48 KEMINISCENCES OF A SPORTSMAN. 



the year round, for he never failed to eat oysters before 

 dinner and supper through all seasons. In the upper 

 part of the room were two small tables and a desk ; on 

 the one side of the desk was a Church Bible, and on 

 the other the Book of Martyi's. Upon the table were 

 hawks, hoods, bells, &c., two or three old green hats 

 with their crowns thrust in, so as to hold ten or a dozen 

 eggs, which were of a pheasant kind of poultry ; these 

 he took much care of and fed himself. Tables, boxes, 

 dice, and cards, were not wanting. In the holes of the 

 desk was a store of old used tobacco pipes. On one 

 side of this room was the door of a closet, wherein 

 stood the strong beer and the wine, which never came 

 thence but in single glasses, that being the rule of the 

 house, exactly observed, for he never exceeded in drink- 

 ing nor ever permitted it. On the other side was the 

 door into an old chapel and used for devotion. The 

 pulpit, as the safest place, never wanted a cold chine of 

 beef, venison pasty, gammon of bacon, or a great apple 

 pie with a thick crust extremely baked. His table cost 

 him not much, though it was always well supplied. His 

 sport furnished all but beef and mutton, except Fridays, 

 when he had the best of salt as well as other fish he 

 could get, and this was the day on which his neighbours 

 of the first quality visited him. He never wanted a 

 London pudding, and always sung it in with, ' My pert 

 eyes therein a.' He drank a glass or two at meals, very 

 often syrup of gillyflowers in his sack, and always a 

 tun glass stood by him, holding a pint of small beer, 

 which he often stirred with rosemary. He was affable, 

 but soon angry, calling his servants bastards and 

 cuckoldly knaves, in one of which he often spoke truth 

 to his own knowledge, and sometimes both of the same 



