344 MR. THOMAS ROBINSON 



a bad coachman, and rather delighted than otherwise in 

 a ' spill,' and he had plenty of them. He drove me once 

 or twice a short distance, and nearly upset me two or 

 three times. He drove round the corners so fast that the 

 gig was nicely balanced on one wheel for a considerable 

 distance, and then fortunately settled on the other. And 

 the next thing was, he just missed coming into contact 

 (whilst going at a great pace) with a load of timber, 

 by which, had it but touched us, we must have been 

 smashed. But he thought nothing of it; and he rode 

 just as wildly. No one would ever believe, to see him 

 ride or drive, that he had been bred up with horses all 

 his lifetime, and made them his special study. 



He was a good shot, and walked well ; but whatever he 

 might have been at running in his early days, this was 

 not his forte at the age of seventy. For I remember that 

 one day, when shooting with me at Woodyates, he had 

 winged a bird, and wishing to be his own retriever, 

 dashed up the hill after it at terrific speed, but was soon 

 distanced. When the bird rested, he got above it, 

 1 gaping,' to use his own words, ' like a young rook.' He 

 was then master of the situation, and soon bagged his 

 game triumphantly and in good style. He drove at the 

 age of eighty-three, within a few months of his death, 

 seventy miles which is no easy work even for a young 

 man and transacted business, reaching home in time to 

 dress and dine with a party of friends at High Wycombe, 

 returning about midnight, and the next morning was at 

 his business again as if nothing had happened out of the 

 common course of things. He was a good parent, a sin- 

 cere friend, and an honest man. He lived in comfortable 

 circumstances, and died in the eighty-third year of his 

 age, leaving three children to lament his loss. 



In conclusion, I must say that Mr: Eobinson was a 



