CHAP, in.] J/r. Osbaldeston ; a Steeple-chaser. 87 



capable of digesting, or to be at variance with opinions 

 which ultimately landed him a prisoner in the Tower. 

 With advancing years, however, the political camera 

 presented things in such a different aspect that the 

 worthy baronet turned a complete ^^ volteface/^ and 

 ended his days in the full sanctity of Toryism. Two 

 remarkable instances of a similar change of views came, 

 on one occasion, to the notice of the writer of these lines. 

 Dining at the table-d'hote of an hotel in Florence, he 

 found himself seated between two elderly gentlemen, 0]ie 

 an Englishman, the other a native of the sister isle. In 

 the course of conversation, the former stated that he 

 had been the friend and principal coadjutor of the arch- 

 chartist, Fergus O'Connor, whilst the other had been 

 the lieutenant of Smith O'Brien, and had just missed 

 being present at the capture of that patriot in the battle 

 of the ^^ Cabbage-garden."" Each had lived sufficiently 

 long to realize the fact that the colour of political views 

 formed in hot youth will not always endure when 

 exposed to the sunlight of time. The former adherent 

 of the irrepressible ** Fergus '' had become a strong anti- 

 O'Connorite, and the lieutenant of General Smith 

 O^Brien had subsided into being a strong advocate of 

 the English alliance. 



._ Though not figuring in the first class as a rider to 

 hounds, " Squire Osbaldeston '' had few, if any, superiors 

 in a steeple-chase, either among professionals or 

 amateurs, his quick eye, powerful limbs, and un- 

 deniable nerve, when out of a crowd, being greatly in 

 his favour where he had to steer a difficult mount ; and 

 his services in the capacity of a cross-country jockey 

 were always greatly in request. The Harrovian of 1832 



