MAER HALL. 19 



" Bob " Worrall, formerly second whipper-in to the North 

 Staffordshire hounds in Joe Maiden's time, and afterwards 

 well known to fame as huntsman of the Warwickshire. 

 Bob Worrall (speaking to one of the authors of the 

 "History of the Warwickshire Hunt," published in 1896) 

 says — 



" In 1856 I went to the North Staflordshire under Joe Maiden. The hounds 

 were then at Wolstanton, near Burslem. Mr. Davenport did the thing weU, There 

 were often five Miss Davenports out on horses worth 150 or 200 guineas apiece. 

 Mr. Jack Mytton, junior, was often visiting there. I remember young Mr. Daven- 

 port well as a boy. I was second whip there for one season. Tom Atkinson was 

 first, one of the best whippers-in I have ever seen ; he was huntsman aftei wards. 

 I had some nice horses there. I remember a brown mare that Mr. Henry Daven- 

 port took to college with him, a ' clinker.' " (See " The Annals of the Warwick- 

 shire Hunt," vol. i. p. 288.) 



In the " Life and Letters of Charles Darwin " (vol. i. 

 pp. 43, 44) will be found an interesting account of Maer 

 in the days when Mr. Josiah Wedgwood (son of the dis- 

 tinguished founder of the Etruria works) lived there and 

 owned the property. Charles Darwin says — 



" One of my autumnal visits to Maer in 1827 was memorable from meeting 

 there Sir J. Mackintosh, who was the best converser I ever listened to. I heard 

 afterwards, with a glow of pride, that he had said, ' There is something in that 

 young man that interests me.' This must have been chiefly due to his perceiving 

 that I listeued with much interest to everything which he said, for I was as 

 ignorant as a pig about his subjects of history, politics, and moral philosophy. 

 To hear of praise from an eminent person, though no doubt apt or certain to 

 excite vanity, is, I think, good for a young man, as it helps to keep him in the 

 right course. My visits to ^laer during these two or three succeeding years 

 were quite delightful, independently of the autumnal shooting. Life there was 

 perfectly free, the country was very pleasant for walking or riding, and in the even- 

 ing there was much very agreeable conversation, not so personal as it generally 

 is in large family parties, together with music. In the summer the whole family 

 used often to sit on the steps of the old portico, with the flower garden in front, 

 and with the steep wooded bank opposite the house reflected in the lake, with 

 here and there a fish rising or a water-bird paddling about. Nothing has left a 

 more vivid picture on my mind than those evenings at Maer." 



Miss Meteyard, too, in her pleasant book " A Group of 

 Englishmen," tells us how Sir James Mackintosh, on his 

 return from India in 1812, paid a visit to the Wedgwoods 

 at Maer, where he speaks of having " five delightful days." 

 In the same volume (p. 387) we read that Sydney Smith 



