y 
 
I ia 
 
 Mmi^ . *'« 
 
 
SYDNEY R. SMITH SPORTING BOOKS 
 
 :anaan 
 
 ^ew york. ny 12029 
 

CROSS COUNTRY 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 BY 
 
 FOX RUSSELL 
 
 REMINGTON AND CO PUBLISHERS 
 
 HENRIETTA STREET CO VENT GARDEN 
 
 1887 
 
 [All Rights Reserved] 
 
THIS VOLUME IS, BY PERMISSION, 
 DEDICATED TO 
 
 HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G., 
 
 BEST OF CROSS-COUNTRY RIDERS 
 
 AND 
 
 BRITISH SPORTSMEN, 
 BY HIS OBLIGED AND GRATEFUL SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2009 with funding from 
 
 Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/crosscountryremiOOruss 
 
' 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. 
 
 Introduction 
 
 I 
 
 11. 
 
 With Foxhounds 
 
 ... 19 
 
 III. 
 
 With Staghounds 
 
 - 43 
 
 IV. 
 
 With Draghounds 
 
 ... 57 
 
 V. 
 
 With Harriers 
 
 ... 78 
 
 VI. 
 
 Steeplechasing and Hurdle Racing 
 
 ... 86 
 
 VII. 
 
 Conditioning and Schooling 
 
 .. 126 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The Show Yard in relation to Hunters ... 
 
 153 
 
 IX. 
 
 Crossing a Country 
 
 166 
 
 X. 
 
 Ladies in the Field 
 
 187 
 
 XI. 
 
 Steeplechase Courses and Point-to-Point 
 
 
 
 Races 
 
 195 
 
 XII. 
 
 The Mudbury Hunt Dinner 
 
 205 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Pleasant it is for a man whose hand has 
 oftener grasped a hunting crop than a pen, 
 to sit down and try to put a few notes on 
 paper, of some of the good things he has 
 had the luck to participate in, and indulge 
 in some homely-printed chat — to coin an 
 expression — of good horses and good men. 
 It is, perhaps, the next best thing to 
 '' fighting one's battles o'er again " over 
 the walnuts and wine ; and what more de- 
 lightful thing is there than that same talk 
 
 B 
 
2 CROSS CO UNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 — after a rattling burst over a good country 
 — when, with a bottle of the '47 and the 
 prospective cigar, a bright, cheery log fire, 
 and a genial spirit, who has shared your 
 day's pleasures and pains, you chat over 
 your own luck, and your friends' misfor- 
 tunes ? — the latter, I am grieved to say, 
 affording considerably more satisfaction to 
 us than we should care to acknowledge in 
 so many words. 
 
 Long may the day be distant when Eng- 
 lishmen shall cease to reckon the subject 
 of such chat amongst their pleasures ! 
 
 I have often wondered which man gets 
 the keenest enjoyment out of hunting : he 
 who makes it the business of his life, and 
 goes out regularly four or five days a week, 
 or the busy toiler in big cities, snatching 
 his chance day here and there, stopped, it 
 may be, by a telegram, as he buckles on his 
 second spur, and dragged unwillingly up to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 his office by a change of markets, or to 
 his chambers by an unexpected Brief. One 
 would naturally think the latter was the 
 keener of the pair ; but the closest observa- 
 tion has left me still in doubt. A good 
 sportsman is never anything hut keen, and 
 in discussing this question, one is always 
 reminded of the octogenarian who had been 
 a four-days-a-w^eek man all his life : on his 
 death-bed he said he had but one regret — 
 that he had not smoked less and hunted 
 more ! It is certainly just one of those 
 pfood thing's in life, that one can never have 
 too much of. 
 
 In the way of comfort, I venture to think 
 that between hunting from home, and 
 hunting from a distance, there can be no 
 comparison, and no man would take the 
 latter as a pure matter of choice. In fact 
 so patent is it, upon a moment's reflection, 
 that it would be absurd to dilate upon the 
 
4 CjROss country reminiscences. 
 
 difference between hurriedly resigning the 
 good beast, who has carried you all day, to 
 a hireling, without the opportunity of know- 
 ing whether he is well ''done" or not; 
 bolting into a stuffy, draughty railway car- 
 riage, in which, hungry, sleepy, and mud- 
 stained, you are rushed up to town, and 
 perhaps transferred to a still more un- 
 pleasant conveyance in the shape of a cab, 
 which eventually lands you at home at so 
 late an hour, that appetite is gone, and a 
 natural disinclination for the bother of 
 '' changing " induces you to crawl miser- 
 ably up to bed without delay. Then again, 
 unless you are a naturally — or, shall we 
 say, an ^///naturally — early riser, recall, oh 
 my reader, the horror you went through at 
 being called at 6.30 a.m., fighting your way 
 dismally into that forbidding-looking '' tub " 
 in the grey light, and how the first sponge- 
 ful of its contents wrung from your agonized 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 body a deafening screech that would shame 
 a Sioux Indian ; then the candle-illuminated 
 chin-chopping, called, by courtesy, a shave ; 
 the hurried and unsatisfying breakfast, and 
 the final scurry for the train ! '' Enough to 
 make a man sit up and have his breakfast 
 over-night," as a friend once said to me. 
 I agree with him ; but I am afraid the 
 coffee and rolls would not^ at that unaccus- 
 tomed hour ! I am of opinion that that 
 '' breakfast " would have been, for the most 
 part, taken out of a tall tumbler and accom- 
 panied by sundry strong cigars — not the 
 best way in the world to keep one's nerves 
 steady for the following day's work. No ! 
 compare this with the leisurely morning 
 muffin and newspaper, and the quiet jog on 
 to covert afterwards ; the comfort of being 
 able to personally superintend your horse's 
 dressing and feeding, and then attending 
 at once to your own, after the day's work is 
 
6 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 done. No, there is no doubt which we 
 should choose I But then we don't all get 
 our choice in this life, and having been my- 
 self, for several seasons, accustomed to go 
 off to different countries to report the doings 
 of various packs for the London Press, 1 
 speak feelingly on the subject ! 
 
 Whilst speaking of hunting, away from 
 home, I may say, thankfully, that I have 
 very rarely been guilty of the weak- 
 ness of taking a horse of my own. 
 Hiring is far and away the better 
 plan. First, because you are spared the 
 intolerable nuisance of boxing and un- 
 boxing, the danger of a horse, stiff and 
 tired, standing still for hours, in the most 
 favourable circumstances for catching cold, 
 a matter in which he will be sure to attain 
 a certam measure of success ; secondly, 
 because it is long odds he will not know 
 the country when he gets there ; thirdly, 
 
INTR OD UCTION. 7 
 
 because it is generally cheaper in the 
 end. 
 
 I don't know whether the experience 
 of most men coincides with my own, or 
 if I have been exceptionally fortunate, but, 
 taking them all round, I have very pleasant 
 memories of hired hunters. One youngster 
 — a four-year-old, by King of Trumps — 
 I well remember fairly raced his field to a 
 standstill at the end of a long run, with my 
 8st. 7lbs. on his back ; another carried me 
 gallantly throughout one of the fastest 
 hour-and-a-half's runs that the Blackmoor 
 Vale have had for many a season, and 
 finished in the first four. I could multiply 
 such instances by the dozen, and it is 
 comparatively rarely that one of this much- 
 abused class has put me down. Of course 
 it may well be that my phenomenally light 
 weight has something to do with it, but 
 still there is a great deal of good in them, 
 
8 CR OSS CO UNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and a wise owner will always, for his own 
 sake, do well to give you a ''performer," 
 because, of course, should he fall, and harm 
 come to him, he alone has to pay the 
 piper. To all who are obliged to hunt 
 away from home, I would certainly say, 
 *' Don't take your own horse, if you can 
 manage to hire ; " and do we not all go a 
 bit straighter (especially in a strange 
 country) when we feel that it will make no 
 difference to the exchequer if ''grief" 
 should, by chance, result ? 
 
 If a man has a week or two to spare 
 from business, and wants to get as much 
 sport into the time as he conveniently can, 
 I would certainly recommend him to go to 
 a place like Leamington, for instance. 
 From here, the Quorn, the Pytchley, the 
 Heythrop, the Bicester, the Duke of 
 Grafton's, the Warwickshire, and the 
 Atherstone packs can all be reached ; 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 so one need never want for a gallop. In 
 addition to its hunting attractions there is 
 generally plenty to keep one amused there, 
 and it is within comparatively easy reach 
 of town. Cheltenham is another handy 
 centre, but the country is not so good as 
 that get-at-able from the Warwickshire 
 town. I say '' get-at-able," and not '' im- 
 mediately surrounding," because, as a 
 matter of fact, the country just outside 
 Leamington is not, by any means, the best 
 obtainable. 
 
 Hunting on the foregoing plan, the 
 advantage of hiring becomes at once mani- 
 fest. Assuming you are at any convenient 
 centre for hunting, and want to get in, say, 
 iive days in the week you are there, that 
 would mean at least three horses ; and by 
 the time you had paid for their railway 
 expenses, standing at livery, and your 
 groom's bill, you would probably find 
 
1 CR OSS CO UNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 that, had you hired, you would have been 
 considerably In pocket ; your own horses 
 would have had a rest. Instead of being 
 hard-worked and harassed by railway 
 journeys and fresh stabling, and you 
 yourself would have been spared a very 
 great deal of anxiety and bother about 
 them. I am quite prepared to admit, how- 
 ever, that If one Is no longer young, or If 
 one's nerves are not as they used to be, 
 &c., the matter Is a different one ; and It 
 may well be that the extra expense is 
 worth Incurring, for the sake of being on 
 horses that one knows. '' Nerves " have a 
 long list of sins to answer for : how many 
 falls might yearly be averted but for the 
 possession of these undesirable adjuncts to 
 the human frame ! How many a horse is 
 pulled Into his jumps because of the slight 
 shake of the rider's hand, or the quiver of 
 his body ! Whilst denying the danger of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 riding to hounds, in /6'/<9, would be ridiculous, 
 yet I do venture to say that that danger is 
 not really so great as people generally 
 think. Look at the total number of men 
 who hunt ; then take into consideration the 
 large proportion of '' duffers " amongst 
 them, and it is really surprising how few 
 deaths are heard of, nay, how few bad acci- 
 dents occur, in each season. And, again, 
 there are very many men who '' know how 
 to fall," and show^ an astonishing smartness 
 in getting out of the way of their own, and 
 other people's, horses, whilst on all fours ! 
 Dick Christian was a notable example of 
 this — quite a professor, indeed, of the art. 
 He used to say that he tucked his head in 
 and rounded his shoulders when he '' knew 
 it was coming ; " but I don't think it is an 
 art that can come to any of us, except by 
 means of the bitter school of experience. 
 UnHke our friend Ally Sloper's advice to 
 
12 CROSS CO UNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 people about to be kicked, to '' take it 
 slack/' we cannot either do this, or reduce 
 falling to a science, and lay down rules 
 thereon. Personally, I have had my fair 
 share of falls, have been laid on by a 
 steeplechase horse, kicked on the head, 
 my ribs broken, and a few other little 
 matters of the kind, but never really hurt. 
 The human carcase is fairly tough, I fancy ; 
 and though not a particularly strong man, 
 I remember getting two rattling falls in one 
 run, receiving a pretty smart kick just over 
 the knee, and then riding home in time to 
 go to a ball and dance until four o'clock 
 the next morning ! The fall itself so rarely 
 hurts anybody ; it is the injury inflicted 
 by the horse, either in rising, rolling over 
 you, or kicking you, that is most to be 
 feared. Again, there is the risk of being 
 jumped on, or galloped over, by other 
 animals ; and nine out of ten of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 bad accidents, happen in one of these 
 ways. 
 
 On the subject of wire fencing I must 
 say a word. Some men have now put up 
 barbed wire, and on this point the Hon. 
 Ralph Nevill, Master of the West Kent 
 Foxhounds, has written an eloquent letter 
 to the papers, telling how his hounds have 
 been injured by this cruel contrivance. 
 Surely such things should find no place in 
 a hunting country. Wire is bad enough, 
 and has been the cause of many a valuable 
 life being sacrificed ; but to put in barbs is 
 both unnecessary and cruel. I can't help 
 thinking that it would be — well, not an im- 
 possible task, for each hunt to come to 
 some arrangement with the farmers within 
 its precincts, for the removal of wire-fencing, 
 except in such parts as horses and hounds 
 are not likely to penetrate. Members of 
 the several hunts would willingly make 
 
14 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 some pecuniary sacrifices for such a desir- 
 able object — after all, it is only paying 
 a small extra premium by way of life assur- 
 ance ! — and the main body of the farmers 
 have got sportsmen's hearts concealed within 
 them, though some have hidden them rather 
 deep beneath their waistcoats ! The truth 
 is that they have had bad times for many 
 years, and wire-fencing being cheap, they 
 very naturally use it. Still, in so doing I 
 know that, with many of them at all events, 
 good fellows at bottom, they can say with 
 the apothecary in Romeo and Juliet, '' My 
 poverty, but not my will, consents." 
 
 To men who must, perforce, hunt from 
 London, I would say, '' Don't be afraid of 
 going a few extra miles for the sake of a 
 better country." Practically it takes you 
 out of bed, very little, if any, earlier than 
 travelling down to the countries nearest to 
 town ; not that there is a word to be said 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 against the packs there In any one respect, 
 be It understood. It Is merely of the 
 country, to which a cruel fate has relegated 
 them, that I speak, for, what with a trot — 
 often you can't shake your horse up to go 
 any faster than this — over the cruel, holding 
 clay, a crawl up hills like the side of a 
 house, and a spirited burst over fifty acres 
 of flint stones, ending the performance by 
 falling over a wire-fence into a market- 
 gardener's cucumber frame, and you are 
 reluctantly obliged to own that the game is 
 hardly worth the candle. I am speaking 
 more particularly of the nearer suburban 
 meets. 
 
 Some of the fixtures of the West Kent, 
 near the Kennels at Otford, or round Pens- 
 hurst way, are as good as anything that 
 can be expected so near London ; and 
 the Surrey Stag, and Old Surrey Fox- 
 hounds have each some very good meets. 
 
16 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 The Mid-Kent Staghounds, having their 
 head-quarters at Waterlngbury, near Maid- 
 stone, run over a far better Hne of country 
 than any of the above-named packs, and 
 are Infinitely to be preferred by the metro- 
 politan contingent ; another recommenda- 
 tion is that they do not meet till twelve 
 o'clock. The Crawley and Horsham Fox- 
 hounds can also be reached fairly easily, 
 and with these last two packs I have had 
 some really good spins. The Warnham 
 Staghounds go, three days a fortnight, over 
 the same country as the Crawley and Hor- 
 sham. 
 
 In Essex, the farmers don't seem to take 
 kindly to pasture, and the amount of heavy 
 plough there is not inviting. Mr. Garth's 
 hounds are handy, but I regret that, never 
 having had the pleasure of meeting them, I 
 can say nothing of the sport usually ob- 
 tained. To my mind, nothing so well repays 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 the Londoner for his trouble, as hiring from 
 Leighton, or Aylesbury, and going for a 
 spin with Lord Rothschild's splendid stag- 
 hounds over the glorious Vale of Aylesbury. 
 What a country ! Grass, grass, and splen- 
 did grass too ! so springy that your horse 
 seems to strike it lighter and bound from it 
 quicker, than any other. Then the fences 
 — are they not positively made to be 
 galloped over ! All of them fair, most of 
 them big, and not one trap in a hundred of 
 them ! Yes, that is the country for the 
 brain-worker to go to and '' knock the 
 stuffing out " of his cares and troubles ! 
 The deer are straight runners, the pack and 
 the whole establishment undeniable, the 
 country perfection, and the farmers, trumps 
 to a man ! A good mount, a fine day, and 
 a fast fifty minutes over the Vale, ought to 
 make a man of one, if anything can on 
 earth ! 
 
 C 
 
18 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Apropos of a fast fifty minutes I was 
 riding home after hunting, some two or 
 three years back, with half-a-dozen other 
 men ; we were all in capital spirits, having 
 had a fifty minutes on the grass, with 
 '' fencing to match," that was calculated to 
 gladden the heart of an undertaker, when 
 the following conversation ensued : — 
 
 '' What's become of Jones, of the — th ? 
 Never seems to come out at all now." 
 
 '^ No," was the reply ; '^ sold off his 
 horses, don't you know." 
 
 ^^What on earth for?" 
 
 '' What ! haven't you heard ? Going to 
 be married next week." 
 
 '' Married, and sold off his horses ! " came 
 in tones of intense disgust from the first 
 speaker. " Why, I wouldn't have missed 
 to-day's gallop for a harem ! '' 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 WITH FOXHOUNDS. 
 
 Foxhounds seem to assume the premier 
 place, naturally, in the affections of most 
 hunting men — that is, with men who go out 
 to hunt, in contradistinction to the men who 
 go out to ride. For the latter class, by far 
 the best fun is to be had with stag or drag 
 hounds, of which more hereafter. But he 
 who wishes to follow the '' httle red rover" 
 will, I think, have far better sport than the 
 others, modified, of course, by here and 
 there a blank day, here and there an un- 
 satisfactory run. These are exigencies we 
 
20 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 must all be prepared for. Now, as in 
 everything else, there are degrees in fox- 
 hunting : there is foxhunting and fox- 
 hunting ; galloping over flints, clay, and 
 boulders is one thing, galloping over soft, 
 springy turf another ; scrambling over im- 
 possible stone walls one thing, and jumping 
 clean timber another. It has fallen to my 
 lot to hunt in a country where, with heaps 
 of foxes, we never got a run, except for 
 about the space of three minutes at a time, 
 which was occupied in rushing our quarry 
 from one big wood to the next big wood. 
 We usually got one of these ''runs " each 
 day we were out, and spent the rest of the 
 time in mournfully wandering round and 
 round the covert in which Reynard was, no 
 doubt, safely ensconced, and chuckling at 
 his own smartness ; then we heaved sighs, 
 and departed severally to our respective 
 domiciles. Well, it was foxhunting ; but it 
 
WITH FOXHO UNDS. 2 1 
 
 might as well have been needle-hunting in 
 the proverbial haystack, for all the sport we 
 had out of it. 
 
 Coming home after one of these depress- 
 ing days, a disconsolate companion once 
 said to me, desperately — 
 
 '' I shall give this up, and invite all the men 
 I know to a meet at the foot of my stairs, 
 and hunt blackbeetles in the back kitchen ; 
 we've a better chance of a kill there, any' 
 how ! " To this he added some painfully 
 wrought-up joke about '^ kitchen a lot of 
 them," which I must decline to repeat in 
 extenso. 
 
 Compare this kind of thing to a glorious 
 burst over the grass, with really good 
 fencing, and there you see the two ex- 
 tremes. But between these Poles there is 
 a big range of ground, containing much 
 that is pleasant — much that will afford 
 excellent sport both for young and old. 
 
22 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Such writers as Whyte Melville and the 
 joint authors of the '^ Badminton Library" 
 have written of the '^ swell" countries so 
 well, and so exhaustively, that I feel it would 
 be more useful for me not to attempt to 
 follow where they have '^ gone before," but 
 to confine myself rather to those others 
 that they have not dealt, or have but super- 
 ficially dealt, with, in their respective works 
 on the subject. 
 
 I venture to think that there is just as 
 much good fun to be had outside Leicester- 
 shire as there is in. Look, for instance, at 
 the Blackmoor Vale Foxhounds. Who can 
 reasonably wish for anything better than to 
 follow this splendid pack from Jack White's 
 Gibbet, or Cheriton, right across the huge 
 pastures, interspersed with the big doubles 
 and brooks, for which this district is famed. 
 You must have one that will face water and 
 jump boldly at everything here, or you had 
 
WITH FOXHOUNDS. 23 
 
 better go back at once ; it is cheaper in 
 the end. Or, nearer home, if you cast in 
 your lot with anything going across the 
 Vale of Aylesbury, and '^ happen on," as 
 our American friends would say, a good 
 thing, you must be hard to please if you 
 don't oro back satisfied, inviororated, and 
 feelinof enabled to '' make thino^s hot " for 
 everybody in business next day. 
 
 One more example : take the Crawley 
 and Horsham Foxhounds. ^// their country 
 is not good ; a large proportion is, perhaps, 
 only passable, but 1, for one, shall look back 
 to some of the runs I have had with them, 
 and some of the country I have crossed 
 after them, with the keenest pleasure to the 
 end of my life, despite the contemptuous 
 and, I must add, silly remark of a distin- 
 guished soldier, who, when asked if he had 
 ever been out with these hounds, blurted 
 out, '' No, sir ; I have never hunted with 
 
24 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 any hounds in my life but the Quorn and 
 the Pytchley, and I'll take d — d good care 
 I never do ! " chronicled by Whyte Mel- 
 ville, who, I am sure, was far too good a 
 sportsman to have subscribed to an obser- 
 vation half so absurd. 
 
 It is not given to everyone to hunt in 
 the Shires, but it is given to a good many 
 (with an effort) to hunt somewhere or other, 
 either in their own neighbourhood, or within 
 reach of London, and, as the inimitable 
 Jorrocks observes, ''the iron horse is the 
 best kiver 'ack in the world." 
 
 What would our forefathers have thought, 
 I wonder, of a man working hard at his 
 business overnight, rising with the — we 
 had better say sparrow — there are no 
 larks in London, at least not from the orni- 
 thologist's point of view ! — travelling fifty 
 or sixty miles to the scene of his day's 
 hunting, enjoying that, and returning the 
 
WITH FOXHOUNDS. 25 
 
 same night to dine at eight, In the neigh- 
 bourhood of Hyde Park? And yet how 
 many do so, year after year. 
 
 You may, however, get plenty of sport, 
 even from London, without having to work 
 for it quite so hard as this ; and by taking a 
 pack, say about thirty to forty miles from 
 the great metropolis, you can get Into a 
 decent country, and yet not have to do any 
 violence to your feelings In the way of 
 early-rising. Indeed, I knew of a '' counsel, 
 learned In the law," who appeared before 
 the late Vice-Chancellor Malins — himself a 
 lover of the horse, but a terribly bad man 
 on one!— in leathers, boots, and spurs, 
 which were barely hidden by his gown, and 
 who made an application at the sitting of 
 the Court, and was even then in time to 
 catch his train and turn up punctually at 
 the meet ! 
 
 " What a cruel thing foxhunting Is ! " 
 
2(^ CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 exclaimed a lady of my acquaintance, who 
 is nothinor if not humanitarian. 
 
 '' Who to ? the hounds or the horses ? " 
 queried the man she addressed, and I think 
 there is a good deal of truth in his remark. 
 If a good fox gets away with that fair 
 start which is, or ought to be, the ambition 
 of every man in the field to give him, I 
 think he has a bit the best of the deal, and, 
 bar accidents, will make both hounds and 
 horses sob, before he is beaten himself. 
 
