AVARWICKSHIRE 41 



Beckbury, Salop, but for many years resident at Stratford-on-Avon, 

 where as a man he enjoyed the esteem of his friends, and as a 

 sportsman was much in the confidence of Mr. Corbet. 



It has been very justly remarked, that whatever we enter into, 

 whether it be pleasure or business, we should do so with spirit ; and 

 thus it was with Mr. Stubbs : for if ever a man could be said to be 

 enthusiastically devoted to fox-hunting, it was he. Indeed it was 

 facetiously hinted, in the Epwell poem, that hunting six days in the 

 week was not sufficient for this insatiable Nimrod, but that once in 

 his life he cried " who-whoop " on a Sunday — 



With his hat in the air, peeping out for a gate, 

 Neither looking, nor riding, by any mean& straight ; 

 Mr. Stubbs — a crack rider, no doubt, in his time — 

 Who himting on S^lndays did ne'er deem a crime. 



Agreeably to the Italian proverb, " <S'c non >' vera t' hen' trovato" — 

 " If it is not true, it is a very good story ; " and you shall have it as 

 related to me. 



Mr. Stubljs, when resident in Shropshire, which was very near to 

 the church, had a fox in his keeping, which he intended turning out 

 before his hounds on a Monday morning. On the Sunday preceding, 

 having lain in his bed, resting from the fatigues of the week, till the 

 good people had assembled at their prayers, his servant came to 

 inform him that his fox had escaped. "Has he, by Jove!" said 

 Mr. Stubbs. " Saddle the bay horse in an instant, and I will be 

 after him." So jumping out of bed, and forgetting the day of the 

 week, he soon unkennelled the pack, and laid them on the scent of 

 the fox. Puggy having lingered about the buildings which were 

 close to the church, the hounds remained giving their tongues for 

 some minutes, in seeming opposition to the parson in his pulpit ; and 

 it is said that each cried "Amen," at the end of a twenty minutes' 

 burst — Mr. Stubbs having killed his fox, as the parson concluded his 

 sermon. 



Innumerable are the ludicrous anecdotes in existence of this 

 veteran sportsman and truly singular character ; one of which, as 

 he was used to relate it himself, I shall venture to mention. He 

 had a peculiar practice of keeping one eye shut, but which, on any 

 occcasion of surprise or alarm, as invariably opened. Having made 



