LETTER VIII. 



MR, WARDENS HOUNDS IN THE CRAVEN 

 COUNTRY, 



HEN I began to reside near Newbury, in 

 November 1820, the celebrated John Warde 

 occupied the Craven country. Mr. Warde 

 irresistibly reminded one of Sir John Fal- 

 staff, for not only might he have represented the genial 

 knight without stuffing, but he could almost have 

 rivalled him in wit, and in some other qualities in his 

 conversation, which savoured more of the taste of the 

 Elizabethan age than of that of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury. He was a gentleman of old family and good 

 connections, and possessed a considerable estate and 

 place in Kent. He had much of the finished manner 

 belonging to a former period, with more of what may 

 be termed outside varnish, more of studied courtesy, 

 and especially of compliment towards ladies, than 

 would now be thought to be in the best taste. His 

 manners and temper in the field were excellent ; and 

 if ever he had occasion to check an unruly sportsman, 

 it was done by wit and ridicule, and not by abuse or 

 oaths. Mr. Warde had kept hounds so long, in so 

 many countries, and with so high a reputation, that he 