 And bear in mind, too, that when he is 
 beaten, for absolute running, the end may 
 be still a remote contingency, for a fox is 
 as full of tricks as an Qgg is of meat (this 
 may not be an exactly happy metaphor, as 
 I have never yet found either beef or mutton 
 in an Qgg- I have chicken, though ! ) 
 First of all, he can swim like a duck, run 
 like a race-horse for a mile, climb a tree, or 
 crawl through a key hole — if it is large 
 
WITH FOXHOUNDS. 27 
 
 enough ! Add to this that he is perfectly 
 an courant with the mysteries of scent, and 
 a master of the art of destroying it, is a 
 perfect perambulating atlas of the surround- 
 ing country, and is as game as a pebble, 
 and we see at once that hounds have their 
 work cut out to successfully compete with 
 Nature's smartest production. You will 
 always notice that a fox's first instinct is 
 to get out of sight, and it is fairly astonish- 
 ing to see how cleverly he effects this, even 
 in the most open country. His next move 
 seems to be to determine, in his own mind, 
 the particular point he will make for ; he 
 will remember the existence of a friendly 
 earth, perhaps some five miles off, and for 
 that he goes. Watch how he lays himself 
 down to his work, lookincr back over his 
 shoulder, now and then, at his pursuers, 
 until he has, at least, deprived them of the 
 pleasure of hunting him by sight ; then, 
 
28 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 taking advantage of anything that may 
 turn up to aid him In folhng the scent, 
 onward he goes, disdaining to sneak up 
 hedgerows, or He in ditches, until the pace 
 begins to tell upon him ; then It Is that he 
 no longer feels himself equal to taking the 
 straight line across the open, but looks 
 about him to see where he may find a 
 temporary haven In which to recruit his 
 falling strength. Finding none, he again 
 resolutely faces his task, the hounds, by 
 superior staying powers, slowly but surely 
 gaining on him. A park paling looms In 
 sight, and Reynard Is quick to take ad- 
 vantage of it. Running along the top, he 
 seems to chuckle at the thought of even 
 temporarily bothering his pursuers. Gain- 
 ing three or four minutes by this ruse, he 
 scrambles onwards, his back now arched 
 and brush almost dragging on the earth 
 as he goes. At last he sees the little fir 
 
WITH FOX HO UNDS. 21) 
 
 patch, concealed within which is the 
 longed-for hiding place. Hounds are now 
 within a hundred yards of him, and throw- 
 ing tongue in sounds that convey news of 
 joy to all the field within hail, and death 
 to the quarry, unless he can make good his 
 point. They come nearer and nearer, but 
 plainer and plainer gets the belt of firs ; 
 now the leading hound, straining every 
 nerve, overhauls him, stride by stride, 
 until she gets to within twenty yards of his 
 brush. Foxey looks sharply over his 
 shoulder, and then, distressed as he is by 
 the severity of the pace, seems to coolly cal- 
 culate his chances. Only a space of a hun- 
 dred yards or so remains to be traversed. 
 Melody does all she knows to lessen the 
 gap between them ; she is closely followed 
 by another old hand, Madrigal j they are 
 metaphorically licking their chaps over the 
 anticipated '' blood," they get closer and 
 
30 CJ^OSS COUNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 closer to his brush, it is almost within 
 reach, they have him ! No ! with one ugly 
 snap round, he dives like an eel into the 
 unstopped earth and is safe ! 
 
 *' Capital spin, as near as possible half- 
 an-hour. No good trying to dig him here, 
 you know," are some of the remarks made, 
 as the first flight come up, by twos and 
 threes. 
 
 No, my friend, it's no good digging 
 him, under most circumstances ; to my 
 mind it always savours too much of 
 butchery, and taking a dirty advantage, 
 this same digging. He has given you a 
 good run ; what more did you come out 
 for ? For my part if I only wanted to see 
 an animal killed, I could have achieved my 
 object by going to a slaughter-house. 
 
 '' But the hounds want blood ; they have 
 deserved it," cry a chorus of sportsmen. 
 
 Well, in this world, we all want a great 
 
WITH FOX HO UNDS. 3 1 
 
 many things, but we don't get them ; we 
 all, at least in our own estimation, deserve 
 
 a good many things, but we don't get them 
 
 for all that. As to the plea that hounds 
 
 lose their keenness by being occasionally 
 
 deprived of their reward, I simply don't 
 
 believe it. Depend on It, they will be just 
 
 as fond of the game next time they run. 
 
 Then, again, you can hug yourself with 
 
 this, that a fox who has given you one 
 
 good run may very likely afford you another 
 
 upon some subsequent occasion. Leave 
 
 him now, eat your sandwich and take a 
 
 pull at the flask ; trot off to draw for a 
 
 fresh fox, or, if it Is too late, light your 
 
 Laranaga and jog quietly home, thinking to 
 
 yourself that there's nothing quite so good 
 
 as foxhunting after all, and mentally settling 
 
 with yourself that every man on earth who 
 
 doesn't subscribe to your theory must 
 
 perforce be '' written down an ass." 
 
32 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 We all ought to remember one most 
 important thing about foxhunting : the 
 easiest thing in the world is to spoil the 
 sport. A man who will walk or, worse 
 still, trot, his horse round a covert or 
 through a ride, at inopportune moments, 
 a woman who will give a little scream 
 because a squirrel runs up a tree beside 
 her, and Tommy, just home from school, 
 who insists upon shouting to Billy, the 
 other side of a copse, to inform him that 
 '' Pa said he musn't have the pony to-day, 
 so he took it," are all distinct terrors to 
 the Master and the rest of the field. Of 
 course, we all know by heart the maxims 
 taught us by our forbears as to never 
 pressing hounds at a check, being careful 
 never to head the fox, cii7n viultis aliis, and 
 to these, I think, we might usefully add one 
 more — to keep quiet. Beckford tells the 
 young sportsman wJiat to holloa under 
 
WITH FOXHOUNDS. S3 
 
 given circumstances. With the big fields 
 of modern days I would say, *' Don't holloa 
 at all ; " that is, of course, if you are not 
 an experienced hand at the game. If you 
 are, you don't want my advice or that of 
 anyone else to guide you, but to a rider in 
 his first season or so, I would say, '^ Keep 
 your mouth rigidly closed and never seek 
 to use your whip thong ; " in the same way 
 that I should say to a man about to ride 
 his first steeplechase — '' Sit still," and 
 consider it the most practical piece of ad- 
 monition possible to give. 
 
 A thing which not only the young, but 
 also the experienced amongst us, are pain- 
 fully apt to forget, is never to lose sight 
 of hounds from the moment they are 
 thrown into covert. Neglect of this pre- 
 caution often loses you so much start that 
 you have to drive your horse to catch them, 
 and so distress him that you cannot enjoy 
 
 D 
 
34 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the spin when you do get up. If they go 
 away very fast, the probablHty Is that you 
 don't catch them at all ! This is an 
 especially cheerful situation if you have 
 travelled from town for the express purpose 
 of hunting. When you do get well away 
 with them, then try to ''go into every field 
 with the hounds," as the great Tom Smith 
 recommended. That piece of advice calls 
 to mind the story of the sporting old 
 parson, who, encountering his Bishop at a 
 ball, was by him taken to task for the ''high 
 crime and misdemeanour" of foxhunting. 
 
 " But," said the parson, " your Lord- 
 ship, I see, goes to dances." 
 
 ''Ah," replied the wily Bishop, "but I 
 am never in the same room with the 
 dancers." 
 
 " Well, my Lord," said the parson, with 
 the suspicion of a twinkle in his eye, " my 
 horse and I are both growing old, and 
 
WITH FOXHOUNDS. 35 
 
 ive are never in the same field with the 
 hounds ! " 
 
 To my mind, a really good run is indeed 
 a rara avis. It takes such an alarmingly 
 large combination of circumstances to 
 obtain — a good fox, a good country, a 
 good scent ; then that you shall be on a good 
 horse and get a good start. Only one of 
 these things may be lacking, and away 
 goes all your enjoyment, but, granted all 
 the requisites, bear in mind this axiom : 
 having got well off in front, keep there ! 
 Foxhunting is essentially a sociable sport, 
 and remembering this, we ought to pursue 
 a give-and-take policy ; not riding solely 
 for ourselves, but having a due regard for 
 others' comfort. There is no excuse for 
 spoiling the sport, however much a man 
 may talk about going out to please him- 
 self, &c. Such stuff savours not only of 
 selfishness, but of "bounce" as well. 
 
36 CJ^OSS COUNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Of stone-wall countries I have a very 
 slight experience, but have been told by 
 those best qualified to judge, that they are 
 not so formidable to ride over, as we, who 
 know little about them, imagine. As a rule 
 — almost an invariable one, I believe — there 
 are no ditches on either side, and the great 
 thing to be cautious of is that you do not 
 land in a chalk- pit ! Of course the best 
 amongst stone-wall-country packs is that 
 kept by the noble owner of Badminton, the 
 Duke of Beaufort, to whom hunting men 
 owe so much in a variety of ways. The 
 Duke's great courtesy, and the goodness 
 of heart he displays to his inferiors, are well 
 known, and I, personally, have experienced 
 such kindness and consideration at his 
 hands as I shall not easily forget. The 
 Heythrop, in some parts, have a good 
 many walls to surmount. On the Glou- 
 cestershire side they get a good allowance 
 
WITH FOXHOUNDS. '61 
 
 of grass, and, in the other direction, much 
 too large a supply of woodland. 
 
 The Injuries caused to horses In failing 
 to clear these obstacles, are usually of a 
 severe nature, especially if they ''knee" 
 them at all. Some time since, hearing of a 
 good horse who had struck a wall pretty 
 hard in the Cheltenham country, I went 
 down, and, finding the injury to the knee 
 comparatively slight, bought him. His 
 jumping powers at everything are undeni- 
 able, but he has never forgotten that it was a 
 wall that " rose up and hit him," and nothing 
 will Induce him to leave less than a foot 
 between himself and the top of any obstacle 
 of the kind now, though it is nearly three 
 years since his mishap. 
 
 The fashion of modern writing Is to decry 
 the horse, hound, and man of to-day, and 
 always to elevate the celebrities of a by- 
 gone time at their expense. And this 
 
38 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMIMSCENCES. 
 
 glorification of the past, is not confined to 
 writing. Who is it that has not, at some 
 time or other, been speaking of Cannon or 
 Archer, and been immediately awed into 
 silence with the mystic names of ''Nat" 
 and Jim Robinson ? Who, again, has ever 
 dared to mention the best cross-country 
 riders of to-day, without having Osbaldes- 
 ton and Sir Harry Goodricke fired off at 
 him, by some pre-historic fossil, who goes 
 on the principle that nothing is right 
 except what took place in his day ! Be- 
 cause horses don't run four-mile heats now- 
 adays, it by no means follows that we 
 have none at Newmarket that could ac- 
 complish those slightly dreary perform- 
 ances ; and if the hounds of to-day don't, 
 as a rule, make fifteen and twenty- 
 mile points, there is a solid reason for it 
 quite apart from any question of decadence. 
 The simple explanation is contained in the 
 
WITH FOXHO UNDS. 39 
 
 one word, pace. The horse that can gallop 
 for a mile, at the speed required to win a 
 Royal Hunt Cup, would make many of the 
 old four-mile-heaters — could they be re- 
 suscitated — look extremely silly at the end 
 of a race over the Newmarket Beacon 
 Course, and the victor in the Liverpool 
 Grand National, four and three-quarter 
 miles, over about thirty big fences, and 
 with some eleven or twelve stone on his 
 back — a journey which is ordinarily ac- 
 complished under ten minutes — would have 
 small difficulty in losing the old-fashioned, 
 dock-tailed, half-bred, bestridden by our 
 forefathers, in a run of any length, and 
 over any country in the world ! Horses 
 are better bred than they used to be, they 
 are faster, by far, than they were, and every 
 child knows that the higher the pressure, 
 the shorter time it can be kept up. Given 
 a slightly decreased rate of speed, and our 
 
40 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 horses would be found not only as good, 
 but better stayers, in my humble ophilon, 
 than any that have made themselves 
 famous In a past age. The Frenchmen 
 are pretty smart In securing our best 
 staying blood, but they haven't got It all 
 yet. 
 
 I think he would be a bold man who 
 " stood" even the mighty Eclipse against 
 Robert the Devil, over a two or three mile 
 course, both coming to the post In their 
 best form ; and If Prince Charlie could 
 have been matched over the Rowley Mile, 
 with anything that ever saw the light 
 before him, I, for one, should have been 
 tempted to ^' have a dash," and a big one 
 too, on the bonny chestnut son of Blair 
 Athol ! 
 
 Amongst the farmers over w^hose land 
 hounds run, there is, in most countries, a 
 very friendly feeling ; and provided that 
 
WITH FOX HO UNDS. 41 
 
 riders know the difference between wheat 
 and weeds, and use their heads in crossing 
 the land, very little real harm is likely to 
 result. We should never be guilty of little 
 pieces of inconsiderate behaviour, such as 
 passing through a gate and leaving it open 
 behind us, when stock are in the field ; 
 knocking down sheep hurdles, or unneces- 
 sarily pulling fences about in order to get 
 through, &c. Then, also, we must remember 
 we hunt on sufferance, and that if a man 
 objects to our riding over his land, he is 
 quite within his strict rights, and we are 
 bound to respect his prejudices. I re- 
 collect a pleasant little incident, in connec- 
 tion with this subject, in the Crawley and 
 Horsham country. Our fox had gone 
 straight across a big piece of wheat, whither 
 the whole field followed him, and he was 
 finally rolled over right on the owner's 
 front lawn. In the midst of the "worry" 
 
42 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the farmer came pounding along on his fat 
 old horse, out of breath, and in a high state 
 of excitement. The Master rode up to meet 
 him, and said very courteously — 
 
 '' I am very sorry, Mr. R — , I'm afraid 
 we've cut your wheat about, very much." 
 
 '^ D — n the wheat, sir ! Have you killed 
 your fox ? " was the panting and sports- 
 manlike reply. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 WITH STAGHOUNDS. 
 
 The three principal packs of these hounds, 
 the Queen's, Lord Rothschild's, and the 
 Mid- Kent, are all within easy reach of the 
 metropolis. The two former are pretty 
 close to each other, on the Great Western 
 and North - Western lines respectively. 
 Some of the Queen's, and nearly all of 
 Lord Rothschild's country, is excellent. 
 These are both of them non-subscription 
 packs. The Mid-Kent, when they get into 
 the district round Sevenoaks, or near the 
 
44 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 kennels, in the immediate neighbourhood of 
 Maidstone, enjoy some really fine spins, with 
 plenty of grass and big fencing, but the 
 country is not so good on the Farningham 
 side. They meet at 12, and may be reached 
 by either the South-Eastern, or London, 
 Chatham, and Dover Railways. Essex is 
 catered for by the Hon. H. Petre, and you 
 have only to go either to Croydon or Red- 
 hill, if you are desirous of patronizing the 
 Surrey. The Warnham are a little further 
 afield, crossing the same country as the 
 Crawley and Horsham Foxhounds. If, 
 however, your soul soars above hunting the 
 carted deer, you must repair to the West, 
 and follow the Devon and Somerset over 
 their wild and picturesque heather and 
 moorland. It need hardly be remarked 
 that this is not the pack for Londoners. 
 It is rather the fashion to rave about the 
 sport here, and, as every August comes 
 
WITH STAGHOUNDS. 45 
 
 round, the stereotyped rhodomontade is 
 hurled at us, in the shape of an account of 
 the opening day, probably penned in Fleet 
 Street, by some enterprising youth, who, if 
 he got on a horse one side, would be sure 
 to fall off the other :— " Cloutsham "— " the 
 old harbourer " — " warrantable deer " — 
 " vast expanse of moorland" — " far-famed 
 Dunkery Beacon " — " tufting " — '' the wild 
 Red Deer," &c., &c. All these are dragged 
 out to do duty, year after year, and to people 
 who have never seen the country, the pros- 
 pect certainly seems entrancing. As to the 
 beauty of the scenery, that is undeniable ; 
 but the newspaper paragraphist omits to 
 mention, First: hogs, ad libitum. Secondly: 
 scrambling over eternal boulders, and slid- 
 ing down one hill, in order to clamber up 
 another. Thirdly : no jumping ! All this 
 is somewhat melancholy, and seriously de- 
 tracts from the enjoyment of the fun. Still 
 
46 CROSS CO UNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 it is, without doubt, a soul-stirring thing to 
 see hounds run here, and if, by carefully 
 following someone who knows^ you avoid 
 getting bogged, miss breaking your neck 
 over a boulder, and don't always find your- 
 self at the bottom of one hill, when hounds 
 have just reached the top of another, the 
 very picturesqueness of the surroundings 
 may make it well worth your while to pay 
 this pack a visit. Native horses are the 
 things to ride ; most of them that have 
 been bred on the moor are not to be cajoled 
 into a bog. To a stranger going down into 
 this country, no better advice could be 
 given than that he should place himself in 
 the hands of Mr. John White, of Taunton, 
 who always has a large stud fit to go. I 
 have never availed myself of his services in 
 this country, but he has mounted me, right 
 well, with the Blackmoor Vale, and I speak 
 as I find. 
 
WITH ST A GHO UNDS. 47 
 
 As far as I have ever been able to see, a 
 fresh deer has no particular choice as to 
 whether he runs up wind or down ; in fact, 
 there is no calculating how they are going 
 to run. It by no means follows that be- 
 cause they know the country, or because 
 that country is an open Down, that they 
 mean going ; equally uncertain is it whether 
 they will choose the hills, or the vales, and 
 sometimes, in the stiffest-fenced countries, 
 they will go as straight as a gun-barrel, for 
 miles. These remarks apply as much to 
 the wild, as to the carted deer. Even more 
 than in foxhunting, therefore, should we 
 stick tight to the hounds, if we wish to get 
 to the end of a run at all ; there is nothing 
 upon which we may, with any safety, base 
 our calculations in case of getting thrown 
 out. 
 
 In the way of stratagem, a hunted deer, 
 though giving pride of place to the '^ thief 
 
48 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 of the world," as friend Jorrocks calls him^ 
 is a very long way from a fool ; as witness 
 his prowess when he ''runs to herd," i.e., 
 pushes up another deer and lies close him- 
 self, a plan that, of course, can only be 
 pursued where the wild animal is hunted. 
 A deer will often, also, manage to obliterate 
 the scent by '' taking soil," as getting to 
 the water is called, though his principal 
 object in doing this, is, undoubtedly, to 
 refresh himself by his bath. 
 
 Nowhere can the hunting of the carted 
 deer, in my humble opinion, be seen to such 
 advantage as in the Vale of Aylesbury, 
 following Lord Rothschild's pack, one of 
 the very best extant. The thanks of all 
 true sportsmen are due to the munificent 
 master of Ascott for his unselfish conduct 
 in maintaining this princely establishment in 
 the style he does, and for affording so much 
 enjoyment to the public, free of all cost to 
 
WITH S TA GHO UNDS. 4 9 
 
 them. In Frederick Cox and Mark How- 
 cott, the Hunt have two as able servants as 
 it is possible to get, and in spite of the 
 former's many and honourable scars, which 
 have affected his seat on a horse, he still 
 contrives to be with his hounds in their 
 fastest spins. I believe Mark would ride 
 at a furniture van, if necessity arose, and in 
 that respect he reminds me strongly of 
 George Loder, huntsman to the Crawley 
 and Horsham, who created a profound im- 
 pression upon me, on an occasion, some 
 twelve years back, when at the finish of a 
 hard run, he rammed the almost dead-beaten 
 chestnut mare he was on, at about four feet 
 six of stiff, new timber, and just won the 
 deal! 
 
 I have already brie% alluded to the Vale 
 of Aylesbury ; it is one of the most essen- 
 tially hunting and riding countries in the 
 kingdom, and the fences are all that the 
 
 E 
 
50 CJ^OSS CO UNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 heart of man could desire. Add to this, 
 th^t it is, for the Londoner, extremely ac- 
 cessible by means of a goodly train service, 
 and what more can we want ? 
 
 The charge of '' coming out to ride," in 
 contradistinction to '' coming out to hunt," 
 is frequently levelled at followers of stag- 
 hounds, and no doubt there is a good deal 
 of truth in it ; but those who indulge in un- 
 pleasant observations of this kind are usually 
 men whose timiC is their own, and who can 
 therefore afford a blank day, now and then, 
 with foxhounds. But how about the busy 
 man, snatching his day here and there, 
 just as he gets the opportunity ? A blank 
 day comes very hard upon him, and this he 
 obviates by going with staghounds. Be- 
 sides this, the pursuit of the carted deer 
 occasionally affords hounds an excellent 
 chance of showing something more than 
 galloping and staying power, and gives the 
 
WITH ST A GHO UNDS. 5 1 
 
 huntsman as much real work to do as his 
 brother of the vulpine chase. Of course, 
 with fox-hunting enthusiasts, such as Mr. 
 Jorrocks, we can expect no quarter in dis- 
 cussing what that distinguished sportsman 
 likened to '' turning outahass, and 'unting 
 'im," but then we are not all as intolerant 
 as the worthy grocer. I have just been 
 talking to-day to a good sportsman of 
 the olden type, a friend of the ever-to- 
 be-lamented Rev. ''Jack" Russell. He 
 was in the habit of staying with the cele- 
 brated Parson, for the stag-hunting, and, 
 joined by Mr. Granville Somerset, no less 
 famed for his prowess across country, than 
 for his powers at the Parliamentary Bar, the 
 trio must have formed a right merry party 
 at dinner, after their healthful day upon the 
 purple heather. My friend has hunted with 
 most packs, both of fox and staghounds, 
 and nothing, in his opinion, comes up to the 
 
52 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 chase of the red deer, whether on the Quan- 
 tocks or across Exmoor. 
 
 One of the funniest things I ever re- 
 member in connection with the sport, 
 happened some years ago, whilst going in a 
 run with the Old Surrey Foxhounds. We 
 had been running somewhere about twenty 
 minutes, when, in getting through some 
 woodland, about half-a-dozen of us went 
 down a ride, and soon after emerging there- 
 from I came in view of the hounds running 
 hard. Pushing my horse a bit, I got up 
 to the front rank, and immediately after we 
 came to the top of a hill. Judge of my 
 intense astonishment when I saw, away to 
 the left, a deer^ with the pack in hot pur- 
 suit ! We had actually changed packs in 
 the woodland, and I had unwittingly fol- 
 lowed the staghounds, and let my own pack 
 go! 
 
 I never had the opportunity of seeing 
 
WITH ST A GHO UNDS. 53 
 
 Lord Wolverton's bloodhounds, but have 
 learnt from those who have, what a rare 
 treat it was to watch them at work. The 
 head of the Glyns has sold them now, and 
 started a pack of harriers in their place. 
 Speaking of the Glyn family, one cannot 
 help remembering how well Sir Richard of 
 that ilk has deserved of Somerset and 
 Dorset men for the able way in which, for 
 seventeen years, he discharged the duties 
 of Master to the Blackmoor Vale, spending 
 enormous sums on the pack out of his own 
 pocket, and less than two years since I had 
 the pleasure of seeing him going, as well 
 as ever, with these hounds. He could not 
 have resigned them into better hands than 
 those of Mr. Merthyr Guest, the present 
 Master, whose ability is no less remarkable 
 than the never-failing courtesy he extends 
 to " all sorts and conditions of men" who 
 hunt with him. 
 
54 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 The paddock-fed deer seldom exhibits 
 much fear when uncarted before hounds. 
 Plenty of them, in fact, have to be fairly 
 driven away from the field they are turned 
 out in, and even then, go away at a leisurely 
 trot. Properly trained, by being hustled 
 round the paddock regularly every day, the 
 lady gives as good runs as her lord, who 
 would often be a nasty customer for the 
 huntsman and whips to tackle, if not bereft 
 of his antlers. Even as it is^ they can 
 often make a very spirited resistance to 
 the '' take," and the inexperienced had 
 better be chary of offering assistance in 
 the process, to the hunt servants. Such, 
 at all events, is the advice feelingly given 
 by a gentleman whose zeal exceeded his 
 discretion, a little time ago, and who was 
 vigorously forwarded into a cucumber frame, 
 by way of reminder, for his pains ! 
 
 Some runs of staghounds of late years 
 
WITH S TA GHO UNDS. 55 
 
 have been a trifle astonishing for their 
 duration, and how horses and hounds can 
 keep going for four hours or more, at a 
 stretch, is mystifying. The deer Moon- 
 light, a celebrated customer pertaining to 
 the Mid- Kent pack, was uncarted about 12 
 one day, two or three seasons ago, and was 
 not taken till eight o'clock at night ! One 
 horse, I believe, comprised the ''field" at 
 the finish, and how he got there is a 
 puzzle ! It is no unusual thing for a run 
 of twenty to thirty miles to be chronicled, 
 and with Captain Kerr's pack, in the 
 County Down, there are one or two even 
 longer than that, on record. The old Nor- 
 folk staghounds used to get some lengthy 
 gallops over a capital country. The 19th 
 Hussars, fresh from their Egyptian glories, 
 have now taken them over, and may good 
 luck attend the conjunction of capital 
 sportsmen and a right good pack. 
 
56 CJ^OSS COUNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 In concluding this chapter, let me pay 
 a slight tribute of respect to poor Dawkins, 
 who had, only shortly before, come to hunt 
 the Surrey staghounds, when he met with 
 his death by his horse coming back on 
 him. An abler, more civil and well-con- 
 ducted hunt servant did not exist, and both 
 in the field and in his private life he left a 
 character and example that were, as he, 
 poor fellow, was, across a country, '' hard to 
 beat." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WITH DRAGHOUNDS. 
 
