86 WITH HOUND AND TERRIER. 



years ago by a clergyman who had lived there 

 over twelve years. " I think it rather extra- 

 ordinary," he remarks in an old county record, 

 " that during my residence here I never remember 

 to have met with a single frog and only one toad ; " 

 then hastening to present the reverse side of the 

 shield, he goes on to say that he does not " attrib- 

 ute the scarcity of these reptiles to anything in 

 the nature of the air or the soil, but to the vast 

 quantity of rats with which the town is infested." 



Sherborne Castle was at one time owned by 

 that brilliant courtier and soldier of fortune. Sir 

 Walter Raleigh, who received it from Elizabeth. 

 It is said that Sir Walter's first view of the place 

 was while he was travelling from Devon to London, 

 the lovely view of the park that is still to be had 

 from the highroad attracting his attention. While 

 Sir Walter was expressing his admiration his 

 horse stumbled and fell, thus causing his rider, 

 in the picturesque language of the narrator, to 

 "take seisin of the soil in roughest fashion." 

 After Sir Walter had received the castle from the 

 hand of the Queen, he settled it on his wife and 

 children ; but the settlement was set aside by 

 King James, who wished to reward his favourite, 

 Sir Robert Carr, with a gift of the place. It was 

 on Sir Robert's disgrace that the property went 

 to the first Baron Digby. 



The well-worn anecdote about Sir Walter and 

 the newly introduced fashion of tobacco-smoking 

 is connected with this neighbourhood. The story 



