320 CENTtRY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



swimmer. The run came off, and on nearing the 

 Wreake both raced for it, Lord Cardigan afterwards 

 exclaiming, " Mind, Wilbraham, I was in first." On 

 other occasions also he nearly met his death under 

 water, but escaped with the good fortune that had 

 attended him under fire. Of falls he had many, 

 some being very serious. The worst, excepting his 

 last fatal one, was over a gate into the Uppingham 

 Road at the end of a tiring run, which deprived him 

 of sense and motion for twenty-four hours. But he 

 always took his falls with perfect good humour and 

 sang-froid, and unless very much hurt was sure to 

 be in the front again as soon as he regained the 

 saddle. To be soft was a weakness which he would 

 not tolerate, and in regard to pluck he was un- 

 rivalled. When not engaged in military duty he 

 lived either at his own home or within easy reach 

 of that grassy range of uplands known as High 

 Leicestershire, and having been blooded when a boy 

 was devoted to hunting during his manhood, and up 

 to threescore years and ten could have sailed away 

 on a good horse from nine out of ten men who got 

 a start on even terms with him from covert. His 

 spare frame and length of limb gave him exceptional 

 advantages in the saddle, and as his horses were the 

 best that money could buy, it is not surprising that 

 he was generally to be found in the first flight. It 

 must not be supposed, however, that Lord Cardigan 

 was a man who hunted in order to ride, for no man 

 could be more disposed than he was to give hounds 



