CHAPTER VII 



' THE LITTLE GENTLEMAN IN THE BLACK 

 VELVET COAT ' 



WHEN the Jacobites drank to the health of the 

 ' little gentleman in the black velvet coat,' 

 they meant the mole over whose heap of soil 

 William of Orange's horse stumbled in 

 Richmond Park, throwing the King, who was 

 so hurt that he never got over the fall. In 

 gardens, allotments, fields, and parks those 

 hillocks may be met with, to the annoyance of 

 the owners, for no one likes unsightly mounds of 

 earth all over the place, yet, despite the fact 

 it is so common, most people know but little 

 about the mole. It lives entirely underground, 

 the well-known heaps of soil being the results of 

 its tunnellings. It seldom comes up to the 

 surface, and then only for a moment or two 

 to gather dry leaves and grass with which to 

 make its nest. It is so shy of venturing up 

 into the daylight that it is seldom a mole is 

 seen alive and unhurt. It seems very strange 



143 