 '' People who ride with the Drag amply 
 prove their title to trespass on the hos- 
 pitality of the local Lunatic Asylum," said 
 a first-rate cross-country rider, senten- 
 tlously, one day when the subject was 
 being hotly debated, and the observation 
 sank all the deeper into my ivAnd from the 
 fact that, for years, I have been an ardent 
 follower in " the pursuit of the red herring " 
 myself. Dearly as I have got to love this 
 afternoon scurry, much as one enjoys the fun 
 
58 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 of racing over the grass, and charging the 
 somewhat formidable fences that are In- 
 variably crossed by the human runner, I 
 must confess to thinking that after a man 
 has passed the ^' forties," he would do well 
 to take to some rather less exciting pas- 
 time. It Is the best game In life for 
 bachelors to play at, but If a man has a 
 family depending on his exertions, It might 
 be better that he should give up anything 
 so likely to necessitate a coroner's Inquest. 
 '^ It's steeplechasing," says one, con- 
 temptuously. So It Is, practically, my 
 friend, and steeplechasing, let me say, 
 is about as pretty a sport as a young man 
 need wish for. Drag-hunting has one 
 advantage over steeplechasing, too, by no 
 means to be lost sight of ; there Is no 
 money depending on your horse, and, there- 
 fore, you can just pull him up whenever he gets 
 beaten, without the consequence of having 
 
WITH DRAGHOUNDS. 59 
 
 mud (both literal and metaphorical) thrown 
 at you, as you ride back into the paddock ! 
 
 I believe the proportion of falls got, out 
 with Draghounds, is something like twenty, 
 to the one, incurred with other packs. This, 
 of course, arises chiefly from the pace ; 
 there is no time, generally speaking, to 
 pull your horse back and let him take his 
 own time at the fences. You must send 
 him along from end to end, and unless he 
 either fhes everything, or has got the pace 
 of a Derby winner to make up lost time on 
 the flat, you very soon find yourself '^ out 
 of it." 
 
 There are a few packs of these hounds 
 within easy reach of London, but, as far as 
 I know, they are all in private hands. I 
 suppose the best known are those belonging 
 to the Household Brigade, near Windsor, 
 and the smart little pack owned by the 
 Royal Artillerymen at Woolwich. Chiefly 
 
60 CROSS COUNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 with a view to the farmers' interests, their 
 meets are kept strictly private, and, as a 
 rule, a very select field is the result. Thank 
 goodness for it, say I ! If we had a 
 hundred horsemen charging the first fence 
 together, jealous as girls, and each trying 
 to get a good start, it would really come 
 cheaper in the end to have an undertaker 
 attached to the Hunt, at an inclusive 
 salary ! 
 
 Many of the advantages offered by stag- 
 hunting, are also obtainable here, such, for 
 instance, as being sure of your gallop, no 
 waiting about covert, &c., and the late 
 hour of starting — frequently not till 
 three o'clock — is, of course, unique. A 
 mistake is often made, I think, in choosing 
 a '^ rasper" for the first obstacle. Were it 
 done with the object of shaking off a crowd, 
 sifting the chaff from the wheat, it would 
 be understandable, but with the very small 
 
WITH DRA GHO UNDS, 61 
 
 number who usually assemble for the gallop, 
 this cannot be — yet it is almost invariably 
 done. A horse can't be expected to jump 
 at the first go off, as he will do later on ; 
 he has not warmed to the work, or perhaps 
 he is of an excitable temperament, and the 
 sight of the refusing, rearing, and kicking 
 crowed of his fellows — there is generally 
 this little performance going on at the first 
 fence — upsets his nerves, and then what 
 happens? — there is more scrimmaging, and 
 we see, oh frequent occurrence ! that Mr. 
 Eager, w^hose horse refused the first time, 
 turns him short round at it again, without 
 letting Captain Shortemper have his chance 
 first. The consequence is that amidst the 
 din of tongues, amidst the whipping and 
 spurring, an ominous ''thud" announces 
 a collision. 
 
 "D — n it, sir! w^here the devil are you 
 going ! " shout both the excited sportsmen, 
 
62 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 simultaneously, at each other. A third 
 then gallops up and gets over ; then 
 another comes at it, a bit too fast, his 
 horse slips on taking off, and '^ an imperial 
 crowner " into the next field is the result. 
 The huntsman, whip, and half a dozen more 
 of us have already got nearly down to the 
 next obstacle, a flight of post and rails. 
 One after the other we all manage to 
 negotiate them, our leader landing on knees 
 and nose ; but scrambling up again, without 
 a scratch, he keeps his place at the head of 
 affairs, and, sailing gaily away again, sends 
 his horse at, and surmounts, a quickset and 
 ditch on the far side. The said ditch 
 claims its victim in the shape of the fourth 
 man essaying it. The last we see of the 
 mishap, after discovering that he is not 
 hurt, is his horse's four legs waving 
 aimlessly about in the air. Hounds are 
 still racing away in front, and putting a 
 
WITH DRA GHO UNDS. 63 
 
 longer distance than ever between them- 
 selves and the nearest of the horsemen. 
 There Is no baffling of scent to contend with 
 here, and nothing that need hold their noses 
 down for a second ; all they have to do is 
 to gallop ! Now we begin to rise a slight 
 hill, which rapidly brings our leader's flashy, 
 non-staying weed, back to us, and a stiff- 
 built, powerful little chestnut, who has been 
 plodding doggedly along In the rear of the 
 first flight. Immediately goes to the head of 
 affairs. On the summit of the incline we 
 are confronted by a forbidding looking, 
 stubbly hedge, which the gallant chestnut 
 at once proceeds to tackle. Judiciously 
 taking a slight pull at him, his rider catches 
 him hard by the head and sends him at the 
 weakest place. Well, there Isn't fmcch to 
 spare, but he gets to the other side '' all 
 standing ! " Three others get over In 
 safety, but the severity of the pace has 
 
64 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 been too much for the rest, most of whom 
 either fall or decline the business alto- 
 gether. 
 
 At a reduced pace, we go on over the 
 next field, and then, turning right-handed, 
 descend a long piece of stubble, jump a 
 low rail, and heave in sight of the one 
 obstacle that now divides us from the ever- 
 welcome '' check." This said obstacle is 
 a formidable-looking brook, about sixteen 
 feet of open water. We are going to it 
 downhill, so are not afraid to push our 
 somewhat blown horses to an increased 
 pace as we approach it. The first man 
 gets over, the second comes clean in, the 
 third succeeds, with a flourish and one 
 hind leg dropped in, and the next two 
 refuse point blank. Hounds have already 
 stopped where the drag has been lifted, 
 and, puffing and panting, we slip off our 
 horses, who, with heads down, flanks 
 
WITH DRA GHO UNDS. 65 
 
 heaving, and tails distended, are only too 
 thankful for the breather. Some minutes 
 elapse before the first of the stragglers 
 appears over the brow of the hill ; the hoof- 
 marks on the wet ground, and — shall we 
 confess it ? — the ominous gaps, here and 
 there, in the fences, have effectually marked 
 our track, and shown him the way we came. 
 Seeing hounds at a standstill, he, like a 
 wise man, declines the brook, and crosses 
 by the little low bridge, higher up the 
 stream. Some half-dozen more eventually 
 arrive ; the rest have either given it up, or 
 the line has proved a '' stopper" for them. 
 Refreshed by the halt, hounds are slowly 
 moved off again. We jog along half a 
 mile of road, and then, turning in at a gate, 
 start across a big bit of pasture, rather 
 holding, but splendid going for all that. 
 We are bearing away to the left now, and 
 the first thing that bars our progress is a 
 
 F 
 
6 6 CR OSS CO UNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 real stiff quickset, something that you 
 instinctively rise in your stirrups to have a 
 look over, directly you come within range. 
 " Nothing the other side," we murmur to 
 ourselves, thankfully, and then Number One 
 crams his hat down on his head and 
 charges it. Number One may have meant 
 to p^et over it, but Number One's horse dis- 
 tinctly didn't! His refusal causes the 
 next man's animal to whip round, too, and 
 then one old hunter, fired all round, and 
 who couldn't trot on the hard road to save 
 his life, cocks his ears forward and gallops 
 right between the refusers, topping the 
 hedge in splendid style ; with his lead, 
 two more get over, and are soon joined on 
 the far side by most of the others, who 
 have galloped up the hedgerow to an open 
 gate. Surmounting an easy flight of hurdles, 
 we find ourselves in a field which gives us 
 the choice, by way of egress, of a high hog- 
 
WITH DRA GHO UNDS. 67 
 
 backed stile, a five-barred gate, and a rasp- 
 ing blackthorn hedge. One man goes for the 
 gate, but, unfortunately, the gate retaliates 
 and ''goes for" him, turning him over in 
 real business-like fashion. Nobody seems 
 to fancy the stile, but one adventurous 
 sportsman comes at the blackthorn at 
 about forty miles an hour ; neither he nor 
 his horse see a stiff rail that is run through 
 it, and which catches the latter's near hind 
 leg, with the effect of hanging them up, 
 struggling head downwards, for several 
 seconds, until the timber snaps across and 
 lets them into the next field '' knees and 
 nose." However, it has tunnelled a way 
 through for the rest, who follow without a 
 moment's delay. 
 
 Then come three or four enjoyable, 
 breakable fences ; the grass here Is all 
 sound going, and the pace a racing one. 
 An open ditch looms in sight ; down we 
 
68 CJ^OSS CO UNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 go at it ! It is a big one ! Two men are 
 racing for the honour of being first at it, 
 and charge it almost abreast ; result, one 
 in, the other over. Following them much 
 too closely, the next — a youth who labours 
 under the delusion that he can ride — un- 
 able to pull up, literally jumps ditch, horse 
 and man together, and after landing safely, 
 promptly falls over his horse's head, and 
 takes up a position on his back, admi- 
 rably adapted to the study of astronomy. 
 '' Thank goodness he' s down," murmurs 
 an old hand, as he lets in the Latchfords 
 and clears the obstacle in safety. ^' I 
 never feel my neck's safe with that young 
 ass careering all over the place ! " Three 
 others get over, and then we sit down in 
 our saddles to make the best of our way to 
 where the pack have already finished the 
 spin. A flight of hurdles and an unsub- 
 stantial rail, which is chested and smashed 
 
WITH DRA GHO UNDS. 69 
 
 by the foremost horse, brings us to our 
 journey's end. 
 
 The huntsman, leaving his smoking 
 steed to take care of himself — he won't 
 stray very far after this, depend on it ! — 
 fetches the paunch from the runner's cart, 
 and, after a blast or two on the horn, dis- 
 tributes the spoil. Whilst the hounds 
 devour it, we light our cigars and look out 
 for the stragglers. We, who happen to 
 have had the best of the luck to-day, are, 
 of course, feeling an inward superiority to 
 the rest of mankind, that we wouldn't part 
 with for a five-pound note ! Here comes 
 one man with a dirty coat, talking to 
 another who has broken a stirrup leather. 
 Why, it's our friend Shortemper, chatting 
 in most amicable fashion with Mr. Eager ! 
 They are fastest of friends again, and now 
 the latter takes one of the gallant captain's 
 proffered Cabanas. They are overtaken by 
 
70 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 a riderless horse, whose bridle has broken 
 and come off. His groom, who has just 
 appeared on the scene, will have an ex- 
 citing, if laborious, half-hour's work before 
 catching him. Three more closely follow, 
 each explaining that had he been on some- 
 thingdse he would have finished some7£^^^r^ 
 else. Then, in the far distance, appears a 
 man leading his horse, which has broken 
 down in front. We don't wait any longer, 
 but with a cheery ''Good-night!" jog 
 quietly off, on our respective homeward 
 journeys, each hugging himself with the 
 idea that he, individually, has had a bit the 
 best of it, and mentally resolving that his 
 particular horse is ''worth his weight in 
 gold." Next time we go out we shall pro- 
 bably get " pounded " at something or 
 other, and then say that we would " sell 
 him for a tenner ! " Such is Hfe, and such 
 are the ways of hunting men ! 
 
WITH DRA GHO UNDS. 7 1 
 
 The rustics, who congregate round the 
 jumps, are a terrible nuisance sometimes, 
 with their shouting and yelhng, enough 
 to make any young or nervous horse ''turn 
 it up " at once. Then, when he has satis- 
 factorily brought about the refusal, Chaw- 
 bacon is thoroughly delighted, and indulges 
 in unlimited derision. I remember a scene 
 of the kind at a big brook once. "' You'll 
 fall in, gov'ner," shrieked the yokel, grin- 
 ning all round the back of his head at his 
 own witticism. " Yes, I should if it was 
 anything like as big as your mouth is," 
 was the prompt reply, and thereupon did 
 the said yokel " curl up " and retire, 
 amidst the merciless laughter of the crowd. 
 They are ever too ready, also, to block up 
 every practicable place in a fence with their 
 unwelcome presence, and to increase the 
 size of a jump whenever it lies in their 
 power so to do. 
 
72 CJ^OSS COUNTR V REAIINISCENCES, 
 
 Draghunting, at its worst, is a very plea- 
 sant substitute for the real thing, and in 
 case no pack of regular hounds is within 
 reach, or where the country is a bad one, 
 it is especially acceptable. In a country 
 that is bad for natural hounds, you may 
 often get a small Leicestershire, by means 
 of the human runner, who, of course, es- 
 chews the plough, and takes every bit of 
 grass land possible. He also has the option 
 of the fences, and can choose those only 
 with a fair take off and no traps. Then, 
 again, in a "' wired " district, the track 
 being known beforehand, the little white 
 flags give you friendly warning of where 
 you may dispense with the '' nippers," and 
 jump with comparative safety. The worst 
 part of the whole business seems to me to 
 lie in the harm it undoubtedly does the 
 horses, on account of the butchering way 
 they have to be ridden. Big fence after 
 
WITH DRA GHO UNDS. 78 
 
 big fence has to be faced, at a pace more 
 like racing than hunting, and I have seen 
 countless good horses turn cowards after a 
 season of this work. Indeed, I cannot call 
 to mind a single animal that w^as ever any 
 use for the game after his third season at 
 it. To those who argue that it is no worse 
 than steeplechasing for them, I would say 
 that the steeplechase horse rarely has to 
 gallop more than three miles over fences, 
 and also that he is not called upon, as a 
 rule, to do this, anything like twice a week 
 throughout the season. To my mind, 
 the best of all mounts, for this sport, is a 
 steeplechaser who has got a bit too slow to 
 win races, but has, with that very slowness, 
 become pleasant and temperate at his 
 fences ; he has the pace to keep in front 
 without distressing himself, and can cover 
 plenty of ground at his leaps. If, however^ 
 you must choose between a slow horse that 
 
74 CJ^OSS CO UNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 is a certainty at his fences, or one with any 
 amount of speed, but an unreliable jumper, 
 don't hesitate a moment, but take the 
 former by all manner of means. As a 
 general rule, there is so much jumping to 
 be done, in this style of riding to hounds, 
 that refusals are too serious to be compen- 
 sated for by mere speed on the fiat. There 
 is no better school for getting a steeple- 
 chaser fit to run, and giving him some 
 jumping practice at the same time. Talk- 
 ing of that subject reminds me of a spin I 
 once rode in with Draghounds, when we had 
 some 'top-sawyers," in the steeplechasing 
 way, forming the major part of the starters, 
 and for " quality " in the riding line, I have 
 only to mention that, included in the twelve 
 or fifteen who composed the field, were Mr. 
 W. H. Moore, Mr. Harry Beasley, and 
 another less known but quite as able a gen- 
 tleman rider ; John Jones and Arthur Hall, 
 
WITH DRA GHO UNDS. 7 5 
 
 the Epsom steeplechase professionals, I 
 think C. Lawrence, one of the ablest of cross- 
 country jockeys, and two or three more of the 
 same type, whose names have escaped my 
 memory. I don't think there was one there 
 who had not ridden in silk ! That field was 
 a comparatively safe one to ride in. No 
 fear of Inexperience jumping on top of you 
 there! I have seen a man, off his horse 
 on the top of a bank, the animal being 
 fairly bogged in the adjoining open ditch, 
 have his velvet cap (he was hunting the 
 hounds) taken off by the next man, who 
 almost jumped over him ! That sort of 
 thing is just a little too exciting for peace- 
 ful enjoyment ! I myself have been knocked 
 almost out of the saddle by an impetuous 
 youth, who just missed jumping on top of 
 me, by a miracle. It afforded me, I am 
 bound to confess, a calm and tranquil satis- 
 faction to see that the result was an '^ im- 
 
76 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 perial crowner " for the aggressor, who so 
 humbly apologized, however, that I relented 
 and caught his horse for him ! It really 
 was too close a thing to be pleasant. I lost 
 one stirrup iron, and was shunted so far out 
 of the saddle that I had to hang on, like a 
 fly to a ceiling, half over the next field. 
 
 Very few of the fair sex, as may be 
 imagined, come out with draghounds, and 
 I think they are wise. Still, the few I have 
 seen go with them at all, have gone right 
 gallantly. One in especial, whom I had the 
 honour of piloting throughout one season, I 
 once saw jump an obstacle of mixed timber 
 and *' quick," over five feet in height, with 
 a drop on the other side, on a cob that 
 could walk under the standard at 14.3. 
 
 Nothing puts a man out of conceit with 
 himself so much as going with these hounds. 
 The best of jumpers will occasionally re- 
 fuse, or fall, going the pace they do over 
 
WITH DRA GHO UNDS. 11 
 
 what is, practically, an unprepared steeple- 
 chase course. Then it is that the men 
 who secretly hug themselves with the idea 
 that they '^ can get to hounds on any- 
 thing " — and their name is legion- -find 
 themselves so grievously humiliated. A 
 refusal, unless you can get your horse 
 round and over at the next attempt, is 
 almost as fatal to your chance here as it 
 would be in a steeplechase, and therefore 
 it continually happens that many of the 
 crack men out, find themselves lobbing in 
 at the finish, with the ruck. This, repeated 
 two or three times, will convince a man 
 that, ride he ''never so wisely," he is but 
 mortal after all ! 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 WITH HARRIERS. 
 
 No better example of how harriers should 
 be handled could be found than in Mr. 
 Fellowes's celebrated pack, the Shotes- 
 ham, near Norwich. A good banking 
 country, plenty of hares, friendly land- 
 owners, an unusually smart, lot of hounds, 
 and, above all, Mr. Fellowes himself, 
 constitute an amalgam of attraction for the 
 hound-lover, not often to be met with. Some 
 of the hares here, run like foxes, and give 
 just as good sport. An ideal huntsman. 
 
WITH HARRIERS. 79 
 
 the Master still slips over a country in 
 wonderful fashion, not, truly, as of yore, 
 when he was wont to make the hardest of 
 them cry '^ enough " in the grass countries, 
 but riding slowly at everything, never hurry- 
 ing, but always being there ! 
 
 Well do I mind me of my first introduc- 
 tion to this pack. I was young, on a 
 strange horse — such a beast ! — and had 
 never ridden in a banking country before. 
 Consequently, when my mount persistently 
 declined to fly the obstacles, my supreme 
 ignorance prompted me — never dreaming 
 that banking should be done slowly I — to 
 ram him at everything at forty-miles-an- 
 hour pace. The result was, of course, 
 inevitable ! Over we all came in the most 
 approved fashion — unluckily for me, horse 
 being on top ! — and by the time I re- 
 covered enough of my senses to know one 
 end of the animal from the other, the 
 
80 CROSS CO UNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 hounds must have been about a mile this 
 side of the North Pole ! 
 
 In spite of Mr. Jorrocks's severe remark 
 that '' I never sees a man a-trudgin' along a 
 turnpike with a thick stick in 'is 'and and 
 a pipe in 'is mouth, but I says to myself, 
 ' There goes a man well mounted for 
 'arriers ' " — there is no better school, from 
 a really hunting point of view, for young- 
 sters than this. Here they can pick up 
 the method of hunting, the canons of that 
 great mystery, scent, and such invaluable 
 things as not pressing hounds, and being 
 patient under all circumstances, far better 
 than they could acquire them with more 
 rapidly working packs, because time Is 
 given them to see, and w^ork things out for 
 themselves. Again, after a man passes 
 that time of life when other hounds go a 
 bit too fast for him, I venture to say that 
 no pleasure in this way is greater than 
 
WITH HARRIERS. 81 
 
 watching harriers at their work. Do not let 
 It be supposed, for a moment, that I would 
 relegate harriers to those, In either their 
 first, or second childhood. Such a thought 
 is far from my mind ; still I presume there 
 are few men the sunny side of fifty, who 
 would prefer a day with them, to a spin 
 with foxhounds. Hares will run rings for 
 the most part, though here and there you 
 do get a straight-necked one — still, it must 
 be confessed, these latter are rather the 
 exception than the rule. The present 
 huntsman of Mr. Lubbock's harriers, the 
 redoubtable ''Jack," will tell you that a 
 Kentish hare, capable of standing fifty 
 minutes or an hour, before hounds, Is no 
 uncommon thing, and the pack has for 
 many years shown excellent sport In a 
 rather bad country, both In rts present 
 ownership and when kept by that sterling 
 sportsman, Mr. George Russell, of Plum- 
 
 G 
 
82 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Stead, to whom, with his equally well-known 
 brothers, hunting men in West Kent owe 
 so much. 
 
 There is one thing we are all rather apt to 
 overlook, and that is, that farmers are much 
 more sorely tried by harriers, than by any 
 other hounds. In the nature of things, the 
 former will often cross and recross a field, 
 perhaps of seeds, roots, or wheat, a dozen 
 times, where the latter traverse it but once. 
 For this reason we ought to be doubly 
 careful of the way we ride, so as to do as 
 little damage as possible. For the enthu- 
 siastic schoolboy, magnificent opportunities 
 are lavishly given for jumping unnecessary 
 fences, a performance that he can execute 
 with the consoling reflection, that, after he 
 has consistently fallen off at each, there 
 will be plenty of time for him to resume the 
 perpendicular before hounds have got very 
 far away. 
 
WITH HARRIERS, 83 
 
 In drawing for a hare, not only do the 
 hounds scatter widely, but the field is also 
 supposed to transform itself into an auxiliary 
 pack and assist. In spite of all endeavours 
 to '' rouse him," however, I am quite confi- 
 dent that many a hare has been literally 
 walked over, and never put up, so closely do 
 they lie. Generally speaking, these hounds 
 do not hunt a hedgerow as thoroughly as 
 they should ; if they do, they usually put in 
 a little rabbiting on their own account, 
 which is distinctly not in the programme. 
 I have seen it suggested, somewhere, that 
 terriers might be used for this purpose, 
 but while agreeing that they would do the 
 work better, I fear that trouble would arise 
 from the quarrelsome nature of harriers, and 
 there would also be some difficulty in getting 
 terriers to keep up with them when they 
 run. The experiment of hunting hare with 
 foxhounds is a failure ; they have too much 
 
84 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 dash and are too impetuous for the work. 
 A harrier's greatest virtue is patience, and 
 an abiHty to hunt without human assistance. 
 It must have struck many how strangely 
 ahke a hare and a bagged fox will run, the 
 latter not knowing the country, and perhaps 
 his having been some time in captivity 
 accounts for this, and for choice, a pack 
 of harriers would give much better sport 
 with such a quarry than a pack of foxhounds. 
 Not that I would venture to insinuate that 
 my readers are likely to indulge in such a 
 mongrel entertainment as hunting a bagman. 
 A tom-cat would generally give about as 
 much sport ! 
 
 I do not think I have ever been out with 
 half a dozen different packs of harriers in 
 my life, although I have acted as whip to 
 two, and I frankly confess that I should 
 take them only when other hounds are not 
 within reach. To me, the most interesting 
 
WITH HARRIERS. 85 
 
 incident which ever occurred, in connection 
 with harriers, was when a great friend of 
 mind put his horse at a fence, fell clean 
 over it, and came down on his nose. Upon 
 rising to his feet and rubbing the offended 
 organ with rueful countenance, he was 
 greeted with this consoling remark from 
 the irate owner of the field into which he 
 had so unfortunately landed, '' Get out o' 
 this, will 'ee ? Ware wheat then ! " '' And 
 considering," said the unhappy victim to 
 me, afterwards, '' that all I'd done to his 
 beastly wheat was to plough it up with 
 my nose, I think it ivas rather rough upon 
 me!" 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 STEEPLECHASING AND HURDLE-RACING. 
 
