136 CENTURY OF ENGLISH FOX-HUNTING 



doubt that the Squire encouraged rather than dis- 

 couraged him in his love of Hquor. He would have 

 him into his dining-room and make him drink 

 bumpers of port out of a fox's mask. I may add 

 that Tom Moody was the original of the drunken 

 huntsman in Soapy Sponges Sporting Tour. Mr. 

 Surtees also took his character of Lucy Glitters in 

 the same novel from Phoebe Higgs. But if the 

 Squire compelled Moody to drink, he also compelled 

 him to ride hard. There is a distich in an old hunt- 

 ing poem relating to the Squire — 



" Nicking and craning he deemed a crime ; 

 Nobody rode harder, perhaps, in his time." 



But the hospitality of Willey was not confined to 

 fox-hunters. An ever-welcome guest was Mr. John 

 Wilkinson, sometimes called the father of the iron 

 trade, and the Squire did everything in his power 

 to promote the commercial interests of Ironbridge, 

 Madeley, Coalbrookdale, and the surrounding dis- 

 tricts. He was a man of many parts, and in each 

 part he performed his duty. 



The following notice of a biography of the Squire 

 may interest my readers: — 



Old Sports and Sportsmen; or, the Willey Country. By 

 John Randall. 1873. Post 8vo. Sketches of Tom Moody 

 and Squire Forester. 



Perhaps the following might interest some of my 

 readers : — 



Tom Moody's Tales. Edited by Mark Lemon. 1864 

 (1863). 8vo., with 13 plates by H. K. Browne. 



