WARWICKSHIRE 43 



those who heard it. As far as concerned himself, all this was but 

 a secondary consideration with Mr. Stubbs. His object was, that 

 sport should be afforded, and that a fox should be killed. Let those 

 ride who liked it, he had a pace of his own, beyond which, not a 

 view, not a dying fox, not old Trojan at his brush, would ever induce 

 him to go. His horses seemed to know this pace as well as he him- 

 self did, and were as little anxious to exceed it ; for it was a nice 

 gentlemanlike canter of about nine miles in the hour. His aversion 

 to fences was equally remarkable : they appeared to grow as he 

 looked at them, and he would often see a ditch when others saw 

 none. 



The pace Mr. Stubbs rode over a country after hounds, at last 

 became proverbial. I remember being once too late at covert, and 

 the hounds had gone away with their fox. Meeting a groom 

 returning with his master's hack, I asked him whether they had 

 gone away quickly? " No, Sir," said the man : " about Mr. Stubbs' 

 pace." Strange, however, as it may appear, Mr. Stubbs has, a 

 hundred times, been known to continue this pace for twenty miles 

 on-end over a country, and all the way from home, without, perhaps, 

 having ever seen a hound in chase ; but from his knowledge of the 

 country he was sure to arrive soon after the sport was concluded. 

 The day never appeared too long for him ; for he would always 

 recommend drawing for a fresh fox when it was far advanced — 

 frequently reminding his brother-sportsmen that there was a moon 

 which would serve to kill him by. 



At the festive board Mr. Stubbs was little more than a spectator, 

 being remarkable for the temperance of his habits ; but his conversa- 

 tion was highly amusing. He abounded in anecdote, was a great 

 observer of mankind, and his remarks upon the follies and indiscre- 

 tions of those twenty years younger than himself were irresistibly 

 diverting. He was a very honorable man ; and, what in my 

 opinion entitled him to no small respect, he was a toarm friend to 

 fox-hunting, and an cneyny to no man ! 



Mr. Corbet had also a very peculiar way of crossing a country, 

 and, as far as related to fences, much resembled Mr. Stubbs. 

 Although he would not leap, he would gallop as fast as anybody, and 

 shewed no small share of nerve, as well as hand, in going the 



