116 



KinijtoH Sf. Michael, 



\_Joh)i Br it ton. 



Fairburn a bookseller in the Miiiorics, and wrote for him "Twelfth 

 Night Characters,^' to be printed on cards and drawn out of a bag, 

 for the aniuseraent of evening parties on that Festival. The hint 

 was borrowed by others, and afterwards grew to an extensive trade. 

 The next effort was in 1799, '^ The Life and Adrcntiircs of Pizarro," a 

 compilation that gave him his first taste of the difficulties of author- 

 ship, and for this, his maiden essay, he received ten pounds. Great 

 was his self-satisfaction at beholding a superior edition, price five 

 shillings ! 



But the turning point of his career had arrived: and a direction 

 was now given to it from which he never afterwards swerved. As 

 frequently happens, a trifling incident gave the bias. Amongst 

 the articles contributed by him to the pages of Mr. Wheble's Sport- 

 ing Magazine had been an anecdote of Britten's juvenile days, 

 relating to a fox in his native village of Kington St. Michael. 

 With 15 or 20 couple of the Duke of Beaufort's hounds almost at 

 his brush, the animal had rushed into an open cottage at the foot 

 of a hill in the village street, and jumping into a cradle where a 



Little Red Riding Hood at Kin^'ton. 



baby was asleep, crept under the clothes. The mother being in the 

 garden and hearing the hounds in full cry towards her door, ran in 



