14 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



— you, whose prowess is still recorded in the annals 

 of the watchhouse, and whose hurling is yet chronicled 

 in the Park ; you, whom no six-feet wall could turn, 

 whom no mountain-herd could tire in the dog-days — 

 you, who could swim with Byron, and walk with Barclay 

 — what are you become ? an elegant and fashionable 

 idler — lolling life away, the morning in a club-house 

 window, the evening in the Park, and the night gallopading 

 some scion of nobility, who has discovered that you 

 possess twelve thousand pounds a year, and that her 

 own funds are insufficient to satisfy the corset-maker 

 in Regent Street. 



" Would that I could reform your taste and habits ! 

 Could I but induce you to pass one autumn here, your 

 conversion would be a certainty. Come to me, Frank ; 

 ay, come to the wilds of Connaught ; avoid an atmos- 

 phere surcharged with villainous impurities, and brace 

 your relaxed nerves in the waves of the Atlantic ; seek 

 life and energy in the mountain-breeze ; abandon the 

 gymnasium to scriveners and shopmen, and leave 

 Crockford's to ruined dupes and titled swindlers. 



" You have hitherto been a silent member of the 

 Honourable Commons, and St. Stephen's has never 

 heard from you ' the popular harangue, the tart reply.* 

 Hast thou any aspirations after fame ? any * longing 

 after immortality ? ' Listen ; the means are simple. 

 Indict the Red-house as a nuisance, and propose a bill, 

 making the being aiding or accessory to a battu, death 

 wilhout benefit of clergy. Thy name will live when 

 Joe Hume, that ready-reckoner, shall be forgotten ; 

 and Dick Martin's senatorial renown will fade before 

 the perennial glory of the present member for bury ! " 



Need I say how opportunely came this invitation ? 



