286 The Course, the Camp, the Chase 



came that he had been so early snatched away, it was 

 genuine sorrow at the loss of a friend and comrade as well 

 as of a Eoyal Prince, that clouded the homes of his many 

 Yorkshire friends. There was nothing he enjoyed more 

 than entering into the sport of the moment, as a partaker 

 of it, without the trammels of Court etiquette, and feeling 

 himself free to do as the spirit moved him. It was 

 amusingly brought home to me one day, towards the end 

 of one hunting season, when, as we were going to draw a 

 covert in the afternoon, I spied a plover's nest with eggs 

 close by. Jumping off the horse, and wrapping each egg 

 in moss, I deposited them one by one in my breast-pocket, 

 and had hardly clambered back into the saddle with great 

 care than I heard my name called. Turning my head to 

 see who it was, I was startled by the feint of a blow of a 

 closed fist, directed at the eggs where they bulged my 

 hunting-coat out, and a hearty laugh broke on my ear as 

 the Prince enjoyed the scare he had given me. The eggs, 

 however, got safely home from all dangers, even surviving 

 jumping some fences. 



A little steeplechase course at my residence often 

 attracted the "10th " to come and have a ride over it, and 

 the Duke was a frequent visitor to watch the performance. 

 He loved to see the horses jump, and to chaff the riders. 

 Those few fences were good enough to school a considerable 

 number of winners, and when the Regimental and Hunt 

 Steeplechases took place, the horses that were trained at 

 Nunthorpe Court took more than their share of prizes. 

 Lord William Bentinck and Captain Hughes Onslow were 

 especially successful, and were both much above the " form " 

 of ordinary amateurs. The latter indeed is now one of the 

 very best of our soldier riders, and has twice ridden the 



