* The Park' 103 



spot imaginable. After all, they are not such des- 

 perately bad fellows if you deduct their sins against 

 the game laws. They are a jovial lot, and free with 

 their money ; they stand by one another — a great 

 virtue in these cold-blooded days. If one gets in 

 trouble with the law the rest subscribe the fine. They 

 are full of knowledge of a certain sort, and you may 

 learn anything, from the best way to hang a dog 

 upwards. 



When we reach the inn, and Dickon calls for the 

 brown brandy, there in the bar sits a gamekeeper, 

 whose rubicund countenance beams with good humour. 

 He is never called upon to pay his score. Good 

 fellow ! in addition he is popular, and every one asks 

 him to drink : besides which, a tip for a race now and 

 then makes this world wear a smiling aspect to him. 



Dickon's * unconscious education ' — absorbed 

 rather than learnt in boyhood — had not been acquired 

 under conditions likely to lead him to admire scenery. 

 But, rough as he was, he was a good-natured fellow, 

 and it was through him that I became acquainted 

 with a very beautiful place. 



The footpath to The Park went for about half a 

 mile under the shadow of elm trees, and in spring 

 time there was a continual noise of young rooks in 

 the nests above. Occasionally dead twigs, eithei 



