The Men. 65 



family property; but he loved hunting better than 

 farming, and, I suspect, knew much more about it. 

 He certainly was no exception to the low standard of 

 riding which prevailed in that field ; and the present 

 hard-riding generation would scarcely believe at how 

 small a fence he would dismount ; but he really knew 

 a great deal about hunting, by hereditary instinct I 

 suppose, and would have been an excellent sports- 

 man if he had enjoyed a wider field of observation ; 

 but he had scarcely seen any other pack, except oc- 

 casionally the H.H., which he thought it his duty to 

 undervalue, out of loyalty to Mr. Chute ; and so he 

 rested in an undisturbed conviction that ^ Chute's 

 hounds were the very best that ever had been, and 

 that ever would be.' 



Alas ! while I write these letters, I learn that the 

 Dean property is sold, and that the name of Harwood 

 is no longer to be found amongst the landed gentry of 

 Hants. As an old Hampshire man, I must be permitted 

 to regret this loss. The Harwoods were an old family, 

 with some racy peculiarities of character. They had 

 supplied the county with a sheriff in the days of 

 Queen Anne. I believe that I was acquainted with the 

 sixth and the seventh John Harwood, who had held 

 the estate in uninterrupted succession. On the death 

 of the last John, who was a clergyman and an excellent 

 man, his brother Charles succeeded to the property, 

 and was the last male who possessed it. It has been 

 supposed that Fielding took the idea of his Squire 

 Western from the John Harwood of his day ; and as 

 Fielding used to visit at Oakley Hall, it is not impro- 

 bable that some features of his immortal Tory Squire 

 might have been copied from this original. 



F 



