88 SPORTING PARSONS OF THE OLD SCHOOL I 



His habits, tastes and ideas were refined, and in days when 

 dressing for dinner was not as general as now, he invariably, 

 even when no one else was present but myself, dressed ; and 

 the collar attached to the shirt, and the white roll of scarf all 

 beautifully got up, gave me as a boy and young man a sense 

 of delicate cleanness and freshness never forgotten. 



He w^as fond of picking up pictures w^hen in London, and 

 had some good ones. 



It was old Sir John Fisher, who married a Miss Haymes, 

 sister of my aunt, who told me the story of the men going 

 home to the wrong houses. With regard to the Napoleon 

 incident, the hounds met at Rugby. My uncle was piloting 

 Louis Napoleon, w^ho was riding a big white horse belonging, 

 I fancy, to Lord Forester, and from the ditch into which his 

 horse had brought him saw this white horse threatening 

 destruction. 



The method of my uncle for getting himself and my sister 

 to distant " Meets " is worth recalling. He called the convey- 

 ance he used the " bus," — it was like a covered waggonette cut 

 in half, and running on two wheels, just room inside for one 

 person on each side and a servant on the box ; the roads ran 

 through large unenclosed fields, and as the servant had to get 

 off the box to hold open the gates which divided them, a pair 

 of reins were brought through the front of the " bus " one on 

 either side of the driver and separate from his reins, that the 

 inmates could steer safely through the gateways. Then their 

 saddle-horses had to be led, which was managed thus — these 

 inside reins were taken out through the back of the " bus," and 

 the hunters attached to them so that if they jerked or hung 

 back nothing broke, but only the horse in the shafts was 

 stopped. It looked a funny turn-out, especially with the grim 

 hatchet-faced old Thomas on the box 1 



