190 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



congestion of the brain and was not fit for any such trying 

 work. The History or Jurisprudence Schools were, in 

 his opinion, the limit of what I could go in for without 

 most serious risk. The good Doctor had not the faintest 

 idea about any distinction between the various schools, and 

 there was absolutely nothing the matter with me, but 

 he certified unhesitatingly in the sense above indicated, 

 and so it happened that I cleared myself of the tuition of 

 the Balliol dons, and took up Jurisprudence under the 

 auspices of Mr Dendy of University College, who used 

 to lecture on a hunting morning with trousers over his 

 breeches and boots, so as to lose no time in getting away 

 afterwards. 



I dearly liked him, though I have never met him since I 

 left Oxford, and as a lecturer he was perfection, for he 

 stammered a good deal and you could take down all he 

 said without any trouble. 



It was the hunting that made me hold to him and 

 determine to do him credit. 



There had been various horses of mine at the Randolph 

 stables in these later days, one an extraordinarily good 

 little grey mare by Yorkshire Grey, who had most horrible 

 tricks for putting you off if you were riding alone. She 

 had been turned out on a Yorkshire moor and had learned 

 how to get rid of boys who used to scramble on to her. 

 Thus she would stop short, whip round and buck two or 

 three times sideways, when least expected, but if she had 

 company there was no trouble. Lindsay Smith once 

 rode her with the Christ Church drag and cleaned them all 

 out very easily. She was too light for me, however, and 

 I changed her for one of the very best, named Skittles, 

 which Bob Colling (the elder) sent me. She was supposed 

 to be a Cleveland bay mare but she must surely have had 

 a cross of blood in her. At any rate, no day was too 

 long for her, and as a timber jumper she was quite one of 

 the best. She would never spread herself over fences, 

 but was extraordinarily clever in kicking off from banks 

 on the other side, and foi stamina and endurance there 



