The Life of a Great Sportsman 



but his innate modesty was responsible for the absence of any 

 vainglorious vauntings of performances of which any athlete 

 might well be proud. 



The writer was many years since conversing with a cele- 

 brated horseman who asserted that at that time there were 

 only three expert gentlemen riders in Great Britain : himself 

 and two others. He forgot John Maunsell Richardson. Not 

 to many gentlemen riders is it granted twice to win the Grand 

 National Steeplechase, and the successful negotiation of formid- 

 able obstacles over a course more than 4^ miles in length 

 means pluck, endurance, nerve and skill, and who shall say 

 that attributes such as these if applied to other and more 

 serious phases and conditions of life do not constitute an im- 

 portant factor and give an incentive to success ? 



And thus with that keen sense of duty which ever prompts 

 a healthy mind, though somewhat late in life, he stepped into 

 the political arena with no other end in view save that of 

 serving his country, with no hope of reward but the approval 

 of his fellows and the knowledge that the stress and strain 

 of a Parliamentary career have but one object, and that the 

 greatest good of the greatest number. It is of such material 

 that Great Britain's sons are made. The healthy breezy tone 

 which pervades the bodies of our athletes often finds its way 

 into their minds and forms an obstacle to the over-indulgence 

 in the sports of the field of which they are past-masters, and 

 thus generates a stimulus to the performance of duties which 

 call forth the best, because the most unselfish, elements of 

 character. 



For the author of this brief memoir it is difficult after the 

 lapse of more than half a century accurately to recall or record 

 the incidents of interest which occurred in " the Cat's " school- 

 life, but there were two salient points during his career at 



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