50 llEMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



in a flooded meadow, where they had got their deer, 

 and, not observing the brook whence the flood came, 

 take a dive into it unintentionally, when the hounds 

 absolutely seized his horse by the head, as he came 

 to the surface, and in mistake very nearly drowned 

 him. 



Sir Francis Burdett and Lord Palmerston were 

 then of the hunt ; and again Lord Clanricarde, whom 

 nothing could beat (though I remember a curious fall 

 he got, over a low rail, in the park at Cranford, on 

 his white horse), was constantly in the field. Lord 

 Clanwilliam, Lord Kinnaird, and the late Duke of St. 

 Alban's, were regularly out with me ; together with 

 Colonel Parker, of the Life Guards ; the late Colonel 

 John Lyster ; the late Mr. Charles Tollemache ; the 

 late Lord Rokeby ; the present Lord Rokeby ; the 

 late Mr. John Montague, Sir George Wombwell, and 

 Mr. Hugh Lindsay. Than the present Lord Rokeby, 

 no man was better over a country, or a finer horse- 

 man. Indeed, my field occasionally contained all 

 the hunting men from all parts of England, and 

 Scotland too ; from the Land o' Cakes, a downright 

 good one came in the person of Sir David Baird. 

 It Avould be idle to attempt the entire list, so I have 

 given a few of the names of those who were my usual 

 companions. 



Alas, in writing these Reminiscences, and in calling 

 to mind the kind friends and pleasant companions 

 that used to enjoy the chase with me, how many do 

 I miss from the busy scenes of life ; and in indi- 

 vidualising them, how often am I forced to write 

 those melancholy words, " the late !" Men, younger 

 than myself, full of health and strength, have been 

 swept away, and, though now but in my fifty-third 



