An Autobiography of an Ancient Athlete & Antiquarian

AUTOBIOGRAPHY 23 called Holm in two matches of 150 yards and 220 yards, both capital races, and in June also beat him by three yards over a mile at Finchley, after a very severe and exhausting race over a course finishing near the present Finchley Road Station, then open country. This spring I took German at the evening classes. Some of my translations in verse of "Thekla's Song," &c., are printed in my "Rubbish and Nonsense ." About this time I began to row a little with my elder brother, and on the 28th June ran for the second time in a public race, :finishing third in a 250 yards race at Beaufort House, won by Lewis of the South Middlesex, but beating a big field, including my old opponent Veitch. In July rowed and wo:i my first race, a pair-oared match, with coxswain, rowing stroke, with Howlett bow and E. C. Rye cox, beating Varley and Gauntlett, and next month walked a full mile in my clothes with my brother in 8 minutes 30 seconds. In the autumn J went to Broadstairs for a holiday, where I copied many inscriptions in the churchyard of St. Peter's and all i.n the Church; had a good deal of pistol practice; and on 23rd August was nearly killed, with my younger brother F. Rye, by a piece of rock falling close to us. At the end of August I ran again, this time in a 240 yards '' Gentlemen Amateur Handicap'' instituted by Bill Price at Hackney Wick, which I might have won, as I got second pfoce in my heat, though I lost at least a dozen yards at the start. My old friend C. M. Callow started in the same race. He is still alive and well. Next month I won my first walking match, beating a man called Mason, doing 3 miles in 27-~ minutes, 5 miles in 47 minutes, and 6 miles in 63 minutes, easing up after the first five miles, so I could have beaten the hour easily, he being 2 minutes behind, as I was walking in my clothes. During the autumn I was sparring a good deal, and running half-miles in Love Lane, and later in the year beat Arturo Marras, afterwards well-known in music circles (who used to beat me easily), havjng at last learned to run on my toes. · In March, 1863, I did not see the entrance of Princess Alexandra into London, though for years after I firmly believed I did- a very curioL1s hallucination, for I have often graphically described her beauty as I thought I saw