4 IkiwQS ot tbe 1buntino*3fiel& 



the convenience of my lady and her daughters. He 

 lived in the old honest style of his country, killing every 

 month a good ox of his own feeding, and priding himself 

 on maintaining a substantial table, but with no foreign 

 kickshaws. His general apparel was a long, dark drab 

 hunting coat, a belt round his waist, and a strong velvet 

 cap on his head. In his humour he was very facetious, 

 always having some pleasant story both in the field and 

 in the hall, so that his company was much sought after 

 by persons of good condition, and this was of great 

 use to him in the advancement of his children. His 

 stables and kennels were kept in such order that sports- 

 men observed them as schools for huntsmen and grooms, 

 who were glad to come there without wages, merely to 

 learn their business. When they had obtained proper in- 

 struction he then recommended them to other gentlemen, 

 who wished for no better character than Squire Draper's 

 recommendation. He was always up during the hunting 

 season at four o'clock, mounted on one of his nags at 

 five, himself bringing forth his hounds, who knew every 

 note of their old master's voice. In the field he rode 

 with judgment, avoiding what was unnecessary, and 

 helping his hounds when they were at fault. After the 

 fatigues of the day, which were generally crowned with 

 the brushes of a brace of foxes, he entertained those who 

 would return with him, and that was sometimes thirty 

 miles distance, with Old English hospitality. Good old 

 October was the liquor drunk ; and his first fox-hunting 

 toast was All the brushes in Christendom. At the age 

 of eighty years this gentleman died as he chiefly lived, 

 for he died on horseback. As he was going to give 

 some instructions to a friend who was rearing up a pack 

 of foxhounds he was seized with a fit, and dropping 



