THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



some days with the hounds on his host's horses. 

 That the Duke was not without a sense of humour is 

 shown by the means he took to check the too great 

 zeal of the bell-ringers on the occasion of the heir's 

 birthday. The bells, which had been going at 

 intervals all day, and as the church actually ad- 

 adjoined the house, were of course somewhat too 

 near to be pleasant, broke out in disturbing fashion 

 just as the house party sat down to dinner. " Tell 

 those fellows," was the Duke's order, " the more 

 they ring the less they shall have to drink," and the 

 chimes presently died away into silence. 



Of the various attractions that Badminton offered 

 to guests, who, like Mr. Apperley, found their hopes 

 of hunting killed by the weather, the disappointed 

 sportsman says there was, " in the first place, the 

 pleasant party in the house ; secondly, the best fare ; 

 thirdly, the thousand volumes at least in the library, 

 beside the inspection of the house, gardens, grounds, 

 and last — but not least — the kennels, stables, and 

 harness room." All of these substitutes for sport 

 Nimrod tried in turn. Of the interior of the grand 

 old pile, that had grown up round the modest hunt- 

 ing-box of days long past, the description is all that 

 might be expected from Mr. Apperley's pen. The 

 library, with " its superb folios " was, we are told, a 

 " room of vast comfort," while its opening into an 

 immense conservatory filled even in mid-winter 

 with lilies of the valley, hyacinths, and violets, leads 

 to some characteristic poetical reflections that need 



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