6o LIFE OF MYTTON. 



have cost him an immense sum ; having had, for 

 several years, as many as fifty able-bodied labourers 

 in his employ ; while the keepers on the neighbour- 

 ing properties were commissioned to save all the 

 vermin they could for him, and week by week 

 men poured into Halston with sacks of badgers, 

 stoats, and polecats. 



There is this line somewhere, though I cannot 

 recollect where — 



" Dress drains our cellars dry , " 



but such was not the case at Halston, and I believe 

 the satire applies to the ladies. It was hard to say, 

 however, which was the better stocked of the two, 

 Mr. Mytton's wardrobe or the Halston cellars. I 

 once counted a hundred and fifty-two pairs of 

 breeches and trousers, with a proportionate accom- 

 panim.ent of coats and waistcoats, in the former ; and 

 I think I, on another occasion, described the "hogs- 

 heads of ale, standing like soldiers in close column, 

 and wine enough in wood and bottle for a Roman 

 Emperor," in the latter. He made his own malt, 

 and John Mytton, Licensed Maltster, was painted 

 in large letters over the malt-house door. The 

 clothes he would put on his person just as they 



