3i8 ROBERT S. SURTEES 



present less resemblance to each other than 

 Watkins and " Grubs," as Jorrocks calls him. 

 The epithet one sees oftenest applied to 

 Surtees' works is " Rabelaisian." I do not 

 think it is well applied. Surtees is sometimes 

 coarse, and some of his coarseness does 

 suggest Rabelais. On the whole, however, 

 and not going by one or two carefully selected 

 extracts from each book, 1 cannot admit the 

 justness of the comparison. Even where 

 coarse he is not Rabelaisian, for Rabelais 

 had an object in his filth, which was to veil a 

 hidden or esoteric meanin^r. Surtees is all 

 on the surface, and he cannot be described 

 anywhere as filthy. The fact is, that he is a 

 writer stci generis ; before him there were 

 none like him, and since him there have but 

 been imitations. If we want to know what 

 the sporting writers of Surtees' own day 



