Reminiscent 



of Lord Fitz william's sons in the house. Besides these, A. J. 

 McNeil, Lord Melgund (later the Earl of Minto), Leopold de 

 Rothschild and Edward Buchanan (afterwards Ambassador of 

 St. Petersburg) were the occupants of this cheery little house. 

 Breakfast and luncheon were always ready and shared by one 

 and all. The inmates were always members of the Athenaeum 

 Club, then, as now, composed of from twenty to thirty members, 

 all more or less fond of sport. In those days it was the fashion 

 for each member of the Club to give what was called an 

 Athenaeum tea — in other words, a supper. All the members 

 of the Club came by right, and the owner of the rooms invited 

 a few friends. After supper, some played cards and others 

 amused themselves by various games. Richardson never 

 played cards, in fact he and Melgund and one or two others 

 thought it was a mistake that the whole evening should be 

 devoted to Loo, or other equally enticing games of chance. 

 On one occasion they put their wise heads together and 

 managed to break up the card party by a practical joke, which 

 at that time created a certain amount of sensation. However, 

 it was a lesson, and the card-players took the hint and joined 

 often in the other amusements of the evening. There were 

 races in the summer in the Fulbourne Valley, a continuation 

 of the famed ditch which divides Newmarket Heath from the 

 July course. These races no longer take place, as the Valley 

 has been ploughed up, but both at Fulbourne, near Huntingdon, 

 and at Cottenham, where there were steeplechases, Richardson 

 rode and won many races. Captain Machell, who was always 

 fond of seeing the boys ride, used to come over to all the 

 meetings, and he was at once much struck by the perfect 

 manner in which our hero managed the horses, both on the 

 flat and across country — so much so that when the first 

 National Hunters' Race was run on March 15, 1872, he 



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