Biographical Study of A.W. Kinglake by William Tuckwell
page 17 of 105 (16%)
page 17 of 105 (16%)
|
and say good things. In some mischievous lines describing the
Oxford election where Inglis supplanted Peel, Macaulay wrote "And then said all the Doctors sitting in the Divinity School, Not this man, but Sir Robert'--now Sir Robert was a fool." But in the fifth and later editions Kinglake altered it to "Sir John." By a curious oversight in the first two editions (p. 41) Jove was made to gaze on Troy from Samothrace; it was rightly altered to Neptune in the third; and "eagle eye of Jove" in the following sentence was replaced by "dread Commoter of our globe." The phrase "a natural Chiffney-bit" (p. 109), I have found unintelligible to- day through lapse of time even to professional equestrians and stable-keepers. Samuel Chiffney, a famous rider and trainer, was born in 1753, and won the Derby on Skyscraper in 1789. He managed the Prince of Wales's stud, was the subject of discreditable insinuations, and was called before the Jockey Club. Nothing was proved against him, but in consequence of the fracas the Prince severed his connection with the Club and sold his horses. Chiffney invented a bit named after him; a curb with two snaffles, which gave a stronger bearing on the sides of a horse's mouth. His rule in racing was to keep a slack rein and to ride a waiting race, not calling on his horse till near the end. His son Samuel, who followed him, observed the same plan; from its frequent success the term "Chiffney rush" became proverbial. In his ride through the desert (p. 169) Kinglake speaks of his "native bells--the innocent |
|