Letters from Sir F. B. Head, 365 



and I always, as yoii know, enjoy a thing that ' ends ' — as 

 your scampavia did — in iometldng that you will never for- 

 get ! 



" I greatly enjoy the ' bulletins ' you send me of the sport. 

 Yesterday, by chance, I happened to be in at the death of a 

 Lawyer's 'Run,' which had lasted, with only two checks, for 102 

 days. I never go to London, but happening to be there yester- 

 day, I strolled down to the Queen's Bench. Two fierce police- 

 men, as I approached, said pompously, ' No room. Sir, of any 

 sort or kind.' I insisted on sending in my card ; and in less 

 than two minutes I found myself sitting cheek by jowl with the 

 Lord Chief Justice. 



" Soon after, all hands were taken a-back by the Jury de- 

 claring that 'they did not want any more evidence.' I didn't 

 holler \sicJ\ out ' whoo-hoop,' but I said it to myself." &c., &c. 



6. 



[Summer of 1873.] 



The next letter to be quoted — written in the summer of 1873 

 — is, in its latter part, painfully touching in its description 

 of the writer's physical condition. The passion strong in death 

 as in life, being the burden of its song throughout. 



" It was very kind of you to write to me so soon upon your 

 return to Moulton Grange, after the brilliant run you had had 

 across the most interesting part of Europe. The details, i.e. 

 the jumps you took from capital to capital, will be ' oats, 

 beans, and hay,' that will_, I believe, cheer your mind as long as 

 you have one. As regards myself, ' the least said, the soonest 

 mended.' On the 23rd of September last, I mounted my 

 horse for my daily canter across our open country — a hale, 

 hearty, hardy, tough old fellow of eighty — impervious to rain, 

 sleet, snow, fog, or cold of any sort. After my ordinary ride of 

 over sixteen miles, I dismounted an invalid for life, as the old 

 nurses say. I was immediately put to bed, where I remained 

 for six weeks, to migrate for the same time to my sofa : I have 

 lately been promoted from crutches to two sticks. While I was 

 better, I tried to ride at a walk ; but as I found it injurious, I 

 am now finally divorced from the 'pig-skin.' Pray, however, 

 do not think I contemplate the prospect before me in a gloomy 



