78 THE POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



he did speak to the Emperor. " You must bring 

 me good horses, Thomas Kirby, if you do go/' was 

 the only condition imposed upon him. The appeal 

 of the red-tape Chamberlain against suph a heretical 

 proceeding as getting a pass signed and countersigned 

 in twenty-four hours was quashed almost without a 

 hearing ; and punctually at the end of that time, he 

 was gliding out of Cronstadt, pass in pocket, in a 

 Russian war frigate. As they neared Revel, they 

 met Nelson's fleet coming out of it in three divisions, 

 and Mr. Kirby was straightway elevated on to the 

 poop by the side of the Russian Admiral, and 

 interpreted to the captain of a British flag- boat the 

 news, of which up to that moment he had been, kept 

 in the profouiidest ignorance, that the Emperor had 

 signed the treaty with Great Britain. This was the 

 first intimation Nelson had of the fact, as the im- 

 perial courier had not arrived overland from St. 

 Petersburg. On receiving the official confirmation 

 of Mr. Kirby's poop story, he at once signalled to 

 " send that Englishman on board," and accordingly 

 the Englishman and his trunk were hoisted into 

 his flag-ship, the St. George. During the two days 

 that he spent under the shade of the Union Jack, he 

 had no conversation with the " poor thing like a 

 shadow,* 5 but merely watched him as he paced the 

 quarter-deck. Still he was not forgotten ; but was 

 sent off free of expense by the Speedwell to Yar- 

 mouth, and kept his promise right faithfully to the 

 Emperor by re-appearing in less than three months 

 at the palace, with a list of forty culled ones. 



The late Emperor was nearly as fond of horses as 

 his brother, and one of his last purchases was a 

 splendid black charger from Mr. Ashton, of Lincoln- 

 shire. He made a tempting offer to Frank Butler 

 in 1842, to go over and ride and train for him at 

 Sarkasello ; but fears of the cold climate, and his 

 brightening saddle hopes at home, deterred him from 



