18 THE WARWICKSHIRE HUNT. ir«.»5 



chiefly celebrated as a very hard rider and a perfect horse- 

 man. He was mounted on several famous horses, which 

 under his guidance made a great name. His manners, 

 unlike those of his master, were the reverse of polite ; he 

 was killed eventually by a fall from his horse, and 1400/. 

 was found in various places about his bed-room, and suits 

 of new clothes sufficient for a parish. 



During the whole period of Mr. Corbet hunting Warwickshire — and he 

 may be truly said to have " hunted Warunckshire," his counti-y extending 

 upwards o£ forty miles lengthways, and twenty across it, William Barrow, 

 commonlv called " Will Barrow," was his huntsman, and his brother Jack 

 fir.st whip])er-in. How well do I remember every feature in both these men I 

 Could they rise again and enter my room at this moment, their ajjpearance 

 would be as familiar to me as that of one of my own servants now under my 

 i-oof — the effect of the impression they made upon me in the various scenes 

 in which we were engaged. Jack liked his glass, and was a little loose in 

 character, and yet a good man in the field ; but, unless things went pleasantly, 

 unless his " lasses," as he was wont to call his bitch pack, were running 

 without one being out of her place, his countenance seldom relaxed from its 

 natural — I may say constitutional gravity. In fact, the antipodes to his 

 master he was, altlicnigh, unless much provoked by some sport-destroying 

 rider, never absolutely unciA^l — of a stem, if not morose temper, but an 

 excellent servant withal. And although it was the fashion to call him not 

 the best of huntsmen, still, testing him as the pudding is tested, I see no 

 reason for any depreciation of his talent. I can only say, that never since, 

 with one pack of hounds, have I witnessed such a succession of sport as the 

 pack he hunted afforded, and it was a great treat to see him ride to them. But 

 how splendidlv he was mounted. Not ten stone in his clothes, not eleven in 

 his saddle, he rode horses al)le to carry five stone more — all of his master's 

 breeding — and quite perfect in their work. Alas ! his end was a sad one. 

 He died from a fall with the harriers kept by the present Mr Corbet of 

 Sundorne, after having escaped any serious injury during the twenty years 

 or more of his hunting foxhounds, save in one instance, when his horse 

 jumped upon him, when leading him into a hollow way, and fractured one of 

 liis legs. And a circumstance occurred at his decease, corroborative of the 

 character I have given of him, as being deficient in that flow of soul which 

 is generally characteristic of the sportsman, and which his brother Jack 

 possessed. In old stockings and other odd places in his bed-chamber at 

 Sundorne Castle, was foiind gold to the amount of fourteen hundred pounds, 

 besides suits, many of which he had never put on his person ! It appeared 

 that he had not taken any steps to improve his property, by placing his 

 money at interest ; neither had he any wish to settle himself in a farm, for 

 which he possessed sufficient capital, but contented himself with the servants' 

 hall of Sundorne, and hunting the harriers of the old master's representative. 

 Barrow was in the service of Mr. Childe, of Kinlet, Shropshire, the great 

 friend of Mr. Meynell, previously to his living with Mr. Corljet, and he was 

 the only person about his premises that he would suffer to ride any of the 

 horses he (Mr. Childe) rode himself — always saying of him, that he was the 



