1872] THE LYON FAMILY. 311 



and tie was an extraordinarily bold and dashing rider. He 

 came from Cheshire, and Mr. Egerton Warburton has a 

 verse to this effect in his " Huntsman's Lament " — 



"Well, soft solder next I'll try on; 



Rating only riles a swell ; 

 Mister Brancker ! Mister Lyon ! 



Mister Hornby ! Hope you're well. 

 'Tain't the pack that I'm afi-aid on, 



And I likes to see you first ; 

 But when so much steam be laid on, 



Bean't you fear'd the copper'll burst?" 



But this excess of ardour cooled down afterwards, and 

 left a residuum which resulted in the subject of the verse 

 being always willing to go first, but not too near the 

 hounds. It was a pleasant sight to see the white-haired 

 old man, sailing along in the van, closely followed by his 

 daughter, who hunted regularly with the Meynell, and 

 well mio;ht he have said — 



'&' 



" Press where ye see my white plume shine amidst the ranks of war, 

 And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre." 



In the latter part of his life he went best on a very 

 peculiar coloured sort of creamy-dun horse, called the 

 Sprite, which he bought of Captain Stepney. This was a 

 very conspicuous horse, or, rather, cob (for he could not 

 have been much over fifteen hands), but a wonderful 

 fencer, with an odd trick of galloping with his nose 

 stretched out close to the ground. Mr. Lyon's third 

 daughter married Captain Dawson of Barrow Hill, and 

 died in 1876. The year after that her father returned to 

 Clownholme, after rebuilding it, and died in 1882. 



His brother, Charles Lyon, rebuilt his father's old house 

 at Silverhill, Barton-under-Needwood, where he lived in 

 1840. In 1874 he was High Sheriff for Staffordshire. 

 He was always very fond of hunting, and almost as good 

 a man as his brother Arthur, and may be said to have died 

 in the saddle ; for a young mare, on which he was going 

 out cub-hunting with one of his daughters, reared up at 



