i8z " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



enough to purchase the horse he would not have run, as I had a 

 good mount, and he would have run in the National Hunt 'Chase, 

 '-' owner up.' J 



Angram, by your pen, is at Oakham among Silks and 

 Scarlets and other refreshing books of sport. The names of 

 horses and riders I wrote on the front page shortly after the book 

 was published. The bookstall at York was responsible for my 

 purchase. 



Jenks was an example for good to the undergraduate rowed 

 in his college Eight, the best in England at his weight with the 

 gloves, preferred riding a raw four-year-old, if it happened to be a 

 farmer's, to anything else, and ready to do a good turn to anyone. 

 Out with the Bicester one day, we had run over four or five fences, 

 and were standing in the road while hounds were being cast. 

 Jenks arrived covered with samples of the various fields. " How 

 did he carry you ? " asked the proud owner. " Oh, well, damned 

 well. He's a good horse ; he only put me down four times ! "- 

 Lord Harris, "Mr G. Sirrah" rode the winner of one of those 

 " grinds," and was, I think, second on a very good mare in 

 Cardinal's race. 



Young Charlie Symonds, as we used to call him, put me up 

 on the Bittern, a bay gelding by Pontiff, in the Merton Open 

 Chase, one of those years a lovely ride. The horse won, Jenks 

 on Vigilant being second. I have a whip commemorating the 

 event ; it was an event, too ! Fancy beating Jenks ! I was 

 almost terrified. Charlie Symonds shortly after won the Aylesbury 

 Open Farmers' Race on the horse, and sold him to Angus, Duke 

 of Hamilton. We got The Sportsman to-day. It doesn't always 

 come owing to P.O. delays. I'm glad it did come, as your Notes 

 have recalled pleasant days when one's greatest anxiety was 

 no, not the schools whether anyone would give one a ride in any 

 race on anything, or if one's hunter could do his three days a 

 fortnight, and possibly one day between the shafts. Strikes at 

 Coventry have for five minutes, and possibly longer, been obliter- 

 ated. The sun has shone once more, but for too short a time. 



Yours truly, 



C. S. NEWTON. 



P.S. I wrote the above really to you, but, should you publish 

 it, do what Mr Sponge did for Jack Spraggon when he put pen 

 to paper describing Mr Puffington's great run. C. S. N. 



I am sure there is no need for me to edit Mr Newton's letter, 

 for I could not improve it any more than Mr Sponge did Jack 

 Spraggon's account of the run. Fortunately this letter will go 

 before an editor with more understanding as to its contents than 



