120 A BOOK ABOUT THE GARDEN. 



ago on the subject; and I have no shame in the 

 conviction, that some to whom I now speak, beginning 

 at a point where I have all but stopped, and having 

 opportunities and resources, developed since my 

 manhood waned, know more about gardening than I 

 do. It is sufficient for me to have been in my day 

 with the foremost, and to have fought my way to 

 many victories. But were I to " shoulder my crutch 

 and show how fields were won " to you of this 

 generation, or to manipulate my "Brown Bess," as an 

 old musketeer, to you who have such an improved 

 artillery as leads one to expect that England will soon 

 be able to pepper her enemies, however distant, from 

 batteries fixed upon her shores to you who are blessed 

 with a thousand facilities unknown to your ancestors, 

 of smashing and ripping up your fellow-creatures 

 how would you forbear to smile ? No ; as old Mr. 

 Whippy, the huntsman or rather the ex-huntsman, 

 for he has been, as you know, a pensioner for years of 

 my noble master trots after the hounds on his pony 

 through the gaps and the gates, which he once 

 despised, so must I now be content to look on from 

 afar, travelling easily by quiet lanes and by-ways, and 

 leaving the bravery and the honours of the chase to 

 you. 



So I will tell you, if you please, a simple story a 

 mere incident, in fact which occurred many years 

 ago in the family I serve, but which made at the time 

 a great excitement among us, and may still, I hope, 

 prove interesting to you. 



Through the solemn avenue of cedars which leads 

 to our mausoleum, I have followed three dukes to the 



