THE 'VARSITY MEETINGS i8i 



quondam friend seized on the first day's takings, and 

 became very angry at my appropriating receipts of 

 the second day. These enabled me to pay everything, 

 for which I liad made myself liable, amounting to 

 over 500/. After I had settled all these claims, I 

 paid the balance into his account, amounting to 

 about 20/. I discovered afterwards that many of 

 the stakes, and his own responsibilities, were unpaid 

 for more than two years afterwards, and I have been 

 informed that some remain unpaid to this day. 

 Moral : ' You cannot be too careful in money matters, 

 when dealing with strangers.' 



The recent death of the Earl of Darnley 

 (December 1896) recalls to my mind a very in- 

 teresting event which occurred in the early history 

 of the Aylesbury Aristocratic Steeple-chases. At 

 the commencement of these races a determined 

 effort was made by the ' 'Varsity ' authorities to put 

 a stop to cross-country meetings by the under- 

 graduates, who had ran at the Moreton-in-the 

 Marsh, Banbury, and other places, and young men 

 had been sent down for disobeying the orders of the 

 Dons. It was therefore found necessary to keep 

 secret the names of owners of the horses running, 

 but more especially the names of the riders. Various 

 expedients were resorted to blind the eyes of the 

 authorities, but none were found more effective than 

 the employment of fictitious names. These, of course, 

 were known to those interested, whilst their masters 

 were kept in ignorance. Often the nom de guerre took 

 the form of a parody on the real name — for instance, 



