IIG TvEMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



going back in their milk ; I saw that, though I had 

 not heard them, they had been at work ; so the next 

 thing I did, having found them in the previous in- 

 stance wet, was to examine the banks of the river. 

 Sure enough there were the places where they had 

 been scrambling in and out ; and at last I discovered 

 that they had been hunting an otter, who, from the 

 mill above my house to the deep water below the 

 bridge, on account of the shallows, usually ran the 

 meadows. Thence I adopted the plan of chaining 

 the bitches to their hutches at night. Over my 

 chimney-piece in the dining-room, at this moment, is 

 a fine dog otter, which Mr. Drake killed, while I was 

 present, in the Ouse, at Bromham, in Bedfordshire, a 

 very nice seat belonging to Lord Dynevor. 



A good many of my puppies Avere walked by Mr. 

 Polhill's tenants at Howbury Hall ; but in 1830, upon 

 the demise of the Crown, I lost all these walks. My 

 readers will think it odd wdiat that had to do with it ; 

 but it had, nevertheless, from the general election which 

 followed. At that election, Mr. Polhill made his first 

 appearance in the political world, for which I had long 

 observed him paying or paving the way. He bought 

 horses of one man ; set up a four-in-hand, sixteen legs 

 to the team, of course, but not more than five eyes j 

 and gave a wooden leg to a poor girl, and did every- 

 thing that Avas popular among those who Avere to 

 exercise the elective franchise in the borough of Bed- 

 ford. I thought him rash ; for considering the Duke 

 of Bedford's property and interest in and around that 

 borough, the present Mr. Whitbread's, too, and the mag- 

 nificent public establishments and charities endowed 

 by Mr. Whitbread's father, I thought that the Bedford 

 and AVhitbread interest combined, in favour of a man 



