142 Life and Times of " The Druid" 



musty law books, but to general literature, with 

 a strong bias towards sporting. To say the 

 truth, no greater mistake was ever made by an 

 attached and conscientious father than when 

 Mr. Peter Dixon sent his son to Doncaster 

 and articled him to such a firm of solicitors 

 as that of which Mr. Robert Baxter was the 

 head. To begin with, Mr. Baxter was an 

 ardent Conservative, and the trusted agent 

 of that party throughout the West Riding 

 of Yorkshire. Secondly, he detested horse- 

 racing, and was engaged all through his long 

 life in endeavouring by every means in his 

 power to abolish the Doncaster race meeting. 

 From him and the narrow sect of Calvinists 

 with whom he was in sympathy proceeded 

 those biblical texts fastened on the elms 

 which line the North Avenue at Doncaster, 

 along which every frequenter of the races 

 must necessarily pass. These texts threat- 

 ened all who repaired to the race-course with 

 unutterable woes and disasters here and here- 

 after, and it is certain that " The Druid," who 

 was in every respect as good a Christian as 

 Mr. Robert Baxter, and much more tolerant, 

 must have regarded the latters denunciation 



