The Life of a Great Sportsman 



to bolt in the direction they are running (I bought him from 

 the village baker for a ' pony,' and wouldn't take a couple of 

 hundred for him to-morrow), it's not my fault, is it ?" 



How many brilliant horsemen can I number amongst my 

 clerical friends ? To begin with, there was Parson Howsin, of 

 Brant Broughton, in the Blankney country, who rode straight 

 to hounds up to eighty, and actually cleared the Whissendine 

 at that age. A rural dean once asked him whether he pro- 

 nounced the brook of that name " Kedron or Kidron ? " To 

 which he replied, " I only know two brooks, the Whissendine 

 and Brant, and I can spell both, and, thank God ! jump 'em 

 both." One of his fads was never to let any one but himself 

 preach in his own church, for, said he, "If the other man 

 preaches worse than I do, he won't be worth hearing ; whereas, 

 if, on the other hand, he preaches better than I do, you won't 

 come to hear me again." Then there was the late Rev. Edward 

 Drake, who was frequently my guest at Limber for a few days' 

 hunting with the Brocklesby, and was, without doubt, one of 

 the finest horsemen of his time over a country. As Mr. 

 " Ekard," he frequently rode in steeplechases before he took 

 holy orders, and was on the back of that good horse Bride- 

 groom in the Liverpool of i860, won by Anatis, on which 

 occasion he came in sixth. Dick Fitzherbert, who came into 

 the baronetcy shortly before his death two years ago, was 

 another fine horseman. His son, Sir Hugo, is Master of the 

 Rufford at the present time, in succession to Lord Manvers. 

 Again, I would ask, what man from Melton at the present time 

 sees more of a run than the Rev. J. P. Seabrook, rector of 

 Waltham, whose nerve is every bit as good as when he and I 

 rode together at Cambridge, nearly half a century ago ? When, 

 the other day, at the request of a hunting friend, Mr. Wil- 

 loughby Maycock wrote the following extra verse to his well- 



2 54 



