CHRISTOPHER IN HIS SPORTING JACKET 



soon set a-boil, and thou — like Julius Caesar — and 

 Demetrius Poliorcetes — and Alexander the Great — 

 and many other ancient and modern kings and heroes 

 — thou vvert the slave of thy passions. No Scipio wert 

 thou with a Spanish captive. Often— in spite of threat- 

 ening eye and uplifted thong — uplifted only, for thou 

 went'st unflogged to thy grave — didst thou disappear 

 for days at a time — as if lost or dead. Rumours of 

 thee were brought to the kirk by shepherds from the 

 remotest hills in the parish— most confused and con- 

 tradictory — but, when collected and compared, all 

 agreeing in this — that thou vvert living, and life-like, 

 and life-imparting, and after a season from thy travels 

 to return; and return thou still didst — wearied often 

 and woe-begone — purpled thy snow-white curling — 

 and thy broad breast torn, not disfigured, by honour- 

 able wounds. For never yet saw we a fighter like thee. 

 Up on thy hind legs in a moment, like a growling 

 Polar monster, with thy fore-paws round thy foe- 

 man'*s neck, bull-dog, colley, mastiff, or greyhound, 

 and down with him in a moment, with as much ease 

 as Cass, in the wrestling ring at Carlisle, would throw 

 a Bagman, and then woe to the throat of the down- 

 fallen, for thy jaws were shark-like as they opened 

 and shut with their terrific tusks, grinding through 

 skin and sinew to the spine. 



Once, and once only — bullied out of all endurance 

 ■ [ 76 ] 



