THE CRITICS OF i8i 



THE DRUID 



Having just had occasion to refer to Mr. Dixon, 

 better known to lovers of sport as " The Druid," I will 

 take this opportunity of writing a few words about him. 

 He was the second son of Mr. Peter Dixon, a large 

 cotton manufacturer, who resided at Holme Eden, 

 near Carlisle, whose family had long been noted for 

 fostering commercial enterprise in the old cathedral 

 city. But, like his more celebrated son, Mr. Peter 

 Dixon, was a Jiian of widespread sympathies and 

 hunted regularly with the Inglewood Hounds. As a 

 lad, young Dixon suffered severely from ophthalmia, 

 and constantly had to spend days together in an 

 artiiically darkened room. Thus, it was not till 1838, 

 when he was sixteen years of age, that he was sent to 

 Rugby, then under the mastership of Dr. Arnold. He 

 left Rugby in 1840, having reached "the twenty," i.e., 

 the form immediately below the sixth, and being six 

 feet in height and strong in proportion. Before, 

 leaving, he was requested by Dr. Arnold to come into 

 his study, when the doctor thanked him for the support 

 and encouragement which he had always given by his 

 good example and high principles to the moral eleva- 

 tion of all around him, adding ; " I value character and 

 example much more than talent and scholarship." 

 But young Dixon, though an indifferent mathematician, 

 had imbibed a love for classical scholarship, which is 

 apparent in all his multitudinous writings. Of his 



