LIFE OF MYTTON. 193 



On the morrow of the day on which I had the con- 

 versation with Mr. Mytton on the serious condition in 



(the brain) at the time, though some keys may jar, there are others which 

 yield the usual tones to the same touch : — 



" Dear Ramrod (for Nimrod), 



" You shall not stay longer with old Jack Longden in my sitting- 

 room, but come up stairs to see a Hero, late Chillington, die the death 

 of a saint." 



Here was the ruling passion, strong even in madness and in death, 

 for he was very ill at the time. Hero was the horse he bought of 

 me, which he afterwards called Chillington ; and he married a 

 daughter of the ancient house of Chillington. There were as many as 

 half-a-dozen dashes under some of these words. Again, there was the 

 following, in which the fatal passion for the Circcan cup — that cup 

 which, like Nabal's, turned a heart of flesh to a heart of stone — too 

 plainly appears : — 



" Dear Ram., 



" Jam satis terris nivis atque diras grandinis misit Pater, et 

 rubente" porto. Here goes a bumper to old Ram. 



(Signed), John Mytton." 



This extraordinary production is dated " The Gallies," and directed 

 thus :— " Fall at a rasper ! To Mytton's best friend." The quotation 

 from Horace is worth notice, inasmuch as every word is rightly spelled, 

 the punctuation correct, and the capital " P" in Pater as in the original. 

 There were six dashes under the word " rubente," and four under 

 " porto," but the inverted commas ceased at " rubente ! " The following 

 postscript was added to it : — 



" Nummi si nolo custodi rendere vinctus 

 Prsemii num mi (eheus miseri !) restat ahenea turris.'" 



" Prison or pot to prison — can it be a debt, as it's not self-contracted, 



N 



