176 ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



trained dining-room performer, and in the end he landed 

 safely in the entrance hall, merely breaking three or four 

 of the carved oak balusters. 



This stands out an unique feat of horsemanship, for it 

 must be remembered that when the ]\Iarquis of Waterford, 

 assisted by Mr. Ric.irdo, brought his horse into the room 

 they did not attempt any riding. At the time the grey 

 accomplished its feat, a youthful earl, then an under- 

 graduate at Oxford, was in the chair at the dinner, who 

 is now a noble duke, renowned for his thorough devotion 

 to the duties of his station, and well known by every one 

 in the " land o' cakes." Some year or so after, the 

 talented horse was bought by a worthy Quaker at 

 Leighton Buzzard, and a noted judge of horseflesh, who 

 was always pleased to show his friends the gallant grey 

 that had jumped the table in the Rochester Room at 

 Aylesbury. 



Whenever I had the opportunity I endeavoured to keep 

 down betting and gambling during the 'Varsity Steeple- 

 chases, and can boast of having been more or less suc- 

 cessful The gambling done by and between themselves 

 as members of the 'Varsity was not a serious matter, 

 as their own money passed backwards and forwards 

 between them, and in the end not much harm was done ; 

 but when strangers and adventurers came down, hoping to 

 rob the undergraduates with impunity, I was determined 

 to do my very best to get rid of them. Ordinarily 

 the wagers between undergraduates took the form of 

 backing their own mounts, or one old University favour- 

 ite against another ; but sometimes they extended into 

 occasional hazards on the great public races, and, as 



