131 TALES AND TRAITS OF SPORTING LIFE. 



of a cofFee-room with an uncommended ^' kid" in her 

 lap. Her John liimself had long* since deserted her, and 

 was off to hear Pishey Snaith sing- the praises of old 

 Theon, or to see what " the Captain" would pick out in 

 the way of a hunter. 



And here, after all, should he the companion attractions 

 of heeves and flocks. Here^ in fact, is one of the strong- 

 est points of such a gathering. Only mark how the rush 

 of visitors crowd round the '^nags," and hearken how 

 their first question is as to which thorough-hred horse 

 has got the prize ? And yet, strange to say, no section 

 of the show has progressed so slowly. The Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society, indeed, appeared to think it almost a sin 

 to encourage such an exhibition, and got out of it again 

 and again by all sorts of side winds. Let the Mayor 

 here, or the locals there, offer a premium for that Eng- 

 Hshman's boast, a well-bred horse, but the Council would 

 have nothing to do with it. They have at length, to be 

 sui'e, been fairly bullied into re-establishing the class 

 under the direct auspices of the Society ; but, as may be 

 supposed, with such apathetic assistance no great deal has 

 come of it. There has never yet been a thoroughly good 

 entry of hunter stallions, although now and then a horse 

 hke Hobbie Noble or a British Yeoman would offer them 

 the example. The finest field we ever saw was in Ire- 

 land, at Waterford, mainly through the offices of that 

 good sportsman. Captain Croker, who afterwards insti- 

 tuted the Challenge Cup ; but some undue interference 

 upset the award, and the worst horses succeeded to the 

 best places. The West of England does little in this way, 

 and the East for years was content with an annual peep 

 at the same handsome little chesnut — Captain Barlow's 

 Revenge, a horse that had the credit of carrying Sir Tat- 



