172 ikinas ot tbe 1fDuntin(5*3Fiel^ 



horse pulled with John Day in the saddle harder than 

 any animal that famous jockey ever rode, Lord Wilton 

 could hold him almost with a pack-thread. It was 

 the same with Lord Eglinton's Dr Caius, as vicious a 

 horse as ever looked through a bridle, upon \vhom those 

 crafty and brilliant horsemen, Tommy Lye, Job Marson, 

 and Cartwright, had tried their prowess in vain. The 

 touch of those wonderful hands of Lord Wilton's had 

 a magic effect, and so exquisite was his manipulation of 

 the ungenerous brute's mouth, that when he had steered 

 him to victory, Tom Dawson, no mean judge, declared 

 that there was not such another jockey in England. 



It was to this exquisite sense of touch on the bit, which 

 was the envy of all his rivals, that Lord Wilton owed 

 the singular immunity from falls which marked his long 

 career in the hunting-field. He was extremely partial 

 to thoroughbreds, and his splendid stud always contained 

 the cream of English hunters. From the memorable 

 day when, on his thoroughbred stallion Thyrsis, he 

 ' set ' the whole field in that famous run from Sproxton 

 Thorns with the Duke of Rutland's, he was ever the 

 fugleman of the Meltonians. Like Henry of Navarre he 

 might have said : — 



' Press where ye see my white plume shine, amidst the ranks of war, 

 And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre.' 



It was said of him that he knew every fence and field 

 in Leicestershire, and his pluck and good judgment 

 enabled him to hold his own in the hunting-field with 

 the best, even after he had passed the span of three 

 score and ten. Another invaluable gift which he 

 possessed was that of getting well away, and ' stealing 

 o'er the grass ' before even the most alert of his rivals 

 realised that ' the game was afoot.' No man better 