 For '' pretty " sport, one might go a long 
 way before being able to beat the sight 
 of half a dozen crack steeplechase horses 
 sweeping down, almost abreast, at one of 
 their jumps. To hear the quick thunder 
 of the hoofs, the hard breathing of the 
 horses, mingled with the hard swear — I 
 mean, speaking — of the riders, is enough 
 to make the blood stir and tingle in any 
 human being, except, perhaps, the '' pro- 
 fessional beauty," who I once saw, at Good- 
 wood, deliberately put up her sunshade and 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 87 
 
 turn her back on the finish of a race ! 
 Most decent riders to hounds entertain 
 the curious Idea that they are well fitted 
 to ride In steeplechases. As far as the 
 fencing Is concerned, they are doubtless 
 not far wrong, but a good deal more than 
 that Is wanted In order to become a success- 
 ful pilot '' between the flags." Judgment 
 of pace, and that Indescribable something 
 known as " hands," which I always think 
 means a sort of Intuitive perception of what 
 your horse Is doing, and what nature of 
 assistance. If any, he stands in need of 
 from his rider, a feeling which Is, or ought 
 to be. Instinct in the fingers. True that 
 the hunting man should know these things, 
 but the jockey viiist. Then again the tricks 
 — I use the word in its best sense — of race- 
 riding, the use of the whip with either hand, 
 and above all the iron nerve and cool calcu- 
 lating head, are not given to many a man who 
 
88 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 can, and does, go right well at the tail of a 
 pack of hounds. In hurdle-racing I think 
 there is even more in jockeyship, and the 
 clever way in which men like Mr, E. P. 
 Wilson will half jump, half rush a horse 
 over the obstacles, must have been noticed 
 by all observant race-goers. A steeplechase 
 rider should always be a strong man on 
 a horse, and this by no means depends on 
 whether he is a powerfully-built man, in 
 reality. Plenty of men of wretched physique, 
 light and weedy in appearance, would not 
 be in the least distressed, and would be 
 well able to hold a big, awkward horse 
 together, at the finish of a three or four mile 
 steeplechase, where the more stoutly made 
 one would be rolling about helplessly in his 
 saddle, unable to get an ounce out of his 
 mount. Being pow^erful on a horse seems 
 to be a happy combination of hands, good 
 condition, courage, and general " knack.'* 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 89 
 
 Never shall I forget the finish of a two and 
 a half mile steeplechase in which I was 
 riding, and where the race was fairly thrown 
 away by the inexperienced jockey of the 
 second. He was helplessly endeavouring 
 to use his whip, letting his horse at the 
 same time, sprawl all over the course, and 
 with his mount going twice as fast as the 
 winner, he was beaten a short head ! Had 
 he taken example by his conqueror's de- 
 meanour — an experienced jockey, who sat 
 as still as a mouse, merely riding his 
 horse with his hands — he must have won 
 by many a length ! The best thing for the 
 amateur to do is to train himself. He requires 
 it, just as much as the animal he is going 
 to ride. This was the plan adopted by 
 Lord Manners in 1882 when he won the 
 Grand National at Liverpool, on Seaman, 
 by a head, after a desperate finish with Mr. 
 Tom Beasley on Cyrus. Where would he 
 
90 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES, 
 
 have been had be not been as fit as he 
 was ? The verdict iniist have been reversed, 
 and victory would have rested with his more 
 practised opponent, over such along, trying 
 course. This win, by the way, must have 
 been very galling to the owners of the 
 second, considering that they had sold the 
 winner, not long previously, out of their 
 own stable. 
 
 The '* gentlemen " have more than held 
 their own against the professionals, in this 
 greatest of cross-country contests, during 
 the past few years. Mr. '' Thomas," with 
 Anatis, The Lamb, and Pathfinder ; Mr. T. 
 Beasley, with Empress and Woodbrook, a 
 reputed roarer ; Lord Manners on Seaman ; 
 Mr. J. M. Richardson, with a brace in con- 
 secutive years. Disturbance — Commotion's 
 best son — and Reugny ; Mr. E. P. Wilson, 
 with Voluptuary and the ill-tempered 
 Roquefort ; Mr. F. G. Hobson, with one 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 91 
 
 of the best horses that ever won, Austerlltz ; 
 and Count Kinsky on Zoedone, all occur to 
 the mind. 
 
 The innovation of the open ditch has not 
 found favour on the part of owners and 
 riders, and either with or without the guard 
 rail, I cannot regard It as being anything 
 like what Its advocates claim for It : a fair 
 hunting jump. Going at It at the pace 
 they do, steeplechase horses are very liable 
 to gallop almost Into It before they see it at 
 all, and I remember some time back at San- 
 down Park standing beside an open ditch 
 without a rail, and seeing a horse literally 
 gallop Into It, and disappear from view ! 
 Things are better now, it Is true, In that the 
 ditches are made shallow, Instead of deep, 
 but anyhow, to take these jumps at racing 
 pace is a proceeding fraught with danger, and 
 It is difficult to see what useful purpose can be 
 served by retaining them. Most men found 
 
92 C/^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 quite sufficient excitement In steeplechase 
 riding without these " open graves," and I, 
 for one, should be glad to see them abol- 
 ished, and a '' double " substituted. Should 
 these lines catch the eye of any of the 
 merry little party who went down to Esher, 
 to ride at the first steeplechase meeting 
 there, I wonder If he will remember the 
 cheerful observation of one of the officials, 
 who Informed us, with great gusto, that '' a 
 surgeon was In readiness at the stand, and 
 an ambulance waggon would be in attend- 
 ance, in case " It was well meant, no 
 
 doubt ; still it takes a somewhat keen sense 
 of humour on the part of jockeys about 
 to ride to appreciate the unconsciously 
 grim joke of the thing, at the time. 
 
 Mention of this excellently conducted 
 meeting reminds one of the sad death 
 of poor Mr. Greville Nugent ('' Mr. St. 
 James"), one of the pluckiest and best 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC, 93 
 
 of cross-country riders. Many of us re- 
 member how, on one occasion, in ridinof 
 Melita, he broke his leg against a post, but 
 persevered to the end of the race, in the 
 gamest fashion, and was only just beaten 
 into second place at the finish. If there 
 be any such thing, in reality, as luck, poor 
 Greville Nugent had the cruellest, in his 
 last fall. Riding in a Selling steeplechase, 
 he came down, quite clear of his horse, 
 Longford, and was rising unhurt from the 
 ground, when a horse struck him with his 
 forefoot, right on the base of the skull, and 
 killed him. He was '' all heart and no 
 peel " with a vengeance ! I believe he 
 never turned the scale at eight stone in his 
 life. 
 
 Provided that a man does not fall on his 
 head, there does not seem much fear of 
 serious injury in this sport, except from 
 the horse. Very few men get hurt if they 
 
94 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 can keep clear of their own and other 
 people's horses ; in not being able to do 
 so, undoubtedly, lies the danger. To find 
 one's-self down, with an animal on top of 
 one, is an extremely trying situation ! Some 
 years ago a steeplechase horse fell and 
 then rolled completely over me, without 
 breaking a bone. '' Not a bad get off," 
 thought I to myself afterwards, and with 
 the exception of being severely cut about 
 the head and one leg, and having a general 
 vague idea that someone had been amusing 
 himself by passing the garden roller over 
 my much flattened carcase, I sustained no 
 hurt at all. A capital plan it is — when 
 practicable — to immediately cover your 
 head and face with your arms, so as to 
 escape injury, as far as may be, there. 
 
 There would be fewer bad falls if men, 
 when they find their horses hopelessly 
 beaten, would have the moral courage to 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 95 
 
 pull them up, and not persevere. I know 
 that the jeers of even the ignorant jack- 
 asses who hardly know a horse from a cow, 
 and certainly have no clear perception of 
 whether an animal is '^ done " or not, are not 
 pleasant to bear, but surely it is preferable 
 to thus run the gauntlet, than to cruelly press 
 your horse and endanger your own neck ? 
 Young Goodwin probably lost his life 
 through driving a blown horse at a fence, 
 instead of ceasing to persevere, able and 
 steady horseman as he was. Poor fellow ! 
 he lay for eleven or twelve days in the 
 Grand Stand at Sandown, without moving 
 a muscle, before he died. One cannot 
 help admiration for his pluck, but cui bono ? 
 Of course, it is different to hunting ; other 
 people's money and other people's interests 
 are concerned, and all must have weight 
 with the rider. Now, in hunting, when a 
 horse is beaten, it is sheer brutahty to 
 
96 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 butcher him along after his sobbing sides 
 have plainly told you the tale of his dis- 
 tress ; nothing is involved except his 
 rider's pleasure, and if the rider can get 
 ''pleasure" out of his good horse's suffer- 
 ings, I do not think the community would 
 be the losers if he did break his neck ! 
 
 About as unpleasant a ride as a man can 
 have, fell to my lot some time since, and 
 thinking of it always brings a laugh up 
 again, though I somehow failed to appre- 
 ciate the joke at the time. It was in a 
 Maiden steeplechase, and the day was 
 more than diabolical. Snow was falling 
 slightly, half the course was frozen and 
 the other half '' slush " ; still, by laying 
 straw, &c., on the landing side of the 
 jumps, racing was considered practicable 
 — by the stewards, who didn't have to ride. 
 Shivering down to the post in thin silk 
 jackets, with numb, blue fingers and — by 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 97 
 
 way of pleasing contrast — red noses, we 
 waited about for the starter, who had ap- 
 parently been mislaid. By the time this 
 important functionary turned up (wiping 
 his mouth with the back of his hand, and 
 smelling suspiciously of cloves !) horses' 
 coats were all sticking up the wrong way, 
 and I am afraid the riders' tempers were 
 all '' sticking up the wrong way," too ! 
 However, at last we did get off, and down 
 to the first fence, where every horse in the 
 field refused. I was lucky enough to get 
 mine over first, and went on with a long 
 lead. Jumping the fence on the far side, 
 my hair fairly stood on end to see that a 
 plough had been left, with grossest care- 
 lessness, so close that we landed within a 
 yard of it ! I managed to keep my 
 mount in front till over the final obstacle, 
 and from that point to the finish I had, 
 perhaps, as hard work — physically, I mean 
 
 H 
 
98 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 — as It would be possible to compress 
 Into the time. My horse was one of the 
 slow, staying sort, but game as a pebble ; 
 the finish was up a stiff hill, and the only 
 man I had to beat almost lying on me. 
 I dared not use my whip, and all I could 
 do was to sit down and drive him home to 
 the best of my ability. By the time I got 
 there (just a short head In front) I was not 
 inclined to complain of the cold ; rather 
 was I requiring to be pegged up on a 
 clothes line, and hung out to dry ! 
 
 It Is only since commencing this chapter 
 that poor Fred Archer's brief span of Hfe has 
 come to a tragic close. He was a wonder- 
 ful example of a weakly man on foot, but 
 perhaps the most powerful jockey ever seen 
 on a horse, not even excepting Custance, a 
 really splendid cross-country rider, by the 
 way. In connection with Archer, I remem- 
 ber well that Derby day in 1877, when the 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 99 
 
 horses galloped past me, as I stood at the 
 Paddock gate. The race was over, and I 
 called to the great jockey to know who had 
 won. White as death, he pointed to him- 
 self, indicating, as he swept past, that he 
 was too breathless to speak. Directly he 
 pulled his horse up (Silvio), he turned and, 
 addressing me, said, " I've won." I asked 
 '' How far ? " and he replied '' A head or a 
 neck, I think," and then rode back to scale. 
 It was his first Blue Riband win, and gained, 
 most fittingly, in the colours of the man 
 who had made his fortunes, more than any- 
 one else. Lord Falmouth. A tragic and 
 curious circumstance in connection with 
 this incident is, that, of the friend I was with 
 that day, Archer, and myself, all three com- 
 paratively young men, the premier jockey 
 and my unfortunate friend have since died, 
 both by their own hands, and both by 
 bullet wounds. 
 
100 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Asking my reader's pardon for this some- 
 what gloomy digression, I turn to the 
 subject of education. Don't shudder; I do 
 not intend by that expression to mean the 
 discussion of School Board statistics ; I 
 refer to the kind of education that converted 
 Emblem, Lord Coventry's famous mare, 
 from a bad refuser, into a winner of the 
 Liverpool. I do not think a more striking 
 instance of the efficacy of this education 
 can be found, than in calling to mind the 
 very recent case of Voluptuary. Mr. E. P. 
 Wilson bought this horse, at a sale of 
 ''rubbish" by Lord Rosebery, for the sum 
 of ^^150. The sale was effected during the 
 second October meeting at Newmarket, and 
 the following March, starting at a very 
 remunerative price, the son of Cremorne 
 negotiated the big course without putting a 
 foot wrong, and won easily, Mr Wilson 
 himself being in the saddle. '' Quick horse 
 
STEEFLECHASING, ETC. lOJ 
 
 and clever teacher," In this case ; and I do 
 not think there are many instances on 
 record to beat it. Mr. Garrett Moore, 1 
 remember, effected a marvellous improve- 
 ment, some years since, with the savage 
 Furley. Furley, a nice-looking colt by 
 Honiton, I saw win the big steeplechase at 
 Croydon, when he was five years old, Mr. 
 J. M. Richardson up. At that time the 
 horse jumped freely and well, but soon 
 after he turned a perfect '' pig/' and would 
 not look at his fences. A little later, he 
 passed into the hands of the redoubtable 
 " Garry," and, somehow or another, he 
 effected quite a reformation with him ; 
 he came out afterwards, and won several 
 steeplechases, amongst them the big race 
 at Croydon again, this time ridden by his 
 trainer. He had not to do much on this 
 occasion, it is true, beyond standing up, but 
 that was more than seven out of his eight 
 
102 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 or nine opponents could manage, in conse- 
 quence of the awful condition of the course. 
 Two very unpromising things to make 
 first-class steeplechasers, judging by their 
 initiatory performances, were the famous 
 sisters, Emblem and Emblematic, both sub- 
 sequently Grand National winners. One, I 
 forget which, declined to jump even a little 
 ditch, and always walked into it, only to be 
 driven out again by a man with a whip ! 
 To put it mildly, this was not a cheerful 
 beginning, yet we see what judicious educa- 
 tion made of them. Congress, who was 
 afterwards one of the finest jumpers ever 
 seen on a race course, had to be pulled over 
 his fences by men with cart ropes ; and it 
 was not until poor Sam Daniels' life had 
 been lost in schooling Thunder, that the big 
 chestnut would jump hurdles properly, 
 though he afterwards took to it kindly 
 enough. 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC, 103 
 
 Thoroughbred ones learn quickest, pace 
 that great authority Whyte-Melville, who 
 rather incHned to the opinion that they are 
 more troublesome to teach than the cock- 
 tails. The circus ring-masters think other- 
 wise, however, and for what are known as 
 trick horses they almost invariably go to the 
 racing stables. A few years back I was 
 strolling through Sanger's stables at Nor- 
 wich, when the ever popular and famous 
 show was visiting the Cathedral town, and 
 came across an old race-course friend, the 
 costly Somerset. I am afraid to trust my 
 memory to the extent of saying how many 
 thousands his owner was supposed to be 
 out of pocket over him altogether, but it 
 was something very large, and he passed 
 into Mr. Sanger's possession for twenty-six 
 guineas ! The poor old chap was looking 
 fat and well, though naturally minus the 
 bright, lustrous bloom I remember on him 
 
104 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 that Derby day when, with Custance up, he 
 ran very fast, but had had enough of it a 
 long way from home. 
 
 Most of our best horses on the flat are 
 gifted with good looks. Here and there 
 one finds the exception that proves the 
 rule, but casting a hurried glance back over 
 the '' giants " of recent years, we find that 
 such as Prince Charlie — fastest of '' milers " 
 — Cremorne, Doncaster, Marie Stuart, Ison- 
 omy, Petronel, Wheel of Fortune, Spring- 
 field, Peter, Bend Or, Robert the Devil, 
 Melton, Ormonde, and The Bard were, or 
 are, all handsome horses. Gladiateur was 
 certainly an exception to the rule, and a 
 good story is told of a friend of Mr. Tom 
 Jennings's, in connection with the Derby- 
 winner's appearance. Meeting the cele- 
 brated trainer one morning, the friend, 
 whom we will call A., said — 
 
 "Well, Tom, have you got any 'rips' 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 105 
 
 you want to get rid of, at about ^20, 
 that'll do to run in harness ? " 
 
 '' Yes, I have," said Jennings ; '' come 
 along in." 
 
 Having adjourned to the stables, they 
 entered a loose-box, and the trainer told 
 a boy to strip the horse standing in it. 
 
 " Oh, here, you know," said A., in tones 
 of deep disgust, ''you're not going to ask 
 me ^10 for that three-cornered-looking 
 brute? What's his name, boy?" 
 
 '' Gladiateur, sir ! " replied the astonished 
 youth. 
 
 However, although most good ones on 
 the flat are good-looking, the rule by no 
 means seems to apply to cross-country 
 performers ; and some of the best have 
 been "mean-looking little beggars," as a 
 famous jockey once described them. Casse- 
 Tete, who won the Grand National of 
 1872, was an under-sized, weak-looking 
 
106 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 little chestnut mare, but her stamina was 
 undeniable. Page, her jockey, however, 
 had to use his whip heavily to keep her 
 on her legs, coming over the last hurdles. 
 Lord Coventry's celebrated brace of win- 
 ners, Emblem and Emblematic, were very 
 mean-looking. Shifnal and Pathfinder 
 were a long way from handsome, and The 
 Lamb — grandest and gamest of steeple- 
 chasers — was little more than a pony. 
 
 Two of the most unlikely horses to win 
 steeplechases that I have ever had to do 
 with were The Crow, by Flying Dutchman, 
 and Lord Waldegrave, by Orlando, from 
 Marionette, by Stockwell. The former 
 carried me to hounds for a season, and a 
 better — provided one could hold him — no 
 man need wish for. Never did he turn his 
 head from anything if you would let him 
 have it at his own pace — about that of an 
 express train 1 — yet the horse could never 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 107 
 
 carry ten stone with comfort In his life ! 
 He would fairly bend under eleven, and yet 
 he won several steeplechases with upwards 
 of twelve stone on his back ; how, I never 
 could understand. Lord Waldegrave, who 
 accounted for, I think, sixteen of these 
 events, was a little crabbed-tempered horse, 
 as narrow as a knife, and apparently not 
 half big enough to gallop over a country, 
 carrying anything like weight. His habits 
 were very amusing, and one of his fixed 
 ideas was that he would never be Induced 
 to '' turn on the steam " in his three-mile 
 training gallops till we reached the final 
 bend for home ; from that point to the 
 finish — which he knew as well as I did — I 
 had to do all I knew to hold him. In the 
 early part of the journey, however, you 
 might hit him, spur him, kick him if you 
 liked, but never a jot did he alter from the 
 easy canter he was In. Another of his 
 
108 CROSS COUNTRY REMIMSCENCES. 
 
 peculiarities was that, in running, unless it 
 was " his day," no power on earth would 
 induce him to jump the first fence ; and 
 when he '' turned it up " there, and com- 
 menced a stately walk back to the paddock, 
 it was best to let him go without fighting 
 the point out. I never met the man that 
 could stop him. 
 
 Few men there are who went racing 
 much during the past decade, that do not 
 remember old Breach of Promise, who 
 came out as lame as a cat, and hobbled 
 down to the post like a bear on hot bricks 
 every time he ran, and yet the number of 
 steeplechases he won was surprising. 
 Robert I'Anson, to my mind the finest 
 professional cross-country rider I ever saw, 
 used generally to ride him in his races. 
 The famous jockey did not look much like 
 riding at racing weights last time I saw 
 him, on which occasion he was officiating 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 109 
 
 as starter at Redcar races. Blessed with 
 a fine frame, and no longer obliged to 
 reduce himself to ride, you look at him 
 and wonder how any man so big could 
 ever have donned silk ; yet not only was 
 he most successful in his calling, but, 
 considering the amount of riding that he 
 did, his allowance of falls was a remarkably 
 small one. He had a wonderful escape 
 when, in riding old Scarrington, at Croydon, 
 he, feeling the horse swaying about be- 
 neath him, threw himself off, only a few 
 seconds before the poor old slave came 
 crashing to the ground, stone dead. On 
 Sir George Chetwynd's Lord Clive, he had 
 a nasty spill in a hurdle race at Brighton, 
 and was carried into the stand considerably 
 more dead than alive. Still, on the whole, I 
 think he would agree with me that he has been 
 lucky in public, and what was probably his 
 worst fall, occurred on the schooling ground. 
 
110 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Taking into consideration all the chances 
 of steeplechase riding, it is really surprising 
 how little serious harm is done, year after 
 year. I confess that the views I held 
 at twenty {i.e., that steeplechase riding 
 was about on a par, as regards danger, with 
 travelling along in a goat-chaise) have 
 been modified. A horse falling at a 
 fence, and lying on top of me for some time, 
 induced a distinct and immediate altera- 
 tion of opinion, on that subject. Still, I 
 think it is not so dangerous as it looks, 
 especially if only old hands are riding. It 
 is from the youth, whose chief anxiety it is, 
 to know whether Tottie and Lottie are 
 looking at him from the stand, and who is 
 really riding excitedly and in a funk at one 
 and the same time, that the element of 
 danger comes. Should you, when going 
 in front, have a bit of ill-luck and come 
 down, be sure that it is this gentleman who 
 
STEEPLECHASINGy ETC. Ill 
 
 will land on top of you. If, in coming 
 over a fence, you suddenly feel a shock 
 which half knocks you out of the saddle, 
 causes you to lose a stirrup-iron, and makes 
 your horse stagger and pitch on his nose, 
 be satisfied that it is the same hopeful 
 being who has collided with you. If kind 
 fate ordains that he should get the worst 
 of the collision, and turn over, mentally 
 present an address of congratulation to 
 yourself and fellow-riders on the happy 
 event, for you will do the rest of the 
 journey in comparative safety. 
 
 Of handsome steeplechase horses — and 
 they run in all shapes, veritably — Congress 
 always struck me as one of the best. 
 He was a very unlucky horse in not taking 
 the highest of cross-country honours, as he 
 most assuredly deserved to do. Chandos, 
 again, was a splendid specimen of the 
 English thoroughbred, but it always oc- 
 
112 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 curred to me that hurdle-racing was more 
 in his line, than getting over a country, 
 despite his starting favourite for the Liver- 
 pool, won by Regal. He used to gallop 
 with his head tucked into his chest in a 
 way that suggested his not looking where 
 he was going, and that mostly means an 
 unsafe conveyance. As a hurdle-jumper, 
 however, he was facile princeps. 
 
 Another of the handsome division was 
 The Scot, a son of Blair Athol, who never 
 showed much form on the flat. He, how- 
 ever, developed into a jumper of the highest 
 class, and won the Great International 
 Steeplechase at Sandown, and the Great 
 Metropolitan at Croydon in 1 88 1 , carrying 
 big weights. H.R.H. the Prince of Wales 
 subsequently bought him, and, trained by 
 J. Jones, of Epsom, who also donned the 
 purple jacket, scarlet sleeves, and black 
 cap in the race, he started first favourite 
 
STEEPLECHASIJSiG, ETC, 113 
 
 for the Liverpool In 1884, but unluckily 
 came down, when going well. 
 
 The late Mr. Studd's Despatch was as 
 near a certainty at his fences as it was 
 possible to get, in spite of his being an 
 awful '^ star-gazer." What a lot of good 
 horses there were runnins^, about this horse's 
 time ! Disturbance, the winner of the Liver- 
 pool in 1873; Ryshworth, owned by Mr. 
 Henry Chaplin, whose connections thought 
 defeat impossible, and who was beaten for 
 speed at the finish of that race, just the 
 point where it was confidently anticipated 
 he would shine ; Snowstorm ; Scarrington, 
 whose death has been before alluded to, 
 and who should have won in '72 ; The 
 Lamb, w^ho once performed the feat of 
 jumping over no less than four prostrate 
 horses and riders at one fence ; old Scots 
 Grey, one of the grandest jumpers that 
 ever ran, and who, if my memory does not 
 
 I 
 
1 14 CROSS CO UNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 deceive me, kept on winning until he was 
 over fourteen years of age ; Marin ; Foot- 
 man ; Schiedam, whom, I believe, Mr. J. M. 
 Richardson considers the best he ever 
 rode ; Chimney Sweep, who fairly revelled 
 in jumping, and did not know how to 
 make a mistake ; Silvermere, a very useful 
 sort, in spite of being awfully '' dicky" in 
 front ; Master Mowbray ; Phryne, always 
 invincible at Cheltenham ; Royalist, on 
 those rare occasions when he condescended 
 to keep in the course, instead of bolting into 
 the adjoining parish ; Crawler ; Primrose ; 
 and last, but not least, Mr. Arthur Yates's 
 Harvester, winner of several good chases. 
 
