AQUATICS.-Yachting, Rowing, Fishing, etc. Days to Memory Dear-Tweed Salmon Fishing - Dry Fly Fishing On the Origin and Early History of Polo among the 17428 BAILY'S MAGAZINE OF SPORTS AND PASTIMES. Mr. J. Blundell Maple, M.P. To find a man who, while essentially l'homme d'affaires-the head of one of the largest commercial establishments in the kingdom, beyond the limits of which its fame extends has yet discovered in the higher life of the political arena and the study of the social questions of the day, time and occupation wherewith to benefit, according to his lights, his fellow men, is not in this happy country so rare a circumstance. Still, the examples do not present themselves too frequently, and when, in addition, we find the same man pass from his counting-house to his training establishment, whence an afternoon express whirls him back to that pleasant home where his brood mares and his garden help to contribute to the solatium of a very active existence, we are inclined to think there must be what our cousins call "real grit" in that man, and that he who can both work and play is one of those who "liveth best" in this busy world. Such an one is Mr. Blundell Maple, best known to the large majority of his countrymen, as he himself would like to be known, as the head and moving power of the firm in the Tottenham Court Road bearing his name. For if he is proud of anything, Mr. Maple is proud of the success of the business, which, though he did not create, owes its immense increase, within the last quarter of a century, to his energy and care. We believe that it sprang from small beginnings, and what is now a household word throughout England and the Colonies, was at the time when Mr. Blundell Maple, some twenty-eight years ago, began to take an active part in its management, comparatively unknown. We, who know it as it is to-day-a magnificent emporium of art and luxury, giving regular employment to close upon 3,000 VOL. LIII.-NO. 359. A employés, not to mention those working in the provinces, France, and India, through orders from the Tottenham Court Road-must give unstinted admiration to the mastermind which has directed, and still directs, this vast machinery. Born in 1845, in the Tottenham Court Road, the son of Mr. John Maple and Emily Blundell, his wife-a descendant of the old Lancashire family of that name-he went, as a boy of ten years, to Crawfurd College, Maidenhead, where a natural taste for mathematics was duly fostered. He passed the College of Preceptors before he was twelve, and made such rapid progress, that at fourteen he was transferred to the school connected with King's College, Somerset House, which Jelf and Barry made so famous, leaving it in 1860, and at that early age going into harness in his father's business. What he has done there can be seen of all men. We must turn now to his public career as a politician. How soon after arriving at man's estate he began to take an interest in the questions of the day we are unable to say; but certain it is that in 1871, when only twenty-six years of age, he was invited to stand for the old Borough of Marylebone, with every prospect of being elected. Mr. Maple, however, seems to have felt at that period that the business he was so surely developing was a mistress too exacting to admit of dalliance with politics, whatever his inclinations might have been; so he declined the invitation of the Marylebone electors. But in the years that followed he began to take his place as a strong Conservative, and to do much good work for his party wherever he saw opportunity. In the early days of the Primrose League, before that organisation had made itself a power in the land, Mr. Blundell Maple was its ardent supporter. He took the initiative in the foundation of the Constitutional and Junior Constitutional Clubs, and he, moreover, has evinced the liveliest interest in the formation of local Conservative clubs, and is the author of a scheme for the beneficial organisation of these bodies. That he should be again sought for by his party at the general election of '85 was not surprising; and his commercial position now assured, he after some consideration consented to stand for the new South St. Pancras constituency. The selfsacrifice he then exhibited won him the esteem of his bitterest political opponents, and it was generally felt that Mr. Maple's appearance in the House of Commons was only a matter of time. He had shown such generous political instincts, and while proving himself a good Conservative, there was a liberality in his views that marked him as no partisan. In his speeches made at various places during the election of '85, Mr. Maple, while a keen discoverer of weak points in his opponents' harness, showed that he could respect their doctrines and feelings; and perhaps one of the secrets of his success as a speaker was the tact with which he calmed stormy passions, and sought to eliminate the man from his opinions. At the by-election at Dulwich in '87, the reward of his laudable ambition came to him, when he was returned by a very large majority over his Liberal opponent. He won his spurs in the House in his speech on the Early Closing Bill; and the defeat of Sir John Lubbock's arbitrary and uncalled-for measure was in a great degree owing to the authority with which, as the House felt, Mr. Maple spoke. For if any one man more than another had the grasp of this question, as well as of all others affecting the position and interests of the commercial classes, surely it was the member for Dulwich. For these classes he has laboured; with their thoughts and feeling he is identified, and there is no doubt his words will always be listened to in the councils of the nation, when the interests affecting them are under discussion. And now we will lay aside our work and come out to play. The successful man of business, the no less successful politician-the philanthropist, ever ready to take an active interest in all schemes for the welfare of the people for the nonce retires, and the noble animal claims our attention. Down the pretty villa-bordered road at Newmarket, that leads from the Severals to Chippenham, and after passing the new house that Tom Jennings has lately built for himself, we come to the handsome villa which poor Fred Archer possessed for so brief a period, and which is now occupied by Percy Peck, Mr. Blundell Maple's trainer. The latter, the son of a clever father, who may be supposed to have sat at that father's feet, and learned his lore, we fancy Mr. Maple has no cause to regret either the purchase of Falmouth House, which he has largely added to, or his selection of its tenant. Fond of horses from early days, Mr. Maple made his first appearance on the turf in 1881, running under the name of "Mr. Childwick," his first horse being Middleman, a See Saw, who won a race for his owner the first time of asking. Royal Hampton, now at the breeding establishment at Childwick Bury, was one of his best horses, making his first appearance at Sandown Park, in 1884, when he beat the much-fancied Luminary, carrying the confidence, not only of Kingsclere, but of most good judges, as Luminary had, three weeks previously, won the July, after a grand race with Melton, whom he defeated by a head. It was natural after this that great expectations should have been formed of this son of Hampton, but the Middle Park Plate incontestably showed the superiority of Melton, and though Royal Hampton ran well in that and other races, he did not distinguish himself until the following year, when he won the City and Suburban, having behind him Highland Chief, Lonely, Middlethorpe, Exmoor, Present Times, and other good horses. This was his last appearance, and now, in company with Philosophy, Solitude, and Sublime, he keeps high state at Childwick Bury. Mr. Maple has been fairly successful on the |