1 68 LIFE OF MYTTON. 



gig. I went the next day to see the gate, and the 

 only impression left upon it was the fracture of one 

 of the spikes, or points, of the top rail. But Mytton 

 would wantonly seek accidents from gigs and phae- 

 tons ; and latterly, I never entered into one with him, 

 but on condition of his havino;- nothinof to do with the 

 reins. I remember seeing him get out of his phaeton 

 at the hall door at Halston, and instead of letting a 

 servant drive it round to the stables, start the horses 

 off by themselves at a gallop ; and, strange to say, 

 they conducted the carriage safely into the yard, 

 although they had two rather sharp turns to make, 

 and one o-ate to gfo throug^h. This was in the life- 

 time of the first Mrs. Mytton, who had more than one 

 providential escape from this same phaeton. 



In his love of frolics I never knew or heard of but 

 one person anywise his equal. This was the well- 

 known " Tom Leigh," as he was generally called, of 

 High Leigh, in Cheshire, — a gentleman of very large 

 fortune, and altogether a truly singular character. He 

 had a regular pitfall in his grounds, into which he 

 would walk a stranger who came to visit him, and 

 sundry other manceuvres, which he called sport. 

 Even the parson of the parish v,-as not e.xempt from 

 being made the subject of a lark, as the following 



