men whom I would 
 back to go to a pack of foxhounds against an equal number out of 
 any other Hunt in the kingdom. 
 
 Good as those men undoubtedly were there are two whom I must 
 select as being the best of all, and in naming the late Mr. Tom Lalor 
 and the present Captain Slacke I don't think I can cause jealousy. 
 And still narrowing the limit, I shall put Captain Slacke as the 
 better man of the two, for he could go well on a strange and half- 
 trained horse, while Mr. Lalor could not go on any except what he 
 was accustomed to, and that was perfect and brilliant hunters, but 
 when mounted on one of them even Slacke could seldom get before 
 him. 
 
 I have alluded only to those gentlemen whose portraits are given 
 in the Curraghmore picture, but we had many visitors, notably 
 officers quartered at Cahir, Carrick, and Waterford, who invariably 
 held their own with the Curraghmore, and among them I may 
 chronicle Colonel Tate, then a captain in the 12th Lancers ; Colonel 
 Wardrop, when he was a captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards ; Colonel 
 Ward Bennett, then of the Inniskiiling Dragoons ; that best of good 
 fellows and deeply lamented, the late Capt. Clayton of the 9th 
 Lancers ; Mr. Elmhirst of the Carabineers ; Major Fred Amcotts of 
 the 5th Dragoon Guards, and others. Then from co. Tipperary 
 we had Captain Billie Quin, Hugh Baker, James Dobbyn, Willie 
 Riall, George and Tom Gough, Godfrey Philips, and others. Co. 
 Limerick sent us at times the Rev. William Gubbins and John 
 Gubbinp. From Kilkenny came Sir James Langrishe, the Smith- 
 wicks, Ralph Bunbury, Sir Richard Power, Major Connellan, Jerry 
 Nolan, Colonel Izod, and many others when the meet was at their 
 side of the Suir. Years ago strong contingents used to come from 
 Wexford, William Glascott and his son "Jim," Maurice Knox, 
 Henry Lambert, and Wat Breen. Latterly, however, few came from 
 there except when the meet was in the Ross country, and then 
 they were well represented by James Maconchy and the Deanes of 
 Stokestown. All those visitors whom I have named were nailing 
 good men to hounds. 
 
 Visitors rented quarters and stabling in Waterford, Piltown, Port- 
 law, but principally in Carrick-on-Suir, which latter was quite a 
 little Melton in the hunting season. From these gentlemen it is 
 needless to say a great deal of lucrative employment was derived 
 by the poorer classes, and a vast deal of money was expended among 
 the car proprietors and tradespeople of the above towns. 
 
 The last first-whip 1 recollect at Curraghmore was that most 
 excellent and thoroughly reliable servant. Will Rawle, whose father 
 was Master of the Berkhamsted Staghounds for years. When 
 
35 
 
 Mr. Springfield was Master, Rawle hunted and showed good sport, 
 but above all he proved himself to be a determined plucky fellow 
 upon many occasions during that troublous time. 
 
 The trophies of foxhunting are by no means a reliable record of 
 the sport shown by a pack of hounds, but there are still to be seen 
 at the kennels of Curraghmore boards on which are nailed the noses 
 of foxes killed during many seasons of the present Marquis's time. 
 What the number is does not signify, but I will say that they 
 were all killed in sportsmanlike style, for neither in the present Lord 
 Waterford's time, nor in that of his uncle's or Mr, Briscoe's, was 
 "digging" ever resorted to unless under most exceptional and 
 thoroughly reasonable circumstances. When a fox had beaten the 
 Curraghmore Hounds to ground, he was left to do so again. Needless 
 to say a terrier was never seen in the ranks of ^Aa^ pack. 
 
 It will, I think, astonish not a few of my readers to hear that 
 I cannot recall to mind our having more than three hlanh days durinrj 
 JSriscoe's time, and I swear there were not six! The Curraghmore 
 Hounds had only one blank day during the eleven years Lord Waterford 
 ivas Master^ and that was when he was not out, but it was so wet. 
 the hounds went home at one o'clock without drawing a covert where 
 they would have been certain to find. 
 
 I shall now proceed to give short particulars of a few of the many- 
 great runs we had while the present Marquis was Master, the greater 
 number of which were shown by himself while he carried his own, 
 horn and hunted his own hounds. Happy I am to add that I saw a 
 good many of them, though not all. I venture to hope some 
 interest will be taken in hearing of what was done within compara- 
 tively a few years, particularly as the account may probably be 
 read by those who partook of the sport we had in the halcyon, 
 days of Curraghmore and who can bear me out in stating that the 
 few accounts of foxhunts which follow these remarks but poorly, 
 describe the average doings of the Curraghmore previous to the 
 sport being stopped in 1881. Yes the fine, ay brilliant, runs we had 
 in those days can be counted by the dozen. 
 
 Like his uncle, the present Lord Waterford neglected to keep a 
 diary of his hunting. This seems extraordinary, for, again like him, 
 he is most particular in having accounts and records kept in minute 
 detail. I kept one for a few years, but it recorded only the sport 
 which took place on the days I was out, and unfortunately I did not 
 keep it regularly, and discontinued it many years ago. From these 
 facts I am unable, as I was with some of Briscoe's, to fix some of 
 the dates, but the other details are critically correct. 
 
 We had a run in January, 1871, from Knockbrack almost straight 
 to Brownstown without a check, although the hounds ran through 
 the little gorse of Busherstown, a point to point of some six miles 
 distance run fully eight miles, all grass and stiff fencing ; time, 
 forty minutes. 
 
36 
 
 No doubt this was a very brilliant gallop, and lacked only a kill in 
 the open to classify it as a jyerfect foxhunt ; but a well-known gentle- 
 man who was on a visit at Curraghmore at the time, and who for 
 years had hunted as a rule five and six days a week with some of the 
 crack packs of the English shires, told me the day after that he 
 never saw so fine a foxhunt in his life, nor had he heard of its equal 
 in England for a long time. And when I told him as a matter of fact 
 that we had had two or three runs that season just as fine as the one 
 under discussion, and that we expected to have even better before 
 the end, I don't think he credited me, but he might have done so. 
 
 November 11, 1873 : Carrigeen, two miles straight for Knockaderry, 
 to the right through Carrigphilip, Ballytobin, and Shanaclune to 
 within half a mile of Dunhill Castle, then to the right through 
 Ballynageera and Savagetown, across the Waterford and Kiln road at 
 the old police barracks, and straight up to Carrigeen again, through 
 the little gorse without a check and straight for Slievenamoona, 
 the hounds running into their fox in the middle of the field next 
 Eathanny covert. Distance by six-inch Ordnance map, eleven miles ; 
 time, fifty- seven minutes. This good fox ran until he died, for he 
 dropped dead before the hounds ran into him. 
 
 February 24, 1871 : Gardenmorris, through Carrigeen, by Carrig- 
 philip bog, through Knockaderry and across what is now the middle 
 of the reservoir, by Mr. Christmas' school-house, through Pembrokes- 
 town and Butlerstown, and killed in the open at Old Court. Eighteen 
 miles ; one hour forty minutes. A point to point of nine miles. 
 
 It occurred to me at the time that I never before saw so many out 
 of a small field ride so fairly all through as fine a run as this was. 
 Up to Butlerstown, within a mile of the finish, ten or twelve men 
 continued well with the hounds, and at least six or seven saw the fox 
 killed. A few days after I found an explanation of this. It was at 
 that time a habit of mine, when I had the chance, to walk, as soon 
 after as possible, the line of any exceptionally fine run that I might 
 have ridden. Accordingly, I walked the one in question. Strange, 
 but true, along it all I did not find a fence which could stop any man 
 who had the slightest inclination to ride until I arrived at Butlers- 
 town. After that I found some big ones, particularly after crossing 
 the Dungarvan road. Several men that day took for a time the 
 " pride of place," but I don't think anyone held it as long as the late 
 and deeply lamented Captain William Quin of Loughloher on his 
 grey Chasseur d'Afrique, but the horse never recovered the effects. 
 Father "SVilliam Gubbins of Kilmallock also went well. 
 
 Soon after the Old Court run, we had one from Knockbrack to near 
 MuUinahone, then a wide sweep towards Carrig-a-Xurragh, by Cat's 
 Bock, to the base of Tory Hill. Leaving it on the right, the fox went 
 two miles as if for Clonassey, then wheeled down to near Dunkit. 
 Here, I think, he lost his bearings, for although well ahead he never 
 tried any of the many places he might have got to ground in about 
 
37 
 
 the quarries, but headed for Bishop's Hall, beside the ruins of which, 
 in a grass field, he was pulled down. Sixteen miles ; one hour thirty 
 minutes. Miss Stubber (now Lady Stalbridge) went brilliantly 
 through this fine but trying run. She was alone up at the kill, 
 having fairly pounded the few then with the hounds at the big fence 
 into Bishop's Hall. Ungallant, no doubt, but so chagrined did I 
 feel at having been planted by a lady, I went off home without 
 looking at the fox being broken up, although he was killed within 
 twenty yards of me ! 
 
 Perhaps the best run which the Curraghmore had in the present 
 Marquis's time was that had on the 9th December, 1873, when they 
 met at Tullagher in the Ross country. Found in Brownstown, ran to 
 Weatherstown, to within two fields of Knockbrack ; on towards Tory 
 Hill, leaving it on the right, to Cat's Rock. Here the fox was seen 
 dead-beat, toiling up the side of that steep gorge, but he gained Gal- 
 way's Covert, where he got safely to ground. Distance, twenty-two 
 miles ; point to point, eleven miles ; time, two hours twenty minutes. 
 The only men who rode this fine run from end to end were Lord 
 Waterford on Irishman, Captain Slacke on Crocus, Duke on Quinine, 
 and Mr. Arbuthnot, a visitor at Curraghmore, on a horse of Lord 
 Waterford's called The Cure. 
 
 Not, perhaps, as fine as that just referred to, but a wonderful and 
 magnificent run was had from Mount Neil to Tory Hill, when Lord 
 Waterford carried the horn. Point to point the distance is eight 
 miles ; line run over, eleven to twelve miles ; time, one hour and 
 ten minutes. There was only one check. Tory Hill being so far away 
 from where a fox was likely to run that day the earths were not 
 stopped, so he got to ground. 
 
 We had exceptionally good sport under circumstances very adverse 
 as well as favourable. 
 
 Any hounds possessed of ordinary nose power, if they have fairly 
 good shoulders and feet, can run a fox when there happens to be a 
 good scent, but give me the pack of hounds that can hunt their fox 
 upon a bad scenting day, and he a long way ahead, over an extent of 
 rough and poor scenting country intersected by numerous cart-tracks 
 and pathways along which the fox runs and suddenly turns or doubles 
 out of, getting thereby still farther ahead, but by steady and deter- 
 mined hunting the pack sticks to its fox and accounts for him in 
 sporting style after a long and arduous chase. 
 
 I think the finest exhibition of that class of hunting which I ever 
 saw was towards the end of Briscoe's or begi nning of the presen 
 Marquis's time, when the Curraghmore found their fox in Clo- 
 nassey and hunted him without ever changing on to another along 
 the line of the Welch mountains till they ran him to ground in a 
 rock near Birch wood, running as they did over Listrolin, Milltown, 
 and Garryduff Hills, and through the coverts of Carrig-a-tubrid, 
 Corbally, Glenbower, Owning, and Birch wood. This was a splendid 
 
8S 
 
 hunting run, but to be appreciated only by those who rode to hunt, 
 for the country was rough and hilly, though the pace was fair. It 
 was, however, rather too much of a good thing — about two hours 
 and thirty minutes — and very distressing to the few horses that 
 •went it. Point to point over eight miles, hills and line making up 
 fully sixteen miles. 
 
 Early in Briscoe's time, about Christmas, 'Gl, a fox took us from 
 Carrigtruss as straight as he could go into Castlemorres, with a 
 blazing scent and in the teeth of a sjiowstorm — about live miles. I 
 forget the time, but it was as fast a run as ever I saw. The snow 
 began to fall just as the fox went away, but so heavy did it come 
 down that the country was white when we got to the end of this 
 short but splendid spin. Hounds could not hunt a yard after getting 
 into Castlemorres woodlands. 
 
 Again I remember a curious, but very different, sort of run, which 
 we had in, I think, 18G9. Three hounds got away close to their fox 
 out of Ballydurn, while the body of the pack was hunting in covert. 
 Mr. Briscoe shouted to the late Mr. Tom Lalor and myself to stop 
 them. This we manfully essayed to do, but to accomplish which we 
 should have had to get to their heads. This, after going as hard as 
 our horses could carry us for f ally a mile, we found to be an utter 
 impossibility, for they were simply racing. When we found we could 
 not get to their heads, poor Lalor and I thought we might as well try 
 to stick to their tails, so ding-dong we clapped after the flying Graces. 
 They raced their fox to the fence of Duckett's Wood, but so pressed 
 was he that he had to change his point, which was evidently Curragh- 
 more, and wheeled sharp to the left, going through Whitestown, 
 leaving Clonea Village to the right, and slap up to the foot of the 
 Comeraghs, where, not a hundred yards in front of these three match- 
 less bitches, he got to ground under Crotty's Eock. The distance 
 this couple and a half ran their fox was between seven and eight 
 miles, and at a pace which I don't think could have been exceeded in 
 speed by hounds, but I did not take the time. There was not the 
 slightest hesitation, for they ran the whole time as if they were in 
 view. These beauties were two fields ahead of Lalor for the last two 
 miles, and I was a field behind him. 
 
 From our lofty position on the side of the mountain we could see 
 the body of the pack and its followers hunting our line. When they 
 came up to us in process of time, by .Jove ! we caught it hot and heavy 
 for having gone away with three hounds before the body had 
 got up I I am very sure Lord Waterford remembers the incident 
 well, for although he left the administration of "damson pie" to 
 Briscoe, who was then Master, I have a notion his lordship would 
 have liked to have added a little juice to the aftercourse, but he 
 considerately restrained himself ! That was all mighty fine, but I 
 am very sure that there were not two men out, including both his 
 lordship and Briscoe, who would not have done precisely what Lalor 
 and I were abused for if they had been in our places that same day ! 
 
39 
 
 We see at times a great difference in the way packs of foxhounds 
 carry themselves and the dash they go with ; not alone that, but 
 there is often a marked difference in the way packs break up a fox. 
 
 I have seen some show lethargy even when apparently in good 
 health and condition, and of a good scenting day ; others when thrown 
 into covert, particularly if it were of gorse, would not half draw it, 
 hounds following each other in straggling order along the pathways ; 
 then, when the fox had gone away, they would ran or hunt the line 
 v.'Ithout that dash and fling which is so essential to the foxhound, 
 many of the pack relying entirely upon a few of their fellows to do 
 the work. I have also been up at a kill with certain packs, and 
 was surprised at the want of fire shov/n at what should have been 
 to them an exciting time, several hounds not caring whether they 
 partook or not of the feast ! 
 
 Not so the old Curraghmore during any time of its three Masters. 
 Even on a bad scenting day, close and relaxing, they always 
 evinced fire and dash as they jauntingly jogged along in their 
 thoroughly-disciplined throng. No matter how thick, strong, or 
 tangled a gorse covert might be, as soon as these hounds entered it 
 they all spread, every one taking his own part. Then to see how this 
 paragon pack would fling out of covert in a body, crashing as they did 
 through or over the fence like the first rush of a mountain torrent. 
 Along the line of their fox, possessed of equal pace, each hound strove 
 for leadership, so that the head this pack almost invariably carried 
 was the admiration of all who hunted with them. Perhaps the best 
 time to see their courage and spirit was when they had pulled down 
 their fox. The blood of the victim seemed to raise that of the hounds 
 to such a pitch that to take the fox from them was a danger of the 
 highest degree for anyone other than the Hunt servants. If, how- 
 ever, the carcase was not recovered within a minute or two, there 
 would be nothing left for trophies beyond the mangled head. How 
 they had accounted for their ivx would, however, be seen clearly from 
 every hound, for, with hackles up, each invariably took good care that 
 he got his share of what he had so ably assisted in bringing to hand. 
 
 The greatest calamity that ever befel the Curraghmore Hunt was 
 of course the death, in March, 1859, of Henry Lord Waterford ; but 
 the second, and happily only other, was that which I have now the 
 unpleasant duty of recording, and I do so in plain ungarnished truth, 
 so that it may be handed down to posterity. 
 
 During the season 1880-81 unpleasant manifestations began to be 
 shown in many ways against the hunting by certain sections of the 
 farmers in different districts of the Hunt, and it soon became apparent 
 that hunting would not be as pleasant in the near future as it had 
 been for so long in the past. The season 1880-81, however, pulled 
 
40 
 
 through, but not without outrages more or less malignant. It was 
 not until the following season was about to commence that matters 
 reached the climax. 
 
 On the 6th October, 1881, while cubhunting in Xewtown Wood, 
 not far from Slievenamon Mountain, Lord Waterford, with his 
 hounds, servants, and the few gentlemen, including the late Mr. 
 Thomas Lalor, the owner of the covert, were attacked by a mob 
 numbering over two hundred, and absolutely stoned out of it, while 
 some of the hounds were run through Avith pitchforks. 
 
 The ruffians who composed this mob were not residents in the 
 locality, nor had they any interest or claim to the land. They were 
 all strangers, and came from afar ; but they must have had accom- 
 plices among the local peasantry, for bells rang out in various 
 quarters as Lord Waterford and his hounds were seen approaching, 
 such being the means commonly adopted at the time in Ireland for 
 summoning crowds for disorderly action. 
 
 This determined, cowardly, and atrocious outrage of course brought 
 the consideration of future hunting in the Curraghmore country to 
 an issue. Lord Waterford immediately called a meeting of the sup- 
 porters of the Hunt, and it was held in the City of Waterford a few 
 days afterwards. 
 
 At this meeting the late Earl of Bessborough presided, and to it 
 Lord Waterford related what had occurred. 
 
 The Irish Sportsman had a special reporter present, and in its next 
 issue that paper gave an exhaustive account of the proceedings. In 
 years to come, as well as at present, that report will be interesting, 
 and as the speeches were taken in shorthand there is no doubt as to 
 their correctness. I shall therefore reproduce it to show hereafter 
 how the evil advice of self-interested, self-elected, but well-paid, 
 agitators stirred up our people to wage war against a nobleman who 
 spent lavishly his money in the country, drove him from it, destroyed 
 our sport, and ruined half the people in the neighbourhood. 
 
 In thus handing down to posterity this infamous record I wish it to 
 be understood that I do so entirely from a sporting point of view and 
 in no way political. If people have grievances they can have them 
 adjusted by constitutional means in other places besides the hunting 
 field. 
 
 LORD WATERFORD AND THE CURRAGHMORE HOUNDS 
 STOPPED HUNTING ! 
 
 Important Meeting of Members of the Hunt. 
 
 From Irish Sportsman of loth October^ 1881. 
 "In consequence of Lord Waterford and his field having been 
 stopped hunting at Xewtown on the 6th inst., and of the outrage com- 
 mitted upon them, his lordship called a meeting of the members of 
 
41 
 
 the Hunt, which assembled at the Imperial Hotel, Waterford, on the 
 11th inst. It was largely attended by the gentry and nobility of the 
 county and neighbourhood, a few of whose names we append, as also 
 a detailed account of the proceedings, with a verbatim report of the 
 speeches taken in shorthand by our special correspondent. Elsewhere 
 we refer to the lamentable occurrence, but here we merely report the 
 proceedings of this never-to-be-forgotten meeting. Among those wha 
 responded to his lordship's circular were [Here followed the names 
 of nearly eighty gentlemen, representing, as they did, all creeds and 
 politics, nearly all of whom have already been mentioned. — Author]. 
 
 "Lord Bessborough having taken the chair, after being duly voted 
 to it, the Secretary (Mr. J. Strangman) read several letters of apology 
 from members and others expressing their regret for not being within 
 reach of Waterford to attend the meeting in time. 
 
 " The Chairman said : My Lord Waterford and Gentlemen,— As it 
 is your wish that I should take the chair, I do so with deep regret 
 that it should be necessary, and with sorrow that such an event 
 should have happened in this country as has led to this meeting being 
 called by Lord Waterford. (Hear, hear.) I will say no more just 
 now, but \vill give way to Lord Waterford, who will now address the 
 meeting. (Applause.) 
 
 "Lord Waterford, who on rising was received with the most 
 enthusiastic applause, said : My Lord Bessborough and Gentlemen, — 
 I have asked you to meet me here to-day to take into consideration 
 the continuance of foxhunting in this country during the present 
 winter. Up to this unfortunate year— a year which, I think, is the 
 blackest that has ever passed over this unfortunate country — (hear,, 
 hear)— I believe that all Irishmen, irrespective of creed, class, 
 politics, or anything else, were joined together and united on one 
 subject at any rate, and that was the sport afforded therein by fox- 
 hunting. (Hear, hear.) I am sorry to say that, owing to the teachings- 
 of the Land League, who have engendered such a terribly bad feeling 
 in this country, certain branches have passed resolutions to put 
 down foxhunting in this country, and have been able to carry out 
 this resolution in certain parts of the neighbourhood. On Thursday 
 last we met at Newtown Wood on the property of my friend Mr. Lalor. 
 We had a couple of hours' good hunting there ; but after some time 
 we heard the chapel bells begin to ring, horns were blown on the 
 surrounding hills, and an assemblage of people collected. They 
 gathered round the wood and made a tremendous noise by yelling 
 and hooting. I was able to continue the hunt, however, for a short 
 time, and then the crowd entered upon Mr. Lalor's property and 
 pelted, not only myself, but, I am sorry to say, other gentlemen of 
 the Hunt. (Shame.) Some of the hounds were seriously injured 
 by stabs from pitchforks. I then thought it was better to blow the 
 hounds out of covert, which I did, and went home. Along our way 
 the fields were lined with people who hooted and pelted us, but at 
 
42 
 
 the same time kept us at a safe distance. "We then proceeded home, 
 and I thought it best to do so, as I perceived that hunting under such 
 circumstances had become impossible. (Hear, hear.) 1 next con- 
 sidered it my duty to call this meeting, and to return to you the 
 trust you placed in my hands, now over eleven years ago, of hunting 
 this country. I have held the position of Master of the Hounds here 
 during that time, and endeavoured to give you sport, and to keep up 
 that splendid old sport of foxhunting in this neighbourhood. (Hear, 
 hear, and applause.) I took it up shortly after the death of my 
 father, and continued it till the death of our dear old friend Henry 
 Briscoe, whose funeral we attended with so much sorrow yesterday, 
 who had shown us such sport in this country ; and, long after this 
 generation has passed awaj^ his name will be remembered and kept 
 alive as that of a fine old Irish sportsman. (Hear, and applause.) It 
 is a singularly curious thing that he should have passed away on the 
 very day after the death-knell of his favourite sport that he loved so 
 well had been sounded in the country. (Hear, hear.) Passing from 
 that I will now say a word on what stares me plainly in the face, but 
 which I must meet much against my will, and that is to give over 
 hunting. I do so with deep regret and with strong reluctance, not) 
 I assure you, so much on my own account as on account of the many 
 poor people that will be thrown out of employment, and for the sake 
 of those many and dear friends that have shared with me for so many 
 years the pleasures of the chase, and from whom I have received so 
 much kindness and support. For myself I feel it the more on account 
 of the many ties it will sever, and also for the fact that it will put 
 down the splendid old system that was so long maintained — the 
 splendid old sport of foxhunting— in this part of the country ; a 
 sport which I may say has been the mainspring of social life amongst 
 us. (Hear, hear.) I say this is my chief sorrow, because I consider 
 that hunting would be, from the present state of the country, any- 
 thing but pleasant occupation during this winter, and, so far as I 
 can see, for some time to time ; for it is impossible to carry on the 
 sport of foxhunting except you be supported by the united efforts 
 and consent of every class in the country. (Hear, hear ) 
 
 " Gentlemen, I can only say I shall carry away with me many 
 recollections of the happy meetings we have had, and in the words of 
 the Kilkenny hunting song. 
 
 Good sport I have bad, 
 
 Good fellows I've met. 
 
 (Applause.) I now beg to say that with regard to the hounds, I 
 shall not be able to sell them till the spring of the year, and I shall 
 be happy — if you think there will be any possibility of continuing 
 the sport from time to time among yourselves— I shall be most happy 
 to hand you over a pack of hounds, and give you every support in 
 my power. I return you, again and again, my most sincere thanks 
 for the kindness and support you have bestowed on me, and now beg 
 to tender you my resignation. (Applause.) 
 
4.3 
 
 "Sir Robert Paul, Bart., then came forward amid applause to 
 address the meeting. He said : My Lord Bessborough, my Lord 
 Waterford, and Gentlemen,— I have got, I may say, a sad task to 
 perform, and that is to propose this resolution : ' That this meeting 
 of the members of the Curraghmore Hunt, called together by the 
 Marquis of Waterford, having heard the statement now made to 
 them by his lordship, desire to express to him in the strongest 
 manner their great sorrow at the unexpected and unhappy event 
 described in his speech, and their indignation at the ungenerous and 
 cowardly treatment to which he and his friends and his hounds have 
 been subjected.' This, my lord, is the resolution which I have the 
 sad task of proposing. On looking round upon this meeting the first 
 feeling that strikes me is that there is no other object, no other 
 business, no other matter of any kind whatever, that would bring 
 together so many men of different lines of thought, so many men of 
 different classes, as the object for which we are assembled. (Hear, 
 hear.) If it were a meeting of landlords and their friends, we should 
 have a few of that class. If it were a meeting of tenant farmers, we 
 should have a number of that class. If it were a meeting of mer- 
 chants, we should have a few of that class. But when it is the 
 members and friends of a Hunt of which Lord Waterford was the 
 Master, we find a gatheririg of men of different classes, creeds, and 
 opinions, who on no other business could be found so numerous. 
 (Hear, and applause.) My lord, I have always said that hunting, 
 after all, was only an amusement, but, after all, it goes a great 
 length. Hunting brings together people in the prime of life and 
 in youth, people of different sets of principles, of different reli- 
 gions, of different lines of thought. They meet together, and feel 
 for each other a mutual kindness and affection. (Hear, hear.) And 
 although their old fathers may be at home taking different lines 
 of politics and different sides on various subjects, their sons are 
 brought together on the hunting field in that class of fellowship 
 which will make them good friends and kindly neighbours. (Hear, 
 and applause.) Now this is the sort of thing which has existed in 
 this country for a long time. ( Hear, hear.) I recollect, for I am an old 
 member, although I have given up the present pursuit, but I have 
 it in my heart — (cheers)— I remember, my lord, your uncle, the 
 late Henry Marquis of Waterford— (cheers)— when the hounds were 
 given up to him by the gentlemen of the committee — (cheers)— and 
 for many a long day he presided at the meetings of the Curraghmore 
 Foxhounds. I have descendants of my own who feel as I do, but I 
 do not look forward to them for the same happiness, the same pleasant 
 times that I have enjoyed myself in connection with the chase. This 
 is the first time, my lord, at which a general break up has become so 
 very apparent. (Hear, hear.) And now, my lord, there is one phase 
 of this matter which demands your very serious recognition. About 
 this time twelvemonth — not much longer— this thing began with the 
 
44 
 
 sin of a most outrageous murder. From that time the system has 
 gone on ; outrage after outrage has been perpetrated, and I fear it 
 is not even now culminated. This movement, in short, is most 
 un-Irish and most contrary to the nature of ever^'- true Irishman. 
 We know every man has his good nature and his bad nature, and we 
 know that the promoters of this wicked agitation know the bad parts 
 of men and they know their good ones too ; but it is only the bad 
 parts that this agitation is working upon and developing. (Hear, 
 hear.) They know all their weaknesses and all their failings, and to 
 make their weaknesses and their failings the more apparent is what 
 they are trying to do. (Hear, hear.) They think it was a great 
 victory for them to be able to draw out the minimum of their vice, 
 to make them attack the poor unfortunate and unoffending hounds, 
 and to make them insult the man who had done more good for them 
 and shown more kindness towards them than any other in this 
 country. (Applause.) We deeply regret, my lord, the decision to 
 which you have come — (hear, hear) — but I for one must admit you 
 have judged rightly. But so far as hunting is concerned, and much 
 as I love the hunt, there is another consideration which we regret 
 far more than the breaking up of it, and which will be far more 
 lamented with a great number of men, and, my lord, I would appeal 
 to you to consider that there is another and far greater honour, a far 
 higher duty for you than even to be Master of the Curraghmore 
 Hounds. Hitherto, as the representative of a noble house, and as 
 Lord of Curraghmore, you have done your duty well— (hear, hear, 
 and loud applause)— and I would not, for any insult of the kind that 
 has been offered, for any obstruction such as this, or for two, or three^ 
 or four events of the kind, be driven from the grand position you 
 have taken. (Applause.) Consider, my lord, that your being in 
 Curraghmore and fulfilling your duty there as you have done, has 
 been a great obstruction to the system of agrarian outrage that is 
 now passing over the country. (Hear, hear.) My lord, it is to get you 
 out of it that they have done all this. (Hear, hear.) I beg of you and 
 again beg of you, not to do otherwise than remain where you are. 
 (Loud applause.) Go to hunt where you like, but return sometimes 
 to Curraghmore. (Hear, and applause.) To encourage those among 
 whom you have always been recognised as the leader and mainstay 
 of the Constitutional party with which you have been allied is your 
 first duty. (Cheers.) I beg now to move this resolution. 
 
 "Mr. Bloomfield seconded the resolution. He denounced in strong 
 terms the gross and cowardly insult that had been offered to Lord 
 Waterford, and the attack which had been made on his hounds on 
 Thursday last. Sir Robert Paul had well said it would be a triumph 
 to the party to see the man who had been every man's neighbour and 
 every man's best friend driven out of this country. He sincerely 
 trusted, with Sir Robert Paul, that his lordship would not allow any 
 such proceeding to drive him from the country. He had lived long 
 
45 
 
 among them and tried to do his duty well, and he had pleasure in 
 being present to see this great and influential meeting, and to add 
 his mite to the general expression of good feeling by seconding the 
 resolution. 
 
 " The Chairman said in putting this resolution : I should like to 
 say a few words. You are all aware I cannot make a speech or 
 speak as a foxhunter ; but I should say from my old recollection, 
 and from my knowledge of foxhunting men, I should be exceedingly 
 sorry to see it abolished in this county ; and from the part I have 
 taken in such sports in days gone by, I can fully understand and 
 appreciate the feeling that has arisen, and will arise, toward those 
 who have been the cause of, and those who have taken part in, this 
 outrage. But I do not believe, I cannot believe, that the people of 
 the country generally would like to see such a proceeding repeated 
 as that which took place on Thursday last. (Hear, hear.) As to the 
 political events which are going on in the country, I believe they had 
 little to do with that outrage. I believe it must have been instigated 
 by others who brought the men who took part in it fi^om a distance 
 to perpetrate the outrage. I do not think Lord Waterford is wrong 
 in the course he has decided upon. After such an insult as was 
 offered to him, I do not think he could continue to hunt this country, 
 and therefore I think the members of the Hunt should accept his 
 resignation. You are a body of hunting gentlemen, and you know 
 what course to take, I think it would be a matter of deep regret to 
 see the Hunt permanently broken up ; but for one occasion the effect 
 must be good instead of bad ; it will open the eyes of the people to 
 the loss that would ensue upon the abolition of foxhunting in the 
 country. The farmer will feel it by the drop he will experience in 
 prices, and the horse-breeder will feel it in his business. I have 
 taken some part in hunting— a very small part— I have taken part in 
 it in this way, I have gone to see the chase, and took up a stand at 
 some point from which I could see a great deal of what was going on ; 
 I have been among the crowds, and have heard nothing but good 
 feeling towards the hunt and towards those that took part in it, and 
 I think it strange that all this good feeling should have changed, and 
 that it should have changed in a single year. (Hear, hear.) I do not 
 think it is the people of this neighbourhood that have done all this ; 
 but, if the people of the neighbourhood do not exert themselves to 
 prevent it, it must be taken for granted that they are parties to it. 
 (Hear, hear.) I shall now put the resolution. 
 
 " The resolution was carried amid acclamation. 
 
 " Mr. Lalor proposed the next resolution as follows : * That v/hilst 
 submitting to the justice of Lord Waterford's decision as to the 
 impossibility of carrying on at present the hunting of the country, 
 this meeting sincerely trusts that his lordship will not in any other 
 way sever his connection with their county, but will still continue at 
 this crisis to reside at Curraghmore.' My lord, it is my painful duty 
 
46 
 
 to propose this second resolution, and I never got up to speak with 
 greater regret than on the present occasion. ( Hear, hear.) I remember 
 how these hounds were handed over by the father of the present 
 Lord Waterford to the present committee. (Hear.) He also handed 
 over to us four hunters, a noble subscription, and the right to the use 
 of all his coverts, and from that day to the present his noble son has 
 done everything he could to promote the sport in the county. (Hear^ 
 and applause.) But, my lord, the sport itself was a small thing in 
 comparison with the good feeling that these hounds promoted amongst 
 all classes, all creeds, and men of all principles. (Hear, hear ) No 
 matter whether the partaker in the sf)ort was a peasant or a peer, a 
 Tory or a Radical, a Protestant or a Catholic, it was the sport of the 
 many. If a man fell at a fence, it was never asked who he is or what 
 he is, but every man galloped to raise him up and to enquire if he 
 was hurt. Some men fear the Land League will follow this up. I 
 regret exceedingly that all that we loved so much should in so 
 short a time be broken through. It was an outrage I did not think 
 possible. In this part of the country it was not thought possible 
 that anything of the kind could occur. There was no cause what- 
 ever for it. (Hear, hear.) The hounds hunted in the wood. No 
 man followed them over any field of any man who did not want his 
 field trampled on. What annoyed me more than anything else was 
 that I could not recognise any man in the crowd, that no people 
 were there whom we knew. There was a few belonging to the neigh- 
 bourhood, but they kept out of the way of people who would know 
 them. But there was no doubt an outrage was committed on that 
 day. I believe the people who committed it came from seven or 
 eight miles distance. They knew they were not known, and hence 
 they conducted themselves in a very outrageous manner. They did 
 injure some of the hounds. Not alone that, but they threw stones. 
 I don't believe they wanted to seriously hurt any man, but it was a 
 demonstration that could not be mistaken, for it was indeed the 
 death-knell of hunting in this country. Lord Waterford, like his 
 uncle, has lived all his life in Curraghmore, he has spent his money 
 tiere — (hear, hear)— he has offered to come to see us, to give us as fine 
 a pack of hounds as are in the world, to give us a handsome sub- 
 scription, and to encourage us in every way, if we can see our way 
 to hunt the county. (Cheers.) But 1 speak for myself, and I think 
 I may answer for every man in this room, that none of us will go out 
 to hunt in this county without his lordship. (Great cheering, and 
 " Certainly not.") I love sport as well as any man— (hear, hear) — 
 but I do say that I would rather never see a hunt again than to 
 see it without him. (Applause.) Therefore I would say that we 
 cannot accept his lordship's generous offer, and therefore beg leave to 
 propose this resolution. But before I conclude I have to say one word, 
 and I will say it. I do say that that demonstration on Thursday last 
 was not personal to his lordship any more than to any other man in 
 
47 
 
 the field. (Hear, hear.) I do say the people of the county feel well 
 towards Lord Waterford, and every man in this room should take 
 the insult as much to himself as Lord Waterford. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 " Mr. A. Denny, in seconding the resolution, said he was somewhat 
 out of place amongst a number of hunting gentlemen, but that was no 
 matter. The question came to this, would Lord Waterford reside 
 among us or not ? It became a very serious question to every citizen 
 and every country gentleman to take into his consideration. He 
 heartily concurred in the resolution proposed by Mr. Lalor. No doubt 
 Lord Waterford had formed a right resolution with regard to hunting, 
 but he hoped he would not allow what had happened to drive him 
 from his home, or from among his many fast friends. (Cheers.) They 
 all deplored and denounced the conduct complained of, but he hoped 
 it would not have the effect of driving his lordship from among us, 
 and thereby weakening our small garrison that has stood so firm, and 
 which he did so much to uphold and encourage in this country. 
 (Applause ) 
 
 " Mr. Wray Palliser proposed the third resolution, as follows : 
 *That this meeting ako desires to express their deep gratitude to 
 Lord Waterford for having for the last eleven years carried on the 
 hunting of this country at his own, and a great expense, and for 
 having during that time shown such excellent sport, and they hope 
 that there will be soon again among all classes a good feeling both in 
 their business and amusements.' 
 
 " Mr. Spencer seconded the resolution, which was passed with much 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 "Lord Waterford said : My Lord Bessborough and Gentlemen, — 
 I have heard the three resolutions which have just been proposed and 
 passed, and I thank you most sincerely for the way in which you have 
 passed them, and to the gentlemen who spoke for the terms in which 
 they have moved and seconded them. With regard to the last one, 
 I must say it has ever been to me a source of the very greatest plea- 
 sure to hunt this country, and I only wish we could continue to do 
 so. With regard to the other two, I may say I have no intention that 
 any organization whatever should drive me out of the country per- 
 manently. (Cheers.) I may go to England to hunt during the winter, 
 but'I mean to carry on Curraghmore much the same as it has been 
 carried on hei-etofore. (Cheers.) I am determined too that I, for one, 
 will not turn my back on the enemy ; and I am quite certain that, 
 along with you, gentlemen, we shall soon see better times dawn on 
 this unfortunate country. With regard to one remark made by Lord 
 Bessborough, that I had resigned the Hunt because I was insulted on 
 Thursday last, that was a slight mistake on the part of my friend 
 Lord Bessborough. I should not resign it on that account, or for 
 many insults — I hold your interests and your pleasures too dearly 
 at heart for that— but I resign because 1 feel convinced it could not 
 be carried on. I recognised the significance of the organised mob 
 
48 
 
 that met [in Newtown Wood. I met that organised mob on the 
 Friday before, which I believe was got up by a Land Leaguer at my 
 gate (by name Peter Wall), but he spent his time in hiding himself 
 behind a hedge. (Laughter.) My reason for giving up hunting this 
 county is, that I find it impossible to carry it on. With regard to the 
 remarks of Mr. Lalor, I hope you will consider your decision, and if 
 it be possible to carry on the hunting you should consid 3r not only 
 yourselves, but your friends. You should look forward to the fact 
 that thousands are interested in its being kept together, and that 
 others who come after us will be served as well as ourselves, and 
 should look forward to the fact that my son should have some sport 
 in the county where he will reside. (Hear, hear.) I think you should 
 get up subscriptions and keep up foxhunting in the county ; and, no 
 matter whether I am there or not, I can only repeat again my deep 
 and sincere thanks to you for your great kindness to me on this and 
 on every occasion. (Loud applause.) 
 
 "Sir Robert Paul, Bart., having been called to the second chair, 
 " Lord Waterf ord proposed a vote of thanks, in a speech of some 
 length, to Mr. Josh. Strangman, D.L., the Secretary of the Curragh- 
 raore Hunt, who had acted in that capacity for twenty years, and to 
 Mr. Edward Briscoe and Mr. Henry Bowers for the great kindness 
 and assistance he had uniformly experienced at their hands in 
 looking after the country. To Mr. Harry Sargent's able management 
 of the annual Hunt Steeplechase Lord Waterford also bore emphatic 
 
 testimony. •, . , 
 
 " Mr. Medlycott seconded the resolution, which was passed amidst 
 
 applause. 
 
 "Mr. Strangman thanked his lordship, and said he would rather 
 act as Secretary for twenty years more than to see such an unhappy 
 termination to his labours. He was only sorry the Hunt was not to 
 continue. 
 
 '' Mr. Henry Bowers and Mr. Briscoe briefly responded, as did also 
 Mr. Sargent. 
 
 "A vote of thanks to the noble Chairman for attending and 
 presiding concluded the proceedings. 
 
 "A private meeting of the Stewards of the Curraghmore Hunt 
 Races was afterwards held, and it was decided not to hold the races 
 next year." ^ 
 
 The present Marquis of Waterford's Mastership thus ended at the 
 beginning of the season 1881-82. By a curious coincidence, his reign 
 of office was for j ust eleven years— the same period as that of his 
 predecessor, Mr. Briscoe. 
 
49 
 
 Fourth Section.— Thomas O. Springfield, Esq., Master, 1882-84. 
 
 Concluding ivith additional matter and Opinions rjiven hy the Author. 
 
 Lord Waterford to Hunt in England— Hunted from Badminton— Curraghmore closed- 
 Servants discharged— No Hunting— Bitch Pack retained— Dog Pack sold— Lord Lons- 
 dale- Another Hunt Meeting— What happened— Munificent offer bj' Lord Waterford — 
 Different opinions— Sporting Speech by his Lordship— Result— Mr. Springfield chosen 
 Master— Tinvane— Will Rawle— Kennett— The Curraghmore again a Subscription Pack 
 —Lamentable contrast— Opposition resumed— Gaultier v. other places— Mr. Patrick 
 Wall of Creilan— His Father— Malignant Obstructionists— Worse and worse— Insults 
 to Ladies— Hunt attacked— Armed mobs— On the P'ences— Howling and yelling— ^Mobs. 
 charged— Fences taken— Cowardly gangs— Poisoning the Hounds— Contrast— Another 
 curious fact— Lowest classes— Ballinaboola— Great escape of the Pack from total annihi- 
 lation—Another Hunt Meeting— All further idea of Hunting relinquished— Hounds to 
 be returned to Lord Waterford— Last day the Curraghmore Hounds drew a Covert— Mr. 
 Springfield as Master— Will Rawle as Huntsman- His courage and determination- 
 Unparalleled opposition— Banquet to Springfield— A sorrowful company— Sale of the 
 Dog Pack- Full particulars— Ditto Bitch Pack— Remarks on both Packs— Table 
 of Masters of the Curraghmore— Table of Huntsmen— Notable Whippers-iu— Long^ 
 Reference to. 
 
 Author makes further Reference— Lord and Lady Waterford Hunting in England— Where^ 
 they Hunted— Lord Waterford's accident — The House of Lords— Master of the Euck- 
 hounds— Authentic details of the accident— Its results— From beginning to present 
 time— Lord Waterford and Racing— Curraghmore Hunt Steeplechases instituted — 
 Ballydnrn—Williamstown— Their duration— The Stakes— Modesty of the Author — 
 First Red Coat Race— An Event in it — The Greatest Event in the Annals of the- 
 Meeting— " The Brothers' Race "—Detailed Particulars— From Start to Finish— The 
 Scene on the Course— John Ryan, Stud Groom- His Services— Lord Waterford a re- 
 sident Iiish nobleman— Paradoxical working— The Land League— Its greatest stum- 
 bling block —The Lords of Waterford and their Tenantry — Sedition — Agitation — Fox- 
 hunting, why assailed — Lord Waterford, why selected — Deplorable result — Particulars . 
 thereof— Establishing a Pack of Foxhounds v. Stud of Hunters— Author's long 
 dialogue thereon— Few Thoroughbred Packs— Indifferently-bred Packs— They show 
 sport— And should be supported— What we want is Sport— The Irish Tenant Farmers • 
 —Author's long acquaintance with— Love of sport home-spun in them— Demoralised 
 solely by evil teaching— By the lowest scum of society— Gaultier a noble example- 
 Mr. Patrick Wall again — "At the same time" — Why Author denounces the Land 
 League in these pages— Land League brought Politics into the Hunting Field— Sport 
 knows no politics —The curtain drops— Accuracy of dates and data vouched for by the 
 Author — Those published by others incorrect — Personal and peculiar advantages of 
 the Author— Feelings of Author while compiling this long History. 
 
 Immediately after the meeting just alluded to Lord Waterford^ 
 made arrangements to hunt in England for the future. He and Lady 
 Waterford remained at Curraghmore, and did not hunt until after 
 Christmas, 1881 ; they then went to Badminton and finished the 
 season with the Duke of Beaufort. 
 
 Of course Curraghmore was shut up, and the servants, with many 
 of the stablemen, were discharged. 
 
 The hounds did not hunt at all in the season 1881-82, after the- 
 atrocity in Xewtown Wood. 
 
 Lord Waterford sold the dog pack immediately after the outrage, but 
 cherishing a hope that perhaps the agitation against country 
 gen 1 imen which was rampant in Ireland at the time might quiet 
 down, kept on the bitches, on the chance of hunting being resumed 
 the following season. Lord Lonsdale was at that time Master of the: 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 North Pytchley, and Lord Waterford lent them to him for the 
 remainder of the season, and first-rate sport they showed the 
 Englishmen. 
 
 In the summer of 1882 a meeting was held in Waterford to consider 
 the advisability of resuming hunting. At it everj^one expressed the 
 wish that Lord Waterford should remain at Curraghmore and continue 
 as heretofore, but this his lordship steadfastly refused to do, but 
 offered to lend the gentry his pack of bitches, which had been 
 returned, and to give £500 a year towards the hunting if the gentry 
 would undertake it. 
 
 There were different opinions expressed by those present as 
 to resuming unless Lord Waterford partook in the sport as of old. 
 Many said that they would not hunt in Waterford again as long as 
 his lordship was prevented, but that they would subscribe to the 
 Hunt for the sake of sport ; others said they would neither hunt nor 
 subscribe, as doing so meant disrespect to the nobleman who had so 
 long and magnificently maintained the sport, and who had received 
 disgraceful treatment ; others were willing to try what could be done, 
 at all events for a time. 
 
 Lord Waterford, in a fine sporting speech, impressed upon all 
 present that it was his particular wish that another attempt to hunt 
 should at all events be made, and that while he appreciated the 
 fine feeling which actuated those present in their expressions regard- 
 ing the resumption of the sport, he would personally wish to see the 
 hunting go on, even though he would not partake in it. 
 
 After a very lengthened discussion it was finally agreed to begin 
 hunting again, but this decision was arrived at only after Lord 
 Waterford's emphatic request that the attempt should be made. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Springfield was chosen Master, it being deemed more 
 politic to elect a gentleman unconnected with the country than one 
 of long residence therein. 
 
 The stables and kennels at Tinvane were then put into repair, and 
 the hounds and horses were moved thereto from Curraghmore. 
 
 Will Rawle, who had been first whip to Lord Waterford for some 
 of the last seasons, was appointed huntsman, with Charles Kennett 
 and Charles Fleming to whip in to him. 
 
 Thus did the Curraghmore again lapse into a subscription pack 
 with " field-money." Their hunting days were reduced from four and 
 five to two a week. 
 
 Mr. Springfield turned out his servants smartly, and mounted them 
 'well. His meets were, however, a lamentable contrast in point of 
 numbers to those we were accustomed to in Lord Waterford's time. 
 Those gentlemen who at the meeting expressed their determination 
 never to hunt except with Lord Waterford adhered thereto, and 
 many others followed their example. 
 
 Directly hunting recommenced, so did opposition thereto manifest 
 itself. 
 
51 
 
 To few parts except the Gaultier country could Mr. Springfield 
 "bring the hounds without experiencing unpleasantness of one sort or 
 another, while to Rathgormack, Kilmacthomas, and Ballydurn he 
 dared not go at all. 
 
 With the exception of Mr. Patrick Francis Wall of Credan, the 
 farmers in Gaultier remained loyal to the sport all through. That 
 man and his father, Mr. Peter Wall, who held a farm from Lord 
 Waterford, just alongside Curraghmore demesne, were among the 
 most malignant obstructionists in the country throughout these 
 troublous times. 
 
 Things got worse and worse, and hunting with the Curraghmore 
 became, from a service of sport and pleasure, that of difficulty and 
 absolute danger. 
 
 Crowds numbering from fifty to two hundred would assemble at 
 some of the meets, jeering, hooting, and insulting alike both ladies 
 and gentlemen. 
 
 These scoundrels attacked our Hunt even upon the public road, 
 and many times did so luheyi the hounds were in the act of drawing 
 -coverts belonging to Lord Waterford, the farms surrounding lohich ivere 
 in the hands of men icho had no objection whatever to our riding over 
 ■their land. 
 
 Ofttimes did the mob, each member of which was armed with 
 stick, pitchfork, or other weapon, range themselves three and four 
 deep on top of some wide bank adjoining the covert where hounds 
 were drawing, and by howling, yelling, blowing horns, and every 
 means in their power strive to prevent the sport being carried on. 
 
 On several occasions hounds got away with their fox, leaving the 
 garrisoned rampart between them and the field, so that to follow we 
 were obliged to charge and take the fence by storm. This was 
 done many times, but when the cowardly rascals saw five or six 
 men coming full gallop at thein with clubbed crops, a gap in the ranks 
 was precipitately opened and over we went, not, however, without, 
 as a rule, being able to administer a " back cut " en passa7it. 
 
 Gentlemen returning singly or in small parties from hunting were 
 often set upon by these gangs, and they had to fly or fight for their 
 lives. 
 
 Strange to say, the opposition and obstruction was not experienced 
 universally all over the country. Some coverts could be drawn 
 •quietly enough, to wit, Ballyneale, while, two miles off, Rathgormack 
 and Kilmacthomas dare not be approached. Neither could Ballydurn 
 be drawn, although it ivas Lord Waterford's oivn proper tg. 
 
 Another curious fact remains, that the opposition to the hunting 
 was not as a rule carried on by those farmers who owned the land 
 surrounding the coverts, nor even by those whose land had to be 
 ridden over in a run. It came principally from those of the very 
 lowest class, and, generally speaking, the mobs were composed of 
 parties living far away from the scene of their outrages. 
 
52 
 
 Although that was not the sort of amusement men went to hunt 
 for, I don't think the gentlemen of the Curraghmore would have 
 allowed these hirelings to stop their hunting if they had confined their 
 outrages to themselves alone. This they did not do, but upon many 
 occasions attempts were made to poison the hounds. Mr. Springfield 
 was ever vigilant, and took measures to get information beforehand, 
 so with the use of stratagems he was enabled, as a rule, to frustrate 
 these base attempts. Several times, however, hounds picked up 
 poisoned meat along the roads and in covert. Springfield and his 
 men always came out well supplied with emetics ; so directly a hound' 
 showed symptoms, one was given him on the spot. By this means 
 many were saved, but from the effects of the poison they did not 
 recover for months, and several lost all their hair. 
 
 The pack had a great escape one evening — Fiddown Bridge, a quarter 
 of a mile in length, had strewn all along it poisoned meat. Hurrying 
 out of a heavy storm which was raging, the hounds were trotted 
 very fast across the bridge and had not time to get their heads down. 
 Thus they escaped. 
 
 The most determined and serious attempt of all was made on 
 the 25th of March, 1884, when the total annihilation of the pack was 
 prevented only by the merest chance and another piece of good luck. 
 Ballinaboola, a low-lying covert of about ten acres, had over 100 
 pieces of poisoned meat put into it when everyone knew it would be 
 drawn. Mr. Springfield had actually brought the hounds to within 
 a few fields on his way to draw it when he found the country so 
 submerged in water owing to a heavy rainfall, that he changed his 
 mind, and went off elsewhere. He became informed of the escape he 
 had, and immediately laid the case before his Committee. 
 
 Accordingly a general meeting of the Hunt was called, and the 
 outrage at Ballinaboola having been explained, it was there and 
 then determined that no further attempts to hunt should be made, 
 and that the hounds should be returned to Lord Waterford. For the 
 Curraghmore gentlemen would not again risk the destruction of such 
 a valuable pack, knowing that sooner or later the ruffianly object of 
 its destruction would be attained, despite all measures of prevention. 
 
 Thus the 25th of March, 1884, was the last day a covert was drawn- 
 by the Curraghmore. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Springfield was a keen and ardent sportsman, and 
 showed exceedingly good sport during his two seasons' Mastership — 
 seasons unparalleled in the annals of foxhunting for difiiculty 
 and opposition. He strove manfully against all, and showed 
 indomitable pluck throughout. Will llawle did his work well, and 
 showed equal courage and determination. He was always as fore- 
 most in charging the mobs of miscreants as he was in riding to his 
 hounds. 
 
 The season 1882-83 was very bad for scent, and the weather was^ 
 terribly broken, so, with the troubles caused by the Land League^ 
 Springfield's sport was not good. 
 
53 
 
 The season 1883-84 was an exceptionally brilliant one, and this 
 •despite all opposition. Scent was good, but the month of January 
 •vvas very wild, and upon two occasions Mr. Springfield was driven 
 home by bad weather. In seventy-five days twenty-one and a half 
 brace of foxes were killed and thirty brace run to ground, all accounted 
 for in fair and sportsmanlike manner. 
 
 On the 8th February, 1884, was a run which takes its position 
 among the best the Curraghmore ever had. It was from Coolnamuck, 
 over that fine tract of country, leaving Mothel Village close on the 
 right, straight to the Racecourse by the Carrick Gate, where the fox 
 was headed. He then turned and ran back to Coolnamuck, and was 
 killed in Mill Vale. Time, one hour, without the slightest check what- 
 ever. When taken from the hounds the fox was so stiff that Rawle 
 set him on his legs, and he stood like a block of wood. 
 
 The Hunt entertained Mr. Springfield at dinner in Waterford soon 
 after the hunting was given up. Lord Waterford presided, and 
 although everything was supplied of the best, and the company was 
 composed of the cheeriest fellows, who occasionally enlivened the 
 proceedings with song and story, never was there a dinner where real 
 enjoyment was less felt than at this, the last of our old Hunt. 
 
 The hounds having been returned to Lord Waterford, he sent them 
 at once to Eagland for safety preparatory to selling them. 
 
 The Curraghmore dog pack was brought to the hammer in 
 Tattersall's yard at Rugby in November, 1881. 
 
 The entered hounds numbered twenty-five and a half couple, and 
 were put up in lots of one couple, one and a half couple, and two 
 •couple, and fetched from lOgs. to ISOgs. a lot ; the amount totalling 
 755gs. There were eighteen and a half couple of unentered 
 puppies, which were put up in one and a half and two couple lots. 
 One and a half couple were given to Lord Cuilford by Lord 
 Waterford, and the remaining seventeen were knocked down at 
 from 5gs. to 30gs. a lot, making 160gs. for the unentered hounds, 
 •or a total of 915gs. for the whole forty-four couple. 
 
 The highest price was obtained for lot 8, consisting of one and 
 a half couple, which were knocked down to Mr. Russell, after a spirited 
 •competition, at 150gs. They were Samson, 5 years, by Lord Coventry's 
 Rummager, by his Vampire, dam Speedy, by Milton Seaman, by Milton 
 JForester ; Villager, 3 years, by Gallant, by Bramham Dreadnought, by 
 3Ir. Chaplin's Damper, dam Vanquish, by Bramham Guider, by their 
 Gamer ; Regent, 2 years, by Milton Rifleman, by their Sultan, dam 
 Redwing, by Lord Coventry's Rummager, by his Vampire. 
 
 The bitch pack was sold by auction also at Rugby, and the sale 
 took place on the 16th May, 1885. The entire pack, old and 
 unentered, and a few dog puppies, was offered for sale in twenty-five 
 lots of one and a half and two couple each ; they comprised thirty- 
 •eight and a half couple, and realised the sum of 904gs. One lot — 
 Graceful, by Milton Richmond ; Rosebud, by Brocklesby Glider ; and 
 
5-4 
 
 Wary, by Milton Messmate — before the hammer fell, reached 135gs. 
 The other lots ranged from lOgs. to VOgs. each. 
 
 Table of the Two Sales. 
 
 Dog Pack of 44 couple 915 gs. or £960 15s. 
 
 Bitch ,, 38^ ,, 904 ,, 949 4s. 
 
 Total... 821 ^, 1819 „ £1,909 19f». 
 
 Thus were the famous Curraghmore hounds scattered all over 
 England just when they had attained the zenith of their fame and 
 excellence. And through following the doctrines preached by the 
 mj^-midons of the Land League the evil-disposed portion of the people 
 of Lord Waterford's country annihilated there, perhaps for ever, the 
 noble sport of foxhunting ! 
 
 Xo doubt alcove was a great price, and ranks, with few exceptions, 
 alongside the highest foxhounds ever sold for ; but it must be borne 
 in mind that these were two packs of perfectly pure-bred foxhounds, 
 all well trained and excellent workers, not a faulty hound among 
 them, all level, and all of the Belvoir tan. I therefore do not think 
 Lord Waterford's hounds fetched as much as they were worth. 
 
 It may be convenient here to have a table of the names of those 
 who hunted the Curraghmore hounds from their establishment in 
 1844 till the Hunt was broken up exactly forty years afterwards. 
 
 Chronological Table of Mastees of the Cureaghmore Hunt. 
 
 Term of 
 Office. 
 
 Master. 
 
 Title of the Hunt. 
 
 1844-59 
 
 1859-70. 
 1870-81. 
 
 1881-82. 
 
 1882-84. 
 
 Henry , third Marquis of Water- 
 ford. 
 
 Henry Briscoe. 
 
 John Henry, fifth Marquis of 
 Waterford. 
 
 No hunting. 
 
 Thomas Springfield. 
 
 Lord Waterford's Foxhounds,. 
 
 The Curraghmore Hunt. 
 The Curraghmore. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Chronological Table of Huntsmen. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Days a Week. 
 
 
 Huntsman. 
 
 1844-64. 
 
 3 
 
 
 John Ryan. 
 
 1864-G9. 
 
 2 
 
 
 Henry Briscoe. 
 
 1869 to Jan., 1873. 
 
 3 and 4 
 
 
 John Duke. 
 
 Jan., 1873, to end 
 
 4 
 
 r 
 
 Lord Waterford. Dog Pack. 
 
 of Season. 
 
 \ 
 
 John Ryan. Bitch Pack. 
 
 1873-74. 
 
 4 
 
 
 Lord Waterford. Botli Packs. 
 
 1874-76. 
 
 4 
 
 
 John Duke. Do. 
 
 1876-77. 
 
 4 
 
 ( 
 
 Lord Waterford. Dog Pack. 
 
 \ 
 
 John Duke. Bitch Pack. 
 
 1877-81. 
 
 4 
 
 
 Lord Waterford. Both Packs. 
 
 1881-82. 
 
 No hunting? 
 
 this season. 
 
 1882-84. 
 
 O 
 
 
 Will Rawle. 
 
55 
 
 Of course there were many whippers-in whose names can't be 
 remembered, but among the best who whipped in to Johnny Ryan, in 
 the third Marquis's time, were Tom Clancey, Ned Bolger, Tom Ryan 
 (father of Tom and William, the famous steeplechase jockeys in the 
 *' seventies " and '' eighties "), and, lastly, Billy Barry, whom I remem- 
 ber well. He was a capital rider and cheery fellow, with a most mag- 
 nificent musical voice, but he much preferred to be close to the body 
 of the pack when running their fox, than to wait to get on tail hounds. 
 
 Dickey Cooney did second whip for a few years in Briscoe's time, 
 and was very smart in his work, but he got too heavy. Duke, im- 
 ported by Briscoe from England in 1860, was the best whipper-in I 
 ever saw. He got tail hounds out of covert so quickly, generally 
 without leaving one behind, that he had them clapped on to the body, 
 directly at the first check, if he did not nick them in before- 
 hand. A good whipper-in does not always make a good huntsman, but 
 Duke was an exception— he was both. Dan Ryan, son of Johnny the 
 huntsman, whipped-in during the last year or two of Briscoe's time. 
 He and Billy Quinn whipped to Duke in the present Lord A¥aterford's 
 first few years, and they were both exceptionally good men, Quinn 
 promising, at one time, to graduate into an accomplished huntsman. 
 Next to Duke I think Arthur Wilson was the best whip I ever saw 
 with the Curraghmore. He was taken out of the stables on an emer- 
 gency to fill the place of a whip who was summarily discharged. 
 Wilson soon showed aptitude for the duties, and quickly rose from 
 second to first whip, and, as such, served Lord Waterford for three 
 season?. He subsequently left Curraghmore, and, after being 
 with the Fife, under Mr. Anstruther Thompson, and with the 
 Belvoir, under Frank Gillard, he became huntsman to the York and 
 Ainsty, and is now huntsman to the Atherstone. Will Rawle was the 
 last first v/hip of the Curraghmore in the present Lord Waterford's 
 time, and, from his ability, but more so^from his staunch reliability 
 he was promoted to the horn when Mr. Springfield took the Master- 
 ship in 1882, and, as I have elsewhere shown, he acquitted himself 
 well. He married one of the youngest of Mr. Henry Briscoe's daugh- 
 ters, and is now huntsman of Lord Fitzhardinge's pack, the Berkeley. 
 Charles Kennett, Charles Fleming, and George Southwell whipped 
 to Rawle in Springfield's time ; the latter succeeded Fleming in the 
 last season. 
 
 Thus we see what was the sport had with the old Curraghmore but 
 a few years ago. Thus have T recorded the princely magnificence 
 with which Lord Waterford hunted his country. Thus is shown 
 what an amount of money was scattered right and left out of the 
 pockets of the rich men into those of the poorer classes. Thus is 
 recorded the happy— oh, how happy !— relationship which for genera- 
 tions existed among all classes in our peaceful sport-loving community. 
 
 All that state of things has been changed, and nothing now remains 
 but its history ! 
 
56 
 
 Having traced the record proper, I shall now make reference to 
 events and circumstances which, although not exactly a portion of it, 
 relate directly to the Curraghmore Hunt. 
 
 After finishing the season 1881-82 with the Badminton, Lord and 
 Lady AVaterford for the succeeding three seasons hunted respectively 
 in Lincolnshire, Cheshire, and Leicestershire. 
 
 For that of 1882-83 they rented Little Brocklesby, which is situated 
 quite close to Lord Yarborough's kennels, and therefrom had hunting 
 five and six days a week. 
 
 In Cheshire, for the season 1883-84, they hunted from Hampton, 
 near Malpas, a capital centre from which they could get the Xorth 
 and South Cheshire, Sir Watkin Wynn's, and the North Stafibrdshire 
 Bounds. 
 
 Xext season they went to Leicestershire, to Quenby Hall, close to 
 Billesden Coplow, a house, curiously enough, situated within two 
 miles of Lowesby Hall, Sir Frederick Fowke's place, which was 
 rented by Henry Lord Waterford when he hunted in Leicestershire 
 in the "thirties." It was in the dining-room of Lowesby that he 
 jumped a five-barred gate on Don Juan, in front of a blazing fire, for 
 a wager, after dinner. The dining-room is still just as it was at the 
 time of this exploit, and the actual gate is still kept in the coach- 
 liouse by Sir Frederick Fowke. 
 
 Towards the close of the season 1884-85, while hunting with the 
 Cottesmore, Lord Waterford met with a most serious accident, the 
 results of which have been melancholy and disastrous in the extreme. 
 For over seven years has that great foxhunter been prostrated, during 
 most of which period he has suffered intense pain. This accident was 
 the more unfortunate as he was making his mark in the House of Lords 
 and fast rising in rank as a statesman. Enfeebled as he was, he has 
 been able on many occasions during his illness to take active jDart in 
 the debates, and in doing so he has always been permitted to address 
 the House seated. 
 
 He is looked upon as a great authority on all Irish questions, and 
 if it had not been for his accident he would certainly have held an 
 important ofiice in Lord Salisbury's Government. He was Master of 
 the Buckhounds in 1885-86, but the duties had to be performed by 
 his brother. Lord Charles Beresford. 
 
 An account of this accident has not hitherto been laid before the 
 public in full and true form. I shall therefore relate the circum- 
 stances minutely, which I am enabled to do, having been favoured 
 by Lord Waterford with the particulars. 
 
 The Cottesmore hounds had found in Ouston Wood and got away 
 ■with a good fox. Lord Waterford, on a horse he was trying belonging 
 to Mr. Henry Chaplin, rather a hard puller, got a capital start. After 
 going some distance a gateway appeared in front, the gate having 
 been propped open with a forked stick. The hounds were running 
 very hard at the time, and the pace of his lordship was proportional. 
 
57 
 
 He was riding for the gateway intending to gallop through, b^t 
 unfortunately, just as he came within fifteen or twenty yards of it, 
 a frightened sheep hit the gate M'ith its horns and knocked the prop 
 away, and, beautifully hung as most Leicestershire gates are, it began 
 at once to close. He knew that it was impossible to pull up within 
 the distance, but, although the gate was too high to be jumped, he 
 •was in hopes that the tremendous pace at which he was going would 
 liave carried him bang through it. Unfortunately it did not close 
 sufficiently quick, and it caught the horse on the shoulder in front of 
 Lord Waterford's knee, shutting the horse in and sending him with 
 Jiis chest against the post with such force that, although as thick as 
 a man's body, it was snapped off short at the ground. His lordship, 
 to prevent his legs being broken against the post, threw his feet out 
 of the stirrups ; there was therefore nothing to lessen the force of the 
 €ollision, which was simply tremendous. In addition, he caught his 
 foot in the gate and was pulled off, but, strange to say, he did not at 
 the time feel much hurt, and he was able to finish the run. 
 
 He rode back to Tilton, and that evening made a long speech at 
 ■a political meeting for Lord John Manners, the present Duke of 
 Hutland, who then represented that constituency. The fall took place 
 upon a Tuesday. Lord Waterford hunted with the Belvoir on 
 Wednesday,'and with Sir Bache Cunard's Hounds on Thursday, and it 
 was not until that evening, when returning from a very good day's 
 sport, that he suddenly found his legs, from his waist down, had lost 
 nearly all sensation. It was an exceedingly cold evening, so he 
 believed he had got a chill, but he did not for a moment dream that 
 his back was injured. He went out again upon Friday, with the 
 Quorn and never rode better in his life. He had perfect power in his 
 legs, but he had no sensation in them. On Saturday morning he saw 
 his medical man, who arrived when his lordship was half dressed to 
 go out hunting again. The doctor at once said that by reason of the 
 terrific shock he had received three days before he had sustained 
 .seyere concussion of the spine and injured the sensory nerves of his 
 spinal cord. 
 
 From that injury Lord Waterford has ever since suffered. He was 
 six months confined to bed, and to the sofa for four years. During 
 that long period he at frequent intervals suffered great pain, some- 
 times for a fortnight or three weeks together, and, in the early stage, 
 much longer. The treatment which has done him most good is that 
 of the actual cautery. This has been applied down the spine some 
 thirty or forty times. In other words, thus often has he been fired 
 with a red-hot iron exactly as a horse is. 
 
 Of late he has been making a gradual improvement, and he is now 
 able to drive himself about and to walk at a time 300 or 400 yards ; 
 this, until now (the summer of 1892), he has never been able to do 
 since he met with the accident. He now enjoys excellent health, 
 and better still it is to know that a total recovery is looked forward 
 to with confidence by his medical attendants. 
 
58 
 
 It is strange that with such an uncle and such brothers Lord* 
 Waterford never cared for racing, but on the contrary he hates it. 
 However, in 1870, the first year of his Mastership, he instituted the 
 Curraghmore Hunt Steeplechases, purely to give a day or two's 
 sport to the farmers of his hunting country. They were held at 
 Ballydurn for that and the next year. That fixture was, however, 
 inconvenient, and a more suitable course was selected in 1872, at 
 Williamstown, near the City of Waterford, and over it our annual 
 festival was held until the hunting was stopped. 
 
 The Stakes ranged from i'50 to £300 and for some years the 
 Meeting was a two days affair. As it was I who had the practical 
 management under Lord Waterford's direction, it is not for me to 
 speak much of it, but its success and popularity are well known in 
 history. Sufiice it now to say that it afi:brded sport and amuseuient,. 
 while it caused annually a circulation of money in the City of Water- 
 ford and its neighbourhood of thousands upon thousands of pounds. 
 
 As I say in my chapter on Hunting, it was the Curraghmore that 
 revived red-coat racing in Ireland, and it was on the 1st May,, 
 
 1873, we had our first scivey in pink between the flags at Williams- 
 town. Oh, what sport it was ! How well do I remember the brilliant 
 way old Mainsail carried me over our beautiful natural course, and 
 how he would have won, only for Captain Slacke on Crocus and 
 Jimmy Dobbyn on J.P. going before us at the finish ! The good old 
 horse had the wrong man up that day, and no mistake. 
 
 This chapter and my allusion to the Curraghmore meetings would 
 indeed be incomplete were I to omit the particulars of a race which 
 caused more interest in our county than ever did another before 
 or since, and^which will be remembered during the existence of every- 
 one who was alive at the time within fifty miles of Waterford. 
 
 This was "The Brothers' Eace," and it took place on the SOih ApriU 
 
 1874, at the annual meeting of the Curraghmore Hunt Steeplechases, 
 Lords Charles, William, and Marcus Beresford had a sweepstakes of 
 
 100 sovs. each, p.p., three miles, over the Williamstown Course, twelv^e 
 stone each, owners up. Lord Charles rode Nightwalker, a black 
 thoroughbred horse, and bred by Billy Power, the sporting tenant 
 of the course ; Lord William rode Woodlark, a grey mare ; and Lord 
 Marcus was on a bay gelding called The Weasel. They eajh wore the 
 Beresford Blue, Lord Charles with the ancestral black cap, while the 
 others had white and blue caps as distinguishing emblems. 
 
 No racecourse in Ireland, except Punchestown and Fairyhouse, 
 ever had more people on it than Williamstown had on that, the most 
 memorable day in its annals. Old men and women who had never 
 before seen a race came fifty miles to see the Brothers' Ptace. Xot a 
 person, except the too aged and incapacitated, was in a farmhouse 
 within ten miles of the course, while the city was as deserted as if 
 plague-stricken— all, all flocked to Williamstown. Excitement rose 
 to boiling pitch as the three brothers filed out of the enclosure and 
 
59 
 
 did the preliminary. I fancy now I see them jogging side by side to 
 the starting post, where poor Tom Waters awaited them, ready 
 with ensign in hand to send them on their journey. The only 
 delay was while he delivered a short but sporting speech to these 
 grand lads, when away they went, boot to boot. The pace was a 
 cracker from the start, but none made the running more than 
 another, for all three were girth to girth most of the journey, and 
 at no time did two lengths divide the first and last till just before 
 the finish. Yes, every post they made a winning-post ; and ding-dong 
 did they go at each other, though, of course, riding like sportsmen. 
 Fence after fence was charged and cleared by them locked together, 
 and it was not till Nightwalker was beaten, just before the last 
 fence, they separated. A determined struggle between Woodlark 
 and The Weasel then ensued ; and, after a desperate finish, old Judge 
 Hunter gave the verdict to the former "by a short head." 
 
 Never was seen a better race of its class, nor was any ever ridden- 
 more determinedly for victory. The scene of excitement on Williams- 
 town Course during and after it beggars description. Not a mouth 
 was shut or a voice lower than its highest pitch. 
 
 The Meeting held on the 5th May, 1881, ended the Curraghmore 
 Hunt Steeplechases. 
 
 Among all his servants I don't suppose Lord Waterford ever had a 
 better one than " Johnny Ryan the Jock." We had to designate him 
 by that term to distinguish him from his namesake the huntsman. 
 Ryan was steeplechase jockey and second horseman to the third 
 Marquis, then he became grcom to the fourth Marquis, and was after- 
 wards for some years second horseman to the present Lord Waterford, 
 and for the last five or six years of his lordship's hunting he held the 
 onerous and responsible position of stud-groom. Whether it was 
 ov^er the Curraghmore country, in Leicester, Lincoln, or Chester 
 shires, Johnny Ryan sent his horses to the meet so fit and well, that,. 
 with his own determined hard riding, Lord Waterford was always 
 to the front, whether the run was fast, or long, or both. Yes, he was 
 the very best stud-groom his lordship ever had, and the fact of his 
 being continuously in the service of the Curraghmore family for over 
 half a century speaks volumes for his integrity. He was a very fine 
 horseman, with one of the neatest seats I ever saw, and particularly 
 good at teaching a young hunter his business. 
 
 Curraghmore, his hounds, horses, and hunting had such attractions 
 for Lord Waterford that he spent nine or ten months out of the year 
 in his ancestral abode, while the Marchioness preferred her home and 
 its attendant pursuits and vocations to any place of pleasure she was 
 ever in. As a consequence, Curraghmore was nearly always full of 
 guests, so that upon hunting, employment of labour, and entertain- 
 ment the Marquis expended a very large sum of money annually in 
 the county during the time he was allowed to remain there. 
 
 By a somewhat paradoxical working out of a means by which am 
 
60 
 
 injury may be done personally to a man, the Land League has pre- 
 vented his lordship spending that money annually for over ten years 
 (in perpetuity, for that matter), with the result that he is now a 
 richer man by a very considerable amount ! 
 
 The greatest stumbling-block the Land League had in formulating 
 its scheme for despoiling the landlords of Ireland was Osgood landlord, 
 while, of course, their greatest stand-by was the bad. Xow it is a 
 matter of history, and we have only to go to the tenant farmers who 
 held land under them to prove it, that the Poers and Beresfords of 
 ■Curraghmore were always paragon landlords. Their land was let at 
 a fair rent, which enabled the tenant to live and thrive out of it to 
 such an extent that contentment ^preme reigned over the Curragh- 
 more estates down to the time the tenants got demoralised by the 
 Land League. It is a fact that evictions were unknown there until, 
 in 1881, demoralisation had taken such tirm hold of the property 
 that it became absolutely necessary for the landlord to assert his 
 rights in a few cases. 
 
 With this state existing, there was the most cordial relationship 
 between the various Lords of Curraghmore and their tenantry, and 
 with no one of his predecessors was this more observable than with 
 Tthe present Marquis. 
 
 But sedition began to be sown all over Ireland in 1879, which, budding 
 into agitation in 1880, and springing into full bloom in 1881, enabled 
 the prime movers to decide who were first to be made examples of 
 from their point of view. 
 
 Foxhunting, they knew, was one of the great attractions Irish 
 country gentlemen had to their homes, and the object of the Land 
 League being banishment of the landlords, they attacked that sport. 
 They fixed upon Lord Waterford as the first victim, chiefly on account 
 of his high social position in the country ; secondly, because of his 
 being a good landlord, and as such impeding their progress of spolia- 
 tion ; and thirdly, his was the premier pack of hounds in Ireland. 
 It being maintained and hunted by himself, its disruption the Land 
 League considered would most strongly exhibit the power of their 
 organisation, and at the same time emphasise their malignity more 
 than in the case of a subscription pack. 
 
 Yes, the Land League worked out their wicked will with a ven- 
 ;geance, but with what a deplorable result — not alone to the sport we 
 all enjoyed, and which many of the very members of its branches 
 often joined in and were always welcome to, but to the poorer classes, 
 ^nd to local traders generally ! ! 
 
 Furthermore, not one pemv/ of rent ivas reduced therebi/ / / 
 
 Waterford, from being one of the most flourishing and social cities in 
 Ireland, has since the time I allude to retrograded in the most deplor- 
 able degree. 
 
 There is no hunting and no e&tiblishment at Curraghmore now; 
 no racing at Williamstovvn ; no visitors coming to the small towns, 
 
61 
 
 and none of the expenditure among the gentry which took place long- 
 ago consequent upon the hunting. What that monetary loss is to the 
 Waterford community it is impossible to estimate, but I put it down 
 some years ago, when the figures were fresh in my mind, at something^ 
 like sixty thousand a year ! 
 
 The races brought about an enormous circulation of money. 
 Between £2,000 and £3,000 a year was disbursed by myself alone, and 
 I was enabled to fix the amount paid in fares to carmen for driving 
 visitors to and from the course at over £200 a day — the distance 
 being a mile. 
 
 It is a great mistake to think that a pack of foxhounds, well bred 
 and good workers, can be got together as easily as a stud of hunters. 
 It takes a man a long lifetime to bring to iierfection one pack, not to^ 
 speak of two, if he has to start with drafts from ordinary kennels, 
 and neither money, sagacity, nor assistance will hurry the process. 
 
 That fact should be borne in mind before any old-established pack 
 of foxhounds is given up. 
 
 Although perhaps only in a suggestive manner pertaining to this 
 chapter, I may be permitted to give a few reasons for what I have 
 just stated, and show how difficult it is to get together a pack even of 
 moderate pretensions, while it is a simjDle impossibility to get one 
 like the Curraghmore except under circumstances similar to Lord 
 Waterford's. 
 
 It may astonish not a few to know that out of the many packs of 
 foxhounds which are in England and Ireland, the kennels from which 
 an M.F.H. such as Lord Waterford or Henry Briscoe would breed could 
 be counted almost upon a man's fingers. 
 
 No doubt many indifferently-bred packs show capital sport — even 
 packs badly shaped and uneven do so oftentimes — and if a man 
 wants to keep hounds it is a vast deal better for him to have such 
 than not to have any at all. If the packs which are indifferently bred 
 and shaped were to be done away with in England it would, indeed, 
 be a bad day for the nation. 
 
 Ingenuous youth, and all ye who asjoire to have the decoration of 
 "M.F.H." after your names, don't for one moment be carried away 
 with the idea that, even possessed as you may be of a great command 
 of money, you will get together a pack of foxhounds, even of the 
 most ordinary excellence, in a hurry, and to suit the country you 
 want them to hunt. 
 
 If a man wants to establish a pack of foxhounds where none have 
 already been, he has of necessity to do so by purchase or by begging. 
 By neither process will he get anything from another man's kennel 
 except the refuse, for no man in his born senses would think of giving 
 even his own brother the best, or even moderately, good liounds. Well,, 
 then, after expending a very considerable amount upon buying or 
 otherwise getting together his pack — say forty couple— all entered^ 
 and from one to four years old, I am well within the mark whert 
 
62 
 
 I state that there will not be found live couple out of the forty that 
 will be reasonably satisfactory, and out of that five I am very sure 
 there won't be one couple perfect as regsirdsjjomts, work, and breeding. 
 
 No, the only way to get a pack of foxhounds together with any 
 degree of satisfaction and within a reasonable time is to buy one 
 ready-made. But then, where is such to be found ? and, if found, 
 will the hounds suit the country they are required for 1 
 
 Of course it is best to breed hounds as highly as opportunity offers, 
 to train them properly, to draft carefully, so that the pack may be 
 level and run together. But a badly-bred lot — unsteady, uneven in 
 height, and unequal in pace — if they can run and hunt a fox, assuredly 
 they have a right to be supported, and the man who keeps such in 
 preference to keeping none deserves all praise. A scratch and badly- 
 managed pack will at times, if they have good hid; show better sport 
 than the best bred and best managed pack in England will ivithout 
 good luck. 
 
 My readers will kindly observe that I have been dealing in this 
 chapter with a pack of hounds which was of the highest class ; and 
 while I have described it with enthusiasm I am in no way prejudiced 
 against packs which are not as fortunate as the Curraghmore was. 
 
 What we want is Sport, and we should strive to hare it by any 
 and all honourable means. 
 
 I have known the tenant-farmer classes over many parts of Ireland 
 ever since I was a boy (particularly those residing in the hunting 
 ■country of the Curraghmore), and I had, up to within the last few 
 years, frequent opportunities of friendly intercourse with them while 
 hunting, shooting, and fishing. With that experience it is with 
 pleasure I record the fact that I never met a man in all my expeditions 
 who ever expressed the slightest antipathy to hunting or any other 
 branch of sport ; on the contrary, one and all appeared to be innate 
 siDortsmen, inheriting the title from their forefathers, in what I may 
 call "home-spun" fashion. I furthermore record as my firm con- 
 viction that our fine body of Irish peasantry would never have turned 
 against foxhunting had they not been contaminated by the doctrines 
 of the Land League, promulgated as those doctrines were by a few 
 individuals here and there who by nature were ill-disposed to every- 
 thing that was good, and who, through their own idleness and bad 
 conduct, had lost any property they might ever have possessed. 
 These derelicts of society, as is the case in all revolutions, seized the 
 ojDportunity of agitation to create a rupture, knowing that nothing 
 could make them worse off* than they were while, perhaps, some change 
 might make them a trifle better. 
 
 I am, therefore, quite confident that the opposition shown to 
 hunting, not alone over Lord Waterford's country, but over all others 
 where it appeared in Ireland, was the result of bad teaching, and 
 ■enforced by coercion, but was never the spontaneous outcome of the 
 farmers' feelings. It was therefore monstrous that those poor people 
 should have been led astray and thus demoralised. 
 
crs 
 
 In proof of what I state I again refer to the conduct pursued by 
 the tenant-farmers residing in Gaultier. This was a large section of 
 Lord Waterford's country, and therein he possessed an estate held 
 by well-contented tenants, yet no obstruction whatever was given 
 to hunting. The farmers therein were left to themselves, and 
 were nut contaminated by Land League agents. Mr. Patrick Wall 
 of Credan, to whom I referred before, was not a tenant of Lord 
 Waterford, and although he strove to feed disaffection in that district, 
 he miserably failed. Well would it have been for our country at 
 large if the other tenant-farmers had acted like those of Gaultier. 
 
 At the same time I must state that as the opposition to our hunting 
 was first instituted by only a few individuals, well known to be but 
 the malcontents of the neighbourhood, the majority should have 
 dealt summarily with them, and in the most forcible fashion shown 
 them that the sport-loving community was not to be coerced into 
 doing what was repugnant to their feelings. More especially was it 
 their duty to have done so from the fact that to sustain the hunting 
 and other sports was the only way they had of showing gratitude to 
 the gentry from whom they had received great and substantial kind- 
 ness, and that at times when such was much needed by many of them. 
 
 In denouncing as I have done the Land League, I do so only as 
 regards its action in molesting the prime sport of our nation. That 
 body has as much right to its political opinions as I and others who 
 •differ from it toto ccdo. This is a free country, and every man may 
 hold and support whatever principles he chooses — political, religious, 
 or other — so long as he does not interfere with the privileges of his 
 neighbour. Sport knows no politics, no religion, no party. The 
 field of sport is open to all. The hunting card invites everyone, and 
 to its meets everyone is welcome, no matter who or what he is. 
 Nothing is required of him when he comes out to hunt, except that 
 he will behave himself like a sportsman. 
 
 I -now bring my history of Lord Waterford's Hunt to its final 
 close. 
 
 In laying before the public the Annals of the Four Masters, I do 
 so with the assurance that all the details are absolutely correct. 
 I might have alluded to other events, but being unable to do so with 
 critical accuracy as to dates and details, I eliminated them altogether. 
 
 I have seen in print from time to time records of this Hunt, but 
 many of the dates and some of the details are lamentably incorrect, 
 'This may be excusable in the compilers from the fact that they were 
 not possessed of the personal knowledge, with other peculiar 
 advantages and facilities which I have had. 
 
 In the compilation I derived pleasure, tempered at times by sad 
 recollections of the periods ending with the "seventies" — while dealing 
 with later years sorrowjul alone have been my feelings. 
 
64 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 HUNTING. 
 
 Times Changed— Opposition to Hunting in Ireland— Farmers' Sufferance- Mufti v. Fox- 
 hunting Uniform— M.F.H.'s and Colonels of Regiments' Duty thereon— Horses and 
 Fodder 'from, Stallions for, the Farmers— Damage Claims— Puppy Show, Dinner, and 
 Dance— Men hunt to enjoy themselves— Masters too hard at times— M.F.H.'s Memo* 
 randum to his Field— Hunt See's Memo. : Eate of Subscriptions— Few come out to 
 At(/!<— Master's boiler bursts— Good Books on Hunting— Decrease in Irish, Increase in 
 English, Hunting— Galloping Snobs— Farmers' Forbearance— Eed-coat Races— Curragh- 
 more Hunt Rsd-coat R,ace -Result of Red-coat Races in Ireland— Loss to Waterford— 
 Westmeath and Co. Down Red-coat Races— iS"orth of Ireland Sportsmen— Ward Hunt 
 Lawyers— Mr. ISathaniel Morton— Mr. Hanway's System of Training Horses— Long- 
 shanked Spurs— Late Mr. William Quin's Idea— Lord Marcus Beresfoi d and his Spurs — 
 Harrieis as a School for Venery— All can hunt who wish it- Author's Egotistical 
 Anecdotes— TTgly Visions — Advice. 
 
 Let it not be imagined I am about to enter into the details of the 
 science of hunting, either generally or in particular, for if I did, 
 perhaps I should be found lamentably ignorant of the glorious 
 subject. I shall merely state my notions of how the finest sport 
 under the sun might be made even more universally popular than it 
 is— how to perpetuate the sport, and, in a special chapter, as its 
 importance deserves, will show what national superiority hunting 
 has over every other institution of the kingdom excepting religion 
 and education. 
 
 Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis. But though times have 
 changed since I hunted, time has not changed my love of hunting (or 
 for any kind of sport, for that matter), and although I can no longer 
 participate in its enjoyment, I feel as deep an interest in it now as I 
 did years ago, when that interest was second to few men's in the 
 world. 
 
 Deprive him of horses and hounds if you will, 
 
 A foxhunter once is a foxhunter still. 
 
 With these egotistical remarks by way of excuse I shall strive to 
 deal with our national pastime. In doing so I fear I can add little or 
 nothing to what has already been written scores of times by far abler 
 pens than mine, but as these essays came from, of course, the best 
 authorities in the world, I can do no harm if I repeat some of them,, 
 while giving ideas of my own, particularly in times like the present, 
 when new ideas are being put forth everywhere, and when " change 
 and decay in [nearly] all around I see." 
 
 The lesson we have learned in Ireland during the past few years 
 should show us how easy it is to put an end to hunting, and stimulate 
 us all the more to popularise and sustain it. This is my reason for 
 making the remarks I do in this chai^ter. Every true Irishman is a 
 sportsman, and it would be as difficult for him to change his love for 
 
65 
 
 hunting as it would be for woman to change her love for her first- 
 born. The opposition shown to hunting in Ireland during the past 
 few years was the result of bad advice, but was never the spontaneous 
 outcome of the farmers' feelings ; and I have reason to know that it 
 is the general, almost universal, regret of every farmer residing in 
 places where it was stopped that the sport was ever interfered with. 
 
 Thus far rhapsody, now for reason. There is no concealing the 
 fact that hunting can be carried on only under sufferance from the 
 farmers ; and when we consider the amount of damage and incon- 
 venience sustained by them, through the following of the king of 
 sports, every consideration should be shown them, and everything 
 possible done to compensate them ; not necessarily altogether with 
 money, for there are other and, in many instances, far more effective 
 means. This, I fear, is not at all times nor in all hunts done as much 
 as it should be, nor is the noble sport popularised in the eyes of the 
 non-hunting community to the extent ft might be. 
 
 I think it is a grave mistake for men to hunt iyi mufti. Nothing 
 tended more in old times to make hunting popular than the sight of 
 a I'ed coat and well turned-out breeches and top-boots. The labourer 
 in the field, the housemaid at the window, the schoolboy at his desk, 
 the child with his toys, and everyone else, looked up from their work 
 to see a man so equipped pass by. Is it to be supposed that a man 
 clad in a drab covert coat Avith tweed breeches and leggings com- 
 mands the same curiosity or admiration % No, indeed, he does not, 
 and, of course, the pursuit he is folloiving suffers accordingly in estima- 
 tion. It is all very well for a certain class to affect nonchalance, and 
 to say they can, as no doubt tliey do, ride as hard and as straight in 
 the garb of a groom as they could in the orthodox uniform worn by 
 their fathers ; but there is a very prodigious and highly important 
 class of the community who would come out to hunt if they could 
 sport the bright colours, without which, the immortal Jorrocks says, 
 there w^ould not be many foxhunters (speaking, of course, of fifty 
 years ago). These men like to be in the fashion, but seeing tliat 
 mufti is adopted for the hunting-field, they stay at home, not having 
 in them as deep-seated a love of the sport as the leaders of the fashion. 
 
 It is decidedly my firm conviction that it is the duty of all Masters 
 of Foxhounds to intimate to those who hunt with them that they 
 should adopt the uniform of a foxhunter. Furthermore, colonels of 
 regiments should enforce the same upon their ofiicers. Why is the 
 uniform of a soldier made so showingly becoming ? Simply to popu- 
 larise the service of arms. The red coat of the foxhunter has 
 precisely the same effect upon foxhunting. 
 
 Masters of Hounds, and those who hunt with them, should make it 
 a general rule to buy their horses and the requisite fodder, etc., direct 
 from the farmer, in preference to buying them from dealers ; yes, 
 and pay even more for them. 
 
 Thoroughbred stallions should be kept in all hunting countries for 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 the free service of mares belonging to the farruers of the district 
 those most likely to beget weight-carrying hunters, of course, being 
 selected. Let the gentry pay if they use them, but let the farmers 
 have their service gratis. 
 
 Compensation for the loss of poultry and damage done to crops 
 and fences is, we all know, requisite ; but it is seldom meted out 
 sufficiently nor ^vith the promptitude advisable. Bis dat qui cito dat. 
 The money, too, should be sent to the recipients, instead of requiring 
 them to come for it, at further cost, inconvenience, and loss of time. 
 Of this many Hunts are neglectful. 
 
 Great imposition, however, at times is practised by claimants for 
 compensation, and, no matter what vigilance may be used, equal 
 distribution cannot at all times be made. It has been suggested by 
 experienced authorities upon the subject that if claims were leftmore to 
 the farmers themselves for settlement they would be the more readily 
 adjusted, and at less expense to the Hunt, but on this I offer no opinion. 
 No doubt it would work well among the higher class and best-off, but 
 it might not work so well among the poorer and less fastidious as to 
 the rights of meum and tuum. However, be that as it may, there 
 is no duty of a Hunt so difficult, troublesome, and unpleasant as 
 adjusting " damage claims" ; it should therefore be left to the com- 
 mittee, and not imposed on the Master. 
 
 I think a great deal could be avoided if M.F.H.'s were to have an 
 annual puppy show just before cubhunting. To it should be invited 
 the heads of each family of farmers within the limits of the country 
 hunted over by the pack. The puppies lately in from walk should 
 be judged by competent parties unconnected udth the country, and 
 prizes given for the three best dogs and three best bitches. After 
 the adjudication, all should be invited to a good, substantial dinner 
 presided over by the Master, and supported by some of the leading 
 and most popular members of the Hunt. To it should also be 
 invited the Hunt servants, as well as the gamekeepers and earth- 
 stoppers of the country. In the evening the female members of the 
 farmers' families, with their brothers, should be invited to a dance, 
 winding up with a supper to all. 
 
 No doubt this would cost a considerable sum of money, but 
 I am convinced a good deal of it would be got back by many 
 claims for poultry and damages being either waived altogether 
 or more easily dealt with. Beyond doubt, however, such an enter- 
 tainment annually would popularise the Hunt among the peasantry 
 and farmers in a manner no other means could excel. It has been 
 a habit with several Hunts in England for years, and Mr. Burke 
 has instituted the practice into the Tipperary country. Others, both 
 in Ireland and England, should follow the example. 
 
 Damage done to the fences and property of small farmers should 
 be repaired, as soon and as often as it occurs, by a staff of labourers 
 under a trustworthy overseer employed by the Hunt specially for 
 
67 
 
 the purpose. It is always better thus to remove causes of complaint 
 than to wait until complaints are made. At the same time, wherever 
 existing systems work harmoniously, by no manner of means should 
 they be changed. 
 
 Wire — that ogre of the foxhunter — will have to be dealt with, and 
 in my opinion the only effectual way is to come to an arrangement 
 with the farmers by which the gentlemen, at their own expense, will 
 be permitted in the autumn to take down every strand of the 
 villainous impediment, substitute wooden paling during the winter, 
 and replace the wire in the spring. 
 
 What is required, if we want to perpetuate hunting, is to prevent 
 friction with the farmers ; and that can always be done best by 
 courteous off-handedness on the part of those adjusting claims, who, 
 if they are popular and have tact, can accomplish their ends with 
 satisfaction to all parties. 
 
 The days for haughty overbearance are over, and different tactics 
 from the past must be adopted in the future both as regards 
 hunting and everything else. There is no use talking of the expense. 
 If foxhunting is to be had it must be paid for, and as the late Mr. 
 Sam Reynell used to say long ago, "foxhunting can only be 
 sustained upon the sufferance of the farmers." 
 
 Men go out to hunt to enjoy themselves according to their own 
 ideas of enjoyment, and as long as they do not interfere with the 
 sport of the day, or do unnecessary damage, they should be allowed to 
 enjoy themselves in their own fashion, whether they be swells or 
 sweeps, peers or peasants. There are times, however, when Masters 
 of Hounds are too hard upon some of their field, and blame them for 
 doing things which, from his point of view, are very bad, but which 
 have been very often, nearly always, done through ignorance. 
 
 Not long ago I saw recorded what struck me as an excellent 
 idea ; it was this : — Let the Master have printed instructions 
 and requests as to hunting circulated through his country, to be 
 hung up in hotels, livery stables, etc., so that all who go out with 
 his hounds may have a rudimentary idea at all events of what 
 was expected and the reason iv/iy. Now as these pages will cir- 
 culate among men who hunt, some of whom may be a bit verdant 
 as regards venatic law and principles, no matter how ardent their 
 love may be for the sport, I venture to compile a notification such as I 
 allude to, and, to employ some of the amusing phraseology of dear old 
 Jorrocks, " if by so doing I shall spread the great light of sporting 
 knowledge among ingenuous youth, then will this day henceforth 
 remain red-lettered in the mental calendar of my existence ! " 
 
 " The Hon. Horner Hunter, M.F.H., with best compliments of the 
 season, invites the attention of all who hunt with the Gorso Covert 
 Foxhounds to the following memoranda, which he has drawn up for 
 their guidance and instruction, and without their observance of ^l^hich 
 he cannot succeed in showing them the sport he is desirous of doing. 
 
 "Huntsman's Hall, Christmas, 1893." 
 
68 
 
 1. Utmost civility and courtesy to farmers are particularly enjoined upon 
 all occasions. 
 
 2. Horses and all their requirements for food should be bought from the 
 farmers whenever practicable, instead of from the dealers, even if at a higher 
 price. 
 
 3. Exceptional damage done while hunting, no matter how unintentional, 
 or assistance rendered by the farming or labouring class, should hQ promptly 
 and liberally p>aidfor. 
 
 4. Do not ride over new grass, or seeds, or jump fences unnecessarily. 
 Headlands are alwaj's the soundest going, and generally nearest the line of 
 the fox, while the corners of the fields have often the easiest fencing, except 
 where there happens to be a cattle pond. 
 
 0. Gentlemen are requested to come out in scarlet or black coats, ^^dth 
 oi-thodox breeches and top-boots, and not in drab coats, breeches and 
 leggings. The former is the uniform of a foxhunter, and what has materially 
 aided in making the pursuit the most popular of all British sports, while the 
 substitution of the latter is certain to injure it. 
 
 6. INIeets are arranged by the Master for the general convenience of the 
 members and the hunting of the country ; it is therefore expected that the 
 meets will be the rendezvous, and that no one, for his own individual con- 
 venience, will go to coverts which are likely to be drawn first. Such a 
 practice attracts foot -people, creates noise, and results in foxes being 
 disturbed, whereby good runs are often lost. If it be persisted in, the Master 
 will draw elsewhere when he finds it has taken place. 
 
 7. There is ample time for gossiping on the road to and from huuLing, at 
 the meet, and going from covert to covert, but directly the hounds approach 
 a covert, and until the run is over, nothing should occupy a sportsman's 
 attention but the sport in which he is engaged, and that generally requires 
 all his " doing" and never requires his talking. 
 
 8. While the covert is being drawn the field should stay together, in what- 
 ever position pointed out b}^ the Master, and should avoid moving about, as 
 well as talking. 
 
 9. When a fox goes away, do not make the least noise till he has gone so 
 far as you can in the time " count twenty " (as Mr. Jorrocks tells us). Then 
 gallop to where he has broken, and give a loud, clear "Gone away." This 
 instruction is particularly for young foxhunters (though many an old one 
 transgresses on such occasions), for they imagine that whenever they see a 
 fox they should shout ; just as the young Irishman of fifty years ago, going 
 to his first fair, following his father's advice, should, wherever he saw a 
 head, hit it ! A fox is essentially a nervous, stealthy, crafty animal, and 
 likes to get awaj^ unknown and unseen, and if he thinks he has done so he 
 will gain courage and go away ; but if he knows he i3 seen, he loses heart, 
 and in all probability turns back to covert, and the run is spoiled. 
 
 10. Ajyrojws to the last paragraph, if you happen to be close to where a 
 fox is breaking covert or crossing a ride in covert, do not stir a muscle of 
 your body ; and if you are to leeward of him, ten to one he will not mind 
 you if you are not unduly exposed lo view, or, if he thinks you do not see 
 him, he will go his way ; but the least motion will attract his keen and 
 always ready eye, or, if you are to windward of him, his equally sensitive 
 nose will betray your presence, and back he goes. 
 
69 
 
 11. Bear in mind that M^hen it is necessary for you to halloa a fox away 
 you should do so from the spot he broke covert, and whenever you have to 
 tally one in or out of covert, do so from where he luas when you last saw 
 him. The huntsman then brings his hounds to the right place without 
 delay, whereas, if you shout from where you were standing at the tiihe — 
 perhaps half a mile away — an obvious and at times most disastrous delay is 
 occasioned. It is to the fox and not to you the hounds are to be brought. 
 
 12. If more than one fox is afoot, do not tally or halloa any hut the hunted 
 one, and, if you are not perfectly certain, do not shout at all, more particularly 
 after the fox has been hunted for some time. Nothing is more baneful to 
 hunting than changing from the hunted to a fresh fox. 
 
 13. Let hounds get well away with their fox from covert and settle to the 
 scent before you follow them. If the scent be bad, do not go within a 
 hundred yards of them ; they need all the room they can get to work the 
 line out, and they cannot get away from you. When scent is good and they 
 are racing on good terms with their fox over a good line and his point 
 several miles distant, then 
 
 If your horse be well bred and in blooming condition, 
 
 Both up to the country and up to your weight, 
 Oh, then give the reins to your youthful ambition, 
 
 Sit down in youi' saddle and keep his head straight ! 
 
 Kemember also that there is a vast difference betwe n hounds getting well 
 a -^ ay with a fox and getting away well with him. 
 
 14. Do not interfere with hoands at a check, unless requested to do so by 
 the Master or huntsman. If asked to turn a hound, get beyond him, so as 
 to get him betiveen you and the huntsman, before you try to do so. Never 
 gallop after him till you have got beyond him, or he will gallop away from 
 you. 
 
 15. Do not crowd a huntsman when he is making a cast or interfere with 
 him by making suggestions ; doing so, unless you have actually seen the 
 fox, distracts his attention from what he is much better able to form an 
 opinion on than you are, gets the hounds' heads up, and the smell of your 
 horse's sweat spoils the scent. 
 
 16. Do not hurry hounds running along a lane. A fox likes running a 
 lonesome lane, but often makes a sharp turn out of it, and of course hounds, 
 if pressed, will overrun the scent, and a good run is often spoiled thereby. 
 
 17. Do not jump into a road unless hounds have carried the scent up, 
 down, or across it, or until they have done so. Foxes often resort to dodges 
 when they come to a road, and hounds then must be left to themselves, 
 more almost than when in any other difficulty. 
 
 18. Do not bring your horse near the pack when breaking up a fox. 
 The smell of the blood will often make the quietest horse kick a hound, and 
 if he does it is sure to be a good one, if not the best in the pack ! 
 
 19. Last, but not least, never buy a fox. Nothing encourages stealing like 
 having a market for the stolen, and foxes offered for sale are nearly always 
 stolen from some country, and generally from the very country in which 
 they are afterwards offered for sale. It is much better to tell the fellow 
 who brings you a fox to buy to knock his brains out than to give him even 
 sixpence for it. 
 
70 
 
 Then, if the Hunt happens to be a subscription pack, might be 
 added the following notice from the Committee ; for the Master 
 should have nothing to do with the collection of subscriptions ; that 
 should be left to the Committee, Secretary, or Treasurer : — 
 
 The Committee of the Gorse Covert Foxhounds begs to impress upon those 
 who hunt with the pack that it cannot be maintained M-ithout heavy- 
 expenditure ; therefore it is expected that each ladj^ and gentleman will 
 subscribe liberally to the fund, and pay the subscription to the Treasurer 
 punctually every first of September, when contracts for the coming season 
 have to be entered upon. 
 
 It should also be borne in mind that even if through any cause residents 
 in the country may be temporarily prevented from hunting, they should 
 continue their snhscription, for they must remember the same expenditure 
 has to be kept up, whether they hunt or not. 
 
 By Order of the Com. Gorse Covert Foxhounds. 
 
 Thomas Tally-ho, Hon. Sec. 
 
 Now if the foregoing simple rules and observations, with the 
 explanations, were to be fully dinned into the heads of the hunting 
 community, I am convinced they would be generally followed, and 
 would thus make the duties of M.F.H. and huntsman comparatively 
 easy, while the followers of the chase would enjoy all the more sport, 
 and, best of all, the " pastime of princes " would perhaps never cease 
 to be the " glory of youth, consolation of age, sublimest of ecstacies 
 under the sun." 
 
 I\Iost Hunts, I think, can boast of having some followers, more or 
 less, who like to hunt but don't like to subscribe to the fund, and 
 what is worse, indulge those propensities. Now, to those gentle- 
 men I should convey the information — and that, too, without any 
 meal in my mouth — that if they hunt they must subscribe. Of course, 
 there are scores of cases in which exceptions should be made — 
 good sportsmen who can only barely aiford to keep a horse or two, 
 and such like, and men who in other ways aid and assist the sport ; 
 and on no account whatever should a farmer be allowed to subscribe, 
 for he gives enough without having to give money. 
 
 Of course, it has to be left optional to a man what he subscribes, 
 but I think it might very well be calculated at £5 for each day per 
 week he hunts; i.e., a one-day -a-week-man should subscribe £5 a year, 
 a two-day-a week £10, and so on. Should he favour more Hunts than 
 one with his presence he should subscribe proportionately to them all. 
 
 Of course, landed proprietors and those with other standing and 
 position in the county should subscribe much more largely, and 
 that, too, whether they hunt or not, are residents or absentees. 
 Everyone of means, whether he be county or city man, should feel 
 proud of his county Hunt, and show that pride by sustaining it with 
 his money. When I shall have shown in a following chapter what a 
 prodigious national advantage hunting is to our kingdom, it should 
 
71 
 
 need little more to convince men without even any sporting pro- 
 clivities that they should support hunting by every means in their 
 power. 
 
 As I said before, there are many and diverse reasons that induce 
 men to take the field — I cannot say to hunt— and to quote from 
 Jorrocks (p. 244 of " Handley Cross "), " how warious are the motive 
 that draw men to the kiver-side. Some come to see, others to be 
 seen ; some for the ride out, others for the ride 'ome ; some for 
 happetites, some for 'ealth ; some to get away from their wives, and 
 a few to hunt." 
 
 Yes, truly, only a few to hunt ! Only a few out of a large field, 
 perhaps two hundred to five hundred, who know anything about 
 what they are engaged in, with all the rest caring little or knowing 
 nothing about it. Is it therefore to be wondered at that the boiler 
 of the Master's temper at times bursts with tremendous force, 
 scattering scalding steam right and left among the offending and 
 unruly crowd % No, indeed, it is not ; and every allowance should 
 be made for such explosions, for he, being " one pure concentrated 
 essence of hunting," with nervous anxiety for the safety of his hounds, 
 and his sole object in view being to show a good day's sport, would 
 be more than human if he could, or even would, put up with the 
 aggravation he is so continuously subjected to by a host of ignora- 
 muses mad with excitement ! 
 
 However excusable it may be at times for a Master of Hounds to 
 use strong language, it would, of course, be better that he should not 
 do so, and there are many Masters who, no matter what the pro- 
 vocation, never resort to it. To prevent the effect we must remove 
 the cause, and that is most readily done by initiating possible 
 offenders into the mysteries of hunting usage and science by means 
 of some such practical lessons and explanations, as I have endeavoured 
 to give. This is all the more necessary in these days of reformation, 
 and when the company in the hunting-field, like many other institu- 
 tions, is of a different character to that of years gone by. 
 
 Men need a course of instruction in hunting quite as much as 
 they do upon any other subject — a great deal more than upon 
 many. But they seldom or ever get such instruction, hence most 
 of the harm they do arises from ignorance ; but they get blown-up 
 by the Master all the same, and, like the whipper-in of old, get 
 damned if they do this, and damned if they do that, until at last they 
 are damned if they know what to do ! 
 
 How many men who hunt continually, and who think they are 
 fond of it, ever read a book like Beckford's " Thoughts upon Hunt- 
 ing," or Delme Radcliffe's " Noble Science," with the view of learning 
 theory ? They may read " Jorrocks " or " Soapy Sponge," but do so 
 simply because these books are written in an amusing strain ; but 
 they are quite oblivious of the fact that almost every chapter, and 
 sometimes every page of the chapter, gives sound practical advice 
 
72 
 
 and information — the former book as to hunting, and the latter as 
 to riding to hounds, for the author, the late Mr. Robert Smith Surtees, 
 of Hamsterley Hall, Durham, was a houndsman, a horseman, and a 
 sportsman, but he was not a hard rider. 
 
 I have already said enough about the deplorable events which have 
 occurred within the past few years in many of our Irish hunting- 
 countries, events which have had the effect of reducing some of the 
 Hunts from first-class to mediocrity, and of quite annihilating others ; 
 but the lamentable fact remains that hunting in Ireland is now not 
 nearly what it was before the insane agitation arose against it. Not 
 so in merry England, and to English hunting the following remarks 
 chiefly apply. 
 
 By the statistics I shall quote presently it will be seen that within 
 the past nine years the packs of hounds in England have greatly 
 increased, which shows that hunting is more popular in that country 
 now than it has been, perhaps, since Beckford's time. From this very 
 popularity, I fear, arises the danger threatening our national sport. 
 I am not by any means singular in so thinking. The late Col. 
 Bromley-Davenport, one of the finest all-round sportsmen England 
 ever produced, put his fears on the subject plainly in his charmingly- 
 written book " Sport," and very many others coincide with him. 
 
 I allude to the numbers of men who come long distances by rail 
 from non-hunting districts to hunt with some of the crack packs. 
 Many of them, no doubt, are keen sportsmen, and do as little harm 
 individually as is possible for any man riding to hounds ; but there 
 are a great many who are not sportsmen, who know nothing about 
 hunting, and who, as the author of " Sport" puts it, are "unable to 
 distinguish seeds from switch, or turnips from tares," who, through 
 ignorance or ill-manners, do damage to fences and newly laid-down 
 fields, and as compensation they give insolence and insult to the 
 farmers and labourers ; for they never subscribe either to damage or 
 Hunt funds, and, being total strangers, "arrive by train and so 
 depart, leaving broken fences and damaged crops as the only trace 
 of their visit. These are the evils which may lead to the decadence 
 of foxhunting." 
 
 Farmers show extraordinary forbearance, and their toleration is 
 beyond all praise, but continuance of that forbearance cannot be 
 expected in the face of such wanton mischief done by strangers, 
 particularly in times like these, when their farming accounts show 
 loss oftener than profit. It therefore behoves all Masters of Hounds 
 and genuine sportsmen, including the good men who come from a 
 distance, to put a stop to these inroads of galloping snobs before it 
 be too late. Most assuredly, were I Master of the Hunt they came 
 to, I would ride up to each and all of them and order them out 
 of the field, and if they did not obey me I would take the hounds 
 home. 
 
 The hunting season in every district should, I think, wind up with 
 
73 
 
 red-coat point-to-point races, such as was introduced, in 1873, by the 
 Curraghmore, and which have since been the fashion with the 
 Kildares, and I am happy to see they are becoming the custom with 
 most packs in Ireland. These races should be jealously restricted 
 to the members of the Hunt and gentlemen hunting with it, with 
 absolute exclusion of the regular racehorse, professional racegoer, 
 and bookmaker. 
 
 To effect this, I do not think a much better programme could be 
 adopted than one on the lines of our own old Curraghmore Red- 
 coat Kace, which was a race within a race. The system was some- 
 what as follows : — A sweepstake of £5 each, p.p., for horses the bond 
 fide property of subscribers to the covert fund and regularly hunted 
 with the Curraghmore Hounds during the past season and up to 
 within a fortnight of the meeting, and that had never won a steeple- 
 chase value £30 or started for one of £100 ; to be ridden by those 
 qualified to enter a horse, provided he never rode the winner of a 
 steeplechase value £100; weights, 13st. and list. 71b.; four miles, 
 over a sporting country ; to be ridden in full foxhunting costume, 
 with tall hats and red coats ; the riders of list. 71b. to wear a wide 
 white band round the left arm. Conditions : If the race be won by 
 a horse carrying 13st., he takes all the stakes ; if by a horse carrying 
 list. 71b., the stakes to be divided between him and the first 13st. 
 horse ; at least five horses in each class the property of different 
 owners to start, or the conditions will be changed or race declared 
 void at the discretion of the stewards. 
 
 The principle was to confine the race to absolute hunters, regularly 
 kept at work through the season, and not thrown by for the purpose 
 of the race, to be ridden by novices between the flags ; and as each 
 man mounted himself according to his weight for the purpose of 
 going straight to hounds, the weights were chosen as being about 
 the average of the light and heavy men. Of course, if the entries 
 admit of it, there could be separate races for the light and welters. 
 
 In addition there should be, at least, two races for farmers of the 
 country, for their own bond fide horses, to be ridden by themselves or 
 sons, or by members of the Hunt qualified for the red-coat race, 
 but not by professionals. 
 
 No doubt the professional racing man looks upon that sort of thing 
 as a farce, and takes no interest in it ; but that genus seeks for gain, 
 not glory, on the racecourse, and if red-coat races be kept unpopular 
 according to the professional turfite's ideas, and they be not favoured 
 even with his presence, so much the better for all parties. 
 
 I wish to see point-to-point races popular all over the country. 
 The peasantry attend them in large numbers, and come long distances 
 to do so, reminding one of "auld lang syne," and undoubtedly 
 beneficial results to the hunting of their respective countries must 
 ensue. 
 
 Lady friends sometimes object to young fellows riding steeple- 
 
74 
 
 chases, and are quite nervous at the idea of their donning a silk 
 jacket ; but they have no such feelings as regards a hunt, and when 
 they get up in a red coat for the point-to-point race no objection 
 is made, as it is looked at it in the light of a hunt. 
 
 As we get old we get prosy, and like to talk of ourselves ; so I beg 
 the reader to excuse my egotism in stating that it was I who drew 
 out the first article for a red-coat race which appeared in any 
 programme in Ireland in recent years. It was for our Curraghmore 
 Meeting advertised for February, 1873, but, a severe frost setting 
 in, the meeting had to be postponed to the following May. In the 
 meantime the Ward Hunt adopted our idea, and it was at Fairy- 
 house, in the spring of 1873, that the first was run ; but had it not 
 been for the frost the Curraghmore would have taken the lead, as 
 it most assuredly did in publishing the article. In fact, I proposed 
 the same race to Lord Waterford and the other stewards two years 
 before, but it was not adopted. 
 
 Since then these races have become every year more popular, and 
 they are now the wind-up of the season with several Hunts. 
 
 Ah, me ! many a man in my own old city of Waterford, ay, and 
 for twenty miles around, regrets the loss of his annual outing over 
 old Williamstown, of which he was robbed by those who stopped the 
 Curraghmore Hounds. 
 
 What a jolly little meeting was that of Westmeath in the spring of 
 1890, re-establishing as it did old Newbrook, where the popular Lord 
 Greville and other members of his Hunt dispensed hospitality right 
 and left, and showed a good day's sport to the hunting farmers. The 
 only fault was the artificial course. This could be remedied in future 
 by having the red-coat races run outside the artificial track, taking 
 in the old natural fences. 
 
 Earlier in that season I had the luck to be in the North of Ireland, 
 where I attended such another meeting held near Bangor, co. Down. 
 Sporting Lord Londonderry got it up, and it was restricted to the 
 gentlemen and farmers who hunted with the Down Staghounds and 
 Harriers. He gave a silver cup each for the light-weight and heavy- 
 weights, and cash prizes were given for the farmers' races. There 
 was neither entrance fee nor stakes. Unlike Newbrook the course 
 was perfectly natural, and formed a circle nearer five than four miles, 
 with turns that required a man to use his head, for there were but 
 few flags, while the fences demanded both a good horse and a good 
 man to negotiate them. Nearly twenty started for each of the red- 
 coat races, and while we saw in neither horse nor jockey aspirants to 
 Grand National laurels, every man did his best to win, which we do 
 not always see even in the Grand National. 
 
 Now this Northern sporting event deserves more than passing 
 description. In all parts of Ireland, except Ulster, we have fox- 
 hounds and harriers, not forgetting, of course, the world-renowned 
 Ward Union Staghounds ; therefore it is but natural that through 
 
75 
 
 Munster, Leiiister, and Connaught we should find hundreds of sports- 
 men only too anxious, after their hunting season has ended, to make 
 their dehut between the flags or from point-to-point. But, let me ask, 
 what Hunt is there south of the Boyne— ay, or any two of them — 
 which will send forty horses on the same day to compete in a scurry 
 for two cups '? Yet, as I have said, the co. Down sportsmen did so. 
 
 With very few packs of hounds in the North, or other induce- 
 ments for sport, I met many a sportsman there, and found them even 
 keener than the Southerner. Lots of good fellows from the Bann 
 Water and other places emigrate southwards in the winter, like the 
 swallows, and skim over the broad plains of Meath and Kildare at the 
 tail of the hounds, with very few (and at times no one) before them. 
 
 The Ward Hunt, however, can beat all creation in producing 
 sporting lawyers. While in most countries the limbs of the law are 
 generally innocent of sporting proclivities, our Dublin barristers and 
 attorneys come in force to swell the meets of the Ward when within 
 twenty miles of the metropolis, and nearly always when an unusually 
 fine run is being had over the broad acres of that terribly stiif 
 country, the leading men are members of the bar or solicitors. As a 
 wind up of the season it is quite usual to have a point-to-point race 
 between the two representatives of litigation, where wig-and-gown, 
 and " all that and those " ride hard at each other. God preserve me 
 from law, but if I had to engage in it, give me sporting advocates such 
 as the Dublin lawyers. 
 
 At Ballymena, Mr. Nathaniel Morton has a stud of hunters which, 
 for quality, action, manners, and breeding, I seldom see excelled. 
 He is a gentleman horsedealer, in addition to being an eminent mer- 
 chant in Antrim, and a sportsman besides. He shows his horses 
 loose, either in a large yard or under a long covered ride, well tanned, 
 and where they are put, or rather put themselves, for they are not 
 ridden, over a gorse hurdle, which is raised over five feet for some, 
 and which they clear with a good six inches to spare. I was 
 greatly interested in this performance, and feel convinced that the 
 way to see a horse use himself to perfection is to let him do so with- 
 out a rider, whether it be in any of his paces or over fences. Mr. 
 Morton, however, gives every trial of his horses, and an intending 
 buyer can see them ridden by a groom, or he can ride them himself. 
 
 Mr. William Hanway, a large farmer in the county Kildare, trains 
 his racehorses by letting them loose in a big field, and setting collie 
 dogs after them to make them gallop, a performance both horses and 
 dogs enjoy so much that they get plenty of it. By this means he 
 does away with the strain on their legs consequent upon carrying a 
 rider, and has them so fit that for years they have either won or got 
 placed in the Farmers' Race at Punchestown, and with his horse John 
 Kane similarly trained, he won the Conyngham Cup in 1885. 
 
 Writing about horses being let loose and to themselves reminds 
 me of what I consider a very dangerous fashion which has crept into 
 
76 
 
 the hunting-field of late years — that of wearing long-shanked spurs, 
 ome being straight, making the danger still more pronounced. 
 Now, to my ideas, no new innovation upon our old fashions is more 
 objectionable and dangerous. Men throw horses very much oftener 
 than horses throw men. Nine out of ten falls may be assigned to the 
 rider's hands and heels. That good authority, old Mr. William Quin 
 of Loughloher, told me once, "When you jump into a field, fix upon 
 the place you will jump out of it, and go straight for it ; steady your 
 horse when within a few strides of the fence, to get his hind legs 
 under him, and then leave the rest to his own honour I" Yes, if you 
 want to get safely over a country the less you meddle with your horse 
 while fencing the better ; it is therefore manifest that the shorter 
 your spurs are the less likelihood there is of touching him uninten- 
 tionally, and no matter how short they are, a man will do so at times 
 when he gets a shake, even though he be an accomplished rider. A 
 man with a bad seat actually excoriates the shoulders of his horse with 
 long-shanked spurs even when galloping. For my part I always 
 wore spurs with which I could touch my horse only with grea^ 
 difiiculty. In his advice to " ingenuous youths," that renowned and 
 practical workman, Mr. Jorrocks, says of spurs, " the less they use 
 them the better." 
 
 I remember once extricating Lord Marcus Beresford from an awk- 
 ward and dangerous predicament into which he got, owing to one of 
 these infernal spurs. The horse he was riding gave him a fall, and ii« 
 got hung up by the leg in a complicated entanglement of boot, girth, 
 and stirrup-iron, which were all kept skewered together by his long- 
 shanked spur. But for the docility of old Bed Herring the results 
 might have been very serious to Lord Marcus, for he could not have 
 liberated himself. 
 
 Though I said in the opening lines of this chapter that I did not 
 mean to enter into the scientific mysteries of hunting, I will just giva 
 a hint. Nothing can teach a man the real science of hunting better 
 than carefully watching a pack of beagles or harriers hunting a hare 
 if they he lejt entirely to themselves. With foxhounds many things 
 distract a man's attention, and as there are times when all his energy 
 and faculties must be centered in himself and his horse, he cannot 
 learn very much, but with the " thistle- whippers " it is dififerent. 
 When a man takes his Bachelor degree with harriers he soon 
 qualifies as Master of Arts with foxhounds, if not as a Senior Fellow. 
 
 I go with my friend Jorrocks, whose sound, sensible sayings I quote 
 so very often, where he says that " all men who wish to do so can 
 hunt," even upon very limited incomes, but they must deprive them- 
 selves of other enjoyment, and be content to ride a screw, and turn 
 out less smartly than others. The privilege of riding in breeches 
 and leggings should be allowed to the poor but sporting fellows who 
 elect to adopt this laudable method. With that garb, however, I 
 think a pot hat should be worn, but it must suit the man. By the 
 
77 
 
 way, how characteristic of a man is his hat, and the way he wears it ; 
 it is nearly as indicative of his character as his eye. 
 
 In fact a man, if he has the will, can do most things he has a 
 taste for. I remember, when I was a boy in London, learning the 
 business of wine merchant, my father allowed me very liberal pocket 
 money, out of which, however, I had to pay for my mid-day dinner 
 in the city. After a while, I found these dinners made sad inroads 
 upon ray allowance, and that, after paying tailors' and other bills, I 
 had very little " to carry over " for amusement ; and, as my great 
 ambition was to learn to box and to drive tandem, I had to devise 
 some modus operandi, for I would not trespass further upon my good 
 father's liberality. My plan was this : I ate a tremendous breakfast 
 at eight a.m., and an equally substantial supper at ten p.m. at the 
 house of a good old aunt, where I lived ; but instead of spending 2s. 
 or 2s. 6d. on my dinner, at " Baker's," in Change Alley, or " Joe's," in 
 Finch Lane, I dined off twopenny worth of bread-and-cheese and a 
 ])ennyworth of beer at an eating-house. I must confess, however, 
 that the capital dinner my aunt gave every Sunday, and any to which 
 I was invited during the week, suffered severe punishment from my 
 healthy appetite. Now this deprivation (a very mal a j^'i'opos term, 
 by the way, when comparing grub with sport at the age of eighteen) 
 enabled me to save some 12s. or 14s. a week, which additional surplus 
 left me quite enough to enter into arrangements with Nat Langham 
 and a swell jobmaster in Piccadilly — I forget his name now — the one 
 to teach me "the noble art of self-defence," and the other how to 
 drive one horse before the other. By steady attendance upon " old 
 Nat" from six to eight nightly, I soon became tolerably handy 
 with the gloves ; and as I spent every Saturday afternoon and any 
 odd hours I could get away during the week with the head lad of the 
 stables, it was not very long before I was equally handy with the 
 ribbons, so that after about six months I was honoured by Nat's intro- 
 ducing me to a distinguished audience at the Mitre Tavern, as " a new 
 Corinthian novice," and right proud I was on the occasion ! My other 
 mentor was equally good ; in fact, as regards my pocket, very much 
 better, for he often gave me a tandem gratis to show them off in the 
 Park on a summer's Saturday afternoon. Reader,7orgiYe this egotistic 
 digression, but the pen refuses to leave unrecorded what memory 
 recalls with such mingled feelings of pleasure and regret. Ay, and 
 I now remember that by doing without dinners I had an odd day 
 now and again with the Surrey Staghounds and West Kent Fox- 
 hounds. What pleasure would it give me now to remember dinners 
 I ate over thirty years ago ! But I have a great deal of pleasure in 
 thinking of the " rounds " at Old Nat's, and the rounds of the Park 
 in those heedless, happy days, 
 
 I agree entirely with Colonel Davenport's concluding remarks in 
 the chapter on foxhunting in his splendid book entitled "Sport," 
 and " ugly visions sometimes haunt me " too — visions of a time coming 
 
78 
 
 when not only our national sports, but many other British institu- 
 tions, may be supplanted, or possibly be uprooted altogether, through 
 fanatical ideas of " humanitarian morality " and advanced opinions 
 culminating in socialism and communistic disposal of all men's pro- 
 perty. 
 
 Those days may be far off, and as we cannot " pierce the veil of 
 the future " we should be ever vigilant and take preventive measures. 
 This book treats solely with sport, so to those alone who, from 
 mistaken notions of humanity, or other more or less righteous 
 motives, strive to interfere with our national sports, I would say 
 that without hunting the whole breed of foxes would, within a few 
 years, be ruthlessly swept off the face of the three kingdoms by 
 poison or other means, and none of the money shortly to be alluded 
 to would be spent in this country, for men would then go abroad for 
 amusement. While, as it is, foxes are well cared for during the whole 
 course of their lives, except during the very short time they are 
 being hunted ; and when they are killed, the means are infinitely 
 more merciful than those of trap or poison. Shooting and fishing, 
 too, afford an easier death to birds and fishes than that dealt them by 
 their natural enemies or the net. 
 
 If the ultra-righteous people to whom I address these remarks 
 were to wage war against those who practise the diabolical cruelty 
 of cock and dog fighting, badger-baiting, rabbit-coursing and trap- 
 pigeon shooting, etc., or engage in the pernicious habits of gambling 
 or tippling, they would undertake a better work. But let them 
 leave the national sports of our country to sportsmen. 
 
 It is all very well for these good people to say that the money 
 which is spent upon sport should be devoted to the relief of those 
 people in the country who have none of the luxuries and few of the 
 necessaries of life. Very righteous remark. But does not every 
 shilling spent on sport go into the pockets of people, many hundreds 
 of whom would be without the necessaries of life if sport was given 
 up in Britain ? 
 
 I now leave this phase of my subject with the hope that what I 
 have written may be of some utility, and that no one, not even the 
 young men who come from a distance to hunt, will take offence at my 
 remarks. In the next chapter I shall endeavour to show how 
 important hunting, as an institution, is to the nation from a monetary 
 point of view, as distinguishable from its sporting aspect. 
 
79 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ^THAT HUNTING IS TO THE NATION. 
 
 Author's Letter in 1875— Accurate Calculations— Author's Letter of 1881— Criticism Courted— 
 Refutation Defied— Cost of Hunting— Table of Same— Cost of Keeping Hunters- 
 Hunting Establishments, Value of— Annual Cost— Table of Same— Stupendous Amount 
 — Author's Dogmatism— His Defiance Repeated— But Explanation Given— Cost of 
 Feeding Hounds— Farmers' Co-operation— English and Irish Farmers and Yeomen- 
 Innate Sportsmen— Farmers Get the Money— The Little Red Rover- Poetical Advice 
 to Farmei-s— Result of Stoppage of Hunting— Importance of these Facts and Figures- 
 Leading Periodical's Opinion in 1881— Table of Packs, 1881-1890— England v. Ireland- 
 Why ?— A Mistake in the Press. 
 
 As far back as November, 1875, I published a letter on this subject 
 in the Irish Sjoortsmcm. The calculations I made were reproduced in 
 many other sporting and daily papers at the time, and though they 
 have been quoted very often since, I have never heard their accuracy 
 questioned. The calculations could not, however, be upset, for they 
 were based upon the accurately-kept accounts of several first and 
 second class hunting establishments — fox, hare, and stag hounds — 
 which I was allowed to inspect, and also upon what I know myself 
 on the subject. 
 
 I reproduced the calculation in the second edition of my " Recipes'' 
 «arly in 1881, but when the agitation against hunting began in 
 Ireland towards the end of that year I went much deeper into the 
 subject, and published letters, signed " The Fox," in the Freeman^ 
 Journal and other papers, which received vastly more attention 
 than the others. The first letter dealt only with first and second 
 class establishments, but that of the autumn, 1881, included many 
 smaller packs, and in consequence the estimated average cost was 
 reduced considerably. 
 
 It is necessary to give this explanation in order to explain the 
 alteration in some of my figures, and I want to be as explicit as 
 possible. 
 
 The following calculation is based upon proper and economical 
 management, without providing for waste or extravagance. Stupen- 
 dous though the figures undoubtedly are, and although they can be 
 approximate only, I confidently lay them before the public as being 
 under rather than over the mark. I court criticism and defy refuta- 
 tion, and do so without apprehension. 
 
 Previous to 1860 the yearly cost of keeping foxhounds was calcu- 
 lated at a little under £500 for each day they hunted in the week ; 
 that is, a pack which hunted two days a week would cost a little 
 under £1,000 a year. From 1860 to 1870 this sum amounted to ove 
 
80 
 
 £600, and now I am quite certain £650 a day does not cover all the 
 expenses of foxhunting a country. Staghounds can be kept for £550 
 a day, as they have fewer incidental expenses, though the deer cost a 
 great deal. Harriers can be kept for £200 a day. Hunts in the field 
 three or five days a week are proportionately more expensive than 
 those hunting four or six days. 
 
 To foxhunt a country in the style Lord Waterford did the 
 Curraghmore, or as his father-in-law, the Duke of Beaufort, does 
 the Badminton, would cost annually, at the least, a thousand pounds 
 a day for each day a week they hunt. 
 
 According to the returns given for 1890, the packs of hounds and 
 the number of days per week they hunt are as stated in the 
 following 
 
 Table showing the Cost of Hunting the various Countries in 
 THE United Kingdom, including that of the Master. 
 
 Description. 
 
 Num- 
 ber of 
 Packs. 
 
 Couple 
 Hounds. 
 
 
 Cost per 
 
 day 
 a week. 
 
 Yearly 
 Cost. 
 
 Staghounds— 
 
 English 
 
 13 
 3 
 
 162 
 16 
 
 103 
 25 
 10 
 
 319 
 
 85 
 
 6,120 
 532 
 
 1,694 
 417 
 300 
 
 26 
 
 8 
 
 473 
 42 
 
 215 
 
 52 
 20 
 
 £ 
 
 553 
 )i 
 
 650 
 
 5J 
 
 200 
 400 
 
 £ 
 14,300 
 
 Irish 
 
 4,400 
 
 Foxhoimds— 
 English and Scotch 
 
 307,450 
 
 Irish 
 
 27,300 
 
 Harriers- 
 En o"lish and Scotch 
 
 43,000 
 
 Irish 
 
 10,400 
 8,000 
 
 Packs not in list, say 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 332 
 
 9,467 
 
 836 
 
 — 
 
 414,850 
 
 
 
 This makes the annual cost of 332 Hunts to be £414,850. Let us 
 call them in round numbers 330 packs. Each Hunt has an average 
 field of, say, 100 hunting men, each of whom has, say, three horses 
 in his stable. That gives us 99,000 hunters. These cost fifteen 
 shillings a week per annum to keep, which amounts to a total of 
 £3,861,000. We can, therefore, put down the bare cost of maintain- 
 ing the Hunts and keeping the hunters of the United Kingdom at 
 over four millions and a quarter per annum ; and this prodigious 
 sum includes none of the " extras " contingent upon hunting, such 
 as mansions and houses taken for the hunting season, entertaining 
 friends, covert hacks, and carriage horses, travelling expenses, red 
 coats, top-boots and breeches, or the many gratuities which render 
 the generosity of hunting men proverbial. 
 
 To make a correct valuation of hunting establishments is a task 
 
81 
 
 even greater than that of attempting to arrive ab the annual cost of 
 hunting a country or the keep of the hunters ; but let me essay it. 
 
 Put the 99,000 private hunters down at £100 apiece (a very low 
 average, in view of the fact that many are worth from £200 to £500 
 each, and few are of less value than £70), and we have £9,900,000 as 
 their value. The 330 Hunts have from twenty to eighty couple of 
 hounds in their kennels, so if we value each pack at, say, £700 
 all round (also a low figure ; Lord Waterford's kennel sold for £1,910 
 a few years ago), we have £231,000 as the value of the hounds. Each 
 Hunt has, on the average, say, ten servants' horses (a ridiculously low- 
 average, considering some Hunts have thirty horses for the men), 
 worth, say, £50 apiece, that? is £165,000, or £396,000 as the value of the 
 hounds and servants' horses belonging to the 330 packs. 
 
 The foregoing shows that we have 33,000 private hunting stables, 
 and 330 stables for the Hunts ; so, placing the value of saddlery, 
 horse-clothing, stable furniture, etc., at the low estimate of £25 all 
 round, we have £833,250 as the aggregate. The cost of renewing, 
 repairs, etc., is included in the other estimates. 
 
 For convenience, and as a companion to the former table, I append 
 the following, which shows 
 
 The Value of Hunting Establishments of the United Kingdom 
 AND their Annual Cost of Maintenance. 
 
 
 ; 
 
 1 1 ^1 
 
 Total 
 Value. 
 
 Annual 
 Cost of 
 Main- 
 tenance. 
 
 Private hunters 
 
 £ 
 99,000 100 
 3,300 1 50 
 330 700 
 
 £ 
 
 9,900,000 
 
 165,000 
 
 231,000 
 
 833,250 
 
 £ 
 3,861,000 
 
 Hunt servants' ditto 
 
 
 Packs of hounds (9,467 couple) 
 
 1 414,850 
 
 Included 
 above. 
 
 Saddlery, clothing, etc., in stables 
 
 33,330 
 
 25 
 
 Total, 102,300 hunters, 330 packs 
 
 ... 
 
 
 11,129,250 
 
 4,275,850 
 
 Now this result shows us that the hunting establishments of the 
 United Kingdom are of a marketable value of nearly eleven millions 
 one hundred and thirty thousand pounds sterling, while their main- 
 tenance, as I have said before, requires an annual expenditure of 
 a good deal over four millions and a quarter ! 
 
 Was I wrong in styling the figures stupendous ? or in stating that 
 hunting did more for the nation than any other institution, bar 
 religion and education ? No, I was not. Neither am I wrong in 
 firmly asserting that, astounding as the amounts appear, they are 
 very far short of the absolutely correct amount spent on hunting in 
 the British Isles. 
 
82 
 
 Some people may, perhaps, accept the return as incorrect, but 
 again I defy anyone to prove one single item to be over the mark. 
 However, as I want this subject to be thoroughly understood, and 
 my readers and the public to have confidence in the correctness of 
 the returns, I will give a simple example, the accuracy of which any- 
 one can test, and by consulting a Master of Hounds or Hunt secretary 
 it is very easy to find out whether I am correct or not in my other 
 figures. 
 
 All dogs the size of a foxhound, if kept in kennel and properly fed 
 for hard work, will cost about Is. 6d. a week to feed (I don't allude 
 to one or two dogs, which may be fed very well and conditioned on 
 the refuse of the kitchen, which but for them would be given away 
 or thrown into the manure pit). Now, 9,467 couple means 18,934 
 hounds — say ] 8,900 for the sake of simplicity ; these, at Is. 6d. each, 
 cost just £1,417 a week to feed. Xearly £73,700 a year for only 
 feeding our hounds ! Again, the man who keeps an account of all 
 his hunting expenses knows that each day he goes out with the 
 hounds costs him about £3, and to keep the cost at that figure he 
 must hunt each horse he has pretty nearly three days a fortnight. 
 If he has to go long distances by train, that sum must be increased 
 proportionately. I know I am jDrolix on this subject, hut I want to 
 impress these important fcicts upon the inihlic. 
 
 We are able to invest this vast amount of money in hunting, and 
 to keep the annual cost in steady circulation ; and we shall be able 
 to do so for generations to come if the farmers will continue to us 
 their permission to hunt over their lands, their forbearance in respect 
 to damage done, their assistance in preserving foxes and hares, and — 
 a requisite as important as any — if they will give up the use of wire 
 on their fences J and as palings. 
 
 The farmers and yeomen of England are as fine specimens of 
 manhood as can be found in any land, and so are the farmers of 
 Ireland if let alone. Farmers are nearly all born sportsmen, not with 
 an outward veneering like many of those who think themselves 
 higher up in the social scale, but with true, innate, and deep-seated 
 love of sport. 
 
 Of course there are some without that inheritance, who, from selfish 
 motives or warped conceptions of what is for the general good, do 
 not approve of hunting or of any sport ; but, thank heaven, they are 
 in the very, very small minority. But even they must admit the 
 fact that of the colossal sums I have quoted nearly every shilling 
 Hnds its way, directly or indirectly, into the jmckets of the farminrf 
 class ; and that upon the little red rover of the hazel eye and russet- 
 brown brush they must look as the sole representative of more 
 sport than all the other wild beasts, birds, and fishes of the world 
 put together. Yes, it is the fox, with the assistance of the hare and 
 the deer, that calls forth all this vast yearly exi)enditure of money. 
 
I 
 
 83 
 
 Attend, ye farmers, to my tale, 
 And, as ye mend tlie broken rail, 
 Reflect with pleasure on the sport 
 That lures your landlord from the court 
 To live and spend his rents among- 
 The country-folk from whom they sprang. 
 And should his horse, with trampling feet, 
 Do damage to your tender wheat, 
 By you, perhaps, that horse was bred, 
 And yours the oats on which he's fed ; 
 Ah ! then restrain your rising ire, 
 Nor rashly damn the hunting squire. 
 
 If hunting were stopped, there would follow from the rural 
 districts of England an exodus that would inflict upon its yeomen 
 the loss not only of all the money spent on hunting, but of a ^^ast 
 l^roportion of the other outlays of country gentlemen. 
 
 I hope my readers share my opinion of the importance of the 
 matters with which I have dealt in this chapter. The facts and 
 figures I have given possess a significance the recognition of which 
 will do more for hunting than all the rhapsody or reason put forth 
 in a dozen books, 
 
 A leading periodical, when reproducing the estimate I gave in 
 1881, adds : " These figures, which no sophistry can dispute and no 
 method of statement darken, show with marked evidence the value 
 hunting is to the kingdom, when we know this vast amount of money 
 finds its way into the pockets of the farmers and tradesmen without 
 leaving any profit, but, on the contrary, an unremunerative outlay to 
 the sportsman," etc. 
 
 We engage in commercial, agricultural, and other undertakings, 
 and though we thus spend large sums on labour, etc., we do so with 
 the direct and sole purpose of making 7iioney. But a sportsman faces 
 endless expenditure for no return whatever save a scurry across 
 country ; this is a fact to be borne in mind by the detractors of 
 sport. 
 
 In conclusion I give a comparative table of the packs of hounds in 
 the United Kingdom in 1881 and in 1890, taken from the same 
 authority as the former tables : — 
 
 1881. 1890. 
 
 Packs. Packs. 
 
 Staghounds — 
 
 English 12 13 
 
 Irish .». 5 3 
 
 Foxhounds — 
 
 English and Scotch 143 162 
 
 Irish 19 16 
 
 Harriers — 
 
 English and Scotch 75 103 
 
 Irish 52 25 
 
 This shows that England and Scotland have increased their 
 hunting establishments witliin the past nine years by one pack of 
 
84 
 
 staghouncls, nineteen packs of foxhounds, and twenty-eight packs of 
 harriers ; while Ireland, within the same suggestive period, has 
 decreased hers by two packs of staghounds, three packs of foxhounds, 
 and twenty-seven packs of harriers. Xot alone that, but some of the 
 packs still hunting in Ireland are but shadows of what they once 
 were. Why ? Echo answers, " Why 1" 
 
 P.S. — The foregoing chapter appeared as an article from me in the 
 columns of Land and Water in February, 1892. At the Brocklesby 
 Puppy Show, held in the following summer. Lord Yarborough did 
 me the honour of quoting my figures, but although his lordship 
 stated distinctly the source from which he took them, the jDapers all 
 over the country gave to Lord Yarborough the credit of compiling 
 them. 
 
 \ 
 
85 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FOXES. 
 
 Hen houses —Lambs— Natural Food— What to feed Foxes on— Worms— Vermifuge— Little 
 trouble preserving Foxes— Vixen teaching Cubs— Vixen's care of Cubs— Vixens' 
 breeding places— Country Gentlemen's duty towards Foxes— Relief to M.F.H.— Mr. 
 Ned Briscoe and Mr. Henry Bowers— Activity and Shapes of a Fox— His Foot v. a 
 Dogs— His endurance v. a Foxhound's— Buying Foxes— M.F.H. buying Foxes- 
 Mountain Dog Foxes— Crossing Breeds— Greyhound Fox—" Long, Limber, and Grey " 
 —Author's Admiration of the Fox— A V'exed Question— Docking Foxes — Au Anecdote. 
 
 Very little is kno>vn of the nature of foxes ; and still less is it 
 known how easy it is to prevent their doing damage. 
 
 If the door posts or windows of the hen house be occasionally rubbed 
 with tar, no fox will go near it ; or better still, burn a little assafcetida 
 therein, and a fox will not go within a mile of it, even if he is starving. 
 The smell made by this process is objectionable ; but it is a capital 
 way of preventing a fox going to ground in a dangerous earth or 
 one that cannot be easily stopped. 
 
 If a piece of tape be tied round the neck of a lamb no fox 
 will go near it. In no case will he take a lamb unless it be a poor, 
 weakly one, and unprotected by the ewe, as it is too troublesome 
 and heavy to be carried off ; and if the mother were there she would 
 drive him away. Ninety-nine out of a hundred of the lambs which 
 are laid to the foxes' charge are really killed by cur dogs. 
 
 The food a fox likes most is of the plainest kind —such as rabbits, 
 rats, mice, frogs, beetles, crows, blackberries, hurts, also fish; and the 
 more decayed the meat and fish the better he likes it ; rotten fish, 
 however, gives them the mange, as we learn from the number of 
 mangy foxes found at times near the seaside. 
 
 Now, if foxes are regularly fed with rabbits, crows, rats, and mice, 
 which at all times are easily procured, they will seldom, if ever, attack 
 game or poultry, and, in fact, will do little or no damage. Care must 
 be taken, however, not to make them too comfortable at home, for if 
 they be they will not travel, and therefore can't gain that knowledge 
 of the country which is so essential to good runs. A fox is naturally 
 a lazy fellow, and seldom travels far except in search of food and in 
 the clicketing season. 
 
 AVe seldom hear of a fox having worms, which is attributable to the 
 fact of his living so much upon animals which have furry skins ; and 
 for this reason I recommend the skin of a rabbit to be mixed occa- 
 sionally in dogs' food to act as about the very best vermifuge. 
 
 When it is remembered that the fox provides the attraction which 
 induces gentlemen to stay in the country and spend on hunting the 
 millions of money I have already referred to, we should zealously 
 
86 
 
 protect and preserve him ; particularly when by taking the little 
 trouble I have mentioned we can make him as inoffensive as a kitten, 
 and more so than a cat. 
 
 Nothing is more interesting in its way than the sight of a vixen 
 tending her cubs. On a fine day she brings them out of the earth 
 and plays with them as a bitch does with her puppies; but at the 
 least sign of danger she and the youngsters disappear. As they grow 
 older and hardier she teaches them to tear up their food, and 
 will bring home a half -killed crow or rabbit to furnish an object 
 lesson, and see then how the little fellows growl and fight over the 
 prey ! Finally she brings them out at night, and shows them all the 
 earths and places in the vicinity where they can go to ground in 
 moments of danger. As soon as the cubs can take care of themselves 
 she leaves them to do so. 
 
 A litter was once brought out near my house. I took great delight in 
 watching the cubs morning and ev-ening, and repeatedly saw the vixen, 
 after a game of romps, hunt in the young ones before going off herself 
 on a foray ; but no sooner were they driven in than they would re- 
 appear and try to follow her. Then she would regularly cuflf them 
 with her paw, and even bite them, and, having sent them back to bed, 
 would remain about the earth till she saw they were not likely to 
 come out again. 
 
 Vixens, though such cunning animals, often lay up their cubs in 
 most exposed and dangerous places. I have known one to breed three 
 years in succession in the old flue of a greenhouse. When a litter 
 is found to be in a dangerous place it should be carefully disturbed, 
 and the mother will then move her family to safer quarters. Some- 
 times a vixen will have two nurseries, Avhich she will use alternately, 
 and, seeing the marks at both, a keeper often calculates upon having 
 two litters instead of one. If cubs be laid up near to a dwelling- 
 house, the vixen very often becomes extremely vicious, and will 
 attack women and children even without being molested by them. 
 But, strange to say, she will not take poultry from that place, nor will 
 she allow the cubs when they get hardy to do similar damage. 
 Another of the many instances of the craftiness of the species. 
 
 A great many people think that there is little or nothing to be 
 done about hunting from the "last day of the season" till the 
 following cubhunting. They are very wrong in such ideas. The 
 day after the last of the season is the first of the next with the Master 
 and Hunt servants, and so it should he with country gentlemen ovming 
 or living near fox coverts. 
 
 Vixens lay ujd generally between early March and May, during 
 which time, and until the cubs get hardy, they require careful looking 
 after, both to prevent their being worried and to have them well fed. 
 If a vixen finds plenty of food laid for her near where she has her 
 cubs she will not visit hen roosts or do damage, neither will she have 
 occasion to leave the cubs in search of food, but can stay at home and 
 
87 
 
 protect them. It should be the pleasure of men living in the country 
 to personally look after these matters, and not expect the M.F.H. to 
 do so ; besides, when going through the country they have grand 
 opportunities for friendly chats with the farmers and their families. 
 
 The two best men I ever knew for looking after a foxhunting 
 country were Mr. Ned Briscoe of Harristown and Mr. Henry Bower.s 
 of Owning, in the county Kilkenny. Neither hunted, but the delight 
 of each was to look after the earth-stopping and coverts in the 
 winter, and the vixens and cubs in the summer, and to these two 
 sportsmen was the Curraghmore Hunt deeply indebted for a great 
 deal of the good sport it had during the eleven years of ^Ir. Henry 
 Briscoe's Mastership, and the like period of Lord Waterford's. In 
 fact, next to the Master and huntsman, I always looked upon 
 them as the most useful men we had in the whole Curraghmore 
 Hunt. Besides knowing what to do and how to do it, they liked 
 doing it, and did it. 
 
 I think the fox is of all animals the most active and supple of body. 
 Unarmed though he be with the claws on which the cat so largely 
 depends for her agile movements, he can jump and climb nearly as 
 well ; while he can turn and twist himself in the smallest space and 
 into any shape short of a knot. It is curious, however, that the shape 
 of his foot differs so essentially from what we recognise as the 
 shape best calculated to fit a dog for the endurance of long and hard 
 work. A fox's foot is flat and down-at-the-toes, while a dog's should 
 be quite the reverse. Still, that grand and game little animal is 
 often able to beat for miles over a country the best pack of hounds, 
 handicapped as he often is with a belly full of food, eaten, perhaps, 
 only a few hours before he is found, and never in what is called 
 "condition." Oh, what a shame it is (except under very few and 
 exceptional conditions) to dig a fox out and give him to the hounds 
 when the gallant little fellow has got to ground after beating his 
 forty pursuers fairly and squarely above it ! To me it was always 
 the most Cockney, hair-dresser and grocer sort of business to see a 
 terrier as an adjunct to a pack of foxhounds. 
 
 Apart from the sport he gives, and money he keeps in circulation, 
 I really think the fox is the most to be admired of all wild animals. 
 His perfect symmetry of shape, lovely colour, and bewitchingly 
 roguish eye ahvays charmed me ; while activity, inherent courage, 
 sagacity, and endurance are the highest attributes of even the 
 human race. 
 
 Buying foxes is, as I said elsewhere, a very wrong thing for any 
 man to do. The chances are the fox brought to be sold has been 
 stolen in the very country wherein he is offered for sale ; if not, he 
 has been stolen from some other country. In either case, he should 
 not be bought. 
 
 Masters of Foxhounds have, of course, at times to buy foxes to 
 re-stock portions of their country ; but when this is necessary they 
 
88 
 
 should see that tlieir importations come from a bond fide non-hunting 
 country. It will not do that the foxes are taken from parts of 
 a country which are not hunted, for we in Ireland all know that foxes 
 bred and living in wild, rocky mountains come down to the lowlands 
 to forage, and in the spring travel far into the interior ; and when 
 old mountain dog foxes are then and there found they give runs as 
 straight as a ruler to their rocky fastnesses ; generally speaking, the 
 very best of the season. 
 
 Xo one should buy a fox except the M.F.H., and he only after 
 he has used every precaution to ensure its having been taken from 
 some place which is at least thirty miles from where a foxhound 
 draws. 
 
 The breed of foxes, like that of all animals, needs to be crossed, and 
 it is highly desirable that imported vixens and dogs should be turned 
 down at times throughout a country. The straightest running and 
 stoutest breed is " the greyhound " — generally, if not always, got in 
 wild mountain districts ; but he is, I fear, a bit mischievous at times. 
 Thick-set, short-necked, foxes are bad, and so are foreigners. " Long, 
 limber, and grey" is the sort to give good runs. And everyone 
 knows that the early spring is the best time to turn down foxes in a 
 strange country. 
 
 As to foxes being alike to dogs under certain similar circumstances 
 there is great difference of oi^inion. The relation of two incidents 
 which came directly under my own notice may enable my readers to 
 form their own judgment. For my own part I infer therefrom that 
 the pairs were overtaken under conditions which made separation 
 or flight impossible to them. 
 
 The Curraghmore Hounds, in the spring of the year, about 1865, 
 had hunted a fox for some miles over the Bessborough country, and 
 finally ran him into Gortrush. They carried the scent to the middle 
 of the wood, and there they killed two foxes in the same spot. I 
 saw the dead bodies at the time. One was a dog, the other a vixen, 
 and both were quite clean, and with no appearance of having been 
 hunted. About the year 1884, again in the early spring time, the 
 Dungarvan train, in daylight, ran over and killed two foxes in the 
 same spot, near Kilmeadan. Their mangled bodies were brought to 
 Waterford, where I saw them next day, and there was sufficient 
 evidence to show that they also were of different gender. 
 
 Men who pay attention to hunting know that a fox, when he runs 
 through a heavy country, gathers in his brush a lot of wet and mud — 
 the weight of this handicaps him terribly, and tends, at times more 
 than the hounds, to jDull him down. It therefore often occurred to 
 me that it might not be a bad plan to " dock " a fox whenever the 
 chance offered. Xo doubt to lose what Xature gave for a good and 
 specitic purpose would cause him, at least, inconvenience, particularly 
 when he had to make a quick turn or exert unusual activity. True, 
 also, a fox deprived of his brush would not alone look awfully bad, 
 
89 
 
 but lots of times, when at a distance, he would be taken for a hare. 
 Worst of all he would have taken from him that which has been the 
 ilex inimitable during the annals of foxhunting as the trophy of 
 prowess. Nevertheless a bob-tailed fox will take a deal more killing 
 than the fellow with a brush. 
 
