CHARLES DAVIS 79 



stallion ; and in those days stallions were much more fre- 

 quently ridden with hounds. Anderson the dealer, who kept 

 a few staghounds at Brondesbury, had a milk-white stallion, 

 said to be so handy that he could jump through a window. 

 This animal was specially commended by ' Nimrod ' for his 

 cleverness in the suburban scenes of his exploits. It seems 

 a pity that Hermit was never put to the stud, bujb he was 

 one of many examples of a very good horse with very 

 crooked forelegs, amounting almost to deformity. His heart 

 weighed 21 lbs., eight pounds more than Eclipse's. 



Hermit shows a great deal of Arab — a lovely head and 

 a bump on his forehead. He carried, as the dealers say, 

 ' two good ends,' and was a beautifully coloured horse, with 

 no thickness or muddle in his white and markings. When 

 a grey horse of that glorified rocking-horse type is as good as 

 Hermit was, there is nothing, to my mind, so attractive or 

 so becoming. Davis was quite aware of it. The ' Druid ' 

 noticed portraits of him on Hermit in nine positions when 

 he went to see him at Ascot. Mr. Edmund Tattersall, who 

 lent me the sketch by Byron Webb from which the Frontis- 

 piece is taken, declares it to be Davis's seat and look on 

 Hermit to the life. At the same time, both the position of his 

 left hand and of his saddle leave much to be desired. Mr. 

 Tattersall, whilst he corroborates Dr. Croft as to the excel- 

 lence of his hands, says that Davis always rode on a short 

 rein. But Hermit's immediate Arab descent must be held 

 mainly accountable for this. Arab shoulders seldom carry 

 an English saddle becomingly. I don't say that they are 

 necessarily bad, but they are often thick and inelastic ; the 

 wither wants line and drawing, and very few Arab horses 

 lend their forehand to your seat and horsemanship. 



Charles Davis's horsemanship was as stainless as King 

 Arthur's morals. But I imagine his riding appealed to the 

 head rather than the heart. As we have seen, the expression 



