Sharps, flats, gamblers, and racehorses . but getting in a little brightfeature, and of course stuffed the column full of names ;that was one of the features of the paper which prettysoon I began to see the value of. There are tens ofthousands of people on the Continent who have nothingto do except enjoy themselves. They become accus-tomed to go about from one place to another, makingcrowds of acquaintances and a few friends. Theyread with wonderful interest who is here and there,and what is going on too. The Herald is really thena newspaper and an authoritative society paper. Richard Figes wa
Sharps, flats, gamblers, and racehorses . but getting in a little brightfeature, and of course stuffed the column full of names ;that was one of the features of the paper which prettysoon I began to see the value of. There are tens ofthousands of people on the Continent who have nothingto do except enjoy themselves. They become accus-tomed to go about from one place to another, makingcrowds of acquaintances and a few friends. Theyread with wonderful interest who is here and there,and what is going on too. The Herald is really thena newspaper and an authoritative society paper. Richard Figes was the starter at the majority ofthe meetings, and having known him in former yearsin England he helped me to become familiar with whowas who. He dispensed hospitality in his flat in theAvenue de la Grande Armee, and I ate my firstChristmas dinner in France at his place. He was veryfond of the best, which made his table all the moreattractive. His wife was an excellent soul; she dieda few years after Figes came back to this country : 148. •Johnny The Diplomatist of the •Cliatham FIGESS SPOOF they settled down at Southampton. He had the con-fidence of the stewards of various meetings over inFrance for many years. He had his pecuHarities, andabove all hated criticism; although I had been suchan old friend he cut me dead one day because I hap-pened to say that there had been a straggling start,or words to that effect. However, the grievance I amsure was not a real one. Dick Figes came from Salis-bury, where his father kept an hotel. He knew every-one in the racing world when he was quite young, andwas assistant to that great starter, Tom MacGeorge,from whom he learnt the art of flag starting. Thebusiness was no sinecure in France, I can tell you, fora Parisian racing crowd can be very ugly when thehorses do not get aw^ay as they wish them. Cries of Voleur! are common, also whistling, which denoteshissing, and I have seen glass bottles thrown. Then,of course, there have been rea
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