Mr. Matthew Wilkinson. 



53 



who had ridden well to the hounds. * No, no,' said Matty, 

 ' 'Nimrod ' shall have the brush,' and it hangs up in my hall. 

 It is quite evident I had no pretensions to it, therefore I 

 considered it the greater compliment. We drew again, and 

 three foxes broke covert at the same moment ; but we did 

 nothing worth speaking of, although they tasted one of them. 

 "Matty, however, is the hero of my tale; and his character 

 is described in a few words. He boasts of no scholastic 

 education, no collegiate reading ; neither does he appear to be 

 much under the discipline of art. But of this he may be 

 proud — he keeps a pack of foxhounds on perhaps smaller 

 means to keep them with than almost any other man in 

 England ; and he is acknowledged by all to be as good a 

 rough-and-ready sportsman as ever halloed to hound. He is 

 likewise much esteemed amongst his neighbours as a kind- 

 hearted man, a character, indeed, true sportsman for the most 

 part lay claim to and maintain. 



" In everything relating to the passion for hunting, I 

 should be inclined to say, Mr. Matthew Wilkinson may have 

 his equal, but his superior would be difficult to produce. His 

 attachment to his hounds is almost beyond belief, and equals 

 that of an old maid to her cat. He has always some of his 

 favourites walking about his house ; and to a bitch with whelps 

 he will give as much as she can eat of a good sirloin of beef or 

 leg of mutton from his own table. I had it on unquestionable 

 authority that, although he keeps ten or twelve cows, the 

 whelps in the spring have all the best milk, and nothing but a 

 a little sky-blue is allowed for the house. I was also informed 

 that it had been his practice to keep a tame fox in his buildings 

 for the edification of the puppies as soon as they were able to 

 follow him. He keeps but four hunters for himself and 



