134 The Chase 



under Dr. Arnold. He contributed largely to the 

 Press on sporting and agricultural matters, but is 

 now chiefly remembered for his admirable memoirs 

 and descriptions of country life in " Post and 

 Paddock" [1856]; "Silk and Scarlet" [1858]; 

 "Scott and Sebright" [1862]; "Field and Fern" 

 [1865] ; "Saddle and Sirloin" [1870]. 



"The Druid"wasoneof the most inflexibly honest, 

 upright, and just men that ever lived, and could 

 not be induced, on any pretext, to accept the 

 slightest pecuniary reward for his writings, beyond 

 the small honorarium paid to him by his employers, 

 which never exceeded six hundred pounds a year, 

 all told. . . . 



So delicate was his sense of honour that when he 

 went down to a stud farm to describe a yearling 

 sale he would not even accept luncheon from the 

 owner of the place lest he might be suspected of 

 being biassed, if his honest conviction led him to 

 praise some of the lots brought up for auction. 

 The disappointment of his eldest son, Sydenham 

 Dixon, when, as a hungry boy of twelve, he was 

 forced by his father to turn away from a beautiful 

 luncheon, to which both were invited, and to 

 munch some dry bread and cheese in a public 

 house, may be better imagined than described. . . . 



In the accuracy of his descriptions " The Druid " 

 has never been surpassed when he wrote of scenes 

 which came under his own observation. 



Lord Rosebery has spoken of him with rare 

 penetration as " half sportsman and half poet " ; and 

 the amount of poetry which he infused into his 

 writings will be recognised by those to whom many 

 passages, scattered like gems throughout his works, 

 are as familiar as they are to Lord Rosebery himself. 



" The Druid's " equal in endurance of hardship, 



