CHAP. I.] Dick Knight, 



clear frosty morning hear Dick^s '^ holloa'^ in Sywell 

 Wood^ a distance of, at least, three miles as the crow 

 flies. This speaks well for the acoustic properties of the 

 atmosphere between the respective points spoken of, as 

 well as for the strength of Dick's lungs. Bnt a still 

 more remarkable instance of the far-reaching power of 

 sound is given in the interesting diary, written in Latin 

 in the seventeenth century (admirably translated by the 

 Rev. Robert Isham), of Mr. Thomas Isham of Lamport 

 Hall. It is there stated that durina* the naval ensraa-e- 

 ment between the Eno-lish and French combined fleets 

 on the one hand, and the Dutch on the other, in 1672, 

 the report of the guns was distinctly heard at Brixworth. 

 It was in this action that Lord Sandwich, the admiral, 

 was blown up in his ship, with eight hundred of his men, 

 though the Dutch were defeated, and were pursued to 

 the coast of Holland by the English fleet. If this story 

 be correct, and some may be tempted to say ^'' Credat 

 Judgeus,^' the voice of the cannon must have travelled a 

 distance of over 120 miles, Southwold being at the mouth 

 of the Ely the, twenty-eight miles north-east of Ipswich. 

 In 1827, during the battle of Navarino, Mr. John Yere 

 Isham, then quartered at Corfu, distinctly heard the 

 firing at a distance of, at least, 200 miles ; and on the 

 naval reception of the Sultan by the Queen at Portsmouth, 

 the sound of guns discharged on the Welsh coast was 

 plainly distinguished at Portsmouth. 



Knight was so highly esteemed by his master that the 

 latter overlooked a freedom of speech in him which 

 certainly would have been ventured upon by no 

 other man, be his position what it might. It was said 

 that on one occasion, seeing Lord Spencer taking a 



