xviii WAYFARING NOTIONS 



instead of being as hitherto the work of one man. 

 This plan was tried for two or three weeks ; but 

 the salad didn't mix well, and the result was that 

 Mr Butler placed the entire article in the hands 

 of Martin Cobbett, and in Martin Cobbett's 

 hands it remained until the week before his 

 death. He became known as '' Mr Notions " all 

 over the world, the name clinging even after all 

 the contributors had taken signatures in the 

 style of Mr Sampson's (** Pendragon"), his own 

 being **Geraint." In recent years he furnished 

 the *' Boris " article as well. It may be said that 

 Martin Cobbett valued above all his other 

 connections his position on the Referee. He 

 never undertook fresh work that he thought 

 might interfere with its claims, and perhaps it 

 received his finest writing, unconsciously, as what 

 we care for most inspires us best. 



For the calling of all-round sporting 

 journalism Martin Cobbett had remarkable, 

 perhaps unique, qualifications. On this point I 

 may quote the appreciation written by one of his 

 comrades in the Referee of 29th April 1906. 



** It chanced that when I first met him a big 

 sculling match was occupying general attention, 

 and his conversation showed him to be such a 

 master of the subject that I put him down as an 

 expert on rowing. I came across him shortly 

 afterwards at Lord's, and then it soon occurred 