 I remember in 1858 Lord Waterford's hounds ran a fox to ground 
 near Killeen. The earth-stopper. Tommy Knockmore, took him out, 
 cut oft' half his brush and then let him go. (A week after he gave 
 me the i^iece docked off, and I have it still.) For five or six seasons 
 after did that fox give us capital runs, and, resorting to Killeen, he 
 became, by reason of the "finds," a regular annuity to old Tom, 
 Many a time I saw him going away with his stump stuck straight 
 up in the most grotesque style. He was the bane of Briscoe and 
 Johnny Ryan, for there was no killing him, and I think he must 
 have died of old age. We called him Bobbie. 
 
90 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 HORSE-BRIlEDING. 
 
 Clippings from Authors Scrap-book— Horses of the Ancients— Early Horse-breeding- 
 Curious Act of Parliament -Stallions 150 years ago— Origin of the Thoroughbred- 
 Authors Interest in the Subject— His Experience— Theoretical rather than Practical- 
 Irish Horses— Government Stallions— Local Horse Shows— Ball's Bridge Show- 
 Inverse Eatio — Mares— Dams of Great Horses— " Nicking "—La Fleche— Steeple- 
 chasers and Hunters— " Jumping Blood "—Authors Experience of Thoroughbred 
 Hunters— Suitabilit}- of Mare to Horse— Physiology— Suggestions— In-and-out Eun- 
 ning— Malpractice— Breeder to Blame— Xot the Trainer or Jockey— Ciceroues— Dis- 
 organisation of System— A Code for the Farmer— Ould Plan of Training— Grumbling- 
 Old Fairs— Dublin Horse Show— Clonmel and Moy Fairs— ^lagnificent Hunters in 
 Plenty— Irish Dealers— Stud Farms— Good Mares— Mr. Hutton— Increase of Thorough- 
 bred Sires— How to Improve the Mares— List of Stud Farms— All First-class— Fees for 
 Service— Knockany and Bruree— Mr. John Gubbins— A Great Establishment— Captain 
 StamerGubbins — Lucas—Xenophon— Victor— Umpire— Solon— Ireland better off than 
 ever— Lackaday !— Exportation of Good Horses and Mares— Positive Insanity— Free 
 Trade— Protective Measures— Our Horses and the Foreigners— Our Colonies— Stock- 
 well -Other Good Eesults from Stud Farms— A Tribute to great Sportsmen— Their 
 names— A Stud of Horses and a Kennel of Foxhounds -A Bad Example— Strange 
 Notions of an Owner— Everything Bad— Points of a Brood Mare— Author's Opinion- 
 Watercress and La Fleche— Eoyal Dublin Society— Dublin Horse Show— A Short 
 History— Great Irish Institution— Leading Spirits— Samuel Ussher Eoberts— James 
 Talbot Power— James O'Eeilly— The Society and the Show Xon-Political— The Section 
 which Supports them— Real Patriots— Dear Old Ireland 1 
 
 Fkom my scrap-book I take some of the following particulars of the 
 ancient history of our horses. 
 
 The earliest allusion to the horse is where Anak, about 1590 B.C., 
 found mules in the wilderness, the progeny of the horse and the ass. 
 About 1500 B.C. horses were used in warfare. Early in the Christian 
 era we find that Julius Ciesir, when he invaded Britain, was opposed by 
 " immense bodies of horsemen," and later on that Boadicea harangued 
 her army from her war chariot, and in it led her famous charge against 
 the Koman General Suetonius. Unfortunately for my purpose there 
 was no Weatherby in those days, so what breed the horses were or 
 what they were like I can't conveniently state. Doubtless they were 
 good, and answered well their purpose. 
 
 In the reign of Henry VIII. it would appear that horses were beginning 
 to deteriorate in size and strength, owing probably to incestuous 
 breeding, for it was enacted (32 Henry VIII., c. 13) " that no person shall 
 put on any forest, chase, moor, heath, common, or waste any stoned 
 horse above the age of two year not being fifteen hands high." 
 
 It was not until the year 1616 that improvement in the breed 
 of horses began to be systematically pursued in Great Britain. We read 
 that James I. then gave oOOgs. to Mr. Markham for a stallion he 
 had imported from Arabia, but a prejudice set in against the horse 
 because he was not a success as a racer, and he was not much 
 
91 
 
 bred from. In Queen Anne's reign we find the " Darley Arabian," a 
 horse bred on the desert of Palmyra, and imported from Aleppo by 
 Mr. Darley. His progeny are described as being " unequalled for 
 beauty, speed, and strength." From this horse first sprung our thorough- 
 breds. Next we have the Godolphin, but he was said to be a Barb and 
 not an Arabian. He lived to be twenty-nine years old and died in 1753. 
 
 In 1752 there were sixty thoroughbred stallions standing in various 
 parts of England. The fees were then very moderate compared to now- 
 Cronootes headed the list at 28gs. Bolton Starling was next at 8g>\, 
 while others varied from 1 to 3gs. Eight of these were imported 
 Arabians, and it is owing to them and well selected Barbarys that Great 
 Britain now reigns supreme in the production of the best breed of 
 horses in the world. 
 
 Although I bred many a setter and pointer, as well as other 
 dogs, I never bred a horse in my life. Nevertheless, I took the deepest 
 interest in horse-breeding, but more in the hunter than the thorough- 
 bred class. Any ideas I may have formed are, therefore, so theoretical 
 I am not going to put many of them into print. 
 
 Of course, I have been shown over many breeding establishments, 
 English as well as Irish ; and at our Dublin Horse Show I see hundreds 
 of hunters with lords and ladies of the harem which are considered 
 worthy representatives of their classes, while at Newmarket, the 
 Curragh, and other head-quarters of the thoroughbred I have seen 
 racehorses innumerable from the yearling upwards. 
 
 At all these places I listen to what is said about breeding by others 
 who, from long practical experience, ought to know what they are 
 talking about. The theories put forward by some are, however, so at 
 variance with those laid down by others that I am fain to try to form 
 an opinion of my own. 
 
 Lacking, therefore, as I do all practical experience, and possessing 
 only this thin veneering of theoretical knowledge on the subject, I am 
 not going to try and teach practical breeders their business ; but I will 
 venture upon some remarks which I trust won't be taken as altogether 
 puerile. 
 
 We in Ireland are justly famous for our horses, but I think by taking 
 a little more trouble we might become much more so. Our climate 
 is suitable for rearing horses hardy. Our soil is to a great extent of a 
 limestone nature, which is the best for producing bone. We feed our 
 young ones well, but do not pamper them, leaving them out in the air 
 and to the elements more than do the English breeders, whereby they 
 grow up all the more healthy, and we train them to perfection. 
 
 Of late years our breed of horses has been greatly improved by the 
 introduction all over the country of those thoroughbred stallions 
 provided by Government, and whose service can be obtained by farmers 
 at a nominal figure. 
 
 Local shows have also done an immensity of good, while that held 
 at Ball's Bridge is quite the greatest and best exhibition of the sort in 
 
92 
 
 the whole world. The finest specimens of every class, except the cart 
 horse, are there exhibited. 
 
 I don't think we pay as much attention as we oaght to the breeding 
 and conformation of our mares. As long as some of us can breed a foal 
 got by a thoroughbred horse, we don't much care what the mare is like. 
 This is a subject which should occupy the consideration of the Royal 
 Dublin Society, and doubtless it will do so. 
 
 For my part, I think it would be a better plan to produce foals from 
 fine, big, roomy thoroughbred mares, well-shaped and tempered, and got 
 by half-bred stallions, than is the present and more popular idea of 
 proceeding by quite the reverse method. 
 
 I think it is decidedly a bad plan to breed from a mare that has been 
 worked unduly hard when she was young. So also is it to breed from 
 either horse or mare that is not well-shaped, no matter what might be 
 their pedigree or even performance. 
 
 I am not well versed in the pedigrees of horses, and I have not time 
 to search them up, but it strikes me from memory that mares which 
 have been first-class on the Turf do not, as a rule, throw progeny of 
 equal merit, and that it is mares either unknown to fame or of little 
 value that have dropped most of our great horses. 
 
 Who knows but the hard work which good mares must endure in 
 early training produces bad effects on their offspring ? Anyway I think 
 the great thing is to get strains that will " nick," and when a man 
 finds a sire to which his mare has foaled a good horse, it seems very 
 foolish to change her to another, except by way of experiment. Yet 
 such is constantly done. 
 
 We all wish good luck at the stud to the beautiful and clinking La 
 Fleche ; but it will be interesting to watch if she will throw anything^ 
 nearly as good as herself even if mated to Orme. 
 
 If a man goes in for breeding steeplechasers or hunters, undoubtedly 
 his best plan is to select sires and mares which possess jumping blood,, 
 just as a " milking bull " is looked for by the proprietor of a dairy. 
 
 The breeding we want in hunters is one parent thoroughbred, the 
 other half-bred, but both to be stout-hearted. 
 
 Except for racing purposes, to maintain horses in perfectly pure 
 blood is not necessary. In steeplechases a horse with a stain in his 
 pedigree will win as often as the thoroughbred, while we all know 
 a half-bred hunter is a customer more cut-and-come-again than the 
 pure bred, and he makes a much better hack. 
 
 I had only three thoroughbred hunters in my life, and they were the 
 most unsatisfactory horses I ever owned. One, by Giraldus, was a 
 lovely conveyance to hounds for three or four miles, but that was the 
 length of his tether. Another, by Charles XII., I could never get to 
 the end of, and by himself he was a grand performer, but in company 
 he was a lunatic, and gave me some terrible falls. The third was a 
 very good horse, and a picture to look at, but he was a delicate brute, 
 and could come out only once a fortnight, yet he was got by Bird- 
 
93 
 
 catcher, of whom he was the image, even to the grey hairs. The 
 Charles XII. horse could trot fifteen miles an hour, but he was a 
 tremendous paller and most unpleasant hack. The other two were 
 about the best to stumble on a road I ever saw. 
 
 No doubt the majority of our farmers take trouble to properly 
 mate their mares, but there are many who trust everything to good 
 luck. No matter what the mare may be, she will be sent by some of 
 them to the nearest horse Avhose service can be had at the lowest price, 
 totally regardless of whether he is suitable or not. While both one and 
 other are generally in an overworked state. 
 
 We all know that the main principles of the physiological law apply 
 to animals of the lower order equally as they do to mankind, and that 
 sound offspring is more likely to come from robust and healthy parents 
 than from delicate ones. 
 
 Physiology, however, has taught us more, and for many a long year has 
 •established the fact that the ^tate of the system existing in the parents 
 at the precise time of conception has a most material effect upon the 
 progeny ; and that even in the case of those naturally and habitually 
 sound, if, at that time, they suffer from disarrangement of system, or of 
 temper, the offspring will most likely be affected thereby. It is also 
 well known regarding muciparous animals, such as the dog, that the 
 first conception in the female has an influence upon those subsequent : 
 in short, that the female is likely, in all future conceptions, to "throw 
 back " to the first impregnation. The same rule applies to uniparous 
 animals, but necessarily the effect is not so frequently discerned. 
 ^ These are facts proved by science, and are therefore incontrovertible. 
 Unfortunately, they are not generally known, and those who are 
 aware of them give little heed thereto. Among ordinary horse-breeders 
 not one in a thousand ever even heard of these great principles of Nature 
 which are the very foundation of their calling. It is therefore highly 
 important they should enlighten themselves upon the subject, for unless 
 their system be based upon the observance of the principles by which 
 Nature governs procreation, success can't be relied on, nor will it ensue 
 except by mere chance and good luck. 
 
 It is manifest, therefore, that breeders of thoroughbred horses 
 should use very great judgment and discrimination in the selection of 
 the first sire they put their mares to. Furthermore, a man should 
 satisfy himself that the mare he breeds from was not stinted in the 
 first instance to any other than a horse of desirable breed. For my 
 own part if I were in the business I would not give a £5 note for 
 a thoroughbred mare for breeding purposes that had her ^/z /'s^ foal by 
 a cart or common-bred sire. 
 
 In racing we hear a deal about what is called in-and-out running, 
 and at times very strong comments are made. No doubt it is caused 
 occasionally by malpractice, but I am convinced a lot of it is caused 
 by disease, the result of non-observance of Nature's laws by those who 
 bred either the horse himself or some of his immediate progenitors. 
 
94 
 
 Suffering from these inherent disorders, a horse can never be relied 
 upon to run systematically in the same form. Generally the disease 
 is latent and can't be discerned, much less traced ; but all of a sudden, 
 and without apparent reason, he will go amiss. It is therefore wrong to 
 blame a trainer or jockey for a horse running in-and-out, unless there 
 is direct evidence of dishonesty. 
 
 It is also well for the public to know, especially those critics and 
 would-be cicerones who at times air themselves in the press, that a 
 horse is not a barrel-organ, which as long as it be ground will repeat 
 the same tunes. They should remember if they ever knew, or learn 
 if they don't know, that horses are in their constitution like men, and 
 equally liable to sudden disorganisation of system by indigestion, loss 
 of sleep, nervousness, change of habitation, diet, and even change of 
 water. That being the case with all horses, no matter how sound they 
 may be by nature, it is manifest that those unfortunates which suffer 
 from organic troubles born ia them are all the less to be depended 
 upon. Is it, therefore, more difficult to understand a horse being fit 
 one day and unfit the next, or unfit one month and fit the next, than a 
 man being so 1 
 
 To the experienced and extensive horse-breeder I don't presume to 
 suggest anything, but to the ordinary tenant-farmer who goes in for 
 breeding a weight-carrying hunter or other good class of horse I would 
 submit the following code: (a) Don't let your mare be stinted in the^rs^ 
 instance by any other than a well-bred horse, (b) Never breed from a 
 mare that has had her first foal by a common bred horse, (c) Breed 
 only from well-bred, useful, sound, and well-shaped mares, that have 
 not been overworked as a tsvo or three year old, or kept long in 
 training, and bear in mind that height does not always imply size. 
 (d) Select for your mare a horse which from breeding, conformation, 
 temper, etc., etc., she is most suitable for. (e) Don't put her to him 
 w^hen she is in a state of lassitude, bad temper, or suffering from 
 disease, eveti though of a temporary nature. (/) The horse should at 
 the time of service be equally free from such, {g) Never breed from 
 either mare or horse which is afflicted with roaring, or other hereditary 
 disease. (A) While carrying her foal give your mare plenty of exercise 
 but no hard work, and feed her well, {i) Feed well also the foal from 
 the time he is able to eat, remembering the old saying that " the be^t 
 of a horse goes in at his mouth." 
 
 If these rules, so simple and so easily carried out, were to be observed 
 systematically by our farmers, I am very sure the best possible results 
 would follow. 
 
 As to training their young horses, all the Irish farmers have to do is 
 to stick to the ould 2jlan, and if the English were to adopt it they 
 would not find it a bad one. 
 
 We are at times too fond of grumbling, and the habit usually tends 
 to lead us into the idea that certaiu thirgs are not existing in as good 
 state as they were formerly. This is exemplified in horse-breeding. 
 
 / 
 
95 
 
 Many entertain the idea that neither the quality nor the number of 
 horses bred in Ireland at present is up to the standard of, say, thirty 
 years ago. I do not coincide with that opinion. I think we have, on 
 the whole, as good class of hunter as ever we had ; certainly he is better 
 bred, and I think we breed as many as ever we did. 
 
 No doubt the once great fairs of Rossallagh, Castledermot, Cahirmee, 
 Spansill Hill, Limerick, Ballinasloe, etc., are not cow what they were ; 
 but that is caused by the growth of the Dublin Horse Show. Bali's 
 Bridge has become a gigantic horse fair as well as show, and men prefer 
 holding over for it valuable animals rather than sending them to the 
 country fairs. On the other hand, while the old annual fairs have 
 retrograded, Clomnel in the south, instituted years ago by my friend 
 Mr. John Bell, as a monthly horse fair, is, I believe, as great as ever it 
 was ; while Moy in the north, for three days in every month, is a gigantic 
 market. At the latter are found often over a thousand horses, but I 
 can't say they are of high-class or likely to make good hunters. The 
 north of Ireland men do not go in for that class of horse nearly as much 
 as the southern. I daresay, however, within the next few years 
 we shall see in that respect a great improvement in Ulster through 
 means of the Government stallions. 
 
 Seeing the magnificent hunters which are picked up in large quantities 
 in Ireland by dealers like Messrs. Daly, Widger, Morton, McDonald, 
 O'Brien, Donovan, D'Arcy, and several others, it is ridiculous to say 
 we have not still as fine hunters in abundance as ever we had. That 
 we have — and the prices realised are far higher than they were when I 
 was a boy, while the following facts'prove that our horses all round are 
 much better bred now than they were then. 
 
 In old times the only place the Irish hunter was to be found was 
 among the farmers. To a great extent such is still the case, and long 
 may it be so. But of late years stud farms have sprung up in many 
 parts of Ireland, and although the primary object of their proprietors 
 is to produce thoroughbred racehorses, in many of them are now found 
 tip-top hunters, half-bred, thoroughbred, or with only a stain in their 
 pedigree. By means of these centres great good has accrued, inasmuch 
 as care is there taken that the 7iiares hred from are the right sort. 
 
 Mr. Hutton and his brother, of Ligamaddy, county Down, think 
 nothing of giving l,000gs. for the brood mare they wish to breed from, 
 nor will any fee stop them from mating her with the sire they deem 
 most suitable. 
 
 Forty years ago a thoroughbred stallion let to farmers' mares to pro- 
 duce hunters was practically unknown in Ireland. It was only since then 
 they have become plentiful, and I think I am safe in saying Mr. Briscoe 
 of Tinvane was one of the first men who introduced the system. Now 
 we have more than three hundred thoroughbred sires scattered over the 
 country, a great proportion of which are sound and free from hereditary 
 disease, while the most of them are fully qualified to beget useful 
 progeny, and the fees for service are moderate. 
 
96 
 
 Manifestly it would be to their own advantage, as well as to the 
 public, if the owners of these stallions used supervision over the mares 
 they allow to their horses, for the reputation of the sire cannot be either 
 made or maintained if the mares be of a bad class, while, if unsuitable 
 mares could not get sarved by well-bred sires, they as a class would 
 soon ba relegated. Most of our stallions are the property of gentlemen 
 of means, who have the interest of our horse-breeding at heart, and it 
 is from them the example should come, the following of which would 
 develop more generally the improvement which I maintain has of late 
 years come over Irish horse-breeding. 
 
 I have no list by me, so I can jot down only as they occur to me the 
 l^roprietors of our Irish Stud Farms, and of necessity I must omit some. 
 However, here follows a goodly number :— 
 
 Mr. William Pallin of Athgarvan, Mr. James Daly of Clonsilla, Mrs. 
 Anderson of Ballymoney, Mr. John Gubbins of Knockany, ^Ir. John 
 Hutton of Ligamaddy, Mr. K J. Corbally of Rathbeal, Mr. Hillier of 
 Castleknock, Mr. Charles Blake of Heath House, Mr. William Brophy 
 of Herbertstown, Mr. ^lat Maher of Ballinkeele, Mr. R. X. Talbot 
 of Grennan, Mr. J. C. Murphy of Oberstown, Capt. Greer of Crotans- 
 town, Lord Greville of Clonhugh, Sir Charles Coote of Ballyfinn, Mr. 
 John Reese of Civility Farm, Mr. B. B. Trench of Loughton, Mr. J. 
 O'C. Murphy of Breemount, Mr. William Dunne of Bally manus, Messrs. 
 Widger of Waterford, Mr. Davies of Kilcock, Mr. R. C. Dawson of 
 Cloughran, and Mr. Edmond Smithwick of Kilcreene. 
 
 With the exception of the establishments of Messrs. Dunne, Gubbins, 
 Maher, and Brophy, I don't think any of the above were in existence 
 twenty years ago ; while many of them can't count ten anniversaries. 
 They nearly all rank as first class, and many of them have no superior 
 in England. In them are from five or six to a score or more brood 
 mares, some half, but mostly thoroughbred, and all possessing every 
 essential for dropping stout foals. 
 
 Mr. Gubbins, at Knockany, co. Limerick, has Kendal, by Bend Or, 
 standing at 200g3. a mare. Mr. Pallin for the service of Favo and 
 Mr. Murphy for Boulevard get 50gs., while Mr. Gordon for Ben 
 Battle gets 30gs. The other sires in these various studs are let out 
 to thorough and half bred mares at from 5g3. to 20gs. Then we have 
 the Government thoroughbred sires standing at £1 a mare to farmers, 
 and distributed all over the country, together with those other stud 
 farms which I can't call to memory. Of course there are also many 
 men w^ho, although their establishments may not be very extensive, 
 have several useful mares and also thoroughbred stallions. This speaks 
 volumes for the facility which Irish breeders now have for getting at 
 good blood. When, therefore, they flourished so well in the past, 
 what must not be expected of them in the future ? 
 
 The stud farms at Knockany and Bruree owned by my friend Mr. 
 John Gubbins are the most extensive in Ireland, and few are more so 
 in England. The Knockany Stud was established in 1866 by his elder 
 
97 
 
 brother, the late Captain Stamer Gubbins. Some fifteen years after the 
 present owner enlarged the establishment at Knockany, as well as that 
 of Bruree, and started a pack of staghounds at the latter place, where 
 he then resided. He laid out an enormous sum of money upon both, the 
 one as a stud farm, the other as a hunting establishment, and intended 
 to live permanently at his native place. O wing, however, to the out- 
 rageous conduct of the Land League he was obliged to leave the country, 
 and has since then lived in England, Bruree being turned into an extra 
 stud farm. 
 
 The Iruh Sportsman gives an exhaustive account of these establish- 
 ments, from which I see that no less than six thoroughbred stallions are 
 located there for stud purposes, viz., Kendal, May Boy, Lentulus, 
 Ashplant, Ambergate, and Butterscotch. The brood mares number 
 twenty-two and are sired by Solon, Springfield, Petrarch, Rosicrucian, 
 Uncas, Barcaldine, Xenophon, Hermit, Galopin, Ben Battle, Coltness, 
 Hampton, May Boy, Philanftion, Victor, and Lord Gough — all out of 
 thoroughbred dams. It would, I think, be hard to find such 
 a collection of matrons in any one establishment. 
 
 I remember some five-and-twenty years ago, when Captain Gubbins 
 had at Knockany Uncas, by Stockwell, and Xenophon, by Canary, the 
 fees charged for their service were to gentlemen £10, to farmers half 
 that sum ; yet these stallions were about the most useful we have 
 had in Ireland within my memory. Their fame would have been even 
 greater had they been let to no mare other than of good class, but their 
 popular owner was so generous and noble-hearted he could refuse 
 nothing, so every mare sent was served whether she was bad or good. 
 
 After the death of their owner Uncas and Xenophon were sold to go 
 to England, whereupon their fees were raised to 25gs., and subsequently 
 still higher. 
 
 In those days we had other great sires in Victor, Umpire, and Solon, 
 owned respectively by Mr. Harris of Kilmallock, Mr. Ryan of the 
 Curragh, and Mr. Cashman of Donadea ; but they stood at 15g^. 
 and 20gs. I don't think any other five stallions did more good to 
 Irish breeding during the past forty years. From them descended 
 alike flat-racers, steeplechasers, and hunters of the very first merit. 
 Luckily their blood is still plentiful in Ireland. 
 
 With all these facts before us I cannot see how any man can think 
 Ireland is not infinitely better off as a horse-breeding country than 
 ever it was. 
 
 Lackaday ! we are not as rich as the Saxons, and cannot afford to refuse 
 selling to them most of our good horses. Were it otherwise we would 
 have in Ireland to-day Ilex, Why Not, Cloister, Barcaldine, Bendigo, 
 Roy Neil, Tibbie Shells, Roman Oak, Philammon, Kilwarlin, and a 
 dozen more which, as Irish horses have been for the whole century, 
 are mines of wealth in the mother country. 
 
 Worst of all is selling out of Ireland the good brood mares. Even 
 to England they should not be sent. As to selling them or first-class 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 stallions to go abroad, the law should prohibit, from all parts of the 
 kingdom, such positive insanity ! 
 
 To allow the practice is to permit an outrage against the common 
 weal surpassed in enormity only by that of allowing our great agri- 
 cultural community to be ruined by admitting to this country, free of 
 duty, foreign meat and bread stuflF. The farmer is the backbone of 
 our nation, and the wily foreigner covets greedily our good horses. 
 It behoves, therefore, both Lords and Commons to adopt protective 
 measures before the one gets broken or the cupidity of the other be 
 gratified. 
 
 As the system exists at present, England is for the foreigners not 
 alone the nursery, but the school from which they can choose their 
 horses. John Bull expends, yearly, a prodigious amount of money, 
 subsidised as it is by large grants from Government, upon breeding 
 horses. He takes all the trouble and incurs all the risks. Then when 
 we have produced horses or mares of phenomenal excellence, which, 
 having passed through the dangerous part of their career, are sound 
 and ready-made for stud purposes, over comes some continental 
 gentleman and takes out of the country the very animals we should be 
 the most desirous ourselves to retain ! No doubt very large sums are 
 paid for them, but prices equally good can be obtained from our own 
 countrymen, and by selling to them we get the eggs and keep the 
 goose. 
 
 To our colonies some of our good horses and mares should be sold, 
 but to the foreigner, most assuredly, I would give nothing except of 
 third or fourth rate class. Elsewhere I allude to the fact that the 
 great Stockwell escaped from transportation only by a fluke. 
 
 I look to these stud farms for other good results besides improve- 
 ment in our horse-breeding. Steeplechases over a natural country, by 
 reason of red-coat point-to-point races, are becoming popular again, and 
 as the proprietors of these farms are all sportsmen, with good position 
 and ample means, they, by their influence and with plenty of horses 
 at command, may, in time, bring back to the old style our grand sport. 
 
 When dealing with Steeplechase Reform, in reply to a letter of Lord 
 Howth's in April, 1891, I gave as one of the reasons for the decadence 
 in the sport that we had no men now in Ireland who bred, reared, 
 trained, and raced their horses from their own stables, such as we had in 
 my younger days, and I then gave the names of those I remember doing 
 so— all of whom were contemporaries in racing. In tribute to the memory 
 of those fine sportsmen I reproduce the list, and I trust that before many 
 years we shall have a number quite as great, following the good old 
 example. Here it is : — " Lords Howth, St. Lawrence, Clanricarde, 
 Waterf ord, Rossmore, and Drogheda ; the Courtenays, Quins, McCraiths, 
 De Burghos, Russells, Gubbins, Aylmers, Sadliers, Bryans, Forsters, 
 Ainslies, Bernards, Moores, Manserghs, Masseys, Magranes, Crokers, 
 Prestons, Westenras, Hoeys, Gartlanes, Goughs, Longs, Harpers, Dunnes, 
 Powers, Studdarts, Persses, Naughtons, Stackpools, and O'Ryans ; while 
 
99 
 
 racing tenant-farmers were to be found over almost every county in 
 Irdand; the Cummins, Coghlans, Powers, Talbots, Hawkshaws, Mahers, 
 Whelans, Ivers, and scores of others." 
 
 To go carefully over a stud of good horses or a kennel of first-rate 
 foxhounds, where everything is done properly, is to me a source of 
 great enjoyment, and I never lose an opportunity. 
 
 I have visited many such establishments, and, as I said before, I 
 strive at each to gain information. Some, of course, are kept in much 
 better style than others, and naturally a uniformity of quality is not 
 found in the animals. However, with only one exception, I found the 
 stud farms, both in England and Ireland, all that could be reasonably 
 desired. As an example of how things should not be done, and to show 
 what opinions are held by some horse-breeders, I shall describe the 
 place I take exception to. I was shown over it by the proprietor, and 
 it was very extensive. 
 
 As I always do, I asked the owner's opinion as to breeding, shape, 
 crosses, etc. He told me that, of course, all depended upon luck (what 
 does not '0 ; that horses of every shape won races, and for his part he 
 did not care what a mare's shape was, he would breed from her if she 
 came from a lucky or " fashionable " strain ; her yearling, if got by 
 a favourite stallion, would sell well at Newmarket or Doncaster, even 
 though deficient in shape. Like that famous parrot, I said nothing, 
 though I was thinking a lot, as I went regularly through some twenty 
 boxes, containing brood mares, or mares and foals, and looked over 
 nearly as many yearlings in the paddocks. 
 
 Everything I saw was bad. Old tumble-down stabling, dirt and 
 untidiness everywhere ; the mares and foals were housed in badly - 
 ventilated, overcrowded stalls or sheds. The hay in the rick which 
 supplied the racks was most inferior in quality, and quite musty, 
 while the bedding was of furze, ferns, and rushes in such a beastly state 
 of dirt that it seemed in proper condition for top-dressing a field. 
 
 This practical breeder seemed to consider that the bone and con- 
 dition of his animals should be easily seen, and certainly I give him 
 credit for carrying out the idea with uniformity, for in every one of 
 the forty odd animals, the one was high and the other low. 
 
 No doubt they were purely bred, and all are in the Stud-book, but, 
 as I have said, they were badly cared for, and from their looks were 
 badly fed, nor was one of them what could be called a really true- 
 shaped animal, not even the two stallions he had. 
 
 I trust there is no other such establishment in the kingdom, for I do 
 not think it could be possible to rear any horse, much less a thoroughbred, 
 sound and healthy, at such a place. Yet it and its owner are well- 
 known, and the prices got at Tattersall's sales for yearlings sent 
 therefrom show at times a very good average. 
 
 Astonished at the bad shapes of some of the brood mares, I asked 
 the pedigree of one with a miserable foal at foot. This turned out to 
 be one of the purest strains of the fashionable blood this breeder so 
 
100 
 
 much appreciated, and he had bred from her for three or four seasons. 
 Pretending to be struck by the particularly high tint of cerulean blue 
 which circulated through this mare's blood, I took out my pocket- 
 book as if to copy it, but in reality to take down what I thought 
 of her shapes. Here is the entry : " Big head, ewe neck, straight 
 shoulders over long cannon-bone legs, pretty good ribs and centre 
 piece, narrow across the loins, her propelling power being from hind 
 quarters short from hip to hock, and long from hock to heel. Though 
 ten years old, her feet are some of the smallest I ever saw, and very 
 shelly. She looks half starved." I was told this mare won great 
 races in good company, and I took it for granted she did. 
 
 I need not say that I did not hold the opinion of this breeder in any 
 way. I am very sure that an ill-shaped yearling would command only 
 a poor price at either private or public sale, no matter how full of running 
 blood its pedigree might be. No doubt the matron described had won 
 good races, and I am aware that leggy horses are often the speediest, 
 and that length from hip to hock is not necessary over short cuts. 
 Racehorses that are moulded on hunter lines, which stand on short legs, 
 are sometimes slow, but nine good racehorses out of ten are certainly 
 good-looking, though what is known as a " three-cornered devil " will 
 occasionally win races. 
 
 This breeder would have been correct if he had said that in no breed 
 of horses is there to be found so much bone in proportion to flesh as 
 in the English or Irish thoroughbred, and that horses of every class 
 and size won races. Look at Watercress, a great raking horse 
 nearly seventeen hands high, and likely to grow into an animal capable 
 of carrying any weight ; he is able to win a five-furlong sprint in the 
 best company, and can get away from the slips as fast as can his tiny 
 but tidy stable-companion, the gazelle-like La Fleche, the best mare we 
 have seen in England for many a year. 
 
 To the Royal Dublin Society are we indebted for the Dublin Horse 
 Show held annually, in August, at Ball's Bridge. I shall, therefore, 
 give a short history of the Institution. The better to effect my purpose 
 I reproduce from the IrUh Times, some of what it says when dealing 
 with the Show held on the 22nd to 25th August, 1893 :— 
 
 The Royal Dublin Society is the oldest institution of its kind in the 
 Avorld, having been established as far back as 1731, in which j'ear fourteen 
 citizens of Dublin met in the rooms of the Philosophical Society, Trinity 
 College, to consider in what way they could "best promote improvements 
 of all kinds." Those who attended at the meeting were Judge Ward, Sir 
 Thomas Molyneux, Thomas Upton, John Prall, Richard Warburton, Rev. 
 Dr. AVhitcomb, Dr. Stephens, Dr. Magnaten, Dr. Madden, Dr. Lehunte, 
 Thomas Prior, Arthur Dobbs, William Maple, and William Walton, and on 
 June 2oth, 1731, which was the date of their meeting, it was agreed to form 
 a Society, to be called "The Dublin Society for improving husbandry, 
 manufactures, and other useful arts and sciences." To trace the history 
 .of the Royal Dublin Society from its inception down to the present day, 
 
101 
 
 uring- v/hicli period it has effected a wonderful amount of good, would 
 ccupy more space than could be given in the columns of a newspaper. Nor 
 is it necessary in this instance except as relates to the Horse Show. We 
 may state, however, that Arthur Young- in his " Tour in Ireland," published 
 in 1780, says : — " Great lionour is due to Ireland for having given birth to 
 the Dublin Society, which has the undisinited merit of being the father of 
 all the similar societies now existing in Europe." Towards the end of 1867 
 or early in 1868 the project of holding a horse show on an extensive scale 
 was mooted, for long before was seen that horse-breeding was one of the 
 great industries and resources of the country, and the upshot of the move- 
 ment was that a committee of the Royal Agricultural Society, which had 
 been formed for the purpose of holding a " National Horse Show," obtained 
 permission from the Royal Dublin Society to hold the Show on the premises 
 of the latter in Kiklare-street, and there and then the Royal Dublin Society 
 undertook an annual horse exhibition, and appointed a committee consisting 
 of twenty-five members to carry out the project. Without money nothing 
 can be done. Money was the obstacle in this case. It was forthcoming in 
 the shape of a public subscription, which appeal met with a liberal response. 
 In addition the Council voted £100 to the fund. The first Show was held 
 in Kildare-street on July 28, 29, and 30, 1868, when the entries numbered 
 368. At the time the promoters deemed this a huge success. And so it 
 was for an initial attempt, yet how diminutive do the figures read compared 
 with yesterday's totals. The payments for admission amounted to £583, 
 which affords proof of the fact that from the outset the idea of a National 
 Horse Show caught on with, at first, the Irish people, and subsequently 
 with those resident in distant parts — even in foreign parts. There are, no 
 doubt, some who will, after glancing over these remarks, say, " Oh, we 
 knew all this before ; tell us something we don't know." On the other 
 hand there are thousands — strangers to our city — who are not acquainted 
 with the history of Ball's Bridge Shows, who are ignorant of the importance 
 of Irish horse-breeding, and the benefits that follow not merely Ball's 
 Bridge, but provincial shows. AYell, the gate money taken at the first 
 venture was £583, and since then it has grown and developed so rapidly 
 that it is now not a head or a neck, but a Sackville-street in front of any 
 other similar institution in the world. There is only one horse show in the 
 world — Ball's Bridge. None other can with it compare. In the inaugural 
 year, that is in 1868, the value of the prizes given was no less than £470. 
 We have here evidence of liberal treatment from the outset. Large as that 
 sum appeared at the time it was small as contrasted with the £1,729 to be 
 doled out on the present occasion, exclusive of numerous valuable cups. 
 The last show was held at Kildare-street in 1880, and in that j^ear the 
 entries numbered exactly 600. The growth of the show was so great that 
 its promoters were compelled to look for new grounds, which were found at 
 Ball's Bridge, fifteen acres of land having been purchased from Lord Pem- 
 broke, but even this was found insufficient, and ten additional acres were 
 purchased. Still the requirements of the show grew on so steadily and 
 rapidly that in 1891 a further extension of space was found necessaiy, and 
 additional ground was purchased from Lord Pembroke, making a total area 
 of thirty-eight acres, the buildings on which cover five acres, and represent 
 an expenditure of £50,000. The permanent halls and stables at Ball's 
 Bridge now provide comfortable accommodation in the waj' of stalls and 
 
 / 
 
103 
 
 loose boxes for 1,350 horses, ami now a branch of railway has been run on , 
 to the front of the premises. This, we need not say, is a great boon to 
 exhibitors, as it saves them the risk and bother of getting valuable young 
 horses full of exuberant spirits through the crowded streets of the metropolis. 
 In the first show held at BalFs Bridge there were only 589 competitors in 
 the various classes, while the attendance— ascertained for the first time — 
 was 17,736. Then, in 1882 there were 694 entries, with an attendance of 
 14,973 ; in 1883 there were 733 entries, and 19,980 visitors ; in 1884 the 
 entries numbered 806, while 26,558 persons paid for admission, and the 
 latter attendance was not reached again until 1887, when the entries stood 
 at 950, and the attendance reached 26,244. In 1888 the entries totalled 
 1,051, while the attendance reached 32,534 ; in 1889 the figures were— entries 
 1,075, attendance 36,711; in 1890 — entries 1,324, attendance 43,438; in 
 1891— entries 1,322, attendance 46,083; in 1892— entries 1,304, attendance 
 53,547, or nearly four times larger than it was eleven years ago. These 
 figures prove the yearly increasing popularity of the Show, which has 
 become quite an international gathering so far as the visitors are concerned. 
 The entries this year are 1,200, or about a hundred less than last year. The 
 trivial falling off can be accounted for in this waj-. Numbers of provincial 
 shows have been held throughout Ireland during the past few months, and 
 the dealers purchased scores of high- class horses which would otherwise 
 come to Ball's Bridge. Again, owners of middliog or rubbishy horses must 
 have learned by this time that Dublin is the wrong place to bring them to 
 at very considerable cost. Some years ago it was nothing unusual to see a 
 lot of moderate horses in a big class, but this is certainly becoming a thing 
 of the past. There is no gainsaying the fact that as well as "licking 
 creation," as our friends across the Atlantic would say — as regards our 
 great equine gathering we can defy all competitors so far as the production 
 of weight-carrying hunters— a fairly large number of which we saw and 
 admired j'esterday — is concerned. There are a number of causes to account 
 for this. In the first place we are blessed with an even temperature in our 
 climate, as there are no sudden transitions from heat to cold or vice versa. 
 The soil is for the greater part a limestone one, and it is a well-known fact 
 that on no other soil will young horses develop so much bone. Undoubtedly, 
 the Royal Dublin Society has effected a great deal of good in its laudable 
 efforts to improve the breeding of hunters in this country, and it is evident 
 that if it received adequate financial aid from the Government, it could 
 do a lot more in the waj' of improving the breeds of hunters, remounts, and 
 useful horses. Another gaeat good eftected by the Society was that it 
 has educated the people into the importance of breeding from sound 
 stallions. 
 
 With every member of the executive committee doing his best to 
 promote the interests of this great Irish institution, and bringing our 
 Horse Show to the proud position it holds, and where among the 
 members perfect harmony has always prevailed, to make mention of 
 one more than another, perhaps, may not be fair. But, as in all bodies 
 consisting of so many members, some few must, of necessity, take the 
 lead, I don't think I can be found fault with when I name among the 
 for^.most my old friend and townsman Mr. Samuel Ussher Roberts 
 
103 
 
 with Messrs. James Talbot Power and James O'Reilly. To these gen- 
 tlemen is the nation at large, and Ireland in particular, indebted for the 
 success which has attended the Dublin Horse Show. It was by reason 
 of their ability, sound practical judgment, and thorough knowledge of 
 the requirements that the principal improvements were brought about. 
 While in carrying out the details of the working their powers, both 
 administrative and executive, never tired. 
 
 The Royal Dublin Society has ever been non-political and non- 
 sectarian, and, needless to say, nothing pertaining to "party" is 
 associated with the Dublin Horse Show. Withal, it is a curious fact, 
 and one suggestive to an eminent degree, that throughout the long 
 history of the Society and the comparatively short history of the Show, 
 both one and other have been supported solely by that section of Irish- 
 men which all along represented wealth, social position, and adherence 
 to constitutional principle. 
 
 Patriots, in the only real and true meaning, have the members of that 
 section always proved themselves to be, and may dawn never open the 
 day on which they will be supplanted in my own dear old country ! 
 
 \ 
 
104 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BUYING AND CARE OF A HUNTER. 
 
 Theoretical Instruction Useless— "An Eye "—A Verse— Buy from a Dealer— But better 
 Buy from the Farmers— Buy when you see what suits you— Horses go well in all 
 shapes— Author's Horse, The Squire— Well "balanced" Horse— Minting—Head and 
 Neck— Hint to Verdant Green— Would-be Sporting Artists— Wine and Horses— Judges 
 of Horses— Medium Class— Long Tails— High Class— Daly, Darcey, Widger, McDonald- 
 Judges of Wine— An Extract— Care of a Hunter- Only for Owners of Small Studs— 
 Jorrocks— Construction of Stable— Clothing— Clean Litter— Feeding— Buying Oats, etc. 
 —Buy from Farmers direct— Storing Oats— Watering Horses— Staling— Drink during a 
 Hun and after Work— Jogging Home— Stable Preparation for Horse Hunting— Treat- 
 ment after Hunting— Doing him up— How to Feed him— Horse's Temperaments- 
 Natural V. Artificial State— Long Fasting— Wash his Yard— Exercise— Physicking— 
 Firing, Blistering, etc.— Sea Sand, Turf Mould, etc.— Summer Treatment— Preparing 
 for Hunting— Beans— Condition— Ages of Grand National Winners— Aged Hunters — 
 Comparative Age of Horse and Man— Clipping— Shoeing— Different Sorts of Hoofs— 
 The Frogs— Contraction— Corns— Pressure on Soles or Bars— Removing a Shoe- 
 Ignorant Smith's V. Nature's Law— Cats, Goats, and Dogs in Stable— Hard Pullers 
 — Bits— Ladies' "Hands"— The Groom— A Tip on Lunging— Readers' v. Author's 
 Experience— A few Useful Recipes. 
 
 HoA\' to choose a horse is a matter upon which no man can instruct 
 another unless the pupil has naturally an eye for form ; if he has 
 not, he need not expect ever to be able to buy on his own judgment, 
 except by chance, a horse that will please him, or turn out well. No 
 one can be taught on paper how to judge or choose a horse, it would be 
 as easy to teach him on paper to ride or drive. Nor will experience 
 much help a man who has not the natural "eye." I have known men, 
 though having dealings with horses all their lives — ay, Masters of 
 Hounds, too — who knew very little about their points (or those of a hound 
 either). 
 
 Everyone knows a horse should have sloping shoulders, good legs, 
 back, and loins, quarters well let down and be well topped — in fact, 
 everything good ; but let me see the man who can teach in a book what 
 these essentials are. Fancy a lexicographical definition of "well- 
 ribbed-up " ! 
 
 A head like a snake, and a skin like a mouse, 
 An eye like a woman, bright, gentle acd brown ; 
 
 With loins and a back that would carry a house, 
 And quarters to lift him smack over a town ! 
 
 Unless a man is a good judge and has plenty of money I am of opinion 
 he will suit himself better, more cheaply, and with far less trouble 
 by entrusting the purchase to a respectable horsedealer than he will by 
 trying to pick up what he wants (or thinks he wants) himself. Let him 
 go to his dealer and tell him what he requires, and the price he is 
 prepared to pay ; then depend upon it he will not long remain unsuited- 
 
105 
 
 A dealer knows every horse in the country, and, being a good and 
 practised judge, will not buy anything but a " useful ons," which he can 
 do 20 per cent, cheaper than the tyro, or even the gentleman who knows 
 a horse. This leaves the dealer a profit sufficient to enable him to sell 
 to his customer at or under the price the latter would have had to pay 
 the original owner. Then, again the buyer has only to go to the dealer's 
 yard to suit himself, instead of going about the country or to a lot of fairs ; 
 and if he does not like his purchase the dealer will, as a rule, exchange 
 it until he is suited. A man buying his horse in this way obtains the 
 benefit of the matured judgment of the professional, plus whatever 
 gumption he himself may possess. 
 
 At the same time, a man who is a good judge and knows w^hat he 
 wants should, as a return for the sport he allows so many to enjoy, buy 
 his horses direct from the farmer whenever he can, and, as I said in a 
 former chapter, pay liberally. ^loreover, he will have a better chance 
 of ascertaining correctly the breeding, for the chances are the farmer 
 has bred the horse. 
 
 When a regular hunting man, with good means, sees a horse that suit& 
 him he should buy him, even though he may not actually want him. 
 He may not be able to get one when he does, and it takes a long time^ 
 sometimes, to get off selling condition and get on that required for 
 hunting. 
 
 Horses go well in nearly all shapes. The best I ever had was 
 apparently very deficient in some points. He had beautiful shoulders, 
 and trotted /rom them with grand even knee action, but he was a trifle 
 calf-kneed. He had great depth of heart, but ran slack behind the girth, 
 which gave him a " tucked-up " appearance when in hunting condition ; 
 and his back was only fairly good. His quarters were not equal to his 
 shoulders, but they were well let down, and he had grand ragged hips. 
 His hind action was decidedly not good in trotting, but like many 
 another good one his hocks nearly touched each other in that gait, but 
 when he galloped the hindlegs came well to the front, giving powerful 
 impetus, and when changing on our big Irish doubles he kept them 
 wide apart, which gave a fulcrum equally powerful. He was wonderfully 
 game, with a grand constitution, and he loved his work. No matter 
 how hard was the day before, he would come out of his stable the next 
 morning prancing and neighing. He was got by Full-cry, a thorough- 
 bred horse by old Harkaway, and out of a mare by Priam, winner of 
 either the Derby or St. Leger, a pedigree which, perhaps, made up for 
 his deficiency of shape. He carried me for seventeen seasons, I paid only 
 £45 for him, and he was called The Squire. 
 
 We have all had in our time our " favourite hunter," but, like other 
 favourites, he to a great many does harm. If a man through pre- 
 ferential riding gets unduly accustomed to one horse, he often finds it 
 difficult to go as well upon others, and in many instances loses 
 his nerve altogether when put on a strange mount, although he 
 may go like a bird on the horse he is accustomed to. I would therefore 
 
106 
 
 advise men having small studs to change them fretiuently, and those 
 with large ones to ride each horse in his turn. 
 
 A horse should be what is called well "balanced" — i.e.^ his middle- 
 piece, hind and fore quarters should all be as nearly as possible of 
 same dimensions. I have heard that Landseer made three equal ovals 
 on his canvas before drawing a horse, and then filled in. I have a 
 notion that a horse so proportioned, with his shoulders sloping and his 
 quarters well let down, would be just about as safe a conveyance over 
 a country, or returning home tired along a rough road on a dark night, 
 as most men need wish to possess — provided, of course, that he had good 
 manners. 
 
 If I were to name a horse the most perfect in shape which I have 
 ever seen I should name ^Ir. A^yner's Minting. In that great horse is 
 depicted what true shape and perfect "balance" is. If he were to 
 be dissected from the point of the shoulder to the elbow, and from the 
 point of the hip to the stifle, there would be left the three portions of 
 his body as equal in weight as perhaps are those of any other horse at 
 present in the kingdom. He stands 16 hands lin., measures 9iin. 
 under the knee, and girths 6ft. 4in. He is up to 17st. with hounds and 
 his weight averages lie wt. 2qrs. From his breeding and his own prowess 
 he is, of course, eminently calculated to beget racehorses of the first 
 water, provided the mares put to him be of the right sort, and from his 
 conformation no horse which I ever saw appeared to me more fitted to 
 beget weight-carrying hunters. 
 
 I like a horse with plenty of room in the gullet and a head loosely set- 
 on, sufficiently to allow the fore and middle fingers to be run down 
 between the jawbone and neck. At the same time, this sort of head 
 must not be set on a neck unduly long in the windpipe, for, if it is, 
 the chances of roaring and ultimate broken-wind are greatly increased. 
 
 Without attempting to describe the good points of a horse, let me 
 advise " ingenuous youth " to keep clear of a horse with a light mouth, 
 ewe neck, and straight shoulders, particularly if he possess strong 
 propelling power, has white in his eye, and is, say, a chestnut. The 
 verdant sportsman is not, however, to take it that a heavy mouth, 
 ram neck, and crooked shoulders are desirable simply because they are 
 the opposite of those points against which I caution him ! 
 
 No matter how clever an artist may be with brush or pencil, he 
 cannot make a proper portrait of a horse unless he be a good judge of 
 his points ; neither can he paint or draw any sporting subject without 
 a practical knowledge of it, as many of the ghastly productions of the 
 day so eloquently prove. How can a man draw a coach and four without 
 knowing how the horses should be tackled ? And if he puts a man on 
 the box, how can he represent him unless he can drive himself ? If 
 possible, the cloven foot is shown more strikingly when a landlubber 
 attempts a sailing scene or a Frenchman a fox-hunt. The man who at 
 present is about the very best painter of a hound in the kingdom owes 
 his reputation to having been taught the true formation of a foxhound 
 
107 
 
 by one of the best judges of hounds in England upon the flags of his own 
 kennels in Yorkshire. 
 
 There exists a somewhat curious similitude of principle observable 
 in the buying of a horse and buying of a man's wine. Most men think 
 they know all about horses and wine, whereas a really good judge of 
 either, much less of both, is seldom met with. There are many classes of 
 horse and kinds of wine, with various qualities in each sort, the price for 
 the higher being run up at times far beyond their value. Men, although 
 they may not be good judges all round, generally know pretty well what 
 wine and what horse will suit them in the class they generally use, but 
 to do so they must have a correct palate for the one and a correct eye 
 for the other. 
 
 A Master of Hounds, used to buying ready-made 15st. hunters, to 
 carry himself, at from £100 to £200, and 12st. horses to carry his 
 men, at half the money, w^ill acquire an eye for those two particular 
 stamps, and be able to pick out very accurately what he wants ; but 
 ask him to choose the best colt out of a drove of " long tails," or the 
 one which will make the best weight-carrier out of a number of half 
 trained, out-of-condition four-year-olds, and he may be quite at sea. 
 The same man may be quite as much out of his element among a lot of 
 really very high class hunters. He will be lost in admiration of their 
 symmetrical shapes, their even action and perfect manners ; while, if 
 he sees them schooled, he. can at once pick out the best performer. 
 But let him price these horses for the market. How can he tell, when 
 they are all so apparently perfect, which is the one worth £250 and the 
 one worth, maybe, £500 ? But ask Mr. James Daly, Mr. Giles Darcey, 
 Mr. John Widger, or Mr. Edward McDonald to look at them, and 
 they will very soon classify them, simply because their natural eye for 
 form has been trained by long experience of this class of horse. So 
 it is with dealers who buy the yearlings and the youngsters ; no 
 matter how unkempt and untrimmed, they can pick the best. And, 
 perhaps, the man who buys the finished hunter, fit for Rugby or Leicester, 
 may " put his foot in it " when he goes among the soft ones. 
 
 So precisely it is with wine : the man who is accustomed to a certain 
 class will, if he has a correct palate, tell correctly enough which among 
 the lot is the best value ; but if put out of the class to which he 
 is accustomed, he will be in just the same fog as the man among the 
 horses. Still we often hear men accustomed only to beer and whisky 
 pass judgment upon high-class claret and champagne. Even a 
 merchant accustomed only to select wines in their crude state can 
 know nothing about the fine old matured stuff, unless he is in the 
 habit of using it at his own dinner table. 
 
 Since writing the foregoing I read in The Horsehreedcr a practical 
 and sensible article upon choosing a horse, so I reproduce it. 
 Hints on Horses. 
 
 Some men are said to be born with an eye for a horse, some to have an 
 instinctive idea of sliape, but this is the exception, and, as a rule, study is 
 
108 
 
 necessary to all in order to acquire sufficient judgment to be relied on. 
 Experience is too often bought by loss and disappointment. 
 
 "When you meet a horse tliat at first sight appears suitable to your 
 purpose, showing the general character and qualifications, and having 
 ascertained his price, made conditions as to soundness, and tested his 
 movements in the manner I advise, you may proceed to 
 
 The Look all Over. 
 
 Here I will introduce one of my most important golden rules, which 
 buyers should commit to memory : — 
 
 A horse's power and value must be measured by his weakest points. 
 
 A well-known writer reminds us that " tlie strength of a chain depends 
 upon its weakest link," and this is truly applicable to the horse, whose 
 worth must be estimated by his weakest point. Xo matter what a horse's 
 performances, appearances, or merits may otherwise be, you must reject 
 him for one bad fault. Horses are usually selected for their good points, 
 prominently brought forward by the seller. This is the mistake, and the 
 trap into which the best judges, being carried away by a horse's superior 
 merits, too often fall. Then, in looking at a horse with the eye of a pur- 
 chaser, you must seek first for his defects, not perfections, which, though 
 unusual, is the safest course to pursue. 
 
 A horse takes two looks. The first or general look, by which you take 
 in at a glance his outline and character, directs the centre of vision about 
 the top of the shoulder or withers ; symmetry and good conformation, 
 economy of power, and harmony in his component parts, being what you 
 should look for. This first look should give you a fair impression of the 
 horse's height, power, bone, breeding, and quality, as also his length and 
 breadth, the first being essential to speed, the latter to endurance. A 
 horse should be well proportioned, with an equal balance of power all 
 round. If a horse has a long, powerful, or ponderous forehand, he 
 requires correspondingly powerful hind quarters, which if light, the 
 propelling engine not being equal to its work, the machine soon breaks 
 down. On the other hand, if the fore legs are weak, they will soon give 
 way under the excessiv^e propulsion of powerful hind quarters. The duty 
 of the fore quarters is simply to support the equilibrium of the machine. 
 As is often the case, a horse may have good fore and hind quarters, yet 
 have a defective or light " middle piece " or boiler which supplies the steam 
 that cann<jt be got up without a good firebox to hold the fuel, and a horse 
 with a light carcase is generally a bad feeder, and cannot stand work. The 
 utility, then, of the equus cahallus depends upon his symmetry and well- 
 balanced conformation. 
 
 A horse should stand well, and much of the character of his movements 
 may be judged even while he is at rest. As he stands he walks, and as he 
 walks he gallops. The weight of the body should be evenly di^stributed 
 over the liml)S, and the forelegs so placed that a perpendicular line erected 
 at the point of the toe should touch the point of the shoulder. The hind 
 legs ought to be well under the body, but not too far in or over-weighted, 
 impeding their freedom of action. As it is so important to observe if a 
 horse stands well and firmly on his legs, he should be placed for this 
 purpose on level ground and allowed to stand naturally, not as they are 
 
109 
 
 usually shown with the fore legs in an elevated position, and made to 
 stretch. Dealers, grooms, and showmen in sale yards invariably adopt this 
 show pose, not always to a horse's advantage, particularly when he is 
 " calf-kneed " and his hind legs are naturally "too far away from him." It 
 is a mode of disguising such defects as straight fore legs, being ' ' baker- 
 kneed," or standing over, and hooked hocks, etc. This position is deceptively 
 complimentary to a horse naturally low before, giving him better carriage 
 and forehand, making him appear to cover more ground, taking from his 
 height if leggy, lowering the hips, and thus raising the loins, levelling the 
 back, and making the shoulders look more oblic|ue. A horse can in this 
 way be got to measure at least an inch under his true height, an imposition 
 sometimes recoursed to in selling horses to match, etc. You must therefore 
 insist upon a horse being allowed to stand naturally, when his very attitude 
 and the position of his legs may betray his weakness, and point at once to 
 well-known diseases and malformations that will render further inspection 
 unnecessary. 
 
 I now come to describe how to take care of a hunter, a matter much 
 easier dealt with than choosing him. 
 
 My observations on this subject are only intended for the ioforma- 
 tioQ of owners of small studs, such as I once had myself. I would not 
 presume to make suggestions to a swell with a large stud, and still less 
 to that greater swell — his stud- groom ! 
 
 Jorrocks tells us it was either Walter Scott or little Bartley the boot- 
 maker who said that " there w^as no young man wot would not rather 
 have a himputation on his morality than on his 'ossmanship," and goes 
 OQ to remark, " and yet how few there are wot really know anything about 
 the matter. Oh, but if hignorance be bliss 'ow 'appy must they be ! " 
 
 While allowing the grand old fellow his own rate of discount for 
 exaggeration, we can, of course, knock off from the above assertion 
 a large percentage, but even then we shall have a big balance. I don't 
 assume to know as much as other people about horses or how to take 
 care of them better, but not being quite as big a dunce as the friends 
 of Jorrocks appear to have been, I may be permitted to say a few words 
 about care of hunters, and as I had two or more at a time for nearly 
 five-and-twenty years, was always my own stud-groom, had them well 
 and fit, and seldom employed a veterinary surgeon, my methods of treat- 
 ment could not have been bad. 
 
 I always kept my horses in roomy boxes, about 14ft. square and as 
 many high (if 20ft. high so much the better, as they cannot have too 
 much air and ventilation). Box stalls of greater area, than 14ft. square 
 are dangerous, for they give room for gambolling, in which a horse, 
 when fresh, indulges, and so often slips up. Be careful to avoid 
 draughts, and equally so to supply a constant current of fresh air. 
 Have your stable floor so constructed that the urine will flow off at 
 once. Don't overclothe horses, but, of course, have them warmly 
 clothed in winter after clipping, while exercising the same care to 
 ensure plenty of good, dry, clean litter. 
 
110 
 
 Feed regularly— ravenous horses three times a day, the delicate 
 four times. Give each as much good sweet old oats as he will eat, 
 and when doing strong work a large handful of crushed two-year-old 
 beans in each feed. A mash of bran, potatoes, or turnips should be 
 given twice a week to keep their bowels right ; very little hay, and 
 that of the best. Don't give more at a feed than the horse will eat 
 and finish with a relish. Try to make each horse, when in hard work, 
 eat on an average at least 14lbs. of oats a day. Give every day one or 
 two raw carrots whole, not chopped. 
 
 Salt, to assist digestion, is as requisite to animals as it is to mankind, 
 hence they should be supplied with it ; therefore keep alwaj^s a piece 
 of rock-salt in the manger for your horse to lick. 
 
 I think well-saved hay of the previous summer may be given after 
 Christmas, as old dried-up stufif has no nourishment in it. Oats should 
 always be from six to eighteen months old, and should be quite sweet. 
 The former season's oats may be given in April. If you have to buy 
 from dealers, lay in your supply about June or July, before the new 
 corn comes to market, or you run the risk of getting the new mixed 
 with the old. Be sure it is fresh threshed, and not kiln-dried, and let 
 it be turned well from one end of the loft to the other, at least once 
 a week, and always have plenty of fresh air about it. It should not be 
 heaped more than six inches deep, or it will get musty. But the best 
 plan if you do not grow it yourself is to buy the oats from the farmer, 
 and let him send it to you fresh threshed from the stack as you 
 want it. 
 
 I seldom see hay what I call properly saved — that is, before it has 
 lost all its greenness, and ivhile the sap is in it. Farmers are fearful 
 of its " heating " after having been ricked, and, therefore, they leave 
 it until it has got quite dried up before bringing it to the haggard ; 
 whereas, if proper care and trouble were taken to have the meadows cut 
 only in hot weather, and then save the hay quickly, our horses would 
 have it nice and sweet even when it would be two years old. 
 
 Let a horse have water always in his stable to drink when he likes. 
 Nothing is so unnatural, and consequently bad, as to let him get 
 ravenously thirsty, and then suddenly charge his stomach to excess. 
 Let him take what he desires before leaving the stable w^hen going 
 to hunt. This will be perhaps nine or ten o'clock, and as he will not 
 have a run much before twelve, or maybe one or two o'clock, it will 
 be all absorbed long before then. Let him take a few "go downs" of 
 water during the day, or during a long run, just to refresh him. Let 
 him stale as often as he likes while out, and if he does not do so bring 
 him under cover and spread straw under him, or otherwise induce him, 
 for many horses will not stale out of doors. 
 
 When the day's hunting is over, if you have a long ride home, go 
 to a farmhouse and make your horse a good big drink of flour or ground 
 oatmeal and water. If he is very beat slip half a glass of whisky into it 
 while he is drinking. If you put it in beforehand and he smells it he 
 
Ill 
 
 will not take it. Do not give liim ivJiole oatmeal, for if not steeped 
 beforehand it is likely to give colic. Then jog him home at five miles 
 an hour. Nothing is worse than walking him slowly or trotting him 
 fast after a long, hard day, unless it be to leave him shivering in the 
 cold while you go into a friend's house to regale yourself. 
 
 Before twelve o'clock on a hunting day let your man jout a quart of 
 good old oatenmeal into a bucket, and on it pour as much hoillnri 
 water as it will take up ; put a cover over the bucket and leave it beside 
 a fire till the horse comes home. Let the man also put a feed of oats 
 into another bucket, with as much hoiliiuj water as it will take up, 
 cover over the oats with dry bran about four or five inches deep, and 
 leave it also beside the fire till the horse returns. 
 
 Directly the horse comes home have cold water put to the bucket of 
 oatenmeal, and let him take a good drink of strong gruel, not lukewarm, 
 as some people give it, which is -as little refreshing to a thirsty horse as 
 it is to a thirsty man, but with the chill only taken off. When the 
 man goes for the gruel he should take advantage of the opportunity to 
 mix up the bran and oats well together, and let them soak till the 
 horse is ready for them. Then, leaving his saddle on, let him be washed 
 down from head to foot as quickly as possible. Scrape the heavy wet 
 ofi" immediately and put on his clothing and bandages, but don't wisp 
 or further clean him till next day. Let him eat hay during this pro- 
 ceeding. In fifteen or twenty minutes he will be quite dry ; then let 
 the clothes be removed and dry ones put on, but do not take off the 
 saddle till the perspiration has comijletely dried up. 
 
 All this should be done in a spare stall. When finished, bring the 
 horse into his box-stall well and deeply littered with fresh clean 
 wheaten straw, let him roll if he will, and drink from the bucket in the 
 stall as much water as he chooses, and then give him the scalded oats 
 and bran. Put on dry bandages, and, if late, leave him to rest for the 
 night. It is a bad thing to overload a horse's stomach after a long 
 day's fast, therefore, unless he comes home early, I would give him only 
 the one meal at night. He will feed all the better next day. 
 
 A smart groom will, by adopting this method, have his horse com- 
 fortably done up for the night half an hour after he comes in, unless 
 he is a fretful beast that " breaks out." 
 
 If a horse does not eat the scalded oats readily, give him a mash 
 of boiled potatoes, which he is sure to eat. When fatigued, and after 
 long fasting, he will not eat hard dry oats with nearly the same relish 
 nor will he digest it so well as the nice warm soft preparation w^hich I 
 describe. If he has endured cold or wet, flaxseed well steeped for four 
 or five hours, and mixed with his mash, is a capital preventive against 
 coughs. 
 
 There are, of course, horses of such peculiar temperament and fasti- 
 dious taste that the foregoing treatment may not exactly suit, but they 
 are the exception. 
 
 Though a horse can drink a great deal at a time when very thirsty 
 
112 
 
 and absorbs the water rapidly into his system, his stomach is very small) 
 and cannot contain much food, but this he digests very quickly also. In 
 his natural state he would be constantly feeding, but in the artificial 
 or unnatural state of training or hunting condition, we have to act as 
 best we can to lessen the evils attendant thereon. Anyway the more he 
 eats the more work he will do. I think the /anting consequent upon 
 a long day's hunting much more frequently knocks up a horse than the 
 actual icork he does. 
 
 A horse's yard should be drawn, and it, with the sheath, washed 
 with soft soap and warm water once a fortnight. Allowing this part 
 to accumulate dirt often impedes free discharge of urine, and conse- 
 quently causes kidney derangement. 
 
 Physicking is old-fashioned, and often much overdone. If a horse's 
 feeding and exercise be properly attended to, very little physic, as a rule, 
 is necessary. Of course, at times it is required; for instance, if an 
 accident suddenly throws him out of work, and his usual routine is 
 upset, or if he gets surfeited in any way, he probably will require a 
 light purgative. When it becomes necessary to physic, the horse should 
 be carefully " prepared " with bran or other mashes, and he should not 
 get the purgative ball witil his dung has hecome soft, when a much 
 smaller dose of aloes produces a better effect, with less injury. 
 
 As soon as the hunting season is over, look to your horse's legs, mth 
 a view to firing, blistering, or charging where such is required, but don't 
 follow the old plan of blistering and charging when it is not required. 
 If you fire a horse he should have at least three months' rest from any 
 severe work, to give him a fair chance of coming round again. Those not 
 fired or blistered should have their regular long walking exercise in the 
 cool early mornings. 
 
 Sea sand, or dry turf -mould, is very good for a horse to stand on in 
 the day time in summer, as it serves the feet. Some people recommend 
 the bare pavement, but I never tried it. 
 
 Give from 7 to 10 lbs. of oats a day ; 10 or 12 lbs. of hay and some 
 nice fresh clover or grass as soon as it can be got. They may get this 
 up to the end of July. A hunter shoidd never he let out of condition. 
 I don't think he can be got back under two years, if once allowed to fall 
 completely off. He is unlike a dog, which can be got into the best and 
 hardest condition in a few months. For that reason it is obvious a 
 hunter should never be turned out on grass. 
 
 Light harness work in a four-wheeled trap, where the weight won't 
 come on his fore-legs, will do a sound-legged hunter good in summer ; 
 and gentle ploughing or harrowing in light ground will serve " dickey " 
 legs. No carting or two-wheeled work. Towards the end of July 
 knock off the grass, reduce the daily allowance of hay, and increase the 
 oats and exercise. Long walking, and trotting up hill in deep ground, 
 with an occasional pipe-opener in clothing — but little galloping is 
 required — will get him fit and well by the first week in November. 
 Don't give your hunter long days before Christmas, but try to have him 
 
113 
 
 back in his stable by three or four o'clock, thus getting him into his 
 work by degrees. A severe run or long, fatiguing day before a horse is 
 quite fit does more harm than five such when he is fit. 
 
 Don't give beans till he begins regular hunting, as they are very 
 stimulating and heating ; they should be given crashed and never be 
 less than two years old. 
 
 Of all the requisites for getting through a long and severe run with 
 hounds, there is nothing more essential to the horse than condition. 
 It takes a long time to get him thoroughly fit, hence it is that as a 
 rule horses under five years old are seldom found at the end of a severe 
 run, simply because those younger have nob had sufficient time to get 
 into tip-top condition ; they crack up when the pinch comes, no 
 matter how game, clever, or well-bred they may be, or despite how 
 artistically they may be ridden. The Grand National, since it was 
 established in 1839, has never been won by a four-year-old, was won 
 only four times by a five-year-old, and twelve times by a six-year-old. 
 How foolish, therefore, is a man when he thinks he can have satisfac- 
 tion with a horse, not to speak of a stud, which he buys just before 
 the hunting season — unless he happens to buy out of a stable of old- 
 seasoned horses, which, obviously, he seldom gets the chance of. 
 
 There are a great many, and first-flight men too, who don't care 
 about riding seasoned hunters, but my experience has shown me that 
 it is after he has become " aged " that a horse attains his prime. It 
 is then he has taken his degree with hounds, and it is then, after years 
 of good hard feeding, he has acquired the condition requisite to carry 
 him through a trying run and sustain a long day's fasting. 
 
 I think the age of a horse may, like a man's, be divided into seven 
 stages, and I compare the two as follows : — 
 
 Foals and 4-year-olds to children and schoolboys 
 Horses of 4 to 5 years old to youths of 18 to 20 
 
 5 to 6 
 
 to 
 
 men 
 
 of 20 to 25 
 
 6 to 7 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 25 to 30 
 
 7 toll 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 30 to 40 
 
 11 to 15 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 40 to 60 
 
 15 to 20 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 60 to SO 
 
 A man for hard work is in his prime between the age of 30 and 40, 
 a horse from 7 to 11, provided that each have had fair play in their 
 youth. 
 
 Of course hunters must be clipped, but the hair to above the knees 
 and hocks should be left on to protect the legs from injury. So should 
 the part under the saddle. Then if the saddle fits, is properly stufifed, 
 and a leather-cloth used, the danger of sore backs is reduced to a 
 minimum, provided the saddle be not removed till the perspiration 
 has completely dried up. 
 
 Shoeing is a source of great trouble at times, and there is nothing 
 to which a man should pay more attention, for there is not one 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 farrier in twenty who knows anything about the proper principle of 
 horse-shoeing. 
 
 On no account must a smith be allowed to pare the frog or cut out the 
 angles between it and the bars. This they are always fond of doing, 
 for the purpose, as they say, of "opening the heeL^," and so prevent con- 
 traction ! Nothing causes contraction so much as this very operation. 
 Neither should they be permitted to apply a rasp to the outside of 
 the hoof, and with still greater care must the sole be saved from their 
 villainous knife. Nature provides horn for the protection of the foot 
 against accidents, hence the stronger and thicker it grows the better, 
 and the frog is there to lessen concussion ; thus if a clumsy, ignorant 
 smith cuts and pares them away to make his job look neat and clean, 
 of course he weakens what Nature means to be strong, and thereby 
 does great injury. Depend upon it, contraction, corns, and disease in 
 the foot are almost invariably caused by shoeing. 
 
 Horses' hoofs, as everyone knows, vary greatly in shape and in sub- 
 tance, but, with the exception of the shelly and brittle hoof, I think one 
 may be just as sound and good as another, provided it is as Nature, not 
 shoeing, has given it to the horse. The brittle, shelly hoof must be made 
 tough and strong by such applications as Clark's Hoplemuroma, or it 
 will be a fruitful source of trouble and annoyance, by reason of casting 
 shoes and so making bad worse. The " muley " foot is said to be the 
 most liable to concussion, to generate navicular and other disease, and 
 is most susceptible of contraction ; therefore plenty of room must be 
 given at the heel so that the frog, by ability to perform its natural 
 function, will be enabled to counterbalance the eflfects of the natural 
 deformity (so to speak) of the " muley foot." The flat, splay foot should 
 be guarded against pressure of the shoe on the sole, by carefully bevel- 
 ling the shoe. The large, round, tough, strong hoof, which is neither 
 flat nor "muley," is the most easily managed, and nothing but gross 
 ignorance or negligence will bring about corns or disease, or render it 
 liable to cast shoes. 
 
 To sum up : — Never allow the smith to touch either sole or frog with 
 a knife, except merely to pare off jagged pieces and to remove grit ; let 
 him fit the shoe to the foot, not the foot to the shoe ; don't let him allow 
 the shoe to rest on or press any part of the sole or bars, but bear on the 
 outside crust only, and let the frog come nearly to the ground. When 
 removing a shoe have the clenches of the old nails carefully cut of, and 
 let the shoe be gently drawn — not wrenched — off. 
 
 Horses used for heavy draught or fast driving should have shoes to 
 come only three-quarters along the hoof, leaving the growth of the frogs 
 perfectly uncontrolled. The result will be the horses will seldom fall, 
 and can travel in absolute safety over ice ; particularly going down hill, 
 as the frog can then act to best advantage. Hunters during the summer 
 should be shod in like manner. 
 
 Horses hate to be alone, and as they are very fond of cats keep a few 
 always about the stables, but never let dogs or goats there, for the 
 
115 
 
 smell of either is most injurious to a horse. It is an awfully bad plan 
 to have kennels near stables, yet we often find them there. 
 
 Many a horse pulls hard and is nearly uncontrollable in a curb, 
 whereas in a plain or twisted snaffle a child might ride him. However, 
 few horses will pull if they are not pulled. No saying is truer about 
 this noble, but oft-abused animal than that " every horse has his own 
 bridle " ; experience should, therefore, soon teach in which he goes best ; 
 out I would, be very careful how I let servants ride a tender-mouthed 
 horse in a curb. They can do less harm to his mouth with a plain 
 snaffle than any other bit, so let such be used at exercise. A net 
 sold for the purpose to put over the nose is an excellent check on a 
 hard-pulling horse, so is a bit made of leather rolled to resemble a 
 snaffle. It is, however, men's hands, as a rule, that make horses 
 pull. They seldom pull with ladies, who have hands so much lighter 
 than men. 
 
 I must add a word or two relative to the ultra desideratum of a 
 hunting stable — that is, the Groom. No matter how vigilant the master 
 may be, he will never have his horses well cared or turned out 
 as he would wish them to be unless he has a thoroughly reliable and 
 conscientious man to look after them. In small hunting stables, where 
 the master superintends things himself and understands the details, it is 
 not absolutely necessary that the groom should be a master of arts, but 
 it is highly requisite that he should be trustworthy in all things and 
 carry out his master's instructions. Neither is it necessary that he 
 should be a good horseman. On the contrary, all that is required of an 
 ordinary groom, in the riding line, is to have light hands and to be able 
 to prevent a horse kicking him off at exercise. The less he likes or knows 
 about riding over a country the better ; that is his master's prerogative. 
 Do not bother, either, about your groom being a teetotaler, for scarcely 
 any are such, and a servant requires, and is as much entitled to, his beer 
 and grog in moderation as his master. Be satisfied if you find he is 
 abstemious in liquor, is not easily affected by drink, and never gets 
 drunk on duty. Of course he must be intelligent, smart, fond of his 
 horses, and take a pride in bringing them out fit and well. He should 
 always keep his eyes and ears wide open and his mouth close shut, and 
 he must do what he is told. When a master of moderate means gets 
 hold of a man like this to look after his hunters, he should appreciate 
 and treat him properly, so that, apart from higher considerations, he 
 may retain his services ; for servants nowadays are not found with 
 righteous propensities, or who take an interest in their employers, as 
 easily as they were some two or three decades ago. 
 
 I will here give a tip as to lunging a stubborn horse over fences. It 
 is not generally known in this country, but it is in Australia. Put on 
 a saddle and bridle with a plain snaffld ; pat the reins under the stirrup 
 leathers ; fasten the irons in their place by passing a strap through each 
 and under the belly ; get a strong but light rope, about twenty-five 
 yards long, double it in two, and in the middle make a loop sufficiently 
 
116 
 
 large to pass over the horse's tail and form a crupper ; around the loop 
 serve cloth or leather, to prevent chafing. Make a knot in the doubled 
 rope so as to meet the back of the saddle ; pass the rope ends through 
 each stirrup-iron and the rings of the snaffle ; then go in front of the 
 horse with the two ends of the rope in your hand. By very little 
 manipulation you will see what power you have over him, and that in 
 no way can his mouth be interfered with, while he must keep his head 
 straight and follow you wherever you wish to pull him. A man behind 
 with a long whip forms a useful auxiliary. I give a rough illustration 
 of what I describe. The dotted lines show the tackle. 
 
 Xo doubt many of my readers know far more about horses and their 
 management than I do, but experience has taught me that, consistently 
 with the unnatural state in which, of necessity, we have to keep them, 
 the more closely we follow the laws of Xature the better. The more air 
 we give them, the more attention we pay to their food, exercise, and 
 shoeing, and the less pampering they get, the more work we shall get out 
 of them. If ive feed and care for them j^roperbj, ive can ivork them 
 hard. 
 
 To the hunting man accidents are the bane of his season. Eemedies 
 simple in their compound are ofttimes more effective than those made 
 of ingredients which require a Latin dictionary to translate, and the 
 veterinary Encyclopaidia Medica to explain the nature of. I shall 
 therefore conclude this chapter by giving a few recipes which, although 
 simple and easily made up, I can vouch, after many years' experience, 
 possess extraordinary curative properties. 
 
 For Wounds, be they incised or lacerated, and no matter how deep 
 or dangerous— unless the tendons be cut across — the following lotion 
 w411 cure them :— Blue-stone, ^oz. ; sugar of lead, ^oz. ; well ground 
 together and mixed in a quarter of a pint of vinegar with a pint of rain- 
 water. First cleanse the cut thoroughly, and then apply the above two 
 or three times a day, shaking it beforehand and letting it ivell into the 
 wound. A bandage is not to be applied, as the wound will heal from 
 the bottom, finally closing in, and will leave little, if any, mark. A 
 bottle of this stuff should be kept constantly in every stable, for in the 
 kingdom there is not a better cure for cuts. 
 
 For Mud Fever, Ceacked Heels, and Theush :— A tablespoonful 
 of sugar of lead mixed well in a mortar with a tumblerful of glycerine. 
 Apply well with a sponge ; in twelve hours wash it off with soft soap. 
 If necessary, in a day or two, apply again. This for Chilblains is 
 also an excellent recipe. 
 
 For Sprains of the joints or Steains of the sinews : — First rub 
 well with spirits of turpentine, as soon after the injury as possible, 
 then apply as a poultice, hot, a strong curd, produced from boiling 
 milk poured upon finely powdered alum — first straining off the 
 whey. To be renewed night and morning. This is alike good for 
 man and horse. Clark's "Neurasthenipponskelesteriso ' for strains of 
 the back sinews or "breaks down" is marvellous, and should also be 
 
117 
 
 kept ready in all hunting and racing stables. To avoid spelling out 
 the awful Greek, " Neuras." is sufficient to write for. 
 
 For an ordinary Cough give ten drops of tincture of belladonna in 
 half a pint of water at night, and ten drops of tincture of bryonia in 
 half a pint of water in the morning— both times fasting. Be careful in 
 measuring , as they are poisons. Let the horse drink water in which 
 lime has been dissolved. Hay should not be given to a horse while he 
 is coughing, but he should get his regular walking exercise and not be 
 cooped up. 
 
 For a Breast or Back Scalded by the collar or saddle : — Sugar of 
 lead, one tablespoonful, mixed with half a pint of vinegar and a pint of 
 water. Bathe often, and leave constantly on the part a piece of linen 
 saturated in the lotion. 
 
 For Warbles either of the following applied same as the latter 
 recipe : — Tincture of arnica, ^oz. ; mixed in half a pint of warm water. 
 Or, sal almonia, 2oz. ; vinegar, one pint ; spirits of turpentine, half a 
 wineglassful ; sweet oil, quarter of a wineglassful. 
 
 For Burns or Scalds whether for man or animal :— Rub or pour 
 spirits of turpentine over the part immediately after the accident. 
 Instead of smarting, as most people would imagine, it gives instanta- 
 neous relief, and renders further remedies the more effective. 
 
 For Brittle Feet, as I said before, Clark's " Hoplemuroma." 
 
 To prevent Crib-bitinci remove the crib and all else the horse can 
 lay hold of. Feed him out of a bucket, to be taken away when he has 
 finished. 
 
 To Stop Bleeding wash well with either spirits of turpentine or 
 whisky. If they can't be got, plaster the cut over with pig dung, and 
 bind it on with a handkerchief. 
 
 For Warts : — White arsenic, l|oz. ; yellow arsenic, Hoz. ; cream of 
 tartar, loz. ; hog's lard, 2ozs. ; made into an ointment and applied twice 
 a day. 
 
 For Capped Hocks, Big Knees, etc. :— Equal parts of strong spirits 
 of ammonia, turpentine, and sweet oil, rubbed in like a blister. 
 
 To renovate a covert coat or make Waterproof any Cloth: — Sugar 
 of lead, h\h. ; powdered alum, Mb. ; dissolved in a bucket of soft water. 
 Stir well up and leave it to get clear, then pour into another bucket ; 
 put the coat in and let it steep for twenty-four hours. Allow it to dry 
 without wringing. 
 
 To make Waterproof and keep Soft Top Boots, or any other boots, 
 have them well rubbed over with common castor oil once a month. 
 The application does not interfere with the subsequent polishing. 
 
 To take Stains out of a Red Coat : — Half an ounce of oxalic acid 
 dissolved in a pint of water. First sponge the stains out, then add 
 another half pint of water and sponge the coat all over. Don't make 
 the solution stronger or it will hum out the stains. 
 
 If a man gets a bad fall he should take a hot bath directly he gets 
 home, after which, if bruised or stiff, he should rub spirits of turpentine 
 
118 
 
 well into the part while the pores are open. When going to bed take 
 two blue pills and a purgative early next morniEg. 
 
 For Eheumatism, Lumbago, etc., also Gout, see ShootiDg chapter. 
 
 As a substitute for Sticking Plastek the inside skin of a raw egg 
 will answer all the purposes, while for a Boil, where it can be readily 
 applied, there is no application more soothing or beneficial than the 
 skin of an egg. 
 
 The foregoing remedies were included with others in a little pamphlet 
 entitled "A Few Recipes Useful to Country Gentlemen," which I 
 published some years ago, and which ran into two editions. 
 
119 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 THE LATE HENRY AV. BRISCOE, ESQ., D.L., M.E.H. 
 
 Reference to Briscoe in the Curraghmore History— The Author's Mentor— His Birth— 
 Tinvane— His Father— His Crest— T. CD.— His Man-iage— His Father's Harriers— His 
 Foxhunting the Welch Mountains— His Right to that Country— How Hunted— Good 
 Sport— Sale of his Pack to Lord Waterford— The Kilkenny Hunt— Mr. Briscoe as a 
 Eider to Hounds— As a Judge of Hunting— Briscoe's Recovery to Health in 1870— 
 Chosen Master of the Kilkennys— Dissensions in that Hunt— How he Healed them— As 
 Master of the Kilkennys — Sport shown — Errors cox'rected by Author — Briscoe as M.F.H. 
 — Particulars of his various Qualifications — Long reference— Briscoe in Society — How 
 Appreciated by the Ladies— Among his Own Family— D.L. and J. P.— As a Country 
 Gentleman— His Sound Judgment— He first Imported Thoroughbred Stallions— Their 
 Kames— Their Success— Not fond of Racing— As a Shot— His Breed of Pointers— His 
 Faults— jSTo Vices— Never Drank at Night— Never Gambled— His Jealousy— Hatred of 
 Smoking— Great Friend of the Author— Author's Mode of Humouring him— How he got 
 Information— Where got— When got— Results— Author's enjoyment at Tinvane— 
 Sunday-school— Foxhound Kennels— Author's notion upon them in general— The 
 Tinvane Kennels- Compared with Swell Kennels— Construction of Kennels— Briscoe's 
 Popularity— His Good Health— His last Illness— His Death— His Age— His Funeral— 
 —Melancholy Coincidence— Briscoe and Foxhunting in Waterford died together— Too 
 True— A Verse to his Memory— Peace to his Manes ! 
 
 I HAVE had necessarily to make reference to Mr. Henry Briscoe in my 
 history of the Curraghmore Hunt, I shall, however, devote a chapter 
 of my book to further mention of the man from whom I learned the 
 little 1 know of the rudiments of the noble science of foxhunting, and 
 under whom, while Master of the Curraghmore, I enjoyed such 
 magnificent sport during the eleven best years of my life. Besides, he 
 was for many years, and up to his death, one of my most intimate 
 friends. However, what will be a better reason to my readers for 
 giving this biography is that, to the foxhunting community of his time, 
 he was a brilliant light, and well known as an M.F.H. 
 
 Henry Whitby Briscoe, D.L. and J. P., was born on September 29, 1809. 
 He came from a good old stock (as we say in Ireland), who for generations 
 owned the Tinvane estates, and resided at the old hall which is 
 situated about a mile and a half from Carrick-on-Suir, on the 
 immediate confines between counties Tipperary and Kilkenny. His 
 father was a great sportsman of the old school, and loved coursing to 
 a degree, while his breed of greyhounds was quite famous. I refer to the 
 fact to bring in the curious coincidence that the crest of the family 
 is a greyhound running with a hare in his mouth. 
 
 The subject of ray chapter as Fellow Commoner took his degree with 
 honours in Trinity College, Dublin. He succeeded to the property upon 
 the death of his father in about 18.32, and soon afterwards married 
 Deborah, eldest daughter of Mr. Shaw of Annefield. 
 
 From his boyhood he was passionately fond of field sports. His 
 father kept a pack of harriers, which were taken in hand by young 
 
120 
 
 Henry almost as soon as he was able to sit on a horse, but hares 
 were not his ambition, and he soon bred the harriers into foxhounds, 
 and took to the more exalted degree of venery. He hunted the Welch 
 mountains and their neighbourhood for several years, but I don't know 
 whether he had the prescriptive right in himself, or got leave to hunt it 
 from the first Sir John Power of Kilfane. Probably the latter, for 
 Sir John then owned the Kilkenny Hounds, and had the foxhunting 
 right to the country, inasmuch as he had established the pack early in 
 the present century ; moreover, Sir John was a contemporary of Briscoe's 
 father. 
 
 Anyway, Briscoe hunted the parts I have named. He had no enclosed 
 coverts, but along the tops and sides of the hills were wild, natural 
 patches of gorse and heather, in which foxes in abundance took shelter. 
 Briscoe hunted early in the mornings, so his hounds generally struck 
 the drag which they had to hunt to his lair before they actually found 
 their fox, and there is no doubt that from these natural fastnesses he 
 showed great sport. Owing to the limited extent of his country and 
 the skill with which he handled his hounds, together with their own 
 good qualities, foxes after a time became scarce along the Welch 
 mountains, and Briscoe was glad at times to let them have a shy at a 
 hare when one was started. 
 
 Soon after Henry Lord Waterford commenced hunting from 
 Curraghmore, he bought Mr, Briscoe's pack, and took up his country. 
 From that time forward Briscoe was a constant follower of Lord 
 Waterford's and the Kilkenny Hounds, and he became a leading 
 member of the Kilkenny Club. 
 
 As I said in the Curraghmore chapter, he rode to liunt^ and his whole 
 soul was in the hounds and their working. He simply used his horse 
 as a means to an end, but so effectually that he was always with the 
 hounds, whether they went a splitter of fifteen minutes or worked 
 through a long run. The consequence was, he soon became as 
 good an authority on hunting as was the second Sir John Power, who 
 had then succeeded his father, and was considered the best gentleman 
 huntsman of the day. 
 
 To avoid repetition I must refer my readers to the second section of 
 my chapter on the Curraghmore Hunt for the portion of Mr. Briscoe's 
 history from 1859 to 1870, during which period he was Master of that 
 pack, but had to resign in consequence of ill-health. 
 
 It so happened that in 1870 the Kilkenny Hounds were without a 
 Master, and for some few years there existed unpleasant circumstances 
 connected with that Hunt, owing to social and other dissensions among 
 some of the leading members. 
 
 Directly it was known that Briscoe had given up the Curraghmore, 
 the Kilkenny gentlemen invited him to take office with them. They 
 one and all recognised the fact that no man could be found more likely 
 to bring about a reunion between the dissentient parties, for he was 
 alike popular with botb, and had not espoused either side in the 
 
121 
 
 •quarrel ; moreover, they knew how well qualified he was to fill the role 
 of M.F.H. 
 
 Briscoe, having made a wonderful, and entirely unexpected, recovery 
 of his health, accepted the invitation, and became Master of the 
 Kilkenny s in the summer of 1870. In doing so, he undertook both a 
 delicate and a most difficult duty, for not alone existed the strife I have 
 alluded to, but the horses, hounds, and country were in a very bad way. 
 However, from his thorough knowledge of the duties, he soon 
 reformed the stud, pack, and country, and by adopting judicious 
 measures and applying them with tact and discretion he soon healed all 
 social sores. The consequence was that within a very few seasons he 
 -brought back the Kilkenny Hunt to as grand a standard of unity, 
 sociability, and sport as it had ever attained in its halcyon days under 
 the Powers of Kilfane. 
 
 I can't give many particulars of his reign in Kilkenny as I was not 
 as nearly connected with that Hunt as I was with the Curraghmore ; 
 but I can say that the sport shown by him was quite as good as what 
 he showed in our country. 
 
 I wish here to correct an error I saw some time ago in print, where it 
 was stated that Mr. Briscoe had John Duke with him in the Kilkennys. 
 He never had. He brought Duke to the Curraghmores from England 
 in 1860, and he never left them. John Tydd was the Kilkenny hunts- 
 man, and a very good one too. 
 
 Briscoe held office in Kilkenny until his death in 1881, a period of 
 eleven years, exactly the same as he held the Curraghmore. 
 
 In some of the duties pertaining to the qualification for M.F. H. many 
 men have been superior to Briscoe. There have been gentlemen who 
 could hunt a pack of foxhounds with greater ability, others were better 
 judges of hounds, others were finer riders and could select a hunter with 
 better judgment. And there were masters who had a better knack of 
 managing an unruly field. But taking ^?^ gloho the duties, it may with 
 safety be said that few men have ever been found who, all-round, were 
 as highly qualified for a Master of Foxhounds as was Henry Briscoe. 
 
 Without being facile iwincein in any one detail, he was admittedly 
 first class in them all. He was an excellent judge of hounds, particularly 
 those best adapted for stud purposes. These he mated upon such 
 scientific and calculative principles that his crosses, as a rule, so nicked 
 that the progeny generally turned out superior in shape and work to 
 their parents. He used only the best strains from the best bred packs 
 in England. A well-shaped hound, no matter how good in his work, 
 unless he possessed undeniably good blood, would not be bred from at 
 Tinvane, The puppies were always selected with good judgment, while 
 no man could train a young entry better. 
 
 As a huntsman, Briscoe could handle hounds as well as most pro- 
 fessionals, and it was accorded by those qualified to judge that with 
 few exceptions he was the best gentleman huntsman of either his day 
 •or before it. Assuredly from 18G0 until his death no gentleman that I 
 
122 
 
 ever saw, except Mr. Kobert Watson, could bunt hounds like him. 
 Impatient as he was in many things, he never was so while carrying the 
 horn. Carefully would he draw his coverts, and never would leave a 
 fox behind him ; but directly the fox had gone away then wjuld he 
 have the hounds got out with all expedition. 
 
 During a run he never interfered with them until they had shown 
 themselves in absolute need of assistance. He would then take them in 
 hand, and with a judicious cast, quickly made, would generally set them 
 right. With a bad scent Briscoe was remarkable for the perseverance 
 with which he followed up his fox ; never would he leave ofi" until 
 completely run out of scent or darkness came on. The consequence 
 was his hounds were self-reliant and hard-working, and accounted for 
 nearly every fox they found. When a fox had beaten them fairly to 
 ground he was left there; no spade or terrier would be resorted to 
 except under peculiar circumstances, his hounds getting plenty of 
 blood by fair sportsmanlike means. That he fed and conditioned his 
 hounds to perfection was in evidence dail3^ for they returned to their 
 kennels at all times with their sterns up. No fox was too good for them, 
 no day too long. 
 
 Briscoe was an excellent judge of a hunter, whether he required him 
 for his own use or that of his servants, or with a view to turning an 
 honest penny upon him, while his stable management was quite on a 
 par with that of his kennel. 
 
 In none of the foregoing qualifications, for an M.F.H., did he shine 
 brighter than at the meet, or jogging from cover to cover. His hearty, 
 genial manner made everyone happy. He was always in good humour 
 and ready with a story appropriate to the subject discussed, while quick 
 repartee was a special phase of his jovial conversation. At the same 
 time, when necessity required it, he could give a fellow " a dressing " 
 that he would not readily forget, for he was — as all masters of hounds 
 should be — a strict disciplinarian, and insisted upon men behaving 
 themselves, and not interfering with the sport which they and others 
 had come to enjoy. 
 
 Amongst the peasantry, also, his cordiality made him the greatest 
 favourite, and they would do more for him for nothing than they would 
 do for, perhaps, any other man in the country for money. Around 
 the festive board the dear old fellow was ever the nucleus of the 
 merriest portion of the party, and when we got him to sing The 
 Cruiskeen Lawn, and after that, in the drawing-room, to dance The 
 Foxhunters' Jig, he was, indeed, the personification of a real old Irish 
 gentleman. Jolly as he was ia the dining-room, and appreciated there 
 by the men, he was still more so in the drawing-room, and propor- 
 tionately more appreciated by the ladies. " Laugh and be fat, hunt 
 and be happy," was his motto. 
 
 L^nlike other public favourites, he was as pleasing in his manners 
 and conversation in his own house, amidst his large family, as he was 
 everywhere else. I don't think I ever admired him more than upon the 
 
123 
 
 frequent occasions of my joining the early Sunday dinner at Tinvane, 
 ■with good Mrs. Briscoe presiding. In that house in these good old 
 days was to be seen indeed a united and Happy family. 
 
 Like most popular and well-known men, the Squire of Tinvane was 
 seldom dubbed " Mister." Everyone, high and low, called him " Henry 
 Briscoe." 
 
 He was a Deputy-Lieutenant, and, for more than one county, a 
 Justice of the Peace. He was a most useful country gentleman, a pains- 
 taking, impartial magistrate, and at our local Horse Shows he always 
 took a leading part. In fact, he was in a continued series of useful 
 rural work, which his sound judgment and experience eminently 
 qualified him to undertake and carry out. 
 
 No man of his means in his day— and few with greater means — did 
 as much towards the improvement of the breed of Irish horses. He 
 was the first in his part of the country who imported thoroughbred 
 stallions likely to beget hunters. These he let to farmers' mares 
 at a nominal sum, buying the produce whenever a suitable or likely 
 young one offered — a course it would be well if many M.F.H.s of the 
 present day followed. As I have already said in another chapter, 
 Greatheart, Red Hart, Legatee, Confessor, Hospodar, Glenmasson, 
 Umpire, and others were of his importation. They all got good cattle, 
 while some of the produce, under both silk and scarlet, turned out quite 
 celebrated. The strains, particularly those of Greatheart and Confessor, 
 are still looked for. 
 
 Briscoe was not fond of racing. He attended all local meetings, 
 just as he would any gathering or party got up for amusement, but 
 more for the sake of meeting his friends than to see the sport. When 
 a young man he rode a few steeplechases, but only where the riders 
 were confined to men of his own social standing. 
 
 He was a good, steady shot, and he had for m^any years a breed 
 of pointers of rare quality, the strain of which was at Tinvane for 
 nearly half a century. 
 
 He was neither a fisherman or exponent of any other branch of 
 sport. 
 
 He was always a temperate man. During the " hunt week " in 
 Kilkenny, described elsewhere, instead of sitting up with his com- 
 panions over their wine, or spending the night in gambling, he would 
 slip off to bed long before midnight. He habitually kept early hours. 
 Nine to ten o'clock was usually his hour for bed, while daylight in 
 winter and shortly after in summer saw him in his stables or kennel. 
 He never betted, much less gambled. I don't think he knew a game 
 with cards, and certainly he could not play billiards, and he hated 
 smoking with intensity. 
 
 Briscoe had his fads and his faults, like other people ; but, unlike 
 others, he had no vices. He was not fond of imparting his knowledge 
 to others, being very jealous of it, nor could he brook contradiction or 
 opposition on subjects upon which he considered he was better informed 
 
124 
 
 than other?. In fact, he was dictatorial in debate and determined in 
 having his opinions adopted by others, and seldom would he adopt 
 theirs. This propensity rendered him, as he certainly was, imperious in 
 manner, although courteous and affable, but second fiddle he could 
 play to no man. 
 
 Although many years my senior, we were always the greatest 
 friends, and he told me a lot more about hunting than I think he ever 
 did to anyone else. I had, however, to humour him, and at times to 
 employ stratagems to get out of him what I wanted. No plan 
 succeeded better than to make what I knew was a palpably wrong 
 remark. Immediately my poor soul would be consigned to Avernus, 
 and my body likened to a sanguinary donkey's, but I cared not for body 
 or soul so long as I drew from old Henry the shapes which constituted 
 the perfect foxhound or the weight-carrying hunter. This, through 
 the means of my idiotic remarks, I generally did, either by descriptive 
 dialogue, or, better still, by practical illustration on the flags of the 
 kennels and in the stables. 
 
 For many years my Sundays were generally spent with him. When 
 church was over I accompanied the family to Tinvane, and after an 
 early dinner the remainder of the evening was spent among the hounds 
 and horses. Under the apple-trees in the old orchard, " and the bust- 
 ling pack at my feet," many a lesson was given me by him, and from 
 such a mentor it was not difficult to learn something about the shapes 
 of a foxhound and the theory of working him. 
 
 Never did I enjoy interviews with anyone more than I did those 
 with my dear and genial friend, nor shall I ever do so again. 
 
 Since the now long-past period of these, my Sunday-school visits to 
 Tinvane, I have seen a great many kennels, and a great many packs 
 of foxhounds. I shall, therefore, put on paper what has occurred to 
 me with regard to the construction of kennels in general and those for 
 foxhounds in particular. 
 
 It strikes me that a lot of unnecessary trouble and expense is at times 
 gone to in building kennels. Of course, as with most things, it is nicer 
 to have them fitted smartly than otherwise ; but I am pretty certain 
 that expensive adornments are not necessary adjuncts to the well-being 
 of a pack of hounds. Take, for instance, the old kennels at Tinvane. In 
 them hounds enjoyed the very best of good health, and from them 
 showed the very best of sport. Yet every detail, though perfect in 
 its principle, was of the simplest description, and, like the Irishman's 
 cabin, "with not a single thing for show." I know many others fitted 
 up with all sorts of grandeur and even luxury for the hounds, but 
 lamentably deficient in the all-important principle — sanitary arrange- 
 ments—with the result that in them kennel lameness and other dis- 
 orders are constantly to be found, while in the field the work of the 
 occupants is by no means first-rate nor is good sport shown. 
 
 The great thing for kennels is to have them built upon stiff clay or 
 rock, with a southern or south-western aspect, good drainage, with 
 
1:25 
 
 large and lofty lodging rooms. Ground damp must be prevented. 
 Water should he carefully looked to, for some sorts engender disease 
 in hounds, and all sorts will cause rheumatism if conveyed any distance 
 through leaden pipes. The flags must be of a quick-drying description. 
 
 I leave for the last the most important item of all — ventilation. 
 That should be provided for upon the recognised principle of letting 
 in the fresh air from the bottom, and the foul escape at the top. In 
 doing so every precaution must be taken against draughts from the 
 influx, while the outlet should be close up to the ceiling or to the 
 ridge, according as the lodging rooms be ceiled or open to the roof. 
 
 Unless hounds are housed in pure air, manifestly their sense of smell 
 mtist get impaired, with a result obvious to everyone. Men, except 
 those grossly ignorant, must know what I say is correct with regard 
 to the ventilation of kennels, but the fact remains that seldom is the 
 principle carried out. 
 
 If kennels be contrived on the principle I have named, the get-up 
 may be plain and unpretending ; but if they are not, all the painting 
 and plastering in England won't make them healthy. 
 
 I have been shown over kennels the lodging-houses of which had 
 the walls covered with porcelain and the floors with tiling equal to 
 marble, but the stench from want of ventilation was unbearable. In 
 one place — and very swell, too — the only means for letting in the 
 fresh air and out the foul was through one great hole in the wall 
 bored halfway hetiveen the floor and the ceiling, and the feeder tcld 
 me that in cold weather he stuffed it up with a wisp of straw ! 
 
 Except the illness he suffered from which occasioned his giving up the 
 Curraghmore Hounds, Briscoe enjoyed singularly good health until just 
 a few months before his death. 
 
 As he was starting to attend the Curraghmore Hunt Steeplechases 
 in the spring of 1881 he was seized with a heavy cold. This he could 
 not get rid of, and he passed into rapid consumption, which carried him 
 off at Tinvane on the Tth of October following, when he had just com- 
 pleted his seventy-second year. As may be supposed his funeral was 
 largely attended by all classes. The cortege of cars and carriages 
 extended in unbroken line for over a mile, while many followed on foot 
 and on horseback. It was attended numerously by farmers, a fact 
 which testified emphatically to Briscoe's popularity, for he died at a 
 time when the peasant population of the country was in a state of 
 agitation against the gentry, perhaps greater than at any other period 
 of that troublous era. Albeit hundreds of the peasantry who desired 
 to attend the funeral, were deterred by reason of their fear of the Land 
 League ! 
 
 By a fctrange and melancholy coincidence, this fine old Irish sports- 
 man died exactly on the day following that upon which the Curraghmore 
 hounds were stopped hunting in Newtown Wood, about four miles 
 from Tinvane, by the villainous mob, as minutely described in the 
 Curraghmore chapter. 
 
126 
 
 I made tlie remark, while standing at his graveside in Fiddown 
 Churchyard, that " Henry Briscoe and our foxhunting died and were 
 buried at the same time." Alas, too true has that remark proved ! 
 
 Had this great foxhunter lived to see what was in store for the 
 sport he loved so well, and in particular for the Hunt he had done so 
 much for and was so proud of, I verily believe the sight would in itself 
 have killed the grand old fellow. Happily he was spared the ordeal. 
 
 By altering a line I can apply one of Warburton's poems to my 
 friend : — 
 
 Oh dear Henry Briscoe— how cheery 
 
 To ride by your side in a ran ; 
 Whether midnight or morn, never Aveary 
 Of revel, and frolic, and fun. 
 
 When we laid this good fellow the tomb in 
 His grave was not mocked with a bust. 
 
 But his favourite evergreen blooming, 
 Shall spring and overshadow his dust. 
 
 Peace ba to his manes, and may the sods for ever lie lightly o'er the 
 grave of Henry Briscoe ! 
 
12' 
 
 CHAPTER VIIJ. 
 STEEPLECHASING. 
 
 The Birthplace of Steeplechasing— Pounding Matches— Ancient History— Curious Records- 
 Old Englisli— Ross and Douglas— Clinker and Radical— The Grand National— Irisli 
 Winners —Author's Love of Steeplechasing— His Experience— Old Times— Cashel— 
 Tipperary— Newcastle— Stand-houses— Dressing— The Courses— How Kept— Results 
 —Selection of Courses— Riders' Costume— Farmers' Colours— Our Dress— Festivity- 
 Betting— Mullins and his Wife— Roulette and Hazard—" The Hells "— " Old Bones ''— 
 " Handicapping "— Those who Attended — Ladies— Farmers— Enthusiasm— Tents- 
 Drink— Shocking Scenes— The Plates— Honour and Glory— The Limerick Drag Hunt 
 —Gentlemen Jockeys— Captain Tempest and Dan Meaney— The Pace Then and Now- 
 Present Arrrangements— Compared in Detail with the Past— Is Steeplechasing Better 
 off ?— Lord Howth's Letter— Author's Reply— A Means to an End— Inferior Purposes 
 —Irish Steeplechasers Olden and Nowadays—" Mr. Armstrong"— Schooling— " Patent 
 Safety"— A Querj-— "A Qualified Hunter "—Hunters' Flat Races— Old Rulers and • 
 Mentors— Hurdle Racing— Author's Opinion— Who is Who now ?— What the Farmers 
 Like— Natural Courses, not Artificial— Curraghmore—Tramore— Mr. Martin Murphy- 
 Mr. Thomas G. Waters— His Kindheartedness— His Motives— A Good Sportsman — 
 MonumentstohisMemory—I.N.H.S.Committee—TakesAction—APity— Cork Park— 
 "RegulationFence"— Increase of Meetings— "GateMoney" Meetings— Author'sNotlons 
 —^port the Pole star— Author gets Tired at Last- Blurts out—" Hunters," Bless the 
 Mark !— Present System— I. N.H.S. Committee Again— Should be Supported— Corin- 
 thian Columns— Censors and Reformers— More to be Done— Our Rulers— A Suggestion 
 —Our Authorities must be Supported— What to Do— In a Nutshell— Pleasanter Topics 
 —Author Runs Riot— The Better to get off a Rough Line— A Horse's Stride— 15 feet of 
 Water— 20 feet— How Jumped— Painters and Pictures— Galloping— How to be Con- 
 vinced—Funny Illustrations— Nose and Feet — Landseer— The Forge- A Drake 
 Quacks !— " Hark back ! "— Punchestown and Fairyhouse— Aintree and Sandown— 
 They should be Copied— The Regulation Fence— How to Make One— To Lay out a 
 Course— The Punchestown Double— An Artificial Double— A Natural One— Do Horses 
 go as Fast now as Formerly ?— The Question carefully dealt with— Woodbrook's 
 Grand National— Subject entered into fully— Grand National from 1843 to 1889— 
 Tables of Comparison— Argued out— Real Steeplechase Courses— Not Billiard Tables 
 —No comparison— A Grand National Winner— The Press in Old Times— The Irish 
 Sportsman— Mr. William Dunbar— Manfully Maintained Sport— Now what do we see ? 
 —Daily Sporting Papers— Good old BelVs Life—K Record in Telegraphy— Mr. Charles 
 Barrington and Malahide— Lord Manners and Seaman. Postscript— Cloi&Xer' & Grand 
 National of 1893. 
 
 That Ireland is the birthplace of steeplechasing there can be no 
 doubt ; in fact, the right of title has never been questioned. Tradition 
 hands down, and is backed up by family records, that the sport existed 
 in some parts of Ireland, and absolutely flourished in Connaught, long 
 before the beginning of the present century. I have heard men relate 
 what their fathers told them they saw at steeplechases in Clare, 
 Galway, and Roscommon " twinty years afore the rebellion of '98." * 
 
 Steeplechases seem to have sprung from "pounding matches," a sport 
 much in vogue among Irish gentry early in the last century, and 
 continued to be until long after the beginning of the present. I often 
 
 ■*Tlie Irish peasants, even up to quite recently, took their dates from 
 some great historic event. 
 
128 
 
 heard them described when I was a boy. The diversion consisted in 
 two men riding a match against each other over some terribly stiff 
 country until one was brought to a standstill. The rules were simple. 
 One man was to follow the other wherever he went. Lots were drawn 
 to decide which was to take the lead at starting. This the rider 
 retained until his horse fell or baulked. In case of a fall the other 
 man was bound to follow in the same place, but when a baulk gave 
 him the lead, it was optional for him to go at another place. Thus the 
 match continued until one pounded the other. Large sums usually 
 changed hands over these matches, and as the most difficult country 
 was chosen, terrible accidents often occurred. Matches of this sort 
 were known to have decided which of two rivals was to claim the hand 
 of the lady they were in love with — the fair one agreeing to abide the 
 result and take for better or worse the winner ! 
 
 Necessarily this pounding business was done at a very slow pace and 
 without any line of country being laid out. Eventually the idea was 
 conceived, in the middle of the last century, to ride at best pace across 
 country from one point to another, the winning post being near to 
 some tower or steeple which could be seen from the start, perhaps five 
 or six miles away, and no other guide or beacon was allowed, hence 
 was derived the name steeplechase. 
 
 There appeared in an English magazine not long ago an article 
 giving interesting records of Irish steeplechasing when in its infancy, 
 and from it I learn that the oldest record Avhich is authentic is a 
 MS. in the possession of the O'Briens of Dromoland, County Limerick, 
 which gives particulars of a match in 1752, between Mr. O'Callaghan 
 and Mr. Edmund Blake, over four and a half miles of country. The 
 course was from the Church of Buttevant, with the spire of St. Leger 
 Church for a winning-post. 
 
 Perhaps the earliest reference found in print is in the first volume 
 of the old Sporting Magazine, where it records an appeal made to the 
 Turf Club to determine a dispute upon a race at Ballyshannon, held 
 on January .3, 1793. The report runs thus : "Four horses started for 
 one hundred guineas, twenty-five guineas a side; one of the horses 
 was to carry a featherweight — that is, the lightest weight procurable — 
 and was ridden by a small boy. In the race each was to leap a wall 
 six feet high. The first from the post was the horse carrying the 
 featherweight. When he came to the wall he was stopped by the boy, 
 who, with great dexterity, alighted, turned the horse over, climbed 
 the wall himself to the other side, mounted again, and came in first to 
 the winning post. Another horse and his rider got over clear ^ but the 
 other two baulked the wall. On it being contended that the boy lost 
 because he dismounted at the wall, it was decided that as the horse 
 which he rode had only to carry featherweight, the saddle was sufficient, 
 and the race was awarded to him." 
 
 It appears also to have been the practice about this time in " all 
 hunters' plates run for in Ireland to have a four-foot fence, with a 
 
129 
 
 four-foot drain to cross twice in each heat." Another old letter relates 
 how the writer " had seen two Irish horses in a race leap a river which 
 measured twenty-two feet clear." 
 
 One hundred years ago, unless the owner entered his horse in person, 
 it was necessary in Ireland to swear an affidavit to prove the qualifi- 
 cation of a hunter. This is copy of a form used : " I, Walter Butler, 
 of Cregg, Gent., maketh Oath, and sayeth that a bay gelded horse, 
 called Kasper, which deponent [by his servant] now offers to enter, and 
 run for the hunter's Plate, at Galway, never started for either Match or 
 Plate [but a fair hunter's Plate], and has been actually used as a huater, 
 at the last season, and not only to get the name, but really as a hunter ; 
 nor has he been in sweats with an intention to run, but only from Lady 
 Day last." They were more particular then about the qualification of 
 hunters than we are now. 
 
 The first regular steeplechase in Ireland was got up in 1803, but no 
 authentic record has been kept of it. 
 
 A six days' meeting used to take place over the Annagh course at 
 Westport in the early years of the century. The stewards were the 
 Marquis of Sligo and Mr. Martin Blake, while the late Mr. Hunter's 
 father was judge. The late Marquis of Sligo was a great sportsman. 
 It was he who bred the famous Waxy, Langar, and other horses, and it 
 was he who presented to our Turf Club the Sligo Whip. The present 
 Earl of Sligo has lived out of Ireland for several years, and his splendid 
 castle, on the borders of Clew Bay, is tenanted by a caretaker. 
 
 On St. Patrick's Day, 1813, a memorable meeting took place at Eath- 
 crogan, in the county Roscommon. "The distance was six miles, over 
 six walls, five feet high, and several yawning ditches. It was weight 
 for age, the stakes being one hundred guineas. The runners were: 
 Mr. G. Harkans' Young Blacklegs, 4 years ; Mr. W. French's mare by 
 Swordsman, 5 years ; Mr. J. French's Peter Finnerty, G years ; Mr. 
 Plunkett's Baronyboy, 8 years ; Mr. B. Blake's Merryman, 5 years :. 
 and Mr. J. French's Wellington, 5 years. The latter was favourite at 
 starting, and there was an excellent race between him and Young 
 Blacklegs for the first five miles, when Wellington refused, and 
 Young Blacklegs won easily; the mare by Swordsman was second." 
 
 About 1815 the all-important question of weight seems to have 
 come up for consideration, for in a four mile 'chase at Dungarvan, for 
 a plate of fifty guineas, we find the horses carried twelve stone each. 
 Another contest at Lismore is described as "a regular tumble-down 
 race." The winner, Mr. Foley's Brown Bess, fell four times, while the 
 horse which came in third had been down no less than six times. "In 
 all," the report says, '" there were twelve falls, but no one was killed. 
 Betting even at starting that there would be six falls." 
 
 Galway, ever since the time the Eastern men were driven into 
 Connaughtby Cromwell, has furnished hard riderij. In all parts of the 
 country are still to be seen places where Burkes, Blakes, Bodkins, and 
 Martins rode over, either for a wager, in a pounding match, or steeple- 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 chase, and surely some of them are appalling. John Dennis on 
 Alhambra did marvels, and so did the famous Giles Eyre, who first 
 started the " Galway Blazers." 
 
 These and others of "The Tribes," together with the Marquis of 
 Clanricarde, were the men at the head of Irish steeplechasing up till 
 the forties, when Henry Lord Waterford came to Curraghmore and 
 taking the lead of everyone, brought the sport under a proper system. 
 Lord Clanricarde, like Lord Sligo, is, miserahile dictu, succeeded by an 
 absentee, and Portumna Castle is also teuantless ! 
 
 After making this short reference to the infant days of steeple- 
 chasing, and before dealing with the sport as it has existed during my 
 own time, I must say something about the English. 
 
 In 1819 the sport was in full swing in England, and was described in 
 a magazine of the day as " a sort of racing for which the Paddies are 
 particularly famous, and in which, unless the rider has pluck and his 
 nag goodness, they cannot expect to get home." 
 
 Another Englishman of that period writes that "steeplechasing, 
 a system of horsemanship dangerous in the extreme, has become a 
 favourite amusement with the young fox-hunters of the day." 
 
 At the Derby of 1825 Lord Kennedy betted Captain Horatio Ross 
 £1,000 level that he would find a man in Scotland who would beat him 
 in a steeplechase. Horses were not named at all ! Subsequently his 
 lordship laid Ross £2,000 to £1,000 on the event, which bets were 
 vastly added to as the day approached. The match came off on 30th 
 March, 1826. The course was from Barkly Holt to Billesden Coplow, 
 in the Quorn country, just four miles. Terms : Not to go more than a 
 hundred yards on a road or through a gateway. Captain Douglas was 
 the man Lord Kennedy selected, and his lordship went to enormous 
 expense in purchasing horses for the match. At last he fixed upon 
 Radical, a famous hunter, belonging to Mr. Thomas Assheton 
 Smith, for which he paid 400gs. Captain Ross had no horse of 
 his own sufficiently good, but he was so popular that every stud in 
 Melton was placed at his disposal to choose from. He selected Clinker, 
 a thoroughbred by Clinker, dam by Clasher out of Lily of the Valley, 
 by Eclipse (I can't resist the temptation of showing that he had 
 Irish blood in his veins !), and he belonged to Mr. Francis Holyoake. 
 Clinker won the match by half a mile, and did the journey, as taken 
 by stop-watch, in 11^ minutes — a great performance, as the country 
 was very hilly. 
 
 Before the race Lord Kennedy proposed to Captain Ross that, " as 
 such an enormous sum was pending on the match, both between them- 
 selves and others, he thought it advisable that they should start with 
 as few openings for a wrangle as possible ; that in a flat- race crossing 
 or jostling was not allowed, but that in this match he thought it would 
 be best that the riders should do just as they pleased." To this Ross 
 replied, " In short, I understand that we may ride over each other and 
 kill each other if we can." " Just so," responded his lordship. 
 
131 
 
 I shall now give verbatim Captain Ross's account of the match, 
 as he wrote it to a friend many years after. " Odd enough the first 
 jump was a five-barred gate. I lay with Clinker's head about opposite 
 to Douglas' knee. When within forty or fifty yards of the gate I saw 
 clearly that Eadical meant to refuse, so, recollecting the bargain, I 
 held Clinker well in hand. Radical, as I expected, when close to the 
 gate turned right across Clinker. I stuck the spurs in, knocked 
 Douglas over the gate, and sent Radical heels over head but lying on 
 this side of it. Douglas did not lose his horse, for the rein was fastened 
 to his wrist, and he was soon mounted again, but it finished the 
 match eflfectually. I turned round, jumped the corner of the fence, 
 and gained such a lead that he never caught me again. I suppose, in 
 these days, killing a man in that way would be brought in as ' wilful 
 murder'; not so in 1826 : the verdict then would have been 'justifiable 
 homicide.' " 
 
 This match created a great deal of interest at the time, as it was the 
 first race across country which people had seen, and many came to it 
 from all parts of the kingdom. 
 
 Clinker was one of the most brilliant hunters in England, and after 
 the match was bought by Captain Ross from Mr. Holyoake for GOOgs. 
 He was carried gloriously over Leicestershire for several seasons by 
 that famous horse, and had but one fall with him. 
 
 Irish horses, although accustomed to a very different country, have 
 throughout history made fame over English steeplechase courses. 
 
 The Liverpool Grand National was first started in 1839, but I am 
 not able to record how the initial attempt was supported by my 
 countrymen. In 1840 thirteen horses started for that race, of which 
 no less than six were Irish, Mr. Barry's Arthur, ridden by Mr. William 
 Macdonagh, and Mr. John Power's Valentine, ridden by himself, 
 running second and third. It was from the last-named horse the 
 far-famed brook took its name. A solid built wall five feet high then 
 stood where the water-jump now is. This Mr. Power backed himself 
 heavily to be first over. He won his wager, but thereby lost the race. 
 Such a cracker did he lead them that ten out of the thirteen fell at it. 
 
 Since then there have been but few Grand Nationals in which Irish- 
 men did not take part, while it was won by horses bred in Ireland as 
 follows : — 
 
 Matthew, the property of Mr. John Courtenay, of Ballyedmond, was 
 the first to win it, and this he did in 1847, beating a field of twenty- 
 eight. Abd-el-Kader won consecutively in 1850 and '51, the first year 
 beating thirty-two, the largest field that ever started for the race. 
 Wanderer won in 1855, and so did Anatis in 1860. Huntsman in 1862 
 won in the shortest time recorded, 9min. 30sec. In this race poor 
 Joe Wynne, riding O'Connell, was killed at the fence before the 
 water-jump, the same which proved fatal a few years after to one of 
 the finest gentleman riders of the day, Mr. George Ede ( " Mr. Ed wards " ). 
 
 We had then a spell of bad luck, and no Irish horse caught the 
 
132 
 
 judge's eye until Cortolvin, bred by Mr. Michael Dunne of Ballymanus, 
 did so with list. 13lb. in 1867. This is the highest weight ever carried 
 first past the post in the Xational up to and including 1892, The 
 little Lamb won the next year, and again in 1871. After that for 
 eight years our horses could do no better than run into places, but then 
 came their turn, and for four years in succession we carried away 
 the blue ribbon : The Liberator in 1879, Empress 1880, Woodbrook 
 1881, and Seaman in 1882. 
 
 By the way, what grand Irish parentage The Liberator had, and 
 what a rattling ring there is in it— by Daniel O'Connell out of Mary 
 O'Toole ! He was owned and ridden by that fine horseman, my friend 
 Mr. Garrett Moore. 
 
 We had then to wait for five years until Gamecock in 1887 brought 
 us again to the front. After that, from 1889 to '91, we won off the reel 
 with Frigate, Ilex, and Comeaway. 
 
 Thus out of fifty-three races have the Irish horses a record of seven- 
 teen wins, while they ran into places no end of times. * 
 
 Thus far for ancient history, now for the modern. 
 
 I never owned a racehorse, and am not likely to do so ; but I truly 
 love racing, and, like most Irishmen, I love steeplechasing still more. 
 But the change has been so marvellous since I was a boy I feel con- 
 strained to describe it. 
 
 Having been a regular race-going man for over thirty years, I have 
 attended nearly every meeting of importance in Ireland, and have seen 
 a great number in England. I never missed a Punchestown since 
 its re-formation in 1861, and for the twelve years of its existence I 
 managed our old Curraghmore meeting. I make these remarks to show 
 that I may fairly claim to know something about the subject I am 
 now going to tackle. 
 
 In old times our meetings in Ireland were got up and carried out 
 in very rough-and-ready style. Those long established, like Cashel, 
 Tipperary, and Newcastle, had permanent stone stand-houses, but of the 
 most primitive construction, resembling lime kilns, and not much 
 larger. Indeed, I think the big hill overlooking Newcastle did duty 
 for its grand stand. They had no dressing-rooms ; the jockeys dressed 
 in a tent or the open air, and were weighed in the latter without a 
 particle of shelter. 
 
 Piiders generally came to the meeting wearing their jackets, boots, and 
 breeches under their ordinary clothes, so that they had only to pull off 
 the latter to be ready to weigh out. I remember dressing — or rather 
 T^fzdressing— for a steeplechase under the lee side of a fence, in a 
 storm of wind and rain, while a friend held an umbrella over me ! 
 
 The courses were laid out over a perfectly natural country; not 
 a single sod or stone would be removed nor a fence trimmed, and there 
 was no levelling of places where the going was bad. In fact, with the 
 
 * See postscript for Cloister's win in 1893. 
 
133 
 
 exception of the three meetings named, courses would be laid out a few 
 days beforehand, and nothing further done but put up the flags on 
 the morning of the races. In many places the courses were '" out and 
 home ;" z>., after going half the distance the horses were turned round 
 a post and raced back over the same line. 
 
 As a means for keeping the fences between the flags clear for the 
 horses to jump, each had to be guarded by half a dozen men armed 
 with sticks, and as badges of authority they sported hatbands of 
 coloured calico. The run-home was protected only by ropes fastened 
 loosely to rickety posts, and although the stewards and hunt servants, 
 mounted and with long-lashed whips, strove manfully to keep it clear, 
 the spectators crowded the course, and only when the horses were upon 
 them divided, leaving a narrow lane to the winning post. 
 
 Needless to say that, having to deal with a multitude of country folk, 
 some of whom at times were a bit unruly, and others more or less 
 under the influence of bad drink, keeping either the fences or the run- 
 home as clear as they should be was an impossibility. As soon as the 
 leading horses passed everyone closed in, unmindful of those behind, 
 which had either to charge the crowd or be pulled up. I saw many 
 a man ridden over, nearly all were hurt, while some were killed out- 
 right. Collisions between the racing horses and those ridden by the 
 stewards and servants, causing terrible disasters, were also of fre- 
 quent occurrence. 
 
 Previous to the seventies the get-up of our gentlemen-riders could not 
 well be called smart. Hiding between flags was so little their custom 
 they did not consider racing boots and breeches necessary adjuncts to 
 their wardrobes, so when they donned the silk, those used for hunting, 
 topped with the velvet cap, constituted their rig-out. We all 
 hunted in caps in those days, and when requisitioned for a race they 
 were sometimes covered by a lady of the family with red, white, or 
 blue silk, and sometimes the whole tricolour. This rig certainly looked 
 very "chalk," and widely different from the Newmarket cut of our pre- 
 sent Corinthian jockeys. In farmers' races it was 6 to 4 on "green jacket 
 and black cap," being the colours of the riders. Now green is the excep- 
 tion, and the jockeys in these races are equipped very much smarter 
 than they used to be. 
 
 In those days we dressed going to races in our worst clothes. The 
 only man who went in Ascot style was the late Captain Billy Quin, and 
 we used to laugh at him ! It was not until the ladies patronised racing 
 that we donned broadcloth and " toppers." 
 
 Somehow in olden times we made races an occasion for festivity, and 
 the licence very often exceeded proper limits. No doubt it was because 
 we had so few meetings, for nowadays, when racing can be had every 
 week in the year, and often every day in the week, no one ever thinks 
 of indulging in the " pleasures of the table" more on those occasions 
 than any other. The Race Ordinary, invariably held at the best hotel 
 in the town, presided over by the leading steward, and patronised by 
 
134 
 
 his fellows, is now unheard of. Directly the last race is over away 
 home everyone hurries. 
 
 Betting was not carried on to any extent on Irish courses five-and 
 thirty years ago — in fact, I can remember only one bookmaker at our 
 Southern meetings. He was named Mullins, and was often assisted by 
 his wife ; and even they had not sufficient betting to occupy all their 
 time, so they worked a roulette-table as well. 
 
 Although betting was not much in vogue, except among the gentry, 
 roulette and hazard were immensely popular. These games were played 
 openly in the enclosure and also at the hotels every night as long as 
 the meeting lasted. Very large sums were lost and won, but only 
 by the upper classes of society. The keepers of the "hells," as the 
 gaming-places were very appropriately called, found their vocation so 
 lucrative that they paid high fees to the race executive and hotel 
 proprietors for the privilege of playing. £100 was a common sum at a 
 small country meeting, while £500 was for many a year the annual 
 stipend paid by " Old Bones " to the Punchestown fund. 
 
 Another fashionable game, was that called *' handicapping." A rum 
 old game it was. What a mart it created for the exchange of every 
 conceivable commodity a man might, or might 7iot, be possessed of ! 
 A fellow's horse or his house, his watch or his wardrobe might be " chal- 
 lenged," but, by the unique principle of the game he might, if he had 
 sufficient acumen, attain double the value of the article by judicious 
 appreciation of " the award," and at the same time retain his property 
 in the end ! What various degrees of satisfaction were felt by men ia 
 the morning consequent upon the result of their " opening" or " sporting," 
 *' holding " or " not holding," the night before ! Truly, this intellectual 
 game conduced eminently towards sharpening up the wits of a youngster 
 and improving his powers of rapid mental calculation. I could not 
 refrain from some allusion to this extraordinary game of the bygone era, 
 but I must return to my subject. 
 
 The people who attended these old-fashioned race-meetings were of a 
 class quite different from that of the present day. The stand-houses and 
 enclosures were all very small, and the sum paid for admission never 
 exceeded 5s. The accommodation, however, was quite sufficient, as no 
 one went to the stand-houses except the local gentry and those who 
 came from a distance. Ladies were never seen inside them. The few 
 who did attend always drove in their carriages, from which they never 
 stirred. On the other hand country people attended in their thousands. 
 The run-home was lined with a solid mass of spectators, while every 
 fence and vantage ground was thronged with frieze-coated farmers, 
 their sons, and labourers. Within a ten-mile radius of the course not 
 one of them could be found at home, except those too ill or too old. 
 Wherever was a fence more formidable than the others there would 
 congregate the crowd in greatest numbers. Every man evinced the 
 keenest interest in the sport, which was intensified when a neighbour's 
 horse ran, and if he won the excitement culminated in frenzy. 
 
135 
 
 There were tents, as there are now, but in much greater numbers, and 
 in them was very bad drink sold — liquor so adulterated and pernicious 
 that those who partook of it were rendered simply mad. Shocking 
 scenes resulted and terrible fights took place. At times when faction 
 met faction a regular battle was fought, particularly at races in the 
 counties Limerick and Tipperary, within which, by the way, most of the 
 Southern meetings were held. 
 
 Long ago a £50 plate was considered a biggish affair, and for it we 
 had often fifteen or twenty of the best horses in Ireland competing — 
 ay, and journeying 100 miles by road for the purpose. No horse-boxes 
 on railways theo. Except the Tradesmen's at Newcastle, the Rock 
 Stakes at Cashel, and the Barronstown Plate at Tipperary, which were 
 the most important events in Ireland, there were then very few worth 
 £100. Neither had we flat or hurdle races at our steeplechase meetings. 
 
 Men who raced in those days did so for sport, for honour and for 
 glory. As a rule they were well-to-do, and did not seek to supplement 
 their incomes by either the stakes or gambling on the Turf. 
 
 I well remember the Limerick Drag Hunt, run April 23, 1860, when 
 thirty-seven of us, on hand fide hunters, started for fifty sovereigns, 
 five miles, over the beautiful country of Fedamore and Boherard in that 
 county, in full fox-hunting costume, 12 stone each. Some of us came 
 over one hundred miles for the gallop, and we considered ourselves 
 well repaid, for it was a clinker and no mistake ! By some means the 
 line to be run over became known to some of the local people, and they 
 having horses entered, and there being no other as suitable, the stewards 
 considered it fairest to show it to all of us. As this was a "line," 
 indeed, just five miles, straight as a ruler from start to finish, we were 
 shown over it backwards, from the winning to the starting post. We 
 got permission that, should the hounds check, or not go fast enough 
 before us, we were to make the best of our way to the winning-post ; 
 therefore, I need not say the unlucky hounds were overridden in the 
 first half-mile (I remember my horse landing over a high stone wall 
 on one — he never moved after !), and we made a downright steeplechase 
 of it to the finish. Almost all our gentlemen riders took part in this 
 scurry ; and racing men like Captains Shaw, Trocke, and M'Craith, 
 with Sir Richard de Burgho and sporting Pat Russell, rode steeple- 
 chasers, but they carried penalties. I, in the name of " Mr. Thomas," 
 rode a very good horse, called the Blind Vet, belonging to poor Larry 
 Dobbyn, V.S., of Waterford, and he had only three before him when 
 Mr. Ivers won on The Knight. Happy, and yet sad, recollection ! Ego- 
 tistical though it be, I can't help relating the event. 
 
 There were very few races for gentlemen in the days I speak of. 
 Occasionally we had one, usually called the Corinthian Cup, but no 
 horse except a regular hunter was qualified, and he was, as often as not, 
 ridden by his owner. We had only some five or six " gentlemen jockeys " 
 in Ireland then — I mean those who rode regular races— but it was 
 customary for them to pay a professional for standing down when 
 
136 
 
 they got up, and if this was not done habitually things were made 
 unpleasant for the amateur during the running. Poor Captain Shaw 
 found this to his cost in many a race, till finally and fatally he found 
 it at Youghal. 
 
 I think it was Captain Tempest who I saw give Dan Meaney £10 for 
 the mount on Blind Harper, at Cashel, for the Rock Stakes, and, as 
 well as I can remember, the plucky and popular officer won. He, and 
 perhaps three or four more, were the only soldiers who could ride a 
 steeplechase at the time I refer to. 
 
 Notwithstanding the stiff fences which were in every Irish steeple- 
 chase course twenty or thirty years ago, I maintain, no doubt against 
 the better opinion of many others, that the pace was as good then as it 
 is now. Anyway, the horses went as hard as they could lay legs to 
 ground, being, of course, steadied to a certain extent at the formidable 
 fortifications they had to face ; and as the horses of olden time were as 
 good as, if not a vast deal better than those of to-day, what I say cannot 
 be far wrong. 
 
 Now, let us contrast the state of former steeplechase affairs, as I have 
 endeavoured to describe them, with what they are at present. 
 
 Our stand-houses are excellently constructed, fitted with every con- 
 venience, and many are luxuriously so. Well-constructed palings keep 
 the run-home as clear as at Epsom for the Derby; nicely trimmed, pretty 
 little hedgerows made of privet, furze, or laurel, so as not to hurt the 
 horses' legs if they gallop through instead of over them, are the fences 
 we often see, and galloping throvrjh is invited by the method of planting. 
 These are in some courses diversified by diminutive mounds of clay, with 
 a narrow shallow dry ditch on the landing side, so that horses may clear 
 them from field to field without increasing the length of their galloping 
 stride, or rising more than a foot and a half. To be sure, we have the 
 conventional "gallery " jump in front of the grand stand in the shape of 
 a brook so graphically described by Bromley-Davenport as a 
 
 Shallow-dug pan, with a hurdle to screen it, 
 That cock-tail imposture, the steeplechase brook ! 
 
 Gentlemen jockeys come now, in some instances attended by valets, 
 bringing portmanteaus stuffed with as many changes of clothes as would 
 suffice a man for a tour. They dress in comfortable rooms, and come 
 forth adorned for the fray, smart as the Newmarket professionals. 
 
 Our stand-houses and enclosures cover twenty times more ground 
 than the old ones, and they are not one whit too big for the multitudes 
 at 10s. to 15s. a head. We have scores of betting men at every meeting, 
 and they have hundreds to bet with them ; but we have neither roulette 
 nor hazard — at least, not to be seen. 
 
 Within the enclosures we have crowds of all classes, from the appren 
 tice and junior clerk to the principals of every business under the sun. 
 These, together with the gentry, nearly all bet upon every race, and a 
 great many of them heavily. Ladies come in numbers little short of the 
 
137 
 
 men, and many of them also indulge in betting, and at times to large 
 amounts. 
 
 Outside the enclosures is a contrast just as great. Scarcely one small 
 farmer or labourer is to be seen, and this refers to big steeplechase 
 meetings (bar the two I am going to name) as well as to the small 
 provincials. Many attribute this to the decrease in the peasant popula- 
 tion, but though that may have something to do with it, the true cause 
 is discoverable elsewhere, as I shall endeavour to explain. Anyway it 
 gets rid of the tents to a great degree ; and, as far as they are concerned, 
 a very good job. 
 
 Punchestown and Fairy House attract a very fair contingent of the 
 farming class, but let me inform my readers these are the only steeple- 
 chase meetings in Ireland lohere the courses are natural^ and where they 
 are practically the same as they were in the days of Brunette, Blueskin, 
 and New Broom. 
 
 Excepting them, at nearly all our steeplechase meetings are flat and 
 hurdle races. Stakes are given of from £100 to £500, and Leopards- 
 town has added one of £1,000 ; but the fields of horses for them are not 
 nearly as large as we had for the old £50 and £60 plates, nor are they of 
 as good a class. Men run horses now for gain and not for glory. They 
 don't patronise the Turf to support it with their incomes, but only to make 
 incomes out of it. A fifty sovereign stake would not now bring forty 
 horses from long distances to compete in a friendly scurry over five 
 miles of a natural sporting country. 
 
 N"ow we have far-and-away more "gentlemen" than professional 
 jockeys, and consequently more races confined to gentlemen riders, 
 while the amateur can ride in any race — handicap or other — without 
 let or hindrance. This brings about the fact that our present gentlemen 
 jocks are as good as any, and better than most, professionals, while a 
 great many of the best are officers in the army. Moreover, there are five 
 times as many race meetings in Ireland now as there were before the 
 seventies. 
 
 Having stated both sides of the question as regards past and present 
 steeplechasing as fairly and correctly as I can, let me, for information 
 sake, ask the question. Is steeplechasing in Ireland on a better or worse 
 footing than it was, say, thirty years ago ? As I cannot argue out the 
 subject with my readers, I must have recourse to a sort of desultory 
 dialogue, mixed up with suggestive questions and my own opinion. 
 I shall however deal with the subject straight, and as fairly as I can. 
 
 Of course, it goes without saying that the not only desirable, but 
 absolutely requisite improvements in stand-house and course-keeping 
 arrangements, are as much an advance upon the old, as are railway upon 
 past coaching arrangements. To these improvements, too, let us not 
 forget w^e owe the presence of the ladies at our race meetings. But that 
 is not the question, however close it might lie to it. We have to consider 
 steeplechasing pure and simple. 
 
 A great deal has been written within the last few years upon the 
 
13S 
 
 sport in all its moods and tenses, and nearly all the scribes took a 
 fling at what they call the " open grave." 
 
 The Earl of Howth contributed an article in Baihjs Magazine of 
 February, 1891, under the heading of "Steeplechase Reform," in which 
 he dealt with the subject in a form of question and answer. Thinking 
 his lordship was too hard upon our Irish National Hunt Steeplechase 
 Committee, and not being in accord with some of his ideas, I ventured a 
 reply in the following issue of Baily. My article in that magazine was 
 very condensed, but I replied at much greater length in the Irish 
 Sportsman of March 28, 1891. 
 
 The letters are too long to reproduce in these pages, but I shall give 
 in substance, my reply to his lordship. 
 
 Steeplechasing was once considered to be a means to an end J 
 viz., to stimulate men to improve the breed and stamina of hunters. 
 That end has long since been attained, for we have had for many 
 years as perfect hunters, well bred, and up to weight aa I conceive it 
 is possible to breed or make them. While this happy result may not be 
 attributable entirely to steeplechasing, no one can gainsay that it has 
 had a vast deal to do with it. I am of opinion, however, that having 
 gained its primary object, the grand old institution, like many others, 
 has been turned to very different and vastly inferior purposes. 
 
 Thirty to forty years ago most Irish steeplechase horses were up to 
 at least 13st. with hounds ; and though the weights in handicaps were, 
 I think, lower than at present, the weights for age were often higher, 
 while the courses were seldom under three miles, and often longer. 
 Now we see wretched weeds not up to lOst. with harriers, and good for 
 nothing but what they are used for, running in some of our principal 
 steeplechases. These, by judicious "placing "and an occasional mount 
 given to " Mr. Armstrong," bring grist to their owner's mill, but seldom 
 do they " improve the breed or stamina of the horse," or exhibit the 
 latter quality in themselves. But if we go a bit farther back, to the 
 time when races were decided by the barbaric custom of heats, the 
 comparison between past and present 'chasing simply ends. 
 
 The big natural courses of old days required careful and continued 
 schooling, and until a horse was a perfect fencer he dared not face the 
 old steeplechase course with any idea of getting safely over it. This 
 schooling, if a horse had an easy temper and was properly handled, 
 often qualified him as a " patent safety " with hounds. 
 
 May I ask if the schooling requisite for many of our present steeple- 
 chasers to safely negotiate what I have, perhaps profanely, described 
 as " pretty little hedgerows," qualifies them as perfect hunters 1 
 
 In my young days no horse was considered qualified for a hunters' 
 race till he carried his owner regularly and safely to hounds for at least 
 the greater part of one season, and of course we never rode horses till 
 they were over four years old, and seldom till they were five off. Now 
 a horse if seen a few times at a meet can get a certificate to run as 
 " a hunter " ! 
 
139 
 
 To an old fogey like myself it does seem difficult to understand what 
 useful result can be produced by allowing hunters to run against each 
 other on the Jlat. Except the Brighton Downs, I know no country over 
 which we can follow hounds without fencing. Oh ! were our old rulers 
 and mentors of chase and 'chasing to look up and see what is now going 
 on, methinks they would go back and contentedly remain where they are ! 
 
 I always looked upon hurdle-racing as an iniquitous institution. 
 What practical use is it or can it be ? It is hybrid and serves no good 
 purpose, and affords only an opportunity for gambling additional to the 
 many which exist, and that over a lot of devils which are as worthless 
 for flat-racing as they are for steeplechasing. 
 
 Most of the multitudes who now attend races don't care a jot for the 
 sport ; they come only to bet and for the outing. They would rather 
 stay at home at their desk or counter and back some " tip " than go 
 without having a bet on him, to see that horse run. Take from the 
 stands at Punchestown and Leopardstown the ladies and the commercial 
 element, the one coming to see and to be seen, the other to gamble, and 
 a very sparse attendance will be left, but among it will be found the 
 sjyortsmen. 
 
 The farmers, as a rule, have not as yet succumbed to the infatuation 
 of betting, and still like to see a good steeplechase over a natural coun- 
 try ; but they would not give a pin to see one over the cock-pit courses 
 of modern days, with their abominable abortions of fences. Therefore 
 they stay away, even if living within a few miles of these artificial 
 hippodromes. On the other hand, they always go to the point-to-point 
 races, to Fairyhouse, and to Punchestown, where, with good sport, they 
 see racing over natural fences. This proves that, notwithstanding a 
 great reduction in the peasant population, there are many in the country 
 still who could go to races if they cared ; and that the f alling-off in their 
 attendance at country meetings is not wholly attributable to emi- 
 gration, although many people contend it is. 
 
 I speak about this from personal experience. To our old Curragh- 
 more meeting, held annually over the almost natural course at 
 Williamstown, every farmer, with his wife, daughters, sons, and 
 labourers, crowded, lining the fences and every vantage ground in their 
 thousands, same as was done thirty years before at Cashel and Barrons- 
 town, ay, and they would come many a mile by rail and road for the 
 purpose. Not so to a neighbouring meeting, quite as well carried out 
 in its way, but with an artificial course ; to that few of the farmers 
 would go, dismissing the bare suggestion, as scores of them have done 
 to myself, with the observation, " I would not be bothered looking at the 
 like'M 
 
 Tramore is the meeting I allude to. Since then Mr. Martin Murphy 
 has done everything to make it first class, except to provide a natural 
 country, which is impossible, and it is now among the racing community 
 and townspeople one of the most fashionable meetings in Ireland ; but 
 the farmers don't attend, even though they have now no Williamstown. 
 
140 
 
 I am well aware it was the late Mr. Thomas G. Waters who laid 
 out these new courses and remodelled the old. In doing so he was 
 actuated by the purest motive — viz., a Mdsh to prevent the accidents 
 which, just about that time, were of unusual frequency. ^Ir. Waters 
 was a man of peculiarly tender heart, and could never bear to see 
 anything hurt, much less the horse, of which he was so fond, or the 
 Irish steeplechase rider, of whom he was so proud. He was there- 
 fore, the more easily convinced in his own mind that our old courses 
 were too stiff. He was partly right in this, for some of them were — 
 notably Newcastle, where that famous mare Kate Fisher, and, I think, 
 three other horses were killed at one meeting alone, a series of disasters 
 which brought about an outburst of abuse of Irish 'chasing in the 
 English Press. It would have been better, however, had he adopted 
 less drastic measures ; and had he foreseen the effects his wholesale 
 cutting-down was destined to have upon our steeplechasing, he would 
 have been more sparing with the spade and pickaxe, while equally 
 merciful to horse and jockey, for never was there a better sportsman m 
 Ireland than my old friend Tom Waters. 
 
 It is, however, fair to his memory to state that the sporting press of 
 Ireland were silent during the remodelling of the courses ; nor did we 
 hear a word of complaint from owners, trainers, or jockeys. On the 
 contrary, the last-named three, as a rule, approved of the reformation. 
 I should also mention that heavy betting began just at the time Mr. 
 Waters commenced work, and who knows but there might have been 
 some who were very glad to look on and see courses made the 
 -easier 1 To bring off " a good thing " over the old natural courses 
 was very uncertain ; perhaps therefore, they thought it the best 
 policy not to express the opinions they really held on the subject as 
 regards $,port. 
 
 Although Waters cut the fences down, it was he who built up the 
 stand-houses and introduced all the improvements we now enjoy ; for 
 which ladies, jockeys, owners, pressmen, and all others connected with 
 racing owe him a debt of gratitude. 
 
 Eight glad am I to see that our Irish National Hunt Steeplechase 
 Committee has at last taken action in the matter, and has issued mandates 
 that the size of the jumps must be increased. It is a pity such a step 
 was not taken long ago. It is a greater pity that it did not veto the 
 wholesale cutting-down system directly they saw Cork Park — which 
 was the first circus of the kind — and forbid laying out courses on such 
 lines. 
 
 In their recent action I think a mistake was made in laying down a 
 hard-and-fast rule for all steeplechase courses. I am thoroughly in 
 accord with their idea of having one somewhat formidable jump, such 
 as the so-called "regulation fence," in every two miles, but I would have 
 the formation of every course dictated by the natural lie of the country, 
 utilising every safe fence, thus giving diversitj'- of jumps with artificials 
 as few as possible. The position for the regulation fence should be 
 
141 
 
 adapted to the course, and left to the discretion of the official inspector, 
 and not to rule and measurement. 
 
 We have now a great many more steeplechase meetings in Ireland 
 than we used to have, but most of them are small affairs. Whether 
 that increase has proved beneficial or otherwise I can't well say. But 
 as regards those meetings which have sprung up and are carried on as 
 commercial affairs, I certainly am not in favour of. The principle is so 
 at variance with that on which meetings in my day were promoted, 
 probably I don't understand it sufficiently. Those such as Baldoyle, 
 Leopardstown, and Cork Park, being near to large cities, may do well 
 enough, but to have the "gate money" business extended to the 
 country I think would do a great deal of harm. 
 
 I feel that our farmers and country traders should be afforded the 
 opportunity of seeing a steeplechase as often as possible, and thus keep 
 alive in them the love of the old sport. For that reason assuredly I 
 would not allosv any more courses to be enclosed, but would give 
 people free access same as of yore. 
 
 Our Irish National Steeplechase Committee, like other corporations- 
 who have to frame rules which will be alike effective and popular, have 
 a hard task at times. Sport, however, is the only star they should steer 
 for. To assist a number of people to make money by means of starting a 
 race meeting on limited liabilitjs or other such principle, should not for 
 one moment occupy their consideration, unless it be clearly shown that 
 good results to sport will follow. 
 
 When dealing with Lord Howth's letter already alluded to, I referred 
 to matters which, in my opinion, caused a great deal of the injury 
 which steeplechasing has in late years sustained, notably where I 
 stated that we have not now men in Ireland to support steeplechasing 
 of the same calibre as the old. 
 
 Even when I was a young man, not to speak of for many years pre- 
 viously, we had all over Ireland noblemen and gentry of good meauF,. 
 who not alone bred and reared steeplechase horses, but trained and 
 raced them from their own stables, and rarely were any gent to a public 
 trainer. As well as my memory serves me, Mr. John Hubert Moore, 
 when residing at Jockey Hall on the Curragh, was the first man to 
 whom horses were sent to be trained for cross-country work, and oce 
 of his first patrons was Captain John F. Montgomery, familiarly called 
 " Ptufus." Whether it was that the young men, being less well-off, were 
 less sporting than the old, or that they considered their horses could be 
 done more justice to in a public stable than their own, certain it is that 
 since early in the sixties men have given up by degrees home-training. 
 It is not for me to say which was the best plan, but of this I am 
 positive that we had better sport with better horses under the old 
 system. 
 
 In some of our big crack training stables we have some few good 
 steeplechasers owned by a few good sportsmen ; but, with all due 
 respect to owners, I would submit that, while there is no doubt about 
 
142 
 
 the high standing of some, the ability of others, and the general recti- 
 tude of the whole, there is a lamentable falling off in the body as 
 compared with that of former days. 
 
 At page 98 I made mention of the men who supported steeplechasing 
 thirty and forty years ago, and, in drawing a comparison, I feel assured 
 that the present men will not feel aggrieved, but, on the contrary, will 
 accept as a fact what must be as palpable to themselves as it is to me. 
 
 This is the more to be regretted when it is equally evident that Irish 
 trainers, as a class, are now very much better than they used to be. 
 
 The names I gave were those who, in my own time, bred, reared, 
 trained, and raced their own horses from their own stables. Not alone 
 that, but nearly the whole lot were racing at the same time and for 
 many years in Ireland, and they were all independent men. 
 
 There maybe others, but the only man whom I can call to mind that now 
 races on the lines of the men I named, is my old friend Mr. Mat. Maher, 
 of Ballinkeel, whom I have already mentioned as an example to follow. 
 That gentleman, assisted by his brother. Captain George Maher, can not 
 only breed and rear a racehorse, but can train him and bring him out fit 
 to win in the best company, alike over a flat or flagged course. This he 
 has many times proved, but never more emphatically than in the case of 
 the gallant Frigate, who, trained by the brothers, ran into second place 
 for the Grand National no less than three times, and eventually won it 
 by beating nineteen others in 1889. She carried list. 4lbs., and doing 
 the journey in 10 min. 1 sec, she beat the average weight and time of 
 that race by exactly 5lbs. and 31 seconds. Good old Frigate was born 
 at Ballinkeel, from Gunboat and Fair Maid of Kent, both of whom 
 were also bred by Mr. Maher. 
 
 That is a record which very few owners of the present day can 
 lay claim to, but lots of the old fellows could, at least to equally great. 
 
 Many ovations have I seen given to winners of races, but never aught 
 like that given to Frigate when she won the National. The old mare 
 had run for it no less than five times ; once she was knocked down, and 
 her performance upon the other occasions is recorded above. Piunning 
 so continually in such consistently good form made her a favourite 
 with everyone, down to the very newsboys in Liverpool and bargemen 
 at Aintree. She ran subsequently, but was again knocked down. 
 
 "When the old pillars of our sport died or ceased racing, orders went 
 forth to Mr. Waters for the pick and spade, the bill-hook and scalping 
 shears to hack and to hew the natural courses, which were sacred 
 from harm in the old men's days. Then came into fashion the artificial 
 courses, which are the great and leading light to the destruction 
 of steeplechasing, and with them the extinction of the old and 
 useful " half-bred " — so called because he had a stain in his pedigree, 
 and could not be traced in direct line to Flying Childers. 
 
 Of course we all admit the great advantages of thorough-breeding, but 
 I can't help thinking that for steeplechasing and hunting, the relegation 
 of the " half-bred " is a mistake. 
 
143 
 
 Again, while I admit that public trainers, as a rule, bring horses to the 
 post in better condition than do the private men, I am of the most 
 decided opinion that the sport would be better sustained and maintained 
 by having our horses for steeplechasing trained at home. Thereby 
 would be created sporting emulation and rivalry among owners other 
 than that which they have on a racecourse. 
 
 Our gentry now are not nearly so well ofif as they used to be, and they 
 can't do things they once did, nor can they do almost anything in the 
 same style. 
 
 Deplorable, also, is the fact that they don't now look upon steeple- 
 chasing, as a branch of sport, in the same light as did their forefathers. 
 
 To bring back to our gentry their old incomes is an impossibility, but 
 to regenerate in them the love of steeplechasing is by no means 
 impossible ; on the contrary all that is needed is to bring hack to 
 steepleclmsing its original system. 
 
 I am now tired of this dissertation, and so I am sure will be my 
 readers, so I shall not bother myself or them with further remarks or 
 comparisons, but will blurt out that I am firmly of opinion that, as 
 far as steeplechasing is concerned, the love of sport is fast giving way 
 to the love of gain. Owners don't care a fig now for winning a race, 
 except in so far as they gain by it ; and they would rather lose a race 
 and thereby make money, than win the race and get nothing. Horses 
 are used now as machines for gambling, and not, as of old, as winners 
 of glory to their owners ; nor is steeplechasing any longer an institution 
 for improving the breed and stamina of the hunter ; on the contrary 
 "hunters" — bless the mark! — are now expected to improve steeple- 
 chasing. 
 
