Calcutta. 1 8 r 



meannesses and prejudices. On the contrary, we called a 

 spade a spade, whether in the case of a horse being * pulled ' 

 or a public institution being mismanaged. We had hosts 

 of secret admirers who longed to extract roasted chestnuts 

 out of the fire by means of our paws ; but who were un- 

 willing to expose their own tender skins to the heat of 

 official or social wrath. Besides the record and review of 

 sport, our paper contained valuable articles on popular 

 veterinary surgery, riding, horsebreaking and other kindred 

 subjects which made it useful to a horse-loving public; 

 and it was brightened up by original stories, essays, sketches 

 and vers de societe which I constantly received from my literary 

 friends. The high quality of the paper killed it ; for the 

 keeping it up to the standard we had fixed, necessitated 

 my always remaining in Calcutta. It is true that, besides 

 my journalistic work, I had ample employment in horse- 

 dealing and racing. The trainers, jockeys, dealers, stable- 

 keepers, and rough riders were our friends to a man. But 

 the men whom I knew, when in the Service, as equals, 

 looked upon me more or less as an outsider, so that the 

 dreams which my wife had of a pleasant life in India re- 

 mained unfulfilled, and, after a three years' struggle, we 

 began to ask ourselves the question : Does the pleasure of 

 4 running ' the paper make up for the discomforts of living 

 in Calcutta ? I had seen so much of the world, that it 

 was absolutely immaterial to me whether my associates 

 were private soldiers or generals, or men who sold whisky 

 or cigars over counters or out of ' godowns.' The Viceroy 

 of India could confer on me no social position equal to 

 that I held in my own right as an author. I was on 

 friendly terms with all the people in India whose opinions 

 on horses, sport, or literature were worth having. As I had 

 never once availed myself of the right I had of entering 

 Government House, during the sixteen years I spent in 

 India as an officer of the army; it was not likely that I 

 would want to go there in my old age. But my wife is 



