THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



Hargravc made to some one wlio asko(l liim \vh3^ he gave a 

 guinea for his four-horse wliips, wlien good ones were to be had 

 for half the sum ? ' You may get tliem clieapcr, doubtless, but 

 where will you get them so good ? Are there more than two 

 men in England, who can make a really good hunting saddle ? ' 

 And what else was to be seen in this liaehelor's bedroom ? 

 why, not nuich beyond what was commonly found in a gentle- 

 man commoner's bed-chamber at this time, wdiose only object 

 was to find repose from the fatigues of tlie day, or to shake 

 oft" the fumes of bad wane. There was, however, a print of 

 a sleeping Venus, suspended against the wall, with some lines 

 of his own written under it, merely expressive of his high 

 admiration of the human form ; and, pinned to the curtain of 

 his bed, so as to be visible by him w^hen awake, the words 

 diluculo exsurgam legibly written on a slip of white paper. 

 But there was something more than met the eye of a common 

 observer in these words. It was not the mere act of eayiy 

 rising, which these w-ords imply, that stood so high in Mr. 

 Hargrave's estimation ; the fact w^as, he found, by experience, 

 that by being what is called ' a good man at morning chapel,' 

 he obtained the credit of being a regular man in his college, 

 whereas, in truth, he was anything but that. Although per- 

 fectly free from all vicious propensities, and one of the most 

 popular men at Oxford, at the time, he was wdiat would now 

 be termed ' an out-and-out larker,' and as often broke through 

 the rules and trannnels of the University as any other young 

 gentleman of liis day on its books. 



Carthage is said only to have produced one Hannibal ; and 

 great men, in their way, are scarce in all modern communities. 

 At the time I am alluding to, very good horsemen over a 

 country w^ere much more rare than they now are ; and there 

 were not more than a dozen in the University of Oxford who 

 were entitled to be called such. The very best among tliem, 

 how^ever, was Hargrave, who united all the good properties 

 essential to riding well after hounds. He possessed great 

 strength, unaccomj)anied by great w^eight, not exceeding 

 twelve stone (fourteen pounds to the stone), with his saddle, 

 which is considered the best of all weights for crossing a strong 

 country, and for this reason : the twelve-stone man, independ- 

 ently of his power to assist his horse, to pull open gates, and 

 knock about obstacles of any sort, is almost sure to be mounted 



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