38 Ikinas of tbe 1f^untinG=jFiel^ 



lifting, unless they showed wildness ; and if young hounds 

 dwelt on a stale ' drag ' behind the pack he whipped 

 them on to those on the right line. His voice was 

 extraordinary. Once when he fell into an old pit-shaft 

 he frightened half the neighbourhood with his stentorian 

 view-holloa, booming up from the bowels of the earth, 

 till a party set out to rescue him, guided to the spot 

 by those well-known accents. His holloa was dis- 

 tinguished by its wonderful variety of modulations, and 

 when he gave his ' who-who-whoop ' in the big servant's 

 kitchen at Willey Hall, he set all the cups and saucers 

 dancing, and made every old oaken beam vibrate to the 

 ringing tones. 



There was a particular road-side inn which Tom 

 favoured, where the coaches pulled up for relays and 

 refreshment, and travellers would often stop to listen 

 to Tom's yarns of sport, for he was a born raconteur, and 

 accompanied his stories with most effective acting. To 

 hear him sing ' A Southerly Wind and a Cloudy Sky,' 

 and wind up with one of his tremendous holloas, was a 

 thing to remember with pleasure. 



• But all these gifts and graces would have failed to 

 preserve Tom Moody's memory, had not Charles Dibdin, 

 in a lucky hour for the whipper-in, come down on a visit to 

 Willey Hall. A right jovial reception the famous song- 

 writer had, and being himself a noted bon vivant, he 

 thoroughly appreciated the squire's good cheer and 

 noble liquor. The Shropshire fox-hunters gave the 

 Londoner a taste of their quality as hard drinkers, but 

 found their match in the seasoned old Cockney toper. 

 The local Incledon, a blind man named Larry Palmer, 

 was brought in to sing some of Dibdin's most popular 

 songs, and sang them so well that the composer declared 



