72 Indian Racing Reminiscences. 



Writing of Cork and pedestrianism reminds me of the 

 great match which took place at " the beautiful city " in 

 1859, between Sir John Astley and Mr. John Taylor, a 

 local celebrity, who had defeated Captain Machell and 

 many other good men. Sir John, four or five years pre- 

 viously, had proved himself to be the fastest sprinter in 

 the British Army when in the Crimea, and had also 

 done some great performances in England. The match 

 in question came off in the Cork Barrack Square, and 

 on a cold winter's day. As Mr. Taylor lived some dis- 

 tance off, and had no one to look after him from a training 

 point of view, he drove up, lightly clad, on an outside 

 jaunting car, and was, when he arrived, to use an Irish 

 expression, "perished with the cold." Sir John, on the 

 contrary, came out, wrapped in a fur coat, from his 

 quarters which looked on to the Square, and kept his 

 opponent waiting some time as he went up and down 

 the course booking every bet he could get against him- 

 self, until at last, even at odds, there was no response to 

 his challenge: "Who'll back the Irishman.?" If I 

 remember right, Jimmy Patterson, "the flying tailor," 

 trained the stalwart Guardsman. Although Jack Taylor 

 was naturally as fleet a man as ever faced the starter, he 

 could not, shivering with cold and running in his stock- 



