The Merry Past 



description were not uncommon amongst the bucks 

 of that day, who did not always confine their eccen- 

 tricities to the metropoHs, their own country houses 

 sometimes being the scene of mad outbursts. 



In 1780 a considerable sensation was created in 

 the neighbourhood of Axminster by an act of van- 

 dalism performed by a young Baronet who owned a 

 fine old mansion in the vicinity. 



Together with a band of wild companions, Sir 

 John, who was annoyed at being prevented from 

 hunting by the weather, set to work to destroy the 

 pictures of his ancestors with a hunting whip, in 

 which work of destruction he was ably seconded by 

 his friends, with the result that every sheet of canvas 

 hung in strips and tatters, and the once magnificent 

 hall presented a scene of purposeless destruction. 



Masterpieces of Rubens and Vandyke were here 

 treated with as little respect as any daubing upon 

 the door of a pothouse. 



Just as this famous exploit had ended, in came 

 George Ralph, the painter, who, with a sorrowful 

 countenance, like a sad herald from the vanquished, 

 obtained permission to dispose of the dead. When 

 the conquerors had left the field, this saddened artist 

 and the lady of the mansion, greatly to the credit 

 of her gentle heart, put together the venerable 

 ancestors, but for whom the degenerate young 

 Baronet would never have been in existence. 



The young buck of that day was, as a rule, riotous, 

 loose, and wild, making little secret of his love 

 of dissipation and pleasure. The following lines, 



163 



