'Ube S)rui&' sis 



of him with a grip which steadied and guided him, 

 even as though the hand of the Master had been upon 

 his shoulder, all through his chequered life of toil. 



At Rugby, he did not excel at any game, and the 

 only athletic distinction he gained was as a leaper. 

 Thirty years ago, there was still pointed out on the 

 Barby Road, just beyond the Close, the six -barred 

 gate which he used to clear backwards and forwards 

 — a feat which filled his rivals with envy and despair. 

 ' Dixon's Gate ' was once as famous as ' Butler's Leap ' 

 over the stream at the foot of the hill on the Clifton 

 Road, which, for nearly half a century, has excited 

 the emulation of every swift and agile athlete in the 

 annual Crick Run, a famous Rugby institution, cele- 

 brated by Henry Hall Dixon in spirited rhymes which 

 those of his contemporaries who may still be living 

 will not have forgotten. 



From Rugby, Henry Hall Dixon went up to Trinity, 

 Cambridge, where he graduated as B.A. in 1846. A 

 year later he married Miss Caroline Lynes, and com- 

 menced his wedded life at Doncaster, where he was 

 articled to a firm of attorneys. But the sporting 

 associations of the famous Yorkshire racing town 

 were too strong for him, and, to crown all, he made 

 the acquaintance of Mr James White of the Doncaster 

 Gazette, an enthusiastic writer on sport, who persuaded 

 the only too willing ' Druid ' to try his hand at writing 

 for the press. 



With such a congenial spirit by his side to lure him 

 in the direction whither his own inclinations tended, 

 it is not surprising that Henry Hall Dixon speedily 

 drifted into journalism. His first contribution appeared 

 in the Doncaster Gazette, and from that time till within 



