So The Course, the Camp, the Chase 



spur he became almost wild, and completely ran away 

 with me. In vain Viney held up his hat as a hint to 

 stop the pace, and galloped forward shouting, " Steady 

 him, steady him," for I might as well have tried to steady 

 a steam-engine witli a bridle. Fortunately he knew the 

 track, and I was just able to steer him, but I was not 

 sorry to get to the end of the two miles, by which time 

 he had steadied down, and was content to be stopped. 

 Mr. Vyner galloped up to inquire why the horse had 

 been allowed to come at such a pace, and was not at all 

 pleased with Viney when he learned the cause. The 

 latter, I believe, had only given those directions for the 

 sake of something to say. He was very fond of talking, 

 and did not always stop to think before speaking, but 

 he was an excellent trainer. 



A fox was in the habit, at that time, of living among 

 the branches of a very tall elm tree in the park, and as the 

 stable lads used to amuse themselves by throwing stones 

 at him he used to get so high up that they could not 

 reach him. The trunk of the tree was perfectly erect, 

 and he had nothing whatever to assist him in ascending 

 except the roughness of the bark, but he was there almost 

 every day, and took up his quarters in the elm for a long 

 time. 



Fred Archer was always credited with being a very 

 shrewd judge of everything connected with racehorses, 

 and yet his usual accurate judgment was at fault when 

 Mr. Pt. Vyner's great horse "Minting" first went to Matthew 

 Dawson to be trained as a two-year-old. He was already 

 16 hands high and very unfurnished, and Archer, when 

 he gave him his first canter, is reported to have inquired, 

 " What they had sent this lumbering brute here for." It 



