86 THAMES FISHING. 



covered that his new friend was a strolling player. 

 It was, however, a little incident in his life which 

 he always spoke of with pleasure. 



Ned, I find, has been in the habit of presenting 

 his old housekeeper with a couplet or two on her 

 birth-day. The following is a specimen of them, 

 which I procured from the old lady with consider- 

 able difficulty after we had become better ac- 

 quainted : 



' This morning old Betty can count sixty-seven 



' On the mile-stones that reach to the regions of heaven ; 



' And I trust with due care, and the kindness of fate, 



' In another twelvemonths she will reach sixty-eight. 



1 This point no philosopher e'er could unravel, 



' The older we grow much the faster we travel ; 



' I'm two score and ten, by the kindness of fate, 



' And another quick year has made Bet sixty-eight.' 



My readers have now some idea of Ned's cha- 

 racter; I must next request them to accompany 

 him in a walk over the domains, at the outskirts of 

 which he resides. The house itself is one of those 

 fine old baronial residences which, I grieve to say, 

 one seldom sees now but in a state of decay. It is 

 built of red brick, and profusely ornamented with 

 various grotesque sculptures ; and is interesting 

 from having been one of the residences of Cardinal 

 Wolsey, and is indeed supposed to have been built 

 by him. Its turrets, chimneys, and windows, have 

 much of the character of those at Hampton Court. 

 At the back of this respectable old seat were some 



