DICK CHRISTIAN'S LECTURE. 351 



sometimes over ; many's the sousing Fve had. I 

 mind Sir Gilbert once gave me a sovereign for 

 that work : I had had a regular hydrophobia gen- 

 tleman to tackle that day. Sir Gilbert took to 

 the Cottesmore hounds for a time,, and he made me 

 head groom ; then he got me a man to help, and I 

 used to go out and act as whip : Lord Forester 

 would talk of it if he were alive ; I must have done 

 it for two seasons. Let me see : I first broke my 

 leg in February, 1799, coming from hunting, on a 

 favourite mare of Sir Gilbert's; they called her 

 Chance ; she fell with me on the road about seven 

 o'clock, between Exton and Whitwell ; I hopped a 

 quarter of a mile to Whitwell, and Mr. Springthorpe, 

 a good English farmer, caught my mare and hoisted 

 me on her. I rode to Normanton Park in furious 

 pain : the thought of it makes me wince to this day ; 

 my word it does ; I feel it now, as I sit here. 



Then the Prince of Wales, he comes to Normanton, 

 and gives me ten guineas for mounting of him. I put 

 him as often as I could on Buffalo; he was sold at 

 Tattersall's for 500 guineas, and the Prince bought 

 him r He was a strange man for a bit of fun. Old Tot 

 Hinckley, the dealer, was a great man with him. I 

 mind him and the Duke of Clarence coming down the 

 stable-yard, and they says, " Here's Old Tot ;" and 

 they shoves him into a blacksmith's shop, and locks 

 him in. They were uncommon fond, Fve heard, of 

 locking people in ; I don't see no fun in it myself. 

 Mr. Assheton Smith used to be staying with Sir Gil- 

 bert ; he was the best rider amongst them. Then there 

 was Lord Forester, Mr. Cholmondley, Mr. Lindow, 

 Lord Willoughby, and a lot more. Mr. Smith 

 bought a fine grey horse I rode then, and hunted 

 him in Leicestershire ; he had killed a man or two ; 

 I had a fine jump on him; you see I always liked to 

 be forward enough, and it was a tremendous fence, 

 but I got well over. The huntsman daren't go; 



