LIFE OF MYTTON. 35 



lavender water, and, knocking off the head of it, 

 drank it off at a draught, saying, "It was a good 

 preservative against the bad effects of night air." I 

 shall presently show that this was not his last per- 

 formance in this way. 



That John Mytton saw his thirty-eighth year 

 must be attributed either to the good genius that 

 accompanied him, or to the signal interposition of 

 Providence, for scarcely a day passed over his head 

 in which he did not put his life to the hazard. 

 Some of his escapes, indeed, border closely on the 

 miraculous, but it would fill a volume were I to 

 enumerate them. How often has he been run away 

 with by horses in gigs ! How often struggling in 

 deep water, without being able to swim ! How was 

 it that he did not get torn to pieces in the countless 

 street-broils in which he was engaged ; * and lastly, 

 how did he avoid being shot in a duel ? The latter 

 question is soon answered — he 7icver Joiiglit one. In 

 fact, he was always considered somewhat of a man of 



*In the literal sense of the term, he was once nearly divided 'm\.o two 

 John Myttons, at a race meeting in Lancashire, for which offence — as 

 well as an attempt to rob him — one man was transported. One party of 

 thieves wanted to pull him into a house, and the other out of it, so be- 

 tween both he was nearer being quartered than divided, and nothing but 

 the great strength of his frame saved him. 



