The Eighth Marquis of Queensberry 



Many years ago the Marquis, who was as good on his 

 legs as he was on a horse, matched himself against Fred 

 Cotton, a celebrated runner and walker of those days, to run 

 over the four-mile Bogside (Eglinton Hunt) Steeplechase 

 course. Several stiffish obstacles had to be jumped, and 

 Cotton won only by six yards after a splendid race, in the fast 

 time of twenty-four minutes fifteen seconds. That Cotton was 

 a formidable antagonist may be judged from the fact that he 

 backed himself to walk from Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, to a 

 certain point in Perthshire, a distance of 347 miles, in seven 

 consecutive days. 



His feet went all to pieces the second day, and he fainted 

 twice ; but he struggled on, and won with three hours and a 

 half in hand. Another time, at Christ Church, in New Zealand, 

 he walked for a wager one hundred miles in twenty-two hours. 



Another instance of the Marquis's pluck is worth recording, 

 when hunting his own hounds in Scotland. 



After hunting all day with Lord Wemyss' pack, he started 

 off across the Cheviots for Kinmount, on the Solway, a dis- 

 tance of 102 miles, riding all the way on the sorriest of posters, 

 and finally, having arrived home at two o'clock in the morning, 

 hunted his hounds the same day. 



A reticent man as a rule, his snub to a well-known South 

 African millionaire one night at the Pelican Club, of which 

 popular institution they were both habihUs^ is worth recording. 



" Well, little Q.," inquired the other familiarly, as he 

 swaggered up, cigar in mouth, "and how are you ?" 



"Well, little Jew," replied the Marquis, "and how are 

 you?'' 



Born in 1844, Lord Drumlanrig, as he then was, succeeded 

 to the Marquisate in 1858, and served for a short time in the 

 Royal Navy. In 1866 he married Sybil, daughter of Mr. 



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