' WILD DAYRELL: 245 



I have said that Mr. Etwall hunted; and when I 

 was a boy of about ten, and weighed about 3 st. -i lb., 

 he made me a present of a red hunting-coat, top- 

 boots, and leather-breeches, of which costume I was 

 not a little proud. Indeed, I followed the hounds 

 with him for two or three successive seasons with 

 enthusiastic delight, and well looked after by his 

 watchfulness. 



He was peculiar, as I have said, and one of his 

 peculiarities was, that he never would allow you to 

 give any of his servants the smallest gratuity. He 

 used to say that he paid them, and that that was 

 enough. Acting strictly on the same principle, he 

 would never give anything to anybody else's servants, 

 no matter what they might have done for him. Never- 

 theless, on one occasion when leaving Danebury late 

 on a very dark night, he was tricked into departing 

 from this rigid rule. The man that held his horse, 

 knowing his oddity, kept walking before him with a 

 lighted lantern. This naturally elicited an inquiry as 

 to what he was looking for. 



' Sir,' answered the man gravely, ' I have dropped 

 that shilling, if you gave it me.' 



This had an electrical effect, and in an unguarded 

 momeut Mr. Etwall parted with the memorable coin. 

 But never before or afterwards, to the best of my 

 knowledge, was he committed to so indiscreet an act 

 of liberality. 



Mr. Etwall was a great friend of Mr. Popham, of 



