"THE COTTESMORE IN 1826." 39 



was a thing positively unknown, brandy being seldom 

 drunk unless to ease the stomach-ache, and soda- 

 water very seldom, except to cure what goes under 

 the denomination of " hot coppers." 



But after a day's hunting a fair quantity of Snead's 

 claret was much recommended, and as a fellow did 

 not persecute his stomach with all kinds of squashy 

 rubbish whenever he could get a chance during the 

 day, he required something after dinner that would 

 stick to his ribs a little better than the light mix- 

 tures of the present day. 



The following anecdote will, perhaps, induce some 

 to think that some people drank more than was quite 

 reasonable or good for them. The actors in the said 

 anecdote are long since dead and gone, or I should 

 not dare to tell tales. 



An uncle of mine, who was a very abstemious man 

 himself, assured me that when dining at a gentleman's 

 house not far from Melton, near which place he was 

 himself living for hunting, after he had had a skin 

 full himself in fact he said, " I had had quite as 

 much as I could carry safely " he saw Lord Alvanley 

 and old Frank Forester drink four bottles of claret 

 each ; he further added, " when I had done they had 

 quite as much, if not more, than I had, and where 



