214 Ikings ot tbe 1buntinG«=3fiel^ 



said Lord Granville, with a pale smile, " we shall have to 

 go ; will you try, or shall I ? " I felt that for once I 

 should not be justified in following my leader. So I 

 crammed Marsala at it, with a show of decision which 

 did not take him in for a moment. Round he came, 

 and our small party exchanged glances of discourage- 

 ment. Lord Granville was riding an uncoupled rather 

 Cleveland-bay-looking horse. He turned him suav'ely 

 round at it, and over he went, and piloted his convoy to 

 the haven where we would be ; Marsala, who luckily did 

 not like being left alone, at last climbing over somehow.' 



An admirable raconteur, too, was Lord Granville, and 

 could tell a story, even against himself, with a dry humour 

 that his hearers relished exceedingly. There was an 

 indescribable unction in his way of recounting such an 

 incident as the following. His lordship had bought a 

 very expensive horse from Anderson, the dealer, and, 

 meeting the latter some time afterwards, he said, ' Well, 

 Anderson, you know the price was quite extravagant, 

 but I am bound to say the horse is worth it.' 

 To which Anderson, with a stiff bow and a grave face,- 

 replied, ' I can assure you, my lord, your approval is our 

 only profit in the transaction.' 



George William, ninth Earl of Coventry, who now 

 for the second time holds the office of Master of the 

 Buckhounds, comes of a family whose history is more 

 remarkable for romantic domestic incidents than for great 

 public services. The earldom was created in 1697, and the 

 first earl distinguished himself by a marriage which had 

 some elements of romance. He fell in love with one 

 of his housemaids, Elizabeth Grimes by name, and made 

 her his Countess. She appears to have been a young 

 woman of exemplary character, as virtuous as she was 



