LIFE OF THE AUTHOR xxxi 



ances when well on in middle age." The News 

 of the PVo r/d notGs his ''long, careless stride that 

 won him a momentous series of matches in the 

 Leatherhead road, and often puzzled emulous 

 pedestrians, who with quickening footsteps got 

 no nearer." He walked from London to Brighton 

 over and over again. When living at Brighton, 

 he used to row in a salt-water wager-boat between 

 Brighton and Shoreham — which towns did not 

 then coalesce — and in rough weather. His 

 style of fresh-water sculling was the old workman- 

 like, healthy kind which, as he himself described 

 it, finishes with shoulder blades flattened on a 

 straight back. He always took an intense 

 interest in the river ; Henley Regatta, he used 

 to say, was the greatest treat he allowed himself, 

 and the place would not have seemed complete 

 without *'his familiar straw hat with the L.R.C. 

 colours." The London and the Thames Rowing 

 Clubs valued and mourned him alike. A few 

 years ago, he formed one of a Press *'Four" 

 whose united ages compassed two hundred years, 

 and who issued a challenge to take on any crew 

 of equal age, amateur or professional, at their 

 own distance, but the challenge was never 

 accepted. His ceaseless energy and pleasure in 

 walking became proverbial. 



In the racing world, Martin Cobbett's position 

 was unique. His profound knowledge, his 



