Excerpt from My Life as Soldier and Sportsman

When a mere layman writes a book it is customary for him to inscribe a preface or, as Izaak Walton would say, an "epistle" to the readers. My original idea was to write and have printed a few personal reminiscences of the days and weeks I have spent in various sports, for the young folks who may come after me, in fact, I contemplated writing a sort of boys' book. However, it came to pass that I met, and discussed the subject with, Mr Arthur F. Meyrick who, like myself, is getting on in years. He is a most enthusiastic student of racing and other sports, and in addition to suggesting that I should write a larger volume, on more general subjects, he volunteered to contribute to my book by supplying details of the Grand National from Lottery to Troytown.

Gradually, as the copy grew, so did the number of new ideas. Thus it came about that causeries on other sports suggested themselves to me.

When a young man, Mr Meyrick followed in the footsteps of his father in the journalistic world, and knew most of the celebrities of his time.

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