" BOB " 147 



ing in the ueighbourhood he put me up, horse, trap, and all, and 

 coming in in the evening I would find him with an apron of sack- 

 cloth over his cassock, and a black skullcap, making sauces in the 

 scullery. AVe dined in the kitchen, which was monastically clean 

 and dainty, with two pairs of jack-boots treed and symmetrically 

 displayed on the cold cooking-range. Gentle and simple met at his 

 table on quite equal terms. He was, by the way, heir in tail to a 

 great place, and once told me that he was much exercised as to what he 

 would do if ever he came into the kingdom, the house being so large 

 that servants would be unavoidable. His solution was to keep a 

 librarian for the servants to wait on, and to build a bungalow for 

 himself in the Park ! 



In the hunting-field he was, I believe, something of a thruster ; 

 and, though not like Catherine of Cleves, 



Either lovely or young, 

 Had a rather sharp tongue ; ^ 



and his speech was the more pungent in that he kept well within 

 parliamentary limits. He used it to tell home truths publicly and 

 audibly to such as seemed to him to neglect the amenities of good 

 sportsmanship, and cared little or nothing for what people thought 

 of him. He was, by the way, the only man I ever met who said 

 " Much obleeged," which, as every one knows, is an ancient and 

 buckish pronunciation of the word " obliged." 



But what has all this to do with T.F.B. ? The fox-hunting hermit 

 was not even a Cambridge sportsman, let alone a beagler ; he came 

 from Oxford. True enough ! But wherever we hunt, and with 

 whatever sort of hounds, the sons of Esau are one brotherhood, and 

 it may be hoped that such an example may encourage those of the 

 family who have graduated with T.F.B. to continue to be sportsmen 

 in practice after they have taken Holy Orders. If time given to 

 sport be taken from duty one is sure they will not, and we take off 

 our hats to such self-denial. But there is a time for work and a 

 time for play, and all work and no play makes Jack as dull when he 

 is a priest as it did when he was a boy. So one hopes that country 



^ Iiigoldsby Legends. 