 How long the present system will last time alone can tell, but my 
 opinion is the grand old sport is fast going down hill. It is not, how- 
 ever, too late to put on the skid, and if the authorities would do so with- 
 out any more delay perhaps the upset of the coach may be prevented. 
 
 I need not say I hold our I.X.H.S. Committee in the greatest esteem, 
 and would, in every way in my power, support them. It is, therefore, 
 painful to me to hear that body spoken of in the disrespectful manner 
 some sections of the press and public at times adopt. It is a body of 
 gentlemen in whom everyone should place confidence, and to whose 
 decisions all should bow. Without such a body to regulate our steeple- 
 chasing, constituted as it must be with absolute power, the sport would 
 soon fall to the ground, precisely as did the prize-ring of England when 
 the Corinthian columns were taken from under it. Censors and Vv^ould- 
 be reformers should bear this in mind. 
 
 During the past few years our Steeplechase Committee have efi'ected 
 some great improvements, both in their legislature and the way meet- 
 ings are conducted, but there remains a lot more for them to do — 
 luckily, however, not as much as have the Turf and Jockey Clubs. 
 
 We in Ireland are fortunate in having as rulers of our racing and 
 steeplechasing a body of men, young and practical in their ideas. 
 
They graduated under predecessors remarkable for sound judgment, to 
 which they gave effect with energy and foresight, grappling as well as they 
 could with every difficulty that lay in their way. With that example before 
 them, and being now possessed of the experience which the others had 
 to acquire, our present rulers are in a better way to bring about reform 
 than were those who went before them. They, however, have been 
 brought up in the old school, and no matter how practical men may be, 
 after being engaged at the same business for a certain time they are prone 
 to get into the one groove and can only see out of their own glasses. 
 Nowadays that won't do. Men, while preserving intact their righteous 
 principles, must go with the times, and to keep their place they must 
 import new blood. 
 
 I think, therefore, that both our Turf and Steeplechase Clubs would 
 do well to admit as members, representatives from the training and 
 riding fraternity. 
 
 I have thus given an account of how steeplechasing was conducted 
 long ago, and how it now goes on. My own opinions I have also 
 stated plainly, and now I put together in a nutshell what I think ought 
 to be done, with the courage of their convictions, by both the English 
 and Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committees. Of course, a great 
 many good judges will disagree with me, and I admit that some of 
 my proposals are fraught with difficulty and may perhaps be now 
 impracticable, but I flatter myself that others of them are reasonable 
 and should be adopted, even though apparently difficult to tackle. 
 
 If, however, our authorities are to take action and perhaps have to 
 adopt drastic measures, they will have to be si ipported by the general 
 public, for there is no doubt that great opposition will at first be given 
 by parties who think alone of their own interest and care naught for 
 sport. After a time that would all subside, and the fine sport of 
 steeplechasing might possibly regain the position it held in olden time. 
 
 Make the fences stiff but safe. Have no steeplechase under two and 
 a half miles. Encourage three and four miles by making the longer 
 the race the bigger the stake. Have no flat or hurdle races for hunters. 
 Have hunters' steeplechases for hunter's only. Encourage point-to- 
 point steeplechases over a perfectly natural country for regular chasers 
 as well as hunters. Don't allow any horse to start for a hunters' steeple- 
 chase until he is five years old. Give liberal allowance to home-trained 
 horses. Reduce the present number of meetings. Allow no addition 
 to "gate money" meetings, and, whenever the chance comes, shut up 
 those existing. Encourage natural and oppose artificial courses. 
 Last, but not least, bring influence upon employers to veto betting 
 among those they employ. 
 
 I now leave this section of my chapter and proceed to others more 
 pleasant to deal with. 
 
 A horse of average size will clear, in his stride at full gallop, about 
 twenty-two feet, but put before him fifteen feet of water, level with the 
 banks, without a guard, and then see how difficult it will be to 
 
145 
 
 make him take it in stroke, and when he does take it, see what 
 a catapult effort he makes to clear it. If the water be twenty feet- 
 wide, and he lands clear without baulk or fall, it will be a feat to be 
 talked of for a whole season, yet the distance is less than what he 
 covers in his ordinary stride. This phenomenon is caused, of course, by 
 the fact that when approaching a jump at a gallop a horse will always 
 shorten his stride, and collecting his hind legs well under him will spring 
 when all four are close together, and thus is produced the jerk we feel. It 
 is even betting that a seasoned hunter, although well able for twenty-four 
 feet, will not jump twelve feet of water without in some way disturbing, 
 it. A young one, full of impetuosity, will, but the old one won't. 
 
 The position in which horses and dogs are drawn, when galloping, is 
 perfectly unnatural, and one it is absolutely impossible for them, even' 
 for the hundredth part of a second, to be in. Never can both fore 
 legs and both hind legs be extended at the same time ; one foot must 
 always be on the ground, except when the animal is travelling through 
 the air in the act of jumping, and even then the legs can never be^ 
 spreadeagled as they are usually represented in a picture. When, how- 
 ever, an artist draws a horse in position at all resembling the proper — 
 with legs doubled up and crossing each other— what a horrible effect it 
 has, simply because we are not accustomed to that style, nor is the real 
 position as discernible in the object as is the imaginary elongation. To 
 become convinced on the subject one has only to observe attentively 
 how a horse's legs move when he is in a slow canter — they go through 
 precisely the same action when galloping, only, of course, quicker. 
 
 Artists, like poets, seem to take a licence ; anyway, they sometimes 
 produce funny illustrations. As a rule, when painting or drawing a 
 horse galloping, they will show his fore-feet a long way in front of his- 
 nose, oblivious of the fact that his nose is always foremost, and the feet 
 can never extend beyond it. 
 
 Even the great Landseer occasionally used his brush upside down. 
 In his picture of the forge, which has been copied oftener than perhaps 
 any other, the horse is placed with his head to the light, which necessi- 
 tates the poor smith to do his work in the dark! In other pictures^ 
 where he shows wild fowl, we see the mallard with his mouth open- 
 evidently in the act of quacking, and the ducks with theirs shut. 
 Surely every old woman knows that a drake never quacks, while a 
 duck is continually doing so. These sort of mistakes are unpardonable, 
 and spoil the whole picture in the eye of the man who knows what 
 is what, even though he be no judge of the picture as a work of art,, 
 and unable himself to draw a line on canvas. 
 
 I find I have run riot and got altogether off the line of my chapter. 
 Perhaps all the better for getting my readers off the very rough line- 
 they have followed me over previous pages. However, I must hark 
 back to the proper scent. 
 
 As I said before, Punchestown and Fairyhouse are the only real 
 steeplechase courses we now have in Ireland, for the fences are all 
 natural, and the tracks have almost every description of fence. They 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 therefore require both jumping and riding, for none but a horse 
 thoroughly schooled can get over them in safety. 
 
 In England there are Aintree, Sandown, and other courses with 
 fences stiff enough to test the best horse and man, and we have 
 Leopardstown modelled on the lines of Sandown, though not as stiff 
 as Aintree. The fences in all these courses are artificial, and lack the 
 zest of the old naturals, but they sufficiently answer the purpose for 
 which steeplechasing was originally and properly intended ; and if the 
 old sport is to be saved from perdition, both the English and Irish 
 head-quarters should forthwith command that all other courses shall be 
 constructed equally stiff. 
 
 Our Irish horses run so often now at English meetings, it was good 
 and wise of the Leopardstown executive to construct a course upon the 
 English lines ; and it was equally so of our I.X.H.S.C. to institute 
 the regulation fence, which, if made with the hedge, is precisely like 
 Kome of the Aintree and other English fences. It was considerate, 
 however, of them to leave it optional with executives to have this fence 
 either a bank or hedge ; for to most Irish horses the former is the easier, 
 a hedge with wide grip and rail in front being very uncommon in Ireland. 
 
 But what an amount of talking and writing there was against this same 
 regulation fence when it was first introduced ; principally by people 
 who were as capable of forming a correct opinion on the subject as they 
 were of riding over the fence itself. That has now, naturally, all 
 subsided, and men have schooled their horses so that the "ghastly 
 grave," when made and located properly, is negotiated as safely as any 
 other fence in the race. 
 
 By the way, does it appear to those who have to construct a regula- 
 tion fence of the " bank " character that it is simply a single bank, 
 with a grip of 6ft. wide and 4ft. deep in front, and that any ordinary 
 double can be utilised by filling up the off-side in a slant from outside 
 the grip to the top of the fence ? There was not much trouble in con- 
 verting the up-fence at the top turn past the stand at Punchestown 
 into a regulation fence — ^just half an hour's work for a man with a spade 
 to widen the grip to 6ft. This had to be done to conform with the 
 rule that a fence 3ft. high, with a 6ft. grii) in front, should b 3 in every 
 two miles of a course — the natural doubles doing the duty over the 
 remainder of grand old Punchestown. 
 
 It is not everybody who can lay out a steeplechase course to be raced 
 over with reasonable safety. Few indeed can do so, and a most extra- 
 ordinary fact is that very often the best rider over the course when laid 
 out is the worst man to lay it out. This has been demonstrated many times. 
 
 About the very best gentleman jockey of the present day, in reply 
 to a question I asked him lately as to the height of the double into 
 the Herd's Garden at Punchestown, and which he had ridden over at 
 least one hundred times, said it was five feet high, and would have 
 bet me a tenner on it had I allowed him. Now, the fact is, the actual 
 height of that fence from the edge of the grip on the take-off to where 
 the horses land on top is about 2ft. 9in., certainly under 3ft. This 
 

 \3 
 
 uJ 
 
 -i^ 
 
 ■4^ 
 
 
 O 
 
 c. 
 
 Vi 
 
 0^ 
 
 o 
 0- 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 ^-i 7 -" 
 
 --I 
 
 A 
 
147 
 
 statement will astonish many, and few will credit it ; but let them go 
 and measure the fence — meanwhile don't bet I am wrong. 
 
 I mention this to show how little is known about a steeplechase 
 course, even by those who would be expected to know. I need not say 
 my object is not to depreciate " the double" at Punchestown for testing 
 a horse's capability for jumping or a man's capability for riding, for we 
 all know it is fully equal to the task. Its dimensions are as nearly as 
 possible : — Grip on take-off, 6ft. 6in. wide, 3ft. deep. Height of fence from 
 take-off, 2ft. 9in. Width on top, 6ft. 6in. Drop, 4ft. Grip on landing 
 «ide, 4ft. wide. This I show more clearly by the annexed section. 
 
 I have asked many people what the height was, and no one ever 
 said it was under four feet, while some said it was over six feet. The 
 fact is, an optical illusion is occasioned by men's eyes catching the 
 bottom of the grip as they approach the fence, and then taking the 
 height from that depth as they stand on the edge, oblivious of the 
 fact that the horses don't jump from out of the grip— at all events, 
 until they have first fallen into it. 
 
 The fence is now j^recisely as it has been for the past twenty years. 
 In about 1870 it was lowered Sin. or 4in., as may still be seen by the 
 •cutting on the top. 
 
 An artificial double should never be allowed on a steeplechase track, 
 for the simple reason that not one man in a thousand knows how to 
 construct it properly. 
 
 In a natural double the great thing is to have the top slanting 
 upwards, so that a horse can see the width, and that he has to put his 
 feet on it. There should be a somewhat sharp incline for 4ft. or 5ft. 
 up to the edge of the taking off grip, so as to give the horse a better 
 purchase with his hind hoofs ; in fact, to enable him the readier to get 
 his hind legs under him. The width of the grip should never be less 
 than 6ft. to 6ft. 6in. ; while the top should be the same. Nothing like 
 making a horse take off well away from an up-jump when going fast. 
 If a double be less than 6ft. wide on top, horses will try to fly it, 
 ^hich generally creates an awkward complication of them and their 
 riders in the next field. If the grips of the Punchestown doubles were 
 •only 3ft. or 4ft. wide, half the men and horses would be killed over 
 ihem. About the best fence of the sort I ever saw was on the old 
 Fethard course in co. Tipperary. It was fully 7ft. wide on top, with a 
 grip before it of over 6ft., but it was not 2ft. high. Horses must change 
 on a fence like that, and then there is seldom a mistake made. 
 
 It is only a matter of opinion whether horses go faster or slower over 
 a steeplechase course now than they did in former years ; for no man 
 can make a positive statement in the matter. I was always of opinion 
 they went as fast long ago as they do now. They were ridden as fast 
 as they could go then, and they are ridden as fasc as they can go now, 
 while no one can deny that steep'echase horses were bett r as a class in 
 former days than they are at present. 
 
 To strengthen this argument I tabulated from the official returns a 
 .statement in 1881, soon a^ter the Grand National, and it appeared at 
 
148 
 
 the time in a letter of mine comparing present and past steeplechasing^. 
 It dealt only with the fourteen horses which won that race carrying 
 list, and over up to 1881, compared with that year's winner, Woodbrook, 
 carrying list. 3lbs. 
 
 I reproduced the table in Land and Water in the spring of 1892, 
 and it showed plainly that Woodbrook's was the worst performance 
 of the lot. Some of the others would have won almost before he had 
 got to the racecourse the second time ; while Bourlon in 1854, carrying 
 9ibs. more and doing the course in Imin. 51sec. shorter time, would have 
 galloped out of his sight altogether. Again, Woodbrook, ridden out 
 to the last pound, beat a field of only thirteen horses, the smallest,, 
 except to, up two 1881, the average being twenty-one. No doubt he 
 won in a storm of wind and rain, but it is highly probable that some 
 of the others won the race in weather quite as bad. In Woodbrook's- 
 year the fences were, I think, trimmed lower than usual. 
 
 I shall now enter further into this interesting question of the relative- 
 pace of our steeplechasers past and present. For that purpose I shall 
 deal with the Liverpool Grand National up to 1890, from the time it 
 became a handicap, nearly half a century back, and to show that the 
 course has been practically always the same I shall first describe it. 
 
 The race was first run in 1839, and the line of the course was never 
 altered until about '89, when the run-home was changed from the 
 five-furlong post, but the distance, four miles and a half, was never 
 altered. A few years before, some of the original fences were cleared 
 away and artificial ones, quite as stiff", put in better places. It is the habit 
 with some people to state that the fences at Aintree were in old times 
 much stifFer than they now are. They could not have been, for if they 
 were they would have been simply unjumpable. A stream intersected 
 the course and formed Becher's and Valentine's Brooks, but although 
 that is no longer in existence, and the brooks are dry, these fences are 
 as formidable as ever. The dreadful stone wall opposite the St?.nd was 
 removed a great many years ago, and the water jump substituted. 
 
 In selecting the Grand National for my data I consider I am dealing 
 with the best cross-country horses of their respective times. 
 
 avekage weight and time of the winners of the liverpool 
 Grand National from 1843 to 1889 (inclusive), taken in 
 DECADES, from the detailed record given in " The Sporting 
 Chronicle Annual " for 1892 :— 
 
 
 Winner;? carrying 
 less than 1 1 st. 
 
 Winners carrying 
 list, and upwards. 
 
 Average of the 
 Decade. 
 
 TheForties 
 
 Weisht. 
 No. St. "lb. 
 2 ' 10 9 
 9 10 
 7 1 10 4^ 
 5 : 10 8i 
 4,10 7 
 
 Time, 
 min sec 
 12 19i 
 10 14^ 
 10 50 
 10 16 
 10 15 
 
 Weight. 
 
 No. St. lb. 
 
 5 11 8 
 
 1 11 12 
 
 3 .11 6 
 
 5 i 11 7 
 
 6 j 11 2 
 
 Time, 
 min sec 
 11 4 
 
 9 59 
 10 29 
 10 18 
 10 45 
 
 
 Weight. 
 St. lb. 
 11 1^ 
 10 13 
 
 10 12 
 
 11 1 
 lOllJ 
 
 Time, 
 min sec 
 11 42 
 
 „ Fifties 
 
 10 7 
 10 40 
 
 ,, Seventies 
 
 ,, Eighties 
 
 10 17 
 10 30 
 
 Average of the 41 
 years 
 
 [27]! 10 6 
 
 10 47 
 
 [20]! 11 7 
 
 10 31 
 
 [47] 
 
 10 13^ 
 
 10 39 
 
149 
 
 In order of merit I would place the performances as follows :- 
 
 Best .. 
 
 Second 
 Third .. 
 Fourth 
 Fifth .. 
 
 Winners carrying less than 
 list. 
 
 ^Yinners carrying list, and 
 over. 
 
 
 Weight. 
 
 Time. | 
 
 
 St. lb. 
 
 mm sec 
 
 The Seventies 
 
 10 8i 
 
 1016 
 
 ,, Eighties 
 
 10 7 
 
 1015 
 
 ,, Sixties 
 
 10 4i 
 
 10 50 
 
 ,, Fifties 
 
 10 
 
 10141 
 
 ,, Forties 
 
 10 9 
 
 1219i 
 
 
 Weight.; 
 
 
 St. lb. 1 
 
 Tlie Fifties 
 
 11 12 
 
 ,, Seventies 
 
 11 7 
 
 ,, Sixties 
 
 11 6 
 
 , , Forties 
 
 11 8 
 
 , , Eighties 
 
 11 2 
 
 rime. 
 
 min sec 
 
 9 59 
 
 10 18 
 
 10 29 
 
 11 4 
 10 45 
 
 I admit the light weights do not sustain my argument, for by further 
 comparison we find the Forties are much below the average, for, 
 although with the highest weight, the time is a long way the slowest. 
 However, the average is entirely spoiled by the exceptionally bad 
 time of Discount in 1844, viz., 14mm. Probably there is a mistake, 
 for it is 2min. lOsec. longer than any other ever recorded. If it be 
 incorrect,' and putting it at, say, llmin. {i.e., 13sec. over the average 
 of the light-weight lot), we would have the Forties, with lOst. 9lba., 
 lOmin. 50sec., which would beat the average well, and be nearly as good 
 as the Seventies and Eighties. The Fifties are also below the average, 
 considering the light weight ; the Sixties are a fair average ; the Seven- 
 ties beat the average well ; and so do the Eighties. 
 
 The high-weight class gives strong support to my theory, as is shown 
 thus : the Forties are somewhat below the average ; the Fifties beat into 
 fits all record up to 1891 ; the Sixties are a good average; the Seventies 
 beat the average ; the Eighties are a long way leloiv the average. 
 
 No doubt there was only one horse, Bourton, who won in the Fifties 
 carrying list, or over. But his was a record and no mistake, for, with 
 list. 12lbs. (within lib. of Cortolvin, who carried the highest winning 
 weight in Grand National history), he won the race of 1854 in 9min. 
 69sec. 
 
 Comeaway's win in 1891, meritorious as it was, equals only that of 
 Bourton in 1854:— just forty years ago. Both horses carried list. 12lbs. 
 and did the journey in 9min. 59sec., which gives them alike the best 
 winning records of the Grand National. 
 
 I have gone into those abstruse, and perhaps to some people unin- 
 teresting, calculations for the purpose of confronting the many who, 
 with dogmatic assurance, denounce the pace of steeplechasers of old in 
 comparison with that of the present day. 
 
 Of course we all know that time calculation is unreliable. The only 
 way to find out the relative merit of horses is to try them against each 
 other. An authentic time-record is, however, very much more to be 
 depended upon than any man's opinion, particularly when based only 
 upon memory. Making, therefore, all due allowance for whatever 
 defect there may be in a system such as the above, and in the absence 
 of any other more reliable, I think my table, showing a record of half- 
 a-century's racing, fairly proves my assertion that horses, able to carry 
 weight, went as fast long ago over a long steeplechase as they do now. 
 
150 
 
 Be it well understood 1 speak only of real steeplechase courses, such 
 as Aintree, Punchestown, Fairyhouse, Leopardstown, and Sandown ; 1 
 certainly do not allude to billiard-table courses, like Cork Park, which 
 have been introduced of late years with their two-mile races, for suchr 
 in my opinion, are not steeplechases at all. Anyhow we cannot com- 
 pare them, for horses long ago were never raced over such places. 
 
 Assuredly the steeplechasers of the present day lack the stamina and 
 staying powers of the old ones, and if they go as fast it is because they 
 have light, smooth, and level courses. A sorry time would they have 
 over the old heavy and uneven fields where speed and endurance were 
 maintained. Speed over flat, artificial ground, but without endurance^ 
 is the usual order of to-day. 
 
 No doubt there are some few exceptions ; for instance, Eoyal Meath, 
 Cloister, and Cornea way. They are quite capable of stretching the neck 
 of any horse that ever went a steeplechase. But are they not all 
 Irishmen ? 
 
 Some short time ago I cut from a newspaper a notice which I intended 
 to reproduce in these pages, for it appeared to me to be about the best 
 on the subject I ever read. It was a description of the sort of horse 
 best calculated to win a Grand National. Unfortunately I mislaid the 
 cutting and I forget what paper it came from. However, in substance 
 it was as follows : The horse we want for a long steeplechase like the 
 Grand National is one that can keep going on after he is beaten. The 
 pace at which that race is run and the severity of the course causes the 
 unsound and unfit horses to crack up, even if they don't fall, before half 
 the journey is gone. It is only then that the real struggle leg ins. By 
 degrees others drop off beaten. One horse, how^ever, has been going 
 great guns and bang in front all the way until within a mile of home. 
 He is well bred, well "balanced," in perfect condition, gallops with 
 freedom, jumps without undue loss of power, and he is well ridden. 
 However, when coming along the canal he feels the pinch, and at the 
 racecourse he shows clear evidence of being beaten. His place is taken 
 by another horse full of running, and who then appears to have the 
 race at his mercy. Nevertheless the other keeps pegging away after 
 him. The leader, equally well ridden, has not the same high creden- 
 tials as the other, and before the last hurdle is reached he, too, gets 
 beaten, and through some loose screw, shuts up within the next 
 hundred yards hopelessly so. Then comes on our struggling friend and 
 gamely wins his race, although he was beaten half a mile before the 
 other horse. 
 
 When making comparisons between past and present steeplechase 
 arrangements, I overlooked one item, possibly from the fact that a 
 comparison could not be drawn. I speak of the reporter for the Press. 
 
 Thirty years ago the proprietor of an Irish newspaper never dreamt 
 of sending a representative to our meetings, and when reference was 
 given it was in very skeleton style. In like manner were all branches 
 of sport neglected by the Press. Needless to remark we had no journal 
 devoted solely to sport, while in England there were only The Field 
 
151 
 
 and BelCs Life. The English Press, outside these papers, and a few- 
 magazines, gave as little heed to the sports of our country as did the 
 Irish. 
 
 My friend the late Mr. William Dunbar of Dublin saw the want in 
 Ireland, and in the year 1869 started, as a weekly paper, the Irish 
 Sportsman. 
 
 The publication of this paper was a great boon, and its issue on 
 Saturday was looked for with eagerness. Mr. Dunbar was a man of 
 good social position, an eminent scholar, a gentleman, and a sportsman, 
 and under his management the paper flourished for many years until 
 his death. It was always well edited, and dealt with sport in style as 
 brilliant as any journal started since or before it. Through troublous 
 times, and when to uphold anything in which our gentry took interest 
 was a hazardous undertaking, it fearlessly stuck to its principles and 
 manfully sustained our sport in all its branches. It is still to the fore, 
 and long may it so continue. 
 
 Editors of the daily papers of Dublin took the cue from the Irish 
 Siyortsrnan, and soon after its appearance they sent reporters to our 
 meetings, and began to record the proceedings in their columns. 
 
 Now what do we see 1 Every paper, not alone in Ireland but all over 
 the kingdom, devotes'columns to sport in every morning's issue. Several 
 papers devoted solely to the subject are now issued daily. Some of them 
 deal with the various branches of their calling in much more extensive 
 fashion than did many of the dailies long ago with political, social, 
 foreign, home, and all other events put together. 
 
 Men at present can't wait a day, not to speak of nearly a week, to 
 hear of current sporting topics, and at times they must have evening 
 editions, as well as the morning. No, they would not await the issue 
 of even BelVs Life^ but chucked up that reliable and most interesting 
 journal, and took on to the dailies, in consequence of which good old 
 " Nunquam Dormio " had to strike its colours. 
 
 The result of every race is now known all over the kingdom within 
 an hour, and that of the important events is flashed to the Antipodes 
 in the same space of time. 
 
 Perhaps a greater record in telegraphy was never made than that of 
 Mr. James Gordon Bennett with regard to the Derby of 1890. By his 
 ingenuity the result was known in New York in ninety seconds after 
 Sainfoin had won ! 
 
 Before concluding my chapter I shall refer to a couple of feats which, 
 in my opinion, "make history," and deserve to be called not alone 
 famous and celebrated, but plucky in the extreme. I allude to the 
 winning of two events of similar kind and under similar circumstances 
 within recent years by two sportsmen, neither of whom were high up in 
 the art of jockeyship. Each man backed himself to buy a horse and on 
 him win an approaching great steeplechase— neither having a horse fit 
 for the feat or knowing where to find one at the time they made the 
 wagers. 
 
 Mr. Charles Barrington of Dublin backed himself early in 1879 to 
 
152 
 
 ride the winner of the Ward Hunt Cup at Fairyhouse on the 
 following Easter Monday upon a horse not then in his possession. 
 This sporting wager he won on Malahide, beating nine others in a canter 
 by three lengths, after having led them from start to finish. The fact 
 that Mr. Barrington had not ridden at all for years previously, and had 
 never any experience between the flags, made this feat all the pluckier 
 and more sportsmanlike. 
 
 Three years afterwards Lord Manners, under similar circumstances) 
 entered into the same sort of engagement with regard to the Grand 
 National of 1882, which he won on Seaman, beating a field of eleven. 
 
 A word also about these two good horses. Malahide was by Joco- 
 Miss Fisher, by Kingfisher, and was bred by my friend Mr. James 
 Dobbyn of Tipperary, who hunted him for two seasons. Mr. William 
 Jameson (the owner of Comeaway) bought him from Mr. Dobbyn and 
 called him Malahide, and Mr. Barrington bought him from Mr. Jameson 
 for the purpose of the race. 
 
 Seaman was by Xenophon — Lena Rivers, and was bred by the late 
 Captain Stamer Gubbins, but being a miserable yearling he was not 
 shown with the Bruree horses when they were sold after the owner's 
 death, I don't think I ever saw a horse go over our Conyngham Cup 
 course in such brilliant style as did Seaman in*1881, when, carrying 
 list. Tibs., and ridden by Mr. Harry Beasley, he won from a large field 
 of good horses. He laid only one hind leg on the double into the new 
 country and landed a yard clear of the off grip ! Xo other horse ever 
 jumped that fence in such a fashion. He was rather a small horse. 
 with very bad legs, but luckily he did not require much galloping. He 
 was scarified with the irons from knees to knuckles and from hocks to 
 heels ; nevertheless. Captain Machell bought him for nearly £2,000 from 
 Mr. Linde for Lord Manners, as being the horse most likely to win for 
 him his plucky sporting bet. In selling Seama*n Mr. Linde sold a rod 
 to whip himself, for the son of Xenophon, in winning his race, beat by 
 a head Cyrus out of the Eyrefield stable, with the crack Mr. Tommy 
 Beasley riding. 
 
 P. S.— Since I put together the list of Irish horses which won the 
 Grand National, that good horse Cloister has added to our laurels by 
 winning in 1893. He carried 12st. 7lbs., and thus broke all previous 
 record. The race was timed at 9min. 32sec., but this I think must be 
 & mistake. I saw the race and paid my utmost attention to Cloister, 
 He went the same pace all through, which by no means struck me as 
 being fast, for at no time was he fully extended, and he won by forty 
 lengths. If, therefore, carrying 12st. 7 lbs. he did the course in 9min. 
 32sec., he is the very best horse that was ever saddled for the Grand 
 National. I always held for Cloister the highest opinion, but I 
 certainly would not give him that record. 
 
163 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 PUNCHESTOWN. 
 
 Earlj' History— Arrangements— Meeting of 1854— A Comparison— Angclo Haj-es' Picture- 
 Meeting of 1861— National Hunt Steeplechase— Biggest Stake in Ireland— The Winner 
 and Placed Horses— Meeting of 1862— Lords Drogheda and St. Lawrence— Thomas G. 
 Waters— What they did—" Princely Punchestown "—Wisdom and Foresight of Lord 
 Drogheda— Late Lord Clonmell— Lord Drogheda again— Doctrines against Hunting 
 — The Land League— Kildare Hunt opposed— Outrages— Hounds Poisoned— Burning 
 Coverts— Interferences with Hunting in 1881-82— Programme for 1882— Meeting 
 Withdrawn— Results— Great Loss to Tradesmen and others— Wholesome Lesson — 
 Sesults— Punchestown continued in 1883— Lord DrogLeda's Capital Idea— The 
 Courses— A Flat Race !— The old Pilot— Mr. Percy La Touche takes the Tiller— His 
 quahfications— What he has done— Foxhunters' Plate Course— National Hunt Steeple- 
 chase in 1862— Late Marquis of Downshire — Late Marquis of Conyngham— The 
 Downshire and Conyngham Cups— The Courses at Punchestown— Conyngham Cup 
 Course— Author's Rhapsody— Liberality to Owners— Punchestown Double— The 
 Ladies' Lawn— The Ladies— Meeting of 1890— A Comparison— The Stand-houses— Re- 
 served Stand— Ladies' Stand— Charges— Another Comparison— Special Advantages of 
 Punchestown— Conyngham Cup Course again— The Farmers' Race— Its Peculiarities 
 —The Present Earl Clonmell— Lord Otho Fitzgerald— Liberality of Kildare Hunt 
 to Farmers — Author's Sad Recollections— His Advice — His Personal Experiences 
 —His First " Leg-up" — National Hunt Steeplechase, 1832— Captain McCraith— "Mr. 
 Thomas"— Mr, Apjohn— The Race— Author's feelings After— To Clear the Double- 
 Horses who did so— Capt. Johnny Bates— Terrible Accident in 1864— Capt. McCraith 
 and Mr. George Knox— Results— Another Dreadful Occurrence— Panic on the Stand — 
 Results— A Welsher— Royal Visits — A Loyal Comparison — The Prince of Wales— 
 A Sore Subject — Meeting of 1886— A Narrative of Loyalty and Pluck— "Does anyone 
 else wish to hiss the Prince of Wales ? "—Accidents— Poor Willie Beasley !— His death 
 —Major Trocke and Countess— The Kildare Hunt Plate of 1892— Who was who thirty 
 years ago. 
 
 Punchestown as a race-meeting dates from 1847, if not a year or 
 two farther back. 
 
 About that time the sporting Kildare Hunt established a small 
 annual meeting over some portion of what is now called the " Old 
 Course," restricted to the members of the Hunt and its farmers, with 
 one or two small races for regular steeplechasers. The arrangements 
 were as primitive as those at any other meeting of the period, and it 
 was not until 1854 that the first stand -house was erected, somewhere 
 near the spot occupied by the present one, but it was only a small 
 wooden structure. 
 
 The meeting in 1854 was the most important of any previously held, 
 and I think it was then for the first time that two days were given. 
 Even so the total of all the stakes did not nearly amount to what we 
 now have for the Conyngham Cup. 
 
 From the fact that Mr. Angelo Hayes has handed down to posterity in 
 the shape of his magnificent picture " The Corinthian Cup ' at Punches- 
 town in 1854, it would appear that that race was the important feature 
 of the meeting. 
 
154 
 
 In this picture are strikingly good likenesses of some of the leading: 
 steeplechase notorieties of Ireland in that day. The scene is laid at the 
 wall with the Furry Hill as background. The portraits include those 
 of Lords Waterford, Drogheda, Conyngham, Howth, St. Lawrence^ 
 Clonmell, and Cloncurry ; Messrs. John Preston, Sam Reynell, Fleetwood 
 Rynd, William Kennedy (then Master of the Kildare Hounds), Colonel 
 Campbell, Major Dickson, and Sir Philip Crampton. Those in silk 
 mounted to start are Captain William Hely-Hutchinson on Torrent, 
 who won the race. Captains Barnard, Warburton, Severne, Wombwell,, 
 Chichester, Barclay, and Hutton, also Messrs. Wilkin, Boyce and Price. 
 Out of that group there now remain alive, as far as I know, only three 
 or four. 
 
 In the year 1 860 the Kildare gentlemen conceived the idea of recon- 
 structing the old system upon new lines, and, headed by the Marquis 
 of Drogheda and Lord St. Lawrence (the present Earl of Howth), pub- 
 lished an article for 1861, under the title " The Kildare and National 
 Hunt Steeplechases." There were seven races for £770 added money — 
 four of which had an additional sweepstakes of £5 each — and there 
 was the Kildare Hunt Cup, value £50, for members only. 
 
 The above inaugurated the National Hunt Steeplechase, which was 
 for £300, added to a £5 sweep, three and a half miles. This was far 
 and away the biggest stake hitherto offered for a race in Ireland. Of 
 the many horses entered, 35 accepted and 27 started, and the race 
 resulted as follows : — 
 
 Captain McCraith's The Rug Owner 1 
 
 Mr. Thomas Harper's Tickle Toby Mr. George Knox 2 
 
 Mr. William McGrane's Ben Bolt Captain Townley 3 
 
 So eminently successful did this meeting prove, that for 1862 
 the Stewards gave £900 for eight races, five of which had sweepstakes 
 added of from £3 to £5. In addition the 4th Dragoons had their 
 private challenge cup and the Kildare Hunt had theirs. 
 
 Lords Drogheda and St. Lawrence continued to be the leading spirits 
 of Punchestown for some years. After a time, however, the latter 
 nobleman gave up taking active part, and the whole management 
 devolved upon Lord Drogheda, and to his able and fostering care are we 
 indebted for the steady progress made up to the present time, when 
 Punchestown stands, as it has stood for many years, unrivalled by any 
 steeplechase meeting under the sun. 
 
 Lord Drogheda had a zealous and able lieutenant in the late Mr. 
 Thomas G. Waters, who threw his whole soul into the work, and 
 carried out with determined energy all the improvements which give 
 Punchestown its place. The improvements were judiciously begun in a 
 small way, but gradually they were increased, until now, for convenience 
 and extent, the stand, enclosure, and course arrangements rival any in 
 the kingdom, and surpass most. Yes, to Lord Drogheda and the late 
 Mr. Waters we owe Punchestown,* which, since the first visit of the 
 
155 
 
 Prince of Wales in 1868, has been dubbed "Princely," as Ascot and 
 Goodwood are designated " Royal " and " Glorious." 
 
 His lordship, with wisdom and foresight, created a race fund by 
 soliciting subscriptions beforehand for the meeting of 1861, and 
 continued to do so for some years after. These came from each Hunt 
 in Ireland, and from many sportsmen who wished to help the good work. 
 His appeal was met with such liberal response, a nice capital and 
 sinking fund was soon created ; and as the receipts from stand, course, 
 and entries were very considerable, he was enabled not alone to carry 
 out all his plans, but to vastly increase the stakes, until in this year, 
 1892, they aggregate £2,760 in cash, with cups value £250 for a two 
 days' meeting of twelve races. 
 
 The late lamented Earl of Clonmell for many years added £25 to the 
 Farmers' Race. Alas ! that genuine sportsman and prince of good 
 fellows joined the majority in June, 1891, and nowhere will his loss 
 be more deeply felt than at Punchestown, where for over twenty 
 meetings he dispensed lavish hospitality, and welcomed alike both 
 friends and strangers with that jovial heartiness which at all times 
 characterised the genial lord of Bishopscourt.* 
 
 Lord Drogheda's conservative opinions were, as in many other 
 instances, evidenced in his control of Punchestown. He preserved in 
 their natural state its classic courses, and all hail to him for doing 
 so. At the same time he went with the times as regards stand-house 
 requirements, while his thorough knowledge of steeplechasing was ever 
 and anon in evidence by the alterations and additions he made in the 
 annual programme, which invariably bore advantageous result. 
 
 Atrocious doctrines against hunting, and all else pertaining to Irish 
 gentlemen, began to be preached by the leaders of the Land League 
 towards the end of the seventies. As stated elsewhere these foul 
 precepts bore fruit eventually, and for several seasons great opposition 
 to hunting was shown all over Ireland. 
 
 The Kildare Hunt, like the Curraghmore, was singled out for especial 
 malignity in consequence of its being so eminently -supported and 
 represented by the Irish aristocracy and gentry. 
 
 Outrages of the most horrible description — similar to those described 
 in the Curraghmore chapter— were committed, including poisoning of 
 poor inoffensive hounds and foxes, burning some of the best coverts 
 in the county, prevention of hunting by organised mobs surrounding 
 coverts, shouting, hooting, blowing horns, and ringing bells, not to speak 
 of insulting ladies and gentlemen in the most scandalous manner. In a 
 word, the Kildare Hounds were unable to hunt with any degree of 
 pleasure to their followers duricg the season 1881-82. 
 
 The programme for Punchestown is always issued early in January, 
 and in 1882 it came out with the suggestive proviso that the Stewards 
 reserved to themselves the right to withdraw the meeting if they deemed 
 
 * Since writing this chapter Lord Droglieda has also died. — Author. 
 
156 
 
 fluch a proceeding advisable. They did consider themselves so justified, 
 and in 1882 there was no Panchestown. 
 
 This proper action of the executive brought the agitators against 
 hunting in Kildare to their senses. 
 
 Consequent upon a gigantic race-meeting like Punchestown thousands 
 upon thousands of pounds are circulated. Shopkeepers and tradesmen, 
 hotel proprietors and car-owners, as well as many of the peasantry, all 
 make money, while numbers of the small traders reckon upon paying 
 their rent, if not a great deal more, out of the profits of the race week. 
 
 All that good fortune was taken from the Kildare folk in 1882, so, 
 although many of the losers were sympathisers with the Land League, 
 drastic measures were taken by them to prevent further interference 
 with hunting, with such result that Punchestown was again a meeting 
 in 1883, and so it has continued. 
 
 I may say, however, that for some years after a proviso, admonitory 
 and suggestive, was inserted in the programme. 
 
 Lord Drogheda obtained a capital idea during his visit to Australia a 
 few years ago. He took it, I think, from the Melbourne Race Executive, 
 and established it at Punchestown. The rule is to supply each rider at 
 the scales with a white saddle-cloth, in the hind corners of which is a 
 large red number corresponding with that of the horse on the card. 
 Exhibiting this is of the greatest convenience for ready reference, 
 and I wonder the excellent example is not universally followed. 
 
 The only mistake ever made at Punchestown was some ten years ago, 
 when a flat race was published in the programme. Fancy, a flat race 
 at Punchestown ! Happily, it did not fill, so it was never started. I 
 devoutly hope Punchestown will never be anything but what it is — the 
 premier steeplechase meeting of the world. 
 
 It is not likely to be anything else, for although the old pilot gave up 
 the tiller in 1886, he handed it to Mr. Percy La Touche ; and while 
 he holds it Punchestown will keep to windward of all other meet- 
 ings. Mr. La Touche is eminently qualified for the task, for he is a 
 practical sportsman, understands steeplechasing thoroughly, not alone 
 theoretically, but practically, for he rode many a race in the grand arena, 
 and has been for years one of the best men with hounds across Kildare. 
 He is also well endowed with both administrative and executive ability, 
 while no man in Ireland is more popular. All who attend our meetings, 
 whether on business or for pleasure, know what attention they receive 
 from that courteous and painstaking gentleman whenever he is called 
 upon. 
 
 Since he took office Mr. La Touche has expended over £4,000 enlarging 
 and improving the stands and enclosures. The work has been executed 
 by Messrs. Musgrave of Belfast, under the superintendence of Mr. 
 Robert Waters, who succeeded his father as manager. 
 
 Mr. La Touche has also laid out the Foxhunters' Plate Course, where 
 it turns to the right before reaching the first brook, and rejoins the old 
 ■course at the back of the double in the Herd's Garden, thus leaving 
 
^ r 
 
 
 -^ 
 
 .^i**^A*ii 
 
 vIX 
 
 O 
 
157 
 
 out the far-off and extreme left portion of the Old Course. This waS' 
 done to obviate the necessity of finishing over the Conyngham in races 
 of less than four miles, for the big fences in that course were considered 
 dangerous to finish over, as was proved by the severe falls got by 
 Major Burke and Captain Orr-Ewing a few years ago. 
 
 The courses at Punchestown are quite natural, as, with few exceptions^, 
 are the fences, and a little trimming is all that distinguishes the 
 exceptions. I have heard people assert that the fences were greatly cut 
 down within the past twenty years. They never were. The run-home was 
 altered and greatly improved some years ago at considerable expense ; 
 the nasty dip near the pond was then filled up, and the run-in, for nearly 
 quarter of a mile before the winning-post, was made straight and level. 
 
 The first race for the Conyngham Cup was run in 1865, and was won 
 by General Election. The line was then over the Old Course. 
 
 The track now known as the Conyngham Cup Course was opened for 
 the first time in 1862, when the National Hunt Steeplechase was run 
 over it, but there was so much grief in that race it was not again used 
 till about ten years ago, when the race from which it now takes its 
 name was run over it. Since then it has been utilised annually for that 
 particular event and for several others. 
 
 The late Marquis of Downshire gave, in 1863, a silver cup, and con- 
 tinued that generosity annually for some years. I think the late 
 Marquis of Conyngham gave one also ; anyhow the races respectively 
 called after these grand old sportsmen have invariably been about the 
 most interesting items in the two days' sport. 
 
 The Downshire has always been a welter race, and has had for itS' 
 second fence the formidable 4ift. stone wall. For a few years portion 
 of its course lay at the back of the stand, but that was wisely altered 
 long ago. 
 
 The tracks of the various courses at Punchestown have been selected 
 and laid out with skill in such matters more consummate than any I 
 ever saw displayed elsewhere. 
 
 The magnificent track of the Conyngham is three miles in circuit, i.e., 
 the Old and New Courses, and so well is it laid out that, although the 
 distance is four miles, the only fences that have to be jumped a second 
 time are the single before the wall, the wall, and the gorse hurdle. 
 The Old Course is two and a quarter miles in circuit, and for three- 
 mile races only two fences and the gorse have to be jumped twice, while 
 in the Downshire, of three miles, the only fence jumped twice is the 
 gorse. The National Hunt Cup is run over the Foxhunters', Conyngham 
 and Old Courses, distance being four miles and a quarter, yet only twa 
 fences have to be jumped twice. 
 
 Think of that, ye executives of hippodromes, a mile or mile and 
 a half round, with their three-mile courses ! 
 
 From the stand at Punchestown the horses in each race can be 
 seen in their stride every yard from start to finish, except when racing^ 
 towards you from the far brook to the old double, and from the turn for 
 
158 
 
 home in the ConyDgham— in all about half a mile. Many is the course 
 -where you see horses broadside on only for that distance, the rest of 
 the journey being run directly to or from you, so that no one can 
 tell what a horse is doing, or what his rider may be doing either. Oh, 
 truly, truly has it been said if a man wants to see a steeplechase he 
 must come to Punchestown ! * 
 
 The executive makes racing there as cheap as possible to owners of 
 horses ; the entrances for the various plates seldom exceed 2 per cent., 
 -and never 3 per cent., of the value of the prizes. 
 
 Another great feature is that one gate payment gives access to all 
 parts of the grand stand and enclosures, and visitors are not pestered 
 by janitors and extra charges, as at so many meetings in England. 
 The charge is only 15s. for the first day, 10s. for the second day, or 20s. 
 for both days. A complimentary ticket from Mr. David Mahony admits 
 to the Ladies' Stand free, while one from Mr. La Touch© admits to the 
 Reserved Stand, on the top of the Ladies' Stand, on payment of a 
 sovereign for both days. 
 
 The Reserved Stand is the most convenient and best-managed of 
 any I know. No one can ever get on it without a ticket issued 
 direct from Mr. La Touche, and no more people will get tickets 
 than the stand vAW easily accommodate. This allows the privileged 
 holders plenty of time to look over the horses in the jiaddock, or 
 transact their business at their ease, to obtain a near view of the pre- 
 liminary gallop, and then go up to their stand, whence they can see 
 the horses' hoofs over every yard of the different courses, except just 
 behind Moll Dunne's Hill, which, in the Conyngham Cup Course, hides 
 about two hundred yards equally from all. 
 
 Managers of other meetings who charge twice as much and don't give 
 half the value, should take note of these arrangements characteristic 
 only of this premier meeting. 
 
 I have been to many places where women most do congregate, but 
 commend me to the Ladies' Lawn on a fine afternoon for a display 
 of beauty and elegance which I have never seen equalled, much less 
 excelled. Neither Royal Ascot nor Glorious Goodwood can produce 
 lovelier specimens. 
 
 The meeting of 1890 was attended by about the greatest number 
 of ladies I ever saw there, while the receipts of the public stand 
 showed that considerably more people attended in 1890 than ever did 
 previously. The horses, too, which ran that year were of a much better 
 stamp generally than I had seen for a long time. 
 
 If we had the same class of patrons now as we had twenty years ago, 
 and same class of horses, would not Punchestown, with its present 
 arrangements, be as near perfection as it is possible for humanity to 
 make anything ? 
 
 But one thing is to be regretted at Punchestown, and that is the 
 
 * See page 147 for a description of ths old double. 
 
159 
 
 lamentable display we nearly always see in the Farmers' Race. Twenty 
 to thirty horses often start, but before two fields have been travelled 
 there is a long tail, and before the leaders pass the stand there are not 
 more than a third of the lot in the race ; and when it is won perhaps 
 .not more than half a dozen have gone the course. 
 
 Objections are invariably lodged, which result generally in the dis- 
 qualification of the horse which came in first and often of the three 
 placed. In 1891 the race had to be declared " null and void," because 
 the first four horses were disqualified for one reason or other. Oddly 
 enough it was the best Farmers' Race I ever saw at Punchestown ; 
 horses went like racers and were ridden by men like jockeys. 
 
 So uncertain is it that the horse which comes in first will be even- 
 tually declared the winner that the bookmakers stipulate specially for 
 this race, that they pay only on " first past the post." 
 
 To reduce these difficulties an extra race of a more open character 
 was introduced in 1892. 
 
 The present Earl of Clonmell follows his brother's good example and 
 .gives a large contribution to the stakes to be run for by the farmers. 
 Lord Otho Fitzgerald, late M.P. for Kildare, presented the Challenge 
 •Cup, value £50, some years ago, and with the addition of a hundred 
 guineas from the fund the Kildare farmers are dealt liberally with and 
 owe a debt of gratitude to their County Hunt. 
 
 I am continually in the habit of bragging that I never missed a 
 Punchestown since 1861, and every year when leaving after the last race 
 on the second day I ask myself, will I ever see the historic spot again ? 
 
 Alas, it makes an old habitue like myself bitterly sad to think of all 
 the fine men and dear friends he has seen and met within that enclo- 
 sure who are now gone for ever. If a man has friends in the world he 
 meets them at Punchestown, but then comes the time when they are 
 missed ! Such sad, and too-oft repeated experiences, make my visits 
 of late years very difi'erent indeed in enjoyment from what they were 
 long ago, and were it not that I should look upon missing Punchestown 
 as something approaching a personal calamity, I don't think I would go 
 there again. 
 
 If some of those who have never been there will come, no matter how 
 experienced they may be in steeplechasing elsewhere, they will go away 
 with an opinion of tlie meeting similar to mine. To appreciate this to 
 the full, they should go early and walk the courses, and perhaps during 
 the day, go down to the Herd's Garden or Furry Hill to see how our 
 Irish horses can jump a double. 
 
 With such an experience of Punchestown as I have had I can recall 
 incidents of various nature, so 1 may as well relate a few. I will 
 begin with one personal to myself. 
 
 At no time of my life do I think I felt such pride and satisfaction 
 as I had when I got the leg-up on The Baron for the National Hunt 
 Steeplechase of 1862. I was smartly turned out in orthodox racing 
 toggery, which, as I mentioned in a former chapter, was not common 
 
160 
 
 among Irish Corinthian riders thirty years ago, and my mount was 
 a right good-looking horse ; moreover, this was my first try between the 
 flags. Five-and-twenty went to the post, and on the way I well remem- 
 ber poor Tom McCraith calling to " Mr. Thomas " to look at the string- 
 of silks and satins, asking him if he could see such a sight in England ! 
 
 Of course every one of the twenty-five thought he was going to win. 
 I know I had visionary notions to that effect, but still I asked McCraith 
 what was best for me to do. His answer was to this effect : — " The race, 
 bar accidents, is between Tom Pickernel and me, unless Apjohn beats 
 us ; so get away in front as soon as the flag falls, for if you stay in the 
 ruck you will be knocked down, and may be your first will be your 
 last steeplechase." 
 
 Accordingly, to the front I went when Clancey dropped his flag, andy 
 alongside the two gentlemen named, jumped the big double into the 
 present Conyngham Cup Course, the first time a silk jacket faced it. 
 
 Poor McCraith's tip as to the result of our race was amazingly correct^ 
 for it was won by Ben Bolt with Mr. Pickernel (" Mr. Thomas ") up, 
 while Kate Fisher and Valentine, ridden respectively by Mr. Tommy 
 Apjohn and Captain McCraith, were second and third. My satisfaction 
 after the race was not quite as great as before it, for I was a long way 
 astern of those three— and others besides— at the finish ! Never mind ; 
 the gallop gave me huge delight all the same, and it is pleasurable 
 even now to recall it to memory. 
 
 To clear from field to field the old double in the Herd's Garden although 
 the height, as I have said, is under 3ft., requires a horse to cover at least 
 20ft. in an arc at least 26ft. This has been attempted by many horses, 
 but very few have accomplished the feat without a fall, and some have 
 killed themselves in the attempt. The only horses I remember to have 
 landed in safety without lajdng an iron on it are Redman, Lord George 
 (an English horse), and Charity Boy ; but others, no doubt, may have 
 done so. 
 
 I need not say that when these aerial eccentricities were performed it 
 was not usually with the consent of the jockeys ; there was, however, an 
 exception in the person of Captain Johnny Bates of the 4th Dragoon 
 Guards. That gentleman's great ambition was to ride a horse from field 
 to field over the double, and he invariably tried to gratify it on the 
 many mounts he had some years ago at Punchestown, but I don't think 
 he ever succeeded. 
 
 I was witness in 1864 of a very terrible accident, perhaps the most 
 fearful I ever saw on a steeplechase course. It was in the Welter Stakes, 
 Captain McCraith on Forager and Mr. George Knox on Hard Times had 
 come away from their field, and were going head and head for their race» 
 but after crossing the last fence they got entangled in the ropes and 
 posts which were supposed to mark the line of the run-in. Most 
 awful falls were the result to both. McCraith and Knox, together with 
 their horses, lay in a heap senseless. One unfortunate rustic was killed on 
 the spot, and injuries of very severe nature were sustained by several 
 
161 
 
 others, for the two horses turned somersaults into the midst of some 
 fifty people closely packed. An investigation was held to ascertain 
 who was to blame for this appalling catastrophe, particulars of which 
 the narrative does not require. 
 
 I was witness of another very dreadful occurrence at Punchestown 
 some twenty years ago. The Grand Stand was packed full of people 
 just before one of the races, when a cry was raised by some scoundrel in 
 the ring that it was falling. This created an immediate panic, and there 
 was a general stampede from off the stand. In the frantic struggle 
 several people fell and were trampled on Two or three had limbs 
 broken and many were otherwise severely injured. Luckily no one was 
 killed. If the fellow who raised the cry which caused this disaster 
 could have been recognised and captured, I should have liked to have 
 seen him treated as I once did a welsher in the same enclosure. He was 
 stripped to the skin, flogged unmercifully, daubed over with paint, and 
 then kicked out on the course with nothing whatsoever upon him except 
 one boot and stocking. 
 
 I, with many thousands of my countrymen, regret that members of our 
 Royal family do not visit Ireland oftener than they do. We fail to see 
 why Scotland should be favoured yearly by visits from Royalty, any one 
 of which is of longer duration than all the visits put together, which our 
 gracious Majesty and her family have vouchsafed to Ireland since her 
 reign began ! 
 
 This is all the more inexplicable when it is known that in no part of 
 the kingdom and upon no one occasion did our Queen or any member of 
 the Royal family receive more heartfelt loyal greeting than they did 
 upon the few occasions of their coming to Ireland. 
 
 The Prince of Wales knows well what a welcome he got upon the two 
 visits he paid Punchestown, and I am very sure H.R.H. cannot recall 
 their like upon any other he ever paid to a racecourse. 
 
 Having said thus much upon a subject we Irish feel very sorely about, 
 I shall relate what I was an eye-witness to the last time the Prince of 
 Wales came to Ireland. It was at the wet and windy Punchestown of 
 1886. 
 
 At that time the country was very much disturbed by the Land 
 agitation. Nevertheless the welcome given H.R.H. was of the heartiest 
 description, and almost universal. Upon the Royal party leaving the 
 Reserved Stand, and while enthusiastic cheers rent the air, there came 
 a hiss from a young man standing quite close to where I was in the 
 Public Enclosure. Within a few paces of the individual there also 
 stood a dapper little man wearing a covert coat and billycock hat. No 
 sooner did the hiss reach the ears of this little chap than off came the hat 
 and the coat, and straight from the shoulder he let drive, right between 
 the eyes of the Nationalist, a sock-dolloger which for beauty and effect I 
 scarcely ever saw beaten. Heels over head the fellow went. After 
 picking himself out of the mud I never shall forget how the little man 
 danced round him, asking would he like to hiss the Prince of Wales 
 
16:2 
 
 again ! This the cur replied to by sneaking off with his companions as 
 fast as he could. Whereupon the little man, still hopping about with 
 fists in position, lustily sang out with suggestive inquisitiveness, "Does 
 anyone else wish to hiss the Prince of Wales ? Does anyone else wish 
 to hiss the Prince of Wales ? " 
 
 I never could find out who this gentleman was, but he could use his 
 fists, and that too with marked effect upon a man several inches taller, 
 and more than a stone heavier, than himself. 
 
 There are thousands in Ireland who would do just the same thing 
 under similar provocation, and I only relate the occurrence as an 
 example of Irish loyalty. 
 
 Accidents with calamitous results have, of course, befallen many a good 
 man and horse over Punchestown, but they were not more numerous 
 than those over other steeplechase courses of less formidable character. 
 Xever, however, was one so universally regretted as that which befell 
 Mr. William Beasley at the meeting of 1892. 
 
 He was riding Mr. J. H. Peard's All's Well in the Kildare Hunt Plate, 
 on the second day (April 27), when the horse, with another, came down 
 at the double, and poor Willie got a kick in the head. Consciousness 
 never fully returned to him, and he died on May 9. 
 
 He was the third brother of that famous family of gentlemen riders. 
 Although he had not attained the high honours between the flags which 
 his two elder brothers, Tom and Harry, had won, he was a top-sawyer 
 in his profession. He was a genial gentleman, popular alike in private 
 and in public, and long %vill it be before his untimely death will cease 
 to be regretted.* 
 
 This unfortunate Kildare Hunt Plate of 1892 was gallantly won by 
 Major Trocke on his mare Countess, carrying top weight, 12st. 71bs , 
 having won the Drogheda stakes the year before on the same mare. 
 Loud and continuous were the cheers from the stand-houses as our 
 veteran Corinthian passed the winning-post ; and seldom, if ever, has 
 there been a more popular win at Punchestown. 
 
 We little knew that while we cheered the gallant Trocke poor Willie 
 Beasley was lying crushed at the double ! 
 
 Major Trocke of Hillbrook, in the King's County, may indeed lay claim 
 to the adjective " famous" which I expound on in the chapter on Racing 
 He has been to my certain knowledge riding steeplechases for nearly 
 forty years, and never passed a year without winning at least once. 
 He has bred, reared, and trained many race-horses, some of which 
 were of very high class, and many a winner in the best company 
 has he piloted, while his reputation on the Turf has never been tarnished 
 even by suspicion. 
 
 Before bringing to a close my memoir of good old Punchestown, I 
 shall make mention of a few of those who, early in the sixties, held 
 
 * Reference to the brothers Beasley will be found in the chapter on the 
 Curragh. 
 
163 
 
 prominent place among Irish sportsmen, and by their influence gave 
 Lord Drogheda effective support in making Punchestown what it is- 
 I jot down the names just as they occur to me, beginning with those 
 who were masters of our foxhounds, according to their countries, and it 
 will be seen our patrons represented all parts of Ireland :— Captain Rye 
 of the Muskerry, Lord Shannon of the United, Lord Doneraile of the 
 Duhallow, Sir David Roche of the Limerick, John Going of the Tip- 
 perary, Henry Briscoe of the Curraghmore, Sir Nugent Humble of his 
 own pack, Henry Meredith of the Kilkenny, David Beatty of the 
 Wexford, Robert Watson of the Carlow and Island, Captain Cosby of 
 the Queen's County, Burton Persse of the Galway, Baron de Robeck of the 
 Kildares, Captain Coote of the West Meath, Sam Reynell of the Meath, 
 Captain Filgate of the Louth ; with the masters of our two packs of 
 staghounds, those fine sportsmen Leonard Morrogh of the Wards and 
 Captain Balfe of the Roscommon. Then we had the Marquises of 
 Conyngham, Clanricarde, and Downshire, Lords Howth and St. Lav^- 
 rence, Colonel Bernard of Kinnitty, his brother Captain Richard, one of 
 our then few good Corinthian jockeys, Richard Stackpoole of Eden Vale, 
 John Harold Barry of Ballyvonare, Captain Studdert of Cahermoyer, 
 Thomas Naghten of Thomastown, Sir Richard de Burgho of Castle- 
 con nell, William Quin of Loughloher, Captain Pack-Beresford of Fenagh, 
 Judge Gough of Rathronan, John Preston of Bellinter, Captain Mervyn 
 Archdale of Castle Archdale, John White of Nantenan, Michael Betagh 
 of Clonsilla, James Cassidy of Monasterevan, Colonel Frank Forster, 
 John Hubert Moore, Thomas Harper of Naptown, P. M. V. Saurin of 
 Duleek, Michael Dunne of Ballymanus, Sir John Power of Kilfane, and 
 his son Richard, Colonel Garden, who for many years was master of the 
 Queen's County Hounds, Colonel John White, of the 7th Hussars, a 
 notable all-round sportsman, and a comrade-in-arms of the Duke of 
 Beaufort and the late Lord Dunsandle, with whom he was great 
 friends ; Colonel the Hon. Charles White of the Co. Clare, Captain 
 Archibald Peel, who lived near Ashbourne, and now lives in Sir Watkin 
 Wynn's country ; George Bryan of Jenkinstown, the Hon. H. Fitz- 
 william, who rode Redman when he flew the double ; Colonel Ainsiie^ 
 who commanded the Royals, the owner of Juryman, Wild Fox, etc.; 
 Colonel Harford, who rode many a winner at Punchestown ; William 
 Magrane of Dublin, J. D'Arcy Hoey of Newry, who bred Comeaway ; 
 James Gartlan of Carrickmacross, Robert Long of May field, Lord 
 James Butler, who won the famous eighteen stone steeplechase at 
 Whitefields nearly forty years ago ; Joseph Tuite of Sonna, Lord Bective, 
 now Marquis of Headfort, Sir Walter Nugent of Clonave, etc. 
 
 In Kildare were found Lords Naas, Cioncurry, Clonmell, and Milltown, 
 the Baron de Robeck of Gowran Grange, Thomas Conolly of Castle- 
 town, Richard Moore of Killashee, John Wakefield, the " best man " 
 then with the Kildares, Sir Edward Kennedy, J. P. Tynte and his 
 son Fortescue, Edmund Mansfield, the right-hand of the Kildare Hunt 
 Major Barton, Cristopher Rynd, David Mahony, who habitually smoked 
 
164 
 
 cigarettes twenty years before they became the fashion, Right Hon. W. 
 H. F. Cogan, M.P., Captain Charles Warburton, Charles Roberts of 
 Sallymount, Michael Aylmer of Courtown, and Charles Hoffman of 
 Mullaghboden, posssibly the only living participant in the celebrated 
 Laragh run. This run was had with the pvildare Hounds in about 
 1861, when Lord Naas was Master, and it ranks among the finest fox- 
 hunts we ever had in Ireland. The fox was found in Laragh, a gorse 
 covert between Sallins and Maynooth, and he was killed at Bellinter 
 Park wall, near Kilmessan Station, in co. Meath, an eighteen-mile 
 point, all over the finest grass country. Stephen Goodall, the hunts- 
 man, Mr. Hoffmann, Mr. Johnnie Wakefield, and a groom of Mr. 
 Tuthill's were about all who got to the end. 
 
 Towards the end of the sixties there came to the front men 
 equally useful to the Turf. Among them I may mention the late Lord 
 Clonmell, Captains John F. Montgomery, Kirkwood, and Stamer 
 Gubbins, Pat. Russell, Harry Croker, John Gubbins, Major Burrows, 
 Percy La Touche, William Blacker, Mat Maher, C. J. Blake, H. E. Linda, 
 WiUiam Dunne, Edmond Smithwick, Captain Peel, R.M., Captain 
 Trocke, James Chaine, etc., etc. 
 
 The foregoing chronicles only men who stood prominent in the 
 steeplechase world, between, say, 1860 and '75. Owing to insufficiency 
 of memory I have no doubt omitted some who are equally entitled to 
 reference, and I hope to be forgiven for doing so. 
 
 Well do I remember all the fine fellows I have mentioned. With 
 most of them I was well acquainted, and some were very dear friends 
 of mine. Alas ! few remain alive — far too few I 
 
165 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE MARQUIS OF DROGHEDA, K.P. 
 
 His Death — Shock Caused — Its Suddenness — Particulars — Concurrent Circumstances — 
 Continental Trip — Curragh June Meeting — News Eeceived There— Meeting of the 
 Turf Club— Eesolution of Condolence— As a Eacing Man— Moore Abbey— His Early 
 Life— Hunting— Shooting— Game and Foxes— His Yachts— Coursing— Boherbawn— 
 Punchestown — The Curragh — Head of Irish Turf — No one his Equal — Appreciated 
 During Life— A Lycurgus — His Lordship's Characteristics — Born to Govern — Physique 
 — Hauteur — His E3^e — His Supervision — Impartiality — Eanger of the Curragh — 
 Eesults— His Tenantry— Lord Drogheda as a Public Man— His Politics— His Habits— 
 "The Black and Silver"— His Steeplechase Horses— His Eacera- His Jockeys— His 
 Breeding Establishment— Philammon— His Produce— Satanella and other Brood 
 Mares — Lord Drogheda a "famous" owner — Moneypenny — His Long Service — A 
 Characteristic Narrative— A Comparison— Lord George Bentinck and Lord Drogheda 
 —Lord Waterford— Their Deaths— Funerals of the two latter— Author's personal 
 Experience of Lord Drogheda— His successor. 
 
 Eakly in the morning of the 29th June, 1892, at his residence in 
 St. James' Place, London, died suddenly, of heart disease, Henry 
 Francis Seymour Moore, third Marquis of Drogheda. Aged 66 years. 
 
 Such briefly was the direful news conveyed to the public in the 
 morning papers of the 30th June, 1892. 
 
 The tidings came as a shock to everyone, while his friends and asso- 
 ciates heard them with the deepest regret. The shock was the more 
 severe from the fact that Lord Drogheda appeared to be in his usual 
 health and spirits for some time past. He attended in his place in the 
 House of Lords on the day of his death, and was at the Carlton Club 
 up to midnight. He then went home, and was heard going up to his 
 room at about 12.30 a.m. In the morning at 7.30, when his valet went to 
 call him, he found his lordship lying dead upon the floor, and apparently 
 in the act of undressing. 
 
 As is too frequently the case in sudden visitations of death, the 
 sadness of this event was increased by surrounding and concurrent 
 circumstances. It was the intention of the Marquis, accompanied 
 by the Marchioness, to have started for a continental trip on the 
 following morning. Yet another melancholy episode. The June 
 meeting at the Curragh was being held when the terrible news reached 
 Ireland, and it happened to be perhaps the largest ever held there. 
 Just as the thousands had assembled for a day's sport, came upon them 
 like a thundercrash the news of the death of the head of all Irish 
 racing, and at the scene of where his far-sighted judgment was so con- 
 tinually and emphatically displayed. 
 
 It was of course only fitting that the Turf Club should be the first to 
 express their sense of the great loss which the death of the Marquis 
 
166 
 
 of Droglieda occasioned, and accordingly a special meeting of the 
 members was immediately held at the Grand Stand. At it were 
 present : — Mr. C. J. Blake (in the chair) ; Mr. W. Danne, Lord Carlow, 
 Mr. M. A. Maher, Colonel Thompson, Captain Dewhurst, Captain 
 Richardson, Captain Stuhber, Mr. M. J. Corbally, Captain Maher, 
 Captain Greer, Mr. W. H. West, Mr. M. Betagh, and Mr. J. G. Blake. 
 
 Mr. C. J. Blake said— "As now senior steward of the Turf Club, it 
 devolves on me to-day — a day which I cannot but designate as a dark 
 day for the Irish Turf — to convey to the Marchioness of Drogheda our 
 expression of sincere sympathy and condolence with her ladyship in her 
 great affliction, and to give expression to the deep feeling of sorrow and 
 dismay which the intelligence of the sudden death of Lord Drogheda 
 has occasioned, not only to the members of the Turf Club, but to every 
 Irishman in any way connected with the interest and welfare of Irish 
 racing. Distingushed in life as the late Marquis of Drogheda was in 
 every respect, in person, in position, and, above all, in the nobility of 
 his character, we, who have for so many years regarded him as the head 
 and mainstay of Irish racing, cannot now dwell on the loss which his 
 lamented death will occasion to his country at large, as well as to his 
 personal friends, however much we might desire to do so. In the midst 
 of surroundings which cannot but recall forcibly to our minds the 
 energy and untiring care, of him who has departed, and feeling, 
 as I do, personally almost overwhelmed by the greatness of our 
 loss, it would be vain for me to attempt further to give adequate 
 expression to our great sense of sorrow. The hearts of all those 
 acquainted with Lord Drogheda will tell them what no words could 
 tell so well, and long after every vestige of his mortality shall have 
 disappeared will be found in our Club, and in what I may designate as 
 our national institution, the memory and the mark of a noble life, 
 devoted not merely to promote the material interest of racing, but to 
 establish and maintain among racing men the honour and the integ- 
 rity which so distinguished his own life." 
 
 The resolution was passed unanimously, and a copy was forwarded 
 to the Marchioness of Drogheda, and also furnished to the members of 
 the Press. 
 
 Were it not that this book may in years to come be read by those 
 who are not yet born, it would not be necessary for me now to state 
 in a few pages what the late Lord Drogheda was as a resident Irish 
 nobleman, and what he was to our Irish racing, for the simple reason 
 that anyone conversant with our sport or knowing anything of our 
 gentry for the past forty years knows all that I have to tell. 
 
 In 1847 Lord Drogheda took the mastershipof the old E mo Foxhounds, 
 and, with William Nevard as huntsman, he held office for three seasons. 
 As M.F.H., or rider to hounds, he did not attain the laurels which on 
 the Turf, as an owner of racehorses, were most justly his. He was, 
 however, all his life a staunch supporter of foxhunting, and, for many 
 years, a pretty regular attendant at the meets of the Kildare Hounds. 
 
167 
 
 He was fond of shooting, and was a good shot, and had at Moore 
 Abbey battues once or twice a year. But while requiring his keepers 
 to show good sport for the guns, he took care that they always had 
 foxes when the hounds drew his coverts. 
 
 For many years he spent the summers yachting, but he preferred 
 the practical to the racing part. He was a member of the Royal 
 Yacht Squadron, and for many years was Commodore of our St. 
 George's Club. He owned the Fancy, 120 tons, the Cecile, 190 tons, 
 and the Ferida, 180 tons, all fore and aft schooners. 
 
 Lord Drogheda was also fond of coursing, and in former days 
 owned good greyhounds. The Leinster Coursing Club always enjoyed 
 his permission to hold its meetings over the meadows of Boherbawn, 
 and except Lord Lurgan's in the North, no Irish coursing club of its 
 day held higher position. 
 
 I have already in my chapter on Punchestown related what his 
 lordship did for steeplechasing. I now state that he did quite as much 
 for flat-racing in general and the Curragh meetings in particular. 
 
 He was our head and leading light of both branches for the past 
 thirty years. Others he had working with him in the formation of 
 our chasing and racing laws, in the reformation of them according as 
 such became advisable, and in their administration, but not one of his 
 colleagues ever did nearly as good work. 
 
 It is not always that a man's worth is estimated at its full value 
 during his lifetime, but every man in Ireland who knew even the first 
 rudiments of our sport, has for many a year looked upon Lord Drogheda 
 as the Lycurgus of Irish racing whether across country or on the flat. 
 
 He was pre-eminently fitted by nature to govern — no man could 
 have five minutes' conversation with him without being impressed 
 with that fact, while his eye, peculiarly penetrating as it was, 
 evidenced the determination which lay within. 
 
 Although tall, his physique did not portray that " presence " which 
 perhaps a heavier frame might have done, but he had that unimpas- 
 sionable hauteur^ combined with the bearing of an aristocrat and the 
 courtesy of a gentleman, which intuitively calls for and is invariably 
 accorded respect. 
 
 In addition to assuming the leading part in the legislation of the 
 Irish Turf, he took a front place in watching over some of those for 
 whom that legislation was framed. 
 
 Malpractice could seldom be carried out at any race meeting which 
 he attended without his detecting it. His eagle sight, assisted by the 
 powerfully strong race-glasses which he was wont to carry, readily 
 discerned untrue running, and whenever a delinquency was proved 
 against a man, be he owner, trainer, or rider. Lord Drogheda visited 
 him with punishment fully commensurate with the oftence. 
 
 The consequence of this strict supervision and stern administration 
 of justice was, that upon the Irish Turf within the past thirty years 
 malpractices have been comparatively few. Scandals there were 
 
168 
 
 none. Upon the passing of the Curragh Act about 18G1 he was 
 appointed to the Raugership. 
 
 As an Irish landlord he was an example to many. His almost 
 constant residence was at Moore Abbey. He employed labour to a 
 large extent, far more than many possessing larger demesnes. He 
 furthered with purse, precept, and personal attendance our useful 
 rural institutions, while Horse and Agricultural Shows received his 
 special attention. Residing and spending his income among his 
 tenants, he was a good and indulgent landlord to all those he found 
 deserving ; at the same time he asserted his rights from those who 
 were not so. He was a staunch Conservative in politics, but whenever 
 he became convinced that a change was desirable he always supported 
 it. He was singularly abstemious in all his habits. 
 
 To state that Lord Drogheda's character was unsullied by even the 
 slightest insinuation is but to mention what the world knows and 
 what history must always record. 
 
 During the sixties and seventies his colours were constantly seen 
 at our important race and steeplechase meetings. None were more 
 welcome than the " black and silver," for apart from the popularity 
 of their owner, the public knew full well that the horse which carried 
 them was run to win. 
 
 I may mention some of his best horses which I remember, and I 
 begin with the steeplechasers. Oberon, a brown gelding, which he 
 bought for £200 from among the hunters at Lord Waterford's sale in 
 .June, 1859. This horse, with Dan Meany up, I saw win several good 
 races. Westmeath, with Captain Warburton in the saddle, won the 
 Kildare Hunt Cup at Punchestown four times in five years. Other 
 good horses were Templemore, Robin Hood, Satanella, and Tambourine. 
 
 Among the flat-racers I remember Philammon, Spahi, Minette, Cul- 
 verine, Miriam, Aspasia, Commodore Trunnion, Francis Joseph, 
 Sisj^phus, Mons Meg, Hypatia, King Rene, Swivel, La Rose, Allen-a- 
 dale, and Pelagia, who was an own sister to Philammon. This fine 
 mare, together with Tambourine, were burned to death in a fire which 
 accidentally occurred at Moore Abbey stables. 
 
 His favourite jockeys were Dan Meany, Johnnj^ Whelan, John Con- 
 nolly, Denny and Frank Wynne, also the English jockey Macdonald. 
 His gentlemen riders were Captain Charles Warburton, Captain Arthur 
 Smith, and Mr. George Knox. I heard him say that he considered Dan 
 Meany one of the best steeplechase riders he ever saw. 
 
 Although he did not go in for breeding upon extensive lines, pre- 
 ferring to do a little well to doing much imperfectly, Lord Drogheda 
 bred several good horses. The best were, I think, Philammon, Spahi, 
 and Miriam. 
 
 Philammon, foaled in 1874, by Solon out of Satanella, was a very 
 good horse. He ran second to Fashion for the Chester Cup in 1880, 
 and was second to Prestonpans for the Liverpool Autumn Cup same 
 year. In 1881, when seven years old, he won the Liverpool Spring 
 
169 
 
 Cup carryiog 8st. 12lbs., also the Esher Stakes with Ost. 12lbs. He ran 
 well but unplaced in a field of thirty-two for the Cambridgeshire in 
 1831 with 8st. 12lbs. on him. Lord Drogheda refused several good 
 offers for Philammon, preferring to retain him for a time in Ireland, 
 so as to let our breeders have a chance of the service of his good 
 horse. He was rewarded for the philanthropy, for the produce of 
 Philammon turned out, as a rule, high-class. From him came Philomel, 
 Philtre, Giraffe, Pet Fox, May Moon, Miss Pitt, also Philistine and 
 Pitman, who, as two-year-olds, ran a dead heat for the Patriotic Stakes 
 at Baldoyle in 1886. Philammon was afterwards sent to England for 
 stud purposes, and there he sired other good horses, among them being 
 Phil, Gloaming, Punster, Phyllida, Castleknock, Dainty Davie, Stanton, 
 Philadelphian, Dewdrop, etc. 
 
 The brood mares which did best for the Moore Abbey stud were 
 Satanella, Qui-va-la, Miriam, and Minette. 
 
 Lord Drogheda as an owner of horses came under the category 
 which, in my chapter on Kacing, I describe as being most entitled to 
 the qualification " famous." In addition to racing them, he bred, 
 reared, and trained his race-horses at home. 
 
 In Michael Moneypenny, who came to Moore Abbey as stud-groom 
 in 1848, he had a faithful servant. Subsequently he became trainer, 
 and looked after the breeding establishment until his death, which 
 occurred in 1891. A record creditable alike to master and man. 
 
 The following action of our late chieftain, occurring as it did many 
 years ago, is not generally known, so I shall relate it as being a sample 
 of the rectitude which characterised him during his fairly long life. 
 
 Soon after his appointment to the Eangership of the Curragh, Lord 
 Drogheda attended the first race-meeting held there. He had a horse 
 running in one of the races, and he went down to see the start. His 
 horse won, and thereby landed him a good sum in bets besides the 
 stake. Hurrying back to the stand-house, he lodged an objection to 
 the race as being null and void. This he proved by stating that it 
 was started a few minutes before time. 
 
 Of course I never saw Lord George Bentinck, and I know him only 
 by what history records, but it always struck me that Lord Drogheda 
 and he had characteristics in common. In fact, I have before now 
 styled the subject of this memoir " our Lord George Bentinck." As 
 the world knows, the latter was, up to the time of his death, the ruling 
 spirit of the English Turf, and occupied the highest position among its 
 patrons of unsullied renown. 
 
 These two great pillars of our sport difiered essentially, however, 
 upon some points. Although they both betted. Lord George did so in 
 gigantic sums for the love of gambling, and thereby nearly ruined 
 himself. Lord Drogheda indulged in betting purely for amusement, 
 and in such sums as could in no way injuriously affect his income. 
 
 Over English racing Lord George Bentinck usurped absolute 
 dictatorship. In Ireland Lord Drogheda was elected to leadership. 
 
170 
 
 Within my own time our sport has lost many of its chief patrons, 
 but to my mind Ireland never lost the like of Lord Drogheda since 
 Henry Lord Waterford was killed in 1859. 
 
 By a curious and melancholy fatality these three great sportsmen — 
 Lord George Bentinck in 1848, Lord Waterford in 1859, and Lord 
 Drogheda in 1892 — met with untimely and sudden deaths. 
 
 I attended the funeral of Henry, third ]\Iarquis of Waterford, on 
 6th April, 1859, and I was also present at the funeral of Henry, third 
 Marquis of Drogheda, on 6th July, 1892, upon which occasions I saw 
 interred the remains of two of the greatest sportsmen and most useful 
 Irish noblemen that were ever buried in Ireland. 
 
 Lord Drogheda was born on August 14, 1826 ; he was therefore within 
 six weeks of being sixty-seven years old. 
 
 Although a visitor to our Irish race-courses only as an humble 
 sightseer, I was honoured by the late nobleman for many years with 
 correspondence and conversation upon racing matters, and he has 
 done me the favour of giving effect to suggestions of mine upon more 
 than one occasion. I have also had interviews with him upon other 
 matters, and I can say that I never found a man possessed of more 
 practical ideas, or one more agreeable to transact business with. I never 
 knew him to be a week without replying to a letter, no matter how 
 trivial might be the subject of it. 
 
 Xow that Lord Drogheda is gone, another mentor must be sought 
 for to preside over Irish racing, but where will such as he be found ? 
 
171 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 EACING. 
 
 Ancient History of the Turf— Interesting Dates and Events— Author's Notions— They will 
 be Eicliculed and not Adopted— Suggested Clianges— A Table— Manifest effect— A 
 Flutter — The Derby of 1892 — How to produce Weight-carrying Thoroughbreds — 
 Training Stables— Two-year-olds — Effect of a Severe Kace— Celebrated Owners — 
 Absurdity— " Lucky " y. " Celebrated "—Trainer and Jockey more entitled— Mr. Mat 
 Maher— Major Trocke— Author's Rhapsody— Mr. Bluudell Maple— Mr. R. Vyner— 
 Patriots— Ages of Horses Raced in Ireland since 1850— Number and value of races same 
 time— Author's remarks thereon— Sagacity of Irish Owners— Ages of English Horses 
 Raced in 1891— English v. Irish Horses in number— Result one v. the other— Reason 
 why — Supposition of the Author — Many particulars— Irish v. English Trainers — And 
 Training— And Rearing— English Polish— Handicapping— A Paradox— Argued Out — 
 A Suggestion from the Author— Injustice— Iniquitous Rule— Letter from the Author- 
 Queen's Plates— Their Object— Their Failure— Author's Suggestion as to their Reforma- 
 tion — A Formula for Adoption — What it would result in — A Premium not a Stake — 
 The Government— Increase of Value of Queen's Plates— Good opportunity— Conserva- 
 tive Rulers and Radical changes— A Hint to the Jockey and Turf Clubs— Love of 
 Sporb V. Money Making— Examples— A 5sov. Sweep— A Trial at Kingsclere— 
 Lord Falmouth — Baron de Hirsch — Xewmarket — Suburban Meetings — Ascot 
 and Goodwood— The Leger— Grand National and Punchestown— 5,000 and 10,000 
 Guineas Stakes— Not really Popular— Result— Cost of Racing in Ireland— Irish 
 Racing Calendar of 1891 — Particulars of Expenditure covering several pages — Dealing 
 with various items — In various ways — With Result Extraordinary — Table of Same — 
 Boys employed in Irish Stables— Cost of Racing in England— Particulars of Expenditure 
 still more Extraordinary— Weatherby's Calendars —More pages of wonderful matter 
 —Winding up with Tables showing Stupendous Result— Boys employed in English 
 Stables— More than Ten Regiments -Estimat;s taken at Low Rate— New market 
 Racing Stables— Palatial— Where the Money Goes— Racing v. Hunting— Various 
 Comparisons — Growth of Popularity unprecedented — Cause thereof — No doubt of its 
 continuance— A Gloomy Foreboding— The Zenith— The Descent— A Calamity— Our 
 Nobility and Gentry — Pilots and Helmsmen — Buttress of Racing — Advice to Radicals 
 Author's visits to Newmarket— Mat Dawson— His Pictures— His Betting— Other 
 parties' ignorance— " An Honest Man "— Whitewall— The Scotts— Highfield— The 
 I'Ausons— Old v. New Race Stabling— Trainers' Houses— Jockeys' Incomes— Two 
 Interesting Cuttings— One not to Author's wishes — The other to them. 
 
 In some of the earliest history we find horse- racing recorded among 
 the greatest sports of the time. If we dived into researches of "grey- 
 antiquity " we would find that Greek raced Trojan across the " windy 
 plains of Troy," and where Ctesar tells us that Cassevelaunus kept 
 4,000 racing chariots. Happily, for my purpose, to search up the 
 Racirg Calendars of those days is not necessary. 
 
 I shall, however, make reference to a few items of interest recorded 
 in the early annals of our English racing. The particulars I condense 
 from long cuttings which 1 find in my old scrap-book— a little volume 
 which has many times done me good service while compiling this book. 
 
 The exact place where racing began in England, nor yet the date, 
 cannot be fixed reliably. One authority says that the Eomans held 
 meetings at York and Doncaster a.d. 204, but how he finds that out I 
 don't know. Others claim for Cheshire the pride of place ; anyhow 
 Chester Kaces can be traced back to 1511. 
 
172 
 
 In the time of Henry II. there used to be races in Smithfield ; but 
 only for the purpose of finding out which was the best horse to buy at 
 the fairs held there. It was not until the reign of James I. that horse- 
 racing, as a public sport, was introduced ; but the races were purely for 
 amusement. Croydon in the South and Garterly in the North seem 
 to have been the only important meetings. 
 
 Charles II. was a warm supporter of the Turf, and we find him 
 attending meetings at Hyde Park, where he dispensed Royal bounty, 
 and at one time gave a 100-guinea silver bowl to be run for. It was 
 this monarch who, in 1667, started racing on Newmarket Heath. The 
 sport began to increase in favour at this time, and meetings were held 
 in many places during Easter ; but towards the end of the seventeenth 
 century these were prohibited as being " contrary to the holiness of the 
 season." 
 
 Races were first started at Epsom in about 1717, Ascot followed in 
 1727. In 1719 George I. gave at Newmarket a "Royal Cup " value 
 100 guineas, for five-year-old mares, lOst. each ; four miles. Racing 
 at that time was confined, generally, to matches, which were run over 
 courses varying from four to twelve miles ! 
 
 In 1740, racing had become so prevalent throughout the country, a 
 law was passed to restrain it, and it was enacted that after the 24th 
 June, 1740, no plate should be run for of less value than £50, under 
 penalty of £200. Parliament further settled the weights to be carried, 
 which were as follows: — Five-year-old, lOst. ; six-year-old, list.; seven- 
 year-old and aged, 12st. 
 
 The ISt. Leger was first run for in 1776. It was called after the best 
 known and most popular man of the day, " handsome Jack !St. Leger." 
 Then followed the Oaks in 1779. Mr. Richard Tattersall, in 1782, 
 started at Hyde Park Corner " Tattersall's," but that establishment 
 was moved in 1865 to its present site at Albert Gate. The Duke of 
 Richmond, in 1802, established races in his Park at Goodwood. Long 
 before the Derby was brought to Epsom in 1780 Lord Derby had it 
 run for many years at Wallasey in Cheshire, near to where the golf 
 links are. 
 
 Racing calendars go back to the early part of the seventeenth century, 
 when we find Ye Neiv-Markitt Kalendar. In 1709 another was published 
 in York by Reginald Heber, who ran it until 1768. In 1729 John Cheny 
 started one entitled "An Historical List of all Horse Matches Run," 
 and continued it till 1750. It was then taken up by a man named 
 Pond under the title of the Sporting Kalendar^ but that work seems to 
 have ceased in 1754, leaving Heber sole chronicler till 1768. Thomas 
 Falconer then carried it on until 1773, when Mr. James Weatherby 
 took it up, and from then till now the Racing Calendar has been 
 published by the "Weatherby s. 
 
 The Jockey Club was started about 1750, but it was not until Mr. 
 James Weatherby was appointed keeper of the Match Book at New- 
 market in 1773 that racing came under ship-shape regime. He soon* 
 
173 
 
 after became Registrar i the Jockey Club, and started an office in 
 Oxenden Street, Haymi ^rket, where he continued until 1843, and then 
 moved to the present premises in Old Burlington Street. 
 
 Through the courtesy of Mr. Weatherby I was enabled to look over 
 some of these old Calendars, and truly they are interesting. By them 
 I see that races were started on the Knavesmire at York in 1710, where 
 they have been continued annually almost ever since. There were races 
 at Clifton in Yorkshire in 1700, but they don't seem to have been con- 
 tinued. Black Hamilton started races in 1715, and carried on for over 
 forty years, while in 1747 Malton came to the front. 
 
 I had not time to work up any more of these records. 
 
 After this short reference to old times I shall proceed to treat with 
 fiat-racing as it is at present carried on. I fear, however, there is very 
 little use in my writing much upon the subject, for the simple reason I 
 know my views are so at variance with the popular notions that there 
 is not the remotest chance of their being adopted. Nevertheless, the 
 same views are held by thousands, and there is scarcely a man 
 connected with the Turf who has the good of the horse at heart who does 
 not entertain them. But reformation seems repugnant to our turfites, 
 actuated, as some of them are, by motives more or less selfish. 
 
 However, the following are my opinions on the laws governing our 
 fiat- racing, and let me hear what is to be said against them, except by 
 those who have interests to serve other than those of the noblest animal 
 going upon four legs. 
 
 Racing should be a means for improving the stamina of the thorough- 
 bred horse, just as steeplechasing should be a means of improving that 
 (as well as the breed) of the hunter ; for this reason it is manifest that 
 young racehorses should be allowed time to develop fully their strength. 
 Surely that is not permitted by our present Jockey Club laws. I 
 think, however, the adoption of regulations on lines somewhat like the 
 following would very soon attain the desired end. But let me preface 
 my suggestions by stating that they will not be adopted, and will only 
 b3 ridiculed. 
 
 1. Age.~ 
 
 To date from April 1. 
 
 2. Youngsters.— 
 
 Not to be galloped beyond half- pace until they are two years old, or 
 to be raced before July 1. 
 
 Scale of distance and weight. 
 
 Not to exceed 
 r July 1 to Aug. 31 . . Half-mile 6st. 01b. 
 
 3. Two-YEAR-OLDS \ Sept. 1 ,, Nov. 30 ... 5 furlongs 6sfc. 41b. 
 
 [Dec. 1 „ Mar. 31 ... 6 ,, Gst. 81b. 
 
 r April 1 „ June .30 ... 1 mile 6s t. 131b. 
 
 4. THREE-YEAR-OLDS ' ^^^^ } " ^''^- ^^ - } "^- ^ f « 7st. 4lb. 
 
 I Sept. 1 ,, Nov. 30 ... 1 ,, 4 ,, 7st. 91b. 
 
 VDec. 1 „ Mar. 31 ... 1 ,, 6 „ 8st. 01b. 
 
 Handicaps in accordance. 
 
174 
 
 5. Four- YEAR OLDS.— 
 
 All classic races, such as Two Thousand, One Thousand, Derby, 
 Oaks, and St. Leger, to be for four-year-olds only, same date and 
 distances to be fixed as at present, but the value of the stakes 
 should be at least double what thej' now are. 
 
 6. FlYE-YEAR-OLDS, SiX YEAR-OLDS, AND AGED.— 
 
 Races for all distances up to four miles, and for the most valuable 
 stakes which the Jockey Club and all other race executives can 
 afford to give. 
 
 7. Stakes.— 
 
 For two-year-olds none higher than £300. 
 
 For three-year-olds none higher than £500. 
 
 For four-year-olds and upwards as valuable as they can be made. 
 
 To alter the date for age to April 1 would be a decided change for the 
 better to breeders generally, especially those with limited incomes. 
 Foals would be dropped in genial weather when milk is plentiful, 
 instead of in the depth of winter when it is scarce. The date for age 
 formerly w^as May 1. 
 
 The adoption of rules in accord with the foregoing would manifestly 
 give our thoroughbreds a better chance of growing into useful horses and 
 racing up to a longer period than does the present code of the Jockey Club. 
 Our youngsters could not be put into anything like hard work till they 
 were well over two years old, or carry heavy weight till the back-end 
 of their three-year-old year, while they would be brought into their four- 
 year-old year with gradual and systematic increase of light work, and 
 until they had attained that age no very valuable stake would exist to 
 excite the greed of their owners. 
 
 I consider it a shame to put 8st., not to speak of 9st 71bs., on two-year- 
 olds, or to ask a three-year-old to ra'^e for a mile and three-quarters. 
 
 If rules like mine, particularly with regard to four-year-olds, were to 
 be adopted, what a riot would be created all over England ! Fancy 
 changing the Guineas, Derby, Oaks, and Leger from three-year-olds to 
 four-year-olds ! Well, my conservative friends, and all vho look for 
 early returns from your two-year-olds, much as you may be horrified, the 
 idea is good and sound in the real interest of racing. Deny it if you can 1 
 Deny also that to encourage four, five, and aged racing by giving the 
 largest stakes for those ages, w^ill tend to make our racehorse a vastly 
 more useful animal than he is at present ! 
 
 We had for the Derby of 1892 ' 265 entries, with one exception the 
 largest on record. How many of them will ever start for any race ? 
 How many will start for the Derby itself, and how many of these will, 
 perhaps, ever start again ? Then of the original entry whose carcases 
 have escaped despatch to the nearest kennels and have attained their 
 four-year-old year, how many will be seen in a racing stable or anywhere 
 else, except as very light-weight hunters, or between the shafts of a 
 hansom ? Change the present system for one which it is acknowledged 
 would be beneficial to our racehorse, something like what I have formu- 
 
 * This article was written by me early in 1891. The reader is referred to 
 the Eacing Calendar for the record of the Derby of 1892, and what ha& 
 become of the great entry it received.— The Author. 
 
175 
 
 lated, and see if we shall not have good sound weight -carriers running 
 up to their fifth, sixth, and aged years. Then would we see improvement 
 in the steeplechaser ; hunting stables and cavalry regiments could be 
 easily supplied with weight-carrying thoroughbreds, while stallions 
 and mares would go to the stud sound, with plenty of bone and up to 
 welter weight. Early training of horses, like the early schooling of 
 children, is baneful to a degree. The legs of the one and the brains of 
 the other are too soft for hard work, and if they get it, they break down. 
 
 No doubt our training establishments are very much better looked 
 after now than they were in years gone by ; but at times, even now, we 
 find nervous young horses illtreated by their attendants, either in tho 
 stable or on the exercise ground, before they have learned what is ex- 
 pected of them. Then, again, see what raw two-year-olds suffer in a 
 severely-contested race, flogged and spurred, as they often are, while 
 doing their utmost. Some of them never forget it, and it is such treat- 
 ment that makes many of them the rogues, cowards, and savages they 
 often become. 
 
 Now for some more of my funny notions upon other racing matters. 
 
 It appears to me strange that owners should be considered famous 
 simply because they happened to possess some great horses. Of course' 
 if men bred horses and afterwards raced them with such success that 
 they became celebrated, the owners would have some claim to fame, 
 and no doubt we have many such men, both in history and at present. 
 But a man who, solely by possession of ample means, acquires a horse, 
 good when purchased, or which turns out good in the trainer's hands 
 after purchase, does not deserve the laudation sometimes given to him. 
 I make no personal allusions, but everyone can call to mind examples of 
 the class of lucky owners 1 mean. Yes, " lucky " rather than " famous " 
 would, I should say, be the more appropriate adjective. It is the 
 trainers and jockeys of great horses who should be held famous, for 
 it was their ability, and not the owner's money, that made the horses 
 great. Moreover, it was in all probability the trainer or other such 
 qualified cicerone that selected the horses in the first instance for this 
 rich man's stable. No doubt the owner sometimes (not always by any 
 means ! ) gets the bulk of the gains, and his name appears among the 
 list of winners at the end of the season — perhaps at the head of them— 
 while he is congratulated all round — he who, in all probability, has had 
 nothing whatsoever to do with the work which has won him his so-called 
 celebrity ! 
 
 No, the owner who I think deserves to be called famous in the annals 
 of the Turf is a man like Mr. Mat Maher of Ballinkeel, who breeds and 
 trains his own horses, and in addition, if he rides them, as does our 
 veteran Major Trocke, he is all the more famous. But to talk of 
 men, rich or not, aristocrats or otherwise, being celebrated because they 
 owned horses that ran well without, perhaps, their owners even seeing 
 them during their preparation, much less taking any part in it— Pshaw ! 
 Lord Waterford, the Days, John Osborne, Tom and Joe Cannon, Major 
 
176 
 
 Trocke, Tom McCraitli, the Beasleys, the CuUens, and scores of others 
 of old and present time who bred, reared, trained, and rode their own 
 horses to victory. Hurrah for those fellows ! 
 
 The foregoing rhapsody must not be interpreted to mean that I am 
 oblivious of the fact that owners, possessing great wealth, are not es- 
 sential to our sjDort, for surely they are, and for so many reasons, palpable 
 to everyone, I need not explain them. I only wish we had more ivorhnen 
 among them. 
 
 A man like Mr. Blundell Maple, who, to prevent his being sold out of 
 the country, has given £15,000 for Common, a horse whose greatness at 
 present exists principally in having the mixed blood of Isonomy and 
 Thistle in his veins, and Mr. Robert Vyner, who has refused to sell 
 Minting for £21,000,''' which was offered privately for him by a foreigner 
 quite recently, are also the sort of men who are not alone celebrities of 
 our Turf, but are absolutely patriots. 
 
 In the Irish Racing Calendar for 1891 (Vol. 102), which Mr. Thomas 
 Brindley has brought out in a most careful and comprehensive style, 
 is given a tabular return of horses which ran in Ireland for the last 
 forty-two years ; and also a table showing the number of races and 
 their value within same period. From these I have compiled the 
 following analysis : — 
 
 Table Showing Ages of Horses which have been Raced in 
 Ireland since 1850. 
 
 
 Two-year- 
 olds. 
 
 Qj'O 
 
 -a 
 H 
 
 r 
 
 « tJD 
 
 
 1850 
 
 • r 1850-59 
 
 63 
 
 93i 
 
 79 
 
 58 
 
 55i 
 
 7H 
 
 64 
 79 
 
 77 
 
 84 
 
 68 
 
 74^ 
 
 55 
 
 70 
 
 62 
 
 61 
 
 49 
 83i 
 93i 
 171" 
 204 
 138 
 219 
 199 
 
 332 
 
 296 
 
 406i 
 
 598 
 
 674 
 
 493 
 
 760 
 
 756 
 
 521 
 
 557 
 
 tc 1860-69 
 
 647 
 
 *A 1870-79 
 
 901 
 
 > 1880-89 
 
 988 
 
 ^ ^1850-89 
 
 773 
 
 1890 
 
 1,105 
 
 1891 
 
 1,095 
 
 
 
 Number and Value of Races run in Ireland since 1850. 
 
 No. of Races. 
 
 1850 273 
 
 . .1850-59 318 
 
 t£ 1860-69 330 
 
 241870-79 434 
 
 > 1880-89 491 
 
 < ^1850-89 393 
 
 1890 638 
 
 1891 606 
 
 Value. 
 £15,537 
 18,739 
 20,008 
 30,666 
 28,042t 
 24,364 
 39,524 
 39,144 
 
 * When Mr. Vyner refused this sum, he was asked to name the price he 
 would take for his horse, hut he decJined. — The Author. 
 t Punchestown stopped in 1882. 
 
177 
 
 Now this exhibits what I consider direct evidence of a satisfactory 
 state of racing affairs in Ireland. It proves that the number of horses 
 we had running in Ireland in 1891 was more than double that in 1850, 
 while the number of races in 1891 much more than doubled those in 
 1850, and the value of the stakes was greater by more than 150 per 
 cent. Still more satisfactory is it to see that while the total of each 
 decade shows a steady increase in the number of horses, that increase is 
 entirely due to the four, five, six, and aged, for the two and three- 
 year-olds in 1891 about maintain the average of the period between 
 1850 and 1889. 
 
 This shows that our Irish breeders and owners recognise the fact that 
 racing two and three-year-olds is the bad game I have already striven to 
 prove it. 
 
 Ruffs Guide for 1891 gives a table of horses which ran in England 
 for as many, or more, years back as our Irish Calendar, but it is 
 restricted to flat races only, not even including hunters' fiat races for 
 some years, so by it is seen that a very great predominance is in the 
 two and three-year-olds, which is, of course, comprehensible. By this 
 table we see that the 
 
 Horses which rax on the Flat in 1891 in England were:— 
 Two-year-olds. Three years. Four years. Five, six, and aged. Total. 
 1,062 641 293 310 2,306 
 
 The Irish table included all races. 
 
 Almost every autumn 1,000 yearlings are sent to the Newmarket 
 training stables alone, a number practically equal to that of all the 
 horses we have in training in Ireland. What the total number of 
 horses in training or running in England is I know not ; but it is far 
 and away beyond what we have. For all that, we are able to send 
 some from the Curragh and other places to compete in many of the 
 great English events, and very often win them, while some of the best 
 horses ever owned by Englishmen were bred in Ireland. 
 
 How is this accounted for ? I certainly cannot tell. Our horses, 
 although bred in Ireland, are all from English strains, if they are not 
 from parents directly and perhaps recently imported from England. 
 The secret of our success in producing good horses must not therefore 
 be sought in the breeding alone. It lies in the climate, the soil, or 
 our methods of rearing and training. The Irish winter is not nearly 
 as severe as that of England ; while our summers, I think, are just as 
 sunny as the English. Neither have we more rain, although many 
 people say we have. In Ireland there is a great deal of fine rich land, 
 which produces the best and sweetest grass, a large proportion of 
 which is from a limestone substratum. Grain, grass, and roots grown 
 on that sort of land are notoriously the best for producing bone. Tip- 
 perary, Cork, and Limerick are all limestone countries, and from them 
 come the greater number of the horses bred and reared in Ireland, and 
 often the best. 
 
 Irish mares are kept in regular, steady work on the farm all the time 
 
 N 
 
178 
 
 they are carrying their foals, which keeps them in good health and 
 natural condition, which is so essential to the well-being of their 
 progeny. 
 
 As regards rearing our youngsters, be they half or thoroughbred, we 
 never pamper them. Our foals, yearlings, and two-year-olds are, in 
 most instances, well fed and tended, but in all cases they are, more 
 or less, inured to a certain degree of hardship by being left exposed to 
 vicissitudes of weather. This the English thoroughbred is never 
 allowed to experience. 
 
 I was lately at a select but small breeding establishment in Wales. 
 The weather had been fine for some time, but a shower happened to 
 fall during my visit. Never did I see more energy exhibited than by 
 the stud-groom hurrying off a number of stable-boys to get the year- 
 lings under cover ! If these pampered pets had been in Ireland they 
 would have been left where they were, even if snow, instead of rain, had 
 been falling on their precious bodies. 
 
 I am not for a moment going to suggest that our trainers are more 
 sagacious than the English ; but it is a fact that when they send 
 horses to England to run, they nearly always give a good account of 
 themselves, more particularly at jump-race meetings. 
 
 As I said before, explain I cannot the superiority of our Irish bred and 
 eared horses to those of practically the same strains bred and reared in 
 England — it is an undeniable fact. Perhaps it is that we rear ours 
 hardier, upon a better soil, and in a better climate ; or, perhaps, our 
 trainers do know a bit more about making the best out of their few horses 
 than do our neighbours out of the great number they have. Again, perhaps 
 the hardy rearing to which we subject our youngsters kills off the 
 weakly ones, leaving none but the sound and strong. Just as the 
 children seen running about the slums in a half-naked state, living in 
 filth and half-starved, nearly always appear to be healthy, hardy, and 
 happy, simply because all the delicate ones have died. 
 
 One thing we certainly do not do, and that is we do not bring our 
 horses to the post with that beautiful po ish on their coats which the 
 English horses generally have. At the same time ours are just as 
 iit to go. 
 
 I do know, however, that the class of race and steeplechase horse we 
 h&d in Ireland twenty years ago was better and, as a rule, up to 
 more weight than what we have now, even though the number be 
 greater. Of course we can name only comparatively few, because the 
 whole lot was few. But those were toppers, and with some of our 
 old Racing Calendars before me, I can pick out scores of horses of 
 the highest class which ran in Ireland in the forties, fifties, sixties, 
 and seventies. But to give a list of them might not be interesting, 
 nor would it prove my case. 
 
 What a paradox is handicapping, and how unjust is the idea ! We 
 strive to produce good horses, and as soon as one has proved himself 
 to be better than another, weight is put upon him to bring him back 
 
179 
 
 to the inferior animal. Worse it is that there seems to be no other 
 means of bringing the good, bad,_and indiflferent together so as to give 
 each an equal chance of winning. If we could but thrash the bad and 
 middle class into running up with the good ones, all would be well, 
 but we can't, at least the operation generally proves abortive. 
 
 I think, however, our racing executives might at times lessen the 
 injustice by having races restricted to horses of the same class only — 
 that is to say, of first, second, and third class form, those of each lot 
 being brought together by handicapping. Weight will, of course, bring 
 the best back to the worst ; but what we should like to do is to raise 
 the worst to the level of the best. Alas ! that can't be done, so we 
 must penalise the good horses, which, to my mind at all events, is a 
 paradoxical mode of proceeding, and subversive of justice. 
 
 A most iniquitous rule was in force up to even a very few years 
 ago. That of giving allowance to half-bred horses — in other words, 
 or rather by other means, penalising by inverse ratio our thorough- 
 breds, penalising the very object we want to attain as soon as we 
 have attained it ! I wrote a very strong letter some seven or eight 
 years ago against this allowance to half-breds, and although I am sure 
 my letter had no influence upon our racing powers, I am glad to say 
 there is now no rule of such a stultifying nature. 
 
 King's and Queen's Plates are a very ancient institution. They 
 are given annually by the Government to be run for in long-distance 
 races by three-year-olds and over. 
 
 Now the object of these plates is a most laudable one, and what I 
 aimed at when formulating my code of rules at the beginning of this 
 chapter; i.e., to encourage men to breed horses with stamina and 
 staying powers. It is quite clear that object has not, by one cause or 
 another, been attained, and Queen's Plates, with their hundred guineas 
 and two to four mile courses, are no more productive of their object 
 than are five-furlong sprints, and very few horses start for them. 
 
 What burlesques some of them are ! I have seen horses start in a 
 walk, then jog or canter till within a mile or mile and a half of home, 
 and then only begin to race, just reducing the distance to whatever the 
 jockeys chose to make it. 
 
 My idea is that these Queen's Plates should be raised to £200, with 
 a free entry, that they should be three miles distance, and for four- 
 year-olds only, 9st. each ; that, in the case of Ireland, there should be 
 three plates given annually to each of the four provinces. Let these 
 be restricted to horses bred in their respective province. Have 
 the first run for as early in the year as possible, and over the most 
 suitable course in the province. Let the winner of the first be ex- 
 cluded from the second race. Have the second plate run in two or 
 three months after the first. Then, as soon after as convenient, start 
 the two winners against each other. By that time we should have 
 four out-and-out winners from the four Irish provinces. They would 
 have won £400 each, while those which ran in the ties would have 
 
180 
 
 won their £200 apiece. I would then start the four winners at the 
 Curragh October meeting for, say, £300 to the winner, £100 to the 
 second, £70 to the third, and £30 to the fourth and last. 
 
 By some such method as this there would be (a) a distinct incentive 
 to bring out horses fit to stay a long distance on the flat ; (6) a fair dis- 
 tribution of the money over Ireland, and thereby encourage thorough 
 breeding ; (c) running the winners off in ties would bring out the best 
 four-year-old in Ireland, and that at a season when he would be far 
 advanced ; (cl) there would be no monopoly of Queen's Plates as has 
 been in so many cases already historic ; (e) finally and financially the 
 prize would be worth looking for, as the winner all out would have 
 got £700, the second £500, the third £470, and the fourth (or last 
 in the final race) £430, while the other four winners, although beaten 
 in their first ties, would have got their £200 apiece. 
 
 No doubt, at times, these races would have little interest to the 
 public, as the issue would often be a foregone conclusion. Never mind. 
 The object of Queen's Plates is not to provide races necessarily 
 interesting to the public, but to encourage the breeding of stout 
 thoroughbreds. The money takes the form of o, premium rather than a 
 stake, therefore let these races be fought out annually on the merits 
 of our four-year-olds at equal weights. Let the public look elsewhere 
 for races which will give them excitement. 
 
 In these days of huge stakes men don't value a £100, therefore 
 Queen's Plates should be made up to a sum that would be valued. 
 The Government of a great nation like England would not grudge a 
 few thousands a year of extra expenditure upon the most popular 
 sport of the people, not to speak of improvement of the most profitable 
 animal we have in the kingdom. Fifteen Queen's Plates, totalling 
 £1,530, are given annually in Ireland, productive, as I say, of no 
 good result. Let there be now given £2,900, allocated somewhat 
 upon the lines I have suggested, and then see what result it will bring 
 about. 
 
 A change to something like what I have described would apply at 
 present with especial adaptability. Our Conservative Government 
 has of late years introduced into Ireland thoroughbred horses, which 
 are distributed fairly over the four provinces. These serve farmers' 
 mares at the low charge of one sovereign. Their produce will soon be 
 plentiful all over the country, and if they had Queen's Plates to run for 
 such as I have described, it would undoubtedly prove a still further 
 inducement to our farmers to breed strong thoroughbred horses. 
 
 What will our rulers say to all these radical changes which I have 
 proposed in our racing 1 Of course they will say that I am an enthu- 
 siast, or perhaps something worse. I don't care what they say about 
 me. I have the good of our racing and our racehorses as much at 
 heart as any of them, and I see many things which require adjustment. 
 I think therefore it would be a good plan if the Turf and Jockey 
 Clubs were to follow the example set by the National Hunt Clubs and 
 
181 
 
 begin making improvements in flat-racing in the same way as their 
 collaborators have done in steeplechasing. 
 
 They might begin by cancelling their rule which relates to nominations 
 becoming void by reason of the death of the nominator. A rule so 
 fraught with absurdity comment upon it is unnecessary. 
 
 Then, after having put the more important matters right, they might 
 make it compulsory upon trainers to have exhibited on their horse's 
 clothing in the paddock, and on the saddle cloth when going to start, 
 a large red number corresponding with the horse's number on the 
 card. Such would be of the greatest convenience to the public, and 
 would save stable-boys having to reply a hundred times a day to the 
 question, *' What horse is that ?" 
 
 As I said more than once, love of sport pure and simple is not the 
 chief inducement nowadays to attend race-meetings. Racing men look 
 upon the Turf the same as every commercial man does upon his busi- 
 ness — simply to make money out of, while the geaeral public go for the 
 purpose of betting. We could find few people who would care to see 
 a race between, say, five horses of real good class ding-dong from post 
 to post won by half a head, with heads separating the others, if the 
 race was only for a sweepstake of 5sovs. each. Still fewer are found 
 who care to look on at a trial. If Mr. John Porter was to send an 
 invitation to one hundred of his friends to come and witness a trial 
 between the cracks at present in the Kingsclere stables, including Orme 
 and La Fleche, I venture to say very few would avail themselves of it 
 for any purpose other than to spot the best to back in the future. 
 
 In old times there were a great many men in England who raced 
 purely for the love of the sport. No doubt most of them betted, but 
 lots of them did not. In recent years we had Lord Falmouth, and 
 now we have Baron de Hirsch, imbued with the same ideas ; neither 
 betted, while the latter gives the stakes he wins to various charities. 
 We must remember, however, they were very rich men ; moreover, 
 they won large amounts in stakes. If such were not the case, the 
 question arises, would they be satisfied with honour and glory alone ? 
 
 Newmarket, with all its historic associations, and where between the 
 best horses of the year magnificent sport is to be witnessed, never 
 attracts large crowds except on the days of the Two Thousand, the 
 Cesarewitch, and the Cambridgeshire. Why 1 Because to get there is 
 very troublesome, and except upon those three races there is no very 
 heavy betting. 
 
 At all suburban meetings, where racing is not nearly as interesting 
 as at Newmarket, but where there are greater facilities of access, 
 huge stakes, and prodigious betting, people assemble in thousands. 
 Multitudes fiock to Ascot and Goodwood, because to attend them is 
 "the fashion" and the "right thing," but they care not for the sport. 
 Many do not even look at the racing ; they go simply to be seen by 
 and to see others. 
 
 Not so to Doncaster for the St. Leger, Aintree for the Grand 
 
182 
 
 National, and to old Punchestown. To these meetings pour thousands 
 of men and women solely from pure love of sport, being, as they 
 decidedly are, the most popular in the kingdom. 
 
 The newly-instituted stakes of 5,000 and 10,000 guineas are not 
 nearly as popular among sportsmen as the races I have just named- 
 No doubt they bring the " gallery," but that is not a true criterion 
 of popularity. Doubtless many will disagree with me, but I am very 
 confident that what brings the crowd is the big betting, for, although 
 good horses at times run, small fields and bad sport are often the result 
 of these monster stakes. 
 
 Be the inducement to attend races what it may, the noble sport 
 causes an enormous expenditure of money. In no other branch 
 of sport have we such a medium, while the circulation is general 
 among all classes. 
 
 I never heard of any calculation being made of what racing costs 
 and causes to be spent ; I shall therefore enter upon the subject. 
 
 I shall begin with Ireland, but I must take in flat-racing and steeple- 
 chasing combined, inasmuch as the table given in our Irish Racing 
 Calendar for 1891 does not separate them, and it is from that 
 interesting and valuable volume I take the figures upon which I base 
 my calculation. 
 
 Pages 185-6 of that book tell us that, in 1891, 1,095 horses ran in 
 Ireland for 603 races of the aggregate value of £39,144. It also gives 
 ninety-five as the number of race and chase meetings held there in 
 that year. 
 
 These 1,095 racehorses must be worth, on a low average, £150 apiece, 
 but even at that figure they would total £164,250. 
 
 They cost, on an average, 30s. a week each to keep and train. Those 
 kept in their owners' stables cost less ; those in training stables more. 
 That would total £1,642 10s. a week, or £85,410 a year. 
 
 These 1,095 horses have each gone to, say, only two meetings in 1891. 
 Taking long and short, each journey for horse and man would cost 
 the owner a five-pound note. That would tot up to £10,950, say £1 1,000, 
 for the travelling expenses of the horses to the meetings they ran at. 
 
 The entrance stakes and forfeits would be at least £2 for each race 
 they were entered for. Say each horse was entered for only five races, 
 that would also come to £10,950, or say again £11,000. 
 
 Let us suppose that these horses are owned by 220 men {i.e., giving 
 five to each, which is, I think, too many on an average for Irish 
 owners), and that they go to see their horses run at the two meetings 
 they are sent to. A man cannot go by train and stay at an hotel for a 
 night or two without it costing him, at the very lowest calculation, a 
 fiver. At that very moderate allowance, our owners will have paid in 
 personal expenses just £2,200. 
 
 I find that about 1,630 is the number of mounts professional jockeys 
 had in Ireland in 1891. Bulking the fees for winning and losing mounts 
 in both steeplechases and flat races, and adding a trifle for travelling,. 
 
183 
 
 which has to be paid by either the jockeys or their employers, we may 
 put each mount down at £6. That gives us, say, for round numbers, 
 £9,800 as the sum paid to and for professional riders, and is calculated 
 only at the statutable fees. 
 
 It is to be observed that the foregoing figures deal only with horses 
 which have actually raced. There has been nothing said about those 
 which did 7iot race, but which have had to be fed and cared for all the 
 same, and in many instances trained. Neither have I dealt with the 
 foals or yearlings. To treat with either the non-starters or the 
 youngsters in a calculation such as this is a very difficult undertaking, 
 because there is no basis to start from in the shape of a return. Any 
 calculation that can be made must, therefore, be approximate even to 
 a greater degree than if the numbers were given. 
 
 I shall, however, despite the difficulties, attempt the task. 
 
 To begin : — The number of racehorses, including those from two- 
 year-old upwards, which did not start in Ireland in 1891, I can't be far 
 wrong in putting down at half that of the horses which did start. 
 That gives us just 550. Many of them were two-year-olds, and others 
 v/hich, having to be laid by, would not cost as much to keep as if they 
 were older or in training. On the other hand there were many which 
 were kept in training, but from one cause or other were not started for 
 a race. Taking them all round, let us put the 550 non-starters at 203. 
 a week to keep ; that would be to £550 a week, or £28,600 for the year. 
 
 Considering the fact that seventy-nine horses started as two-year- 
 olds, we may reasonably conclude that at least treble that number of 
 foals bad to ba hred—i.e., that one out of three foals bred for racing 
 start as two-year-olds. (I don't think one in six do so ; but never 
 mind.) That would give us, say, for round numbers, 250 foals reared in 
 1889. Say half of them died or were useless before they were fit to be 
 trained, that would leave 125 to go into a trainer's hands at, say, 
 eighteen months old. These 125 youngsters would have cost, including 
 service of the dam, at least £50 apiece up to that time. This totals 
 £6,250 as the cost of our two-year-olds before they had begun the 
 rudiments of their education. Thus we had, in 1891, 675 horses which 
 did not start — costing to keep £34,850. 
 
 We shall dive still deeper into the mysteries of racing, and see what 
 further good the grand old sport does by reason of the circulation of 
 money. 
 
 In Mr. Brindley's little " white book " I see chronicled ninety-five 
 different race-meetings as having taken place in 1891. Some few of 
 these were comparatively small local affairs of one day. On the other 
 hand a great many were important meetings with two days, 
 while we have Cork, Baldoyle, Fairyhouse, Leopardstown, and old 
 Punchestown, not to speak of the Curragh, of very first class 
 importance. 
 
 Now what was the amount of money spent by the public attending 
 these race rhmions, totally irrespective of the cost of racing the 
 
184 
 
 horses ? To answer that question requires a tidy bit of consideration 
 and figuring up. We must take into account railway fares, hotel 
 bills, car hire, admission to stand-house, luncheon, then comes the 
 inevitable trifle spent upon drink to counteract the effects of heat 
 in summer, cold in winter, or, in the absence of both, for the sake of 
 conviviality. An odd bet or two we shan't include, but surely we 
 must not eliminate the sum which has to be spent upon" ourselves' 
 new coats, our wives' new gowns." 
 
 Now bulking all the above items of expenditure, which for any 
 ordinary individual are simply unavoidable, in a greater or less degree, 
 if he attends a race-meeting, we cannot come at a lower estimate by 
 way of average than that of £5,000 for each of these meetings. £5,000 
 multiplied by 95 gives £475,000, and is the sum which, at the lowest 
 possible calculation, people spent in Ireland in 1891 for the purpose 
 of attending our race-meetings. 
 
 That large amount has to be increased by whatever may be spent by 
 local gentry in entertainment of whatever visitors they may have 
 with them for the races, also by whatever has been laid out upon 
 erection of stand-houses, keeping them in repair, men employed in 
 the enclosures and on the course, together with scores of other 
 incidental but necessary items of expenditure too numerous to 
 particularise much less calculate the cost of. 
 
 I shall now give a table of the foregoing figures which will show at 
 a glance 
 
 The value of oue Irish racehorses, what was spent by owners 
 to race them, and what was spent by the public to see 
 
 THEM RACE IN 1891. 
 
 Value in money of 603 flat races and steeplechases ran for £39,144 
 
 Value of 1,095 horses which started, at £150 £164,250 
 
 Value of 675 horses which did not start, at £150 101,250 
 
 Total value of 1,770 horses 265,500 
 
 Keep and training of above starters £85,410 
 
 Keep and training of above noa-starters 34,850 
 
 Total keep and training of 1,770 horses 120,260 
 
 Travelling expenses of horses to meetings 11,000 
 
 Entrance fees and stakes 11 ,000 
 
 Jockeys' fees and expenses 9,800 
 
 Owners' expenses to meetings 2.200 
 
 Total cost of keep and racing above horses 154,260 
 
 Amount spent by public attending Irish meetings in 1891 475,000 
 
 Total expenditure £629,260 
 
 The sums paid by owners in purchasing horses I cannot estimate; the 
 amount is considerable, but it has to be left out of the estimate. 
 
 In Ireland each boy in a training stable has to look after two horses— 
 we have some 1,800 racehorses, therefore we have over 900 boys 
 employed, not to speak of head lads and trainers. 
 
185 
 
 Far more difficult is it to arrive at an approximation of the expenses 
 of racing in England, but I must try to do so. 
 
 According to the Racing Calendar we find that for steeplechases and 
 hurdle-races there started in 1891 about 3,200 horses; for flat-racing, 
 about 2,320— totalling 5,520. These include the horses which raced in 
 Ireland ; we must therefore deduct their total of 1,095, which leaves 
 4,425 starters for races of all sorts in England in 1891. We shall call it 
 4,420. The number of steeplechase meetings was 268, and that for 
 flat-racing 110. These total 378, and do not include Irish meetings. 
 
 The value in money of stakes given for flat-racing amounted to 
 £448,695. Unfortunately there is no return of what was given for 
 steeplechasing or hurdle-racing in the English Calendar. I therefore 
 have to take a shot at the figure, and I put it at about £500 a meeting, 
 or, say, £130,000. Neither has Weatherby a return of the number of 
 races run. Of course by counting the races from the pages of the 
 Calendar and adding up their value to the winner we could arrive at 
 the amounts, but that would be a very troublesome job and would 
 take longer time than I at present have to spare for such purposes. 
 
 (Perhaps Messrs. Weatherby might see their way to have these two 
 yearly totals given in future editions of their excellent and accurate 
 Calendars. ) 
 
 Now, the expenses all round of racing in England are a great deal 
 more than double those in Ireland. Men have much longer journeys to 
 go to see their horses run. The bills of English trainers are higher 
 than ours, but they are; not twice as high. Subscriptions to their 
 races are four-fold higher than to Irish, for not alone is the entry 
 fee high, but for nearly all English events there are sweepstakes of 
 from £5 to £50 with a proportional amount of forfeits. In Ireland 
 such embargoes are practically unknown. The expenses of the New- 
 market jockeys to Ascot and Epsom, not to speak of Goodwood and 
 other far-off meetings, are, it is needless to remark, vastly more than 
 are ours to Cork and Baldoyle, while the special retainer fees to some of 
 the crack professionals equal quite the sum total paid to all our jockeys. 
 
 In fairness it may therefore be accepted as a fact that racing 
 is much more than twice as expensive in England. But I shall put 
 it down at only double and calculate the English expenses upon the 
 same lines as I did the Irish. 
 
 Assuming that there is a like proportion of non-starters to starters, 
 we would have in round numbers 2,700 horses, which in 1891 did not 
 start for a race. They, like the Irish, had to be kept, and many of 
 them trained. Adding these 2,700 non-starters to the 4,420 starters, 
 we come at a total of 7,120. 
 
 The arithmetic at last becomes somewhat simple, viz. : — 
 
 If the expenses of racing and keeping for racing 1,770 horses be 
 £154,260, what would be the like expenses of 7,120 horses ? The answer 
 is £620,526. Double that is £1,241,052. 
 
 Let us turn the last two figures into noughts so as to make the sum 
 
186 
 
 handy, and we have the very lowest amount that can be, by any mode 
 of calculation, put upon the expenditure of owners to see their horses 
 race in England in 1891. 
 
 To continue working out this problem I shall put the value of English 
 racehorses down at £500 apiece all round. This, in the face of the 
 returns we see of sales, and that a horse which is not worth £200 is not 
 kept a week in a crack English racing stable, must be considered a very 
 inadequate sum. That figures up £3,560,000. 
 
 Bearing in mind the gigantic proportions, as compared with Irish 
 meetings, of such as Epsom, Ascot, Goodwood, Doncaster, Liverpool, 
 Manchester, and Sandown, and that the crowds which congregate at 
 nearly all the other meetings held in England are vastly greater than 
 those which are found at ours, and that an Englishman has a ten-pound 
 note to spend where an Irishman has often only a one-pound note, 
 I may, I think, with every degree of propriety, put down that £20,000 
 is spent, one way or another, by the general public— outside the owners 
 — upon attending the various meetings in England, against the £5,000 
 that is spent in Ireland. Mr. Weatherby tells us there were 378 
 meetings — race and steeplechase — held in England in 1891. We have, 
 therefore, only to multiply £20,000 by 378 to arrive at what the British 
 public spent upon going to see our sport that year. Here is the pro- 
 duct :— £7,560,000. 
 
 As a companion to the table I gave of our Irish racing, I now give 
 one showing the 
 
 Value of our English racehorses, what was spent by owners 
 to race them, and what was spent by the public to see 
 them race in 1891. 
 
 Value in money of stakes for flat racing £448,695 
 
 Value in money of stakes for steeplechases, say 130,000 
 
 Total amount of stakes £578,695 
 
 Valueof 7, 120 racehorses at £500 3 ,560,000 
 
 Cost of keep and racing these horses 1,241,000 '^^— — 
 
 Amount spent by the iMiblic attending English 
 
 meetings .^. 7,560,000 
 
 Total amount expended upon racing in England in 
 
 1891 8,801,000 
 
 Totals of both tables : — 
 
 Value of stakes in Ireland £39,144 
 
 Value of stakes in England 578,695 
 
 Total amount of stakes £617,839 
 
 Value of 1,770 Irish racehorses 265,500 
 
 Valueof 7,120 English racehorses 3,560,000 
 
 Total value of 8, 890 racehorses 3,825,50 
 
 Cost of racing 1,770 horses in Ireland 154,260 
 
 Cost of racing 7,120 horses in England 1,241,000 
 
 Total cost of racing 8,890 horses 1,395,260 
 
 Amount spent by public on Irish meetings 475,000 
 
 Amount spent by public on English meetings 7,560,000 
 
 Total cost attending race-meetings 8,035,000 
 
 Grand total of expenditure consequent upon racing 
 
 in 1891 :. £9,430,260 
 
187 
 
 In English racing establishments each horse has, as a rule, a boy to 
 himself, therefore there are some 7,100 boys employed in the racing 
 stables in England, besides the head lads. This added to the 900 
 employed similarly in Ireland shows that we have some 8,000 young 
 men employed in the racing stables of the kingdom — a number equal 
 to that of more than ten regimeyits of the line ! And they have a 
 better time and are much better treated than the soldiers. 
 
 To go into a calculation of the annual cost of the requisites for our 
 racing stables is not necessary, as it is provided for in the " keep " of 
 the horses. The amount for that item alone runs into a great many 
 thousands of pounds per annum, as all saddlers right well know. 
 
 When we come to consider what has been spent upon the stables 
 at Newmarket and other places, with dwellings attached, which 
 for style and comfort quite equal those provided for Royalty, the 
 amount becomes absolutely appalling ! The sum has to be counted in 
 thousands and it runs into many millions. 
 
 As in hunting so it is in racing — all the money spent upon the sport 
 goes through countless channels from the richer to the poorer man. 
 Thousands of men who at one time were in a very low monetary con- 
 dition have become well off directly through this gigantic circulating 
 medium. 
 
 Unlike hunting, however, racing is a business. Nor is it carried on 
 under the sufferance of any one or any thing. It is self-supported 
 and self -sustained. Racing, too, sends money flowing into a great 
 many reservoirs. The money spent upon hunting has practically but 
 one — the pocket of the farmer. 
 
 Racing has enjoyed a growth of popularity within the past few years 
 perhaps unprecedented in the annals of any other institution in the 
 kingdom. No doubt that popularity is mainly to be attributed to the 
 inborn love we as a nation have for the sport, pure and simple. At 
 the same time, a vast deal i^ to be attributed to a cause far away 
 inferior. I allude to the propensity for betting which has taken root in 
 the public within the past thirty years. Racing in its own innocent 
 sport-productive vocation unfortunately affords a ready means for 
 indulging the pernicious vice of gambling. A fact very sad and 
 deplorable. 
 
 There is no manner of doubt but that racing will continue for many 
 years to be the most popular of all British sports. How long this will 
 continue to exist no one can predict. The zenith must, however, be 
 attained at last, and when there remains no further means for ascent 
 — what then 1 The descent must be made. The period of that 
 calamity is probably far away in the future. No one now alive may 
 perhaps see it, but come it ivill. As long s we have nobility and 
 gentry possessed of integrity and of great wealth, as we have at 
 present, and as long as that community embarks in the ship the same 
 love of sport which they do at present, and as long as they select from 
 
188 
 
 their own ranks pilots and helmsmen skilful to con and to steer, all 
 will go on as it has gone with racing. 
 
 Should, however, our sport at any time be left without the nobility 
 and gentry as a buttress, down it will crumhle just as surely as did 
 the Olympic games of old and, as I said before, the Prize Ring of 
 latter days, when these once great institutions lost the support of the 
 self-same class. 
 
 Give heed, all Radicals, to this assertion ! 
 
 My visits to Newmarket are always of the pleasantest nature. I 
 Talue more highly chats with some of the celebrated trainers there 
 than I should interviews with the heads of almost any other branch of 
 art and science. I always spend some time with the Prime Minister, 
 Mr. Mat Dawson, when, in his sitting-room or strolling about, I enjoy 
 the conversation of that great man. Yes, great he has proved himself 
 to be, and neither envy nor jealousy, nor yet emulation, can detract 
 from him one iota of the qualifications which have placed him at the 
 head of his profession. Good he also is, for never has he wilfully done 
 wrong during his public life. 
 
 AVhat a collection of equine portraits he has at Melton House — 
 representing animals made celebrated through his own skill and 
 sagacity. In the hall hang the tails of Julius, Thormanby, and the 
 white Chanticleer. Around the dining-room are paintings by first 
 masters of Thormanby, Kingcraft, Wheel of Fortune, Jannette, Dutch 
 Oven, Silvio, Minting, St. Simon, Melton, Newminster, Julius, Alice 
 Hawthorne, Sterling, Ormonde, Catherine Hayes, Tristan, and Barcal- 
 dine. A bronze statuette of St. Simon is there also, and as it was 
 produced from a life-sized statue executed by Sir Edgar Boehm 
 for the Duke of Portland, the likeness is a perfect one. The figure 
 shows the horse's grand formation and perfect symmetry, and it is easy 
 to understand what his trainer states as a fact, that St. Simon was 
 the best horse he ever saw. 
 
 Mr. Dawson told me that, except upon a few occasions, he never 
 backed horses heavily, and, moreover, added that if he had done so he 
 would probably be a poor man now. He has often not a penny on 
 many of the great races. A modest fiver or tenner— perhaps a pony, if 
 he had something very good — was the usual sum he put on his 
 horses, when he backed them at all. When a man like Mat Dawson, 
 ■with all his knowledge and opportunities for gaining " information," 
 sees the folly of backing horses and refrains therefrom, is it not lament- 
 able, ay, criminal, for those possessing neither to persist in doing so ? 
 
 He is about to retire from public training, but is still hale and hearty, 
 and long may he remain so, to be a living example of what an " honest 
 man " is. 
 
 Besides Newmarket and other training quarters, I visited classic 
 Whitewall, where still exist in pristine simplicity the single stalls in 
 which John Scott stabled his racehorses, and from which the great 
 
189 
 
 Wizard of the North did such marvels. I had as cicerone old Jim 
 Perrin, who for forty years was head lad at Whitewall. He told me 
 yarns most interesting, and showed me the stalls wherein stood West 
 Australian and many another horse rendered famous through means 
 of Scott's training. 
 
 The home of Caller On and Blink Bonny at Spring Cottage I have 
 also visited, and at Highfield met Mr. William I' Anson, the genial 
 representative of the owner and trainer of these great mares. Highfield, 
 like Whitewall, is another establishment of the good old times. I 
 confess I like to see these historic places preserved in their original 
 state and style, rather than have the classic old walls and stalls pulled 
 down as they have been at Newmarket and elsewhere. 
 
 It is the habit of some people to assert positively that a certain 
 horse was the best that ever started. They may do so, but to 
 prove it is simply impossible in the absence of an actual trial. Mr. 
 George Dawson could, if he chose, tell to the ounce the diflference 
 between Ayrshire and Donovan, simply because he had at the same 
 time these two Derby winners under his own charge, but he could not 
 state as a fact what either of them were, as compared with Ormonde 
 or Melton. Even the jockeys who have ridden the horses are, except 
 as a matter of opinion, unable to draw the line accurately between 
 some of the cracks. 
 
 At times, however, facts can be stated with regard to certain horses 
 which would give people good reason to suppose that someone in 
 particular had a legitimate claim to the title. 
 
 Upon perhaps the best authorities on racing at present alive, I shall 
 refer to two. They are St. Simon and Barcaldine. 
 
 Owing to the death of Prince Batthyany the nominations for St. 
 Simon for the classic races became void, and as a two-year-old in 1883 
 he was purchased for 1,600 guineas by Mat Dawson for the Duke of 
 Portland and Lord Charles Beresford. Although at the time having 
 shares with the Duke in other horses. Lord Charles unluckily gave up 
 St. Simon. He ran eight or nine times and was never beaten, and 
 if required could have won every race by a hundred yards. Collat- 
 erally, he was two stone better than Harvester. Mat Dawson thus 
 found in the colt the makings of a horse quite phenomenal ; accord- 
 ingly, he put him in training to win the long distance autumn races, 
 knowing that no horse then in England could get near him at any 
 reasonable adjustment of weight. Unfortunately he showed symptoms 
 of not being able to stand the work, so the Duke, like a sportsman, 
 rather than have his horse put to the stud otherwise than sound as a 
 bell, stopped his training. No one therefore knows except Mat Daw- 
 son what a marvel was St. Simon, and he has often told me that he was 
 not alone the best horse he ever trained, but the very best he ever saw. 
 
 Barcaldine, bred in 1878 by Mr. Geo. Low, of the County Kildare, 
 was, next St. Simon, perhaps the best horse seen under silk in modern 
 
190 
 
 history. He, too, was never shown to the public in his best form, as he 
 could never be made more than half fit. Yet were seen his great 
 performances over all distances and under all weights. If he could 
 have been wound up to concert pitch, and his povv'ers developed to the 
 full, some of the best judges, including his owner and trainer, Mr. 
 Robert Peck, hold that the son of Solon and Ballyroe could have given 
 age, weight, and a beating to any horse that had ever run previously. 
 
 What a deplorable circumstance is in connection with that great 
 horse ! I don't mean to refer to it further than to state that there are 
 many men of integrity and honour who consider that his then owner 
 was not as fairly treated as lie might have been, nor were circumstances 
 taken into account which not alone might have been explanatory, but 
 considered extenuating or, perhaps, have excused the hasty and idiotic 
 action which brought about the enquiry. No doubt, from what was 
 stated in the papers at the time, the sentence appeared to have been 
 deserved, and therefore justifiable, but many people know facts con- 
 nected with the lamentable case which were not recorded. Possibly 
 they were not put in evidence on the part of the accused, but that such 
 an oversight should have occurred would appear to be improbable. 
 
 Instead of doing as he did, had the owner of Barcaldine contented 
 himself by simply scratching him for the Northumberland Plate when 
 he found he could not get his money on through being forestalled by 
 the public, he would have done what he was entitled to, and have 
 taught a salutary lesson to the British backer, at the same time leaving 
 free, to make a record and a fortune, the best horse that was ever bred 
 in Ireland, bar, perhaps, Harkaway. 
 
 Marvellous as have been the changes which have come over racing 
 within the past few years, none surpasses that which relates to the 
 position of the trainer and the jockey. 
 
 Trainers have built for themselves houses which are simply baronial. 
 In them are boudoirs, billiard rooms, and banquet halls, which, for 
 elegance, are not surpassed in the houses of their employers. As to the 
 prudence of this undertaking opinions differ, but my notion is that men 
 who, like our Newmarket and other trainers, have plenty of money it 
 is highly desirable that they should freely spend it ; and when their 
 bent is upon building the more taste they display and the more sub- 
 stantial the work, the l^etter it is for themselves, their friends, and their 
 tradesmen. Moreover, in this particular instance, we have another 
 illustration which shows what practical advantage the sport of racing is 
 to the public community. The houses and stabling built at Newmarket 
 within the present decade have caused a circulation of money among 
 tradesmen and labourers which can be estimated only in hundreds of 
 thousands. 
 
 The establishment of Mr. Richard Marsh at Egerton House, New- 
 market, is the most magnificent of th*^ kind in the whole world. 
 
 In the case of jockeys a change has taken place which was never 
 
191 
 
 dreamt of fifteen or twenty years ago. A boy, out of neither his teens 
 nor his apprenticeship, and without education, may now earn, if he be 
 skilful in the saddle, a better income than a bishop, while some of the 
 leading jockeys get, in retainer and ordinary fees, more than is paid to 
 the Lord Chancellor of England ! Of a truth that of jockey is now 
 About the very best profession there is in the kingdom. What a pity it 
 is that some of those who follow it and jump suddenly into such 
 brilliant financial circumstances do not realise their position, and, through 
 jionest performance of their duties, retain it. No doubt, before long, 
 old prejudices will be overcome, and boys of good social position and 
 well educated will, instead of to college, be sent to our leading training 
 stables there to take their degree in riding. It is to be hoped these 
 young gentlemen will always go straight and never in " rings." 
 
 Just as I am about sending the MS. of my book to the printers 
 I find in a sporting paper two returns from different sources which are 
 interesting, so I reproduce them. 
 
 Messrs. Weatlierby in their annual volume of " Races Past " give table 
 showing the number of races of different distances in Great Britain and 
 Ireland in the undermentioned years, and is as follows : — 
 
 1 
 Distance. 1 1887. 
 
 1888. 
 
 1889. 
 
 1890. 
 
 1891. ! 1892. 
 
 jFive fuvlono's and under six 
 
 7.32 
 
 759 
 
 262 
 
 333 
 
 184 
 
 40 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 793 
 
 256 
 
 345 
 
 176 
 
 42 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 767 
 
 238 
 
 359 
 
 183 
 
 38 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 733 1 754 
 
 205 1 204 
 
 446 [ 479 
 
 192 1 203 
 
 40 1 41 
 
 7 \ 5 
 
 3 2 
 
 Six furlongs and under one mile ... 
 One mile 
 
 260 
 
 312 
 
 183 
 
 53 
 
 7 
 2 
 
 .Over a mile and under two 
 
 Two miles and under three 
 
 Three miles and under four 
 
 Four miles , 
 
 
 TotPvl 
 
 1549 
 
 1589 
 
 1623 
 
 1594 
 
 1626 1688 
 
 
 The above statistics are in precisely the inverse ratio to what I 
 should wish to see them. 
 The next shows a return in every way conducive to my satisfaction : — 
 The latest racing statistics published show a distinct falling off in the 
 •value of the leviathan sweepstakes and a distinct increase in the financial 
 aggregates of the old-fashioned stakes raced for at the open meetings. True 
 it is that the Eclipse Stakes, won this year by Orme, maintains its position 
 as the richest race run in England ; and the Lancashire Plate, won by La 
 Fleche, is second ; but still the value of these races has a tendency to travel 
 .down hill. The Eclipse Stakes figures read as follows: — 1889, £11,165; 
 1891, £11,075; 1892, £9,405. Tliose for the Lancashire Plate show a still 
 greater drop. Thus in 1889 it was worth £9,000 ; in 1890, £9,091 ; in 1891, 
 £8,971 ; and in 1892, £7,930. I next turn to the Leicestershire Royal 
 Handicap, and what a terrible falling off is there. This race was unjustly 
 
193 
 
 advertised as a £16,000 stake, but it has not caught on with the public, like 
 most of the events that are advertised to be raced for at Oadby. Kusticus 
 has won the prize two years in succession, its value being £5,347 last year 
 and £4,205 last September. Compare these big stakes to the Derby, Oaks, 
 and St. Leger, and we find that the "old timers," as they are now remodelled, 
 are steadily improving. Thus the Derby in 1889 was only worth £4,050 ; 
 in 1890 it rose to £5,930 ; in 1891 to £5,510 ; and in 1892 to £6,960. Good 
 old Derby ! The St. Leger has also gone up, being worth but £4,800 in 
 1889, £5,125 in 1890, £4,300 in 1891, and £5,270 in 1892. The Oaks in 1889 
 Avas worth £2,600; in 1890, £4,400; in 1891, £4,405 ; and in 1892, £5,270. 
 Take these figures as they stand above, and they show a tremendous balance 
 in favour of the old-fashioned races over the modern "Frankensteins." 
 
193 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE CURRAGH. 
 
 Ita Early History — Compared with English Downs — Effect on Horses— What can be Carried 
 on Simultaneously — Its Area — Its Herbage — Its Hares— Training Establishments — A 
 Trip on a Jarvey — Mountjoy Lodge and Dan Broderick — French House and Michael 
 Dennehey — Conyngham Lodge and Captain Joy — Turf Lodge and tlie Hunters- 
 Lark Lodge and William Disney — French Furze, Paddy Gavin, and the Keegans — 
 Brownstown and the Knoxs — Normanby Lodge, Dick Sadlier and Colonel Thompson 
 Jockey Hall and the Wattses— Mr. John Hubert Moore— Mr. T. O. Gordon - Athgarvan 
 Lodge and Mr. Pallin— Mr. Bowes Daly— Eyretield Lodge and Mr. Linde— Eyrefield 
 House and the Beasleys— Something about this Extraordinary Family— Doimelly's 
 Hollow— Crotanstown — The Author gets Upset — The Kacecourse — Waterford Lodge — 
 Davy Canavan— Hamilton Lodge— The Fox Covert— Kathbride Cottage and Mr. W. P. 
 CuUen — Rathbride Manor and Mr. Meredith— Rossmore Lodge and Mr. F. F. CuUen — 
 Milletta Lodge and "Mr. St. James" — Curragh View — End of Our Drive — Olden 
 Times on the Curragh — Its Highwaymen — Homes of Great Horses — Sir Hercules — 
 Birdcatcher — Faugh-a-ballagh — Brunette — Guiccioli — Connaught Hanger — Roller — 
 Freney -Birdcatcher again— Bob Booty — Chanticleer — lerne — Hollyhock— Pleiad — 
 Ildegarda — Thump — Wheel — Bagot— Mr. Robert Hamilton — Master Bagot— Mr. 
 Edwards — Tom Tug — Commodore — Cornet — Sweet William — Smallhopes — Irish 
 Escape — The Highflyer Mare — Milesius — The Baron — Stockwell — Stockwell might 
 never have been heard of — Russborough — Harkaway and Tom Ferguson. Postscript : 
 Death of Mr. William Beasley — Marriage of Mr. Thomas Beasley. 
 
 Except that the first race run there was in April, 1741, I know 
 nothing about the ancient history of the Curragh, so I can give 
 my readers only a sketch of what the noble plain is like at presents 
 and refer to events of comparatively recent date. I can, however, 
 assure them that many a long year has passed since grass first grew on 
 it, and that nothing else has ever grown there except a few furze 
 bushes. 
 
 From off none of the downs or wolds of England have I ever felt such 
 invigorating air as I do off the plains of our own Curragh. Be it 
 morn, midday, or night, and whether in any of our four seasons, 
 there comes from it a bracing ozone not to be found on Epsom 
 Downs, Langton Wold, or Salisbury Plain. It quite equals, if it does 
 not surpass, the air we find on the west coast of Ir el ind, blown in from 
 the mighty Atlantic. 
 
 Who knows but this health-giving property may not have a vast 
 deal to do with the hardihood of our Irish racehorse referred to in 
 other pages of this book ? 
 
 I don't know how many acres there are in the Curragh, but it would 
 take a great many of the downs in England to make the same extent. 
 In the centre we have a military camp which is in itself a large 
 village, around it, and in the closest proximity, several regiments of 
 artillery, cavalry, and infantry can, in simultaneous review, fight their 
 miniature Waterloos, while within a mile there is a range long enough 
 to spend the force of bullets from our farthest shooting rifles. Nor 
 do the extensive operations which daily take place in and about the 
 
 o 
 
194 
 
 camp in the least interfere with the exercising of the various strings 
 of horses belonging to the surrounding training establishments. 
 Mr. Pallin can also have a hunt in far-off portions of the plain, his 
 hare giving the hounds a four-mile point without leaving the Curragh 
 or nearing either military or trainers' strings. 
 
 Then have we not the world-renowned racecourse, where a four-mile 
 course is laid out within its circumference, upon which the time- 
 honoured Anglesey, Peel, Waterford, Howth, Red, and Sligo posts have 
 stood for generations ? On the further sde of the railway we have 
 the Curragh Gorse— a covert of the Kildares from which many a 
 rattling fox was run. 
 
 Now, my readers, I in no way exaggerate when I state that, if so 
 minded, w^e could have all the following events taking place at the 
 same time on this noble plain, and that, too, with perhaps little or 
 no interference with each other : — 
 
 All the troops in Ireland under review. 
 
 All the Pi. I.e. in the County Kildare ball practising at the 
 rifle-butts. 
 
 All the trainers' strings at exercise. 
 
 The Curragh October Meeting. 
 
 The Kildare Hounds drawing the gorse for a fox. 
 
 Mr. Pallin's Harriers drawing furze brakes for a hare. 
 
 A coursing meeting if there were hares, which there are not. 
 
 Now what do you think of that, all ye who boast of the greatness 
 of England 1 Where is the place in all your land that could give 
 space for such vast and varied exhibitions of military and sporting 
 events to take place at the same time? And if a man had a front seat 
 in a balloon he could have a bird's-eye view of the whole panorama ! 
 I repeat, there is no exaggeration in what I have stated. 
 
 The Curragh is, as the crow flies, fully six miles long and three 
 miles across, with hill and dale adding considerably to the extent. It 
 does not run out into inland peninsulas, but is practically a 
 parallelogram in shape. 
 
 The herbage, too, although never having been desecrated with 
 a plough, is far away richer and better in quality than that grown 
 upon any plain I ever saw in England. The grass grows short, thick, 
 and sweet, and is particularly good for sheep, while the hares which 
 once lived there in plenty were of the stoutest and best running breed 
 to be found in the three kingdoms. The late Mr. James Galway, the 
 breeder of Master McGrath, told me he often saw a Curragh hare run 
 clean away, without their having given her a single turn, from the 
 best brace of greyhounds in Ireland. Coursing meetings of importance 
 used to be held on the Curragh long ago, and there was a park near 
 where the camp is into which the hares could run for safety, holes 
 being in the walls at convenient places for them. A portion of this 
 old hare park still remains, but the hares have long since been 
 annihilated. 
 
195 
 
 Our various training establishments are all situated around, or close 
 to, the verge of the Curragh, and are, like those near Malton, pretty 
 nearly in their primitive state. The dwelling-houses are mostly of 
 the cottage style, only a few are two-storied — a style no doubt adopted 
 by the old folk as being that least likely to feel the effects of thn 
 storms which too often sweep our plain. The stabling which adjoin 
 the lodges are all of the good old-fashioned substantial style, lacking 
 nothing in anything pertaining to the comfort and well-being of the 
 horses which occupy them, but all in simple, useful fashion. None 
 of the ornamentation, decoration, and so forth which distinguish the 
 gorgeous establishments of Newmarket are to be found in these 
 abodes. Our Irish trainers know and do their work quite as well in 
 their homely, snug little shanties, with their barn-like rows of 
 stabling adjoining, as any of the Englishmen in their regal residences 
 surrounded with villages of stately stabling, while our humble boxes 
 contain as healthy horses and turn out more winners in proportion 
 than come from the superbly decorated stalls of England. 
 
 While scribbling these notea my thoughts naturally run to the 
 principal establishments around and near the Curragh ; for the infor- 
 mation, therefore, of those of my readers who are not as fortunate as 
 the others who know them, I shall pay an imaginary visit to each. To 
 do so I shall figuratively hire a jarvey in Kildare and take with me 
 three Newmarket trainers who, strange to say, have never visited the 
 Curragh, nor have they been to Ireland. They are Messrs. Joseph 
 Cannon, Arthur Sadler, and George Dawson. 
 
 Before starting from the ancient town of Kildare we shall look 
 in at the old Club House. Oh, what tales these walls could tell! 
 Around this very table the great men of old feasted and made merry 
 upon the nights of the Curragh meetings. Many were the magnums 
 of port and claret drank over that mahogany. See here are the 
 marks of the dice-boxes which in vehemence were dashed down 
 while high play was indulged in. Now the place is deserted and has 
 been for years since the time of the Charlemonts, Howths, Waterfords, 
 Clanricardes and Sligos, the Disneys, Westenras, Dalys, Powers, 
 Courtenays, St. George's, Archdales, and Irvines ! 
 
 Down the old and narrow road our jarvey rattles us for a little over 
 a mile, when we arrive at the Curragh verge. The first training 
 establishment we shall visit is Mountjoy Lodge. Here the veteran 
 Dan Broderick still resides. For some years before his lamented 
 death, sporting Captain Stamer Gubbins had here his training 
 establishment with Dan as trainer, whence to victory were sent 
 Fairyland, Juggler, Sailor, and many other great horses. 
 
 Next we come to the home for many years of straightfoward 
 Michael Dennehey. A man who puts his money on a horse sent to 
 the post by the owner of French House has, at all times, an honest 
 run for it and often wins. To train a horse for the flat or over a 
 country, Mr. Dennehey can hold his own with any mar, while 
 
196 
 
 there is not a trainer on the Turf who holds an escutcheon more 
 untarnished. 
 
 Now we arrive at an establishment larger than some of those about 
 the Curragh. It is Conyngham Lodge, built many years ago by the 
 late Marquis of Conyngham. The celebrated brothers Murphy lived 
 and trained here for a long time after they moved from Pope Lodge, 
 which is farther on. Since they died various tenants have held it, 
 none of whom dwelt there as long as did that best of good fellows 
 Captain George Joy. To that gentleman's judgment and sagacity are 
 our friends in England indebted for the possession of some of the 
 best horses of modern times — Bendigo, for example. He died at 
 Conyngham Lodge in February, 1891, regretted by everyone who knew 
 him. 
 
 Turf Lodge is next en route. Here Mr. Richard Newcomen has 
 resided for years, and at times owns a good horse and trains others. 
 In former days Turf Lodge was the home of the Hunters, and there 
 were stabled the famous Roller, and, as dam of Birdcatcher, the still 
 more famous Guiccioli. 
 
 Lark Lodge, once the residence of that great pillar of Irish racing 
 Mr. William Disney, comes next. Here we are shown the sods which 
 cover the bones of Birdcatcher. 
 
 At French Furze House we meet Paddy Gavin, who has under his 
 care a promising lot of youngsters. Many a good race have I seen 
 him ride with Tom and William Ryan, Davy and William Canavan, 
 Tom Kelly, and other good cross-country jockeys of twenty years ago. 
 The Keegans lived here for many years, and were, in long bygone 
 days, celebrated alike for training and riding. I remember Larry, 
 who at the age of eighty died here in 188L In his day he was one of 
 our finest steeplechase riders, but he had a very ugly seat. Paddy 
 Gavin married his daughter, and has lived at French Furze for several 
 years. 
 
 Brownstown, the home for generations of the Knoxs, is our next 
 visit. This is the birthplace of Birdcatcher, and here lived, until his 
 death a short time ago, that once great cross-country rider Mr. George 
 Knox. Many of his last years were spent under the affliction of total 
 blindness, the result of a fall in a steeplechase. 
 
