V 



56 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



as if he had fallen from the clouds. "Well did he 

 know the state of our horses; and hesitating not a 

 moment, he put Radical out of dirt up to his hocks 

 at the brook, and cleared it, followed by Parker. On 

 landing, he took off his hat to us, and, in truth, bade 

 us all good-bye. Though I was on Brutus, one of 

 whose feats was brook-jumping, he had but a trot 

 left in him, and I therefore was obliged to decline a 

 certain ducking, with every difficulty against getting 

 my horse out if I got him in, and Mr. Tollemache and 

 Colonel Parker sailed away, the only men with the 

 hounds, over that fine country. 



No man went harder than the late Lord Alvanley, 

 and no man ever caught more falls. Not a good horse- 

 man, I have seen him, when his horse refused a fence, 

 roll over his head into it, which a good horseman 

 ought never to do. One day he had been hunting 

 with me, and we ran over an unfortunate line of 

 country, the stag leaving the legitimate scene of our 

 sports, and, setting his head for Hounslow, Isleworth, 

 Twickenham, and Brentford. Lord Alvanley left us 

 before I had taken the deer, in good time to join his 

 friends in the bay window at White's. They asked 

 him, " What sport?" and he replied, " Devilish good 

 run ; but the asparagus beds went awfully heavy, and 

 the glass all through was up to one's hocks ; the onlj'- 

 thing wanting was a landing net, for the deer got 

 into the Thames, and Berkeley had not the means to 

 get him ashore. They say that garden stuff is ris 

 since they saw us among 'em." 



That splendid artist of sweet comestibles, Mr. 

 Gunter, the renowned ice and pastry-cook in Berke- 

 ley Square, who was always one of my field, was 

 complimented by Lord Alvanley on the appearance 



