1 64 SPORTS AND ANECDOTES. 



at whist, and smoked till very late at night. Though 

 I could smoke with the best of them, I hated cards, 

 and though I could drink a certain amount of punch, 

 which I used to brew for them in a washhand basin, 

 ladling it out with a teacup, I could not keep pace 

 with some of them, and I got tired of perpetually 

 squeezing lemons and sitting up till two or three 

 o'clock in the morning. I therefore agreed with them 

 that it was of no use staying, and said, " Let us go 

 back to Rome." 



Accordingly, the yellow coach was again ordered out, 

 and we beat a retreat to the " Eternal City." I made 

 several excursions with my friends, the locksmiths, but 

 except on the first day that I went to the sulphur 

 springs I never made any good bags, or saw so 

 many snipe as I did then. 



On returning from my sniping one afternoon, I 

 was accosted with " Have you heard what has 

 happened ? poor Bertie Mathew has been killed with 

 the hounds ! " The fact was simply this : he was 

 riding home from hunting in the Campagna with a 

 lady and other friends. He was inclined to lark 

 over the wooden fences which are called staggionati, 

 and are made of split chestnut, which is a very tough 

 wood. The lady begged him not to, upon which he 



