158 SPORTING REMINISCENCES [1825 to 



" Captain Bridges is so well known in 

 Hampshire by the name of 'the Captain,' 

 that I hope he will pardon my applying to 

 him the familiar though honourable title. 

 Among his other accomplishments he has the 

 credit of riding a race so well, that when I 

 once went to ride against him, I found he 

 was more the favourite than his horse. c The 

 Captain wins for a pound,' said a farmer in 

 my hearing, as I first entered the course. 

 Knowing there was a large field against him, 

 I naturally asked the farmer if he knew any- 

 thing of the horse the Captain was going to 

 ride. ' Not I,' said the farmer ; l but the 

 Captain wins, and no one else, for a pound.' 



" Captain Bridges hunts regularly with fox- 

 hounds, and keeps a pack of harriers of his 

 own. Were it necessary to show his devotion 

 to the sport, this fact would be sufficient : 

 The last time I saw him out, he told me that 

 he was severely attacked by gout at three 

 o'clock that morning ; but, determined to hunt, 

 a dose for he had taken two strong calomel 

 pills, sixty drops of the gout medi- 

 cine called colchicum, on the top of which he 

 put a glass of hot gin-and-water, on his road 

 to covert, 'to keep things in their places.' 



" To describe the Captain's dress would take 



