THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 225 



As we rush in pursuit, new scenes still appear, 



New landscapes encounter the eye ; 

 Not Handel's sweet music more pleases the ear, 



Than that of the hounds in full cry. 



New strength from the chase we derive ; 



Its exercise sweetens the blood ; 

 How happy those mortals must live, 



When sport yields both physic and food ! 

 So new and so varied its charms they ne'er cloy, 



Like those of the bottle and face; 

 The oftener the harder the more we enjoy, 



The more we're in love with the chase. 



" Having become poetical, it is time to conclude ; so 

 subscribe myself, Dear Hargave, truly yours, 



"FRANK RABY. 



" P.S. My uncle has been very ill ; everybody says he 

 is breaking fast. I hope not ; for he is too good a fellow 

 to drop short before his time ; and although there is no 

 doubt of my being a great gainer by his death, it is an 

 event that, so far from desiring, I would do all in my 

 power to avert." 



There was an extraordinary character at this time 

 hunting with Sir Thomas Mostyn's hounds, and who 

 afterwards made himself so signal by his pedestrian feats, 

 as to be known by name and character to all the nations 

 in the civilized world. I allude to Captain Barclay, 

 of Ury, in Aberdeenshire, who, a few years subsequent 

 to the period to which 1 am alluding, performed the 

 Herculean task of walking 1000 miles in 1000 hours, 

 over Newmarket race-course, for a bet of several thousand 

 pounds. The Captain was likewise, at this period, a great 

 patron of the boxing ring ; and our hero having somewhat 

 of a penchant for the manly science of self-defence, their 

 acquaintance grew into intimacy, which continued through 

 life. He was also considered a good and scientific sports- 

 man, as well as an excellent judge of a hunter ; and on 

 the subject of the latter, offered his friend Raby the 

 following useful advice, enforcing it with the result of 

 the performance of his own stud : 



"Purchase your hunters," said the Captain, "with 

 more strength than is merely required to carry your 

 weight. / get into the saddle full fourteen stone, not- 



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