Lord Spencer s Mastership. 203 



powers rather than for their appearance_, her horses all wore 

 the hunting rather than the parky cut, and few of them 

 looked worth the money that had been given for them. 

 No sooner was it known that a horse was being looked at 

 for the Empress, than up went its price, fifty per cent, if 

 not more. 



Not naturally of a robust constitution, her Majesty 

 hoped to find in good English malt and hops an antidote 

 to a feeling of exhaustion which at times sorely beset 

 her. Calling at the house of the writer one evening on 

 her way home from hunting, she smilingly rejected the 

 preferred tea, saying, " Please let me have some beer, it 

 will do me so much more good." It is to be hoped that the 

 anticipated benefit followed upon the modicum of John 

 Barleycorn absorbed on that occasion by her Imperial 

 Majesty. 



Few events in the annals of the '^ P.H." will stand out 

 for all time to come in higher relief than the Empress's 

 steeple-chase at Hopping Hill, which was got up by her 

 own desire, and carried out entirely at her own expense, 

 as a memento of her sojourn at Cottesbrooke. 



This memorable event took place on the day of her 

 Majesty's final departure from the neighbourhood, when 

 she entertained at luncheon in a marquee erected on the 

 crest of the hill a large number of royal and noble guests. 

 Amongst the company there assembled were to be seen 

 H.E.H. the Princess of Wales, H.R.H. the Duchess 

 of Teck, the Duchess of Manchester, the Countess 

 Spencer, the Countess M. Festetics, the Prince Imperial 

 of Austria, Prince Lichtenstein, Earl Spencer, and many 

 another bearing a name of European celebrity. Seated 

 in her carriage, with the Princess of Wales on her left^ 



