OLD-TIME ECCENTRICS OF SPORT 163 



hunting-field he was remarkable for stentorian lungs and 

 fondness for laying on the whip — a memento of the 

 old cat-o'-nine-tails days. Then he was seized with a 

 desire for Parliamentary distinction, and was nominated 

 for the Borough of Cupar. But he talked to the electors 

 very much in the same winning way as he had to his 

 sailors. 



" I say, Cap'n," shouted one of the crowd he was address- 

 ing from the hustings, " how do you mean to vote about 

 the Bishops ? " 



" Hold your tongue, you idiot ; what do you know 



about Bishops ? " 



" I say, Cap'n," another bawled, " are you for annual 

 elections ? " 



" No, you d d fool, nor would you if you had to pay 



for them." 



However, his electors were as incapable of withstanding 

 his winning ways as the sailors, for they returned him. 

 He expressed his opinions freely even in church, and when 

 the parson, a friend of his, made a good point in the sermon, 

 would call out, " Well done, Harry," and remark under his 



breath to his next neighbour, "D d good." When 



out hunting one day, the fox having been killed in a turn- 

 pike road, he saw a farmer, who had been beaten by the 

 pace come sailing away over a cornfield. 



" What the devil do you mean by riding over that 

 wheat ? " he roared. 



" Weel, I ken I can come as I like, as it's my ain." 



" Then, if it's your own, d n your eyes, you ought to 



set a better example." 



Of Henry Egerton, Earl of Bridgwater, a Parisian 

 journal of 1826 gives the following picture: " Those who 

 have once seen this meagre personage drag himself along, 

 supported by two huge lackeys, with his sugar-loaf hat 

 slouched down over his eyes, cannot fail to recognise him' 

 An immense fortune enables him to gratify his most 

 extravagant caprices. If he be lent a book, he carries 

 his politeness so far as to have it conveyed home in a 

 carriage. Two of his finest horses are harnessed to one 

 of his chariots, and the volume, reclining at ease in my 



