OLD-TIME ECCENTRICS OF SPORT 159 



must and should be put down. So one day when that 

 gentleman was at home at Willesden, some nine or ten 

 farmers, each bearing a notice in his hand, presented them- 

 selves before him. He received each with courtesy, took 

 the notices as they were presented, and marked them 

 severally with a pencil. When these had all been served, 

 a paper containing a precis of their united contents and the 

 names of the deputation was handed to him. " This shall 

 receive my very best attention, gentlemen," said he, very 

 gravely ; and, thinking they had at last nailed the demon 

 huntsman, the deputation went away rejoicing. 



Very short-lived indeed was their satisfaction. No 

 sooner had they departed than Mr Bean, with his 

 lieutenant, planned a drag-hunt for the morrow, which went 

 through the heart of every farm named in the round robin, 

 and he carried it out with an audacity he had never before 

 displayed. " What business have I to be here ? " he cried 

 to the first farmer who tried to bar his way. " I have come 

 on purpose to be pulled up. You thought yourselves 

 precious clever, and that you had got me fast, but I have 

 got you instead. I've got all your signatures ; you don't 

 know what you've signed, but I do. I've had counsel's 

 opinion, and I can indict you all for a conspiracy, and, if 

 you attempt to interfere with me, I'll do it." After that 

 he worked his own sweet will for the remainder of the 

 season. 



A Cheshire parson of the old school at the beginning of 

 the present century was Griff Lloyd, rector of Christleton, 

 near Chester. Liverpool Races Griff seldom missed, and he 

 always made one at the annual race banquet given by a 

 sporting man known from his great size as the " Double 

 Dandy," for he was so enormous that when he travelled he 

 had to take two places in the mail. In this connection a 

 good story was told against him. A new servant having 

 received instructions to take the customary two seats, and 

 not understanding that it was his master who required 

 double accommodation, took one place inside and one out. 



Parson Griffs powers of endurance were wonderful. He 

 would think nothing of riding thirty miles out, thirty miles 

 back, and then going out to dinner. More than once his 



