AN UNBENDING TORY 



indicative of his deep indebtedness to Providence 

 for this inestimable blessing. 



His philosophy might be summed up in " Put 

 your trust in Providence, and keep your powder 

 dry," and, having acted upon that, he let the 

 world " gang its ain gait." His perfect content- 

 ment with most things as he found them, naturally 

 engendered an unbending Toryism in all mundane 

 affairs ; hence ardent reformers of show matters 

 had to bide their time, so far as the colonel was 

 concerned, for he was too formidable an opponent, 

 and carried too much weight with the Council, 

 to give an opposition much chance. His sports- 

 manlike qualities were developed at an early age, 

 for he was captain of the boats when at Eton, and, 

 by a curious coincidence, one of the same name 

 immediately followed him in the position, viz., 

 his cousin, the late Mr. G. F. Luttrell, of Dunster 

 Castle. The colonel was a wondrous teller of after- 

 dinner stories, having not only a most marvellous 

 assortment, but a way of retailing them which was 

 absolutely irresistible. Although he has been 

 dead more than twenty years, there is a frequent 

 echo of his presence at the Mess, of which for long 

 he was President, for his stories still " go marching 

 on," imparted to new-comers by sons who heard 

 them from their fathers, who had them direct 

 from the lips of the colonel himself. But there 

 was something beneath all this independence of 

 thought and action, which, more than mere popular 

 qualities, accounted for the weight his opinion 

 carried, and the influence he exercised. He was 

 sought for the sake of his companionship, but he 

 held his own with all sorts and conditions of men 



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