CHAPTER VIII 

 HUNTING AND SHOOTING 



Leamington Moors Orkney and Shetland Balloon Telotype 



I RETURNED to my mother and sister, who then 

 occupied Claverdon, much in need of a little rest. 

 I was also conscious that with all my varied ex- 

 periences I was ignorant of the very A B C of the 

 life of an English country gentleman, such as most 

 of the friends of my family had been familiar with 

 from childhood. I was totally unused to hunting, 

 and I had no proper experience of shooting. This 

 deficiency was remedied during the next three or four 

 years. Under the advice of my eldest brother, I 

 bought a hunter and a hack, and began to hunt at 

 the rate of about three days per fortnight in Warwick- 

 shire, at neighbouring meets. 



The next year I established myself at Leamington, 

 jobbed horses, and hunted methodically. There was 

 a small " Hunt Club," supposed to be somewhat 

 select, to which I belonged, and where I dined when 

 not otherwise engaged. The hunting men most to 

 the fore in Leamington in those days included some 

 who had considerable gifts, each in their respective 

 ways. Foremost among them was Jack Mytton, son 

 of the more famous Jack Mytton (i 796-1 834) who 

 was notorious for his daring feats and other ex- 



