BREEDING OF HUNTERS. 301 



The Sea, who won one steeple-chase match under 

 him "without touching a twig." In his 1,000 

 guinea aside match on Cock Robin against Vyvian, 

 he did not ride so steadily, but let Captain Becher 

 get the high ground close at home, and was beaten 

 some lengths. The four miles were marked out by 

 Mr. Greene (who was at the winning-post with the 

 two thousand guineas in his pocket) from Shankton 

 Holt to the Ram's Head. Cock Robin was a splendid 

 animal and a perfect jumper, but by no means so fast 

 as Vy vian, who had very few signs of the " h. b." 

 about him but his rat tail. Lord Wilton's cracks 

 have included successively Bijou, a bay half-bred 

 mare; Brilliant, a thorough-bred chesnut, with a 

 flaxen mane and tail (who originally belonged to Sir 

 Francis Goodricke) ; Lougtwelves ; Prince, the horse 

 on which he appears in the Melton Hunt picture ; 

 Roland the Brave ; and Pigeon, who has now found 

 a gray stable rival in old Wanderer, from the Quorn 

 sale. Prince was fifteen years old when his Lordship 

 bought him, and his manner was to gallop over his 

 fences. Great things were vowed in Flacrow's name 

 when he went to meet Vyvian and Jerry in the Lea- 

 mington country, after his victory of the previous 

 year, in honour of which Mr. William Coke presented 

 Mr. Thomas Haycock, of Owston, the best " brown 

 coat" in Leicestershire for twenty-five years, with a sil- 

 ver shield ; but as a steeple-chaser none of the modern 

 Leicestershire horses have perhaps performed so well 

 as Mr. Stirling Craufurd's sherry-bay horse, The 

 Shaver. He was rather high and round in his action, 

 but he could go on till he almost made his opponents 

 lie down. The present Lord Forester has also had a 

 long succession of good horses under him, from Jack 

 and Justice down to Whitelips, Conrad, Cold Port, and 

 Will-o'-the Wisp. But Dick Christian will have his 

 say about Leicestershire, and here our researches into 

 its horse-history must end. More and more of its 