 I never saw The Colonel — twice a winner 
 of this coveted prize — but have heard that 
 he was '' as good-looking as he was good." 
 He had '' h. b." written after his name, as 
 had Captain Machell's Hesper ; though the 
 latter never soared above hurdle-topping, he 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 115 
 
 was a grandly-built one, and could carry 
 lumps of weight at his own game. The 
 same remark applies to Lowlander, who, 
 with Hampton, was found far too valuable 
 for the ^' sticks," and taken back again 
 to the '"' legitimate " sport. Seeing the 
 sprinter, Lollipop, win his races always 
 caused me to think what a wonderful 
 chaser he should have made, and had the 
 Duke of Hamilton cared to turn the atten- 
 tion of this horse and Wild Tommy to 
 cross-country work, they would have been a 
 pair ''bad to beat" over any course. It 
 will be remembered what a remarkable 
 fight Wild Tommy made of it, in Petrarch's 
 St. Leger. Vigorously ridden by Custance, 
 he reached the winner's girths, and then his 
 neck, but could get no farther, and Lord 
 Clifden's son just got home, " all out." 
 Wild Tommy, Lowlander, and Lollipop 
 were, perhaps, three of the most powerful 
 
116 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 horses that have been seen on the turf for 
 years — 16 stone would not have troubled 
 either of them to carry to hounds. 
 
 For the generality of horses, I do think 
 our weights are a bit too heavy. In 
 the same way that the raising of the 
 weights on the flat, say to a 6st., Instead 
 of, as now, a 5st. 7lbs. minimum — 
 would be an unmixed blessing, so do I 
 think that at least ylbs. might be 
 taken off steeplechasing weights, mak- 
 ing the minimum here, 9st. ylbs. You 
 may own a remarkably smart horse, who 
 is put up In the handicap scale so much, 
 that, although he might stand a fair 
 chance of giving the weight away to the 
 rest, yet is not big and powerful enough to 
 carry I3st. or i3st. ylbs. three or four 
 miles across country, and then, as in many 
 cases, to race up a hill with It, to the finish. 
 In my opinion, nothing is gained by put- 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC, 117 
 
 ting these crushing weights on a horse, 
 and surely, if it be right for an animal ever 
 to carry them, then it would be for a com- 
 paratively short distance, on the flat, and 
 not when he has to lift them over big 
 jumps, at a time of the year when the 
 ground is almost invariably in a heavy 
 state, and under conditions which make 
 the course two miles in length, at the very 
 least. 
 
 Although instances are not wanting of 
 unlikely-bred ones taking kindly to jump- 
 ing^ there is no doubt that it '' runs in the 
 blood" in most cases. All the Solons and 
 the Uncas's, the Flash-in-the-Pans and The 
 Lawyers, seem to have the gift, and in such 
 a list we must not forget Xenophon and New 
 Oswestry. Lothario has got some good 
 chasers, and hunters to boot ; and here and 
 there — as with Industrious, winner of the 
 big hurdle race at Croydon, Sweet Gahn- 
 
118 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 gale, and The Scot — Blair Athol is repre- 
 sented between the flags in a favourable 
 light. Still, partial as I am to him, I 
 cannot put forward the latter sire as any- 
 thing like so famous in this way as most of 
 the others named. Roughly speaking, one 
 may say that all the Irish horses jump, 
 and probably for the very simple reason 
 that they are taught their business earlier 
 in life than our own. 
 
 With the abolition of the suburban race- 
 courses, very much that was ruffianly and 
 disgusting was swept away, though one 
 cannot help a sigh of regret for Bromley's 
 natural fences and running water, that had 
 to be negotiated in real hunter-like style. It 
 was on this course that one of the worst out- 
 rages ever committed took place, Charles 
 Lawrence the steeplechase rider being the 
 victim. I had the story from his own lips, and 
 feel that no excuse is needed for giving it 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 119 
 
 here. In this particular race, there were four 
 starters, and whilst going round the far 
 side, some miscreant hurled a brick, which 
 struck him full in the face, felling him like 
 an ox. " He might have saved himself 
 the trouble," said Lawrence, to me, in his 
 nice, quiet way; ''I was on the worst horse 
 of the four that started." Unhappily, the 
 scoundrel has never been discovered, from 
 that day to this. Had he been caught, 
 and handed over to the tender mercies of 
 the law, 'Svith any luck, and Hawkins up," 
 as they say, such an amount of retirement, 
 at the expense of a paternal Government, 
 would have been meted out to him, as would 
 have satisfied a very glutton. Once '' in," 
 he would certainly have been converted 
 into a ''stayer," by the sport-loving judge ! 
 Casse-Tete, Shifnal, Pathfinder, and 
 Zoedone may all be accounted a bit lucky, 
 in being returned winners of the Grand 
 
120 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 National, and it would be an easy thing to 
 name several others, of the same periods, 
 who never enjoyed the distinction, but yet 
 were infinitely more worthy of it: such, for 
 instance, as Harvester, Scarrington, Schie- 
 dam, Scots Grey, Mohican, Cyrus, Too 
 Good, Congress, and The Scot. 
 
 In Casse-Tete's year there was a regular 
 chapter of accidents. About half the 
 journey had been accomplished, when Prim- 
 rose fell, and Schiedam was brought to grief 
 by coming over on top of him. Mr. J. M. 
 Richardson, who was on the latter, was un- 
 hurt, but of course the contretemps put his 
 chance out, and soon after Mr. Arthur 
 Yates had to pull Harvester up, as the 
 horse cut his hind foot very severely, and 
 Scarrington seemed to be wall<ingin, when, 
 to I'Anson's unspeakable disappointment, 
 the old horse cut himself so badly at the 
 last hurdles, that he could do little more 
 
STEEFLECHASING, ETC. 121 
 
 than hobble past the post, and Casse-Tete 
 finished practically alone. 
 
 Shifnal had nothing much but '' crocks " 
 to beat when he won, and his victory is chiefly 
 pleasing for the fact that, by it, the name 
 of Eobert I'Anson was enrolled, as it thor- 
 oughly deserved to be, amongst the winning 
 riders of the cross-country Blue Riband. 
 
 Pathfinder, again, in '75, was opposed 
 by a poor field, and was certainly a long 
 way the worst of '' Mr. Thomas's " three 
 winners. Not long after riding in this, his 
 eighteenth Grand National, this gentleman, 
 a most resolute man on a horse, got a 
 horrible fall at Sandown, which affected his 
 sight, and, of course, he was never seen in 
 the saddle afterwards in public. 
 
 Zoedone, ridden by her owner, Count 
 Kinsky, a good man over a country, 
 plodded on and won in 1883, from the 
 smallest field on record. The mare could 
 
122 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES, 
 
 stay for ever — at her own pace ; but that is 
 not, as a rule, good enough for Liverpool, 
 and one wag suggested that she should be 
 started overnight. 
 
 At her next essay, the following year, the 
 mare blundered badly two or three times, 
 and finally fell. It was pretty generally 
 understood that some miscreant had got 
 at her whilst she was in the Paddock, just 
 before the race. 
 
 Of the brace of winners that Mr. J. M. 
 Richardson so brilliantly rode, Reugny was 
 not supposed to be nearly so good as Dis- 
 turbance. It must have been hard work to 
 get the former home at all ; he was so done, 
 that he went right through the final hurdles, 
 never rising an inch, and very nearly landing 
 on his head. 
 
 Many essays have been made, with 
 varying success, to win big steeplechases 
 with horses in the '^hunter " class. Eurotas, 
 invincible amongst the '^ certificated " divi- 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 123 
 
 slon, proved only a splendid failure, when 
 flying higher. Pathfinder and the Liver- 
 pool '^^6 hero, Old Joe, on the contrary, 
 were fully equal to the occasion. No 
 grander horse than The Sinner, by Barab- 
 bas, another hunter, has been seen on a 
 racecourse for many a year, and had he 
 been left in the Grand National of 1887, I 
 do not think list. lolbs. would have 
 checked his extraordinary career. I think 
 I am correct in saying that this horse was 
 ridden to hounds by a lady before Mr. Craig 
 had the good fortune to secure him and The 
 Gloamin for 600 guineas. I wonder what 
 would be his price now ! The strange thing 
 about him is, that he seems equally good 
 whether he is carrying Mr. Thirlwell on the 
 flat or across a country ; and as to weight, he 
 is so big and powerful that it seems to make 
 no difference to him at all. Withal, he is, I 
 am told on high authority, as easy to ride 
 as a pony. His race at Croydon, in March, 
 
124 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 '87, wherein he met the crack hunter, St. 
 Galmier, and conceding him weight, beat 
 him with ease, was a real treat to witness. 
 At the same time, Count Kinsky's horse is 
 by no means to be under-rated, and he 
 would undoubtedly have gone closer but 
 for making a serious blunder at the Farm- 
 house open ditch, and nearly coming down. 
 This obstacle Is really a very formidable 
 one, and if the Croydon Executive could 
 manage to soften Mr. BevIU's heart, on this 
 point, they would have a course, leaving 
 absolutely nothing to be desired. Mr. 
 George Lambton rode St. Galmler, and 
 although unsuccessful on him, decidedly 
 had all the best of the meeting In other re- 
 spects, winning the Grand International 
 Hurdle on his great fine mare Bellona, and 
 on the following day taking the Great Metro- 
 politan Steeplechase on Sir W. Throck- 
 morton's Phantom. He rode a brilliant 
 finish on each occasion, especially in the 
 
STEEPLECHASING, ETC. 125 
 
 hurdle race, when Bellona appeared to have 
 a bit the worst of it with Silver Sea, until 
 close home. 
 
 Prominent amongst cross-country horse- 
 men who have ceased practice recently 
 occur the names of Captain Arthur Smith 
 (better known as *' Doggy '' Smith), Mr. 
 J. M. Richardson, the Hon. Greville Nugent 
 ('' Mr. St. James"), Robert I'Anson, Lord 
 Melgund ("Mr. Roily"), Mr. Garrett 
 Moore, Mr. Arthur Yates, '' Mr. Thomas," 
 and one may include Mr. Arthur Coventry, 
 now that he has confined his attention to 
 flat racing. 
 
 Of those now riding, Mr. E. P. Wilson, 
 Hon. George Lambton, Mr. Brockton, Mr. 
 D. Thirlwell, James Adams, Jewitt, C. Law- 
 rence, Captains Owen and Lee Barber, the 
 whole family of Beasleys, Mr. W. H. Moore, 
 Skelton, Mr. C. L Cunningham, Sensier, 
 Barker, and '' Gus " Lowe must be named 
 as artists of the highest stamp. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CONDITIONING AND SCHOOLING. 
 
 Since the "summer at grass" system of 
 resting hunters has almost been numbered 
 with the things of the past, the question of 
 conditioning does not enter so largely into 
 the scheme of horse management as it did. 
 Coming up from grass, meant, in most cases, 
 a weak-looking neck, coupled with an in- 
 flated carcase to begin work upon : endless 
 physicking, and a very gently graduated 
 system of dietary, and months, or, at the 
 least, many weeks, before daring to give a 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOLING. 127 
 
 gallop of any kind. AH that is altered 
 now, and men at last recognize the para- 
 mount importance of never letting a horse 
 get out of condition. A roomy loose-box, 
 well ventilated and clean, with, perhaps, a 
 couple of hours' run in the day, in a pad- 
 dock, and about two feeds of corn, is the 
 way to summer hunters ; they are not 
 torn to pieces with the flies, and allowed to 
 get weak from want of corn, neither do 
 they knock their feet to pieces on the turf, 
 at a time of year when it is mostly as hard 
 as adamant. Then when you take them 
 up there is something to work upon ; they 
 are fat, clean on their legs, and all that is 
 needful is to get their wind clear, whereas 
 if they had been depending chiefly upon 
 grass for their sustenance, you would have 
 weakened, and, poor animals, have io fatten, 
 as well as train. 
 
 The first thing to be done when a horse 
 
128 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 is brought up is to get his coat off, if it is 
 at all a heavy one ; nothing is more weaken- 
 ing than for him to have a coat like a 
 blanket, to do his work in, nothing freshens 
 him up so much as clipping it off. Then 
 a mild dose of physic, such as a four- 
 drachm aloes ball, having, of course, pre- 
 viously prepared him for its reception by a 
 short course of bran mashes, &c., and when 
 quite over its effects, you can go to work 
 on him in earnest. Two hours a day 
 walking exercise for the first week will be 
 enough, and then some slow, steady canters, 
 gradually increasing in length, should be 
 added to the walking exercise. Never let 
 a horse get to his fullest speed, on any 
 account, whilst either conditioning for 
 hunting, or in training for steeplechasing. 
 Horses always run best when a bit above 
 themselves ; the leading trainers of the 
 day have long since recognized this, and 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOLING. 129 
 
 the consequence is that far fewer of the 
 dejected, hunted-to-death-looking wretches 
 that used to be seen in the saddHng pad- 
 docks of our racecourses, are visible now. 
 In short, the Chifney school theories have 
 been relegated to the '' forgotten limbo 
 of the past," and humanity and common 
 sense, joining hand-in-hand, have swept 
 away much that was harmful in the train- 
 ing stable, as they have practically smashed 
 up the blood-letting quackery that our un- 
 happy forefathers groaned under. Half-a- 
 dozen good rousing gallops for the con- 
 cluding week of your conditioning, and 
 your horse is fit to go. 
 
 As to the time occupied In getting a 
 horse fit, much, of course, must depend on 
 the individual temperament of the animal. If 
 he be of the light-fleshed sort, half the work 
 needful for the gross feeder will be sufficient 
 for him. Again, a horse that sweats very 
 
 K 
 
130 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 freely will usually ''come to hand" much 
 quicker than he of slower actioned skin. 
 Then, also, it depends a great deal upon the 
 condition you find him in to start with, and 
 also upon his peculiar constitution. No 
 hard and fast rule as to time could possibly 
 be laid down, but, roughly speaking, from 
 six weeks to two months ought to be long 
 enough to get the generality of horses fit 
 to go with hounds. 
 
 In schooling horses for jumping, whether 
 you want them for hunting or steeple- 
 chasing, no amount of time or patience 
 can be too much for the business. The 
 smaller the obstacle the better chance you 
 have of getting him over it, at first. I 
 have found that riding a horse over a farm, 
 walking him through gaps in hedges, leap- 
 ing little ditches, &c., is valuable by way 
 of introduction, and after that a small 
 obstacle made up of sharp, prickly gorse. 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOIING. 131 
 
 and not exceeding three feet in height, 
 will induce him — after, perhaps, once 
 blundering through it — to rise nicely at it, 
 as he will discover that his legs are not 
 proof against prickles ; if, however, he per- 
 sists in blundering again, have a stiff rail 
 run through it within a few inches of the 
 top — when he has '' rapped his knuckles " 
 on this, he will probably find it worth his 
 while to do it properly. If he won't have 
 it in any other way, get off and lead him 
 over ; most horses will let you do this, and 
 follow over almost anything. 
 
 After the gorse has been properly sur- 
 mounted, the pupil will probably raise no 
 very strong objection to a flight of sheep 
 hurdles, and when these obstacles have been 
 got over, something in the shape of timber 
 may be thought of. When this period of 
 the training arrives, most of the riders re- 
 member important engagements elsewhere ! 
 
132 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Truth to tell, this form of entertainment Is 
 more exhilarating than peaceful ! Well do 
 I remember, In the days of my '^ giddy 
 youth," being put up on a wretch, with the 
 heart of a mouse, who had never been in- 
 duced to jump a straw up to that moment. 
 I had a scheme, a colossal scheme for 
 making her jump a low rail, bushed up with 
 furze. I made a bet I would get her over ; 
 the trainer thereupon indulged In the remark 
 of '^ Didn't I wish I might get It ? " or some- 
 thing to that effect, and then I commenced 
 operations. Taking her right back to the 
 other end of the field, I started at a hand 
 gallop, and gradually pressed her till we were 
 going as hard as she could lay legs to the 
 ground. Then I pulled her round the corner 
 of a park paling, that had hidden the jump 
 from view, and she was almost on it before 
 she saw it at all. The moment her eye rested 
 on the obstacle, she began to '' curl," and 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOIING. 138 
 
 shutting up like a telescope, every stride, 
 she made a frantic effort to stop herself, 
 but two yards away from It I let the spurs 
 In, and giving her '' one, two," with the whip, 
 she kneed the rail, smashing It to atoms, got 
 half round, and then fell head over heels, 
 bringing down a young fruit tree, the made 
 obstacle with it, and my astonished self, at 
 one fell swoop ! The bet we made is in 
 abeyance to this day, I maintaining that I 
 '' got over it," and my opponent that I '' fell 
 into It." I don't know who is right, but I 
 humbly confess that if I did win that bet. 
 It was not in the way I contemplated, at the 
 time of making it ! 
 
 Mr. William Day, In his excellent book, 
 " The Racehorse in Training," strongly 
 disapproves of the system of clipping, al- 
 though he advances no particular reason 
 for his dIsHke. Now, half the horses used 
 for hunting, and a great many employed at 
 
134 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the steeplechasing game, would be fearfully 
 handicapped if their coats were left on. I 
 have ridden several who would fairly stop 
 with you, after galloping a couple of miles 
 with hounds, enveloped in the long hair 
 that comes in the winter season ; and no 
 less an authority than '' Stonehenge " dis- 
 tinctly approves of removing the coat. Pro- 
 bably, however, Mr. Day was only alluding 
 to flat-race horses, and in this particular I 
 would not presume to offer an opinion, 
 although I once owned a three-year-old 
 Rosicrucian filly, carrying such a coat as 
 would have been, to say the least of it, a 
 very powerful argument in favour of the 
 cHpping machine. Personally I venture to 
 go so far as to say that it acts as a power- 
 ful tonic, and will frequently enable a horse 
 to throw off a slight cough or cold by its 
 invigorating action. In the same chapter, 
 Mr. Day quotes Buffon in support of his 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOLING. 135 
 
 Statement that "' horses Hke a med 
 
 lum 
 
 climate, bordering on cold rather than 
 heat," and here I am quite of his opinion, 
 instances too numerous to mention occur- 
 ring to the mind of animals who never seem 
 well except in the cold weather. 
 
 The system of sweating has very much 
 gone out of late, but a steady three or four 
 mile gallop, with the clothing on, will do no 
 harm, provided it is not too often repeated : 
 once a fortnight will be found quite suffi- 
 cient, and great care should be exercised in 
 rubbing down, and drying afterwards, to 
 avoid the risk of a chill, as far as may be. 
 
 No better schooling than that obtainable 
 with a pack of harriers, can be given to a 
 beginner across country. The pace is slow 
 as a rule, there is the gentle stimulus of 
 hounds running to give zest to the work, 
 and deprive it of the suspicion, always 
 hanging about the pupil's mind, that he is 
 
136 CI^OSS COUNTRY REAIINISCENCES. 
 
 being taught a lesson, and believing, as I 
 do, that horses like hounds as much as men 
 like them, it is only natural that they 
 should, for their own satisfaction, try to 
 surmount all obstacles that come in the 
 way, whilst following them. "This," says 
 Whyte-Melville, '^ is why the hunting-field 
 is such a good school for leaping. Horses 
 of every kind are prompted, by some un- 
 accountable impulse, to follow a pack of 
 hounds, and the beginner finds himself 
 voluntarily performing feats of activity and 
 daring, in accordance with the will of his 
 rider, which no coercion from the latter 
 would induce him to attempt. Flushed 
 with success, and, if fortunate enough to 
 escape a fall, confident in his lately-dis- 
 covered powers, he finds a new pleasure in 
 their exercise, and, most precious of quali- 
 ties in a hunter, grows " fond of jumping." 
 There is one thing about which no doubt 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOLING. 137 
 
 whatever can be entertained : that con- 
 fidence on the part of the rider will inspire 
 confidence on the part of the ridden. A 
 short time back, I was forcibly reminded of 
 this at Kempton Park Steeplechases, on 
 seeing the redoubtable ^'Gus" Lowe bring- 
 ing the mare, by Ethus out of Candia, right 
 along, in front of everything, and slashing 
 over each obstacle, including those unholy 
 open ditches, as though he had half-a- 
 dozen spare necks in his pocket for self 
 and horse. This mare, be it remembered, 
 had never been over a country before, her 
 previous efforts having been confined to 
 hurdle racing. She won easily at the 
 finish. Now, a man like that would do 
 more to " make " a horse, in an hour, than 
 a good many would do, in a week. In fact, 
 the least bit of indecision is ruinous to 
 an animal's nerve, when he is learning to 
 jump. Not that I mean by this that a 
 
138 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 horse should be '' butchered " at his 
 schooHng ; that process is equally wrong ; 
 patience does not mean timidity, any more 
 than butchering means pluck. Indeed, the 
 last-named style of riding is very often 
 adopted in order to hide the fact that the 
 man is a member of that well-known regi- 
 ment, the ist Royal Hard Funkers. What 
 a man Tom Cannon would make for the 
 game, with his delicate hands, easy seat, 
 and perfect patience ! The Hampshire 
 horseman, however, holds the opinion that 
 married men, with families, have no business 
 with steeplechasing and all its works, and 
 I think he is about right. I am not aware 
 whether the master of Danebury ever does 
 any of the schooling in propria persona, 
 but he certainly turns out some admirable 
 jumpers from his establishment. These 
 used to be steered by Mr. Arthur Coventry^ 
 until that prince of gentlemen jockeys gave 
 up cross-country riding. 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOLING. 139 
 
 An amusing thing it is to see a whole 
 string of weedy wretches, cast-offs from 
 the flat, ridden by large-headed and small- 
 bodied boys, turn up at covert side in 
 order to '' qualify " for hunt races. Lash- 
 ing out in all directions, and with '^ training 
 stable " written palpably on their snaffle 
 bits, saddle-cloths, and bandaged forelegs, 
 they certainly look like anything htit hunt- 
 ing. The crafty way, too, in which their 
 riders watch the M.F.H., from whom they 
 have to get their certificates, until he 
 happens to be looking, and then rush their 
 steeds, more often through, than over, a 2ft. 
 fence, is very edifying. ''What the devil 
 do you want breaking down men's fences 
 for ? " yelled a much-harassed master of 
 foxhounds, in my hearing, once. " Here 
 you, boy, you can have your certificate and 
 take yourself off out of my sight at once^ 
 and be d — d to you ! " 
 
 I believe of course in power, thighs, quar- 
 
140 CROSS COUNTRY REAIINISCENCES. 
 
 ters, muscle, &c., for jumping essentials, but, 
 above all, do I believe in confidence on the 
 horse's part ; without this, all the other 
 qualifications go for nought. Once es- 
 tablish thorough confidence in your pupil's 
 mind, and you need not fear but that 
 success is close at hand. 
 
 One more allusion to '^ The Racehorse in 
 Training " I must make, before concluding 
 these few remarks. In the chapter en- 
 titled '^Jockeys," Mr, Day makes some 
 admirable comments on the system of 
 light-weight boy riders, and calls especial 
 attention to the ignorance and incompe- 
 tence existing, to so large an extent, 
 amongst them. He is right, with a ven- 
 geance ! Speaking generally, you might 
 as well put up so many Marmoset monkeys 
 to ride. The veteran trainer points out how 
 grossly over-paid they are by winning owners, 
 &c., giving douceurs^ out of all proportion to 
 
CONDITIONIXG AND SCHOOLING. 141 
 
 the services rendered, and remarks that 
 such a method of procedure Is one emi- 
 nently calculated to lead them, and does, as 
 a fact, lead a large number of them, to 
 ultimate ruin, besides being a great in- 
 justice to those owners who, from prin- 
 ciple, or because they cannot afford it, 
 refuse to follow suit. I have reproduced 
 the substance of his observations, for the 
 purpose of comparing the position and pay 
 of these manikins, with those of the hard- 
 working steeplechase rider, and the schooler 
 of steeplechasers — men who, very often 
 exiles from the flat for no other reason 
 than that of increasing weight, daily risk 
 life and limb on racecourse and training 
 ground, and get comparatively little for 
 it. If owners, instead of pampering 
 ignorant, and for the most part bump- 
 tious, little boys, turning their heads with 
 cigars and champagne, and giving them 
 
142 CJiOSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the wherewithal to surround themselves 
 with a pack of yellow-haired '' ladies," 
 would reward older men, whose necks are 
 constantly risked both in public and in 
 private, in a more substantial fashion, it 
 would be better for all concerned, and I 
 would certainly extend these remarks so as 
 to include a flat-race rider who had kept 
 his master's secrets, or had had much wast- 
 ing for any particular race, or ridden in the 
 trial, or, in short, shown himself a faithful 
 servant, win or lose. The dangers of the 
 schooling ground are considerable, and de- 
 serve to be well requited. It was in teach- 
 ing the gigantic Thunder (who afterwards 
 made a very successful performer over the 
 sticks) that poor Sam Daniels lost his 
 life, and Robert I'Anson, the hero of a 
 hundred victories between the flags, got 
 his worst fall on the training ground. I 
 believe Mr. Arthur Yates, Mr. Lambton, 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOLING. 143 
 
 and Captain Fisher could also relate some 
 personal experiences concerning injuries 
 and broken bones, got in the same way. 
 
