Colonel TEbomas Zlbornton 87 



one Tillbrook every Wednesday, when we had a plain 

 English dinner, roast beef, vegetables, and plum pudding, 

 to say nothing of a good sea-coal fire in an iron grate. 

 Two of the most constant attendants were the gallant 

 Sir Sidney Smith and the great (in every sense of the 

 word) traveller Belzoni. Colonel Thornton, though no 

 longer a master of fox-hounds, always dined in a scarlet, 

 straight-cut coat, of the whipper-in style, and his first 

 toast was invariably ' Success to Fox-hunting.' Then 

 came Merlin, a celebrated fox-hound of his, and the 

 blood of old Conqueror ; and then, in honour of the 

 pastime of which he was passionately fond, * Lord 

 Orford and Falconry.' Towards the close of the 

 evening he would give us, in a style to be remembered 

 by many a man of half his age, some hunting songs 

 that transported his listeners into Leicestershire at 

 once." 



The same gentleman goes on to defend the 

 Colonel against the charge of what is euphemistically 

 called romancing. Certainly Thornton used to tell 

 some marvellous stories at times, his friends said he 

 did this merely out of playful humour, to test the 

 credulity of his hearers. Be that as it may, when 

 Charles Mathews, the elder, introduced into one of 

 his entertainments a character by the name of Major 

 Longbow, whose catch phrase was, " Ton my soul, it 

 ain't a lie, I'll bet a thousand," everyone instantly 

 recognised a lifelike portrait of the veracious Colonel. 



Towards the close of the year 1821 the following 

 paragraph made its appearance in the London news- 

 papers : " Lately, after a few days' illness, died the 



