62 THE ESSEX FOXHOUNDS. 



old hounds, hearing his voice, immediately jumped a 

 hedge out of a lane to get to him. 



An increasing family and the loss of some money 

 were the causes which combined to lead him to give up 

 Essex, but field sports, hunting especially, being something 

 more than a passion with him, he never devoted himself 

 seriously to military duties, though had he done so he might 

 have fared well, as he was advanced in the Service by 

 the influence of his friends. The Recruiting Service and the 

 Inspectorship of Volunteers were good enough for him in 

 the soldiering line, and on being appointed Inspecting Field 

 Officer of the Birmingham District, after leaving Essex, 

 he at once proceeded to combine business with pleasure by 

 hunting, on a subscription of ;^8oo a year, a small district in 

 Staffordshire, carved out of what had been Lord Vernon's 

 country. Here, however, he did not stay long, for his 

 resources were exhausted, so he took his family to 

 the Continent, settling first at St. Omer, and then at 

 Honfleur. 



Meantime he was suffering from cancer in the tongue, 

 and after consultino- the first surgeons in London without 



o o 



success, he went to Rouen and placed himself under the 

 care of a specialist, whose skill, however, was completely 

 baffled by the case. 



