MEMENTOES 157 



taken leave of pleasures never more to return. It was there I 

 took a step, a public one, dictated by brotherly affection, which 

 has since been miserably requited by him whom it so amply served, 

 though acknowledged by the gratitude of a county. The 

 splendid 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 three Highland greyhounds, 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 sideboard also 

 owns a gift from the farmers of Bedfordshire, 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 foxhounds, with the " B " 

 graven on their sides, seated in couples ; executed by Garrard 

 in the Haymarket. 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. 



