PARLIAMENTAKY AND SrORTING GIFTS. 193 



leave of pleasures never more to return. It was there 

 I took a step, a public one, dictated by brotherly 

 affection, Avhich has since been miserably requited 

 by liim whom it so amply served, though acknow- 

 ledged by the gratitude of a county. The splen- 

 did piece of plate presented to me by my friends 

 on my retirement from a twenty years' representation 

 in parliament, so handsomely bestowed and so aptly 

 chosen, — a stag pulled down by tliree Highland grey- 

 hounds, and weighing, in silver, six hundred ounces, 

 — is no mean proof that while I served a brother I 

 was equally mindful of my public duty. My side- 

 board also owns a gift from the farmers of Bedford- 

 shire, over whose lands I hunted, presented to me 

 at a dinner at the " Swan Inn," at Bedford : — a 

 silver hunting-horn, containing the inscription, on a 

 pedestal, surrounded by four fox-hounds, with the 

 " B." graven on their sides, seated in couples ; exe- 

 cuted by Garrard in the liaymarket. The piece of 

 plate presented by the county is by Hunt and Roskell. 

 These are things for a representative as well as a 

 sportsman to look on, and feel that, let the wind blow 

 ever so cold, there is yet warmth in the world ; and 

 though ingratitude, deep and undeserved, may arise 

 when it has a right to be the least expected, there are 

 yet hearts full of love and approbation to cheer the 

 growth of the grey hair. 



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