366 SPORTING STORIES 



looked in vain for the Squire of Downham in his pew on 

 one Sabbath at any rate. For an entry in the diary runs 

 thus: — " July 19th. Sunday. With Sherburne, Starkie, etc., 

 to Clitheroe : stayed drinking some wyne : soe to a summer 

 game : Sherburne's mare run and lost the bell : made 

 merrie: stayed until 2 o'clock." The silver bell, by the 

 way, was the usual prize at the County Races. From 

 which it may be inferred that Sunday racing was not 

 deemed an indecorous pastime by the country gentlemen 

 of that date. 



Twice in the course of the two years our Squire visited 

 London on law business ; and a journey to the capital was 

 a rare and perilous adventure in those days. He carefully 

 notes the names of the inns at which he put up, such as 

 the "Cock" at Stony Stratford (still in existence), the 

 " Antelope " at Barnet, the " White Horse " at Dunstable, 

 and the " Bell " in Gray's Inn Lane. He tells how he 

 " shott at thrushes " between Mimms and Barnet, and gives 

 the number of miles he rode every day, varying from 

 twenty-five to thirty-five. But of his adventures in the 

 great metropolis he makes no mention. Perhaps they 

 were not of a nature to recall agreeable memories. 



I picture this Master Nicholas Assheton as a sturdy, 

 broad-shouldered, ruddy-faced Englishman, whose days 

 were passed in sport, and his nights in tippling, after the 

 fashion of the country gentry of his time. A staunch 

 supporter of Church and State, who with all his convivial 

 habits and love of sport found time to discharge creditably 

 his duties as a landlord and a magistrate. I think I could 

 lay my hand even now upon one or two country gentlemen 

 who are of pretty much the same type. 



A fitting companion picture to the diary of Nicholas 

 Assheton is " The Notebook of a Cavalier," containing the 

 random jottings of William Blundell of Little Crosby, about 

 six miles from Liverpool. 



The Blundells were an old county family who had held 

 the manor of Little Crosby for four hundred years without a 

 break. William, the author of the " Notebook," was a speci- 

 men of the best type of English country gentlemen, of a 

 superior stamp to Squire Assheton. I should judge him to 



