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The Slipping Race. " 131 



flings down his scarecrow hat, puts himself in " the 

 teapot attitude " on the table, and pours out his Attic 

 eloquence in old Beeswing's name. 



It was at Newcastle that Sir Tatton Sykes (Scott) 

 took part in a great* sliding-match, which utterly 

 ruined Fancy Boy. Four started for that Northern 

 Derby, and the ground was so soaked with rain that 

 Bill Scott, after many ups and downs, was finally 

 left at the Newcastle turn with Little Jack Horner 

 (Francis) to keep him company. The memory of the 

 Derby which he had just lost " on the Surrey side" did 

 not tend to tone down Bill's ire, and never was Mother 

 Earth more emphatically denounced. Fancy Boy was 

 also on his hind-quarters at that point ; but Sim re- 

 covered him, and abjured Job on Dolo to " Keep wide 

 of me at the Coal Pit turn, for fear we slide up again'' 

 The presentiment was too true, as when they reached 

 it Fancy Boy slipped, and slid some five-and-twenty 

 yards, Sim sticking to him with his arms round his 

 neck. Even in this fashion the pace was pretty good ; 

 but Dolo got so far ahead that he was never reached 

 again, and the chapter of accidents put some 600 

 guineas into Lord Eglinton's pocket. Two hunters 

 out of four came to grief in the next race ; but a nice, 

 drying night set things quite square for the morrow. 



It was a favourite saying on Tyneside, when poor 

 Bob Chambers was in his rowing prime, " Bob isn't a 

 man he's a steam-engine ; he was ' cast' 1 at Hawks', 

 and 'fitted' at Stephenson's" and we think of both 

 man and " fitter" as we leave the coaly Tyne, and spy 

 on our northward way the cottage and birthplace of 

 George Stephenson amongst the anything but " sunny 

 farms of Killingworth." All the great spots of interest 

 at first lie to the left of the line, beginning with Cram- 

 lington, which sent a first-prize cow to the Newcastle 

 Royal, and is familiar to another generation in con- 

 nexion with Sir Matthew, Mr. Boag, and the hounds. 

 Sir Walter and Lady Trevelyan's herd, which showed 



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