A " swell:' 75 



in the raj)idity with which he calculates the odds, and 

 realises the chances of his betting-book. 



Tourneymeade has rooms in the hotel of the county 

 town near to which are the headquarters of the Fallow- 

 field, and in November he takes up his residence there 

 with about a dozen hunters and a few hacks, a number 

 which is generally swelled before the season closes ; for 

 the noble baron is always ready to buy a horse, and is, 

 I fancy, a perfect annuity to some of his friends who 

 generally have a wonderful animal to sell; while for 

 various reasons, which may hereafter be hinted at, his 

 own stud does not last at all well. You would think 

 that hunting bored him very grievously if you were not 

 aware that he was at least equally bored, during' the 

 season, in his yacht, on the moors, after the merry little 

 brown birds which make September pleasant in the 

 country, and after the long-tailed heroes and the less 

 splendid heroines of October. 



Tourneymeade is a patron of the drama, principally 

 of that variety which has been supplied of late by Mr. 

 John Hollingshead. He holds a decided opinion that 

 literature is in a bad way, because " some fellow ought 

 to write a book about that girl Farren," as he familiarly 

 calls the lady, and no fellow does ; while other fellows, 

 who are equally negligent, ought to write other books 

 about INIiss Vaughan and other damsels who are wont 

 to delight him. He has seen something about Mrs. 

 Siddons in a theatrical newspaper, and is jealous for the 

 reputations of those he admires, being strongly inclined 



