132 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



was a poor man, some further recompense for his 

 famous lines on Tom Moody than had been vouch- 

 safed to him by the pubHsher, so on one occasion, 

 when Dibdin was returning to London from Willey, 

 he asked him to personally deliver a letter at his 

 London bankers. The letter was an order to pay 

 Dibdin ^loo. Nor did his kindness end here, for it 

 was through his intercession that Dibdin received a 

 pension from Government when Pitt was in office. 



I should not make any reference to his adventures 

 in the field of love if they were not connected with 

 his adventures in the field of sport. It was said of 

 the Willey Squire that Venus could not have kept 

 him by her side. But, though he was never married, 

 he always spoke of his offspring as his children 

 and grandchildren, and took care that they were 

 provided for in life. He kept his mistresses openly 

 at Willey, and insisted that they should accompany 

 him in the hunting field. In fact, he chose them 

 for their horsewomanship as much as for their 

 beauty. The most celebrated was Miss Phoebe 

 Higgs, probably the most reckless horsewoman who 

 ever rode to hounds. She would jump seemingly 

 impossible places, and challenge the Squire and 

 Tom Moody to follow her. On one occasion she 

 confronted the Squire with a loaded pistol, and 

 threatened to shoot him if he did not give her a 

 bigger allowance than he was giving to one of her 

 rivals. The Squire was a wise man, and complied 

 with her request. But Phoebe Higgs was and still 