 I fancy that it is by no means so common 
 a practice as it ought to be to have the 
 spring bars of the saddle left open, so that 
 if the foot gets fast in the stirrup iron, you, 
 at least, have one extra chance of escape 
 from dragging. All my life I have been in 
 the habit of ridinof thus ; but not lone ao^o, 
 a new hand adjusting the leathers, one 
 hunting day, shut the spring bars up, and, 
 as ill luck would have it, I got a rattling fall. 
 My horse fell over a quickset, and pitched 
 on the bank of a deep ditch, into which he 
 rolled, my right foot firmly wedged in the 
 iron. Three times did he struggle up and 
 fall back again, missing me at each attempt. 
 Now, it is ten to one that had those spring 
 bars been open, my leather would have 
 slipped comfortably out, and I should have 
 
144 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 been free. A short time since, I picked up 
 a well-known master of hounds, after a bad 
 fall, in which he would assuredly have been 
 dragged, but for his stirrup leather parting 
 company with the saddle, as the horse rose 
 and galloped on. There are many kinds of 
 patent safety stirrup invented, but though 
 in pretty general use amongst ladies, men 
 do not seem to take to them, somehow, and 
 as far as I know I never saw one in use, 
 except with the fairer part of creation. I 
 have examined every invention of the kind, 
 and though I have never seen them put to 
 the proof in '^ actual warfare," several of 
 them, doubtless, will answer their purpose. 
 Some, however, are so manifestly ridiculous, 
 that no practical horseman would give them 
 a second thought. One of these latter 
 articles, consisting of one stirrup inside 
 another — there are several made that way 
 however — would no doubt answer admirably, 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOIING. 145 
 
 if you could make an arrangement with the 
 Fates that, when you came off, you should 
 be allowed to describe an exact semi-circle, 
 ending well in front of your horse ; but 
 deviate an inch from that line, and this par- 
 ticular stirrup would, I venture to say, hang 
 you up, much more securely than the old- 
 fashioned iron ! The best I ever saw, is one 
 in which the whole inner iron turns over 
 when pressure is applied, and, without any 
 springs, opens naturally and lets out the 
 foot. I don't know whose invention it is, 
 nor the maker's name — if I did I would 
 gladly give both, and take the risk of my 
 reader's suspicions as to its being a puff ! 
 From its very simplicity I believe failure to 
 be impossible, and it has as neat an appear- 
 ance as the ordinary stirrup. 
 
 To give a horse two or three falls over 
 timber, purposely, is, I think, a very doubt- 
 ful expedient for making a jumper of him ; 
 
 L 
 
146 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 but when we find such '' past masters" as 
 Thomas Assheton Smith advocating, and 
 Dick Christian condemning the practice, 
 who shall take upon himself to decide the 
 knotty point ? The latter authority says : 
 '' They talk about a young horse wanting 
 falls. If a young horse gets a very bad fall 
 it frightens him. A couple of falls with 
 low fences are well enough — bict not if you 
 hurt himy Now, perhaps the real strength 
 of this expression of opinion lies in the 
 words I have italicized. You must by no 
 means hurt, or frighten, your horse. If you 
 do, you destroy his confidence, and possibly 
 ruin him for ever for learning the business. 
 From my own small experience, I am still 
 in '' open mind," having tried the experi- 
 ment with four horses, and failed with two 
 of them ; neither would ever look at a 
 fence again. Many horses, after getting a 
 severe fall, lose heart and courage, and 
 become determined refusers. Whenever 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOLING. 147 
 
 this happens to a horse who has been a 
 good jumper he should be thrown up at 
 once, for at least a month. By the end of 
 that time, he will probably have got his 
 pluck up again, even if he has not forgotten 
 his tumble, for horses' memories are incon- 
 veniently long, on all points ! 
 
 Captain Machell, at Kennett, near New- 
 market, and Mr. Arthur Yates, at Bishop's 
 Sutton, Alresford, have jumping schools 
 for the early teaching of beginners. Stiff 
 posts and rails, about ten feet high, enclose 
 a track, in which, on a graduated scale, all 
 sorts of obstacles are fixed, from the small 
 hedge to the uncompromising wall, which 
 will not bear playing with. Into this, the 
 learner is turned loose, and driven over the 
 jumps by men behind him with whips. 
 This is an excellent plan for many reasons, 
 one of which is that it involves no risk to 
 human life or limb, and another that the 
 horse gets into the way of taking his leaps 
 
148 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 in the manner most comfortable to himself, 
 and, therefore, In the safest way. Of course 
 these schools are for steeplechase horses 
 solely, but, were they obtahiable, there 
 would be no better way of teaching a 
 young hunter his business. 
 
 The orreat difference between the educa- 
 tion of the hunter and the steeplechase 
 horse is that the former may be taught in 
 the way that allows him to take his own 
 time on landing over his fences, whilst the 
 latter's chance of success in his calling 
 would be absolutely nil^ unless he can 
 *' get away " as quick as a rabbit after his 
 leaps. Dick Christian said, '^ I never rode 
 a steeplechaser yet but I steadied my horse 
 on to his hind legs, twenty yards from his 
 fence, and I was always over, and away again 
 before the rushers." True wisdom this, 
 but I am afraid that nowadays there are 
 some steeplechase jockeys who would beat 
 anyone following this advice, by their reck- 
 
CONDJTIONING AND SCHOOLING. 149 
 
 less habit of '' chancing" the last fence in 
 a race. If they don't come down, they 
 gain an immense advantage, in the run 
 home, over the men whose horses really 
 make a jump of it. Then the veteran rider 
 goes on to say that a horse should land 
 over his jumps on his hind legs, i.e.^ that 
 his hind legs should touch ground before 
 the fore legs. I hope, in the face of so 
 great an authority, that I shall not be 
 deemed presumptuous if I venture to think 
 that such a thing is a physical impossi- 
 bility. I do believe that the hind legs 
 should follow up the fore legs so closely 
 as to make their respective landing almost 
 simultaneous ; but I would ask all men 
 who are in the habit of constantly riding 
 jumpers whether they do not always dis- 
 tinctly feel the fore legs touch first ? 
 
 Very often a horse is pronounced fit to 
 run in a steeplechase, long before his 
 jumping education has been completed. 
 
150 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 The animal who has managed to brush 
 over a few flights of hurdles, and win his 
 race, is considered quite fit to tackle a 
 steeplechase course, after scrambling once 
 over the jumps on the schooling ground, 
 probably not half the size of the obstacles 
 he will have to encounter in public. No 
 first-class trainer would be guilty of such 
 culpable recklessness, of course, but, un- 
 fortunately, there are a large number of 
 men, who, not having the piloting to do 
 themselves, care little whether their charges 
 jump or fall and break their riders' necks. 
 Education, to be of any use, should be 
 thorough In every detail, and whether for 
 profit, as in steeplechasing, or for pleasure, 
 with hounds, experience plainly tells us we 
 should aim at getting a '' performer." 
 One would be safe in saying that over 
 ninety per cent, of the steeplechase horses 
 of recent times, have spent their whole 
 lives before entering upon their career as 
 
CONDITIONING AND SCHOOLING. 151 
 
 jumpers, In flat race training stables, and 
 have done nothing else. There are some 
 curious instances, though, of animals having 
 come from unlikely spots, and of having 
 even done '^general utility business" 
 before running over a country. Mr. Studd 
 picked up his Grand National winner, Sala- 
 mander, out of a wretched Irish hovel, with 
 a coat on him like a polar bear. Baron 
 Finot, greatest of French steeplechasing 
 owners, once drove a horse in his brougham 
 to the course, took him out of harness, had 
 him saddled and a jockey put up, and he 
 won his race in a canter. Conservative — 
 one of the most wonderful jumpers I ever 
 saw, and, by the same token, the ugliest, 
 commonest-looking beast in the world — 
 was bought out of a drove, and, being a 
 black, put to the business of '' corpse 
 collecting," as an irreverent friend of mine 
 expressed it ; but after making a bolt with 
 the hearse one day, was turned over to a 
 
152 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 butcher, and driven, for some time, in his 
 cart. Whilst in this humble vocation, he 
 was seen and bought by a gentleman, who 
 rode him with staghounds, and then put 
 him into training. I myself saw him run 
 second in a good field at Sevenoaks steeple- 
 chases, after twice bolting with so accom- 
 plished a horseman as Captain Fisher on 
 his back. So fond of jumping was he, that 
 I have seen him, when turned out in a 
 field, jump backwards and forwards over a 
 quickset, big enough to stop most horses, 
 for the pure fun of the thing ! 
 
 The Liberator was popularly supposed 
 to have been drawing bricks before he ran 
 in his last Liverpool (though I do not 
 vouch for the truth of this) ; and a horse 
 I knew well, was doing ordinary carting 
 work on a farm, when he was not wanted 
 for schooling a string of half-a-dozen 
 steeplechase horses over their jumps. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SHOW-YARD IN RELATION TO 
 HUNTERS. 
 
 ■'^ If a horse will jump in a show-yard, he'll 
 jump anywhere " is an expression we often 
 hear used, and doubtless there is a orood 
 deal of truth in it. But will he jump so 
 big ? '' Not by a long way " is the answer 
 that experience unhesitatingly makes, nor 
 can anything be plainer than the reason 
 why. All conditions are favourable for the 
 effort in the show-yard — the horse is fresh, 
 has only just had exercise enough to stretch 
 his muscles, the ground where he takes off 
 is light and sound, the jump itself free 
 from traps of any kind, and the rider 
 
154 C/^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 (usually a light-weight) is therefore enabled 
 to send him at it freely, and with perfect 
 confidence. Now, in hunting, the horse is 
 called upon to perform under very different 
 circumstances — the ground is generally 
 deeper, the weight he carries heavier, and 
 perhaps he has been half-blown by a hard 
 gallop, over ridge and furrow, before being 
 asked to do a big thing in the way of jump- 
 ing. There are, it is true, a few pheno- 
 menal leaps on record ^' in the open," such, 
 for instance, as Chandler's extraordinary 
 effort on the Warwick steeplechase course, 
 when he cleared thirty-nine feet ; Mr. Tom 
 Smith's horse, who, after one refusal, 
 jumped the wall of Elcot Park, in the 
 Craven country, which said wall was a 
 solid six feet, two inches in height ! Sir 
 Charles Knightley, on Benvolio, cleared 
 thirty-one feet, over a fence and brook. 
 Jem Mason succeeded in topping a five- 
 
THE SHOW-YARD, ETC. 155 
 
 foot-sIx gate, made of stiff, new timber, In 
 a steeplechase, and I am afraid to say the 
 exact height of the Marden deer park rails 
 over which Gregory, the jockey, was carried 
 by a runaway youngster he was training. 
 I know the place w^ell, and '^ Gregory's 
 leap " Is certainly one of the most formid- 
 able obstacles I ever saw. Then there Is Em- 
 blem's leap at Liverpool of 33ft. Still, after 
 all the examples of big things done with 
 hounds, steeplechasing, &c ., they pale before 
 the show-yard record, and, as I have endea- 
 voured to point out, It Is only natural they 
 should. The high jump at the Agricultural 
 Hall at Islington Is, to my mind, an unfair 
 thing to ask horses to try, and those that 
 do get over it, do not, and cannot, jump it In 
 anything like business fashion : they cannot 
 see over It, to go no farther. Every time I 
 have seen a horse jump this obstacle — I 
 will not pledge myself to the exact height, 
 
156 CjROSs country reminiscences. 
 
 but believe it to be something about six 
 feet six — he has sprung into the air in a 
 half-maddened manner, and with no very 
 definite idea as to where he will land. I 
 do not think such feats as these are a true 
 test of a horse's merits, nor do they prove 
 anything about him, one way or another. 
 Were I going to purchase, from the per- 
 formances in the Ring, I would much 
 rather take the animal that topped the gate 
 neatly, and then showed cleverness in 
 getting in and out of the '' double," than 
 the one that succeeds, by a wild and un- 
 natural effort, in clearing the high jump. 
 On the whole, the show-yard hardly seems 
 to be a reliable testing-place for hunters. 
 How many are there, I wonder, who — real 
 *' flyers " in the hunting field — simply 
 decline to look at their fences when 
 brought out in a tan-covered arena and 
 surrounded by a noisy crowd ? Plenty 
 won't jump in cold blood at all, and any- 
 
THE SHOW-YARD, ETC. 157 
 
 where, let alone in a circumscribed space, 
 with the crowd thrown in. One chestnut 
 mare I knew of, on the contrary, would 
 jump almost anything you liked to put 
 her at, so long as she did not see hounds 
 — once let her catch sight of them, and 
 good-bye to comfort and the chance of 
 getting her over fences. She went fairly 
 mad, and would — after making frantic 
 efforts to dislodge her rider — put her 
 head down and rush like a bull at the 
 first obstacle, then whip round and bolt in 
 the opposite direction, thereby affording 
 any rider in search of a little healthy ex- 
 citement about as much as would last the 
 average man for a month ! Another, be- 
 longing to a friend of mine, who hunts 
 down in the happy Vale of Aylesbury, used 
 to serve him in much the same way, her 
 performances culminating in the breaking 
 of her own jaw, and nearly drowning her 
 rider, by falling into a brook on top of him, 
 
158 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and my unfortunate friend thought himself 
 a lucky man to escape with a broken leg. 
 
 I have said enough to show that, in my 
 humble estimation, not too much reliance 
 should be placed in show-yard performances 
 when choosing hunters ; the conditions 
 under which they act are so different that 
 this is hardly to be wondered at, when care- 
 fully thought over. '' Men talk of blood, 
 make and shape, muscles, quarters, backs, 
 &c.," said an old sportsman once, ^' but 
 I say, give me a horse with brains. He 
 has to take care of the bigger fool of 
 the two, and think for both." Now, some 
 jumpers have a wonderful supply of brains 
 — and some, I am inclined to think, 
 have them not at all. As an example of 
 the latter, what brains does the average 
 "rusher" possess, I wonder? The per- 
 verse beast, who will have everything at 
 forty miles an hour pace, whether there is 
 a chalk pit beyond or not ? or the brute 
 
THE SHOW'YARD, ETC. 159 
 
 who goes boldly to his jump, and then, half 
 ^' turning it up," drops, faint-heartedly, into 
 the middle of it ? But look on the other 
 side of the picture, and there you see the 
 full force of the old man's remark — '' Give 
 me brains." See the extraordinary clever- 
 ness, which guides so many of the best 
 hunters, season after season, and gets them 
 over, and out of, so many difficulties. There 
 are few greater treats, to a true sportsman, 
 than to watch an old hunter's performances, 
 over every variety of fence, and especially 
 to see the way in which he will extricate 
 himself from any trouble that may — I had 
 almost said must — befall him in the ordinary 
 course of his career. 
 
 There were some extraordinary jumpers 
 at the Aquarium, some time ago. I under- 
 stand that the equine '^ boss " of the show 
 was an Australian, and, ridden by Miss 
 Nellie Reed, he was in the habit of clear- 
 ing a gate 5ft. Sin. high, daily, whilst 
 
160 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 another, picked up for £^o at Tattersall's, 
 did almost as well. I wonder if Miss Reed 
 would have cared to take her mount at a 
 five-foot gate, out with hounds, especially 
 if the ground was at all poached by cattle ? 
 The highest recorded jump in the show 
 yard is, I believe, that of the American 
 horse, Hempstead, who successfully ne- 
 gotiated an obstacle 6ft. Sin. in height, at 
 the New York Horse Show, in the autumn 
 of ^^6. Australian horses seem to share 
 with Irish-bred ones, a natural gift for 
 jumping, and though the '' walers " are 
 not the easiest things in the world to ride 
 over fences, their prowess is undeniable. 
 A horse called Leo, an American, belong- 
 ing to Mr. '' Freddy" Gebhardt, and 
 standing seventeen hands high, did 6ft. 
 6in., before coming over here to compete 
 at the Agricultural Hall, in the weight- 
 carrying class, in June, '86. At that Show, 
 the most extraordinary jumper, to my mind. 
 
THE SHOW-YARD, ETC. 16] 
 
 was an evil-tempered iron grey, admirably 
 ridden, by a man whose name I do not 
 know. This horse, after standing on his 
 hind legs, and fighting the air, suddenly 
 dropped and almost flew at the high jump, 
 launched himself madly into the air, and, 
 somehow or other, got over in safety ; one 
 or two more accomplished the feat, but all, 
 as I before said, with the air of not know- 
 ing where they were going to land. 
 
 There have been some enormous leaps 
 recorded out of the show yard, but doubt 
 has been thrown on a good many. For 
 instance, many men say that the measure- 
 ment of Chandler's historical effort at 
 Warwick— 39 feet — is unreliable, and that 
 Emblem's 33 feet in running for the Grand 
 National at Liverpool — when she is said to 
 have taken off, 12 feet in front of the 
 obstacle, and cleared three or four feet 
 beyond the brook — is ^' stretched," but 
 
 M 
 
162 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 there can be no question that a tremendous 
 lot of ground was covered by the latter on 
 that occasion, though it may not have been 
 quite what is stated ; for my own part, I be- 
 lieve both measurements were accurate. 
 There is no doubt as to Mr. Tom Smith's 
 leap over the park wall already alluded to, 
 a stupendous and desperate performance. 
 To my mind, fifteen feet of water is quite 
 big enough for any horse to attempt, and 
 there are remarkably few '' certainties" in 
 the country at that. A good twenty feet 
 would have to be covered '^ to do the 
 thing well,'' and that is a lot of space to 
 get over anywhere, but on paper. 
 
 At some of the horse shows, in this 
 country, an open field is available for the 
 jumping trials, and, in such cases, a much 
 more natural test of a horse's capabilities 
 can be applied than in a covered-in and 
 limited space, especially if the crowd can 
 be, to any appreciable extent, got rid of. 
 
THE SHO W- YARD, ETC. 163 
 
 In choosing hunters from the performers 
 at such places, one is far less likely to go 
 wrong in the open than on the ordinary 
 tan track. Given one's choice, however, 
 and there can be no doubt at all about the 
 fact that more is learnt about a horse in a 
 ten minutes' fast spin, over a good country, 
 with hounds, than by any amount of trials 
 in cold blood, wherever they take place. 
 
 One word upon the subject of the pivot 
 swung jumps : are they an unmixed bless- 
 ing, or not ? It is true that they give way 
 when rapped hard, but I have seen a horse 
 turned over, very nastily, by them, for all 
 that. I incline to the opinion that a made 
 jump, lightly resting against supports that 
 will give way on being struck, is the safer 
 of the two. In fact, it is very difficult to 
 see how an accident could happen, when 
 such obstacles as these are used. The 
 pivot-fence swings its lower part very 
 awkwardly in the way of a jumping horse, 
 
164 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 and is somewhat apt, on occasions, to 
 catch his hind legs whilst in the air. 
 
 What an interesting study it is to stroll 
 through the Agricultural Hall, when the 
 Horse Show is on, and watch the won- 
 drous and fearsome '' get-up " of 'Arry. A 
 splendid type of this genus presented itself 
 to my marvelling gaze one day when I was 
 up there. His hat was tip-tilted over his 
 left eye, and a rakish-looking covert coat 
 enveloped the upper half of his manly 
 form (by the way, why will counter-jumper 
 youths persist in wearing these com- 
 fortable riding garments, when never do 
 they, by any chance, get on a horse?). 
 Tight, leggy trousers, of projionce stripe, 
 and a twopenny white tie, with a large 
 horse-shoe pin, completed his costume. 
 Evidently well satisfied that his attire was 
 calculated to impose on the credulous, and 
 make people believe in his profound know- 
 
THE SHOW-YARD, ETC. 165 
 
 ledge of horseflesh (which, by his remarks, 
 I should say, was confined to that retailed 
 on little sticks for the benefit of the feline 
 race), he fixed his eyes upon a spare, 
 cadaverous-looking man, dressed in a 
 brown loose wrapper, dark trousers, and a 
 none too new top hat, who was looking 
 fixedly at a little blood chestnut, then going 
 into the ring. Quoth 'Arry to his pal — 
 " 'E looks as if 'e knew a lot about 'orses, 
 / don't think," with great demonstrations 
 of disdain. The spare man's face was a 
 study ; he had overheard the remark, and 
 had to turn away to hide a grim smile. 
 He was a well-known gentleman rider, and 
 probably the finest horseman, either on the 
 flat or across country, in the whole of the 
 Southern part of England ! Poor little 
 'Arry ! Well was it for thee that thou Avast 
 unaw^are of what an elaborate ass thou 
 wast making of thyself at that moment ! 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CROSSING A COUNTRY. 
 
 Before attempting this '' labour of love," 
 every man, who values his own comfort and 
 safety, should run a careful eye over his 
 horse's appliances. *' Not one groom in a 
 hundred knows how to bridle a horse 
 properly," says the author of '' Riding 
 Recollections," and certainly an astonish- 
 ing amount of ignorance does exist upon 
 this very simple matter. The throat-lash 
 is almost invariably too tight, and so are the 
 saddle girths. Another common fault, also, 
 is not having the head-stall long enough to 
 
CROSSING A COUNTRY. 167 
 
 let the bit lie comfortably in your horse's 
 mouth without ^' crumpling up the corners 
 of his lips," to quote the same writer 
 again. Most grooms seem to think that in 
 girthing a horse up the correct thing is to 
 pull and drag until the animal can hardly 
 breathe, and they themselves get black in 
 the face, from their w^holly unnecessary 
 exertions. To fix the curb-chain properly 
 also seems quite beyond them, their one 
 idea being to make it as tight as possible. 
 All these matters require the careful atten- 
 tion of riders themselves, and a few 
 moments spent in this way will not, by 
 any means, be wasted. For most horses, 
 the best possible bit is the short hunting 
 curb and snaffle. The proportion of horses 
 tender-mouthed enough to ride to hounds 
 in a plain snaffle is comparatively small. 
 For a hard puller, nothing beats a sharply- 
 twisted snaffle, with a double rein and 
 
1 68 CJ^OSS COUNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 martingale. As to the gag, I never saw 
 the hard puller who cared twopence about 
 it. It is a hideous and ridiculous contri- 
 vance, and the most useless of the many 
 devices invented for stopping this sort of 
 horse. A band or net, across the nose, is 
 much more effectual. 
 
 How amusing it is to hear men telling 
 their friends at covert side, in tones for 
 everyone to hear, that they are '^ not going 
 to ride to-day ; they have only come out to 
 look on ! " Well, who on earth wants them 
 to ride ? If they are in a funk, by all 
 means let them stay away, and not make a 
 pretence of hunting when their nerve has 
 left them. It is surely no discredit to a 
 man to lose his nerve, but it is a very 
 ridiculous thing trying to conceal the fact, 
 under this flimsiest of disguises. 
 
