124 RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



CHAPTER XIII 



A famous hunting mare — The purchase : her infirmity, her great beauty, 

 and her matchless performances — Her docihty and extraordinary 

 pace — Jem Mason — Harborough Brown — The Creslow brook — The 

 beauty of the Vale of Aylesbury as a hunting country — Famous 

 run after a bag fox with Lord Lonsdale's hounds — Captain Barlow 

 ■ — Lord Coventry — The great water jump over the Broughton line 

 of country with the 'Varsity men — Accident to the mare — Partial 

 recovery — Put to the stud — Sudden death — Death of her foal by 

 Hungerford at four years old, and an end of the great huntress. 



It has often been remarked by sporting men that 

 it is seldom ' a man has more than one perfect 

 hunter in his lifetime,' and others have said 'that 

 all men, however badly they have been mounted in 

 the general way, have had one good animal during 

 their riding careen' I may safely say that no man 

 had a better mare than the one whose singular career 

 I am about to describe. Some two or three years 

 after leaving school, my dear and considerate father 

 said to me, 'John, all young men must have some 

 recreation, and I shall be pleased to help you in any 

 reasonable manner which my means and my very 

 large family (there were ten of us) will permit me. 

 Now, I will find a horse for you, or you shall have 

 a dog and gun, but I won't allow you to have both. 

 Which, therefore, do you prefer ? ' Without hesita- 

 tion I chose the horse, whereupon a useful young 



