320 THE POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



in the Badminton hunting song. Will Long rode 

 another of his get, St. Paul; and the late Duke was 

 very fond of his son Reubens, as he could indulge 

 on him to the full in his favourite mode of letting 

 the reins lie on his neck, and larruping his laziness 

 along. " The Squire " rode Reubens once, and de- 

 clared he was never on a more idle but enduring 

 horse the same at night as in the morning. It was 

 in this country, in " a sharp, short, and decisive " 

 thing of fifteen minutes over walls, from Aston Gorse 

 to Farmington Gorse, that the Squire led on Grimaldi, 

 who was bred by the late Mr. Clifford, of Swell Bowte, 

 in Gloucestershire. Will Long on Draper, however, 

 lived with the grey, as well as another individual, who 

 vexed " The Squire" so deservedly by riding among 

 the hounds, that he complained to the Duke of him 

 when he came up, and offered to have him " any- 

 where you like pistol or fists/' with all that fine 

 pluck which came so well to his rescue a quarter of 

 century after, when a number of " riflemen" were 

 beginning to hustle him at Doncaster. Steeple had 

 his day, and Worcester was nearly the last horse the 

 late Duke rode, and Lion, whom he bought from Mr. 

 Niblett, of the White Lion at Bristol, and whom he 

 would suffer 110 one else to ride, his very last. Lop, 

 by Crop, came before Black Sultan, and was the most 

 successful sire they ever had. The sixth Duke's True 

 Blue was by him, and so was Philip Payne's favourite 

 grey Cherrington, which he rode for some eighteen 

 seasons. In fact, early in the present century, half 

 the stud were Lops, grey like the old horse, and as 

 neat as pictures. The hounds were not exactly to 

 match, as although they were very fine and powerful, 

 they had not that genteel appearance which Will 

 Long, by immense attention to lines of blood, gra- 

 dually introduced. His Grace was also very fond 

 of Percy, a chestnut stallion of nearly seventeen 

 hands high. Will Stansby whipped into Will Long 