 Now, I venture to think that, in cross- 
 country riding, the power of the legs is, or 
 
CROSSING A COUNTRY. 169 
 
 ought to be, paramount. Here it is that 
 the fair sex are placed at such a terrible 
 disadvantage ; it is true they can, by means 
 of the pommel, get a certain grip of the 
 saddle and security of seat, but they have 
 no method of communicating what they are 
 thinking about to their horses — a very 
 serious drawback to equitation. A man 
 should do everything by the pressure of the 
 thighs and calves, and especially should he 
 tell his horse by that means the exact 
 moment at which he ought to take off at 
 an awkward place, or, indeed, at any place, 
 or else let him alone altogether! Half 
 the secret of success lies in this — take off 
 a stride too soon, and see what it adds to 
 the size of the leap. Do so a stride too 
 late, and probably you will not see, hut feel 
 what the effect of so doing is, with stiff 
 timber ! In order to get the full effect out 
 of this leg power, both the hands ought to 
 
170 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 be on the horse's withers, a rein in each. 
 So riding, it will be far easier to steer him at 
 his jumps, and far harder for him to get 
 the chance of refusing them. 
 
 Assheton Smith laid down three canons 
 for crossing a country, that we may all well 
 lay to heart. The first was that " there is 
 no place you can't get over, with a fall ; " 
 the second, '^ no man can be called a good 
 rider till he knows how to fall," and as the 
 writer averaged over sixty falls a season, he 
 ought to be a judge ; and the third, '' throw 
 your heart over, and your horse is sure to 
 follow." This last maxim deserves special 
 commendation. You must make up your 
 own mind about the matter, or surely you 
 can't expect your horse to do so. Put 
 your eye on a place, and say to yourself, 
 '* I'm going to have it there, '^ then let him 
 swing along freely at it, tell him with your 
 legs when to take off, and trust him for the 
 
CROSSING A COUNTRY. Ill 
 
 rest. Assheton Smith certainly practised 
 what he preached ; notably so when, going 
 to covert one morning, he rode the young 
 one he was on, three times at a stiff 4ft. 
 rail, each attempt resulting in a fall ; the 
 fourth time he cleared it successfully ! It 
 takes a man tolerably hard for this style of 
 schooling, I fancy ! Headis an all impor- 
 tant thing in the field ; without discretion, 
 what is the use of pluck and resolution ? 
 And the converse, of course, equally ap- 
 plies ; a man may have the judgment of a 
 Solon and the wisdom of the snake, but 
 minus courage, and where is he ? And echo 
 answers, where ? Certainly not at the finish 
 of a run — unless he came round by the road ! 
 As to the former class, old Jim Hills, the 
 huntsman of the Bicester, used to say of 
 the Oxford undergrads, who rode at or 
 over his hounds, in addition to anything 
 else that came in their way, '' Bless you, 
 
172 CJ^OSS CO UNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 sir, they fears nothing, ^ cause they knows 
 nothing V^ 
 
 Now, men of this stamp are bound to 
 come to grief, seriously, sooner or later, 
 and the sooner the better for the safety of 
 the rest of the field. See the finished 
 horseman, as he goes down to a fence, on 
 excellent terms with his mount, neither 
 pulling at him nor letting him out-pace 
 himself, but gently restraining him, so that 
 his head Is nicely " In hand," and he can 
 feel him well, and know exactly what he Is 
 doing. A big open ditch, and strong- 
 staked and bound fence beyond, form the 
 obstacle. The rider sees that his horse 
 must be roused, and encouraged to jump 
 his biggest ; he catches him well by the 
 head and sends him resolutely at It. The 
 horse, knowing by the touch (this is not a 
 good way of expressing what I mean, but 
 It is the best I can think of at the moment) 
 
CROSSING A COUNTRY. 173 
 
 of his pilot that he Is intended to jump, 
 gallops up to It, straight as a die, takes off, 
 in obedience to the pressure of his rider's 
 legs, at the right moment, and clears It all 
 in good style. He Is Immediately followed 
 down to the leap by the man who Is all 
 pluck and no head, and what happens ? He 
 has been sending his horse along a bit 
 too freely, and In consequence thereof he 
 is a little blown. Directly our friend catches 
 sight of the task before him, he says, 
 '' This Is a big one ! " and thereupon does 
 he cram his hat on his head, and drive his 
 horse as hard as he can at It. '' When 
 you see a man going a hundred miles an 
 hour at his fences, depend upon It that man 
 funks," said Assheton Smith. Quite true, 
 as a general rule, but not so in this instance ; 
 this man feels no touch of funk, but having 
 no discretion and head, pace is his one idea 
 of tiding over the more formidable obstacles 
 
174 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES, 
 
 he meets with. But to resume. Our ex- 
 ample's horse, hurried off his legs, and with 
 his head sticking awkwardly up in the air, 
 takes off too soon, strikes the top of the 
 fence very hard, and turns a complete 
 somersault into the next field. Both these 
 men had courage, but only one had head 
 with it. 
 
 The exception only proves the rule, and 
 in reference to the '' hundred miles an 
 hour " system, I have known it to be of 
 considerable value in the case of a deter- 
 mined refuser. In fact, one wretch that I 
 was condemned to ride (for my sins, I 
 suppose) a whole season, could only be 
 induced to jump anything when sent at it 
 so fast that she had to go either ''in or 
 over ! " 
 
 It has always been, more or less, a 
 matter of surprise to me, to notice how small 
 a margin a clever hunter will allow himself, 
 
CROSSING A COUNTRY. 175 
 
 either in landing on the farther side of a 
 brook — when sometimes it looks to you, 
 who are riding, as if only his forelegs could 
 possibly reach the bank and the hind ones 
 must go in — or at a high jump, when 
 you will often either hear the smallest per- 
 ceptible rattle of the hoofs on the top bar 
 of a gate, for instance, or find, by careful 
 watching, that he has cleared it with barely 
 an inch to spare. A horse's discrimination, 
 and power of measurement with the eye, are 
 remarkably correct, and even when so 
 beaten that he feels rather disposed to 
 ^' chance " his fences, he yet, in most cases, 
 makes a very accurate shot at what is re- 
 quired, as a minimum of exertion, for clear- 
 ing them. Aproposoi chancing fences, the 
 one fall that a man has no excuse for is 
 that which is caused by a horse being so 
 blown that he comes down. This is fre- 
 quently the worst kind of '' downer," too. 
 
176 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 as a beaten horse falls '' all of a heap,'^ 
 and perfectly helpless ; if he Is on top of 
 you, then It Is usually a bad business. The 
 rider may always know when his horse has 
 had enough of it ; his laboured breathing 
 and heaving sides, the '' flop " of the ears 
 and constant changing of his leg, tell the 
 pitiful tale all too eloquently, and the man 
 who goes on after such warnings, does so at 
 his peril. One might add, that the man who 
 goes on after such warnings ought to be 
 kicked ! But this is detail. 
 
 Perhaps men who tell you that the only 
 way to ride to hounds is to '' take your own 
 line, and keep it," don't quite reaHze the 
 force of what they are talking about. In 
 most countries you have to follow in single 
 file over many of the fences, which perhaps 
 only boast one practical place apiece. 
 Again, you are probably not on the fastest 
 horse In the field, and, given that single file,. 
 
CROSSING A COUNTRY. 177 
 
 or something like it, is the order of the day, 
 you can't either take the lead, or keep it. 
 Neither is it desirable so to do, and many 
 horses won't jump, unless with a lead. In 
 addition to this, it would not be pleasant to 
 see men continually racing to be in front, 
 nor is it a sportsmanlike thing to do. '^ Cir- 
 cumstances alter cases," and when one gets 
 into the Vale of Aylesbury, for instance, it 
 is easy enough to ride one's own line, as 
 most of the fences are as jumpable in one 
 place as another. Of course the same 
 observation applies equally to many other 
 countries, such as most parts of Leicester- 
 shire, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, 
 the Blackmoor Vale, cum miiltis aliis, too 
 numerous to mention. 
 
 Lots of men shirk timber, and prefer 
 anything in the shape of a natural obstacle, 
 even with the chance of an uncertainty 
 beyond. Assuming that the former is only 
 
 N 
 
178 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 of reasonable height, I think it, with most 
 horses, is infinitely preferable; it is clean, 
 you know exactly how much you have got 
 to do, and nine animals out of ten like it 
 better than a thing they cannot see through. 
 By saying this, I don't mean to recommend 
 anything in the shape of Jem Mason's five- 
 foot-six gate, be it understood ! 
 
 Why do many men still stick to the old- 
 fashioned practice of throwing up the right 
 hand in the air, as they go over a fence ? I 
 never could understand the '^ why " of it, as 
 the Yankees say, any more than Mr. F. G. 
 Hobson's curious habit of putting his hand 
 on the cantle of the saddle, under the same 
 circumstances. Both seem to unnecessarily 
 weaken the rider's powers, and you want 
 both your hands, not only before rising at, 
 but also in landing over, your fence, to col- 
 lect, and assist your horse into his stride 
 again. 
 
CROSSING A COUNTRY. 179 
 
 Another thing is, that throwing your 
 whip-hand into the air must alter the posi- 
 tion and balance of your body at the criti- 
 cal moment when your horse is '^ taking 
 off ; " nothing is more likely to cause a 
 flounder, if not a fall. A man who rides at 
 his fences with both hands, one on each 
 rein, well down, has twice the power of the 
 one who voluntarily sacrifices the use of 
 one of those hands. 
 
 Some men seem to steal, orghde, imper- 
 ceptibly over a country, as it were, and 
 others to butcher across it. Naturally 
 there is a great deal of difference in the 
 animals ridden : some only want holding, 
 some driving at their fences ; still, so much 
 depends on whether a man wants to 
 ''flourish," or whether he has simply the 
 sportsman's desire to be with hounds. 
 
 Although it may not be either practicable 
 or desirable, in many countries, to take a 
 
180 CROSS CO UNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 line of your own with hounds, it cer- 
 tainly is both practicable and desirable 
 in steeplechasing. There the fences are 
 as good in one place as another; there 
 is no '^ uncertainty " to look out for on the 
 other side, and if a man will persist in fol- 
 lowing exactly in another horse's track, 
 naturally he must come to grief, should any- 
 thing happen to his leader. It is not nice, 
 either in hunting or steeplechasing, to have 
 a man riding in your pocket, and no one 
 fancies being danced on by a follower when 
 he comes down. Constantly is this glaring 
 fault committed on the racecourse, and 
 even putting aside the question of danger, 
 both to horse and man, it doubles the odds 
 against your standing up to the finish, be- 
 cause, assuming that you, who are following, 
 get safely over your fence, if your leader 
 should peck and come down, over you must 
 go with him, to a certainty. 
 
CROSSING A COUNTRY. 181 
 
 In the few observations at the beginning 
 of this chapter will be found one upon the 
 subject of tight girths, and being anxious 
 not to be misunderstood on this subject, I 
 venture to recur to it again. Though 
 I am no advocate for tight girths, believing 
 that when moderately girthed, and a breast- 
 plate used, the horse is far more comfortable, 
 and quite as safe, still I have in my mind 
 too sad an incident to recommend that they 
 should be left, in the least, slack. I daresay 
 many of my readers will remember to what I 
 refer. The accident happened in a steeple- 
 chase at Cambridge several years ago. As 
 the first and second horses actually passed 
 the winning-post, The Priest's saddle 
 slipped round, and his rider broke his neck 
 on the spot. Strangely enough, the man 
 who was second to him told him of the 
 condition of his girths at the starting- 
 post, but, unhappily, the ill-fated man paid 
 
182 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES, 
 
 no heed to the advice given, to tighten 
 them. 
 
 One of the most useful things possible, 
 to teach a hunter — and the process of 
 teaching him is extremely simple — is to 
 follow you about. In case of a tumble, 
 which necessitates your letting go the 
 reins, your horse, instead of galloping off, 
 and leaving you to cross a country, un- 
 comfortably attired in boots and breeches, 
 will remain standing still ; should your foot 
 hang up in the stirrup iron, you will find it 
 even more valuable than in the former case. 
 An officer of Artillery, himself a good man to 
 hounds, first called my attention to this. 
 He made all his horses follow him about, 
 like so many dogs, simply by coaxing 
 and caressing them, feeding them with 
 sugar, &c. One morning, waiting for 
 hounds to come up, he gave me a per- 
 formance, with a hunter, in an Inn yard. 
 
CROSSING A COUNTRY. 183 
 
 where some twenty vehicles were standing. 
 The gallant Major dodged in and out these 
 things like a rabbit, but his horse was just 
 as quick, and would not be denied. I was 
 so impressed with the performance, that 
 every horse I have had since then has 
 undergone a short and always successful 
 (they learn so quickly) training in the 
 trick, and on three occasions since I have 
 found it of the utmost value, in falls. My 
 friend said that he always had a curious 
 idea that some day, in action, the fact of 
 his horse standing by him in the event of 
 an upset, might be more than useful. 
 
 A separate chapter of the excuses made 
 by a certain class of humbugs who follow 
 hounds — when they don't run — would be 
 amusing, but would take up too much space 
 here. The man who, on approaching a big 
 fence, invariably believes that he has *' lost 
 a shoe," the man who '^ would have had " 
 
184 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 something that he palpably shirked, had he 
 '' been on the bay, instead of the chestnut," 
 and the man who has ''only come to look 
 on to-day, and not to ride, you know," are 
 familiar characters to us all. They have 
 an explanation for every piece of funking, 
 and really delude themselves into the belief 
 that people are as big fools as they could 
 wish them to be, in order to swallow the 
 rubbish that they talk. If a man is afraid, 
 why on earth doesn't he say so, and stop at 
 home? 
 
 A keen eye for a country is a gift we all 
 underrate in youth, and naturally, for our 
 motto then should be that of Assheton 
 Smith — '' to go into every field with the 
 hounds," and in such case we do not 
 require the knowledge that enables us to 
 ride to points. But when the nerve has 
 gone — wholly, or in part — when old age or 
 ill-health have robbed us of the precious 
 
CROSSING A COUNTRY. 185 
 
 gift of going, then does this science enable 
 us to see much that is pleasant, much that 
 recalls for a few brief, happy moments, the 
 more stirring scenes of a time when we 
 were able to ride with the best and hardest 
 of them. I speak with especial envy of this 
 knowledge, as I have it not, In the remotest 
 degree, myself. In fact, If I once lose sight 
 of hounds, nothing but a lucky acci- 
 dent enables me to fall In with them again, 
 and I invariably lose my way coming home 
 from hunting, even in the country I have 
 been constantly riding over for nearly 
 fifteen years ! 
 
 I dearly like to see an old man, past 
 riding straight, struggle gallantly along 
 through gates, gaps, and lanes, arriving in 
 time to see the finish of a good run. One 
 game old Post Captain I know, sees a great 
 deal of the runs, in the Blackmoor Vale 
 country, in this fashion, and I well re- 
 
186 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 member that my own grandfather, when 
 past going straight, was never so happy as 
 when engaged in the same manner. 
 
 Should any man be doubtful in his mind 
 as to the spirit in which to ride across 
 country let him take a copy of the following 
 hnes with him, and refresh his memory 
 by perusing them at covert side. Here 
 they are, and Egerton Warburton, good 
 man as he was at the game, never wrote 
 truer words than these — 
 
 Give me the man to whom nought comes amiss, 
 One horse or another, that country or this, 
 Who, through falls or bad starts, undauntedly still 
 Rides up to the motto, he with them I will ! 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 LADIES IN THE FIELD. 
 
 Nothing causes greater divergence of 
 opinion than the advisability, or otherwise, 
 of ladies riding to hounds. Now, there are 
 riders and riders, amongst the fair sex, as 
 amongst the inferior part of creation, and 
 most hunting men have, at some period or 
 other, suffered severely, by reason of the 
 vagaries of those, no doubt, charming 
 ladies who, for instance, look winningly at 
 you just as you are putting a horse at a 
 gate, and coolly ask you to stop and lift it 
 
188 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 off its hinges ! And, again, at the hands of 
 the equestrienne who comes out with her 
 husband, or brother (who are never at hand 
 when wanted), but without a servant, and 
 who persistently drops her crop, or her 
 handkerchief, and mutely appeals to you 
 for the restoration of her missing property. 
 But the lady riders who suffer from an 
 over-abundance of pluck, and correspond- 
 ing lack of discretion, are they who, 
 seriously speaking, cause the terrible heart 
 sickness we all, alas ! know too well. It is 
 a most peculiar thing that they seem to 
 have so little knowledge of when a horse 
 has had enough of it, and so small an 
 appreciation of the size of obstacles. In 
 saying this I am, of course, not speaking of 
 the very front rank of lady riders, but of the 
 general mass. Some years back I remem- 
 ber being, with some ten or twelve other 
 men, fairly stopped, after hounds had been 
 
LADIES IN THE FIELD. 189 
 
 running hard for a quarter of an hour, by an 
 apparently unjumpable park paling. Whilst 
 we were cursing our luck, and consulting 
 hurriedly, as to the best way out of the trap, 
 a lady, who had got a bad start, galloped 
 up, with slack rein, breathless, and excited. 
 Immediately she saw the situation, she 
 turned, and, unhappily fixing her eyes upon 
 me, said, ^^ Oh, zvoiild someone give me a 
 lead over ! " Well, there was no help for 
 it. I was, luckily, on a steeplechaser, and 
 was too great a moral coward to refuse, so, 
 hardening my heart, I caught him by the 
 head and rammed him at it. There was an 
 unholy rattling of hoofs, but we got over — 
 with a scramble ! Needless to remark that 
 the beautiful cause of this exhilarating 
 occupation never got her horse over at all, 
 although she tried most pluckily, half a dozen 
 times. Their pluck is in nearly all cases 
 undeniable, but — they are not judicious. 
 
190 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Watch how the average woman rides at her 
 fences. No attempt made at holding a 
 horse together, always the slack rein, and 
 often the whip accompaniment, whether it 
 is wanted or not ! Not pleasant this, for 
 the pilot, assuming that she is riding to 
 one— much the safer and wiser way, be it 
 said. To assume the somewhat difficult 
 post of '' leading " a lady, a man should be 
 facile princeps at the game himself, it is 
 needless to say, as he has to be responsible 
 for the safe conduct of two, instead of one, 
 in getting over a country. He should also be 
 gifted with the strongest possible nerve, and 
 ride a horse pretty smart at getting away, 
 on landing over his jumps, as ladies are apt 
 to be a little too quick and close on their 
 pilots, and especially if their horses pull hard, 
 or are of an excitable nature. I have, more 
 than once, looked over my shoulder and 
 seen the fore-feet of my charge's animal 
 
LADIES IN THE FIELD. 191 
 
 apparently over my horse's back. In a big 
 jumping country some years ago, I, in a 
 weak moment, offered, on the morrow, 
 to pilot my then host's daughter. I did 
 so — but ''never again." I had to jump 
 every fence, and then jump back again to 
 persuade her to try it, although she was 
 on a finished performer ! After the first 
 three minutes of the run, we saw hounds 
 no more ! But, with the average fair rider, 
 it is only necessary that she should not 
 follow you too closely, and that she should 
 keep an eye on you, to watch for any signal 
 to stop. This should be given by throwing 
 the whip-hand up, in case of, for instance, 
 a big drop, which you don't think safe for 
 her to attempt. I piloted one excellent rider 
 throughout a whole season, over a biggish 
 country, and by her watchfulness for, and 
 implicit obedience to, the signals, all but the 
 most insignificant mishaps were avoided. 
 
192 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Whyte-Melville very properly says that 
 ''even If their souls disdain to follow a 
 regular pilot, I would entreat them not to 
 try * cutting out the work,' as it is called, but 
 rather to wait, and see one rider at least over 
 a leap before they attempt it themselves." 
 He goes on to say : '' It is frightful to think 
 of a woman landing in a pit, a water 
 course, or even so deep a ditch as may 
 cause the horse to roll over her, when she 
 falls. With her less muscular frame, she 
 is more easily injured than a man ; with 
 her finer organization, she cannot sustain 
 injury so well. It turns one sick to think 
 of her dainty head between a horse's hind- 
 legs, or of those cruel pommels bruising 
 her delicate ribs and bosom. It is at least 
 twenty to one In our favour every time we 
 fall, whereas with her the odds are all the 
 other way, and It is almost twenty to one 
 she must be hurt." 
 
LADIES IN THE FIELD. 193 
 
 It is of the first importance that a lady's 
 hunter should be perfectly broken, naturally 
 temperate, and have plenty of brains. I 
 once saw a lady's horse fall into a V-shaped 
 ditch. The mare rocked to and fro, but 
 judiciously let alone, she steadied herself, 
 and with one big effort, and without the 
 least appearance of excitement, she strug- 
 gled out successfully. It was head alone, 
 here, that saved a '' crushing match." 
 
 Personally, I have always failed to under- 
 stand how on earth any grip can be 
 obtained on a side-saddle. Ladies, I know, 
 say that it affords a much safer seat than 
 our own, on account of the second pommel 
 enabling them to press the left knee up- 
 wards from the stirrup. I have tried 
 cantering on a side-saddle — it was uncom- 
 fortable, very. I started trotting — it was 
 agony ! Nothing would induce me to ride 
 over even a flight of hurdles on one ! 
 
 O 
 
194 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Again, they are deprived of that invaluable 
 *' touch " of a horse which their — I was 
 about to say ''lords and masters," but will 
 substitute " slaves and servants," have. 
 However, the fact remains that they can 
 and do ride on these saddles, in a way that 
 we cannot beat on our own, and so no 
 good purpose can be gained by arguing 
 the matter. The safety stirrup, before 
 alluded to, should always be used, and an 
 active servant (the fat old family coachman 
 is not the man), or friend, told off to attend 
 them during the day. These things being 
 granted, there surely can be no valid 
 reason advanced against ladies in the 
 hunting field. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 STEEPLECHASE COURSES AND POINT- 
 TO-POINT RACES. 
 
 There has been a great cry at the down- 
 ward course of steeplechasing of late, and 
 undoubtedly there has been, if not a decline, 
 certainly a " depression," in the sport, in 
 recent years. Local meetings, in especial, 
 have suffered, and chiefly because the 
 farmers, and men who own hond-fide 
 hunters, feel that they have no chance 
 against the man with a thing out of a 
 racing stable, which has hardly ever seen 
 hounds in its life. People indolently say, 
 '' What a pity," and then add, '' It's rather 
 
196 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 sharp practice, you know ; " but as to 
 taking any vigorous steps to remedy the 
 abuse, that is the very last thing they 
 think of. I wish the words '' sharp prac- 
 tice " had never been invented ; perform- 
 ances such as these should be called by 
 their right name — obtaining money under 
 false pretences. The owners of such 
 horses well know that little local meetings 
 are not got up, nor the money subscribed 
 for their benefit. Nevertheless, a pack of 
 unscrupulous ruffians are always ready to 
 sneak unfair advantages, and spoil the 
 sport. Lots of men who have their two or 
 three hunters, animals that have honestly 
 done their work with hounds all the season, 
 would run them for the sport's sake, in- 
 dependently of any monetary value to the 
 stake, and the farmer, who owns a good 
 jumper and fairly fast one, would often be 
 willing to try conclusions with those of a 
 
STEEPLECHASE COURSES, ETC. 197 
 
 similar stamp, in public ; but they argue, 
 *' What is the use ? Something in the 
 shape of a racehorse is sure to be entered, 
 and mine, of course, stands no chance 
 against that." This accounts, in great 
 measure, for the paucity of entries and 
 consequent slackness of the interest taken 
 in meetings. Be the conditions what 
 they may, some clever rogue seems 
 always able to drive the proverbial coach 
 and six through them. The question 
 is, whether the evil cannot be attacked 
 from a totally new quarter. Suppose 
 these gentry, having carefully railed 
 their '' certainty " down to the station 
 nearest the scene of action, found them- 
 selves confronted, not by the monotony of 
 *' galloping " fences, with the two regulation 
 open ditches, but by a course comprising a 
 bank with ditch on each side, a post and 
 rails of uncompromising strength, and a 
 
198 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 '' double," which would be certainly calcu- 
 lated to perplex the ordinary racecourse 
 chaser. If to this could be conveniently 
 added four or five stiff, natural thorn fences 
 and some open running water, unguarded 
 in any way, it is not improbable that the 
 '^ certainty " would return to the railway 
 station without having been stripped ! 
 
 In some local steeplechases the con- 
 ditions are that the competitors shall be 
 half-bred horses, but considering that The 
 Colonel, twice a winner of the Grand 
 National, and Pathfinder, who also won, 
 had *' h. b. " put after their names, it will 
 be seen that the remedy lies not here. 
 
