288 NIMROD S HUNTING TOUR 



had assembled, among whom was Mr. Harland. On the sideboard 

 at Whitworth I saw several racing cups. They were won by a 

 horse called Whitworth, by Agonistes — a very fair racer, and the 

 sire of many capital hunters. Mr. Shafto still breeds thorough-bred 

 ones. 



Mr. Thomas Shafto (commonly called To7n Shafto), brother to 

 Mr. Duncombe Shafto, is a very conspicuous character in the 

 Lambton Hunt, and may be truly termed a dear lover of fox-hwiting . 

 He has before fallen under my observation as having possessed, as 

 well as having made a hunter of, that very celebrated horse, the 

 original Clipper, on which that fine rider, Mr. Lindo, for so many 

 years starred over Leicestershire. The temper of this horse was 

 very violent, and he gave Mr. Shafto a great many falls before he 

 completed his education. Falls, we know, are awkward things, and 

 not unfrequently do they damp the ardour of young sportsmen, 

 and give them a distaste for the rough, though noble, amusement of 

 fox-hunting ; but when I relate an anecdote of Mr. Thomas Shafto, 

 who wall assert that, with such men as himself, broken bones or 

 fractured skulls would be even as a feather in the scale against the 

 impassioned delight of this noble science ? 



Twenty years since, Mr. Thomas Shafto was a Captain in the 

 North York Militia, and quartered in the Sister Kingdom. Having 

 obtained leave of absence, he took his passage in a Liverpool 

 packet, and attempted to cross the Channel on his return to 

 England. The propelling power of steam was then unknown — at 

 least for nautical uses — and, by the violence of adverse winds, the 

 vessel could not keep her course. Being driven near shore, with 

 but little prospect of weathering it, the Captain of the packet 

 thought proper to apprise his passengers of their imminent peril — 

 adding, indeed, that he had no hopes of saving them from a watery 

 grave I 



Captain Shafto was accompanied at this time by one of his 

 brother officers, and both heard the dreadful tidings at the same 

 moment. Captain Johnson fell on his knees, and began to implore 

 the Throne of Grace ; and doubtless Captain Shafto did the same 

 as soon as he recovered from his dread surprise. But such is the 

 infirmity of corrupt nature, that mortal man can with difficulty 



