" CHARLES." 293 



few seasons, Lord Hartington offered Lord Waterpark a lot 

 of money (four hundred pounds was the current report), and 

 he generously gave Charles the option of keeping or selling 

 the horse. After due reflection, the latter said, " It's a 

 lot of money. Better let him go." When this horse was 

 first bought Mr. Clowes condemned him as " coach-ey ! " 

 Paddy, killed in the Ingestre railway accident, in 1882, 

 was another great favourite of his, and so were the 

 beautiful Gobang, Leonidas, and the broken-kneed mare. 

 She cleared twenty-four feet with him over the Hoar Cross 

 brook. As a rule, he was very lucky with his horses, and 

 knocked them about less than most people, but when 

 Paddy was killed, he said, " I wish I'd ridden him yester- 

 day, for, if I had, I should have had a good ride, and he 

 would be alive. As it is he's dead, and I expect the one 

 I rode yesterday will be dead too by the time I get home." 

 This was a mare he rode in the great North Stafford run 

 from Draycott Woods to King's Bromley. The horse he 

 rode on the Thursday died too, so there were three in three 

 days. 



Of all his hounds Linkboy and Merryman, of the real 

 old Meynell blood, stood first in his aff'ections, though 

 Colonel, a son of the latter, and one that he walked him- 

 self, ran them very close. When not at work, the old dog 

 was always close to his horse's heels, or trotting by his 

 side. So was Cracker, a son of Colonel's, whom he always 

 spoke of as " My crack hound." When this dog died in 

 Bonner's year, in his prime, Charles said, " He was worth 

 five hundred pounds. You could make a pack of hounds 

 with a dog like him." He used to enjoy telling the story 

 of how Advocate bit off* the man's nose, who had brought 

 a dog-horse from Radburne. The man was looking through 

 the bars, and the hound had his nose off" in a moment. 

 Advocate was walked by Mr. Worthington of East Lodge, 

 and used to chase the school-girls, who wore red cloaks, 

 given them by Lady Mosley, so he had to be sent in to the 

 kennels, where he conceived a penchant for noses ! Per- 

 haps Charles never showed to greater advantage than 



