Visitors at Limber 



case of my eldest brother, making a point of hunting him up 

 in whatever place he had made his home in after years. 



Although by no means a horse-dealer, excepting in the 

 most aristocratic meaning of the word, Herr von Shavel was 

 commissioned to purchase mounts for two succeeding Emperors 

 of Austria, both of whom were ardent lovers of fox-hunting, 

 whilst the late Empress, as many will remember, proved herself 

 well able to hold her own with the best English and Irish 

 sportswomen, and with the fastest packs of hounds in England 

 and Ireland. 



It is true she was piloted by one of the "boldest and 

 hardest riders that ever crossed the border " * in the shape of 

 the late Captain " Bay " Middleton, but it is none the less true 

 that to follow such a pilot faithfully and unflinchingly showed a 

 daring and enthusiastic spirit inspired only by the truest love 

 of sport. 



" Bay " Middleton was one of Maunsell's most intimate 

 friends, especially in their cricketing days when both played 

 for " I Zingari." I am not sure if he ever stayed with us at 

 Limber, if so it was not during my reign ; but he was a promi- 

 nent guest at my brother's wedding in 1881, and it was on 

 that occasion that we were first introduced to each other. I 

 remember thinking it a trifle difficult to reconcile myself to the 

 belief that this perfectly groomed and even slightly nervous 

 gentleman was the practical joker and the wild bear-fighter of 

 whom I had so often heard my brother speak. 



No end of good stories are forthcoming, and still live 

 vividly in men's minds, as to his extraordinary love for prac- 

 tical joking and his wonderful capacity for inventing fresh 

 methods of bear-fighting. It is told how, when once upon a visit 



* See " Gentlemen Riders Past and Present," by J. M. Richardson and Finch 

 Mason, pp. 378 and following. 



83 



