THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 131 



no better man ; and I hear an excellent account of Lord 

 Edmonston, from an old friend of his mother, who visited 

 me lately. Of Raymond I know nothing but from what 

 I see of him in the newspapers, as the owner of a good 

 stud of race-horses, and a successful gentleman jockey at 

 Bibury and other places. His being an acquaintance of 

 yours, however, is a guarantee for everything that is 

 correct ; for there must be something in a man beyond 

 being a mere sportsman, to give him access to your table. 

 These are the sort of men, then, that I wish Frank to be 

 acquainted with ; and as I hear very good accounts of 

 him, it is not improbable that he may, one of these days, 

 know a little more of them, by accepting Somerby's 

 invitation to spend a month at Melton Mowbray, and see 

 'the cream of the thing' with foxhounds, under the 

 direction of the famous Meynell, which, I flatter myself, 

 he has seen with harehounds, under the management of 

 your humble servant. You must be aware that the 

 expenses of a trip of this sort would be considerable, and, 

 under general circumstances, somewhat unjustifiable, as 

 regards a younger brother ; but you must also be aware 

 that, beyond the expenses of his education, and the 

 purchase of a few books, Andrew costs me nothing. His 

 pony is all that he requires ; and his sister tells me he 

 must be saving money out of his annual allowance. Now, 

 as our grandfather and father were both sportsmen, and 

 I have myself some pretensions to the appellation, I 

 should wish Frank to become one, and be somewhat 

 conspicuous as such, for which I think he is qualified. 

 As for his passion for driving coaches, that will most 

 likely wear away ; he imbibed it from Inkleton, who is 

 an excellent person withal, and certainly has done much 

 good in his neighbourhood, in liberalizing at all events, 

 humanizing a set of men, I mean coachmen and guards, 

 by coming so much into collision with them on their own 

 ground. It seems the ' passion for the ribbons,' as it is 

 called, is very much gaining ground ; that it is encouraged 

 by the Prince ; that his friend Sir John Lade has, at this 

 time, seventeen chestnut coach-horses, with whole legs, in 

 his stable ! and that a regular driving club is in agitation, 

 patronised by John Warde, Prouse, Oakover, Bamfylde, 

 and some others, who are great patrons of the road. 

 Prouse, I hear, has already composed a song for the 

 occasion, in which every individual coachman, guard, and 



