CHARLES DAVIS 77 



' Baily,' spoke very little about horses or their peculiarities. 

 He accepted them as horses, and turned them to their best 

 account. But as he had no sentimental prepossessions, so he 

 had no prejudices. The late Sir Tatton Sykes would never 

 look at anything over 15.2. The present Lord Lonsdale has 

 fixed an arbitrary weight — a horse must scale 10 cwt. as a 

 minimum to carry him — but Davis told the ' Druid ' that he 

 had been carried equally well by horses of all heights from 

 14.3 to 1(3.2, although, as a long-legged man, he liked a tall 

 horse. He spoke most of Hermit's performances, but often 

 mentioned an instance of his having been beaten on Hermit 

 by a little roan mare, nothing more than a pony, belonging 

 to a trainer called Dessy.' 



He considered Hermit the stoutest and best hunter he 

 ever had. He was bred by Mr. Gates, of Brookwood 

 Stumps, near Woking, from a white Arabian mare. Gates 

 sent the mare to Grey Skim, who then stood at Petworth ; 

 so Davis was indebted to the Wyndhams for his favourite 

 horse, and to some extent for his favourite hound blood. 

 Hermit was six years old w4ien he was bought of Gates 

 in 1832 for 150 guineas. I have before me the entry 

 in his horse-book. The horse had been leading gallops for 

 thoroughbred horses. Harry King rode him the first season 

 with the Buckhounds. Dr. Croft says he was a very wild 

 horse at first, but King was a fine horseman with good hands, 

 and soon got him right. The story is that on one occasion 

 the field had been stopped by a canal somewhere in the 

 Harrow country, and the hounds had got a great start over 

 that fine vale. Davis, probably aware of some danger 

 ahead, bade Harry King try to stop them. By this time 



' The great Mr. Meynell's best horse. South, was only fifteen hands. He 

 gave 300 guineas for him, and sold him to Sir H. Fetherstonhaugh for 500 

 guineas ; and a Mr. Porter in Warwickshire achieved a great reputation with 

 two mares, 14.3 — own sisters. 



