COBBETT. 77 



recommended him to the interests of 

 some members of that aristocracy whose 

 political acts and opinions he had 

 lavishly abused. 



William Cobbett was a very unpopular 

 man in his neighbourhood the short time 

 he lived at Botley, chiefly arising from 

 his innate dislike to the aristocracy and 

 their amusements. One day, I remem- 

 ber, when, with the late Mr. Delme's 

 hounds, meeting at Wickham Toll-bar, 

 we had run a fox hard in a most dif- 

 ficult country. Three or four of us, 

 all well mounted, followed a bold 

 rider up a steep high bank out of a 

 hard flinty lane, and landed in a fallow 

 adjoining Mr. Cobbett's house and garden, 

 which was surrounded with a very high 

 fence; consequently, we trotted up to the 

 gate that led in the direction of our 

 game. This we found chained and locked, 

 with long ash poles interlaced between the 

 bars, that defied all attempts at removal. 



