The Best Fourteen-Hander in England. 305 



not occupy a great deal of space, I may as well give the reader the 

 full benefit of it. It ran thus. : 



" Chunee Villa, May , 184. 



"SiR, [Formerly I was never less than "Dear sir," and occasionally " My 

 dear sir,"] Allow me to advise you (as a man who knows something of the 

 world) that on the next occasion you ride a race in public, you should choose a 

 fitter day for the performance a less-crowded course, and a more respectable 

 opponent. 



" My poor daughter's nerves received such a shock in witnessing the disgraceful 

 scene of Sunday last, that she has been confined to her room ever since. But she 

 desires me to present her compliments to you, and begs that you will not give 

 yourself any further trouble in looking out for a pony on her account, as we leave 

 this for Cheltenham at the end of the week, where I hope that repose and a com- 

 plete change of scene will restore her shattered nerves to their former state. This 

 letter requires no answer. 



" I am, sir, yours obediently," &c. &c. 



It was not long before I was on my way to my old friend's with 

 the paper, letter, and summons in my pocket, to hold a consultation 

 as to our next proceedings. The summons he dismissed very sum- 

 marily that would give us very little trouble. The leader in the 

 paper is just what we might have expected from "an ignorant old 

 fool " like the editor; and he returned old Mullagatawny's letter 

 with the remark, " Well, you're scratched for that stake, anyhow." 

 And, considering all the troubles which were gathering round me, 

 I managed to spend a very jolly day, for two or three hard-riding 

 friends and amongst them Jack Russell himself looked in to hear 

 the right version of the affair; and twilight was fast closing in before 

 we broke up our little party under the old chestnut tree. The little 

 mare and myself were of course the heroes of the day, and it would 

 have been quite as well for the "Evening Star" if she had kept 

 her jumping accomplishments to herself, for she was sad- 

 dled and brought out in the afternoon, and, now that we knew 

 that she could jump if she liked, she was put over every kind of 

 fence that the old man's farm afforded. Every one of the party had 

 a mount no matter now whether she bolted or not. She certainly 

 tried it once, but the iron arms of Jack Russell were too many 

 for her ; and he wound up the afternoon's performance by bring- 



