MR. cowers: his subscribers and strong language. S'J 



Mr. John Nesbitt, the secretary of the hunt, whose 

 name appears on the testimonial to Mr. B. B. Quare, 

 mentioned in a later chapter. 



Mr. Sheffield Neave vouched for this gentleman's 

 efficiency by noting in his diary how he was bothered con- 

 fidentially about making up a purse for Mr. Conyers, but 

 on finding that the applicant was "treasurer of the black 

 collars " (the Essex Hunt costume of that day) he "set it 

 down to the duties of the office." White collars were 

 afterwards substituted for the earlier black ones; but were 

 abandoned when it was discovered that the Pytchley had 

 a prior claim to their use. 



The story goes that Mr. Conyers would stand in a 

 gateway, as the field passed through, and make very audible 



comments a la Jorrocks, such as, " There goes a d d 



good fellow, he gives me five and twenty pounds ; " " There 

 goes a tenner;" "That is a fiver;" or, "Here comes a 

 beggar who gives me nothing at all." In extenuation of 

 the strong language he sometimes used Mr. Conyers was 

 wont to say that when he was a young man in the Cold- 

 stream Guards the Sergeant- Major would say to him : 

 "Mr. Conyers, hold up your head, sir, and swear at the 

 men, or they will not think anything of you." 



On one occasion he stopped the hounds, and directed 



