192 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



As to the grey mare above referred to, I have before 

 me a copy of Minor a Carmina, by C. C. R., published in 

 1887, and poor Rhys sent it to me with the following 

 inscription : 



In memory of Balliol days, 

 Dear Allison, I send these lays ; 

 And would the pace they speed away 

 Were good as of thy gallant grey ! 



C. C. RHYS. 



" The Pote " did his hunting in great style while at 

 Oxford. I remember seeing him out with two horses 

 with the South Oxfordshire, and rating his second horse- 

 man soundly for not being there at the opportune moment. 

 I cannot claim to have ever touched a point of eminence 

 such as that in those happy days, but suffice it that I saw 

 sport indeed with all the surrounding packs, and notably 

 with Tom Duffield and the old Berkshire. I remember 

 that by no means silver-tongued M.F.H. getting through 

 three horses in one run, and the third galloped into a 

 brook with him. He lay on the bank with his legs in 

 the air to run the water out of his boots, and though he 

 may have wished to utter more strenuously the thoughts 

 that arose in him, his utterances, such as they were, could 

 scarcely have been more forcible. Many good days we 

 had with Mr Hall and the Heythrop. Lord Valentia was 

 just coming to the fore at that time, and whether we rode 

 well or ill, this much I can say, that we had glorious and 

 unforgettable times. 



Before the end of 1872 I had got in a way of entertaining 

 married friends to dinner in my rooms. There was a 

 good piano and Edwards, the scout, was capable enough, 

 but it must have been somewhat weird entertainment. 



In a letter written in November of that year I speak 

 of having first dined with one of these couples at the 

 Randolph : 



I played billiards with him last night for a long time so long 

 that we found it was past one o'clock, and I ought to have been 



