3i8 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



Lord Cardigan's conduct on the day of the ever 

 memorable charge is still the subject of criticism. 

 There can be no doubt that he was first amongst 

 the Russian guns, galloping many yards in front of 

 his men, and receiving only one slight wound in the 

 leg ; but though he was the first man amongst the 

 Russian guns, he was not the last to leave them. 

 Yet when he returned to England in January, 1855, 

 he was treated as a hero. His portrait and his 

 biography were in every shop window. But he bore 

 his honours indiscreetly, and when on the 6th of 

 February, 1855, he was invited by the Lord Mayor 

 to a banquet at the Mansion House he publicly 

 boasted of his prowess after the dinner. To say 

 the least of it, this betrayed a weak mind ; but, 

 De inortuis nil nisi bonum, and I prefer to allude 

 to those chivalrous qualities which are essentially 

 characteristic of an English nobleman and sports- 

 man. 



Therefore let me quote from the obituary notice 

 of him written by Major G. J. Whyte - Melville, 

 published in June, 1868: "Old war-worn veterans 

 mourn for the stern commander who never shirked 

 a duty, for the staunch comrade who never failed 

 a friend. Young rising soldiers are sad to think that 

 their ideal has been quenched, that their hero, too, 

 has vanished like another. Magnates of the land, 

 his peers and equals, find time to grieve for one 

 who was an ornament of his rank, an honour to 

 his order ; but sorrows far more precious than these, 



