CELEBUATION OF THE FIFTEI OF NOVEMBEK. 237 



being in handcuffs, the snipe fell out of the lining that 

 I had seen him shoot in the mornino^. This and a few 

 other captures soon settled the question as to who was 

 to be master of the land I shot over ; thoue-h on the 

 fifth of November the men of the little village by 

 Beacon Lodge, known then by the name of " Slop 

 Pond," blackened their faces, dressed up three figures 

 to represent me, my gamekeeper, and butler, and 

 beat and then burnt them in a bonfire on the hio-h- 

 road. I was not at home at the time, or, as the fire 

 was in an illegal situation, in all probability I should 

 have danced a war dance by the light of it. All hos- 

 tility at last subsided. Mr. Clark and his associates, 

 on a second conviction which I gained against him, left 

 the place, and many of those men who burnt me in 

 effigy would now do the same by any one else if they 

 thought it pleased me. They come to me for advice in 

 all local disputes, and to write letters for them ; and 

 they behave so well that they can have from me game 

 or a couple of rabbits whenever they ask for it. 

 I soon found I could deal with the country people very 

 well : it was some of what are called the middlinof and 

 upper classes who continued to misconduct themselves. 

 For instance, the tenant of Chewton Farm, under Sir 

 George Rose, who was permitted to kill rabbits with 

 a gun, would persist in firing at partridges ; and having 

 been caught by my keeper, Target, in the fact, when on 

 the spot, insisted he had shot at a rabbit. The quaint 

 rejoinder of the keeper was, " Then it's the first rabbit 

 I ever see fly through the air ! " I reported it to Sir 

 George Rose, and asked leave to proceed against the 

 tenant, but Sir George Rose objected to my doing 

 so ; so because he gave me the shooting I refrained. 

 Soon after this Sir George resumed the shooting. 



