CHASING AND RACING 69 



fish ** wrongfully *' taken from the " water " (save the 

 mark 1) and " improperly '* placed in the Thames. 

 When the case came into court I paid in what I con- 

 sidered to be a fair compromise, arguing that, if I had 

 left the fish to die, it would not only have been a cruel 

 and unsportsmanlike proceeding, but might well have 

 caused a dangerous epidemic in the neighbourhood, and 

 that, as it was, we had been deprived of reasonable and 

 undisturbed occupation. The answer was that the 

 drying up of the Misburn was due to " the hand of 

 God,'' and that the owner was therefore not responsible. 



Then I played my trump card. Cross-examination 

 of the plaintiff elicited the admission that the peculiar 

 habit of the stream of drying up every seven years was 

 a known and well-recognized fact ; that such drought 

 was due in the middle of my tenancy was obvious, but 

 that I had not been warned by either the said plaintiff 

 or his accredited agent. Then the learned judge took 

 a hand in the game and strongly advised my adversary's 

 counsel to take, on behalf of his client, that which I had 

 magnanimously paid into court whilst he could get it ; 

 adding that, in his lordship's opinion, plaintiff must 

 be accounted uncommonly lucky to have the oppor- 

 tunity of so doing. 



This was a woeful ending to a really glorious time. 

 There had been always something doing at the Abbey ; 

 hunting, shooting, fishing, dog breeding, breaking and 

 exhibiting ; crowds of good sportsmen as guests, 

 village entertainments, dramatic and otherwise ; hunt 



