296 The Post and the Paddock. 



thunder with every leg, they landed safe. " What do 

 you think of that ?" was the question put to Parson 

 Walker, who wouldn't have charged a hurdle for a 

 bishopric, at a county table that evening — and " Why, 

 that my friend Dick has more guts than brains /" was 

 the prompt reply. This leap made quite '* a sensa- 

 tion" in the neighbourhood, and was visited by hun- 

 dreds for many a week. Benvolio and Sir Marinel 

 were a very different style of horse, and while the 

 former was bigger and better through dirt, he was not 

 so uniformly to be depended on for temper. At first 

 he would not fence at all, and it was only after a very 

 long coaxing match at Pytcheley, commenced before 

 luncheon, and concluded after, that he was induced 

 to take his maiden fence. Even in his zenith, he 

 would suddenly decline a fence, after leading the first 

 flight for a quarter of an hour, and the two were left 

 alone. In spite of this drawback, which lost Sir 

 Charles several good runs, when he had to give him 

 up (after eight seasons) he always said that he could 

 never find real pleasure in riding another. He was 

 bought out of Robson's stable at Newmarket, where 

 Sir Charles often repaired during the meetings, to 

 look, among the ruck in a race, for a thorough-bred 

 hunter to his mind. Frank Buckle had ridden him 

 on one occasion, and it was by his advice that he was 

 purchased in the spring of 181 1 for 300 guineas, or 

 100 guineas less than the smarter-looking and higher- 

 actioned Sir Marinel. Northamptonshire was distin- 

 guished in after-years as the birthplace of Mameluke 

 and of Harriet, the dam of Plenipo, the former of 

 whom saw the light at the paddocks of Mr. Elwes, 

 who was long confederate with Lord Jersey ; and it 

 was from the blood of Boadicea, own sister to its 

 great hunting crack, that Touchstone sprang. Sir 

 Charles's riding of Benvolio had become such a 

 Northamptonshire proverb during the first 181 1- 12 

 season, that General Grosvenor, through whom he 



