FAMOUS MASTERS SS 



regiment raised at the time of the Irish Rebellion in 

 1798. His conduct towards Dibdin, the poet, is a 

 proof of his good nature and refined feelings. He 

 wished to make Dibdin, who was a poor man, some 

 further recompense for the famous lines on Tom Moody, 

 than had been vouchsafed to him by the publisher, so 

 on one occasion, when Dibdin was returning to London 

 from Willey, he asked him to personally deliver a letter 

 at his London bankers. The letter was an order to pay 

 Dibdin ;^ioo. Nor did his kindness end here, for it 

 was through his intercession that Dibdin received a 

 pension from Government when Pitt was in office. 



Perhaps Parson Stephens was the most notable 

 visitor at Willey. He was a splendid specimen of the 

 sporting clergyman, a class, alas ! now becoming 

 extinct. No man was better known in Shropshire and 

 the Salopian borders of Staffordshire than Parson 

 Stephens, as he was invariably called. Many stories 

 have I heard of him, and his memory is still green in 

 the present Albrighton country, where he was a constant 

 visitor at Rudge Hall. On one occasion, according to 

 Mr. Randall's amusing and instructive book on the 

 Willey country, the mistress of Rudge had presented 

 her lord and master with a baby girl, and Mr. Stephens 

 was asked to christen it. The ceremony took place 

 after dinner, and Mr. Stephens, though he did not 

 usually suffer from deafness, failed to catch the name. 

 On another occasion, when staying at Willey, he had 

 retired early to bed, but waking up hungry he made 

 his way to the larder, with the intention of getting some 

 venison pasty, forgetting that the Squire and his guests 



