50 TJie Pytchley Hunt, Past and Prese^it. [chap. h. 



councils which were held in a secret chamber above the 

 oriel window in the saloon in Fawsley House_, where 

 was placed a printing-press; and the papers there 

 printed were dropped through a rose in the ceiling * 

 to be despatched throughout the country. 



Though he had long given up appearing at the meets, 

 Sir Charles was almost daily in the saddle to the last ; 

 his seat, dress, and appearance bearing ample testimony 

 to the fact th?«t in no place was he more at home than 

 on the back of a horse. To sit with an old friend over a 

 bottle of old port that for many a year had been mellow- 

 ing in the Fawsley cellars, and to talk over old Pytchley 

 days, was a treat in which the veteran sportsman 

 greatly delighted. To fight his battles with Tom 

 Assheton Smith, ^^ Jersey,'^ and ^' Plymouth ^' o^er again 

 — to recall the incidents of the '' Lancet ^^ sale — to 

 chuckle over the maiivaises heures of " Lucas '' in the 

 barn, or to dwell on the merits of favourite hunters, 

 were topics of which he never wearied. 



Not able to brook contradiction, nor prone to see much 

 merit in parliamentary opponents, it was prudent for a 

 Whig guest to keep off the tender ground of politics, 

 and to leave delicate questions of state undiscussed. 

 Accustomed to have his own way, that of others was not 

 greatly respected, and if things were going *' contrary- 

 like,^^ either in garden or farm, the passer-by might have 

 cause to think that the language he heard issuing from 

 the lips of Fawsley^s lord was not that inculcated by his 

 own rector, or by any of the neighbouring clergy. Be 

 that as it may, few county magnates have left behind 



* Here was secretly printed the second of the Martin Marprelate 

 Tracts, called the Epitome, 1588. — Ed. 



