SIR,—I have found it ! Eureka ! Or if not
the very quotation, something next door. Behold : [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
" Start ! '
The word sounded clear from the mouth of the 'Varsity captain of boats, and at once Ralph exerted the full force of his Herculean arms. 1-fis blade struck the water a full second before any other : the lad had started well. Nor did he flag as the race wore on : as others tired, he seemed to grow more fresh, until at length, as the boats began to near the winning-post, his oar was dipping into the water nearly Twice as often as any other."
The passage may be found on p. 89 of Sandford of Merton, A Story of Oxford Life, by Belinda Blinders, edited by Desmond F. T. Coke, and published at Oxford in 1903.
The book is the " onelie begettor," and grandparent, of our modern ro66 and All That's and the rest.—Yours, &c.,
HENRY E. M. MACNIC3L.
12 Murrayfield Avenue, Edinburgh, 12.
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