10 



SPORTS AND ANECDOTES. 



left leg to protect his knee which he had previously 

 hurt by running a thorn into it. And I remember 

 him giving my Father and myself a description of 

 this accident, which had caused him much pain, 

 and showing off the advantages of his boot as we 

 stood by a gate in Pickworth Wood. The boot, 

 as a protection to the injured knee, seemed to 

 answer well enough, but it was never intended for 

 any other purpose. 



Lord Alvanley, having taken the tip from the 

 boot worn by the Duke of Rutland to protect his 

 injured knee, thought that he might as well protect 

 his knees from the thorns encountered in the dull- 

 finches that everywhere predominated in those 

 days, and accordingly he set up a pair made upon 

 the same principle. 



Where there was one hedge that you could see 

 over there were a dozen that you could not see 

 through, and as the fields were much smaller than 

 they are in these days, the everlastingly thrusting 

 through these obstacles was a roughish business ; 

 for many of the said hedges, from being six, seven, 

 or eight feet high, and so thick that you could 

 hardly see through them, were bad to face, and 

 jumping them was out of the question, and a light 



