EARL OF CRAVEN AND MR. T. DUFFIELD 277 



of Mr. Heydon, of the Hill Farm, North- 

 moor, Oxon, and it was late and very dark 

 when they set out on the journey home. 

 Whether it was due to the darkness of the 

 night, or to the strength of Mr. Heydon's 

 whiskey, is uncertain, but on the way home 

 horse and rider suddenly found themselves in 

 the moat at Stanton Harcourt. "I'm blessed 

 if I knowed exactly what had happened," said 

 Treadwell afterwards ; "I felt myself going 

 down and down and down, till I thought we 

 should both have been out of sight altogether. 

 The place didn't seem to have no bottom to it. 

 I sat on my 'orse cos I'd been always used to. 

 But I caught hold of the branch of a tree, 

 and tried to hold us both up, but it wasn't 

 much good, and I holload and holload, and 

 at last they came with a rope, and I tied it 

 round my horse's neck, and they pulled him 

 out and me with him ; and precious glad, too." 

 Upon occasion Treadwell's virtues induced 

 some of his admirers to break into song. The 

 following lines are by that veteran sportsman, 

 one of the fathers of the Hunt, Mr. John Blake, 

 of Oxford. Our readers will wish to see them, 

 if only for the sake of author and subject, and 

 their lonpf connection with the Hunt. 



