1 2 NIM 'ROUS NOR THERN TO UR. 



used to finish the description of a country which he once hunted, 

 with saying, it was a good one for hounds, and a well-mounted 

 man might lie with them^ but no man could lie with its squires. 



I. have read many high-flown descriptions of the " divine 

 pleasures of the tea-table," on a winter's night, the blazing fire, 

 the warm hearthrug, the flowing curtains, and the hissing urn 

 not omitting the pretty tea-maker whilst the wind and rain are 

 raging audibly without, and, as the poet says, 



" At the doors and windows seem to call, 



As heav'n and earth they would together fall ;" 



But none feel these blessings, in reality, like those who have 

 been for many hours on a coach-box, in a cold wet night ; and 

 they were very efficiently presented to us at ten o'clock this 

 night at Huntingdon, the stop on our road. But the breakfast 

 at Barnby-moor, the next morning at eight o'clock ! that was a 

 still greater treat ; for at no nobleman's castle in the country 

 could a better have been provided. When I was last there, the 

 celebrated Mr. Clarke celebrated for his breed of cattle and 

 his horses, as well as for his larder and cellar kept it, and I 

 was glad to find the reputation of the house was not about to 

 suffer by the change of landlord, which is saying a good deal in 

 this case. 



On mounting the box again, I could see the country we were 

 passing through, which is hunted by Mr. Foljambe, and it ap- 

 peared to me to be a good one to ride over ; but it was nearly 

 as hard at this time as it could have been at any period of the 

 summer ; we were now, however, I was told, nearly on the out- 

 side of it, and soon arrived at the far-famed town of Doncaster ; 

 and as everything there savours of sporting, we picked up a 

 sporting guard, who, as I learnt from the coachman, had dropped 

 his blunt on the St. Leger of the last year. " What's his name ?" 

 said I. " Ben Reader," replied he ; " and he's a droll chap, I 

 assure you, sir." "Then," said I, "I'll crawl along the side of 

 the coach and have some chat with him." Nimrod speaks : 



" Well, Mr. Guard, you made a pretty business of your last 

 Leger." 



Guard. " All over the left shoulder; they drawed me of forty 

 pound, and be damned to them." 



Nimrod. " What ! you stood your blunt upon Plenipo, did 

 you ?" 



Guard. " To be sure I did ; all Lunnun to a cheesecake, if 

 the thieves hadn't poison'd him." 



Nimrod. " Who poisoned him?" 



Guard. (He here mentioned the name 



