REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 77 



fool till he had received severely, and then ran away, 

 saynig, he was " going for a constable." The whole 

 of this took much less time than it does to write it, 

 and Lyster, who had pulled up to see the end of it, 

 and myself again went out of the lane together. In 

 a few days' time I had notice of an action for assault 

 from this man's attorney, when, on finding that his 

 master backed him in it, Mr. George Hawkins sought 

 an interview for me with him, at which he explained 

 the fact of the servant being the first aggressor, and 

 told the master that if he sanctioned his servant in 

 the matter, he must give me satisfaction. The reply 

 that he gave Mr. Hawkins was, " that he had made 

 his money in trade, and would not fight." A defence 

 to the action then becan:ie needful, and I called on 

 Lyster as the only witness of the transaction to prove 

 that the first assault had been made on me in a public 

 lane. " ^ly dear fellow," was the reply, " don't for 

 Heaven's sake bring me into court, or I shall get into 

 a devil of a row : the fact is, I ought to have been a 

 hundred miles away with a recruiting party." A 

 subpcena would have enforced my witness's appear- 

 ance, but we were much too good friends for that, so 

 2:)er force ^ all idea of defence was abandoned, and I 

 directed my solicitor to make terms if he could. A 

 suro-eon of course was found who stated that he was 

 ready to swear that (but for his skilful treatment) 

 the blows the man's head had received would have 

 endangered life, and my solicitor declared he thought 

 the matter well arranged by my giving the servant 

 a five-pound note, and paying " ]\Ir. Sawbones " his 

 bill for lotion and physic, attendance, plasters, and 

 coloured ditchwater to be bolted by the bumble bee 

 by way of coolers every three hours. 



