io8 Life and Times of " The Druid." 



to decline one overture which was made to 

 him in 1851, and which would have placed 

 him in the position which of all others he 

 was best qualified to fill. In 1851, Mr. 

 Vincent Dowling's health had begun to give 

 way under the strain of conducting a big 

 weekly paper at high pressure. Mr. Clement, 

 the owner of Belts Life, had long been on 

 the look out for a successor to Mr. Dowling, 

 and not much experience of "The Druid's" 

 accomplishments and character was necessary 

 to make it clear that in him the right man 

 had at length been found. The place was 

 by no means an easy one to fill ; and no man 

 was better aware than Mr. Dowling- that, as 

 a rule, sporting writers are not made of the 

 stuff calculated to blossom out into reliable 

 Editors. No man placed in the trying posi- 

 tion occupied for twenty-eight years by Mr. 

 Dowling as Editor of Bell's Life, could have 

 acquitted himself better than he did. His 

 character was, in truth, singularly noble and 

 upright ; his insight into human nature was 

 more than usually penetrating ; and in all 

 the responsible trusts which he accepted as 

 holder of stakes and referee for pugilists who 



