95 ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



the head of the stairs obstinately refused to move one 

 jot. At last he began kicking, smashed the passage 

 windows, and soon cleared a ring behind him ; Lord 

 Jocelyn and his comrade resolutely slicking to his head. 

 Eventually when a little quieted they blindfolded him, 

 and, once he began to descend, he could not stop, and 

 blundered down into the entrance hall, having done 

 himself no injury ; and, excepting to a few banisters and 

 the smashing of some windows, but little damage was 

 done. This was the first attempt which had been made 

 of bringing a horse up-stairs as a visitor, and must not 

 be confounded with the far more remarkable feat which 

 I shall describe hereafter, performed some years after- 

 wards in the same room. 



Most of these sporting celebrities have been gathered 

 to their forefathers, but the staid and steady member 

 for Warwickshire, Mr. Newdegate, scarcely seems yet 

 to have left us, so fresh his memory ; and that prince of 

 companions, Mr. Lorraine Baldwin, will, I am sure, look 

 back with pleasure, mingled with some regret, at the 

 jolly days he passed with the Royal Hunt at the White 

 Hart at Aylesbury. 



Amongst the invited guests who were privileged to 

 meet at the select dinner-table was the Rev, Christopher 

 Erie, the esteemed though eccentric Rector of Hardwick, 

 a small village about four miles from Aylesbury. He 

 generally was seen at the meet of the Royal and Mr. 

 de Burgh's Staghounds, and was a great favourite with 

 all the Masters of the BuckhounJs. Mr. Erie was 

 brother of the late Lord Chief Justice Erie, and was a 

 ripe classical scholar, well known, when a Fellow of New 



