132 Reminiscences of a 



hunting when he had the " spending brass." One day, Mr. 

 Johnson jumped into a cabbage garden near Sedgefield, 

 sending the pickling cabbages flying in every direction, and 

 out again on to the road and over it. Instead of a volley of 

 oaths, we heard the astonished gardener exclaim, "Oh, he's 

 a terrible man to loap the dykes, is Dickey Johnson 1 " He 

 once jumped a fence and knocked down an old man, who 

 died next day of heart disease and fright combined. Some- 

 one tried to stop him riding over his fences a few days 

 after, when he said, " My friend, get out of the way, or I 'II 

 serve you the same way as I did that man the other day." 

 Another day, some stranger jumped upon Mr. Henderson, 

 who was a great favourite with him (Mr. Johnson), so he 

 went straight for the stranger and said, " My friend, if you 

 jump on that man any more I '11 jump upon you, and see how 

 you like the feet of a big horse and twenty stone on the top 

 of you." There was another Mr. Johnson hunting at this 

 time with the South Durham, namely, Mr. Cuthbert G. 

 Johnson of Hardwick Hall. He always kept foxes, and was 

 a keen hunting man and shooter, too. He went fairly well 

 and saw a lot of sport. I might call him an all-round man, 

 for he was a sculler or rowing man, and could use the 

 gloves a bit, too. Mrs. Johnson was a fine horsewoman and 

 very fond of fox-hunting. 



The mention of Mr. Cuthbert Johnson's name brings to 

 my mind a splendid run, and perhaps the hardest day with 

 hounds that Claxon and I had seen during the two seasons, 

 or season and a half to be correct, we had been with the 

 South Durham. Having been stopped owing to frost for 

 some time now, Mr. Harvey gave us the privilege of a by- 

 day, on a Saturday, towards the end of January, 1875; I 

 believe that it was the 30th January, but my hunting diaries 



