The Merry Past 



ladies, where he would hear some excellent music, 

 said : " Damn all music, except the music of a pack 

 of foxhounds/' This individual was like the man who 

 was fond of his garden, and who, when asked by a 

 lady to give her some choice flowers, replied, " Ma- 

 dam, I cultivate no flower but a cauliflower ! " 



Fielding's Squire Western was, it is said, more or 

 less a true portrait drawn from life at a time when 

 this was no uncommon type. As the eighteenth 

 century waned Squire Westerns grew rare. 



Mr. William Leche of Garden, in Cheshire, who 

 died in 1812, a country gentleman of original habits, 

 was the squire who was called " the last of all the 

 Westerns." 



He led a somewhat eccentric life, according to 

 modern ideas. Though a rich man, he did not keep 

 a carriage of any sort till far advanced in years ; 

 eventually, however, he was prevailed upon to do so 

 in order to convey him home at night, he having met 

 with several accidents from his nocturnal rides home. 

 He called this carriage his drinking-cart. 



The whole of Mr. Leche's life was centred in the 

 enjoyment of field sports in the morning, and the 

 society of his friends at night. He dined at three 

 o'clock, if by himself, or if he had only a few of his 

 intimate friends staying in his house. 



Mr. Leche's usual practice was to breakfast at five 

 in the winter ; he hunted up his fox's trail while the 

 stars were in the sky, got over his day's sport, and 

 was often at dinner by noon. 



This practice he continued to follow even when 



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