74 HOUND AND HORN ; 



During the whole time of his residence in Milton he 

 never but once, up to a certain date, had anything like 

 illness that was of a serious character ; and I much 

 feared that at eighty years of age I was about to see 

 the last of my old friend. I remember well paying 

 him, as I supposed, my last visit, and, on taking leave 

 of him, the old man reared himself up, though seeming 

 in the last stage of weakness, and the old fire seemed 

 to flash for a moment from his eyes as he said — 



" Good-bye, sir ; good-bye ; God bless you. I hope 

 you will live long to enjoy your fox hunting." 



I little thought to have seen him out again, but T 

 did. The news of his illness quickly got about, and 

 he was actually killed by one of the sporting papers of 

 the day ; but then, as the old man used to say, " some 

 people must live by writing, and if they are not mighty 

 particular as to the correctness of their information, 

 they can put it all right the following week and think 

 no more about it." I know I corrected the error in the 

 paper above mentioned, and thankful enough I was at 

 being able to do so. 



In a general way he enjoyed wonderful health, but 

 he was very careful of himself, and most abstemious, 

 and I don't think anything would have induced him 

 to have infringed on the rules of sobriety either in 

 his own house or elsewhere. He told me that once 



