1SS4] POINT-TO-POINT RACE. 121 



And the second, " Wliat are you going to wear at the fancy 

 ball ? " No two events ever caused greater excitement in 

 the county. Point-to-point races were then in their 

 infancy, and created more interest, from their comparative 

 novelty, than they do at present, when people have got 

 tired of going to look on, often at a great distance, at 

 people doing what they dare not or cannot do themselves. 

 Eesides which, the practice of keeping special horses in 

 training for these special events have done much to 

 discourage the sport. They are capital things for soldiers, 

 but in a hunt they are apt to l^ecome a little monotonous, 

 though the opportunity of giving a good holiday to farmers 

 and occupiers of land is one which should not be always 

 missed. The idea, I believe, originated somewhere near 

 Ivineton, and Captain " Tom Benyon " and Captain 

 " Billy Becher" were deputed to choose the course. They 

 picked a line in the Cherwell Valley, starting near the Little 

 Bourton Dirt House, leaving Hanwell to the left and 

 Mollington to the right, and finishing in Mr. Beading's 

 field just between Page's Gorse and 8hotteswTll, the 

 Farnborough Brook, of course, coming into the line. I 

 could not l3e there myself, but Lord Willoughby told me 

 that when they were drawn up at Banbury Cross, waiting 

 for two young men from Oxford, all their courage kept 

 running out of the heels of their boots, and they only kept 

 up their spirits by chafiing Mr. George Campbell, who was 

 supposed to have a horse not quite eligible for the 

 competition. Mr. George Drake, whose fiftieth birthday 

 it was, started a little mare, and when asked, " What, tioii 

 going to ride, George ? " said, " Yes, and I shall p'raps 

 look in at the finish." When started, the late " Gillie " 

 Leigh went off at a great pace, and jumped the brook at 

 once, followed by Jack King and several more, Lord 

 Willoughby and the rest keeping on the east side. About 

 half-way down Lord Willoughby found a gap made up by 

 some strong rails, and having to charge the fence, had a 

 fall. George Drake, who had been waiting on him, caught 

 his horse, and said, " Look sharp, Willoughby ; we can't 



