56 FAMOUS RACING MEN. 



in Calais the next. He also lost 16,000 napoleons to a certain 

 captain at billiards, which sum he was unable to pay at the moment. 

 But this score was wiped off in a more agreeable manner. The whole 

 thing was suspected of being a cross, which it no doubt was, conse- 

 quently the colonel of Mytton's regiment, the then Earl of Uxbridge, 

 forbade his paying the money, and the captain in question wa,s 

 afterwards implicated in a transaction which went far to prove that 

 Lord Uxbridge was morally right. When Mytton came of age he 

 found himself possessed of an estate of about £10,000 a-year and 

 £60,000 of accumulated cash, but a large portion of the latter had to 

 go towards liquidating his already numerous debts. Quitting the 

 arm}', he married, at the age of twenty-three, Harriet, the eldest 

 daughter of the then lately deceased Sir Tyrrwhitt Jones, Bart., of 

 Stanley Hall, Shropshire. The bridegroom was attended by the 

 P^arl of Uxbridge and the Earl of Denbigh, K.G., and the wedding 

 was one of the events of the season. The issue of their union wa.s 

 only one daughter. Mrs. Mytton died a few years after her marriage, 

 and there can be no doubt that her death was accelerated, if not 

 actually caused, by her husband's insane conduct and cruel neglect. 



John INIytton was physically a fine animal : in height about 5ft. 

 9in., in weight 12st., with magnificent shoulders, a splendid chest, 

 and an arm the biceps muscle of which was larger than that of 

 Jackson's, the celebrated pugilist, who was believed to be the most 

 powerful man of his time in England. He was fond of displaying 

 his strength, but it was perhaps fortunate that he steadily refused to 

 learn boxing. As it was, in a " turn-up " he was what is called a 

 very awkward customer, and knocked down his man, when he could 

 get at him, as if he had been a ninepin. But he was nearly ignorant 

 of the science of self-defence and never attempted to attain it. His 

 l:)ull-doo- courage, however, added to his tremendous blow, enabled 

 him to beat any ordinary man ; and so well was his prowess known 

 that few ventured to encounter him. In dress Mytton was peculiar, 

 not to say eccentric. He never wore any but the thinnest and finest 

 silk stockings, with very thin boots or shoes, so that in winter he very 

 i-aiely had dry feet. To flannel he was a stranger from the time he 

 left off petticoats. Even his hunting-breeches were without lining ; 

 he wore one small waistcoat, always open in the front from the second 

 of the lower buttons, and about home he was as often without a hat 

 as with one. His winter shooting gear was a light jacket, white 

 linen trousers without lining or drawers ; and in frost and snow he 

 waded through all water that came in his way. These, however, are 

 not exceptional marks of hardihood, we know men of the present day 

 who go as lightly clad through all the seasons. But Mytton went 

 further than this. He would sometimes strip to his shirt to follow 

 wildfowl in hard weather, and once actually laid himself down in the 

 snow with absolutely not a stitch on him but his shirt to await the 

 anival of the ducks at dusk. He would ride several days a week to 

 coverts nearly fifty miles distant from Halston, and return thither 



