244 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



a certain degree, and that was as much as could be ex- 

 pected ; for the heart of woman 



is like the youthful tree 



The lightning strikes to earth ; 

 Once scathed, its bloom no more will be : 

 It knows no second birth." 



The domestic news, and that of the immediate neighbour- 

 hood, had been conveyed to our hero by letters from the 

 various members of his family, during his sojourn in 

 Oxfordshire ; and his uncle had been visited by him for 

 a few days, during a temporary stop to hunting by frost. 

 Mr. Egerton had succeeded to the living of Arnstead, it 

 having been presented to him by Mr. Raby on the decease 

 of Dr. Chapman ; was married at the end of the twelve- 

 month to the second Miss Chapman ; and, having the 

 promise from Sir John Inkleton of the living of Orton, 

 on the decease of its then incumbent, far advanced in 

 years, this amiable man and sound scholar had every 

 prospect of happiness within the range of his moderate 

 desires. Neither were his expectations ill-founded. He 

 lived to see his family grow up and prosper ; and it is 

 scarcely necessary to add that he proved a treasure to his 

 parishioners ; for, independent of being an excellent 

 classical scholar, he possessed what, to be a good divine, 

 every man of that order ought to possess namely, a 

 tolerable fund of every species of useful knowledge ; and 

 being conversant with many other branches of science 

 besides the classics and the doctrine of his own sacred 

 calling, he became generally conducive to the benefit of 

 those whose souls were committed to his care. 



CHAPTER XIV 



A few words on summering hunters. Mr. Corbet's country and 

 men, and the finish of the season with the Atherstone. 



AS may be supposed, the paddocks for summering the 

 hunters were finished by the appointed time, and 

 the orders of our young sportsman had been strictly 

 complied with in the construction of them. Each hovel 

 contained two horses, which were shut up in them at 