 A little way off the Curragh we come to Normanby Lodge, called 
 after, perhaps, the most popular Lord-Lieutenant we ever had, who 
 kept his racehorses here in the thirties. When I was a youngster 
 the late Mr. Richard Sadlier held court at Normanby, and that in 
 regal style. From it the hospitable Tipperary man sallied the day on 
 which he won the famous Welter Private Match at Punchestown on 
 his wonderful brown horse, Bismarck, beating Mr. Alan Macdonagh 
 on Humming Bird and Mr. Henry Linde on Nereid. A northern 
 sportsman now resides here, in the person of Colonel Thompson, a 
 member of our Turf Club, and who has in training there several useful 
 horses of his own. 
 
197 
 
 Now we see clustered among trees of ancient planting, through 
 which the Gothic windows look out upon the Curragh, a place of 
 historic fame. It was the home of the Watts', and it is Jockey Hall. 
 Here was stabled Echidna, when she dropped The Baron. Here, too, 
 the latter as a sire held court, and out of Pocahontas begat Stock- 
 well. At Jockey Hall Mr. John Hubert Moore for several years 
 resided in the sixties and seventies. During his time the best horses 
 in Ireland, bar none, were trained at The Hall. Among them were 
 Scots Grey, Curragh Ranger, Furley, Rufus, Albert, Revenge, Revoke, 
 and many others whose names I can't at the moment recall to mind. 
 Over the private course at the back his father taught Garrett Moore 
 how to ride a steeplechase. 
 
 Another North of Ireland gentleman, Mr. T. G. Gordon, resides now 
 at Jockey Hall. He, like the former occupiers, has a large string of 
 first-class horses under his charge, and as a sire he has at present the 
 renowned Ben Battle. Mr. Gordon, as a member of our I.N.H.S. 
 Committee, does good service to our sport. We see that within the 
 past couple of years he has put the place in thorough repair and 
 wrought great improvements in the house and stables, which from 
 old age and hard usage they truly were in need of. 
 
 Leaving Jockey Hall we wheel sharp to the left and travel along the 
 eastern end of the Curragh. In doing so we pass the rifle butts, and 
 cross the line of fire. After about two miles we turn up to the right and 
 arrive, by a short cut and the back entrance, at another establishment, 
 as famous and as ancient as any about the " Short grass." This is 
 Athgarvan Lodge, the seat of my friend Mr. William Pallin. 
 
 We have now had some three hours on the Curragh, and travelled 
 nearly seven miles. At all of the houses, with profuse hospitality, we 
 were offered refreshment, and at some we certainly partook thereof. 
 Now, however, comes the hour for luncheon, and with the effects of 
 the Curragh air in our systems, we have a keen desire for it. This 
 feeling is the more intensified by the hearty welcome which we 
 receive, and forthwith we sit down to a sumptuous repast presided 
 over by the genial host. 
 
 Athgarvan Lodge of the present day is very different from what it 
 was when George IV". visited Mr. Bowes Daly there in 1821. Then 
 mains of cocks were often fought on the green plot opposite the 
 <irawing-room windows, which is now the tennis ground, and here in 
 the dining-room, during the night's carouse, was many a battle 
 brought off upon the mahogany. Habits and fashions were very 
 different then from now, and if these walls could speak they might 
 tell queer tales ! Cock-fighting and hard-drinking were, however, in 
 olden times, practised at the Curragh in many other places besides 
 Athgarvan Lodge. 
 
 Mr. Pallin is a man of very refined taste. He has a collection of 
 rare oak furniture and equally antique silver. Everywhere we see, 
 in choice selections, which betoken the instincts of the man, trophies 
 of the race, the chase, and foreign travel. 
 
198 
 
 On the sideboard is the Grand Military Hunt Cup of 1878. To win 
 this cup Mr. Pallin had set his mind directly he joined the 20th Hussars 
 in 1871, and upon former occasions he ran third and fourth for it, but 
 in 1878 he won it with Theseus, ridden by Captain Lee Barber, Pallin 
 not being able to get the weight. It was for hunters that had never 
 won a race of £20, the property of officers of the Army and Navy, and 
 Mr. Pallin showed his judgment in producing the best of his year in 
 an animal he bought for 40gs. at Tattersall's. He has willed it that 
 when his third and youngest son, now a boy of six, can challenge for 
 it, the three brothers are to ride for this cup upon maiden hunters, 
 hunted solely by themselves, 12 stone each, three miles over Punches- 
 town. In the event of only cne competing, he is to ride over the 
 course for it. May we be there to see the father lead back the winner 
 after a good race between his three boys. 
 
 The walls of Athgarvan Lodge are hung with racehorse portraits 
 executed in high art, conspicuous among them being originals of 
 Birdcatcher by Harry Hall, and The Baron by Herring, while many 
 are the work of the owner's own brush. 
 
 Within the past two years the old dwelling has been repaired and a 
 lot added to it. The stables were previously remodelled and spacious 
 yards laid out whereon formerly stood useless outhouses. In a word, 
 from an old tumble-down concern, which it was but a few years 
 ago when Mr. Alan Macdonagh lived there, Mr. Pallin has made 
 the house about the very best at or near the Curragh, while the 
 out-offices are all that can be desired for the purpose of life which he 
 has laid out to follow — that of breeding thoroughbreds. Not one of 
 the many stud arms which I have visited in England surpasses in 
 excellence of design or management those of Athgarvan Lodge. 
 
 Since he betook himself to the calling few men in Ireland have 
 done more, or perhaps as much, as he has towards the furtherance of 
 breeding thoroughbred stock. At present there stands at Athgarvan 
 Favo, by Favonius, out of Adrastia. He was a good racehorse at 
 all weights and distances, having won fourteen and was placed 
 thirty- 6 ve times. He is, as we see, a magnificent specimen of a 
 weight-carrying thoroughbred stallion, and is sound as a bell, while his 
 breeding shows a grand combination of the best blood in the Stud- 
 book. On his sire's side he has that of Sweetmeat and Harkaway 
 through King Tom, while his dam gives him the mixed blood of 
 Stockwell and Newminster. No horse of late years has done 
 Irish breeders so much good as Favo. He has begat a prodigious 
 number of winners, and for four years has stood at the top of our 
 list as a sire of winning horses. 
 
 Master Ned is also there, descended as he is from the best line of 
 Irish blood now available, a direct union of Birdcatcher and Harkaway. 
 Astrologer we also see — a son of Hermit, out of Stella — whose great- 
 grandsire was Melbourne. 
 
 So well known are the Athgarvan yearlings that at Doncaster during 
 the St. Leger week they fetch a high average price. 
 
199 
 
 It has taken us nearly two hours to go over this model stud farm, 
 visiting as we did the stables, stallion yard, paddocks, brood mares 
 and foals, yearlings, and last, but not least, the kennels, wherein Mr. 
 Pallin has some fifteen couple of as nice-looking harriers as are to 
 be seen in Ireland. We must, therefore, bid adieu and good luck to 
 the genial master. 
 
 While our trap goes round by the road I take my friends a short 
 cut across a few fields which brings us to Eyrefield Lodge. This, 
 I need not say, is the residence of him who I think I may call our 
 Irish Mat Dawson. In fact, Mr. Henry Eyre Linde takes higher 
 honours than the English champion, for, in addition to the flat-racer, 
 he can, as the world knows, train a steeplechaser, which the latter 
 cannot do. Unlike other gentlemen trainers, Mr. Linde resides in 
 the home of his ancestors, where he was born, and as far back as 1807 
 the place is marked on the map of The Curragh as the residence of 
 Eyre Linde, Esq. He has within the past few years enlarged 
 his stabling to a very great extent, and in a style which brings it 
 more like that of Newmarket than any other near the Curragh. 
 The stalls are loose boxes, capable of accommodating in all fifty 
 to sixty horses. At the farther end from the house is the farmyard, 
 and there are found cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry of as good and 
 useful breeding as are the horses in the stables. Huge stacks of the 
 primest oats, with gigantic ricks of hay and straw, flank the lot and 
 shelter all from the Curragh gales. In addition to his own household, 
 Mr. Linde has of necessity a very extensive establishment comprising 
 over a score of men and boys ; but the Master of Eyrefield is, from 
 his own farmyard and garden, able nearly throughout the year to 
 provision the lot, great as the commissariat undertaking un- 
 doubtedly is. 
 
 Two fields at the back of the stables is the private steeplechase 
 course. It was the first of the kind ever laid out in Ireland. In its 
 track, which is a mile and a quarter, is found every description of 
 fence to be met with on either English or Irish courses, and of 
 dimensions which require both riding and fencing to be executed in 
 the highest degree of excellence. This explains how Linde's horses 
 can always jump, and his men can always ride. 
 
 After tramping round the track and returning to the house, we feel 
 inclined for further refreshment. This we partake of in the cosy 
 dining-room, the walls of which are decorated with portraits of Messrs. 
 Tommy and Harry Beasley on Empress, Woodbrook, Mohican, Whisper 
 Low, Too Good, Gamebird, and other steeplechase celebrities, which 
 bore away the palm of victory from Aintree, Paris, and from all parts 
 of Ireland. 
 
 For many years Mr. Linde has had, as first lieutenant, Mr. Tommy 
 Beasley, and until lately his brother Harry assisted ; while as head lad 
 Dan McNally — " Eyrefield Dan " as he is called — has been a valuable 
 servant ever since Linde began his profession. 
 
 To recount the marvellous achievements of this gentleman trainer 
 
200 
 
 with racehorses during the past quarter of a century would be 
 impossible for me. But have they not been chronicled over and over 
 again ? I will merely say that no man of modern, nor perhaps of 
 former, days has gained such celebrity over steeplechase courses. 
 For years past he has furnished more favourites for the Grand 
 National than any other two owners or trainers put together, and 
 I doubt if the same number can total among them as many of their 
 horses having won, been placed, and ran forward in that race as he 
 can. I have no Calendar by me, but from memory I know within 
 the last fifteen years he has prepared for the Grand National two 
 winners in Empress and Woodbrook, while Martha and Cyrus lost in 
 their respective years by short heads only. Fair Wind, Too Good, 
 and Mohican in other years ran into third place. Other horses 
 from his stable may have been placed, but I am safe in stating 
 that every Eyrefield horse which started for the Grand National, 
 except the one or two which fell, had many more after than before 
 him at the finish. The Seftoa Steeplechase at the Liverpool Autumn 
 Meeting has been won by his representatives more frequently than 
 by those of any other man in the kingdom, steered as they were 
 nearly always by Mr. Harry Beasley. 
 
 No one stands more prominently in the winning records at Chan- 
 tilly than Mr. Linde, Too Good, Whisper Low, Mohican, and 
 Seaman alone establishing for him that position. Over our own 
 famed Punchestown for the past twenty years no stable has at all 
 come near that of Eyrefield. For years the Prince of AV ales' Plate 
 and Conyngham Cups have gone to it, while all the other races, bar 
 of course the Farmers' and perhaps the Kildare Hunt Cup, have often 
 from time to time been won by horses under his care, while the 
 records of Cork, Baldoyle, old Curraghmore, Leopardstown, and 
 every other meeting in Ireland, including the Curragh, return scores 
 of winners supplied by him. 
 
 What I don't think any one of his profession can say, he owes to no 
 man his acquirements. He taught himself. Starting life in quite 
 a different sphere, he soon gave up the calling and betook him- 
 self to that which he innately was so pre-eminently gifted for. Nor 
 was that until he had got well into the fourth decade of his age. 
 
 To the master of Eyrefield the training of a flat- racer is as easy to 
 superintend as is that of the chaser. A five-furlong sprint, a Queen's 
 Plate, or a two-mile timber-topping are all alike to him. At the 
 same time he likes best the cross-country work, and of that I know 
 he very much prefers the natural to the artificial business. To lead 
 back a winner over Punchestown or Aintree is to my friend his 
 greatest pride and satisfaction. 
 
 In another particular the subject of my notice differs greatly from 
 other gentlemen trainers. He knows how to mate judiciously and 
 scientifically thoroughbred mares and stallions. This is evident to 
 anyone looking over the foals, yearlings, or other thoroughbred 
 youngsters at Eyrefield. 
 
201 
 
 Unlike as he is to other trainers of the first class, he is similar 
 to many of them in the one great golden rule — Linde has always 
 run his horses straight. I have known him ever since I saw him 
 leading in as winner at Fairyhouse, in 1873, Highland Mary, with 
 Mr. Tommy Beasley up, then but a boy. From that day to this 
 never has there been one word, or even a hint, against the way in 
 which the one man ran and the other rode horses. 
 
 Highland Mary, bred in 1869, was the first really good animal Linde 
 owned, and although she cost him only £25, the achievements of this 
 mare laid the foundation of his fortune. She was by Solon out of 
 Scotia. She bred only one foal, the first Eyrefield by Uncas ; but he 
 as a four-year-old, and not fifteen hands, won the Prince of Wales' 
 Plate at Punchestown in 1881, and the Germans bought him for £1000. 
 Since then Linde prepared all the following horses, and, except a few, 
 for every race they ran : Empress, Woodbrook, Seaman, Cyrus, Martha, 
 Usna, Lord Tara, Turco, Gamebird, Mohican, Whisper Low, Fairwind, 
 Carmelite, Too Good, May boy, the two Eyrefields, Primrose League, 
 Niblick, Alexander, Chancery, Spahi, and quite a host of other clinkers 
 whose names 1 forget. Lord Tara and Gamebird did wonders for him, 
 yet all he paid for them was respectively £5 and £65. 
 
 Although he takes charge of horses for his friends, he won't take any- 
 thing but good ones, and always holds a share in their ownership. 
 
 Upon the conclusion of the racing on the second day at Punches- 
 town some five or six years ago, when he had won well-nigh every 
 race of the meeting, I heard him bidding good-bye to Lord Drogheda, 
 and winding up with, " I am sorry, my lord, Punchestown does not 
 continue for a few days longer, so that I might win some more of 
 your races" ! 
 
 He has been surnamed The Farmer — I think by the late Captain 
 Joy — by reason of "farming" — i.e., winning — so many races. By 
 that title he is often styled by his friends. 
 
 In Mrs. Linde her husband has found a partner in every way con- 
 genial. Of racing she is a capital judge, and takes as much interest 
 in it as he does. She is a brilliant rider to hounds, and hunts regularly 
 with the Kildares. They are alike generous and good, and dispense 
 charity right and left. 
 
 At Eyrefield, as at Athgarvan, we have been for a long time, and as 
 time presses we must leave the hospitable abode where the jovial 
 master has entertained us the entire time with his amusing anecdotes 
 and unbounded heartiness. 
 
 Within a couple of fields of Eyrefield Lodge, but farther away from 
 the Curragh towards Athgarvan village, stands Eyrefield House, 
 where three of the brothers Beasley superintend the training of a most 
 extensive and highly select lot of racehorses. This ancient edifice is 
 two-storied, and has at the back a most convenient and excellent 
 range of stabling, all kept in the most scrupulously tidy style. 
 
 I must now say a few words about this celebrated family of 
 
20^ 
 
 gentlemen jockeys. First, they come of a good old Irish family, 
 which for many years resided in the County Kildare. The brothers 
 under notice are Thomas, Harry, William, John, and James. I may 
 say, without fear of cavil or contradiction, that never in racing history 
 has there been a record of so many of the one family possessed of 
 such excellence in horsemanship. I know these young men well, but 
 even so I beg they will excuse my calling them in this book by the 
 names they are universally known by, for fear that some of my 
 readers might not quite know who were "Mr. Thomas Beasley " or 
 " Mr. Henry Beasley," whereas Tommy and Harry Beasley are known 
 all over the civilised globe. 
 
 Well, anticipating the forgiveness of these fine fellows, I begin with 
 the eldest. Tommy. He was brought up at the feet of that great 
 master of steeplechasing, the late Mr. Alan Macdonagh, than whom, 
 with his brother William, there were no cross - country jockeys 
 superior in olden time. After getting his first lessons from that 
 mentor he came under the banner of Mr. Linde, where for many years 
 past he has remained. To give a full account of this fine horseman's 
 achievements I shall not attempt. A few, however, may be men- 
 tioned. He won three Liverpool Grand Nationals on Empress, Wood- 
 brook, and Frigate ; Croydon Steeplechase of four miles on Pride 
 of Kildare ; Paris Steeplechase on Whisper Low, and Birmingham 
 Grand Annual Steeplechase on Abdullah. At Punchestown some of 
 his principal wins were Prince of Wales' Plate on Eyretield (the first 
 four-year-old that ever won it) ; two Conyngham Cups on Cork and 
 Christmas Gift, and at the meeting of 1892 the Kildare Hunt Cup on 
 Xap, showing that his right hand still retains its cunning. His win 
 on Christmas Gift in the Conyngham of 1876, when quite a youngster, 
 was very meritorious, for he beat by a neck, after a desperate race, 
 the crack Mr. Garry Moore on Scots Grey. 
 
 He holds a record in the Grand National quite unparalleled. 
 Out of twelve rides he won three times, as stated above, was second 
 twice on Martha and Cyrus, who each lost the race by half-heads, 
 was third on Martha, and fourth twice on Sultana and Cruiser. 
 Spahi fell with him at the first fence in 1887 ; and Frigate, in 1890, 
 when going well, and with a good chance of scoring her second win, 
 although carrying 12st. 7lb., was knocked down by the French horse 
 Fetische. He rode Zitella in 1883 and 1884, but I forget whether she 
 stood up or not. Anyway, out of the twelve mounts he gave a good 
 account of himself in eight, and it is certain that two, at least, of 
 the others fell. He won twice in succession, in 1880 and 1881, and 
 lost it by only a short head the year after. 
 
 On the flat Mr. Tommy Beasley is as good as between the flags. 
 At the Curragh he won its Derby on Pet Fox, Tragedy, and Narragh- 
 more, several Queen's Plates with Spahi, Carmelite, Red Prince, 
 Chatterbox, May Boy, etc. He also with two-year-olds won many of 
 the Waterfords and Angleseys. With Spahi he beat Fred Archer for 
 
203 
 
 the Welter a short time before the untimely death of that jockey. 
 The Baldoyle Derby he won with Primrose League and Grecian Bend. 
 At Liverpool he won two Welters on Primrose League and Words- 
 worth. 
 
 I don't think his brothers will object to my doing so, or perhaps 
 disagree with me, when I state as my opinion Tommy is the most 
 finished jockey of the family. He can ride a tive-furlong race as 
 skilfully as any professional, while Tom Oliver in his best day could 
 not give him 3lb. in a Grand National. It is well known that he rode 
 for the latter with as cool a head as he would in a spin for a tenner. 
 
 Like his friend Mr. Garret Moore, he has been singularly lucky in 
 escaping bad falls. The only one I remember his suffering from was 
 that given him many years ago by Alhambra at the Curraghmore 
 meeting, while his worst fall was when he broke his leg riding from the 
 post-office across the Curragh. No doubt both hB and Mr. Moore 
 rode as a rule only well-schooled horses, but had it not been for that 
 cool, steady nerve, which was the peculiar characteristic of these 
 two gentlemen, a very different result would have been the case. 
 
 Besides his brilliancy as a horseman with the silk on, Tommys 
 Beasley is a tip-top man in scarlet, a combination very rarely met 
 with. Moreover, he is a crack shot and a skilful fisherman. 
 
 The second brother is Harry, and while I doubt that he could ride 
 a short race on the flat or finish up the straight after a long steeple 
 chase in the same style as his elder brother, on a rough mount he 
 certainly is the better man ; in fact, I never saw anyone who could 
 handle an awkward horse in a steeplechase in such style as Harry 
 Beasley. It may be said of him as truly as it was some years ago of 
 Mr. Tom Pickernel, that " he can ride any horse at any fence at any 
 pace." 
 
 He has ridden more in public than his elder brother, and con- 
 sequently has won more races. Over Punchestown he won oftener 
 than any man recorded in its annals. I forget how many Conyngham 
 Gups are to his credit, but on Seaman, Frigate, and on Comeaway 
 twice were some of the wins. The Sefton Steeplechase at Liverpool 
 he has won oftener than any other jockey, carrying it off in 1879, 
 '80, '81, '83, and '85. He won the Grand National in 1891 on Comeaway, 
 and was second three times and third once out of thirteen mounts, 
 so his record is little short of Tom's. At Paris he won the 
 Grand Hurdle Race in 1881 on Seaman, and was second for it on Turco 
 and Mohican the year before and year after. For the Grand Steeple- 
 chase he was third on Mohican in 1882, when his brother won with 
 Whisper Low, and he won that race in '83 with Too Good, and again in 
 1890 with Royal Meath. Other important events all over the kingdom 
 he is bracketed with. 
 
 He also is a good shot and a fine fisherman. He owes his start 
 in life as a gentleman rider to Mr. Linde, but for whom he might 
 never have been heard of except in commercial circles. 
 
204 
 
 Willie is the third, and with his brothers, Harry and Johnny, con- 
 ducts the Eyrefield House establishment. He, too, is a beautiful and 
 highly-finished horseman. He graduated under Mr. John Hubert 
 Moore, than whom few more accomplished gentlemen trainers ever 
 led in a winner. Naturally he has not as brilliant a record as his 
 elder brothers, but he has scored many times, among them the Conyng- 
 liam at Punchestown in 1891 on Sarah Bernhardt. He was second 
 on Frigate for the Grand National in 1888 ; on Flying Column in 
 '92 he made nearly all the running, finishing fourth out of a field of 
 five-and-twenty ; and when Harry won the Steeplechase at Paris on 
 Royal Meath, Willie was handy, ready, in case of accident, to do the 
 trick on Bayleaf. He has the same style as Tommy, and I am of 
 opinion he only wants time to become quite as finished. 
 
 Johnny and Jimmy Beasley, I think, also got their early tuition 
 from Mr. Moore, and they likewise do him credit. If they had not 
 such extraordinary brothers, these two youngsters would be quite at 
 the top of the tree. Johnny rides in the style of Harry, and fears a 
 rough mount just as little. Jimmy has been connected with a foreign 
 stable for some years, and he is now in India, doing well. 
 
 The first mount these brothers had for the Grand National was in 
 1877, when Tommy rode Saltana, and since then (up to 1892) that race 
 has never been started without some of them. In 1880, '84, '87, and 
 '89 three rode, while in '79 they all rode except Jimmy, who was 
 abroad. It is unfortunate, however, that at no time did more than one 
 get a place. 
 
 Here is a family record unparalleled, and likely to remain so : — 
 
 Mounts of the Brothers Beasley in the Grand National. 
 Sixteen Years, 1877-92. 
 
 
 Won. 
 
 Second. ; Third. 
 
 Not Placed. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Tommy . . 
 
 3 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 Harry 
 
 Willie 
 
 13 
 6 
 
 Johnny 
 
 3 
 
 Total 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 34 
 
 
 
 Jimmy never rode in the Grand National. 
 
 What a sensation would have been caused at Aintree in 1889, had 
 not Usna broken down at the far-off turn, before coming to Valen- 
 tine's Brook. Bar any other accident, there is no manner of doubt 
 he would have won with 12st. 71b., and thereby have broken the 
 record, while Frigate was going second best. The two brothers, 
 Harry on Usna and Willie on Frigate, coming away from their field, 
 and finishing a good race, which no doubt they could have managed 
 
205 
 
 to do, would indeed have brought down the stands, or rather sent up 
 the cheers of those on them. 
 
 It is equally certain that if Frigate had not been carried out of the 
 course by Usna when he broke down, and had to be pulled up to avoid 
 going into the canal, she would have won by twenty lengths, giving 
 Willie a blue ribbon. 
 
 As I said elsewhere, I don't accord to ordinary owners of racehorsea 
 much credit simply because they happen to possess great horses. 
 The one who, in my opinion, deserves laudation is the man, like Harry 
 Beasley, who can train a horse as he did Comeaway, and on him 
 carry off the Grand National, that win being, in point of weight and 
 time, the best on record except Bourton's in 1854.* 
 
 These five brothers are quite as popular as they are skilful. 
 
 Come, come, we must be off, for we have been nearly as long with 
 these three gallant young fellows as we were at Athgarvan and Eyre- 
 field, so, driver, hurry on, for we have no other place to stop at till we 
 come near the Stand House, which is nearly four miles off. 
 
 Hullo, pull up ! Get down, my friends, till I show you our famous 
 Donnelly's Hollow. Yes, here it was that on the memorable 13th 
 December, 1815, Dan Donnelly the Irishman beat George Cooper the 
 Gipsy. Was there ever selected a better site for a prize fight ? 
 Upon this sward, level as a billiard table, the twenty-four foot ring 
 was pitched. Around it ample space was afforded within their inner 
 circle for the upper ten, while the high sloping banks which surmount 
 three sides of the plateau sheltered from the wind the gladiators, at 
 the same time affording the occupants of the outer ring a full view of 
 the battle, standing, as they could do in this natural amphitheatre, in 
 rows one above the other. I don't suppose a spot more naturally 
 adapted to the purpose of a fight could be found anywhere. 
 
 In 1888 this monument was erected by public subscription to mark 
 the site of the great battle, and to commemorate the skill and 
 endurance of a brave Irishman. See how the pretty little erection 
 with its neat railing has been defaced by thoughtless people, who with 
 Goth and Vandal notions break off pieces to carry away as mementoes ! 
 
 From Donnelly's Hollow to the Stand House, on the north side of 
 the Curragh, we have no racing stables, although in days gone by 
 at Crotanstown were housed good horses. 
 
 There is the road to Newbridge, and here at this corner is the place 
 where I got the upseb which you saw the illustration of at Linde's. 
 Yes, returning to Newbridge about four years ago, after spending a 
 festive night at Eyrefield Lodge, I and two others got here about as 
 complete a capsize off a jarvey as ever men got. The driver, enter- 
 tained no doubt by " Dan " with the hospitality proverbial at that 
 house, would not be restrained from driving full speed along the road 
 we have ju^t travelled, although the night was dark as Erebus. You 
 
 * Since I wrote the above Cloister has won carrying 12.st. 71b. ; and poor 
 Willie Beasley has been killed. 
 
206 
 
 see there are no fences and nothing dividing it from the grass but 
 drains over a foot deep and two feet wide, with banks of mud thrown 
 off the road on the inside. Sweeping round this turn at the Soldiers' 
 Home, going ten miles an hour, the near wheel, over which I was 
 sitting, ran up on the bank. In the twinkling of an eye the car was 
 sent flying upside down, and the driver in a tangent from his seat ; 
 the other two fellows went sprawling all fours, while I described, 
 from the near to the off side, a back somersault so complete that I 
 landed on the road in the sitting position which a second before I was 
 in on the car. The sensible old horse luckily stood stock still, 
 and when we picked ourselves up we found no one had sustained 
 the least injury. Not so our habiliments. In a pretty pickle our 
 evening clothes were with mud, for in the darkness down v/as coming 
 the rain in torrents. Neither was injury done the car beyond having 
 the iron rail of the driving-seat bulged in. This, they said, was 
 caused by the weightiest part of my body coming in collision with it 
 in my aerial transit ! 
 
 We now arrive at the Stand House. See now before you, my friends, 
 our historic Curragh racecourse. Yonder to the left is the four-mile 
 post, used only for the Queen's Plates. Starting there is seen, in 
 their stride, the horses coming along that wide stretch at foot of yon 
 slope. Sweeping round the post, near the chains they pass the stand 
 outside the rails, going far away to the left by the starting post, and 
 finishing up the straight from the chains ; thus doing their four miles 
 without travelling twice over the same ground, except for about two 
 furlongs. Can you beat that at Newmarket, or have you in all your 
 courses a better run-home? 
 
 Here, at back of the stand, is Waterford Lodge, called, as you know, 
 after "The Marquis." Close by lived for years old Davy Canavan, 
 who sixty years ago trained at Gurteen for Mr. John Power. It was 
 he who trained Valentine, Tidy, and other celebrated horses, the 
 property of the popular, but unfortunate. Squire of Gurteen. Canavan 
 was a good horseman of the old school, and his sons William and 
 David were equally so of a more modern era. 
 
 Old Davy was sent to Leicestershire in charge of a horse to a 
 gentleman who had bought him from Mr. Power. The horse was bred 
 near Tramore and was a famous hunter, but necessarily unaccustomed 
 to water, of which we have very little in Ireland. The new owner 
 was well pleased with the appearance of the horse, and amongst other 
 questions asked if he was good at water, to which Davy replied, 
 " Arragh ! why wouldn't he ? Wasn't he bred in sight o' the say ! " 
 
 Hamilton Lodge, close by the Stand House, is where James Dunne 
 trains a few horses. He, too, is of the good old school, and was an 
 accomplished horseman in his day. At this lodge, nigh a hundred 
 years ago, dwelt ^Ir. Robert Hamilton, a benefactor to Irish racing, 
 of whom more anon. 
 
 Passing under the Piailway bridge we see half a mile off the Curragh 
 
207 
 
 Gorse, and shortly afterwards arrive at Kathbride Cottage, where that 
 fiae horseman, Mr. William P. Cullen, has lately come to reside, and 
 has several useful animals under his charge. 
 
 Historic llathbride Manor is close by, and was for years the abode 
 of the St. Georges and the Irvines. Here in old times were stabled 
 many famous racehorses, including Faugh-a-ballagh and Mickey Free. 
 The bones of the latter rest here. Within the past few months, Mr. Rice 
 Meredith has come to live at the manor. Perhaps no young trainer 
 of present times, excepting my figurative companion George Dawson, 
 has achieved in so short a time more successful results for his patrons 
 than Mr. Meredith. Not alone in Ireland, but in England, and for 
 many most important races, has he led back winners within the four 
 years he has undertaken the duties of public trainer. From this 
 gentleman and his father before him, Punchestown course has been 
 rented ever since races were established there. In Mrs. Meredith he 
 has a wife who looks after her husband's business as carefully and 
 efficiently as himself. Kind for her, for is she not the daughter of 
 Tom Waters, and great-granddaughter of Watts, who bred and owned 
 The Baron ? 
 
 A mile farther on we arrive at Rossmore Lodge, called after the 
 nobleman who, with many others of the same class, was a column of 
 our Irish racing half a century ago. The eccentric Tom Ferguson lived 
 here in the thirties and trained the famous Harkaway. For many 
 years Joe French, a quondam trainer from Newmarket", lived there, and 
 cared his horses with consummate ability. It was he who turned 
 out Bendigo when he won the Cambridgeshire in 1883. Strange that 
 with all his sagacity he should have lost most of his earnings upon 
 backing horses, resulting in his having to live for the last of his years 
 upon a small annuity. He died at Newmarket in 1890. During recent 
 years Mr. Frederick F. Cullen has sojourned at Rossmore Lodge, 
 He with his brother William are, like Mr. Meredith, young trainers, 
 and also have been most successful for their patrons. L^nlike most 
 others, they are their own "first jockeys," and whether it be on the 
 flat or over a country few men can give weight to either of these 
 gentlemen. 
 
 Milletta Lodge we pass by, as no one has lived there for some years. 
 Poor Reggie Greville had it for a time. You remember he was called 
 The Limb, and rode as Mr. St. James. He was a capital horseman, 
 and connected with the Jockey Hall stable, for which he won many 
 steeplechases, principally over Punchestown, where he was almost invin- 
 cible. The poor little fellow was killed at Sandown, dying, as he always 
 ■wished to, with a silk jacket on. 
 
 Curragh View is next reached. It has just been vacated for Rath- 
 bride by Mr. Meredith, and is a cosy little place for a small string. 
 Here a trainer of no mean sagacity sojourned for many years— Tom 
 Connolly. This ends our visits and brings us to within a mile or two 
 of Kildare, from which we started many hours ago. 
 
208 
 
 Thus have we made a circuit of the famous Curragh and visited 
 nearly, if not quite, all its training stables. My three companions 
 agree with me that a more enjoyable drive, or a round of calls more 
 pleasant to make, would indeed be diflBcult to find, while no more 
 hospitable or agreeable hosts coald be found anywhere than the 
 trainers residing on the Curragh of Kildare. 
 
 Our lots are cast in pleasanter times than those of the old folk. 
 My old grandmother used to relate thrilling accounts of dark 
 deeds committed on the Curragh, when the high road from the south of 
 Ireland to Dublin lay across it between the towns of Kildare and 
 Newbridge. The bleak and dreary waste was then the scene of 
 many a robbery committed by Redmond O'Hanlon, Freney, and other 
 notorious highwaymen. When journeying from Mooresfortto Dublin, 
 as my grandparents did annually to spend the winter in the metropo- 
 lis over a hundred years ago, they always broke the journey at Carlow, 
 so that their old carriage might rumble across the Curragh in day- 
 light. Upon one occasion they were more than a fortnight on the 
 road, having been snowed up, and such-like delays were often experi- 
 enced by travellers in those days. 
 
 As I said before, the stablings at the Curragh are, in many instances, 
 precisely as they stood nearly a century ago. Of course, therefore, 
 there are now to be seen the veritable stalls in which our great horses 
 were located during their running period, and where they stood 
 while transmitting to posterity the very best and stoutest blood that 
 is to be found in the Stud-book of to-day. 
 
 Reverencing as I do everything that has history attached to it, 
 particularly if it pertains to sport, I visit with infinite pleasure 
 those old places whenever I get the chance. Thioking, perhaps, that 
 my readers might like to hear something of these great racehorse pro- 
 genitors and where they were located, I shall tell of a few, but I shan't 
 weary them with lengthened pedigrees or performances which have 
 been so often published, and which can, with some trouble, be traced 
 in our old Racing Calendars. 
 
 Sir Hercules, by Whalebone, out of Peri, was foaled in the north of 
 Ireland, in 1826, and was, as everyone knows, the sire of Irish Bird- 
 catcher and Faugh-a-ballagh, also of the great steeplechase mare 
 Brunette. I am not sure, but I think he was called after the cele- 
 brated wit of his day, Sir Hercules Langrishe of Knocktopher Abbey. 
 At all events, early in the thirties he was the property of Lord Langford, 
 and stood at Summerhill, co. Meath, and I think he stood for a time 
 somewhere at the Curragh. 
 
 -, Guiccioli, in about 1828, was bought by Mr. Robert J. Hunter, and 
 was stabled for some years at Turf Lodge, but it was at Brownstown, 
 when the property of Mr. George Knox, that she became the 
 dam of Birdcatcher in 1833, of Faugh-a-ballagh in 1841, and of 
 Connaught Ranger in 1842, the latter being by Harkaway and the 
 others by Sir Hercules. Guiccioli, by Bob Booty, out of Flight, was 
 bred in about 1823 by either Mr. Martin Joseph Blake of Galway, or 
 
by Mr. Joseph Miles Macdonnell of Dim Castle, co. Mayo. The former 
 was known as " the man for Gal way," and the latter as "Joe More ' 
 {A7iglice, Big Joe). At an ordinary during a race-meeting at Kilkenny, 
 Mr. Hunter asked, would anyone buy for £30 Guiccioli, then in foal 
 to Roller, and the late Mr. John H. Jones of Mullinabro', near Water- 
 ford, would have done so had he not been dissuaded by his friend Sir 
 Richard Cox, who said to him, " Why do you want to buy such a cat 
 of a thing 1 She'll never breed hunters for you." 
 
 Mr. Jones, who was a great friend of mine, told me years ago the 
 narrative. He was all through his long life very fond of breeding 
 horses. The last he bred was Paddy, by Skylark, out of Mavourneen, 
 who won the Manchester November Handicap in 1892. He also bred 
 Bacchus, by -Uncas, out of Nelly, a horse which in his racing career 
 carried a great deal of money. 
 
 Guiccioli was put to Roller twice, but the produce was not remark- 
 able, except perhaps in George. The best of this mare's progeny un- 
 doubtedly were Birdcatoher, Faugh-a-ballagh, and Connaught Ranger. 
 
 Roller, by Quiz, was one of the greatest horses of his day, and was 
 also the property of Mr. Hunter, but he was imported from England. 
 He raced from, and stood at. Turf Lodge, where Mr. Hunter resided 
 before he became our racing judge, which he did some forty years 
 ago. Roller won twenty-nine races, mostly of four miles. He got a 
 great many good horses, including Colonel Westenra's Freney. 
 
 Birdcatcher was bred in 1833, and, as I have stated, by Mr. Knox 
 at Brownstown House, but Mr. William Disney purchased him 
 afterwards, and it was at Lark Lodge he stood as a stallion. His 
 greatest race was for the Peel Cup at the Curragh October meeting 
 in 1836, which he won by more than a distance, beating Freney and 
 others ; nor could he be pulled up till he had run into Newbridge, 
 nearly two miles from the winning post. For racing purposes he 
 never recovered that performance. He was put to the stud in 1838, 
 and covered until 1859, during which long period he was about the 
 most successful sire this kingdom has ever had, his grandson, Stock well, 
 perhaps alone excepted. He covered, off and on, in England and 
 Ireland — about half his time in each country. He died in 1860, and 
 his head was given to the Dublin Royal Veterinary Co legp, while his 
 body lies buried at Lark Lodge. 
 
 Bob Booty was another of our great Irish horses. He was bred in 
 1804 by Mr. Denis Bowes Daly, then and for many years residing at 
 Athgarvan Lodge, the present home of Mr. William Pallin. He was 
 by the imported Chanticleer, but out of lerne, bred at the Curragh 
 in 1790 by Mr. Robert Hamilton. Practically, therefore. Bob Booty 
 was an Irish horse. He did not start for his first race till he was 
 four years old, but he won that, it being a King's Plate of four miles 
 at the Curragh. Mr. Daly then brought him to England, where he 
 won some trying races, and beat first-rate horses. He was then sent 
 back lo the Curragh, where in 1809 he won the Kildare Stakes— a 
 
 F 
 
210 
 
 great trial race in those days— and al&o a King's Plate of four mile 
 heats, beating the famous Hollyhock and several others. He ran 
 till he was six years old, and was then put to the stud by Mr. Daly 
 at Athgarvan Lodge, where he begat many winners. His name is 
 most famous as being the sire of Guiccioli, Pleiad, and Ildegarda. 
 Pleiad was the dam of Maria, by Sir Hercules, while Hdegarda foaled 
 Colonel Westenra's Thump to Humphry Clinker and Mr. William 
 Quid's Wheel to Camel. These were some of the best horses of their day. 
 
 Bagot, foaled towards the close of last century, was not a success on 
 the Turf, but he was so well bred Mr. Hamilton bought him and 
 located him at his lodge near the Stand House, where he got many 
 good winners, including Master Bagot out of Harmony, by Eclipse, who 
 was the best horse in Ireland at the time, and perhaps as good as 
 any in England. He was sire of Hollyhock and many other wonderful 
 horses. Mr. Hamilton was an astute breeder of the thoroughbred, and 
 from Hamilton Lodge sent many good horses, but I need not parti- 
 cularise them. 
 
 Mr. Edwards, who was a Yorkshireman, was also a great Irish bene- 
 factor in the early part of this and latter part of last century, but I 
 don't know exactly where he resided on the Curragh. He imported 
 Tom Tug, previously called Ptover, from England in about 1782, and 
 he became the most popular sire of his time in Ireland ; from him 
 sprang Commodore, Cornet, and Sweet William. Commodore, 
 bred in 1794 also by Mr. Edwards, was out of that good mare 
 Sniallhopes, by Scaramouch. He also bred Irish Escape, by Commo- 
 dore out of the Hightiyer mare, bred by Mr. Tattersall at Highflyer 
 Hall in 1791. To enumerate Irish Escape's victories would fill many 
 piges, I therefore only say he was one of the very best horses that 
 ever ran on the Curragh; but he got nothing of much note except 
 the clinking Milesius and Flight, the dam of Guiccioli. 
 
 The Baron, by Birdcatcher, out of Echidna, was bred in 1842 at 
 Jockey Hall by Mr. "Watts ; and, it is needless to say, the famous 
 Stock well, foaled in 1849, was got by The Baron out of Pocahontas 
 (1837), and was, bar his grandsire Birdcatcher, the very greatest sire 
 England ever possessed. 
 
 Russborough of more recent years was another good horse. He 
 was by Tearaway out of Cruiskeen. He belonged to Lord Mill- 
 town, and was called after his seat in Kildare. AVhen march- 
 ing across the Curragh with his regiment in the spring of 1850, 
 Captain Peel (alluded to in the history of the Curraghmore Hunt) 
 was told by a shepherd that a good horse was located in Murphy's 
 stable at Pope Lodge. This was Ilussborough. At the following 
 Curragh June Meeting Captain Peel brought Lord Waterford to 
 Murphy's to try and buy the horse, but he would not be sold, and 
 Murphy was exceedingly surprised at their knowing anything about 
 him. Three months ^ter wards he ran a dead heat with A'oitigeur 
 for the Leger. Ilussborough did nothing at the sUid. 
 
211 
 
 I shall now leave this portion of my subject, for although it has 
 treated of only a very few of our greatest Irish horses, and those of 
 olden time, pedigrees and such particulars are not palatable to some 
 of the present generation, but it is well to let them know what we 
 Irish have done for the English Turf from its earliest history down to 
 this day. I have made allusion only to horses which stood at the 
 Curragh, leaving out scores and scores which stood in the country 
 many of them being quite as famous as some of those I have men- 
 tioned. Eclipse, of course, as everyone knows, was an Irish horse, 
 and belonged to Colonel O'Kelly, a forefather of the Kildare family, 
 but I don't know if he was ever located at the Curragh. 
 
 Like other institutions, and mortals as well, the British Turf has 
 to thank luck for some of its greatness. It is to pure good fortune 
 that we are indebted for the great Stock well, for if we had not 
 escaped three distinct disasters, that horse and his strain would never 
 have been heard of. Here they are : — 
 
 No. 1. Had Guiccioli been bought from Mr. Hunter by Mr. Jones, 
 she in all probability would never have been put to Sir Hercules, or 
 bred Birdcatcher — ergo, no Stockwell ! 
 
 No. 2. Birdcatcher was very nearly being lost, for when a yearling 
 he got a severe attack of inflammation of the lungs, and was, at 
 Brownstown, actually turned out to die ! 
 
 No. 3. Echidna was the property of Mr. Watts of Jockey Hall, but 
 she was no use for racing purposes. Her owner offered her in 1840 to 
 a. priest near the Curragh for £20, but his reverence would give only 
 £10. This was refused, and as Birdcatcher was standing close by at 
 Brownstown, Watts put the mare to him in 1841, and she foaled The 
 Baron. 
 
 Were there ever more miraculous escapes ? 
 
 It is certain that Harkaway during most of his racing career was 
 trained at Hossmore Lodge, but I can't say if he was located at the 
 Ourragh while at the stud. I must, however, before ending this chapter, 
 refer to the horse which was not alone the best ever bred in Ireland, but 
 was perhaps the best that ever carried a saddle. At the same time I 
 shall allude to his owner, who was as extraordinary as the horse. 
 
 Thomas Ferguson was an Ulster man, and resided for many years at 
 Barkston Lodge, near Newry, but I don't know whether he was born 
 there or not. He began life in a linen factory, but having the love of 
 sport, particultirly racing, deeply ingrafted in him, it was not long before 
 he gave up the calico and took to silk. 
 
 Coming south, and being an accomplished horseman, a good sports- 
 man, and genial companion, he soon made for himself a name, and 
 became a general favourite among racing men, so much so that after a 
 time he was elected member of the Cofi*ce Room. He ovned several 
 good horses, among them Teetotum, Beagle, Peacemaker, Barkston, and 
 Rust. This was the time when Alan and William Macdonagh were in 
 their prime as gentlemen steeplechase jockeys, but neither the brothers, 
 
212 
 
 John Dennis, nor anyone else in Ireland could do much better across 
 country than Tom Ferguson. 
 
 In process of time he became possessed of an unnamed chestnut mare, 
 by Xabocklish out of Miss Tooley, bred by Lord Cremorne. He put 
 her to Economist, and in 1834 she dropped Harkaway. He was a late 
 foal, but grew into an oversized and ungainly colt. He was not paid 
 much attention to at first, nor was he started for a race until September, 
 1836, when, not half fit, he was beaten in the Angleseys at the Carragh. 
 
 After this he was beaten three times and won twice, but it was not 
 until June, 1837, he showed his true form, when in the Kir wans he 
 proved himself one of the most extraordinary horses of the day. In 
 that race, carrying 7st. 13lb., he beat with the greatest ease such cracks 
 as Birdcatcher, Freney, Langford, Blackfoot, Mercury, and six others. 
 From that time forward Harkaway got little rest. He was run at every 
 Curragh meeting for a year after, and was beaten only in the Kirwans 
 of June, 1838, carrying oflF as he did in 1837 three King's Plates, the 
 Xorthumberland Handicap, the Wellingtons, the Kirwans (again in 
 October), the Challenge for same and the Royal Whip. In 1838 he won 
 the Rossmore Handicap, the Wellingtons, the Kirwans, and no less than 
 four Queen's Plates. Altogether, from September, 1836, till June, '38, 
 he ran twenty-three races at the Curragh, and won eighteen of them, 
 beating easily, after giving them lumps of weight, some of the best 
 horses ever bred in Ireland. 
 
 During the same period we find the great chestnut at many of the 
 English meetings. His first appearance in England was at the Liverpool 
 July meeting of 1838, in the Tradesmen's Cup, for which he started 
 favourite, although carrying top weight and only recently arrived from 
 Ireland after a two days' voyage in a schooner. He ran splendidly, but 
 was beaten half a length by St. Bennett, to whom he gave 15lb., while 
 amongst the eleven behind him were such celebrities as Melbourne, 
 Cardinal Puff, and Cruiskeen. He pulled up very lame, but his 
 irrational and headstrong owner insisted upon running him next day. 
 He won the first heat easily, but was beaten in the second, and had to 
 be withdrawn. 
 
 Ferguson's ability had then to be taxed to the utmost to get his horse 
 fit for the Goodwood Cup, which followed in less than a fortnight. To 
 southern Hampshire from Liverpool the good horse had to be caravanned, 
 and when he arrived, naturally he was anything but fit, or even fresb. 
 Nevertheless he won the race without an efForfc from a large field of 
 horses, amongst them being Dormouse, D'Egville, and Miss Adrien, to 
 all of whom he conceded great weight. 
 
 At Cheltenham, in 1839, he beat another lot, including Caravan and 
 Grey Momus, the latter having previously won for Lord George 
 B ntinck the Two Thousand and the Leger, the Ascot Gold Cup, the 
 Grand Duke Michael and the Drawing Room Stakes, besides other 
 great races. This was a huge triumph for Ferguson, who hated with 
 intensity Lord George, with whom he was continually at variance. 
 
213 
 
 Harkaway's greatest performance was perhaps that of winning the 
 Goodwood Cup of 1839 (second year in succession). The distance was 
 two miles and three-quarters, and this, carrying 9st. 410., he did 
 under five minutes, and beat with the greatest ease eight of the best 
 horses in England, to all of which he gave a lot of weight, except the 
 olio king Epirus of the same age, who carried equal weight, but was 
 beaten a distance. 
 
 It would be tedious to particularise auy more performances of this 
 marvellous horse, so I shall sum up in a nutshell his career : He began 
 as a two-year-old at the Curragh in September, 1836, between which 
 and October, 1841, he ran there 29 times, and won 19. In England he 
 ran 15 races, and won eight of them, making 27 wins out of 44 starts. 
 His last race was at the Curragh October meeting of 1841, when for 
 Her Majesty's Plate he was beaten. 
 
 The annals of the Turf accord to Harkaway praise equal to any horse, 
 while the press of the day is unanimous in declaring he was the best 
 that ever started ; and many men, even up to now, allege that his 
 superior has never since appeared. 
 
 He was equally good over all courses, from one to four miles, while 
 big weight made no difference to him, and carrying it he beat the best 
 horses in England and Ireland. 
 
 From the records of the Turf we learn with regret that by reason 
 of malpractice of his owner the running of Harkaway was greatly 
 interfered with, and there remains no doubt whatever that he could 
 have won many more races than he did, perhaps every one he started 
 for. 
 
 Ferguson, while naturally a very good-hearted, amiable man, was 
 afflicted with a violent, and at times ungovernable, temper, which could 
 not brook opposition, much less what he considered injustice, and when 
 he met with such he would give way to paroxysms of rage unrestrained 
 in violence. This infirmity made him many enemies, and brought him 
 constantly into trouble, for he cared not for class or person. In 
 fact, the more exalted in station the man might be who provoked him, 
 the more terrible was Tom's scathing vituperation. 
 
 Towards the end of 1838, after winning the Chesterfield Stakes, he 
 had a terrible row with the Jockey Club, owing to Lord George 
 Bentinck having forestalled him in backing Harkaway, and in charac- 
 teristically forcible fashion delivered himself of the following announce- 
 ment: "I've got the Chesterfield Stakes, and I will get more, but, by 
 G — , the public must understand that Harkaway is my horse, to win 
 money for me, and not for any d— d fellow, either a lord or a lord by 
 courtesy and a thief byfhe curse of God ! " 
 
 Lord George Bentinck offered a great price for Harkaway, and 
 several others wanted to buy him, but no money would tempt his 
 owner. To one man, who wrote to ask the price and what condition 
 the horse was in, " Choleric Tom " laconically replied, " His price is 
 6,000 guineas, and I hunt him twice a week" ! 
 
214 
 
 During the Harkaway era Ferguson suffered a great deal from gout 
 which tended to make him all the more violent, and may, perhaps, 
 to some extent account for the outrageous manner he behaved and 
 ran his horse. 
 
 Harkaway was at times treated very unjustly in weights, and this 
 immensely riled his owner, but knowing how great were his horse's 
 powers he felt on nearly all occasions disposed to back him. If, 
 however, he found himself forestalled, he would bet against him, and 
 then either scratch him or have him pulled. This he made no secret of 
 but warned the public both by stentorian voice in the ring, and through 
 the press, that Harkaway's running did not depend upon the horse's 
 condition nearly as much as upon the condition of his owner's book. 
 Nor were these tactics confined to England At the Curragh and other 
 places in Ireland Ferguson ran Harkaway and other horses in a most 
 scandalous manner. On one occasion on Blackrock Strand, not many 
 miles from his own home^ when everyone in Newry, then a town of 
 more importance than Belfast, bad backed his horse Barkston, he 
 rode him into the sea, having laid heavily against him ! 
 
 That Ferguson should have in the end of his career acted as he did 
 is'the more to be regretted by reason of his being possessed of many 
 estimable qualities, and having started as a Turfite under such favour- 
 able auspices. It is in the interest of this extraordinary horte that I 
 relate the malpractice of his owner, which, however, is simple history. 
 
 From an old cutting I copy a description given of Harkaway 
 when he was at the stud. In colour he was a dark chestnut of beauteous 
 and unc :)mmon brilliancy, indicative of the highest breeding. He was 
 very highly topped, and had a large lean head, broad forehead, listening 
 ears, full, good-tempered and soft eye, a blazed face and very large 
 nostril, the more remarkable as being bald on the near side. His lips 
 were very thin and firm, his crest was peacocky with a long and powerful 
 neck, which even in training could never^ be got lean. He had grand 
 shoulders thrown well into the back, exceptionally high wither, great 
 but long back, giant forearm, capital rib, bringing in an altogether 
 splendid forehand to a hindquarters equally so. The quarters were 
 deep, with broad ragged hips, tail set high, from a great dock carried 
 out in a way that implied vigour ; remarkably sunken anus^ close 
 sheath, powerful gaskins, hocks a trifle " cow-fashioned," which brought 
 them closer together than the hoofs, great flat swordy legs, pasterns 
 rather long, with good sound large feet. His girth measurement was 
 extraordinary, but he always stood a little over his forelegs. Though his 
 tail was set high, he was a trifle goose-rumped ; and, standing nearly 
 16.2, he was not in the least split up. He was longer from his hip 
 to his stifle and from his hip to his hock than any ordinary horse, and 
 measured more from the point of the shoulder to the rump than any 
 horse of the day. The formation of his hocks, as with many other 
 clinkers, gave him wide spreading action in his gallop. 
 
 This description coincides entirely with what was told me of Hark- 
 
215 
 
 away quite recently by a well-known Newmarket trainer who remembers 
 him well. From it can be seen that while possessed of magnificent 
 points his general conformation must have been ungainly, and his 
 appearance would not warrant his wonderful performances. 
 
 Ferguson had not many horses of merit after Harkaway went to the 
 stud, and, retiring from the Turf, he died in a few years. Harkaway 
 was then sold to Mr. David Robertson, at whose place, Ladykirk, in 
 Berwickshire, " the great Irish chestnut" died in February, 1859. 
 
 Like many other horses whose performances were of the highest order 
 Harkaway was not very successful at the stud. At the same time he 
 got several useful animals in Peep o' Day Boy, Horn of Chase, Bal- 
 linafad, Chaseaway, Wild Huntsman, Blucher, Idle Boy, while Tom 
 King, out of Pocahontas, must keep for ever in memory the great 
 Harkaway. His daughters were more useful than the sons, and among 
 them we find the dams of celebrated horses -notably Irish Queen, dam 
 of Sweetsauce ; Golden Horn, of Wild Oats ; Thorn, of Sprig of Shille- 
 lagh ; Lizzie, of Leprechaun ; while from Queen Bee has come the 
 celebrated " Bee family," so identified with the good sportsmen, the 
 Dunnes of Ballymanus. 
 
 Since I wrote the foregoing chapter there happened at the Curragh 
 one of the most melancholy events which was ever recorded in its 
 annals. I allude to the untimely death of Mr. William Beasley, to 
 which I make further reference in my chapter on Panchestown. 
 
 At the time of his brother's death Mr. Tommy Beasley was going 
 to be married. The wedding had, of course, to be postponed for some 
 months, but it has since been celebrated. To illustrate how 
 universally popular is that gentleman, I may mention that over five 
 hundred of his friends joined in the purchase of a testimonial in 
 the shape of plate and jewellery, which was presented to him and 
 Mrs. Beasley. The subscription was fixed at a sovereign, and there- 
 fore the sum reached only a little over £500, otherwise it would have 
 come up to a ve ry large amount. 
 
216 
 
 CHAPTER Xlir. 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 A Horsemau— A Coacliman— An Irish Turn-out— Fanerals— An Iri^li Servant's Hat— Whip 
 —Boots and Breeches— Dubliners v. Yorkshiremea— " The Tantivy " — English Traps — 
 Irish Jarveys — Irish Drivers — London v. DubUn — Fun in the Streets— Wilson's Posting 
 Kbtablishment — Ten miles an Hour — Not Driving — Larry Doolan — Irish Wit— Fairy 
 House and Baldoyle v. Epsom and Sandown— Exceptions- Dublin Horse Show— 
 Dimdalk Traps— English Haoknej^ Traps— Taste v. Money— A Money-made Turn-out 
 —Taste— To Fit— To Balance— A Description— Tuition— Tlie OM Waterford Traps- 
 Wilson's of Liverpool— An Object Lesson— Driving at Dublin Horse Show— Wilson's 
 Turns-out— Hodgson's Driving — Great Improvement— Table of Driving Prizes— Pull 
 and Put Ourselves Together — Good Irish Drivers — Sailing a Boat v. Driving Horses — 
 John Bates— Dungarvan Coach Horses— A liuna.v,a.y— D rivinn— 'Nerve and Pluck— 
 A Comparison— Aurhor's Experience of a Queer Lot— Selby's Drive— Two Good 
 Reproductions. 
 
 One glance at a man getting into his saddle, sitting down in it, 
 and taking hold of his horse's mouth will generally show whether he is 
 a horseman or not. Half a glance, however, is sufficient to show, by 
 the way he gets into a trap, settles himself, and takes up his reins 
 and whip, whether a man is a coachman or not. 
 
 All the world knows that we Irish can breed a horse, train him, 
 and ride him as well as any other men under the sun ; in fact, we 
 are born horsemen. To Irish-bred horses England owes the best 
 strains in the Stud-book, and Irish-trained racers, everyone knows, 
 have beaten the best that England could pull out against them over 
 nearly every course, long or short, flat or flagged. Nor can England 
 produce any man who can beat our good men to a pack of hounds, 
 even over his own country ; no more can she produce better finished 
 gentlemen jockeys than we can. 
 
 It is altogether another part of speech when we come to a trap and 
 driving it. In turning it out properly, and driving it in workmanlike 
 style, we are not in it with the Saxon. 
 
 If we have a w^ell-matched pair of horses — and seldom we have — either 
 the harness or the trap they are tackled to is unsuitable ; or if by 
 chance there happens to be a fairly harmonious combination, all will 
 be spoiled by the coachman's want of skill, bad seat on his box, or 
 ill-fitting livery. 
 
 Any man who understands the subject may easily satisfy himself of 
 the truth of this by standing for a short time in any fashionable street 
 of Dublin or in our provincial towns. A really perfectly put together 
 turn-out, properly driven by a smart-looking and smartly got-up coachman, 
 will not be seen in a week in Ireland. Something is sure to be wrong. 
 
217 
 
 and anyone who knows how the thing should be done must agree 
 with me. 
 
 Even our funerala we can't do properly. The stately Belgian, 
 whose slow high-kneed action, arched crest, appropriate colour, with 
 long flowing mane and tail, so eminently adapt him for the mourn- 
 ful duty, is conspicuous by his absence as the motive power of our 
 hearses and mourning carriages. In Dublin as well as other towns 
 in Ireland the grotesque appearance of the hearse, horses, and driver 
 is at times provocative of feelings other than those suitable to a 
 funeral. Not so in England, where that sort of business is carritd out 
 on a system alike sombre, sedate, and lachrymose. I venture to say 
 that the body of a humble artisan in Liverpool is, at the cost of some 
 £7 or £8 to his representatives, sent to the grave in style more appro- 
 priately smart than perhaps would be one of the members of an Irish 
 Town Council at five times the money. 
 
 What bothers an Irish servant more almost than anything else is 
 his hat. Not five in fifty can put it on right, while four out of the 
 five will have it wrong in five minutes after. His whip, too, is a source 
 of continued inconvenience to the ordinary Hibernian Jehu ; he seldom, 
 if ever, holds or uses it in orthodox style. 
 
 And, oh ! ye descendants of Barclay and Tautz, take pattern from the 
 boots and breeches of an average Irish coachman. No matter how well 
 off his master may be, see how the poor fellow is rigged out— his clothes 
 suggest, indeed, that they were cut by a carpenter and sewn by a sail- 
 maker. Also take a look at the polish and pipeclay. Hawkes of 
 Piccadilly might at the same time see the effect of utilising a livery box 
 or body coat originally built for a thirteen stone man on his successor 
 in service weighing ten or eleven stone, and two or three inches shorter 
 in stature. 
 
 As a matter of fact it would be well if some of our Irish gentry, 
 particularly the Dubliners, were to follow the example of their English 
 brethren— in Yorkshire, for instance— in the way they turn out, not only 
 their horses and traps, but their men, for of course it is the masters 
 alone who are to blame. Fancy a servant with a big bushy beard, 
 colour, say, carrotty, driving a carriage in Hyde Park ! 
 
 Mr. Thompson's coach, "The Tantivy," which he trots from the Shel- 
 bourne to Bray, etc., and back daily in summer, is as well put together 
 and workmanlike a turn-out as any which leaves the White Horse 
 Cellars. The horses are well matched, and with good action step together ; 
 they are harnessed " brilliant in brass and in leather," and tackled to as 
 good a cut of a coach as any bowling up Piccadilly. Mr. Thompson, too, 
 is up to the work of which he is so passionately fond, for he is a 
 thoroughly good coachman; but— and this plucks " The Tantivy" of first 
 honours — he scarcely possesses that easy grace on the box which 
 *' Nimrod " describes, and he holds his hands too high. 
 
 Look at the thousands of private traps of all sorts we see in London 
 and in England generally ; how few there are in which a fault can be 
 
218 
 
 found as regards smartness. Nearly all are tooled by men who are 
 innate drivers and turned out as smartly as Melton men at Kirby Gate 
 on the first Monday in November. 
 
 Irish drivers, be they jarveys, servants, or gentlemen, as a rule drive 
 entirely for themselves ; they do not care a jot for their neighbours 
 and never think of giving them a chance. Our streets, where with com- 
 paratively little traffic blocks and collisions constantly occur, give ample 
 proof of this. In England a man drives quite as much for his neighbour 
 as for himself, and each knows exactly where the other will go ; 
 this, with ten times the crowd and traffic met with in Ireland, enables 
 them to steer their traps clear through, with at times little more than 
 an inch to spare between the wheels. Thus it is that driving in London 
 with all its crowd is easy and safe, while in Dublin, notwithstanding 
 its wider streets and little traffic, it is difficult and dangerous, for one 
 man seldom knows where the other will go to. 
 
 Our Sackville-street is, I believe, the finest and widest street of its 
 length in Europe. I am sorry to say it has not nearly the thoroughfare 
 its dimensions would accommodate. There, at times, you see what bad 
 driving is, particularly at the Carlisle Bridge end, where the cross-traffic 
 of the quays intersects that of the bridge and street. You also see some 
 fun occasionally in Dame and Grafton streets, but everything goes on 
 jovially enough. No one gives quarter, and no one expects it. Carts 
 cross carriages, while cars go for cabs, running at or into one another 
 just as opportunity afTords. Notwithstanding the confusion, you hear 
 none of the slanging, barging, or bad language from Dublin drivers you 
 hear from Londoners when a block occurs. No, with us that sort of 
 thing is taken as a matter of course, and in the best of humour. 
 
 At times we find on the stand a really excellent "outside," smart 
 in appearance and well driven by a man properly got up, but it is the 
 exception and you see scarcely any in whose get-up .or method faults 
 cannot be found ; while the great majority, as regards horse, harness^ 
 car, and man, are badly turned out, and the driving is infamous. 
 
 Dear old Dublin has been described as the " car-drivingest city in the 
 world," and so it is. To see the jarveys rattling along Essex and other 
 narrow quays of our city at ten miles an hour every evening from the 
 Cork Express at King's Bridge is a caution ! Still more is it on a 
 Curragh evening, and tenfold more when returning rom Punchestown. 
 But that is not driving. 
 
 Our Irish "car-driver" is one of the last of our old institutions, and 
 far be it from me to say or do anything to injure him. I write as I do 
 with the earnest wish to induce him to smarten himself and his turn-out. 
 He is civil and honest to a degree, and always contented with a just 
 fare, the assessment of which he generally leaves " to your own honour." 
 No other man in his humble sphere of life possesses such a fund of 
 interesting anecdote, nor is Irish wit brought to the front more promi- 
 nently than by Larry Doolan. 
 
 Notwithstanding all I have said, we have cars in Dublin which can 
 
219 
 
 bowl you along to Fairy House or Baldoyle, ay, even to Punchestown, 
 more merrily than any hansom will to Sandown or Epsom ; while the 
 wit and jocularity of the driver are unknown quantities in the Saxon. 
 
 In fact the gemis London cab and 'bus driver is in my opinion about 
 the least amusing person in the world. All the information he seems 
 capable of imparting is on the state of the weather, which, from 
 ocular demonstration, you know all about yourself. At the same 
 time these men are all first-rate whips. 
 
 The jarvey trials at our Dublin Horse Show must convince all that 
 the trappers are first-class and are well driven, while no traps can be 
 turned out more smartly. Let us hope these trials will stimulate the 
 jarveys as a class to general improvement. 
 
 The north of Ireland hack cars are much better appointed and horsed 
 than those of the south, and the drivers know their business much 
 better. Dundalk, I think, "takes the cake" in this respect from all 
 Ireland. In no place have I ever seen so many well turned-out traps 
 for hire as in that rising and prosperous little town. 
 
 Old Ireland is not the only place where we find badly turned-out 
 hackney traps ; every town in England provides them, but as a rule 
 they are all well driven. 
 
 A trap, no matter of what sort, can be turned out smartly at very 
 little expense if a man knows how to go about it, but unless he does 
 and has taste, money will be of very little assistance to him. 
 
 It is easy to recognise what is turned out hy money alone. The 
 horses may be well bred, but they are nearly always long in the back 
 and long in the leg, their action in front is uneven, and very bad 
 behind ; the harness is bound to be brand new, with flowing forehead- 
 band rosettes. Wherever a spare inch is to be found the owner's crest 
 is stuck on, just as if the various pieces were going to be run away with 
 if they were not so stamped. The carriage will be painted in lively 
 colour and picked out in that still more so, while it, too, will be adorned 
 conspicuously with the owner's heraldic bearings. All that costs a lot 
 of money, and, as a rule, the turn-out is not what a gentleman's 
 should be. 
 
 Now a man with taste and knowing what he is about can put together 
 in the acme of style, a trap for himself or a carriage for his wife, at half the 
 money which it has cost the other to make a mess of it. The taste for 
 such, however, must be born in a man ; it may be improved by 
 experience, but assuredly it cannot be bought. 
 
 A trap, whether it be a cab or a car, a cart or a coach, a barouche or 
 a brougham, to look well must have everything to correspond — to fit — to 
 balance. One item out of place spoils the whole. A little man driving 
 a coach spoils the efi'ect, be it in other respects the smartest at a meet 
 of the Four-in-Hand, while a big heavy man upsets the cut of a polo- 
 cart, however good its own equipoise. 
 
 No matter how well shaped they may be, if the horses do not match 
 each other in action, pace, and pull, and don't lift their hind legs, they 
 
220 
 
 cannot set off to advantage the trap that is behind them. The harness 
 has to be regulated in style to match the horses as well as the vehicle. 
 A rakish tandem set cannot be adapted to a brougham, nor can a 
 barouche follow a set of tan. 
 
 The trap, no matter of what description, must be built on lines 
 graceful and evenly proportioned, and unless it be tackled to the pony, 
 the horse, pair, or team it is suitable for, the effect of the whole will be 
 spoiled. Then comes the last, but far from being the least, requisite— 
 the coachman. That functionary must sit behind his horses in position 
 such as will make it appear he can drive, and when he sets his horses 
 going he must prove it, and unless he does the whole turn-out is bereft 
 of interest to the man of taste. 
 
 The coachman, be he gentleman, professional, or servant, should be 
 dressed in accord ; one should not aj^e the other. 
 
 As with the points of a horse or a hound so it is with a trap. No one 
 can put it together properly on paper. Neither can driving be 
 taught with a pen. The only way a man can learn to drive is to get 
 instructions, with a pair of horses before him, from a man who can. 
 A practical example or a good pattern is what is required to teach 
 him how to put together a trap. I shall therefore refer to a few 
 traps which I bear in mind as having been, what I call, properly turned- 
 out and driven. They are all well remembered by many others besides me, 
 for they came from in or near Waterford, where I spent most of my life. 
 
 The Misses Barron, of Newtown, had a brougham very perfectly 
 turned-out with a pair of bay horses, which went a good pace. The 
 brougham and open carriage of Mrs. Eoberts, of Weston, with her stately 
 grey horse, moved slowly, but in orthodox style. Thirty years ago Mr. 
 William Fitzgerald had a very smart jaunting car, under which he 
 ■drove a big roan horse that ten miles an hour was nothing to. He 
 was one of the very finest and best carriage horses I ever saw, and a 
 team of such would be cheap at a thousand guineas. 
 
 Mr. John Snow had the smartest of " outsides." Horse, harness, and 
 car, with the owner driving, was indeed a sporting turn-out. 
 
 Sir Eobert Paul did all things well, but nothing better than in the way 
 he had his carriages sent from Ballyglan. He had a pair of bay thorough- 
 bred mares for many years. Then he had two big chestnuts for a long 
 time. Each pair was a perfect match, but both were of a totally 
 different stamp. They could and did go the pace, and that with 
 scarcely changing a leg. so perfect and even was their action. Mr. 
 Dawson Milward's double dog-cart was workmanlike and had a real 
 sporting ring about it. His well-matched greys rattled along the 
 quay of Waterford without a turned hair, although they had come 
 fifteen miles from Tullagher under an hour and a half. Mr. Ambrose 
 Oongreve, unlike the other gentlemen I have mentioned, seldom drove 
 his own trap ; but he knew as well as they how things should 
 be done, with the result that the Mount Congreve carriages were sent 
 into Waterford in a style that would be admired in Hyde Park. 
 
321 
 
 Perfect as was the turn-out of each of these equipages, and well 
 driven as they invariably were, with the servants smart-looking and 
 properly dressed, there was no item in them which cost much money. 
 ' They include nearly all the classes which are most in use in Ireland, 
 and if men would take pattern from them there would be no cause to 
 find fault with the traps or the driving we see in Ireland. 
 
 These examples can, however, be of use only to those who may 
 remember them. I shall therefore give one of more general utility. 
 
 I allude to the equipages let for hire by Mr. John Wilson, of Sefton 
 Mews, Liverpool. His establishment for construction and con- 
 venience I am sure cannot be excelled, and I readily accept as a 
 fact what I hear, that its equal is not in England. Here are let out 
 for hire every class of trap, from the polo-cart to the coach, numbering 
 some eighty vehicles. In the stalls are fifty horses, with thirty stable- 
 men and drivers. Each of the latter has supplied him for his own 
 use top coat, hat, and gloves, while for special occasions they don 
 livery. Be it to take a man to the railway station with a lot of 
 luggage, to go to the Grand National with a large pirty, or convey a 
 lady through a round of visits, a smarter turn-out or one better 
 driven cannot be found than in the yard I am alluding to. Except 
 the few cabs, none of the traps have an appearance of being hired. 
 The men are tailored better by far than most of the private coachmen 
 in Dublin, while the equipages, their horses, and harness betoken 
 the carriage of a gentleman much more than many of those coming 
 from the stables of Merrion and Eitzwilliam squares. 
 
 My advice to those of my countrymen who sport a conveyance, other 
 than a cycle, is to come and see how Wilson turns out a trap, and 
 take pattern therefrom, and if they make their visit on a Sunday after- 
 noon, when the horses are in their stalls and everything burnished 
 and bright, they will see how a driving-horse stable is kept in the acme 
 of smartness. 
 
 The only department that can be found the least fault with is the 
 harness room, which is altogether too small. Wilson has over one 
 hundred sets of harness, fit to put on any gentleman's horse, with 
 half as many more not quite so stylish. If he had a room where these 
 could be displayed singly along the walls, it would be a sight of its 
 sort nowhere else to be seen. 
 
 Then if a man wants to be suited with a trapper or two, let him 
 visit his sale establishment in Hope-street, and there in the season he 
 can have his pick from some forty horses, many of them Irish bred, 
 but all with English manners. 
 
 The competitions at the Dublin Horse Show have for the past 
 five or six years proved to demonstration how we Irish can be 
 made to improve in our driving. I don't remember much about 
 them previous to 1886, but in that year there was not an Irish 
 entry of much merit. Surgeon Croly's pair. Timekeeper and Strong- 
 bow, was the only Irish tandem worthy of exhibition ; but though 
 
222 
 
 each of his horses was good, they were not matches in any way. 
 From England was sent several very perfect exhibits by Mr. John 
 Wilson, whose stables I have just alluded to. They were driven by 
 his head man, Hodgson. I don't think so perfect a tandem was ever 
 before seen in Ireland as his, and the style in which it was handled 
 was equally unknown to us. Hodgson's figure-driving in the jumping- 
 ground fairly astonished everybody. Trap, horses, and man appeared 
 part and parcel of one machinery working in most perfect harmony. 
 The horses were sold for 750gs. to go to America. 
 
 Of course nearly all the prizes that year went to England. 
 
 There was a great improvement all round in our driving exhibits 
 in 1887, but we were again beaten. 
 
 In 1888 we made most meritorious display, and were it not for the 
 extraordinary animals which were sent from England, the Irish would 
 have been decorated ; but Wilson that year regularly swept the board. 
 His three horses, Eclipse, Water Lily, and Surprise, sold for l,050gs., 
 consequent upon their performance at Ball's Bridge. 
 
 To make a long story short, we have made such improvement we 
 can now hold our own and beat the English in all classes. This speaks 
 volumes, for nothing is sent by them but the best of their best. We 
 seem still to do badly in single-horse driving, but we do very well 
 with pairs, while our tandems in 1891 and 1892 would take prizes in 
 any show. In 1891 we won the two first prizes and one second. 
 
 Notwithstanding this improvement we are still a long way behind, 
 as is seen by the following table which I compiled from the catalogues 
 of the Dublin Horse Show from 1888 to 1892 inclusive : — 
 
 Total Driving Prizes for Five Years ending 1892. 
 
 English. 
 Irish .... 
 
 Single 
 Harness. 
 
 1st. 2n(l. 3ra, 
 
 Double 
 Harness. 
 
 22 12* 
 7 10 
 
 I ! 
 
 1st. 2nd. 3rd. 
 
 ! 
 
 i r. 
 
 12 6 
 
 7 11 
 
 Tandem. 
 
 1st. '2nd. 
 
 3rd. 
 
 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 I I 
 1st. 2n(l. 3rd. 
 
 I 
 44 33 j 12 
 13 ! 22 I 10 
 
 Credit to where credit is due. Were it not for these object lessons 
 which we have had from the English since 1886, the chances are that 
 our turns-out and our driving at Ball's Bridge — particularly in the 
 tandem class — would be as bad now as ever they were. 
 
 It is therefore manifest that nothing exists to prevent us Irishmen 
 turning out our traps smartly and driving them properly. We have 
 just as good taste as Englishmen, we can get as good harness and 
 vehicles in Ireland as can be got in England, while the world knows 
 we are not wanting in the horse line. Let us therefore pull ourselves 
 
233 
 
 together, and put ourselves together properly turned-out vehicles, 
 and have them driven properly both by ourselves and by our 
 servants, for although we have always been horsemen, we certainly 
 are still a long way from being coachmen. 
 
 I don't want to offend any of my countrymen by drawing com- 
 parisons, but I would say that in my opinion the Irishmen to take 
 pattern from in driving are such as Messrs. James Talbot Power and 
 his brother Thomas, John Thompson, James O'Reilly, Nathaniel 
 Morton, and John Hickey. Undoubtedly we have many other good 
 whips, but these are the men who caught my eye in the arena at Ball's 
 Bridge and elsewhere. 
 
 I shall now cease making comparisons and finding fault, and by way 
 of atonement for what I have said, shall give a tip to those who at 
 times have to make long journeys by road, and it is particularly useful 
 to my old friends the jarveys, who, with our gentlemen and servant 
 coachmen, I have been abusing so hard. 
 
 Put a quart or less of oaten meal into a tin can, and pour in as much 
 boiling water as the meal will soak up, covering over with a tight- 
 fitting lid. Place the tin in a convenient corner of the trap, wrapped in 
 a rug or cloth. When the time comes, pull up at a house (or side of 
 any stream if a bucket be carried) and make your horses a nice drink 
 of meal and water. After the soaking the meal will come out in a 
 thick gruel, and, being still hot, will take the chill off the water and 
 afford a much more nourishiog drink than freshly-mixed meal; besides, 
 the latter is very liable to give gripes. This is a straight tip, and 
 useful alike to drivers of public and private traps. 
 
 Another good plan is : If a horse or horses run away and become 
 uncontrollable, the best thing to be done is for someone to get behind 
 the driver and encircle his body across the chest with his arms, and 
 in this position pull with all his might ; adding to the exertion all 
 his iveight by taking somewhere a good purchase with his feet, but he 
 must take care not to interfere with the reins, and the heavier he is 
 the better. 
 
 As with sailing a boat so it is with driving horses. As long as 
 everything goes smoothly, to handle properly the one and the other 
 is comparatively an easy job. It is not, however, until a man is caught 
 in a hobble with either the tiller or tapes and has to get himself out 
 of it that he can show whether or not he has real skill and nerve. 
 To drive properly a well trained pair or team of horses along a road, 
 around a show-yard, or even in crowded streets, no doubt requires 
 a certain amount of bkill, but I don't think it requires a great deal 
 of nerve. Give me, however, the fellow like John Bates, who drove 
 the Waterford and Dungarvan coach some twenty-five to thirty years 
 ago. He seldom had what could be called a handy team, while some 
 of the changes along his daily route were as unruly as were ever given 
 into the hands of man to drive a coach with. Often I saw Bates 
 during that dreary thirty miles getting together these pull-devil-pull- 
 
324 
 
 baker brutes, and sending them along in perfect style, making each do 
 his own share of the work. Often, too, have I seen him in an awkward 
 fix ; but that was the time to see the man. Cool as if he was driving 
 a pony that had shied at an old woman, would he handle these jibbers 
 and bolter.*', and get them into their collars again. Yet he was not 
 what is termed a fancy or fashionable coachman. 
 
 Never will I forget the run away we had down Cushgam Hill with 
 a heavily top-laden coach. When within fifty yards of the bridge at 
 the bottom, where exists a sharpish turn to the left, the coach was 
 rolling to an extent that, if not steadied, no power on earth could 
 prevent an upset at the turn. Yet this man, by cool and skilful 
 manipulation of his horses, although apparently not under control, 
 brought his coach to a balance and rounded the turn in safety. 
 
 That is what I call driving^ and that is what I call nerve and pluck. 
 Perhaps some of the mighty fine fellows we see tooling a coach to 
 admiration, and cutting figures with a tandem in a show-yard, if 
 caught in a dilemma of the sort, might feel inclined to jump clean off" 
 the box, or if they stuck to it would lose their head and capsize the 
 coach. 
 
 In those days I ofttimes had occasion to visit Dungarvan, and I 
 always took the box-seat. Bates, when he had a fairly handy- 
 team, gave them to me for the stage, and from him I learned lessons 
 in driving four horses which, I am sorry to say, I was never afterwards 
 in a position to put to much practice. 
 
 Starting from Dungarvan one morning at daylight, with no one on 
 the coach but ourselves, he gave me the reins, saying, "Now, sir, let 
 me see how you can handle one of the queer lots." The near-wheeler 
 was a well-known devil, but her vagaries were minimised by cunningly- 
 devised straps and g&gs, so she started right enough. Not so the 
 others. Directly their heads were let go the off- wheeler tried to stand 
 on his head, while one leader danced on his hind legs, the other 
 trying to bolt for the stables. Then, as if suddenly possessed of 
 the information that a duffer was to drive them, and not wishing to 
 take undue advantage, away the four plunged into a gallop. Round 
 the corner of the square, and the still more dangerous turn at 
 the bridge, these incarnate devils tore, I steering them as well as 
 I could. Down with their heads, and away they went for over two 
 miles before I could get a pull at them. How old Bates enjoyed the 
 joke, and the funk that I was in, but anon he cheered me with, 
 " Uon't be afeard, sir ; only keep them in the middle of the road." 
 The latter part of his advice I had not much trouble in following, for 
 the road was straight and level, but I confess to having had some 
 difficulty with the first part ! 
 
 The annals of British coaching do not, I think, record a greater feat 
 with four horses than was that performed by the late James Selby, 
 I shall therefore give a few particulars of it. 
 
 At the Ascot meeting of 1888, a bet of £1,000 to £500 was booked 
 
225 
 
 against Selby driving from the White Horse Cellars in Piccadilly to 
 the Old Ship in Brighton and back in eight hours ; distance being 
 104 miles. The event came off on the 18th July following. With five 
 gentlemen on the coach and the guard, Selby started with the " Old 
 Times " from Hatchett's at 10 a.m. to the minute, and reached the Old 
 Ship at 1.56.10 p.m. Here he turned round and started on the return 
 journey without further delay. He arrived at the White Horse Cellars 
 at 5.50, welcomed with thundering cheers by a large concourse of 
 people. Thus he won the bet, with ten minutes to spare, and did the 
 104 miles in just 7h. 50min. There were thirteen changes, which 
 together occupied 14min. 25sec., the plate being greased upon two of 
 the occasions. The coach was stopped specially to grease it a third 
 time, and again to allow the party to get down, which they did only 
 once. Each of the special pull-ups took a minute, therefore IGmio. 
 25sec. was all that was lost in the fifteen stoppages. At Streatham 
 and Patcham on the down journey, the smart lads in changing his 
 horses detained Selby only forty-seven seconds. Deducting the time 
 taken for stoppages, an average of just fourteen miles an hour was 
 kept up ; i.e.^ 4min. 4sec. to the mile. Between Earlswood and 
 Horley, on the down journey, the pace was twenty miles an hour ! 
 
 Selby for years had driven the " Old Times " between London and 
 Brighton, and was not alone well known along the road, but, being 
 the cheeriest and most obliging of men, was intensely popular with all 
 classes. The day fixed for the great drive was, of course, well known, 
 and the hour at which he would pass each place was accurately calculated 
 so with that love for sport and fair play inherent to Englishmen, all 
 parts of the road were, at the time, kept clear for him on both his out 
 and homeward journey. And this applied to the London streets 
 through which he passed. 
 
 Just as the coach at full gallop was approaching the railway crossing 
 at Crawley, a train appeared. To signal one or other of the drivers to 
 stop was imperative on the part of the gate-keeper, but, like a sports- 
 man, he selected him of the locomotive, and hoisting his danger flag 
 brought the train to a stand, which enabled Selby, without a check, to 
 flash by in front. 
 
 As an example of the keenness with which the London police perform 
 their duty, Selby was served with a summons for " furious driving " a 
 day or two after the event ; but the Beak before whom he was 
 arraigned, like a sensible man, let him off with a caution ! 
 
 Needless to say, the hero was feted in fashion usual with Englishmen 
 upon all occasions where nerve and skill in anything pertaining to 
 sport are exhibited to a degree such as was done in this great drive. 
 But the poor fellow did not long live to enjoy his reputation, for in 
 the following winter he caught cold and died of inflammation of the 
 lungs. 
 
 Since I wrote the foregoing I have come across an article upon driving 
 which appeared some time ago in the Live Stock Journal over the 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 initials " "W. A. C. B." I consider it so excellent I reproduce it as 
 follows : — 
 
 A well-matched, well-put-together, and let us certainly add a well-driven 
 pair of horses, is one of those things which, if not exactly a joy for ever, is 
 at least pleasing to the eye until the spectator sees something he likes 
 better. A stepping harness horse is a beautiful thing to look at, but is an 
 expensive luxury. It is not merely costly to buy, but it is also costly to 
 keep up. Two horses at least must be kept to perform the work of one, for 
 they must never experience the sensation of fatigue. 
 
 A very common phrase of stable Anglo-Saxon is that a man is driving two 
 horses, but not a pair. Colour is a mere matter of taste ; some like them to 
 match ; others prefer a contrast— a chestnut and a roan, a bay and a grey, 
 or a black and some light colour. But in action and shape they must match. 
 Nothing looks worse than to see one horse stepping up to his nose while 
 his companion strides along like a match trotter. A squarely built Norfolk 
 horse alongside a lighter blood-like companion is a very bad combination, 
 while a short-necked horse and a long necked one not only look ugly 
 together but are uncomfortable to drive into the bargain. And how much 
 of one's comfort on the box depends upon proper harnessing ! It is time- 
 honoured advice that the coachman should, before mounting to his seat, look 
 round to see that the harness is all right, and the practice is to be recom- 
 mended, as if you start from hotel yards on a busy day you may find that 
 in the rush and hurry one or both of the coupling reins have been left 
 unfastened, a throat lash is perhaps hanging down, or possibly the pole 
 pieces or pole chains have been overlooked. In the matter of putting things 
 right, the beginner must leave himself in the hands of some experienced 
 person. It is positively annoying to see how some horses in the Park are 
 bitted together. Heads fastened up by a tight gag bearing rein ; the driving 
 rein is on the bottom bar ; pole pieces are swinging about so loosely as to 
 let the horses come dangerously near the carriage when they have to hold 
 back, or else are pulled so tight as to deprive the wretched animals of all 
 liberty. Coupling reins are often wrong, and then, of course, the task of 
 driving becomes needlessly difficult. 
 
 Too much attention cannot be paid to the bitting of horses ; and now 
 that the Queen has directed bearing reins to be dispensed with in her own 
 stables, that piece of harness may be legarded as virtually out of fashion ; 
 and when it is given up increased attention will have to be paid to bitting 
 and coupling, because when a horse's movements are no longer crippled by 
 a too tight bearing rein it will be of paramount importance that the bit be of 
 that pattern in which the horse will go most kindly ; that the curb chain be 
 not tight enough to make the horse fight, nor so loose as to be useless. 
 
 In the streets of London, as well as on country roads, one sees a vast 
 amount of bad driving ; and, to begin at the beginning, great mistakes 
 are constantly made in the manner in which horses are started. At the 
 funeral of the late Mr. Braidwood, the head of the London Fire Brigade, 
 who was killed at the disastrous Tooley-street fire, the horses which drew 
 the engine which served as a hearse were with the greatest difficulty 
 induced to travel at a slow pace. In the course of their work they were so 
 accustomed to starting almost before the men were on the engine, and to 
 begin at once at their best pace, that they could not understand being made 
 
227 
 
 to walk. A good many owners and their coaclimen spoil dozens of horses 
 every year through hurrying at starting. The coachman may be late in 
 dressing ; he jumps to his seat, starts his horse at once, and hurries round to 
 the front door ; and when his master drives, he, if of an impatient turn of 
 mind, frequently jumps up and starts at score ; and it only requires a week 
 or two of this sort of thing to turn quiet horses into impetuous starters as 
 soon as they hear the coachman mounting, or feel him gathering up his reins. 
 
 Elsewhere the same writer says : — 
 
 When the Badminton book on Driving was given to the world, no little 
 criticism was expended on the Duke of Beaufort's protest against two- 
 handed driving. A good many people appear to have understood the 
 Duke's directions as though he intended to say that the right hand should 
 never touch the reins, and that the coachman of one horse or of four should 
 drive down Piccadilly with the reins in the left hand alone. It is needless 
 to say that the Duke of Beaufort never intended to say anything so foolish. 
 What he protested against was the practice of drawing the right rein out of 
 the left hand and then keeping the hands several inches apart, and no fault 
 is more common than this. The coachman has then, to all intents and 
 purposes, a rein in each hand, or, as the Irishman said, " a rein in each 
 hand and the whip in the other." In this position the right hand cannot be 
 removed without allowing the right rein to become slack, consequently the 
 horses at once shoot round to the left, should the coachman take his hand off 
 the reins to use his whip. To fiddle away at a horse while the whip hand 
 is at the same time holding a rein is uncoachmanlike in the extreme. The 
 right hand may come to the assistance of the left as often as is required, 
 but in no circumstance should the reins ever be of unequal length in the lef*" 
 hand, and the young coachman cannot be too particular on this point. To 
 use the whip well, said an old coachman, use it as little as possible, and no 
 better advice can be given. To see a horse hit unnecessarily is annoying to a 
 good coachman, and the London coachman's theory of "hit and hold 'em '' 
 is sometimes carried to a foolish extent. A lazy horse must, of course, be 
 kept up to his work, for one that will not go into his bridle can no more 
 be guided with safety through the traffic than a boat can be steered that 
 has no way on her. The whip, besides being a weapon for punishment, when 
 punishment is needed, is also a valuable aid. Horses that are constantly 
 driven along the same road get very cunning at the corners, which they will 
 sometimes cut very fine unless the coachman be on his guard. On such 
 occasions a touch down the shoulder of the inside horse will keep him from 
 coming round too quickly ; or if his companion does not turn quickly 
 enough, a touch of the whip on his outside shoulder will help to send him in 
 the required direction. The novice at driving may also be warned against 
 indulging in that pernicious habit of "chirruping" to his horses. If one 
 is freer than the other, it is the freer one only that takes any notice of the 
 noise, and this is exactly what the coachman does not want — he means to 
 encourage the other. 
 
 Position in driving, though, of course, not everything, is yet a good deal. 
 By adopting a wrong position the coachman loses power. The feet should 
 be kept to the front, but in driving a brake or a coach the toes must not 
 project beyond the footboard. In the old coaching days there was a "fine 
 
228 
 
 agin it," as Mr. Verdant Green's scout told me when he walked on the grass 
 in the quad of Brazenface. A bent body is not graceful, nor should the 
 hand be thrust out in front of the body, in which position the arm will 
 soon tire. Self-taught drivers are very common, but no one who desires to 
 drive well ought to trust to practice alone. There is a right and a wrong 
 waj' of doing most things, and the self-taught man usually selects the wrong 
 one. There are in London several good coachmen who give lessons, and 
 from one of them more will be learned in a week than can be picked up in 
 a year of unaided practice. 
 
 The writer of the foregoing omitted to refer to the hind action of a 
 harness horse, I will therefore supplement his excellent article by 
 stating that a horse cannot either look well or go well in harness 
 unless he has hind action equally good with the fore. Good hind 
 action is looked for in hacks and hunters, but doubly is it desirable in 
 the harness horse. Yet, how seldom do we see it ! We continually 
 see good and sometimes perfect shoulder and knee action with bad hock 
 and hip action. 
 
229 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 FISHING. 
 
 Author not an Izaak Walton— Bosh about Fishing and Fisli— Flies— Kods— And Tackle- 
 Author's Ideas— Light Lines— Heavy Lines— Striking a Fish— Scores of Flies— Four 
 Kinds— Their Names— Author's Peculiarities— Skull-dragging— Westmeath—Gahvay 
 —The Shannon— A Fishing Trip to Killarney— How to Go — Good Sport— An 
 Adventure on Lord Landnothing's Water— Diplomacy— Day's Basket— Boys will be 
 Boys— Sport and Devilment— The Steep Places— The Runs— Fair Play— Fine Play- 
 Mountain Scenery— Grouse— Grandeur— iajid and Water— Tlhe Author a Poacher- 
 Criticism— Explanation-Escutcheon of a Sportsman— An Invitation to Mr. "Ro€e 
 Price"— and Others— Loch Leven— What Fishing Costs. 
 
 I NEVER was mucli of a fisherman, though I took a turn at the "gentle 
 •art " whenever I could. I am, however, of opinion that, like many other 
 -things in the world, there is a lot of bosh talked and written upon 
 both fish and fishing. 
 
 Fish are odd creatures, and very little is really known about them. 
 
 Of course we all know one fly will kill one day, and another the day 
 -after, and, perhaps, no other pattern will be looked at on these particular 
 -days ; moreover, we know the nearer the artificial is in colour and 
 shape to the natural fiy " on the take," the better chance there is of its 
 killing. Again, we have all seen a good fisherman, with the most 
 ■approved rod, tackle, and flies, unable to rise a fish, while a boy with a 
 rod like a flail and flies tied in a wisp is filling his basket. 
 
 I am no authority on this branch of sport, but my notion is that the 
 •colour is what attracts the fish, and not the fly itself or its tying, for 
 with its keen sight a fish must see the hook, and so cannot mistake the 
 artificial for the natural. Everyone knows how readily the line startles 
 a fish, and that the finer it is the better chance we have of inducing 
 him to take the fly. But, then, is this correct ? The line for salmon 
 is necessarily strong and coarse, and therefore can be seen by that fish, 
 who has just as quick an eye as the nimble trout. Who knows but 
 when fish are on the feed they are so greedy they will go at anything 
 that appears to suit their taste, regardless of the caution that under 
 other circumstances would prevent their doing so ? 
 
 What is called "striking" I also have my doubts about, and my 
 reasoning is this : If a fish wants to take a fly he will naturally shut 
 his mouth on it, but directly he finds what he has caught he will try 
 to spit it out ; while doing either one or other he will generally hook 
 himself, provided the fisherman has his line straight. If, therefore, a 
 man "strikes" when he sees the rise I think he is just as likely to jerk 
 the fly away from the fish as to hook him. 
 
 " Missing " fish is nearly always the fault of the man through having 
 
230 
 
 a slack line. The angler who throws straight hits his fish just as 
 often as the straight shooter hits his birds. 
 
 I never could throw a long line, so I contented myself wdth a short 
 one, and when I could not cover a pool with a line thrown straight I 
 left it alone rather than try to do so with a line bellied, and that is, I 
 think, w^hat all bad fishermen should do. 
 
 I am also sceptical about the necessity of having some scores of 
 different pattern flies in one's book, for the simple reason that about 
 the very best fisherman I ever met used only four different sorts during 
 the whole season, and he seldom went out without landing a lot. He 
 always used the finest of casting lines, and had the flies tied on to even 
 finer gut. Under his advice I always used the same patterns, and with 
 them I killed trout in most months of the season, w^hether I tried brooks, 
 rivers, or lakes, and I did so in England, Scotland, and Ireland. The 
 flies were Steward's pattern of hare's ear, dun, black, and grey spiders. 
 I had them very small, medium-sized, and large for lake and evening 
 fishing, and I always used the finest of tackle. Whenever there was the 
 least deviation from the pattern, there was a corresponding diminution 
 in the quantity of fish I caught. Men holding opinions that fish in 
 certain rivers will take only certain flies, will laugh to scorn my notion 
 of trout having universal taste. They may do so and welcome. 
 
 I never could endure fishing out of a boat either on sea or lake, 
 neither could I see much fun in bait-fishing even for trout, while that 
 for roach, perch, or eels I considered fit only for boys. I also looked 
 upon the salmon-fishing off Galway Quay as a very one-horse affair, and 
 fit only for Cockneys. Salmon- fishing, however, I know absolutely 
 nothing about. 
 
 I often wished I was an expert fly-fisherman, for next to hunting and 
 shooting there was no sport I liked better than playing a lively pound 
 trout in his native mountain stream with a light rod and fine tackle, and 
 where skill, time, and patience were required to land the beauty. You 
 will see fellows take enjoyment in skull-dragging them out without a 
 minute's play, using great heavy rods and tackle, but I never saw any 
 fun in that sort of fishing. 
 
 Long ago I went for some years with my very dear, but now, alas 1 
 dead, friend, George Baker, for short trips to the Westmeath Lakes, 
 Galway, and the Shannon. We generally had good sport, but I did 
 not care much for dapping out of a boat on Belvidere, bobbing with 
 a shrimp off Galway Quay, or cross-lining on Lough Derg. What I 
 liked was wild mountain river-fishing, where hard exercise and 
 charming scenery would be combined with sport; but the latter should 
 be good, for I never had much patience in anything, and whipping away 
 for hours without getting a rise I considered horribly monotonous. 
 
 I had good fishing often, but only once to perfection, and that was 
 many years ago when I was a boy. Accompanied by a companion, 
 we hired a car in Cork to take us on a fishing excursion to Killarney, 
 through Googawnbarragh, Inchageela, Glengariff, and Kenmare. 
 
231 
 
 By way of parenthesis, the best way for seeing that charming 
 country is to go from Cork to Killarney, and not from Killarney 
 to Cork. By the former you have the scenery before you, and 
 increasing in magnificence all the way ; the other is the reverse in 
 every sense. 
 
 We started fully equipped, intending to take our time along the 
 route and to fish any likely-looking stream we could get leave 
 on, or which was not preserved. In a wild place like Kerry an 
 opportunity of asking for leave was then not always available, so once 
 or twice, I fear, we boys were not as particular as we should have 
 been, and took chance with a good river of its not being preserved. 
 Anyway, in those days, most of them were free. 
 
 That ten days or so was the longest continuance of really good 
 troutfishing I ever experienced. Every day we came across a good- 
 looking water, and we got rare sport on all we tried. 
 
 One day a keeper came up to me while an unusually good rise was 
 on and almost every cast a fish was hooked, and I was landing them 
 fairly well ; all beauties in the best condition, and from herring-size 
 to over lib. weight. In a determined and impudent tone he demanded 
 my authority for fishing Lord Landnothing's water, which he had 
 rented from Mr. Castingline of Cork. Without ceasing fishing, I 
 assured him that we had been told the river was not preserved, but 
 in any case he could see for himself it was overstocked, and that 
 if he would only wait awhile, abate his anger, and allow me to go on 
 as I was, I would materially benefit both the tenant and the land- 
 lord by the same means ; a performance, by the way, not usual at 
 that time in Ireland, no more than it has been since. During the 
 parley, which took much longer than I do relating it, I was landing 
 fish as fast as I could hook and play them, and my friend, not far ofi", 
 was doing the same. The keeper was, of course, fond of a bit of sport, 
 and certainly, after a while, was less vehement in his protestations, 
 and, having given him my sandwich case and a flask containing some 
 ten-year-old John Jameson, he allowed us to have what proved about 
 the very best evening's fishing we ever had in our lives. As well as 
 I remember, we killed between us about five dozen trout, weighing 
 nearly, if not over, as many pounds. These we gave between the 
 keeper and the landlord of our hotel. 
 
 Boys will be boys, so this exploit of ours may be forgiven, if not 
 excused or even justified under the circumstances. A boy who has 
 not love for sport and is innocent of devilment is in my opinion 
 not much of a chap. The river was full of trout, and had not been 
 fished for years nor was it likely to be for some time, so, as he said 
 himself, the keeper did good service to his employer rather than 
 otherwise by letting us have our sport. 
 
 The river we fished that day was rough and rapid, and in some 
 places fell in cataracts several feet into pools which were encircled by 
 high, almost perpendicular, rocks. In these we had the right sport. The 
 
232 
 
 sides were so high and the pools in many places so small we could 
 not cast, and had simply to drop the tail fly in the water, and when 
 taken by a trout, we got sport and no mistake, for the water was 
 deep, with, of course, another fall or steep rocky outlet, which if the 
 fish got over, or into, he was lost ; and it was in such places we 
 generally met the heaviest. Of course, we lost several, and would 
 have lost many more but for the assistance the keeper gave us with 
 the landing-net. 
 
 In other places along this stream we met rapid runs and eddying 
 pools, studded plentifully with huge boulders rising high out of the 
 water, while the bottom was rugged with rocks and stones carried 
 down by winter floods. In this sporting river the fish had plenty of 
 fair play, while we had fine play, for our rods and tackle were light. 
 The whole was surrounded by mountains clad with blooming heather 
 and evergreen gorse, with patches of granite rockwork here and there. 
 Grouse apparently were plentiful in the neighbourhood, for on several 
 occasions we heard the old cock crowing the evening-meal call to his 
 pack. The scenery was that of the mountains overlooking Bantry 
 Bay, than which there is nothing grander in the kingdom. 
 
 The greater portion of this chapter appeared as an article from me 
 in Land and Water in September, 1892. Unfortunately, I omitted in 
 the MS. to state that my companion and I were little more than 
 schoolboys when we made this excursion into Kerry, and that we 
 asked leave whenever we could do so. Moreover, that it occurred 
 over thirty years ago. Without this qualification and explanation, of 
 course my article showed me to have been guilty of most unsportsman- 
 like conduct in having fished places for which we had not leave. 
 The consequence was severe criticism was passed upon my conduct 
 by correspondents in Land and Water. But, as I said in a subsequent 
 letter of explanation to that paper, I do not think that the 
 escutcheon of a sportsman is in the least degree tarnished by having 
 done what we two lads did in Kerry, particularly under such peculiar 
 circumstances. 
 
 Knowing as little as I do about fishing, I would not have alluded to 
 that branch of sport in my book but for these correspondents. I do 
 so to afi'ord myself an opportunity of repeating the story of my exploit 
 in Kerry, to show how little ashamed I am of it, and of conveying to 
 my critics a word or two, which I do as follows : — 
 
 Someone signing himself " Rose Price," but giving no address, wrote 
 most ofi"ensively, and wound up with the suggestion that if ever I 
 again went to Kerry, some landlord of that county shoul.l duck me in 
 a boghole. I beg to state that I am not at all unknown m Kerry, and 
 have the pleasure of being acquainted with some of the leading 
 gentry in that sporting county ; none of whom, I flatter myself 
 think me deserving of that treatment. 
 
 If, therefore, this Rose Price be what is called gentleman, and 
 wishes to take upon himself the execution of the sentence which he 
 
233 
 
 deputed to others, I shall bs pleased to hear from him on the subject at 
 the address he will find at the foot of the Preface of this book. 
 
 The others who denounced me were not nearly so offensive ; but 
 they wrote over initials or other disguise. Even so, should they be 
 disposed to teach me by any such method how to conduct myself as a 
 sportsman, they also are at perfect liberty to communicate with me. 
 
 This is the first opportunity I have had of sending to these gentlemen 
 this intimation ; for, needless to say, it would not have been conveyed 
 by the Editor of Land and Watei\ nor would he give the information 
 which alone could enable me to write to them severally and collectively. 
 I trust, therefore, all those who wrote about me in Land and Water on 
 the 10th and 17th September, 1892, will see this page of my book, or 
 be informed of the invitation it contains. 
 
 The three best salmon killed with rod and fly in Scotland during 
 the autumn season of 1892 have been given as one of 56lb. on the 
 Eden, one of 50lb. on the Spey, and one of 50lb. on the Tweed. The 
 first was 47Mn. in length and 29in. in girth. The Spey fish was 
 caught on the Duke of Richmond and Gordon's water at Fochabers, by 
 the Earl of Winterton, and measured 49in. in length and 28in. in girth. 
 The Tweed fish was caught on the Earl of Home's Birgham lower 
 water, by Colonel the Hon. William Home, and measured 48in. in 
 length and 28in. in girth. 
 
 Loch Leven is perhaps about the most wonderful lake in the world for 
 trout. It is a comparatively small sheet of water, being only about 
 nine miles in extent, but the number of fish taken out of it annually 
 is something marvellous. Records have been carefully kept for the 
 past forty years, and, despite the continual fishing, Loch Leven seems 
 to be a veritable widow's cruse. Some of the best years on this historic 
 loch were 1879, 1880, and 1888. In the first-mentioned year 21,045 
 trout, weighing 16,192lbs., were taken ; in '80, 19,405, weighing 18, 552 
 lbs. ; and in '88, 23,516 fish, scaling 21,074lbs. Last year— 1892— was 
 a very fair season, as the 12,735 trout taken made 16,058lbs. The fish 
 in Loch Leven are fine fellows, and some record baskets have been 
 made on it. For instance, in 1891, in four days, Mr. and Mrs. Laird 
 of London killed 156 trout, weighing 134lbs. A Mr. Nisbet in the 
 fiame number of days got 124 trout, weighing close upon lOOlbs. The 
 fish are of a fine size, but heavy ones are the exception. A five- 
 pounder, killed by Major Barton, was the heaviest taken since 1879. 
 It is said, however, that in the olden days trout of eight and ten pounds 
 have been caught, and there is a legend of an 18-pounder. 
 
 Rent is not charged in Scotland for troutfishing, but the sport entails 
 a vast expenditure of money. 
 
 In the following chapter on Shooting will be found the calculat 
 I made of what is spent annually upon Fishing. 
 
234 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SHOOTING. 
 
 Author's Experience— Dogs— Driving— Advantages frona Driving— Author as a Shot- 
 Wounding— Best Method for Killing a Cripple— Butts and Hot Corners— Shooting 
 over Dogs— Autumn Shooting— Pigeon Shooting— Paraphernalia— Golden Eules— 
 How to Carry a Gun— How to Choose a Gun— Jump and Eecoil— Controversial 
 Scribes— Author gives his Opinion— His Old Gun— How he made it Hit— Advice— 
 "A Tip"— A Shooting Excursion— Mr. Frederick Malcomson— Eleven Dogs— They 
 all Set and Back same time— Game Fare— Good Liquor— Surf eited— Cooking a Grouse 
 —Shooting a Sheep— Satisfactory Result— Good Cooking— How to Cook Snipe— 
 Plentj' of Snipe— 10s. Gun Licences — Game Dealers' Licences— Destruction of Game 
 — When to Turn down Hares— Selling Game— Old and New Practice— Presents of 
 Game— Not sufficiently practised— Territorial Landlords— Tenants Preserve Live Game 
 —Presents of Game to Fox Preservers— Game for the Market— The Prince of Wales — 
 Big Shoots— Extraordinary Eecords— Marvellous Feats— David Beatty— Edmond 
 Power— Patrick Power— John Brady— The Author's Bags !— Tables of Great Shooti 
 — A Confession— Cost of Shooting— Fishing included— Analysis of Scotch Shooting — 
 Table of Wages— The Guests— Small Men— The Dogs— The Shepherds— Salmon 
 Fishing— Analysis of Scotch Fishing— A Wonderful Result -English Shooting— 
 Along Explanatory Preamble— Resulting in a Stupendous Record— Nearly a Million 
 acd Three-quarters yearly to Poor People— Cartridges-Guns-Hea-VT? Rentals- 
 County Rentals— Deer Forests— Cost of a Grouse, Pheasant, Stag, and Salmon — 
 Land Agitators— A Word to Them— Former Crofters— Sheep Grazing v. Grouse 
 Shooting— Keepers and Gillies v. Crofters and Cottiers— Results of Highland Farming 
 —Rents— Expenditure— Bonnie Scotland— Territorial Magnates— Highland Lassies— 
 Her Majesty the Queen— Poor Old Ireland !— Shooting Tenants— A Reproduction 
 from Land and Water— The Daily Telegraph— A moat Interesting Extraction— "The 
 Twelfth"— Deer Forest Commission— A Sportsman's Diary— Charming Record — 
 Rheumatism— The Gout— The Season of 1893— Great Record. 
 
 I HAD a fair amount of shooting during many of the best years of 
 my life, but it was always over dogs. I never had a day's " driving," 
 and have been present at very few " battues," therefore anything I 
 could write upon shooting would be of little interest to the present 
 generation, which, as a rule, knows little of the delight of watching two 
 or three dogs doing their business properly on the side of a mountain, 
 through the turnips, or over the stubbles. Young men of the present 
 day care more for the " hot corner," the " butts," or walking up birds 
 in places where they can bag twenty to fifty brace in a few hours, and 
 with little exertion. 
 
 That skill with the gun is brought under much more severe test in 
 driving than in shooting over dogs there is no manner of doubt. 
 A man that can kill five out of ten birds he fires at, coming towards 
 or across him at the rate of 150 miles an hour, and which have to be 
 taken at every possible angle, is a much better shot than the man 
 who can kill eight out of ten which get up slowly in front, and fly off 
 in a straight line, as is the case when shooting over dogs. 
 
 To shoot grouse or partridge at all in some places, driving them to 
 the guns must be resorted to. Upon low-lying flat moors where the 
 heather is short, such as are found in parts of Yorkshire, grouse will 
 
235 
 
 not stand to a dog after the first couple of days. Neither will 
 partridge lie close upon fields off which the corn has been shaved 
 within an inch of the roots, as is the case where reaping machines 
 are used. From such like places both grouse and partridge fly in 
 scores the moment a man or a dog appears within ten shots of them. 
 
 Besides enabling men to shoot these places, driving, we all know, 
 has been most beneficial in its results of killing oft a greater number 
 of old birds than can be done by any other kind of shooting. Cripples 
 too are unknown, for the force of the fall alone kills the bird. 
 
 In spite of all these advantages obtained from the drive, give me 
 the shooting which I have been accustomed to. Apart from my 
 liking to see dogs work, and exercising my own legs and sagacity 
 to find birds, perhaps the fact of my not being a very good shot 
 may induce me to prefer the easy to the diflicult work. 
 
 I was never a reliable shot. One day I might shoot as well as 
 most men, and the next, perhaps, just as badly. Hitting birds without 
 killing them I always hated myself for, but instead of seeking fresh 
 shooting I searched for the wounded. To leave a crippled bird 
 a moment longer than necessary without putting it out of pain is most 
 inhuman ; whether search for it interferes with the shooting or not, 
 the bird should be caught and killed. 
 
 It is horrible to see a heartless keeper holding by the legs two or 
 three wounded birds flapping their broken wings, before he gives them 
 the coup de grace. When this is given it is often in a most cruel manner 
 by crushing the back of the head with the thumb nail, or striking the 
 bird's head against something — both painful and oftentimes slow pro 
 cesses. The best, quickest, and easiest death to a bird is to place him 
 on his back on the doubled palms of the hands and press the breast- 
 bone firmly, but not suddenly, with both thumbs. A second or two's 
 pressure over the heart in this manner inflicts the easiest death a bird 
 can iDOSsibly sufi'er. 
 
 As I said before, I had no experience of driving and little of battue 
 shooting, but I think it is not much fun and less sport to be put in a 
 hot corner at the end of a covert, or into a butt on the side of a moun- 
 tain, and there blaze away until a succession of guns get almost red hot 
 in your hands. The sport affords neither the exercise nor venatic skill 
 attendant upon hunting a mountain or lowland with a brace of good 
 dogs, where a man's knowledge of the haunts and habits of the birds 
 must be equal to his skill in working his dogs to enable him to bring 
 home a fair bag. 
 
 I never cared to have coveys of partridge marked for me, unless 
 they were very scarce, and my time was limited ; and until fairly beaten 
 I seldom took advice from or accepted the guidance of keepers or 
 watchers. A bag of five to ten brace of grouse or partridge, killed 
 over a brace or two of good dogs (particularly if trained by myself), 
 after seven or eight hours' hard walking, and unaided by anyone except 
 my dogs, would give me infinitely more satisfaction than making the 
 "best record" of a big shoot behind sod embrasures, or from hot 
 
286 
 
 corners, although I might leave off with thirty or forty brace to my 
 credit. Moreover, I liked to bring my birds home with their plumage 
 as little disturbed as possible, and see them spread out on the kitchen 
 or larder table clean and well shot ; and if, as was sometimes the case, 
 a bird happened to get unduly riddled, or mouthed by one of the dogs 
 (a rare occurrence with mine) I would throw it away rather than bring 
 it home. To prevent the disarrangement of plumage by rain I always 
 had my game baskets and bags secured against such. In big shoots 
 these particulars cannot be attended to, and birds are thrown into the 
 creels in heaps, and often taken therefrom in a disgustingly crushed 
 condition. 
 
 Again, compare driving birds to butts or corners with a day's rough- 
 shooting in the late autumn, when a man brings home his mixed 
 bag of snipe and woodcock, with an odd brace or two of grouscj 
 partridge, and wild duck— the grouse being then so wild that only long 
 and quick shots can be had at them, and twice as fine, both in con- 
 dition and plumage, as they are in August. I am an antiquated old 
 fogey, and in point of downright genuine sport can't see any compari- 
 son at all between the two systems. 
 
 Of the practice of phooting pigeons let loose from traps I have a 
 very poor opinion. It is not manly, it is cruel and unfair. No doubt 
 it is shooting and is a fine medium for betting, but assuredly it is not 
 si^ort. To shoot wild "blue rocks," flying like rockets from their 
 native cliffs, or wood quests, flashing from ash trees, is sport and no 
 mistake. 
 
 In these days of breechloaders the present generation knows little of 
 the paraphernalia requisite in the old muzzle-loading days, the roll of 
 which we had to call over before starting. It was : — Gun, powder-horn, 
 shot-pouch, wads and caps, whip, whistle, and game-bag, sandwich-case, 
 flask, pipe, baccy, and fusees. And oh ! what an amount of work we 
 used to have cleaning the old muzzlers — half-an-hour's at least — which 
 had to be undertaken after each day's work. 
 
 There are three golden rules, observance of which will banish the 
 possibility of accidents while out shooting : — 
 
 a. Never carry your gun with the muzzle pointed towards anything 
 it is not intended to kill. 
 h. Kemove the cartridges directly you cease shooting, 
 c. Be as careful with a loaded gun as you would be with an open 
 razor. 
 
 Even where the party consists only of steady and experienced men 
 there must of necessity be some danger attendant upon big shoots ; 
 but when the young or excitable are included, the risk of being 
 peppered is very great indeed. Luckily, I have not been upon any 
 of those dangerous expeditions. I shot only in company with another, 
 but until I ascertained that he knew how to handle his gun and was 
 a steady shot, I took very good care to keep on his rights unless he 
 was left-handed, when I kept to his left. I never carried my gun 
 except under my arm or over my shoulder with the hammers next 
 
237 
 
 the shoulder, and when expecting a shot the muzzle always pointed 
 skywards and never horizontally. As a boy I was so taught, and 
 following the instructions, even when shooting alone, I got into the 
 habit and could not with ease to myself carry a gun in any other 
 position. In every detail I was cautious and careful with firearms, 
 and had a safety-guard to my gun which prevented it going off at 
 full cock, except when the guard was pressed and trigger pulled at 
 the same time. I don't think any gun should be made without such, 
 and still the simple appendage is seldom seen. I never could endure 
 a hammerless gun ; one never knows whether it is cocked or not ; 
 besides, cropped of the hammers, a gun has the appearance of a horse 
 without ears. 
 
 Treatises in the sporting press upon choosing guns and shooting 
 straight may be measured by the yard, but I am quite content to think 
 that to enable him to kill birds with it, a gun must '* fit " a man 
 accurately and be properly charged. To find out if it does is simply as 
 follows :— See that it comes up to the shoulder handily, and well 
 clear of the armpit. Fix your eyes on some small object at any distance 
 between fifteen and fifty yards, bring the gun up quickly to the 
 shoulder, and then shut the left eye. If the object is covered in a direct 
 line from breech to muzzle, the gun suits (or " fits ") and you can kill 
 with it ; but if you can see along the barrel, though the muzzle may be 
 right on the mark, or that the breech may be on the mark and the 
 muzzle under it, then the gun does not fit, and you will shoot over or 
 under, as the case may be. 
 
 There are, of course, men who see with one eye better than the other, 
 and others whose peculiarities of vision require specific modes of 
 measurement for a gun. Luckily I know nothing of these infirmities, 
 therefore I can't suggest provision for their individual treatment. 
 
 In Land and Water we had early in 1892 some letters upon the 
 subject of "jump and recoil." As is generally the way with people 
 engaging in a written controversy, they resort to animadversion 
 upon each other because there exists a difference of opinion, so it was 
 with some of those gentlemen who entered the lists upon this subject. 
 
 Peace to your manes, dear old Jorrocks ! You, indeed, gave a true 
 exposition of the general run of controversial scribes in your lecture 
 at Handley Cross, when you referred to how writers of books upon 
 the horse abused each other. Yes, true it is that after having read 
 treatises by different parties upon the same subject, ** one arrives at 
 the grand climax of hignorance instead of gleaning wisdom as one 
 went " ! 
 
 I owned only three guns in my life, and I don't think I shot out 
 of more than half a dozen others. I am, therefore, a very indifferent 
 authority upon the subject of jump and recoil ; nevertheless I will say 
 a few words about it. I have no doubt many guns jump and others 
 recoil, while some do both the one and the other. I am however 
 of opinion that if a man buys a first-class gun, and charges it with a 
 properly proportioned quantity of powder and shot confined in a well- 
 
238 
 
 made cartridge, he can kill most birds he fires at which are within 
 range, made and provided he fires straight after them if they are 
 flying from him, or sufficiently before them if they are coming towards 
 or crossing him. 
 
 I have a gun which I bought twenty years ago from Messrs. J. and 
 W. Rigby, and I have shot with it ever since. It is of their then 
 very best make, is of the celebrated old " Damascus twist," and is a 
 pinfire, with old-fashioned hammers, andjl2-bore. The gun " fitted " 
 me when I bought it and has continued to do so, but when I began 
 to use it, as Soapey Sponge said to Joggleberry, although I made 
 good shooting, I made bad hitting. Guessing that the charge was 
 wrong, I practised at a target, 6in. long by Sin. wide, made of sheets 
 of brown paper. I fired just as I would at a bird ; /.c, looking at it, 
 putting up the gun quickly, and firing the moment it touched my 
 shoulder, keeping both eyes open. I found I generally missed, just 
 as I had done the birds. 
 
 I don't know whether it was my own fault for not having shot 
 straight, or the gun's for having jumped or recoiled or done both. 
 Anyhow, I changed the charge, and with marked eflfect, for I began 
 to hit the target. I continued altering both powder and shot 
 until at last I found myself "on the spot" every time. The sheets 
 of paper pierced showed me that the strength was sufficient to bring 
 down a wild goose at the distance, so I left off satisfied with my gun 
 and my hitting, and so I have remained ever since. 
 
 I should mention that the distances I practised at were twenty-five, 
 forty and fifty yards, and I experimentalised with No. 8, 6, and 4 
 shot. The charge which I find suits my gun and myself is 3 dr. coarse 
 grain " Battle Powder" with l^oz. of shot — a thick felt wad over the 
 powder and a thin one over the shot, the former rammed tight, the 
 latter not. 
 
 Perhaps some young gentlemen whom I have seen out shooting, 
 and a few old ones too, might put more birds into the bag than they 
 do if they tried similar experiments with their fire-irons, instead of 
 reading scientific discourses on the subject, which at times tend more 
 to muddle than to clear their vision. 
 
 However, unless a man has an eye naturally adapted to shooting 
 straight, neither the gun or its charge, nor yet instruction or practice, 
 will make him a good shot. 
 
 I win now give a " tip," and it is not a bad one. As everyone 
 knows, the more a man drinks, even though it be water, during exercise 
 the more he perspires, the more he wants to drink, and if he continues 
 to drink he becomes incapable of hard work. At times, however, a man 
 must assuage his thirst and then his best plan is to wash his face and 
 hands in a stream or well, then rinse out his mouth, and finally dip his 
 face in and take a great gulp, which, however, he must stop before it gets 
 past the uvula. This answers all the purposes of a big drink, is mani- 
 festly cool and refreshing, and in no way will it impede the walking 
 powers. 
 
239 
 
 About the year 1874 my friend, the late Mr. Frederick Malcomson, 
 and I rented a mountain in the west of Ireland, and brought with 
 us for a month's shoot three setters and eight pointers. This number 
 was, of course, over that required, but I always loved seeing dogs work 
 more than I did the shooting, and for that reason I generally worked 
 more at a time (particularly on a mountain) than most people. 
 
 One day I took out the whole crowd, and gave them a run together 
 for a couple of hours. Oh, such sport as that was ! for all my dogs 
 knew their business, and so did those poor Fred brought. On several 
 occasions two packs, or odd birds, would be found at the same time by 
 different dogs, with some of the others backing them as they set, while 
 the remainder were ranging far away, or doing work which drew their 
 attention from the others. Fred would go to one lot while I went to 
 the other. 
 
 On one occasion three dogs set the same pack of grouse, and every 
 one of the others backed them. So perfect a sight I never saw with 
 dogs before, nor shall I ever see again. Those eleven dogs setting and 
 backing were in every conceivable position, some sitting on their 
 haunches, others half turned round towards the dogs with the birds, 
 while these would ever and anon turn their heads cautiously to see 
 why we were delaying, for, truth to say, Fred and I were transfixed with 
 the exhibition, and stood for many minutes admiring its perfection. 
 
 However, it would not do to continue that sort of work if we wanted 
 to shoot grouse ; for a few repetitions, needless to remark, would 
 have made the birds so wild they would never let us near them. In 
 spite of this I think I should have continued it, but Fred would not 
 have it, so afterwards we took out the dogs only in orthodox fashion. 
 
 Our shooting was in about the wildest place I ever visited ; it was 
 forty miles from the nearest railway station, ten from a post-office and the 
 place where we could buy fresh meat. We put up at a farmer's house on 
 the banks of the river Moy, but it was harvest time, and no one could 
 be spared to go to market for us. 
 
 We brought some fresh meat with us, of course, but it was not long 
 before our supply was demolished, or succumbed to the hot weather, so 
 that we had none except what we shot. For the first ten days we 
 had for dinner soup made with the essence of hare and grouse, trout and 
 salmon caught in the river within twenty yards of the house, while 
 grouse, hares, snipe and plover were our releves. We came well supplied 
 with Ayala, 1868, not to speak of "John Jameson," so with tea and 
 delicious mountain cream, butter, eggs, and griddle-bread, we were well 
 *' done." Although we cooked the hares and birds in every imaginable 
 manner (and well, too, albeit I was the chef), we got tired of roast, 
 jugged, and hashed hare, roast, baked, and broiled grouse, and longed 
 for beef or mutton. Poultry we got from the farmer's wife, but had a 
 surfeit of it also, as we had to make breakfast and luncheon, of course, 
 off the same fare as the dinners. 
 
 By-the-by, we found no way better for cooking a grouse than, after 
 having him drawn, and a large piece of butter put inside, plastering 
 
240 
 
 him — feathers and all— over with mud, and baking him in the ashes of 
 a good turf fire. After about fifteen minutes or so we took the bird 
 up, and the hardened mud, falling off in one mass, exhibited our grouse 
 without the trace of a feather, and cooked in the superlative degree of 
 excellence. 
 
 This continuance of game fare became at last so intolerable that only 
 the capital sport we were having, even though the birds were begin- 
 ning to get very wild, prevented our returning into civilised regions. 
 One day, however, a happy thought struck me : to wit that, perhaps, I 
 might, by stalking or driving, manage to shoot one of the wild mountain 
 sheep we occasionally saw, but which never allowed us within a mile 
 of them. Accordingly, without telling Fred of my intention, I got up 
 one morning before daylight, and trudged up the mountain to a sort of 
 defile, towards or through which I had seen the sheep sometimes go 
 when disturbed. I confided my plan to a couple of the farmer's boys, 
 and gave them instructions that as soon as they thought I had gained 
 my cache they were to try to drive some of the sheep to me. 
 They succeeded capitally, and no long time elapsed before I saw a 
 flock of about a dozen wending their way right up to me, and 
 following each other slowly along a pathway they had no doubt 
 often travelled. Fortunately I was down wind of them, and the 
 morning being bright and clear I was able to pick out the fellow I 
 considered would make the best mutton. This was a game-looking 
 little chap with black face and crooked horns. The path I saw led 
 right up to within about fifteen yards of me, when it bore to the 
 right, which would afford me a full broadside shot ; so I waited my 
 opportunity and let drive both barrels almost instantaneously at the 
 little wether, aiming just behind his left shoulder. To my intense dis- 
 gust, away he went with the rest as hard as he could split, and 
 disappeared behind a ridge. 1 knew I could not have missed him, and 
 on examining the path I found a lot of blood ; so I hurried on and 
 soon discovered the poor little fellow in his last throes. Waving my hat 
 to the boys, and giving a loud Whoo-whoop ! they were soon at the 
 spot We bled and gralloched him in true Highland fashion, just as- 
 i£ he had been a Blair Athol royal, and the boys bore the carcase 
 between them to the house. 
 
 Never was meat sweeter to men than was this mountain mutton 
 to Fred and me, and though it was rather tough for a day or two, and 
 had precious little fat, we devoured it with ravenous gusto, after such 
 a long course of fur and feathers. 
 
 That was, indeed, a jolly sporting trip, and many a time afterwards, 
 we talked it over and agreed that we never tasted such ripping good 
 and well-cooked game as we had in that lonely but lovely place ; yet. 
 Fred had a chef io whom he paid £100 a year. 
 
 This, however, was not my first turn at cooking game of my own 
 shooting, and for my own subsistence. Years before that, another fellow 
 and I had to live upon snipe for nearly a week under somewhat similar 
 circumstances. We put up in a rather rough-and-tumble old shooting; 
 
241 
 
 lodge, and though it had a good kitchen, there was no range and only 
 a bad grate ; hence we had to do the best we could in the dining- 
 room. We cooked our snipe thus, and I will back the method against 
 any other that circulates in the cranium of any cook in Christendom : 
 I drove six nails into the wooden chimney-piece in the dining-room, to 
 each of which I attached a short piece of twine, and underneath I put 
 a saucer with a piece of butter in it. To each of the strings I hung a 
 snipe, tied by the bill, regulated to let him hang just opposite a hot, 
 clear fire. I then twisted the strings, so that the birds revolved round 
 and round, and I basted them well with the pure butter well melted. 
 As soon as the trails began to drop they were taken off, and replaced 
 by another lot, which were cooked in like manner, while we discussed 
 the others in the perfection of hot juiciness. We each ate for dinner six 
 or seven snipe, with wild duck or teal to follow. 
 
 The time I refer to was when our daily bag ran from twenty to 
 thirty brace of snipe, with several duck, teal, and widgeon. Times are 
 changed, however, and so are laws since then. Over the same ground 
 the best shot in the kingdom would not now get a quarter the number. 
 
 If the iniquitous 10s. gun certificate and game-dealer's licence had 
 never been heard of, we should still have good shooting in many places 
 in Ireland. The first day we held the races over Williamstown Course 
 hares were so plentiful that six were killed by the crowd, and on the 
 same farm I had no difficulty in often getting my two or three brace of 
 partridge before going to my office at 9.30 a.m. Xow you might as well 
 look there for hyenas or ostriches as for hares or partridges. I got fifty 
 hares once to stock the same place for coursing, and let them all go 
 myself, every one being as strong and healthy as it was the day 
 before, when caught. I marked each by clipping off the top of the left 
 ear. Within a week nearly half of them were sold to licensed game- 
 dealers in Waterford ! The same story can be told of hundreds of other 
 places in Ireland. 
 
 I may here remark that hares should never be turned down on strange 
 ground in the evening, for if they be, they will travel all through the 
 night in the direction of their old home whence they were taken. Hares 
 feed in the evening and early in the morning, and roam about at night, 
 never stirring from their forms in the daytime unless disturbed. There- 
 fore, the time to put them out is from an hour after daylight to noon, 
 and then in the vicinity of good covert and feeding ground. If this be 
 done they will take refuge in the former immediately, and come out to 
 the latter in the evening for food, for which they will then be ravenous. 
 There, if they are not disturbed and find the place comfortable and tlie 
 feeding good, they may remain ; but turned-down hares seldom stay 
 where they are put if the place be unenclosed. 
 
 In my younger days selling game by the proprietors of preserves was 
 never thought of in Ireland nor was it practised much in England ; 
 in fact to do so would have been considered outr4 to a degree by 
 the great majority. Now that is all changed, and game is sold by the 
 lords of the manor as universally as are their sheep and cattle. A 
 
242 
 
 man may be on a shooting visit with a friend for a week, and be the 
 means of having more birds put into the creels than any of the party, 
 yet very likely he will not be given more than a few brace for himself or 
 to send his friends when he is taking his departure. All is sold that 
 is not actually required for the table of the host, or for a few presents. 
 
 In some places in England after a big shoot a brace of pheasants and 
 a hare or two are sent to some tenants of the estate, and during the 
 partridge-shooting a few birds are given to those over whose farms they 
 were shot. Xo doubt these little compliments and attentions are duly 
 appreciated, but I take the liberty of stating that the practice should 
 be much more usual than it is among our shooting magnates, and, 
 moreover, that there should be a still more liberal distribution by 
 some of those who already adopt the proceeding. 
 
 In fact, I don't think I am going too far when I say that, instead of 
 selling their game, the proprietors would serve the interests of sport very 
 much better if they distributed the greater portion, after supplying 
 themselves and their friends, among those who preserved it and the 
 foxes. Of course some game should be sent to market for the use of 
 those who neither shoot nor preserve, but there is no need whatever 
 for such quantities as are sent at present. Besides, those who sustain the 
 sports of our country are more deserving of consideration in this matter 
 than are the townspeople and others. 
 
 In the case of a man, or number of men, who pay a high rent for a 
 shooting, jDerhaps only for the one season or vv'here they may have no 
 connection with the take other than the shooting, it is quite a different 
 matter. They have every right to sell the game so as, to some extent, 
 recoup themselves their great expenditure of money. 
 
 Large territorial landlords have no such excuse. Their incomes do 
 not require to be supplemented by money got for cheir game, which is, as 
 a rule, preserved for them by their own tenant farmers. A great deal of 
 damage is done to crops by game, as recompense for which, and as 
 a reward for the preservation as well as to encourage it in future, the 
 greater part of the dead game should be distributed among the farmers. 
 Again, most of our great landowners are foxhunters. With the 
 assistance of the farmers in preserving foxes, and with their permission 
 to ride over their grounds, foxhunting can alone be carried on. There- 
 fore, to the farmers every recompense, every indulgence, and every 
 compliment should be paid. To send as a present to their wives all 
 over a foxhunting country two or three times a year a basket contain- 
 ing a few brace of birds and some bares, with their landlord's com- 
 pliments, would, I am sure, have a most marked and beneficial effect 
 upon our foxhunting. 
 
 Of course, the general public must have a chance of buying a bit of 
 game during the season. Tha,t can be afforded them in abundance by 
 what is sold off the rented moors and manors, supplemented as it 
 no doubt would be by that taken unlawfully, and for the sole purpose 
 of sale, 
 H.RH. the Prince of Wales, than whom there is not a better sports- 
 
243 
 
 man in Great Britain, takes this view of the subject and gives away^ 
 mostly to his tenantry, all the game which is shot in his preserves 
 except what is used in the Royal household. 
 
 To interest fellows like myself who have never had anything like 
 first-class shooting, I shall in the next few pages give records which 
 will open their eyes. I take them from Sportascrapiaua, the Bad- 
 minton Library, and my old scrap-book, which contains a curious 
 collection of sporting mems collected by me during the past thirty 
 years. The records are therefore thoroughly reliable. 
 
 I begin with some of the shooting in olden time, and I may state that 
 up to about 1840 flint guns only were used, and in about 1870 breech- 
 loaders took the place of the muzzle-loading detonator. 
 
 It appears from White's Natural History of Selborne, that iDartridge 
 were unusually plentiful in the years of 1740-41, and that "parties of 
 unreasonable sportsmen killed twenty, and sometimes thirty, brace in 
 a day." 
 
 At Holkham — Lord Leicester's seat in Norfolk— I find the amount of 
 game shot in the following years to have been : — 
 
 Year. 
 
 Partridges. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1793 
 1800 
 1818 
 
 1,349 
 3,865 
 1,711 
 
 This shows that where pheasants and hares increase partridge will 
 decrease. 
 
 Hares seem to have been wonderfully abundant in those times, for in 
 1806, on a complaint being made by the farmers of their being too 
 numerous on Sir Thomas Gooch's estate in Suffolk, no less than 6,012 
 w^ere killed over it in six weeks. 
 
 As encouragement to Suffolk gamekeepers to increase their stock of 
 hares, pheasants, and partridges, a prize was offered, in 1811, to the 
 keeper who could show the best record, as regards quantity shot and 
 quality of the shooting, in any six days between 8th October and 8th 
 December. The prize was awarded for the following, which was shot 
 by thres guns over 4,000 acres : — 
 
 
 - 
 
 Killed. 
 
 Missed. 
 
 Cock Pheasants 
 
 378 
 
 51 
 
 506 
 
 177 
 
 j 190 
 
 Hen ,, 
 
 39 
 
 Partridges 
 
 301 
 
 Hares 
 
 94 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 1,112 
 
 , 633 
 
 
 
 
2U 
 
 A capital killing average, and shows how the old fellows with their 
 now-despised flint guns could shoot. 
 
 Vermin in those days seem to have swarmed in some parts, for over 
 this estate, in the same year, w^ere killed by the keeper and two assistants, 
 9 martins, 31 pole-cats, 416 stoats, 120 magpie?, 167 hawks, 310 field- 
 rats, 19 brown owls, 7 cats, and — which shows there was no hunting in 
 the locality — 22 foxes. 
 
 In the game-book at Riddlesworth for 1809, six guns are stated to 
 have shot in January, 1 duck, 93 pheasants, 2 snipe, 19 hares, and 10 
 rabbits, total, 125 head, to which is appended a note in Mr. Thornhill's 
 handwriting : " Have not heard so many was ever killed before." It 
 was not long until he found the score beaten, for in the next year his 
 return, in one day, was better by 150 head, standing as it did at 110 
 pheasants, 96 hares, and 63 rabbits, with ten guns. And again in 
 November, 1813, with eight guns 143 pheasants formed part of the 
 Riddlesworth bag of 232 head. 
 
 The following is a delightful record, and, as the Badminton volume 
 says, " the carefully kept table must be one of the most interesting 
 shooting records in existence." I have more pleasure in relating the 
 performance than I have with any other in this chapter : — 
 
 " The late Lord Malmesbury kept a journal of his sporting life even 
 to the quaatity of powder and shot he used, the game he killed each day, 
 the time he was out, the distance he walked, and the weather." 
 
 Here are th-i totals of the game which fell to his own gun over the 
 Heron Court Manors, his property in Hants, in forty seasons from 1798 
 to 1840 :— 
 
 Blackgame ^ 81 
 
 * Pcirtridges 10,744 
 
 Quails 50 
 
 Landrails 95 
 
 Pheasants 6,320 
 
 AVoodcocks 1,080 
 
 * Snipes 4,694 
 
 Wild Swans 3 
 
 Wild Geese 8 
 
 Other Fo^vl 2,7f6 
 
 Bitterns 10 
 
 Golden Plover 6 
 
 Haves 5,211 
 
 Rabbits 7,417 
 
 Total 38,475 
 
 To shoot the above Lord Malmesbury was out 3,645 days, walked 
 
 36,200 miles (about once and a half round the world), missed 16,766 
 
 shots, and fired away about 750 pounds weight of powder and four tons 
 
 of shot ! 
 His daily average bag was only about eleven head, but he got them 
 
 in fifteen shots, a marvellous record over so many years. And that was 
 
 * PtBudering plural the words snine and partrld--^ by adding a final s 
 crives words the sound of which has always been horrible to me. We never 
 hear of grouses. 
 
245 
 
 clone with the old flint gun, and of course either over dogs, stalking, or 
 walking up the game. During the whole time this sportsman, noble 
 in every sense of the word, was never confined to bed for one day by 
 sickness or accident. 
 
 In the present day, when birds in thousands are driven to a turf 
 bank, which they fearlessly fly for, and from there are shot in hundreds 
 hy a man with two or three breechloaders supplied him in rapid suc- 
 cession by attendants, of course the daily average just given is only 
 live minutes' work. I should like, however, to know if some of the 
 present- d-iy shooters could, starting level and at even weights, beat 
 the record of this great and grand old sportsman. 
 
 One of the first instances, if not the first, in which a thousand 
 pheasants were shot in a day was in 1845, when a party of nine guns 
 shot something over that number on Lord Ashburton's estate at Bucken. 
 harn in Norfolk. 
 
 Mr. J. Sidney Tbarp, of Chippenham Park, Cambridgeshire, in 
 October^ 1826, with one gun, one dog, and one attendant, bagged 
 ninety-nine partridge between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. He was then so 
 knocked up that he was unable to go on to kill one bird more and 
 so make up the hundred. He picked up all the birds and shot quite 
 fair, not killing more than one at a shot. Moreover, the birds were 
 very wild. 
 
 At Orwell Park, near Ipswich, the property of Mr. Tomlins, in about 
 1830, five guns in four days bagged 1,348 partridge. 
 
 In January, 1858, in four days. General Hall and seven fritnds at 
 Wedton Colviile bagged 2,155 partridge. Only one day was fine, high 
 wind on the others, with a hurricane on the first day. 
 
 The largest bags of partridge made by walking in line were in 1858 
 and 1859 on Lord Ashburton's estate in Norfolk, when 314 brace and 332 
 brace were shot by eight guns, some of whom were not first-class shots. 
 
 In Staffordshire, over Lord Stamford's property, in January, 1869, 
 eleven guns in one day's driving shot 551 partridges, and in another 615. 
 
 In January, 1864, one of the largest bags of game on record was 
 made at Bradgate Park, the seat of Lord Stamford, in Leicestershire. 
 In four days were shot by thirteen guns for three days, snd fourteen 
 guns for one day, 4,045 pheasants, 3,902 rabbits, 860 hares, 59 woodcock 
 which, with 4 partridge, 2 snipe, and 28 various, totalled to 8,900 head, 
 showing an average of 2,225 head a day. 
 
 At Six Mile Bottom, Cambridgeshire, during the last week of the 
 season of 1869, nine guns in four days shot, driving, 1,940 partridges ; 
 a daily average of 242| brace, or 22 brace to each gun. 
 
 At the same place in December, 1861, three bags were made in one 
 v^e^k which are worthy of record. First day v/ith thirteen guns, 193 
 hares, 267 rabbits, 736 pheasants, 7 woodcocks, 3 varioup, total 1,206. 
 Second day with fourteen guns, 173 hares, 190 rabbits, 1,605 f)heasants> 
 2S woodcocks, and 3 various, total 1,997. Third day thirteen guns shot 
 3,333 rribbits, beside 26 head of other game. A three days' shoot by, say 
 thirteen guns of 6,562 head. 
 
2-46 
 
 The heaviest bag of grouse made by a party in a day was in the 
 extraordinary good season of 1S72, when Mr. Kennington Wilson and 
 his friends shot 1,313 brace. In the same year 1,006 brace of grouse 
 were killed in a day on Lord Ripon's moors in Yorkshire. 
 
 Coming to recent years I find that in 1885 a party of ten guns in four 
 consecutive days in December shot at Holkham 3,392 partridge, being 
 848 a day with 85 birds to each gun. Mr. Gurney Buxton headed this 
 enormous score on each day with 172, 112, 95^ and 96. 
 
 0.1 the property of Mr. J. Price, at Rhiwlas, North Wale?, two 
 weighty bags of rabbits v^rere made in 1883 and 1885, when, with nine 
 guns in one day, they r.^spective]y amounted to 3,684 and 5,086. Of the 
 latter Earl de Grey shot no less than 920, but he is one of the best all- 
 round shots ever known. 
 
 Sir Vici^or Brooke, Bart., is referred to as being one of our best rabbit 
 shots, and that in his own park at Colebrook, Ireland, he in the year 
 1885 killed to his own gun in one day 740 rabbits out of exactly 1,000 
 shots. Moreover that one half of the day he shot from the right 
 shoulder and the other half from the left. 
 
 The largest bag of grouse shot over dogs made by one man in one 
 day was naade at GrantuUy, Perthshire, on 12th August, 1871, by the 
 Maharajah Duleep Singh, who killed 220 brace. He also made the 
 largest bag of partridges on record, killing 390 brace on 8th September, 
 1876, on Hall Farm, Norfolk. 
 
 Elveden in Suffolk, once the estate of this Indian prince, is about the 
 best for partridge in England. Over that property, in 1876, four guns 
 killed in four days in October 2,531 partridge. In 1878 801 birds fell 
 to three guns in a single day. In 1885 that record was beaten by 
 three others shooting in one day the extraordinary number of 856 
 partridge. The Elveden game books show another great shoot in 
 September of the same year when, in fifteen days, the same three 
 guns thot no less than 6,509 birds, giving an average of 72 brace per 
 day to each gun ! 
 
 Those great bags can only be made in the Eastern counties. Forty 
 brace of partridge to six guns, walking up the birds, is a fair day's 
 sport in the north, south, and west of England, or in Scotland. In the 
 north of England there is no partridge-shooting to compare to Lord 
 Londesborough's in Yorkshire. Over it in 1884 a party averaging six 
 guns in four days killed, driving, 1,540 birds, one day's bag being 557. 
 
 The quantity of game killed in the season of 1880 on the Duke of 
 Sutherland's property in Scotland was wonderful : Stags 284, hinds 
 32, roedeer 104, hares 5,940, rabbits 12,543, grouse 52,613, ptarmigan 
 142, blackgame 1,997, pheasants 170, partridge 920, woodcock 713, 
 snipe 661, plover 36, ducks 220, various 99— total 76,474 head. This 
 did not include the game and rabbits killed by keepers. 
 
 In the year 1872, famous for abundance of grouse. Sir Frederick 
 Milbank and his party, averaging six guns, in six days shot, over 
 the Wemmergill moors in Yorkshire, 3,983| brace of grouse, or which 
 Sir Frederick killed 1,099^ brace. One day in eight drives he shot 
 
247 
 
 364 brace, in one of which he knocked down in 23 minutes 95 bra je, 
 or over eight birds a minute. He had three guns and two men 
 loading for him. 
 
 The great bag of the season 1882-83 was made at Croxteth, Lord 
 Sefton's seat in Lancashire, where six guns killed 7,674 head in five 
 days, averaging 1,279 a gun. Of the lot 5,543 were pheasants, 1,25Q 
 hares, 440 wild ducks, besides snipe, rabbits, etc. ; of woodcocks only 
 eight were shot in the five days. 
 
 1,313 brace of grouse were shot in one day by a party at Bromhead. 
 1,100 brace were bagged by another party in a single day on the 
 Wemmergill grouse moor ; and 1,000 brace in one day by a shooting 
 party at Studley Koyal. Unfortunately I have not the date or further 
 particulars of these shoots. 
 
 On his Blubberhouse moor, in Yorkshire, on August 30, 1888, Lord 
 Walsingham made the largest bag of grouse ever made in a day to 
 one gun. It totalled J, 058 birds, and was made between 5.15 a.m. and 
 7.30 p.m. He had twenty drives, which occupied seven hours and 
 twenty-nine minutes, the rest of the time being spent in waiting for 
 the drivers or in picking up the birds. From 7 to 7.30 was spent in 
 walking home, during which fourteen birds were shot. Deducting 
 these, and the half-hour occupied in shooting them, 1,044 birds were 
 shot in 449 minutes' actual shooting — ^.e., for seven hours and a half — 
 an average of one bird in every twenty-five seconds ! Four guns were 
 used, and two loaders employed. Not a shot was fired by anyone 
 but Lord Walsingham. 
 
 I find that " 70,000 partridges and 125,000 pheasants are the ap- 
 proximate estimate of the number of these birds annually sent to 
 London markets, coming mainly from jSTorfolk and Sufiblk, and these 
 numbers have probably been exceeded during the last few years." 
 
 It is also stated that "in 1884 the number of pheasants killed every 
 season in the United Kingdom was estimated at 335,000, but this 
 calculation is probably much below the mark." 
 
 I next find " figures taken from the accounts kept on an estate of 
 10,000 acres of preserved land in Norfolk which will give some idea of 
 the rate of increase in the number of pheasants during the present 
 century, and of ttie substantial advantage to the proprietor and his 
 friends as well as to the community in general." I quote the years 
 only in decades as nearly as they appear. Doubtless the rate of 
 increase has been maintained to the present time, but the return ends 
 in 1881. 
 
 Year. 
 
 Pheasants killed. 
 
 Year, 
 
 1860 
 1869 
 1881 
 
 Pheasants killed. 
 
 . 1821 
 1830 
 1840 
 1850 
 
 39 
 119 
 
 778 
 1,716 
 
 2,256 
 2,697 
 5,363 
 
248 • 
 
 When we read in Mr. Tegetmeier's excellent book on pheasants that 
 *' one pheasant had in its crop 726 wire worms and another 440 grubs 
 of the crane fly,"' it is easy to understand that where pheasants are 
 numerous insects destructive to crops are scarce. 
 
 That big bags are still made is in strong evidence, for in December, 
 1892, we find recorded in the Field that at Sudbourne Hall, Suffolk, 
 in three days with eight guns were shot : 3,567 pheasants, 103 par- 
 tridges, 464 hares, 473 rabbits, 37 woodcock, and 19 various— total 
 4,663 head, that is an average daily bag of 1,555 head, with 1 94 to 
 each gun. 
 
 In the same month at Bishop's Wood, Herefordshire, in two days 
 with seven guns were bagged : 2,725 pheasants and 81 other head — 
 total 2,806, or an average of 1,403 a day and 200 to each gun. 
 
 A pleasing record is also given in that paper, where it states 
 at Trewern, Oswestry, a country foxes are preserved in, five guns in 
 November, 1892, in one day, and within an area of 35 acres of coverts, 
 shot 353 head, consisting of 328 pheasants, 4 partridges, 9 hares, 9 
 rabbits, 1 woodcock, and 2 various — an instance among hundreds which 
 shows that pheasants and foxes can be preserved in the same coverts. 
 A wonderful shot at wildfowl is reported to have been made in 
 Scotland during the hard weather of Christmas, 1892. Sir Charles 
 Ross's puntsman seeing a great congregation of birds on the ice, got 
 within sixty yards of them and then fired; killing in the one shot 147 
 birds cf different sorts, principally plover ; the charge used was 4ozs. 
 powder and 14ozs. No. 3 shot. 
 
 A gentleman of my acquaintance, who does not wish his name men- 
 tioned, and a friend of his, towards the close of 1892, shot in the High- 
 lands in five days' stalking and driving twenty-two hinds. This is, I 
 think, the best record of such shooting. 
 
 As a specimen of what can be done with a gun by crack shots, two 
 marvellous incidents may be given. The sportsmen on both occasions 
 were the same, and notably the two best marksmen in England. 
 Both (noblemen whose names I know, but am debarred from men- 
 tioning them also) were standing side by side at the end of a cover 
 expecting pheasants, instead of which a covey of eight partridge swept 
 overhead, and, seeing the shooters, scattered in all directions, Each 
 man got four shots, and with them brought down singly the eight 
 birds, which were picked up on the spot ! Another daj^, shooting 
 pheasants at Studley in Yorkshire, the birds crossing high over their 
 heads at tremendous pace, these sportsmen by agreement took alter- 
 nate birds, and to their right or left as they chanced to come. They 
 killed and picked up 98 pheasants, shooting bird for bird between 
 them, and missing only one shot apiece ! 
 
 The late Mr. David Beatty of Borodale, who was for over forty years 
 master of the Wexford Foxhounds, was a wonderfully good shot. 
 In about the year 1846 or 1847 he backed himself to shoot thirty snipe 
 with thirty charges of shot. The shot was carefully measured, and 
 the shooting began. He killed every bird up to nearly the end, when 
 
249 
 
 he missed one; he then lessened the charges, and won his match 
 without another miss. He continued shooting and added largely to 
 the bag with proportionately good work. 
 
 The late Mr. Edmond Power of Clonmel and the present Mr. 
 Patrick Power of Faithlegg, near Waterford, were quite our De Greys 
 and Walsinghams. Karely would these men miss anything they fired 
 at, and they shot regularly throughout the season. The first-named 
 gentleman on the 12th August, about twenty years ago, in Scotland, 
 bagged in single shots, without a miss, 58 grouse and a hare. This 
 would have been recorded as the best shooting of that year's " twelfth " 
 had not the late Captain Horatio Ptoss of Rossie accounted for 86 
 grouse out of 89 shots, and to him was accorded the palm of merit. 
 
 Although having a stiff leg, which occasioned him to walk lame, and 
 being somewhat corpulent, Mr. Edmond Power was an extraordinary 
 good walker, particularly on a mountain. He had a wonderful breed 
 of pointers, and they knew their business as well as any dogs in the 
 kingdom. Upon one occasion when on a visit in Scotland for shoot- 
 ing, he overheard his host and the keeper arranging the beats for the 
 first day. After assigning the best to some of the other visitors, a flat, 
 easy- walking outside beat was laid off for the laird and " the lame 
 gentleman from Ireland." In the evening Power, after having walked 
 his host to a stand, was less fatigued than any of the party, shot, 
 without missing a bird, more than anyone else, and for his brace of 
 dogs he refused fifty guineas. Needless to state thenceforward he 
 was given good beats. 
 
 Mr. Power of Faithlegg had a dropper bitch which was gifted with 
 extraordinary sagacity. She would never leave heel until she came to 
 a field in which there were birds, but directly she came into one with 
 birds, she would go straight to ivhere they were and set them. Thus 
 without beating a yard she would find five times more birds than all 
 the other dogs put together. But for having often witnessed this 
 wonderful manifestation, I would not believe such power could exist. 
 
 The best man I ever shot in company with was John Brady, a 
 servant of my brother's. It wa? from him I learned my A. B.C. of 
 Sport, and were it not for that man I might never have ridden a hunt, 
 shot a bird, or trained a dog. In gratitude for what he taught me, and 
 in tribute to the memory of an honest man, I record the fact that 
 during the many days I was out with him, both as a small boy 
 before I carried a gun and later on when we shot together, extending 
 altogether over twenty years, I could never recall to memory his 
 having missed anything he fired at. No doubt the number of shots 
 got daily were not very many, but everything Brady fired at he 
 killed, ofttimes while smoking his pipe. He was a wonderfully good 
 walker, and first rate to train dogs and hunters, while no man could 
 ride better to hounds. He tied flies beautifully and could fish well. 
 He was a capital groom, and knew more about farriery than many 
 veterinary surgeons. With all these outdoor accomplishments, he was 
 a good indoor servant, and served our family for forty years. 
 
■2o() 
 
 Many years ago Brady and I were after grouse over old Blackstairs 
 and, smoking at the time, an old cock unexpectedly got up. My pipe 
 was in the right side of my mouth, so the gun sent it flying, splintering 
 two of my teeth, and I missed the grouse, while Brady wiped my eye ! 
 Xever since, although always a heavy smoker, have I smoked a pipe 
 from that side of my mouth. 
 
