316 George Colman's Random Records. [_ MARCH, 



the stomach of a cormorant. The raw dinner of a Hottentot would be 

 a refuge from it." 



They then took to boring the burrows or tumuli in the neighbourhood, 

 from which they extracted some bones, potsherds, and copper coins, 

 which, he observes, " it was impossible to toss up ; they having neither 

 heads nor tails/ 7 Two or three of them were given to him as the reward 

 of his exploratory prowess, but they did not remain long with him. On 

 this he makes the pleasant, yet pathetic reflection : " From that time to 

 this, I have evinced no talents as a hoarder of coin. My attempts in 

 that way, indeed, have been generally made with a view to modern 

 English specimens, stamped with heads of the Brunswick line. Many 

 of those have, at different times, been in my hands; but somehow or 

 other, they have soon passed out of them again ; and I have never been 

 able to succeed as a collector." 



On his tour homewards, he visited Sir Charles Turner, a famous 

 country gentleman " who persecuted a fox with joyful inveteracy, 

 and was the most formidable Nimrod of his district. He showed 

 us a picture of a favourite white hunter, surmounted by himself, 

 in the act of leaping a five-barred gate, being the last of an uncom- 

 mon number of similar jumps, which this fine animal had accom- 

 plished, with Sir Charles on his back, during one day's chase. When 

 such paintings formerly met my view, they excited in me an admiration 

 for the rider, which I have long ago exclusively transferred to the 

 horse." 



The observation is excellent; and a proof of the advanced rationality 

 of the writer. One trait more of this fox-hunting family. " Sir Charles 

 had a son, whom he was educating to be in all points his representative 

 * a fine dashing fellow !' When I first saw him, he ran into a drawing- 

 room, full of company, with a live mouse in his hand. ' Bite off his 

 head, Charles,' said the father. The boy obeyed the word of com- 

 mand ; his dental guillotine instantly fell, and the mouse was executed." 

 This was a fine touch of country exploits. But he met a more interest- 

 ing subject in the neighbourhood. " In the village of Kirkleatham, 

 was an individual, who excited great interest in the visitors of the hall. 

 His looks were venerable, from his great age, and his deportment was 

 above that which is usually found among the inhabitants of a hamlet. 

 How he had acquired this air of superiority over his neighbours, it is 

 difficult to say, for his origin must have been humble. His eightieth 

 summer had nearly passed away ; and only two or three years previously, 

 he had learned to read, that he might gratify a parent's pride and love, 

 by perusing his son's first voyage round the world. He was the father 

 of CAPTAIN COOK !" 



On the whole, the Random Records are pleasant specimens of old 

 George Colman, the younger. He might have given us more anecdote for 

 who possesses so much ? and a little less loyalty in his panegyrics, for who 

 in this country has not heard all that can be said of the virtues of kings ? 

 His preface is a little ventre a terre, and his principles are those of the 

 " deputy licenser." But his book is a pleasant one after all. He pro- 

 mises to give more, and we hope he will keep his promise ; the present 

 volumes flutter only about the first twenty years of his life. What 

 flights of stronger wing, and broader sweep, may he not take in the forty 

 that have followed them ! Let him but begin ! 



