82 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



pounds ; but it was Mr. Meynell's pleasure to take none 

 of those ; a small dose of tincture of rhubarb supplied 

 the place of more stimulating, and to most palates more 

 agreeable, restoratives. How the constant use of the 

 draught might have the effect of rendering the consti- 

 tution less susceptible of its properties, I will not pre- 

 sume to state, but it was 1 such a one that few persons 

 could indulge in without experiencing some inconveni- 

 ence. 



As a very constant attendant at the covert-side with 

 Mr. Meynell's hounds I have already mentioned the 

 name of Mr. Lockley; and I cannot pass him over 

 without some further notice, for as a sportsman of the 

 old school he was justly celebrated; perhaps more as 

 a rider to hounds than for his judgment in hunting. 

 This veteran sportsman was born at Barton Hall, in 

 the county of Derby, in the year 1750. It is 1 somewhat 

 remarkable that the house in which he was born was 

 at one time the residence of Oliver Cromwell and that 

 Mr. Lockley subsequently resided at Boscobel House 

 in Staffordshire, renowned in history as the refuge of 

 King Charles II. after the battle of Worcester. The 

 places in which the king was concealed were carefully 

 preserved when Mr. Lockley resided there, but most of 

 the other parts of the house were altered. In a field 

 adjoining the garden stands the royal oak, raised from 

 an acorn of the original oak in which the king found 

 shelter; and I believe all these relics are still kept in 

 order. 



Mr. Lockley may be said to have passed more than 

 half his life-time on horseback. He was a very early 

 riser, and no sooner had he taken his breakfast than he 

 mounted his horse, if in the winter, to ride to covert ; in 

 summer, either to go on a journey, call on his friends, 

 or inspect his farming a pursuit which he followed at 

 Boscobel and subsequently near Pershore, where he 

 resided during the last ten or twelve years of his life, 

 although it is to be regretted agriculture was not to 

 him a profitable speculation. At the time he lived at 