 To schedule the marvellous feats of shooting which I have recorded 
 is but right and proper. I therefore give a table of 
 
 Notable Bac;s of Gamh made in Old axd Recent Times. 
 
 Tear. 
 
 Head. 
 
 Days. 
 
 Guns. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Partridge— 
 
 
 
 
 
 1740 
 
 40 to 
 
 
 1 
 
 Over dogs. 
 
 1858 
 
 2,155 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 Driving. 
 
 1859 
 
 628 
 064 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 y Walking in line. 
 
 1869 
 
 551 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 > 
 
 J J 
 
 015 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 5J 
 
 1,940 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 
 1876 
 1878 
 
 2,531 
 801 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 3 
 
 ^ Driving or walking 
 
 1884 
 
 1,540 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 in line. 
 
 1885 
 
 856 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 6,509 
 
 15 
 
 3 
 
 
 .J 
 
 3,392 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 / 
 
 Grouse— 
 
 
 
 
 
 1872 
 
 7,967 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 5J 
 
 2,626 
 
 1 
 
 Not given. 
 
 
 ". 
 
 2,012 
 
 1 
 
 )> 
 
 - Driving. 
 
 >.ot given. 
 
 2,626 
 2,200 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 >> 
 
 5> 
 
 
 
 2,000 
 
 ' 
 
 JJ 
 
 f 
 
 Rabbits— 
 
 
 
 
 
 1883 
 
 3.684 
 
 I 
 
 9 
 
 
 >5 
 
 5,086 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 
 Hares— 
 
 
 
 
 
 1806 
 
 6,012 
 
 6 weeks 
 
 
 Od the one estate. 
 
 Pheasants— 
 
 
 
 
 
 1821 
 18.30 
 
 39 
 119 
 
 
 1 
 
 Totals shot in each 
 
 1840 
 
 778 
 
 
 
 season over an estate 
 
 1850 
 
 1,716 
 
 
 
 1 in Norfolk of 10,000 
 
 1860 
 1869 
 
 2,256 
 2,697 
 5,363 
 
 
 
 "acres, showing the 
 steady increaseVhich 
 
 1881 
 
 1 
 
 
 has taken place. 
 
351 
 
 Mixed Bags- 
 
 Year. 
 
 Partridge. 
 
 Pheasants. 
 
 Hares. 
 
 Rabbits. 
 
 Various. 
 
 Days. 
 
 Guns. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1793 
 
 1,349 
 
 262 
 
 358 
 
 _ 
 
 — 
 
 season 
 
 
 
 1,969 
 
 1800 
 
 3,865 
 
 355 
 
 854 
 
 — 
 
 
 season 
 
 — 
 
 5,074 
 
 1809 
 
 
 
 93 
 
 19 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1251 
 
 1810 
 
 
 
 110 
 
 96 
 
 63 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 275 
 
 1811 
 
 506 
 
 429 
 
 177 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 1,112 
 
 1818 
 
 1,711 
 
 1,227 
 
 3,176 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 season 
 
 — 
 
 6,114 
 
 1861 
 
 
 
 2,341 
 
 366 
 
 457 
 
 39 
 
 2 
 
 13i 
 
 3,203 
 
 1864 
 
 
 
 4,045 
 
 860 
 
 3,902 
 
 93 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 8,900 
 
 1880 
 
 
 See page 
 
 246 for 
 
 particul 
 
 ars. 
 
 
 
 70,474 
 
 1882 
 
 — 
 
 5,543 
 
 1,250 
 
 — 
 
 881* 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7,674 
 
 1892 
 
 103 
 
 3,567 
 
 464 
 
 473 
 
 56 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 4,663 
 
 '-• 
 
 — 
 
 2,725 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 81 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 2,806 
 
 * Including 440 wild duck. 
 
 i" Best one day's record up to then. 
 
 Individual Shooting. 
 
 I 
 
 1798 
 to . 
 1840. J 
 
 1826. 
 
 1871. 
 
 1872. 
 1876. 
 1885. 
 
 1888. 
 1892. 
 
 Lord Malmesbury 
 
 Mr. J. Sidney Tharp 
 
 ]SIaharajah Duleep Singh 
 
 SirF. Milbank 
 
 Maharajah Duleep Singh 
 
 Mr. Gurney Buxton , 
 
 Sir Victor Brooke, Bart. 
 
 Earl de Grey 
 
 Lord Walsingham 
 
 A punts man 
 
 38,475 various game. 
 
 f 99 partridge, with 1 gun 
 \ over 1 dog in 7 hours. 
 
 440 grouse in 1 day. 
 2,199 grouse in 6 days. 
 
 780 partridge in 1 day. 
 
 475 partridge in 4 days. 
 
 740 rabbits in 1 day. 
 
 920 rabbits in 1 day. 
 1,058 grouse in 1 day. 
 
 147 wild fowl in 1 shot. 
 
 From what I have recorded of myself as a fisherman and shooter, 
 it is plain I have not had experience in big fishings or with exten- 
 sive shootings. Moreover, shooting has so changed in its system since 
 I engaged to any extent in it, I confess I do not feel as confident in 
 dealing with it a? I do with hunting, racing and other sports. Of 
 course there are hundreds of men who have seen a vast deal more 
 of hunting and racing than I have, but I think for a considerable 
 number of years I saw in both as high-class sport as most men ; I was 
 therefore able, u'aassisted, to deal with them. Entering, as I am now 
 about to do, upon a treatise on big shootings, and calculating what is 
 spent upon them and upoQ fishing, I have had to get some assistance 
 from others. 
 
 The gentlemen who helped me have had a life-long experience of the 
 very best deer-stalking, game-shooting of all sorts, and salmon-fishing, 
 they therefore know all about them, and having taken a great deal of 
 pains to put me right, I may fearlessly lay the following statement 
 before the public. The undertaking is infinitely more difficult and 
 compliccited than the others, but I shall follow my precedent and keep 
 figures below rather than above the correct amount. 
 
252 
 
 I take for my basis the tables which are given hj Mr. Watson Lyall 
 ia his Sportsman's Guide for October, 1892, and shall proceed system- 
 atically and deal with matters in detail. 
 
 Mr. Lyall treats only with the shooting and fishing in Scotland, but 
 does so in very comprehensive style. In his tables he sets forth the 
 name of the shooting and fishing, proprietors, tenants or occupiers, and 
 the rent. 
 
 In a compilation such as his it would be quite impossible to obtain 
 complete information, doubtless this is the reason why so many blanks 
 are left in the rent column, although in nearly every instance the name 
 of the tenant or occupier is given. We may also take it for granted 
 there are some shootings and fishings of which no return has been 
 made, and therefore they are not mentioned. The print used in the 
 book is very small and in two or three instances a figure has been 
 "dropped." Making, however, all due allowanceSj the following will 
 be found to be a pretty accurate analysis : — 
 
 Table of Scotch Shootings. 
 
 Set to tenants, with rental recorded , 
 Set to tenants, rentals not recorded . 
 
 Set to tenants at under £30 
 
 Shootings retained by the proprietor? 
 
 Number of 
 Shootinf'-s. 
 
 1,450 
 
 698 
 
 1,000* 
 
 1,129 
 
 Rental. 
 
 £492,500 
 2S7,300t 
 20,300 
 Not estimated. 
 
 Total 4,277 
 
 £750,100 
 
 For round numbers, and for what may not have 
 been returned, we will call them 
 
 4,300 
 
 £757,000 
 
 
 * Estimated by me. 
 
 t Calculated at same average as the recorded rentals, say £340. 
 
 In their proprietor.^' occupation are 1,129 shootings — say they, on an 
 average, are of the same extent as are those let to tenants, consequentlj'- 
 they require the sam3 outlay. If I were to charge these with rent at 
 same rate the amount would exceed £384,000, and they would not be 
 parted with for half a million. 
 
 Unlike Irish shootings small shootings in Scotland do not, as a rule, 
 require keepers or watchers— the shepherds do all that is needful. 
 Upon extensive deer-forests several men have to be permanently 
 employed for various duties, particularly to feed the deer in hard 
 weather ; likewise on large moors men must be kept to kill vermin, 
 attend the dogs, prevent poaching, etc., etc. Leaving out the 1,000 
 small shootings and taking the larger, one with the other, we may 
 allocate to each one keeper and two assistants, with wages respectively 
 
253 
 
 of 20s. and 153. a week. During the first six weeks of the shooting, and 
 at other times during the season, additional gillies have to be employed, 
 their wages being 253. to 303. a week. I average their number at two. 
 Thus we would have for the 
 
 Annual Expenditure in Wages, 
 
 3,300 keepers, at 20s. a week £171,600 
 
 6,600 assistants, at 15s. ,, 257,400 
 
 6,600 gillies for six weeks, at 25s. a week 49,500 
 
 Total, 16,500 men £478,500 
 
 To the 3,300 shootings which are either let to tenants or are in the 
 ocoupation of the proprietors, there would be invited during the first 
 six weeks a great number of guests. Of necessity they come in relays. 
 Say three at a time are invited, and that there are four relays, we 
 would then have twelve individual guests to each shooting. That would 
 give us a total of 39,600, most of whom have to travel long distances to 
 the houses of their hosts. Put down to each £10 as his expenses of 
 travelling, ammunition, and gratuities, we would arrive at £396,000 as 
 the sum laid out by the guests, and this does not include the expenses 
 of wives and daughters who are often invited. 
 
 We now come to deal with the " Shootings under £30." As seen in 
 the table I have given, they total about £20,300, which I divide into 
 1,000 shootings. To each of these two friends go for a fortnight's shoot. 
 Th-^.y, almost to a man, have to put up at an hotel, the nearest to their 
 shooting. From the time they leave home until they return these 
 young fellows will each have had to pay daily at least 25s. to cover 
 travelling, hotel-bills, ammunition, gratuities, and other expenses. 
 Therefore, from gentlemen who take the small shootings we have, in a 
 fortnight, an expenditure of £35,000. Their rents are included in the 
 general rental already given. 
 
 Dogs are used in great numbers over nearly all the moors in 
 Scotland. It is only on very few where they are not a necessity early 
 in the season. I shall, however, allot only six dogs to each of the large 
 shootings, and two to eich of those under £30. That gives us 21,800 
 dogs. They are attended to by the assistants, but to feed during, say, 
 four weeks, they will cost Is. 6i. each per week. That comes to, say, 
 £6,500. Of course, nearly all the dogs come from England and return 
 there for the autumn and winter shooting. 
 
 The shepherds are a very important factor in the maintenance of a 
 grouse moor. Lucky it is that as a class the Scotch shepherds are 
 exceedingly loyal, well-disposed men, for in their power lies a great 
 deal towards rendering a season good or bad. Constantly on the moors 
 attending their flocks, they without extra trouble do good service 
 to the owne;- or lessee, and for this they get gratuities in some shape or 
 other. There are no shepherds on the deer forests, but upon some of 
 the extensive grouse-shootings there are many. I shall therefore put 
 down three shepherds to each of the large and one to the small 
 shootings, and that they get in donations 20s. per annum. That totals 
 up lo, say, £11,000 for the shepherds. 
 
25^ 
 
 A lot of money is spent upon the hire of ponies to convey men to the 
 shooting, carry the game, luncheon, etc. These are supplied generally 
 by the gillies, and they get about 3s. a day for each pony. I estimate 
 the sum at £10,000, and include it in the expenses of the guests. 
 
 I now come to treat with the salmon fishing of Scotland. 
 
 From the same source as I took my statistics of shootings I compile 
 
 the following 
 
 Table of Scotch Salmon Flshings. 
 
 
 I 
 Number of ! -R^„^-^l 
 Fishings, i ^^^*^1- 
 
 1 
 
 Set to tenants, with rentals recorded 
 
 276 £21,510 
 
 Set to tenants, rentals not recorded 
 
 210 ^ 16,380* 
 196 Isot estimated. 
 
 Fishings retained by the proprietors 
 
 
 1 
 
 Total 
 
 6S2 , £37,890 
 
 
 
 For round numbers, and for what may not 
 have been returned, we will call them 
 
 690 £38,500 
 
 * Calculated at same average as the recorded rentals, say £78. 
 
 Retained by the proprietors are 196 fishings. They, we must likewise 
 suppose, are on an average of the same extent as those let to tenants, 
 thus requiring the same annual care and expense. If I charged them 
 with rent it would come to £15,300 a year, and they would not be given 
 for £20,000. 
 
 To "Net Fishings "Mr. Watson Lyall gives a rental of some £45,780, 
 but as catching salmon in a net cannot be included in the category 
 of Sport, I eliminate altogether that item. 
 
 No doubt some tenants of the grouse moors and deer forests rent, in 
 addition, some of the salmon fisheries. If the shooting and fishing be 
 handy, the latter may be worked upon somewhat cheaper ratio than if 
 it were taken alone. I don't think, however,' anything appreciable is 
 saved thereby. 
 
 The open time for rods on Scotch fishings varies between January 10 
 and November 1, but for many reasons, well known and not neces- 
 sary to mention, some waters are not fished continuously. We may, 
 however, with safety put down six months as the average duration 
 of the season, and that one gillie employed on each water for that 
 time at 15s. a week. That figures up to, say, £13,500. Each of these 
 men will get in tips from guests at least 5s. a week, or £4,500, but, 
 like the ponies, that item is included in the expenses. 
 
 For salmon fishing alone guests are not invited in numbers at all like 
 those for the shooting ; still, a good many come, and they stay longer. 
 Let me put down the very moderate 1 as the number invited at a 
 time to each of the 690 fishings, and that each remains for a month ; 
 
255 
 
 that represents 4,140 visitors to Scotland for the fishing. Their 
 expenditure may be proportionately less than the shooting guests', so I 
 will put it at £20 each for the month, against £10 allocated to the 
 shooters for a week or ten days. We then arrive at £82,800 as the 
 sum spent by the Waltonians. 
 
 In round numbers the expenses of the lessee for a season's shooting or 
 fishing in Scotland are equal to the rent he pays. 
 
 I shall now, as I did with Hunting and Racing, for the convenience of 
 my readers, tabulate together the 
 
 Cost of Shooting and Fishing in Scotland. 
 
 Shooting. 
 
 Rentals of tenants recorded and estiaiated ... £757,000 
 
 Wages of keepers and gillies 478,500 
 
 Gratuities to shepherds 11,000 
 
 Keep of dogs for four weeks ... ... ... 6,500 
 
 Expenses of guests 396,000 
 
 Do. tenants of small shootings ... 35,000 
 
 Total cost of Shooting in Scotland ... £1,684,000 
 
 Fishing. 
 
 Rentals of tenants recorded and estimated ... £38,500 
 
 Wages of gillies 13,500 
 
 Expenses of guests 82,800 
 
 Total cost of Fishing in Scotland ... £134,800 
 
 Grand total cost of Shooting and Fishing in — 
 
 Scotland £1,818,800 
 
 This table refers only to Scotch grouse and mixed shooting, deer- 
 stalking, and salmon fishing ; but it does not include quite all the 
 lowland sport. Neither is trout fishitig included, on which a vast 
 amount is spent in Scotland, but no rent is charged. 
 
 It is to be observed that I have taken my basis from the returns given 
 only by Mr. Watson Lyall. He is but one of a great many agents for 
 the letting of moors and forests, and may have given only the properties 
 on his own books. If, therefore, he has not included all the shootings 
 and fishings in Scotland, of course my estimates are the more under 
 the mark. I think, however, he gives practically them all. 
 
 What may be the amount spent all over England, Ireland, and Wales 
 upon grouse, partridge, and pheasant shooting, salmon and trout fishing, 
 not to speak of rabbit, cock, duck; and snipe shooting, I have not so 
 ready a means of calculating as I have had from the statistics given in 
 the SportsmavJs Guide. 
 
 However, to carry out my programme I shall cross the border, but I 
 must give an explanatory introduction. 
 
 I don't know if the rentals of shootings and fishings outside Scotland 
 figure as much as those paid in Scotland. Perhaps they do not. 
 Partridge-shooting is not as costly sport as grouse-shooting. At the 
 same time enormous rents are paid in Norfolk, Cambridge, and 
 other crack counties; some run up to 5s. and 6'. an acre. On the 
 other hand very good partridge-shooting can be got elsewhere for Is. 
 an acre or less. In Ireland long ago I had ground for next to nothing 
 
256 
 
 over which ten to fifteen brace in a day could be bagged easily by an 
 ordinary shot. 
 
 Grouse moors in Derbyshire or Yorkshire yield &, bird an acre, while 
 those in Scotland do not give more than a bird per ten acres on an average. 
 Then, on a 2,000-acre Yorkshire moor, twenty or thirty men have to be 
 employed on a drive. On a 10,000-acre moor in Scotland only about six 
 gillies are needed. The English drivers would only be employed about 
 six times a year with the grouse, but partridge-shooting then absorbs 
 them, and after that the covert shooting. In England I have heard it 
 calculated that every 1,500 acres of moor or farm land employs one 
 gamekeeper all the year round. In Scotland 15,000 acres in some 
 places employs only one keeper with one or two assistants permi^nently. 
 I think, therefore, there can't be much difference between cost in 
 England and cost in Scotland of grouse moors alone. 
 
 Twenty thousand acres of good grouse-shooting can at times be got 
 in Scotland for £500 ; however, 10,000 acres for £350 would be about 
 the average of good Scotch moors. 
 
 In England 10,000 acres of good partridge ground would cost at least 
 £500. 
 
 Pheasants are, I think, quite as numerous as grouse ; but pheasant 
 shooting is not so generally let to tenants. Home-bred pheasants cost a 
 lot of money, and those bought fully grown to be turned down for a 
 shoot cost much more. Grouse cost nothing to rear but only to shoot. 
 Pheasants cost quite as much to shoot as do grouse. 
 
 Scotland is only about one-fourth the extent of the whole kingdom, 
 but it is nearly all shooting or fishing ground. The shooting season 
 lasts there practically for only six or eight weeks, during which the 
 sport is carried on everywhere every day. Over the remainder of the 
 kingdom, although shooting of one sort or other is followed up from 
 August 12 till the end of February, the area is not as generally covered 
 with game preserves a^ is Scotland, neither is the sport continued so 
 universally. At the same time shooting in England necessitates a vast 
 amount of travelling, and the tips to keepers and carriers are higher 
 than in Scotland. 
 
 Shooting nowadays is vastly more expensive than it was formerly. 
 To provide for the big shoots pheasants and partridge have to be home- 
 bred and reared in enormous numbers, and to prevent poaching keepers 
 have to be employed wherever game is required. If not strictly pre- 
 served every head would be killed, as is the case in Ireland. When I 
 was a boy we had partridge, quail, hares, and snipe in plenty where not 
 one is to be found now. Snipe, however, have been driven away princi- 
 pally by the drainage of the bogs. 
 
 A friend has lent me for a day or two the Shooting volume of the 
 Badminton Library, and from it I extract the following, which gives 
 further explanation on the subject I am dealing with : — 
 
 " It may be said that in England at the present time (1886) fifty to 
 seventy brace of grouse to five or six guns shooting over dogs is an 
 excellent day's sport, and over a hundred brace the exception. In 
 
257 
 
 England a hundred brace of grouse obtained by driving is a moderate 
 bag, a hundred and fifty to two hundred brace a fair day's sport on a 
 large and well-stocked moor, two hundred and fifty to three hundred 
 and fifty brace a good day, and anything over this very good indeed. 
 It is only in Yorkshire that such large totals as five to seven hundred 
 brace, the result of one day's grouse-driving, are obtained, and the moors 
 on which such sport can be found may almost be counted on the fingers 
 of one hand. 
 
 "In Scotland driving is little practised, as the birds are far less 
 numerous and not nearly so strong and wild as in England. Grouse in 
 Scotland lie to dogs long after August 12. In England they certainly 
 will not do so. In the former country from thirty to forty brace of 
 grouse in a day to one or more guns is considered average sport ; any- 
 thing approaching a hundred brace unusual. 
 
 " In North Wales good bags are made over dogs, especially in the 
 neighbourhood of Bala. 
 
 " In Ireland twenty brace is a very successful day, forty brace un- 
 common, and as far as our experience goes fifty to sixty brace phenom- 
 enal, if not, indeed, unheard of. 
 
 " Partridge-shooting is in some respects akin to grouse-shooting, and 
 the bags made of these birds are generally very similar in number to 
 those of grouse. But partridges are nowadays hand-reared in many 
 parts." 
 
 So far for the shooting. The fishing luckily requires less explanation. 
 
 In no part of the kingdom can you find such abundance of good rod 
 salmon-fishing as is to be had in Scotland, although in some parts of 
 England and Wales very good sport is to be had, while at Castle- 
 connel, Ballinahinch, and one or two other places in Ireland, as good 
 salmon-fishing is to be found as in any part of Scotland. It is, however, 
 to the trout we must look to bring up the figures for the estimate of 
 English and Irish fishing. No doubt it totals a very large amount, 
 but I can't fix it. Even so, I doubt if the fishing can hold its own 
 outside Scotland, as does the shooting. 
 
 After all this explanatory preamble, and dealing only with the items 
 alluded to, I think I may be considered safe and well within the mark 
 when I estimate the annual expense over all parts of the kingdom 
 outside Scotland during, say, six months' shooting and six months' 
 fishing, at double the amount of their cost in Scotland during its season, 
 
 England, in addition, has to be charged with the cost of the dogs, 
 less the sum spent on them in Scotland ; and, as will be seen, it comes 
 to a very nice little sum. 
 
 As I said, nearly all the dogs used in Scotland are brought from 
 England and return for the other shooting, but there are a vast number 
 which are never brought to Scotland, certainly double. That would make 
 in the kingdom a total for pointers, setters, and retrievers of something 
 like 65,500. As they are laid by for half the year, they can be fed for 
 one shilling a week. To keep up the kennels a tremendous lot of puppies 
 
 s 
 
258 
 
 have to be bred yearly, and they cost more than the old dogs. But 
 putting the old and young down at the same figure, we come to £340,600 
 as the enormous amount spent annually upon the keep of dogs u«ed for 
 shooting. From that, for the purpose of this calculation, has to be 
 deducted the £6,500 for the keep in Scotland, leaving, say, £334,000 to 
 be charged to England. 
 
 To this has to be added what is called dog tax. In IreUnd we pay 
 only 2s. 6d. a dog ; over the rest of the kingdom 7r>. 6d. is paid. Giving 
 to Ireland, say, one-tenth of the dogs, the tax will come to £22,900. 
 
 Putting a value of £2 on each trained dog all round, the let would 
 be worth £131,000, throwing the puppies into the bargain. 
 
 Not yet have we nearly accounted for the money which these two 
 grand old sports ciuse to be expended. We have still to deal with 
 such trifles as licences, guns, rods, clothing, etc., articles which, of 
 course, must be put to the general account, and before focussing the 
 totals in table form I shall, in further explanation, deal shortly with 
 these items. 
 
 As we have 44,870 men, including guests, proprietors, and lessees, 
 going to shoot in Scotland, we may take it that, all over the kingdom, 
 at the very least 150,000 men shoat game. Each must take out a 
 licence ; say, 100,000 at £3, 25,000 at £2, and 25,000 at £1. That 
 figures up to £375,000. I can't form any idea of the number of 
 gamekeepers for whom certificates are taken out. Anyway they will 
 bring the amount up to £400,000. 
 
 Now about the guns. Considering that hundreds of men are 
 possessed of three or four, each of which cost from twenty guineas 
 upwards, and that very few shoot with a gun for which they paid less 
 than £10, and that every fellow must have one, we may allow a gun 
 and a half to each of the 150,000 shooters, and assess the cost price all 
 round at £l3 a gun ; that with the rifles will figure three millions of 
 money, which at 10 per cent, per annum for renewals means £300,000 
 a year. 
 
 A tidy sum also is spent annually, and permanently invested, in 
 such articles as game bags, baskets, and creels, together with belts^ 
 boxes, and bags for the cartridges, '^ et cetera ceterorxim^'' as Jorrocks 
 says. Say each man has £2 invested in such like, it totals £300,000, 
 with £30,000 for yearly renewals. 
 
 We may with all reason put down that 75,000 men fish for salmon- 
 Lots of them have most expensive rods, with valuable assortments of flies 
 and other minor tackle. Allowing that each, together with his trout 
 gear, has invested £5 in that stock, we come upon £375,000 with £37,500 
 a year for repairs and renewals. Rod licences will come to about 
 £30,000, although no licence is required in Scotland to kill salmon with 
 rod and liLe. 
 
 Shooting and fishing necessitate getting from our tailors, hosiers, 
 and bootmakers a rig f-pecially adapted to the work. Luckily fashion 
 does not require us to dress for the mountain or river in style so costly 
 
259 
 
 as the covert side, and old clothes being more comfortable to walk in 
 than new, a rig for shooting or fishing lasts a long time. Give to each 
 man £10 worth of these clothes we tally up £1,500,000, which for wear 
 and tear will cost £225,000 a year. Of this I shall charge one-fourth to 
 Fishing. 
 
 Now to bring all these calculations into a concise form I set forth, in 
 accordance with the foregoing exemplification. 
 
 The Totals of the Cost of Shooting and Fishing in the 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 
 Shooting. 
 
 Fishing. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Scotland 
 
 £ 
 1,684,000 
 
 3,724,900 
 400,000 
 330,000 
 168,750 
 
 £ 
 134,800 
 
 269,600 
 30,000 
 37,500 
 56,250 
 
 £ 
 1,818,800 
 
 England, Ireland, and Wales. 
 
 Shooting £3,368,000 
 
 Keep of Dogs... 334,000 
 Dog tax 22,900 
 
 
 
 3,994,500 
 430,000 
 
 Licences 
 
 *GuDs, Rods, and Requisites. 
 *Clothing 
 
 367,500 
 225,000 
 
 Grand totals 
 
 6,307,650 
 
 528,150 
 
 6,835,800 
 
 
 
 Thus do these two great branches of Sport nobly fill their places 
 in the roll of money-circulating mediums. 
 
 As hunting is to the farmers, and as racing is to the townsfolk, so are 
 shooting and fishing to the cotter and the labourer. Into the pockets 
 of these poor and hard-worked people over one million and a half of 
 the money spent upon shooting and fishing finds its way. While, bar 
 rents and rail fares, the tradesmen and their ivorkmen get the balance. 
 
 To many of those employed the wages and perquisites they receive 
 for caring the preserves and attending sportsmen are their sole support, 
 while to them all, the pay is a very material addition to whatever other 
 means they may have of livelihood. 
 
 In addition to their regular wages and monetary gratuities, the gillies 
 and the crofters in Scotland get as perquisites every year nearly all the 
 hinds. These are shot a little before Christmas, and number from 
 4,500 to 5,000. Needless to say, this great quantity of good wholesome 
 meat contributes largely to the sustenance of these poor people during 
 the winter. 
 
 During the process of making out these abstruse calculations and 
 apportioning the expenditure, I came across some details which I 
 daresay will interest some of my readers ; I shall therefore relate them. 
 
 * Interest on money invested to provide for repairs, wear and tear. 
 Official returns of some of the above are made annually, but I had not an 
 opportunity of consulting any of them. — The Author. 
 
260 
 
 The licences and dog-tax total to £453,000, which, going to the 
 Revenue, relieves the country of so much taxation. 
 
 In the item of cartridges there is a marvellous outlay. Giviog to 
 each of the 44,800 men who shoot in Scotland, say, only 200 shots in 
 their few days' visit, we gather up 8,960,000 empty cartridge-cases. 
 These when full cost l^d. each, so the little item of cartridges shot off 
 in Scotland costs annually £42,000. Double that for the shooting 
 outside Scotland, plus what may be fired by keepers, schoolboys, and 
 by those who, beyond ammunition, incur no other expense, we can 
 reasonably assess the cost of cartridges used in shooting game at an 
 annual amount of some £130,000. 
 
 In Mr. Lyall's book I find those paying the heaviest rents recorded 
 as follows : Mr. Hamar Bass, for Achnashellach, £4,500; Lord Hindlip, 
 for Invermark, £3,500 ; Baron Schroder, for Glenfeshie, £3,300 ; Lord 
 Burton, for Glenquoich, £3,022. Then come many tenants with rentals 
 of from £1,000 to £2,500, and scores of men paying from £500 to £1,000 
 a year for their sport of a month or two. He does not record the rental 
 paid by the American, Mr. Winans, who, for the past seven or eight 
 years, has rented at some £10,000 a year enormous ranges of moor and 
 forest which he neither shoots himself nor allows anyone else. 
 
 From the Sportsinan's Guide I also extract the following informa- 
 tion : " The largest shooting rental of any county in Scotland is Inver- 
 aess-shire, with over £90,000. Perthshire follows with about £75,000, 
 then Ross-shire with nearly £60,000, Argyllshire with about £35,000, 
 and Aberdeenshire with over £30,000. The other counties figure at 
 smaller sums. 
 
 According to the figures given in the recent report of the Crofter 
 Commission, " there are 109 deer forests in Scotland, having an area of 
 1,975,000 acres. The yield of stags from these forests may be fairly 
 taken at about 4,500 each season, and the rental at about £30 per stag^ 
 or £135,000." That shows a rent per acre of just sixteenpence half- 
 penny ! 
 
 From another authority I learn that the average size of the deer 
 forests of Scotland is something under 20,000 acres each. The Duke of 
 Fife's Forest of Mar, in Aberdeenshire, is the largest, extending to over 
 •80,000 acres. Next comes the Black Mount Forest, in Argyllshire, the 
 property of the Marquis of Breadalbane, which is very nearly the same 
 size. The largest holder of afforested land in Scotland is the Duke of 
 Sutherland, who owns 212,658 acres, yielding the comparatively small 
 rental of £6,845, or 7|d. per acre ! 
 
 In proportion to the rent of a moor, the grouse shot cost about 
 twenty shillings a brace. When all other expenses are calculated, each 
 bird will cost the lessee twenty shillings. Pheasants cost quite as 
 much. Likewise with regard to a deer forest. Each stag shot has 
 to be paid for in rent something like £30, while the other expenditure 
 brings him up to from £50 to £60. Every salmon caught in Scotland 
 with rod and line costs the lessee at least £5. When sent to market 
 
261 
 
 this excellent food, supplied alone through the means of Sport, does not 
 fetch one-eighth of what it cost to kill, therefore the British public 
 can buy it as cheap as any other fish, flesh, or fowl. 
 
 Emanating from land agitators we hear constantly outcries against 
 tracts of land being set apart to grouse moors and deer forests to the 
 exclusion of cotter and crofter tenants. Does it occur to those one- 
 sided soothsayers that, with the exception of a very limited area, the 
 land devoted to the grouse and the deer is totally unouited to cultiva- 
 tion ? Except after years of the hardest and most unremunerative 
 labour these wild districts will grow nothing but their own ferns, rushes^ 
 and heather. Then, if the same labour be not continued, the land will, 
 in a couple of seasons, revert to its original and natural herbage. 
 
 Portions of some of the deer forests might, in the spring and summer, 
 be grazed by sheep and cattle ; but would the same rents be paid for the 
 grazing as are paid for the shooting ? 
 
 Again, we know that, except when wonderfully well cooked, the meat 
 of a wild red deer is often not very good eating. If therefore, deer 
 cannot grow fat and become sweet venison on their highlands, sheep 
 assuredly could not there become good mutton. 
 
 This was demonstrated forty or fifty years ago, when there was a 
 general exodus from the Highlands of the cotter and crofter tenantry. 
 Such became a necessity, for there was no other alternative for them but 
 starvation, even if the low rents they paid were to be reduced to 
 nothing. The ground occupied by these poor people had then to be let 
 run into grouse moors and deer forests. Since then it has many 
 hundreds of times been the experience of the landlord to have an 
 extensive sheep-grazing thrown upon his hands by the tenant, and by 
 the rule in Scotland, he had to take over the sheep at the market value 
 of the day. Say the landlord paid £500 for the sheep, to get interest 
 for his money, and the rent he was paid by the tenant, he should 
 make some £50 a year out of his sheep -farming, an occupation, with 
 all its worry, he would be very unlikely to undertake. As a grouse 
 moor for this sheep-walk he would get at least £100 a year rent 
 without any trouble to himself, besides being able to sell oflf the sheep 
 at the price he paid for them. 
 
 Is it therefore to be wondered at that Scotch lairds prefer to see on 
 their properties grouse and deer to sheep and cattle ? 
 
 The keepers and gillies now employed on the moors and forests are 
 worthy descendants of the old crofters and cottagers, but they are much 
 better off by their weekly wage and are better housed than were their 
 fathers when tenanting the place. 
 
 Experience has taught us and history relates that to make money on 
 Highland moors or forests, by either grazing or tillage, is an impossi- 
 bility, and when such was the case in the past, there is no chance of 
 success in the future. 
 
 There are many reasons for this, among them being the following : — 
 
 Most of the deer forests and much of the grouse ground lie over 
 
262 
 
 mountains, which are from 1,000 to 4,000 feet high, a great deal of 
 which are rocky or heather-clad, and in winter these regions for many 
 months are covered with snow. They are proverbial for thunderstorms, 
 and the consequential rainfalls cause torrents to tear down the steeps 
 and flood the glens. Where the valleys are sheltered and not flooded 
 the snow lies deep, and often does not disappear till late in the spring. 
 These wild regions are far removed from populous parts, and connected 
 thereto only by the very worst of roads. 
 
 Moreover, while the lowland Scotchman is about the best agricul- 
 turist in the world, and prides himself in the vocation, a Highlander 
 hates farming or any work requiring hard labour, and being an inborn 
 sportsman much prefers to earn his livelihood out of shooting and 
 fishing. 
 
 No doubt large tracts of land can be found among the shootings 
 which are of a quality excellent for tillage, while here and there are 
 patches varying in small extent which, in olden times, were cultivated. 
 Hills covered with good grass and extending over thousands of acres 
 are sometimes seen which would, under favourable circumstances, 
 afford a profitable undertaking through grazing of sheep and cattle. 
 They, too, were let to tenants for the pasturage, but although the 
 rent charged for the arable land ranged from only 5s. to 15s. an acre, 
 and the grazing sixpence to a shilling an acre, a dead loss was sustained 
 to both farmer and grazier. That being so it is manifest if crofters had 
 the land for nothing nowadays they could not even live out of it. 
 
 The rent now paid for deer forests, including of course all the bad as 
 well as the good land, is about Is. 6d. an acre, and by reason of employ- 
 ment thereon and the grouse moors the Highlanders are not alone far 
 away better off than they could possibly be by farming, but derive their 
 money from a vocation they much prefer. To substitute farming for 
 shooting would, of course, change for the bad this happy state of affairs, 
 and would raise the rates to double or treble what they are at present, 
 while, of course, the incomes of the landlords would be reduced to a 
 quarter of what they are. 
 
 No man with capital, if in his senses, would think of embarking it in 
 farming among the Highland shootings ; therefore, to populate these 
 tracts with crofters the Grovernment would have to find the capital, and 
 when found it would, in a few years, be entirely lost. This is in 
 evidence from the miserable state in which the small farmers live in 
 the Highlands who have not steady employment on the shootings and 
 fishings. 
 
 Over some of the Highland properties a great deal of employment is 
 given by the proprietors. In making roads, fences, planting trees, and 
 drainage, thousands upon thousands of pounds are expended every 
 year. Some of the territorial owners have individually, within the 
 past twenty years, expended in labour, consequent upon these im- 
 provements, amounts varying from £10,000 to nearly £100,000. 
 
 This vast expenditure was nearly all occasioned by reason of the 
 
263 
 
 shooting, and were it not that deer and grouse are preserved, and 
 •extensive manors reserved for them, the proprietors would have 
 -required to lay out tens instead of thousands of pounds among the poor 
 people. 
 
 Through the means of the shooting and fishing the rate of wages in 
 the Highlands, during the past twenty or thirty years, has risen 50 to 
 100 per cent. 
 
 To your moors, your mountains, your rivers, and your lakes are you, 
 •bonnie Scotland, indebted in a very much greater degree than I have 
 shown in this chapter. Your shootings and your fishings, located as 
 they are amidst the grandest and most beauteous scenery, cause to be 
 spent in the land of heather thousands upon thousands of pounds per 
 annum 7nore than I have figured up. 
 
 The sports of the Highlands induce your wealthy lairds and landlords 
 to dwell for many months of the spring, summer, and autumn, in their 
 ancestral homes, and there mix among the tenantry. What these 
 territorial magnates expend within that time, particularly during the 
 grouse-shooting, must be counted only by thousands— a no small item 
 of which is the employment as cooks and housemaids hundreds of your 
 Highland lassies, for, with the exception of ladies' and children's maids, 
 female servants are not usually brought with the familu s from England. 
 Besides all this, to her Highland home in favoured Scotland goes our 
 gracious Queen oftener than she does to any of her many residences, 
 and spends thereat more time. 
 
 To poor old Ireland our Queen has come but twice during the fifty- 
 iive years of her reign, and upon each visit spent less than a week 
 there I Perhaps her Majesty would have come oftener had we Irish 
 been as peaceable and law-abiding as are the canny Scotch ! Albeit, 
 had our Queen paid regular visits to Ireland she would have received 
 there as loyal receptions as have been accorded her in either Scotland 
 or England ; and who knows but her gracious presence would have had 
 a soothing influence upon the sympathetic and impressionable Irish ? 
 
 An article appeared in Land and Water on December 24, 1892, which 
 seems so excellent in principle and detail, moreover it is written 
 upon the lines I have adopted for this book— i.^., the perpetuation of 
 our sports by adjustment of abuses — I shall therefore reproduce it. 
 
 "The shooting tenant has become such a recognised institution both 
 in England and Scotland that it is as well that his position should be 
 ■clearly defined. Everyone who can, and many of those who cannot^ 
 afford it, rent shootings not merely for the sport of shooting, but 
 because it is the right thing to do, and as a rule these persons are 
 equally ignorant of the usages between country gentlemen and their 
 tenants, and of the legal rights of the shooting and farming tenant. It 
 is, we think, one of the most difficult situations a man can be placed in 
 to become the shooting tenant on a large estate ; nowhere will his tact 
 ■and temper suffer greater trials. Unless he gets on with the occupier 
 ■of the land, his sport will certainly suffer, and if he does get on with 
 
264 
 
 the occupier, it is often because of the sacrifice of his own sport. The 
 usual thing, we are afraid, is that the shooting tenant does not get on 
 with the farmers. There are, of course, shooting tenants and shooting 
 tenants, but we think that in the majority of cases the farmer is in 
 the right— certainly legally, and often morally as well. Leaving out of 
 sight the few shooting tenants who are real good fellows and true 
 sportsmen, who act on the idea of living and letting live, and who 
 wo aid get on with any farmer, the modern shooting tenants may be 
 divided into two great classes : the one who takes shooting in order to 
 kill a big head of game, and the other who takes shooting hoping to 
 make the place pay, if not wholly, at least to a great extent. Both 
 these classes are undesirable ; we hardly know which is the most so, 
 but feel inclined to say, ' A plague on both your houses ! ' The one is 
 sometimes a snob, the other always a screw, and there is not much to 
 choose in sporting matters between two such persons. It may be that 
 a series of game farms is the most profitable use that land can be put 
 to in these bad times, but then it must be by the occupier of the land, 
 not by a person who has merely a right to sport over it. A Scotch case, 
 bearing on the question of the rights of a sporting tenant to keep an 
 excessive stock of winged game, has just been decided, with the result 
 that such tenant has had to pay damages. There are a number of 
 English cases to the same effect, the question always being one of fact — 
 has an excessive stock of game been kept up or not 1 This often is a 
 difficult question to answer, as the term excessive has different meanings 
 to different minds. Before the Ground Game Act was passed, we have 
 heard occupiers cry out if there were half a dozen rabbits. Now as 
 they have an equal right to the rabbits and hares, the complaint is as 
 to winged game. No one will pretend that in some places an excessive 
 quantity of winged game is not kept up, and it often happens that a 
 tenant looks in a very different light on the head of game his landlord 
 keeps and the head of game the shooting tenant keeps. There can be 
 no doubt of the liability of a man who keeps up such a stock of game, 
 whatever kind it may be, that does damage. It may be that now an 
 action would not lie for the damages done by ground game at the suit 
 of the occupier, as it would be said you ha.ve the remedy in your own 
 hands. You could have killed down the hares and rabbits if you 
 pleased, and as you did not do so, you cannot make anyone else liable 
 for your own neglect. But this does not apply to winged game ; here 
 the occupier of the land has no right to kill a head of game. If he does 
 he is guilty of an offence, and, therefore, in return for the protection 
 the law has placed round the game, it has made the owner of the game 
 liable for the damage it does. As a rule, this question as to damage 
 arises solely in the case of pheasants. We have never yet heard of an 
 action where it was sought to recover damages for partridges or grouse, 
 but pheasants are a very different matter, and no one who has seen a 
 field of corn near a cover where a number of pheasants are kept but 
 will agree that they both can, and do, do very substantial damage. It 
 
265 
 
 is exactly the same as turning out a lot of fowls, and the rules as tc 
 liability for damage are precisely the same in each case, only the person 
 who kills the fowls would not be guilty of a criminal offence ; but the 
 person would be who killed the pheasants. Apart from this distinction^ 
 the cases are identical, and as the owner of fowls who injures a neigh- 
 bour's crops is liable to be sued for the damage his fowls do, or have 
 done, so is the owner of pheasants liable to be sued for whatever injury 
 his birds do or have done the farmer. We do not think that shooting 
 tenants fully recognise this fact or their position. They often think, or 
 act as if they seemed to believe, that the old times had returned ; that, 
 as in France before the Revolution, a seigoeur was legally entitled to 
 keep what number of pigeons he pleased to eat his tenant's crops, so 
 now the shooting tenant can keep what number of pheasants he pleases, 
 and so he can, with the trifling difference that the seigneur had not to 
 pay for the damage the pigeons did ; the shooting tenant has to pay, if 
 the tenant requires it, for the damage done by the pheasants. We do 
 not think that farmers as a rule — of course, there are churls every- 
 where — are inclined to grumble at a moderate supply of pheasants. 
 We never heard any objection to the birds that, are naturally bred on the 
 place, however numerous they might be, being considered as excessive. 
 Nor do we hear very much grumbling at a moderate supply of hand- 
 reared birds. What causes the complaint is the modern habit of 
 excessive breeding on one or two fields, from whence the birds stray in 
 a body to the nearest cornfield. The reasons are obvious when we read 
 that an exalted personage is going to honour Lord A. by shooting with 
 him. The guns are carefully picked so that only the best and most 
 reliable shots should be present, so that the bag may be as large 
 
 as possible ; a bad shot is not tolerated however great his rank. 
 
 ********** 
 
 "We confess we have little sympathy with the man, whether the 
 great landowner or the rich sporting tenant, who, to enable him to 
 swagger as to having had the largest bag of the season at his shoots^ 
 gets up an abnormal head of pheasants ; and we are not sorry to see 
 that the farmers are making a stand. Times are too bad for the farmer 
 to allow any part of his crop to suffer. If a man will swagger, he mus 
 pay for his swaggering, and we cannot say that the fact of his having 
 do so causes us any regret. We were never among those who ran down 
 covert-shooting, but covert-shooting is one thing, excessive breeding is 
 another ; even to turn out pheasants in moderation is not objectionable 
 if they can fly, and have not been kept for weeks in wire netting ; but 
 it is the indiscriminate turning out to kill a big bag that we feel to be 
 so very objectionable, because it is so very unsportsmanlike. The case 
 of the tenant who goes in for making shooting pay is rather different 
 from that of the swaggerer. He will never turn down pheasants unless 
 it pays to do so, and the dread of having to pay for compensa- 
 tion to the farmer will usually deter him. The cost of the pheasant& 
 alive is so out of proportion to the value when dead, that the stingy 
 
266 
 
 man is not likely to make himself liable to much compensation to the 
 farmer. He rather tries to breed as much as possible on the ground, so 
 as to be able to kill off or sell off as large a quantity as he can. But 
 he often makes himself liable to the farmers for acts of sheer meanness. 
 If he can save a sixpence in food, even although thereby his birds do 
 harm to his neighbour, he will do it. If he can by not keeping up his 
 fence?, or in any other way, obtain an advantage, he has no regard to 
 the interest of his neighbour. It is not to be feared that he will cause 
 very much complaint, except, perhaps, in this, that he will be unwilling 
 to pay for the damage his servants and friends, or even himself, may 
 do in the pursuit of game. He may be permitted to take care of 
 himself without causing very much harm. But the rich snob is a 
 different and more dangerous person. He seems to increase, and to be 
 likely to increase. So long as it is fashionable to kill a large bag, so 
 long shall we have him with us, and so long as he is patronised by 
 great people, year by year we shall hear more of him. Pheasants are all 
 very well, but if a man wants them he should feed them on his own land 
 at his own cost, and not at the cost of his neighbours." 
 
 More than a year after putting together the MS. of this chapter, 
 and while it was in the printers' hands, there appeared in the Daily 
 Telegraph (August 8 and 12, 1893) two articles which I, with great 
 pleasure, reproduce. 
 
 The year 1893 was phenomenal for sunshine and little rainfall. 
 Game of all sorts were never more plentiful and seldom as forward as 
 they are now, the near approach of the glorious "Twelfth." In 
 years to come it may therefore be interesting to read what was said in 
 that paper about the prospects of sport and other matters relating to 
 Scotch shootings, which happen to be germane to this chapter : — 
 
 The approach of gi-ouse-shooting has been causing the tenants of Scottish 
 sporting domains to troop northward for the past fortnight. The traveller 
 down the Highland line during these days has found his progress impeded 
 at everj^ stage by trains of portentous length, conveying sportsmen to their 
 respective quarters. The time has been, not so very long ago, when, on 
 this same Highland line, business was so slack that the engine-driver has 
 been known to pull-up in order to give a lift to the stray shepherd and his 
 dog whom he might overtake in climbing the slopes of Drumuachdar, or 
 rounding the end of Monadhliath ; but in these days of continuous brakes 
 and corridor carriages, the traveller to the Highland capital hnds himself 
 whirled along as swiftly and as comfortably as if he were on his way to the 
 metropolis itself. Not even on the eve of the Twelfth, however, when every 
 station-master and porter is working his hardest to cope with the demands, 
 is the dislocation of traffic so serious as was quite common in these parts 
 a few years ago. The only fear, from the visitors' point of view, is that 
 they may be getting the tag-end of the best season on record. Never, in 
 the memory of the oldest inhabitant, has there been such summer weather 
 in the North, It is not in the least degree paradoxical to say that the 
 summer this year commenced in the middle of spring, and until three weeks 
 ago the weather had shown one unbroken record of sunshine. It has 
 
267 
 
 been such weather as has pleased everybody except the Highland hotel- 
 keeper, who looks upon the Sassenach as a fair subject for spoliation, and 
 who got his house early in order in hopes of making tbe nn'St of him. But 
 the visitor did not come any the earlier on that account. Hence the grumbles. 
 
 One effect of the unprecedented weather has been that the season is every- 
 where six weeks earlier than last year. The hills on which you look to 
 have the heather in full bloom in the beginning of September, have been 
 ablaze with purple since the beginning of July. The sportsman has every 
 right to expect a good time. 
 
 There is only one thing which may have the effect of chastening his 
 hopes. A party of respectable and worthy gentlemen, headed by a sheriff 
 and two M.P.'s, and called Deer Forest Commissioners, have been going 
 about the northern counties for the last three months, and there are some 
 ardent people who foresee in their proceedings the early extinction of 
 wild sport in the north highlands. They have been commissioned to 
 inquire "whether any, and if so, what lands" appropriated to grazing 
 or sporting purposes in the highlands are capable of being "advan- 
 tageously occupied by crofters or other small tenants," and in the 
 sweltering heat of June and July, arrayed ofttimes in outlandish costume 
 befitting a Wild West show, they have tramped the heather in search of 
 such land, while startled hinds and whirring grouse have fled in terror at 
 their approach. Whatever the Deer Forest Commissioflers may have to 
 recommend, or the Government who appointed them are prepared to carry 
 out, the sportsman may find a grain of consolation in the fact that of the 
 two and a half millions of acres devoted to sporting purposes in the crofter 
 counties the Commission, in the better part of a working year, have not 
 been able to overtake a fourth part, so that he may lay his plans with 
 assurance for some years to come. 
 
 In discussing the sporting prospects in the North a sharp distinction must 
 be dra%vn between the areas devoted to deer forest and the ordinary grouse 
 moors. Most of the deer forests have low ground shootings attached to 
 them, but it is as deer forests that they are organised, and everything is 
 sacrificed to that Royal sport. In Argyle, Inverness, Ross, Sutherland, and 
 Caithness there is not much else in the way of sporting territory except deer 
 forests, and these extend to not far short of two millions of acres held by 
 about a hundred persons. In the deer forests grouse and other small game 
 are looked upon as a nuisance to be kept under at any cost. At the critical 
 moment of the stalk, the whirr of a grouse, or the rousing of a mountain 
 hare may spoil the result of a day's work by putting the stag on the alert, 
 and the gamekeeper, when he falls in with them, shows them no mercj*. 
 For the same reason the eagle, the fox, and other natural enemies of ground 
 game are encouraged to thrive in the forests, and the seclusion of these vast 
 areas is also enabling the marten and the badger, which have been regarded 
 in some places as practicallj^ extinct, again to increase in numbers. 
 
 For the deer the season has been an exceptionally favourable one. The herds 
 are numerous, and the calves have progressed so well that already they are 
 almost as big as their mothers. The stags at this season of the year have a 
 habit of keeping pretty much to themselves and well out of sight in the 
 high grounds ; but they are reported to be in grand condition and unusually 
 well advanced. The sportsman has therefore good reason to expect that hig 
 
268 
 
 average of weights should be a fairly heavy one. The forests have been 
 well let, and one scarcely hears of a single one without a tenant. The- 
 rents which are being paid are as high as ever, and as an example may be^ 
 quoted the deer forest of Auchnashellach, in Western Ross, which Lord 
 Wimborne has let this season to the Postmaster-Geneial and Mr. A. von 
 Andre. The forest, one of the finest in the north, extends to 50,000 acres, 
 and the rent is £4,500— not a bad sum to pay for a couple of months' 
 shooting, though it is not to be compared with the £10,000 or more which 
 Mr. W. L. Winans has been paying annually for his Highland moors, in. 
 which he has not fired a shot for the last eight years. 
 
 The great grouse districts of Scotland are the moors of Perthshire and of 
 Galloway, and there the prospects are of the brightest sort. The moors 
 last year ha<l been shot sparingly and there was a strong brood of healthy 
 birds left on them. The dry spring weather was most favourable for 
 nesting, and the warm and early summer brought on the young birds to 
 such a state of maturity that, by the middle of July, they could scarcely be 
 distinguished from the old grouse. The coveys are large all over. Half a 
 dozen in a covey is not an unusual number, and on some moors they number 
 nine and ten. The reports show all but entire absence of disease, and 
 only on high ground and on dry shootings has the lack of moisture had a 
 hurtful influence. The same applies to all kinds of winged game, and 
 similar accounts come in from all the Scottish moors. The only fear is that 
 the weather, which has been so phenomenally brilliant during the earlier 
 part of summer, may not hold. 
 
 The article which appeared in the D.T. oi " The Twelfth," 1893, i& 
 most interesting, giving, as it does, a charming extract from the diary 
 of a man who is, evidently, a sportsman. With infinite pleasure I put it 
 into my book. I wish I knew his name, so as to record it : — 
 
 Happy indeed should be the sportsman who wakes this morning Avith th& 
 knowledge that for a whole month to come keepers, gillies, and dogs will be 
 at his beck and call so soon as it pleases him to tub and breakfast. To a 
 keen man there is no pleasanter sensation than the consciousness that for an 
 absolutely fixed period — a time long enough to insure him against all freaks 
 of the clerk of the weather — he will be at liberty day after day to tramp the 
 moors while sound lungs and tough sinews carry him up hill and down 
 dale in search of the bonnie red grouse. Some " Twelfths " are fine and hot, 
 some fine and cold, some pelt with rain and blow with Avind that drives the 
 moisture through and through all protection; other " Twelfths " are foggy, 
 drizzly, and close, and in 1884 there was one special opening day marked by 
 thunderstorms of phenomenal severity and mournful tragedy, for on that 
 day Lord Lauderdale and his pony were killed by lightning whilst shooting 
 on his moors in Berwickshire. As this sad occurrence took place but a few 
 miles from where I was beginning my campaign against the grouse, the 
 melancholy event is still strongly impressed on my memory. The same 
 storm overtook our party just as we reached the top of a hill 2,000ft. high, 
 and for a long time we laid flat on the heather, at a distance from our guns,, 
 literally afraid to stir. Not 300 yards from us a flock of sheep had taken 
 refuge under an overhanging cliff of rock, and, as nine of them Avere killed 
 by lightning, our precautions and state of "funk " were fully Avarranted. 
 
 On moors AAdiere a good stock of birds Avas left last year, the season 
 commencing to-day AA'ill be nearly as good as the great grouse year of 1881. 
 
269 
 
 In that year and in the one following I had the good luck to shoot over the 
 ^ame 30,000 acres of moor ; but in the season of '82 the bag to our two guns 
 was nearl}'- 350 brace less than that which we put together in the good year ; 
 thus it may easily be seen what a great difference fav^ourable weather and a 
 good nesting season makes to a moor. The sport of the first month of season 
 1881 was so good that a record of it may amuse old grouse-sliooters, and 
 perhaps convey information to those younger ones who are hoping to have 
 their turn on the heather. It will be seen that, although we had great 
 sport, we yet had a sufficiency of contretemps and rough weather to make 
 the good days doubly pleasant. 
 
 Commencing with August 11, it is recorded that, having left Euston the 
 previous evening, we arrived at a small station on the Highland line about 
 ■ten o'clock that morning, and then by posting thirty-two miles we reach 
 Ossian Lodge some time in the afternoon, and spend the rest of the 
 day in getting ready for the morrow. Our establishment consisted of my 
 host and myself, butler, cook, housemaid, dairymaid, and laundry maid, 
 three keepers, two gillies, four ponies, six brace of well-broken Gordon 
 setters, three deerhounds, two tame red deer hinds, and a ghost that kindly 
 kept in the background during our stay. 
 
 August 12, 1881. — A dark, windy, showery day, with a very bad light, 
 and this, combined with the shaking up in the limited mail and the jolting 
 of the " machine " during the long drive here, which had made us both a 
 little bit "livery," helped to save the lives of a good few wild-rising birds. 
 We agree that neither of us are shooting up to concert pitch, and so we stop 
 =early, and come in at about six o'clock with sixty -two and a half brace and 
 two white hares. 
 
 13th. — Weather much the same, but we shoot up to our best form, and 
 carry on the war till dusk, and bring home seventy-nine brace. 
 
 14th (Sunday). — Glad of a rest. While taking a stroll in the afternoon 
 Ave came across a small herd of deer standing on the pony track and with 
 them was a splendid royal stag, and though his horns were yet covered with 
 velvet, it was at once arranged that we would be called quite early to- 
 morrow and start off to see if his majesty yet lingered on the grounds of 
 Ossian. 
 
 15th. — Called at three o'clock only to find the hills enveloped in a very 
 dense mist, so turned into bed again, and eventually sallied forth about 
 •eleven o'clock, and returned with fifty brace taken from Corrie Bran. 
 
 16th. — Very, very wet ; impossible to shoot. About midday my host 
 spied two stags and five hinds from dining-room window. Started in 
 pursuit, and after an hour's hard crawl the deer " picked us up " just as we 
 were near enough to shoot. I, being nearest the deer, ran forward at best 
 pace and killed one stag and wounded another, and they were both going 
 full tilt at about 130 yards away. We chased the wounded one for over 
 two miles, and got him eventually. 
 
 17th. — Torrents of rain. Went out at 4.30, and bagged twenty brace. 
 
 18th and 19th. — Very fine. 118^ brace and four hares in the two days. 
 
 20th. — Fished Loch Fingal, and caught about 200 small trout; the 
 monsters reported to be in the loch would not look at any lure we could 
 offer them. 
 
 21st (Sunday). — A lazy day of letter-writing and pottering in general. 
 
270 
 
 22nd. — On meeting our men in the morning we found all of them half 
 stupid, and evidently not recovered from an over-night drinking bout. 
 Host very angry with the butler for giving them whisky. It turned out, 
 however, that they had saved up their daily flask " allooance " all through 
 the week, and had determined on a Sunday booze. Took good care this 
 did not happen a second time. Sent for head keeper, and got out at mid- 
 day, and came back with fifty-two brace. 
 
 23rd. — We each went different ways for der-r that had been seen. Host 
 did not get a shot at a stag, but he spied a fox asleep on a rock, and 
 stalked and killed him without ever waking him. I had two stalks, but 
 was not very well taken up on the first occasion, and had a long shot at a 
 running stag half hidden by rocks, and missed. In the second stalk the 
 stag defeated us before there was a chance of a shot. Did not get dinner 
 till the fashionable hour of 10.30. 
 
 24:th, 25th, and 26th. — Three very fine days, and we bagged 168 brace, 
 seven hares, and five teal. 
 
 27th. — A gale by mid-day, and we came in at three o'clock thoroughly 
 wet through. 
 
 28th (Sunday).— Rain and gale. 
 
 29th. — Torrents of rain and gale continues, and we hear that during the 
 night our ponies have bolted for shelter. Keepers sent in pursuit, and the 
 strayed ones were eventually found twelve miles away and safely brought 
 back. 
 
 30th and 31st.— Gale changed from S.W, to North; bitterly cold, with 
 heavy snow showers. Thirty-nine and a half brace and a stag to host's 
 rifle was all we got in these two days. 
 
 September 1. — Host went after deer. I shot fifty-five brace of grouse by 
 myself. Very fine again, and quite hot. During the day we saw an eagle 
 take a grouse, and, having seen it settle, waited for it to take its meal ; 
 then stalked it, but we had marked the place badly, and the bird sailed off 
 a long way out of shot. 
 
 2nd and 3rd, — Both days fine, and we got 118 brace and two teal. 
 
 4th. — The usual Sabbath. We were twenty-four miles from any kirk. 
 
 5th. — A splendid still, clear, hot day. So we attacked the ptarmigan 
 and got twenty-one brace, five and a half of grouse, and forty-six hares — a 
 fine day's sport in splendid weather and magnificent scenery. 
 
 6th. — We spied a large herd of nearly a hundred deer. I was sent in 
 pursuit, and after a very long and wet stalk an old cock grouse rose and put 
 them all into a trot just as I was preparing to shoot. Fortunately they 
 went off bmadside to me and I made a good right and left. Both very fat 
 beasts, one a royal, the other an 8-pointer. Beached home at 10.30, and 
 found host asleep in front of a peat fire. He had bagged forty-seven brace 
 and two teal. 
 
 7th and 8th. — Ninety-five and a half brace. Both days fine. 
 
 9th. — Attacked ptarmigan again ; but had no sooner reached the top of 
 the hill than down came a dense mist, and, after getting five brace of 
 ptarmigan, two brace of grouse, eighteen hares, and three golden plover, v/e 
 were forced to give up. 
 
 *10th. — Sunday. Did a lot of packing up. 
 
 * A slight inaccuracy in the date occurs here, and also in the total of bag, but so it appeare I 
 in D.r.— [Author.] 
 
371 
 
 11th and 12th. — Very, very wet, and the two days yielded but twenty- 
 seven brace. 
 
 13th. — We stalked. Host got no shot. I got an 8-pointer. Iroquois won 
 the Leger. We both had backed him. 
 
 14th. — Finished packing, and with great regret turned our faces London- 
 ways. Our bag was 6 stags, 1,875 grouse, 52 ptarmigan, and 86 various — a 
 total of 2,023 head. 
 
 In Chapter XXII. will be found records of the shooting of Mr. 
 Osbaldeston, Captain Ross, and Lord Kennedy, which quite equal any 
 of those given in this chapter. 
 
 That Rheumatism is a dreadful complaint everyone who has suffered 
 from it will readily admit. Right well I know what it is, having been 
 laid up a cripple for nine months with sciatica and able to move about 
 only on two sticks, and for years past I have been subject to terrible 
 attacks of lumbago. At times so helpless was 1, that had the bed or 
 couch caught fire, I could not have got up. By adopting preventive 
 measures, these attacks are now not nearly as frequent as they were, 
 while the remedies I use cure, in a day or two, the horrible malady. I 
 shall, therefore, for the good of my readers, and sportsmen in particular, 
 tell what I do. 
 
 First I may state that I attribute my lumbago to a bad '* rick " which 
 I got out hunting many years ago, from the effects of which I was laid 
 up for a long time. 
 
 Prevention is better than cure, and being convinced that to keep the 
 back extra warm is the best, I always have on one of AUcock's Porous 
 Plasters, and next my body I wear night and day, round my waist, 
 a band of red flannel (I don't know why red is better than white, hut 
 it is), and also by day I wear outside my vest a body-belt of worsted 
 thickly knitted. 
 
 Owing to these precautions, which I adopted only within the last 
 three years, the attacks are less frequent than they were, but my old 
 enemy pays me periodical visits. Directly I feel the first twinge I tackle 
 him. If attacked in the daytime, I get hot salt tied up in a sock 
 clapped to the small of my back, which I keep on in relays, according 
 as it gets cool. Before going to bed I sit in hot water, with plenty of 
 mustard in it, for fifteen or twenty minutes ; after that I take off the 
 porous plaster and get my back well rubbed with the following liniment : 
 Spirits of turpentine, |^oz.; spirits of hartshorn, |oz. ; spirits of camphor, 
 Joz. ; laudanum, 6 drops. In addition to the red belt, I wear, during 
 the nights of visitation, the worsted belt. I get my back rubbed with 
 the liniment twice a day, and I repeat the hot salt application while the 
 pain continues. I also take two or three glasses of gin a day. Directly I 
 stop the liniment I put on a fresh plaster. By using immediately these 
 strong though simple remedies I hunt the lumbago in a day or two, 
 but if not taken in time he will hold on for a week. I have been told 
 that a dose of cubeb is excellent, but I never tried it. I am certain, 
 
272 
 
 however, that to dry-rub oneself with a magnetic towel regularly after 
 the matutinal tub, and before getting into bed, is a capital thing, 
 tried it for some time, but being somewhat troublesome I gave it up. 
 To substitute washing soda for mustard in the sit-bath might be very 
 good. I will try it next time. 
 
 To cure the Gout is often to kill the man. To assuage the pain so 
 as to allow the patient to obtain a few hours' sleep is a different thing. 
 Now the following process will effect the purpose : — 
 
 Into a foot-pan of hot water sufficient to cover the foot put |lb. of 
 common washing soda, and soak the foot in it for at least half an hour, 
 keeping the heat up by wrapping over with flannel and renewing the 
 hot water. Then steep flannel in the solution, wring out, and wrap the 
 foot up in the hot damp compress, covering it over with oil-silk and dry 
 flannel.— Then go to sleep. 
 
 PS —The season of 1893 will be memorable as having been one of 
 the best on record for shooting and the very worst for angling ever 
 known. It was not until the last fortnight that the rivers had water 
 in them sufficient to permit of sport. Enormous bags of grouse were 
 made, while sport in the forests was magnificent, and never were so 
 many exceptionally good heads got. Lord Burton, on Glenquoich, beat 
 all previous record by bringing down a stag with a head of twenty points. 
 The stag was very old and not in good condition, but he had the best head 
 that was ever got in Scotland. In many of the deer forests stalking 
 ceased earlier than usual. From returns given in the papers I find 
 the ten best records as follows :— Major W. H. Walker on Fasnakyle, 
 185 stags ; Mr. A. W. Merry on Affarick, 136. These two forests being 
 in Mr. Winans' possession, were not shot for several years. Lord 
 Burton on Glenquoich, 112; Mr. T. F. Laycock on Letterewe, 107 ; 
 Lord Tweedmouth on Guisachan, 105 ; Sir John Ramsden on Ardverikie, 
 92 ; Sir Charles xMordaunt on Memore, 80 ; Mr. F. Shoolbred on Kil- 
 dermorie, 67 ; Mr. Walter Shoolbred on Wyvis, 57 ; Mr. Bradley 
 Martin on Balmacaan, 57. Thus we have shot on ten forests 998 stags, 
 for which sport the owners or lessees had to expend every shilling of 
 £55,000, and probably a great deal more. 
 
273 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 COURSING. 
 
 Coursing as a Branch of Sport— Expenditure and Employment— Author's Estimate— Unfair 
 Play and Cruelty— Public Coursing- Sport on a Mountain— Jorrocks's Opinion— 
 Gambling— Breeding Dogs— Physiological Facts— Mr. W. H. Dewe's Article on Grey- 
 hound Breeding— Size and Quality— Weight of the Bitch— Worms— Feeding— 
 Physicking— Mange- Choosing a Brood Bitch— Running Blood— Rearing Whelps- 
 Weaning Them— Feeding Them— Walking— Shoulder Action— Exercise— The Food- 
 Puppy Diseases- Their Tee^h- Luck— Exercise Again— Fascinating Occupation- 
 Training Kennels— Warmth and Cleanliness— Medicines— Worms and Distemper— 
 Benbow— Kidneys and Liver— Mischief— Results— Additions by the Author— Ver- 
 mifuge— Rackham's Balls— A Simple Emetic— The Stomach of a Dog— Walking Grey- 
 hound Puppies— Not Suitable to Other Breeds— Brainlessness of the Greyhound- 
 History of Master McGrath— His Early Days— His Escape— His Coursing Career— 
 McGrath for the Waterloo— The Lamb for the Liverpool— Visit to the Queen— His 
 Death— His Performances— Dogs he beat— His Measurements— Description— His 
 Grave— Names Given to Dogs— Those given to Greyhounds- Physiognomy and Phren- 
 ology- Characteristics of Various Breeds— The Foxhound— Author's Enthusiasm- 
 The other Breeds— The Setter and Pointer— The Author's Opinions of Coursing 
 Justitied— The Waterloo of 1893— Records of that Memorable Meeting— Fuller ton— 
 Kennel-Companions Left in for The Final— Luck— Colonel North and The Waterloo- 
 Lord Derbyjand The Derby— William Irvine— Muriel's Waterloo, 
 
 Coursing, as a branch of our sport, no doubt stands high up in the 
 scale of popularity. To a vast number of people it is a source of great 
 enjoyment, and it can be carried on without any great expenditure of 
 money. 
 
 At the same time a large amount is, on the aggregate, expended upon 
 coursing in the year, and keeping up a kennel of greyhounds necessi- 
 tates a fair share of expenditure and gives a good deal of employment. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this I must say I never cared for it, more 
 particularly for public coursing as it is at present generally carried out. 
 
 As to the enclosed business, with newly turned-down hares let out 
 one by one from pens like sheep, I dare not trust my pen to deal with it, 
 hating as I do unfair play, and being unable to endure anything which 
 has even a taint of cruelty. 
 
 To my mind, cour.sing as conducted at public meetings, has not a 
 particle of fair play in it. I consider it a very cruel type of amuse- 
 ment, and not sport in its true form . A brace of dogs, in the best 
 condition, are slipped at a fat over-grown hare with its belly full of 
 food, and that on level ground, sometimes covered with thick and 
 perhaps high herbage. The consequence is that after a few turns the 
 poor animal is killed in nearly every course. 
 
 If, however, we could hold meetings on the side of a hill or mountain, 
 where the ground would be smooth enough for the dogs, and the scant 
 herbage favourable to the hares running, then I should like to see what 
 a brace of greyhounds could do with the tight, hardy little jack hares 
 which are only to be found on mountains, and where, with the hill in 
 
 T 
 
2U 
 
 their favour and themselves in good condition, they would start with 
 an " odds-on " chance of escaping. 
 
 However, all being said, I go a long -way with my old friend Jorrocks 
 in what he says of coursing in his famous after-dinner speech on the 
 evening of Doleful's Ball, and I agree with him in thinking that "of 
 all the damned daft devils under the sun a greyhound is the daftest" ! 
 
 Bar that 1 believe a good greyhound goes from the slips to his hare 
 at a greater pace than any other animal can travel at, I see nothing 
 in coursing to commend itself as sport, or anything but a cruel and 
 unfair pastime eminently calculated to produce and encourage gambling. 
 
 Kacing is uncertain, but coursing is doubly so. A dog to win a 64 
 dog-stake must win 6 courses, a 32 dog-stake 5 courses, and a 16 dog- 
 stake 4 courses. Still, we see fools and partisans taking odds as short 
 as if the lot were slipped in a pack and one course was to decide the 
 winner. 
 
 ^ Holding the opinions I do on coursing I cannot enter upon any of the 
 details, but having begun a chapter on the subject I must fill it up 
 somehow. I shall begin by saying something about the breeding of 
 dogs in general. 
 
 The principle of breeding in accordance with physiological doctrine 
 applies equally to all species of animal, as has already been stated in 
 the chapter on the breeding of horses. 
 
 One should never breed from a bitch which has had her first litter 
 to a dog which is not of her own species, for females of every race are 
 liable to throw back in future conceptions to their first impregnation. 
 In the canine race this is particularly so. If a greyhound bitch has 
 her first litter to, say, a water dog, she wuU be liable to throw puppies 
 like water-dogs in every litter she has afterwards, no matter how purely 
 brtd her mates. It therefore behoves breeders of hounds and dogs of 
 all sorts to ascertain that the bitch they want to breed from has not 
 had her first litter to any dog other than her own species, and he should 
 be well bred. 
 
 I never had any experience with greyhounds, therefore I don't know 
 how they should be treated when puppies or at any other time. I have 
 been told they require a deal more care and attention than other dogs 
 by reason of their want of sense and high spirits. This I readily accept 
 as a fact, for no other species of dog has so small a head in proportion 
 to its body, ergo, so little brains. Their eyes, expressive of frivolity 
 without a particle of sagacity, and set in a forehead as flat as a hawk's, 
 at once show what harum-scarum creatures they are. 
 
 An article upon greyhound breeding appeared some time ago 
 in The County Gentleman, by Mr. W. H. Dewe. It is evident that 
 gentleman knows what he wrote about, and the article being published 
 by a sporting journal of such high standing must be a guarantee for 
 the soundness of the principles. I therefore reproduce i^, knowing as I 
 do that some of the treatment (but not all) is good for pointers, setters, 
 and foxhounds. 
 
275 
 
 Greyhound Breeding. 
 
 The rearing of greyhounds is quite as much an art as the rearing of 
 thoroughbreds. There are two things that must be constantly kept in view 
 — viz., size and qualit3\ In breeding greyhounds it is useless to expect 
 satisfactory results without these qualities, though exceptional instances 
 occasionally occur. Short, undersized dogs rarely distinguish themselves, 
 and a really good strain of blood will invariably be found in all our great 
 and consistent performers. To obtain the first there are many things that 
 help. There is size in the dam, the number of the litter, and the way in 
 which they are reared until they are six months old. I much prefer to breed 
 from a bitch of at least 55lbs. weight — she generally carries her puppies 
 better — although a small bitch from a big stock often throws large whelps, 
 but then there are generally several small ones as well among them. A litter 
 over seven rarely proves a large-sized lot, and to prevent a greater number 
 it is best to cross young bitches with old dogs, and vice versa. 
 
 It is perfectly useless to breed from unhealthy bitches, as their whelps are 
 always very delicate, and liable to distemper, yellows, etc. Greyhound 
 bitches that have been run hard, and have had much training, however good, 
 seldom produce their equals, and this may be attributed to their constitu- 
 tions having been undermined. It stands to reason that a bitch worked hard 
 and fed lightly during the winter, then allowed to have her fill and lie about 
 all the summer when not in training, must injure her liver, etc., which I am 
 positive she transmits to her progeny. Coarse and badly-cooked food also 
 helps the mischief, with the result that worms are transmitted to the whelps. 
 It seems as if few people take the trouble to physic their kennel now and 
 again, and thus drive out these fearful scourges to the dog. Half the diseases 
 of puppyhood may be attributed to these parasites. I once had a whole 
 litter of whelps down with " yellows," and I had them killed and opened. 
 They were literally full of worms, although not six weeks old. Since then 
 I have physicked the brood bitches twice a year,, and the whelps (if it 
 appeared necessary) once a week for a month when six weeks old. A little 
 areca-nut and santonine mixed with jalap and a little opium, and given on 
 an empty stomach first thing in the morning, is all that is required. Feed 
 as usual one hour and a half after. The physic has no ill effects at all on 
 the whelps. It is best, therefore, in procuring brood bitches to know their 
 antecedents. If possible have them in your own hands from the time they 
 are whelps, and keep them specially for the purpose. Of course, putting 
 them by is very risky. The litter may not be a success as a running lot, and 
 constantly the bitch comes in season wrong, and is useless for years. Never 
 breed from a bitch that has had mange badly, as her whelps will always be 
 subject to heat of blood. 
 
 In choosing the brood bitch always carefully examine her dam's pedigree. 
 It is most important the dams of both father and mother should be nailers, 
 and this is a great help to success. So many exemplifications of the above 
 fact are to be seen in the best running blood of the present day. Look at 
 the Gallant Foe blood reproduced in Fullerton ; the Annie Macpherson blood, 
 the Terrific and Hush; Stargazing II. in Herschel ; the Kuby and Lady 
 Lizzie, and many more that could be mentioned. 
 
 With regard to the rearing of whelps, however, this fact must always be 
 before the breeder, that his whelps must never stand still. The best of food 
 
276 
 
 must be given, and that often. Directly the bitch has pupped down a dos© 
 of castor oil should be given her. I generally give two tablespoonfuls of 
 warm oil directly the first puppy makes its appearance, and invariably find 
 it assists the bitch, also thoroughly cleanses her. After two days on slops, 
 which must be judiciously regulated — viz., if a small litter, and the bitch 
 has much milk, little liquid food should be given ; if the reverse, give as- 
 much milk and broth as she will take— feed the bitch three times a day 
 plentifully, bread and milk morning and evening, and a good dinner of meal, 
 meat, and broth at midday. Fed thus a good-sized bitch will rear seven 
 whelps with ease, but would of course manage a smaller number better. At 
 three weeks old whelps will generally begin to lap warm milk from a saucer. 
 Let them take a little (sweetened with sugar) twice a day at first, and in- 
 crease to four times a day, when, if they feed readily, begin to thicken the 
 milk with flour, and feed five times a day, taking away the bitch from early 
 morning until evening. Begin weaning at about four weeks old, and take 
 the bitch away altogether at six weeks. In this way the whelps do not miss 
 their mother or fall away, losing the puppy fat which it takes months to 
 recover. I am certain that during this period the size and strength of the 
 greyhound is to a great extent made or marred. 
 
 Directly you have weaned your whelps put them into the largest and 
 airiest kennel you have, taking care not to put them too thick— in fact, the 
 fewer together the better. They should have a nice warm nest to lie in, with 
 fresh straw every day, if necessary twice a day, and be kept rigidly clean ; 
 here let them remain until at least ten or twelve weeks old. The least 
 change in the weather, if let out, affects them, and they pick up every bit 
 of filth it is possible to get at, which quickly upsets their stomachs. They 
 will take all the exercise that is necessary if given room enough, and will 
 play nearly all day long together. Of course if late whelps they can go out 
 sooner in the summer weather. Feed at least five times a day. At seven 
 o'clock give milk straight from the cow, nine o'clock bread and milk and 
 water, at twelve o'clock oatmeal porridge and good broth (and after four 
 weeks old with sheep's head in it minced or torn up very small indeed), at 
 4 p.m. milk, and at 7.30 oatmeal porridge and broth, taking care to leave 
 enough by them at night, so that they can have a light feed directly they 
 begin to play in the early morning. Little and often prevents pot-bellied 
 whelps, indigestion, hiccoughing, etc. When three months old the whelps 
 can go into a field or yard twice a day for an hour each time, and let their 
 feeding be knocked down to four times a day. Increase the exercise as they 
 grow older, and when four months old feed three times a day — bread and 
 milk morning and evening, meat, porridge, and good broth midday. I almost 
 think that whelps do best when they have milk once a day and broth twice, 
 but where cows are kept it makes a considerable difference as to cost. 
 
 Many people hold that greyhounds should have their entire liberty, but if 
 you wish to bring saplings to perfection and to extend themselves this is 
 quite a mistake. They grow crooked on their legs if left to lay about the 
 cold, wet ground, and they never have the size and development as when 
 kept in kennel part of the day. If a puppy is born crooked on his legs, then 
 I should send him to walk, as he gets a lot of slow exercise, which keeps his 
 body light, and he lies about instead of galloping, as puppies reared in the 
 way mentioned always do. Young greyhounds should always be made to 
 
277 
 
 gallop, as they then use their shoulders. Puppies at walk seldom gallop, 
 but shut up that puppy a bit, and when let loose he will gallop freely, which 
 is so necessary for the full development of his shoulder action. At six 
 months old puppies should be led and taken on the hills, or any strange 
 ground, and let loose. The downs are preferable, as it is necessary to teach 
 them to gallop up and down hill. I always prefer down hill, as it brings 
 the shoulders more into play. This is the period when greyhounds improve 
 And lengthen out. After they are six months old, twice a day is ample feed- 
 ing, say morning at eight o'clock, afternoon at three o'clock. About twenty 
 minutes in the home fields after last feed is advisable if the weather will 
 ■admit. 
 
 The food used should be the best oatmeal, bullocks' and sheeps' head broth 
 (with the meat therefrom), and plenty of onions in it. During the winter 
 celery and vegetables and sheep's tripes mixed with the above, well boiled. 
 The latter are light of digestion, nourishing, and inexpensive. Sheep's and 
 bullocks' liver (baked or boiled) is an excellent change, dogs being extremely 
 fond of it, especially when baked, and, if given underdone, it is a good sub- 
 stitute for a mild dose of physic. During the summer months, when you 
 cannot stew vegetables in the broth, have at least two vegetable boils a 
 week. In this way you save chemists' bills, and your pups are always 
 healthy in skin and body. Rice boils are useful for a change, but it is not 
 a good article of diet, being too fattening and binding. Brown bread is also 
 useful, but inclined to be heating if used too freely. Ship biscuits are a 
 -capital help, and saving good bread in the mornings and evenings. Of 
 ■course, they must not be used for very small puppies, but after about four 
 months' old, and Spratt's fish and meat biscuits can be given with wonder- 
 fully good efiect once or twice a week. Change of food is everything for 
 health, and with a little management this can easily be done. 
 
 As to puppy diseases, I rarely have distemper in my kennels. Yellows is 
 the hete noir, though I did not have a case until 1 had bred greyhounds for 
 •several years. I have latterly lost many from this awful complaint, and 
 ^tribute it to having had so many dogs on the same ground, and, in a 
 measure, to the style of feeding. Which, however, is best ? Feed high, and 
 rear a magnificent lot of whelps, chancing yellows, which is not infectious> 
 or feed poorly, have a moderate lot, and, if you have distemper, lose many 
 I prefer the former, and find very few of the puppies succumb to distemper 
 — in fact, for several seasons I knew of hardly a case, because they are so 
 strong in constitution. Another important point, tliey always get over their 
 teething very easily, and the size of their teeth is enormous. Plenty of good 
 liard bones should be given, and also have an old bag or sacking in the field 
 ^here the whelps play when they are teething. They will invariably tug 
 one against the other, and in this way will soon loosen and extract their 
 puppy teeth. 
 
 Luck is a most important factor in rearing greyhounds. You may have 
 ■the luck to get a dam who will throw nearly all winners, like many 1 could 
 mention. Then, whatever you do, or however they arc reared, they turn out 
 trumps. Fresh ground has much to do with success, also whether you live 
 in a civilized part of the world or not. Rear dogs in the North of England, 
 the Hampshire Downs, or in the wilds of Wales, and they will do well, as 
 they can have free liberty when walking ; but wherever there is much traffic 
 
278 
 
 or many other clogs about, it is impossible to take the pups out without 
 leads, as they chase every "mortal thing they see, and chastisement, 
 especially when little, is most injurious, as it kills all the finest instincts 
 in the greyhound, and destroys their fire and dash. To a certain extent 
 Sussex is well situated, as once on the South Downs, with no flocks of 
 sheep about, you can walk for miles, with the puppies playing about loose. 
 You must, however, have a couple of men — one on either side of the "pack'^ 
 — to prevent them from getting too far away. 
 
 Greyhound rearing is a most fascinating occupation. To see a favourite 
 win a stake or to go well, is ample recompense for many disappointments ; 
 while the summer spent in the fields watching tlie gambols of the youngsters 
 makes many amends for their obstinacy and foolishness when they arrive 
 at more mature age. One thing is certain — if a puppy can get killed it 
 will ; therefore too many precautions against casualties cannot be taken. 
 The chances against success in breeding good greyhounds are great. Much 
 depends upon the kennel a puppy goes into for his running career. Inju- 
 dicious treatment in running or feeding quickly spoils a good one. Some 
 coursers seem to think that a greyhound can run for ever. Others think 
 that they can keep dogs cheaply. A greater fallacy never existed. The best 
 of food and plenty of work is the only recipe for getting to the end of a good 
 stake. The dog most likely to succeed is one who goes into a small kennel. 
 A large kennel is generally fatal unless he is a flyer of the first water, 
 and his trainer finds it out. How few big kennels succeed unless they are 
 split up and put in diff'erent parts of the country. Tiie best trainers of 
 the day refuse, however tempting the offers may be, to train more than 
 a certain number. It is impossible also to do more than a fixed number 
 of saplings properly, and I think six to each man kept is ample. It is far 
 better to do a few well than a lot badly, and the success will be much 
 greater. 
 
 The only other important points I can bring before a would-be breeder are 
 to spare no expense as to straw and keeping his puppies warm, also keep 
 very clean, with plenty of sawdust on the floors. Directly you notice a 
 puppy not quite the thing, give it a dose of castor oil (with warm milk after- 
 wards), and knock off" his feed for a few hours. Then if no better isolate it, 
 and if the case is bej^ond your knowledge send for your vet at once, as a few 
 hours' delay in many illnesses proves fatal. The less physic puppies have 
 the better, and if healthy, and kept and fed as directed, they will seldom, if 
 ever, require it. I have found Messrs. Holman and Harris' (Exeter) pills 
 for distemper and yellows very useful, and Shawyers' tonic pills are excellent 
 for dogs not quite the thing. This letter merely deals with practical 
 breeding and rearing of greyhounds, and, therefore, does not touch on their 
 later management. 
 
 Another breeding season has passed since I wrote the aljove, and I find 
 my ideas are practically the same. I have experienced good luck on the 
 whole, and have as grand a lot of whelps as a man need wish to see. Un- 
 fortunately my best bitch was full of worms, and unable to eradicate them, 
 I lost five out of seven of her whelps at six weeks old. I was sure what was 
 wrong, and told my man to kill one at once and open its inside. He tells 
 me it was " heaved some minutes " by the worms inside. This was a bitch 
 which was the best performer I had, but whose coursing career had been too- 
 
279 
 
 much for her breeding one. 1 now give tlie whelps a worm pill at five 
 weeks old while on the mother, and another at six weeks old a day or two 
 before I take her away, as they will always suckle when you can't get them 
 to feed. I hear many trainers and others say their whelps had distemper 
 when being weaned. I am sure it is worms. To show how hard it is for a 
 sucking whelp to take distemper, I had one last year reared on a bitch fiom 
 the "Lost Home." 1 destroyed the bitch when the pup was about four 
 weeks old with the most virulent kind of distemper on her, yet the pup 
 never took it, nor did the litter into which I put her. 
 
 I also find that Benbow is very useful to put whelps on their feed, but I 
 do not find it the slightest assistance in getting rid of worms. I give it 
 freely, however, whenever a whelp goes off its feed. I lost a great many 
 whelps last year through yellows, but in the last few cases was wonderfully 
 successful. I think we saved five out of the last seven. The great thing 
 was to make the kidneys work, and also to give a strong liver tonic, and in 
 this way, by diffusing the disease and working it out by other means than 
 the old-fashioned w\ay of purging the liver, we were very successful. No 
 rich food, but as much nourishment to be given as possible. The most 
 annoying and aggravating part of the business is the persistent way in which 
 greyhounds try to kill themselves. Leave a door open and they gallop 
 straight for the most dangerous places. Let them loose in a field, and they 
 gallop into one another and do all they know to break their own or one 
 another's necks, and if one does go wrong you may be sure it's the best, not 
 the worst. However, there are many worse amusements than sitting in a 
 field of tliree or four acres, and watching the youngsters play during this 
 splendid weather. 
 
 I may add to the foregoing— from long experience of my own— that 
 as a VERMIFUGE — or a preventive of worms would perhaps be the better 
 term — nothing is better than the skin of any furred animal, such as 
 the rat, rabbit, or hare, chopped up raw in the dogs' mess. 
 
 Messrs. Piackham, chemists, of Norwich, supply dog medicines which 
 I found wonderfully efficacious, notably their balls for distemper, and 
 those for yellows. 
 
 Nearly every ailment a dog is subject to proceeds from his stomach, 
 and an emetic, if given in the early stage, generally prevents bad conse- 
 quences ; therefore, the moment a dog seems to be ill give him an 
 EMETIC of butter and salt. The quantity, of course, is to be regulated 
 according to his age and size. 
 
 I don't know anything about greyhounds being sent to the country 
 to walk, but I do know that pointers, setters, foxhounds, and even 
 terrier puppies, if not sent to the country, seldom turn out satis- 
 factory. They are far more likely to get crooked if kept in the kennel 
 while they are young, than if they be allowed to enjoy the freedom 
 of a farmer's home. 
 
 The breeds I refer to are not so brainless as greyhounds. They have 
 too much sagacity to try conclusions between their heads and a stone 
 wall, overloaded though they invariably are with youthful impetuosity 
 quite equal to that of the long tails. 
 
280 
 
 Bred by one of my greatest friends, and claiming as I do the famous 
 Master McGrath as my own county dog, I shall give a short history of 
 the bsst greyhound that ever coursed in public, some portion of 
 which was never published before. His sire was Mr. Douglas' Dervock, 
 his dam Lord Lurgan's Lady Sarah, and he was whelped at Colligan 
 on February 16, 1866. His brothers and sisters were Master McFaddin, 
 Master Heme, Lady Meta, and Lady McCarthy. 
 
 Mr. James Galwey of Colligan was at that time the coursing 
 confederate of Lord Lurgan, and being a first-class judge of greyhounds, 
 their breeding, and their work, he looked after the kennel while the 
 nominations ran in his lordship's name. 
 
 The dogs had "Master " and the bitches "Lady" as a prefix to 
 their names, which were usually taken from the family who walked 
 them. 
 
 ]\Iaster McGrath was sent to walk with Mrs. McGrath, who lived 
 between Colligan and Dungarvan in Co. Waterford. Her son Johnnie 
 and the puppy soon became the greatest, friends ; it was the delight 
 of the lad to have the dog held at oae end of a large field, which was 
 intersected by a wide stream, while he went to the other end ; the dog 
 was then let go and ran at his best pace to the boy, jumping the stream 
 in his stride. To this early training the Master owed much of his future 
 prowess over Altcar, for he there took the drains without hesitation, 
 giining several lengths, and more than once actually caught his hare 
 in the jump. 
 
 When the puppies returned from walk the Dervock and Lady Sirah 
 litter did not appear to Mr. Galwey a promising lot, so he gave orders 
 to have them sent as a present to some young gentlemen in the neigh- 
 bourhood, who were home for the holidays. Tom Hennessy, who then 
 cared the Colligan greyhounds, luckily thought better of the puppies, 
 £0 he kept them and sent others to the schoolboys. 
 
 Next time Mr. Galwey saw the saplings he was astonished with their 
 improvement, and upon trying them found they were most promising, 
 while Master McGrath showed at once extraordinary powers. 
 
 His first essay before the public was in October, '67, for the Visitors' 
 Cup at the Lurgan Meeting for thirty-two puppies, which he won. 
 Within a week he divided the Moneyglass Purse for thirty-two puppies 
 at the Creagh Meeting with his kennel companion Master Nathaniel 
 showing splendid form. He next won the Waterloo Cap of '68, his 
 performance being so truly excellent as to stamp him a greyhound 
 whose equal it is the fortune of few owners to breed in a lifetime. 
 Well he earned his fame, for although a puppy he beat for that 
 stake such clinking good greyhounds as Belle of Scotland, Kalista, 
 Marionette, Brigade, Lobelia, and Cock Robin. 
 
 He was then put by till the following October, when, on his own 
 ground, he had no difficulty in finding his way to the end of the 
 Brownlow Cup, which he divided with Mr. E. W. Stocker's Sir 
 William. L rd Lurgan, like a sportsman, would not run it off against 
 
281 
 
 a visitor to his own meeting, and handsomely presented the cup to the 
 Englishman. McGrath was then looked upon as invincible, and was 
 freely backed for the next Waterloo at 6 to 1. 
 
 He was the model of a greyhound when he appeared at Altcar the 
 following February, and he was slipped for the first round a ttrong 
 favourite. When in the last four, 6 to 4 was absolutely laid on him 
 against the field, which comprised Lobelia, Bab-at-the-Bowster, and 
 <Jhillie Galium, all of whom he bowled over, and thus won his second 
 Waterloo. 
 
 The great dog was not again asked to run in public till the following 
 anniversary. Money was piled on him at 3 to 1 for the Waterloo of 
 1870, scarcely anything else getting substantial support, and of course 
 he was again favourite. 
 
 The night before some scoundrel, paid well, no doubt, by still greater 
 ruffians, got at the dog and drugged him. Johnnie Walshe, his trainer, 
 had ample evidence of this in the piece of liver he found beside the dog 
 early next morning. The consequence of this villainy was that McGrath 
 went down pointless to the moderate Lady Lyon in the first round. 
 
 Lord Lurgan naturally felt greatly annoyed, and resolved never again 
 to run the dog. However, in the following September he put him 
 through the mill in a trial at home, and having disposed of all the 
 private tackle with ease, his lordship slipped him for the Brownlow 
 Cup in the next month. Through it, for the three days, he showed 
 quite as good form, pluck, and killing powers as ever, and won the 
 stake, beating such cracks as Smuggler and Fritz. Accordingly, the 
 now old dog was put in training for his fourth Waterloo, and again 
 ivas he made favourite, but at longer odds than previously. 
 
 Some weeks before the day, Master Ronald and Lady Grafton, most 
 excellent puppies of Lord Lurgan's, and the best in his kennel, were 
 selected as the trying tackle for McGrath, but he cleared them out 
 with consummate ease. No secret was made of the result, so Ireland 
 got on to a man. Not so the English, who went for Bendimere, 
 Smuggler, Countryman, and Pretender, believing it to be out of the 
 power of an old dog to beat such slashers. Still the Master was second 
 favourite to Bendimere the night of the draw. Time soon told its 
 tale, and although the little black had, in this Waterloo, once or twice 
 luck on his side, he ran in simply magnificent form, no one attempting 
 to dispute his right to any of the courses. 
 
 When Wilkinson, then a very young man, put into the slips for the 
 "decider" of 1871 Mr. Punchard's Pretender and Lord Lurgan's Master 
 McGrath, never before or since was there such intense excitement on 
 Lord Sefton's plains, and probably there never will be again. Waiting 
 for a good hare, Wilkinson delivered his dogs to a long and splendid 
 slip. Amidst profound silence the cracks raced head and head for 
 sixty yards, when McGrath drew to the front, and, well clear of the 
 fawn, shot like a flash of lightning into his game, effecting a brilliant 
 kill without allowing his adversary to gain a single point. Tremendous 
 
■was the cheering over the gallant victory, losers joining with the 
 winners ; nor did it cease for half an hour. Thus, out of four essays, 
 did our Irish crack land himself three times the winner of the blue 
 riband of the leash. 
 
 A great amount of money went to Ireland over this event— more, 
 perhaps, than upon either of the other wins. A small and humble 
 tradesman in Waterford had, as his first bet, backed (coupled) McGrath 
 to win the Waterloo and The Lamb the Grand National, which double 
 event landed him £1,300. Directly he got paid he invested for hi& 
 family, beyond reach of all others, £1,000 of it, and went, with his wife, 
 a Continental trip on the balance. He never made a bet afterwards t 
 That is what I call a sensible man. 
 
 Winning his third Waterloo brought our little dog into such notoriety 
 that a command was graciously given by the Queen that he should 
 visit her at Windsor Castle. This he did soon after, led by his owner,, 
 who was then Lord-in- Waiting on Her Majesty. After paying visits to- 
 other distinguished personages, he returned home to end his days at 
 the stud. 
 
 Marvellous as it may seem, McGrath proved himself still the cream of 
 the Brownlow Kennel, which during all the season of '71 was in tip- 
 top form. 
 
 Xo sooner was it known that at home he was infinitely superior ta 
 Master Nat, then the best puppy in Ireland, than Lord Lurgan's chance 
 for still another blue riband was esteemed second to none, and his- 
 nomination for 1872 became, for the fifth year in succession, first 
 favourite, and was freely backed early in December at 7 to 1. Had the 
 dog lived a few months longer he would have, in all probability, started, 
 for the fourth time, first favourite. 
 
 " Dixie," as was his kennel name, appeared a bit dull on December 
 23, '71, but nothing to alarm Walshe occurred till next morning, when 
 he refused to leave his bench. He rapidly got worse, and despite every 
 attention and medical assistance procurable, the great dog died at 
 Brownlow House Kennels on Sunday, Christmas Eve, 1871. 
 
 Sorrow for the gallant dog spread all over Ireland, while absolute 
 grief spoiled the Christmas of every inhabitant of Lurgan. 
 
 A post-mortem examination showed he had long suffered from tubercle 
 in the lungs, and that the immediate cause of death was acute pneumonia. 
 A report having gone abroad that he was poisoned, it was pleasing to 
 hear that there was not the least appearance to justify any suspicion of 
 the sort. 
 
 During the career of this wonderful greyhound he appeared in public 
 eight times altogether — at Lurgan three times, when he won the 
 Visitors' Cup as a puppy and the Brownlow Cup twice as an aged 
 dcg ; four times at Altcar for the Waterloo Cups— three of which he 
 won ; and once on the Creagh Meadows, Co. Antrim, where he divided 
 the Moneyglass Purse, winning in all thirty-six public courses and 
 losing only one ; whilst he ran but three undecided courses, namely. 
 
283 
 
 with Belle of Scjotland, Sir John, and Eyes of Fire. His first undecided 
 was in his first course for a Waterloo, but he ran it off successfully, 
 whereas both Sir John and Eyes of Fire were drawn from him. 
 
 The following will be found a correct list of the greyhounds van- 
 quished by the mighty monarch, and amongst them will be found a 
 long line of celebrities : Polly Pelham, Louie, S. S., Cricket, and What's 
 the Tip, at Lurgan, October, '67 ; Brilliant, Master Frederick, Little 
 Sly, and Warranted, at Creagh, October, '67 ; Belle of Scotland, Kalista, 
 Marionette, Brigade, Lobelia, and Cock Robin, at Altcar, February, '68 ; 
 Lady Meta, S. S., Sir John, and Sir William (Lonsdale's), at Lurgan, 
 October, '68 ; Borealis, Hard Lines, Charming May, Randolph, Lobelia, 
 and Bab-at-the-Bowster, at Altcar, February, '69 ; Old Rosy Maid, 
 Precentor, Double-or-Quits, Smuggler, and Fritz, at Lurgan, October, 
 '70 ; Wharfinger, Eyes of Fire, Rocketer, Letter T, Black Knight, and 
 Pretender, at Altcar, February, '71, suffering defeat alone from Lady 
 Lyon as already described. 
 
 I have before me an authentic record of his measurement as taken 
 most carefully just before the Waterloo of 1871 by the late Mr. W. J. 
 Dunbar, editor of the ItUIl ^Sportsmcai, and a prominent member of the 
 Leash. I therefore give the particulars : — 
 
 Head. — From tip of nose to neck, 9^ins. ; girth between eyes and 
 ears, 14ins. ; girth of snout, 7|in9. ; distance between eyes, 2|ins. 
 Neck. — Length from joining on of head to shoulders, 9ins. ; girth 
 round neck, 13|ins. Back.— From neck to base of tail, 21ins. ; length 
 of tail, 17ins. Intermediate Points. — Length of loin from junction of 
 last rib to hip-bone. Sins. ; length from hip-bone to socket of thigh 
 joint, 5ins. Fore Leg. — From base of two middle nails to fetlock 
 joint, 2ins. ; from fetlock joint to elbow joint, 12jins. ; thickness of 
 fore leg below the elbow, 6ins. Hind Leg. — From hock to stifle joint, 
 9|ins. ; from stifle to top of hip-bone, 12ins. ; girth of ham part of 
 thigh, 14ins. ; thickness of second thigh below stifle, 8|ins. Body. — 
 Girth round depth of chest, 26^ins. ; girth round the loins, 17iins. He 
 stood 26^ins., and weighed 54lbs., never varying 2lbs. whether in or out 
 of condition. 
 
 .Thus is seen how wonderfully well shaped he was. Although not 
 tall, he was hig^ and could cover an immensity of ground in his stride, 
 He displayed extraordinary muscular development, had a plain, short, 
 but honest head, good neck and shoulders, and stood on the very best of 
 legs and feet. His tail was short but remarkably fine ; in colour he was 
 black, ticked with white spots and a blaze down the front. 
 
 That McGrath was metaphorically a great-hearted dog few will deny, 
 but he was one in reality, for when taken from the carcase at the post- 
 mortem examination his heart was found to weigh fifty-four ounces^ 
 just double the ordinary size for a dog of his weight. 
 
 In every detail of his w^orking he was first-class. Although his tail was 
 shortish he could turn as quickly as his game, while a better killer was 
 never slipped. Except on the one occasion, not alone was he never 
 
284 
 
 beaten, even in private, but he was never led to his hare, while every 
 hare he was slipped at was killed— generally by himself. 
 
 He served at the stud for a few months before his death, and, unlike 
 the modern crack FuUerton, proved himself a sire. 
 
 He was buried near the kennels in Brownlow Park, and over him 
 stands a handsome white marble monument to mark the grave of the 
 best greyhound that ever went from slips. 
 
 Few people are aware that Master McGrath was descended from a 
 champion thoroughbred English bull-dog, hence his courage and 
 stoutness. 
 
 Our forefathers assigned to each species of dog a certain peculiarity 
 of nomenclature, and that style has been perpetuated. For small dogs 
 a short name is generally chosen, while to the larger breeds names of 
 greater import are assigned. To my ear no class of name has such a 
 ring in it as that which has been assigned to foxhounds, particularly 
 when tri-syllabled. For instance, compare Grouse with Gossamer, Ponto 
 with Paragon, Wasp with Warbler, Wag with Warrior, Sting with 
 Statesman, Snap with Senator, Nip with Xiobe, Mag with Marigold, 
 and so on. Defend me, however, from some of the names given to 
 greyhounds. Looking over the pedigree of Fullerton I find ancestors 
 of this illustrious dog rejoicing in the names of Bed of Stone, Bab-at- 
 the-Bowster, Bit of Fashion, Repealed Hop Duty, Piocca Chica, while 
 Colonel North's famous dog is descended on the side of both dam 
 and sire from a bitch rejoicing in the crack-jaw name of Racketty 
 Hop-picker ! 
 
 We can form an opinion of a dog's character from his countenance 
 and bearing quite as well as we can a man's. Moreover, I think 
 the physiognomical cast and phrenological development peculiar to 
 particular breeds indicate the characteristics of each. To explain, I 
 think the following breeds enunciate their proclivities as follows : — 
 
 The St. Bernard — supercilious self-conceit, with resultant in- 
 dolence ; the MastiflF— domineering overbearance, demonstrated at times ; 
 the Great Dane — capability for re-capturing an escaped convict, whom, 
 with close - cropped skull, he so much resembles ; the Bulldog — 
 sensuality and brutality ; the Setter and Pointer— sagacity and truth ; 
 the Spaniel — docility and meditation ; the Terrier— energy and devil- 
 ment ; the Greyhound — nervous excitability and mental incapacity ; 
 the Pug and Lap Dog— good-for-nothingness ; the Sheep-dog— vivacity 
 and intelligence, with treachery ; the Dachshund — with all the points 
 considered bad in other breeds centred in this and constituting its ex- 
 cellence, we plainly see how useless the creatures are ; the Bloodhound is 
 an exception to other breeds — his eyes like poached eggs, long beagle- 
 like ears, and drooping jowls betoken docility rather than sanguinary 
 propensities; the long "flue" shows, however, wherein the power lies 
 which makes this breed useful and by which it has got its title. 
 
 But now we come to the Foxhound. Whatever diflference of opinion 
 there may be with regard to what I have said about the other breeds 
 all must admit, despite bias or prejudice, that we see depicted in the 
 
285 
 
 English foxhound, in head, face and form, all the higher qualities 
 with none of the lower discernible in the aforesaid breeds. Whether 
 we take him on the flags of his kennel, returning to the benches with 
 hackles up, or in any of his out-of-kennel paces or work, aye, even in 
 riot, vie cannot fail to admire the uniform dignity and elegance 
 of mien, with perfect poetry of motion which characterises the well- 
 bred, true-shaped foxhound. As to contrast, the howling and growling, 
 barking and yelping of the others with his medodious tongue is to 
 compare the organ of a grinder to the band of the Guards. 
 
 Again, contrast a pack of well-disciplined foxhounds, with sterns up, 
 trotting gaily along to cover on a fine morning, with any congregation 
 of other dogv", whether they be led, loose, or muzzled, and see what 
 a difference there is between them in character, mien, and motion. 
 
 Of course the other breeds of dog deport themselves in all becomicg 
 manner to the different callings they so nobly and sagaciously fill in 
 useful requirements of man. None of them are, however, required to 
 fulfil as high or important duties as the foxhound, and therefore they 
 need not to be so aristocratic. As long as the proud JSt. Bernard and 
 stately Mastiff be used to defend a man and his property ; the denuded 
 Dane to kill boars and wolves (very useful requirement in England ! ) ; 
 the savage Bulldog to fight ; the beautiful Setters and Pointers to find 
 live game; the hardy Spaniels to retrieve it when dead ; the jolly little 
 Terriers to hunt, worry, and kill ; the Greyhounds to win Waterloos; the 
 CoUie-dcgs to collect sheep (and not to kill game or eat eggs) ; with the 
 Pugs and Dachshunds to amuse the ladies— nothing more is required 
 of the lot beyond a general and uniform observance of good manners. 
 
 Next to the Foxhound in standing of elegance and utility to the 
 sportsman come the different breeds of Setter (particularly the Irish 
 red) and English Pointer, while their extraordinary sagacity in finding 
 game, indicating in beautiful attitude the precise spot the birds are, is 
 in itself unique to a degree. In the eye of the sportsman it is as much 
 to be admired as anything even a foxhound can do. I go farther and 
 say that a brace of dogs, be they setters or pointers, standing properly 
 to a pack or covey of birds, is a finer sight than any which a couple of 
 foxhounds can show us. 
 
 I wrote the foregoing many months ago. Since then I have seen 
 the first day's coursing at the Waterloo Meeting of 1893, and as I am 
 jufct in time before my book goes to print, I shall describe it in justifi- 
 cation of what I have said about coursing as sport. 
 
 The Press, and all others competent to judge, are consentient that 
 this meeting was the very best that was ever held over Alt car. The 
 stoutness with which the hares ran was the admiration and astonish- 
 ment of everyone. With very few exceptions the courses were good, 
 while many of them were as fine as ever were seen with grey- 
 hounds, and the trimming some of the dogs got will be remembered by 
 them for some time. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, every hare slipped at during the three days 
 
286 
 
 was killed ; 63 in the Waterloo Cup, 31 in the Purse, and 15 in the 
 Plate. In all 109 of these game little creatures killed in 109 consecutive 
 courses ! This would not have been the result if the hares had had 
 fair play. They would have beaten the dogs many times to the coverts 
 for which they were making, if they had not been cut off by the crowd 
 who were congregated along the bank which intersected the coursing 
 grounds. Several were killed actually amidst the spectators. 
 
 Amongst the vast assemblage of people who attended this meeting 
 not one could have admired those magnificent courses more than I did, 
 but to see the gallant little hares, after well gruelling their dogs and 
 still full of running, cut off from the refuge they were well able to gain 
 made me indeed sick and disgusted. I would not go to the meeting on 
 either of the succeeding days, nor shall I ever go again to public 
 coursing where hares won't have a fair and clear run to a refuge, 
 and that u}^ hill. 
 
 As the Waterloo Meeting of 1893 is put down as being phenomenal, 
 and as it brought forth, in the Cup, exceptional features, I shall record 
 shortly some of the leading particulars. 
 
 Not for ten years did wagering over this event rule as high as it did 
 upon the night of the draw. Colonel North's dog, FuUerton, who 
 had won it for the past three years, and divided with a kennel companion 
 the year before, was favourite at 4 to 1 — the ridiculous price at w^hich 
 he had stood for some weeks previously. Curiously enough, his was 
 the first name drawn from the jug. 
 
 In my judgment there was not a dog slipped on the first day who 
 appeared to run as badly as he did. The poor old fellow did not show 
 to advantage even in the first course, which he won, while in his 
 second, when he suffered his first defeat, he seemed quite unable to 
 use himself even before he fell helplessly into a drain. This was 
 explained by Colonel North in a letter to the Press a few days after, 
 wherein he stated that Fullerton sustained a severe injury to his knee 
 early in the first course, and, in the owner's opinion, to that alone is to 
 be attributed his not, for the fourth time, winning the coveted prize. 
 
 Be that as it may, it appeared to many^ as well as to myself, that it 
 was a pity to send a dog of his age, with such a brilliant record, to 
 compete with young ones. 
 
 When Full Captain beat the crack there was a lot of cheering from 
 the bookmakers who made a big haul over the result ; but it would 
 have been more seemly and sportsmanlike had they kept silence over 
 the defeat of a good gallant greyhound. Outside that fraternity regret 
 was general, and had Fullerton won the Waterloo of 1893, he would 
 have received an ovation such as was given to Frigate when that 
 equally popular favourite won the Grand National in 1889. 
 
 All the favourites except FitzFife were beaten before the third 
 round, and he was beaten in the fourth. The long odds agaicst the 
 winner and runner-up on the night of the draw were 1,000 to 15 and 
 1,000 to 10 resjDectively, which does not speak much for the sagacity 
 of our coursing cognoscenti. 
 
287 
 
 Only four times in the history of the Waterloo Cup have kennel 
 companions been left in for the final, and they occurred within the 
 past nine meetings. Strange also is the fact that the honours were 
 shared equally by two public kennelp. Mr. Edward Dent in 1885 with 
 his own bitch, Bit of Fashion, divided with Mr. C. Hibbert's Miss 
 Olendyne. Again in 1889 the same trainer brought out Colonel North's 
 two dogs Fullerton and Troughend, who also divided. In 1887 Herschel 
 for Mr. T. D. Hornby and Greater Scot for Mr. R. F. Gladstone 
 divided, both being trained by Mr. Archibald Coke of Southport. 
 
 It remained, however, for the memorable meeting to which I sra 
 alluding to have all such records broken, when for the first time 
 devolved upon the one trainer the high honour of leading to the slipper, 
 to run off the deciding course for the Waterloo, two dogs trained by 
 himself. This fell to the lot of the son of the trainer of Herschel and 
 Greater Scot, when in each hand Mr. John Coke led to Bootiman his 
 own dog Character and Mr. T. Baxter's fourth-season dog Button Park. 
 The former won the stake, and, as has been shown, they were both rank 
 outsiders on the night of the draw. 
 
 Character, who w^as vv^helped in August, '91, ran unsuccessfully four 
 times when a puppy, and never won a stake before he won the blue 
 riband. So little was he thought of two months previously that he 
 could have been bought for £25, yet he has the best greyhound blood 
 in his veins, including that of Master McGrath. 
 
 The trials on Monk's Carr on the first day were pronounced to be the 
 best hitherto seen at Altcar, while those on the second day, over the 
 Engine House Flats, were still better. Those of the concluding day at 
 Lydiate were not so good. The going there, and on the Withins for 
 the last seven courses on the first day, was sloppy and greatly against 
 the hares, but Monk's Carr and the Engine House Meadows afforded 
 the best of going. The attendance has been estimated at the greatest 
 which ever visited Altcar— that on the first day being put down at 
 30,000 people. 
 
 For the information of those who never saw the Waterloo or other 
 such big coursing meeting, I may state that on the first day the crowd 
 had a full view of forty-one courses without having to move from the 
 one spot. And if hares had come to hand in as great numbers as they 
 did on former occasions, the whole forty-eight courses, which were set 
 down for the day, could have been run off in the same place. The 
 conduct of the spectators at this meeting was beyond all praise, and so 
 were the arrangements except in the one cardinal point— fair play to 
 the hares. From the nature of the ground at Altcar it seems to be an 
 impossibility to provide such, and without it, coursing there cannot be 
 included in the category of, what I call, Sport. 
 
 What a rum thing is luck ! Men have spent a lifetime striving to win 
 a Waterloo and can't succeed. Those who from their practical experience 
 and thorough knowledge not only of the sport but of how greyhounds 
 should be bred, reared, and trained for an event of the kind fail year after 
 year in their endeavours to win the blue riband. Yet Colonel North at 
 
his first attempt had his two dogs, FuUerton and Troughend, left in to 
 divide the stake in 1889, and the next three years in succession Fullerton 
 won ontright. 
 
 No one begrudges this to the gallant Colonel, for he is a downright 
 good sportsman. It only shows what luck is, same as does the Derby, 
 which, despite their many endeavours, was never won by either the 
 nobleman who instituted the race a hundred and fifty years ago or 
 by any of his successors, while it has been won by men the very first 
 time they tried. 
 
 The late Mr. William Irvine of Hawick was a man highly cultured 
 and endowed with great refinement of taste. In every phase of life he 
 was poetical, and no companion was more genial. He loved coursing 
 and enjoyed friendly relationship with the leading coursers of the day, 
 with none more than Mr. Robert Jardine of Castlerailk. When that 
 gentleman's bitch Muriel won the Waterloo in 1873 Irvine composed a 
 song to commemorate the event, a copy of which in manuscript he gave 
 me, and as I don't think it ever appeared in print, I now produce it 
 in memory of my very dear friend. 
 
 Mueiel's Waterloo A^ictory. 
 Air : " Adieu, a warm, a fond adieu.' 
 
 Auld Scotland now may raise her pow, 
 
 Her coursers one and a' git fow, 
 For twal lang years hae come and gane 
 
 Sin' she has won " the Waterloo." 
 
 But now the thistle brag? the rose 
 And shades the shamrock in the vale ; 
 
 The Cap has gone to Castlemilk 
 
 And .Jardine's fame rings in the gale. 
 
 Prince bow'd the knee to MiirieVs power, 
 
 Chamelion flashed her hues in vain. 
 The haughty Croesus bic the dus<-, 
 
 Mage7ita's laurels strew 'd the plain. 
 
 The Welshman's Peasant Boy looked grim 
 While touts and backers yell'd his name j 
 
 The sprit-like Muriel bowl'd hi;n out 
 And bore away the wreath of fame. 
 
 Down clash'd the Welshman's brimming pot 
 And up went Jardine's spotless silk ; 
 
 While shouts of triumph rent the sky 
 To cheer the Laird o' Castlemilk. 
 
 Long live the Laird o' Castlemilk ! 
 
 A sportsman good and true is he, 
 And few will grudge our genial Laird 
 
 His beauteous Muriel's victory. 
 
 The above when sang by poor Irvine in his rich melodious voice was 
 indeed a treat to listen to. 
 
289 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SPORT 
 A NATIONAL BENEFACTOR. 
 
 1 AM not going to put a heading of reference to this chapter ; it is too 
 short to require one, and it is of such importance it should be read from 
 •end to end, and the contents indelibly impressed upon the memory. 
 
 Ffom this short chapter can be learned the enormous amount of 
 good which, in the most practical manner, is done to our nation by 
 Sport pure and simple. 
 
 In this book I have not dealt with Yachting because I know nothing 
 about it. I am, however, enabled to make an estimate of the amount of 
 money spent upon it, by reason of the courtesy of the Editor of the 
 Fields who gave me figures to start with. He tells me that approxi- 
 mately there are 3,300 craft belonging to members of our various yacht 
 clubs. Their tonnage comes to something like 140,000 tons, the cost 
 of building is about £40 a ton, and that of maintenance £10 a ton 
 yearly. That about 8,000 able-bodied seamen are employed during the 
 season at an average of 25s. a week, they finding themselves in food. 
 The pay to skippers averages about £75 a year. These estimates refer 
 •only to yachts of ordinary construction whether for steam or sailing. 
 In no way do they deal with vessels built for millionaires, nor yet for 
 race yachts of the extraordinary class. 
 
 According to these figures, and putting the season at four months, I 
 shall bring out the cost of yachting in a table with the four grand and 
 •cardinal branches of sport with which I have already dealt. 
 
 When dealing with hunting, I made no allusion to what is expended 
 by gentlemen upon clothing requisite for that sport, nor did I provide 
 for wear and tear of their hunters. These are items of such im- 
 portance I shall now bring them in. With regard to wear and tear 
 •of racehorses, I consider that, as so many of them increase in value to 
 such a wonderful extent, depreciation in the others is thereby fully 
 provided for. Not so with hunters in a gentleman's stable. They 
 seldom sell at a profit, and most of us know they get torn and worn 
 out with marvellous rapidity. 
 
 As is shown in a former chapter, the value of our private hunters is 
 £9,900,000. For wear, tear, and renewal that must be calculated at 
 15 per cent., therefore it represents £1,485,000 a year. We have 33,000 
 hunting men. Say the value of the hunting wardrobe of each is £25, 
 and that to renew it annually costs £10, we would have invested in 
 hunt toggery £825,000, which, to keep up, takes £330,000 a year. 
 
 u 
 
290 
 
 With this explanation and adding the figures to those which I have 
 already given, 
 
 The Cost of our Five Great Sports will work out as 
 
 FOLLOWS :— 
 
 
 Invested. 
 
 Spent Annually. 
 
 (1 Hun tin f 
 
 £11,954,250 
 
 h 3,825,500 
 
 c 4,556,000 
 
 d 750,000 
 
 5,600,000 
 
 £6,090,850 
 
 Racinf 
 
 9,430,200 
 
 Shooting 
 
 6,307,650 
 
 Fishing 
 
 528,150 
 
 6 Yachting 
 
 1,807,500 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 £26,685,750 
 
 £24,164,350 
 
 
 
 a Hunting — as per page 81, and items in this chapter. 
 
 h Racing — Horses only. 
 
 c Shooting — Guns, dogs, requisites, and clothing. 
 
 d Fishing — Rods, requisites, and clothing. 
 
 e Yachting — as per items in this chapter. 
 
 The value of Shootings and Fishings can be fixed at any number of 
 years' purchase which the readers choose. 
 
 Were this account to be dealt with according to commercial principler 
 it should be charged with interest at 10 per cent, on the invested or 
 sunken money, and that would further handicap our sportsmen to the 
 tune of nearly two millions and three-quarters per annum. 
 
 To some people, probably, the minute explanation I gave under the 
 respective heads may^be wearisome, but to those who are sportsmen I 
 hope they will not be so. Anyway, it is plain to be seen that I have 
 put down nothing in the shape of expenditure which is not absolutely 
 requidte towards carrying out the above branches of sport. Nor 
 is anything provided for extravagance or bad management. To keep 
 within my figures men must know what they are about and exercise 
 economy. 
 
 Amongst other items I forgot to include racing caps and jackets. 
 We have about 1,100 men whose colours are often seen, and at £10 a 
 year we have expended in the " silks and satins " £11,000 a year. 
 
 The tax on hounds and dogs used for shooting, together with game and 
 rod licences, amount to something like £'460,000 a year. To this has to 
 be added what is paid on greyhounds and terriers, the number of 
 which I can't assess. However, we may safely take it that the British 
 ratepayer is relieved annually by the sportsman of nearly half a million 
 taxation. 
 
 With the exception of the rents paid for Shootings and Fishings, the 
 remainder of the above colossal sums is spent among our farmers, 
 tradesmen, and in wages. The latter item absorbs fully one quarter. 
 
291 
 
 and in our racing stablea alone goes to pay a number of men and boys, 
 which exceeds, as I said before, the full strength of ten regiments of 
 the lioe. 
 
 The added money given to racing in England and Ireland in 1891 
 has been shown to have amounted to £617,839. To this has to be 
 added the cost of the various cups, including, of course, those of Ascot, 
 Goodwood, and Doncaster. These moneys and cups, being premiums, as 
 it were, are not to be added to the cost of racing, but if it had not been 
 for the sport that money would not have been subscribed for or laid 
 out. 
 
 I have not dealt with what may be termed " consequential" expendi- 
 ture—such as houses kept permanently or temporarily, but specially 
 for hunting, racing, shooting, or fishiog, nor with entertainment therein 
 of guests invited for the sport. Neither have I provided for the enor- 
 mous amount laid out at Newmarket and other places upon residences 
 and stabling. Were I to have done so the totals to be brought out 
 would have been so astounding they would not be credited. I therefore 
 refrained from attempting to enter into that labyrinth. 
 
 To calculating what is spent upon the minor branches of sport and 
 upon our pastimes, I have no time to devote at present. I shall, 
 however, in a cursory manner, refer to some, and to institutions, the 
 oflfspring of sport. 
 
 To play polo regularly and in proper style costs a man as much as to 
 hunt. Four-in-hand and tandem driving, also otter-hunting and 
 coursing cost a lot of money in their way. Cricket, football, and the 
 newly-introduced golf cost the players more or less according to the 
 distances they travel, while the multitudes of people who go weekly 
 to witness matches of their favourite games cause thousands upon 
 thousands to be circulated, even though but a trifle is spent by each 
 individual. The same remark applies to regattas, foot, boat, and cycle 
 races, while the prizes given for these sporting contests total annually 
 an enormous sum.* 
 
 Stud farms are numerous in many parts of the country and cause 
 Vcis' employment. No doubt, with few exceptions, they are got up for 
 commercial speculations ; nevertheless, were it not for our hunting and 
 racing there would be no need for such establishments. 
 
 Horse and Dog shows are got up as a direct result of Sport. Hotel- 
 keepers, ladies with " rooms to let," and hackney trap drivers, not to 
 speak of railway managers, know full well what sums of money come 
 to them out of these annual reunions. There is more money spent in 
 Dublin during the weeks of the Dog Show in spring, the Horse Show in 
 August, and that given in April jointly to Punchestown and Leopards- 
 town, than there is probably during the rest of the year ! 
 
 * A leading paper in the spring of 1S93 stated that " nearly seven millions 
 sterling are paid annually by spectators as gate money at football matches 
 in Britain ! " 
 
292 
 
 Thus have I shown what a gigantic medium Sport is for the circula- 
 tion of money— the vertebrce of our common weal. 
 
 To these facts and figures would I draw the attention of those who, 
 through humanitarian or ultra-righteous ideas, are detractors of sport. 
 
 To the subject I invite the consideration of Radicals and Socialists. 
 Let these step-political brethren ponder well before they strive to injure 
 the classes who maintain our sports. Let them recognise the fact that, 
 as a universal benefactor in hringing to the poor the rich man's money, 
 
 A SUBSTITUTE FOR SpORT CAN NEVER BE FOUND. 
 
 These revolutionists should also assure themselves of the fact that 
 never can they devise a system which will carry out the principle of 
 communism as practically and universally as that which has always been 
 adopted by our territorial landlords. Be it £5,000, £20,000, or £100,000 
 a year which may be focussed in the one individual, he spends it all 
 among the community. Yet these are the men who are marked for 
 destruction by the Eadical, the Socialist, and the Anarchist, and not the 
 andlords alone, but all other moneyed-men, no matter of what class. 
 
293 
 
 CHAPTER XVIIl. 
 
 MANLY GAMES AND EXERCISE. 
 
 A Comparison— " The Noble Art of Self-defence "—Natural Weapons— Wrestling— A Few 
 Remarks— When you Hit, Hit Hard— Tips from Jem Mace— The Fists— Nose Tapped — 
 Black Bye— To Box Scientifically— Results-Ill-conditioned Fellows— To go Further— 
 Bullies— Best way to settle Matters— Author's Experience-" Tom Smith" and " Jack 
 Musters" — Masters of Schools — Another Tip — Hints to Young Boxers — Pierse Netter- 
 ville Barron — Vast Improvement in Manly Games — Archery — Croquet— Gymnastics — 
 The Gloves — Cricket — Football — Handball — Rackets — Lawn Tennis— Cycling — Polo — 
 Tennis Parties vice Dinner Parties — Cycles v. Horses — James Selby — His Record 
 Beaten — Author's Estimate of Cycling and Cyclers — Marvellous Record — Mr. Wedder- 
 burn Webster— "Sportascrapiana"— A Nut to Crack— Hunt Runners— Nickey 
 Conoran — Wonderful Feat — Swimming — Dunmore — Kelly's Rocks — What we Did 
 There— " The Forty-foot "—Author in the Bay of Biscay— Awkward Predicament — 
 Skating— "The City Man"— Thirty Years Ago— His Tastes— His Sons— His Clerks- 
 Office Hours— Holidays— Author a Scamp— Warehousemen— Work, Work— Great 
 Change for the Better— Exhaustive Particulars— What is the Cause ?— A National 
 Calamity— Stock Exchange of London—" On the Flags " of Liverpool— Commercial 
 Buildings of Dublin— Rattling Fine Fellows— Good Sportsmen— A Question— The 
 Answer — The Volunteers — Bank Holidays — Results— Author's Notion — Convincing 
 Evidence — Author Frames an Act of Parliament — Half Holiday Weekly— Whole 
 One Monthly— Beneficial Results— Alfred the Great— The Twenty-four Hours— All 
 Work, no Play— A Mighty Bad Rule— British Trading— Uniform Hours— Strikes — 
 Radicals- Early Hours — Advice to Young Gentlemen — A Fact — A Disgraceful Record. 
 
 Although glorious are the subjects of some of my chapters up to 
 this, most of them, from one cause or another, have been at times some- 
 what unpleasant to deal with. 
 
 Some of the chapters may be likened to vast woodlands where, when 
 the trees were young and before the undergrowth became entangled, 
 good scent lay. But now overhung as the ground is with offshoots and 
 deprived of the sun's influence, it has become in places a slough over 
 which scent lies badly and it is difficult to ride in safety. 
 
 We now leave such dark and dismal regions and come to a fine open 
 country wherein there is nothing but oceans of grass and not a covert 
 to be found but that of the ever green gorse ! 
 
 Yes, we now reach a chapter the subjects of which we cannot find 
 fault with ; on the contrary, everything connected with it is to be 
 highly commended, for boxing, athletics, and manly games never stood 
 in this kingdom as high as they do at present, and they are fast pro- 
 gressing. I must not, however, put the car before the horse. 
 
 Boxing, I consider, stands first in the category, I therefore begin 
 with it. 
 
 For over two centuries this fine old sport has been dubbed the 
 "Noble Art of Self-defence." Rightly it deserves the title, for it is a 
 noble art, and the very best means by which a man can defend himself. 
 The fists are man's natural weapons, and, unlike those wrought, they 
 
294 
 
 cannot be taken from liim and used upon himself, and, as long as his 
 wind lasts, he never runs out of ammunition. They are always 
 ready at hand upon an emergency, no matter how sudden it be. Even 
 if in a man's pockets on a cold night the fists are out in a second, and, 
 like a flash of lightning, can be sent between the eyes of the intruder 
 or obstructionist, to be followed up as fast and etFectively as the skill 
 and condition of the owner can send them. As wrote someone : " The 
 fists are the formidable antagonists of the knife, the bludgeon, and the 
 heavy boot." 
 
 Boys, from ten years old up, should be taught how to box scientifi- 
 cally. In the first place there can be no better exercise for the body and 
 limbs than a few rounds with the gloves, for if they be merry oneS) 
 every thew and sinew will be in use ; the wind is improved and the 
 chest enlarged, while the eye is made quick and sharp. 
 
 Gloves should be small and hard. Large ones often stop a well- 
 directed blow, and to have them soft they must be large. 
 
 In conjunction with boxing wrestling should also be taught. At 
 times to be able to use one's feet in tripping up, or one's arms in giving 
 a cross buttock, is highly advantageous. A man who can both box 
 and wrestle is indeed an awkward customer to tackle. 
 
 They, like so many other accomplishments, cannot be taught on 
 paper. A good master and constant practice, with natural taste for the 
 art, are the only ways by which proficiency can be acquired. There is, 
 therefore, no use in my trying to give a lesson even if I were qualified, 
 which I am not ; I may, however, make a few remarks. 
 
 Don't hit a man for insufficient cause, but when occasion or provoca- 
 tion requires you to hit another, let there be no half measures adopted. 
 Therefore, never hit till you mean to hurt ; so when you hit, hit hard, 
 and let him have it — quick as a flash, and straight from the shoulder — 
 right on to whatever portion of his head, face, or body you can land 
 with the most efi'ect and the greatest readiness. Such work generally 
 shortens the business", while half measures only prolong it, and what 
 is worth doing at all is worth doing well. A blow is a blow, and in law 
 a silly little tap constitutes an assault, and will count against a man 
 just as much as if he had sent his antagonist flying heels over head. 
 
 Above all things, never lose your temper when boxing. 
 
 If a man can get well home with a hot one on to the side of the chin 
 of his adversary, there is no better means oi instilling into his head the 
 illusion that he has two skulls, and that one is clattering inside the 
 other, while every tooth in his head chatters time thereto. It was Jem 
 Mace gave me that and the following tip, and both are worth taking. 
 
 Practise to box equally well with either foot forward, which of 
 course necessitates the corresponding fist being forward. A man who 
 can box so has a decided advantage over the man who can box only in 
 the usual position of left foot and left fist foremost. 
 
 The hands should be closed in the natural way with the end joints 
 of the fingers doubled in such a position that they won't get hurt from 
 
295 
 
 the concussion of the blow ; the middle joints should recede from the 
 index to the little finger. 
 
 Not so. 
 
 The fists should be kept loosely closed until just going to strike ; they 
 should then be clenched like a vice, and the blow driven straight from 
 the shoulder, throwing as much weight into it as possible. While a 
 hard fist will punish better than a soft one, the effect of a blow is 
 regulated by the force with which it is sent from the shoulder and not 
 by the consistency of the fist alone. 
 
 When the nose gets tapped, snuff up and don't blow out. The 
 best thing for a black eye is to clap a piece of raw beef to it and keep 
 it there for a couple of hours. 
 
 It is all nonsense for some people to say that a knowledge of boxing 
 induces a boy or a man to become quarrelsome and often a bully. 
 Even if such were the result it would not be sufficient reason for his 
 living in ignorance of the best means of defence God has given him. 
 Knowing how to box scientifically has, however, quite the contrary 
 effect with well-conditioned and well-educated men, and this has been 
 demonstrated by thousands of examples where men who were good 
 with their fists never gave offence, and were the very last to get into 
 a row. When in it, of course they knew how to get out of it. I do 
 not allude to ill-conditioned fellows ; they are the exception and only 
 prove the rule. 
 
 But to go further into the subject. If nearly every man was known 
 to be handy with his fists there would be little or no fighting, for most 
 fellows would know they were likely to get as much as, if not more 
 than, they could give, and the bully, almost always a coward, would be 
 the most sensitive on that point. 
 
 If two young fellows are constantly squabbling, or have a serious 
 misunderstanding, the very best way for settling the matter is to have 
 it out with the gloves — by no means with the naked fists. Seconds to 
 each and a referee should be provided, and, if they be boys, they should 
 be of fairly equal height, weight, and age. Unless they are badly- 
 disposed chaps they will most likely be good friends for ever after, even 
 though one may have given the other a sound thrashing. 
 
 I know an instance myself where two fellows could never agree, and 
 were always wrangling, making it most unpleasant to those they might 
 be in company with. At my suggestion one day they both peeled off, 
 and at it they went with the bare fists. They certainly gave and took 
 punishment like men, and for some three or four rounds they milled 
 merrily. W^e then separated them before either had got the best of it, 
 
296 
 
 although each showed unmistakable evidence of the other's handiwork. 
 They shook hands, and ever since, just five-and-twenty years ago, they 
 have been good friends and allies of each other. 
 
 It is well known how the great Thomas Assheton Smith and the 
 equally famous John Musters (" Tom Smith" and " Jack Musters " in 
 hunting history) had, at Eton, one of the greatest battles ever fought 
 there, but for the remainder of their lives the greatest friendship 
 existed between them, which even their rivalry as masters of hounds 
 and as the very best men to hounds in England of their day wa» 
 unable to undermine. Hundreds of similar instances could be quoted 
 of lifelong friendship arising out of a fair stand-up fight. 
 
 Masters of schools should adopt a similar system among their pupils 
 for settling their disputes ; instead of which they punish boys for 
 fighting, no matter how great the provocation may be. Squabbling 
 and wrangling should be severely dealt with, but not a fair fight,, 
 fought for sufficient reason. 
 
 That excellent periodical Cassell's book of " Sports~and Pastimes " 
 contains what may be considered all the instruction upon boxing which 
 can well be given on paper. I shall, therefore, ofifer to my young: 
 readers the benefit of it. 
 
 Hints to Young Boxers. 
 It is a singular fact that the beginner is almost sure to put himself in an 
 attitude which combines every possible fault. He plants himself firmly, 
 braces up every muscle, and holds his hands hijrli. Now it is impossible to 
 be too easy and unconstrained, or to let the limbs play too freely. It is only 
 at the moment of striking or parrying that the fist should be clenched tight 
 and the muscles contracted. The left foot should be in advance, witii the 
 sole flat on the ground ; the right foot about half an ordinary pace in rear, 
 with the heel slightly raised, and the toes in line with the left heel ; care 
 being taken not to bring the left foot too far to the right, which would 
 destroy the balance. The knees should be very slightly bent, just as in 
 dancing. And mind carefully that when you advance, the left leg must 
 always step out Hrst ; when you retire, the riglit leg must step back first. 
 When you move to the left, the right foot takes the pace, the left foot 
 following it. When you move to the right, the left foot is first shifted, then 
 the right. All this is very important, for if the legs and feet get confused, 
 their owner must lose his balance, and become powerless either for attack or 
 defence, and a slight blow will suffice to knock him down. You require to 
 step forwards, backwards, sideways as lightly and quickly as possible, 
 always keeping the right foot in rear of the left. Thus, when you deliver a 
 blow, the whole weight of your body is thrown into it ; when you receive 
 one, you give to it, as it were, and much of the force is lost. Or, if you step 
 back very smartly, it falls short altogether, while, your left foot being still 
 in advance, you are ready to step up again at the instant and deliver your 
 return before your opponent can recover himself. The left arm must be in 
 advance, playing backwards and forwards easily, the fist on about a level 
 with the centre of the chest. The right arm held across the body, but not 
 stiffly. Keep the chin down and the mouth shut. If you want to know the 
 
297 
 
 reason for this last recommendation being printed in italics, you may have 
 your mouth open, just for once, and get somebody to give you a slight tap 
 on the jaw. Bat you had better take the hint without trying the experiment. 
 
 Before leaving the subject I may impart to my readers the advice I 
 got myself nearly forty years ago from one of the greatest friends I 
 ever had, and a splendid exponent of The Art, the late Pierse Netter- 
 ville Barron, of Waterford : " Kick a cad, snub a snob, beat a bully." 
 
 As I have said there has been a vast improvement brought about 
 in manly gamts during the past quarter of a century, and the youth of 
 to-day have far and away more advantages than were to be had when 
 I was a boy. 
 
 Except handball and rackets, we had scarcely any outdoor game in 
 Ireland carried on under recognised rules. Cricket was only then being 
 taken up. Football was played without rules, and consisted in merely 
 kicking the ball to the goal or the shins of the opposite side for oppos- 
 ing its progress. 
 
 Beyond what we could do on parallel or horizontal bars, gymnastics 
 were very little practised. Even the bars were not to be found in every 
 playground, and if they were, there was no one to teach us how to 
 perform on them. The '' wild cat," therefore, was the extent of our 
 achievements thereon. Boxing we were never taught either, and w^hen 
 a dispute had to be decided by the fists, the performance was nothing 
 but a slogging match in the Ball alley without the least attempt at 
 science. Archery certainly we had, and there was a club of toxophi- 
 lites in most of our counties, but that can hardly be classed among 
 manly games. We had also the ladylike and innocent croquet, not 
 very scientific or exhilarating either ; no doubt if the game was a 
 private match it afi*orded means for quiet flirtation, while it gave a 
 pretty girl the opportunity of showing what sort of a foot and ankle 
 she had. Archery and croquet are now nearly extinct. 
 
 Nowadays, we have public and private gymnasiums in most of our 
 important to^vns, where men and youths are taught by competent 
 masters to develop their muscles and agility, and to use the gloves 
 properly. Cricket is now as great a favourite in Ireland as ever it was 
 in England, and we have men who can handle the willow with aty 
 Saxon. 
 
 Football, too, is played all over the country under regular rules, 
 and there is no game more conducive to manliness. In it, particularly 
 if played under Rugby rules, has to be displayed an amount of courage, 
 endurance, and determined combativeness not required in any other. 
 
 Handball and rackets have, I am sorry to say, nearly disappeared in 
 Ireland, which is a pity for they were rattling good games. I can't say 
 I lament the loss of archery and croquet, for they have been succeeded 
 by lawn-tennis and cycling, both being infinitely more active, healthy, 
 and useful, and are for ladies the very best outdoor recreation ever yet 
 invented. Cycling, from its pre-eminent utility, has become simply 
 universal as a means of locomotion. To people who could never do 
 
298 
 
 so before, it affords a facility for travelling and seeing tlie country at 
 no expense beyond the first cost of the machine. 
 
 Polo, although alluded to by me last in the series of manly games, 
 takes the firfc:t rank, for it is the game of games, the cream of the cream 
 of summer amusement. In fact, I look upon polo as the connecting 
 link between pastime and sport. It has been introduced into this 
 country only within the last comparatively few years, although a 
 game in India of very ancient origin. From the East it was brought to 
 England by, I think, the 9th Lancers in about 1875. It was not in 
 Ireland when I could have gone in for it, and never do I look on at the 
 grand game without regretting the fact. 
 
 Many and great as are the advantages derived from lawn tennis and 
 cycling they, like most new institutions, have done injury to the old 
 ones. Owing to scarcity of money in Ireland amongst those who 
 formerly ga7e them, the good old-fashioned dinner-parties began some 
 years ago to disappear, but directly lawn-tennis went to the front the 
 dinner-parties vanished altogether from the country. It was soon 
 found that with sandwiches, tea, and light claret, people could be 
 brought together in social intercourse in much greater numbers and at 
 a cost of a shilling in the pound as compared with the good dinners 
 and better wines of years before. Pity it was, for at these festive 
 gatherings friends and acquaintances met, and over the mahogany the 
 latter became the former and the former became the faster. 
 
 Cycling for its part is interfering greatly with the utility of the 
 horse, and in many places livery stable owners feel the effects greatly. 
 
 Yes, truly cycling has driven itself rapidly into a most important 
 position on " the road." There it takes the lead, in every sense of the 
 word, of all other means of locomotion. Even coaches, horsed with 
 the best of cattle, changed every seven or eight miles and driven by 
 the best " whips," cannot hold their own with a good man on a bicycle, 
 whether it be over a short or a long distance. The late James Selby's 
 unparalleled performance with four horses from Piccadilly to Brighton 
 and back in 7hrg. 50mins. has since been beaten upon two or three 
 occasions by bicyclists. 
 
 The best record which I have seen was that of Mr. S. F. Edge who, 
 in July, 1890 (evidently to beat Selby's record), started from the White 
 Horse Cellars at 9 a.m. and did the journey from thence to the Ship at 
 Brighton and back in 7hrs. and 3min., taking only three rests— 8min., 
 3min., and 2min. This was at the rate of fifteen miles an hour for 
 nearly seven hours, and that, too, without a cliaiuje. 
 
 Selby's fame nevertheless is safe. He will ever be remembered as 
 the prince of coachmen, not alone for this one performance to Brighton 
 and back, but for his well-known skill as a whip all his life. Men 
 may have been able to drive four horses as well, but no man was 
 ever able to drive them better than James Selby. I knew him, and 
 as a tribute to his memory I make these remarks. For the information 
 of my readers, who do not know the particulars of his Brighton feat, I 
 refer them to my chapter on Driving. 
 
299 
 
 iNotwithstanding all that may be said in favour of cycling, I confess I 
 am personally prejudiced against it. Probably it is because I don't like 
 to see an infringement on the prerogative of the horse, or it maybe from 
 the fact that one of the worst falls I ever got in my life was from a 
 bicycle, when learning the art of straddling it years ago. Be that as it 
 may, personally I do hate the sight of a cycle, whether it be a " bi " or 
 a "tri. " I think a man looks more to disadvantage riding one, no 
 matter how artistic he may be with the pedals, than he could do at any 
 other work he might engage in, bar, perhaps, running after his hat. 
 The position is ridiculous and the motion is truly absurd. 
 
 Why can't the pedal ists adopt a better and more upright seat 1 That 
 contracted chests and round shoulders will be the results of their 
 crooked position I have not the least doubt, and what is worse, they 
 may transmit to their offspring the horrid deformities. 
 
 Nevertheless, the records made by bicyclists are wonderful. The 
 twenty-five miles champion race in July, 1890, was won by Mr- 
 F. J. Osmond in less than one hour and fifteea minutes. Out of the 
 eighteen who started in the race, thirteen did the twenty-five miles 
 within the standard time, which was Ihr. 19mins. 50secs. Since then 
 probcibly that record has been beaten, marvellous as it was. 
 
 To return to coaching, but as an example of hardihood, I will relate, 
 upon the authority of the Licensed Victuallers Gazette of May 6, 1890, 
 what occurred as far back as 1809. A match similar to Jim Selby's was 
 made by Mr. Wedderburn Webster, of the 10th Dragoons, who backed 
 himself for 1,000 guineas to drive a curricle and four from Brighton to 
 London in four hours, and for a similar amouat that he would ride the 
 same distance in three hours. Neither match, however, came off, owing 
 to the heavy losses Mr. Webster sustained to Captain Barclay over the 
 latter's celebrated walk of 1,000 miles in 1,0U0 hours at Newmarket. 
 Now, although these matches were never decided, it is clear that there 
 were men eighty years ago who were considered to be able to 
 accomplish these prodigious feats. 
 
 This same Mr. Webster in 1809, at a moment's notice and without any 
 special training whatever, set off to walk from Ipswich to London, a 
 distance of seventy miles, which he backed himself for 500 guineas to do 
 in twenty-four hours. He accomplished sixty-five miles in nineteen 
 hours. He then rested, having five hours to complete the remaining five 
 miles. A week or two later he covered the same distance on his favourite 
 mare Buzzard in four hours and fifty minutes, winning another 500 
 guineas. Again, on May 25 of same year he rode one of his leaders from 
 Brighton to Westminster (fifty-two miles) in three hours and twenty- 
 two minutes, the wager being 1,000 guineas that he would not do it 
 in three hours and a half. He stopped twice, two minutes on each 
 occasion, during each of which he drank two glasses of port and gave 
 the remainder of the bottle to his horse. 
 
 "There were giants in those days." If the young athletes of the 
 present day will but read Sportascrapiana, they will find many such 
 
300 
 
 feats recorded, and, with all the advantages they have now over the men 
 of old, they may find more than a nut to crack in beating the records of 
 Gecrge Osbaldeston, Edward Budd, Captains Ross and Barclay, or 
 Lord Kennedy. 
 
 Long ago, and up to a few years since, many hunts had " runners." 
 These were men deeply imbued with the love of sport, and they at 
 times performed mosc wonderful feats of pedestrianism. I remember 
 some of them myself with the Tipperary and Curraghmore. Tbey 
 generally wore a cast-otf red coat and hunting cap and ran barefooted. 
 They seemed to know every field in the country and every line a fox 
 •would take, and marvellous was it how these half-clad, half -fed men 
 would turn up at the end of a long run. Extraordinary are the stories 
 told of them, but none that I ever heard of comes near that which is 
 narrated in Sportascrapiana of one James West, who some sixty years 
 ago was in the habit of running with the Berkeley hounds. He is 
 accredited with having made in one day " a pretty little run of about 
 a hundred and twenty-six miles ! " 
 
 Be that performance a fact or a fancy, I shall record a feat of pedes- 
 trianism which I know to be a fact. My step-brother, the late Mr. Joha 
 Richards of Grange, in the County Wexford, had in his employment 
 a gamekeeper named Xickey Conoran. In the year 1855 this man, then 
 nearly fifty years old, had occasion to go to Waterford, which from his 
 house was twenty-four Irish miles. He started at 4 a,m. and walked to 
 New Ross, a distance of nearly twelve miles. There he expected to 
 catch the steamer which plied daily to Waterford and back, but he was 
 late. He then walked to Waterford — twelve miles — did his business 
 there, which necessitated some two miles ; returned by steamer to New 
 Ross, and walked from there to Grange. At the entrance gate, about 
 9 p.m., he met my brother, who was going in search of his groom who 
 he feared had met with an accident, as he had not returned from Ennis- 
 corthy where he had gone with a hor=e in the morning. Conoran» 
 without a moment's hesitation, joined his master and walked to Eanis- 
 corthy, a distance of eight Irish miles. They found the groom all right, 
 and straightway returned to Grange, where they arrived about 2 a.m.^ 
 Conoran all the way keeping up with my brother, who was a very good 
 walker. 
 
 Thus, in the ordinary condition of a cottier tenant, and without the 
 least preparatioa, did Nickey Conoran, in twenty-two hours, walk some 
 fifty-two Irish mi]es,which equal sixty-six English. He had no rest, except 
 an hour and a half while oq board the steamer, which gives an average 
 of nearly three miles and a quarter per hour actual walking. He had 
 no refreshment except a very light dinner in Waterford about 2.0, for 
 nothing could be got in Enniscorthy. The hardy old fellow told me he 
 was not a bit the worse for the walk, and the only inconvenience he 
 suffered was that on the return journey from Enniscorthy, having no 
 matches, he could not get a smoke, and upon going to a house for a 
 light, he found the family wailing over the corpse of an old woman they 
 were " waking," so he bolted without efifecting his purpose. 
 
301 
 
 In none of our manly exercises has more advancement been made of 
 late years than in swimming. In the generation before my own 
 it was little practised in Ireland, nor was it, I think, in England. 
 Beyond having a bathe in hot weather I am afraid our fathers were not 
 over-fond of immersing themselves in water at all ; nor was the 
 morning tub considered a necessity to a gentleman in his preparation 
 for the day. Even in my own boyhood lads were not, as a rule, good 
 swimmers, and many could not swim at all, but most of us took our 
 matutinal tub. 
 
 There is a village at the opening of Waterford Harbour called 
 Dunmore, and to this charming seaside resort many of us went every 
 summer. "Kelly's Rocks" afiforded excellent bathing, and at the 
 lowest ebb tide we could get headers into at least ten feet of water, 
 pure from the sea. A great many young men bathed there daily, and 
 all of course were swimmers, but there were only about half a dozen 
 who were really good ones. There is no doubt these few were very 
 clever in the water. I never saw a feat performed by anyone, not 
 even the Beckwiths, which some of us could not do five-and-twenty 
 years ago. None of us went in for swimming long distances, neither 
 could we swim very fast, but we could do almost anything in or under 
 water — leap-frog, porpoise turni^og, diving, swimming under water, and 
 numbers of other feats we thought nothing of. A couple of us often 
 jumped in fully dressed with collars and ties, and having our boots 
 laced, all of which we were able to take off in twenty feet of water. I 
 once got my feet tied closely together at the ankles, and my wrists 
 equally so behind my back, and in that hobbled state threw myself into 
 Kelly's hole when the tide was full in. Still, up I came, and by not 
 moving body or limb my face kept well over the surface for the few- 
 minutes I chose to stay in the position. I was perfectly powerless, 
 as may be supposed, and had to be towed ashore. I allude to the event 
 to show how easy it is to keep one's head above water — nothing being 
 required except a little self-reliance. At the same time, a feat of the 
 sort could only be performed in strong deep sea w^ater. 
 
 " The side stroke " was only just coming into vogue in my young 
 days, but I never cared for it, and always stuck to the old breast 
 stroke. 
 
 There is nothing more useful to learn in the water than how to save 
 a drowning man, and it should be practised as often as possible. To 
 make the task the more realistic, it is requisite that the subject of 
 rescue should do all he can to drown his rescuer. What fun we used 
 to have at that work long ago ! 
 
 Practising feats such as some I have alluded to served me well 
 twenty years ago in Waterford Harbour. A sail boat went down under 
 me, and owing to the main sheet having got round my leg I was 
 dragged with her but I was able to liberate myself, some fathoms under 
 water, from the rather awkward predicament. 
 
 Yes, I think few places in Ireland, perhaps not one, could produce 
 
303 
 
 better swimmers than Dunmore could from, say, 1860 to 1875. But now 
 lots of seaside places have tip-top aquatic performers, and nearly every 
 boy, not to speak of young man, cm swim well. They, too, have games 
 in the water we never had — polo, tug-of-war, &c., and sp'endidly do we 
 see them played, particularly in the " Forty- foot " at Kingstown, where 
 hundreds of young and old men bathe every day in the summer. Mr. 
 Carson, to whom we are indebted for the comfortable accommodation 
 found there, bathes all the year round, showing himself light with a 
 lantern for the operation during the winter ! 
 
 What a wonderful difference is to be found in the buoyancy of water, 
 of course attributable to its degree of saltness and depth. I was 
 returning home once from Oporto in a cattle steamer bound for London. 
 The Bay of BitCiy was smooth as glass, the day intensely hot, the 
 markets were low, so there was no particular hurry, and there was but 
 one other passenger on board. I therefore asked the skipper, a good- 
 natured fellow, to stop the engines and let me have a header off the 
 steamer's tide. He demurred at first, fearing I might not be as good 
 in the water as I told him I was ; or, if so, that there might be some 
 hungry shark on the look-out for a meal. However, he consented at 
 last, and in I went head foremost. The drop was, I should say, twelve 
 feet, but so strong was the water I did not go more than two feet under. 
 I could tread water with my body as far as the armpits over the sur- 
 face, while to float was as e isy as to lie on a sofa. I did not stay in 
 long, however, f-ir the water was very cold. I forget how deep the 
 captain told me it was, but I think the fathoms represented something 
 like a mile on land. 
 
 This long yarn must be wearisome to the reader, but as I considered 
 a"prank like that real sport in those days, thinking upon it now is quite 
 on the line of my hunt. 
 
 That the British excel all other nations in manly exercise no one can 
 deny, for to us all games and pastimes come easy. None, however, de- 
 monstrates the fact clearer than does skating. With only very few days in 
 the year to practise this invigorating pastime, we have, taking them all 
 round, as good performers on the ice as are to be found in any of the 
 countries where skating is the principal means of locomotion When 
 hard frost comes on in England we see all through the country men and 
 also ladies go on skates over our frozen lakes in style, whether as 
 regards pace or in graceful execution of fancy cutting, which neither a 
 northern European nor yet a Canadian can excel. For my part I did 
 nob take much to skating, and could never do more, when shod wdth iron, 
 than go ahead. I disliked the frost because it stopped hunting, and in 
 the early stages of its appearance I betook, with my dog and gun, to 
 following snipe and wildfowl in preference to having anything to do 
 with what had caused the stoppage of the king of sports, and thereby 
 showing even a semblance of sympathy with it. 
 
