MEMORABLE SALE AT AVERY HILL 271 



thought I, there will be a sale, and as there was no bid 

 I put her in at ten guineas, whereupon Colonel North at 

 once said, " A hundred ! " On that I forthwith went to 

 him and said : " Colonel, you'd better let me have this 

 old mare. I can give fifty guineas for her." 



" Fifty guineas ! " replied he. " I wouldn't take five 

 hundred!" 



Naturally no business was done, and meanwhile the 

 luncheon tent and the long bar were thronged. Mrs 

 North went and turned out all the lunchers at about 

 3 P.M., but the bar building in the later stages recalled 

 memories of Hogarth's pictures. I saw a man lying in 

 a corner with an almost empty whisky jar which he 

 was tilting up into his mouth. It was really horrible 

 to behold, and I am not easily upset by such sights. I 

 don't think Mr Tattersall sold anything, but I trust he 

 charged for all that Colonel North bought in. 



Mr Rymill sold the greyhounds on the other side of 

 the ground for good prices, as the Colonel could not be 

 in both places. 



One of the most extraordinary characters I have ever 

 met was " Parson " Parkes, who was genuinely in Holy 

 Orders to the end of his life, but after doing his duty in 

 that capacity as Rector of Kettleby, during which period 

 he preached to Mrs Asquith and many others of the 

 Melton crowd, taking for texts such as, " So run that ye 

 may obtain," he being a very knowledgable horseman, 

 and finding his stipend insufficient, after his property in 

 Ireland had ceased to be of value, accepted an offer to 

 go as private trainer to the late Mr Bleackley, one of 

 the proprietors of The Sporting Chronicle, and for that 

 gentleman as long as he lived a great success was 

 made. After J:hat the Parson had a somewhat " rocky " 



