174 DICK ROOK. 



suffer, and this very often with a gentle and quiet 

 humility. The subject, however, is painful, and 

 moreover it is time to say something of Dick 

 Rook, the hero of my story. 



Some years had passed, since I first met with 

 Dick. I was with a shooting party on a wild 

 heath in Sussex, when I first fell in with this sin- 

 gular character. At that time he was dressed in 

 a coat much too long for him, with a pair of 

 trousers much too short. He had no stockings, 

 but a pair of high shoes tied with pack-thread, 

 graced his legs. His beard was of a considerable 

 growth, his eye-brows were shaggy, and his hat 

 had something very characteristic about it. His 

 countenance gave indications of great good humour, 

 and at the same time shewed much boldness and 

 decision. He had a formidable stick in his hand, 

 with which he now and then brushed a furze-bush 

 as he passed it, for the purpose of starting a hare 

 or a rabbit. I found, on enquiry, that there was 

 not a battue in the county Avithin twenty miles 

 of the spot, at which Dick usually hung out, where 

 he was not to be met with. He was a sort of 

 privileged person in the servants' halls of the 

 neighbouring gentry, and was much employed in 

 conveying presents of game from one house to 

 another, for which he was tolerably well paid. 

 He was moreover a trusty assistant to game- 

 keepers, when any poaching was going forward, 