 In selecting London, as I do in the next few pages, to show how great 
 has been the improvement in the condition of men within the past five 
 
303 
 
 and- thirty years, I do so simply because I know it better than I do an^ 
 other of our large cities ; but what I say applies equally to most other 
 towns in the kingdom. 
 
 I was sent to London when a boy in 1855, to learn my business, and 
 I stayed there until 1857. Since then I have paid off and on a great 
 many visits to our capital, and I have had ample opportunity of 
 acquiring the knowledge which I am about to impart to those of my 
 readers who may not already be in possession of it. 
 
 " The City man " of my young days was an awe-inspiring gentleman 
 invariably clad in black broadcloth. His deportment and manner of 
 speech were in accord with the sombre character of his garb. Beyond 
 an occasional visit to the opera or theatre, with a fortnight at the seaside 
 in summer, this old gentleman never sought recreation. Being brought 
 up to business, to it he stuck, and he educated his sons pretty much 
 in the same way. As to smoking in the streets, not to speak of the 
 office, it was a thing a man would have been almost incarcerated for. 
 
 The clerks in the counting-houses of the City, from the strict discipline- 
 they were subject to duriog office hours, were as sedate in their behaviour 
 as their masters. A visit to " Evans's" or " The Coal Hole," and occa- 
 sionally to a theatre, where from " the gods " they witnessed the play,, 
 were all the amusements these poor fellows ever enjoyed. They knew 
 of no other recreation, therefore they cared for no other. Their office 
 hours were from 8 or 9 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. On Saturdays the hours 
 were often even longer. A holiday was unheard of unless a fellow got 
 off on the excuse of paying a visit to some dear aunt. Old Farley and 
 his good-natured partner, John Boyes, thought I had mora aunts 
 requiring visits than all the chaps they ever met with ! 
 
 Needless to mention an idea of sport, not to speak of a love for it, 
 never entered the heads of either the principal of a City house, his sons 
 or his clerks in the days I refer to. Because I entertained sporting 
 proclivities, I was looked upon as a scamp bound to go to the deviL 
 Upon several occasions I narrowly escaped being " rusticated," only 
 because I came to the office with certain marks about the nose and 
 eyes, indicative of a visit to Nat Langham's the night before. 
 
 Except in the parks upon the few occasions they visited them, the 
 warehousemen and shop assistants of London might, and often did, 
 live half their lives before they saw a green field. 
 
 Taking them all and all, the " business men " — employer and 
 employed— of the City of London thirty to forty years ago were a 
 community as uninteresting as could possibly be found. Work, work, 
 and no play, was the daily order. 
 
 1 shall pass over the transition state since then and come at once 
 to what these men now are ; and in no other section of the British 
 public has there taken place during the present century so great a 
 change for the better. 
 
 The " City men" nowaday?, when they have occasion to do so, turn out 
 in garb as orthodox as any man of the West End. The rig these 
 
304 
 
 gentlemen adopt generally has, however, an air of negligent elegance 
 about it which betokens other than matter-of-fact business pursuits. Pot 
 hats and tweed suits are quite as usual in Mark or Mincing Lanes as the 
 topper and black ; while a cigar is an indulgence during business hours, 
 alike in the street and the counting-house. The lachrymose visage with 
 doleful manner of speech no longer exists as a qualification for business. 
 The clerks are of a much better social class than were their predecessors, 
 while they, too, bear upon them an unmistakable hall-mark. The 
 workmen in the cellars, the docks, and the warehouses show in their 
 complexions a healthiness which they never inherited from their 
 parents. 
 
 What is the cause of all this change, a change brought about in such 
 magnitude and within so short a time 1 I unhesitatingly reply, SPORT ! 
 
 Business houses all over England, as a rule, have their doors closed 
 upon Saturdays at from one to two o'clock. ([ regret to say such is not as 
 yet the custom in Ireland. It soon will be, I trust.) Directly the keys 
 are turned away to the country go the clerks and the workmen, there 
 to engage in sport— the younger portion to enter practically into the 
 game of cricket, tennis, or football, while the elder look on with the 
 most intense interest. I have seen old men get perfectly demented 
 from excitement over a game of football when their local club played 
 another, yelling with all their vehemence, " Go it, Leeds ! " " Smash 
 em, Everton ! " 
 
 Saturday being so short a day, the heads of the houses often don't 
 attend business but devote it to field sports of one kind or another. 
 
 When, therefore, a Saturday or Sunday, not to speak of a Bank 
 Holiday, is spoiled by bad weather it is positively a national calamity. 
 
 In our commercial community a man devoid of knowledge of sport in 
 a technical sense is now not to be found ; nor can we except with 
 difficulty find one without the capability of taking an active part in some 
 branch of sport ; while men possessing all the attributes of the sportsman 
 and well able to carry out in practical efiiciency their proclivities are 
 now to be met with in abundance among our merchants. 
 
 Yes, among the thousands who daily transact the business of the 
 nation witbin the neighbourhood of Mincing Lane and the Stock 
 Exchange of London, " on the Flags " of Liverpool, in the Commercial 
 Building of Dublin, as well as elsewhere, are now to be found hundreds 
 of as fine a lot of sportsmen as exists among the ranks of the patricians. 
 
 These rattling fine fellows, while maintaining the trade of our nation 
 in a position by far the most honourable and gigantic in the universe, 
 are well able to hold their own across country, over the moors or in 
 hot cornerp, on rivers or in the cricket field. 
 
 What engendered in our present business man these newly-acquired 
 tastes and to what do we owe the development ? The answer is simple : 
 Love for Sport is inherent in our nation, be the class what it may ; and 
 shorter business hours affording the opportunity, the latent desire 
 immediately hurst Jorth. 
 
305 
 
 The Volunteer system which extends to England has on its part done 
 much towards this happy result ; for to be a soldier is to be a man. 
 I wish heartily poor old Ireland could be got into a state such as 
 would justify the Government in extending to it the Volunteer system. 
 Perhaps some day it may, but at present the time seems far off. 
 
 Bank Holidays, too, have done much towards the development of 
 manhood among the employee class. On the other hand, much harm 
 is done by these Bank Holidays. They come so seldom, men naturally 
 take all the value they can get out of them. Estimates of what is 
 called enjoyment are various, and unfortunately include drunkenness-. 
 This vice is indulged in by hundreds on Bank Holidays, and for days 
 afterwards they are incapacitated from performing their duties, and 
 thus is the object of a general holiday abused. 
 
 Now, my notion is that we have too few general holidays ; that if we 
 had them more frequently little or no abuse would result. I speak from 
 experience, and when I give my reason I shall be understood. Long 
 ago we had very few race meetings either in England or in Ireland, 
 compared with what we have now. When it so happened that we 
 could go to a race meeting, say, only three or four times in the year, the 
 event almost invariably culminated in a debauch of more or less degree. 
 This is a general fact which no race-goer of as long experience as myself 
 can dispute. Moreover, the propensity to get across the line was alike 
 in all classes, even up to twenty years ago. Now, when an opportunity'' 
 to attend a race meeting is afforded nearly every day in the week, and 
 when it is availed of by the public to tenfold greater extent than it was 
 long ago, what do we see? No drunkenness at race meetings, and 
 no debauch overnight — at least among respectable people. 
 
 This fact, which has been brought emphatically under my own 
 immediate observation, I adduce as an example of what would be the 
 result of having general holidays more frequent than they are. 
 
 I have no hesitation in stating that I believe if an Act of Parliament 
 was to be passed by which every Saturday would be made a half- 
 holiday and the first Monday in every month a whole one, little or 
 no abuse of the indulgence would accrue, but on the contrary a vast 
 deal of benefit. Those who, like the police, railway and post-office 
 officials, could not be spared off duty on the regular days should be 
 given others instead. In fact, every man in the kingdom should be 
 entitled to a half-holiday in every week, and a whole one in every month. 
 As a matter of course, no deduction in pay should accrue, but the 
 present general holidays, except those attendant upon Christmas and 
 Easter, should be abolished. 
 
 We must realise the fact that while bodily labour is less, that of the 
 mind is vastly more arduous nowadays than it was thirty years ago. 
 More is done in a week now within commercial circles than could be 
 done in a month then, and everyone knows the mind needs rest more 
 than the body. Therefore, occasional respites from labour such as I 
 have suggested would bear results to the employer even more beneficial 
 
 X 
 
306 
 
 than to the employed. The strain upon his mental capacity which at 
 present is continual would then be regularly relieved. 
 
 Furthermore, I will say that, in my opinion, no better allotment of 
 the twenty-four hours can be found than that proposed by Alfred the 
 Great just one thousand years ago. It was : "Eight hours for labour, 
 eight hours for sleep, eight hours for feeding and recreation." 
 
 I write thus after having a long experience as an employer, and 
 knowing well what the employed is capable of doing with such 
 efficient results as will give his employer an adequate return for his 
 wages. 
 
 By according to all men such privileges as I have mentioned, I main- 
 tain, first, that both employer and employed would alike benefit from 
 their business point of view ; and second, that, having so much more 
 additional time for recreation, our young men would develop into 
 even greater and finer fellows than they are, by, as they are bound 
 to do, devoting all the more time to manly exercise and to sport. 
 
 " All work and no play" has in England long since been found to be 
 a mighty bad rule. Trading has in no way suffered from the weekly 
 half and occasional whole holiday which have existed for some time. 
 On the contrary, despite exceptionally bad times, Great Britain never 
 stood firmer than she does at present, and the adoption of uniform 
 hours for labour, with more holidays, would, I am strongly con- 
 vinced, tend to make her stronger. Moreover, such a step would go 
 a long way towards the prevention of strikes, the curse of everyone, 
 and would frustrate many of the doctrines which are now being- 
 preached by advanced Radicals with such evil results. 
 
 For many years it has seemed to me a pity to keep in this country 
 such late hours as we do. I speak still of the commercial class, for, of 
 course, a suggestion to the upper classes to keep early hours would be 
 as useless as that which I made in the chapter on Racing with regard 
 to changing the Derby and other classic events into four-year-old races ! 
 If we began business at, say, 7 or 8 a.m., and left off at 3 or 4 p.m., 
 would it not be more rational and far better for employer and employed 
 than beginning as we do at 9 or 10 a.m., and working away till 6 or 
 7 p.m. ? The evening hours could, with the holidays, be devoted to 
 sport by the employers, and to manly games by those they employ, 
 and we should then live the 7,300 hours more than we do in every ten 
 years which I allude to in a following chapter. 
 
 The English and Irish are undeniably the hardiest nation in the 
 world. It is sport and manly games that have given them that proud 
 position : let us therefore the more encourage the cause so that the 
 effect may be proportionately increased. 
 
 To some young gentlemen from our cities who may select hunting as 
 their principal recreation or even a portion of it, I would take the 
 liberty of here giving the following little bit of advice : — Read, mark, 
 and inwardly digest what is inculcated by the master of the Gorse 
 Covert Foxhounds, and also by his secretary, in the chapter of this 
 
307 
 
 TDOok devoted to Hunting. I would also have them bear in mind 
 that 
 
 The fox takes precedence of all from the covert ; 
 
 The horse is an animal i)urposely bred 
 After the pack to he ridden, not over— 
 
 Good hounds are not reared to be knocked on the head. 
 
 I venture still further with these young fellows, and I do so with 
 all delicacy and with the sole object of promoting sport. Let them 
 •recognise it as a fact that any damage done by them in the hunting field 
 is looked upon by masters of crack packs in a much worse light than 
 would the same if done by members of the hunt. If on the other hand 
 these young men from our cities conduct themselves like sportsmen in 
 'the field, are courteous and civil to the farmers, and subscribe liberally 
 to the hunt fund, I am very sure they would be welcomed to the 
 meet of any pack of foxhounds. If they don't behave themselves they 
 «deserve to be ordered away directly they appear. 
 
 Hurrah for old England and Ireland ! Never shall we see in the 
 annals of our sports a record so disgraceful and unmanly as the following 
 the reproduction of which I trust may not pollute the pages of my 
 book : — 
 
 Bull-fighting Statistics.— During the past year (1892) the number of 
 first-class bull-fights in important cities in Spain was 289, the bulls killed 
 being 1,594. There have also been 307 fights of young bulls (novillos), in 
 which 1,407 were slaughtered. Of the chief fights 26 took place in Madrid, 
 13 in Seville, 12 in Barcelona, and 11 in Valencia. Two men (picadors) 
 were killed ; one of the espadas and banderilleros, while 16 others were 
 more or less seriously wounded. In each course from six to eight bulls are 
 done to death ; but recently in Madrid, in a fight which extended over two 
 days, 18 were finished off. On some days 24 horses, or even more, are gored 
 to death by the long horns of the Spanish bulls. The bull-ring in Madrid 
 holds 15,000 spectators," nor dames, in high rapture, the spectacle shocks !" 
 
 Thales, the greatest of all Greek philosophers, and renowned to this 
 day for his wisdom, thanked the gods daily that he was a Grecian and 
 not a Barbarian. We Britons should feel equally proud of our 
 nationality and thankful for it. 
 
308 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE PRIZE-RING AND THE COCKPIT. 
 
 Author's Excuse for Referring to above— Dangerous Topics— Old Patrons— Prize-fighting: 
 V. Cock-fighting— Brutal and Degrading— Admiral Rous' Opinion— Ruffianism— 
 Result— Last Battles— Revival— Slavin and Smith— Marquis of Queensberry— New 
 System— Boxing and Cocking— Wilts and Cheshire a Hundred Years Ago— Major 
 Wheble— Harry Flowers—" White Piles "— " The Cheshire Drop "—The Cholmondeleys 
 — Egertons— Warburtons— Mexboroughs— Meynells— The Knowsley " Black-breasted 
 Reds"— A Great Doctor— " The Turf and the Sod"— Great Cock-fights— Great Men- 
 Earl of Derby— Enormous Stakes— A Great Cock-setter— His Fees— Squire Legh and 
 Major "Wliebie- A Level Thousand— A Match Made— More Great Men— Wiltshire v. 
 Cheshire— William Keate— Preparations for the Fight— The Company— The Men— The 
 Fight— Enthusiasm— Tremendous Fighting— Results— Major Wheble's Gallantry- 
 Remarks by the Author— Royal Cock-pit in 1805— A Prize-fight Thirty Years Ago— 
 Tom Sayers and John C. Heenan— Their Births— Early Days— Their Fights— Prepara- 
 tion for the Great Fight— The Attendance— The Men— Full Particulars of the Battle- 
 —After it— Opinion of the Author— How Both Fought— Belts for Both Men— Sub- 
 scription for Sayers — His Death— Heenan— Author's Opinion of Him— His Death — 
 Old Battles Compared with what are now called ".Fights."- Tom Sayers' Record. 
 
 My hand shakes and my heart palpitates as I write the heading of this 
 chapter, knowing as I do how distasteful prize-fighting and cock-fight- 
 ing are to so many of the present day. In fact I don't think I should 
 have referred to these branches of old English sport but for the 
 fact of having come across a copy of the Licensed Victuallers' Mirror^ 
 in which is iven an account of how they were organised and carried 
 out a hundred years ago. The description is so interesting, I am 
 tempted into reproducing the article, as it delineates perfectly the 
 whole proceeding, and shows the class of society which surrounded 
 the prize-ring and cock-pit in old times. 
 
 The subjects of this chapter are dangerous topics to ofi'er an opinion 
 on nowadays, but when the cream of the cream of English society 
 showed the interest in them which they did up to about thirty years 
 ago, as is described in the following account, they must have seen 
 some useful as well as exciting end to be gained therefrom, at all 
 events, as regards the prize-ring. 
 
 I can't understand what good they could have ever seen eventuate 
 from the cock-pit. Beyond to view courage displayed in the highest 
 degree, there could be nothing gained by setting two poor birds to fight 
 to the death with artificial spurs, except brutal gratification of the lust 
 for gross and most abominable cruelty. No bird in creation— perhaps 
 no beast— has more courage, combined with combative propensity, than 
 the appropriately-named gamecock. To let two evenly-weighted birds 
 have a few bouts with the "gloves" {i.e., having their short-cut natural 
 spurs well padded) is good fun and does no injury to the combatants, 
 
309 
 
 while their skill in offence and defence is displayed as much as when 
 they have battle spurs. I am glad to say I saw only two cock-fights 
 with artificial spurs, and most certainly I shall never look at another, 
 but I often saw cocks spar with gloves, and I hope to see the same 
 again. 
 
 Prize-fighting with the bare fists, as carried on formerly, was brutal 
 and degrading, but, after all, the combatants were rational beings, and 
 if they chose to batter each other till one was beaten, and to be well 
 paid for doing so, why, it was their own concern. Therefore, I don't 
 look on prize-fighting as badly as I do upon cock-fighting, where 
 two poor birds are set at one another, and death alone decides the 
 battle. 
 
 Men in the highest position in society have upheld prize-fighting 
 down even to the very present day. Admiral Rous, only a few 
 years back, looked upon its suppression by the authorities as a national 
 calamity. He thought as many others did, and do still, that it tended 
 to encourage and sustain the pluck and endurance that the British 
 were always celebrated for. Whether it did or not, there is no denying 
 the fact that prize-fighting could not, in this enlightened and senti- 
 mental age, be tolerated. At the same time, it must be explained 
 that during the last few years of the history of the ring there was very 
 much more brutality shown among the roughs and seam of the earth 
 who were the spectators than was shown by the men within the ropes. 
 In the days to which the following article refers there were seldom 
 rows or bad conduct at the ring-side. It was later on that ruffianism 
 crept in, until at last almost every fight ended in riot and disorder. 
 This, of course, disgusted the upper classes, and they withdrew their 
 patronage. When left without that support the P.R soon got perfectly 
 •demoralised, and had to be stamped out by the authorities. 
 
 The last great genuine fights were on November 26, 1862, and 
 December 8, '63, when Tom King on both occasions was victorious, 
 beating, on the respective dates. Mace and Heenan. The former battle 
 was decided by the most terrific blow ever given in the ring, King, 
 with a counter, knocking Mace so completely out of time that he did 
 not recover consciousness for over half an hour. Some time before 
 that the celebrated battle between Sayers and Heenan took place at 
 Farnborough, of which I give, later on, an account. 
 
 Prize-fighting was not attempted to be revived for some five-and- 
 twenty years, but efforts were then made, and so-called fights were 
 brought off. So disgraceful were the exhibitions, owing to the 
 Tulfianism of the spectators, the cowardice and want of skill of the 
 men, and the fact that each * fight " was invariably got up for dis- 
 honourable motives, that the public immediately got quite disgusted 
 and would not tolerate a revival of prize-fighting, and it is to be hoped 
 we have seen the last of it. The fight at Bruges between Slavin and 
 Smith, where a brave and good boxer like the former was denied even 
 !the fair play Englishmen always boast of showing, particularly to a 
 
310 
 
 stranger, should for ever wind up the annals of the P.R., which,, 
 according to "Fistiana," began in 1700. 
 
 While rejoicing to see the demoralising exhibitions alluded to- 
 abolished, I should be sorry to see the "noble art of self-defence'' 
 interfered with, and glad I am to know that boxing is as popular in 
 England as ever it was, while in Ireland it is far more so than ever. The 
 Marquis of Queensberry has done much for it, and has introduced rules,, 
 some of which are sound and good. 
 
 As experience has shown, however, he made a great mistake in 
 trying to bring back prize-fighting by means of glove contests to be 
 decided in a limited time, or within a certain number of rounds. 
 Anyone might have seen such a rule could not work out, and it has now 
 been shown plain enough these " glove-fights " are far more brutal than 
 were the old fights with the fists, while they have not one single 
 redeeming quality. Little science is attempted in the first round, 
 and after that none whatever. Hammer and tongs the men go at 
 each other like wild beasts, and to decide the fight is simply a 
 matter of which in the shortest time, by the most powerful blow, can 
 knock the other out of time. From curiosity I went to see a couple of 
 these affairs. Fights they are justly called, and it is, I thiuk, impos- 
 sible to conceive how the word, in its sense of savageness, could be 
 more practically demonstrated. 
 
 Very soon will these exhibitions be put an end to if they be continued 
 on the system on which they have begun. 
 
 I now reproduce the article I alluded to in the first paragraph of 
 this chapter. Not alone does it describe the ring and the pit of long 
 ago, but it gives curious particulars and interesting information of the 
 men and manners of a past age. 
 
 The Old Gamesters of Wilts. 
 
 Major Wheble and his Fighting Coachman. 
 
 A Main of Cocks in the Old Chester Pit. 
 
 A Fight in the Major's Park 
 
 7th July, 1809. 
 
 There are few counties in England where you will find such a marked' 
 difference existing between the one half of the shire and the other as in 
 Wilts. The southern part of the county consists of wide plains and rolling 
 downs, now sinking into valleys, now rising into hills, a varied sea of 
 "chalky waves." The northern part is a broad, fiat track of alluvial soil, 
 thickly wooded and >Yatered by the Thames, the Kennet, and the Lower 
 Avon, where rich pasture alternates with fruitful corn land. And the 
 inhabitants of the two districts are equally distinct in character. The simple 
 shepherds of the South, the " moonrakers/' are as different as possible from 
 the sturdy agricultural labourers of the North, from time immemorial 
 renowned for their prowess as cudgel players. It is in this portion of the 
 county that the scene of our present narrative is laid. Up in the North- 
 eastern corner of Wilts, about ten miles from the borders of Berks, in the- 
 
311 
 
 little village of Dansden, at the time of wliich we are writing, there had 
 been settled for several generations a family named Flowers, of tlie small 
 yeoman class, which hud produced a race of singularly athletic and stalwart 
 men. Personal strength, high courage, and a fine, hearty, old English love 
 of fair fighting were hereditary qualities in the house of Flowers, and had 
 been handed down without a break through all the males of the stock. 
 There was no record of a Flowers who had not been an enthusiastic lover of 
 fighting— whether with cudgel or fist— and the family had largely con- 
 tributed towards upholding the honour and glory of Wiltshire in the annual 
 matches at stickplay against the men of Berks, Somersetshire, and Glouces- 
 tershire. 
 
 A tine old English sport, by the way, that same stickplay, or backsword- 
 ing, was, and one we should dearly like to see revived. I^et whoso doubts 
 our word read the graphic description of a bout at stickplay, as one of the 
 features of the good, old-fashioned "Veast," given in that manliest and 
 healthiest of all boys' books, "Tom Brown's Schooldays." 
 
 The head of the family at this time was Harry Flowers, the blacksmith, 
 who, we should imagine, realised the picture which Longfellow has given — 
 
 *• The smith, a mighty man is he, 
 With large and sinewy hands ; 
 And the muscles of his brawny arms 
 Are strong as iron bands. " 
 
 He had two sons, Harry and Bob, both of whom were famous fighters in 
 their time; but it is with the former that we are now concerned. Though 
 originally brought up to his fatlier's trade, young Harry, who was from his 
 boyhood fond of horses, eventually found more congenial employment at the 
 stables of Major Wheble, of Tockenham Park, close by, who was also the 
 owner of Bulmershe Court, near Beading. Now, the Major was a fine 
 specimen of the good old English country gentleman. He loved sport of all 
 kinds — hunting, racing, shooting, cocking, bruising, and was an enthusiast 
 at all of them. At the cockpit, on the racecourse, by the ring side, there 
 was no more familiar figure than that of the burly, jolly-faced squire of 
 Tockenham. The Major had known the whole family of Flowers from his 
 boyhood, and had heard countless tales of their prowess. He took a par- 
 ticular fancy to young Harry, who was in due course promoted to the higher 
 post of coachman, but this by no means precluded the young man from 
 indulging his fighting propensities. On the contrary, the Major encouraged 
 his coachman to keep up the prestige of the house of Flowers, and constantly 
 backed him to tight. Up to the year 1809, young Flowers had never known 
 defeat. He had thrashed Black Jem, the famous gipsy fighter ; Sweet, the 
 Somersetshire champion ; and half-a-dozen other men of lesser note. On the 
 20th of January, 1809, Flowers fought a big sawyer named Rossett, whom 
 Mr. Charles Dalbiac, of Hungerford Park, had backed for a hundred guineas 
 against him. Rossett's patron made sure that the Berkshire man would 
 win, and wagered heavily on him, but Flowers hit his foe all to pieces in 
 ten minutes, and the unfortunate sawyer was carried away senseless from 
 the field of battle. After this signal proof of the coachman's prowess it was 
 not easy to get anyone to stand up before him, and young Harry's next 
 
312 
 
 antagonist was imported from a far away shire, to which the fame of 
 Flowers had never reached. It came about as follows : — 
 
 Major Wheble, as we have said, was an enthusiastic turfite and cocker. 
 
 Now, in those days (1809) the two counties which were pre-eminently 
 famous for their combination of both these sports were Cheshire and Lanca- 
 shire. Chester and Preston were the two great centres of cocking in the 
 North. Lord Sefton, Mr. Price, of Brynprys, Captain White, Mr. Bold 
 Haughton, and Doctor Bellyse all fought at Chester. Lord Derby and Mr. 
 Legh, of Lyme, reserved tlieir cocks for the Preston mains. There was a 
 famous breed of " white piles " in Cheshire then, which carried such a 
 wonderful spur that "the Cheshire drop," which would occasionally come 
 out in a long battle, when the odds were 20 to 1, was considered as fatal as 
 " the Chifney rush." These were the cocks with which the Cholmondeleys, 
 the Egertons, the Warburtons, the Cottons, and the Koylances fought all the 
 great county mains, sometimes against each other, but more often against 
 the Mexborough and Meynell families. The Chester race meeting was 
 always a great trysting place for cockers from all parts of England. That 
 grand old English sportsman, the twelfth Earl of Derby, great-grandfather 
 of the present Earl, was always a conspicuous figure there in his gorgeous 
 family coach, drawn by six superb horses, and attended by a numerous and 
 imposing retinue. Fond as he was of seeing his home-bred horses carry the 
 black and white to victory, if it were possible for him to love anything better 
 than a thoroughbred horse, it was a thoroughbred game-cock, and the 
 Knowsley breed of black-breasted reds were deemed well-nigh invincible in 
 the North. It may be .truly said of him that he was the greatest cocker that 
 ever lived. And next to him, at no great distance, we might place another 
 familiar figure in Cheshire sport, the celebrated Dr. Bellyse, of Audlem, who 
 was not only renowned for his medical skill, but was perhaps the greatest 
 authority of his time on the pedigrees of racehorses, the rearing of grey- 
 hounds, or the breeding, training, and feeding of game-cocks. The doctor's 
 professional duties forbade his going far afield in pursuit of the sports he 
 loved, and keen as he was on horse-racing, he never in his life saw either a 
 Derby or a St. Leger run. But he was in his glory at Chester. Nothing 
 would have induced him to forego his annual week on the lloodee. 
 Patients, no matter how important their cases, had to give up all hopes of 
 seeing the Doctor for that week. On the Saturday previous to the races his 
 yellow gig with his fourteen-one, Brown Tommy, turned up as regularly as 
 the seasons themselves in the yard of the Hop Pole Inn at two o'clock in the 
 afternoon. On the Monday he sallied forth to the Hotel Row and received 
 a hearty annual welcome from the lovers of the " Turf and the Sod," to whom 
 from his quiet worth and his wonderful memory and information on every 
 point, he had become so endeared. Years wrought no change in the dress 
 or figure of this fine old Cheshire worthy, nor quenched his love for either 
 science. Everyone knew the blue dress-coat with brass buttons, the light- 
 coloured kerseys and gaiters, the buff waistcoat, the golden greyhound, the 
 gift of his friend Lord Combermere, which lent a tasteful finish to his snowy 
 frill, and the pig-tail just peeping from beneath a conical low-crowned hat, 
 which completed the attire, from which he never varied. The cock-pit began 
 at eleven, and the go-in ended soon after one ; and then, before a grand stand 
 was known, the Doctor was always to be seen stationed on Tommy in the 
 
313 
 
 middle of the lioodee, to watch what the horses were doing, armed with a 
 gigantic umbrella. For he held the belief that there were " always a swarm 
 of fools on a racecourse," and hence he kept the huge "gamp " to shoot it in 
 self-defence in the faces of the young blades as they galloped recklessly 
 across him from the cords to the rails. His great friend was Squire Legh, of 
 Lyme Hall, who was as famous for his breed of cocks as for his breed of 
 mastiffs, and they both employed the greatest cock-feeder that ever lived, Joe 
 Gilliver, of Polesworth. Cocking was then the chosen amusement of the 
 race mornings, and vied with the Turf itself in the interest it excited among 
 aristocratic sportsmen. The old families in Cheshire and the neighbouring 
 countieg were as proud of tlieir breed of black-reds or birchen duckwings as 
 Sir Tatton Sykes of his Sledmere Leicesters, or Lord Wilton of his Melton 
 hunters. The feeling had struck deep root for years. It had penetrated 
 almost within the sombre walls of York, and quiet burgesses remembered 
 how Harry Mellish and Sir Francis Boynton had fought main after main at 
 Bootham Bar. There was a dim story, too, that Colonel Thornton had 
 matched his best hawk against a game-cock at Preston or Knutsford, for 
 1,000 guineas a side. Ten guineas a battle, and two hundred the main, was 
 the usual standard. At race meetings they often fought one "in-go" by 
 candlelight, amid a perfect Babel of bets ; and in the Royal Westminster Pit 
 of yore no mains were ever fought by day. The Earl of Derby built at his 
 own expense at Preston the best appointed and most commodious cockpit in 
 the kingdom, which now — such is the irony of fate — has been converted into 
 a temperance hall. Here his lordship attended in state. Five shillings was 
 the price for admission when the Derby mains were being fought, and the 
 *' main-bag," which was generally a mere calico affair, was on these state 
 occasions of embroidered needlework, bearing the arms of the Derby family 
 wrought in gold, and ornamented with the richest lace. The stakes in these 
 big combats were sometimes enormous. The largest ever fought for were, 
 we believe, a thousand guineas a battle, and live thousand the main. The 
 cocksetter's fee was from fifteen to thirty guineas a main, and old Joe 
 Gilliver managed to save quite a snug little fortune out of his fees. It was 
 generally one of the articles that the cocks were to fight in "fair reputed 
 silver spurs," but these were little more than steel, thinly washed over with 
 the more precious metal, and a single crashing stroke through the skull from 
 one of them administered the death-blow as instantaneously as a pistol-bullet 
 would have done. The reader must pardon us for digressing into a disserta- 
 tion upon a sport for which, at the time of which we are writing, there was a 
 passionate craze among the nobility and gentry of England. And now to 
 return to our muttons. 
 
 At the Chester Races of 1809 it had been arranged that there should 
 be a great main between the Gentlemen of the South and the Gentlemen 
 of the North, for five-and-twenty guineas a battle, and five hundred the 
 main. This event naturally attracted a great number of sportsmen from 
 the southern shires, and among them Major Wheble, who had sent his 
 choicest cocks to contend for the honour of the South. We need not dwell 
 upon the sport— it is enough to say that the Gentlemen of the North were 
 victorious— what we are concerned with is an outcome of this meeting 
 between the Northern and Southern sportsmen. Squire Legh, of Lyme Hall, 
 overheard Major Wheble boasting of the prowess of his coachman, and was 
 
314 
 
 nettled at a remark of that gallant officer's to the effect that the North had^ 
 never produced a great fighter yet, and that the South was the true nursery 
 of British boxers. " I'll lay you a level thousand, Major," said the Squire,. 
 *' that we in Cheshire will find a man withiu three months who'll thrash your 
 coachman." The Major promptly accepted the bet, feeling sure that in a 
 match of this sort he should recoup himself for his losses over the cocking. 
 Several other Cheshire gentlemen present backed up the Squire of Lyme 
 Hall, Mr. Egerton, of Tatton Hall, to wit, INIr. Thomas Cholraondeley, of 
 Vale Royal Abbey, and young Sir Oswald Moseley, of Bolesworth Castle.. 
 The terms of the wager were that the Cheshire gentlemen were, within three 
 months, to produce a man who should thrash Major Wheble's coachman^ 
 Harry Flowers, the prize for the combatants to be two hundred guineas.. 
 The Wiltshire gentleman and his friends were so confident of success that 
 they betted heavily, and many thousands of pounds were laid on the event. 
 In due course Major Wheble returned home, and within a week of his return 
 he received a letter from Squire Legh, informing him that they had found 
 their man ; that his name was William Keate, and that he would be ready 
 to tight Flowers six weeks from that date. 
 
 And here let us say a word or two about this Cheshire worthy whom 
 Squire Legh and his friends had unearthed. The man was an iron- worker 
 by trade, and had been picked up first at Nantwich by INIr. Peter Legh, of 
 Booth Hall, who had seen him thrash a big salt-miner there. He was a 
 powerful young fellow, over twelve stone in weight, and had a slashing style 
 of hitting, which attracted Mr. Legh's attention. It subsequently transpired 
 that this Keate was a well-known man in that part of the county, and had 
 fought many battles with unvarying success. But outside Cheshire he was 
 unknown. Such was the man, then, upon whom the Cheshire squires relied 
 to win them their money against their Wiltshire rivals. The battle was to 
 take place at Major Wheble's park, at Bulmershe Court, near Reading, on 
 Saturday, the 7th of July, to suit those Cheshire sportsmen who were coming 
 up to London for Goodwood. The news had spread far and wide over Berks 
 and Wilts that Harry Flowers, of Dunsden, was to fight the Champion of 
 Cheshire, and there was great local excitement over the event. Major 
 Wheble had offered the hospitality of Bulmershe Court to a number of. 
 Cheshire sportsmen, among them the Earl of Grosvenor, who was as fond of 
 prizefighting as W'illiam Windham himself; Lord Penrhyn, of Winnington 
 Hall; Mr. Peter Legh, of Booth Hall, and his brother, Tom Legh, of Lyme 
 Hall ; young Sir Oswald Moseley, and Mr. Egerton, of Tatton. The inns at 
 Reading were full of visitors from various outlying parts of Wilts and Berks, 
 and even from London, forty miles away, and much grumbling there was at 
 the accommodation. For the Reading of 1809 was a very different place from 
 the Reading of 1890. It was then one of the dirtiest, the worst lighted, and- 
 the v/orst paved towns in England. Of course, many of the country people 
 drove straight from their own residences to the field of battle. Sir Francis 
 Sykes had tooled over his dashing four-in-hand from Basildon, and had 
 brought with him Mr. Richard Benyan, of Englefield ; Mr. Charles Fyshe 
 Palmer, of Luckley House ; and Squire Brummell, of Dorington Grove. Tlie 
 Marquis of Blandford, too, had driven his drag over from W^hite Knight's, 
 and so had Viscount Folkestone (Lord Radnor's eldest son) from Coleshill 
 House. Charles Dalbiac, of Hungerford Park ; Lord Craven from Benhanx 
 
315 
 
 House, and many others had ridden to the rendezvous. Wiltshire, too, had' 
 sent out a strong contingent. Sir Henry Daryell, Master of the South Wilts 
 Hounds ; Mr. Barnard Dickenson, of Bovvden Park ; Lord Ailesbury from 
 Savernake ; Mr. Paul Methuen, of Corsham House, one of the most liberal 
 and enthusiastic patrons of the Prize Ring then living ; General Popham, 
 Sir George Dashwood, Captain Unwin Smith, young Fulwar Craven, the 
 Squire of Chilton, who had not yet attained his majority, and other good 
 sportsmen and true. 
 
 The spacious park encircling the mansion of Bulmershe Court presented a 
 lively scene of bustle and activity on the morning of Saturday, July 7, 1809.* 
 From an early hour in the morning vehicles of all descriptions and pedes- 
 trians by hundreds had been making their way towards the scene of battle. 
 As many guests as the Major's house would hold had been accommodated 
 within its hospitable walls on the previous night, and every spare bed in the 
 little neighbouring village of Earley had been tenanted by ardent sportsmen, 
 who had come from thirty miles and more away. From Eeading crowds of 
 foot people and carriage folk of every degree were flocking towards Bulmershe 
 Court before the clock of St. Mary's had chimed six. For his aristocratic 
 visitors, who must have numbered upwards of a hundred, the genial master 
 of Bulmershe Court had prepared a hearty breakfast such as country squires 
 of the good old times loved to do justice to— mighty joints of beef, and chines 
 of pork, and towers of brawn and vast veal pasties, washed down by the 
 famous Kennet ale. After breakfast the lawn in front of the house presented 
 almost as gay an appearance as when the meet of the season was there. The 
 hunting scarlet, of course, was absent, but there was plenty of variety in the- 
 colours of the gentlemen's coats. Nor were the fair sex unrepresented. Even' 
 if they did not propose to witness the fight, the dames of the country squires- 
 saw no harm in accompanying their husbands to a jolly sporting gathering, 
 where they could meet the wives of their neighbours and gossip over the 
 matters that interest matrons. In the park below the crowd was less select, 
 but quite as jolly. It was a glorious July morning, and everyone was in the 
 best of humours. Half-past ten was the time fixed for the fight, in order 
 that it might be over before the sun reached its meridian height and heat, 
 and long before that time the Ring, which had been carefully formed by Bill 
 Gibbons and old Joe Ward, specially retained from London for that purpose, 
 was surrounded by a dense crowd, which could not liave numbered less than, 
 three thousand persons. A wooden stand had been erected for Major Wheble 
 and his friends, whilst a circle of a score or more of wag;4ons offered excellent 
 views of the ring to those who were willing to pay a shilling or two for sitting 
 or standing room. Keate had come up from Cheshire on the previous 
 Wednesday in company with his trainer, Isaac Bittoon, whom Lord. 
 Grosvenor had paid to come down and look after him. During the interval 
 the pair of them had put up at a neighbouring farmhouse, where Major 
 Wheble had procured them rooms. Flowers, of course, was under his 
 master's eye at Bulmershe Court. 
 
 When at last the two champions appeared on the wooden stage which had 
 been erected— for the Major was a stickler for the old style— there was 
 tremendous excitement. Flowers, of course, as the local champion, received 
 
 * *' Fistiana " gives 7th July, 1810, as date of this fight. 
 
316 
 
 all the cheering, for the other man was an absolute stranger to everyone 
 present except the gentlemen from Cheshire. Keate was waited upon by 
 Isaac Bittoon and a man named Jacomb, from Nantwich. Flowers had the 
 invaluable assistance of the experienced veterans, Bill Gibbons and Joe Ward, 
 who were objects of much reverence to the admiring yokels. Mr. Paul 
 Methuen was referee. Mr. John Isherwood, of Maple Hall, Cheshire, was 
 umpire for Keate. Mr. Charles Dalbiac, of Hungerford Park, Berks, for 
 Flowers. 
 
 Neither man had ever set eyes upon the other until they met on the stage. 
 As they stepped forward and shook hands, the crowd cheered lustily, whilst 
 the men themselves eyed each other curiously and critically from head to 
 foot — then parted to join their seconds in their respective corners, and to 
 make ready for the fray. 
 
 When at last Mr. Paul Methuen, in that clear, melodious voice on which 
 be prided himself (he was a distinguished amateur actor as well as a keen 
 sportsman), called " Time," and the combatants, stripped to the waist, stood 
 up face to face and foot to foot in the centre of the stage, every eye in that 
 vast concourse was eagerly fastened on them. The Cheshire man was 
 obviously the taller and heavier of the two. He could not have been far off 
 oft. lOin., and his weight was certainly not less than twelve stone. Flowers, 
 on the other hand, stood but 5ft. Sin., and scaled only just eleven stone. 
 The stranger was certainly a fine, powerful man, with a look of dogged 
 resolution on his fair, florid face ; but his attitude was awkward and he 
 lacked the lissomness and spring which characterised his opponent. Henry 
 Flowers, indeed, was a model of what a man of his size and weight ought to 
 be. A hardy-looking, swarthy, black-haired man, firm and well-knit, with 
 bold, bright, dark eyes and a beautifully symmetrical figure. He was, more- 
 over, in splendid condition, and had the confiidence begotten of an unbroken 
 series of victories. 
 
 It was evident that they meant business these two sturdy countrymen. 
 They had not been spoiled by the affectations of the Fives and Tennis 
 Courts. It is to fight and not to spar that they have come here, and after 
 just one long steady look at one another from head to foot they put up their 
 hands, set their teeth, and prepare for a battle even to the death. The 
 Wiltshire man leads off with a hot one from his left which grazes Keate's 
 right ear. The Cheshire man is just in time to jerk his head on one side 
 and avoid the full force of the blow, and straightway swings a roundhanded 
 crack with his right into Harry's face ; thump it goes against the man's 
 cheek, and the little knot of Cheshire sportsmen applaud vigorously. 
 Another roundhander from his left catches Flowers on the side of the head 
 just over the ear, and Squire Legh, in his excitement, stands up and weaves 
 his hat, as though he were hallooing on liis hounds. " Hammer him, Keate, 
 hammer him ! " shout Mr. Egerton and Lord Grosvenor simultaneously, and 
 he does so. Smash goes his fist again into the Dunsden youth's face, and 
 this time blood follows the blow. What is the Wilts man after? Three 
 clinking hits he has napped, and given never a one in return. This is not 
 what his friends have been accustomed to from Harry Flowers. But he is 
 not long idle ; crash goes his right, straight as a dart, at Keate's mouth. 
 Whew ! '* That's a warm one," cry the swells on the Starid, for home the 
 horny fist of Flowers has gone with a vengeance, and the blood spurts from 
 
317 
 
 the Cheshire man's lacerated lip. Close quarters, yard arm to yard arm, 
 each fibbing like mad at the other till they roll over together. It is hard 
 to tell which has had the best or worst of it. 
 
 It needs more sponging than can be done in half-a-minute to wipe the 
 traces of battle from the faces of the two men, and both are still bleeding 
 when they come up once more to the call of "Time." Not a fraction of a 
 second is lost in sparring : Keate walks up to Harry, and lets fly without 
 ceremony. The blow catches Flowers on the shoulder, near the collar-bone, 
 but the counter, swift as Tom Belcher's, from Hal's right lights upon the 
 Cestrian's nose, and seems to flatten it all over his face, sending the blood 
 squirting to right and left. " Bravo, Wiltshire ! " The Cheshire lad, who 
 will not hit straight, though his friends say straight hitting is his forte, aims 
 a terrific roucdhander at Harry's nob, but the keen eye of the Southerner sees 
 it coming, he ducks, and the iron fist of Keate whistles harmlessly past his 
 ear. Not so his own return, for he sends in a cruel uppercut, which jerks 
 Keate's head up, and lifts his chin suddenly to an angle of forty-five degrees. 
 Tremendous cheering and chevying from the hearty lungs of the Wiltshire 
 and Berkshire sportsmen. Keate was stung by that blow — he comes on 
 with a sour and fierce look on his face — from which the blood trickles 
 steadily. And now, for full two minutes, there is such fighting as works 
 the spectators into a perfect frenzy of enthusiasm. Without the faintest 
 attempt to stop or avoid a blow, the two men stand up and punch away, 
 left, right, left, right — the blows falling like the strokes of a hammer on the 
 anvil — every hit tells, yet neither flinches or quails. The air is rent with 
 shouts of "Well done. Flowers!" "Bravo! Keate!" "That's one for 
 old Wiltshire. Go it, Harry."- "Cheshire for ever. Hammer away, 
 Keate." The excitement is maddening. Forgetful of everything but the 
 two panting, struggling gladiators before them, the spectators press forward, 
 wave their hats, and shout themselves hoarse as if their very lives depended 
 upon the issue of the combat. Both men are pretty nearly hit to a stand- 
 still, yet both have their wits about them, when Flowers dashes a tremen- 
 dous lefthander full into the pit of Keate's stomach, which doubles him up 
 and tumbles him over in a heap almost at the feet of his seconds. And so, 
 amid loud and continued clapping of hands, the round ends. The Southern 
 gentlemen are in ecstasies, ready to bet 6 to 4 on their man, but their rivals 
 are equally ready to take these odds for the latter, thinking their man has 
 given quite as good as he has got. 
 
 Both men are very slow in coming up to the call of time, and no wonder, 
 for that desperate, hammer and tongs, ding dong, give-and-take business in 
 the last round was enough to take the buckram out of the best trained man 
 that ever chucked his castor inside a twenty-four foot ring. For quite a 
 minute they stand facing one another with their arms down— each panting 
 and breathing hard — then Keate wakes up, and sends in a terrific right- 
 hander ; but Harry dodges it cleverly, and then dashes in his own right 
 straight as an arrow full and fair between the eyes, with a spank that is 
 plainly heard by those on the very verge of the crowd. The blow would 
 have felled a bullock, and Keate after one long stagger backwards again 
 measures his length on the stage. 
 
 But somehow those knock-down blows do not seem to affect the Cheshire 
 man much. He comes up looking as resolute and confident as ever, though 
 
'318 
 
 ills face is sadly altered in shape His eyes, moreover, have begun to swell, 
 and old Joe Ward tells Flowers to make that his aim now, and in a few 
 rounds he will have his man completely blinded. Harry follows the sage 
 counsel of his mentor. But though Flowers almost invariably succeeds in 
 planting a stinger the instant he meets his foe, it is noticed as the fight goes 
 on that Keate generally lasts the longest, and despite the punishment he 
 receives, often has decidedly the best of the latter part of the round. Evi- 
 dently the Cheshire man is as game as the best black-breasted red that Lord 
 Derby ever bred at Knowsley, and is as hard as the metal in which he works. 
 But he will not hit straight, and that is where Flowers has such a pull over 
 him. Keate's roundhanded blows catch Harry on ihe back and side of the 
 head. Harry's arrowy hits go straight from the shoulder into Keite's face. 
 The blood is flowing from half a dozen deep cuts on the Northerner's visage ; 
 whilst Harry's punishment consists mainly of bruises ; bad enough some of 
 them are, no doubt, but they don't show much. All this time Flowers has 
 been steadily pegging away at his opponent's eyes, Avhich are now badly 
 swollen and discoloured. It is clear that in a few minutes more the man 
 will be blind, unless he succeeds in knocking his foe out of time. A couple 
 more taps from Harry and the shutters are pretty well up -2 to 1 on Wilt- 
 shire is the cry, and things look very fishy indeed for Keate. But an idea 
 has struck Mr. Peter Legli, of Booth Hall. He leaves his seat on the stand, 
 hurries up to the stage, and says to Bittoon, " Here, Isaac, you must lance 
 his eyelids ; take this lancet, and lose no time." Keate has no objection, he 
 is delighted, indeed, at the idea of recovering his sight, for he feels quite 
 strong ecough to win the fight yet. So the Cheshire Champion has his eyes 
 lanced, and from that moment fortune begins to smile upon him, and 
 Flowers is a bit disheartened when he sees that all his steady hitting at the 
 eyes has gone for nothing, and that his adversary can now see almost as well 
 as ever. Nevertheless he fights desperately, and one of the finest rallies in 
 the battle follows. The blows fall ?o fast and thick that it is impossible to 
 note the effects of each. Flowers hits the straighter of the two, and seems 
 to do the more damage because his hits draw more blood ; but the round 
 blows of the Cheshire man come with a thump and a thud on the side of 
 Harry's head, on the back, and around his throat with stupefying force. 
 The din and uproar among the crowd— now frightfully excited — is terrific, 
 for two minutes this slashing business goes on as hard and fast as the men 
 can hit. Flowers lashes out and sends a sledge-hammer blow into Keate's 
 mouth which knocks one of his teeth out. But William gives a counter 
 with his right on the neck, which, though less showy, does quite as much 
 harm, and then for the first time they close and grapple for the fall.' Flowers 
 tries all his wrestling tricks in vain upon the Cheshire man, who stands like 
 a tower, till the other's grasp weakens, and then Keate grasps his man 
 round the middle and flings him with such force on the boards that the whole 
 stage trembles and threatens to collapse. Flowers has had a bit the best of 
 the hitting in this rcrund, but the Cheshire gentlemen think that the bursting 
 fall has made matters even. 
 
 Keate, despite the gap in his gums, comes up the fresher of the two, and 
 has evidently almost got his second wind, whilst the other man is still puffing 
 and blowing with his mouth open, Tiie Cestrian sees his chance and avails 
 himself of it. He hits Harry a blow on the side of the head with his left 
 
319 
 
 ;and follows it up witli another on the throat which knocks him clean off his 
 feet. The Cheshire gentlemen are greatly excited ; their man has had it all 
 his own way this round — has put in two tremendous blows and not been 
 touched in return. 5 to 4 on Keate, and the Wiltshire men are for the first 
 time rather shy about taking the odds, for their man's wind is dicky, and 
 unless it speedily improves t'other chap will assuredly knock all the fight 
 out of him. But, alas ! for poor Harry, that tremendous fall had so shaken 
 
 him that he couldn't get back his wind. He grows weaker and weaker it 
 
 is pitiable to witness his gallant but unavailing efforts to turn the tide of 
 •"battle in his favour— he can scarcely steady himself to strike— when he does 
 hit, his blows are delivered so slowly that his antagonist easily avoids them 
 — he has shot his bolt — Keate either knocks him down or throws him in 
 every round, till at last the brave fellow cannot leave his second's knee, and 
 ■the sponge is thrown up to signify that Keate has won his hard-fought battle, 
 which lasted seventy minutes. 
 
 The downfall of the Wiltshire Champion is, of course, a terrible dis- 
 appointment, not only to Major Wheble, but to the vast majority of the 
 spectators. But they bear it like true Englishmen, and the stalwart 
 Cheshireman is heartily cheered as he steps down from the stage and makes 
 his way to the stand where Lord Grosvenor, Squire Legh, Mr. .Egerton, and 
 ■the rest of his backers shake hands with him, and warmly congratulate him 
 •on his victory. The gallant Major, after seeing his brave coachman taken 
 up to the house— the crowd cheering him, too, all the way, for Harry has 
 fought like a hero —comes back, and going up to Keate shakes hands with 
 him and says : "You're a game man and a good fighter, and you've beaten 
 my man fairly." Loud cheers greet this manly speech, and then the great 
 >crowd disperses. 
 
 The foregoing gives a perfectly true description of how prize-fights 
 •were conducted in old times, supported as they were by the first 
 families in England, both noble and gentle. If we could have them 
 carried out now upon similar lines with the same class of patron"', and 
 to the exclusion of rowdyism, perhaps there would be found many of 
 the present day who would still like to see British skill, courage, and 
 •endurance thus tested within the twenty-four foot arena. 
 
 Those of my readers who may turn up their eyes in horror at what 
 I have just recorded and will record before I finish this chapter, should 
 bear in mind the fact that in doing so they express horror at what their 
 own fathers and grandfathers in all probability gloried in ! 
 
 In an interesting work entitled " The Dawn of the iN"ineteenth 
 'Century," there is much mention of cock-fighting, which at that period 
 used to be largely advertised in the fashionable Morning Post. Oae 
 advertisement is quoted ; it runs : — " Cocking, to be fought on Monday, 
 January 7, 1805, and continued all the week, at the Cock Pit Royal, 
 south side of St. James's Park, the gentlemen of Suffolk and the gentle- 
 men of Hampshire's main of cocks, for five hundred guineas the battle, 
 and one thousand guineas the odd. To begin fighting each day pre- 
 •cisely at half-past five o'clock." This pit was in Birdcage Walk, and on 
 
320 
 
 such occasions the peer and the corner-boy met on the common ground 
 of sport ; and very lively times they seem to have had, judging by the 
 description of the scenes. 
 
 What extraordinary adventures were had by many who attended 
 prize-fights during the last years of their history ! One had to remain 
 up all night or to get up at two or three in the morning to be in time 
 for the special train which we were told was to start punctually at an 
 hour which was usually long before daylight. Provided with tickets 
 the day previous, as most were, we sallied forth in the dismal morning, 
 and in due time arrived at the station. There was encountered, no 
 matter how secretly might have been kept the rendezvous, oh ! such a 
 crowd of ruffians. In fact, the scum of the scum of London. These 
 rascals might perhaps let pass, without much molestation, any of the 
 respectable class or upper ten who they might know, but a man like 
 myself who was not honoured with their acquaintance would be 
 badgered for tickets, and upon his not giving money for or getting 
 them, he would, amidst the foulest abuse, be jostled and knocked about. 
 After elbowing his way on to the platform and securing a seat in a 
 first-class carriage, he would have to wait goodness knows how long before 
 the train would start, but before its doing so the carriage would often 
 be filled by representatives of the class met outside the station, many 
 without any ticket, the rest with third-class tickets. Needless to say 
 the conduct and language of these barbarians during the journey to 
 wherever the fight was to take place was of the most disreputable sort- 
 Arrived there, in the early morning, after a tedious and horrible 
 journey often of from two to three hours, we made the best of our way 
 to the scene of battle. 
 
 First thing the stakes and ropes would be produced, and the ring 
 pitched. The seconds to the men would be selected beforehand, not 
 so the umpires and referee. As a rule, these officials were not chosen 
 until the ring was made, and over their nomination and election rows 
 and ructions at times took place. 
 
 Well, in process of time these preliminaries would be arranged 
 and with a rope run through posts, stuck some few feet outside the 
 fighting arena, the inner ring was formed. This was the dress circle^ 
 and to it only those holding special tickets were admitted — at leasts, 
 during the beginning of the fight. I should have mentioned before 
 that for train-fare and admission to this exclusive circle a sum of from 
 one to three guineas had to be paid the day before. Men provided 
 with chairs accompanied the party, and those of the inner ring, 
 who desired the luxury of one was accommodated upon shelling out 
 four or five shillings extra. Outside the oipoiloi congregated. Between 
 the seconds a toss for corners was made, according to the result of 
 which they took up their places. Around the stake of their respective 
 corners would the colours of the combatants be tied. These con- 
 sisted of common cotton pocket-handkerchiefs, of whatever colour or 
 device each man might have chosen. They would be sold to those 
 
321 
 
 assembled at as many shillings as would represent the enthusiasm 
 the purchaser might have for his man. After each of the com- 
 batants had shied his hat or cap— or as old BeWs Life used to call 
 it, his castor — into the ring, they entered. Immediately they 
 were disrobed by their seconds, and stood clothed only in light 
 breeches, stockings and shoes or boots, with, at times, their colours 
 tied as a sash around their waists. Advancing to the scratch, the men 
 shook hands, in accordance with P.R. etiquette. Then, upon "Time" 
 being called by the referee, the fight began. 
 
 For the first few rounds between two well-matched scientific boxers, 
 in good condition, and fighting to win, there is no doubt a great deal 
 to interest a man who is fond of the science. After that, however, when 
 the men get badly punished, the exhibition, to a man of ordinary 
 susceptibility, ceases to have interest, and it gradually becomes to 
 him disgusting. 
 
 No need to describe a prize-fight, as the narratives of Flowers and 
 Keate, and that which I shall give of Sayers and Heenan, sufiice ; but 
 I shall describe the conduct of those who, in greatest numbers, consti- 
 tuted the outer ring. During the whole time the fight lasted these 
 demons would keep up tumult and uproar, each shouting remarks upon 
 the fighting or encouragement to the man he wished to win. According 
 as the fight was prolonged, and became doubtful as to result, the 
 excitement and vociferation increased until at last Pandemonium could 
 not possibly surpass it. Along the line of demarcation would usually 
 be arrayed a lot of bullies and prize-fighters, to keep from breaking 
 into the inner ring those of the outer. Sturdy and determined as these 
 fellows were to do their duty, towards the end of nearly all great and 
 protracted fights the precincts would be broken and the reserved space 
 invaded by a crowd of howling rufiians maddened with the most brutal 
 excitement. Owing to their conduct, seldom had there been for years 
 a conclusion of a prize-fight brought off with fair play. And, as was 
 the case in the great fight between Sayers and Heenan, the ring itself 
 was continually broken into. 
 
 Degraded as these men were, and with organisation not superior 
 to the brute creation, some of them possessed a degree of courage 
 quite phenomenal ; and many of them would fight until they died 
 rather than give in to an antagonist. 
 
 With all their brutality these roughs were to some extent amenable 
 to the law, for a few policemen were, as a rule, sufficient to put a stop 
 to a prize-fight around which would be gathered two hundred of the 
 greatest ruffians in London. 
 
 Rum conditions exist even m English law. A prize-fight would be 
 stopped by the local authorities, but by removing into the next county, 
 which might be within a few hundred yards, the fight could be continued 
 and ended, the same officers of the law who had prevented it in the first 
 instance looking on, inasmuch as it was then conducted on ground 
 outside their jurisdiction ! 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 The return home from these gladiatorial exhibitions was generally as 
 fraught with adventure as was the journey down. Between one extor- 
 tion and another no man going to the inner ring of a prize-fight thirty 
 years ago could return under the cost of at least three sovereigns, and a 
 vast deal more if he was at all indiscreet or happened to get into more 
 than the ordinary bad luck attendant upon them. 
 
 In olden times, before railways offered to the town roughs facility for 
 attending prize-fights, these horrible scenes at the ring-side were 
 unknown. Fights took place in the country, and the only spectators 
 outside the upper ten were the yokels from the neighbourhood, and they 
 behaved themselves. 
 
 The fight between Sayers and Heenan, occurring as it did over thirty 
 years ago, is now never referred to or even thought of. Nowadays, when 
 everything is carried out at high pressure, recent events, no matter 
 how great, are soon forgotten, while those of a decade or two ago are 
 looked upon as ancient history. 
 
 Dealing with the subject of this chapter and especially after referring 
 to the sham fights of the day, it would be wrong of me not to say 
 something about the greatest battle, and the one of all others the 
 most sensational that ever took place in the annals of the British Prize 
 Ring. To do so will recall to men like myself, who took deep interest 
 in the manly fights of old, memories of their heyday, while some of the 
 youngsters will learn the particulars of a great historic event which, 
 hearing of it only by tradition, they know no more about than probably 
 they do of the fight between David and Goliath. 
 
 Tom Sayers was born at Brighton on May 15, 1826, and began life as 
 a bricklayer. He stood only 5ft. 8in. to 9in. in height, but being a 
 remarkably active and muscular youngster he was taken notice of by 
 some of the fancy and taught to spar, and when nearly twenty-three he 
 fought his first battle. It was with one Abey Couch for a modest fiver, 
 and Tom beat him on March 19, 1849. He then, within the next few years, 
 fought and beat, in succession, Dan Collins (after a draw). Jack Grant, 
 and Jack Martin. Then came upon Tom his first and only defeat. It 
 was given to him by the celebrated Nat Langham on October 18, 1853, 
 but not until after a most determined and desperate resistance through- 
 out sixty-one rounds, which occupied two hours and two minutes. 
 " Old Nat " found Sayers so rough a customer that he refused to fight 
 him again when Tom challenged him soon after. 
 
 In four months after he backed himself at £50 to £25 to beat George 
 Sims, which he did easily in five minutes. 
 
 Sayers did not then fight until 1856, when, with Harry Poulson, he 
 again showed what a wonderful man he was. Poulson was about the 
 best middle-weight of the day, but after a tremendous fight, which 
 lasted three hours and eight minutes, and after the 109th round, Tom 
 was declared the winner. Then in February, 1857, he fought Aaron 
 Jones, but, night coming on, the fight ended in a draw, but was brought 
 oflf soon after, when Sayers won. This victory established him champion 
 of the middle-weights. 
 
323 
 
 William Perry, " the Tipton Slasher," then held the Champion's Belt, 
 and although he stood over six fee": and weighed nearly fifteen stone, the 
 :gallant Tom challenged him. Up to then no fight had ever caused 
 more interes", for although Sayers had proved himself by far the best 
 of his clas?, he was not considered good enough to be Champion of 
 England, and being so much beiO\y the Slasher in height and his weight 
 bsing only lOst. 5lbs., the pluck he displayed in challenging him was 
 greatly admired. 
 
 The fight came off on June 16, 1857, and after one of the most 
 determined and desperate of battles Tom, to the surprise of many, beat 
 Perry, and thus took the Belt and became Champion of England 
 
 Bill Benjamin was the first to challenge Tom for the trophy, but he 
 was beaten easily in three rounds, in January following. On the first 
 anniversary of his winning the Belt he had again to defend it against 
 Tom Paddock, another heavy-weight, whom he also beat. In April, '59, 
 Bill Benjamin again tack'ed Tom, but he was beaten in twenty-two 
 minutes. 
 
 Sayers was so fond of fighting he would allow himself little rest ; so 
 five months after, backing himself at £600 to £400, he fought and beat 
 Bob Brettle in fifteen minutes. This fight was not, however, for the 
 Championship, for Sayers would only consent to have the Belt thrown 
 in if the match were at even money. 
 
 Sayers had by this time shown that, irrespective of c'ass, he was, bar 
 none, the best man in England, but he was not long left alone, for his 
 old antagonist, Anron Jones, again challenged him. Soon after 
 signing articles news came from America that John Heenan wished to 
 fight Sayers for the Belt of England, whereupon arrangements were 
 made with Jones to withdraw in favour of Heenan. 
 
 Sayers had up to this time fought no less than fifteen battles, 
 including the draws with Collins and Jones, and was beaten only once. 
 John Carmel Heenan was born of Irish parents in May, 1834, at West 
 Troy, Xew York, when Tum was exactly eight years old. At the 
 age of twelve he was sent to his uncle, who lived at Benicia, Califorijia, 
 and there he got apprenticed to a smith. Young Heenan soon developed 
 into a splendid specimen of manhool, and be:ame powerfully muscular 
 through wielding the sledge-hammer ; he was very fond of the gloves, 
 and so n got so handy with them that he was dubbed among the 
 Califoinian miners their ''Benic'-a Boy." 
 
 At th's time Cu^ick the pug'list vi>ited the West, and meeting the 
 young gian*-, whc s ood 6ft. l|in. anl weighed between 13s'. and 14st., 
 persuaded him to come Eist and aspire to first honours in the pugilistic 
 circle. H enan accordingly arrived in New York in 1857, and took a 
 position as a leading pugilist, but, holding a Government appointment, 
 he d':d not phow inclination to enter the Prize King. After a time, 
 however, he fought John Morrissey for the Championship of America 
 a d 5,' 00 dollars a-side. The battle was decided at Long Point, Canat'a 
 West, on October 19, 1858, and after a sloggingconttst of eleven rounds 
 
'd-2-i 
 
 in twenty-two minutes (the first lound lasted six), Morrissey wa& 
 declared the victor. It is justice to Heenan, however, to state that the 
 latter part of his training was interfered with by an old sore in his leg 
 breaking out, which necessitated his lying in bed for the week before 
 the fight. Albeit, he fought well and with great courage. 
 
 Growing into still finer physique, and improved greatly in the science 
 of boxing, Heenan, towards the end of 1859, determined to have a shy 
 at the Championship of England, then held by Tom Sayers. To effect 
 his purpose, on January 17, 1860, he landed in Liverpool. Next day he 
 called on Mr. Frank Dowlirg, the editor of Bell's Life, for many years 
 the acknowledged head of the P.R., to open negotiations. The gentle- 
 manlike appearance and courteous demeanour of Heenan, contrasting 
 with wonderful advantage over what they were accustomed to from 
 English pugilists, quite astonished the staff of good old "Nunquam 
 Dormio." They were still more surprised and taken with the man 
 when he assured them that " he came to this country with the express 
 purpose of measuring his strength with our champion, and was 
 influenced by no other feeling, speculative or otherwise ; if defeated he 
 could not help it, and if he should be so fortunate as to win, it would be 
 to him for ever a source of the greatest pride." Preliminaries were 
 soon got through, and after signing articles to fight for the Belt of 
 old England and £200 a-side, Sayers and Heenan went at once into 
 training. 
 
 Then commenced, both in this and the new country, excitement and 
 enthusiasm over this match the like of which was never known in 
 respect to any other ; proportionate with which came zeal among the 
 authorities to prevent its coming off. 
 
 Whether the fact that Sayers was more judicious in the selection 
 of his training ground and kept more in seclusion than Heenan 
 prevented his being interfered with by the authorities I know not, but 
 certain it is that his training was not interrupted. Xot so with 
 Heenan. Xo stone was left unturned by meddlesome and ofl&cious 
 persons to cause annoyance to the Benicia Boy. Three times had he 
 to charge his quarters, and finally, upon taking refuge at Trent Lock, 
 near the junction of Derbyshire, Nottingham, and Leicester, he was 
 betrayed, and after a chase of a mile and a half across country, without 
 shoes or stocking?, he was captured by the police, and lodged in gaol 
 only a few days before the fight was to have taken place. He was 
 liberated next day on bail, himself in £50 and twosuretif s of .£'25 each. 
 Owiog to this interruption and the continued pestering he got from the 
 police, the day originally fixed for the fight had to be postponed. 
 
 Had the authorities worried Sayers it would have been bad enough 
 or had they treated each man alike nothing could be said against them 
 but to leave unmolested our own countryman and hound down the 
 brave foreigner who came to England to fight her champion was little 
 short of a disgrace to the nation. 
 
 The nation, however, was not to blame ; all true Englishmen 
 
3:25 
 
 denounced the treatment to which Heenan was subjected, unuational 
 as it was in every one particular. It was all occasioned by a clique of 
 goody-goodies and a handful of J.P.'s — custodians, no doubt, of the 
 peace, but assuredly devoid of ail notion of justice. 
 
 Luckily, the haras3ing he got had no effect upon Heenan, for he 
 stripped on the morniog of battle in as fine condition and as grand a 
 specimen of a gladiitor as ever pulled off a coat. 
 
 The first man who aspired to the title of Champion of England was 
 the celebrated Figg, w^ho, in about the year 1719, first wore the Belt. 
 Since then many scores of brave men have toed the scratch, and within 
 the twenty-four foot arena fought doggedly and scientifically for the 
 championship. Excitement, at times intense and widespread, prevailed 
 over some of these fights, but it may with safety be said that never did 
 any fight for the championship produce quarter the excitement and 
 enthusiasm as did that between Sayers and Heenan. Every paper in 
 the country, including those of the highest class journalism, opened 
 their columns to the all-engrossing topic and, to the credit of their 
 editors, by far the greater number abstained from adverse criticism, 
 while many gave to the great event friendly comment. 
 
 The authorities as the day approached redoubled their efforts 
 to prevent the fight, and sought ddigently, luckily without success, 
 for the principals. With such publicity and with every man in 
 the kingdom talking about it, to keep secret to the last moment 
 when, but more particularly ivhere, the fight was to come off was a task 
 difficult in the extreme. Effectually, however, was it performed. The 
 day at last became generally known, but not until it had almost arrived. 
 To put the authorities off the scent no end of ruses were adopted, and 
 on many a wild-goose chase were hundreds of police sent to places 
 given out as being selected for the battle. 
 
 Considering the amount of interest which had centred in this, a great 
 international contest, not alone from every part of our own kingdom and 
 America, but from, I may say, all over the globe, I do think the 
 heads of our authorities would have shown more discretion and 
 diplomacy had they shut one eye, at least, and let the great question be 
 decided without the worry which they occasioned. To have done so 
 would, at all events, have saved them from the ridicule heaped upon 
 them at the signal and huoiiliating discomfiture they happily sustained. 
 About one o'clock in the morning of Tuesday, April 17, 1860, the 
 rendezvous was made public. "London Bridge at four o'clock.'' The 
 scene at Owen Swift's and Harry Brunton's, at Nat Langham's and Alec 
 Keene's beggars description. It was known towards midnight that 
 the announcement would be made at these houses, and that tickets 
 would be issued, so each place was crammed. 
 
 Two monster trains were prepared and in readiness at the station. 
 The first, consisting of no less than thirty carriages, was despatched, 
 full as it could hold, at 4.30. The second, nearly as long, and quite as 
 full, followed soon after. All along the line for nearly twenty miles 
 
326 
 
 were police on the look out, both mounted and on foot, and all armed 
 with swords ; however, the oaly reward for their early rising these 
 poor baffled fellows received was booing and grimacing from the 
 occupants of the flying trains. Great preparations to stop the mill 
 were also made farther down on the Dover and Brighton lines. They, 
 too, were needless, for our trains, turning off at Reigate Junction to the 
 Guildford line, gave them the slip, and along it there seemed to be no 
 preparation. Xear here the engines, for the first and only time, stopped 
 to take in water. Starting immediately, and not knowing where we 
 were going to be set down, on they rattled till they reached, at nearly 
 seven o'clock, on a lovely spring morning, Farnborough Station. Here 
 all got out and, led by the only tltree men in the vjorld who up to then 
 hieiv where the fir/ht was to take i>hice, adjourned to a field close by and 
 on the borders of Hampshire and Surrey. 
 
 On a spot which had been selected beforehand with excellent judg- 
 ment — for it was level as a billiard table — the ring was quickly staked 
 off by old Tom Oliver and his son. 
 
 Around it immediately gathered over twelve hundred spectators to 
 see this, the great and long-talked-of fight for the Champion of 
 England's Belt and £200 a-side. Within the inner circle congregated 
 representatives of the highest classes in England. I had not the honour 
 of being acquainted with any of them, but I was told that among the 
 lot were to be found high dignitaries of the Church and State, ex Prime 
 Ministers and Cabinet Councillors, Generals and Admirals, while M.P.'s 
 and officers of both services mingled thickly with scores of those who 
 held distinguished positions in the pages of Burke and Dehrett. In 
 fact, never before that memorable morning of April 17, 1860, did 
 an assemblage nearly as numerous, much less aristocratic, stand round 
 a public prize-ring. Anticipating, as everyone did, a great fight, the most 
 sanguine could not have expected to see anything like what was in 
 store for them. 
 
 All being in readiness and the enormous crowd disposed in tolerable 
 order, Tom Sayers appeared, and, chucking his hat before him, was the 
 first to enter the ring. He was attended as seconds by Harry Brunton 
 and Jemmy Welch. Heenan follovred immediately, with Jack 
 Macdonald and his trainer Cusick as attendants. The men had 
 never met before and, after eyeing one another curiously for a few 
 seconds, they advanced and shook hands most cordially, engaging at 
 once in friendly conversation which they continued while the umpires 
 and referee were being chosen. This manly demonstration called forth 
 from all present most tremendous cheering. 
 
 Sayers' colours were the Koyal Standard of old England, while 
 Heenan's were the immortal Stars and Stripes. Heenan won the toss 
 for corners and took that next the sun, whereupon the colours were 
 tied to their respective stakes. 
 
 When the men had stripped and advanced to the centre for the final 
 shake, two specimens of manhood grander developed or in more perfect 
 
327 
 
 condition were never before seen. Tlie contrast as regards height and 
 weight was, however, most remarkable. Tom was within a month of 
 being thirty-four years old, stood 5ft. 8|ins., and weighed lOst. 9lbs., 
 as recorded by Sam Rogers' racing scale in which Johnny Gideon, 
 his backer, weighed the champion two days before. Heeaan, who was 
 exactly eight years younger, towered above him by 4^ins., and scaled 
 just half a pound under 14st. 
 
 There was still further contrast between them. Tom was swarthy as 
 a gipsy, with a hide tough as an otter, every thew and sinew was 
 strung like catgut, while the muscles showed like hempen hawsers. 
 His back and loins were magnificent and his thighs were those of a 
 giant, and Avith his short thick neck, close-cropped head, disfigured 
 face, and agile frame, truly Sayers looked the personification of a prize- 
 fighter. 
 
 Not so Heenan. His skin was white as a woman's, but through 
 it shone muscular development most remarkable, that of the biceps 
 and deltoid being prodigious. His chest and back, broad to a degree, 
 were likewise covered in rolls and flakes, but he had neither the loins 
 nor the legs of Sayers. His neck was also thick but long, while with his 
 well-shaped head covered with curly black hair, and particularly 
 handsome face, he looked a gentleman. Standing forth in the prime 
 of youth with such magnificent bodily development, Heenan presented 
 symmetry perhaps as perfect as was ever seen in a prize-ring. Of a 
 truth he was a model for a sculptor. 
 
 As far as appearance went, and their powers subsequently proved, 
 human art could not turn out men in more perfect condition than were 
 these two gladiators. 
 
 To refresh my memory I have before me BelVs Life^ of April 20, 1860, 
 wherein is given, in most minute detail, the particulars of each round, 
 but I shall not enter upon them further than to summarise generally. 
 
 The fight began precisely at 7.29 a.m., with odds of 2 to 1 on Sayers. 
 
 When the men put up their fists it was seen how much longer was 
 Heenan's reach than Tom's, and that the latter must use all his science 
 and activity to keep beyond it. Notwithstanding which, Tom drew 
 " first blood" in the first round. 
 
 In the second, after some pretty fighting, Heenan caught Sayers, and 
 throwing him heavily fell on top of him. 
 
 In the third Heenan knocked Sayers clean off his legs with a tre- 
 mendous left-hander on the bridge of the nose, which was " first knock 
 down " for Heenan. 
 
 Tom seemed greatly bothered with the sun which shone straight in 
 his eyes, and he was again knocked down in the next round, and odds 
 of 6 to 4 were offered on Heenan, the Sayers' party looking very 
 blue. The fifth round also was all in favour of Heenan, who, although hit 
 hard by Sayers in every round, had not a mark on him, while Tom 
 showed plainly " the Boy's " handiwork. 
 
 In the sixth round, when stopping one of Heenan's tremendous left- 
 
328 
 
 banders, Tom's right arm received its full force, and was dashed against 
 his face. 
 
 ^Yhen coming up for the seventh round it was plain that Tom's right 
 arm was badly hurt, for already had it become swollen. In this round 
 was displayed an amount of skill on the part of Sayers combined with 
 pluck and determination never before exceeded. With his right arm 
 resting across his chest useless, and giving him most excruciating pain, 
 did Sayers fight his man all over the ring. In vain did Heenan strive 
 to get away from Tom or administer another knock down. After him 
 Sayers went, planting shot after shot from his left fist straight on to 
 Heenan's right eye. Three times in this round did Heenan retire to 
 his corner for rubs down, while the gallant champion waited for him 
 in the centre of the ring, getting but one wipe from his sponge. Upon 
 one occasion, when Tom got Heenan into his own corner, he seemed to 
 have the giant at his mercy, and the crowd yelled to him to use " the 
 auctioneer " ; but there it lay disabled. Had this not been the case, 
 Sayers would then have finished the battle, for he never hit a man 
 with the full force of his right arm without knocking him out of time. 
 Not using it in this instance, with Heenan partially demoralised and 
 nearly blind of his right eye, everyone knew that Sayers' arm was 
 broken. This round lasted thirteen minutes, and was all through fast 
 and furious. Odds now veered back to 2 to 1 on Sayers. 
 
 Xo. 8 was a repetition of the former round ; equally magnificent 
 was the fighting, but Tom hit his man nowhere except on the right 
 eye. Heenan, again preferring his corner to the scratch, sought several 
 times the advice and consolation of Jack Macdonald, and upon one 
 occasion, while sitticg on his second's knee, Tom went close up and, after 
 scrutinising the damaged eye, came away satisfied and smilingly 
 informed the spectators that having bunged it up lie would now see 
 what he could do with the other one ! This round was closed after 
 twenty minutes' fighting by Heenan giving poor Tom another clean 
 knock down. 
 
 Both men now showed signs of heavy punishment, Heenan much the 
 worst, while Sayers seemed the weaker and most in want of wind, so 
 much so that in the tenth round Heenan lifted and threw him heavily 
 with the greatest ease. 
 
 The men had then for a few rounds to spar for wind, and neither 
 answered with alacrity the call of " Time." In the thirteenth Heenan 
 again knocked Sayers down. 
 
 Tom was very weak in the fourteenth round and Heenan forced the 
 fighting, but with consummate skill Sayers sparred till he somewhat 
 recovered wind, and then, with extraordinary activity, let fly stinger 
 after stinger on to Heenan's left eye, and both men closing, Tom, amidst 
 tremendous cheering, threw the Benicia Boy and fell on him. 
 
 So matters progressed till the twenty-third round, when a stool was 
 given to Heenan to sit on, but it was ordered out of the ring by the 
 referee as being contrary to the rules. Heenan's hands had now 
 
329 
 
 become much swollen and did not do their work as effectively as before. 
 One hour and eleven minutes had run off at the end of this round, with 
 Heenan favourite at 5 to 4. 
 
 Strange to say, both men recovered wonderfully in the next round or 
 two, so that in the twenty- sixth was desperate fighting ; in the end Tom 
 got down and Heenan by accident struck him. An appeal of " foul" 
 was made, but it was properly overruled. 
 
 The twenty-seventh was also hard fought. All this time Tom con- 
 tinued popping on to Heenan's left eye, which was now fast closing 
 up, the right having gone totally blind long before. He was stronger 
 on his pins but showed far more punishment than Tom, who, wonderful 
 to relate, showed little considering all he had gotten. 
 
 Heenan in the thirty-first round again stuck to his corner and had to 
 be drawn by Tom, who went again to see how the left eye was improving, 
 but another tock dollerger sent the gallant champion for the ninth 
 time heels over head. 
 
 In the next round Tom was very groggy and had to be visited in his 
 corner by the Boy, and after a lot of heavy in-fighting Sayers was again 
 floored. Heenan was now fast getting totally blind, and although 
 stronger than Sayers, unless he could finish the battle within a few 
 minute«, he would be unable to do so. He then forced the fighting 
 while Tom dodged for wind and rest. 
 
 In the thirty-fifth round Heenan so peppered Tom that he turned 
 and ran with Heenan after him, but turning short he landed another 
 stinger on the fast-closing eye. Then followed rapid fighting, when 
 both fell, Tom under. Time up to now exactly two hours. 
 
 Coming up for the thirty-sixth round, the Benicia Boy's face was a 
 si^ectacle to behold, while Tom was very weak. Heenan at once rushed 
 to a close, and catching Tom round the neck tried to get him across the 
 ropes ; but getting free, he slipped down. The police, who had arrived 
 a long time before and had been trying to get to the ring, now made a 
 determined effort to stop the fight, but were again kept back by the 
 crowd. 
 
 For the thirty-seventh and last round Sayers came up first and 
 seemed the better man, while Heenan was almost totally blind ; but 
 catching Tom round the neck he then got him across the ropes, and 
 with all his weight lay across the poor fellow, who, nevertheless, kept 
 pegging into his man. To prevent Sayers being strangled, for he now 
 could not get away, the ropes were cut at exactly 9.35 a.m., after two 
 hours and six minutes' fighting. 
 
 There was immediately a general rush made by the crowd into the 
 ring, and with the police striving to take into custody the men and the 
 seconds, a most furious riot ensued. What in reality took place no one 
 could tell, for everyone was hustled about, while the umpires and 
 referee were chucked clean out. There is, however, no doubt that 
 the combatants got together and fought five more rounds in a small 
 space made for them in the crowd, but there being no referee present, 
 
330 
 
 and he having ordered that the fight should cease when the ropes 
 were cut and the police appeared, the men should have been taken 
 away : no cognisance was therefore taken of these supplementary- 
 rounds. 
 
 Heenan, seeing how matters stood, and that the fight must be 
 declared " a draw," behaved himself, it must be regretfully stated, in a 
 most scandalous manner, and, to quote the words of BelVs Life, "while 
 Sayers was on his second's knee, Heenan rushed at him in an excited 
 state, let fly left and right at Tom's seconds, floored them, and kicked 
 them when on the ground in desperate s*-yle, after which he closed 
 with Sayers, and after a wild rally they fell together." 
 
 The referee was then able to get near and again ordered the men to- 
 desist from fighting. They did so after having added five rounds and 
 fourteen minutes to the authorised termination. Many accounts of 
 this fight give forty-two rounds with two hours and twenty minutes. 
 But what I here state is the/«c^ of the matter. 
 
 That Heenan was comparatively fresh, although terribly punished 
 and almost stone blind, is proved by his having rushed with the crowd 
 and run for some distance with the activity of a deer, immediately 
 after which he lost his sight totally, and collapsing altogether, he had 
 to be lifted bodily up the embankment and into the railway carriage. 
 
 Sayers became quite fresh after a few minutes, while his eyes were 
 as good as ever, and, with the exception of his broken arm, he 
 showed comparatively few signs of the fearful punishment he 
 sustained. 
 
 Upon returning to London, Heenan had to be put to bed, and did 
 not turn up for some days. Sayers, on the contrary, appeared in the 
 evening at one of the fighting pubs — I think at Langham's — and went 
 about London next day apparently as well as ever, but with his arm in 
 splints, hung in a sling, the radius bone having been broken. 
 
 Never in the annals of British prize-fighting was there such a battle as. 
 this ; skill, science, and tact were displayed by both men to a degree 
 perhaps equalled but never surpassed, while each fought with courage 
 and determination to be admired for all time. Manliness and fairness 
 were displayed by both men, and without an attempt at shifting, each 
 gcorned to take a mean advantage. Evidence of this they frequently 
 gave during the fight, for which they were loudly and repeatedly 
 cheered alike by backers of both. 
 
 AVhiie according to each equal share of courage, manliness, and 
 dogged determination to win, there can be no doubt Sayers was the 
 best man. This is abundantly proved by the fact that for thirty- one 
 rounds, occupying just one hour and forty minutes, he, with his left 
 hand and bothered with the sun, fought, until he blinded him, the 
 man who was four inches and a half taller, weighed three stone five 
 pounds more, and was eight years younger. 
 
 Of course it was Heenan's blow broke Sayers' arm ; but that, it cannot 
 be denied, was nothing but a chance blow. If that fluke had not 
 
33 L 
 
 occurred, Sayers most undoubtedly would have beaten Heenan before 
 the tenth round, and in all probability would have done so in the 
 seventh, when he had him so at his mercy in his own corner. 
 
 To see Sayers continually knocked clean oif his legs and sent spin- 
 ning over and over like a rabbit from Heenan's terrific left-handed 
 blows, which he was no less than ten times, was lamentable in the 
 extreme ; to see the gameness with which he picked himself up and 
 retired smiling with good humour to his corner was admirable beyond 
 measure ; and to see what little effect that terrible punishment had 
 upon his tough and wiry frame was simply marvellous. Besides the ten 
 clean knock-downs, Heenan in wrestling and rallies threw Sayers six or 
 seven times, al'ways falling on the little man with all his weight. 
 
 This only shows to what a degree of hardihood the bodily frame of 
 man, when sound and well developed, can be brought by "condition." 
 
 When he found his right arm was broken, Sayers throughout the 
 remainder of the fight strove only to blind Heenan. This he did by 
 beginning v/ith his right eye and never leaving it till he bunged it up, 
 and then until the end directing his attention only to the other. Many 
 times he had to give up grand chances he had at other parts, while 
 Heenan pegged away at any place he could find on Tom. 
 
 It is generally conceded that Jim Mace was the most scientific boxer 
 that ever crossed fists in a ring, and having often seen him spar I 
 readily agree with the decision, but lacking pluck and stamina, he 
 could not for five rounds stand against Sayers. Knowing well Sayers' 
 history, andhowhe fought men so much above him in height and weight, 
 considered as they were the best of their day, never will I believe that 
 a better man was ever stripped than Tom Sayers. 
 
 At the time I felt pleased this great fight ended in a draw, for it 
 would have teen a pity that either of these brave men should have 
 been put in a position to crow over the other. Consistent with fair 
 play— the magnificent and leading trait of British character— Sayers 
 and Heenan were, by the oracles of the P.R., declared equal, and each 
 was presented with a belt, a facsimile of the original champion's. This 
 excellent and admiral arrangement was brought about by Mr. Frank 
 Dowling, the editor of BelVs Life, who, at the Alhambra in London, on 
 May 30, 1860, presented on the part of Great Britain each man with 
 his belt. 
 
 In addition, members of Parliament, the Stock Exchange, and 
 Lloyds, together with London merchants, subscribed for Sayers in 
 recognition of his gallantry, a sum of three thousand pounds. This 
 was invested for him, so that he could only draw the interest during 
 life and dispose of the principal at his death. He then came to 
 live in Camden Town, where, for some time, he stayed at the house of 
 Mr. Menzies, the bootmaker in High Street, and there he died. Poor 
 Tom, like too many other fine fellows, did not possess moral courage 
 equal to the physical, and despite all persuasion he took to drink 
 which hurried him into consumption, and he died on November 8, 1865, 
 
333 
 
 aged only 39^ years. He was buried in Highgate Old Cemetery near 
 the top gate. A massive marble monument, with an excellent likeness 
 of the gallant fellow carved on the front and another of his favourite 
 mastiff at the foot, now marks the resting-place of the greatest prize- 
 fighter that ever lived. Two days ago I hung a wreath of oak leaves 
 over the poor fellow. 
 
 I met Heenan soon after his fight with Sayers and we spent some 
 evenings together. Xo one would ever take him for a prize-fighter 
 unles? they crossed fists with him. He was refined both in manner 
 and taste, while ia figure he was about the most perfect model of 
 a man I ever saw. Some of the old folk of Waterford may still 
 remember the time when he came there with some big travelliog circus, 
 and when " a local amateur " entertaiaed a large audience by putting 
 on the gloves with him in the sawpit. 
 
 He subsequently fought Tom King for the original belt and £1,000 
 a-side on December 8, 18G3, but was defeated in thirty-five minutes 
 after a hard fight of twenty-four rounds. Observing the etiquette of 
 the P.B.A., Sayers seconded Heenan in this fight. Alas ! what a 
 miserable and melancholy remains was he of what he was when the 
 two met but a few years before in the famous Farnborough field. 
 
 Heenan also went into consumption, but I don'c think it was pro- 
 duced from dissipation. When travelling south to a warm climate 
 he was seized with violent hemorrhage at Rawlin Station, in Utah 
 County, on the Union Pacific Railway, where he bled to death in a 
 few minutes on October 25, 1873, aged, by a curious coincidence, 
 exactly the same as Sayers, viz., 39| years. 
 
 I suppose I shall be pitched into by some of my friends for thus 
 describing at such length the prize-fight between Sayers and Heenan. 
 Valuing as I do the good opinion of everyone, I care not if I be. To give 
 an account of a fight such as this, unparalleled as it is in every way for 
 magnanimity, is what I feel pleasure, if not pride, in being able to do. 
 Were I to allude in these pages to other so-called fights, particularly 
 those which have taken place within recent years, I would indeed not 
 alone deserve condemnation but, absolutely, I should disgrace my 
 book. 
 
 The "fights" of the present day with stakes of £2,000 and upwards 
 are more inferior in manliness to the old than are the stakes superior 
 in value. 
 
 Throughout portions of this book, when making comparisons between 
 the past and present, I gave my opinions. Many of them, including 
 what I now say about the old and new system of prize-fighting, will 
 doubtless be traversed by my readers. I shall therefore bring evidence 
 to back me in this case as I did in others. It will be found in the 
 following record of Tom Sayers, by which it will be seen that out of 
 sixteen battles he was beaten only once. He fought three draws, and won 
 outright twelve battles. He won the Belt by his victory over the 
 Tipton Slasher, and had four times to defend it (marked a). Deduct- 
 
333 
 
 ing the defeat and draws, all he netted for fighting 381 rounds, which 
 took fourteen hours, was £1,505, or £125 8s. 4d. a battle ! 
 
 Some of the fellows of the present day, with neither the pluck nor 
 the science of Sayers, would make more money in ten minutes in a 
 glove fight of three rounds ! 
 
 The Battles Fought by Tom Sayers. 
 
 Date. 
 
 Mar. 
 
 19, 
 
 1849 
 
 Oct. 
 
 22, 
 
 1850 
 
 April 29, 
 
 1851 
 
 June 
 
 29, 
 
 1852 
 
 Jan. 
 
 26, 
 
 1853 
 
 Oct. 
 
 18, 
 
 1853 
 
 Feb. 
 
 28, 
 
 1854 
 
 Jan, 
 
 29, 
 
 1856 
 
 Jan. 
 
 6, 
 
 1857 
 
 Feb. 
 
 10, 
 
 1857 
 
 June 
 
 10, 
 
 1857 
 
 Jan. 
 
 5, 
 
 1858 
 
 June 
 
 16, 
 
 1858 
 
 April 
 
 5, 
 
 1859 
 
 Sept. 
 
 20, 
 
 1859 
 
 April 17, 
 
 1860 
 
 Beat Abe Couch 
 
 Draw with Dan Collios 
 
 Beat Dan Collins 
 
 Beat Jack Grant 
 
 Beat Jack Martin 
 
 Beaten by Nat Langhani 
 
 Beat George Sims £50 to 
 
 Beat Harry Poulson 
 
 Draw with Aaron Jones 
 
 Beat Aaron Jones 
 
 Beat William Perry, "The Tip- 
 ton Slasher," for the Belt and 
 
 Beat Bill Benjamin a 
 
 Beat Tom Paddock a 
 
 Beat Bill Benjamin a 
 
 Beat Bob Brettle £600 to 
 
 Draw with John C. Heenan ...a 
 
 Total, sixteen battlts .. 
 Average of each 
 
 Stake. Pi( 
 
 5 
 25 
 25 
 
 100 
 50 
 
 100 
 25 
 50 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 200 
 200 
 150 
 
 200 
 400 
 
 200 
 
 Time. 
 
 1930 
 120 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 11 
 
 48 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 44 
 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 04 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 23 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 61 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 109 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 63 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 85 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 h. m. s. 
 12 28 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 590 
 37 
 
 42 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 15 
 2 6 
 
 23 26 58 
 
 1 28 
 
334 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 BETTING. 
 
 Author's Object in Writing Tliis B )ok— A Parasite— Antithesis of Sport— Birth of Betting- 
 Early History— As Time Advanced— Bookmaking Born— The Upper Ten— Method 
 Changed— The Patricians— " The Betting Ring "—Gambling on Cocks ani Cards— 
 — The Professional Bookmaker— Crockford— Gully— Davies— The Derby— Greatest 
 Betting Race — Great Bettors— Leviathan Bets— Miserable Examples— Betting Lists— 
 Origin— Race Meetings Increased — So Did Backers and Bookies— Bett'ng in the 
 Abstract— Universality— Infatuated People— Unreliable Tips—" In the Know "—Odds 
 Against— Sure to Lose— Lofty Principles— Author Often Made a Book —Always Won 
 — A Trainer's OpinioQ— That of Shop Boys— T/ieiV Fancies !— Great Fun— " Romped 
 Home"— Criticism— A Knowing Shot's Opinion of the Hardwicke Stakes, 1887— 
 Pitiable Sight— Heads or Tails— Simpletons— Paying Bookmakers Beforehand— The 
 Bishop of Durham— Author's Enjoyment on a Racecourse— Bookmakers— Author 
 takesTheirPart— "The Noble Army " v. Other Communities— Insurance Companies 
 —A Simile — " Lloyd« " v. " Tattersall's "—Downs and Ups— Great Changes— Equality 
 — UltimateResult— Money —Betting the Socialist's Ally— Magnitude of Exchange- 
 Difficulty in Dealing with Betting — Certain Result— Impregnates other Branches of 
 Sport— How to Deal With It— Make it Lawful— Existing Laws— Stock Exchange v. 
 Tattersall's— Horses v. Bulls and Bears— A Gruesome Story, 
 
 I HAVE striven through the various chapters of this book to deal 
 with sport, or what pertains thereto, as best as I could towards its 
 advancement. I now come to treat of a subject which partakes of the 
 nature of a parasite of sport ; in fact, betting must be looked upon as 
 the very antithesis of sport. 
 
 Neither the birthplace of betting nor the date of its birth do I 
 know. Assuredly when horse racing was first introduced to England 
 it was uoboro, for in the early history of the Turf no mention is made of 
 it. After awhile, howe^^er, we d) find records of wagerS; but they 
 seem to have been confined to the owners of the horses and their 
 immediate friends or followers. Most of the races in olden times were 
 matches, the'efore the wagering had to be confined to backing one 
 horse against the other, so there could have been no bookmaking. 
 
 As time advanced a change took place in racing, and consequently in 
 th3 wagering ; numbers of horses being started, bookmaking came into 
 creation, but the practice, as well as backing, was followed only by the 
 Upper Ten. 
 
 It was the custom of these patricians of old to congregate on the 
 morning of the race meeting either in the town, near the course, or on 
 the course itself, and there make their Ijets among themselves. This 
 they did by forming a ring, to the centre of which he who wished to 
 wager advanced and proclaimed whatever bets he wished to offer or 
 to accept. Hence comes the word " Betting ring, " so very well known 
 at present. 
 
335 
 
 In these old times large sums were also betted upon cock-fighting. Lord 
 Derby's " black-reds " would be matched against the " Cheshire piles " 
 for enormous amounts. Five-and-twenty guineas a battle, with five 
 hundred on the main, was a stake often fought for in the Chester and 
 Preston Pits. On one occasion, as is recorded in the previous chapter, 
 the stakes were a thousand a battle and five thousand the main. As in 
 racing, betting on cocks was restricted to the upper classes. 
 
 Gambling over cards also took place to a fearful extent, as the early 
 minutes of " Brooks's " and " White's " record. It is related of the cele- 
 brated Henry Mellish that after having lost £100,000 one night at 
 hazard he was going home, but met one of the Royal Dukes who 
 persuaded him to return and see if luck would change. It did 
 change, whereby he won back what he had lost, and, in addition, a 
 great deal more than £100,000 from H.K.H. This debt was squared 
 by settling on Colonel Mellish for life ^£4,000 a year. Fancy what the 
 play must have been to have enabled a man in one night to lose 
 ^100,000 and then win over ^200,000 ! 
 
 In due time the professional bookmaker made his appearance on 
 the racecourse, but I can't fix the date of his advent. I should say 
 Crockford was one of the first ; at all events, a hundred years ago 
 he was a bookmaker, and of the greatest magnitude. He afterwards 
 started a gambling club in St. James' Street, where the Devonshire 
 Club now stands. In this place numbers of the finest fellows in 
 England were ruined, while the owner amassed a tremendous fortune. 
 This fiend, hideous in body as in mind, was dubbed *' the father of hell 
 and hazard," a title which, by infernal right, was truly his own. 
 
 Then came John Gully ; then William Davies, called the " Levia- 
 than," from the magnitude of his transactions, and numbers of others. 
 With them the upper classes gambled to a fabulous extent, and 
 wagered sums now happily unknown. 
 
 From an authority of the day I learn that in 1810 John Gully, who 
 essayed to be champion of England, began as a bookmaker. This he 
 did with a capital of three or four hundred pounds, which he won in 
 his last battle with Gregson. Gully, in a very short time, made a lot of 
 money upon bookmaking and became the owner of several racehorses. 
 For nearly forty years he was among the most prominent men on the 
 Turf, and was one of the heaviest bettors. This quondam pugilist 
 died with a racing reputation which any patrician might be proud of. 
 
 As far back as 1823 the Derby was a race upon which tremendous 
 sums of money were laid out, and from then up to even now it has 
 remained the heaviest betting race in the world. 
 
 We have chronicled among the heaviest bettors of their day such 
 men as the Duke of Queensberry, Colonel Mellish, Lord Foley, Sir 
 Charles Bunbury, Lord George Bentinck, Sir Joseph Hawley, Mr. 
 James Merry, Mr. R. C. Naylor, the Marquis of Hastings, and Mr. 
 Henry Chaplin. For these men, and scores of others, to lose or win on 
 a single race £10,000 to £50,000 was by no means uncommon. 
 
33() 
 
 To illustrate some operations which took place, Davies, in two 
 bets, lost £55,000 to £1,000 over Daniel O'Rourke, £30,000 to £2,000 
 in one bet over Teddington, and £25,000 to £1,000 over West Australian. 
 But this was when winter and yearling books were made on the Derby, 
 and long before post and starting-price betting was thought of. This 
 same Davies lost over the Derby several thousand pounds to a man 
 who died suddenly after the race, but Davies found out his widow 
 and paid the amount to her, which she was very much in need of. In 
 acting so Davies did only what any honourable man would have done, 
 and what scores of the " noble army '' of present-day bookmakers would 
 do, for among them are many possessed of the highest principles of 
 honour. Like Guliy he sprang from very low origin and left after 
 him an honourable reputation. 
 
 So far as figures go, the largest stake ever won by a man is accorded 
 to Mr. Chaplin over Hermit. His account is said to have shown a 
 credit balance of something like £150,000, but a considerable part of it 
 was on paper, and is owing to this day. The person who won the most 
 money, and got it, was Mr. Naylor, who had over £100,000 paid in to his 
 bankers the week after Macaroni won the Derby. Mr. Merry is popu- 
 larly supposed to have won upwards of £100,000 over Thcrmanby, but 
 those in a position to form a proper judgment believe the sum did not 
 exceed £70,000, which is about what Sir Joseph Hawley won on 
 Teddington, and also on Musjid. Next to these probably comes the 
 Marquis of Hastings' coup over Lecturer's Cesarewitch, which was put 
 down at some £60,000, w^hile the owner, trainer, and two stable com- 
 missioners netted between them £47,000. His winnings over Lecturer 
 did not benefit the youthful marquis much, for by backing Vauban 
 and lajing against Hermit in the next year's Derby he lost £95,000, 
 and the year following, in the same race, his own mare. Lady Elizabeth, 
 lost him £80,000. 
 
 Lord George Bentinck's transactions with the "Ring were of a magni- 
 tude as gigantic as was ever chronicled. Unluckily for himself the 
 losses far exceeded the winnings, and had he gone on it is highly 
 probable his financial end would have been similar to that of the unfortu- 
 nate owner of The Earl and Lady Elizabeth. It is said that he went 
 in for breaking the bookmakers. I thiok it likely his lordship did 
 nothing of the sort, but if he ever entertained the idea he went about 
 it in an honourable straightforward manner. He stood to w^in £160,000 
 on his horse Gaper for the Derby of 1843, but Bill Scott on Cotherstone 
 frustrated the object. 
 
 A man named Walton came to England from America in about 1881, 
 and through disreputable means got possession of stable secrets by which 
 he won large sums. £75,000 was put down as his winnings over Foxhall 
 and Iroquois in the Cesarewitch, Cambridgeshire, and St. Leger. This 
 fellow wished and tried to break the Ring, but I am happy to say it 
 broke him. 
 
 Like breaking the bank at Monte Carlo, to break the Ring is easier 
 
337 
 
 talked about than accomplished. No one has ever broken either the 
 bankers or the bookmakers, while they have broken and beggared 
 thousands upon thousands of people. The Ricg had an escape, how- 
 ever, in 1852, for had Hobbie Nobh won that year's Derby, Mr. Merry 
 would have hit it for the greatest amount that man ever won over a 
 horse. I heard the sum estimated at nearly a quarter of a million of 
 money, but I don't vouch for the accuracy. At all events, instead 
 of winning, he lost a sum which no one but a millionaire like him could 
 afford, and which, goicg to the Ring, made it all the more invulnerable. 
 
 For one man that makes money by backing horses at least one 
 hundred lose. Thousands of instances have we of members of some of 
 the oldest families in England, not to speak of parvenus, ruining them- 
 selves through betting. Happily, however, most of them did so without 
 dishonour, and many are to be pitied for their folly and — shall I say 
 it ?— bad luck. 
 
 We Irish are not, as a rule, credited with having more wisdom and 
 discretion than the English, albeit I can recall to memory only two of 
 my countrymer, who moved in the best society, having come to utter 
 grief through gambling on horses within the past thirty years ; yet it 
 cannot be said that we have been backward in the game of betting. 
 Proud also am I to be able to state that during that time an Irishman 
 of position has never been accused, much less found guilty, of dis- 
 honourable conduct on our Turf. 
 
 The fashion as well as the method of betting has, like other things, 
 undergone changes for the worse within the last half century. 
 
 In the beginning of the sixties race meetings began to increase and 
 multiply in England. At that time first came out betting lists, while 
 Holt and Crook, also Reynolds and Fisher were those who first circulated 
 them. These documents were sent broadcast all over the country 
 and were got up in a most comprehensive manner, quite as much so 
 as were the circulars which emanated from the most precise of business 
 firms. To these lists I attribute the first conception of betting in the 
 minds of the middle classes. Up to their appearance betting was 
 restricted to the upper and wealthy classes ; the others scarcely knew 
 of any races beyond the great events, but the^e and such like catalogues 
 soon enlightened them and sowed the seeds of bitter fruit, for immedi- 
 ately began the middle and poorer classes to back horses. 
 
 With the Derby and other classic races the newly-started meetings 
 shared the patronage of the betting public. Race meetings still 
 continued to increase, with them increased the backer.-^, and to meet 
 their requirements the ranks of the bookmakers were proportionately 
 added to. Thus progressed matters till within the last ten or fiftten 
 years backing horses has become part and parcel of the daily occupation 
 of the greater portion of our population. 
 
 There is scarcely an establishment in the kingdom, from Somerset 
 House down to that of the humblest trader, which has not in it employees 
 who habitually back horses, not alone for the principal, but for the 
 
 z 
 
338 
 
 minor events of the year. These men indulge their taste for betting 
 without the slightest knowledge of the horse they put their money on ; 
 they know absolutely nothing about him, but act on the "tip" they get 
 from a friend, perhaps as ignorant as themselves, or from those 
 " selections " seductively given in almost all the daily as well as all the 
 sporting papers. These infatuated people are, as a rule, innocent of 
 every sense or love of the sport on which they risk their bard-earned 
 pay, and only take to the vice of betting for the sake of gambling or to 
 supplement their salaries, which are, too often, scant. It is to this 
 betting and to its twin brother, stock- jobbing, that many a man who 
 was naturally honest and honourable has to attribute his downfall. 
 
 Of course there is no harm in a man backing his fancy according to 
 his means to give him an interest in the race, particularly when he 
 would have none in it from a sportsman's view ; and it is very produc- 
 tive of innocent excitement to have a friendly bet for a trifle with a 
 companion while seeing the race run. Neither is there much harm 
 in having a little on something for the great races, such as the Grand 
 National, Derby, or St. Leger. But what I do object to is the all-round 
 betting for the pure love of gambling by men who can't afford to lose 
 the stakes they put on ; and it is to them, and them alone, I wish to 
 give the steel ! 
 
 Some men take from the betting ring the same pleasure as others do 
 from the theatre and the opera. Therefore let them indulge their 
 propensity, but keep within bounds, and spend on betting only what 
 they can afford, same as the others do upon the drama and music. 
 
 It is all very well for those who can afford to lose, and have the 
 mania for gambling, to bet heavily, for it is about the most practical 
 way for them to part with the money they so little value ; but it is 
 dreadful to think of the many thousands who, unable to afford to lose, 
 back horses, every one of whom lose sooner or later. 
 
 What do these fellows know about a horse 1 What can they know 
 about the intentions of a rider or an owner in respect to any given 
 race 1 Certainly they are always well posted in the previous perform- 
 ances of the horse— thanks to the records of "Ruff," their constant vade 
 niecum. But without the essentials of practical knowledge they risk 
 their money upon unreliable tips of one sort or another. 
 
 A man who is "in the know," and is sufficiently sagacious, may 
 occasionally win money by judiciously backing horses even though the 
 odds are immensely in favour of the layer, but the outsider cannot ; on 
 the contrary, he is bound to lose, and so is the man "in the know " if he 
 only sticks to it. Even with sagacity and a know^ledge of what is 
 "intended," and all else that maybe in the backer's favour, there are so 
 very many more chances against his favourite winning, not to speak 
 of squaring, roping, and scores of other means of robbery, together 
 with unfair odds given, at times, by bookmakers, that backing horses 
 is about the most certain method of losing money at present invented. 
 Though a man has the funds of a millionaire at his back he will lose all 
 if he backs horses heavily and habitually. 
 
339 
 
 Let not the reader imagine that it is from the standpoint of lofty 
 principles I write against backing horses ; for if 1 thought I could 
 win I would do it myself. But I know I cannot, therefore T do 
 not, and during the many years I have been going to races I never 
 backed twenty horses in them all. I only made one bet at Punchey- 
 town during the thirty-two years I have ben going to it, and then 
 I won £7 on Pa'^sion Flower with Mick Widger up. When I was 
 a youngster I often made a book in a Fmall way among friends ; 
 and though I had few backers and could seldom get "round," 1 
 always found myself a winner at the end of the year. This perhaps 
 first showed me the folly of backing horses, and the experience of 
 years since has confirmed me in the opinion that it is folly. 
 
 As I said elsewhere, one of the greatest trainers in England, knowing 
 as he did the uncertainty of racing, allowed a great portion of his horses 
 to run unbacked by him, and that in the face of the fact that he seldom 
 ran a horse that had not a reasonable chance of winning. 
 
 Now, when a man in the position of him to whom I have alluded, 
 possessing as he did good knowledge of the horses which were engaged 
 against his in a race, and knowing all about the capabilities of his 
 own, considered it to be a losing game to back horses, how in tbe 
 name of wonder can the general public imagine that they can m^ke 
 money by the process? Still, we hear bank and insurance clerks, 
 draper's assistants, grocer's counter-hands, aye, even the very newsbovs 
 in the streets, giving their opinions of horses and backing their fancies. 
 Their fancies ! At the same time I mu^t confess that I have had great 
 fun listening to some of these fellows talking to each other on a race- 
 course and elsewhere. One chap having landed three or four sovereigns, 
 after dropping twenty on the day, jubilantly assures his hearers that his 
 selecti m "simply romped home," the fact being that he had won by a 
 short head, and entirely owing to jockeyship. 
 
 Wifh nothing else to do I have also listened to these simpletons 
 critici-ing this jockey for making the running, and another for lying 
 too tar away, they being as (jualitied to give an opinion on what they 
 were talking about as they were of giving a practical lesson to the 
 jockeys. It is pitiable that these men should be so egnti'^tical, although 
 hugely amusing to hear them display their ignorance with such 
 confident effrontery. 
 
 In the lailway carriages en route to the meeting are these fellows 
 marking their cards with the " winners " (?) given by the daily papers, 
 every one of which these boobies back, and often two or three in the 
 one race. Arrived within the enclosure nothing is heard among them 
 except the question, " What's to win ? " To look a horse over much less 
 walk the course never enters their heads, nor would they look at the 
 race if doing iro would in the least degree interfere with their betting 
 operations. This is very, very sad. 
 
 We hear funny opinions given upon racing by others besides the 
 shop-boy lot. A man who considers himself a good judge of racirg 
 
340 
 
 and a "knowing shot" said to me, not long ago, that Ormonde beat 
 Minting for the Hardwicke Stakes at Ascot "in a walk," and when 
 I laughed at him he pompously informed me that he saw the race, and 
 that I did not. Upon this Juggins' dictum I wa^ therefore to assume 
 that Fred Archer was wrong when he said that the only horse in 
 England able to stretch Ormonde's neck was Mirjting, and that the 
 Hardwicke Stakes at Ascot, in 1887, was not entitled to be enrolled 
 among the greatest races of the century ! 
 
 Such are examples of the nonsecse we hear from scores of people on 
 every racecour.-e in the kingdom. 
 
 How pitiable it is to see scores of these infatuated young men shelling 
 out, with long-drawn faces, the sovereigns they can so badly spare, and 
 nearly as pitiable is it to see those few who do win a trifle pocketing 
 their gains. 
 
 Yes, the winner over horse racing is almost as much to be pitied as the 
 loser, for the winnings are seldom put to good account, nor are they 
 usually reserved to meet the losings. As soon as a young fellow has 
 had what he calls a " good day " he proceeds to tr^at his friends, and so 
 scatters most, if not all his winnings, thus annihilatmij the only means 
 he has of recouping his losses, and shows conclusively that " heads " he 
 loses and " tails " he does not win. 
 
 Again, what simpletons some of these young fellows exhibit them- 
 selves to be when, to a man they never saw before and know nothing 
 about, because he is a bookmaker, they pay their stake beforehand. 
 Surely when they have lost the bet is time enough for them to pay. 
 The bookmaker does not pay before he loses. Why, then, should 
 the, backer do so ? 
 
 To borrow some of the phraseology employed by the Bishop of 
 Durham wht-n he, not long ago, delivered a lecture iu condemnation of 
 this horrible vi e, I will say that betting to the extent it is at present 
 practised disturbs and dl^credits honourable, resolute and patient 
 labour, and tends to encourage recklessness. It isola-es, hard«-ns, and 
 deadens sympathy, and it destroj^s alike social life aud domestic happi- 
 ness. Betting is the embodiment of selfishness, and selfishness is the 
 essence of sin, and, with his lordship, I feel convinced that gambling is 
 hecomiwi a naticmal peril. 
 
 I don't care for any sort of gambling. I don't want to possess 
 myself of ether people's money, nor do I want others to get mine ; but 
 I do dearly love to look at a good and well-ridden race. My chief 
 enjoyment at a race meeting is first to inspect the cour.-e, then to look 
 over as many hor.-es in the paddock as I can get the chance of, 
 and therefrom to pick out the one I fancy most. If be pleases me 
 in his preliminary gallop I watch him through the race, and by the 
 manner in which he acquits himself I flatter, or nor, myself upon 
 the judgment I showed in selecting him. As a rule it is a matter of 
 perfect indiff'-.rence to me which horse wins other thun the one I select 
 myself, unless a fii^nd of mine rides or has a horse engaged. All I 
 
341 
 
 want is to see the best horse win, and that after a good race, each horse 
 having been ridden out in artistic style. 
 
 Among some peoMle it is at times the habit to speak of bookmakers 
 in a hard and disparaging manner. To best a bookie is considered a 
 fair game by a gre^t many men ; to send him an excuse on a 
 settling day for n<jt piying punctually what is owed him is by no 
 means unusual, while the bad debts in the books of most pencillers 
 total a large amount, and among the list are to be found the names of 
 men of noble as well as gentle birth. 
 
 Although never a bettiog man I have, all my lifp, associated with 
 men who bet, and that heavily. From my observation I am led to the 
 ■decided opinion that a bookmaker to start fair with his clientele must 
 at all times keep his weather eye open. The backer strives to get 6 
 to 4 the best of the layer, and it behoves the lat.er to see that the 
 object be not attaiaed. Among the "fraternity" are to be found men, 
 if not as cultured in manners or as well bred, quite as honourable, fine 
 principled, and geoerous as ?.re to be found among the classes they lay 
 the odds to ; whil ^ among the first and second class bookmakers an 
 account is never left for a day unsettled. I am of opinion that the 
 members of Tattersali's are as a body quite as honourable in their 
 dealings as are the members of the Stock Exchang-:} or the Law, the 
 Banking or Insurance Societies, aye, or of any other commercial 
 community. 
 
 By the way, has it struck any of my readers that insurance 
 companies aie, to all intents and purposes, bookmakers 1 They lay the 
 odds against a man dying or having his property burned. Those who 
 insure simply back themselves to die or their property to be tired 
 within a given period. Furthermore, if a risk upon any given life or 
 property be consid^-red too great — in other wordn, that the insurance 
 company has laid too heavily against it — it will cover itself with 
 other companies precisely as bookmakers lay-oft" or hedge their bets 
 upon too heavily laid horses. 
 
 Among the directorate and managers of various insurance companies 
 I have many old and valued friends, some of whom look up'U betting 
 in quite as bad a light as I do, so I tiust their feelings may not be 
 hurt by the simile I have just drawn. However, if they analyse the 
 vocation of the bookmaker and compare it with their own they cannot fail 
 to see that I am right. What is "Lloyds" to the s-a bat as "'TattersalFs" 
 to the Turf 1 Are not the Sun, the Scottish Widows, and the Globe of 
 assurance the Silk, Kavanagh, and O'Connor of the King ? 
 
 We see every day of our lives great men falling, .small men rising. 
 The gulf which twenty years ago separated the aristocracy from the 
 middle classes has now become but a stream. Aye, a stream which in 
 many places can be stepped across. 
 
 The lower classes are acquiring through advanced education exalted 
 ideas, and having acquired wages for their labour which their grand- 
 fathers never dreamt of are fast raising themselves to the level of the 
 
342 
 
 old middle classes. Other and many instances there are before us 
 of similar lowering down and rising up. Signs arouad us show plainly, 
 to all who are not blind through bigotry, that a gradual but steady 
 advancement is being mady towards ''equality," and anyone possessed 
 of ordinary mental ca])acity can gauge what the ultimate result of 
 that will be. 
 
 The main root of all this radical growth and these latter-day ideas is 
 MONEY. We all agree that there is no means more conducive to the 
 attainment of socialism than the circulation of money, and the quicker 
 the process of course the sooner will come the great equali.-ati'>D. 
 
 Betting on horse racing causes a larger amount of money to be 
 circulated than does some oi the greatest branches of trade we nave in 
 the kingdom, and it is the readiest means under the sun for circulating 
 money. 
 
 Betting, therefore, is about the greatest ally the communist possesses ! ! 
 
 How to deal with this terrible malady — this pestilence— I know not. 
 Legislation has failed even to infiuence betting, not to speak of con- 
 trolling it ; all other means have been equally unsuccessful. Yes, 
 even the experience reaped, as it is in bitterness, does not influence 
 the backer of horses, he still persists in his downward course. Not 
 alone does the habit bring ruin upon thousands, but assuredly a c m- 
 tinuance of it iu its present magnitude will before long thoroughly 
 demoralise the sport of racing. Of late years betting has become a 
 feature of not alone racing, but of nearly every one of our games and 
 pastimes. Football, cricket, boat-racing, all are impregnated with the 
 same horrible adulteration. 
 
 Perhaps the only means whereby a check at all appreciable could be 
 brought to bear upon the vice would be for employers to insist that 
 those in their service should, v.ncW pain of dismissal, refrain from the 
 propensity. 
 
 Inasmuch as it is impossible for legislation to suppress betting, perhaps 
 it ^YOuld be wiser for the authorities to open their eyes to the fact and 
 frame laws to govern it, and so admit it into the company of other 
 iniquitous institutions of the country. 
 
 Lender the circumstance of betting being kept outside the pale, our 
 legislators have, I think, done pretty nearly all they could to carrail it 
 and lessen the evils ; assuredly they have done a lot towards harassing 
 those who bet. Some of the laws, however, appear very absurd. 
 
 A man may bet in thousands on a racecourse so long as he stands on 
 the ground in the open air ; but if he stands on a stool or holds an 
 umbrrlla over him he can be had up. 
 
 In drawing the line between betting in a social club and a public- 
 house the authorities are accused of making one law for the rich and 
 anotaer for the poor. They certainly have done so in this case, but 
 very properly. Their object manifestly is to protect the poorer meoibers^ 
 of society and prevent them from engaging in the pernicious practice. 
 Likewise is it right and proper to make raids upon houses notoriously 
 
343 
 
 kept for the poor people to bet in. These dens of iniquity are all well 
 known to the police, and every one of them should be swept from out 
 of our cities the same as any other abominable matter. 
 
 Iniquitous as gambling on horses undoubtedly is, compared with 
 transactions on the Stock Exchange those on the Turf stand far away 
 higher in the standard righteousness. No bogus race meetings are 
 floated at Tattersall's. No owner enters to be started a horse which 
 he has no right to, not to speak of one which never was foaled and 
 never will be. To peruse the list of a bookmaker we see in it none 
 but horses which are in existence, and which have some sort of 
 chance to win, while the prices set opposite them are bond fide. 
 Do we ever find emanating from the Stock Exchange such affairs as 
 " bogus companies " ? Do we ever know of brokers buying and selling 
 shares which are not, and never were, in their possession — aye, perhaps, 
 never in existence ? 
 
 Comparisons, however, are odious, and two blacks do not make one 
 white ; I shall therefore leave to others to deal with gambling on the 
 Stock Exchange. I allude to it only to show that, at all events, we get 
 a fairer run for our money by backing horses than by backing bulls 
 and bears. 
 
 I wind up this chapter by relating a gruesome story told some years 
 ago, the truth of which I have no reason to doubt. A young man 
 employed in a Dublin place of business had, through betting, got into 
 extreme difficulties, but determined upon a venture in the hope of 
 extricating himself. He made a book on the Curraghmore Hunt 
 Plate of 1874, for which he backed Scot's Grey for all he could get on, 
 and laid against everything else, particularly a mare named Departure. 
 He saw the race run at Williamstown, and thought, as everybody else 
 did, that Departure had won ; but the judge awarded it to Scot's Grey 
 by a short head. The man I allude to was never heard of afterwards. 
 The conjecture was that directly the race was over, and before the 
 numbers were hoisted, he, thinking he had lost everything, bolted, 
 and as he never turned up to claim his bets, all of vjhicli he had ivon^ 
 it was supposed that he had drowned himself in the river Suir ! ! 
 
344 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 HYGIENIC PmNCIPLES. 
 
 Prevention better than Cure— Author's Eules— Sleep— Second Deatli— £03-3 will be Boj's — 
 A Curious Calculation — A Cold Bath— Author's Experience of Drowning — Dumb- 
 bells — Eating and Drinking — Bad Outside — Best Inside— Advice — Smoking — Cigar- 
 ettes — Juvenile Smoking — Inductive Philosophy — Wine and Whisky v. Meat — 
 Fashionable Cooking— Author's Ideas — A Modern Dinner — To keep Meat— Professed 
 Cooks — Their Incapabilities — Their Capabilities— Good Plain Cooking v. Professed — 
 Out of Season — Eat too often — 9.0 a.m. — 7.0 p.m. — Exceptions — Kound-of-Beef Break- 
 fast—A Cirte— What an Eminent Doctor said— Digestive Organs— Their Work— Day 
 Drinking— After Dinner — The Author — His Peculiarities — Likes and Dislikes — A 
 Pernicious Habit — Its Origin — Good Old Custom — Dr. Abernethy — His Practical 
 Illustration— Hints by the Author— " Hignorance is Bliss"— A Mutton Hash— Sleep- 
 ing Hours — Fresli Air — Night A'r— The North— Exercise — Dumb-bells again — A 
 Rough-up— Same Age and Weight— Boxing— Foot Beagles— A " Night-cap" v. Fresh 
 Air — Clothing— Warm v. Heavy — Texture — The Sailor's Opinion — Banting — Weight — 
 What to Bat— What to Drink— What not to— Verb. Sap.— A very bad Habit— Go:d 
 Proportions — In a Nutshell — A Homily on Rheumatism. 
 
 To engage in field sports, not to speak of to follow them energetically, 
 a man must be possessed of fairly good health and be in pretty hard con- 
 dition. I shall, therefore, give a short treatise upon hygienic principles, 
 and as I followed pretty nearly the rules I advocate in the following 
 pages and had not to fee a doctor from boyhood for anything except 
 accidents until I approached the "nasty half hundred," they may 
 perhaps be considered worth mentioning. 
 
 As a rule men eat, drink, and sleep too much, and don't take enough 
 exercise. 
 
 Xow, in my younger days I looked upon sleep as a second death, 
 during which all the pleasures of life are, so to speak, dead — conse- 
 quently I spent as little time in bed as possible. I am afraid, however, 
 that in addition to getting up early I often went to bed late 1 Boys 
 will be boys, and having a good constitution it did me no harm, and I 
 had lots of fun at the old Waterford club which I could not have 
 asleep in bed. 
 
 Most men require their eight hours' sleep and can't do without that 
 complement. Many, however, do very well with six hours, and they 
 in ten years have lived 7,300 hours more than the fellows who have 
 slept eight hours. That is just ten months, but as the whole time will 
 be spent awahe it is in reality equal to one year and eight months of 
 extra life. If my six hour friend does not enjoy and improve himself 
 during that time more than the eight hour chap he is not, in my 
 opinion, much of a fellow ! 
 
 A cold bath every morning, I need not say, is indispensable to 
 thoroughly good health, but in very cold weather the water should be 
 
345 
 
 brought to the temperature it is in at ordinary times. The shock of 
 icy cold water is very bad, and though a fine hardy young man may 
 enjoy it for years, it most assuredly lays the basis for rheumatics in 
 his after life. 
 
 Before getting into a cold water bath a man should wet his head 
 so as to prevent an effusion of blood thereto. This is all the more 
 essential in the case of full-blooded men. 
 
 Let me, while this hardy fellow is having his bath, relate what 
 happened once to me. I was dressing in a hotel in Dublin many years 
 ago, and was in a great hurry as I had to meet the Meath Hounds 
 fifteen miles off, and I was very late. The bath in the bath-room being 
 of stone had an obtuse-angular bottom, so that the sides slanted down- 
 wards, unlike a metal bath which has the sides and bottom hollowed 
 out. Well, as is my custom I stretched full length, but doing so 
 hurriedly and with more than ordinary force, my shoulders got 
 completely wedged in between the sides of the bath, and there I was 
 absolutely drowning with about an inch of w^ater over my nose. It 
 was only after a life or death struggle that I got myself extricated from 
 this most ludicrous but at the same time unpleasant yz\i'. People talk 
 of drowning as being a pleasant death. After having had two 
 rehearsals, hosh say I as far as the first part of the play goes ! 
 
 Let us now return to the poor fellow we left in the other bath, with- 
 out, perhaps, having reduced its temperature from forty degrees of 
 Fahrenheit ! After a good rub dow'n with a rough towel, and five or ten 
 minutes devoted to the vigorous use of 71b. dumb-bells, he should feel 
 warm enough. 
 
 Hot or even tepid baths are enervating and should not be indulged 
 in by hardy fellows except under peculiar circumstances. 
 
 Be it in the sea, bath, or basin, the eyes, when under water, should 
 be kept open, the action of the water being most beneficial to them. 
 
 We all know that eating and drinking are the most important matters 
 a man has to consider if he wants to keep in good health and the fair 
 condition requisite for the enjoyment of field sports or any other 
 occupation he may have. I am quite confident that half the disorders 
 men are subject to are caused by improper use of "the table." 
 
 Everything we eat, drink, and smoke should be of the best quality ; 
 one may wear cheap and bad clothes, but what goes inside should be 
 the best. As a rule men order the best meat and pay the highest price 
 for it ; not so their liquor, cigars and tobacco. They ofttimes strive to 
 get the best at the lowest price and deceive themselves by imagining 
 they succeed. If a man cannot afford to pay for good wane, let him 
 drink the best whisky ; if he can't afford that let him take to the best 
 ale or porter ; and if he can't afford them, let him have the best milk or 
 spring water. 
 
 Smoking should be dealt with in the same way. It is a much better 
 plan to smoke the best and purest tobacco from an honest pipe than to 
 impregnate the system with fumes which come from indifferent 
 
346 
 
 cigars, and most assuredly a good cigar can't be bought at as low price 
 as the best loose tobacco. As to cigarettes, no matter of how good 
 quality, I am sure they are in this country very injurious to anyone who 
 smokes them. In hot countries it may be different. 
 
 That smoking in any form is bad for youths goes without saying, and 
 as I have just read in the Liverpool Echo an article, portion of which, 
 if written specially for this page of my book, could not be more appro- 
 priate, I shall reproduce it. 
 
 "There is no doubt that juvenile smoking is very largely on the increase. 
 The too early adoption of the use of tobacco is recognised by all 
 authorities as a most pernicious evil, stunting both frame and intellect, 
 and cramping the moral no less than the mental and physical develop- 
 ment. Yet, especially since the introduction and wide extension of cigar- 
 ette smoking, itself the most injurious, because most insidious form of 
 tobacco smoking, boys of immature years have taken to the habit with 
 an avidity unknown when the terrible ordeal of the first pipe had to be 
 passed before the practice could be reduced to a habit. The first 
 cigarette has no terrors for a fairly strong stomach, and consequently 
 it is fearlessly indulged in, and it carries no warning against the 
 consequences of future excess. What the result of this injuriously 
 early indulgence in the tobacco habit upon the physical growth and 
 intellectual development of the country may be, the next halt-century 
 will probably show; but if we may judge from its present tendency it is 
 not unlikely that the nervous dyspepsia which is so prominent a feature 
 of the present generation will be greatly intensified, unless a more 
 healthy and manly tone can be cultivated amongst the growing youth 
 of the nation." 
 
 I would add to the above truthful exposition that a law should be 
 introduc<^d prohibiting the sale of tobacco in any form to youths, and 
 that anyone under the age of eighteen found smoking should be 
 prosecuted. 
 
 I think it was Lord Macaulay who said that " inductive philosophy " 
 was to eat what agrees wuth you and not to eat what disagrees. 
 
 Although best be the quality of our meat, in the cooking is harm 
 often done. Meat plainly roast, boiled, or broiled, with an occasional 
 well-made hash, is decidedly the most wholesome food. Dinners with 
 numerous made-dishes served up with all sorts of sauces and flavouring 
 till not a trace of the natural taste of the meat is left are the source 
 of gout, " liver " indigestion, and a hundred other ailments. Besides, 
 they enervate a man. Xor do I think the present system of large 
 fashionable dinner-parties is rational. A lot of entrees are handed 
 round, one in particular a man might like to have more of than the 
 small portion he has taken, but he does not get the chance. Then, 
 again, game, the most delicious food of all, is kept until the end of the 
 dinner, when men's appetites have been nearly satisfied. 
 
 My idea of a good dinner is to have few courses, each of the best, and 
 cooked in plain fashion. Soup, fish, one meat, vegetables, one sweet 
 
347 
 
 or savoury, sakd and cheese, with plenty of fresh fruit after, ought 
 to suffice most men. I would have a total change every day, and no 
 matter how partial a man might be to a certain dish, he should not 
 have it of tener than once in eight or ten days, so that when it comes to 
 table he might be able to enjoy it with all the more relish. Instead of 
 getting a slice off the breast of a grouse or half a snipe after he has 
 dined, a man should, if he likes game, eat his entire dinner off one sort 
 one day and another the next, likewise with other meats. 
 
 To have a good dinner three things are essential — the meat must be 
 of the best quality, it must be sufficiently long kept to render it tender, 
 and then it must be properly cooked. Simple as they are we don't 
 always find the triple alliance. I believe in the old-fashioned plan of 
 having meat roasted before a good bright fire and having it well basted 
 the while thus preserving all the natural gravy. When cooked in a 
 range meat gets dried up through want of basting, and the flavour is 
 not nearly as good as when the old plan is followed. 
 
 To preserve meat in hot weather no better or simpler plan can be 
 adopted than placing around the joint pieces of dry turf [peat], same as 
 they are cut for fue . Flies then will not go near the meat, and it will 
 keep good for ten days in the hottest weather ; besides, a dozen 
 pieces of turf will suffice an ordinary larder for years. 
 
 Many of the " professed "cooks of the day whose places are worth 
 £100 to £500 a year would scorn to follow plain old fashioned cooking. 
 They must have the Continental. The consequence is their lords and 
 masters are often kept in ignorance of the natural flavour of a leg of four- 
 year-old mountain matton ten days hung, and sent to table done to a 
 turn and so full of delicious natural gravy that the dish well is half 
 filled after the joint has got the first cut. Neither do they know the 
 taste of a snipe or a woodcock one day killed, cooked before the tire 
 and served with no other condiment than their own trails. No, those 
 and other joints are glazed, and braised, and baked by swell cA<?/«, but 
 they are seldom roasted before the fire and sent up plain. 
 
 I am not for a moment to be understood as finding fault with first- 
 rate fashionable cooking for any reason other than that I believe plain 
 cooking to be more wholesome, and that, personally, I like it better. 
 That the entrees and other dishes handed round at large dinner parties 
 are, as a rule, most excellent in taste there is no manner of doubt, and 
 as fashion at present exists this mode of serving dinner must be 
 followed, and I confess I enjoy very much dining occasionally at these 
 recherche repasts, while no man accords more credit to the chef. All I 
 would ask these professors in the art of cuisine to do is to occasionally 
 send up a joint or a dish of game dressed in the old English and Irish 
 style, for I do think that while nearly all their dishes are good for the 
 mouth some of them are bad for the stomach. Anyhow, after dinner a 
 very refreshing thing is to dip a finger of each hand in the finger-glass 
 and apply a drop of the cold water to the back of the ears. 
 
 Dining after 7 p.m. is, I am sure, very bad for health and diges- 
 
8.0 p.m. 
 
 Dinner, six courses. 
 
 9.30 p.m. 
 
 Colfee. 
 
 11.0 p.m. 
 
 Tea. 
 
 1.0 a.m. 
 
 Supper, two courses. 
 
 818 
 
 tion, so, also, is eating things out of due season. Think of lamb at 
 Christmas, ducks in February, or turkeys in June. Why, they have not 
 attained quarter their natural flavour; they are tasteless and indigestible 
 instead of being tempting and wholesome. Forced fruit and vegetables 
 are equally to be objected to. 
 
 Many people eat too often, even though they may do so in a small 
 quantity at a time. A good substantial breakfast of meat and eggs, 
 or whatever else a man can make best his morning meal oflT, at 9 a.m., 
 and a good plain dinner, such as I have described, at 7 p.m., with a 
 biscuit or small sandwich for lunch, is all a healthy strong man ought 
 to require for food in the twenty-four hours. To be sure, there are 
 many who cannot eat a substantial breakfast, and to them their mid- 
 day meal is the meal of the day ; but give me the " round-of-beef 
 breakfast." Decidedly if a man has breakfast earlier than 9 a.m. or 
 dinner later than 7 p.m. he must have a fairly good luncheon, but 
 what I find fault with is eating little and oftt-n. 
 
 There are many, both men and women, who eat daily as follows : — 
 
 8.0 a.m. Tea with bread and butter, 
 
 generally in bed. 
 10.0 a.m. Breakfast, often in bed 
 1.30p.m. Luncheon, three courses. 
 5.0 p.m. Tea and cake. | 
 
 Could any except cast-iron organs stand such wear and tear ? 
 
 An eminent doctor once told me — and I think his observation from 
 a common-sense point of view is conclusive on the subject— the digestive 
 organs require rest just as much as any other portion of the human 
 structure. Thus if through continuous eating the gastric organs are 
 kept in perpetual exercise, they break down just the same as any other 
 machinery would do. Directly food enters the stomach digestion 
 begin.^, and continues till its work is finished which takes some three 
 or four hours, more or Itss. If, therefore, a man eats, though little, 
 every three or four hours, the organs of digestion never get any rest, 
 and so they in a very short time wear out. Whereas if a man feeds, no 
 matter how heartily, only tvvice a day, with a light collation in the 
 interim, those most important functions get a chance, and they return 
 it by doing their work eflfectually, thus promoting both good health and 
 long life. 
 
 Of all things in the world a man should never touch a drop of liquor 
 between meals. Let him drink what he may wish for at and after his 
 seven o'clock dinner, but at no time else. Day drinking and nipping 
 are some of the curses of the present generation. As 1 said before, 
 fifty years ago a man would be blackballed for a club if he was known 
 to drink before dinner. 
 
 I am looked upon by some people as a sort of lusus naturce because I 
 neither back horses nor drink in the daytime, but, adopting Jorrocks's 
 translation of the appellation, I think the " loose 'uns by nature " are 
 generally found among those who practise both. To my mind, anyway, 
 
349 
 
 there is nothing under the sun more calculated to lessen a man's stock 
 of cash than backing horses, or to diminish his stock of vitality and 
 manhood than "tippling." 
 
 As ia the case of not backing horses, exalted principles of morality 
 are not the cause of my abstaining from drink in the daytmie. I 
 simply dislike the taste of all intoKicants before dinner, and I know to 
 indulge in them is highly pernicious to health. There is, however, no 
 man who enjoys his liquor much more thin I do at dinner, nor a 
 judicious continuance of the supply from that hour until bedtime. In 
 fact, as I often ,say, I am a teetotaller for some twenty hours out of the 
 twenty-four. I also proclaim the fact that although I don't drink 
 before dinner I do so plentifully every day of my life before breakfast 
 [i.e , afiej' dinner /]. 
 
 A source of great annoyance to me is the fashion which has of late 
 years crept in — that of coffee and cigars immediately after dinner. In 
 they come just as I am about to tackle a bottle of prime claret or old 
 "beeswing." This to me pernicious habit has been contracted from 
 various sources. Men travel now so much on the Continent where 
 drinking wine after dinner was never the custom, they have got broken 
 off the good old fashion. Then the late hour dinner is now served at» 
 and the length of time it takes owing to the number of courses, gives 
 men sufficient time to drink what they want at dinner, and leaves little 
 time to do so after ; besides, owing to their drinking a good deal before 
 they are not able for much during or after dinner. Another factor 
 in the matter is whisky having taken the place of wine on our dinner 
 tables as much as it has done of late years. For my part I heartily 
 condemn the causes and the effect. 
 
 A story is told of the celebrated Dr. Abernethy that upon a patient 
 coming to him with a disordered constitution, the result of improper 
 mixtures of food and eating too often — a fact the patient could not be 
 persuaded of — the doctor, wishing to try an experiment, asked his 
 patient to dine with him. There was for dinner but ordinary fare, 
 but the host told the servant to put into a large bowl an equal 
 quantity of everything the guest eat and drank, and just before his 
 leaving to mix together the whole mass. As the patient was about 
 taking his departure Dr. Abernethy expressed his hope that he liked 
 the humble fare provided, it being so much inferior to that he was 
 accustomed to. The guest replied that for a plain homely dinner it 
 was very good indeed. The doctor then showed him the contents of 
 the bow), telling him what the servant had done, and that the contents 
 of the bowl represented precisely those of his stomach ! So horriHed 
 was the man at seeing claret and coffee, soup and sirloin, sauce and 
 champagne, cutlets and cream, fish and fruit, all mixed up in an 
 abominable mass, that ever after he dined upon the plainest food he 
 could get and took that seldom and sparingly, with the result that his 
 constitution was thoroughly restored to health and vigour. 
 
 The above reminds me to caution my readers against taking cofFte 
 
350 
 
 with uiilk and sugar after having drank claret. I can't conveniently 
 explain the " why," but if some of them will just put a small quantity 
 of both into a cup or wine-glass and smell the decoction I'll be bound 
 they won't taste it. Still, that is the mixture which is usually in their 
 stomachs after dinner. 
 
 We had many years ago in Ireland a baronet celebrated for his wit 
 and repartee who was over fond of port wine, with a result that he got 
 into bad health. His medical man cut him down to one bottle a night, 
 and after a week found such improvement that he remarked that if the 
 Sir restricted himself to that allowance he would live a long time. To 
 this the wit replied, " I don't doubt it, doctor, for the last few nights 
 were the longest I ever spent." 
 
 A friend of mine some years ago also got into a bad state from 
 too much grog, and on consulting his doctor he was cut down to one 
 glass a day. This seemed such a terrible sentence that the patient 
 suggested that he should drink nothing duricg the week, but take 
 the seven glasses on Sunday. 
 
 Yet another hint — never put ice into your glass of champagne ; at 
 best melted ice destroys the flavour of the wine, but if the ice has 
 been frozen upon dirty water the consequences are not pleasant. 
 Yet we often see men, who should know better, put a lump of ice into 
 a glass of prime old champagne and afterwards light a big strong 
 cigar just when a bottle of Lafite '64 is making its first circumnavigation 
 of the mahogany. As my friend Jorrocks says, " If hignorance is bliss, 
 oh 'ow 'appy they must be ! " 
 
 To those who, like myself, think a mutton hash a good thing I can 
 recommend the following recipe, which was given me by Mr. William 
 Macdonagh, who was our excellent house steward at the Waterford 
 County and City Club for many years. Cut the mutton in thin slices, 
 flour and season them over with pepper and salt, and set them aside on 
 a plate. Then put some chopped shalot in a stewpan with a dessert- 
 spoonful of King of Oude sauce, a piece of glaze the size of a walnut, 
 two glasses of port wine, a little Harvey sauce, and a tablespoonful of 
 currant jelly, w^ell stirred up in about half a pint of gnod unsea>oned 
 but vjdl- skimmed gravy. Add the prepared mutton, and simmer 
 together for five minutes. If King of Oude sauce and glaze are not pro- 
 curable, half a pint of good o-idt beef gravy and a little Worcester sauce 
 will do instead. The above proportions are for about 2^1b. of mutton. 
 
 People should make better provision for their sleeping hours than 
 they are in the habit of doing. The windows should He left open at 
 night at least two inches at top and one inch at b "ttom, and they 
 should run as close to the ceiling as possible so as to allow the foul 
 air to escape. To provide ready exit for the foul air is far more im- 
 portant than letting in the fresh, which is pretty sure to find its way in 
 according as the foul leaves room for it. Sleeping in unventilated 
 rooms is one of the very worst things for health. Where windows 
 don't run up to the ceiling ventilators should be put in, more especially 
 
351 
 
 in bedrooms with alcove ceilings. It is the height of ignorance 
 to think " night air " is bad. What other air is there to breathe at 
 night ? Do we ever suffer from it when travelling at night, or does 
 the fear of breathing it prevent our going out at night 1 Yet how 
 often do we hear people talking of the bad effects 'of " night air " ! I 
 have not slept with my windows shut these thirty years and I have 
 never found bad effects from the practice, but quite the contrary. 
 
 We should also sleep with our heads to the north, or as nearly so 
 as possible. Those who know the fact that our bodies are charged 
 with electricity, and that during the day it has free escape towards 
 the point of the compass nature induces it to select, will understand 
 the reason of this remark, and the danger there is in frustrating any 
 object of nature. They can explain it to those not so versed in 
 physiology. It would be too long and tedious for me to do so in 
 these pages. 
 
 No matter what a man's calling may be, he should manage to take 
 sufficient exercise daily to keep him in good health, and if he is not of 
 the eight-hour-sleep sort, he can easily manage to do so if he chooses. 
 
 First thing in the morning and last thing before going to bed a man 
 should work medium-sized dumb-bells — about 7lb. weight — for five to 
 ten minutes. Heavy ones are bad, and light ones are no use. Nothing 
 can be better than this exercise for those who can't regularly attend 
 a gymnasium, and it should be practised all through life, even up into 
 the "sear and yellow leaf." It will keep the body fairly supple and 
 the muscles fairly strong, and will maintain a man in a tolerable state 
 of condition for being able to tackle another in a rough-up when 
 necessary. In fact, every man should keep himself in such a state of 
 bodily vigour that at any time he will be able to hold his own against 
 any other man of, at least, his own age and weight. When dumb-bells 
 are not to be had, a man should exercise his arms without them. 
 
 Apropos to the subject of this chapter, and particularly to the last 
 paragraph, boxing is a thing all men should keep up as much as they 
 can. I allude to this most important requisite to a man (I employ the 
 word requisite advisedly) in another chapter, but I may here add that 
 no grander, no more healthful, or more useful exercise than " the 
 gloves " can boy or man practise. We all know how useful the fists 
 are at times, if a man can use them properly, whilst a bout with the 
 gloves is jolly and invigorating. 
 
 I kept a small pack of foot beagles for some years which I hunted two 
 or three mornings of every week in the year except just immediately 
 before harvest, and as I had to be in my office by 10.0, to have my 
 sport necessitated my being out with the little fellows just as soon 
 as I had light to see. This gave me plenty of fine exercise, often 
 twenty miles before breakfast. I merely allude to this fact to show 
 that if a man chooses he can find time to take exercise. It was no 
 particular pleasure to me to have to get up at daylight and trudge 
 over a country in bad weather, though I enjoyed it hugely on all fine 
 
352 
 
 bracing mornings ; but if I did not get up I could not have either the 
 exercise or the sport. 
 
 There is nothing worse for a man's health than to take a ^'night- 
 cap," in the shape of a glass of grog, shortly before going to bed. If he 
 took instead a mouthful of fresh open air for five or ten minutes it 
 would do him a great deal more good. 
 
 Men should wear warm but not heavy clothing; th2 former can be got 
 light in weight if of good quality, and very often the latter with all its 
 weight may not be nearly as warm. Texture of an absorbent nature 
 should be worn next the skin when taking exercise of any sort, whether 
 it be in summer or in winter ; in fact, it is the more requisite in summer 
 when one perspires so much more. When I was "young and foolish " 
 I never wore anything but linen shirts, not even calico, and well do 
 I remember the icy feeling they gave me on a mountain in August, 
 when wringing wet with perspiration with a breeze blowing. It 
 was enough to give anyone rheumatism for life, but I escaped. At the 
 same time I soon learned that to do work comfortably in hot weather, 
 inside clothing of woollen texture is the thing. The sailor says of 
 flannel, " When you are cold and wet, it keeps you warm and dry "— 
 and so it does. 
 
 I may be wrong, but I have a notion that a great many people bundle 
 into their beds at night without any previous preparation beyond 
 undressing. If su'-h should be a practice it is undeniably a very bad 
 one. That partial ablution before going to bed is essential to good 
 health, there can be no manner of doubt. To those who live sedentary 
 or inactive lives such observance is requisite, while to those who take 
 strong or even moderate exercise it is manifestly more so. Apart from 
 cleanliness, nothing tends more to peaceful and undisturbed sleep than 
 a nocturnal sponge over, while nothing causes the teeth to decay 
 more than particles of food remaining in them during the night ; 
 it is therefore necessary that they should be brushed before going to 
 bed as well as in the morning. A most excellent stimulant to the 
 nerves of the eye is to bathe with cold water behind the ears before 
 going to bed. 
 
 It is infinitely better for a man to keep down weight than to have to 
 reduce it, and proper regulation of diet somew^hat on the principles of 
 Banting is the only safe way to prevent a man throwing up flesh. I am 
 quite sure doing so by means of medicine — patent or otherwise— will 
 reduce the stock of a man's good health and chance of long life equally 
 with his weight. From the age of "sw^eet two-and-twenty" till I was 
 over forty I kept myself at or about 12st. Tibs, by means of the follow- 
 ing dietary. I adopted it for ten months of each year, and no man 
 need wish for better health than I enjoyed all the time. During the 
 two midsummer months I indulged plentifully in cream, fruit, and 
 vegetables, which always put me up some pounds, but I soon returned 
 to my normal weight after knocking them off. Physic of any kind I 
 never took. 
 
353 
 
 The dietary was as follows : — 
 
 Plain clear soup, all sorts of fish except salmon, all sorts of meat, 
 all vegetables that are eaten raw, such as lettuce, radishes, celery, 
 etc., fresh fruit, eggs, hard biscuits or "pulled-bread." My drinks 
 were tea without cream, milk or sugar, pale dry sherry, claret, and 
 cold whisky and water. Very little plain water and never a " long 
 drink " of anything. 
 
 I did not eat or drink the following : Rich thick soup or gravies, 
 salmon, potatoes, cooked vegetables, cheese, bread, butter, sweets, 
 sugar, pastry, preserved fruits or porridge, never a drop of milk, 
 cream, golden sherry, champagne, ale, porter, port or punch. 
 
 I believe anything that produces sugar or starch is fattening, but the 
 fat of meat is not, and taking long draughts of anything, even water 
 produces corpulency, and nothing makes one fat as much as parsnips, 
 carrots, turnips, bread or potatoes. 
 
 Since I had to give up hunting and strong exercise I eat and drink 
 everything that is good whenever I get the chance, with the result 
 that I am now 14st. weight ! Were I to reduce this to my old 12st. Tibs, 
 form I am pretty certain bad health would be the result. 
 
 We know that animals of medium size are the best for doing hard 
 work with ease to themselves. The same, I think, applies to the 
 human being. Men 5ft. Sin. or 9in. and weighing about 12st. Tibs., and 
 women of stature 5in. shorter and 2st. less in weight, if well made, are, 
 in my opinion, the best at playing the game all round. 
 
 I have for years been addicted to what I am sure would be to many 
 a very bad habit. I smoke before breakfast and immediately before 
 dinner. From so doing I have derived no bad effect, and I look upon 
 these two smokes as the most enjoyable of the day, doubtless from the 
 fact that upon an empty stomach the flavour of the tobacco acts more 
 pungently than it does after meals. That I am singular in this taste is 
 proved by that, with the exception of Lord Waterford, I never met 
 anyone to agree with me on the subject. During cub hunting his 
 lordship acquired the habit of smoking before breakfast, and I learned 
 it while hunting my foot beagles in the early mornings. I am far from 
 recommending others to follow this example of mine. 
 
 To sum up the rules which, in my opinion, are best to follow so as 
 to preserve good health and give a man the best chance of a long life, 
 I should say : — 
 
 a. Early to bed, early to rise. 
 
 h. A cold bath after sleeping in a well-ventilated room with his head 
 to the north. 
 
 c. A substantial breakfast and dinner cooked plainly. 
 
 d. No drink in the daytime, but a fair allowance of best quality at 
 
 and after a seven o'clock dinner. 
 
 e. Gloves, dumb-bells, outdoor evercise, and Sport of any sort. 
 
 This regime can be adhered to even by those employed many hours a 
 day at business, and until they become octogenarians, if they only 
 choose to do so. 
 
 AA 
 
354 
 
 CSA^PTER XXII. 
 
 OSBALDESTON, ROSS, KENNEDY, BUDD, AND 
 BARCLAy-ALLARDICC. 
 
 George Osbaldestox, 
 His Youth — The Monson Blood — His Hunting — Many Incidents Thereof — Price 
 of his Hounds— "To the Best Sportsman of any Age or Country"— His Fall— 
 His "Two Hundred Mile" Match— Full Particulars— From Start to Finish— 
 What Bell's Life said in November, 1831 — Good old " Nunquam Dormio ! " — 
 Osbaldeston's Challenge to the World— His Age at the Time— The Squire as a Shot- 
 Various Records— His Pointers— As a Cricketer— As a Steeplechase Eider— The Clinker 
 and Ciasher Match— Grimaldi and Moonraker— His Gallantry to a Lady— His Gal- 
 lantry to a Lad— Six Pipes of Madeira— His Temper— His Death— Post-mortem 
 Opinions— That of the Standard — That of Captain Ross. 
 
 Captain Horatio Ross. 
 His lEarly Days— Deer Shooting— Early Training— Ross and Anson Match— Particulars 
 —Result— The Bag— Spectators— A Challenge— The Hay and Kennedy' Match— Smart 
 Work— Result — Ross as a Shot — Wonderful Pistol Shooting— An Expensive Entree — 
 Grouse Shooting — Deer Stalking— Extraordinary Records— Pistol Shooting at a Target 
 —Ross and Coke Match— Full Particulars— The Squire's Dogs— Their Performance 
 among Partridges — A Fine Old English Farmer — His Advice and Assistance to Ross — 
 Result— Different Training of Dogs— Author's Experience— Mr. William Coke— His 
 Field Craft— His Dogs— As a Deer Stalker— Ross as a Gun, Rifle, and Pistol Shot— 
 His Wonderful Endurance— His Mode of Living — What was Written of Him — Unlike 
 Osbaldeston- His Popularity— His Family— Clinker and Radical Match. 
 
 Lord Kennedy. 
 A Marvellous Feat — Great Match at Partridges— Mr. William Coke again— His Lordship's 
 Perversity- Its Result— A Great Bag— Lord Garlics— A Good Day's Sport— "The 
 Hundred Brace Match." 
 
 Edward Hayward Budd. 
 His Strength— As a Cricketer— As a Boxer— As a Shot — John Musters— T. Assheton Smith. 
 
 Captain Barclay-Allardice. 
 His Ancestors— His Father — His Mother- Author's Ideas on Good Breeding— Barclay's 
 Birth— Pedestrian Feats — All Distances— Full Particulars— Four Celebrated Matches 
 witli Mr. Fletcher— Heavy Wagers — Deaf Burke— More Great Feats — His Regiment 
 — More Achievements — " One Thousand Miles in One Thousand Hours " — Exhaustive 
 Particulars— From Beginning to End— Table of the Time— Analysis— His Dress- 
 His Diet — His Age, H^-ight, and Weight — During the Match — His Winnings — His 
 Staff of Attendants— The Walcheren Expedition— Two Subsequent Matches— Sad 
 Falling Off -As a Shot, Rider, Whip, and Boxer— Tom Cribb— Pugilists of Old different 
 from Now— Hard Training and Long Life— Barclay's Death— Sceptics— Scandalous 
 Charges — Completelj^ Refuted — Letter from Captain Ross — Opinion of Bella Life — 
 Remarks by the Author— Sportsmen Past and Present. 
 
