THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 219 



CHAPTER XIII 



A season with Sir Thomas Mostyn. in the Bicester country, with 

 anecdotes of some of the leading sportsmen in the provinces at 

 that day, and a glance at "home, sweet home." 



THE summer having passed away much in the same 

 manner in which summers have since done, and our 

 hero having partaken of the amusements of London up 

 to a certain period, and of the partridge and pheasant- 

 shooting at the Abbey, in the autumn, he commenced his 

 winter career under very favourable circumstances. He 

 had a stud of seven hunters, strong, but not deficient in 

 blood, together with a capital hack, bred by his father, by 

 an Arabian sire out of a strong English mare. Moreover, 

 he had himself a naturally strong constitution, con- 

 sequently, excellent health, and, thanks to the liberality of 

 his relations, a fair account at his banker's. With a light 

 heart, then, and well-braced nerves, he followed his 

 horses to the humble town of Bicester, twelve miles from 

 Oxford, on the Buckingham road, where he found a few 

 sportsmen collected together for the same purpose as his 

 own ; namely, to enjoy the pleasures of the chase in a 

 country of which he had had some experience during his 

 residence at the University of Oxford. 



Neither was Frank Raby disappointed in the object now 

 in his view. He obtained an introduction to the master 

 of the pack, a good, honest Welshman, of plain, unaffected 

 manners, but of extremely gentlemanlike deportment, 

 and in every way qualified for the situation he filled. A 

 single man, possessed of 20,000 a year, and with no other 

 heavy expenses but his hounds, he was able to do the 

 thing with spirit, and with spirit was it done throughout. 

 He had a full complement of hounds, and a good stable of 

 horses ; and the utmost regularity was observed in every 

 part of the establishment. But what most struck our 

 young sportsman, as regarded the establishment, was, the 

 perfect little Welsh colony that was established in this 

 part of England by Sir Thomas Mostyn and his connec- 

 tions, brought with them, at different periods, from North 

 Wales. The connections consisted of Sir Edward Lloyd, 

 since created Lord Mostyn, who married the Baronet's 



