The Life of a Great Sportsman 



quality, but perhaps not quite such a stayer as The General, 

 and towards the end of the gallop there was the young fresh- 

 man alongside of me with perhaps a little bit the best of it, and 

 I recognized the horsemanship I had never seen before, the 

 graceful young figure so well down on the saddle, the lengthy 

 stirrup, and the long free rein to which old Harlequin seemed 

 so gladly to reply. That gallop was the commencement of our 

 friendship. We both lived together at French's, a lodging 

 house in Park Street, really a club, for no one was accepted 

 there without the approval of its inmates, and the chief quality 

 for their acceptance was riding. In my time, as far as I 

 recollect, it was tenanted by Sholty Aberdour, now Lord 

 Morton, Tom Fitzwilliam, Leo Rothschild, Richardson and 

 myself. Maunsell had come up to Cambridge from Harrow 

 with a great reputation as a cricketer. He had been in the 

 Harrow Eleven. He played, I think, three years for Cam- 

 bridge. He was universally known there as " The Cat " or 

 " Pussy Richardson," a name which clung to him through life, 

 the origin of which I never heard, but at his own home and 

 amongst country neighbours and close friends he was nearly 

 always Maunsell, his own Christian name. We were not very long 

 together at Cambridge, as being a Fellow Commoner I escaped 

 Little Go, took my degree and went into the army, but we did 

 not lose sight of each other. My leave was spent largely at 

 Maunsell's home in Lincolnshire, and when his steeplechase 

 stable became famous I lived a great part of the year with him 

 until other interests took me much abroad, and our paths of life 

 diverged, though the old friendship always flourished. He 

 must have won many steeplechases whilst still at Cambridge, 

 at the University " Grinds " or at local Hunt Meetings, but his 

 most notable performance, I recollect, at that time was his 

 winning a Steeplechase at Huntingdon, when he broke a 



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