Coningsby or the New Generation

About this time a steeple-chase in the West of England had attracted / considerable attention. This sport was then of recent introduction in / England, and is, in fact, an importation of Irish growth, although it / has flourished in our soil. A young guardsman, who was then a guest at / the Castle, and who had been in garrison in Ireland, had some experience / of this pastime in the Kildare country, and he proposed that they should / have a steeple-chase at Coningsby. This was a suggestion very agreeable / to the Marquess of Beaumanoir, celebrated for his feats of horsemanship, / and, indeed, to most of the guests. It was agreed that the race should / come off at once, before any of the present company, many of whom / gave symptoms of being on the wing, had quitted the Castle. The young / guardsman and Mr. Guy Flouncey had surveyed the country and had selected / a line which they esteemed very appropriate for the scene of action. / From a hill of common land you looked down upon the valley of Coningsby, / richly cultivated, deeply ditched, and stiffly fenced; the valley was / bounded by another rising ground, and the scene was admirably calculated / to give an extensive view to a multitude.

The distance along the valley was to be two miles out, and home again; / the starting-post being also the winning-post, and the flags, which were / placed on every fence which the horses were to pass, were to be passed / on the left hand of the rider both going and coming; so that although / the horses had to leap the same fences forward and backward, they / could not come over the same place twice. In the last field before they / turned, was a brook seventeen feet clear from side to side, with good / taking off both banks. Here real business commenced.