32 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



Orleigh, where he died shortly after, in December, 

 1843, at the age of sixty- two. 



He is buried in the family vault under the little 

 church at Teigngrace, within a gunshot of Stover 

 Park, the scene of his former glories and the home 

 he had loved so well. 



Riding past the spot recently on my way back 

 from hunting, the inspiration came to me to visit 

 the tomb of this great sportsman. The church is 

 full of tablets to the memory of departed Templers, 

 but the caretaker knew at once which I wanted. 

 " You mean the Squire — Squire Templer, Sir," and 

 he pointed out the simple tablet recording George 

 Templer's open-handed charity to the poor, and 

 shewed me where his body lies under the church, 

 adding : " He was a great sportsman, wasn't he. 

 Sir ? " 



Is it fanciful to hope that the spirit of the de- 

 parted sportsman-poet was not insensible to the 

 presence of his visitor, probably the first for the past 

 seventy years to approach his resting-place in the 

 scarlet uniform of the chase ? 



" Thou art gone, — all lowly laid, 

 Gentle may thy portion be, 

 And as thou hast done and said, 

 Be it even unto thee. 

 Fare thee well, — the shadows fall, 

 Tree and turret bear the pall, 

 Veiling the empurpled wall 

 Of the solitary hall."i 



• Stover. From an "In Memoriam " verse at the end of Letters on 

 the past and present Foxhounds of Devonshire. 