 Himself a good general sportsman, Mr. C. A. Wheeler of Swindon 
 in 1867 brought out a book under the title of " Sportascrapiana." In 
 it he gives most interesting records of the prowess of notable sports- 
 men who were in their heyday from the beginning to the middle of 
 the present century. Occasionally, when collecting my thoughts for 
 this volume, some of these records cropped up, and upon the authority 
 of Mr. Wheeler I referred to them, but I shall now borrow more fully 
 
355 
 
 from his book and other authorities in my possession, and in tota,lly 
 altered phraseology and changed order give records of five patrician 
 sportsmen who, in bygone years, made the world ring with their deeds 
 of skill, pluck and endurance in all that pertained to manhood. Besides 
 being contemporaries, they were all great personal friends. Necessarily 
 my reference must be brief and cannot be adequate to the subject, but it 
 will show that neither in ancient nor modern times have we had such 
 prodigies, while to our rising generation these men are, as regards 
 manliness, noble examples to take pattern from. I begin with 
 
 Mr. Geoege Osbaldeston 
 of Hutton Bushell, near Scarborough. He was born in Wimpole Street, 
 London, on December 26, 1787. At Eton his skill as a boxer soon 
 developed itself and he became " Cock of the School." In cricket 
 he took an equally high degree. Directly upon leaving Oxford he 
 established a pack of harriers, which he hunted from his own place in 
 Yorkshire; but after a few years he purchased Lord Monson's fox- 
 hounds and began as M.F.H. in the far-famed Burton country. He 
 always swore by the Monson blood, and it was from that stock he bred 
 the best pack of working hounds then in the three kingdoms. His 
 renown as a huntsman and rider to hounds has been chronicled many 
 times, I shall therefore refer to his hunting in but cursory manner. 
 
 After hunting the Burton country for five seasons, then under thirty 
 years of age, he took Mr. John Musters' country in Nottinghamshire, 
 but not liking it he soon after became master of the Atherstone. To 
 that country he added what Lord Vernon hunted in Derbyshire and 
 purchased the best portion of his lordship's pack to strengthen his 
 own, making his kennel up to ninety couple of hounds. Things in 
 Staffordshire did not turn out to his satisfaction, so when Mr. Assheton 
 Smith resigned the Quorn in 1817 The Squire succeeded him and 
 showed wonderful sport in Leicestershire until 1821, when, for a season, 
 Mr. Belli ngham Graham was master, but The Squire resumed office in 
 1823. His second term, as the annals show, was one of the most bril- 
 liant epochs of the Quorn Hunt, but while hunting with Lord Anson's 
 hounds in 1826 Osbaldeston met with a terrible accident- through 
 having his leg broken, which laid him up for a year and necessitated 
 his giving up the Quorn. 
 
 In 1827 he became master of the Pytchley. In that country, as in 
 the other?, he showed the best of sport. In one season he had forty 
 good days out of fifty and no less than twenty-three first rate runs in 
 succession. 
 
 Mr. Osbaldeston was always his own huntsman, bred his own 
 hounds, and had for many years as first whip the celebrated 
 Dick Burton ; also Jack Stevens. During his Pytchley reign he 
 hunted the Thurlow country in Suffolk for two seasons. To 
 accomplish which he underwent marvellous exertion, for to meet each 
 pack on alternate mornings he had to travel most part of nearly every 
 
356 
 
 night — and travelling in those days was no joke. Upon one occasion, 
 after having had three good runs and wishing to go to a ball at 
 Cambridge, he first rode to Northampton, then back to Cambridge, 
 danced all night and rode back to Sulby Hall, a distance of sixty 
 miles ; he hunted the same day, killed a brace of foxes and rode 
 fourteen miles home in time for dinner. During those two days and 
 one night of incessant hard work he never once closed his eyes in sleep. 
 
 After thirty-five seasons' hunting The Squire laid down his horn and 
 ceased to be M.F.H., when the followers of the Pytchley presented him 
 with a splendid snuffbox, on which was engraven, "To the best sports- 
 man of any age or country." 
 
 Mr. Osbaldeston's was admittedly the best pack of foxhounds in 
 England. None other for breeding, work or stoutness equalled it, and 
 to the present day are to be found in our crack kennels some of the 
 best strains running in direct line back to his blood. 
 
 Of course we have had a great many gentlemen huntsman who were 
 quite first-rate at the business, and for many years continued to show 
 the best of sport ; but most of them confined themselves to only one 
 or two countries, so that they acquired a thorough knowledge of the 
 entire area — the good scenting parts and the bad — as well as the run 
 of foxes. 
 
 JSow, Osbaldeston hunted his hounds six days a week for more than 
 thirty-five years, and did so over the Burton country and the Spilsby 
 in Lincolnshire, Mr. Musters' in Nottinghamshire, Lord Vernon's in 
 Derbyshire, the Atherstone, the Holderness, the Suffolk, the Quorn, 
 the Pytchley, and Hampshire. Together, ten countries, representing 
 as they did all sorts — grass, plough, and woodland — with peculiarities 
 different in nearly every one. In them all, and during that long 
 tenure of office, he showed good sport to an extraordinary degree. 
 To say that he was favoured all the time with the attention of the 
 fickle goddess would be ridiculous, although no doubt he had his 
 share of good luck, and as he could not have had much knowledge of 
 the countries when he took them up, or have had time to acquire it 
 during his short stay in each, it is manifest that the result was 
 produced simply and solely by his own inordinate ability as a huntsman. 
 
 It must therefore be accorded to George Osbaldeston the palm 
 for being the very best man who has ever handled a pack of fox- 
 hounds. I have many histories of him written by those well qualified 
 to form an opinion, and they are all consentient on the subject. 
 Whether the country was cramped or open, the field of horsemen in 
 hundreds or in tens, to handle his hounds was all alike to this grand 
 sportsman. He rode the nice weight of list. Tibs. 
 
 From Mr. Vyner's able book, " Notitia Venatica," I learn, however, 
 with surprise that The Squire did not personally superintend the 
 feeding of his hounds, but left it entirely to his kennel huntsman, 
 William Gardner. This man must have had wonderful ability for his 
 calling, for without being able to see them in their work he was able 
 
357 
 
 to regulate the feeding of each hound so that the lot was kept 
 uniformly in the very best condition, and to quote what Mr. Vyner 
 says at page 83 of his book, " I never saw any pack of hounds in the 
 whole course of my experience as a foxhunter which could go so killing a 
 pace both in cover and in the open, run so well together, and carry so 
 line a head, or last out such long and tiring days as those of Mr. 
 Osbaldeston ; they would not only go like a flock of pigeons with a 
 burning scent, but could cold-hunt a fox with as much patience as any 
 pack of hounds in England." 
 
 That the hounds were the best in England and the Odbaldeston blood 
 the best too, is proved by the fact that in 1830 when drafting twenty-five 
 couple (of course, the worst) out of his pack of seventy-five couple, they 
 fetched at his sale at Brixworth 625gs. Again, in 1842, after having 
 previously passed into the hands of Mr. Harvey Combe, Osbaldeston's 
 old pack, consisting of sixty-three and a half couple, were sold at 
 TattersaU's for 6,51 Igs., or over 103gs. a couple. This price has never 
 been even approached. 
 
 The accident I alluded to wasnot alone terrible in its nature but left 
 a disastrous efiect ever after upon The Squire. It occurred as follows :— 
 In a fast run with the Holderness his horse gave him a fall over a 
 high stake and bound fence, and while stretched on the ground the 
 horse of Sir James Musgrave, who was ridden close in his tracks, 
 jumped on him, breaking his leg in such a dreadful manner that the 
 bone protruded through his boot. The Squire never afterwards rode 
 so hard to hounds as he did previously, and he was exceedingly nervous 
 if anyone rode close to him, while if Sir James Musgrave happened to 
 be out he was constantly in the greatest dread of him. Nevertheless 
 he continued to hunt his hounds, and was always handy to them. He 
 was lame ever after which prevented him from taking part in shooting 
 matches which required long walking, and from enjoying his favourite 
 summer sport, cricket. His fall did not, however, interfere with his 
 riding steeplechases. He first rode over the course and then, knowing 
 what he had to ride at, no man cared less for a big place or rode more 
 determinedly. 
 
 In 1831, when in his forty-fourth year and at his zenith as a sportsman, 
 he backed himself with Colonel Charrite for 1,000 guineas even that he 
 would ride two hundred miles in ten consecutive hours within the 
 Houghton meeting week at Newmarket. The event came off on Satur- 
 day, November 5, of that year, and was won by The Squire in exactly 
 eight hours and forty-two minutes, including stoppages. 
 
 I should remark that long before then he was dubbed " The Squire " 
 — a came he was universally known by. 
 
 From BelVs Life of November 13, 1831, I compile the following par- 
 ticulars of this wonderful performance : — 
 
 Although the match was made some three months previously, Mr. 
 Osbaldeston did not go into severe training till the last week, when he 
 increased his ordinary riding to 80 miles a day. This he performed at 
 
358 
 
 full speed, and on the horses lie had selected for the performance, to 
 the number of which there was no limit. As the day approached, 
 betting became brisk, and on the night before 100 to 40 was freely laid 
 against time, while a bet of 1000 to 100 was taken by Gully, who 
 backed the Squire heavily, against his accomplishing the distance in 
 nine hours. Of this Toe Squire took a large part. 
 
 As early as six o'clock on Saturday morning all was prepared at the 
 Duke's Stand, near the Devil's Ditch ; stoves were lit, and every accom- 
 modation afforded for the assemblage of the parties interested. Four 
 miles had previously been measured on the round course, commencing 
 and ending opposite the stand parallel to the Cambridge Gap, and on 
 this spot a turf stage was erected for the purpose of ]Mr. Osbaldeston 
 mounting and dismounting ; of this he made no use, from the difficulty 
 of getting the horses to stand in position, but got the "leg-up " instead. 
 An area was enclosed with ropes and stakes to keep the start and finish 
 clear of people, and this was found most useful. 
 
 Mr. Osbaldeston arrived on the scene in a post-chaise at 7 a.m., attired 
 in his racing colours of purple silk jacket, black velvet cap, doeskin 
 breeches and top boots. His weight, with saddle and bridle, was 
 estimated at list. 3lb. The saddles on which he rode were covered 
 with sheep skins v«ith the wool on, and it was arranged that each horse 
 at one start should perform four miles. Mr. John Edward Bowater 
 acted umpire for Colonel Charrite, and Mr. T. Thellusson for Mr. 
 Osbaldeston. They were prepared with stop-watches which at the 
 start were set going and placed together in a box. 
 
 The morning was extremely unfavourable, commencing with a 
 drizzling rain which increased to a downpour accompanied by a high 
 and piercingly cold wind. This did not damp the spirits of the rider 
 who was in the greatest glee and fullest confidence of success, offering 
 any odds he won or an even thousand guineas that he did the journey 
 in nine hours, but betting was at a standstill. 
 
 At precisely 7.12 a.m. he was started, riding a mare called Emma. 
 
 Here follows in BeJVs Life a record of the time taken by each of the 
 fifty mounts to cover their four miles, but I shall merely relate the 
 leading particulars. 
 
 The first twenty-four miles, including stoppages for mounting 
 and dismounting, were done in two minutes under the hour. His 
 tenth mount, Clasher, broke down and came in at a trot, but the 
 40 miles were covered in Ihr. 40imin., and the 48 miles in 2hr. Imin. 5sec. 
 On his fifteenth mount (Emma for the second time) Mr. Osbaldeston 
 went to the wrong side of a post, but immediately turned and went 
 back to the point of error. This round completed 60 miles, which were 
 covered in 2hr. 33min. Long since wet to the skin, Mr. O. now took a 
 little weak brandy and water, up to which he had taken nothing except 
 a small piece of gum arable which he held in his mouth. Seventy miles 
 were done one minute under the three hours, and the 72 miles in four 
 minutes beyond the three hours. At the end of 80 miles the rain 
 
33y 
 
 subsided, but the weather continued cold and cheerless ; time, 
 3hr. 25min. 30sec. 
 
 The hundred railes were completed in four ko2irs, nineteen minutes^ and 
 forty seconds, and any odds were offered on The Squire. As he appeared 
 a bit stiff, though still in good spirits, a proposition was now made to 
 him to change his wet clothes, but he declined. At the end of 104 
 miles he took a crust of bread and a mouthful of brandy and cold 
 water, stopping rather more than two minutes. Soon after the rain 
 came down again in torrents but cleared off after a round or two. 
 
 When he had completed his 1 20 miles, which he did in 5hr. 1 1 min. SOsec, 
 he proceeded to the stand house for refreshment, declaring he was as 
 hungry as a hunter. He eat heartily of cold partridges and drank a 
 glass of sherry, but stopped only 6min. SOsec. , during which he con- 
 versed jovially with his friends, many of whom were ladies. His next 
 horse — the thirty-first change — was Ikey Solomons, who, like the man 
 he was called after, did badly, for soon after starting he pecked and 
 The Squire, who was standing high in his stirrups at the time, was sent 
 clean over the horse's head and fell full length on the ground. The 
 brute ran away but was caught 200 yards off and being brought back 
 was set going again, but that heat took 12 min. On alighting the rider 
 seemed flurried and distressed, but he pulled himself together imme- 
 diately and set off again in high glee. 25 to 20 was then offered 
 against his doing the distance in nine hours, the fall giving new hopes 
 to the backers of time. At the end of the next eight miles The Squire 
 showed slight weakness, and for an instant sat on a friend's knee, 
 nevertheless he was on the road again in SOsec, 
 
 One huadred and fifty-six miles were performed in 6hr. 49min., thus 
 leaving 2hr. llmin. to do the 44 miles to win in nine hours, or at the 
 rate of 20 miles an hour, which, from what had already been done, was 
 deemed easy work, the more particularly as The Squire was as fresh 
 and gay as a lark. He laughed heartily, took a glass of sherry and 
 said he was as hungry as a hawk. In 403ec. he was mounted and away 
 again amidst loud cheers, and with 6 to 4 on his doing the journey in 
 nine hours and 10 to 1 on his winning the match. After the forty-second 
 mount the weather suddenly changed into brilliant sunshine, and as the 
 gallant fellow came in, sitting as firm as a rock and apparently as fresh 
 as ever, he was received with great applause, and started again in 6sec. 
 
 The weather became again unfavourable after 180 miles, but The 
 Squire was undaunted. So bad was it soon after starting for the forty- 
 seventh round that Streamlet, the mare he was riding, actually stopped 
 and turned about, afraid to face the tremendous storm. This gave 
 the "timers'' hopes, only to be dispelled immediately, for the time 
 taken for this four miles was only lOmin. 15sec. 
 
 Surrounded by a tremendous crowd of spectators, the gallant horse- 
 man started on Skirmisher for the final and fiftieth heat. This waa 
 done in 9min. 40s3c., amidst thunders of applause, making the whole 
 time for the 200 miles, including all stoppages, exactly 8hr. 42min. 
 
360 
 
 Thus by eighteen minutes Osbaldeston won every bet he made and 
 had an hour and eighteen minutes to spare for the original match. 
 Fearing any dispute might arise as to the distance, he proposed before 
 dismounting to ride another mile, but the umpires declared themselves 
 perfectly satisfied upon all points of the undertaking. After receiving 
 congratulations from his friends and putting a top-coat over his 
 drenched and muddy clothes, he mounted a favourite hack and, sur- 
 rounded by a large field of horsemen, cantered off to Newmarket. 
 After taking a warm bath, he turned into bed for a short time and 
 joined his friends so fresh that he played billiards for a couple of 
 hours. 
 
 As has been seen, he had fifty rides of four miles each and for them 
 he used twenty-eight diflferent horses. Tranby, the property of John 
 Gully, was ridden no less than four times and on the second occasion 
 did his round in eight minutes which was the shortest time of any. 
 Streamlet and Skirmisher were each ridden three times, Emma, Para- 
 dox, Liberty, Coroner, Oberton, Don Juan, Morgan Rattler, Cannon 
 Ball, Ultemar, Fairy, Dolly, Guilford, Coventry, Ringleader and Ipsala 
 were called on twice, while Clasher, colt by Tramp, Acorn, Ikey So o- 
 mons, Tam O'Shanter, Eldorado, Donegani, Hassan, filly by Surprise 
 and a horse by Smolensk© were ridden once. Streamlet, by reason of 
 the storm, took lOmin. losec. to do the four miles, while Ikey Solomons, 
 through falling, took 12min. and these were the two worst records. 
 
 By reference to old calendars it will be seen that some of these were 
 racehorses of high class ; most of them were lent to Mr. Osbaldeston 
 out of the Newmarket stables, but several were his own property. 
 
 BelVs Life, through a slip of the writer's pen, states that twenty-nine 
 diflferent horses were used, overlooking the fact that good little Fairy 
 who did her second round in 8min. 8sec., next best to Tranby's time, 
 was ridden twice. 
 
 The time actually occupied in riding this match as taken from the 
 record opposite the name of each horse, which does not include 
 stoppages, was 7hr. 34min. 34sec. This, for each four miles, is an 
 average of 9min. 5sec., and for a mile 2min. 16sec. and is a little over 
 26 miles an hour. The stoppages, including 6min. 20sec. for luncheon, 
 came to Ihr. 7min. 16sec. but deductirig the luncheon they averaged 
 Imin. ISsec. and were from 6sec. to 2min. Of course ths first mounting 
 and last dismounting are not counted. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler, quoting from the Standard, gives in his book ihr. 22min. 
 56sec. as the total time occupied in stoppages, but I prefer to rely 
 upon good old " Nunquam Dormio," who, on all matters sporting, 
 was in those days immeasurably more reliable than any other paper— 
 and, for that matter, remained so until its eyes were closed many years 
 after by newspapers issued daily upon sport. 
 
 Independent of the stake Osbaldeston won a very large amount over 
 this event, having at first taken all the odds that were available and 
 ultimately laying odds on. Gully, also, was a big winner. Considering 
 
361 
 
 the weather and the cut-up state the ground was necessarily in, the 
 time even for a short distance must be considered good ; but when it is 
 recorded that many of the horses when brought out were lame and 
 that Guilford was badly string-halted on both hind legs, the feat, on 
 the whole, was the greatest of its sort that ever was, or perhaps ever 
 will be, performed. 
 
 In summing up its article on the match, in its issue of Novem- 
 ber 13, 1831, BelVs Life says:— '* Mr. Oabaldeston, by this matchless 
 feat, proved himself a member one at almost every manly exercise save 
 boxing.* He has carried off the palm at hard riding, steeplechases, 
 aquatic feats, shooting, and pedestrianism. In fact, he is in his way a 
 perfect nonpareil^ and outstrips all competitors." 
 
 Owing to objectionable criticisms appearing in the press and else- 
 where on his "200 miles in 10 hours" match, he soon after publicly 
 challenged any man in the world of his age and weight (or carrying it) 
 to ride any distance from 200 to 500 miles for £20,000 ; or that he 
 would take £10,000 to £3,000, or £20,000 to £6,000 that he would ride 
 200 miles in eight hours. No one took him up I 
 
 Mr. Osbaldeston's age at the time of the match just described has 
 been put down at forty-six and forty-seven years, but inasmuch as he 
 was born the day after Christmas, 1787, and the match took place on 
 Saturday, November 5, 1831, it is pretty plain that he was just within 
 5even weeks of being forty-four years old when he accomplished 
 the feat. 
 
 This wonderful man shot in the presence of the then Sir Richard 
 -Sutton ninety- eight pheasants out of one hundred shots. And as the 
 annals of the old Red House at Battersea record, no man of his day was 
 a much better shot at pigeons. 
 
 Mr. Edward Budd, who was an intimate friend of Mr. Osbaldeston, 
 once backed him with Mr. Thellusson to shoot eighty braca of partridge 
 in one day. The match came off over The Squire's property at 
 Ebberson in Yorkshire, when he bagged ninety-seven brace and a half 
 of partridge, nine hares, and a rabbit, but as there were five brace and 
 a half picked up next day he in reality shot 103 brace of partridge 
 besides the hares and rabbit— a feat at that time unequalled in the 
 annals of shooting. This was, of course, with the old flint muzzle- 
 loaders. The date is not given, but it was before his fall, about 1825. 
 
 He had a wonderful breed of pointers. For a brother and sister, 
 Mark and Flirt, he refused sixty guineas, equivalent to a hundred and 
 sixty nowadays. With this brace he offered to back himself for 
 £10,000 against any man and brace of dogs in the kingdom, but no 
 one dared to take him up. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler devotes many pages to Mr. Osbaldeston's prowess as a 
 cricketer but I have space only to say that, except Mr. E. W. Budd, 
 
 * I don't know why boxing should be excepted, for The Squire 
 -capital nian with his tists.— The Author. 
 
362 
 
 Lord Frederick Beauclerc and Mr. Ward, no amateurs of his day were 
 nearly his equal, nor were many professionals. He was most noted 
 for his tremendous-paced bowling, requiring always two longstops, while 
 at single wicket he was almost invincible. He was also one of the 
 best billiard players in England. 
 
 Steeplechasing in those days, compared with now, was little prac- 
 tised, but The Squire was the best man then in England to ride one, 
 and it is recorded of him that he won every such race he rode. I 
 doubt, however, he was as good in silk as were our Irishmen — the 
 brothers Allan and William McDonagh— who rode about the same 
 time. Amongst his most celebrated matches was that on Clinker 
 against Dick Christian on Clasher. It was for 1,000 guineas, and the 
 line chosen was about four miles in the Quorn country, from Dal by 
 Windmill to Lipton. Christian, as a horseman, was then in his prime^ 
 and, with a view to frightening The Squire, the Clashers told Dick to 
 follow close in his track. These tactics were adopted, but had only 
 the effect of making him the more determined to get away. A 
 desperate race this was, and both horses jumped the last fence to- 
 gether, but Clasher here came down a purler, leaving Clinker and The 
 Squire to win in a walk. 
 
 It is interesting to inspect the exact ground over which some of the 
 great races of old were run, so I shall tell of a course which can easily 
 be looked over, and at the same time describe another match of 
 historic fame. In March, 1832, Mr. Elmore and Mr. Evans made a 
 match for £500 a-side, between their horses Grimaldi and Moonraker. 
 It came off on Tuesday, the 13th of that month, and was from a field on 
 Mr. Copeland's farm near the seventh milestone on the Edgware 
 Road, down the gradual descent and across the flat country to the foot 
 of Harrow Hill, where in front of Mr. Hawkins' farmhouse on Harrow 
 Weald a drain across the meadow marked the goal — distance four miles. 
 Grimaldi was a grey gelding, then twelve years old, and was by 
 Grimaldi out of Miss Bab, by Highland Fling out of Lady Bab, and 
 was bred by Mr. Clifford of Gloucestershire. Moonraker was a bay, 
 his age or pedigree was not known, but he was then in his prime 
 and must have been well bred, for he with Grimaldi, Vivian, and Lord 
 Waterford's Lancet and Cock Robin were then about the best steeple- 
 chase horses in England. The Harrow course was not as stiff as those 
 of St. Albans and Leicestershire, but it was trappy and brought to 
 grief a great many of those who rode over it with the two jockeys before 
 the start. That ladies could ride well across country in those days is 
 shown by the fact that no one rode better than " a young and beiutiful 
 lady" who accompanied them, and she did so without a fall. Her 
 name, unfortunately, is not recorded in BeWs Life of March 18, 1832, 
 from which I am now taking these particulars. Mr. Osbaldeston rode 
 Grimaldi for Mr. Elmore, while Mr. Dan Seffert rode Moonraker for Mr. 
 Evans. Colonel Charritc was umpire for the latter and Mr. Meyrick 
 acted for the former. 
 
363 
 
 This match created a great deal of interest, and thousands flocked on 
 foot, horseback, and in carriages to see it, among them being a great 
 number of ladies. Mr. Elmore, who lived near the start, entertained a 
 large party to luncheon, after which the race was started a little after 
 five o'clock, list. 71 bs. was the weight which Osbaldeston had little 
 trouble to make up, but Seffert had to carry sixteen pounds of lead, 
 which he did in a belt strapped round his waist. Moonraker was 
 favourite, notwithstanding that The Squire had given Elmore £50 to 
 make the match, so confident was he of winning. The race was run at 
 a good pace and without a fall, but a collision took place which caused 
 a terrible wrangle afterwards. Seffert made a couple of detours which 
 lost him ground, but Osbaldeston rode straight as a line from start to 
 finish and won easily, Moonraker being dead beat. After the race 
 Sefi'ert lodged a complaint against The Squire for foul riding, and there 
 was no end of a row ; nor could it be decided who was entitled to the 
 stakes till finally, after a week's finding and proving, the case was left 
 to Colonel Anson to decide, and he awarded the race to Grimaldi, 
 exonerating The Squire from all blame. 
 
 Like most foxhunters, he was not insensible to the charms of 
 beautiful women. One night, at a dinner party previous to a ball in 
 Lincolnshire, were two rival beauties, one of whom had in her bouquet a 
 hot-house flower of exceeding rarity, and in the hearing of The Squire 
 she twitted the other with not having in hers one of equal elegance. 
 Pleading excuse for leaving the wine party after dinner, he got on his 
 horse and rode twenty-five miles distant to the house of the gentleman 
 from whose conservatory the flower had been obtained, and returned 
 with a still more brilliant specimen. This he presented to the other 
 lady and she wore it in triumph at the ball supper. He did the fifty 
 miles in about four hours on the one horse and a dark night. 
 
 Running a fox near Bracebridge, in Lincolnshire, the hounds crossed 
 a river, and while looking at them from a barge a boy fell into deep 
 water and was drowning. Without a moment's hesitation The Squire 
 galloped to the bank, jumped off" his horse and plunged in and after 
 diving for him brought the lad safely to land. He then remounted 
 and followed his hounds as if nothing had happened. 
 
 Like too many of his good sort Mr. Osbaldeston was quick-tempered 
 and irritable — proud of his abilities and jealous of rivalry — conse- 
 quently, at time?, he got into trouble with his friends ; nevertheless he 
 was in his day one of the most popular men in England. 
 
 To instance the large quantities of wine which were laid down by 
 gentlemen long ago and as an example of the improvidence of the age, 
 I may state about The Squire that in his wine cellars at Hutton Bushell 
 were discovered by Mr. Budd six pipes of Madeira which had been 
 entirely lost sight of ! 
 
 The manly deeds of George Osbaldeston would fill a volume of con- 
 siderable magnitude. I am, however, unable to devote more space to 
 the subject, so will conclude my reference with opinions expressed 
 
364 
 
 about him j^ost-morteiii which go to prove that since the days of the 
 Assyrian Nimrod we never had a greater sportsman. 
 
 The Standard of Friday, August 3, 1866, gives an obituary, in 
 which it states : — 
 
 " In recording the death of Mr. George Osbaldeston, in his seventy- 
 ninth year, which took place at his residence, Grove Road, St. John's 
 Wood, on the 1st inst., we would make a few remarks respecting his 
 unparalleled career, believing, as we do, that he was the greatest 
 practical sportsman that England or any other country ever produced; 
 indeed, there is not a foxhunter, shooter, angler, cricketer or billiard- 
 player either in this or the last generation who has not, at least, heard 
 of the wonderful performances of 'the old Squire.' 
 
 "There are and have been several 'old Squires' in various parts of 
 the country, and worthy sportsmen too, but for the last thirty years 
 the question, ' Which old Squire ? ' was never put, as everybody knew 
 that Mr. Osbaldeston was the gentleman referred to. Nor can this be 
 wondered at, for his deeds far outshone those of any sportsman either 
 dead or alive. He may have been equalled in one particular branch 
 of sport, as the generality of men excel only in one line, but Mr. 
 Osbaldeston excelled in everything he undertook, and in his day con- 
 quered everybody with whom he came in contact." 
 
 Captain Ross, writing of him soon after his death, testified that " as 
 one who went in at everything in the ring he was the best man 
 England had produced during the present century. He was generous 
 and kind-hearted, and never spoke harshly of others or allowed it to be 
 done in their absence." 
 
 Owing to his confiding disposition he was robbed and deceived by 
 some of those he trusted most, with a result in the end that his 
 financial affairs got into confusion, and not having sufficient moral 
 nerve to pull up in time, or business capacity requisite to get himself 
 out of his troubles, this great man who had started in life with the 
 heritage of a splendid estate and a brilliant fortune had to succumb 
 to circumstances and end his days in comparative oblivion. 
 
 Deep, deep is the pity that such should have been the fate of perhaps 
 the greatest sportsman England ever produced. 
 
 Captain Horatio Ross 
 of Rossie Castle, in Forfarshire, was another of our great all-round 
 sportsmen. Born in 1801, he was fourteen years younger than Mr. 
 Osbaldeston. In his early days, with a large stud of good hunters, 
 he spent the winters at Melton, and the greater part of the rest 
 of the year in the Highlands. There, for a trifle, he rented huge 
 tracts -of land, which, nowadays, fetch thousands a year. Deer were 
 then scarce, but young Ross was constantly in pursuit of them, and, 
 after roaming over enormous extents of hill country, would leave off 
 perhaps twenty or thirty miles from his shooting lodge. To this he 
 had to walk for there were no roads to ride, much less to drive over. 
 
365 
 
 Doubtless by this early training he acquired the astonishing power 
 of endurance which he so often displayed in walking long distances 
 without showing symptoms of fatigue. 
 
 " The Koss and Anson Match " is of historic fame. It took place 
 on November 10, 1828, and came about by Lord de Eoos backing 
 Colonel Anson to shoot more partridges in a day than Captain Ross. 
 The terms were : Both to shoot in company over Milden Hall estate 
 in Suffolk, which his lordship then rented ; no dogs ; each man to 
 walk forty or fifty yards apart, with two or three beaters between, 
 and it was not necessary to pick up the birds, the umpires seeing them 
 drop being sufficient. Time, from sunrise to sunset. Colonel Anson 
 being a particularly fast and strong walker, fancied he could beat 
 Ross, so he set off at the rate of four and a half miles an hour. 
 This pace they kept up until about two o'clock, when the Colonel 
 showed evident signs of getting pumped. The attendants were all 
 beaten before twelve o'clock and fresh ones had to be found. Although 
 the match was carried out in the fairest manner and the men 
 changed order every hour, the Colonel had luck on his side, getting 
 eleven shots more than Ross and was seven birds ahead of him at 
 two o'clock. Ross was, however, as fresh as when he started, so he 
 went right away from Anson and was thus able to make up leeway. 
 A quarter of an hour before the expiration of the time a message 
 came to him from Lord de Roos that Anson was unable to walk any 
 more, but was one bird ahead, so he proposed to make it a drawn 
 match. This, although as fresh as when he started, Ross agreed to 
 for it was uncertain he could get another brace within the time, 
 the birds being then all upon the stubbles and very wild. 
 
 The bag made was ridiculously small (only about twenty-five or 
 twenty-six brace), but that was easily explained, for in November part- 
 ridges in Norfolk and Suffolk are always very wild, but on the day in 
 question they were made more so by the fact that the shooters Avere 
 followed all the time by a multitude of men both on foot and horseback 
 who, talking and betting on every shot, caused such a row that when 
 a field was entered hundreds of birds went off in one great flight 
 at the other end. Scarcely a shot was got within forty yards, while 
 fifty and sixty yards was the distance of most of them. 
 
 After the match, so fresh was Captain Ross, and in the excitement 
 of the moment, he said to the assembled concourse of people, numbering 
 five or six hundred, that he would there and then start against any of 
 them to go to London on foot for =£500, a distance of seventy miles, or 
 that he would shoot the same match next day against anyone present, 
 except Mr. Osbaldeston, for ii^)00. 
 
 No one took up either challenge, but a young farmer said he would 
 try a race against him to an inn which was over two miles distant 
 For the fun of the thing Ross agreed and off they started, accom- 
 panied by half the crowd ; but Ross won by over a hundred yards 
 beating out of sight nearly the whole lot ! 
 
366 
 
 In "barring" the Squire when offering to shoot against anyone 
 present, Captain Ross was actuated by magnanimity towards his 
 friend, for he knew the Squire would be the most likely to accept tha 
 challenge, but not being able to walk fast or long, owing to his 
 accident, he would have no chance ; and, besides, Ross knew his friend 
 would be gratified by being " barred," and attribute the reason to his 
 excellence as a shot. 
 
 On another occasion, July 19, 1826, when staying at Blackball, 
 the seat of his friend, Mr. Farquharson, in Kincardineshire, he had 
 spent seven or eight hours up to his middle shooting flappers, and after 
 a good dinner, when the ladies had gone to the drawing-room, he fell 
 asleep. About nine o'clock he was awakened by the late Sir Andrew 
 Leith Hay, who said, " Ross, old fellow, I want you to jump up and go 
 as my umpire with Lord Kennedy to Inverness. I have made a bet of 
 £2,500 a side that I can get there on foot before him." Nothing came 
 amiss to men like him, and the reply Ross gave was, "All right, I 
 am ready." Off they started there and then in evening costume, with 
 thin shoes and silk stockings ! Their servants followed with more 
 suitable clothing ; but the boots brought Ross were a pair of tight 
 new Wellingtons. Lord Kennedy took the direct line which led them 
 over the Grampians, walking all night, next day, and the next night, 
 and arrived at Inverness at 6 a.m. — raining in torrents all the way. 
 Sir Andrew Hay went by the coach road — which was thirty-six miles 
 longer — but, although level, he did not appear until 10 a.m. The 
 sole of one of Ross's boots vanished when twenty-five miles from 
 Inverness, and he had to finish the walk barefooted ; but did so 
 comparatively fresh. The distance he went over was about ninety- 
 five miles. This match was, however, by Captain Barclay-AUardice, 
 declared drawn, as Lord Kennedy, when a good deal beaten, leant 
 on the arm of his attendant while ascending and descending some 
 of the hills towards the end. 
 
 Ross betted Lord Kennedy £20 he would, in a day, shoot with a gun 
 twenty brace of swallows, which he readily did at Rossie where these 
 birds congregated in great numbers. He sent the lot in a basket to 
 Lord Kennedy and they were brought to him while at dinner. When 
 sending the money he wrote Captain Ross that it was the most 
 expensive entree ever handed him. 
 
 Two years after, one morning before breakfast, for a bet of £lOO 
 with Mr. George Foljambe, Ross shot, flying, ten brace of swallows 
 with pistol and single ball, also at Rossie Castle. 
 
 Ross did not go in for record bags of grouse ; sixty-five brace in one 
 day was about the biggest he ever made. Not ^o deer. 
 
 In 1828 he rented, from the Duke of Athol, Feloar, and on it shot 
 to his ov/n rifle eighty-seven deer. It was in the following November 
 he had the match with Colonel Anson, and he attributed the good 
 condition he was in to the grand training he had deer-stalking. 
 
 In 1837 he killed seventy-five deer in Sutherlandshire. In 1851 he 
 
367 
 
 shot 118 deer in Mar Forest, one day killing no less than thirteen 
 •with fourteen chances. 
 
 In a forest in Inverness-shire he shot eight stags in twenty minutes, 
 date not given. The deer were driven into a wood and got stupefied. 
 He had only a muzzle-loading rifle, while loading which he lost sight 
 of the deer. If he had had a breech-loader, so that he could have run 
 while loading, he could have killed a great many more. 
 
 Matches with pistol and ball were common in England in those days, 
 and Ross entered into many, but never was he beaten. Once with a 
 Spanish gentleman he shot for £50 at the old Red House at Batter- 
 sea, the best of fifty shots. The target was a common playing card 
 and the bull's-eye exactly the size of a sixpence. The distance cer- 
 tainly was only twelve yards but he won the wager by remarkable 
 shotting, and out of the last twenty-five shots hit the bull's-eye twenty- 
 three times. Short distance alone was not his forte with the pistol, 
 for he made nearly as good shooting with it up to a hundred yards as 
 with a rifle. Moreover, with a pistol he killed deer, both roe and 
 fallow. 
 
 In 1825 or 1826 he and Mr. William Coke had a two-day match at 
 partridges over the Holkham estate. The conditions were as follows : 
 —Two beats were named and to toss for choice ; a day to intervene 
 between the first and second day's shooting, when they were to change 
 beats ; to start as early as they pleased ; to load their own guns ; to 
 hunt the dogs, and to pick up the birds killed ; to be allowed two 
 attendants each to help in any other way. 
 
 Ross had lost by madness his best dogs, but he borrowed from 
 Mr. Osbaldeston a brace, which in Yorkshire were perfection. 
 
 The Squire was Captain Ross's umpire and walked with Mr. Coke, 
 while Captain Greville, R.N., walked with Ross on the part of Coke. 
 They started at daylight, but the first turnip-field Ross entered away 
 went the Squire's fleet, high-bred dogs, and before they had got half 
 way down it between four and five hundred partridges were flushed 
 and went off in crowds. The dogs found a scent under every turnip 
 and in a few minutes " lost their noses " altogether. They rushed 
 here and there, and partridges rising every instant they got totally 
 bewildered. In their excitement they jumped in the air trying to 
 catch the birds and finally rushei after some which they followed into 
 the next field and cleared it also, giving tongue like hounds. Not a 
 shot did Ross get during the first half hour, while he heard his opponent 
 hard at work. Trying and provoking as it was, this performance of 
 the dog.^ was so absurd that he and Captain Greville burst out laugh- 
 ing. At last the dogs were caught and put in couples. A man was 
 put on each side of Ross, and by walking them up he at sunset had 
 bagged forty brace of birds. 
 
 On his way to the Hall, Mr. Denny, a true type of a fine old English 
 farmer, joined him, and, although a tenant of Mr. Coke's, he wished 
 that Ross should have fair play, for he said he was the best shot they 
 
368 
 
 had ever seen but that he knew no more how to work Norfolk part- 
 ridge than a child, and unless he altered his system he must be 
 beaten. It was then arranged that next day Ross was to come to the 
 good old fellow to be shown over the ground and get instructions. 
 
 Mr. Coke on the firot day killed fifty-four brace, so Ross was four- 
 teen brace behind him. 
 
 Mr. Denny's instructions next day were to this effect :— Early in 
 the morning to drive the partridge from the stubbles to the turnips. 
 Then, with two old setters he would lend him which between them 
 had only two eyes, and would potter about within fifteen or twenty 
 yards finding the dead and wounded birds, and with a man on either 
 side, he was to beat the turnips in small circles. If he went straight 
 through the field the birds would run along the drills to the end and 
 then rise in one great pack, but by making small circles they would 
 be cut off and shots could be got. 
 
 Captain Ross followed the old gentleman's instructions to the letter. 
 In the first field, by 9 a.m., he got fifty shots and bagged fifty part- 
 ridges. He missed once but killed two in a shot afterwards. The 
 result of the day's shooting was that Ross bagged fifty-nine brace and 
 Mr. Coke thirty-six, so that on the two days' shooting Ross won by 
 nine brace. 
 
 Thus is shown what different training is required for dogs where 
 birds are in great numbers to that necessary for wilder shooting. It 
 reminds me of what occurred over thirty years ago with myself. 
 Among other good dogs I had a wonderful bitch called Sappho. I 
 have had as good, but none better. For her I refused several offers 
 of from £20 to £30, but I would not have taken £50 for her. A 
 friend of mine from Lincolnshire was shooting with me one day and 
 greatly admired her working, but told me that, except for a retriever, 
 he never saw a dog which would be worth £10 for the sort of shooting 
 they had in the eastern counties of England. 
 
 Mr. Coke, with whom Captain Ross had the match just alluded to, 
 was not a first-class shot, but he thoroughly knew how to get at game 
 in his own county, with the result that he generally bagged more 
 than men who could shoot better but had not the same field-craft. His 
 dogs were perfectly adapted for Norfolk or other crack partridge 
 shooting ; but were bred between setters and water spaniels. When 
 on the scent they never pointed, but walked on with their tails straight 
 out and put their birds up ; but as they were broken to keep within 
 fifteen or twenty yards of their master, they did no harm in this free 
 and easy manner of flushing birds for they dropped to shot and 
 retrieved beautifully. This Mr. Coke Avas the first man who went in 
 earnest to stalk deer in the Highlands. 
 
 Seldom do we find one as a horseman equally good between flags and 
 with hounds. Still more rare is the man who is first-rate with the gun 
 at game and the rifle at a target. But in Captain Horatio Ross was a 
 man still more phenomenal, for he was equally good with shot-gun, rifle, 
 
369 
 
 and pistol. Inasmuch, however, as I have not dealt in this book with 
 target-shooting, my readers must seek elsewhere for his records at 
 Wimbledon and other places, when they will find they are, on the 
 whole, unsurpassed by anyone, and that up to when he was nearly 
 three-score years and ten. 
 
 Of him it was written, some thirty years ago, by one qualified to 
 judge, "that since the invention of gunpowder no other man has yet 
 been born who was such a complete master of the fowling-piece, rifle 
 and pistol ; and for many years he offered to back himself for £5,000 
 against any man in the whole world for a three-cornered match with 
 these weapons." 
 
 Captain Ross attributed his preserving until late in life more 
 activity than many young men and most men of middle age, to the 
 fact of his having habitually kept himself in a state of moderate 
 training. This he did by living well and drinking moderately ; taking 
 a cold bath every morning, and walking daily, no matter what might 
 be the state of the weather, from eight to twelve mile?. At the a-.c of 
 sixty-five he was able, without fatigue, to go right ahead for fifty miles 
 at three and a half miles an hour. 
 
 Unlike his friend Osbaldeston, Captain Ross was all through his 
 life a pradent man, showing great judgment and sound business 
 capacity in managing both his own affairs and those which devolve 
 upon a country gentleman. For some years he turned his attention to 
 politics and represented in Parliament the town of Montrose, which 
 was close to his ancestral home, and what was his popularity may be 
 inferred from the fact that out of four hundred votes he polled three 
 hundred and sixty. He was familiarly called "The Laird." 
 
 In 1833 he married Miss Macrae, a Highland lady, and had five 
 sons, all of whom have followed their father's good example and are 
 sportsmen of high order. After his marriage Captain Ross gave up his 
 Melton establishment, and lived almost entirely in the wildest and 
 most out-of-the-way part of the Highlands as suiting his taste and 
 that of Mrs. Ross, who one of the sons described as being " one of the 
 very best of mothers that a lot of sons ever had to look up to and 
 love." 
 
 He died at Rossie Castle, December 6, 1886, in his eighty-sixth year, 
 having retained his good health to the last. 
 
 For Captain Ross's match on Clinker against Captain Douglas on 
 Radical, see Steeplechase chapter. 
 
 As a contemporary of Osbaldeston and Ross, 
 Lord Kennedy 
 was an all-round sportsman of the first water, but he never attained 
 the superlative brilliancy of the other two. 
 
 Of his lordship I shall narrate a performance which, if equalled, 
 was never surpassed. He backed himself for a considerable sum to 
 ride from his shooting quarters, then at Feloar, in Perthshire, to 
 
 B B 
 
370 
 
 Dunottur, liis own place near Stonehaven, a distance of eighty miles, 
 there to shoot forty brace of grouse and return to Feloar in a day. 
 He started soon after midnight, and with relays of horses arrived at 
 Dunottur. By 9 a.m. he had his birds bagged. He then changed 
 clothes on the hillside, and riding the same horses he reached Feloar 
 about 8 p.m. Thus in less than twenty hours he rode 160 miles and 
 shot forty brace of grouse. It rained during part of the time, and 
 some fifteen miles of the ride was over ground without a road. 
 
 In October, 1823, there was a great match shot off. It originated 
 by Sir Wm. Maxwell backing himself to find a man who would shoot 
 100 brace of partridge in one day over his estate in Wigtownshire. 
 He asked Lord Kennedy to do it for him, but, after pronouncing it 
 impossible, his lordship backed himself to shoot partridges two days 
 in Scotland against Mr. W. Coke two days in Norfolk, chance of 
 weather to be run by both parties. 
 
 Lord Kennedy was disappointed the first day in the ground he 
 intended to shoot over and had to take ground of Sir Wm. Maxwell's 
 at Moureith, which had already been shot. Nor could he begin till 
 11 a.m. He shot that day between forty and fifty brace. Coke, 
 shooting the same day at Holkham, got ninety-three brace. 
 
 On the second day the " one hundred brace match " was to be 
 decided, but it did not come oflf for some days after the first. Sir 
 William wanted Lord Kennedy to look over the ground the day before 
 but he would not do so. Xor on the day would he use the steady old 
 dogs provided by Sir William, but insisted upon using his own which 
 were never before shot over except on moors. Moreover, he would not 
 go to coveys marked into whins nor take any advice from the keepers, 
 eeeming to think that it would not be fair, although Mr. Val. Maher, 
 Mr. Coke's umpire, agreed that he ought to do so. 
 
 By 11.30, when they halted for refreshment, Lord Kennedy had sixty 
 brace in the bag and the best of the ground still before him ; but 
 instead of taking the advice profi*ered, he persevered over a line of 
 bare grass fields, with the result that he lost the match he had with 
 Mr. Coke and also that for Sir William Maxwell. As it was he got 
 ninety-three and a half brace, while Mr. Coke, at Holkham again, got 
 niaety-six. A great many dead and wounded birds were picked up a 
 day or two after on the ground over which Lord Kennedy shot, and it 
 was estimated he actually shot, though he did not bag, one hundred and 
 twenty brace that day. No one had the least doubt, nor had his lord- 
 ship himself, that he would have bagged far over the hundred brace 
 had he not been so self-willed. 
 
 In September, 1822, Lord Garlies backed himself to shoot fifty brace 
 of partridge in a day over his father's ground in Wigtownshire— ^Aer^! 
 to he 710 ijreparation whatever. He went out with two guns and his 
 pointers on a wet and stormy morning, and by ten o'clock had only 
 fifteen brace in the bag. The wind soon after fell and the sun came 
 out, and as the birds lay well he had before three o'clock between forty 
 
371 
 
 and fifty brace. He then offered to double his bet that he would shoot 
 eighty brace, but the ease with which it might be done was so apparent 
 that no one would take him up. He stopped at three o'clock, having 
 killed fifty-six brace. If he had shot the eighty brace it would have been 
 a greater performance than either Lord Kennedy's or Mr. Coke's the 
 year after, for he shot over his dogs as in an ordinary day's shooting, 
 without preparation or assistance, and was baulked a great deal by his 
 two guns having stocks of different lengths. 
 
 It was considered that had Lord Garlies undertaken the "one 
 hundred brace match" for Sir William Maxwell he would have won it* 
 Not that he was a better shot than Lord Kennedy, but he would 
 have taken advice and kept his temper better. 
 
 Lord Kennedy was, when things were going all right, a most 
 charming companion, and his home, Dunottur, was the pleasantest 
 place to visit. Unfortunately, however, this great sportsman was 
 cursed with the infatuation for gambling, and being of an uncontrollable 
 disposition and violent temper he would take advice from no man. 
 The consequence was Dunottur, which was the property of his wife, 
 had to be sold, and this unfortunate nobleman, heir to a marquisate 
 and £40,000 a year, fell like many others, and died young. 
 
 Me. Edward Hai^waed Budd 
 of Elcombe House, near Swindon, born February 23, 1785, was a 
 contemporary and associate of all the men I refer to in this chapter. 
 He was powerfully muscular, and one of the best cricketers that ever 
 handled a bat, and when four-score years old played in good style* 
 Lilly white said that he was the hardest hitter and best-made man 
 he ever saw. No man of his day could run or jump with him, and as 
 a boxer no pugilist was more artistic. He was also an excellent shot. 
 In fact, no man in the world had a chance with Budd in an all-round 
 match of the sports I have associated him with. My readers must, 
 however, consult " Sportascrapiana " for particulars. Like most men 
 of his time he hated tobacco smoking. 
 
 Mr. Wheeler leaves out from his book the names of such men as 
 Thomas Assheton Smith, John Musters and others who were 
 celebrated contemporaries of the men I have mentioned, possibly for 
 the reason that they were not the all-round sportsmen the others 
 were. Hunting was in their line predominant over all other sport. 
 Inasmuch as special histories have been written of these men, not to 
 speak of countless allusions made in the press, I need not make 
 mention of them. 
 
 Never in either former or present generations have we had in a 
 gentleman such a pedestrian as 
 
 Captain Baeclay-Allardice. 
 
 BelVsLife was not started until about the year 1822, so from its own 
 columns it was not able to take particulars of this officer's feats ; how- 
 
372 
 
 ever, in 1874 that paper published a history of them. It was compiled 
 from authentic sources, including the testimony of his grandson, Mr. 
 R. Barclay-AUardice of Jordanstoue House, and contemporaries such 
 as Mr. E. H. Budd of Swindon, Captain Ross of Rossie Castle, also 
 Mr. A. W. Kinnear of Stonehaven, who, for many years, was his agent 
 and factor. It may, therefore, be taken that the record is perfectly 
 truthful, so from it I extract some particulars, which are as follows : — 
 
 The Barcliy-Allardice family can boast of a genealogy as old as 
 any in Scotland. It can be traced back to a.d. 1110. Originally the 
 name w^as spelt Berkeley, and they were described as " of Mathers," 
 but some three hundred years ago it was changed to Barclay, and the 
 head of the family came to Ury, since when, until near the end of the 
 last century, they were called the " Barclays of Ury." The paper from 
 which I am taking these particulars gives an exhaustive history of the 
 family, by which is seen it always held the highest position in society, 
 and among its members were some of the most celebrated men of the 
 day and friends of the reigning sovereign. I skip all this and come to 
 the father of the subject of this present memoir. He was Robert 
 Barclay, and is described as a most handsome man of six feet high 
 and very athletic. He was a great pedestrian and often walked 
 from Ury to London, on one occasion doing the 510 miles in ten days. 
 William Pitt was his great friend, and he represented the county of 
 Kincardine in three Parliaments. He was a great agriculturist, and by 
 his good management reclaimed his large property froui a treeless 
 wilderness into one of the most beautiful in North Britain. He 
 married Miss Sarah Anne Allardice of Allardice Castle, about nine 
 miles from Ury, and with her the Allardice estates, which w^ere in the 
 possession of that family since 1167, came to the Barclay? , and Allardice 
 was added to the surname. 
 
 Believing as I do that good breeding is a necessity in man, even 
 more so than in an animal, to enable him, u'heji the inncli comes, to go 
 straight, I make this short reference to the pedigree of the man some 
 of whose deeds I am about to record. " Soft ones " we have in man 
 and animal, no matter how well-bred they may be, but when in a 
 difficult 2Kjsitioji, either as regards honour, pluck, or determination, 
 give me the man who has had, at least, a grandfather ! 
 
 The other gentlemen to whom I have made mention in this chapter 
 were likewise descendants of ancient families of the highest standing, 
 but not having any record of their pedigrees or means of obtaining 
 them I am unable to give reference thereto. 
 
 Captain Robert Barclay-Allardice w^as the eldest son of Robert 
 Barclay and Miss Allardice just mentioned, and was born at Ury on 
 August 25, 1779. He was thus twenty-two, six, and eight years 
 older respectively than Captain Ross, Mr. E. H. Budd, and Mr. George 
 Osbaldeston, all of whom in after life were intimate friends of his and 
 witnessed most of his extraordinary feats. 
 
 Omitting reference to his boyhood, I come to August, 179G, when 
 
373 
 
 his first public pedestrian feat took place. For 100 guineas level 
 he backed himself to walk six miles in the hour, fair heel aad toe. 
 This he won without difficulty and in the shortest time then on record. 
 The exact time is not given, but it was considered a wonderful per- 
 formance for a lad of seventeen. 
 
 In the April following his father died and he succeeded to the family 
 estates, which remained under guardians till he came of age. His 
 second match was against Ferguson, the celebrated City Walking Clerk. 
 It was a seventy miles ran, from Fenchurcli Street, London, to ten 
 miles beyond Windsor and back. The Captain performed the distance 
 in fourteen hours on a very hot day in August, 1798, the clerk being 
 " nowhere." The amount of the stakes is not given. 
 
 Captain Allardice then went to Cambridge, but stayed only a year 
 and did not graduate. Beyond taking " constitutionals " of sixty and 
 seventy miles to and from London, Oxford, Birmingham, etc., he does 
 not appear to have made any matches while at College. 
 
 In the fall of 1800 he made the first of four celebrated bet? with 
 Mr. Fletcher of Ballingshoe, a gentleman well known on the Turf. 
 The first was for a level 2,500 guineas that Mr, F. did not do sixty 
 miles in fourteen hours, go as he pleased. This he just managed to do 
 at Doncaster ; but so knocked up was he that he expressed himself 
 certain that no one could achieve another thirty miles at comparatively 
 the same rate. The Captain at once backed himself for 500 guineas 
 to go ninety miles in 21^ hours. The affair was fixed for December, 
 1800. He ran a good trial of sixty-four miles in twelve hours, but 
 caught a chill and had to give up the match and pay the stake. In 
 the following spring the Captain's unceasing perseverance nerved him 
 to have another shy at Mr. Fletcher, so " 90 in 21^ " was again booked ; 
 but this time for no less than 2,000 guineas a-side. The match came 
 off over a measured mile on the high road between Brechin and Forfar. 
 He ran his first sixty-seven miles in thirteen hours ; but then, owing 
 to having taken some bad brandy, he suddenly became ill, and 
 thinking his chance hopeless, gave up the match. Two hours after- 
 wards he was all right and could have easily run the other twenty- 
 three miles in the remaining five and a half hours had he not previously 
 given up and the umpires accordingly left. Here, therefore, was our 
 hero, within six months, at the wrong side of his book to the tune of 
 5,000 guineas — exclusive of expenses. 
 
 At this early age young Allardice seems to have got hold of the 
 dogged perseverance which characterised him all through life, for next 
 year we find him tackling Fletcher again over the " 90 in 2U." This 
 time the stakes were for 5,000 guineas, and so confident was he that 
 he allowed November to be chosen for the match to come off in, just 
 about the worst month of the year, he to choose the ground. Allardice 
 went into strict training in September under a knowing old tenant of 
 Lord Fauconberg's in Yorkshire. In a " dark" trial, which came off in his 
 lordship's demesne of Newburgh Priory at the end of October, the Cap- 
 
374 
 
 tain ran 110 miles in 19b, 27min.— /.e., at tlie rate of 5 miles 5fur. 53yds 
 an hour. This was considered good enough for anything ; so every 
 available bet was snapped up, and the agreed-on eight days' notice to 
 start was given to Mr. Fletcher. The Captain selected a mile on the 
 Hull road, about sixteen miles from York, and a post was set up at 
 each end for him to turn round, while lamps were placed along the 
 line to give light during the dark hours. Wisely, ground was chosen on 
 which were a few gentle slopes which would relieve the muscles. 
 
 Precisely at midnight, November 9-10, 1801, he started on his journey, 
 weather unfavourable. His first sixteen miles were done at the rate of 
 about twelve and a half minutes to the mile. A rest of ten minutes 
 was then made for refreshment and change of clothing. After another 
 fifteen mi'es a similar halt for like purposes was made, and he 
 appeared dull from the damp night air. After sunrise, however, the 
 weather became fine and continued so for the rest of the match. 
 Fifty miles were covered in eleven hours, and the betting waa 5 to 1 on 
 him. The seventh and last halt was made at the end of the eighty- 
 fourth mile — 15 to 1 against time — and he gallantly completed the 
 ninety miles at 8.22.4 p.m. on November 10, in 20hr. 22min. 4sec., being 
 Ih. Tmin. 56sec. under his time. Thus, by sheer determination, pluck 
 and endurance, did Captain Allardice win back his previous losings 
 to Mr. Fletcher. In fact, he finished so strong and well that he could 
 have gone twenty or thirty miles further. Thousands of people, at 
 time?, accompanied him upon foot and horseback, and all traffic on the 
 road willingly made way for him. His dress was flannel shirts, trousers 
 and night-cap, lambs'-wool stockings and thick-soled leather shoes. 
 Diet — broiled fowls and mutton steaks, with old ale to drink. 
 
 In 1803 he joined the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers. 
 
 After the above mentioned big match he found no foeman till June, 
 1803, when he ran a mile and a half against Deaf Burke, the 
 pugilist, whom he beat easily. Time or stakes not recorded. After 
 running from London to Newmarket — about sixty-four miles — in ten 
 hours in the following month he did nothing till December. 
 He then in a quarter-mile match with Mr. J. Ward, one of the most 
 noted amateur sprinters of the day, showed the world that he was 
 possessed of speed as well as staying powers, It came off in 
 Hyde Park, and was won by the Captain m fifty-six seconds, beating 
 Ward by ten yards, after a terrific set-to up to within forty yards of the 
 finish, when Ward completely collapsed. In March, 1804, he matched 
 himself for 200 guineas to run twenty-three miles in three hours, but he 
 became ill and had to forfeit what v/ould have been a certainty bar 
 accidents. On August 16, 1804, when quartered with his regiment at 
 Kastbourne, he ran two miles in llmin. 57isec. — the fir.-t mile occupying 
 5min., and he backing himself to do the distance in 12min. The going 
 was very bad owing to heavy rains and a strong wind was against 
 him, which accounts for the bad pace of this match. 
 
 Up to then no one had tried Allardice at a mile, but at the same 
 
375 
 
 place as the last match and in the following month, he ran Captain 
 Marston of the 48th Regimrnt that distance for 100 guineas a-side 
 and beat him easily in 5min. 7sec., Marston being then the best 
 amateur "miler" in England. 
 
 John Ireland of Manchester, probably the best jumper that ever 
 lived and no mean professional miler, was now sent to lower the 
 Captain's colours. The stake was 500 guineas a-side, the date October 12, 
 1804, and the ve7iue again at Eastbourne ; but Allardice ran him to a 
 standstill at three-quarters of a mile and did the full distance in four 
 minutes fifty seconds, then the fastest one mile time on record, and 
 remained so for twenty-one years, when Metcalf accomplished four 
 minutes thirty seconds. 
 
 The 23rd Fusiliers now going abroad with Lord Cathcart's army 
 for the protection of Hanover, Captain Allardice had no leisure for 
 pedestrianism until he returned, when on August 4, 1806, he ran Mr. 
 Goulbourne of the Royal Horse Guards a quarter mile at Lord's 
 Cricket Ground, but he cleared him out at the end of 300 yards, tha 
 Captain finishing alone in sixty-two seconds. In the last month of 
 that year he ran 100 miles from Ury to Craithynaird and back over 
 bad roads and at the break of a heavy storm in 19 hours. 
 
 His second great public match (the first being the "90 in 21 V') 
 came off at Newmarket on October 12, 1807. It was with Abraham 
 Wood, the celebrated Lancashire professional, who was backed 
 against the Captain for 500 guineas a-side as to which of the two 
 could run the farthest in twenty-four hours, the Captain to receive 
 twenty miles at the finish. Never did Wood's backers assign him a 
 more hopeless task. No man then, or probably ever living, could have 
 given Allardice such a start in a twenty-four hours' run. The Captain 
 trained at East Dean under the pugilists Gully and Ward. An 
 enormous crowd assembled to see this match, which was over a 
 measured mile roped and staked between Newmarket and the Ditch. 
 It resulted in the Captain's winning, but Wood gave up at the end 
 of forty miles, having been drugged with laudanum at the end of twenty 
 miles by some of his own " backers " (?) who had been betting against 
 him all along. Had Wood stood up he, bar accidents, could not have 
 beaten the Captain, who, by his ninety miles match, showed that he 
 could go a little over six miles an hour for twenty-four hours, which 
 would total some 150 miles, and would necessitate Wood going 170 or 
 perhaps 175 miles, a feat quite beyond his power. 
 
 A great deal of unpleasantness arose over the settlement of bets on 
 this match, and while no aspersion was made on him or any of his 
 backers, and they were paid their bets, the Captain regretted ever 
 after that he made this match, the parties being altogether outside his 
 own social standing. 
 
 In December, 1808, he won a nineteen miles match against Baxter, 
 the Duke of Gordon's celebrated runner, from Gordon Castle to 
 Huntly Lodge. He ran the first nine miles in oOmin., and the whole 
 
376 
 
 distance in 2hr. 8min., over a hilly road, his opponent being five miles 
 to the bad at the goal. 
 
 N.B. — Of course, in some of the distances, better time has been 
 made of late years than that made by Captain Allardice, but if so it 
 was over cinder paths as smooth and level as tables, while his was 
 made over fields or on the common high roads of ninety years ago, 
 when even macadamising was unknown. 
 
 I no\v come to describe the greatest feat of this the greatest pedes- 
 trian that ever lived. Of course it is the " one thousand miles in one 
 thousand hours." 
 
 In October, 1808, Mr. Wedderburn Webster,* a gentleman well 
 known on the turf, laid Captain Barclay-Allardice a level 1,000 guineas 
 that (to quote precisely the wording) " he would not vjalh one thousand 
 miles in one thousand consecutive hours, neither more nor less than one 
 exact mile to be walked in each hour." 
 
 Inured as he then was to hard exercise and long journeys, Allardice 
 thought it unnecessary to go into any special training for this extra- 
 ordinary undertaking, so he merely continued his usual out-of-door life ; 
 but went to Brighton to obtain sea-bathing in the early part of the 
 following summer. 
 
 The match was set to commence at midnight. May 31- June 1, 1809, 
 over a measured mile on Newmarket Heath, and that a journal 
 of the exact time he started for and completed each mile should be 
 kept and certified by the umpires — two of whom should be in constant 
 attendance to see that he faithfully performed the task without assis- 
 tance in any way. 
 
 The course chosen was on the high road passing Mr. Buckle's house, 
 where he lodged, but this is not likely to have been Frank Buckle the 
 jockey, for he lived at Peterborough. 
 
 BelVs Life gives a " log " of each day's work, with particulars of the 
 weather and the state of the walker ; but I need refer only to the most 
 important incidents. 
 
 He started at 0.2 a.m. on June 1, 1809, with 2 to 1 on him. He did 
 not sleep well the first night owing to the novelty of his position and 
 an uncomfortable bed ; nor did he for the first couple of days lie down 
 in the daytime, but walked about the streets of Newmarket. All went 
 well until the tenth day, when he became much fatigued from rain and 
 high wind ; but continued to sleep and eat well, and was in the best 
 spirits. 
 
 On the twelfth day he complained of pains in the nape of the neck 
 and shoulders, caused by insufficient clothing at night and sitting in a 
 draught. On the thirteenth the back tendons of his legs became 
 painful and he found difficulty in starting. Up to the sixteenth he 
 had been very uncomfortable at Buckle's house, and annoyed with the 
 
 * It has been erroneously stated that the match was made with Mr. 
 Fletcher Reed. 
 
377 
 
 smell of cooking and want of room for his attendants, so at noon on 
 that day he moved to other lodgings near the "Horse and Jockey," 
 and there received every attention till the end of the match. His 
 walking course was necessarily shifted, and a fresh half-mile was 
 measured across the Norwich road, up the heath, out and home. This 
 would be on Mill Hill and near to where the Square now is. 
 
 Pain in his legs now increased and ascended up his thighs, which 
 interfered with his sleep. 
 
 Twentieth day. Still troubled with the pains in his legs, which had 
 
 to be frequently bathed with vinegar, but his appetite remained good. 
 
 Twenty-first day. Pain became much worse, his action stiff and for 
 
 a time he went amiss in the right foot. He now began to lie down 
 
 during every interval. 
 
 Twenty-second day. Pains, which had hitherto abated at daylight, 
 now became more intense and prolonged, and the ground, although 
 kept well watered, got hard from the spectators walking on it. Dr. 
 Sandiver was called in and ordered warm baths and liniment. 
 
 On the twenty-fourth toothache, in addition to his other pains, 
 assailed the gallant fellow, and prevented sleep. The baths softened 
 his feet so they had to be discontinued, and flannels soaked in boiling 
 water were substituted but no permanent relief was afforded. 
 
 The twenty- sixth day saw him so stiff and ill that he had to be 
 dressed and taken out before he was wide awake. The flannel ap- 
 pliances, with oil and camphor liniments, at last began to do good ; 
 nevertheless, he was gradually becoming weaker. 
 
 The twenty-seventh was the worst day so far, and the slowest mile 
 of the whole match was then walked. Heavy rain having come on 
 which necessitated his wearing overcoats, he was greatly hampered. 
 
 The thirtieth day he was very ill indeed, and could scarcely stand 
 owing to the pain in his legs, his pace necessarily getting slower and 
 slower. 
 
 From the thirty-first to the thirty-fourth day the sufferings of this 
 wonderful man were intense and almost continual, so much so that he 
 could get little or no repose, for during nearly all the time for rest his 
 legs had to be rubbed by his attendants. Before starting he had to be 
 moved about to get suppled and the pain occasioned him to cry out 
 on several occasions, but so indomitable was known to be his pluck 
 that 10 to 1 was offered on him, but few would take the odds. Luckily 
 the pain subsided a little on the thirty-fourth, so that he got some 
 good sleep and could again awake readily. 
 
 On the thirty-sixth day the poor fellow was in a pitiable state. I 
 required the utmost powers of his servants to keep him up to time 
 and his pace was so slow little time was left for rest. It appeared 
 impossible that he could continue, but neither his pluck nor his appetite 
 had deserted him in the least, and on he went. 
 
 On the thirty-eighth day there came a heavy thunderstorm which 
 added much to his torments, and for the first and only time he felt 
 di.sinclined to eat. 
 
378 
 
 The thirty-ninth day was Sunday, July 9, and multitudes came to 
 see the Captain struggling gallantly on in pains and aches, while 100 to 1 
 was offered on him without a single acceptor. It was proposed to have 
 the course roped to keep the crowds back, but this he would not 
 allow for fear of making too much parade. 
 
 Forty-first day. Less time than ever for rest as his legs required 
 incessant rubbing, and it appeared nearly all up with him. He was in 
 capital spirits, however, as the end was fast approaching. The crowd 
 was now so great that it became imperative this morning to have the 
 ground roped and staked. 
 
 Forty-second and last day, Wednesday, July 12, 1809. A hundred to 
 one was still on ofier against time without a single taker among the 
 ten thousand spectators who had assembled. He started for his last 
 mile at 3.15 p.m. after a rest of t-sventy-three minutes, and completed 
 his Herculean task at 3.37 p.m. amidst vociferous cheers. 
 
 BdVs Life gives a table of each day's work, commencing and ending 
 at midnight, but I shall merely give the average of each week's work, 
 which I have carefully compiled from it, leaving out fractions of 
 seconds : — 
 
 
 Average. 
 
 
 Total time for 
 24 miles. 
 
 Time per mile. 
 
 First week 
 
 Second , , 
 
 Third „ 
 
 Fourth „ 
 
 Fifth „ 
 
 Sixth ,, 
 
 Hr. 
 5 
 6 
 6 
 
 7 
 7 
 7 
 
 Min. Sec. 
 57 47 
 23 55 
 40 38 
 26 56 
 54 4 
 53 51 
 
 Min. Sec. 
 
 14 54 
 
 15 58 
 
 16 42 
 
 18 37 
 
 19 45 
 
 20 46 
 
 Sixteen miles only on the forty- second day. 
 
 His quickest mile was the 35th, walked in llmin. between 10 and 
 11 a.m. on the second day, June 2, whilst his slowest was the 629th, in 
 36min. 30sec , between 4 and 5 a.m. on the twenty-seventh day, June 27. 
 The average time per mile throughout was 17min. 45|sec., and the 
 average rate of walking throughout was 3 miles 3fur. 5|yds. per hour. 
 The actual time occupied in walking the 1,000 miles was 12 days 8hr. 
 Imin. 30sec., which gives an average rate of 81 miles 134yds. 2ft. per 
 diem." 
 
 On finishing, Captain Allardice was immersed in a hot bath for a 
 few minutes, well rubbed down with flannels and put to bed at 4 p.m. 
 He slept soundly till midnight, then he took some water-gruel and slept 
 till 9 a.m. next morning, when he got up as well as ever and attended 
 the July meeting on the racecourse for four hours. 
 
 * I copy these 
 The Author. 
 
 averages from BdVs Life without checking them. 
 
379 
 
 His dress whilst walking was nearly all of flannel, with breeches and 
 lambs'-wool socks or stockings according to the weather, light or heavy 
 shoes according to state of the ground, and a soft felt hat. He break- 
 fasted always at 5 a.m. on animal food (generally roast fowl), a pint of 
 strong ale and two cups of tea or coffee with bread and butter. 
 Luncheon at noon on the best of beef or mutton, plainly roast or 
 broiled, with a pint of strong old ale. Dinner at 6 p.m. of same 
 materials, with the addition of a couple of glasses of port wine. 
 Supper at 11 p.m., same as luncheon. No boiled meat was allowed, 
 being more difficult of digestion, but his consumption of animal food 
 during the twenty-four hours was from olbs. to 6lbs., besides as much 
 as he could eat of all vegetables in season. The private families in 
 Newmarket supplied him with their best home brewed ale (there was 
 no Bass or Guinness in those days), and when thirsty between-whiles 
 he drank Madeira and water. 
 
 When Captain Allardice started on this match he was 29| years of 
 age, stood 5ft. lOin. or lOiin., and weighed as nearly as possible 13st. 4lb. 
 After his seventeen hours' sleep at the end, he went to scale and 
 was found to have lost just 2st. 4lbs. — probably he put up 3lbs. or 
 4llbs. during the sleep, for weight thus lost returns with marvellous 
 rapidity. No doubt he wisely trained "big" for this occasion, in 
 order to allow for wasting by perspiration and want of sleep, for 
 13st. 4lbs. would not be the ordioary training weight of a man 5ft. lOin. 
 
 He was allowed to choose his own time of year for the match, so 
 he took that when daylight was longest. According to BelVs " log ' 
 the weather was variable all the time, but with the exception of a 
 few visitations of heavy rain and wind, with a thunderstorm on the 
 thirty-eighth day, it kept fairly good. Sunset and sunrise were his 
 worst times, owing to weariness of the brain from want of sleep, which 
 even in the commencement he could never get more than an hour and 
 a half off the reel. His greatest trouble was with his legs, and he 
 suffered fearfully after the twelfth day from cramps. These were, 
 I should think, caused by his wearing tight breeches and long stock- 
 ings, and if the light, loose clothing now worn by pedestrians had 
 been then in fashion, the Captain would have had more ease. During 
 the periods for rest he went to bed when inclined but never 
 without entirely undressing, otherwise he lay on a sofa and conversed 
 or read. The advantage and comfort he derived from a thorough 
 change of clothes when he turned-in must have served him well. 
 Luckily his appetite and digestion never failed him, as is shown by 
 the enormous quantity of food he consumed daily, nor did his good 
 spirits or confidence in his ability to win flag in the least. Through- 
 out the whole time he got the most careful attendance and nursing, 
 which of course aided materially, but the greatest of all the causes of 
 Captain Barclay-Allardice's success was his indomitable British pluck 
 and dogged determination to " do or die." 
 
 I see no allusion to his having taken cold baths, but of a truth the 
 
380 
 
 men of those days seemed to have a sort of hydrophobian horror of 
 cold water. My opinion is that had this match been brought off near 
 the sea where salt water baths or bathing could have been indulged 
 in daily the gallant Captain would not have suffered so much. Even 
 cold fresh water and less of the hot would have been better. 
 
 He won a very large amount over this match, for he backed himself 
 whenever he could, but necessarily the expenses were very great. He 
 had three relays of attendants of at least three each, three cooks, three 
 sets of umpires, so as to keep watch, one on and two off. To board and 
 lodge all these people and himself, let alone medical attendance and 
 innumerable other items during his six weeks' work, cost a round sum. 
 
 Towards the close of the match so great was the attendance of 
 strangers that every bed in Newmarket, Cambridge and the neigh- 
 bouring villages was engaged. A large proportion of the aristocracy 
 of the kingdom was present on the last day, and as select an 
 assemblage has probably never attended a foot race before or since. 
 
 On July 14 he posted to London in perfect health, and attended to 
 his usual pursuits till the 17th, when he left for Eamsgate and joined 
 the ill-fated Walcheren expedition. 
 
 After the feat of the "Thou in a thou," Captain Allardice competed 
 in only two public matches. They were got up impromptu, without 
 previous training on his part, and he was beaten in them both. One 
 was on July 9, 1812, when he backed himself to run nine miles in 
 the hour. He ran seven miles in 49min. and only eight miles and a half 
 in the full hour. The second match came off on June 15, 18l3, when 
 he was backed for 100 guineas against an officer in the 7th Dragoon 
 Guards to run two miles. It came off in Hyde Park but Allardice was 
 beaten, much distressed, by 100 yards. 
 
 What a sad falling off from his old form, and it seems a pity he ever 
 "toed the line" after the big match. 
 
 In addition to being so able a pedestrian he was a first-rate shot, an 
 ardent follower of the chase, a capital whip, and could hold his own 
 with the gloves against the best pugilists of the day. So highly was he 
 thought of as a boxer that he was entrusted with the entire training 
 of Tom Cribb, the champion, for his great battle with Molyneaux. 
 Cribbwas at Ury for the seven weeks previous, weighing on arrival 
 IGit., and as he entered the ring fit to fight for a kingdom on September 
 11, 1811, it is evident his mentor was no novice in the art of pugilistic 
 training. 
 
 Let It be clearly understood by my readers that pugilists of those 
 days were, as a class, men very superior to those we now have. 
 
 For a heavy wager Captain Allardice is said to have once driven the 
 Scotch mail coach from London to Edinburgh without getting off the 
 box. 
 
 Although not going in for matches, he ever after kept up his 
 walking and lived a useful country gentleman upon his property in 
 Kincardineshire. As in Ptudd, Eoss, and Osbaldeston, so we 
 
381 
 
 have in Allardice an instance that hard training and exercise do 
 not shorten human life provided after-excesses are not indulged in, 
 for he lived until he was nearly seventy-five years of age, and died at 
 Ury on May 1, 1854, of paralysis, of which he had two previous attacks. 
 Naturally sceptics were not wanting who disbelieved in Captain 
 Allardice having done the 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours fairly, and most 
 unjustifiable allegations were made soon after, and often since, against 
 him, the principal one being that his brother took his place at night. 
 These scandalous charges have been set aside by several good authori- 
 ties, notably by Captain Horatio Ross, who, in reply to the editor of 
 BelVs Life on the subject, wrote as follows : — 
 
 " I lose no time in replying to your letter, as I am anxious at once to 
 vindicate the memory of my old friend, Barclay-Allardice, from an 
 attack, the Eews of which, for the first time, has reached me. I knew 
 him as intimately as I could know anyone, and I have no hesitation n 
 saying that he was one of the most honourable and rigidly correct 
 men I ever met. Eather than connive or take part in such a swindle 
 as ■■ has charged him with he would at once have sub- 
 mitted to be shot. As to anyone walking for him at night it was 
 simply an impossibility. Immense sums were depending upon the 
 result, and he was watched every hour most rigidly. His brother was 
 much younger than he was and just about half his size" 
 
 In conclusion I shall quote from BeWs Life what it says, with 
 editorial authority, on the subject : — 
 
 " So reliable an authority as Captain Ross thoroughly dispels the 
 probability or possibility of any substitute taking his place at night. 
 Then again, Captain Barclay-Allardice in this instance, as in all his 
 other matches, stood every penny of his own money, besides taking 
 all the odds he could get. He was not at the beck and call of any 
 blackleg or bookmaker, like, alas, many of our modern professional 
 pedestrians. The number of ' quacks ' amongst the latter class who 
 have attempted the 1,000 miles feat, and are said to have been success- 
 ful since 1809, is legion, and we here emphatically reassert what has 
 repeatedly appeared in the ' Answers to Correspondents ' column of 
 BelVs Life in London, viz. : — 'That no one but Captain Barclay-Allar- 
 dice ever has walked 1,000 miles in 1,000 consecutive hours, one mile 
 in each hour. Such barefaced impossibilities as 1,000 miles in 1,000 
 half hours, or in 1,000 quarter hours, are too absurd to require comment 
 at our own hands. It is almost any odds against the feat being 
 achieved again. No amateur of the present generation is sufficiently 
 fond of match-making or could spare the time to attempt it, and the 
 expenses are too great to admit of any professional being able to 
 afford them.' " 
 
 * The name of this traducer is left blank by BelVs LifCy which is a 
 pity.— The Author. 
 
382 
 
 I don't agree with those who think the present generation of sports 
 men is inferior to those of former days. We have as good men now as 
 we ever had ; but men change in habits and tastes, and few are now to 
 be found who would care for the exploits in which their ancestors 
 gloried, so they don't go in for them. Consequently the fatigue 
 which two generations ago our fathers -and grandfathers unflinchingly 
 sustained and the endurance they showed could not be borne by the 
 constitution or muscles of their descendants. The Britain over which 
 the men of old hunted and shot is passing rapidly away, and with it 
 are disappearing the memories of deeds which will never be repeated. 
 Nor shall we often (perhaps never) see again men who each possessed 
 the combination of tough muscles and activity with skill in handling 
 hounds, a horse, the gun, the gloves, the fishing rod, the billiard cue, or 
 cricket bat, for which so many men of olden times were conspicuous. 
 
 Young men of the present day look upon some of the deeds which I 
 have narrated as foolish, if not mad. Perhaps it is well they do so. 
 For my part, I agree with many that there was a groundwork of 
 energy and determination in the wild deeds of sportsmen of bygone 
 days which was useful ; for, however imprudent it may have been at 
 times on the part of the performers, financially and constitutionally, 
 such examples of pluck, endurance and disregard of bodily suffering 
 shown by the upper classes of society must have a salutary effect upon 
 the people at large ; and in these times of tennis, cycling and money- 
 making it would do the present generation no harm if we could bring 
 back to life some of the old race of men, with all their so-called 
 madness and reckless disregard of life and money. 
 
 We have, and shall have, many first-rate foxhunters but scarcely 
 another Osbaldeston. Many first-rate shots, but not another Captain 
 Ross. Many tip-top cricketers, shots, ranners, jumpers and sparrers, 
 but not likely one to excel in all as did Edward Budd. Pedestrians 
 we have, and shall have, but certainly never another Barclay- Allardice. 
 
 Perhaps I should have included some of the shooting recorded in 
 this chapter in the table of remarkable sport given in Chapter XV., 
 but giving the record in a separate chapter renders it the more 
 emphatic. 
 
383 
 
 CHAPTER XXiri. 
 
 JOHN SCOTT AND MAT DAWSON, 
 GEORGE FORDHAM and FRED ARCHER. 
 
 Histories of Raceliorses Often Given— Those of Trainers and Jockeys Seldom— Record 
 Unparalleled—" Glorious Keminiscences "—Original but Authentic, 
 
 John Scott. 
 
 His Birth and Early Days— His Apprenticeship— Filho-da-Puta-Mr. Houldsworth— The 
 Hon. B. Petre- Mansfield— His Marriage- Removes to Whitewall— Success for Mr. 
 Petre— His Achievements— Long List of Winners— Wonderful Records— Difficulties in 
 those Days— Scott's Patrons— Mr. John Bowes— Some of His Horses— Escape of 
 Stockwell— Lord Derby and The Derby— James Perrin— Scott's Jockeys— Bill Scott— 
 St^me of His Records— Desperate Races— His Characteristics— John Scott's Ability 
 with Unsound Horses— Extraordinc>ry Performance of Cyprian— Savage Horses — 
 "Nobbling"— His Bloodhound— Incidents— Scott's Own Horses— Horses at Whitewall 
 —Scott as a Trainer— His Hospitality, Mutton, and Port Wine— Isaac Walker— Sfc. 
 Leger Festivities— Rearer, Trainer, and Rider— Cock-fighting— Lord Londesborougli'a 
 Sale— Scott and the Touts— His " Surprises"- He Ran to Win— His Rectitude— He 
 Plunged— Ups and Downs— In Harness to the End— His Death— His Popularity— Old 
 Doirs of Whitewall and the Plates— An Interesting Relic— Generosity of Mr. Bowes. 
 Mat Da-wson. 
 
 His Birth and Early History— Lord John Scott— Hobble Noble— Mr. Merry— Russley — 
 What Mat Did for Merry — Heath House— Remarkable Record— Long List of Wonderful 
 Horses— All Trained by Him — His Patrons— Lord Falmouth — An Unparalleled Record 
 — Lord Falmouth's Sale— His Return to the Turf — More Successes— Duke of Portland 
 and St. Simon— Mr. Fenwick and Mimi— Mr. Vyner with Minting and Lambkin — 
 Lord Hastings and Melton— Another Score—" Races of the Century "—What Consti- 
 tutes Them- Three of Them— No Surprises— No Mj'stery- Did Not Plunge- Removes 
 to Exning— George Dawson— Mat Dawson Re'i^esby Degrees — Mr. Noel Fenwick — 
 Another Great Record — Melton House — Its Pictures and Trophies— An Escutcheon 
 Untarnished— Trains Now Only Privately— His Stud Farm— High Prices for Two 
 Colts — Mat's System with His Patrons, Employes, and Horses — "The Master" — "An 
 Honest Man "—Hearty and Healthy— Ladas. 
 
 George FoRi)HA>r. 
 His Birth and Boyhood— His First Big Win— A Long List of Winning Mounts— And Horses 
 He Rode— Number of Races Won by Him— Long Career— Some of His Patrons— Hig 
 Last Win— His Last Mount— An Instance Rarely Met With— His Riding— His 
 Integrity — " Fordham's Mounts " — " The Kid " — " Tlie Demon " — His Death. 
 
 Fred Archer. 
 His Birth and Childhood— First Rices- Cesarewitch of 1872— A Marvellous Record— Never 
 Approached— 1874-'86— At the Start— A Homily from Lord Marcus— His Iron Nerve 
 —Riding—" The Jockeys' Ring"— His Fasting— His General History— His Marriage- 
 America- Ireland— Curragh October Meeting, 1885— His Reception— The Cambridge- 
 shire of '85— His Last Win— His Last Ride -His Death— Effect of the News— The 
 Funeral — Remarks Upon His Riding by the Author— His Manner and Manners 
 —His Popularity— His Income— Steeplechasing— His Racing Wardrobe— A Gentleman 
 by Nature. 
 
 Histories of racehorses and their owners are constantly published, 
 while the daily doings of the former, be they cracks or crocks, are 
 reported in every paper in the country. A history in skeleton 
 form at times is given of some remarkable trainer, but one of a 
 
3S^ 
 
 jockey is seldom seen. In book form a lengthened and authentic 
 history never appears. This to some people doubtless seems strange, 
 but to me it is especially so, holding as I do that the credit for a horse 
 turning out well should be accorded to the trainer and jockey rather 
 than the owner, as already alluded to in another chapter. 
 
 As is seen by the heading, I am about to make mention of two 
 trainers and two jockeys. In selecting the late John vScott and the 
 present Mat Dawson with the late George Fordham and Fred Archer, 
 I cannot by any possibility find representatives of their callings more 
 able or more honourable, nor any who by mighty deeds have gained 
 such celebrity on the Turf. Their records stand not alone unparalleled, 
 but unapproached. Moreover, by selecting these men I am enabled 
 to allude to most of the great racehorses which have run in England 
 for the past seventy years, and I hope some of my readers will enjoy 
 as much as I do the "glorious reuiiniscences " which are called up by 
 the names of the celebrities I am about to enumerate, and which in 
 their day were the Bendigos, the Mintings, and the Ormondes of our 
 own. With limited space only at my disposal I cannot give a 
 lengthened history. of either the men or the horses; all I can now 
 attempt is to furnish for my readers memoranda of each, but they 
 will be found correct. 
 
 I have in my possession cuttings from newspapers and magazines 
 dealing with their histories, bat finding so many inaccuracies 
 when I consulted them for the purpose of my own sketch I gave them 
 up, therefore what I now produce is almost entirely original, the 
 particulars being put together by myself from authentic sources, 
 official Calendars, or on the authority of parties well conversant 
 with the subjects and who vouched to me their accuracy. 
 
 xls is usually the case with great men and public favourites, the 
 subjects of my following allusions are universally referred to without 
 prefixing to their names the conventional title of Mister. To do so 
 would obscure the individuality. Fancy alluding to the great York 
 shire trainer as " Mr. John Scctt '' ! Unless you began by explaining 
 who was meant, the hearers or the readers might take him for a 
 dignitary of the Church or some commercial potentate, whereas by 
 eliminating the title any dunce of the day w^ould recognise who it 
 was. 
 
 Thus far for preface ; so I now proceed with my subject, and shall 
 commence with the same 
 
 John Scott. 
 
 He was born at Chippenham, a village near Xewmarket, on 
 November 8, 1794, where his father was a well-known trainer for 
 many years but moved afterwards to Oxford. 
 
 As a merg child little John evinced extraordinary sagacity, and was 
 so precocious at the age of thirteen that he was entrusted by his father 
 with the charge of horses sent from home, having before that become a 
 good horseman. 
 
385 
 
 Although born near Newmarket, he was always a thorough York- 
 shireman, for long before he could imbibe Southern notions of horses 
 or training he was transferred to the county of many acres, and ever 
 after bore the hall-mark for shrewdness and judgment of horse flesh 
 so remarkable in the sport-loving and manly Tyke. 
 
 Franks was a trainer of celebrity in those days and owned the great 
 Middleham establishment in the North Riding of Yorkshire. To him 
 young Scott went, and there learned the duties of trainer. Croft 
 succeeded Franks at Middleham a few years after, and he promoted 
 Scott — then a very young man — to the position of Head Lad. He had 
 the care of the renowned Filho-da-Puta, and prepared him for his 
 great match with Sir Joshua. A short time before the race the horse 
 was taken out of his hands and a different system of training adopted, 
 and as Filho was beaten in the match a row took place between Croft 
 and Scott, which resulted in their separating. Luckily for Scott this 
 rupture occurred, for it was the means of getting him a start in life 
 to which in all probability was owed his future fame. 
 
 Mr. Houldsvvorth, then occupying a conspicuous position on the 
 Turf, considered the young trainer was unfairly treated, so he took 
 him up and pat him in charge of his horses at Rockhill, in Sher- 
 wood Forest. Iq his new situation he was very successful and trained 
 a great many winners for Mr. Houldsworth, among them the famous 
 Magistrate. After ten years his patron retired in 1822, and the Hon. 
 E. Petre took Scott as his private trainer at Mansfield, on the confines 
 of the Forest. Here he continued to rise in his profession and gave the 
 greatest satisfaction to his new master, but remained there only two 
 years and married Miss Barker, the daughter of the innkeeper at 
 Mansfield. 
 
 Whitewall House, with its stabling, then came into the market, so 
 Scott purchased them, and moved his establishment thereto early in 
 1825, bringing with him the horses of Mr. Petre. He then launched 
 forth on a great scale as public trainer, and from that date his fame 
 really counts, for from then until his death in October, 1871, success 
 attended him to an extraordinary degree. 
 
 It would be tedious to my readers to go through the long list of 
 winners which John Scott trained, I shall therefore give only some of 
 the principal. Before he came to Whitewall he had, as I have said^ 
 the charge of Filho-da-Puta and Magistrate. Subsequently the follow- 
 ing horses came to him, and with them he won the classic three-year- 
 old races in the order annexed : — 
 
 the Two Thousand in 1842 and 1843 for Mr. Bowes with Meteor 
 
 and Cotherstone, Nunnykirk 1849, West Australian, again for Mr. 
 
 Bowes, in 1853, Fazzoletto 1856, The Wizard 1860, and The Marquis 1862. 
 
 The One Thousand he won with Canezou in 1848, Imperieuse 1857, 
 
 Sagitta 1860, and Hurricane 1862. 
 
 The Derby he took with St. Giles in 1832, Miindig lb35, Attila 1842, 
 Cotherstone 1843, Daniel O'llourke 1852, and West Australian 1853^ 
 
 cc 
 
386 
 
 and in 1828 The Colonel ran a dead heat with Cadland, but was beaten 
 in the decider. 
 
 The Oaks he carried away with Cyprian in 1836, Industry 1838, 
 Ghuznee 1841, The Princess 1844, Iris 1851, Songstress 1852, 
 Marchioness 1855, and Queen Bertha 1863. 
 
 The St. Leger seemed to be his prerogative during five-and-thirty 
 years, for he won it off the reel for Mr. Petre with Matilda in 1827, The 
 Colonel 1828, and Rowton 1829. Then followed I\[argrave 1832, 
 Touchstone 1834, Don John 1838, Charles XII. 1839 (after a dead 
 heat with Euclid), Launcelot 1840, Satirist 1841, The Baron 1845, 
 Newminster 1851, West Australian 1853, Warlock 1856, Imperieuse 
 1857, Gamester 1859, and The Marquis 1862, after a desperate race 
 with Buckstone, trained by Mat Dawson, referred to further on. 
 
 In 1843 Cotherstone won the Guineas and Derby, as did Meteor and 
 Attila the year before ; West Australian in 1853 won for the first time 
 the treble event of the Two Thoui^and, Derby, and St. Leger. Scott's 
 own mare, Imperieuse, carried away the One Thousand and St. Leger 
 in 1857, and The Marquis in 1862 did the same with the Two Thousand 
 and Leger, while Hurricane won the One Thousand. In 1838, '41, and 
 '51, with separate horses, Scott won the Oaks and Leger, so he did the 
 Derby and Leger in '32 ; the Derby and Oaks in '52 ; the Guineas and 
 Leger in '56, and in '60 both the Guineas. A marvellous record was 
 this even if it ended there, but far from its doing so. 
 
 Scott's fame was added to by the performances of such horses as 
 Velocipede, which was one of the best he ever trained. He was better 
 than The Colonel, and would have won the Leger in 1828 but for an 
 accident in the race, and thus would Whitewall have supplied the first 
 and second. With Toxophilite, Legerdemain, Prior of St. Margaret's, 
 Glaucus, Cardinal Puff, Backbiter, Epirus, Hetman Platoff, Grand 
 Inquisitor, Vandal, Vanity, The Spy, Elvina, Taraban, Madge 
 Wildfire, Nobleman, Ammonia, Tramp, Morgan Rattler, Hornsea, 
 Scroggins, Carew, Gladiator (the sire of Sweetmeat), also Queen Mary 
 (the dam of Blink Bonny and granddam of Caller Ou), and scores 
 of other cracks, Scott at times " played havoc among the classic cups '' 
 and swept them off the shelves of Ascot, Goodwood, and Doncaster 
 literally in chestfuls. In big Handicaps, particularly with the Great 
 Yorkshire Stakes over Knavesmire, near his home, he wrought wonders. 
 In two-year-old races he was equally formidable. 
 
 Thus he won the classic races forty-one times in thirty-seven years. 
 
 Many of the horses were rank outsiders, notably Touchstone, in 1834, 
 when he won the Leger, beating to fits Newmarket's Plenipotentiary, 
 whose attendant, William Martin, is alive and still swears that "Pleno." 
 was the best horse that ever ran a race ! 
 
 Most of these feats were performed in days when there were no 
 railways by w^hich in comfortable boxes he could transport in a few 
 hours his horses from the centre of Yorkshire to that of Cambridge, 
 Surrey and Sussex. To these far-off shires to fulfil their engagements 
 
 I 
 
387 
 
 Scott's horses had to be walked until about the year 1850 or perhaps 
 later. The journeys to Epsom and Goodwood of course necessitated 
 weeks on the road, during which the horses had to get their gallops as 
 Tbest their attendants could give them, sufifering from vicissitudes of 
 the weather and a change of stable every night. In face of these 
 difficulties and disadvantages many of the Northern trainers gave a 
 good account of themselves when they migrated South, while the subject 
 •of my reference was a terror alike to every trainer in England and 
 every bookmaker in London. 
 
 As their successors did to Mat Dawson, the great racing men of his 
 day patronised John Scott. Among them were the Duke of Beaufort, 
 the Marquis of Exeter, LordsWestminster, Glasgow, Derby, Fitzwilliam, 
 -Colonel Anson, (fee, <fec. His longest connection was with that great 
 pillar of the sport, Mr John Bowes of Streatlam Hall, in Durham. 
 It began prior to 1835, and continued until Scott's death in 1871. 
 During those at least thirty-seven years the career on the turf of Mr. 
 Bowes was remarkable for its success, for he began in 1835, before he 
 had attained his majority, by winning the Derby with Miindig and 
 -finished with the Goodwood Stakes in 1871 with Taraban, just two 
 months before his trainer died. With the exception of Lord Egremont 
 early in the century, no one wore so many "blue ribbons" as Mr. Bowes, 
 for with Miindig, Cotherstone, Daniel O'Rourke, and West Australian 
 he won four Derbys. 
 
 Daniel O'Rourke, who was by Birdcatcher, in the Derby of 1852, 
 -fetlock deep in mud, beat his nephew, the renowned Stockwell, and the 
 •clinking Hobbie Noble, a feat both Bowes and Scott were always 
 proud of. Yet this great horse was allowed to be taken out of the 
 •country by the Germans for a sum of 800 guineas ! 
 
 Mr. Bowes bred West Australian, and owned him when he won all 
 his races. Many people aver he was our "best horse"; yet at Lord 
 Londesborough's sale in June, 1860, the magnates of our Turf allowed 
 the Count de Morny, for a miserable 3,000 guineas, to buy and 
 take to France our great West Australian ! At the same sale, but for 
 Mr. R. C. Nay lor buying him for 4,500 guineas, Stockwell would have 
 shared a like fate ! 
 
 Although Scott did wonders for Lord Derby with his two-year-olds, 
 he could never win for him the race called after his ancestor, or even 
 a St. Leger. He tried hard, but could never get nearer than second. 
 
 There lives in Malton at present a man who was identified with the 
 Whitewall stables for many years, and to him, with the assistance of 
 calendars and records, I am indebted for the information I am now 
 laying before the public. 
 
 James Perrin entered the service of John Scott early in the 
 thirties, and continued until the death of his master in 1871. Most 
 part of that time he held the position of Head Lad, and as he still 
 retains his memory unimpaired, although an octogenarian, what he 
 related to me may be relied upon. My time was limited when I 
 
3S8 
 
 visited Malton, so I was not able to learn from the fine old fellow as 
 much of his master's history as I wished ; but I highly enjoyed his 
 stories, told, as they were, in the quaint and matter-of-fact style peculiar 
 to him and others of the most sporting shire in England. 
 
 As second jockeys, those whom Scott employed most were Jim 
 Robinson, Simon Templeman, Frank Buckle, Elnathan Flatman, and 
 Frank Butler. 
 
 Until about 1845 Whitewall's first jockey was William Scott, a younger 
 brother of John, and as he was about the best man of his day, I may 
 here sandwich part of his history with his brother's. 
 
 In physique they differed, for while the jockey was little, the trainer 
 was of goodly proportions, although not tall. Bill Scott had a great 
 knowledge of pace, and as a jockey ranks among the best in our history, 
 while his career was, with one or two exceptions, quite the longest. 
 
 He rode in public for thirty years, and won nearly all the great 
 races, among them being three Two Thousands, four Derbys, three 
 Oaks, nine St. Legers, together with the Champagne Stakes nine times, 
 and the Doncaster Two-year- old Stakes six times. His principal cup 
 victories were achieved on Touchstone, Glaucus, Hornsea, Cardinal 
 PuflF, and Hetman Platoff. 
 
 His St. Leger wins were : — 
 
 1821 on :Mr. Powlett's Jack Spigot 
 1825 ,, Mr. Watts' Memnon 
 
 1828 ,, Mr. Petre's The Colonel 
 
 1829 ,, Do. Rowton 
 1838 „ Lord Chesterfield's Don John 
 
 1839 on Major Yarhurgh's Charles 
 XII., after a dead heat 
 with Euclid 
 
 1840 ,, Ld. Westminster's Launcelot 
 
 1841 ,, Do. Satirist 
 1846 ,, hisownhorseSirTattonSykes 
 
 His Derby wins were : — 
 1832 on Mr. Ridsdale's St. Giles I 1842 on Colonel Anson's Attila 
 
 1835 ,, Mr. Bowes' Miindig I 1843 ,, Mr. Bowes' Cotherstone 
 
 His Oaks wins were : — 
 
 1836 on his brother's mare Cyprian | 1841 on Lord Westminster's Ghuznee 
 1838 ,, Lord Chesterfield's Industry I 
 
 His riding of Miindig in the Derby of 1835 and of Satirist in the 
 Leger of 1841, as described by " The Druid," " were the finest specimens 
 of his style, which, as far as daring and decision went, has, perhaps, 
 never been matched." 
 
 He rode another desperate finish in the Leger of 1829, when for Mr. 
 Petre he won it on Rowton from Voltaire. Bill rode The Colonel in 
 the dead heat with Cadland for the Derby in 1828, but standing to 
 win £10,000 on his mount, it affected his nerve and he lost the 
 decider. He rode Charles XII. in the dead heat with Euclid for the 
 Leger in 1839, and, standing to win on either, won the run-off. 
 
 Bill owned Sir Tatton Sykes, and at York, in 1847, had a great 
 match with him against Traverser, owned by the eccentric Mr. J. 
 O'Brien. This race was a mile, and is remarkable for being about 
 the fastest ever run — time, Imin. 42sec. Traverser was considered 
 
389 
 
 the best miler in England, and beat Alarm, who had won the Ascot 
 and Goodwood Cups, also the Derby winner Pyrrhus the First; but 
 in this match Sir Tatton Sykes beat him easily by three lengths. 
 Frank Butler rode for Bill Scott and Job Marson for O'Brien. 
 
 Bill's horse was first called Tibthorpe, but turning out about the best 
 he ever rode, he called him after the man he considered the best he 
 ever knew. He won both the Two Thousand and Leger on him, and 
 lost the Derby by only a head, having remained at the post to abuse 
 the starter till the others had gone a hundred yards. 
 
 Bill was like his brother, wideawake, and when he had a good mount 
 he backed it heavily. He was quite a character, with language peculiar 
 to himself, which, when he got excited, became exceedingly " strong." 
 He was very charitable and hospitable, and possessing rare wit with 
 exuberant spirits he was a great favourite with everyone. The 
 little fellow was wont to say to youngsters when they came to him for 
 a tip that "Prudence, a clever old animal, got by Holdfast out of 
 Careful, was the best he could give them." " Sylvanus " relates that 
 he continually talked during a race, and swore terribly at any 
 jockey who interfered with him. In the Oaks of 1838, which he won 
 on Industry, Arthur Pavis struck him, and they finished the race 
 flogging each other ! 
 
 The brothers were not friends for some years before Bill's death, 
 which accounts for John not having trained Sir Tatton Sykes, 
 
 Bill acquired a large property and lived for years near the gate lead- 
 ing on to Knavesmire racecourse, where he died in 18-^9, aged about 
 fifty-two years, and was buried at Meaux in the East Riding of 
 Yorkshire, regretted by everyone. 
 
 To train tit a sound horse that feeds well is comparatively an easy 
 job, but to deal with one of a delicate constitution, and having bad 
 legs and feet, is altogether a different thing. It was, however, in his 
 treatment of that sort John Scott prided himself the most, and with 
 many such he did what no other man could do. 
 
 Velocipede gave him a great deal of trouble with his legs, and 
 Touchstone gave him more ; still, he was able to keep the latter going 
 and win races with him until he was a five-year-old. The Baron also 
 had bad legs and feet, and but for the skilful treatment he got at 
 Whitewall we might never have seen Stockwell. 
 
 Touchstone was a very peculiar horse in many ways — besides having 
 bad legs, his action with wide-spread hocks was the oddest ever seen 
 on Langton Wold. He was also a tremendous puller. This great 
 progenitor of the English racehorse stood at Eaton Hall, and died 
 there in his thirty-first year. As a sire he is best known through 
 Orlando, Newminster, Cotherstone, and Surplice, and though he begot 
 other celebrities he was not nearly as reliable as other of our great 
 aires, for some very bad horses sprung from him. His own brother 
 Launcelot pulled even harder than Touchstone, and at times, no 
 matter what was the bridle. Bill Scott could not hold him. 
 
390 
 
 Ghuznee was only a pony— just 14| hands— but she had the best of 
 legs, which old Perrin still describes as being of iron. He also says 
 that Elvina was the most beautiful mare he ever set eyes on, and 
 that John Scott often said the same of her. 
 
 As an instance of the long journeys which horses had to travel to 
 race meetings in former days, I may mention that in 1836 Scott's own 
 mare, Cyprian, was walked from Whitewall to Epsom, where she won< 
 the Oaks, thence back to Newcastle, where she won the Northumber- 
 land Plate, and returned to Whitewall within six weeks, doing on an 
 average twenty miles of road work every day. 
 
 She was a very vicious mare, and continued so till her death at the 
 age of nearly thirty. Perrin showed me the stall where her colt 
 Artful Dodger with a kick knocked the brains out of his lad who was 
 at the time combing his iail. The Princess was another devil, and 
 seemed to hate everyone at Whitewall. She and Cyprian were more 
 dangerous and caused more trouble to shoe and to look after than all 
 the other horses. 
 
 " Nobbling " favourites was in vogue in those days much more than 
 it is at present, and the Malton stable was often visited by ruffians 
 for the purpose of destroying a horse. Scott had, therefore, to be ever 
 on the alert, and for the better protection of the place he got a huge and 
 ferocious Cuban bloodhound which had been trained to hunt and 
 capture runaway niggers. 
 
 This dog many times did good service, notably with Attila before the 
 Derby of 1842, when a determined attempt Avas made to get at him,, 
 but his faithful guardian nearly tore to pieces the scoundrel who tried 
 it. This horse when not so protected was nobbled three or four times 
 afterwards. 
 
 Jereed in 1835 w&s tried to be as good as Touchstone at weight for 
 age, and so was considered to have a great chance for the Derby, but 
 he was got at one night, and with a hammer the tendons of both fore- 
 legs were battered fearfully. 
 
 An onslaught was made at Leatherhead on Cotherstone just before- 
 the Derby of 1843, but it was frustrated by Bill Scott, who, like the 
 bloodhound, nearly killed the rascals. 
 
 More than once Mrs. Scott saved her husband's horses from these 
 fellows, and, assisted by the shoer and the dog, on one occasion she 
 captured three of them, to whom were given such a ducking, with a 
 subsequent towelling and dressing, they never again visited Whitewall. 
 
 Magistrate in Scott's Forest days ran a desperate race at York with 
 the famous Blacklock. It was four miles, and such was the effect upon 
 the horses that neither ever recovered, and it ended their racing- 
 West Australian, although a magnificent yearling, was for a time a 
 backward and unpromising colt, and it was not until Scott tried him 
 with Longbow a short time after the Two Thousand that he found 
 what a jewel he had. The stable then planked the money down for 
 the Derby and Leger, and won a tremendous stake. Epirus was the 
 
391 
 
 best horse they had at Whitewall in 1837, and they expected him to 
 win the Leger, but he was disqualified for it. Perrin told me that 
 owing to his being delayed in London for over a week he gave this 
 horse his exercise and kept him fit by jogging him up and down Regent 
 Street in the early mornings ! 
 
 Seldom was seen in a race a greater contrast in size of the horses 
 than was in the Leger of 1827, when the little Matilda, with Robinson 
 up, beat Sam Chifney on the mighty Mameluke, whereby Gully lost 
 £20,000 to Crockford. From what Perrin told me, the difference 
 between the two was greater than that which at present exists between 
 Baron de Hirsch's cracks, La Fleche and Watercress. 
 
 If I thought my readers would appreciate them I could recount 
 many more such like yarns of famous Whitewall horses. 
 
 John Scott bred and owned racehorses and ran them in his own 
 name, notably the mares Imperieuse, Cyprian, and Songstress. The 
 two latter won for him the Oaks, and the former the One Thousand 
 and the Leger. 
 
 For several years the number of racehorses under his charge at 
 Whitewall was over a hundred, and it was never less than sixty. 
 
 As a trainer he is described in a history I have consulted as being 
 what " Wellington was as a general and Nelson as a naval genius ; 
 and to witness him on Langton Wold directing the work of his teams 
 was like watching a field-marshal handling a brigade of cavalry at 
 Aldershot." His boundless hospitality and genuine kind-hearted 
 disposition were proverbial, and seemed only to be equalled by his 
 honesty of purpose and gentlemanlike deportment. He possessed 
 what seemed an inexhaustible fund of anecdote which he retailed in 
 amusing style quite unique, while his mutton, fed in sheephood until 
 three years old on Yorkshire wolds and for six months " finished '' on 
 the home meadows, together with his vintage ports, were well known 
 to be about the very best in England. Under such circumstances it 
 is easy to imagine how pleasant were visits to Whitewall in those days. 
 No one enjoyed himself more than the noble patroDS, and there they 
 would be seen conversing with the proprietor in terms of familiarity 
 such as they would not deign towards others outside their own 
 circle. 
 
 There was always a great gathering at Whitewall for the St. Leger, 
 and for nearly thirty years Isaac Walker, Mr. Bowes' stud groom, made 
 it the occasion for bringing the yearlings from Streatlam. John 
 invited cronies from York and Ripon, and his jovial brother was 
 never absent. It is, therefore, easy to understand how the old white 
 walls were made to ring again upon occasions such as these, when the 
 trainer and the jockey entertained the followers of their stable and the 
 man who reared the horses of their best patron. Yes, in the little 
 dining-room at Whitewall were told many yarns, and therein was dis- 
 cussed many a plan which it would be interesting now to hear, parti- 
 cularly those laid by the men who, in their individual capacity of 
 
392 
 
 rearer, trainer, and rider, had made so famous the "black and silver" 
 of Mr. Bowes. 
 
 When West Australian -won the Leger, and thereby broke all previous 
 record, so frantic with delight was old Isaac that he gave him that night 
 a bottle of champagne in his water, which the good horse seemed very- 
 much to relish. 
 
 Malton, like other places in England at that time, was famous for its 
 gamecocks, and no one had a better breed than the m-ister of White- 
 wall. Many a battle was therefore fought, and that too, in the self- 
 same cosy little dining-room. 
 
 As I made allusion in this chapter to Lord Londesborough's sale, 
 and for comparison with others which I particularised elsewhere, I 
 may here state that it was quite the greatest ever held up to its time, 
 June, 1860, nor does it contrast badly \vith many of those which 
 followed. It realised : — 
 
 For Stockwell — Mr. Bowes 
 
 For West Australian— Count de Morny . 
 
 For Warlock 
 
 For twenty-three brood mares and foals. 
 For fourteen yearlings 
 
 Gs. 
 4,500 
 3,000 
 
 620 
 9,419 
 3,150 
 
 Total, 40 horses 20,689 
 
 Considering the fact that John Scott was at the head of his pro- 
 fession for over forty years, and trained in public for some five-and- 
 fifty, it is not surprising that a continuance of uninterrupted popularity 
 did not attend him. 
 
 Besides being an artist at his trade, and, as I have said, a man of 
 extraordinary sagacity, he was endowed with great perception and 
 resource. In his early and middle life, when in the zenith of his glory, 
 there were no telegraph wires by which could be flashed all over 
 England the doings of his cracks almost before they had quitted the 
 Wolds. Touts, the bugbear of trainers ever since racing was estab- 
 lished, infested the region, but these pests crafty old John was generally, 
 by some artifice or other, able to deal with. Malton, although a town 
 of ancient history, was then comparatively an isolated spot, its fifteen 
 miles from York, the nearest town, being considered a longish journey 
 even sixty years ago. 
 
 Under those advantages, personal and local, "John," as the Tykes 
 called him, was enabled to train his horses in peace, and keep dark 
 until the proper time those which had important engagements. More- 
 over, he could, and often did, get reports circulated concerning them 
 not altogether in accordance with facts. 
 
 When, therefore, the day came, as it so often did, that an outsider 
 from Whitewall carried off some great Southern race, loud at times 
 would be the outcry, particularly so when it was known that the 
 party had thrown in for a big stake. This they generally did, for 
 
393 
 
 everyone connected with the great ISTorthern stable plunged upon 
 anything of their own which they considered good. 
 
 Inasmuch as Scott ran his horses to win, he was perfectly justified 
 to use any fair means to put the public on the wrong track, and so 
 •enable his employers to get on their money at a price which would 
 reimburse them for the heavy expenses they were at in keeping horses 
 for public sport. People did not then, no more than now, take this view 
 and some said hard things of the great Yorkshire trainer, and dubbed 
 him " the Wizard of the North," simply because he was more sagacious 
 than they and brought off more "surprises " on the turf, without letting 
 the public know how, than did any other man before or since. — Good 
 •old John ! 
 
 Like everyone else, Scott had his ups and downs, and at times was 
 out of luck ; which was particularly the case a couple of years before 
 Ms death. But good fortune returned, and for some months his stable 
 was in nearly as flourishing condition as ever, and so it was the day 
 lie died. 
 
 Old age seemed to have damped his ardour but little, for he held the 
 reins of government to the last, and, with the exception of deafness, he 
 suffered from no ailment until within a day or two before his death, 
 while his jovial spirits lasted to the end, but on the 1st or 2nd of the 
 month he contracted a severe cold, which turned into acute bronchitis, 
 and it carried him off on October 4, 1871, aged seventy-six years. 
 
 As yet another example of the irony of fate, the news of the grand 
 old fellow's death and the winning at Kelso of his own filly Pompadour 
 reached Malton precisely at the same time. As with his health and 
 spirits, John Scott retained to the last his widespread popularity. 
 Among his brother trainers, even with their dread of him, he was well 
 liked and respected. With many of his employers he was on intimate 
 terms of friendship ; they all esteemed him for his worth, and in him 
 placed implicit confidence ] while throughout Yorkshire, that county of 
 more sportsmen even than acres, his death was looked upon as a 
 •calamity to the county at large. 
 
 As evidence of the veneration which his patrons entertained, not 
 alone for their worthy trainer, but for his very stables wherein 
 stood their horses, Mr. Bowes offered to buy from his widow, at any 
 price she wished to fix, the doors and frames, covered as they were 
 with the veritable plates in which the horses ran when they won 
 their great race?. Mrs. Scott, however, refused to sell them, and they 
 remained intact until after her death in May, 1891, when the present 
 proprietor, Mr. Bruckshaw, to ensure their safety, removed the plates 
 from off the doors. They now hang in the little dining-room, 
 arranged in a neatly got-up shield, and encircle a miniature of the 
 horse that wore them, with his name and wins appended. This is a 
 relic intensely interesting and of great value. 
 
 As proof of how Mr. Bowes acknowledged the services of men 
 whom he found worthy, at the break-up of the W^hitewall establish- 
 
394 
 
 ment after Scott's death, he settled, for life, £I00 a year each upon 
 James Perrin and John Peart, Scott's secretary. 
 
 Scott married a second time, in about 1845, but left no issue. 
 
 I now come to treat with 
 
 Matthew Dawson. 
 
 He is the son of George Dawson who over a century ago trained 
 horses at GulUne, on the Firth of Forth, where, on January 9, 1820^ 
 Mat was born. Thus he was younger by a little over twenty-five 
 years than John Scott, but was contemporaneous with him as a trainer 
 for just thirty-one years. 
 
 He had seventeen brothers and sisters, most of whom died young. 
 Of those who grew up none took to training except his elder brothers, 
 Tom, and Joe, who died some years ago, and his younger brother 
 John, who, still well and hearty, now presides over the AVarren House 
 establishment. 
 
 Like most others of his craft, from earliest boyhood Mat has been 
 connected with the stable, and when only twenty years of age h& 
 began, in 1840, to train racehorses. 
 
 He started as private trainer to Lord Eglinton, and then for four 
 years he trained publicly at Gullane. After that he resumed the 
 private business, and until 1857 he trained for Lord John Scott alone — 
 both at Newmarket and Ilsley. Hobbie Noble, the great favourite for 
 the Derby of 1852, was under Mat's charge when a two-year-old, bat, 
 acting on his advice. Lord John sold him to Mr. James Merry some 
 time before the race. The price paid was 6,500 guineas, the highest 
 figure a horse ever fetched up to that time. As history records^ 
 Hobbie could only get third to Daniel O'Rourke and Stockwell, and 
 lost Merry a vast sum of money. Had he won, the feat of breaking 
 the Ping, as I said elsewhere, would have been pretty nearly accom-^ 
 plished by the great Ironmaster. 
 
 In 1857 Lord John Scott, suffering from ill health, was obliged to give 
 up racing, and, on the advice of Mat Dawson, Mr. Merry bought his 
 entire stud, from Windhound down to the youngest foal. With the 
 horses went to Russley their trainer, and from that time, as with Scott 
 and Petre at Whitewall, dates the celebrity of both men. 
 
 Merry's horses ran into places for the Derby four years out of the five- 
 between 1860 and 1864. Thormanby, whom Mat purchased for Merry 
 when a yearling, won in 1860, a year of exceptionally good horses, and 
 Dundee would have done so the year after but for breaking down at 
 the Road ; as it was he lost it from Kettledrum by only a length. I 
 must, however, refer my readers to the Calendar for the extraordinary 
 record which was run up for the plunging Scotchman. 
 
 In 1866 Mat Dawson returned to Newmarket and established himself 
 and his horses at Heath House. 
 
 To enumerate his achievements as a trainer is impossible for me ; 
 sufiice to say that his success followed him to Newmarket, and has- 
 
395 
 
 continued to the present time. In fact he has trained so many winners 
 he does not remember even all his great wins, but they include : — 
 
 Two Thousand Guineas 
 
 4 times. 
 
 Cesarewitch 
 
 3 times 
 
 One Thousand Guineas 
 
 6 
 
 
 Ascot Cup 
 
 4 „ 
 
 Derby 
 
 4 
 
 
 Goodwood Cup - 
 
 4 „ 
 
 Oaks .... 
 
 6 
 
 
 Liverpool Cup - 
 
 4 „ 
 
 St. Lender 
 
 5 
 
 
 Northumberland Plate 
 
 3 „ 
 
 Chesterfield Stakes - 
 
 12 
 
 
 Clearwell - 
 
 9 „ 
 
 Champagne Stakes 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 This shows that, like Scott, he could train for all distances, but h& 
 never trained the winner of the Cambridgeshire, Ascot Stakes, or 
 Goodwood Stakes. 
 
 The following are a few of the horses with which this great trainer 
 has shown sport to the British race-goer for the past half-century; 
 and, with the exception of John Scott, no other man ever saddled 
 such a lot of nailers: — Windhound, Thormanby, Kingcraft, Wheel of 
 Fortune, Jannette, Dutch Oven, Silvio, Minting, St. Simon, Melton, 
 Julius, Alice Hawthorne, Sterling, Catherine Hayes, Hobbie Noble,. 
 Lord of the Isles, Galliard, Lioness, Scottish Chief, Liddington, 
 Zambesi, Student, Speculum, Thunder, Camballo, Cherie, Master 
 Kildare, Lady Golightly, Gertrude, Farnese, Necromancer (which he 
 bred), Rosy Morn, Langwell, Saunterer, Atlantis, Atlantic, Charibert,. 
 Spina way, Skjlark, Queen's Messenger, Bal Gal, Childeric, Busybody,. 
 Harvester, Garterley Bell, The Lambkin, Mimi, Buckstone, and 
 Sunbeam. 
 
 He has now been fifty-three years actively employed in his profession, 
 and during all that time he has enjoyed the patronage of most, and the 
 unlimited confidence of all the best supporters of the Turf. Among those 
 who patronised him I may mention, in addition to those already named, 
 the Dukes of Newcastle, St. Albans, Hamilton, and Portland, the 
 Marquis of Londonderry, Lords Strafford, Fitzwilliam, Hastings, Fal- 
 mouth, Lascelles, Charles Beresford, Piosebery, and Rosslyn, Messrs^ 
 R. C. Naylor, Henry Padwick, Clare Yyner, and his brother Robert. 
 
 His greatest patron of all was Lord Falmouth, with whose horses and 
 Fred Archer jockey, Mat Dawson ran up for that nobleman a fifteen- 
 year record, 1869 to 1884, unequalled in the annals of racing. Besides- 
 nearly all the two-year-old races and some of the principal handicaps the 
 "magpie and scarlet" was first past the post in the Two Thousand 
 Guineas three times, Derby twice, Oaks four times, St. Leger thrice, and 
 the Clearwell Stakes no less than nine times. Within the years 1877 
 and 1881 alone, the stakes won by Lord Falmouth's horses, trained by 
 Mat Dawson and ridden by Archer, amounted to Xl 25,752. The grand 
 sum totalled about a quarter of a million, and these were days previous 
 to races of £5,000 and £10,000 stakes. 
 
 When in the full swing of good luck. Lord Falmouth all of a sudden 
 conceived the idea of giving up not alone racing, but breeding horses ; 
 and determined to sell off everything he had in training, as well as. 
 
396 
 
 his stallions, yearlings, brood mares and foals. The racehorses were 
 sold by auction at Newmarket, on April 28, 1884, and the others at 
 the same place on June 30 following. 
 
 All things considered, never has there been such an important sale 
 of the sort in England. From all parts of the world men came to buy, 
 and the price? averaged beat all previous record, while the magnificent 
 •condition in which Mat Dawson brought out the horses under his 
 care was referred to in all the papers. 
 
 I allude to this sale because of its connection with my subject, 
 but must confine myself to giving the totals, although the full par- 
 ticulars are beside me. 
 
 
 Number. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Average. 
 
 Horses in training 
 
 - 
 
 24 
 
 36,420 gs. 
 
 1,517 gs. 
 
 Yearlings 
 
 - 
 
 16 
 
 18,350 „ 
 
 1,147 „ 
 
 Brood Mares and Foals 
 
 - 
 
 34 
 
 49,790 „ 
 
 1,464 „ 
 
 Stallions 
 
 • 
 
 5 
 
 7,350 „ 
 
 1,470 „ 
 
 Grand 
 
 Total 
 
 79 
 
 111,910 gs. 
 
 1,416 gs. 
 
 Mr. Geo. Alex. Baird (Mr. Abington) was the largest purchaser at 
 for five lots 16,550gs., including Busybody at 8,800gs. Then followed 
 Capt. Machellfor four lots 12,150gs., and so on. Sir John Willoughby 
 bought Harvester at 8,600gs. on the advice of Mat Dawson, and, in a 
 month after, his purchase and 8t. Gatien ran a dead heat for, and 
 divided, the Derby. Busybody also repaid Mr. Abington by winning 
 the Oaks and One Thousand Guineas the same year. 
 
 Hankering after the old game, Lord Falmouth returned to the turf 
 in 1885, but his stud was nothing like the one he sold. However, with 
 Eada his old trainer won for him the Goodwood Cup. 
 
 After Lord Falmouth's death in 1889, Dawson ceased to train 
 on the extensive scale he did previously, his nephews, John and 
 George, relieving him to a great extent. Nevertheless his skill remained 
 intact, and success continued, for, with St. Simon for the Duke of Port- 
 land, Mimi for Mr. Noel Fenwick, Lambkin and Minting for Mr. Vyner, 
 and Melton for Lord Hastings, he in a few years ran up a score 
 greater than many a man did in a lifetime. 
 
 Good races, and often between bad horses, are constantly seen, but 
 what are called "the greatest races of the century" are very few indeed. 
 To qualify for the honour the race must be in all respects sensational. 
 The event must be of the highest importance, the horses must pre- 
 viously have proved themselves the best of their year, while the contest 
 must be fought out from post to post and result in a desperate finish 
 in which must be displayed, by first-class jockeys, horsemanship in the 
 superlative degree of excellence. Exhibitions so unique can be counted 
 upon a man's fingers, yet Mat Dawson as trainer has taken part in at 
 least three of these extraordinary manifestations, a record which no 
 other man could ever lay claim to. 
 
397 
 
 For the Leger of 1862 he trained Buckstone for Mr. Merry, and 
 ridden by Fordham, he was beaten a head by The Marquis and Tom 
 Chaloner after a most tremendous race. John Scott trained the- 
 winner. The following year, for the Ascot Cup, Buckstone, ridden 
 by Arthur Edwards, ran a dead heat with Tim Whiffler and Sam Rogers^ 
 Each carried 8st. 71b. and beat Caller Ou and three others. The 
 decider up to within a hundred yards of the winning post was another 
 terrible race, but Buckstone lasting longest won by two lengths. 
 At Ascot in 1887, for the Hardwicke Stakes, Minting, trained by 
 Dawson, was beaten a neck by Ormonde, with Bendigo three lengths off". 
 These great horses were ridden respectively by the celebrated jockeys,. 
 Tom Cannon, John Osborne, and John Watts. 
 
 Not even the hi-5toric match between the Flying Dutchman and 
 Voltigeur at York on May 13, 1851, was a grander race than any of 
 these three. 
 
 Mat Dawson was not a man for bringing off " surprises," although on 
 a few occasions he did call forth a cheer from the Ring. As a rule hia 
 principal patrons did not bet heavily, neither did he, while Lord 
 Falmouth never betted at all. It was therefore not necessary that the 
 cloak of mystery should hang over his horses. If his case had been 
 like Scott's, where both master and man piled the money on every 
 good thing they had, he would have experienced a deal of trouble to 
 effect his purpose by reason of the vast addition made in the ranks of 
 the touting brigade of late years, and the facilities afforded by- 
 telegraphy. 
 
 Some years ago Mat purchased the Manor House at Exning, where 
 Luke the jockey once lived. Here he built a magnificent range of 
 stabling, and rebuilt the dwelling-house, naming it after Lord Hastings' 
 famous horse Melton, which he trained for all his races, and came to 
 reside there in 1885. 
 
 He then gave up Heath House to his nephew George, to whom also was- 
 transferred by the Duke of Portland the care of the stud with which 
 the young trainer immediately after did such marvels. 
 
 Gradually since then Mat has still further relieved himself of the- 
 duties attendant upon a great racing establishment. But that he still 
 retains his old form and can run up with the young ones is evident 
 from the fact that in 1891 he placed Mr. Noel Fenwick at the head of 
 winning owners with £20,519, no one coming within £7,000 of th& 
 amount, except Colonel North with £20,113. 
 
 He has now only Lord Rosebery's horses and his own under his care. 
 
 At Melton House he has the finest collection of portraits of race- 
 horses perhaps in England, a list of which v/ill be found in my Racing- 
 chapter. (I hope he will get done what I often asked him— the 
 name of each put upon the frame.) All over the house are other 
 pictures to gladden the eye of the sportsman, while the sitting-rooms- 
 contain many and costly presents from his patrons. 
 
 After having been before the public for over half a century, subject 
 
398 
 
 to the temptations which encircle every man of his profession, Mr. 
 Dawson has thus practically retired from public training. He has done 
 so with an escutcheon untarnished, and a character against which the 
 foulest tongue cannot utter a word, surrounded as he is with every- 
 thing requisite to make his old age happy. In future he will train 
 only these few horses, which with his stud farm will give him pleasant 
 occupation devoid of the worry and anxiety which attended his former 
 ■calling. 
 
 In 1883 he leased from Lord EUesmere the Heath Farm, which 
 is separated from the July Course by the plantation, and near where 
 Osbaldeston rode his famous match described in the previous chapter. 
 •Since he came into possession he started there a breeding establish- 
 ment, to which exists no superior in England, and few equal it. 
 
 In boxes constructed on the best principle, and with paddocks con- 
 venient, are some fifty brood mares in whose blood run the best strains 
 in the Calendar, and when I was last there Ayrshire and St. Serf were 
 the lords of the harem. 
 
 I saw another stallion which struck me as likely to beget valuable 
 weight-carrying hunters. He is Torpedo by Hermit — Strayshot, 
 powerfully built and well balanced. At the moderate fee of fifteen 
 guineas, which is all Mr. Dawson charges for his service, he is well 
 worth the attention of breeders. 
 
 That his enterprise in starting such a concern and ability with 
 which he conducts it seem to have a satisfactory result, I had evidence 
 a short time ago when I saw despatched therefrom to America a colt 
 by St. Gatien — Glance, and another by Hampton — Cherry, in exchange 
 for Bank of England notes to the tune of 6,250 guineas. 
 
 To be shown over the Heath Stud Farm by the owner, or his stud- 
 groom Weatherall, whose father trained for Henry Lord Waterford, 
 well repays a special journey from London. 
 
 Unlike so many other masters presiding over youth, human and 
 equine, Mat was always gentle to a degree both in his speech and 
 action towards those under his control ; withal there was not a regiment 
 in the service nor an establishment in the kingdom where the observance 
 of rules was carried out with more uniform regularity, efficiency and 
 cheerfulness than in that presided over by the man I have been writing 
 about. Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re was the style he adopted alike 
 towards his employes and employers, with a result that from each 
 class he received profound respect, and none came to him, either for 
 service or to patronise, except the best of their sort. 
 
 With his horses he pursued the same course of treatment ; gentleness 
 and not severity with the noble animal he always insisted upon. 
 
 Throughout his long career he has enjoyed the greatest and most 
 widespread popularity, and the fact that in and about Newmarket he 
 has for years gone under the title of " The Master " shows how he is 
 esteemed at home. Like John Scott, he is a capital host, and has a 
 wonderful cellar of rare old wines. 
 
399 
 
 All through liis long life he has had singularly good health, and was 
 exceptionally energetic, while his countenance, ever beaming with 
 heartiness, evinces clearly that the mind is as healthy as the body. 
 Long may he still live to enjoy the combination, and be to all a 
 living example of what an " honest man" is, and how the vitality of 
 youth may be preserved to age by leading an active outdoor life, 
 keeping early hours, and living well without indulging to excess in 
 anything. Like Scott, unfortunately, he has no children. 
 
 Numerous instances are to be found of men who served their 
 apprenticeship to Mr. Dawson, and through his recommendation have 
 filled high positions as trainers and jockeys. At present William 
 Haywood is the Johnnie Osborne of America. Webb, for some years 
 head lad to Dawson, now trains at Chantilly for Baron Schickler. 
 John Reeves is a leading trainer in Germany, while Richard Waugh 
 trains for the Emperor of that country ; and Kendal, one of the finest 
 jockeys in India, graduated under Mat. George Blackwell, a rising 
 young trainer now at Newmarket, also owes to "The Master" his 
 proficiency. 
 
 Since putting together this history, I am pleased to know that Mat 
 Dawson has under his care for Lord Rosebery a two-year-old colt 
 which is likely to add still to his fame as a trainer. It is Ladas, by 
 Hampton— Illuminata. Now, in the month of September, 1893, he is 
 favourite at 4 to 1 for the Derby, the shortest price that any horse 
 has at this season stood at for many years. What an explosion of 
 applause will greet the veteran trainer and the most popular owner 
 in England if he wins ! Curious enough, I was at Melton House a few 
 days after this colt and two others arrived as yearlings from Lord 
 Rosebery's breeding stud. When showing them to me Mat pointed to 
 the Illuminata colt as the one he would win his next Derby with. — So 
 may it be ! 
 
 Having treated with two trainers, each paragons in their day, I 
 shall now say a few words about two of our greatest jockeys, they also 
 representing difi"erent epochs. 
 
 As a horseman the name of plain-polished but honest 
 George Fordham 
 will be handed down to posterity through many a succeeding genera- 
 tion in the same manner that the Chifneys, Robinsons, Templemans, 
 Flatmans, Buckles, and Days of bygone eras have been received by us. 
 
 Fordham was born at Cambridge on September 11, 1837. At 
 the age of ten he was apprenticed to Drewitt, who then trained at 
 Mickleham, and subsequently at Lewes. Like many another great man, 
 George as a boy was very unruly, but Drewitt's ash plant soon brought 
 him to hand. 
 
 His first mount in public was on Isabella, at the Brighton Autumn 
 Meeting of 1850, when his bodily weight was 3st. 8lb., and he was a bad 
 last in the race. His first win was at the same meeting the following 
 
400 
 
 year, when he rode Hampton, then a two-year-old. His first big win was 
 the Cambridgeshire of 1853, when for Mr. W. Smith he rode Little 
 David. His next good performance was winning on Epaminondas 
 the Chester Cup in 1854. It was not, however, until at Stamford on 
 Cock Pheasant, when he met Wells on El Dorado, that young George 
 opened the eyes of the public to his merits as a horseman. Wells was 
 then in his zenith, and considered our best light- weight jockey. After 
 a desperate race for the Burgh) ey Stakes, the two ran a dead heat, 
 but in the decider the future " Demon " beat " Tiaey " by a head amidst 
 great excitement. Thenceforward Fordham rose rapidly in his pro- 
 fession, until in a few years he was found at its head. 
 
 Even with a list of his principal winning mounts before me, carefully 
 detailed as they are, I can do no more than summarise them. 
 
 At Newmarket he won the— 
 
 At Ascot the— 
 
 
 Two Thousand - 
 
 twice 
 
 Stakes - 
 
 twice 
 
 One Thousand - 
 
 7 times 
 
 Prince of Wales Stakes 
 
 4 times 
 
 July Stakes 
 
 6 „ 
 
 Royal Hunt Cup- 
 
 3 „ 
 
 Cesarewitch 
 
 once 
 
 Queen's Vase 
 
 5 „ 
 
 Cambridgeshire - 
 
 4 times 
 
 Gold Cup (including 
 
 
 Clear well - 
 
 5 „ 
 
 dead heat on Gen- 
 
 
 Criterion 
 
 7 „ 
 
 eral Peel) - 
 
 5 „ 
 
 Middle Park 
 
 twice 
 
 New Stakes 
 
 6 „ 
 
 At Epsom the— 
 
 
 At Goodwood the— 
 
 
 City and Suburban - 
 
 once 
 
 Stakes - 
 
 6 „ 
 
 Metropolitan 
 
 twice 
 
 Stewards' Cup - 
 
 3 „ 
 
 Derby - 
 
 once 
 
 Cup - - - - 
 
 4 „ 
 
 Oaks - - - - 
 
 5 times 
 
 Chesterfield Cup- 
 
 4 „ 
 
 At Paris the— 
 
 
 At Doncaster the— 
 
 
 French Derby - 
 
 twice 
 
 Gt. Yorkshire H'cap - 
 
 twice 
 
 Grand Prix - 
 
 3 times 
 
 Champagne Stakes 
 
 5 times 
 
 At York the— 
 
 
 Doncaster Cup - 
 
 3 .» 
 
 Gt. Northern H'cap - 
 
 twice 
 
 The Lincoln H'cap - 
 
 twice 
 
 Ebor Handicap - 
 
 )) 
 
 The Chester Cup - 
 
 )) 
 
 Gt. Yorkshire Stakes - 
 
 >' 
 
 
 
 Among the horses on which Fordham from time to time won, I find 
 several of those trained by John Scott and Mat Dawson which I have 
 already mentioned ; also Chalice, Summerside, Formosa, Gamos, Reine, 
 Thebais, Vauban, Petronel, Mayonaise, Nemesis, Siberia, Gabrielle 
 d'Estrees, Suzerain, Fervacques, The Earl, Foxhall, Adamas, Dutch 
 Skater, Lord Clifden, Saucebox, Vigo, Borderer, Epaminondas, Knight 
 of the Garter, Paris, Stampede, Lady Elizabeth, Ecossais, Prioress, 
 Odd Trick, See-Saw, Sabinus, Little David, Hannah, Happy 
 Land, Klarikoff, Flageolet, Beaudesert, Beechnut, Elf King, Opti- 
 mist, Rustic, Martyrdom, Winslow, Horror, Marie Stuart, Lecturer, 
 Mortimer, Doncaster, General Peel, Zaidee, Belladrum, Corisande, 
 Tournament, Lady Clifden, Gomera, Paganini, Rogerthorpe, Starke, The 
 Duke, Termagant, Drammond, Advance, Dollar, One Act, Ivanhoff, 
 Oldminster, Zetland, Inez, King of Diamonds, Sunshine, Welland 
 Ackworth, and nearly all the other great horses of their day. 
 
401 
 
 With the exception of Archer, Fordham won more races than any- 
 other jockey. They number two thousand five hundred and eighty- 
 seven. A wonderful record, even though his career was, with that of the 
 long dead Bill Scott and the present John Osborne, perhaps the longest 
 in history. But there were not as many races in his heyday as there 
 have been since. 
 
 Strange to say, he never won a St. Leger, but, with that exception, 
 the foregoing table shows that he won every other race of importance, 
 and many of them several times. He won the Derby only once, and 
 that not until 1879, when he did so on Sir Bevys. Year after year he 
 tried, but never got nearer than second. Luck, notability, was against 
 him. 
 
 From the list I have given is seen that he for some race or another 
 rode nearly every great horse that appeared during the years of his 
 jockeyship, which evidences the reliance which was continuously placed 
 in him by their owners and trainers. 
 
 He rode a great deal for the Duke of Beaufort, the Rothschilds, Mr. 
 Parr, Mr. Ten Broeck, and Mr. W. Stirling Crawfurd, while Mat Dawson 
 considers him the best jockey he ever saw, not excepting Archer. 
 
 His last win was on Brag for the Brighton Cup in 1883, and his last 
 appearance in the saddle was on Mr. Leopold de Kothschild's Aladdin at 
 Windsor in August, 1884. 
 
 In Fordham we have an instance rarely met with. In about the 
 year 1873 he contracted an illness which laid him up till 1878, during 
 which time he did not ride, and lost nearly all his nerve. Once 
 a man loses that essential for riding, even when young, he seldom 
 regains it, but scarcely ever does so after he passes the meridian of 
 life. Fordham was an exception, for he returned to the racecourse 
 when forty years old with nerve as firm and spirit determined as ever. 
 In fact, some of his best races were ridden after his retirement. In 
 the first year, in slush and mud he won his only Derby on the roaring 
 ■Sir Bevys, and in 1881 on Thebais he won for Mr. Crawfurd both the 
 One Thousand and Oaks. 
 
 His seat was by no means nice, but it was firm as a rock, and his 
 hands were perfection, while his skill as a jockey and judgment of 
 pace, whether riding a short or long race, and on either a good or 
 a bad mount, stamped him as a horseman surpassed by no one. 
 Archer was perhaps a better jockey over a course with turns and 
 inclines, but no one ever rode over Newmarket in the finished style of 
 Fordham. 
 
 If he excelled in any detail of h's riding more than another, it was 
 in the extraordinary power he had of coming with a rush at the finish 
 and driving his horse home a winner. This art he acquired to quite 
 as great a degree as did Sam Chifney. 
 
 Deducting the few years of his retirement, he was before the public 
 for fully thirty years, during which no man of his profession ever bore a 
 Jiigher character for honour and integrity. So great was the confidence 
 
 D D 
 
402 
 
 reposed in him, that he became one of the most popular jockeys of a! 
 time, and for many years Fordham was backed, no matter what horse 
 he rode, and thus was instituted the habit, which still exists, of backing 
 jockeys' mounts. 
 
 During the first part of his career he was called '"The Kid." He 
 gained the name from his habit of gammoning jockeys in a race by 
 pretending his horse was beaten, and as soon as they eased theirs he 
 would come with a rush and do them on the ix)st. Afterwards he was 
 known as "The Demon." Truly a devil he was to beat, and deuced 
 few could do so ! 
 
 He was fond of Sport in every shape, was a capital man to hounds^ 
 a good shot, and, though not in the category, a first-rate whist player. 
 
 In the end he suflfered from a complication of diseases, and died at 
 Slough on October 12, 1887, aged 50 years, regretted by all who admired 
 a brilliant horseman and an honest jockey. 
 
 Frederick James Archer 
 
 was born at St. George's Cottage, Cheltenham, on January 11, 1857, 
 He was son of William Archer, the well-known steeplechase jockey, 
 who was a contemporary of Tom Olliver and Jem Mason, and won the 
 Grand Xational on Little Charley just fourteen months after the birth 
 of the boy, who, in after years, made the world ring with his own deeds 
 in the saddle. 
 
 Fred Archer was a born horseman, for when eight years old he could 
 go like a bird across country on his pony Moss Rose and rode her in 
 two races at Great Malvern. In neither was he successful, but he scored 
 on the next occasion, and with a pony called Maid of Trent he won 
 his first race when quite a child. 
 
 Continuing to show unmistakable ability, lie was bound apprentice in 
 18C9 to Mat Dawson, with a view to trying his hand at the " legitimate " 
 business. =■' Young Freddy, then only twelve years old, was not long in dis- 
 playing the grit he was made of, for, with more pluck than any of the 
 other boys, he would mount any kind of awkward horse, and when in 
 the saddle would stick there. 
 
 His master soon saw in the lad the makings of a great horseman, and 
 before long entrusted to him the riding of important trials besides 
 allowing him to sport silk. Bar the pony race, his first win was on 
 Athol Daisy in the Nursery Handicap at Chesterfield, on September 28, 
 1870. His firot important win was the Cesarewitch of 1872, when, on 
 Mr. Radcliffe's three-year-old Salvano?, carrying 5st. 7lb., he beat 
 twenty-three others. This was a most meritorious performance, even 
 for an experienced jockey, not to speak of a lad of fifteen. 
 
 * Will some of my readers tell me why flat racing is called "legitimate" 
 while steeplechasing is not ? — The Author. 
 
403 
 
 To particularise the great races which Archer won would be a task 
 beyond the powers of anyone. I shall therefore from ordinary Racing 
 Calendars dissect some of the most important, and subjoin the list : — 
 
 Wins. 
 
 No. of horses 
 
 Wins. 
 
 No. of horse 
 
 
 
 beaten. 
 
 
 
 beaten. 
 
 City and Suburban 
 
 5 
 
 109 
 
 Goodwood Cup 
 
 2 
 
 45 
 
 Two Thou. Guineas 
 
 4 
 
 45 
 
 Ebor Handicap 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 One Thou. 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 Champagne Stakes, 
 
 
 
 Cesarewitch - 
 
 2 
 
 51 
 
 Doncaster - 
 
 7 
 
 36 
 
 Middle Park Plate 
 
 3 
 
 26 
 
 N'umberland Plats 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 The Derby - 
 
 5 
 
 67 
 
 Champion Stakes - 
 
 5 
 
 24 
 
 The Oaks 
 
 4 
 
 29 
 
 Liverpool Cup 
 Lincolnshire H'cap 
 
 3 
 
 43 
 
 St. Leger 
 
 6 
 
 68 
 
 1 
 
 34 
 
 Grand Prix de Paris 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 Metropolitan St'k's 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Ascot Stakes 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 Manchester Cup 
 
 1 
 
 17 
 
 Royal Hunt Cup - 
 
 2 
 
 37 
 
 Gb. Yorkshire H'cap 
 
 1 
 
 13 
 
 The foregoing comprise nearly all our great events, but besides them 
 Archer won all over the country races of importance, including the 
 Clearwell Stakes a great many times. 
 
 He rode in public for sixteen years, and for thirteen in succession 
 headed the list of winning jockeys. In 1878 out of 606 mounts he scored 
 223 wins and got placed in nearly all the remainder, while 246 was the 
 number of races he won in 1885. 
 
 To make a long story short, he won during his career no less than two 
 thousand seven hundred and forty-seven races, which is an average of 
 nearly one hundred and seventy-two a year. To accomplish which he 
 must have ridden at least nine thousand races, or about five hundred 
 and sixty a year. 
 
 By this marvellous performance has Archer established a record 
 which stands not alone unparalleled, but quite unapproached by any 
 other rider who ever sat on the back of a horse, and probably it will for 
 ever remain so. 
 
 By reference to any Racing Calendar my readers can see that, for some 
 race or another, he not a'one rode, but won on nearly every remarkable 
 horse that was on our Turf within the years 1874 and 1886. In the face of 
 such a phalanx of figures as I have just given, which represent his wins, 
 needless to say to give a list of the horses he rode in a chapter like this 
 is a simple impossibility. 
 
 He never won the Chester Cup, nor yet the Cambridgeshire, but 
 was second for the latter on Bendigo in 1884, and lost it by a head on 
 St. Mirin in 1886, just a fortnight before he died. 
 
 As a fox well found is considered to be half killed, so Archer thought 
 a good start lessened by half the odds against winning a race. Con- 
 sequently in his desire to get away in front he, in the early days of his 
 riding, at times gave trouble to the starter, but upon Lord Marcus 
 Beresford delivering to him a homily on the subject, and intimating 
 clearly that he expected the elder jockeys to set the younger a good 
 example, Archer ever after behaved himself at the post. 
 
 During the race he showed himself possessed at all times of iron 
 
404 
 
 nerve by the way he hugged the rails as he thundered down inclines 
 and rounded dangerous turns. In getting through a crowd of horses 
 his determination combined with coolness was conspicuous in the 
 extreme. In finishing he was an artist of the first water, and whether 
 to win was easy or difficult, he never either lost his head or gave away 
 a chance ; while a mount on the favourite or an outsider made no 
 difference whatever in his riding. 
 
 His proficiency and courage caused him to be sought for by owners 
 and trainers whenever he was disengaged ; hence he had always the 
 best mounts to choose from. This of course gave him a great advan- 
 tage, and no doubt helped to swell his record. There was, however, 
 another and still more powerful agency at work in his favour. 
 
 During a portion of Archer's career there existed a deal of mal- 
 practice on the Turf, and at one time a regular " Ring " was formed 
 among some of the jockeys to decide beforehand which horse was to 
 win the races they rode in. To carry out this nefarious arrangement, 
 ■of course the best horse had frequently to be pulled. 
 
 Whether Archer was a party to this proceeding I know not, but at 
 all events he was not had up, and, as he rode to ivin, the others had 
 only to back his mount and bst against their own. By means of this 
 desperate piece of villainy some of these jockeys amassed large fortunes, 
 and so notorious became the scandal, that the Jockey Club investigated 
 the matter and "warned off" those they found guilty. 
 
 From these facts I am led to believe that many of Archer's wins are 
 to be attributed more to the rascality of others than to his own ability 
 as a horseman, great undoubtedly as that was. 
 
 For a jockey he was remarkably tall, standing 5 feet 8h inches, and 
 although very slight, necessarily it took a considerable amount of flesh 
 to cover that length of bone. For the light weights he could ride at 
 ^rst, but not of lats years, and it was with difficulty he kept condition 
 down sufficiently to ride 8st. 9lb. No monk to fulfil his obligations 
 •ever mortified his body by fasting with greater rigour than did Archer 
 to fulfil his engagements on the Turf. His self - denial was simply 
 marvellous. For weeks in the racing season he would go in a state of 
 semi-starvation ; a hard crust of dry bread twice a day with a cup of 
 "black" tea or glass of soda and whisky being ofttimes his allowance. 
 He did not take long walks as they made him hungry, and would there- 
 fore increase his misery, so he dosed himself with physic instead. 
 
 By these means, together with the exercise he had daily in the saddle, 
 he was able to get down so as to ride at 8st. 9lb. Long continuance of 
 a practice so baneful to health no doubt predisposed the poor fellow to 
 the malady which in the end suddenly overtook him, under the influence 
 of which his death was caused. 
 
 During his apprenticeship, which ended in 1874, his master generously 
 allowed him to retain the emoluments derived from his mounts, and 
 having succeeded Tom French at his death in 1873 as Lord Falmouth's 
 first jockey, they were very considerable. In fact, with fortune smiling 
 
405 
 
 its sweetest, he scored wins at every meeting, and sometimes three or 
 four in a day. 
 
 The relationship between master and apprentice was of the happiest 
 description, and when he had served his time Mat Dawson presented 
 him with a valuable watch. For the next seven years he followed his 
 profession, and rode for whoever he chose, but gave the call of his 
 services to his former master whenever he required them. 
 
 On January 1, 1881, he went into partnership with Mat Dawson, 
 and then came to reside at Falmouth House, which, with the stabling, 
 he had just built, and on January 31, 1883, he married Miss Nellie 
 Dawson, daughter of Mr. John Dawson, and niece of his friend and 
 partner. She died oa November 8, 1884, after giving birth to a daughter 
 who is at the time of writing a girl of eight years old. 
 
 The death of his wife was a terrible blow to Archer, and I doubt if 
 he ever recovered from it. After awhile he went to America for a. 
 change, and returned to England in March, 1885. He then, on the 
 advice of his friends, resumed his profession. 
 
 He paid his first visit to Ireland a few weeks before his death. 
 During the time, on October 20, he rode at the Curragh meeting for 
 Lord Londonderry in the Lord Lieatenant's Plate, which he won on 
 Cambusmore. Next day, in the Welters, he, on Mr. Charles Blake's 
 Black Hose, and Mr. Tommie Beasley on Mr. John Gubbins' Spahi, had 
 a rare set to, but our popular amateur beat him amidst the greatest 
 excitement. 
 
 That Archer should get from the Lish a welcome of the heartiest 
 degree, which he undoubtedly did, was only what he was entitled to, 
 and would be expected of the people. But nothing, I think, showed the 
 respect we had for the great horseman more than, while thunders of 
 applause greeted his win on Cambusmore, and although every one of us 
 rejoiced hugely to see our own man beat him in the Welters, we 
 refrained from giving expression to our feelings by undue acclamation. 
 
 Immediately after the Curragh meeting he returned to Newmarket, 
 and set hard at work to get off weight sufficient to enable him to ride 
 St. Mirin, 8st. 6lb., for the Cambridgeshire, then fast approaching. 
 To get to that weight was an impossibility, but he strove by every 
 means to get as near to it as possible. That event being the only one 
 of importance which he had never won, he was particularly keen to 
 break the ice this time, and as he had an undoubted good chance of 
 doing so on St. Mirin, he backed his mount to a very considerable 
 extent, but he could not get down to ride less than 8st. 71b. 
 
 The race resulted in a tremendous finish between him and Alfred 
 White on Sailor Prince, but the latter won by a head. Although few, 
 if anyone, agreed with him, Archer thought he did not ride that race in his 
 usual style of excellence, and the idea took firm hold of him, and un- 
 doubtedly affected his mind. Of course he was very weak from the 
 excessive fasting, and may not have been able to finish as well as he 
 was wont to do. 
 
406 
 
 The last race he ever won was at this same meeting, on October 29, 
 when he rode Blanchland for his old patron Lord Falmouth in the 
 Houghton Stakes. His last mount was on Tommy Tittlemouse, in the 
 Castle Plate at Lewes on November 4. 
 
 He returned to Newmarket feeling very ill. Next day typhoid fever 
 developed itself, and in a paroxysm of madness he shot himself in his 
 bedroom at Falmouth Hous=^, on November 8, 1886, which, by a 
 melancholy coincidence, was the second anniversary of the death 
 of the wife he loved so fondly. 
 
 Very seldom did the death of an Englishman cause more sensation 
 than did that of Fred Archer. Consternation spread broadcast over the 
 kingdom when the news was flashed from Newmarket. Grief seized 
 all his friends, while sorrow sprang upon everyone who knew him. 
 Next day, when the tragic circumstances were learned, these feelings 
 became the more intensified. Thousands who never saw a race, in- 
 cluding old ladies and decrepit men, mourned for the man whose name 
 was familiar to them as that of the Prime Minister, and whose glory 
 they had so often seen heralded in almost every paper they had taken 
 up during the racing seasons of the previous decade. 
 
 Archer's coffin was followed to the little graveyard at the top of the 
 town of Newmarket by more people than was that of any other person 
 who was ever buried there. Nor did the vast concourse attend through 
 idle curiosity, as is often the case ; all came to do homage to the 
 memory of this great and popular jockey. 
 
