THE CRITICS OF 183 



tion to have a big race, for which there were several 

 entries ; but though the doctor had overlooked the 

 match, he threatened to expel every boy who rode in 

 or looked on at the race. Needless to say no steeple- 

 chase ever came off, nor was any ever attempted again. 

 I may mention that before Dr. Arnold's time the Rugby 

 boys sported a pack of beagles, and shooting, or rather 

 poaching, was openly practised. Many of *'The 

 Druid's " sport-loving schoolfellows are still alive to 



" Gaze from grand stands with their hair silver-gray, 

 And totter 'neath guns till their ankles give way." 



Yet "The Druid" was not very popular with his 

 schoolfellows, owing to his disinclination to join in 

 their games, though he is reported to have jumped a 

 gate six feet high on the Barby Road, which for many 

 years afterwards was pointed out as Dixon's gate. The 

 first time that the lady, who subsequently became his 

 wife, ever saw " The Druid " was at Rugby, when a boy 

 pointed him out to her, saying, " Look at that ass ! 

 He never joins in any of our games or sports, but 

 writes everlasting yarns for Bell's Life." The lady 

 was then fifteen, and "The Druid" seventeen years 

 of age. 



In 1841 "The Druid" went to Trinity College, 

 Cambridge, where he had the reputation of being as 

 shy as a woodcock. This shyness never left him. 

 Cambridge did not give him the partiality for horseflesh 

 which the proximity to Newmarket often imparts to her 

 pupils and which " The Druid " afterwards acquired to 

 such an extent. On the contrary, he was studious and 