 There is another evil in the present state 
 of the law regarding the qualification of 
 riders. Several men who have had '^ Mr. " 
 prefixed to their name, and ride as gentle- 
 men, are notoriously paid for their services. 
 Others are either trainers or grooms, and 
 
STEEPLECHASE COURSES, ETC. 199 
 
 in one case a grocer's assistant was actually 
 qualified ! At one meeting, I myself saw 
 a groom ride, whilst a friend of mine, a 
 member of the English Bar, had to stand 
 down because he was not qualified ! Such 
 ridiculous nonsense can but do harm to the 
 sport, and the restriction of " farmers or 
 their sons to ride " is still more tiresome, 
 as many '' farmers or their sons " — if they 
 happen to have any — don't feel disposed to 
 risk their necks, or, more often still, have no 
 knowledge of how to ride in a steeplechase 
 — a very different thing to going with 
 hounds — and, if this is the case, they must 
 not put up anyone else, so their horse does 
 not run. A very useful alteration in the 
 law would be to admit, without further 
 qualification, all members of the leading 
 professions, as is done in the case of the 
 Army now, such as Barristers, Doctors — 
 very useful men to have about a steeple- 
 
200 CI^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 chase course, by the way — and Clerg — ! 
 (I nearly said it !) I know two or three 
 men myself who dare not qualify, for fear of 
 damaging their professional prospects, and 
 yet who would be a valuable acquisition to 
 the best interests of the sport. 
 
 Of late years there has been a partial 
 revival of the good old-fashioned " point- 
 to-point " steeplechases. The great — 
 almost the only — objection to them, is that 
 very little can be seen of the contest 
 unless you ride with them. The conditions 
 appended, which are those commonly used, 
 will best show the nature of these chases : — 
 
 POINT-TO-POINT STEEPLECHASE. 
 
 Private Sweepstake of sovs, P.P. for horses that have 
 
 been regularly hunted with the Hounds. Owners up. 
 
 Catch weights [or to carry stone.] Over about miles of 
 fair hunting country, from point to point, to be named by Messrs. 
 . Riders must not ride for more than loo yards at one 
 time on a road or lane, nor open a gate. Entries to be sent to the 
 Hun. Sec. on or before the day of 
 
 Sometimes it is advantageous to omit 
 the words '' owners up." 
 
STEEPLECHASE COURSES, ETC. 201 
 
 There are frequently two prizes, one for 
 horses carrying over 13 stone, and the 
 other for those carrying anything less. 
 Sometimes both classes are started to- 
 gether ; sometimes separate events are 
 made of the contests. In any case, it 
 is real good sport, and a very genuine 
 test of a hunter's capacity. A useful con- 
 dition in these races is that none of the 
 competitors shall have ever been in a train- 
 ing stable. This sometimes works rather 
 a hardship upon the man who has been 
 regularly riding an old chaser, and perhaps 
 it w^ould be better to make it a little nar- 
 rower — say, that no horse should be allowed 
 to compete that has been in a training 
 stable within the twelve months immediately 
 preceding the start. 
 
 The movable feast of the Grand 
 National Hunt Meeting— for the G.N.H. 
 Steeplechase is run on a different course 
 
202 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 each year — generally brings out some 
 promising performers. The race is for ho7id- 
 fide hunters that have never won, either on 
 the f^at or across country, a race value 20 
 sovs., and that have never started for a 
 handicap, steeplechase, or hurdle race : 
 weight for age. The value of the event is 
 about 300 sovs., and the entrance is only 
 3 sovs., the sole liability for non-starters. 
 Amongst the winners in past years are : 
 Schiedam — probably the best horse that 
 ever started for the race — piloted most 
 ably by Mr. J. M. Richardson ; The Duke 
 of Hamilton's Bear, who never did much 
 afterwards, on account of a '' pain in his 
 temper; " and Mr. Vyner's Bellringer, who, 
 at his best, was a good horse ; as was also 
 Lucellum, another winner of this prize. 
 
 Not content with giving the unprece- 
 dented sum of ;^ 10,000 to the Eclipse 
 Stakes, a mile and a quarter race, the 
 Sandown executive, ever marching with — 
 
STEEPLECHASE COURSES, ETC 203 
 
 perhaps even a little in advance of — the 
 times, has offered a princely sum for a 
 mammoth Hunters' Steeplechase, to be 
 run in 1888. This should, and probably 
 will, attract such a field to the post as 
 has rarely, if ever, been seen before. 
 The experiment of giving large sums to 
 hurdle races has been a great success, 
 so far as attracting large fields is con- 
 cerned — and to Croydon belongs the honour 
 of leading the van — no less a sum than 
 ;^i,20o being added for one of these 
 events, as far back as 1875, when I saw 
 little Industrious, a son of Blair Athol, 
 romp in, through a sea of mud, with W. 
 Daniels on his back. The winner started 
 at an outside price, and the colours of all 
 the jockeys were so plastered with mud 
 that he was not recognized at first, and 
 many thought it was his stable companion, 
 a hot favourite, who had won. 
 
 Red-coat steeplechases are pretty often 
 
204 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 introduced into the programme of hunt 
 meetings, and, in my humble estimation, 
 might with advantage be ehminated, as it 
 is perfectly impossible, in running, to dis- 
 tinguish the competitors, and a description 
 of such races must needs be of the vaguest 
 kind. As sensible would it be to start a 
 field for an ordinary iiat race, with all the 
 jockeys attired in '' the Grafton scarlet ! " 
 I think, myself, that it would be an un- 
 questionable advantage for the riders to 
 sport ordinary colours, even in Point-to- 
 Point races. 
 
 In concluding these brief remarks, it 
 might be respectfully sugested to the 
 G.N.H. Committee that the open ditches 
 should not be made compulsory on natural 
 courses ; in such places they are nothing 
 more or less than an unnecessary nuisance. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE MUDBURY HUNT DINNER. 
 
 At the conclusion of last season, it was 
 determined that the members of this dis- 
 tinguished Hunt should give a dinner to 
 the farmers of the surrounding neighbour- 
 hood, and accordingly, on the appointed 
 evening — the invitations having all been 
 accepted to a man ! — the little Inn yard at 
 Mudbury was the scene of great commotion, 
 caused by the continuous arrival of all sorts 
 of odd vehicles conveying the guests to the 
 scene of action. There was a strong dash 
 of the market-gardening element, by the 
 
206 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES, 
 
 way, amongst our farmers, and most of 
 them were '' little men " as to their hold- 
 ings, having probably started as labourers 
 on allotments ; consequently there was no 
 foolish over-refinement about these sturdy 
 sons of toil, and a large proportion turned 
 up in corduroys. The guests were re- 
 ceived by our Master, Lord Swellboro', 
 whose sole drawback is that he has only 
 two ideas in his head — hunting and racing. 
 He knows nothing else — seeks to know 
 nothing else ; the rest of his life is, meta- 
 phorically speaking, coma. 
 
 Slight deafness, and an almost irresis- 
 tible impulse to use bad language on all 
 occasions, complete his more notable cha- 
 racteristics. In this last little weakness, 
 however, he does restrain himself, this even- 
 ing. Punctually to the moment, amid a 
 great slamming of doors and scuttling of 
 feet outside, something in waiter's attire (I 
 
THE MUDB UR V HUNT DINNER, 207 
 
 afterwards found out it was the helper in 
 the stables) announced that '' dinner was 
 served." A regular scramble for places 
 then ensued, interspersed with, '' Will you 
 sit here, Mr. Phatted ? " ''This is my 
 place, I tell 'e," " I don't know who you 
 are, sir, but — " "Waiter! how can I sit 
 on a chair without a back to it ? " " That's 
 my bread, sir," &c., &c., but at length 
 people all shook down into their places, 
 somehow or other, and the feeding duly 
 proceeded. There was a little dissatisfac- 
 tion felt when, upon a dish of sweetbreads 
 being offered to him, Mr. Jorker took it out 
 of the servant's hand and emptied the 
 whole lot on his own plate, nor did Mr. 
 Muttonface increase his popularity by help- 
 ing himself to a whole pheasant, one of the 
 brace on the dish before him, and declining 
 to carve the other " not to please no one ; 
 he come there ter eat, not ter carve." How- 
 
208 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 ever, these little matters being adjusted, 
 and Mr. Jorker having topped up with a 
 Httle cold game pie, after he had finished 
 all the sweets he could lay his hands on, 
 Lord Swellboro' rose, and as soon as the 
 clatter of knife-handles on the table had 
 partially subsided, he began, " Gentlemen, 
 amongst the manifold duties of an M.F.H., 
 there Is, perhaps, none more pleasant, 
 none of a more distinctly gratifying cha- 
 racter, than that of bidding a hearty wel- 
 come to this board, to the farmers and land- 
 owners of the surrounding district " (ap- 
 plause). *' To the young farmers of this 
 neighbourhood who come out with us, I 
 say ' Continue long to let us see your ug — 
 well-known faces at Covert Side.' To the 
 old foo — farmers, who do not don a racing 
 jacket — I mean a hunting coat, I say, ' You 
 are always a familiar sight ' " — (here My 
 Lord got rather mixed in his mind), '' ' and 
 
THE MUDB UR V HUNT DINNER. 209 
 
 a pleasant one'" — (hear, hear) — '''on 
 our land.' " (No one \\\ the room under- 
 standing what he meant, the speaker himself 
 least of all, this last remark was received 
 in a mystified silence.) " I venture to say 
 that a pack of foxhounds benefits the farmer 
 as much as it gives pleasure to the follower 
 of the chase." (" Yah !" ejaculated Mr. 
 Pigbody, disgustedly. " Sh — sh," said 
 the members of the Hunt, frowning at him.) 
 "Just as the owner of racehorses benefits 
 the trainer, so do we benefit you farmers. 
 We say, ' Grow your corn' " (" For yew to 
 come gallopin' over it, I s'pose," sotto voce 
 from Jorker), " ' and breed your horses, and 
 we will buy them of you.' " (" At a price," 
 audibly remarks a man who has tried the 
 experiment, and found it " wanting.") " Our 
 national sports should always be encou- 
 raged, and to you, the farmers of England, 
 we look for that encouragement " (hear, 
 
 P 
 
210 CROSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 hear). '' Racing " ('' For rogues," growls 
 one), '' steeplechasing " (*' For maniacs," 
 grunts another), ''and foxhunting," are 
 things which — er — are ever calculated to 
 ' cheer but not inebriate,' as the im- 
 mortal Nelson observed at the Battle of 
 Waterloo," concluded our Master, with 
 a rhetorical flourish, in which facts were 
 not '' in it " with a very misty im- 
 agination ! Everybody applauded at the 
 finish of the speech — probably because 
 it -was the finish — and the noble lord 
 resumed his seat and his cigar, only to rise 
 again, momentarily, to propose the health 
 of the farmers, which he had entirely for- 
 gotten in the course of his speech, although 
 it was for that express purpose that it was 
 delivered. He coupled the toast with the 
 name of Mr. Pigbody, who, having filled 
 himself a tumbler of green chartreuse, and 
 taken a good pull at it first, was regularly 
 
THE MUDB UR V HUNT DINNER. 211 
 
 rIb-roasted on to his hind legs by his next- 
 door neighbour. '' My lordship and gentle- 
 men all/' he began, ('' hie ! ") '' wen my old 
 ooman see your kind inwitation, she says, 
 ' Tummas,' she says, ' if you 'as a chance 
 o' speakin' at the dinner, don't forgit to 
 remark that if you was them you should 
 think it was more perliter to arst the 
 missuses as well ; ' so I says I would, and 
 now I've a-done it before I forgot all about 
 it, so you'll please excuse me for a-men- 
 tionin' it, praps a little premmyture, as the 
 French says. Gentlemen, the hobserwa- 
 tions as 'as fell from my lord is puffeckly 
 true, and it does us all proud when the 
 'ounds come gallopin' all over the land, a- 
 cuttin' up the wheat and playin' old — " 
 Here the speaker was nudged violently by 
 his next-door neighbour, and pulled himself 
 up with a jerk. Resuming, after a further 
 application of chartreuse, he said — ''My 
 
212 CJ^OSS CO UNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 lord says, 'Grow 'orses and breed corn/ 
 Well, 'ed better try it hisself, and then tell 
 us 'ow 'e likes to sell 'em for 35s. a quar- 
 ter. Thirty-five shilhns a quarter (hie !) is 
 seveny shilhns a 'alf, and two arves make 
 'ole. I means two seveny shillins makes 
 (hie !) makes — " (aside to his neigh- 
 bour, '' Wha'stwiceseveny ? Eh, wha- 
 yousay? ^ unnerdanforry? ') '^unnerdanforry 
 shillins for a 'orse, seven pund for a 'orse. 
 Whasagoodathat ? Think man breedorses - 
 forseven ( hie !) puns ? Iss p'rfeckliridick- 
 lus." And so saying, Mr. Pigbody stuck 
 the lighted end of his cigar in his mouth, and 
 glowered savagely upon everybody. Some- 
 one having surreptitiously removed his 
 chair, his attempt at resuming his seat was 
 hardly a success, and, as he explained next 
 morning, the hearthrug, taking advantage 
 of his back being turned to it, seemed to 
 suddenly rise up and hit him. He dis- 
 
THE MUDB UR V HUNT DINNER. 2 1 3 
 
 appeared from view, and no more was seen 
 of him for the rest of the evening. During 
 Mr. Pigbody's speech, Mr. Jorker had been 
 pretty busily occupied filling one pocket 
 with figs, seeing which, young Chaffaway 
 quietly contrived to load up the other with 
 olives, liquid preserved ginger, and two 
 pairs of nutcrackers ; he also emptied the 
 contents of the salt-cellar in, whilst the 
 worthy farmer was looking the other way. 
 Having completed these arrangements 
 entirely to his own satisfaction, Mr. Chaffa- 
 way managed to induce the Hon. and 
 Rev. Adolphus Whey — Lord Buttermilk's 
 son — to change places with him, and so 
 be in the pleasant position of receiv- 
 ing the full broadside of the irate victim's 
 wrath, when the time of discovery should 
 come. The health of the Master was 
 then proposed by Mr. Whey, who, mildest 
 of curates, had had an important episode 
 
214 CJ^OSS CO UNTR V REMINISCENCES. 
 
 in his life. He had been out with the 
 hounds on one solitary occasion, whilst 
 an undergrad. at Oxford. True, he didn't 
 go far ; for at the first obstacle, a hedge 
 nearly two feet high, he fell off, and at 
 once walked back home. Nevertheless, it 
 was a thing to be fondly looked back to, 
 fondly (and with a certain amount of pro- 
 lixity) dwelt upon, and on the strength 
 of the performance, Mr. Whey rather 
 wished it to be understood, that, if not a 
 hunting man exactly, it was entirely be- 
 cause he did not feel it consonant with his 
 calling so to be, and not from any matter 
 of choice. He began — *' In rising to under- 
 take so formidable and yet so pleasing a 
 task as this, I feel that a more unworthy 
 person might have been chosen — I mean 
 that I am a more unworthy person than has 
 been chosen — no, I mean — " ('' Get away 
 forrard ! get on to him ! get on to him ! ") — 
 
THE MUDB URY H UNT DINNER. 2 1 5 
 
 " that is — " (here Mr. Whey gets hope- 
 lessly confused, and alternately smiles 
 and blushes) — '' when I rise to propose 
 this toast, I feel that — er — in so rising 
 to propose this toast, I am proposing a 
 toast that you will all drink and see 
 drunk with acclamation." ('' Drunk with 
 what?" inquires our slightly deaf Master.) 
 " This toast is a toast which, above 
 all toasts, should be the toast of the 
 evening." (EI ere the constant reiteration 
 of the word '' toast " fairly put his audi- 
 ence on the rack — a veritable toast-rack.) 
 *^ It is — our noble Master" (tremendous 
 applause and jingling of glasses, lasting 
 several minutes). *' A master of hounds 
 has no sinecure. What with his duties in 
 the field — whipping-in and hunting the 
 hounds, blowing the trumpet he carries 
 at his saddle-bow, answering all inquiries 
 made, and cutting off the brush when 
 
216 CROSS COUNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the fox Is found, all his time Is fully 
 engaged ; whilst, In the kennels, feeding 
 such a number of dogs — for consider, 
 gentlemen, the quantity of bones and cats' 
 meat they must want — Is Indeed an oner- 
 ous and responsible task. My own ex- 
 perience of the pleasures of the chase Is, I 
 regret to say, limited, though I must con- 
 fess to a pang of envy when the spangled, 
 — spotted beauties trot gaily through the 
 streets of our borough. No words that I 
 can use would suffice to describe the ex- 
 cellent qualities of your Master, and there- 
 fore I will say no more " (hear, hear), 
 '' but simply leave the toast In your hands." 
 The whole company then rose, and shout- 
 ing, " The Master ! " drank to him, stand- 
 ing. In the enthusiasm of the moment 
 Mr. Whey seized upon his neighbour's 
 glass, and, with an airy bow to Lord Swell- 
 boro', was conveying It to his lips, when it 
 
THE MUDB UR Y HUNT DINNER. 217 
 
 was firmly caught, and wrested from him 
 by the indignant rightful owner. Very 
 much abashed, the unhappy gentleman, in 
 great perturbation, hastily took up his finger- 
 glass and drained it to the dregs, without 
 discovering his mistake. They all then 
 sang, " For he's a jolly good fellow ! " rather 
 a superfluous number of times, and re- 
 sumed their seats, as the Master vacated 
 his. Having, at an earlier stage of the 
 evening, exhausted his limited flow of ora- 
 tory, he was rather understood than actually 
 heard to say something about *' Great 
 kindness always received " — " quite un- 
 worthy " — '' flattering terms " — '' generous 
 support " — " doing one's best " — " wild 
 country " — " show sport " — " ably as- 
 sisted " — " alwavs continue " — '' service of 
 all " — ^' fox-hunting flourish " — " many 
 thanks" — " kind way received toast," &c., 
 &c. This over, Mr. Barney, the local 
 
218 CR OSS CO UNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 doctor, a very ruddy-complexloned and 
 obese young man, was called upon for a 
 song. It was one of Mr. Barney's playful 
 peculiarities that he must sing sentimental 
 ditties of the tea-leaf and rose-water order, 
 which he always spoke of as ^' little things." 
 On this occasion he said he should be very 
 happy to sing them a ''little thing " called 
 " Only a tiny wormlet." It was a very 
 charming little ballad, with a plaintive 
 high note at the end of each of the eight 
 verses, but when he lyrically asked them to 
 " lay him to rest on the lilies and dew- 
 drops " one could not help the reflection as 
 to what the lilies and dewdrops would look 
 like after Mr. Barney's anything but 
 ethereal fifteen stone had been put on 
 top of them. A slightly hysterical recita- 
 tion by an amiable elderly gentleman, with 
 weak eyes and gold-rimmed spectacles, 
 followed, and then an imitation of popular 
 
THE MUDB UR V HUNT DINNER. 2 1 9 
 
 actors was given by the same individual. 
 One felt thankful that he should have told us 
 whom he was imitating, at the beginning of 
 each sketch — it saves any misapprehension, 
 as it were. X'lwas a little awkward once, how- 
 ever, when on account of Lord Swellboro's 
 deafness he did not catch the name given 
 out, that of Mr. Henry Irving, and ap- 
 plauding loudly at the conclusion of the 
 " imitation," said, '' Capital, capital ! Just 
 like old Buckstone, isn't it?" This in- 
 cident rather damped the performer's 
 ardour, and, mercifully for us, shortened 
 the series. When the time arrived for 
 replying to the toast of '' The Ladies," Mr. 
 (he called himself Captain) Winker, of the 
 3rd Royal Blood and Carnage Volunteers, 
 bounded to his feet in order to reply. 
 Captain Winker's one o'ermastering desire 
 in life was to be considered a '^ b3ld, bad 
 man ; " and if ever, my reader, you meet 
 
220 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 him and want to borrow a fiver, you have 
 only to look knowingly at him, poke him in 
 the ribs, and say that you know he is "the 
 devil and all with the women," and suc- 
 cess is yours. As a matter of fact, he is a 
 most reputable member of society, and only 
 " a sad dog" in the eyes of his maiden 
 aunts. In appearance, he is short, round, 
 and cultivates a small, ginger moustache, 
 waxed at the ends, with an imperial, to 
 give a martial effect to the tout ensemble. 
 He is always intensely warlike, and, in 
 keeping with this peculiarity, he has 
 that of firing his sentences off at you, in 
 a manner suggestive of small arms explod- 
 ing. '' When I found myself called upon" 
 ("Nobody called upon him — he thrust him- 
 self forward," indignant aside from young 
 Mr. Miggs, who wanted to respond himself) 
 '' to answer for the ladies — perhaps my 
 enemies might say I had much to answer 
 
THE MUDB UR V HUNT DINNER. 22 1 
 
 for in this way — " twirling up the right 
 hand corner of his moustache, and waiting 
 for somebody to laugh — nobody did, so he 
 resumed — " I felt what a heavy responsibi- 
 lity was thrust upon me " ('' Ass," wrath- 
 fully mutters Miggs). "We soldiers" 
 (audible guffaw from Miggs), "we 
 soldiers" he repeats, glaring, with glassy 
 eye, at the offender, and speaking in 
 louder, not to say aggressive, tones — 
 " devils, perhaps, to our enemies, have 
 still, somewhere beneath a rugged exterior, 
 a spice of something gentler about us than 
 we are generally credited with. Something 
 soft" (" Like mashed turnips," interjects 
 his pitiless foe, thereby creating an un- 
 mistakable snigger in his immediate 
 neighbourhood) "there is beneath the 
 surface of every warrior" (" Brains, pro- 
 bably," from Miggs), " which tames the 
 fiercer portion of his nature, and conquers 
 
222 CROSS CO UNTR Y REMINISCENCES. 
 
 the ever-lurking desire to revel in scenes 
 of carnage and bloodshed, and the desire 
 to stand upon the tented field" (''After 
 the fighting's over"). ''And to what are 
 we indebted for this influence ? " (" Funk," 
 growls Miggs). " To woman, all-vanquish- 
 ing woman" (great applause). "What 
 says the poet : 
 
 ' Oh woman, in our hours of ease, 
 Uncertain, coy, and — 
 
 (" Apt to sneeze," chimes in his tormentor) 
 
 * — hard to please. 
 When pain and anguish wring the brow, 
 
 (" They always make the greatest row ! ") 
 
 ' A ministering angel, thou I ' " 
 
 (deafening applause, especially from those 
 of the guests who didn't in the least under- 
 stand what he had been talking about). 
 Very much gratified the little man went on : 
 " Gentlemen, I will ask you to pardon me 
 for invoking the Muse's aid once more in 
 this most, to me, entrancing of all subjects. 
 
THE MUD BUR V HUNT DINNER. 223 
 
 The lines I allude to run something like 
 this : — 
 
 * Oh woman ! watch the dying day, 
 When night comes from the glen, 
 And slumb'ring echoes seem to say — ' " 
 
 C The old man's drunk again," roars the 
 now infuriated Miggs, heedless of con- 
 sequences). Oh what a scene there was ! 
 it really looked at one time as though 
 the crockery would fly. "Cad!" — "low 
 rufhan ! " — " my card, sir" — "ought to be 
 shut up if you can't behave yourself" — 
 '' satisfaction " — " oflBcers don't fight with 
 blackguards, sir!" — "ginger-haired whip- 
 persnapper," &c., &c., until my Lord 
 Swellboro' forcibly interfered, and suc- 
 ceeded, after a time, in pacifying the 
 wouldn't-be combatants. Truth to tell, 
 there was a great deal of froth about the 
 affair, but very little, if any, desire for 
 blood, on either side, and as Lord Swell- 
 boro's one fixed idea of reconciliations was 
 
224 CJ^OSS COUNTRY REMINISCENCES. 
 
 to make both parties as drunk as they 
 could conveniently get, he had them placed 
 right and left of him at the head of the 
 table, and having Insisted upon their shak- 
 ing hands, proceeded to fill both of them 
 up, with all despatch, and finally had the 
 satisfaction of seeing the pair of them into 
 the same cab, a process replete with 
 difficulty, as they each insisted on the 
 other entering first, and finally, after wast- 
 ing a quarter of an hour, decided to get in, 
 at one and the same moment, arm-in-arm. 
 
 The rest of the company, having duti- 
 fully sung ''God Save the Queen" in 
 various keys — it was a sort of '' go-as-you- 
 please " contest, each performer making 
 up his part as he went on — fell down the 
 stairs and got home — at least those that 
 were lucky did ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
IV^