166 THE WARWICKSHIRE HUNT. \sir> 



tiyiii^' couiiti-y. Hl' juiiipod luc into ;i limok in tin- first niii, Imt liap])ily th^^ 

 bottom was hard, and we wore soon out and ijoin^' aoain. In the second niu 

 he never put his foot wrontr, and can-icd me brilliantly. At tlic first check, 

 on the Heniplow Hills. I counted those up. and flic number was f welve ; but, 

 of eours(>. many stra^g^lers canu" up and sawtlie finisli. I did not know many 

 of tliose Avlio were out. Imt 1 think Lord Howth. Johnny Ma<hh)cks. a hard 

 ridint;- man called Wilson, and Sir John Brownrii^-<>-, and the late Lord 

 Knightley* were in the run, Tlu- hist named was ridintj- a horse which he 

 had lately boug-ht of Lord Chesterfield, and I saw him jump the bii>-^est 

 splasjied fence I ever .saw jum]>ed.f Uncle Fitz ithe Rev. J. Fitzwilliam 

 Taylor, of East Ogwell Rectory. South Devon) sto|)ped his hor.se some 

 distance fnnn the clieck, thoroui^'ldy pumped (mt. Thirteen hoi'.ses died that 

 niylit, in part killed by Ideediny, the old-fashioned way of dealinii' with tired 

 horses, and a .sure Avay of killinji' them. I never saw such a sight as the 

 stableyard at Dunchnrch. Juickets of blood on all sides; and I remember 

 my servant's first anxious (juestion. " How's tlie horse ? "" I do not remember 

 what horse Stevens rode on this memorable day. but I think your father was. 

 I'iding Comet, and gave him to Stevens to finisli lui. Your father and Uncle 

 Fitz and self got back to Compton about ;•.:>(», and we had dinner at a little 

 table set for ns apart from the large talile. I think you know about Hugh 

 Williams' cry of victory, and his waving iiis table napkin over his head 

 wlien he heard we had killed, and the old lord's rejoinder. " Sit down. Hugh ; 

 yon make as much fuss as if we had gained a great naval eiiiiagement." ;J; 



1 was told by Loi^l M<)Uiitt>'aiTet, who wa.s out, that 

 a fox crossed the voad as the hounds were on the way to 

 Hillmovton, and this coincides with Mr. Fortescue's 

 account. This seems the more hkely. ))ecause the fox had 

 proljably only just gone b\ , and the hounds began to run 

 at once, faster than they would ha\e when, after drawing- 



* The Late Lord Knightley. — Lord Kuiglitloy. of Faw.sley, wlia.se death was 

 Liiniounced at the end of last- week, wa.s the .sou of vSir Charle.s Kuightley, the .second 

 T>arouet. He was born in 1810, and was educated first at Eton, and afterwards by a 

 private tutor. He .succeeded hi.s father in the representation of South Northampton- 

 shire in 1852. and retained tlie seat uninterruptedly until the Eedi.stribution of 1885, 

 when he was returned for that portion of his old con.stituency tliat bore the old name. 

 Ho .succeeded to the baronetcy in 1804, and was created a peer in 181>2. Lord Knightley 

 was .senior member of the Pytchley Hunt, and wa.s a famous wliist player. — From the 

 Uraphic, December 28th, 1895. 



Lord Knightley is de.scrihed in Mr. Charle.s Clarke'.- liook, '• Cruinl)s from a 

 Sportsman'.s Table," under tlie soubriquet of the Hon. Peregrine Bayard. 



+ The late Rev. Henry Knightley. who was also in the run, told us that he saw Lord 

 Kuightley (theu Sir Eainald Knightley) jump this fence, and that it was so high that his 

 hor.se jumped on to the top of it and off again, thus clearing the wide ditch on the other 

 side. The name of this horse which he rode through the run was "' I Spy J." 



J Lord WiIloughl\v Was a great naval entlm.siast, and the Loutherbourg pictures of 

 the battles of the Nile and Camperdown hang in the dining njom at Compton. In the 

 Gamperdown picture you can just see the figure of " Jack Crawford " on the Admiral's 

 ship nailing England's colours to the mast. It was really done with the butt end of a 

 pistf)!, though here a hammer is reijresented. This feat gave origin to the expression, 

 '■ Nailing one's colours to the m.ist.'' 



