'THE DRUID.' 



HENRY HALL DIXON. 



In my sketch of ' Nimrod ' I have animadverted upon 

 the omission of his name and ' The Druid's ' from the 

 Dictionary of Natiotial Biography. But it is some 

 consolation to find that both names receive the honour- 

 able mention they deserve in Chambers's Encydopcedia^ 

 a work for which every one who has consulted it must 

 feel the highest admiration. Of all the purely sporting 

 writers of this century, or perhaps of any century, 

 ' The Druid ' has, I think, attained the widest and 

 most solid popularity. A handsome edition of his 

 works in five volumes, with a biography of the author by 

 the Hon. Francis Lawley, has been quite recently issued 

 by Messrs Vinton. Silk and Scarlet, Post and Paddock^ 

 Scott and Sebright, Saddle and Sirloin, still keep their 

 grip on the public, and Lord Rosebery not long since 

 paid this high tribute to the literary merits of these 

 popular books : ' I am one who finds constant re- 

 freshment from reading a few pages of this healthy and 

 vivid author, half sportsman and half poet, who has 

 produced a number of volumes which in their way are 

 masterpieces, and will never be surpassed.' 



And what manner of man was he whose writings 

 have fascinated two generations of sportsmen ? To that 

 question I hope I have given a satisfactory answer in 

 the following sketch. 



