Gentlemen Riders 



Frederick Johnstone bought a gipsy baby for £^ (as a salve 

 for having overturned an encampment the night before by 

 means of a rope tied round each of their horses' necks), and 

 in order to get rid of it, stuck it into a hedge to shoot at, 

 as they told the mother, till that nut-brown dame crept up 

 behind and rushed off with it ; how he stopped a pulling 

 horse by riding him at a hedge, on the other side of which 

 he had made a deep hole full of water, and exclaimed, ' There, 

 old fellow, I have you now ' ; and how he missed buying 

 Mr. Hodgson's lady pack for looking too long at the dogs, 

 will long afterwards be the subject of conversation at firesides 

 in the Midlands, along with the Great Leicestershire Stag 

 Hunt." 



Of all his many escapades, however, when a young man, 

 the sacrilegious removal by night of the famous Eton flogging- 

 block, upon which no doubt the *' wild Marquis " had frequently 

 knelt for punishment during his career at Alma Mater, was 

 the most historical. 



How the noble depredator managed to square matters 

 with the horrified authorities at Eton, history does not state, 

 but it is certain that the midnight plunder was never returned 

 to the place from whence it came, it occupying at the present 

 time a prominent position in the sanctum of Lord Waterford at 

 Curraghmore. 



Mr. Delane, the famous editor of the Times, who was a 

 frequent visitor at Curraghmore, had many a story about the 

 Marquis, and all in his praise. He it was (relates Mr. Forbes) 

 who told the tale of a fight when driving home from the 

 Derby. A collision had occurred and a challenge was issued 

 to any "swell" to come down from the drag and fight. He 

 told how Lord Waterford, pale and very quiet, promptly 

 stepped down, buttoned up his coat, and hit out at once with his 



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