unusually perfect acquaintance with the French, Italian, and German
languages, and incidentally imbibed a taste for gymnastics. At
sixteen he, the youngest of one hundred and fifty candidates, passed
his examination for admission to the army, and at the mature age of
seventeen found himself a cornet in the Royal Horse Guards. At this
time his breast seems to have been fired by the noble ambition to
become the strongest man in the world. How far he succeeded is told
in well-authenticated traditions that linger round various spots in
Windsor and London. He threw himself into the pursuit of muscle with
all the ardour since shown in other directions, and the cup of his
joy must have been full when a precise examination led to the
demonstration of the fact that his arm measured round the biceps
exactly seventeen inches. He could put 'Nathalie' (then starring it
at the Alhambra) to shame with her puny 56-lb. weight in each hand,
and could 'turn the arm' of her athletic father as if it had been
nothing more than a hinge-rusted nut-cracker. His plaything at
Aldershot was a dumb-bell weighing 170 lbs., which he lifted straight
out with one hand, and there was a standing bet of 10 pounds that no
other man in the Camp could perform the same feat. At the rooms of
the London Fencing Club there is to this day a dumb-bell weighing 120
lbs., with record of how Fred Burnaby was the only member who could
lift it above his head.

There is a story told of early barrack days which he assured me was
quite true. A horsedealer arrived at Windsor with a pair of beautiful
little ponies he had been commanded to show the Queen. Before
exhibiting them to her Majesty he took them to the Cavalry Barracks
for display to the officers of the Guards. Some of these, by way of
a pleasant surprise, led the ponies upstairs into Burnaby's room,
where they were much admired. But when the time came to take leave an
alarming difficulty presented itself. The ponies, though they had
walked upstairs, could by no means be induced to walk down again. The
officers were in a fix; the horsedealer was in despair; when young
Burnaby settled the matter by taking up the ponies, one under each
arm and, walking downstairs, deposited them in the barrack-yard. The
Queen heard the story when she saw the ponies, and doubtless felt an
increased sense of security at Windsor, having this astounding
testimony to the prowess of her Household Troops.

Cornet Burnaby was as skilful