SIMPSONS DISCRIMINATION 355 



a sovereign.) Returning home this day Mr. Houblon was 

 hospitable and courteous enouo-h to ask me to accompany C. 

 Tyrrell to luncheon at Hallingbury Hall,* which I accordingly 

 did, and rode thither with them and his brother, Capt. Houblon. 

 The house is very large and roomy, capable of sleeping fifty 

 guests easily, and the dwelling rooms lofty and spacious ; 

 but the exterior of the house, which is of red brick, is very 

 unarchitectural and inelegant, with four-corner square towers, 

 like the Priory, but each surmounted with a sort of pagoda 

 roof. The park is, however, fine and spacious and standing 

 by Takeley Forest, which belongs to it, renders the whole 

 place, to my taste, one of the most complete and gentleman- 

 like in the county. 



(From diary, Saturday, March 13th.) Old Webb, of Hat- 

 field, was out to-day with his protdgc, young Sullens. Both 

 had examined the spot where " Cognac " had cleared the brook 

 last Saturday, and stated that there was seventeen feet of w^ater, 

 and that the horse must have cleared twenty-six feet, and this, 

 too, uphill, the place of alighting being higher than that of 

 taking off. He's certainly an extraordinary horse. 



For photograph of Hallingbury Place (not Hall), see page 32. — Eu. 