 To assert that Archer's record is likely to remain unparalleled in the 
 annals of racing is, I think, pretty safe ; but to speak with equal con- 
 fidence regarding his ability as a jockey in comparison with others 
 who have not run up anything approaching his record is a different thing, 
 and as some of the best judges hold opposite opinions on that subject, I 
 certainly am not going to express mine, for of course it would be 
 valueless. It cannot, however, be denied that he was at times very 
 severe upon his mounts, and many a two-year-old which at first enjoyed 
 it, hated for ever the sight of a silk jacket after finishing a severely 
 contested race with Archer riding him. 
 
 He was intensely popular with all classes. Apart from his doughty 
 deeds as a horseman, which alone would make anyone popular among 
 Irish or Englishmen,hisquiet,unassumingmanner and gentle disposition, 
 ever courteous, generous and considerate, made for him friends among 
 all who knew him. Even his appearance was to be admired, for it was 
 that of a gentleman, and his style of dress was in accord. To see the poor 
 fellow riding hard over the Heath in covert coat, breeches and leggings, 
 or strolling up Piccadilly at Ascot time in West End costume, no one 
 would say " That is a jockey " unless they recognised the well-known 
 features. Unlike many others, he never fiew the flag except when he 
 donned the cap and jacket. 
 
 Even among his brethren of the saddle he was popular, but most of 
 them held him in awe and would make way for him in a race when 
 
407 
 
 they would not do so for another possessing less courage and determi- 
 mation. The deferential and respectful demeanour which he always 
 observed to his old friend and master Mat Dawson was not the 
 characteristic least to be admired in this young man. 
 
 His emoluments, alone derived from the statutable fees of his pro- 
 fession, amounted to a very large yearly income, and eiiualled that 
 of many a nobleman, but they were nothing in comparison to sums paid 
 him as retainer fees, nor yet what was given to him as presents af cer 
 winning great events. Besides which he betted heavily, and backed his 
 own mounts. The consequence was, he amassed an immense fortune. 
 
 What Archer would have turned out as a trainer of course cannot be 
 known, but as his whole soul was in his profession as jockey, and as 
 he was yearly increasing in weight, it is highly probable that he would 
 have taken to the cross-country business. This was the more to be 
 expected as he was very fond of it, and rode schools many a time for 
 Captain Machell and Joe Cannon when their horses required steeple- 
 chase practice. 
 
 A report went abroad in 1885 that he was to have the mount on 
 a Newmarket favourite for the Grand National, and great was the 
 desire of us Irishmen to see how the famous flat-race jockey would go 
 between the flags, but the chance came not. 
 
 The number of caps and jackets in his possession, supplied by his 
 regular employers, was considerable, but the quantity of boots and 
 breeches was marvellous, and may be imagined from the fact that in 
 the racing season he rode generally four or five days a week, and often a-j 
 many times a day, and being very particular as to his turn-out on a race- 
 course, he always changed for clean ones mud-stained boots and breeches. 
 
 That we had in Fred Archer an object-example of where the true 
 instincts of a gentleman are inborn in a man o£ humble origin is in 
 evidence from the fact that neither his popularity nor his wealth, nor 
 yet the familiarity with which he was treated by those in the highest 
 social position, in any way changed for the worse his natural proclivities. 
 It is a pity that such manifestations are not more frequent. Equally 
 it is to be deplored that those destitute of the feelings of a gentleman, 
 when they fall in suddenly for a lot of money, do not always strive to 
 acquire them, or, at least, good manners. 
 
 Classic Races won by those mentioned in this chapter. 
 
 Trainers. Jockeys. 
 
 >- ^ 
 
 J. Scott. M. Dawson. W. Scott. Ford ham. Archer. 
 
 Two Thou. Guineas 7 4 3 2 4 
 
 One Thou. Guineas 4 6 7 2 
 
 Derby ... 6 4 4 1 5 
 
 Oaks ... 8 6 354 
 
 St. Leger - - 16 5 9 6 
 
 41 25 19 15 21 
 
408 
 
 CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 WHOO WHOOP! 
 
 Preceding Chapters— Sport does Further Good— England's Greatness— AlanUness— Futurity 
 —Manly Exercise— An Effeminate Man— A Sportsman— A Homily from the Author— 
 " Straight "—Education— Give as well as Get— Foxhunters and Game Preservers— 
 The Prince of Sportsmen— Pluck— Harmonious Combinat'on— A Happy Family— 
 Brotherhood-Short-sightedness— Humanitarians— A Word to Them— Circulation 
 of Money— Communism— Our Traders— Our Nobility and Gentry— Examples needed — 
 Spendthrifts— Absentees— Progressive Age— What may be— Prospective Legislation — 
 Our Sciences— Our Old Sports— The Wheel of Life— Levelling of Classes— Human 
 Nature— Risen from the Ranks- The Upper Ten— Money— " The Old Stock"— 
 Commercial Aristocracy — Territorial Aristocracy — A Delicate Question — Landed 
 Properties— Agriculture— The Farmers— The Backbone of the Nation— Mainspring 
 of Sport— They must be looked to— The Agricultural Question— ii«iu— Downfall of 
 England— Greatest Question of the Day— Our Duty— Who this Book is Meant For — 
 A Request of the Author— Bad People— Statistics— A Challenge— An Assurance — 
 Vale, Vale !— Whoo Whoop !- A Couplet by the Author. 
 
 My task is nearly done— a task I undertook, as stated in the 
 preface, to try to show that our national sports have in them more 
 than they generally get credit for ; that Sport is, in a practical way, far 
 more beneficial to the poorer than to the richer classes ; and, in the 
 words of the title-page, that, as a medium for the circulation of money» 
 Sport stands unrivalled among the institutions of the kingdom. 
 
 To Sport is our nation very much further indebted. Great Britain 
 owes to Sport most of its greatness. 
 
 What, may I ask, makes the English, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh the 
 hardy men they are, but their manliness 1 What can create manliness 
 better than Sport and manly exercise 1 
 
 We see on the map those little specks, Great Britain and Ireland, not 
 much larger than some continental principalities were a few years ago ; 
 yet those little dots represent the nation which not only influences, 
 but controls the rest of the world. 
 
 That supremacy has been attained by our manliness, and aided by 
 our wealth is that supremacy sustained; with such-like alliance we shall 
 in the future continue to maintain our position. 
 
 On the other hand, should we ever fail in either our manliness or 
 our wealth, down directly will go Great Britain ! 
 
 How to keep together our wealth, I certainly am not a fit person to 
 explain ; but with regard to keeping going the sports of our country, and 
 mayhap perpetuating them, I shall make a few more remarks before 
 bringing to an end my "Thoughts upon Sport." In doing so I must 
 refer to matter and current events with which the great subject of my 
 book is so incorporated that the interest of the one is inseparable from 
 the others. 
 
 In no country in the universe is to be found manly exercise so man- 
 fully followed as it is in Great Britain and Ireland. Look at the 
 
409 
 
 hardships and fatigue requisite to be endured by the foxhunter, the 
 grouse-shooter, the deer-stalker, and the fisherman ; while polo, football, 
 golf, and cricket demand exertion which brings every muscle into 
 active requisition. And powerful brain faculty with quick decision of 
 purpose are essentially requisite to the all-round sportsman. In 
 addition to which our sports are all more or less fraught with danger. 
 It is that danger which makes them so attractive to our countrymen. 
 It is the constant engagement in these pursuits from earliest boyhood, 
 inuring them to rough usage and hard knocks, that makes our country- 
 men the greatest men in the world. 
 
 A man afflicted by nature with a delicate constitution, which at 
 times produces eflfeminacy, is greatly to be pitied; but a fellow who 
 through indolence or other fault becomes effeminate is a horrible sight, 
 worse even than a masculine woman — a fellow whose only object in 
 life is to dress and to dance, eat, drink, and talk scandal. To see him 
 going along with elbows squared over knocked and tottering knees, 
 taking hold of things as if they were going to burn him, equals 
 in abomination having to listen to him delivering himself, in 
 drawl or penny-whistle squeal, of his meaningless and egotistical 
 form of speech. These pusillanimous creatures, through want of 
 exercise, are .usually shapen with narrow shoulders, contracted 
 chests, with arms and legs devoid of muscle, These deformities? 
 though apparent to everyone else, they themselves never discern 
 owing to the self-conceit inherent in them ; nevertheless, feeling the 
 necessity, they have to put in splints their wasp-Jike bodits by means 
 of a woman's stays, while to give some sort of freshness to their peeled- 
 garlic face they rouge it and dye their eyebrows ! Ota truth these 
 " greenery-yallery, Grosvenor-Gallery, foot-in-the-grave young men," all 
 collar and cuffs, bedecked in jewellery, with idiotic expression and 
 lack-lustre eyes, are the most despicable specimens of humanity. 
 
 Happy and thankful should be the man who is endowed with manly 
 attributes ! See him strutting along with hat cocked and coat cut 
 betokening his readiness and ability to tackle anyone or anything, and 
 nothing to adorn him but that negligence which is the elegance of the 
 sportsman. The conversation of that man is often a treat to listen to, 
 delivered as it is in manly tone, and able as he usually is to converse 
 upon all topics. A man constituted with the true instincts of a sports- 
 man is seldom a bad man, while in him are always found traits of 
 character of the highest order. That is the sort of fellow— with ruddy 
 face, twinkling eye, and jovial manner — women admire most and lavish 
 their love upon, while they despise and ridicule the shivery-shakys. 
 
 Apart from other considerations what a fund is sport for enlivening 
 the mind and creating in it a healthy state. After a day's toil or 
 worry of one sort or another, when discussing sport or manly 
 games around the festive board all troubles disappear, and no room 
 is left for subjects unclean or topics which should not be broached. 
 Let, therefore, sportsmen look the matter straight in the face and 
 
410 
 
 consider what they might have been had they not taken to sport, and 
 let them feel thankful for escaping the bad habits they might have 
 otherwise acquired. 
 
 As wrote someone : '' To become rich, perhaps not until the power 
 of enjoyment be over, some men labour hard and refuse themselves 
 pleasures which can only be enjoyed when man is in his prime." In 
 the case of a young and healthy min without a family dependent upon 
 him, I consider that to ba a very foolish doctrine. If he has the 
 means he should enjoy himself when he is young and able. Life is 
 short and always uncertain, it is therefore best to utilise the present, 
 for the past is gone and the future we may not see. Then if we do 
 come to the winter of life we need not repine but can, through its 
 "flickering twilight," look back with pleasure, though mayhap with 
 regret, upon the joys which sport in bygone days afforded us. 
 
 That being so, it is highly desirable that boys who show a love 
 for sport should be encouraged, no matter how humble their station, 
 80 long as they don't do mischief. Let them be taught what the little 
 word "straight" implies, and how to the walk of life, as well as to 
 sport, it can be applied. Act straight, think straight, speak straight, 
 look straigh^ walk straight, ride straight, shoot straight, hit straight. 
 Verily there is not a grander word in the English dictionary than this 
 little monosyllable. 
 
 Far better is it to give youth a good English education, and inculcate 
 within him the sound principles of honesty and the advantages which 
 are to be derived from manly exercise, than to stuff his head with dead 
 languages and useless sciences. How to take the measure of one's 
 opponents will not be learned by scanning Greek or Latin verse, nor 
 can the battle of life be fought upon algebraic or trigonometrical 
 principles. 
 
 Depend upon it, the man who can best get through life and surmount 
 the difficulties which surround him daily is he who has by nature 
 manly instincts, which he gives effect to by indulgence in Sport. 
 Every soldier and sailor, be he officer or private, O.S. or A.B., that is 
 any good, has in him love of and ability to take part in Sport. 
 
 No undertaking between man and man can have a lasting existence 
 unless each party, in one way or other, derive mutual benefit therefrom. 
 Each must give as well as get. Moreover, each must place confi- 
 dence in the other, for without it harmony cannot be maintained. 
 From a moral point of view these essentials should be the basis upon 
 which all arrangements which are expected to be continuous should 
 be made. In these days, when we see the fruit of equality fast ripen- 
 ing into maturity, the man is a fool who thinks he can make a one- 
 sided bargain. Farmers, if hunting is to be continued, must not use 
 ivire. Gentlemen who want sport must pay for it. 
 
 We all know scores of instances where foxhunters abuse game- 
 preservers because they object to have their coverts disturbed before 
 they are shot, while the shooter, who does not hunt, will ofttimes 
 
411 
 
 destroy foxes to save a few head of game. This is alike deplorable and 
 unnatural. If a man is a sportsman he will admire not alone every 
 branch, but every bough and offshoot of sport, and will sustain them. 
 If a man will countenance only the particular branch he himself 
 happens to prefer, and does injury to others, assuredly he is not a 
 sportsman. He is a selfish, miserable creature, and man's constitution 
 has no characteristic lower than selfishness. 
 
 On the other hand the prince of sportsmen is the man who from 
 ioability or disinclination does not take active part in it, yet maintains 
 Sport in all its branches so as to emible others to do so. That is the man 
 who has the right to take the chair at all meetings of sportsmen. 
 
 So it is with regard to the man who is afflicted with weak nerve. 
 If he rides hard and straight, although in a funk when going at stiff 
 and dangerous fences, he is far away a more plucky fellow than he 
 who is possessed of nerve that knows not fear. 
 
 Nothing under the sun is self-supporting ; everything requires 
 assistance from without. In nothing is this axiom more exemplified 
 and demonstrated than in the sports of our country. To sustain and 
 maintain them in the high position they hold in the kingdom all must 
 pull together with harmonious combination. There cannot be any 
 friction. Those who may not, perhaps, derive any very great benefit 
 directly from sport, or its consequent circulation of money, should not 
 be so short-sighted as not to lend a hand in promoting our sports and 
 pastimes. When we come to think of the many, many millions of 
 money which I have shown are spent annually upon sport, percolating 
 as that money does through so many channels, and re-circulating 
 through countless rivulets, we must come to the undeniable conclusion 
 that some portion finds its way, in a greater or less degree, everywhere, 
 except back into the pockets of the original spenders. They get none of 
 it hack I 
 
 To maintain sport sportsman should give and take. They should 
 constitute " a happy family " and work in unison for the common good. 
 So long as the subject pertains to sport, it should have the sanction of 
 all, and be sustained, quite irrespective of a man's individual predilec- 
 tion. Sport is sport, be it hunting a rat in a ditch with a terrier or a fox 
 o'er the billowy grass. The hunters in both cases are imbued with the 
 same object, and ofttimes the rat-hunter is the purer sportsman. 
 
 The man who cannot aff'ord a shooting or fishing, but, with every 
 instinct of the sportsman, loves a day with rod or gun should be given 
 occasional leave over preserved land and water ; and, if he can ride, the 
 horseless foxhunter should at times be given a mount by rich friends. 
 
 Many is the hunt, small race-meeting, boating, fishing, and football 
 club, together with other sporting associations, which are sorely in want 
 of funds. If to them a fiver was sent occasionally by some of the many 
 of our rich men, the members could carry on without difficulty, while 
 no appreciable loss could accrue to the donors. 
 
 If by these means, in true friendship, a sportsman's brotherhood was 
 
412 
 
 to exist, taking all branches as community, sport would receive out- 
 ward assistance greater than it does, and manifestly it would be th& 
 better able to resist the attacks of its enemies. Without a combination 
 of the sort, of will come some of the iwincipal branches of the parent 
 tree, and that within, perhaps, a very short time ! 
 
 No doubt we have many in the land who don't, or won't, tak& 
 a liberal view of anything, being by nature, conviction, contrariety, or 
 some other more or less unrighteous influence, stone blind to the general 
 weal of the populace. With this class of people there is little use in 
 arguing. Fortunate it is, however, they are in such a very small 
 minority that they cannot bring adverse influence to bear to any appre- 
 ciable extent. 
 
 We have in other spheres those of the humanitarian element to deal 
 with. In them, like all those who hold fanatical notions, we find 
 bigotry and intolerance which are so difficult to be got over. These-- 
 parties assert that nearly all our sports are more or less attendant with 
 cruelty. Perhaps in some of the details a few of our sports may be= 
 deemed somewhat cruel, but they are far away less so and are much 
 more to be admired than are some of the pursuits which these priggish 
 humanitarians themselves patronise and sustain. 
 
 While granting that pain is given at times when engaged in hunting,, 
 shooting, fishing, football, boxing, wrestling, polo, cricket, golf, cycling, 
 archery, croquet, tennis, peg-top, tip-cat, and playing marbles, none 
 except the most biassed and benighted can contend that the means does- 
 not justify the end. I am not aware, however, that the majority of 
 those holding so-called humanitarian principles refuse to wear sealskin 
 jackets or to decorate their hats with stufi'ed birds and waving feathers. 
 Yet to procure them the most atrocious cruelty is practised in capturing- 
 both the harmless seals and the lovely songsters ! 
 
 As I said in Chapter ii., instead of interfering with the national 
 sports of our country it would be better for these people to join together 
 and strive to put down the barbarities which their own patronage 
 encourages, and include in the category dog and cock fighting, badger 
 baiting, coursing bagged rabbits, and shooting trapped pigeons, also- 
 wage war against tippling and gambling. In a crusade upon such 
 righteous principles they would get assistance from sportsmen. 
 
 Now, a man who would be wantonly cruel to any animal deserves 
 the severest punishment that can be meted out to him. I certainly 
 would do to him what he had done to the poor beast, bird, fish, or 
 insect. But sportsmen are not cruel. If a man is cruel he is not a 
 sportsman, even though he may be able to hold his own in every 
 branch of sport. He may be a " sporting man," it is true, but he is 
 nothing better than a brute. 
 
 The general weal of the country, both politically and socially, can- 
 not be obtained and maintained without circulation of money. Nor is 
 it necessary that individual prudence should be observed in carrying out 
 the object. Circulation pure and simple is what is required of money,. 
 
413 
 
 for if gold be not put into and kept in exchange it is of no more use or 
 value than rubbish. 
 
 There are at present scattered all over the globe numbers of political 
 cobbers who, to get hold of other people's property, preach that there 
 should be a community of all things. Xow if these ultra-radicals were 
 to give the subject honest consideration they would see that the riches 
 of Great Britain and Ireland are practically as communistic as even 
 they themselves could either make or wish them. 
 
 Our traders, from the smallest to the greatest", have to embark and 
 employ their capital so as to produce a profit and revenue therefrom ; 
 but before helping themselves they have to hand over the greater portion 
 of that income to their employees in return for work done in providing 
 the income. Kow as the employed class of the kingdom outnumber the 
 employing class by an overwhelming majority, and as they are of the 
 humbler grades of society, we thus have practical illustratioa of 
 " community " of rich men's money among the poorer classes. 
 
 In like manner our nobility and gentry, who derive their incomes 
 mostly out of land, return that money in some way or other. Take, 
 for instance, the average resident country gentleman of, say, £5,000 
 a year, derivable out of land. He does not eat or suchwise do away with 
 the gold he gets from his tenants ; he circulates it right aod left 
 in all directions and among all classes. To artisans, merchants, trades- 
 men, and the tenants themselves he pays for necessaries for himself and 
 household. He employs servants and labourers about his house 
 and establishment. He spends a large portion of his income in further- 
 ing and sustaining societies got up for the advancement of agricultural 
 and horticultural science, as he also does towards promotion of the 
 breeding of horses and live stock, while his purse is always open for a 
 subscription towards purposes of religion, education, and amusement. 
 Then, if he is inclined for a practical indulgence in field sports, I have 
 already pretty abundantly proved what he expends upon them, and 
 into what channels his money flows. 
 
 It is therefore plainly manifest, as said shortly in Chap, xvii., 
 that, although £5,000 a year is focussed in the one individual, the 
 whole sum radiates through countless outlets into the pockets of his 
 fellow-creatures. 
 
 To the humbler classes it is a necessity to their advancement and good 
 condition of life to have example set them by the higher classes. This 
 is made manifest by comparing the state of the humble classes who 
 live in the parts of the country where gentry are resident with that of 
 the people who dwell elsewhere. 
 
 Thus is shown that it is out of the commercial and territorial portions 
 of our community that nearly all the middle and humble live and 
 thrive— which, but by righteous means, gives effect to the doctrines 
 of communism. 
 
 The unfortunate spendthrift, who goes in for a short life and a merry 
 one, subscribes still more directly to those principles, for he, in his folly, 
 
414 
 
 gives his all to the community. For instance, if all rich men were to 
 run the same rig as did Mr. Ernest Benzon and the Marquis of 
 Ailesbury, would not the object of the socialist be attained forthwith ? 
 Others possessed of the same idiotic recklessness are this very day 
 doing the same thing . 
 
 The foregoing remarks refer only to those of our moneyed classes who 
 live and spend their money in their own countrj'. Those who do not 
 spend the money at home, w-hence they obtained it, are an injury to the 
 community in whatever degree may be the proportion of their income 
 -which they spend abroad. Those -who hoard up their money and do 
 not spend it anywhere are not alone good for nothing, but they are bad 
 for everything and everybody. 
 
 Yes, absentees have been for all time a curse to our kingdom, and 
 more particularly to my ow^n dear old portion of it. The evil is, alas, 
 increasing and fast aggrandising the foreigners, who give us nothing in 
 return. 
 
 I make these remarks to show that the very best way for keeping our 
 rich men at home to spend their money in the country, is to uphold by 
 every means in our power the sports of our nation, so that the rich man 
 may, to the fullest desire of his heart, indulge in them. 
 
 We must all admit that we are now in a highly progressive age. 
 Changes are taking place with such rapidity that we who are the 
 spectators— even though we at times see premonitory symptoms of 
 what is coming — stand aghast in \vonder and bewilderment. But 
 what would our forefathers say if they were to rise from the dead and 
 see the changes which have been brought about within the last two or 
 three decades ? With these changes fast revolving before us, may we 
 not ask ourselves what is likely to happen within the next few years ? 
 
 Judging by the past, it is not unreasonable to suppose that in a com- 
 paratively short time we may see the air as a highw^ay additional to 
 the land and sea. That electricity, lessening the use of coal, may be our 
 principal motive as well as lighting power. That our present postal 
 system may become obsolete owing to our having ready means for 
 almost instantaneous universal communication, Avhich may be carried 
 on and paid for in a language and coinage common to the world. 
 That instead of six days being occupied in transit between Enghnd 
 and America, who knows but half the time may be sufficient for 
 the purpose, and that, too, over a sea calmed by human invention ? 
 Labour may have become master over capital to an extent that the 
 employed and the employer shall bear equally the profit and the loss of 
 commercial undertakings— ay, to the extent that the class now known 
 as "servants" shall have ceased to exist. The respect which has from 
 time immemorial be?n accorded to women by reason of the refinement 
 w^hich their nature so beautifully portrays may have been lost to them 
 through their having undertaken duties the prerogative of man, and 
 thereby changed for rude the gentle attributes which had hitherto been 
 the birthright of women. 
 
415 
 
 None of the foregoing revolutions are impossible — they are probable. 
 That many of them, and others as great, will take place within the 
 next quarter century there can be no doubt. 
 
 Do we not hear doctrines allowed by the authorities to be preached 
 in the most open manner, circulated further as they are by literature 
 purchasable at our bookstalls — doctrines which, if established, would 
 upset the extant laws and ideas of morality, doctrines which tell plainly 
 that no man has a right to anything more than has his neighbour, 
 that everything is to everybody the same as are air and water ? 
 
 While those things, or some of them, are coming to pass, what is to 
 become of our Sports ? 
 
 I have very strong conservative opinions, inherited as they have been 
 from ancestors similarly constituted, but I am far removed from a Tory. 
 I think, therefore, that all constitutional requirements should be 
 anticipated and should be provided before they are asked for. Pro- 
 spective adoption of necessary measures by legislature would main- 
 tain the longer the great institutions of our country. Moreover, 
 ccncessions when made voluntarily need be of lesser magnitude than 
 they necessarily must be when they have to be made under 
 compulsion. Without looking far afield we can see how these remarks 
 apply to Sport. 
 
 From the days of Zenophon it has been the fashion of the passing 
 generation to think the rising one is not equal to their time, nor is theirs 
 equal to that of the previous generation. That is all nonsense. The 
 world is steadily improving in condition ; each succeedicg decade shows 
 plainly this to be the case. 
 
 That the great national and social institutions of our kingdom have 
 been improved within our own memory is as self-evident as is the 
 improvement in the general condition of the humble classes brought 
 about by education and increased circulation of money. There are, of 
 course, individual items which are not improved, but on the contrary ; 
 while a spell of bad trading and agricultural depression which we are 
 now suffering from must be expected periodically. 
 
 That many of our sciences are still in their nursery there is no 
 manner of doubt. The question is, will the further— not to speak of 
 the full — development of their resources, while it may exalt the mental, 
 won't degrade the physical capacity of our race ?— I wot not. 
 
 Up to now our old sports have kept well in the general progress. 
 Some require assistance and iiiust get it, but others are on as good a 
 footing, if not better and firmer, than ever they were, while new and 
 highly important pastimes have been added lately to ihe list of our 
 manly games. 
 
 The wheel of life has been revolving ever since the world began, but 
 of late years the velocity has increased to such an extent that the 
 spokes can scarcely be distinguished, so rapidly do they fly round. 
 
 It is a pity that all classes do not alike share in the kaleidoicopic 
 whirl. There is no room for all ; one has to make room for another. Such 
 
416 
 
 has been the experience of the world throughout all history, and so it 
 will continue. The middle and lower classes are now, and very 
 properly, as-^endiog the hill of prosperity, but unfortunately they meet 
 the upper classes hurrying down. It is but a very few years since to 
 engage in trade was considered by the aristocracy and higher 
 grades of gentry derogatory ; now we find members of those classes 
 only too glad to join the commercial circles. The daughters of our 
 leading merchants, who but an equally short time ago were considered 
 eligible to associate with the higher classes only at public ball?, are 
 now sought after for wives fnr the sons-in-heir of some of those stand- 
 ing highest in the pages of the Peerage and Baronetage. The estates of 
 some of the oldest families in England are passing into the hands of 
 men who made their positioa alone by trade, while properties which 
 are not sold outright are being brokea up by reason of the tenant 
 farmers having purchased their holdings. 
 
 Thus we have the levelling of classes by the lowering of the one and 
 the raising of the other, and thus is being lost the supremacy which in 
 former days was enjoyed by our territorial magnates. 
 
 What effect these changes in society will have upon the country in 
 general is not here to be discussed, but we have a right to consider 
 what effect they will have upon the Sports of the nation. 
 
 Practicall}'^ speaking, it is since the present century began that the 
 leading branches of our sport have come under proper system, and 
 it is only within the last forty years they have developed into 
 excellence. During that time they have been conducted solely 
 under the guidance of the upper class, who in every way maintained 
 them in prosperity, while their surveillance has kept together the 
 minor branches. 
 
 It is a fact palpable to all endowed with reason that, by nature, we 
 are prone to resp?ct those who by birth and social position are superior 
 to us more than those our own equal, not to speak of those inferior. It 
 is also human nature to look with envy and disrespect up n those of our 
 own class who have, even by their own ability and exertion, risen to 
 opulence and have attained a position higher than ourselves. 
 
 These may be, and in some instances are, unworthy sentiments — 
 natural though they be. Expeiience, however, justifies our holding 
 them, for examples are comparatively few of where a man who has 
 risen to a position he was not born to is able to fill it properly. 
 Examples to the contrary are found plentifully in eve'-y class and 
 calling. Who makes a bad landlord like the tenant ? Who makes the 
 bad master like the man who was a servant ? Who makes the martinet 
 like the soldier who has risen from the ranks ? 
 
 In former days men in high social position were as a rule possessed 
 of good monetary means ; alas, such is not the general rule now. By 
 one reason or another their incomes are all reduced, while many of 
 them have no income at all. In olden times few men hunted or raced 
 except those belonging to the upper classes. Xow we find at the 
 
417 
 
 meet and in the paddock the commercial eleme-^it in number far exceed- 
 ing that of the upper ten. 
 
 Without money no institution can get along. Money, however, is 
 not everything. Without leaders in whom subordinates place confi- 
 dence, and for whom they hold respect, no institution can be maintained 
 in either propriety or prosperity. 
 
 Luckily we have had a great accession of commercial men into the 
 ranks of sport within recent years, and were it not for their money, 
 hunting, shooting, fishing, yachting, and racing would, I fear, be in a 
 very bad way now. But, although not as well off" as they once were, 
 the "old stock" still holds the helm, and therefore all goes well. If, 
 however, thiogs continue to be as bad with them as they have been, 
 their incomes, within a comparatively short space of time, will practi- 
 cally disappear altogether. In that event the commercial men must 
 take their place. 
 
 Commercial men can make first-rate statesmen, soldiers, sailors, and 
 sportsmen, and for dealing with great financial or other State questions 
 they are of course much better qualified than the aristocracy. But 
 in the interest of Sport, and without intending to hurt the feelings 
 of anyone, I ask, will men possessed only of money, and no matter 
 how honourable in feeling and intention, be able to command the 
 respect, and thus the poiver of control^ which was reposed in pre- 
 decessors of higher social graded — If they do it will be contrary to all 
 precedent. 
 
 The commercial aristocracy have many means of acquiring wealth ; 
 the territorial aristocracy have none other than that which they have 
 succeeded to— their landed estates. These properties have been vested 
 in them for centuries, acquired as they have been by their forefathers 
 or predecessors by conquest, grant of Government, or by purchase. 
 Therefore to their estates are our landed gentry entitled by every law 
 which governs rightful possession. The title to their properties 
 is in all cases equal to that of Great Britain to her colonies, and in 
 many instances much stronger. It is therefore the duty of our Govern- 
 ment not alone to protect that title, but to protect the possessors, 
 while it was nothing short of aiding and abetting robbery to pass 
 Acts of Confiscation as has been done in recent years. 
 
 A systematic and all-round reduction of rents was not necessaiy 
 to be made, as it was, in Ireland ; but that legislation with regard 
 to rents on some Irish properties was needed no fair-minded man can 
 deny, and it was highly proper that the interest of the agricultural 
 tenant, in respect of unjust rents, should be provided for. So it haa 
 been ; but a vast deal has yet to be done for the agricultural interest 
 of the kingdom, and that by means more beneficial to the tenants while 
 preserving intact the position of the landlords. 
 
 Mining, manufacture, and commercial enterprises of all sorts are, of 
 course, tremendous factors in the maintenance of England in the posi- 
 
 EE 
 
418 
 
 tion she holds. There can, however, be no doubt that Agriculture 
 heads them all. Out of the land are derived the incomes by which the 
 landlords dispense money amongst all classes. They do so to an 
 extent far away beyond the traders ; while English farmers spent 
 vastly more money, ivhen they had it, than ever did those employed by 
 the whole commercial community put together. Moreover, it is from 
 amoDg the farming class we get our best soldiers and sailors, and there 
 we find the most moral and best conducted men and women in the 
 whole kingdom. 
 
 Without a doubt the backbone of the nation is the yeomanry and 
 the farmers, while they are the very mainspring of sport. Withal, 
 nothing has been done for them beyond reducing in Ireland the rents 
 all round. Elsewhere through the country rentals adjust themselves. 
 
 Too Jong have our agricultural classes been allowed to suffer from 
 unf lir and absolutely bad laws, resulting as it has done in the total ruin 
 of thousands of our farmers and irretrievable loss to every member of 
 the body. If, therefore, legislation does not devise means by which 
 our farmers will be enabled to make more money by their calling 
 than they have done of late years they as a body ivill he ruined. Ruin 
 of the farmers means of course ruin to all landed proprietors, with 
 consequential loss to the whole nationality, more especially the trades- 
 men and shopkeepers. 
 
 To reduce rents is all very well for the tenants, but it is proportionately 
 bad for the landlords, and no one portion of the community should be 
 aggrandised through means of robbing another. Some other plan must 
 be adopted whereby both landlord and tenant will derive mutual advan- 
 tage. Neither ability nor experience warrant me in suggesting what 
 should be done, but assuredly coalition between " parties " in Parliament 
 upon such a patriotic measure should be adopted ; and if they would 
 join together, instead of wrangling, a righteous measure could soon be 
 devised and passed. But as long as each clique will alone look to its 
 own selfish end, and oppose what is for the general good, the passage of 
 great national measures becomes impossible, and they have to be 
 shelved. 
 
 The great Agricultural Question cannot, however, be left on the shelf 
 any longer, and the way to bring about its immediate adjustment is for 
 the constituency of every county in the kingdom, at the next general 
 election, to require from the men they return to Parliament a solemn 
 promise to bring it forward directly the house opens, and not allow 
 it to be dropped until finally settled on a basis mutually beneficial to 
 landlord and tenant— ergo, to the Nation. 
 
 To assist in thus binding our M.P.'s no one should take a more 
 prominent part than sportsmen in general, and foxhunters in particalar. 
 Farmers through all time have assisted sportsmen ; it is now the bounden 
 duty of sportsmen to aid the farmers in their distress. 
 
 Needless to say, if ruin be brought upon our farmers and landed 
 proprietors, down immediately must tumble the leading bracchf s of 
 Sport, which alone cause the expenditure shown in this book, 
 
419 
 
 Then, deprived of the means whereby we have become the greatest 
 nation in the world, and despoiled of those who were our leaders, and 
 who so nobly backed us up, what will be the result ? 
 
 Without hesitation I answer : the ultimate downfall of England ! 
 
 Happily, there is yet time to avert such a catastrophe— dreadful, too 
 dreadful, to contemplate ! 
 
 Let the Government recognise the fact that the greatest question 
 they have to consider, except our naval supremacy, is the welfare 
 OF the farmers and landowners. All others stand as nothing to it. 
 
 To tackle that question, so omnipotent to the nation, Conservatives 
 and Liberals should coalesce, and fearlessly go for what is right, un- 
 mindful of whatever support they may lose by doing so. 
 
 I have now no more to say upon the subject of my book except 
 that our predecessors maintained in the highest degree of excellence 
 our Sports, and handed them over to us in that state. It is our 
 duty to deal in the same manner by those who are to come after us. — 
 Let us do so. 
 
 This book has been written by me for the purpose stated in the 
 preface and repeated often in the chapters. The book generally is 
 meant more for the detractors and enemies of Sport than for sportsmen; 
 so I wish I could think the compilation, imperfect as it is, would 
 find its way extensively among the class it is meant for, but I am 
 prone to believe it will be read more by the others. Let me, therefore, 
 request of my readers who are sportsmen to bring, upon ail available 
 occasions, the great facts which I have dealt with under the notice of 
 those who are our enemies. 
 
 I am strongly of opinion that real downright Sport has few enemies 
 except among those who are ignorant on the subject or are, perhaps, 
 a trifle warped in their fancies. Some of these people are righteous 
 in their own way and may be converted. Let them, therefore, on the 
 off-chance, read " Thoughts upon Sport," at all events Chapter xvii. 
 
 For those who are cursed with wicked and vindictive propensities, 
 combined with a crooked and contracted mind, which induce them to 
 oppose Sport, this book is not meant except so far as to show how 
 untenable is their position. To convert these people is impossible ; 
 in fact, the more good that is shown to be in any institution the more 
 delight will bad people have in doing it injury, for such, of course, is 
 their nature. 
 
 Statistics, with their inevitable accumulation of figures, were always, 
 and still are, my detestation, and whenever their ghastly columns 
 meet my eye I instantly look elsewhere from the hideous vision. 
 Little therefore did I think that, in the autumn of my life, I should 
 engage in compiling what was hitherto so abhorrent to me. Sport, 
 however, exercises such an infatuation upon its votaries that there is 
 no accounting for the results. Hence it is, I suppose, that while deal- 
 ing witH the glorious subject, my constitution— normal as regards 
 
420 
 
 ordinary concerns — became ot a sudden, so to speak, regenerated. And 
 although the effort was necessarily attended with much trouble and 
 great care, I derived not alone interest, but absolute pleasure, in 
 making the vast and important calculations which I now put before 
 the public. Assuredly no statistics upon any subject other than Sport 
 could, by any possibility, enlist my feelings to the degree which those 
 under notice have done. 
 
 After having arrived at the results I freely confess I was astounded 
 at the totals. Men whose knowledge is confined to their own surround- 
 ings may cavil at some of the estimates, but I don't think those who 
 enjoy widespread and varied experience will do so, for they will 
 know how to take the average. At all events no very serious mistake 
 can be found except that the totals are under the real figures. To 
 prove them otherwise I defy anyone ! 
 
 No doubt I hit hard at times, but, as I say in the preface, I do so in 
 the interest of my magnificent subject, and if I may, unfortunately, 
 hurt the feelings of some people I cannot help it, but assuredly I do 
 not mean to give offence. What I desire is to see recognised by all, and 
 effect given to by sportsmen, what I convey in the following couplet: — 
 
 Ah, Sport is the pride of the nation ! 
 
 It made Britons the men that they be ; 
 It does good to the whole population. 
 
 And knows neither class nor degree. 
 
 Therefore let us all pull together, 
 
 And in harmony give it support ; 
 Around the one standard we'll gather, 
 
 And manfully stick by our Sport. 
 
 And now, my readers, be ye who ye may, 
 
 " Vale, vale, — si quid novesti rectius istis 
 Canditus imperti ; si non his ut^re mecum." 
 
 WHOO WHOOP ! 
 
421 
 
 APPENDIX TO RACING- 
 
 Omiseion Explained— Drastic Measures required Immediately— Five Years of Bad Times- 
 No Likelihood of Improvement— Expense of Breeding and Baoing Maintained— 
 Stallion Fees— Cost of a Foal— Cost to Produce a Good Horse— Purchasers of Fashion- 
 able Foals— Bad System— Paradoxical— Old Fees— Relationship between Owners 
 and Kaoecourse Executives— An Analogy— Old Times— Times Change i— Principle 
 must be Changed Too — Entrance Fees, Forfeits, and Starting Fees — System in 
 Ireland— A Scale for Entries — Same as Punchestown — Fees for the Derby of 
 1892— Owners' Blindness to their Position— Preposterous System— Recruits from the 
 Middle Classes— What they Did— What they Should Do— A Homily on Past and 
 Present— A Collapse Inevitable— Analysis of Owners— Sad Eesult— What may Even- 
 tuate—What Ought to Exist— Behind the Scenes— General Public- Racecourse 
 Companies- Ignorance of Both— What is Required of the Jockey Club— The Author's 
 Opinion— Trainers— Pos?crij9t— January, 1894— A Disastrous Record— The late Mr. 
 G. A. Baird— The Duchess of Montrose and Others— Another Word to the Jockey 
 Club. 
 
 Owing to having mislaid the MS., and forgetting all about it until 
 it turned up recently, a portion belonging to Racing was not sent by 
 me to the printers in time to come in near top of page 188. I am, 
 therefore, obliged to bring it in as an appendix, but it should be 
 taken by the reader in its proper place, and not in its present position. 
 I wrote nearly all of it at Christmas, 1892. 
 
 As I said, racing may be perpetuated for all time— a long time any- 
 way ; but, if so, measures drastic and effective must be taken, and if 
 they be not taken immediately the collapse of the sport is inevitable. 
 
 The Jockey Club must look to the interest of those who breed horses 
 for the purpose of sale or racing them— they must also look after those 
 forming the rank and file of '* owners." 
 
 The last five years have been the very worst that were ever ex- 
 perienced by any man alive. There is not a community in the kingdom 
 which has not suffered, nor is there probably a single great firm as well 
 off now as it was five or ten years ago ; while the aristocracy, gentry, 
 and farmers, having fared far worse than the trading community, 
 are not half as well off as they were a decade ago. At the present 
 moment things are worse than ever, nor does there seem the least 
 chance of improvement ; on the contrary, there is every likelihood of 
 their getting still worse. 
 
 In face of this terrible state of national affairs the expenses of 
 breeding racehorses and racing them are not alone kept up to what 
 they were in good times, but they are absolutely increasing. 
 
 To get the service of a stallion of even moderate fame a man has to 
 pay for his mare a fee of from £50 to £100, while to get near those of 
 first-class renown he has to pay from £150 to £250. In addition to the 
 service fee, thoroughbred foals in England stand the owner in pretty 
 nearly £100 the day they are dropped : and by the time they go to the 
 starting-post for the first time, as two-year olds, another £150 will 
 
422 
 
 have to be added. Therefore, when a man has paid, say, £100— not to 
 speak of the maximum fees— his colts or fillies the day they first 
 start will stand him in every shilling of £350 apiece. That would not 
 be so bad if they all turned out well ; but not one in five does so, and 
 not one in twenty turns out first-class, while many, from one cause or 
 another, never see the starter's fl^g. Add the loss of the dead plus 
 that of the bad to the cost of the good ones, and then see what breeders 
 have to lay out by the time they have produced a really good horse. 
 
 To cover the expenses of breeding alone, foals have to be sold at 
 proportionately high figures. The purchaser who does not breed under- 
 goes, of course, the sam3 expense with his young ones as the man who 
 breeds and has to face the same uncertainties. If, therefore, he pays 
 more than £300 or £400 for a yearling he has very much the worst of 
 the bargain. What, then, is to be said of those who pay £1,000 or 
 £2,000, not to speak of double the latter sum, for yearlings ? 
 
 To make that sort of business pay is simply an impossibility. Not 
 one in five of these high-priced yearlings pay their own way, and 
 none of them pay the way of the bad and dead ones. 
 
 How paradoxical is all this ! Long ago when times were good, and 
 our gentry had lots of money, with horses a vast deal better than 
 they are now, Stockwell's service could be got for £50. Going back 
 from his day, say only to Harkaway, whose fee was something like £10 
 or £12, we find all the great sires, including Melbourne, Touchstone, 
 Birdcatcher and other patricians of the Stud-book, standing at from 
 £15 to £30 ! 
 
 Another dreadful injustice breeders labour under is that in the case 
 of a mare proving barren there is neither refund of fee nor other com- 
 pensation made. Surely one-half the service fee should be returned 
 and free service given next time. A man pays for the sight of a foal, 
 and he should get what he pays for. 
 
 So far for our breeders and buyers of yearlings sired by fashion- 
 able stallions. Let us now consider the case of owners as a community. 
 
 The relationship between owners of horses and executives of race 
 meetings has for all time been carried out on a wrong principle, and 
 quite -at variance with the custom invariably adopted in cases which 
 are, to all intents and purposes, identical. Race meetings have been, 
 and continue to be, got up presumably for the purpose of showing sport 
 to the public. The executives find the course, provide stand houses, 
 etc., and advertise stakes to be run for. They have, however, never 
 found it requisite to provide the factors who alone enable them to run 
 their show. They have always been supplied. Not alone that, but 
 money is paid by the factors to the racecourse executives which in 
 nearly all cases equals the amount of the stakes, all the time allowing 
 the latter functionaries to pocket the gate money. 
 
 Now, may I ask, what would be thought of Sir Augustus Harris or 
 Mr. Michael Gunn, when advertising popular plays to come off at 
 Drury Lane or the Gaiety in Dublin, if they supplied only the stage 
 
423 
 
 seats and scenery within the walls of these theatres, requiring the 
 actors and actresses to give their services for nothing, and be content 
 that the best performer was to draw a sum which was made up entirely 
 by subscriptions among themselves, while Sir Augustus and Mr. Gunn 
 were to^take all the door money ? 
 
 The analogy is by no means overdrawn. The principle is identical 
 with that which governs owners and racecourse executives. In old 
 times, when race meetings were got up really, not presumably, for 
 sport, and when owners of horses were well off, it was right and proper 
 that the flatter should give their services to the promoters of the 
 former, not alone gratuitously, but subscribe liberally in the shape of 
 entriea. 
 
 Now, however, times have changed, alas, lamentably for the worse as 
 regards owners, but jubilantly for the better as regards racecourse 
 companies, and as racing has degenerated into a matter of business 
 the relationship between the two must have its principle altered. 
 
 Out of the entrance fees, forfeits, and starting fees, which are paid by 
 owners for the privilege of finding horses for the sport, the companies 
 can in most instances pay the swagger stake? they advertise. By this 
 means principally they have accumulated vast funds and are enabled 
 to pay big dividends to the shareholders. These they should now 
 be made disgorge, or, at all events, alter their system. 
 
 We, in Ireland manage these matters much better. We charge only 
 a small fee for entry, and another for starting, while sweepstakes and 
 forfeits are practically unknown. In England, owners are mulcted in 
 entries and forfeits of sums which far exceed their trainers' bills. And 
 in my chapter on Horse-breeding is shown the low fees we charge for 
 horses possessed of the best blood in the Calendar^ and who begat 
 such cattle as Barcaldine, Bendigo, Cloister, and Kilwarlin. 
 
 If the relationship between promoters of race meetings and owners 
 was to be carried out upon a righteous principle, the former should 
 provide large stakes and pay the latter for providing the means for 
 sport. After a time that may have to come to pass. Meanwhile owners 
 should only be required to enter horses, say, three or four months before 
 the race, and then to pay for each entry at most 1 per cent, on the 
 added money and another 1 per cent, for either starters or horses left in 
 say, a month before the race. Sweepstakes, if not left optional, should 
 not be entered for until a month before the race, and then be subject 
 to only one-fourth forfeit, which should go to the winner. The executive 
 at Punchestown has always adopted a like principle, and it is in as 
 tound.financial position as any meeting in the kingdom, and far better 
 than most of them. 
 
 Take, for example, the Derby of 1892 already referred to. The 
 entries numbered 259 (not 264 as stated at p. 174). In fees and forfeits the 
 owners paid £5,510. That sum was given to the winner, whil« £1,000 
 was divided between the nominator of the winner and the owners of the 
 second and third horses. Qat of that large entry only thirteen started 
 
424 
 
 at £50 each, so that 246 entries, for which £4,860 was paid, together with 
 the interest, was lost to the owners and went to the fund of the Epsom 
 Grand Stand Company, it finding only £1,000 for the race ! 
 
 If owners had entered for that race, say, on February 1, 1892, at 1 per 
 cent, on the £6,500, they would have had to pay £65 in the first instance 
 and another £65 on whatever horses were left in on May 1, which would 
 practically represent the starters. No doubt heavy sums, but the plan 
 would be far better than that now existing. Besides, the public would 
 have a pretty fair idea what the field would be. The effect of entering 
 horses for races a long time before they can run for them is simply to 
 gull the public, fieece the owners, and aggrandise the race companies. 
 The practice should, therefore, be stamped out. 
 
 With all their keenness and ability to take care of themselves, owners 
 have remained quiet over this question of stakes far too long. Many 
 of them are con{^tituted with the happy-go-lucky sentiment, and take for 
 granted everythi&g is right that is laid before them by the powers that 
 be ; while the remainder have got so accustomed to be skinned that 
 they, like the eels, do not realise the enormity of the abuse. 
 
 The system, nevertheless, is manifestly preposterous, and would not 
 for one moment be entertained by any community other than the 
 owners of racehorses. 
 
 In addition to bringing entries and forfeits to a minimum, race- 
 course companies should be required to find free quarters and grub for 
 horses attending their meetings as well as for the lads in charge. 
 
 Railway companies should also give a carte blanche to all racehorses 
 and their attendants. 
 
 Under even the most favourable and fortunate circumstances, racing 
 is not a profitab'e calling for any man, and then to make stakes balance 
 expenses, much less show a profit, judgment and prudence, combined 
 with rigid economy, must be practised systematically. 
 
 Owing to our monstrous system there are many men in England 
 this moment whose racing accounts have often shown, for ten years 
 on a stretch, a systematic loss of from £5,000 to £10,000 a year. One 
 of the best known and most popular of our noblemen has for eleven 
 years lost £11,000 a year through breeding and racing alone— for he 
 does not bet. At last he has produced a really good horse, and could 
 probably get for him £10,000 or £15,000, and if he turns out well 
 and has good luck he may win in stakes perhaps £30,000 ; but what 
 will that be to the owner in the face of a debit of £121,000 1 
 
 Lucky it has been for racing that all through its history we have had 
 from the ranks of the mercantile class accessions of wealthy men. To 
 these sportsmen is owed a heavy debt of gratitude, for without that re- 
 inforcement the sport could not have been maintained in the high 
 position it has always stood. Theee rich men have, however, done a 
 serious injury without intention. They have run up the prices of 
 yearlings, the offspring of fashionable stallions, to a figure altogether 
 beyond their value. As a result, the fees for service of th^se st^llioog 
 
425 
 
 have been raised to an amount prohibitive to everyone of mocierate 
 means. 
 
 It is these mercantile magnates who should now run these prices down. 
 If they don't do so, the gentry and aristocracy cannot carry on at the 
 game, and before long the commercials themselves must succumb. 
 
 It is folly to think, beciuse racing is more popular than ever it was, 
 that as a business it is in a healthy state. It is not in a healthy state, 
 but very much on the contrary. 
 
 The multitudes who pay at the gates support only the promoters of 
 the meeting. None of the money goes to the men who find the horses 
 and jorovide the spo7% and what they get for winning is subscribed by 
 themselves. Owners are left to provide the piper and to pay him, 
 while the executives call the tune and the public dance thereto. 
 
 In former days our owners could afford to maintain that position, 
 and manfully they did so, Utopian though it may have been on their 
 part. Now, however, with incomes reduced by half, and expenses 
 increased by double, they can no longer perform the part of comedian . 
 
 These are facts indisputable ; if, therefore, some great change be not 
 brought about, the collapse of honest racing is inevitable. 
 
 Taking for a guide those who have their colours registered, we may 
 estimate the number of men racing in England and Ireland at about 
 1,100. Looking over that list which is before me, I find a number 
 lamentably large who are not worth a thousand pounds above their 
 debts, while a great many are stone broke. There is, however, a large 
 proportion who can well afford to race if the expenses be kept 
 within a reasonable limit, but who cannot do so as things stand at 
 present. We then have left those who, despi-e bad times and hard 
 luck, can pay the piper, be the expenses what they may. 
 
 These men are well known, and by dissecting their names from the 
 long list, it will be seen the number is so small that racing could not 
 possibly be carried on bythem alone. Even if it could, and g eat as 
 b3 the riches of these men, and no matter how deeply may be planted 
 in their souls the love of racing, is it reasonable to suppose they 
 will, for any length of time, continue to fight a losing game 1 Will 
 they always consider the game is worth the candle? But granted 
 they will, will those who succeed them do so ? 
 
 Now, suppose any of these aristocratic or commercial millionaires take 
 it into their heads to chuck up racing, what is to become of the sport ? 
 
 At present we cannot afford to lose one of them. I myself know 
 two of these colossal pillars of the Turf who are meditating retirement, 
 and that before long. There is nothing to prevent, but on the contrary, 
 a great deal at present to promote, the retirement of others ; and, in 
 time, of the whole lot ! What then ? 
 
 Sorry I am to put these details in print, but for the good of the sport 
 I love so well, and in the hope of preserving it, I feel bound to do so. 
 They are facts which all who are behind the scenes know only 
 00 well, but they fear to give utterance thereto. 
 
426 
 
 The general public know nothing about the " baby house " of racing. 
 The executives of race meetings gauge the prosperity of the sport by the 
 attendance, heedless or ignorant of the fact that their turnstiles record 
 the visits of people who, not having anything to say to the horses or the 
 sport, outnumber those who have by a hundred to one, and come for 
 no other purpose than betting or the outing. 
 
 I doubt if times will ever be as good as they were with our aristocracy^ 
 gentry, or farmers. At all events they will not be for many a long year. 
 Meanwhile, we should have our racing in spite of all financial depression. 
 
 Let, therefore, the Jockey Club and other of our great leaders 
 exercise foresight by improvising measures, and carry them out with 
 determination combined with discretion, which will preserve the sport 
 from perdition. 
 
 In my humble opinion, all that is required is to have the expenses of 
 our breeders and owners cut down to a minimum. To effect this purpose 
 no one need be dealt with except the owners of stallions, racecourse 
 and railway companies. The price of yearlings will adjust itself. 
 
 Trainers should not be interfered with. The fees they charge are not 
 excessive considering their skill and the responsibility of their position, 
 with the amount of attention and anxiety attendant upon a racing 
 stable. Besides, men of such high class and character as are our 
 trainers deserve to be properly remunerated for their services. As it 
 is, many of them are paid with unjustifiable irregularity by their 
 employers, and, in addition, are required to advance money to great 
 amounts for travelling expenses. 
 
 P.S.— January, 1894. A year bas passed since I put together the fore- 
 going. A year all round far more disastrous to trade and agriculture 
 than any of the preceding five, hence probably the very worst that 
 has ever been chronicled in cur nation's history. 
 
 As regards racing : In March occurred the death of Mr. George 
 Alexander Baird (Mr. Abington), whose loss to the Turf is estimated 
 at from £80,000 to £100,000 a year. We now see by the papers that the 
 Duchess of Montrose is going to give up racing, and there are rumours 
 of other great patrons doing the same. 
 
 Loving the sport as much as her grace and the others do, I am very 
 sure none of them would thro 77 up the sponge but for the expense, which, 
 under the present system, is ia the most monstrous degree levied right 
 and left upon owners. 
 
 With this state of affairs staring them straight in the face, it is the 
 bounden duty of the Jockey Club to bestir themselves and do what 
 Lord George Bentinck, Admiral Rous, Mr. George Payne, or Lord 
 Drogheda would have done under similar cir( umstances. 
 
 There is no time to be lost, for directly an example such as the 
 Duchess of Montro£;e's be set, it will be followed numerously. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abd-el-K.ider, 131 
 
 Abdullah, 202 
 
 Aberdeeufehire, 260 
 
 Abernethy, Dr., 349 
 
 Abingdon, Mr., 39G 
 
 Absentees, 411 
 
 Accidents, xxviii 
 
 Ace of Hearts, 13 
 
 Achnasshellach, 260, 268 
 
 Act of Parliament, 305 
 
 Affarick, 272 
 
 Afternoon Tea, 298 
 
 Agitators, xxxi 
 
 Agricultural Question, The, xlvi 
 
 Agriculture, 418 
 
 Ailesbury, Lord, 315 
 
 Ailesbury, Marquis of, xxxv, 414 
 
 Ainslie, Colonel, 98, 163 
 
 Aintree, xx, 146, 150 
 
 Aladdin, 401 
 
 Alarm, xl 
 
 Albert, 196 
 
 Aldershot, xxxiii 
 
 Alexander, 201 
 
 Alhambra, 203 
 
 Alice Hawthorne, 188 
 
 Allen-a-dale, 168 
 
 All's Well, 162 
 
 Altcar, 281-288 
 
 Ambergate, 97 
 
 Amcotts, Major, 34 
 
 Anak, 90 
 
 Anarchists, 292 
 
 Anatis, 131 
 
 Anchor, 32 
 
 Anderson, Alec, 33 
 
 Anderson, Mrs., 96 
 
 Anderson, T. W., 32-34 
 
 Andover, xl 
 
 Andre, A. von, 268 
 
 Angleseys, The, 202-212 
 
 Anti-G-ambling League, xiv 
 
 Annagh Course, 129 
 
 Anne, Queen, 91 
 
 Annfield Runs, xiii. 19 
 
 Anson, Colonel, xxxiv. xxxix, 3C3, 
 
 364, 387 
 Ansou, Lord, 355 
 Aphrodite, xl 
 Apjohn. Thomas, 160 
 Appendix to Racing, xxi 
 ■'• Appleton, Mr.," xx 
 Arabians, 91 
 Arbuthnot, Mr., 37 
 Archdale. Captain, 1(33 
 Archdales, The, 195 
 Archer, Fred, xi. 202, 340, 395 
 Archer, William, 402 
 
 Archery, 297 
 
 Ardverikie, 272 
 
 Argyllshire, 260, 267 
 
 Ariadne, 13 
 
 Aristocracy, Commercial, 417 
 
 Aristocracy, Territorial, 417 
 
 Artful Dodger. 390 
 
 Arthur, 29, 13i 
 
 Ascetic, xvii 
 
 Ascot, 155, 181, 186, 212, 224 
 
 Ascot, 1895, xxii 
 
 Ashburton, Lord, 243 
 
 Ashplant, 97 
 
 Aspacia, 168 
 
 Astrologer, 198 
 
 Atherstone, The, 55, 355, 356 
 
 Athgarvan Lodge, 197 
 
 Athole Daisy, 402 
 
 Athole, Duke of, xxviii. 360 
 
 Atlantic, xli, xlii 
 
 Attila, 385, 390 
 
 Augustine, 15 
 
 Autumn Handicaps, 1894, xxii 
 
 Avon. The, 310 
 
 Ayala, 239 
 
 Aylmer, M., xx, 98, 164 
 
 Ayrshire, 189 
 
 Ayrshire, horse, 398 
 
 Bacchus, 209 
 
 Back, sore, 117 
 
 Back-swording, 311 
 
 Badminton, 31 
 
 Badminton Library, 227, 243, 244, 256 
 
 Bad Times, 421 
 
 Bagot, 210 
 
 Baily, Wm., 4 
 
 Bailifs Magazine, xx. xxvi. 138 
 
 Baird, G. A., 396, 426 
 
 Baker, George, 230 
 
 Baker, Hugh, 34 
 
 *' Bakers," 77 
 
 Bala, 257 
 
 Baldovle, 141, 183, 203. 219 
 
 Balfe, Captain, 163 
 
 Ballinaboola, 52 
 
 Ballinafad, 215 
 
 Bal Una sloe, 95 
 
 Ballydutf. 25 
 
 Ballydurn. 4, 25, 27, 38, 57 
 
 Ballydurn Country, 26 
 
 Ballyueale, 4. 27 
 
 Ballyshannou, 128 
 
 Balmacaan, 272 
 
 Bank Holidays, 305 
 
 Banting, 352 
 
 Barbarians, 307 
 
 Barbaries, 91 
 
 G G 
 
42 S 
 
 Barcnldine, 97, 188, 189, 123 
 
 Barclay, Captain, xx. loi 
 
 Barclay- A.llardice. Capt., xxxvii, 217, 
 
 299, 300, 371-382 
 Barkby Holt, xvii. 130 
 Barker. Miss, 385 
 Barkston, 2li, 214 
 Barkston Lodge, 211 
 *' Barnsley Chop," A, xxxvi 
 BaroD, The, xli.xlii, 159, 197,198, 207, 
 
 210.211 
 Baronetage^ 416 
 BaronstowD, 135, 139 
 Barony Boy, 129 
 Barrington, Charles 151 
 Barron, Misses, 220 
 Barron, P. Netterville, 297 
 Barry, Billy, 6, 18, 55 
 Barrv, J. Harold, 163 
 Barry, Mr., 130 
 Barry more, Lord, xxxv 
 Barton. Major, 163, 233 
 Barton, William, 2 
 Barton's Yard, xxxviii 
 Ba»s, Hamar, 260 
 Bates, Captain, 160 
 Bates, John, xxvii. 223 
 Bateson, Colonel, xxx 
 Batthyany, Count, 189 
 Battle Powder, 238 
 Baxter, pedestrian, 375 
 Bayleaf, 204 
 Bavlough, 25 
 Bay Middletou. xl 
 Bay of Biscay, 302 
 Beagle, 211 
 Beasley. Mrs., 215 
 Beasleyi Harry, 152, 199, 200, 202, 
 
 203, 205 
 Beasley, James, 202, 204 
 Beasley. John, 202, 204 
 Beasley, Tom, xx. 199, 201, 202, 215 
 Beasley, William, 7, 162, 202, 204, 215 
 Beasleys, The, xxiv. 176, 199, 201. 204 
 Beitty, David, xiv. 163, 248 
 Reiuclerc, Lord F., 362 
 Beaufort, Duke of. xxii. 9,31, 49, 163, 
 
 227, 387, 401 
 Becher's Brook, 148 
 Bective, Lord, 163 
 Belcher, Tom, 317 
 Bell, John, 32, 95 
 BelVs Life, xxxiii. xxxviii. 151, 321. 
 
 324. .327, 330, 357, 361, 371 
 Bellyse, Dr., 312 
 Belvidere, 230 
 Belvoir, The, xx, 27, 55, 57 
 Ben Battle, 96, 97, ISO 
 Ben Bolt, 160 
 
 Bendigo, 97, 196, 207, 397, 423 
 Benicia Boy. The, 323 
 Benjamin, Bill, 323, 3i3 
 
 Bennett, " Farmer," xxxiii 
 
 Bennett, J. C, 151 
 
 Bentinck, Lord Geo., xxxv. 169, 170,. 
 
 212, 213, 335, 336, 426 
 Benyon, R., 314 
 Benzon, Ernest, 414 
 Beresford, Captain Pack, 4, 9. 13, 163 
 Beresford, Lord Charles, 32, 34, 56, 58, 
 
 189 
 Beresford, Lord Delaval, 32 
 Beresford, Lord Marcus, xli. 12, 14, 32,. 
 
 3^,58,76,403 
 Beresford, Lord William, 32, 34, o8 
 Berkeley-Craven. General, xxxv 
 Berkeley, The, 55 
 Berkhampsted Staghounds, 34 
 Berkshire, 311 
 
 Bernard, Captain, xx, 151, 163 
 Bernards, The, 98 
 Bernard, Colonel, 163 
 Berwickshire, 268 
 Bessborough, 25 
 
 Bessborough. Lord. 16, 28, 32, 40 
 Betagh, Michael, 163, 166 
 Bettors, xxxv 
 Bianconi, Charles, xxvi 
 " Bian's Car," xxvi 
 Billesden Coplow, 130 
 Birdcatcher, 92, 196, 198, 20S. 20^,. 
 
 211,212. 422 
 Birgham Water, 233 
 Bishop's Wood, 248 
 Bismarck, 196 
 Bittoon, Isaac, 315 
 Black. Jem, 311 
 
 Black- breasted Reds, 312, 318, 335 
 Blackburn, Major, 6 
 Blacker, Wm.. xx, 164 
 Blackfoot, 212 
 Black HamWeton, 173 
 Blackmount Forest, 260 
 Blackrock Strand, 213 
 Black Rose, 405 
 Blackstairs Mountain. 250 
 Blackwell, Geo., 399 
 Blake, B., 129 
 
 Blake, C. J., 96, 164, 166, 40& 
 Blake, Edmund. 128 
 Blake, J. G., 166 
 Blake, Martin, 129 
 Blake. Martin Joseph, 208 
 Blanche of Middlebie, xlii 
 Blanchland, 406 
 Blandford, Marquis of, 314 
 Bleeding, to stop, 117 
 Blews, Mr., xxxvii 
 Blind Harper. 136 
 Blind Vet, 135 
 Blink Bonny, 189 
 Bloomfield, Miss, 31, 32 
 Bloomfield, F. G., 32, 34 
 Blubberhouse, 247 
 
429 
 
 Blucber, 215 
 
 Blueskin, 6, 137 
 
 Boadicea, 90 
 
 Boat-races, 291 
 
 " Bobbie," 89 
 
 Bob Booty, 209 
 
 Bogside, xli 
 
 Boherbawn, 167 
 
 Bolger, Ned, 55 
 
 Bolton Starling, 91 
 
 Bond, Mr., 6 
 
 Bookey, Mrs., 31, 32 
 
 Boothani Bar, 313 
 
 Boots, to waterproof, 117 
 
 Borodale, 248 
 
 Boulevard, 9G 
 
 Bourton, U8, 149, 205 
 
 Bowater, Edward, 358 
 
 Bowers, Edward, 33 
 
 Bowers, Henry, 28, 33, 48, ST 
 
 Bowes, John, xxxix. 385 
 
 Boxing, 293-297 
 
 Boyce, Mr., 154 
 
 Boynton, Sir F., 313 
 
 Bracebridge, 3G3 
 
 Bradgate Park, 245 
 
 Brady, John. 249 
 
 Braidwood. Mr., 22G 
 
 Brazenface, 228 
 
 Breadalbane District, xxx 
 
 Breadalbane, Marquis of, 2G0 
 
 Breast, Sore, 117 
 
 Breen, AVat, 34 
 
 Brettle, Bob, xxxlii, 823, 333 
 
 Brighton Downs, 139 
 
 Brindley, Thomas, 176 
 
 Briscoe, Edward, 28, 33, 48, 87 
 
 Briscoe, Henry W., xUi. 3, 4, 9, 15-22. 
 
 28. 30, 32, 54, 61, 95, 119, 126, 163 
 Brittle Feet, 117 
 Brixworth, 357 
 Brocklesby lot, 16 
 Brocklesby Puppy Show, 84 
 Broderick, Dan, xxi, 195 
 Broderi'jk, Jim, xxi 
 Bromhead, xxx, 247 
 Bromley- Davenport, 72, 77, 136 
 " Brooke's," 335 
 Brooke, Sir Victor, 246 
 Brophy, William, 13, 96 
 Brother to Flnrry, xxxv 
 '•Brothers' Knee," The, 58 
 Brown Bess, 129 
 Brownstown. xxv, 24 
 Brownstown Lodge. 196, 208 
 Brownstown Run, 37 
 Brown Tommy, 312 
 Bcuckshaw, T., 393 
 Bruges, 309 
 Brummell, Squire, 314 
 Brunette, 1S7, 208 
 Bruntjn, Harry, xxxiv, 325, 326 
 
 Bruree, 96 
 
 Bryan, George, 4, 9, 98, 1()3 
 
 Buckle, F., xxxviii, 376, 388 
 
 Buckstone, xli 
 
 Buckstone and Tim Whiffler, 397 
 
 Buckstone and The Marquis, 397 
 
 Budd, Ed., .^00, 361, 371 
 
 Bullfighting, .307 
 
 Bulmershe Court, 311-319 
 
 Bufhble Bee, 13, 14 
 
 Bunburv, Ben, 32 
 
 Bunbury, Ralph, 34 
 
 Bunbury, Sir Charles, 335 
 
 Burgho, Sir R. de, xx 
 
 Burkes, Blakes, and Bodkins, 12^ 
 
 Burke. Deaf, 375 
 
 Buvhe ami De Brett, 326 
 
 Burke, Richard, 2, m 
 
 Burke, Major, 157 
 
 Burn-Murdock, Mr., xx 
 
 Burns, 117 
 
 Burrows, Major, 164 
 
 Burton Country, 355, 356 
 
 Burton, Dick, 355 
 
 Burton, Lord, 260, 272 
 
 'Bus Drivers, xxvi 
 
 Busybody, xhi, 396 
 
 Butler, F., 388 
 
 Butler, Loid Junes, 4, 9, IG3 
 
 Butler, Walter, 129 
 
 Butterscotch, 97 
 
 Buttevant, 128 
 
 Buxton, Mr. Gurney, 246 
 
 Cabmen, xxvi 
 
 Cadland. 388 
 
 Cahir, 34 
 
 Cahirmee, 95 
 
 Caithness-shire, 267 
 
 Callan, 29, 397 
 
 Caller Ou, 7, 189 
 
 Camballo, xlii 
 
 Cambridge, Duke of, xxx 
 
 Cambridge Gap, 358 
 
 Cambridgeshire, The, 181, 207, 336- 
 
 Cambusmore, 405 
 
 Campbell, Colonel, xxix, 154 
 
 Canavan, Charley, xxiv 
 
 Canavan, Davy, xxi, 206 
 
 Canavan, D. and W., xxi, 206 
 
 Candy, Captain, xx 
 
 Canezou, 385 
 
 Cannobie, xli 
 
 Cannon, Joseph, 175, 195, 4o7 
 
 Cannon's, Morny, Doncaster, xxiit 
 
 Cannon, Tom, 175, 397 
 
 Canny, Dan, xx 
 
 Captain, 5, 12 
 
 Caravan, 212 
 
 Garden, Colonel, 163 
 
 Cardinal Puff, 6, 212 
 
430 
 
 Carlow, Lord, 166 
 Carmarthen Steeplechase, 13 
 Carmelite, 201, 202 
 Odrrick-on-Suir, xiv. 25, 3 4 
 Carrig-a-nure, 25 
 Carrig-a-tubrid, 25 
 Carrigeen, 25 
 Carrigeen Run, 36 
 Carr gtrus, 3, 26, 27 
 Carrigtrus Run, 28 
 CarsoD. Mr., 302 
 •Cashel, 132, 139 
 Cassidy, James, 163 
 Castingline, Mr., 231 
 Castledermot, 95 
 Oastleknock, 169 
 Castlemilk, 288 
 Castlemorres, 3. 16, 31 
 Castle Plate, 406 
 Cathal. xvii 
 
 Catherine Haves, xli, xlii, 188 
 Cavendish. Hon. George, xxxv 
 Cecile, The, 167 
 Cecilia, xlii 
 Celt, The. 6 
 
 Cesarewitch, The, 181, 336 
 Chaiue, James. 161: 
 Chaloner, Tom', 397 
 Chancery, 201 
 Chanticleer, 188, 207 
 Chantilly. 200, 399 
 Chaplin. Mr. H., 56, S35 
 Charibert, xlii 
 Charity Boy, 160 
 Charlemonts, The, 195 
 Charles II.. xxxviii. 172 
 Charles XII., 92 
 Charrite, Colonel, 357, 362 
 Chaseaway, :^15 
 Chasseur d'Afrique, 36 
 Chatterbox. 202 
 Cheasty, 16 
 Cheltenham, 212 
 Cheroot. 15 
 Cheshire, 312-319, 335 
 *' Cheshire Drop,' 312 
 -"Cheshire Piles," 312, 335 
 Chester, 171, 313 
 Chesterdeld Stakes, 213 
 Chichester, Captain, 154 
 Chifney Rush, 312 
 Chifnev, Sam, 388, 4.01 
 Chilblains, 116 
 Childeric, xli, xlii 
 Chippenham Park, 245 
 Choleric Tom. 213 
 Cholmondeleys, The, 312, 314 
 Chop, Mutton, XXX vi 
 Christian Dick, 362 
 Christmas Gift, 202 
 Chrysalis. 14 
 Chrystabel, 14 
 
 Churohtown, 25 
 
 " City Man," The, 303 
 
 Clanc.v, Tom. 55 
 
 Clanricarde, Lord, 9, 99, 130, 163, 195 
 
 Clarke's Lotion, 116 
 
 Clarke's Giatment, 114 
 
 Clasher, 30, 362 
 
 Classic Races, 1896, xxii 
 
 Clayton, Captain, 34 
 
 Clear the Way, 31 
 
 Clibborn. Ned, xiii 
 
 Clifton. 173 
 
 Clinker, 130. 362 
 
 Cloister, xvii. xviii. 97, 132, 150, 152, 
 
 205, 423 
 Clonassey, 26 
 Clonassey Run, 37 
 Cloucurry, Lord, 154, 163 
 Clonea Castle, 25 
 Clonmel, 25, 95 
 Clonmell, Lord, 9. 25, 154. 155, 159' 
 
 163, 164 
 Ciooney, Tom, 4 
 Cloth, to ^raterproof, 117 
 Clown, The, 29 
 Coach, Waterford, Duugarvan, and 
 
 Lismore, xxvi 
 Coachmen. London, xxv 
 " Coal Hole,' The, 303 
 Cockfighting, 308-319 
 Cockneyp, 230 
 Cogan, Right Hon. W., 164 
 Coghlan, P., 33 
 Coke, Arch, 287 
 Coke. John, 287 
 Coke, Wm , 367, 368 
 Collestown, xx 
 Co'liiis, 322, 333 
 Colonel, The, xviii 
 Coltness, 97 
 Combe, Harvey, 357 
 Combermere, Lord, 312 
 Comeaway, xvii. xviii. 132, 119, 150, 
 
 203, 205 
 Commercial Buildings, Dublin, 304 
 Commercial Community, 304 
 Commodore, 210 
 Commodore Trunnion, 168 
 Common, 176 
 Confessor, 123 
 Confiscation, 417 
 Congreve, Ambrose, 28, 33, 220. 
 Congress, xviii 
 Connaught, Duke of, 32 
 Connaught Ranger, 208, 209 
 Connellan, Major, 34 
 Connolly, John, 168 
 Connolly, John, xxi 
 Connolly. Tom, 207 
 Conolly, Thomas, 9, 163 
 Conoran, Nickey, 300 
 Conrad. 6 
 
431 
 
 Conservative Majoritv, 181>5, xlvi 
 Conyngham Cup, 152, 157, 200, 202, 
 
 204 
 Conyngham Lodge, 106 
 Conyngliam, Marquis of, 154, 163, 196 
 Cook, 13 
 
 Coolve, Robert, xiii 
 Coolnamiiclc, 25 
 Coolnamuck Run, 53 
 Cooney, Dick, 55 
 Cooper, Colonel, 9 
 Cooper, the Gipsey, 205 
 Coote, Captain, 163 
 Coote, Sir C, 96 
 Coppenagh, 7 
 Corbally, 25 
 Corbally Run, 5 
 Corbally, Mr., 96, 166 
 Corinthian Cup, 135, 153 
 Cork Park. 140. 141, UO, 183, 200, 202, 
 
 229, 230 
 Corriebran, 269 
 Cortolvin, 131, 149 
 Coi-by, Captain, 163 
 Cotherstone, xl. 336, 385 
 Cottons, The, 312 
 Couch, Abey, 322, 333 
 Coughs, 117 
 Countess, 162 
 
 Country Gentleman^ The, xxix, 274 
 Coursing versus Hunting, xxxi 
 Courtenay, H., 32, 34 
 Courtenay. Ned, xiii 
 Courtenay, John, 4, 98, 131, 195 
 Coventry, Captain, xx 
 Coxes. The, 4, 9, 208 
 Cracked Heels, 116 
 Craithynaird, 375 
 Crampton, Sir P., 154 
 Craven, Fulvvar, 315 
 Craven, Lord, 314 
 
 Crawfurd, Mr.W. Sterling, xxiii. xxviii, 
 401 
 
 Cremorne, Lord, 212 
 
 Cribb, Tom, 380 
 
 Crib-biting. 117 
 
 Cricket, 291 
 
 Crockford, 335 
 
 Crocus, 27, 58 
 
 Croft, 385 
 
 Crofcer Commission, 260 
 
 Croker, Harry, 164 
 
 Crokers, 98 
 
 Croly, Surgeon, 221 
 
 Cromwell, 129 
 
 Cronootes, 91 
 
 Croquet, 297 
 
 Cross, Mr. Pi. K., xxx 
 
 Crotanstown, 205 
 
 Crotanstown Stud, xxv 
 
 Crowberry, xli, xiii 
 roxteth Park, 247 
 
 Croydon, 172, 202 
 
 Cruelty, 412 
 
 Cruiser, 202 
 
 Cruiskeen, 210, 212 
 
 Cruiskeen Lawn, 122 
 
 Cuffe, Captain, 32 
 
 Cullen, F. F., 207 
 
 Culleu, W. P., 207 
 
 Cullen-", Toe, 176 
 
 Culverine, 168 
 
 Cumberland, Duke of. xxv 
 
 Cummins, D. K., 32, 33 
 
 Cummins, William, xxvii 
 
 Cuaard, Sir B., 57 
 
 Cure The 37 
 
 Currigh, The, 91, 183, 193-215, 200, 405 
 
 Curragh Course, 206 
 
 Curragh Gorse, xxiv. 206 
 
 Curragh Ranger, 196 
 
 Curragh Rangership, 168. 169 
 
 Curragh Stibles, 203 
 
 Curragh View, 207 
 
 Curraghbaha Run, 21 
 
 Curraghmore Blood, 17 
 
 Curraghmore Country, 3, 4, 25, 26 
 
 Curraghmore Hounds 20, 88 
 Curraghmore Races, 48 58, 74, 125, 
 132, 200, 203, 343 
 
 Curry, Recipe for, xxxvi 
 
 Cusack, Wm., xxi 
 
 Cushgam Hill, 221 
 
 Cusick, pugilist, 323, 326 
 
 Custance, xli 
 
 Cuts. 116 
 
 Cycling, 297. 299 
 
 Cypriad. 390 
 
 Cyrus, 200, 201,202 
 
 Balhj TelefjrapTi, xx^x, 266, 268 
 
 Dainty Davie. 169 
 
 Dalbiac, Charles, 311, 311, 316 
 
 Dalnaspidal, xxviii 
 
 Daly, Denis Bow.s, 195, 197, 209 
 
 Daly, James, 95, 96, 107 
 
 Damascus Twist, 328 
 
 Dame Street, 217 
 
 Daniel O'Rourke, 336, 335, 394 
 
 D'Arcy, Giles, 95, 107 
 
 Dirley Arabian, 91 
 
 Daryell, Sir Henry, 315 
 
 Dasiiwood, Sir George, 315 
 
 David and Goliath, 322 
 
 Davies, William, 335 
 
 Davies, Mr., 96 
 
 Daw^son, Captain H., 33 
 
 Dawson, George, 189, 195, 396, 397 
 
 Dawson, John. 391 
 
 Dawson, John, jun., 396 
 
 Dawson, Mr. Mat, xli. xliv. xlv, 188, 
 
 394-399, 401, 405 
 Dawson, Mrs. Matt., xli. xliv 
 Dawson, Miss Nell:e, 405 
 
432 
 
 Dawson, R. C, 96 
 
 Davs. The, 175 
 
 Deanes, The, Si 
 
 Debeau, John, xxi 
 
 De Burgho, Sir R., xx. 98, 135, 163 
 
 Deer Forest Commission, xxxi. 267 
 
 Deformed. The. 13 
 
 D'Eijville. 212 
 
 De la Poer. A., 32 
 
 De la Poer, W., 32 
 
 '•Demon, The,"" 402 
 
 Dennebev, Michael. 195 
 
 Dennis, John, 130,212 
 
 Denny. Abram, 47 
 
 Denny, C. E., 32 
 
 Denny. Mr . 367 
 
 Dent, Edward, 287 
 
 Departure, 343 
 
 Derbv. Lord, xxxii. xxxix. 172. 288, 
 
 312. 387 
 Derby of 1892. 174. 423 
 Derby of 1894, The, xlii 
 l>erbv of 1895. xlv 
 Derby. The, xxxii. xli. 130. ITjl. 172, 
 
 174, 19], 288, 306, 312,335,338 
 Derg, Lough, 230 
 De Robeck, Baron, xx. 163 
 Desart, Lord, 9 
 Devil's Ditch, 358, 375 
 Dewdrop, 169 
 Dewe, W. H, 274 
 Dewhurst, Captain, 166 
 Dickenson, Bernard, 315 
 Dickson. Major, 154 
 Dinner Parties, 298, 349 
 Discount. 149 
 
 Disgraceful Exhibition, A, xxxviii 
 Disney, William, 195, 19o, 209 
 Distemper, 279 
 •' Dixie,'' 282 
 
 Dobbyn, James, 34, 58, 152 
 Dobbyn, Larry, 9. 135 
 Doctor, The, 6 
 Dogs, Species of, 284 
 Dog Shows. 291 
 Donca>ter, 171, 186 
 Doncasier, 1894, xxiii 
 Doneraile, Lord, 163 
 Don Juan, 56 
 Donnelly, Dan, 205 
 Donnellys Hollow, 205 
 Donoughmore, Lord, 32 
 Dooovan, 1:'9 
 Donovan, F., 95 
 Doolan, Larry, 218 
 Dormouse. 212 
 Douglas. Captain, 130 
 Dowling. 25 
 
 Dowlin.-, Mr. Frank, xxxiii. 324, 331 
 Downfall of England, 418 
 Down Harriers, 74 
 Down Staghouuds, 74 
 
 Pownshire Course, 157 
 
 Downshire, Marquis of, 157, 163 
 
 Doyle, John, xxi, 7 
 
 Drawing Room Stakes. 212 
 
 Drewitr, 399 
 
 Driving, xxv. 216-228, 291 
 
 Drogheda, Earl of, xxi 
 
 Drogheda, Marqu-"s of, xxi. 98. 154, 
 165-170,201,426 
 
 Droghedi, Marchioness of, 166 
 
 " Druid," Tne, 388 
 
 Drumnachdar, 266 
 
 Drury Lane, 422 
 j Dublin Horse Show. xvi. xxi. 13, 100- 
 I 103.219,221,222' 
 
 Dublin Jarvies, xxvi 
 
 Due an dhurras, 7 - 
 
 i Duchess de Guise. 13-15 
 I Duff, Mr. C. G., xviii 
 ! Duke, John, xiv, 18. 24. 27. 32. 37. 54, 
 i 5?5. 121 
 I Duleep Singh, 245 
 I Dumb-bells, xxxvi 
 j Dunbar. Wm. J., 151, 283 
 
 Dundalk, 219 
 
 Dundee, xli, 394 
 
 Dungarvan, 21, 25 
 
 Duugarvan Coach. 223 
 
 Dunmore, 25, 301 
 
 Dunne, James. 206 
 
 Dunne, Michael, 98. 132. 163, 215 
 
 Dunne, William. 96, 164, 166 
 
 Dunotrar, 370, 371 
 
 Dunsandle, Lord, 163 
 
 Dunsden, 311 
 
 Durham, Bishop of, 340 
 
 Dutch Oven, xlii. xliv. 188 
 
 Earl, The, 336 
 Earlies Gorse, 25 
 Eaton Hall, 389 
 Ebberson. 361 
 Echidna, 196, 211 
 Eclipse, xxiv. 211 
 Eclipse Stakes, 191 
 Economist, 212 
 Ede, George, xx, 131 
 Eden, The, 233 
 Edge, S. T., 298 
 Edgware Road, 362 
 Edwards, Arthur, 397 
 '■ Edwards, Mr.," xx. 210 
 Effeminacy, 409 
 Egertons, The. 312, 314, 319 
 Eglinton, Lord, xli. 394 
 Egremont. Lord, 3S7 
 " Eight Hours,"' 306 
 El Dorado, 400 
 Ellesmere, Lord, 398 
 Elveden, xxx. 246 
 Elmhirst, Mr., 34 
 Elmore. Mr., 362 
 
433 
 
 Elvina, 390 
 
 Elwes. Captain Hichurd, 12 
 Emo Fox Hounds. 166 
 Empress, 132, 199, 200-202 
 Empress Eugenie, xxxiii 
 Kngland, Downfall of, 418 
 English Moors, 257 
 Enid, 32 
 Epirus, 213, 391 
 Epsom, 172, 186, 219 
 Epsom Grand Stand Company, 424 
 Escape, 210 
 Euclid, 389 
 Evans, Mr., 362 
 " Evans's," 303 
 Everard, Mr., xxviii 
 iJSxeter, Marquis of, 387 
 Exning, xxxviii. xlii, 397 
 Eyre, Giles, 130 
 Eyrefield, 201, 202 
 Eyrefield House, 201, 201 
 Eyrefield Lodge, 199 
 
 Fair Maid of Kent, 142 
 
 Fairwind, 200, 201 
 
 Fairyhouse, 58, 137, 139, 145, 150, 152. 
 
 183, 201, 219 
 Fairyland, 195 
 Faithlegg, 27, 249 
 Fallacv. xxxvii 
 Falls, iDad, 117 
 Falmouth, Lord, xli. 181, 395, 396, 
 
 404, 406 
 Fancy, The, 167 
 Farley and Boyes, 303 
 Farmers, The. 28, 62, 68, 82, 83. 99, 
 
 127, 139, 159, 290, 410, 418 
 Farmers' Race, Kildare, 159, 200 
 Farnborough, xxxiii, 309, 326 
 Farquharson, Mr., 366 
 Farrier, xxxvii 
 Fashnakyle, 272 
 Father Mathew, xviii 
 Father O'Flynn, xvii 
 Fauconberg, Lord. 373 
 Faugh-a-ballagh, 207, 208, 209 
 Favo, 96, 198 
 Fazzoletto, 385 
 Feeling of Animals, xv 
 Fellowes, Mr. R,, xx^i i 
 Feloar, 366, 370 
 Fenwick, Noel, 396, 397 
 Fereda, The, 167 
 Ferguson, pedestrian. 373 
 Ferguson, Tom, 207, 211-215 
 Fethard Course, 147 
 Fethard, xiv 
 Fetische, 202 
 Ffrench Furze, 196 
 Ffrench House, 195 
 Fiddown Bridge. 52 
 Field, TJie, xxviii. xxx. xlvi, 15 \248,289 
 
 Fife, Duke of, 260 
 
 Figg, 325 
 
 Filgate, Mr., 18, 163 
 
 Filho da Puta. xxxv. 385 
 
 Fingall, Lough, 269 
 
 Firefly, 15 
 
 " Fistiana," 310 
 
 Fists, 294, 295 
 
 Fitzgerald, William, 2, 220 
 
 Fitzgerald, Lord Otho, 159 
 
 Fitzgeralds, The, 21 
 
 Fitzhardinge, Lord, 55 
 
 Fitzwilham, Hon. H., 163 
 
 Fitzwilliam, Lord, 387 
 
 Fitzwilliam Square. 221 
 
 '^ Flags," The Liverpool. 304 
 
 Flatman, El, 388 
 
 Fleming, Arthur, xiii 
 
 Fleming, J. Congreve, xiii. 50, 55 
 
 Fletcher, 373 
 
 " Flickering Twilight," 410 
 
 Flight, 210 
 
 Flirt. 361 
 
 Flood, Wm., 4 
 
 Florizel IL, xvii 
 
 Flourisher, xxxvii 
 
 Flowers, Harry, xxxiii. 311-319 
 
 Flurry, Brother to, xxxv 
 
 Flying Column, 7, 204 
 
 Flying Childers, 142 
 
 Flying Dutchman, x'. xliv, 397 
 
 Fly no. Father Martin, 5 
 
 Fochabers, 233 
 
 Foley, Lord, 335 
 
 Foley, Mr., 129 
 
 Foljambe, George, 366 
 
 Folkestone, Lord, 314 
 
 Football, 290, 297 
 
 Foot-races, 291 
 
 Forager, 160 
 
 Fordham, xli. 397, 39,9 
 
 Forebodings fulfilled, xxi 
 
 Forster, Colonel, 98. 163 
 
 " Forty-Foot," The, 302 
 
 Four-in-Hand, The, 219 
 
 Fowke, Sir F., 56 
 
 Fox, Chas. J., xxxiv 
 
 Foxes and Sheep, xvi 
 
 Foxes, 85-89 
 
 Foxhall, 336 
 
 Foxhound, The, 284 
 
 Foxhunter's Jig. 122 
 
 Francis Joseph. 168 
 
 Franks, 385 
 
 Frazer, General, 9 
 
 Freeman' s Journal, 79 
 
 French, J., 129 
 
 French, Joe, 207 
 
 French, Tom, xli. 404 
 
 French, W., 129 
 
 Freney, 209, 212 
 
 Freney the robber, 208 
 
434 
 
 Frigate, 133. 142. 202-204 
 Full Cry, 105 
 Fullerton, 286 
 Furley, 196 
 Furlongs, The, 21 
 Fyfield, xl 
 
 Gaiety Theatre, 422 
 Graffuey, Groom, xx 
 Galliard, xli 
 Gallinule, xxv 
 Galloway, 2GS 
 Galopin, 07 
 Galore, xli 
 Gahvay, 230 
 Galwey, James, 194. 280 
 Gamebird, 199, 201 
 Gamecock, 132 
 Gamesters of Wilts, 3 10 
 Gandv, Captain, 32 
 Gandy, Mrs.. 31. 32 
 Gaper, 33G 
 
 Gardenmorris, 21, 25 
 Gardenmorris Run, 36 
 Gardiner, Will, 356 
 Garlies, Lord, 370 
 Garterly, 172 
 GartJans. The, 98, 163 
 Gaultier, 51, 63 
 Gavin, Paddy, xxi. 196 
 Geheimness, xliv 
 Gemma de Yergi, 12, 1 J 
 General Election, 157 
 Gentleman Riders, xx 
 Georo^e, 209 
 George I., 172 
 George IV., 197 
 Germany, Emperor of, 399 
 Ghuznee, 390 
 Gibbons, Bill, 31', 816 
 Gideon'. Johnny, 327 
 Gillard, Frank, 55 
 Gilliver, Joe, 313 
 Gilmour. Mr. W. L., xxviii 
 Giraffe, 169 
 Giraldus, 92 
 Girl, The, 31 
 Gladiator, xl 
 Glascott, James, 3i 
 Glascott, W. M., 4, 19, 20, 34 
 Glasgow, Lord, xli. H87 
 Glenbower Run, 20 
 Glenfeshie, 260 
 Glengariff, 230 
 Glenmasson, 123 
 Glenmore, xi^ 
 Glenquoich. 260, 272 
 Gloaming, 169 
 Globe, The, 341 
 Gloucestershire, 310 
 Glove Fights, 310, 333 
 Godolphin Arabian, 91 
 
 GofP, Robert J., 13 
 
 Goff, Mrs., 31 
 
 Goflf, W. G. D., 32 
 
 Going, John, xiv. 24, 163 
 
 Golden Horn. 215 
 
 Golf, 291 
 
 Gooch, Sir Thomas, 243 
 
 Goodall, Stephen, 164 
 
 Goodall, Will, xx 
 
 Good Runs, 5, 19-21, 35-38 
 
 Goodwood, 172, 181, 186, 314 
 
 Goodwood Cup, 212, 213 
 
 Googawnbarragh, 230 
 
 Gordon, T. G., 96, 196 
 
 Gordon Castle, 375 
 
 Gordon, Duke of, 375 
 
 Gorse Covert Foxhounds, 67, S06 . 
 
 Gorse Coverts, 25 
 
 Gortrush, 80 
 
 Gough, George, 4, 34 
 
 Gough, Hugh. 5 
 
 Gough, Tom, 4, 34 
 
 Gouarh, Judge, 163 
 
 Goughs, The, 98 
 
 Goulbourne. Mr.. 375 
 
 Gout, The, .'72 
 
 Grace, IL, xvii 
 
 Graceful. 53 
 
 Grafton Street, 218 
 
 Graham, Bellingham, 355 
 
 Graham. Mr. Bellingham, xxxvii 
 
 Graham, Sir Reginald, xxxvii 
 
 Grand Duke Michael Stakes, 212 
 
 Grand National, xvii. 7, 74, 113, 131,. 
 
 142, 147, 181, 202-204, 338, 407 
 Grand PrJx, xlii 
 Grange, The, xxx 
 Grant, Jack, 322, 333 
 Grantully, 246 
 Gray, George, xxi 
 Greatheart, 123 
 Grecian, 307 
 Grecian Bend, 203 
 Greek and Latin, 410 
 Greer, Captain, xxv. 96. 166 
 Gregory, C, 32 
 Gregson, xxxviii. 335 
 Gretfon, Fred, xxxv 
 Greville, Captain. 367 
 Greville, Lord, 74, 96 
 Greville, Reggie, xx. 207 
 Greyhounds, 275, 280-284 
 Grey, Lord De, xxx. 246 
 Grey Momus, 212 
 Grimaldi, 362 
 Grosvenor Gallery, 409 
 Grosvenor, Lord, 314, 315, 319 
 Ground Game Act, 2()4 
 Gubbins, Captain S., 96, 98, 152, 164^ 
 
 195 
 Gubbins, John, 34. 96, 98, 164, 405 
 Gubbins, Rev. William, 34, 36 
 
435 
 
 Guiccioli, 19(j, 208, 209 
 
 Guilcagh Cross, 30 
 
 Guilford, Lord, 53 
 
 Guisachan, 272 
 
 Gullane, xli. 394 
 
 Gully, John, xxxviii, 335, 358, 375 
 
 Gunboat, 142 
 
 Gunn, Michael, 422 
 
 Guns, xxxi 
 
 Gurteen, 25 
 
 Gymnastic?, 297 
 
 Backfall, 6 
 
 Hackneys, xvi 
 
 Hall Farm, 246 
 
 Hamilton, Duke of, 395 
 
 fiamilton, Mr., 13 
 
 Hamilton, K., 206, 209, 210 
 
 Hamilton Lodg^, 206 
 
 Hampshire, 319, 356 
 
 Hampton, xlii. 56, 97 
 
 Hampton Stud, xxii 
 
 Hand Ball, 297 
 
 " Handicapping," 8, 134 
 
 Hanlon, Johnny, xxi 
 
 Han way, W., 75 
 
 " Happy Family," 411 
 
 Hard Times, 100 
 
 Hardwicke Stakes, 340 
 
 Hardy, Harry, '8 
 
 Hares, Turned down, xxviii 
 
 Harford, Colonel, xx. 163 
 
 Harkans, G, 129 
 
 Harkaway, 105, 190, 198, 207, 211-215, 
 
 422 
 Harper, Thomas, 98, 163 
 Harris, Sir Augustus, 422 
 Harrow Hill, 862 
 Harvester, 189, 306 
 Hastings, Lord, 25, 396 
 Hastings, Ladies S. and L., 30 
 Hastings, Marquis of, 335 
 Hatchetts, 225 
 Haughton, Bold, 312 
 Hawkes & Co.. 217 
 
 Hawley, Sir Joseph, xxxv, xl, 335, 336 
 Hay, Sir A. K., 366 
 Haywood, W., 399 
 Heath Cottage, xxxviii 
 Heath Farm, xli. 398 
 Heath House, 394, 397 
 Heavy Bettors, xxxv 
 Heenan, J. C, xxxiii. 309, 321-333 
 Helys, The, 21 
 Henry, 15 
 Henry IL, 172 
 Henry VIIL, 90 
 Herbert, Rev. N., 4 
 Herbert, Walter, 4 
 Hermeberry. P., 33 
 Hermit, xl. 97, 336 
 Hermit (hound), xxxvii 
 
 Hero, The, 7 
 
 Heron, 29 
 
 Heron Court Manor, 244 
 
 Hibernian Jehu, 217 
 
 Hickey, John, 223 
 
 Hickman, Mr., xx 
 
 Highfield, 189 
 
 Highflyer Hall, 210 
 
 Highflyer Mare, 210 
 
 Highgate Cemetery, 33 
 
 Highland Lassies, 263 
 
 Highland Mary, 201 
 
 Highlands, The, 252-272 
 
 Higginson, Sir James, xx 
 
 Hiland, John, 33 
 
 Hillier, Mr., 96 
 
 Hind Shooting, xxviii 
 
 Hindlip, Lord, 260 
 
 Hirsch, Baron, 181 
 
 Hobbie Noble. 337, 3:57, 394 
 
 Hocks, Capped, 117 
 
 Hodgson, J., 222 
 
 Hoeys. The. 98, 163 
 
 Hoffman, Charles, let 
 
 Holderness, The, 356 
 
 Holkam, 243, 246, 367, 370 
 
 Hollyhock, 210 
 
 Holman and Harris, 278 
 
 Holt and Crook, 337 
 
 Holyoake, F., 130 
 
 Hook Cottage, xxxiii 
 
 " Hoplemuroma," 114 
 
 Hop Pole Inn, 312 
 
 Home, Colonel, 233 
 
 Horn of Chase, 215 
 
 " Horse and Groom," xxxviii 
 
 Horse Breeder^ The^ 107 
 
 Horse Breeding, 90-103 
 
 Horse Sales, 12, 14, 392, 396 
 
 Horse Shows, 91-95, 100, 123, 1T>8, 291 
 
 Horses ridden by Osbaldeston, 358-360 
 „ „ W. Scott, 388, 389 
 
 ,, „ Archer, 403 
 
 „ ,, Fordham, 4<>0 
 
 Horses trained by J. Scott, 385-^94 
 „ „ M. Dawson, 394-399 
 
 Hospodar, 123 
 
 Houghton Stakes, 406 
 
 Houldsworth, Mr., 385 
 
 House of Lords, 56 
 
 Howth, Lord, 4, 9, 98, 139. 141, 154, 
 163, 195 
 
 Hudsons. The, 21 
 
 Humble, Miss, 30, 31 
 
 Humble, SirN.,4, 163 
 
 Humble, R. and C, 21, 34 
 
 " Hume, Mr.." xx 
 
 Humming Bird, 196 
 
 Hunt, Thomas, 33 
 
 Hunt, William and John, 21 
 
 Hunter, Hon. Horner. 67 
 
 Hunter, R. J., 59, 129, 20S, 209, 211 
 
436 
 
 Hunting, 61, 78 
 Hunting, Cost of, 79-84 
 Huntingdon, Lord, -i, 21, 25 
 Huntinglield, Lord, xxx 
 Huntley Lodge, 375 
 Huntsman, 131 
 Hurdle Race, Paris, 203 
 ^'Humanitarians," xv, xxxi 
 Hurricane, 385 
 Hutchinson, Hon. H., 151 
 Hutchinson. John, xx 
 Hutton Bushell, 355 
 Huttou. Captain, xx. 154 
 Hutton, John, 95, 9<5 
 Hyde Park, 77, 172,217. 220 
 Hyland, Larry, xxi 
 Hypatia, 168 
 
 I" Anson. William, 189 
 Idle Boy. 215 
 lerne, 209 
 Igoe, John, xxi 
 Ildegarda. 210 
 Ilex, 97. 132 
 Illuminata, 399, xlii 
 llsley. 391 
 Imperieuse, 385 
 lachageela, 230 
 Insurance Companies, 311 
 Interchange of Mtets, xiv 
 Inverlair Moors, xxx 
 Invermark. 260 
 Inverness-shire, 260, 267, 367 
 Ireland, 263 
 Ireland. John. 375 
 L X. H. S. Com., 110, 113-116 
 Irishman, 29. 37 
 Irish Queen, 215 
 Irish Shooting, 257 
 Irish Sj?ort.smnn, 10, 79, 97, 138, lo'i 
 
 182, 183, 283 
 Irish Times, 100 
 Irish Town Councillor, 217 
 Iroquois, 271, 336 
 Irvine, William, 2sS 
 Irvines, The, 195, 207 
 Isabella, 399 
 Isherwood, John, 316 
 Isinglass, xliii 
 Islington, xvii 
 iveagh. Lord, xxx 
 Ivev^. Mr., 135 
 Izod, Colonel, 31 
 
 Jacob, Captain, 2 
 Jacomb. 316 
 James I., 90 
 Jameson, Wm., 152 
 Jannette, xlii, 188 
 Jardine, Robert, 2S8 
 Jephson, Harry. 4, 9, 12 
 Jereed, 390 ' 
 
 Jockey Club. The, xxii. xxxix. xli 
 
 172. 173, 213. 121, 126 
 Jockey Hall, 196, 210, 211 
 Jocke)s' Riding, xxiii 
 Jockeys' Riag, 10 i 
 Jockeys' wins — 
 
 W. Scott's, 388 
 
 Fordham's, 401 
 
 Archer's, 403 
 ''Joes," 77 
 Joggleberry, 238 
 "John Jameson," 231, 238 
 John Kane, 75 
 Johnny, 12 
 
 Jones, Aaron, xxxiii. 322, 323, 333 
 Jones, John H., 4, 9, 33. 208, 211 
 Jorrocks, 68, 71. 76, 109, 237, 274, 350 
 Joy, Captain, 196, 201 
 J. P., 58 
 
 Juanita Perez, 13 
 Juggler, 195 
 Julius, xlii. 188 
 Julius Cassar, 90 
 July Course, 398 
 
 Kate Fisher, 140, 160 
 
 Kavanagh, 341 
 
 Keate, William, xxxiii. 311-319 
 
 Keegan, Larry, 196 
 
 Keene, Alec, 325 
 
 Kellett, Captain, xiii 
 
 Kelly's Gorse, 25 
 
 Kelly's Rocks, 301 
 
 Kelly, Stephen, xxi 
 
 Kelly, Tom, xxi. 196 
 
 Kelso, 393 
 
 Kendal, 96, 97 
 
 Kendal, jockey, 399 
 
 Kenmare, 230 
 
 Kennedy, Captain F., xx 
 
 Kennedy, Lord, xxxv. 130, 271, 300, 
 
 366. 369-371 
 Kennedy, Sir Edward, 163 
 Kennedy, William, 154 
 Kennet, The. 310 
 Kennet Ale, 315 
 Kennett. Charles, 50, 55 
 Keogh, Dr., 32 
 Keogh, Tom, xxvi 
 Kerry, 231 
 Kettledrum, 394 
 Kick up the Dust, 13 
 " Kid, The," 402 
 Kilcash, 25 
 
 Kildare Club House, 195 
 Kildare Hunt, 73 
 Kildare Hunt Cup, 168, 200, 202 
 Kildare Hunt Plate, 162 
 Kildare Stakes, 209 
 Kildermorie, 272 
 Kilkenny Hunt, 8, 120 
 Killarney, horte, 6 
 
437 
 
 Killarney, 230. 231 
 
 Killeen, 3, 16, 89 
 
 Kilmacow, 26 
 
 KilmacthomaF, xxvii, 21, 21, 25, 51 
 
 Kilmeadan, 88 
 
 Kiltorcan, 3, 16 
 
 KilwarliD, 97, 423 
 
 Kiugcraf '. xli. 188 
 
 Xing Eene, 168 
 
 King Tom, xxxiv. 309, 332 
 
 Kingsclere, xliv 
 
 Kinnear, A. W., 372 
 
 Kirby Gate, 217 
 
 Kirkwood, Captain, 16 1 
 
 Kirwans, The, 212 
 
 Knavesraire, 173, 389 
 
 Knees, Big, 117 
 
 Knight, The, 1^5 
 
 Knockaderry, 26 
 
 Knockany. 29, 95 
 
 Knockbrack. 25, 27 
 
 Kuockbrack Runs, 5, 35. 36 
 
 Knockmore, Tom, 89 
 
 Knocktopher Abbey, 208 
 
 Knowsley. xxxix 
 
 Knox, Captain ■' Curley," xx 
 
 Knox, George", xx. 160, 168, 196, 208 
 
 Knox, Maurice, 4, 31 
 
 Knutsford, 313 
 
 Ladas, xvii. xli. xlii. xliii, 399 
 
 Lady Elizabeth, 336 
 
 Lady Ellen IL, xvii 
 
 Lady Golightly, xlii 
 
 Lady Kirk, 215 
 
 Lady Waterford's Gorse, 25 
 
 LaFleche, 92, 100, 181, 388 
 
 Laird, Mr. and Mrs., 233 
 
 Lalor, Thos., 4, 9, 16, 32, 34, 38, 40, 45 
 
 Lamb, The, 132, 282 
 
 Lambert, A., 32 
 
 Lambert, H., 34 
 
 Lambert, Mr., £0 
 
 Lambkin, xlii. 396 
 
 Lancashire, 312 
 
 Lancashire Plate, 191 
 
 Lancers IX., 298 
 
 Latid and Water, 84, 148, 232, 287, 
 
 263 
 Landed Proprietors, 418 
 Land League, The, 28, 40, 60, 63, 97 
 Landnothing, Lord, 231 
 Landseer, 106, 145 
 Lane Foxe's Covert, 26 
 Langar, 129 
 Lmgford, 212 
 Langford, Lord. 208 
 Langham. Nat. 77. 303, 322, 325. 333 
 Langrish, Sir H., 208 
 Langrish, Sir J., 4. 34 
 Lmgton Wold, 389 
 Laodamia. 14 
 
 Laragh Run, xx, 164 
 
 Lark Lodge, 196,209 
 
 La Rose, 168 
 
 Lascelles, Lord, 385 
 
 Latin and Greek, 410 
 
 La Touche. Percy, 156, 164 
 
 Lauderdale, Lor.i, 268 
 
 Laurence, '• Pig," xx 
 
 Launcelot, 390 
 
 Lawlev, Hon. Frank, xxxix. xl 
 
 Laycock, T. F., 272 
 
 Leatherhead. 390 
 
 Lecturer, 33t> 
 
 Lee Barber, Captain, xx. 198 
 
 Legatee, 123 
 
 LeL'er of 1S51, xl 
 
 Legh, Peter, 314 
 
 Legh, Thomas, 312-319 
 
 Leicester, Lord, 243 
 
 Leicestershire Handicap, IHI 
 
 Lentulus, 97 
 
 Leolinus, xlii 
 
 Leopardstown, 137, 139, 141, 146, 
 
 150, 183, 200 
 Leonie, xli 
 Leprechaun, 215 
 Leslie. Sir John, II 
 Letterewe, 272 
 Lewes, 31)9 
 
 Liberator, The. xviii. 132 
 Licensed Victual!, rs' Gazttte, xxxiv, 
 
 299 
 Licensed Vic'uallcrs' Mirror, 308 
 - Limb. The,'" 207 
 Limerick, 95, 179 
 Limerick Drag Hunt, 135 
 Linde, Eyre. 199 
 Linde, Mr. H.. xviii. 152, 164, 196, 
 
 199-201 
 Lismore, 129 
 Little Brocklesby, 56 
 Little, I'aptain, xx, 7 
 Little Charley, 402 
 Liverpool, 186 
 Liverjwol Echo, 346 
 Live StocI^ Journal, 225 
 Lizzie, 215 
 Lloyds, 331, 341 
 Loates, Tom. xli, xliv 
 Loudesborough, Lord, 24^, 392 
 London Fire Brigade, 226 
 L''udonderry, Lord, 74, 395, 405 
 Longfellow, 311 
 Long, Willie, xx 
 Longs, The, 98, 103 
 Lonsdale. Loril. 49 
 Lord's Cricket Ground, 375 
 Lord George, 6, 7, 12, 15, 160 
 Lord Gough, 97 
 Lord Lvon, xxxv 
 Lord Tara, 211 
 Lough Kennard, xxx 
 
438 
 
 Lough Leven. 233 
 
 Lowesby Hall, 56 
 
 Low, George, 189 
 
 Luke the jockey. 397 
 
 Lumbago, xxxvi. 271 
 
 Luna. 31 
 
 Lur-an, Lord, 167. 280-284 
 
 Lyall, Watson, 252-255, 260 
 
 Lycurgup, 167 
 
 Lynn, Mr., xxxii 
 
 Macaroni, 336 
 
 Macaulay, Lord, 346 
 
 McAuliffe. Mr. Wm.. xxv 
 
 McCarthy, Trant. xiii 
 
 McCraith. Capt. xx 
 
 M-Craith, Tom. 13, 98, 135, 160, 176 
 
 McDermot, E., 21 
 
 McDonagh, Alan, 196, 198, 202, 211, 
 
 362 
 McDonagh. William, 131, 202, 211, 362 
 McDonald. Edward 95, 107 
 Mcintosh. The, xxxi 
 Macdonald, Jack, 326, 328 
 Macdonald, jockey, 168 
 Macdonnell, J. Miles, 209 
 Mace, Jim, xxxiv. 309, 331 
 Machell, Captain, xxxv. xxxviii. 152, 
 
 396, 407 
 McNally, Dan. 190 
 Macorchy. James, 34 
 Madeira, 363 
 Maesgwynn, 13 
 Magee, Mrs., 31 
 Magistrate, 385 
 Mag on the Wing, 13 
 Magpie, 6 
 
 Magrane, William. 98, 163 
 Maguire, J.. 33 
 Maher, George, 142, 164. 166 
 Maher, Mat. A, 9G, 142, 164, 166, 175 
 Maher, Yal. 370 
 Mahony, David, 158. 153 
 Maid of Trent, 402 
 *'Main Bags." 3.3 
 Mainsail, 53 
 Mainspring, 29 
 Malahide, 152 
 Malcomson, David. 4, 16 
 Malcomson, Fred, 4, 16. 25, 239 
 Malcomson, George, 4. 16 
 Malmesbury, Lord, 24 4 
 Malton, 173, 195. 392 
 Mameluke, 38S 
 Manchester, 186 
 Manchester Handicap, 209 
 Mandeville, J., 32 
 Manliness, 408. 409 
 Manly Game<, 293-307 
 Manners, Lord John, 57 
 Manners, Lord, 152 
 Manserghs, The, 98 
 
 Mansfield. 385 
 
 Mansfield, Ed., '63 
 
 Mansfield, O., 32 
 
 Maple. Blundell, 176 
 
 Mar Forest, 260, 367 
 
 Maria, 210 
 
 Mark, 361 
 
 Markham, Mr., 90 
 
 Marlow. xli 
 
 Marquis, The. 12, 15, 385 
 
 " Marquis, The," 10 
 
 Marquis and Buckstone, 397 
 
 Marsh, Richard, lt)0 
 
 Marsh. The. xli 
 
 Marske. xxv 
 
 ]\Iarson, Job. 389 
 
 Marston, Captain, 375 
 
 Martha, 200, 201, 202 
 
 Martin, Bradley, 272 
 
 Martin, Jack, 322, 333 
 
 Martins, The, 129 
 
 Mary O'Toole, 132 
 
 Mason, Jem. 402 
 
 Masseys, The. 98 
 
 Master Bagot, 210 
 
 Master McGrath, 280-2S4 
 
 Master Ned, 198 
 
 Masters of Schools, 295 
 
 '' Master, The," 398 
 
 Matchbox, xxiv. xliv 
 
 Matchless, 21 
 
 Mathers, 372 
 
 Mathew, 131 
 
 Mathews, H., 32 
 
 Maxwell of Moorhill, 21 
 
 Maxwell, Sir William, 370 
 
 Mayboy, 11, 12, 97, 201, 202 
 
 Mayn.oon, 169 
 
 Meany, Dan., xxi. 136, 168 
 
 Meara, George, 5 
 
 Meath Hounds, 345 
 
 Meaux, 389 
 
 Medlycott, J. T., 4, 16, 28, 3i 
 
 Meets, Interchange of. xiv 
 
 Melbourne, 212, 422 
 
 Melbourne Race Course, 156 
 
 Melitta Lodge. 207 
 
 Mellish, Colonel. 313. 335 
 
 Melton, xli. xlii. 188, 189 
 
 Melton House, xli. 397 
 
 Members of Parliameot, 331 
 
 Memorable Races, xl 
 
 Memore, 272 
 
 Menzies, Mr., 331 
 
 Mercury, 212 
 
 Meredith, Henry, xx. 9, 16S 
 
 Meredith, Rice, 207 
 
 Meredith, Mrs.. 209 
 
 Merrick, Mr., 362 
 
 Merrion Square, 221 
 
 Merrv, A. W., 272 
 
 Merry, James, 335, 336, 39 1 
 
439 
 
 Merton, xxx 
 
 Merryman, G, IG. 129 
 
 Merry Monarch, xl 
 
 Metcalf, pedestrian, 875 
 
 Meteor, xli. xlii. 385 
 
 Methuen, Paul, 815, 316 
 
 Mexboroughs, Tlie, 312 
 
 Meynells, The, 312 
 
 Miami, xl 
 
 Mickey Free, 207 
 
 Mickleham, 399 
 
 Middleham, 385 
 
 MiddletoD, Lord, xxviii 
 
 Milaine, xxxii 
 
 Milbank, Sir F., 246 
 
 Milesiu9, 210 
 
 Millet, Mr., 3 
 
 Mill Hill, xxxviii, 377 
 
 Millionaires, 425 
 
 Miltown, Lord, 163, 210 
 
 Milward, D., 33, 220 
 
 Mimi, xlii, 396 
 
 Mincing Lane, 304 
 
 Minette, 168, 169 
 
 Minting, xlii 
 
 Minting, 106, 176, 188, 340, 396, 397 
 
 Minthe. xlii 
 
 Miriam, 168, 169 
 
 Miss Adrien, 212 
 
 Miss Elis. XXXV 
 
 Miss Pitt. 169 
 
 Miss Sarah, xl 
 
 Miss Tooley, 212 
 
 Mist, The, 31 
 
 Mohican, 199. 200, 201, 203 
 
 Molyneaux. Lord, xxxii 
 
 Molyneaux, pugilist, 380 
 
 Monadhliath, 266 
 
 Monaghan. James, xxi 
 
 Moness, xxx 
 
 Moneypenny, Michael, 169 
 
 Mons Meg, 168 
 
 Monson, Lord, 355 
 
 Monte Carlo, 336 
 
 Montgomery, J. F., 141. 164 
 
 Montgomery. Lord, xli 
 
 Montmorency, John, 4, 10, 21 
 
 Montmorency, Harvey, 4 
 
 Montrose, 369 
 
 Montrose, Duchess of, xxi. xxiii. 426 
 
 Monzie. xxix 
 
 Moonraker, 362 
 
 Moore Abbey, 166 
 
 Moore, Garret, xviii. xx. 132, 196, 202, 
 
 203 
 Moore, J. Hubert, xviii. 141. 163. 196. 
 
 204 
 Moore, Richard, 163 
 Mooresfort, 208 
 Mordaunt, Sir C, 272 
 Morny, Count, 387 
 Morris, H., 33 
 
 Morris, Mr. W. B , xx 
 
 Morris, R. and T., 4 
 
 Morrissey, John, 323 
 
 Morrogh, Leonard, 163 
 
 Morton, Nathaniel, 75, 95, 2. '3 
 
 Moseley, Sir O., 314 
 
 Moss Rose, 402 
 
 Mountebank, 17 
 
 Mount Neil. 26 
 
 Mount Neil Run, 37 
 
 Moureith, 370 
 
 Monzie, xxix 
 
 Mowerina, xli 
 
 Moy Fair, 95 
 
 Moy Hall, xxxii 
 
 Moy River, 23) 
 
 Mud Fever, 116 
 
 Mulcahey, W. B., 32, 33 
 
 Mullinavat, 25 
 
 Mullins, 134 
 
 Mundig, 3-5 
 
 Muriel, 288 
 
 Murland, Mr., xx 
 
 Murphy. Dominick. xx 
 
 Murphy, J. C, 96 
 
 Murphy, J. O'C, 96 
 
 Murphy, MarHn, 139 
 
 Murphys, trainers, 196, 210 
 
 Musgrave & Sons, 156 
 
 Musgrave, Sir James, 357 
 
 Musjid, 336 
 
 Musters, John, 2, 296, 355, 356, 371 
 
 Naas, Lord, xx. 163, 164 
 
 Nabocklish, 212 
 
 Nantwich, 314 
 
 Nap, 202 
 
 Narraghmore, 202 
 
 National Debt, xv 
 
 National Income, xv 
 
 National Hunt Steeplechase, 157 
 
 Naughtan, Thomas, 9S, 163 
 
 Naylor, Mr. R. C. xl. 335, 337, 39 > 
 
 Nelson. 391 
 
 Nereid, 196 
 
 " Neuras," 116 
 
 Nevard, Wm., 166 
 
 New Broom, 137 
 
 Newbrook, 74 
 
 Newburgh Prio\y, 373 
 
 Newcastle, 132, 'i40 
 
 Newcastle, Duke of, 395 
 
 Newcomen, R., 196 
 
 Newmarket, xxii, 91. 172, 360, 375, 376 
 
 Newminster, xl. 18^. 198, 390 
 
 Newry, 214 
 
 Newtown Chapel, 21 
 
 Newtown Wood, 25, 4^^, 125 
 
 Ne7v York Spirit of the Times, xxxiii 
 
 Niblick, 201 
 
 Nicholson, •' Chief Baron,' xxxiv 
 
 Night Walke-, 58 
 
440 
 
 Nightingale. Arthur, xvii 
 
 Niuirod. 217 
 
 Nisbef. Mr., 233 
 
 '• Nobbling." .S90 
 
 " Noble Aft," 293-297 
 
 Noble. John, xxi 
 
 "Noble Science," 71 
 
 Nolan. Jerry, 31 
 
 Nor^ The, 2.5 
 
 Norfolk, 207, 365 
 
 Normauby Lodge, 1 9fi 
 
 Normanby, Lord, i96 
 
 Norri3, Mr., xxxii 
 
 North Camp, xxxiii 
 
 North, C)]onel, 28G, 397 
 
 Northumberland Handicap, 212 
 
 Nojth Wales, 257 
 
 " Notitia Venati'.a," 2, 25t> 
 
 Nugent, Percy, xvii 
 
 Nugent, Sir Walter, 1G3 
 
 Nunnykirk, 385 
 
 yunquam Bormio^ 15', 324, 3 '.) 
 
 Oaks, The. xlii. \1\. 192 
 
 Oberon, 12. 168 
 
 O'Brians of Dromoland. 128 
 
 O'Brien, Mr.. 95 
 
 O'Brien, J.. 389 
 
 O'Callaghan, Mr.. 128 
 
 O'Connel]. 131 
 
 O'Connell, Daniel, 132 
 
 O'Connors, The, 3 11 
 
 Odells, The, 21 
 
 O'Hanlon, Redmond, 208 
 
 O'Kelly, Colonel, 211 
 
 •' Old Bones," 13i 
 
 Old Court. 36 
 
 " Old Ship," The, 225 
 
 "Old Stock," The, 417 
 
 " Old Times," The. 225 
 
 Oliver, Tom, jockev, 203, 402 
 
 Oliver, Tom, pugili.-t, 326 
 
 One Thousand Guireas. The. xl i 
 
 O'Reilly, Joseph, 103, 223 
 
 Orlando, 6, 390 
 
 Orme, 92. 181 
 
 Ormonde, 1.^8, 18'.', 340, 399 
 
 Ormonde, Lord, 9. 25 
 
 Ormonde's Gorse. 25 
 
 Orr-Ewing, Captain, xx. 159 
 
 Orwell Park, 245 
 
 O'Uyan, Dr., 11. 32 
 
 O'Ryans, The, 98 
 
 Osbaldeston. George, xxvii 2. 2^1. 3C0, 
 
 355-364, 398 
 Osbaldeston's Hounds xxxvii 
 Osborne. Dan, 4, 33 
 Osborne, John, 175. 397, 401 
 Osborne. Joseph, xiii 
 Osborce. William. 32 
 O'Shea, J. P., 4 
 Osmond, F. S., 299 
 
 Ossian Lodge, 269 
 Ossifrage, 13 
 Otter Hunting, 291 
 Outrages. 2. 40-48, 51, 155 
 Own-rs' Expenses, xxii 
 Owning, 24, 25 
 Owston Wood, 56 
 
 Paddock, Tom, 323, 333 
 
 Pd'ldy, 20:> 
 
 Padwick, H., 395 
 
 Pal! in, Wm., 96, 197 
 
 Pallisser, Wrav, 4, 32, 33. 47 
 
 Palmer, Wm., 13 
 
 Paris, Comte de. xxx 
 
 Paris Hurdle Race, 203 
 
 Paris Steeplechase, 202, 203 
 
 Parkinson. ]Mr., xxxviii 
 
 Parr, Mr., 401 
 
 Pas -ion Flower, 339 
 
 Pathfinder, xli 
 
 Paul. Sir R.. 4 9. 16, 28, 32, 33, 43, 220 
 
 Paul, R, G., 32 
 
 Paul. W. J., 32. 3t 
 
 Pavis, Arthur, 389 
 
 Pavne. George, xxxv. 426 
 
 P. B. A., xxxiii 
 
 Peacemaker, 211, 215 
 
 Peacock, 5, 12 
 
 Peard, John, 394 
 
 Peard. J. H., i60 
 
 Peck, Kobert, 190 
 
 Peel. Captain A., 163 
 
 Peel Captain E., 4, 6, 9, 164, 210 
 
 Peel, Genei-al, 6 
 
 Peel Cup, 2C9 
 
 Pell Mell. xxxv 
 
 Peepo' Day Boy, 215 
 
 Peerage, 416 
 
 Pelagia, 168 
 
 PembrokestowD, 26 
 
 Pender, J., 32 
 
 Pennefather, Captain, 32 
 
 Penrhvn, Lord, 314 
 
 Peri, is 
 
 Pericles, xli 
 
 Perinita, 13 
 
 PerriD, James, 387, 394 
 
 Perrv. Samuel, 32, 34 
 
 Perry, William, 323, 333 - 
 
 Persse, Burton, 163 
 
 Pereses. The, 98 
 
 Perthshire, 260, 268 
 
 Peter Finnerty. 129 
 
 Pet Fox, 169, 202 
 
 Petri^rch, 97 
 
 Petre, Hon. E., 385 
 
 Phil, 169 
 
 Philadelphian, 169 
 
 Philammon, 97, 168, 169 
 
 Philips. Godfrey, 34 
 
 Philistine, 169 
 
441 
 
 Philomel, 169 
 Philtre, 169 
 Phvllida, 169 
 
 Pickernel, Mr. I'oji, xx. 160, 203 
 Piltown. 34 
 Pitman, 169 
 Pleiad. 210 
 Plunket, Mr., 129 
 Pocahontas, 197, 210 
 Polo, 291, 298 
 Pompadour, 393 
 Ponsonby, Captnin, 9 
 Ponsonb)'. Mr. W.. xxi 
 Pope'. Lodge, 196. 210 
 Popham. General, 31.") 
 Porter, John, xliv. 181 
 Portland, 34 
 
 Portland, Duke of, xliv. 189, 395 
 Portumna Castle, 130 
 Postilion, 15 
 Poul-a-Phouca, 29 
 Poulson, Harry, 322, 333 
 Powell, W. H.. 13 
 Power, Billy, 58 
 Power. Edmund, 249 
 Power, E. N, 32 
 Power, F., 32 
 Power, J. O'N., 32 
 Power. J. H., 32 
 Power. P. M., 33. 249 
 Power, P. W., 32 
 Power. P., 32 
 Power, P. A., 32 
 
 Power, Sir John, 3. 4, 5, 8. 9, 120, 163 
 Power, Sir Richard, 34, 16 5 
 Power, J. Talbot, lOi), 223 
 Power, The Misses, 31 
 Power, John, 4, 9, 131, 195, 206 
 Power, William, 4 
 Power, T. Talbot, 223 
 Preston, 312, 313, 335 
 Preston, John, 98, 154, 163 
 Priam, 103 
 
 Price of Brynprys, 312 
 Price, Rose, 232 
 Price, J., of Rhiwlas, 246- 
 Price, Mr., 154 
 Pritchard-Rayner. Mr., xx 
 Pride of Kildare, 202 
 Priestholm. xliii 
 Primate, xlii 
 
 Primrose League, 201, 203 
 Prince of Wales. H.R.H. the, 161. 242 
 Prince of Wales' Plate, 200. 201, 202 
 Princess, xl. 390 
 Prism, 13 
 
 Prize Fighting, 308-319 
 Prize Ring, The. xxxiii 
 •• Professional Horse," xvii 
 Professional Riders, xx 
 Punchestown, 58, 132, 137, ] 39. 145, 150, 
 153-164, 182, 183, 201, 207,219, 423 
 
 Punchestown Courses, 157 
 
 Punchestown Double, xviii. 147, 160' 
 
 Punchestown Luncheons, xix 
 
 Punster, 169 
 
 Pyrrhus the First, 389 
 
 PytcVey, The, xxv, xxxvii. 355, 356 
 
 Queen, H.M. the, 16', 263 
 
 Qaeen Bee, 14, 215 
 
 Queen's Messenger, xli 
 
 Queen's Plates, 179, 202, 206, 209, 21^,. 
 
 213 
 Queen Margaet, 13 
 Queensberry, Marquis of, 310 
 Queensberry, Duke of, 335 
 Quenby Hal', 57 
 Quin, Billy (whip). 55 
 Quin, Captain Wm'., 34, 36, 133 
 Quin, Edward, 33 
 Quin, Miss, 31 
 
 Quin, William, 4, 76, 98, 163, 210 
 Quinine, 37 
 Quinlan, P.. 33 
 Qui-va- a. 169 
 Quorn, The, 57, 355, 356 
 
 Race Companies, xxii 
 Races of the Century, 393, 397 
 Races won by John Scott, 385-3.37 
 „ Mat Dawson. 394-391 
 
 „ ,. Wm. Scott, 388, 389 
 
 „ G. Fordham, 399 
 
 „ ,. F. Archer, 403 
 
 Racing Calendar, 172, 176, 185 
 Racing. Financial Position, xxii 
 Rackets, 297 
 
 Rackham's Medicines, 279 
 Rada, 396 
 Radcliffe. Mr., 402 
 Radical, 130 
 
 Radicals, 188, 261, 292, 306, 413 
 Ragdale Bottom, 29 
 Ramsden. Sir J., 272 
 Rasper, 129 
 Rasselas. xxxvii 
 Rathbride Cottage, 207 
 Rathbride Manor, 207 
 Rathcroghan, 129 
 Ratharormack , 4. 27. 51 
 Rawle, Will, 34,' 50, 54, 55 
 Rawlin Station, 332 
 Reading, 314 
 Receiver. The. xlii 
 Recipes, 116, 117, 118, 271, 272 
 •• Records of the Racecourse."' xxxviii 
 Red Coat Races, 73 
 Red Coat Stains, 117 
 Red Hart, 123 
 Red Herring, 31 
 Red House,^Tlie, 361, 367 
 Redman. 160 
 Red Prince, 202 
 
442 
 
 Eed Rohe, 1". 
 
 Eeed, Fletcher, 376 
 
 Keese, John. 1m; 
 
 Reeves, John, 31»9 
 
 Regattas, 2'Jl 
 
 llegeat, 53 
 
 Regiment, 85th, 6, 9 
 
 Repentance colt, xli 
 
 Revenf^e. lyG 
 
 Revoke, 196 
 
 Revolution?, 415 
 
 Keyne'l, Samuel, 67, 154. 163 
 
 Reynolds and Fishei-, 337 
 
 Rheumatism, xxxvi. 271 
 
 Ricardo. Captain, xx 
 
 Richards, John F., 300 
 
 Richardson. Captain, 166 
 
 Richmond, Duke of, 172 
 Eiders. Gentlemen, xx 
 Profesi^ional. xx 
 
 i;iddIesworth, 24 4 
 
 Rigby, W. and J., 238 
 
 Riggs, Mrs., 32 
 
 Ripon, Lord, 246 
 Eoanmore, 26 
 
 Robeck. Baron de. xx 
 
 Roberts. Charles. 164 
 
 Roberts, Mrs,, 220 
 
 Roberts, Arthur, 5 
 
 Roberts, Edward, 5 
 
 Roberts, Richard. 5, 22 
 
 Roberts, Mrs, Richard, 22-30, 31 
 
 Roberts, Samuel U., xiii. 5, 102 
 
 Robertson, David, 215 
 
 i^'obin Hood, 168 
 
 Robinson, Jim, 388 
 
 Roche. Sir David, 163 
 
 Rochf, Victor, 21 
 
 Rochford, Horace. 4, D 
 
 Rock, Th», 5, 6, 12 
 
 Rocket, xxxvii 
 
 Rockhill. 385 
 
 Rock Stakes, 135 
 
 Rockwell, 2 
 
 Rogers, Congreve, 4. 33 
 
 Rogirs, Sam. 327, 397 
 
 RolUr, 196, 209 
 
 Roman Oak, 97 
 
 iRcodee, The, 312 
 
 Re OS. Lord de, 365 
 
 Rosamond, 13 
 
 Ilofcc. Miss Mary, xli 
 
 Rosebery, Lord, xvii. xlii. xliv. 3.5 
 
 397, .399 
 Ro e'oud, 53 
 Rcs^ Price, 232 
 Eosicrucian, 97 
 Ro-s, Captain, 1.30, 249, 271, 300. 364- 
 
 3o9, 381 
 Roes, Mre.. 3G9 
 Uofs Country. 24. 26 
 Robt', Sir Cha.^.. 248 
 
 Rossallagh, 95 
 
 Rossett, 311 
 
 Roesiyn, Lord, 395 
 
 Rossmore, Lord, 98 
 
 Rossmore Lodge, 207, 211 
 
 Ross-shire, 260, 267 
 
 Rothschilds, 401 
 
 Rous, Admiral, 309, 426 
 
 R ver. 210 
 
 Ray isfeil, 97 
 
 Royal Dublin Societv, 92 
 
 Royal Duke, 335 
 
 Royal Meath, xviii, 150, 203 
 
 Ruffs Guide, 179 
 
 Rug, The, 13 
 
 Rugby, 53 
 
 " Rupert of Debate." xl 
 
 Russborough, 210 
 
 Russell. Dan. xx 
 
 Russell, Mr., 53 
 
 Russell, Pat. xx. 98, 135, 164 
 
 Russley, 394 
 
 Rust, 211 
 
 Rusticus. 192 
 
 Hyall, W. A., 34 
 
 Ryan, Dan, 18, 55 
 
 Ryan, Johnnie, huntsman, 2, 16, 18, 
 
 27,54 
 Ryan, Johnnie, groom and jockey, 7, 
 
 14, 29, 32, 59, 89 
 Ryan, Tom, xxi, 55 
 Ryan, T. <t W., xxi, 55, 196 
 Rye, Captain, 163 
 Eynd, Chribtopher, 163 
 Rynd, Fleetwood, 154 
 
 Sackville Street, 217 
 
 Sadler, Arthur, 195 
 
 Sadlier. Clement, xiii 
 
 Sadlier, Richard, 196 
 
 Sad Hers, The. 98 
 
 Sagitta, 385 
 
 Sailor, 195 
 
 Sailor Prince, 405 
 
 Sainfoin, 151 
 
 St. Albans, Duke of, 395 
 
 St. Bennett. 212 
 
 St. Gatien. 396 
 
 St. George's, The, 195, 207 
 
 St. Giles, 385 
 
 •• St. James, Mr.," xx. 207 
 
 St. Lawrence, Lord, 98, 154, 163 
 
 St. Leger Church, 128 
 
 St. Leger, The, xlii. 172, 174, 181, 192, 
 
 212, 312. .336. 338 
 St. L^'ger. The. 1894. xliv 
 St. Marnock. xvili 
 St. Mirin. 403. 405 
 St. Serf, 398 
 
 St Simon xliv. 188, 189, 396 
 Saladin. xxxvii 
 Salvano.s 402 
 
 L^ 
 
us 
 
 Samson, 53 
 
 Sandown, l-i6, l»a, 18(1, 207, 219 
 
 Sapphu, 368 
 
 Sarah Bernhardt. 20i 
 
 Sarah Ellis. 13 
 
 ^-'argent, H. R,, 32, 48 
 
 Satanella. 168, 169 
 
 Saurin, P. M. V., 168 
 
 Savernake. xxxv 
 
 Sayers' Meadow, xxxiii 
 
 Sayers, Tom, xxxiii, 309, 321-33 
 
 Scalds, 117 
 
 Schickler, Baron, 399 
 
 Schroeder, Baron, 260 
 
 Sciences, 4 15 
 
 Scotch Fishing, 253-25." 
 
 Scotch Mail Coach, 350 
 
 Scotch Moors. 255-257 
 
 Scots Grey, 106. 202, 3i3 
 
 Scott, Bill, xl. 336, 388, 389, 390 
 
 Scott. John, xxxix. 188, 234, 384-394 
 
 Scott. Mrs., 390, 393 
 
 Scott, Lord John, 394 
 
 Scott, W., 401 
 
 Scottish Chief, xli 
 
 Scottish Widows, 341 
 
 Seaman, xviii. 132, 152, 200, 201. 2 3 
 
 Seifert, Dan, 362 
 
 SeftoD, Lord, 247, 312 
 
 Sefton Steeplechase, 200, 203 
 
 Selhorne Natural Ulstory^ 243 
 
 Selby, James, 224, 298 
 
 Severn, Captain, 154 
 
 Shannon, Lord, 163 
 
 Shannon, The, 230 
 
 Shaw, Captain, xx, 1S5, 136 
 
 Shawjer's Pills, 278 
 
 Shee. Jimmy, xx 
 
 Sherwood Forest, 3^5 
 
 Shinrone, 7 
 
 Ship Inn. xxxiii 
 
 Shoolbred, F., 272 
 
 Shoolbred, W., 272 
 
 Shooting, 234-272 
 
 Shooting. Remarkabl*'. xxviii 
 
 Shooting Tenants, 263-266 
 
 Shotover. xliv 
 
 Silenus, xli 
 
 Silks, The, 341 
 
 "Silks and Satins," 290 
 
 Silvio, xli. xlii. 188 
 
 Sims, George, 322, 333 
 
 Sir Arthur. 7 
 
 Sir Bevys, 401 
 
 Sir Hercules', 208, 211 
 
 Sir John, 7, 15 
 
 Sir Joshua, xxxv, 385 
 
 Sir Nick, 6, 12 
 
 Sir Peter Teazle, xxxii 
 
 Sir Tatton Sykes, xl 
 
 Sir Visto, xli. xlv 
 
 Sisyphus, 168 
 
 Six Mile Bottom, 245 
 
 Skaing, 3 )2 
 
 Slacke, Captain, 32, 34, 37, 58 
 
 Slacke, Mrs., 30 
 
 Slate Quarries, 3 
 
 Slave, xl 
 
 Slavin, F., 309 
 
 Sleive-na-Mon, 24, 40 
 
 Sleive-na-Moona Run, 2D 
 
 Sligo, Earl of, 129 
 
 Sligo, Marquis of, 129, 195 
 
 Sligo Whip, The, 129 
 
 Smallhopes, 210 
 
 Smith, Captain Arthur, xx. 168 
 
 Smith, Captain Unwin, 315 
 
 Smith of Headboro". 21 
 
 Smith, T. Assheton,'2, 130, 296, 555 
 
 371 
 Smith, pugilist, 309 
 Smithfield, 172 
 Smithwick, Dan, 34 
 Smithwick, Ed., 31, 96, 164 
 Snow, John, 220 
 Snow Hill, 25 
 Snuffy, 31 
 
 Soapy Sponge, 71, 238 
 ! Socialists, 292 
 Soldiers' Home, 206 
 Solon, 97 
 
 Somerset House, 337 
 Somerset, Lady Blanche, 31 
 Somersetshire, 311 
 Southwell, George, 55 
 Spahi, 168, 201, 202. 405 
 S^aocil Hill, 95 
 Speculum, xli 
 Spencer, T., 33, 47 
 Spendthrift, 413 
 Spey, The, 233 
 Spiletta, XXV 
 Spilsby Country, 356 
 Spinaway. xlii 
 Sport, 289-292 
 •• Sport a National Benefactor.'' xlv 
 
 xxxii 
 SjJortascrapiana, 243, 299, 354 
 Sporting League, xiv. xxxii, xlv 
 Sporting Magazine, 128 
 " Sporting Man," 413 
 Sportsman, The, xviii 
 Sportsman's Gvide, 252-260 
 Sports and Pastimes, 2'.H] 
 Sprains. 116 
 Spratts Biscuits, 277 
 Sprig o' Shillelagh, 215 
 Springfield, 97 
 Springfield, T. 0., 35, 49-55 
 Squire, The. 105 
 •' Squire. The," 355-364 
 Stiickpools. The, y8, 163 
 Stallions, 421 
 Stamford, Lord, 245 
 
 H H 
 
4rU 
 
 Standard, The, 3G0, 3G4 
 
 Staud House,. Cuvragh. 20G 
 
 Stanton, 169 
 
 Stanley. Mr. Massey, xxxv. xl 
 
 Statistics, 419 
 
 Stephenson, J., 33 
 
 Sterling, 188 
 
 Stevens. Jack, 355 
 
 •Stewards, Pattern, 230 
 
 Sticking Plaster, 118 
 
 Stick-play. 311 
 
 Sting, xl 
 
 Stock Exchange. 304, 333. 341. 313 
 
 Stockwell, xl. 11^6. 198, 209, 210.211. 
 
 387, 394, 422 
 Stokestoun. xiv 
 Sionehaven, 370 
 Strafford. Lord. 395 
 " Straight," 410 
 Strains, 116 
 Strangman. Joseph, xiv, 4. IG. 21, 2-^. 
 
 32, 33. 48 
 Strangman, L, G., 32 
 Streatlam. xxxix 
 Streatlr.m Hall. 387 
 Stroijgbow, 221 
 Stuart. Miss, 82 
 Stuhber, Captain. 166 
 Stubber, Miss. 37 
 Studdert, Capt., 163 
 Studderts. The, Ob^ 
 Stud Farms. 96 
 Studley Royal, 247, 24S 
 Subduer. xl 
 Sudbourne Hall, 248 
 Suetonius. 90 
 Suffield, Lord, 9 .. 
 SufleoUv. 247. 319, 356, 365 
 Suir. The, 25 
 Sulby Hall, 356 
 Sultana, 202 
 Summerhill, 208 
 Sun, The, 341 
 Sunshine. 16 
 Surplice. 390 
 Surrey. Tiie. 9 7 
 Surtees. R. G., 72 
 Sutherland, Duke of, 246, 260 
 Suthcrlandsliire. 267, 366 
 Sutton, Sir R ,361 
 Swainestown. xx 
 Sweetmeat, xl. 198 
 Sweetsauce, 215 
 Sweet William, 210 
 Swift, Owen, .'25 
 Swimming, 301 
 Swivel, 168 
 
 Sykes, Sir Francis, 314 
 Sykes, Sir Tatton, xl. 313 
 •' Sylvanus," 3£9 
 
 Tables referring to : 
 
 Fishine. 254, 255, 259 
 
 Hunting. 5t, 80. 81. 83 
 
 Kacins:, 148, 149, 173, 174, 176. 177, 
 184. 186, 191, 204, 388, 395. 41.0, 
 407 
 
 Salef, of Horses. 12, 14, 392, 39() 
 
 Shooting, xxix.' 243. 214, 247. 250- 
 255, 259 
 
 Various, 113, 204. 222, 290, 333 388. 
 iO) 
 Talbot, R. N., 96 
 Tally Ho, Thomas, 70 
 Tambourine, 168 
 Tantivy, The, 217 
 Tate, Colonel. 34 
 Tattersall. Mr., 210 
 Tattersalls, 53, 172, 341, 343 
 Tautz, 217 
 
 Ta)dor. Alec. xxxv. xl 
 Taylor, Colonel Brooke, 6 
 Tearaway, 210 
 Teddingtou, xxxv. 336 
 i Teetotum., 211 
 I Tegetmeier, Mr., 248 
 I Tempest, Captain, xx, 136- 
 Templeman, Sim, h88 
 Temi)lemore, 168 
 Ten Broeck, Mr., 401 
 Thales. 307 
 Thames, The. 310 
 Tharp, J. Sidney, 245 
 Thebais. 401 
 Thellusson, T., 358 
 '• The Marquis," 10 
 The Marquis, 1 2, 15 
 The Princess, xl 
 Theseus. 198 
 
 •• Thomas. Mr.," xx, 160, 203 
 Thompson, An&truther, 55 
 Thompson, Colonel, 166, 96 
 Thompson, John, 217, 223 
 Thompson, Lieutenant, 6 
 Thompson. Mr,, xx 
 Thormanby, xli, 188, 336, 3LU 
 Thorn, 215 
 Thorney Bridge, 25 
 Thoruhill, Mr., 244 
 Ttiornton, Colonel, 313 
 Thornton. Pat. xxvii 
 Thoughts upon Hunting. 71 
 Throstle, xxiv. xliii 
 Thrush, 116 
 Thurlow Country, 355 
 Tibbie Shiels. 99 
 Tidy, 236 
 Tilton, 57 
 Timekeeper. 221 
 
 Tim Whiffler and Ruckstone, 897 
 Tinvane, 16, 50, 124 
 Tipperary, 132, 177 
 Tipton Slasher, xxxiii. 323, 333 
 
445 
 
 Titania, 13 
 
 Tockenham Park. 311 
 
 Tom Brown's School Days. 311 
 
 Tom King, pugilist, 300, 332 
 
 Tom King, horse, 198, 215 
 
 TomlintJ, Mr., 9Ao 
 
 Tom Tug, 210 
 
 Tommy Tittlemoupe, 400 
 
 Too Good, H)9, 200, 203 
 
 Toolev Street Fire, 226 
 
 Torpedo, 398 
 
 Torrent, 151 
 
 Tory, A, 415 
 
 Tory Hill, 25. 37 
 
 Touchstone, 389, 422 
 
 Tourists, xxxi 
 
 Touts, 392, 397 
 
 Townley. Captain Tom. xx 
 
 Tradesman's Cup, 212 
 
 Tradesman's Plate, 1 35 
 
 Tragedy. 202 
 
 Tramore, 139 
 
 Trench, B. B., 96 
 
 Trent, xlii 
 
 Trent Lock, 324 
 
 Trewerne, 248 
 
 Tribes, The, 130 
 
 Tristan, 188 
 
 Trocke, Ciptain, xx, 135. 162, 164, 17; 
 
 Trump. 210 
 
 Tuite, Joseph, l';3 
 
 Tullagher, 25 
 
 Turco. 201, 203 
 
 Turf and Sod, The. 312 
 
 Turf Club, 165 
 
 Turf Lodge. 190, 208, 209 
 
 Tweed, The,' 233 
 
 Tweedmouth, Lord, 272 
 
 " Twelfth, The," 266 
 
 Two Thousand. Guineas, xii. xlii 
 
 T^vo-year-olds. xxiii 
 
 Tydd, Jack, 121 
 
 Tynte, J. P., 163 
 
 Tynte, Fortescue, 103 
 
 Tyrone, Lord, xiv. 32 
 
 Ugly Buck, xl 
 Umpire, 97, 123 
 Uncas, 97 
 Unicus, xxxii 
 Ury, 372, 375, 381 
 Usna, 201, 204 
 Ussher. Chris ' opher. xx 
 
 Valentine, 131, 160. 206 
 Valentine, xxxvii 
 Valentine's Brook, 148, 204 
 Vauban, 336 
 Vaulter, xxxvii 
 Venison, xl 
 Verdant Green, 228 
 Vernon. Hon. Richard, xxxiv 
 
 Vernon Lord. 3d 5, 350 
 
 Vesta, 13 
 
 Victor, 97 
 
 Vigilant, 17 
 
 Villager, 17, 53 
 
 Voltaire, 388 
 
 Voltigeur, 210, 397 
 
 Volunteer System, 305 
 
 Vyner, Clare. 395 
 
 Vyner, Robert T., 2, 106, 170, 356, 395 
 
 W. k. C. B., 226 
 
 Wade, John, 4, 9 
 
 Wakefield, John, 103, 104 
 
 Wales, H.K H. the Prince of, xvii. 101, 
 
 242 
 Walker, Isaac, 391, 392 
 Walker, W. H., 272 
 Wall, 10 
 
 Wall, Patrick, 51, 63 
 Wall, Peter, 48 
 Wallasey, 172 
 Walsh. John, xiii 
 V/alsh, John, 22, 23 
 Walshe's Hotel, 8 
 Walshe, P., 32 
 
 Walsingham, Lord, xxx. xxxi. 247 
 Walton, 336 
 Wanderer, 131 
 Warbles, 117 
 
 Warburton, Captain, xx. 154, 164, 168 
 Warburtons, The, 312 
 Ward Bennett, Colonel. 31 
 Ward, Joe, 315, 310 
 Ward, Mr., SG2, 374 
 Ward, pugilist, 375 
 Ward Union, The, 74. 75 
 Wardrop, Colonel, o4 
 Warner, 15 
 Warts, 117 
 Wary. 54 
 
 Watercress, 1(0, 3s8 
 Waterford Club, 344 
 Waterford Country, 7, 34. 59, 60, 74 
 Waterford. Dowager Lady, 30, 31, 32 
 Waterford; Lady, 29. 31. 32, 50. 59 
 Waterford Lodse. xxv. 206 
 Waterfords, The (Curragh), 202 
 Waterford. III. Marquis. 1-15, 54, oG. 
 
 98. 120, 130, 154. 170, 175, 195,210, 
 
 398 
 Waterford, IV. Marquis, 15, 16 
 Waterford, V. Marquis, 21-48, 54, 56. 
 
 59-6J, 81, 353 
 Waterloo Cup, xxxii, 280-287 
 Waters, Kobert, 156 
 Waters, T. G., 59. 140, 142, 154, 207 
 Watson, Robert. 4, 122, 103 
 Watts, John, xli. 397 
 Watts, Mr., 197. 207, 210, 211 
 Waugh, R.. 399 
 Waxy, 129 
 
44-0 
 
 Weatheral. 398 
 
 Weatherby, Messrs.. 90, T72, 185 
 
 Weatherstown. 2o 
 
 Weazel, 58 
 
 Webb, 399 
 
 "Webb. John G.. xiii 
 
 Wedderburn, Webster, 299, 376 
 
 Welch, Jemm)\ S26 
 
 Welch Mountains, 3. 26 
 
 Welcome. 6 
 
 Wellington, 129. 301 
 
 Wellingtons, The, 212 
 
 Wells, jockey, 400 
 
 Welters, Curragh, 203 
 
 Welters, Liverpool, 203 
 
 Wemmergill, 21G, 247 . 
 
 Wenlock. xxxv 
 
 West Australian, xxxix. 189, 336, 385, 
 
 391 
 West, James. 300 
 West, W. H., 160 
 West Kent. The, 77 
 Westenra, Colonel. 98, 195 
 Westmeatb, 168 
 Westmeath Lakes, 230 
 Westminster, Lord. 387 
 Westminster Pit, 313, 319 
 Weston, Colville, 245 
 Wexford Hounds, 248 
 Wharncliffe. Lord, xxi 
 '-■ What's to Win ? " 339 
 Wheble, Major, 310-319 
 Wheel, 210 
 
 Wheeler, C. A., 354, 371 
 Wheel of Fortune, xlii. 188 
 Wheel of Life, The, 415 
 Whelan, Johnnv. xxi. 168 
 Whisper Low. 199. 200-203 
 White. Alfred, 105 
 White, Captain, 3i2 
 White, Colonel Charles, 103 
 White, Colonel John, 163 
 Whitefields, 7 
 
 White Horse Cellar, 217. 225 
 White, John, 163 
 "White Piles," 312 
 - Whites," 335 
 Whitehouse. xli 
 Whitewall, 188, 381-394 
 Whoo Whoop, xlv 
 Why Not, xvii, 97 
 Widger, Joe. xviii 
 Widger, John, xviii. 107 
 Widger, Mick, xviii, 339 
 Widger, Thomas, 33, 95, 96 
 
 Wild Huntsman, 215 
 
 Wild Man from Borneo xvii. xviii 
 
 Wild Oats, xli. 215 
 
 Wilkes. George, xxxlii 
 
 Wilkin, Mr., 151 
 
 Williams, Miss. 30 
 
 Williamstown, 59, 60, 74, 13:) 
 
 Willoughbv. Mr,, xxviii 
 
 AVilloughby, Sir J.. 396 
 
 Wilson, Arthur, 32, 55 
 
 Wilson, John, 221 
 
 Wilson, Mr. Remington, xxx. 2 HI 
 
 Wilton. Lord. xl. 313 
 
 Wiltshire, 311-319 
 
 Wimborne,. Lord. 268 
 
 Winans, Mr., xxxf. 260, 268, 272 
 
 Winchilsea, Lord, xlvi 
 
 Windham, William, 314 
 
 Wind hound. 394 
 
 Winterton, Lord, 233 
 
 Wizard, The, 385 
 
 Wombwell, Captaio, 154 
 
 Wood. Abram. 375 
 
 Woodbrook, i?2, U8, 199. 200, 201, 
 
 202 
 Woodland Hunting, xxxvii 
 Woodlark, 58 
 Woods, George, 4 
 Woodstock, 3 
 Wordsworth, 203 
 Worms, 278 
 
 Wortlev. Mr Stuart, xxx 
 Wounds, 116 
 Wragby Woods, xxxvii 
 Wrestling, 294 
 Wynne, D.and T., xxi. 168 
 Wvnue, Joe, xxi. 131 
 wVnnes Gorse, 3, 16, 31 
 Wyvis, 272 
 
 Yachting, 289, 290 
 Yarborough, Lord, 84 
 Yarborough Lot, 16 
 Yearlings, 422 
 Yellows, 277, 279 
 York, 171, 173, 313 
 York and Ainsty, 55 
 Yorkshire Moors, 231, 246, 25: 
 Young Blacklegs, 129 
 
 Zazelle, 32 
 Zenophon, 97, 415 
 Zingaree, 39 
 Zitella, 202 
 
Wob s tor Famify Lfbrary of Veterinary Medidne 
 
 Cymmlngs School of Veterinary Medicine at 
 
 Tufts Univarsity 
 
 200 Westboro Road 
 
 ilorth Grafton, MA 01536 
 
SYDNEY R. SMITH 
 
Vj'l vl'i'i'.'V MJ 
 
 nil 
 
 •*,' li^i'.i'