72 JOHN PORTER OF KINGSCLERE 



Malton and placing them with William Goater. 

 But they only remained at Findon a few months, 

 for, when Captain Machell was appointed 

 manager of Mr. Chaplin's racing stud, the 

 horses went to Newmarket to be trained by 

 Blanton. If Hermit was at Findon, as " tradi- 

 tion " says, it would be when a yearling only. 



One of my recollections of that year concerns 

 Tom Dawson, who was training at Middleham. 

 The day General Peel won the Two Thousand 

 Guineas he invited me to dine with him. He 

 was staying with my old school-fellow, Ashmall, 

 just behind Heath House. That evening Daw- 

 son had a little bother with Lord Glasgow, the 

 owner of General Peel. His lordship turned up 

 late to see his horses in their stables, and old 

 Tom had objected to showing him round. 

 Bearing in mind Lord Glasgow's irascible tem- 

 per, one can imagine the scene was a breezy one, 

 and Tom had not quite got over it when I 

 arrived. After dinner we had a game of whist. 

 Before we had been playing very long the 

 temperature of the room became uncomfortably 

 warm, so Dawson discarded his coat and went 

 on playing in his shirt sleeves. Presently he 

 also took off his waistcoat, and his next move 

 was to roll up his shirt sleeves. That led to 

 his boasting about the wealth of muscle in his 

 arms, and he asked me to feel it. I began to 

 suspect there was danger ahead, so, excusing 



