The "Old Mortality" of the Turf 317 



looked upon as no mean authority. When 

 the Marquis of Queensberry, whose waist was 

 quite as capacious as his own, requested him 

 to come and give him his confidential opinion 

 of Caledonian's chance for the Leger, he 

 mounted his spectacles and took a protracted 

 survey. The horse's rainbow neck he dis- 

 missed in silence, and then he broke out with 

 ' He wants what you and me has gitten, my 

 Lord — hinder ribs, hinder ribs ' ; and in went 

 his spectacles to their case once more." 



The above passage, together with many 

 others, exhibit, despite their numerous ex- 

 cellences, one failing in "The Druid's" 

 writings. They were prepared in such hot 

 haste for magazines and newspapers, that their 

 author seldom had time to correct them before 

 they appeared in print. The natural and in- 

 evitable result was that occasionally they 

 produced a blurred and confused impression 

 upon the reader's mind. "The Druid" 

 understood so well all the surroundings and 

 accessories of the scenes and characters he 

 described as to forget that his readers were 

 seldom as well informed as himself. Thus he 

 speaks of " Sir Wolly " as dashing the knob 



