366 mino6 of tbe 1FDuntino*3ftel6 



jump the Aldersey Brook at a stand ; never lose the 

 line of his hounds. In his hey-day he always rode big 

 horses, but latterly he had ridden strong cobby horses 

 and tested their understandings down all sort of roads, 

 that younger and lighter men would have shuddered at, 

 with a loose rein at full gallop.' 



Sir Watkin had a considerable fund of humour and 

 could tell a story well. Here is one which he was 

 rather fond of telling : — 



' When travelling on a certain occasion by the 

 Cambrian Railway, a gentleman fell into conversation 

 with Sir Watkin, and finding that he knew thoroughly 

 all the country through which they passed, repeatedly 

 asked, ' Whose property is this ? ' and on each occasion 

 received the same answer, ' Mine.' When they reached 

 the terminus where the gentleman was leaving the 

 railway, he thought it would only be fair to the Company 

 to give the guard a friendly hint, so he advised him to 

 keep an eye on his fellow-traveller, saying : — " He is 

 evidently a hinatic^ for he has claimed as his own all the 

 farms by the side of the railway YmQ/or j/ii/es." ' 



There have been two successors to the great Sir 

 Watkin in the title. Both of them have well upheld the 

 fame of the Wynns of W^ynnstay for sport and hospi- 

 tality, but though it may be safely prophesied that the 

 old name will never want worthy representatives, yet 

 those who knew t/ie Sir Watkin may be pardoned for 

 doubting whether the race will ever produce his equal, 

 one in whom, I may say without exaggeration, there 

 was — 



' A combination and a form, indeed, 

 Where every god did seem to set his seal 

 To give the world assurance of a man.' 



