82 NIM ROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



ing to be as handy as a fiddle, from the tuition she had experi- 

 enced at his hand. There was not one lame horse in this stable,. 

 My next visit was to the duke's own stud, nineteen in number, 

 of which two were clipped, for the reason I have already given. 

 Amongst the lot were three or four young horses, going through 

 their education for the field under the able direction of Frank 

 Collison ; but the rest were first-rate hunters, and more than 

 equal to the duke's weight, as indeed all men's hunters should be, 

 let their weight be great or small. I only recognized one of the 

 lot, and this was old Alphabet, which his Grace purchased of 

 Lord Lichfield when I was at Melton, together with Jemmy 

 Jumps, for nine hundred guineas, the two ; and he appeared to 

 be as fresh as he was then, although now in, at least, his nine- 

 teenth year. A finer sample indeed of the British hunter for 

 fourteen stone might be looked for in vain, and the long services 

 he performed for the duke after the many hot shirts he must have 

 had under Lord Lichfield, when his lordship hunted his own 

 hounds in the Atherstone country, proved him to have been 

 made of the right stuff. Doubtless, a more aristocratic-looking 

 animal cannot well be imagined, and I hope his Grace has got 

 his picture. The result of my inquiry after Jemmy Jumps was 

 not so favourable. The Anson pace and the hot shirts had made 

 too deep an impression upon him, and, comparatively with the 

 other, he dropped into a premature grave or, in more appro- 

 priate words, had found his way into the copper, much before 

 his time. But it is with horses as with men, there are strong 

 distinctions and great differences of excellence between them,! 

 and when once a sportsman has found out that he has got a good 

 one, nothing but necessity should induce him to part with him. 

 I think I once proved that a very heavy and hard-riding gentle- 

 man* saved more than two thousand pounds some years back, by 

 refusing that sum from the late Lord Middleton for two hunters 

 which he had proved to be good ones, and able to stand his 

 weight and pace. But there was another horse in the duke's stud 

 called Jemmy, which, although somewhat low in his back, greatly 

 attracted my notice, appearing to have all the requisities of a 

 hunter for the duke's weight and pace. In my judgment of this 

 horse it appeared I was not mistaken : for on my telling Lord 

 Elcho that I had seen the St. BoswelPs stud, his lordship asked 

 me if I was not much pleased with Jemmy. I took out my pocket- 

 book and showed him that I had noted him as the flower of the 

 flock. I believe Lord Elcho offered a large sum for him, for his 

 own riding. 



* The elder Mr. Edge, of Nottinghamshire, so conspicuous amongst 

 the heavy weights. 



