4IO REMINISCENCES OF 



men I am told. Poor Bill Orvis of the York and 

 Ainstey had the accidental insurance papers in his 

 house, but he put off signing them, and so his wife 

 has lost ^1,000. The subscription will not make 

 that up. Poor Robinson hit that company hard, 

 once for a broken leg, again for brain concussion, 

 and for ^1,000 when he was drowned. There 

 seems something still a little mysterious about Clark 

 leaving Badminton, but I fancy that he had grown 

 very incompetent in the field, and his riding especi- 

 ally bad. I don't think Lord Kesteven's man quite 

 likes his berth. 



"We wanted 'Iris' sorely at Beverly for that 

 100 guinea cup ; but still the ring would hardly have 

 been large enough for him, and none of the judges 

 saw what John Elliot saw, that to find ' Lady Der- 

 went ' out, you must give her a straight-away gallop, 

 not keep her to circus business, which she knows to 

 a nicety. I saw the Rev. Everett, master of the 

 B.V. Harriers, at Tattersall's, and asked him if he 

 had squared the new Bishop of Oxford ; but he says 

 he has worn his green coat and red waistcoat under 

 four bishops in that and three other dioceses, and 

 cares for none of them. He is Morell's brother-in-law. 

 I hope to have the first volume of Saddle and Surloin 

 out in a few weeks. 



" Trusting that Mrs. Thomson continues pretty 

 well, 



" Believe me, 



" Faithfully yours, 



" Henry Dixon. 



