The Life of a Great Sportsman 



car belonging to his friend Mr. Gretton, who was following 

 close behind en route to the meet. 



Conservative in all his notions, it was a long while before 

 he could be persuaded to invest in an automobile on his own 

 account, and when he did only made use of it for travelling 

 purposes, and never as an adjunct to the hunting field ; both 

 he and his Countess invariably making a practice of riding home 

 after hunting, no matter how far the distance might be. 



Always considerate where his own horses — not to mention 

 servants — were concerned, nothing pained him more than to 

 see a so-called sportsman at the end of the day riding his tired 

 horse some miles out of his way, perhaps to pick up his motor 

 car, arranged to meet him at a certain spot, in order that its 

 selfish owner might reach home in time for a game of Bridge 

 before dinner. Though in great request at all the principal 

 horse shows in the kingdom, he was appointed as one of the 

 judges at Olympia on the first two occasions, but the judging 

 by night was not at all to his taste, and moreover the trick 

 jumping indulged in there did not appeal to him, as savouring 

 too much of a circus, therefore it came about that in future, 

 though I believe requested to act once more, his well-known 

 figure was conspicuous by its absence in the arena. Another 

 drawback was that in view of the many foreign competitors 

 present his ignorance of any language but his own naturally put 

 him at a great disadvantage. 



I remember his giving me a most amusing description once 

 of how, somewhere in the seventies, he and the late George 

 Ede, returning together from Baden-Baden, where they had 

 been riding in the Grand Prix, won by the latter on Benazet, 

 a brilliant two-miler belonging to the late Lord Poulett, and 

 having to get back to England immediately after the race in 

 order to ride at Warwick, owing to their ignorance of the 



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