60 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN 



caught the stag, and had got him down in a ditch by the side 

 of the road, and on getting up to the spot, I had to descend 

 into the ditch to choke off the dog, when of course I also gave 

 him the whip. While doing this, in the act of stooping, I was 

 suddenly seized, and my head forced against the bank. Out of 

 breath as I was, I contrived to cast off the weight that was on 

 me, and to step up into the road, when I saw my foe the 

 butcher squaring at me as Dickens's cabman did when he 

 offered to fight Mr. Pickwick for the shilling fare. Not 

 a word was spoken, and I hit out, and caught the knight of 

 the blue-frock with my right hand under the left eye. The 

 butcher sat down, and I remounted, the deer having gone off 

 with nothing harmed but his ear. All this I have laughed at 

 over and over again, because not a word was said, and it all 

 seemed such a matter of course, and a part of the day's diver- 

 sion. Once again besides this, while in the act of breaking the 

 pale of a small paddock or garden to let the hounds through, 

 near Uxbridge, I found myself collared. On turning round to 

 see who it was, a respectable man, my senior in years, let go of 

 me, guessing, perhaps, from something he saw, that I was 

 angry. I dropped my hand, therefore, and administered to 

 him as he turned away a slight kick, mounted my horse, and 

 soon forgot all about it. He threatened an action, however, and 

 but for the very good-natured interference of Mr. William Norton, 

 a coal and timber merchant of Uxbridge, might have caused me 

 much trouble. It was curious to see the stress he laid on the way 

 I had retaliated, seeming to be quite of the Hudibrastic opinion, 



ft That a kick behind hurts honour more, 

 Than many wounds laid on before," 



and assuring the mediator, that " had I struck him, he would 

 not have minded it ; but to receive a kick, slight as it was, was 

 beyond endurance." Mr. William Norton was always out with 

 me, and a finer or more manly man I never saw. He was ever 

 ready to soothe the farmers, all of whom he personally knew ; 

 to stand by me if there was anything like a row ; and to assist 



