CHAPTER X 



" A^'hei-e in the shallow stream the roaches play, 

 And stony fraffments stay the winding stream, 

 And gilded pebbles at the bottom gleam. 

 Giving their yellow surface to the sun, 

 And making proud the waters as they run." — Cbabbe, 



Having taken Teffont manor-house, near Salisbury, in Wiltshire, 

 and I'eared at Harrold a great many partridges and pheasants 

 by hand, I had wicker baskets made for them, low, and imperial- 

 like, to fit the top of a post-chaise ; and after feeding-time one 

 night, I sent my butler with them post to Teffont, at which 

 place he an'ived by break of day the following morning. Coops 

 being in readiness, hens, with their broods, were put out on the 

 lawn, with scarce the loss of a bird. I had appointed a keeper, 

 whom I had in my service at Harrold, as under-man, to look 

 after the game until such time as I came to reside. His strict 

 orders were, to preserve Mr. Wyndbam's foxes, and to shoot at 

 nothing but the common vermin. How he obeyed these oi-ders 

 remains to be seen. Soon after the arrival of the young game, 

 a fox paid the coops a visit, and at once killed thirty pheasants, 

 besides partridges, the greater portion of which he buried about 

 the flower-beds. On finding that foxes neighboured me so close, 

 I borrowed an idea from a keeper at Berkeley Castle, and lit a 

 lantern or two, suspending them by a string, so that they swung 

 with any airs that might stir in the night ; and this is, short of 

 a direct fence with hurdles, the only effective remedy against the 

 visit of the fox. On taking up my residence at Teffont I found 

 that my extraordinary landlord had stolen all his own trout 



