282 Saddle and Sirloin. 



resist sending him a strong gallop three times round 

 for the pure enjoyment of the thing. He is so dread- 

 fully in earnest during the performance, that he does 

 not see them laughing, and his look of disgust when 

 he is put among the knock-outs at its conclusion, is 

 like the mien of the warror in the song, at once " stern 

 and high." Bob Mulcaster is a great artiste both with 

 the leading rein and in the saddle, and there is quite a 

 buzz of delight when he leads out old Crafty, " the 

 heroine of a hundred fights," as the local papers 

 delight to call her, and sends her along with her thin 

 tail extended, like the old beauty that she is. We 

 have seen fat men of eighteen stone strip to their work 

 in obedience to the call all round the ring : " Now, 

 Franky, man, it's thy turn. Thodse a bit too fat for't 

 job. Now, mettle up ! " And away went Franky, top 

 heavy, and " bad on thy pins" only to receive the 

 consolation " thoo maks a varra poor tew of it" There 

 was a man of Mr. George Holmes's who had the knee 

 in curb-chain action to such perfection, that he could 

 teach his master's horses to be steppers. He did it in 

 the ring with a face as calm as if he were carved from 

 stone, while the laughter rung as it did in the Adelphi 

 when Wright's voice was heard at the right or left 

 wing. The boys made quite a Sir Roger de Coverley 

 gallop of it on their ponies, before their ponies were 

 settled ; and a grey trotted in such style, that a hunt- 

 ing baronet declared that at last he had found the 

 cover hack he had been seeking all his life. 



The hunters from three year old and upwards 

 are, after all, the cream of the thing. Lady Derwent, 

 the queen of the season, had a long contest with Bor- 

 derer and another, and once more the white rosette 

 was pinned on to her bridle. She is a beautiful mare 

 with a dish head, which she owes to her sire Codring- 

 ton, a son of Womersley, whom Sir Tatton Skyes had 

 for a season. He had given her so much quality that 

 scarcely any one suspected that she had only one cross 



