A REPORTER'S ERROR 183 



therefore, as I did, how absolutely necessary for the 

 future welfare of many undergraduates, that the 

 strictest secrecy should be observed, as to their 

 presence at these meetings, and even more, of their 

 participation in the actual entry of horses and the 

 riding by themselves, I had always given the strictest 

 injunction to the reporter from ' Bell's Life ' that no 

 names should be published other than those on the 

 cards. There were, of course, many men to whom 

 the publication of their real names was of no conse- 

 quence. But to others it probably meant loss of 

 position in their colleges and in many a country 

 home, both lay and clerical. Judge, therefore, of 

 my horror when, on the Sunday following one of 

 our most successful gatherings over my father's farm 

 in the Broughton country, there appeared in this 

 great sporting paper an account of the racing, with 

 much descriptive power, and the names in full of 

 everyone who had taken part in the two days' 

 meeting ! The Earl of Darnley, who that year was 

 the head of the sport, was greatly astounded at the 

 publication, and wrote me a most indignant letter, 

 blaming me for permitting so flagrant a breach of 

 his strictest injunctions, and saying it would be the 

 last time they would come to Aylesbury ; and that 

 he was authorised to say how seriously the publica- 

 tion of these names would be, and had already been, 

 to those young gentlemen in their future career. It 

 would, he added, matter nothing to him and others, 

 situated as he was, who were more or less their own 

 masters, but that many who were intended for the 



