FALSE STEP 185 



and on the opening of the following spring, tired, dis- 

 tressed, and broken down in mind almost, my father parted 

 with this extensive concern at a o-reat sacrifice, to those 

 who have since built u^^on his ruin an immense fortune. 

 Such are the vicissitudes of life ! Had he retained 

 possession but a little longer. Government, that is, the 

 Commissioners of ^Yoods and Forests, would have bought, 

 as they did buy, the premises, and he would have reaped 

 the benefit as well from that as from the large sums 

 received by the principal London proprietors on the first 

 introduction of railroads ; and by this, if by no other 

 means, he would have been enabled to have saved 

 himself from that ruin which ultimately overtook him. 



I was still in prosperous circumstances, and, being fond 

 of outdoor exercise and emjDloyment, took a small farm, 

 to which was attached a large tract of land, which was 

 allotted to the owner by the Commissioners for enclosing 

 the Bere Forest — and this was the first step I took in the 

 wrong direction, involving as it did a considerable outlay 

 of capital, which might have been employed in a more 

 profitable direction. 



Xevertheless, it gave me a strong relish and a farther 

 opportunity of indulging in the s^Dorts of the field, and was 

 a more general introduction to the yeomanry and gentry of 

 the county, as I still constantly hunted with the Hamble- 

 don, and sometimes with the Hampshire hounds. Here I 

 cannot help relating a most ludicrous incident I witnessed. 



The master of the Hambledon hounds at that time, 

 however strange it may appear, was a wealthy Dutch 

 Jew, partaking very much of the Dutch style of build, 

 being stout, thick, and round, as his mind did of the 



