88 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



University, but that they should have no cause for having 

 demands upon them when they left it. Their establish- 

 ments were suitable to their means. Andrew contented 

 himself with two saddle - horses, passing under the 

 denomination of hacks, and consigned to the care of 

 Seckham, the livery-stable keeper, reserving the entire 

 use of his servant for his own personal wants ; whereas 

 Frank had his two hunters and his hack in a private 

 stable of his own, and looked after by an experienced 

 man, who had been brought up, under Spencer, in the 

 hunting stables at the Abbey. 



And now let me introduce to the reader my hero's 

 college friend, Hargrave. He was the son of a London 

 merchant, educated at Rugby, and therefore totally un- 

 known to Frank Eaby previously to their meeting at 

 Christchurch. But they were kindred spirits, and, 

 according with the vulgar phrase, "soon took to each 

 other." And there was some similarity in their per- 

 sonal appearance, at least in their personal character. 

 So far from there being anything of the Androgynes 

 about them the term dandy was unknown in those days, 

 and it would be well that it had never been called into 

 use : they were plain and rather peculiar in their dress, 

 somewhat approaching to the contrary extreme, with the 

 exception of not losing sight of cleanliness, and what is 

 called neatness in their dress and appointments. In fact, 

 their appearance was gentlemanlike and sportsmanlike at 

 the same time not an everyday combination at that 

 period ; and before the end of the second term they were 

 pointed at, when together in the streets, as the two 

 best horsemen in the University. Hargrave's stud con- 

 sisted but of two thoroughly accomplished hunters ; and, 

 like Frank Raby, he had them, under his own lock and 

 key, in one of the quietest lanes in the town. Moreover, 

 his judgment was considered so good in everything relating 

 to hunting, as well as in the management of his horses, 

 that he was generally appealed to as an authority on all 

 disputed points amongst the Nimrods of the University 

 at all events, amongst those with whom he was in any way 

 associated. 



And how happened it that Hargrave, the son of a 

 London merchant, should have become so accomplished 

 in field sports for he was an excellent shot, as well as 

 initiated to the noble science of the chase 1 The question 



