COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 33 



humour, which Pope (not Pius IX.) describes, as 

 prone to 



Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, 

 And without sneering teach the rest to sneer. 



Poor human nature ! what a pity it is, that such men 

 are not made entirely of clay ; for clay is a disinfectant, 

 and that cannot be thought of Land and Water as 

 he appears in print. The speeches at the dinner 

 have not, we believe, been published ; if they had, 

 it would be curious to ascertain how far Land and 

 Water s description of them is accurate. ' Some,' 

 he writes, ' were too political, some dull, and others 

 good.' One, that of Mr. Whyte-Melville, was too 

 short a very singular comment, considering the 

 manifest distaste which Land and Water felt for the 

 whole proceedings. ' Tom Firr, late second whip to 

 Captain Thomson, now huntsman to the North War- 

 wickshire, sang an amusing song.' As second whip 

 he must have been a good deal among the second 

 horsemen, but did not let the gates slam in Land 

 and Water s face, we conclude, and hence this com- 

 mendation. But now he is promoted, and is always 

 so well with his hounds, that if ever Land and Water 

 goes out with the North Warwickshire, Firr will 

 probably share the fate of his late master, be civilly 

 treated to his face, but find himself shot in the back, 

 whenever the next number of the periodical, which 

 has cost us sixpence, appears. 



" Beckford was the first author who convinced 

 the fashionable world that fox-hunting had taken its 



place among the recognised pastimes of English 

 VOL. ii. 3 



