THE TEDWORTII. 179 



hill, 'Hold hard, wiU you? hold hard!' The boy said, 'I 



can't hold my horse, sir.' ' Then, your eyes ! ride the 



other way,' rejoined the Squire. But perhaps his answer to an 

 officious tenant was the best of all the many things told of him. 

 He was going to covert on his hack, when a very heavy shower 

 forced him to take shelter under a cart-shed in no amiable mood. 

 The farmer, his own tenant, seeing him there, asked him if he 

 would dismount and go in-doors, and an emphatic * l^o ! ' was 

 the answer. This would have been enough for most who knew 

 the man ; but the farmer, stiU trying to do the agreeable, took 

 a survey of the weather and sagely remarked, ' It comes down 

 now ! ' ' Didn't expect it to go up, you fool, did you 1 ' was the 



ciu't reply 



" It is not generally known that, although he was invariably 

 kind to animals, Ayston, his favourite and best horse, had such 

 an inveterate dislike to him that it took two men — and pretty 

 good men too — to hold him while the Squire mounted, or he 

 would have savaged him ; and he would continue to come open- 

 mouthed at the bars of his box if Mr. Smith stood near it, at 

 which harmless exhibition of temper the old gentleman used to 

 laugh heartily. It is also, I think, not generally known that 

 Screwdriver obtained his name through falling at a drop into a 

 deep lane, and breaking both his knees. Ham Ashley, Netheravon, 

 Paul Potter, and Blemish were some of his latest horses ; and 

 there were few better ones in the stable than Black Diamond, 

 Eaglan, or Grey Marlborough, all kept for Jack Pricker's 

 especial riding, as I have heard it said that the Squire's only 

 trouble was that he could not buy horses quite good enough for 

 Jack. Grey Marlborough, as magnificent a horse as man ever 

 sat across, was perfection in a vale, but no man living could 

 hold him in the open. I have heard Jack say he could never 

 account for this, except that perhaps the rattle of horses 

 galloping round and behind Mm frightened him. He was 

 bought of Mr. John Rowden, who was a great favourite with 

 the Squire, and had such fine hands that he often asked him to 



N 2 



