Colonel Ubomas ZEbornton 81 



between the Captain and the lady in the previous year. 

 The Colonel happened to overhear Flint make some 

 disparaging remarks upon " Mrs. " Thornton, and 

 strongly resented them. High words passed ; the 

 Captain flew into a rage and fiercely flogged the 

 Colonel with his horsewhip. This dastardly assault 

 on a man far older than himself so exasperated the 

 bystanders that they were with difficulty prevented 

 from lynching the assailant on the spot ; as it was, 

 even the nobility and gentry present joined in hooting 

 him from the course. He was cut by all his acquaint- 

 ances, and ended a miserable life a few years later 

 by poison. 



Previously to these exploits in the saddle, Alicia, who 

 appears to have been a person of varied accomplish- 

 ments, with artistic as well as sporting tastes, accom- 

 panied the Colonel on a sporting tour through France. 

 This expedition was undertaken in 1802, after the Peace 

 of Amiens, and was on a scarcely less imposing scale 

 than the Scottish tour, for the Master of Thornville 

 Royal took with him an artist, two valets, a game- 

 keeper, a huntsman, and six couples of fox-hounds. 

 A special carriage of the Colonel's own designing was 

 constructed for the journey. " It was," he says, 

 "remarkably commodious," and enabled him to trans- 

 port a dozen dogs in boxes upon springs at the front 

 and back of the carriage, whilst the interior of the 

 vehicle contained a secret repository of guns and 

 fishing-tackle. The dickie on which the servants sat 

 could be placed behind or in front at pleasure, whilst 

 a specially constructed light circular box, " placed under 



6 



