158 mms of tbe 1[)untino*3fiel^ 



500 guineas, owners up, at twelve stone. The next 

 morning, on talking over the match with some of his 

 friends who had been present, White came to the con- 

 clusion that he had made a fool of himself over night, 

 and that his mare had no chance against Mr Walker's 

 horse. He would gladly have backed out of the match, 

 but his opponent would not hear of it, so John White 

 had to stand by his bargain and make the best of it. 

 It was arranged that the match should come off on the 

 old Bibury course, and there the two met to decide the 

 knotty point. Whether it were by the superiority of his 

 mare or of his horsemanship I am not prepared to say, 

 but at anyrate John White won easily, and proved 

 himself a dashing and determined jockey. 



In 181 5 Mr John White moved to Melton Mowbray, 

 and went in heart and soul for hunting. 



Here the young sportsman soon made himself con- 

 spicuous. He and Captain Maxse, as wild and daring 

 a spirit as himself, joined their forces, and set up an 

 establishment which became known far and wide as 

 ' Claret Lodge,' from the quantity of that noble wine 

 consumed there. They boasted of possessing what 

 White called ' the best dog-cook ' in the place, and their 

 dinners and suppers were such as Lucullus himself 

 would have pronounced superb. For seven seasons 

 these two, par nobile fratrum, kept house together and 

 gave their friends rare entertainment, of a kind, perhaps, 

 which would scarcely be considered ' good form ' now, 

 but was suited to the tastes of a generation which took 

 its pleasures highly flavoured. They were full of blood 

 and irrepressible animal spirits, the jolly, rollicking, 

 reckless sportsmen of that heroic age, and had the one 

 object of getting as much out of life, in its material and 



