Ubc t>on. (Brautles jf. iJBerheles 4i 



whenever he called on them to do so, to give "three 

 cheers for the Prussians." This was at the time of the 

 Franco-German war. "They never failed," he says, 

 " to reply, and the shrill whistle of the Pernambuco 

 gander used to lead them all, like a toast-master calling 

 on a company to ' charge their glasses.' As there were 

 generally three or four hundred ducks in the pond, their 

 ' cheers ' could be heard a couple of miles off. A 

 stranger from Bournemouth, who happened to be 

 passing about half a mile away when one of these 

 salvoes was given, asked a rustic hedger and ditcher, 

 " What that extraordinary noise was, as if all the ducks 

 on earth had gone mad." And he was rather astonished 

 at the stolid rustic's reply : 



" 'Tis Mr. Burkeley's ducks a-cheerin' for the 

 Prooshians." 



In his extensive decoys Berkeley had some excellent 

 sport. He and his friends Lords Malmesbury and Ashley, 

 shooting from " gazes," or nattled huts, at the driven wild- 

 fowl, killed on one occasion 117 head of duck and teal, 

 and on another 56 head, all single overhead shots. 



Something of the old coarse dandyism of his youth 

 was almost to the last apparent in Grantley Berkeley's 

 garb. He affected brilliant silk neckerchiefs and 

 gorgeous waistcoats, but in other respects he had toned 

 down. White locks suited his vividly florid complexion 

 better than the jet-black hair of his youth. He was 

 far handsomer as an old man than as a young one. 

 With ladies he was always popular, and Mrs. Rosa 

 Mackenzie Kettle, who was a near neighbour of his, has 

 paid this warm tribute to his memory : 



VOL. II. 10 



