THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 283 



training as Lord Grosvenor has racers ; and, be it remem- 

 bered that the fire of Pindar's muse, which dazzled all 

 Greece, shone forth in honour of coachmen, jockeys, 

 wrestlers, and prize-fighters." 



Sir John. " I remember he tells us that Pelops broke 

 his arm hitting a near leader in his race with CEnomaus. 

 But, jesting apart, we have taken some of our notions on 

 the coach-box from the ' old ones,' as we called the ancients, 

 at Eton. For example, when I saw Angus the other day, 

 in the park, cutting a figure of eight with his four-in-hand, 

 I was convinced he was thinking of that beautiful passage 

 in the JEneid, where the sudden and artful turns, which 

 the goddess Juturna gave to her brother's chariot to avoid 

 the pursuit of ^Eneas, are compared to the flight of the 

 swallow, when seeking food for her young." 



Goodall. " And you have them again, in the use of the 

 word 'artful.' When Panton was complimenting little 

 Joe, as he who drives the Exeter mail out of London is 

 called, on his being so good a coachman, for so small a 

 man, he answered him thus : ' I'll tell you how it is, Sir 

 Harry ; what the big ones does by strength, I does by hartifice.' 

 Xow did not Nestor say the very same thing when he was 

 giving instructions to his son how to drive his chariot, 

 when contending for the prize at the funeral games of 

 Patroclus ; and where, although the worst horsed of the 

 lot, he was only beaten by a length ? For myself, although 

 no coachman beyond driving my father's curricle, I like 

 to listen to these discussions by men who understand the 

 thing well, and none others are worth listening to. If 

 Eschylus had not bled on the plains of Marathon, he 

 could not have celebrated on the stage the triumphs of his 

 country." 



Sir John. "There is no small degree of mechanical 

 science, as well as knowledge of the laws of motion, to be 

 learnt in our line, eh, Jack 1 " 



Jack Webber. " Indeed, Inkleton, there is ; and many a 

 life has been lost for the want of such knowledge in 

 descending hills, and turning corners, especially. If they 

 were aware how motion is accelerated by the continuance 

 of the impetus in one case, and, in the other, that, as by 

 the laws of nature, all bodies put in motion by one power 

 will proceed in a straight line, unless compelled to change 

 their course by some force impressed, any sudden de- 

 viation from that course disturbs the centre of gravity in. 



