3 1 8 Saddle and Sirloin. 



The old grey mare Twilight wandered near the old 

 hovel on the left of the drive, where the thousand 

 guinea pack were housed a whole season, and where 

 Eclogue foaled her Prologue, Catalogue, and Virgilius. 

 He maintained that " hunting is the sport for young 

 men and racing for old," and this mare and her foals 

 were a great delight to him. Will Danby's portrait 

 from the Sporting Magazine was installed above the 

 chimney-piece of his little sanctum, which he seldom 

 allowed you to leave without bringing down the mys- 

 terious case, which was forwarded to him anony- 

 mously, with a hunting whip, in his bachelor days, 

 and giving you a hint as to his after discoveries on the 

 point. 



It was delightful to see him after dinner — while the 

 fire lighted up Comical, Ned Oxtoby and other 

 hunting comrades on the oak panels — settle himself 

 into his great easy chair, dive into his capacious side 

 pockets, and produce a large packet of hunting letters. 

 In this respect he was quite a Registrar of Deeds, as 

 several masters, Lord Middleton among them, made 

 a point of writing to him when they had a great thing. 

 We were in for the record of the Christmas Eve when 

 his lordship's had run over nineteen parishes, and 

 swum three rivers, and our host's recital and com- 

 ments, given in his dry solemn way, were as long and 

 thrice as amusing as an inaugural address. He some- 

 times went to the hound shows, and his sinewy six- 

 foot-two form, in black, with a white hat, worn rather 

 on the back of his head, and a light linen cravat, was 

 always to be seen on the Doncaster balcony, or on 

 some hunting friend's drag opposite the stand at York. 

 Virgilius was his delight, and he made very sure of the 

 Flying Dutchman Handicap in '62, but he did not 

 care much to back his opinion, and defeat never de- 

 pressed him. We never thought him looking better 

 than he did at Doncaster in The Marquis's year. We 

 had a word with him on the "rand stand stairs, and he 



