344 FIELD AND FERN. 



Strathmore, out of an Arab half-bred mare which ran 

 in the Defiance coach. Phoebus, the sorrel stallion 

 by a Norfolk Phenomenon horse out of a thorough- 

 bred mare, was as stout as a castle, and as clever 

 as a cat, and so was a horse pony from the Ather- 

 stone country, where his owner had been laid up 

 for two months with a broken bone in his leg. 



The heads of Syren and of Benefit, that mother 

 of the Gracchi, adorned Fred's chimney-piece, with 

 photographs of his father-in-law Will Danby, and 

 Blossom, while the skin of the big Blucher hung like 

 a mantle over his chair. Benefit, by Burton Comus 

 from their Benefit, came originally in a draft from 

 Dick Burton. She was so bad in the distemper that 

 Mr. Henley Greaves thought she was not worth 

 carrying, away, but Captain Thomson took her in 

 the Burton draft along with the Donnington dog pack 

 of 32 couple, to Fife in '49. Her Blossom by Ather- 

 stone Ravisher was an especial pet, and the Captain 

 only retained her and her sort, when he sold off at 

 Stratton Audleyin'57. She had fourteen puppiesthat 

 season to Morrell's Bajazet, and four couple of them 

 were still running to head in their fourth season, 

 and among them Bonny Lass, "the largest and most 

 powerful combined with quality" that her owner ever 

 bred. Her nose was the same to the last even in her 

 tenth season, and " her lovely eyes" were as bright 

 as ever. Blucher was the solitary puppy of her old 

 age, and she died in whelping him. In one of her 

 litters she had seventeen, and with wet-nurse aid she 



